Chapter Text
It felt like spiders were crawling over his skin. Tiny little pinpricks tingling over every part of his flesh that made him shutter and toss looks over his shoulder every few seconds. This wasn’t the first night that he’d felt this way, he couldn’t actually remember how long it had been since he didn’t feel like there were eyes burning into the back of his shell and that was a far more concerning realization than he was comfortable admitting.
But tonight, it was… worse, and an uneasy feeling was twisting at his insides with every breath he drew and every near manic movement of his eyes as they darted to the slightest shift in any shadow.
Could he just be being paranoid?
“Heads up!”
Without even needing to look Leo tilted his upper body just the slightest, avoiding his brother’s sai as it sailed barely even inches in front of his face and embedded itself into the brick like wall beside him.
“Dude! You almost took Leo’s head off!”
“Chill out Mikey, he’s fine.”
Leo felt his brow furrowing, his eyes never once leaving the horizon that stretched before him as he reached out and removed the weapon from its perch. There was nothing out there though. Nothing that was going to show itself anyhow. Although he supposed that didn’t mean-,
“Thanks Leo.” He blinked, pulling himself out of his thoughts as Raph snatched his weapon back with one hand while his other arm dropped heavily over his shoulders. “What are ya even lookin’ at over here?”
“Uh…” He couldn’t tell them. As far as they were all concerned, they were at peace. He didn’t need to be filling their heads with thoughts of being watched just because he was feeling restless. “Nothing. Just, thought I saw a cat.”
“A kitty? Where?” Mikey squealed, bouncing towards them and draping himself over Raph’s back suddenly enough that it made all three of them stumble.
“You’re not taking it home Mikey.” Donnie cut in, coming up to Leo’s side, ignoring the raspberry their baby brother blew at him.
Raph was quick to shut that down, lifting his arm off Leo’s shoulder to clamp it over the youngest’s mouth. “Donnie’s right. We’re not having another Ice Cream Kitty two point oh, in the house.”
“But she needs a friend!” Mikey whined. “She gets so lonely in the freeze all by herself!”
“With how often you take her out, I highly doubt that’s true.” Don piped in again, Leo unable to help some of the tension from easing out of him with his brothers surrounding him on all sides.
Deciding now would be a good time to get them back on track, even though he’d been the one to distract them in the first place in a way, Leo clapped his hands together to draw their attention. “It doesn’t matter. The cats long gone by now anyways.” He pointed out, only feeling slightly guilty at the pout Mikey aimed at him. “Our breaks been long enough. We should get back to patrolling.”
He didn’t need the added groans to know they weren’t thrilled with the idea, but they didn’t argue for once, Raph even spinning his sai’s and slipping them back into place on his belt rather than insisting on another round of Mikey Dodge.
“Come on Mike, wanna go check out the east end? We can stop by that fish place ya like so much.”
“Sweeeeet! Pizza breaded sushi rolls!”
“Only after you’re done your rounds and you check back in!” Leo called after their retreating backs, giving a shake of his head when they easily waved him off.
They would call, and he trusted them enough to make sure they did their jobs first before goofing off.
… Or at least making sure most of the job was complete before goofing off.
With a sigh, Leo turned back to Donnie, offering his brother a grin as he placed his hands on his hips.
“Ready to go?”
His question was met with the sharpest of analytical eyes narrowing at him. Staring back he could feel his nerves working up again, his fingers tapping sporadically against his waist as he forced himself to keep eye contact in this unexpected staring contest.
“Uh, Donnie? Everything okay?”
“I feel like I should be asking you that.”
Leo felt stumped, his lips parting slightly as he scrambled for something to say to throw off the genius of the group while his mind whirled with what he might have done to give himself away in the first place.
“I’m… not sure what you mean.” It sounded weak to his own ears, but he kept his cringe to a minimum, refusing to break first and daring his brother to continue.
Don didn’t seem to be having it. He tilted his head back with a long sigh, his eyes rolling for a brief moment before landing back on Leo with a borderline dull look clouding his normally clear coffee swirling orbs.
“Seriously Leo? You’re doing that again? I thought we were past this.”
Feeling even more ill footed and now a bit more defensive Leo crossed his arms over his chest, his smile dropping to a lose frown as he arched a brow ridge at his teammate. “Doing what Don? I just asked if everything was okay.”
“You’re deflecting.” The statement was delivered so bluntly Leo wasn’t sure how to respond to it other than with a thick dose of bitterness.
“Pot meet kettle.” He muttered, waving a hand out to the purple banded ninja. “Aren’t you doing the same thing?”
But Donnie ignored his argument, crossing his arms over his chest now and staring down at his leader with the height Leo always swore he was too secure to be jealous of. “Something’s been bothering you for the past few weeks and you don’t want to talk to us about it.”
He couldn’t even say that he was wrong.
Pressing his lips into a thin line Leo finally dropped his gaze to the side, staring back out over the dark city landscape he’d been surveilling before. The silence stretched between them as he thought over what his next steps should be. Chewing on the corner of his lip he figured he might as well see just how badly he’d been hiding his jittery behavior.
“Do the others know?”
“Yuuup.” He flinched as the word was finished with a pop, Don taking his time to lean against the wall at his back. “Mikey was the one who pointed it out. Raph was the one who suggested I talk to you about it.”
Of course it would be Mikey who would notice. As much of a child as he acted like, nothing much got past him when it came to others emotions and behaviors. He had to admit sometimes it was almost borderline creepy the way he could worm himself into other peoples, or turtles, heads.
“Surprised Raph didn’t want to confront me about it.” Leo huffed, figuring he was going to be here for awhile now and taking a seat on the ledge of the building before turning back to Donnie. “Why’d he want you to talk to me?”
His question made the other snort, his shoulders jumping with the action as he arched a ridge right back at Leo. “You really think Raph would put up with your ‘I must suffer alone’ bullshit for more than two minutes without tossing you off the roof?”
Leo dropped a deadpanned look at his brother, not at all amused with his mock impression of him, no matter how brief. “Language Donnie.”
Again, Don rolled his eyes, but he did push himself away from the wall, walking the few steps that separated them before dropping himself next to Leo’s side. They sat in silence for a few ticks of time, Leo staring at the gravel and dust debris that was being kicked up into tiny clouds by Donnie’s feet.
“Should we be worried?”
His voice was quiet, not a whisper, but low enough that Leo had to listen for it to hear it. Even still, he wasn’t sure how to answer. It should have been a firm ‘no’, and yet, it felt like saying anything other than ‘yes’ would have been a lie. He couldn’t place why, but something just felt… off. Like he was walking on thin glass with a starving shark circling just beneath his feet.
But he couldn’t explain why, and if he couldn’t do that, what was the point of worrying the rest of them?
“We’ll be fine.” He decided on, placing a reassuring hand on his brother’s shoulder and offering him a small smile when Don finally lifted his eyes to his. “So long as we stick together we can get through anything.”
The flat look Donnie leveled at him had his grin growing seconds before a hand was pressed against his face and he was being shoved away.
“Why do you always go with the most cliche quotes ever?”
While they both stood, Leo let out a light chuckle, lifting his hand to rest on Donnie’s shoulder as they walked towards their next route.
“Hey, it’s not a cliché, it’s a classic.”
“Sure, keeeep telling yourself that Leo.” Donnie dragged on, stopping while he stretched his hands over his head and arched his back.
Giving him time to get ready Leo continued ahead, hopping up onto the next ledge while looking out over the city. As his eyes scanned the familiar paths as he worked out which one would allow them to cover more ground and which places he knew would be more likely to have issues.
Lifting his arms he crossed them over his chest, shifting his weight to one leg as he came to a stop in two different sections. Which ones would need more help? Could they possibly hit them both? Would Don mind if they spent an extra hour or so to be able to do a full scan? He was curious to see if the Foot were keeping up their end of the bargain, and he wanted to check in on the Purple Dragons again just to be sure they weren’t stepping to far out of line.
“Hey Don, do you think-,” As Leo twisted around to speak to his brother, he came to an abrupt stop to see an empty rooftop. “Donnie?”
No response.
Shifting back around Leo pulled his swords from his back. “Don?”
Again, his call was met with nothing but silence.
That wasn’t right. If he’d been paired up with Mikey, or maybe Raph, he could see them pulling this kind of prank. Hiding away to jump out and attempt to scare him before either laughing or growling depending on how it went. But Donnie? No. He would never.
Something was wrong. Someone must have-.
There was a sharp but subtle whistle like noise to his right, and Leo spun to face it, his sword slashing through the small projectile that had been aiming for him. Shifting back he stared down at it, his brow furrowing to see a muster yellowed dart with three silver tails. He'd managed to cut it clean through, an odd yellow so bright it was basically neon, spilling out of it.
What the hell was that?
“Should have known that wouldn’t work on you.”
Spinning around Leo lifted his blades at the ready, but nothing could prepare him to face the one who had spoken.
Barely illuminated in the weak light of the streetlamps was a turtle, another version of his brother, but one that was sharper, his presence more threatening than Donnie even on his worst days. Black replaced where the purple or brown sat on his own brother, except for his bandana that surrounded an intense set of mismatched eyes that were zeroed right in on Leo like a predator ready to strike.
The oddest thing about him though, the aspect that really made Leo pause and draw short, was that he was glowing. Parts of his body, odd markings that he had never seen on any other version of his brother, cut through the darkness with an eerily soft purple light.
Leo… wasn’t sure what to do next. There was a part of him that wanted to attack, to demand where his brother had gone, to find out why this random Donatello had shot at him, but he held back. Normally the thems from other universes weren’t a threat, so maybe this one wasn’t either?
Still feeling a little weary, Leo lowered his swords, but didn’t relax his grip against their handles.
“Where’s my brother?” Squaring up to the mutant who was still crouched in the shadows, Leo dragged the tip of his blade against the ground. When he hit one half of the dart that had missed him, flicking it straight back at the stranger, the unasked question rang loudly in the silence between them.
Those unsettlingly penetrating eyes didn’t once shift from Leo’s as the shadow covered mutant caught it with a snap of his wrist.
Leo's mouth went dry, every cell of his body telling him to run. This wasn’t right. Something was very, very wrong here.
“What do you mean…” Leo tensed when the stranger stood, barely having time to blink before he found the guy looming over him from barely an arm’s length away. “I’m right here.”
Biting down on a curse Leo darted back, his swords up once more.
“You’re not my Donnie.” He hissed, those large, unblinking eyes unnerving him more than any frantic maniac he’d gone up against. “What did you do to him?”
“Hm,” the mock version of his brother let out a small hum, lifting his wrist to his face. Leo’s eyes blew wide when he hovered his other hand over it and a hologram looking screen popped up in the same soft purple glow. “Patient is suffering from delusions and paranoia.”
“Patient?” Leo echoed, his rage growing at the lack of answers and the mounting worry for his brother. “I’m not delusional! You must have done something to him!”
“Calm down Nardo.” The stranger huffed, his eyes not lifting from the tiny screens he was scanning through. “It’s okay. We’ll be home soon.”
‘Nardo’? What kind of nickname was that? His brothers only ever called him Leonardo, Leo, or Fearless. And what was this about ‘being home soon’? Leo was already home.
Whatever game this guy was trying to pull, Leo wasn’t playing anymore. Lifting his sword to nestle close enough to the unsettling copy of his Don, those slitted eyes finally lifted from the device to nail Leo with a hollowed stare.
“Listen, I don’t know which universe you’re from, but this is not how we do things here. Either bring my brother back right now, or get out of my way and I’ll find him myself.”
The gaze lingered on him for a moment more, and then they dropped to his swords, a strange flicker stirring behind his eyes as the slightest of lifts twisted at the corners of his lips.
“Going old school hm?” Old school? His blades were top grade! “They really did a number on you didn’t they.”
It was the misery in the whispered words that cooled his anger and kept Leo from striking out. Brow furrowing, he took a closer look at the others expression, at the shattered devastation that showed in the cracks of whatever mask he was putting up.
“But don’t worry. I’ll fix you.”
A chill jolted through him at the smile that spread over the mutant’s face, his feet shifting back in a ready stance when those eyes pierced into him. “You didn’t make it easy to find you-,”
“Stay away from me.”
“-But that’s okay. You must have been angry that we didn’t get to you the first time.”
Okay, he was done with whatever this was.
Leo charged forward, swinging his swords in a wide arch and aiming for his chest. He didn’t want to kill this creepy version of his brother, but he did want to either make him back off or injure him enough to show that he was serious.
He supposed his first mistake was fooling himself into thinking that this guy would fight the same way that his Donnie did, or like the other, more cartoony looking version from the other universe.
His second was never realizing that there was something off about his shell until it was too late.
And that the guy was unnaturally quick.
By the time Leo had finished with the movement, he found his blades slicing through air, staring wide eyed into a cloud of dust that was the only thing left behind. Then he felt it, the icy burn of metal clamping down on his neck, squeezing the sides so suddenly and so strongly that it cut off the blood to his brain, making him instantly dizzy.
He dropped one of his swords, lifting his hand to grip around the foreign claw, the idea of tearing it off already being acted on even before his brain had time to think of it.
“Don’t make me hurt you Nardo.” The voice was at his back, another clamp locking around the wrist of Leo’s sword wielding hand when he attempted to strike with it. “That’s the last thing I want.”
A growl rumbled out of him when his head was firmly tilted to the side. “Let go of me!” A hiss escaped him while he attempted to twist his face upward to snap his teeth at the hand against his jaw before-.
He flinched at the bite of a needle sinking into him, his body flaying in an attempt to dislodge himself from the psycho. But his vision was already starting to spot, and his limbs were growing almost too heavy to keep themselves up.
“There you go.” The clamp on his neck slipped away, the one on his wrist loosening as he stumbled to his knees. He swayed, the world slipping in and out, his brain going fuzzy but still sharp enough to feel the hands grabbing at his upper arms, carefully holding him as his world spun. “That’s it, just go to sleep Leo-.”
“L-let me go.”
“No.” The hands at his arms tensed, grasping at him so hard he could already feel the bruises that would be left behind. “I’m never letting you go again.”
Leo tried to fight it. He tried to keep himself awake. He needed to find Donnie. The real Donnie. He needed to find Raph and Mikey, to make sure that this freak didn’t do anything to them. He needed to stay awake, to fight, to… to.
“It’s going to be okay,” Leo gasped for air, the sky above him swirling into grays and whites and blacks, purple sneaking in on the corner of his vision, shaking hands grabbing at his face. “You’re going to be safe now.”
Lies. Lies. Lies. He wasn’t safe. He needed to stay awake. He needed-.
“I’ll make you right. I’ll remind you who you are.”
The swirling colours solidified, turning to black, and then, the world went quiet.