Chapter 15

Leo P.O.V

With a pained sigh, Leo began to climb the stairs slowly, both due to his multitude of reopened wounds, and the fact Raph had gone to bed early, so Leo did not wish to wake him. The events of the night had really taken it out of his directly younger brother who could only remember being grabbed before blacking out. Thankfully, in Leo's mind, Raph could not remember the ways he had attempted to attack the youngest two turtles, but it was more about being unable to do anything to help which Leo knew would frustrate his hot headed brother. The eldest did plan to go upstairs with Raph to 'go to sleep' as he was 'tired' but Donnie had held him back, demanding the truth if he was alright after the fight.

Leo had said that his knee throbbed a little more than usual after having to go without the crutch for a while, and told Donnie that the cracks in his shell front didn't hurt. The scientist then made a fuss of cleaning the cracks and filling them with some paste like substance which supposedly healed shells faster than normal before redressing the supportive bandages around his knee. Both of these statements were drastically underrated for Leo's knee was an explosion of pain with every step or the slightest knock and his shell burnt and felt like his insides were about to cramp, yet due to Donnie still being stressed out from Raph's ordeal, he didn't seem to question what his eldest brother said. However, it did appear that Donnie had had an ulterior motive for keeping him back. He seemed to want to speak with Leo alone.

"Um, Leo…" The eldest looked up, "You… You will keep an eye on Raph tonight, won't you?" The scientist's voice was uncharacteristically tense and frightened. Leo nodded in agreement as well as to signal his brother to continue explaining why, "It's just that… I mean… I don't know if there'll be any… side effects- physical or mental. I can look out for the physical ones, but me and Raph… You know, we're not the most emotionally alike…" He faltered, looking unsure if the point was coming across. The blue banded turtle had nodded again to show his understanding, hiding the wince as he jogged his shoulder, sparking another wave of pain. "I'm a scientist, Leo, a mechanic. I work on spare parts and computers- not complex biological fusing of mutated turtle DNA and turtle puke and grass. I mean, you know how long it took for me to notice your insomnia and depression… I just- I-" Leo had taken the moment to pull his second youngest brother into a hug as the genius shook in his embrace, apparently attempting to keep his emotions together and stop himself from a full breakdown.

"You've done more than anyone else could, Donatello," Leo soothed his brother, rubbing his shell in circles, a family thing, "You helped me then, and lately, and you've done the same with Raph. I will keep an eye out tonight, and alert you at the unlikely event of something happening." Donnie looked up with slightly damp eyes, still looking stressed, but less than before. "You've saved our entire family more times than we can count, so you must have enough knowledge of genetic what-you-mer-call-its in that massive brain of yours." Leo smiled, gaining one from his little brother.

"Thanks, Leo," Donnie muttered as he pulled away from his elder brother, "And if you need me for whatever reason- don't be afraid to call." The scientist turned back to his desk but as Leo got up and moved to the door, he heard Donnie's soft voice mutter, "We've missed you, bro."

That may have been true, but the warrior Leo once was still wasn't back yet. Shredder and his goons had done a good number on him, so even after such a small battle, Leo felt as if he had been run over with a bus with his insides pulsing painfully due to the shell cracks while his overworked muscles screamed in protest of each and every step. In a way, now he was kind of glad Donnie had held him back for he knew Raph would now be asleep, so now he wouldn't have to be embarrassed of being out of breath, but more importantly, it would be easier to hide his plan of not sleeping. After the night before where he had seen himself murder those he loved most, Leo did not wish to close his eyes again for fear of actually finding his weapons as he slept, now he knew where they were, and use them on his brothers.

However, all these self-orientated thoughts were quickly swept away as the eldest entered the bedroom for Raphael was thrashing and moaning in his sleep, his mask free face screwed up as his arms seemed to strangle the air. Ignoring his own wounded state, Leo hobbled over and grabbed his brother's hand.

"Raph! Raphael! Wake up!" But his brother's tormented mumblings continued, so dropping his crutch, Leo grabbed both of Raph's shoulders and shook him violently in the hope that would do the trick. Thankfully, it did, and at the sudden action, Raph's emerald green eyes flew open wide, appearing scared, then lost and finally as he took in his brother's concerned face bending over him, the chiselled features turned steely.

"W…what?" Raph attempted to act casual but his attempt failed miserably as his voice wavered. With a sigh, the blue banded turtle bent down to retrieve his crutch from the floor, then sat down on the side of the bed.

"Let me guess. That was a flashback." It wasn't a question but all the same Raph reluctantly nodded, "You want to talk about it?" A shake of the head and Leo gave a small smile at his brother's stubbornness, yet the irony of how their roles had reversed once again hadn't escaped the eldest, but instead of forcing Raph to speak, Leo continued, "Well then," Leo placed a hand on top of his brother's feeling the tremble underneath, "I just want to say this now, Raphael, that I know you would never hurt any of us, or become so consumed by your anger that you would become a real monster." For a moment Raph didn't reply but continued to look down at his bedsheets, and Leo feared he had read his brother's emotions wrong, however eventually Raph confirmed Leo's evaluation with a quiet,

"How did you know?" This wasn't the same Raphael who had pushed Leo to train harder earlier that day, but rather a shaken shell –excuse the pun- of the turtle he usually was. This must be a mental side effect which Donnie was hinting towards.

"Because I know my brother and despite the tough guy act, you actually do care about your family. You showed that during the past three months when you had to put aside your own emotions, but-" Suddenly Leo froze in his speech, his hands leaping to his side as his face contorted in agony.

"Leo!" Raph jumped into action and took his directly elder brother's shoulders, "What is it?"

Leo tried to shake his head, but the pain was too much. Where he had fought the Creep earlier had defiantly taken its toll, he knew he should have spoken to Donnie, but compared to Raph, his complaint was minute and insignificant.

"Donnie!" Leo heard Raph scream, but all of a sudden it sounded a long way off, as if he were slipping away again. NO! He suddenly began to panic as he remembered the dreaded void. He did not want to go back there again, he couldn't- he would fail his brothers if he did…

There were distant footsteps, a collection of faraway voices and his name upon many lips…

Then…

Nothing.

DUN DUN DUN!

SO:

What happened?

What will the guys' reactions be?

Will Leo escape the darkness of his own mind?

See ya all in the next chapter!

LL99 Out