Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT only plot and original characters are mine.
A/N: thank you guys so much for your support. That really means a lot to me. well without further ado here we go. Please review but most importantly enjoy for that is why we write…
Time seemed to loose meaning as Leonardo raced over towards his fallen friend's side, the fear and loss he suddenly felt gripping his heart like an icy hand as he mad a final skid to his brother. Gently the ninja began too give the older man's wounds an overview, lightly patting his face and calling his name as he lifted him up into his lap; ripping edges of his own garment off to press to the man's side in hopes of stemming the flow.
"Tai! Come on, Tai it's me! It's Leonardo." he spoke hastily again pressing harder on what seemed to be the man's worst injury. A steady flow of crimson now traced Leonardo's hand, small tears burning in his eyes. Normally he would have addressed his friend as General, or General Tai. But not now…right now he was not holding a general. At that moment as he continued to wipe blood from the others face with his free hand, he was holding a brother.
A dieing brother.
"C'mon Tai don't you dare do this." He pleaded sighing in a breath of relief as his friend finally began to come to. Squinting to open his eyes and focus, despite the great pain even that tiny movement caused him.
"Le…onardo?" he whispered out; His voice hoarse and thick with the crusted blood that trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Leo nodded, applying more pressure to the man's side wound before tying it and beginning to work on another one. "Shhh. Yes…it's me Tai. It's me brother, just relax alright? I'm going to get you out of here. It'll all be alright you'll see." he soothed undoing his friends helmet careful to place it on the ground without looking inside.
"The…they came for us…" Tai wheezed out, his eyes glassed over as if in shock as if he was reliving every moment of the last battle. His eyes glass orbs that held everything that had been that day inside them. "They…c…came…out of…no…where…just…c…came."
The turtle sighed only half listening to the man as he began dressing the wound on his arm that seemed to have been the target of an arrow. Thought's racing through his mind as he did so, that he refused to confirm as reality. His friend had been grievously wounded and lost much blood. The amount Leo knew in the back of his mind had forced him into this state of shock and delusion. Again Leo tried to sooth him, there would be time for that later.
Suddenly though he felt the general grip his wrist with his last remnants of strength, his voice cracked as he beckoned Leo forward to hear him. As if the words he was about to share could shatter worlds. "They…they were our allies….brother…the ….v….very ones…y…you saw…our…a…allies…out of no….no where…"
The turtles eyes widened, the anger inside him forcing him to clench his jaw as if he had been dealt one of the sharpest blows. The foot. Those miserable dogs! He could feel his eyes narrow with fire as he pressed more on his friends arm, slowly, tightly bandaging it up. Why couldn't they just leave him alone?! How on earth had they even found this place!! How long had they even been here?! All these questions Leonardo had never wanted to answer, had never thought to analyze or question were suddenly being thrown in his face like a blow.
"Don't worry, my friend. They will get their due." he stated in anger before terror over took him again at how his friends chest shuddered. "Tai. Tai, c'mon Tai. Stay with me. Don't you dare die on me general!"
As if he hadn't spoken Tai looked up almost mournfully at Leo. "Why…why did you…not search fo…r others….why…I…am spent...?"
Leo didn't answer that question only shook his head. "Family comes before anyone else, my brother."
"So…we….are family now?" the general barely asked receiving a nod, his strength failing him. His heart slowing with every breath, he knew he wouldn't make it out alive. He had known the moment had been thrown from his horse…but he had continued to fight…to kill for his men. The boys he had trained to become as good as any son to him.
Some were from low ranking families their parents to poor to even present them a sword upon reaching their rightful age. But once they had entered into his service…he had taken care of that. He had always taken care of them, even if some seemed more different than the others in past times or fighting. To him…they were his children, his beloved throng of warriors that no man could conquer…one of them, his beloved surrogate son, he had betrothed to his daughter.
His only true child and joy in this life besides her mother…now he would never see his wife again. Her brown eyes as they softened to greet him from managing the household, her black hair that always seemed to fly out of control when she trained by his side. Her naginta or spear fitting just right in her hand as did his sword…he would never see her in this life again…instead he would trade that for seeing his daughter. His beloved daughter with skin as pale as the moon, always tanned on her back from being out in the sun, her kimono flapping about as she ran with the birds through cherry blossoms. Her heart as wide as her smile whenever she leapt up into his arms and kissed him on the cheeks, despite the formalities of their lives; His wife, his daughter…his army of sons and ninja brother had all served to make his life so much more than he ever thought it would or could be…
He would miss them. He would miss them all so terribly the ache in his heart became greater than at the thought than when it was nearly pierced by a sword…a blow he was dealt even though he was already fallen.
Leo nodded grasping his hand tightly. "Yes…we are my brother." He confirmed placing his own hand over the others bleeding heart. "We are."
The General's eyes were filling with tears as he looked up again, brown dieing eyes meeting shadowed sapphire ones. The pain in both coursed through both hearts as they formed a bond of brothers and beat as one.
A dieing heart…to a broken one.
Both pierced beyond repair…and Leo knew this as he watched his friend smile one more time at him. Reaching up removing his strength as he quietly wiped a tear from the others eye with his hand…
"In…my pouch…my brother…is…is your past…please…I will…leave…but before I go…to meet my child…te…tell me…why….is it that you run...?" it was his last request, his simplest form of wanting to know if he truly was a brother; Or just another shadow in Leonardo's life.
The turtle shook his head a bit, tears lightly spraying from his eye as he realized his friend's fate. The one his friend had accepted but…though it would happen he couldn't. Leaning foreword though he nodded, keeping his hand on his brother's heart as he told him his story, his heart and in a sense gave him the scars of his soul. He had nothing else to give his friend…to make it hurt less or to save him. But…all his friend wanted was a story…his story…and as Leonardo lifted his head up again, their hands clasping tighter than before…they both knew the story was to be the last shared between them.
But like always his brother had to have the last word. "So…you did love." then his chest rose and fell once more, the heart inside finally collapsing in pain as his soul drifted away….
For a few moments Leonardo sat in silence holding his friend gently rocking him in his arms, letting the emotion swarm around him before it leaned over and grasped him.
A terrible cry rang out through the country side that day, as shadows swept in depleting what little light there was to be found in his heart…his broken heart.
Shaking his head, Leonardo tried to compose himself as best he could. Always, from youth on both samurai and ninja were taught death…but when it claimed someone they also loved. They didn't regard it as glorious like it was taught to them. Instead they saw its true form of a monster. He needed to get back to his student…it wasn't safe to leave her alone anymore…he wasn't even sure it was safe period. But still he felt as if he left…he would abandon a brother…a dear brother yet again.
But he had duty…something he wished could be erased for just a moment to let a heart grieve. Duty however cold was still his duty, a stone in his heart that told him how to function when his soul could no longer be trusted not to. His duty…that had cost him everything…
"In…my pouch…my brother…is…is your past…"
The words of his friend rang in his ears as he shook his head.
"The past is best left in the past." he spoke bitterly, his head rested on top of Tai's, his heart refusing to let go.
He didn't want to reach back into the past, he didn't want to have to feel whatever his friend had told him was there. He couldn't…he wouldn't do it. He would let the past take care of itself and die in past!
But…at the same time…he couldn't. It had been his friends duty to bring it to him. Now it was his duty to take it. He didn't have to keep it, only remove the burden of himself from his friend as he slowly reached over, his fingers caressing a small leather warn bundle at his friends side. Just as his friend had spoken he could feel something inside…but it felt familiar to him; So strange and familiar at the same time. Sucking in a deep breath Leonardo forced himself to open it, placing his hand inside until it met with a small thin strip of cloth.
He froze, his fingers wrapping around it tighter as he pulled it out. Without looking he knew what it was. He knew the stitch, the fabric, the very essence of the thing he held, slowly pulling it towards him, the last of it leaving the pouch as it traced over his blood caked knuckles.
Finally forcing his eyes to bare it Leonardo looked at the thing with disgust. It was a piece of him…a part of him that laid mockingly in his hand tracing a contrast of his green skin to its own color of royal blue. Shaking his head angerly the turtle placed the old mask in his belt, surprised that it wasn't tattered…but equally surprised to find his friend had it.
He didn't know how he got it and he couldn't ask him a pang shot through his soul confirming that at the thought.
ZIP!
Anger soon followed as Leonardo whipped around his sword up in an instant carving an arrow in half even from his kneeled position. A small note attached to parched shoot closest to the point. Gently, remorselfully the ninja took his friend from his lap and laid him down completely by his men, before gathering himself and taking the note in his hand as he surveyed the surroundings.
He felt betrayed that someone might be here, he felt terror at who it might be, but most of all he felt his anger boiling at the realization of who it probably was…he chose not to speak however. His sharp eyes catching nothing as they turned to the note and blood inside him instantly went cold at the message.
Leonardo stared hard at the paper, reading it over and over many times as if reading it enough could make it all go away…could bring his friend back to him. Instead however it only confirmed he was being slowly suffocated, that the past was slowly beginning to find him again even where no one else could.
For ten years he thought he could run, for ten long years he thought he could leave the past in the past…but now he realized the past, would always be his. No matter what the past would always be a part of him no matter how laced in shadows.
They would need to leave again, that much was clear to Leonardo as he gave his friend one more glance, hot tears burning his eyes as bowed his head before beginning to make his way back to his camp. But where they would go…was still uncertain and one of the possibilities a place he may be forced to return to…was something that terrified him more than the foot on this island.
Fear, it was all about his fear, his dishonor that no one but the tattered remains of who he was knew about. But now…fear was something he couldn't afford to hang on to as he silently went into the tent, breathing with relief to find his student still safe still asleep. He hoped his eyes would be dry by the time she awoke, less questions to be answered if that was the case…however he also knew they wouldn't. He knew deep down he would loose his resolve through the night and weep for his friend more bitterly than he had been allowed there.
He knew his student would try to avoid him out of respect…and then break to try and help him. He knew after that they would have one of, if not the most serious, discussion they had ever had; More so then even the time he met her. They would decide together as master and student, as a team that was still shaky and had to develop as one should
Together they would decide the others fate in one meeting.
The land they lived in was large, and well hidden, but even that could not keep everything out. He could hide there if he wanted too…continue to run from shadows and make more as time went on putting his apprentice in harms way. Or he could fight the words of the shadows, engraved on white lucid paper…and return to the place where the shadows began…where the shadows were bred.
But no matter what his decision, for home or for land, the words on that scroll would forever haunt him. They would forever be a grave marker, to the person he once was and the person he was becoming.
to be continued…
A/N: I'm really sorry!! I didn't want to kill general Tai…but I had to. If Leo acted at all OOC in this chapter please let me know. I know I didn't put in what the note said exactly but you'll find out in later chapters just what it said or at least what it implied. Yep Leo's thinking about it, he's thinking about going home. Anyways, thank you guys so much for your support it really means a lot to me.
Until next time
Take care,
be blessed
and have a Merry Christmas!
innocent-rebel
