Chapter seven:
Leo takes a walk through the sewers. He is at least glad that his family have let him do this alone. He just can't go out to the surface alone. He slows to a stop by the entrance to the sewer tunnel. He is about to turn around when something drops by the entrance. His eyes widen realizing it's a human body with his eyes meeting those lifeless eyes. He doesn't know this human though. His whole body becomes fully frozen as a familiar figure hops down next to the body.
The killer that Leo could never forget turns to him. Despite his mask it's obvious he is smirking at seeing Leo. "You really thought you were getting away from me? No one gets away from me." He mentions confidently as Leo's heart is pounding in his terror. He reaches into his pocket pulling something out in a fist. He tosses it at Leo's feet who watches it only to gasp.
What lands there is the gift that Leo had gotten for Joseph all those years ago!
The killer snarls at Leo making him jump.
Leo grabs the gift then starts running through the tunnels. He can hear the killer chasing him despite that he tries to lose him in the tunnels. He keeps going finding tears coming to his eyes as he fears that this is truly it for him.
Suddenly three figures rush past Leo making both Leo and the killer skid to a stop.
Leo turns and despite his tears he spots his brothers standing protectively between him and the killer.
The killer chuckles. "Where was this all those years ago? You left him all alone and now you finally come to his rescue. You didn't even look worried that he was so scared all those years ago." He taunts to the three who growl at him.
"We were stupid kids! But we're not making that same mistake ever again!" Raph snarls and charges swinging his sai, though the killer moves back to dodge. He charges more swinging even more at the killer who keeps moving back. He is emitting angry sounds while doing so.
"You're never getting him. It'll be you who will be taken out!" Donnie promises and the killer laughs at this.
"We'll see about that." The killer turns and runs off clearly promising that this is far from over.
Raph and Donnie chase after the killer while Mikey tugs Leo back to the lair for safety.
"It's okay Leo. We saw him chasing you on the cameras after he triggered one of Donnies alarms. We won't let him get you."
Leo is quiet and he is shaking. He glances down. He opens his hand looking to the gift child him was going to give Joseph. He can see it despite his shaking.
It's simple, a stainless steel green sea turtle charm on a black string replacing the broken chain Leo found it with.
Leo had wanted to give it to his friend so he could always know Leo cared about him; even when no one else did. He just walks blindly hardly noticing nudges to lead him around. He is too spaced out to even really care right now. He can easily imagine that random persons body being Joseph. He shuts his eyes tightly as tears start streaming down his face. His walking slows to a stop. He swears that there is muffled sounds around him almost like talking... However he can't make sense of any of it. His shaky hand clenches into a soft fist around the charm of the necklace he wanted to gift to his friends years ago. He starts to feel dizzy as his emotions are too much. The next thing he knows is darkness as everything falls silent.
After a few moments a light appears in the darkness with a familiar figure stepping forward.
Leo sobs as he sees Joseph who smiles a greeting. He hurries over to his friend falling to his knees as the two happily embrace each other.
"Oh Leo." Joseph breathes out as the two cling to each other.
"I'm so sorry." Leo sobs out to Joseph who softly shushes him.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Joseph tells him remaining as close as he can to Leo. "You're scared and that's okay. No one blames you for that."
"I want to avenge you. I really do. I just can't bring myself to do anything against him." Leo admits with a sniffle and feels Joseph shake his head.
"Leo. You don't have to be so reckless to try to do it by yourself. I appreciate that you want to avenge my death. However I don't want you to get killed doing so. Okay?"
"Okay." Leo breathes out and they just sit there in a hug. He shivers feeling something cold on the back of his neck.
"Our time is up." Joseph sighs sadly as they finally pull away from the hug.
"No! Please don't go!" Leo pleads to Joseph who smiles to Leo.
"I never left. I've always been there with you. Watching over you. And I'll be there for you when you need me. Even if you can't see me. Just know in your heart that I am there." Joseph's figure disappears in darkness and Leo jolts up on the lairs couch.
Leo turns as a bag of ice falls to the ground. He feels some cold on the back of his neck, he is lying on his stomach and has a blanket on him, making him wonder why that was there. He turns as three figures move closer to him. He sees Mikey, Splinter and Casey who all look relieved to see Leo awake.
"Sorry about the ice Leo. Your temperature was rising and we didn't want you to get too hot. Especially after you just passed out right in front of the lair entrance. We're just glad you're okay." Mikey admits to Leo who nods softly to this.
"How do you feel? Do you feel sick at all?" Splinter inquires and Leo can honestly shake his head. "That is good. Do you want to talk at all?"
Leo finds himself unable to say anything so he just softly shakes his head, trying to say that he can't.
"It's alright Leo. If you can't right now then that's okay." Mikey sits on the floor next to Leo.
Leo blinks and glances around a little realizing that he doesn't see Donnie or Raph.
"Donnie and Raph aren't back yet. They chased after the killer." Mikey explains causing Leo to turn to him. "Don't worry. They'll be okay. I just know it."
Leo lays his head down now just realizing there's a pillow there.
"You look tired. Why not get some rest?" Splinter suggests though Leo softly shakes his head. "I see. You want to wait for your brothers. That is alright. You can stay up to wait if you want." He heads off with that.
Casey places something by Leo's hand who realizes that it's the gift the killer had stolen. "You dropped this when you passed out." He watches as Leo takes it into his hand holding it close.
"Was that the gift you wanted to give to Joseph as a kid?" Mikey inquires getting a soft nod from Leo and he smiles softly to his brother. "It's a very nice gift. I am sure he would have loved it."
Leo smiles softly with gratefulness at Mikey for it.
...
Me and Donnie make our way back to the sewer tunnel entrance.
I can't help myself cursing up a storm since the killer managed to get away. I am so upset that he lost us in the woods.
We spent a good while searching that whole area but he seemed to have just vanished. We stop at the corpse that the killer had tried to pick up before realizing we were still chasing him.
Donnie lets out a sigh. "Let'ss make sure that this body will be found."
"I am not letting those pig cops fucking get that bastard before we do." I growl out still angry about losing the killer.
"They more than likely won't." Donnie assures me. "This killer is clearly clever. If he's got another body he's killed more than Joseph. So since he hasn't been caught this one body shouldn't make a difference. At least the family and friends of this person will know what happened to them."
I let out a breath supposing that Donnie is right. "Okay." I help him pick up the body carrying it to a bridge in a nearby creek that's on the main path.
We head back to the lair after that both wanting to know if Leo's okay... Well as okay as he can be right now... We arrive back at the lair with no signs of being followed, not even another alarm being tripped, and we see the others save for Splinter who isn't seen turn to us as we arrive.
It's clear that they can tell by my anger that we didn't catch the killer.
Leo ducks back down to no longer be seen using the couch.
Me and Donnie head around the couch to come check on him.
I want to know he's okay before I go blow off steam. I crouch by Leo once I make my way around the couch. "Did he hurt you? Physically at least?" I see Leo shake his head. I feel some anger go away as a wave of relief washes over me. "That's good. You don't have to talk right now if you don't want to. No more going anywhere alone not even the sewers." I see him nod softly before he settles down looking tired. I get up and head to the dojo to get rid of my remaining rage. I beat the shit out of the punching bag imagining it's the killer. I now have a better imagination of him due to seeing him for myself. I don't even bother with keeping track of time while I try to destroy this punching bag. I only stop when I feel like I can't keep it up any longer. I step back breathing heavily from the work out. I do at least feel better so that's good.
That killer is not going to be able to get away forever. He probably also knows it that might be why he took his chance to try to take out Leo.
I should have been more careful. I should have insisted that even the sewers Leo can't be alone. I shake it off telling myself that I'll be more careful from now on. I leave the dojo passing by the living room wanting to see how Leo is doing.
Leo is asleep right now on the couch.
Mikey looks up from his video games that he has on mute. "Splinter said Leo's emotional state made him really tired. And it didn't help that he passed out earlier." He continues when I blink in concern at this. "He started spacing out and I was trying to just get him to the lair. He followed me luckily. Then just outside of the lair he just passed out. He's okay. Just tired from all the high emotions."
I look to Leo feeling some worry ease since he does seem okay just tired. I nod and am about to head to the lab sure that it's when Donnie went.
"Hold on Raph." Mikey speaks up getting me to turn to him. "Donnie said he needed alone time to figure out a way to track the killer."
"Ah." I think that it does make sense. I sit by the couch so I'll be there for Leo if needed.
"It seems that the killer did have the gift Leo wanted to give Joseph all that time ago." Mikey mentions making me wonder how he's so sure. He shifts to Leo and shows me the necklace in his hand. "Leo had this right after running from the killer. He said it is what he wanted to give Joseph. Well he confirmed when I asked. But I'll still count that as that he said so."
"Hm." I look at the charm and it might have made Joseph happy. I can still remember my meeting with him in the dream.
Joseph seems like he is the type to be into getting a gift like that. He only met me briefly however he showed me he cares so deeply about Leo.
"Maybe." I wonder if I should get Joseph a little turtle thing as a gift for saying thank you for caring for Leo.
"Wanna join while we wait for Leo to wake up? Splinter asked Casey to head out with him. I promised to stay to make sure Leo would be okay." Mikey offers me a controller which I take.
"Sure." I agree so Mikey loads me into the game. I can sit back for just a little bit. I can tell that all currently known angles of finding the asshole is covered. I might as well stay and wait for Leo to wake up. I end up losing track of time as I play games with Mikey. I'm only broken from my trance when I hear Leo groan. I turn to him seeing him raise his head blinking his eyes open. "Was that a good sleep?" I inquire leaning closer to Leo who turns to me then gives a nod. "That's good." I him truly glad to hear it. I am about to ask if he wants to watch the game or join... Only for Donnie to hurry out.
"I think I've done it!" Donnie announces and all of us turn to him. "I think I found a way to be able to watch out for the killer." He tries to calm his excitement down a little to explain. "I can use city cameras to scan for his distinct figure. It should help even if it's not one hundred percent fool proof."
"Awesome. Then let's do that." I agree feeling glad that we should find this guy sooner than later.
"I already did the first scan. Nothing yet but I've set up a way to continuously scan. Once it detects him then it'll follow him so we can try to track him down. I'll get an alert when he's spotted."
"Good. Then we can end this." I agree truly glad to hear this.
"I'll make homemade pizza tonight!" Mikey hurries off to the kitchen.
I turn to the front door realizing that I don't think Splinter and Casey are back yet.
"Raph?" Leo's voice causes me to turn to him. He blinks hopefully at me. "Can we go to where Joseph died?"
I share an uncertain and worried look with Donnie before turning back to Leo. "Are you sure? If it's too soon for you it's okay. We can get his body when the burial time comes. You don't have to go back there."
"I don't know if it's too early for me to be ready. I just really feel like I need to go there." Leo explains and I stay quiet with hesitance on the whole idea.
"We could make it a trip with all of us." Donnie offers and I sneak a glance to him. He looks right at me. "So we can be there if anything happens. Even if it's Leo not being ready." He looks back to Leo. "You can always back out at anytime. No matter how close to the spot we are. We can go tomorrow if you're still sure you want to go."
Leo nods his head looking satisfied with that. "Thank you."
I just hope that this will go by alright, that it isn't too early for Leo to be ready for this.