AN: Wow. This took a lot longer than expected. Very, very sorry. D:
One Day Later
Leonardo blinked his eyes open, staring drowsily down at the white carpet that his cheek had rested against for the past while. His fat tongue flicked across his dried, cracked lips, as that clichéd question of Where am I…? ran through his head.
It only took a twitch of his arm to bring it all back. Or, rather, the weight that kept his arm from twitching.
The child. It was still curled up in his arm, its hot breath barely rasping against his jade flesh… The newborn was fading quickly. It was a miracle it'd made it this long. If it was a simple human child, it would've been dead within hours. But, then again, its father wasn't exactly normal… And, judging by its looks, the small hybrid wasn't your average human either.
Leonardo shifted uneasily. Chika was dead. Karai was gone. His child was alive, and maybe its siblings were too… But not for long if he didn't get his tail into action. The time to mourn would come. After his offspring were safe.
April's apartment was closer. Besides, the mere thought of what his brothers –and worse, Master Splinter- would say made fear and shame pulse in his veins. He wouldn't even allow himself to think of what they might do.
But… Now he had to figure out how, exactly, he was supposed to carry three children with two arms. The answer was clear to him. And though it was quite apparent, it was not so obvious if he'd be able to do it without breaking down. Again. And sentencing his children to death in the process.
Take the blanket that always rested on the end of Chika's bed, wrap it around his offspring, then set off with them bundled together. The thing was, in order to do that, he'd have to look up. Look at what he'd brought upon his lover.
But it was the only way.
He'd just keep his eyes squeezed shut, grabbing blindly for it. That way he wouldn't have to see her – or, rather, the lifeless corpse that had once been his smiling lover.
Slowly, ever so slowly as not to injure the frail infant cradled against his plastron, the svelte reptile raised his upper body, shifting his legs until he was sitting cross-legged, watching the young child with tender eyes.
Surprisingly, it looked different than he'd imagined… More turtlelike than humanlike. Its emerald skin was almost identical in shade to its father's. The plastron that covered its chest and stomach was, once again, twins with Leonardo's, though a small section was cracked away in the middle, revealing a belly button..
That made sense… He supposed. All mammals had them, well, except for maybe the platypus, and this child was at least half human.
Did the other two have bellybuttons, too? It would only make sense… Suddenly, reminded that of the fact he had two others beautiful creatures to take in and adore, Leonardo, cradling the small creature close to his breast plates, raised his cinnamon orbs to the two dreaming creatures cuddling together on the seat of the wide, brown desk chair.
They, too, were still quite messy from the birth. Their plate-covered stomachs and chests rose and fell ever so slightly as the precious gift that was air was drawn into their shivering bodies. Craning his neck, the jade-skinned reptile grabbed onto the edge of the rolling chair, pulling it toward him so he could get a better look.
The smaller one was slightly lighter than its sibling that had stayed curled in their father's arm throughout the night, while the other one was much darker. Quite a few shade darker than Leonardo's own skin.
The young, reptilian father ran one of his three-fingers along the arm on the one he was holding as he silently watched the two in front of him. It was only when his fat, sausagey finger was grasped in a loose, curled fist that the terrapin remembered the newborns had to get to April's apartment. Fast.
He'd been nothing less than intoxicated by the presence or things so young, delicate… Things that were his to protect.
Shaking the thought from his head, the young father heaved himself from his cross-legged position, stumbling to his bare feet, nearly tipping over as his limbs –sore and weak from the night spent on the carpet- tried their hardest to send him back down to the ungracious floor.
Clutching the child in his arms even closer to his chest, unwilling to let it go, the jade skinned reptile closed his eye. Grope quickly for the blanket and never look up to see his dead Chika. That was the plan.
The "fearless leader" took a stumbling step in the direction of the bed, one arm outstretched as his upper thigh bumped into the soft mattress. Slowly, doing his best to not let the terror that pulsed through his veins like some venomous drug paralyze him completely, Leonardo lowered his hand onto the bed, gripping the corner of the soft blanket his fingertips met tightly.
Allowing a sense of gratefulness to wash over him –He'd been terrified he might've gripped Chika's foot in mistake, like one of Mikey's clichéd horror flics- the svelte ninja turned back to two still laying on the swivel chair. His cinnamon eyes softened slightly as the two subconsciously pulled their weak bodies towards the other – anything to keep warm.
The blue-clad terrapin stepped toward them, resting the child that had been curled in his arm beside them as he unfolded the pale yellow and orange blanket. He paused, realizing after a moment that his children weren't just "its". They had genders, and, later, they would have names.
Placing the blanket on the ground, Leonardo kneeled down, and, after a few moments of inspection, a small smile was laced across his lips. Two boys and one small, precious girl. Once again, Leonardo's heart swelled with warmth, cinnamon eyes brimming with emotion.
Names would be decided upon later – Now, with his curiosity satisfied for the moment, he had to go. Straightening out the washed out blanket with one hand, Leonardo slowly, cautiously, cradled the darkest one – a boy – close to his chest, savoring the moment. But, he had to be swift.
Carefully, the emerald terrapin placed the newborn hybrid on the blanket, fingers butterflying across the child's skin in one last caress, his breath bated. All three of the young babes were so fragile… So soft. Their odd, parted plastron to soft, along with their shells. They were so… New to the world. It was scary, almost.
Had he, the "Fearless Leader" ever been so new? So helpless?
It was a scary thought – being unable to defend one's self. Being so dependent on another.
Oh, sure. He depended on his brothers, and, of course, his own father… But he wasn't vulnerable without them. Not physically, anyways. It made him pause, just a second longer.
If he could remember all the way back when he newly hatched, and had somehow, all the way back then, had the mind he possessed now… Would he of been proud of the one who raised him? Or furious? Would it have affected him, at all…?
It would've, he decided. And he was going to make sure that, for his children, he would be a positive effect. And he would be there for his children. Even if he had to fight tooth and claw for them, he would - in a heartbeat.
Quickly, silently, the svelte terrapin tucked the one with skin fairer than his own – a little girl- next to the dark newborn. Without another moment of uncertainty, the new father tenderly placed the smallest – the one with skin identical to his own- next to his sister.
The three weak babes slept on threw this, which made Leonardo's cinnamon eyes soften with emotion. Shaking his head, the muscular reptile wrapped the washed out blanket around the three hybrids. Realizing that that wouldn't be enough to hold them together when scrambling to April's house, Leonardo reached behind his hexagonal head, untying the blue mask that wrapped around his greenish skull.
Lips curled into a concentrated grimace, the sylphlike mutant carefully tied his bandana around the pale blanket, securing it. He knew it wouldn't be much, but it should hold steady if he kept a tight hold on the triplets.
Cautiously, the jade-skinned ninja circumspectly raised the pale blanket which was wrapped around his three offspring, and pressed it against his chest. I'm going to have to go by the alleys… Rooftops will be too dangerous and the sewers will be too slow… Dammit… If only Casey hadn't moved in with April, I'd be at his apartment by now…
Shaking the thoughts from his head, the sinewy Leonardo slipped onto the fire escape, wincing as the cold metal bars bit into the soles of his calloused feet. One arm pressing the blanket to his plastron covered chest, the wiry ninja slipped down to the alleyway.
Cinnamon eyes narrowed to thick slits, Leonardo began to run. Feet thrumming against the alleys of the city, the turtle slid into the shadows, avoiding light at all costs. With the speed and urgency he was running with, what should have been a fifteen minute trek turned into a twelve minute sprint.
Chest heaving as he struggled to draw in a breath, the tall mutant –weak after a day of no food and the inhumanly fast run- brought his curled fist down on the wood of April's door. He brought it down once, twice more before stumbling backwards, the dome of his shell resting against the brick wall across from his "sister's" home.
Slowly, he raised his maskless head as the hourglass-shaped redhead opened the door, letting the light of her antique shop wash out into the alley. Casey stood behind her, one arm cradling the sobbing Shadow, the other curled around April's waist.
Stumbling forward, into the unnatural light, the weakened mutant raised his head, arms curled around the blanket as he stared up at the two. "I need your help."