Chapter Text
The sky lit up in hues of greens, orange and red, splattered across like blood,
Three figures. Small. Insignificant. They watched the debris fall and rain down on the city.
They knew their brother wasn't there.
They almost wished he was.
Because at least then they would have something to bury.
Where he was, a fate worse than death awaited. For all they knew it was happening right now.
Their brother being beaten into oblivion, maybe he would be lucky. Or maybe he would live with the years stretching in front of him, Paralyzed. Alone.
Raph crouched on the ground, barely able to hold himself up. He couldn't breathe.
His mind flashed with all the times he told Leo to better, to be responsible, to look out for his family. and he did that. Now Raph wished he hadn't.
"When are you going to start acting like a hero, Leo?", "You're one to talk, big bro, hero moves are totally your style." Those two sentences created a parallel, a swirling vortex which led him to whimper weakly against the concrete that was digging into his palms. He had done this. He forced him to.
Raph held his brother to the same immense pressure he had to deal with alone for years: To protect his family no matter what happened. Take the punches. Take the abuse. Anything. As long as his family didn't get hurt. As long as they were safe.
A pressure he never wished to push on any of his brothers, not even Leo, when splinter had announced him to be the leader out of the blue.
Raph made Leo feel like he had to follow in his big brother's footsteps, Guilt washed over Raph In huge unmerciful, swelling waves.
A hot tear sprung from one of his eyes, rolled down his cheek. The other closed, aching and throbbing dully.
Sobs build up, slowly ballooning in his chest. Rising, trying to fight their way through. Shouldn't. Couldn't.
Not in front of the remaining brothers he had left.
He failed Leo, He couldn't fail Donnie and Mikey too. He needed to be strong.
But it still hurts. If hurt meant feeling as if he was a dying star collapsing against itself, Then, yes. Raph was hurt.
No. No. No. That's what repeated in Donnie's mind. Over and over.
His brother. His twin. His baby twin brother.
Leo was gone. After all that. They still failed. These were half thoughts and feelings mushed together, unrecognizable but identifiable.
Donnie could feel something running down his cheek. A tear.
He stared at it. Shaking his head at it as if couldn't believe it happened.
Donnie couldn't. He didn't want to. Not after all their efforts. Not after all their lives lived together, The Jupiter Jim movie marathons, the Lou Jitsu training days, The birthdays.
all the birthdays they shared as twins. Leo would never get one ever again.
It would never be the same.
Emotion was so foreign to Donnie, but right now that was all he could feel.
It was ugly, rabid and rampaging, It numbed him. Sirens blared in his tympanum. His stomach swirled and weighed him down, he felt like throwing up. Or crying, more than a single damned tear. Leonardo, his baby twin brother. Deserved more.
But all Donnie could do was stare back up at the sky where he had last seen his brother, where he lost him. Hand still held out as if he was offering the tear in exchange for his brother.
His mind was never so quiet and so loud. never felt so numb, frozen, prickly and on fire at the same time. Everything burned in an icy hot flame of emotion and pain. Too much.
Mikey stood in disbelief. His brothers had begun to break down, they were all split apart.
Their dad and sister were missing. Raph had crumpled into himself. Donnie cried. And Leo. Leo was gone.
Mikey whimpered. His brother, His mischievous older brother who constantly quipped and made jokes or assorted puns. Who had played pranks and was always there for them. Gone.
It was like Leo never existed. He was gone so fast. It was as if all the times Leo would make a joke to cheer Mikey up, or would comfort him during a scary movie, sleep in Mikey's room after Mikey had a nightmare, stay up with him whenever he had 3 am art block, never happened.
All the memories Mikey coveted and shared with Leo didn't happen, The other half was missing. It was gone, it was all sucked into that void with Leo, where he would stay for almost forever.
everything Leo said from the jokes to the words of comfort filled Mikey's head, but it overlapped one another so it was just a flurry of Leo's voice. echoing, another voice echoed through Mikey's head.
"You are the most powerful mystic warrior the world has ever known."
It was something to try. hope. A last ditch effort to get his brother back.
Mikey grunted with effort, sobbing as he stretched his hands out in front of him, grabbing, reaching for his brother as if he wanted to feel his hugs one last time before they said goodbye.
Tears fell, he sobbed, reached, crying, grunting.
"Mikey. It's over."
Why? That's what Mikey wanted to ask Raph. Why did he give up on Leo so fast? Did Raph believe Mikey couldn't do it? or did he know that it was all Mikey's wishful thinking, his childish hopes, hopes in getting his older brother back from impossible odds?
"Leo." Mikey had managed to grunt out still reaching, trying to find something, anything. A sign he could do this. But there was no spark. nothing, no feelings of electric tingling; searching for his brother.
Mikey's hands dropped to his sides.
"He- Leo." More tears ran down his cheek.
He felt like a child throwing a temper tantrum, stubbornly crying for his brother back. A brother that was never coming back.
Mikey was numb and tired. So so tired and he dropped to his knees, a few seconds, minutes? hours? Passed and he could feel his Two Brothers latch on to him. Embracing him.
"Leo- He never- Leo never gave up on us." Mikey's breath hitched, the words caught in his throat. "I- I didn't. I didn't want to give up on him."
Everything had fallen into silence. None of them said anything. a thick aura of grief covered them as they all mourned just for a second as brothers, as only three quarters of a family. Incomplete and obsolete.