Leo felt like he was floating. Slowly, his heartbeat brought back his consciousness. With every beat of his heart, a shock of pain ran through his whole body. His sense of awareness slowly grew with the pain. It seemed like a lifetime had passed before he felt his fingertips and toes. Then, he became aware of how his body felt strange.
His leg was the first thing he noticed. It felt... too light, compared to the rest of his body... then he noticed his chest felt different, and that consumed his focus. It felt... exposed... unnaturally exposed.
He needed to wake up...
What happened...?
Splinters paniced face came to mind. Kranng... they... did something... something bad... what was it...?
Where was he?
Leo struggled to renember how to move. He moved his fingertips. They felt strange... he could feel a smooth surface. His ears toned in slowly and he could hear drops of water hitting a larger body of water. Was he in the sewers? The sewers...
Thats right... he was fighting kranng in the sewers... then... foot soldiers... the pipe construction zone...
SHREDDER
Leo bolted upright and breathed heavily in a blind panic. He gasped for air and reatched for his chest. The top part of his shell was gone... completely gone... only bright pink, horrible scaring, and wrappings remained. He then made the mistake of looking down at his legs only to find one of them and half of the other.
His breathing quickened as he looked around the unfamiliar bathroom. It was the dead of the night. Everything was quiet... leo calmed his breathing after a minute, but not his mind. He needed to find the others. He climbed out of the bathtub and steadied himself, which took some time. Bandages wrapped his head as well, come to find out.
He spotted a walking stick by the tub and took it. After some practice, leo grew confident in himself and slowly walked out of the bathroom as quietly as he could. The house was silent. Almost errie. Was he dead? Was he left alone in this house?
He tried the first door and opened it slowly. Immediately, he sighed in relief as he saw April sleeping soundly. He wanted to wake her but figured he'd look around first. He tried the next room and found a shared room between mikey and casey. Again, this calmed leos soul. The next one was a room shared by Raph and donnie. And the last one leo hesitated on. Was splinter there? He hoped with all his soul... he slowly opened the door and... nothing.
No one was in the room. Just a bed, a desk, and leos things... leo entered the room and put on his mask before looking around. On the desk was his journal... how did that get here? Speaking of, where was here exactly?
Leo made his way downstairs carefully before exiting the front door. He left the door wide open and stepped out into the clearing. He stopped to stare out into the moon. The stars were clearer here... he could see the whole galaxy.... he had never seen so many stars... it was peaceful... he thanked the cosmos for letting him live so he could see it... even with a few missing parts...
He touched his chest gently and felt the sting of his fingers on some parts. And he was experiencing phantom limb from his leg... but he was alright... he felt tired but didn't want to be in the house. So, he walked forward. He entered the treeline and found a small pond not far from it. The moon shone brightly above. Leo tossed the stick to the side and fell in. He floated to the center and laid there, facing the moon. He stared at it till his eyes closed on their own. He focused on his breath. Thankful it still flowed in his lungs.
His memories came back to him slowly... he renembered how exhausted he felt while fighting... he renembered what it felt like when shredders blades tore into him... how he could hear his shell fracture and feel the blades cutting under. Was that what tang shangs last moments were like? Did he almost share her last moments..? Shredder beat him to a pulp after that... even when he stopped fighting... shredder went mad.... leo renembered the terror he felt then... how his blood seemed to pour endlessly but it wasn't enough for shredder. Not until he blacked out...
Leo guessed his maddness was related to karai in that moment. Shredder never forgave leo for that night. Infact, leo was positive he hated leo more than splinter now because of it. Did shredder think he was dead now? Was he satisfied with the thought? Probably. Maybe he could use that to his advantage when he got home.
Leo guessed his missing limbs was Donnies doing. Leos leg probably got shattered beyond repair, and his chest likely got infected... either way, it didn't matter. So long as leo substituted them at some point. For another day though... he was tired beyond measure...
Soon, he was sleeping peacefully even when the sun started to shine. His ears were underwater so he didn't hear his family's cries until Raph jumped into the pond and grabbed him.
"LEO!" Raph yelled in his face with wide eyes.
Leo smiled at him. "Hey Raph..."
