Dark As Midnight

by FluffyAngstWriter

There have been suspicious happenings over Manhattan, and no Foot attacks. Leonardo, concerned about his brothers' safety, goes to check them out. The outcome is not desirable...

To any younger audiences, this work contains depictions of torture and chloroforming. This is literally a torture fic, I don't know what to tell you-

Neon lights from tall buildings, bright signs, and cars flashed from all around, although they were subdued. The loud noises of the city drowned out quite a bit of the other sounds, but not entirely, as even that was quiet, which was unsual for such a large city, even when they weren't in the bigger parts of New York. They were stationed out in Manhattan, that was where they lived. They didn't have large skyscrapers, like most would imagine, but the city was still vast, making it hard to cover most of it in one night, even when they had limitations of where they could go. Leonardo hopped from building to building on the rooftops, feeling the cold New York night air rush by him and tug on the tails of his mask. Being cold-blooded just like the rest of his brothers, he let out a low shudder and started to get sluggish, wanting to sleep like any other reptile in a cold situation. Even so, he continued to run across the rooftops with his brothers slightly behind him, blinking and shivering rapidly to keep warm and stay awake. He tried to think of a plan before Raphael asked, so he would always seem prepared. He had to be the perfect leader, of course. He had to be the one they thought he was, or else he would lose their respect.

Not that he really got much respect, anyway.

There had been a lot of suspicious activity around the city, but most concerning was that there had been no attacks directed to the turtles. Valuable items were going missing every day, but they never saw by who, and it wasn't the Kraang, although the turtles had used a spy roach to listen to their next plan, which- from what they heard- didn't sound too wonderful for Manhattan. There were no Foot attacks, and even Karai had been surprisingly quiet, never ambushing them, even in the easiest places. Then again, she had mutated, and was usually keeping to herself, even if she had some sort of animal mentality, and he and his brothers were possible prey. The worst they had faced was the Purple Dragons, that was it. And the Purple Dragons definitely didn't have what was being stolen, even though it was doubted they could steal half of that in the first place.

That was all of the suspicious activity, and it...

Scared him.

It scared him to the point that he would rather send his brothers home so they could be safe while he handled the danger. His brothers had started to feel safe about the Foot Clan, never worrying about an attack anymore, which frustrated Leonardo. Maybe if he sent them together away from any places for a possible ambush, then he could handle those areas, and his brothers would be safe together. Besides, one lone ninja would draw Foot and Kraang attacks away, due to him being without any back-up, without his brothers. It should be easy to get attacker's attention. However, making a good excuse as to why he should go alone would be much, much more difficult.

If he said he saw something suspicious, then they would be keen on coming with him to check it out. If he said he saw Kraang, they would come. If he said he saw Purple Dragon, they would come, saying that he "couldn't have all the fun". What if he said he forgot something and went in the sewers direction? Maybe it would work if he told them to keep going and he would meet them at the water tower on top of Antonio's. Then, once they were gone, he could patrol on his own, take the "scenic" route to the rendezvous, and if nothing attacked him on the way, then they were safe.

...He hoped.

Leonardo stopped on top of an old shoe store and turned to look at his brothers, who were all staring at him expectantly. Raphael picked up one of his twin sai and leaned up against the wall, flipping it in the air and watching it's three sharpened prongs glint dangerously in the city's lights. He turned his green orbs Leonardo's way before turning his entire body to him, sheathing the single sai back into his belt and crossing his arms.

"Well, Fearless?" he taunted, "What's up?"

Leonardo kept a straight face and glanced at all of his brothers.

"I forgot my T-Phone at home," he said. He wasn't exactly lying, it was hidden on a building nearby, so he didn't have it, "I'm going to go get it, in case something happens and we need to call each other. I'll meet you guys at the water house by our emergency rendezvous in about ten or fifteen minutes and go with you for the rest of the nightly patrol. Got it?" he could only hope that they would comply.

Leonardo recieved a few skeptical looks Raphael and Donatello, but they soon nodded along to show their agreement, and Michelangelo had probably never been paying attention in the first place, as he just nodded throughout the entire thing. After receiving their hesitant agreement, Leonardo jumped down into the nearest alleyway with a manhole, waited, and watched as they launched from rooftop to rooftop in the scenic route towards their emergency rendezvous.

He didn't open the manhole cover and slip into the sewer like they thought he would. No, instead, he grabbed the railings of the nearest fire escape and propelled himself up onto the roof of a nearby building using the fire escape. He gave a long, sweeping gaze at the rooftops of the buildings lit by lights of people who were still awake before walking in the opposite direction, away from their rendezvous. Of course he would head there in a realistic amount of time, grabbing his T-Phone on the way there, but that was only if he wasn't attacked in his attempt to keep his brothers safe. His feet made no sound on the concrete buildings as he walked on them, almost casually. He pulled out a katana and began swinging it, humming a tune and strolling along like he had all the time in the world.

About three minutes of slow walking later, Leonardo began to wonder why he hadn't been attacked by anything yet. It made no sense, considering he was alone.

And that's when he heard the creak and the quiet, angered mutter behind him.

He whipped around and brandished both katanas, gripping their hilts tightly as his third eyelid slipped over his eyes to keep them safe while still allowing him to see. He set into the familiar pose for him when about to fight and scanned the shadows from a advertising sign for any sign of enemies.

Soon, the dark figures of several Foot Clan bots emerged, holding their own weapons with confidence. Soft, robotic chirps came from them as their eyes flashed a bright red. Leonardo scoffed. Seven? Really?

Confident in his skills, he launched into his own fighting style, slashing fiercely at the centers of each bot, two at a time. However, when he thought he was through with them, fourteen more emerged, starting to swarm him. Leonardo shook off his anxieties and continued to fight them the way he usually would: quickly and efficiently. Everything was fine, right?

Magenta sparks flashed through the air, dimly lighting the rooftop further and giving Leonardo something else to dodge as he slashed through bot after bot, their numbers seeming endless. He began to grow tired, his attacks against them weakening, and he was getting pushed closer and closer to the edge of the building. His thoughts started getting fuzzy, melding into one thought of survival, and he couldn't hear much anything over the sound of metal against metal, the blood rushing in his ears, and the sounds of cars.

A Foot bot ran at him, but the turtle was not fast enough to comprehend it and was sent sliding across the roof on his side by a fast and hard kick to the plastron. He curled up on himself for a moment, wheezing softly due to the air getting knocked out of his lungs and the pain from his entire left side getting dragged across the unforgiving concrete, then realized he would get killed that way and stood up holding his katana, shaking.

Only one? Where did the other go?

There, across the roof where he was last was a fallen katana. He hoped it would not cost him as he began slicing faster to make up for the lack of a second katana, pushing them back so that he could stay away from the dangerous edge of the building.

The building was an old, run-down, concrete apartment building that had closed a long time ago, but was still standing.

Standing high off the ground.

It could have easily been knocked down by anything, as it was extremely rickety. One wrong move, the whole thing would cave in, and they would probably all end flattened. Even if it was on the edge of the building, Leonardo was surprised that the advertising sign hadn't broken the roof in yet.

Too lost in his own thoughts to realize someone was behind him, a sudden strong arm wrapped around the teen's still slightly aching plastron and arms, another over his throat, and held him still. He struggled wildly, kicking and pulling against the grip, but never even budging the one behind him.

Panic and fear tightened his chest, grabbing his heart in an icy, clawed hand; a Foot bot was coming towards him, holding a white cloth in one hand.

They weren't going to chloroform him, right? Right?

...They definitely were. The cloth found it's way to his face and covered his nose and mouth, forcing him to inhale the sickly sweet smell of chloroform.

No! Not like this, please not like this!

Leonardo held his breath for as long as he could, raising his unrestrained knees up to his chest, then springing them out against the bot's core. His plan worked, as the Foot bot stumbled back and removed the cloth, but not for long. In the time that the Foot bot had stopped chloroforming him, Leonardo took deep, gasping breaths to clear his clouded head, then held it again once the Foot bot returned to try again.

This time, when he tried to remove the bot again, he was stopped by whoever was behind him viciously tightening their grip to the point it was physically painful, and kneeing him in the shell. Then they wrapped a leg over both of his, pinning his legs to their other leg.

It began to hurt to not breathe. It made his chest ache and scream, beg for air, but he wouldn't. He started to squeeze his eyes shut in an effort to hold his breath for longer.

He knew it wasn't going to last much longer, and soon he would have to breathe, but he intended to prolong that for as long as possible.

There was suddenly somebody pressing against the pressure point on the back of his head, and it startled him into forgetting why he wasn't breathing. Leonardo inhaled deeply, and was quickly reminded of what was happening by the smell of chloroform.

His head was immediately foggy again, muffling his panicked thoughts under the heavy blanket of chemical-induced sleep. Blackness began to shut down on him, creeping up at the edges of his vision and getting closer and closer to the center. The tunnel vision didn't help with his blurry, tired sight. It made it so hard to see, he could barely see the group of Foot bots coming ever closer. It was hard even to see the bot directly in front of him, pressing the white cloth firmly against Leonardo's nose and mouth.

His chest tightened again, making it harder to breathe, more than it already was.

Feeling nauseous, he really hoped he wouldn't throw up with the cloth right there on his face.

But then, the cloth was gone?

Leonardo heard multiple bots power down, and the clashing of metal against metal. He let his head lull gently to side as he began to feel his legs being freed, and his feet dragging lightly against the concrete. He gave up trying to get away a long time ago, when he couldn't move anything.

"...n...don't!" he heard a rough, familiar voice somewhere on the rooftop. Or at least, he heard part of what they said. He couldn't really tell what the rest through how much his ears were ringing.

Just as suddenly as when he was grabbed, he was dropped, but instead of landing on the cold concrete, he landed in warm hands. Free of his kidnapper's grip, he began to take deep breaths, his thoughts too cloudy for him to realize he went from one grip to another.

"How...he,...?" another voice, soft and worried.

"Chloroformed," a third, this one calm, but hiding the accents of distress.

The longer Leonardo spent breathing deeply and calmly, the better he felt. Soon, the darkness and the blurry vision went away, followed by the ringing in his ears, then most of the fatigue.

He slowly opened eyes he didn't even know he had closed, and started to sit up, but instead was pushed back into warm, comforting arms that soothed his panic only slightly. He looked up, only to be met with a worried gaze from a purple-clad turtle with brown irises that seemed red in the current lighting. Donatello.

"Leo," the younger turtle scolded, "what happened? Because clearly, you weren't going to get your T-Phone, considering you were just drugged by a band of Foot bots, your left side looks like shell, and your phone is nowhere in sight."

Guilt ate up Leonardo's insides as he turned away, but behind him were Raphael and Michelangelo. Michelangelo was clearly concerned, his baby blue eyes wide and scared. Raphael seemed angry, frustration shown in his bright green eyes, but it was clear that underneath the hard exterior, he was scared for his eldest too.

It hurt worse, not the scrapes from the concrete. The guilt. The guilt made him feel sicker than when he was being drugged. It made his insides twist with rage directed only to himself. How could he lie to his brothers like that? Even to keep them safe, he had isolated himself, and they had to come find him, then rescue him in battle. He was such an idiot that he didn't realize they would come for him.

And then Raphael smacked the still slightly dazed turtle in the back of the head.

"Don't you ever do something so stupid again, got it?" Raphael snarled, but it was his way of expressing care, so Leonardo simply gave a dazed nod.

"How did you find me?" Leonardo asked the question that was on his mind, and was met quickly with a response from his purple-clad younger brother.

"Well, when we got there ten minutes after we made our plans, and you weren't there, we suspected something was wrong. We waited five minutes and then called you. You didn't respond, and we gave you five more minutes-" Donatello started to tell their story, and was cut off by Raphael, who continued it eagerly and ignored the glare from his younger brother.

"-at that point, we figured we'd hafta save your idiot shell, so we came back to you getting captured," he smacked Leonardo in the back of the head again, much to Donatello's distress.

"Stop that! He was just drugged!" he exclaimed, just before the red-clad and purple-clad turtles began arguing, bickering in the background as the baby brother crept up to Leonardo and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"Dude, don't ever scare me like that again, 'kay?" the youngest whined softly, "They almost got you, Leo! You're even hurt!"

Leonardo gave a gentle, guilty hug as his response, "Okay, Mikey,"

He started to rise to his feet after letting go of Michelangelo, and stumbled backwards, still slightly drowsy from the chloroform. Of course, his brothers noticed immediately, and Raphael was the one to catch him, wrapping an arm under both the eldest's arms and supporting him. Leonardo blinked in slight surprise and steadied himself before letting go of the muscular other turtle and staggering forward. Raphael was clearly disturbed by this, grabbing the blue-clad turtle's shoulders when he nearly fell over for the second time, and the pain shot through Leonardo's left side.

"Easy, Leo," he instructed with a grumble.

"I'm fine," Leonardo waved them off, peeling Raphael's hands off his shoulders and walking mostly successfully.

He nearly tripped over his feet a few times, but in the end was walking with minimal help. Still, he checked the area one last time, to make sure there was nobody around. When nobody was seen near them, he shook his head to try and clear out the last of the fatigue. Right, and he still needed to grab his T-Phone.

"Guys, I need to get my T-Phone," he said, "For real, this time," he added when he caught an upset look from Michelangelo.

He jogged forward and jumped onto the roof of a slightly lower building, another apartment that was actually in use. He caught sight of Michelangelo walking with him, but didn't mind as he went to the next building on the left, a small shoe store. Turned off and pressed up between a ventilation shaft and an advertising sign was Leonardo's T-Phone, surprisingly hidden for where it was. He picked it up and tucked it into it's rightful place in his belt, where it belonged.

"Alright, ready to go," Leonardo confirmed and turned to his orange-clad brother, surprised to see his other two brothers with him.

The second oldest nodded, bracing slightly, probably in case the eldest fell and needed to be caught. Thankfully, he didn't, and they all relaxed slightly on their way across the business portion of their usual part of the city.

Except for Leonardo.

Leonardo kept glancing back at where he was attacked, and searching the shadows behind them. He felt one of his brothers brush up against him slightly, like they were checking if he was still there, and he ignored them, anxiety joining with the already toxic feeling guilt. It made him sick, his throat tightening, and it felt like something was building in his chest. He shifted uncomfortably. Had his shell always felt this tight? Was that just how bad he felt? He still felt sick, and swallowed, just in case something tried to come up. Considering most of what he ate, it wouldn't be great to hurl that all back up. Then again, guilt and anxiety always made him feel nauseous, without fail.

Meaning it wasn't too great to be leader, considering the burden he had to bare. He was always anxious about failing his brothers, about getting them hurt or killed, and he was always guilty when something happened because it was his fault, he should have seen it coming. They always said that it wasn't fault, and that he couldn't see everything coming. Even he tried to convince himself that it wasn't his fault, but no matter what he still felt guilty about whatever went wrong. All the time.

He shivered lightly, aware of the cold all over again. Donatello suddenly dashed in front of Leonardo, skidded to a halt, and turned, forcing Leonardo to stop as well.

"What is it, Don?" Leonardo asked, crossing his arms and frowning deeply, unhappy about being stopped when he was fully capable of continuing.

"Let's take you home, Leo," Donatello said firmly and grabbed one of Leonardo's arms, "I don't know what I was thinking, you shouldn't be out here. I need to check if there were any residual effects to the chloroform, and those scrapes look pretty nasty.

Leonardo huffed, indignant, and pulled his arm out of the younger turtle's grip. Seriously? Did Donatello seriously think he couldn't continue? He was fine. In comparison to when he was fighting off Foot bots, Rahzar, Tiger Claw, and Fishface, getting chloroformed and a little scraped up was nothing. He still remembered it like it was yesterday. He remembered the pain, the exhaustion, and the sheer determination to keep going. It felt like his lungs were getting ripped out and his muscles were getting sliced apart, but he was a machine driven by spite, determination, and adrenaline. He was already sluggish and tired from the cold New York, and falling into water so cold it was steaming didn't help. He wanted to lay there for longer, and try to raise his body temperature. But of course, he would get killed that way, and it forced him to rise and face the Shredder and his henchmen. When he had been thrown to the ground and attacked by the trio of villains, that was his snapping point. The adrenaline was completely gone, all drained from his system. At that point, he was running on pure rage. Rage at Shredder for hiding like the coward he was. Rage at Razhar, Fishface, and Tiger Claw for helping such a terrible person. Even rage at April for believing that Irma was a human friend, and taking her to the lair without asking their permission first. Especially rage at himself, for not helping in protecting his brothers. He had only directed the Foot and Shredder away from them, not the Kraang, he was sure he could've done both. Using that wrath at everything as fuel, he took Razhar and Fishface out of the battle with ease, and even managed to take down Tiger Claw. But the rage disappeared as quickly as it came, and left him defenseless to the sudden attack from Shredder. The encounter was embarrassingly short, but he was lucky enough to face Shredder and live. Even after that, when he should've relaxed some as he was recover, the feelings of guilt and rage festered. If he wasn't so useless, he could have helped his family from the swamp mutant! Raphael would never have reached such a terrible point where he had been turned into a plant, of all things, and his brothers wouldn't have been captured and had to witness their own brother's near death. If he had just pushed past his injury, he could've helped them earlier.

So, he shook his head and pulled away from his second younger brother, keeping his gaze firm, "I can survive long enough to do night patrol, I'll be fine, Don."

Donatello was clearly not taking "no" for an answer, and grabbed his brother's arm again. He was soon joined by Raphael, who grabbed the young leader's shoulders and started guiding him down a nearby fire escape to the alley below, ignoring his struggles and indignant complaints with ease.

"Doctor's orders, fearless. Down we go," he said, giving the blue-clad turtle a small shove in the manhole's direction as the youngest lifted it up like Leonardo was disabled and couldn't do it himself.

Leonardo gave a low growl and tried to pull away from his brothers, backing himself up against a wall. With the way his brothers flocked him, he probably looked like he was getting mugged in a back alley. Another low growl escaped him, irritation rising deep within him, but he made quick work of compressing it before he had the chance to accidentally lash out at his brothers.

"I told you I'm fine," he protested against his brothers' skeptical looks, "The scrapes aren't that bad, and the chloroform hasn't effected anything. I'm fine to keep going for the night!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears, as Donatello tried to reason with him using logic, "Leo, for one, the skin of your side could be worse than you think it is, and grit from the rooftop could have gotten in it,"

...An unfortunately good point.

"Second, just because you don't think you're feeling anything doesn't mean you don't have any side effects from it. That could've been a mixture of two drugs, and then who knows what havoc it could be wreaking upon your insides. Finally, what if we encounter something? Then what would you do, injured?"

The same thing I always do, Leonardo thought bitterly, push through the pain and work against my limits, either way.

Raphael seemed to read the expression on Leonardo's face in the short time he wasn't speaking, and took his minor distraction as a chance to grab the eldest's arm and pull him back to the manhole. Leonardo huffed and rooted himself to the ground while his younger brothers teamed up to get him back underground. However, his attempts to stop them were not as strong as they were, Donatello's logical attacks weakening his resolve. Still, he wasn't budging. It wasn't the end of the world if he stayed a out just a little longer.

A small push on his shell caught him off guard, and he stumbled forward with the second eldest's pull. Michelangelo lifted the manhole up again and grabbed one of Leonardo's hands, helping Donatello and Raphael pull him down to the sewers. Finally, Leonardo gave up, grumbled softly, and climbed down the ladder to land in the dim lighting, his eyes adjusting to how much darker it was down in the sewers without the city lights' illumination from all sides. Once he could see the outlines of where he was heading, he started walking to the lair, his brothers following close behind. They enraged him to tears sometimes, but he knew he would be lost without their love. If anything happened to any of them, well...

He pushed away the thought, determined to stay as positive as the baby brother. If he couldn't keep his hopes up, he would shatter as a leader, and a brother. It had already been proven in the past that none of his brothers could lead, and so, they would shatter, too. Chaos would ensue, and they would fall apart. What would Master Splinter do at that point? He knew that his master- No, father- was having enough problems of his own. And so, he needed to be strong. As a pupil, a son, a leader, and a brother. If he couldn't do that, then why was he even leader in the first place?

Soon, the warm light of his home greeted him, and he attempted to speed up to reach it faster, only to be pulled back by Donatello.

"Leo, don't go so fast. You're going to trip,"

Leonardo bit his tongue to hold back a stinging retort. He didn't need to be babied, or treated like he was six! So instead of snapping at his second younger brother who was only concerned for him, he brushed him off.

"I swear I'm fine, Donnie. I'm really not being effected by it, and I'm not that drowsy anymore!"

Donatello gave him yet another skeptical look, but silently agreed to at least letting go of his shoulder.

It was good enough for him, and he continued walking, wishing he could at least speed up to a trot without Donatello stopping him like he was some child.

Apparently, that was too much to ask, in the tall, gangly turtle's point of view. If his brother was not moving at a slow, steady pace, he was not happy, by the looks of it. Even going at a normal speed, it seemed that he wasn't happy about it. Thankfully, they finally got to the lair, and his brothers stopped flocking him like vultures in their safe haven. The lair was oddly quiet, but that was to be expected, since Master Splinter was hidden away into his room at that time, Casey couldn't come over due to being grounded and a school night, and April was studying for a quiz. Of course, the purple-clad turtle grabbed the eldest and dragged him off to the lab for medical care, much to Leonardo's annoyance. It was not the end of the world. How could his brothers not see that? A few scrapes were not bad. They weren't even bleeding that much. Still, the third son pushed Leonardo down into a spinning chair settled at Donatello's desk and took out a first-aid kit he kept in a nearby cabinet in case of any need for it. First, he opened it and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and a cotton ball, then made sure that Leonardo would hold still as he edged the cotton ball closer to his side.

"Move your arm a little, please," he instructed as Leonardo moved his left arm out of way, "Yeah, like that. Now, this is going to sting a bit, I just need you to hold still,"

The irritation rose to dangerously high levels. He didn't think that Leonardo already knew it would sting? Again, he bit back a retort and briskly nodded.

Donatello dabbed the cold, thoroughly soaked cotton ball against the scrapes and cuts to clean them and make sure they wouldn't get infected in the future. He occasionally doused a cotton ball again when it seemed to be getting dry, and changed cotton balls out when they got dirty. It stung, of course, but the young leader had seen worse. So he toughed it out. Next, Donatello began patching them up, spreading bandages over the wounds to keep them safe from dirt and grit, and to make sure they wouldn't worsen in the future. Once he was satisfied with the job he did, and only then, did Donatello release Leonardo, instructing him to be careful about the way he moved. Leonardo nodded his agreement, thanked his genius brother, and left. No way was he going to follow those instructions if he needed to abandon them. He would get some sort of tongue lashing from Donatello later, but he didn't mind anymore. He had to endure Raphael's screaming rants, as well as the indecipherable phrases Master Splinter said to him when he asked for guidance. In other words, the lecture would be nothing. Especially if he could tune the genius out.

Heading out of the lab, he jumped out of the way just in time to barely avoid Michelangelo sprinting away from the hothead.

"No, wait, Raph! I didn't mean to glitter your sai that much! Have mercy!"

His cries meant nothing to the furious brother. In his right hand, Raphael held both sai, which were both covered from hilt to the tip of each prong in hot pink glitter that made Leonardo's eyes hurt just from glancing at them. In his other hand was a wooden spoon, his instrument of torture.

"Mikey!" his call rang out dangerously in the lair, "When I'm done with you, you won't even want to think about glitter from the PTSD it'll give you!"

"I wouldn't recommend that for a method of punishment!" Donatello's voice came shortly after Raphael's, advising against giving their youngest brother PTSD.

Of course, as the eldest, he was supposed to step in between to make sure that nobody got hurt, even if it was a few bruises. His "older sibling danger meter" was going insane as Michelangelo began screaming and hiding himself behind a pillow to defend himself from his older brother's attacks. Usually, it was only like that when their father was about to step in and put an end to their antics, meaning he couldn't enjoy the show.

Just as Leonardo darted forward and tackled Raphael off of his brother whom he rendered defenseless, was when the shoji to the dojo slid open, and Master Splinter peered out to see why there was screaming, tightening his grip on his jade staff. When he only saw his sons roughhousing, he slid the shoji shut again. The second the shoji had opened, the three brothers froze in their places. Leonardo's danger meter had been correct, as an adult opened the door to check on them very, very quickly. But once it closed...

Chaos resumed.

Leonardo held Raphael down by his shoulders, sitting on a higher part of shell to keep him down, and pressing his legs on top of the other's.

"Raph, calm down!" he growled, pushing down on his shoulders when the hothead tried to get up, "We can clean your sai, and you don't need to hurt Mikey."

He heard a protesting grumble, and caught a glare sent his way as Raphael turned his head to try and look at Leonardo.

"And Mikey gets to avoid punishment? Leo, that's totally unfair and you know it!"

He knew that, and that's why he wasn't letting the youngest slip away without punishment. As he got off of Raphael, he noticed Michelangelo trying to slip away unnoticed. He snapped his fingers to let the orange-clad turtle know he noticed, before turning to see him.

"Mikey, you're not getting out of this that easily," he said, and smirked as the addressed turtle froze before he continued with a straight face, "You have been told not to touch our weapons, correct?" Michelangelo nodded and waited for his punishment with downcast eyes, "You've been told many, many times, and yet you do so anyway. As your punishment, you will be cleaning all of the glitter off Raph's sai," he didn't wait for the youngest's protests, continuing before he could even open his mouth, "with him overseeing your job. And, as an apology, you'll polish them for him as well."

"Michelangelo's blue eyes widened, "Leo, do I-"

An annoyed scoff left him as he tried to avoid punishment, even though nothing ever worked to change the eldest's mind when it came to making things fair, "Yes, you have to. You can't always avoid this, Mikey. You have to take responsibility at some point,"

A soft sigh left the freckled turtle as he followed a certainly smug Raphael for the cleaning kit, hanging his arms and upper body low. He was in for a long night, and it was obvious he knew it.

Once that was dealt with, Leonardo left for bed. It had been a confusing night, and he was looking forward to some shut-eye. He paused along the way, remembering he needed to make sure the others would go to sleep. So, that's how he found himself turning back to the lab, dealing with the hardest the first. Just as he thought he would, Donatello was already working on something and seeming like he was preparing for another all-nighter.

"Don," he made his presence known before walking in, so as not to startle the genius, "come on, you need to go to bed. No all-nighters."

Donatello turned and opened his mouth to protest, but Leonardo had already stopped approaching, standing sideways and pointing in the direction of Donatello's room to signal that his word was final. A grumble left Donatello as he stood up, but he left for his room without hesitation.

One down, but Leonardo would have to check on him later to make sure he was asleep. He would tell Raphael and Michelangelo next.

He went to the pit next, where he found Michelangelo cleaning the glitter off of one partially clean sai, while Raphael simply smirked and watched. The other sai lay next to him, still completely covered in glitter.

"Both of you, you have up until eleven," he announced.

Raphael gave a thumbs up, and there was no reaction from Michelangelo, who was busy sulking and cleaning.

There were the other two, which, he would have to set an alarm to make sure they were in bed by eleven.

Slowly, he headed for his room, searching for the shoji that separated his room from the main hall and his brothers' rooms. He had chosen one of the few closest to doorway, so that in case of an emergency, he could protect his family. His hand found it's way to the lip of the shoji that served as a handle, and he slowly slid it open, then shut it as quietly as he could. He rested his hand on the wall and used that as his guide to bed, nearly stumbling on the large item he was looking for as his eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. However, once he found it, he was quick to let go of the wall and grab the blanket that promised comfort and warmth. Before he climbed into the bed, he followed his nightly ritual. First, he took off the sheaths that still held his katanas, and leaned them up against the wall. Once that was taken care of, he stretched, loosening up any muscles that had tightened with the stress of the day. When he heard some things crack, and felt like he was going to melt into a puddle, he plugged his T-Phone into it's charger, set his alarm for waking up, and his alarm for eleven to be sure that his siblings would all be in bed. Finally, he set his phone down, took his mask off, set that down as well, pulled back the covers of his bed, and settled into the comforting heaven of the blankets. After he pulled the blankets up to his chin, he closed his eyes and let the darkness of sleep overcome him.

%%%

The shrill beeping of his alarm dragged him out of his dreamless sleep, making his time spent asleep seem far too short, like it had only been a few minutes. Leonardo opened his eyes slowly, relishing the warmth of his bed as long as he could before he finally had to get up. Once he did, he turned off his alarm, pulled on his mask, and used the wall as a guide back to the shoji. He slid it open, and left it open as he made his way back to the pit.

Nobody there...

He checked the lab.

No signs of anyone there.

He took a breath and went to Raphael's room first, quietly knocking on the wall to announce his presence, and was greeted with a long, tired groan of "what".

"Sorry, sorry, just checking if you were asleep," Leonardo apologized to the second oldest, and then left for Donatello.

He slowly slid open the shoji and peered into the darkness. Once his eyes had adjusted to the dark, however, he saw the genius spread out over his bed, snoring softly and hugging a pillow. A smile found it's way to Leonardo's face as he closed the shoji again.

Seeing that made his night much better.

Finally, Michelangelo. He noticed light shining through the white paper of the shoji, and immediately knew that he was awake as he slid it open. Just as he thought, the youngest was sitting on his bed, reading comics by the light of a lamp. Ignoring the stench of... Something, he spoke.

"Mikey, you need to go to bed."

A yelp came as a response before the actual words.

"L-Leo! What are you doing awake? I thought you went to bed!"

"I could ask the same to you,"

Nothing. His pea-brained brother couldn't say anything to defend himself.

"Mikey, you need to get to bed, or you won't have any energy to eat pizza tomorrow."

The threat worked like it always did, and in a few moments, the comic was discarded onto the floor, the lamp had been turned off, and Michelangelo was tucked into bed.

"G'night, bro!"

His call rang out quietly as Leonardo shut the shoji again, returning his call as he went back to his own room.

"Goodnight, Mikey."

Once he was back in his safe haven, his shelter, he sped back to his bed without using a wall for guidance. Taking his mask off once more, he pushed the blankets and sheet back to make room for himself. He had pulled them up while he was away to hopefully save the perfect amount of heat, and it worked. Leonardo wiggled right back into the warmth like he had never left, and let out a breath of relief. Slowly, his eyes shut again and he was consumed by the darkness once more.

%%%

"A soft breeze blew his mask tails in the wind, and Leonardo slowly closed his eyes. Alone with his brothers with no dangers nearby. Next to him, the eldest could hear his brothers laughing, joking, and roughhousing, eventually starting to bully their freckled brother in good, playful nature. While the three played around, pushing and shoving, Leonardo opened his eyes, settled onto the edge of the building, and closed them again, focusing on his surroundings, just to be safe. When he reopened his eyes, he was sitting on the edge of a walkway beside a waterfall in the sewers, the loud rumbling of the constantly falling water almost drowning out his brothers. He didn't mind being so close to the edge of the drop, despite knowing that it had been known to kill people.

Suddenly, didn't turned to hadn't as one of his brothers was shoved too hard, bumped into him, and he felt the ground slip out from him, the world passing by in a blur. Three distressed cries of "Leo" followed his fall, and were quickly silenced by the distance. A breeze of air tugged at the back of his neck when he first fell, like somebody tried to catch him, and missed. Fear grabbed at his heart for a moment, but it let go, just before he hit the water and accepted his fate.

When he hit the water, the pain rushed through his entire being, down to his core and the fear came back, attacking him viciously like he was it's only victim.

He heard so many things.

He and Raphael fighting over who should be leader.

The Shredder promising a quick death if he gave up the location of Master Splinter.

Karai's- Miwa's- Announcement that the Shredder was her father.

April screaming it was their fault her father mutated.

His father's scream as he was murdered.

All of those were loud and clear, ringing in his head as he sank deeper and deeper into the water. They all mixed together into one, large blur of voices, more joining it, screams of people he couldn't help why wouldn't they stop-

And then, his alarm?

%%%

Leonardo took a deep gasp of breath as he shot into a sitting up position, gripping the blankets tightly.

Right.

Only a nightmare.

None of it was real.

The beeping of his alarm was certainly real, unfortunately.

He leaned over to his phone, picked it up, and swiped the alarm off. Knowing that if he laid back down, he would go back to sleep like he should be at such an unholy time, Leonardo yawned and swung his legs over the side of the bed. After he stood up, he began his morning ritual. First, he made his bed, resetting the sheets and blankets, and smoothing them out. Next, he grabbed his mask and made his way to the bathroom to wash up, yawning again. He did his usual. Washed his face, brushed his teeth, took a brisk shower, put his mask on once he was dry...

He continued what he always did and went back to his room, grabbing the sheaths that had remained leaned against the wall, and placing them on his shell where they belonged. Then he stretched some, and jogged in place to wake himself up, although it didn't stop another yawn.

Tea. He needed tea like it was water.

And so, he found himself making his way to the kitchen to start a kettle. Slowly, he walked into the kitchen, flicked on a light, and walked towards a cabinet they used to hold mugs and mug related items. After a short time of searching, he found the kettle he and Master Splinter often used for making tea, and Michelangelo occasionally used for hot chocolate. The creamy grey and ginger painted porcelain of the teapot gently reflected the light, Leonardo's hand tightening on the curved, brown, wooden handle as he went to the sink to fill it up with water. Once he was there, he twisted the top of the kettle, took it off, pushed the opening under the faucet, and turned on the water. The sloshing of water inside the teapot soothed him, and he closed his eyes, thinking of what calmed him the most. A smile crept onto his beak, but was quickly washed away when he felt water washing over his hands. He opened his eyes to see the teapot overflowing. All he did was simply turn off the water, pour some of it out of the teapot into the sink, and used a few paper towels to rub the water off of it's sides. When he was satisfied, he put the teapot onto one of the burners on the stove and turned the burner on before he returned to their mug cabinet. He reached up for the teacups that went with their teapot, grabbing at them despite them being on a higher shelf.

It was a wonder he had gotten the teapot out.

Somehow, after a solid minute of struggling and grunts, he managed to get one of the teacups down without breaking it. He selected his tea afterwards, easily deciding on green tea, his favorite. Finally, his mug was ready for the hot water, when he would then need it to steep. As if on cue, the kettle started whistling, and Leonardo was quick to silence it, turning off the burner and lifting the teapot up. He put a hand on the top to be sure it would not fall, and tipped the teapot, pouring the steaming water into the cup. The bag was already in the water, so he leaned against the counter and stared at the ceiling, humming in thought. Soon, his "humming in thought" turned to humming a song. It was something he had heard recently, and as much as he hated it, it was unfortunately catchy. It was super cheesy and happy, all rainbows and sunshine and sprinkles, and probably something you would hear played on a show for kids between the ages of a few months, and eight. In short, it made him sick, and extremely aggravated. However, Michelangelo was completely obsessed with it, and every time Leonardo heard it, he wanted to scream. He didn't have anything against the song, it was just so annoying!

That one song was how he found out he hated bubblegum pop.

Thankfully, he wasn't alone. Raphael, Donatello, and even Master Splinter despised it too. Michelangelo was the only one who actually liked that stupid song.

He started trying to hum something else, but it was so engraved in his thoughts that he could barely remember the tune of anything else. So he just stopped humming and thought of plans for the nightly patrol while waiting for his tea to steep.

In a few minutes, he checked his tea, which had fully steeped. He threw the tea bag in the trash, picked up his teacup, sat down at the island, and sipped the warm liquid. The blue-clad turtle had forgotten to blow off his tea, and ended up burning his mouth. He tried to ignore it and swallowed it, the lava hot tea scorching his throat before it faded into a comforting warm. A soft sigh of relief escaped him as he took another sip, actually blowing it off that time. The warmth filled him, allowing him to relax a little more in the short window of time where he got actual peace and quiet, nobody and nothing disturbing him. It was nice, but it couldn't last long. Not in a family entirely of boys. He couldn't even call themselves men, because in reality, they were still children, even if it was just mentally. Although, they were technically still minors, as they were seventeen, almost eighteen.

Almost.

Not at legal adulthood yet.

Meaning adult responsibilities couldn't catch him.

Hah, can't catch me now, he gloated silently, but it was quickly followed by a sigh.

He knew that was a lie. Not technically being adult didn't give him the advantages of still being a minor. In fact, he had more responsibility than most adults had. He had the weight of keeping all of Manhattan safe on his shoulders. Not only that, but he was expected to deal with his three, rowdy younger brothers and keep them safe as well. It was amazing he hadn't buckled under the pressure of it all yet, considering the circumstances. A giant, talking, mutant turtle who knew ninjitsu, had three mutant brothers, a mutated adoptive father, a mutated adoptive sister, and had to try and keep mutants and aliens from conquering their city. He shivered, trying to stop thinking about it and just enjoy his morning. Although, if nobody other than him was awake so early in the morning, he could check the suspicious happenings again. Hopefully, without another attack, considering that he barely made it out of the last one.

His rational side suddenly kicked in, trying to reason him out of it. He couldn't have made it out without his brothers help, so what would he do alone, without any of them knowing where he was? He would get captured, maybe even killed...

Of course, with his rational side speaking, his fear immediately had to come and nudge him.

And? If he left it alone, and his idiot brothers continued to be too overconfident? Then what? His brothers would get hurt, captured, killed by their stupidity. They never learned from their mistakes, they always thought that when their enemies went silent that they were safe.

Push turned to shove, and Leonardo found himself chugging down the rest of his tea and heading for the sewers before he knew it.

Oh, how dearly he was going to pay, and he knew it.

%%%

Slowly, Leonardo lifted the manhole cover, just a few inches so he could get a good look to see if there was someone or something around, glancing left and right. When he saw nothing that could pose a threat, he lifted the manhole higher and squeezed out of the gap he made, then set the manhole where it belonged afterwards. He took a shaky breath as he climbed up the closest fire escape to get onto the roofs. The first thing he did afterwards was to survey his surroundings once more, examining everything feverishly. He couldn't stay out long, so he might as well make it worth it. Soon after, he started running across the rooftop he was on, and launched himself onto the next. It aggravated his wounds, of course, pain shooting up his side in an attempt to make him stop. It was in vain, and he kept running. He didn't plan on stopping until he got to one of the areas that had been robbed.

A jewelry place, well-known for often carrying real gemstones. It had been robbed of many recently, costing the shop thousands of dollars. They had gotten a new stock to keep their customers and reputations, and would be perfect for the robbers to strike again, even with new security.

So Leonardo sat.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And they weren't coming.

A small growl of both relief and annoyance escaped him.

It was good that the store wasn't getting robbed, but it was the one time he actually needed it to happen, to see who was behind all of this.

Clicking.

The soft clicking both relieved him, and sent shivers up his spine as he peered over to where the sound was coming from: the back door.

At the bottom of the building, picking the "staff only" door's lock was a... Foot bot? Confusion filled him. Why would Shredder send a Foot bot to rob a jewelry store? Did he have some mistress that wanted some special jewelry? He held in a short laugh at the thought of the Shredder, a powerful man, robbing a store for a woman he loved. Then again, he was certain that he would love no other than Tang Shen.

So, his amusement dampened, he reached for a katana to attack and stop the bot.

A chain wrapped around his wrist, and he went flying back as he was pulled. The air was forced out of his lungs as his shell hit the roof access building. When he reached to get the first chain off, another caught his other hand, and he was pressed against the roof harder.

The panic rose in his chest, constricting his heart, making it hard deep and focus on the task at hand. He planted his feet into the ground and pulled against the chains, but to no avail. In fact, he was sure he was in a worse situation than what he was in before he struggled.

A cloth made contact with his beak.

'No no no... Not again!' Leonardo thought.

He tried once more to pull away, his vision darkening by the minute. His vision started blurring, and it was suddenly hard to focus on anything.

He felt sick, his body itching to release the little he ate and drank recently, despite there being no reason.

Not again, not again!

He started to limp against his will, and the chains were the only thing holding him up. Little spots were all he could see.

Was he hyperventilating? Judging from his fast his chest was moving as his head lulled, he was certain he was. The quick breaths that only took in the drug weren't helpful at all, the darkness tugging at him to pull him into it.

If he could just stay awake a little longer!-

He tried to lift his head, but it felt like a cinder block was attached to his body. Everything felt heavy. He could barely keep his eyes open.

Finally, he let the darkness consume him.

The last thing he saw was the morning sun, peeking over the horizon.