It had been 32 days since Leonardo had passed out in his cave.

Leo moved from town to town, keeping an eye out for trouble, but there had been none. No sign of militia in the perimeter that he patrolled. He had decidedly chose to start patrolling the roads more often than the villages. There would be more ground to cover, but at least if something happened there would be no civilians around to get caught up in it.

Leonardo stopped off at Astilla for only a brief moment to look it over. Despite the reaping that had taken place only a month ago, the people showed little to no sign of mourning and carried themselves like they had when he first saw them. He couldn't understand their careless attitudes. The burning of the orphanage and the needless death of several others scarred his soul. It made him angry, watching the living go about their lives while so many new graves adorned the land beside the church. The lack of grief made his stomach uneasy.

A few times during his on-looking Leo heard reference of some "ghost". He figured that between Santiego telling the village about him, the woman who had seen him up close, and the unexplained deaths of the soldiers, that was what he had become to the villagers. A ghost.

He went to turn and leave, but a thought came to mind.

Just like he did so often, Leo bounded around the outskirts of the village. He came to the post office and stealthily made his way inside, and just as quickly out. But with him he brought a handful of letters addressed to his faulty address. He wanted to be alone, away from everyone else, so he began his journey 'home'.

The young turtle arrived at his hole without any trouble - something he no longer took for granted. It was still light out, only a couple hours past noon. Leo didn't feel like keeping watch over the towns today; he couldn't help but feel down. His mind was in a slump from his recent experience and he felt like the only one who shared in his misery.

On the plus side, the puncture wounds on his arm and leg had completely healed over, and the bullet holes were in their last stage of healing. His fingers traced the new scars. They weren't as big and noticeable as he expected them to be, so he had that going for him, which was nice.

With a huff, he sat down just outside of the cave entrance in the radiance of the sun. It wasn't very often that he got to just sit and relax out in the sunlight, but when he did, his natural side adored it.

Leo brought out the letters and started opening them, half-heartedly. The first one was from Donatello, it read:

Dear Leonardo,

I'm glad that you're doing (relatively) well. Life in New York is certainly different without you here; as you can imagine Sensei doesn't want us patrolling up top, which I can understand. As such we're all looking for stuff to do to pass the time, I'm sure you can imagine what it's like - you've been stuck in the sewers for your fair share of time. I'm really curious as to the types of undiscovered fauna and vegetation that live and grow down there. If you get a chance and for whatever reason need a break from whatever your doing down there, I definitely think you should look out for some orange-eared sliders - I'm still pretty sure they're distant cousins of ours. It would be interesting to study them in their, or our natural habitat. As for keeping infection, I recommend using clean water to keep the wound clean, but there are several plants that could help with infections. Picão preto is one that could help. It gets to be straight, about a meter tall, with bright green leaves. Depending on the season it will either have yellow flowers that looks like half developed dandelions, or the seeds on the tips will be black and resemble spiky dandelion puffs. Hope that this helps some, can't wait to hear back from you!

-Donatello

At some point a smile had crept its way onto Leo's beak. It felt good to hear from his brother, he could hear his voice in his head as clearly as he could were he there reading it. A spark of warmth hit his heart that he had not felt for what seemed like a lifetime. The next envelope he brought out with more enthusiasm, eager to keep reading. It was from his father.

Dearest Leonardo,

Just as you are eager to come back to us, we are eager to have you home again. I want you to remember how proud I am of you, and that I love you, my son. We all do.

Your father

The letter was nice to read, and it was good to receive some loving words from his father, however, Leo wished that there was more writing. But then again, his father was a rat of few words. The paper was softly put aside and he again picked up another and tore off the side. From the messy writing, it was clear who this one was from.

Donnie wanted me to write in some sort of format but im not sure exactly what format that is even by looking at his letter. I miss you and the others do to. Especially Raph but he wont admit it. Btw hes kinda changed lately. He sleeps a lotmore and he doesnt smile at ANY of my jokes. I hope you get back soon i have the day marked on the calendar. And ya im training! I bet i could beat you with my awesome skizzles that iv learned. From Mikey

Leo chuckled to himself at the thought of his baby brother. The last envelope would belong to Raph, who Leo knew was upset with him for leaving. It was sort of frightening to read that final letter; the contents could take his light mood and shove it back into the dark. But he was curious and ever-eager to hear from his brother.

Leo,

Life back here in the sewers good, we're all getting along fine. I guess it's good that your little vacation hasn't killed you yet, so congrats on that.

And that was it. Leo flipped the paper around, looking for more writing, but to no avail.

"huh." It kind of stung, how cold and careless the words sounded. With that heart-pain, his happy mood was gone. Leo wished that his brother would come to terms and realise that he was only in the jungle for the good of his family, but no. Not Raphael. His brother was just too thick-headed to see that.

Unlike the others, that were carefully put aside, the last letter was carelessly dropped onto the ground. Raph's anger and hate was something that was all-too-well known, so Leo was able to shove him to the back of his mind. Just like so many times before, he had to concentrate on his other family members to keep his mind from straying from the path of what family meant to him.

Still, something grew in the depths of his subconscious. Ever since he had taken his oath to protect the people of the villages, it had grown. He didn't know what it was; only that no good could come of it. As such, he suppressed it as best he could.

Leo took a couple deep breathes to steady himself, and promptly grabbed some papers and started replying to his family. He thanked Don, gave his love to Splinter, humoured Mikey, and urged Raph to broaden his mind. Once he had finished, he stuck the envelopes into the make-shift pockets in his cloak and made a mental note to drop them off the next time he was in town.