Chapter Text
Leo was dying.
Okay, he knows that’s pretty morbid for him to say, but it’s the honest truth. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn’t been finished off earlier, and even then, he’d barely escaped Kraang Prime alive, only managing to slip away when it had been distracted.
Now, Leo floated endlessly through the darkness of the Prison Dimension, drifting in and out of consciousness. His entire body throbbed with a blunt, aching kind of pain, like someone was repeatedly stabbing him with a hot, dull knife. Even in his half-conscious state, Leo knew he was in pretty bad shape. His left leg was especially bad, the hot pain dancing beneath his skin likely meaning it was broken in multiple places. I must be in shock, he thought numbly to himself. Otherwise I’d be screaming in agony right now.
Honestly? Leo was scared. How could he not be? He was dying, stuck in some dark and silent dimension that was probably going to be the last thing he ever saw.
But maybe that was for the best. This whole thing had been his fault, hadn’t it? If this was the price he had to pay for nearly destroying the world, then so be it.
He blinked slowly, staring into the nothingness. The pain was starting to numb, which Leo knew was bad, because it meant his body was probably shutting down, but his head just kept spinning and he really couldn’t bring himself to feel all that worried about it. Gosh, he felt so oh-so-incredibly tired too, and even though Leo knew he should stay awake, part of him really just wanted to rest. An insomniac wanting rest… The blonde thought blearily to himself, chuckling slightly. Imagine that.
Just when his eyes were beginning to grow terrifyingly heavy, a bright light burst to life in the distance, instantly rousing him. It was warm, giving off a soft orange glow that Leo immediately recognized.
Mikey.
Seeing that warm light filled Leo with a new determination. He began to maneuver towards the glow, wincing as his body screamed in pain at every little movement. Still, he persisted, because he, Leonardo Hamato, refused to die like this.
He pushed himself forward still, towards that glowing light that promised salvation. Leo could see their faces now: Donnie on the right, Raph on the left, and Mikey, dead center, both arms outstretched, his forearms covered in glowing cracks. Donnie and Raph each had a hand on either of Mikey’s shoulders, similar cracks creeping up their skin. Their faces were all filled with tearful relief, even Donnie, who swore he was “immune to emotions”.
Despite everything, Leo felt his lips curve into a smile. They’d come for him after all. He reached out towards his brothers, wincing as the motion sent a fresh stab of pain through his chest.
Then, just before he could reach the portal, everything went dark.
Leo woke to wetness on his face.
He blinked, confused. Rain fell from the dark skies above, splashing onto his cheeks as thunder rumbled in the distance. The teen was lying on his back in an unfamiliar forest, one lone katana beside him in the wet grass. His clothes were soaked, though he didn’t know if it was with blood or rainwater. Probably both.
Groaning, Leo pushed himself into a sitting position, trying to assess how bad his injuries were. Immediately, he noticed that his left leg was bent at an odd angle. Leo shifted slightly, sending a wave of pain shooting up his spine. He bit back a scream, clenching his hands so hard his knuckles turned white. Okay, definitely broken. The teen thought to himself, gritting his teeth. Thankfully, his other limbs seemed to be okay, but Leo could tell from the dull throbbing in his chest that he had several broken ribs, and probably a million other little fractures that he couldn’t see.
First things first, he needed to set his leg. Judging from where the break was, Leo was worried that his tibia had potentially broken, which would make walking practically impossible. And he needed to be able to walk in order to find help.
Spotting some fallen branches nearby, Leo dragged himself over, wincing every time his leg was jostled. Once he managed to reach the pile, he began looking through it, finding two relatively straight sticks that could serve as his splint. Setting them aside for later, Leo turned his attention back to his leg. It wasn’t as bad as he’d feared, now that he was really looking. The break looked relatively clean, and Leo couldn’t see any sign that the bone had pierced his skin, so he didn’t have to worry about infection, thank God.
Taking a deep breath, Leo put both hands on his leg, then firmly pushed it back into place. There was a sickening crunch as the bone in his shin realigned, and Leo stifled a scream, bitting his lip so hard he tasted blood. The pain was unbearable, white-hot and throbbing, like being stabbed with a hundred knives all at once. His hands shook as he sat back, trying to catch his breath.
Leo’s mind raced as he assessed the situation. He was injured, possibly fatally, stuck somewhere unfamiliar with no medical equipment or any idea where the nearest town was.
What was even worse was that Leo had absolutely no idea where he was. He definitely wasn’t in New York anymore.
Crap.
This was bad.
Really, really bad.
At least he was out of the Prison Dimension. That was a start.
Blinking away the dark spots dancing across his vision, Leo returned to the task at hand. He reached for the two branches he’d picked out, positioning them on either side of his throbbing shin. From the pack on his waist, which had somehow survived everything, the teen procured a roll of Ace bandages. For once, being team medic was actually turning out to be pretty useful.
He began to wrap the bandages around his leg and the sticks, wincing every time the reset bone was jostled in the slightest. Finally, Leo tied off the bandages, completing his makeshift splint.
Leo closed his eyes, breathing heavily. “I need to find help,” he muttered to no one in particular. “Gotta catch my breath first.”
Using his katana as a cane, Leo pushed himself onto his feet, wobbling unsteadily. It took him a few minutes to adjust, the splint making his movements feel off-centered and awkward, but eventually, he found his rhythm. The rain was coming down in sheets now, the trees lurching in the wind. Every so often, lightning would flash across the sky, briefly illuminating the dark forest. Leo began to hobble forward, barely able to see five feet in front of him, driven by sheer determination.
Soon, Leo found himself at the summit of a steep slope. Between the thicket covering the hillside and the lack of any light, it was impossible to tell where the bottom lie. Leo stared at the steep slope, deliberating whether he could make it down safely or not in his current state. It wasn’t ideal, but traversing the hill looked like the fastest way to get down.
He made it maybe twenty feet before his foot slipped in a patch of mud, sending him tumbling headfirst down the hill. Leo cursed, his hands flying up to protect his head and face as he rolled through brambles and over rocks. The back of his head slammed into something hard, his vision swimming with stars from the impact.
Leo must have temporarily blacked out, because when he finally came to, he was lying at the bottom of the hill, his whole body aching with renewed strength. And God, his head. He reached up and gingerly felt around the spot where it hurt the most. When he pulled his hand back, his fingers came away covered in red. Fuck. Now Leo was probably concussed on top of everything else. Just his luck.
It took him several tries to get back to his feet, considering he had just taken a nasty tumble and was even more exhausted than before. His legs, already weak and injured, were trembling under the weight of his body, threatening to give out at any moment.
Still, the teen soldiered on, forging an unsteady path through the underbrush as rain continued to pour.
How long had it been…?
Hours…? Or mere minutes…?
Time seemed to trickle by at a snail’s pace, like it was purposely slowing down to mock Leo. His eyes were heavy, his feet numb and his mind foggy. He was barely standing, held up only by his single katana, and even that felt like it would snap at any moment, despite the magical properties of the blade.
He’d stopped shivering a while ago, which Leo knew was a dangerous sign. His body was slowly shutting down from the cold, no longer able to generate heat as hypothermia began to set in, and he couldn’t do anything about it except keep walking. A low ringing was the only thing Leo could hear aside from the sound of his own ragged breathing, the rest of the noise around him fading into the background.
He tripped over a root he hadn’t seen sticking out of the ground and stumbled, barely managing to catch himself on a large tree. The blonde leaned against it, the bark rough against his fingers as Leo fought to stay awake. He needed to act fast. If he lost consciousness out here, it’d be a literal death sentence.
With a great deal of effort, Leo pushed away from the oak and started forward once more. His hair, his long, luscious, beautiful hair, was completely soaked, curly bangs plastered to his forehead, and Leo cringed at the thought of the frizzy, tangled mess it would become later. Hell, on a good day, it took him at least two hours of wrestling with it just for him to look presentable. If he survived this, he was never going to take his hair care routine for granted ever again.
God, if they could just see Leo now, griping and groaning over his hair when he was minutes away from death, he’d never hear the end of it-
Leo paused, face scrunching up with confusion.
Wait… if who could see him now? Who was they?
For some reason, he couldn’t remember. Names were popping up, but not faces. Names that felt like they should be familiar, but weren’t. Donnie. Raph. Mikey. Who were these people? Why were they so important?
Some part of Leo felt terrified that he couldn’t remember, but the rest of him was too exhausted to care. That scared him more than the forgetting.
The teen fell to his knees, panting heavily. God, he was so tired. All he wanted was to rest. His eyes fluttered, slowly starting to shut. Rest… that sounded nice.
Just as Leo was about to give up completely and lay down to wait for death’s embrace, something in the distance caught his eye. The glow of lights was just barely visible through the trees, accompanied by what looked like the silhouette of a house. And a house meant people. People meant help. Help meant survival.
That little flicker of light reignited a spark of hope within Leo. Filled with a new sense of determination, he began limping towards the light with all his strength, wheezing the whole way. Finally, he broke free from the tree line, emerging into a large clearing where the house stood tall, silhouetted against the dark forest.
Now that he was a bit closer, Leo could see the building a lot better. It was a traditional Japanese home, with a sloped tile roof and elegantly crafted wooden columns, yet there were clear traces of modernity woven into it: solar-powered lamps lining the perimeter, a sleek blue motorbike parked off to the side, a satellite perched on the tiled roof.
It was actually quite beautiful, but Leo had no time to stop and admire the architecture.
Stumbling over to what he could only hope was the front door, Leo barely made it under the curved awning before his legs finally gave out. He collapsed onto the wooden porch with a loud thud, his sword clanging against the wood beside him.
Leo wanted to move, to call out for help, to do anything, but his body wouldn’t respond. He could only lie there, dying, his vision starting to go fuzzy around the edges.
Finally, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching and the front door sliding open, followed by a muffled gasp of horror. Someone fell to their knees beside him, and firm yet gentle hands turned him over onto his back. Leo found himself staring up into the blurry face of a young man with white hair. His mouth was moving, saying something Leo couldn’t understand, slim fingers checking his neck for a pulse while his eyes darted across Leo’s face, searching.
For a split second, their gazes met. The stranger had the most gorgeous hazel eyes Leo had ever seen, and he remembered thinking, Wow, he’s really cute.
Then, Leo saw nothing at all.