A/N

So sorry this took so long! I seriously want to start posting far more frequently, my goal is 3-4k words a week, but my schedule, unfortunately, has gotten a little crazy. For those worried in these weird times (this is posted during the Covid pandemic, for future readers), I'm safe. I am an essential employee, but I'm in a job that doesn't have me directly dealing with a lot of people, so I'm able to distance myself fairly well and therefore hopefully remain safe. It's, unfortunately, still suddenly lot more work for me then usual, so yeah... between that, and renovating two houses in preparation for moving, life has gotten a bit nuts. I'm going to keep writing, I promise, and I'll try to not take, what, two months again? But that just depends on life.

Chapter 16: The Journey of a Lifetime

Leo found himself seated on the surprisingly comfortable couch in front of the mass of tv monitors that now apparently made up his family's living room. Well, this was nice. His brothers obviously put a lot of effort into this area. He still wasn't terribly sure why there had to be so many screens, but eh, it wasn't like that mattered to him anymore.

He hummed quietly to himself as he waited patiently for the plastic cuff around his upper arm to finish inflating with air, squeezing the scale covered muscles of his biceps tightly as Donnie checked his blood pressure. Again. For the third time since he'd arrived back home. But Donnie had apparently decided to do one more check to reassure himself that Leo hadn't somehow developed a case of typhoid fever or something overnight, and Leo didn't have the heart to deny him.

As for his other brothers, Mikey was currently snuggled under his other arm, glued closely to his side, and Leo could hear Raph helping April clean up the broken glass, spilled liquids, and smashed eggs off the floor.

Suddenly, everyone paused, their attention caught by the sound of the elevator whirring to life once more. After a moment, the doors slid open, and a boisterous aura stepped through for the second time that day.

"Never fear, Casey Jones is here!" the human called out as he stepped out of the elevator. "And I come bearing eggs and milk once more! Y'know, to replace the stuff that April broke earlier."

"Casey!" April hissed, obviously a little embarrassed. "It's not like I was trying to-! I mean, I wasn't-! Argh! I didn't mean to! I was startled!"

"Yeah, Leo coming back from the dead sorta startled me too, Apes." Casey shot back as his voice headed towards what Leo assumed was the kitchen. "And yet somehow I managed to avoid smashing my share of the groceries all across the floor. There was a perfectly good bottle of hot sauce in that bag too! It's tragic!"

"Oh come on. Now you're just being a jerk!" April threw something small across the room at him, Leo guessed it was a pencil or pen or something.

"Oh, how I have missed the sound of pointless bickering." Leo couldn't help but sigh happily as there was sound of small clicks and rhythmic hisses of air as the tight blood pressure cuff around his upper arm began to decompress.

"Please sit still while I'm doing this, Leo." Donnie reminded him patiently as he pressed a finger to Leo's wrist, apparently measuring his heart rate.

Mikey slipped out from under his arm, his warm solid body disappearing as his orange aura bounded over to grab at whatever Casey was holding. "You remembered to get the blueberries too, right? I can't make Leo his favorite blueberry pancakes without any blueberries!"

"Of course I did! Grabbed some more of that fancy tea for him like you asked too." Casey's aura set some bags down on a countertop, the sounds of jars and can clinking softly against one another. "How's the Foot Princess doing? She up and about yet?"

"I'm going to rip out the eyes of every damned NeoFoot that I get my hands on!" Karai's voice continued to rant angrily from the speakers of the elaborate sound system that Donnie had somehow wired up in the living room, her voice bearing so much emotion that a bit of a reptilian lisp worked its way into her accent. "Let's see how they fare when blinded, every single one of them! I swear, they'll regret the day they ever laid a hand on you, Leo!"

"Shini managed to wake her up a few minutes after you left, and it's basically been an emotional roller coaster ever since." Raph grunted, moving over to grab a few of the things Casey had set down, moving to help put them away.

"Ah. I see." Casey snickered.

"Karai... calm down." Leo tried to sooth her, turning his head towards the sound of her voice and trying to give her a reassuring smile. "I'm okay. I promise you that I'm okay."

"Of course you're okay!" Karai hissed fiercely. "You're amazing, Leo, and don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise!" Then her voice hitched slightly and broke, softening considerably with fresh tears. "Oh Leo, you... you know that, right? Back when I thought you were... When we were so sure that you were... I regretted never telling you that. Regretted never telling you just how amazing and wonderful you are! You're-you're always putting other people first, always willing to help those that need it, even if they don't deserve it. I... I... I thought I lost my chance forever to tell you just how much you meant to me! Leo, I can't believe that you're really still alive!"

By this time, her voice had crack as she sobbed over the phone once more.

"Hey! Hey. Karai, calm down. Breathe. Just focus on taking deep breaths." Leo gently coached her. "And I love you too, big sister. Trust me when I say that I missed you too! So very, very much!"

"Um, Leo..." There was the ripping sound of velcro as Donnie removed the cuff from his upper arm, apparently satisfied with the readings, and then his hands gently took Leo's chin and moved his face a few inches to face in a different direction. "The camera is up here. You're looking towards the left too far, Karai's only seeing the side of your face."

"Ah. Sorry. Thank you, Donnie." Leo pinpointed a small plastic box on top of the monitors, assumed that was the camera, and shifted to face it more squarely, trying to ignore his newly learned habits of facing the sound of the speaker's voice. He tried that smile again, hoping that he was indeed now facing the camera correctly and that Karai could see it.

He was somewhat surprised to realize that he felt a slight bitterness well up in deep down, and he hurriedly tried to tamp it down. There was absolutely no call for that! Karai desperately needed to see him, and it was no trouble at all to set up a video chat for her. Sure, there was the small fact that video chat was now worthless to him. He could sense the screens in front of him just fine. In fact, his senses were now so finely tuned that he could almost taste the electrical static moving through them, powering them. But, in the end, no matter how well he could detect it, they were still just a flat, lifeless inanimate objects of plastic, metal, and glass to him. He couldn't sense Karai's aura. He couldn't touch her arm or face to reassure himself that she was really there. If she hadn't been speaking, he would've never known that Karai was there, visible on that screen. He couldn't see her. He couldn't see anything!

But... but that didn't matter. It didn't matter that HE couldn't see. Karai wasn't blind like he was, and she needed to see him. Just because he was feeling a little jealous didn't mean he should prevent his sister from getting at least this small comfort.

"I... I'm coming over as soon as possible." Karai said quickly. "I should be there for you, Leo. I'm going to catch the first flight available to America."

"Uh... Correction." Shinigami's voice chimed in as she cleared her throat, and her lilting accent spoke up firmly. "You will be catching a flight to America in one week. Karai, I know you want to see Leo, but the negotiations with Hayashi Toru-sama can't be delayed without repercussions."

"What? Oh, to hell with the Yukuza and all their schemings!" Karai's voice argued with her best friend and second in command. "Leo is far more important!"

"I agree, but Leo is once again home with his brothers and in safe hands, no? He will still be there when we conclude our business as well." Shini reminded her. "It would only create questions if the head of the Foot Clan were to suddenly disappear on an unknown expedition in the middle of delicate negotiations. You would only draw unwanted attention to the turtles if you leave now."

Leo heard Karai give an annoyed exhale, and in his mind's eye, he could almost imagine the way she blew strands of hair from her face as she shot a dirty look Shini's way. He chuckled. "Ah, the joys of being a responsible leader of a clan, eh Karai?"

"Ugh..." Karai's voice muffled, as if she were covering her face. "Nobody told me about the meetings, Leo! Shredder never let me go to them, and now I see why! They're so boring and stuffy! I have to wear high heels! And a dress! I can't even tell you how difficult the logistics of trying to design a dress that's comfortable to fight in are!"

"It's true. Mikey tried it himself out of curiosity." Raph grunted from the kitchen, standing by a cupboard. There was a clunk of cans being put away on shelves as his aura shifted around. "He went with flowing sleeves and lots of ruffles. It... didn't go well."

"Disney princesses lied to us all these years!" Mikey sounded heartbroken from where he was apparently heating up a griddle by the large square appliance Leo assumed was the oven.

"The ideal dress design is one with sleeves that won't hinder your arm and shoulder movements, and a layer of fabric around the legs that won't impede leg movement." Donnie mentioned absently as he put away the blood pressure monitor, followed by the sounds of pencil scratching on paper. "Of course, different designs are required for different styles of fighting. A corset, for example, is surprisingly effective in both offence and defense when fencing and sword fighting, but not for the styles that depend on kicks and flips, like our styles of ninjitsu often depend on. For that, you want a more flowing skirt to allow for movement, but not flexible to the point that it tangles around the legs. The trick is to find the fabric fluidity somewhere in middle ground." He took Leo's hand and gently began running his fingers over Leo's scales, examining them closely.

"Donnie's been helping both Karai and I figure out designs we can use." April informed him as her aura walked over and leaned against the back of the couch. "He's a surprisingly fashionable clothing designer."

"Well... You at least are allowed to keep a tanto strapped to your leg underneath all that, aren't you Karai?" Leo asked the screen, amused beyond words how this conversation was shaping up. Oh, how he missed everybody!

"It's a meeting between shady underground organizations." Shini's voice sniffed in mock seriousness. "Hidden weapons are practically a mandatory part of the uniform."

"Karai also has these little thin knives that she pretends are decorative hairpins when she puts up her hair all fancy!" Mikey added enthusiastically, dumping some stuff into a mixing bowl. Leo hoped he was paying attention to the labels as he poured. He may enjoy the results of accidentally using sugar instead of salt, but the rest of them usually weren't so enthused. "And she can somehow pull them out without somehow chopping all her hair off as well! It's so cool!"

"Oh." Leo blinked unseeingly, trying to imagine that. It did sound pretty cool. "So I guess you must've grown your hair out a little, huh Karai?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah... I suppose that you can't..." Karai cleared her throat, and her voice softened a little. "It's a little past my shoulders now. I still like the dual colors, so it's still black and tan as before. I, uh, remembered that you... you had always liked to play with it before, so... so I had decided to grow it out some."

"I think that it makes her look a lot like that picture Sensei had of Tang Shen." Mikey apparently agreed with her choice of style happily over in the kitchen. There was a sizzle as something was added to a hot pan. "She's very pretty with longer hair."

"I bet she is." Leo tried to keep the wistfulness out of his smile. Oh, how he wished he could see her! "Maybe I can braid it when you come over to visit."

There was a long, unexpected moment of silence, which caused Leo to momentarily wonder if the call somehow got dropped. "Karai?"

"I'd... I'd like that, Leo." Karai finally admitted quietly, her voice caught with more emotion then he had been expecting. "I'd... like that a lot."

Leo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, feeling his face blush a little. Then he cleared his throat. "So... the Yukuza, huh? You're meeting with some of Japan's most dangerous and notorious mob bosses? Should I be concerned?"

"Nah, Karai can eat guys like that for breakfast." Apparently Raph was done putting away groceries, as his red aura moved towards them. He moved around the couch and plopped down on the cushion next to Leo, although with a bit more caution and care then he would've in the old days. He reached across Leo's shell and pushed Donnie's hands off. "Yo, Donnie, turn off the neurotic doctor mode for a bit, will ya? Give him a moment to relax and reconnect with everybody. You can examine him later."

Donnie huffed, but stood up to move his tray of supplies. "Okay, okay. Fine, I'll just..." Suddenly his attention seemed to be caught by something, and he immediately stiffened. "Hamato Michelangelo, I hope that you're not putting that whole stick of butter into that pan!"

"I'm making hashbrowns, bro!" came Mikey's objecting reply. "You need lots of butter to make good hashbrowns!"

"No, that just makes them greasy and gross! And just why is all that sugar out?!" Donnie set aside the medical stuff and his aura stormed turbulently towards the kitchen, where delicious smells were just starting to waft out. "This is all extremely unhealthy, and Leo's digestive system doesn't need that shock right now!"

Leo decided not to get in the middle of that argument, and turned back to Karai, taking a moment to try and make sure he was facing the right way again. "How about the NeoFoot?" he wondered. "I found the remains of their handiwork on our old home and your old headquarters. What have they been up to lately?"

Raph gave a snort, letting his arm remain draped over Leo's shell as he settled back on the couch, pulling out his phone with his other hand and apparently playing with the screen casually. "Like I told ya, Leo, they've been pretty quiet lately. They got tired of getting their butts kicked, or they had internal fighting, or something. At any rate, they've basically dissolved themselves, and none of us have seen any trouble from them for months. Trust me, Donnie and Karai have been keeping their ears to all the rumor mills, and there's been not even the slightest hint of activity." He shifted to put his phone back on his belt, and leaned back again. "Eh, to tell the truth, things have actually been kind of boring for us lately. Really peaceful and all that. Casey and I 've been having to go out hunting for decent scraps, and the most we ever seem to find seems to be Purple Dragon punks, and they're hardly ever a challenge. And Princess over there in Japan seems to be having more trouble with social and business crap then fighting anything. Right Karai?"

"Hm?" Karai seemed distracted for a moment (Leo could almost swear he had heard both her and Shini's phone ding with text messages while Raph had been feeling so chatty all of a sudden), and then she cleared her throat, realizing they were waiting for a response. "Oh. Uh, yeah. Raph's telling the truth, Leo. I'm not sure what happened to the NeoFoot. After the attacks on our homes, there was a brief war, but then all of a sudden they just... retreated. The Footbots, all the soldiers, and... well... all of them. They just all up and left without an explanation. We were of course suspicious, thinking that they must be plotting something big, but nothing ever happened, and we haven't heard anything from them since."

"Hm." Leo frowned, and leaned against Raph as he pondered this. "When exactly did this happen?"

"About eight or nine months ago?" Shini hazarded a guess. "Their numbers started thinning about a year ago, but then they just seemed to all disappear en mass a few months later."

Leo thought about that, comparing it mentally to the timeline he was aware of, and nodded. "I thought as much. That actually makes a lot of sense."

"How so?" April sounded curious, still leaning over the back of the couch.

"Well, I'm guessing that somehow the NeoFoot managed to hack into our old phone system and such?" Leo hazarded a theory.

"Indeed." Donnie apparently had been listening to the conversation and, figuring that this was his field of expertise, made his way back, joining the conversation once more. "They managed to plant a bug in our system, and both our phonelines and security systems were compromised. That's how they were able to surprise us and do so much damage to the old lair. But how does that..." Donnie froze, and his aura suddenly spiked in sheer panic. "Oh dear Girolamo Cardano! Leo! You-you didn't try calling us when you were looking for us, did you?! Because those phonelines were compromised, and if you tried calling them, then the NeoFoot..."

"... Could pinpoint my location and figure out where I was." Leo finished for him dryly. "Yeah. I noticed."

"Wait, the NeoFoot was chasing you?!" Suddenly, Raph's arm around his shell wasn't nearly as relaxed. His aura immediately turned panicked as well as he turned and grabbed Leo. "They found you?! Oh gods! Leo! Why didn't you say anything?! What happened?! Did they hurt you?! I swear to god, if they touched a scale on ya..."

"Raph!" Leo grabbed his hands and held them. "Calm down! Look at me! I'm fine!"

"That's why they all disappeared so suddenly..." Karai's voice sounded horrified as she put the pieces together. "Leo, you tried calling us for help all those months ago, and the NeoFoot realized you were still alive and pulled back from attacking us to hunt you down!"

"Yeah... um... that was an interesting time." Leo released Raph to reach back and rub the back of his head awkwardly.

"Leo, I think you're understating the seriousness of the situation here!" Donnie grabbed at him. "You're BLIND! And not only were you lost out there in the world, but you had the whole NeoFoot army chasing you down?!"

"Yeah, but I..." Leo started, but gave a grunt of surprise as Raph grabbed him and hugged him so tightly that for a moment he felt winded. "Raph?" he finally wheezed out questioningly.

Raph's grip was still iron tight, and he was trembling slightly, face pressed into Leo's arm. "We... we could have lost you again." he whispered hoarsely. "Fuck, Leo. We... we wouldn't have even ever known!"

Leo wriggled one hand free and leaned down to press his forehead against the top of his head reassuringly. "I'm not going anywhere, Raph. You know me. I'm too stubborn for that. Besides," he chuckled softly. "You're vastly overestimating their chances against me. I'm a highly trained ninja, after all, even blind. They couldn't even touch me."

"Leo. Bro." Mikey had apparently abandoned the breakfast and was now leaning over the couch. He took Leo's face between both of his hands, gently squished his cheeks, and leaned in to press his nose against Leo's. "Okay. That's it. I've been patient, but this is the final straw. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"Hm. Yes, I suppose I owe you guys a slightly more detailed explanation as to where I've been for the past few years." Leo nodded, and, after a moment's thought, turned towards where he thought he remembered the camera was. "Do you have the time, Karai? I remember you saying something about a meeting?"

"What! Yes! Of course! For you? Always, Leo." Karai said quickly. "I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"I thought so." Leo nodded thoughtfully. "But before we begin..." he turned up towards the orange aura leaning above him. "Mikey, your hashbrowns are starting to burn."

"What?!" Mikey shot up, and then launched to flee into the kitchen. "Oh crap! The hashbrowns! I totally forgot!"

"Ack! Quick!" April panicked, joining him. "Before the smoke detectors trigger the fire system that Donnie put in place again!"

"Hey, the fire suppressant system is perfectly functional!" Donnie protested, sounding somewhat offended. "I'll have you know that foam I invented is a wonder of science, and is more not only safer, but more efficient at extinguishing flames then ninety four percent of other commercial varieties used by the public!"

"It turned both April's and my hair green!" Casey protested as he hurried over to the kitchen. "For a week!" From the sounds of it, Leo guessed that he had grabbed some magazine or something and was flapping at the smoke with it, trying to redirect the smoke.

"That was an unintended side effect, and I told you, I adjusted the formula!" Donnie shot back. "Besides, if you hadn't set the popcorn on fire, then it wouldn't have activated in the first place!"

Leo continued to sit back on the couch, happily listening to the chaos around him. It definitely sounded like once he was done telling his tale, there might yet be a story or two left to tell.

One crisis averted later, they decided to congregate around the kitchen table so that Mikey could continue cooking, with April's assistance this time, and still pay attention to Leo's story. Donnie brought over a laptop, setting it down in front of Leo so that Karai and Shini could continue listening as well. Leo was actually sort of relieved that they had switched from the complicated set up in the living room. The laptop was still cold, lifeless machine that gave no indication of life, but at least it was easier for him to remember where the camera was and at least pretend to face Karai when talking to her. Donnie and Raph were sitting on either side of him, each making physical contact with him and silently reassuring him that they were there, with Casey was also seated nearby. Leo could almost taste how attentively every aura in the room was focused on him, waiting for him to start.

"Alright, so where do I even begin..." Leo sighed, sitting back in the kitchen chair that had obviously been salvaged, refinished, and refitted to the unusual specific shape of a turtle shell by some clever brother. Huh. Comfy!

"Well, start off with what happened after you fell out of the plane." Mikey suggested as his orange aura bustled around near the sizzling stove. "We were flying over the middle of the ocean! In a storm! How in the world did you survive that bro?!"

"Only because Master Splinter's spirit was watching over me." Leo admitted. "That, and sheer stubbornness and luck, I suppose. I somehow managed to find and cling to a piece of floating debris, and that kept me above the water long enough to stay alive. It... it was still pretty close. If I wasn't a turtle, with the shell that protected me from the impact and ability to hold my breath for longer then humans can, I most certainly would've drowned that night."

Raph growled, and leaned back just a little more firmly against Leo.

"Take your time, Leo." Donnie placed one three fingered hand on top of Leo's. "And remember, we're always available to listen later if you need some time. If anything's too difficult or uncomfortable for you to talk about, you don't have to bring it up right now."

"Thanks Donnie." Leo squeezed his hand gratefully and smiled in his brother's direction. "I'm fine, though. Honestly, the worst part was worrying about you guys. I knew that the plane was on the verge of crashing when I fell out, and I didn't know what happened to you."

"Managed to bail out before the plane crashed, was stuck waiting on a damned inflatable raft for three days before Karai, April, and Casey tracked Donnie's emergency signal and rescued us." Raph explained brusquely, his arms crossed tightly across his plastron even as he leaned against Leo. "Spent the next week looking for you before finally giving you up for dead."

"I had three helicopters and a dozen boats out there searching for you, Leo." Karai sounded miserable. "But we didn't know exactly where you fell out to begin with, and three days had already passed..."

"Yeah, trying to find one turtle in the middle of the ocean without any idea where I might be would've been like looking for a needle in a haystack." Leo winced, imagining just how his brothers stranded on that life raft for days, and how desperately they searched for him, and, most gut wrenching of all, how they must've all reacted when the search was called off. "Actually, it sounds like you guys had a worse time of it then I did back then. I just ended on a year long vacation on a deserted tropical island."

"You washed up on an island?" April sounded intrigued as Leo heard her pour water into some sort of kitchen appliance. A coffee maker, judging by the scent. "Really?"

Leo nodded. "A fairly good sized deserted island. It turned out to be a bird sanctuary or something. I found myself waking up on a beach, and it really didn't take me all that long to figure out that I was now blind." He cleared his throat. "At which point, I then proceeded to spend a few days going through the initial panic attacks, flailing around helplessly, mental breakdowns, and general raging against fate that comes upon making a discovery."

"Oof. Leo..." Donnie said with an exhale. "I wish we could've been there with you...You should've never have gone through something like that alone."

"Yeah... I missed and worried about you guys so much." Leo gave a wry smile. "But, as much as I needed you guys, it... was probably best that I worked through that on my own terms. I'll be the first to admit that those first few days on the island weren't exactly my finest moments. Losing wrestling matches with fish. Falling out of trees. It wasn't always my most graceful hour."

Leo came to the decision that would hold off about anything regarding Pangur Ban and the Ancient One. At least for now, anyways. That... was still something he was trying to figure out how he felt about himself. He wasn't really sure what had happened back there on that island. Some sort of divine or spiritual intervention? It wasn't that he didn't think they'd believe him, but right now his family was worried enough about his state of mental health, and they didn't need to wonder if he had been hallucinating ghosts or gone crazy or something. Nope. That was totally something that hadn't happened.

"You fell out of a tree?!" Donnie's voice squeaked in horror. "Why were you even climbing a tree in your condition?! How tall was it?! Were you hurt?!" Leo could almost imagine his overclocked mind suddenly conjuring up a dozen new ailments he might have to deal with.

"It was pretty tall." Leo admitted ruefully. "Thankfully, a thorn bush broke my fall, so the most I got was a bruised ego and a lot of minor scratches. My shell took the brunt of the fall."

Almost immediately, there was a purple aura bolting out of his chair and shoving the red aura aside as Donnie's hands pushed Leo forward so he could apparently examine his shell for any damage.

Leo rolled his eyes, but continued with his story, only now stuck leaning forward while doing so.

"Like I said, at first, I just sort of flailed around helplessly." he admitted. "But even though I was bound and determined to wallow in self pity and misery, it wasn't long until I discovered that the island had plenty to teach me. It took some time, but I slowly learned how to become self sufficient, even with my eyesight gone." He lifted one hand, flexing his fingers a little, before brushing the table in front of him. "I learned how to 'see' with more then my eyes, and instead uses all my senses. I learned to 'see' the world around me not just through touch and sound, but through our natural turtle tremorsenses and the finely tuned sixth sense that Master Splinter had helped us hone. On that island, I slowly learned to 'ninja while blind', so to speak."

"Well, you are Leonardo, after all." Karai's voice sounded... proud of him? "If there's anything that I've learned about you over the years, it's that there's no obstacle that you can't overcome once you put your mind to it."

"If it was a deserted island, how did you get off of it?" Casey wondered. "Even if you're a turtle, you can't swim a whole ocean."

Well, like I said, the island was some sort of a bird sanctuary, so once in a while, some scientists came to check on it. Camp out for a few days, take notes, things like that." Leo explained. "The first time they came by, I was still newly blinded and lost, and so I just hid from them. At the time, I didn't want to deal with humans while I could do barely more by myself then scrounge up some fruit to eat and find water. But about a year later, they came back, and it was a different story then. I had learned so much, and was feeling much more confident in my skills. I knew what I could do, and what I was capable of, and I knew that I had to try and find my way back to you guys. And so I managed to sneak onto their boat while they were out, hitching a ride back to the mainland."

"Wait. Wait wait wait. You, being a blind mutant turtle, snuck onto a boat with SCIENTISTS?!" Casey asked in disbelief. "Talk about ballsy!"

"Talk about stupid!" Raph stiffened next to Leo, his aura roiling with worry and upset. Ironically, it was almost the same tone of voice that Leo was pretty sure he had used himself on Raph in the past when his red brother snuck out and did something stupid. "What if you got caught?! Leo, what were you thinking?!"

"That I needed to get off the island and get back to you guys?" Leo huffed at him and rolled his eyes. "It was fine, I know how to remain hidden. I am a ninja, after all!"

"You put yourself in a position where you would be trapped for hours, if not days, with no means of escape in close quarters. With scientists!" Raph argued.

"And I made it back to the mainland completely and totally fine, unharmed, and undetected, because I am a NINJA." Leo retorted. "And, spoilers, that's not going to be my first time sneaking on a boat in this tale, so be prepared for that."

He had to hide a smile at Raph's indignant huff, even as his red brother surly scooted just a little closer. He continued his story. "Anyways, I ended up in a decent sized port city of some sort, though I never did catch the name of it. It was somewhere in China, I'm assuming, because it sounded like everybody that I found was speaking some form of Chinese. At least, I'm just assuming that it was some form of Chinese, because I don't actually speak the language myself. It sounded like Chinese? Anyways, this inability to eavesdrop on the locals complicated things greatly in a way I didn't anticipate."

"So let me get this straight." Karai's voice through the speaker sounded a little concerned. "You were stranded in a foreign city that you didn't know, surrounded by people you couldn't understand that would probably attack you if they saw you, and you had no idea where you were or where to go next. Oh, and you're blind, so you can't visually look up directions."

"Yup. It was... rather discouraging, to say the least." Leo sighed, nodding towards the laptop. "At first, all I could do was keep hidden, and scrounge for food where I could. My first plan was to look for a phone I could figure out how to work by touch, and eventually I managed to find an office room that was rarely used with a working phone in it. I was elated at first, and immediately tried calling you guys, but I only got disconnected signals, no matter how many times I tried. I tried calling every phone number that I could remember, but I couldn't get through to anybody. And now I know why."

"Dammit, I should've been keeping an eye on those old lines. I didn't think anybody we knew would try to use them, since they were compromised." Donnie growled to himself reproachfully, his hands slowing down slightly as they ran over Leo's shell scutes. He sighed and resumed his inspection. "I'm assuming that's when the NeoFoot were alerted?"

"Probably? Although, if they were, they didn't show up right away." Leo shrugged. "Maybe they also weren't paying that close of attention to what they assumed were abandoned lines at first? I don't know. Anyways, I stayed in that city for a couple of weeks, trying to decide what to do. With hindsight now, if I had known that Karai was back in Japan, I would've maybe headed north, in hopes of finding a way there, but at the time, I thought she was still in New York. But then I came across what I thought was a lucky break. While scrounging for supplies at one of the docks, I overheard a couple of dockworkers talking in English! It was pretty broken and heavily accented, so it was little hard to understand at first, but, as they loaded up a cargo ship, I was certain that I overheard them mention that the ship was bound for America!"

"Of course!" Raph huffed sarcastically, and Leo felt his shoulders bunch up tensely beside him. "Perfect! As if hiding on a research boat with scientists for a few days wasn't enough, now we have a crowded cargo ship filled with a ton of crew members on a long, weeks long voyage. Nothing dangerous about that at all, Leo!"

Leo paused, considering his brother for a moment, then gently reached over and wrapped an arm around Raph's rigid, hunched shoulders. "I know, Raph." he murmured quietly to his unhappy brother, nudging him gently with his forehead. "I really wish you were there with me too."

Raph gave a strangle little grunt in the back of his throat and remained sitting stiffly in Leo's arm for a moment. Then finally he huffed and tensely leaned back into Leo. "You're an idiot." he sniffed quietly.

"I know." Leo answered fondly, feeling his brother's solid warmth melt slightly under his touch.

"I'm not done examining your shell, Leo." Donnie warned him. "Please stop moving around."

"Donnie, if Leo's shell hasn't fallen off already since the year or so he fell out of that tree, then it's going to stay put for the time it'll take him to finish his story." April observed wryly, walking over with a steaming hot mug. She set it down on the table, and moved to extract Donnie from his obsessive examination of his older brother's health. "So you found a cargo ship heading towards America, then. Is that how you got back, Leo?"

"Kind of." Leo sighed heavily. "You see, unfortunately, in my excitement at maybe finally finding a way home, I made the very common mistake that most people who grow up in the United States make."

"You forgot there was also a South America, didn't you?" Donnie asked with a sigh as his purple aura was guided by April's over to sit in the chair next to Leo.

"I forgot about South America!" Leo threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Wait, where did you end up?!" Karai sounded way too amused by this.

"Well, first off, that was a horribly uncomfortable way to travel." Leo complained. "I ended up hiding in a steel cargo container next to pallets of pumpkin spice scented candles for weeks. I never want to smell pumpkin again in my life. Oh! And, guess what? When you're blind, you can't read the labels on canned goods. I had been so pleased at the fact that I had managed to snag a couple of sacks filled with canned food for the journey, and then the first night I realized to my horror that I was going to have to play the 'Let's guess what I'm eating' game with each meal. Sometimes it was fruit. Sometimes it was vegetables. Sometimes it was soup, and sometimes, it was filled with some sort of mystery, 'I still don't have a clue as to what I ended up eating!' substance."

"Ooh, yeah." April said with some sympathy. "I can see how that can be a problem."

"But, finally, we made it." Leo continued. "After weeks of travel, we had finally made it back to shore! And so imagine my bewilderment when, after enduring hiding on a cramped cargo ship for weeks, I found myself in Peru."

"Peru?!" Several voiced echoed in surprise.

"Ooh! Did you get us any souvenirs?" Mikey asked hopefully from the kitchen.

"Mikey!" Raph snapped him disapprovingly.

"Actually..." Leo turned in his chair, trying to locate his bag. "Somebody brought down my travel pack, right? Where is it?"

"Wait. Really?!" Mikey sounded delighted as his aura dashed off. "Oh man, Leo! Gimme a second, I'll get it for you!"

He could almost see the expression on Raph's face as he felt his brother turn his head to face him, the emotions in his aura were so pronounced. "Seriously, Leo?"

"I didn't put myself in any danger to get these or anything! They're just little things I found on my journey that I thought you guys might enjoy." Leo defended himself as Mikey gleefully retrieved the requested pack from across the room and bounded back, handing it to Leo while almost crackling with anticipation. "Thanks Mikey." He took the bag and set it on his lap, opening the top and starting to dig through the meager possessions so carefully packed in there.

Huh. Digging through this bag again, he realized that it was rather strange. He had lived out of this bag for so long. It had been everything he had owned for months, containing everything he owned and his means of survival. It had become the one constant, familiar thing in his long travels through strange and dangerous lands.

Now he was home with his brothers, provided with everything he needed. He didn't have to turn to his travel bag everyday anymore for his worldly possessions. It was no longer needed anymore.

Leo slowed down for a moment, pondering that for a moment, and then continued searching for the particular bundles he was after.

When he moved into his bedroom, whatever room that might end up being, he might just keep it hung up on the wall for a little bit. Just to help him get used to the place.

He found the carefully wrapped packets at the bottom, and in only a few moments, his family around him were each admiring their woolen caps with ear flaps that he informed them were called 'chullos', made of alpaca wool that was supposedly brightly dyed (he couldn't tell, of course. He hoped they weren't tacky). He also pulled out a finely carved wooden flute, which he showed to the laptop and promised to give to Karai when she came to visit. Finally, he pulled out some small bags of coffee beans, a carefully wrapped pile of sharp obsidian shards, some packets of candy that he had no idea personally what they were, and a small glass bottle of what Leo hoped was really Pisco, a type of brandy that was used to make a drink called Pisco Sour. He thought that Raph and Casey might enjoy that. Raph just sat there without saying a word, holding his chullo in his lap. Casey asked if Leo would maybe try it with them. Leo said he just might. Raph quietly reached out and accepted the bottle.

That done, and pleased with the fact that everybody seemed to be happy with their gifts (some showing it more then others), Leo set his bag off to the side and settled back in his chair again, tapping his chin.

"Now, let's see here, where was I...? Oh yes. So, anyways, despite the disappointment of still being thousands of miles away from home, I figured that at least now I was on the right side of the world. And I understand a lot more Spanish then I do Mandarin or Cantonese or whatever they were speaking back where I had originally been, so that was already going better for me. Heck, if anything is a plus out of this, I'm almost fairly fluent now. It was going to be difficult and take a lot longer then I had hoped, but I was determined to find my way home. Yes, it probably would've helped a lot... like, a LOT a lot... if I could read a map or road signs or something, but even blind, I could at least recognize general directions, and could at least follow roads and trains generally northeast. And, at first, things went as smoothly as they could, I suppose. I rode a train for a while, did a lot of walking, and even managed to sneak in the back of a truck once. Along the way, every time I found a suitable phone, I'd try calling home again, in the vain hope that one day I'd get through to you guys." He exhaled. "And... that's when the NeoFoot started showing up."

He held up his hand to quiet the worried tenseness that suddenly filled the room around him again. "First off, let me just say that, as I've said, I'm fine. Most of the time, they didn't even see me. At first, there were only a couple of Neofoot, but it quickly grew until it seemed at times like the whole NeoFoot faction was there after me. I quickly recognized that I was heavily outnumbered, and I wasn't about to give them a chance to parade my shell around like a trophy! I focused almost all my attention on just hiding and getting away. At first, I couldn't figure out how they kept finding me, but after a while I realized that they usually appeared a short while after I tried calling you guys, and that they must be tracking your numbers somehow." He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Let me tell you, that didn't do any favors for my anxiety, wondering if you were all okay."

"Oh, Leo..." Mikey wrapped his arms around him from behind and hugged him tightly. "We thought about you every day too."

"We took some hits, but we got up swinging." Karai added from the laptop speaker. She sighed. "I really, really wished that we knew that you were still alive and in trouble earlier. We would've come to help you in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, I know." Leo said with a small smile. "It's not your guys' fault." He patted Mikey's arm fondly to let him know that he was alright, and his orange brother gave him one more squeeze, before heading back to the pans on the stove again.

"Leo..." Raph said, almost hesitantly, which was unusual for him. Leo heard him swallow hard, then carefully set the bottle of Pisco on the table, tapping the side of it almost nervously. "Was... was there anything strange that you noticed about the NeoFoot? Anybody... unusual with them?"

Leo blinked unseeing eyes, surprised by the question, then thought back, cycling through his encounters during his journey. "No... not really. Though, like I said, most of the time I only had fleeting encounters with them. Why?" Was something going on?

"Oh, no reason." Raph sounded strangely relieved. "We've... been discussing how they managed to get organized enough to attack us like they did and... and was just wondering if there were any new clues. It must've just been a lucky break on their end. Obviously there's nothing to worry about."

"How did you get away from them in the end?" Karai wondered. "And why didn't they follow you to New York? Do you know where they are now?"

"I think I actually lost them in southern Mexico somewhere." Leo shrugged, unsure of what to tell her. He wasn't really certain himself. "That was the last place I saw them, anyways. The particular incident was also my closest call with them. We were in some thick jungle, and the NeoFoot almost had me surrounded. But I managed to find a weak point and break through their lines, where I escaped into a cave that contained a deep pit that lead to an underwater lake or river or something."

"Oh!" Donnie sounded intrigued. "You were probably on the Yucatán Peninsula then. It's known for its vast underwater cave systems. The land is dotted with cenotes, which are basically giant sinkholes leading down into the underground river system. The ancient Mayans held them sacred, and not only used them as water sources, but worshiped them as gateways to the spirit realm."

"Oh. Uh... yeah." Leo shrugged. "Anyways, being a turtle, I managed to make my escape through one of those. I dove in, found my way to another exit, and resurfaced. That was the last time I dealt with the NeoFoot. I don't know if they still think I'm in there and are still looking, hoping I'm penned in, or if they just finally gave up, since I've stopped giving my position away." He frowned. "It's been almost two months since then, so you'd think they would've shown up by now somewhere. You guys really haven't heard anything?"

"Trust me, Leo, when I say that we have our top sources and Donnie's best tech listening for them." Karai told him. "If any of them even sneeze wrong, we should be able to find them. There's been nothing, though. They've been quiet as a mouse."

"Bah. They probably started infighting or something and broke up. They weren't all that organized to begin with. I don't think we need to worry about them anymore." Raph scoffed. "And they know that if they show their faces around either Hamato or the real Foot Clan's territories, they're just asking to get their asses kicked."

"Yeah... I suppose that's a possibility..." Leo said slowly, not really convinced. "I still wish we knew what they were up to."

"Wait, is that where you got your new swords?" Mikey asked curiously, obviously scraping something out of a pan onto what sounded like a plate. "I was wondering why they had the Foot symbol etched on them."

"Wait, they do?" Leo was somewhat surprised. He had noticed some etching on the blades, but hadn't been able to figure out a pattern. Ech. He might have to have one of his brothers rework that. They were nice blades, after all. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen them since he had been knocked out by Donnie's gas. "I snagged them off a dead NeoFoot. They were so well made, I thought it would be a shame not to keep them. Where are they anyways?"

"Oh, I put them in the dojo with the rest of our spare weapons." Raph said absently. "I'll clean them for you later if you want."

"Oh, thanks. I can do it though." Leo smiled at him. "And I have to admit, getting in the dojo again is something that I'm really looking forward to. I can't wait to show you guys just what I've learned."

There was a moment of hesitance on his brothers' part, but then Donnie patted Leo's hand patiently. "Of course Leo. We're looking forward to it as well someday."

"Until then, who's hungry?!" Mikey asked enthusiastically, moving over to set some silverware in front of Leo. "Breakfast is ready everybody!"

"Oh, wonderful!" Leo couldn't help but smile. Homemade breakfast, and he didn't have to steal it or worry about somebody seeing him or anything! He was so looking forward to this!

"I bet you're hungry, Leo!" Mikey came up cheerfully, carrying a plate that smelled absolutely delicious. "Here you go! Your favorite blueberry pancakes, with a side of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns! All made with love!"

"Thank you, Mikey!" Leo grinned at him, and picked up his fork eagerly as the plate was set in front of him.

He couldn't help the giant smile that beamed across his face as Mikey stepped back. He was so happy, he thought he would burst! He was home. He was with his brothers! And even though he was blind, he was still Leonardo, and he could still protect them.

Everything was going back to normal now, and life couldn't be more perfect!

He started to dig in, but paused, and then poked at the food on his plate a little uncertainly. "Um... wait... Mikey... Did you cut everything up into... really tiny pieces?"

"Oh! Uh.. Yeah bro." Mikey cleared his throat, sounding a little awkward now. "I thought it might make things easier for you."

"It's... scrambled eggs." Leo blinked his unseeing eyes. He poked the food with his fork again. "And hashbrowns. And... and why?"

"Well... you're blind now y'know... so..."

"Blind. As in my eyes don't work anymore." Leo sighed. "I haven't somehow regressed to a toddler-like stage, Mikey. I can still chew just fine."

"Oh. Uh... yeah. Sorry Leo." Mikey said sheepishly. "I might've gone a teeny little bit overboard."

Okay... um... So maybe there were going to be a couple of kinks to work out before things became completely normal again. But that was to be expected. After all, Leo had almost two years to get used to his blindness. His brothers only had a day. Little hiccups were to be expected! But Leo just needed to reassure them that everything was fine, and then they could get back to life together as a family of ninjas, protecting the world.

Leo took a bite of tiny blueberry pancake squares, and closed his eyes as he chewed happily, listening to his family talk all around him.

This was delicious.

A/N

Oof. That was a chapter! I seriously considered splitting it into two parts, just because it went on and on, but I wanted to get Leo's story out, darnit, and I wasn't going to delay it AGAIN.

And the story definitely isn't ending here, for people worried about that. There's still plenty of plot left to happen. Things aren't going to be quite as easy for Leo as he's thinking.