Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.
Summary: As much as Leo continued to insist that Mikey was out there somewhere, alive and waiting impatiently for their help, he was rapidly losing hope. Leo ponders the last few weeks since the fateful night his brother disappeared. 2K12 'AOtGO' sidefic set 24 days after 'Tsumetai'. One shot concurrent with ch 14 of 'AOtGO'. Comments, thoughts and concrit is always welcome.
A/N:
You don't need to have read 'AOtGO' to read this and technically you don't need to have read 'Tsumetai' but it is probably better to read 'Tsumetai' beforehand.
Inspired by a comment from KawaiiCheescake on DA. Thank you sampsonknight for the help when I needed it XD
24 Days
The last three weeks had been the hardest of Leo's entire life. Over the course of the last year, his family had been through some extremely rough times, like the first time they encountered The Shredder, Karai turning against them thanks to his own stupidity, temporarily losing April's friendship due to their carelessness and Raphael's loss of his best friend Spike. One way or another, the consequences of those events still affected his family even now, and yet, all of those put together did not even come close to comparing with the day they lost Michelangelo.
Twenty four days ago.
Twenty four damned days ago!
Leo took a deep, ragged breath, trying to settle in place and calm his anxious mind once more.
Of course what happened had been his fault. He was the leader. He was in charge of the safety of all three of his younger brothers yet he had still let Mikey down.
He had let everyone down...
After unintentionally attracting the attention of their enemy, Mikey wound up entering a room with only one way in or out and simply disappeared. The heavy hearted brothers were unable to search for long before they were driven away by sheer, overwhelming forces.
The hardest part wasn't even in telling their father Mikey was missing, it was living with the knowledge and shame of having failed his family... and the crushing loneliness that seemed to fill their home ever since.
His remaining brothers, April, Casey and himself had returned to the site where Mikey was last seen as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon the following night but the warehouse was empty. Completely picked clean with barely even any sign of dust.
Raphael completely lost it that night.
After destroying the door to thatnightmarish room and damaging some nearby walls in his rage, Raph turned on Leo, completely blaming him for having insisted they leave when the Kraang returned with greater numbers and Leo had simply let him.
It took the combined efforts of Donatello, April and Casey to pull Raph away from Leo and even then, they had to stun him first.
Emotionally numb, Leo continued laying where Raph had knocked him. He knew full well he had deserved every punch, every word. It was only when Raph was aware again and pulling him to his feet that Leo felt the will to resume the endless search.
Night after night, the brothers and sometimes April and Casey combed the city meticulously. They searched all known past and present Kraang strongholds and looked for new ones. During the daylight hours when he wasn't searching for clues over the internet, Donatello even upgraded Metalhead so as to be able to use the little robot to help with their desperate search.
However, in all this time, they never found even the slightest sign of their missing brother, not one in twenty four days.
The entire family worked themselves into exhaustion, barely sleeping or eating. The warmth was gone from their lives and until now, Leo hadn't realised just how much they truly needed Michelangelo. He felt sick whenever he thought of the all the times he had palmed his youngest brother off onto someone else simply because Mikey didn't focus or was too annoying that day... not to mention the arguments that sometimes ensued over no one else wanting him either. Leo swore to himself then and there that he would never do that again if they managed to find Mikey alive.
Worse, as much as Leo continued to insist to Donnie and Raph that Mikey was out there somewhere, alive and waiting impatiently for their help, Leo was no longer even sure he himself believed it.
Tonight, as Donnie, Raph and himself prepared to begin their search anew, Splinter, recognising their sheer fatigue and hopeless spirits, forbade them to leave. Said if they went out like this then they would only endanger their own lives and then they would be of no help to Michelangelo whatsoever. They argued fiercely against Splinter's wishes but logic and Father's Law won out.
That was how Leonardo came to be sitting under the great tree in the dojo, trying against his better judgement to meditate.
Normally, he had little trouble with the practice, enjoyed it even, but this time it took a good couple of hours to settle down and relax into it. As he breathed, slow and deep, Leo sensed his father settle down beside him. Their minds lightly touched, strengthening the bond between the two and they passed into the calming serenity of the Astral Plain together.
The colours, the scents, the sensations were at once muted and vivid, and Leo could finally feel much of his pent up stress slowly melt away into the ether. While his worry for Mikey was still ever present, Leo felt his soul lighten and his heart and mind begin to clear for the first time in weeks.
Eventually, Leo reached out to his father's soothing spirit, wordlessly letting him know he was ready to reunite mind and body when something made him pause.
…
"Le...o..."
His heart suddenly racing, Leo felt a flash of pain and terror, of intense desire for comfort and the blurry impression of a strange turtle in a ready stance. As fast as he felt it, the sensation was gone and Leo's eyes snapped open as he panted.
Michelangelo was alive!
AN: Now continued in 'AOtGO – Aftermath'.