A/N: Stop! Brother time!

Seems everyone's in agreement about Rook's demise—cast and readers. Only one to blame is himself. *nods*

CHAPTER 35: HAMATO

Xander looked near-death—eyes lined with insomnia, body puffed with bruises and cuts, and a twisted rag stuffed in his crooked nose to keep it from dripping blood. He wheezed yet sent Leonardo a smile that made the mutant laugh.

"You look like shit," he told the ex-agent.

"And I feel worse than shit," Xander replied. His head leaned back against the splintered tree trunk that supported him along the rainforest outskirts, holding his breath when faraway natives in Tlahcoyan raised their voices.

"You aren't their concern anymore," Leo said. "You stopped Rook, saved them. Again."

"Don't feel like I saved anyone."

"Well, you did. Including Lizbeth."

Xander glared, although he spoke more with concern than disdain as his bandaged hands flexed over his knees, "I'm going to ruin her life. Show up on the front porch like, 'Hey, Babe, my old organization wants me dead, so we gotta run. Why? Oh, I'm psychic. And may've killed my boss. Also, here's an alien who can cure your Leukemia. Let's get packing!'"

Leo choked on laughter, even though the situation was serious. "I believe if she was worth all the pain you went through, you'll find a way to work it out."

"Maybe. Liz uses Tarot cards. She ain't close-minded, just...prepared to die."

"So it's your job to convince her otherwise."

"Hard to do under these circumstances. A fugitive life is hard."

"Tell me about it."

Xander met the mutant's smile and sighed. "How do you stand it? Every day, years on end, know there are people out there who want you killed for an ability or reason you had no control over?"

"Same way you tolerated the EPF. With love." Leo glanced towards the afternoon sun that peeked through large clouds. He had been the only one besides Coyo willing to wait for Zaddir on the ex-agent's behalf, and he had convinced Huitzi to make her tend her feet, no matter how insistent she had been to stay at the mutant's side.

"What happens now?" Xander asked.

'That is your choice to make.' Zaddir materialized in the wood line's shade, far from where the sun touched. Her pit eyes fell on the Mexican, who groaned. 'I debated with the Quizzinteyo.'

"That's a fancy word for all the Languu clans," Leo supplied.

'Yes.' The alien made a sound like an inhale. 'I told them of my promise. Of course, they were...displeased. But they couldn't argue the results nor the fact that Xander played a key role.'

"Yippee," Xander grumbled.

'Albeit through strict regulations and careful monitoring, you are permitted to bring Lizbeth to me for the procedure.'

"Wait," the dirty man straightened up, "you want her to come here? Do you have those sorts've resources? Or doctors?"

'Transfusions are tricky outside Languu knowledge. My people must watch carefully.'

"Great. Now I have to tack on, 'to meet this alien, we gotta go back to Ecuador'?"

'Or she can accept the alternative. That is your next battle, Xander.' Zaddir shifted towards Leo as Xander rubbed his face. She smiled, even though only the mutant sensed her humor. 'Can you make it home?'

The Mexican snorted. "I ain't helpless."

'But you have no idea what you will do after I heal your love.'

"Maybe we'll go to Fiji. There's no drama out there, right?"

Zaddir shrugged.

"Guess we'll jump that hurdle when the time comes. Leonardo?" Xander stood with a low grunt and looked down with tired eyes. "Thank you," he added. "Tell the chief—"

"I will. Be safe. I hope everything goes well with Lizbeth." The mutant meant his words; Xander knew it, and he smiled before he left.

'Now it's your turn.'

Leo eyed Zaddir. "For?"

'Family. You had to—what is that American phrase?—beat them with a stick to keep them in the village.'

"I figured the less company Xander had, the better off he'd be."

'An understandable consideration. That is why the Languu must recede into Ihiyoyahualli. Despite the ruins, we—'

"Went through something traumatic. Gotta realign. I get it."

'Thank you.'

"Mikey will be disappointed he didn't meet you, though."

The blue-white alien chuckled. 'Apologize for me. Goodbye, Leonardo.'

"Goodbye, Zaddir." As quick as the last syllable left the Jonin's lips, Zaddir disappeared, and Leo's mind raced with how he'd navigate all the attention his brothers would give when he returned.

Fearless' bug-eyed wonder made saving the best news for last worth it in Raphael's opinion.

"Kids?" Leo asked.

"Kids," Raph replied.

"As in babies?"

"Uh-huh."

"Little people?"

"Yup."

"Yours and Nia's? Twins?"

"Livin', breathin' hybrids, Bro. Crazy, eh?"

"I'd say impossible. That's just…" The Jonin sat back in the cramped, makeshift teepee as Raph smirked. "Wow."

"You got nieces, man!" Mikey added. "And they're hands-down the cutest things I've ever seen."

"Scusa?" Sophia interjected.

The jokester sent his girlfriend a sheepish grin. "You're sexy-cute, Hoshi. Anyway, just wait 'til you meet them. You won't wanna put 'em down. Right, Raphy?"

The hothead chucked an alien-looking fruit at Mike's head. The guy was an idiot, although Raph did miss his girls with an ache that left him sleepless.

"Raph, don't throw Naranjilla," Leo said. "The K'ekchi were gracious to share what was left of their harvest."

Raph sent Leo a look yet kept quiet. It felt like decades since he was last scolded, and the Jonin spoke so naturally, it made the Chunin wonder how much his older brother had changed.

"We missed ya, Bro," Raph muttered.

"Things haven't been the same without you," said Mikey.

"You left me with these two, alone," Don added. "You know what kind'a headache that is?"

Leo smiled at his brothers, but the motion looked more pained than warm. "Sorry."

"We thought we'd have to drag you back," Mikey continued. "Had a plan and everything. Don would dust you with knockout powder."

The genius deadpanned. "I never agreed to that."

"Then Raphy would take you out by the legs."

The hothead snorted. "I said I'd take 'em by the skull."

"Hoshi would sit on you."

"Like that would make a difference, Figo."

"Then I, with great charm, would convince you that you need your family."

"I know I do, Mike," Leo told the youngest. "Now."

"What happened?" Donny broke the growing silence and stared from behind his purple mask. "Everything's changed at home. But something's shifted inside you as well. It's in your eyes, how you carry yourself, talk. You're Leo, just…a different version."

The Jonin chuckled. "You can tell from one fight?"

"The fight was the start. The way you spoke to the natives afterward, with those four in particular, I noticed with them."

Leo grew somber when Mikey agreed, "Yeah, here we've blathered for hours while Leo's hardly mentioned anything about his vacation."

"I'm not sure you want to know," whispered Leo.

"We're your brothers," said Mikey, "of course we do."

"We knew—well—" Don half-grinned. "Splinter knew home wouldn't help. I doubted this sabbatical would do any good. Seems I was wrong. I'd like to know why."

"Leo?" a woman's voice called through the teepee's door. The big-haired chick from earlier entered while supported by a walking staff, almond eyes darting over the group.

"Coyo," Leo said. Interesting; his whole demeanor brightened.

"Coyo has, uh…" Coyo held out another plate filled with odd food.

"We haven't finished the last one," Raph told her. He gestured towards the alien-fruit, and the tribeswoman smiled more.

"Always more," she said.

"Don't argue," Leo told Raph. "They only get pushier."

"Sounds like Mum," Sophia added. The blonde accepted the plate Coyo handed over the group's center then stuffed two slices of whatever in her big mouth.

Coyo gimped back as Leo caught her hand; it seemed instinctual since Fearless hesitated before spoke, "Stay."

"Le—Leo's family," Coyo replied. "No make trouble."

"Trouble? It's no trouble. Right?" Leo faced his brothers with eager eyes.

"Leo's family," Coyo repeated. "Be with them. Is what he want." The pain they shared when she broke Leo's hold was glaring, even by Raph's standards. Fearless watched her leave on hobbled feet, and a sinking feeling wormed its way into the hothead's gut when his brother sighed.

"Who is she?" Don asked.

Leo refused to look up and wrung his hands.

"Leo," Don continued, "who is she?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth," Mikey answered.

"Truth sucks."

"Don't be a fifone, Capo." Everyone watched Sophia as she chewed.

She shrugged under the attention and Leo hardened his expression, saying, "I'll explain. If she leaves."

"Scusa?" Pink asked, mouth full.

"You are kind of a stranger in his book, Hoshi," Mikey said.

"What am I gunna do? Awkwardly shift through rubble and stare at people I can't understand?"

"Find Izel, Huitzi, Tlaloc, Nenetl, or Coyo," Leo answered. "They speak English."

"Great, I can make Tatuaggi squirm."

"Tat-what?"

"Ya'll get used to Italian," Raph told Leo. "Ciao, Pink."

Sophia sent Raphael a dirty look before standing.

"Grazie," Mikey sang. He pecked his girl's cheek with a kiss then sat back down when she left. "So," he started, "tell us everything."

Leonardo had suffered, and Donatello knew the others struggled to keep quiet as their eldest brother described how much. He watched the journey unfold in his imagination—from Leo's suicidal longing and meeting the K'ekchi to the brotherhood he formed with the natives and his rebirth through alien intervention.

"Let me get this straight," Mikey said. "These people do business with April, and they protect the same alien race Nia's descended from. In fact, you've met Nia's aunt (who really isn't an aunt or an uncle) and said alien helped give you psychotherapy by literally invading your mind. In doing that, you formed a weird bond that you had to share with that dudette Coyo, so the three of you wouldn't go crazy and blow up or whatever. It burned a new language into your head, you're now an honorary warrior, and it turns out Coyo is actually Nia's cousin."

"That about covers it," Leo answered.

"Holy shit," Raph muttered.

"Of all the tribes you could've run into." Donny shook his head.

"Turtle Luck, am I right?" asked Mikey with a snigger. "Nia and I should write a comic. Our lives beat any fiction, I swear."

"This bond," Don said. "Mozallo, you called it?" The genius gained Leo's attention then slowed his pace over grassy hills. "Is that what changed you? Or did something else?"

Leo's eyes turned frontwards. "What changed you, Donny? Turned you from a guy who disregarded love into one who fought for it, even against his own brothers? What matured Raph? Or gave Mikey that stupid grin?"

"Ow!" Mike interjected. Still, the youngest kept smiling.

"I owe Coyolxauhqui everything," Leo added. He gripped a disfigured totem that hung around his neck and stroked it with his thumb. "I pushed her, challenged her, and she never gave up. She saved me. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Mozallo makes that a million times worse."

"Worse?" Don asked.

"Because you gotta leave?" Mikey's voice trembled when Leo met him with a frown.

"I did leave," the Jonin said just above a whisper. "Had to. For you."

"When did ya do that?" questioned Raph.

"Night before last. But when I saw the smoke swallowing the mountain…"

"You went back," Mikey said, "then we had to save your shell."

Don nodded. "Even if we hadn't been tracking your cell, we had a feeling you'd be involved."

"We never did find out where that was, did we?" Mike asked.

"Doesn't matter. I'll make Leo a new one when we get home."

"Home."

"Leo?"

The Jonin stopped at the crest of a hill. From the vintage, Don could see the devastating remains of K'ekchi Village. Its structures were charred, dilapidated with blackened rags and decommissioned tanks scattered throughout its streets. It smelled of corpses, and the only hut standing hummed with activity from tribe survivors and their saviors.

"I know my purpose," Leo continued. "I have people to meet. Dangers to canvas. A life in New York. That's where I belong."

"And yet?" Mikey asked.

Leo gripped the totem completely then looked away. Don recognized the shame; he wore it once, back when he had disappointed Melody.

"It's dinner time," Leo added. "Let's eat before…Let's just eat."

The Jonin began walking down the hill, leaving his brothers to share concerned looks before they followed suit.

Dude, Leo's infatuation with the curly-haired Amazon was so obvious, it pained Michelangelo. "See how they try not to share looks?" Mike whispered towards Donny.

"Yes, Mikey."

"Raph, you watch Nia the same way."

"What of it, Shell-for-Brains?"

"You sure we can't say anything?"

"Mike—"

"Come on, guys, Leo's been through too much to let love die like this. I'm thinking full intervention. How about it?"

"Pardon, Leo's tribe?"

Mikey jumped in his seat at the bonfire and withheld a scream. He failed to notice Coyo's brother until the tribesman sat beside the trio—which wouldn't have been so bad if the guy looked more like a person than a walking skeleton with teal tattoos and an oversized loincloth.

"Chicha?" Huitzi-what's-his-face offered.

"Uh," the orange-masked Chūnin pushed the flask back towards its owner, "I think Leo's mentioned that stuff. I'm ninety-three-point-six percent sure we ain't supposed to touch it."

"Enjoy our friend's letters?" asked the skeleton with a laugh.

"Yes," Donny answered. "Thanks for letting him send those. They were our lifeline, no matter how cryptic."

"Put in perspective wit' what's goin' on here?" Raph added. "They suddenly make sense."

"Especially the optimism," Mike continued. He chuckled, though had a hard time smiling when he saw Leo watch Coyo across the bonfire like the Jonin couldn't trust himself near her.

"We share commonality," Huitzi said. He, too, watched the duo.
"Siblings grow together. I love Teicu, wish she fulfilled Chieftain. Truth? She no live before Leonardo."

"Yeah." Raph kept his voice low. "Complicates things, huh?"

"Maybe not. If Leonardo act."

"Ha!" Mike turned, grinning. "Now will ya'll support an intervention?"

"Unless someone beats us to it."

The Jokester made a face. "What chu talkin' about, Donny?"

"That." The genius pointed at a tribeswoman in a poncho and feathered ear cuffs. She pulled Leonardo by the tails of his bandana mask, and Michelangelo heard Raphael stand as the two stalked into the shadows.

"I talk to Coyo," Huitzi said. "See Izel."

So that was her name. Coyo's best friend, right? Mikey nodded, sure of himself, and then complained when his brothers followed the skinhead without him. The group gathered outside the massive hut, where firelight was scarce and the atmosphere thick.

"Ugh," Mikey said. "How can you stand this? I literally feel like my limbs are Velcroed to the air."

"Be thankful it's not Dry Season," Leo told him. "Humidity doubles."

"You mean it gets worse?"

"Yup. What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"We're with her." Mike jabbed a thumb at Izel, who soured.

"Your woman rude," she said.

"Wha? My Hoshi?" Mikey laughed for all of a second. "Yeah. Sorry."

"No, I like," Izel added. "She unafraid. Unlike others."

"Is that why you—"

Izel cut Leo off with an unknown language. She crossed her arms, dark brows furrowing. "Even brothers understand."

"They're only here because they're nosy. Nothing's changed."

"Everything change. Since Coyo save Ayotl from Hupaxque, things change."

The Jonin shuffled in the shadows, a sigh on his lips. He urged his siblings with mournful looks, but none defended him, not even Donny.

"K'ekchi Tribe no longer," Izel continued.

"There're still people left," Leo argued.

"We never forsake Eztaca but are like lame birds. Pesto Tribe help."

"At the cost of your leadership? Xiptl can't force you to—"

"No force, Leo. K'ekchi willing. Coyo sacrifice pride and power. We admire her. It make me happy."

Leo sneered. "Happy? She finally chose her own path then loses it inside a week. That makes you—"

"She free, Leonardo. Free to be where or what or with who she want."

Slowly, the Jonin's head shook. "I won't ask that of her."

"You must."

"I can't."

"Coyo no longer chief."

"But her family is here. Huitzi. You. Yo. Hell, even Tlaloc. I won't take that from her."

"Ayotl take nothing. We give."

"It isn't your place to—"

Izel stepped forward to snatch the totem off Leonardo's neck. "I no watch her heart shatter again, selfish coward!" she screamed, red-faced. Mikey gapped and pulled Raph back when the skinhead glared up at the Jonin. "You no hear sobs, feel her curled, shaking. You no see her die inside!"

"Izel—"

"I rather she happy in another world than see her wither."

"You're her sister."

"It is because we sisters I want her happy."

'Wow.' Mike released the air he hadn't realized he held until Izel stepped away. 'Someone ships Leo/Coyo hard.'

"I can't ask someone to leave everything they know behind." Leo sounded close to tears, his frame unsteady.

"That's love, Bro," Mikey added. He shared a smile with the skinhead, who returned the totem.

The way Leo accepted it lead the jokester to believe it meant something profound. "I shouldn't," he said.

"Gotta agree with the chick on this one, Fearless."

"Raph?"

"Look. We ain't takin' ya home if ya're gunna mope for anoddah reason."

Mike nodded. "We all have someone. Why not you?"

"Guys," Leo trailed off with a groan.

"Huitzi agrees."

Rigid, the Jonin met Don's frown. "He does?"

"He's the one who mentioned we should talk sense inta ya," Raphy said. "In a way."

"Am I the only one who sees what's wrong?"

"You have support," whispered Izel. "Consider what you want. It what Coyo want. More than life. More than K'ekchi. Make her happy. Please."

For a long time, Leo thumbed the totem, hut noise quieting and air still like his breaths. Then he smiled as if the whole world made sense.