Nothing's changed—I still don't own the turtles. Enjoy!

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

Leonardo sat in Michelangelo's dark room, next to the bed. His head was in his hands and his shoulders were shaking, ever-so-slightly. He lifted a tear-streaked face to look at his baby brother; pain and guilt filled his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mikey. I… I should have been there. I should have kept this from happening. I… it's entirely my fault!" He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock. Seven thirty in the morning. He had stayed up all night again. He replaced his deep blue mask over his reddened eyes and stood up stiffly. His other brothers would be up soon, and he could already hear Master Splinter making tea in the kitchen. Normally Leo would already be practicing in the dojo—but there was nothing normal about today.

Leo shook his head and tried to keep the memories from returning, but to no avail. He could see—just as vividly as when it happened—Raph and Don carrying an unconscious Mikey into the lair, his blood dripping down his face and their arms. Time had stopped for Leo then. He hadn't gone on the patrol that night with his brothers—all because of a stupid headache. Usually it wouldn't have stopped him, but everything had been quiet for so long and he didn't think they would run into any trouble. So he had stayed home to rest. And because of his weakness, Mikey had been hurt.

Don had assured him over and over that Mikey would be alright and that it was just a concussion and scalps had a tendency to bleed like crazy. But what if it had been more serious? What if he had died? What if they had all been hurt, or captured—and Leo hadn't been there to help. He had promised his brothers and himself that he would always be there to protect them. But he had broken that promise; he had let his brothers down just because of a little migraine. Leo hated himself for that.

Leo placed his hand on Mikey's shoulder and whispered one more time before leaving his room and heading to the dojo, "I'm so sorry, Mikey. I'll make it up to you, I promise. I shall atone."

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

I'm sorry it's so short, but it's just the prologue and I promise I'll update soon. Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.