Archive of Our Own

 “Hah you’re stumped this time, primo.”

 “Are you sure?”

 “Of course I’m sure. I signed this card, remember? And the last three you drew weren’t right.”

 “Hm, that’s true.” Leonardo shuffled the deck in his hands, carefully turning the cards and running them past his thumbs. But he didn’t really need to keep count of any of these, because they were well past that part of the trick. “Maybe it’s not in here at all. Hey Junior, want to look under your hat for me?” 

 The young skeleton’s glowing eyes got wider and wider. “No way.” Cubito still reached up and tugged off his cap that he always wore backwards on his head. Just as he removed it, a folded card slipped off his skull and onto the table. He scrambled to pick it up, carefully unfolding it. His jaw fell open so far it looked like it might fall off completely. 

 “How?” Cubito slammed the card onto the table. “Augh, how did you do that, primo.” 

 Leonardo chuckled and kept shuffling the cards. “Now now, Junior, what have I told you? Telling you the trick is too easy.” 

 Hueso’s son tilted his head back as he groaned, his skull clunking against the edge of the chair. He picked up his hat, shaking it a few times and looking on the inside. “You didn’t use your portals, did you?”

 Leonardo scoffed and finally put the cards away. “I told you once before, I don’t use portals for these tricks. I think that’d make the magic a bit cheap, to be honest.” 

 “I’ve gotta get me some books on doing tricks like this.” Cubito slumped further down in his seat.

 The pair of them sat at a two seater table near the corner of Hueso’s restaurant. The place was quiet, business winding down as they got closer and closer to closing time. Leonardo ate hours ago, and most of the dishes had been taken from their table apart from the milkshake that Cubito was still finishing off.

 Speaking of, the young skeleton slurped at it and kept glaring at the signed card on the table. 

 It wasn’t their first meeting, far from it. Leonardo met Cubito over two years ago when coming by to bother Hueso, and he’d seen the photo in Hueso’s office before. The pair of them hit it off pretty quick. Despite Hueso often telling his son the more unfavorable stories about Leonardo’s endeavors, the kid still looked up to him with stars in his eyes.

 They didn’t get to hang out that often. Cubito spent a lot more time with his other dad—Hueso’s ex-husband—since Hueso worked so often. But now that the kid was fifteen, he had an easier time slipping to the restaurant to spend his time if he wanted to. Less parental supervision required.

 And Leonardo came by here a lot the past few weeks. Totally not to avoid training or anything. Nope. 

 “You’ve shown me a lot of new ones lately.” Cubito sat up after finishing his shake. “You been studying?”

 Leonardo shrugged. “You could say that. Since Donnie got me that reading tablet I’ve had a much easier time finding resources. I’m talking about the old timey kind of magic, not just card tricks that are all over the internet these days.”

 “Humans have done magic for a long time?”

 He barked out a laugh. “Are you kidding? Oh man, since as far back as history goes there’ve been illusionists. Sure some stuff was a lot easier to pull off in those eras, but there’s some really insane stunts people pulled for a trick. You don’t wanna know about the person who tricked people into believing she gave birth to rabbits.”

 Cubito gasped, but then just looked confused. “That’s not normal for humans right?”

 Leonardo snorted. “No. Look up Mary Toft later if you want to read more.” 

 He dropped the topic as he heard the familiar click of dress shoes on tile. Hueso approached the table, a stack of dishes on his hand. He added Cubito’s empty shake glass to to the pile. Now there was a magic trick. Just how did he keep all of that balanced? 

 “Still here, pepino?” Hueso raised an eyebrow at him. 

 “Showing Junior some new tricks.” Leonardo flashed a smile. “But I know, I know, it’s closing time. I’ll get out of your hair soon.”

 Hueso shook his head. “You can stay as long as you like. I simply have my… concerns.”

 “Huh?” Leonardo gave a hollow laugh. “Concerns about what?”

 “Anytime you linger in this restaurant for this long it is because you are avoiding something. Not to mention the repeated days of visiting.” 

 “Hey, yeah, that’s right.” Cubito leaned against the table. “You’ve been here almost every day recently.”

 Leonardo kept up his grin. “Everything’s fine,” he lied. “Just… the fam is doing a lot of training recently. Like a lot. It’s wearing me out. So I just come here instead.” 

 Hueso stared right through him, but walked off with the dishes. 

 “You’re skipping training?” Cubito frowned. “Primo, you should be keeping up with that. How are you supposed to stay on top of your insane ninja skills if you quit.”

 “I’m not quitting.” Leonardo insisted. “Just… taking a break. I guess.”

 “Did something happen?”

 He avoided the kid’s gaze. He didn’t want to tell him that, not really.

 Hueso returned to their table, his arms now free. “Mijo, ¿Hiciste tu tarea?” 

 Cubito jumped a bit in his seat. “Um…”

 “I have watched you sit with Leonardo all night. Go. I know for a fact you have a paper that needs finishing.”

 Cubito groaned but slid out of his seat, though he moved as slow as possible. “I’m going to finish it right now. Don’t you dare go anywhere, Leo.” He pointed at the slider. “I’m coming back and then we’re talking about Mary Taft.”

 “Toft.” Leonardo corrected and smiled, despite how much he didn’t want to recount that history lesson to someone younger than him. Whatever. Maybe the kid’s morbid sense of humor would let him find it more amusing. 

 He expected to Hueso to follow after his son, so it took him off guard when the skeleton sat down across from him.

 “Wh—Hueso what’s—”

 “Leonardo, I will not force you to give me details, but please be honest with me. You are not ‘fine,’ are you?”

 Ugh. The skeleton had always been able to spot him as a liar. Their time getting to know each other just made it harder and harder to cover things up. Leonardo tapped the table with his finger and in the end got his deck back out. He left Cubito’s card on the table for now, it belonged to him anyway. 

 “I mean, I am fine.” He mumbled. “In the sense that nothing is really wrong. I’m not injured. My chronic pain has quit flaring up which I assume means I’m finally fully recovered. Jury’s out on if the chest pain will come back or not if I work out for too long.” He gave a short laugh. “Mikey’s mystic training is going really well, his flare ups are getting less frequent and he’s almost mastered floating himself around the room. Donnie has business booming like always. Raph and Casey are starting to set records with crime stopping on their own time. And hey, April and Sunita are finally dating.” He grinned at that last one.

 “I heard.” Hueso’s gaze didn’t falter. “But that doesn’t really tell me how you’re doing.” 

 Leonardo frowned and fixed his eyes on the cards. They were some basic ones. He’d bought a whole bundle of packs of those simple cards with the red and blue patterns on the back for him to practice tricks with. So when cards went missing—like Cubito’s—it wouldn’t be a big deal. His primary practice deck was a set of Jupiter Jim cards. 

 “It’s just… frustrating.” He plucked a card out of the deck and stared at it. The two of clubs. He slid it back in, position thirty-four, and returned to shuffling. “We’ve been working on a lot of training since Donnie’s powers developed so much. After all, the rest of us should be able to do new stuff too, right? And we should even be able to use our powers without our weapons. Donnie keeps getting more and more out there, Mikey’s powers are exploding—sometimes literally—and while I haven’t seen Raph do anything new he adapted the fastest to borrowing our powers with those fancy stone bracelets of ours.”

 He glanced at his own, looking at the blue light of his ninpo flashing inside of it. He quit shuffling and pulled out the card in the twenty-seventh position. The two of clubs. He slid it back into the same spot and continued. 

 “Meanwhile, me?” Leonardo chuckled and did a few fancy twists of the cards before shuffling them back into uniform. “Still in the exact same place? I can’t summon portals without my swords—except around the lair for some reason—can’t teleport without my swords, and those are still the only two tricks I even know. Like, is that it? Is that all I’m capable of?” 

 He sighed and pulled out the sixteenth card. Two of clubs again. 

 “I doubt it is all you are capable of.” Hueso folded his hands on the table. “I think you may have simply not found a way to go about unlocking anything new.” 

 “Well, Draxum sadly doesn’t have the time to improvise with the rest of us. Mikey takes up most of his time.” Leonardo began to twirl the card between his fingers. “Which is fine, I get it. It’s a priority to make sure Mikey stays in one piece.”

 Hueso nodded. “It may seem counter productive, but perhaps you should take a break from training and find something else to do with your time.”

 Leonardo opened his mouth to crack a joke.

 “Something besides sitting in my restaurant after hours.”

 He pouted. 

 “You are a very talented young man, Leonardo, so it has often confused me why I never see you actually committing to your multitude of hobbies.”

 Leonardo stopped twirling. “What do you mean?” 

 “While your attempts at acting and improv on Piel’s ship were lacking, it at least seemed like it wasn’t the first time you’d done it. Any time you run a shift here for some extra cash, you’re not only good at preparing veggies faster than most of my cooks, but you also wait tables effortlessly. And now,” Hueso gestured to the cards. “I see you performing all of these magic tricks. Have you not considered doing a proper show with them?”

 “Huh?” Leonardo squeaked, some of the cards slipping out of his hand and falling on the table. “What, like, put on a full blown magic show?”

 “Why not?”
 
 “Come on, Hueso. Magic might dazzle humans who don’t believe in it, but mutants and yōkai?” He rolled his eyes and rearranged his cards. He kept the two of clubs in his hand, but with a twist of his wrist he slipped it into a position that Hueso definitely couldn’t see. With his palm out, the card sat between his fingers, the edge of it not visible from the outside. “Oh wow, a card disappeared.” Another twist and he held it between his finger and thumb. “And now it’s back. Like five year olds couldn’t pull something like that.”

 Hueso narrowed his eyes. “Not the way you do. You say you don’t use portals to perform these tricks.” 

 “I don’t.” Leonardo put the card away. “But would they even believe me if I said that?” 

 “Well, I see your point there.” Hueso tapped his finger on the table. “Still, I think it may benefit you to pursue one of your hobbies rather than just combat.”

 “Maybe, but—”

 Cubito suddenly dashed up to the table. “Did I hear you say you’re gonna put on a magic show?” 

 Both Leonardo and Hueso jumped, but the skeleton glared at his son. “Mijo, how did you hear that?” 

 Cubito grinned. “Leo’s not the only one who’s learned some slight of hand.”

 Leonardo only now noticed he could hear Cubito’s voice coming from more than one place. He leaned to the side to look under the table, spotting the clone of the kid’s skull sitting on the floor where neither of their feet were resting. 

 Leonardo grabbed it and pulled it up. “You’re getting a lot better at this, huh Junior?” He smirked, tossing the skull in the air a few times. “No more eye glow to give it away, huh? And forming it in your hands too, I assume?” 

 “But I still can get dizzy.” Cubito snatched his other head back and let it merge into the original. “Don’t do that.” 

 Hueso sighed. “Mijo, you should not be eavesdropping.”

 “Whatever, whatever, I’m in trouble, who cares. Are you gonna do the show, Leo?” Cubito leaned on the table, grinning impossibly wide. “Can I be your assistant?” 

 Leonardo blinked. “Huh?”

 “Yeah, don’t magicians need assistants? I can help you set things up and do tricks and everything.” He threw open his arms. “It’d be so cool.”

 “Whoa, whoa, slow down Junior.” Leonardo held up his hands. “I never said for sure I’d even do that. Besides uh…” he glanced at Hueso. “I’m not even sure if your father would approve.” 

 Cubito turned his energy on his father. “Dad, please? If he does it can I, please?”

 Hueso crossed his arms. “Only if you are caught up on all your homework.”

 The kid looked more determined than ever before, clenching his fists close to his chest. “You hear that Leo? I’m going to finish everything right now. So if you end up doing it you have to let me in on it.”

 Leonardo chuckled. “Just what has you so eager to help out?”

 “I want to learn how it works. I want to see it up close. I want to learn how to do magic without… well… magic!” He threw open his arms again before running off. “I’m going back to my homework. Goodnight.”

 “Goodnight.” Leonardo called after him. His fond smile lingered on his face, but slowly faded away. Should he try something like this? He wasn’t even sure he had enough tricks to perform an actual show. Most of the things he learned was up-close magic. The sort of things you did one on one or for a small street audience. Not something big and loud on a stage with lights and flowers and props. 

 “I will leave you to your thoughts.” Hueso stood. “I need to finish closing. Take care getting home, pepino.” 

 “Yeah,” Leonardo mumbled. “Night Hueso.” 

 He shuffled the cards in his hands again, not really counting them, just feeling them move between his fingers.

 He didn’t have a yes or no answer right now, but one thing was for sure.

 If he was going to do this, he needed to do a lot more research. 

————————————

 Leonardo had never read so much in his life.

 Which was saying a lot—assuming you counted comic books which he consumed en más. He asked Donnie to download every book on magic he could find onto Leo’s reading tablet. He browsed the internet and paid for multiple videos on how to do specific tricks. 

 He read while walking around the lair. To breakfast, to the game room, to Donnie’s lab, it didn’t matter. He spooked his family more than once by keeping the tablet square in front of his face and seamlessly dodging any obstacles in his way. He didn’t run into any doorways or trip over the excessive pizza boxes left on the living room floor. 

 The information seemed endless. On how to do tricks, build tricks, props, set up performances, the works. 

 But while gathering intel helped, it didn’t take him all that far.

 Thank goodness he had a co-council now. 

 “Look Junior, you’re thinking too basic right now.” Leonardo blew up another long balloon for the kid to contort into an airplane. Less of a trick and just something for them to do while they talked. 

 “Shouldn’t we be a little basic?” Cubito tilted his head. “I mean, it’s your first show. Papá always says that the phrase, “Go big or go home,” is for idiots.” 

 Leonardo tossed the long balloon across the space between them. The end of it bumped into Cubito’s forehead and then plopped on the ground. “Not that kind of big.” The kid wasn’t wrong, going for intense pursuits when he had no experience with a stage show would only go wrong. “I mean we need to consider what this kind of crowd would even find interesting or impressive. Just because I know how to saw someone in half doesn’t mean it’d wow anyone. I mean, you can remove your torso from your hips whenever you want.” 

 “But you’re doing it differently.” Horrible squeaks filled Cubito’s bedroom as he twisted the balloon into sections. “You’re not using natural magic to perform it. That’s what makes it impressive.” 

 Leonardo shrugged. “Sure, but how is the crowd supposed to know that? How are they supposed to just look at a trick and know I didn’t use magic to perform it. They’re going to assume that I am because they’re used to seeing stuff like that.” 

 “Hmm,” The skeleton tapped his chin with the unfinished balloon. “Well, I’m not sure how to make it work, but even if I haven’t learned how to do it, Papá can see magic if he wants to. It’s how he knows when my clone is doing homework instead of me.” He pouted and got back to work.

 The slider snorted and flopped down on the carpeted floor. “Wait, when did you learn to move your clone independent from yourself?” 

 “Oh, a few months ago.” He grinned. 

 “Isn’t that weird? Controlling two bodies at once?”

 “Nah, it’s just like moving your arms independent from each other. The only thing that still gets weird is my vision sometimes. I try to have at least one pair of eyes closed.”

 Leonardo considered that for a moment. Cubito being able to move any additional limbs or an entire self could be useful for a couple of tricks. The problem was keeping it out of sight.

 And again, Hueso knew his son could do this. The clone evidently had a magic signature of some kind. That alone could be a dead give away. 

 But then some people in the crowd could see magic. Some couldn’t. How was he supposed to—

 “Wait.” Leonardo pushed himself up just as Cubito finished another plane. “Donnie’s goggles.”

 “¿Qué?” 

 “Donnie’s goggles might have been a conduit for his magic sight, but I wonder if we could make something similar. If everyone in the crowd is able to ‘see’ magic we could ensure them that none of the tricks use magic.”

 “Sure.” Cubito tossed the plane in the air a few times before putting it on a pile with the others. “But then if you do want to use magic, won’t it be easy to spot?”

 Leonardo grinned. “Depends how these sight helpers work, for one. And two, the biggest part of magic is always misdirection. If everyone is staring at me, the performer, waiting for me to pull off some magic, they won’t be looking at you.”

 Cubito’s eyes went wide.

 “Tell me, Junior, when you do your clone stuff, is the magic signature only around that part and no where else?”

 “I can’t say for sure. Papá hasn’t described it.” He grinned and tapped a finger to his chin. “But maybe we could make it work.” 

 “Alright, let’s get back to brainstorming tricks.” Leonardo snatched up another balloon and stretched it out a few times. “We need stuff to get the crowd warmed up, then a few bigger ones, and of course a nice grand finale.” 

 Cubito couldn’t possible grin bigger as he snatched his notebook off the floor. “Where do we start?” 

——————————

 Leonardo’s pursuits for a contraption to let the entire audience search for magic led him first to Donnie. 

 “Is that what you’re doing all that reading for?” Donnie asked without lifting his goggles as he worked on whatever new invention sat on his desk.

 “Yeah, yeah, laugh if you want.” Leonardo ignored the urge to steal the softshell’s goggles to test them out. “I just need to know if you can build something like your goggles for the audience to use.” 

 Donnie hummed, finger on his chin. “While I would be interested in developing something that could function like my goggles for just anyone, it may already exist. And additionally, while I can at present use conduit stones to power tech, I have yet to find a way to make them work consistently with certain spells.” He shook his head. “You would be better asking Holly if she can access anything like that.” 

 Truth be told, that’s where Leonardo planned to go next anyway. Holly Blue, Donnie’s business partner, still ran her odds and ends shop in the Hidden City. While it steadily acted as more of a front for her and Donnie to pick up clients for Donnie to sell his inventions to, she still carried a ton of merchandise, and anything she didn’t carry she knew how to find. 

 So the next day he slipped down there through Donnie’s portal into his Hidden City lab. It wasn’t a far walk from there to the storefront, and as usual Holly Blue sat behind the counter.

 At present, the tall mutated wasp spoke to another client. Leonardo had seen them a few times before, some kind of hyena yōkai, but he still didn’t know their name. He took a few moments to peek around the shelves just in case he found what he was looking for. No dice.

 The hyena left about ten minutes later. Leonardo peered out from the shelves to see Holly Blue counting a handful of coins. 

 “Hello, Leonardo.” She sounded a bit occupied, but not upset. “It’s been a while. What brings you by today?”

 “Has it actually been that long?” He mumbled and approached the counter. Didn’t they see each other just last week at a family dinner? 

 “Well, a while since you’ve come in here to see me at least.” She dropped the coins into a box and locked it. “I suppose you have less reasons to visit the city if you aren’t working at Bueford’s however.”

 Leonardo glanced at the wall. Sometimes he missed the coffee job and the snake yōkai who ran it, but without owing a debt it didn’t make sense to sink as much time into the place when there were things like training to worry about.

 Though thinking about it in the present, training for what? Sure they wanted to be prepared in case a threat as big as the kraang showed back up, but it’d been months now of pretty steady silence. Their last big fight was against Varii and he was not only behind bars but behind a glass tank as well. 

 He shook his head. His brain was getting off track. 

 “Well, as much as I wish it was a social visit, it’s not.” Leonardo stepped up to the counter and jumped up to sit on it. “I need your help, actually.” 

 Her antenna went up. “Oh?”

 “Yup. I’m planning to put on a magic show. Still in the developmental stage, but I think something I need is some kind of tool anyone in the crowd can use to look for mystic powers.” 

 Holly Blue pulled out her cigarette holder, but kept it unlit and chewed on the end of it. “What for?”

 “Stage magic by itself isn’t going to impress almost anyone I know.” Leonardo pouted. “Like I can’t teleport things whenever I want. Or make things disappear. As far as anyone in the crowd would guess, I’d just be using my mystic powers to make most of this stuff happen.” 

 She tilted her head. “So?”

 “So,” Leonardo puffed out his chest as he continued. “If they all have a way to check and see if my mystic powers are active, and can confirm that they aren’t, they’ll know I’m not using any magic to make the trick happen.” 

 Holly Blue tapped her mandibles with her holder. “Making magic by not using magic, it’s certainly an interesting concept. And it’s good to know you’re finally pursuing this.” She pulled out a small notepad. “I know of something that you can use for this, automatically can adjust size and shape for the user as well. How many do you think you’ll need?”

 Leonardo did some quit mental math. His family and friends should be about it for this show at least. “Dunno, maybe highball it at twenty just in case?” 

 “Certainly.” She wrote a few notes and then did some math on the page. “I hope you know this isn’t going to be free, by the way.” 

 He did know that, but cringed anyway. “Aw, what, not even a family and friends discount?” 

 She snorted. “I’ll take of ten coins. That’s it.”

 “So that leaves the damage at…?”

 “Two hundred and twelve bright coins.”

 “Huh?” Leonardo almost fell off the counter. “Your jewelry was way cheaper than that.”

 “My jewelry has no magic properties. Don’t worry, I suggest you loan a pair to Donatello so he can recreate them so they’re cheaper in the future.”

 Leonardo was tempted to ask his twin to do that now, but it may take far too much time to accomplish. 

 “Guess I’m working more shifts at the bagel shop after all.” He mumbled and jumped off the counter. “Assuming Bueford could use the help.”

 “Oh, I’m sure he’ll let you work. He talks about missing you a lot.”

 His cheeks burned, but he pretended they weren’t as he turned to look at her. “He does?” 

 “Of course, you are rather pleasant company you know.”

 He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “I guess that means a lot coming from you, huh?” 

 “Don’t try to act surprised.” She tore off the sheet on the notepad. “We became friends even before you payed me back for breaking my jewelry.” 

 Yeah, probably, but Leonardo never knew how to approach that topic so they just never did. Like hey, thanks for letting me hang out in here and ramble about my day while I’m still paying you back for attacking you during a misunderstanding. But after Varii was stopped and Holly Blue recovered, the pair of them just spoke to each other like they’d always gotten along. 

 “Is something else on your mind?” 

 He blinked and looked back over to her. “What do you mean?”

 Her antenna wiggled back and forth. “I mean, is your pursuit of performing magic something from sudden inspiration? Or is there another motive?” 

 Leonardo shrugged. “A bit of both? My training lately hasn’t been going anywhere. Hueso suggested I try and do something else with my time for a while. I like doing magic so… why not try it?” 

 Her wings buzzed when she squinted at him, smiling. “Well, I look forward to seeing it. Assuming I’m invited for course.”

 “Hah, do you really have to ask? Of course you are. But I have to make some fancy invitations.” He paused. “And find a venue, in fact.” 

 “You’re not going to use Hueso’s restaurant?”

 “No, no, he doesn’t have a stage and I don’t want to make him close it down for a night.” Leonardo waved a hand. “But maybe he’d have some suggestions.” 

 “I can do some looking around on my end as well, if you like.”

 He raised an eyebrow at her. “And what’s that gonna cost me?”

 She laughed, wings buzzing again. “From me? Nothing. But a property owner may charge a rental fee.” 

 “Hm, noted, I’m going to have to make some insane tips at the bagel shop.” 

 “I’m sure that will be easy for you.” Holly Blue pulled out a lighter and lit her cigarette. “Go on now, I’ll get this order put in for you. I won’t expect a full payment right away. I know you’re good with your debts.” 

 He hated her phrasing it like that, but she wasn’t wrong. “Be sure to come get some coffee when I’m working, hm?” 

 “Of course. I look forward to seeing you again, Leonardo.”

—————————

 Hueso did, in fact, know of a place. 

 His restaurant wasn’t the only interior pocketed away inside the city, after all. And evidently, his ex-husband is one of the yōkai who manages a lot of these properties. Leonardo had to assume that’s how they met in the first place. 

 Thankfully the two were on good enough terms that Leonardo could easily rent a space out for a night. He looked over a few to decide on which one, finally settling on one of the smaller venues. The stage area wasn’t excessive but there was space behind it for props and the like, the front allowed for custom arranged seating, and he liked the set up for the lights. 

 Leonardo went ahead and set the date a month from now. 

 Mikey volunteered to make and send out the invitations. And how could Leonardo say no when his little brother looked so excited about it. 

 Holly Blue got the glasses for him, always true to her word. And with them in hand, Leonardo went about practicing any free minute he had. 

 “So, how’s it look?” Cubito asked during the testing phase. A clone of his left hand walked around the floor on the tips of its fingers.

 Leonardo studied it, seeing the faint glow of mystics around it. Thankfully there were no threads or anything to follow. “Glowy. So is the hand you copied it from, but I can’t see that if you hide it behind your back.”

 “So you think we can use it?” 

 “Oh, I bet we can, but we better work on your dexterity first.” 

 Any tricks where he’d need the skeleton’s help, he had to wait until he had some free time. Otherwise Leonardo occupied his time at home shuffling cards, counting them, making them disappear and reappear, and those were just the card tricks. He knew how to change the color of various scarves. How to make the TV remote seemingly teleport from various places in the room. And even knew how to do some mind reading tricks—he always tested those on Donnie. 

 The routine he laid out wasn’t anything fantastical, by his standards at least. Some simple card tricks, a couple of teleporting objects, a humorous mind reading routine, then Cubito would help out with some disappearing tricks and the grand finale of his shadow moving on its own. 

 He was pretty proud of that idea. Not that he’d be the first to do it, manipulating shadows for tricks was a tried and true technique, but he had a way to add his own flair to it. 

 Thank goodness he actually started to take ventriloquism lessons seriously over a year ago. 

 As the date got closer and closer, his nerves began to build. His brain would run through all the tricks trying to think of all the ways it could go south, and how to fix that. He tried to occupy his mind with more practice, with setting up props and stage decorations—Cubito insisted on a ton of balloon planes—and even some more reading. 

 “You alright, Leo?” Raph asked one evening as Leonardo lay sprawled out on the sofa, his tablet over his face. 

 “Yeah.” He moved the device as he replied. “Dealing with performance anxiety, I guess.”

 “Hah, you?” 

 He smiled at his big brother. “It’s not that surprising is it? First big show. I just want it to go well, you know? And not massively embarrass myself.” 

 “Like you don’t do that on the daily anyway.” Raph grabbed one of the pillows and shoved it over his face. 

 Leonardo kicked his legs before tossing the cushion off. “Difference between embarrassing myself in front of you—who is far more embarrassing by the way—and embarrassing myself in front of our entire family and all our friends. On a stage.” 

 “You’ll be fine.” Raph tapped his nose and began to walk off. “Even if you mess something up, you always know how to make it look like it was on purpose. Who’s gonna know?” 

 Cubito would, but that’d be about it.

 Leonardo let out a long breath and flopped back onto the sofa. Getting nervous wouldn’t help him, even if it was normal. He needed to recenter himself. This was for fun. It’s supposed to be fun. 

 Just focus on that and take whatever followed. 

—————————

 Leonardo weaved through the crowd at the entrance lobby. Already packed, or at least it seemed that way given the smaller space. There weren’t any faces he didn’t expect to see. His brothers, his father, Draxum, April, Cassandra, Casey, Sunita, Hueso, Todd, Bueford, Holly Blue, and even Piel and a few of the brownie scouts were here. 

 He took a few deep breaths and kept walking. No one looked in his direction because, well, they shouldn’t be able to see him right now. He had on that magic cape Holly gave him as part of his ensemble and it gave him the ability to turn invisible. His family often hated when he used it, because of course it just gave him the opportunity to sneak up on them or steal their food. Right now he was just trying to observe without getting stopped.

 Not that it mattered. He slid up next to Holly Blue, listening to her chat with Sunita. The wasp’s antenna twitched once, twice, then angled in his direction.

 “Leonardo.” She looked toward him without looking right at him. “Your lack of visibility doesn’t prevent me from smelling you.” 

 He let out a chuckle and tugged on the strands of the cape to make himself visible again. “Darn, you caught me.” 

 “I hope the rest of your show is more impressive.”

 “Please, I’m not even using this for the show. Not to make myself invisible anyway. I just think it’s stylish, don’t you agree.” He tossed the cape back, letting it flourish in the air. 

 Sunita clapped her hands as she smiled. “I love it. I love the whole look.” 

 He was glad to hear that. Not as fancy as it could be, but from what Leonardo read a lot of magicians these days didn’t want to go with the whole suit and tie business. A loose button up, a bowtie, and some dress slacks with the shoes to match is all he needed. Well, he did add the sash through his belt to match his mask. Coordination was everything. 

 “I dunno.” April approached and looped her arm with her girlfriend’s. “Looks kind of like a vampire.” 

 Leonardo huffed out a laugh. “Say that again and I’ll bite you to prove it.” 

 “Children.” Holly Blue scolded. “Leonardo, shouldn’t you be getting ready?” 

 “I wanted to come see who showed up.” He stuck out his tongue. “But fine, fine. I’m headed backstage. See you guys out there.” With that he tugged on the strands again and slipped out of the lobby and into the main room. 

 The chairs were already arranged, rows angled towards the small stage at the far end of the room. From the ceiling hung dozens of balloons along with the lights. Just as well since it hid some of the additional wires he set up.

 Leonardo ran straight down the isle and jumped on stage. He made himself visible again before nudging the curtain to the side and stepping backstage. 

 “There you are, primo.” Cubito called out as he stood next to the light controls. His outfit was a bit more glamorous, with a glittering, blue vest to go on top of everything.

 “Just scouting the crowd.” Leonardo winked at him. “Everything good to go?”

 “You bet!” 

 “Right, cool.” He tried to look confident, but the fact he kept counting his breaths probably gave him away. “Just need to not screw it up now.” 

 “Come on, primo.” Cubito nudged his side. “Where’s that chill and over confident swagger of yours?”

 Leonardo cracked a smile. “Yeesh Junior, when you word it like that you sound old.” 

 “I’m just trying to sound like you.”

 “I do not say ‘swagger.’” 

 “You get close enough.” 

 “Yeah, yeah, sure. Now come on, let’s run through the plan one more time.” 

 Twenty minutes later it was time to begin. Leonardo kept counting his breaths. Relax. He’d been in far more terrifying situations before and handled most of them with grace. This was nothing in comparison, and he knew everyone in that audience. Save the panic for the day he performed for a bunch of strangers. 

 “Okay, Junior.” He exhaled. “Show time.” 

 The skeleton grinned and gave him a thumbs up before flicking the switches on the lights. Everything outside went dark and Leonardo took a step forward. 

 “Good evening, everyone!” He tossed the curtains aside just as the stage lights came on. “Thank you all for coming to see me tonight. Quite a lot of gorgeous faces in this crowd. Donnie being the exception, of course.”

 A few laughs emerged, others trying to stifle the noise.

 “Hilarious, Nardo.” Donnie groaned. Someone shushed him.

 “No, no, please.” Leonardo waved a hand and snatched a stack of cards out of his pocket. He shuffled them between his hands. “Chat as much as you like. As some of you are aware, there were glasses on your chairs. Feel free to use them at any point to try and spot any mystics I may be using.” He winked. “Or don’t and leave the mystery in the air. The choice is yours.” 

 “Now,” He separated his hands, letting the cards fall between them back into a perfect stack. “I’m sure you all know I’m a massive show off, but we better get you warmed up before we get to the big stuff. So who wants to volunteer for a card trick?” 

 He probably shouldn’t be surprised by the sheer number of hands that went up, but it still delighted him to the point that he let out a laugh. Especially when he saw his little brother practically jumping out of his seat.

 “Alright, alright, come here Mikey before you knock someone over.” Leonardo gestured him up to the stage. 

 The box turtle darted out of his row and up the steps. 

 “Excited are we?” Leonardo kept shuffling.

 “Are you kidding?” Mikey shouted. “I kept asking you to test stuff on me at home and you refused. Now I get to see the real deal.” 

 “Sure, sure, but first thing’s first.” He fanned out the deck. “Pick a card.” After giving the suggestion he shut his eyes and kept his fingers placed on all the cards that were displayed. He felt Mikey tug the one out of the eighteenth position. 

 Leonardo instructed Mikey show the card to the rest of the crowd before having the box turtle slide it back into place. From there he shuffled the deck a couple of times, eyes still closed. During the flashy displays he easily snapped Mikey’s card to the top of the deck so he could keep it pressed against his palm. With the other hand he gave the deck to Mikey.

 “Alright,” Leonardo finally opened his eyes. “Now toss that in the air.”

 “Huh?” Mikey blinked. “The whole thing?”

 “Of course! Make it rain!” 

 His little brother still look dumbfounded, but finally did as he was asked. The red backed cards flew into the air as a solid deck, but as they reached the top the cards fluttered apart and drifted down around the stage.

 Leonardo pretended to take a look around and then snapped his hand toward one bigger cluster of cards. The card in his palm now rested between his fingers, as if he’d grabbed it. 

 After the cards finished falling, he smirked at the crowd as he showed the card to Mikey. “Is this your card?” 

 Mikey screeched, hands on the side of his head. “What?” 

 Leonardo took a moment to show the card to everyone else. There were gasps of surprise, then a few cheers and a short applause. He bowed and tossed the card onto the floor with the rest of them. “Alright, let’s keep the ball rolling. Make sure not to slip on any cards on the way down, huh Mikey?” He said that as he took a few steps back, intentionally letting the heel of his shoe slip on a card. He let himself stumble and then catch his balance, drawing more laughter from the crowd. 

 The next couple of tricks ran just as smooth as the first. He invited one of the scouts up—Julia—who couldn’t hide her excitement behind her rough facade. It was too easy to slide a duplicate just under her hat as she tried to insist she wasn’t so easy to fool. Then it was just a matter of another shuffle routine, making one card look more enticing than the others, and even letting her shuffle the deck once. He did the same routine he did with Cubito, pretending to fudge up pulling the right card, only for her to find it under her hat. Leonardo took another bow. 

 Then came the harder one, and who better to fit the challenge than Donnie. His twin came up on the stage, trying to lecture about how he knew how it all worked. 

 “I won’t be rude enough to reveal your tricks.” The softshell stuck his nose in the air. “But I’m certain you’ve done things to these decks to make it work.”

 Leonardo smirked at him. “Is that so? Well, in that case.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a new deck, this one still sealed in the plastic. “Let’s try a little something.”

 He ripped off the plastic and shuffled the deck once before letting Donnie pick a card. Then he held out a sharpie, instructing him to draw something on it. 

 And of course, with everyone’s eyes drawn to the stage, they couldn’t see Cubito’s clone dangling in the lights. Well, part of a clone anyway. A head an an arm was all he needed to spy on the card and use hand signs to spell out what was on it. 

 With the drawing finished, Leonardo had the card returned to the deck and he immediately tucked it away. Then he gave the deck to his twin and instructed him to be the one to shuffle it. 

 Donnie did, or tried to. He struggled doing it in mid-air which just gave Leonardo another opportunity for a joke.

 “Having a bit of trouble there, Don-Tron?”

 His twin glared at him. 

 “No worries, Junior can bring out a little table to make things easier for you.”

 “Is making fun of me part of the show or something?”

 Leonardo shrugged and flicked him on the nose. “Well it wasn’t part of the plan, but you’re making it so easy.” 

 A few more laughs rose from the crowd as Cubito brought the table out. In spite of Donnie’s glare, he used the table to shuffle the deck once, twice, and then a third time. 

 “So,” Leonardo took the deck back. He flipped the cards through his fingers, using the movement to slip Donnie’s back onto the bottom of the deck. “Let’s see if I can pick up the vibes of what you drew.” 

 Donnie raised a brow and blinked, activating his magic vision. The bright purple glow always caught Leonardo off guard, reminded him of things he’d rather not think about, but he swiftly grappled his composure. “Uh huh, and how are you going to do that?”

 Leonardo smirked and shrugged before he stuck his tongue out and licked the back of the deck.

 “Ew! Nardo!” 

 The crowd laughed again. Mikey cheered. 

 Leonardo kept up the act and smacked his lips a few time. “Mmm, right, okay. So it’s definitely something important to you. Something you’re fond of.” He put his hand on the back of the deck and started to toss the cards off one by one. “Tastes a bit metallic too. With a dash of radical.”

 As Leonardo kept talking and kept tossing cards on the floor, realization slowly worked it’s way over Donnie’s face. His brows went up, his eyes got wider and wider, and his mouth even opened. 

 “Shame he didn’t come with, honestly. But you’ll be sure to show him this later, right Donnie? Along with all seven of your hearts.” He finally got to the bottom of the deck and held up the card without even looking at it.

 Donnie glared when he gasped, his eyes returning to normal. “How?” 

 Leonardo just chuckled and showed the crowd, gaining him another round of applause. 

 “Aw,” Mikey added. “You drew Shelldon so cute, Donnie.” 

 The softshell grumbled and snatched the card out of Leo’s hand as he returned to his seat. 

 “Alright, enough of the cards. I’m getting sick of stepping in them.” He joked and kicked up a flurry of them off the stage. “Someone give me a color.” 

 “Pink.” Cassandra screeched from the crowd.

 He laughed and gestured to Cubito for the bag of balloons. “You got it!”

 True to his word, he plucked out a pink one and blew it up. He kept an eye on the lights, waiting for it to shift into a harsh spotlight. He needed the shadows to pull this one off. 

 Because with the balloon in hand, he turned it and himself around a few times to let everyone see it. Then he stood close to the curtain.

 Without a warning he pulled out a needle and stabbed it.

 It exploded. Gasps came from the crowd and with that momentary flinch Leonardo twisted his hand up to reveal a full bouquet of flowers. A brief applause and even a compliment on the arrangement from Hueso. Leonardo was glad to hear that. After all, he picked out a lot of yellows on purpose for the rest of this trick.

 “They are pretty nice flowers, aren’t they?” Leonardo admired them as he pulled a lighter out of his pocket. “Wonder who they’re for?” Without answering the question he snapped open the lighter and tapped the flame against the paper wrapping.

 The whole thing went up in an instant. More shocked gasps from the audience. He let go of it, watching the flames twisted in the air and the smoldering pieces fall on the stage. 

 “Whoops.” Leonardo’s hand slipped to his side just long enough for him to grab a small paper card from his pocket. Then he snapped it up between his fingers, in the hand that had just been holding the bouquet. “Well, at least I kept this. Hey Junior, wanna read this for me?” He held it up to the skeleton.

 Cubito grinned as he leaned over. “Hmm, ‘To my gorgeous girlfriend, Sunita.’”

 April screeched out a, “What?” As Sunita gasped in delight. 

 Of course, that also quickly melted into a frustrated shout. “Wait, Leo! Did you set my flowers on fire?”

 He cringed and tapped the card to his chin. “Ah, whoops, guess that did happen. But maybe the ones under your seat will be just as nice.” 

 Despite the harsh light in his eyes, he could see all the wide eyes in the crowd. Sunita scrambled to look under her chair and April did as well. Then she snapped the bouquet up, looking the exact same as the one from earlier. 

 She cheered and waved them around as another round of applause rose from the crowd. 

 “Leo, what the heck.” April shouted.

 “What?” He shrugged. “It was your idea to do this, right?” He shot her a wink. 

 “Aw, Apes, that’s so sweet.” Sunita sniffed at the flowers. 

 Leonardo saw April struggle with a response. Either admit that no, it wasn’t her idea in the slightest, or just play along and accept the praise. 

 Still, he chose to move on before she made that decision. “Alright Junior, let’s keep the ball rolling. Or more like the model plane in this case, huh?”

 Cubito grinned and darted backstage to grab the prop. He returned eagerly holding it out. 

 Leonardo reached for it, but froze. Something didn’t sound right. He knew the sound of something cutting through the air all too well, somewhere from above? He glanced up just when he saw one of the larger lights start to fall.

 He tackled Cubito to the ground, both of them rolling across the stage as the light crashed into the wood. Everyone gasped again. 

 Leonardo looked up, staring at the metal poll that was supposed to keep the light in the air. It’d been cut through. 

 “Uh, Leo?” Raph called out. “Is that part of the show?” 

 He didn’t get the chance to reply before he heard the sound again. This time he saw it, metal rings rushing through the air towards the rest of the lighting. 

 Leonardo cursed and got up, taking Cubito with him as he dodged more falling lights. With a second break, he tugged his cape off and wrapped it around the skeleton’s shoulders.

 “Junior, take that and hide somewhere.” 

 “Huh?” He squeaked. “What is going on?” 

 Practically on cue, the smoke bomb hit the stage. More gasps and shouts of confusion, finally followed by Donnie shouting, “Oh no, is that freaking—”

 Hypno-Potamus appeared on the stage, with that whatever-his-name-was worm guy on his shoulder. 

 “Good evening, ladies and gents.” The mutant bowed. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think we all know there can only be one magic themed mutant in town.” He pointed at Leo.

 Leonardo once again nudged Cubito back, urging him to go hide. “You don’t own the title, Hypno, and how did you even know this was going on?”

 “Uh, duh.” The worm—Wyatt? William?—snapped out an invitation. “We got your little invite.”

 “Huh?” Leonardo snapped his gaze over to Mikey. “Mikey! You invited them?”

 “What?” The box turtle shrunk when he noted the glare coming from his other two siblings as well. “I thought since they hadn’t done any crime for a while we were on good terms.” 

 “They stole the kraang key!”

 “And apologized!” 

 “Hang on a freaking minute.” Bueford shouted over them. “Did this guy just interrupt Leo’s show to hog the magician title?” 

 “Well,” Hypno scoffed. “That’s a bit simplistic of a—”

 He stopped, likely due to the amount of glares coming from everyone in the crowd. The brownie scouts even pulled out various blunt objects for weapons—just when did they bring those in? 

 Leonardo would be flattered, but the last thing they needed was a chaotic battle inside the building he was renting and would likely have to pay extra fees on thanks to the damage that already occurred. 

 Sadly, he didn’t get a chance to toss out any peaceful words. 

 Cassandra screeched when she jumped for the stage, soon followed by the scouts. Hypno jumped away from them and summoned more of his rings. 

 “Casey!” Leo shouted at her. “Don’t bring the girls up here.”

 Cassandra replied as she dodged the sharp objects and even deflected one of them. “They are as iron willed as I am.”

 “They’re still kids.” He snapped, which reminded him. He turned around to see Cubito still there. “Junior, go hide. Please.” 

 He rolled his eyes. “I’m a little hard to hurt, primo.” 

 “Hard doesn’t mean impossible. Please just wait for this to blow over? Your dad would destroy me if something happened to you.” 

 Cubito groaned, head tilting back. “Fine.” With that, he tugged on the strings of the cape and vanished. 

 Leonardo turned back to the scuffle, though he wasn’t sure what he could even do considering he didn’t have his swords on hand. He may not even need to participate. His siblings all joined Cassandra, so did Casey Jr and Splinter. 

 So instead, Leonardo headed down to the crowd, ducking under a few stray rings and even a pigeon that soared overhead. Damn, Hypno absolutely shredded one of the curtains. 

 “Leonardo,” Hueso grabbed the slider the moment he stepped off the stage. “Where is my son?”

 “Um, safe?” 

 “Your tone does not instill confidence.”

 “Look I gave him my cape so he could go hide. As soon as my siblings get this guy out of here we can—”

 “Oh that does it!” The worm with the nice hair suddenly screeched from the stage. “Try this one on for size, losers!”

 Leonardo couldn’t see what the worm was doing in the crowd. But he could see Hypno whose eyes went wide when he gasped. 

 “Warren! Don’t!”

 Right. Warren. That was his name. 

 That realization settled so much smoother than the blast of magic that erupted from the stage. A visible wave of the stuff rushed through the room in a mass of colors. Leonardo flinched as it passed over him. For half a breath it looked like nothing happened, but then he saw the walls starting to distort. 

 “That hippo has reality bending magic?” Draxum shouted from a nearby seat. “Everyone grab onto—”

 The alchemist’s words were swallowed along with everything else in the room. Everything twisted and then unraveled. Leonardo felt himself fall. 

 Unclear if he passed out or not. His eyes did open, however, and he found himself staring at a ceiling.

 Well, maybe a ceiling. Were those stairs?

 Leonardo sat up and stood, glancing around. Definitely a set of stairs on the ceiling, one in front of him too. The walls in the room were all crooked and various bright colors. Paintings of scenery sat on them, though some melded into the corners were the wall met.

 Like some kind of bad video game. 

 This all felt familiar, however. Didn’t Hypno pull something like this when he stole those journals? Except something about this felt a lot less refined. 

 “Hello?” He called out, just in case someone he knew was nearby. They were all trapped in this space, right? Or were they trapped in separate spaces all together? 

 Leonardo tried to ignore his growing anxiety. His heart beat faster and faster as he walked down the hall, feeling it shift him to a crooked angle. His walk turned into a run as he went for the stairs. 

 He wasn’t all alone in here, right? Despite how bright and colorful everything was, the air felt just as suffocating as it did in that dimension where the kraang were trapped. All the motion made his heart race. The panic brought a pressure to his chest which then shifted into a sharp pain. 

 Leonardo skidded to a stop and crouched down. Not now. Not now. This hadn’t happened in months why was it coming up now? He forced himself to breathe, keeping it steady until the pain eased up, but every thump in his chest felt like a hot nail trying to dig deeper and deeper. 

 “Kid?” 

 He gasped and looked up. Bueford was just down the hall, staring at him. 

 Leonardo tried to stand, but stumbled back down. Bueford slid toward him, his four arms reaching out. It seemed to take him way longer than it should have for him to approach, but eventually he managed it.

 “Hey, you okay?” Bueford rested a hand on his head. 

 “I think so.” It felt so much easier to breathe now that he wasn’t the only one here. “Just need a second.” 

 “Sure, sure.” The snake glanced around a few times. “Yeesh, this is a mess of a distorted space, isn’t it?”

 Leonardo tried to smile, the pain in his chest easing up. “What, have you seen better?”

 Bueford laughed. “I have one in my throat, remember?”

 Ah, right, the snake’s bizarre ability. Frequently just referred to as “the door,” if Bueford ever needed to act in self-defense he apparently would just open his mouth as wide as he could manage. He never really described what it looked like. Supposedly people just saw whatever terrified them the most. 

 Due to that reason, Bueford never let Leonardo see it for himself. He just heard the chaos that occurred when a few rowdy customers refused to leave quietly. 

 “Don’t suppose you can use a portal trick to break us out of here, huh?” 

 Some of the pressure returned to Leonardo’s chest. “I… no. Sorry. I don’t have my swords or anything.”

 “Oh.” Bueford scratched his cheek. “I didn’t realize those were required.”

 The slider barked out a laugh as he stood again. “Yup. Over eighteen years old and I still need my training wheels to do a few magic tricks.” He failed to keep the bitterness out of his voice. 

 “Hey, Leo, don’t kick yourself over it.” Bueford patted his arm and began to head down the hall. “We all know just how capable you are. Needing a bit more time is nothing to be ashamed of. Now come on, let’s see if we can find anyone else in this mess.”

 Leonardo nodded and didn’t say much else as he followed after. Finding someone would be the best course of action. Preferably Hypno, Draxum or Donnie to try and undo this. All three of them, even. 

 For a bit the path was just full of stairs and hallways. The walls steadily shifted colors, and the paintings changed subjects. From outdoor scenery to abstract faces. 

 “Ugh, hating all these stairs.” Bueford huffed. “I can deal with them in small amounts but this is getting frustrating.”

 Leonardo cracked a smile. “Want me to carry you?” 

 “Hah, think you could? I’m a lot heavier than I look.” 

 “Bueford? Nardo?” 

 Leonardo stopped when he heard Donnie’s voice. He looked left, then right. “Donnie?” It sounded close by, but he couldn’t see anyone.

 Draxum’s voice cut in as well. “Turn your gaze to your left.”

 He did, looking at the abstract painting on the wall. Only now could he make out the shapes of Donnie and Draxum among the loud shapes. 

 “Whoa.” Bueford slid toward it. “How did you guys get in there?”

 “Us?” Donnie said. “You’re the ones in a box.”

 “A what?” Leonardo said. 

 “This space must have layers of distortion to it.” Draxum might be shaking his head, but he was too tiny to tell. “Leonardo, can you reach into whatever object we’re in?”

 Well, he hadn’t even tried it, but now he did. Indeed his fingers didn’t touch a sliver of paint. Instead they went right through like it was a window. If he went far enough he could probably grab the pair of them. Except…

 “Hey Donnie, are there any stairs where you are?” He asked. 

 “Nope. Just weird hills and a lot of shapes.”

 “Perfect, we’re coming in then.” 

 “Huh?”

 Leonardo snatched Bueford off the floor. Indeed, his boss was in fact a lot heavier than he looked, but it wasn’t impossible for Leo to manage.

 Though it didn’t help when he wiggled around. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, kid!” 

 He didn’t leave room for discussion. Leonardo dove into the painting headfirst. Bueford screamed as they tumbled through. The slider’s head bumped into something before they both hit the ground. 

 The environment completely changed. At least the colors were still just as bright, but instead of hallways they rose into misshapen hills. There almost seemed to be a sky, but it and the space around them were full of odd shapes, some flat and some three dimensional. Circles, cubes, triangles, something with more sides than Leo cared to count, those kinds of things. 

 “I’m glad my assumption about the doorway was correct.” Draxum commented as he helped Bueford up. 

 Donnie held out a hand as well, and Leonardo took it. “You okay, Leo?”

 “Fine.” He lied for the time being. “Neither of you are hurt, right?”

 “Not in the slightest, despite what a disaster of a reality spell Draxum says this is.”

 Leonardo turned to the alchemist. 

 “Indeed.” Draxum crossed his arms. “It’s clear this hippo didn’t know what he was unleashing and likely has no control over it at present.”

 “So… is it dangerous?”

 “Potentially, if it twists too much. But despite the disarray it’s in, it seems to be stable so that’s unlikely.” 

 “What do we do then?” Leonardo look at Donnie. “Can you dismantle this thing?”

 “I’ve already studied it rather thoroughly after finding Draxum.” Donnie blinked a few times, activating his vision and then shutting it off again. “I can make out the structure of it, but in order to dismantle something this large I’m going to need a lot more power.” 

 “Essentially, we need to find Michael.” Draxum added. 

 Leonardo’s shoulders went rigid at the mention of his little brother. “Shit, Mikey. Ugh, I hope he manages to find someone fast.”

 “Relax, he’s been doing a lot better about his flare ups. He should be fine until someone locates him.” The alchemist glanced around. “Speaking of, we better keep moving.” 

 So they did. Bueford definitely had an easier time sliding along these strange hills than up and down the stairways. Leonardo would always stop at some of the floating shapes, checking if anyone else may appear inside of one. He tried to keep the conversation going with the others, on the off chance someone would overhear them as well. 

 Eventually, they did hear some voices. The three young girls under Cassandra’s care seemed to be chatting back and forth.

 “Where is that coming from?” He kept looking around and grabbing shapes. 

 “Here.” Bueford held up the pyramid shaped one. 

 Leonardo darted over to it. “Girls? Hey girls, can you hear us?”

 The chatter stopped. Then Julia called out. “Huh? Blue one?”

 He sighed. Cassandra was such an influence on these kids. “It’s Leo, and yes.” He stared into the pyramid but couldn’t exactly make out any visuals, just blurry colors. “Where are you guys? Can you see me?” 

 “No?” Robin said. “No, wait, yes we can! Haha, you’re in the ceiling light. It’s making your face turn into funny shapes.” 

 Right, okay, may be hard for them to come through then. In that case. “Alright, incoming.” 

 Donnie called out to him. “Leo, wait—”

 He didn’t. He simply shoved his head into the pyramid and that’s all it took. The rest of him suddenly followed after and he fell from the ceiling onto the floor. 

 Not a graceful landing. He heard the girls laughing before he saw them. They were in some kind of house though it… wasn’t normal. All the furniture looked like it was made of plastic. More bright colors, weird patterns, shapes, even the carpet under his hands felt far too scratchy. 

 He pushed himself up to get a better look at the girls, all sitting around a small table with comically sized plastic mugs in their hands. He was about to crack a joke about a tea party, but then his gaze moved over to the bulky shape on the left.

 Hypno sat on the other side of the table, tied up with a nasty bruise just above his eye. 

 Leonardo jumped to his feet. “Hypno!? What are you doing here?”

 “We found him and caught him.” Julia put her hands on her hips. “Then we did as instructed in a survival scenario. Wait until our fearless leader finds us.” 

 Leonardo heard the others finally landed on the floor behind him, though judging from the grunts only Donnie landed properly. 

 “Congrats on kicking his butt I guess.” Leonardo approached the hippo, trying to keep his rage under wraps. “What’s the matter, Hypno? Suddenly lose your magic mojo?” 

 The magician scoffed. “I would just rather not hurt children, you know?” 

 “No, I don’t, considering you used to bully us when we were still kids.”

 “As if I knew that at the time.” 

 “Stop, stop.” Donnie shoved Leonardo to the side. “Hypno, can you undo all this?” 

 Hypno’s ears dropped. “No. I told Warren not to use it. I told him it wasn’t ready yet. Ugh, and now I don’t even know where he is! What if he’s stuck under something? You know how—”

 “Stop.” Donnie repeated. “If you don’t know how to undo it we’re back to looking for Mikey.” 

 “Look, I didn’t mean for this all to happen.”

 Leonardo felt his eyebrow twitch. He clenched his fists, still trying to control his temper. “No? What did you think was going to happen, magic man? Yeah let’s just bust into a show and interrupt it and I’m sure it’ll pan out fine.” He laughed and gave a shrug.

 Hypno glared at him. “Well I wouldn’t have had to if you didn’t think you can just show up and take my title.”

 His emotions had him moving faster than his brain. He snatched the collars of Hypno’s fancy coat and practically jerked the huge mutant out of his dinky plastic chair. “That’s not what I was doing at all. I was just trying to have a fun little show with my family and friends and you ruined everything.” 

 His voice didn’t echo in the strange space, but it did rattle the teacups on the table. 

 He took a couple of deep breaths to get the air back in his lungs. Only then did he note the silence around him. He glanced at the girls and then his twin who all stared at him with wide eyes. 

 Leonardo tossed Hypno back into the chair. “This doesn’t matter right now, we need to—”

 “Leo.” Donnie grabbed his shoulder. “I know this is frustrating, but we can do the show again later.” 

 He shrugged his twin off. “You don’t get it.” 

 He rolled his eyes. “Okay, then help me get it. Because truthfully I haven’t understood this from the moment it started. Out of nowhere you suddenly start reading for almost twenty-four hours a day, practicing tricks every moment I see you, and then announce you’re doing an entire show? What even brought this on?” 

 Leonardo turned his glare on his brother. “Why are you asking all that like an accusation? What, you go and get a job with Holly Blue and that’s fine but when I decide to do something with a hobby of mine it’s weird?” 

 Donnie narrowed his eyes. “At the risk of admitting my flaws once again, if you recall, that job with Holly occurred due to my own insecurities.” 

 “Why does this even matter right now? We need to find Mikey.”

 “Because if you’re avoiding it now you definitely will be later. What is going on?” 

 “Nothing!” Leo snapped. “I just got bored with training taking me absolutely nowhere so I decided to do something else with my time, okay? Is that really such a big deal?” Ugh, why was he even getting this heated about it. Because it wasn’t a big deal. So the show got interrupted, who cares? Donnie was right. He could just do another one later.

 But it’d been going so well. Everyone was laughing and having fun. He’d been so proud because he put so much work into it and then— 

 Someone touched his hand. The contact made him realized just how tight his fist was clenched. He looked down to see Abigail staring at him, concerned. Then she smiled and held up one of the tea mugs. 

 The tension left his shoulders. He took the cup and stared at the inside of it. Nothing. He pretended to take a sip anyway, pretended it was full of citrus chamomile. 

 Then he tossed the mug at Hypno. It made a satisfying thunk when he bounced off his forehead. 

 “Nardo.” Donnie spoke up, his tone much more calm. “Trust me, I get your frustration with training. I know that you know all about that.” 

 The slider snorted. “At least I’m not going off to join the Battle Nexus.”

 “Old news!” His twin waved his arms before calming down again. “My point is, I get it, and I get why you’re frustrated. But let’s not turn Hypno into another piece of gaudy furniture.” 

 Bueford snickered from where he and Draxum still stood. “I can show him the door if you like.” 

 Leonardo cracked a smile. “Nah, nah. Come on, let’s get moving again.”

 “But we should wait for Grandma CJ,” Robin said. 

 “Hey, I’m sure Casey would tell you to stick with us. Now untie the hippo.” He glanced over the fancy knot work they used. “Because I’m not carrying him.” 

 The girls did as he asked, and while Leonardo considered giving him another threat, it seemed the didn’t need to. Anytime the girls growled in the magician’s direction, he flinched. 

 Good, because Leo didn’t have his swords and without his swords… blah blah blah. 

 The group left the house, almost shocking that they could, but the streets looked just as bizarre as the buildings. The road looked like it was made of plastic as well. In fact, it and the grass underneath looked completely flat. Just painted onto a shiny surface. 

 “Ugh, good grief.” Donnie complained at the sight of it. “This looks more fake than the set design of Bedtime for Bozos.” 

 Leonardo rolled his eyes as they began to walk. “I know you’re only talking about the dream sequences because we all agreed the set during the final fight was on point.” 

 “Still one of the cheapest.” 

 “What are you boys talking about?” Bueford chimed in.

 Leonardo glanced at him. “Hah, what? I guess you would only know Lou Jitsu from his Nexus fame. I need to show you some of his movies sometime.” 

 The chatter about his father’s work continued as they passed through the strange little town. Now and then they would peek in windows and even try some of the doors. Not all of them lead to buildings. One door lead to a dark forest, another to what looked like an island covered in food, and one that had a train coming directly for them. Donatello slammed the door as fast as he could. 

 The lack of results made Leonardo anxious again. Not just about finding Mikey in this mess, but everyone else as well. Just where was Cubito? Telling him to just run off and hide had been a stupid idea, hadn’t it? How could anyone make sure he was safe in that situation? 

 He tried to focus on the conversations as a distraction. As well as keeping half an eye on Hypno. The guy hadn’t said a word the entire time, nervously watching Leo or the brownie scouts who surrounded him on all sides. Wait, when did one of them pick up a bat? Or did she just have it the whole time. 

 The sound of a door flying open made Leonardo jumped. He turned his gaze ahead once more to see Raph stumbled out of it. 

 “Raph!” Leo and Donnie both cheered as they rushed forward.

 The slider’s excitement only grew when he realized Raph wasn’t alone. Both Caseys and Mikey soon followed. 

 The box turtle grinned. “Leo! Donnie!”

 “Mikey!”

 “Warren!”

 Leonardo blinked at Hypno’s sudden shout. Only then did he notice the little worm sitting on Mikey’s shoulder, though he didn’t stay there. With the strength that no worm should have, he launched himself into the air. Leonardo watch him fly and land right in Hypno’s open hands.

 “Aw, thank goodness you’re safe.” Hypno rubbed their faces together. 

 “Of course.” Warren smirked. “I convinced these losers to let me tag along.” 

 Leonardo ignored the temptation to grab the guy and chuck him into the sunset. 

 He turned away from the increasing sappiness between the pair—seriously what was their relationship at this point—and back to his siblings. Donnie had Mikey trapped in a hug.

 “Oh it is so good we found you.” Donnie announced. “You and I can undo this whole mess.”

 Mikey’s eyes widened. “Really?” 

 “Hold up.” Leonardo glanced around at their group. Draxum and Bueford still stood a good ten feet away. By now all the scouts surrounded Cassandra and Casey, Abigail demanding a piggy back ride in the process. “Is that safe to do before we find everyone?”

 “It won’t matter.” Draxum announced. “With this dispelled, we should all drop back into the show area as we were when the spell happened.” 

 He clapped his hands together. “Great. Cool. Well in that case…” he gestured to Donnie and Mikey. “Do your thing, I guess?” 

 Leonardo watched his brothers glance at each other. Mikey’s grin widened before he simply jumped on Donnie’s back. His markings and eyes lit up and the gravity around them shifted, getting lighter and lighter by the second. 

 Then Donnie’s eyes lit up alongside the parts of his golden scar that weren’t covered by his mask or jacket. He knelt down and touched the ground. Jagged lines of purple and gold shot through the cheap looking street. They danced over everything, underneath Leonardo’s feet, over all the buildings, and then up an invisible wall they couldn’t see. 

 Bit by bit the space began to fall apart. The shapes between all the glowing trails faded out or simply shattered. 

 “Brace yourselves.” Draxum announced. “There may be—”

 “Whoa,” Donnie interrupted as he shouted. “Mikey that’s too much!” 

 Leonardo glanced back at them, ready to intervene, but it appeared to be too late. The light from all the rips in the altered reality shone even brighter. And despite that fact that Donatello let go and took a step back, the glow got more and more intense. Leonardo squinted, unable to see. A ringing filled his ears. 

 Something tossed him backwards. His shell hit the ground, but at least he recognized it. Wood. He heard gasps and groans. He opened his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of the stage room except…

 Why was everything shaking? 

 Leonardo could see it in the lights, the balloons, the thin pieces of wire he set up and even the projection camera. Glancing down he could see the seats rattling as well. The whole room shifted when he stood.

 “What is going on?” Hueso shouted. Good to see him again. Draxum had been right on the money, everyone was back where they were. Even Hypno and Warren were on stage again.

 But where was Cubito?

 “Damn it,” Draxum cursed. “Donatello and Michael must have shredded the magic holding this space together when they undid the reality spell.” 

 “Sorry!” Mikey squeaked.

 “Apologize later.” The alchemist pointed to the exit. “We all need to get out of here now.”

 The urgency in his tone made sense a second later when Leonardo spotted a crack split open through the ceiling. The shaking got worse. A few of the rattling lights fell to the ground. 

 Cassandra grabbed all of her scouts and sprinted toward the door, Casey not far behind her. Leo’s brothers followed after along with Hypno and Warren. Holly and Bueford less ran to the exit and more so moved at a brisk pace. 

 But where was Cubito?

 He wasn’t the only one looking for the kid. Hueso hadn’t moved toward the exit once, glancing around and even calling out a few times. 

 The kid had to be back stage right? And as a chunk of ceiling fell onto the floor across the room, Leonardo knew he couldn’t just stand here. 

 “Hueso, get to the exit.” The slider announced and dashed over to one of the seats, grabbing the pair of magic vision glasses off it. “I’ll find Junior.”

 “Are you insane?” The skeleton shouted. “You think I would leave either one of you in here?”

 “I’ve got this.” Leonardo insisted. “Go.” He shoved the glasses over his face and took off towards the stage. He could still use his ninpo to boost his speed, but even that felt too slow. 

 The whole room lurched. His steps faltered just as he moved the curtains to the side. Dust and debris flooded his vision when chunks of ceiling crashed onto the back stage area. 

 He heard a frightened scream.

 Leonardo scanned the room with his glasses, but thus far couldn’t see anything besides dust and the occasional spark of dying magic coming off the walls. 

 “Junior?” He shouted. 

 “Leo?” Cubito answered, but it was so hard to figure out from where. If only he had something to—

 “My cape.” Leo shouted again. “Activate my cape.” 

 There. In an instant he saw the flash and the tail end of the cloth sticking out from a chunk of ceiling.

 Leonardo rushed toward it. The whole thing was far too large to move. He tried anyway, giving it a shove to the side but nothing. The whole thing propped up against the wall, and the only opening behind it was barely big enough for him to fit his hand through. 

 “How did you get back here?” Leonardo groaned as he kept trying to move it. 

 “You told me to hide.” The kid snapped back.

 “Are you hurt?”

 “No, but even if I could shove some of my limbs through that gap my head definitely wouldn’t fit.”

 Right. Right. If only they had some other way out. Like a portal. Hah, wouldn’t that be great. Too bad Leonardo didn’t have his swords. 

 Damn it. Calm down. Think. Should he run to get Raph? But that may take way too much time. Everything kept falling apart around him. Maybe he’d be lucky and they’d come looking for him. But he couldn’t bet on that because his siblings trusted him and he loudly announced that he could handle this. 

 Maybe he shouldn’t have said that. 

 “Okay Junior.” Leonardo took a deep breath. “Let’s brainstorm.”

 “What? Like for a magic trick?”

 “Might as well, it’s going to take quite a magic trick to get us out of this.” He spat out a laugh and kept trying to move the wall. “Damn, if only I could make my portals without my swords.” 

 “What if you just used something besides a portal?”

 “Like what?” He didn’t mean to snap, but the panic was getting to him. “I’m a two trick pony, remember?” 

 “Are not! You once showed me seventeen card tricks in the span of ten minutes, remember?”

 Something huge hit the ground behind him. “That’s just stage magic, Junior. It’s not—”

 “So what? You think now is the time to be panicking about what you can’t do? Don’t you remember what you said about developing a trick?” 

 Leonardo blinked. 

 When developing a trick, it wasn’t about thinking through all the mechanics. You just pictured what you wanted to do with a trick, then asked yourself how to make it work. 

 He wanted to get Cubito out from this rock and a hard place. If he couldn’t open a portal, how did he make it work? He just needed a way through the chunk of ceiling. He could teleport, he could make portals, even without his swords there had to be some way to make this work. 

 Leonardo pressed his hands against the piece of debris. He summoned his ninpo, despite having no weapon to channel it into. He did this at home all the time. He could open portals with his palms and his heels all the time. Why was it so easy there and nowhere else?

 Because he felt comfortable, he felt sure of himself. He knew home like the back of his hand. 

 Maybe all that doubt was what held him back. 

 No time to dwell on it. He needed to get through this wall. He had to get through it.

 And suddenly, he did.

 The pressure on his palms vanished. His entire body fell forward. Cubito let out a grunt when Leonardo fell on top of him. Now both of them were cramped in this space.

 “What?” Cubito squeaked. “What was that?” 

 Leonardo still felt it under his skin, the blue glow fading from his scales. Like every one of his cells buzzed. He held onto the sensation and snatched the skeleton off the floor. 

 “Hang on, Junior.” 

 Still feeling the energy rushing through him, he shoved through the wall once more. This time Cubito came with him, but he didn’t bother to stumble or stop. By now most of the ceiling covered the floor. Leonardo took off, darting over one chunk and then another. 

 They burst out from behind the curtains. Leonardo could see Hueso and Draxum waiting at the lobby doors. The alchemist had summoned some vines to keep the pair of them from being crushed by the ceiling. 

 “Mijo!” Hueso shouted. 

 Leonardo kept moving. He jumped off the stage, then down the isle. Close, they were so close.

 “Leo!”

 He glanced at Cubito when the skeleton shouted. Then he followed his gaze up to the piece of ceiling that was headed right for them.

 He noticed it too late. He couldn’t possibly outrun it. 

 But could he teleport past it.

 He looked back at Hueso, at the sheer terror on the skeleton’s face. Leonardo focused on him, pretended that the skeleton wasn’t the only one standing there. That one of Leo’s swords was planted in the wall behind him. Because if his sword was there then—

 Leonardo felt the familiar shift of space. But in not expecting that trick to work, he kept moving and crashed right into the wall. 

 Whatever, better than being crushed by the ceiling.

 “Boys.” Draxum snatched him up off the floor. For a second Leo panicked, because Cubito was no longer in his arms, but Hueso tugged his son to his feet. 

 Draxum just kept carrying Leonardo as all four of them sprinted to the exit and out of the portal. 

 Leonardo tugged himself up to look back over Draxum’s shoulder. The portal in the wall still revealed the collapsing building inside until everything truly fell apart. The dust rushed out of the portal before that twisted and vanished as well. 

 “Ugh.” Leonardo groaned and hopped out of Draxum’s arms. “Aw man, that’s going to come with a loaded extra fee, isn’t it?”

 “Most likely.” Hueso said, holding his son close in a way that indicated he wouldn’t let go anytime soon. That was proven when Cubito tried to struggle free and failed. 

 Leonardo snapped his gaze over to where Hypno and Warren were standing. A miracle the pair hadn’t run off, but given the fact that they were surrounded by three angry scouts, their angry scout leader, two angry lesbians, and one angry coffee shop owner, they must have thought better of it. 

 The slider sauntered over to them, standing on his toes to get into Hypno’s face.

 Then, he cracked a smile. “Nah, actually, it’s not a big deal, right? I mean. Hypno and his roommate-partner-crime buddy are going to pay for the damages, right?” 

 Warren glared, and opened his mouth to protest, only for Hypno to snatch him off his shoulder. 

 “Yup.” The hippo said, sweating. “That is uh, absolutely what we’re going to do.” 

 “Forget about paying fees.” Splinter approached, waving his arms. “Blue, are you hurt?” 

 Was he? He didn’t even bother to think about it until now but no, not really. His chest still hurt a bit from all the panic, but not to the point he couldn’t ignore it. “I think I’m okay.” 

 “Primo!” Cubito burst free of his father’s arms. “You’re more than okay. Didn’t you see what you did in there?” 

 “Indeed.” Draxum added. “You teleported without your swords.” 

 “What?” Donnie shouted. “You did?”

 “Leo, that’s awesome.” Mikey floated over and hugged him. “I knew you’d figure it out one of these days.”

 Leonardo laughed, trying not to let the praise get to his head. Still… “Hey, that’s not the only trick I learned.” He turned to Donnie while Mikey still clung to his shoulders. “Check this out.” 

 Without a warning, he wrapped his ninpo around his arm. The moment the whole thing glowed blue, he stuck it right through Donnie’s chest.

 The softshell screeched and jumped back. “Nardo! Don’t. Do. That. That could have serious repercussions.” 

 The slider just snickered. “Better watch out, Donnie. Not even your snack vault is safe from me now.”

 Donnie let out an offended gasp. April, Mikey and Raph just laughed. 

 “Your brother does have a point,” Draxum said. “I’d refrain from phasing through living things until you get more practice.” 

 “Yeah, yeah.” Leonardo waved a hand. The alchemist always had to rain on the parade. 

 Then he turned his attention to the bickering villains who still stood nearby. 

 “We don’t have that kind of money, Hypno. What are we going to do, steal it?” Warren complained, still sitting in his roommates hands. 

 “Aw, don’t worry guys.” Leonardo spun towards them, feeling Mikey’s weight shift as the box turtle kept refusing to let go. “I have an idea on how you can earn some money.”

 Hypno tilted his head. “You do?”

 The slider smirked again and glanced at Bueford.

———————————

 “Hah, you’re stuck this time, primo.” 

 “Are you sure?”

 Leonardo smirked at the young skeleton and kept eye contact as he stacked yet another mug onto the tray in his hands. Eighteen of them carefully balanced. 

 “Okay, okay, impressive. But can you get them to all the tables?” Cubito looked out at the sea of faces in the bagel shop. A very full morning on a weekend, as per the usual. 

 Leonardo just scoffed. He shifted his gaze to his first destination and in a blink there he was. The customers jumped in surprise, but then grinned in delight as he carefully grabbed their mugs off the tray and delivered them. 

 Leonardo then proceeded to zip around the entire dining room. A blink and he’d be at the next table, delivering coffee. One customer was particularly delighted with the flower he’d made out of the cream. He told her if she felt generous there was a tip jar at the counter. 

 On his last stop, a fox yōkai and her child watched in awe when he appeared. He dropped off not only the mug but a small glass of juice as well. 

 “Oh, I’m sorry.” The fox said. “But can she get a straw?”

 “A straw? Why I’m sure I brought one over here.” Leonardo glanced around a bit as he tucked the now empty tray under his arm. “Ah, no wait, here it is.” He reached behind the little fox’s head and snapped the straw up. 

 The child gasped and then giggled with delight as he handed it to her. 

 “You can teleport objects as well as yourself, hm?” The fox smiled at him and sipped at her drink.

 “Nah, no mystic powers used for that one ma’am.” He winked at her and plucked a folded flyer out of his pocket. “If it interests you, I’m having a little show here next week after closing. Feel free to stop by.” 

 She thanked him and took the flyer. Then Leonardo teleported behind the counter once more. 

 “Show off.” Cubito nudged him. 

 “Aw, don’t be so jealous.” Leonardo nudged him back. “You’re next, bagel boy.” 

 On cue, Bueford burst through the kitchen door with two full trays of the steaming pastries on plates. “Cubito, you’re up.” 

 “On it.” The skeleton announced before cloning himself, a tray for each of them. “Don’t worry, I definitely know which is which this time.” 

 Leonardo chuckled and watched the skeleton—or skeletons—dart into the dining room. When Leonardo announced he’d be focusing on working here again to pay for his debts, Cubito asked to come along. He was old enough to do so in the Hidden City after all.

 Leonardo asked him why. “To help pay for the next show, of course,” Was the skeleton’s reply. 

 True, they really couldn’t leave it after how the first one ended. And the kid was so eager to keep helping out that Leonardo didn’t have the heart to turn him down. 

 Bueford offered to let Leonardo use his bagel shop, after hours of course. Not exactly much of a stage in here, but he could make it work. This of course opened him up to being watched by a lot of strangers, assuming any came to the show, but he’d have to get over that hurdle eventually anyway. 

 “How’s the kitchen staff doing?” Leonardo glanced through the little window. He could see Hypno working more dough as Warren turned them into, well, bagel shapes. 

 Bueford laughed. “Not bad, not bad. Have to keep Warren close to his partner though. One of the other cooks almost chucked the poor guy into the boiling water with the rest of the dough.” 

 Leonardo snickered at the image.

 “You don’t think they’ll try to cause you trouble for putting on another show?”

 “Nah,” the slider shook his head. “We already talked that out. We have different target audiences anyway. Probably helped that I offered to get him a sweet gig after he pays for that rental space.”

 “Oh? Where at?”

 He glanced at the wall, away from his boss. “Do you want me to explain what a Furry Convention is?” 

 “Some human thing I take it?”

 “Pretty much.” 

 “Maybe some other time.” The snake glanced at the door as the bell rang. A few more customers made their way in, including the familiar faces of Donnie and Holly Blue. “We have more orders coming in.”

 Leonardo just cracked his knuckles and slid over to the front register. “Hello there, folks, who wants to put a little magic into their morning?” 

 He saw his twin roll his eyes in the background and Leonardo grinned even wider.