Fear

As soon as Leo opened his eyes, he knew.

Sure, he'd had his suspicions, especially since his eyesight had been so terrible back in the prison. It was so dark in there anyway that he figured he was imagining things.

But now he was back in the Lair - in the lab, which Don always kept brightly lit so he could see what he was working on - and the leader couldn't see an inch in front of his face. Everything was black, with the exception of a few dark grey areas in his vision which he chose to assume were actual lights and not just his imagination.

He was blind. And it was absolutely terrifying.

Leo had done blindfolded training since he was ten years old, as an offshoot of his regular katas and meditation. That wasn't scary. It wasn't scary because he knew that the darkness, the inability to see the world around him, would end eventually. But this? This wasn't blindfolded training. This was real. So, so utterly real.

How would he tell his brothers? How would he keep up with his job as leader? How would he protect his family and Clan?

Guilt and fear and anguish crashed over him in a wave and he swallowed. A strangled noise escaped his lips and he clapped a hand over his mouth.

The eldest had felt extreme relief when Mikey rescued him from that cell where he'd been for three long months. Yet under that relief was pain, because he knew what was coming. He knew how crushed his little brother would be when he discovered the truth...and that it was his fault.

A voice snapped Leo out of his thoughts and he flinched, automatically shutting his eyes. Mikey. "You okay, bro?"

"Yeah," he responded in a voice still slightly raspy from disuse. "I'm fine. What are you doing out of bed, Mike? It's almost two in the morning."

"Couldn't sleep," was the quiet reply. A weight settled onto the cot and a smooth head came to rest on Leo's shoulder. "I keep thinking."

"About what?"

"That night...what would've happened if we hadn't split up on patrol. If we hadn't gone out at all. Things would've been different."

More than you realize, little brother. "You need to let all that go. Everything's fine now." Lie. "I'm home safe, Don and Raph are still here, Sensei's not as tired now-"

"But something is just...not the same," Mikey whispered. "I can feel it. I don't know what it is but I can feel it."

Before Leo could say anything else, there was the sound of footsteps in the doorway. Donnie's voice cut through the air with the barest hint of an edge - not sharp, but reprimanding all the same. "Mikey, you need to get some rest. Remember what Raph said about you being up all this time?"

If Leo could've looked at the youngest, he would have. As it stood, he was only able to blink in surprise. How long had his baby brother been awake, exactly?

"Sorry, D. I just had to check, y'know?"

Check to make sure it was real that he was home, Leo supposed - that it wasn't just some nightmare born of fevered dreams and deep-rooted desires.

The weight lifted off of the cot, taking with it the scent of cinnamon and oranges. Wide lips pressed a quick kiss to the leader's forehead and then vanished again. "See you in the morning, Leo," Mikey said softly. Then he was gone.

The lab settled into a silence so large someone could easily hear a pin drop. But Leo knew he wasn't alone yet.

"...you didn't tell him."

"How could I, Don? He was so happy to have me back, and then he was scared it wasn't real. I can't tell him. Not yet."

"He's going to find out eventually, you know."

"Hopefully by then, it'll either have cleared up or you'll have found a cure." The eldest knew it was unfair to put that burden on Donnie's lanky shoulders but he really had no choice. None of them did at this point.

"...yeah," the resident genius murmured in reply. "Hopefully."

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