A/N: - Ok, everyone, this is the final chapter of this story. I hope you've enjoyed reading it – well, enjoyed it as much as possible considering the morbidity of the content…I know this has been a challenge for me to write as I'm so used to happy endings. But this time I wanted to end with something slightly different – so the plot with Leo goes through and then I had a little extra on the end – which, to be honest, had a lot more graphic detail but I felt it wasn't effective so I shortened it. Also, at the end of this chapter, you will find a preview for a brand new story. There are two in the pipeline at the minute, one of which has been in the pipeline for ages but I want to perfect it, the other of which I have had in my head for the past few weeks. Anyway, enough rambling – Read, review and help me to see this story off with a bang!

LEO'S POV – PRESENT TIME

And I still bear the scars from that encounter with the Shredder – the word 'alone' is still legible on my right arm, albeit growing fainter each year as my own life dwindles and I come closer to not being on my own anymore. Now I just wait; every second feeling like several millennia, a lifetime of guilt and despair is coursing through my body with every small movement.

I wonder what's on the other side…

Of death, I mean – I wonder if they'll be there, waiting for me, as I have waited to be re-united with them for all these long and lonely years. Or will I be stuck in-between two worlds until my soul is at peace? And what if I am left swirling through a vortex of flames and humiliation? What if I am forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, a mere shadow of warning to those who live their lives consumed by guilt at having not avenged their families' deaths?

All this is to be discovered in a matter of hours – it is close now, I can feel it. Its icy fingers are reaching out to pull me through the murky borders between the worlds of the living and dead. It is almost like a dream, where I'm drifting through a featureless landscape, in a daze, until I reach a cliff-edge – I stop, I stare, I remember. And I know that one day I will go over the edge I am stood on. Back then, I could never fathom when that would be. Several times have I contemplated the matter, unbeknownst, for the most part, to my beloved brothers, but I have never had the guts to go through with it – my competitive streak runs too strong in me to allow that too happen. I could never stand by and watch somebody else win at something I could easily beat them in.

I look around me now and I see only hatred and memories of things I would rather not be reminded of: the world has been tainted. The world has been tainted by a black fog, thicker than it is possible for fog to be on this Earth, and I now see everything in a new light. The world is cruel and there are many harsh realities that you never see or face until you are just moments from death – and by that time it is too late to put right all the wrongs and make an effort to lift the fog that you know will eventually consume all of mankind and, inevitably, every other living creature on the planet, from the highest sycamore and the great barrier reef, down to the smallest field-mouse and the tiniest seed. All would be devoured in an unending, undying blackness – and to know that you could have been a light, however faint, in that blackness and save at least one soul from that terrible fate is indeed a horrifying notion.

My breathing is slowing now…and I'm back on the cliff-edge, staring into the bleak unknown. Years upon years of hurting, of being trapped inside my own vicious circle of self-guilt, my rollercoaster of life that has looped the loop one too many times, the final curtain at the theatre in my head, the end credits of the movie that plays in my mind – all the emotions I have experienced during my thirty-eight years of mortal life are flooding over me at once, like waves breaking upon a shore, and all is becoming clear like never before. There have been times when I thought I understood and everything suddenly clicked into place; and although that may have been the case at the time and I managed to save another from their suffering or to realise my own stupid mistakes, the guilt and the memories always remain.

If I was to go back, rewind the clock, I would let myself speak out about my feelings more often. For me it was too late and although I could talk about my mistakes and sufferings of the past and it appeared I had gotten over them, I never really did. I am thankful, at least, that my brothers and my Sensei are not here to hear me admit that. They knew that the issues remained to some extent but I don't think they ever realised just how deeply embedded into my soul they were and just how many times my spirit had almost been broken…unless they were unlucky enough to find me in such a state, which I am glad to say has only happened once and I am truly sorry for it.

Of the four of us, me and my brothers, Raph and I were the two who didn't wish to be seen crying. If people saw us crying, they knew better than to ever bring it up again without a justified cause; and no, that does not include emotional blackmail, in spite of what Mikey may have told you…were he still alive…it's re-assuring that even in my last moments, and throughout any periods in which one of my family were down and out for whatever reason, the thoughts and words of Mikey, my youngest brother, always bring a smile to the face of whoever needs it most.

I wonder who will meet me…Donnie, perhaps, or maybe Raph or Mikey – maybe even Casey, April or Splinter…it's an intriguing thought, that's for certain, but death, although it does not scare nor phase me, is not a thought I relish, for I think, deep down, I truly believed that I would kill Shredder before my time was up – but we are all servants of fate as far as death goes and each of us has a given time. It's almost unnerving to think about the possibility that Donnie could have seen mine, Raph, Mikey, Splinter, Casey and April's deaths before any of us realised what was happening. But it is not a thought I would dismiss entirely…

Everything is growing so cold…

So dark…

The pain is blinding me now…only a few moments…then I can rest…

My biggest regret…?

….To answer honestly, I have no regrets, as such – had I been asked only minutes ago, I would have been able to give you many, but now I see that there is no regret once you have come this far – for I have learned much from my mistakes and only now do I see the benefit…

The light is fading…

Another soul is gone from this world – and none shall ever know…

The death rattle escaped Leo's broken body and his spirit was released from its leaden shackles at last. He felt his soul lifting from his body and a huge weight was lifted from his mortal shoulders; all the physical pain and suffering was over, although a great deal of mental anguish still remained. He felt himself spinning, round and round, until he was disorientated. He could just about make out the blurry outlines of the lair and his lifeless body. As all conscious feeling began to leave him, he lost all sense of time and space, falling only into a void, a deep and dark hole that was calling out for him.

"Leonardo…" the chilling whisper reached up for him, "Leonardo…join me…"

"Who are you?" Leo's voice sounded hollow, even to him, and he knew that he was being drawn into a world of fires and endless pain – this was to be his final test, it seemed.

"You need not know who I am, only that I am your ally and wish for your eternal allegiance…"

"Never," Leo hissed, trying to grasp onto some sort of memory of his mortal life, to pull him back from the abyss.

"No-one can save you now…" the harsh laughter of whoever the voice belonged to filled the growing cavern around Leo and he began to feel a cold that pierced through him, to his very soul. Looking down at himself, he barely recognised his own body – pale and drained of colour, taking on almost a crimson tint – crimson like blood. He felt himself slipping, and with nothing to hold on, he found it increasingly harder to fight back.

"Leo," a soft voice echoed from far away.

"Donnie?" Leo looked up and saw an olive green hand reaching for him, "Donnie, help me!" he pleaded.

"I can't, Leo – only you can help yourself now. The only reason you cannot free your soul from this torment is because you have yet to forgive yourself for all that has happened – you still blame yourself, Leo, I know you do – and that is what is keeping you from us…you have to forgive yourself!"

"I…I can't, Donnie – I killed you, all of you – if it hadn't been for me then you would have lived…"

"Not true, Leo," a gruffer voice responded. Raph had appeared next to Donnie; both were pale, spectres of what they had once been, but they still retained some colour, "You tried to save me – you almost got yourself killed but you didn't care. It was my choice to stop fighting, Leo. There was nothing you could have done."

"He's right, bro, and it was kinda the Shredder's fault that I moved on," Mikey's lighter tones filled the space around Leo, almost seeming to warm the air, "And besides, none of us ever blamed you for what happened."

"What about Casey and April?" Leo shot back at them, now losing sight of his brothers and swirling deeper into the void, "You can't tell me that wasn't my fault!"

"Leo, please don't do this!" Donnie called back. His voice was further away now and Leo could barely hear him, "If you don't realise the truth then nobody can help you!"

"It's too late, Donnie, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Leo screeched the last few words at the top of his lungs, turning it into a blood-curdling howl of pain and despair as he lost all awareness of his surroundings.

But as his eyes closed, a light seemed to shine at the end of a long tunnel and Leo stepped towards it. He could barely move his feet and every step required everything he had; he fought his way forward, desperate to reach his brothers, desperate not to lose them again. He was in the tunnel and the walls were closing in. Squeezing his eyes shut, he could hear Raph's voice inside his head – his eyes snapped open as his brother spoke to him.

"Trust me, bro, and go where your instincts tell you…" Raph's ghostly form seemed to brush against Leo, moving past him and towards the light for a few seconds before fading into the darkness.

"Come on, Leo, you've come through for us a million times before, and I know you will again," Donnie stepped out of the shadows and spoke to the confused and bewildered Leonardo before merging with the shadows, ally of the ninja, once more.

"Please don't leave us again, bro – we need you now more than ever. We don't want to lose you again, as I'm sure you don't want to lose us."

"I'm trying…but it's too hard," Leo replied through gritted teeth, taking a few more faltering steps towards the light.

"My son, you must focus – I am proud of you, Leonardo, and have always been proud of you. But you must endeavour to make me proud one more time, as you always used to endeavour to do, and you must return to us. Come home…" Splinter's voice sounded inside the darkest depths of Leo's head and he let out a cry, which rebounded off the walls and echoed through the tunnel. He pushed himself forwards and began to find it easier and easier to move. He could feel the guilt of thirty-eight years washing over him like a heavy rain, falling to the ground and shattering, blending with the Earth and cleansing him. He kept moving and as he neared the light, he felt a burst of warmth inside him, extinguishing the cold of a thousand winters and letting him move freely. He made the final leap towards the light, breathing in the fresh air of freedom. As he staggered forwards, exhausted, he felt a pair of strong arms catch him and he looked up, only to be embraced by Raphael, who was followed suit by Donatello and Michelangelo, Casey and April, and finally by Master Splinter. Letting himself soar, Leonardo could see below all of the hatred, pain, guilt and sorrow he had been bottling up for so long rushing down into the winding tunnel and swirling canyon of the abyss from which he'd just emerged. In the far-off distance, he heard soft singing and a voice from inside his soul,

"Be at peace, Leonardo – leave your past behind…"

FIFTY-TWO YEARS LATER

The water splashed around his feet as he ran through the sewers, panting heavily as he tried to escape the police that were ruthlessly hunting him down. He was a convict, escaped from prison and on the run, having been imprisoned for the murder of a local scientific genius and also for the breaking and entering into a laboratory owned by said genius. Reaching a large metal door, he pounded his fists against it, hearing the angry voices of soaked policemen trudging through the sewage. The door opened slightly and the convict forced his way inside, slamming the heavy metal door behind him. He felt the sewers shake with the force of the door shutting and heard rocks crumbling and tumbling outside the door.

"Great," he muttered, "I'm trapped in here,"

Shuddering, he looked around, curious to see what the layers upon layers of dust were concealing. Blowing them off what he could see to be a photo frame, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Snapping back to his senses, he gazed closely at the photo before him through the cracked and splintered glass: four turtles, each wearing a different colour bandana, the red and blue ones looking disgruntled and glaring at each other while the orange and purple ones were grinning and waving; a rat wearing a kimono, stood between the red and blue banded turtles; two humans, a male and a female, both relatively attractive, holding hands and smiling coyly at the camera. Maybe these people were particularly fond of dressing up… the convict thought distractedly, there's no other explanation!

As he wandered through the abandoned lair, he came upon a large room filled with dusty martial arts equipment, an old punching bag, giving off a musky odour, hung from the ceiling on a rusty chain. Several different weapons were on stands and shelves; the convict picked up two small, fork-like weapons, which he remembered seeing on a TV program – Sais, he wanted to call them – and dusted them off, examining them closely. Their handles were wrapped in faded red cloth; everything clicked into place. These weapons must have belonged to the red-banded person in the turtle costume. Moving back into the main body of the lair, he headed up the stairs onto the upper level. He walked past several rooms, taking a glance into each one and encountering three very different styles of room. Stepping into one of them, he found an open diary next to a lot of scientific equipment. Picking it up, he shook the cobwebs from it and began to read:

Maybe one day I'll understand why we can never be accepted into the upper world – but to be honest, I'm confused. I'm supposed to be the brainy one, but I just can't make sense of why I can't go up there and use my knowledge, my gift, as Sensei calls it, for a worthwhile cause. He says we'll never be accepted up there – yet every time we've helped humans, like Quarry and the others, they have been grateful and accepted us for who we are. But for now we have bigger problems to deal with…like the Shredder. Mikey and Raph were ambushed by him a couple of weeks ago – and had Leo and I not arrived, I think he may have killed them. Raph was so angry at having to ask for back-up from us that he threw his Sais into the TV…again. Another thing for me to fix, along with the lights that Mikey smashed with his Nunchuks; not to mention that I have to repair a shelf in the dojo after Leo got carried away with a kata and sliced straight through the support. I ought to give them all a good talking to – don't get me wrong, I love technology, but I don't want to keep having to fix the same things over and over again. I'd better round this off – Leo and Raph are at it…again! Do those two ever stop fighting? Stupid question…

"So you have names…and you're not wearing costumes…this is too weird," the convict put the book back in its place on the desk and moved out of the room. The door of the next room he came to was shut. Intrigued to know what the fourth room belonging to one of these mysterious turtle creatures would look like, he cautiously opened the door. Instantly, a foul stench reached his nostrils and he slammed the door shut, bolting down the stairs as fast as he could. Now that he thought about it, the whole place smelled of death and sadness. It was scaring him and he was trapped. Seeing a newspaper on the table, he picked it up and looked at the date – about seventy years previously – and read the front page, disbelieving at what he was reading. Oroku Saki? Why do I know that name? I am sure that old Doctor Chaplin worked for him…the old man I murdered worked for Saki…yes, of that I am certain…

Hearing the unsheathing of blades behind him, the convict threw the paper down and whipped round to face his attacker. He focussed on what was going on just in time to see a bladed glove that was raised high above his head being swung swiftly towards him. He let out a scream of terror, unable to do anything to prevent his fate, and shut his eyes, bracing himself for the impact. His last thoughts were of a curse he had been told of years ago, a ghost story told to him at sleepovers he had been to as a teenager; the story of an armoured spectre that wandered the abandoned section of the sewers, hunting for the last of his lifelong foes, swearing never to rest until he found him and took his revenge. Anyone who dared to intrude on his quest would not live to tell the tale, If only he had opened that door… were the last thoughts of the convict as the blades sliced his throat, maybe he would have found his answers…

A/N: - I don't think I really need to say anymore on the ending – I'll leave it to your imagination as to what he saw behind the door of that fourth room. I always think things are more effective if they leave a little to the imagination when it comes to things like this…anyway, THANK-YOU to all my reviewers who have been so supportive and have always managed to make me smile with their reviews, and if you could all review one last time then I'd be very grateful.

Meanwhile, here is a quick glimpse of my new story, which I will be putting up at some point in the next couple of weeks: -

"I know you're worried, Raph – shell, we're all worried about him, but what else can we do? I'm sure he'll sort it out by himself, if we just give him a bit of space." Donnie raised his voice so as to be heard above Raph's fuming.

"I'm telling ya, guys, he ain't right! He's been acting all funny for a while now and it's really starting to tick me off! If he don't snap out of it soon, then I'll---"

"You'll what, Raph?" a quiet voice from the doorway indicated their brother's arrival. Raph cast his eyes to the floor, unable to look at his brother directly.

"Bro, you gotta get some rest – you look dreadful," Mikey piped up from where he'd been raiding the fridge, getting sick of Raph's constant ranting about the state of Leo at the moment. But even he couldn't deny that Leo was looking awful; dark circles ringed his eyes, which seemed to have dulled over the past few weeks, and he was pale, almost pasty-looking. Donnie just watched, sighing and shaking his head as Leo stepped into the room and made himself a cup of tea.

"Listen, guys, I'm fine, okay? I'm just a little tired, that's all…"

"A little! Leo, you look like death that's been killed a five times and warmed up six!"

"Thanks for that, Raph," Leo remarked dryly, practically ignoring his brother.

"Fine, you know what? You just carry on like this and you'll see that I'm right – get a grip, Leo!" Raph threw up his hands in exasperation and stormed out of the room. He could be heard stomping up the stairs and the remaining three turtles flinched, grimacing at each other, as the door to Raph's room was closed with enough force to make the walls of his room shake from the vibrations. Leo sighed and sat down at the table, massaging his temples,

"I can't win, can I?"

"Leo, if you'd just let Donnie…" Mikey trailed off, seeing the warning look Don shot at him, "Just try and relax, yeah?"

"I'll try, Mikey," Leo replied wearily, "but I can't promise anything…"

That's not the best extract I could have given, but I don't want to give too much away.