This is a set of three one-shots I thought of. What if Leo returned before Karai attacked the lair? This is just Leo meeting up with each of his brothers on the way back. There will not be a one-shot of Karai attacking the lair. These are just for fun.
What would have happened if Leo returned early and met up with Mikey first? I don't own tmnt
Leo Returns: Mikey
"Hey, guys," Mikey called as he headed out of the lair and into the sewer tunnels, "I'm going skateboarding for a while!" For the last few hours, the orange-clad turtle had been bored out of his mind. Donnie's focus was entirely on upgrading the Tunneler while Raph hogged the television. Master Splinter was currently either reading or meditating, and he'd made it clear to all his sons that he wasn't to be disturbed. And Leo was still all the way in Japan. Mikey'd already reread each of his comics so many times that even the Justice Force and Silver Sentry held no excitement for him.
"Have fun," Donnie absently replied as he shifted position to weld the new metal plates of the Tunneler together.
"See ya," Raph added. "Just don't get lost." He smirked.
"Ha, ha. Very funny." Mikey glared as he left. "One time. And you never live it down," he muttered. When he'd been about ten, he'd taken his skateboard out into the tunnels for a few hours. Unfortunately, he'd turned the wrong way heading back and became hopelessly lost. When Donnie and Leo found him later, Mikey'd clung to them the whole way home. Which, as it turned out, was in the next tunnel over. The whole time he'd been scared, all he needed to do was duck down a side tunnel and he would've arrived at the entrance. Master Splinter actually had to step in stop the worst of the teasing, but Mikey was still occasionally ridiculed for it. Even Master Splinter himself found it amusing at the time.
After several blocks, Mikey finally found his favorite spot. "Waaaa-hooooo!" he yelled as all speed broke loose. He flew past tunnels, completed a circle around the pipe, and thought he saw the remnants of the old lair as he flew by a tunnel that he knew led there. He smiled at all the fun memories.
As he remembered those times, his mind wandered to eldest brother, Leo, and of the times he and all his brothers would ride the tunnels: him on his skateboard, Raph favoring roller blades, Don pedaling his bike, and Leo coasting on his scooter. They had pulled some pretty insane stunts in their time. Once, Raph had jumped subway tracks as a train was coming, nearly becoming turtle paste. Both Leo and Splinter had given him a pretty thorough lecture after that.
Another time, Mikey had let himself get distracted by the fact that he was the only one who could circle the pipe and nearly fallen of the edge into one of those caverns with a whirlpool at the bottom. Luckily, Leo had managed to catch up to him and pull him back. All three of his brothers had lectured him thoroughly after that, though he hadn't needed it. That experience was more than sufficient to make him watch his surroundings while skateboarding in the sewers.
Man, he missed those times. He could hardly remember the last time the four of them brought out their sports gear and let loose. He sighed.
They'd taken out their gear plenty of times. Except there had only been three of them recently, since Leo refused to take time off from training to have fun those last few months. And when he left, none of the turtles had really taken their gear out. This was the first time he'd done it himself since Leo left.
He hoped Leo would return soon, and that he'd come back normal. Angry, Raph-like Leo scared him. Especially when Leo took on that bandaged rat guy by himself and how he yelled at them after that incident with the purple dragons. There was even the fact that he'd gone looking for Casey to whap some Purple Dragons. Mikey, Don, Raph, and Splinter weren't even actually supposed to know about that. A few days after Leo left, Casey accidentally slipped up and Raph threatened to beat the rest of the story out of him. Casey wound up telling them the entire story, which stunned the brothers to no end. It was one thing for Leo to act like Raph at home. But to actually seek out Casey to bash some skulls? It was unbelievable.
What scared Mikey most was Leo hurting Splinter. That scared him worse than when Raph nearly bashed his head in. Raph was known to get violent occasionally. But Leo...Leo always kept himself under control, most of the time anyway. To see him lose control to the degree that he would even consider hurting Splinter, let alone actually doing it...it scared Mikey to no end.
It also made him feel guilty. He prided himself on knowing when something was hurting his brothers and being good at prying whatever the problem was out of them. But that time, he hadn't done anything. They'd all known something was wrong with Leo. They'd have been pretty stupid to not notice his changed behavior. But none of them ever bothered to confront him about it, to ask him why. Maybe they could've prevented this. But they didn't. And now Leo had been gone for about two months. Come home soon, bro, he thought. We miss you.
He sighed and glanced behind him.
As a result, when he neared a manhole cover, he didn't see the figure drop into the tunnels until it was too late.
Mikey returned his attention to his immediate path. "What the-"
CRASH!
He barreled straight into the stranger, sending them both tumbling and rolling down the tunnel before stopping, neither able to rise immediately.
"Aw, geez," Mikey groaned. "Turtle can't even skateboard in peace around here anymore," he complained.
The person seemed to freeze.
"Hey, wait a minute. Who the heck are you?" Mikey's eyes narrowed as he leapt up and twirled his nunchuks. When the stranger didn't respond, Mikey stepped forward and raised his weapons threateningly. "Hey, I'm talking to you here." Finally, the figure spoke.
"Mikey?"
The youngest turtle's nunchuks slowed and stopped. It couldn't be.
"Leo?" he asked breathlessly. Was it really him, was he finally-
The figure rose and stepped into a lit part of the tunnel, revealing the big brother Mikey had missed so much.
"Hey," Leo greeted nervously. As Mikey gripped his brother's arm, making sure he was really there, his eyes fell on the trenchcoat and backpack Leo had discarded. Only then did Mikey accept his brother was truly there.
"Hey!" Mikey cried as pounced on his brother, nearly sending both of them crashing into the ground again as he gripped his brother in a bear hug. "Shell, I'm glad you're back."
Leo smiled. "It's good to see you again too, Mikey." He chuckled. "Nice welcome back present," he said as Mikey released him.
Mikey smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," he apologized as his smile returned. Leo was finally back! And right when Mikey was thinking about it too. This was just awesome. The others were going to love this. A celebration was definitely in order tonight. Maybe Sensei would call off evening practice. Mikey would bake some of his famous double chocolate chip cookies and make Leo eat at least seven! A late night of watching horror and sci-fi flicks, absolute necessity. Maybe Don would invent something cool that could make the TV work better, get better picture and sound. And Raph could maybe not be a complete grouch and annoyance all the time. His evening looked a whole lot brighter.
Wait a minute! Why was he standing there thinking about these things? The others didn't even know Leo was back yet. He could plan the party later; right now, his job was to drag Leo back to the lair on the double. Raph, Don, and Splinter were going to love this!
As soon as Leo picked his stuff up, Mikey grabbed him by the arm and started tugging. "Come on, come on, come on, Leo, lets go! The others don't even know you're back yet. Hurry up!"
Leo smiled and laughed a bit as he allowed Mikey to drag him down the tunnels.
As they raced back, Mikey bombarded Leo with questions. Leo described Japan, the sights, the mountains, but refused to talk about the Ancient One or about what happened to him there, saying he wanted to tell the whole family at once. Though, he did tell Mikey that he wasn't angry anymore, that he was himself again.
"So, you're not Raph's evil twin anymore?" asked Mikey.
Leo stared, then laughed. "No, I'm not 'Raph's evil twin,' anymore."
0o0o0o0o0o
"Hey, guys!" Mikey called as he and Leo reached the lair's entrance. Unfortunately, Raph and Donnie decided to interrupt before he could give them the news.
"Mikey, I thought you were going to be gone another hour," said Donnie.
"I was enjoying the peace and quiet," Raph muttered.
Mikey grinned with mock offense and spoke in a long-suffering voice. "Oh, sorry, my bros. I just figured you'd like to see our dear brother Leo again early." The two turtles eyes widened. Mikey continued. "And as I wasn't about to let walk him home by himself, I thought you wouldn't want to wait an hour-"
"Wait, what?" interrupted Donnie. "Are you serious?" His voice conveyed nervousness and longing before he trailed off as Leo stepped up beside Mikey. Raph also froze, his expression disbelieving.
"Hey everyone," Leo greeted nervously. The tension in the air was so thick Mikey thought Leo could have swiped his swords through it.
"So," Mikey began. He never finished his sentence.
Raph and Donnie raced up to Leo, greeting him with a loud enthusiasm that Mikey knew had been sorely lacking in the lair recently. Leo was bombarded with questions. What was the Ancient One like? When had he gotten back? How was he? Mikey grinned. It wouldn't be long now.
"My sons! I specifically ordered you to be quiet this evening. What is the meaning of all this noise?"
"It's nothing Sensei. Just someone we've missed popping up today." Mikey's grin stretched to the corners of his face as he anticipated Splinter's reaction.
"Master Splinter." Leo stepped forward and knelt in front of his Sensei. Hasn't changed much, Mikey reflected.
Splinter's disapproval vanished as he beheld his eldest son once again. "My son!" His quiet voice echoed as he bowed to Leo, only to grip him in a hug a few seconds later. "Welcome home."
Mikey didn't think he'd stop smiling today. His big brother was home. And himself again! Everything would be okay again, Mikey knew it.
The End