Raph was smacked against the wall one more time before the opponent let him go. His limp body slid down to the ground, and like some miracle, his knees hit the ground before the rest of his body. Even though he wasn't conscious his knees hit the ground, and that counted as yielding. The audience cheered for the brutal kill, continuing the cheering even after his body disappeared.

Mikey was the first one shakily kneeling next to Raph as his body appeared into the room. Leo wasn't far behind, helping Don since his leg was giving up under him. Michelangelo was carefully lifting Raph's head and wiping the blood away ever so gently.

"Raph", Mikey gasped, tears still on his cheeks. Leo placed his hand on the side of Raphael's neck, letting out a shaky breath when he found a weak pulse. His breathing was shallow, but it was there. Leo felt suddenly exhausted – he hadn't seen Raphael's knees hit the ground, he had thought the reason he was brought here was because he–

He shook the thought away, helping Don to sit down better. Don was in pain, he could tell by the way he was gritting his teeth, but he did his best to hide it because he help too. Leo grabbed Raphael's hand tightly while Don was examining his face, wiping the blood away with a piece of the curtain. They had torn the whole curtain down, and most of it had already been used.

"How bad is it?" Leo asked carefully, placing his other hand on Mikey's shoulder while he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

"Don't know yet", Don said quietly. He was still just as shocked, relieved of course, but he knew he wouldn't be letting his brothers out of sight for a long time after this. It felt a bit comforting to think about all this being over, he trusted Leo to defeat the rest of their opponents. But if Raph had come back in this condition, then how would Leo-?

"I need to wake him up and keep an eye on him, he's definitely got a wicked concussion, I just hope it isn't more than that."

"Number 5."

Both Don and Mikey stiffened, looking at Leo. Leo ignored them, not doing anything to move, just held Raphael's hand in his and looked at his bloody and battered face.

"He's going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up", Leo said.

"I know, but I need to know how bad it is", Don sighed. Leo let go of Raph's hand but didn't take his eyes away.

"Raph", Don called, returning his attention back to him and carefully touching his face. Both Mikey and Leo watched, when suddenly Leo yelped, doubling over as an electric shock shot through his body. It wasn't just a small zap; after it was over his muscles felt sore and he was gasping for air.

"Leo!" Mikey yelped, reaching for him, but Leo swatted his hands away.

"Don't touch me", he hissed, still recovering from the pain. Mikey drew his hands back with a hurt look, and Leo swallowed, holding his breath for a moment before speaking in a softer tone. "Sorry. If you touch me, you could get hurt, too", he explained.

"I didn't know it'd start so soon", Don said, referring to the shock. He lowered his head. "You have to go", he continued, even though he wanted everything but that. They had all completely forgotten about the shocks that would occur if a battler didn't enter the arena, and definitely didn't want Leo to get another one of those. Leo had to go, but after seeing what their opponent had done to Raph, sending Leo there was…

Leonardo hated to leave without seeing Raph awake. He also didn't want to leave Don and Mikey alone, Don was still badly hurt and Mikey was obviously still in a shock- but he had to.

"Just try to wake him up", Leo said, getting up.

"Please be careful", he heard Mikey whisper, and his chest ached when he looked into Michelangelo's big, pleading eyes. Sudden rage filled him as he looked at his hurt brothers, but Leo didn't let it show.

"I will", he promised, touching Mikey's shoulder briefly before leaving. Before he stepped out of the door he glanced back, meeting Don's worried eyes. The door closed.

The sandy ground of the arena had been colored red, and in the middle of it all, the enemy waited patiently. His other arm had red splatters on it; Raphael's drying blood.

Emotions swirled inside him; the feeling of uselessness and anger as he had watched his brothers get hurt one after one, the hurt he had felt when he had thought he'd lost one of them.

And he still could. He didn't know if Raphael would even wake up. This had to end fast so he could get back to them, to get them proper help.

He walked towards the enemy with confident steps, not caring about the blood. He still didn't know how to beat him, but the hatred burned his insides; he couldn't wait any longer. He really didn't care that he was clearly disadvantaged. He recognized this feeling from a long time ago, back when he had been weighted down by his failures, always blaming himself is his family got hurt. He had burned with emotion before the self-hatred had wiped everything away, leaving him obsessed with training himself to be better. He had fought his enemies without emotion to avoid failure, and it had often come to the point where he hadn't known when to stop, striking his already fallen enemies over and over again. He felt a bang in his chest when he remembered how his brothers had sometimes had to drag him away from the enemy, saying it's over, Leo, they're finished. He had eventually learned how to forgive himself.

But now he felt like he was back in the starting point. He had watched his brothers get hurt, even though he knew there hadn't been anything he could've done to help. But he had just watched. How could he forgive himself for something like that?

How could he forgive the enemy?

"What's this? Didn't I just beat you?" the opponent asked, eyeing the turtle that looked almost identical to his previous opponent, amusement in his voice. "Doesn't matter, though. I'll gladly do it again."

Leo broke into a run, avoiding a punch that would've sent his easily unconscious. He used the same tactic Raphael had used, jumping on top of the enemy's giant hand and climbing behind his head. He knew that this had been how Raph got caught, so he paid attention to dodge the arm that was trying to grab him. When the rock couldn't grab the turtle he made a frustrated noise, but kept trying to catch him.

Leo swung himself on the side of his head, punching him in the eye with a quick move. But his opponent wasn't stupid; he expected Leo to go for his eyes, so he closed them just before the fist connected. Even his eyelids seemed to be made out of hard material. Leo hissed when pain shot from his fist; his knuckles were already bloody and torn from punching the window earlier.

The rock laughed, trying to grab him again. Leo jumped away, landing easily back onto the ground. He'd simply study him from afar to find a weak spot. The only downside was that he had already studied him during Raph's fight, but hadn't found anything to use against him. But he had to have at least one weak spot. He had to.

The rock came after him, stomping as slowly as before. They circled each other, and Leo paid no attention the booing of the audience. But it seemed to matter to his opponent; he noticed how he tried to walk faster.

"C'mon, let me catch you already. I promise to knock you out fast this time."

How to beat a rock with just his bare hands? He still had no idea how Raph was doing. For all he knew he could be getting worse, and Don and Mikey couldn't do anything but watch helplessly.

He was wasting time- no, he was wasting Raphael's life.

Leonardo sprinted again, getting easily behind his enemy who only seemed to be glad that something was happening again. Leo kicked the back of his knees, but no weak spot there, either. Not like he had expected there to be, but what could he do?

His posture was already starting to crack; emotionless, yeah right. He was starting to be desperate, and his emotions were scratching at the walls of the prison he had locked them into. But he knew that by becoming impatient Raph had gotten caught; he couldn't afford to have emotions. He had to keep them in check. A real warrior wouldn't let his emotions get the best of him.

"You know", the rock spoke. "I think I changed my mind. I'm going to kill you nice and slow since I didn't get to do that to the other one."

Leo growled. "Shut up", he warned.

"Oh? You're mad? He important to you?"

'Oh', Leo thought, 'you have no idea.'

"Since you're not letting me catch you, I gotta entertain myself some way. How about I tell you how satisfying it was to finally grab the other creature, to feel how he squirmed- but even better was to-"

"Shut up!" Leo repeated, punching the side of the enemy's leg. He jumped to get away before the rock could have time to hit him, but to his horror he jumped into the wrong direction, standing right where the fist would hit him.

The force knocked him away from the opponent, sending him down on his shell, the air knocked out of him. How? How had he been so wrong about the distance? Stars danced in his eyes and he could hear the enemy getting closer, but all he could think about was that he had jumped into the wrong direction. He laughed, surprised at the sound. Must've been quite a punch if he was laughing. His vision spun.

Leo rolled over onto his plastron, finally able to breathe again. He got up, jumping away just in time; a few seconds later and he would've been stomped by the huge leg.

The rock swayed a bit as he put his leg down. And Leo realized where the weak spot was.

He started running again, but had to stop once in a while to hold his head because what did he expect after getting hit by a rock? His head hurt in a way it hadn't ever before, and he couldn't imagine how Raph would feel when he wakes up. If he wakes up.

As he ran, he stumbled occasionally, almost falling over a few times. He was glancing over his shoulder every once in a while, hurrying his steps every time he saw the rock getting closer. This seemed to amuse the rock.

"So afraid after just one punch", he sounded pleased. "Let me make you fear more."

Finally Leo didn't just stumble, but fell completely down on his knees. He tried to push himself up, but couldn't. Panicking, he looked behind him, seeing the rock getting closer. The rock was laughing, already lifting his leg to stomp on him.

Don was still trying to get Raph to wake up, even though he kind of didn't want to. He couldn't imagine the pain Raph would be in, and they had no painkillers. So he didn't really put any effort into trying to wake Raph up; what did it matter anyways? Right now, he couldn't do anything to help him. It would be kinder to let him stay dead to the world for a while. He just kept a close eye to his pulse and breathing.

Mikey had moved to the window, although he kept on coming back to Raph, just to touch him briefly. There wasn't really anything else he could do, and Leo's fight wasn't really going anywhere either, so he had time to check on him. Besides, he needed the constant reminders that Raphael was really there, still breathing.

But Mikey was standing at the window now, trying to ignore the blood Leo had left on it. He was gripping the windowsill, gasping when Leo fell down. He understood why Leo had been so quiet when he had wanted him to report what was going on when Raph had been fighting. Don was now expecting the same from him, but the words got stuck in his throat.

"Leo's on the ground", Mikey managed to squeak. "He's going to get crushed!"

The leg came down hard, and Leo dodged at the last moment. The stumbling and the fearful looks he had sent behind him, alongside the falling itself had all been fake. He lunged, pushing the raised leg with all his weight. Dread washed over him; the opponent wasn't moving an inch. He had been wrong, again. Even this wouldn't work.

But he held on, pushing with all his strength. And the leg moved, slowly, taking the rock off balance and sending him hard onto the ground. Leo jumped away, not wanting to be crushed under the heavy body.

His enemy said nothing, just stayed on the ground. Didn't even try to get up. Leo eyed him warily before moving a bit closer, careful to not come too close to his hands.

"Bravo, bravo", the rock said, not sounding impressed. "You got me down. So? What are you going to do now?"

With a sinking feeling Leo realized he couldn't answer that. He had no idea what to do next. He could kick and punch all he wanted, but nothing would have an effect on this guy. His shoulders slumped.

"The second best part was to see him realize", the guy continued his taunting from where he had left earlier, enjoying his opponent's defeated posture. He sounded careless even though he was on his back on the ground; he knew the turtle couldn't hurt him. "He realized he would die. Too bad I didn't actually get to see it, but guess he's doing that right now in the waiting room."

Leo could feel himself starting to shake. He was right. He was right, Raph was dying and he was helping this guy do it by wasting time. He laughed again. The stress was too much. He had managed to get his enemy down on the ground, yet he still couldn't do anything. The clock was ticking. He couldn't beat this guy and it was too much.

"And the best part… you know, there's nothing quite like the crack of a skull."

Something snapped. The headache he had gotten from the punch seemed to fill his head, making his ears ring. This… this monster had beaten his brother to death and Leo was filled with understanding. He had failed. Raph was dead and his killer was rubbing it into his face.

Leo bent down, dipping his fingers into the sand. Now that he paid attention to it, it actually felt nice. It was soft, but not soft enough to make their feet sink into it. He easily picked his hands full of the soft sand, letting the grains fall from between his fingers as he walked closer to the enemy. The rock lazily glanced at him, still having that confident, pleased smile on his face. Leo stopped when he was only inches away from the guy's face, and the only reason the rock wasn't trying to catch him was because he was curious.

Leo stared down at him, waiting. The rock opened his mouth to say something, and that's when Leo moved.

He grabbed the guy's jaw, holding it open as he stuffed sand into his mouth. Again and again, he grabbed more sand, stuffing his mouth full and using all his strength to hold his mouth wide open. The rock was too shocked to realize what was happening, at first, but tried to spit the sand away, tried to close his mouth, everything- but Leo saw red, literally, saw Raphael's mask, Raphael's blood-

The rock finally realized to use his hands, punching Leo away. He flew through the air, again, but this time he landed on his feet. The punch had only hit his side, making it throb, but it didn't slow him down and he was back in a flash, so fast the rock hadn't gotten even half of the sand out of his mouth before Leo was holding his jaw open again, pushing his hand into his mouth to prevent him from spitting out the sand, preventing him from breathing.

The rock tried to speak but had its mouth full of sand, able to only mumble. Leo could still catch some of the mumbled words like stop, please, even I yield, but he kept his hand still. He listened to the gurgling as his enemy choked below him, hearing nothing but his death rattle.

"Murderer", he said coldly, knowing soon he'd be no better. It wasn't like he hadn't killed before.

Watching the life leave the rock's eyes didn't make him feel anything. He only felt pleasantly numb, knowing he was one step closer to getting back to his brothers. When the rock's limb body disappeared from under him he slumped a little, holding his head in his hands. What if it was really true? What if Raph was dead?

It couldn't be. He would know, somehow, somehow he would know if he had. He was slowly starting to realize what he had done and he looked down at his hands, covered in spit and sand. He was shaking again.

Yet he couldn't feel any regret.

There was a loud noise surrounding him and he glanced up, realizing it was the audience. He looked around him in panic, trying to spot the next enemy they were cheering for, but couldn't see anyone. He realized that the audience was cheering for him.

They didn't even know his name and they were cheering, already waving blue flags exactly the color of his mask. Leo felt disgusted.

Inside the waiting room Mikey stood silent once again, slowly backing away from the window. He walked towards Don who was looking at him anxiously, waiting to hear what was going on, why Mikey wore no expression- Mikey kneeled next to Don, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face against him.

"This is so crazy", Mikey managed to say while Don petted his shell, still confused. "Why does this stuff always happen to us…"

"What happened?" Don asked, worry and impatience growing inside him since Mikey wasn't saying anything. He knew Leo hadn't lost or wasn't getting beaten like Raph or Mikey's reaction would've been definitely different. But he couldn't stop images of badly hurt Leo from entering his mind and he-

Mikey hugged him tighter, taking him back from his thoughts.

"He won", Mike said quietly. "By choking him. With sand."

Don couldn't imagine how Leo had managed to do it, and by Mikey's reaction, maybe he didn't want to. He only pitied the enemies getting on Leo's way when someone had hurt his family. It filled him with a warm safety knowing Leo would always look after them, but sometimes Leo… went too far. To him, there probably wasn't such a thing as "going too far" if it meant his family would be safe, and Don wouldn't complain as long as Leo, too, would be safe. But sometimes his behavior worried him. Don had seen the expression Leo had worn before he left, full of guilt and heavy with responsibility, which wasn't unusual for him. But he had also seen the rage and he just hoped Leo could handle his emotions out there.

Leo was always the one in control, but they had seen what happens when the dam finally breaks. And when it breaks, he wasn't only a threat for his enemies; he became a threat to himself as well.

The next and the last enemy appeared. It was finally the two eldest of their groups, and the moment Leo saw his opponent he knew he wouldn't walk away alive.

His enemy was a bug-like creature, walking with two lanky legs. It was purple, had a pair of wings on its back and two nasty fangs were peeking from its mouth. That was nothing, though. What took Leo's attention were the arms, or more like the lack of them. Instead of hands it had two long, sharp scythe-like claws. Leo realized he had laughed again, this time just because it was ridiculous how over this was for him.

Leo had no weapons, but this thing literally had weapons for hands. The bug looked fast; Leo could land a punch, maybe, but the moment his fist would connect with that a scythe would cut him neatly in half. How was he even expected to fight something like this with just his bare hands?

The audience cheered louder, this time clearly for the bug-creature. Leo realized that they didn't expect him to fight; well, maybe struggle a bit, but the audience wanted violence, cruelty and blood. It didn't matter how they'd get it, they just wanted it. There was no fairness or justice here.

Leo raised his fists, taking a deep breath. He would go down, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

The bug was stretching its legs, showing off its nasty row of teeth. It had no worries here; it never lost. It was the predator and everyone else was its prey. It dragged its sharp claws together, and Leo noticed that the other claw wasn't as sharp as the other one. Pieces had come off of it and the head was almost dull. In the right angle it was still just as deadly, but Leo knew that if the bug's claws had a weakness, the other claw was it. Even though he'd rather get a clean cut from the sharp claw rather than get on the way of the rugged blade, he knew he'd need to attack from the rugged side. He'd just have to avoid getting hit.

But if he couldn't avoid getting hit, the battered claw would definitely make his end slower than the sharp one would.

The bug jumped a bit closer, using its wings to let it jump higher. Again, just how unfair was this? Even if Leo had a chance, the bug could just avoid him by flying. Leo could see that's its wings were a bit battered, so somebody had tried taking it down that way. That would probably be what he should aim for, too, but as he watched the opponent get closer, his shoulders slumped once more. The claws were even huger up close, and the bug was a bit taller than him. The swift movements confirmed his fears of it being fast.

It didn't seem to be able to speak; it occasionally let out a scratchy sound, eyeing its prey with hungry eyes.

"Come on, then", Leo said quietly. "I have brothers to get back to."

Dodging the claws wasn't hard, at first. They had fallen into a game of cat-and-mouse, the bug slashing as Leo dodged out of the way. Leo knew he would be the first to get tired; he was starting to feel the punches received from the earlier enemy, and the day hadn't exactly been very relaxing. His body was tired, and when he received the first cut he realized the bug was just playing, only testing the waters. Just enjoying the feeling of chasing someone. He swallowed hard, avoiding another swipe – he'd just have to keep the bug entertained so it wouldn't want to instantly rip him apart. But if this'd continue the bug would grow impatient, and Leo had to think. How to beat the bug quick and avoid the claws? He had no idea how fragile the wings were, but they looked easy to break. Just get behind and grab them and the bug would be much slower. Hopefully.

Raph stirred, but his left eye was swollen shut, so he could only see with his right one. What he saw was Don worriedly smiling down at him, but he couldn't concentrate on that- insane pain shot through his head, making him nauseous. He let out a long, pained groan, shutting his eye.

"Take it easy", Don said in a low voice, not wanting to agitate the hellish headache Raph had woken up to. "I'm sorry I can't do anything for the pain."

It took a moment for him to understand what his brother had said, but eventually he lifted his hand to sway it like this was nothing. Bad move, though; everything seemed to hurt and he groaned again. A long list of curse-words left his mouth, and Mikey, who had joined them from the window, chuckled lightly. Long-awaited relief swept through both him and Don. Hearing Raph's voice, even if he was slurring and cursing, was comforting.

"Apart from the, uh, headache, how're you feeling?" Don asked carefully.

Raphael just grumbled, cracking his eye open again and glaring. "What'd you think."

"Do you remember who we are? You took quite a blow", Mikey asked, unable to hold himself back and not to joke. With Raphael awake and Leo holding his ground with the last opponent he was starting to feel a bit better.

"Is your vision alright, Raph? How many fingers am I holding up?" Don asked, bringing his hand in front of Raph's face and holding up two fingers. Raph was glaring at Mike, but moved his eye to focus on Don's hand. He saw four fingers, but knew that wasn't possible, so he only groaned.

"Alright, just rest", Don said, checking that any of Raph's wounds weren't bleeding again. After that he leaned against the wall, trying to get his hurt leg into a more comfortable position. He hadn't really had time to look at it himself, and now he had the time since there wasn't anything he could do for Raph. But he felt too tired, relieved that Raph would recover, but tired.

"You okay, Don?" Mikey asked, moving from Raph to Don's side.

"I think so", Don said, but didn't take his eyes away from his leg. The constant throbbing reminded him that walking would be difficult for a long time. "How's your side?"

"It's better", Mikey said, already getting up. He had been moving from his brothers to the window countless times now, and the movement hadn't really done any good to the wound, but his brothers were worse than him, so he didn't want to complain. He moved to the window, seeing how Leo ducked under the bug and made a grab for the wings.

Leo's left hand touched the wing, surprising him how firm yet fragile they felt. They had to be strong to carry such and creature, but they'd still easily break. Before he even managed to wrap his fingers around it the wings suddenly came to life, vibrating with such a force that the skin of Leo's hand was immediately torn, making him yelp in surprise and pain. He threw himself backwards to get away, falling on his shell and holding his now bleeding hand. Blood flowed on his plastron and Leo realized the edges of the wings had given him deep cuts, making the hand almost useless. He gritted his teeth as his hand throbbed, and panic swept over him when the bug turned to him. There was nothing on its face, no arrogance, only the hunter's hunger. Nothing agitated hunger like seeing the prey on its back, bleeding.

Leo threw himself on his plastron, using his uninjured hand to haul himself up. He jumped away just as the claw struck the ground, hurrying to get away. But the bug followed him with ease, and Leo couldn't get enough distance between them.

Se he turned around, facing the opponent. He waited, waited- and in the last moment he dodged to the side, making the bug strike the ground again. As it was yanking its claw back up Leo threw himself against the bug's side, colliding hard, but not hard enough to make the creature fall. It was off-balance, trying to swipe at him again, but Leo dodged under the blade, sending a kick to its knee. The knee gave away, making the bug cry out and fall. But it fell in the wrong angle, and even as it fell, it swiped.

Blood gushed out of Leo's shoulder, the blade cutting the skin just above his plastron. Leo cried out – it was the dull blade, and as it moved in the wound, the rugged surface deepened the unclean cut before getting stuck in the flesh. For a moment hot pain was all he registered, but after it ceased he grabbed the blade with shaking hands. He didn't try to move it away; he just held it still so it couldn't move. He was afraid the pain would make him pass out if he tried to pull it out.

He also feared the cut was too deep, bleeding him right out – but no, it bled, but not too much. Adrenaline was coursing through him, slowly making the pain fade into the back of his mind, and he readied himself to yank the blade out. But he didn't have the time to do that – the bug did it itself, making him cry out again as the blade left the wound. Leo wanted nothing but to fall on his knees and held the bleeding shoulder, but before the bug could withdraw its claw completely, Leo grabbed it, bringing it back closer to him. He saw how the bug had its other claw already moving, already making a swipe at his throat – and he held up the claw he was holding, shielding himself with it and making the bug cut its own claw off in one, swift move.

It shrieked in pain, thrashing under him, blindly slashing with its remaining claw and Leo stumbled to get away, still holding the bloody claw that had cut off. Despite the pain the bug was in it lunged, taking him by surprise as its claw sank straight into Leo's already wounded shoulder, making him scream in pain. With its claw in his flesh it dragged Leo closer, making him yell again as the pain became worse. He saw stars, could only hear his heart beating in his ears, reminding him how it pumped blood out of him- He tried to grab the claw dragging him, realizing he was still holding the claw that had gotten cut-off, and he forced himself to focus. The bug had dragged him closer, its mouth open to taste him, but Leo slashed with the claw he was holding, cutting the bugs stomach. Blood splattered to the ground and the bug was shrieking again, trying to get away and dragging its claw out of Leo's shoulder in the process, leaving Leo blind with pain. The bug was back on the ground, trashing its legs as it bled.

Leonardo realized he was on his knees, adrenaline already leaving him. But the bug was still voicing its pain, twitching in agony, and Leo dragged himself back to his feet. He raised the claw, feeling pity that it wasn't the sharp one, and sank it into the bug's chest. Its movements ceased into tiny twitches, and just in case, Leo moved the claw in the wound, making more blood sweep out, ending the creature's life faster.

Leo didn't believe anyone came to this battle by their own free will, even if they enjoyed fighting. But he could only hope he had done the right thing by ending the bug's life, even if it hadn't been pretty. At least it had been quick. He collapsed, not able to let go of the claw. The bug's body disappeared, leaving him alone in a pool of blood.

Mikey hadn't watched the rest – he had been glued to the window when the claw had sunk into his brother's shoulder, but when Leo managed to bury the claw into its chest, it was clear he had won and he didn't want to watch the gore anymore. With a tired expression he turned to Don, smiling just a bit, but there wasn't anything like happiness on his face. Only tired relief that it was over.

Donatello understood, not asking how Leo had won – it was over and they were alive. Well, the next part would be to heal and to plan how to escape, and all of that had to be done in just one month. And he didn't even how badly Leo had gotten hurt out there, and he didn't dare to ask Mikey. They'd see him in just a bit, when Leo would get teleported here-

A door appeared into the wall of the room and guards stomped in, pointing loaded guns at them.

Exhausted – that's what Leo was. He was well aware that his shoulder was bleeding heavily, but the lack of adrenaline made him sleepy. His head drooped and he swayed, falling forwards but catching himself with his good arm. He was shaking.

And the audience was going wild again, he noted with mild interest. With a foggy mind he tried to think – it was a good thing, right? They had liked what they had seen, so he'd get spared.

"I don't think we need a vote – it's pretty clear we'll be seeing you again", the announcer's voice appeared, echoing through the arena. He didn't sound too excited, speaking in his usual dull voice.

Leonardo lifted his head a bit, seeing the audience as a distant blur. He was glad it was over, but he didn't feel victorious at all. Don, or at least Mikey had probably watched him fight. He didn't know what his brothers had felt watching him kill his opponents, and didn't really want to think about it. He desperately wanted to get back to them, to know that Raph was alright, but at the same time, he felt shame. He shouldn't have let Mike see anything like that, he should've controlled himself-

"Well, then, get up – right this way", the announcer's loud voice pierced his thoughts, and Leo saw that a door had opened on the side of the arena. "If you can walk, that is. Do you need a medic?"

"I want my brothers", Leo said, voice hoarse.

"Oh, those other three? I apologize, but they have been sent to be executed, the audience wasn't impressed with them-"

The rest of his voice drowned, the sounds of the audience drowned – there was a loud ringing his head, an overwhelming pain growing inside his chest not caused by his wounds.

"What? No! No, you can't!" Leo said, struggling to get on his feet, coating the ground red as he moved. "Take me to them!"

"I can't, they're already-"

Leonardo wasn't thinking; he just realized he still had the claw, and he brought it up, pressing it against his throat, accidently so hard he broke the skin.

"You won't have your winner", Leo growled. The audience had gone silent; they weren't able to hear what Leo was saying, but they were able to see him.

He had no idea if the announcer cared, if the audience cared. Everyone, even their winners, could be replaced. He realized that the audience would just be excited that if he'd cut his throat open, after all, all they wanted was blood.

Besides, it had been luck he had won. He knew that if there had been even one more opponent after this he would've lost and he'd be treated the same way his brothers had.

A long silence fell on the arena, and Leo started trembling again. He was dizzy and he knew he couldn't even stand for much longer.

"…Fine", the narrator finally said, making Leo finally let go of the claw and almost fall with it. Relief washed over him, and just standing took more strength that he had. Still, he forced himself to move, holding his battered arm as he walked towards the door leading him out of the bloody arena, having to trust the announcer's word.

The narrator's tone had turned cold when he had agreed, and Leo had a feeling this would bite him back in the future, but right now, he didn't care. He had gotten his brothers out of the game and that was all that mattered.

He entered some kind of a corridor, and the door behind him closed, cutting of the audience's voices. The light was dim, and before his eyes could get used to the dark, an electric shock went through him, the same kind he had received back in the waiting room, and he doubled over, falling on his knees.

A surprised gasp was all that let out, even though the sudden movement made the pain is shoulder radiate to the whole arm. He didn't have the strength to keep himself up, so he let himself fall on his side, eyes squeezed shut as his muscles spasmed from the volume of the shock.

After it was over he concentrated on just breathing, feeling how his shoulder still bled. He opened his eyes, but his vision swam and he realized he'd pass out soon. There was movement in the air, and Leo gathered his strength to lift his head. A tiny machine, resembling something like a radio, was floating in the air. Leo realized the narrator wasn't a person; it was this machine without a face, but the red light blinking in the middle of it felt like an eye that was staring right through him.

It floated closer, hovering right in front of his face. Leo tried to keep his eyes on it, but his world was slowly turning grey and his head fell back against the cold floor.

"I have to say", a cold, mechanic voice said before the darkness swallowed the turtle. "By sparing your brothers you've made the rest of their short lives a misery."