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The lair is in shambles, but not so irredeemable that the Hamatos have to move again, and Leo is thankful for that. There’s already a hole in the subway car he calls his room from his and Raph’s fight a month ago, which Donnie has promised to get working on repairing as soon as the rest of the more important damage is fixed (which means Splinter’s chair, because now that the panic of the world ending and almost losing his son has begun to subside, he’s gone back to affectionately bugging everyone into aiding his comfort). Honestly, he doesn’t mind the gaping hole, or the broken pieces of rubble littering the floor; dealing with the mess beats moving homes again. Sometimes he thinks about the first lair, and he misses it, which is strange since he didn’t think much about it at all before the Shredder attacked. In a lot of ways, the Krang aftermath reminds him a lot of those days, so he’s truly grateful they don’t have to add house hunting onto their pile of problems.
He sinks into his bed like a stone in water, letting the comfort of his worn mattress bring relief to his aching body, still going through the recovery of his brutal beating weeks ago. Its been a long day of cleaning, patrolling (he’s been strictly limited to look-out duty until he’s completely better. He tried to pull the leader card on that decision, but quickly shut his mouth when all three of his brothers gave him a very pointed “ do not ” look), and checking up on their friends scattered across the city. They’ve been doing it for a while now because, well, they have a lot more friends than they realized, and just about everyone was dealing with the aftermath of the invasion one way or another. The hardest part was visiting the Hidden City. Draxum personally oversaw their defense, but even they were powerless to stop the Kraang’s minions from finding them. It’s a mess, one they’re happy to help with, but it’s taking everything in Leo not to pass out every few minutes or so.
He sighs, shimmying his belt off and throwing it as far across the room as he can, hoping it lands near where he left his swords a few hours ago. A nap is good, he thinks, a nap is perfect, when’s the last time he’s slept anyway? Much too long ago. So long that he doesn’t even take off his mask, much less put his sleeping mask on, he just closes his eyes and prepares to slip into what he hopes will be a two week coma.
But, of course, life has other plans and instead of cave-like silence, he’s met with the sound of heavy boots scraping the metal of the subway car. He frowns, not out of anger but out of confusion because it’s well past midnight now, and everyone separated to go to sleep just minutes ago, why is he being interrupted now? He cracks an eye open, though he really doesn’t need to, he already knows who wandered into his space.
A young boy named Casey Jones.
“Oh!” Casey squeaks, his eyes catching Leo’s for the first time, “sorry, Sensei, I got lost again.“
Now, it has been weeks since the defeat of the Kraang, and Casey has been with them the entire time, but the boy has a frequent habit of getting lost. There’s not really a good explanation for this, but Leo guesses it’s because of the lack of permanence he’s dealt with his entire life. To his understanding, Casey has never lived in a single place for longer than a few months, and those were broken underground systems they couldn’t explore too deeply for safety reasons. So that, combined with the overwhelming experience that is New York City, a complicated subway and sewer system, and a new place to live leaves him quite disoriented. So much information and new experiences at once that sometimes he ends up lost looking for his room even if he’s already accustomed to sleeping in it every night.
For all that, Leo can’t be mad at him, not that he would be anyway. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, literally waving him off, “my room is the best after all, it’s only natural your instincts would lead you here.”
Casey snorts, “it is very you.”
“If by ‘you’ you mean cool and creative, then you’d be right, my friend!”
The younger boy chuckles, looking around the cramped metal walls with a smile that’s become more familiar to his face since he’s settled in with the Hamato family. Another thing about Casey that Leo’s picked up on is how attached he is to his side. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that in his timeline, he was closest to the future version of Leo, or “Master Leonardo”, as Leo has come to differentiate the two, though he does spend a great deal of time with Mikey as well. Honestly, Leo doesn’t like the implications of that. To him, it sounds like Raph and Donnie were the first to go, so Leo and Mikey were the only ones he could’ve had a relationship with. But he doesn’t want to think about who lived the longest and who died first, even if he’s got a pretty good idea of it by now. Besides that, it’s kind of sweet to see Casey trailing them like a lost puppy, or a duckling. The kid is, honestly, adorable, kind of like how Mikey was when he was- is, and now Leo kind of understands why Raph has always been so protective of him, because if anything happened to Casey, then Leo would probably send someone through a wall.
There are a couple things… off about Casey’s insistence on staying with them, and one of them is his very pointed hesitance to see Cassandra, his mother. Nobody has commented on it yet, but it has become a bit more obvious the longer he’s with them. Earlier in the week, he wouldn’t leave Mikey’s side, insisting on helping him with everything, even stuff he didn’t know how to do (it is very, very hard to let a boy whose only eaten rats help cook your lunch). But the second Mikey announced he was meeting up with Cassandra, Casey backed off and decided to see what April was doing instead, and when she decided to go with Mikey, he went to find Raph. It’s not a big deal, but it does strike Leo as odd since, to his understanding, they lost everyone in Casey’s timeline, wouldn’t he want to see his mother instead of sticking with the teenage version of his master?
He bites his lip, and wonders what could be going on inside the kid’s head.
“Aren’t you tired?” Leo asks, briefly glancing at the clock barely hanging onto his wall, feeling slightly dejected to see it’s actually one in the morning now.
The question seems to make Casey a little sheepish, an apologetic smile now sitting on his face. “Not really, I got a full three hours of sleep after dinner, so I’m good to go!”
The idea of running off three hours of sleep makes Leo shudder, not that he’s doing much better right now, but he was planning to sleep until two o’clock tomorrow. Casey’s sleep schedule leaves something to be desired, which is to say he doesn’t have one and might not of known what a real day and night were before traveling to the past. He doesn’t make it anyone’s problem per say, but there is a sort of guilt Leo feels about leaving the kid up to his own devices while the rest of them sleep peacefully through the night.
“Ah, sorry,” Casey suddenly blurts, “you were probably going to sleep, weren’t you?”
He could easily say yes, and Casey being the kind, understanding kid he is would leave and find something else to do. But when has Leo every chosen the easy way?
“Nah,” he smiles, his newly-crooked teeth shining through his lips (he’ll need Donnie to help fix those up eventually, hopefully there’s something he can do), “you’re probably bored, huh?”
Honestly, Casey doesn’t look like he entirely believes him, but he doesn’t push it. “No way,” he shakes his head quickly, then pauses, “well, yeah I am, but it’s okay. Being bored beats being in danger! It’s kind of nice, I think.”
Leo blinks at the statement, and sticks his tongue out in faux disgust, “okay, I’m gonna have to beat that out of you. No teenager likes being bored!” He reaches behind his pillow, feeling around blindly until his fingers catch the unmistakable crinkle of flimsy paper. “Here,” and he tosses him the first comic he can get a good grasp on (Jupiter Jim, naturally).
Casey fumbles to catch it, his clunky gloves getting in the way at the worst of times, but his eyes light up with unbridled excitement when he realizes what he’s been handed. “Master Leonardo gave me some of these years ago!” He gasps, nostalgic joy taking over as he rips the pages open in excitement.
“Yeah?” Leo smiles, it reminds him of when he got his first comic when he turned eleven. It was a Lou Jitsu one, which many people don’t know exist, and Splinter made sure to tell him that, which made it feel extra special. He carried that comic around for weeks until he got his hands on some more, but the excitement never faded. “How’d those hold up?”
“You guys kept them in great condition, but… I kind of ruined some of them…”
Leo winces, “I’m sure Donnie loved that.”
Casey makes an equally pained face, “yeah, he wasn’t very happy with me afterwards, but we needed the kindling so there wasn’t much of a choice.”
Of course, the mention of that apocalyptic future and Casey’s… upbringing, makes the room feel a little sadder, but neither of them move to comment on it. The less he knows about that timeline, the better, but honestly Casey looks like he’s going to burst with the knowledge that’s come to haunt him every day of his life. Leo’s been insistent on keeping away from any knowledge about that reality, but he’s afraid it’s only hurting Casey to keep it down in the end.
The younger boy’s eyes shine as he hurriedly reads the comic through, like it’s going to get taken away from him at any moment, and Leo lopsidedly smiles at his enthusiasm. Is this what Splinter felt when he raised them? No, definitely closer to watching Mikey come into his own person.
“Hey, you can keep that comic.”
Casey’s eyes practically bulge out of their skull as he snaps his head up to gape at Leo, “seriously?!”
“Yeah, sure thing,” never mind that it was one of his favorites, he can probably find another one, and even if he can’t he doesn’t think he cares all that much. “Consider it a gift from Master Leonardo to you.“ But an immediate frown comes to his face as something in his mind says that maybe he was too insensitive with that comment. “I mean,” he tries to amend, “I’m not him, but he sounds pretty awesome- fantastic and fabulous, might I add- so he would’ve wanted you to have it.”
Sheesh, he could kick himself for that performance. But, surprisingly, all Casey does is laugh at his antics, “I think you’re becoming more like him every day.”
Did he mention Casey is a real sweetheart? Because the kid is a real sweetheart.
Before he can say anything, probably something stupidly sappy, the subway cart rocks back and forth from the weight of Mikey hopping on board.
“Hey, Leo are you up- oh! Hey, Casey.”
Casey waves to him with a crooked smile (maybe Donnie can get this kid braces too, dental care must be rough in his future) as Mikey comes up to the two of them, wearing a rather bulky hoodie. “Woah!” He exclaims, pointing to the comic, “I love that issue! This is the one with the invisible blaster, right?”
Leo might be the true Jupiter Jim fan, but it’s no secret that Mikey is right behind him. In fact, the only reason Mikey hasn’t beat him is because he spends most of his money on art supplies instead of mountains of merchandise.
“Yeah! Leo actually said I could keep it!”
Mikey’s eyes damn near bulge out of his skull in surprise, mirroring Casey just minutes ago, “Leo let you have one of his comics? No way.”
“Hey!” Leo snaps, sitting up with a friendly glare, “I’ll have you know I am a very generous soul.”
“You bit me for touching your stuff once.”
“I was thirteen!”
“You were fourteen, liar!”
“I’ll bite you again, Miguel!”
“And now you’re sixteen!”
The quiet, poorly muffled sound of giggles tears them out of their short squabble to look at Casey instead, who’s covering his mouth with an absolutely elated smile. Leo gives him a confused look, he didn’t think they were that funny, but he does have a natural sense of comedy around him.
“Anyway,” he turns back to Mikey, “what’s up, hermano?”
As if on cue, the younger turtle’s stomach rumbles loud enough to echo off the walls of the car. “I’m hungry! Will you come to the store with me? Dad raided the kitchen after dinner and I really don’t want another peanut butter and cheese sandwich.”
Yuck, Leo has to agree with him there. Ironically, it’s a Raph and Donnie favorite (they have questionable taste. Despite Donnie’s claims to have a more refined palette, he can eat some stuff that makes the others absolutely sick).
“You do realize it’s one in the morning, right?”
“Exactly!” He sighs, throwing himself over Casey, who’s still watching their antics play out, “I can’t go to sleep hungry! I’ll wake up with a stomach ache! I’m already weak!” Casey shifts and loosens Mikey from his back, which makes him perk up and wrap his arms around the younger kid’s head, “you can come too, Case’!”
“Sure I- Master, I can’t breathe- I’m down for anything.”
Mikey slides off his back, keeping his eyes on Leo, “great! If only somebody would get up so we can go,” he drawls.
With a deep groan, Leo throws his legs over the side of his bed, “you’re paying.”
“Naturally,” Mikey sing-songs (grateful he already snuck into Donnie’s room before coming in. A little payback for an incident years ago).
“Fineee,” he hops over to the other side of the room, shuffling through a box labeled LEO’S!! DO NOT TOUCH (DONNIE)!! and pulls out massively oversized hoodies, throwing one at Casey which hits him straight in the face. “Let’s move quick, you know Raph can sense it when we’re about to make bad decisions.”
Casey’s head pops out of the hoodie, “wait, is this… not allowed, or something?”
“Anything’s fair game if we leave a snack for dad!” Mikey shrugs, “now let’s go before I get lightheaded!”
“Lead the way, hermano!”
(Something tells Casey they’re going to regret this in the morning, but he shoves that thought aside in favor of following the brothers, the warmth in his heart too comforting to deny.)
…
Convenience stores are exactly as described, yet there’s a strange atmosphere to it that nobody prepared Casey for. The harsh glare of cheap lighting is enough to permanently saturate someone’s vision, and it’s so cold from the obvious lack of heating but Mikey and Leo make it look fun. They wander through the aisles with practiced ease, never stopping because they don’t know what something is but rather because they don’t know what to get. They even know every song that comes on the radio playing through the tired speaker, all while Casey is still trying to figure out the difference between a snickers and a twix.
“Try these.“
Casey jumps at Mikey’s voice suddenly so close in his ear, but he recovers quickly in favor of inspecting the bag of candy placed in his hands.
“What is it?” He asks, because the label M&M means nothing to him.
“It’s chocolate! If we’re gonna get you into junk food then we gotta start slow, you can’t jump into chocolate covered wafers if you don’t have the basics!”
He blinks, he didn’t know food could be so complicated. He’s never even had chocolate before. “I’ll take your word for it.”
They wander over to Leo, who’s in the middle of balancing two full sized slushees in his arm while filling up a third one. “Grab this blue one,” he nods to a slipping cup, which Casey is quick to grab. In a funny way, it reminds him of taking orders from his Leonardo, but less… intense, obviously. There’s a weird comfort in it though, one of the only things he knows in a strange world, even if this isn’t the master he grew up with.
But, really, the weirdest part here is holding a cold drink. Ice was a luxury before, saved for kraang related injuries and not to be wasted since it was hard enough to get their hands on it in the first place. The last time he touched ice was when he was ten after they relocated from another kraang invasion. He was almost caught on his way to the escape tunnel, making it out with nothing more than a nasty, bruised cut thanks to Master Donatello’s rescue. He doesn’t remember the incident very well, but he remembers being shocked his injury was deemed important enough to use their precious supplies. His mom sat with him and pressed the cold compress against his face, and for a while, he almost forgot the kraang existed.
The sting of unshed tears snaps Casey back to reality, and just in time for Leo to finish filling up the last cup. He doesn’t notice the way Casey’s eyes have dimmed, or how his hand is in danger of crushing the styrofoam cup from clenching so hard, but that’s okay. He doesn’t want to bother him anyway, Leo has enough on his plate. He’s better off not thinking about all that now, especially not his mom…
“Come on, Junior,” Leo nudges him with a smirk, “even heroes have to pay- according to Raph at least.”
Casey laughs through his nose, and follows the turtle to the front where an obviously exhausted employee is barely managing to stay awake, probably too tired to notice the very obvious mutants before them. Mikey joins them in a short few minutes afterwards with a chocolate bar, probably to buy Splinter’s silence. As the brothers stand next to each other, Mikey wordlessly grabs Leo’s hand, simply holding it in his own, and Leo lets him with a firm squeeze. It makes Casey smile, and decide to try and let his mind relax for once, focusing on the snacks he has yet to try.
…
“C’mon, let’s sit over here,” says Leo, pointing to the ledge of a building hanging over a rather busy and colorful part of the city. It seems New York never sleeps, even after an alien invasion.
“We’re not going back to the lair?” Casey asks, still taking a seat despite his skeptical tone.
Leo shakes his head, plopping down like his legs can’t carry him anymore. “Nah, we gotta finish these snacks before we get home. Somebody will totally blow it if they find out.”
Mikey sits down between the two of them, still holding Leo’s hand even if balancing his snacks in one hand is tedious. “Yeah, Raph and Donnie will give you hell if they find out you left before you’ve fully recovered.”
“Give me hell? You’re the one who dragged me out here!”
“My tummy was hungry!”
“Well, just for that, you get the cherry slushee now! Give the orange to Casey.”
A surprisingly offended gasp slips from Mikey’s mouth, a bit more dramatic than he intended, and he hugs the orange drink to his chest. “No way! Orange is mine, thank you!”
Leo snickers while Casey watches them with mild curiosity, a state Mikey has noticed he always seems to be in around the younger versions of his guardians. “You don’t like the red slushees?” He asks, pointing to the filled cup.
Mikey sticks his tongue out while Leo shrugs, “it tastes like these cough drops we had a lot as kids. Dad said they’d make us feel better but now we feel sick just thinking about them! How’s that for medicine?” Sore throats were a constant in their childhood since being a cold-blooded species in the winter isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world.
“So why get it at all?”
“We have to!” The younger turtle exclaims, “it’s a game we play! We have to get at least one snack that matches our favorite colors! I got this-“ he shakes his orange flavored and colored drink, “for myself. Leo got blue raspberry-“
“The superior slushee flavor, if I do say so myself.”
“- and the cherry for Raph!”
Casey nods in what appears to be understanding, “wait, what about Donnie?”
“Glad you asked!” Mikey plucks Leo’s cup out of his hand, to which the older boy whines with his mouth full, and as well as the near-discarded cherry, putting both straws in his mouth and taking an impressive drink of both. He grimaced at the sickly flavor of the cherry, and finds himself grateful that he has Leo’s to balance it out, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to stomach this. He swishes the combination around a few times, his cheeks puffing out in exaggeration, and swallows it down once its been reduced to syrupy liquid, saving him from the brain freeze he’d get otherwise. Then he sticks his purple-dyed tongue out in pride with a barely understandable, “ta-da!”
It’s a little silly, and he acknowledges that, but Casey’s burst of giggles fills Mikey with a satisfaction that makes it all worth it. No wonder Leo and Donnie like being the funny man so much.
“Plus this grape lollipop,” Leo adds, producing a dirt cheap purple stick from behind his shell. “We usually toss the cherry one, or put it in the fridge for Raph, but I don’t think he’ll appreciate us sneaking out tonight.” He muses, looking over the slowly melting scarlet syrup before taking it back from Mikey and tossing it over to Casey, who barely catches it thanks to his sharp reflexes, “you try it, maybe you’ll like it!”
It does kind of bother Mikey that they do this behind Raph’s back, now more so than ever, but before he didn’t care as much. Honestly, before all this, Mikey kind of understood where Leo was coming from, at least in the, feeling too suffocated by Raph part, not so much the, I don’t listen to anyone thing . Raph’s paranoia of losing everyone is something he’s always been patient with, but its left a bitter taste in his mouth that his brother doesn’t always trust him to take care of himself even after all these years. He puts up with it, that’s what Dr. Feelings says to do, but in moments like this, especially with Leo, whose always advocated for Mikey, he feels like the cause is worth the rebellion. But it does bother him more now after seeing how easily one of his brothers can be ripped away from him. The only thing pushing him to stay out is the fact that Leo is with him, who’s his main concern anyway. He definitely wouldn’t of left without him.
When he hands Leo back his drink, he takes Leo’s other hand into his own again, and smiles at the comfort of his brother giving him a reassuring squeeze. When they were younger, Mikey liked to cling to all of his brothers, but Leo was easily the one who indulged him the most. Donnie got uncomfortable with touch quick, and Raph took a few years longer to learn how to be gentle, but Leo was always happy to offer his shell to carry Mikey on. It was fun then, but they naturally got older and less touchy (which isn’t to say Mikey isn’t touchy, he was downright clingy as a child), and Mikey rarely bothers anyone for a piggyback ride now. Lately, he feels like they’re kids again with how he’s stuck to Leo’s side. He can’t help it, he hasn’t let him go since he pulled him out of the prison dimension because every time he does, he’s afraid Leo will disappear. It’s an irrational fear, he knows that, but he’ll never forget the way his body ran cold hearing Leo’s sacrifice, and in a way, he still feels the horror creeping up on him when his brother strays too far.
What if he lets Leo go and he zaps back to the prison dimension? What if he vanishes and Mikey doesn’t know where to find him? What if… what if he dies, and Mikey isn’t there? Soul crushing questions like that are what make him reach out for Leo’s hand, or sleep in his bed even though the confined space of the subway car brings back bad memories. He just curls his head into Leo’s shoulder and focus on his big brother’s pulse instead, the truest proof that he’s alive and where he belongs, and he’ll hold onto that as long as it takes.
(Leo hasn’t said it, but he feels the same way sometimes. He holds onto Mikey, or Donnie, who has taken to leaning against Leo’s back when they’re alone, or Raph, who always sits next to him now, and uses them as a crutch to remember that he’s safe. He’ll never have to go back to that lifeless hell again, and even if he does, he’ll have his brothers to pull him out. He holds their hands to remind them that he’s not going anywhere, and to remember it himself.)
Casey seems to be enjoying the drink, though he does say “it tastes better than rats” about everything he eats. Besides that though, his eyes are trained to the sparkling lights of the city below them, as they always seem to be. Sometimes Mikey wonders what that must feel like, to see the better version of a world you thought you knew, and judging by Casey’s reactions, it’s a magical thing.
“I was thinking of painting something special when we’re finished cleaning up,” says the younger turtle, his eyes already lighting up at the possibilities, “y’know, to remember our victory!”
Leo smirks at the idea, and Mikey can practically feel the jokes radiating off of him. “Ah, let me guess, a portrait of earth’s mightiest ninja, huh?” He doesn’t say his name, but the blinding confidence says more than enough.
“I dunno, it’d be kind of selfish of me to only paint myself, don’t you think?”
An immediate “oh-ho-ho-ho!!” Bursts from Leo’s lips and he lightly bumps Mikey with his shoulder, and despite feeling a little dorky about it, Mikey has to say he feels pretty proud of himself for the quip. Over the years he’s gotten a lot better at matching Leo’s humor, and, in a silly way, he kind of likes the way Leo seems proud of him for it.
“But really though! Maybe something of New York being rebuilt? Or maybe that’ll hit too close to home with all the kraang stuff hanging off the buildings.” He doesn’t know if he wants to paint it anyway.
“Actually,” Casey cuts in, looking slightly nervous to speak, which has Mikey naturally curious. “I think you should go with that.”
Leo looks at him with interest as well, “yeah? Any particular reason?”
And what follows is a brief beat of silence that tells both the turtles it’s a sensitive subject, and anything deemed sensitive with Casey is bound to be about his timeline. Mikey repressed a shudder at the mere thought of the apocalyptic hell he grew up in, and pushes the desire to tune him out even further down. He doesn’t want to know much about his future anymore, not after his skin began to chip away as he opened the portal to Leo, but, very much like Leo, he feels horrible making Casey stay silent for his own comfort. Who knows what the boy has been through?
Casey shrugs, “it’s just that you guys used to talk about New York a lot and how you couldn’t wait to see it get rebuilt. I don’t know if you actually believed it would happen, but I know you wanted it to.”
Oh.
Mikey glances over at the busy, bright street below him and wonders what it must be like to live in a world where this- New York, the city, the world- doesn’t exist anymore, and all that lays in its wake is the Kraang. Yeah, he can imagine his future self never giving up hope to see his home again, he was already thinking about it inside that disgusting spaceship.
“I’ll do that then,” he decides, “for future Mikey!”
Casey smiles a little sadly, his eyes wandering off to the side as he digs his finger into the fabric of his pants, and Mikey knows his mind is far from empty.
“Can I tell you guys something?” He blurts out, fast like if he doesn’t say it quick, he’ll never say it at all. Leo and Mikey turn their heads to acknowledge him, saying nothing, but the smiles on their face serve as well as any “yes” would. Unfortunately, they don’t do much to ease Casey’s worries as he begins to fiddle his fingers together, his thick gloves rubbing and quietly squeaking against one another.
“I saw you guys die,” he mumbles, eyes immediately pained by the memory of such a scarring moment in his life.
The turtles go still, smiles slipping off their faces, but they instinctively clench each other’s hand, like Casey said they’re going to die this very second. Mikey’s stomach drops at the confession, though he had his suspicions with the way Casey has been watching him ever since they met. It’s not quite pity, but longing, and more worry as of late, like he thinks Mikey is going to disappear at any second. The poor boy’s face completely paled when he told him about the portal to pull Leo through, he’s always been cautious with Mikey. Now he knows why…
“Right… right before I came here. You both died to save me… and to give me a chance to save the world. Which we did! And that’s great, but…” it doesn’t change what he’s seen. Not by a long shot.
Leo swallows so tensely that Mikey can hear it, “why are you telling us this…?”
Thankfully, nothing more than a bittersweet chuckle leaves his lips, “I dunno. Every time I see you guys talk and mess around, I think about my Sensei’s… They wanted to be like that too, I think, but they were always so focused on the Kraang. I don’t think they ever got to just… be.”
Fresh tears sting Mikey’s widened eyes, making him flinch when they begin to roll down his cheek. He didn’t even notice he had teared up.
“It hurts,” Casey confesses, “because I wanted that for them. I wanted to see them get to be carefree like they deserved. And it’s not that I’m not happy you guys are here! It’s just…”
You’re not them.
He doesn’t need to say it, but the brothers hear it clear as day. Obviously, logic says otherwise given that they are literal younger versions of his former masters, but it’s true, isn’t it? Mikey is no more a mystic warrior than he was yesterday, and given that he’s sneaking out to a 7-11 instead of doing something more productive like training, he’s hardly advancing towards that. And as for Leo, he’s still their leader, and a damn good one too, but he’s still learning, and without the crushing fear of world domination, who’s to say if he’ll ever be as great as Casey claimed he was? They’re not… they’re not who they’re supposed to be.
“Casey,” Mikey gently pries, putting his cup off to the side and leaning over to rest his free hand on the boy’s knee, “is that why you haven’t seen your mom yet?”
Casey’s head snaps up from his lap to meet his eyes with an unmistakable, shit, you noticed that? Look etched into his face. He opens his mouth quick like he’s jumping to defend himself, but then his eyes drift to Leo’s, who gives him a soft but encouraging look, something that tells him it’s okay and he doesn’t judge him for anything. Mikey’s also noticed Casey’s reluctance to meet Cassandra when he’s been eager to see the younger versions of all his other friends, but, much like Leo, he didn’t want to poke his nose where it didn’t belong. Now though, he can tell Casey has been holding a lot more in than he’s been letting on.
All at once, Casey deflates, pulling his knees up to his chest and looking down on the city with a whole new form of grief on his face. “I saw her die too,” he admits, his voice wavering, “when I turned fourteen. She begged Master Leonardo to take me during a raid on our home, she said I’d have my best shot if I stayed with him.” He sighs, “and she was right. I survived, but I saw those monsters obliterate her, and I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
If Mikey wasn’t crying before, he definitely is now. It was terrifying enough when Leo was in the prison dimension, but to really lose someone? And your parent no less? He already thought Casey was strong, but now he knows that’s selling him short.
“You don’t want to see her,” Mikey begins slowly, forcing his voice steady, “because you’re afraid, right?”
It takes a moment, but Casey eventually nods. “It won’t be her, she won’t know me.”
I won’t be able to say I’m sorry, I won’t be able to be with her again the way I want to.
Nobody says anything after that, choosing to follow Casey’s lead and stare down at the city that fills Leo and Mikey with such pride and admiration, but now they’re realizing it must make Casey feel like a wandering ghost. He’s literally lost in time, doomed to remember things that never happened and long for what may never come about ever again. He’s put on a good mask before now, his optimism shining through even their darkest moments in the heat of the battle, but now he’s stripped back of all his layers, the truest version of himself. A scared teenage boy.
Well, aren’t they all?
Leo is the first to break the silence, “Casey, I’ve said this to you before, but I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m not the great ninja you knew,” he turns to Mikey, “and he’s not the same mystic warrior either,” then to Casey, “and I don’t know if we ever will be. But we all have one thing in common, and that’s that we care about you.”
Casey looks up again, processing his words with a cautious sort of hope.
“Yeah,” Mikey chimes in, slipping on his Dr. Feelings voice, “and if I were them, which I kinda am, I wouldn’t want you to be caught up in what we could or couldn’t do! We wanted you to be the one to save us not because you were the only option, but also because we wanted you to have a chance at a normal life, I know it!”
It’s a bold claim, but there’s no reality Mikey can imagine where he wouldn’t want to give Casey the world like he does now, he’s sure of that.
“We want you to be apart of our family regardless if it’s different now,” Leo adds.
“And,” Mikey continues, “no matter what, you’re part of the Mad Dogz now! You’re our family, Case, and we take care of family around here. We love you.”
He heard Raph say that once, he wonders if his oldest brother is beginning to rub off on him.
Now Casey is crying- softly, nothing more than some stray tears and sniffles. “I love you guys too,” he whimpers, “I just don’t know how to- how to begin.”
Leo smirks, but it’s filled with nothing but affection and care. “Well, how about this,” he holds out his hand and waits for Casey to shake, “hi, I’m Leo, I’m sixteen and leader plus face man of the Mad Dogz.”
Not Master Leonardo, or Sensei, just Leo.
Mikey follows suit, though keeping his arms to his sides. “I’m Mikey, fifteen, and I’ll be your artist slash gourmet chef, and resident mystic ninja of the Mad Dogz,” he says in a sort of waiter-y tone.
Casey stares at them for a moment, and softens, shaking Leo’s hand, “Casey Jones.”
“Nice to meet ya, Jones,” Leo winks, making Casey giggle in a way that finally lets everyone know he’s okay now. Everything is going to be okay.
The three of them stand up then, collecting the surprisingly large mountain of trash they made before they begin their trek home. Thank god they’re not too far, because the late hour is finally beginning to weigh on all of them as they sluggishly make their way to the other end of the building.
“Hey,” Mikey says, “for what it’s worth, I think you should see your mom anyway. She might not be the same one you knew, but who knows? She might surprise you.”
Casey sighs, but not with sadness, more akin to acceptance. “I’ll think about it,” he decides, “thanks, Mas- Mikey.”
Mikey hums cheerfully, nice job, Dr. Feelings.
(And maybe it’s not the answer to all his problems, but it’s a start for Casey. After all, this is a new chapter in his life, and if he’s being honest, he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because as much as the sight of his happy friends can fill him with a whirlwind of emotions, he’d fight the Kraang all over again just to protect them. His family.)
“Alright let’s get home before Raph’s chasm gets any bigger. Sleepover in my room, whaddya say!?”
Obviously, the answer is a resounding yes.