Chapter Text
Leo could have sworn he wasn't here a second ago.
He’s standing in his living room. The TV is on, but there’s no one there to watch it. He spins in a circle, head reeling. He was- what was he doing before this? He was doing something important, he’s sure of it. Something painful? Something cold. He remembers being cold.
Now he’s here, so reason states he must be here to do something. Whatever important thing he’d been doing is done, clearly, or he wouldn't be at home.
So now what?
Should he be looking for something? Some one?
He smells the sharp, smoky scent of incense and finds himself being drawn forward, toward the smoke. He has no other lead, and after all, it’s clove. His favorite. His feet make no sound as they pad over stone. He follows the smoke to his bedroom, the door standing open. It’s dark, besides candles set up on the floor. His brothers sit on the ground, holding hands, connecting them into a lopsided circle. Their eyes are shut. Are they meditating? Why in Leo’s room? He steps forward and watches as a shiver runs up Mikey’s spine. The box shell doesn't open his eyes, though his face tightens in concentration.
“I feel something.” Leo’s younger brother says. He sounds serious. Stern. “Someone’s here.”
Uh yeah. Leo. In his own room, which his brothers didn't ask to do cult shit in, by the way. He tries to voice this but his words don't sound, though he knows he’s saying them. None of them turn around.
“Alright. Now or never.” Raph says grimly, and they let go of each other’s hands and open their eyes. They don't look at Leo. Rude.
“If there are any spirits here tonight, we are searching for our brother, Hamato Leonardo.” Mikey says, reaching out to cup his candle’s flame. It smells like the ocean, and Leo can appreciate the use of blue candles if the seance is for-
The seance is for him?
That doesn't make sense, because Leo isn't dead. None of his brothers look at him when he tells them this. Leo swallows past the lump in his throat.
He isn't dead because he doesn't remember dying- the last thing he remembered was-
Painterrorthey’regoingtokillthemiwontlethimdieiwontlethimkillmesavethemsav ethemsavethem-
The Kraang. Something happened with the Kraang, but Leo can't- he doesn't know what. He remembers that something did happen. Feels the weight of it crowding his mind, but it’s empty when he looks, blank and grey.
He’s grateful for it.
But-
The candles are blue and the incense is clove. They’re calling his name and not looking when he responds. There is a picture of him, a headshot, framed. He’s smiling. He looks so happy in that picture. He hadn't known it was being taken. He’s dead. He died. He’s gone forever.
He’s dead.
The candles go out.
There is a beat of silence before Donnie chuckles nervously and Mikey lets out a little squeak of surprise.
“Well… that’s never happened before.” Raph says, pulling into his shell a little. Have they done this before? How many times have they called for him with no answer? How long has it been?
“Leo!” Mikey calls into the darkness the room, the only light a slice of butter-yellow lamplight peeking through the doorway. “Are you there?”
How the fuck is Leo supposed to answer that?
“Oh shit, it’s too dark- hold on.” Donnie is muttering, and then there is a spark of a lighter and the candles are being relit. “Do we have to do this with the lights off? It’s very hard to see the Ouija board.”
“It’s atmospheric.” Mikey whispers.
“Having a lamp on isn't going to kill him! He’s a ghost, not a vampire!” Donnie hisses.
They have an Ouija board. Damn. Leo never thought he’d see Donnie using one of those. He reaches over to the planchette, brushing his fingers over it, trying to shift it, but nothing. Don't people’s hands have to be on the board? Shit, if he can get them to stop arguing for a second he could actually tell them he’s here. Jesus. Oh God. He’s actually dead.
“Can we continue with the seance, please.” Donnie snaps, before making a face. “Ugh. I can't believe I just said that.”
Their hands all rest on the planchette and then Leo is diving for it, hoping that he’ll know how to haunt on instinct, and then he’s not moving the planchette, he’s moving them-
“Hello.” Mikey reads, their hands all having jerked towards the message.
“Okay. Who moved-”
“Donnie. Shut up.”
He does.
“Who are we talking to?” Mikey asks. Leo squints to make sure he’s taking them to the right letter.
“L-E-O.” Donnie reads this time, his voice flat. “Okay, if you guys are moving this I’m going to be actually mad.” He whispers. “But, working under the impression that I am speaking to a ghost, I’ll ask you to prove it.”
Of course.
H-O-W-?
“This is so freakin’ creepy.” Raph breathes. Mikey smacks his arm.
“Raph! We do not call our ghost brothers creepy!” He hisses.
“We don't know that it’s him!” Donnie interrupts. “As for the how… what’s… code to that little safe in your room?”
Huh? Oh, right the one he keeps his cool rocks in.
0-0-0-1-3-0
“That’s just- you can't just make passwords your name in numbers- that’s a terrible-”
Leo isn't even going to bother spelling out a comeback. He just needs them to believe him so he can know what happened.
G-O
“Fine.” Donnie huffs, getting up and retrieving the safe from Leo’s closet. “Zero-zero-zero, one-three-zero.”
The safe clicks and pops open. Donnie goes very, very still. When Leo looks over to his brothers he sees they are too. Donnie sits back down and returns his hands to the board. He sets the safe aside. A couple of his cool rocks fall out, which he hopes someone will put back later.
“So… you're really dead?” Mikey asks, his voice uncharacteristically toneless. “This isn't like- you communicating through realms. You died. You’re not coming home.”
Leo doesn't want to answer. He still hasn't accepted it. His nonanswer is apparently enough, because Mikey crumples forward, folding in on himself as he sobs into his hands, being pulled close by Raph.
Donnie’s hand remains on the planchette.
H-O-W-L-O-N-G-?
“Guys, he’s still talking-” Donnie says, breaking both of his brothers out of their stupors to frantically return their hands to the planchette. It moves much more easily with all of them touching it. “How long? How long since- since you disappeared?”
Disappeared?
YES.
“...six months.” Raph says softly. Leo’s stomach drops. Not that he has one right now, being a ghost, but the statement stands. He needs to make sure- he doesn't remember how it all ended- he wasnt there for it.
E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E-A-L-I-V-E-?
“Everyone but you.” Donnie says softly. “Why did you do it, Leo? You could have done something else, we could have figured it out together so… why-”
H-O-W-D-I-D-I-D-I-E-?
He can't answer their questions until he knows what he had done. Mikey flinches like he had been struck.
“You don't remember?” He asks, his voice wobbly.
NO.
“You… do you remember the Kraang?” Raph asks in a reed-thin voice.
YES.
“You… you teleported yourself inside of the prison dimension. You held the Kraang there until Casey could close it…” Raph explains, the hand not on the planchette clenching hard enough to draw blood. “And we- you were just gone, Leo! It was like a part of my heart went missing!”
Raph curls in on himself, teeth bared, face screwed up in pain.
“And it’s my fault! I’m the one that told you to be a hero, I’m sure you remember that, and- and I know you didn't want to be the leader, I knew but I was so sure you could lead and I was so tired and now- now you’re-”
The candles flicker.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Donnie asks, turning away from Raph’s breakdown. Raph has retreated but Mikey and Donnie are both still holding on. Leo thinks, tries to call back on the blank space in his mind.
C-O-L-D
Mikey chokes out a short sob.
The blank grey canvas tears a little, the threads blocking it from view begin to unravel.
A-F-R-A-I-D
He doesn't want to die, he thought he knew what he was doing he had a plan he thought he could-
D-I-D-N-T-W-A-N-T-T-O-D-I-E
He needs them to know that, at least. Mikey is wiping tears into the sleeve of his sweater, Raph has uncurled a bit.
S-O-R-R-Y-I-M-S-O-R-R-Y
“Don't apologize,” Raph says, voice thick with tears. “We know you didn't want to leave us.”
M-I-S-S-Y-O-U
“Ohhhh Leo, we miss you so much!” Mikey wails. “Nothing is the same without you and there’s no one to tell any good jokes and we all miss you so much!”
S-T-I-L-L-H-E-R-E
"But you're not, though." Donnie says with a sharp, humorless laugh. Leo's twin is curled in on himself, one hand still on the board. "You can talk to us, fine. You can… you can blow out candles but- but you're gone. And whoop-dee-doo now we know you're dead. We can't- now we can't pretend you're just lost. We can't pretend we can bring you home."
Leo sees tears dripping onto the floor of his bedroom.
"You wanna know how you died? You killed yourself, Leo. And you left everyone behind to pick up the pieces."
The candles go out again.
Their hands have left the board. He can't apologize. He can't fix this. He's dead. Rotting somewhere. He's an awful brother. He's an awful person. He killed himself even though he didn't want to die he wanted to live and he killed himself and left his brothers behind left his father behind and for the love of all that is he's sixteen - or he was , at least.
He's going to be sixteen forever. It's been six months- his seventeenth birthday has come and gone without him. His twin will forever be older than him. His baby brother will grow older than him this year. He will stay the same, a stagnant, drifting memory, not even counted as a person
His brother is trying to light the candles again. The fire won't light, the flame from the lighter flickering out the moment it's lit. Leo doesn't know why. He doesn't know how he's doing this. His brothers are pulling closer to each other, not out of fear- Leo doesn't know what he'd do if they were scared of him. They're shivering. He can see their breath in the air and he's not meaning to do this but what is he now if not his emotions, a collection of a brief lifetime of feelings and memories? His feelings- his overwhelming grief stretches outward from him, unbidden.
Raph makes a frustrated noise and stands, marching to the light switch and flicking it on.
"No more candles. We're done with candles." He says sternly. "Everyone, hands back on the board. We're having a family meeting."
Donnie and Mikey both follow his orders instinctively. Looks like Leo doesn't need to wonder who took his place as 'leader' after he died. Not that there ever would have been a contest. Leo had barely been the leader for two years and the world had nearly ended.
And he- he had-
"Alright Leo, I know you're probably really confused and scared." Raph says into empty air. "But you need to calm down."
"Yeah, I would prefer if you didn't go all paranormal activity on our collective asses." Donnie says dryly, though his eyes are sharp. Upset.
"You're the one that upset him," Mikey snaps, his arms wrapped around himself in a futile bid to stay warm. "Why would you say that? We just got our brother back and you-"
"He's not back!" Donnie shouts, startling Mikey into silence. "He's as dead as he was three days ago- as dead as he was six months ago! He's not back, this is just- this just… he's dead. He's dead and great, we saved the world and all it took was our fucking brother."
The room falters into silence. His room is cold still, Leo knows. He can't feel it, but his brothers draw closer to each other, caught in each other's gravity. The lights flicker, but don't go out. Raph's eyes glance up at the overhead light. It occurs for the first time how tired his older brother looks.
I-M-S-O-R-R-Y
Donnie’s face crumples when he reads the message, turning away from the board. His hand stays. Small mercies.
"I was worried your soul was trapped in the prison dimension," Mikey says, hushed. Raph and Donnie both turn to look at him, surprised. Apparently, their youngest hadn't shared this fear with them yet. "I would imagine your ghost just… drifting out in space. Cold and alone forever, not able to join our ancestors." Tears well up in his little brother's eyes and- on instinct, Leo reaches forward to brush them away. Mikey shivers but leans into the touch.
"Mikey…" Raph says, a hand covering his mouth. "I had no idea you were worrying about that."
"I didn't want to worry you guys too." Mikey says with a shrug.
"That's you kept trying to summon his spirit," Donnie says, gesturing to the board before them. "I thought you were just coping in a weird way."
K-I-N-D-A--W-A-S Leo interjects, making Mikey chuckle wetly.
"Yeah, I guess." He agrees. "It worked though, you're here. Where… where were you before this? I thought for sure you'd have haunted us by now."
I-D-K
"Please don't use Internet speak on the Ouija boards, it's cringe enough to use it by itself."
Ugh. Once Leo learns how to throw household objects around Donnie's head is going to be his first target.
"Wait, you don't know where you were?" Raph asks, getting the conversation back on track.
C-O-N-F-U-S-D
"Okay, well it's definitely Leo if he spelled 'confused ' wrong." Donnie mutters. Leo tries to whack him on the back of the head and only succeeds in sweeping his arm straight through his twin. It has the intended effect and then some, Donnie practically jumping out of his skin and clapping both hands over the back of his neck.
"What the fuck!" Donnie gasps, making Mikey and Raph both startle. "Eugh?! Ugh! He just put his hand through my head. I felt it!"
"Woahhh!" Mikey gasps, leaning forward. "Do it again!"
"Do not do it again!" Donnie shrieks, covering his head with his arms, eyes darting around like he'll be able to see Leo coming. Leo laughs despite himself, despite the grief, the terror and confusion that courses through him right alongside his own- well. Not blood. Ectoplasm? Wait- gross, can he make ectoplasm?
F-O-C-U-S
“Leo is right guys,” Raph says sternly, cooling the momentary chaos that had filled the room. “We don't know how long we have to… to talk to Leo.”
N-O-T-L-E-A-V-I-N-G
“We… what if you don't have a choice?” Mikey asks, bringing a hand up to bite his nail. Seems he’s regained that little habit in Leo’s time away.
S-T-O-P-B-I-T-I-N-G
Mikey laughs a little, in a sad, choking sort of way and lowers his hands back to his lap. Small victories. Leo will take every one of those that he can get.
“Mikey is right,” Donnie says stiffly, keeping his eyes on the board, not looking up at any of his brothers, alive or dead. “We don't know how… being a ghost works. A physical manifestation of naturally produced energy that persists after death… fine. I can wrap my head around that, but all energy has to dissipate without something to contain it.”
“You’re saying he’s what- gonna fade?” Raph asks, looking horrified.
“I don't know!” Donnie snaps, hand rubbing over his face in distress. “I don't know enough about the subject. I- I know about the conversion of energy, just not in this context but- but I know that this shouldn't be possible.”
“Well, it is.” Mikey says firmly. “Leo came back to us because he’s our family. Maybe that’s all the reason we need.”
Donnie wilts, clearly unhappy at having to accept a nonanswer, but willing to let it go for Mikey’s sake. Leo tries to look down at his body to see if he’s fading at all and blinks in surprise to see absolutely nothing where he should be. He just… doesn't have a body. Weird. Leo moves his arm. The air around him stays still and imperceivable. Yup. He still has his arms. Just… can't see 'em.
"So… what is it like being a ghost?" Mikey asks, rocking backward where he sits, hand still on the board.
W-E-I-R-D-D-R-E-A-M
"Really?" Donnie asks, perking up a little. If Leo had a throat he would be snorting in amusement. He should have known that- even with their… unfortunate circumstances Donnie would jump at the opportunity to learn new things. He's… getting tired though, bone-deep, physical exhaustion. Which is totally bullshit because he doesn't have a physical form.
T-I-R-E-D
"Wait- Leo no! Are you leaving, are you fading? Please-"
I-M-O-K
"You'd better be." Raph threatens, the intimidation undercut by the tears he's still trying to wipe away. It's getting harder to move the planchette. A bolt of fear strikes through him. What if he is fading? What if he used the last of his energy to talk to them? He looks up, sees his family curled around each other in the unnaturally cold air of his dust-coated bedroom. It was worth it.
R-E-S-T
"You… okay, Leo. Rest if you gotta. Just… when you get your strength back, let us know, okay?" Mikey says, looking pained. His hand lingers on the planchette just long enough for Leo to slide it over to GOODBYE.
"Goodbye." His youngest brother echoes sadly before taking his hand off the board. He leans into Raph, trembling with silent sobs. Donnie stands and leaves the room. Leo feels exhausted, drained down to his very core. He doesn't stand. He doesn't need to. He shuts his eyes- or rather just stops seeing, and when he opens them again he's in the kitchen. He feels that time has passed, though how long is another question entirely. Mikey stands with his back to him, stirring something in a pan, humming along to the radio. Leo takes a wobbly step forward and Mikey stiffens, a shudder running down his shell.
"Leo?" He asks, turning around with wide eyes. Raph, sitting at the table on his phone, looks up as well.
"Leo is here?" Raph asks, getting to his feet.
"I think so." Mikey hums, setting down his spatula and shutting his eyes. Leo feels something sweep over him, a wave of buzzing energy, warm like a sunbeam. His baby brother. "He is!"
"I'll get Donnie!" Raph shouts, rushing off, nearly knocking over his chair as he goes. Mikey turns his attention back to Leo, staring straight through him.
"I'm glad you're still around," Mikey says into the empty kitchen. "It's been a few days since we first found you. I was… worried something happened."
Leo cannot respond, his voice as non-existent as the rest of him, but Mikey takes it in stride, launching into a story about some new d-list villains that had taken to wandering the streets since the invasion had ended. He seems to dance around the topic of the Kraang, like it will scare Leo in some way. Like it would send him away. Like anything could ever scare Leo away from his family.
Donnie and Raph return in a flurry of thundering footsteps, Raph holding dad above his head like a particularly irksome football.
"Is he still here?" Donnie asks frantically as soon as he's within earshot. Leo feels Mikey's energy sweep out again, checking for his presence. Leo can't help but lean into the touch, the heat of it soothing in a deep, strange way.
"Yup!" Mikey chirps, going back to his pan, which- now that Leo is a little closer, can see is a risotto. Damn. He's pissed that he can't eat without a body, that looks good. "Papa, if you want to say something say it now."
Splinter looks hesitant as he's set down by Raph, which is… scary. His father almost never looks hesitant. He’s confident in all his decisions, even the stupid ones. Leo thinks he might get it from him.
"Could I… speak to him alone?" His father asks, quiet. Halting. Mikey opens his mouth to protest, his eyes shooting to his risotto, but he sighs and takes it off the burner before guiding his two living brothers out.
"My son," Splinter sighs, lowering himself into a chair. "If you are truly here…I must tell you how sorry I am that I outlived you."
The kitchen is silent. There is no blood to rush in Leo's ears.
"It is an unnatural thing… for a parent to outlive their child." Splinter says, staring down at the hands folded in his lap. "I don't… I don't know how to live with the fact that… that you are gone. We still haven't held a funeral, you know? We didn't know for sure you were gone until a few days ago, not for certain, and now… we will, of course… but…"
His father clears his throat.
"All this is to say… I- I wish I could have seen you grow up, my son. I know you didn't see it, I know you felt the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you were young, Blue. You were so, so young."
They sit there, together. Leo cannot reach out and hold his father. He can't do anything but listen.
"I… do not regret making you leader." Splinter says, drawing out his words as if still making his decision as he speaks. "You would have been amazing, but… I do regret springing it on you and your brothers. I regret not talking to you about it after the fact. I regret that I- that I made you feel as if… as if you had to… sacrifice yourself."
Leo cannot speak, and though his first instinct is to comfort his father, tell him that it's not his fault, he can't speak. And… Splinter isn't wrong. He should have talked to Leo about it. He should have helped. He's sorry, sure, but… but Leo is still dead.
"I'm sorry that you're not going to see adulthood. I'm sorry that so many good things were taken from you by my negligence." His father is curling in on himself, making him seem smaller than he already is. "I'm sorry."
Leo… stands there. He can't speak. He can't interact with them at all. He can't accept or reject his father's apology. And… he doesn't know if he does forgive him. He steps forward, as well as he is able with a body made of nothing but memory, and presses his face into the top of his father's head. Splinter stiffens, his hands reaching up in an aborted motion, grasping for something untouchable.
He may not forgive his father, but he loves him even now. Even after death.
He feels the exhaustion that lodges itself somewhere behind his non-existent plastron and lets his vision fade out, his hold on his form slipping.
He drifts for a while after that. He knows he's at home, sometimes going through the motions of his day, half asleep, forgetting his half-extant state.
Raph sees him once, while he's trying to make coffee, too out of it to notice that his hand won't grab the mug because he doesn't have hands. Raph had gasped, dropped his own coffee mug, and when Leo turned he was looking around the kitchen desperately, Leo's name on his lips.
Leo doesn't have time to try to talk to his older brother before he's forgotten what he's doing and fades out again, wandering back to his room with a body that is untraceable, easily mistaken for a cool breeze.
He stays like that for a long time, fading in and out of existence. They try to talk to him again, using all manner of ghost-hunting equipment, but Leo is just… tired. He's tired. He doesn't have the energy to speak through their crackling modified radio, he can't swing the pendulum, or move the planchette this way and that. He's tired. He's exhausted and confused and he wants to be done. He doesn't want to stay here, pretending to live a life that he's long since left behind. To keep fading in and out of awareness until one day he's gone, dissipating into wisps of nothingness. What was it Donnie had said? Energy can't maintain itself without a vessel? Leo certainly isn't maintaining himself.
It's time.
He knows it one night, when the clock reads four a.m. Isn't it funny how he can't sleep, even now? He sits in the kitchen chair that has always been his and stares at the clock. Time moves strangely when you're dead.
"Leonardo." Says someone from behind him. He doesn't startle. Part of him knew she was coming. He turns to look at Karai, her face soft and kind, her hands clasped before her. She looks peaceful.
"Hey Gram Gram." He croaks out, the first words he's been able to speak since his death. "Long time no see."
"I had hoped it would be longer." She sighs, sitting beside him.
"Me too." Leo says with a sad shrug. "Can't be helped, I suppose."
They sit beside each other. Karai's hand rests on his. Leo had forgotten how much he'd missed simple contact.
"It is time for you to join your ancestors." She says. Leo nods.
"I know." He says. He doesn't want to leave his brothers, but… he can't stay here. He needs to move on or risk losing himself completely. "There's just one more thing I have to do before I go."
She nods her head, smiling, and then the kitchen is gone.
He's in the old lair, in the atrium, sitting with his legs flung over the armrest of his father's chair.
Mikey walks out of his room, bleary, yawning. His eyes fall on Leo and he freezes.
"Leo?" He asks, voice breaking down the middle. He takes a step forward, glances around, and wilts again. "I'm dreaming…"
"That you are little brother," Leo says, shrugging. "Doesn't make it any less real, though."
Mikey's eyes widen, fill with tears, and then Leo has an armful of sobbing little brother. Leo laughs, holding his brother closer.
"You're really here?" Mikey chokes out.
"I'm really here." Leo says, patting his back. "Donnie and Raph should be here soon, you gotta let me sit up kiddo."
Mikey sniffles, but complies, pulling back enough that Leo is able to sit up, but not leaving his lap. Sure enough, Donnie is the next to appear, freezing in his doorway upon seeing the two of them and turning to return to his room.
"Hey! I broke the laws of nature to see you, get your ass over here!" Leo jokes. Donnie's breath hitches, and he turns and walks towards them. His walk gets faster and faster as he moves, and when he reaches Leo he's practically crashing into him, nearly knocking the whole chair over in an enthusiastic group hug.
"You idiot!" He screeches, smacking Leo on the head repeatedly. It doesn't hurt, because Leo still doesn't have a body, but it makes Leo laugh, bending over on himself in a way he hasn't since before he died. Before the invasion. "Could you have done this the whole time?"
"No, no!" Leo laughs. "I would have done it already if I could, I-"
"Leo?"
And here comes the final member of their little group hug.
"Hey big guy," Leo sighs, his smile still in place. Raph is crying, a hand covering his mouth. "In case you haven't gotten it yet, you're dreaming, but it's really me. Courtesy of Gram Gram."
"Gram Gram did this?" Mikey gasps. "Tell her thank you the next time you see her."
Leo winces, his smile slipping a little. He can't hold this off forever.
"She… she let me see you guys for a reason," Leo starts as Raph kneels beside the chair, a large hand resting on Leo's arm. Leo swallows. "It's time for me to go."
There is immediate chaos, everyone shouting over each other, pleading, begging for him to stay.
"It's- I'm- guys, Donnie was right. As much as it pains me to say it." Leo says. "I'm just a ball of memory and feelings right now. If I stay here… if I stay here I'll burn myself up until there's nothing left."
His brothers fall quiet. Mikey shakes against him.
"I really don't want you to go," Mikey whispers against his chest. "I don't want to lose you again."
"You aren't losing me." Leo says instantly. He knows that as well as he knows anything. "Mikey… I'm gone. Being a ghost doesn't change that buddy. You guys have gotta move on. Hold a kickass funeral, put up an altar for me, and keep on living. Stop… holding space for me. I can't come back."
"I want you to." Mikey whimpers. "I want you to come back."
"I know." Leo says. He sees Donnie hiding his eyes, he sees where Raph has buried his face in the armrest. "I'm sorry."
He feels a tug in his chest, insistent.
"I don't have a lot of time left," Leo tells them. Each of their heads snap to him, terrified. "I'm going to be joining our ancestors soon but- but don't worry too much. Gram Gram's there, all of dad's family's gonna take good care of me until we can see each other again. Hopefully not for a long time, you guys better not be reckless!"
"Says you." Donnie says, sniffling.
"Yeah says me," Leo snarks back. "Seriously. Protect each other, care for each other, play gangnam style at my funeral please, and… and don't fall apart. Take care of yourselves. I'll be watching to make sure you do."
There is another tug, a bit harsher now. Leo sighs, letting his arms drop to his side.
"I have to go." He breathes. Raph sobs. "I love you guys more than anything else. Take care of each other, look both ways before you cross the street and- and… Goodbye. For now."
He shuts his eyes. He tries to memorize the way it feels to be here, in the center of this group hug, trying to soak in as much as he can even as it fades away into gentle static.
He blinks and he is not in the old lair. He is not in the kitchen with Karai. He is on a hill, covered in thick, soft grass high enough to brush his thighs. A cherry blossom tree stretches above him, its pink flowers fluttering around him. Far, far below, he sees a bustling village, lit up with joy and laughter. He can hear it even now. He smiles. He sits down in the soft grass and beside him kneels Karai.
"You were very brave." She says.
"I knew it was time." He says with a shrug.
"Not that. Before. Your death was tragic but… you gave your life for your family, and while you never should have been forced to make that choice… it shows the depth of your devotion."
They sit there for a while, letting the warm wind wash over them.
"So.. what now?" Leo asks, tilting his head to look at Karai.
"Now," She says with a grin. "You meet the rest of the Hamato clan."