New World: The Darkness Rises (Discontinued for Time Being)

Chapter 6 - Leo's Change

Donnie's mind was reeling with thoughts. Naomi had just clearly stated that Leo had cat ears, fangs, and night vision. That was definitely not normal for a Diamondback River Turtle. In that case, any turtle in the world. Raph seemed like he didn't believe it while Mikey was confused. Donnie was only confused and a little . . . curious. Leo didn't have cat qualities . . . at least a week ago he hadn't.

"Can we go see him?" Raph asked, bringing Donnie back into reality. Naomi nodded softly, knowing the brothers' were a little baffled at what she had said. After all, that was kind of unrealistic.

"Over here." Venus said, leading the way up the stairs. The brothers' followed, a little slower than they wanted to. They wanted the idea to set in before they saw what their older brother was like. Venus sensed their uneasiness, but she didn't know what to do about it. She didn't know the brothers' Leo had mentioned to them over a week ago. She'd only met them two hours ago, and it had all started with her team ambushing them.

They reached the top of the stairs where the walls were decorated with a rainbow of colors. The floor was still a soft brown, soft under their feet. It was a somewhat long hall. Four doors were lined against the wall with one more at the end. The first one was painted turquoise, the second fire red, the third lavender, the fourth tangerine, and the final one just a plain white. They were based off the colors of the sisters' masks. Whichever color the sister had was the color of their door.

"In here." Venus said, entering the room that had the door the color of her mask. The brothers' followed in quietly, Venus coming in last and shutting the door quietly. The room was dark, a small stream of moonlight filtering from one of the partly opened curtains. The walls were a painted combination of turquoise and royal blue, blending together perfectly. The carpet was a sky blue, still soft and fluffy, but thin. There were two desks a little ways apart to their left, which were placed next to the two windows that had sky blue curtains. There were two beds on different sides from each other to their right, both placed against different walls but aligned perfectly. There was another door directly in front of them, leading to another room. There was a nightstand next to each of the beds, both having a lamp on them.

"Why is there two of everything in here?" Mikey said loudly. Immediately Venus shushed him, Mikey jumping and shutting his mouth. Venus sighed and pointed to the bed on the far side of the room, next to the door. In the dim moonlight they could faintly see something lying on top of it, sleeping peacefully.

"You can go see him, but be quiet. I'll explain the double item thing later, but you need to be quiet. He hasn't been sleeping much and now he's actually asleep." Venus whispered, stretching out the importance of silence. The brothers' nodded and quietly, Mikey trying the hardest on his behalf, walked towards the bed. As they got closer the shadowed out figure started to take shape, or, at least the head. The body was covered in a heavy blanket that seemed to be a bit too warm.

"Well, they were right." Raph whispered, seeming a little on edge. Donnie nodded, studying his sleeping brother. Leo lay under the blanket, his chest rising and falling in silent breaths. He seemed peaceful, like the world seemed perfect. But Naomi had been right. On the top of his head was a pair of cat ears. They were striped black and royal blue, his left ear twitching as he heard breathing that wasn't his. The royal blue masked ninja shifted his head a little towards his brothers', a small yawn escaping him. In that yawn they saw the fangs that cats usually only had, replacing two of Leo's top teeth. The eldest brother fell back to sleep, seeming to not notice his three younger brothers.

"He looks . . . actually pretty good. How is he injured?" Donnie asked Venus, whom had placed a cold cloth on Leo's forehead. The turquoise masked kunoichi looked at them and sighed. She started to take the blanket off Leo, the brothers' moving back to give her room to work. They'd changed him into human clothes: A royal blue shirt and blue jeans. Gently, she rolled Leo's shirt up, revealing his torso which had been wrapped in a large amount of bandages. Gently, after grabbing another role of bandages, she started to unravel the ones wrapped around Leo's torso. What they saw was horrifying. Thirty puncture wounds lined his torso, like a giant maw had bit through Leo's shell and deep into his skin. They were still a crimson red, the skin only starting to scab up. Gently, after rubbing some ointment over the wound, she dressed Leo's wound(s) again. She unrolled his shirt and and placed the blanket back over his, somehow, cold body.