Leon knew he was sunk the moment Leonardo started talking. The anger that had resided in his soul for the last several days had passed almost the second the candles were lit, and instead of leaving behind a numb and hollow opening in his chest, fear pulsed rigidly through him. It was both nice to feel something other than fury, and also even worse as the fear was a stronger and more pure emotion.

He could feel the shift in atmosphere the exact moment his brothers caught on, the three of them going still and falling silent. Futilely, Leon picked restlessly at his knee, using it as a last ditch effort to avoid confrontation. His ears started to ring loudly, refusing to let him make out whatever words Raph said next, his heart pulsing so loud it was a wonder he could hear Raph speak at all.

Raph turned towards him, and Leon almost hoped his brother would scoop him up, holding him close like he would do whenever Leon was injured or had a nightmare. Like he had held him countless times after the infamous roof incident where one or both of them would seek each other out, finding solace in the fact that the other was alive

Leon had too many dreams of Raph jumping after him, the snapper catching Leon and curling around him protectively without his mystic powers, the snap of his spine as they hit the concrete echoing in Leon's ears. From what Raph told him, the snapper's dreams consisted of watching Leon fall, simultaneously too far away to help yet close enough to watch every gory detail of Leon's back cracking open, the sword strapped to his back snapping in two and the shrapnel cutting deep into Leon. The mental image was horrific, but somehow Leon's dreams were even worse where he only heard what happened and never saw.

From the way Raph's entire form shook next to Leon, however, he did not share Leon's desire to be picked up. He didn't go in for a hug, like Leon wanted, but rather lifted one hand and batted the back of Leon's head as hard as he could without giving Leon a concussion.

"Ow!" Leon flinched away from the blow, tucking himself over his knees. On impulse, his hands went up to rub the top of his head, trying to numb the dull pain. The smack did, however, bring everything back into sharp focus, the ringing in his ears quickly dying down until Leon could hear even the slight crackle of the flames on wax.

He hissed between his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the ground below him and refusing to look Raph in the eyes. He could hear Raph beginning to growl above him, furious and maybe a little confused. The audio cues made imagining Raph's glare easy, and Leon winced from the mental image.

Well, nothing left to do but fall back on Ye Old Faithful, Leon's trusty coping mechanism. Humor. "So, um… I'm getting the feeling like you aren't too happy with me?"

"You…" Raph growled low, and out of the corner of his eye, Leon could see Raph's fist clench tightly over his knee, his knuckles turning white from the strain. "Oh, no, Leo, I'm very pleased and happy. I'm grateful that you worried us to no end, and that you lied about it! Yes, that surely won't have any consequences!"

Oh. Oh boy. Raph was angry. Like honestly, fully, completely angry. Leon could count the amount of times Raph was full-out angry on one hand, and that was impressive because Leon only had three fingers. It was almost more terrifying than being haunted by a dream demon, who, apparently was not Grampsaki but from a completely separate dimension! And Leon… Leon didn't know quite how to deal with it. He couldn't exactly fight his way out, or pinch himself to wake up, and he had the feeling that using his profound silver tongue would just lead to Raph getting angrier.

This was not good.

"Alright, Raph, buddy, I… I think you should calm down." Leon tried, being completely serious. It was easier to handle people, especially Raph, when they were sober minded. He sat up slowly, patting his hand somewhat reassuringly. Raph's glare was just as terrifying as Leon imagined it would be. "Just… take a deep breath, y'know?"

Raph stared at Leon, blinked once, then gave a sharp, quick inhale. The exhale was a lot more drawn out, snarled from between clenched teeth until the last puff of air. The second breath was calmer, Raph's eyes sliding closed,the snapper letting his chest rise and fall once more. Raph faced Leon, eyes blinking open, shoulders untensing, fingers relaxing over his knee. The expression he provided was blank, emotionless, and not exactly what Leon was going for, but, hey, it worked.

"Okay, Leo," Raph said pleasantly, "what…. WERE YOU THINKING?!" His hands flared up for dramatic effect, angry and condescending, and Leon flinched again. "Like, seriously!"

"I…" Leon paused, looking down at his hands, then back up at Raph, nibbling his lip. "Can we. Can we not do this in front of…" he gestured helplessly over to their counterparts, "them?"

Raph glanced over at them, too, narrowing his eyes for only a moment before turning back to Leon. His fists curled again, and his expression regained its frustrated undertone. "Leo, this morning, I would have said yes! But you… you just…" He grabbed the top of his mask, tugging at it furiously. "You make me feel like 'aggh'!"

"Nonono, we'll head out." Leonardo reassured, shoving himself up to his feet, and holding out his hands placidly. "We'll be waiting in the skateboard area. When you're done, we can discuss what to do." He gave Michelangelo a hand up, leaving Donatello and Raphael to stand on their own.

"It shouldn't take too long." Raph promised, hardly looking up at him, his eyes only for his brother.

Leon returned to glaring at his knees as their counterparts left, closing the door behind them firmly. He was grateful for his counterpart for leaving, but he wondered if it was for Leon's privacy or simply because it'd be awkward for him to watch. Either way, at least Leon only had to worry about how his brothers would think of him rather than strangers.

But even with his brothers, he wasn't sure how to defend himself, and how to get them to understand.

He was just scared. Just a scared little kid…

"Leo…" Mikey's hand reached out from behind Leon, wrapping firmly around his hand. Leon forced back the flinch that accompanied the touch, pausing for only a beat before adjusting to hold Mikey back. However, Leon kept his eyes on his knees and did not look back at his little brother. "…why didn't you tell us?"

"I…" Leon swallowed, caught between a partial truth and a bold lie. "…would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" He chose the lie.

Raph hesitated, mouth open in a half-retort, staring at Leon for an intense moment as he snapped his mouth shut. "…depends. Did you know?"

"…yeah."

"Then no, I'm not going to believe you!" Raph snapped, waving both arms in the air, brow clenching in frustration. "Leo, that should've been obvious!"

"You cheated." Leon pouted, but it didn't hold any bitterness. He was sort of expecting Raph to ask.

"Nardo, do not do this again!" Donnie snapped, slipping around Raph to face Leon as well. He smacked his fist against the ground, huffing. "Insomnia, sure, stress, fine, but this?! Do not try to deflect, explain what is going on."

"I…" Okay, partial truth this time. And it wasn't all that partial! It was the only explanation that Leon had, and even though it felt like there was more to it, all his mind could come up with was Raph didn't say anything, so I didn't. "…because Raph didn't."

Behind Leon, Mikey shifted forward, peering at Raph, voice cracking as a whine of terror broke from his throat. "…Raph…?"

"What?! No, no, that's not-! I don't know what he means, Leon, what do you mean?!" Raph's hands gripped Leon's shoulders, shaking him slightly, fear crawling into his eyes.

"Because… because you were possessed before me, right?" Leon tried, almost pleading, reaching up to grasp Raph's wrist right back with the hand not fiercely cradled by Mikey. At Raph's confused expression, Leon inhaled sharply. "...You were possessed before me, right?"

"...what?" Raph balked, squeezing tightly, his fingers pressing lightly against Leon's neck scratches. Leon hissed sharply, and Raph withdrew, starting to wring his hands together instead. Leon's hand fell away. "Why would you even… why would you think that?"

"Wait, Leon, let me look at you." Donnie demanded, noticing Leon's wince and crawling over, placing himself stubbornly behind Leon to look at his shoulders and the back of his head. Meanwhile, Mikey clambered over to Raph's side, still locking hands with Leon but reaching over to also pat Raph's shoulder reassuringly. "Shell, that's a lot of scratches. How didn't we…?"

"Leo, please," Raph tried again, leaning slightly towards Mikey. "Why?"

Leon shifted, wondering just how wrong he had been, but quickly stilled when Donnie grumbled at the movement. "...because he… he showed up right after I started being leader. You were the leader first, so… it was just a transition of who gets haunted. And… and Pops clearly said you needed rest when he made me leader, and I haven't gotten any sleep since. So you… you had to have had him first, yeah?"

Raph's brow clenched, anger brewing in his expression. Then it went slack, a mingled sense of understanding in his eyes. And just like that, all his grudge against Leon was gone. "No, Leo, you're wrong. I've never… had that. It's just been… a lot of stress over the last few years building up. It came to a head after the whole… Gram-Gram situation. But I… I get it, Leo. I understand why you'd feel like you couldn't… but still! Why didn't you just ask me? We could've cleared this up a lot sooner, and maybe gotten Pops in on it, and…"

"You never mentioned it. So I… I just thought…"

"Then you're a dumb-dumb." Donnie huffed out, fingers gently tracing over the scratch marks on the back of Leon's neck, squeezing his younger twin's shoulder reassuringly when Leon flinched at the touch. "Apologies. They've already scabbed over, so I'm trying to get an analysis for how deep they are."

"It's fine." Leon reassured, but it really wasn't. He hated the feeling of anything touching his head, already prepared for the slow rake of claws against flesh, digging deeply in, and… he couldn't think like that. He was fine. He was fine.

"So…" Mikey shifted nervously, hand bunching around Leon's tightly once again, the pressure grounding. His attention rose from the sensation of Donnie prodding his neck to Mikey's face, his little brother beyond worried. "You haven't been sleeping at all? For… for four days? Five days?"

"Nono, I've slept." Leon promised, forcing a soothing smile onto his face. "I just… it doesn't make me well rested. It's not easy to get rest while you're being chased by a murderous dream demon, you know?"

Mikey did not look comforted. Raph looked panicked. Donnie stopped moving.

Aw, well, time to abort. His mind was too sluggish to think of a good joke.

"…why aren't you angry anymore?" Mikey asked slowly, trying to change the subject to something more lighthearted, letting go of Leon's hand to crawl into Raph's lap to maintain touch with the oldest brother and reaching out to hold both of Leon's hands.

"I'm… not sure." Leon admitted, tugging at his arm. "The… the candles smell nice." It was a stupid thing to say, but it felt worthwhile.

"Oh, of course. The serious Leo mentioned its scent neutralized the effects, and that their Shredder's influence makes you unpleasant by default." Donnie mentioned, finally moving away from Leon's back to join Raph and Mikey, standing beside them instead of kneeling. His hand rested comfortingly on Raph's shoulder, a rare gesture from Donnie.

It was sorta funny; even though Leon was still sitting on his own on his side of the room, it felt different then the intervention. Their intentions were the same as this morning, but this time Leon felt less like he was being challenged, and more like they were actually worried. He wondered if that was because, like Donnie said, the influence was dying down.

"Okay," Raph hummed, twisting in his spot on the ground and scooting backwards so that Mikey never left his lap but Leon was right beside him. He held out his arm, and Leon burrowed against him, not even twitching this time as his oldest brother's arm wrapped around him.

"So," Raph pressed on, "you're not angry. That's good! That was just Shredder, and now it's just you, right?"

"Yeah."

Just Shredder. Shredder had been the one tormenting Leon's mind, making him think he wanted to slaughter his brothers, and making him think that those thoughts were his own. Shredder had manipulated him, twisted him, and made him nothing more than a husk of himself, and yet Leon had believed it was him. He had foolishly thought Shredder was confined only to his dreams while Shredder took that opportunity to spread, and Leon could do nothing at all.

Being himself was the most important thing to Leon, and to have that taken from him… especially when he didn't realize it…

Hot tears sprung to Leon's eyes, and he hid his face into Raph's side, refusing to look up.

Was this all there was, now? Forever cursed to stay in a small room with candles to null the effects?

"Well," Raph's worried voice brought Leon back to reality, his words bringing a comforting tone that made Leon's heart stop seizing up as harshly. "What do you feel now that Shredder's not making you angry?"

Shell, Leon hoped Raph was right about Shredder not affecting his emotions anymore. "...scared."

Raph growled protectively above him, and Mikey pivoted around in Raph's lap to hug Leon. Even Donnie came over once more to put a soothing hand on Leon's shell.

"The other Nardo implied they had a solution." Donnie pointed out, fingers rubbing circles into Leon's upper back. The motion made Leon drowsy, and he wanted to sleep more than ever. His shoulders rose in anticipation, a futile effort to lean into Donnie's rare touch.

"That's right, he did!" Raph applauded, shrugging Leon a little closer. "What do you say? Want to talk to them?"

Leon nodded numbly, letting Raph keep his grip on Leon as he pushed himself up into a standing position, Mikey slipping out of his grip with a hop. Donnie pulled back to allow Raph ample room, sparing a singular glance back at the candles, muttering something about fire hazards, but everyone ignored it for the sake of seeking out their counterparts.

As promised, the other turtles were seated around the atrium. Michelangelo must've ran back up to grab a skateboard at some point, because he was cheerfully riding the ramps up and down, whooping at the creaks of the boards. Leonardo was sitting on one of the partially built rafters, almost out of sight, his eyes closed and legs folded underneath him in a meditation pose. Leon couldn't help the flicker of jealousy at the thought that his counterpart could meditate when he couldn't.

Donatello and Raphael were sitting in the atrium, too, but out of the way of the skateboard ramps, papers surrounding them. There were two neat stacks of paper, but Raphael's was nearly depleted, the ones already used strewn about them in clumps. Donatello was trying to get Raphael's attention, holding out a partly folded scrap of paper in front of him, glowering fiercely as Raphael adamantly ignored him.

"Raph, com'n." Donatello pleaded, waving it about. "You're not going to learn origami unless you pay attention."

"It's not hard. You just take paper and fold it into pretty shapes." Raphael grunted, huffing at the crumpled paper in his own hands. "...somehow."

"Right, you learn meditation, of all things, to help Leo, but you won't pay attention to how to make paper cranes. Thanks, Raph, I feel so loved."

"I'm not trying to make you feel loved, I'm trying to make an elephant."

"But I'm showing you how to make- whatever! Nevermind! Look, it's our counterparts, you can stop wasting my paper now." At Donatello's words, Raphael turned to look over his shoulder at them. Donatello took the opportunity to scoop up all the papers, giving Raphael a glare as he shuffled the paper back into a neat pile and tucked it away in a clip-on bag on his hip. He didn't look like he quite knew what to do with the muddled pires of paper, and opted for shoving them into one big pile while Raphael was distracted.

"Oh, you're done." Raphael blinked at them, nodding his head at them. "Leo, they're here."

"I heard, give me a moment." Leonardo responded, not moving an inch.

Michelangelo slowed to a stop, rolling the skateboard back and forth underneath his feet as he kept an eye on the counterparts, still smiling with as much gusto as their own Mikey. "Hey, dudes! How'd it go?"

"Oh, y'know!" Mikey gave him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I do!" Michelangelo agreed enthusiastically, looking like he actually did know, shockingly enough.

Leonardo stirred, turning the rest of the way towards him, dangling a leg off of the rafter, looking up at them and offering a polite grin, lifting a hand in a small wave. "Hey, hope it went okay?"

Leon nodded tiredly in response, missing whatever Raph said underneath the furious buzzing that was starting to crawl over his mind again. The anger came back, harder to ignore now that Leon knew what it was, pressing into his consciousness. He hated this, hated not being able to force it down, and knowing he was helpless against something that wasn't even him! It was hard to fight now that he wasn't just letting it… wash over him.

He hated this. He really, really did. He just… he just wanted to be left alone. He didn't care whether or not he was the leader, he didn't care if he was trapped in a room, he just wanted to be able to think and not have to doubt his own thoughts.

Leon burrowed his face in Raph's arm, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look around and think, because goodness knew that only led to Leon wanting to kill everything he saw. He couldn't believe he was so weak and such a coward, to need to hide in his brother's arms. How pathetic was he? He was a foolish, foolish little boy, who couldn't do anything right.

Raph squeezed him, drawing his attention from his arm up to his big brother's face, unable to help the glower on his face. Why couldn't Raph just leave him alone?

"Leo?" Raph tried, brow curling with concern. "Did you hear what other-Leo asked?"

"No." Leon grunted, not trusting himself to say anything more without snapping. Or, no no, he couldn't trust Shredder not to make him snap. Or he couldn't trust Shredder not to snap…? He didn't know!

"Right." Raph lamented, glancing over towards Donnie and then Mikey. "Angry. Uh…"

"It'll be easier to talk about in the room." Leonardo advertised, gesturing behind them.

Great. The room. The suffocating room where he couldn't move or think or do anything. If he never went into that room again, it'd be too soon.

"Right. Right, sorry. Raph's panicking." Raph told him, chuckling a little ruefully, rubbing the back of his head. "We've never had to deal with… something like this. Exactly. April's spirit buddy never affected her like this."

"That's alright." Leonardo comforted while he and his brothers followed Leon's brothers back into the room. "We've had very little contact with spirits before. This is all new for us, too. We've got no experience."

"Aw, yikes." Raph whined apologetically, reaching out to pat Leonardo's shoulder soothingly.

Leonardo bristled up at the touch and sidestepped, blinking up at Raph in surprise. Raphael patted Leonardo's other shoulder teasingly, and Leonardo turned to roll his eyes at his brother, smacking away his hand. "For crying out-! Raph!"

Raphael chortled as he made his way to his spot on the floor, Leonardo trailing after him.

Leon, his mind steadily clearing up and his fear seeping back into his bones as the anger ebbed away, pushed himself slightly up in Raph's arms, but didn't try to leave Raph's cradle. Sitting up was nothing more than trying to gain some semblance of control in his horrible, falling apart conciousness.

He was sort of fascinated, watching their counterparts interact. None of the other dimensional turtles seemed to be paying too much attention to them. They seemed to tease one another just fine, but with them they immediately morphed to a more serious, jaded version of themselves. Leonardo carried a tone of authority in his voice that Leon had never heard in anyone except for Raph, holding himself up straight and proud. Out of any of them, the Michaels seemed the most like the other, though Michelangelo seemed genuinely calmer, but other than that…

Raphael seemed to regard them with a suspicion entirely unlike Raph, eyes never leaving them, refusing to even glance at his own brothers as long as their counterparts were in the room. It was unnerving, to see someone so small full of such strong suspicion. Donatello, finally, had blathered some nerd facts that sounded appropriate of Donnie, but he had taken up a calming habit of origami, which, again, was completely unlike Donnie, who would rather listen to rock and roll somehow mixed with jazz to pass the time.

Mikey attracted Leon's attention away from trying to deduce their counterparts' personalities by reaching out to snag his hand, pulling Leon a little over to his side. "Other-Leo wanted to know if you wanted to deal with Shredder right now or wait until tomorrow."

Leon blinked, a little surprised by that, mouth opening into a gape. "We're allowed?!" He snapped his head back over to regard Leonardo, staring. "I mean, I'm allowed to pick?!"

"It might be easier for you to help us beat Shredder and allow us into your spiritual plane when you're fully rested." Leonardo suggested, leaning forward. "However, it makes perfect sense if you'd rather get it over with now."

Leon blinked, a little disoriented over the options. "...how would it work if I wanted to get it over with now?"

"We'd put out the candles, and once you fall asleep, we'd meditate to enter your mind."

"Oh. You can't just make like… a glyph on the ground or something and exorcize him like that?"

"What kinda mystic nonsense is that?" Raphael huffed, arching an eyebrow in confusion. "No, to get a demon out of your mind, we need to kill the demon again. Then he can't possess anyone again, or come back to you once we leave."

"'Scuse you, mystic nonsense is kinda our thing." Leon sniffed, offended at the downtalking. Wow, this Raphael was small. He could probably drop kick him. He could already almost beat his own Raph in a fight, but with a smaller Raphael, beating him up would be a synch! …provided he didn't use pressure points, at least.

"Mystic nonsense is your thing. I hardly dabble in such unrefined methods of non-science!" Donnie gaped, horrified at being grouped with his by-far more magical brothers.

"Don't act like you didn't nerd out over getting your mystic powers and have been using them nonstop." Leon huffed, slapping his hand into Donnie's face. Donnie cringed, waiting patiently for Leon to withdraw. Leon pulled away quickly, turning back towards their counterparts. "But anyway, yes, yeah, that sounds cool, but you're going to… kill Shredder?!"

"Yeah!" Raph agreed, as always a fellow advocate in the 'please don't kill things' train. "We can't get through his armor. Unless… I mean, there's a small opening space below his knee, but… uh, I don't think that'd kill him. I uh… wouldn't it be easier to stab a Hamato Spear into his chest and separate him from Leo like that?"

"What does that mean." It wasn't quite a question, but Leonardo was genuinely curious on how that worked. "What's a Hamato spear?"

"Y'know, a Hamato spear." Raph made a thrusting motion with his hand, beaming confidently at the invisible adversary in front of him. "That's how we defeated our Shredder! With all our Hamato ancestors, we were able to use our spiritual energy to make this big ol' spear and accompanying ninja warrior to stab in Shredder's heart."

"It separated his armor and his soul!" Mikey enthused, taking up the story. "His armor went fzzzz, he was able to reunite with Gram-Gram's ghost and then they all vanished, and we…" his smile became strained, and he slowly lowered his hands. "...we haven't been able to see them since."

"Yeahhh…" Raph rubbed his chin, "The Hamato spear might not work, then… but is killing really necessary?"

"That was a lot to unpack." Donatello noted, lifting a knee to his chest and slinging his arm over it. "I'm going to want to know everything about what the shell you were just talking about. Like how… a Hamato spear even works, and how you even have ancestors, and who Gram-Gram is, and… didn't you say she was the one who possessed April?"

Donnie nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Donatello inhaled sharply, but shook his head. "Oh, no reason. No reason at all, no."

"I think killing is the only option we have." Leonardo interrupted, urging their attention away from his purple brother to him, sitting forward and waving his hand authoritatively. "You all won't have to do anything but hang back. The last thing I want, or rather any of us wants, is to force you all into a lethal situation. We'll handle Shredder, and you four shouldn't need to do anything more than hang back and wait."

Leon twitched uneasily, glancing up at Raph's face. His oldest brother looked petrified, staring at Leonardo like he had grown a second head.

"I don't think any of us are comfortable with… um, killing." Raph paused, thumping his pointer fingers together restlessly. "Because. It's like… murder."

"I'm fine with it." Donnie volunteered bravely, earning a gentle shove from Raph. "What? I am!"

"Honestly, you guys are way too sensitive." Raphael grunted, crossing his arms firmly. "He's already dead. We're just doing it again."

"I'm not going to ask any of you to do it." Leonardo promised, putting one hand over his heart and raising the other like a boy scout. "It'll be by my hand, and mine alone, I promise you."

"Leo…?" Raph shifted, glancing down at Leon. "It's your… uh, mind? Spiritual plane? What do you think?"

"As long as I don't have to go anywhere near Shredder, I'm fine." Leon held up his hands passively, shaking his head. "But I… uh, I do want to… normally sleep first. As long as those are lit, he won't be able to attack, right?"

"Right, he shouldn't be able to, at least. If he does… have you figured out a way to ground yourself?" Leonardo asked.

"Ground myself?"

"A way to wake up."

"Oh, yeah!" Leon perked up, lifting his wrist up and pinching himself as an example. "Y'know that it's like a whole… 'If this is a dream, pinch me' thing that people do? So… yeah, pinching works."

"That's ridiculously cliche." Donatello balked, staring at Leon. "That should by no means actually work!"

"I didn't even think it'd work!" Leon agreed empathetically, "I only tried it because I was sorta a little bit desperate." Not to mention downright terrified, but Leon wasn't about to tell his counterparts that, regardless if they had already figured it out or not. He had to hold onto some of his dignity and pride. He wouldn't allow Shredder to take that from him.

Leonardo cleared his throat. "Regardless of the method, it's great that you've developed a grounding method. You should be safe on the off chance that he does attack you, or if you're still sleeping by the time the candles go out."

That made sense to Leon, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. "A'ight, thanks and junk, well, then, without further ado~!" Leon stopped trying to blink the exhaustion from his thoughts, letting his eyes flutter closed, vision going dark as his head flopped against Raph's arm.

(:)

Leonardo shoved himself up to leave the room once again, watching Mikey drag Michelangelo after him to grab pillows and blankets to cushion Raph with, since the behemoth of a turtle refused to budge as long as Leon was bundled in his arms. The Dons left a bit more hesitantly, Donnie sparing Leon a few glances to make sure he was sleeping peacefully before he left.

Raphael lingered behind Leonardo, arms crossed and watching after him, as if he was scared that if he wandered ahead something would happen. Leonardo couldn't even fault him; Raph's large figure was intimidating and it was intimidating standing near him.

"Hey." Raph looked up at Leon the second the Dons and Mikes vanished through the door, or, more accurately, the moment his Donnie left, as Donatello was still lingering in the room but on his way out. Donatello paused for only a second to make sure Raph wasn't talking to him, and then was gone as well, hurrying after Donnie.

"Thanks for uh… showing up. I don't think…" Raph adjusted his hold on Leon, squeezing him tightly. "Well, Leo wouldn't have told us if you didn't… draw attention to it. So, um, thanks. We just thought he was… being stupid. I mean, he was - is, but we didn't realize it was something so… dire. We figured once he got tired enough, his body would force him to get some rest. That's what Donnie said, anyway, but we didn't know that… that it would kill him." His tone shifted, voice quieting. "...Donnie's going to be beating himself up about that for ages, even though he couldn't possibly know-! Easy, Raph, easy, worry 'bout one bro at a time… one bro at a time…"

It was slightly uncomfortable, hearing and seeing the counterpart of his brother worry over another version of him. Leonardo wondered if that was how his brothers acted whenever he was being especially self-sacrificial. A quick peek at Raphael revealed tense understanding, like he was trying not to look like he sympathized, but his clenched brow and teeth revealed far too much emotion.

"Of course." Leonardo crouched beside Raph, inkling his head towards Leon. "It is… our Shredder who's doing it to him. It's our responsibility to handle him, and our faults for not dealing with the possibility of his soul coming back sooner."

Raphael grunted, not believing it was their fault, and Leonardo was half in agreement with his immediate younger brother, and also feeling like he should've at least predicted it. If Splinter was able to come back and haunt Leonardo after death, then Shredder would, too. After all, their travels in time had revealed that Shredder was far more believing, especially as a youth, in the supernatural world than Splinter was. Leonardo felt rather foolish for not thinking of that.

"It's alright, you're here now! Besides, uh, our family has been tasked with defending against Shredder for 500 years." Raph puffed himself up proudly, "but when Pops started neglecting his duties… that's when he came back. As far as we can tell, Shredder is inevitable. We can delay him, but… we can't stop him. It's good he's here now. Us… eight probably have more experience dealing with Shredder than anyone else."

Raph looked up at Raphael, his expression melting into something even softer then when he was looking at Leonardo. "So, again… thanks. I'm really grateful for you for taking the initiative, or else we… or else he…!" He crumpled over Leon, cradling him closer against him, tucking the arm that had fallen out of his grip back on top of Leon's chest. "...sorry for keeping you."

"You're fine." Raphael grunted instead of Leonardo, reaching out to grab his shoulder, half pulling him upright again. Leonardo stood back up with little to no resistance, falling back a few steps to stand next to Raphael. "We're just… let us know when he wakes up, so we can get this whole situation over with."

"Uh." Raph blinked, a look of confused hurt crossing over his face. "Okay. Yeah."

"Let's go." Raphael gruffly commanded, and Leonardo blinked in surprise, following after his little brother as he marched out, offering Raph the barest wave as they left.

"Okay," Leonardo huffed the moment the door was behind them. "What's your damage? Raph, I know you hate being here, and I'm sorry, but you shouldn't just-"

The expression Raphael lent him made Leonardo immediately click his mouth shut, staring at Raphael in shock. It wasn't necessarily angry, but more of a quiet horror, an expression Leonardo had rarely seen on Raphael. It was the same face he had used when they were at the farm, and Leonardo's leg crumpled out from under him when he was supposed to be healed. Leonardo had promised himself he would get better if only to make Raphael never look like that again, but here Raphael was.

Leonardo followed Raphael wordlessly out of the hallway, not knowing exactly what to expect. Raphael looked like he wanted to burst, which meant Leonardo just had to wait until his brother had a chance to speak.

It happened earlier than Leonardo was expecting, Raphael grabbed his arm almost as soon as they got to the atrium, hauling his older brother to the side. He grasped Leonardo's forearms, leaning forward so only Leonardo could hear his words. "Leo, they're just kids!"

"I know." Leonardo agreed, reaching up to squeeze Raphael's arms right back. Realizing just how young they were was a big contributor for why Leonardo even gave Leon the option of taking a break before getting thrown into the fight of his life. "I know, Raph. They were all just so… scared. They're too young to have to deal with this! I mean, I think we were around their age, maybe only a little older, when we first fought Shredder, but that wasn't even Super Shredder. They're having to deal with such a large threat much quicker than we did."

"Yeah, they even defeated their own." Raphael agreed, releasing Leonardo's arms but leaning against the near wall, refusing to stray too far or let Leonardo leave. "We couldn't even get close to even fighting Shredder without having our shells handed to us! And yet they're wielding stupid magic powers like it's nothing! How am I supposed to-! I hate this, I hate this so much."

"I know." Leonardo sympathized.

"It makes sense why they're not willing to do what needs to be done. I want to pummel Shredder for even existing, and just-!" Raphael pounded his fist into his palm, snarling at nothing in particular.

"Raph." Leonardo scolded, resting a hand on Raphael's shoulder. "I'm not going to let you do what 'needs to be done' either. Doing something like that… that's my responsibility."

"I know I said I'm going to stop giving you a hard time for being sensei and leader or whatever, but that's just plain stupid. I'm just as capable of beheading the creep as you are!"

"It's not whether or not you're capable or not, Raph. It's… you'll call it selfish, or misplaced pride, or whatever else you think will make me change my mind, but I don't want you three, or I guess you seven, now, to have to kill anything. If it comes down to it, if we're forced to kill Shredder, or Tiger Claw, or even Vizioso, I want it to be me every time. That's my burden to carry, and I'll never make it be yours."

Raphael heaved out a breath, rolling his eyes. "And there's the classic Leo pride. Wait, Donnie tried to kill Don Vizioso once. But you stopped him. Were you planning to kill Vizioso yourself?"

"No! Nono, no." Leonardo promised, shaking his hands out in front of him. "Absolutely not. Donnie would've never forgiven me. Maybe if it was Mikey trying, instead… but no, no. I just wanted to stop Donnie from making a mistake he wouldn't forget. In the end, I don't think it was even me who convinced him. I think Donnie figured it out on his own."

"Great." Raphael massaged his forehead, brow wrinkling. "So none of us are allowed to kill. It's just gotta be you."

"That's right!"

"Sometimes I really hate you, y'know that?" Raphael punched Leonardo's arm affectionately, rolling his eyes. "What's the battle plan, sensei?"

"Full sarcasm intended, I assume." Leonardo huffed, walking over to join the Mikes as they returned to the atrium, carrying at least five blankets and three pillows between them. "For now, it's just a waiting game."