Chapter Text
The hunger was too insatiable to ignore.
He was doing so well until now..
The lair, once a place that Leo could confide in, was in a state of chaos.
“LEO STOP KNOCK IT OFF” he could hear his brother’s frantic shouts but the sharp pain sting on the shoulder made him focus back on his target.
He was so hungry
A pained yell as he latched his fangs onto his prey.
-mikey was screaming-
“LEO GET OFF OF HIM”
The last thing Leonardo felt was the taste of blood and two strong hands shoving him away with such force that his old shell injury retaliated.
And when he came back again he was slouched against the wall. His brothers were in front of him a couple feet away- hovered over a familiar furry body soaked with blood.
No..
Mikey was crying, raph had picked up the lifeless mound of fur and ran towards the medbay while Donatello was already on the phone with draxum.
All Leo could do was watch.
.
‘Im a monster’
-When Donnie had finally turned to check on Leo, his twin was no longer there. The wall where the slider had laid just a few moments was barren, with no trace that the blue turtle was even there-
~
The slider huffed as he lifted the sack of potatoes over his shoulder, the sun beating down relentlessly on its victim as Leo walked down the familiar dusty road of the farmers market.
‘Grab fish and get out grab fish and get out grab fish- oh great zachery is coming over-’
The little kid yokai, zachery, probably only around seven or eight approached the masked turtle with little to no second thoughts that maybe Leo wanted to be left alone.
“HI MISTER AOI!!” the mongoose shouted, practically skipping on his way,
Even though Leo tried to hide it, he had a soft spot for the kid.
“It's just Aoi, kid.” Leo grunted walking ahead but the kid had caught up to him easily.
“Okay mister!” the kid replied cheerfully,
Leo sighed, rubbing in between his eyes, “Does your mom know you're talking to me? Pretty sure she would chew you out if she knew” the slider spat still bitter, although it was quite reasonable for the villagers to be wary of the random guy that appears out of the forest every couple of days always wearing a hooded mask that shielded his appearance. Leo was pretty sure they only tolerated him because he always came with something to trade, and he would occasionally help the farmers with their crops when there was time to spare.
“..she doesnt have to know..” the red mongoose muttered, rubbing his short curly brown hair and shrinking into himself,
Leo had made the wrong move by glancing over at the kid cause that little shit had activated his puppy eyes and that shit made leo give in.
“Alright fine you can come along just stop with the eyes already god. You are a menace, you know that right? Absolute menace.”
The kid just cheered and sidled up to Leo's side and held onto his cape so he didn't get lost.
Leo rolled his eyes and handed him one of the apples he had in his bag. What?? He wasn't gonna let the kid starve for gods sake!
For the rest of the shopping trip Zachary had never left Leo's side once, talking to him about all the things that had happened since the last time the slider was in town. Leo, who was half listening, just gave grunts in response, but that didn't dampen the little kid's spirit one bit. And if Leo was honest, he didn't mind it. It was better than the quiet.
~
The next time leo had visited the village zachary had brought along his friend jennika who was a green frog yokai with purple spots, Venus was only a year younger than zach and they were inseparable together.
It reminded Leo of his family..
Leo had been helping some of the farmers harvest their vegetables when they ran up to him,
“AOI AOI GUESS WHAT” the mongoose could have probably jumped all the way to the moon if it wasn't for venus who was holding his hand trying to keep up. The duos were smiling so much that there was no way it wasn't painful.
Leo glanced up at them, standing up and crossed his arms.
“What are you two doing? You should be at school.” He grunted and the kids looked away suspiciously dodging eye contact before Leo huffed, shook his head and went back to picking the radishes,
giddy with excitement jennika spoke, “WE GOT NEW PEOPLE COMING TO OUR VILLAGE. THEY SAY THERE HERE TO TRACK DOWN A EVIL DEMON”
“HEY I WANTED TO SAY IT” Zachary pouted.
Leo stiffened for a second too long that would have been noticeable to anyone other than the two adrenaline filled kids.
The slider took that moment to breathe before speaking, “is this what you wanted to tell me?” He grunted, digging into the ground with more force than necessary.
“Well yeah! Cause then you could see us more since you live in the woods and when the demons are gone you won't have to stay away for so long!” Zachary cheered. Leo's heart sank.
‘They're just kids ..’
Leo huffed, “we'll see”
~
It had been a week since the last time the slider had visited the village.
He felt bad but he didn't want to risk being caught.
But when he arrived he wasn't met with Zachary or Venus.
The village seemed tense . Leo had a gut feeling that It had to do with the absence of the kids
‘What happened here??’
He continued his path with more caution. Whatever was wrong, he wouldn't be caught off guard.
That's when he saw the familiar frog with purple spots. He sighed making his way towards the kid.
“Hey kid, what's going on? What happened here?”
The once cheery kid that Leo had last talked to a week ago looked at him with haunted eyes.
“I..Zach..” her eyes welled up as she practically flung herself at Leo. He tensed for a minute, hands up in the air, he could feel the village watching him, shocked.
But hearing the girl sob and shake he ignored everything else.
He slowly wrapped his arms around the poor kid and coaxed her. “Shh it's alright. It's gonna be okay.” He muttered with such sincerity as he held the crying girl.
“He- we wanted to give you a present - “ Venus hiccuped, Leo felt his chest tighten.
“I told him not to go, I told him.” The girl shouted, Leo rubbed her back, his eyes haunted .
“He got turned into a monster Aoi. It was horrible, “ the girl cried.
Leo couldn't breathe.
‘It's my fault. If I just had told them to stay away-’
“Aoi?”
Jennika was looking up at him now.
Leo didn't know what to do.
‘its my fault’
Then he remembered something.
The monster hunters.
Leo put his hands on the yokai’s shoulder, kneeling to meet her gaze .
“Venus .Have the hunters arrive yet.”
“Y-yeah a couple days ago why-”
Leo sprinted.
He doesn't remember the last time he had ran so fast
-if you didn't count that night -
He bolted into the woods. Looking for that familiar red fur
no no no he cant lose him. He can't lose another person-
That's when he heard it.
Zachary’s scream.
it was so terribly mangled. But Leo ran towards the sound anyway.
He saw the hunter standing over him with a blade in his chest.
He screamed.
Pushing the hunter off and grabbing the lifeless body of the child.
The sound he made made the hunter's blood curdle.
Leo lunged.
He didn't stop until the hunter was unrecognizable.
He painted heavily as he stood over the corpse.
Tears burned his eyes and poured down his cheek as he held Zachary to his chest.
I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry ‘