Chapter Eleven.
Finding Leonardo sat in the back of my head all day, where to start, what to look for, and what to expect. I mean, I really had no idea what mental state he would be in, let alone his physical health. I wanted to start looking for him as soon as possible, who knows how long it would take for him to come back to reality, and I wanted the process to be fast. I already missed Wren and everyone I left at the farmhouse. It felt like leaving behind a family all over again, I couldn't even estimate when I would be able to see them again.
One thing kept my mind off my task though, and that was the giant mutant turtle sitting in front of the window of the abandoned apartment I found when I first came back. He was taller, and his muscles looked so defined and strong like an ox. He looked more guarded, more mysterious than that of his fifteen year old self, and I couldn't blame him, being alone makes you forget how to trust the world around you. I had been there before, and was starting to draw back into that state because of my recent experience with Talon, and with no idea where any of the other foot were, and Raphael not really talking, I felt more alone than ever.
I was standing, elbows down on the granite counter with my head in my hands. The heat was starting to fatigue me and I needed rest but I was afraid if I closed my eyes for one second, Raphael wouldn't be there when I opened them back up. I hadn't slept since the night of the rooftops, and Raphael had hardly spoken either. The only interaction between us was a few passing glances and some agreement over what to eat.
I wanted so badly to just talk to him, to sit him down and have him tell me everything that had happened, but I knew I wasn't getting anything out of him anytime soon. I mean , whenever he looks at me it's like he doesn't even see me, like I'm not there, like I'm a ghost. It was like torture for both of us, I could tell part of him didn't want to be stuck in an apartment with me, helping me pin-point the brother he clashed most with. I could tell it was eating him alive just to sit down on the same couch with me, although most times he stood by the window puffing on cigars staring out into the streets like a caged animal.
"We should start in the sewers." A deep voice spoke from his spot near the window. I flinched I was so surprised he actually spoke.
"That's what I was thinking, would it be safe though? What about the mutants..." I said my voice trailing and I watched for the first time a small smirk appear on his face. "What?" I asked standing up straight.
"The mutants are the least of our worries." He said simply looking over at me in my patrol garb, cracking open the window. "So...when we planning on going?"
I pondered this question for a moment, when? I hadn't even devised what we would do when we found him, or how we would get him back to the apartment. Let alone, where would we even start looking? There were so many tunnels under the city. "Do you remember the way to the lair?"
Two hours later and my nose hadn't fully adjusted to the smell, it was a mix of dead carcasses and un-kept sewage. Everything had overflowed and I was calves deep in a mix of water, two year old feces and blood, and if that didn't nauseate me enough, I even saw a few dismembered body limbs floating around. If this were two years ago Raphael would've offered to carry me, even lead the way, but no, my legs were soaked with the concoction I was trudging through, while also leading the way with only a stick for protection. Behind me all I could hear was Raph's heavy breathing and in a way it kept me calm.
It felt like forever until we came upon an opening and I saw a hint of dark orange peek out around the corner, it was the old couch. "Raph, look..." I said pointing out ahead of me but he had already brushed past making his way for the old lair. I stifled a small grunt and jogged to catch up to him. Inside I catch up to him, but he sticks his arm out to stop me and I bump right into it. "Shhh.." He says giving me a stern glare. He then points his finger in the direction of the old dojo and I listen carefully, in the distance I hear soft noises, like something crawling along the floor. "I'll go first." Raph says taking out his sias. "Stay here."
I stood still for the first two minutes, then started fidgeting around, I was getting uneasy, and my body told me to get out, to run as fast as I could to the surface, but I couldn't yell to Raph to tell him we had to leave, and I was told to stay put, so that's juts what i did. It was the first time I hadn't listened to that gut feeling of fear in my stomach and it was the last time I decided i would ever go against my instinct again, because within a thirty second time span two large arms wrapped around me, one hand holding a dagger to my neck. I heard heavy breathing behind me and I wanted to scream, but couldn't. Ten seconds later a rock was bashed against my head and I was swallowed up into that dark void, like I had been so many other times. The last thing I remembered was being dragged.
I had to blink a few times for the blur to go away, but soon realized I was tied up and sitting in two inches of sewage. It was dark, but I could make to a figure in front of me, it was standing across the tunnel from me leaning against the wall. In the distance I could hear someone calling my name, but my mind couldn't register who it could be, I was still half conscious.
"Who are you?" I blurted out, my voice incredibly calm.
Inside my head a vaguely familiar voice spoke. "Don't say anything, Raph's coming."
The figure walked over to me and through a little peek of the sun shining in to the tunnel I got a quick glimpse of my attacker. "You should've never left." He said sharpening a katana blade. "How could you never see I cared about you? I could be the one taking care of you the rest of your life!" He bent down and leaned real close to my face. "But instead..." I felt the sharp edge of the blade on my neck. "You chose the mutant freak."
"Talon..." I choked.
"Shhhh! No, it's fine, I already told Karai you left the clan. You're officially out the door princess." He chuckled. "And guess who she filled your empty spot with?" The smirk growing on his face as the blade stung my neck.
"You didn't" I spat.
"Ahh, but I did. Say hello to the new second in command...but I guess the clan life doesn't mean anything to you anymore. You're back to being nothing, like you always were."
Raphael's voice was coming closer and closer and secretly I wished he would throw Talon against the wall. My own best friend, the one who nursed me back to health under his watch...that was all gone now, replaced by the Talon I never knew existed. The dark, unforgiving one.
"Alex!?" I voice rang out close to where we were.
"I gotta go Al, so one last thing. Do us all a favor and stay the fuck away from us. You're not in the clan anymore, you're no longer family." With the last words the blade sunk a little deeper into my neck and I could feel the tears streaming down my face. I would never forgive him. I watched him scale the closest ladder and he was gone. I watched him leave my life for good and I couldn't tell if I wanted to chase him down and put a knife through him, or beg for forgiveness I didn't even know I needed.
I never heard him, but I felt his arms tight around me lifting me out of the filth I was sitting in. He was asking me something, saying my name but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was a high pitched noise in my ears and Talon's last words. "No longer family..." When I finally came to, I was sitting on the couch in the apartment with blankets all around me and a bottle of water on the coffee table. I quickly grabbed for the water, my head pounding, how had I gotten back here? And did that really just happen? My first answer came in the form of a mutant turtle. He was back in his corner with a cigar laced between his fingers.
He must've hear my movement because he quickly gazed over at me and I thought I heard what sounded like a sigh of relief.
"What happened?" I asked groping my head. There was a dried patch of blood on my temple and I could feel the scarring cut across my neck.
"You tell me." he huffed discarding the cigar out the window. "I found you half awake in a pile of shit." He stifled a laugh but then wandered over to me with a blank face. "Who did this to you? Was it Leo?" He asked sitting on the other end of the couch.
"No, it was one of the old foot soliders I used to patrol with." He raised an eyebrow.
"Either they really hated you there, or you did somethin to this guy." His arms wrapped around the back of the couch, and I tried to sit up the rest of the ways.
"We had a history together." I sighed. "But I'd really like to stick a fork in his eye now, considering he could've killed me last night." I got a smirk and a small chuckle but nothing more. "Did you see any signs of Leo?"
He sighed. "Nope, I even went back after I brought you here. Nothing. He must've moved down the tunnels a ways."
"We'll just look again tomorrow." I said leaning back on the couch.
"You're not going anywhere princess, not with that big gash on your head. I'll go." I smiled a little at his comment, the old Raphael was starting to shine through.
"You know nothing's stopping me from climbing right out that window and following you right?" I smirked.
"I know." He said back smirk playing on his face too.
That night I started the tub and let my aching body sink in to the scalding water. One look in the mirror and I wanted to vomit, my face was so bloody and bruised, and I reeked. How was Raph so casual with me, If I were him I wouldn't even have brought me back. So I sat in the tub, and scrubbed my face until it felt clean enough then drained the murky water and filled the tub again. I had to scrub my entire body down twice just to get the stench off me.
Once I was done and the water was drained from the tub I carefully got out and draped a soft towel around me, looking at all my new scrapes and bruises. I still had the claw marks from those mutants on the roof a while back and now they looked normal around the forming scar on my neck and the gash on my temple, along with all the other bruises Talon had given me.
I sighed to myself. Talon was supposed to be the least of my worries, now I was afraid he would be able turn everyone against me.
As soon as I walked out the door, now in clean clothes, and smelling a bit better, Raph was there, eyes wide. "I know where Leo is."
"A-are you sure?!" I said back feeling my heart pick up a beat.
"Only one way to find out, but you're staying here." He said. "I'll go check it out tomorrow, get some sleep." I was both happy and a little sad, Raphael was talking to me, but on more of a partner level, like we were cops or something. Like I was his dead weight he had to drag around.
I grunted and walked over to the couch where I had been sleeping for the past few days. I let Raph take the bedroom. As I laid down on the couch I cursed at myself, all my blankets were across the room. "Raph, could you bring me my blankets?" I said sighing. I knew there was a possibility I would probably have to get them myself considering how stubborn the bastard could be. But surprisingly he actually did it. "Here." I said reaching for the pile of warmth.
"I got it." He said his face serious. "Could you relax for five minutes? Geez."
I grinned at him and laid down as he draped the blankets over my body. I felt like a little girl again, being tucked in and all. "Gonna read me a bedtime story next?" I giggled wrapped up in my blankets. He just smirked. "Thanks Raph." I said with a genuine smile, and he returned it.
"Night." Was all I heard before the bedroom door shut and darkness surrounded me. As my eyes drifted shut I couldn't help but notice how warm my cheeks were. Was I juts flirting? I smiled and let my brain wander to pleasant things, mainly Raphael.
"you know he's going to find me tomorrow." He said sitting in the rocking chair to my left. We were in the apartment but the streets below were buzzing with traffic and I could smell the pollution rising up into the open window. The stench of the city was familiar, I missed it.
"What's going to happen? I ask leaning off the couch a tad. Leo was so calm, I couldn't image him being out of control, even insane. What if he never gets back to normal.
"He'll bring me back here, I can't tell you what kind of shape I'm in."
"I know, I just don't want the worst to happen."
"You're afraid of me attacking you while you got your body guard around? I may be his brother but he would flatten me to the ground if I ever touched you." He smirked, but I could sense some hurt in his eyes.
"I just hope it wont come to that." I said gazing at the blue clad turtle. Raphael would be waking up soon to leave.
"I think I know enough not to hurt the ones I love." He said looking down at the floor.
"You almost killed April."
"The blow was a warning, and she got in the way. She's lucky I knew enough to pull away."
"I miss you." I said looking at him, but he kept his gaze on the ground.
"We'll be together again real soon Alex." He said his somber look turning into a faint smile and the room started to fade back into darkness. In the blink of an eye he was gone and I could feel the light form the window shining on my eyes but I just rolled over on the couch and drifted off into another dream.
By the time I woke up Raph was already gone, doing my job for me. Leo had visited me last night, he knew his brother would be able to find him and with Talon out there asking for my life it was better I stayed under the radar. I slowly got up and went to the bathroom, my bruises were even uglier today and my scabs were in their disgusting stage where the skin built up. I looked like I could be in one of the side shows of the circus.
I scrubbed my face clean again, but I couldn't help but feel like the stench of the sewers were never coming off.
The cabinets were almost empty in the apartment and I settled for a can of corn and a jug of water for lunch. I waited three hours for Raph to come back, and by the time the sun had started to set I was beginning to think he was gone for good. The thought of having to return to April empty handed was starting to play in the back of my mind.
A half hour later there was knock on the door. It was heavy and urgent and I grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter just in case. When I looked through the peephole I was horrified.
It was Raphael, but he was covered in blood, and slung over his shoulder was his brother, but there was hardly anything to him he looked so dried out and all bones excluding his shell. My heart felt like it was going into over drive. He didn't even look alive.
I quickly opened the door and Raph barreled in. "Start the tub." He said in between breaths, and when I asked for an explanation as to why he was covered in blood all I heard was Mutants. I quickly filled the tub and Raph carefully placed Leo into the water. He was covered in dirt and blood and looked like he was struggling to breathe.
"We need Donnie." I said my voice shaky.
Raph said nothing. He just looked at his brother in the tub and walked out of the room. I could tell there as pain in his eyes and a little guilt, but it was still clouded with hate. I really needed Don here, right now. Leo looked so pale and just dried up. Two years of no one to take care of him, no one to make sure he was okay. I grabbed a wash cloth out from under the sink and started to wipe the dirt and grime from his arms first, it was plastered on and it took me a half hour just to get both his arms clean, only to expose the cuts and scars under all the grime.
I moved to his plastron next and as the tub water became black with dirt I drained it and filled it back up getting him as clean as I could. I wasn't scared for some reason, he wasn't himself anymore yes, but right now laying unconscious in the tub, he looked so helpless and dying.
Once Leo was all clean I filled the tub back up with luke warm water and sat by him for a few more minutes. We really could use Don's help right now. Maybe I should try reaching out to April, the message might never go through but it was worth a try. I closed my eyes real tight and took a deep breath. April, this is Alex, I'm with Leo right now. He's unconscious and looks like he might not make it much longer. We really need Don's help. Please.
All I could do now was wait, and hope.
Later that night I sat with Raph in the kitchen, he wasn't talking and he wouldn't tell me what happened. I guess it was just one of those things I would never find out about even though it was killing me to know. I grabbed a wash cloth from the sink and wet it with some warm water and walked over to him. He tensed up but didn't protest, he was still covered in blood. As I started to wipe off his wounds I realized some of the cut's weren't from any mutants I had ever seen. They were jagged and didn't make a clean cut, some looked like bite marks too.
"What was down there." I whispered, wondering what would've happened to me if I had chosen to follow him.
"You don't wanna know." He said back staring off into space.
That night I told Raph I would take first watch on Leo, he didn't protest. I could tell he was exhausted and he needed sleep more than me. I made sure to lock back up the apartment door and latch every window. I didn't know if the mutants would be able to follow Raph's scent back here, and wished that I could feel safe for once in the city.
I sat down on the toilet across from the tub and just started blatantly at Leo. He would be twenty years old by now. Tears welled up in my eyes as the memory of him played through my mind. He was my best friend. I had let Talon take his place in my life, and never thought anything of it while he sat in the tunnels below alone. He turned out this way because of me, and I would do anything to bring him back to his old self, I missed him so much I hadn't even realized until now, when he was half alive in a tub of water in front of me.
"Please hold on." I said as a tear rolled down my cheek.
This was the first person to actually fully take me under their wing, to help me and teach me...and love me. I realized I needed him more than ever, but it was my turn to give all those things back when he woke up. I was hoping and praying that Raph would help too, this task couldn't be accomplished by one person.
As I sat on the toilet seat, I realized Leo wasn't wearing his mask and I couldn't tell if it was my mind playing tricks on me, or my lack of sleep but I could've swore I heard April's voice in my head as my eyelids started to get heavy with fatigue and this new overload of stress.
"Hold on, we're coming."
Hey guys, hope you liked this chapter, it' a little short and I've been having a writers block lately...anyways, tell me what you like/don't like or what you want to see more of. Also apologize if you liked Talon, I totally turned him evil on you and quite honestly I don't know why. (I do strange things when I can't think of anything else to write about.) Also I posted a hobbit fic, and it sat there for three days and got nothing, so I took it down, maybe I'll revise it and try again, idk. Love you guys!