Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

You remembered the day like it was yesterday, the image of every moment like a clear picture in your head. The day had felt like it lasted a lifetime, being imprinted in your mind whether you liked it or not.

The base was pretty much empty, with most of the resistance out on a mission. Thankfully it was quite a safe mission, it just required a whole lot of people to help out with it. You couldn’t remember what the mission was, you weren’t in it or helping out with it and your mind had been occupied anyways.

Due to the mission hardly anyone was left in the base, only a few younger recruits and others that weren’t able to physically help out. It meant that you and Donnie had practically been left in charge of the base, not that it really needed to be ‘left in charge of’. It was more because you two had higher ranks, and you had agreed to just make sure that everything was ok. It was nothing out of the ordinary for you two.

Since the troops had gone out and Donnie had pretty much spent the whole day in his lab, he was testing out a new feature on the guns for the resistance and you had agreed to keep him company. Being the wife of a tech genius also meant that you got first dibs on anything Donnie made, that also meant he normally added a personal flair to it too, something you always loved.

You had sat next to him, leaning into his side while he made tweaks to the gun. You watched intently, slightly understanding what he was doing to a certain degree but not wanting to ask in case he started rambling on about it. Your chin rested on his shoulder as you kept quiet and watched him work.

Accidentally, you moved ever so slightly causing some of your hair to fall in front of his face, seemingly making him lose his concentration as he blew it away from his face. You giggled at his annoyed expression as he turned to you, his face inches away from yours.

“Are you trying to get my attention?” He asked, raising one of his eyebrows he had drawn onto his mask (yes, he still did that all these years later).

You giggled as you replied, “Nah, but I’m upset you didn’t want attention in the first place.” You smirked at him and stuck out your tongue, which nearly came in contact with his snout from your close proximity. You would’ve expected him to move away, but he stayed where he was clearly comfortable with your presence.

“Scoff, you think I don’t want your attention?” He asked, mirroring your smirk keeping that one eyebrow raised. “Frankly, I'm offended.” He removed his hand from the tech he was modifying, instead placing it on his heart and acting like he was wounded. His dramatics made you roll your eyes.

“Pfff, shut up you big baby!” You pushed his shoulder gently while giggling, you enjoyed the playful banter after sitting quietly in each other's presence, not that you didn’t dislike that either! “I never realised how much pampering you needed on a daily basis.”

“On the contrary, I would find that it’s you that tends to need more attention. I would’ve thought that is pretty obvious from yesterday’s events, don’t you?” He said slyly, his smirk ever growing and causing you to pause feeling heat rise to your cheeks. You knew exactly what he was on about, but now was not the time to discuss that.

“Are you almost done with this modification?” You asked, changing the subject from the embarrassing topic. “You’ve been working on it for hours without a single coffee break, that normally means you’re close to it being completed.”

“Right you are, actually it’s done now!”

Your eyes lit up in excitement, “Awesome!... What is it again?”

The softshell turtle rolled his eyes with that playful grin still plastered on his face. “The modification allows the weapon it’s attached to to have practically perfect aim. It locks onto the opponent using the mystic tech components I previously created, though it can only work on ranged weapons.”

You stayed quiet during Donnie’s explanation, listening carefully and taking in every word that left his mouth. Your own smile grew as he info-dumped onto you.

“Awww so you made it just for me, not that I need it anyway, I already have ‘practically perfect’ aim!” You teased.

“Correction, I made it for your division, and you if you so wished to use it. Though I had a feeling you would be too stubborn to attach it to your own weapon.” He flashed another playful smile as he placed the modification down on his work bench and turned to face you fully.

“Well, I’m glad you did, some of my newer recruits could use the help aiming.”

“Bear in mind, it’s ‘practically’ perfect aim. Not completely perfect. The shooter needs to have decent aim to begin with, it won’t magically make every shot hit if you weren’t aiming in the right place to begin with.” Donnie explained, waving his hands around, gesturing as he spoke.

“Got it.” You nodded back. “We’ll have to show my lot when they’re all back, I’m still kinda bummed out I didn’t get to go on this mission…. What was it they were doing again?”

One of the black eyebrows on Donnie’s mask rose up again as he deadpanned at you. Hey, it wasn’t your fault that you couldn't remember what the mission everyone was on was about, you hadn’t seen Leo for a few days and he had told you when you were half asleep one night!

Donnie sighed and rested his head on his hand propped up, “Leo found a route to the Kraang headquarters, he took everyone there to raid it. Don’t you remember? C’mon [y/n] this was a big deal!”

“Sorry, I guess I’ve just been so tired running my division, and I just forgot… It’s no excuse really…” Your head lowered, feeling bad after Donnie’s light scolding. It felt the worst when you had disappointed him, it made you feel awful, useless.

Another sigh left the softshell turtle's lips as he watched you beat yourself up. Turning to face you he patted his thighs, gesturing you to sit on his lap. You accepted and slowly made your way to sit on his lap, resting your head on his plastron

“I know you’ve been stressed out with your new role, taking over the arsenal division after April passed. No one expects you to be perfect, but you can’t overwork yourself to the point where you’re forgetting important stuff [y/n]. I mean this mission could mean so much for the resistance, it could end the war.”

You cuddled yourself closer as Donnie mentioned April, it hurt a lot to think about your old friend. It hurt even more to know she left you in charge of her division, now making it your own. 

“Yeah… at least I remembered there was a mission.” You lightheartedly said, letting out a single laugh.

A chuckle of Donnie’s own left his lips and you felt his plastron vibrate as he responded to your words. “Pfff, yeah, at least you remembered that.” He smiled down at you and you looked up fondly at him with your own smile. 

“Shame we couldn’t go on it though, I would’ve loved to see the look on the Kraang’s ugly faces when we infiltrated their headquarters.” You smugly said, your face close to your husbands.

“True, it would’ve been cool. But being here, just me and you, I think I like that even more…” You could see the dusting of red make its way onto the softshell turtle’s cheeks as he drew closer and you felt your own cheeks mirror his.

“You big dork…” You quietly responded and your hand wrapped around the back of his neck and you pulled him even closer. Your eyes fluttered shut as you felt your nose touch his snout and you stayed still as you let him make the final move and close your lips onto one another's.

Unfortunately for you, just as your lips were about to meet a loud ringing went off, startling the both of you and jumping away from each other. Your head flew to the direction of the ringing and you noticed that it came from Donnie’s transmitter on a stool a few steps away.

Donnie stood up, you having to move off his lap as for him to walk over to the transmitter and pick up the incoming call. The person on the other end had awful timing.

“Ahem, hello, this is Donatello you’re conversing with.” The turtle spoke into the transmitter, him having to clear his voice first before speaking, still coming after the impeccable timing of the call. You did think it was cute how the both of you still got flustered after being married for over 15 years or so.

You couldn’t hear the other person on the transmitter, the only information you gathered was from Donnie’s ‘yes’ or ‘mhm’. You pulled him a look of confusion, having no idea what was going on. He looked as if he was about to say something else when his face paled ever so slightly.

“...What do you mean Leo?” He asked the receiver. So he was talking to Leo, but what about?

Your curiosity got the best of you and you made your way over to Donnie, now being close enough to hear what was being said.

“What’s going on?...” You asked, loud enough for your voice to be picked up on the receiver, prompting a reply from Leo.

“Ah, [y/n], you’re there too.” Leo’s voice could be made out in between the static. “I was explaining to Donnie that we got a signal asking for help, somewhere near the outskirts of the city. Some people are in need of rescue, but we can’t deviate from this mission, it’s far too important. We need a team to go retrieve the individuals who sent the signal, do you think you guys can pull one together? I’ll send over the coordinates.”

“A team?” Donnie’s voice repeated Leo’s words, “But there’s not enough people in the ba-”

“We can handle it Leo!” You cut Donnie off mid sentence.

“Nice!” Leo replied without hesitation, “Look guys I gotta go, but stay safe. I’ll send the coordinates over now. See ya.”

Before anything else could be said the call ended, leaving the two of you in silence.

“[y/n]! What do you mean ‘we can handle it’?! There’s literally only two of us that can go out, that being me and you!” Donnie exclaimed, his voice holding a hint of agitation. “Don’t you think it’s reckless just the two of us going out? We don’t even know how many people are in need of rescuing!”

You grabbed the transmitter from the three green fingers that had been holding it and looked over the coordinates that were now on the screen, you waved it around and flashed him a confident look.

“Donnie, it’s just a simple rescue! Plus we’re pretty capable, I mean you’re a master of mystic tech and me flawless with my rifle. We can absolutely handle this on our own! Plus the coords say that the signal came from the outskirts of the city ruins, only an hour or so away. Hardly any reports of Kraang scouts are found around there, it’ll be completely fine!” You shrugged your shoulders and winked at him.

The look on Donnie’s face softened a little, and you saw as he rubbed the ring that was on his middle finger on his left hand. You noted that he had done this when he was nervous, only when it was something involving you though.

“I know we would theoretically be fine, but think of the anomalies! What if something unexpected happened and it was just the two of us, it could be super dangerous, plus there would be no way to call for backup. We would be on our own…”

The confident look on your face softened and you gently took hold of his fiddling hand, encasing it in your own. At your touch his gaze seemed to lift a little and he looked into your eyes, his dark eyebrows furrowed, him obviously still worried.

“Don, it’ll be fine. Trust me when I say that I know everything will be fine…” He paused at your words.

“I do trust you, I can’t help but worry, I’m sorry. It’s just that when it comes down to your safety and the odds are below 80% I freak out.”

You chuckled softly, “Donnie, I’m pretty sure I’ve been in situations where the odds have been far below 80%!” Your tone shifted to a slightly sterner one, “Plus it’s our job to protect those who can’t themselves, we should help the people that sent the signal. If not, who knows what might happen.”

The turtle sighed and tangled his fingers in between yours. You waited for him to reply, giving him the time he needed to think and respond, you never liked rushing him. The quiet moment did give you a chance to study his face, noticing how he had not shaved this morning with stubble still on his face, the way he bit his lip as he thought. And most importantly how his eyes seemed so far away, yet he was still right here with you.

“You’re right, you’re always right…” Donnie looked into your eyes, a soft smile making its way onto his lips. “We should go help those people no matter what.”

You returned the smile and gently tugged at his hand, “C’mon then, no time to waste. We need to go help those people!” You tugged him upwards towards where both your ‘cool’ cloaks lay, draped over a chair towards the entrance of the lab.

The pair of you quickly pulled your gear on and grabbed your weapons, slinging them over your shoulder as you made your way towards the exit of the base. You hardly saw anyone on your way out, only a few who were either too young or too old to fight. You didn’t really pay too much attention towards it anyway, instead focusing on the route you would take to get to the coordinates Leo had sent you earlier.

The air on the outside of the base wasn’t pleasant, in fact every time you stepped outside the premises of the base which had built in oxygen air filters (Thanks to Donnie) you felt the need to cough. Your lungs burned with the polluted air, the smell of Kraang and death all over.

You spent most of the journey quiet, making sure you were well aware of your surroundings. As you had mentioned before though, due to you going to the outskirts of the city there were hardly any scouts. You assumed they were all near where Leo and the rest of the resistance was, near those headquarters. Though it did seem a tad bit strange at how little enemies there were…

You tried not to focus on it too much, concentrating instead of the path you followed and the building that now stood eerily quiet in front of you. You looked down at your coordinates, double checking them, making sure this was the right place.

“This is it…” You spoke.

“This place?...” Donnie questioned gesturing to it with the bo staff in his hand, you cocked your head up at him as he replied unsure. “Well, it’s just that it’s a wreck. I’m surprised there were people here in the first place…”

“Maybe the people that sent the signal were just using this as shelter, it’s not like there’s much else around.”

“You’re right… again.” He smirked and you bumped your shoulder against his. “Let’s go in.”

You only nodded in response, making your way over to the building. You made sure to keep your weapon on your back, it was a rule Leo made when they first started rescuing others, just to make sure that the people didn’t think they were getting attacked and to not scare them.

As you entered the building you noted at how derelict it was, looking as if it could fall down upon itself any moment. With pieces of wall crumbling just from the slight breeze.

“We may want to make this rescue as quick as possible, it seems like the whole place could come toppling down on us at literally any second.” The turtle whispered.

“Agreed.” 

You continued walking down the corridors feeling an odd sensation as you walked into the building further. Why was it so quiet? Surely the people who sent the signal would be close, wouldn’t you be able to hear them talking, or the sound of their feet moving? You dismissed the thoughts, trying to justify your worries. Maybe they were sitting down in silence, staying quiet until someone came to rescue them.

You opened every door you came across, only to look inside and see an empty room with the occasional piece of debris falling and startling you. After opening and checking around 6 rooms your worry started to increase.

Unintentionally you moved a little closer to Donnie, touching one of your fingertips to his, hinting that you were a little nervous. Little signals like this were everything between the two of you, with Donnie sometimes not being able to express how he really felt and you showing far more confidence than you actually had. A touch like this one was enough for the softshell to know that you felt as if something was…off.

In your worry you felt yourself unconsciously pick at the skin on your fingers. Damn that little habit. You seriously needed to get rid of it, though you also knew you only did it when you were nervous…

Eventually you reached the last door. Surely they would be in here, maybe it was just one person? Maybe they all decided to stay all together in this room? It was the furthest away from the entrance of the house after all.

You moved your hand and knocked gently on the door, you wanted to alert the people in there. “Hello? This is the resistance, we got your call we-”

Your words were cut off as you opened the door and your eyes fell upon the dozens of fresh corpses that lay around the room. It looked as if blood was still leaking from some of the bodies. Your heart sank even more as you looked closer and saw that the corpses were those of men, women and children. Both Yokai and Humans.

You had seen a lot in your time being in the resistance, but you hadn’t seen a massacre like this ever before. Your hand flew to your mouth as you felt the urge to be sick, the smell of death stronger than you had ever smelt it before. In your shock you didn’t feel the three fingered hand behind you rest on your upper back, attempting to comfort you but also alert you at the same time.

“The Kraang must have intercepted the signal and found them first.” He quickly explained, you heard how panicked his voice was, it cracking in a few places before becoming more stern. “[y/n] we have to go, there’s nothing we can do now. The Kraang could still be around!”

“But the bodies…”

“We have to leave them! We need to go now!” 

A rustle from inside the room could be heard, towards the back. You craned your head to look around the mass of bodies, a flash of hope that there was a possible survivor.

You were far from the truth, in fact you felt all your hope die once you saw the huge figure that rose from underneath some rubble on the ground. A huge Kraang scout uncurled itself, it looked as if it was the shape of a dog but it couldn’t have been with its huge eyes and huge teeth that still dripped with blood. You could see part of its face infected with the Kraang as it turned to face you and you could feel both your and your husband’s heart drop as it made eye contact with you and snarled.

“Donnie…” You whispered, reaching towards the gun on your back, not wanting to make any sudden movements. “We need to leave…” 

The demonic creature growled at the sight of your gun in your hands and you felt the colour drain from your face as even more of the Kraang creatures rose from their resting place in the rubble. They all turned their attention to you and the turtle. You were vastly outnumbered.

“Now!” 

All at once you saw the creatures pounce at you and Donnie shoved you out of the way as one of the creatures smashed into him hurdling him into the wall behind him. You could hear the crack of his battle shell, and you were just glad it wasn’t his real shell.

“Donnie!” You shouted as you pointed your rifle at the creatures and started to shoot. Your face contorted into a snarl though if you looked into your eyes you would’ve been able to see the fear pooling.

“NO!” Donnie shouted behind you as his claws from his battle shell held back the Kraang creature that smashed into him. “[y/n], don’t engage!”

“What!! Why!?” You could only respond as you continued to shoot even though Donnie had advised not to.

“[y/n], this building is on the verge of collapsing. If we fight inside here it’ll all come down, there'll be no way out!” You lowered your gun, stopping the shooting and looking in his direction for a second. You saw him tapping away on the tech on his wrist as the claws continued to hold back the creature.

Another one of the creatures came pouncing towards you, able to now you had ceased your shooting. You hit it harshly in the head with the back end of the rifle and hit another with the front end. You couldn’t keep this up, this wasn’t the purpose of a rifle, it wasn’t meant to be a melee weapon. You glanced over again at Donnie as if he had a plan.

You watched as he continued typing on the tech, grimacing at the screen, his frown growing  every time it beeped. “I can’t get my Donnie pods to activate! My battle shell is losing power, it’s defective from when I was thrown before!”

Seeing the panic in the turtle’s eyes, hearing it in his voice made your own breath hitch. It was a mistake coming here… You should’ve trusted Donnie when he said you wouldn’t be able to handle it…

NO! 

You were not going to let that happen! You growled once more and altered your grip on your gun so that you could shoot again. You screamed as you locked onto the Kraang creatures and shot at their legs, slowing them down.

“What are you doing?!” Donnie screamed at you still typing on his wrist in an attempt to fix the pods. “The building is unstable [y/n]!!”

“If we don’t engage we’re going to die! We have more chances of surviving a bit of rubble compared to these bastards!” You spat out, “Run the statistics if you don’t believe me!!”

You continued to shoot at another creature, blasting its legs off before moving to one behind it. Focusing on the Kraang in front of you you forgot the one Donnie had been holding off, with it now turning its attention to you. You felt it harshly kick you in the side knocking you off your feet and onto the ground your head crashing into the hard floor disorientating you slightly.

As you gained back your thoughts you saw it crawl above you, its mouth wide open threatening to bite your head off. You groaned and tried to lift your gun up but your vision felt blurry and the creature made a note to step on your arm and prevent it from being lifted up further.

You continued to try and free yourself from the grasp of the creature as your thoughts returned to you and you felt tears start to rise as the teeth neared your face.

Thankfully a bright purple hue appeared in your vision and multiple gunshots pierced through the body of the creature pinning you down making it keel over dead beside you. You felt yourself smile as you saw Donnie stand above you, his mystic tech bearing his arsenal while he held onto his trusty bo staff. Goddamn he looked good from this angle, even more handsome than usual.

“I believe you enough to not run any statistics.” He smiled softly.

As the turtle offered you a hand and pulled you up you noticed the glow of the arsenal flicker. Thankfully you were able to pull your thoughts together and realise that with Donnie’s battle shell damaged you had limited time to fight off the creatures before needing to leave before the building collapsed. 

You pulled your gun to you once again and faced one direction, shooting the other creatures that were still in the premises with you. Donnie pressed up against your back facing the opposite direction doing the same, except with his mystic guns, his bo staff ready to command them.

Feeling as if you were in a movie you spun and got a shot to one of the Kraang creatures head killing it. You saw Donnie do the same a moment after, leaving only two more creatures alive. Being honest, when you had a solid plan with Donnie like this the two of you could do anything. Not that the situation wasn’t scary though, you were reminded of that from the door still open connecting to the room you had been in before…

Losing your thoughts a little at the sight of the room you failed to see a huge piece of rubble from above you come crashing down. Donnie on the other hand had, aiming above you and breaking apart the piece of debris into a million smaller pieces.

“Pay attention [y/n]! The sooner we can get rid of these guys the sooner we can leave ourselves!!” The turtle shot at you, a frustrated tone in his voice. 

“Sorry!” You shot back and brought the scope to your eye, aiming once again at the Kraang that darted around you. Now was not the time to lose focus.

The Kraang on your left suddenly charged towards the two of you, like the first one had done. With the two of you throwing yourselves on the ground barely out of reach from the demonic thing. A rumble throughout the building could be heard and the floor shook as it collided beside you. You felt a tingle in your calf but decided to ignore it, your adrenaline too high for you to process it.

With its close proximity you were able to quickly finish it off, doing the same to the other. With Donnie shooting it multiple times through where its heart would’ve been. You swore you almost watched it fall over in slow motion, letting out one last cry as it did so. 

A moment passed between the two of you. Your breathing heavy and your vision starting to blur a tadge. The light of the mystic tech finally faded out, leaving Donnie with only his bo staff in his hands and the claws that came from his battle shell. 

“Was…was that all of them?” You asked, feeling your heart finally start to return to a normal rate.

“Yes… but let’s not stick around to see if there are any more, they might have called for backup and my mystic tech is all out of power.” He replied facing you with a look of relief. “Plus I don’t think this place will remain upright for that much longer.”

Clearly not wanting to waste any time the softshell started to move, gesturing with his head for you to follow him. His footsteps crunched as they came into contact with the gravel and a slight echo could be heard.

“Right, let's- ARGHHH!” You cut yourself off with a scream as you felt a huge jolt of pain come from one of your legs. 

The sudden noise made Donnie spin round in an instant to watch you fall to the ground. You heard a sharp inhale leave his lips as his eyes instantly went to your bloodied and injured leg, it made you look down at it and almost whimper at the sight.

You don’t know how you didn’t notice it before, even with the adrenaline that was coursing through you. The skin on your upper calf had been ripped open, exposing the muscle and parts of bone. You assumed you got it from when the Kraang creature had rushed at you before, though you were sure it was only a little cut with the tingle it gave you.

“Oh shit…” The words left Donnie’s mouth as he came closer to inspect the wound, his fingers traced over it gently and you sucked air through your teeth trying not to scream as another jolt of pain shot up your leg. “We need to get back now, the first aid team can fix up your leg, no worry. But if we don’t get there soon I worry you could lose too much blood…”

His analogy was right. Red hot blood was pouring from the exposed flesh staining the rocks and gravel below it. With the rate it was coming out you could be passing out in maybe ten minutes, and with the Donnie pods out of service it would take much longer to get back on foot…

Despite the odds you felt comforting hands scoop you up from the ground, “C’mon, we need to go.” You wrapped your own hands around his neck, stabilising yourself a little more. “Of all the times for you to be hurt. You’re the bane of my existence, you know that?”

You laughed between coughs, “That's why you love me though.” You threw a smirk up at him and he returned it with his own.

“You’re not wrong…”

Caught in the sweet moment and right as Donnie was about to move a loud crack came from above the two of you. The loud noise startled you both and as you looked upwards your hearts sank as you watched a huge piece of the ceiling break and come crashing down onto you. 

In a brief moment you swore you saw your whole life flash in front of you, knowing that you were probably going to be crushed in that moment. It seemed as if Donnie wasn’t going to let that happen though.

Just as your mind had accepted your fate you saw the metallic claws come shooting out of the purple battle shell, attempting to hold the massive chunk of debris that was about to crush you both. As the chunk came in contact with the claws Donnie’s entire body was jolted forward and you fell from his arms, groaning as you landed on your side.

You made an effort to quickly look his way again, your mouth slightly open as you watched him growl at concentrating on keeping the rock from falling onto you. You saw his eyes haze in and out, his breathing ragged as he kept trying to push the chunk upwards. 

“[y/n]... I… I don’t know how long I can hold this for…” He spoke between breaths glancing your way.

He was right, it was clear that his battle shell was still suffering from the damage done to it before. With the claws sometimes sliding down and dropping the huge piece of debris another few inches closer to them.

“Donnie… what are we gonna do?...” You asked, looking into his eyes longingly. Hoping, praying he had a solution to this. He always had an answer. Maybe he could run diagnostics, find a way out, even if it had only a 0.1% chance of working…

 He didn’t answer, his eyes instead meeting yours. His brows were furrowed, and he had an expression on his face you had never seen before. Fear. Real fear. 

The claws slipped down again, the loud metallic clang filling the room. The weight of the debris forcing the turtle to his knees and hands as his battle shell struggled to withstand the weight. 

You knew now that there was no escape. The battle shell wouldn’t hold out for much longer, and even if it did you weren’t sure you’d be able to get back to the base in time before your wound bled out. 

Your weakened state crawled over to him, your own vision starting to blur as the wound on your leg continued to leak the red liquid.

As your lip trembles you place a hand on his shoulder, his head snapping to look at you again. His expression saddening even more as he saw you wobble and concentrate on staying awake. The look in your own eye told him that you knew this was it. That this was the end, and you had given up.

“It’s ok Dee… I don’t mind dying, as long as I’m here with you…”

The words brought tears to the turtle’s eyes, feeling as if he failed you. He failed to protect you, to keep you safe. 

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped halfway through, his face instantly contorted into one you often saw when he was planning something. Had he found a way out?

“I think I know a way I can get you out of here.” His eyes were hopeful, there was that glint in them, but it seemed much duller than normal.

“You do?” Your eyes widened, “How do we get out of here then?”

“Not me. You.”

…

“What…”

Your face dropped again. What did he mean just you? What about him…

“Listen [y/n]...” His voice was oddly calm, he spoke in a comforting way explaining simply, “There’s just about enough power in my battle shell for it to push the debris upwards, this will give me a chance to detach it from myself and for it attach to you instead and use the emergency rockets to fly you back to the base. Once you’re back your wounds can be healed, you’ll be alright…”

He looked so… casual about this… like he was completely fine with it!? But it couldn’t be right, this had to be a joke…

“What about you!?” You blurted out in panic. He smiled again, the edges of his lips curling into a soft calming smile. One you’d see when he was holding you.

“There’s not enough power for the shell to hold the both of us. It can only take you back home.”

“HOW CAN YOU BE OKAY WITH THIS?!!” You were screaming now, the corners of your eyes starting to blur as tears started to pool, threatening to spill. “I don’t want to go back! I’ll just stay here with you, I don’t care if I fucking die!! As long as I can still be with you…”

Another deafening crack could be heard, the debris sliding down another inch or so. A few smaller rocks crumbled off it, bouncing onto the ground beside you lying in the pool of blood under your leg.

You looked away from him. You didn’t want this… How could you face him if you knew this was it…

“[y/n]...”

You didn’t want to look at him.

It scared you.

“[y/n]...please… look at me…”

How could you not do as he asked? His voice was so gentle it guided your head in the right direction. You felt a tear slip down your cheek, then another, and another.

“Don’t cry… please love.” You felt one of his hands cup your cheek, a soft hold, one that you leaned into. “I would never forgive myself if I gave up a chance to save you, even if it meant sacrificing myself.”

Sacrifice…

You didn’t want him to be your sacrifice…

You wanted him to be here with you, always…

“Please Donnie… I can’t live without you…” Your voice choked out between sniffles and tears.

His hand guided your gaze to directly meet his, his thumb rubbing circles on your cheek comfortingly. His eyes seemed so dull, yet full of hope, not for him though. You saw his dimples form on his own cheeks as he gave you a smile.

You swore you felt your heart stop. Stopping in that moment and taking him in, his scratched face, his messily shaved stubble. His eyes were so beautiful, so relaxing even though you could see the fear in them. You wondered what he thought of you at that moment.

He chuckled at your words, throwing you off slightly, “My my, when did you become so dependent on me [y/n]?”

You felt his other hand wrap around your left hand, lifting it up and bringing it to his lips, kissing it. You watched as he rubbed the ring, your wedding ring.

“You can live without me, I know you can. Please end the war [y/n].”

“Donnie… no…” 

Without another word the turtle dragged you forward, his lips meeting yours. Your body instantly melted into the kiss, salty tears mixed in with the taste. You could lose yourself so easily when he pulled you in like this.

Unfortunately for you, you were too lost in the kiss to notice the softshell tap a button on the tech on his wrist. His battle shell using its last power to push the large piece of rock above you into the air before disconnecting from his own shell and flying over to you.

You only realise as straps emerge from the shell and in a few milliseconds wrap around you pulling you from under the wreckage and securing you to the shell, the kiss between you and Donnie undoing as you were ripped away from him.

The world felt as if it was in slow motion and the sight before your eyes was one you would never forget. Something to haunt you in your dreams for years to come.

Your eyes opened wider as the battle shell started to fly backwards and you saw the size of the debris that you were just under. It was big, much bigger than you had originally thought it to be. 

Your hair flew in front of your face as you travelled backwards, the emergency rockets at full thrust making your cape slap against your skin. But your eyes were wide open, staring in front of you.

Without the claws to hold up the debris the large chunk of rock fell. Donnie… he was right under it. And you wished he didn’t have that loving, soft smile on his face. Not when the rock fell on him crushing his body in the process.

You couldn’t breathe and every part of you wanted to go back, to break apart the debris and cry upon his lifeless body. But you never got the chance. The battle shell taking you away as soon as the rock came crashing down onto Donnie.

You didn’t remember most of the flight back to the base, it was only a few minutes. But your head was pounding, the blood loss from your leg starting to make you drift in and out of consciousness. And that same scene replaying in your mind, over and over. The image of Donnie being flattened under the debris stuck in your mind.

As you reached the base the battle shell quickly detached from you, promptly chucking you onto the ground of the lobby before skidding across the floor itself. You couldn’t do much but lie on the floor, feeling the area around your leg start to pool with blood again.

Through your hazy vision you saw people rush to your aid, some you recognised as your trained nurses. They quickly hoisted you up and rushed you to the hospital wing. 

Their words didn’t register in your head, with their questions only coming across as muffled sounds. But one question did stand out.

“Where’s Master Donatello?”

…

Where was he? 

He was dead.

Just like that the tears came. Pouring out your eyes as you silently cried. It was enough of an answer for the others to know…

And as you were rushed onto a bed in the hospital wing you started to fade away even more. Your eyes closing, begging for rest. Your mind drifting away, with those images ready to haunt every dream, every time you dared to sleep…

~-~

…

Leo didn’t say anything. The words still processing in his mind. His mouth was slightly agape, with him finally knowing the truth on how the second of his brothers died.

“[y/n]...I…”

He trails off, lost for words. You watch as his eyes flicker around, his gaze focused on you, trying to find something to say.

“I’m so sorry for never saying anything…” You say, your voice weak and raw. “I was so scared of sharing what happened, it was all my fault why Donnie died…”

This seemed to perk the red slider up, snapping him out of his thoughts and placing a hand onto your shoulder. He gave you a squeeze and gave no hint of wanting to let you go.

“[y/n] it wasn’t your fault, we know Donnie was too stuck up in his own way. He wanted you to live, and so he made that happen. I just can’t believe that I made you both practically just walk into your death.”

“But you didn’t!” You shouted, feeling familiar tears build up once again. “He told me it wasn’t safe! He told me it was reckless and that we would be stuck out there if something went wrong. AND IT DID!”

You felt your chest heaving, your breath uncontrollable and the signs of a panic attack far too clear. Too stuck in your own head you forgot Leo’s hand that rested on your shoulder, you forgot it until it pulled your shoulder closer to him and his arms wrapped around your back.

Leo’s embrace was comforting, and you felt your breathing start to relax a little. Your chin rested on one of his shoulders while he did the same on yours and you could feel his own tears drip gently onto your back.

“I never should’ve sent you on that mission [y/n]...” His voice was soft, and you quietly listened as he spoke to you and only you. “I should’ve known better and I should’ve sent out a team from my end…”

He pauses, his head still rests on your shoulder and the both of you find your tears dripping onto the others back. “But I do know one thing…” He whispers.

“What?…” 

“He wasn’t a sacrifice…” You felt your throat tighten at the words but then relax again, “He knew what he was doing sending you back here. He sent you back so that the resistance could prosper…”

You wanted to argue, disagree with him and deny it. But you stayed quiet, wanting to hear him out. Not that you could say anything anyway, the lump in your throat felt too big to even swallow right now.

“[y/n], listen…” He sighed, a long, calm sigh. “Do you think that if it was the other way around, if Donnie had been the one who survived and came back here on his own, do you think things would be the same as they are now?”

Well of course they wouldn’t…

Donnie thought completely differently to you. He probably would’ve improved the resistance far better than you ever could’ve…

You shook your head firmly.

“You’re right. The resistance would not be where it is now without you. And as much as I loved Donnie, I know deep down that if it was you that died he would’ve tucked himself away in his lab. Withering away…”

You felt your mouth open slightly and again you wanted to argue…but again, you knew he was right. A part of you knew that is exactly what he would’ve done. Heck, he had pretty much done it when Raph passed, and back then it was you who got him out of that state…

“He would’ve been too heartbroken to go on… but look at you! Look what you’ve done for the resistance, how much you’ve helped it, even in these last two years!” A smile made its way onto his lips, “Donnie made the right decision by sending you back. After all, he always had a plan in mind, and he knew you were stronger than him in that way. That you were stronger than all of us and able to keep going…”

You wanted to cry again. Scratch that. You were already crying.

It felt weird. Hearing something like that. Feeling validated for surviving, even when Don was left behind. But like Leo said, if he had planned this all along, was he ever left behind?

Your arms wrapped around the turtle even tighter and cried into his shoulder, your hiccups and sniffles the only sound to be heard.

After what felt like minutes of just hugging, your voice felt steady enough to talk.

“You understand, don’t you Leo?…”

He understood your vague question.

“Feeling responsible? Yes…”

Nothing more was said. The two of you, crying on each other's shoulders.

Strange how the two of you were so similar, that you could be pillars for each other. Supporting each other even though the people lost were ones you both knew, both loved and both felt responsible for their deaths.

But oh, the relief. 

To finally have the weight of it all off your shoulders. To finally be able to share the truth, to admit it all, and to let it go.

You wished you could stay like this with Leo forever. That comforting touch of your sibling, the hug that made you feel safe and protected while you did the same for him. 

Alas… fate is never that kind.

A huge bang disrupted the embrace, rattling the floor and almost making your eardrums bleed with its intensity. It tore you and Leo apart all of a sudden and before you could even ask what it was the two of you were engulfed in a red light and blaring alarm.

“The alarm…” Leo spoke up, his voice laced with worry and his eyebrows deeply furrowed. “C’mon we need to go check it out!”

You nodded, quickly wiping the remnants of your tears away and following Leo out your room. You felt yourself shift to a more serious mood, yet it felt different from the one you were used to. You felt a lot more…loose? You didn’t know how to describe it, you assumed you were still getting over your emotional moment with Leo.

The two of you ran to the main lobby as fast as you could. You were still in your relaxed clothing and suddenly felt a sinking feeling when you saw everyone rushing to grab their gear. Something was definitely wrong…

It was even worse when recruits started recognising it was you and Leo. Calling out to you desperately, asking for advice and what they should do. 

“Master Leonardo, what was that huge bang?!”

“General [y/n], should we grab our guns and check it out?!”

Master this, General that. Whatever it was, it wasn't good and people were clearly panicking. With tens of recruits huddling around the two of you for answers, answers you did not have.

“Leo!” You called out, grabbing his attention from in front of you, he turned his head but kept on moving. “Do you have any clue what’s happening?!”

“Not really… the alarm has never gone off before though, so it can’t be good.” You pushed forward through the people to come up beside him, “We need to get to the lobby, then we can figure out what the hell is going on.”

You nodded once more. Continuing to push past the recruits that huddled you and into the main lobby. As you entered a dark red hue covered everything and everyone, making the whole place a lot more ominous and worrisome.

“Mikey!” You called out as you saw the top of the youngest Hamato brother’s head, his hair and unusual outfit being a main giveaway. Stood beside him was Casey, who looked as equally worried as everyone else. 

You ran over to the box turtle floating in the air with his legs crossed and gave him a brief hug before questioning him, “Mikey, the alarm, what’s going on here?”

His brows furrowed and the wrinkles on his forehead became more visible as his expression dulled.

“It’s not good news I’m afraid, it seems as if the Kraang have found our location. I’ve been able to force the scouts around the base to retreat, but it’s only a matter of time before they come back and most likely bring their leaders with them…”

The mention of the Kraang leaders made a shiver run down your spine. You would never admit it to anyone, but you were truly terrified of those creatures. Especially the one that appeared to lead everything, Kraang Prime... 

You remember briefly seeing the Kraang leaders in all their horrifying glory many years ago, back when the resistance had all four of their turtle masters. It was not a fond memory, and you remembered the terrifying glare Prime gave you all. Needless to say, you did not particularly want to see them again…

“Oh god…” Your voice trembled, if they had found the location of the resistance then it was clear that they had a limited time left. 

Hold on… wasn’t this strange how the Kraang had found the resistance on the day they had planned to deliver their final attack?... It seemed to fit perfectly with…

“Mikey, your vision!” You shouted out as you realised, “Didn’t you say today would be the end of the war?”

The mysterious turtle nodded his head, “Indeed I did, however, my vision was not able to predict the outcome of today’s events. I knew that something would happen today, which is why it was so important we were ready for anything.”

“Well we are ready.” Leo spoke up, causing everyone’s heads to turn to him. “We knew today was our last chance, and we prepared for this. We’re ready for them.” 

Doing what he did best Leo stood on a chair and called out to everyone standing in the lobby, grabbing their attention and silencing the panicked murmuring. You watched as he straightened his back and held his head high, demonstrating confidence, though you couldn’t tell if it was real or not.

“My friends!” His voice boomed, causing all to become quiet. “It seems as if our location has finally been compromised by our enemies, but it does not matter. They don’t know it but we’re ready for them, we’ve planned our strategy and with all our efforts combined together we can finally end this war! I know you’re all tired, but I promise you, we will avenge our fallen loved ones-” He glanced at you, smiling softly, “and afterwards have the biggest karaoke session of our lives! All we need is hope! Who’s with me?!”

The crowd erupted at his words. His short speech gave all the hope needed. You still envied his ability to do that, it really was something… You felt yourself let out a chuckle at his mention of a karaoke session, you were glad that after all these years he hadn’t lost his sense of humour.

“Everyone to your stations, you know what you need to do! You have twenty minutes, so get ready and say your goodbyes, this is it!” Leo shooed the crowd, making them all rush off in different directions to prepare themselves for the final battle.

In only a few seconds the lobby was mostly empty, only leaving you, the two turtles and Casey. A strange silence took over and it seemed as if the four of you didn’t quite know what to say, even Mikey looked a little stumped.

You decided to break the silence, probably in the most awkward way as well too, “Well, ummm, I better go grab my stuff… meet you guys back here in five?”

Thankfully the others grabbed onto your idea, Leo speaking up, “Yeah, that's probably best, we’ll need to split up into our divisions and help everyone else too.”

With a quick nod you all split up once more. Casey and Leo both going in one direction while you rushed off back to your room, Mikey, mysterious as always, stayed put where he was. You jogged back to the room you were previously in with the red slider turtle, slipping past other recruits who were far too busy getting themselves ready to notice you.

You quickly gathered everything you needed, changing into your field outfit and draping that same ‘cool’ cloak around your shoulders and a chain necklace around your neck. You smiled to yourself as you picked up your gun and slung it over your shoulder knowing that if Donnie was here he probably would’ve said it looked like an awesome action shot from a movie, or something like that.

After grabbing all your equipment you decided to take a slightly different route to the lobby, the main hallways were completely packed and made it difficult to move through. You wanted a little breathing room before the real chaos ensued. You slipped through the smaller corridors, with only a few people passing you as you made your way back to the lobby.

As you walked further you realised you hardly recognised the corridors you were treading through, though past memories of them flashed in your head. You suddenly remembered why you hadn’t walked this way in a while… say, around two years or so…

How could you have forgotten? How could you have forgotten that this particular route also had the shrine dedicated to the fallen on its walls?

You stared upwards and saw two shells hung on the wall. One was much larger than the other, with jagged spikes on the back and cracks littered all over it. It was the other one that had your complete and utter attention though.

The purple battle shell was exactly how you had last seen it, some of its shine still there. You felt your throat tighten as you reached out and touched the shell, running your hands along the scratches and dents in it. You could almost pinpoint which attack made each dent…

A strange feeling welled up inside of you. A part of you so used to how you were and wanting to run away from the shell, forgetting you ever saw it. But a new sensation drowned the other out. A sensation you were sure you wouldn’t have felt if not for Leo…

“It’s ok Donnie… we got this… thank you…” Your voice whispered to the shell as your hand rubbed the shell comfortingly as if it was still attached to the turtle.

Content.

That's how you felt.

You removed your hand, accepting that he was not here, and that that was ok. It was ok that he wasn’t here, because this is what he wanted…

As you moved to step away a gleam caught your eye, directing you back to the shell. It came from the bottom corner and you saw a loose compartment in the battle shell, half-open. You felt your eyebrows furrowed in confusion… had it always been like this?

Your hand reached out and prised the compartment open, with the light illuminating it you felt your mouth open and eyes widen in disbelief. In the two years he had been gone, how did you never see this?

There, in the tiny compartment sat Donnie’s wedding ring. He had most likely left it as a gift for you, slipping it into his battle shell before he detached it and got crushed. It still had its shine to it, with it looking like it was kept in pristine condition.

The gold ring looked as if it had only just been polished the day before, even though it had clearly been hidden away since the day he placed it in his shell. Your thumb brushed over the ring gently, as if you would maybe feel a part of Donnie on the ring.

You felt yourself tear up. Donnie really did plan everything out. You just wish you had found it sooner, so it didn’t have to be stored away for those two years he was gone for. Maybe he had put it in there to comfort you in your early stages of grieving? You wouldn’t know, but you were just so glad you had it now.

Your lips curved into a soft smile and you reached up to your neck grabbing the chain necklace you had put on earlier. You undid it from the back and with your husband's ring in one hand you carefully hooped the ring through the chain before fastening it onto your neck once again. The golden ring hung on your chest supported by the chain necklace.

Your left hand came up and held onto the ring gently and you heard the quiet noise of the metal from both yours and his ring knocking against each other. At this moment, you were so close to him.

After a moment you took a deep breath and drew even closer to the shell, resting your head on the purple tiles while whispering.

“I’ll see you later…”

The strange thing was you couldn’t tell if you were saying it to the shell or to Donnie himself…

~-~

It didn’t take long for you to reunite with the others, Leo and Casey’s chests heaving, it being clear that they ran all the way back. Mikey on the other hand looked as if he hadn’t even moved from the spot you last saw him in.

 “Good, you’re all here.” The box turtle spoke, “I believe it’s best to say our own goodbyes now before separating up into our divisions.”

The three of you nodded, Casey turned to Leo, quietly asking him about something. You took the opportunity to say your goodbyes to the youngest Hamato first.

You felt your mouth open, wanting to say something…but nothing seemed to come out. Goodbyes like this weren’t something you would ever plan for, and even still you might see each other afterwards, though you didn’t know what your chances of that were.

“[y/n].” Mikey’s voice was softer than usual, sounding more like he used to when he was young. “I’m glad you were able to tell Leo about what happened two years ago.”

Your face instantly contorted into confusion.

“Leo told you about what happened?” You asked a little embarrassed. You wondered if Doctor Delicate-Touch or perhaps Doctor Feelings would come out.

“No.” His response was short, causing you to be even more confused. “I knew this would happen, well, I hoped it would anyway. The visions don’t tend to be wrong.”

The visions? Had he known about everything even before it all happened?

“I- I don’t understand…”

He chuckled to himself. “I don’t expect you to, but in these last moments together, let me at least try to help you understand.”

Your mouth stayed shut and you nodded, wanting to know.

“I saw in my vision we only had five days left, and that’s also what I told you and Leo. What I didn’t tell you however was another part of the vision.” Your eyes widened. “I saw you and your struggles, I also saw Leo trying to help and you pushing him away. My vision foretold that you would need to share your pains with my brother in order to win the war. Otherwise the harmony and hope in the resistance would die out before the fifth day…”

Holy…

“So you knew this would happen… Did you know about Donnie’s death too?” You hesitantly spoke.

“Yes, I did…” His gaze directed itself to the floor for a few seconds before looking back up at you with a gentle look. “However, it was not something you needed to know at that point in time. But now that all our secrets are out of the way I want you to know that you were and always are loved.”

You felt yourself rush forward, your arms wrapping around the turtle as you felt his do the same if not a little tighter than yours.

“Thank you Mikey, thank you…” your voice whispered to him.

He didn’t answer back, only reciprocating your hug with a smile on his lips that you could not see.

As you moved away Mikey swiftly made his way over to the red slider turtle, gliding in the air. Leaving you to turn to the young boy awkwardly standing in the middle, you let out a soft chuckle as you took a step towards Casey.

“Hey kiddo.” You started, gaining the boy’s attention.

“Master [y/n]...” He paused, clearly searching for the words to say. “About the other night, about you, I’m so-”

You cut him off mid sentence, “There’s no need to dwell on it, and there’s no need to call me ‘Master’, you can save that for Leo.” You gestured over to the slider turtle who was softly speaking to his brother. 

Casey's eyes softly looked over before returning to you, “But… maste-... I mean [y/n], I was just so worried about you. You just looked so sad, and I felt as if I made it so much worse for you…”

The poor boy. So much responsibility on him, he didn’t deserve this. Any of this.

“Casey…” You spoke softly, using your hand to bring his chin up so he could look at you. “You never made anything worse, in fact you made it better. I’m glad you found me, if you hadn’t your Master might not have helped me open up about my burdens.” 

The motherly tone in your voice clearly comforted the boy, with him leaning into your hold, as if he longed for the comforting touch. If only his real mother was here to see how much he had grown…

“You did…” He seemed a little stumped, though a small smile crept onto his lips at the news before disappearing again, “But today… the battle what happens if-”

You cut him off once again, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me today, I’m finally at peace.” You unconsciously clutch the ring attached to your necklace making Casey’s eyes widen a little, “But you know your role, do you not?”

“I do… Master Leonardo told me I have a part to play today.”

“And will you play it? Will you help us win the war?”

He paused, his eyes searching your face before putting on a confident smile and nodding his head sternly.

“I will, I promise I will do everything I can to make sure we win!”

“That’s the spirit.” You smiled back and placed your hand back onto his shoulder before saying in a soft tone, “And I promise you, after this is all done, me, you and Leo, we’ll all go grab a slice, and I’ll tell you everything.”

The biggest smile appeared on the boy’s face and he rushed to hug you, almost making you lose your breath from the way he wrapped his arms around your torso. You hugged him back just as much, squeezing him while he rested his head on your shoulder.

As he untangled himself from you, you swore you heard a slight sniffle, but you didn’t say anything. Instead letting Casey walk away with a final wave as if to say ‘see you later’.

Now there was only one person left to say goodbye to…

Leo stood at the side, he had been waiting patiently for you and Casey to finish your goodbyes. You watched as he waltzed up to you, his hands on his hips and a smug, teasing look on his face.

“Saving the best till last, eh?”

He still was the same after all these years.

“Nah, I was hoping I would be able to slip away, but alas, here we are.” You teased back, crossing your arms as he came up closer, his figure towering over yours.

You took a moment to inspect him. Seeing how he had properly attached his mechanical arm, with his cloak covering some of the top parts before swaying to the ground behind him. It drew your eyes to his odachi on his hip.

The sword was one of the original ones he had from over twenty years ago, though it had a new accessory. You saw the two masks tightly secured to the handle of the sword, one red, one purple.

“I like your sword…” you spoke out gesturing to the odachi, specifically the masks. 

He gazed down at them before chuckling and replying in the same tone as you.

“I like your necklace.” He said making your own gaze direct itself to the ring attached to the chain around your neck. You let out a soft laugh.

He didn’t seem to question why you had the ring or how you had even found it, though he clearly knew that it belonged to his brother.

“Best to keep him close, y’know?” 

“Yeah, I know…” 

The conversation seemed to die down. Neither of you know exactly what to say. You couldn’t go back to what you had discussed before in your bedroom, there was no time. But how come Leo’s goodbye hurts the most out of everyone? Maybe because you knew the struggles you both shared? Or because he was the first person in two years to make you feel real happiness?

Whatever it was, you didn’t want it holding you back from what might be the last moments you share with your brother. You’d had enough of holding back, of keeping to yourself.

“Leo.” You spoke, your voice nearly cracking. His eyes were dead set on yours, waiting in anticipation for what you were about to say. “If we don’t make it today, if we die… I just wanted to say… I’m so happy I was able to have you as a brother and I wanted to thank you for everything…”

His mouth was ever so slightly agape, and he listened intently before putting his real arm on the top of your head, almost patting it.

“And the same to you [y/n], I don’t know what I would have done without you here all these years. And one day, I promise, all of us will be reunited, and we can go grab a slice, all together.”

His face held the softest expression, one reserved for you and only you in that moment as you pulled him in for a hug. Your bodies squished against each other, the tight embrace being one you dreaded to let go of.

It was so strange. How so little words were exchanged between the two of you, yet you couldn’t ever think of anything that would make this moment better.

As the two of you parted, those same soft smiles were kept on your faces. Bright enough to light up the entire room. 

“We’re definitely doing a karaoke session after this right?”

Leo’s words made the three of you chuckle as you waited for the rest of the recruits to arrive, and for the final battle to commence…

~-~

Your ears rung, your vision blurred, and your feet wobbled.

Everything had gone wrong…

You continued to shoot like it was the only thing you could do, in all honesty, what else could you do?

Your entire troop had been ambushed as you came up to your position, you had no idea how many of your friends were still alive and how many had already perished. You dared not to look down, knowing you would see the bodies of your fellow resistance members.

Right now you were on your own, frankly you had no idea how many of your troops survived. The Kraang were so much stronger than you had ever seen them, with thousands of Kraang-ified creatures out to get you from every angle. But no matter how many of them you killed, you were sure they had killed three times as many resistance members.

You were pretty sure you were covered in blood, small pieces of flesh stuck to you. And you hated the fact that it was a mix of yokai, human and Kraang. The red staining your cape and sinking into your skin, something you would never be able to scrub off.

Your thoughts run rampant, and your panicked state searched for some sort of familiarity. Through your hazy vision and your view point on a hill, you were able to look below and see some of the frontliners. Them charging forward only to be murdered instantly. But you saw something else down there, a familiar blue cape and masked figure being carried by a much smaller figure.

Oh my god, that was Leo and Casey…

They weren’t even meant to be near this area, had they been ambushed as well? You assumed as much.

What worried you more was that Casey was practically dragging Leo around. You could make out Leo’s figure clutching his side and the faint red stain around it. If Leo had been injured…if he was hurt badly, then what would that mean for the rest of the resistance?

You didn’t get the chance to answer your own question as your distracted state felt a sudden pain in your abdomen. A sharp pain that brought tears to your eyes and made you scream out from the unexpectedness of it.

“GAHHH!”

You whipped around to see a Kraangified creature almost grinning as it removed a long, sharp, purple spiked hand from the inside of your body. The long veiny spike retracted back to the Kraang as it looked at you with a look of victory painted across its face. The absence of it made you want to scream again as you felt the hole in your body.

With pure adrenaline rushing through your veins you brought your machinery up and pulled the trigger while aiming right at the wicked creature's face. Shooting its godforsaken brains out and watching as it fell to the ground as a crumpled heap.

You felt the world around you blur and as you attempted to look for any more enemies that might be lurking around you too fell down. As much as you didn’t want to, you forced yourself to look down at where the Kraang creature had stabbed you.

Through your increasingly blurred vision you made out the gaping hole that had appeared as a result and you felt your own blood start pouring out of the wound. You opened your mouth to make a sarcastic comment to yourself, but the only thing that left your mouth was a strained cough and blood that had risen up in your throat.

Clutching the fatal wound you spotted a large rock and shuffled over to it using your hand that wasn’t pressing against the wound. As your back hit the rock you leaned against it, focusing on your breathing and attempting to keep it as steady as possible without vomiting out the bile of blood forming at the back of your throat.

As much as you didn’t want to admit it, you knew this was where you would die.

This was the end of the war that was predicted by the vision…

With nobody around you, there was no chance to call out for help. And even if you could, what would they do? The only person who had a chance of healing you was Mikey and you knew he was already pre-occupied.

Speaking of the box turtle, your eyes caught the orange mystic hue that belonged to him. Down there, where you had seen Leo and Casey, you saw him appear and use his mystic powers to get rid of some Kraang creatures that were about to attack the other two.

You watched from afar, wishing you could hear what they were saying. Your heart sank when you saw Leo struggle to move while Mikey and Casey stared at him, his wound a similar one to yours. He looked as if he was about to give up, his expression dulling. Suddenly you saw his face light up again and from his lips you made out the word ‘hope’.

You felt a reflective shine glow in your eyes as you made out the portal Mikey started making. The orange glow lit up the entire area as Leo turned to Casey and handed him a piece of paper with something he had drawn on it.

Your own heart panged as you realised what kind of portal Mikey was making. It was a time portal. And it was going to kill him…

The box turtle’s skin flaked as he put all his energy into making the portal, before turning around to the other two and giving them a wink. You swore you saw his eyes gaze up in the direction you were as well before his entire body shattered into little pieces.

The lump in your throat felt as if it grew twice its size as you tried to swallow it down and stop yourself from crying out as you watched the turtle you called a little brother die. A few stray tears rolled down your cheek as you silently cried for him.

Forcing yourself to watch the rest of the moment you felt your chest heave as Leo threw Casey into the time portal, sending him back in time before the largest blast incinerated the red slider right before your eyes. The laser belonging to Kraang Prime and his mech before everything going silent.

The spot where Leo stood burnt and black, leaving no trace that the greatest ninja warrior had ever even been there in the first place. You watched as the mech walked away, probably knowing who they had just wiped out and probably laughing to themselves knowing they had just won the war.

But there, on the hill, lying against the rock you also chuckled quietly to yourself. For you knew something the Kraang did not. You knew that Casey had been sent through that time portal, sent back in time to stop the Kraang. And you knew from the vision that had been shared with you that he would succeed as the war would never end while the Kraang were still there.

The war would never be over, it would never end in this time. But if Casey was sent back then surely he would be able to change the course of events and make sure the war never even started in the first place.

Mikey was always right. His visions never doubted. As it was right and today, on this fifth day the war would end.

“Haha…” 

You chuckled weakly. You could feel yourself slipping away now, your blood loss too much to ignore. So with the last of your strength you removed your hand that clutched your wound and brought it up to hold the ring on the chain around your neck. You could care less you smothered it with your blood, you felt content in knowing this is where you would die, knowing the outcome in another timeline would be better.

Your eyes started to drift shut, your eyelashes fluttering and your breathing slowing…

“Well, I guess you were never able to shake that awful habit of picking the skin around your fingers, were you?”

A familiar voice rang, making your eyelids flutter open all of a sudden.

There he stood. Though his figure was slightly faded you could still make him out as clear as day. He looked exactly as you remembered him, his mask fitted perfectly around his head with those same goggles resting atop and the same eyebrows he drew on everyday.

Donnie.

His lean figure stood looking down at you. Yet his expression was soft, it was the one he gave you if you ever had a bad day, one he could instantly calm you down with. One of his hands rested on his hip and you could see his own cloak flow behind him, just like yours, you had forgotten how ‘cool’ it had made him look.

You felt yourself let out another chuckle.

“I couldn’t help it, you know me, always stubborn like that.”

Your own face held a soft smile, missing the teasing nature of the man you loved so very much.

“I’m so proud of you [y/n].” He spoke out, making your chest flutter with every syllable that came out his mouth. “I know how hard it was for you, and I’m sorry for leaving you the way I did.”

You felt your head shake automatically, you were surprised you were able to with the rapid rate you were losing your blood.

“No. I know why. I’m sorry for pushing you on that day, making us go out, it could have been avoided if I wasn’t so stubborn.” You replied. You still felt the weight of his death on your shoulders, especially now he was here right in front of you, confronting you. Though that’s not how he viewed it.

“I wouldn’t have had it any other way my dear…” His voice was so soft, so comforting, you felt as if tears rose to your eyes. “It was fate my dear, it was meant to happen and it wasn’t your fault.”

You felt his hand ghost your cheek, wiping away the tears. His essence lifting your head to look him in the eye.

He continued to speak softly to you, “But you were able to survive, to carry on without me, even with your guilt and your grief. Something I know for sure I would not have been able to achieve.”

“Really?...” You asked, wanting his confirmation.

“I think we both know you were the stronger one of us both, in ways you might not have expected.” Another tear rolled down your cheek as your smile grew. “But you do not have to suffer and survive any longer, you can rest now…”

“Rest?” Your voice barely above a whisper, with you now struggling to make out any more words.

“Yes, the portal you saw. Casey will go back, and he will succeed in stopping this terrible future from ever happening. There will be no war, and we can grow up together, like we always wished we could.”

So you were right. Everything was ok. It felt strange to think about it, to think your younger selves would be able to have the future you had always wished for.

“Come now, you don’t have to hold on any longer. We’re all waiting for you.”

‘We’? 

Taking your focus away from Donnie you saw the multiple figures that stood behind him. Even more tears rose in your eyes as you saw your friends and family standing behind your husband.

They were all there. The larger figure of Raph, his kind smile. Splints, giving a small nod. April and Cassandra, beaming in your direction. And there, as if you hadn’t seen them die a moment before. Leo and Mikey, both with a soft look on their face, a look of acceptance.

Your family.

“Come now, we don’t want to be late…” Donnie spoke up once more, his figure right in the middle of the others.

“L-late?” You whispered.

“Of course. We’re going to grab a slice… You coming?”

His hand extended your way as he waited patiently for your answer.

A final smile graced your lips. And using the last of your energy you took your hand away from the ring you clutched around your neck. Extending it to grab his, to hold it and never let go ever again.

“I’d love to.”