One falls We all fall

Hi, long time no see, I mean read, I hope your all doing fine. To be completely honest I feel like this is my best chapter yet, tell me if you agree because I'm happy with how this turned out and normally I not too happy with how my stuff turns out. This story is not happy and fluffy, they'll be time for that later, but at the moment it's gonna be fairly dark, or at least I hope it's dark or I have failed beyond belief.

And to any of you who remember my last outro? (I hope that's the right term) I must apologize, I was being over dramatic, I was still a bit confused and scared about what the optometrist had told me, I'm not going blind blind, but more so I'll just become completely depended on glasses and considering how shitty my eye sight is now and was then, I was pretty scared. But yeah please no more reviews talking about my eyes, it's nice to know that others care, but its fine, it could be worse.

To Lauren, I for some odd reason got your review in my emails but can't actually find them on the site so I wasn't able to reply. I'm sorry but this story is not being adopted or whatever term people like to use, I'm not giving up on this story yet and probably won't in the future, I'm pretty competitive and stubborn, but yeah, sorry, I'll be finishing this story. Thanks for the offer though.

Thank you all so much for your review and favourites and follows, it nearly made me nearly cry yesterday when I read and looked at all of them, it's actually the reason this chappie was even possible and I've already got plans on the next, I would've continued and made this longer but I felt as though you needed to want more again since it's been forever since my last update.

Anyway enough of this crap lets head off to the real reason you're here

So please

enjoy

Master Splinter P.O.V

Master Splinter sat in front of his memorial shrine of his precious wife and daughter, sitting in his hands, being held ever so delicately was a picture, a picture of a small, smiling, blue eyed turtle who went by the name I. The small boy was hugging a slightly ragged, brown teddy bear with a large green heart messily sewed onto it, not a single sign of sadness or fear was present in those shiny blue eyes, unlike the last time he had seen them, open at least. Tears rolled down Splinters face, a heart wrenching sob escaped him as he stood and place the photo next to the other that was resting at the shrine. "My poor, poor baby" he sobbed as he dragged himself from the dojo, the photo of the smiling turtle stared at his back alongside his wife, daughter and his younger self, another horrid sob left the mutant as he retired to his eldest sons room. He stayed there for the rest of the night, sitting in a chair watching over his child, stroking his cheeks and whispering anything, hoping that his boy wouldn't become nothing more than a memory, like his past family had.

It was his fault after all, what kind of father leaves their child when they needed him the most? What kind of father would overlook the sadness the swallowed their child heart and very soul? Master Splinter had seen the signs and had decided to look the other way, unknowingly causing the child to sink faster, deeper and feel even more lost and broken. His son was broken and it was his doings, if only he could turn back the clock, but he couldn't.

Leo's body had gotten frighteningly skinny, splinter had managed to find an IV stand and some unopened boxes of bags, it was the only reason that I was still breathing. Breathing, if he just kept breathing then he'd be ok, he'd come back and his brothers and Master Splinter would fix everything, they would fix him and then his son could once again smile that innocent smile he used to have. But it had been a month already and I had shown no signs of getting better, if anything he's gotten worse. Splinter laid in the bed next to I and wrapped his arms around his frail boy, sobbing as he rubbed I's arms, trying to transfer some heat back into his cold body. Splinter cried himself to sleep, protectively hugging his son, praying for a miracle to happen.

Splinter woke up early the next day, he was greeted by little Donnie curled up on the other side of Leo, Leo was still unconscious. Master Splinter got up, covered his two boys and walked into the kitchen, looking around his home, Splinter frowned and became disgusted in himself. After putting the kettle on, Splinter than went around the lair and began to clean the mess he allowed to happen since Leo's breakdown, he would not have his son waking up to a mess of a home, and he would wake up, he had to. Splinter decided that his sons would start training again, he had to get them up and motivated or else the thing that overtook Leo could overwhelm as well. He wouldn't start training head on, no, he would slowly ease their way back into it, for today they will spend one hour warming up their muscles and then maybe watch a movie as a family, even though Splinters eyes were really sensitive to light courtesy of his rat DNA, he would still watch it with them. A loud whistle interrupted Master Splinter's musing, entering the kitchen he turned the stove off and began to make his green tea, as he sipped his tea he realized it was Thursday meaning Pancake Day, since Leo's coma they hadn't had a pancake day, this of course was going to change. So Splinter set off in his task of making algae pancakes, the aroma woke up a certain baby faced turtle and that said turtle sleepily stumbled out of his room and into the kitchen all the while ribbing his eyes.

"Daddy?" came Mikey tired voice as he sat himself in a chair at the table, head lying down and eyes now closed. Splinter gave a small sad chuckle at his youngest son, Michelangelo was just too cute when sleepy, but he wouldn't be sleepy in the first place if it hadn't been for those stupid nightmares, even Master Splinter had them occasionally definitely not as common as his son's but still he had them. "Well Michelangelo, I see you're up early" Splinter said quietly, only to get a half-hearted groan for a response, his heart clenched with sadness but he pushed the feeling down and once again addressed little Mikey. "Well, I'm making pancakes, but I don't think I can mix it all on my own" Splinter than turned his body a bit so he could see Michelangelo and so Mikey could also see the bowl, his eyes were half lidded as he curiously stared at his father, Splinter smiled "you think you could help me, my son". A very small, nearly non-existent smile appeared on Mikey's face as he slowly nodded, and with that said and done, they both set off to work.

When Donnie and Raph had entered the kitchen they were quiet surprised to see actual food and a clean home, they family sat down together for the first time in weeks and ate a proper meal, then they all washed up and began training, Splinter managed to get Mikey to giggle and Donnie to show a toothy smile, even Raph ended up giving a very small and nearly unnoticeable smile at some point. When the family went to check on Leo, he seemed to have gotten some warmth and looked a little less pale. It seemed as though things were looking up.

But fate has a way of being a fucking bitch.

Raphael's P.O.V

Raphael walked into his older brother room, a small smile on his face and in his hands was a small blue book with silver swirls framing the book. In bright yellow writing sat the books name 'TALES FROM JAPAN', Raph had never really been interested in their fathers culture, except for the cool things like samurai and the language, which their father taught and told stories of, but Leo, Leo had always been interested in japan, Leo had always wanted to travel there or at least see a cherry blossom tree. Raph sat in the chair that had been settled next to Leo's bed and just stared for a few moments, just watching the rise and fall of his big bro's chest, showing that he still lived, Raph grabbed Leo's hand and gave it a squiz "I'm sorry for everything we've done to you weo, I don't care if you hate meh and never wanna look or speak to meh again, just as long as you wake up bro, I don't care about anything else, just pwease, wake up" Raph sniffled as he held tightly to Leo's hand. Leo's finger twitched, Raph looked on in shock as Leo's fingers slowly twitched and curled around his hand. A few minutes passed before Leo's hand went limp again, but Raph smiled and began to read the book.

Sadly he didn't notice sweat dripping down Leonardo's face nor the look of pain slowly beginning to show on his face.

Donatello's P.O.V

Donnie had a nightmare the night before, he had seen Master Splinters break down and after he had fallen asleep, Donatello had joined, he just felt safer around Leo after a nightmare, he and his brothers would occasionally go to Master Splinter after a nightmare, but it just didn't work, not like they didn't feel protected or anything, it's just Leo did a better job of making them forget and fall back asleep, they just felt, better. Donnie looked at the TV, not really watching the show but rather was thinking. Donatello knew why their father had cleaned, cooked and made them warm up their muscle, he knew that Splinter was just trying to get them to not feel so bad, it worked a little. But Donnie just wanted Leo to wake up, he hated what had become of his big bro, he hated that they did nothing to help, he just hated everything. Donatello sighed as he slouched into the couch, subconsciously telling himself that it wasn't good for his posture. How could they allow Leo to reach such a point where his body just gave up, the stress, lack of sleep must've made him delusional and a bit irrational which defiantly showed in his break down, it was actually very surprising that it took his body so long to give up, gods knows he needed the sleep, maybe this was the way his body was regaining strength or maybe it something that they hadn't thought of. Donnie was scared, he didn't like not knowing things, it made him freak out, taking a deep breath, he calmed himself enough that he could think properly again, he needed to tinker with something. Donatello hopped off the couch and into the kitchen where he tinkered with the toaster for an hour, taking apart and then rebuilding it over and over again.

But unlike the toaster, Leo couldn't be broken and then fixed so easily.

Michelangelo P.O.V

I felt better, better than before at least. I was watching this cool TV show that had some cool people fighting evil, the theme song was really catchy to, it's called 'Teen Titans', Donnie and I were both watching it, I like Beastboy the most, he was funny, he could change into different animals, he was a hero and he was GREEN. It's the first time I've watched TV in long time, I missed it but I missed the rare time when Leo would watch or play video games with me, I missed having pancake day as a full family, I missed Leo's over protective self, I missed my hero. I rubbed my eyes and yawned, in the corner of my eye I could see Donnie walk away, I picked myself off of my stomach and off the floor where I had been for a while, I got on the couch and curled up. I remember last time the whole family had been in this room, Leo's idea for getting us all to sleep, at the time none of us knew that the others had been given nightmares, we all thought that Leo was just looking out for one of us, ourselves, but after his breakdown, we realized it was because all three of us younger brothers, had all been plagued with nightmares and Leo just wanted a way where we were all with him so that we weren't too afraid, and also so he could sleep. Our nightmares had caused him to have ruff nights while we got a good sleep and were fully energized the next day. Donnie and Raph might not think I'm very smart, but I'm not stupid, not at all, I just like to not worry or over think, I like having fun, like Beastboy. I yawned again, my eyes began to fall, maybe a quick nap, and maybe it'll be too quick for nightmares.

I hope.

Dream

I walked through the sewers with my brothers, we're playing follow the leader, Raph was the leader. Raph being the leader was in front, Donnie was second on line then me and finally Leo who was really quiet, which is very normal for Leo, he normally played our games to keep an eye out for us. Raph took us all around, we swung from sewer pipes, looked for any cool objects that were washed down here, and whatever we found we kept, I found a cool cape that was still in its plastic bag, why would someone throw it away? We slid down bigger pipes that landed in a big pool of clear water, we swam for a while, Leo however stayed out of the water and watched us from above, as always. I giggled as I splashed Donnie with water, Donnie laughed and yelled out that he was gonna get me, thinking quickly I dove down under the surface of the water, I kept going deeper, thinking Donnie would be after me, I turned around to look up only to see Donnie and Raph quickly retreating out of the water. Confused I began to swim back up, only for a cold metal claw to grab my foot, shirking in fear I looked down, I quickly closed my mouth after my yelp but I nearly did again, red eyes peered up at me for the black depths.

I began to struggle, kicking and thrashing, trying to swim out of the monsters grip, but to my utter horror the thing began to slowly drag me down. Laughter, deep haunting laughter bubbled up from the being below me, tears began to collect but how could I cry if I was already underwater, my train of thought was ruined as the thing painfully gripped my leg tighter and pulled me down quicker, I could feel my chest beginning to burn, begging for air, I struggled harder, I didn't want to die.

Something splashed, I looked to see Leo, he had a glare on his face, his eyes showed so much worry and fear but also determination, I reached my hand up, begging him to get me out of here, to save my and be the hero he always was. Leo's hand finally reached mine and he strongly pulled me out of the monsters grip. I smiled as we quickly swam towards the surface, our hands still locked together, when I felt Leo's body tugged downwards, I looked towards Leo only to see him now struggling against the metal creature that was holding his leg so hard it was bleeding. I screamed and began to franticly tug and pull at Leo, tears were falling down my cheeks and so was Leo's, I looked him in the eye, he looked so scared probably just like I had looked like just moments ago and yet, that determination was still burning, brighter than any light I've ever seen, I've never seen the sun but I'm sure that the light coming from my big bro's blue eyes were brighter than it. Leo smiled, his tears floating up from his face and softly landing on mine, time seemed to stop. Leo looked like he had accomplished something great, he smiled so big it made me want to cry because of its beauty, my mouth hanged opened, somehow I wasn't drowning but I didn't care. All I cared about was Leo, Leo my big brother who looked so happy but so very scared and sad at the same time. And that's when it happened. Two small but strong arms wrapped around me and began to pull me up; I panicked and held on tighter to Leo hand, he just smiled. 'love you little brother' he mouthed to me, and despite him not speaking it, I could hear his voice saying it over and over in my head. My hand was ripped out of his, as I was pulled up higher and higher as Leo sunk deeper and deeper. "LEO!" I screamed out, he just continued to smile, his tears still swimming up towards me. I was pulled above the surface, "Don help me " I heard Raph shout behind me and before I knew four arms were pulling me out of the water and onto the cement. "NO, WE HAVE TO SAVE LEO" I screamed, trying to get them to let go of me so I could save my big brother, my other brothers continued to pull me away from the water, I couldn't get them to let go I even bit them, but they didn't let go. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, LEO NEEDS OUR HELP, WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING HIM", I felt a sharp sting on my cheek, Raph had slapped me "HE'S DEAD MIKE, he's d-dead" he sobbed and hugged me, Donnie held on tightly to me from behind. We all cried.

"LEO" I screamed

"Leo!" I yelped as I woke up, sitting up on the couch I cried, I cried and cried. My heart and head hurt, my lungs hurt, everything hurts. I sobbed, I needed Leo, I needed to see him. Getting up I began to stumble from the main room into the hall that led to all of our rooms. When I entered Leo's room I first saw a snoring Raph sitting in the chair next to Leo's, a thick book resting in his lap, I would've smiled had I not of been terrified, when I looked at Leo, I froze. Leo's skin, it was white, it was nearly completely void of any green, I ran to him so fast I felt as though I just teleported, I rested my head on his chest. My eyes went wide, a horrified scream came out of my mouth as I stepped back into a corner, my hand covering the sides of my head as I screamed, Raph woke up and began yelling for father, Splinter and Donatello raced into the room, stood still for a moment before rushing to Leonardo's side. I continued to scream, my lungs begged for air, but I couldn't stop, Raph came over to me and hugged me, he cried and told me it was ok. I stopped screaming, I just stood there.

Leo's heart and breathing had stopped.

Leonardo's P.O.V

It's gotten harder to breath here, the air keeps getting thicker, so thick that it feels like I'm trying to breathe honey. I looked around, I hope she comes back soon; it's not as lonely as to when she's here. There was a nice lady, I never could see her but she could see me, and she didn't fear me at all, she said I was cute, cute can you believe that. She was so nice, she told me stories and told me how my family was, she told me that if she could, she'd give me the biggest hug. I wanted to meet her, she seems so nice. "Hello, nice lady? Are you there" because I couldn't see her I had to call out every now and then, she told me it help her 'wake up', when she slept she woke up in another world and when her body there fell asleep she dreamt and it takes her here. Her names Fate, she told me she was the one who wrote all the possible futures, past and presents, she's the one that controls everyday life. I found it very confusing, she told me she forgets who she is when she wakes up but remembers everything when she sleeps. "Hello Leonardo" said the lady and soon enough she was telling me tales of daring warriors and samurai's, men and woman who went out of their way to be kind to complete strangers. One story in particular made me very sad and it reminded me of myself, it was called the foolish traveler.

Once long ago a man traveled around the globe, and when people asked for help he didn't deny, however soon enough people began to use him, they asked for money for their 'poor families' and he gave it to them, people asked for his food, his cloths, his money, maps, water anything and everything, and he gave, he was happy to help. No ever gave him anything in return, no asked for his name and yet he continued to give, not even a small thanks. When he no longer had anything he went into the forest, where a troll met him. The troll had said to the foolish traveler that he was so hungry and asked if he could eat one of his arm, the traveler said yes and then the troll asked for the other, again the traveler allowed him, soon enough nothing but his head was left and even then the troll asked to have his eyes as well and the traveler said yes. Now nothing but an eyeless head, the troll said "because of your kindness I want you to have this" the troll place a piece of paper on the man's head, on it was written "Fool" the eyeless man however, cried in happiness and thanked the troll, the troll had laughed cruelly before leaving the man to die. The man was so happy however, no one had ever given him anything and despite being able to see it, he was so grateful for the gift. He died alone.

It was a very sad story, I told Fate it had upset me and she told me not all stories end happily. "Leonardo, you are at a certain point in your life, a crossroad I must say, you have a choice, you can go down the path towards the light or the one surrounded by dark" she said seriously, I was confused "Where will they take me" I asked, her reply was "one shall take you home, the other will take you to a place where many lie but do not breath, I can no tell you which way to go, only you can decided" and as soon as she stopped speaking it was like a light was turned on, I shielded my eyes but I realized the light didn't hurt, to the left of my curled up body was bright light that glowed white, laughter echoed from the light and it felt so warm and nice. To the left of me was dark hauntingly scary forest, dark shadows crawled over the forest floor and eyes peered down at me from the trees, cold wind blasted from it. My choice was obvious, I wanted to live and help my brothers until I was no longer needed, turning to the light I was about to step closer to it when Fates voice stopped me "Not all things are what they appear to be young Leonardo, that is all else I can tell you, one will let you live the other will kill you" I shivered in fear. Taking a deep breath I thought long and hard, I made my decision, each time I looked at one of the places my gut would tell, no or yes, I went to the one where my gut scream yes. Uncurling I stood or floated more like it, and walked the way I thought was the right was. As I walked my heart and lungs began to hurt, really badly.

I hope my gut feeling was right.

Sorry if it's too short but I felt as though it needed to end there, I felt as though it was the perfect place to stop, I could've done more but I'm gonna go with my gut feeling.

NEWS: Every Saturday I will be writing (unless I get a job and it falls on that day) this doesn't mean I'll update on that day but it does mean chapters will finally come in somewhat regularly, I've even gotten an alarm so I CAN'T forget or ignore it. I'm feeling really happy, and it's because I'm getting back into the creative thought and I don't wanna lose it again, it was horrible without it.

You also might be familiar with that story,(here's a hint) it's from fruit baskets. :)

Anyway, if people are still interested in this story, please leave a review or follow/favourite, but if people are done with this story then it'll disappear into the darkness of angels.

Bye.