Warning: This is a short chapter. I'm also nearing the end of this fanfiction. The last chapter will probably be the one after this…

When Leonardo collapsed, nobody moved for a full 20 seconds. Then Raph, as usual, dived into action. He attacked Karai viciously, his movements fueled by hate. When the battle finished with Raphael striking her on the head with the handles of his sais and effectively knocking her out, Mikey had to intervene. "Dude, I know you're angry, but this isn't the time. We need to get Leo back and make sure he's okay." His older brother growled, but then relented. "Fine. But I'm not gonna let her off the hook completely."

"That's fine," Mikey soothed. "We're gonna get her back someday, Raph, just not today. Come on, let's go. We don't want them to leave without us." Then he ran outside to help Donnie and April lift Leo into the Shellraiser, which Casey had gone to bring back. On the way back, the little ninja noticed that Raph never left his leader's side.

Meanwhile, Master Splinter stood silently in the back, watching the scene. My son, this is all my fault...

They rushed him to the lair, into Donatello's lab. The genius shooed everybody out in order to concentrate, then began to analyze the the damage. He paled upon seeing the results. When he called, they all dashed in. "So how is it, D?" April asked. "Not good. He's losing too much blood. When the blade went in, it also succeeded in bursting a lung… H-he's probably not going to make it." At this, everyone fell silent.

Then Splinter stood up. "But there is a chance, correct?" "Y-yes…" "Then we'll do whatever we can, no matter how much the odds are against us."

So for the next 3 hours, there were only the sound of Donatello's orders, one of them dashing around to follow them, and the occasional coughing from Leo. Donnie was doing all that he could. His plan was to fix the hole in the lung, but it was a race against time. Thanks to the upgraded breathing tube, Leo could still breathe, but breathing would make the damage even worse. The lung would be fine, but because of the movement, he would lose even more blood. The problem was that to fix the lungs, he needed to keep the wound open. So all in all, he would have to fix the lungs and seal the actual wound before it either got infected or he lost too much blood. Even if he missed it by less than a second, it would be a lost cause.

Despite all the places the plan could go wrong, it was going well. He had just fixed the popped lung, and was waiting for it to adjust to that he could complete the rest of the operation. This would generally take around thirty minutes, so he took the time to properly heal everyone else's wounds, including himself. However, he could never stray too long from one thought: Leo, please be alright…

At 1:00 AM, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were still working, being the only ones still in the lab. April had fallen asleep at around 12, the battle had obviously been a bit too rough for her. Casey left to bring her home, using the fact that her dad might be worried as an excuse. Splinter went with him to make sure nothing would happen, whether it be Purple Dragons, the Foot Clan, or a kiss. After all, all three events would make Donatello blow a fuse.

Raph was musing over just what would Donnie do if April had actually kissed Casey when his older brother opened his eyes. Without warning, he started convulsing violently. "Guys! Donnie, Mikey! Get over here, SOMETHING'S WRONG!"

The two ninjas rushed into the lab. "What's wr- OMIGOSH! H-his temperature must have been too high! How did I not notice..." Donnie immediately started working on cooling him down. This whole time while I've been worrying about timing, I completely forgot about keeping a level temperature! I'm such an idiot... Meanwhile, Mikey and Raph strained to hear what Leo, who had woken up, was trying to say. He had stopped convulsing, and was desperately attempting to form words.

"Raph…Mikey…Donnie…" Leo felt as if time had slowed down. His movements felt clumsy, and every single breath was like trying to breathe underwater. "You have to know that this isn't your faults." "Y-yes it is." Mikey blubbered. "We messed up and made you crazy. If we had actually noticed all the pressure we were giving you, none of us would be having this kind of problem, right?" "No, it's not. You guys fixed it, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but we can't fix this problem, and it's technically our fault too. Karai wouldn't have wanted revenge if we didn't snap all of your strings and cause you to kill the Shredder." Donnie murmured. "It isn't your faults. You did the best you could. You guys shouldn't blame yourselves." "We did the best we could? Don't use the past tense Bro, you're gonna make it. We just got you back, we can't lose you." Raph said, feeling desperate.

Leo smiled; he knew he had been lucky to regain his sanity, but he wouldn't be lucky a second time. Then, with the little energy he had left, he ordered, "Promise me that you won't blame yourselves."

Donnie glanced at the heart monitor. The heartbeat was slowing down…"We promise." all of them whispered. "Thank you."

They were the last words he remembered saying before he gave in to the darkness.

As Raphael stared at the heart monitor, the last slight rise and fall of that red line, he knew that he couldn't do it. I'm sorry, Leo, he thought. I can't keep my promise.