Leo slowly woke up, rubbing his head. He swung his legs over his bed, grabbing his medicine and the cup of water by his bedside. He swung his head back, downing the cup of water with the two small pills. As he put the cup back down, his eyes fell on his calendar, the many crosses and notes reminding him of the time that had passed. He found it oddly therapeutic to keep track of the dates in his past. Although it made him feel like Donnie. He stood up, taking the red marker hanging by a string and crossing out yesterday. Leo began updating every notecard stuck to the calendar.
It had been… Leo paused to do the math. The outlaw of humans in the hidden city 256 days ago, 986 days ago April died, 1721 days ago he was overthrowing the council heads, 2077 days since the Kraang attack… 2076 days ago, Ava was alive. 2075 Days ago, Leo was a silly teen who could lead his family with confidence that he was doing everything right. He was so stupid. So ignorant. If he had just-
Leo clenched his fists. If he had just been serious like Raph had said, none of this would have happened. They would be okay. And yet he blamed everyone but him. He blamed the council. He blamed the Kraang. He blamed Raph. But even after all these years, he knew it wasn't their fault. The council was protecting their people. The Kraang was following their nature. Raph was just trying to protect them.
Leo sighed, stretching. He knew mourning over the past wouldn't fix or solve anything. After all, he had a city to run. Leo got dressed out of his pajamas, into his shorts and robes. His brothers had gotten him this outfit for his birthday as a joke, complete with a crown. Yet there was something oddly… becoming in this outfit. That, and he kind of liked to act like a king.
Leo walked to the dining room, where his brothers had already made and were eating breakfast. "Didn't even wait for me? That was pretty cold." Leo joked as he poured himself some iced water. Yet no one laughed. No one would laugh even when they were young, but at least then there was a reaction. Now, the room was silent and tense. No banter, or wrestling for the last pancake, or even annoying Splinter.
Donnie sat down, having gotten more pancakes. "The troops should have secured Manhattan today." Leo held back his sigh. Donnie had always been the first to disgust the war. Leo didn't blame him. Donnie was especially close with April, and ever since she died to a human firing a gun at her, he had been invested in making robotics to fight. Leo remembered the day they found her body. Donnie was crushed, and it was one of the few times Leo had ever seen him break down as badly as he had that day. Donnie didn't leave his bedroom for weeks, and Leo even found plans of him trying to make a robotic April to replace her. It was one of the few things Leo could relate to Donnie with. Donnie had lost April. Leo had lost Ava.
"And then what?" Leo asked, suddenly losing his appetite.
"You're the king, you tell us." Donnie answered.
"Not-" Leo grit his teeth. "Head council regent. Not. King."
"Coulda fooled me with that get up." Donnie probed.
Leo sighed. Donnie had been so much more irritating since the Kraang. He poked, probed, pressed any buttons he could to make Leo mad. "Donnie, can we just not do this today?" He asked. "We all have a long day ahead of us, with the negotiations-"
"We're negotiating again today?" Mikey spoke up, his eyes somewhat hopeful. Since securing half of New York, Leo had been trying to negotiate with the humans for peace. He knew they couldn't fight forever. Resources were running out in the hidden city, and overall, Leo didn't want to keep killing humans. But the humans kept asking too much from the Yokai. For all the mutants to be documented, for every mystic weapon they had, for their surrender, for every soldier that ever killed a human to be brought to justice, for Leo and his brothers to be brought to justice.
"Yeah. I figured we could try offering them some of our mystic resources for peace and the safety of every Yokai in New York." Leo nodded, eating his pancakes. Even if he wasn't hungry, he knew he at least needed to eat. (He had already passed out 7 times during his time as the council Regent because he didn't eat his breakfast those days).
The familiar sound of silence fell over the room once more. "...So, uh… Raph, how did your mission yesterday go?" Leo asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Pretty good, I was able to hand out some-" Raph began to say, when a guard walked in.
"Your highness, we found a human within the city." The guard reported.
Leo cringed. Why was everyone calling him that?! "Regent-" Leo corrected, his teeth gritting. He took a deep breath, relaxing his clenched knuckles. "What did they say they were doing there?"
"We didn't ask. She claims to not know about the war, which is obvious BS. She's temporarily in the dungeons. So where should we put her? Chopping block? The stockades? Th-"
"What?! No!" Leo interrupted the guard, standing up. "Who the hell said we put humans to death?!"
The guard looked at Donnie. Leo followed his gaze. "Donnie! Seriously?!"
"Well what are we supposed to do?! Keep them until the war ends?! We don't have normal human food down here!" Donnie defended.
Leo groaned. "We will talk about this LATER." He snapped. "Come on guys. Let's go see the human. Maybe we can convince them to stay with the humans til the end of the war."
"But we haven't even finished breakfast!" Raph protested.
"Raph, now is not the time! We have jobs to do, a city to run and they can't wait for us to eat some undercooked pancakes and overcooked bacon!" Leo snapped. Mikey's face fell. Leo knew for a fact it was Mikey who made breakfast. He liked cooking the most, despite barely being able to make anything edible.
Leo walked to the door, his brothers following him down the corridor. Leo couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. He knew what he said was harsh, but he had found that after all these years harsh words were the best way to get what he wanted the quickest. As the brothers descended into the dungeons, the air getting damper and the temperature getting colder, Leo clutched his robes closer. If anything, the robes gave amazing insulation.
As the guard spoke, Leo zoned out. These dungeons housed so many humans, ones that were clearly spies. He looked from cell to cell. He couldn't help but wonder what their stories were. Who was their family? And then his other questions followed. Why wouldn't humans accept peace? Why would they insist on war? Why did they kill April, without hearing her out?
Ahead of him, the guard stopped at a cell, his brothers arriving before Leo did. They all stared into it, with wide eyes. "Guys? What's wrong? Why-" And as he turned beside them, Leo came face to face with the ghost of his best friend.