You Found Me

Chapter 6: The Helping Hands

Leo's P.O.V.:

"Guys, what the shell just happened?"Mikey asked us.

"I wish I knew Mikey, I really do." Donnie said looking to him.

"She looked scared out of her mind." Raph said.

I thought Verena would be happy with her victories, but something in her just snapped and next thing we know she was crying and ran away from us. Maybe it had something to do with this morning when I was with her; she looked lost, as if something was bugging her. What if that was it? And I asked all those questions without realizing it. I never meant to hurt her in any way; I just wanted her to feel better. Even when we were all concerned for Verena after the match, she panicked and was terrified, like she saw a ghost. It was all my fault; if I didn't ask her earlier she wouldn't be like this. But what could it be?

"I can't just stand here." I thought to myself and ran to find Verena.

"Leo?" I heard Raph call me.

"Leonardo." Master Splinter called me too, but I didn't listen.

My guess was that she was in her room, so I went to check. I get there and I can hear her weeping through the door; it made me sad just hearing her like this. I opened the door and saw her on the bed with her head buried deep in her arms and her body shook with each cry that she let out. Feeling myself go numb and my heart beating through my chest, I walked over and sat on the bed next to Verena. I don't know what to say to her, but I know I have to try for her. With her still crying I can only think of one thing to do.

I bent my upper body down to her and gave her a hug on her back. "It's okay, Verena. Everything's going to be okay." I told her.

She lifted her body up to look at me, tears running down her face. "Leo!" She said my name as he hugged me and cried into my plastron.

"I'm here. I'm here." I said softly to her hugging her tight.

I could feel the tears run down my plastron and her sobs were shaky as I held her. If only I could take her pain away, to make her happy again. Seeing Verena happy makes me feel good, and it made me want to be around her even more, and maybe she would want to be around me too. The past several days made me think about her and I know that I don't want to lose her; not now not ever. And no matter what happens, I'll fight to my last breath to keep her safe; and no one can hold me down. Her sobbing began to slow down and my brothers came in to check if she was alright. I loosened my hug on Verena so she can see them with us; her head lifted up and she saw them standing next to me.

She took a deep breath. "Hey... guys." She said, her voice was still shaking.

"You okay Princess?" Raph asked sitting next to us.

"Yeah... I think so."

"Can we ask you what happened Verena?" Donnie said.

I looked at her. "You don't have to if you're not comfortable, Verena."

She gave me a squeeze. "It's alright Leo. I'm ready to explain." She let go of me so she can sit up and began to tell us.

10 Minutes Later...

Verena had finished her story and this was something that we all didn't expect. She has had the same nightmare since we brought her with us, which was over several days ago. In this nightmare, she's sent back to her world and see's most of her people massacred; what's worse was her family was beheaded by a dark force in a shape of a black cloud with red eyes. This cloud tells Verena negative things like she failed her family and they suffered because of her; each night they grew worse than the last one becoming more brutal and harsh in her mind. We all felt really bad that Verena had been suffering through these nightmares and they were tearing her apart from the inside.