A/N: Prompts used for this chapter:
No 11. Defiance, Struggling
No 29. Reluctant Bedrest
No 30. Ignoring an Injury
The last chapter! As I previously said, this one isn't plot-related to the last chapter, I just thought about ending the challenge on a bit of a softer note. Whump is nice, but so is the comfort that (sometimes) follows. :) If you're still reading, thank you for sticking around! And to everyone who left a review, thank you so much, they're what keep me posting even when I doubt my writing! DoodleDumble, I love how your "AAA" stretched the page, the letters just go on and on my screen. xD
Leonardo leaned against the edge of the kitchen sink, trying to catch his breath. It had been a painful trouble to remove the needles stuck in his arms and climb up from the bed he had woken up in. Just reaching the kitchen had taken almost everything out of him, and even simply standing still was quickly taking the rest.
His hand trembled when he lifted it towards the faucet. He managed to get the water running, but knew he couldn't reach the cupboard above him to get himself a glass, so shakily he leaned down to drink straight from the faucet. Bending forward like that made his midsection ache, but the relief of tasting the water made it tolerable. He drank desperately, like he was afraid the flow of water would stop at any moment. He pulled away only to breathe, and his stomach churned at the amount of liquid he had forced down so quickly. Too quickly, he knew, but his mind demanded him to drink more before the water would be out of his reach again. He moved to do just so, but couldn't. Sudden nausea washed over him, his legs shook too badly to hold him up anymore.
He slid down onto his knees, but managed to reach the trash bin, which was luckily just under the sink. Ungraciously he threw up the water he had just managed to down. There wasn't anything but water and stomach acid, and it burned both his stomach and throat as it came up, stealing him the brief relief he'd just had.
He wheezed for air as his stomach cramped, the heaving motion having worsened the pain he had already felt in his stomach. He swallowed against the ever-present nausea, not wanting to throw up again. He had just wanted some water, but now even the thought of it made him dizzy, wary of the pain that would follow if he even attempted to drink. He wouldn't be able to keep it down, but he was so thirsty. He had to get back up.
He hadn't realized he had left the water running until he could hear the flow abruptly stop. Desperation hit him first- he had finally found water, and now it was gone again. Where would he find it now? Where was he? He struggled to remember if he had even reached the lair- he had known he was close, but was he there? He had woken up in a bed, hadn't he?
He also hadn't realized that he was heavily leaning onto his side. He wasn't holding onto anything, anymore. He should've fallen down, but something was pressed against his shell, keeping him from hitting the floor. Someone was holding him up.
The touch made panic flood his mind. The knowledge that he had just dragged himself through the lair to the familiar kitchen was a lost memory. The presence next to him was an enemy; he was back there, back in their hands.
Survival instinct kicked in, made adrenaline rush through him. It defeated his exhaustion, made him push himself up into a crouch. He kicked the person whose hands were still on him, his leg connecting with a part of them, causing the hold on him to disappear. Straining his body like that made everything ache again- god did the sudden movement hurt. Biting back a wince Leonardo grabbed the edge of the sink again, using it to pull himself up.
"Leo, calm down!"
Michelangelo was suddenly right there in front of him, holding his shoulders, his eyes wide and worried. Leonardo had to blink at him, the sight of his little brother effectively distinguishing his instinct to run. But the instinct to fight wasn't gone so easily- Leonardo glanced around wildly, needing to know where the enemy was so that he could protect himself and his brother.
"Hey, hey, chill! You're safe, Leo!"
Leonardo tore himself away from Michelangelo's hold. He stumbled back, hitting his shell on the sink behind him. The kitchen spun around him, and his legs gave out for the second time. He was caught, prevented from falling, but immediately fighting the hands around him. He kicked out again when Michelangelo, still in front of him, tried to get closer. Only after his leg fell back down did he realize that it was still his brother, and he didn't try to kick again. He hadn't hit Michelangelo, but felt dull shame for even attempting it.
There were still hands around him, but Leonardo didn't fight them. Michelangelo wouldn't just stand there if someone was trying to hurt him, and he recognized the presence behind him, now. He stilled in the hold he was in, panting from both the effort he'd just seen and the pain he still felt around his stomach area. Only now he felt the bandages going around his midsection, numbly staring down at the edge of the white linen surrounding him.
"Finally remembered where ya are?" Raphael asked from behind him, still holding him. Leonardo closed his eyes, nodding. He was home. He'd made it. A while ago, apparently, for they had already bandaged him up and put him in bed. He'd just been so dizzy and lost when he'd woken up. The needles in his arms had been so similar to the ones attached in him there- he'd gotten confused, driven by the need to get away and escape. Maybe the familiarity of the lair he had walked through had eased that anxiety, for the next thing he remembered was just the intense need to get some water. He must've been dehydrated for a while.
Leonardo leaned into the hold he was in. There was a cold numbness settling over his body, and it was hard to stay up. He was going to faint, but it was alright now, wasn't it? He was home.
"-first kicks me, then tries to faint on me- damnit, Leo, just hold on-"
He couldn't let go just yet, had to take a look at his brothers first. Michelangelo had seemed fine, kind of surprised by the whole situation, but he seemed well. Just bruised and somewhat shaken-looking – like he hadn't slept in a while. Leonardo pushed himself to lift his head, seeing the side of Raphael's face. He saw the concern, the dark circles under his eyes.
"'s alright," Leo slurred, wanting the worry off of his brother's faces. Raph was still holding him up, but he felt Mikey grab his other arm, and together they helped him sit down into one of the kitchen chairs. It felt good to properly sit down, especially after the small fight he had put up, but sitting down would mean admitting it, he, wasn't alright. He had walked into the kitchen, that meant he could walk back. Not like he was going to- the bed did sound tempting, but he didn't want to sleep, didn't want to wake up dizzy and confused again. Wanted to know what was going on, what had happened.
But the kitchen spun, and he couldn't get the words, the questions, out.
"Should we, um, try to make him drink something? He threw up everything before, so just a little this time?"
"Yeah, let's try that."
They were talking like he wasn't here. And… maybe he wasn't, not quite, for he blinked in surprise when a glass of water suddenly appeared in front of him. His hand twitched, he wanted it, remembered how thirsty he was- but his stomach still hurt so badly. But the need to drink won, and he forced his shaky hand up.
"Just sit back and I'll help," Mikey told him softly.
"What were ya even thinkin', dragging yerself in here?" Raph mumbled, sounding irritated, but his words betrayed his worry. "We were gone for what, five minutes, and you do this… Ya better not have hurt yerself getting in here."
Leo could feel Raph eyeing his bandages, but perhaps they seemed fine, for his brother was just glaring.
"I think it's good to see you up and moving, Leo," Mikey said, sounding somewhat relieved. "...In case you didn't hurt yourself moving. If you did, I agree with Raph- what were you thinking?"
Taking a small sip of the water – he wasn't offered more, at the moment – Leo thought back to the moment he had woken up, and shrugged.
"Was just thirsty," he answered sheepishly. Then winced when the water traveling down into his stomach made his insides ache again- couldn't he keep anything down? He placed a hand over his stomach and shut his eyes tightly, willing the nausea to go away.
"-that's it, taking ya back to bed and getting Don-"
"-you take his right arm, I'll take his left-"
Again talking like he couldn't hear them. When one of them tried to grab his arm, he pulled it back.
"No- want to stay up," Leo managed to mumble a protest.
"You're hurt, Leo, you need rest," Mikey told him, this time managing to take hold of his arm. "You don't need to sleep, you just need to lie down, okay?"
"Wh- what happened?" Leo asked, forcing his eyes back open.
"How much do ya remember?" Raph asked, and then they lifted him up from the chair. Leo winced, and his brothers immediately stilled, giving him a moment to collect himself before moving. He tried to work his legs, to walk on his own… but his brothers ended up half-carrying him.
"I remember trying to get to the lair," Leo said, frowning as he concentrated. He remembered escaping, being hurt, struggling to find the right route. "I… I don't think I made it, right?"
"We found you in the sewers," Mikey told him quietly. Leo took a moment to think about that; what a happy find that must've been, probably discovering him unconscious and bleeding. "You don't remember how you got there?"
Leo stumbled when taking the next step, groaned softly from the sore pain. He was held firmly, so he didn't fall, but his body was letting him know it had been a bad idea to jump out of bed.
Ignoring the pain, Leo focused on his thoughts instead. It was all so blurry, a haze- he remembered the pain and the desperate need to get out, the shouts following him, the chilly spring air when he finally made it out. He had jumped down the first manhole he had found, remembered wandering through them for some time, still trying to get away from the people chasing him… and after that it was all blank.
"I got lucky," Leo said slowly. "Managed to get out. Don't remember what I did, exact-"
They had reached the stairs and were taking the first step, when lifting his leg made something burn underneath the bandages. The pain was so sharp and bright that it took him right back there- he was being held down, something was digging into his stomach, a pain so terrible he couldn't even cry out, drowning in the agony-
He clawed his way out of his brother's hold. He backed away, colliding his shell with the nearby wall, half-mad with the pain still radiating from his stomach. He saw his brothers, but their presence or the shock on their faces didn't register. Nothing did. All that mattered was getting away from the pain, from the tools digging into his stomach-
They neared him, tried to grab him so that they could strap him down again. He wouldn't let them, so ignoring the pain, Leo dodged the hands reaching for him. Pain was what he got for his efforts, but he couldn't care, couldn't let it slow him down.
He fled, stepping into another room, everything so familiar in there. Was it familiar because it was safe, or because he had just gotten used to seeing it so much? Everything in that brightly lit room had become familiar. The people around him, the tools they used on him, the white walls and white furniture-
This room wasn't white, but the pain made it difficult for him to take in the fact. He remembered his first relief being the air he had felt outside, but there was no wind here. He was still indoors, didn't know how to get out.
Before he could decide his next course of action, he was grabbed again. This time they held his arms against his sides and pulled him close, so that he couldn't kick them. He cried out from both frustration and pain- when held like this, his arms pressed uncomfortably against his tender sides. His struggling didn't ease the pain, but he couldn't just give in-
"Raph, you're pressing against his wound-"
"Shit-"
The hold on him loosened, but another pair of hands were immediately on him. He was caught, getting overwhelmed by the fact that he couldn't fight them, could barely stay on his feet. Yet he could hear his brothers speaking, felt them close- they were the ones holding him. Why? Didn't they realize that they had to get away?
"L-let go," Leo gasped, leaning away from the hold he was in. "We need to go-"
"Leo, we don't need to go anywhere! We're home, you're home!"
That… was probably true, now that he stopped for a moment to consider it. He saw their living room around him, but it simply wouldn't sink in. He'd fought through so much pain to get here- it wouldn't sink in that he was here now. Besides, despite all the familiarity, something was still missing.
"Where's Don?" Leo asked. It had bothered him for a while now- he'd seen both Raph and Mikey, but not Don.
"He's resting," Mikey told him. "He's been working pretty hard to locate you, so after making sure you were stabile, we forced him to go to bed."
"If ya wanna see him, we can go ta him," Raph said.
Numbly, Leo nodded. Having the simple task of going to the fourth brother eased the confusion and panic he had been spiraling into. He wasn't being taken anywhere, nobody was holding him against his will; he was going to Don. He was free and he could do that. He wasn't there anymore.
With a calmer state of mind came the realization of how he'd acted. Would it happen again? Would he lose sense of where he was and lash out at his brothers? Maybe he was just messed up from the painkillers he was pretty sure he'd been given, nothing else. (Though, if he'd been given something for the pain, it wasn't really doing its job, everything still aching. But that was just his fault for wandering around the lair.)
His brothers took him to the stairs again. There wasn't any less pain this time, but Leo didn't let his mind go anywhere. He stayed there, in the stairs of the lair, guided by his brothers.
The room they took Leo in had no Don there, but at that point the pain was so bad that Leo didn't complain when they took him straight to the bed. Sitting down eased his suffering greatly, but he was still gritting his teeth, definitely feeling the nausea again.
"What's with all the noise- Leo?"
As if knowing he'd been missed, Don appeared on the doorway. He was surprised to see Leo sitting on the bed, and before Leo could even blink he had crossed the room and was hovering next to him.
"What are you doing up? Is something wrong- are you in pain? Lie down-"
A hand on his shoulder, pushing him down. That made it all happen again, wiped away every sensible thought as he grabbed his brother's arms tightly, refusing to go down. He didn't want to lie down, didn't want to make it so easy to strap him down again-
"No, no, let me stay up-" He felt breathless saying it. Tensing up had made the pain spike up, and he held onto his brother a bit too tightly.
"Sitting up puts pressure on your wound, you shouldn't have gotten up at all!" Don scolded without any heat, giving their brothers a quick glance.
"We were gone for just a few minutes, we didn't know he would get up and walk through the lair just to get some water from the kitchen! I mean, even the bathroom was closer-" Mikey defended Raph and himself, only to gain a half-hearted smack from the turtle in red. "Ow! What was- oh."
From the wide eyes of their genius brother Mikey realized that he should've probably left out the part where Leo took a stroll to the kitchen. None of them had slept properly while Leo had been gone, but Don had truly been overworking himself. He was still exhausted, and tended to get a bit overdramatic and cranky when sleep deprived. Not like Leo's condition was to be downplayed- he'd been in really bad shape when they'd found him. Mikey didn't even want to think about it, about all the blood, the cold skin of their brother-
"The… kitchen? Leo walked into the kitchen?" Don asked slowly, turning back to look at Leo. There was no accusation in his eyes, just disbelief. Without another word Don pressed on his shoulder again, and Leo acted out of pure instinct. He was still holding onto Don's arms, but now his hands slid over to the back of his shell, clinging to him desperately in order to not get pushed down. He felt childish, showing such stubbornness and weakness- but he couldn't take the vulnerability of lying down on his shell. He'd rather take this, the shame of clinging onto his brother over the helpless feeling.
"Don't- don't make me…" He felt pathetic pleading over something so trivial, but it wasn't trivial to him. It was so much better like this. His other leg was still hanging off of the bed, making it easier for him to bounce up if needed. It gave him the feeling of having some control, and having his brother between his arms gave him the comfort of him simply being there. It hurt his stomach to keep himself pressed up against him, but this way no one could touch his plastron or stick anything into his stomach- he knew it was a stupid fear to have right now, knew he was safe here, but it wasn't something he could help. Not yet… he knew he'd have to get over it, but right now the memory of that place was still too clear, the pain was still too strong. It was a constant throb in his stomach, but he'd take it, he'd take it if it meant being able to hold his brother close. For now he just wanted this comfort of having all three of his brothers here.
But despite trying to convince himself that he could take the pain, he was starting to feel weak. His grip on his brother's shell was slipping, and he fixed it desperately, not wanting to let go.
He felt Don's hands on his shell, hesitant, his brother clearly trying to decide what to do. Mikey had made room for himself on the other side of the bed, sitting on its edge, and Leo watched him out of the corner of his eye. Only when Mikey moved the pillows behind them did Leo take note of just how many of them there were.
"You could lean back and lean on these; you wouldn't have to lie down, but it'd take the weight off of your stomach, right?" Mikey looked at Don for approval. Leo couldn't see his face, but heard- and felt- the sigh that left him.
"That should be alright. Do you want to do that, Leo?"
Don gave him a chance to hold on for a moment longer, but from his tone Leo could tell that his brother wanted him to lie back. Leo knew it was simply out of concern for him, but it was difficult to pull away. He did so slowly, unable to help the hiss escaping through his gritted teeth when he moved. His hand automatically moved over his stomach, but quickly shot out to his side in an attempt to catch himself when he felt himself falling backwards- the pillows were there to prevent him from falling flat onto his shell, but this was still too close to lying down.
Before he could attempt to push himself back up, Mikey was suddenly glued to him, wrapping his arms around the upper part of his torso, carefully avoiding the bandaged area. By the slight shake of his shoulder Leo realized that his brother was close to tears, and that realization made him forget about his own discomfort. Leo wrapped one arm around his brother, holding him close.
"Mikey, it's alright," Leo told him quietly, drawing small circles on his shell with his hand. Mikey only held him tighter. He turned to look back at his other two brothers, and in their eyes he saw the emotions they, too, had been holding back until now.
"I- I need to check that you didn't pull any of your stitches," Don mumbled despite the glistening in his eyes, reaching for the bandages. Leo's other hand shot up to grab his wrist- when Don gave him a confused look, Leo changed his hold so that he was simply holding Don's hand.
"In a moment, okay?" Leo asked, knowing he wouldn't react well if Don touched the bandages. By the heavy feeling behind his eyes, he suspected he wouldn't stay conscious for long. He wouldn't let him check on him when he was awake, but he knew that if Don really was worried about whatever was under the bandages, he'd do so after he was asleep.
Besides, now that he was lying down, the pain had faded into something more tolerable. Instead of feeling scared and confused, he felt comfortable. Raph had moved to sit on the bed as well, he had all three of them here. It was like something clicked in his head then- he really was home and it was over.
With them here, he could rest.
A/N: Leo can literally rest because whumptober is over, lol. This whole thing got to around 50k words, over half of the length of Turning the blade, and I've been working on that for a long time- this story was written in about a month (I started a little after the prompts were revealed!) With my writing speed, I don't know how I managed this. Maybe that's why everything got so repetitive. xD Anyway, even though I didn't have anything spooky for you today (I think that "Turning the blade" has had enough of that) I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!