Protective

I don't know how long me and my brothers had been sitting up on this pipe, staring down into the darkness bellow us as our eyes darted from left to right as we tried to locate the one thing we were at the moment hiding from. If it wasn't for the fact that I might lose my brothers this night I would have tried to come up with something but my mind just couldn't handle what was happening. One moment we were all back in the lair doing what we normally do and in the next me and my brothers had to run for our lives so we wouldn't get killed.

Even now backed up against Raphael's plastron with both Michelangelo and Donatello curled up against my own plastron I still couldn't help but feel that we were being watched and the feeling sent shivers down on my spine. I felt both Donnie and Mikey shake in fear as every passing minute felt like a lifetime and I knew that Raph was scared just as the rest of us but his pride kept him from showing it, as for myself I just tried to stay calm since I knew that I had to try and be strong for my brothers now in a time like this.

"D-Do you think he is still down there?" Mikey whispered in a low tone but all of us could hear how scared he truly was, the Mikey we all knew that always tried to be the cheerful one was replaced by the scared one we all hated to see.

"I'm afraid so baby brother" I replayed I know that Mikey hated when I called him that but it was true, he might as old as the rest of us but he is still my youngest brother which is why I keep calling him that.

And like he responded to my answer somewhere around us the voice of the one 'person' we were currently try to run from echoed through the sewers.

"You know you can't run from me forever. I will find you" That statement sent another shiver down my spine and I could feel Raph's arms tighten around us just like mine tighten around Donnie and Mikey.

As much as I hated to admit it he was right, we can't run from him forever. We will have to get out some time to get something to eat or drink. I hate this…. I hate this so much! I'm the oldest and the leader of the four of us when our sensei is not around. Well this time he was around but it wasn't the sensei we grew up with. No he was gone, trapped in his own mind as "The Rat King" was controlling his mind yet again and this time nothing that we tried seemed to work on getting our father back. To make our father regain the control of his own mind and body.

"You three stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can" I whispered as I got up and Mikey and Donnie quickly curled up against Raph where I had just been.

"Where are you going?" I heard Raphael ask me and I knew he would stop me if he knew what I was going to do.

"Just trust me and stay here" Was the only respond I gave him before I carefully jumped down the pipe we were on and got down on lower grounds.

That's when my heart started to race against my chest in pure fear, I have never been scared of my own father but this time was different. This time it wasn't my father I saw, it was like a zombie version of him behind those red eyes with one purpose only and that purpose is to kill all three of us. I let out a small sigh before I heard or rather felt like someone was behind me and when I spun around I saw those red eyes stare at me from the darkness of the sewers. He then slowly stepped forward and even though I couldn't see him because of the darkness I still knew he was there and I wasn't going to back down until I got my father back or died trying to get him back.

"I will not let you lay one paw on my brothers! And I sure as shell won't allow you to control my father like that!" I yelled out in anger as I drew my katanas from the holsters that were strapped on my shell and got into a fighting position.

"You clearly think you can defeat me now that I have your father under control freak? This time I am going to kill you" I heard my father respond but the voice was still not the same as I remember it, he sounded distant and I knew that it was "The Rat King" who made my father say that since none of us knew where he was hiding. We thought our father had killed him but I guess we were wrong, he did survive somehow and he was back for the third time to try and kill us.

I didn't move though I just stood there and waited for him to make the first move and sure enough he soon did. He moved towards me with a speed I thought my dad didn't have but I tried my best to stand my ground. As he got closer and closer I swung my katanas in an attempt to hit him but I missed and I felt how he kicked me hard on my plastron that sent me flying backwards before I landed on the metal floor of the sewer again a few feet away from him. I heard how my sensei and father let out yet another one of those laughs that I knew in the back of my head belonged to the one person who was controlling my father.

I didn't move from the floor, a part of me didn't dare to but when I saw his figure towering over me and I looked into those red eyes I didn't see my father at all and my heart sank in my chest. I had to do something I didn't want to do but seeing how things were I felt like I was left with no choice. The moment the blade my father was holding got raised above his head I closed my eyes and in a fast movement I moved my katana upwards since I had accidentally dropped it while I was kicked backwards with a lot of force. When I opened my eyes again I wasn't met with those red eyes that could easily match the look a murderer gave to his victims. Instead I looked into the eyes of my father and everything seemed to stop and move in slow motion. He looked at me with eyes that were proud, like he had wanted me to do it from the start as he fell down on the floor beside me with a thud.

That's when I moved and got up on my knees and looked down at my father, he was lying on his stomach with my katana sticking out from his chest with a pool of blood under himself and the katana had a huge amount of blood on it and from the looks of it the katana hit him right in his heart. My mouth slowly opened as I was processing everything that just happened.

"No…." I said out loud in a low tone, this is not what I wanted to do.

When I heard the sound of three things landing on the floor behind me I instantly knew that my brothers were behind me and saw the body of our now dead father with my katana right through his chest.

"I-I didn't mean to-! I-I just wanted t-to disarm him!" I heard my own voice cracking and I felt the tears swell up in my eyes.

"We know… Leo we know you would never harm our father….." I heard Raph say behind me as I felt a hand on my shoulder and I knew he was right, I would never do such a thing against my own family.

I heard the sobs behind me and I forced myself to stand up even though my legs didn't want to listen I still forced them before I turned around and was met by a hug from Mikey. He cried against my plastron and all I could do was wrap my arms around him and even though I tried to stay strong I couldn't stop the tears that started to fall from my eyes.

"L-Lets go…." I said in a low tone and all my brothers looked at me.

"Where to?" Mikey piped up and I lowered my gaze to look at him.

"Home, the hardest part starts now and that is moving on….. I sure as shell I know I made the biggest mistake here today and I feel awful…But like Master Splinter said we are stronger together…"Even though I struggled not to sob at the same time I still knew I had a point, we all knew Splinter would die one day but I never thought I would be the cause of his death.

"You didn't make a mistake Leo…" I heard Raph say before both Donnie and Mikey agreed with him.

"You did that to protect us….. You know he would have killed us otherwise" Donnie finished and even though I could still hear the sadness in his voice I knew he was right.

I did that to protect my brothers since the man who controlled my father made me do it and even though I wanted to get my father back a part of me knew it was a lost cause and the need to protect my brothers kicked in and it all just happened. I looked down on the floor and felt my shoulders dropped before I reached out for my katana with a shaky hand before I pulled it out and when I heard the sound of blood dripping down on the floor another sob escaped me as I held back my tears then I walked over to my other katana and picked it up as well. I placed the clean katana back in the holster and placed my hand on Mikey's shell and motioned for Donnie and Raph to head for the lair and for once no one argued.

I felt Mikey cry in my arm as he held on to it tightly and I walked with my head lowered and I didn't dare to look up. Behind me I could hear the footsteps of Donnie and Raph and I could hear crying coming from Donnie as well and silent sobs from Raph as he tried to keep himself from crying just like I did.

When we got back to the lair I knew for sure they were right this time.

I did what I did for one reason only and that was to

Protect my brothers.

::Note::

Okay to be honest I cried when I wrote this and why did I write it? Well I guess I have been watching one too many horror movies lately. And don't worry I haven't forgotten about my other stories I just had to get this one of my chest and I'm sorry but I wrote this at around 3 am at night yesterday when I couldn't sleep. Tell me what you think about my first ever TMNT one-shot and have a good night/day. :3 (I know I will have a hard time sleeping after this and yes can be that emotional.)