a/n if you're asking yourself, "de-ja-vu? " then yes. I took down teh chapterafter i realized this chapter was really flawed and I forgot some major things. So , rather then replace the chapter secretivley, i'm just reposting it. Its has way better grammar and I am way happier with it then last time

The Soul Trembles

Leo wasn't sure what he had been expecting from that evening. But he defiantly didn't expect to be sitting in the back of the sewer slider, wind whipping around his face. Even with the Sewer Sliders hovering capabilities, there was little to no shock absorbent, which made for an uncomfortable ride for those on the floor.

Currently that was his brother Donatello, sitting just in front of him on his knees and looking over the child in his lap wrapped up in his arms. If only to keep his unconscious form steady under Don's examination. It was a bit unnerving to see two in such close proximity. But he chose to ignore it. His mask was tight in his fist as he struggled to keep wiping the blood away from the boy's vermouth. The Youngers form hacking to the side, shivering even under the thin blanket that they kept in the Sewer Sliders med kit. Leos' arms were the only thing keeping the blanket around him. Leo really didn't know if it was keeping the younger Don warm, but it definitely couldn't hurt. He was torn between telling Raph (the driver) to slow down and telling him to speed up.

Leo watched Donnie turn the child's head toward himself. Looking over his pale face. A small shiver of impatient going over his normally eased mind, "Well?"

"I don't know Leo; I don't think its internal damage. I won't know anything until we get him back to the lair. "It was obvious that Leos' constant questions had begun to worn on his intelligent brother's patience. Who never wasted time to tell Leo he wasn't actually a doctor, and was barley qualified to do the things he had to do when the brothers found themselves injured

Leo honeslty wondered what all they coudl do for soemeon coughing up blood.

He could feel the Sewer Slider, indicating it slowing down. which could only mean one thing

Home

The large machine had barely slid to a stop before Leo had jumped out, just barely acknowledging Raph's shout on how he would park the Slider himself. Donnie was already close behind. The warmth of their Lair already sinking into his already warm skin but did little for the shivering body in his arms. He could already see Master Splinter standing at the door to the "Med Room".

If there was any comfort Leo could find in the world, it was in his father's presence.

For a bunch of mutants who lived in the sewer, they improvised pretty well when it came to medical equipment. Whatever outdated gear Don had been able to repair worked as well as any state of the art equipment. But they didn't have the simple things, like a hospital bed. Instead they had a thin mattress they had found a while back.

Leo lowered the younger Don onto the bed. The older all but pushing him out of the way. Taking a flashlight out of his belt and putting his fingers to the hinges of the child's jaw to finally give a (somewhat) official examination before grabbing a hold of the plastic mask that connected to the breathing machine, pulling the strap over the boys head so it rested over his beak. Despite the obvious size difference of a mask made to fit their face and one made to fit his.

Knowing they were home allowed Leo to release a deep breath he had been holding.

A familiar clawed hand ran over his arm. Drawing his attention to his father. Splinter gave him a kind smile before turning to the patient Don was looking out. His smile falling ever so lightly, "This is the turtle you found?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded, his hand going to rest on top of his fathers, "I talked to him before he passed out."

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything, either he can't talk or he was just too scared. But he understood what I was saying; he understood that I wasn't going to hurt him." Leo couldn't' help but feel a small swelling of pride in his chest. That he had been able to coax the younger Donatello out of running away. And even into allowing Leo to warm him up. His hand reached out to take a hold of the edges of younger Don's blanket again. If only to pull on the sheet and make sure he was covered. But the feeling began to die as the smile slid off his face, "I think he's here alone though."

"Why do you believe that?"

"It's a feeling I have. I don't think he would have been near to frantic if he had been with his own brothers. We can keep our ears open, but I think he got here alone."

Splinter nodded, with the look in his eyes, Leo wondered if Splinter felt the same sympathy he did? He wouldn't put it past his father, being the caring and loving father he was. The old rat walked around the bed to rest at the younger Don's other side, his nose twitching ever so lightly and his ears flattening before looking back to Leo, "Can I assume the two of you fell in the sewer water?"

"Yeah how did you know-" His confusion vanished when he realized his father had begun to smile, (even Don took time out of his examination to give Leo a small smirk). He lifted his arm long enough to sniff at his armpit. A horrible rank stinging his nose enough to make him blush lightly.

"My son, why don't you go clean yourself off while we tend to the child?"

Leo couldn't deny his smell, but his eyes went back to the younger Don. The blanket that they had wrapped him in was now soaking wet. Though the breathing mask around his mask was now misty, indicating its efficiency, he still found a pull in his chest. "You should probably get the sewer water off of him-"

"Trust us my son, we will watch over him until you return."

He wasn't sure how he liked his father phrasing it that way. What if he woke up while Leo was in the shower? What if he freaked out? But even so, he tucked the bloody mask into his belt before turning and leaving the room.

"Is he ok?"

Leo looked to see Mikey sitting on the couch, curled up with his shell against the armrest so his body was facing the Med Room. He wasn't that surprised that Mikey wasn't playing video games in light of their new guest. But he was surprised to see a glimpse of Raph in the kitchen. Head turning to look in his direction

It seemed that, whenever someone ended up in the Med Room that the rest of the family would spend the day in the living room, just so they could be near in case of emergency.

It was nice to know they were concerned.

"Don and Master Splinter are looking at him now." But he could see their eyes going to the bloody mask at his waist; it was definitely enough blood to uproot any faith they had in his statement. He cleared his throat and moved the mask slowly till it rested at the back of his belt, "Raph, did Casey leave any clothes here?"

"A few shirts, they're too big for that kid though."

"I just don't' think he'd like to walk around naked I think they'll work until we get him something more his size. Can you leave them in the Med Room for him?" After Raph nodded he looked to Mikey, "I need you to call April, see if she can get some clothes in his size."

"Got it bro," he got a thumbs up. A smirk covering his youngest brothers face," So go take a bath already, you're burning my eyes."

Leo couldn't help but smile, moving over to the bathroom (though he wanted to remind Mikey he didn't exactly smell like roses.

With the door closed, he moved over to the 'washing sink'; because none of them wore clothes, they only had a sink they used to soak their gear and Master Splinters robes. He took off his gear and dropped the gear into the water, mask following. Though already he didn't like feeling so bare (as funny as that came from someone who was always naked). But when he felt the warm water started to run over his body and felt it worth it, squirting some of the body wash into his palm to forth up and help with the cleaning process

What a freaking night

But he could still see the young turtle, shaking at the sight of him as the water almost froze his small form. Leo honestly didn't know what was worse. Seeing the younger Don shake (the combination of Leos' presence and the cold) or the sight of the blood that covered the bottom of his torn socked feet

He hated to thick they had chased him until his feet bled.

Leo finally felt he was done, switching off the water and dabbing himself dry (though it didn't take long) and returning his clean gear over his body. He didn't know how long he had been in the shower

(It couldn't of ben more than 20 minutes) He was a bit surprised to see Mikey and Raph standing in the doorway to the Med Room. Wondering what had happened to draw their attention. It couldn't have been anything too bad or someone would have yelled for him. His hand reached out to pat Mikey on the shoulder, indicating his presence as he moved past them.

The younger Don was now resting under layers of thick blankets; Leo could barely see that his shoulders were now covered in black clothing (probably Casey's shirt). His skin had returned to a healthier color. Leo couldn't help but feel relieved and pride in his intelligent brother's job "he looks much better guys." Leo hand went back to brush over the unconscious turtle's forehead. The warmth had drawn back, but his face was still cold. It was better than nothing. Maybe they could get a cold cloth for his brow-

It was then Leo realized his brothers hadn't said a word. He turned to look to were Don stood alongside their father. The smile they had been bearing when they had left, Leo stomach began to twist lightly in apprehension. Had he missed something? Was it the blood? Was it internal damage?" He is ok isn't he?"

"Yeah he's fine. The blood came from ruptured blood vessels and scars in his throat, but we got him to stop coughing so he should to be ok."

Ok, that sounded good "What's' wrong then?"

"We him washed off, just to make sure he didn't get sick from the water. But we found something on his arms. "Don moved over back to the bed, his hand going over under the blanket, taking a hold of something and slowly taking out the thin arm from the warmth of the blankets. The thin arm covered in dark mark. Centered around his wrists. Leo reached out and gently took the hand from Don putting the arm back under if only to keep him warm. But it didn't give him the warmth he wanted,

"And those aren't the only ones."

Oh shell he didn't want to hear that, "There's more?"

"He has a stab wound in the side, scars on his ankles. They match the scars on his wrists. He's been malnourished; both of his wrists were dislocated at some point. All by the same source." light brown eyes met his. Expecting him to fill the blank himself, Leo knew the answer

"Chains." he wished that his he was wrong, but a glance over to Don, to acknowledge the nod he had been given. If that word was bad, the other word that left his words had no rival

"Abuse. He's been abused."

A growl reached his ears, Leo turned in time to acknowledge Raph's sudden absence. The sound of his heavy steps, stomping away. The sound of slamming doors indicated his departure. Leo could only guess he had gone to the dojo to work off some frustration or anger.

Though he wasn't as close to Raph as he was Mikey, there had been a night when the two stayed up until the sun had come up. Sharing a bottle of sake Leo had gotten for his birthday. He had been hoping to encourage Raph back to the Lair (having left in a spout of anger). Normally this was Dons job. But because Leo had been the one talking to Raph upon his outburst, he felt it his duty to get him back.

Then Raph told him he had been listening to the TV. The news had been on a story of a father who had been convicted 'not guilty' of killing his 4 year old daughter.

Leo had never known that, stories like that, made Raph don on the Night Watcher persona. But he had realized a while ago that Raph did have a soft spot for kids. Heck, last he heard, Raph was even still in contact that Tyler kid he had met. It was that commitment that made him don the black leather. To fight what he hated more than anything else

Child Abuse

That's probably why Raph was choosing to lock himself in the dojo now.

Leo couldn't worry about Raph right now; quick eye contact with Don sent his calmest brother after Raph before he turned back to Splinter, "His health and safety should be our priority right now. He's safe now, so we should just make sure he stays healthy. We can update our priorities when we know he's going to be ok."

His father nodded, the smile on his face ensuring Leo of his approval. Turning to leave the room, Mikey had turned to follow when he looked back to Leo, "What about you bro?"

"I think I'm going to stay here. I don't want him to wake up alone."

"Wanna take shifts?"

"Nah, I was the last person he saw, it might help him if I'm the first person he sees when he wakes up." Leo put on a smile though. If only to alleviate his youngest brother of the thoughts he knew were wracking his mind, "He'll be fine, just go buy pizza and have fun."

Mikey nodded lightly before walking out of the room. Leo closed the door before looking back to the bed, sitting down on the chair and leaning back on the cushion.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

"Leo?"

Leo woke with such a start; it sent his chair on its back legs. ITs precarious angle sending his arms waving wildly to find something to keep him from falling. Hands suddenly grabbed the back of the chair and forced it back onto all 4's. Leo took a moment to regain his composure, glancing to make sure the child was still asleep before looking behind him to see Don smiling at him a satisfied smirk, "Really? I thought you were the 'Ultimate Ninja."

"You're thinking of the Daimyos Son. And I was asleep. "Leo cast the boy another glance, a bit surprised that he was still asleep in all his thrashing before looking back to Don, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, everyone's just relaxing." the stressed lines that had been on Donnie's' face when telling Leo about the 'abuse', now relaxed. Leo felt a bit relieved to know he was calmer. Notching the bundle of clothes in his arms as the ones they had removed from younger Don. Leo reached and took the other chair to pull up. His brother taking the invitation to sit down, "I was looking at his blood work, I think I understand something now."

"What is it?"

"I thought, since he's another version of me, that he might have asthma. But I took an x-ray of his lungs, it looks like his respiratory system is scarred, his blood work indicates he's immune systems depleted to an extent. Honestly, considering where he's' from its lucky he's alive. I think our polluted air is hard on his lungs with immediate exposure, so it would be wise to keep him on our breathing machine, maybe the portable one, and introduce him to our air a little bit at a time. It won't be impossible for him to breathe our air. "

"That's good." that was something alteast. He had almost forgotten about their portable-wait. Leo looked ask to Don, "HIs time period?"

The smile grew on Dons face, laying the folded clothes onto his lap and lifting up the strange purple shirt he had been wearing "This is a samue. It's a shirt worn by Sohei monks." then turned to the pants, "But these are the style of kimonos worn by average Japanese citizens in time period. Including the straw sandals.' he picked up the one remaining show he had been wearing, "In other words, Feudal japan."

That was new, Leo looked over to the kid again," Like Miyamoto Musashi?"

"The same, It explains the-" The smile slid off his face,

"Abuse?"

"Yeah, but I realized his body shows signs of recently gained weight. Most of the scars have healed over and haven't reopened. If they had, it would indicate he was currently in the same position."

"SO he's not abused anymore?" that was something they could tell Raph. If only to keep him from completely destroying the dojo

"The chain scars on his wrists have reopened recently, but other than that yeah. And the knife wound on his side is alteast 3 years old. It was given proper treatment so he was ok afterwards. I think he was abused for a short time, but it was pretty substantial, then someone saved him from it."

Leo should of felt comfort, but a thought reached him," He was stabbed when he was 8?" Shell that was depressing. But a small chuckle reached his ears. Leo looked back to Don to see him smiling lightly, "What?"

"That's' the thing, as you can see there are obvious physical differences between him and us. Other than the size, He has a small pocket behind his shoulder blades and shell, and under the bottom part of the shell. And his shell is pretty small. It allows him to wear clothes and move naturally. It's like he evolved to be like this rather then forced through mutation. "

"So-"

"Judging by the way his clothes fit around the shell, I'd say he comes from a world that allows him to have a turtle heritage like him. A world like Usagi's. And he's somewhere around 13 or 14 years old."

Leo wasn't sure what to address first, (maybe it was the unhinged jaw that had flown open. Maybe it was the idea this turtle came from a world that was accepting of 'ninja turtles' that gave him the chance to have a large family and run in the sun light

Nope, none of those,

"HE'S 14!?"Leo Looked backed as though expecting the boy to grow and stretch to an appropriate more believable size, "You got to be kidding me-"

"Nope, Splinter told me you thought he was mute so I looked at his throat. Both his dental records and development of his vocal chords indicate he's in puberty. "Don looked back to him, "I looked over his clothes again, they're pretty badly torn, but they look like they were doubled layered. They even sew initials into his clothes. "A soft smile went across Don's face, "Where ever dimension he's from, he has people who want him to stay warm.'
That was a nice thought. It was enough to send smile to his face. Knowing there were people back in younger Don's world who were worried about him. Leo leaned back in his seat again.

A knock went across the door; Leo glanced over to Don to see if he knew who was on the other side. But Don shuffled light. "Come in!"

The door creaked open slowly, a familiar pale face with banned red hair poked in. A warm smile on her face; that Leo enjoyed to see on many occasion. Except this time he was confused "April? Did you buy the clothes already?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to come by." her eye spoke mischievous, "I couldn't resist after I heard about lil Don."

""lil Don?"

"That's what Mikey called him. Can I see him?"

Leo almost said no, but remembering the young boy was asleep, he nodded. A brighter smile went across her face as she stepped in. Despite the comfortable weather (a break from the cold spell they had been having) she had chosen to wear a yellow zip up hoody. Though Leo could not remember ever seeing April wear a sweater that baggy before

Oh well

Her eyes went over to the med bay. Bright red lips parting in a small gasp before looking back over to Leo (who could help but smile), "My god, he really is small. And adorable, I guess Mikey wasn't exaggerating."

"He's 14."

"What!?" Her eyes went back over to him, doing the same double glance as Leo had, "Casey didn't say he was this small when he was numbed."

"Embarrassment makes for a good memory repressor." and knowing Casey, he was sure to have more than a few repressed memories. (He couldn't help but laugh at his own private joke). Aprils hand reached out lightly as though contemplating resting her hand on the blanket, but logic won over and she drew it back, looking back over to the older Don," Those are his clothes right?"

"Yeah, they're torn pretty bad. He had a rough night."

"I want to make sure I got the right size." she gently took the purple samue in her hands and lifted it up, Turing in to look at the small opening in the back, 'I think I can repair them. Maybe I can even repeat this weird hole in the clothes I got him."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it. I don't know how long he's going to be here. So the more we can do to make him more comfortable the better."

The samue was folded, draped over her arm; she glanced back at the torte before looking back to Leo, "I think I'll come back later when he's awake. "

"Just remember the first human he met had him running through the streets, your husband. So don't be hurt if he doesn't' warm up to you immediately."'

"Oh don't worry. I had to win over Casey's mother remember?" she gave him a small wink before walking out of the room, her hand brushing over his shoulder in parting. Leo heard the chair next to him creak and looked over,' "You're leaving too Don?"

"Might as well, you got things here and I want to go my lab for a bit. If anything happens I want you to yell for me alright?"

Leo wasn't sure what else he would have done so he just nodded. His brother smiling before reaching into the remaining clothing and drew out a small book, one Leo recognized immediately as the one that he had been reading a while, "Lone Survivor?"

"I thought you'd go crazy sitting here with nothing to do." the book was set on the hospital bed side, along with the clothes, "Night Leo."

"Night Don." the truth was Leo was really happy Don had brought his book by (he had been contemplating folding up some paper into cranes and placing them on the sleeping boys forehead to see how long they stayed there). Leo leaned back in his seat before looking back over to the folded clothes that remained. His fingers toyed with the stack until he caught the strand of mask that seemed to be 'mandatory' for all dimensional turtles.

He drew the mask out slowly before unfolding it and resting it on two palms, it was much smaller than his own mask. Worn ND faded, Leo ran his fingers over the material, turning it over and doing the same-

What?"
His fingers caught on in stitched string. It wasn't' put in a place that would require stitching. He ran his fingers over the material again. It was a letter. What was it? Leos 'mind wracked through Japanese, he knew this letter-

"R?"

Yeah, an R, his fingers ran next to it, that was K. His fingers moving to the right, No, this one had been removed. But it looked like it had been removed. Another took its place, L? Yeah defiantly a L. Then M, U, D, S, and another L. There were others but these were the most prominent. Did they stand for something? Like code-

R, L, M

He could have slapped himself for being so slow

Raph, Leonardo, Mikey

These were initials. Names in his family. Judging by the number of them, there were quite a few. Three were a few on the rather side but he din' recognize them. SO who were U, D, S, and K? And why had H been removed? Did he die, no, if he had simply died they the letter would have stayed? He must of done something bad enough for this Don to tear his initial out.

Either way

He had a family.

A small whine reached his ears. Leo dropped the mask on the table in time to see the olive eyelids began to quiver, a crack opening between them and weak light brown eyes opened. Looking around meekly. Leo realized that splinter his own Donatello hadn't realized he had woken up yet. His eyes struggling to absorb the room around him before falling on him. Confusion, a question in barley conscious eyes,

Leo slowly allowed a smile to go across his face, his hand reaching to run his fingers over the child's. He could barely feel his frozen fingers twitch in response before relaxing again, indicating the younger Dons descent into sleep again.

Even so, Leo felt a smelt of relief, returning to his spot and sitting down. Looking back to the small kame before picking up the book

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Some claim that with power came more freedoms. More privileges, weekends off and sleeping in till you dam well felt like it. But those had never been things that Drove Bishop. He didn't have a need for a big house, or days off. Not as he walked down the line of computer techs. Every eye was glancing over their screens and at their own work. These were but a few of the surveillance techs that he had monitoring the country. These rooms alone, all 34 of them, were just used to monitor New York. Other states had their own monitoring stations. Then again, New York was a special case.

New York is where everything happened.

He couldn't help but smirk as a thin geeky tech shivered as Bishop to a stand behind him, he could just see his nervous eyes peer back as 'slowly' as he could. If only to keep the image as 'meek' and 'pathetic' techie, "C-Can I help you sir?"
"No." and he kept it at that before turning back and walking up the line.

How he enjoyed unnerving people

It showed he was something to fear

"Sir! Bishop Sir!"

The smile all but slid off his face as he turned back to the smartly dressed agent behind him, clipboard in hand. Bishop remembered this one, he had been promoted recently, "What is it Walker?"

"One of our Surveillance techs caught something on the camera, Sector A-g-level 43."

Downtown residential area by the river, Bishop had all the areas memorized, "And?"

"He believes he caught something interesting. TH-that maybe you should take a look sir."

"How interesting?" He could vaguely remember the time when one of the Surveillance techs though a cat playing the key board was interesting enough to draw his attention

That Tech no longer remembered his name, where he had worked, or how to keep his bowels from leaking over himself in the mental ward he was now at. But Walker said a word that was enough to make his brow twitch and gain his full attention

"Turtles sir."

The smile returned to his face

"Show me."

a/n

Don, "8C LIL DON?!

Charmy, "What? Mikey's coming up with!"

Don, "I STILL BLAME YOU! I BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING!"

Charmy, "O.o calm down!"

Don," NO! NOT THIS TIME! YOU PULL ME FROM MY HOME, I GET CHASED ACROSS A CITY, I COLLAPSE, AND NOW MIKEYS' THINKING OF CALLING ME LIL DON!? I'M GOING TO SHOVE MY BO RIGHT UP YOUR-"