#leo dies

[mono-lee-mmxxii]

11 Days Dead - Day 1

Summary: Leo couldn't believe he was waving his arm in front of his brothers' faces, wondering how in the hell this was his life? Afterlife? He wasn't entirely sure anymore.

Or: What if the portal closed before Leo could cross the threshold? What if he's stuck somewhere between dimensions, a lost soul?

Night of The First Day

- 240 Hours Remain -

The Krang invasion had happened.

The memory felt like a film reel, when Raph recalled it later. He remembered Leo telling Casey Jr. to close the portal on him. The technodrome shattering under the unstoppable, ever smaller tear in space and time. He remembered Mikey, trying desperately to unlock his mystic ability.

He recalled telling him it was over. He remembered Michelangelo opening the portal anyway, in a spray of golden sparks and scars and tears that had stung in each of their eyes.

Leo, looking so battered and bruised, and so  hopeful to see them.

The feeling of his ninpo rushing through him, flickering and protesting because he was so very tired, and his vision was still blurring with every step. He could remember the phantom feeling of Leo in his projection's grasp, hauling him backwards and towards them. The Krang had come after him, a roaring, raging fury that would destroy them all if they didn't time everything perfectly.

Mikey's hands had faltered at the sight but he'd steeled himself and the coursing gold energy hadn't stopped.

They were so close. Donnie's drill had come out of beta for more than hero poses, dug viciously into the Krang’s face, and Leo was so close. Raph gave another pull, tugging his brother from the suffocating non-gravity of the prison dimension to them. There’s a moment where he knew Leo would feel only sparks and heat, he saw it in the way Leo’s eyes watered at the acrid, biting, searing scent of the portal, but he was reaching for his brothers.

Leo was going to be safe.

He'd let go when his wrist hit the portal, certain that Leo was still being propelled forward, momentum being a concept he was well familiar with. Donnie had been certain too, reaching out with his arms ready to catch Leo as soon as he was through. The portal flickered along the edges, but they were all gonna be okay.

Mikey's hands faltered, but Leo was right there, surrounded by shining gold and reaching for them. They'd all reached for him and Mikey had let go of the portal to grab onto him. It was okay to let go, Leo was through, they could see the light of the sun illuminating his face even now.  The mystic was burning like ice and fire and acid and sharp words in his veins, and his nerve endings screaming they were alight with sheer pain, but it would be worth it, to have Leo home, to know he was okay.

But when the portal had collapsed into nothingness, Leo wasn't there.

He was still gone.

They stared, at their hands, the glowing scars and lines, at the spot where their leader, their brother should be. Donnie was crying again, worse than before. Raph wasn't sure if the softshell was turning purple from shock or lack of oxygen, but either way he was breathing shallow and he hadn't stopped staring at the spot where Leo had just been. Leo had just been there.

For Raph, it was an echoing silence in his bones, in his heart.  It took several moments for his brain to string together the right words to describe this situation.

Leo was gone.

At the mercy of the Krang and trapped.

Probably dead or dying.

He heard a gasp, a little exhaling huff and the sounds of movement. He looked up in time to see Mikey headed straight for the concrete, eyes half lidded and unfocused.

There was nothing that would ever be worse than this, he thought. The weight of his youngest brother as Raphael lunged to catch him, the way he could smell ozone and the acrid stench of smoke and something burning, the feeling of Donnie's hand on his arm. There was a wave of mystic energy, violet squares dancing to give way to a purple raft.

Without a word, Donnie began ferrying them back from Staten Island.

Their father was waiting for them. April and Casey were too. She was standing in between them, had a grip on their wrists like lifelines, and they look so much like Leo. Bruised and bloodied, but that light - that hopeful look that Raph hadn’t gotten to see shatter on Leo's face the way he saw it on theirs when it registered who wasn’t with them.

"Sensei?" Casey's horrified whisper was lost in the wind, the movement of the word the only thing that made Raph aware he'd reacted at all. He was otherwise completely still, an unmoving statue. Anything Raph could have said to reassure him was lost in the next moment.

A scream split the air, so violently devastated and inhuman that for a moment he turned to the sky, searching for the horrifying pink light that would truly herald the end of their world, because without Leo there'd be no chance for them to win. Not now. The anguish was loud, and desperate and Raphael realized it was coming from their father.

"No! No! My son!"

Splinter was on his knees, covered in mud and dirt and blood and his frame was wracked with heaving sobs, claws gouging deep marks into the gritty shore. He was wailing, and Raph stumbled forward to hug their dad, Mikey still cradled in one arm. He wrapped the other arm around Splinter and pulled him close, not trying to hide his own hitching breath.

April stared, the same way Raph had at first, until she joined them, trying to tug Casey along with her before she let go to throw her arms around them all.

  Clang!

The metallic clatter drew their attention to Casey, who was shaking. He'd dropped Leo's katana, and he was staring at his hand like it was confusing and strange, shaking his head.

Donnie grabbed him, ignoring the wide eyed, startled look Casey gave him, and pulled him into the hug without a word. The softshell didn’t bother to hide his discomfort but he still clung tightly to their little group nonetheless, memorizing the sound of their breathing and this moment.

When they pulled away some time later, the tears had slowed and the emptiness crept in, and Mikey had woken back up.  

"Can we go home?" He asked.

April and Splinter had shared twin sounds of devastation, like they had bad news they didn't know how to share. Raph felt Mikey’s fingers dig into his arm weakly.

"Our  home ?" Mikey whispered, face crumpling as a fresh wave of tears began falling. "Our home, our family-" Any more words he had were lost in the sobs, and Raph never let go of him once, rocking gently.

"We still need to go back." Donnie said, practical and put together if he weren’t still visibly fighting hyperventilating. "We need to see if we can salvage anything, especially medical supplies."

It's smart, a logical next step. The one Raph should be planning, because he was the leader again. The thought hurt, and it made the cold drops of Mikey's tears all the heavier when they fell. He nodded belatedly, but no one noticed or was concerned.

They disappeared into the sewers, beginning the trek home in silence. None of them wanted to think about what came next. It all felt so unreal.

After a while of walking, they came to a tunnel blocked by rubble and wreckage, completely impassable. Rather than try and find an alternate route and run into any number of blocked paths, it was easier to go to the surface and figure out how far the damage went, how bad it was, and Raph prayed to the universe it wouldn't be bad.

It was bad. It was devastatingly bad.

There was half of a building embedded in the ground, ripped and torn metal twisted into the earth, a crater from the impact and deep gouge-like skid marks. There were scorch marks from Mikey's chain all around the building, and Raph could tell he felt bad. They all could.

And none of them wanted to go home right now.

“Help me clear this rubble.” Mikey said, voice determined and hoarse, and they got to work. It hadn’t taken long for Raph to find the first tunnel, and April and Donnie uncovered another a few moments later.

They couldn't move the skyscraped that had made the crater, but their goal was changing the longer they worked.

Once the rubble was mostly clear, there was an uneven ground floor that needed to be leveled and cleared of debris, but it connected the sewer tunnels with a subway station that was boarded up, empty and dusty.

"If we could connect these, this would be a good spot to rebuild." Donnie observed, glancing around before he smiled at Mikey. "The actual walls and floor are in pretty good condition. You managed to use the building to excavate a hallway between the sewers and the subway when you threw it. Now, this hall just needs a roof."

A little investigation yielded that the station had been abandoned by the city long before the invasion, due to a collapsed tunnel, and was being used to store vacant, broken train cars. No one would come poking around if they made a home there.

"We need some building supplies. And I think I know just where to get them."  April agreed, a tired grin pulling at her lips.

Their new home would have room for all of the Hamato family, even if only most of them were there.

“April, no.” Michelangelo protested, frowning.

“It’s not like they’re going to notice.” April pointed out. “And it’s a part time job anyway. With the inside information I got on the herbicide, I’m about to blow the lid off of the corporate chemical experimentation and I won’t have time for a job anyway. At least, I won’t if Donnie can get the video from my phone.”  She waved the cracked device at Donnie, who sighed as she tucked it back into her bag.

“Of course I can, but I do wish you’d let me design you a better phone.” He grumbled. “Or at least a better phone case.”

“I appreciate the thought Don, but I don’t dig purple half as much as you do.”  

Donnie’s reply was lost when Casey shuffled, feet dragging in the gravel as he looked around. They all turned to look at him, and he froze when he realized it.  

“Are you okay?” Mikey asked, and Casey stiffened further, shoulders edging up as he looked away.

“We should get out of the open.” He reiterated, glancing around the rubble; there was no sign of anyone, and he wondered if the humans here had managed to evacuate in time, or if the area  had been empty before. “How are we doing that?”

“We’re stealing concrete and building supplies from the construction company I’ve been doing temp work for.” April clarified.

“We are then going to hide the tunnels.” Donnie added. “If we work fast, we should be able to get this done before the rescue and recovery teams get this far. I’d say we have a few days, maybe a week?”

There was a beat of silence while they all waited for something, for someone else to speak.

“Then we should get to work.” Raph said, feeling the weight of the decision wrapping around his shoulders, heavy on his shell.

“April, Donnie, go get the supplies. Casey, help Pops move the rubble out. Mikey-” he stopped to assess his younger brother, noting how his shaking hands were clenched into fists “-keep watch, the last thing we need is humans finding us unawares right now.”

April and Donnie nodded, and disappeared into the city. Michelangelo climbed out of the cater, picking his way up the incline carefully before he disappeared from view. Casey and Splinter began working, and Raphael wasted no time in helping them. He was exhausted, and his ninpo rebelled against being called on again, a static numbness dancing along his arms.

But he pushed through, the projection scooping up piles of rocks none of them would have been able to move, and depositing them out onto the wrecked street. When April and Donnie got back, they were fast to get to work. With all of them working, it doesn’t take long to build a ceiling, the framework going up fast. The rocks Raph had gotten rid of were reused decorate the bottom of the now shallow crater, layers of dirt, chunks of asphalt and rock piled on top; it’s almost a spitting image of the damage they’d first come across.

“It’ll take a few days for this all to dry.” April said, passing out bottles of water as they all collapsed on the ground under the night sky.

It would be dawn in a few hours, and exhaustion stuck to Raph’s limbs like thick syrup.

“We should go home. See if there’s anything… anything we can bring back.” Mikey said, and Raph stared at the stars as he wondered if anything in his room had survived.

“I wonder if I can salvage our security system to bring it over.” Donnie’s voice was listless. “Maybe something in my lab survived.”

“I want to know if my movies survived.” Splinter added.

Raph shifted, trying not to let the pain and tiredness show as he pushed himself up, lumbering to his feet.

“Then I guess we better get moving.” He said tiredly, and they all blinked at him. April smiled faintly, joining him on her feet. The rest were quick to follow.

They had to move more boulders and rubble from the damage before they could get into the Lair. When they did, the group froze just as fast, crowding in the doorway as Raphael came to a halt.

Raph stared in horror at the shattered, broken pieces of the skateboard ramp, the halls bent and slashes, bits of broken wood and dust and cement that covered everything. He could feel the sharp edge of wood digging into the soles of his feet, but the pain was absent and far away in the resounding shock of seeing their home so thoroughly demolished.

The bedrooms were ransacked, and there was hardly anything left anywhere, at all. The kitchen was a mess, and glass crunched underfoot when April ventured in, shining her flashlight around the dark, room. It sparked with shattered glass, shards of it everywhere from where the Krang had ripped through the rooms one after the other in search of the Key.

In the  TV room, the projector came back to life after a long moment where Raph was certain another thing their family had cherished would be destroyed. Without a word, Raphael and Splinter split up to search the Lair, dragging the salvageable bedding into the TV room.

They turned on the first movie that Raph picked up -  Jupiter Jim Sails The Seven Galaxies . No one said anything when the title screen appeared but they all flinched, shifting away from the screen. It had been Leo's favorite.

The familiar sounds of the movie washed over them as they shuffled and piled onto the makeshift nest. It was a pile of limbs and angles and not the most comfortable but none of them were, none of them had been, and at the moment, none of them wanted to be. They were all here, safe, and they were going to rebuild.

It was going to be okay again. Eventually.

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Worst pain

[zetadyllica]

i’ve been thinking about riordanverse demigods and their mommy issues.

annabeth, piper, alex fierro: my mom is an absent goddess who’s kind of a bitch to me and my loved ones

jason, thalia, hazel: my mom was a messed up person when she was alive

nico, leo, frank, magnus chase: my mom died years ago but she was a wonderful person and i miss her every day

percy jackson and will solace: MY MOM 🤱 is my BEST 🤩 FRIEND 👯 she is so LOVELY 🥰 and KIND 💕 and COOL 😎 and i’m having DINNER 🍽️ WITH HER ON SATURDAY 🥳💫🤪

[atsu-kinnie]

Does anyone think about how Percy Jackson maybe the only main character who is also the fandom's favorite and most popular character?

[lilislegacy]

percy’s view of himself: i’m so stupid and ugly and useless. i’m such a lame demigod

literally everyone else’s view of percy:

[piedpip3rrr]

Mildly late annual Halloween art

[starii-void]

going to chb must be crazy like imagine sharing a camp with

-one of the strongest demigods ever who's saved the world like at least 3 times, fought multiple gods & titans and WON (and is a tartarus survivor)

-the literal main architect of OLYMPUS who's also saved the world multiple times (also tartarus survivor)

-THE lord of the wild who's also close friends with the first two (and has helped save the world multiple times)

-an emo kid from the 1930s who again helped save the world and is also a tartarus survivor (TWICE)

-a son of apollo who survived tartarus with nothing but cargo shorts and sheer will (pun intended)

-the main designer and builder for the argo II, also the first hephaestus kid to have fire powers since hundreds of years ago (did i mention killed gaea? no? yeah he did that too)

-a girl who somehow charmspeak-ed gaea into falling back asleep (also side note daughter of super famous actor because why not)

-pretty much everybody is a two-time war veteran

-THE GOD APOLLO who just sometimes comes down to visit in the form of a teenage boy

-did i mention dionysus, god of wine madness and theatre

-also chiron, trainer of pretty much every greek hero ever

[poppitron360]

I honestly think that “the gods are real, and they have kids, and those kids have ISSUES” is still the best description of the Riordanverse I’ve heard to-date.

[percabethownsmybutt]

percy: the path to inner peace starts with four words

percy: not my fucking problem

[raps-hellion]

demigods who know how much an average loaf of bread from the store costs:

leo — he was between foster homes a lot and often ended up homeless. he knows the cost because he's spent many times counting out the spare change in his pockets and praying he has enough.

percy — he and sally went/still go on grocery trips, and he rants to annabeth if the price goes up. want to know how the economy's doing? ask percy about bread prices.

demigods who do not know how much an average loaf of bread from the store costs:

annabeth — maybe back when she was with luke and thalia, but she's been in camp half-blood for most of her life. bread just appears on a plate in front of her, who is she to question it.

frank — he's a nepo baby.

hazel — she's been dead for 70 years. seeing what the price has been inflated to now may kill her.

jason — he was raised by wolves. lupa does not have time to worry about the inflation rate of bread.

nico — he was cut off from modern society for 70 years.

piper — she's also a nepo baby. and she spent a lot of time shoplifting, so the illusion of cost doesn't apply to her.

[nicolloyd]

some teens on a boat

this unintentionally kinda reads like that one meme

[graaaaaayy]

[snoelledarts]

Happy Birthday Percy Jackson, I wish you were real bc you would have loved kissing the homies on the mouth.

[sophiejacksonchase]

Percy: so let me just get this clear, Leo speaks three languages, he's super tech savvy, and he's in AP math classes.

Leo: pretty much, yeah.

Percy: and Solace over here is like number one professional doctor with years of training and actual practice.

Will: I'm kinda cheating with the magic, but I read the books to make sure.

Percy: meanwhile Reyna, Jason, Hazel and Frank were/are a teenage war general. That must had required something.

Reyna, jason, Hazel and Frank: way too much leadership skills.

Percy: Calipso can make clothes from scratch, and how to grow her own food.

Calipso: I do.

Percy: Nico knows like six languages. And had years of playing video games.

Nico: I know Italian, Latin, Greek, English, and a little bit of French, so like, four and a half.

Percy: Annabeth gained architectural experience when she designed the fucking Olympus.

Annabeth: that was awesome.

Percy: Piper have a famous father, and she speaks French.

Piper: I don't like to talk about it.

Percy: all of you people are actually useful in the mortal world. I am wanted for arson.

[wickcipher]

*steve oof sound*