Glow of the Crescent Moon

Chapter 1 - Unexplainable Distance

New York, year 2026

Things were supposed to get easier.

He was supposed to get better. Life he had hoped was to be better.

Why was life so damn difficult?

Today was Jasmine's third birthday... and he was the only one not home to celebrate it. Hell even Draxum had shown up for his... granddaughter? Messages went unread. Calls went unheard if not unreached from lack of service as he stood atop the high skyscrapers, observing the world he called home.

Leo loved Jasmine, there was no doubt about that. They all did. Their one perfect ray of sunshine in their world of shadows. And she was growing fast too.

Leo never complained, at least not of her. His mind is a constant riling of events that he had a hard time keeping up.

The shredder. The Krang. Melantha and Nerezza... his poor choices... his family dividing, in a way he believed, apart to reaches he couldn't touch.

Congrats leader, he often found himself saying to his own reflection. He took his patrols alone now. More so to ensure Raph would stay home with his family... with his daughter who had eyes like her parents. Bright and golden.

And she followed him everywhere. If not him, then it was Casey Jr.

As he got older, Leo found himself wanting more and more space from them. From Sadie.

Leo laid down on the slanted glass of the skyscraper building. While his brothers took this... break... he used this as an excuse to get out of the house. Heterochromic hues of purple and blue examined the streets below when he sat up.

"Slow crime night or something? What is the deal?!?" He wondered with a disappointed groan. Still, this is far better than sitting with his family. Celebrating the birth of a child. He hated how he allowed that thought to poison his mind.

Melantha. Krang. Shredder. Nerezza. Repeat.

They all replayed over and over. Arrogance. Overconfidence. Ignorance. Once too many times, these traits almost got his family killed. And saved them at the same time.

Leo leaned back to lay upon the cold glass, staring at the starless sky with hands behind his head. The buzzing in his leather bag pocket went off again, apparently his phone catching the whiff of a cell signal at this elevation, a sigh passed through his teeth. They didn't understand, Raph came close but even he was still so far.

He found no peace. No ending escape from the growing self implosion Mikey or Dr. Feels had warned would follow. Words Leo hadn't listened to.

Three years had passed. Five since first meeting the half dragon yokai florist. Where both he and Raph had fallen for her.

And Raph won.

Leo folded his arms behind his head. Staring at the dark starless sky. The glow of the crescent moon sat alone. Dull with the intense lights from the city that never sleeps.

Several minutes passed. The silence was perfect up here. But too much silence left the thoughts yelling in his skull, beating against the bone housing for him to pay attention to every venom dipped word. Leo pulled out his cloaking brooch from his leather bag and leaped down. The thrum of his blade sang sweetly as he unsheathed it and slashed through the thin fabric of space. Opening the blue and white portal to the ground.

With the swish of his blade once his feet hit the ground, he returned it to its home, cradled against his back with its twin. Leo opened the pack he carried, revealing a set of clothes he brought with him. Black shirt, dark jeans and a black jacket with a fur lined trim... despite the warm summer night.