Leo sighed as he led his weary brothers home. It had been a rough few months. Sachs had been very active lately and Bishop had been up to his usual shenanigans. What they had found in those respective labs had Leo at his lowest point that he had been in a long while. But hopefully things would calm down for awhile. If his spirits would rise again with time...he didn't know.
Raph walked just as despondently behind him, and even let out a train rumble sigh of his own as they entered their quiet home. Even Mikey was unusually quiet at what they had found. Once again innocents had suffered and it was hitting them all hard, not just Leo.
His brothers didn't even say their good nights as they all disappeared into their own rooms. Leo couldn't settle down enough himself, he went in another direction. He missed someone a lot tonight. It was nights like this that he would usually talk to his Father, ask him for his guidance on how to deal with what he was feeling. But he couldn't even do that anymore really.
He entered the only room that didn't have an occupant, not anymore anyway. It was always cared for, not even one speck of dust was allowed in here and the sheets were regularly washed still, just to keep them fresh. It was sparsely furnished with the simple things the owner of this room had held dear.
Leo walked into the dark room, not even bothering to turn on the light, and sat down cross legged in front of the urn that rested on the low table against the far wall. He didn't even try to meditate...he just sat there.
"I had hoped that things would grow easier with time." He quietly told the urn then. Told his Father. "That I could keep going on without you. You have taught us how to fight physical foes, but that's not what we are struggling with. It seems like the more we do this, the more depravity we find. And there is no one to ease what we see. No one to help us through the images that won't leave our minds. I miss you Father, in these last few months, I have missed you so much. I wish I could talk to you. It's getting to the point I feel so lost and alone in this dark world we find ourselves in. And there is no one to fill the void you left in my heart, no one to give me the strength to go on..." He blinked back the tears then and sat there quietly as he fought to control himself.
After some time, and a quiet sigh, he slowly stood up and left the room just as quietly as he had entered. He had hoped that this would have helped...but it didn't. He went to his bed and the restless sleep he found in it.
.
.
In the sky in another world, an unusually strong cold front began to make it's way south from Canada, pushed on by more than just Mother Nature as it began to head south, towards the Great Plains and a small house found in that vast expanse of almost nothingness. Towards a very lonely soul who was struggling. It would clash with the heat wave that had struck this region for a couple of weeks now, and it would break it. And if the driving force had calculated right...it would also break something else.
.
.
"Hey." Mikey told him halfheartedly when Leo walked into the kitchen the next morning. "Mind if we skip training today? I...just don't feel up to it."
"To be honest little brother...I don't either." Leo replied as he went to make him some tea.
"There's a surprise." Donnie said before he sipped on his coffee. "Never expected that from you."
"First time for everything I guess."
"So what are we going to do today?" Raph asked from the chair he was leaning back in, hands resting on the back of his head.
"Nothing." Leo put his teapot on the stove then reached up to grab a mug. "For once, I just want to stay home and just...relax."
"You feelin' alright?" Mikey asked him.
Leo sighed as he leaned against the counter to wait for his water to heat up. "No, not really."
His brothers quietly looked at him, but didn't say anything. They pretty much knew how he felt, because they felt it too.
"Anyone hungry?" Mikey asked, more to break the silence really than out of a desire to eat. "I'll make some breakfast." Three heads shook no. "Me neither."
The kitchen was quiet after that, the only sound was the whistle of the teapot.
.
.
The front picked up speed over the course of the day, rolling over the heated landscape like a cooling wave. Storms began to flare up around the front edge of it, prompting numerous watches and warnings as the lighting blasted in the skies. Storm watchers began to scurry around, eyeing the intensity of it. Waiting for funnels to form. But this wasn't going to happen, not this time. The guiding force didn't want to bring destruction, it wanted to bring peace to troubled minds and hearts. It had always had an intricate connection to things mortals really couldn't understand, and it respected the forces greatly that it was unleashing. Mother Nature lent it her power, but it would not allow anyone to be harmed. These storms had the potential to be deadly, but this time they weren't. Onward the front pushed, ever closer to where it wanted the storms to go.
.
.
Mikey flipped through the channels but nothing was really on besides the early evening news and cheesy ass sitcoms. He finally gave up and turned the TV off before dropping the remote on the coffee table. He leaned back into the couch with a sigh.
"Nothing on?" Leo asked him from where he was sitting in the recliner, reading a book.
"Nope."
"Why don't you play your video game?"
"Don't feel like it." Mikey shrugged.
"Don't you be gettin' on my damn nerves now because you are bored." Raph grumbled at him from the other end of the couch.
"That's just it Raph... I'm not really bored."
"I find that hard to believe." Donnie mumbled from where he was sitting in the other recliner, adjusting something on his pack.
"I'm not." Mikey reaffirmed. "I just... I dunno."
Leo looked up from his book, his blue eyes now looking at his brother. "You feel lost?"
Mikey was quiet a minute, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Feels like everything is pointless."
"Empty." Raph added.
"Like something is missing." Donnie said quietly from the recliner.
Leo closed his book and laid it with a plop next to the remote. He really wasn't reading it anyway. He instead rested his head in his palm, his eyes now looking out at nothing as he tried to settle the feeling they all felt.
.
.
Night had fallen and the skies now lit up with the intense light show. The thunder sounded across the horizon in one long lasting rumble. A new sound crashing before the old even faded out. Still it urged these storms to keep moving, so close to it's target as the winds whipped over the grass. Goats began to scramble around in their pen, frightened at the sheer force that was rapidly approaching them before they huddled inside their houses. Closer still it moved, holding back a few strikes that had been wanting to come. It had to time this perfectly and one stray bolt would ruin the effort. Just a little bit more, just a bit... Finally it was close enough and it let loose the sheer fury of numerous bolts as they crashed into the nearest power line connected to this small dwelling. And with that force a doorway ripped open...it was time..
.
.
That night, much to his surprise, Leo found he wasn't the only one who was looking for comfort from their Father. Mikey was already there, just standing quietly looking down at the urn. He looked up with sad eyes as Leo entered the room. "You too huh..."
Leo just nodded as he moved to stand next to his brother.
"Make that three." Donnie said as he slowly walked in next. "I...just felt like being near him tonight."
"Same here." Leo told him.
"Good...that means I ain't going nuts then." Raph grumbled as he followed. "Thought for a minute I was the only sap..."
"You are the only sap." Mikey grinned at him. The first grin he had on his face all day actually.
Leo chuckled at the glare Raph gave their little brother.
Before the ensuing argument could begin though, a blinding light filled the room. A light bright enough to where not even closing their eyes to it could keep it all out. That was followed with a sudden lurching feeling, as if someone was pushing them to the side, but they stayed firmly on their feet the whole time. The light and uneasy feeling lasted for a few moments. Holding them firmly in place. Leo found he couldn't move in it, couldn't talk. All he could do was wait for it to pass.
And when it did they found themselves in darkness. They couldn't see right away, because they were still blinking from the effects of the light, but they immediately knew they were not in their home.
Leo tried to get his eyes to focus when he heard a thump come from in front of him somewhere, followed by the sounds of a female's voice grumbling something about stupid blackouts, stupid desks and stupid everything in general.
They were still in shock over what had just happened when the figure started to move across the room, but obviously couldn't see where she was going and she bumped right into Donnie who couldn't move out of her way quick enough. She froze in shock because she ran into something that wasn't supposed to be there, they froze because they didn't want to give themselves away.
Then the lights came on and they were fucked.
Standing in front of them as close as she was, there was no way they could hide from her, wasn't even really a place to do that in this small building, by the looks of it her home. Her brown eyes grew wide as her mouth dropped open. Strangely, fear didn't register on her face. Disbelief and recognition were there, but no fear.
They were looking at her just as stunned as she was looking at them. What Leo found curious was the fact that he really wasn't alarmed. He somehow knew this woman in front of them meant them no harm. The sheer surprise was enough to tell him that much.
Then, in a move that was prompted by her utter disbelief, she reached out and carefully poked Leo to see if he was really there. Leo just raised an eyeridge at her, slightly amused by the way she reacted. He was expecting screams...not a confused poke. She looked like she wanted to poke Raph next, caught sight of his scowl and quickly decided against that course of action.
Finally she seemed to get her mouth to work because she nervously cleared her throat. "Hi...um...welcome to my home." She began nervously.
Leo looked at her, and what caught his attention the most were those brown eyes. They seemed to call out to him. "I would say thank you but we had no intention of coming here in the first place. Did you bring us here?"
She let out a laugh at that. Raph growled at the sound but Leo reached out a hand to calm him. His eyes didn't leave hers though. "No, I didn't bring you here. I wouldn't even know how to bring you here. And Raph don't you dare throw a fit. If you wake my kids up I'll throw one that makes yours look like a toddler temper tantrum."
Raph blinked at her. "How did you know my name?"
"I know all of you. Leo. Donnie. Mikey and you're Raph."
"Dudes, she can read minds..." Mikey said and Leo tried not to roll his eyes, because he didn't want them to leave hers. She was still pulling at him. Something was anyway.
"I'm afraid you have us at a disadvantage, miss." Leo calmly said, already adjusting to this situation.
"My name is Vicky. I think I should show you how I know you. Not sure if you will believe me otherwise."
And over the course of the next hour or so, they watched everything she showed them and they were struck with amazement on how much she knew. It was now clearly obvious that they were not only gone from their home, they had completely left their world.
Leo grew more at ease with Vicky. She was no threat to them at all, just the recipient of a freak accident. If anything she seemed excited to have them there. He still didn't understand what exactly had happened, none of them did. But he knew they would be safe with her.
As they talked he found that he wanted to get to know this woman who offered to share her home with them, because she refused to throw them out. It touched him more than he would admit that she would offer what little she had to them. He wasn't so sure other humans would have been so inclined, not after what he had seen lately. Somehow, Vicky began to restore the faith in him that not all humans were bad, there were some good ones still out there. When she finally helped them settle down for the night, giving them all the blankets and pillows she had, Leo had already lost that lost, empty feeling that had been plaguing him lately.
Leo was the last one of his brothers to fall asleep that night as he laid on the pullout sofa next to Mikey. His eyes stared at the unfamiliar ceiling as sleep refused to come to him. He wasn't thinking about his current predicament, or how to find a way home. Wasn't even dwelling on why this had even happened. The only thing that wouldn't leave his mind was that pair of brown eyes that stayed with him long after she had retreated for the night to her room. He really couldn't explain why, but he felt like he had just found something he had lost. What he didn't know was that he had just found something that he would never lose.