Chapter Text
“Where are you, you little pest!?”
Leo slowly peeled himself up from the cracked ground.
“Get up, Leonardo.” he whispered to himself, trying to convince himself to keep moving.
Leo didn’t know how long he’d been in this hellscape. The sun never set. He never got hungry. Time had stopped meaning anything.
Something was keeping him alive and letting his wounds heal. He would be battered, scraped up, and bruised one day, but the next he would be healed, prepped for another round. The Kraang was ruthless. There was nothing but pain, pain, pain!
Leo army crawled, the thin skin on his elbows tearing. Even though his wounds were healing, his body was suffering. His skin was cracked and thin and he scarred so easily now.
He had to get away. He didn’t want to sustain any more abuse. It felt like the Kraang kept getting more creative with their torture techniques and Leo wasn’t even sure he was going to survive the last session. At first, Leo just put up with it, believing he deserved it. But after a while he didn’t want to just endure it anymore. He also realised he wasn’t going to truly die.
He heard Kraang’s outraged cries echoing the empty landscape, and Leo tried to crawl away faster. Leo’s frail limbs gave out and he dropped to the hard ground.
He couldn’t do it anymore.
Let the Kraang come, he didn’t care.
Just when he heard the Kraang’s loud metallic footsteps approaching, a portal slowly flickered to life in front of him. Leo’s eyes widened, feeling warmth coming from it. He could vaguely see his brothers’ tearful expressions staring back at him.
“T-took you long enough,” Leo grit out, voice hoarse.
He didn’t even look back before pushing his way through the portal… but when the warmth turned scalding and his brothers started screaming, Leo knew something went wrong.
He couldn’t even begin to process what was happening before an unusual blinding light scorched his retinas and he felt like he was tumbling backwards, head over heels.
*********
Leo clutched his head as he sat up, his entire body protesting the motion. He could still hear a ringing in his tympanum.
He didn’t see his brothers.
No arms around him. No voices.
Just a dank sewer.
Disappointment and concern curled around his heart, but didn’t suffocate the hope that still lingered. He was free from that hell-hole!
Leo pried himself free from the concrete wall (apparently, he hit it so hard his shell made a cracked indent) and gagged at the bloody stains that he left on the concrete.
His eyes burned, but no tears came.
He didn’t cry anymore.
“Where am I?” Leo muttered. A recent tic he developed was talking to himself. It was soothing.
Leo stumbled around for a bit, realising his right leg must have been broken. He would have to patch himself up.
After slowly, excruciatingly exploring the sewers, he didn’t see anybody. And he didn’t see any signs of life, either.
Then, he heard a squeak somewhere in the darkness.
Leo expected it to be a rat, but when he looked down he saw four tiny turtles covered in bright green ooze.
They looked up at him, eyes pleading, and something twisted in Leo’s gut. This was odd. So very odd.
Leo crouched down, hissing when a sharp pain shot its way through his leg.
One of the turtles plodded up to him and rubbed its head on his bruised hand.
Some of the ooze got on his hand, so he held his breath.
Nothing happened.
He was already a mutant.
That last thought made Leo’s eyes widen. What the hell was happening?
The turtle squeaked again, sounding like a mix between an animal and a human baby.
Leo straightened his back, patting the turtle’s head with a careful finger.
He looked around, waiting. He didn’t know what was going on. Maybe their owners were nearby? He could leave them alone and never turn back. He should leave. He had to find his brothers.
But then he noticed one had flipped onto its shell. His heart skipped a beat. He and his brothers would get stuck on their shells.
He scooped the four up and held them close to his scraped up chest.
He found an empty crevice in the sewers and tucked into it, feeling the turtles squirm against him. They were alone, and they had no business being left unattended.
Sleep tugged at his eyelids and he curled tighter around the turtles.
For the first time in ages, he left soundly.
He would deal with all of… this in the morning.