Never Lose Hope
When Mikey, Donnie and Raph arrived at the lair, Splinter was sprawled out on the couch, sleeping peacefully.
With Leonardo bent over him, arms outstretched.
The scroll that Leo and Mikey had been looking for was placed on Splinter's belly, and moved slowly up and down to the rhythm of his breathing. Leonardo was keeping an eye on it. Leo was sure he wasn't reading it, though - the syllables Leonardo was mouthing weren't the familiar words of the healing mantras. Maybe he was using it as a reminder?
But a reminder for what?
"Don't you dare!" Raph shouted, launching himself at Leonardo.
"What did you do to my father?" Donnie noticed the teacup next to Splinter and sniffed it. His eyes narrowed. "You drugged him!"
Leonardo didn't even look at them. With a wave of his hand, he sent them flying over the room, hitting the wall.
Wow, he really stepped up his game, Mikey commented. Leo could feel his brother's focus and seriousness as he swirled his nunchucks. What do you think he's doing?
Leo tried to put the pieces together. What did the imposter want?
Leonardo was watching Splinter's body with unhealthy eagerness, and cold realization dawned on Leo.
Donnie had said that the spirit was limited by the body he used. But what if he could switch? What if he wanted another body, more powerful and experienced than Leo's?
Oh no.
Leo felt Mikey's horror and knew that his brother had heard his reasoning. He watched, powerless, as Mikey aimed a blow at Leonardo and the imposter avoided it with grace. However, Leonardo didn't counterattack by sending him flying like he had done with the others.
It looked like he couldn't use his powers directly against Mikey - or Leo.
Behind them, Donnie and Raph were standing up with distinct moans.
Tell them to stand back, Leo whispered urgently.
"Stand back, guys!" Mikey complied.
Raph clasped his sai, torn between listening to an order from Mikey of all people, and not listening to an order from Leo, which usually didn't end well.
"This is weird," he muttered. "This is really, really weird."
Donnie understood immediately. "He doesn't attack Mikey like he attacked us!"
Mikey swirled his nunchucks towards Leonardo, who blocked them again. However, it seemed to convince the imposter that Mikey wouldn't allow him to perform the end of his ritual on Splinter in peace and quiet, because he turned his focus on him and unsheathed Leo's katana.
Mikey gulped.
This is bad. This is really, really bad.
Focus, Mikey, Leo said. You can do this.
Uh, Leo? You're defeating me all the time in training, remember? Of course, there is this time I kicked your butt - but you were a zombie, no thanks to Pizza Face. And that other time when I knocked you out with the Shellraiser's weapons - can I use the Shellraiser again?
No time, Mikey. Leo put all the conviction he could in his words - an exercise that had become easier as he progressed in his leader's journey. And I'm not myself either this time, right? It's going to work.
If you say so, bro.
Leonardo moved fast, and Mikey almost failed to dodge the blow in time. Leo heard Donnie and Raph gasp. Splinter, however, was still breathing peacefully.
Mikey jumped to avoid the sharp edge of a sword, and Leo tried to reach his body like he had done before, in the hope of slowing Leonardo down.
No, Leo! Mikey hold him back, which slowed him down - and Leonardo kicked his plastron, hard.
Mikey!
Ouch! It's okay. It's okay, I'm not hurting.
"That's it," Raph said through gritted teeth, jumping down Leonardo's throat.
At least that was his intent. One split second later, he was colliding with the wall, again.
"Dude, why do you never listen?" Mikey complained as he stood up.
Donnie was trying to sneak his way to Splinter's side, but Leonardo noticed him, and soon he joined Raph against the wall. Then Leonardo turned to Mikey again, his katana ready to strike.
Leo reacted on instinct.
On your right! he shouted, and Mikey jumped to avoid the blow.
How did you know?
I know how I fight, and I'm all he has got if he can't use his own powers, Leo answered. On your left!
Once again, Mikey reacted to his thoughts, and soon they were fighting together, Leo disclosing Leonardo's moves just before he made them and Mikey striking, jumping and avoiding.
Leonardo was getting more and more annoyed, and Leo could see the moment when he would make a mistake - and Mikey felt it too, both their minds entangled.
Mikey's nunchucks hit Leonardo's shoulder and sent him tumbling across the room. Leo could feel the stranger spirit's presence, way stronger than before, as he turned his anger towards him, but Mikey struck again, and Leonardo's head hit the wall…
And the spirit was talking to Leo, a raging whispering in his head…
If I can't have the body I want, you won't either.
Just before Leonardo's eyes rolled upwards, the scroll on Splinter's belly caught fire.
%
"No!" Mikey shouted.
Raph had immediately moved the burning scroll away from Splinter, while Donnie was in the process of tying Leonardo up, although how efficient that would be remained to be proved.
The fire was already dying, the former scroll a pile of ashes.
"What do we do now?" Donnie asked. "We can't let him wake up."
"I'll be happy to knock him down again as often as it will be necessary," Raph growled.
Mikey knelt at Leonardo's side, and hesitantly touched his skin. Leo's connection to his body was stronger than ever, and he itched to just let himself slide inside…
But he couldn't. Something was stopping him - he could get close, yes, and influence its reactions - but taking it back, entirely back, was impossible.
It's not working, Leo whispered. Not as long as he's inside my body. We… we need the scroll.
Maybe Sensei will remember it, Mikey tried to reassure him.
Leo didn't answer. Splinter had told him he didn't know by heart the content of every scroll in his library. Some of the mantras were rarely used, and some others overcomplicated.
Leo?
Had he just lost his body forever?
Donnie clenched his fists. "What was on that scroll, Leo? Please. Please, try to remember."
I don't know. I don't know! It was just a healing mantra… I wasn't even reading it properly, and…
Leo suddenly realized that even if he had retrieved the scroll, it still wouldn't have been enough. He had no idea which words he had used instead of the correct ones…
He would never remember.
I can help, Mikey offered.
How? Leo asked, slowly, gently. He didn't want to quench his brother's hopes that everything was going to be okay, everything would soon go back to normal…
I have a good memory, when I focus hard enough, Mikey said. I forget things all the time, but I know that they are still there, deep inside. Do you want me to show you?
I… Okay. I'm listening.
Mikey carefully opened his memory to Leo, and the way it worked was nothing like Leo would have thought - all colors and music - but still, it resonated within him, and he let Mikey bring him back to the night when he had been reading a healing mantra all alone in his room, and the words were blurred…
And then he remembered…
Rizen, Pyotushai, Kiorin…
Mikey's hands moved the way Leo's hands had been moving, and he let Leo's spirit expand through his body to give power to the words...
Somewhere, very close but also far, far away, something was screaming. Nooooooooooooooooo! Not again!
But Leo and Mikey went on, together, and soon Leo felt that the place was free, and he could part from his brother's mind…
Thanks, Mikey, he had the time to whisper.
Then his world became black and red, and painful…
His head hurt. His head hurt!
Leo blinked, and the light was too bright. Mikey was leaning over him, he could see... he could see him! In front of him!
"Is he gone?" Mikey whispered eagerly, and Leo sat up with a groan and nodded.
"Who's gone?" Raph asked, his voice half-suspicious and half-hopeful as he came closer.
"He's gone!" Mikey repeated, beaming. "It's Leo again!"
Donnie carefully knelt next to him and put his hand against his brother's forehead.
And Leo could feel that hand, amazingly cold and soft against his skin.
"How can we be sure it's him?" Raph crossed his arms.
Leo looked at him, still unsure that it was real - that he could move on his own free will.
That he was alive.
He was alive!
The realization hit him, hard, and he almost felt like he was going to cry out of sheer joy, but then his brothers were going to worry and oh yes, his brothers, they were here in one healthy piece, and the imposter hadn't hurt them after all and he had been so worried about them and it was almost too much to handle and -
"I love you guys!" Leo said with his very own voice, before hugging them so tightly they could barely breathe.
"I really think it's Leo," Mikey replied cheerfully, returning the hug with strength.
"Mgngnn," Raph answered, maybe to show his approval. Or maybe to beg for a little more oxygen, it was hard to tell.
Donnie said nothing, hiding his face in the crook of Leo's neck. Leo wondered if he had read more about what the spirit could do than he had told them.
"My sons?"
The call startled the four turtles out of their hug, and they turned to look at their father and Sensei, who was opening his eyes and sitting down, rubbing his forehead.
"What… what is going on here?" he asked slowly, taking in the bruises on his sons' limbs.
"Everything is fine, Sensei," Mikey beamed. "Leo is back in his own body!"
His father raised an eye ridge.
"Short-term effects." Donnie sighed in relief, his arm still around Leo's shoulders. "I love that in a drug."
Splinter frowned. "Drug?"
Leo winced.
"I can explain, Sensei," he said hastily, although he had no idea where to begin.
At his side, Raph chuckled - a half-strangled, half-relieved-to-the-core chuckle - and nudged him.
"Good luck."
