Hey everybody, well they canceled my classes today because of the weather so I thought I would take today to type this chapter up.
*Looks under hammock* No turtles! T_T
"Raph?"
The red banded turtle glanced up as footsteps quickly shuffled towards him. Then, a light came on, illuminating the end of the tunnel and before the red masked turtle, stood Leo, his worried eyes going to the scratched shoulder of his little brother. He immediately set down the candle he was using on top of a dry stone and away from the dripping walls before he bent down.
"What that shell was that?" Raph said and then cursed when Leo placed a hand on his shoulder.
At his flinch Leo retreated and peered down at the wound, "Well, you aren't bleeding but I know skin wounds hurt the worst."
"Ain't that true," Raph said as his eyes scanned the ground until they landed on what had cut him, a broken pipe.
Leo caught the sight of the pipe and smiled ruefully, "You get scratched by a broken pipe and scream bloody murder."
"I didn't scream Fearless!"
"And what is it you're doing now?"
"You, duh-forget it, I give Fearless, whatever."
Leo laughed softly and then stood up, holding out a hand to his younger brother, "I suppose you followed me for a good reason."
"Maybe," Raph said unemotionally.
Leo shook his head before bending down to pick up his candle.
"They came up with a new invention you know Leo, it's called a flashlight."
"They also created three menaces of society and forced me to live with them," Leo said with a sideways smile.
"What the shell does that mean?"
"My last flashlight was torn up when Mikey used it for his late night puppet show, Don took the batteries out for an invention and you chucked it at the television when you lost that bet on that wrestling match to Casey."
"Oh yeah, darn it, I owe him 20 bucks!"
"Little sibs never cease to amaze."
"Whatever," Raph said while rolling his eyes before glancing around, "Why are you down here anyways?"
The rare, free, joking expression fell off of Leo's face and one of a wounded soul replaced it.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
Leo breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you probably followed me to ask me the same questions you would've asked me when I got home."
"You got that right, now to start-"
"No."
"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?"
Leo almost smiled again before shaking his head, "Not here, follow me."
Raph sighed, his blue banded brother had to be the most confusing thing in his life. He could understand the knucklehead that Mikey was easier than he could understand his older brother. The hothead was beginning to believe that Leo made himself more complicated just to make him angrier. Nevertheless, Raph fell into place where he had always been trained to, right by Leo's side.
It was only a short 63 seconds later, Raph had timed it out of boredom, that they reached a small, side tunnel.
"What's in there?" Raph asked.
"A secret," Leo whispered, his voice appearing to slant downward and to the side as if it were tangible.
"What secret? And what the shell is wrong with you, you've always acted like this on the same day every year, for the past five years. Don't get me wrong I like that you let us practically get away with murder and you can't seem to lecture on this day, but what makes you act like this?"
"My past," Leo said after a deep breath.
"Your past? Shouldn't that be our past? We've lived together for 15 years! What could've happened to make you-"
Raph's question was cut off when Leo whipped around rapidly and stared strait at him. The red banded turtle stepped forward when he noticed a haunted look in the eldest's eyes. He knew that look, Leo always had that look when he made a decision, the kind of decision that meant something deep and important. Leo then motioned to the small side tunnel and slipped inside, Raph following a second behind. They walked for about 20 seconds of unbearable silence before Raphael caught the sight of a tattered curtain hanging from a bar at the top of the rounded tunnel that had been somehow jammed into the upper side bricks. Leo swept the curtain aside, stepped forward and then the curtain fluttered back to it's starting position, blocking Raph's view.
Suddenly, more lights appeared behind the curtain. Raph swept it aside and stared ahead where Leo was knelling before a small overhang of concrete. Beneath this overhang sat three stones and a fresh burning candle sat beside each of them.
"Leo?" he asked the kneeling turtle suspiciously, "What is this?"
"You wanted to know about today didn't you? Also about my memories?"
"Well yeah, but what's with this stuff?" Raph said, motioning to the gray, carefully placed and spaced out stones, "Why is all this here?"
"It's a memorial."
"Why today? For who?"
"Today because it was today, years ago that they died."
"WHO?"
Leo looked back at him, a certain shine to his eyes and spoke quickly.
"My Brothers. This is the day that my brothers died."
TBC….
Yeah, so many people actually got the answer right for why it was a sorrowful day for Leo, but missed guessing that the others considered it the best day of the year because Leo let them get away with any and everything they wanted and because it was impossible for Leo to lecture them.
Anyways, the next chapter we'll be seeing Leo's memories and the ultimate end to the story. That's right, only one chapter is left. Please review, the more reviews I get the sooner I update with that last chapter.
~Moonsetta