Chapter Text
Leo missed having nights like these.
The five of them, watching movies late into the evening and early into the mornings. Bowls of popcorn emptied within the first fifteen minutes, stacks of pizza for them to scarf down, liters upon liters of soda, boxes of candy for everyone to enjoy, and plenty of pillows and blankets so that not a single square foot of the concrete and metal-grated floor was exposed.
The classic Hamato-O'Neil sleepover extravaganza.
Leo battled April with their typical pun battles, where one would make a joke using wordplay, and the other would have to follow suit with a similar or related word. Leo started off saying that all her jokes would be 'cheesy'. April assured him they were all 'gouda'. Leo retorted that her jokes 'were like swiss cheese -- too many holes'. And so on and so forth, gaining complaints and boos from the rest of the group as they went on.
Raph brought out all his cuddlies and stuffies, letting each sibling take one for comfort... should they decide to watch any scary movies.
Their energy came in waves, the first dissipating after the first J.J. film. They paused, had some food and snacks, watch some 'Try Not To Laugh' challenges, failed the challenges, and then the second wave hit.
Donnie set up a special game he'd heard about and fixated over for them all to play.
At some point, Mikey started laughing too loudly and accidentally screamed in April's ear.
Leo was making fun of the characters with his colour commentary and annoyed Donnie into pushing him off the couch.
Raph decided it would be cool to see if a mint in Vitamin Water and shaking it would have the same effect as a Mentos in Diet Coke. News flash, it did.
So the night was going really great!
Leo cackled as he pulled Donnie off the couch with him.
Raph panicked and dropped the bottle once it started foaming and exploding, and April grabbed the drink and used it as a weapon against them.
Donnie started a massive pillow fight and created a battlefield.
Once their second wave of energy had depleted, and the pizza boxes were all but empty, they settled down to continue the movie night. It was really nice, having everyone over together like this. Leo tried to recall the last time they'd gotten together like this and had a massive celebration...
Mikey laughed as he pointed to the screen, cackling madly. Raphael had fallen asleep watching Jupiter Jim's Pluto Vacation 4 and broken the coffee table with his face again.
Donnie and April groaned loudly, but Leo and Mikey high-fived with glee.
Just another fun family night. One Leo was so extremely grateful for.
Though, he didn't have any real need to feel that way.
The Shredder was locked away, Big Mama was not causing any problems (that they knew of), and his family had never felt closer since Splinter had shared the a good portion of his past with them. Everything was... perfect. Sure, things had been kind of rocky before. Concerning Leo's portals needing more experience, the secrets that Splinter kept from them about their origins, Draxum being a villain, and the Shredder's resurrection. Among other things.
They needed a night like this. To unwind, relax, take it easy and have a laugh.
They were all just teenagers, after all.
Leo leaned back in his sleeping back, propped up with pillows to form a cocoon throne. He chuckled softly at Raph's light snoring, Mikey drawing pictures on his face, April putting curlers into Mayhem's hair and through Donnie's mask tails...
His eyes grew heavy.
Leo fell asleep.
"Leo, wake up, Leo!"
"Can he hear us? I think he can --"
"How do we know this will work?"
"It just will. It has to."
"Don't give up on us, Leo... C'mon, get up... get up...!"
"Leo?"
Leo's eyes fluttered open. He yawned, and turned over in his sleeping bag.
"Wake me'up... wh'n iz... morn'n....."
No one responded.
The lair was silent.
Leo couldn't even hear the movie playing.
He sat up slowly, glancing around to see if the others had all fallen asleep as well.
No one was here.
The projector was still running softly, but there was no sound, no image. Just TV snow -- static buzzing across the screen as the machine whirred and whined with exhaustion.
Huh. Weird, he'd never known the projector to do that...
Leo tilted his head in confusion. The screen blinked at him oddly. The static took soft shapes Leo could almost swear he saw images in the interference. It must be his imagination.
⠀⢀⡀⡄⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠲⢶⢶⢲⠄⠀⢴⠦
⢸⡈⣷⢱ ⠏⣾⢾⢸. ⠿⡀⠀⠀⢸⢸. ⡿⢹⠀⢸⡈⣷⢱⠲⢶⢶⢲
⠀⠁⠀⠈⠉⠈⠀⠈ ⠉⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠘⡇⢸⢻⠀⡞⢠⠖⢦⠀⣇⡤⠂⣠⠶⢤⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡆⠀⡆⢰⠴⠢⡄
⠀⢳⡏⠀⣷⠃⢶⣉⣹⡀⡏⠳⣀⢯⣉⡩⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣇⣀⣯⢻⣄⣠⠇
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠂⠀⠀
⢸⡈⣷⢱ ⠏⣾⢾⢸. ⠿⡀⠀⠀⢸⢸. ⡿⢹⠀⢸⡈⣷⢱⠲⢶⢶⢲
⠀⠁⠀⠈⠉⠈⠀⠈ ⠉⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠲⢶⢶⢲⠄⠀⢴⠦
But the instant Leo called his attention to it, the projector popped, fizzled, and disconnected.
Huh. Must be the sleep deprivation...
Leo's attention came back to the emptiness of the room. Where had everyone gone? It was too dark and too quiet to be morning yet. Maybe... they'd all gone to get more snacks? It was a silly idea, but the only probable one he could think of.
Leo rose to his feet, stretched, and clambered over the sea of pillows and cushions surrounding the area. He wondered what time it was. He tried to find his phone... but, uh... hm. That was unlike him, to leave his phone unattended. Oh well, he didn't actually need it. Besides, there were other clocks in the lair. Leo roamed into the halls, which seemed a lot longer and more dominated by shadow than usual. These shadows were strange, rounding about the walls and ceiling and floor as if they were cloth rolling down a hole. In fact, the more Leo focused on the world around him, the more it seemed distorted and out of place. The photos on the walls were tilted and slanted, the images were too blurry to be discernible. There were doors that he did not recognize, practically littering the hallway. And the hallway itself went on for miles and miles and miles.
Leo eventually saw a door that felt familiar. Felt familiar. It did not look familiar. But being near the door felt like being at the end of a task you forgot you were doing. Recognition of completion. He opened the door.
It was the kitchen. And it was empty. No one was here... huh. Weird. Where had they all gone? Leo glanced at the wall clock. The hand were at... uh... He couldn't read the numbers. There weren't any numbers. And for whatever reason, he couldn't recall in what order numbers ran, or where they started on a clock. At the top? The middle? The bottom? Where was the 1 supposed to be? And which hand represented the hour?
Uh... h-he didn't really want to see the time, anyway. It would just remind him of how many hours he had left to try and sleep.
"You've been sleeping enough, I think..."
Who said that?
Leo glanced around room anxiously. The once warm light was starting to dim, darken, desaturate. It was getting pretty cold in here. Leo ran out of the room, and looked down the halls. The way back to the living room was pitch black, and getting darker and scarier by the minute.
"This way, Leo! Follow us!"
Leo turned to look the other way.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel! A deep, warm, golden amber light. He'd go that way.
Leo started running. It was so hard to run, he felt like he was running through water, or molasses. Slowed down to a crawl, he forced his arms and legs to move as fast as they could to escape the oncoming, ever consuming darkness.
"Come on, Leo, you can do it!"
"You've got this, dude! Keep going!"
"Don't give up!"
Leo struggled hard, gritting his teeth and growling with strained effort.
"Rrrrrgh! Who ARE you weird disembodied voices, anyway?! What have you done with my family?!"
The voices didn't answer. Or maybe they did, he just wasn't hearing them anymore. Everything felt like slow motion.
Leo finally made it to the edge of the light. As soon as his fingers touched the sparkling beams, he felt the effects of the darkness bleed off of him, ebbing away like the tide as he crawled out of its reach. The cold chill that had been clawing at his heart and lungs was now replaced by a glorious sensation of healthy warmth. The air sparkled, chasing the dark back into the abyss. The light brightened, beckoning him. Something about this light felt like... like...
Like Mikey, somehow. It mirrored his bright personality. Leo could almost swear that touching the light was like holding his hand. He could feel the weight in his palm.
"...Mikey?" he asked aloud, eyes wide with shock at how familiar and real it all felt. The realest thing here...
"He felt me!"
"Huh?" Leo asked, still unsure where the voice had come from...
But before he could discern anything, his feet started moving again, almost as if he was no longer in charge. He strode through the tunnels, following the light.
"Don't worry, Nardo, we'll help you get back."
"We'll be right here beside you, no matter what."
"Anatawa hitorijinai."
"I don't speak... whatever that is," Leo mumbled sleepily. He wondered why he felt so drowsy all over again.
But Leo felt like the voices weren't malevolent. They weren't evil, or cruel. Maybe they had done something to his family, maybe not. It felt more like they wanted to help return him to them. Leo wasn't an overly trusting guy, but he was willing to stake his life for his family's sake.
He was willing to follow the light.