Chapter four:
Raph swears he feels like his body was thrown though he doesn't move here. He supposes that he must have been thrown off in the real world. He looks up as he swears he hears his name distantly be called. "I think I can reach Leo. Just let me be." He tells them and luckily they hear him and tell him to help Leo. He walks through the area looking around. He emerges through a bush only to frown upon seeing Leo lying on the ground.
A floating TV seems to be showing him what is happening; currently showing that his body is attacking Donnie, Mikey and Splinter with the other Shadows while Raphs body lays a little away eyes glowing.
Leo isn't really paying attention with his head down. He has chains on each wrist, ankle, and even around his neck. He is on his stomach slightly curled up. "Stop. Please." He whimpers pathetically.
"Leo!" Raph crouches beside Leo looking to the black chains that disappear into the ground. He can tell that Leo can move around a bit though not far. He turns back and places a hand on Leo's shoulder.
Leo shifts looking surprised that he's there.
Raph winces a little at the sight of Leo's tears. "It's going to be okay." He tries to assure the other with a smile. "We won't stop until we find a way to save you."
"Raph." Leo sobs and lets himself be brought into a hug by the other. He sniffles clinging to the other. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted it to turn out like this."
"I know you didn't." Raph gently shushes Leo rubbing his back. "You would never hurt any of us. And we are all very sorry that we weren't able to help stop this from happening. You can tell me. What happened? I won't be upset."
Leo sniffles a little before he starts telling Raph. "It's just... I felt like an outsider. Like I didn't belong." His words make Raphs heart hurt that they let that happen. "That... Thing... It showed me just how much I didn't belong. Telling me how I wasn't wanted." He sobs a little before continuing; Raphs hug slightly tightening. "It promised that if I let it in then it would make me a better brother. That it'd help me fit in." He shakes his head softly. "I tried distancing myself thinking that it might be better than accepting." His words get Raph to understand why Leo had refused to go with them, which tipped them off that something was wrong. "I couldn't keep things up! Its words stung and I just wanted to be better for you all." He tries to not fall into sobs. "Instead... I caused you all suffering and pain. All I could do was create this place trying to distract me from what I found I couldn't stop. Even though that thing is forcing that Tv to be there to show me what is happening; I can't get rid of it or even cover it up. I tried to break free. The chains are too strong. It's so hopeless. I agreed to it. And now I have to pay the consequences."
"I'm so sorry Leo." Raphs words cause Leo to shift to look to him. "We didn't realize how badly what we were doing was affecting you. Giving a chance for that thing to get to you." He lowers his head closing his eyes. His guilt hurting his heart. "We do care about you. A lot. We wouldn't be complete without you. We stepped out without you to try to figure out how to get you to tell us what was going on. We wanted to fix things. To help you." He opens his eyes halfway and slightly turns to look at Leo's tearful eyes. "We were so worried about what was bothering you so much. And why you wouldn't tell us what it was. I'm sorry for lashing out in my worry. I just wanted you to be able to tell us what was going on. Guess I wasn't doing a good enough job to make you feel like you could."
Leo smiles softly despite his tears. "You really do care about me?"
"Of course I do." Raph confirms and the two look to the TV when Mikey cries out.
Mikey falls to the floor with a bad cut on his shoulder and the pink shadow leaps on top of him.
"No!" Leo cries out though clearly thinks he can't stop this.
Raph turns to look to Leo. "We gotta break you out. Then after all this we can fix things. As a family. One that you are in." He smiles as Leo turns to him to blink at him. He pats Leo's back. "One that you've always been a part of. We all care for you so deeply. That's why we're fighting so hard to just get you back without being possessed by that thing that lied to you. We'll be ready to help you through whatever is left from all of this." He thinks of how he got here. "I can prove to you that I do care about you."
"How?" Leo blinks before Raph presses their lips together in a soft kiss. His eyes widen before they close and he kisses back.
They only kiss for a short time before they break apart. Their eyes opening halfway to look at each other.
"Do you believe me?" Raph asks softly to which Leo nods his head. "Good. Because I'm serious. I have loved you like that for a long time. My stupid ass just couldn't admit it."
"Well I'm happy to know my feelings are returned." Leo mentions smiling happily at Raph. His smile soon falls. "How are we going to get me out of here? That thing has me chained up tight."
Raph moves away to look over the chains trying to ignore the sounds of the now losing fight against the Shadows. He grabs one and tries to break it with his bare hands, thinking about his love for Leo and how he doesn't want to lose him. He stops when it doesn't work. He glares at the chains. "There has to be a way." He sneaks a glance to the TV seeing Donnie getting cornered. He turns back to the chains telling himself to focus.
Leo tries tugging on them again without success. "I can't get it!" He cries out in despair.
Raph clenches his teeth. "We can get them off! Keep trying!" He insists and starts pulling too.
The two keep yanking on the chains wishing hard for them to break.
"Times running out." The shadow possessing Leo chuckles like an echoey announcer within this place. "I'll get you out of there soon."
Raph does feel tugging to get him out however he resists it. "Don't give up Leo!" He encourages as Leo keeps pulling at the chains hard. He looks for a weak spot in the chains. He then glances around at his surroundings before getting an idea. "Leo! Wait." His words gets Leo to stop his tugging. "Can you make me a sai?" He can feel the tugging to rip him away getting stronger. He refuses to go.
Leo glances around before realizing. He nods and closes his eyes with the area disappearing.
A sai appears on the floor so Raph picks it up as Leo opens his eyes. He brings Leo's hand to it. "Let's do this together." He plants a kiss on Leo's lips after the other nods softly. He pulls away then they look to the sai.
The two swing it down with the blade gaining a pink glow to it as love shoots through them both. They slam it into the chain causing one to crack.
"Again." Raph raises it again then looks up as Leo's grabbed. He sees the Shadow that possessed Leo.
The Shadow forces Leo to look at the TV. "Look at what is happening to them. Did you know that they found a book about us? It said that the only way to escape is to kill the host. That means you. I'm sure as soon as this one leaves they'll just resort to that." It even ignores an attempted punch from Raph as the punch passes through it.
Raph glances to the chains seeing it slightly repair. He realizes that these chains are strengthened by Leo's despair. He reaches out taking Leo's free hand in his own. "Leo. Don't believe it. It's a liar. We would never resort to killing you. We'd be missing a part of ourselves without you." He sees Leo's eyes turn to him since the Shadow won't let his head turn. He blinks his love at Leo. "Let's do this. Let's get back to them." He brings the sai down with Leo following.
Leo lets him do so too and the Shadow glares at Raph.
The pink glow on the sai helps break the first chain.
"Yes!" Raph mentions excitedly and even Leo almost grins.
"No!" The Shadow tackles Raph letting go of Leo.
The sai is knocked away as Raph is thrown to the ground.
"You didn't care for him! I was the only one there for him! You're only trying to fix your mistakes because it's the right thing to do! You don't care!" The Shadow hisses however Raph realizes those words are meant more for Leo.
Raph narrows his eyes at the Shadow. He swings a punch this time with it connecting. "Don't assume such things. I love Leo. And when we get rid of you I'm going to be his mate! No matter what anyone says!" He tries to throw the Shadow off of himself. He spots Leo barely just past the Shadow.
Leo is trying to pull at the remaining chains.
Raph could almost that the chains now look more grey than black. He smirks thinking that must mean they are getting weaker. He turns to the Shadow who tries to pin him down. "You're leaving with me." He insists only to get a smirk from the Shadow. He gasps as he falls into a black space seeing the Shadow hovering overtop. "Don't give up!" He calls to Leo before it all goes black. He gasps blinking back in the real world. He sees Mikey still pinned and bleeding.
Donnie is in a corner as the green Shadow seems to be trying to manipulate him. He has mental walls up as seen in his eyes not letting it in.
Raph spots that Splinter is slightly curled up with his tail around himself.
The mahogany Shadow smiling as it leans close to whisper in his ear.
Raph gets up ignoring a slight weird feeling like he's woken up from a long sleep. He charges the mahogany Shadow. "Don't give up dad!" He tells Splinter who looks to him. "Don't let them in! They're just saying what will get you to let them in!"
The reminder seems to help Splinter who manages to get to his feet.
The mahogany Shadow glares at them. "Fools! Look at what you caused!" It looks to Leo who approaches Mikey with a katana pointed at him. "Because you neglected him! You couldn't do right by him!"
"Shut up!" Raph snarls getting a surprised look from Splinter. His hands in fists and his eyes showing his rage. "Splinter is doing his best! We all made mistakes yes. That doesn't mean we didn't care! We do care about each other! We are very grateful to dad for raising us and taking care of us, despite that it was no doubt difficult at times. You may think you know us but you don't."
"Thank you Raph." Splinter lets out a breath. "I needed that reminder."
Raph turns with a gentle smile to Splinter. "No problem dad." He turns back to the Shadow to glare as the other glares back.
"You won't win this! You're just delaying your inevitable loss!" The mahogany Shadow snarls at them.
"No." Raphs eyes dart to Leo who has paused with a distant look, though his eyes show an internal battle, which Raph has faith that Leo will win. "We are fighting towards our victory."
Suddenly a slight flash causes everyone to look. It settles showing Leo looking how he normally does except glowing eyes like the Shadow, and the Shadow attached with a snake like tail going into Leo's chest then swirling around until the Shadows torso hovers over his shoulder.
"What!?" The mahogany Shadow gasps as if having never seen this before.
The Shadow with Leo glares at him. "You idiot! You agreed! You cannot escape!"
The other Shadows hurry over to try to back up the one with Leo.
Raph charges shoving his way through. "Leo!" He grabs the others cheeks causing him to look at him as best as he can.
"Michelangelo. Are you alright?" Splinter questions somewhere behind Raph. He gets a sound of confirmation.
Donnie hurries over by Raph. "You can win against this thing Leo!" He encourages.
"We care about you." Raph reminds Leo with Donnie speaking up too.
"Yeah! We really do!"
"Fools!" A blast sends Raph and Donnie flying back and hitting the ground.
The other Shadows back off a little as if forcing them all to watch what will happen.
The Shadow with Leo leans down to his ear. "You really think they care? After all they've done to you? I showed you the truth."
Leo's head looks to Raph who winks to him with a loving smile. He smiles softly. "You showed me what you wanted me to see." He tries to run off only to be pulled back with the Shadow wrapping tighter around him. "Let me go!"
"You don't get to just back out of the deal." The Shadow hisses at Leo. "I showed you the truth! Those fools don't care about you! You're mine! I was the one who was there for you! Ready to help you so you could be cared about! It's only because I showed what they did wrong that they're doing anything! They left you behind!"
"But we came back." Mikey mentions as a reminder as he gets to his feet.
"Yeah. Sure we should have noticed faster. However we were worried that something bad happened when you fell behind." Donnie adds clearly catching on to what is needed here.
"You're our family. Always have been." Raph adds watching Leo. "We love you."
"We do." Splinter confirms as the four of them stand together.
The Shadow growls tightening further and seems about to dart to Leo's chest. Likely it is about to force itself back in. "I'll show you the truth again! I'll show you that they don't care!"
Raph charges hearing the others follow.
The other three Shadows charge back towards them.
"Get to Leo. We have to give him our love and support. Emotions, good ones, help in weakening the Shadow. It'll help Leo get free." Raph tells the others who make sounds of understanding.