Flashes of red.
"Com….. on….. Can't sta….long….. Da….it Leo stay wi…. me"
Leo jerked up awake. It was the same type of dream he had been having for years now. About a year ago, a new one had emerged in the forms of purple, grey and green.
Shaking his head, he moved to stand up, groggily wiping at his eyes.
(Something wrong, very, very wrong.)
He felt unusually drained, he absentmindedly noticed as he hauled his feet to his bedroom door.
(Where are the guards, what's going on?)
Considering he was a transparent ghost that was mostly unharmable, the guards were just a ceremonial thing anyway, he assured his paranoid mind. He calmly yawned before trudging towards the dining hall.
It wasn't until he bumped into an unconscious figure slumped in a hallway that an emotion other than not-really-caring could push through his foggy mind, bringing with it a lot of his consious mind.
"... Mr. Servant? Are you alright? Hello? Wakey-wakey, can't you feel the shakey?"
If it weren't for the fact that someone was passed out an possibly dead, Leo would have heard a distant memory in the background.
("Seriously Leo? It literally hurts to see you try, sometimes.")
Being that interaction with living stuff was impossible, there was no way to check heartbeat so Leo was forced to rely on the residual warmth on his clothes as a 'Good enough' sign and had to move on. The other… bodies (he refused to call them corpses) down the hallways were not a good sign.
Neither were the bodies lying face-flat in flour, soup and other such items in the kitchens.
His next instinct was the Royal Chambers, which filled his non-existent heart with dread. (Possibly) Sleeping guards didn't help the ice-cold fingers wrapping around him and he felt like fainting the moment he stepped inside. He honestly didn't know if it was from the exhaustion that was creeping up on him the entire journey or the sight that met him.
Completely still and silent, like the rest of the castle, it seemed peaceful. A closer look showed a broken glass window, various scrape, cut and burn marks and bloodied sheets.
The implications were not completely filtering into his blurred mind, only a numb "what?" was available.
His next thought came loud and clear, pushing the old scene behind him.
What about the nursery?
He ran and ran, burning away everything to reach his brothers because what if-
No. No time for that.
Pushing past that, he slammed open the colorful door decorated with smudged drawings manufactured by his beloved kids.
Everything seemed in place, every crayon and thrown pillow.
It was missing two very, very important people. The babies who brought life to the bright room.
Raphael and Donatello, the sweet, sweet babies that didn't deserve anything that happened to them.
Someone stole them away.
A soft breeze brought his attention to the windows.
(Again with the window?)
They were swinging far too strongly for it to be the gentle breeze. He sprinted towards it, looking for signs of his current most hated person.
A shadow popped behind him, but it was too late.
By the time he leaped around, a metallic 'shing' was heard and a glinting three-clawed blade was brought down on his head.
Leo should have passed out but he held on for a few more crucial seconds, trying to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator, a menacing armored man with only glowing red eyes visible through his helmet. A shadow stood behind him, holding the precious children that he was supposed to protect.
NO!
His eyes were drifting shut, he was too weak to do anything and he. Had. Failed.
Swimming in and out of consciousness, he felt himself be picked up and carried somewhere.
'How am I ever going to fix this?'
His mind was being fogged over again and he just wanted to disappear into oblivion but he kept fighting and fighting, hoping that he could do something.
A familiar voice grunting in pain and him being sent tumbling away was the surprise needed to snap his eyes open to see sensei not too far away and in his arms were-
Oh thank Kami, sensei could protect them better than him. The unnatural way his legs seemed to be bent and with blood dripping down them made him momentarily second-guess that statement.
An army of ninja seemed to be closing up on them, each with the same purpose.
He caught sensei's eyes and mouthed, as un-sloppily as he could, considering he was still half asleep.
"Just run, sensei."
Regardless, he seemed to get the message, nodding once to him.
"I am sorry, Leonardo."
Then he turned his back to him and disappeared in a blur.
Up until this point, his mind was running on only adrenaline and stress. Now that his main sources of worry were safe and he still didn't have the time to really contemplate what happened to his parents and final unborn brother, his mind collapsed in relief and burnout.
'I'm going to be asleep for weeks for this, aren't I?'
"Bring me every book in the castle about folklore and mythical creatures. I want them ALL."
"Yes sir," a servant bowed, leaving for the castle library.
Oroku Saki was intrigued by the strange…. green thing he had encountered in the Hamato palace. He was clearly important if Yoshi's student found it necessary to fight to retrieve and take off with him along with his original targets.
Unfortunately, he had escaped with his beloved Tang Shen's children but Saki was able to injure him enough to force him to leave this…. thing behind.
His eyes darkened when his thought of Shen and Yoshi. He had truly loved her once upon a time, whereas she thought of his marriage proposal as a political marriage. He was her best friend a long time ago, fighting by her side and advising her on politics. Instead, she chose Yoshi, the foreign handsome prince seen in fairy tales for children.
He was still driven enough to take revenge on them both for shattering his heart and, though it was unfortunate he couldn't spare her, he had found this little yokai in her care instead.
Her other children were out there and he knew that as long as that was true, there was a chance that the throne of Empress could still be seized from his daughter, Princess Oroku Karai.
The next time he faced Yoshi's children, they would die.
After all, he already had one of Shen's children, a green turtle spirit. As long as he never found out the truth, there was no need for the rest of them.
For now, the child slept and his first few waking moments would be crucial.
Knock, knock.
"Your majesty, I have found the books."
Perfect timing was absolutely necessary for every step of the plan.
"-a la laaaaaa!"
Leo awoke with a pounding headache. The high-pitched, off tune singing was killing his remains brain cells. He groaned loudly, rolling and facing away from the annoying speaker.
"Gahhhhh?"
Thanking whatever deity was up there for the merciful end of the song, he pushed himself upright and pulled open his eyes to see….
Not his bedroom. His room was white and light blue with drawings scattered across the walls and random trinkets everywhere. This one was a simple dark grey with splotches of red occasionally found across the room. A young toddler, probably around the age of his brothers was staring blankly at him.
"Oooooookay?" he said unsurely, not quite sure what to do. Seconds passed and he was getting more and more freaked out. The girl then smiled suddenly, as if she had found what she was looking for inside of him and approved of it.
He was never more grateful for someone knocking on the door in that instant.
"Princess?" a female voice called, opening the door. She couldn't have been much older than a young teen, maybe 8 or 9. He couldn't confirm it however, when a short figure stepped inside wearing a black mask that covered the lower half of her face and a piece of cloth tied around her eyes. She wore a robe with a familiar red symbol on it, it was itching at him but he couldn't remember where he saw it.
"Oh! You have finally awakened, mister spirit," she exclaimed mildly with some surprise. She quickly turned back towards the door, probably to inform the guards outside, before coming back in.
"We have been waiting for you for a very long time," she began.
"How long was I out, exactly?" he asked.
"Two months, nearly," she responded, showing no sign of annoyance at the interruption.
"Oh…." was all he could muster, mostly out of a combination of shock and horror.
"..."
"You can continue," he finally said when it was clear that the mystery girl was waiting for other questions.
"My master has kept you here ever since he found you unconscious. He will wish to speak to you soon," she finished as she strides over to pick up the toddler, "This is his daughter, Karai."
"Who are you?" he couldn't help but ask. "Where is 'here' anyway?"
"You may call me Venus," she answered curtly.
The room dove into a bit of an awkward silence as Venus insisted that her 'Master' would answer any further questions. Even when he remembered and tried to ask about what happened to the Hamato castle, his questions were deflected.
"Sooo….. Umm…." he tried, distracting Karai with his translucent fingers.
Venus leaned in suddenly to whisper softly, "Don't trust my master. He has eyes and ears across the castle. It isn't safe to talk here but I will meet you tonight to tell you everything."
Leo murmured equally as softly, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Not now, tonight. Be careful Leonardo," she shut off the conversation just before a guard entered to escort him away and before he could ask her how she knew his name.
The guard lead him to a fancy throne room in complete, professional silence. On the throne sat a figure that Leo mostly recognized from his studies.
"Consort Prince Oroku Saki of the Winter Kingdom?" he asked.
"It is King Oroku now, spirit," the guard said, now standing behind him.
"Tell me, what is your name?" Saki commanded.
Leo contemplated giving a false name before deciding against it.
"...Leonardo."
"Very well, Leonardo. I welcome you to my castle. I have been told that you have met my daughter, have you not?"
Leo held back a flinch. Karai reminded him far too much of Donatello.
"She is a very sweet girl, I'm sure she shall become a great Queen one day," he said, opting for a diplomatic route.
"Indeed. Again, welcome to my castle. For the time being, you shall be staying here so I would ask you to wear our symbol. Aside from that, I am sure you are curious about the events of the Hamato palace and its consequences."
'Finally,' he grunted impatiently, tying a band he was handed with the same red symbol with 3 red prongs that Venus wore on an arm.
"Unfortunately, we still do not fully understand what occurred as an investigation is still in place. 2 months ago, a spell placed all of the palace staff under sleep. When they awoke, they found everything in order, except for the royal Family. It is presumed that they all died, as well as their missing Commander of Knights."
The speech didn't include any new information Leo didn't already know but hearing someone say that the family were dead, including Mother and Father, struck something in his heart.
He knew sensei and his 2 baby brothers were alive but…. Mother and Father? He had saw the blood first hand, he knew that they were gone. That little Michelangelo was gone with them.
Something on his face must have made his devastation obvious because the guards inside bowed their heads and something in Saki's commanding voice softened.
"My condolences, Leonardo."
Leo was escorted back to the same room he apparently inhabited for 2 months and was given dinner, containing a strangely large amount of cucumbers, which was sent by Venus.
It was late at night now, the room was lit by candles and the moon was high in the sky.
She sat down on the bed next to him, in a simple navy-black outfit and quiet enough that Leo was comfortable enough to ask her:
"So, what was with the whole 'Don't trust Oroku' thin- wha? Hey!"
Venus ripped the armband off of him.
"Keep it down. Saki is dangerous and far more than he seems. He's been grasping at power for years," she hissed.
"He knows that the royal princes are still alive, he wants to get rid of them to put Karai on the throne. I can't let him do that and I can't let him get to you."
Leo's eyes narrowed into furious white and his grip on the blanket tightened. Not if he had anything to say about that.
"How do you know all of this? And why tell me?" he asked suspiciously.
"Saki isn't the only one with ears around the castle. Besides, Commander Splinter contacted me a while back. It's a long story but… I owe him my life. I don't suppose you've heard of the De Milo clan?"
The family of spiritual wanderers? But…. "You were all wiped out in the last-"
She laughed darkly. "Not all of us. I was the youngest survivor so Saki recruited me into his little personal ninja Foot army, thinking I would forget about his attack on us. Jokes on him, I suppose."
Leo pat her shoulder, half freaked out by the sudden change in mood and half trying to be comforting.
"Now come on, let's get you out of here," she said, back to a neutral face and standing up.
"What? Now?" he asked, bewildered as she approached an innocent, blank portion of the carpet.
"Of course now, it's the perfect time. We have several hours until sunrise, plenty of time to escape. Come on," she urged, pulling up the carpet to reveal a wooden floor. She pulled on a loose bit to open up a dark staircase.
Leo felt insane following an even more insane girl down strange tunnels in who knows where by now. She had taken a detour a couple hours ago to collect huge bags filled with stuff Leo didn't even want to know about and now they were walking in the light of a candle on their way to…..
"Venus? Where are we going again?"
"Out."
"Out where?"
"Out."
AN: I'm sorry, I really liked the whole 'hidden tunnels' thing in The Servant story and I had to include if.
So, just a little tidbit of information, the cucumber comment is a reference to the mythical creature Kappa, who love cucumbers and look kinda similar to Leo.
tmntlover2013 and your fan: Thank you so much for your kind words! I wanted to procrastinate and upload it next week but I stayed up to 5am typing half of this instead :D. Completely not regretting it!
The next chapter I'm still debating on what to do but I will hopefully get it out for next week.
Thank you for reading up to this so far. Up next, perspectives from people not Leo and more time skips!