Hey! I'm back! I think I'm too fast in updating, should I slow down and wait longer? My friend suggested I do that. I don't know it really depends on the readers. So, here's the next chapter.
I don't own TMNT. Although I really wish I did!
Splinter, Don, Mikey, April, Casey and Keno could only stare at the building as it collapsed. The emergency vehicles arriving much too soon.
"Is-is Leo-" Mikey spoke hesitantly.
He had already nearly lost his oldest brother once. He was still a bit angry at Raph for that. When he had walked in and heard the conversation between his father and red masked older brother he just couldn't stand it. They had just got Leo back!
Now all he did was staring at the dancing gold flames just a few feet away. No doubt his brother's body had been burned to ashes and was being blown away by the wind. Then they heard a clank as the manhole in the alley was flung away from the hole. Up came a green form and they all held their breaths.
"Raphael!" Splinter cried as his son was pushed up and aside for someone else to climb out of the sewers.
When the second form emerged they all ran forward. Don and April dropping to Raph while Casey stood guard. Keno and Mikey fell to Leo's side as he coughed out. Both of their skin was stained black.
"Leonardo, what happened?" Splinter asked as he went to eldest's side.
"Foot ambush, Keno," Leo said glancing around and breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the teen was safe, "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know," he sputtered out before a coughing fit made him collapse.
"Donatello, how is Raphael?" Splinter asked a bit frantically.
"He's got some minor burns and there's large cut on his leg, but he'll be ok. Leo?"
"Don, you might want to see this!" Mikey screeched.
Don walked over and watched closely as Mikey and Keno turned Leo over. A crack, in the center of his shell. No, no that was his spine!
"That happened right before the Foot ninja broke in, one stabbed him in the back er shell," Keno said.
"KENO! KENO!" two frightened voices shouted out.
"Those are my parents," Keno mumbled.
"You better go," April said while wiping away the ash from Raph's face as he lay unconscious.
Keno nodded and climbed to his feet, "I'll come by later."
April smiled, "Yeah, I'll just order a pizza."
Keno smiled back and ran into the street that was crowded with emergency vehicles.
"KENO!!!!!!!" the same two voices shouted again before they were silenced by the roar of sirens.
"We need to get them back to the lair," Don said.
Mikey and Don scooped up Leo while Casey managed to lift Raph onto his shoulders. They jumped down into the open manhole as April dropped down last, closing it with the lid behind her. They looked ahead to where a tunnel was dug into the side of the wall and gasped at the falling, flaming debris. Somehow there had been an underground tunnel under the apartment building. A sudden stirring in the debris made them rush off as a young man stepped out of the debris and quickly ascended the latter nearby.
Don checked over the burns on his older brothers and inserted another dose of antibiotics into each of them. They better have answers when they wake up. He sighed as he heard heaving in the next room. Good thing their last meal was hours ago or they all would've puked at the sight as they looked deeper into the manila folder. Oh just because a disaster came up doesn't mean that Leo was off the hook. Not at all. They wanted and would get answers. The eldest wasn't running off this time.
In the other room Mikey was watching his nunchucks as he spun them in his hands. Around…and around…and around…and around…and around…
He stopped when a door opened and closed. He glanced up to see his immediate older brother walking out of his lab.
"Well?" Mikey asked.
Don smiled a tired smile and sighed a bit happily, "They'll be awake in a few hours."
"Ugh, I can't look at this anymore!" Casey said, snapping shut the folder, "What did happen on Leo's trip to Central America?"
"That's what we want to know," Mikey said, "Leo just ran off though when April showed us the folder."
"Leonardo will have much to explain," Splinter said as he walked in the main room from the dojo.
He seemed more tired than usual, no doubt that the punching bag had been given a full day of work. April glanced at her watch and scowled. It was now just 6:00am. The sun would be rising now.
She stood up, "I'm going to go check on Keno and his family."
"I'll come with you," Casey said.
They shared a secret look and turned towards the door.
"Bye!" Mikey shouted, "Make sure you bring some pizza during your next visit!"
Everyone rolled their eyes. Mikey and pizza…
The semiconscious turtle groaned as pain erupted all over his skin.
"Ow," he thought, "What hit me?"
He glanced down to find his injuries had all been wrapped in clean white bandages. He tried moving and hissed at the pain that tunneled through his mind. He forced his eyes open and found himself staring at a familiar ceiling.
"Home," he thought, "I'm home."
Wait where-
"Leo?" a voice whispered.
The eldest forced his head to turn to the side, ignoring the flare of pain that erupted in his spine and neck. When his gaze was clear he breathed out happily, Raph was ok. Thank goodness he had managed to get them both into the underground tunnel in time. Of course, that had to of been when the floor fell apart under them. It was also very fortunate that Keno had told them about the tunnel. Too bad there had been a gas leak under the building a few years ago though.
"Leo?" Raph whispered again, staring at the still form across the room.
"Raph," Leo said after a difficult gulp.
Raph breathed out in relief. They were both ok. Good. Very good. They each stared at the ceiling trying to figure out how to speak their apologies.
They said it in unison, "I'm sorry."
They smiled slightly at that, they had done that very often lately.
"Sorry Leo. I shouldn't have did what I did."
"No," Leo protested, "You have every right to be angry. It's not that I don't trust you Raph. I do, you're my best friend."
"Then why won't you tell me what happened?" Raph said in a voice that got louder with each word.
"I'm scared," Leo said so softly, that it was almost silent.
Raph's trained ears picked up on the sound though and he forced himself to sit up on the cot he was lying on. Leo thought his younger brother would demand an answer immediately so he was confused when he opened his eyes and found Raph was looking down at him. Raph laid a hand on Leo's plastron and took three deep breaths.
"What are you scared of?" Raph asked.
"Failure," Leo said, his eyes shining with the truth.
"Failure?" Raph raised an eye ridge at that, "Leo you haven't failed anyone."
"Yes I did, I failed my mission, my training in Central America."
"How?"
Leo licked his dry lips and took a deep breath while closing his eyes, "I can't remember it so please take that into account."
"Huh? Leo you aren't making any sense."
Leo slightly smiled, "Well technically I did train a year. Six months and then another six months."
"What did you do, take the year in between off?
Leo took another deep breath and then continued, "I kind of did."
"Kind of?" a new voice asked as the door flew open.
The turtles looked up to see their little brothers and father in the doorway. Leo gulped and turned his head toward the wall. Don, was angry, if Leo didn't have a spinal injury he would've whacked him until he was black and blue. He even made the move to do so but a hand on his arm stopped his movement. Splinter held a warning hand out to his younger sons and walked slowly closer to his eldest son. Raph stepped back and out of the way. Once he saw the deep lines on Leo's face he turned and walked back to his two youngest.
"It seems Leonardo will only open up to Raphael," he thought as he faced his remaining two sons.
"Michelangelo, Donatello we will leave your brothers alone," Splinter said, his decision final.
"But sensei-" Don protested.
"No arguments Donatello, come my sons," Splinter said as he walked out the door.
Don sighed and turned to follow him when he realized Mikey hadn't moved. He looked back at his youngest brother to see him on the other side of the room, a hand on Leo's head.
"Mikey, leave Leo alone!" Don yelled, their father had just said to leave them alone.
Mikey whispered something to Leo and then walked away, back towards his immediate older brother. Once they were outside, Don asked what Mikey had said.
"I just said I was glad that he was ok," Mikey said with a shrug.
Back inside the lab, Raph turned to Leo, who finally tore his gaze away from the wall beside him.
Raph reached out and laid a hand on Leo's plastron again, "Bro, you don't have to tell everyone. Just let me know what happened."
Leo closed his eyes and then continued where he had left off, "I wasn't aware I took the year off."
"Huh?"
"Well, It happened when I had completed half of my training, a full six months living in the jungle. I didn't really know the date or time. I reverted to just marking the days as they went by. I would just make a notch in a large stick, I knew that once 356 had been cut, I could come home. I had made the 178th cut when it happened."
"What happened?"
"I went to a waterfall near by, for training when I sensed someone not far from me. I jumped into the trees and after awhile, once I thought I had outrun whatever or whoever that was near me, I fell. I know now that I was simply being corralled into a pit trap."
"Pit trap!?" Raph exclaimed, "Don't those have spikes at the bottom?"
Leo slowly nodded.
"So, you fell into a pit trap and landed on the spikes?"
"It was very painful," Leo said.
"And you didn't freaking tell us about it why!?" Raph yelled, his rage coming back quite rapidly because he knew those kind of traps were for killing animals not trapping them.
"After that I passed out. I woke up on the side of the bay near the single village I had somehow come to protect in the past once soldiers started to move in."
"Still being a hero huh?" Raph said with a smirk.
Leo laughed and cringed as pain flared in his spine.
"Ya ok bro?" Raph asked, his worry growing.
"My spine," Leo groaned.
Raph stepped forward and turned Leo on his side slightly. There, on the middle of his shell was a long band of metal. Now Raph was curious and slightly angry.
"I'll be right back, I'm gonna have a talk with our, little brother," Raph said, turning away and making his way out of the lab.
Once he was outside his little brothers ran to him, "What did Leo say?"
Raph reached out and pushed Don against the wall, "What is wrong with Leo!? What's with the metal bar on his shell!?"
"Raph, let go!" Mikey yelled, trying to pull Raph's hand away.
His temper cooled down a bit, Raph released his hold and stepped away from his little brother, "I want an answer now!"
"One of the Foot ninjas stabbed a sword in his shell," Mikey explained as Don tried to get his breath back.
"If I hadn't put that metal bar in and sewed his shell back together with metal wiring any movement could've killed him. Could still kill him."
Raph growled, wait till he got his hands on any Foot soldier! How dare they stab his brother in the back!
"Raphael?" Splinter asked.
"Yes, Master Splinter," Raph naturally responded back.
"What has Leonardo told you?"
The thought made Raph freeze, there was obviously more to the story then what Leo had told him but they deserved to know at least what he knew.
Raph could already see the confusion on their faces before he told them, "Well, ya see. Leo didn't know it had been two years until April had told him."
"Ok, I know he was living in the middle of the jungle but a year of time shouldn't be that hard to recognize," Don said.
"Well, he kind of, took a year off."
"Took a year off?" Yep, there were the confused expressions.
"That's kind of all I got before I rushed out here. Sorry Don."
Don shook his head, "You're forgiven Raph just please find out what happened to Leo?"
Raph nodded and turned to the door when he heard coughing inside. He glanced back at his family and then slipped inside.
Whew, well there's that chapter.
See ya!
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~Moonsetta
