Summary:
He tried to save her seriously he did, but some things must happen , the chain had to break and she had to fall into the tank...but who said she had to fall alone , trying to save Karai Leonardo faces shredder and ends up falling dead in the tank next to Karai ...but...the blood of his greatest enemy is mixed in his wound...
Chapter 1: reborn
Leonardo sped up taking some distance with his sensei and his brothers behind him driven by a fierce determination that Karai would not commit the biggest stupidity he had ever done in his life
"She can't have been that impulsive...how was she that reckless? Karai isn't like that even when attacking us in anger there was a plan... "
The entrance to the building is something that his mind barely process focused as he was on rescuing her nothing else mattered making his way through the metal of the foot clan ninja robots
"get out of my way!" Leonardo shouted after evading a cut that would have cost him his head, only to with an upward motion cut the robot in 2 , to his left appeared another one but in an instant he barrio his feet to stab his katana in the head shutting it down , Leonardo turned to see splinter immobilized and Shredder waiting for him with arrogance in his eyes ..Karai was in a cage hanging from a chain right above a mutagen tank
" it's Shredder! I'm going to get him "
Mickey who was busy with 4 robots tried to calm him down.
"Wait Leo, don't even think ... auch!" he shouted after being sent against a metal column, while being ignored by Leonardo who advanced destroying everything in his way and passing by Splinter.
"Leonardo wait shredder is provoking you!" The attempt to calm his disciple's fury proved to be in vain , Leonardo jumped onto the platform that surrounded the tank looked up to see Karai
"Are you okay?" She pointed her gaze at him and smiled at him.
"If I'm not hurt...besides my pride."
Leonardo smiled before frowning at the sight of Shredder on the other side of the tank chasm between them
"You're a cynic you caged her? It wasn't even enough for you to steal her from her real father?" Shredder laughed viciously as he jumped up to face Leonardo as they clashed blades of their weapons
"Karai is just a rebellious girl! She'll learn as she's learned before!"
Being pressured by the superior height of his opponent Leonardo knew he would never win in brute strength...but he didn't have to, instead of pushing he gave in until he fell with his shell on the ground , Shredder without expecting it fell forward just as Leonardo bent his legs and pressed them against Shredder's stomach sending us flying before turning around and plunging one of his katanas into his thigh
"Ahrg! Damn eyesore" Leonardo snorted.
"Have you seen your face? ...besides you're more of a monster than I am on the inside."
He said to turn around and jump into Karai's cage who smiles at the sight of him.
"Leo...careful!" Leonardo barely manages to dodge shredder who was coming fast behind him for a surprise attack , however while dodging him Leonardo's katana that Shredder had cut the chain...no...he couldn't fail Karai so close to save her...not now...Using all his strength Leonardo held with his arms the upper part of the chain and with his thick feet of mutant turtle the cage and with much effort he bent his legs rising until he could release one hand to take the lower part of the chain, he aligned two strands one from the upper part and another from the lower part of the chain and buried his sword between them forming a union that now held the cage, with a sigh of relief he went down towards the bars to see Karai who was startled...
"There...I got you...now we must get out of here " she nods worriedly , and you hear the katana creaking under the pressure.
"Leo..." he nods before pulling out the handle of his katana revealing its hidden knife function Leonardo took momentum to cut the bars and when he was about to release it...he heard...a horrendous crack of the kind that only means pain...and felt it with even greater force...he looked down to see 3/4 parts of a sword piercing the chest part of his carapace...he felt his arms loosen and give way
"Leo! Nooo" Karai shouted in desperation before holding him down to keep him from falling he looked up and saw shredder holding the handle of Leonardo's katana as the blade disappeared into his shell and emerged in his profusely bleeding chest , shredder laughed unhingedly
"That's a good blade you have...on you turtle...now my daughter and me will leave" Karai looked at him in horror and fury.
"I'll never go with you...you lying murdering bastard" shredder sighed.
"You've gone soft Karai..we'll talk about this later...when your monster friend has bled out and...argh..." Shredder felt a lot of pain in his shoulder before he felt the powerful grip of Leonardo who used the katana blade protruding from his chest to in Shredder's back...
"You...you let your guard down..." he said in a very low almost whispering voice before his gaze faded an empty eyes...lifeless his arms surfaced freeing Shredder from who hung only by the sword that pierced them both , Karai looked with despair in his eyes that now held tears
"Nooooo!" Her scream drew the attention of the other turtles who saw shredder use his healthy shoulder to dislodge the sword and the attached corpse from his shoulder which fell into the tank
"Leo!" they all shouted at the sight of him.
"Leonardo!" Splinter broke free as he destroyed the robots that imprisoned him ready to jump into the tank to rescue his son and daughter when the metallic crunching sound alerted them...the katana holding the halves of the chain snapped
Shredder cowardly jumped to the platform to safety only to turn around when he realized that the cage was falling with Karai screaming in it in terror.
"Karai! Nooooo!"
Splinter could only scream in terror the name of his daughter as he saw her fall into the mutagen tank , he saw something move in the tank only for seconds later a clearly unconscious and mutated figure to emerge from it..splinter caught her as she fell and seeing her fine features he knew it was his daughter...he shook his head sadly
"..Miwa..." the creature opened its eyes and hit him with its tail before breaking the tank, Splinter jumped to avoid being hit by the substance but saw a familiar figure flow into the mutagen stream the mutant Karai also saw it and quickly slid up to it to surround it and bring their foreheads together..and push her like an animal does when their mate does not wake up...the head of the body in her snake arms did not move...and she shrieked with a sadness that expressed her pain only to shatter the drain cover and enter the drain taking the body with her...
"Sensei!" Raphael and the others reached Splinter only to see Shredder on the platform a few feet away from them...Raphael's face filled with anger ready to face him but was stopped by the hand on his shoulder of his master
"No! He must pay and I will make him pay!" Ready to disobey Raphael looks at the ground for a moment and as the mutagen disperses he sees...the handle of Leo's katana...semi melted into the metal flowing towards him in that small river of mutagen and finally he falls to his knees weeping
"Leo..." Donnie falls to his knees next to Mikey.
"Yoshi!!!" Shredder's scream comes from above and as a fire starts to spread they see Shredder running away.
"Your cowardice has cost one of your own again and hurt my daughter...you will pay " after saying that he flees the scene as the fury reappeared on Raphael's face
"However, before he could do anything, his master's grip on him tightened.
"Oruko Saki has always been a coward and eventually he will pay for it!"
Far away in a sewer a large snake emerges from the water and deposits a lifeless form on the cement on the side of flow before withdrawing the katana from its chest and brushing their foreheads...the snake lets out another shriek of pain before taking a human form and embracing the lifeless body with tears streaming from its green colored eyes
"I didn't understand before...father you warned me that revenge would only bring me pain...but now my heart is dead...,that monster killed him...I only have the pain left to feel" a tear slides down his cheek as he gently leaves the body in the flow of the water to see it being dragged by the current and disappear in the darkness of the tunnel, Karai transformed and submerged swimming in the opposite direction losing the celestial glow that illuminated the bottom of the tunnel behind him.
Only... there was darkness...complete and utter darkness...total silence...but ..wasn't there something was...metallic? A clash of swords a familiar sound he had heard since... wait since when?..all his life it was obvious he was a ...un what?..who was he anyway? Nothing came to his mind no memory which was impossible...how do you remember a language if you don't remember learning it? Wait there was something...a girl? ...if that's it he had go to save her...then weightlessness and a feeling of liquidity...water? He fell into something...it stopped the pain one he didn't want to feel again from a wound that...hurt...will I still hurt?...his hand traveled to his chest to feel pain as it touched a long thin wound..he tried to open his eyes and...nothing...well not exactly had he opened it but it was too dark to see anything he looked up and saw...something brighter than the wet darkness that surrounded him...this time he was sure he was underwater he made an effort to swim up...he barely moved he made another and barely nothing...after a fruitless 10 minutes he made it to the surface and finally saw the powerful light that attracted him that called him..and god it was beautiful so many lights the intense sound of the...cars! The people this city was his home somehow his whole body his instinct was screaming at him...however before he could reflect much more a powerful light illuminated him and a siren overwhelmed his ears.
"This is the coastal lair young man what is it doing in the water at this hour? It's freezing at this hour."
He stopped for a second the water was freezing? According to him it was fine, the man sighed before turning to his companion.
" George let's get him, young man let's get you...god is naked..." the man doesn't look too suprise..well you see everything in New York
Wait naked? No , he never need much of anything like clothes he was a ...what, he looked at his reflection in the water in short dark brown hair what could be light brown if it was dry a slightly slitted pair of eyes and sharp features nothing out of the ordinary and all the people wore clothes so...
"What am I doing here?" The man in the boat laughed for a moment
"That's what I'd like to know...come up and we'll give you something to dry off and you'll put on clothes " the guard stretched his arm towards him , stretched his own arm out revealing a katana sword scaring the man
"Are you armed?" surprised he blinked...
"That's new" he looked at the weapon from all sides it was normal he knew it was his and...it was red the red was almost stuck to the weapon as if it had been printed on its surface but it was irregular
the man on the boat must have noticed it too and to his injury
"Shit it looks like you got stabbed with it give it to me and we'll get you up...let's get you to a hospital" this time he took his hand and climbed into the boat being quickly covered by a blanket from the other crewman they indicated where to sit and started to move, the officer next to him gave him a more detailed look
"Are you Asian?"
"Asian?" He asked ,the officer nodded
"Yes..you have fine features , you wouldn't be the first migrant to be thrown into the sea by human traffickers or a settling of scores."
Maybe that's what he was...but something didn't fit in that theory something felt wrong.
"Well it doesn't matter at the moment you just need a doctor then you will come to the police station you will receive appropriate clothing."
"I'm Marcus...what's your name boy?
"I'm...Leon..I think so at least" Marcus smiled at him.
"A pleasure Leon"
The next 2 days had been quite active health tests revealed that his wound was progressing at a good rate...too much was healing fast so they took blood samples...that had been somewhat uncomfortable not because of the sample but because of the constant murmuring from the nurses as they came to see him...his chest swelled with pride for a moment...maybe he was handsome...the police theory was that he had been brought in to be part of some gang he had pissed off the wrong someone and they had gotten rid of him...one stab wound and into the water it was a miracle he was alive...that seemed to fit with his ...brief memory that he had gone to save a girl...maybe protecting her from them had made him this...not having a memory made it impossible for him to rat them out...Marcus walked in the door at that moment
"How are you doing?" He shrugged his shoulders at the question.
"Surviving , thanks for helping me out there in the water...I don't know what I would have done here...not knowing anything about the city...will they let me stay?" Immigration...that was the office that would decide if that happened he didn't want to leave for anything in the world there was a whole city to rediscover out there
"They didn't find your prints in any of the countries we asked so for now if you will stay under surveillance of a police officer...I will live in an apartment in my neighborhood as I am being reassigned to another section the coast guard is time consuming plus they said a familiar face would help you adjust" after that Marcus headed for the door before stopping in the door frame
"By the way I have a young daughter and a teenage son so maybe I'll introduce you to them one of these days now they will be in school until later we are leaving in a few minutes get ready"
Before he left Leon felt a sense of urgency.
"C-could I...keep the katana?" Marcus raised an eyebrow.
"The one that almost killed you...why?"
Leon cringed at the irony of the situation.
"I feel it was mine...even if I get hurt I feel it's the right thing to keep it" the man chuckled.
"It's a strange and out of protocol request but they couldn't find prints and the blood on it was yours...so I'll see what I can do but don't get your hopes up"
(With Raphael)
He was gone...Leonardo was dead only his ninja belt and a handle of his broken sword was left...he sacrificed himself for her ...And where was she?! Mutated and far from her reach they couldn't even accomplish their mission that night they had failed and Leo too...I didn't know how much consciousness Karai had but seeing her pain when she held Leo's body she seemed more lucid than a normal newly mutated...2 days had passed and no trace of her...Donnie is devastated , Rapha himself..., Mikey...April had cried in their group hug when they told her the morning after that night Casey just looked stunned at the static handle on which lay the handle of Leo...Raphael's katana came back to reality when he heard the sound of impact coming from the room they used for training and saw Mikey hitting over and over again with his ninjacs a practice dummy and then his knees gave out..he tried to get up in vain falling down from exhaustion.
"Mikey! Okay?...you must stop" Mikey refused to stand up from his grip.
"I can't! Leo needed us and we weren't fast enough Raph...we were late...I was late!"
Raphael grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him to look into his eyes
"Mikey...it was nobody's fault..Leo...he made his decision to face shredder alone we couldn't do anything..."
"If only I had been faster stronger...I've always slacked off more than you guys..I thought we could always cover each other's weaknesses as a team but I couldn't do anything else that night I must get stronger Raph not for me but for you guys I won't let anyone else get hurt if I can be there to protect him!"
Raph smiled and sat down next to him
"You know Leo he always saw the best in people...sometimes it irritated me how naively optimistic he was with some...he saw something a me that even I haven't seen yet...and that bothered me he sometimes looked at me like I was wasting my potential but now...I wish nothing more than for him to correct me hoping he would bring out the best in me "
"What will we do without him, Raph?"
"We will be better and when the time comes we will stop shredder's evil forever...now stand up practice with me!"