Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for commenting and reviewing! It's so great to hear what you all think! :D

I also want to thank everyone so much who kept me in their prayers and concerns, the pup passed away peacefully last week.. I thought you guys should know, and that I appreciate you all so much.

In other news, here comes the school year.. -_- It's going to get pretty busy, but I will still try my best to keep up with one chapter every other week for you guys.

Alright, I think that's all, soo back to the story!

Disclaimer: Alas, I still do not own the turtles or any other characters mentioned below.

_

Chapter 7

The suggestion alone blew Raphael's mind away. Leo? Not come home? It was such a bizarre thought. He would never just, 'not come back.'

At least, not voluntarily. Raph thought, only adding to the terrible sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What should we do Sensei?" Mikey's small voice asked.

"I do not know my son," Splinter answered quietly.

Suddenly Donnie's head snapped up, and he exclaimed under his breath, "TV."

He jerked his head around to look at Mikey, "Mikey! Turn on the Television!"

Michelangelo looked at his brother like he'd just lost his mind.

"TV? Now?" Mikey questioned skeptically.

"Yes! Go turn it on! Now!" Donnie shouted urgently, startling his younger brother.

Mikey stumbled backwards in surprise, almost falling, and darted into the living room, not waiting to be told thrice, Donatello following closely behind.

Raphael and Splinter exchanged glances before hurrying after the two green blurs.

Raph was confused. How was TV, of all things, going to help them find Leo?

When they reached the living room Mikey was sitting on the floor in front of the Television, it was already turned on and colorful cartoons flashed across the screen.

Mikey's face was turned to them, his expression urgent, desperate and confused.

Donatello was leaning over the edge of the cement ledge that they used as a couch. His hands were nervously rubbing together as he stared wide eyed at the glowing screen.

"Turn it to the News channel," he commanded.

Mikey's face scrunched in disgust, as he glanced at his older, genius brother.

"News?" he asked unsure, his tone filled with disappointment.

"Yes Mikey, News, and do it now!" Donnie demanded impatiently.

Raphael stepped into the TV pit as Mikey's attention was, once again, drawn to the glowing screen, and he began to flip through the channels in search of the News. It wasn't a channel they were necessarily familiar with.

Raph remained standing, not comfortable with the idea of sitting down at the moment, and crossed his arms over his plastron. He frowned at the television screen as it flicked between different shows.

Master Splinter also stood, though he did not descend into the TV pit with the rest of them, deciding to position himself directly behind Donnie, who happened to be sitting right across from the TV. Splinter's expression was crest fallen, and his dark brown eyes were filled with concern and confusion. His ears were folded back, anxiously twitching forward every so often.

"Donatello, please explain what you have in mind," their rat master said.

"Well, everyone knows that Leo wouldn't just 'not come home,' so something must have prevented him," Donnie began, glancing up at Raph in worry, "Something big," he added, looking back down at the screen before continuing, "We also know that we need to find him as quickly as possible. But then we have to ask ourselves, where do we even begin to look? Depending on what happened, where it happened, and at what time last night, drastically affects where Leo could be now. Maybe he was attacked by the purple dragons or ambushed by the foot clan. We need to know everything important that was reported from last night. Perhaps a break in or a robbery, or even a late night disturbance that couldn't be identified. And who's better at providing the social media with nonsensical information than Grody?"

By the time Donatello had finished with his somewhat confusing explanation, Mikey had found the news channel. A man with a dark complexion, sitting at a large table, in front of a yellow backdrop filled the screen. He had a blue suit, neatly pressed, making him look very crisp and professional, even though there was no sign of a tie on his white undershirt. A small, fuzzy, mustache was spread across his upper lip, and his tall, equally dark, hair was combed and slicked back in an almost unnatural looking way.

Donnie deflated slightly.

"Oh, well, there's that guy. But still, you get my point."

"Well done Donatello," Splinter praised.

Raph, however, had his doubts.

"What if there isn't anything on the news?" he asked, glancing from Donnie to the news reporter on the screen, "I mean, anything actually helpful."

Donatello paused for a second, thinking.

"Well, if there isn't anything on the news then we could assume the foot are involved somehow," Donnie pondered aloud.

"What about the Kraang?"

"Raph," Donnie sighed, "The Kraang are too stupid to know how to cover their tracks. At least, to cover them completely."

Raphael nodded, satisfied with his answer, and eyed the news reporter incredulously.

Everyone watched and listened with rapt attention for any news related to events from the previous night. But the only news Carlos Chiang O'Brien Gambe seemed to have was about a rescue shelter that had gone out of business and was scheduled for demolition later that week.

It didn't take long till the three brothers were thoroughly bored of the news channel and irritated with Carlos' sentimental feelings towards puppies. Or maybe that was just Raph, who had taken the liberty of sitting down on the couch-like ledge with Donatello.

Master Splinter, on the other hand, was still watching with devout intensity.

"In other news, the New York Police Department promises to, and I quote, 'Crack down on criminal activity downtown.'" Carlos continued.

Raphael snorted in bitter amusement at that statement.

"Man! Isn't there ever anything interesting on the news?" Michelangelo complained.

"At least he's done talking about the animal shelter," Raph mumbled.

"Yeah. That was sad. All those puppies," Mikey whimpered mournfully.

"Quiet down my sons," Splinter interrupted quickly, "Something is happening."

Raphael turned his attention back to the screen to see Carlos shuffling through some papers uncertainly before holding a finger to his ear.

"Hold on, I'm getting something from our producer," he paused for a second, his eyes gazing just off the camera for a second before they snapped back to attention, "Okay, this just in! An abandoned warehouse was reported to have caught fire and burned down to the ground early last night! Locals, having seen the fire, called in the authorities."

"Wow," Donatello whispered in awe as images of the had-been warehouse were posted across the screen.

Ashes and charred remains piled on top of each other in black and grey mounds where the warehouse used to be. Blackened pillars of steel reached up out of the rubble like twisted skeletal fingers, warped from the intense heat.

It amazed Raphael that so much destruction could be caused by one simple element of nature. It was almost beautiful.

"Authorities are saying the fire was most likely caused when an outdated breaker box exploded due to faulty wiring," Carlos continued, "Even though there were no reports of citizens occupying the building at the time of the fire, a search and rescue team has been active on the scene. And though they have seemed to recover the remains of human possessions, there have been no reports of people being either injured or killed."

A picture of some barely recognizable as 'human possessions' showed them laid in rows on the ash covered ground in front of the destroyed building.

And Raphael thought that one item in particular, looked terribly familiar.

"Mikey pause it!" he shouted.

Mikey obeyed almost instantly, and the image froze.

Raph leaned forward, inspecting the object on the screen that had caught his attention. It was a long, thin strip of smoke stained metal. It was a little warped, and twisted but it still reminded him of-

No. he interrupted his train of thought abruptly, shaking his head, It's just my imagination.

It could have been anything. Just a random piece of metal that was salvaged.

Yeah. That was it. Just a piece of metal. But Raph still couldn't shake the feeling..

"What? What is it?" Mikey asked, squinting at the screen, "Do you see something?"

Raphael hesitated, unsure. He didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing.

"I- I thought I did..." he stammered uncertainly.

He also didn't want everyone to freak out over something that his paranoia had come up with. What if his eyes were just playing tricks on him? Then again, the more he looked at the strip of burnt, twisted metal, the more convinced he became that this wasn't his imagination getting the best of him.

The smaller end could be the tang, and where it thins out on one side, it looks like it could have been sharpened. His heart sped up in his chest. But he wouldn't dare say anything out loud.

Donatello gasped in horrified realization.

"Is that Leo's katana?!"

Raph felt his insides twist painfully.

"It could just be a piece of melted metal though," he tried to reason, "Right?"

"Is that Leo's kunai?" Mikey asked quietly, a slight tremble in his voice as he pointed to a small, barely recognizable, throwing knife, laying on the ground next to the other salvaged items. It looked exactly like the kunai Leo always hid inside his wrist wrap in case of an emergency.

Raph felt a lump lodge itself in his throat, and he swallowed, trying to force it back down. How the little blade had survived the fire was beyond his comprehension. But there was no doubt, that Leo's things were in that warehouse. And if they were in the warehouse, Leo must have been in there too. Though, Leo had left them behind, something he'd have never done if he had the choice. Maybe he was there when the fire first started and had to leave his weapons behind in order to get out safely.

Except, he didn't come home. Which would've been the first thing he would've done. Which meant he could be hurt, unconscious.. Or worse.

"Do- do you think, that Leo could've been in there? In the fire?" Mikey's trembling voice asked.

Raph looked up at his Sensei.

Splinter's jaw was set, neither frowning nor smiling. His ears were laid back and his eyes were filled with fear.

"Yes Michelangelo," he answered, "I am afraid that it is very possible."