((I don’t usually write angst but…this one tied me down until I agreed to write it. It’s based off a book, subsequent movie and finally a song, so kudos to you if you recognize it. The title is a big clue. This should only be about three chapters give or take))

Italics denote thought.

Prologue: The sound of silence

Where am I?

Leonardo tried to move his arms, his legs, something to let him know that he was awake. He couldn’t see or hear anything. It was like living in a huge vacuum. The darkness and the silence seemed impenetrable and almost suffocating. For the first time in his eighteen years of life, he felt a panic that he could not tame down. He tried to take slow, measured, deep breaths that would help him focus but he found that he couldn’t even do that. He couldn’t hear his own breath or feel the beat of his own heart. Those two things had been so key in learning how to meditate and to calm himself and now they were lost to him.

Sensei, I need help.

He tried to call out, scream, anything, but instead the silence overwhelmed him.

If you panic, you will die. Calm. Calm. Focus, Leonardo. Every problem has a solution. What is the last thing you remember?

There was a flash of light, a loud noise, and then silence. Silence. Not even the sound of air around him.

Is this what astronauts hear? This stifling silence? I can’t even feel my arms or legs. Maybe I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming. Reality can not be like this. Before the light, before the noise, what do you remember? How long have I been like this? It wasn’t always like this, was it? No.

Leonardo was in the lair with his brothers and his sensei. They were watching a movie together. The first time they had all been together in a long while.

What movie was it? I remember Michelangelo had picked it out. Pirates of the Caribbean. Master Splinter had even popped popcorn.

I don’t know if I’m alive and dreaming or dead and remembering. How can you tell what’s a dream and what’s real, if you don’t know if you are awake or asleep?

The panic threatened to overtake him again, but he fought it back. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to do that. How long before he would slip into madness without the sound of even his own heartbeat for company? Were his brothers nearby or was this some scientist’s laboratory? Was he the guinea pig for some experiment? Leonardo felt no pain, but even pain at the moment would be welcome. It would at least be enough for him to know he was alive. The problem was, Leonardo felt nothing.