Part 5

The sun was just beginning to light the horizon with pinks and purples as Don and Leo stood in the garage, bidding goodbye to the others. Or rather, Don was bidding goodbye to Splinter, April and Casey and barely looking at Raph and Mikey, much to the confusion of all but Leo, who only spoke when he was spoken to. April and Casey had gotten them enough supplies for a good month, at which time arrangements would be made for more if needed.

Once the goodbyes were said, and after Splinter had made Don promise to call with regular updates, the pair were in the Battleshell and on the road. Leo stayed silent and Don left him alone, knowing that a lot of talking would be done in the coming days. He just hoped Leo wasn't thinking up ways to avoid talking. That would be just like him. In fact, Don wouldn't be surprised if Leo tried to disappear from sun up until long after sun down in efforts to avoid him.

'Not gonna happen, Leo,' he thought with a glance at his brother. 'You've been avoiding everything long enough. It's time to bring it all out into the open. And then, when we get home, I'm going to kill Raph and Mikey.'

He was still having a difficult time wrapping his head around the fact that two of his brother were intentionally hurting the third. It was one thing to want to cause physical or emotional pain in a fight between siblings, but what they were doing was down right despicable and unforgivable!

He'd had awful nightmares about it all night and, more than once, had to force himself not to run out of his room and drag them from their beds to beat them within an inch of their lives. He didn't know what he was going to do about them yet, but he was sure he'd have lots of time to think about it. Making progress with Leonardo was going to take a while, he was sure.

Looking over at his brother again, he found him sleeping, or at least appearing to, his head resting against the window. Sighing quietly, Don left him alone and turned his attention back to the road.

Leo was dreaming. Raph and Mikey were both holding him down, taking turns having their way with him. They laughed at him, ignoring his pleas to stop and rewarded his resistance with harsh blows.

"Doesn't matter what you want, remember?" Raph taunted. "It's all about what we want. All about looking after our needs, ain't that right, Mikey?"

Mikey nodded, grinning sadistically. "Oh, yeah! You said it! Plus, you deserve this, bro. I mean really, how could you betray father like that? Taking up with old Shred head? Blah!"

Then, suddenly, Don was there, pure rage in his eyes. His Bo came flying down and then the scene changed, with Don pressing Leo up against a wall, his eyes dark and filled with lust.

"D…Donny, what….?" Leo stuttered in confusion as he glanced around.

Don chuckled darkly as he nuzzled Leo's neck. "Come on, Leo," he purred. "Why do you think I chased those two off? I didn't want to share, of course."

Leo closed his eyes, a tremor racing through his body as Donny began licking and biting at the hallow of his neck; at that secret place that always forced his body to betray him.

"All mine," Don growled, hands wandering down and exploring between Leo's legs. "If you think those two were punishing you for what you've done," he breathed in Leo's ear, "Just wait till I'm through with you…."

Leo woke with a start, disoriented. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was; in the Battleshell with Don, on their way to the farmhouse for Don's idea of an intervention.

"Leo?"

He looked over to find his brother giving him a concerned look. "You okay?"

'No,' Leo thought as he gazed at the younger turtle, the dream running through his mind as suddenly wondered why Donny wasn't involved in the game their brothers enjoyed so much. 'What are you waiting for, Don?' he thought. 'You know more than Raph and Mike ever will. You have for four months and yet, you haven't joined them. When will you finally indulge yourself as they have?' He blinked as something occurred to him. 'Or are you already? Is this your way of punishing me? By taking what's left of my sanity?'

A small laugh escaped Leo and Don frowned, his concern deepening. "Leo?"

Leo grinned and he knew from the alarmed expression in Don's eyes that it was maniacal…frightening. "I'm on to you, Don," he whispered, still grinning. "You're good. Very good. Better than the others."

"Leo…" Donny quickly pulled over before turning to face Leo, his confused, worried eyes searching his brother's as he tried to assess his mental condition. "Leo, what are you talking about?"

Leo smiled, reaching out and gently touched Don's cheek. "It's okay, Donny. I won't tell." He turned away, repeating in a soft whisper, "I won't tell."

Don reached over, touching Leo's arm. "Leo, you're scaring me. Talk to me, bro, please."

Leo looked back, studying his brother. The honest, sincere fear he saw in Donatello's eyes was enough to lift the shadow that had descended on his mind. He covered Don's hand with his own, squeezing gently as he smiled reassuringly. "I'm sorry, Donny," he whispered. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm okay."

They stared at each other for a moment before Don shook his head and pulled away. "No, Leo, you aren't he said as he guided the Battleshell back onto the road. "But I'm going to fix that. I swear it."

They arrived at the farmhouse late that morning and, as Don had predicted, the minute the supplies had been put away, Leo vanished. Unconcerned, Don dug out his tracker and picked Leo's signal up deep in the forest. Deciding to give his brother some space, Donny set about airing the house out and making up their rooms. He made lunch, still unconcerned when Leo didn't turn up. However, when evening rolled around and Leo still had not come out of hiding, the purple banded turtle decided it was time to go out and coax him back.

Grabbing the tracker, he headed out into the forest, following Leo's stationary signal. He walked for about fifteen minutes before stopping beneath a tall tree and, leaning casually against it, gazed at the peaceful scenery around him. After a moment, he said, "Think it's time to come in now, Leo. You barely ate anything at breakfast and you didn't turn up at lunch. You must be hungry."

Silence. Don waited patiently and, after nearly five minutes, Leo said softly from next to him, "You really need to stop relying on tech so much. A good ninja should rely on his senses and on what the environment tells him first, before resorting to other means."

A smile played across Donny's lips as he looked at Leo and said, "There's the training obsessed brother I love and hide from." As they began walking, he added, "Guess this means a few games of ninja hide and see are an order?"

Leo smirked, and Don enjoyed the feeling of normalcy that passed between them as Leo replied, "You'd better believe it."

They continued on in comfortable silence, broken occasionally by a good natured rib and even light roughhousing. By the time they got around to dinner, the mood was light and Donny was content to keep it that way. It wasn't often he saw his brother this calm and relaxed anymore, and he was loath to break the spell. After dinner, they played a few games of chess, then spent some time in meditation before going to bed, ending the day calmly and without incident.

The calm actually lasted a few days. The country air and peaceful surroundings seemed to do Leo a lot of good, keeping his mood light and leaving Donny with no desire to break it. It allowed him to try to deal with his own thoughts and feelings on the reason they were out there. To try and get control of the terrible nightmares that plagued him since learning of the dark secrets his brother carried. On the morning of their fourth day there, however, Don knew he had to get things rolling. Despite being tired from the little sleep he had been getting, he knew it couldn't be put off any longer. Stealing himself for a possible argument, he made his way outside and over to where Leo was sitting in meditation.

Sitting down across from him, Don spent a few minutes watching his brother before saying quietly, "Leo, it's time to talk."

It was a moment before Leo answered softly, "I'm meditating, Donny."

"You can mediate later," Don returned, speaking firmly. "Right now, it's time we talked about what's been going on."

Silence. Just as Don was deciding that Leo was ignoring him, the elder said, "Close your eyes and count to ten."

Don frowned in confusion. "What for?"

Leo opened his eyes, his expression unreadable as he said, "Close your eyes and count to ten. I'll hide in the forest. If you can find me within an hour, then I'll tell you something."

Don stared at him incredulously. "What? No, Leo, absolutely not! I am not playing games with you to get information that, as your brother, I have a right to know!"

Leo shrugged and closed his eyes again. When Don realized that Leo had gone back to mediating, he growled softly in irritation. "Leo! Why are you being so exasperating? It's just the two of us out here, bro! No one to overhear…no one to freak out. Just you and me."

Leo opened his eyes, annoyance flashing through them. "Come off it, Donny!" he snapped. "Did you really thing that dragging me out here would change anything? That I would just up and spill my heart out to you?"

"As the only brother who hasn't been forcefully fucking you, yeah, I kinda hoped you'd share a few things!" Donny snapped back, the night's dreams still fresh in his mind.

Leo stood, smoothly and gracefully, glaring down at Donny as he, too, got to his feet. "Why can't you ever just stay out of business that isn't your own?" the elder hissed.

Don gapped at him, stunned and hurt by his brother's words. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice whispered that Leo was just trying to get him mad so that he'd stalk off and leave Leo alone. Despite the fact that getting him angry was working, Don refused to back off.

"Are you serious?" he finally spoke, letting the hurt slip into his voice. "Two of my brothers have been abusing the third, and you're saying it's 'none of my business?' Like hell it isn't!"

They stood, glaring at each other for a few seconds before Don said, "All right, look. If you're not ready to talk about that totally messed up disaster, fine. Let's talk about Shredder and what happened there."

Leo shook his head. "No, Don, forget it! I refuse to talk about anything anymore. You wasted your time bringing me out here." Turning, he began walking toward the forest.

Don's eyes narrowed and he stalked after his stubborn jackass of a brother. "Don't walk away from me, Leo! We aren't through here!"

He reached out and grabbed Leo's shoulder, fully expecting the defensive move when it came. He headed it off by grabbing Leo's hand as soon as it grabbed his and pulling back a bit before knocking Leo's legs out from under him. Because of the position he was in, Don went down, too, and the pair wrestled for a few minutes before the younger turtle got the upper hand and pinned Leo down.

"Enough, Leo!" he snapped. "It's just me! You can talk to me….what are you afraid of?"

Leo seemed to deflate at the question, going limp beneath Don. He gazed up at him, several different emotions chasing themselves through his eyes. "Because, Don," he finally murmured softly. "You are the only brother who's opinion I value and respect the most. I couldn't stand it if you thought of me as a monster."

Don blinked in surprise at the confession, and moved off Leo, sitting next to him and studying him carefully. Leo continued to lie where he was, staring up at the clear blue sky, the self hatred and fear clear in his features.

"Leo," Don finally said after a few minutes. "Leo….look at me." He waited until Leo's eyes flickered to him, then said, "Leo, you're my brother and I love you. I could never think of you as a monster. Know why? Because I know your heart and, despite what you believe, you're a good person who would do anything for those you love. A monster….a true monster wouldn't."

Leo stared at Don for a long moment before turning his gaze back to the sky. "You look tired," he murmured. "Did you sleep last night?"

Don couldn't help the quick little smile that passed his lips, though there was little humor in it. It figured that Leo would worry about him…. "Sleep and I haven't been on the best of terms lately," he admitted, which caused Leo to frown.

"I'm sorry," the blue banded turtle murmured. "That would be my fault, I imagine. You never should have been dragged into this."

The anger, which had died down to a light simmer, flared to a new boil at those words, and Don lashed out, striking Leo in his plastron and causing a surprised "Oof!" to slip from his target. He glared down at the other, showing his brother an anger he rarely displayed.

"Dammit, Leonardo!" he shouted. "You are such an idiot!" He jumped to his feet, pacing like a caged animal. "Only you would take an absolutely appalling injustice committed against you and make it your fault!"

He stopped pacing to direct another venomous glare at Leo. "You are a victim here, Leo! When are you going to get it through your thick skull that you aren't a fault for everything under the damn sun, and accept some Goddamn help?"

Leo stared up at Don, struck dumb by his brother's actions and words. For a long moment, the pair stared at each other for a full two minutes before, much to Don's surprise, Leo suddenly turned and took off a dead run into the forest. Donny stood there, blinking stupidly as he watched Leo disappear into the trees, before shaking himself and taking off after his brother, shouting him for him stop.

He spent the next hour searching the woods for his disturbed sibling, but came up empty. Leo did not want to be found, and had even removed the tracers Don had placed on him, much to the brilliant turtle's immense frustration. Eventually, Don was forced to give up and return to the house where he could nothing but wait. Leo would turn up eventually, Don just had to be…patient.

God help him.

TBC