Disclaimer: TMNT does not belong to me...
A/N: All right, here it is at last! For everyone who's been wondering about our dear, intrepid leader in blue...
Where Leo Went
It was peaceful when he woke.
He could hear water running nearby.
His eyes were heavy and his stomach was full with that lazy contentment he always felt after a long walk around Casey's property. Somewhere along the way, he had stretched out, face-down, with his cheek resting in the crook of his elbow. He could hear a pair of birds chattering back and forth to one another. Every breath he took was thick with the scent of warm grass and freshly turned soil.
He loved that smell.
Leo hummed deep in his chest, pulling out of the drowsiness still clinging to him. He blinked into the bright afternoon, vaguely wondering how long he had been out and if April would be calling him in for lunch soon. And secretly, he found himself hoping not. So long as Mikey didn't catch him here snoozing, he'd take this moment of tranquility as long as it held -
His brow fell as his mind came skidding to a halt.
He was at the farm?
When had that happened?
Leo!
Raphael's voice slipped between his ears and his head shot up. He hissed, ducking his forehead to the dirt as heat seared through the back of his mind. Images flickered behind his eyes, sights of a kitchen counter and the fearful blaze of his brother's eyes. He drew his knees up, clutching his fists to his temples as Raphael's deeper accent cut through his thoughts.
Wha'd ya do ta 'im?
What had happened?
Why was it so hard to think?
"Raph..." he groaned, twisting as if he could follow the other's words. Dizzying snapshots whirled in and out of the grass before him. He could feel the rough scrape of a thin carpet against his cheek. The left side of his skull was thrumming with his heartbeat. The dim world spun around him as his vision shakily refocused on the figure standing before him.
Facing off with him. Now, there was only fury smoldering in his brother's gold eyes.
"Raph!" Leo cried. He lunged to brace himself on his forearm, his other wrist cutting before him as if to shield against an oncoming attack.
The scene vanished and he was back in the quiet meadow. Shaking his aching head, he looked aside only to find he was supporting himself right at the edge of a river bank. His eyes cleared just enough to grant him a view of the slow churning water beneath him before the ground gave under him, shifting down an inch.
Alarm snaked through him.
And then the earth seemed to disintegrate.
Leo pitched forward, plunging into the shallow and frigid water. His beak instantly found the muddy bottom and he grunted as his weight slammed onto his neck and shoulders. A silvery cloud burst from between his teeth. His legs splashed down, leaving his carapace above the water to catch the debris of his mini landslide.
Hands sinking into the muck, he shoved himself to the surface. He spat and sputtered, swiping a hand across his eyes to clear them but only succeeded in smearing more slime and grit across his face. He sat back on his heels just sure that he would be tasting fishy river water for the rest of the day.
"Nice," he scoffed. He pulled the tails of his mask over his shoulder with a wet slap and began to squeeze it dry. Looking up the slope of his descent, he suddenly froze. His gaze shifted higher as a sharp shard of warning pierced the base of his neck. He was in the woods all right.
They just weren't the woods he knew.
The trees around him were thick, twisted, and a death-like gray. Their branches were draped in creepers that hung in lifeless cords. Shadows seethed in and out of the trunks, broken only by a single beam of light angled directly at the spot where Leo had been resting.
"What the -?" Leo made to push himself to his feet and stumbled, doubling over as something bit deep inside his arm. Hooking a thumb beneath his elbow pad, he slid it towards his wrist.
A soft gasp slipped from him as he stared at the blackish hole piercing the center of his joint.
It was the size of a quarter and a dark, scabbing crust had formed about the edges. Leo ran his thumb along the irritated ring. He should remember getting a wound like that...
He should remember how he wound up out there, too.
Leo touched his brow and scowled at the water slipping past his knees. He could remember the sound of tires on wet concrete. A chill in the air and muffled music humming through the roof beneath his feet. He could still see the flash of his brother's teeth against the night and then the shell cell had rang...
He started as a crash erupted behind him. A splintering and crackling cry of a tree being torn apart. Leo staggered back on the loose stones of the river. He spun to face the water, lifting his eyes to the higher ridge on the opposite bank. The air rumbled with sudden, jarring impacts that Leo felt shiver beneath him.
Instinctively, his hand arched above his head even as his brain registered that there was no weight on his backside. His fingers struck empty air.
Ah, crud.
He looked around and snatched up a short, broken branch. Splashing forward, he eyed the other side of the river with tension rising in his shoulders as he readied himself. But it was no monster that crested the grassy rise.
He barely caught the patter of tiny feet before she appeared. Well, he didn't truly see her at first as much as he saw an arching slice of red break through the gloomy backdrop of trees. A little girl in a bright sundress leaped out over the river, hung suspended for a beat, and then disappeared into the darker depths.
Leo hastily flung his branch aside and surged after her, slowing as the river rose to his waist. He kicked off the rocky bottom and surged into the frigid water, expertly cutting across the sluggish current.
Her little blonde head popped up as he closed in on her. Blue eyes huge with fear, she flailed in desperation, completely oblivious to the turtle. He caught her by the back of her dress and hauled her against his chest, continuing to kick towards the other side of the river. She kept thrashing, dousing them both repeatedly as she twisted and squirmed against his hold.
"Easy," Leo spluttered after taking a wild elbow to the jaw. His toes brushed over stones and he planted his feet, lifting them both into the warm air. She writhed against his chest enough to turn, raking soft fingernails over the hard, pebbled flesh of his shoulder. It didn't hurt by any means, but still, Leo grit his teeth in frustration and snapped, "Hey, enough!"
She stopped with both hands pressed against his plastron and looked to him in surprise. To Leo's utter shock, he felt a hot line sear along his spine as their eyes met. His anger vanished and in a split second, his head went rummy and a strange, prickling sensation settled deep into his elbows and knees. He found himself swaying where he stood, captivated by the faint rivulets of water trickling down her cheeks.
Leo! a deep voice rang at the back of his thoughts. Leo, wha' are ya doin'? Get outta there!
How could he though? Look away? She had the most stunning eyes he'd ever seen. Pale...like the summer sky giving way to chill of fall...yeah, that was close, wasn't it? Sharp and intelligent beyond her age, yet still a thread of sadness lingered about her. Her young face seemed to know too much and yet was only too eager to learn more...
About the world.
About life.
About him.
And he found that, if she asked, he would be more than will to tell her whatever she wanted to -
He flinched as another bellow let loose from the forest. Leo drew back with a gasp, pulling out of the strange reverie long enough to look up the steep embankment. The air was trembling again with the force of those gigantic, pursuing steps. When he looked back, the strange air about her had gone, leaving her small frame to lean into him with a frightened whimper. Leo fought his way towards dry land, his legs burning as he slogged through the shallows.
Upon reaching the shore, he pulled his small passenger under a small overhang, thick with mud and creeping roots. He had just hiked his feet up after them when the monstrous steps reached the embankment. A thin layer of dirt rained before them as the massive weight of the beast eased over the hill and began to slide towards the water. Leo pushed his shell harder against the damp soil and prayed that the ground would hold out as it came to a stop above their heads.
A massive set of talons curled around the upper lip of their make-shift little hideout. The girl let out a soft whimper and curled closer to Leo's side. He gaped at the four scythe-like claws biting into the dirt before him, but he wrapped his around about her thin shoulders all the same.
They both started at a loud exhalation that drew out from the creature. The earth moaned as its weight shifted back and forth for an indecisive moment while it sniffed, sharply, searching for them. Then, after what felt like an eternity of Leo's locked knees holding them absolutely still, the creature gave a disgusted grunt.
The claws retracted and the rumbling steps picked up again, following along the shoreline in retreat.
Leonardo all but collapsed. His legs trembled as the adrenaline he hadn't noticed shooting through him began to filter out of him. He slid down through the chilly dirt, fighting back a delirious giggle that threatened to come slipping out of his throat. He ducked his head and eased back out into the open, stretching on his toes to get a glimpse of the beast.
But, luckily, it had already passed beyond a bend in the river.
Too bad he knew that luck had a nasty habit of pivoting on its heel to bite you in the ass if you weren't looking. Especially when a turtle was involved.
His eyes narrowed, doubtfully.
"Are you a monster?"
He glanced back towards the light voice. She was perched at the water's edge with her pale knees drawn to her chest. Balanced precariously on the balls of her feet, there was nothing remaining of the disconcerting presence Leo had sensed before. Now, she was just a little girl who was soaked to the bone and watching him with apprehension.
"No," he said, offering her a smile. "I'm not a monster."
"But...Papa said that only monsters live these woods."
Leo wandered back towards her, keeping his eye on their surroundings, unable to shake the feeling that their endeavor had been more than just a little too easy. He sank to his knee before her, lifting his brow mischievously in a way he hoped would mirror Mikey's friendly nature.
"I don't live in these woods," he said. "So then, I couldn't be a monster, could I?"
She gave him a doubtful scowl and he sighed, letting the facade drop. He cleared his throat and lifted a finger in the direction the beast had gone. "So...what was that thing?"
Blue eyes blinked and she lifted her shoulders. "Big trouble."
"Yeah, I picked up that part," Leo said with a soft scoff. "Why was it chasing you?"
"Papa went out hunting and forgot his knife. I tried to catch up with him so he could have it an'...an' I was being too loud."
A coil of alarm wound through the turtle and he shot a glance upwards. He didn't have to wonder just how well a father (a hunter at that) would take the sight of his child holding a conversation with a mutant. "Is...is your dad around here?"
His alarm flared into full fledged terror, however, when her bottom lip suddenly began to tremble.
"H-he said he would take it away!" she wailed. She dropped her forehead to her knees with a muffled sob. "He said to run home! B-but, i-it chased me anyway!"
"Hey, hey, hey," Leo said, quickly, setting his hand upon her chilled shoulder. He winced when a sudden flash of heat shot up his forearm and he jerked back in surprise, blinking at the ache that filled his wrist and knuckles. A dull trickle of red slithered down his index finger and he shook his head as his vision blurred and darkened. A bright blue vein cut behind his eyelids and he saw a large bead of blood rising against the darkness.
In his mind, he felt his hand move to his mouth and a savage rush wound through him at the metallic taste that touched his tongue.
"Are you okay?"
Light flooded back into his thoughts and his vision cleared to find her strange eyes fixed upon his. Leo looked at his hands to find both were whole but trembling. "I, uh," he muttered, rubbing his thumb across his eyes. "Yeah, I'm...I'm fine." He swallowed down his nausea and returned his attention to her. "I...I should take you home, shouldn't I? Um, your father is probably waiting for you there, right?"
She sniffed and gave a slow nod. Rising, she stepped past him, looking across the river and pointing into the woods. Leo stood as well, wiping his hands across his thighs as if he could wipe the unsettling feeling in his gut away while she spoke.
"Home is there, through the forest. There's a cave and then..." she turned to grin up at him. "Then, we're almost there. But we can't stop until we there."
Leo fought the urge to hesitate before he carefully gathered her up into his arms, nor let out a sigh of relief when no other weird shocks cut through him. He frowned, though, while she eased her arm up and around the back of his neck. He stepped back into the water, keeping his eyes on the forest across from them.
"Why not?"
She clung a little tighter to him as the river rose up about their shoulders and Leo fought to swim smoothly in a side-stroke, keeping her as high and dry as he could manage. She whimpered as she curled her knees against his plastron, refusing to answer until his feet had found the shallows again and he was carrying her up the embankment.
"Else the feeders will get us," she whispered at last.
The statement halted the turtle's steps as he faced off with the forest. Because giant, mystery monsters weren't enough to deal with, now there were feeders? Whatever the hell they were...
Where the heck was he?
More importantly, though, he turned to her with a frown.
"Hey, you haven't seen any other turtles around here, have you? Ones that look like me?"
She shook her head, furiously, side-to-side. "There are more like you?"
"Yeah," Leo said, setting off at a brisk pace with a final, nervous look over the water. "My brothers. I don't know what happened to them since I...got here."
The little head fell to the side in order to rest against his shoulder and her eyes crinkled. "I only see you."
Leo glanced down to her with a faint smile. The churning in his gut was getting worse as he fell beneath the shadow of the trees. The terrain grew rougher, but with his calloused feet, he didn't spare it much thought. He only hitched his small passenger higher and continued to walk, debating whether or not he wanted to delve further into the matter of these feeder-creatures.
He didn't get the chance to ask because she beat him with a question of her own.
"What's your name?"
He smiled. "Leonardo. What's yours?"
A slow smile was returned to him, along with a faint lighting behind her pale blue irises.
"My name is Messis."
Leo stuck out his lip, as if considering the name, and let out a soft chuckle at the worried expression that flitted across her face. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Messis."
She beamed at him before returning her head to his shoulder. They walked in silence for a while, with Leonardo cutting his way through waist-high grass and ducking low branches. He kept himself on alert, watching the gloomy trees for any sign of danger, completely unaware that the back of his mind was beginning to wander again. His thoughts became muddled, as if the mist winding between the dark trunks was seeping into his consciousness.
"Leonardo?" the girl whispered to him softly. "Will you tell me a story? One about you and your brothers?"
He blinked slowly and it was almost a full minute before the question registered. He continued down the overgrown footpath. His chin dipped down, vaguely, and he heard his own voice reply as if from a distance.
"Of course."
In the darkness, She rested. Her great mass was coiled about the dank hole that would become Her lair in time. Her loyal little slave slept as well, resting his vessel's body against Her warm flank. His breathing was slow, even, and completely secure in Her presence, disregarding the crusted blood lining his arm and emptiness that now shared the turtle's head with him.
Unseen by any, her great, reptilian mouth turned further upward in triumph.
Neither she nor he noticed when faint humming began at their prize's hip. They were not roused by the light of the shell-cell's front screen lighting up. In the end, though, it wouldn't have mattered. Because, if they had looked, neither would have recognized or given care to the bold black name scrawled against the bright blue-white face.
Mikey.
* Slight, kind-of cliffie at the end, just to make up for how ssssllllllooooowww this feels! And yes, a little weird too. The next time we see Leo, though, there will be stuff hitting the fan everywhere, I promise!
**Reviews, pretty please?
