Chapter Text
Leo was an empath.
He understood his genius brother's fear of germs. A city like this with lots of people would also lead to a lot of germs going around. All year, all of the time. But this understanding did not imply that Leo would become as much as a hypochondriac and germophobe as Donnie was. As odd as that phenomenon was, considering they grew up in the sewers. With sewage. As in... well, no need to get into that.
Besides, who does not risk does not win! Sure, what can be won, exactly, when leaning on a subway railing? It is the aesthetic, the pizzazz! Leo knew he had looked cool as a cucumber leaning against that railing in the empty wagon. Not to anyone in particular besides his brothers and himself. But it is more about the fully lived experience, not just the momentary conviction!
Donnie had been righ–
Donnie was ri... he had had a... good idea. Using that disinfectant. Had Leo listened. Not that Leo would ever tell his brother that. He would never live it down.
Consequence? Leo awoke with the beginning of a headache, and a dry throat.
"Ugh... as long as that itchy feeling leaves after I drink something," he groaned quietly to himself, rubbing his left eye, the other still focused on the darkness in his room. Maybe he could lie back down for a bit? His bed was awfully comfy right now. But no, no! They needed to go on patrol tonight, and since it had been him to be so adamant about doing their rounds tonight, it would be him who needed to go even if no one else did.
Leo sighed, rolled onto his shell, and hoisted himself off the mattress– and back down he sat. Woah, vertigo much. Did one see red when about to pass out? Or did the colour even matter? OK, wrong thing to focus on here.
Just thinking about it, argh! It felt like someone was poking his brain with an icicle, just behind his brow ridge, left side. What had he read about that before? Nothing too serious, otherwise he would habe remembered it, surely. Still, he needed to finally get his medical notes in his head! This would not be a case of an easy fix, like when one of Donnie's machines broke down. There would be no repeats if one of his bros...
Leo could worry about the usual existential dread later. After their patrol. He did feel like he had been more scatterbrained, though. Lately.
So he stood up again, disliking how his head pulsed along with his heart, how there was this invisible heavy blanket wrapped around his shoulders, urging him to slouch. Draw within himself, keep warmth that was not even there anymore. He was so lethargic, and his muscles made sure he knew as much. He dragged himself out of his room and to the kitchen.
Well, he had to pause before actually entering the kitchen. The light was on, meaning someone was there. Which also meant two other things in consequence: first, Leo needed a moment to let his eyes adjust, and second, he needed to put on his confident and most healthy looking face. He would go for a mix of 'casually rugged' and 'just woke up'. Should be the perfect combo to convince his family that the, probably present, bags under his eyes were totally normal.
"OK, OK. Relax the forehead. No need for the Raph-chasm. Droopy eyes. Light smirk," he advised himself verbally and quietly. And entered the kitchen.
"Goood morning, hermanos," he greeted.
"It's nearly evening," Donnie replied non-committally. He was tapping busily on his tablet. What exactly he was doing, Leo had no clue. And right now, he did not care much either. He doubted it was important. Like, what? Another I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea project? ... Maybe he should check in with Dee later.
"Love you, too, Don. Hey, Mikey. That the last of Raph's cereal you got there?"
Michelangelo stopped shovelling spoonful after spoonful of what was certainly Raphael's last portion of cereal in his mouth. "Uhh... no? Maybe? ... don't tell him, please?" He pressed the palms of his hands together, a clear gesture that he was begging Leo not to tell on him.
He was no snitch, though (snitches get stitches!), so there would have been no way he would have regardless. "Sure, sure," he shrugged, and went to the coffee machine. Then he realised that the smell of coffee, nor the taste of it, seemed very appealing. But it would be very obvious that he did not feel swell if he did not drink at least one cup, and even more so if he made himself tea. Maybe a glass of water, followed by coffee.
A chill ran down his spine. Man, who had turned on the AC down here?! Leo suppressed it as best he could, hiding most of the shaking by stretching his body.
"Watcha doin', Donnie? Working on a new invention?" Mikey asked, drinking down the last of the milk from the bowl with a slurp.
"Maybe another drill? I still suggest installing the chocolate fountain," Leo interjected.
Donnie raised a brow. No, wait. He looked up at him, then raised a brow. "Why– that would just be messy and get everything sticky, Leonardo."
He shrugged in response. "Do you know how much more elegant chocolate fountains make any sorst of venue look? But hey, I get it. You just can't do it, that it?" He smirked, turning around to face his brother while the coffee machine did its thing.
Donnie, who had lowered his gaze back down to his tablet a few seconds earlier, looked up again. A challenging glint in his eyes, followed by the equally challenging tone in his voice as he declared: "Oh, I can so invent something like that, as impractical as it is!"
"Can you?"
"Ab–"
"Guys, time for patrol!" Raph had stuck his head in the kitchen. "You can fight later."
"We weren't 'fighting', Raphael," Donnie huffed, but got up to follow.
Leo, who had not even taken a sip from his pre-prepared glass of water, felt a sudden itch in the back of his throat. And he coughed, obviously. That tended to happen with that terrible itchiness.
He leaned away, coughing into the crook of his arm. No need to get his brothers sick.
"You okay, Leo?" Mikey.
"Uh-," another coughing fit which he tried to suppress, "yeah. Yeah. Just... water went down the wrong tube." His voice sounded hoarse already. He drank an actual sip of water to hopefully wet his dry throat.
For a few seconds, nothing. Then Mikey smiled and rushed off: "Okay, let's go then! I want to get this over with as soon as possible. Maybe I can buy some more cereal before Raph notices."
"Before Raph notices what?" Leo could hear Raph ask that out in the common room. Oops. He sighed, cleared his throat and went back to his room to grab his swords.
Raphael and Michelangelo had split up into one patrol team, Donnie and Leo in another. Leo had voted to be called the A-Team, which, for some unknown reason, Mikey and Raph had not enjoyed. Donnie had been okay with it. And he was the leader now, so it was his call.
The two turtles had perched on top of a flat rooftop. Looking down over the masses of people passing each other by. One rugged-looking, bearded man was holding a rat in his hand and calling out to anyone walking too close: "This is your worst nightmare!"
"Ah, New York! What a town," Donnie sounded both reminiscent, as well as mildly concerned. Leo was usually better at reading his brother. Must have been the headache. Or the crisp air. Or these icy pains in his joints. Earlier when they had left the sewer, and the sounds and smells of the upper world had hit him, he had suddenly felt nauseous. It had not been too bad at first. But the longer he stood here, the more Leo sensed something was worsening. And quickly.
He needed to distract himself.
"You think dad would be offended by this?"
"By New York?"
What? "No? The guy with- whatever. Let's finish our rounds and go back home."
They continued on for a couple minutes, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Leo did not like jumping around at the moment. He did not feel good, nor did his knees (was that how dad always felt?), nor his stomach. The more they jogged, the worse his throat felt. Dry, like sandpaper, and he could even taste a bit of blood thanks to all the strain put on his body that just wanted to lie down and rest with some tea in his hands. Every jump made his stomach do flips. Was that not an actual condition that could happen? Literally spin on itself and get into knots? Or was it just a condition dogs suffered from?
The vibration of his phone receiving a message luckily pulled him out of his useless train of thought and he pulled it out to look at it.
A text from Mikey.
Donnie raised a brow: "Huh. Shop? Contains shop?"
Leo scratched his head. There were clearly typos in this text, but what they were supposed to mean remained unclear. "Is he trying to say they are at the shipping containers at the port?"
The purple-masked genius was already geniusing away, though, tapping on that nifty electronic band around his wrist. "He's at the abandoned mall 5 minutes from here."
Now it was Leo's turn to raise a brow. Why did Mikey not just say mall? No matter now! "Let's go then!"
The mall looked creepy from the outside. It was a space usually seen filled with people. But it had been abandoned for years, seemingly. The ground and upper floors were clearly dusty and musty. The lower floor, upon looking over the railing, appeared to be flooded.
Donnie groaned: "Ew. Surely they have checked out the upper floors first?"
Sounds of fighting and splashing could be heard.
"Oooof course not..."
Both turtles jumped down to the lower floor, weapons drawn. Donnie did not appear happy about wading through the ankle-high water. And this time, Leo would have to agree with him. It felt cold on his heated skin. They needed to fight whatever baddie was hiding out here and leave.
Leo called out: "Guys?! Where are you?"
The mall was dark, and it was a bit difficult to see. But there was some form of light source coming from below the water further ahead? How? With how shallow the body of water was, there could not possibly be anything hiding below that they at least could not see.
"Raph?" Leo called out again. No response except for his own voice echoing off the walls. He gripped his swords tighter, feeling how clammy his palms were.
Leo had a bad feeling. Very bad. And it was not the fact that he was probably still sick, and getting sicker the longer he stood in this water. He looked down. Was it just him or was the amount of water...
Splashing from down the hall. The two immediately sprinted towards the noise.
It was dark in the hallway, and Donnie had likely put on his night-vision goggles and helped Leo not run into the wall just now by pulling him along the corner to the right. And then there was enough light again coming from a few spots in the water, illuminating a big space with some sort of square partitions - two in total - in the middle of the room. The lights looked pretty, with soft blue, yellow and even pink hues. But the team's leader doubted they were normal lights installed into the mall floors. And if it was not that, then what-
As Leo was about to pass one of these squares, out of the water rapidly emerged a giant jellyfish! It was dark blue, its head had somewhat of a shape of a jellyfish, but it's body looked less stringy and light. The arms were more so octopus tentacles though. It was pretty ugly, actually. Not at all like a creature to create these beautiful sub-surface lights.
"There was a second lower floor?!" Leo cried out as he rushed to get away from the onslaught of water generated by the newcomer's arrival. Well, technically, they were the newcomers...
Leo felt something heavy hit him in the side, throwing him into the wall at the other end of the room with incredible force after connecting with the floor first. He must have looked like a bouncy ball right then.
He had not felt like it though.
"Leo!" Two voices said in unison. At least Leo thought that it was that. Half his face was submerged in water as he tried to get his bearings again. All of the air in his lungs had been pushed out just then with that one hit. Possibly the lung itself, too. He inhaled once someone pulled him up into a sitting position. Nope, both lungs still inside.
"Guys? What happened here? Was it an oozequito?" Leo inquired, looking at Raph and Mikey as he stood back up.
Something heavy pressed down on his shoulders once he stood tall, legs weak, arms heavy. Mom's spaghetti.
He did not hit the floor when he felt his body start to wobble. Raph caught him, immediately noticing his elevated temperature. Apparently.
"Leo! You're burning up! Don't tell me Calafish did this?" Calafish? Like, what? Calamari and jellyfish?
Why was Raph looking at him like that? Oh, right. He needed to answer. "Uh... yes! Totally!"
Donnie could be heard yelling for assistance in the background.
Mikey huffed, squinted and crossed his arms. Oh boy. "Right. And this morning, when you were coughing? That was also our dear Calafish, wasn't it?"
"Yeah!" Raph gripped both of his shoulders and shook him: "You went on patrol with us while sick?!"
"Guys! Come hel- ah!"
"Maybe? So what, I..." Leo tried to suppress a groan. His side. Goodness, his side was... the skin was burning! It felt like it was trying to pull and tear itself open! Even the scoots on his carapace felt like they wanted to shed off.
Raph's eyes widened. "Were you hit by the tentacle?"
Leo could barely nod, kneeling on the ground, shaking from the heated pain in his side. And the cold kind in his head.
"Mikey, get Leo out of here, I'll help Donnie!"
A pair of hands, smaller than the previous ones, settled under his arms and pulled him up. Leo could not protest to stay, had to strain his vocal chords to not make noises not becoming of a leader. What was going on? What was happening? He could not possibly have been taken out with just one hit - well-placed as it had been.
Mikey answered his thoughts: "Trust Raph, he touched the tentacles earlier. Was not a pretty sight. But his wounds had been on his forearms. Whatever they touch seems to react as if burned." The two turtles, one supported by the other, stumbled along a hallway and into the restrooms. The burning could not possibly get any worse.
"And only one thing seemed to have helped."
Mikey picked up a bucket and began filling it with water. Thankfully from the faucet (which, thank goodness, worked). "Lie down on your plastron," he instructed, pointing to the countertop where the rest of the sinks were installed. He listened. Like a fool.
Because Mikey suddenly sat on his shell. And Leo knew why once he began to slowly pour the cool water over the burned spot. The muscles in his entire right side were seizing, pulling, they- oh, goodness! They were tearing apart, were they not?! It felt like his skin was bubbling, melting away!
He screamed. And tried to sit up, buck Mikey off. No chance though. Half his body barely listened to him.
The pain reached its height, before slowly and gradually ebbing away. But a low buzzing remained. Like ants crawling below his skin.
He must have lost focus for a bit, because Mikey was in front of him, waving his hand around and calling out to him. "-o, you okay?"
He blinked slowly. "... Yeah. You think that guy's from Jersey?"
Mikey picked up the bucket again. "Ok, ok! No more jokes!"
He let out a hiss when sitting up. It still hurt when he moved his body, but the burn had lessened significantly. He would need to do research about jellyfish burns after this. That's what it was, right?
"Let's join the others." He could not sit around here while Raph and Donnie were out there fighting. What kind of leader would he be?
"What?!" Mikey stepped in front of him, successfully blocking the doorway, with his arms spread out ot his sides. "You are sick, Leo! You need to go home and rest!"
"You guys need me! Have you seen the size of that mutant out there?" Apropos helping his brothers... where were his swords?
He found one in the water below the sinks, turned around and watched as a tentacle appeared in the doorway.
Leo acted on instinct as he threw himself forward, ignoring the pull in his side, and pushed Mikey out of the way.
The slimy appendage wrapped around his waist and pulled him out of the restroom, along the way they came back to the spacious room. Donnie was clearly cringing from being held in another limb akin to the slimy one Leo was being held captive with. Raph was lying on his back, unconscious, on the ground. There were dark-green spots all over his body. Was that was Leo's side looked like?
"Donnie, any weak points?" Leo called out, holding onto the one sword he had left tightly.
"Yes, I hate the texture!"
"Not y-," he groaned and lifted his sword, intending to cut into the tentacle. Only for the monster's ginormous eye to turn to him. The pupil shrank in size. And Leo felt a forceful pull downwards.
A moment later he found himself under water, holding his breath. When he tried to open his eyes, they burned. Saltwater. But how?! They were not anywhere near the ocean.
Blue, yellow and pink spore-like lights danced around him in the water. And a few feet away from him was a figure. Barely visible. It stepped out of the shadows, towards him. A... gorgeous woman. Well, jellyfish. Her entire body was translucent, her eyes were glowing ever so slightly when she opened them. Long hair floating in thin strands, a hat that looked exactly like the upper part of a jellyfish.
Leo was pulled out of his state of awe when his lungs started demanding air. Something he could not offer right now.
Jellymari (Mikey will be so offended that he named her without him) came one step closer... and her pretty visage morphed into that of a nightmare. Her eyes began to hollow out, becoming devoid of light and only leaving behind black holes. Her mouth opened and revealed a circle of sharp teeth. As the new face set in, the light she gave off vanished. Leaving Leo with barely any sight at all.
He began to panic, knowing she was stil advancing towards him. His body wanted to inhale, but he knew it would be over if he did. And so he forced himself to endure the growing pressure in his chest, and raised his arm. And drew a circle.
A portal opened inside Calafish's arm and separated it from the rest of his body, allowing Leo to swim through it. He tried to, anyway. But he felt his limbs starting to give up, his brain crying out for oxygen. For life. The portal before him was not disappearing or getting darker. He was... he... inhaled-
Screams. His own? No, he did not recognise the pitch. It was too low. Too loud.
Leo needed to help the others. He could not drown now. His hand gripped tighter, only to find air, rather than the hilt of his sword.
Man, he felt terrible. Was this what drowning felt like? Like your entire being was freezing? With your lungs and throat on fire? And... sweating?
Leo peeked one of his eyes open. That was the ceiling of his room. Was he dreaming? Or maybe in heaven? ... Or hell? Honestly, he had no idea which way he would go, so he kept an open mind.
He sat up slowly, arms shaking from the effort as he was leaning on them for support. After a few moments he realised how loudly he was breathing. He swallowed, only to trigger a coughing fit from how dry his throat felt. At least the headache was gone, surely that counted for something.
Leo had to lie back down and curl into himself. He was freezing so badly.
Footsteps. Voices. "Leo!" "You're awake!" "How are you feeling, buddy?"
He smirked and, with a hoarse voice, responded: "Never felt better."
That response was met with eyerolls. "What," he coughed, "happ'ned?"
Donnie and Raph stayed to tell him about the rest of their fight, whereas Mikey got him some tea with honey and lemon.
Apparently, Leo had nearly drowned after opening a portal outside of the water. Mikey and Raph had pulled him out. Donnie had figured out that freshwater was bad for Calafish when Mikey had rushed into battle with a bucket of water from the sink, stumbled and accidentally poured it over him. So their genius brother, after being let go, used a hose to directly hit Calafish with water, which ultimtely defeated him.
"The end," Raph finished.
"... And what about the other mutant?" Yep, the tea helped with the coughing.
Raph did a double take. "Other mutant?!"
"Yeah, there was another one down there." Mikey opened his mouth, but Leo continued: "Named her Jellymari." Mikey closed his mouth again.
"I guess we did not defeat her, then. But it's fine. We are out of that creepy mall and back home. And you are on mandatory bed-rest."
"Says you and what army?" Leo challenged.
Mikey huffed: "Me!"
"Raph, Mikey ate the last of your cereal!"
"Mikey!"