Prologue
It remembered a time before the noises came. Feeding and swimming, thoughtless. When it hungered it ate. When it was tired, it rested. There was no thought. There was nothing but instinct.
But now the noises, echoing but from inside of it, not outside. Familiar, somehow.
Once it had made those kinds of noises. Once it had walked and thought, and those noises were called speech and the sounds were words.
But that was long ago. Now the words came and it heard them but it didn't understand. It swam and it fed, but there was no life in it anymore.
It should have been dead years before now.
It knew that in the same way it knew when it was hungry or when it was in danger. Instinct told it that it's time had been over long ago.
But it didn't die. It kept swimming. Fed by the fish, the turtles, the creatures in the river. Fed also by the noises, the voice. The Master. The thing inside it that spoke constantly and kept it alive. And waited.
Always waited.
At times it felt what the Master was waiting for. It remembered green flesh and a taste better than any blood. A taste like power. It hungered for that taste and despaired to ever find it again. The Master waited for the same thing.
The Master did not despair. The Master seemed to know the taste would be back.
And until the taste came back, The Master would keep it alive. To feed. To rest. To go on forever.
"Is that everything?"
"Yep."
Leo looked around, drawing in a deep breath and smiling to himself in instant contentment. "There is nothing like getting out of the city. Thanks again, April."
She smiled and slammed the back of the truck closed. "Hey, Splinter said you guys needed it. I'm still surprised he didn't come himself."
Leo sighed. Not surprised. That was the whole point of the trip. Splinter had been frustrated by the fighting that kept taking his sons' focus away from his spiritual lessons. He wanted them to focus on their minds for a while, and to accomplish what they could without his guidance.
He had been in one of his someday-I'll-be-gone moods when he told Leo to take his brothers out to the farm. Leo always took those moods seriously, but the part of him that was just son to a strong father couldn't help but think Splinter would be around forever.
He shook the thoughts free from his mind and smiled at April. "You'll look in on him, won't you?"
"I'll call every day. And go see him every other day. He'll get sick of me, don't worry."
"Good." Leo's smile faded. "He has no way to get in touch with us, and the lair has been invaded before. I just…"
Casey, done helping the guys lug their bags of supplies into the farmhouse, came up behind him. "Hey, Splinter said we should deliver a message if you start talking like that."
Leo turned to him. "Yeah? What message?"
Casey whomped him on the back of the head. Hard.
"Hey!" Leo jumped away, hands on his head. "Jesus, Casey!"
Casey grinned. "What? That was the message. That and 'tell those idiots to concentrate on their lessons instead of on me.'"
April shrugged. "He's right, Leo." She chuckled at the look Leo shot her, and raised her hands. "Okay, you guys are safely delivered. We're out of here."
Still rubbing his head, Leo moved back to the truck. "You'll call him?"
"I promise. Leo, don't worry about Splinter. Worry about your training." April smiled and kissed him on the cheek before she climbed back into the truck.
"So you'll come back in two weeks?"
"Unless Splinter tells us you're not ready yet." Casey moved around to the driver's seat. "Which, hell if I know how he'd know that from New York City, but."
Leo smiled. "He'll know."
"Creepy rat." Casey slammed the door and started the engine. He leaned out the window. "Yo! Guys! Leaving!"
The door to the farmhouse banged shut, and Leo looked back to his brothers. Mike stood in the doorway, waving, as Don and Raph headed down off the long porch.
Don came to the truck. "They'll check on Splinter? He's been feeling tired lately, and…"
Casey grinned at Leo. "Better deliver the message."
Leo obediently slapped Don on the back of the head.
"Ow! Leo!"
Casey laughed. "See you boys in a few weeks! Take care of the place."
"Take care of our father."
"We will. Yo, Raph! Later!"
Raph was looking out in the distance, past the bare green field and trees. He looked back and gave Casey a one fingered salute. "Later."
Casey laughed as he peeled out.
A few screeches and turns later, and the truck was gone.
They were on their own.
Leo breathed in another lungful of the air and sighed it out. Peace and quiet. Rest and meditation and training.
Heaven.
He pushed Don towards the house. "Come on. Unpack first, then we get started."
As they past Raph, he didn't move. His eyes were out in the distance again.
Leo let Don go ahead. "Hey. You okay?"
Raph shrugged, his face oddly thoughtful. "Yeah. Something about this place. I dunno."
Leo followed his gaze. Through the trees across the field, he could barely make out a thin slice of glittering silver. The water.
Hell, they could go swimming later. Maybe training could wait.
Leo threw an arm around Raph's shoulder. "Come on, bro. For once we're somewhere where nothing wants to kill us. There's no one around to steal a purse for miles. No Dragons, no Foot, no nothing."
Raph grinned at that. "Yeah. Nothing but your bossy ass ordering us around."
Leo pushed him in the arm. "Be nice and I'll save it for tomorrow."
"Deal."
Smiling, the two of them headed for the house.