Emerald
Chapter 13: Astral Blade

A/N: Took me a while but I finally got an idea.

Disclaimer: I don't own or know the TMNT.

He shifted, wincing as his head screamed at the movement. He blinked a few times, trying to clear a fuzzy vision to no prevail. Someone entered the room and Leo looked towards the fuzzy green spot.

"Hey, bro. How ya doin?"

Leo recognized the voice as Raph's but the green fuzz ball only looked green, no other color. "Fine, I guess."

The fuzz ball sat on the edge of the bed and a red fuzzy band became visible. "No yer not. What hurts?"

He sighed. "My head, with movement."

"What else?"

Leo kicked himself mentally and mumbled, "Everything's fuzzy."

"I'm going to go tell Donnie, K?"

Leo started to nod but his head pulsed at the littlest movement. "K."

Leo watched as the fuzz ball stood and hurried out the door. Leo lifted his hand even though his head pulsed and started to see where things got clearer. When his hand was about two inches from his beak, it was crystal clear. Leo lowered his hand as the sound of foot fall met his ears and he turned to looked as two fuzz balls enter, one green and the other olive.

"Leo, I need you to tell me what you told Raph."

Leo sighed, sealing himself as he said, "My head hurts when I move and everything's fuzzy unless it's about two inches from my face."

The olive fuzz ball walked over to the wall and started messing with something. The olive fuzz ball came back, holding a black oval fuzz ball. The end lit up and the olive fuzz ball moved the light over Leo's eyes. When the olive fuzz ball was done, Leo's head was pounding like crazy.

"Donnie, don't do that again," he moaned, closing his eyes. "That made my head pound even more."

"Sorry Leo but I needed to see something."

Leo thought against speaking. With his head pounding so badly, he didn't want to keep it going by talking. A hand was placed on his shoulder, large and coarse. Leo's mind instantly connected Raph's name with the hand and pressure grew on the edge of the bed.

"Hang in there, bro. Donnie just went to get some Tylenol. He was out in here."

The pressure on the bed shifted and disappeared. Leo winced as he was pulled into a sitting position, his head pounding like crazy.

"Sorry, Leo," Don mumbled next to him. "Here, some Tylenol and water."

Leo felt the pills placed into his palm and the cup pressed against his other hand. Swallowing the pills quickly, Leo drank the water slowly, the cold water soothing his raw mouth and throat. When the cup was empty, it was taken away from him and he was laid down. The pounding in his head had lessened and he sighed, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"If anything starts to feel different than it is now, call for me," Don ordered. "I mean it, Leo. I don't want you to hide the pain because if you do, you'll probably die because of it."

Leo swallowed, not liking that statement. The lights were turned off and the door was closed. Shaking, Leo curled up into a ball and prayed that the headache would stop. He slipped into an uneasy dream, haze all around him as he searched for something in the pea soup haze.

"Leo?" His eyes snapped open as light from a now open door bathed the room. The voice had been light but direct and his eyes were instantly drawn to the silhouette. "Hey, Leo. How's your head?"

She sat on the edge of the bed, the light from the crack complementing her now mutated features. He rolled over, smiling gently. "Much better."

She smiled weakly, fiddling with something in her hand. "Don said that there was a possibility that you could have serious damage from the way you were reacting from the fall. He'll be at ease with you awake now."

Silence fell between the pair. Leo shifted and reached over to hold Emerald's hand but she pulled away, fear flashing across her face. Shocked, he placed his hand on hers lightly and asked, "Emerald, what's wrong? I won't hurt you."

Guilt shown in her eyes as she looked at his hand. She gripped it with her own and tears started streaming down her face. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I started."

"Yes you do."

She smiled weakly, chuckling. The smile disappeared as she started to talk. "You've been asleep for 5 days, Leo. Don thinks that you may be slipping into a coma and Splinter isn't taking the news well. Raph hasn't left his room since he nearly lost it with Mikey and the girls have been asked by Splinter to not visit till you wake up. Even April and Casey have been forced out of the Lair.

"For the past three nights, I've had the same dream. It scares me, Leo. It really does. You never wake up, Splinter dies, Raph comes so close to killing Don that he leaves and never contacts the family, Mikey stays in his room, rarely leaving, and Don is falling apart watching over you."

Silence fell once more and tears stung Leo's eyes. He reached up and brushed stray tears away as she met his gaze. "It was just a dream, Ema. There's nothing to be afraid of."

She throws herself onto him, holding him tight. He hugs her tightly, not wanting to let go. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with hers on his shoulder and on the sheet. She shifted and pain shot through his shoulder and neck.

"Emerald," Leo hissed but he could say anything else as the pain began to spread through his body.

"Just go to sleep, Leo. Just sleep."

A wave of sleep tempted Leo's eyes to close and as he fought to stay away, he thought he heard his name being called. He was no longer on the bed, he could wrap his tired mind around that, nor was he in the room. A shroud of silvery mist surrounded him and Emerald was also with him but he wasn't sure if she was really her. As his mind started shutting off, Leo tried to push the thoughts that this Emerald was an imposter. She couldn't be, just couldn't. But when his name was called again, his mind clicked and he knew instantly that he was in trouble.

A weight was pulled off of him and Leo was hauled to his feet. Hands gripped his shoulders as he swayed and a worried, orange clad turtle stood before him. The orange clad turtle started to shake him, his words coming out fast and in a hurry. "Leo. Don't fall asleep. You have to wake up. Wake up, Leo. Get out of here. Wake up!"

Suddenly, the world around him went pitch black Leo blinks, finding himself back in the Lair and a worried Mikey on his feet. A smile split across the younger turtle's face as Leo was helped to sit up, headache gone.

"What ever you do, Leo, don't fall asleep," Mikey said before turning and running out the door only to come back in. "Ya should come with me."

Leo was yanked to his feet and he stumbled after Mikey. They hurried out of the room and Leo stood in shock as people ran around the Lair, yells going up and conversations happening between people on opposite sides of the Lair. It was chaotic in a sense but Leo realized that it wasn't just to get things done.

The clock near him read 2:56 am and as everyone was running around, no one was sleeping. No one could with all the noise. He watched as Don and Mikey almost collided outside of Raph's room and they quickly exchanged words before Mikey entered the room Don just came out of and Don ran over to Leo.

"How are you feeling, Leo?"

"As if I slept wrong on my shoulder but, other than that, as healthy as can be," Leo said, stretching the shoulder that had the shooting pain in his dream. "Why is no one sleeping?"

Don hesitated as he looked Leo's neck and shoulder over. "You were attached on the psychic plain while you were out. We're trying to make sure no one else is attached."

Shock sank in and Leo ran towards Raph's room, Don on his heels. Leo slid to a stop as he tried to make the tight turn and found that Mikey was talking with a very lost and confused Raph. When Raph's eyes landed on Leo, however, Raph's face lost most of its color as he shot to his feet. He looked at Emerald, as did everyone else, and fear grew in the room.

"She's still fighting," Raph mumbled. "We have to take her to Sensei. He's the only one that can protect her."

"No."

Everyone looked at Leo, stunned. He looked at each turtle in turn as he said, "I have to go help her. I know what this thing is more than the rest of you."

"But Leo," Don stuttered, "it could do some real damage."

Leo smiled weakly and cupped his little brother's cheek. "I'll be fine Donnie. What I want you three to do is get everyone on the astral plain. The more help Emerald has, the better."

The three turtles nodded and left in a hurry. Leo sat down next to Emerald and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. As he entered the astral plain, a force much stronger than anything he's felt before swept over him and he smiled. Emerald was keeping ground for now.

The silver mist had a red ting now as Leo ran. The force, the power, grew stronger as he got closer to the fight. Leo spotted a sword stuck blade down in the ground. Realizing he had no weapon, Leo pulled the weapon out, power surging through his body. Testing the weight, Leo did a few strokes with the blade and a nice whistle came from the speeding blade.

Running again, he found himself in what looks like a war zone. Holes and burn marks litter the dirt now under his feet and trees were now standing sticks, black as charcoal. Leo looked around and spotted the fighting a bit off. Running towards the battle, Leo watched as barriers protected the flying target from a violent attack.

The barriers shattered and a shot hit the target, knocking the target to the ground. Leo screamed, Emerald's name coming off of his lips. White wings gave two powerful strokes, slowing the body down enough to gently lay the body on the dirt. The attacker swooped down on black bat wings and two fire attacks were shot, a barrier, small but strong, protected the down fighter.

Leo shot up the hill, anger pushing him. Barriers thick and strong protected Emerald as three more fire shots were aimed at her. The one on bat wings laughed, soaring low for Leo to see the face of his attacker, vampire teeth gleaming on a face Leo hated so much.

"Naughty, naughty turtle. You blocked my attack," the psychotic teen cackled. "You will pay, reptile. I will have your life force as well as hers."

The teen dove and Leo brought the sword around, hitting the teen on the side of the head with the flat side of the sword. The teen twisted around, hitting the ground hard and his wings tearing, bleeding.

"Stay away from Emerald, Sly," Leo hissed, a design as blue as his bandanna glowing on his body. Armor appeared on his forearms, hands, shins, and feet while a helmet formed on his head. "I have the power you want. Come and get it."

Sly laughed, pulling himself to his feet, swaying slightly. "Me? Fight a naughty, naughty turtle? That would be such a boring battle. I want to finish Emerald off and get her life force so I can rid myself of you naughty, naughty turtles."

Sly attached, swords forming in his hands. The blow landed hard but Leo didn't shift an inch as the blunt of the force was absorbed into the blade of his sword. Shifting, he threw Sly off and jumped, coming down as hard as he could. Sly had moved just in time, the ground cracking from the force the blade excreted as the sword penetrated the dirt.

Shock filled the teen's face before a crazed glee overcame the fear. With a psychotic smile on his face, Sly attached faster and harder but nothing got through Leo's barriers or past the blade wielded by the blue loving turtle.

The others soon arrived and, realizing he was over powered, he fled. Leo wasn't happy, wanting to go after the creep to finish him off, but when Emerald was helped to her feet, Leo lost all the hatred in him and he closed his eyes tight before he saw the damage.

When Leo opened his eyes, he was back in his body, sitting next to Emerald. She was now lying on the ground and Raph and Don were picking her up. Leo leaped to his feet and a loud clang drew his attention, as well as Raph's and Don's. The blade that he had found in the astral plain had been on his lap and when he had jumped up, it clattered to the floor. Leo picked it up, slightly confused and shocked at the appearance of the blade.

"Leo, where did you get that?" Don asked, shifting Emerald in his arms.

"The...the astral plain."

A/N: Yay! Finished the chapter! Finally. Stupid writer blocks.