Author's Note: Okay, so this one sort of picks up where the first chapter left off, but in Leo's POV instead of Raph's. Sorry for the flip-flop format, it's just the way it worked itself out. Anywho! All the feels here! Yay! I hope you guys have a good time reading it! I want to have the last chapter up this weekend, but it might depend on how long it is, so I make no promises.

Disclaimer: Ahhhhhh, no.

Leaving Him Behind:

Present time…

{Leo}

"No!" Donnie shouts, stomping his foot in refusal. "We're not leaving you here!"

I stare him down and open my mouth to argue, but Raph butts in with his infamous attitude.

"You're nuts if you think we'd actually let you go down with this thing!" he snaps.

My nostrils flare with breath. They're not making this any easier…

"Look," I start firmly, "Mikey can barely walk and April's out cold! We can't stay here any longer—you can't stay here any longer! If you guys don't get out now, we'll all be dead, and everything we've done won't mean a thing!"

"But Leo—"

"Get out!" I yell, waving my katanas. "Now!"

Raph steps towards me, his eyes burning, his teeth bared. "You idiot—"

But I cut him off when I point my blade at him. "That's an order, Raph."

He stops, and I can see his eyes waver as he stares at me in disbelief. He swallows, scared and angry. His hands are shaking.

Mikey limps against the wall for balance. I'm trying not to look at him; trying not to let their reactions weigh my heart down any further. I can't let them talk me out of this.

…The only thing of importance is that you complete your mission.

"Leo…we can't just leave you here, bro," Mikey whimpers.

No matter what you have to sacrifice…

I swallow hard and let my gaze fall on my brothers, forcing myself to look them all in the eye for the last time.

…Or who.

Something breaks in my chest. Something deep and important and fragile. I close my eyes, struggling to regain my composure, to shove down all the feelings of fear and uncertainty eating me alive. My body tenses, my fingers curling around the hilts of my katanas. And when I open my eyes, I've gone cold.

"I'm not giving you a choice."

And with that, I turn on my heels and go charging across the room, using my momentum and the bent panels as footholds as I scale up the wall. I leap for the ceiling, bringing my swords around in a swift arch that slices right through the first set of conduits. I drop down as the sparks pour around me, and the air is lit and thick with the energy I've cut loose.

Raph pulls Mikey out of the way, and Donnie steps back, holding April close to his chest in fear.

The electrical system pops and bursts, the wiring and cords along the walls catching into flames as the purple sparks continue to shower the room. Smoke begins to seep from beneath the walls and ceiling covers.

I hear Donnie curse and push Raph back as I run for the next set of conduits. Up the wall, through the air, swords raised, and SHEEE!

I split them in half. This time the system cracks, spitting sparks and fire and smoke. I hit the ground and roll out of the way as one of the massive cords falls loose from the ceiling, trailing destruction after it.

I can hear my brothers arguing somewhere behind me, but I've made a complete mess of the electrical systems, so no matter how much Donnie may protest my actions, I've given them no choice but to escape before the whole thing blows. I whirl around and glare at them, my heart skipping beats in my chest. They need to get out! Why on earth are they still standing around?! What're they doing—

But my thoughts are broken by the horrid shriek of Kraang Prime. I grimace at the sound and turn to face the direction of the scream, keeping my back to my family. They better get out now, because I won't be able to protect them from what's about to come.

My breath comes quick and shallow, and my mind is racing. I can hear Raph calling after me, shouting, angry, desperate, and confused. His voice is becoming a little more distant with each second, which means Donnie and Mikey must be pulling him towards the pod.

I'm trying to ignore the aching in my chest. The weight of it all will kill me if I let myself feel it for even a second. I can't be afraid. I can't second-guess my decision, not now. I have to do this…for them.

"LEO!" Raph screams my name, and it sends fractures down my being.

I swallow hard and take a step—away from my family, away from myself. My hands have begun to shake as the flames lick and hiss at the tunnel and the screech of Kraang Prime gets ever closer.

"Don't you dare!" he cries, his voice raw and bleeding and wasted. "Don't you dare leave us alone!"

My jaw clenches and something hot runs down the sides of my face. Because he's right. I may be saving their lives, but I'm taking something else away from them. I'm breaking our family apart…and leaving them to pick up the pieces.

A pitiful gasp fills my lungs, and I have to grit my teeth to stifle the sob that wrenches through my chest. I want it all to stop. I want the world to fall away so I can wake up and be where I was yesterday, when my heart wasn't being ripped to shreds and the fear wasn't filling my lungs like water.

I wish I couldn't hear him crying after me. I wish that they had just left the moment I told them to, so I wouldn't be hurting so much, so I wouldn't be torn in half, so the words he's screaming out of fear, rage, and pain wouldn't be the last thing I'll ever hear from any of them.

And I wish I didn't have to do this.

Somewhere in the chaos, the sound of a pod activating catches my ear. With trembling legs, I allow myself to turn around, just for a moment, just to see them one last time before I lose everything I've ever had. I see the pod at the end of the hallway, with sparks and the light of the fires gleaming off the glass shield as it seals itself shut. Raph's shouting has become muffled, and my family becomes a blur behind the smoke and my own tears. And I stand there, waiting to watch my only home disappear.

~T~

{Raph}

"LEO!" I'm in hysterics. I can't see him anymore, and the interior of the orb has begun to activate as Donnie punches at the keyboard with one hand while simultaneously trying to keep me from smashing through the glass with the other.

"Raph, stop it!" he snaps. But I can hear the cracks in his voice, the fractures in his words. Mikey tries to pull me back again, but I swat his arms away, seething.

"We can't leave him to die!" I scream. "Open this thing, Donnie! We have to help him—he needs us!"

But Donnie slams his palm down on a large purple button, and all the sudden, the pod comes to life, and a robotic voice begins to speak through the auditory system. I'm not fluent in Kraang, but it doesn't take a genius to know that this thing's counting down. My heart skips and trips and breaks into a million pieces that shatter and pierce all of my insides. The tears move in hot streaks down my face, and I can't stop shaking.

How could they do this? How could they just sit back and let Leo make this kind of decision?

"Y-You're just gonna let him die?" I whisper, breaking. And then my voice jumps into a splintered shout. "You're just gonna leave him there while we run away with our tails between our legs!?"

Donnie swallows, but his eyes are hard. Just like Leo's were. Even Mikey has steeled himself over.

I stare at them, heaving for breath, incredulous. How can they all just stop feeling? Why am I the only one who's losing it?

The pod whirs to life, buzzing beneath us, and I lose myself in the panic.

"He's our brother!" I cry desperately, choking in the lump that's quickly forming in my throat. "He's our brother—"

But a high-pitched series of beeps screams overhead, and before my heart can pump another ounce of blood, we're knocked back as the escape pod launches from the interior of the ship. The force of it slams all of us down against the seats and the floor, jarring our bones and catching our breath in our throats. Our world is stolen by darkness for a moment as the pod shoots through the closed tunnel, and in that instant, we're all left to the whirring and clicking of machinery with our hearts beating out of our chests.

And when the pod exits the ship, daylight floods the glass shield, blinding us. We're shot through the air, suspended hundreds of feet above ground and moving a thousand miles an hour until—

WHAM!

~T~

{Leo}

The pod suddenly shoots back, vanishing down the tunnel and out of sight. In a single instant, they're gone.

And I'm alone.

The tears are coming down my face in silent streams, but I keep my body clenched against the agony of it all. I can't fall apart. Not yet.

My resolve freezing itself over, I turn back to face my death, numb to my core. I have nowhere else to run, nothing left to do but bring this thing down in a burst of flames. The Kraang will be defeated, and I'll die.

It seems so simple in my head. A single understanding with no way around it. But the damage it's inflicting on my soul is something else entirely, and I have to keep myself frozen stiff to hold those emotions back, to keep myself from melting and burning into nothing.

I take slow steps forward, knowing that Kraang Prime is just down the corridor, screaming and thrashing and no doubt tearing half the ship apart. And as I go, I can't help but to drown in a single, flawed concept of mine.

I always thought dying a hero would be something beautiful. Something glorious. What greater honor is there than to die for the ones you love?

But now that I'm here, I'm finding it to be something entirely different from what I've always imagined it to be. It isn't beautiful, and it isn't glorious. It's terrifying, painful, and lonely. I don't feel brave or strong; I don't feel lifted by notions of honor and duty. I'm afraid, and I desperately wish with all that I am that I had climbed into that escape pod and vanished with my brothers. All these selfish thoughts flood my mind and consume me as I move to commit the most selfless action I could ever commit in all of my young life.

As I walk down the hallway, surrounded on all sides by flames, sparks, carnage and smoke, I do so alone. I do so knowing that this will be the last thing I'll ever see, the last memory my mind will grasp before I fall away to nothing.

I don't feel like a hero. I just feel like someone who's about to die.

I stop where I am, closing my eyes for a moment and focusing on the deep, periodic vibrations shaking the floor beneath me. Everything else seems to fade out—the crackling of the fire, the sizzling of the sparks, the heat and the heavy smoke—all of it is gone. Devoured by my concentration, something that's fueled only by my need to make this all worth something. Because if I'm going to die, then my enemy is, too.

It only takes a good thirty seconds for Kraang Prime's contorted face to appear through the haze around the corner. He steps into the main hallway, facing me, about a hundred yards away. But those seconds feel like eternity stretched fifty times over, and by then, I'm already dead on the inside.

Our eyes lock. I step forth, bracing myself and holding my blades out before me in a steady, focused manner. I listen to the rush of my blood, the thundering of my heart, and then I close my eyes. There's a single plea on my lips. One last prayer, and as I whisper it, I desperately wish I could will the words to reach my family.

"Forgive me."

My eyes snap open, and I'm gone.

I let out a scream and charge Kraang Prime, my katanas arched overhead, my blood pumping, my mind bent on my last mission with such ferocity and focus that I lose myself in it completely.

Forgive me—

I drop into the black fog of adrenaline and let my instincts reign over my mind.

Forgive me for dying—

I skirt in a zigzag motion from wall to wall, my eyes catching a larger conduit system where the hallways merge—right above Kraang Prime's head.

And for leaving you alone.

Hot beams of plasma are shot in my direction, searing with heat as they melt through the walls and flooring. I tumble out of the way, leaping and dodging stream after stream of laser blasts. The infrastructure begins to fall apart all around me—beams loosen, boards melted, metals eaten through. Smoke continues to rise and something short-circuits behind me, erupting with a small, crackling explosion that blows one of the walls clean out.

I grit my teeth as I come into close range, and just as he shoots another torrent of hot death at me, I throw myself to the side, rolling over and over before popping back onto my feet and racing towards the opposite wall. The curving of the tunnel makes it difficult to scale the sides, but luckily, with so much destruction, the wreckage proves of use. Instead of busted panels, I lunge into the air and snatch some cables hanging limply from the ceiling. My body sways and my feet hit the wall, and I start to pull myself up, up, up—

Another blast. This one's much closer, and I have to push off of the wall and swing out of the way. The force of the explosion down below me is enough to shake my grip, and I slide a good two feet down the cable when some of the exposed wires sticking out of the severed end touch my forearm—

And it's like lightning shooting up through me. I cry out as my muscles threaten to go limp from the shock. It takes all that I am to hold on, and even more to continue to climb. I grit my teeth and let out a groan of pain, but I keep moving. My body is jumping with the electricity that's just flashed through me, and I'm lucky it wasn't enough to strike me dead on the spot.

I go, faster this time, fueled by adrenaline and now the shock of being zapped by the inner wires. And in a few seconds, I get high enough to push off the wall with my feet and launch myself towards the exposed conduit system. I bring my body into a twist as I'm flung into the air, and my swords are brought round with me. With the momentum and the force of it all, I stab my katanas into the system, effectively splicing the cords with a single blow.

With my blades still lodged in the insulating covers of the power cords, I pull them as I fall, thrusting my arms forth in a downward position as I aim for Kraang Prime's head. The cords are ripped from their place in the ceiling, sparks flying, and I come crashing down on the robotic body with a brutal amount of force and a massive expanse of exposed electricity.

It takes only a second. A second for me to fall, carrying a kajillion watts of power with me—a second for me to cry out and stab my blades down into the metal flesh encasing Kraang Prime. The reaction is far greater and much more powerful than I could've ever anticipated, and in an instant, the air splits with a resonating crack as the conduit system sends crushing swells of electricity down through the robotic suit, igniting a series of explosions that send me flying back in a tidal wave of heat and pain—

And in that instant, my world is consumed by a flash of white light, and I'm gone.

~T~

{Raph}

The screech of crumpling metal splits my head in two as our pod collides with the East River. Glass shatters, spraying us like the water that rushes in, ice cold, and spills over everything in a split second. The frigid temperature is enough to put me in shock as our pod is swallowed up by the waves.

Panic. It's the only thing my brain can identify as we're pulled down by the river. Holding breath I didn't have in the first place, I'm struggling to get my body to respond to the frantic commands my mind is shooting out. My limbs are flailing, knocking against the confines of the orb in a desperate attempt to somehow punch my way out as we sink lower into the depths. Bubbles are rushing past, and the salt water burns my eyes, but I can make out the blurred shapes of Donnie, Mikey, and April—who still appears to be unconscious—as they, too, kick restlessly at the sphere's walls. The glass shield has been busted through by the impact, but the force of the sinking orb keeps us stuck along the floor of the vessel, helpless. My chest is burning like someone filled my lungs with gasoline and tossed a match down my throat. My thoughts are becoming more rapid, but broken, my mind obviously responding to the oxygen deprivation. I kick and struggle and twist in the thick chill of the water, but my movements are getting slower by the millisecond.

I feel a hand grab my arm, and though my eyes aren't sending me clear images, I can tell it's Donnie, and he's stilling my movements. My instincts tell me to continue to flop around like a fish, but I force myself to calm down for what seems like an eternity before he quickly tugs me up. By then, the bubbles have stopped. I fight to keep from passing out as we start to swim from the surface, suddenly freed from whatever invisible force was holding us down. All three of us kick and crawl upwards, our lungs no doubt about to burst. Donnie's having the hardest time, having to carry April and all, so Mikey and I have to push him as we go.

We seem so far under, and I feel like I'm going to die before I can reach the surface. I don't understand how my body hasn't given out yet, but I'm not about to question it, so I keep going and going until suddenly—

The water breaks around us. Sunlight washes over our wet skin, and all three of us take a huge gulp of air while simultaneously coughing up buckets of water.

"We're—alive!" Mikey croaks, spitting up fluid in-between his enthusiastic words. And not a moment later, a rush of force beneath us moves as our escape pod abruptly bursts to the surface as well. Upside down.

Salty spray hits our faces from the sudden eruption, but we all start swimming for the vessel, and after a frustrating minute of struggling to flip it over, we do. Water spills from the edges, sloshing over the sides as we climb in. The glass shield has been completely obliterated, and the seats are torn and soaked through. We start trying to scoop the remaining water out as best as we can, which Mikey remedies by suggesting that we rock it from side to side until the water spills out on its own.

Exhausted, beaten, and chilled to the bone, we all collapse against the wet seats, breathing hard beneath the soft sunlight and crisp morning air.

And it takes me a few minutes to become aware of the pain in my body. Groaning, I blink heavily and look down at my arms and legs to see little shards of glass protruding from my flesh. Blood has begun to ooze around the sides of the wounds. I curse under my breath and start to brush off the smaller pieces. I glance at my brothers to see them sporting similar wounds, but not nearly as numerous as mine.

"Careful…pulling them…out," Donnie pants, hanging his head back against the seat in fatigue. "T-The salt water… Pour some…on the lacerations…"

I swallow hard and give a slight nod as I start to pick out the glass, one by one. My skin's so cold, I can hardly feel it, but that doesn't mean I like looking at it.

"We're…okay…right?" Mikey asks breathlessly. "Everyone's…alive?"

Donnie pulls April closer to him, most likely in an attempt to warm her, but that doesn't exactly work when you yourself are soaking wet and freezing.

"She's still breathing…" he whispers. I watch him for a moment, seeing that most of the glass in his skin sticks out along his outer arm and leg, like he shielded her from it. Because there's not a piece in her.

"How's your ankle, Mikey?" Donnie asks quietly.

"I forgot about it…until now," he groans. "But I'm too cold to feel it."

I reach out the pod and scoop some salt water into my palm, sprinkling it over the cuts in my skin. It burns a little, and I wince, but I'm sure it'd be a lot worse if I weren't so numb.

No one says anything for the longest time. At least, that's what it feels like. We all just sit there and breathe, picking glass from our skin and trying to find relief in the faint warmth of the sun. And for an eternity, that's all that registers in my mind.

Until…

A flash of blinding white light emits from behind us.

BOOM!

The blast is louder than anything I've ever heard. It shakes my bones. The explosion is like a drum beat inside of my chest, and for a moment, I'm honestly scared that my heart is going to burst from sheer violence of it.

But another series of smaller eruptions go off, each one another blow to my eardrums. My head is ringing with a high-pitched whine, and all other sound has been stolen from me. In those moments, the world stops and ends and begins again.

The wave of heat is next, washing over the entire area with brisk force. We all turn and watch the Technodrome, lit up in flames, smoke and wreckage spilling from every side as it shudders, breaks, and crashes into the ocean below it.

Something so huge plummeting into the water doesn't just make a splash—it makes tidal waves. Our pod is rocked back in the water, which makes all of us lose our balance and stumble into the sides as the massive swells carry us further back. It doesn't take my stomach more than twenty seconds of constant rocking to throw in the towel, so I cling to the edge of our little ship and heave my guts out into the water.

The waves finally settle, but not after I empty my stomach contents out another few times. I go limp against the wall, spitting a string of bile from my mouth and grimacing at the acidic taste. I wipe the back of my hand across my lips and let out a shaky breath as a weight like stone is placed over my chest.

I swallow and turn back to see that the Technodrome is nowhere in sight. It's been dragged down into the depths…bringing my brother down with it.

A silence so tense, it's permeable, comes over us. There's only the sloshing of the waves against the outside of our pod as the waters quiet down, and for a long time, that's all there is.

Mikey's the first to say anything, because at this point, I've got nothing left.

"Leo…" he whispers.

And that's all he says. Just his name, carried on the pleading, aching whisper of a broken-hearted little brother. The sound of it is so quiet, but it's like a sledgehammer hitting me in the gut. We all stand there and stare out at the horizon where the Technodrome was, just moments ago, holding our last hope, our only prayer. Our brother.

I collapse on myself, burying my face in my hands…

And I start to cry.

A/N: ;~; You guys, even I was having some feels while writing this. I was like NO MY POOR BABIES! Aaaaaannnd then I got over it ^-^ Because if a story doesn't make you feel something, then it's not worth reading!

Thank you to all who have favorited/followed/reviewed! I love reading your feedback; it totally makes my day to know what you guys think about these stories. Have a great week and stay tuned for the next update! :D