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What we learn

Summary:

Life is filled with lessons. Some we learn willingly and some we don't.

What the Foot clan taught Leo that day, he will never forget

This is part of my post hoc series but you don't need any knowledge about it to understand this fic. It's just a retelling of the famous window Leo scene!

Notes:

To people that haven't read the rest of these series: You don't need it to understand this story at all. These are just regular turtle shenanigans. It's just a different take on the Leo gets yeeted through a window

 

To people that have read post hoc: I was finishing my edits for some Leo pov and realized that I couldn't find a good way to include Leo's whole tragic backstory but that I still wanted to show it so this is *completely 100% canon for post hoc* but not necessary for the main storyline.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Raph, have you seen Leo?" Asked Mikey, rounding the sofa with a confused frown.

His brother didn't even lift his gaze from the comic he was reading, giving Mikey a one-shouldered shrug.

"Check in the dojo" he said simply.

"He's not in the dojo. I already looked there" replied Mikey with a roll of his eyes.

Did he think he was new here or something?

"Huh, that's weird" Raph commented, absolutely unbothered as he turned another page.

Wow, his brother was feeling soooooooo helpful today wasn't he?

Before Mikey could retaliate to this affront, mind already brimming with possibilities of revenge 'oh what's that Raph? You can't find something-Mikey-has-to-come-up-with? Did you check the dojo? That's weird', Donnie came in.

"Oh, Mikey!" He exclaimed, eyeing the still dark screen of the tv before turning back to look at him "Didn't you want the tv for the afternoon? Because if you're not watching anything I–"

"I can't find Leo!" He exclaimed, moving between Donnie and the screen before he could get any ideas –tv time was sacred– and, well… maybe Donnie knew something. He was supposed to be the smart one or whatever. Like that detective guy Willy Fog "He should be–"

"Did you check in the dojo?" He answered, immediately dashing Mikey's hopes and making him groan loudly

"Of course I checked in the dojo!" He stressed, waving his arms around in outrage

Donnie hummed thoughtfully

"Then what about the forge? I think we lost… a few knives last time we went out"

Oh right, Mikey had gotten the sudden urge to play Extreme Knife on top of the pizza building and just when he was starting to get a bit bored with that they got jumped by those ninja weirdo wannabes.

So that meant that between the four of them they had seven? Six throwing knives left?

His stash suffered a heavy blow that day… and that day had been yesterday, which meant that Leo had forgotten about their afternoon plans because he was trying to fix that problem as soon as possible.

"Oh right, of course!" He exclaimed, jumping slightly in place "Thanks Donnie!" He added with a bright smile. Because even if Donnie's intervention didn't seem promising at first, in the end he had helped.

Raph, on the other hand… Mikey made sure to stick his tongue at him as he left.

When Mikey finally arrived at the forge his jaw immediately dropped.

He had been expecting to find Leo completely immersed in his work, having lost track of time because the blades had come out crooked and he was occupied frowning at them like that was going to fix them or something equally dumb.

Instead, the moment he opened the door he was met with the back of a very distracted Leo, not paying much attention to a few pieces of cooling metal on his workbench because he was clearly too busy singing and dancing around the place to focus on that. A pair of headphones blasted music in his ears so loudly that Mikey could hear the sound of some drums and an electric guitar.

Now, what exactly Leo was listening to Mikey could not say, since most of it seemed to just be loud, random screaming that Leo echoed under his breath.

Leo jumped slightly, clearly excited, with a broad, bright smile adorning his face.

Oh my god

Immediately, Mikey pulled out his phone, remaining as still as possible so Leo wouldn't use that funky sixth sense of his to notice his presence and sneakily took a few pictures before putting it away.

The whole thing was over pretty quickly though, since Leo's dancing routine seemed to include spinning around.

The moment his eyes caught a glimpse of Mikey, Leo's entire body froze for a second. He made an aborted movement in an attempt to hide the dancing as he discarded his headphones, shutting off the music as quickly as possible.

Sorry man, Mikey has been standing here for some time. He already knows all your dance moves

"Mikey w-what are you doing here!?" Leo practically hissed with wide, frantic eyes "I-it's dangerous to be in the forge while I'm working"

Yeah, working, wait until he told–

Wait.

What was Mikey doing here?

"I… I don't… huh?"

"You don't remember why you came in" Leo confirmed, now looking like he was absolutely done with Mikey

Aw, shell. Mikey hated when this happened. It wasn't on purpose!

"Did you want to tell me something?" Asked Leo, narrowing his eyes at him "I doubt you came to repair your gear"

Did he?

"Yeah…" started Mikey, trying to bluff his way out of the conversation "I uhhhhh wanted to ask what you wanted for… Dinner?" He finished doubtfully.

Nope, that didn't work at all. Nat 1 go straight to jail, no modifiers allowed judging by the way Leo sighed, shaking his head in disapproval

"We just had lunch"

Right, they had. He remembers because he had spent the whole meal looking forward to–

WAIT HE REMEMBERS NOW

"Dirty traitor!" Mikey shouted, pointing at his brother in outrage

Leo simply raised an eyebrow at him

"Okay, so you remember now. What is it?"

"We were supposed to be watching Power Rangers together!" Mikey clarified. He can't believe Leo forgot about it "Donnie's gonna steal the tv! But! If we hurry–"

Mikey cut himself off, noticing the way Leo frowned at this. Did he not want to…?

"What?" Protested Mikey, a wave of disappointment washing through him the longer Leo hesitated.

"Right now?" he asked, looking unhappy

"We always watch it together!" Mikey insisted

Leo waved at him dismissively, moving to pick up his forging tools.

"You can watch it with Donnie or Raph"

It wasn't the same and Leo knew it. They always discussed the episodes while they watched them and neither Donnie nor Raph actually liked power rangers the way Leo and Mikey did.

He crossed his arms angrily, giving Leo a glare, to which his brother responded by sighing deeply once again.

"I am sorry I forgot but you know how difficult the forge is to set up" he tried, gesturing vaguely at the objects spread around the workbench "I would have to start everything up again"

Mikey wasn't falling for it.

"You're just not in the mood" he accused

Leo reacted to this by dipping his head slightly in shame. Mikey was right.

He couldn't believe him. Leo had absolutely let him down.

Noticing the way Mikey wilted, Leo brought a hand to his face with a groan.

"Okay" He said after a beat "You know that family Disney movie marathon you keep saying you want to do?"

Immediately, Mikey's mood picked up again. He nodded enthusiastically.

"We can do that instead, next Tuesday" Leo conceded tiredly "I'll make sure everyone comes. Maybe convince April to buy some popcorn"

This was so much better than the Power Rangers! But still…

"You have to promise, though. No excuses" Mikey said, squinting suspiciously at his brother.

"Yeah, I promise" Leo confirmed, going back to work as Mikey left in a hurry, ready to make sure that the rest of his family knew of the new plans…

And also to steal the tv back from Donnie.


Leo was running an errand when he heard a high, blood curdling scream that made him veer away from his original path, urging him to take a left turn into a dark, narrow alley.

It looked like the usual mugging. Two men, one of them armed with a gun and pointing it at a scared woman.

Easy enough. He had the element of surprise on his side so, before they could even notice his presence, he swiftly took them out, not even bothering to use his katana. A deep sense of satisfaction filled him when he was done because, even if his dad wasn't the biggest fan of their new hobby, it did feel good to know they were helping people.

To Leo though, the sensation was less like a job well done and more like fulfilling a purpose. He couldn't deny that the idea of becoming a hero personally appealed to him in a deep, visceral way. After growing up being told to do good, be fair and honorable he finally had a way to make that a tangible reality. And, at risk of sounding like Raph, he couldn't deny that he really enjoyed the fighting, the new different ways of testing his skills.

He was still basking on his victory when, without warning, he noticed a knife cutting through the air, heading directly towards him. His body moved on reflex in a familiar, practiced motion as he dodged. His subtle side-step turning into a full body roll as more knives followed the first, forcing him to keep moving towards the dead end of the alley or be skewered by the sharp weapons.

The woman stood in front of him, her arm still extended after the throw. Her long, dark coat was laying on the ground discarded, revealing a set of dark armor underneath that proudly displayed a symbol that was becoming very familiar to Leo.

Foot clan.

So it seemed like the sporadic, opportunistic attacks had given way to more strategic attempts to "deal" with them…

With an almost imperceptible swish his katana broke free from their sheathes, footing shifting slightly as his breathing evened out. Dad's warnings, tales of old blood, treason and revenge ringing in his ears while the alley's only exit slowly filled up with more and more ninja in a clear attempt to box him in.

The woman's form alone spelt trouble. She had been a fantastic actress and the only reason he had been able to dodge that knife was because of years of practice.

She was no ordinary Foot clan member.

And she had been sent to kill Leo.

Just when he was thinking things couldn't get any worse, two more figures landed by the woman's side, both of them sporting very distinct uniforms –Leo had to admit they looked kind of cool, specially the hats– that were vastly different from the ones he was used to seeing which meant…

Some sort of higher ups, then?

Well, one of the reasons his dad had chosen him as the leader of their team was that Leo could tell when it was time to retreat so, without wasting more precious time, Leo took off running. He parried a single spear aimed at his leg as he jumped to the side, using the wall of the alley to leap over the small group, preferring to try his luck with the ninja that didn't have personalized gear.

As he met the onslaught of normal Foot soldiers with rhythmic, measured blows while having to dodge yet another flurry of knives coming from behind, an ominous detail came to Leo's notice.

Foot soldiers were usually big on hand to hand and thrown weapons, always attempting to weaken and overwhelm before going for the kill but… There were always a few of them at the edges of the group armed with katana or tanto. Today though, the only bladed weapons were being wielded by the three more experienced soldiers. Around him he could only see a few ararebo, a couple of tonfa and long, plain bo.

That, coupled with the fact that the ninja surrounding him seemed more keen on herding him towards the smaller group than on actually hurting him, didn't suggest anything good.

He really had to get out of here.

Keeping a cool head even as the situation continued to deteriorate more and more, Leo ducked under a dangerous swipe, barely missing a blow to the back of his neck that could have sent him crashing to the ground. He immediately took down the attacker only for two more to take their place.

Sweat started to gather on Leo's brow as his push towards the exit was met with unyielding resistance. He couldn't keep going like this for much longer. He was outnumbered, outgunned and maybe outskilled –he still hadn't seen much from the small, strange trio, since they seemed content with waiting until the others tired him out– but that wasn't the only thing working against him.

Leo was always careful when he fought. He had to, wielding the weapons he did while regularly sparring with his brothers. You couldn't really pull your blows with sharpened katana which meant that Leo had spent most of his life learning to use them as safely as possible.

That instinct also carried to the current battle. He blocked, redirected and pushed, only leaving a few shallow cuts in his opponents, using mostly kicks and elbow strikes to take them out of commission as he danced around them in calculated bursts of steel and speed.

–During normal sparring against his family he went even further than this but Leo doubted that stopping a perfect horizontal strike inches from a Foot soldier's neck and saying "You're out" would earn him more than a scoff and the possibility of getting dogpiled by their comrades–

Fighting would be a lot easier if he didn't have to focus on both his own safety and the safety of the Foot soldiers.

If there were less of them it wouldn't even be a problem –he had a lot of practice and he was good at this– but with so many people surrounding him at all sides he found himself having to stop and change the direction of each strike unless he wanted to take someone's head off. The worst part was that the soldiers seemed to know this too, fearlessly throwing themselves in his katana's path, knowing the worst they were going to get would be a whack to the head. He'd call them stupid but… their strategy was certainly working in tripping him up.

Normally, his brothers would be there in a situation like this, actually taking out the opponents after Leo roughed them up a little, covering for the weakness of his fighting style.

They were a team. A family. That's what they did.

Today he was alone though. That wasn't an option.

Still, he wasn't going to lose so easily. He swung his left arm, catching one of his opponents fully in the chest with the blunt side of his sword and sending them crashing into a few more soldiers, all of them falling to the ground. Leo used the same movement to reel his katana back, twisting it in his grip and performing a perfect pommel strike to someone's face and suddenly, there was a gap in their blockade.

Not lowering his guard, since he wasn't home free yet, Leo took his chance. He dived for the opening, determined to make it through. He only had to take out a single soldier –back kick to the solar plexus as their hand tried to grab Leo by the tails of his bandana– and then he was beyond the group's grasp.

He ran, forcing himself to increase the already painful pace as he searched for the nearest manhole cover.

The familiar sound of a knife piercing through the air made him turn to the side once more and Leo started running on zigzag as a precaution.

He could recognize this street. He just had to–

A sudden burst of pain pierced his calf, accompanied by a terrible pulling and tearing sensation as Leo came crashing down on the dirty pavement.

Assuming he had been hit by another stray knife, Leo tried to stand as fast as possible only to slide backwards as he felt something catch on his leg, sending an excruciating sensation through his entire limb and making him lose his balance. He faceplanted on the ground once again, worse than the first time, since he hadn't been able to use his hands to break the fall. He even felt his nose starting to bleed, his face tingling uncomfortably.

Then something started to reel him in.

Leo looked back, confused and afraid, his stomach dropping even further when he realized what exactly was happening.

The wound in his calf was taunt with tension as a sizeable, metal object protruded from it, connected to a thin but sturdy cable. On the other end of that, a third ninja clad in that new, distinctive uniform pulled at the cord, quickly closing the distance between him and Leo all the while.

Leo took out a single katana as he felt his shell drag on the pavement. He didn't try to fish out the hook or whatever they had used to pierce his calf and instead went directly for the cable, cutting through it with no effort as he scrambled up.

It was too late, though.

The sea of Foot members had parted, leaving a perfect path for the three –now four– elite soldiers heading directly towards Leo.

Unable to move as fast as before, he soon found himself surrounded. He crouched slightly into a solid fighting stance, ignoring his leg's protests as his eyes jumped rapidly between the four.

His heartrate started to accelerate as his mind failed to come up with any way of turning this situation around.

He was trapped

Still, Leo couldn't show his fear. He had his pride and his honor. Even when he felt more terrified than he had been in his entire life he wouldn't disgrace his dad's teachings by crying or begging for mercy.

He was a member of the Hamato clan, the leader of his team. He had grown up with that burden, with that privilege

From the moment dad had told them about the Foot and they still chose to keep going to the surface, to keep trying to do good, Leo had known that things could end like this.

He was quickly realizing that he might have not fully processed what that exactly meant or how it would feel when the moment came but…

It was too late now to take it back wasn't it?

He cleared his throat, projecting his voice down the entire street

"So the Foot has finally seen fit to send us their best" he started, firmly pointed his katana at the woman that had started it all and was now looking at Leo with a neutral, unreadable look that almost sent a shiver down his spine "Still, I have to warn you that I will not bow down so easily" His grip on his weapons tightened with resolve "I am Hamato Leonardo, heir of the Hamato clan and if you take another step closer I will be forced to show you exactly what that entails"

It came out slightly forced to Leo's own ears but that's what someone in his position should say in a situation like this, right?

There was no answer to his words, not even the slightest reaction.

For a single second, Leo's panic addled, ridiculous mind suggested that the way the soldiers kept their neutral masks, not even blinking at his attempt at a heroic speech was slightly disappointing –those had probably been his last words. Shouldn't he get something for that?– while another, even more stupid part of him couldn't help but think that the strong, silent soldier thing was maybe kind of smooth and he should have done that instead of saying a random sentence that sounded vaguely cool.

Then the soldiers attacked and he had no room to think of anything else than trying to keep himself alive.

The one to jump first into the fray was the one armed with the yari, trying to skewer Leo's bad leg. As he redirected the attack with a swipe of his katana a different one came at him, almost clobbering his head with a straight strike of their tonfa.

They were fast, clearly above anything he had seen from the Foot before and Leo wasn't at his best. He could barely keep up with the two of them, staying fully on the defense and still managing to keep himself unharmed only by the skin of his teeth.

Then the third one joined in.

The kama came at him from behind, keeping him on the move constantly, forcing him to practically dance out of the way of the nonstop high speed attacks but then, something strange happened. His damaged leg gave out as he tried to shift his weight to it, the adrenaline running through his veins making him forget about the injury. A single sharp blade was coming down at him at that moment and Leo could see almost in slow motion how it would sink into his neck, killing him.

But, instead, the movement was redirected and the flat part of the blade hit his face.

The abrupt change was very familiar because that was how Leo fought… because he wanted to keep his opponents alive.

It wasn't just the regular soldiers shying away from stealing the kill from their higheups.

The Foot wanted to capture him alive.

This… this wasn't supposed to happen.

The woman reached into his belt for something, making Leo brace himself for another projectile but instead, she took out a small, straight piece of wood with a metal ring in its center.

A shobo. Used to strike pressure points and disable your opponents… Depending on where she struck a single hit could be all she needed to win.

He couldn't let that happen.

Leo stayed on the move in a fierce, unending back and forth as the woman closed in on him and then, when despair was starting to make his arms feel weak, he saw something. One of the other soldiers had strayed too close to the fight.

It was a desperate move, one he couldn't even see how to take full advantage of, but it was all he had.

He pulled the inexperienced, distracted soldier between him and his assailants, using them as a shield as he tried to retreat once again. It should at least stun them for–

The tonfa wielder didn't hesitate for an instant and, using more force than he had during his exchange with Leo, knocked them down.

A small spray of blood hit Leo's face, momentarily freezing him in place
as the soldier he had pulled in fell.

He… he couldn't tell if they were still alive

That moment of stunned surprise was all the woman needed. She hit him in four different places and Leo lost control of his limbs, dropping like a sack of potatoes.

He was on the ground, feeling his heart leap to his throat as every muscle in his body failed to obey him. There was an instinctual, terrified wail building up in his throat but his vocal cords didn't seem to be working either, so he was forced to endure it in silence. His paralyzed, open eyes taking in the scene while the four stronger soldiers serenely watched his downed form with an air of disinterest.

A hurricane of panicked questions raced through Leo's mind at that moment. What did they want with him? What were they trying to accomplish?

How… how much would it hurt? When they finally decided to end his misery?

So focused he was on his own thoughts that he didn't notice the woman move until she spoke.

"Get up, soldier"

For a second Leo was confused, thinking she was referring to him but then the fallen Foot member twitched, painfully rising and immediately sinking into a bow.

Despite the dire circumstances, Leo couldn't help but feel a wave of relief when he realized they were still alive.

"Your actions have shamed your clan" The woman was saying in a monotonous, detached tone as she rounded the other "Your incompetence has interfered with this mission. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

The soldier started trembling

"I am sorry. I-I will do whatever it takes to make up for it. Please forgive me!"

"Do not worry, soldier. Your debt to the clan will be repaid" She answered, making some sort of signal. The soldier sinked even lower at this, starting to beg for mercy in clear panic.

His screams were still ringing in Leo's ears as their severed head rolled across the ground, coming to a stop a few inches away from his unmoving form, filling his whole field of vision. Its cold, clouded eyes seemed fixed on his in accusation and, still paralyzed as he was, Leo couldn't look away, couldn't escape the knowledge that this is how the Foot treated their comrades.

That he was about to experience how they treated their enemies.

The woman's attention finally turned to Leo. She calmly walked to his side, kicking away the head as she crouched, extending her right hand and slowly, leisurely closing it around his throat.

He couldn't breathe

"You have been bestowed a great honor, Hamato Leonardo, heir of the Hamato clan" the woman commented, her voice tainted with a hint of emotion for the first time. If Leo had to say what it was… he'd say mockery. The twist in her mouth, the way her her words twisted when she repeated Leo's name were the definition of contempt "Our master is interested in meeting one of the… turtles. It's best to not keep him waiting"

Leo's word faded to black