Chapter 10: We need to talk

Leo slowly opened his eyes. Looking around he saw he was in his bedroom. Guessing Raph had put him in bed, Leo sighed. "Well, at least I'm not in my dragon form anymore." Leo mumbled to himself. He pushed himself up and stretched a bit before looking around for his slash and bandana, but couldn't find it.

'They must have put it somewhere else.' Leo thought, walking outside his room. Leo stood still for a moment, listing carefully if he hears any of his brothers. He didn't hear anything except the tv. His dad must be watching some Japanese show again.

Leo walked towards the kitchen. He poured some water in the kettle and put it on the stove, lighting the gas burner with fire. He then started cutting some ginger and lemon for his tea. Suddenly a wave of freshly washed laundry smell hit him. He looked at the countertop on the left and saw his slash, bandana, and his phone laying in a corner with a note. 'Don't touch! Leo's stuff! Phone charging!' Leo smiled, recognizing Mikey's handwriting anywhere.

He grabbed his phone and turned it on. When his tea was ready, Leo sat down on the table, eating some cereal for breakfast. Leo looked up when he heard someone coming into the kitchen. "Good afternoon, Blue." His dad greeted while walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, pops," Leo mumbled with a mouth full.

"How are you feeling today?" Splinter asked as he made his own tea.

"I'm fine."

"Your brothers are out with April." Splinter told before Leo even asked. Leo nodded and waited for his father to speak again.

"Leonardo, you know you have to talk with your brothers today." Splinter said after a sip from his tea.

"Jah, I know. I'm not getting away with it this time."

"Give us time. Our fear will disappear soon." Ensured Splinter.

"Or increase."

Splinter looked hurt at his son. "Blue please, give us time. After what happened-"

"Dad, I don't blame you fearing me after what happened. Why do you think I've stayed in the garage? I knew there was a chance I could turn feral again just because of my hunger. The only way I knew to prevent it was sleeping or hoping I could get to my meat stash soon." Leo interrupted his dad. "I don't want to be like that again, dad."

"Why didn't you tell us you where hungry? We could have helped you."

"Because I'm ashamed of it, alright?!" Leo looked right into his father's eyes. "I'm ashamed of the things I have to do just to keep my hunger under control. To keep my instincts under control."

Splinter grabbed his son into a hug. "Don't be." He held his son close. "It is a part of you. And now that we know, we can help you with it."

Leo hugged his father back. "Now, eat up." Splinter said, releasing his son and walked towards the door. "Your brothers will be here soon."

Leo watched his father leave before grabbing his phone and saw his brothers and April texted allot in the group chat. The last message posted was from Mikey, wondering when he would wake up.

Leo smiled and send an I live Mushi gif from Mulan. His brothers immediately welcomed him to the land of the living. 'We need to talk, Leo.' Raph texted him.

'After I've checked over his wounds!' Donnie immediately typed after Raph.

Leo sends a thumbs up and closed his phone, making another tea so he can mentally prepare himself for the talk with his brothers.

It wasn't long before the others had returned. "Leo?" Raph called out

"In the kitchen."

Leo looked up once his brothers and friend entered the kitchen. Donnie walked straight towards him and started to check over his wounds. Leo watched the rest take place at the table. "So, how are you feeling?" Raph asked, breaking the ice first.

"I'm fine," Leo answered. Silence filled the kitchen again. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," Raph nodded.

"How and when?" Donnie beat his brothers first. He didn't look up as he whipped the wound clean on Leo's shoulder.

"How it happened, I don't know. It just did. I was eight when I changed for the first time." Leo explained, moving his eyes to his tea.

"So, you're a dragon for like six years?" Raph asked. Leo nodded, not looking up from his tea.

"Why?" Leo moved is glace towards the youngest turtle. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Leo sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again, looking straight into his brother's eyes. "I wanted to tell you guys. But, I didn't know how. I wanted to have more control first. But the longer I waited, the lesser courage I had to tell."

Leo stopped talking for a moment, moving his eyes back to his tea. "As time passed by, I started to doubt if you guys even were going to accept me."

Mikey gasped and grabbed his brother immediately into a hug, followed by Raph and Donnie. "You're our brother, Leo," Raph said to the slider. "Of course, we'll accept you."

April grinned at the hugging turtles, giving Leo an 'I've' told you' look. Leo smiled and hugged back. "Okay, end of the hugging party." Donnie broke up the hug. "We still have some questions."

Leo nodded and answered the questions of his brothers. Donnie was writing some notes down while Mikey was firing his comic-based questions. Raph would sometimes ask one or two questions but stayed mostly quiet.

"Have you ever been before feral?" Leo looked up at the science-loving turtle. Has he ever lost his mind to his instincts before? Not really, but there were moments he was close to it. "No," Leo answered.

Donnie eyed him, feeling there was more than what Leo was telling. As much Donnie wanted to confront Leo with it, he decided to let it slip. For now. "Okay…. I want to do some tests for the following days."

Leo nodded. He already predicted Don would say something like that. "Does anyone have some more questions?" Raph asked after a while. None of his brothers answered. "Okay, let's do our chores than before pops notice."

Leo watched everyone leave the kitchen. He was glad the conversation was over. He felt a bit relieved as he finally told his brothers his secret. And yet, he still was worried. Being all together in one room, made him realize the sent of fear can be too much him. Making him want to run out of the room, just to be able to breathe.

How is he going to go on patrols if he can't stand the smell already by just being in one room with his brothers? How are they going to cope with their fear?

"Give them time." April's voice brought Leo back from his troubled thoughts. Leo looked at the human. "We all need time to adjust."

Leo sighed and nodded.

Leo stared bored in front of his as Donnie rambled, throwing scientific terms into his conversation.

"So if my suspicions are correct, your auditory perception and visual acuity-"

"Get to the point," Leo whined as he finally had enough of Donnie's speech.

"Scoff! As I was saying, I want to test your hearing and eyesight." Donnie said, handing Leo the headphones. "Raise your hand when you hear the sound."

Donnie started with the normal frequencies before moving towards the higher ones. He wrote some notes down as Leo was able to hear better than a normal human or mutant turtle.

Moving towards the eyesight test, Donnie didn't do the normal one. Instead, he turned the lights off. "What can you see?" Donnie asked once he put his goggles on, switching to night vision.

"See what?"

"Eye roll! Don't play dumb with me, 'Nardo! I know well enough you can see in the dark."

"It isn't completely dark in here, Don. There is still light coming through from the lair and some small lamps are still burning in here." Leo pointed out.

"Would just cooperate?!"

Leo grinned. "You're standing next to you bust."

Donnie nodded and ask where everything was in the room. Leo easily said where everything was before Donnie turned the lights back on. "That's all for now today. I want to do some test when you're in you're dragon form tomorrow."

"Fine." Leo said, gladly walking out of the lab.

Leo sat in a beanbag, reading one of his comics. His glance shifted again towards the lab. His brothers had another meeting together. It was clear they talked about him as he heard his name being said more than once. Even with Donnie's music trying to block his hearing, he could pick up the conversation if he focused hard enough. Ever since he let the purple turtle do some tests on him, the scent of fear increased as he predicted while they learned more about his abilities.

Some abilities Leo even not knew about. Were they really afraid Leo would turn against them and hurt them? Or just turn feral for no reason?

'You need to gain their trust back.' Hueso's words flow in Leo's thoughts. It was from a conversation he had many times with the bone man before the others even knew about him.

'How can I even earn their trust if they avoid me?' Leo thought. Raph and Donnie spend only a few minutes in the same room with him before he or his brothers went out of the room. The only one that did spend more than 15 minutes around him was Mikey. But Leo didn't need to get too close before the orange turtle took a hick. And to think Mikey feared him the least. It was Raph and Donnie who feared him the most, followed by his dad and April.

Leo turned his eyes back to the comic, trying to convince himself they will trust him again.

Donnie sat in his chair, staring at the computer. He looked through the notes he had gathered from his brothers. He had asked them to keep an eye on Leo, making mental notes so he could add it to his research.

"As I stated in my earlier audio log, I'm starting to get more concerned about what Leonardo is capable of. The more tests I conduct the more I get the feeling he's holding back. Not performing at his max. I'm sure he has heard us talking even with my music on. Of course, once Mikey asked him, he denied everything. He might fool Mikey but not me."

Donnie paused for a bit before speaking again. "I'm not sure what to think about this air quotes Leo. He makes me feel like being prey around a predator. Playing a cat and mouse game, waiting until he finally decides to attack."

"I'd never thought I'd hear this coming from you, Dee." Turning his chair around, Donnie saw their human friend, April standing behind him. "How could you even think of him like that?! He's you're brother!"

Donnie didn't know what to say. "April-"

"Don't you, April me!" She scolded at the turtle. "Did he ever act differently before you knew he was a dragon? No! The only reason he acts weird right now is that you guys are afraid of him!"

"I'm not afraid!"

"Oh really?" April asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Then explain to me why you're here and not hanging out?"

"I'm working on my research!"

April threw her hand in the air and walked towards Donnie's computer. "You call that research?!" She said pointing at the screen. "Making a file what he's capable of? What tests you still need to do, making audio logs about being afraid of him?! He's not an animal you need to study, Donnie!"

"Technically we are animals." Donnie pointed out.

"That's not the point! The point is he's your brother! Not some mystic animal you need to study!" April sighed, rubbing her eyes for a moment before turning her glance back to the turtle in front of her. "I don't know if Splints has told you guys, but the reason why I stayed away for two days is that I was afraid."

Donnie looked suspired at the human. April's never been afraid of anything. "What did he do?"

"He'd wanted to attack me after I'd set him free." April sighed, rubbing her left upper arm as the memories entered. Her eyes drifted back to the ground. "He was so close, Don. I'd feel his breath, saw his fangs coming closer…If it wasn't for you're dad, he would have…"

"Why didn't you tell us? Why did you even agree to get him out of the garage?"

"Because you guys already enough afraid of him." April looked back up. "And I agreed because I wanted to face my fear. Deep within me, I know Leo won't hurt me. They did something to him. They made him turn into a feral. And right now, Leo needs to know I'm not afraid of him anymore."

"Give him a chance, Dee. And treat him like a brother. Not as a test subject." With that April left the lab.

Draxum looked up when he heard someone knock on his door. He hoped it wasn't one of his pesky apartment neighbors again. He was a bit surprised to see Mikey standing at the door. The young turtle already visited him twice this week. "Michelangelo, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing! Just checking on you." The young turtle smiled, walking to his apartment.

"Mmmh." Draxum watched the turtle, closing the door, and followed Mikey to the couch. "Michelangelo, is there something wrong?"

"Nope! Nuh-uh, everything is fine." Mikey smiled before sighing and his shoulder dropping. "It's Leo."

"Something happened to your brother?"

"No, well yes. We've found out a week ago Leo's the dragon we've been hunting for months."

Draxum nodded. Mikey has been reporting him about the dragon since he knew one was flying around the city. It has been a while since he heard something new about it. "He got captured by the foot. When we found him, he wasn't the same dragon we hunted for months. They somehow turned him feral. Why did they do that? What will their customer do with a feral dragon?"

Draxum thought for a moment. He had a hunch who the customer could be but decided to keep it for himself for now. "I'm not sure who it could be, but illegal dragon fighting pits are very popular for the underground."

"Wait, why hold on. Illegal dragon fighting pits? How can they be illegal?" Mikey moved his eyes back up to the ex-villain.

"Dragon fighting pits became illegal after more evidence showed up on how bloody the sport can be and what needs to be done to keep the dragon feral. It's the same reason why humans are against dogfighting."

"But what about Big Mama? I've heard she holds them too in the Nexus."

"Big Mama is the most powerful yokai in the hidden city when it comes to money and making deals," Draxum explained. "She must have made a tight deal with the police and the city, forcing them to look the other way."

"I'd wish Leo told us sooner. We could have helped him. Help him with controlling his instincts. Find out why he's the only one able to change." Mikey said as his eyes wandered around the room.

"I might be responsible for that." Mikey shifted his glance towards Draxum. What did he just say?

"Before I captured your dad, I've injected one of you with a serum I've made. My purpose was to create powerful warriors, being able to change into dragons at their will. I've kept a close eye at you four as I didn't recall which one of you was injected with the serum. I've always thought the experiment failed as none of you showed any signs of being a turtle dragon. Until now."

"Why did you do that?!" Mikey yelled, jumping up from the couch.

"I'm a scientist. It's what I do." Draxum deadpanned.

Mikey groaned in frustration, throwing his arms in the air and rolling his eyes. "I just can't believe you did that, Draxum." Mikey sighed, sitting back down. "Do you even realize how much trouble you caused for him?"

"No. I do not."

Mikey glared at the yokai. "A bit more sensitive, please. Or do you want another talk with Doctor Feelings?"

Draxum sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "Look, I can't make up for what I've done in the past. I might have caused some trouble for your brother."

"You did cause trouble." Mikey interrupted.

"But that doesn't mean I can help him with his problems. If he allows me to."

Mikey smiled, grabbing Draxum into a hug. "Thanks, Draxy. I knew we could count on you."

Draxum smiled, hugging the young turtle back.

Splinter sighed. After a long argument, he finally got Purple off the computer and into his bed. That boy really needs to learn when to stop working. But Splinter couldn't blame him fully. Splinter was curious too to know what his second youngest was capable of. But that didn't mean Purple's sleep need to suffer for it.

Splinter walked towards Orange's bedroom. He already checked on Red and was sure Purple wouldn't be sneaking back to his lab, working on his research. Splinter smiled, seeing the youngest sleeping peacefully in his hammock. He adjusts the blanket, making sure Orange was tugged in well for the night. Splinter planted a kiss on Orange head before pushing the hammock slightly, allowing it to rock gently.

Stopping at the last bedroom of his sons, Splinter smiled. The blue bandana turtle wasn't sleeping restlessly for once. After observing Blue for a few weeks, he noticed he was sleeping restlessly or not sleeping at all. Suffering more from his insomnia than usual.

Confronting Blue about it wouldn't help. He would have hidden his fear with those silly one-liners of his.

Splinter walked into his son's room, pulling the blanket a bit higher. He looked around in the room, feeling something was missing, and saw the teddy bear, Mr. Brown. Blue hasn't slept with Mr. Brown for a while. But once Splinter slides the bear into the Red slider arms, Blue grabbed Mr. Brown into a hug, nuzzling his beak into the bear's head.

"Sleep well, my son." The old rat whispered before leaving the room.