Chapter two:
It's been three days with Shadow telling him how he won't fit in unless he accepts the deal. He also has been having nightmares that have been troubling his sleep.
"Come on. While pops is napping. Let's sneak to the surface." Raph suggests, after glancing in on Splinter, to which Donnie and Mikey agree to the idea.
They all turn to Leo who looks away.
"You go ahead." Leo turns walking away and disappearing into their room. He thinks maybe it'll be better if he lets them distance themselves from him. He might be able to fix things this way without making the deal.
The three stare in confusion after Leo before following after him. They find Leo sitting on his bed not doing anything.
Leo blinks at seeing them though doesn't fully look at them.
"Leo?" Donnie questions moving closer worriedly. "Are you not feeling well? Is that why you don't want to come?" He starts to reach to feel for a fever but stops as Leo flinches away.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired. Been having some trouble sleeping. I'd probably just slow you down." Leo tells them though something doesn't feel right to the three.
The three aren't sure where this bad feeling is coming from. They just know that whatever's going on isn't as simple as that.
"Is that really it? Or are you lying to us?" Raph demands staring at Leo's face despite that Leo won't look at them.
"I told you. I'm fine. Just tired." Leo brushes this off and Raph growls at this.
"Fine. You can wallow in whatever this is if you're not going to be honest with us." Raph storms off after that.
Donnie and Mikey look after Raph in surprise before turning back to Leo worriedly.
"You can go after him. I mean it. I'm fine. Just tired." Leo almost sounds like a partially broken record.
Mikey waves for Donnie to go after Raph which he does. He sits on the floor in front of Leo's bed. "Leo." He looks up to the other who turns his own face away. "What's really going on? You can tell me." He tries to encourage. He even offers a warm smile hoping it'll comfort Leo.
"Nothing." Leo tells him. "Like I told you. Just tired."
Mikey frowns at this. He has to figure out how to get Leo to admit what's going on. "Leo." He reaches for Leo's hand only to stop as Leo jerks his hands away.
"I'm fine." Leo shifts to lay down with his back to Mikey. He's facing the wrong way on his bed now. "Just tired."
Mikey looks down being able to tell that Leo isn't going to talk. "Okay. Just know we're ready to listen if you want to talk about what's going on." He gets up grabbing his hidden teddy bear. He leans over Leo's bed placing it on Leo's arm. He does notice Leo glance to it before looking away. He moves away and after looking at Leo a bit longer he leaves.
Shadow comes to hover over Leo looking at his face. "Oh poor Leo. All alone in the world." It taunts as Leo stares ahead so he doesn't have to look at it. "Come now. Just admit that you need my help. I'm the last one you can turn to."
Leo glances to the bear that was left with him. He shifts so it's embraced in one arm. "I will figure this out. I don't need your offer." He tries to insist though Shadow doesn't lose any confidence.
"Is that so? Pushing them away is your way of solving the issue?" Shadow questions before letting out a chuckle. "You love finding new ways to hurt them further. Don't you? Just suddenly pushing them away? As if you no longer care? My. What a turn. I can only imagine how they are feeling now. They may not care about you. However anyone that is family would be hurt if you suddenly pushed them away without explanation."
Leo shuts his eyes tightly holding the bear closer to his body. He tells himself that they'll feel better about it in time... Right? Maybe he'll need to find a new place to sleep so they won't have to be bothered by him.
"You'll see. My offer is your only hope to be able to fix everything you're doing, and have done, I feel sorry for those three. Having to deal with your dumb decisions. You're no leader. And you're certainly no brother." Shadow smirks widely as a tear falls down Leo's cheek. "All you have to do is say that you accept my offer. And all of the damage you have done to their lives can get fixed."
Leo stays quiet. Hoping Shadow will go away. He is glad when things go quiet. He tries to affirm his plan will work... Only for his mind to falter remembering his brothers reactions. He really is the problem in their lives. He can't do anything right. He really is no leader. He'll never be a good leader. He wonders if Shadows offer really is the only way to fix all of this. He isn't so sure however it's sounding so tempting.
Later...
Mikey, Donnie and Raph peek into their shared bedroom to find Leo still backwards on his bed.
"That's exactly where I left him. Facing the same side too." Mikey mentions and the three are really worried as Leo didn't even come for dinner.
"What are we supposed to do? Is he just asleep? He might throw his whole sleep schedule off by sleeping this long during the day." Donnie points out with a nervous tone.
Raph narrows his eyes trying to figure out what could be going on with Leo. "There has to be some way to figure this out." He insists before blinking at an idea. "What about his phone?"
"Raph! That's an invasion of privacy!" Donnie lightly scolds.
"It's for his own good." Raph insists still staring at Leo. "If he's not going to tell us then we will have to figure it out for ourselves. I mean we waited in the lair the whole day and he didn't even leave this room. Despite us waiting for him to come talk to us." He heads inside before any further arguments can be made. He approaches Leo's bed and glances around trying to spot Leo's phone. He spots it by Mikey's teddy bear. He does see that Leo seems to have fallen asleep, or is just relaxing as he can't see Leo's face at this angle. He carefully reaches in pulling out the teddy bear and the phone.
"You can leave it there. I let him have it just in case." Mikey tells Raph who puts the bear back.
The three gather together to look at the phone. They find no password on and they start checking any places which might have information. They don't need to worry about games or stuff like that he has on his phone.
"Try notes." Donnie suggests so Raph does just that. He scans the previews of the very few notes Leo has written on his phone. He doesn't see anything that stands out right away. "Let's check a few other spots." He suggests getting handed the phone. He checks on the other spots disappointed to find nothing. "Well whatever is going on he hasn't indicated it on his phone." He slips Leo's phone back into place.
"Damn it." Raph hisses and the two are too worried to tell him to watch his language. "Okay. We'll plan tomorrow. Go to bed for now I guess. We'll do a meeting about our next step." He climbs into bed and the other two do as well.
The three of them hardly get any sleep that night in their worry.
The next day...
Leo notices the three other turtles sneak into the tunnels. He turns away and stands in the middle of their shared bedroom. He might as well move his sleeping spot to be out of their space. He doesn't matter to them. He pauses as he senses a familiar being right behind him.
"Oh poor Leo. Rejected by your own brothers. They didn't even check if you wanted to go with them." Shadow points out with an attempted sympathetic tone. "It hurts. Doesn't it?" It seems to know that Leo can't deny that. "My offer still stands if you want it. I'll make you into a better turtle. Erase all your flaws."
Leo blinks at Shadow. "And how would you do that?" He inquires to which Shadow smiles.
"Well I could take the blame for your past actions. You could even blame me. You can still be the leader that they need and deserve. You don't need to conceal yourself with me. They'll buy how I'll help you. Thinking you have changed your ways. While the true you won't get in the way. They'll love you! Don't deny yourself a better life."
Leo looks down starting to think that Shadow truly may be his only hope at fitting in. He surely is the problem that ruins his brothers lives. He knows that they'd be better off without him, or at least the real him, ruining their lives. He glances away finding the words struggling to come up.
"Well? What do you say?" Shadow presses and Leo closes his eyes with a breath.
Leo is about to say that he agrees to this... Only to jump in surprise, eyes opening, and he spins around to find the source of the voice that said his name. He finds himself facing all three of his brothers.
Raph moves forward. "Leo you're not getting out of the talk this time." He insists staring right at Leo. "You need to spill about what's been going on."
Leo slightly glances back and forth as he thinks all of this over. He lowers his head and hunches actually looking kind of pathetic. "I..." He starts and barely catches Shadows smile widen. "I..." He closes his eyes letting out a breath. "I have to do this."
"Do what?" Raph questions to Leo. "I swear if this is some sort of excuse again." He crosses his arms over his chest.
"It's not." Leo informs Raph who seems to be able to pick up that it isn't an excuse. "Things will be better this way." He lowers his head with tears in his eyes. "I won't fail you anymore."
"Leo." Raph demands grabbing at Leo's arm. "What in the world are you talking about!?"
"Just blame it on me. Let me fix you." Shadow whispers to Leo despite that it can't be seen or heard.
Leo lifts his head to look at his brothers with tearful half open eyes. "I accept. I accept the deal. I accept what I deserve." He says confusing the three but Shadow smirks widely.
"Leo! You are not making any sense!" Raph tries to insist but Leo manages to jerk himself from his grasp. "What is going on!? And speak clearly!"
Leo starts to step back a little before stopping and his gaze turns away. "Please." He doesn't get to say anything else as Shadow becomes visible, standing between Leo and his brothers, making the other three gasp.
"You took your time. But I'm glad that you see it my way." Shadow reaches out putting the tip of its fingers under Leo's chin to make him look at it. "Now. You are mine." It leaps at Leo consuming him into a ball of darkness.
"Leo!" The other three scream causing Splinter to come running shocked at what he's seeing.
The ball fades though the Leo standing there looks different with his head titled down and eyes closed. Every blue clothing on Leo has turned black and his skin color almost seems just a touch darker. When he raises his head, and opens his eyes, it is revealed that the whites of his eyes have turned solid black. His irises are still the same color however his pupils look slightly cloudy. He looks sadly at his family who stare speechless at him. "I'm sorry." He closes his eyes a smirk threatening to appear. He seems to lose the battle to stop it as the smirk appears. His eyes opening to show a more evil look as if Shadow has won. "The shadow has won!" He declares to them smirking widely. "Nothing can stop me now!"
"Except us!" Raph insists.
Mikey and Donnie are scared and worried but ready to help Leo.
Splinter is frozen unable to figure out what he's supposed to do.
"Let him go!" Raph demands ready to charge Leo.
"Ah. Ah." Leo taunts while being controlled. "You wouldn't want to hurt him anymore than you already have. Would you? I may be in control however this body originally belonged to Leo. It's mine now though and I have no intentions of giving it back!" He keeps his head held high in confidence.
Raph growls clearly frustrated that as much as he wants to smack Shadow it is in Leo's body. "If you won't come out then we will force you out." He charges planning to try to restrain Leo to find a way to force out Shadow.
"Only if you can catch me first." Leo disappears from darkness that shimmers around him for a moment.
"Boys? What was that about? What happened to Leonardo?" Splinter questions to which Mikey and Donnie glance to each other, while Raph stares on where Leo vanished.
"We're not really sure." Donnie admits closing his eyes with a sigh. "Leo was acting weird then this shadowy turtle comes out of no where. Taking over Leo." He shakes his head briefly in distress. "I think it called itself the shadow? But what is that even supposed to mean?"
"Hm." Splinter glances away in thought. "The shadow? I think I might of heard that somewhere before." He scratches his chin in thought while all the turtles turn to him in hope. "Where was it?" He glances around before pausing with a blink. "I think that I may know where we can get information. It's a place I used to sometimes visit and nibble on some of its stuff. I remember seeing letters there that I couldn't read at the time. It might have mentioned the shadow."
"Then let's go!" Raph demands impatiently. "Who knows how long we have to be able to free Leo from that thing."
Splinter this time lets the demand slide and nods his head. He takes the lead hurrying through the town carefully. He secretly hopes that he remembers where this place was. He gets them through the alleys until he arrives to a library in an older building. "This way." He whispers taking the turtles to the side and by a wall. "Just beyond this wall there's a section of the library long forgotten. I used to enter here." He points out a rat sized hole in the wall.
Donnie steps forward checking the area including the wall out for any way in. "There is signs that this is a secret door. We just gotta figure out how to open it."
"How the hell are we gonna figure that out?" Raph snorts leaning with his hand against the base of a light on a wall by a door. He stumbles as it shifts down almost like it's about to come out.
Donnie blinks as the wall shifts before going back into place. "Do that again Raph. But hold it this time."
Raph pulls the light base down like a switch. He holds it there and after a moment the secret door hidden as a part of the wall slides open.
They hurry in with Raph releasing the switch and the wall slides shut behind them. They find that the place is lit by some lights, likely still connected to the rest of the library, with dust and cobwebs showing how forgotten it is.
"Do you remember where you saw the mention of the shadow you saw was?" Donnie glances to Splinter who glances around thoughtfully. He is trying to contain himself in the face of possibly forgotten knowledge.
"I can't quite remember." Splinter admits then looks to his boys. "Let's split up and look. It's in here somewhere."
They all nod in agreement and separate to search this library.
Donnie keeps mental notes of books that look interesting to him. He will have to check them out later.
They slowly pick their way through the place bookcase by bookcase. They are careful to not knock any over that are in the middle as they search. All hoping that they will be able to find what they're looking for.
Donnie is about to leave a bookcase as he finishes scanning the final row, when a book title catches his eye. He looks closer and through the dust he thinks he sees the letters S and H. He raises a hand brushing dust off only to gasp as the title is revealed.
The Shadow.
"I found it!" Donnie calls out pulling the book from the shelf. He is quickly surrounded by his family who try to peek at it. "Hold on guys. Let me try reading it and see what I can gather from it." He is lead to a table where he's allowed to sit in an old chair. He starts flipping through trying to read as fast as he can. He starts to feel some dread as he continues to read about the creatures.
"What does it say?" Raph questions getting a bit impatient.
"Well according to this thing the Shadow are actually ancient creatures of darkness. They are bad news. They are master manipulators. They pick a target liking those that feel a sense of weakness. Even the slightest weakness can be targeted. They use manipulating tactics to magnify this weakness, while adding any other weakness they can. Pushing the target to say the words needed for the Shadow to be accepted into the hosts body. They are known to work for however long it takes. Even if that is years. Their only goal is to manipulate the target into letting them take their bodies. Breaking down the targets thoughts and ideas, twisting their thoughts, until the target starts to believe in what it wants the target to believe. Once they're in control they lock the true owner of the body deep inside. Some believe that they let them watch to further break the target as their lives are destroyed. They don't care about anything but their own goals. Like if they promise to not hurt someone then when the target agrees that goes out the window. No longer mattering if that someone gets hurt." Donnie explains slightly glancing up for a moment to which he sees concerned looks the others share. He looks back to the book soon after seeing that. "As for how to stop these things there is no helpful answer."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Raph demands and Donnie sighs.
"The only way talked about in here is to kill the host body. The Shadow cannot possess a dead body. Even if they are already accepted in by the host. There is no other known way around it according to this thing."
"There has to be a way!" Mikey slightly pleads trying to just hope that this can't be the only way.
"If there is another way we will find it." Splinter tells them causing them to turn to him. "There has to be a way that was overlooked."
"Is there a way to tell just how long Leo was being tormented and manipulated by that thing?!" Raph questions clearly holding back his anger at the thought of how long this could have been happening.
Donnie shakes his head. "No. According to the book by the time any warning signs are present it's too late. The only way to get a clue of if the Shadow might be targeting someone is finding them talking to no one. But even that's unreliable."
"Wait." Mikey blinks at this. "You guys remember when Leo fell behind then we found him talking to no one?"
"It's possible that the Shadow was the one he was actually talking to." Donnie confirms, making Mikey shiver realizing that if they knew of the creature then they could have seen the warning sign. "By then it seems that either it convinced Leo to lie to us about what was going on then, or Leo thought we'd think he was crazy because we couldn't see it."
"Well if that was a moment of the Shadow manipulating him he didn't seem surprised to see the thing. So he must have been stalked by it before then." Raph figures and Donnie shrugs.
"Hard to say. The only ones who know are the Shadow and Leo. And currently both of them are somewhere out there. With no way for us to find out where that thing took Leo." Donnie admits glancing away with worry.
Raph growls a little and kicks the ground in frustration at this. He runs his hands over his head taking a deep breath. He runs his hands down his neck as he breathes out, his hands dropping to his sides afterwards. His eyes that instinctively shut open again.
"I'll take this book home. I'll try to see what else I can learn from its pages. Maybe there is something that I can figure out." Donnie gets up with the book.
"You do that. The rest of us will try to find where that thing took Leonardo to." Splinter tells Donnie who nods his head.
Raph races off ahead to start the search.
Mikey and Splinter hurrying after him.
Donnie hurries home in order to study this book further. He makes it back to the lair safely.
"All alone are we?"
Donnie freezes as he finds the possessed Leo standing there as if waiting for them. He can see the other smirking widely at him as if amused that Donnie is all alone.