Chapter Two
Mikey was angry.
No, strike that. He was livid.
Twin spots of red colored his cheeks as he stormed past his brothers onto the front porch. Raphael made to grab his shoulder but he jerked out of reach.
"Mike, come on, we said we were sorry-"
"Sorry doesn't cut it this time!" the orange-banded turtle yelled, whirling to face him. "Leo's gone, and for all we know he isn't coming back! I know I wouldn't!"
Raph and Donnie both flinched but Mikey didn't look the least bit repentant. Instead, he stomped down the stairs and collapsed in a seething pile on the front lawn - arms crossed, scowl on his face, blue eyes turning cold. "Mikey," Donnie began tentatively, "We really were trying to help him."
"That's not the way to help him and you know it, Donatello!"
The words were like a slap to the genius' face. Mikey never used his full name. Ever. "But-"
"It would be like taking your lab away from you if you were in a similar situation. If the thing you loved the most, put the most effort into, spent your whole life working on were taken away from you, how would you react?!"
"Well, I-I would understand the reasoning behind it and try to cooperate as best I could."
"Bullshit." Mikey fixed that icy gaze on his older siblings again and Don shivered. The youngest turtle was terrifying when he was angry. "You're afraid you're going to lose him," Mikey said, in a voice so quiet and deadly and sad all at once, "But if you take away those swords, you already have."
Michelangelo didn't make dinner for his brothers that night, or the next, or the next. He figured that if they could try and "fix" their oldest brother, then they could fix meals for themselves.
Leo, for his part, didn't come home for the next four days - days in which his remaining siblings were constantly morose and on-edge. Donnie sat in the barn and wondered where it had gone so wrong. His experiments sat untouched, a sign that he was truly at a loss.
And Raph...Raph locked himself in the bathroom and sat on the same stool he'd claimed so long ago, when his leader had been near death for those three long months. A second time now, Raphael had tried and failed to keep Leo safe. But this time, it wasn't a failure to keep him safe from the Shredder or the Kraang or even Savanti Romero. This time, it was a failure to keep him safe from his own brothers.
On the morning of the fifth day, Mikey was sitting on the porch swing, staring out at the forest into which his entire world had disappeared. His eyes stung with tears, not for the first time that week, and he allowed his shoulders to slump as another wave of sadness hit him.
Please come back, Leo... I need you to come back. I can't do this without you.
The light crunch of leaves drew the turtle's attention and his gaze snapped to the left. From around the corner of the barn emerged a familiar figure, looking pale and tired but not really the worse for wear.
Days' worth of tension and worry drained from Mikey's body and he was across the yard in seconds, crying into a scarred plastron as strong arms slipped around his trembling frame and pulled him even closer.
"Leo...Leo-"
"Shh," the older ninja whispered, smoothing a callused, gentled hand across Mikey's head. "I'm okay, ototo. I'm okay, I promise."
"You l-left me," Mikey accused, lower lip trembling in hurt and anger and relief. "You left me here and...and-"
"I'm sorry, Mike. I just...I couldn't..." Leo blinked back tears and drew in a shaky breath. "I'm sorry."
Old floorboards creaked as someone placed weight on them, and Leo looked up to see his other siblings watching with unreadable expressions.
Donnie cleared his throat, shuffling a bit uncomfortably. "Leo, we...we need to talk."
A/N: To all of my amazing friends on here who've been waiting for me to update justone of my stories... I am so sorry. I know it's been about a month, and i didn't mean to be gone that long. It's just...this semester of college has been kicking my butt and I've been really exhausted lately. It's no excuse, I know, and I'm really sorry.
