"Golden child, Lion boy; Tell me what it's like to conquer.
Fearless child, broken boy; Tell me what it's like to burn."
three.
For three hours, they sat in silence. For three hours, she watched tears soak his mask and roll down his red, wind-burned cheeks.
For three hours, she hated herself, because there was absolutely nothing she could do to make this right.
"Leo," the kunoichi finally tried again, gentler this time, like anything else would scare him away, "Please, you need to eat something."
He blinked slowly, turning his watery gaze to the plate in his lap. It was sushi - his favorite. Karai had remembered. The thought should've brought at least a semblance of a smile to his face, but he just swallowed and shook his head, moving the plate to the coffee table, away from himself.
Karai wanted to scream. She wanted to explode in anger. She wanted to...to...
She wanted to cry.
It hurt seeing the oldest turtle like this.
Defiance and something akin to protective rage flowed through her veins and she took a deep breath to steady herself. "Stay here," she told him, standing and walking to the adjoining kitchen. Leonardo nodded listlessly, as if it took too much effort to do anything more.
Karai pulled up speed-dial on her phone and hit the number without bothering to look. April answered on the second ring. "Did you find him? Please tell me that you-"
"I found him," the raven-haired girl confirmed quietly. Her weary gaze flicked back through the doorway towards her houseguest and her shoulders slumped. "He's not doing great, O'Neil. Whatever happened down there really, really-" Her voice faltered. Broke him, she wanted to say, but she forced herself to rephrase. "-hurt him."
"I can't imagine what was said to him. Don didn't tell me when I called him earlier, but judging by his tone, it wasn't good."
That cold anger burned inside again and Karai barely refrained from hissing. "I'll tell you what was said. Raphael blamed Dad's death on him."
There was a moment of stunned silence; when the redhead spoke again it was in a soft, pained voice. "Oh, man...poor Leo."
It's gonna be 'poor Raph' when I get my hands on him. "Listen, I need a favor. Can you come stay with him for a while? I need to run an errand."
"Don't do anything stupid, Karai."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Please. I'm a telepath, remember?"
"Yeah, and last I checked you had a limit on your range." Karai peeked into the living room again and her expression softened when she saw that Leo hadn't even moved a muscle; he was still in the same position, staring blankly at the floor as if he wanted to sink right through. "I promise I'm not going to do anything crazy. I just need to fix this."
"It's not really your problem to fix. You realize that, right?"
The kunoichi gritted her teeth and her knuckles clenched white on the phone. "Look, O'Neil, I'm going to do this with or without your support, but I'd rather someone be here for him. I know what it's like to feel how he's feeling, and I can't- I won't - let him sink as far as I did." Her voice grew quieter until it was barely audible. She was...she was begging. "Please."
There was a long pause, and then April sighed. "I'll be there in ten minutes."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Just sit with him. Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy." Like throw himself off a bridge, Karai wanted to add. Her shoulders slumped and she crossed her arms over her chest, looking very unsure of herself as she watched the formerly proud leader. "...Thank you, O'Neil. I appreciate this."
April's piercing blue gaze moved from Leo's face to that of her old enemy. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for him."
For the first time in a while, the corners of Karai's mouth turned upwards. That was something they had in common at least. "I know."
And then she was gone, slipped out the window into the city beyond, leaving nothing in her wake but the promise of excruciating pain.
