Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from TMNT or even ROTTMNT, the characters belong to Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman and NOT me.
Papa Leo
New York 2026…
The city of New York was in a terrible state.
Buildings had crumbled, cars were rendered into piles and heaps of scrap metal, roads had been reduced to craggy and unstable grounds that threatened to fissure and split wide open, other miscellaneous items such as lampposts and bins had been twisted into unrecognisable shapes and sizes but had been taken to reshape into weapons to combat their enemies and —finally— the people had either been killed off, sent to enslavement camps, or went into underground caverns in order to join the resistance to not only survive but also try and fight to get their world back.
It was a desolate wasteland with little to no hope of recovery.
However, that didn't mean that there weren't those who were determined to try regardless.
Swing
Slash
Fwing!
Shoooom!
Those are the noises that were made as a lone figure swung one of his twin swords through the air, cutting down monster-after-monster that tried to make a near animalistic lunge at him as though they were wolves stalking innocent sheep as prey…and he was the sheep.
This figure was not like normal human beings trying to survive in a world tarnished by an evil overlord and his evil followers and even his unwilling followers.
He was tall, green and muscular with yellow stripes covering his upper arms and the upper portion of his legs above the kneecaps. Both his hands, which had only two fingers and one thumb, and upper arms were wrapped in tape and it was the same with his two toes and the upper portion of his calves. The figure was cloaked in a torn and tattered blue cape with the hood pulled over his head in order to conceal his face in the shadows the cape provided. He wielded a pair of Odachi swords that had been strapped to his back before he held them. He had also been lugging a huge sack of metal, supplies, food and other stuff over one shoulder.
The creature glared with determined eyes at the creatures which had gathered around him.
They were snarling and snapping their jaws like a pack of vicious and hungry wolves.
He dropped his large sack of stuff and repositioned himself into a fighting stance by spreading his legs apart where he stood and unsheathing both of his Odachi swords while holding them both on either side of him in a menacing way towards the beasts gaining in on him as if he were their prized food.
"Sorry, boys…" Said the stranger in a somewhat cocky manner. "…But this is one dinner that won't go down without a fight!"
That was when the stranger swung his swords in an organised frenzy as the creatures either made a move to tackle him, leap towards him or tried to finish him off as a pack, the swords and the warrior's body began to glow simultaneously with a bright blue aura the more he fought as time went on and on. He gnashed his teeth and narrowed his eyes into slits that basically said "I refuse to give up or give in" while he continued to slash the creatures with his blades.
Each time the tip of each sword would connect with one creature, it would either suddenly zip out of existence or just implode in a blue glow with tentacles and pink stuff flying all over the place,
The fight lasted for what felt like an eternity.
Eventually the stranger managed to finish off the last beast but the fight exhausted him to the point of him dropping down on one knee as he tried to regain the energy he had lost, panting hard so his lungs would re-inflate like deflated balloons. He breathed hard and heavily in an attempt to get back the energy he had lost fighting those Krang beasts.
"Huff, huff, huff, huff…" He panted hard, his lungs burning for oxygen as he tried to centre himself.
It was difficult but he couldn't afford to stay there, not unless he wanted to be found by unpleasant company again.
However, he was caught off guard when a sudden gust of wind engulfed the area and the air current was so strong that it almost knocked the stranger off of his knelt position and sent him hurtling backwards and knocking him on his back. It succeeded in making sure that the stranger's hood slid off and it unveiled the face of the strange warrior.
It none other than a 20-year-old Leonardo of the Teenage mutant ninja turtles/Mad dogs.
He was the one of the four leaders of the resistance against the Krang.
The other three were his brothers.
Leo continued to breathe heavily in an attempt to get his breath back after such a draining fight, he had to use some of his mystic ninja powers throughout the fight to gain a bit of an advantage or else they would have torn him to turtle sashimi within mere seconds. Most of the beasts he had sent away while others…he didn't know nor did he want to know.
After one more minute of kneeling to recover his breath, the turtle carefully climbed to his own two feet.
He swayed for a sec, unsteady for the briefest of moments, before he steadied himself and then closed his eyes and exhaled.
"Huuuh…" He sighed, readying himself by gripping the two handles of his Odachi tight in both hands, letting them glow a bright azure blue colour, and then he closed his eyes to concentrate; he had learned a long time ago how to properly harness the mystic energy inside of him and only used it not-so-sparingly nowadays.
He mostly used it to fight difficult battles and to get home should it be too far for him to bother walking —he needed to go home anyway, he couldn't fight anymore as his energy had been near-depleted.
"Let's get ready to-"
"Waaaaaaah!"
Leo froze dead in his tracks when he heard a distant noise carry across the wind.
He…couldn't make it out at first, it sounded high-pitched and loud and he strained for a second to try and properly distinguish it and he wanted to dismiss it as some animal getting into a wild quarrel or something, but something was pulling away at his heartstrings.
This wasn't what he thought it was.
He could feel it.
Still keeping a tight clasp on both sword handles, he stood still but getting more worried by the second.
It was then that he realised with a cold and sickening dread that it was not something like an animal in distress, but it was something else and the large reptile dressed in blue froze when the volume of the noise increased and it began to sound less like a cat and more like a…!
He didn't even have time to finish his own thought process as he raced to source of the noise!
His legs started to move before his brain had a chance to command them to do so and he broke into a sprint.
He was exhausted but that didn't stop him.
He needed to investigate.
Soon enough, he skidded to an abrupt halt when he finally found himself standing by the crumbling alleyway that appeared to have been reduced to a pile of smouldering rubble; bits of crumbling pavement and dirt had become a crumbled pile across the narrow stretch of dank darkness and, laying amidst a bunch of rubbish and blood and a random assortment of discarded weapons, was the silhouette of a person.
Leo's eyes squinted as they adjusted to the darkness.
His heart skipped a beat when he not only realised that the silhouette belonged to a live woman…but he recognised said woman.
He was so shocked that he couldn't even hear himself mutter the woman's name before he reacted.
"….Cass…."
Once the shock had worn off, Leo didn't even hesitate as he hastily headed into the alleyway and dropped by the woman's side and discovered for himself that his suspicions were correct in that this was none other than his former enemy-turned-friend known as Cassandra Jones.
The years had done a lot to her but she had some of the same features she did when she was younger.
Cassandra had grown more raven black/blue hair on her head that was spiky at the front but shaved at the back so it didn't reach passed the midsection of the back of her neck. She was dressed in a black vest with a velvet cloak wrapped around her shoulders and she wore some denim jeans that were torn and ripped at the knees. Her lips were painted a cherry red colour with lipstick. Her cheek bones were a little more visible but that was more than likely due to malnutrition, making it clear she was living very hard times out in the wilderness. She also looked really tired, like she hadn't properly slept in a full week.
But there was more that drew more than a little bit of concern.
She was in really bad shape with left arm twisted in an awful angle that arms are not supposed to bend while her right arm lay against her stomach, she was covered in head to toe with bruises, cuts, welts and other injuries which adorned her even-more-pale-than-normal skin and she had a black eye and she was visibly bleeding from some of the cuts that covered her body.
If she looked this bad on the outside then she was probably even worse on the inside…
Leonardo swallowed the marble-sized lump that had formed in his throat and knelt by Cassandra's side and he reached forwards to grab one of her shoulders and shook it, trying to wake her.
"Cassandra!" He cried as he tried to elicit a response from the badly-wounded woman. "Cass, can you hear me?"
Cass lightly stirred when she heard the turtle's voice and her eyelids gently peeled open and she smiled upon seeing him at her side, a shimmer of relief shining within her dulled and even rather lifeless eyes. She looked as though even the simple act of breathing was agonising to her as one of her arms clung to her own waist in a grip so tight that her knuckles turned white from the effort.
Leonardo felt a small measure of relief upon seeing her eyes open and immediately tried to determine what had happened to her.
"Oh thank goodness."
Then he turned serious.
"What happened? Who did this to you?"
That was stupid request to ask of Cass as talking could probably worsen her already-severe condition. Her complexion was dangerously pale and she had clearly been so badly hurt that moving even a fraction could cause her to bleed all over the place and it looked like she didn't have much blood left to lose before she perished as a result.
That didn't stop the woman from trying, though.
"Needed to find…food…ambushed…too many…"
Leonardo's eyes hardened into a stern glare.
That was all he needed to hear to understand what happened.
From the look of things as well as the conditions for not only her but her surroundings as well, it appeared that she had been attacked by some Krang sentries and they apparently beat her within an inch of her life before she either defeated them to the point where they retreated or they hurt her so much that they decided it would be merciful to leave her to die in a lonely, old alleyway.
The thought enraged the reptile dressed in blue but he tried to refocus on healing his friend.
"H-Hang on! Just don't move! I'll find something to help you!"
Leo scooted back a bit whilst sitting on the ground and he began to urgently rummage through the first aid pouch attached to his belt in an attempt to find something, anything, that could help stop her internal bleeding….but all he could find were plasters, cold compresses, snake venom antipode, plasters, bandages, a small bottle of simple pharmacy veterinary medication meant to help alleviate coughs and colds, a simple thermometer, some towels and blankets somehow neatly stuffed into a tiny tissue-sized box, a pair of scissors, some medical tape, a few emergency adrenaline injections and some sterile wipes contained in little packets.
He'd normally have some surgical suture needles and thread in there too but those were nowhere to be found.
In the midst of his frantic burrowing, Leonardo found a hand weakly and gently slapping itself against his wrist in a preventative manner. Seeing that hand rest itself on his wrist made his heart threaten to shatter then and there but he just swallowed hard and his eyeballs began to water as the reality of the situation started to hit him with the same force as a ton of bricks.
"N-No. Don't." Cass coughed softly as she gripped the giant mutant terrapin's wrist. "You and I both know that I won't survive this."
Leo's eyes hardened.
That couldn't be true!
It just couldn't…
"Don't talk like that!" He snapped "You aren't dead yet and I am not gonna let that happen! What about April? You think she wants to lose her best friend?"
He was in pure denial at this point.
He was not a medical expert like Donnie was but he knew the telltale signs of when someone was far too gone to be saved. He had seen a lot of death at the hands —or maybe tentacles— of the Krang over the very short years of their tyrannical rule and he could definitely see a lot of those telltale signs in Cassandra and that fact made his heart sting like a scorpions tail with every single beat in his chest.
Cass felt her battered body and her throat stiffen as she tried to stifle the awful coughs that wracked and forced themselves out of her body and threatened to tear her throat apart in the process…and she was finding it difficult enough to speak without the disgustingly warm trickling in her mouth with the sensation of blood trying to seep into her throat and mouth with each passing second.
"Ha-aack! Koff! K-Koff!" She breathed in as hard as she could in an effort to regain control of her own respiratory system, as painful as it was; time was running out and she needed to get to the point.
"Leon…ardo. Listen to me, please…bring me my baby…"
If Leo's heart didn't already skip a beat from shock tonight then it definitely had when he heard the last part of those instructions. A baby? Really? He must have misheard her but did Cassandra Jones just tell him that not only did she become a mother but she had brought the baby out along with her? That second part wasn't that shocking considering how tough, hardcore and violent she was but it was more that first part that shocked him.
Cassandra Jones had a child!?
When!?
How!?
Why hadn't she mentioned this before now and was that was why there was a child crying earlier!?
He had forgotten all about that!
But, even still, the giant anthropomorphic reptile in blue almost couldn't bring himself to believe that on top of every other devasting fact tonight, a child had to be brought into this awful experience.
"W-What!? A baby!?" He stuttered in disbelief "Cass, y-you…?!"
Cassandra's eyes narrowed and her mouth formed a rather annoyed frown.
"Th-There's…koff, koff, no time! Please hurry!"
The large anthropomorphic turtle decided not to argue anymore, especially not when he heard a soft sobbing and whimpering sound coming from the very back of the alleyway and, fuelled by pure adrenaline as well as urgency of this new and earth-shaking revelation, Leonardo reluctantly abandoned Cassandra's side for a second and staggered to his feet, how he even found the strength to do this he didn't know. He felt his leg muscles ache as he forcibly hurried to the back of the dark narrow pathway to discover a bunch of rubbish and random miscellaneous debris piled on one another.
That wasn't important —but what was important was the soft whimpers and sobs he had heard that came from behind it all and that made the urgency higher as Leo grabbed hold of a large plank of wood and pulled it away, revealing a bundle wrapped up in a white blanket had been concealed behind them.
The child was laying in a simple wicker basket with a small mattress and blanket underneath it.
He looked to be no older than 7 months of age…
How did Cass managed to hide the existence of this child for so long?
Leo breathed in shakily as he stooped down and lifted the near-whimpering babe out of the basket, holding the bundle close to his own plastron. He could feel the baby boy relax against his rock-hard, naturally armoured chest as it appeared to relax now that it wasn't hidden amongst rubbish and debris anymore and, thank heavens, he didn't seem to be harmed in the least.
Leo cradled the tiny bundle, making sure to hold him carefully and ran back to return by Cassandra's side.
He held the boy out to the weakened woman so she could take him was ease.
Cass coughed weakly but smiled when her son was brought into view as she gingerly took the infant from Leo's arms and held him in for a tight embrace, her eyes leaking huge tears as she began to feel her heart shattering from the ache that throbbed through her entire being. She smiled with every ounce of love she could muster as she pulled her tiny son closer towards her own face as let the tiny hands touch her face, an action which excited the boy as he let out a squeal of delight while he rubbed his pudgy little hands all over her cheeks and her chin.
"Ma!" The tiny boy gurgled as he rubbed his tiny hands all over Cassandra's face.
It was a sight sweet enough to rot teeth.
Unfortunately, the cute moment had to end as Cass remembered her upcoming mortality as she readjusted her son in her arms and looked at him with an indescribable expression. She knew that she didn't have much time as she felt her own shattering heart starting to slow its beats and she knew full well what this meant and she didn't want to leave her very young son with nothing but hopeless sadness.
After all, wasn't hope a ninja's strongest weapon?
What kind of ex-footclan ninja would she have been if she denied that same hope to her son?
"Ngh….Mama's gonna be fine, baby…." She whispered in a soothingly hushed tone.
It was a motherly tone.
Cassandra steeled herself as best she could and managed a small assuring smile as she cradled the tiny boy's chubby cheek in the palm of her hand. She could not afford to waste her last precious breaths of life on calming him with falsehoods about how his life was going to be peaches and cream here on out, she needed to focus on assuring him that his life was about to change and how he needed to adapt to said change…despite him being so young and chubby and adorable.
"You're…gonna have to be a…big boy now, my little…ugh…little champion of awesome. Y-You might…find yourself…feeling alone sometimes but…don't let that discourage you. You're gonna be taken…c-care of…a-and you're gonna s-save this…world…someday…I know it. Koff, Koff, hack!"
Cass, through teary eyes, broke off into painful-sounding coughs and wheezes which sounded as though they were cracking her poor ribcage apart with each and every convulsion of her mangled body.
Leo winced, his heart clenching at the sight as he knew that Cassandra didn't have the strength to last much longer. He decided to try and change the subject and distract his former-enemy-now-friend from her pain and anguish, he knew it was pointless but he wanted to make what could be her last couple minutes more comfortable. It was difficult but he managed to put on a little smile for her as he pointed to the child with his own softened eyeballs.
"What's the lil' mischief-maker's name?" He asked in a low whisper.
Cassandra smiled lovingly down at her sweet baby boy, her gaze transfixed on the babe as if nothing else mattered in the world.
"I named him after…the bravest and…most amazing warrior of this generation…"
Leo didn't speak as Cass filled in the suspenseful silence she left after trailing off for a sec, probably to give off a dramatic effect as she revealed her son's name unto him.
"Casey…Casey Jones Jr."
Leonardo couldn't hold back a genuine yet amused smirk as he heard that.
So she basically named the baby after her own nickname for herself?
She made sure that the babe was named after herself?
Why didn't that surprise him in any way despite the circumstances?
He watched with increasing pity while Cass, with tears in her eyes, pulled her baby back towards herself and cuddled him close and tight. She cuddled her infant with every ounce of love that she could muster, however she tried not to suffocate her child with literal love. Neither she nor little Casey would be able to take it. She could hear Casey coo happily in response to being held by his mum and the former Foot ninja soldier, in turn, crooned to her son to make him feel safe for awhile longer.
"My sweet son." Cass murmured to the baby boy in her arms and planted a soft kiss atop his head after using her thumb to brush some of his jet black fringe aside. "Please know that mama loves you so much."
It was after she finished snuggling her baby boy that Cassandra readjusted him in her arms, causing her to flinch hard due to the pain she was in, and held him out to Leo as if to present him to him — it was somewhat ironic, her own son was the only one who Cassandra allowed to see her compassionate and non-violent side…if she even had one, and she was showing it off now more than ever now that the end of her life was nigh.
She offered baby Casey out to Leonardo.
"Ngh…C-Casey, sweetie, this is a good friend of mine. Say hi."
As if he could understand her, baby Casey began to babble sweetly and incoherently while he raised one pudgy arm upwards and started to wave it about in the air in an unfocused manner. His eyes were huge and innocent and adorable.
For a brief moment, there was levity in the situation.
Leo smiled a warm smile as he let the boy take hold of one of his long green fingers…but then that smile turned into a frown and Cass reluctantly handed him off to Leo, who took the swaddled infant from her weak and shaky arms without really wanting to, and a fit of wheezy coughs burst from Cassandra's lips once the boy left her arms.
She choked and spluttered, each cough sounded wet and raspy and it was getting painful to listen to as weakly, and more out of instinct, while Cass grabbed hold of her own ribs as she ducked her own head in between her shoulders and let loose a weakened wheeze of a breath. She was sounding worse and worse by the second!
Leo began to grow desperate.
She couldn't die…she just couldn't!
"P-Please, Cassandra! Hang in there! Y-Your boy needs you to live!" Leo begged, his eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears. A lump formed in his throat, his arms trembled and quivered, tears threatened to prick at his eyes, his lips quivered as he struggled not to break down then and there. He didn't want to lose yet another person he had tried to hold close…and, yet, it seemed like that was what exactly happened.
What was he doing wrong?
Why was he losing so many friends thanks to these stupid Krang!?
In the meantime, Cassandra finally managed a small smile as she weakly peered up at the blue-wearing terrapin.
She was clearly trying for a reassuring glance.
It wasn't working.
"…Please…just listen to my last wish: Protect my baby, protect my little Casey…and raise him."
If Leonardo would have been drinking anything, he would have done a spit take of massive proportions after hearing such a thing come from his friend's lips. She had to be joking, she just had to be! She must have been delirious from blood loss to make such a request of him!
"R-R-R-Raise him!? What!? Me!?" Leo started to panic in spite of himself. "Cassandra, I think I'm the least qualified to raise your son! I-I'm arrogant and smug and self-centred! Heck, I'm the one who…."
He trailed off, turning away with a huge amount of shame and guilt heavy on his heart. Let's face it, it was his fault that the world was in such a sorry state right now —if only he'd been more responsible, if only he'd taken things a little more seriously…the world needed him and what did he do? He not only thought he could save the world all by himself but he also put the world in jeopardy as a result of that egotistical nonsense.
He hoped that someday he could properly atone for his mistake and finally set things right.
That was his wish.
But, either way, that was the biggest reason he should not be a dad to this kid!
He opened his mouth to continue to protest but was silenced when Cass glared at him weakly, probably using a lot of what was left of her energy to just do this, and she even managed to angle her broken arm up and sieze him bu the scarf around his neck and pulled him down towards her so their noses were inches away from each other with an impressive amount of reflexibility.
Leo and Cass looked one another in the eye, the air tense as the latter scowled darkly at the former.
"It's…not…about…you…"
Those four words struck Leo like a bolt of lightning.
She was right.
This wasn't about him.
This was about him doing what needed to be done and more, much more.
Then baby Casey decided to break the silence between the giant reptile and the former Foot ninja with really adorable noises which made react by Leonardo subconsciously swung the 7-month-old infant to and fro like a pendulum, hoping to pacify him, without really thinking about it as he concentrated more on the dying woman in front of him.
"Baaaaahhh…." Casey cooed, his high-pitched babbling sounding sleepy and fatigued.
Freeing one hand, Leo gently grabbed the back of Cassandra's head to support it and, oh-so gently, laid it down on the large mound of debris and rubble that she was lying on top of —he cradled her head in the palm of his three-fingered hand with such softness and sincerity that one could have sworn that Leo hadn't handled anything or anyone with more care than he had just then.
"Cass…please. You gotta hold on. W-We can't do this without you." Leo pleaded, tears oozing out from his eyeballs and trickling down his cheeks. He couldn't contain the tears anymore as the sadness he felt was beginning to get to the point where it was way too much for him to handle.
The dying woman coughed and wheezed in response, unable to speak much anymore.
All she could do was nod her head with a small smile of acceptance as she used the very last of her strength and pointed towards the only exit out of this narrow alleyway.
Clearly she wanted Leo to leave with the baby and keep him safe.
But…that was so hard, it didn't feel right to leave her to die all alone!
"You…You g-guys…have done perfectly fine…w-without me…before now." Cassandra whispered her response, her eyelids growing heavy. "Can…y-you…kick those Krangs backsides for me?"
Leo didn't know if Krang even had backsides to kick but he wasn't going to tell Cass that.
He just nodded in determined agreement with burning hot tears beginning to stream down his cheeks.
"….We will."
The Red-eared slider glanced down at the baby boy he had been entrusted with, this precious tiny bundle, and felt a major sense of responsibility for him. He didn't know if it was a responsibility he wanted or not yet nor did he know if he was even good enough to fulfill his former enemies' final wishes. He almost couldn't believe that this was the same woman who had tried to kill him a couple of years ago. He knew one absolute thing, however, and that was that he was given a task to look after this child and he couldn't break it.
He felt his heart flutter in his chest while he held the baby.
It was true that he was the least qualified to raise this boy but maybe, just maybe, he could help him grow into someone brave enough to fight off the Krang and fix his mistakes.
"A-And…I accept your request, I'm gonna look after Casey for you."
The words rolled off his tongue before he even realised that he had uttered them.
He was stunned at himself.
Did he really just say that?
Did he really just make the irresponsible promise that he would take on the care and guardianship of a small baby he'd only just met five minutes ago?
Why did he do that!?
He…He couldn't raise a child, he wasn't responsible enough!
Heck, he was still trying to be a good leader to an entire group of revolutionaries so what hope did he have of fatherhood?
As if on autopilot, Leonardo finally rose to stand on his own two feet without really controlling it; standing so suddenly made him realise pretty quick that his knees had a pretty severe case of pins and needles due to how much time he had spent kneeling to the ground and it made him a bit unsteady for the first couple of seconds until he regained his bearings and started to face towards the exit/entrance of the alleyway.
There was only one way in or out and, if he headed out there now, he'd be leaving Cass to die a lonely death.
Could he really do such a heartless thing?
He finally spun around to looked back and down at her…and found that she had not only closed her eyes but she had grown unnervingly still.
She wasn't even breathing anymore.
Leo couldn't bare to say anything, he couldn't make his voice work for a couple of seconds as his mind tried to comprehend this reality. Why did the Krang have to ruin everything? Not only did they take billions of lives (by either killing or enslaving) as the death toll included his father, Splinter, lots of innocent civilians and now Cassandra Jones…but now they orphaned an innocent child.
With each passing day, Leon couldn't help but hate them more and more.
With a heavy heart, the ninja turtle dressed in blue prepared to make his exit from the cold alley as he turned away from Cass' lifeless form and made absolutely sure to cover the baby's eyes so he didn't have to witness such a thing either; true, he might have been too young to be affected by such a thing but Leo refused to risk it.
One single tear oozed out his left eye and slid down his face as he took one last longing glance to his dearly departed friend.
"We'll come back for you, Cassandra…I promise."
That was when Leo drew the hood attached to his scarf/cape over his own head and then took off and out the alleyway as if his own two feet were set aflame, his cape flapping and fluttering behind him in the wind as he took off. He tried not to let it show that he was crying even harder as his head hung low and the tears dripped down his face and on to the ground in front of him, not to mention the tears caused his vision to blur significantly which made things way more difficult as he couldn't see very well what was in front of him.
One or two sobs squeezed through his tightened vocal chords while he kept running.
His mind was in turmoil.
He could hardly think at all with all the chaos going on right now!
The loud high-pitched shriek brought Leonardo back to reality and, upon being alerted to his new charge, he immediately ignored his own discomfort and looked down at the tiny boy.
"W-Waaaaah!"
He didn't know why but he was taken aback as he finally truly acknowledged the boy instead of just in passing due to the urgency of the situation.
Baby Casey began to shiver and shudder as pure fear and terror shone in his large and innocent onyx eyes.
Leo's heart broke at the sight and he thought that it had broken long ago from the other awful sights that he had seen on a regular basis and he couldn't help but feel compelled to do something to remedy the situation while he tried for a warm and comforting smile and voice to match.
He had to stop somewhere to properly deal with the crying infant he was now in charge of!
But where?
"H-Hang on, buddy!" He cried, trying to keep his voice down but also upbeat as to avoid attracting monsters. "Gimme a sec to hide us!"
It took longer than he would have liked but Leo eventually found temporary refuge.
It wasn't ideal by any means but he learned long ago to not look a gift horse in the mouth and to just take what he could get.
The spot he found was a meagre brick wall with a spot that was apparently untouched by Krang sentries or scouts, Leo hoped to keep it that way if he hurried with remedying little Casey's cries of obvious distress.
The terrapin in blue was breathless beyond belief as he crouched behind the crumbling wall, leaning against it slightly and reclining his shell against it to try and cool himself off from the heat that filtered through the humid mid-September air in spite of the nighttime silvery slithers of moonbeams shining down from the moon above. He panted heavily as his lungs felt like they were about to burst. His feet ached and his spinal cord felt like it was being twisted like a pretzel. He had a hard time keeping himself upright due to the fact that he was sore, the baby he carried rendered both arms occupied and he felt his poor feet ache due to the cuts beginning to sting as a result to them being sliced on the craggy yet cracked stones which made up the ground.
Of course, little Casey didn't stop whimpering and sobbing —it was a sound that threatened to turn into a full-blown wail any second.
Leo wanted to avoid this as much as possible.
"Heeeeeeey," The reptile tried for a friendly voice interlaced with a whisper to creating a soothing tone. "What's up, little guy? Something wrong?"
Casey's lower lip trembled and quivered and his eyes became large and watery —such a look would have made Leo's grizzled, crusty heart melt into a crusty goo due to the adorability of his face. He just stared up at the large reptile and grabbed hold of the fabric of his scarf and gave it a sharp tug as he was obviously using it as a security blanket…without it being a blanket.
Leo's head almost jerked down due to the tugging on the cape/scarf yet he didn't have the heart to try and tug the fabric out of the baby's grip as he was clearly looking for any reassurance he could get. However, he wasn't used to comforting people or dealing with children but it was what he had to do if he didn't want the child to become a little midnight snack for those monsters roaming the wretchedly wrecked streets.
"W-Woah!" He sputtered a sec, caught by surprise. "P-Please, kid. You gotta be quiet!"
He bounced baby Casey up and down in his arms and gingerly patted his side in hopes he'd settle.
This was to no avail, however, but that didn't stop Leo from trying as he proceeded to grab a fold of the blanket swaddling tiny Casey in and tried to loosen the swaddled confines of the blanket a little bit as he probably felt a bit hot in this humid summer evening —he was careful not to let the little one get caught in a draft, though.
Still that did nothing.
Leo's brows creased with displeasure and frustration.
What more could he do to get the little one to stop crying?
Then, all of a sudden, Casey uttered something as his eyes glistened with massive tears:
"Ma….?"
That's when it struck Leo like a smack to the face.
Of course!
Casey must have wanted Cass…
That's why he was upset.
The little one probably wanted his mother to hold him and tell him that not only was everything going to be okay but there was no need to be afraid.
But Leonardo knew better than that.
Not only was his mother not available…not anymore…but he had all the reason in the world to be frightened. There was nobody who could hold and comfort him like that anymore either and that must have made everything a thousand times more scary for him, especially considering how young he was. So yes, of course the kid was upset! Why wouldn't he be? He wanted his mother and now not only was she not around but he was now in the care of a giant turtle and he had zero idea or comprehension of what was going on!
But wait.
There was someone who could reassure him.
Leonardo didn't want to waste time and just wanted to get home after such a distressing scouting mission…but there was nothing left for it now.
"C-C'mon now, it's going to be alright. I know you want your mama but she….she's…."
He trailed off, not able to finish that sentence.
He just held the sobbing and whimpering boy close to him, cradling him gently against his plastron and just rocked his own body back and forth in a rhythmic manner while he tried to soothe his young charge. He could feel the tears leaking from the boy's eyes soaking his green skin and the young infant's heavy sobs and hiccups vibrated against him yet he didn't cease in holding him fast and tight —he couldn't let the boy attract any unwanted attention.
It wasn't until he had done this that he found himself visually drinking in all the details of baby Casey and started to look at the similarities between him and his mother.
He had jet black hair, like his mother did when she didn't shave her hair, except his was more long and rather luscious like grass. He had an upturned pug-like button nose like his mother did and her exact same dark beige-coloured skin tanned complexion. Needless to say, apart from one or two differences with his little face having a bit of a different structure and chin despite baby Casey having a squidgy baby face with adorable chubby cheeks, he was practically a little clone of her in some aspects —especially if one looked hard enough for the similarities.
Even still, that didn't calm Casey down from his whining and crying.
"Please don't cry, little one! I'm begging you! You're gonna get us caught."
But Casey either didn't hear him or wanted them to get caught because it was right after saying that that the baby's whimpers evolved into wails and shrieks; it was a sound that caused Leo to not only flinch as well as cringe due to both the close proximity and the volume of the noise but also because he was sure that he could hear some voices coming their way.
…And that was when he had an idea.
Leo didn't like it but it was the only way he could get Casey to be quiet and keep him quiet.
With great haste, he stuck one of his three fingers out and popped it right into baby Casey's mouth. The child let out a startled hiccup and found his tiny mouth closing around the long green digit as he began to suck on it with much intensity —this resulted in getting spit all over it which made Leo grimace with displeasure and disgust with having his finger slathered with baby dribble but it was preferable to the alternate option of having the poor thing wailing his lungs out as that would be like a neon sign to any lurking monsters around.
It didn't even take another minute before Casey's eyelids began to droop and his suckling slowed to a stop as he finally curled up into a tiny ball and fell asleep in Leonardo's arms.
The ninja turtle couldn't help but let a tiny hint of a grin appear on his face while his own eyes softened.
It was an adorable sight.
SKREEEEEE!
Leonardo almost jumped right out of his skin when a loud and rather distant screech blasted through the air, loud and piercing enough to shatter the sound barrier if it so wished —that's only if a noise could even be capable of having thought processes, desires or even sentience; nevertheless, he subconsciously tightened his grip on the baby boy, cuddled him closer to his chest in hopes that perhaps his own plastron and the blankets acting as a silk cocoon would act as some sort of muffler against the concussive sound.
Distant voices sounded out, making the Red-eared slider turtle even more nervous as they seemed to be gaining closer and closer.
"Did you hear something?"
"Yeah! I'm sure I heard it coming from this way, sounded like a disgusting human whelp!"
"Ya sure? It could be you just hearing things again!"
"Perhaps or perhaps not! Lady Ch'rell, Lord Utrom and Lord Mortu will be disappointed if we fail in our mission."
"Well, lets stop yammering and look around then!"
The terror of the situation heightened.
This was bad!
If Casey woke up and started to cry again, he'd get them both in real danger!
The atmosphere suddenly became so heavy and intense to the point where it felt like gravity itself was trying to crush everyone and everything so unfortunate to be beneath it…
Please don't wake up and cry.
Please don't wake up and cry.
Please don't wake up and cry.
Please don't wake up and cry.
Leo sweated bullets while he prayed so hard that the sounds wouldn't have been loud and abrupt enough to startle the boy awake and, even worse, start his crying up again.
The Red-eared slider held his breath out of pure anxiety when Casey began to whimper and sob….only to fall silent once again after a couple of terse moments as he let out a tiny contented sigh, which made the giant turtle's stiff posture ease a bit. He would have used one arm to grab his sword but, seeing as his finger was currently being used to pacify the infant he was protecting, he decided against it.
He was too tired to fight anyway, the adrenaline rush that had fuelled him up to this point had been used up and he was rendered useless.
They were sitting ducks, to put it simply.
Leo's breathing was erratic and heavy while he tried to remain quiet.
His mind was screaming in his earholes to get up and make a run for it but he shoved those instincts down from his brain and into his gut. He was not someone who would run from a fight but he couldn't afford to get into another battle right now —Casey was his priority and he needed to get him somewhere safe first. He pressed his shell further into the wall as heard the lurking creatures pass them by, listening to the loud clomping of mechanical feet (curtesy of their scary giant metal outfits) and their low, muttering conversational voices.
They probably scanned the area to look for any signs of their prey, but with no luck.
It took a long couple of moments before all was silent again.
Leo finally allowed himself to breathe properly and he felt relief spread from his chest up to his head and arms and legs, it was like a weight had been removed him his chest for the time being.
Then he looked back down at Casey who was still peacefully asleep with his tiny hands clutching Leo's finger which he still had jammed in his little mouth; the sight would have warmed Leon's heart if it hadn't been for the current life-and-death-situation they were just in.
Leon shook his head and smiled down warmly at the sleeping infant cradled in his muscular green, yellow-striped arms.
All this trouble caused by this little thing.
It was almost a marvel that this little one survived alone in a ravaged wasteland with nobody but his mother to care for him.
It was pretty impressive.
Leo sighed and shook his head, smiling sadly.
"…What am I gonna do with you?"
After going back to retrieve the sack of items he had been sent out to scavenge in the first place and somehow coming across it untouched, Leonardo decided that it was finally time to make his way home.
His limbs felt like they were made of lead, his muscles felt stiff so it was difficult to move at all, he felt a prickling sensation at the back of his mouth, his eyes had become bloodshot and had stung from the tears he had cried earlier after the loss of Casandra, and his heart was as heavy as a rhino.
He drew back his own hood to reveal his face and he let out a long-suffering sigh.
The giant reptilian rebel had lumbered along the sandy, crackling dunes with heavy steps until he felt almost ready to collapse while his knees shook and trembled and threatened to buckle right out from under him. He almost staggered and tripped over himself a couple times due to the weakness his body was going through after having to lug a baby and a sack heavy with lots of food and materials needed.
He definitely planned on having a long soak in the underground hot springs later, perhaps it would reopen his pores and loosen his tight muscles. The mere thought of being in the tepid warm water with the steam surrounding him made him give a light shiver of pleasure but he fought against it as he didn't want to make any more movement then what was necessary.
He had to focus on his task, after all.
He came to a stop when he reached a specific area that provided an overhead view of the horizon beyond the boarders of the broken-down city and unveiled nothing but more desert and broken-down buildings for as far as the eye could see.
Leo smiled with relief.
This was the spot.
It was difficult due to the energy he had lost but he somehow managed to muster a tiny spark of mystic power that allowed him to activate one of his portals.
He picked up one sword, held it out in front of himself, drew a circle in the air with the blade which sliced open a blue portal in front of him, threw his arm back as if to make an underhanded throw, threw said sword into the portal and then whipped out his other sword. This portal caused his cape and mask tails to flutter wildly in the breeze being caused by the rip in the air.
The portal made some sort of vacuum suction motion as it beckoned Leo into it; Of course it would, though. The portals he made were crafted from his own ability to harness his own spiritual energy so why wouldn't it feel familiar —especially to himself?
Leo was temporarily blinded after he stepped into the portal as a bright light shone right in front of him as he crossed over from one place to another entirely. It was after his vision had cleared that he found himself stepping out of the portal, and it vanished behind him in a zip of light once Leo found his previously-flung sword stabbed into the ground and he was presented with a entrance to an underground cavern.
He was home.
He bent down and plucked the blade out from the ground and sheathed it back in its original holster before he staggered back towards the cavern entrance where he was met by a familiar face.
"Leo?"
Leonardo's breath hitched in his throat and a feeling of dread washed over him like a tidal wave when he caught sight of none other then his little brother, Michaelangelo —the youngest of the ninja turtles but now a mystic warrior stood by the cavern entrance with a look of worry marring his still very youthful face.
Mikey was dressed in orange/bronze/caramel brown robes with small little sideburns beginning to grow out both sides of his head. A peace symbol had been tattooed to the lower part of his plastron near his right leg and his limbs looked more frail than they ever had before. He still maintained his playful nature but there was this certain wisdom shining in his aura.
Leo, meanwhile, cuddled the newborn babe closer to him instinctively as he continued to hobble towards his orange-robed brother and he tried his best not to just fall apart as he finally crossed the threshold between the deeper cavern catacombs and the Krang-infested, war-torn outside world. He even hardly said a word as he budged passed Mikey and just continued to make his way deeper into the dark caverns towards his chambers.
The heavy sack of stuff slipped from Leo's clasp, tumbling carelessly to the ground as he made his way through the cavern entrance and deeper into it without much of a care for anything more.
His heart was heavy and his mind was buzzing with a billion thoughts all at once that he was trying to sort out.
Mikey, sensing something was wrong, especially after the sack fell, followed his big brother anxiously. So many questions rang through his mind and he couldn't help but verbalise them to his big brother as he knew something bad had happened and he needed to try and help.
What kind of brother would he be if he didn't try and help?
"Leo? What's the matter? Why do you have a baby with you? What happened out there?" The 19-year-old orange-spotted box turtle asked with his voice interlaced with heavy concern and worry.
Leo stopped dead in his tracks.
He couldn't take it.
He hated hearing that note of worry in his little brother's tone, but he just…he wasn't sure if he was ready to answer those difficult questions that were more than likely plaguing his baby brother's mind. But he knew that not only was it unavoidable but it also needed to be done sooner rather than later, where was the sense in prolonging the pain by hiding it?
But how could he say what happened to Cassandra?
And, what was more, how could he tell them about the fact that he made a promise to raise her child who they never knew existed?
Leonardo's expression became unreadable and dark as he pondered on what to say…or even how to begin on what to say…but no, Mikey wasn't the only one who needed to hear what had happened. There were three other people whom had every right in the world to hear what had happened tonight.
"Little brother," He couldn't bring himself to look at Michaelangelo properly as he finally made his voice work. "Please get Donnie and Raph. And April too. There's something I need to tell you guys..."
He looked down at the sleeping baby boy curled up in his arms.
"…A-And theres also someone you guys have got to meet."
A/N: Heres the beginning of a new story with just over 9,000 chapters!
Wow thats a lot!
I have a head canon that Leo adopts Casey as his own son after Cassandra dies and he raises him in the apocalyptic world wrecked by the Krang while he and his brothers lead the resistance against them.
I haven't seen any fanfics about this so I thought I should make one myself.
Btw, since I don't think that the three Krang from the film didn't have names, I named them after the three Utrom we know of from the 2003 TMNT series.
Next chapter will be the reaction everyone has to Leo's new son, how will they react to him and the unfortunate truth that came with him?
Stay tuned and find out!
-Chloemcg