Chapter Text
When Honeycutt’s casket was nothing but a distant speck outside the window, Leo’s eyes began to wander. They skated across his brothers, catching on every little nick and scrape they had earned over these grueling few days. Mikey gave a sad smile as they met eyes. Leo tried his best to mirror it. Raph didn't even seem to notice Leo’s searching gaze, too busy staring into his own clenched fists. Finally, Leo’s eyes fell to Don, who still stood with his shell to him, staring out towards where the casket had disappeared into the inky black.
Don’s words of parting still rang out in the silence. A cold cloud of mourning that shone with the most brilliant silver lining that anyone could ever gift.
Peace.
The words had been moving in a way only Don could achieve. His gentlest brother would never cease to amaze him with his ability to cradle hope from despair, but that couldn’t stop Leo from worrying.
After all, this was Don’s first kill.
Leo knew that the situation wasn’t so simple. None of them, especially not Doctor Honeycutt, would ever see it that way. Not in a million years would any of them ever blame their pacifist brother for helping Honeycutt carry out his plan. Unfortunately though, that is exactly how Donatello would see it. The only way he would see it.
Leo could already sense it in the shadow of Don’s eyes, the hunch of his shoulders. Leo’s brow furrowed as his eyes caught on the warped yellow of a few singed scutes on Donnie’s shell. He crept forward, taking Don’s hand gently.
“Donnie, Your shell…”
The turtle in question turned, expression morphing from despair to a mask of calm in the half second before he fully faced his older brother. It was fast, but Leo’s senses were razor sharp. Concern bubbled in his chest, but it was pushed aside when Donnie finally spoke.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” he said, bringing a hand up to sheepishly rub the back of his head. He seemed to jolt over so slightly as his hand grazed the side of his filthy purple mask. “The Triceratons got me in the back pretty good. That was how they caught me actually.”
Leo’s mouth was a flat line as Donnie gave a few nervous chuckles, trying and failing to assure them that it really was ‘no biggie.’ Suddenly Raph stepped between them, rolling his eyes as he grabbed Don’s other arm to yank him back towards the rest of the ship.
“Yeah right brainiac,” he said, tugging him along, “You can walk me through treatn’ that as soon as we get home. You sure as shell aren’t gonna be able ta reach back there on your own.”
Leo let out a fond sigh as he let Raph manhandle his younger brother out of the room. He followed soon after, only stopping to drop an arm over Mikey’s shoulders and lead him out as well.
Raph’s hands twitched as his little brother jerked away from him and stood up.
“Don, are you sure this is all we can do?” He stood, rushing after his brother who had already begun rummaging through one of the cabinets in the corner of his lab that served as their medical bay. The newly wrapped bandages were a starchy white against his shell.
Don paused a moment, throwing a strained smile over his shoulder. “It's just a little burn Raph. I promise, you’ve already done plenty.”
Raph clenched and unclenched his fists, stifling the irritation that tried to crop up as a shield against his worry. “What about all the bruises? Those horn-heads really roughed you up on that ship.”
Don rolled his eyes, turning back to the cabinet. “It's just a few bruises Raph, you guys have just as many.” He leaned in, now shoulder deep in the cabinet. Raph’s brow furrowed as Don gave a violent twitch when the side of his head grazed the cabinet door.
“Don, ar-”
“Really it's Leatherhead we gotta worry about right now,” he said in a thin voice. He pulled an IV bag from the depths of the cabinet along with an arm full of pill bottles.
“What? LH?”
Raph stumbled as Don shoved a couple of bottles into his hands. He stared down at them.
“Ubi-ubiquinol and… Vitamin B?”
“For improved nerve function,” he said as if that answered anything, “See if LH is open to taking them, he’ll need about four each at his size…” Don wrenched open a drawer, pulling out a pack of single-use syringes. “And be gentle with him. God only knows what bishop put him through in that lab.”
Raph blanched at the implications. His eyes skated nervously across the small pile of medical supplies Donnie was accumulating.
“Don, what's going on with LH?”
Donnie paused midway though washing his hands. The white noise of the faucet did little to ease the tension of his brief silence.
“Bishop had Leatherhead in an induced coma for who knows how long. That's not something you just get up and walk away from. Frankly I’m surprised he hasn’t gone into sedative withdrawals already.”
As if on cue, a guttural roar sounded from outside the lab.
Leatherhead.
Raph’s grip tightened on the bottles. “You were saying?”
“LH! You gotta calm down dude!” Mikey ducked, a plate of eggs hurtling through the air above him and shattering against the wall. “I know I said I’d make you an omelet, but my scrambled eggs can’t be that bad!”
Leatherhead simply roared in response. The ground shook as he stomped across the living room. Mikey edged backward, arms out in a placating gesture. “Leatherhead?”
“LH!” Raph’s voice rang out across the lair.
Leatherhead’s gaze snapped sideways, zeroing in on the red clad turtle. Mikey took in his friend’s eyes in the moment of still. It was all just glass and glaze across a slitted pupil. Leatherhead let out a growl, throwing the couch out of his way as he rushed towards the source of the voice.
Suddenly Don shoved his way in front of Raph. His hands were up, voice calm.
“LH, can you hear me? It’s me, Donnie. We’re in the lair.”
Leatherhead jolted a little, head swinging side to side as he took in his surroundings. His eyes seemed to focus slightly.
“Wh- Donatello? What's going on?”
Don crept forward, taking one of Leatherhead’s hands gently.
“It looks like you're going through withdrawals, Big Guy. Can you come with me to the lab? I can help you there.”
Leatherhead pulled backward, breath picking up.
“N-no! Not the labs! I can’t- I can’t”
Don slackened his grip, voice pitching as he tried to remain a source of comfort and calm for their distressed friend. Mikey could see the facade cracking in real-time
“T-thats okay, we can stay out here!” he started to guide Leatherhead towards where the couch lay flipped against the wall, only letting go of his hands for a moment to heft it back upright.
Mikey stared at the two, heart hammering in his ears. He glanced to Raph with questioning eyes. Raph opened his mouth, but it snapped shut as Donnie’s strained voice cut across the lair.
“Raph, Mikey, could you go and get the supplies I left out in the la- in my traincar?”
Raph gave a nod, gesturing for Mikey to follow as he turned back towards the lab. Mikey scampered after him. He forced his voice to a whisper as he leaned towards his older brother.
“Raph! What the shell is going on!” he hissed out.
“S’just like Don said. LH is goin’ through withdrawals. Brainiac just gave me the rundown. delirium, agitation, fever, It ain’t gonna be pretty.”
His knuckles paled as he tightened his fists, “That fucker Bishop messed him up somethin’ good. He better hope we don’t cross paths again, or I’m gonna mess ‘im up somethin’ worse.”
Mikey shuttered at the dark look on his brother’s face. He upped his pace towards the lab.
“C’mon lets go get LH fixed up.”
By the time they had escorted Mr. Jones and Ms. O’Neil back to Second Time Around, it was already getting dark. Splinter thanked his son as he opened the manhole cover for the two of them. Slipping down into the bowels of the New York sewer system, he took the rare moment of calm to check in on his beloved child.
“Leonardo my son, how are you feeling after such a trying few days?”
Leo’s hand twitched on the metal of the sewer ladder. Splinter’s eyes narrowed. “Casey and April seemed fine, if a little shaken up. Raph and Mikey definitely need to be patched up a bit, but it's nothing Don can’t handle…”
They dropped down from the ladder, landing in the shallow water below with an almost imperceptible splash. Splinter didn’t miss how Leo wobbled slightly, not quite sticking the landing.
“I can’t say I’m not worried about Don’s burn, but there is no way Raph’s gonna let him get away with anything less than the best of care,” he said with a hint of humor. It was gone in an instant though, as his face darkened. “Leatherhead was in rough shape. Donnie seemed really worried.”
Splinter laid a hand on his son’s shoulder, “My son, I asked how you were feeling. I admire your concern for our family, but sometimes it is best to step back for a moment and take stock of oneself.”
Leo’s brow jumped up. “I… I see, Sensei.” He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly as he tried to grasp his current status. Leonardo was never one to turn down a lesson from his teacher.
“I- I’m quite tired…”
Splinter nodded encouragingly.
“I had a few nasty cuts, but Don already took care of the worst of them.”
“And beyond the physical?”
Leo focused inward, the sounds of the sewer around him fading ever so slightly.
“I’m proud.” He gazed up towards the damp brick of the ceiling as if he could see through to the metropolis above. “We just saved the planet.”
Splinter ran a calming hand across his son’s shell, sensing a ‘but’ to this line of thinking.
“But… I keep finding myself back at the same question, Sensei. One I am ashamed to be even asking.”
“Go ahead Leonardo, I will not judge you for curiosity.”
Leo breathed out, bracing himself. “When we were up on that ship, the Tribase. I had the chance to look out the window at the world.”
He paused, face lighting up with awe.
”It was beautiful. Words cannot describe how happy I am that it will turn another day without becoming the focal point of an intergalactic war.”
Splinter frowned as he watched conflict mar his son’s previously bright expression.
“But it was also just… so big,” he sighed, “Can we really handle protecting all that? The Military, the UN, they couldn’t do a thing. It was all up to us.”
He wrung his hands together, clearly nervous to continue. Splinter gripped his shoulder, giving his best look of assurance.
Leo spoke quietly, as if he was worried who might hear.
“I just can’t help but wonder why. Why do we have to save the world?”
He slammed his eyes shut, “It's not that I regret it. I’d do it a thousand times over,” he rushed out.
“But… we’re just,” his hands searched the air for the right words, never managing to find them. “we’re just… us. Of course I know we’re strong, and capable too! But we’re just…”
“Kids.” Splinter finished.
Leo nodded gravely.
“Why did Raph have to shoot down those manned ships? Why did Mikey have to get strapped to that table and threatened with a buzz saw? Why did Don have to help kill his own friend?”
Splinter brought his son into a bone-crushing hug. Leo melted into it.
“It- It's just not fair,” he said quietly.
“No, my son. It really isn’t. This burden shouldn’t be yours to shoulder, but you did anyway. I am so proud of all of you for what you have accomplished, but you are not wrong to feel this way, Leonardo. Children shouldn’t have to save the world.”