Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles.

Quick Author's Note: Here it is, guys! The second short-story (and prequel to "The Girl With Two Faces" and "When Light Fades: A TMNT Short Story"), "Light in the Darkness." This is written in Leo's first person POV; it'll be a two part (or three, depending on how far I want to go in each part) story. Enjoy!

Chapter One

"Leo!"

"Hang on, bro! We're coming!"

"I'm sorry..."

BANG!

The shot echoes through my mind again, snapping me awake. I jerk against the chains holding me to the wall, and the movement sends fiery pain lancing across my hastily stitched side. My breathing comes in short, ragged gasps, and a stray tear slips down my cheek.

When are you guys coming for me?

It's been two weeks since our mission went completely wrong. Two weeks since I was kidnapped. Two weeks since I failed, both as a leader, and as a brother.

Against my will, the memory surfaces, and I'm thrust into the past.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Raph asks.

"This is where the signal was coming from," Donnie replies. "All we have to do is get in, look around, grab the mutagen, and get out. Easy."

"I don't know, D..." Beside me, Mikey shifts uneasily. "Something doesn't feel right."

"We've done hundreds of these missions before," the purple-clad turtle soothes. "Leo?"

All three of my brothers look at me. Great. I bite my lip. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Donnie knows what he's doing." Donnie smiles, and I try and ignore the look of betrayal on Mikey's face.

As soon as we step into the warehouse, though, I immediately know something is wrong. "DOWN!" I order. Not a moment too soon.

The four of us hit the ground, and the kunai that would've hit Mikey's head lodges in the ground next to him, making him yelp. As if on cue, at least fifty Kraang and Foot 'bots step out of the shadows, weapons drawn.

Raph swears colorfully enough that it would make even a sailor blush. He ducks behind a crate, pulling Mikey with him.

"I told you it was a bad idea!" Mikey screeches. "I TOLD you! But did you listen to me? No! Because you all think I'm just some sort of-"

"Okay! Okay! You were right! Happy now?" It comes out a bit harsher than I meant it to, and my youngest brother looks hurt.

"I would be happier if we weren't fighting for our lives," Donnie mutters from beside me.

I glare at him, unsheathing my katana. "Just go!" Raph hears my order, and with a feral grin, he charges at our enemies, Mikey and Donnie not far behind.

But it's a futile effort. Barely ten minutes later, we're exhausted and surrounded by a sea of robots. I'm almost out of shuriken and kunai, and I know my brothers' supply is almost gone as well.

"Shell," Raph mutters, back-to-back with me.

"Plan?" Donnie asks.

I don't get a chance to answer him, because out of shadows appears another person. But it's someone I've never seen before.

"Hello, turtles." The man's voice is deep and as smooth as his mocha-colored skin. His blindingly white teeth glimmer in the dim lighting, matching his silver-toned hair perfectly. "I've waited a long time to meet you."

"Who the shell-"

The man interrupts Raph almost immediately. "My name is Firion Wolfe. It's a pleasure to meet you, Raphael." I can feel my hotheaded brother stiffen. "Oh, please." Wolfe laughs. "I know who you are. I know who ALL of you are. Leonardo, the eldest, wields twin katana. Raphael, second-oldest and resident hothead; favorite weapons are sai. Donatello, the genius, uses a Bo staff. And last but certainly not least, Michelangelo. The spastic, spacey-as-a-blonde youngest."

"Hey!" Mikey cries indignantly. "You forgot to mention that I'm the cute one."

I can't hold back a groan, and beside me, Donnie facepalms. "What do you want?" I ask sharply.

Wolfe grins. "Oh, I think it's fairly obvious what I want. I want to torture you. I want to rip you out of your shells while you're still alive, and then I want to hang your heads on my wall as trophies."

Mikey lets out a squeak of terror, and I know that Donnie has gone as white as a sheet. "You ain't gonna get that chance, pal," Raph snarls, running at the man.

I see the gun before Raph does, and a desperate shout is all the warning I can give. "RAPH!" I launch myself at Wolfe and knock him to the floor, and then we're locked in a deadly battle as I try and get the pistol. My mind registers the fact that we're close to the window of the warehouse...and the three story drop beyond. Behind me, the others are once again fighting the Kraang and Foot, and having little success.

"Guys!" I yell. "Get out of here!"

"Retreat?" Raph asks incredulously.

"TACTICAL retreat!" Donnie replies.

"Not without you, bro!" Mikey shouts.

"I said get out of-" Wolfe slams the butt of the gun into my cheek, splitting it open and making me cry out. Hot blood trickles from the cut.

"How noble," he mocks. "The files I read on you didn't lie, Leonardo. It would be quite impressive, actually...if it weren't so foolish."

'Where the shell did he get-' Before I can finish my thought, Wolfe launches me through the window. Shards of glass fly into my skin, and my mind flashes back to a different night, a different battle. Suddenly I'm staring at the Shredder as he brings his gauntlet down on my plastron.

"LEO!"

The cry of terror from my brothers jolts me back to reality, and I find myself hanging out of the window, holding on by my fingertips. My brothers are being held captive by the remainder of the robots, and their weapons lay several feet away.

"Surrender, Leonardo," Wolfe demands in a syrupy-sweet voice. "That's all I ask. I'll even let your brothers go."

"Don't do it!" Donnie yells.

"One word from me is all it would take," the dark-skinned man says. "One word, and they could either go free or have their necks broken. Your choice."

Shell. Shell, shell, shell.

At my silence, Wolfe turns to Mikey. "All right, then. YOU give yourself up for your brothers, and they can go free. He can live. Otherwise..." The man steps on my left hand, grinding his heavy shoe against my fingers. The bones in my hand scream, and I lose my grip as my injured fingers slips off the windowsill.

Mikey's eyes are wide with terror. Knowing him, he hates to see me in pain, and he thinks he couldn't live without me. It would be an easy choice. But I know he's not strong enough to live through whatever Wolfe has planned and come out whole again.

As Wolfe stalks towards my brothers, casually holding out the gun, I climb out of the window, crouching on the floor of the warehouse. I slide my aching fingers into my belt and withdraw the last shuriken I have. One shot. That's all it'll take.

But the man turns at the last second, and the shuriken flies right past his head. His eyes narrow dangerously, and he chuckles. "Oh, you shouldn't have done that." The darkness in his eyes grows as he raises the gun and points it right at me.

"Leo!" Mikey cries.

"Hang on, bro! We're coming!"

Even though my brothers fight as hard as they can against the robots that hold them, I know that they won't make it in time.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, squeezing my eyes shut as Wolfe pulls the trigger.

BANG! The shot takes me directly in my left side, in the gap between my plastron and skin. I go down immediately, the waves of pain rolling over me too much to bear.

"NO!" Donnie screams. "Leo!"

Wolfe's smile is feral as he leans over me, planting a kick in my bleeding side. A scream tears from my throat.

"It could have been so much simpler," Wolfe croons as my vision recedes. "But no matter. I'll get what I want anyway. I always do."

Mikey's scream of anguish is the last thing I hear.

TMNT~TMNT~TMNT~

So that's it for chapter one, guys! If you made it through without hating me or the story, arigato! *bows gratefully* Chapter two is coming soon, and the ride is about to get a whole lot bumpier. We're not done with the feels yet, folks.

Until next time, COWABUNGA!