The room is dark, but with the candles, he knows. Burning low, blue-red flames, they paint stars on the walls. A galaxy spans the wet brickwork; pinpricks of light and rumbling silence that fills his ears until his own heartbeat is pulled from his breath. The swords in his hands are weightier than planets; dull in the dark, refusing it all.

"Leo."

He drops and swings, cleaving through flames with effortless grace. The room flickers only once, then settles, fires dancing on their wicks. Melting wax from the candles drips onto the floor and turns red-orange in the warm light.

He closes his eyes, gripping the hilt of his sword with white-knuckled ferocity.

"Leo."

His left shoulder begins to ache. He grits his teeth and slides into stance.

"Leo."

A clanking of armor shatters the silence. Michelangelo steps out from the shadows, heavy, iron pauldrons resting on his shoulders, and a medal hanging from his neck, glinting in the candlelight.

"Leo," he says, his face quiet and troubled. "You're going down."

Leonardo roars and launches a sword into the darkness. It pierces through a candle, wind swallowing the flame whole, and clatters somewhere in the black void. The second katana hangs limply from his fingers.

He hunches over, air rattling in his chest as he breathes, and grips his left shoulder. From the crack in his shell, candle wax drips and turns his fingers red.

He sneers, teeth bared. "Is that a threat?"

Mikey's expression flickers. Silently, he reaches a hand forward; the candles shudder and swirl the stars until they fill his mind.

"You're going down," he says again, his eyes pleading. He leans closer, arm extending, and then smoke blooms from the candles, the stars swiftly careening into the sky, and the room is blanketed in darkness.

(he wakes with a gasp and leans against the wall, clutching his shoulder. a single candle burns on his nightstand; his fingers dig into flesh until they dampen with moisture. every night. every night his mind spins in the stars, and every night he must find his way down.)

(so, he thinks by candlelight: focus.)