🐢 ⁺₊✧ || Context, first chapters.

Leonardo had lived his entire life underground. Fifteen years in the shadows, hidden with his brothers in the safety of the sewers, training, seeing the world only through a screen or Splinter's stories. But tonight... Something changed.

While his brothers slept soundly, he climbed silently. He stealthily climbed up an old building, his shell brushing the cold metal of a fire escape, until he reached the roof.

There it was. The real world. The city glittered like a living galaxy. Lights flickered, smoke rose from chimneys, and people—oblivious—went about their lives below. He watched them from a distance, his heart in his throat.

As he sat on the edge of that roof, looking out over the nighttime city, a soft sound and footsteps caught his attention. Leonardo spun around, his muscles tensing like springs. His hand instinctively went to the handle of his ninjaken. There was no time to hide. There were no shadows to blend into.

— "Who..?"

he muttered as he stood up from his spot, standing in place holding his weapon.