Work Text:
“Wipe that grin off your face!”
Crash.
Bang.
Leo was flying through the prison dimension
He was weightless.
He was alone.
Suspended in reality.
Nothing was real anymore.
Nothing mattered anymore.
He had given up life.
Given up feeling.
Given up the right to be treated like anything other than the wretched little pest he was.
A mere toy for Prime to play with and punish as he pleased.
He was alone.
Forever alone.
Forever in darkness.
He would never see the New York sunrise again.
Or, even brighter, Mikey’s smile.
He would never hear Donnie info-dump.
Never argue with Raph.
It was all gone.
Tears flowed freely down his cheeks as he hugged the photograph from Casey close to his chest.
He needed to remember.
Because he knew their memory would fade.
Their voices would fade.
The sight of them would fade.
The feeling of turtle piles would fade.
All the laughter and tears.
All the pranks and comfort.
All the joy and mourning.
All gone.
And he would never get it back.
Ever again.
He had forfeited it all.
And forever tainted their memory of him.
They would hate him.
There was no doubt about it.
They would hate him forever for what he did.
And he couldn’t even blame them.
He was impulsive, arrogant and didn’t see that every decision could cost someone their life.
Why did someone like that deserve to live?
Answer: they didn’t.
He didn’t.
He always had been and always would be some wretched little burden to his family.
Even in death he had hurt them.
He couldn’t escape the shame.
Couldn’t escape the guilt.
Couldn’t escape who he was.
Who Prime was going to make him.
He skipped across the rocky surface like a pebble across water, accepting each fiery scrape and agonizing stab as a form of penance for what he had done.
He deserved every bit of it.
And everything that was to come.
Suddenly there was a light.
Light?
In this endless darkness?
He turned away.
He didn’t deserve it.
But he wanted it.
Oh shell, how he wanted to relish in that warmth.
That glorious warmth.
How he wished that that light could envelope him and carry him away from his hell, to wash away his pain in a halo of soft, yellow beams.
But he didn’t deserve it.
He was a wretch.
A monster.
Someone like him didn’t deserve light so brilliant.
No, something like him didn’t deserve light like that.
He didn’t even deserve to be addressed with a shred of humanity ever again.
Not after what he did.
But he couldn’t resist.
Even though he hated himself for it, he turned towards the inviting glow, reaching out a desperate hand.
He felt greedy for the light.
For the warmth.
For the glorious comfort.
As his eyes adjusted, he began to see what was on the other side.
His brothers.
Mikey had opened a portal.
They had come back for him.
But why?
But he didn’t deserve it.
He didn’t deserve them.
Why would they try so hard to get him back?
This was finally their way out.
They finally had a perfect excuse to leave him behind.
To forget about him.
Why wouldn’t they take it?
Mikey’s arms were flaking and trembling.
Raph was reaching for him desperately.
Donnie was roaring with rage and sending a furious drill flying towards Prime, who wasn’t willing to let his prey go just yet.
Why?
Why were they doing this?
Why wouldn’t they just let him go?
Let him die?
Finally?
He had never done anything to help them.
He never added any value to the team.
He was never strong like Raph.
Never resilient like Mikey.
Never smart like Donnie.
Just an obnoxious failure who dragged everyone down with him.
Why were they trying to get that turtle back?
Could it be that… they actually cared?
Actually loved him?
No, no he couldn’t hope for something he knew to be false.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if it was true?
Leo dared to meet the eyes of his brothers, and the sight of their concern and protective rage made his heart clench.
They did.
They did love him.
They loved him enough to not leave him behind.
He was never and would never be alone.
Because his brothers loved him.
And that was enough.
As he was pulled though the portal and laid down on the blessedly solid ground, he saw all his brothers gather around him worriedly.
He offered them a teary smile, chest filled with a peculiar warm feeling that he hadn’t experienced before.
It was genuine peace.
The knowledge that his brothers would never leave him behind.
Although to himself he was nothing, to them he was something.
More than something.
He was their brother.
And they loved him enough to tear their way into a hell of a dimension just to bring him back to them.
Tears streamed down his face as he looked at each of them in turn.
“Hey guys.”