Where did it go wrong? How? Raph kept running this over and over in his head. It was supposed to be a normal mission, go in, beat up kraang and bust their stuff. So how did this tragic end come about? Leo...Leo was gone. He couldn't face it. Leo was GONE! Tears once again forming in his green eyes, he stumbled on. Leading his brothers and friends home, home that from now on would never feel the same. Home, to where he had to tell his father that his eldest wasn't coming back...

They quietly and somerly entered the lair to find Splinter waiting for them. He quickly noticed the absence of the eldest and took in the tear stained eyes of the others. "What happened?" He demanded.

Raph made his way to his sensei and when he looked Splinter in the eyes he couldn't hold it in anymore. Rapheal, the tough one, the one who never broke, collapsed in front of his father and broke down like a small child. "L-Leo...he's..." He couldn't finish, his throat closed up with sobs up and he broke down in tears. He sat in front of his father crying uncontrollably.

He felt Splinter's strong yet slender arms wrap around him, pulling him into a fierce hug. Raph held on to his father like a small child afraid of the dark. Behind him he could hear the others breaking all over again. This was something they had never wanted to have to tell Splinter and now they were torn open all over again at the sight of his grief as he clung to Raph, tears in his eyes.

After a long while they composed themselves. Splinter looked at them. "What happened?" he asked again but this time in a softer tone. Raph took a deep breath and began to talk.

.

.

"There it is." Donnie told them pointing to a single story abandoned building. "That's where the power signature is coming from."

Raph groaned. Why did it always have to be abandoned buildings? Oh, well at least they were predictable. Raph figured that every abandoned building had a kraang base in it. Now there was a thought...maybe they should just go knock down every abandonded building. They would probably just go away because they had nowhere to hide. But then he wouldn't have any robots to bust up...screw it, abandoned buildings wern't that bad.

"Any idea of what they are doing, Donnie?" Leo asked.

"Who cares? Let's just go in and bust them up and break their little toy." Raph interrupted. He was about to jump down when Leo grabbed his arm.

"No Raph. We have no idea what we are getting into. Donnie?"

"I've seen these kinds of reading befores. It looks like the have a portal in there. A large one."

"Dudes! Maybe they are trying to bring in more kraangy stuff? Like horrible mutated attack girraffes or something. Oh, wait! I know! Mutated teddybears!"

Raph just smacked his brother on the head, ignoring his "Ow!"

"Will you two knock it off! We are supposed to be-" Leo started.

"Quiet." the others finished.

April giggled. "I take it he says that a lot?" Casey asked.

"You have no idea..." Raph told him.

Leo just glared at them, then turned to survey the building. "There," He pointed "it's a sky light. Let's go see what they are up to." He pulled out a grappling hook and the other's followed suit. Except for Casey.

"What's the matter?" Raph asked him.

"I don't have one."

"You mean you got all that crap in that bag and you never thought of a grappling hook?" Raph asked amused.

"Hey, I never thought I'd be hopping rooftops with a bunch of flippy floppy turtles." He shot back.

"Ninja Turtles, bro. Not flippy floppy turtles." Mikey huffed at him.

"Might as well be called that as much as you guys hop around."

"Actually it's called flips, not hops. See flipping involves the rotation of your body when you are-" Donnie spoke up.

"WILL you guys quit!" Leo snapped. Then shot off his line. The others followed suit and they slid over the gap to the next building. Casey following close behind on Raph's line. So close that Raph wasn't completly surprised when Casey crashed into him on the other end. "Watch it you masked klutz!"

"Well you should have gotten out of my way."

"I'll show you getting out of the way!" And Raph tackled him back to the roof top.

Leo just sighed and put his face to his hand, then moved to break them up. "Do you want to let them know we are-" Suddenly the roof under them folded in and they all fell to the next level below, right in the middle of a bunch of kraang. "here." Leo finished.

"Uh oooh." Came from Mikey.

"It is the one's called the turtles. Kraang, make the ones called the turtles from the state of alive to the state of not being alive." One of the robots said. Then a lot of blasters were raised aimed at them.

"Move!" Leo snapped at them and they burst into a flurry of action. Leo and Mikey went left, Donnie and April went right and Raph and Casey plowed their way thru the middle. Blaster fire shooting all around them.

"You would think these tin cans would learn to aim by now!" Mikey hollered as he slammed one to the ground.

"Under the circumstances I'm glad they didn't, you goof!" Raph shouted back as he lept into the air and plunged his sais into a robot on each side of him. As he was in the air Casey rushed in underneath him and knocked down a third that was aiming his blaster up at Raph. Raph landed and spun taking out another that was trying to come up behind him.

"Guys! I was right! It is a portal and they already have it activated! Something is about to come through!" Donnie called from across the room.

"Can you take it out?" Leo called back.

"Shouldn't be to much of a problem. Yikes!" Donnie ducked as blaster fire came is way, pulling April down with him.

"We need to give Donnie some cover!" Leo told the others.

Raph understood immidieatly and made his way over to the group of robots converging on Donnie and April. Again he lept high into the air and landed into the middle of them. Leo landed next to him shortly after and together they gave their brainiac brother the space that he needed. There were more crowding them in however, until Mikey came swinging in "Wooooo hooooo!" and took a few of them out. Then he flicked his chain to release it and landed next to his brothers swinging the chain back out again and pulling yet another off of it's feet. Casey had made his way to them also his hocky stick twirling and smacking the little brain like things out of their housing.

By now Donnie and April had the cover off of the control panel and were working furiously to shut the portal down. Suddenly More kraang entered the room and the blaster fire intensified again. One badly aimed shot went between the turtles and hit the open control panel, barely missing Donnie as he pulled his hands back just in time. "Uh oh..." Raph heard him say.

"What?"

"Guys we need to get out of here! This thing is overheating and it's going to blow any second!" Donnie screamed.

Casey got some of his explosives out and threw them at the wall behind them, creating a very convienient door way.

"Everyone out!" Leo snapped at them. "Go Raph!" He pushed his youger brother towards the exit even as the kraang were still closing in on them, with more coming in. Raph turned and followed the others out. It wasn't until he was across the street that he realised that Leo wasn't behind him. He turned and looked and saw him still inside holding off the kraang.

"Leo!" Just as Raph was about to go and help his brother there was a blinding blue flash of light followed by an explosion. The shock wave hit Raph and slammed him into the building across the street. Then the building exploded into flames. "LEO! NO!" He screamed, even as he knew there was no way Leo could have survived the blast.

.

.

Mikey couldn't bear hearing to what happened. He couldn't listen to how his brother was taken from them. It just ripped the wound inside his chest open all over again. He silently slipped away to his room and closed and locked the door behind him. He just wanted to be alone. Numbly he moved to his unmade bed and laid down, kicking the blanket to the foot of the bed, then curling himself up into the fetal position holding his pillow tight against his chest.

How would they go on? How would they heal from this massive wound? Mikey started to tear up again and he just let himself go. He was starting to believe he would never quit crying. Leo, his big brother, the calm of any storm, the patient one who always had a smile for his little brother's antics, the one who always looked out for him. He knew he wasn't as good as a fighter as Leo and Raph but Leo never really rubbed it into his face, not like Raph does anyway. Leo believed in his little brother, he knew Mikey could come through if it was needed. Leo never really lost faith in him, was always there for him. Mikey could talk to him, tell him things that would have gotten him teased from his other brothers. And if Mikey was in trouble he knew Leo would always be there for him, he would always come through just like Donnie and Raph would. Their brotherly bond meant more to them than any danger they ever faced. And now Leo was gone. The main pillar, besides Splinter, of his life had been ripped away. Mikey cried, and cried. He lay on his bed, tears streaming from his eyes and sobs racking his chest. He hurt so much, he had never felt anything like this before in his life, and he didn't know what to do. Leo...why Leo...

Finally pure exhaustion finally overcame him and he fell asleep. His dreams weren't much better, he kept reliving the explosion over and over again. Kept having to see as his brother was incinerated in front of his eyes. Kept watching Leo die, again and again. He couldn't take it any more. Finally he woke up, drained, tired and not fully there, tears still in his eyes. He was loosing himself, he knew he was. He couldn't bear this and it was tearing his mind apart. He pulled the cover tighter around his shoulder. Wait...he didn't have a cover over him. How...? He tried to make his confused, tired and not altogether working right mind focus. Suddenly he felt a calm come over him. Like a large blanket of peace. Slowly he drifted off to sleep again but he could have sworn he saw something standing at the foot of his bed. Something that had a faint blue glow to it. 'Sleep, Mikey. I'm here.' he heard in his head. To tired to figure it out he drifted off to sleep and he slept with no more dreams.