YES! I finished Caerulus Aurae: The Legend. I'm so happy! Now all that's left is to finish three more stories and start a whole new one (the sequel to Caerulus Aurae: The Legend). Whew.

DISCAIMER: I don't own anything, except the title of the story and the title of the chapters and the story plot. Everything else, I'm just borrowing.

So, a few things to note:

Words in ITALICS are THOUGHTS.


Chapter 7: We struggle to overcome

Leo groaned as he opened his eyes. He hurt so much!

Blinking, he realized two things. One, it was warm. Two, he was lying on something soft…

Leo looked around in a daze. He's got to be dreaming…

There was a roof above him, made of stone, decorated with elaborate blue swirls. There was a desk near one of the walls, pencils and pens neatly placed into a cup, papers neatly staked into two columns…

A chair placed in front of the desk; a small shelf across from it, a shelf filled with books; across from there was a small stand for two Katanas…

Leo kept staring. He was in his room…there was no bloody way that could be! He was just dreaming this.

Leo felt his heart sink. Yes. This was a dream. When he opens his eyes, he'll be back in that small cage.

Leo sighed. He so did wish that this were true…

Tears prickled in the corners of his eyes. Why did he have to dream this? Why?


This time, he kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to wake up and see that it really had been a dream.

It was still warm…but that could be because he was ill.

Leo heard shuffling down the corridor. His heart sank, despite how much he tried to make himself believe that it was really a dream…

Saki was coming to check up on him…

The door quietly opened, and footsteps could be heard coming in. "Leo? Are you awake?"

Leo's eyes shot open and he stared up at the face of Mikey in surprise. He blinked as he looked around the room. It wasn't a dream…

He felt his heart jump with glee as he surveyed his room again. But how'd he get here?

Maybe he just dreamt it all. Dreamt that Saki had attacked the Lair, that his brothers turned abusive, that he'd traded his soul, that he'd been a prisoner…

But than why'd he hurt so if it had been a dream?

Suddenly, he realized that Mikey was talking. Zoning back, Leo listened.

"—You've been out for about two days…did you know how worried we were? Don was afraid that you wouldn't wake…you had a nasty fever, but it's gone down now…God! We were so damn worried! Sorry we couldn't get you earlier…but well, I'm so sorry Leo! I feel like a total jerk right now…we abused you…God, it just seems so damn unlikely, but—"

Mikey kept on talking, but Leo wasn't listening.

'Abused? God, no! It wasn't a dream! Oh god no…' Leo thought in panic.

Then, suddenly the door opened and Don walked in. "Mikey!" He said in surprise, stopping. "What are you doing?"

Mikey looked at him in surprise. "Leo's awake, and well—"

"He needs rest! He's pretty wounded!…Leo?" Don asked in surprise, staring at his brother.

Leo was shaking now. 'Everything happened…no! But then why am I not in that cage? Did Saki have enough of me and decided that he'd rather have my bros? NO! Does that mean that everything's gonna start all over again? God, anything but that! I don't think I'll be able to handle it…'

Don stepped closer to him, his face showing worry. But Leo just saw a menacing expression. Despite the pain and without a second thought, Leo rolled away, falling off of the bed, before rolling under it. It was a pathetic hiding place, but Leo didn't care. He closed his eyes and covered his head, praying to whoever listened that they'd just go away…

Don ran around the bed before falling to his knees. "LEO? Goddamn it!" He whispered, but Leo heard. Thinking that Don was angry with him, Leo scooted further inward, shaking like a little leaf.

Don sighed, before willing himself to calm down. Him cursing only scared Leo. He probably got enough of that…

"Leo? I'm not going to hurt you. I promise." He said soothingly, trying to coax Leo out from under there, as if Leo was a scared little puppy.

But Leo just froze, clearly refusing.

Don sighed before looking up at Mikey, who was still standing in the same place he had been. "Get Master Splinter." Mikey nodded, before shooting one last look at the bed with Leo under it, before rushing out.

Don looked under the bed again, before trying once again to coax Leo out.


Raph and Casey were watching TV, while April and Splinter were playing chess, when Mikey rushed in yelling.

Raph glared at him. "Shut up and tell us why the bloody hell ya yellin'."

Mikey ignored Raph. "Master Splinter! Leo's awake—"

Raph jumped up. "He's awake! Can we go—"

Splinter held up a hand, shushing him.

Mikey continued. "—But he's hiding under the bed, refusing to come out!"

Splinter's eyes widened before he stood up quickly, and rushing to Leo's room.


Don looked up just as Splinter appeared in the room. "He's not coming out!" Don said sadly, pointing under the bed. "He's shaking…"

Splinter nodded before kneeling down beside his son. Looking under the bed, he saw two eyes, glazed over with fear. "My son?"

Leo just shrank back. He'd failed Splinter; he was a failure. He'd only want to punish him too. And Leo didn't think that he could take any more pain…

Splinter sighed as he slowly shifted back into a kneeling position. He shook his head at the expectant faces in the doorway.

Raph's eyes flashed. He was already pissed at what happened and Leo being afraid of them wasn't helping.

He growled in anger, as he shoved past them and stomped in to the room. "Leo, get your fuckin' ass out here and quit this fuckin' idiocy."

Splinter stood up quickly. "Raphael…" He said in a low, warning voice.

Raph rounded towards him. "What? Is it now okay that he's hidin' under the damn bed like some fuckin' puppy?"

"Raphael…" The tone was much sharper now.

"Oh sure! Let's all go hide under some damn bed shakin' as if the damn world was gonna fall onto our fuckin' heads!"

"ENOUGH." Splinter's tone was now sharp and deadly quiet. No one said a word, not even Raph.

Splinter's eyes were ablaze. No one had ever seen him so angry before. "Get into your room, Raphael, and do NOT come out until I say so!"

Raph hesitated, but when Splinter took a step towards him, he fled.

Leo was almost paralyzed with fear. Out of all of this, he only could understand that Splinter was angry. VERY angry. And completely ignoring the blatant fact that he was angry with Raph, Leo shrank back, very sure that the only reason that Splinter was angry was because of him. Hell, he had no clue how the hell he'd lived through the past four weeks, but now he knew that if he'd live through tonight, then he'd be the luckiest person in the universe.

Leo bowed his head, burying it into his arms. He felt tears prickling in his eyes. Why him?


April had been watching this silently, but now, she spoke up. "Everyone, GET OUT."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. Splinter sighed. "Ms. O'Neil…"

April shook her head. "Don't, Master Splinter. I'm sorry, but don't you DARE try to say you're helping. Leo's hiding under the bed, scared to death of you all, and you aren't helping one bit. Right now, I think Leo would rather jump from a 90 story building than be in the same room with you guys."

Silence followed that. April took a deep breath before continuing. "Don't you think it's a bit much? Leo spent the last four weeks being yelled at, cursed at, and goddamn it, abused. What do you expect! Him coming home and immediately pretending that none of it ever happened! That the four weeks never happened! Hell no."

Leo's breaths were coming slower now. At least someone was maybe going to help him. Maybe.

Don looked down at the floor, crossing his arms. "Yeah. You're right. You're right…"

Splinter did not say anything. He just let his hands hang loosely by his side, his expression sad and thoughtful.

April nodded sadly. "Please. Just go."

There was a shuffle of feet and then the door closed. "Leo?"

Leo opened his eyes and looked out from the dark at a pair of feet.

"Their gone." April knelt down beside the bed, peeking under it. "You can come out now. They won't hurt you." 'Not like they would…'

But Leo didn't know that. April smiled gently at Leo as he slowly crawled out on the opposite side, not really trusting April that much but trusting her enough to come out.

'Amazing how just four weeks, about thirty days, could completely destroy a person's trust…' She thought as she slowly sat up into a kneeling position.

Leo jumped at the movement, before drawing back into a corner as she stood. He quickly curled up as she started to move towards him.

"I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry Leo. I would never hurt you."

Leo, although he knew that, still curled into the corner as if he thought that if he curled up enough, then he'd disappear.

April knelt down beside him. "It's okay." She whispered before smiling. "Are you hungry?"

Leo blinked before looking at her surprised. Then, he smiled. It was a small smile, barely there, but April noticed.

'But there's always hope…'


YES! Only three more chapters left and then we're done!

R&R PLEASE!