Chapter Text
Three months after the Krang invasion, New York was slowly staggering back to normal. People were returning to their lives slowly, acting as though the invasion and infection never happened. But to those outside of the city, it never did. Despite the destruction and news reports, people called the situation a hoax, and most New Yorkers didn’t refute those claims, especially those who were infected by the Krang.
Leo looks out to the city from the rooftop, and the sounds of construction and yelling are like white noise as a breeze moves past him. He takes a deep breath, bandaged limbs aching in dull pain as Mikey grunted in extrusion behind him. The slider turns to his brother, watching as he thrust his arms out with his eyes screwed tight. The rest of the Hamato clan, sans April, Cass, and Draxum, watch idly around the plaid blanket, eating their food. The smell of fresh hot pizza wafted through the air as Leo reached for a slice from one of the many boxes, only to be blocked by Raph. The snapper grabs two slices and hands them over to the slider, shaking his hand of excess grease.
“I could have gotten it myself,” Leo complains, placing the plate gently on his lap. Raph smiles, eyes flickering between his bandaged limbs and Leo’s face.
“Don’t worry about it, Raph’s got you.”
Leo huffs, staring down at the slices; his appetite is suddenly gone. Raph turned back to look at Mikey as Donnie, who sat beside him, looked over to the slider. The softshell sniffs, tapping the plate in silent encouragement.
Leo makes a big show of picking up the slice, rolling his eyes as he takes a bite, and the meal tastes bittersweet to his senses. The softshell doesn’t say anything, so he goes on his phone instead and scrolls his social media. It’s hard to swallow the food, but Leo does so anyway, stomach churning. He stares hard at his plate, hearing Mikey mutter and grunt his frustrations in the background.
Leo wasn’t the only person to be hurt in the attack; Mikey had scarring on his arms, Donnie on his shell, and Raph had large facial scarring and that hole in his shell. But it felt like they were gentler with Leo as a whole, compared to someone like Donnie or the Casey’s. Maybe if the roles were reversed, Leo would have been the same.
(It was Leo’s fault; he caused their injuries. He almost caused the apocalypse. Did he cause Casey’s future, too? He’s too much of a coward to ask.)
But Leo doesn’t need to be babied. He’s fine; it barely even hurts anymore! Draxum even assured them that Leo will be healed in roughly a month!! One of the many, many wonders of being created as a war machine is that it's no good if your warriors break down for months at a time. This was just a little more damage than Draxum had ever anticipated.
A gentle paw grabbed his hand and squeezed. Leo glances at his father, a fond smile on his face and eyes shining warmly. “Don’t worry, Blue,” He says, kneeling on the ground next to him,“You’ll be up and running in no time.”
Leo smiles back, shoving every negative thought as far as he possibly can. Splinter gives him an encouraging pat, taking a bite of his own pizza. The rat hums in appreciation; a stray pepperoni fell onto the roof as he chewed. He gasps, hurriedly grabbing the meat and stuffing it into his mouth. The turtle can’t help but grimace in disgust, but Splinter shrugs, smiling and showing off his buck teeth.
“What? Five-second rule!”
Loud buzzing fills the air, the wind carrying a ting of static that vibrates around them. Mikey yells in excitement ahead of them, hands glowing faintly and eyes shining brightly. Donnie and Raph are up in an instant, excitement radiating off them as encouragement spills from their lips. Splinter follows a second after, shoving his slice of pizza in his maw as his nails clack loudly on the rooftop.
Having been left alone, Leo looks over at Casey Jr, the only person left. Said boy avoids his gaze awkwardly. The slider continues staring as the boy takes a long, loud sip of lemonade from a bendy orange staw. He continues to do so until the cup is out of juice and Casey is left drinking air with ice cubes. Leo licks his suddenly dry lips, fingers clenching and unclenching as he thinks of what to say. There’s a lot he wants to say and ask, but as they sit together in silence, Leo finds that he can’t move his mouth to speak.
“I’m sorry.”
Leo sits straighter as he frowns at the future boy. Casey doesn’t look at him, not at his face but instead at his bandages. The slider tries not to move under the stare, finding it difficult as Casey says nothing else.
“Sorry for what?” Leo forces himself to ask, throat tight. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I asked you to close the portal.”
“I could have found a better way, figured out something; I’ve been fighting the Krang my whole life and—” Junior takes a deep breath, hands clenched around the glass. “I’ve watched you die, y’know? I’ve watched all of you die, and I was about to have a hand in your death again.”
Leo’s stunned into silence, palms feeling awfully sweaty. Junior doesn’t say anything else, fidgeting with the straw and stirring the ice within his glass. The hoots and hollers of his brothers get quieter as Leo focuses on his future (Present?) mentee. Suddenly, it’s like Leo sees Junior, a scared teen who wants to impress his mentor, who wants his mentor to be impressed in him, and Leo muddles that up. Just like he always does.
“It wasn’t your fault.” Leo fidgets, leg aching in dull pain. “I asked you to close the portal; my injuries are on me, and me alone. And if I died in that other timeline— no, when I died, I never would have blamed you.” He takes a deep breath.
“I know you don’t like to talk about your life, but you said it yourself: we all died. But in no world could I see any of us blaming our deaths on you.” Casey doesn’t look like he believes him, fingers gripping the straw strongly. Leo’s face sets into a harder frown, and he leans forward to clasp the boy’s hands. “I’m not your mentor. I may be a Leonardo, but I’m not that Leonardo. But I can tell you with certainty that Leo— your sensei would be so proud of what you’ve accomplished. I know I am.”
Junior’s eyes start getting misty, and he rubs at it with the back of his, finally placing the glass down. Leo waits patiently as he composes himself, the boy taking a deep breath and fixing his posture. He looks at Leo with his lips in a thin smile, eyes burning with determination.
“That means a lot. It’s just…I don’t know what to do next.” Casey’s eyes soften, gaze falling back onto his gloved fingers. Leo doesn’t think he’s seen the boy take them off the entire time he’s been here. “We beat the Krang, but what if something comes up that we can’t beat? What if something bigger comes along? I’ll be back at square one, but it’ll be worse since I won’t know what happens next. I can deal with Krang, the death and destruction they bring. But even with just…this!” He gestures out to New York, then back at the rest of the clan, still hyping Mikey up.
“I’m scared. I’m scared of losing this and having everything he did be in vain.”
“You’re not going to lose this,” Leo says. “Everything is going to be okay; we stopped it. And if something else comes along, we’ll stop it too.”
"And how do you know that?" Asks Casey, eyeing Leo. The slider smiles warmly, letting the boy’s hands go as he leans back.
“Because we have a ninja’s greatest weapon. Hope.”
Casey’s breath hitches, and Leo doesn’t know what he said. They stay there in silence for a few more seconds before a loud groan fills the air. Leo looks past the warrior to see Mike on his knees in dramatic fashion, banging the ground with a closed fist. Donnie types something into his phone while Raph crouches to console Mikey with a gentle hand on his shoulder. The softshell then holds up his phone as the first few notes of Despacito play loudly, and Leo swears he can hear Raph’s neck crack from how fast he turns to glare at Donnie. Splinter then lets out a sharp laugh, fake coughing into the crook of his elbow when the snapper turns his attention to him.
Leo huffs quietly, staggering clumsily to his feet. Casey follows suit immediately, hovering over Leo’s form with outstretched hands. The slider rolls his eyes but allows it, throwing his arms over Casey’s shoulders and leaning with his full weight. They stumble for a second before making their way slowly to the crowd.
"I swear I almost had it!" they hear Mikey cry, staring at his hands dejectedly. Donnie lowers the volume of the music, raising an eyebrow.
"Why don't you ask Draxum to teach you? He probably knows more about this than us." The softshell questions. Splinter scoffs, muttering something too low for Leo to hear.
"'Cuz I want this to be a surprise!" Mikey gets up from the floor, shaking his hands and pouting at all of them. “Yeah, Draxum probably knows, but he’ll be so shocked when he learns that I can do magic, too! Imagine his face!”
Their father snorts as he mutters that he hopes Draxum is so shocked the sheep yokai gets a heart attack. Raph nudges him and Splinter rolls his eyes.
"It's a nice idea, Mikey," Raph smiles "We gotta keep him on his toes anyway."
"I will give you five bucks if you capture his reaction on video." Leo butts in quickly.
"Give me ten and I'll get it in HD," Donnie replies, holding out a hand. Leo quickly turns to Casey and asks him to grab his wallet from the picnic blanket, and Casey shoots a confused glance.
"You have a wallet?"
"Wha— yes? I have a wallet? Do you not have one? We’ve given you money!"
"I've just been putting them in my socks though…"
"Your SOCKS? Three guesses on who's getting a wallet for their birthday, and the first two don't count."
".... My birthday isn't anytime soon?"
"For Christmas, Easter, Halloween- I don't care we're getting you one."
“I don’t know what any of those are?”
"Anyway!" Raph interrupts, glaring at the bickering teens, causing them to sheepishly smile, "Like I said, it's a good idea, but I think you're aiming too big, Mikey. You're not opening another portal. You're… actually, I dunno what you're trying to do here."
“I’ll never be a cool magic man; I can’t even channel the magic properly!” Mikey cries, flinging his arms in the air, “I’ll be the laughing stock of the whole Yokai community, and then I’ll have to leave the state and change my name so nobody can track me back here! And then when I finally find a nice little village in Nebraska, selling oranges out of a cart, someone will recognize me , and I’ll have to move again!” He pulls on his mask tails anxiously. “But it’s going to create a never-ending cycle with me looking over my shoulder, scared that I’ll be pulled back to this very moment!”
Everyone pauses at the youngest dramatic statement, and Donnie clears his throat.
“Okay, weird question, but has anyone ever told you that you sound like me?”
“I think that’s just the theater kid in him talking, purple.” Splinter jumps in, smiling. “You both get that from me. Very dramatic. If a show has an opening for a new lead, you’ll be a shoo-in!” A thumbs-up is thrown, and Mikey dejectedly gives another thumbs-up in response, staring mourningly up at the sky.
“Tell you what, Michael,” Leo speaks, shifting so he no longer leans on Casey. “You do it one more time. If it doesn’t work, we return to the blanket, eat some pizza, and then call ol’ Draxy boy to see if he can help.”
Mikey looks back at Leo with a deep frown, watching as the slider takes a step closer. He stumbles on air, and Raph reaches over and picks him up, placing him gently on his shoulder. Leo rolls his eyes, leaning on the snapper's head as he makes himself more comfortable with the spikes.
It reminds Leo of when they were younger, and Raph hit one of many growth spurts. The older turtle kept picking them up like ragdolls back then, and each of them loved it, but it got shut down real quick when Mikey decided to drink roughly 6 gallons of expired milk to “grow as strong as Raph!”. Even now, years later, they don't know where the milk came from, and neither does Mikey— that whole experience is just a fuzzy memory in the back of his head.
“We can't call Draxum,” Mikey pouts. “He's at work.”
Good old New York; the city gets destroyed, people are possessed, and a sense of terror is instilled in every man, woman, and child. Yet every major establishment was open the next day, even if most didn't attend work or school. People want to forget, and they all agreed to ignore the giant elephant in the room.
“So when does he get off?” Leo asks, sniffing. “What time is it now, actually?”
“11:52 am,” Donnie says, cocking a hip. Leo is always so amazed at how Donnie knows the time with no clock. It’s such a useless and impressive ability. “He’s dedicated to his craft.”
“Too dedicated, if you ask me. Who’s thinking about school now?”
“Nerds.” Raph nods. Leo considers it before nodding in agreement.
“Employees who have rent to pay, Raph, do you know how expensive an apartment is in this town?” Donnie snips, frowning deeply at both of them. Leo can’t help but roll his eyes, turning back to Mikey with a smile.
“We’ll get him when he gets off,” Leo repeats. “Give it another go.”
Mikey nods back with a determined glint in his eyes. The box turtle turns to stare at his hands and thrusts them back out; his face scrunched in concentration as they all watch his hands. Leo glances over at Donnie and nods his head toward Mikey, quirking an eye ridge. In turn, Donnie lets out an inaudible sigh and starts pumping his fists, beginning a chant.
“Mi-key, Mi-key.” The softshell’s voice is loud and flat as usual, and Leo grins widely, coping with his twins' movements.
“Mi-key! Mi-key!”
It doesn’t take long for everyone else to join the chanting, each of them encouraging and proud of the youngest member. If one asked Mikey later on what this exact moment felt like, he would say it felt like unconditional love, like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. The box turtle focused on that love and grinned wildly as he continued the magic, and he was soon rewarded as yellow sparks flickered across his skin. The chanting got louder as the sparks grew in number and intensity, and the Hamato family watched as the sparks began to form a small growing portal in front of them all.
“All right, Mikey!” Raph shouts, placing a hand on his brother's shell. Leo reached excitedly for Mikey’s head, hand resting on the smooth surface, while Donnie clutched the youngest’s arm in excitement. Mikey’s grin widens, overtaking his face as more sparks fly across his limbs with abundance.
“Still a great hero,” Leo can hear Casey breathe behind them. Mikey chuckles loudly, face screwed with determination. The wind picks up around them, tussling hair and mask tails alike, the weather unnaturally cooler. As his smile fades, Leo feels something curl in his gut; worsening by the second.
He didn’t have to wait long for disaster to strike. The portal shifts color instantaneously. Becoming a depressive purple as golden lines crawled up Mikey’s arms. The smallest turtle cries out in pain and alarm just as the portal explodes, and Leo is thrown into darkness.
Leo can’t describe it. It’s like he’s dead. And alive, and breathing and suffocating. He can’t see anything around him, he can’t hear, and yet he knows he’s falling. His sense of touch is frayed, everything around him like warm oatmeal—gritty and slimy. He can feel his mouth open and feels air rush past him, warmer than anything he’s experienced— burning his skin. It feels like he’s being boiled alive, with temperatures rising by the second, all to torture him. Leo’s sure he passed out at some point because the next thing he knows, he’s waking up to Raph gently shaking his shoulder.
His eyes blearily open, staring hard at the red and green blur above him as his eyesight corrects. He’s lying on a rooftop, Donnie beside him, being shaken away by Mikey. Raph smiles down at him, snaggletooth on display and brow furrowed.
“Hey, bud… you okay?” The snapper asks, reaching out a hand. Leo accepts, rubbing the back of his head (where he now has a knot the size of a silver dollar) as he looks around the roof.
“Did you get the number of the bus that hit us?” Leo tries to joke, flinching when his hand brushes against the bump. Raph huffs with a strained smile, laying a heavy hand on his shell.
“Yeah, It was ‘Leo’s corny’ in all capitals.” Leo waves him off.
“I’m funny, and you know it.”
“Did anybody get the number of that bus that hit us?” Donnie calls from his seat on the floor. He blinks blearily into the bright sky, shielding his eyes from the sun. Leo can’t help but gasp, turning to Raph’s exasperated face with a smug smile.
“Twin telepathy~” Leo sings.
“Whatever,” Raph rolls his eyes. “We have to find out where we are; Raph’s pretty sure we teleported.”
“I didn’t use my swords!” Leo is quick to defend. Mikey and Donnie wander closer, eyebrows raised and an inquisitive demeanor. Beside them, Raph chuffs.
“Scoff, I can find out where we are easily,” Donnie quips, typing something quickly in his armband. “All I have to do is—” Leo stops listening. Listen, Leo loves his brothers, but sometimes you need a break.
Raph, who had yet to develop the skill “ignore,” stares at Donnie as the softshell explains, holding up the wristband as far as possible, mouth still moving with nonsense jabbers. Leo hums and pulls out his phone, surprisingly still intact, as he connects to the local unlocked wifi. Then he opens up Google and types a simple phrase.
“We’re in Japan, Musutafu if we want to be exact,” Leo calls. Donnie’s head whips up to him with a frown.
“How did you figure that out? What algorithm did you use?”
“I just googled ‘where am I?’ And y'know.” Donnie looks over at Leo’s phone, and the slider angles it so his twin can have a better view. The purple-clad turtle’s eyebrows furrowed, scowling in disgust at the result.
“That's not as fun,” He snips.
“No, but it helped me out a lot when I was having problems with my ōdachi.” Leo misses that ōdachi. It wasn’t fun randomly teleporting places he’s never heard of, and being able to throw his katana in the middle of battle is really entertaining (especially when his enemies aren’t expecting it, so they scramble like rats out of the way— no offense to Dad, of course), but it was his first “real” weapon, and holds a special place in his heart.
“Mikey’s hurt; we’re going to go down there, act normal, and get supplies for him.” Mikey was hurt? Leo turns to his youngest brother, the turtle suddenly so small as he holds his arms together in a soothing motion. Leo couldn’t help how his eyes flickered to the geometrical lines decorating his arms. He looks back at Raph, who stares out at the city before them. “Then Leo can teleport us back. Sounds good?”
They don’t need to be told twice and gather themselves to the edge of the building. Raph grabs Leo before he can even think of going over the edge while Donnie’s mechanical wings extend, and he grabs Mikey. The snapper and slider duo arrive at the bottom minutes after the others, Raph taking his time to ensure he doesn’t cut himself on the rusted fire escape.
At the bottom, they stare out the mouth of the alley, watching as humans, mutants(?), and yokai(???) pass by without screams of terror or anxiety. Leo’s lips purse as he stares down at his brothers, noting their disheveled appearance compared to everyone else.
“This can’t be normal, right?” Leo asks, looking back up at them. Some kids, one with bright pink skin and one with a rooster head run by, laughing loudly as they shove each other. “Yokai? In broad daylight? That’s just not a thing.”
“It is odd,” Donnie agrees. “But that isn’t a high priority right now. We need to blend in.”
“Clothes.” Leo leans on Raph’s head, watching an 8-foot man with a beak walk by. “Every other mutant is wearing them.”
“Good point. Where are we getting clothes?” The snapper ponders, placing a hand under his chin. Raph turns and looks in the alley behind them, spotting a garbage can with some older clothes hanging out of them. “Jackpot!”
Leo grips tightly on Raph’s head as the eldest races to the can. He digs into it, throwing a sweater up for Leo to wear and then tossing some at Donnie and Mikey. Donnie grabs both of them, sniffing, and then extending his arms as far as he can, his face twisted in disgust.
“Gross, I don’t want to wear this.” Leo rolls his eyes as he pulls the sweater on, pulling his mask tails out of the neck hole and flipping it over his shoulder. The clothes were in fairly good condition, all things considered— with just a lingering smell of garbage, but honestly? They usually smell faintly of garbage, considering they live in the sewers. Donnie typically smelled better than the rest of them, but that’s just because he has a thing about sterile environments.
“Ain't got a choice. You can take a shower when we get home.” Raph sniffs a maroon shirt before shrugging. “We gotta get something for Mikey.”
“Ugh,” Donnie groans, grimacing at the shirts. “Can’t we just wear pants?”
“You don’t want to help Mikey? Do you hate him? Wish he was dead, hm? That’s a crazy thing to say right in front of him.” Leo says sarcastically. Donnie’s face screws up in annoyance and defiance, bringing the shirts closer.
“Fine,” He concedes, handing Mikey a shirt. “I swear, if I catch something because of this, I’m turning child restriction on all of your phones.”
“Even me?” Mikey pouts, grabbing the shirt.
“Everyone but Mikey’s phones.” Leo rolls his eyes and flaps his hands toward Donnie flippantly.
“Yeah, yeah. Stop complaining and be glad they’re clean.”
“They are not clean.” Donnie huffs and glares as a mechanical limb climbs from the neck of the sweater to catch some pants Raph throws in the genius’ direction. He holds it in his hands for a few seconds before sighing and putting it on, grumbling irritatedly.
After all is said and done, looking slightly better than they initially started, they shuffle out of the alley and join the crowd before them, blending in easily with the society around them. They’ll text everyone back home after they make sure Mikey’s okay; Dad and Casey were probably freaking out. But Mikey is the priority right now, and it shouldn’t take too long to help him.
Everything will be okay. They’ll be able to portal back home, and everything will be fine.