When he finally came to, it felt as if a train had smashed into his plastron, and then went back and forth a few times just for good measure.
Thw pain diminished gradually and he was able to sit upright with only minor trouble after a few minutes.
"My son, how are you feeling?" He heard his father ask from not far from him.
"I'm fine, Sensei." Leonardo said immediately, only to be met with a warning look and a warm cup of tea pressed into his hands.
"Drink, it will help." His father ordered.
"Hai, Sensei." Leonardo agreed obediently, taking a large drink from the medical tea and trying- and failing- not to make a face.
"Your brother explained what happened." His father informed him.
Leo sat up straiter.
"Raph's awake?" Leo demanded.
The last memory he had of his immediate younger brother was of Raph passed out as Mikey carried his battered and severely wounded body back to the Lair... and then everything went strangely fuzzy.
Sensing his confusion, his father was quick to explain in that ever calm tone that never wavered.
"Your blood loss began to affect you after you entered the sewers and your brother assisted you back to the Lair." His father explained to him. "And to answer your question, no, Raphael is not awake. Michelangelo explained last night's events to me before I sent him to bed. Raphael is in the infirmary, resting."
It was then, prompted by the realization that he himself was not in the infirmary, looked around to realize that he was in his own bedroom.
"I thought you would be more comfortable in your own bedroom." His father supplied as he looked around for further confirmation.
Leo looked back at his father. It was so easy to forget just how strong their father could be, especially when it concerned one of his children, inside and out.
Leo didn't want to imagine what it had to have been like when it happened. To loose one child and have to carry on and support the rest, the reminder of that loss forever burned into his mind.
"I'm sorry, Sensei." Leo murmered sincerely.
"For what, Leonardo?" His father asked beside him, gently touching his hand.
"We were supposed to find out what happened to Donnie, but we didn't. We saw the mutagen and I just figured that if we didn't get it right then, then we would loose it forever and we didn't... find anything out about... about Don." Leo admitted.
They had gone up to the surface to find answers, and instead, had been carried home by their baby brother back home to their grieving father. As if he didn't have enough on his mind.
"You know, my son, most answers we seek can be found within ourselves if we simply search hard enough." Splinter informed his oldest son.
Leonardo, for all his patience and quick understanding with his father's often vague sayings, could not grasp the meaning of his teacher's words.
Perhaps it was the blood loss, or that's what the leader in blue told himself, at least.
Seeing his sons confusion, the old rat continued.
"My son, you were the only one amongst us to be with Donatello that night. The only one that may be able to give any insight on what happened."
"But I don't remember anything." Leo lied, the words automatically spilling from his mouth, firm and absolute.
He realized all too late how easily his father would see through the blatant lie. It was him, afterall, who woke to his screaming in those early days, before he had learned to stifle the noise. Rarely now did he ever emit any noise, and even rarer was it enough to wake his family. And even on the handful of times that he had in fact woken someone, he would always claim that the nightmare was of Shredder or some other enemy, and it was easily believed.
Well, easily believed by most of his family, anyway.
Splinter calmly sighed as he saw the tint of red that accompanied his son's guilt and continued.
"My son, you may think that what you remember may be of little significance, but there are some things that our minds lock away because we do not want to remember." His father said, his tone gentle.
"You think that something I might remember could help in finding out what happened?" Leo guessed hesitantly.
"I believe it is worth a shot, my son." His father affirmed.
"But how- how would we?-" Leo hesitated.
"Meditation often helps to open the mind Leonardo. It will help now."
His father's voice was both comforting and firm, and so Leo easily followed his orders.
Slipping into meditation and to the astral plain was as easy as falling asleep on feather bed and it didn't seem but a moment before he opened his eyes to the astral plain.
His father was beside him, hands clasped behind his back.
"Now think, Leonardo, and try to go beyond what you usually remember."
It made him uneasy, attempting to remember the very thing that he often escaped to the astral plain to forget, but he did. Anything that even might help was worth trying.
Donnie, he thought to himself, trying to conjure up his last memory of his late brother.
To his surprise, an image appeared without hesitation in his mind's eye, a picture-perfect memory of his second youngest brother. He could see Donnie's wide grin, the sparkle of interest that burned in his eyes at any new piece of information no matter how small.
And just like that, the calm serenity of the astral plain dissapeared and in it's place stood the very epitome of Leonardo's worst fears and harshest realities.
His mind seemed to have conjured up the very thing he had fought to forget, complete with every imaginative detail.
He could hear the steady drops of of sewer water falling to the floor of the sewers, mixing with the green tinted water. He could smell that sickly stench of mold and contamination that had lingered in the sewers for what seemed to the turtles like forever until their diligent work helped to almost eliminate the smell.
"My son, are you alright?" His father, whom he hadn't even noticed up until this point, asked with a great air of concern.
When his eldest son didn't answer and instead continued to stare into the old memory of the sewers that his mind's eye had conjured up, he began to rethink this plan of action. How could he expect Leonardo to go back to the place of one of his greatest traumas?
Just as he was about to speak and suggest that this could wait for another time, Leonardo spoke up, his voice distant and distracted.
"Do you hear that?"
Leo took a few steps forward and hesitated, waiting for his father.
As ridiculous as it was, he didn't want to take another step without his father by his side. He had made that mistake eleven years ago, not now.
His father looked at him with obvious concern but took the lead without question.
They both stopped as the sound met their ears again.
"But daaaaaaad-" A small, instantly recognizable voice yelled. "We just got here! Why do we gotta move again?"
"Because, Michelangelo, I will explain later, but we must move now." They heard Splinter answer, a hint of panic touching his tone.
Leo and Splinter rounded the corner to come face to face with themselves- eleven years ago, anyway.
Splinter's fur was lighter and Leo could practically see the weight of fatherhood on the new parent.
Leo turned to his Sensei beside him to compare the two when he saw his father's attention strictly locked onto something behind him.
Following his gaze, Leo gasped upon the sight of their long dead brother, grinning widely as he watched his father shake the other turtles awake.
The four turtles were curled under a frayed blanket in a vacant sewer tunnel that their father had found a few days prior and none appeared too happy at the early wake up call.
"Wake up, Leonardo, Raphael." His father said, shaking them gently but firmly. "We must move now."
Raph groaned loudly and rolled over to fall back asleep, only to have Mikey jump right beside him and begin one of the most Mikey-ist things Leo had ever seen.
"Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph, Raph." Mikey chanted again and again and again until Leo himself thought that his ears would bleed from the repetition. "Raphie! Get! Up!"
Mikey sure got his wish, alright.
Raph lunged up with a mighty roar for the small tot and grabbed Mikey and pulled him to the floor.
"Enough!" Splinter snapped, the stress of the situation tainting his tone.
The small tots flinched from the tone previously unheard from their father and the rat immediately calmed.
"We must move from here, quickly now, my sons gather your things."
The small tots scrambled up and began to gather their meager belongings.
Mikey clutched the blanket in his small hands, attempting to ball the fabric to his plastron tightly to better grip it.
Leo himself grabbed their father's medical bag tightly in his hand, feeling purposeful to be carrying something valued.
Raph grabbed the food bag and held it tightly, as he was the only one besides Splinter who could carry it's weight.
Donnie had the book that Splinter had given him the night before, clenching it tightly as if it would protect him.
Leo knew all too well that all the knowledge in the world wasn't going to protect him soon.
There was a sound of quick, almost imperceptible movement in the tunnel left of them, and both Splinters tensed.
"We must move. Come now. Hurry." Now Splinter's voice was thoroughly panicked as he led the four small turtles out of the tunnel that had been their home for the past few days.
The whole scene had been a big nostalgic for Leo and Splinter, and just bittersweet enough to make them both regret it.
The mood only turned more depressing when Leo watched his father attempt to reach out and touch his second youngest son, only to touch air in return.
Donnie followed after the younger Leo, completely unaware of his father's mournful expression or the gravity of the situation.
Cautiously, though not truly expecting a different result, Leo too reached out. But instead of touching air, he found himself grasping Donnie's wrist in a tight hold, facing the tot at eye level.
"Hurry, Donnie, keep up!" The words poured from Leo's mouth without pause and he instantly understood why he had said it.
Donnie liked to sit back and observe often, but Leo knew that they didn't have the time for that.
Donnie consented, gripping his book tighter in one hand and grabbing Leo's arm with the other.
"Something's wrong, Leo." He informed his older brother. "Dad doesn't act like this usually."
Leo glanced back at their father. He was feeling the same thing, but didn't want to admit so with his brother obviously scared enough as it was.
"Everything's fine, Donnie. We're just moving spots." Leo assured his younger brother. They both knew it was a lie, but it was better than telling the truth.
Splinter watched as the small family of five made their way through the maze of tunnels, uncertain of how much his son understood what was going on around him.
He had been truly frightened to see his son dissapear before his eyes into the young tot he used to be, and had tried to pull him out, only to get the same response he had gotten to Donatello.
Unable to do anything else, the old master followed the family as they ran, picking up pace as the sounds increased.
"Hurry my sons, hurry!" Splinter ordered, leading them deeper into the maze that only he knew so well.
The sounds of approaching footsteps could be heard from all sides now as a multitude of Foot ninja surrounded the small family.
The older Splinter let out an involuntary growl of protective rage as he witnessed the ingrained memory relive itself.
The younger Splinter growled in similar fury and blocked the first attack.
"Leonardo, take your brothers! Run!" He yelled, his tail whipping out to trip several attackers at once.
Leo automatically grabbed for Donnie's hand, yanking him forward where the ninjas had previously been standing.
"Raph, Mikey, hurry!" Leo yelled, using his other hand to yank his other younger brothers forward.
The older rat easily kept up with the four young turtles as they stumbled away from the fight.
"You four, go after them!"
Instinctively, Master Splinter jumped to defend his young sons, only to have the same response from when he had attempted to touch his son. He watched on in despair as the four ninja ran after his young sons.
"Leo, we have to split up. Confuse them." Donnie urged, gripping his oldest brother's arm tightly. "We'll loose them easier."
Leo nodded, quickly assessing the situation.
"Raphie, you and Mikey go left." Leo said. "Me and Don will go right. Meet back up after you loose them."
"What?" Even at his young age, Raphael still managed to be defiant. "No way! Otosan wanted us to stay together!"
"Raphie, it'll be okay." Donnie assured him, but he was obviously still hesitant.
"Go, we'll be fine. Take care of Mikey!" Leo said and, gripping his second youngest brother's arm like a vise, tore off down the right tunnel.
The old rat found himself keeping up beside the two, knowing all too well how this memory was going to end, but knew that he had to see it through regardless. This was for information, after all.
"Leo, we can-"
But the tingling on the back of the young to-be leader forced him to pay less attention to his brother and more attention to his instincts, and they were telling him that there was danger.
Of course, he already knew this. They weren't running for nothing, after all, but this felt more immediate and demanding.
He saw it with a second to loose, the startling glint of pointed metal that he somehow just knew would hit his brother.
He dove for his younger brother, shoving him away from the weapon as fast as he could at the same time that he felt the most intense pain that he had ever felt bloom from his shoulder.
He cried out and clutched the spot as he had a burn that he had gotten a few months prior.
He wasn't aware of his brother beside him, his mind was too focused on the pain to acknowledge anything else at the moment.
He did, however, feel himself being lowered to the ground what felt like an eternity later.
Through bleary eyes, Leo saw a very long arrow inbeded in his shoulder, the metal part completely nonexistent and leaving only the wooden arrow to be seen.
Adrenalin pumping through his system faster than his blood, Leo wrapped his little hands around the arrow and pulled, crying out with the blinding pain that it caused.
"Leo! Leo, stop!" Someone hissed beside him.
He looked up to see Donnie wrench his hand free of the arrow and press his mask to his shoulder and hold it there, apologizing when Leo hissed in pain.
"Sorry, sorry." He aploagized. "Look in the bag and see if you can find some cloth or something."
Leo obliged and ripped open the bag, spilling it's contents all over the floor in his wild search for a cloth. At last he found a small roll of gauze, which he thought would suffice, and handed it to Donnie, who held it in his hand in hesitation.
"What?" Leo asked, unsure if that was what his brother had meant.
"I don't know if I should unroll it or just press it and hope it stays." He admitted.
Leo hesitated. "I'm not sure." He admitted, feeling as if he should.
"I'm just going to unroll it and try to make it stay, alright?" Donnie decided finally. "Just tell me if it hurts."
And that's what he did, he unrolled the gauze and carefully maneuvered it around the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, knotting it together to make it stay.
Leo tensed and Donnie was quick to aploagize.
"Sorry! Sorry, sorry!" He muttered as he tied it off.
"It's okay." Leo managed.
"Leo, we can't stay here. We need to-"
But as he spoke, Leo's good hand clamped tightly over his brother's mouth and they both stopped and listened.
"What do you mean you lost them?" Someone's harsh voice demanded not too far from where they were hiding. Maybe a tunnel or two away.
There must have been some kind of response because the man cursed and they both flinched at the sound of something being broken.
"And what about the rat?"
"He got away, we think that he went after the other two." Came the slightly delayed response.
On one hand, the response filled Leo with relief, on the other, the fact that Leo could hear the response at all meant that the ninjas were getting closer and Leo didn't like that one bit.
Apparently Donnie had gathered this much as well and he stood, glancing toward where the voices had come from and back toward Leo.
They were in trouble, this much Leo knew for certain. He couldn't move with his shoulder and if Donnie stayed with him, he'd be in just as much danger.
"Don, you need to-"
"Leo, listen to me." His younger brother cut him off, gripping his hand. "Keep pressure on this, okay? Don't move your hand."
As he said this, Donnie grabbed his hand and forced him to apply pressure to the wound.
"Do not remove your hand. I'll be back, but it's best if you don't move."
Leo nodded, certain that they were on the same page. He was going to go get dad, then he would come back for him.
No! Some part of him screamed, his gut revolting against the idea of letting his brother out of his sight for even a moment. But how else would dad find them? He had to trust that Donnie was going to find him and come back.
Satisfied, Donnie sat his precious book on the ground and Leo glanced down just long enough to catch the title- Basic Medical Procedures. Do's And Dont's.
Donnie gave him one last smile and raced toward the closest tunnel, making what Leo thought was an excessive amount of noise.
"Hey, shut up." Leo heard the cold voice command. "Do you hear that?"
Run Donnie, Leo thought, mentally willing his brother to be faster, while also wanting him to be quieter.
"Over here! Ping our location to the others."
Leo watched in silent horror as he saw two figures hesitate at the entrance to his tunnel and he clamped a hand over his own mouth, much the same way he had done to Donnie.
They were both dressed in identical Foot garb, simple black suits with the Foot logo stitched on one breast. One had a long bow, which the man obviously knew how to use as he effortlessly pulled one arrow out and strung it in the bow, almost as if it were second nature to him.
The second man was partially hidden in shadow but Leo could see the weapon in his hands, the Kusarigama held awkwardly, as if he hadn't quite learned how to hold it yet.
There was another larger, noisier splash of water and an accompanying yell and the two turned toward the sound.
"Over here." The man with the Kusarigama ordered, swinging the weapon's blade close to his body.
When the man turned, Leo got a look at his face for just a moment, and something tickled in the young turtle's mind.
Faintly, he realized that he should know the man, but couldn't put an explenation to the thought.
"Come on!" He yelled and the two tore off after the same way that his younger brother had just gone.
No! No!
Leo attemted to scramble up, only to be met with a blinding pain the moment that he moved his shoulder.
Donnie!
That was his last thought before his mind went numb and his body lost it's fight against exhaustion. Yeah... I'm not totally happy with this chapter, I may change it, I don't know. Thank you for staying with this story and have a great weekend everyone!