D a r k

"What do you see?"

"Darkness," is my reply as I glance around at nothing. "Nothing but black darkness." I know I am sitting on one of the cots in the lab's makeshift infirmary by the feel of the crisp sheets beneath me and the smell of chemicals and antiseptic and disinfectant, but I don't know exactly where in the room I am. The little whirrs and motors of the machines all around me is slightly disorientating.

"Any shapes? Silhouettes? Outlines?" Don asks me. He is standing in front of me, examining my eyes I assume. He might have a light directed at my face, but I can't see to tell if he does.

"No." My voice is still calm, despite my panic. I know Don is putting on a façade to keep calm as well. He tries not to get emotional when in 'Doctor' mode. "Just nothing."

"Hmm." I wish I could see his eyes right now. That is the only place where I can see all the emotions he is hiding so well. But then again, if I could see, neither of us would have anything to worry about right now. I can almost hear his brain working as he follows whatever train of thought he is on. I can hear Mikey pacing outside the closed lab door, though. Upset that it happened because I pushed him out of the way when they hit me with . . . whatever it was they hit me with that made my eyes go dark on me. I bet Raph is out there, too, still feeling guilty about rushing in against my orders. Heh. What else is new? Can't really blame him for being him. Just like Mike can't blame himself for me being overprotective big brother me.

I face the general direction of Don's voice as he speaks up again. "Well, good news is I'm almost positive it's only temporary."

"'Almost positive'?" I question with apprehension.

"I am fairly nearly certain."

"Nearly certain. . ." I repeat slowly. The lack of an absolute is beginning to worry me more than his previous stoic calm while examining me. I know he is as worried as I am, maybe even more so, but he doesn't need to baby me. I'm a big turtle. I can handle the whole truth. I didn't miss the hidden meaning of the 'good news'. It means there is also bad news. . . Great. Just great. "Can I have the numbers?"

Don calculates a moment, before giving me an answer. "87% certain you will make a full recovery, no lasting side effects."

I absorb that a moment. "That's 13% left." Stating the obvious, I know, but sometimes it is the best way to get him talking.

"10% chance of minor to moderate damage to the corneas after the initial healing, ranging from fuzzy spots to blurring vision that shouldn't last more than a few weeks to a few months. 3% chance of irreversible damage." He says the last part quietly, like he really didn't want to say it at all.

"So 3% possibility that this is permanent." Again, stating the obvious, but I don't know what to say at the moment. I feel my eyes rolling around in their sockets, trying to get the smallest glimpse of my brother standing before me. Nothing but black.

"Must you always be a 'glass half empty' kind of person? Don't be so cynical, Leo, you're going to be fine." He meant for it to be reassuring, but there is something else in his tone. Kind of a pleading demand. Asking – begging – me to be okay. Then it clicks, what he is hiding from me.

My voice is low, soft. "You're thinking about that other world, aren't you? The alternate future that Ultimate Draco sent you to. I was blind there, wasn't I?" I whisper the last part. Raph and Mike are still outside, listening in. Don had only told them that that world had been completely under the Shredder's control, that he and the resistance and the older forms of his brothers finally put an end to Shredder's reign, but at the cost of the three other turtles' lives. I was the only one that got any sort of detail out of him. That we had changed in the time he was supposedly gone.

Don just whispers, "Yeah." I think he had tried nodding, but realized that I couldn't see it.

I think on that for a moment. All of my brothers will be worried out of their minds until my eyesight returns – I refuse to say 'if', it has to – and I will just have to grin and bear their mother henning. I can work pretty well without my eyesight, but this would be bordering on ridiculous.

No more dwelling on the 'what ifs', time for big brother Leonardo to make his brothers feel better. "97%? I can live with those odds. When will we know?"

Donnie hesitates a moment, probably wary of my sudden change in attitude. He knows me well enough to guess at what I am thinking. "End of next week. We have to wash your eyes out three times a day with this solution, though. It ought to help the healing along faster."

"Right." I make a move to stand and he helps me to my feet. My balance is still nearly perfect from years of training, but I think the steadying hand on my shoulder is for him and not me, anyway. Either way, I don't comment on it. Whatever helps him.

"You can come in, now," Donnie calls out beside me, and it takes no time at all for Mikey and Raph to take their cue to enter.

"Leo! Are you okay? Donnie, is he okay? You're okay right? I mean, you're Leo, you have to be okay. But are you okay?"

"Mikey," I interrupt softly. "I think you've hit your max quota of 'okay's today. I'm going to be fine, alright?"

"Right. . . Okay."

I can pretty much feel Raph's eyes on me, looking me over for anything I'm not telling them about. Don and Mike think I'm the overprotective one. If so, then Raph is over possessive. He's worried, but doesn't want to admit it. I nod in his direction, easy to pick up with the usual sound of his heavy, deep breathing and general musk that just screams Raph, sight or no sight. I sense his mood soften some with the gesture.

"So," I begin, slightly at a loss, but knowing something has to be said soon to break the tension and solemn air that has fallen thick enough to cut with a tanto. "I'd say let's watch a movie, but that might be slightly counterproductive at the moment."

My poor crack at humor rewards me with a startled burst of laughter from Mikey, so all in all a rather good try. "How 'bout a book? Oh! I'll read you Eragon! And order pizza! Nothing better than a dragon and pizza combo!"

Mikey continues to babble as he grasps my arm and gently leads me out of the lab. I think he kind of knew I was lost in there, and he guides me in such a subtle way that I really don't mind it much at all. He regales me with tales of dragon riders and pizza toppings until the four of us are bundled up on the couch. I somehow got sandwiched between Raph on one side and Donnie on my left, with Mike using my legs as a backrest, his voice spinning a tale about elven maidens and poor farm boys. Not being able to see them, having them all within reach is a huge relief. One that I think they all must have realized for us to have ended up situated in such a way.

I had always noticed a difference between my brothers' breathing patterns – I've lived with them long enough, surly – but I had never realized the intricacies of how their breathing matches them. Raph's heavy breathing, steady and deep when still, almost an inaudible growl with every exhale. Don's quiet, calm breaths, unconsciously measured and even, almost a peaceful sigh. Mikey's quick, excited little bursts, he always being in motion, the quietest of laughs an almost constant companion.

Eager as I am to have my sight back, it has been a bit of a mixed blessing, getting to know my brothers with my other senses – the feel of their skin, the smell of the air around them – and it is a gift that I shall treasure.

So, I guess, even seeing nothing but darkness can be illuminating. So long as it doesn't last long. After all, I still have things to do.

Perfectus

Author's Note: I've been going through my half completed prompts and one-shots, trying to get as many of them as I can finished before I start school next week. Hence the sudden influx in story output. I rather enjoy this one, though I hope the flow went well when it was written in sections at different points this past year. Anyways, enjoy, and know that it is a one-shot. I do not plan on continuing this particular story. It was my go at 'Blind Leo' and I left it so you can decide your own ending. Also, I love Eragon! The Inheritance series rocks! If you like dragons and/or elves and/or fantasy and/or epic adventure, you will like it too. Okay! I have said my peace! I own nothing but the order in which the words come out! Love ya'all! Take care! God bless!

-TheOneThatGotAway99