Raph looked at the door to Mikey's room, where Don was allegedly scaring a "monster" from under the bed. It was a valid excuse; Mikey was convinced that monsters existed and would do anything for attention, so he often complained about scary noises from under his bed as an excuse to bunk with someone. Increasingly, that someone was Leonardo, who would wrap Mike in his wings and whisper stories to him.
"Well, have fun sitting there, Raph," Don said, yawning hugely. "Agh. I'm so tired I would just fall asleep. I'll get you in the morning, Leo." A laugh from above told them that their brother would be on high alert for a while.
Raph grunted affirmation and turned his gaze back on the leader of the turtles. Leo was outlined in shadow, his wings mantling his body like sails on a small ship. Seriously, for Leo's size, the wings he could maneuver dwarfed him. They were fifteen feet long and three feet tall when extended. Also, since Leo had made the transition into a warm blooded creature, his wings were thermal blankets. He didn't sleep with covers anymore because his wings would cover him completely and keep him warm, since his body was cold-blooded after he went to sleep.
Leo was messed up physically, but he managed. The first few days with those heavy wings, though… And now, weighing in at over three hundred pounds, Leo stood almost three feet taller than Mikey. He was a gigantic turtle! Yet he still retained his grace, so he moved like a huge shadow. He looked like one, too, with the black writing that was slowly covering his skin. His wings and tail were already black.
Raph wondered if there was a word in Elvish for "Shadow Warrior" or "Shadow Dragon Warrior". Mikey would know; he was studying dragons and their needs, and he had found a website that displayed Elvish name suffixes and prefixes, which he had set out to memorize. That's where Kalian and Kavara came from.
Raph's Elvish name was Koriat, which meant "Black Fire". He liked it, personally. Don had been renamed Thohar, or One Who Seeks True Wisdom.
Leo would not give up; he had a dragon's sense of patience, and no one could match that!
"Agh, fine, O Winged One. I'm hitting the hay. But tomorrow… you're mine!" Raph called, shaking his fist at his brother's shrouded form before walking out muttering. He met Mike and Don far enough into the wing of the lair that held their rooms that Leo wouldn't hear them and gave them a thumbs-up.
"We're good to go."
"Alriiiight!" Mikey said. "I've always wanted to be on this side of the fights." Raph smacked him gently, knowing Mikey could cry out and ruin the trap.
They all crept closer to the main room, listening for a thump.
Don signaled for silence, and Raph froze.
Thump.
Ah, his brother had come down from his lofty perch. Raph grinned and grabbed a rope Don had stashed just for this purpose, getting ready to throw the lasso around Leo's wing. Mikey did the same as Don got ready to spring forward. He'd be the "cannonball" that would knock Leo onto his shell. Mikey and Raph would keep him from taking flight with the ropes they now held.
However, they'd need to surprise Leo, and since his eyes were delicate, throwing the light switch should work.
Raph nodded and Don flipped the main control, flooding the living room with light. Navigating by the sound of Leo's wings unfurling in preparation of take-off, Raph threw his rope, felt it snag, and pulled it tight. Mikey did the same and trapped Leo's flailing left wing.
"Gotcha!" Don cried as he slammed into Leo's chest. The cool metal of his brother's plastron gave him hardly a pause as he straddled Leo's chest and pinned his wrists beneath Don's knees.
"You've been practicing," Leo accused, warmth in his voice. His blacked-out mask made him look eyeless, but Don knew that Leo's red slit eyes were on him, he could feel the stare.
Before Leo could breathe fire on him, Don slapped a hand over his pinned brother's mouth and clucked appreciatively.
"I thought you'd hear us. Guess you really were off guard," Mikey teased, folding Leo's wing in and sitting on it to keep him from hitting them with it. Raph did the same, and they soon encircled their leader's body.
"So… what would be a good punishment?" Raph drawled, running his fingers down Leo's side. Their brother squirmed under Don, face scrunching as he tried not to laugh. He was very ticklish, so ticklish that a light caress could send him into a fit of giggles.
Mikey copied Raph's move and Leo squiggled away from him as well. Don smiled and slapped a small metal device over Leo's mouth as he took his hand away. It kept their leader's fire breath from becoming hot, since it was super-cooled metal that would freeze the flame instantly.
"S-stop it! Anything but this!" Leo cried, trying to break free from Don. Mikey grinned maliciously.
"Ooh, Kavara doesn't like being tickled?" Mikey drawled, running his fingers lightly up Leo's side. "Kavara's ticklish?"
"As you well know!"
Don and Raph snickered as Mikey continued tickling his Kavara. Mike was the only one who called Leo Kavara; Don and Raph called him Leo or Aelnes, which means "Knight of the Heart". Raph was also known as Baelnes, or "Guardian of the Heart". This made sense, since the family was a heart beating as one and Leo was the knight who stood up for it, and Raph guarded it like a dragon guards its treasure.
Donatello laughed as Leo's face twitched from trying not to laugh as Mikey's tickling became harder, faster.
"You can stop now," Raph said. "I've got an idea. Mikey, wrap up that wing. Don, can ya tie his wrists and ankles together?"
"Sure, but why?"
"Remember how Leo hates cold water?" Raph asked, forcing Leo's wings closed and tying his rope securely around it. Leo's eyes widened and he started struggling earnestly.
"I think I do," Don laughed, grabbing Leo's hands and tying them together with some rope from his belt. He gave the rest to Mike, who tied their brother's ankles together.
"Well, it just so happens that our pond is very cold right now." Raph positioned himself over Leo's head. Leo seemed to look up, but they couldn't really tell without seeing his eyes. "And Aelnes here is going for a swim, whether he likes it… or not."
It would take all three of them to drag Leo over to the pool in the middle of the lair, and that was if he would behave and stop squirming. Finally, Mikey ran and got a large sheet. They rolled Leo up in it, grabbed the two ends, and heaved him towards the cold water.
Leo was never hurt when he took a dunking. His tail was powerful enough to propel him out of the water, even without his legs, arms, or wings.
Slowly, they unwound Leo from his sheet and Don plucked the super-cooled metal from Leo's mouth with tongs, tossing it aside carefully. If someone stepped on that, they could get a very nasty case of frostbite in a minute or less.
Then, they pushed Leo into the pond. He tried to flap his wings, but was unable to. Mikey, Raph, and Don laughed hard, waiting for Leo to emerge and tear off his binding ropes. Then, he'd lie down on the cement, trying to warm up, which was pathetically easy for him to do now. Don was disappointed; he wouldn't get lethargic from the cold water anymore.
However, when a minute passed, the laughter died down and all three brothers stared at the water. Where was Leo?
Raph removed his Sai and knelt down, close to the water, to see if he could see anything.
He didn't even have time to shout as the water exploded and he was dragged under by Leo's tail wrapped firmly around his wrist. When he opened his eyes, he found Leo grinning at him. Something was wrong; Leo was laughing and seemed to be sucking in water. Then Raph noticed his neck. Leo had sprouted gills.
"Whoa!" Raph yelled. Leo frowned and released him, then tore off his bindings and opened his wings.
Mikey and Don were watching, waiting for Leo to appear, when the water shot up again and Leo was flapping in front of them, his wings shiny with wetness. Raph appeared a moment later, coughing and pulling himself onto land.
"Geez, Leo, why didn't you tell us?" Raph demanded, reclaiming his Sai and staring angrily at his brother.
"What?" Don asked worriedly.
"O Winged One there has gills," Raph spat, pointing at Leo's neck. "Show him, Leo!"
Carefully, knowing Raph was beyond furious, he was worried, Leo descended and shut his wings.
"Is that true?" Donnie asked, staring at Leo's neck, which didn't sprout gills anymore.
"I guess so. I just found out, too, Raph. I didn't know I had them." Leo turned to Don and breathed in, then his neck skin fluttered and the red flesh of gills showed up, the air exhaling through them.
"Amazing!" Donnie cried. "Leo, you keep mutating and soon enough, you'll have nothing else left to get!"
"Tell me about it. Let's get to bed. I'm tired." Leo stalked past them in a huff, heading for his room.
All four turtles retired, ready for some well-deserved rest. What happened next? Well, you'll have to read The Vampire Comes Out at Night to find out!