Rating: K
Words: 386
Author's Note: Like everyone, I was devastated by the Season 3 finale. Maybe I was closer to being 'emotionally scarred,' but anyway, I was especially moved when considering how much they have to grow up in the wake of all of this. That inspired me to write this very short drabble/ficlet. Hope you all enjoy!
Everything they knew was gone. Vanished into a black hole; never to be seen again. There was no way that they could ever get it back.
Leonardo stared at the monitor that had once showed his planet. Now there was nothing but empty space. The numbness of shock was beginning to melt away and the chill of despair was beginning to take hold of him. His family, the last survivors of Earth, stood around in a daze, watching the little robot do his work as the ship hurtled through space.
He had to be strong. He had to be strong for them.
When they had been beamed aboard Dr. Honeycutt's ship, they were all numb. They had just watched their world break apart and fall into the vacuum of space. Not just the planet, but everything on it. They had witnessed the mass murder of seven billion people. Most of them who had been blameless of any crime. It wasn't fair.
But he had to be strong so his family could survive.
They had watched their father being murdered in cold blood by a coward. And that coward had doomed the entire planet with his act of selfish vengeance against imagined wrongs. It wasn't fair… It wasn't fair that he had been stolen from them when they still needed him.
Now that Splinter was dead, Leo was now the head of the Hamato clan. The responsibility and safety of his family was now on his shoulders. It was different than just being the leader; now he was responsible for the last remaining earthlings in the world.
But he had to be strong, so his family could grieve.
His heart hurt and he closed his eyes, fighting back the tears that threatened to tear down his façade of strength. He had to stay strong. He had to…
Strong arms enveloped him and Leo opened his eyes. Mikey was holding him, his big blue eyes glazed with heavy emotional pain.
"You don't have to do this on your own, bro. We're all in this together."
Leo nodded, though he knew that nothing would ever be the same again. He leaned his head against Mikey's and stared out into the vastness of space.
He had to be strong, but thankfully, he didn't have to be strong all by himself.