A/N: I missed you guys' reviews like you would not believe! So much, in fact, that I'm posting this early so I can get more! (evil laughter) Seriously though, I really tried to get this chapter right, I hope that you guys enjoy!
Preparations were quickly made, the younger turtles scrambling through the Lair according to their father's directions. The old rat himself stayed seated, cradling the body of his eldest as he sprawled on the floor of the main room, attempting to calm his mind enough to undertake the task ahead while desperately trying to hold on to the waning spiritual presence that was Leonardo.
Finally all was ready.
"Now, my sons, I am not sure as to the consequences of what I am about to attempt, but I need you promise not to interfere. Not unless your brother's life is in immediate danger." He did not want to, and could not really, send them away, but it was important that Splinter impress upon them the seriousness of the situation. His concentration was not to be distracted.
The turtles responded with short nods, still obviously tense, but splinter trusted their word. Nodding sagely to himself he sat back, resting one paw over his eldest's beating heart while the other remained on his knee, supporting the turtle's head. Splinter took a deep breath of the now incense tinged air and focused on feeling his absent son.
It was not an easy task, even for one who knew the spirits of his sons as well as Splinter did. The trail was as thin and insubstantial as a spider's web, and twice as hard to grasp. It led him through the spiritual plane in a series of mazelike twists, threading through forbidding landscapes and wading through nightmares. It was impossible to tell how long he had been walking, time being extremely relative there in any case, but the ominous surrounding were beginning to grate on his spirit. Something that he could ill afford in this place were the spirit was everything.
But he would not even think of going back. True, he had yet three more sons who still needed him, doubly so now that their leader was absent, but he would not abandon his son- not until he, body and spirit, could not take another step.
With these thoughts in mind he pushed onward with renewed determination- only to drop abruptly into darkness.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
Splinter opened his eye to find himself in the Lair, though it took him a moment to identify it as such. A strange fibrous darkness pervaded this reproduction of their home, causing doors to stray from their places and rooms to fade completely. It was a place in turmoil. The only room that did not seem to move was Leonardo's on the second story, so it was there that the old rat directed his steps. In this world of the mind the short flight of stairs bothered him not at all, though his walking stick remained firmly in his hand. After so many years, visualizing himself without it was almost impossible.
Upon reaching the entrance to the eldest's room the rat paused, unconsciously leaning on his cane as he observed his son as he had not for months. Leonardo sat in the center of his room, apparently meditating in front of a single glowing candle. The walls of his room, usually holding maps, scrolls, weapons, and shelves of books were nothing but vague amorphous boundaries. In fact, when Splinter turned to glance back over his shoulder he realized that the rest of the Lair had also disappeared behind him, leaving yet another barrier of shadow barely a foot from where he stood. Watching his eldest it became apparent that Leo himself was responsible for the encroaching darkness, as he frowned almost imperceptibly whenever it receded. Filing all this carefully away in his mind, the old rat took a reassuring breath and stepped into the room.
As soon as his foot crossed the threshold Leonardo's head snapped up, immediately aware of the intrusion into his sanctuary. Even inside his mind his eyes were slightly glazed, looking as though he had forgotten what it was to sleep months ago. Splinter could feel him mustering a defense against the rat, but there was pitifully little power behind it.
"Leonardo, my son, do you not recognize me?" he asked, more to prevent Leo from expending any more energy then out of any true worry for his own.
"… father?" he asked, voice cracking. Even Splinter's sharp ears had to strain to catch his reed thin voice, "What are you…?" He frowned slightly. "It's for the family, you know. I though you would understand. Raph did. He told me. He had to because…because you weren't…" Splinter had very little time to ponder the meanings behind the seemingly jumbled fragments of thoughts, for an edge of realization entered the elder turtle's eyes, "You weren't coming," he said, "This isn't right, this is a trick- I can't- I have to-." He gasped, pulling himself to his feet and setting himself in a parody of his normally graceful defensive stance. Leo clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. When he inhaled Splinter could feel the power his son was gathering against him. It wasn't enough to seriously hurt the old rat, but it was far more then Leo should part with at the moment.
"Leonardo, no-" but it was too late. The darkness curled uncomfortable and cold around Splinter's ankles and he wrapped his tail as close to his legs as possible as the nothing enveloping the Lair surged. The rat allowed the waves trying to push him back and way from his son to break upon him like water upon rock. The attack ended long before the rock Master Splinter had crafted himself as was in any danger of cracking or surrendering to the waves. Leonardo, on the other hand, stumbled and fell as he finished his offensive, though Splinter caught him before he hit the ground. The darkness that Leo had been holding onto so tightly for so long no longer needed the turtle to hold it in place. It ebbed and flowed in a rough circle not a foot from where the two beings now stood. "My son, I know not who you suspect I am, but I have always been and always will be your father. Hear me when I tell you that this will only end in your death."
"No… promised Mikey," the turtle mumbled, seeming to be hanging onto the very edges of rationality.
"And he will be glad to hear that you have kept your promise, but to do so you must listen to me." Leo made no move to lift his head, but the old rat could tell that he was listening. "My son, you are no longer in the hands of the Shredder, you are home, and you are safe… if only you will allow yourself to be." Splinter could tell that the turtle desperately wanted to believe him as Leonardo pressed slightly into the old rat's shoulder.
"Sensei, if- if you are my Sensei, you have to understand. I can't risk it. You, Mikey, Don, and Raph- he wants us all. I can't let him, I won't risk my family. I can't."
Splinter could not think of a single time where he was more proud of his eldest son, and yet he felt an undeniable stinging behind his eyes. These choices were such that should never have had to be made, especially not by a fifteen year old child. He had raised them to this, but he could not quite find it in himself to take pride in such an achievement- though his sons themselves could not bring him greater honor.
He shook off his dark thoughts as Leonardo pulled away from the rat's robes to stand unsteadily on his own feet. His usually tense and ready posture was nonexistent, arms falling limply at his sides, head drooping and knees buckling slightly under the weight of his shell.
"I don't know if I can hold this for very long, so, whoever you are, you should leave. Now." Leo said as the darkness surrounding them surged forward. "It was so hard to call up the forgetting and even more to hold it, but somehow it got so strong, so strong…" The calm, strong tone the turtle had commanded a moment before had broken off into a wandering thought. This was not what the old rat needed. He needed to save his son.
"Leonardo, you must come with me, your brothers are waiting for you, I told them that I would bring you home," Splinter pleaded desperately, willfully ignoring the turtle's previous dismissal. "I am not the Shredder, my son, what can I do to convince you of this fact?" Leo shook his head, looking if possible even wearier than before.
"Please, just go," the turtle asked brokenly. "Even if you aren't the Shredder or one of his own, you could be his drugs finally working or… or my own mind, too cowardly to let me die," he confessed in a whisper. Splinter was appalled to hear even this much of the treatment had under Saki's hand. Drugs? Not that Donatello hadn't guessed as much, but to hear first hand… and then Leonardo's troubling words about his own death. Had not the turtle told him that he was resolved to live? Leonardo's word, his honor, was his life. And yet, would not Leonardo do anything for his family, even break his word to the youngest turtle? Would he? It was a question that Splinter desperately wished not to answer.
"Leonardo, how old am I?" asked the old rat abruptly, his musings on thoughts of his eldest sending him stumbling unexpectedly a possible solution.
"I-… Sensei?" Leonardo questioned, clearly confused by the question.
"I believe I begin to understand the troubles plaguing your mind and spirit, but to put this question of my identity to rest, you need to answer my own question."
"You are- old. Old and wise," he added awkwardly, his reluctance making his Master's lips curled up into something too lacking in humor to be truly called a smile, though it bore no dark thoughts.
"My son, I am not more than a few years older than you and your brothers." Leonardo gazed at Splinter in disbelief and astonishment. "I am a rat, my son, and as such I was old when my Master Yoshi was attacked by the Shredder and so lost his life. Rats do not live long lives and I would have long been dead had I not found you, my sons, and so encountered the ooze that covered you."
"But you are a- great ninja master- Father, I- how?" he floundered slightly, his tired mind unable to grasp this information. Though, in truth, Leonardo would have had a hard time digesting such news no matter the circumstance.
"Perhaps I was never quite 'normal'," conceded Splinter, "It occurs to my mind that most rats would never have been able to mimic my master's moves, but that does not change the fact of my age."
"I never realized- I…" he shook his head, as if trying to clear the fog from his thoughts.
"True, my son, it is not in your nature to think such thoughts." He paused. "Though I know your mind, I assure you that I am not a part of it."
"Saki would never- never- something so simple…" he wheezed, straining as though something was pressing upon his plastron.
"Just so my son," he said, reaching out his hand and trying not to pressure the turtle too strongly. "Now will you trust me? I assure you that I am your father, Leonardo." The turtle's legs shook slightly as he stumbled into the waiting arms of his Sensei and Father.
"Please, father, you have- get out, can't stay here. It is so strong now." Splinter didn't have to ask what he meant: the insidious blackness was quickly gaining ground, straining against the tentative barrier that the turtle was struggling to maintain.
"Come, my son," he said, readjusting his grip on the turtle's shell, "I will be your strength, you can lean on me." The old rat carefully swung them around so that they faced where the door of the Lair waited for them, just beyond the pulsating nothingness. But this was not Splinter's mind and he was wary of just how much force he could exert without unintentionally inflicting harm on the mind of his son. Glancing at his haggard face, Splinter felt that it would not take much. But simply because he could not do this for his son did not mean he was unable to provide the means for Leonardo to do so for himself. Silently the old rat let his power flow through his form, offering it freely to the exhausted turtle. For a moment nothing happened, but then Splinter felt weak hands grasp the offered strength in a tenuous grip.
Slowly a narrow path opened before their feet, the stress of the work clearly showing on Leonardo's face. They shuffled forward slowly, Splinter taking much of his son's weight. In the real world this would have proved difficult for his old body, but here in this place his physical body meant nothing.
"This way, my son, just a few feet further," urged Master Splinter as he felt the confines of the Lair fall behind them and the darkness begin its retreat. His eldest sagged wearily against him as they emerged from the shelter that had almost become Leonardo's tomb. "It is alright, my son," he murmured, stroking soothing circles on the shell of the semiconscious turtle. "Rest as you can. I will lead us on."
Splinter set their feet toward the distant beacon that was his remaining three sons, and followed the slight feeling of tension that connected the old rat to his physical form. Behind them the last battalion of Leonardo's bleared mind collapsed in upon itself, attempting to bury secrets that it no longer possessed.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
It was a nightmarish journey, retreating through the harsh landscapes in which Leonardo had sequestered his being. Holding back the tide and allowing their escape had drained what little strength the turtle still clung to, and soon it was all he could do to put one foot in front of the other, following blindly where his Sensei led him. Even Master Splinter, guided as he was by the concern of the sons he had left behind, began to feel the strain as the not time that existed in this place continued to pass.
He could clearly feel Donatello's concerned observation, Michelangelo's frantic worry, and Raphael's suppressed agitation moments before Leonardo's legs gave out on him and he slid from his father's shoulder to collapse upon the dusty grayness of the ground.
"My son, please, you must gather your strength, your brothers are very close now," begged the old rat, dragging the turtle's head and shoulders to rest in his lap.
"Brothers?" slurred Leo blearily, "they alright?"
"Yes, Leonardo, they are waiting for you," Splinter said, voice catching, "Please, my son, it is not far."
"Not far. Donny. Mike. Raphie. Waiting?"
"Yes, my son, they still wait for you. Please don't give up."
"No, gotta get home. Promised," he agreed, struggling to his feet clumsily. He blinked rapidly, as though trying to clear his vision. Blindly he grabbed for his father's paw and all but pulled them the last few steps into the welcoming light of his brothers' presence.
A/N: So, reviews anyone? I was trying to be somewhat original, though I'm not sure how well I pulled it off. Please, please tell me what you think…
p.s.- (I got my paper back, finally, and I'm happy to report that all that time was well spent! I got an A!... you know, if you were interested... ;)