Chapter Text
It took four short minutes for Ghost’s world to end, when Leo ordered Casey Junior to close the portal to the Prison Dimension. It was an agonizingly long five minutes before Mikey opened a transdimensional portal, snapping out “Leo never gave up on us. I’m not giving up on him!” His voice cracking with tears.
It was thirty seconds later that Raph had yanked Leo out of the portal… and now?
Here was Ghost, cradling Leo against his plastron. And dear god… Leo looked awful… his gorgeous blue carapace cracked along with his plastron, a mangled arm, a broken leg.
Leo let out a pained whimper as Ghost stared at Raph, Donnie and Mikey who were frozen in horror.
There was no doubt about it, Leo needed to get home now. Leo’s breathing turned to wheezing as he twitched and spasmed.
“Crack on his plastron and carapace, broken leg, three broken ribs, and a mangled mess of an arm. God, there’s so much!” Ghost calculated the injuries in his head, fortunately the arm could be saved but physical therapy would be necessary.
Donnie finally snapped into action as Ghost motioned for the softshell to help lift him up as Leo let out a weak wail of pain, it caused Ghost’s heart to clench. Where was the slider that typically likes to tease everyone till someone wanted to smack him? That would smile until his cheeks burn? The slider that could be found snuggled in his unicorn hoodie watching Jupiter Jim.
Leo let out a weak sob mixed with a distressed, but also disoriented, click of pain, all four brothers were in such bad condition.
Mikey had burns covering his arms up to his shoulders, Raph’s eye was oozing pink and was swollen and irritated. And Donnie?
Ghost didn’t know the condition of Donnie as battle shell would remain on for now; but he could see the blood staining Donnie’s shoulders from here.
“They’re just kids! Why the shell did they have to fight these aliens?!” Ghost snarled in his head, the ride back home was silent as Splinter, April and Casey Jones Junior visibly sagged with relief but tensed with worry as Leo let out a pained wheeze and tensed up as the tank drove over a pothole in the road.
“It’s okay Leon, we’ll get you hooked up on those pain meds, just stay awake!” Donnie finally spoke, voice raspy from being nonverbal for so long.
As Leo’s head rested in Ghost’s lap, the Hamato family could see the slider visibly trembling in pain, everyone was silent as they drove back to the lair, silent as they struggled to keep Leo alive.
Donnie swallowed thickly as the blood coagulated thickly around the edges of the cracks on his plastron and carapace as well as around the mess that Ghost could barely call his arm. Ghost was starting to doubt if Leo’s arm could truly be saved as Donnie propped up the slider so they could set his leg. Leo looked up nervously at the father figure that had raised him all these years.
The one who helped with the deep gashes on Donnie’s softshell during that incident when Raph had accidentally cut open his shell when rough housing.
The one who helped lower Mikey’s fever when he had pneumonia.
And now the one who helped Leo escape that hellish dimension and was now treating his injuries and Splinter was currently bandaging Mikey’s burnt arms and Raph’s oozing eye with infection being clear.
"Alright Leo, this is going to hurt. A lot." Ghost spoke for the first time, Leo inhaled sharply, almost preparing for the quick movement to set his broken leg back into place. Leo couldn't speak, the pain was too much.
Leo’s entire being was filled with fear as he kept breathing unevenly, silently preparing for the sensation of his leg being snapped back into place.
Ghost’s expression softened, suddenly moving into Leo’s field of vision, as he pulled him into an embrace.
Leo’s grip on Ghost’s hand tightened, now breathing even more unevenly as he had to prepare for the pain he was going to feel. And it was quick, everyone flinched at the loud scream echoing in the house.
Leo let out small, short sobs of pain and relief as he fought to catch his breath due to the burning pain that had shot up his leg when Ghost had maneuvered the leg back into place, slumping into Ghost’s hold as Ghost sat back, hands rubbing soothing circles on Leo’s carapace.
It had been 48 hours… 48 hours since the events of the Krang invasion… the event of Leo almost dying, as Donnie and Ghost stared down at Leo’s feverish form, infection was clear as the arm, wrapped up the best it could, looked even worse. Pus bubbled up around the edges of the deep wounds on his arm, as the injuries were red and inflamed. Ghost guessed the high fever that had caused severe delirium and pain was from the air in the prison dimension, and he had guessed it would have happened either way.
“What now?” Donnie’s voice was oddly quiet, small as he stared down, frightened at his twin’s bandaged up form.
Ghost frowned, not speaking yet as he lay yet another wet cloth, soaked with water on a tray on the bedside table next to them. Leo let out a groan of relief as the wet cloth soaked his skin and alleviated the heat, that sound made Ghost slightly relieved.
Ghost truly did not know what they needed to do, Leo was, for now, in a coma, while everyone was doing the best they could to cope, currently Casey Jones Junior, a kid from the future who had warned everyone of the apocalypse, was napping on the couch, the events of today had just wiped him and out and he was exhausted.
Mikey and Raph were currently sleeping together in Raph’s room, the two too terrified to lose sight of one another, Donnie was here. Helping Ghost bring Leo back from the brink of death. And Ghost? Ghost was dealing the best he could.
“I don’t know Donnie. I really don’t. But for now? We heal.”