Alrighty! Thanks to all of you who reviewed - you guys give me motivation to write! I'd like to thank my parents, the academy... oh, wait...
Here is the anticipated tale from Leo... thanks for waiting!
Disclaimer: I don't own them, based from "Tales of Leo", yadda yadda yadda...
"Your turn, Leo," Don said, looking at his brother.
Leo frowned in thought. "It's hard to think of one - there are so many," he murmured, watching Mikey's chest rise and fall slightly. Finally he looked at Raph and Don. "Mikey was the first one to call me Fearless Leader."
"I think I remember that - he called you that during a practice session, didn't he?" Don asked.
"Yeah, but there was one time before that," Leo replied.
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It was about a month after the whole "toy car" incident. Mikey was still getting over his cold, but he was feeling better and was itching to get out of the lair. Don was still too sick, Raph didn't want to go anywhere, and Master Splinter had to keep an eye on Don, so I took him out, after begging Sensei for awhile. We'd been playing a game of tag, and hadn't really paid attention to where we were going. Mikey was the first one to realize what was wrong.
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"Hey, Leo?" Mikey said suddenly, stopping and looking around. "Where are we?"
Leo stopped and turned, looking up and down the tunnel. "I don't really know. We'd better head back the way we came," he said finally.
The two tiny turtles headed back in the direction they were coming. They came to a junction. "Which way?" Mikey asked.
Leo frowned, trying to remember which way they had come. "That way," he replied after a moment, pointing to the left. His voice sounded a little uncertain.
"Okay," Mikey said simply, following his brother.
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The weird thing was, I think Mikey knew the whole time that I had no idea where to go. But he still followed me without question.
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After close to half an hour of walking through the winding sewers, they stopped. Nothing looked familiar. "This isn't good," Leo muttered.
"Leo, are we lost?" Mikey asked timidly as his brother looked around thoughtfully.
"I dunno - maybe," Leo answered. "Come on, let's go this way."
After yet another hour, the pair stopped again. Leo tried to fight the rising panic in his chest. They had been away from the lair for over four hours already, and it was getting colder in the sewers. Leo glanced over at his brother. Mikey had sat down on the ground, holding his legs up to his chest, shivering as he tried to stay warm. He smiled faintly up at Leo. "S-so what n-now?" he stammered quietly.
"I - I don't really know," Leo admitted. "I just wish I could figure out where we are." He suddenly spotted a ladder that led up to a manhole, and it gave him an idea. "You up for going topside for a little bit?" he asked Mikey.
Mikey grinned and nodded. "Y-you're the l-leader," he replied. Leo smiled faintly and helped his brother to his feet.
Leo led the way up the ladder. He strained to move the heavy lid, but after a moment, it slid off. Snowflakes began drifting down. "Great," Leo muttered as he climbed out into the cold air. He turned and helped Mikey up, then slid the lid back into place. "C-come on, this w-way," he said through chattering teeth.
They climbed up a fire escape to the top of a nearby building. Leo looked around. "It looks like we're in Soho," he murmured.
"S-so you know h-how to g-get home, r-right?" Mikey asked hopefully, snuggling in closer to his brother as the snow blew all around him.
"Yeah. Come on, this way," Leo replied, grabbing Mikey's hand and leading him over the rooftops.
As they jumped from rooftop to rooftop, Leo could hear Mikey starting to sniffle again. Great. Sensei's gonna kill me if Mikey gets sick again! he thought miserably. It's all my fault that he's in this mess.
Leo was so engrossed in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention as he leapt to another building. "Whoa!" he suddenly cried as his foot slipped. He was falling towards the hard concrete ten stories below.
"Gotcha, Leo!" Mikey shouted as Leo jerked to a stop. Leo glanced up. Mikey had one hand wrapped around his brother's ankle. The other was straining to hang on to the edge of the roof. His face was twisted in concentration and pain.
"Mikey, you've gotta let go. I'm too heavy," Leo called as Mikey's fingers started to slip.
"You ain't heavy, you're my brother," Mikey groaned in reply, making Leo smile faintly as the song started echoing through his head. He glanced around and spotted a nearby fire escape.
"Mikey, I'm gonna try and swing for the fire escape, okay?" he said.
"Go for it, Fearless Leader," Mikey replied with a groan.
Leo blinked. That wasn't something he'd been called before. He kind of… liked it. Leo shook his head once, then began swinging his body towards the fire escape.
Mikey winced as his fingers slipped another inch. Leo was close, but not quite close enough. The fire escape was just beyond his fingers. He waited until Leo started swinging down again, then closed his eyes and let go of the roof.
Leo's eyes widened as he felt his body start to fall. He reached out wildly and managed to grab the rail with one hand. He winced as Mikey's weight pulled on his leg as he swung down. Mikey's words floated across his mind. You ain't heavy, you're my brother. He gripped the rail with his other hand and held on as tight as he could. Soon Mikey had stopped swinging below him, but his grip was slipping. "Hang on, bro," Leo called.
"D-don't have m-much of a choice, d-do I," Mikey replied through chattering teeth. Leo smiled as he struggled to pull both himself and Mikey up.
After a few tense moments, the pair were gasping for air on the fire escape. "Thanks, Mikey," Leo panted after a moment.
Mikey tilted his head to grin at his brother. "C-can we go home n-now, Fearless Leader?"
Leo smiled and put an arm around his brother's shoulder. "Yeah."
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"And that's how the nickname was born," Leo finished with a small smile, looking wistfully at Mikey.
Don and Raph were silent for a moment. "I guess that explains why you don't get quite as mad when he calls you that as you do when I call you that," Raph murmured finally. Leo nodded slightly in reply. A peaceful silence fell over them as they reminisced about the stories they had just told.
Alrighty, then... I think you all know what to do... and I'll try to post again soon!
moogsthewriter
