LEO - POST MOVIE

[semilethal]

[ nobody asks where april found the van. some mild criminal activity feels irrelevant in light of the day they just had anyway, and they couldn't exactly walk all the way back to the lair.

not with leo like...this. not just leo either; raphael couldn't hardly hold his head up, hunched and clearly wearing his 'i'm the eldest and i won't complain' face as he cradles leo so carefully on their way to the van. mikey's hands and arms won't stop trembling, even when he twists them together and presses them to his plastron. donatello is sore all over and his skin and shell feel raw, like someone rubbed him down with sandpaper.

and leo's quiet. leo's too quiet.

so there they are in the cargo van, raph tucked toward the front with a leg stretched out for mikey to use as a pillow to doze upon. april and casey sit up front, throwing concerned glances over their shoulders as often as is safe while april slowly weaves the vehicle through the half-destroyed streets toward the nearest access point. splinter sits near the doors as their only other capable fighter, though he keeps his tail curled around leo's uninjured ankle.

and donatello, he's stripping off his gloves because he's going to have to touch his brother to get a better idea of his injuries, and his skin doesn't feel like his own and that'll interfere with his judgement. the fewer layers between he and his brother, the more accurate he can be. ]

Alrighty Leon. Look alive, let's...let's diagnose.

Comments

[neonleon]

[HEY THAT NEEDLE IS UNNECESSARY. HE IS LEANING VERY MUCH BACK ONTO THE BED.]

Yeah, I don't want him doing anything to me until he's had like - minimum six hours sleep!

[semilethal]

[yeah raphael is removing this mad scientist from the immediate area and handing over leo's care to casey, who...is probably not the best person to hand it over to, but their options are limited. donnie would chew through casey like a kraft single]

(They're just worried, sensei.) [casey watches raphael and donnie a bit warily, but still pats leo's shoulder gently] (I've seen you roll over and get up from far worse. ...I mean, usually.)

[neonleon]

Hm. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[He's still so annoyed though. He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. But Shelldon isn't letting that strap across his shoulders and chest up so Leonardo is stuck like this.]

Ready for this to just be over with.

[semilethal]

You'll be on your feet soon.) [what can he- ah, an anecdote! a more heartwarming one, to help his master cope.] (I mean, back when I was ten, you fought off three Krang robots and a whole swarm of drones with a broken tibia and a concussion! This is nothing.)

[neonleon]

[Leonardo finally just rests his head back fully, Sheldon adjusting so he can face Casey.]

...A whole swarm when you were ten, huh.

[Future-Him really does have it together. Not that he doesn't like Casey, sometimes he just says something that's right on the line of comforting and horrific.]

Hey. Back before, in the tank. You started to say something and then we had to stop. ...You were going to tell Donnie and Mikey they died in your time, weren't you?

[semilethal]

[what's not comforting about the way you fought tooth and nail to survive despite terrible injuries]

(Wh-) [casey glances out make sure raphael and donnie are still out of earshot, concerned. it didn't come up again and it felt unnecessarily cruel to mention it, so- well, so only leonardo knows.] (...I was. It felt like I was lying to them, trying to get everyone to understand the danger without the consequences.)

[neonleon]

...Yeah.

[He can't help how his hands clench into tight fists at his sides. Unable to freely move no matter what he does because Shelldon's got some clear directives.]

Up to you if you wanna tell them. But... I wouldn't.

[semilethal]

(I'm not telling them.) [immediate answer. probably more obvious than usual that future leonardo wasn't just casey's master, he was practically his father.] (Besides, that's not a future that's going to happen anymore thanks to all of you.) [casey offers leo a half-smile, fiddling with the edge of leonardo's blanket.] (Why make them worry over something that'll never come to pass?)

[neonleon]

[Yeah, he's starting to pick up on that through the painkiller and everything else and has no idea how to feel about that particular line of thought. He just watches Casey with that nervous smile.]

...Right. Exactly. [Nevermind that everyone dies eventually, something they'll all have to come to terms with. But at least this way they didn't die fighting the Krang for thirty something more years.]

And in the meantime, we keep looking out for each other.

[semilethal]

[nevermind that in the future, making it to 40 is a miracle] (So that means you'll stay still and let us take care of you?) [INNOCENT BLINKING]

[neonleon]

[Leo just. Stares up at him, from where he is currently still strapped down to the bedcot.]

Casey, I dunno if you've noticed, but I don't have much choice in the matter right now.

[semilethal]

(I'm sure master Donatello won't possibly keep you trapped here the entire time, Sensei!)

[somewhere in the bowels of donnie's lab he shrieks "I CAN REBUILD HIM" as raphael chants "no no no DONNIE no-" and then, a mighty crash]

(...he trusts you, I think.) [casey is just CLINGING to that optimism. a huge victory has just turned this boy onto his head; either that, or he recognizes that someone has to do it and the other occupants of the room are otherwise engaged.]

[neonleon]

[Leonardo is watching the direction Raph carried their very enthusiastic scientifically inclined brother to.

He really hopes they can hide the rest of that case of energy drinks before he comes back in here. He really really hopes Donnie crashes and sleeps for a few hours before trying to do anything to him.]

You didn't really get to be around Donnie in the future much, did you.

[semilethal]

(Things were a lot different when you guys were older,) [casey admits, also gazing at the back of the lab in apprehension. apparently he knows enough about donnie because he just. slides off of his stool and heads over to the case of monsters donnie left on his counter and takes them out of the lab.] (Help me find a place for these, Sensei?)

[neonleon]

[Leonardo just sighs through his nose. Shakes his head gently - he still can tell there's something not quite resolved in his skull, even just that gentle action makes his vision strain. But he is so relieved that Casey figured out what he was hoping.

though.... Leo's eyes shoot back at Shelldon behind his head.]

Yo, Shelldon, can I trust you not to snitch?

(Uuuuhhhhhh kinda depends I guess?)

Cool, close enough. Come on.

[Leo starts having Shelldon float him out of the lab and down the hall. he's giving vague short directions to lead Casey, and hopefully not make it quite so obvious where they're going. But they end up at Splinter's room. It is, for the moment, thankfully empty while he's out talking to Big Mama.]

Not a lot of places Dee won't tear apart when he knows I'm hiding something from him. But under Pops' bed was the only place I could count on that he'd never look.

[semilethal]

[casey is halfway under splinter's bed (and not commenting at all on the mess, since he has crawled through worse in his life, if barely) when another unholy shriek comes from donnie's lab that sounds suspiciously like, "MY MONSTERS"

casey wiggles out as quickly as possible at that] (They're really back there. Sensei, do we need to hide you also?)

[neonleon]

[He almost winces at that - almost. The bed is not affording him much movement for even that. But he looks back toward the direction of the lab.]

No. Just go back out slowly and the same way we came from. I'll be fine.

[semilethal]

[despite the fact that shortly after they exit splinter's room (managing to grab some nearby comics to pretend to read as donnie goes tearing past with raphael trying to chase him down), casey looks positively delighted. he watches with interest over the top of his comic book as the duo disappears into the kitchen, a clash of pots and pans signaling their departure as raphael fusses and donatello rampages the entire way back to the lab.]

(...you guys are all so different, but you're still the same. It's kind of weird.)

[neonleon]

[All right well. That just means they've diverted attention from them for now. It's only a matter of minutes before Donnie comes to ask them, and he hopes Casey can have a lying face. Or at least slightly-obfuscating-the-truth face. Something.]

...Yeah? You didn't really get to say a whole lot about them. [And the things he did say about Leo were words with a two ton weight hanging off them to place around Leo's neck. He isn't sure he wants to hear anything else about himself from the future, especially knowing that future is different than what they'll see now.]

[semilethal]

[hahahahaha see the thing about deception is that it's pointless to learn when your enemies all just want to kill you on sight regardless. so no, casey does not have a lying face. or a single lying bone in his body. he can sneak hella good though.]

(Mm. My mom died when I was pretty young and I never knew my dad; I ended up being raised mostly by you guys and Commander O'Neil.) [casey turns a little of his attention to his comic book, enough to finally realize he's holding it upside-down and turn it right side up.] (You and Master Michelangelo most of all. Master Donatello was usually busy working and-) [he stops. glances at leo, unsure.]

[neonleon]

[That's. Hm.

A confirmation of something he'd started to glean earlier. Raising (oh god don't say children, he's barely sixteen years old, he doesn't want to think about that-) someone is far, far at the end of his list of things he wants to think about.

But Casey hesitates. And given what he's said so far it's not that difficult to put the final piece in place.

Raph wasn't there. Casey hadn't said a single thing about Raphael since he showed up on their doorstep. It's not hard to figure out. When Casey does look at him, Leo's watching him, expression tired and drained and solemn. He knows.]

And Raph wasn't there. [He finishes, as kind as he can.]

[semilethal]

[it feels terrible to bring this up now, when they're all safe and when master leonardo should be resting. it feels like it shouldn't be something that should come up at all, but all of a sudden casey wants to talk about it. about them, about who he grew up with, about the people who shaped him into who he is.

after all...they're gone now. in more ways than one.]

(I was too little when it happened.) [casey's voice is hushed, though neither raphael nor donatello are in sight. this is...a private moment. if anyone will understand him, it must be master leonardo, even if he's so much younger. right?] (I remember some things about him, though. How big he was. How if he picked you up, you felt invincible. Just feelings.) [casey lowers the comic book to his lap, gazing blankly down at it.] (And then, he was gone. People were always disappearing back then, but not- ...it was the first time it was someone I really knew.)

[neonleon]

[Casey does wanna talk about this right now, and who is Leonardo to say no? It isn't as if he's going anywhere. So he listens. Tries to imagine that. Not just Raph taken where Leonardo and the others can get him back, but gone. Never to return. What would that be like? How devastated would they all be?

He thinks back to that first time Raphael was able to truly unlock his Ninpo, catching Leonardo so carefully after being thrown off the building. All the times their big brother saved their asses just by being himself.

Leonardo thinks something might permanently break if Raphael were truly forever gone. The anger he felt when the Krang simply took his brother would have been incandescent if Raphael were in a state he couldn't be brought back. But Casey doesn't remember what happened - who knows. Maybe the Krang did take Raphael. Maybe the worst did happen. They don't know what year Casey's actually from, but would he have been alive for when the Key was originally taken? Did he know all the details from his version of events? Likely not.

Where he lays on the Shelldon-cot, Leonardo's expression is tumultuous on its own journey before it settles into something like "tired". Too tired to give this the consideration it deserves.]

Well. You don't have to deal with stuff like that anymore. You're here now. Gotta be better than there, right?

gotta actually have game to be a hoe leo

[semilethal]

(It is, so much better. Thanks to all of you.) [Casey looks back up in time to catch Raphael quizzically carrying a very drowsy Donatello into the room from the kitchen. "He burned through that thing like nitro fuel," Raph notes to Leo in amused disbelief, hefting Donatello up higher into his arms on his way to the bedroom when he grumbles something about revenge grmb grmml bionics.

Casey laughs quietly to himself as they disappear around the corner, but his voice is curiously thick as he continues,] (I don't even know how to say how relieved I am, but they're still...gone forever.) [His breath hitches as he reaches out and rests a hand blindly on Leo's arm, seeking comfort but trying not to hurt.] (I'm so glad you're all alive but the turtles who I grew up with, my mom, Commander April...my Sensei. I'll never see them again. They'll never even exist.)

[Everyone survived, but he's grieving all the same.]

[neonleon]

[Leonardo is losing his mind not being able to move or do anything. His natural instinct when someone needs comfort is to hug. To drape, to sprawl across someone until he can smother whatever shitty feelings someone has dissipates. Raph's good at big hugs and emotional speeches, Leonardo's good at just being ....

Well.

Charismatic, usually. But that's debatable these days.

There's a relief in his nerves that it looks like Donatello might finally get some sleep. And he'll catch up with Raph later. But right now, Casey needs him.

(When will he get his own chance to break a little? Probably not until everyone's finally resting and he can just take himself to his own room. He'll figure out a time later. For now everyone needs him to be okay. He's starting to understand that pressure Raphael was under. Just a little, even if it's different.)]

Yeah... [Then, more sure:] Yeah. I know we're not the same thing, but. They're still with you. You've got your memories and feelings for them, so. You're not alone, Casey.

[And if nothing else? Leonardo means that.]