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CHAPTER SIX

Leonardo finally finished polishing sometime around midnight. It had been extremely difficult, but he managed to finish all of his chores that day without anyone realizing that he had been gone for an hour around noontime. It helped that he had some incentive to finish them quickly: he had been ordered by Raph to meet with the Princes and Usagi as soon as he was done with his duties, and he was anxious to meet them as soon as possible.

Standing up, Leo carefully put the last piece of armor in its place and softly wiped off any stray fingerprints. With a sigh of relief, he then placed the polishing cloth back in its rightful position and exited Saki's weapon room.

Only to stop at the threshold of the door when Saki himself blocked his exit. His uncle looked like he had just been about to enter the room.

"Maggot," Oroku Saki frowned, "Did you think that you could leave this easily, before finishing your chores?"

Leo bowed. "I have finished, my lord." He said simply.

"I will be the judge of that." Saki exclaimed, pushing Leo to the side as he entered the room, "Let me see your work."

Saki picked up one sword and looked at it intently, shifting it to see it in the light. Then he picked up another sword, and another. He made his way to the suit of armor and studied that carefully as well before turning to Leonardo.

"You may leave," he said with a frown, "But be certain to give me this level of perfection every night from now on, or there will be consequences."

"Yes Master," Leo nodded, and left the room with relief.

It didn't take him too long to get to Raph's room. He knocked on the door twice, and Usagi opened the door for him.

"Where were you?" Raph asked him, not bothering to get off his cozy chair at Leo's entrance, "You were supposed to be here hours ago!"

"I was held up," Leo said, sitting on the ground, "Sorry."

"You have been polishing." Usagi said, wrinkling his nose.

"Yes," Leo said, wiping his eyes to stay awake, "Oroku Saki's suit and weapons."

"Usagi, wake up Donnie and Mikey." Raph ordered, and for the first time Leo realized that the two were sleeping on Raph's bed.

"As you wish, Highness." Usagi said, moving towards the two sleepers.

"I don't know why we've included you in this, servant," Raph frowned, "But since you know as much as you do, you might as well be in it all the way."

"Anything I can do to help." Leo said, struggling to stay awake.

"When was the last time you slept, my friend?" Usagi asked, shaking the two Royal Princes.

"Oh, the servant's here?" Mikey asked groggily, sitting up.

"What took you so long?" Donnie asked, yawning.

"Duties." Leo said, standing up so that he wouldn't fall asleep where he was sitting, "What is your command, Highnesses?"

"Wait. Before anyone gives you a command, I must ask that you answer my question." Usagi said, "You were tired when I saw you this morning, and I know that you were up in the early hours of this morning. When was the last time you slept?"

Leonardo didn't exactly want to tell them, but he didn't want to risk avoiding the topic any longer. It was better to tell them and get it over with.

"The night you discovered the ninja, Warrior Usagi." He said.

"Wait. You haven't slept since then?" Donnie asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Is that normal for servants?" Mikey asked.

"It is for me," Leo was quick to reassure him, "Now, please answer my question. What can I do for you?"

"I think you should sleep," Raph said, getting off his chair, "You're no good to us if you aren't awake enough to think."

Leonardo frowned. "Prince, I assure you-" he began, but Raph cut him off.

"Look, you won't be missing much." He said, "Donnie told us earlier that he couldn't find anything yet about why the King would stash his stuff here instead of taking it with him. Actually, we were just waiting for you because we wanted to search the castle for some more clues."

"At night?" Leo asked.

"That's why we wanted you," Raph grinned, "From what I hear, you know your way around this place. We didn't want ta waste the whole night trying to find a room when you could just take us there. We could, but we don't wanna. But," Raph frowned, "Usagi's right. You're too tired."

"Nonsense." Leo said, standing up, "I am perfectly able to handle anything that is required of me."

"Are you questioning me and my authority?" Raph asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Leo replied immediately.

Donnie and Mikey gasped. No one ever talked back to Prince Raphael.

"Huh." Raph smirked, "You're pretty fearless for a servant, you know that?"

"You're not changing the subject," Leo said, "I can take you to any room in the castle, except for the rooms forbidden to servants. But even though I can't get you into those, I can tell you where they are. However, aside from the one in the Banquet Hall, I haven't seen the flag with the turtle symbol in years. Then again, I didn't see the turtle in the cellars until Mikey spotted it, so there might be more hidden in the castle."

"Like the one in my room," Mikey said.

"Exactly." Leo said.

Raph looked at Leo, Mikey, Donnie and Usagi.

"Alright," he said, turning back to Leo, "You tell us how to get from here to the Banquet Hall. But you're staying here to rest up while we search."

"Didn't we already search the Hall?" Donnie asked.

"I didn't." Raph said, "Only you and Mikey. And Usagi's got better eyes than any of us, so he should search too."

"Sounds fun!" Mikey said, "A midnight adventure."

"But without me, can you find your way back to this room?" Leo asked.

"Eh, we'll wake someone up if we need to." Raph shrugged his shoulders, "Now tell us how to get there already."

Leo sighed, and sat down on the floor. "Go down the hall to the right," he began, "Stay in the main hallway until you reach the three hallways, and take the one on the left. Follow it down the stairs and get off on the landing with the giant painting of your Queen Mother. Then just follow that hallway until you get to the large wooden doors that have Steward Saki's coat of arms above them."

"That's the banquet hall?" Donnie asked, "I always thought that was the door to the museum."

"Wait. The giant wooden doors?" Mikey asked, "Dude, I've never come in the banquet hall that way. I've always come in through the front."

"Actually, that's the back." Leo smiled, "The wooden doors are really the front."

"Would you guys stop being so boring?" Raph asked, tapping his foot impatiently, "Let's just go already."

"First," Leo said, "Can you repeat the directions back to me?"

"UGHH!" Raph groaned, "Usagi, you got the directions, right?"

"Of course," Usagi bowed, "Down the hallway to the right, take the left hallway, stop at the landing with the painting of Her Majesty and enter the Hall through the large wooden doors. And to come back, the process would be reversed."

"Good." Leo nodded.

"Now we're going. You," Raph said, stepping towards the door at the same time he was looking at Leo, "Stay here and wait for us to come back. But get some sleep."

He opened the door even as Leo nodded, and Donnie and Mikey jumped out of Raph's bed. Within seconds, the four of them-Raph, Don, Mikey and Usagi-had left the room. And Leonardo, completely wiped, finally let himself fall asleep on the floor of Raph's room.


He felt someone put something on his back. Something warm. Leo was instantly alert, but he had trained himself well enough to keep from moving. Sometimes some of the servants messed with him when he was asleep, and the trick was figuring out what they were up to and then deciding whether it was wiser to move or pretend to still be asleep.

"Do you think we should move him?" Someone asked.

"I don't know, Mikey. We might wake him."

Wait. The Princes? Mikey and Donnie? What were they doing down in the-Wait. He wasn't sleeping downstairs. He was in Raph's room. And someone had just placed a blanket over him.

It was a pretty comfortable blanket.

"Why is he sleeping on the floor?" Raph asked, confused.

"Remember, Prince Raphael." He heard Usagi say, "He is a servant. He would not allow himself to rest on your furniture without your express permission."

Leo finally realized that he should get up. It took all the willpower he had, but he managed to open his eyes and sit up. The comfortable blanket fell off his shoulders, and he instinctively began to fold it. His muscles ached and he hadn't slept enough to make up for the lost night of sleep, but he had enough.

"Majesties and Warrior," Leo addressed them, placing the folded blanket on Raph's bed without raising himself from his knees-he had fallen asleep next to the bed, so he only had to reach over a little-"Did you find anything?"

To his surprise, everyone in the room was staring at him with their mouths open.

"How'd you do that?" Donnie asked him.

"Do what?" Leo asked.

"Dude, you totally just woke up. And you're not even sleepy." Mikey said.

"It's a gift." Leo teased, "But seriously, did you find anything?"

"No." Raph frowned, sitting once more in the chair, "I'm pretty sure we searched all over that room, but we couldn't find anything."

"If there is something to be found, it is very well hidden." Usagi said, "However, it could be that the turtle symbol in the flag is merely coincidental."

"We're going to call it a night." Donnie said, "We'll try again with another room tomorrow night, when everyone is asleep. And maybe I can find some information in Dad's desks about why he left that stuff in that room."

"Yeah, you do that," Mikey said, yawning, "It's getting late now though, so I'm going to bed." He plopped down on Raph's bed, and was snoring within seconds.

"Get to bed too, Don." Raph said.

"Not this time," Donnie shook his head, "You've slept on the chair for the past few nights in a row. Let me have a turn."

"Nuh uh, no way," Raph said.

"Raph, there's no need to keep watch tonight." Donnie said, "Let me have the chair, alright?"

"Both of you can sleep on the bed," Usagi interceded, stepping towards Raph, "It is certainly large enough to fit all three of you. I will take the chair and guard you in your sleep."

Raph looked like he was about to argue, but instead he gave in with a sigh. "Fine."

Leo took this as his cue that it was time to leave, so he got up off the floor. "Good-night, your majesties." He said with a bow, and when Raph returned his good-by greeting with a grunt he quietly left out the door.

Now it was time to go to his corner in the kitchen and get as much rest as he could before the start of the next day. But first, since he wasn't in a hurry to go back to sleep just yet, he might as well check out the Banquet Hall.

Sure, his brothers and Usagi had already looked all over the room. But still...well, he really didn't have a good excuse. He just wanted to join in the search.

It didn't take Leo long to reach the Banquet Hall. Once inside he lit the candle by the door, and judging by how low the wax was, it had already been lit that night by the explorers who had come before him.

The first thing he did was check out the flag which flew the turtle symbol. The flag itself was mounted on a pole on the wall next to several other flags, all of which hung down proudly over the large table. Leo stood on a chair and then jumped from the chair to the ledge that jutted out from the wall, in order to get close to the flag-wait a minute. Why was there a ledge built this high up into the wall? Up until now, he had always thought that this was very convenient for trophies or dusting the flags, but was the real reason for the ledge so that people could get close to the flag with the turtle symbol on it?

Leo took a closer look at the flag and the pole it was mounted on. There was something slightly different about this pole-it was not placed on an equal level as the other flagpoles. This made the flag he was interested in rise just a little higher than the other flags. Maybe if he followed the direction the flag was pointing...yes! It was pointing directly at an old lamp in a niche, straight across from the flags.

"That must be it!" He said.

Jumping down from the ledge and bouncing off the chair he had used to get to the ledge, Leo raced around the table until he was directly across from the flag again.

But something was wrong. There wasn't a lamp there.

With a frown, Leo grabbed another chair and stood on it-wait a minute. There was another ledge here? A higher ledge? How come he never noticed that before? Stepping off the chair, Leo stood on the ledge. Suddenly the lamp and its niche came into view, and that was when he realized: the lamp was hidden. You couldn't see it unless you were right on top of it.

Reaching forward, Leo touched the lamp.

"What's so special about you?" He asked, "Are you another clue?"

One thing was certain, though. The lamp was extremely dusty, probably because no one ever noticed it to dust it. Leo started dusting it with his fingers, only to have the lamp fall into his hands. At that moment the empty spot next to the lamp niche suddenly fell back, leaving an empty hole.

Surprised, it took Leo only a moment to realize that he had found the tunnel. So the lamp, when pulled back, opened up the secret passage! Jumping down, he grabbed the candle that was lighting up the Hall for him and then used the chair to get back up to the ledge.

Then, in such a flurry of excitement that he didn't even think of going back to get his brothers, Leo stepped into the hole in the wall. There was a lever here on the inside, so Leo pulled it and the hole closed behind him, leaving him in the dark with nothing but the lamp and a forgotten passage to explore.

The passage was dusty, but the air was clean so he supposed it must lead out somewhere. Or maybe it was connected to the ducts that piped fresh air into the castle. Either way, Leo was determined to explore this passage on his own while he had time. Maybe it was allowing himself a little too much freedom, after all he had a full day of chores tomorrow morning, but these past few days had been more enjoyable for him than any time he could remember. What harm could a little exploring do before bedtime?

"And anyway," he thought, "I'm technically the High Prince, so this is technically my castle. I can do what I like and explore however much I want in here."

That wasn't what the cook or the stable-master or Saki would think, but it was enough for Leo to rationalize his current adventure. The tunnel seemed to go on for a long time, twisting and turning in different directions, and Leo was starting to wonder just how many tunnels there were in this castle and where they all led when something happened that nearly made him drop his candle.

And that something was that he turned a corner and found himself face-to-face with a red-haired girl holding a candle of her own.