Work Text:
The first few days living in the lair had been going pretty well, Casey would say. The Hamato’s had cleaned out a storage room for him to call his own, which was pretty amazing. For the first time in his life he's been able to sleep on an actual bed! It was so much more comfortable than a cold cave floor.
The food was a major upgrade too. Master Michelangelo had made it a personal mission to get him to try as many different foods as he possibly could. Which Casey appreciated, having lots of food stored was also a new experience for him. He had discovered that he liked food that had a lot of flavour and variety- another major upgrade from his old life of grass and rats.
He Also liked how inviting they all were. Despite knowing next to nothing about him, they had welcomed him with open arms and let him live with them. It's not like he could really go anywhere else with the whole not legally existing thing but still! He couldn't have asked for a better life.
But despite all of this, Casey just couldn't let his guard down. He's spent the last couple of days unable to sleep, pacing around his room at ungodly hours of the night. Currently, the digital clock he had been given read 2:48am, which meant everyone else was already asleep.
Casey had come to realise that he hated the nighttime in this place. Back in the future, there would normally be at least one other person awake with him to watch for potential danger, but now he was left completely alone with his thoughts. Every little sound beyond his door sending him further into his paranoia.
He sighed, gripping his hockey stick tighter. He knows there probably isn't any real danger out there. He knows he shouldn't be worried about what was probably just sewer pipes creaking- Commander O’neal and Master Donatello had already told him it was nothing. It was just the pipes “settling” the pair had said. He had no idea what that meant but he just took their words on it …but maybe taking a look around the lair for himself wouldn't hurt.
As quietly as he could, Casey turned the doorknob and poked his head out into the hallway, seeing nothing but darkness and the familiar purple hue of the walls.
“Okay. so far, so good.” He mumbles, pushing himself forward towards the black void. Passing the skate ramp, Casey heads towards the bedrooms of the lair. He just needs to make sure they are alright. That'll calm him down. It's just like being on nightwatch again! Patrolling the perimeter of whatever cave they were staying in at the time and checking to see if the sleeping were alive safe.
He stopped at the first bedroom- Master Michelangelo's- and looked inside. It was bright and inviting- a stark contrast to the coldness of the hallway. Casey looks over to the bed, seeing him peacefully sleeping, safe and alive. He hasn't seen anyone look that peaceful whilst sleeping in a long time. The lack of the contorted facial expression of someone having a nightmare was almost forein to him. He smiles, backing away and heading to the next room.
The next room was Master Leonardo's room, he discovered quickly. Approaching the door of the room, Casey could hear the snores of his mentor. He took a second to observe the boy. The sleeping teen in front of him was eerily similar to the one who raised him, but so different at the same time.
They were both impulsive and confident and believed they could do anything that they put their mind to. But unlike his mentor, who was gunned down right infront of him Leonardo was able to grow and overcome the failures of his future self that led to all their deaths.
Something in Casey's chest hurt at the mention. As much as his sensei had flaws, he loved him like a father. He taught him almost everything he knew. He taught him how to fight, how to use his grappling hook, and he taught him the best ways and places to hide. He taught him what pranks were and how to find joy in the little things. He will always be grateful for that.
Running through that battlefield, Casey knew he was going to die. A bleeding abdomen wasn't something you could properly treat in the apocalypse. Medical supplies had run out pretty quickly, meaning something as simple as a cut could get infected and kill you. Disease ran rampant and all you could do was prey you weren't next. His master was just lucky it was a quick death. Most people didn't get that small blessing. He was 39.
Casey thinks back to when he was a child, watching his mother die slowly on a battlefield due to a mix of blood loss and dehydration. He remembers the guilt of accepting that water she gave him. Maybe if he hadn't, she would have lived past 30.
Leo shifts in his sleep, bringing Casey out of his thoughts. He's probably been staring for too long. He should check the next room. Wiping his eyes, he moves away from the room and towards Master Donatello's room.
He Looks inside the larger room to see him out like a light. The mutant was laying on his side with his back against the wall. Incredibly similar to how he had last seen him, 5 years ago in some desperate plan to get extra supplies. But unlike then, he was quiet.
Last time, he’d been yelling for Leo to take Casey and run. Saying where he kept the blueprints for his tech and how he’d written them as simply as he could for them to understand- followed quickly by cries of pain and he was slammed into a wall and ripped to shreds.
He didn't see the rest. His Sensei and Commander O'Neil quickly dragged him out of the room. Donnie was 34.
Shuddering at the memory, Casey turned away to head for the last room. He ignored the guilt that was gnawing at his brain.
Raphael brought less painful memories, Casey was too young when he died. He was barely able to remember what happened to him. He does remember it being in a raid and how he went out saving Leonardo from a kraang attack. He wasn't able to save his mentor's arm though, instead leaving him with a prosthetic. He was 26.
Approaching the room, Casey could hear the shuffling inside before he saw it. He raises his weapon again incase he wasn't as free from the kraang as they thought something was wrong. Poking his head inside, He finally gets a clear view of the sleeping figure.
Raphael was curled in on himself in the corner of his bed, back to the wall like a scared puppy. Tears pricked the corners of his right eye whilst his left was obscured by a hand gripping it.
Oh. He's having a nightmare. He can help with that. It's one of the small number of things in this timeline that he knows how to handle.
“Raphael?” he says with a hushed tone “Are you alright?”
No answer. He should expect that really, they didn't have to wake up and fight every little sound in this timeline. He approaches the snapping turtle’s bed carefully so as to not startle him. As gently as he could manage, he reaches over and places his hand on the sleeping figure's shoulder.
He bolts awake, panicked by the touch. Casey barely has time to react before Raph lunges off the bed towards him, clearly not registering where he is. Swiftly, Casey is shoved into the wall behind him, dropping his weapon in the process.
“Raphael! It's me! It's me!” He yells, raising his arms to protect himself from a potential hit. The commotion draws Raph back to reality as he lets out a ragged breath. He takes a moment to process the scene before wiping his eyes.
“Casey? What are you doing here? What time is it?”
Lowering his arms, Casey glances down at the clock behind the taller teen.
“Its uh… 3:03.”
“Why are you awake this late? Did you need something?”
“I just couldn't sleep. Are you okay? You were having a nightmare.”
Raphael moves back toward his bed and takes a seat, inviting Casey to sit down next to him. Casey accepts, picking his stick off the ground on the way over.
“Uh, yeah. It was just a bad dream. Why couldn't you sleep?” His tone was soft, like a parent talking to a frightened child. Casey ignores his question.
“You were covering your eye. Were you dreaming about the kraang?”
Raph is taken aback by the straightforwardness of his statement, unable to string together a coherent response before the teen sitting next to him continues to speak.
“What happened in your dream?”
Really, Raph didn't want to tell him. He knew the kid had it rough and he didn't want to add anymore to his plate. He was supposed to be the one comforting him dammit, not the other way around!
But Casey just kept looking at him, staring up at him with those eyes of his that were so similar to his brothers. When it became increasingly more clear he wasn't going anywhere, turning away from him, Raph relented.
“Yeah. It was about the kraang. It was about how I hurt them. How I couldn't protect them.”
“Them?”
“My brothers.”
The room falls silent. Casey looks around the room, a thoughtful look on his face. He hardly had any experience comforting people, but he’ll be damned if he doesn't try.
“No one has ever broken out of the kraang's mind control before. You were the first. And you did it purely out of love and willpower! Your family is safe because of what you did for them and they know it. They want to protect you as much as you want to protect them. So please- just let them.”
For the second time in these past few minutes, Raph was surprised by the profoundness of the statement. How could he possibly know half of that? Had Leo been opening his mouth? And then it hit him.
“Casey?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened to us in that future?”
Casey doesn't answer. God he hates thinking about this. What was he even supposed to say? They all died and I did nothing but watch-
Suddenly, he felt a firm hand be placed on his shoulder, dragging him out of his head.
“I can take it. You don't need to hide from me.”
“They… don't make it. That's why I was sent here. We failed.”
He watches as Raphael's eyes widen slightly, like he's just had heard something he'd been praying wasn't true. He's seen that look hundreds of times over. Maybe not on Raphael's face, but on the faces of every Hamato member.
“Was it painless?”
Casey shakes his head, much to the dismay of the mutant.
“You died first, saving Master Leonardo. I don't remember most of the details, I was too young.”
“How old were you?”
“I was 3.”
“How old are you now?”
“17.”
Raph nods, egging him on to continue.
“Then it was my mo- Cassandra. She died on a battlefield. Then it was Master Donatello, he died in a supply run. Master Leonardo and Michelangelo died getting me here.” Short and sweet. He didn't need to know anymore than that.
“And you watched it all happen, huh?”
Casey looks at the ground. He really doesn't want to be talking about this. He just wants to curl up into a ball and pretend none of it ever happened. Because hey, it technically didn't, right? To any other person he would sound crazy.
Casey freezes in place when he feels an arm be slung over his shoulder. He says nothing as he is quietly pulled into a side hug. He feels his eyes swell with tears as he melts into the embrace.
“I'm sorry.” Raph says.
“Me too.”
For the first time in his life, Casey feels like the world isn't about to end. He feels as if he isn't in danger, like he can finally let his defences down . For the first time ever, he feels safe.
Hot tears spew down his face, he turns and buries his face in the turtle's chest. He lets the hockey stick slip out of his grasp and onto the floor.
“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Raph says, raising his other arm to stroke the back of the human's head.
“I- I’d like that. Thanks Raphael.”
“Please, just call me raph. You don't have to be all formal with us anymore.”
Casey looks up at him and smiles. A yawn escapes his lips.
“Thanks, Raph.”
Thinking back on their conversation as his eyelids grow heavy and adrenaline fails him, Casey thinks he's gonna be okay.