Chapter 2

A/N: Yes, I'm back! Work has been murder on me, barely giving me anytime to write or type up anything. I have a job that is so boring that my main source of entertainment is thinking about this fanfic endlessly. Mulling over different concepts and wondering how they would mold and expand into each other, it's ridiculous how boring my job is ugggghh. Sorry for the work rant but I figured that I'd explain on my lack of update, in this chapter its basically giving you a glimpse of what is to come. I hope that you all enjoy this and that I can provide you some sort of entertainment.

Summary: All I remember is the sight of my father falling, blood trailing out like a waterfall as I can only stand there in utter shock. The utter satisfaction in her eyes makes my skin crawl, all I could do is watch as she raised her blade to finish the job…. eliminating me. Leo/April completely centered AU

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninja Turtles or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, all of it owned by Viacom and Nickelodeon.

Leo didn't know how long he stayed in bed, time seeming to morph together in a blur as the steady stream of rain and thunder rumbled throughout the air outside. The torrential downpour was enough to make Leo's blank sapphire eyes slowly open, blinking the bit of sleep back into his subconscious mind. Groggily, Leo shifted softly as his entire body cracked into place again as he sat up. Cocking his head slightly, Leo could make out how the shingles were clanging and slightly ringing.

"New entry to the to-do-list; fix roof and replace shingles." Leo mumbled softly to himself, letting out a breath of held air as his shoulders slumped. He knew that there was so much work that needed to be done around here but yet didn't even bothering moving to a better equipped area. Deep down, Leo had grown attached to this place as his longing for a stable home had quickly clung to this rundown shack.

"No time like the present I guess." Leo said softly, holding his breath as he carefully lifted himself up from his bed and started to do his stretches. His limbs and bones cracking into place, letting out a soft grunt every now and then.

The stretches themselves helped loosen his body up and brought a small smile to Leo's lips, the connection to his family was still there. It was quite funny how doing these simple stretches helped him immensely in such a small way. Taking a deep breath and shifting himself to sit down on the floor, Leo allowed his mind to set as his closed his eyes and tried to slip into a meditating state.

It didn't take long before Leo's mind started to wander, his eyelids tensing as a soft grunt slipped out. He could feel his gut starting to twist into a knot, uncomfortable memories soon flooding into his mind.

"Karai! Stop! That's your father!"

"SENSEI!"

"Y-You…. you killed him. You killed your own father-! HOW COULD YOU KILL HIM?! HE JUST WANTED YOU TO COME HOME!"

"No!" Leo cried out loudly, gasping wildly as he snapped awake and leaned forward to clutch his head as the memories struggled to surface and overtake him. His blank eyes staring wildly at the floor, curled up in a slight fetal position. Struggling to maintain control, Leo forced the memories back into his mind and tried to calm the tremors wracking his form. "Not now, not now." Leo mumbled softly to himself over and over again, a little mantra he used to calm himself down.

Slowly but surely, Leo allowed himself to relax as he tipped his head back a little and looked up at the ceiling blankly. Not being able to see it was disheartening but strangely enough, reassuring. A weak chuckle left his lips at the irony of it all as a smirk worked its way across Leo's lips before allowing himself to relax his shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, Leo gathered himself to his feet as his right hand drifted to the wall in front of him and to use it as a support. The old wooden panel felt soothing to Leo's hand as he awkwardly shuffled out of the small room and down the hallway that lead the way towards the living room.

He barely made it half way down the hallway before his 'ninja senses' kicked in and he almost slammed himself up against the wall, clinging to it. Stunned at first, Leo quickly remembered as he sighed softly, his head tipping down towards the floor.

I completely forgot about the hole in the floor. Leo thought sarcastically in his mind, still remembering when he had stepped there while carrying firewood from downstairs. From the combined weight of his body and the huge armload of firewood, his leg busted through the rotted floor and practically pulled him down through the floor. In the process, his right leg had been cut up a bit and the firewood Leo was carrying rained down around him and nicked his shoulder and arms.

He considered himself lucky that he hadn't sustained any long last injuries from that accident, not needing another injury to heap onto what had happened. Silently shuffling down the hallway, Leo stepped into the living room with his hand still on the wood paneling. Bracing himself, Leonardo shifted further inside as he slowly worked his way over to the old couch and carefully sat down on it.

Drawing his legs up onto the couch, Leo wrapped his arms around them while laying his chin on top of his knees. The comforting position helped him relaxed a little a loud rumble of thunder ripped through the air, a chill going down his spine as Leonardo arched a bit. From his position on the couch, Leo could feel some drafts slipping in through the worn paneling as Leonardo shuddered at the cold air hitting his frame.

His shoulders slumped slightly at his inability to find them as well as patch them up without the proper materials needed. At least, without having to resort to stealing and with how much trouble he was having with meditation; Leonardo didn't want to risk himself getting injured even more then he was. "At least it's still warm out for now." Leo said softly to himself, knowing that fall was just around the corner and that he'd have to prepare himself for a long, cold winter.

His blank sapphire eyes roamed around blindly, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good but the habit itself still wouldn't wear off as Leonardo closed his eyes lightly. Trying to purge his mind of the inevitable reality of a cold winter and without a means of preparing himself, a loud growl ripped through the air as Leo grimaced. His right hand drifted down towards his plastarn, feeling the loud rumbles coming from his stomach vibrating like crazy.

"When did I last eat?" Leonardo asked himself softly, trying to think back as he shifted through the last couple of weeks before letting out a soft sound of confirmation. "Two days sounds about right, I had some potatoes." Leo mumbled gently, the very memory itself caused his stomach to growl in both frustration and hunger. A light chuckle slipped past Leonardo's lips, finding it funny as the loud rumbling of the storm outside reminded him of what was bothering him. His eyes narrowed slightly in concern, knowing that there was a high probability of his vegetable garden being destroyed.

"Please," Leonardo mumbled softly, tightening his hold on his legs as if it was going to help in anyway. "Please be okay." Leo said in a soft whisper, another loud rumble of thunder ripped through the air as a flash of lightning followed shortly afterwards. The lightning startled the turtle as he snapped his head up, shuffling himself off the couch and awkwardly made his way into the small kitchen nearby. Leonardo's hand shifted around on the cabinets before eventually finding a small harvest of canned goods, encircling one of the cans.

Grimacing, Leo pulled out his tanto from his wraps and popped a hole in the can large enough in case any thing solid was in the can. "Man do I miss pizza." Leo said with a wry smile, the very image itself made his stomach growl even louder at the thought as he tipped his head back with the can pressed to his mouth.

The feeling of something chunky slid into his mouth as Leo's eyes closed tightly, forcing the food to go down as he awkwardly munched on it. "Mixed Fruit," Leo said softly, the taste of pineapples heavily present on his lips as he tipped his head back again. "Heh, didn't think I had any of this left." He mumbled lightly with a chuckle, forcing the food down. He knew that his stash of canned goods was running low, it wasn't that hard to see.

His hand tightened around the slowly empty can as Leonardo knew that eventually, he would have to go into the closest village nearby and steal from the canned food drive. Which would be his first mission in the whole six months of isolation that Leonardo put himself in. He couldn't help but feel a small ounce of pride in himself for having lasted this long without any need to scavenge or forage, having painstakingly rationed them out to the best of his capabilities.

Carefully shuffling from the kitchen and back to the living room, Leonardo softly sat down on the couch again while placing the can of fruit on the floor next to where he sat. Curling his legs back up onto the couch and wrapping his arms around them, Leo jumped softly at the sudden cry of thunder ripping through the air. His shoulders tense a bit as Leonardo shuddered at another draft slipping in at that moment, pulling his legs and body closer together as he calmly waited for the storm to pass outside.

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Leonardo softly pushed the front door to the house open, carefully making his way down the decrepit and old steps that lead to the ground. Taking in a whiff of fresh air, Leo smiled softly as the sun's rays hit his green skin as it warmed up his body. From where the sun was positioned on his skin, Leonardo guessed that it was late afternoon as he took another deep breath of air.

His shoulders relaxing, Leo shifted to his right as he headed towards the side of the house where his makeshift vegetable garden was. Although the land was already set up for planting, Leo just had to tend to the weeds and clean it up a bit. Thankfully, Leo didn't need to use his sight to garden since it was just a matter of feeling when and where to plant and all of it was due to touch and smell.

His feet touched the starting point of the garden as Leo couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in his gut, his head drifting down towards where it had laid. Licking his dry lips, Leonardo carefully knelt down and felt around as he processed what had happened.

All of his emotions started to bottle up at the realization, hot tears starting to well up as Leo clenched the destroyed vegetables in his fist. His fist trembling as Leonardo struggled to control his anger as his eye lids squeezed together tightly.

Calm down! Calm. Down. Leo thought to himself, getting a hold of himself as he let out a deep breath. Lifting his head up, Leo tilted it to see if he could hear anything out of the ordinary before slowly standing up. Okay…I should check to see if there is a tarp somewhere. Maybe in that shed nearby? I hope that there are some seeds left…otherwise I might have to take a trip into the village sooner than expected Leo thought to himself, biting his lip at the thought before awkwardly shifting over towards where the shed was supposed to be.

His feet shuffled across the ground, mentally counting to himself how far away the shed was to the garden. Leonardo quickly caught himself as he almost tripped over a stick on the way, his ninja skills kicking in at the right time as he silently cursed to himself.

"Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety," Leo counted softly, his feet shuffling slightly in front of him as he held his hands out to catch himself. "Ninety-one, ninety-oh! Okay so its ninety-one and a half steps from the garden to the shed." Leonardo smiled softly at his foot and hands touched the side of the decrepit old shed. His hand rummaging around on the outskirts of the shed to access the door before letting out a soft sound of joy as his hand encircled the handle.

Carefully prying the latch off of the lock, Leo slowly opened it as dust came out and caused a few sneezes to slip out. "R-Really…really need to dust this place out." Leonardo coughed softly, waving his free hand out in front of him to clear the dust away. His hand drifted from the handle to the inside of the door as Leo's foot felt around before finding the step, carefully putting his weight on it as he hoisted himself up into the shed.

His head shifting left to right to inspect the area even though Leo couldn't see, it was still an attempt to try and get a grasp of his surroundings. Leonardo's hands flitted around, trying to inspect everywhere in the tiny space, coughing every so often to clear his throat of the dust clouds. Shifting further inside, Leo hissed in pain as his left arm bumped into something as he rubbed where the pain was. Narrowing his eyes softly, Leonardo reached out and touched the offending object and realized that it was a gardening tool as he groaned.

"Nice going Leo." Leonardo mumbled sarcastically underneath his breath, sighing softly as he carefully moved around. His hands roaming everywhere as Leo's eyes widened at what he was touching before picking the object up in his hands. Right away, Leo knew that he was holding a hammer as a soft smile came on his face.

"If there's a hammer, I wonder if there are any nails laying around." Leonardo asked himself, his mood brightening softly as the revelation alone made his plans a bit easier. Even though he'd have better luck of just accepting the cold weather when it comes, it still wouldn't hurt to try and find some materials and patch what he could.

"Besides, it'll conserve on heating and firewood." Leo said with a small smile, his hand shuffling around on the shelves before wincing at a soft little prick. Carefully, Leonardo moved his hand to the side and carefully picked up the object. His finger lightly rubbing up against the object as a bright smile slowly shifted across his lips, excitement welling up a little. "All right! That's a good thing, okay now I need to find a tarp." Leo said with a hint of excitement. He couldn't believe his luck, finding both nails and a hammer in good condition as Leonardo carefully removed the bin of nails. Carefully shifting the items in his arms, Leo set the two of them on the ground outside and went back to softly shuffling through the small shack.

Before long, Leonardo came out pulling a big blue tarp as his grin was permanently glued to his lips. He couldn't get over his find considering how far back in the shed this stuff was. Carefully moving back into the shed, Leo pulled out some stakes for the tarp and the best find of them; a huge bucket filled with different packets of seeds.

It was almost too much for Leo to handle as he forced himself to relax, chuckling at how stupid he must've looked like at that moment. "Geez, getting so emotional over something like this. How pathetic." Leo said with a wry chuckle, taking a deep breath as he set out on the task of removing the dead and destroyed vegetables.

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Leonardo carefully sat up from his kneeled position, groaning as he cracked his back from the hours of working on his garden. The sun's rays were starting to drift away as the night sky came into full bloom, crickets chirping as Leo sat there beside his garden. Rotating his shoulders to get the kinks out, Leonardo carefully stood up as he covered his garden with the tarp securely in case it rained that night. Taking a deep breath, Leo stared softly out in the distance as the wind picked up at that point. His blue mask tails fluttering in the wind as Leonardo closed his eyes; relishing in it as his body relaxed.

This day has definitely been an eventful one; never thought that I'd luck out like I did today. Leo thought softly, his smile slowly slipping away from his lips as his mind trailed back towards the people that he had left behind. To protect them from himself and all of the mistakes that he could bring to them in the possible future, Leonardo knew that this was the best option he could make.

But still…I miss you guys. I miss you so much it hurts, but I don't deserve to be with you guys. You all have your own paths to live and having a pathetic older brother shouldn't be in the picture. Leo thought softly, his fists clenched tightly around the bucket of seeds before softly finding his way back into the house for the night.

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Every brick and every stone; Of the world we made will come undone – Fire and Fury Lyrics by Skillet

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A/N: Oh. My…god! I finished this before my shift! It's a miracle yay! Okay okay, calm down. I know that it was inevitable but I am so proud of this chapter. *Squeals like crazy* It's my longest yet! 13 pages and I just couldn't stop! Okay next chapter is introducing a new character.

And I'll give you a hint hehe!

It's our resident brainiac turtle! Please read and review!