The Singer's Pet Turtle (A Leonardo x Reader Story)

Chapter 8 : One Way Message to Chaos

Raphael heard a rattling noise from the kitchen in the middle of the night. Usually, his first instinct at such a thing was panic. Someone had broken in, his mind would assume, but he knew better at this point. Even so, he pulled himself out of bed with a groan to investigate. Trudging through the dark hall the red clad reptile followed the only light towards his younger brother, Donatello's, lab.

As silently as possible he pushed over the door to find his little brother asleep at his desk, the faint beeping of a GPS signal echoing through the room. He had been working so hard lately, pushing himself to the brink, with little luck. Even so, Raphael knew he couldn't tell Donatello to stop. They both wanted the answers he was searching for. Signing the older turtle closed the door and walked to the kitchen.

Standing in the light of the open freezer was his youngest brother, Michelangelo. He was talking to their pet ice cream cat in a hushed voice. Only the faintest whispers could be heard from where Raphael was, but he was pretty sure he knew what it was about. After all, Michelangelo had been having nightmares since the fire, and before that came restless nights. He was emotionally driven, so it was no surprise that losing their eldest sibling was making things hard for him.

"Mikey," Raphael finally started causing the younger turtle to jump and unceremoniously shut the freezer door. "You really need to get some sleep."

It took a moment before Michelangelo responded, and when he did he hung his head. "I know that. It's just hard."

That was an understatement and they both knew it. Getting some sleep was more than just hard, it was becoming near impossible. When Leonardo was first captured, the whole family along with their friends April and Casey stayed awake for nearly three days straight trying to track him down. Sleep only came when they started to pass out. After a while, especially after they located Leonardo's first prison, it got easier. The brothers were able to rest, knowing that if they did they could work harder to get their oldest brother home. When their mission failed however, and they lost Leonardo once again, the ability to sleep went with it. Hard, just didn't cover the feeling anymore.

"I know man, but we're not going to be able to find him if you're falling asleep where you stand." He was trying to keep his tone gentile, but it was a struggle when Raphael knew that he was having just as hard of a time getting a good night's sleep as his younger brother. "Just try to get some rest."

"Right." Michelangelo signed before standing a bit straighter to walk back to his bedroom. "Goodnight Raph."

"Night and be quiet when you pass the lab. Donnie passed out."

Raphael watched as his little brother trudged down the hallway before leaning against his palm on the kitchen island himself. It had taken two hours for him to fall asleep the first time, how was he going to manage it again? Part of him was tempted to go above ground for another quick patrol, after all, not many people were out on Thursday nights so he should manage ok.

No. Not without the others.

At this point, Raphael had begun scrambling. Finally, after six years of gripping, he was finally understanding why the oldest of them all was chosen to be the leader. Just this short period of responsibility was driving him crazy. He couldn't act on a whim, he had to consider the others with his every step, his every breath almost. One small move and they'd be hurt, and it would be on his shoulders. This time had also provided him with a pivotal piece of understanding. He now knew why Leonardo did what he had all those weeks ago.

It started like all of their patrols had recently. Following Donnie around the city as he used his tracker to try and find more of the lost mutagen. An overly repetitive task that needed to be done. After all, it was their fault that all of the ooze was scattered in the first place. What was strange about their hunt that night was that the canister that they were following seemed to be moving. It was as if every time they were a few feet away, the vile would suddenly relocate halfway across town. It had been three hours of this nonsense and now, all four of the brothers were at their wits end.