A/N: In case someone wonders (nobody cares pebr) I imagine this story being set in 2k3 somewhere after the Good Genes arc. It either ignores the Ninja Tribunal arc or pretends there's more time between these two arcs.

Keeping his word, Raphael texted Leonardo once he'd made it to Casey's, and returned just four hours later.

"Man, it felt good to get out of the lair." On his way home Raphael had paid a quick visit to April, and was currently unpacking the groceries he had picked up from her. "Even if I had to drag these home all by myself."

"How was April doing?" Donatello asked, standing by the fridge, placing the new packages of food inside. It hadn't been that long since April had visited the lair, but she had been busy with her shop lately, so they hadn't seen her that much.

"She was glad she'd had so many customers," Raphael said while reaching for the top drawers. "Said she's gonna try ta find some time to visit soon."

"We were running out of supplies, so this was perfect timing!" Michelangelo was happily going through the bags of food, mostly inspecting the items inside instead of actually helping with them. "There's even candy here!"

"We must properly thank Miss O'neil the next time we see her," Master Splinter said. There was still a cast on his leg, but he had gotten used to getting around with the crutch Donatello had made him. It was late, but he sat in one of the kitchen's chairs, watching the turtles put the items into their places. "Was there any cheese, by chance?"

Leonardo stood by the kitchen entrance, watching as his brothers chuckled at their Sensei. As he had expected, he'd been restless the whole time Raphael had been gone, and even now he felt tense. But no matter how carefully he watched Raphael, he couldn't spot even a scratch on him. He was fine.

Why couldn't he feel relief? No matter how badly he wanted to believe that this had shown it was fine to let his brothers go topside, he couldn't let go of his doubts. Had he wanted Raph to run into trouble so that his need to keep his brothers home would be justified? No, of course not, he'd never wish his brothers to get in trouble, but… had it been just a little bit of something, something to keep his brothers on the edge like he was, so that they'd be hesitant about leaving, so that they'd keep being careful-

"Looks like everything went well," Donatello commented. He had moved away from the fridge and was now standing next to him. Leonardo had been so deep in his thoughts that he was slightly startled by suddenly being spoken to, but if Donatello noticed his surprise, he didn't mention it.

"Looks like it," Leonardo answered, a forced calm in his voice. He then turned to leave the kitchen. "I'll be in the dojo."

Donatello watched after the eldest before starting to head for the lab. Master Splinter had bid them goodnight and retreated into his room, but it would still be a few hours until any of the turtles turned in for the night. Michelangelo had stayed in the kitchen, planning on what to make for dinner tomorrow, and Raphael was… following him, Donatello noted after having taken only a few steps.

"I thought you were in a good mood," Donatello said when he turned to look at his brother and saw the slight frown on his face. "Did something happen up there?" If something had, Raphael obviously hadn't wanted to say anything in front of Leonardo. Not after the way the leader had reacted to him leaving.

"Nah," Raph answered shortly, and Donatello understood that he wanted to talk in private. They walked to the lab in silence. As soon as Raphael had found his spot, seating himself on the edge of Donatello's working table, the turtle in red sighed.

"Was Leo… ya know. Okay while I was gone?"

"He stayed in his room," Don said, sitting down into his worn office chair, moving the computer mouse to make the screensaver go away, "so I'm not sure. He seemed pretty tense even when you came back, but I think he managed. But…" It was Don's turn to sigh. "I know I said I was confused about how well he was dealing with everything, but the way he acted in the dojo… like he didn't know where he was… well, it's pretty obvious he's not okay."

"Yeah. He's not dealing well and he's tryin' ta hide it." Raph stared into the corner of the lab, clearly not happy about it. "Not that I'm surprised by that."

"Should've known," Don mumbled, looking down into his lap. "I really hate it when he does this."

"Hey." Raph leaned over to touch his shoulder. "We'll get him ta talk. It's gonna be okay."

Don looked up at him, giving his brother a nod accompanied by a small smile. Then he looked serious again. "You mentioned that Casey said he'd been busy. What exactly is going on up there?"

"Nothing good." Raphael leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "The gangs are really outta control. It's not a straight out war like the time when we teamed up with Karai for the first time, but it still affects a lot of innocent people when the gangs decide to fight each other."

Don glanced from his computer screen to his brother. The time Raph had mentioned, when they had worked with Karai, Raph had wanted to stay out of the city's war. It had led into a huge fight between him and Leo, but with Splinter's help, Raph had changed his mind. It seemed that said change had stayed, for it sounded like Raph wanted to do something about the things going topside, even if the situation wasn't as bad as it had been back then.

"You want us to get involved?"

"Well, it's not our fault things are this way, but…" Raph scratched the back of his neck. "It's like every bad guy thinks they can now do whatever they want when nobody's there to stop them. It's not like we've even been gone that long!"

"If there's word on the streets that we're no longer in the picture, that obviously emboldens the gangs to act out more," Don said, staring past his screen now. "The last time Karai asked for our help because she wanted to stop the gangs. I wonder why she hasn't done anything now."

Karai was the head of the Foot, so she decided if the Foot would get involved or not. It was quite obvious that she wouldn't be asking the turtles for help – after stealing the Heart of Tengu from her, they weren't really on good terms with her. They'd been forced to steal it in order to get help for Donatello's condition, but they hadn't told Donatello all the details of what had happened when he'd been… sick. Raphael still wasn't sure how to call the ordeal. Donatello had turned into a monster, but he didn't want to call his brother that, not even in his private thoughts. Even if it was the brutal truth.

The monster-thing had happened just a few months before the demon had started to affect their dreams. Both times, during Don's sickness and Leo's possession, Raph had felt helpless, and the feeling was very fresh in his memory, and Raph didn't want to dwell on the feeling. And, even though they hadn't told Don all the details, their brother wasn't a genius for nothing. He knew they'd seen a lot of effort to cure him, and Raph didn't want him to start thinking too hard about Karai's reasons for being so mad at them.

"Maybe she's tried ta do somethin'," Raph shrugged. "Maybe she just can't do it."

"I don't know, she's pretty capable of achieving what she wants," Don mused. "Whatever the case is, maybe we should make it clear that we're still around. Maybe it'll calm things down some."

"I like the sound of that," Raph said, cracking his knuckles. "We'd finally get some good action."

"It would be good to get back to the habit of patrolling, anyway." Then Don smiled. "I'm surprised you and Casey actually just looked around when you visited him."

"Well, I… the way Leo reacted to me going out…" Raph shrugged. "I wanted ta keep my word so that he realizes he doesn't need ta worry so much. Thought it'd help at least a little."

"I'm sure it did," Don sighed again, "but it's going to be tough for Leo to stay behind while we patrol. And… and since he's healing so slowly, I'm afraid it's going to be a while until he can join us. This really won't be easy for him, since he's already so stressed… Maybe we should wait-"

"You and Mikey can wait," Raph said, "but I'm going up there. Case needs some backup."

Don simply nodded. He'd expected Raph to say that, and he was right. They'd been gone from the picture for too long, and Don didn't want to let the hothead go alone. That would drive Leo crazy for sure, if one of them started going topside without the others.

"So, Leo's hands are healin' slowly, and ya said ya were worried about him just hurting himself more tryin' ta wield his swords." Raph glanced towards the exit of the lab. "Should we let him be in the dojo?"

"What do you want me to do? Tie him down?" Don flinched the moment he said that, reminded of the time they'd actually been forced to tie him down when the demon had still been in control. "I've told him it's too soon to use his swords. It's his choice."

"Ya know he always chooses wrong when it comes to recovering," Raph mumbled.

The atmosphere during breakfast the next day was somewhat nervous, Leonardo noted.

And he found out soon why that was.

"Master Splinter, after Raph's visit topside yesterday, we decided that we should start patrolling again," Donatello started after they'd been eating for a while. "With your permission, of course, Sensei."

"I will always worry when you go on your missions, but I know you have missed going out," Splinter said, smiling at his sons. "I have nothing against you patrolling again."

Leonardo poked his soggy cereals with his spoon. He wasn't a part of this conversation. He was the leader, yet he had no say in the matter because of his injuries. He could feel his brothers stealing glances at him; they had been nervous because they didn't know how Leonardo would react to the news. They hadn't been sure how he'd react to being left behind.

He decided to react by showing nothing on his face, despite the oncoming headache he could already feel in the back of his skull.

"Alright," Donatello said, "we were thinking that we could start tonight."

That made Leo halt. Just like with Raph leaving yesterday, this was sudden. During his time in the dojo last night, he'd had time to think. Raph leaving had obviously been the beginning; he would start going out more, and Mikey and Don would follow. Which meant that he was now in even more of a hurry to find a solution to his hand-problem. Healing was taking too long, and he wasn't as good at ignoring pain as he wished he was.

Go with them. You have to go with them. Make sure they'll be alright.

The thoughts were instantaneous and desperate, surprising him with their intensity. There it was again, fear creeping in from the back of his mind. Desperation to not be left behind.

But how could he come up with something in just one day, if they really were going out tonight?

And again… did he really think that his brothers couldn't patrol without him for a few weeks? No, he knew they could. He just knew he would go insane if he had to stay home and simply wait for them to come back. All the hurt and fear was just too… fresh.

"Are you okay with this, Leo?" Michelangelo took him from his thoughts, and Leonardo lifted his gaze.

"Yes," he answered after a short moment. "There's no reason not to be."

Now his brothers were glancing at each other instead of him, obviously having expected a different reaction. But it was true, there was no reason for him to not be okay with it.

As there was no reason for him to stay behind. What kind of a leader stayed behind while his team faced danger, just because of injuries that happened weeks ago?

So, after their morning practice, Leonardo stayed in the dojo. He stood in the middle of the room, holding one sword in his hand, not surprised that holding it hurt just as much as before. This pain wasn't something that was going to pass anytime soon. The ache clung to his hands stubbornly.

He thought about how light the sword had been in his hand when… when it had moved on its own. He'd already decided that it had been just a hallucination, but now… if he wanted to be useful, if it was the only way to stop being an anxious mess whenever someone left the lair, then… then he could try it, at least. If this worked, then his problems were solved. If this didn't work, then at least he'd prove he had been just tired and had imagined the whole thing. Maybe he'd feel better if he could prove that his sword couldn't move on its own.

He walked over to the weapon rack, and placed his sword down onto it. Then he walked back to the middle of the room, glancing towards the paper doors of the dojo. He listened, but nobody was nearby. He didn't need anyone seeing this.

Leonardo lifted his hand towards his sword, and not knowing what else to do, he focused on his sword, imagining it flying over to him. Nothing happened.

Feeling both disappointed and relieved, Leonardo shook his head. Of course this wouldn't work. It was a stupid idea, things didn't just move on their own. Except when the demon made them. And the demon wasn't here.

Had it really been just his imagination, after all? It had felt so real. Maybe… maybe some of the demon's power had really remained in him, and he had just used it up when he'd accidentally made the sword fly into his hand. But… in order to gain power, the demon had given something in exchange. It had collected their negative emotions to get stronger, to use the power. Did he need to give something in exchange as well?It was true that the first time he had used this power, he'd been pushing himself hard, berating himself for his weak hands, for his inability to wield his weapons. Had those emotions been exchanged for the ability to use the power? If so, then this wouldn't work. He couldn't keep pushing himself to the breaking point just to make his sword fly to him. It even sounded ridiculous, this whole thing did. If there was anything remaining of the demon, he should stay as far away from it as possible.

Images of his hurt brothers flooded his mind. Leonardo winced and shook his head to get rid of them, but they weren't going anywhere.

Can't let them get hurt. Need to protect them. Please...

Those sudden thoughts again. Fearful, begging thoughts. He shut his eyes, but the images only got more vivid.

"Le….o….." A mouth filled with red foam, gurgling out words and spitting blood. Pleading eyes looking at him, staring right into his soul. Wheezing sounds when lungs filled with blood attempt to work. Dizzying nausea when Leonardo notices the cut limbs. "Plea….se. Help…. me…."

"Fine!" Leonardo shouted, unsure who the words were aimed at. "I'll- I'll try harder! I'll protect them, I won't let it happen, I'll do anything, just- just stop-"

The images disappeared. Breathing heavily, Leonardo opened his eyes and found himself back in the empty dojo.

He let out a short, shaky laugh.

"I'm going crazy after all," he whispered to himself. "I need to- I need to go see Donnie, or, or Master Splinter- but what am I gonna tell them? This is a problem they can't fix." Another problem they couldn't fix. He had a broken body and a broken mind.

No, he had to calm down. He wasn't crazy- the power had existed in him. He had used it. Now he just had to do it again. He had to, so that he could prevent those visions from becoming reality. But to use it, it needed something in exchange.

Something in exchange…

It hit him as he stared at the clean blade of his sword. His hands had been bloodied when he'd used the power. He'd bandaged his hands afterwards, but now he realized that he hadn't cleaned his swords nor the floor of the dojo, and he knew that nobody else had touched his swords either. The blood had just disappeared.

Which made him think back to the tunnel again, to one of the memories he remembered more clearly. The memory where he was lying outstretched on the cold floor, dizzy as his blood was used for the demon's circle-

He shook the vision away, but he still felt the dampness of the sewer on his skin. With slightly shaky hands he walked over to the box where candles were kept, and started to light them to bring more light into the room. Just… just because the candles helped him focus, not because the tunnel had been so dark and the dimly lit dojo reminded him of it-

"I'm not doing this," Leo said, not liking this new habit of his to talk to himself out loud. But this was something that needed to be said. He needed to talk himself out of this. "I've had enough of- of bloodletting and messed up things like this. No more messing with this stuff. What would the others say if they knew?"

But not doing this, not even attempting to do this would leave him useless. He was about to light another candle, but paused, staring numbly at the burning match in his fingers. Holding something as light as this was nothing, but having to keep his thumb pressed against his forefinger to hold the match put pressure on his stitched palm. Even something like this managed to remind him of his weakness.

When the match started to burn his fingers Leonardo blew it out, turned away from the candles and looked at his sword again.

It would be just blood, and if it worked, in exchange he'd be able to wield his katana again.

Was it really that bad? Just a bit of blood?

He took a smaller blade from his belt, his eyes landing on his wrist where the scar from the tunnel still remained. The scar the demon had given him when it had intended to bleed him dry. A shiver traveled up his spine- but he reminded himself that this was nothing like the tunnel. Nobody was hurting him, he was choosing to do this.

This was his choice. His free will. This was what he wanted. What he needed, if he wanted to fight alongside his family again. This was what he needed in order to stop being afraid. If he could use the demon's power for his own gain, it would mean that he had taken over the situation. It would prove that he was the one in control, that something that was once used to hurt him would now become his weapon.

If he used it, it couldn't be used against him. If he used it, it couldn't be used to hurt him or his family again.

And all it would take was a bit of blood.

Leonardo held both of his swords as he attacked an invisible enemy. Swiftly he cut through the imaginary opponent, not even flinching as he maneuvered his weapons.

There was blood on the hilts of his swords again, but it didn't make his hold slippery or unsteady. The weapons were lighter than they should've been, still pressing against his stitches, but not in a way that made them unusable. He was wielding them, able to fight like before.

He hadn't tried to make the swords float to him anymore, he'd just bled on the hilts, then picked the swords up – and they had been light in his hold. Just like the first time he'd bled on his swords, there had been a flash of pain in his head when he'd done it, but it had been easy enough to ignore. It didn't matter that he could still feel a faint ache, but... there was something else as well. He felt… different, so much like his old self as he cut through the air again, but also different. Something in his head felt different. His thoughts had immediately gone to the demon, but… this was a different feeling. A different pain.

But it was obvious a power like this would have a cost. Just like working on a difficult kata, the payout was worth the pain his whole body would be in when he was finished. He was used to it, used to the pain of pushing himself to his limits. The pain didn't matter, it was nothing new – and now he was able to fight. He wasn't useless anymore. He didn't need to think of ways to keep his brothers home anymore, he could follow them topside. He could fight with them, he could protect them.

Only when the ache in his palms was starting to get too much did he stop. The swords didn't press against his wounds like before, but the hilts still rubbed slightly against them. When he finished the last kata, he looked down at his weapons. The hilts were clean of blood, like the red liquid had never even been there. It was still disturbing to think that the swords took the blood, but he had known what kind of power he was dealing with.

He was tired after the workout, but also relieved. He'd been afraid that this would count as some kind of a ritual, that he was unknowingly summoning the demon back or something- but there were no whispers, nothing to hint that it was present. He'd made the right choice.

Slightly out of breath Leonardo sheathed his swords and headed for the bathroom. As he was taking off his mask he passed the mirror, and noticed that he'd smeared some blood on his face. He wiped it away before stepping into the shower.

The warm water made the cuts he'd made ache, but he barely felt it. He was already planning out their first patrol, excited to tell his brothers that he could join them, looking forward to feeling the fresh air again. He'd been too busy moping around about his injured hands to realize that he wanted to go topside just as badly as his brothers did.

Only when he emerged from the shower did he think about the cuts. They were easy to hide under his wrist wrappings, but he realized that he would have to keep them hidden at all times so as to not give his family the wrong idea. He also couldn't make his hands bleed while his brothers could see. Which would make things slightly difficult, but Leonardo was determined to make this work. It wasn't like this would go on forever, only until his hands healed, and then he wouldn't need to do this to hold his katana.

Leonardo frowned down at his freshly wrapped hands. It made him uneasy to be reminded that it really was the demon's power he was using, but… after all the suffering it had put him through, at least some good had come out of it. This served the demon right. Leonardo almost wished he could see how it would react if it knew he was using its methods for his own gain. Would it be outraged? He hoped so.

When he left the bathroom, it was already time for dinner. The atmosphere was lighter this time. Raphael was in a better mood now that he could go topside again, Donatello was almost finished with a project of his, and Michelangelo was proudly listing off all the ingredients he'd used in today's dinner. He'd tried a new recipe, and the results had gained praise from everyone.

Master Splinter would still need his walking aid for a while, but his leg was doing better and he no longer needed painkillers for it. It showed in how he was more talkative than usual, how he didn't politely ask anyone to refill his glass, instead doing it himself despite the turtles offering to do it for him. Guilt still licked his insides whenever Leonardo saw his Sensei limping; the demon had been possessing Raphael when their Sensei had been hurt, but it was still his fault the demon had managed to get strong enough to hurt their family. Leonardo had seen the guilt on Raphael's face as well, he'd most likely been blaming himself the way Leonardo was… but today they all seemed to be in a good mood. Leonardo waited until they were almost finished eating before speaking about what he'd planned.

"I was able to wield my swords today, so I was wondering if I could join you for tonight's patrol." His family fell quiet, everyone glancing at him in surprise. Nobody had expected him to be joining patrolling anytime soon. "If you've already planned something we could do that, but if not, I have a few ideas-"

"Really? You'll join us? Wohoo! I didn't think I'd ever be excited about patrol, but man, I miss going out together!" Mikey was immediately excited about the news. He hadn't really minded the lockdown that much, happy about the amount of freetime, but he'd started to miss exploring the city.

"Are you sure, Leo?" Don asked, more reserved than the youngest brother. "I mean, your hands are still- if we happened to get into a fight-"

"I can show you I can fight," Leo said. He was a bit hesitant about that, using his swords would be difficult if all the attention was on him and his hands, but if his brothers wouldn't believe him otherwise, he'd have to show them.

"It's not that I don't believe you, it's just… sooner than I expected," Don said softly, but Leo could still hear the confusion in his voice.

Leo nodded at him, understanding both his confusion and concern. Especially since Don was right; he shouldn't be in any condition to use his swords, but he'd found a shortcut.

Or rather, the shortcut had found him.

"This is great news, my son," Master Splinter said. "I am glad to hear your hands are healing."

Leonardo gave him a grateful smile, lowering his gaze when Mikey started going over all the places he wanted to visit. He had never liked lying to his family (he'd never been good at it, either) but he wasn't lying, was he? He just… wasn't giving them the whole picture. Why wasn't he? Wasn't the fact that he couldn't tell them about this enough of a sign that maybe he was doing something wrong?

But he was doing this for them. Well, for himself too, so that he wouldn't go insane while his brothers went out without him. In any case, this wouldn't be forever, it was just a temporary solution. Besides, he wasn't telling them just to hide this, he wasn't telling them because he doubted they'd understand. After all, he was… injuring himself in order to do this. It wasn't just a small drop of blood that the swords required. He hadn't just scratched his skin with his blades, he'd made actual cuts so that there had been enough blood to make the swords light. But even then, it was a small price, but he doubted that his family would be happy about it.

When he lifted his gaze again, he saw Raph looking at him. His brother said nothing, just slowly moved his eyes away. But Leo knew what that look had been for. Raph had wanted to make it clear he wasn't convinced.

So, Don wasn't the only one who wanted him to prove that he really could use his swords.

Being able to hold his weapons didn't mean that things were the way they used to be.

Leonardo had been able to make hasty cuts into his palms without anyone noticing by once again using the small blade in his belt, and luckily the blood seemed to disappear quickly into the hilts of his swords. The pair of katana were light in his hold, but faced with one of his brothers instead of the invisible enemies he'd fought so far Leonardo found out just how out of practice he was.

His brothers had kept training with their weapons as soon as they had been able to, so Leonardo shouldn't have been surprised when Raphael disarmed him in just two moves. He was barely able to bite back the cry of pain when his weapons were twisted away from his hold. He dashed after them to pick them back up, but Raphael was faster than him, jumping between him and the weapons, pointing his sai at him, the sharp steel mere inches away from his face.

"Yer in no condition to fight yet," Raph stated. "Not if it's still this easy to take ya down."

The added "still"stung. He didn't need to be reminded of his losing streak against his brothers. He could try calling the sword to him, show Raph he wouldn't be defeated as easily as he thought… but no, he couldn't let his brothers see something like that. He didn't even know if he could do it.

Why had he lost so quickly? Yes, he was on a losing streak and was out of practice with his swords, but he shouldn't have been this slow. He should've been able to reach his swords before Raph got between him and them. He could (begrudgingly) understand that it was taking time for his hands to heal, but for his whole body to still lag so far behind?

Frustration made him move, and partly the fear of what would happen if he allowed himself to feel weak and useless again. He didn't need to be reminded about what was at stake. Didn't want to be shown the gruesome images again. Leonardo rolled away from the weapon Raphael was still pointing at him, jumping to his feet, signaling that the fight wasn't over yet, even though he was unarmed. Raphael got back into a defensive position, apparently giving Leonardo the benefit of doubt, ready to continue.

Raphael attacked first, and Leonardo jumped to the side, trying to get back to his swords still lying on the floor. But Raphael knew he was trying to get to them, easily blocking his way again.

He tried again, trying to distract Raphael so that he could sneak past him, but Raphael was making it clear he wouldn't let him get to his swords. The frustration he felt was starting to build up- he couldn't do anything against Raphael when he moved so swiftly, when it felt like no matter what he did Raphael was there, his sai pointed at him. He couldn't even try unarmed strikes- his hands were too weak to deliver punches.

If only he could slow Raphael down. If only he could get him out of balance for even a second. He had to aim for his legs, one well placed kick and maybe-

Just as he watched Raphael's legs, the red turtle's left leg twisted to the side, sending him out of balance. The movement seemed somewhat unnatural, and Raphael yelped from the surprise of his stumble. A sharp pain cut through Leonardo's head- but he beared it and dashed past his stumbling opponent, finally managing to grab his swords. He pressed his cuts against the hilts to make the wounds bleed again, and the fresh blood made the swords light once more. The moment it was done he whirled around, knowing Raphael was already coming at him.

He was suddenly able to keep up with Raph. As they danced around each other, Leo couldn't help thinking about the headache he now had, and more importantly, Raph's unnatural stumble. Raph hadn't even been moving that leg, it had been planted to the floor, it was like- like someone had yanked on it. And the moment it had happened his headache had flared the way it did when he used the power. Had he made Raph stumble? Just by thinking that he needed a way to slow him down?

He wasn't able to think about it more than that, forced to focus on keeping up with his brother. He wasn't able to unarm him, but he managed to not let Raph unarm him again either. They kept trying to disarm each other, striking and dodging until Master Splinter hit the floor with his crutch.

"That is enough," the Sensei announced. "Leonardo has proven he can manage himself in a fight."

"Yay! Leo's back!" Mikey jumped up from the side where the rest of the family had watched. He hurried to his brothers as they were sheathing away their weapons.

"Leo, I saw blood-" Don had followed Mikey to their brothers and was already reaching for Leo's hand when he suddenly paused. "Huh?"

All the blood was gone by now, taken by the swords, and Leo feigned confusion as he turned to look at the younger brothers. He was slightly out of breath when he spoke. "Blood?"

Don blinked at him, then shook his head when there wasn't any red to be seen. "I… I guess I just imagined it. I'm... glad to see you really can use your swords again."

"Man, Raph, that stumble of yours was embarrassing, though," Mikey snickered. "What happened? It looked like you just suddenly forgot how your legs work."

Raph huffed at the comment. "I dunno. Just stumbled. Ya do it all the time."

"Nah, I move like the wind. I strike hard, and fade away into the night- after all, I'm the Battle Nexus Cha-"

Raph pounced on him the moment the word "Battle" left his mouth. While both Don and Master Splinter shook their heads as the two turtles wrestled on the floor, Leo fell into his thoughts again. Raph must've felt some kind of a pull on his leg when he'd stumbled, but he hadn't mentioned it. Leo could understand why- he probably thought that the others would think that he was a sore loser, just making excuses for his stumble. Nobody would believe him if he said that he'd felt something grab him. Stumbling happened; maybe it had just been coincidence that Raph had stumbled the moment Leo had thought of slowing him down.

Or maybe not. That would mean that his swords weren't the only thing he could move.

"Enough," Master Splinter finally made Raph and Mikey get up from the floor. They dusted themselves off, and then Raph stepped next to Leo, bumping his fist against his arm.

"It was a good match, Leo; good to have ya back. So, we really going out tonight?"

Leo wasn't sure if he shared the feeling; it hadn't been a good match if he had cheated by using the power on Raph. But he said nothing, moving his thoughts to tonight's patrol. He felt both sore and slightly tired, he'd already practiced before, trying out the power, and now fought against Raph. But he was still excited to go out, and didn't want to postpone something his brothers were obviously looking forward to. Feeling relieved for proving his family he could fight, he nodded. "Yeah, we're going."

It was nice to see the excitement on his brothers' faces. They seemed relieved too; him being able to fight was obviously a good sign, and they didn't have to worry about him so much anymore. Now if things kept going this well, they could finally fully return back to the way things were before the demon interrupted their lives.

The nights were starting to get chilly. Winter was drawing near, but there was still time before snow would start making everything difficult. The rooftops would start getting slippery, the cold would get in through every corner of their home, and the wind that blew over the city would be freezing. But tonight the chilly air didn't bother the turtles one bit.

"I missed this," Leo sighed as they watched over the city. As soon as they had got up from the sewers they'd picked one of the tall buildings nearby and climbed on top of it.

"Yeah, you can see soo far from here," Mikey admired the view, jumping on top of one the sturdier antennas attached to the roof. He swayed slightly before finding his balance. "Woah, and you can feel the wind, too."

"This is a bit too high from the streets to see what's going on down there," Don said, leaning back to watch the dark sky. "But I'm content with staying here for a while."

"As much as I miss the action, this really is nice," Raph agreed, his eyes on the sea of lights below them. They allowed the wind to blow over them, and enjoyed the moment of peaceful existence.

Once the cold air was really starting to cling to them, they descended down to take a better look at their neighbourhood area. The night seemed quiet enough, but even if they wouldn't run into any big problems tonight, they knew that with rising gang activity smaller crimes went up as well.

And sure enough it didn't take that long for them to spot a group of five guys lockpicking a shop's backdoor.

"Well Raphie, I guess you're finally getting your action," Mikey grinned at the brother in red. Said turtle already had a sai in his hand, the only thing stopping him from jumping down into the alley below being that the leader still hadn't given them the command to do so.

"Whenever yer ready, Leo," Raph said, giving his weapon a spin.

Leo was scanning the other side of the building with his eyes, but there was nobody there. The way was clear, and he turned to glance at his brothers. The men below them didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, just your regular robbers looking for some money, yet Leo felt tense. It had been a good while since they had done this… but his brothers were looking at him for leadership, just like before. Nothing had changed, and Leo gave them a firm nod.

"Let's go."

The four ninja dropped down into the alley without a sound. The whole ordeal didn't last more than a few seconds; there was no need for weapons, Leonardo using his fist to knock his target unconscious. The blow stung his still healing hand, but he got the job done. Both Donatello and Michelangelo took their targets down with well aimed punches, and Raphael had taken one guy down by jumping on him and kicking the guy next to him. The robbers, looking quite young, didn't even know what had hit them.

"Well, I had hoped that would be more exciting," Raph complained. "We should be beating up guys like the Purple Dragons, not some random teens robbing a shop." He groaned as he kneeled down to tie the hands of his targets. "I bet they've been up to something big while we've been gone. I mean, they have had to, with all these other gangs trying to gain more territory. If we miss the real action because of this-"

"Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned," Leo said calmly, grabbing his rope from his belt and starting to tie up the guy he'd taken down.

"Amazing wisdom, Leo," Raph grumbled sarcastically.

"Come on, Mikey, I know it's been a while, but you're supposed to carry some rope with you," Don sighed from their side, handing his own piece of rope to the youngest, who looked sheepish.

"Sorry. I was sure I had it."

Leo glanced towards his youngest brothers, but they had things under control. All the robbers were lying on the ground, and Leo focused on keeping an eye on Raph, so that he wouldn't go on a Dragon hunt on his own. He'd been bristling with energy all night, and despite his patience so far, Leo wouldn't be surprised if he did something just like that now that he had some adrenaline running in his veins.

As Leonardo was looking back at the hot headed brother, he glanced at the guy who wasn't tied yet, since Don and Mikey were still tying the robber Mikey had taken down. Donatello had given the untied man a good punch, but Leonardo noticed his fingers twitching. He was already starting to come to. His whole arm moved and Leonardo's eyes widened when he noted the faint glint just slightly peeking out of his jacket.

Leonardo stood up immediately. The robber in question wasn't far from him, but his hand had already moved to the gun, pulling it out into full view. His brothers were still focused on the rope, not seeing the small movement behind them.

Leo drew his sword hastily, the sound causing his brothers to look up at him. Their expressions turned startled when they saw Leo run right towards them with the sharp blade in hand. They didn't have the time to jump out of the way, but they didn't need to; the blade wasn't aimed at them, only at the hand now pointing a gun at them. The sword cut sharply, not deep enough to cripple the human, but he wouldn't be using that hand for a while. The robber cried out, dropping his weapon to the ground. Leo kicked it away, using the blunt end of his sword to render him unconscious.

"Huh, good call, Leo," Don said from behind him, a bit stunned over what could've happened. He stepped to the gun that had slid towards him when Leo had kicked it, and picked it up.

"Could've given us a warning, though," Mikey said, holding his hand over his chest. "Running right at us like that!"

Leo said nothing, his attention already elsewhere. If this human had a gun, the others probably did too.

There was an awful throb in his head- he'd hastily cut his fingers before drawing his sword so that it would stay in his hand, and a nauseating feeling was climbing up his chest. That had been too close. Way, way too close. And this was just a group of amateur robbers- this had been a bad idea. They were all rusty after staying underground for so long. They should've trained more before coming here, he should've paid more attention, he-

He managed to snap himself out of the panic slowly growing in him, and walked over to the guy Raph had tied up, kneeling down to search his jacket.

"C'mon, Leo, ya think my rope won't hold him? Ya think my work is sloppy?" Raph asked, clearly annoyed by what Leo was doing. Leo ignored his brother's attitude, knowing that the rope would hold the guy, knowing that even if he had a gun he wouldn't be able to use it if he was tied, but he still had to check, had to unarm him, just had to make sure, couldn't take any risks, couldn't risk his brothers getting hurt, though he'd already risked that, what if he hadn't noticed the gun in time, what if he hadn't been fast enough-

His fingers trembled when he took the gun he found hidden in the human's jacket. He'd done this so many times, disarmed hands wielding guns, pushed a brother away from the path of a bullet, and he'd never thought too much of it. Of course the what-if's had haunted him, but dealing with the risks was just part of the job.

"You okay, Leo?" Mikey asked as he noticed Leo's tense form. "You think there's more of them?"

"If there was, they probably fled already," Raph said, belittling the possible enemies, still annoyed by Leo being so overly thorough. "We're done here. Don?"

"I'll make the call," Don said, already digging out his shell cell from his belt to give an anonymous tip to the police. The gun he'd picked up had been placed down near the tied robbers for the police to take.

Leonardo looked at his brothers. They had seen what a close call it had been with the gun, but they weren't bothered. This was normal to them. Like it was supposed to be to him as well, just a part of what they did, but- but didn't they remember all the blood, all the times they'd been chased to the tunnel, all the time's they'd been so horribly hurt, hadn't this worried them even a little, didn't it worry them that they could get hurt again, that he'd have to hear them scream in agony again-

No, they didn't remember. They'd had dreams of being chased and caught and hurt, but they hadn't been trapped by the demon the way he'd been. Asleep or awake, he'd been trapped in his own body, helpless as he cut his brothers down, over and over again- the memories were clear again, he could feel that awful fear scrambling free-

Something crashed to the ground on their left, and Leonardo whirled around. Before he even registered what he was doing, he'd fished a shuriken from his belt and thrown it. It hit the wall of the nearby building, bouncing off of it and landing down onto the street, where a stray cat hissed at them and then ran away.

"Woah, Leo, it was just a cat," Mikey said, but already the leader was walking towards the spot where the cat had pushed something over, causing the crash.

"Can't be too sure," Leo mumbled to himself, eyeing the alley, looking up to see if he'd missed something when he'd scanned the other building before, if there was someone on the rooftop. The robbers could very well have someone stand in watch, and if they had a gun as well-

Something grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"Ya heard Mike." Raph was the one holding him, but Leo looked away from him to stare back at the rooftop. He didn't want another scare, not tonight, not ever- "What's with the sudden paranoia? There's no one there-"

"You don't know that," Leo dismissed, yanking his shoulder from Raph's grip and started to climb the ladder leading up to the roof.

On the alley, Raph glanced at Don and Mikey, but they could only shrug. They started to climb after Leo. When they reached the roof the wind grabbed the tails of their masks, whipping them behind their heads. Leonardo stood a few feet from them; he had unsheathed his swords and was still walking forward.

"Leo!" They yelled after him, making him only glance over his shoulder, but not stop. They hurried after him, reaching the other side of the roof at the same time as he did. Michelangelo glanced down at Leonardo's hands, noting how tightly he was gripping his weapons. "What's with the swords?"

"I saw someone," Leonardo answered, sounding slightly breathless as he stared into the distance. His brothers followed his gaze, but all they could see were dark, empty rooftops around them.

"There's nobody here, Leo," Donatello told him softly. "If you saw someone, they're gone."

The wind blew harshly over them, causing them to shiver. They'd been out for a while already, and the night was only getting colder. Leonardo barely felt the cold- he was sure he'd seen someone, a dark figure running away. He was torn between searching the surrounding area and taking his brothers back home, where nobody could point any guns at them.

"This… this is enough for tonight," Leo said finally, fighting to keep his voice steady. His headache was starting to get unbearable; there was still something clawing at his head, something that was still panicking about the close call with the gun.

"What? But-" Raph was about to protest, but Don placed a hand over his shoulder, giving him a small shake of his head. Leo didn't see it, fighting the black spots that had suddenly appeared into the edge of his vision, doing his hardest to keep his hands down instead of dropping his swords and holding his head in an attempt to fight the pain building there.

The police sirens nearby made them leave the rooftop, and they headed back home in silence.

At the lair, Master Splinter was waiting for them. He wasn't doing it as often as he used to, his old age pushing him to head to bed earlier, but tonight he was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea in front of him. He'd felt anxious, his sons hadn't been out on a mission for a while, after all, but he was relieved to see them come back home unharmed.

"Welcome back, my sons," he greeted them. They greeted him back, and despite not acting like anything was wrong, he saw that Raphael was tense, and Leonardo had a glassy look in his eyes. Both of them bid their family goodnight hastily and retreated to their rooms.

"We stopped a robbery, but one of the guys pointed a gun at us," Donatello explained after the two oldest brothers had left the kitchen. "Leo cut the night short after that, and Raph wasn't too pleased about it. I think Leo was a bit shaken up about the gun."

"That happens all the time, though," Michelangelo said while raiding the fridge for some late night snacks. "Someone's always pointing some kinda weapon at us."

"Leonardo may not show it, but he is still recovering from what happened with the demon," Master Splinter said thoughtfully. "It might take some time for him to get used to the dangers you face."

There wasn't anything to add to that, and shortly after their conversation the rest of the family headed for their beds as well.