Chapter Text
Leo always gave it his all to whatever he did. Even if it didn’t look like it, he was always trying.
Maybe that was what frustrated Raph so much, before the alien invasion but after the Shredder invasion. During this time, Leo seemed insistent on casually trying to get under Raph’s skin in the most irritating of ways.
Sure, they all knew how to bug one another. They were brothers after all. No reason was needed to go into one another’s space and cause a headache. Plenty of instances where two of the Hamato brothers were simply passing by one another before they began to kick one another. Seemingly at random, but it made sense at the time.
That didn’t mean Raph understood why Leo was being so purposefully… mean. Purposefully going behind Raph’s back to then do the meanest things to his face. The Shredder wasn’t that long ago! With Leo being the new leader, it left them even more vulnerable to stuff like that! It wasn’t like Raph wanted Leo to be worried all the time about stuff like this, but he absolutely didn’t want him rubbing it in Raph’s face how little he seemed to care. Like he didn’t even like Raph.
And then Leo almost got skewered by a freaky alien trying to complete a mission. Then he got locked in another dimension with the same freaky alien, by pulling the same kind of stunt Raph did.
So, maybe Raph just didn’t know Leo as well as he thought. Judging by Donnie and Mikey’s reactions, none of them did.
But, that was then, and this was now.
Now was after they all had stitched their broken bodies back together. Sure, their joints clicked more than they used to, but at least they still worked.
And work Leo did. It was like a switch had been flipped. Leo had never been good at change, but now he threw himself into the leadership role like he was diving headfirst into the shallow edge of the pool.
On some levels, it worked really well. Leo was great at making training not feel like work in a way that Raph had always struggled with. There was no need for a sticker board with him. Just a couple of well-timed words and Leo had the others doing katas and all the training Raph had always wanted them to do with smiles on their faces. Leo made training fun.
But, Leo was working. A lot.
Leo now had a routine more sure than the weather or the movement of the planets. Carefully planned and meticulous training and eating regimens that left no room for fun. No room for Leo to be… Leo.
Raph wasn’t sure when Leo woke up, but he was always awake and working whenever Raph got up. He said that a morning run helped him.
Leo was always there when Raph was doing weight training. That was fun! Until it seemed that Leo wanted to do the same routine as Raph.
Never had time for games that didn’t have a training twist to them. Comic collection lay untouched, gathering dust. Pizza dinners were replaced with protein shakes and salads.
Even with the whole “we-be-we” attitude, Leo seemed only happy to encourage this in everyone else but himself.
It was always more and more with Leo pushing himself to become stronger, and less and less with doing the things Raph knew he enjoyed. In a way, they had all experienced this. The feeling of not being able to enjoy things the way they used to. But, they were all working on finding these feelings again. Leo seemed to be working on replacing them.
All the while, Leo kept up a cheerful attitude as he pushed himself more and more. Smiled too brightly when others tried to talk with him. Or, at least when he talked to Raph.
…These felt like new waters with Leo. He thought he was just being a good big brother by being on Leo’s case about being a hero. But, had that led to his little brother almost…?
And then, one day, they went to the Hidden City and a group of witches pointed at Donnie and screamed in rage.
It turns out, when you make an enemy with Witch Town, you make an enemy for life. That means you and your family as well.
Donnie didn’t seem to get that. He said he was sorry! Learned his lesson and everything. Sure, he had destroyed an important statue of theirs on one of their most important holidays or something.
Leo was a bit fuzzy on the details as they dodged more and more potions being thrown at them by three flying witches.
“Have you tried apologizing?!” Mikey shouted with a panicked expression as some sort of red vial smashed at his feet and began to eat away at the road beneath him.
Another large green potion bottle came zooming at Raph’s head at speed, Donnie extended his bo staff to hit it back towards the witches. The glass vial hit one of the witches, sending her slowly falling from the sky like a downed airplane.
“Of course I have!” Donnie snapped back, “I got over my feelings after destroying their statue of great importance! I don’t get what’s--”
And because of the quip, Donnie didn’t see one of the witches get behind him and raise her wand. A green bolt of energy shot out from it, unlike anything that they had thrown at them so far.
Leo didn’t even remember moving. All he remembers was hearing Raph call out to Donnie, trying to get him to move. Donnie was looking the wrong way and not seeing whatever was coming his way.
The energy getting closer and closer to Leo as he shoved Donnie out of the way until it enveloped his entire vision and--
He inhaled it.
The energy or whatever sent Leo flying down the street they had been on. His body went spinning until he hit the corner of a building and felt his right elbow bend almost completely backward.
Immediately, the pain scorched up his arm. The feeling was like he had dunked almost his entire arm into molten lead. He tried to at least gasp in pain but—
Whatever that had been, Leo could now feel it in his throat and it was completely blocking his airway. It was clawing its way down and Leo needed to get it out now. Needed it out so he could breathe, but no matter how hard Leo coughed the thing stayed stubbornly in place and there was pressure building behind his eyes like Leo was sinking to the bottom of a deep deep pool and he was seeing stars and he couldn’t figure out if it was from pain or lack of oxygen and Leo still couldn’t breathe but he was still coughing and retching and trying always trying and trying and trying
Raph shook him hard by the lip of his shell. The force caused something to finally shift and fall down his windpipe to where Leo could breathe again.
Taking in such a sudden deep breath left him with his head spinning and his arm burning with pain. The sensation was nearly overwhelming in every way. Donnie yelling questions at him over and over asking what was wrong wasn’t helping.
Pushing Raph away with his good arm, Leo tried to cough up whatever was leftover in his throat. To get his voice back to normal as he croaked out between coughs, “Ge-e-eze, Don, ‘m f-f-fine--”
“Why did you do that!” Donnie demanded.
Any other time, Leo might take offense to that. But, he had gotten a lot better at recognizing fear disguised as anger. Donnie’s wide panicked eyes and fast breaths mirrored Leo’s own just a few moments ago.
Trying a disarming smile, Leo felt something tickling his throat again and tried to swallow it down.
“C’mon, you know I’ll-l-l always be there for--,”
Nope. Nope nope nooope. Something was coming up no matter how many times Leo swallowed or tried to discreetly clear his throat. He let out one more intense cough into his good elbow and felt something tumble out of his mouth.
Tiny bell-shaped white flowers. About a dozen of them and the size of his thumb.
Eugh boy.
The walk back home was long and awkward. All Donnie could think about was that this was partially his fault. That Leo took yet another hit for them, for Donnie this time. This was becoming a pattern with too many data points. It needed to stop--
No. No. Deep breaths, Donatello.
Leo was already doing enough of the self-blame. If Donnie wanted to convince Leo to drop that nasty habit, he couldn’t be taking it up himself.
Yet, the feeling couldn’t be stopped that easily. Especially with Leo coughing up more flower petals with every other sentence. Sometimes it was even full and intact flowers. From chrysanthemums, marigolds, purple hyacinth, and more.
Raph plopped Leo down into the med bay as gently as one could. It wasn’t like Leo was making it any easier with all his squirming and instances of how totally fine he was while spluttering petals. Even after Donnie’s scans revealed Leo would be needing a cast on his entire right arm.
“I’m fine.” Leo tried while Donnie was double-checking his work on the cast.
Donnie rolled his eyes, “Mmmhm, try saying that not right after you took a hit of unknown mystic energy and severely mess up your arm.”
Leo actually had the audacity to roll his eyes back at that.
But, the slider couldn’t hide the need to cough up something into his hand again.
Raph grabbed his hand and forced them open. He had to before Leo could try to discreetly throw away whatever was in his grasp. Donnie once again recognized the handful of orange-gold petals as marigolds.
It seemed that every other time Leo had something to say, he had to take a moment to cough something up. That something always being flower related. From petals to sometimes whole flowers. Those always seemed to be the most difficult for Leo.
Once again, Leo just rolled his eyes and made a comical face of disgust, “I know you like flowers Big Guy, but I don’t think you want these ones. You don’t know where they’ve been.”
“Wait, it’s marigolds again? Why is it marigolds again?” Mikey asked nervously, wringing his hands. Watching as Leo unceremoniously dropped the petals which slowly fluttered to the ground.
“Are they?” The blue-clad turtle wiped his mouth with a casualness that had better have been forced, “Flowers have always been more your guys’ thing. They’re pretty and all but, they all kinda start looking the same to me after a while.
Another round of poorly suppressed coughs and it looked like, “Aaah-ba-ba-ba!”
Donnie grabbed his dum dum twin’s cheeks and pressed them together like he had caught a dog eating something he wasn’t supposed to, “Spit it out! C’mon! Some flowers are poisonous, you moron! You can’t just go and--!”
With no warning, Leo spat out four large purple petals onto Donnie’s face.
They were surprisingly dry and free from any bodily fluids. The four purple orchid petals fluttered aimlessly to the ground. This was wonderful news for Leo, who would have had more severe injuries given to him by Donatello if that had not been the case.
That didn’t mean Donnie wasn’t going to wring his neck--
“Purple orchids now,” Raph muttered, and something about hearing it out loud gave Donnie pause. Those used to be one of his favorite flowers. Why was Leo…
“Don’t worry!” The turtle with his arm in a cast and a curse on his soul teased, “I’ll keep a barf bucket or whatever by me while I’m training. This’ll probably go away in an hour or two.”
Mikey gaped at him, “What! You can’t be serious!” Leo only had time to blink before Mikey continued, “There’s no way you can train like this!”
“S’not that big’a deal, Angelo,” Leo tried to disarm the rapidly approaching Dr. Delicate Touch, “My legs work just fine, and I just got a little cough.”
One more round of marigold petals, followed up by Raph putting Leo into a solid headlock,
“Okay! Okay!” Leo struggled in the snapper’s grip, “You guys win! I’ll take it easy! I promise! I’ll be so chill and calm--”
And then Leo was racked with the worst coughing fit since this whole situation began. Raph quickly put the slider down, who immediately doubled over with hacks and wheezing that shook his entire frame. Every time he did so, snapdragon flowers of every shade and color tumbled out of his mouth and onto the floor.
Donnie couldn’t help but wince at the sight. These were whole flowers that Leo was hacking up. The only mercy was that they weren’t attached to the long stem that snapdragons usually grow on. Nevertheless, they wouldn’t stop coming. All they could do was be there for Leo, with Raph rubbing gentle circles into his back and whispering encouragements.
By the time Leo was done, more than a couple dozen flowers littered the area.
“Mmmm’kay, yeah,” He croaked out, “I’ma go make some tea that’s like, half honey and chug it real quick.”
Mikey quickly followed their fearless leader out of the lab and into the kitchen. Donnie was only slightly surprised that Raph didn’t follow until,
“This isn’t going to go away in a few hours, is it.” Raph quietly stated more than asked, wearing a face that was now becoming familiar to see. Even though Donnie was doing everything in his power to keep that expression away.
“Hard to say, really,” Donnie sighed, rubbing his temples, “This literally isn’t a science. I sent all my scans over to Draxum. He said he’d get right on it, but…”
There was no telling with this.
The expression on Raph’s face only got stormier.
“What’s up?” Donnie tried.
One big sigh and Raph whispered, “Did you… notice a pattern with the flowers?”
Donnie loved patterns. Was all about data points and finding connections. But, no, he hadn’t. He shook his head and stared Raph down, eager for more information.
“It’s just…” Raph sighed one more time and rubbed the back of his head, “And I really hope I’m wrong about this, but-- Agh. So, marigolds mean, like, pain and mourning in the language of flowers. And, Leo kept coughing them up every time he said he was fine. And then, when he was saying he was gonna take it easy, he coughed up snapdragons. They mean--”
“Graciousness, strength, and deception,” Donnie finished, having already looked up the meaning on his phone while Raph was talking, “Yeah, this is checking out. The lily of the valley he first coughed up, means happiness and joy, but it can also mean pain and tears. If this is right, this means that this curse could have an element of truth to it.”
Right as they got a message back from Draxum.
It didn’t seem like Leo was kidding as he put on the kettle and took out his favorite tea brands.
That was good. Mikey had been more than ready to literally and metaphorically kick Leo into bed if need be.
“What? You want a cup as well, Miguel?” Leo rhymed with a wink, “Whaddya want? I got all kinds.”
Mikey hummed in thought before, “Let’s do chamomile!”
That got Leo to pause before giving him a funny look, “Now, are you saying that because you want chamomile? Or because you want me to drink some chamomile?”
“Yup!” He responded with a sharp smile that got a bright genuine laugh out of Leo. Mikey hadn’t heard that in a long, long time.
Leo made a show of taking out two mugs with his one good hand, spinning them around by their handles like he did with his katanas. He then grabbed the plastic bear and began squeezing the honey into the mug. And squeezing. And squeezing--
“Just tell me when,” Leo sweated. The mug was surely almost a fourth filled with honey now.
Mikey just smiled as sweetly as the honey with eyes wide open, “Oh, I will!”
The honey continued to flow into the orange mug that Mikey had painted with a bright swirling pattern. A bead of sweat began to drip down Leo’s face as he squeezed the honey bear once more.
“I think you have enough honey--”
“More.” Mikey insisted, intensely staring Leo down before they both broke out into hysterical laughter.
“Okay, okay,” Leo wheezed as he squeezed the plastic bear again, “Okay, but, you are drinking all of this. You know that, right?”
“But I thought you wanted to drink a tea that was half honey!” Mikey accused.
Leo hummed an affirmative, “Yeah, and you get that at this point, you are drinking just honey.”
What-- “What?! Just a few moments ago you said it was just a fourth full!”
Leo had the audacity to give a relaxed shrug though his eyes were shining with a playful light Mikey had deeply missed, “Yeah, well, now it’s like, ninety percent full. I don’t make the honey math rules or whatever.”
Mikey broke down into laughter again. As he did so Leo hit him with the softest smile Mikey had ever seen on him before.
“Yeah, yeah, ya goof, now how about--”
And Leo was coughing again. It started as a quiet choking sound that almost immediately turned into something far louder and desperate. The slider barely had enough time to set the mugs on the counter before he doubled over in an effort to get the flowers out of his system.
“Leo!” Mikey was moving before he had even finished shouting his name. He vaguely registered the sound of Donnie and Raph running into the kitchen.
What should he do to help? What could he do to help? Careful of Leo’s injured arm that was still in a sling, Mikey moved to his other side and tried to rub his back as Raph had done before. Whatever kind of flower Leo was hacking up this time was the biggest so far. Long and wide white petals were falling out of his brother’s mouth. That, and desperate wheezing sounds as he tried to breathe.
After what felt like an eternity, one more big cough led to a retching sound, and a large white flower the size of Mikey’s outstretched hand landed on the floor. It was a queen of the night. The only mercy that Mikey could think of was that it had come out upside down, making it easier on Leo.
“Woo! That was smelly,” Was the only comment Leo had on the matter when he was done. With all the casualness in the world, he picked up the large flower and unceremoniously dropped it into the trash bin.
Donnie and Raph were standing off to the side. Raph had on a face of grim resignation while Donnie was quickly typing something into his cellphone.
All the while, Leo finished making his tea. Pouring a normal amount into his mug, while Mikey’s only got a splash.
Looking like nothing had happened, Leo gave the two standing behind Mikey a mischievous grin, “Hey, Raph, Don, check it out. Mikey’s about to drink--”
“You in any pain, Leo?” Raph interrupted. Face carefully blank.
Leo blinked before he replied with a cheesy wink and an overbright smile, “‘m okay! No need to worry about me. I’ll take some more pain meds when I need them. Don’t listen to Donnie. My arm isn’t that messed up--”
With a couple of suppressed coughs, Leo tried to discreetly set down the mug to spit out some more petals into his hand. Once again, Raph was suddenly there to catch his hand and forced him to show what they were. This time, it was marigold petals with one added difference. A handful of small black dahlia petals were added to the pile; golden ones this time.
“Leo…” Donnie grimaced while Leo rolled his eyes at his twin.
“That’s me,” He teased with a rasping voice. Then, in one smooth motion, he dropped the new petals into the bin while picking back up the honey mug with a smile that was too tight, “Now, check it out, Mikey’s about to drink a whole mug of honey.”
It was weird how often Leo kept coughing up marigolds. Those were pretty flowers, but they usually weren’t for the happiest of occasions depending on one’s viewpoint. A black dahlia on the other hand was universally seen as a sign of deception.
Also… it looked like it hurt. A lot. Especially with how Leo kept fighting to show how labored his breathing was every time he had to cough another flower up. Mikey didn’t really get why he would hide something like that. But…
With a deep breath, Mikey put on an expression to match Leo’s. The sight caused his big brother to be taken aback for a moment before Mikey went to chug the mug of honey.
The thick syrup had only been slightly diluted from the hot water. But it had been just enough to have the concoction flow quickly and suddenly overwhelm Mikey. Before he knew what was happening, the box shell found himself with a face covered with sticky honey from the mouth down.
His brothers immediately burst into laughter, with Leo being the loudest. Raph was second loudest as he was trying to stay on the previous topic of discussion. Meanwhile, Donnie was just not-so-subtly trying to record the whole scene.
And Leo was coughing up more queen of the night petals, with pink rose petals mixed in with them this time. But, he didn’t stop for a long time. He kept coughing and hacking and wheezing until the effort pushed him onto his hands and knees. All that could seemingly be done was Raph kept rubbing gentle circles on Leo’s back.
But the most unsettling part was how Leo kept a big smile on his face the entire time. Kept trying to make a joke to Mikey before he would have to spit more and more petals out. Eyes watering up with the effort to expel them all.
Until finally--
With one last heaving gasp, another whole flower made its way out of his brother’s mouth. It was an entire pink rose in bloom, along with a short red thorny stem.
Wait, thorns? Red?
“Yikes,” Leo winced out in a voice that was too small and a smile that was too large.
“Holy-” Donnie was turning Leo’s face by grabbing his cheeks, trying to force his mouth open. Lights had already begun shining from ports on his battle shell as he tried to look down his twin’s throat.
Mikey was just staring in horror at the blooded flower. The symbol for gratitude and appreciation. It looked like Raph had on a mirrored expression. Horror could best describe what he was feeling at the moment. This curse or whatever had been only getting worse and worse as time had gone on. All the while, Leo kept throwing out weak reassurances with a raspy voice.
“Woah, hey, geez Dee, ‘m not a dog. I’m fine, so leggo--”
“I may even start believing you when you don’t say that right after you demonstrate evidence to the contrary. You literally coughed up blood. What are you? Some dramatic maiden from an old Victorian novel?”
“I’ jus’ sayin',” Leo weakly protested while Donnie finally got to take a look at his damaged throat. From the face he made, it couldn’t have been pretty.
“Look,” He moved Donnie’s hands away, “It’s just a couple of cuts, yeah? That’ll go away on its own in no time! Wounds like that heal fast. You get any leads on how to stop me from turning into a bouquet depository?”
It looked like Donnie really wanted to put his foot down on this issue. On Leo brushing this off when the severity of the curse kept ramping up. Mikey was kind of hoping he would.
But--
A deep breath, “Draxum said we need to find the witches that threw the curse at you. This is some kind of specialized or personalized spell or whatever. Ninpo is great, and mystic arts are cool when April does it, but this is just cruel and unusual. So--”
“So, simple fix! We just gotta find those witches! Easy peasy.” Leo smiled with newly stained teeth, “I’ll go out tonight and--”
Raph picked Leo up by the lip of his shell with a stormy look, “We’ll go out looking for them together when it’s morning. Got it?”
With a roll of his eyes, Leo looked away and gave a faux salute, “Yes, sir!”
Mikey hoped Raph knew Leo was reaching the end of his metaphorical rope. Neither of the two had been talking much post-invasion. Raph trying to reach out to the slider more than the other way around. It’s not like Leo had been avoiding hanging out with them. It was… Leo was so busy now. Preparing for anything and everything. Any movie night or game night they had, Leo fell asleep during.
While it was nice that helped Leo sleep, Mikey missed actually hanging out with him. They all did. And now, Leo was going to be even more tired with this whole awful curse thing.
All Mikey could hope for is that they would find those witches fast before this got any worse.