Prompt: When the turtle's return home, Leo is still traumatised by everything Jei did.

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To get started here is a quick one shot based on the recent TMNT 2012 samurai arc, but when the turtles return home. So MAJOR warning for spoilers if you haven't seen it. If you have, prepare yourselves for a bit of fluff.

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Turning away from Usagi was an unbelievably hard thing to do, Leonardo found himself realising as he entered the portal. Despite his arrogance getting in the way of their ability to work together at the start, Leonardo had found a true friend in the ronin who had shown him how to become an even better leader. It would be a shame if they did not meet again.

As he exited the portal, he almost collided straight into the back of Mikey. Leo was about to ask what the holdup was, but soon realised what caused the sudden stop of his brothers – April and Casey were on the opposite side of the lair.

The two teens had stopped, wide mouthed, as they took in the brothers – and probably their samurai armour – with clear relief and surprise written upon their faces. It was Raph who broke the awkward pause first.

"What the shell you staring at?" The effect of speaking broke the stillness of the moment, and the two teens rushed over to the brothers. Leo looked over his shoulder and saw the portal close, making his heart sink. There was no going back.

"Where have you been?" April cried, hugging Donnie and Mikey at the same time, "It's been days! We'd thought you'd been captured!"

"Well that much is true-" Raph smirked as Casey threw an arm around the hot head's shoulders. April looked at him for an explanation. "Some crazy wolf man took us to another dimension. We kicked his butt." Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes. When he put it like that, it almost sounded pleasant. Not like they'd all been mind controlled, forced to nearly kill their friend twice and watch their brothers die in a crazy nightmare.

As Donnie began to elaborate on the science behind the dimension with Mikey adding sound effects and comments about 'Pugtaro' Leo inched away from the group and headed over to his room, wanting solitude and time to think.

Silently, he closed the door and sat down upon his futon, not even bothering to take off the armour or swords. For a moment he let his mind drift, and he found himself seeing the images he would never be able to erase from his memory.

"I've got this, dudes!" Mikey cried as he lunged towards Jei, his numchucks spinning wildly. Jei forced the youngest turtle back and as Mikey paused for a single moment to catch his breath, there was a horrible SHING and a grunt. A spear was impaled straight into Mikey's front. He tottered for a moment then fell, his body already lifeless as he rolled down the Cliffside. Eyes empty. Unseeing.

Dead.

Leo gasped, and frantically shook his head, determined to rid the image from his mind. It wasn't real. It didn't actually happen.

But all the same, he felt the tears wetting his cheeks.

A knock at his door made him jump.

"Dude- you okay in there?" Mikey called. The real Mikey, the one who wasn't dead. Leo took a shaky breath and was about to say he was fine when the door burst open to reveal all his brothers and the two humans. "Why are you-" But Mikey cut himself off. Leo tried to turn his face away, to hide the tears, but everyone saw.

"Guys…" Donnie muttered to Casey and April as Mikey rushed to Leo's side while Raph took a seat next to his elder brother, "Could you…"

"It's fine. We'll be in the kitchen." April finished for him. In a moment, Donnie had also come to sit next to his brother and Leo could hear their silent thoughts, feel them judging. But he could also hear their breathing. They were all alive. Jei hadn't really killed them.

"Leo-" Donnie began, but Leo saw Raph shake his head and Leo felt a swell in his heart. Raph understood. He always did. Silence was sometimes better.

The eldest attempted to draw in a breath, to steady his breathing, but before he could help it, he felt himself trembling. In an instant three pairs of arms had encircled him, and he gladly buried his face in Raph's plastron and sobbed.

Leo had no idea how long his brothers just sat there as he cried, but once he had managed to calm down, he sheepishly muttered,

"Sorry… I just…"

"You know it wasn't real, right?" Mikey rested his head against Leo's arm. "We're fine. Jei didn't actually hurt us." Leo couldn't help but marvel at his little brother's ability to know exactly what to say. He found the words had escaped him, so only nodded.

"Doesn't make it better, though." Raph grunted. "Seeing that freak stab our little brother…" he broke off. Mikey made a small sound of surprise.

"Raphie really does care!" He teased, earning a gentle slap from the second eldest.

"Besides, Leo" Donnie joined in, "Kintaro got us out of Jei's control. Everything turned out fine. We're home, we're alive. What more can you ask for?"

Leo raised his head slightly, finally finding his voice.

"But I nearly killed Usagi." He saw his brothers share a look, but now he'd spoken, Leo felt it better to get it out, "I second guessed his orders, didn't mention the ninjas following us and then – even though it was a dream – I still couldn't defeat Jei. I couldn't protect you guys." He sighed and lowered his head. He knew Sensei would have been disappointed in the way he had acted, as he was deeply ashamed of himself. He couldn't fight off Jei's control and that nearly resulted in the spill of innocent blood.

"Dude, you have issues." Leo spun round to meet Mikey's gaze, shocked. "I mean, come on, brah -" Mikey held up his hands and began ticking off his points on his fingers, "You almost killed Usagi, but didn't. We second guess you, so it's only natural to second guess another dude. You thought you better leave it in case there wasn't an actual threat and we began seeing things that weren't there, and the dream didn't actually happen. We were fine." Leo blinked. Mikey turned to the other two turtles. "Come on dudes, back me up!"

Raph wrapped an arm around Leo's shell and held him close.

"You're so annoying, bro. You know that, right? Just count the victory for once – forget the 'what if' rubbish. Like the numbskull said- we're fine. You need to stop beating yourself up."

"But I can't stop seeing what Jei did to you guys." Leo confided, his voice small. "I hear it, see it. Everything. It's just there…"

Donnie put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and Leo hated how weak he sounded. But if he didn't say now- they were bound to find out later on and then he would have the whole "why didn't you tell us" speech.

"I'll get you some stuff to let you sleep tonight," the genius promised, "and we'll stay here with you. It was pretty terrifying-" Leo snorted at the understatement, "Okay," Donnie corrected, "highly traumatic. But my point is, it won't fade overnight. Give yourself time to realise it doesn't exist outside your head. That it didn't happen."

Leo grudgingly nodded, and Donnie moved out of the room, towards his lab to find the medication he spoke of. Mikey gab Leo one more hug then followed suit, saying something about grabbing some more pillows or something. Once they had gone, Raph leaned closer to Leo.

"It's alright to cry bro," he muttered, reading Leo's exact thoughts in his usual annoying way, "seeing Jei kill our bros is not alright. But he's gone now." He began to help Leo remove his armour, and indicated for him to lay down, "We won't be going anywhere tonight. We'll fill April and Casey in on everything tomorrow, but for tonight, we're staying with you. You'll feel better in the morning, believe me." The eldest couldn't help but give a small smile. True, he may have left one good friend behind, but he needed to remember that he had three brothers here who would never let him suffer.

"Thanks Raph." He squeezed his brother's arm. His gaze told him no more words were needed.

Donnie returned with a glass and some pills which Leo quickly swallowed, and almost immediately began to feel drowsy. Mikey entered just as Leo felt his eyelids begin to droop, and threw down a large pile of pillows which the middle brothers began to arrange around the eldest who lay down on his futon, facing the wall.

"See ya in the morning, fearless." Raph rubbed small circles on the back of Leo's shell and the eldest felt sleep grip him tighter.

They were right. There was nothing to hurt them now. He had his brothers and all was good. As he slipped off into oblivion he finally felt safe from the evil mind control of the dark magic wielding wolf. They weren't his puppets anymore.

When he awoke almost ten hours later, he found his brothers still sleeping by his side, Mikey curled up by his side, Donnie by his legs and Raph by his head, every single face at peace.

Leo was home. The only monsters now were those in his head, and even those could not hide the truth before his eyes, that even though hell, his family would never desert him and they would continue to endure just as they always had. No nightmare – no matter how traumatic – would change that. Ever.

So what are your thoughts? Leave a review, and we'll see what you guys come up with for my next oneshot!

LL99 Out! :)