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mismatchedtwins · 25 days ago

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Mismatched Twins - Take Six

Leon barely has time to blink.

Everything happens in a blur that's overlapped by blazing pain. He barely manages to get his hands on his odachi before he’s looking up and the Guy’s just gone. Dragged into the pitch black.

He can't act. He doesn't have the time to even think. The turtle's gone and he's alone and the vines are coming back for him.

His heart lurches to his throat. He turns and flees, grasping the grapple as it suddenly clicks and whirls. The thrusting vines come inches from his skin before he's launched far out of their reach.

He shoots up and watches as they merge into the black.

As soon as he reaches the top, Leo claws for a hold so he can climb over the edge and onto the flat surface.

He leaves the grapple and his sword, every inch of him trembles as he frantically scrambles away from the opening.

His chest burns where the turtle had fallen on him and his vision sways from the pain. He waits for the vines to follow him up and take him to the same place that they took the turtle. He jumps as a scream echoes from the black void down below and he clamps his hands over his head on instinct, kicking backward into the wall.

The screams continue. They get louder. And then they stop.

All Leon can hear is the sound of his own hysterical breathing.

What did he do? What did he do?

He left someone to die that's what he did.

His knees close against his chest. His hands move to cover his mouth. The guilt throbs like a gong. Or maybe that's his heart.

Leo looks at the opening. No motions. No sounds.

He doesn't know what to do.

The guy saved his life. And he let him walk into a den of death.

That's some way to return the favor.

Hysteria tries to lock in at the thought. A puff of air hits his palms, laughter too strained to be real. It wasn't funny. Nothing about this is funny. His nails bite into his cheeks. Leo let him die.

No. He doesn't know that. He might not be dead. Krang's vines didn't kill them. They held them captive. He could be alive.

Leo has to believe that. Leo has to save him.

He has to get back down there. But how?

Whether the vines were sleeping or using the element of surprise, they won't be this time. They'll sense him before he can even get through the tunnel. Once again, his ninpo sparks with life and he catches it, keeping it safely contained. It sputters in the cage, alive despite everything, offering to keep him safe and strong, like it had with any and every other danger.

He can still feel the burning through his skin back at the ship, an electrifying, powerful sensation that eradicated the vines from his system and surroundings in one swift blaze.

His marks flicker and Leon fiercely shoves the power back in the metal box where it can't extinguish itself. He feels the weakness bear down on him without it, but he drags himself to his feet because sitting around shaking sure isn't saving anybody.

Every breath hurts. He fights past it.

Leon takes out the phone that he'd shoved in his belt and shines it down below. His skin crawls when he sees that some of the vines are still slithering about, tangling underneath the dead ones. Some are retreating through the tunnel, lethargically slow now that there isn't someone to chase.

Right. They're alive. But.

What about the ones that... Aren't?

Leo looks to the vines that he used to get down. They looked- pretty alive? He wasn't really a vine expert. But they hadn't made any moves to attack either of them at any point, so even though all the vines look the same, something about them had to be different.

He could probably use the boring vines to get back down without alerting any of the evil vines. What does he do if they do notice him?

For a long moment, he looks down the drop.

"Yep. This is a terrible idea."

With that decided, he turns and walks in the opposite direction.

If he was smart, he wouldn’t have returned.

But he does. Because the turtle is indubitably alive.

And there's only one way to prove that he's right.

Though, quitting would have been easier.

Instead, he takes a very exhausting hike to grab what he needs.

He breaks to catch his breath and rubs his plastron until the ache is manageable. Then he drags the large sheet metal to the edge and lets it drop. It lands and he winces, waiting for his estimation to be wrong and the vines to react. They do not. He smirks.

He picks up the grapple and his odachi.

And then he starts trimming the walls. After a few handfuls are tossed, he dusts off his hands in satisfaction.

Heading to the familiar vine, he grabs onto it and heads down.

He can't believe he's actually doing this. It must be all that hero talk.

Raph is rubbing off on him in the worst ways lately.

His heart aches when he realizes that he'd never get the chance to tell him. No more sibling shenanigans. No hoarding his highest stack win over Donnie's head. No bite-the-pizza games. No more pizza.

He tries to block the notion. He focuses on deciphering where the dead vines and living vines might be. He reaches the bottom, feet resting on the only safe space, pressed against the cold metal. He takes the phone from his mouth, pausing when he looks forward and realizes that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

He blinks, "Gram-Gram?"

Karai doesn't respond. The light is a strange orange color. It only reveals the end of the path and the tall stalks in the room. His heart races as a vine slithers right below him.

"If I should not go into the light, some better tell me now.”

The only sound is the soft shuffle of vines.

“Okay." He exhales. "Going into the light it is."

He notices the one that he's currently using as a rope doesn't travel down the tunnel like the others. It inserts into the wall.

He shrugs it off and then gets on his knees. He snatches pieces of boring vines littered over the metal and throws them, noting each time the vines react. They don’t seem to mind the random pieces of dead relatives, merely curling around them passively.

Snatching several for the road, he tucks the slimy things into his belt, shuddering at the feeling against exposed skin, and takes a deep breath. He stretches out, setting his foot on a patch that isn't restless. The vines keep shuffling around like he doesn't exist.

He shifts his weight and then releases the vines to plant both his feet into another assumably dead spot.

He doesn't move. One of the vines pulls back down the tunnel.

They must not think anyone would be crazy enough to return.

Too bad they're dealing with the one and only Leonardo Blue Splinterson. Crazy is basically a part of the Hamato package.

Empowered by his obvious superiority, he heads through the tunnel.

He ends up doing a couple flips and handstands when the distance is too long or the vines get too close to his position. His heart thuds with the adrenaline of success, acting as his own cheering squad under his breath. It almost sounds like breathless static, but he refrains from going any higher.

It could ruin the perfectly dramatic musical soundtrack that must be playing in his background. Then where would he be?

Just doing gymnastics in a silent tunnel. Boring.

He winces as he enters the suspicious light, looking up towards the source. There isn't one. The roof simply seems to be glowing.

A solid thud reverberates through the room and his phone slips from his fingers. He frantically grabs it and smashes it against his chest before it can land. He eyes the vines that are doing their best snake impressions. He'd have to give them an 8 out of 10.

They seem a bit to tentacle-lly for his tastes.

Leo makes his way to the sides of the room and then sets his attention on searching for the missing turtle. All the vines seem very interested in only one of the stalks, swimming and weaving in a highly conspicuous way.

"Yeah, he's totally in there."

He gets out his odachi and begins to make his way across the room. The thud repeats and he watches the large mass that the turtle had been interested in contract and then expand.

Weeiiiiiird.

He stops under the stalk. He has to move fast.

The moment that he touches it; he'll be the next prey.

So he turns to the stalk beside it and climbs to the top. He perches there, hanging from mismatched stitching, and tosses his sword lightly. He takes a breath. It lands in tight fingers.

Leo kicks his body forward, slices through the wiggling life, and then grasps his sword tight as vines shoot for him. He curves away from them, watching as they embed in the stalk behind him.

He uses the one over his head to pull himself up, swinging his weight onto his hilt. He catches his balance and swiftly moves for the new opening in the stalk. He yanks the blade out once he's steady and turns to retrieve the waiting turtle.

Only to pause when he’s faced with his failure.

There are too many vines. They’ve injected themselves into so many places where vines are definitely not supposed to be and there’s a big nasty one in his neck. Leon has no idea how he’s supposed to get them out of him without some serious surgery that he does not know how to do and absolutely should not be doing at any point, especially not in an unsterilized, filthy, deadly prison dimension.

He hesitates too long.

The vines latch onto his legs. He stabs down, only for them to shoot out from beside him and insert into his arm. He cries out at the pain that radiates from the area, swinging the blade as his ninpo flares in panic. He can still feel the vine under his skin, vile and unmoving as he ducks one aimed for his skull. Two more vines pierce, stealing his attention so more can firmly snatch his legs.

The heavy, echoing thud swallows his cry.

The energy pulses across his skin, tiny sparks that dance along the vines and beg for the freedom to act. It spreads comforting heat that flickers a glow over his marks and he knows that he could transport away if he only wants to- think of one place, a single haven, and trust trust trust trust it’ll get him there. A brief burst, a final escape, all he needs to do is want to want to need to leave-

Blue crawls along his body. Fingers dig into the vines. NO-

“-AHHHH!”

He screams as they crawl deeper, hatred and fear buzzing in his chest, before something hits the back of his neck. He falls forward as he's shoved further in, unable to move or think or breathe, catching himself on the suspended turtle's plastron-

His ninpo pops, and the turtle jerks, and energy flares up Leo’s arm to mix with the oh-so-giddy whirl of electricity. Then heat darts across his flesh, sparking outward, and the vines explode.

He gasps in a burst of air as a thrill hits his body and pain becomes meaningless as his ninpo begs- pleads- push back.

So he collects the buzzing energy that’s humming and dancing and His but also Not and hopes that he knows what he’s doing when he focuses on getting it out.

His arms are sparking blue but the turtle’s arms are glowing before it hits his chest and the rest of his body joins the party. His eyes snap open, a blank, burning white with blue barely shimmering underneath, and Leo’s jaw drops as it fires outward, eradicating the vines and the stalk. They free fall and more vines shoot up.

His ninpo swirls and cheers as Leo grabs the lifeless arm and his sword pops into his other hand as he declares, “HOT SOU-!”

FLASH.

Comforting heat surrounds him and energy zips through his veins.

This is right, but something about it feels wrong.

The portal spits them out like old gum.

Leo hits the ground with a gasp. He releases the turtle to scan the perimeter, ready for another threat to rear it’s head. He doesn’t remember where he was thinking of going when they ran.

Apparently, it was about the entrance to their personal death trap.

At least it’s somewhere familiar?

The Krang creature is still limp on the ground where they left it.

Leo looks back down the tunnel, completely ready to be swarmed by vengeful vegetation.

Silence echoes back to him. He blinks, cautious.

Oh man. Oh geez. He’s alive. He’s actually alive!

Leo scoots back until his shell knocks the wall.

His ninpo refuses to acknowledge the new adrenaline drained exhaustion, spinning and buzzing and searching? with a giddy joy that is incredibly inappropriate for the less immediate but still continuing crisis that he’s dealing with.

Additionally frustrating, “YOU HAVE NINPO?!”

The turtle, who is likely still unconscious, does not answer.

So Leo stands shakily, turns on his flashlight, and stomps over to the limp body to kick his leg with a reasonable force.

The turtle doesn’t stir. He kicks him a second time. “Oh-ho, we are going to have a talk when you wake up!”

In retrospect, the threat was probably a bad idea. It would only give him more ammunition to stay under. That’s probably why he spent the next eternity sleeping like a dead person. Yep. Indubitably.

He’s might be playing dead, but it’s not good enough.

His stubborn heartbeat gives away the truth.

Leon stays by his side, staring out into the nothing in the distance. He drums his fingers against his legs, letting himself have the moment to breath through the permanent ache in his chest.

After a couple minutes of literally nothing happening, Leo gives into the prodding of his ninpo. He reaches out a hand, finger tips on the turtles arm. He doesn't know what he expects. Nothing happens.

The turtle remains prone and none of the earlier lights reappear. Yet Leo knows that flakes of his own ninpo now rest inside of this turtle.

He can feel them like Donnie's tech can sense the trackers that he so rudely implanted in his family, only Leo's wasn't intentional and probably didn't work that way. His ninpo pulsates warmth at the connection, but it's not real. It's not bred off love or trust or years of growth and loyalty. If anything, he forced it on him.

This could have repercussions. This could be so bad.

But Leo's ninpo feels stronger now. Not powerful or amazing or godly, but stronger. It beams at the connection, humming with a new energy that it's never felt before. He doesn't feel empty.

Selfishly, he realizes, he doesn't regret it.

He pulls his hand away. His ninpo quiets obediently.

The silence rings when he allows himself to settle, drilling relentlessly into his brain. Since there's no one to talk to, he talks to himself, walking his brain through the lyrics of a song that he can't quite place. His fingers drum the beat against the air.

It's some lovesick break-up song that Donnie hates, which is actually a hard accomplishment, so it's a shame that he let the words slip through his fingers. When did that happen? When did he, Leo, get to busy to remember the top ten ways to annoy Donnie?

He should probably know. He knocks his lower palm into his head.

Oh! He snaps triumphantly. That's it! Before Shredder! He became leader and-

And. He ran out of time to focus on things like that. Annoying Raph became a lot easier to fit in his schedule. Way too easy.

It's not supposed to be that easy.

Leo... Can't remember the lyrics anymore. Man.

He should really be writing this down.

He gets out the notes app on his phone and restarts the process.

Even with the light at its lowest setting, the phone is unreasonably bright. His eyes begin burning after a short while. Rocking turns to pacing turns to sitting turns to catching himself when his body tries to pass out. The roller coaster jolt has him back awake in seconds.

He rubs the sleep from his eyes, determined to stay awake and keep watch. He owes the turtle that much.

Man. Leon hates debts.

Once he wakes up, completely and totally fine, they can be even.

He finds his head bowing thrice more. During the fourth, his brain registers that his eyes have been closed for several seconds and he has to forcibly pry them open. He picks up his phone from the ground and gets to his feet, shaking his head to wake himself up.

The turtle hasn't moved. He kneels next to him, checking his heartbeat. It's the same. Is that good or bad?

Movement from the entrance.

Leo looks toward it immediately, scanning for the cause. The silence echoes to him. Everything is as motionless as it always is.

Goosebumps rise along his body. He stays put.

A red glow bathes the area right outside.

Leo's sweaty hand goes for his sword.

A hand drops from over the entrance to the platform. Black. Metallic. Claw-like fingers.

He takes it out of his sheath. He watches them pinch into the flesh of the dead Krang creature. It lifts the body out of sight. He can clearly hear each crunch and squelch of something breaking through bones and mass. Nausea swells and his knees shake, but he doesn't dare move from his stance over the unconscious turtle.

The blue of his ninpo sparks, waiting to be called upon. He can't waste it. Not again. He can't risk using it before he needs to. He'll only have so many shots. Maybe Krang will pass over them.

If he knew Leo was there, they'd already be dead.

He holds his breath when all sounds stop.

Something screeches.

It comes from everywhere at once and swallows all sound to stab into Leo's brain as he hits his knees. His blade falls from his hand so he can clamp both hands over his head, putting pressure down in the desperate attempt to muffle it.

It barely makes a dent in the pain. He squints up, barely holding onto consciousness, and watches as claws tear away at the roof.

Before he can process, the claws have shot through the hole and knocked him onto his back. He hits his carapace and the world blots, pain shooting up in waves, red consuming his vision. Krang lifts the head enough to grant him some clarity. He expects the monstrous fury, but he doesn't even look his way, taking in their surroundings.

"Look at that. Still alive."

His eyes return to Leo. He squirms under the weight, wondering if that's going to be the last thing that he hears before this truth becomes a lie. He thrusts his hand outside the claws, and his sword spawns in his hand. Krang's eyes widen, "How-?"

He doesn't let him finish. He escapes his clutches, transporting a few feet away, arm around his ribs. His heart practically stops, as he realizes that the Krang wasn't directing the first statement to him.

He's lifted the turtle from the ground, shell captured between two fingers. Krang looks from him to the unconscious turtle. The suit shakes him carelessly but the turtle doesn't wake. "Ah. Another menace with more tricks.” A smirk forms, slowly revealing sharp teeth. “And where there's one, there's an army waiting to join Krang."

"Put him down." His spine has a million tiny needles in it, but he remains standing, hands tight over his hilt. "Put him down."

"That's the problem with heroes." The Krang turns the turtle over, like a customer inspecting merchandise. Leo can only look between them in badly contained panic. "So determined to save that you won't do what needs to be done. All your determination to put me here, and yet you let him live. Pathetic."

"How did you find us?" Leo's voice crumbles, weak. Krang didn't even check inside. He knew. "How did you know?"

"I went looking." He tilts the suit's head at him, smug. "My brainless snacks have eyes everywhere. Last thing that it saw was a pest and a tool. So I came to collect."

"What do you want with him?" Leo demands, filling in the blanks even as the question leaves his mouth. Tool. "Leave him alone. He won’t even wake up! He’s useless to you!”

“He’ll wake.” He trails a finger along his skull. “The Krang have ways of getting into the minds of our prey.”

Leo thinks of Raph. His hands shake, and his voice hardens, “Yeah, I noticed. What do you want from him? He’s not anything special. He’s a poser whose shell I literally just had to save.”

Just put him down. Please put him down.

“I want what we both want.” Krang eyes glow. “Freedom.”

A laugh escapes, practiced and baffled. Who else thinks this turtle is capable of the impossible? “Are you kidding? He can’t do that!”

"Of course you'd say that." Krang mocks. "Where would you be without tricks and deception?"

"Not here." Leo points out because duh. "If we could just go back, don't you think we would have already?"

"I suppose you'd believe that's all it takes to persuade me." Krang stands to his full height and Leo steps back. "I have eons of experience under my belt. I know all about the unexplained forces that can tax or fuel a lower life form. I've conquered and defeated mounds of sniveling creatures with impossible abilities."

"And yet this teeny turtle beat you at your own game." Leo's heart pounds hard. He needs to push harder. Say whatever he has to so that Krang puts him down. "He's been unconscious for the last ever. He's not getting you out and you're grasping at straws."

"You got lucky. That is all." He snarls as he bends his knees and Leo's heart races as he leers over him. "And once I return to my Brother and Sister, I will slaughter everyone you love for it. Or better yet, send the rest back here to finish you."

He grins, eyes maniac, and before Leo can get a word in, he leaps.

He springs up and through the hole in the roof. The force knocks Leo off his feet, but panic shoots through his systems. His ninpo assists before he even hits the ground. He lands against rocks, looking up as Krang lands on a floating surface.

"HEY!" He shouts after him. "BRING HIM BACK!"

The Krang ignores him, launching them further away as if he'd never spoken at all. Leo tries to follow but he barely gets a few steps before his legs give out. The fire eats away at his ribs and spine, making it hard to get his breath. He lifts his head, vision splitting, as two Kraang merge into one and then none.

Then, he's gone, taking Leo's only hope of survival with him.

He forces himself to his feet. He can't let this happen. He doesn't care if the turtle's crazy or a liar or a hero or a villain. It doesn't matter if he's mean and rude and snide and sad and hurt. He wants to go home as much as Leo does. He asked for Leo's help and he's failing him again. The Krang took him and now he's gone.

The anger burns hotter than any of his injuries.

It's a familiar injustice. The kind that comes when his dad won't hear his side of the story because Raph already gave his admittedly accurate side. The kind that comes from watching Donnie mock his brilliant puns and Mikey break his things without repercussion because he bit his tongue too often and allowed it.

A fury that reminds that, even if it's partly his fault, he doesn't care.

It's his story, his pun, his jacket with paint now on it.

He glares in their direction, furious and desperate and terrified to be left alone, and his hand shoots out. Ninpo surrounds it in a bright circle as he pushes out and closes his fist. He calls it all back, drawing his hand down to his chest. Every ounce that's his.

Every. Single. Bit.

He feels the tug deep within as the heat finds purchase.

The turtle spawns before him, in a sparkling shower of blue and white, and it shocks Leo enough that he steps away.

He falls onto the rocks and Leo snaps to himself.

He practically tackles him, listening to the booming shout that echoes to them. He cannot believe the idiot is still unconscious after all that, but he grabs his sword, looks towards the sound, and spots Krang as he throws himself towards them.

His eyes burn a flaming red and Leo gives him a haughty salute.

FLASH.

The portal swallows them and dumps them back where they started.

It's only a couple feet deeper than they were before, the chucks of metal from the broken roof lying in front of them. Leo drapes himself over the motionless form, watching as the ground cracks when the Krang lands. He roars, once, enraged, and then he charges out of sight. The ground shakes when he launches himself into the abyss of nothingness. Leo listens to him land and take off again.

"Okay," He wheezes as he clings tightly to the thankless turtle that's speckled with his energy. He remains against his plastron, pain swirling his surroundings and swallowing every inch of senses.

His arm slips to the floor. He can't so much as twitch his finger. Relief floods his system anyway. "Now... We're even."

His vision gives out like the ground crumbling outside.

This time, Leo doesn't bother to fight it.

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