we're almost done with this 8D last chapter and then the epilogue ^-^ hope you've liked this so far and the reviews are over 200 D8

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Leo opened his eyes and found Gemini looking at him in worry and squealed when they saw him waking up, he looked over his left and found Taurus sitting beside the bed with leaning his head on his big two bladed axe. He looked over when Gemini squealed "Bout time you woke up! Your life force is healing nicely and the council is deciding if they should use something to replace the lion" He said and looked at the other side of the room and found Arises and Virgo standing guard at the place where the lion rested with a golden Zodiac Protecting Sphere around him.

"Where is my family? Were they unable to come with me?" Leo asked and remained on the bed as his strength was still weak, Taurus nodded sadly "It was your red masked brother that allowed us to take you here and they would wait as much as needed...We have Aquarius telling them how things are going and according to her...It's been 6 weeks in your world" "And...6 hours here?"

"Bingo"

"They've gone nuts" Leo concluded firmly and fell asleep again just as Aquarius came towards them "The council is still deciding...Anything new?" "Ya, you can tell them their brother woke up and seems fine...Still weak but he is healing" Taurus answered and Aquarius nodded before leaving the healing chamber, it wasn't used much but only in cases like this as the Lion's power grew weaker each century and the Zodiac needed a leader...As much as the Turtles did.

Capricorn, Cancer and Sagittarius stood before the council and tried to convince them to let the lion return and replace the life force of Leonardo but so far they had no luck in doing it as they kept telling them no one were allowed inside the spirit world after being banished what or ever and they refused to help the turtle, at some point Capricorn thought of sending after Raphael and make him convince the council but then realized that he would wreak the place from top to bottom. Cancer offered them to look into the lion's and Leo's memories and find the truth to what made them think the Lion was responsible for all those years ago.

The chairman and two of the high council got up and left to carry out the suggestion, once they stepped into the healing chamber the female member placed her hand on Leo's forehead and held out her free hand...Showing the events of his life and the time of his captive. Moments later the female and the other male had small tears in their eye but the chairman was untouched as they moved over the the lion and repeated the move, this time the chairman had a look of horror as Cobra told him everything and repeatedly tortured Leonardo and watched as he almost died 3 times.

"Go...I think it is time he goes back to them, keep an eye on your leader Virgo, Aries" He gave them a nod and left, Taurus looked at Aquarius just as she got back after been telling Raph the council's coldness towards saving their brother "You just have to go back, they changed their minds"

"Good coz Raphael looked like he could kill a whole city with his rage" The water bearer moved towards Leonardo and could tell he was trying to see his family in his dreams, they would be happy to see him again but first Leo had to heal enough to at least move around again and then the hard part came:

Wait

Waiting for the council to decide if he was going to get a new life force instead of the lion, waiting for the wounds to heal but he could stand waiting to see his family again even if he had no choice at the moment. He knew his brothers were waiting as much as they could handle until they finally went crazy but he couldn't blame them really, he loved them as much as they loved him...

If not more then 100%

"Take him with you...find a cure to this! We'll wait as long as it needs to"

Raph wiped another tear as he regretted those words, it had now been 6 weeks and he could tell it floored Donnie and Mikey as they couldn't wait much longer for their big brother to come home again, Splinter was trying to hold on but Raph knew his father was growing more and more worried that it might have been the last time they had seen Leo when he faded away in Raph's arms until he was gone.

The sight kept replaying in Raph's mind and Mikey's nightmares as he thought it had been his brother dying and it resulted leaving nothing behind...Not even a body, but they were at some ease. April had told them that Cobra had been in trail and hadn't gone to jail but been executed right after the trail and Shredder had disappeared again, body and all but the only thing that was left behind was the pool of blood Leo had caused before he himself vanished to the stars. No matter how much Casey and April looked they didn't find Shredder but they did find multiple note, files...Anything that had to do with Mutants or anything else as those secrets could leak out to other brainless idiots that the police didn't care of getting.

The two humans had taken it all and gone through it with the turtles and kept important things and burned the rest, one file had a signed name on where it agreed to transfer a body for dissection and tests. They didn't need to read the whole file to know that the body in question sounded awfully close to Leo but that hadn't happened so it was down to the burn pile and they all noticed the blank look on Raph's face and knew they couldn't get him out of his thoughts again. When they finally went to bed Raph started to hit his hands into a mess and didn't care about the pain as the only image in front of him was his big brother closing his eyes and smiling to him before he disappear into what looked like blue-silver fireflies, Raph had kept his tears at bay but knew that the more he did it the more he was going to lose control and finally brake.

He just hoped it wouldn't be in front of his family and when another few days went by and the feeling inside him began to tear him apart more and more, on the other side of the wall Mikey could hear the pounding sound and knew Donnie was going to beat the crap out of Raph again for messing up his hands for the 7th time for the past weeks. Mikey got up and fetched the first aid kit and some water before he kicked Raph's door open and scared the older turtle from his trance of pain, Mikey got a good look on Raph's hands and sighed before he sent Raph a look that said 'sit down or find your shell smacked in pieces'.

Raph didn't say anything as Mikey patched up his hands and the silence must have been to suffocating because Mikey broke it after a few minuets "Leo is gonna get Really pissed at you for doing this to your hands AGAIN!...When I've told him that is"

"And make him kill me? Who's side are you on?!"

The younger turtle now a huge smile that made half his face disappear and the was enough to make Raph chuckle before his mind went back to Leo and that didn't go unnoticed as he smacked Raph HARD in the back-head, thing was Raph didn't react and Mikey thought his hand had broke as he tried to revive his half dead hand. He never knew Raph was THAT hard headed! No wonder Leo's lectures, words or anything went through that skull since it was made off titanium!

"What are you doing?"

"Tried to smack you in the back head...but got a broken hand instead! Now I see why Leo never gets through the muscle called BRAIN!" Mikey said and tossed the long bandage at Raph, who rolled his eyes but warped it around Mikey hand and wrist which had swollen up a bit making Raph look more and more surprised.

"Do I sound crazy if I said I miss Leo?"

BANG! "OWW! What the shell was that for?!" Raph yelled and looked at Mikey who held a small wooden pole and had a smirk on his face "Place that pain into your hand and you'll know my problem...and yes! You're an idiot, we've all noticed you miss Leo since you always stand in his door way and are mostly in the dojo looking at the spot he's always mediating on. Leo will come back...We just have to hang on"

"Are you?"

"Running thin"

"Thought so"

"And here I thought I was going crazy"

Both turtles on the floor looked at the door way only to find a half sleeping Donnie looking at them "It's late and what have you done to...BOTH your hands?!" Mikey raised his hand and Donnie looked at Raph before turning back to Mikey "If want to do this the 'Leo School Way' fine by me...Yes Mikey?"

"Raph was hitting his fists in the wall and I came here to patch him up, then I tried to slap him like you guys do with me but that resulted a swollen hand! Now I know why Leo can't get through to him...His head is made of either wood or titanium!" Mikey explained and Donnie brust out laughing at the wood/metal theory but he wasn't wrong about it.

Donnie sat down and a face that matched Raph's and that made Mikey go nuts but who could blame him? They all missed Leo and wanted him home.

Leo walked beside Taurus and the Lion and looked around the whole place as they made their way to the council hall to face their trail:

The Lion's exile

And Leo's life force decision

The blue masked turtle was pretty nervous as his thoughts grew more and more worrying "Hey...How high is the chances that I might see my family again?" He finally asked "High...Low...50-50? Who knows?! If not the Spirit king tells them to change their minds" Leo stopped dead on his track and couldn't take in the words.

"WHO was going to tell them?!" Leo gasped and Taurus just grinned and kept going while the Lion stayed with Leo and smiled understanding, he released they hadn't told the turtle about it but that was unimportant now as they reached the halls and stepped inside. The council member were only 12 in front of them and the Chairman was standing on a platform above them all looking down at them and it caused Leo get a bad feeling in his chest, the chairman looked at Leo first but decided that since the turtle was an immortal he would take him later and turned to the Lion.

"Leo The Lion...You know your return to the Spirit world is still out of question and you shouldn't even be standing in front of us here!" He bellowed and Leo froze on the spot in pure fear and kept his beak shut for once and he barley dare to breath.

"Leonardo, it is safe to breath...We will see to you later" One of the council members said and the chairman noticed that Leo was close to pass out so he went on with him.

"And you must be the creature this lion has kept alive all these years? You do know you were supposed to die that day and not be breathing with those other monsters...That is why all these things has happened to you to make sure you disappear off existence on that world"

"WHAT?! It sound like you're the one behind all the bad things that has fallen on my family! And I'm starting to think you were the one behind the attack on that man the lion duelled that day, killed him and blamed the lion to raise in power!" Leo roared and made the Chairman step back in shock of the outburst and couldn't find words to respond...Only one thought made it way to his mind:

How did the turtle know he was behind it all?!

Before anyone could move or say anything a brother light made them all blind and when it faded most of them got their hearts in throat and knew they were in trouble as the Spirit King's huge form appeared before them, Leo stood straight and shut his trap for the second time and this time he did held his breath in fear.

"I know you are innocent Leo The Lion...And for that...you are welcomed back to your true world!" the Spirit King began and the Zodiac members cheered in happiness over their leader's return "Leonardo, you wound have not yet healed enough for you to return...But take this..." Leo looked at his left and found a tiny blue orb beside him, it looked like a small flame.

"That is your true life force...It was kept safe when the Lion took it's place, it's small but it will become stronger as you heal. You pain is over and you will not fade away any more...This is the cure for the fading and I believe your brothers will be happy to have you around much longer till the fay you all truly die and reunite as a family! You will return in 3 days time...Which might add 3 weeks for your brothers"

Leo chuckled and looked at the Spirit "9 weeks without me? I thought the first 6 was enough to make them snap" The spirit smiled back and finished the trail by sending the chairman to the exile meant for him and a new was chosen, the 3 days went more slowly then Leo thought but his mind was always on his family and he couldn't wait to see his brothers. The last time Aquarius had been there she had grabbed his photo album and he was now going through it to make the resting time pass and he sometimes would go through the katas Splinter had learned them.

His strength slowly returned and when the 3rd day finally came Leo was nervous and knew he was going to get crushed by his brothers but he had honestly missed that, Leo bowed to all the spirits and walked through the portal that led to the front door of the lair. Leo check the time on his shell cell and saw that it was about 2 O'clock in the night but the lair door was opened and he saw a huge shadow near his father's chamber, Leo easily became one with he shadows and went to...What he hated the most...Eavesdrop.

"He will return Splinter...I know it"

"I hope you...Are right" Splinter nodded and tried to wipe the tears that was falling and Leo couldn't stand much of it so he stepped out of the shadows.

"Dad? I'm home"

Mikey was on his way to his room when he saw Leatherhead and Splinter talking, he knew it was about Leo and it made him more sad...He missed his big brother so much. He was about to enter his room when he saw something moving in the shadows and when it came into the light Mikey thought his stomach blow up.

In front of his father stood a humanoid turtle with crossed swords on his shell and a blue bandana around his eyes, his body wasn't has skinny any more and not a scratch was visible on his skin. "Dad? I'm home" The voice sounded like a bird song to Mikey as he took off from the 2nd floor and right into the blue turtle's arms.

"LEO! YOU'RE OKAY! YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME!" He shouted and all Leo did was laughing and hugged his little brother to the point when he pleaded for air, Leo kissed Mikey on the forehead and finally looked at him "I've missed you too Mikey and ya, I back and...Let's say this whole Zodiac thing is over"

Raph and Donnie had the same reaction as Mikey and soon they were all four were in a laughing heap on the floor and Splinter chuckled where he stood, the family was whole...And the healing began.

When is this story going to end?

right after the epilogue ^-^ hope this story has been good so far and that you've enjoyed reading it...keep your eyes out for a new story! not sure what it is about yet but we'll see :) can't promise one right away but it will be my 20th story here :)

epilogue coming right up! double chapter 8D (heck this chapter is long!)