Cold air swept through the skyline of New York City, the city that never sleeps. It was a very accurate statement as on the day, people who were considered "normal" would walk the streets. In the dark of the night, it was those who would be casted away if these "normal" people knows of their existence.

Four mutant turtles, the ones who fight for the city while staying in the shadows; in the background. They were still young, no older than 15 years old, and yet they carried the responsibility of those twice their age. Granted, this is what they have been trained to do. It's also what they wanted to do. They do not want any glory, money or fame, it's just what they are taught to do.

With the evil aliens, the Kraang, invading earth, no one is safe from the threat. The heroes have done a marvelous job of keeping the peace of the Big Apple without the citizens even knowing. They have battled with impossible odds of winning, with their very lives in the line and yet, they always won.

However, they cannot win all the time. No one would have predicted this. The kraang got them by surprise. There's nothing they could do now as they lost all hope. They won the battle, but lost the fight. The loss was not just a simple wound on their body, no, the loss was greater.

"So, you're saying that the kraang is going to attack New York in 6 hours with their full force if we don't destroy the portal." Leo mused after hearing Donnie's explanation. Donnie nodded once, confirming that it was true.

"So what're we waitin' fo'? Let's take 'em out an' teach 'em a lesson." Raph bursted while shoving his right fist to his left palm.

"Alright." Leo agreed. "We have to protect the city." He said before his eyes narrowed dangerously. "… and in this case, the entire planet." He continued. He felt something ran down his spine. He suddenly conflicted if his brothers and himself should even go out of the lair tonight. Why do I get a bad feeling about this all of a sudden? He thought.

Mikey noticed his brother who was frozen in his tracks. "Hey, Leo!" He called out. "You're coming or what, bro?" His question slapped some senses into him. Leo rushed towards his brothers, a bit uneasy. "So, what's up, bro?" He asked. Leo just shrugged. Finding his brother's answer was lacking, he asked again. "What's wrong, bro? You're not acting like yourself today."

Leo just shrugged again. "I just got some bad feeling about this mission." He confessed.

The three other turtles shared a glance and then looked at Leo all at the same time. "It's going to be okay, bro. I mean, we managed to tackle everything they throw to us." Mikey reassured him.

"Yea', ya gotta loosen up a bit, fearless. You're kinda being a stuck up." Raph suggested.

"Well, we attacked the TCRI building before and survived. I mean, what could go wrong?" Donnie reasoned with him.

He can't argue with that. Their last attempt while it was a close call, they still made it. Destroying a portal generator doesn't sound too hard to do especially with this team.

Mikey, whose specialty was on acrobatics could fight practically everywhere. Although unpolished, his raw talent makes up for his undertrained skills. His nunchucks works wonders taking out an enemy barrage while keeping his defense up at the same time. Mikey might not be very smart and can be reckless but he still could trick his enemies to make it easier for him to beat them. His morale support to the group was also proven to be an invaluable asset.

Raph's specialty was his strength. His preferred tactics was attack, attack and attack. He was both strong and skilled and if it wasn't for his poor control of his temper and his sometimes cocky and underestimating his enemies before he fight them, he would be the best out of all four. He doesn't like to follow Leo's orders but he still did it. His sais is a defensive weapon so while he relies on them sometimes, he only needed his fist to fight.

Donnie, being the smartest of them all was their tech master. He's responsible for most of their electronic devices and other things that needed a computer geek. He's also the team's medic as he's the only one with the intelligence and experience. While he's not the strategist, he still has good leadership skills. His bo staff have the longest range which act as its main advantage. While he stays mostly on the rear line to solve things his brothers can't, his fighting skills is not undertrained.

Leo has the best leadership skills out of them all. He excelled in stealth and quick attack. He could operate even under pressure. His main weakness is that he underestimates himself too much and overestimates his enemies. His fighting could be described as "the berserker". The more battered and hurt he get, the stronger and the more reckless he becomes and only keep getting stronger whenever more hope is lost. However, give himself enough guilt, which is something he couldn't handle very well and his morale will be completely crushed. His twin katanas is a weapon of "hit and done" combined with his stealth is very deadly.

Maybe they were right. I was thinking too much about this. Once we're done, we will go back to the lair and then celebrate yet another victory. Same as always. Leo said mentally.

He was wrong.

After getting to the 2nd last floor, the place where according to Donnie was the portal generator to be located, they found nothing. The floor was clear. There is no more kraang tech inside. It's like the Kraang have abandoned this place. The lights were left dim. It looked like they left in a hurry, but why?

Just when Leo was about to ask Donnie for explanation, the floor shake, throwing him off balance. The ceiling suddenly exploded and then came caving in. Because of the initial shake, Leo was stumbling backwards, right into the falling ceiling. The inevitable had happened. His brothers dodged in time but Leo did not. He jumped to dodge them but one boulder hit him in the shell right when he almost got out. Then, he passed out with the lower half of his body war buried.

Leo's P.o.V

My body from head to my toes hurts. What happened? Why am I in pain? Why can't I move? The explosion. I can feel my body being crushed by something. I can feel my shell cracking. I force open my eyes to find out what happened. The dust cloud wasn't very thick. I guess I passed out then woke up again. I could feel some liquid in my mouth. It tasted like iron. It was blood.

My vision blurred, my hearing was no better. There must be quite some ruckus in here but I can't hear anything. I can easily tell I was dying at this time. We just walked to a trap the kraang had set. We easily walked inside of their trap. We have been deceived too easily. My body stiffened when I remembered something.

My brothers. Are they okay? Did they managed to get out of harm's way?

I saw some figure, obscured by all the dust clouds. Their outline, it was my brothers. My heart beat slower for the moment after knowing they are okay. It looks like they are arguing about something. Why did they have to argue now instead of saving me. I tried to open my mouth to speak but let alone speak, I can't even open it.

I can see Donnie took something out. I tried to move my hands and it worked. At least my hand still available. Donnie walked closer to me but I can't see his face with my blurred vision. I felt a needle pierced through my skin on my neck. What did he inject me with? I tried to use my hand to signal him. To ask him what did he use on me, but to no avail.

I started to panic. What did he used on me? Why can't I move anymore? Why is my condition getting worse? After he did, he went back and started arguing again. I can't hear anything but I could make some words out.

"… leave him …" It was Raph's voice. Leave him? What did he mean by that? Did he just suggested- "… leave Leo …" His voice cut me off from my thoughts. Leave me? Why did he want to leave me? How could he suggest leaving me here? They are still arguing. Of course, there's no way Mikey and Donnie would leave me like he want, right?

"… will get better …" Donnie's voice is next. Is he serious? He really think leaving me here will make things better? No way, I must've heard him wrong. "… remember the plan …" his voice could be heard again. The plan? They planned this? No, it can't be, there's no way they are planning this. This is just another kraang's trap.

A burst of memory came flowing through my head. Is this why they encouraged me to come? Is everything is a part of their plan to get rid of me? Am I really that useless of a brother? Why did they hate me so much? Did they hate me so badly that they made a plan to kill me?

Wait a minute. Mikey. There's no way he would agree to this will he? He was way too loving and sweet to turn on his own brother and stab me on the back would he? Raph I could understand. He hates me and didn't even bother to hide it. Donnie was a bit hard but he might have some hidden hatred towards me. But there's no explanation to Mikey. I cared for him and he said it himself that he looks up to me.

As if on cue, Mikey's voice can be heard. "… Leo will die …" Is the words I could make out. Did he just said he guaranteed my death? No, my ears must be playing tricks with me. Mikey was never the one to hold grudge and I can't think of anything that will make him to wish for my death. "… Master Splinter's orders…" Even master Splinter were on this? Everyone wants me dead? What did I do to deserve this? "… let's hurry …" I could hear a bit part of what he just said again and then the three ran away.

I can't believe it. They really left me to die here, alone. They really did want me to die. Maybe what Donnie injected me with earlier was some kind of poison so I can't get out from here by my own. Yeah, maybe that's why. They don't need me anymore so they get rid of me, disposed me with the worst way possible. By breaking my trust and my heart then left me to die slowly while getting crushed.

If that's what they want then so be it. This means that I failed as a leader, as a son, and, as a brother. I could feel the ground moved… down? I feel like I was falling. It can only mean one thing. The whole building was collapsing. Part of their plan too, I suppose. To make sure I die, they destroyed the building with me inside. There's no way I could survive this.

What am I thinking? Even if I did survived, what good is it for me? They don't want me as a brother and Splinter don't want me as a son. Nothing for me to live for. Nothing at all. Protecting my family is the only purpose of life I have and yet, I failed. I failed so miserably that no one wants me anymore. More than my feeling of heartbroken, I feel betrayed. Sensei had given me false hope of being the leader and then when I failed, he just get rid of me like I'm some kind of tool.

My eyes begun to form water. No, don't cry. They want me dead then so be it. Once I'm dead, I don't need to feel any burden of life. I won't have to protect those backstabbers. No, no, no, why am I thinking like that about them. They are my family. I grew up with them for 15 years. But then, how could they?

I could feel a hint of anger rose into my head. I coughed out some blood and then, everything went black.

Everything is dark. There is nothing but me. I'm all alone. I don't know what made me turned around but I was startled when I saw what was in front of . I was overjoyed when I saw my brother was standing in front of me, so much that I forgot about the events that happened earlier. But I find myself cannot move again. I struggled to rush to him to give a big hug, but I can't.

"You're a failure, Leo." He said with a sense of hostility. Then, he just disappeared.

I was left there, confused with what just happened. I turned around once more before I even know it. This time, it was Donnie who stood in front of me.

"You can't even do the simplest thing of leading us, Leo. I knew it the time you asked to be our leader that you would fail. Apparently, I was right." He said, then just like Raph, he disappeared.

My eyes were wide after I heard what Donnie just said. Did he really mean that? No, he didn't mean that. There's no way he mean it. It was all too much to take that all I could do was closing my eyes and held my head with both my hands.

"Leonardo." A voice called out, making me flinch. That voice belonged to …

When I opened my eyes, it was master Splinter.

"You're a failure of a son, Leonardo." He said with a disappointed voice. Stop. Please, stop this nightmare. Someone, anyone, please, wake me up. "I should have not choose you to be the leader, Leonardo. You are a disgrace of our family." After he said it, I looked down and I shut my eyes tightly.

Please … stop this nightmare.

"Leo." My eyes shot open after hearing the voice calling me. I raised my head for no reason at all, knowing I would just get hurt again. It was no longer Splinter who was standing there, it was Mikey. "I should've never called you my brother."

I forced myself to run to him. I tried to reach for him but he then turned into dust and was blown away by the wind. I fell to my knees, eyes still wide. No. No, no, no, no …

"NO!" I shout out. It was just a dream, a very bad dream. Wait a minute, I'm alive? I looked around looking for answers. I was lying down on the sewers but how did I get here. After I looked around more, I found out that a part of the building caved in into the sewers. The voice of police sirens echoed through the quiet sewer system.

A good thing is my body doesn't hurt as much as before. I stood up only to realize my left leg was broken. I hissed at the pain on my leg. It was bleeding badly and a pool of blood already formed around it. I took off my bandana and then tied up the cut, being very careful. If I tied it too hard, I'll hurt my broken leg, if it was too loose, the bleeding won't stop.

After I'm done, I stood up again with my hand on the wall to support my only good leg. I was so focused on my left leg that I didn't realize my right arm was bleeding all this time. The cut was not as bad so I think it would stop bleeding all by itself. But just in case, I used my left hand to hold the wound from spitting more blood. The only thing to do is …

Is …

I don't know. What should-could I do? My family don't want me anymore, the citizens would freak out if they sees me and I don't think I want to see my fam- former family anytime soon. After some thinking, I decided. I'm going to leave New York.

After hours of searching for a method to leave New York, I finally found my way out. A truck, which I overheard will be leaving to a forest. I didn't stay long enough to know which forest but I want to leave this cursed city more than anything right now. Time to move on. They don't want me so why should I care for them? When the truck's engine revved, I jumped to the cargo side without anybody knowing of course. When the truck started moving, I fell asleep again. This time, it was dreamless.

My sleep was disturbed when the truck stopped. Using the gap on the truck, I scanned the place. We arrived at the forest already. It was already night time. How far did I go from New York? Not that it matters but the further the better. I jumped out of the truck while holding back some pain from my broken leg. After that, I ran into the forest. I want to make some distance between me and the road so I would be less likely to encounter a human.

It was strange, really. How did I survive that with a minimum injury and pain? No one could even hope to survive something like that. True to that, after walking for a while, my head got very dizzy and my vision blurred again. Pain came surging through my body, so much more than the pain from before I left New York. I knew it. I lost way too much blood in there but how on earth did my body got a delayed reaction to that?

The pain was unbearable. I want to scream but when I opened my mouth, not a sound escaped from it.

I fell down when I couldn't bare the pain on myself. For some reason, I remembered my former family. The memories of all the time we shared together, all those happy times we had. I couldn't hold it back anymore. Water formed around my eyes. Tears begun to fall down. I sobbed softly as it was all I could manage to do. I'm going to die here, all alone in this forest. I already lost a large amount of blood.

There's no chance of surviving this one.

Everything went black once more.