Chapter Text
Leo has always been…different from his brothers. Sure he knew he was the most handsome of them and funniest of course, but it was something else. A power under his skin that his brothers wouldn’t understand. Leo knew that even if he told them what he could do they would think he was making another one of his jokes. That power under his skin? Magic. Real crazy magic, even Leo had a hard time coming to terms with his powers.
At the young age of nine Leo used magic for the first time, Leo got lost in the sewers after trying to play tag with his brothers and running off a bit too far. The problem was it was winter and it was freezing.
Getting colder by the second Leo called for his brothers, “Raph! C-can you hear me?” No response, Leo starts to shake. “Donnie! M-Mikey! Where are you guys? Come on guys this isn’t f-funny. Where are you?” Leo starts to cry, he’s so cold. Leo takes a shuddering breath, he lets it out seeing his breath in the cold crisp air.
One thought rises to his head above all else, he wants to go home. He wants to be in his warm bed under his warm blue fluffy blanket. Leo squeezes his eyes shut thinking of his warm room instead of the cold, damp, and dark sewer. Then a strange thing happened the markings on Leo’s body started to glow a shine that looked otherworldly. Leo opened his eyes and then looked at himself in shock, he didn’t know he could glow. Maybe he’s seeing things cuz he was so cold. Can that happen? Cold hallucinations? Leo blinked a couple of times and put his arms in front of him and waved them around to see if anything would happen. Leo’s eyes widened even further when a brilliant blue wavey circle thing appeared right in front of him. “What the shell?” Leo said a little mystified. Leo reached out to touch it, his three little fingers grazed the surface of it and then fell through. Leo then put his whole arm in, this probably isn’t safe but whatever Raph isn’t here to nag him about being cautious or something. His arm on the other side of the blue thing felt warm so naturally, Leo decided he would take his chances and put his head in too. He took a deep breath and plunged his face in and then opened his eyes to his surprise it was his room, in all of its messy glory. Leo then jumped through and when he looked behind him whatever that thing might have been was gone.
“D-did I do that?” Leo questioned with uncertainty. Leo shook his head he should find his brothers.
“Bros! Hey you guys here?” Leo shouted as he walked out of his room.
“Leo! There you are! We’ve been calling your name for the past 20 minutes! You should have told us you went home we were worried!” Raph said as he ran up to Leo.
“I-I didn’t come home.” Leo said through still chattering teeth.
“What?” Raph said confused. “You’re right here of course you came home, is this one of your bad jokes?”
Leo stammered “N-no! And my jokes are hilarious for your information.”
Raph looked at Leo unimpressed. “Sure, anyway are you okay? You look freezing!” Raph grabbed his brother’s hand and shivered. “Leo! Your hands are like ice! We need to warm you up!” Raph exclaimed as Leo shook with a sneeze.
“B-but I’m telling y-you something weird happ-”
“Enough out of you Leo you need to be warmed up!” Raph looked at Leo with concern. “Come on I’ll put you to bed and have Mickey make you some hot chocolate.” Raph said as he pushed Leo back towards his room. “You hear that Angelo? Make Leo some hot coco!” Raph yelled out to his younger brother on the other side of the lair,
“Okay Raphie! Hot coco coming right up!” Mikey said with a bright smile.
“Where’s Donnie at?” Leo asked worried about his twin.
“Oh, he went to make a snowball shooter 3000 or something I don’t know he seemed really thrilled about the idea.” Raph chuckled.
“We’re doomed.” Leo groaned.
Raph laughed “Maybe but that’s future Raph’s problem.” Raph said as he tucked his brother into bed.
Leo stared at Raph, Raph shifted uncomfortably, “Something you wanna say?”
Leo sighed, “ I’m telling you Raph something weird happened in the sewers, it was like magic! One minute I was in the cold sewer wanting to go home and then boom! I s-started glowing and then!-”
“I think you’re just tired, Leo.” Raph said with an uneasy expression.
“I’m Serious! I-”
“Who is ready for hot chocolate!” Mikey sang as he happily strolled into the room with a cup of the good stuff.
“Thanks Mickey.” Leo said with a small grin as he drank out of the warm cup.
“Of course Bro! Anytime, you know chef Mikey is always here to satisfy!” Mikey grinned. “ I’m glad we were all right about you coming home though, it would have sucked to be lost in the sewers on a cold night like this.”
“It did suck” Leo mumbled.
Raph and Mikey shared a confused look. “What do you mean bro?” Mikey asked confused.
“I mean I was stuck out th-” Leo tried to say before he was interrupted.
“Leo I really think you should go to sleep now, your own jokes are going to your head!” Raph said in concern.
Leo glared at him, “Fine! I’ll sleep! Good night!” Leo said as he turned in his bed to look away from his brothers and faced the wall.
“Okay? Good night Leo.” Raph said as he walked out of Leo’s room.
“Good night Leo! Love you!” Mikey said as he hopped out of the room.
“Love you too.” Leo grumbled with a hidden smile. Mikey grinned and left the room. As Leo drifted off to sleep he thought of the weird feeling he felt in the sewers, a strange power in him. As he fell asleep his marking warmly glowed for a split second until Leo succumbed to sleep.
Leo didn’t know it but that was the moment his magic first awakened, he would never forget that night in the cold dark sewer when he made his first portal. From then on Leo could always feel a warm silent power within him. When he asked his brothers if they ever felt the same power, they looked at him weirdly and told him no. They would never understand. They proplaby wouldn’t care or want to understand. Not that it mattered (it did). Leo gave up on his brothers ever understanding him a while ago.
As Leo grew so did his power, but Leo never told his brothers about what he could do. Why would he? They would laugh and when they would see it was real they would be scared of Leo. Leo experimented with his powers and found out he could do more than just portals. He could summon fire as well. A brilliant blue flame that danced around him when called. Leo practiced all of this in secret out of fear of what his brothers would think, not that he’d ever admit that. Leo thought he was a freak, a turtle who could summon flames and portals. Yep definitely a freak.
But then they discovered the hidden city. A place full of yoki and magic. Leo felt like he was in heaven, magic was normal here, he was normal here. In the yoki world there were magic classes, Leo was ecstatic! Finally, he wouldn’t have to guess training methods, he could get actual guidance! When his brothers weren’t looking Leo slipped away to magic classes. He could easily pass as a yoki, he definitely wasn’t human but honestly, he was starting to question if he was a mutant. His brothers couldn’t use magic like he could, they couldn’t sense it either. Sure some mutants could use magic but not many, and those that could would never compare to real yoki. The first lesson Leo went to was deep within the hidden city, in a park of sorts. It might have been a disaster.(Leo set multiple trees on fire) The teacher asked how in the world Leo didn’t have much control over his magic when he looked to be in his teens.
Leo came up with the fastest excuse of “ I’m uh, a turtle yoki from the great lakes! And uh, no one in my family can use fire magic, only water so I know next to nothing about it.” Leo said with a shaky grin and a little laugh.
Surprisingly they bought it, all of it including his new name Kappa. Leo made up a whole different identity named Kappa. Kappa was a turtle yoki with the rare ability of fire magic who fought with precision and practice. While Leo was the overly confident mutant turtle who fought lazily and used magic swords to make portals. Leo separated these two with a simple attitude and outfit change, mostly he always wore a black ninja mask that covered the lower half of his face and black cloak with a hood as Kappa, and anything but that for Leo. And while he still acted snarky he was more calculating as Kappa. He planned what he was going to do, not just jump in like Leo did.
When Raph, Mikey, Leo, and Donnie found and started using magic weapons, Leo was the first to master his. All it really did was make portals easier to summon. His brothers were surprised that Leo was so good at something like magic which required focus and practice. Leo brushed off the suspicions by saying that as the face man of course he was able to make cool beautiful portals. His brothers eventually forgot about how fast Leo was able to do magic, too focused on their own magic and their lives. During this time, Kappa started to become well known in the yoki community, a turtle yoki with brilliant fire magic and knew how to use twin swords. An interesting character who came from a far.
Leo decided he wanted to do more, be more. He wanted his false confidence to be real. So Leo decided to join a yoki fighting ring, he could improve his skills and boost his confidence. Two birds with one stone! Yeah if his family ever found out they would most likely strangle him but whatever. It gave him a feeling of excitement and a sense of worth that nothing else gave him. Leo also once in a while would take on mercenary jobs. Nothing huge and never killing bounties but being a mercenary was respected in the yoki world. It was an actual job that he got paid for! Though when he went out as a merc he went by Loki. It fit him, a clever trickster god’s name, perfect.
Through the years Leo became well known as Kappa and shockingly never been compared to Leonardo the mutant turtle. His brothers still never found out about Leo’s late-night secret activities, though they did wonder where he was going sometimes but a simple lie would usually settle their curiosity. So far Leo was fine with leading two different lives he hadn’t really had many problems with it. He even rented an apartment in the Hidden City that he bought from his earnings in the fighting ring and from his mercenary jobs.
In the apartment was all his Kappa and Loki gear, his black hilt swords, and a couch with a TV. It was a nice apartment. His brothers couldn’t watch or juge him there and it made it easier to hide his secrets. Plus his father of course, but surprisingly pops had started to keep a close eye on Leo.
When Leo entered the room Splinter would look at him with a sharp gaze, as if inspecting him up and down. Analyzing Leo’s small cuts or bruises, Leo could convince his brothers were accidents but not Splinter. He would ask Leo suspicious questions, asking who he was fighting and why he was injured. Leo would just shove him off with a shrug or lie but he had a feeling that Splinter never really believed him.
Everything was going pretty well after the Shredder incident, minor villains or criminals that were easy to defeat and nice chill time with his family. Everything was going great well except of course splinter making him leader. But in the end it didn’t matter much, Raph was the real leader in everything but name. Everyone was safe, which is why Leo was confused by the sense of dread in his stomach that something was about to go wrong.