A/N: ForPeace: Thank you so much for your kind review!

Guest: Thank you for your very kind words! Leo's definitely still shaken by what happened, but there seems to be something else going on as well...!

For a few awful moments Donatello had been sure that the docks would explode. It wouldn't really have even mattered how many explosives there were in the crates; Raphael and Casey had been standing too close. There hadn't been a single scenario where it would've ended well for them.

He'd still tried to run towards them, tried to warn them, yelled for them to get away- and then Leonardo had thrown his sword. And he'd hit. Which- which was insane, Leo had been just a few feet away from him, and the human had been so far away. Yes, he'd seen Leo make some insane throws with his swords before, having a frighteningly good aim, but this had been just… just crazy. It should've been impossible, but he'd seen it happen with his own eyes.

Leonardo had dashed past him, and after blinking his surprise away Donatello moved as well. But what had followed Leonardo's second throw had made Donatello's steps falter- Leonardo had thrown his second sword as well, and the human's scream of agony was enough to completely halt him. Even though there was some distance between him and the human, he could clearly see the gruesome way the weapon had pinned his arm to the wooden dock.

His mind was trying to catch up on what was happening. Leonardo had reached the trader, now simply standing next to him, not even glancing at the man, seeming more interested in looking towards the sea. Donatello knew that no matter the enemy, Leonardo had never liked leaving anyone suffering- it just wasn't honorable to him, to any of them- but he could understand that Leonardo was upset. He felt immense rage at the thought of what this man could've done to Raphael and Casey, but still, for Leonardo to just ignore the man obviously in great pain…

His thoughts were interrupted when Leonardo lifted his hand towards the waves. If he'd thought that the sword throwing had been insane, then this was… this was…

Was he dreaming? Leonardo's sword flew from the sea right back into his hand. Yeah, definitely a dream. Yet in his heart the bō-wielder knew that he was awake, that this was really happening.

When Leonardo turned around, Donatello could see him more properly. There was something red flowing down his face- blood? But when had he gotten hurt-? And finally Leonardo was looking at the human.

He pulled his sword up without hesitation. For a moment the air was again filled with the human's scream of pain, the sound pulling at Donatello's heart, but Leonardo didn't seem fazed. Of course Donatello was relieved that the leader had managed to get the remote controller away from the trader, of course he had wanted the human to pay for what he'd attempted to do, but this- this was just cruel. The actions of his brother were devoid of any empathy, which wasn't a trait of Leo's.

The trader's bodyguards suddenly appeared from the shadows, a little late to the show- Donatello finally got himself moving, only to halt again when he saw Leonardo turn around and attack them without holding back. More blood was quickly splattering the ground around them, and Donatello couldn't help the way he stared. An awful feeling was rising in him, the sight of Leonardo attacking others around him seemingly with no remorse or thought, just wanting to hurt–

The trader's screams had distracted Raphael and Casey as well, apparently, because the next thing Donatello heard was his brother's startled yelp. Hun had pounced up from the ground and kicked Raphael; Donatello turned his head towards them just in time to see his brother fall down, losing his grip on the gun he'd been holding.

Hun stepped towards him, eyes on the gun. With a slight stumble Casey stepped in front of him, still suffering from the hit to the head he'd received earlier, but stubbornly holding his baseball bat with both hands.

"Leave something for me, Casey!" Michelangelo ran towards Hun, and for half a second the genius wondered if Michelangelo had seen what he'd seen Leonardo do. If he had, he wasn't acknowledging it in any way- and he shouldn't either, now wasn't the time to think about it.

Donatello followed after Michelangelo just as Hun glanced over his shoulder at them. Apparently realizing that the odds were against him, he lowered the fist he'd raised at Casey and instead broke into a run towards Leonardo and the unconscious trader.

Michelangelo and Donatello immediately ran after him. They could see that Leonardo hadn't moved from the trader and the now unconscious – hopefully just unconscious and not dead – bodyguards. Leonardo was still holding his swords, but he looked pale, seemed to be slightly swaying. Had the bodyguards managed to hurt him?

"Leo, move!" Michelangelo called out, but Leonardo didn't react in time. Hun had no trouble reaching for the turtle who was simply standing still. It was like Leonardo hadn't even seen Hun, even though the man had been running right towards him.

They were close enough to hear the way Leonardo tried to gasp for air. Hun talked mockingly to the turtle in his grip, but Donatello barely paid any attention to the words, just focusing on reaching his brother, aiming his bō to the back of the Dragon leader's head.

"Get away from him!" Hun managed to lean forward, the wooden weapon grazing his shoulder instead of hitting his head. Hun turned to face them, still holding Leonardo- who had enough energy to swipe with his remaining sword, the blade slashing at Hun's side. Immediately they could tell that it wasn't much more than a scratch, the angle had been awkward for Leonardo who didn't seem to have much strength left anyway. But it was enough to make Hun grunt from pain and let go of him, obviously not wanting to get hit again.

Leonardo went down without even trying to catch himself, and Michelangelo was already driving Hun away from the fallen brother. Donatello followed, not wanting to leave Michelangelo alone with Hun, but Leonardo wasn't moving. He crouched down next to his brother, briefly touching his neck to feel for his pulse. It jumped steadily under his finger, allowing Donatello to feel brief relief. He was just unconscious. He didn't know why though, he hadn't seen Leonardo hit his head when he'd been dropped, but he had no time to properly look him over. He looked at the humans Leonardo had fought. The bodyguards both had slashes across their bodies, but there didn't seem to be too much blood. But the trader's arm was almost cut off- he was bleeding heavily. He wouldn't survive if they just left him there.

"Mikey, try to keep him busy for a bit!" Don called out before tearing out a large piece from the trader's jacket. Using the piece of fabric and some rope from his belt he managed to create a fairly effective bandaging around the arm. The human was pale, desperately needing a visit to the hospital, but at least he wasn't now bleeding to death.

When Donatello rejoined the fight he realized that Hun was looking for something instead of fully focusing on them, his eyes scanning the dock. And suddenly he was reaching down for something, but just as he did Michelangelo had jumped onto Hun's shoulder, using him as leverage to jump in front of him and grab whatever Hun had been aiming for. Jumping back with a flip Michelangelo held the remote controller in his hand, sticking his tongue out at Hun.

"If you wanted this, you should've just gone for it instead of hurting my bro," Mikey said. "But you saw he wasn't fit to fight you, so you just had to stop and give him a bad time! Say goodbye to your toys!" Mikey's finger hovered over the buttons of the controller.

"Mikey, no!"

"No, wait-"

Both Hun and Donatello spoke at the same time. Hun obviously wanted to save his cargo, and Donatello just didn't want to be blown into a million little pieces. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that Raphael and Casey had moved away from the crates, but they were all still way too close if an explosion happened. Well, the trader had been comfortable standing here while pressing the button, so maybe the explosion wouldn't have been that huge, but then again, there was a ship full of highly-flammable fuel right next to them… so it was safe to say that the trader had been an idiot who had almost killed all of them, himself included.

And if Hun got his hands on that controller, that could still happen. If he felt cornered enough, he might blow up the shipment himself. Maybe he hadn't realized that the ship was too close, either.

Apparently it could also happen if Mikey kept holding the controller, since he was threatening to press the button.

"And why shouldn't I press it?" Mikey asked, watching Hun with challenging eyes. "You think you could somehow talk me out of it?"

Donatello then realized that Michelangelo had no intention of pressing the button, he was just bluffing. More than that, he was stalling for time. It couldn't be long until-

Sirens became audible in the distance. The gunshots from before had been heard and the police had been called. Hun wouldn't have time to gather his items before they arrived; he wouldn't be getting his shipment. He'd lost.

Which he seemed to realize, and that was dangerous. If he was going to lose his shipment anyway, then there was no reason for him to not get reckless. No reason to not blow up everything.

"This was the last time you freaks ruined my night!" Hun roared, kicking at Donatello just as he moved to hit him with his bō, then rushing towards Michelangelo who had moved further along the dock after grabbing the remote. Michelangelo yelped in surprise, trying to throw himself away from the large human's path, but there was no room on the narrow dock unless he wanted to fall down to the sea below-

Raphael and Casey jumped at the same time, kicking Hun's side with enough force to send him off balance. For a moment the Purple Dragon member tried to rebalance himself, but gravity ended up pulling him over the edge of the dock. The drop wasn't that high, but it would take a moment for him to swim back to the shore.

Raphael fell down onto one knee, cursing while Casey helped him back up. They could see the wound Raphael had gotten in the Foot ambush bleeding.

"Goddamn Hun, could've done anything else than kick my damn leg…" Raphael grumbled to himself. That explained why it had taken so long for Raphael to re-join the fight; Hun had seen that Raphael had already been wounded and had decided to exploit that. "Fuck, two missions in a row that I get my leg screwed over," Raph kept muttering, clearly more annoyed about getting injured than the injury itself.

Casey didn't seem to be at his best either, holding Raphael with one hand and his head with the other. "Tell me about it, my ears are still ringing from that punch he gave me," the man mumbled, briefly glancing towards the waves below. "Screw you, Hun! If I were ya I'd stay down there, because the next time I see you I'm gonna-"

"We need to go," Donatello interrupted him. The sound of sirens was only getting closer.

Raphael was limping again, but he was fine otherwise, and Michelangelo hadn't been hurt. So while Michelangelo and Casey helped Raphael move while the two latter kept cursing the Purple Dragons, Donatello hurried back towards Leonardo and the trader. He checked the trader's pulse; not as strong as it should've been, but the first response wasn't far away now. He and his bodyguards would be in good hands in just a moment.

Moving to Leonardo Donatello kneeled next to him, feeling his neck again. Pulse was still good. This time he had time to move Leonardo's head to take a better look at him, and he gasped- he'd seen the blood on his face before, but it was now smeared all over the lower part of his face, making him a gruesome sight. It had been a while since Don had been thrown back to the visions of the tunnel, but he was there now, staring down at the mutilated bodies of his brothers in mute shock. Cut limbs and blood, so much blood, and he would be next, chased until he'd be caught and-

He shook his head to snap himself out of it and adjusted his grip on Leo. Aware that he'd have to deal with the bad memories later he focused on his brother, tilting his head so that there was no danger of him choking on his own blood.

"Leo," Don called to him, his voice strained. "Leo, come on, wake up." Leo hadn't hit his head, at least Don couldn't see any cuts or bruises which implied so. This blood had come from his nose, but as he carefully wiped at Leo's face, he couldn't see any bruising near his nostrils either. If he hadn't been hit, why was he unconscious?

"Wake up," Don repeated, gently shaking him in an attempt to rouse him, the worry in his chest growing. "We can't stay here, we need to go-"

"What's wrong with him?" Raphael asked. Michelangelo let go of him, leaving Casey to support the turtle in red, crouching down next to Donatello.

"Is he hurt?" Michelangelo asked. Before Donatello could answer Leonardo groaned, shifting slightly in his hold.

"Leo, can you hear me?" Don asked softly, his hand still on his cheek, continuing to wipe away some of the blood on him. His eyes were slowly opening. "Just take it easy-"

Don's words trailed off when he saw the dazed look in Leo's eyes. He was waking up, but he definitely wasn't all the way here. Had he hit his head after all?

He lowered his hand from Leo's face and instead pulled him up into a sitting position. Mikey took the leader's other side, and together they supported him as they stood up. Leo's eyes had slipped back closed, and he was limp in their hold. Unconscious again.

They managed to carry Leonardo, and vanished from the scene just as the first response arrived. Raphael and Casey stayed behind for just a moment, watching from the shadows, making sure that the arriving police saw the shipment and the injured people, as well as the Purple Dragons they'd taken down. They watched the waterline as well, but there was no sign of Hun.

"Wonder if he's gonna lay low after a failure like this," Casey mused.

"Dunno," Raph said, "but I sure as hell need ta pummel his face in the next time I see him."

"I'm with ya," Casey mumbled, rubbing the side of his head where Hun had hit him. Then he offered his shoulder to Raphael, and they left to catch up with the others.

"You think the seller dude is gonna keep making weapon business after he recovers?"

Michelangelo was the one to ask the question. He was sitting on the edge of one of the med bay's empty cots, staring at the bomb's remote control. He'd placed it on his belt and forgotten about it in their rush to leave the docks, and it now rested on one of the tables.

"Hun might think twice about who he makes business with in the future," Casey said, not really answering the question. "He got so frustrated he was willing to waste his cargo and blow us up!"

"He damn near did," Raphael huffed, testing his freshly bandaged leg. It didn't affect his walking that much; he'd been luckier than the last time, when he'd actually been cut. Casey had bandaging over his head and a supply of painkillers, so he would be fine too.

"I am relieved that no explosion happened," Master Splinter said, placing a small cloth into a bowl filled with water. The water had a pinkish hue which turned even deeper in color when the red cloth was placed there. "An explosion that close to you would no doubt have been disastrous."

"How the hell did Leo even manage ta hit the guy?" Raphael asked, sitting down for standing up was just putting unnecessary pressure on his leg. "He was too far away, if ya ask me."

"Yeah, you guys do a lot of crazy stuff, but that throw was something else," Casey agreed.

Donatello didn't know what to say. It had been crazy, but nothing compared to the way Leonardo had just lifted his hand and his sword had flown to him from the water. Apparently Raphael and Casey hadn't seen that; if they had, they would surely have mentioned it.

The purple turtle noticed that Michelangelo had fallen unusually quiet. He was holding a roll of gauze which he was turning over in his hands. He was fidgeting. They had discussed Leo's behaviour last night, Don had told his brothers about how distracted Leo had been with the map, and Raph had told them about the overflowing-the-sink-episode. Mikey hadn't said much then; now that Don thought about it, the youngest had seemed somewhat nervous during the conversation, but he'd relaxed a little when they had decided to really talk to Leo after this mission was over, when they'd have time to lay low like they'd agreed.

Did Mikey know something about the way Leo had acted? Had Mikey seen the way Leo had retrieved his sword tonight? He'd been right there with him, so he must've. So why wasn't he saying anything about it? Leo had somehow moved his sword without touching it, that should absolutely be discussed, it should be discussed how that shouldn't even be possible, it was something he'd seen happen when-

Oh. Oh.

How was he making the connection only now? Well, there had been no reason for his thoughts to take such a dark direction, Donatello had hardly believed what he had seen his brother do. But now the pieces were starting to click together, Leonardo using his sword without touching it, attacking recklessly and more violently than usual, not caring about the humans he'd injured…

"This is my fault," Mikey said quietly, bringing everyone's attention to him. "I saw him doing something like it before, back when we were ambushed by the Foot."

Mikey had decided to not talk about the power, not until his brothers saw it being used with their own eyes or until Leo told them- he knew they wouldn't have believed him otherwise, so there had been no point in talking about it. And if he had mentioned the demon part, his brothers would've just gone to Leo, demanding answers, probably demanding him to stop. Which… which would've most likely been the best thing to do. Now Leo had used the power, and Mikey was sure that was the reason the leader was still unconscious. His nosebleed had only stopped when they'd gotten to the lair. There had been blood all over his face and plastron, and seeing one of his brothers covered in blood was never a fun sight.

"He can move his swords without touching them," Mikey continued. "He didn't just throw his swords, he… he used that power to make them hit."

Why was it so difficult to call it the demon's power? Was he trying to defend Leo somehow by not calling it that?

"Not the time for jokes, Mikey," Raph mumbled, glancing at their unconscious brother. The blood had been wiped off of him, the rags used to do it soaking in the reddened bucket of water. Leo looked pale as he lay on one of the cots, a clear sign he'd lost a lot of blood. He wasn't anywhere near as weak as when they'd brought him home from the tunnel not too long ago, when he'd almost bled out, but seeing him unconscious on the cot so soon after the whole demon incident still brought back unpleasant memories.

And… he'd been unconscious for too long for this to be just because of some nosebleed. Don had properly inspected him after the blood had been wiped away, and like he had suspected, he hadn't found any injuries on his face.

"It's not a joke," Mikey said, his voice uncharastically serious. "He could show you, after he wakes up."

No, scratch that- if this was what the power caused, he never wanted Leo to use it again. He stared at Leo's still form as well, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Or not- using it hurt him, so this must be because he used it too much, or something," Mikey continued, his voice smaller now. "I told him that maybe it hurts because he hasn't practiced it, so he did that and allowed me to watch. When he practiced it gave him a nasty headache and I had to tell him to take a break but… I didn't know it could cause something like this..."

He trailed off, and for a moment, no one said anything. What Mikey was saying was… hard to believe, they were sure that they'd gotten rid of the circle, and Mikey was known for being the prankster… but everyone knew Mikey would never joke about something like this, not when they didn't know how hurt Leo really was.

"Mikey, are you really saying that Leo used the… the demon's power?" Donatello's question made silence fall over the room. He already knew the answer, but he just had to ask.

"The demon's gone," Raphael answered immediately, but his voice wavered slightly.

"Did he say it was the demon's power?" Donatello pushed softly when the youngest said nothing. Michelangelo sat absolutely still, his hands pulled into tight fists, squeezing the roll of gauze he was still holding. "Mikey, if the demon is still-"

"I know I should've told you as soon as I learned about it, but Leo said it was gone, that it was his decision to use the power, that he wouldn't be using it for long, just until his hands fully heal." Mikey was speaking quickly, his shoulders hunched. "It was just... kinda cool to see him use it, but- I- I should've realized using it was bad. You guys told me how weirdly he acted yesterday, I should've known something was wrong, and now he's hurt because I didn't say anything and-"

Master Splinter walked to the youngest with the aid of his crutch, and placed a hand over his shoulder. "Breathe, my son. It is alright."

As advised, Michelangelo breathed, taking a huge gulp of air before lifting his gaze. "I'm sorry, I really should've told you."

"No, Mikey, this isn't your fault," Donatello reassured him quickly. "Leo's the one who should've told us about this." Donatello didn't know how to feel about the fact that their brother had left something this important unsaid. After everything the demon had done to them, why keep something like this a secret? Well, Michelangelo had known about it, but probably only because he'd seen it happen and had asked Leonardo about it.

"Yer really not joking, Mike?" Raph asked, but there was no accusation in his voice. Just disbelief, which Mikey answered by shaking his head. It was far from a joke.

"Do you know how he uses it?" Don asked, and Mikey shrugged.

"I asked him about it, but he didn't really elaborate on it. Said he just imagines the swords coming to him." Mikey dug through his memory. "I didn't get to ask more about it, he was… having a headache while we talked about it."

That alone should have probably been a huge alarming bell. He should've told Leo to stop instead of watching him practice. He shouldn't have told him to practice it in the first place.

"Do you feel like the power could be a threat to us, my son?" Splinter asked, still keeping a comforting hand on Mikey's arm. It was obvious it was a threat to Leo, if using the power left him in the condition he was in now.

"I don't know, Leo said he hasn't felt the demon," Mikey said, sounding miserable. "He said that if he did he'd tell us."

"Shit." Raph shook his head. "He should've told us. Why the hell didn't he? I mean, after everything the fucking thing did he's just been using its power like it's no big deal."

"You said he's using it because of his hands," Don said, watching Mikey.

"Yeah. Like I said, he said he wouldn't use it after they healed," Mikey said. "He said he hadn't told us because he wasn't sure how we'd react-"

"He knew damn well how we'd react, that's exactly why he didn't tell us! Cus' he knew what he was doing was wrong!" Raph growled, sending a heated glare towards the leader. Upon seeing his pale face his anger died some, but he kept his deep frown.

"Welp, I'm kinda out of the loop, but I take it that using the demon power's not a good thing," Casey said, so far having only quietly listened, feeling it hadn't been his place to say anything since he didn't know everything about the demon's attack. Obviouslyit had greatly affected the mutant family, the demon had really hurt all of them, Leonardo especially. Casey didn't want to further upset them by saying something inappropriate, yet he felt like he should share his point of view from what he'd experienced tonight. "But him using it saved our asses tonight, so something good came out of it."

"Don't start defendin' him," Raph grumbled.

"I'm just saying, man."

"We shall discuss this with Leonardo once he wakes up," Master Splinter said, not giving any opinion on the matter. "For now, the rest of you should rest. It has been a tough night for all of you." Turning his attention to Casey, he continued. "Thank you for accompanying my sons, Mr. Jones. Are you well enough to get back home on your own, or would you like to stay with us for the night?"

"I'm good, head's feeling better. I can get home just fine." Casey stood up and looked around the room. "Sorry I pulled y'all into this mess. Didn't really expect things to go the way they did."

"It was a good thing we stopped the Dragons from getting that shipment," Donatello said. "No one could've predicted that the trader wanted to blow us up."

Casey nodded in agreement. He exchanged his goodbyes with the family before Raphael walked him to the exit of the lair.

"Maybe tonight would've been smoother had I had more info about the situation," Casey said as they walked. "And then I was just so focused on Hun, didn't even think about the trader guy-"

"Nah, forget it, Case," Raph said. "I wasn't payin' any attention ta him either. And had ya not told us about this, we would've found out the hard way later, when they would've used those guns on us. So don't ya think that way."

Raph had his head full of thoughts related to the demon, so they walked the rest of the way in silence. Only as they reached the entrance Raph spoke again.

"Wouldn't ya be mad at him? Even if he did a good thing with the power, the demon still put us through hell. Why would he even want to use something like that? Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"Well, Mike said he was doing it because his hands hadn't healed," Casey said. "I don't know how bad his hands look, but if I had both my palms stitched, I don't know if I'd want to be holding any swords, let alone fight with 'em. And well, we all know how important the swords are to Leo. How important it is for him to be able to fight with them."

Raph had seen the helpless look in Leo's eyes when they'd trained with weapons while he sat by the side, just watching.

"Yeah," Raph said shortly.

"And had he told you guys, you would've obviously tried to stop him. Right?"

"Yeah," Raph said again, because of course they would've.

"So, you know why he kept it a secret." Casey pressed the buttons which opened the lair's door, and turned to look at his friend. "Let me know when he's doing better, yeah? And don't yell at him too much. You know you always feel bad afterwards when you do."

Raph rolled his eyes and pushed the human out of the door. "No I don't. When I yell at him, it's deserved."

Casey just laughed and then he was on his way. Raph stared after him until the doors of the lair closed again, and then he was in a hurry to get back to the sick bay.

Don and Mikey still hadn't left the room despite their Sensei's wish that they get some rest, and the Sensei himself was still there as well. Don had a new roll of gauze in his hands, probably aiming to change the bandages in Leo's hands. Raph had noted his bandages had dried blood on them, and they were dirty from the battle anyway.

Just as Don was reaching for Leo's hand he stirred, his hand twitching before it moved away from Don's reach. A muffled groan came from him as he seemed to struggle his way back to consciousness. With some effort Leo managed to pry his eyes open, his head tilting to the side as his eyes slowly focused on his surroundings.

"Leo!" Mikey was standing on the other side of the cot and leaned forward, his bright eyes filling the blue turtle's vision. "You're awake!"

"Don't yell at his face," Raph mumbled, walking closer to push the youngest aside. Oh, right, he was supposed to be angry. He pulled Mikey back to his spot. "On a second thought, go ahead, yell as much as ya want."

"Hey Leo, how are you feeling?" Don asked, ignoring their brothers, placing the gauze aside for now.

Leo closed his eyes and exhaled, then opened them again and started to push himself up. Don almost stopped him, but… there was no reason to do so. His brother wasn't injured, not in any way he could see at least, so he kept his hands down.

As soon as Leo was sitting up, he lifted his hand and pressed it against the side of his head.

"What… what hit me?" Leo asked, groaning again as he shut his eyes. "My head's killing me."

"You don't remember what happened, my son?" Master Splinter asked, having moved back closer to his cot as well.

Leo kept quiet for a moment, then shook his head, stilling again when moving seemed to cause him pain. "Not really…" He forced his eyes open and looked at his family. "I'm assuming there was a fight. Is… is everyone okay?"

"We're fine," Raph said, "what do ya mean ya don't remember? Ya have a lot of explainin' ta do-"

"Raph, give him a moment," Don interrupted him, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, but keeping his attention on Leo. "You just woke up, Leo, it might take a moment before tonight's events come back to you."

Leo nodded stiffly, then lowered his hand from his head to look down at himself, clearly to scan his own injuries. He blinked when he didn't find any, just a few bruises and some scratches. Then he looked at his hands, but quickly looked away from them. It was a very small thing, something that would normally go unnoticed, but because of the conversation just moments prior they were all paying more attention to the leader's actions.

"I can't remember, but judging by the headache I have I hit my head. What happened?"

His head was a mess, thoughts jumbled. There was an ache in his palms as well, but when he'd glanced down at his hands, he'd had the brief feeling that he'd caused the pain himself. But why would he have done that? Why would he have cut himself-

More pain washed over him, and he leaned forward, biting back a whimper, eyes shut again. Only a moment later he heard the familiar rattle of pills moving inside their bottle, and opened one eye just to locate the pills offered to him. He took them without a word and swallowed them dry.

"Drink this," Don advised, handing Leo a glass of water even though he had already downed the pills. It spoke volumes when Leo willingly, and so quickly, downed painkillers. "If it hurts when you try to remember, then don't try too hard. Just take it slow."

Leo didn't take the water, just rocked himself as he waited for the pills to take away at least some of the intense pain. Everything was so hazy. He tried to dig his mind for answers, tried to-

With a jolt of pain came foggy memories, the realization that he'd done something he shouldn't have done, that doing so had bad consequences- that this memory loss was something he'd caused. He remembered the power – and remembered what using it would do to him. What it had already done to him.

Looking up again he stared at his family. He remembered them, the room he was in was familiar… but otherwise, he felt empty. There was only pain and vague images of the past.

And suddenly he was terrified. He didn't know how he'd gotten here, he didn't know why he'd used the power if he had known it would cause something like this, he didn't know if there was a way to fight or reverse this – would he be losing what little he had left now?

Would he forget his family?

The pills weren't doing their job; more pain was filling his head, making his panic rise as his thoughts started to get hazy.

"No," Leo moaned, holding his head again. "I can't forget, not this, no, no-"

He closed his eyes, tried to focus, but the pain was overwhelming, pushing everything away, making it impossible to try to grasp the thoughts that were escaping him. He was aware of his family speaking around him, but he was losing himself to the panic, just trying to keep his mind from crumbling apart.

'Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget.'

There just- just wasn't a scenario where he would forget them. There just wasn't. It wasn't a possibility. So why was he even scared of that, if it was impossible?

'Don't- don't forget.'

Did he remember that he'd used the power just so that he'd be aware that he'd caused this himself? Was the power capable of hurting him this way, punishing him by making him remember that this pain was his own fault before the ache in his head drowned away even the memory of that?

'Don't…'

Why was he fighting the hurt? He couldn't recall even one memory where there wasn't pain. Maybe this was the norm for him. Why was he fighting? Why… why fight? What was he fighting? Why was everything fading from him?

Why couldn't he remember?