A/N: Hi guys! For those of you who read my fanfic, No Love is Greater, this is a scene that I had originally planned to put in my fic when I got to Season 3. I'd planned for Leonardo to end up getting captured by Shredder again, and mind-controlled alongside Karai as a means to blackmail Tiger Claw back in the Foot Clan. However, because of how much I would have to twist and bend the story to suit the situation, plus the fact that I just don't really see it working out the way I'd planned, I decided I'd use it here instead for Leorai Week, even though it's technically not Leorai...XD
If you've been reading the fic, you'd notice that the relationship between Leo and Karai is purely platonic, just like how the turtles are with April. However, under the influence of the brain-worm, it twists the hosts' personality drastically. So now, instead of sibling fluffiness, the two are almost like the twins you'd see in some cartoons (cough-HostClubTwins-cough), which I always found creepy yet interesting.
So, let's see how this would've played out! :D)
"Raph, wait, don't!"
The moment Raphael reached had out to grab Donatello, to break the chains that bound his younger brother, his hand phased through him, grabbing nothing but a fistful of air. With a startled gasp, Raph drew his hand back as though he'd been burned, and both Mikey and Donnie disappeared before their very eyes in a flash of static.
Eyes wide and horrified as he staggered backwards, he turned to April and Casey, their expressions mirroring his own as the realization finally sunk in.
It's a trap.
"Well, we were expecting only Raphael," Donnie's voice echoed from above, his tone oddly sadistic and threatening, which sent shivers down their spines. "But having the rest of you here, including the infamous Casey Jones, makes it so much easier."
The three of them whirled around, hands already reaching for their weapons as they looked up at the second level of the warehouse, the source of the voice. The lights were out, plunging the building complex in darkness, but Raphael's keen eyes caught the two figures standing overhead… and his breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening in further shock.
"Leo?! Karai?!" he barked.
The pair in question smirked coldly, clearly enjoying themselves at the sight of the three of them in such a distressing situation. Surrounding them, apparitions of April, Donnie, Mikey, and even Murakami-san were glaring at them as well, their images projected by the M.O.U.S.E.R robots behind Leonardo.
His shoulders bristling, Raphael narrowed his eyes up at them, the shock vanishing as rage quickly took its place as he stared at his older brother. The blue clad turtle had been missing for weeks, with no sign of him since he'd left the lair one night in search for Karai and never came back. They'd tried calling him on his new T-Phone, several times, but with no luck, and scouring the city for him had ended the same. Their brother was lost to them, again.
As the days went on, along with the mounting stress of finding a cure for Karai, the turtles had been close to losing all hope for the both of them.
And only for them to finally find him now, standing beside the brainwashed snake girl, and wearing the crest of the foot on his armored shoulder like it was a prize, a gift, an honor bestowed upon him…it made Raph's blood boil, his teeth clench, his fists tremble.
First Karai…and now Shredder had taken his brother away from them, again, dragging him back into the hellhole they'd desperately fought so hard to get him out of…
And worse still, he looked as though he was enjoying it, reveling in the idea that he was back with the very clan he'd loathed for as long as he could remember as he grinned widely, bringing the microphone up to his lips. "Cool, right?" he said coyly, though it was Donnie's voice that came from the device. "With a little clever staging, we captured you all."
With a sly chuckle, Karai slid closer to Leonardo, letting him wrap his arm around her waist and pull her close, the two of them still smirking confidently at their shocked captives below. "Baxter Stockman managed to hack into your T-Phone signal, and then he loaned us his Mousers. It was actually Leo's idea to use their holograms, though," she said, turning her head to glance over at the holograms surrounding them moments before they faded away, leaving the two of them on their own on the platform.
On the ground floor, Raph, April and Casey felt their hearts drop into their stomachs with growing dread. They'd fallen directly into their trap, led like moths to a burning flame in the palm of their hands.
"Did we just get punked by holograms?!" Casey exclaimed. "Dude…not cool."
Leonardo tilted his head to the side, his brow brushing against Karai's hair. "Really? I certainly found it entertaining to watch you morons come running right into an obvious trap," he sniggered. "And now that we have all of you…"
"Splinter will have no choice but to fight us!" Karai leered. "For your lives!"
Before he could stop himself, Raph's hands found his Sais as he drew them out from his belt, pointing their honed tips at the pair on the ledge as he growled deeply. He knew that this wasn't their doing. He knew that Shredder was just using them, like puppets on strings that they simply couldn't break away from, no matter how hard they fought his control. He knew that, and it was killing him inside that the two of them – that his big brother – was probably screaming inside the walls of his mind, begging for a release that would never be granted…
…but despite all that, he had no choice. None of them had any choice but to fight back, to free Mikey and Donnie, and get out of here before they could lure Splinter out as well.
"Leo…don't make us fight you!" Raph called. "Free our brothers, now!"
There was a flicker of something in Leo's eyes – recognition, pain, regret, Raph would never truly know – but it was gone again in the next instant, his mouth twisting into a satisfied grin once more. "I'm afraid that's not happening, little brother," Leo replied condescendingly, planting his free hand on his hip as he pulled Karai a fraction closer to him, an action she didn't resist.
A sudden thought made Raphael's stomach lurch as he watched them; had the brain worm had changed Leo somehow, hadn't it? It had made him arrogant, sadistic, almost flirtatious and possessive towards the girl he'd always viewed as a sister since they were kids…it had turned him into something he wasn't, something he never had been and never wanted to be, and it was downright sick. And in knowing that Shredder was behind a part of that as well…
"We can't let you go this time, Raphael," Karai simpered. "Our friends won't allow it."
At that, more figures burst from the shadows. Rocksteady, Bebop, Fishface and Rahzar all leapt from their hiding places, surrounding the three of them on the bottom floor as they cackled wickedly. Their hearts pounding against their chests as their foes closed in, Raph and April poised their weapons, attaining defensive stances, and Casey pulled his mask over his face, readying his hockey stick.
"Aw, Sewer Apples," April cursed under her breath.
"I second that, Red," Casey gulped. "We're totally screwed."
From above, as the battle commenced, Leonardo and Karai watched the scene play out before them, grinning all the while as Raphael and the pair of humans quickly became overpowered by the mutants that hammered down upon them from every angle. They simply couldn't take their eyes of them…
…no matter how hard they tried, how hard they fought against the control of the parasite buried inside their skulls, they couldn't turn away.
They couldn't help them fight the mutants off. They couldn't stop the attack. They couldn't free Mikey and Donnie, who were bound in chains in the other room. They couldn't do anything, but watch as their friends, their family, were beaten down until they could no longer stand. It was horrifying, it was wrong, it was unfair, and it was all their fault…and yet, there was nothing they could do to fix it, to change it, to make everything right again…
However, there was one thing that Leonardo could do as they stood there together, even if it took everything he had within him, his heart, his soul, and every ounce of his strength, to do it.
Fighting desperately against the worms' control, the arm draped around Karai's waist shifted. His hand moved away from its position near her backside and drifted upwards. His hand trembled violently, every muscle aching from the strain, the effort to keep his arm aloft. But he didn't stop. He refused to give in, not yet…
…until his hand finally landed atop her shoulder, and held it tightly. After that, he was gone again, lost in the unyielding control of the parasite.
It was as close as he could possibly get to reassuring Karai – his sister, not his possession – that a part of him was still there…that somehow, they would break free from Shredder, and they would do it together.
Deep down, he prayed that she could read his thoughts, his feelings, through a simple gesture that had taken him all his strength to accomplish.
His prayers were soon answered, though it made his heart ache, when Karai's eyes welled up with tears.
But their sadistic grins remained.
A/N: Wow, that was something wasn't it? Who knows, maybe I might do it, maybe I won't, but I really wanted to write it! I hope you guys liked it!