Authors note: This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic. I have been reading them for a couple of years now. So please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT and other charactres.

Reckoning

Chapter 1

He sat there, unable to move very much without pain shooting through his body. His hands were chained behind his back and they in turn were chained to the wall he was leaning against. He was bleeding from various wounds and bruised from being beaten.

He attempted to meditate, to try and clear his mind and rid himself of the pain he felt, but it was a mute effort. He was just too weak to concentrate for any length of time.

He tuned his attention to his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was, but couldn't. He had no idea where he was or even how long he has been there, but he definitely knew why he was there…

Some weeks earlier…

There he was, standing over the lifeless body of the Shredder, their most infamous enemy, and there kneeling beside him was Karai, his adopted daughter and second in command. She shed no tears for her fallen master. In stead she glared at his killer with nothing but pure hatred in her eyes.

"I swear, on my honor, that you will pay for this Leonardo."

"You are without honor Karai" Leo said with a hint of malice in his voice.

Karai said nothing as she turned back to her fallen father.

From behind him Leo heard Don yell at him, "Leo, we gotta get everyone outta here before more back up arrives."

The urgency in Donatello's voice snapped Leo's attention back to his family and they made their escape.

Back at the lair, the harsh reality of the severity of the injuries they had all sustained hit the blue clad turtle like a gale force wind.

Leonardo suppressed the panic he felt welling up inside of him and quickly assessed the situation. He, Donatello and Raphael suffered from multiple deep gashes that would need stitching. Michelangelo and Splinter were both lying on the floor unconscious. Mikey's arm jutted out at a weird angle at the elbow and his wrist was swollen to the size of a softball. Splinter had cuts and bruises, mostly minor injuries with the exception of the large lump on his head, causing his unconsciousness.

They had taken a bad beating and were lucky to have made it out alive. No one had seen the ambush coming. They were overwhelmed with the sheer number of Foot surrounding them. They knew from the beginning that they would be in for a tough fight, and having just completed a vigorous training session they were tired and not up to full strength.

"Leo, help me with Mikey," again Donny's voice snapped him back to reality. They carried him to his room and gently laid him the bed. Donnie then proceeded to clean everyone's wounds and stitch them up and in Mikey's case, resetting his elbow.

Raph was being uncharacteristically quiet. Leo being concerned went up to his brother to see if he could help.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Leo asked his red masked brother.

Raphael just stared at his brother with a blank look in his face for a few moments. When he spoke he didn't sound like Raph, but reminded Leo of their purple masked turtle Donatello.

"Is he really dead Leo? We don't have to worry about him any more right?" Raph was pleading with his older brother to confirm this information. Leo was taken aback. He didn't realize that Raph felt this way. But then again Raphael always kept his feelings to himself.

"Yeah Raph, he's dead, but we still have enemies out there" At that Raph let out a little smirk telling Leo that he didn't consider any of those enemies to be a big threat.

With everyone stitched up and resting comfortably in their rooms, Leo retreated to the privacy of his own room. He suddenly couldn't hold it in any longer and he broke down in tears. He has never lost control like this before, but he had come too close to loosing his whole world, his family.

Sure they had been in bad situations before, with their backs against the wall. They had even almost lost someone on couple of occasions, but this time was different. This time he almost lost his entire family. He shuddered at the thought. He wouldn't know what to do if he found himself alone. Raphael always called him the 'fearless leader' but Raph was way wrong. Leo was scared every day that he would be left alone. He never wanted to be alone.

When he had recovered from his sobs, his thoughts began to wander and came to rest on Karai. She had always walked on the thin line of good and evil. Leo knew she helped them when she could, but that was getting harder for her to do lately. Karai felt that she was honor bound to obey the Shredder for taking her in and raising her.

Now though, Leo knew that she would never again lift one finger to help the turtles. But he didn't know what her motives would be now. Would she take command of the Foot? That was pretty much a given. Would she leave them alone or would she take up her dead masters' ambition to destroy them all?

Leo let out a big sigh. He knew Karai would want her revenge. He started to worry, for it was his responsibility to protect the family. Sometimes he wondered why Splinter had chosen him as leader, but when he thought about it, it made sense, at least logically. Raphael was too much of a hot head, loosing his temper easily. Michelangelo was a kid at heart and wouldn't be able to handle the responsibilities emotionally and Donatello, well, Donny could possibly handle it if he had to but he was more of a following type than a leader type.

Leonardo started to drift in to a restless sleep, but in the last moments of consciousness he heard Karais' vengeful words echo in his mind… "you will pay"

In the present…

He braced himself; he was once again being dragged into what he could only call hell, for that is what awaited him behind the door ahead of him. The only thing he could count on was pain and torment once he passed through the door. He was alone…

A/N: Okay how'd it go? I have more chapters planned, so please send your reviews!