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01.
Prelude / 8:07 AM |
06.
8:39 AM |
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01.
Prelude / 8:07 AM |
06.
8:39 AM |
8:32 AM
Why must it always be like this... Raphael, damn you...
Leonardo sat cross-legged on the thatched mat of his brothers’ training sanctum deep within their mausoleum lair in Westwood Cemetery. One could smell the aromatic incense smoke pouring from the many acupuncture needles protruding from his relaxed body from any other chamber in the lair. Still, Leonardo concentrated on what troubled him.
Breathing in the soothing incense as he cleared his mind of all trivial thoughts, his mind became focused as a tempered blade. The problems became clear in his mind’s eye; all self-doubt eased away like storm clouds swept away by the wind.
He remembered a time years ago. He and his brothers had ventured into the forests of Northampton, Massachusetts and had become greeted into a mythical Hall of Lost Legends and told they were early — an ethereal place where forgotten myths and legendary heroes became statues forgotten by time, hidden away from all living things — by the equally mythical Loki. Whether it was a dream or real, to the present Leonardo did not know for absolute certain, but he remembered well their talk with Splinter when they had escaped.
"From what you have told me," Splinter had spoken that day, "it is clear that by your actions, the Hall of Lost Legends were rescued from Loki. It seems the lesson of intuition is understood. I am especially proud of you, Donatello."
"I have one question, Master," Don had asked. "From the time we arrived at the Halls, we were told that we were somehow early, but no one ever explained why. It’s as if we were..."
"Expected?" Splinter finished. "Is the answer not clear? It can only mean one thing... that one day, you too will take up residence in the Land of all Creation!"
"You're kidding! Us?"
"But, Master," a younger Leonardo had protested that day, "we live in hiding — no one even knows about us! We could never become legends... could we?"
Legends... or urban legends? "Turtle-Men of the Sewer" sightings were often documented in the tabloids... was this the kind of legend Loki and Splinter were referring to?
Leonardo found anger welling up within him at the stirring of such an old memory, but forced it aside.
As much as they were alike, his brothers were also very different people. What they shared was a bond of brotherhood that nothing could ever break. It was all Leonardo could do to set the example, the ideal, and hope that the others would follow.
He only feared that one day, without Splinter, he might not be able to hold his brothers together. Maybe for a time, but not forever. In a world that would never welcome them, a society that they could never be a party of, that would truly be a lonely place of dying.
Leonardo would give his life to keep that from happening, as surely as his honor and his word was his bond. They would never see the Hall of Lost Legends again, not if he had anything to say about it.
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