Disclaimers: I Don't Own TMNT.

Chapter 5: Slowly Becoming One

"LEONARDO!"

Raph skidded to a stop on the edge of a building, his breath coming short. As soon as he caught his breath, he swept the area for any sign of his older brother. Seeing as there were none, he moved on to the next location he thought his brother might turn up.

But the sudden call of his name stopped him. Turning to look over his shoulders, he spotted two familiar forms running towards him.

Donnie and Mikey caught up to their hot-tempered brother and glanced worryingly at him. They had been in the main living room, when Raph had gotten a call from April that send him into a furious frenzy. Without saying a word to them, he had left. So the two decided to follow after him.

Confusion swept on Raph's face for a split second, but as soon as it was there, it was replaced by anger and rage. "Wha-...How the hell did you find me?!"

"Easy. I tracked down your shell cell." Donnie replied.

"Why the shell didn't you tell before we could do that?!" He shouted, his voice steadily rising. He curled his fists together and took a step towards Donnie.

Donnie frowned deeply and took a step closer to their fuming brother.

Mikey looked from Donnie to Raph. The air filled with tension as the two brother's stared eye to eye.

"I did tell you," Donnie said sternly, a hint of annoyance in his tone and his voice also rising in volume, "But you were too busy playing dark knight and kicking ninja 'ass', that you didn't pay attention when I did. Now tell me. What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On."

Raphael and Mikey turned their heads to the usual calm, geeky brother and stared at him with shock. Donnie was never one for foul language...only when he was extremely pissed.

"Umm...Sorry, Don." Raphael muttered, watching his younger brother with wide eyes.

He quickly explained what happened with April's call involving Leo being in danger. Donnie nodded, and pulled out his shell cell.

After punching in a certain code into the device, a map of NYC appeared suddenly on the screen above the keyboard followed by a blue beeping dot locating Leo's exact location.

"He's just North West from here." Donnie eye's roamed around the small map, "Raph, from what the readings say, he's not moving at all. Do you think he mi-"

"We better hurry then." Raph interrupted.

Raphael didn't want to think about the possibility that his brother might be dead. Why had he come to that conclusion?

'No.' He thought to himself, 'I just got my big brother back and damn it all if he's going to be taken away from me again.'

Raph picked up his pace, and ran towards the direction of his brother's location, his younger brothers following close behind him.

In a matter of minutes, the three brothers reached an empty park, but there was no sign of Leonardo.

"Donnie, are you sure this is the place?" Mikey asked stepping forward into the park.

"Yeah, we're right on the dot."

"Then why the SHELL isn't he here!", Raph shouted through gritted teeth. This whole thing was infuriating and just when they got a damn clue to where Leonardo was, he wasn't there. For all they knew, he could be dying!

"I don't know! The readings are clearly showing he's here!"

Mikey scrunched away while his two brothers argued, when a reflection of light beamed out of the corner of his eye. Past the run down playground set the beam of light faintly shined again. Walking away from his brothers, Mikey held his breath as he got closer.

"Damn it! Donnie, we need to find him!"

"Don't you think I already know that! I want to find him as much as you do, Raphael! But I do-"

"Guys.." The two brothers looked up from their glare on one another, and stared at the ridged form of Mikey as he knelt on the ground holding a pair of familiar katanas and a blinking shell cell.

Raphael walked over to his brother and cursed under his breath. This was bad. Leo would never leave behind his precious katanas, and definitely wouldn't leave his shell cell behind either.

"Damn it!" Raphael shouted, throwing his hands into the air before slamming his fist into the closest object near him: a tree.

Mikey gripped the device and katanas close to his chest, fighting the urge to break down in tears. Upon clenching the katanas, Mikey felt a wet moister against his hand and brought it out into the light casted by the moon. His eyes widened as the wet moister revealed itself to be nothing other than bright red blood.

"R-r-raa-pphh." Trembling against his will, he couldn't get the rest of the words out.

Noticing the sudden change in his little brother, Donnie began to kneel besides him when the snap of a twig echoed behind them.

Taking immediate action, Raphael swiftly grabbed the hilts of his sais, and disappeared into the shadows while Donnie pulled out his bow stick, waiting for any sudden attack. Mikey shoved Leo's shell cell into his pocket, and placed the katanas firmly on his back.

Another twig snapped and the sound of two bodies colliding together caught Mikey's full attention. It was followed by shouts, and fists meeting skin. Shortly after, Raphael shouted out in pain.

"Raph!" Mikey staggered to his feet, his nun-chunks already in his hands, and ran in the direction his brother's shout had come from. Donnie ran at a close range to his little brother, and shifted his gaze back and forth, cautious for any ambush that could attack them from the shadows.

"Raph! Where are you?!" Mikey shouted.

"I'm fine, Mikey." Mikey and Donnie turned to their left, and watched as the outline of Raphael's body came into view.

"That mother fucker!" Raphael growled, clenching a new wound on his arm. Trails of red blood streamed down his arm, leaving drops on the dead grass below. Donnie rushed to his side and dropped to the ground, grabbing a hold of his arm. After a keen observation, Donnie began to undo his bandana on his head to stop the bleeding, but was shoved roughly by Raphael.

"Raph?"

"I'm fine. Lets go find the fucker, and then Leo."

After he hid in the shadows, Raphael had immediately spotted the unknown figure. He/she was leaning against a tree, taking in harsh, deep breaths, but it was too dark for Raph to make out the person. He decided to quietly sneak up on the being when his foot carelessly stepped on a twig. The figure turned around when the twig snapped and had turned to run, but it was all too late. Raphael tackled the person to the ground, but received a punch to the face. And that sure as hell didn't make him happy.

As soon as he had the struggling person apprehended beneath him, he pointed the sharp end of his sais on the intruder's neck. When his anger began to recede, it was then that he noticed the body form under him. It was...like him.

"L-" He had begun to say, but before his brother's name left his lips, the fucker pulled out a concealed weapon, and had stabbed it into his arm once Raphael's hold on him loosened for a mere second.

No way was Raphael Hamato gonna let this fucker live.

Donnie looked up at Raphael uncertainly, but nodded his head in agreement. From behind Mikey let out a shaky breath, and the corners of his lips lifted into a small smile, but as quickly as the smile had come, Mikey saw movement from behind his brothers, and shouted for them to move.

At Mikey's sudden outburst, the two brothers leaped to their right, and where they were seconds ago, a body staggered with a bloody dagger in hand.

"Leo?" The three said as blue familiar tails danced in the wind. The light produced from the moon revealed their intruder to be their big brother and leader, Leonardo.

Leo's breathing came in short breaths, his eyes glazed over, but there was caution in them. Where fresh, white bandages once were, it was soaked with blood, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The dagger in his hand was slightly trembling in his hold, but Leo shook his head and tightened his grip. In his glazed over eyes, Mikey could see every emotion. Anger, hatred, and...confusion.

"Must...Fight..." He muttered, then shook his head again.

Mikey took a step forward, but Leo turned his head in Raphael's direction, and stagger over to him. Although knowing it was Leo, Raphael still held his sais tightly in his hands. Right now Leo wasn't in the right state of mind, and Raphael didn't want to find out what his deranged brother would do. What he would be forced to do.

A expression of pain coursed through Leo's face, and he dropped the dagger as he lifted his hands to clench his head, whimpering in pain. He took several steps forward, but his legs gave out and Raphael rushed over to catch him before Leo could hit the ground.

"Leo! Bro, what wrong!" Raphael shouted, looking down at him.

Leo took another sharp breath, his eyes shut tightly, but he forced them open and looked Raphael squarely into his dark brown eyes. Raphael froze under his piercing gaze and felt Leo place two hands on his shoulders. The fire in Leo's dark brown eyes ignited.

"Raphael..Hamato...You must protect..him." Leo said sternly, and before Raphael could let go of the breath he didn't realize he was holding, Leo sagged against him, losing his consciousness.

Donnie ran to Raph, grabbed Leo, and gently placed him on the ground. While Donnie observed Leo, Mikey walked over, kneeling beside him. Although Leo had lost consciousness, he face still held the expression of sheer agony. He breathing was still coming in sharp gasp as if every breath was a stab of pin needles to his lungs.

Looking over at Raph, Mikey saw the confusion in Raph's eyes as he remained standing, staring down at Leo.

"Protect who?" Raphael whispered.

The rhythm of Leo's steady heart beats sounded around the silent lab. Donnie strode over to his brother's cot, and observed the heart monitor for any abnormal activity for the fifth time in just ten minutes. Once finding all signs normal, he settled himself on the chair beside the bed, and just sat there, watching the rise and fall of his brother's chest.

"How is he?" Raphael asked as he entered the lab, and stood besides the bed. He felt a sudden rage when his eyes fell on his brother's newly bandaged arm and faint bruises he had not noticed till now.

"Once I find the bastard who did this, I swear I'm going to gorge the life outta them." He whispered harshly under his breath, but loud enough for Donnie to hear.

Donnie didn't say a word, but his clenched fist said it all.

"He lost a lot of blood from a small wound and had a terrible fever, Raph." Donnie replied to Raphael's earlier question, "I was able to soothe down the fever, and the blood transfusion is also helping."

They watched as Leo's body began to tremble on the bed, and an agonized moan escaped his lips. Donnie leaned forward and grabbed Leo's pale hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze and whispered reassuring words until Leo stopped trembling and settled back into the bed. Raphael frowned at seeing his normally strong brother...look so small and weak. A sudden urge of protectiveness washed over him and before he knew it, he moved closer to the bed.

"Any room for one more?" Mikey joked while standing beside the door to the medical lab.

"Perhaps three more?" Master Splinter voiced asked as he entered behind Mikey, followed by April and Casey.

"Yeah," Donnie answered, looking over his shoulder at their new company, "Come in."

April walked closer to the bed, and when her eyes landed on Leo, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Is he alright?" She asked timidly.

"He'll be fine, April. Once the fever breaks away, he should be alright."

April nodded understandingly and quickly felt guilty. If only she hadn't called for him to come over, then none of this would have happened.

"There is one thing though," Donnie said, looking away from their curious eyes and watching Leo again, "While I was conducting a medical check up, the computers detected traces of sedative drugs in his system, likely coming from the puncture wound on his shoulder."

Everyone stared silently at Donnie as he seated himself right in his chair.

"Who ever did this to him...didn't intend on him coming home."

The room became eerily silent besides the steady beeping of the heart monitor in the background. It was Raphael that broke the silence as he crossed his arms together in anger and determination.

"If they want Leo, then there gonna have to go through me first!" He growled.

Mikey felt the room begin to fill with tension, and he did what he knew would ease it away.

"Aaawww...Raphie, I didn't know you were so protective!" Mikey cooed, "Leo's personal knight in shining armor."

All eyes landed on Mikey, but Donnie was the first the burst into laughter as Raphael stared at Mikey with a look of bewilderment before it was filled with a look of anger and embarrassment.

"Mikey! You little-!" Raphael yelled, his cheeks blushing furiously, and he jumped for his little brother, who once saw the anger in his eyes took off for a place to hide. Raphael ran out of the lab after Mikey in a deadly pace.

"Seems like some things don't change." April said as her laughter died down.

Donnie watched after his brothers and let a smile cross his face as memories before the time of Leo's departure for training two years ago flashed before his eyes.

They had been so close to one another. Each important in keeping the family as a whole. But when Leo left for training two years ago, the family just...broke apart. Mikey working as an entertainer in the party business, Donnie putting up with a tech online help job, and Raphael gone all night and slept all day.

Before Leonardo returned from Central America, there were no jokes, no laughter...just nothing. Now that Leo was home, Mikey joked more often, Raphael stayed home most of the time instead of kicking ass, and Donnie was able to work on the broken appliances Mikey managed to break in the Lair, despite how infuriating it was to him in the past.

Life just wasn't the same without their big brother and leader. Leo was the center of all of them. Without him, they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. He was the pillar of strength that kept them together and made sure no one was left behind. He showed them that they were all strong in their own unique way, that we had a purpose in this small family, and was always there when it seemed like life was against us. Leo loved us in a way we love him back. Maybe even more than they gave him credit for.

Donnie looked back at Leo and remembered some of the harsh words he had spoken to his big brother in the first weeks of his return followed by the constant glares.

After he had gotten over his anger towards his big brother, he was filled with guilt but didn't know how to apologize or talk to Leo.

Slowly the broken pieces of their little family was putting itself back together. They would once again become the family, Donnie knew. It would be slow, but in time.

Donnie gaze lingered on Leo, the small smile still on his face.

"Yeah, I guess some things do."

Sorry for the long update on this one. It's been pretty busy these couple of weeks, but now I should be able to update a new chapter frequently throughout the month. Thank you for reading and I hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter!