There and Back Again

Don slowed as he rounded the last corner and saw Leo slumped over on the ground. His brothers weren't here yet, and Don did not want to run into whatever had taken out Leo alone. But he couldn't just leave Leo lying there on the tunnel floor.

A glint of light reflected off the tunnel roof and proceeded in the opposite direction. Whoever it was, they were moving away. His brothers would track them down. Right now, Don needed to get to Leo.

As he began to move stealthily towards where his brother lay, Leo groaned and pushed himself to his feet. Don froze, and waited to see if the sound brought the enemy rushing back. They would not get a second chance at Leo. Don would see to that.

"Sol?" Leo called, in a choked voice.

"No, Donnie" Donatello answered as he slipped quietly to his brother's side.

Don began a quick evaluation of Leo, keeping an ear out for the enemy's return. He flashed a small pen light at Leo's eyes, checked his breathing and pulse. Leo seemed stunned. He kept shaking his head, and tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"She's hurt Donnie." Leo said in a low, harsh, voice. He shuddered, "She's dying."

Don clasped his brother shoulders and looked into his eyes. They were lost, haunted by some nightmare.

"Who is?" Don asked quietly.

"I was there with her. I have to get back. I can't let her die alone..." Leo replied his voice trailing off.

"What are you talking about Leo?"

Just then Michelangelo arrived. He slid to a stop in front of them and whooped. "You're alive!" as he pulled Leo into a giant hug.

Then he spun, ripping out his weapons, as sounds coming from behind indicated someone else approaching at a dead run. Don pushed a still dazed Leo up against the wall and took up a stance directly in front of him. Leo slid down the wall clutching his knees to his chest.

Raphael rounded the corner with a sai in each fist, ready to maim whatever had injured Leo. He took one look at his brothers defensive stance and whirled around to see what had followed him. Nothing. The tunnel was empty once again.

There was a long, silent pause while the three brothers stretched their senses in every direction assessing the sites, smells and sounds of the tunnel around them. A silence only broken by Leonardo's quiet sobs. The sound of his eldest brother weeping set Raph on fire. He had never heard Leo cry, ever.

"I'll kill 'em. Whoever it was, whatever they did, I'm gonna take 'em apart piece by piece!" Raph shrieked, shaking with a rage and fervor even he had never felt before. Mikey just stared.

The coast clear for the moment, Don slowly turned to Leo. He was crouched against the wall, head on his knees, arms wrapped around them for support. It was a pitiful position. One that Don had never expected to see his brother assume.

Don knelt, clasped Leo's arms gently and whispered, "Leonardo, my brother, what happened?"

Leo couldn't seem to find his focus. He tried to raise his eyes to meet Donatello's gaze, but mentally he was with the girl, and couldn't seem to find his way back again.

With great difficulty, Leo focused his mind and pushed away some of the pain and despair then looked up into his brother's worried face. Don knew that look. Leo was going into shock.

"Let's get you inside" Don said to him quickly. "You think it's OK to go in the front?" he asked. After all, no one had seen the enemy yet, except Leo, who looked around quickly.

"Where's Sol?" Leo asked.

"Who's Sol?" Mikey replied. "We haven't seen anyone."

"Was Sol the kid?" Don asked, looking quickly back at Leo "Is she the one you took the hit for? The one that's hurt?"

"It's not what you think." Leo said, shaking his head. He was still having trouble forming coherent thoughts. Flashes of memory kept imposing themselves across in his vision, and they weren't his memories.

"Let's get you in." Don said again, "You need to rest. You can explain later."

"We need Sol!" Leo insisted, "Time is running out. She's calling... she's dying…" His voice trailed off again.

Don and Mikey exchanged a worried look over his head. Raphael, after his initial outburst, had remained silent. But now he pushed forward, shoved Mikey out of the way, and knelt next to Don in front of Leo.

"Where's Sol", he asked quietly looking into Leo's eyes intently. Leo looked at him warily.

"What are you gonna do?" Leo asked

Raph shrugged. "Bring him back. You said we need him. If a kid is dying, we better get our shells in gear."

Don's mouth fell open. He never heard Raph speak so calmly after such an outburst of rage. Especially when one of his brothers was injured. He had thought it would take hours to talk Raph down. Raphael was finally growing up.

Leo sighed saying, "It hasn't gone far, probably just down the tunnel there. I can still feel it."

"How do I catch him? What was that beam?" Raph asked, with the same searching look.

"You won't need to catch it." Leo said quietly. "If you back off a few yards, it'll come check on me. It's afraid of you."

"Someone that got the drop on you is afraid of us?" Mikey asked amazed.

Don followed that question with one of his own. "How do you know it's afraid?"

"I told you, I can feel it, just back off a bit and you'll see." Leo replied quietly.

Reluctantly, Don gathered the others and shooed them a ways down the tunnel, opposite where he had seen the light die out. They turned and waited, all eyes on Leo, who still sat partially slumped against the wall, panting and trying to get his emotions under control. They didn't have to wait long.

After experiencing that fall, the darkness no longer seemed like a haven to Leo and he was agitated in it. He felt lost, bereft of the soft glow of the amazing little creature who had so incredibly, if briefly brought the light.

Leo couldn't tell which feelings were his own anymore. This fear of the dark must belong to the girl. He pushed it back, trying to keep his other emotions in check as well. He had to be able to see past the pain and terror he had just experienced if he was going to find her in time.

Leonardo didn't even know her name but he had been connected to her on a deep emotional level. Now he felt the same desperate need to get to her, as he would have if it was Mikey or Raph lying out there instead.

Light was returning to the tunnel, but so slowly it was almost imperceptible. Don wouldn't have noticed it at all under other circumstances. He only saw it because he was watching the tunnel so intently for anything out of the ordinary.

A timid voice echoed down the tunnel.

blue?

Leo would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dire. It seemed he never got around to giving little Sol his name, so it was calling out his color instead.

"It's ok little one." Leo said as gently as he could, "They won't hurt you. Come back."

Ever so slowly the increased light in the area began to gather, coalescing into a small barely glowing teardrop shape that bobbed in front of Leo without support. Don, fascinated, started toward them. The little light bravely stood it's ground in front of Leo until Don stood right in front of them. Only flinching back a little when Don leaned his face in close to check it out.

"Don, stay back!" Raph growled low in his throat. "What the hell is that, Leo?"

Raph sounded fierce. He hated being taken off guard, and he still wanted to kill something. Somehow, though he managed to keep a reign on his temper.

Don's eyes had remained glued to the creature, lost in theoretical abstracts about what it might be. Mikey was the only one who saw the moment of relief on Leo's face that Raph had not acted on his temperamental outburst.

Leo's reactions were still good, but the vision had sapped his strength. He actually wasn't sure he could have stopped Raph if he had decided to attack the little one. Leo knew that what he needed was to rest and recover, but there was no way he was going to now. Not when the girl lay dying out there somewhere.

"That," Leo replied quietly "is Sol."