Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leo knew his chances of escaping were slim.

He had absolutely zero chance of holding back Krang Prime and getting on the Earth side of the portal before CJ closed it. And he refused to let his family be doomed again, refused to let them all die in another end of the world timeline when they were so close to winning this fight.

It was why he'd ordered, practically begged CJ, to pull the plug. A part of him felt bad about it, another screamed in fear at the consequences. But everything was at stake, his family's lives were at stake, and Leo was willing to do what he had to to ensure his brothers made it through this. 

But he also didn't want to die. The idea chilled him to the bone. But that was why he had to keep a very firm hold on his katanas, he needed another portal for part two of the plan.

He had no clue if it would work, he’d never tried portaling to another dimension. The closest he got was the hidden city and he wasn’t sure if that counted. But even if it did, this dimension had been made to keep everything inside it and had been doing a fine job of it for the last gazillion years.

So, yeah, slim chance of getting out. But it was still a chance he needed to take.

If Krang would give him enough room to actually try.

The second the portal closed, Leo only had a scant moment to feel relieved before the alien was on top of him, screeching with rage as he clawed and kicked at the slider. He tried grabbing at Leo’s katanas a few times but Leo twisted and spun in the low gravity of the prison dimension, fighting his instinct to block the attacks and keeping the precious blades as far away as he could from the snarling alien.

“You think you’ve WON?!” Prime roared as his claws snatched Leo out of the air and slammed him against a large chunk of metal, pressing down on his plastron until the air was wheezing out of Leo’s lungs.

Leo snarled back, bringing up one arm to slash at the mech's face. The steel wouldn’t do much, but the action did make the Krang shift, giving Leo enough room to wiggle out of the iron grip.

Krang lashed out again and Leo gasped as claws raked down his leg, “You wretched little PEST! You’ve RUINED EVERYTHING!”

Leo yelped as he was thrown, sent hurtling through empty space until his already abused shell crashed into a solid surface. His vision whited out and his whole body went numb.

He wheezed, fighting to get air back into his lungs, fought to force his limbs to move even though his fingers refused to even twitch. He could feel hard rock against his skin, something was digging uncomfortably into his leg, his shell was snugged into a dip...probably made by him being hurled into the thing he'd been thrown at.

‘Gotta move...gotta make a portal, fast’

Leo groaned and finally managed a movement as he shook his head.

His vision cleared in time for a clawed metal foot to smash down into his chest.

Leo choked out the air he'd just gotten back, tasted blood in his throat as the Krang raked its claws down his plaston before drawing back and stomping down again, “NOW YOU ALONE WILL FEEL MY WRATH!”

Leo would have snarked back or bared his teeth and hissed, if the next stomp didn’t break the chunk of rock they were on and sent Leo tumbling into empty air again.

His ears were ringing, he could still hear the Krang’s voice but the words were drowned out by a persistent buzz in Leo’s head. His hands shook as he started to lift his katana, trying to focus his mind enough to summon a portal and hopefully an escape-

But Krang was on top of him again before he could even get his arm halfway up into an arc and Leo was sent flying once more as a massive fist collided into his face.

Something cracked loudly in Leo's ears. His vision swam, darkening around the edges and he felt sure his brains were rattling around in his skull.

The fear of dying here was getting harder to ignore. It was creeping up his spine, leaving a hollow, cold feeling in his chest.

He had to focus, stay awake long enough to make an escape-

Metal closed around his torso, claws dug into the soft flesh of his arms and shoulders and the ringing cleared enough for Leo to hear a hissed, “You will beg for death before I’m done with you.”

The world lurched again and Leo felt himself smashing through another chunk of debris.

‘Focus on an escape, gotta focus to escape, focus on a portal home.’

Because if he didn’t the insane alien was going to beat him to death and that thought sent a new wave of fear through him because he didn’t want to die, he just wanted to go home-

The feeling of his powers flowing into the blade was as familiar as an old friend at that point, warm and bright and full of hope. He cracked open an eye and slashed at the air. The blue energy spluttered, blue sparks dancing through the air, a wavering, tiny ring started to form-

Then faded away.

Leo sucked in a panicked breath. No, no, please, I don't want to die-!

The blade whistled through the air again.

This time the mystic energy held, sparks igniting and growing brighter, a tiny ring spinning and expanding into a bright portal, the blue glow almost blinding in the near darkness prison dimension. Leo almost sobbed at the sight.

He drifted more than pushed himself through the portal, cringing as the change in the air hit his open would and gravity started to pull him further through.

He heard another enraged roar. It made his muscles pull tight, his body turning slightly in an effort to shield himself. But the pull of gravity was growing, dragging him down.

He saw a glimpse of shining gray metal, a glowing laserbeam priming to fire, bloodthirsty, rage filled yellow eyes boring into his very soul-

The portal snapped shut and Leo couldn't do anything to stop his fall straight down.

He wheezed in pain when his battered body hit hard, unforgiving metal, hot on his skin, almost burning his open wounds. He wanted to move, get away from the burning sensations, but all the fight had fled his body, leaving the turtle shaking and wanting to just curl up and pass out.

Everything hurt so much, even his shell burned from the beating he’d taken. He could feel blood oozing from the cuts on his limbs, breathing hurt way more than it was supposed to and a metallic taste lingered in his mouth.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew he needed to get up. He didn’t know where he was but he could feel heat beating down on him and the metal he landed on was hot so it must be daytime. And being out during the day without any kind of disguise was a bad idea, he needed to get somewhere safe so he could call his brothers for a pick-up-

Leo tensed when the metal under him vibrated.

Vibrations were bad, vibrations meant movement, movement usually meant a person and Leo was not in a position to defend himself if the said person wasn't friendly.

Leo tried to move as something big moved toward him, he could feel the rhythmic tremors of footsteps under his cheek. But it seemed that now he was under the laws of gravity, every limb was refusing to move. He could barely get his fingers to twitch around his katana hilts.

He tensed more when a hand touched his carapace, too big for it to be April or Casey or Dad and too many fingers to be Raph.

‘Please go away, go away, go away.’

The hands rolled him and Leo cried out as the movement sent a new rush of pain through every scale on his body and intensified the buzz in his ears.

A voice managed to dampen the ringing in his ears, a deep, rumbling voice that was almost directly over Leo’s head. He tried to pry his eyes open, but he could only get one to open a little bit, the other too sticky and swollen for him to even crack it.

A blurry mass of red and tan was leaning over him, framing huge green eyes that bore down on Leo.

He was pretty sure he didn’t know anyone with green eyes.

He whimpered when one of the person's hands tapped at his cheek. He wanted to move away but his body refused to respond to anything he was telling it.

The voice spoke again, close enough Leo could almost make out a few words. Something something, just relax and it’s okay.

But they were lying and this wasn't okay, everything was far from okay because he didn't know where he was or who was crouched over him or if they were going to...to lock him away somewhere or keep him as a pet. He wanted his big brother, he wanted his dad and he wanted to just move-

Leo let out a small hiss when something pinched at his neck.

The hand carefully stroked his cheek and the voice mumbled out more words Leo couldn’t fully make out beyond the tone.

At least they weren't yelling...yeah, his head hurt too much to deal with anyone yelling.

Everything was suddenly getting fuzzy, just keeping his eye open was much harder than it was a few seconds ago. and his body was relaxing against his will. The pain from his injuries was fading a bit, going from burning to a dull ache as consciousness slowly left him.

He shouldn't sleep, there was a really good chance that he wasn't safe and he needed to get home but...but going to sleep would be so much better than being in pain.

The voice over him spoke again, and this time Leo clearly heard it, “Just sleep kid, I’ll get you fixed up.”

He wanted to reply, demand that the voice take him home, but he was fast asleep before he could do much more than inhale.

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo woke up slowly. 

He knew, without even fully waking up, that he wasn't in the Lair or Aprils apartment or in Draxum's Lab. The air was wrong, too stale and sterile in a way that didn't match any of those places.

When enough of the numbness left his limbs he could feel that he was lying on a mattress of some form and a thick blanket had been tucked around his shoulders, two things he also didn't recognize.

Off to a very, very concerning start with all of this. Leo grunted, focusing on being able to move first and foremost. His limbs felt heavy and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls, but he managed to move one arm a little bit.

The tiny movement seemed to wake the rest of his system up. Leo groaned again as a muted ache throbbed through his body and slowly managed to open his eyes. He blinked the clear the blurriness from his vision and found himself looking up at a gray ceiling that he definitely had never seen before.

And now that he had visual confirmation on top of the small and touch suspensions, his metaphorical hackles were starting to rise.

He rolled his head to one side, planning on taking in the rest of the unknown space and formulating an escape plan. 

Or tried to anyway.

Leo groaned as the movement made his neck muscles twinge in protest. Not nearly as bad as before but enough to make him pause, grit his teeth at the feeling of pins and needles, tried to breathe through the feeling until it faded back into a dull throb.

Maybe he should take stock of his physical state first.

His katanas were gone, as well as his mask and wrappings. In their place were a lot of bandages. He was nearly covered from head to toe in slightly green-tinged bandages and he could feel something wet and cool between his skin and the dressings.

Well, whoever had found him had fixed him up...and might have drugged him up too, considering how much less pain he was in. Leo laid still for a few more moments, breathing slowly and trying to relax as much as possible before he attempted to move again.

He manged it better this time, managing to gingerly prop himself upright before looking around.

The room wasn’t very big, which made it easy to see his gear had been piled up on a small table next to the bed. said bed seemed to be made from a hole in the wall and the blanket tucked around him was a light brown in color with a few spots that had obviously been torn and mended. The rest of the room was bare of any kind of furniture or decorations, only small indents along the walls breaking up the solid gray besides a single off-white door.

At least…Leo was pretty sure it was a door. There wasn’t a knob or hinges or anything to show it was a door other than the different color but thinking too hard about it made Leo’s head hurt.

But it would be nice to know if he had an exit from the little room. Just because the someone who found him had managed him up didn't mean he was safe. If he needed to make a break for it, he'd rather not look like an idiot pawing at a section of wall instead of the door.

No sooner had the had the thought, the universe decided to finally throw him a bone. Leo twitched in surprise when there was a low hiss and the white door suddenly whooshed open, disappearing into the wall.

And revealing a massive silhouette that took up almost the entire doorway.

Leo’s eyes darted up and down the person, brain already spinning as he assessed them. They were huge, easily as tall as Raph if not bigger, wearing a green jumpsuit with bits of black and gold striped armor on their lower arms and legs. The fabric was clearly thick but not thick enough to hide lean and powerful muscles and even with gloves over the stranger's hands, Leo could see claws stretching the martial, almost ripping through at the points. The jumpsuit ended right before the person's toes, showing off feet that look vaguely human-inspired except for the fact that the person was digitigrade and their digits were very viscous-looking claws in place of nails.

Leo gulped and looked back up to their face.

The nose and face shape were human in appearance, as was the warm copper skin on their face. But that was where the 'human' stuff pretty much ended. Around the jawline, up the cheeks, and across their forehead the human skin faded into short, red fur, accented by darker red stripes. Pointed elf-like ears and a mop of short, dark red hair topped off the person's features, along with massive, solid green eyes.

Leo gulped again and edged back a little.

The mutant-or were they a yokai? Or another alien?- hunched over a bit as they entered, lips curling into a smile, just wide enough for Leo to spot a flash of pointed canines, “Hey there ade, how’re you feelin’?”

Her voice was a deep, almost rumbling timber. Leo vaguely remembered that timber talking to him before, mumbling about how he was okay. But the realization that this was the person who had found him did little the calm his nerves.

She moved further into the room, claws clicking on the metal floor as she crossed to Leo’s bedside and crouched, “Anythin’ hurtin’? Shouldn’t be if that bacta is doin’ its job but you never know.”

Leo cleared his throat, “No.” He grimaced at how raspy the single word came out.

“Good, good, here,” The woman shifted, holding out a large, square canteen to Leo. "It's water."

It was probably a terrible idea to take things from strangers. Leo knew it was bad to take things from strangers, Raph had lectured them millions of times about not taking stuff from strangers. But when she said it was water, the passive knowledge of how dry Leo's mouth was suddenly crowded into all his thoughts. He all but snatched it, drinking greedily.

It was a terrible idea, she could've lied about it just being water, Raph was probably having an aneurysm somewhere. But, god, he was so thirsty and the water was cool and was like heaven on Leo's throat, angels and clouds and euphoria heaven.

“Hey, slow down ade, I’ve got plenty,” the woman chastised softly, grabbing the bottom of the container. She pulled, just enough to slow down the flow of liquid and Leo whined at the loss. She smiled but didn't let go. “Gonna make yourself sick doin’ that.”

Leo considered resisting, pulling the canteen back and inhaling the water as much as he wanted. But he wasn't really in the best position to potentially be pissing off someone who could definitely chuck Meat Sweats across a football field.

So he forced himself to lower the canteen, letting the small amount of water left in his mouth sit there for a few seconds before swallowing it.

“Good, thanks for that,” the woman sat back. “I’m Chula, by the way, Chula Verd. At your service kid.”

Leo swallowed, debated for a few seconds if he should answer in kind, “...Leonardo Hamato.”

“Leonardo, eh?” Chula nodded. “Nice to meet you. Mind explainin’ why you dropped out of nowhere in a bloody mess on my ship?”

That would explain the hot metal Leo had landed on.

“You should see the other guy," Leo winced when the quip slipped out. Not everyone liked quips and, if some random person had suddenly fallen out of nowhere into his house and they just quipped at him, he'd get mad.

He really didn't want to make this Chula Verd person mad. Not until he could at least move without the pins and needles sensation.

“Uh-huh,” Chula raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure the ‘other guy’ is making a bloody mess on someone else's ship.”

Okay, okay, so she could quip back...maybe? Or she was mad about the blood on her ship? “...Sorry.”

“Eh, not the first, not the last, blah, blah, blah. I’m just glad you landed close enough for me to find you.”

“Yeah, erm, thanks for that,” He wiggled his more heavily bandaged arm before taking the chance to have another swing of water. He swished this one around, not swallowing until the chill started to fade. When he did swallow, he hesitated for a moment, weighing the merit of asking questions. “Soooo, where am I?”

Chula’s brow furrowed, “Ah, I think it’s called Aturra? Somethin’ like that anyway. Lotta places start to blur after a while.”

Aturra? The name didn’t sound familiar to Leo, “Where’s that again? Somewhere in Europe?”

Chula blinked, “No, don’t think that’s what this system is called. Think the system number is zero-three-twenty-oh-eight.”

System number? What on Earth did that mean-

No.

No no, please no, “What…what planet is this again?”

Chula’s eyes narrowed, “It’s Aturra. You sure your head doesn’t hurt?”

Leo only stared. 

Because he wasn’t on Earth. He was on some alien planet because his portal dropped him on an alien planet, on an alien ship and he had no clue how to get home. Was he stuck here? Would Chula just dump him out after his wounds healed? Could he portal back? Was it even possible to?! Would portaling just drop him back in the prison dimension with the Krang?! Did he bring Krang here-?!

"Hey, hey, hey!”

Leo was snapped out of his thought spiral by clawed fingers snapping in front of his beak.

He looked at Chula, breath heaving in his chest. ‘When did he start breathing so hard?’

“Hey, focus here Leonardo,” Chula said. “Deep, slow breaths. Take a minute and just focus on breathing. In and out, easy and slow.”

Right, right, he was starting to panic. He couldn't afford to panic right now, he had to calm down. Leo focused on his breathing, in for three and out for three, slow and steady. He knew how to calm down from panic attacks, they’d all learned after Shredder. He just needed a moment to calm down.

Just focus on his breathing for a moment.

In, one, two, three. Hold for two.

Out, one, two, three. Hold for two.

In, one, two, three. Hold for two.

Out, one, two, three. Hold for two.

It passively occurred to him that the exercise was a lot easier when one of his brothers counted aloud with his breathing.

But eventually, he managed to calm his racing heart and stopped his hands shaking. He wasn't fully calm, he knew that, his chest still felt tight and there was still a hard lump in his throat. But he needed to know what had happened, where he'd ended up, how was he going to get home-

In, one, two, three. Hold for two.

Out, one, two, three. Hold for two.

He blinked hard and looked back up at Chula, managing to choke out, “I…I’m not from here.”

“That’s okay, I can give you a ride home kid.”

“I don’t know where….” Leo shuddered, trying to not cry, no way was he going to start crying in front of a stranger. “I’m from Earth. In..in the Milky Way Galaxy?”

Chula tilted her head, “Won’t lie to you Leonardo, I’m not sure where that is. But it’s a big system, I’m sure we can find someone who has a map or two.”

Leo sucked in another breath, but it was shaky and he had to blink hard to keep the water in his eyes from spilling.

Chula stared at him for a few seconds and Leo mentally begged her to go away, to stop staring at him, please leave me alone so I can just cry, I need to cry-

Her brow pinched but she sat back, tilting her head and asking, “You hungry?” 

And Leo was anything but hungry. Food was the absolute last thing on his mind but he almost started crying right then from relief. He nodded, not trusting his voice to stay steady enough or his ability to keep the tears from falling if he spoke.

Chula smiled at him before standing up, “Okay, I’ll just leave the water here for you. Be back in a little while.” She crossed the room in two long strides, giving Leo one last smile over her shoulder before the sliding door hissed shut again, leaving Leo alone.

He was off the bed within the second, ignoring the way his body screamed in protest and how his limbs felt like jelly, all focus centering onto his gear.

He’d tucked Casey's photo into his belt pouch for convenience. Because they were on a time crunch and he could give it back to Casey later. But as tears started to slip down his face Leo was so glad he hadn’t given it back before...before everything.

He stared at the worn picture clutched in his hands. It was faded, the edges torn and dirty, creased down the center from being folded over and over. It had been weird the first time he saw it, his family all smiling up through years of old grim. But it was all he had because when Donnie made their wrist comms they started leaving their phones in the Lair so all his pictures were a galaxy away-

Leo stared at the happy faces of his family as he fumbled back to the bed, clutched it close to his chest as he curled up against the wall, sobs punching out of him with each breath as the reality of his situation sunk in.

He survived the invasion, survived the prison dimension, and managed to escape with his own portal and had lucked out in landing close enough to someone who'd kept him from bleeding out-

And now he was stuck. He was alive but he was so far away from Earth that his host hadn’t ever heard of it.

It pulled painfully at his muscles but Leo couldn’t help curling in on himself a little tighter, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to remember the feeling of his family hugging him.

Chapter Text

Leo woke up to the sound of knocking.

He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have because his head felt foggy, his nose was stuffy and his eyes were itchy. And he was starting to feel every bruise, scrape and cut on his body.

Leo groaned and hugged an arm to his middle. He really hoped Mikey wasn’t coming to pester him into pulling some pranks or trying new stunts. Normally Leo wouldn’t mind but his entire body felt like one huge bruise.

There was another knock, “Leonardo?”

The voice, deep and rumbling and decidedly not one of his family members, brought everything rushing back. The key, the invasion, the Krang, the portal, both portals-

The fact he was one a alien spaceship in the company of a huge alien woman.

Who was still knocking for some reason, “Leonardo? Are you awake?”

“Mm’wake,” Leo mumbled as he tucked the picture under his pillow.

He sat up at the same time the door hissed open. Chula lumbered in, carrying a plastic looking box in one hand and a square plate in the other, “So, I got stalled for a bit, sorry. I got you food but I also gotta change your bandages, so which one do you want first, kid?”

Leo frowned at the items held out to him. Food was still the last thing Leo wanted, his apatite was pretty much zero and his gut still felt queasy. And his dressings were starting to feel itchy and the wet feeling was gone so he held up two fingers, “You got painkillers with those bandages?”

“Basically,” the plate got placed next to Leo’s gear and Chula plunked herself down next to the bed. “I soak them in bacta.”

Leo blinked as she started unloading small bags from the box but decided against asking. Instead he shuffled to the edge of the bed so Chula had more room to work.

She grinned at him, “How do you rate your pain? Scale of one to ten.”

Leo frowned in thought, flexing the leg that the Krang had clawed at, “Um, five?”

Chula huffed, “Well, this should help.” Leo nearly jumped out of his shell when she flicked her wrist and a small blade popped out of her gauntlet and into her hand. “Right after we get the old ones off. Just say when.”

She held a hand over his side, not touching yet but hovering, waiting until Leo nodded before she started to cut away the old bandages around his middle.

Leo tensed as the strips were unwound. His shell was probably a mess, he was almost certain it had been cracked at some point and dealing with that was going to be-

“What the heck?”

Chula drew back at Leo’s statement, “What?”

Leo tapped his plaston, “How long was I out?!”

There was a crack in his plaston, staring just under his sternum and splintering out, one crack running all the way to the edge of his shell. But it was all connected. New cartilage had already formed and smoothed the edges of the break and knitted his protective shell back together, leaving only the slight, barely noticeable dip of where it had split in the first place.

He must have been out for days, maybe months! 

Chula shrugged, “About a day? Day ‘n a half?”

“Excuse me?!” There was no way his shell had healed that much in a day!

“Ooooh,” Chula said softly. “So your planet doesn’t have bacta either?”

Leo blinked, uncomprehending.

"I mean, this technically isn't proper bacta. I had to start makin' my own and not everythin’ is quite the same. Ideally you'd be all healed by now but I don't have the set up for a tank and this doesn't work as fast but it's saved me a lot of painkillers."

Leo's head was reeling. Donnie would probably be eating up every word about this magical bacta stuff but Leo was too busy staring at where he knew serious injuries should be as Chula stripped off bandages.

The gashes on his legs and arms were almost scabbed over, small scrapes were completely gone and when he reached up to feel where the Krang had punched his face he could barely feel any swelling.

Chula chuckled as Leo continued to gap at himself, “As funny as this is, I’d like to get more of this on you before the numbing part wears off completely.”

Leo shook his head and cleared his throat, “Right, yeah, sorry.”

Chula chuckled again and started tearing open the little bags, pulling out more green tinged gauze. Leo shivered at the wet feeling on his scales as he was re-patched up. 

She didn’t put as many on, his limbs were mostly left alone except for a not quite healed cut or two, a few were strategically placed around his temple and cheek but she liberty applied the dressings around the crack in his plaston. He could feel her piling it on over his carapace, right where the dome of it was at its peak. The implication made him shudder again.

She patted the last bandage down and smiled at Leo, “Alright, now food. Bet you’re starved.”

He really wasn’t but…if he’s been out for a day he probably should eat something.

Chula reclaimed the plate and handed it over and Leo looked at his meal.

…he couldn’t help the frown pulling at his lips.

The plate had a pile of reddish colored jerky next to what Leo was pretty sure was bread but it was as flat as a pancake and shaped in a square. 

“The Gihaal shouldn’t be too tough,” Chula said. “I just got the fish so it hasn’t cured all the way.”

Oh, it was fish! Leo nodded as he picked up one of the cuts and took a bite.

The taste of salt, herbs and smoke exploded on the teen’s tongue and suddenly Leo was very aware of how hungry he was. He tucked into the fish jerky- Gihaal, Chula had said- and the thin bread with new enthusiasm.

As Leo was swallowing the last few bites of his meal, Chula moved around so that she was in front of him, “And now we plan.”

“Plan?” Leo mumbled around a bite of bland but filling bread.

“Like I said before, I’ve never heard of Earth but I’m sure someone has. But to find that someone I have to go to the settlement which means I gotta leave the ship and you alone.”

“What? Why can’t I go with you?”

Chula raised an eyebrow and pointanty looked at the bandages, “Yeah, no.”

Leo sighed but didn’t argue. Normally he’d kick up more of a fuss but…

…well, this wasn’t really a ‘normal’ day.

“It’s late now so I’m going to wait until tomorrow to ask around. And in the meantime I need you to tell me as much as you can about your homeworld and the system.”

“Uhh,” Leo suddenly wished he had taken an interest in astronomy. She was probably talking about stars or planet placement. For all he knew science could have the exact spot Earth was in the galaxy marked.

But he’d never left New York before. Even the Hidden City didn’t fully count because it was under New York, so he’d never needed to know.

“I live in a really big city called New York, that’s in America, and the planet is Earth. And there are other planets…Mars, Saturn, Uranus-,” this probably wasn’t helpful, Chula just kept frowning at him. “Um, there are constellations but I don’t know what they look like…Earth is really big and it's…green and blue?”

“Why are you runnin’ around the galaxy if you don’t even know your systems-” Chula paused, ears flicking back and eyes narrowing. “Your world is spacefarin’, right?”

“Uhhhh, noooooo.”

Chula frowned even harder, “Were you captured?”

“No!” Leo sighed, throwing up his arms. “Look, I didn't know aliens were on the table before a few days ago! I got trapped in some weird prison dimension and was trying to go home but I got here instead.”

Chula hummed, “Okay, that makes this a bit harder.”

Leo deflated a bit, the bite from before gone with Chula’s statement.

She clearly noticed and waved one hand, “I said hard not impossible! Don’t give up hope yet kid, I’ll get you home.”

Leo sighed and slumped against the bed, “Thanks.” Hope. Yeah, he still had hope. He was on a ship after all and Chula seemed more than ready to help him out.

He really hoped she didn’t decide that he was too much trouble to help and just leave him somewhere.

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Chula poked his arm, “You going to tell me about, what’d you say, New York?”

Leo glanced at her, “How will that help?”

Chula shrugged, “Everythin’ helps in some way.”

“...,” Leo sighed. “It’s bright, even at night time. It’s nicknamed the city that never sleeps, someone is always doing something. And we have the Statue of Liberty, big lady with a torch, colored this blue green.”

“Ooohhh, yeah, landmarks are good!”

“Really?”

“Well if Earth isn’t spacefarin’ than other worlds might have different names for it. That means descriptions and landmarks are goin’ to help me a lot,” she leaned forward more. “So spill kid. I want to know every detail you can tell me.”

She was so enthusiastic about it, eyes almost shining in genuine curiosity and Leo could help but smile a bit as he kept telling her everything he knew about New York and Earth and the tiny bits he knew about space.

But he carefully avoided mentioning his family and the Hidden City. Sure, Chula was helping him out but Leo still couldn’t shake the small whisper of distrust. He had just met her and he only needed to tell her about the general stuff. No need to mention he wasn’t the only mutant turtle from Earth.

But it still left him hours worth of talking, the occasional question from Chula keeping him going until a yawn cut him off.

Chula smiled and patted the bed, “You should probably sleep some more, I’ve got plenty to work with now.”

Leo hummed as he settled down on the bed, “When are you going out?”

“Not for a few hours. Night cycle is pretty long here,” she stood, stretching until there was a soft pop from her joints. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you before I leave, show you around the ship a little.”

“‘Kay.”

Chula grinned, “Sleep well kid.” 

And Leo was once again left alone.

He could acknowledge that he should probably be forming a plan, figuring out some way to get himself home faster or poking around to find out more about his host. But apparently bacta didn't cure exhaustion.

So he lay in bed and waited for sleep to claim him.

Tomorrow, he could get a better handle of his situation, explore the ship, maybe step outside and see what the planet was like.

But now, he rolled over, tucked one hand under the pillow so he could hold the picture of his family, closed his eyes and waited for sleep.

Chapter Text

Leo was awake before Chula came back so he took the opportunity to look over his gear.

He was surprised to find most of it was still in one piece. There were a few tares in the gloves and socks and his mask tails were starting to look like Raphs but it was all still usable.

Leo didn’t fully dress yet, his scales still felt a bit sticky from the bacta and he wanted to wash it off before gearing up. But he did tie his mask back on and tuck the photo back into his belt pouch.

Then he started to explore the room.

There wasn’t much to find, there were empty drawers under the bed and the bed turned out to be a bunk bed. But the one on top lacked the pile of bedding that was on Leo’s. The table that Leo’s gear was on turned out to be a cabinet, also empty.

Leo sighed and sat on the bed, “Man, talk about utilitarian.”

He considered looking around the ship on his own and maybe he would have on any other day but…

Leo pondered to himself.

Technically, Chula hadn’t given him any reason not to trust her. In fact, she’d helped Leo out far more than she had to but Leo was very aware that he was kind of reliant on her at the moment. Chula had all the cards, this was her ship and she’d mentioned being in different systems. And she’d said she knew people, possibly had connections all over the place.

So she was well established, knew this part of the galaxy and based on the armor she’d been wearing, she was a fighter of some kind.

And there was Leo; alone, scared, lost…

He sighed and glanced at his belt.

He’d already told her as much general information about home as he could. She hadn’t asked for personal stuff, like where he lived or if he had family, her questions had been general, about landmarks and planets close by and what pattern the stars were in.

And she hadn’t told him anything about herself so why should he share?

Leo nodded to himself. He’d keep her at arms length, make sure she didn’t learn anything that could be to her benefit and his detriment. And he’d be on his best behavior, make himself out to be a wide eyed kid so if she did turn on him, she would underestimate what he could do, give him an edge.

Nodding to himself again, Leo flopped back onto the bed. Playing the lost kid in space would be a bit of a shift but it was pretty much the only thing he had control of.

He could bide his time. It would suck but, hey, so did getting trapped with the Krang. Leo shuddered and tucked that memory very far away in the back of his mind.

He glanced back at his belt, eyes going from the little pouch to his katanas, both neatly sheathed and placed side by side with his gear.

He narrowed his eyes in thought.

Leo had managed to jump out of the prison dimension with his portal, maybe- 

A knock at the door startled Leo out of his thoughts.

“Doors open,” Leo almost smacked himself. Duh it was open, he had no clue how to lock it…did it even have a lock?

The door slid open and Leo’s jaw almost dropped.

Chula had added to her armor. The gauntlets and leg armor were now accompanied by plates covering her shoulders, hips, knees, chest and back, all painted in black with gold stripes. She’d also added a thick leather belt, two pistols at her sides and a black, metal baton hanging behind the right pistol. The armor bulked out her narrow frame so she’d gone from kind of intimidating to borderline scary.

The whole get-up just reinforced Leo’s thought that Chula was someone who knew how to fight and strengthened his resolve to not play his hand yet.

So he took his time pushing himself up and made sure to keep his expression as open and wide-eyed as he could, “Sup dude?”

Chula smirked, “‘Sup. Want that tour before I head out?”

Leo grinned, outwardly at-ease and disarming, “Sure thing!”

Chula huffed a laugh before beckoning, “Come on, shouldn’t take long.”

She led Leo into a narrow hallway. There were three more doors along the same wall as Leo’s door, broken into pairs by a hallway that was opposite a ladder. Two more doors were at the each end of the hallway.

“Most of these are extra cabins,” Chula said. “My room and the ‘fresher are over there,” she pointed to the two doors on the other side of the second hallway. “And the doors at the end lead to the engine rooms. Do not go into them without me, there is a lot of stuff that could kill you.” She led him to the base of the ladder and pointed into the second hallway. It was bigger than the one they were in but it split into two and circled around a large metal pillar surrounded by blinking lights. “Right side is the common room, left is a cargo hold and the shuttles are all the way to the back. If you poke around in the shuttles don’t start pushin’ buttons, it’s not a fun ride if you disconnect from the ship wrong.”

She turned and slapped one hand next to the ladder, “And this leads to the bridge, same rules for the shuttles apply.” She stepped into the hallway that led to the back of the ship, stopping next to a rectangle outlined in yellow and black paint. “That’s pretty much it. You’re free to go anywhere but the engine rooms and if you want to go outside just tap this.”

She tapped a control panel on the wall and the outlined rectangle started dropping into a ramp. Leo felt a blast of hot air as the door slowly lowered and he could see light pink sand below.

Weird.

Chula gestured to a large, red button under the one she’d pressed, “There shouldn't be any trouble but if there is, hit that and hunker down. It’ll lock the ship down and send me an alert.” She started walking again, leaving the ramp down as she headed towards the cargo hold, “Once the bacta dries on your bandages you should be okay to leave them off. I’ll double check when I get back but feel free to use the sonic. I know that stuff leaves some residue.”

The hold door opened into a huge space, piled with boxes along the walls and various scraps of metal strewn over the floor. And in the middle of it all was a weird looking vehicle. 

It reminded Leo of a motorcycle, but not as bulky and with no wheels.

Chula plucked a helmet off the seat of the bike, also painted in black and gold with an antenna juting up from the right side, “I should be back in a few hours, you have any questions kid?”

Leo frowned in thought, “...you have anymore fish jerky?”

Chula laughed, “The food is in the common room.” She slipped the helmet on, voice distorting halfway through her sentence. “There’s water in there too. Take your fill.”

Then she dropped onto the bike, looking almost comically huge on the narrow frame, and pulled a small remont from her belt.

Leo watched as the floor under the bike dropped slowly down, venturing to the edge when Chula was out of sight.

The alien looked up at him, offered a short wave as she revved up the engine and then she was gone.

Leo made a run for the main ramp, getting to the bottom of it just in time too see flashing metal disappear over a dune.

And then all was quiet. Leo was alone.

Perfect.

Leo hurried back to his room, tearing the bandages off as he went. 

They were still a bit damp but Leo felt it was close enough, especially if his plan worked!

Leo all but slid into the room, scrabbling to strap on all his gear as quickly as possible.

He drew one blade, closing his eyes and picturing home.

The new Lair wasn’t fully done yet but he could almost see it in his mind's eye.

He could see his brothers, sitting around the entertainment system, laughing a play shoving. They were all safe and at home and Dad was grumbled about how loud they all were.

And April would come whirling in to add to the noise. And Casey-two as well, maybe even Casey-one if April could convince her to come down for a game night.

Leo cut downwards on his exhale, focusing on the metal image he’d built.

He felt power flowing through him, though his weapon-

There was a whoosh as a portal started to form-

Claws ripped at his flesh, digging into him while that voice screamed venom into his ears-

Leo’s eyes shot open with a gasp, heart suddenly pounding in his chest.

The portal he’d made was shaky, light fading in and out before fizzling out completely.

Leo panted, staring at where the sorry excuse for a portal had been.

…there was a chance it could send him home.

But if he missed again…

Leo shivered and quickly sheathed his katana.

Maybe hitching a ride was a safer bet.

Leo took a few moments to breath, to focus on the ship around him, pushing away the darkness and phantom claws and hissing voice-

He straightened and spun around.

Might as well explore his new temporary home.

Starting with seeing if a ‘fresher’ and ‘sonic’ were space versions of a ‘bathroom’ and ‘shower’.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, bathroom layouts were simi-universal.

There was a sink, toilet and a large area walled off for a shower.

At least, he assumed it was a shower, because he couldn’t find anything resembling a shower head or a knob. The walls were covered in evenly spaced circles and the only thing resembling an on/off switch was a small panel of buttons by the door. Leo squinted at the buttons before reaching out and tapping one.

The door hissed shut and suddenly the whole room started vibrating.

Leo yelped at the feeling, almost tingley as he was bombarded by….he wasn’t sure what but it made his brain rattle unpleasantly in his skull.

“Turn it off, turn it off!” He squawked, slapping at the control panel until the buzzing stopped and the door opened again.

“What kind of room is this?” Leo grumbled as he patted himself down.

He was surprised to find a small collection of dust at his feet. And now that he was looking, his skin didn’t feel as grimey. Leo looked from himself, to the floor, then around the room.

Carefully, he pushed the first button again.

The vibrations were still a pain, rattling through every bone in his body. But he watched in slight awe as bits of dirt and dried bacta fell off his scales.

Chula calling it a sonic suddenly clicked in his brain. Apparently, water showers were not a space thing.

…Leo kind of wished they were. Yeah, the weird vibrating was doing a fine job but nothing really beat a warm shower with water. 

He’d have to ask Chula later if there was a water setting on this thing.

He shut the sonic off after a few minutes, shaking his head to dispel the mild headache before moving on to explore the ship.

The common room was first on his list. His stomach had started complaining and the fish jerky stuff had been pretty tasty.

The door opened automatically when he stopped in front of it and he poked his head inside.

The room had clearly been a second cargo hold at one point, but it had been split into two areas by some crates welded to the floor. One side was an approximation of a kitchen, there were a few appliances, or stuff that kind of looked like a blender, a toaster and a very weird looking stove. More crates and boxes had been repurposed into cabinets, all holding fish jerky, flat bread and jugs of water.

And that was pretty much all the kind of food in storage, each cabinet was either empty or had small packages of the same two food items. Leo frowned at the lack of variety, “Not even a candy bar in here.” He mumbled to himself as he grabbed a helping of jerky and wandered into the second area.

It was mostly empty, save for a bunch of mismatched rugs scattered on the floor and a circular couch and table, all just as cobbled together as the kitchen. The couch was full of holes, the table was scuffed and chipped and a lot of the rugs looked like they’d been pulled out of the bargain bin at a second hand store.

“This girl needs an interior decorator,” Leo asked no one as he dropped onto the couch. “Some bean bags, an entertainment system. Could probably fit an arcade game or two in here. Anything would help really.” He took a bite of jerky. “And maybe get some junk food too.”

The room didn’t answer him.

Leo munched away at his snack for a few moments, taking in the improvised ‘family room’.

Sitting still for a long time was never one of his best attributes.

Leo jumped up and headed towards the ladder that Chula said went to the bridge.

The bridge was pretty spacious. Four seats took up the center of the floor, two in front and two behind, with a yolk at the right front seat, and a massive control console eating up most of the remaining space.

But the windows took up most of Leo’s attention.

The windows covered almost the entirety of the walls and roof of the bridge, making it stupid easy for Leo to see the landscape outside.

He’d stolen a glance before, but he’d only given the alien terrain a passing thought at the time.

Now, he took it in.

Pink sand stretched out for miles on every side, broken up only by white, leafless trees and dry brush. The sky was still blue but it was several shades too light of a blue, almost pastel. And the sun was massive, beating down from high in the sky, or maybe it was closer and that was why it was so big?

Leo stared out the windshield, heartbeat hammering in his chest.

Funny, he’d thought he’d processed the whole ‘stuck on an alien planet’ thing. But seeing outside, seeing how different this world was-

Leo sunk into one of the chairs, wrapping his arms around himself.

He wished his brothers were here.

He hated himself for the thought but he couldn’t really help it.

They were never apart much growing up, Raph’s separation anxiety was a testament to that. Sure, they were all a little co-dependent but Raph was definitely the worst with it. Even when they all went to do their own things on their own time, his brothers were just a phone call away. 

And he would never wish this entire situation on any of them, especially not getting locked in the prison dimension but…

It would be nice. Not to be by himself in this whole mess.

The ship suddenly felt way too big and far too small at the same time. Empty and quiet like the prison dimension, yet the walls seemed to press in on Leo.

He jumped up and scrambled back down the ladder.

The air outside was hot but when Leo’s feet hit the sand it was surprisingly cool to the touch, he even grabbed up a handful to double check.

The texture reminded him of kinetic sand.

A planet of kinetic sand.

Mikey would love it.

Leo blamed the weird sand for the stinging sensation in his eyes. Huffing, he jogged a small distance from the ship before turning to take it in.

At one point, the ship had been painted gray and red, but the paint had faded, pale and patchy and clearly in desperate need of a few new coats. And even if the paint was new it wouldn’t hide how beat up the hull looked, full of small dents and scuffs and large, black scorch marks.

Leo whistled, “Man, neglect your toys much? You could at least repaint it.” 

He took a few more steps back, then paused.

He tilted his head.

The shape of the ship was weird but it looked…

Leo glanced around until he spotted a thin tree not too far away. He jogged over to it, scrabbling up the dry bark until he was close to the top.

He looked at the ship again.

He almost fell out of the tree from laughing.

Chula’s ship was a giant turtle. Yes, a very boxy, bulky, approximation of a turtle but the shape still screamed ‘big turtle’.

The universe had a sense of humor apparently.

Leo plopped down on the branch as he continued to giggle. Donnie would definitely love the ship, the fact it was turtle shaped would only be the cherry on top.

Raph would like it too. More for the fact it was a spaceship than how it all worked.

Damn the sand out here was irritating to his eyes.

Still, Leo stayed outside for a bit longer, circling the ship a few times and messing around in the sand before he ventured back inside.

He poked around for what felt like hours, opening doors and looking around rooms. He did try and poke around in one of the engine rooms, despite Chula’s warning, but the door didn’t open automatically like the rest and Leo couldn’t find any way to open it himself.

Granted, he didn’t look very hard.

So he explored the rest of the ship until he eventually looped back around to the common room and sat back on the couch.

The ship was cool, but Leo couldn’t shake the unease at how…empty it felt. 

Most of the rooms either had more supply crates or sat empty, the modified hold was the only spot of personal touch he could find. Even Chula’s room was almost empty of anything personal.

Leo absently wondered if she’d gotten this ship recently. She’d gotten a bad deal if she had, what with all the damage on the outside.

Leonardo slouched back, tapping his fingers on his leg.

There wasn’t much left to do but wait for Chula.

He could go for a nap.

✧✧✧✧✧

Raph was going to kill him.

Except it wasn’t Raph, it was some freaky alien thing that had taken over his brother's body.

And it was going to kill him because Leo couldn’t move.

He gasped when Raph’s hand closed over his head. Felt his body suddenly jerk as darkness closed in around him.

He was falling and floating. 

Something wet and slimy was crushing his throat.

His brothers were screaming somewhere, far away. So, so far away.

He needed to protect them but darkness pressed in all around him and he couldn’t figure out where the screams were coming from.

Cruel claws scraped over his shell and a voice hissed in his ear, “You’ll never make it out of here.”

Leo screamed and tried to roll away.

Get away, get away, get away from me, get away-!

He hit the ground with a loud thud.

Leo jolted up, scrabbling to get away from the Krang as fast as he could-

Except there was no Krang.

There were old, beat up rugs under his hands, his shell was pressed against a ratty old couch.

He’d escaped. He’d gotten away.

Leo was familiar with nightmares and the panic that followed them. It never made dealing with them easier.

He curled up, hunching his shoulders and pulling his head partly into his shell, forcing his breathing to slow and even out.

He was safe, at least for now. He hadn’t landed on Earth but he had escaped. The Krang leader couldn't get to him here.

Leo wheezed in a breath and wished Raph was with him.

Raph’s hugs always helped the most. He was so big it was easy to feel like nothing could touch Leo when Raph was holding him.

But Raph wasn’t there so Leo dragged a rug over his head and tried to banish the nightmare from his mind.

Chula would be back with news, hopefully news that would get Leo well on his way home. Then he could hug his brothers, could seek out their comforting presence and beat down the dark visions of Krang monsters and endless voids.

He’d be home soon, he just had to wait a little bit.

Leo sat and repeated that to himself, even when the statement started to feel hollow.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there but by the time he heard the hover bike’s engine he’d managed to get his breathing under control and dry the tears from his face.

By the time the hold door started lowering Leo was standing next to it, a smile plastered on his face as he waited for Chula to come on board.

“Sorry I took a bit,” Chula said as she dismounted and pulled off her helmet. “I needed to grab some things.”

“Oh?” Leo peeked around her and saw a bag had been added to the back of the bike. “Like what?”

Chula chuckled, “Well, I found someone who gave me a lead. They haven’t heard of Earth or the other planets you mentioned-”

Leo felt his heart sink.

“But!” Chula held up a finger. “But, but, they did give me directions to the nearest Salamadirian fleet. Those guys are all over the galaxy, so if anyone has the resources to find your world, it's them.”

Leo knew she was trying to cheer him up. Technically, it was good news but he had been hoping this little road trip through space would be quick. Knowing that they headed towards another alien race and not straight home was a bit disheartening.

“And since you’re goin' to be here for a bit,” Chula plowed on, grabbing the bag and reaching inside. “I got you some things, basic stuff really.”

Leo frowned as Chula started unloading the bag, pulling out a pile of clothes, a bulky mask thing, and two more, smaller bags.

She placed each item on a crate, “I get some races don’t do the whole clothes thing but space can get pretty cold even with the life support systems.”

Leo carefully pulled the fabric from the pile. It wasn’t much, a pair of loose pants and a scarf slash hood, both colored in a dark blue. Not exactly his style, he liked his clothing a bit more flashy but he didn’t mention that. Instead he gestured to the mask, “What’s that for?”

“Not every planet has breathable air,” she explained. “And I don’t usually keep spares on board so I got this and oh-two refills. And a spare comm unit so we can stay in contact easier.” She tapped one of the bags. “And this is just for food stuff, in case you want to do some exploring when we’re planet side.” she tapped the other then stepped around Leo to head for the door. “I need to run a system check before take off, shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Feel free to join me on the bridge.”

Leo hummed but was more focused on pulling on the hood and pants as Chula left him alone.

Both were surprisingly comfortable, the pants only went down to Leo’s knees but they were baggy enough to work around his shell. He also tried on the oxygen mask and dug through the bag of air refills. The comm was there too, a small flat rectangle nestled among the small canisters. Leo carefully added his new accessories to his belt before leaving the cargo hold.

He climbed up the ladder to the bridge, finding Chula jumping around the control panel, tapping buttons and muttering under her breath.

Leo sat in one of the back chairs to watch.

Chula glanced at him briefly before turning back to the screen she was squinting at, “It’s good practice to check everythin' before taking off. Engine, fuel pumps, controls, landin' gear. Used to be we’d do this kark manually. Way before my time, of course, but I hear it took almost an hour.”

Leo nodded, surprised that Chula was explaining it to him, “Guess someone got tired of doing it?”

Chula laughed, “Oh, definitely. Probably some two credits smuggler who had one too many engines die on ‘em.”

“That’s…oddly specific.”

“Because I have seen more than a few two credit smugglers drifting around open space because they didn’t run a full system check before takin’ off.”

The ship console gave a small beep and Chula tapped a few more buttons before sitting down behind the yolk, “And we are clear for take off!”

Leo felt more than heard the ship coming to life. The entire ship rumbled underneath him, building in strength until the scenery outside started to move.

Leo grabbed onto his chair, looking for a seatbelt as he watched out the window. The tree he’d climbed only hours before grew smaller and smaller, the horizon getting bigger and bigger as the ship gained speed.

Slowly, the sky grew darker and Leo held his breath and tried very hard not to think of the last time the he’d seen a sky that dark-

The entire ship shook and there was a boom that made Leo flinch.

“Breaking atmo!” Chula said cheerily. “Should’a warned you, it’s a bit loud.”

Leo nodded as he stared out the window.

Arterra was slowly getting smaller and the further they got the more the vast expanse of empty space took up Leo’s view. Stars glinted outside, growing in number until they suddenly exploded in masses. Leo gaped as he watched them zip by, whites and blues and pinks and few reds and purples.

He heard Chula chuckle and turned to look at her.

She smiled at him and gestured with one hand, “Welcome to the wider universe Leonardo.”

Yeah, welcome to the universe.

Leo should have felt elated, should have been bouncing in his seat with excitement. He was borderline living out a Jupiter Jim movie, sailing through the stars on a real spaceship next to an actual alien. 

A part of him was excited by the whole thing, but a much bigger, louder part of him couldn’t help but only see the size of the universe. There was nothing but stars and emptiness outside, miles upon miles of stars with nothing in between.

There was no telling how far away Earth was.

But Leo was playing at being a happy naive kid so he plastered on a grin, “This is the coolest thing ever!” The words felt like ash on his tongue.

Chapter Text

It should have been a victorious moment.

They’d been going non-stop for almost twenty-four hours, fighting the impossible odds against the Krang invasion.

There were moments where it seemed like they wouldn’t win. Like this was their final battle.

But the portal was shut, the Krang ship destroyed, they’d saved the world!

And Michalangelo’s big brother was on the wrong side of the portal.

No, no, no, nonononono-

The word repeated over and over in Mikey’s head. 

Because this wasn’t supposed to happen. 

They got Raph back, they got their powers back, they had been winning and then-

And then he and Donnie had fallen and Raph had to save them and they left Leo all alone up there and-

Mikey reached out for where his brother had been, trying to focus his mind.

Casey had said his future self made a portal, one that sent Casey to them.

Maybe that trick could bring Leo back.

He could bring Leo back.

If he just focused hard enough he could bring Leo back!

“Mikey…” Raph’s voice cracked, thick with tears. “It’s over.”

Mikey’s jaw tightened as more tears poured down his face, “He never…gave up on us!” His voice hitched on a sob. “I can’t give up on him!”

He could feel his powers buzzing under his skin, see it sparking at his fingertips. He could do this, he could get Leo back! He just had to focus!

He could do this!

He could-

Raph’s hand carefully landed on Mikey’s shoulder.

And the box turtle crumbled.

He screamed, long and loud and raw because he couldn’t, he couldn’t bring his brother back. 

Raph pulled him into a hug and Mikey clung to his older brother as his body shook with cries.

He could still feel his power buzzing under his skin, feel how much mystic energy coursed through him.

But it wasn’t enough. 

Leo was gone and Mikey couldn’t save him.

He curled closer to Raph and screamed.

✧✧✧✧✧

Raphael had only been slightly surprised when Dad made Leo their leader.

He’d already known Leo would be a better leader then he was, he’d just been shocked at how Dad had chosen to tell them.

It probably hadn’t been a great idea to spring it on Leo, because he’d then taken all his skill as a leader and chucked it out the window.

Raph knew he was playing up the antics, since Raph had refused when Leo tried to give back the leadership spot. He knew Leo was trying to get him riled up enough that he’d retake the leader role on the team.

Raph had stood firm, refusing the play into Leo’s game, even when it got frustrating.

Losing the key had been close to Raph’s breaking point, so he’d tried to make Leo see that he had to step up, take his role seriously.

Be a hero.

Raph’s mind flashed back to every time he’d told Leo to be a hero as the Technodome exploded. Every time he’d told Leo to step up, stop messing around, take his role seriously-

Nausea rolled in his gut as his own words came back to him.

He’d tried to push Leo to be better, to be his best version of himself.

And he’d pushed Leo onto the wrong side of that portal.

Raph dropped to his hand and knees, sobbing softly.

He wanted Leo to step up but this…

He didn’t want this.

Raph curled in on himself and quietly wished he could just pull into his shell and hide from everything.

Mikey’s sobbing made his head snap up.

His baby bro was standing, arms raised, orange mystic energy sparking along his arms.

Leo was gone, they were a team without a leader.

They needed a leader.

“Mikey,” Raph cursed the way his voice broke. “It’s over.”

Mikey looked at Raph, tears running in rivers down his face, “He didn’t…give up on us! I’m not giving up on him!”

And Raph didn’t know what Mikey was trying to do but something in his chest broke all over again as Mikey strained, marking glowing as he reached out towards the sky, like he could just grab Leo and pull him back.

He couldn’t. Leo was gone.

Slowly, the snapper stood and moved to Mikey’s side, putting his hand on the smaller turtle’s shoulder, “Mikey…”

And that was all it seemed to take.

Mikey dropped with a heart wrenching scream that Raph felt in his soul.

He gathered his brother in his arms, holding him tightly as Mikey screamed and sobbed.

He wanted to do the same. Wanted to just sit down a scream at how unfair the universe was to take Leo from them.

But he couldn’t now.

He needed to be there for his brothers, they needed a rock right now.

Both his brothers.

Raph looked up and spotted Donnie, curled up on the pavement with his arms over his head, shaking with nearly silent sobs.

“Donnie?”

Donatello didn’t respond, didn’t even react to Raph’s voice.

Raph frowned and moved to crouch next to his brother, “Donnie?”

This time, Donnie looked up between his arms.

He opened his mouth as if to reply but all that came out was a tiny, sad chirp.

If Raph’s heart hadn’t shattered already that would have done it.

Donnie reached out one hand, fingers grasping at the air but Raph got the message. He wrapped his free arm around Donnie, tucked both his little brothers close to his chest and squeezed.

He felt like he should reassure them, try and soothe some of the pain.

But he couldn’t quite muster up any ‘you’re okay’s or ‘we won’s or even an ‘we’re safe now’.

Because they weren’t okay, because they lost their brother. And even if they technically won against the Krang they still lost their brother.

So Raph curled himself protectively over his remaining siblings, murmuring softly to the two of them, “I got ya, I got ya.”

He’d always have them, he could at least give them that.

✧✧✧✧✧

Since they were old enough to grasp the concept, Leonardo had insisted he and Donatello were twins.

Donnie had always denied it, at some points even hated it when Leo said they were twins. His rebuttals only got harsher as they got older but Leo always laughed and kept crowing about his status as a twin.

Donnie used to wish he never had to hear Leo’s insistence that they were twins.

Or his stupid puns and corny one-lines.

As the Technodrome exploded over Metro Tower, Donnie got his wish.

He’d have loved to hear that twenty-four hours ago.

But as he watched the pink flashing lights of the portal fade away, he felt cold. 

His brain couldn’t seem to quite grasp what his eyes were seeing. Couldn’t fully comprehend that Leo had been up there when the portal closed. Had been on the wrong side when it shut.

But last minute saves were Leo’s thing. He’d be there soon. Another portal would open right next to them and Leo would come striding out, complaining about having to go to Staten Island.

It was just taking him a minute.

It was Leo, he always bounced back.

He almost didn’t notice the tears falling down his face, was actually surprised in a detached kind of way when he did notice them. He shouldn’t be crying, Leo was just waiting to make a dramatic entrance.

He’d be back. Any second he’d be there.

He could hear his brothers. Mikey was crying loudly, basically screaming, and he could hear Raph’s soft timber under the wails. But the words were lost to him, muffled under a ringing in his ears.

Like Leo was lost.

Donnie’s legs folded under him.

Because Leo was gone.

He curled up, bringing his arms over his head.

His brother was gone.

Raph was still talking. Somewhere on Donnie left.

His twin was de-

“Donnie?”

The word managed to break through the ringing in his ears.

He peeked up between his arms.

Raphael was crouched next to him, one arm curled around a sobbing Michalangelo, the other hovering over Donnie’s shoulder, “Donnie?”

He should answer. Raph was waiting for permission to touch him, waiting to see if he was okay.

Don opened his mouth.

Not a word came out of his mouth.

They were there, stuck somewhere in his throat, but Donnie couldn’t make any of them come out.

All he could manage was a soft, desperate chirp.

Because this wasn’t what was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be all of them. Together. They always stayed together. They always prevailed together, as a team, as a family.

Leo was supposed to slip out at the last second, come strutting out of a portal of his own, all smiles and bravado. That was Leo’s thing.

But there was no bright, blue portal to deliver their brother to them. No bad jokes or loud boasting of victory.

Donnie whimpered and reached out with one hand.

Raph scooped the softshell up, pressing him close to his chest, “I got ya, I got ya.”

Donnie hiccuped, curled up in Raph’s embrace as tears continued to stream down his cheeks.

They were all supposed to make it.

Mikey reached over and grabbed Donnie’s arm and Donnie reached back.

The three brothers held onto each other, weeping because there wasn’t supposed to be only three of them.

Donnie wasn’t keeping track of the time, it was taking everything he had to not start hyperventilating, so he didn’t know how long they all sat there mourning. 

But he felt it when Raph suddenly shifted, felt his brother's arm tighten around him and the low growl in his chest. Both Donnie and Mikey tensed and looked up to see what had spooked Raph.

A van was swerving towards them, going far too fast and moving much too erratically yet somehow the driver didn’t crash it.

Donnie knew that driving.

“Dad-”

It was the first word he’d managed to get out and it came in such a soft whisper he wondered if his brothers heard him.

If the way both relaxed immediately was an indication, they had.

The van screeched and slid across the road until it was only a few feet away. It started to slow with a loud screech of rubber on the pavement. But before it had fully stopped the back door was flung open and April came barreling out, “Guys!”

She all but tackled them, arms not quite reaching around all the way but doing their damn best. Donnie could see dried tear tracks on April’s cheeks and her eyes were red.

The comm had been open.

There was no way they didn’t know.

Donnie looked behind April as Dad stumbled out of the driver seat of the van and came towards them. He was still crying, not even trying to hide his grief as he rushed to hold onto his remaining boys.

The only one who didn’t rush out of the van was Future Casey.

Donatello could see him, lurking next to the van, stealing glances at the family.

And a part of Donnie knew that what happened wasn’t Casey’s fault. 

A very small, quiet part that was drowned out by the roaring in his ears.

Because this entire mess started when Casey had shown up.

And he was the one who closed the portal before Leo could get out.

He took my twin.

Casey’s eyes found Donnie’s and the kids entire body flinched.

Good.

Donnie growled low in his chest, too low for anyone to hear over all the crying.

They’d probably scold him for blaming Casey but Donnie couldn’t find it in himself to care much.

Because logic could tell him that it wasn’t Casey’s fault all day long.

But Donnie, for once, didn’t care about logic.

He just wanted his brother back.

Chapter Text

It turned out space travel was like a road trip. A road trip with no fun attractions or landmarks to gawk at, just stars and space and more empty space.

So a really, really boring road trip.

Grated, Leonardo didn’t really try to make it interesting. 

The highlight of the flight had been when Leo asked about getting water in the shower and Chula explaining that she never bothered upgrading the sonic for water because her fur made water baths uncomfortable but she would work on getting him something next time they landed. The whole thing made Leo feel awkward and he’d quickly backtracked on the request.

Other than that, it had been almost two days of just…existing on the ship.

Leo had asked at the end of the first day why the ship couldn’t go faster and Chula had said her ‘hyperdrive’ was busted and she couldn’t get parts to fix it.

So Leo spent two days drifting between rooms and trying not to go stir crazy.

He filled a little time by training, during ‘nighttime’ when he couldn’t sleep because of insomnia, definitely just his normal insomnia, he’d sneak into the hold to train a bit. During the day, between naps, eating and staring out the window, he’d watched his host.

He’d been hoping to get a better read on her, figure out what made her tick without actually having a heart to heart.

But she seemed to be in the same boat as him.

Most of the time she was on the bridge, sitting behind the yoke and just…staring.

She apparently didn’t need to steer, autopilot she’d said when she went to bed for the first night, so Leo wasn’t sure why she stayed on the bridge so much.

She only left to refill her box of food that sat next to her seat and twice a day she went to the hold, strung up a very old looking sack and went to town on it.

Leo had watched once, hiding behind the door. It had doubled his belief that Chula was a fighter of some kind. But was she like Leo and his brothers? Fighting for justice like heroes and whatever else Raph would gush about. Or was she like all the crazed mutants in New York?

He didn’t know so he kept watching.

And all he could see was a warrior that literally trained, ate, spelt, stared into space and almost constantly muttered to herself in an alien language.

So by day three, Leo was starting to get a bit antsy.

He was sitting on the bridge again, watching Chula out of the corner of his eye and wondering if he should try conversing.

Because he was going to be here awhile and the whole ‘just existing around each other’ thing was not working.

Well, technically it was but Leo felt about ready to burst.

So he heaved a sigh and moved up to sit next to Chula, “How much further are these Salmardins?”

“Salamandrians,” Chula corrected. “And not much. We should be in transmission range soon and I can beam them a message ahead of time. Make it so we don’t even have to leave the ship.”

Leo suppressed a groan at that. He’d been hoping to at least look at a new set of walls, “What are they like?”

“Kinda snobby,” Chula stated without hesitation. “Lot of ‘em got this ‘holier-than-thou’ complex. Not all of them but the cartographers tend to be all smug when they give out their star charts. Gets annoyin’ real fast.”

Oh that would explain why Chula didn’t want to get off the ship, “So why not get it somewhere else?”

“Anyone else would charge me way too much for a probably outdated map,” Chula said. “But the Salamandrians owe me one. We get their most recent charts and without havin’ to spend anythin’ but a few hours of boredom and fuel.”

Leo couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “Yeah, ‘a few hours’.”

Chula’s snort of laughter almost made Leo jump, “I’ll teach you to play sabacc, help pass the time.”

“...cool, cool….what’s sabacc?”

“Card game. Technically it’s a gamblin’ game but it works fine without credits.”

Leo frowned thoughtfully. Was Chula a professional gambler? He’d always thought of people like that as guys in fancy suits with lots of gold jewelry but maybe it was different in space? The gold stripes on Chula’s armor could be real gold.

….His theories were getting a bit far-fetched.

Maybe he could just…

Leo took a deep breath before looking back to Chula, “Is that how you get credits?”

Chula laughed at that, “Naw, I’m not that good, I mostly trade scrap or sell my bacta mix. Sometimes snap up a bounty, those usually pay well.”

Oh.

Bounty.

She was a bounty hunter. That made sense with all the weapons on her person.

Leo sat pondering. The silence was starting to bug him now, especially now that he’d broken the mutual silence between himself and Chula, but he wasn’t fully sure what questions were safe at this point.

As if to save Leo from his internal struggle, the ship gave a small beep. Chula sat up almost instantly, tapping away at screens and buttons, “Alright, now we’re movin’. Shouldn’t be long now Leonardo! And once we get the chart I’ll land us somewhere nice to stretch and refuel.”

Oh thank the Pizza Supreme in the sky! They were going to stop somewhere after all.

Leo nodded and watched a small screen close to him as Chula hit one last button and sat back, “So will they take long to call back or-”

The ship console beeped and a line of alien words appeared on the screen.

Chula frowned, “Well that’s weird.”

“They sent the map already?”

“No, the High Leader is requesting a direct call.”

“....how is that weird?”

Chula pulled on her helmet, “It’s weird because there is no way he’s got the charts ready so he has no reason for a direct comm call.”

“Maybe he just wants to say hi?”

Chula grunted and pushed a button on her chair.

A blue hologram appeared between Chula and Leo, blue lines flickering for a few seconds before stabilizing into the form of the Salamandrian High Leader.

The small picture was completely blue but Leo could see the alien resembled a humanoid salamander wearing long robes and intricate jewelry. He looked at Chula, mouth splitting into a too large smile, “Ah! Mandalorian Verd, I am so glad you could accept my transmission. I am High Leader T’Gral of The Helios Fleet and it truly is an honor to help you in-”

Chula interrupted, “You can skip the pleasantries, why did you want a direct call? My transmission covered pretty much everythin’ you needed to know.” 

The Salamadrian hesitated, “Well, you see, I understand you wish to keep our transaction quick but there is a problem with some of our equipment so transmitting the charts as you requested will not be possible at this time. You will have to land on the Helios for a direct transfer.”

Chula leaned closer to the hologram, “And yet, this transmission seems to be fine.”

“Ah, yes, well,” T’Gral cleared his throat.

Leo watched the interaction, curiosity peaked as to why the salamander wanted Chula on his ship.

Chula continued, “I already passed on information about my culture and my race to the last fleet I crossed with. I recall a galaxy wide notice that I was owed a favor.”

“Oh, no, no, payment is not an issue here my good Mandalorian,” T’Gral said quickly. “I just, well, um, it would be much safer to directly link to your ship's system. With the technical problems transmitting, we would risk damaging the charts! It is much better to do a direct link!” T’Gral straightened with a very proud smile, as if his idea was the most brilliant thing in the world.

Leo almost laughed at how bad this guy was at lying.

Chula clearly knew he was full of it as well, if the soft growl was any indicator, “High Leader T’Gral, I do not know if my personality profile made it into your archives but I think you should know,” the growl in her voice suddenly became much louder. “I do not like being lied to.”

Leo knew the growl wasn’t directed towards him but he tensed along with T’Gral.

The Salamadrian cleared his throat and clasped his hands, “I…require help. I do not wish to discuss the details over a transmission but I know you helped R'Igas’ fleet and your reputation is infamous in this part of the galaxy. If anyone could solve this-”

Chula growled again, “I don’t like going into a job half informed either.”

“But I haven’t-”

She interrupted, “You won’t even tell me what you want until I’m on your ship, probably on your bridge, surrounded by your people between me and my ship. You can see why I’m a little distrustful, yeah?”

Leo’s eyes darted between the two, watching the interaction. He got where Chula was coming from, he was basically in a similar situation with her, but he could also see how distressed T’Gral was. And it was definitely Raph’s influence but Leo felt like Chula should at least hear the guy out.

So he sat up in his seat and waved a hand, “Why can’t he come to your ship?”

Both aliens turned to look at him and for once Leo was not happy with being in the spotlight, “I mean, it’s pretty secure in here, right?”

“Yes, yes!” T’Gral nodded enthusiastically, “Your companion makes a fine point! I would be more than happy to discuss this matter on your ship!”

Leo normally would have preened at the praise but he couldn’t quite tear his attention away from Chula. He couldn’t read her expression under the black visor of her helmet, but she didn’t look mad, her hands weren’t clenched and her shoulders were mostly relaxed.

She was silent for a few more seconds before she turned back to T’Gral, “I’ll land on The Helios but the meeting is happening on my bridge. And I need a refuel.”

“Of course! Of course!” T’Gral exclaimed. “I will have the hanger ready and waiting for your arrival. Thank you so much Mandalorian Verd, I am truely-”

“Yes, yes, it’s been an honor for me as well, see you in three minutes,” Chula disconnected the call and turned her focus to the front.

Leo sat quietly, wondering if he’d made a mistake. Technically, the whole thing hadn’t been his business and he might have accidentally backed Chula into a corner with his question.

He should probably apologize. Stay on good terms with his host.

Chula spoke before Leo could decide how to do that, “Give me your mask.”

“Wha-?”

Chula reached out her hand, “You’re breathing mask. The Helios' air isn’t oxygen based and if we end up gettin’ on their ship I want to know that you can switch out the O2 refills and put it on properly.”

“Oh,” Leo handed over the mask and Chula started showing him where the little canisters were and how to swap them out. 

He focused on each step intently, nodding along as she popped them out and back in a few times before having him copy the motions.

After she deemed him able to swap the canisters she then started showing him how to put it on properly. That process wasn’t as involved, mostly it was him sitting still while she adjusted the strap around his head, so Leo's thoughts had a chance to circle back to the idea of apologizing.

“The mask scrubbers will give you ten minutes of air without a refill in,” Chula explained as she worked. “And each one has about an hour of air in them. It’ll beep if you’re runnin’ out so keep an ear out for that. How’s that? Too tight?”

“Sorry,” Ah, whoops, that had been a bit sudden.

Chula’s hands paused, “For what?”

“I kinda just jumped in on your conference call with the salamander guy,” Leo shrugged.

“Oh, oh, no, hey, no,” Chula crouched so she was eye to eye with Leo, lifting her helmet to rest on top of her head. “Look, I’m sorry if you thought I was mad. You did good there, you found a solution to the issue me and T’Gral were having. You didn’t do anythin' wrong, I just have some…baggage. It’s all my problem.”

Leo frowned, “You have baggage with the salamanders?”

“Ehhh,” Chula waggled her hand. “More I have issues with their government structure. Reminds me of someone back home that I do not like. But you, Leonardo,” she patted his shoulder. “You’re fine, don’t even worry about it.”

Leo relaxed and nodded, offering a small smile. Chula returned it before pulling her helmet back down and going back to her seat.

They sat in a comfortable silence for only a few moments before Leo jumped up with a gasp, “No. Way.”

The Salamadrian fleet was huge. Dozens of sleek, brightly painted ships in a dozen different shapes, sizes and colors, floating around one massive central spaceship that Leo assumed was The Helios. The central ship looked like a silver spire, with four rings evenly spaced along it, shining with blinking blue lights and smaller ships zipping in and out of open hanger doors.

Chula chuckled next to him as she steered them closer, “They may be uppity but I won’t deny their craftsmanship is quite spectacular.”

Chula’s ship drifted into the crowded mass of space traffic, weaving around them as they drew closer and closer to the Helios. They drifted into the topmost ring on the main ship, slowly gliding through a faintly pulsing forcefield before Chula started landing in the hangar.

The ship touched down with barely a jolt, Leo felt the mass of metal settling in the gravity around them, making the hull creak and groan after spending so long in zero gravity. Leo stared out the windshield at the interior of the Salamadrian ship in awe.

Where Chula had a cobbled together, almost falling apart and empty feeling to her ship, the Helios was almost the complete opposite. Polished paint covered almost every surface, swirling in a mosaic of planets and stars along the walls. Soft blue lights shone across the entire space, giving everything an almost ethereal feeling. A small cluster of Salamadrians were gathered on one wall, Leo couldn’t pick out details but they were as varied in vibrant colors as their ships and as soon as Chula’s engines cut out they quickly gathered around, pulling hoses and wires from the walls and disappearing under the ship.

Chula tapped a few more controls before spinning her chair around to face the back, “Time to meet the king.”

Leo nodded as he sat back down, trying to spin his chair like Chula had only to find it locked in place. He frowned and started tapping around the arms and seat, looking for a button or catch.

Chula watched him for only a few seconds before reaching over with her foot and pushing a small lever at the base of the chair.

Leo immediately spun in a quick three-sixty before facing the same way as Chula, just in time for a gray and black salamander head to pop up at the ladder.

T’Gral was a lot taller than Leo had thought he’d be. He wasn’t quite as tall as Chula but he still towered over Leo. His skin was mottled black and gray and his robes looked even more extravagant in person, colored in shades of deep purple that faded down into a dusky red and accented with silver jewelry on his hands, neck and head.

A second Salamadrian followed T’Gral up the ladder; smaller, more lean, with yellow and black striped skin, wearing a simple red robe and only a single band of silver around his neck.

“I hope you do not mind,” T’Gral gestured to his companion. “I brought Second Leader A’Runna, to help me explain the situation we face. I hope this is not considered an intrusion-”

Chula held up a hand, palm out, “I understand these plesentires are considered as a must for your people, High Leader T’Gral, but I don’t need or want them. I’m a busy person, so I’d like to get to the reason you wanted to meet with me in person.”

“Of course, of course,” T’Gral hurried to sit across from Chula. “Apologies, Mandalorian Verd and-”

“Leonardo,” Leo introduced himself as he watched A’Runna sit. 

The Salamadrian glared back, “I thought this meeting was confidential.”

“You’re on my ship and you want my service,” Chula said. “Leonardo stays as long as he likes. Now, please explain.”

“Right, right,” T’Gral wrung his hands nervously. “Well, see, I know you helped R’Igas with ship repairs but I am in need of your skill as a hunter. There have been a few…disappearances among the maintenance crew.”

Chula hummed, “And they didn't just move from the fleet because-?”

“Their personal effects are still in their chambers, none of their friends have any knowledge of where they have gone and none of their supervisors were informed. Six Salamadrians just…vanished.”

“Hmmm,” Chula’s helmet tilted.

A’Runna spoke then, “We, of course, have our own people looking into it, but as our High Leader says, there are no traces of them anywhere. And with the supply difficulties we have been having, we cannot spare much time looking for six wayward people out of hundreds.” He looked to T’Gral. “Or spare many credits for the services of a bounty hunter.”

“I believe I agreed to a refuel and star charts as payment,” Chula interrupted, leaning forward and steeping her hands under her chin. “Who is leading the investigation? I will need to speak with them in order to start helping you.”

T’Gral all but leaped from his seat, “So you will help us? Oh, thank you Mandalorian Verd! I know Second Leader A’Runna makes a good point but the loss of even one is such a tragedy!”

“I can’t do much without names.”

“Ah, yes, yes, of course,” T’Gral gestured to his second in command. “Second Leader A’Runna is keeping up with the progress and we have Captain T’Usset looking into it with his regiment. Second Leader A’Runna can help you speak with whomever you need to!”

“Well then,” Chula stood as well, visor tilting towards A’Runna. “Lead on Second Leader A’Runna.”

A’Runna stood, allowing T’Gral to leave the bridge before descending down the ladder himself, and very pointedly not looking at Leo or Chula. Chula moved to follow them, but stopped and turned to Leo, “You coming?”

Leo startles a bit at her question, “Uh, I’m not sure how I could help.”

Chula shrugged, “Seems unfair to keep you cooped up when you’re so excited about all this. Plus, extra set of eyes and ears never hurt anybody.”

Oh. Well, “When you put it like that.”

Leo almost bounced out of the ship behind Chula. He could see all the Salamadrians that had scurried under the ship now; they had opened panels along the belly of the ship and connected the hoses and wires to it, for fuel and data transfers Leo guessed.

A’Runna was waiting at the bottom of the ramp, posture rigid and chin tilted up as he watched Chula and Leo disembark, “I assume you wish to speak to our guards first?”

“You assume correctly Second Leader A’Runna,” Chula waved her hand. “After you.”

A’Runna seemed to sneer at that, just a slight curl to his lip that Leo probably would have missed if he wasn’t watching.

Leo mentally decided to keep a close eye on this A’Runna guy. He probably was just miffed that someone outside their people was stomping in on their problems but just in case-

Leo may not trust Chula fully but she was still his best shot at getting home so best to keep an eye on potential threats from uppity space lizards.

Chapter Text

Leo’s excitement at getting to look at a new set of four walls lasted until, less than a minute after they left the hanger, A’Runna muttered, “Bad enough with just the hunter, she had to bring along a child.”

The words weren’t so bad, but the amount of pure venom in his tone made any joy at seeing cool space evaporate.

Chula had gone ramrod straight next to Leo when his pace faltered, visor whipping towards A’Runna, “Do we have a problem Second Leader A’Runna?”

The Salamandrian narrowed his eyes at Chula, “Our High Leader holds you in high regard because of the report from the Glycon Fleets report. But we are a people against violence for a reason and you represent everything we are against.”

Chula snorted, “Ah, a great honor, to be sure.”

A’Runna scoffed, “If it were up to me you wouldn’t be anywhere near our fleet.”

“For a pacifist you sure make a lot of threats.”

A’Runna growled and Chula stepped around Leo so that she was between him and the second leader. Leo’s eyes jumped between the two, body spring-coiled and ready for a physical fight.

But A’Runna just let out one last snarl before spinning down another hallway, “Captain T’Usset is waiting for us.”

Leo caught the sigh of relief that tried to claw up his throat.

Chula heaved a breath and put a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “Alright?”

Leo quickly forced his mouth into a smile, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Chula did reply to him. But she did keep a steady hand on Leo’s shell as they continued to follow A’Runna. Leo was silently a bit grateful for the steady pressure gilding him down the corridors.

A few more twists and turns down a lot of very similar hallways, until A’Runna opened a side door and led them into a cramped room.

It looked a bit like an office, with a desk surrounded by chairs and a wall full of screens, each displaying a different area of the ship. And another Salamandrian was standing at attention next to the desk.

He was big, built like a brick house, wearing a dark blue jumpsuit instead of a robe and skin that swirled in varying shades of brown.

“Verd, Leonardo,” A’Runna gestured towards the large Salamandrian. “Captain T’Usset.”

The captain stood straighter, crossing an arm over his chest before slashing diagonally downwards, “I am at your disposal Mandalorian Verd! High Leader T’Gral already sent me a full debrief on the situation. It will be an honor working with you and your Foundling.”

Foundling?

Chula returned the gesture, hand cutting down her chest.

Leo figured it must be a greeting of some kind and slowly mimicked the gesture as well.

“Likewise Captain T’Usset,” Chula said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get down to business.”

“Understandable,” T’Usset replied. “What do you want to know?”

“How long have these people been missing?”

“About three standard ship cycles,” T’Usset replied. “We, of course, did a full search of the Helios when the first was reported missing and discovered the other five were missing as well.”

“Find anythin’?”

Captain T’Usset shook his head, “No, nothing. We even searched the supply freighters that were on board but they were clean.”

“As you have already been told by myself and High Leader T’Gral,” A’Runna grumbled.

Leo did his best to ignore A’Runna. The guy was getting worked up again, jaw clenching as he watched Chula start pacing the room.

If Chula noticed she ignored him, “How long were they missing before you noticed?”

A’Runna bristled more at the question, “And what are you insinuating Verd?”

Chula was still wearing her helmet, but Leo could feel the flat look she sent A’Runna, “I’m establishing a timeframe. We all know you didn’t notice any of them were missing at first, knowing how long will help me know if they're still on the Helios.”

“Mandalorian Verd I mean no disrespect to your methods,” T’Usset said. “But we searched every inch of the Helios. They cannot be on board.”

“Secret passages, false walls, restricted areas, am I forgetting anything Leonardo?”

“Undocumented room add ons,” Leo said it almost absently, mouth moving faster then his brain could tell him to not irritate the aliens he was surrounded by.

Chula waved a hand in a sweeping gesture, “Hundred ways to hide a body. Or six. Now, how long before you noticed?”

T’Usset cleared his throat, “There…isn’t a way to know for sure. Our best guess is twenty-four hours.”

“Lots of time to smuggle them off the Helios,” Chula muttered, pausing in the middle of the room and tapping a claw to the engraving on her chest plate. “Especially if they were taken one by one-”

“This line of questioning is pointless,” A’Runna snapped. “All you’ve done is have us repeat what we already told you and question our guards competence. You’re a hunter, aren’t you? Why aren’t you hunting?”

“It’s called gathering intel,” Chula replied. “You’d be surprised how much time it saves Second Leader A’Runna. These six Salamandrians have anything in common?”

T’Usset nodded, “Aside from the general maintenance duties, all six of them were also in charge of maintaining the long range transmission logs.”

“Ah-ha!” Chula snapped her fingers, “One of them found something! I’m going to need the logs from the last five ship cycles.”

“Absolutely not!” A’Runna all but yelled. “Those transmissions have highly sensitive information and I will not have you picking through it!”

Chula straightened, rolling her shoulders, “Well someone has to look at them. It’s the only thing connecting the missing persons.”

“It is by far not the only thing!” A’Runna snarled, waving his arms. “You’re just jumping to conclusions! Or trying to get into our network!”

Chula’s growl was only amplified by her helmet and Leo found himself taking a step back from the two snarling aliens, “Uh, maybe you could both look?”

A’Runna’s eyes were suddenly on Leo, “I did not ask for your input child.”

Okay, ow, that was rude.

Chula moved around so that she was between Leo and A’Runna, “I believe we were both there when High Leader T’Gral said I would be given whatever I needed to help you.”

“High Leader T’Gral may trust you to have our fleet's best interest,” A’Runna leaned in close, snout almost against Chula’s visor. “But I do not, I know what you are and what you’ve done.”

Leo looked between the two.

What was A’Runna talking about? This was clearly more than just a disagreement on belief systems. Maybe Chula had taken a bounty on a Salamandrian?

Or maybe…

But the conflict and Leo’s internal debate was interrupted by Captain T’Usset stepping between A’Runna and Chula, “Second Leader, may we speak for a moment?”

The question seemed to snap the tension. A’Runna gave one last growl before stepping into the hallway with T’Usset, leaving Leo and Chula standing in the office

Leo exhaled, trying to force his heart to slow down and to not look to hard at Chula.

“Sorry.”

Chula’s voice wasn’t harsh anymore. It was back to that soft, gentle tone that she only seemed to use with Leo.

He still jumped at the single word then cursed himself for doing so, “I-it’s fine! He was being a jerk, totally deserved that.”

Chula huffed, the sound barely audible through the helmet, “I should’ve kept my head better. Last thing we need is me beatin’ a member of the leadership.”

Leo shrugged, “I think T’Gral would apologize to you anyway.”

“No. He’d be upset,” Chula shook her head. “What do you think of this so far?”

Leo frowned, “Do I look like Sherlock Holmes?”

Chula’s helmet tilted.

“...right, right, space,” Leo cleared his throat. “Well, clearly someone on the inside was involved.”

“Obviously?”

“Well I don’t think a random stranger could walk around here without being seen, much less make off with six people.”

Chula nodded, “You’re right so far. What else?”

Leo frowned. This felt like a test of some kind. 

Slowly, he continued, “A’Runna really doesn’t want us here.”

“Oh? What gave that away?”

Leo snickered, “And he really doesn’t want you looking at the logs.”

“But he will,” Chula hummed. “T’Usset is convincing him, making a pretty good case for us too.”

Leo frowned as Chula talked, “And you know what they're saying because-?”

“Big ears, good hearing. Thank my mother’s side of the family.”

Leo tensed.

He hadn’t thought about enhanced hearing, how good was her hearing? Chula’s ship wasn’t very big, had she ever-?

T’Usset and A’Runna returned before Leo could ponder too deeply, the captain looking very happy while the second leader was all but pouting.

“Second Leader A’Runna has agreed to show you our transmission logs!”

“Only you,” A’Runna hastily added. “With myself supervising. The chi-”

Chula very loudly cleared her throat.

A’Runna bit off his sentence with a glare, “The foundling is not permitted to join us.”

“But I am more than happy to escort Foundling Leonardo back to your ship!” T’Usset gestured to Leo. “He’d be perfectly safe!”

Chula hummed and looked at Leo.

And Leo very suddenly realized that everyone’s attention was on him.

Be cool, be cool.

“Uh, yeah! That sounds cool! I don’t mind waiting!”

Chula stared at him and Leo tried to keep his grin from faltering.

Finally, she sighed, “If you could, thank you Captain T’Usset.”

“Of course Mandalorian Verd!”

“Mmhum,” Chula looked back at Leo. “You have your communicator, yell if you need me.”

Leo waved a hand, “I’ll be fine, it’s just back to the ship.” And tried very hard not to let on how much he did not want to be escorted around by the captain. He might have some new stuff about Chula to mull over but at least he knew her.

But he also knew that asking for her to take him back first could be seen as disrespectful, or give A’Runna something to wiggle out of showing Chula the logs.

And it would waste time.

So he smiled and waved her off.

She still stood for another moment before she nodded and moved to follow after A’Runna, stopping only to mutter something to T’Usset.

And then it was Leo alone with another alien.

T’Usset smiled at him, mouth too wide and toothy for it to feel friendly, “You quite a lucky sentient Foundling Leonardo!”

“Uh, thanks?”

The pair started walking as T’Usset continued, “Traveling with the Mandalorian Verd. I’ve read the report from the Glycon fleet but meeting her in person!” He clapped a hand to his chest. “It is truly an honor to meet such a great warrior!”

Leo nodded slowly, “And…you like that kind of stuff?” He was pretty sure Chula had said the Salamandrians were pacifists.

But T’Usset nodded and his grin widened, “Oh surely she’s shared the tales of her hunts with you! You must tell me some, I’ve only had rumors and the Glycon fleets report. But you must have tales that would make those pale in comparison!”

Leo nodded, slowly. He could actually make this work for him.

“Well, I’ve only known her for a bit but she’s not a great story teller. Think she’s trying to stay humble. Haven’t heard about that one with the Glycon.”

“You haven’t?” T’Usset exclaimed. “It was glorious, if the accounts are anything to go by. The Glycon fleet had been struck with a raiders EMP field, their much smaller than our fleet and their guard are…well, not to speak ill of my fellow people but they aren’t as traditional as my regiment. We probably would have lost the entirety of the Glycon fleet if Mandalorian Verd hadn’t shown up! She wiped out the entire raider ship! Just boarded by herself and took over the entire ship!”

Leo frowned, “I thought she helped with fixing their ship.”

T’Usset waved his hand, “Of course that’s the part High Leader T’Gral mentioned. Yes, Mandalorian Verd helped get the Glycon operational again afterwards but to fight through an entire ship single handedly! And that’s not even accounting for the local stories! Why, I met a trader who told me they had seen Mandalorian Verd take down a Bluder Beast! It takes an entire hunting party for most races her size! But she took it down by herself!”

He stopped and spun to stand in front of Leo, “Can you imagine if her people were still alive? An entire race that fought like her would be more powerful than the Triceraton Republic!”

“Uh,” Leo stumbled for what to say.

Was Chula that powerful? He wasn’t sure how well raiders fought or what a Bluder Beast was but from what he was hearing it sounded like Chula was a metaphorical power house.

And he wasn’t sure if that made him feel safe or terrified.

T’Usset was still gushing on about Chula, “Or if she could teach others! I would give anything to learn under her. But with this new pacifist way of life we’ve been forced into it wouldn’t be possible! It’s why I’ve been forced to use less honorable methods.”

….wait.

Leo frowned at the Salamandrian, noticed how he was suddenly between Leo and the hallway, how he seemed to almost be trying to box Leo in.

How, despite how similar all the hallways looked, Leo was pretty sure they hadn’t gone down this one before.

“Foundling Leonardo, I know she is your mentor but I must ask if you’ll tell her to stop looking.”

Leo took a step back, suddenly feeling very, very trapped, “What are you talking about?”

“As much as I admire Mandalorian Verd I can’t let her uncover our plans. The future of our people could hinge on them.” He stepped closer and Leo moved back, one hand flying to his katana. “I cannot ask her, it will raise suspicion. But if you ask, she may listen!”

“You kidnapped those people.”

T’Usset shook his head, “No, no, they're perfectly safe, I just needed them out of the way for a bit, once everything is in place they will be released.”

Leo unsheathed both katana, “Still kidnapping buddy.”

“Our people are going to be extinct if we keep up this pacifist government!” T’Usset suddenly barked. “If you won’t ask Mandalorian Chula to stop then at least surrender peacefully. This whole thing can be over in no time!”

“Yeeeeeah, how about,” Leo dashed forward, jumping up at the last second to deliver a kick to T’Usset’s head. “Nope!”

Leo landed running, sprinting down the hallway as fast as he could while fumbling with his bag for the communicator.

He had to tell Chula what was going on, that they had both clocked the wrong guy, they had to-

Leo wanted to scream but his entire body had locked up.

He dropped to the ground, limbs stiff and not responding, vision wavering dangerously.

“D’Kara!” he heard T’Usset exclaim.

An unknown voice replied, low and angry, “What? He was going to blow our entire operation!”

“But now he won’t help us!”

“He still can.”

Hand’s grabbed Leo, pulling him up as his mind screamed for his body to move.

D’Kara spoke again, voice next to Leo, “We have the Mandalorians foundling! She’ll stop once she knows we have him.”

“But-”

“You said it yourself! Our people will die if this plan fails! We cannot afford any risk!”

Leo tried to move again but all he could manage was a soft groan.

“Is he awake?” T’Usset exclaimed. “How is he awake?”

“I don’t care, I’ll just shoot him again.”

“Wait-”

And then Leo’s body was once again stiff and screaming. His vision was going, fading fast even as he fought to stay awake.

Fear clawed at his insides even as he lost the fight with consciousness. His last thought was wondering if Chula would even try to find him.

Chapter Text

Raph was worried.

He’d been worrying a lot over the past week. Post-Invasion had left so many hurts that needed to be soothed, physical and emotional. 

Despite Raph’s efforts to shield them, both Mikey and Donnie had been pretty bruised up from the fall back to Earth and that was on top of the injuries from the fight. April, Casey and Dad had been a little better, but all three still had bloody cuts and scrapes that needed to be cleaned and bandaged.

And Raph himself couldn’t seem to shake a bone deep feeling of something crawling under his skin, into his brain and squeezing. Despite the dozens of scans he’d had Donnie do, and the repeated confirmation that ‘yes, all the Krang gunk is out of your body and you won’t just wake up Krang-afied again’.

Raph still went to the lab almost everyday for another scan anyway.

Donnie never said anything about it. Or said much else about anything really.

Donnie was worrying Raph a bit. Because where everyone else had kept to the common areas, leaning on each other for support and trying to adjust to the new normal, despite the Leo shaped hole in their family, Donnie hadn’t left his Lab all week.

They’d all checked on him, of course, made sure his injuries were healing, made sure he drank and ate. It wasn’t that surprising that Donnie had withdrawn so much, he tended to do that when the world became too much for him and losing Leo…

They were all close but Leo’s claims of being Donnie’s twin hadn’t just come out of nowhere. The pair had always been close in ways unique to them. When they were little it had been silly stuff like how they were both aquatic turtles or how they were the same height so they were clearly twins. As they got older it was shared love of dramatics and flare, common interests in comics and shows, even Leo’s fascination with Biology had crossed over with Donnie’s need to consume any and all knowledge presented to him. The ‘twin’ thing was then more of a way for Leo to tease Donnie but…well, when someone crows about being twins for years it starts to stick for everyone.

So, really, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Donnie all but shut down. They had tried to get him out of the lab but by the third day of the softshell refusing to leave the whole family agreed to just ride it out and make sure Donnie at least had food, water and company. They all took turns with that, each poking their head into the lab at least once a day to make sure Donnie was still alive.

The only one who hadn’t been in the lab was Casey.

That in itself wasn’t weird but…Casey seemed to be avoiding Donnie. He’d tried to avoid all of them at first but Mikey had been quick to put a stop to that, starting with food that wasn’t rat based.

Getting Casey adjusted to the past- or present? Time travel made it all confusing- had been something of a goal to distract everyone from the missing piece of their clan. Mikey was slowly introducing him to new foods that weren’t rat based, April had brought down a stack of new clothes for him to try on and Pops had been showing Casey the wonders of modern soap operas. 

But not Donnie. The only interaction the two had had was when Casey helped put Donnie’s arm in a splint and sling and both of them had been silent and stiff the entire time. After that, nothing.

It hadn’t bothered Raph at first but… he saw Casey looking at the lab sometimes, almost longingly, like he wanted to go in but didn’t for some reason.

Like now.

He was sitting in their family room looking at the heavy steel door of Donnie’s Lab like he wanted to just stroll right in.

So Raph plopped down next to him and patted his shoulder, “Hey Case, you alright?”

Casey glanced at Raph with a crooked smile, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“You suuure?” Raph pressed. “Because Raph thinks you’ve got something on your mind.”

Casey ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s nothing just…thinking.”

“Hey, you can tell me. We’re basically family, which makes me your big brother!”

Casey huffed a small laugh and turned himself to fully face Raph, “Thanks but…it really is kinda dumb. It’s only been a week.”

Ah. “Is Donnie being in his lab bugging you?”

Casey shrugged, “More just…he was on base a lot, I spent a lot of time with Master Donatello growing up. I know he’s not the same as my Master Donatello but…I was hoping we could connect.”

“You can just go see him, he doesn’t mind people in his lab as long as you don’t touch anything.”

Casey shrugged again, “I think he hates me.”

That…okay, that was a bit of a surprise, “What? No, why do you think that?”

Casey tucked his legs up to his chest, “He won’t talk to me, he could barely look at me when we were coming back from Staten Island. I think he only let me patch him up because Master Splinter and Coman-, er, April were busy with you and Michelangelo.”

“Hey, Donnie doesn’t hate you!” Raph reached over to ruffle Casey’s hair. “He just…you’re still technically new around here and Donnie doesn’t really like change. He just needs a little time to adjust.”

Casey hummed but Raph could tell his words hadn’t really stuck. 

He could just take Casey to the lab, get Donnie to help settle the whole matter, and any other time he would have. But the circumstances are different right now, a lot changed in a very short amount of time and they could all see that Donnie was struggling to cope.

So he settled for wrapping his arm around Casey and pulling him into a side hug, “Just you wait, Don will come around sooner or later. And then he’s going to bug you all the time with questions about future science!”

Casey snorted a laugh, “ He built pretty much all of that future technology.”

“Ever better!”

Casey snorted again, hiding his smile behind his hand.

Raph chuckled along with him and mentally made a note to talk to Donnie soon.

✧✧✧✧✧

Raph had volunteered to take dinner to Donnie, seeing a perfect opportunity to talk to him about maybe inviting Casey into the lab.

Or leaving his lab for a few minutes.

Either would help ease Raph’s worry a bit.

The lab was still technically under construction, the old lab was a fourteen years long labor of love after all. But the computer had been set up and Donnie’s ‘wall of mass destruction’ and there were tools and wire and scrap metal thrown everywhere.

The last wasn’t as normal. Donnie’s system was a bit chaotic but there was a clear system and it usually didn’t include leaving stuff on the floor.

Raph had been trying to ignore how the mess got bigger yet Donnie hadn’t built anything new, instead he stepped around the proverbial minefield and poked his head between the curtains that separated the lab from Donnie bedroom, “Heeey D, I got dinner!”

Donnie was curled up in a blue bean bag chair, comfort hoodie on and hood pulled up, tapping at his phone, “Cool.” His voice was clipped, most of his replies had been clipped lately.

Raph forced a smile as he sat next to Donnie, “You know, it’d be nice if you came ate with everyone, you know, in the land of the living.”

Donnie hummed, eyes not leaving his phone.

“Aaaand, you know,” Raph continued. “Spent a little time with Casey Jr.? The guy thinks you don’t like him.”

Ha! Seamless, nice job Raph.

Donnie glanced at Raph, one eyebrow raising, “And that’s my problem because…”

Raph blinked, “Uh, because we want Casey to feel welcomed? Plus, it’d been nice to see you out of the lab!”

“Oh, well in that case,” Donnie looked back at his phone. “No thanks.”

“Come on, what’s the harm in just saying ‘hi, I don’t hate you’?”

“Because I’m bad at lying.”

Raph froze, smile dropping, “What?”

“I’m happy the rest of you are fine to play nice with future boy but I’d rather stay in my lab.”

“Donnie-”

“I am perfectly fine.”

He wasn’t, he wasn’t fine, “Donnie, what’s with you?”

“I don’t want to talk to Casey.”

“Why? He’s not a bad guy, I think you two would get along great!”

“He killed Leo.”

Raph’s gaped at his brother, “You can’t possible-”

Donnie interrupted, “You heard the comm., Casey closed the portal before Leo had a chance to get out.”

“That wasn’t Casey’s fault! Leo told him too!”

Donnie turned to glare at Raph, “Yes, he did. And Casey did what he was told because he’s a good little soldier from the future. Did you know he didn’t even want to save you?” Raph had to focus very hard on suppressing a flinch. “All he cared about was his mission. Leo was supposedly his sensei and he still killed him.”

“You’re acting like this isn’t hard on him too. Leo was-”

“Our brother, you’re brother, my twin. Casey barely knew him.” Donnie flipped so his back was facing Raph. “Look, I’m leaving him alone, isn’t that enough? So why don’t you do me the same courtesy?”

Raph stared at his brother back, mind spinning. He knew Donnie was upset, understood why he was so upset but to put the blame on Casey…

He understood, in a way. A very deep, dark part of Raph had wanted to blame Casey too. But the guy had been as distraught as the rest of them and placing blame seemed cruel.

He wouldn’t even be surprised with Donnie’s anger if it had only been a day or two but they’d all had a week to process everything and Donnie was still-

Donnie sighed, long and loud, “Perhaps I should rephrase. I would like you to leave me alone now.”

“But-”

“Now!”

Raph jumped at the harshness of Donnie’s voice.

His brother was struggling, he was struggling so bad with the loss of Leo and Raph-

Raph silently backed out of his room.

Because what could he say to fix anything? He couldn’t use words to bring Leo back, to reverse his brother's choice to sacrifice himself. And Don clearly didn’t want to hear any of them.

But he was hurting, so clearly hurting and Raph was the oldest and the leader again. He should know how to fix this.

But he didn’t, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact Casey was right.

As misplaced as Raph thought it was, the facts were in. Donnie hated Casey, Donnie had basically decided that Casey was the entire reason they lost Leo that day.

And Raph didn’t know how to fix the rift that was his fault.

Chapter Text

Leo woke up with a pounding headache and face down on metal. He groaned as he dragged one hand up to rub at his head.

Getting Turtle-naped sucked, at home and in space.

It took a few attempts at moving to get rid of the numbness in Leo’s limbs but he eventually managed to coordinate his arms enough to roll onto his side.

He was clearly in a cage of some kind, there were walls on all but one side, which had glowing purple bars and beyond that was a dark hallway with more glowing bars across from Leo’s cell.

The weight of his katanas on his shell was missing, so these guys weren’t complete idiots. It took a few more seconds of trying to make the room stop tilting for Leo to realize his blades weren't the only things missing from his person.

His belt and shoulder strap were gone. 

Leo jolted up as he frantically patted himself down. His wardrobe was undisturbed and the oxygen mask was still firmly over his beak. But his belt was definitely gone, along with the supplies Chula had given him and his own stuff.

Along with the photo that had been carefully tucked into the bag on his back.

Leo felt his eyes burn and he furiously scrubbed at them. It was just a picture, he wasn’t going to cry over a picture. Besides, he had bigger things to focus on.

Like an escape plan.

Leo blinked hard and refocused on the hall outside his cell, “Hey! What’s a turtle gotta do to get some service here?”

His own voice echoed back to him and Leo frowned.

Did they really not leave a guard?

Maybe they were a little stupid.

“Heeey! Hello?”

“Will you shut it?”

Leo smirked and leaned close to the bars to try and see who had shouted, “I might if you tell me where I am.”

There was a loud, very put out sigh and Leo spotted movement in the cell across from him. A Salamandrian leaned into view and Leo blinked a few times when he saw her. Where every other Salamandrian had looked like..well, big salamanders, this one had massive fins protruding from her head; three fuzzy, twitching appendages on each side. Her skin was bronze and speckled with darker spots, almost like freckles, and she was wearing a black jumpsuit that was very similar to the one T’Usset had been wearing.

She narrowed solid black eyes at Leo, “You’re a prisoner, like the rest of us. And you’re being loud.”

Leo sat up straighter with a gasp, “You’re one of the missing Salamandrians!”

“Yes, now please shut it.”

“But there’s six of you missing,” Leo leans closer to the bars so he can peer down the hallway. “Where are the rest of them? And where are we? I like to know where I am when I’ve been turtle-napped.”

The axolotl sighed out her nose, “We’re on a ship that’s masquadring as a supply freighter that circles around just outside of the fleet's sensors. And I would very much like for you to stop. Talking .”

“Why? So you can wallow in self pity some more?” another Salamandrian appeared from the shadows next to the axolotl, gray-blue scaled and one completely white eye. “We can’t just sit here while our High Leader is murdered!”

“Oh? And have you come up with a plan G’Throkka?” the Axolotl sniped back.

Another voice groaned in the cell next to Leo’s, “Would you two quit it? It’s your fault we’re all here!”

“Oh, so we shouldn’t have gone to the Captain of our guard when we found transmission about an assasination plot?” G’Throkka barked back.

Leo’s eyes darted between the squabbling aliens for a few seconds before he decided this was a mess he did not want to be involved in. He carefully stood and started to circle his cell, feeling along the walls.

His cell neighbor scoffed loudly, “I don’t know! I’m not the one who went poking around in the logs when I wasn’t supposed to!”

G’Throkka let out an angry chattering sound, “Well maybe if the rest of you would help instead of sitting around like fresh hatchlings we’d be out of here by now!”

A fourth voice piped in further down the hall, “Maybe you should have just let it happen! T’Gral is a disgrace of a High Leader!”

“You dare insult our-”

Leo groaned as they all continued to fight, getting louder and louder as more voices joined in. No wonder they hadn’t escaped yet if all they did was fight as soon as anyone spoke.

So he ignored them, let all the angry hissing and growling fade into background noise as he looked around his cell for some way to escape.

There wasn’t a guarantee of someone coming for him, less of one than usual without his brothers, and there was a pretty good chance Chula would cut her losses and leave Leo to his fate.

Well, he’d gotten this far, no way he was going to let something as stupid as getting turtle-napped stop him from getting home.

Step one, get out of the cage.

“Hey! Foundling!”

Leo sighed as the axolotl lady called to him, rolling his eyes as he turned to glare at her, “Okay, I don’t know why you all keep calling me that but it’s Leonardo.”

She huffed and rolled her eyes back, “What are you trying to do in there?”

“Uh, escaping? Duh?” Leo waved at the wall.

The axolotl raised an eye ridge at him, “Isn’t your Mandalorian coming for you?”

“Oh, right, my bad, let me just sit here and wait for who knows how long for her to show up and listen to all of you scream at each other,” Leo gave her a flat look. “Nah, I’d rather leave.”

“And how are you going to do that from back there?”

Leo ignored her in favor of squinting up at the low ceiling above him.

It was just as gray and flat as the rest of the cell, until Leo’s eyes landed on a slight indent in one corner. He moved under it, raising one hand to feel along the edge and around the area.

Warm air ghosted over his skin.

Leo smirked.

Normally, it’d be handy to have his swords or some kind of blade to pry the vent open. But the claws he usually kept trimmed down had had nearly a week to start growing out and he silently thanked his past self for not thinking about it.

He carefully pried the vent cover open, huffing in surprise at how easily it lifted away. The space would be a bit snug but it wasn’t the first time Leo had used a vent shaft to make a grand escape.

Leo barely registered the shout of surprise from G’Throkka as he shimmied up and into the roof. He army crawled forward, fully intending to make a break for it in the vents but the noise under him made him pause.

The voices were muffled but they reminded Leo that there were six people still trapped. They couldn’t get out through a vent, if it was a bit of a squeeze for him then there was no chance the much bigger and bulkier Salamandrians could get out the same way.

A small voice that sounded way too much like Raph told him he should help them out.

Leo groaned to himself and shuffled forward until he found another cover that looked down into the hallway between the cells. Prying it open from the inside was a bit awkward but after pushing failed Leo just moved around enough to give it a good strong kick.

The vent cover hit the floor with a loud clatter and Leo was quick to follow.

He landed to six excited voices all telling him to open their cell first.

“Keep it down, would you,” Leo hissed as he went to the closest cell, which happened to be the copper axolotls.

There was a panel next to the cell and Leo thanked the Pizza Supreme in the Sky that it only had one button.

The bars disappeared and G’Throkka basically sprinted out, whipping around Leo and making a beeline for the next occupied cell.

The axolotl moved slower, large eyes fixed on Leo as she slinked into the hallway, fins twitching back and forth, “Thought you were escaping.”

“I am,” Leo said as he turned on his heel. “But I’m not going to leave all you bozo’s here. Thought you had an assasination to stop.”

“Foundling Leonardo is right!” G’Throkka said as he opened the last cell. “We may still have time to warn the High Leader if we hurry!”

One of the Salamandrians rolled his eyes, probably the one who had said he was okay with their leader being killed.

Leo decided to keep an eye on him, “Any idea how many guys we’ll have to fight through?”

All the Salamandrians looked at each other, expressions blank.

Right, Leo groaned mentally, pacifist race, “Let’s just go, hopefully we can find weapons.” And my gear, he added to himself.

Leo weaved around the Salamandrians, moving quickly down the hallway and scanning for hostiles. He could hear the aliens shuffling to follow him, a few in the back muttering to each other. The axolotl and G’Throkka both moved to either side of Leo, both scanning the dark walls alongside him, tense and ready for a fight.

Leo gave a small mental cheer when they found a ramp that pointed upwards into a large open doorway. It was more habit that made him raise one hand to single everyone to slow down then any thought they would listen but the still unnamed axolotl immediately slowed and signaled everyone in a more universe hand waving version of slow down.

Leonardo stalked carefully up the ramp, peeking around the corner. The corridor was still dark but there were smaller white lights lining the floor and it was empty and quiet.

That couldn’t be right.

Carefully, Leo moved into the middle of the hallway.

A small, sharp beep made him nearly jump out of his shell.

Two more beeps followed the first and Leo suddenly remembered his mask.

Chula had said it would beep when he started to run out of air.

Leo had to beat down the urge to panic. He didn’t have the refills, they were in his belt, and he doubted there were any extra lying around on a ship for a race that didn’t breath oxygen.

“Crap,” Raph probably would have scolded him for the language but he was facing the actual probability of suffocating to death and it did not sound like a fun way to go. So, yeah mental voice of Raph, Leo felt he was allowed to say a ‘bad word’.

The axolotl moved from the door to stand in front of Leo, eyes looking down to his mask then to her friends, “G’Throkka, get to the bridge and get us back to the fleet.”

G’Throkka nodded and looked back at the group, “Come on! Let’s move.”

Leo moved to follow after them but the axolotl put her arm out to stop him, “Hey-!

“You need more O2, quickly.”

“Uh, yeah, but last I checked your people didn’t breathe that.”

The axolotl nodded and started to herd Leo in the opposite direction the rest of the Salamandrians had gone, “But every ship comes with a standard medbay set up, including refills for O2 masks.”

Oh. “Oh,” Leo quickly moved to fall in step next to her. “Good to know.”

“I am Y’Gythgba by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Y’Gythgba.”

“I…apologize for my behavior towards you.”

“Make sure I don’t suffocate and we’ll call it even, yeah?”

Y’Gythgba opened her mouth to reply when the ship suddenly shook and jolted. Metal whined and groaned around them as Leo struggled to keep his footing, alarms shreek overhead and the white lights along the floor started to flash red.

“That doesn’t sound good!” He yelled over the noise.

Y’Gythgba shook her head, “Hopefully it’s your Mandalorian and not raiders.”

“Hopefully it’s not the guys who grabbed us finishing the-” Leo stopped as they rounded the corner and came face to face with a dozen Salamandrians in full armor. “-job.”

The hallway erupted into chaos.

Most of the Salamandrians pulled out guns and started firing.

“Look out!” Leo yelped, diving for Y’Gythgba and pushing her back the way they had come.

She hissed as blasts of energy whizzed by them, “Dishonorable cowards! Attacking unarmed opponents!”

“Yeah, I don’t think they care too much about honor!” Leo looked around frantically for anything they could use as a weapon.

A Salamandrian rounded the corner with a snarl, raising his gun.

Y’Gythgba answered with a screech, grabbing the barrel on the blaster and jerking the butt back into the wielders snout. He yowled in pain as the gun was smacked into his face twice more before Y’Gythgba wrenched it away and started returning fire.

Leo ducked under her, scanning the unconscious salamander until his eye landed on a knife on his belt.

Not his first choice but it was better than nothing.

While he and his brothers always tried to keep their fights non-lethal, with the few exceptions being The Shredder and The Krang. And Draxum but that one was more for just Leo himself.

Leonardo had always trained primarily with bladed weapons and he knew how to use them without seriously hurting someone. But he also knew being shot at counted as an exception.

So he grabbed the small blade, spinning it in his hand before whipping around the corner with a yell. His nimpo wasn’t as strong without his katanas helping to channel it but it was still there, deep in his chest, pushing his body to move faster than it should. He ducked and weaved around blaster shots, body a blur of green and glowing yellow and red. He lept upwards, twisting mid-air and landing firmly on one of the Salamandrians' shoulders. He brought the blade down, slicing down the alien's arm, slashing at his hand, trying very hard to ignore the dark red that coated his blade.

The Salamandrian he was on squealed in pain, his uninjured hand reaching up to try and grab at Leo. He waved the blade at the grabbing webbed hand, slicing open the palm and pulling another pained yell when he used the alien’s head as a springboard to launch himself at another opponent.

Y’Gythgba screeched again, charging into the fray and using the gun as a blugen once again to whack two attackers over their heads until both dropped. Leo spotted one raising their gun at her, barrel exploding and shot landing a bit to close for comfort. He rolled away from his current enemy, popping up next to the Salamandrian and slamming his elbow into their temple. They screeched, swinging the blaster around but Leo was faster. He drove the knife into the Salamadrians hand, forcing them to drop their weapon before he slammed his fist into their jaw.

The last few Salamandrians turned, shouting at each other as they started to retreat down the hallway.

Y’Gythgba crowed in triumph, “We have them on the run!”

Leo nodded, panting. He wanted to quip back, he felt he was obligated to quip back. But his already dwindling air was not helped by all the jumping around he just did.

It was suddenly getting much harder to breathe normally. 

Y’Gythgba looked at him and her fins dropped, “We need to hurry.”

Leo nodded, gulping in the thinning air inside his mask as he jogged after Y’Gythgba.

He was starting to struggle in earnest when Y’Gythgba suddenly yelped and shoved Leo against a wall.

Leo wheezed at the force, vision graying around the edges as he slid down the wall. He could hear more blasters going off and when he managed to look up at his companion she was looking frantically between the hallway and Leo.

Leo knew he couldn’t fight like this, he wasn’t even sure if he could get back up.

So he lifted the knife he’d swiped, spinning it in his hand so the handle was pointed towards Y’Gythgba. She still hesitated, eyes wide as she looked between Leo and the blade. A blast of energy clipping the wall over her head made her jump into action.

She crouched and took the blade from Leo, “Do not die Foundling Leonardo.” And then she was gone.

Leo nodded to himself. Y’Gythgba would be fine, she clearly could hold her own.

He just hoped she was fast.

His vision was still gray around the edges and each inhale was getting harder and harder.

Another bolt hit the corner next to Leo and he had enough brain power left to shuffle further away from the active warzone that was the next corridor.

Unfortunately he moved at the same time the ship rocked again and he was sent sprawling onto the floor, gasping desperately for air.

Leo felt tears building again as his lungs burned from the lack of air.

He couldn’t…he’d survived the Krang, had gotten this far…he couldn’t die like this…

He shut his eyes, brought a hand up to shakily wipe at his eyes.

I’m not going to make it.

Leo's eyes shot open when he suddenly felt a hand on his shell. He hissed, tried to roll over to face whoever was on him. But the lack of air was making him sluggish and he couldn’t quite manage it.

A hand felt along his jaw, tapped at his oxygen mask. Leo wanted to cry out when he heard the hiss of the little air canister being removed. He knew it was empty and useless but he still tried to grab it as it rolled past his hand.

There was a click, another hiss.

Leo sucked in a breath.

Then another.

And another.

And then it clicked that he could breathe.

Leo sucked in greedily, laughing softly as precious air filled his lungs.

He was rolled and Leo found himself looking up at a black, T-shaped visor on a black and gold striped helmet.

“Chula,” The name came out more as a wheeze.

Chula nodded and patted Leo’s cheek, “Sorry I took so long kiddo.”

Chapter Text

Leo stared up at the Mandalorian crouched over him.

He honestly hadn’t thought she’d come for him.

But there she was, helping Leo prop himself up on the wall as he kept gulping in glorious air, patting his shoulder encouragingly with a litany of “There we go, you’re okay now, breath ade.”

“H-how-?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Chula lightly bonked Leo's forehead with her helmet. “And as much as I would like you to stop and catch your breath, we kinda have to move.” As if to emphasize her statement, a Salamndrian came flying by, hitting the wall with a loud thump. “Despite how well the young lady out there is doing.”

Leo nodded. Y’Gythgba needed help.

“There’s a good verd’ika,” Chula wrapped a massive hand under Leo’s arm, hoisting him to his feet. “You’ll need these.”

Leo looked down and his face split into a wide grin when familiar blue leather was pressed into his hands, “Where’d you find them?”

“Idiots sent them to me as proof they had you. Oh, and try not to kill anyone, G’Tral wants them to stand trial.”

Leo looked up in time to see Chula spin the black baton that she had had on her hip. The small stick suddenly made a snapping sound, expanding into a much longer staff and the ends crackling with yellow electricity. And then Chula was moving, twisting around the corner while roaring, “Oya! Oya! Oya!”

Leo followed after her, shouting his own battle cry, “Hoooot soup!”

There were a lot of Salamandrian crowding the corridor, some holding blasters, a few with melee weapons, and their shouting only got more intense when Leo and Chula leapt into the fray.

Leo ducked around Y’Gythgba, jumping up to whack an alien trying to sneak up behind her with his elbow. His blades sang as he spun them, back to back with Y'Gythgba, “Miss me?”

“It would appear the odds are in our favor now!” Y’Gythgba crowed, waving her knife in the air.

The two of them split apart, Leo spinning off into the throng, using the momentum to bring the handle of one katana down on a Salamandrians head. He dropped with a thump and Leo spun to face his next opponent.

Adrenaline surged in his veins as he danced around the battle, delivering powerful kicks and punches, slicing through guns and crackling shock prods. He could feel mystic energy crackling under his skin, singing in his veins, pushing him further and further.

He felt more alive than he had in days.

Leo let out a whoop as he jumped into the air, swinging his blades down and slicing two basters apart before kicking their wielders out cold. He spun on his heel, catching a sparking baton right before it hit his shell. Leo couldn’t help but smirk at the salamander, twisting his blade and easily disarming him, “Wow, ‘shocking’ that didn’t work, eh?”

“...wha-?”

Leo rolled his eyes and spun, tossing the alien over his shoulder, “Tough crowd.”

“Ha! Agreed,” Chula skidded next to Leo, staff a blur as she spun it. Leo risked a glance, just in time to see Chula jab at an on coming Salamadrian. The staff crackled as electricity sent the alien flying back again into one of his companions.

Leo smirked and refocused on the next Salamandrian stalking towards him.

High on the battle adrenaline, Leo didn’t even think as he dived forward, circling around his newest target, lifting on blade to cut through the air, focusing on where he wanted to land-

His hand suddenly shook, something cold and heavy settled in his gut and squeezed his lungs, breaking his focus and making his chest seize uncomfortably. His blade flashed a brillant blue for a second before fizzling out.

Leo stumbled, desperately trying to recenter himself, refocus on the fight at hand.

But the Salamandrian had seen his blunder and had taken the opening.

He didn’t hit hard, if Leo was honest the punch to his face was pretty sloppy. But sloppy or not, Leo was basically falling into the strike and when a massive fist collides with one's face it tends to hurt.

Leo’s ears rang for a moment and he staggered back, shaking his head to try and clear the tears from his eyes. He brought his blades up, bracing for the next attack.

Except the alien was suddenly wrestling with a thin cord wrapped around his arm and being jerked backwards. Leo’s eyes darted behind the salamander, following the wire to Chula’s gauntlet. 

She wrenched her arm back, dragging the very terrified Salamandrian across the floor until he was close enough for her to grab him and bodily throw him into two other Salamandrians.

She turned, still spinning her staff dangerously and gave Leo a thumbs up.

Leo returned it hesentintly before another screeching salamander demanded his attention.

As Leo twirled his blades again to block the incoming attack, he mentally kicked himself for making such a simple blunder. He hadn’t had a chance to work on his nimpo beyond the passive speed boost, trying to make portals was a stupid mistake and he was really lucky that none of the Salamandrians had done more damage then the stinging bruise forming on his cheek.

Leo ducked under a blaster bolt, sweeping one leg out to trip the Salamandrian before he rolled back to his feet. He felt his carapace bump against someone and turned to see both Chula and Y’Gythgba were at his back.

Chula raised her staff, pointing the sparking end at the last few Salamandrians still standing, “It’s over, you’ve lost.”

The aliens glanced at one another, a few started to lower their weapons.

“Why should we?” a voice screeched out.

Leo tensed, recognizing the voice as the person who had knocked him out before.

D’Kara rounded the corner, teeth bared and tail lashing, “You above anyone should understand our cause! You hail from a warrior race! You should be fighting alongside us, not with that cowerdas newt G’Tral!”

Chula growled lowly, “So you plan his death? Force your fellow people to suffer unnecessary hardship? Kidnap your own?”

“What other choice do we have?” T’Usset said as he rounded the corner as well, much calmer than D’Kara. “I am sorry for taking your Foundling but surely you see the danger we are in?”

“This isn’t how you fix it,” Chula said. “A civil war is the last thing your people need.”

Leo glanced between the two Salamandrians and Chula, brows furrowed. Slowly, he leaned closer to Y’Gythgba, “Whaaaat is going on?”

“Politics,” Y’Gythgba muttered. 

Well that explained nothing.

D’Kara stepped closer, eyes narrowing, “There wouldn’t be one if you hadn’t gotten involved! We had everything planned perfectly! What is one life in exchange-”

His sentence cut off with a cry of pain when Chula jabbed her weapon forward, hitting D’Kara in the chest with a loud zap .

He dropped to the floor in a slightly smoking heap.

Chula sighed and looked at T’Usset, “This happened to my people, Mandalorians have had more civil wars than most can count and all it's done is splinter us further and further apart. I understand your fear of the Triceraton Republic but this,” she gestured to the hallway, full of unconscious Salamandrians. “All this will do is weaken your people. So how about you all stop being a bunch of di’kut’s and surrender for trial. At least then you can explain your fears to the High Leader.”

T’Usset started, eyes flicking from Chula to D’Kara then to the standing Salamandrians next to him. Leo held his breath, tensed and ready for the fight to resume.

The ship gave a groaning shudder around them.

T’Usset sighed, heavy and defeated, “Doesn’t matter at this point, does it? You have won Mandalorian Verd.” He removed the blaster from his hip and dropped it on the floor. “We surrender to the Salamandrian Confederation.”

Leo exhaled in relief and he felt Y’Gythgba relax next to him. But even as Chula retracted her weapon back into a baton, her shoulders remained tense. Leo couldn’t see her face but her body language made him hesitant to sheath his blades.

T’Usset gestured for the rest of the armed Salamandrians to put down their weapons, “I do wish to know one thing Mandalorian.”

Chula’s helmet tilted.

“We have it in our records that children are always prioritized in your culture, and that is quoted from you yourself. Yet when you were told your foundling had been captured you immediately started planning an attack.”

“You expected me to fold to your wishes?”

“We could have killed him,” the statement made Leo flinch. “You had no reason to think we wouldn’t.”

Chula was silent for a few moments and Leo glanced at her face, even if the helmet made it impossible to read.

When she spoke, her voice was low and growling, “I am from a race of people who are well known for waging war against anyone, even each other. Yet that pension for violence is set aside for children.” She leaned forward, head tilting. “So when said child is threatened, we do what we do best. We wage war. And the only reason I have not destroyed this entire ship is on your leader's request. If you had killed Leonardo, there would be nowhere in the universe you could hide from my wrath.”

Leo couldn’t help but stare. Because that was a threat, a threat on his own behalf.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. She could have been bluffing a bit to get them in line. And if her plan had been to scare the pants off everyone in the room then it worked. A Salamandrian who had been starting to pick themselves up seemed to change their mind and laid back on the floor, eyes wide in fear.

T’Usset and his merry band had similar looks on their faces and any that still had weapons were quickly dropping them.

The silence was heavy with tension.

It was finally broken by the sound of more people thundering down the hallways.

Chula sighed, finally relaxing her posture, “And that will be our cue to leave.” She turned enough to pat Y'Gythgba on the shoulder. “If you could go find your friends, I’ve been asked to bring you all back to the Helios for statements.”

“Uh,” Y’Gythgba coughed and strighened. “Of course Mandalorian Verd.”

“Great, thank you,” one of her arms wrapped around Leo’s shoulders, carefully pushing him away from the battle aftermath. “I’m in hanger two, meet up as soon as you can!”

Leo found himself being half guided, half pushed along the ship, only stopping to let a small group of what he assumed was the Salamandrian equivalent of the police get by.

Chula kept her arm firmly around Leo’s shoulders the entire time.

And honestly, Leo was grateful for the physical contact. All he’d had in terms of touch for the past week had been the occasional pat on his shoulder and fighting aliens. And it had been a very stressful day and he needed a little physical contact that wasn’t someone trying to kidnap him or punch him. 

He would have prefered one of his brothers, or Pops, or April…

But the only one here was Chula, so he leaned into her side as they walked.

They passed another maybe-a-cop Salamandrian, who paused to give a quick chest slash salute to Chula, “Ah! You have recovered your Foundling! I am glad he is alright!”

Chula hummed and nodded but kept walking. Leo waited until the person was out of sight before looking up at Chula, “Why do they keep calling me that?”

“What?” Chula hummed.

“Foundling!” Leo sighed. “Ever since we got here, ‘foundling Leonardo’ this, ‘foundling Leonardo’ that. Is it what you call someone if you find them in space? Because I found those missing Salamandrians and you don’t see me calling them ‘foundling’!”

“Do you…not want to be called that?”

Leo rolled his head back with a groan, “I mostly just want to know why they keep calling me that.”

“Right,” Chula nodded. “That’s kinda my fault. I don’t know if you noticed but they are very into titles.”

“Oh? You don’t say?”

Chula snorted, “Anyway, when I sent the first transmission I mentioned I’d picked up a Foundling, meaning you.”

“Ooookaay?”

“In Mandalorian culture, when we find a child in need of help we are expected to help them, whether by finding their family or taking them in as our own. Foundling can mean a child who has been adopted into a clan but in our case it means I’ve taken temporary guardianship of you until I can get you home.”

Oh, “Oh.” That was…interesting.

Chula paused, squeezing Leo’s shoulders, “If it bothers you, I can tell them to stop.”

“No, no, it’s…it’s fine.” He felt a little incensed at being called a child but…

He was more focused on processing everything he’d learned about Mandalorians and Chula over the last hour. And the more he looked at it, the more it all pointed to one thing.

Chula wasn’t going to hurt him. Her promises to take him home were genuine.

It made something in Leo’s gut unclench and he leaned a bit more into Chula’s side, “Thanks.”

“For what?” Chula asked.

“For not being another evil adult in my life.”

Chula was quiet for a few moments, “I am not going to ask…but if you need to talk I’m here.”

“Cool,” Leo said as he let Chula lead him into her turtle ship. “I would like to know what T'Usset's plan was this whole time.”

“That is a bit of a story,” Chula led Leo into his room, shutting the door and hitting a button hidden on the doorframe. “I’m guessing you don’t know much Salamandrian history?”

“Not a thing,” Leo groaned as he sat down on the bed.

“Figured,” Chula crouched in front of Leo. “Well, right now, they all live across various fleets. The Helios fleet is a lot bigger than most of them because it’s technically their capital. They live this way because they don’t have a homeworld anymore.”

Leo blinked, confused, “How does that work?”

“The Salamandrians aren’t just explorers, they are also masterful engineers. Generation ago they put a great deal of that skill into building the most cutting edge weaponry in the universe. They were more than happy selling their weapons to anyone willing to pay, they kept out of other planets' wars so they had no reason to pick sides. Until the Triceratons showed up one day.” Chula paused, fingers tapping her gauntlet. “I wasn’t there but from what I’ve read, the Triceratons demanded the High Leader of that time to make weapons for them alone, any and all new weapons developed by the Salamandrians were to be handed over to the Triceratons without question. The High Leader refused and demanded that the Triceratons leave and never come back…”

Leo frowned, not liking where this story was going, “...they came back?”

“In the form of an army,” Chula nodded. “The battle was long and hard but in the end, the Triceratons had larger numbers. They chased the Salamandrians from their homeworld and glassed it. So, the remaining Salamandrians fled to the furthest reaches of known space and declared themselves a neutral government. No weapons, no interfering with other planets, no even finding a new homeworld. They just…exist.”

Leo sucked in a breath, trying to imagine an entire planet just being destroyed, “...so why are they freaking out now?”

“The Triceraton Republic's leader is a power hungry tyrant who wants the entire galaxy under his thumb. He’s been expanding his kingdom for a number of years. It’s only a matter of time before he finds a Salamandrian fleet.” Chula sighed. “I meant it when I said I understood their fears. They’re a dying race, if they are found by the Triceratons…” She let the sentence hang in the air. 

“The whole thing was more D’Kara’s plan then T’Ussets. They were causing issues with the fleet's livelihood. Interfering with their supply chains, causing blackouts, spreading rumors that T’Gral was unfit to lead, things like that. The plan was to create enough distrust in T’Gral’s leadership that the fleet would welcome any replacement. D’Kara was planning to assume the leadership position and start manufacturing weapons so they could attack the Triceratons.”

Leo could help but shiver, “Can’t they just make weapons again anyway?”

“Like Y’Gythgba said. Politics,” Chula reached up and pulled off her helmet. “I’ve isolated the life support in here, you can take off the mask as long as you keep the door shut.”

Leo nodded and tugged the mask off his jaw, flinching when the edge hit the bruise of his face.

Chula was frowning, face pinched in worry as she ghosted her fingers over the mark, “Scale of one to ten, how’s the pain?”

And Leo couldn’t help but laugh, “It’s just a bruise dude, I think I’ll live.”

Chula rolled her eyes, “Alright tough guy.” She reached under the bed, pulling open one of the little drawers. “They cut your belt to pieces but all your stuff was intact.”

Leo opened his mouth to ask what she meant but stopped when she lifted a belt up for him to see. The belt was like his old one, except it was made out of brown leather and had two straps criss-crossed over the chest. But sure enough, his black scabbard and belt pouch were there, along with the one Chula had given him. Even the emblem belt buckle had been fixed to it.

Leo took it, trying not to seem frenzied as he reached into the bag. He almost sighed in relief when he felt the worn edge of the picture, safe and sound tucked between a roll of bandages and his small collection of shurikens.

He looked up at Chula, who was smiling at him, eyes warm and posture relaxed. It was almost hard to believe she’d been snarling and threatening half a ship of alien salamanders only a few minutes ago, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Chula chuckled, leaning back to sit on her haunches. “Mind if I stick around a bit? Those techs are probably going to be awhile.”

Leo shrugged, “I don’t mind. Beats the company I had before.”

Chula chuckled, “Oh, I don’t know. Y’Gythgba seemed nice.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool,” Leo flopped back onto the bed. “But all the rest of them did was argue with each other. Like, hello! I’m the teenager here! Why am I the only one escaping?”

Chula barked out a laugh, “Yes, how dare they!”

“How dare they!” Leo parroted as the pair descended into hysterical giggling.

Chapter Text

New York was rebuilding pretty quickly, all things considered.

There was still a lot of work to be done, especially on Metro Tower and everything within five blocks of it. Everyone was still talking about what had happened, the social media platforms alone had dozens of stories and accounts from people close enough to the portal to see most of the carnage.

And then there was April O’Neil.

Who had been at the very center of the chaos, who had looked those freaky Krang monsters in the face and managed to walk away with only a few cuts and a sprained wrist.

Unlike Leo.

Leo, who had given up his life to save everyone in the world and not one of them knew about it.

No one outside the Hamato’s knew they owed their lives to a goofy, pun loving, mutant turtle teenager.

And that was what really stung for April. There were hundreds of theories and speculations about how the invasion was stopped and what had sent the aliens back into the portal. These guys calling themselves the Earth Protection Force had jumped on every news outlet, claiming credit for stopping the invasion.

April always changed the channel when she saw those creeps, with dark sunglasses and black suits, smiling coyly as they boasted about how vital they had been in defeating the ‘intergalactic threat to humanity’

Because how dare they take credit when her brother made the sacrifice. She hadn’t even seen any of these weird-os until after all the dust settled.

None of their people were in the Technodrome when it exploded. And if Leo hadn’t been close enough for the explosion to kill him then that psychotic brain alien was in the prison dimension with him and-

April shook her head. Thinking about it wouldn’t change the fact that Leo was gone and she had enough trouble saving face as it was.

Because April O’Neil had no reason to be anywhere near Metro Tower. She didn’t know anyone who worked in Metro Tower or around it. So she had no reason to be upset. She should be happy because school was out until the entire mess had been cleaned up. Her parents were still out of town because the portal had messed with a lot of electrical junk and all flights in and out were grounded, so she had the apartment to herself.

A part of her wanted to stay in the Lair until her parents managed to get back into the city but…

Being around the guys was hard. She hated that she felt that way but she couldn’t really help it.

Raph and Mikey had been forcing positive attitudes, trying to keep everyone's chins up with hugs and food and terrible jokes. But there were moments where Raph would crack an awful pun and freeze, knowing full well that the turtle who’d laughed the loudest wasn’t there to enjoy it. Mikey had caught himself setting an extra place for dinner a number of times, staring at the extrap setting before quickly removing it and acting as if he didn’t slip up. They both shook off the moments of forgetting, plastering on smiles and trying to keep everyone from falling apart.

Splinter was in a similar vein, going about his normal routines as if nothing changed. But they could all see the new weight on his shoulders, the shadow cast in his eyes, the moments where he’d look for a son that wasn’t there anymore. April had been with him when the portal closed and she’d seen something break in the old rat's very spirit.

Casey wasn’t much better. The kid clearly felt guilty over everything, walking around the Lair like some kind of ghost, just letting the world flow around him. April had tried a few times to get him to come topside but he always refused, citing that he wanted to stay close to base in case something happened. So they’d all settled for showing Casey the past via magazines, TV and Mikey’s cooking. It helped put a little light in Casey’s eyes but he still had a heavy layer of sadness over him all the time.

And Donnie…

Donnie was actually kind of the main reason April was in her apartment and not in the Lair.

Because April had been trying to be a rock for everyone, someone for them to lean on when they needed it.

But she couldn’t seem to be that for her best friend.

Donnie had locked himself in his lab and nothing anyone did could coax him out. Almost ten days had passed and no one had seen Donnie so much as poke his head out of the lab door.

And ten days was just way too long for Donnie to be isolating himself from everyone so she had marched in and declared Donnie had to join them for movie night.

Don had been hunched over his lab table, messing with a tangle of wires that were clearly not meant to make anything. He’d side eyed her, clearly uninterested in any ideas she had about spending time with everyone.

April had egged at him, leaning into his space with batting eyelashes and a pout, “I’ll be fun! We’re showing Casey Back to the Future!”

“Oh, so we’re having a movie night for the Jones kid.” Donnie had rolled his eyes with a scoff.

April frowned, because she had seen there was a lot more to that sentence than just what Donnie was saying out loud, “Dude, I think you’d actually like him if you actually gave him a chance!”

And Donnie had glared at her, with so much venom in his expression that she’d taken a step back in shock, “Look, you can all play nice with the new guy all day long for all I care. But I’m not going along with it, okay?”

“Donnie-”

“Don’t ‘Donnie’ me. I’m not replacing Leo with this greasy haired neanderthal.”

And that had stung, a lot.

Because April was self aware enough to know that helping Casey adjust to their time was, in-part, a distraction from their grief. Helping him figure out how he fit with their dynamic was easier than thinking about Leo’s absence.

But replace Leo with Casey? Was that what Donnie thought they were doing?

She’d started to argue the point but Don…he just shut down. Turned his back and refused to talk to her anymore.

So she’d left, feeling like the wall around Don was twice as thick and showing no signs of breaking. 

She’d stuck around for the movie but it felt…hollow, incomplete.

So she left as soon as the credits rolled.

Which led to where she was now at four in the morning, curled up on her couch and unable to sleep.

Because she couldn’t get Donnie’s face out of her mind, couldn’t stop hearing the borderline accusation in his voice.

And a part of her felt guilty because…Casey was very similar to Leo.

It was hard to get him to show his true self but every once and awhile, they would get glimpses. Bits and pieces that would find their way out of the storm cloud over Casey.

His sense of humor was a lot like Leo’s, and sometimes the way he talked was like Leo. And the more stuff they showed him in a non-apocalypse world, the things he liked had aligned closely to what Leo had liked.

But he wasn’t a replacement because the differences were in much larger quantities than the similarities.

But Donnie didn’t see it like that.

In a weird way, April understood where he was coming from, could kind of see where Donnie would get the impression that they were trying to push Casey into the Leo shaped hole on their team. Everyone else was trying to keep everything normal, just cry it out and move on.

Hell, she was doing it too. Just…carrying on like there wasn’t someone missing in their lives. Like everytime she went to the Lair, she didn’t brace for an overly enthusiastic greeting hug that never came. Or that when she was walking home after dark, she’d look for a flash of blue in the shadows that wasn’t there anymore.

April buried her face in her knees. 

She missed Leo, missed how easy it was to talk about things with him. He always seemed to know how to build her back up when she felt down. And the fact he wasn’t there hurt so much and-

A sudden knock at the door made April jump.

Then wondered who the heck would be knocking on her door at four in the morning.

April debated not answering, just laying down on the couch and pretending no one was home. Worse case scenario, whoever it was would try to break in and she had her bat close if that happened.

More knocks came, a bit louder and accompanied by a voice, “Miss. O’Neil, please open the door! I know you’re in there!”

It was Draxum.

April wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse.

But he was starting to hit the door pretty hard and the last thing she needed was for him to wake the neighbors so she quickly unlocked the door and swung it open, “And where have you been, old man?”

“In the Hidden City,” Draxum breezed into her apartment, shutting the door behind himself. “All the portals in and out of the city locked down a week ago! We’ve just been able to open one to get back!”

“We?” April frowned.

There was a spark over her head and then she had an armful of yellow and blue yokai.

“Mayhem!”

Mayhem chirped in reply, nuzzling his head under April’s chin.

“Yes, yes, the little agent helped me open a portal. But what happened up here? Half the city looks like it was torn apart!”

Yeah, that was accurate, “We had to stop an alien invasion.”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“The Foot opened this big portal and a bunch of freaky brain aliens came through and tried to take over,” April scratched behind Mayhem’s ears. “Me and the guys stopped them.”

Draxum narrowed his eyes at April, face scrutinizing her, “April, what happened?”

“I told you-”

“Something happened, what happened up here?”

Mayhem made a questioning sound, tapping a forepaw to April's tearstained cheek.

And…she wasn’t sure why but both of them looking at her, like they both knew, somehow, that something was still wrong, it broke the dam all over again.

April hiccuped and buried her face into Mayhem’s fur, “We…Leo…Leo’s gone.”

She heard Draxum suck in a breath, felt Mayhem do the same in her arms.

She should explain, but talking about it…just thinking about it was so hard. It made the lump in her throat grow and another sob to fall out of her mouth.

She felt the familiar rush of air and mystic energy around her of Mayhem teleporting, felt her body dropping onto the couch as the cat-dog yokai nuzzled against her head, making small chipping sounds of comfort.

She felt the couch dip next to her as Draxum sat down, felt him hesitantly wrap an arm around her. She wanted to crack a joke about that, about how she must look bad if the great Baron Draxum was trying to comfort a lowly human.

But she was so, so tired. 

So she flopped into his side, ignoring the way he jumped at the sudden contact, and just…let herself be held, “He-he made sure…he kept the Krang back…so we could close the portal…bu-but he was still…and there wasn’t time…”

“Um, there, there,” Draxum was clearly unsure of how to comfort her, stiffly patting her shoulder.

But April didn’t mind, it was nice to just lean on someone else for once, to not be the solid presence to help hold everyone together. “Everyone is just…everything is so wrong now!”

Mayhem whined, climbing out of her arms to curl around her shoulders, wet nose pressing against her cheek.

April sniffed, wiping snot and tears from her face before looking up at Draxum.

His face was almost blank, jaw slack and eyes far away, ears pressed flat against his head. A part of her suddenly realized this was all new information to him, that he probably had no way of knowing what had happened. If the Hidden City had been locked down then he would’ve had no way of knowing what happened to the guys.

Leo hadn’t seen Draxum as a parental figure, but it was obvious to anyone watching that Draxum saw Leo as family in some capacity.

April hid her face in her hands again, “I’m sorry, ‘m sorry…”

“No,” Draxum said, his other hand coming up to pull the human closer. “Do not…you have no reason to apologize.”

April didn’t reply, just let the two yokai pull her close as she cried fresh tears.

Chapter Text

Leo stood at the top of the ramp for Chula’s ship, Y’Gythgba next to him as the rest of the Salamandrians disembarked.

Leo had spent most of the trip in his room, dozing lightly until he felt the shudder of the ship landing. He’d quickly made his way out when they landed, wanting to say a farewell to Y’Gythgba.

He turned to look up at her as the last of the group left, “So…all that happened.”

Y’Gythgba groaned, “Indeed. I am truly sorry for the way my people treated you and Mandalorian Verd.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Leo shrugged. “Plus, we made a pretty good team back there! Bet you’re going to miss knocking heads with me.”

Y’Gythgba rolled her eyes but she was smiling, “Perhaps. But I do wish to thank you, Foundling Leonardo.”

Leo frowned, confused, “Thank me?”

“Yes,” Y’Gythgba nodded firmly. “You had an opportunity to escape yourself but you stopped to assist us all in escaping. And I have no doubt that, had you not been running out of breathable air, you would have led us to safety. And when you were able, you fought alongside me without question.”

“Aww, you’re gonna make me blush,” Leo smirked. “It’s not like I did anything special.”

“Regardless!” Y’Gythgba continued. “You and Mandalorian Verd have inspired me to do more for my people! Many of our guards were a part of T’Usset and D’Kara’s plan and will likely be demoted for their involvement.”

Leo winced in sympathy, “Yeah, not good.”

“No need to worry! Myself and G’Throkka have already volunteered to step into the vacancies.”

“Whoa, what? That’s-” Leo cleared his throat. “That's quite a career change.”

A part of him worried. He liked Y’Gythgba and, even though she clearly had some skill in a fight, from what Chula had told him the Salamandrians were likely headed towards a full on war.

But Y’Gythgba only puffed herself up more, “Mandalorian Verd was right. We need to take steps to protect our people, not through revolution but united as one.” She hesitated. “We…talked a lot on the way here. Peace is something we should try to keep but if the Triceratons do find us…I want to fight for our peace, for our freedom.”

Leo huffed out a small laugh, “Wow, I take one nap and you two get all philosophical without me.” Yeah, he didn’t need to worry. They’d be fine.

Y’Gythgba chuckled, “Yes, well, the rest of the company was less than stellar.” She stooped a bit, so that her eye line was more level with Leo. “But truly. Thank you, Foundling Leonardo.”

Leo couldn’t help but groan a bit, “Okay, I get you guys like titles but could you use Hamato Leonardo? Foundling makes it sound like I’m a kid.”

“Alright,” Y’Gythgba snorted, clapping a hand around Leo’s shoulder and giving him a small shake, “Thank you for helping us escape, Hamato Leonardo. I wish you safe travels home and hope fate will let us meet again.”

“Yeah,” Leo reached up to pat the hand on his shoulder. “Erm, ditto. Hope you all stay safe.”

Y’Gythgba nodded, smiling broadly before she stepped back. She put one hand on her shoulder and slashed it across her chest in what Leo was now sure was some kind of salute.

He mimicked the salute, grinning back at the Salamandrian.

And then she was gone, marching down the ramp and back into her own ship, back to her people.

Leo sighed and stepped back when the ramp started to whir, making his way to the ladder that took him up to the bridge.

Chula was waiting in her pilot seat, going through her pre-flight checks, “Good talk?”

“She wanted to thank me for not leaving them kidnapped,” Leo dropped into the seat next to Chula.

She chuckled, “Yeah, she told me much the same. Except it was more ‘thanks for knocking out D’Kara, he was being annoying’.”

Leo snorted, “He did sound like he was gearing up for a big old bad guy speech.”

“Oh, I hate it when people do that. We get it, you’re jaded, blah, blah, blah.”

Leo laughed as Chula waggled her hand in a mock talking gesture, “Soooo…now what?”

“Now,” Chula hit the ignition and the ship rumbled to life under them. “We get into open space so I can show you our present from High Leader T’Gral.”

Oh right, Leo had almost forgotten the entire reason they stopped on the Helios in the first place.

He sat back, fingers tapping on his leg in anticipation. Had taking off taken this long before? He felt like it was taking longer now. Did leaving a ship take longer than just flying off a planet.

Chula, thankfully, didn’t wait much longer after they left the Helios’s hanger. She tapped a button and a hologram of stars and planets appeared between them, two of which were highlighted in a much brighter shade of blue.

Chula pointed to it as she navigated the ship further into empty space, “So, good news is that the Salamandrians found a few planets that match our criteria, I even knocked a few off for being unpopulated by any sentients. But it still left us with three viable planets.”

Leo frowned at the map, “Um, that’s two.”

Chula sighed, reaching up to take off her helmet, “That’s…the less good news.”

Leo pulled down his O-two mask, brow pinching.

“These two are Vohiri and Iotor. They match your descriptions except for the names,” Chula tapped a button and the map started to zoom out. More and more planets and stars appeared, the distance from the first two planets yawning wider and wider and Leo's stomach sank with each new sphere that materialized.

When it finally stopped, a new planet had been highlighted. One that was very, very far away from the first two.

Chula pointed to it, “Option three is called Terra and it’s a couple hundred parsecs away. We might get lucky with one of the first two but if those turn out to be wild tooka chases-” she paused and Leo didn’t feel like finishing the sentence.

The fact she was telling him was enough for him to know that the closer options were probably not Earth, “How long would it take to get to Terra?”

Chula sighed, “Honestly? Even if my hyperdrive was workin’, it would take a few weeks. Without it…between having to make stops for repairs, supplies and credits and any unexpected detours that might come up, it could take a year.”

A year.

Leo inhaled sharply, trying to focus on the fact that they had technically found a lead.

But a year was a long time.

And as he stared at the map the ‘parsecs’ seemed to stretch ever further.

“Hey,” he looked up at Chula’s voice.

She was smiling, a small, soft, open smile that reminded Leo of the few times Dad was actually open with Leo and his brothers.

“We got this. It’ll take time but I’ll get you home.”

Leo inhaled deeply, “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

She had a point. It wasn’t like they were going to be flying around aimlessly. Maybe they would get lucky and one of the closer planets would be Earth.

Leo took another breath and grinned back at Chula, “Bet we could make it in half the time if you let me fly!”

Chula barked out a laugh, “Okay, slow down there verd’ika. First I need to touch down somewhere and make repairs. Plus, I believe I promised we’d touch down and stretch our legs.”

Leo grinned, “Somewhere with good old oxygen I hope.”

“Naturally,” Chula huffed. “Do you know how much of a pain it is to do repairs in full armor? It’s like trying to pod race in a LAAT.”

Leo blinked.

Chula seemed to notice his confusion, “A pod race has a lot of very tight turns and LAATs are like flying tanks.”

“I knew that!” Leo replied.

She just snorted at him.

Leo grumbled and leaned back in his chair, “Where are we going to land anyway?”

“Little planet called D-1422. It’s uninhabited so we should have the place to ourselves, won’t take much more than an hour to get there.”

“Cool,” Leo turned to look out the window.

The Helios fleet was still visible, but it was far behind them and growing smaller each second. Leo watched with a passive fascination, wondering how fast Chula’s ship was moving.

If the rapidly shrinking Helios was any indicator, they were moving pretty quick.

And even with that speed it would take a year to get to Terra.

And there was a chance all three planets would be a bust…

Funny, Leo thought he was done being upset about how far away from home he was. He wasn’t sure how far a ‘parsec’ was but based on the map, it would be a long trip.

He glanced back at Chula, taking in her determined expression as she flew the ship, eyes fixed to some star in the distance.

It weirdly made him feel better, knowing she was duty bound to keep him safe until he got home.

✧✧✧✧✧

True to her word, a little more than an hour later, the ship was descending on a small but very green planet.

The ship shook and shuddered as they dropped down onto the planet's atmosphere. Leo watched as the view outside shifted, white clouds and blue sky rushing past as they descended onto a mass of green grass full of colorful flowers.

Leo stared at the landscape as the ship settled down. He’d been to the New York botanical guardian and central park. But he’d never really been outside the city so seeing so much green was a bit of a shock.

There was green everywhere, as far as he could see. And further on the horizon he could make out the towering shadows of trees against the sky. There was a river cutting through the landscape, well within walking distance of where Chula landed, water bright and clear and almost glittering in the sunshine.

“Whoa.”

“Thought you’d like this,” Chula said as she stood up. “And everything should be perfectly safe, so go wild.”

“You don’t want help with the ship?” Leo asked.

“Nah,” Chula started to strip off her armor, piling it all up behind her seat. “I like doing repairs myself. And don’t think I didn’t notice all that nervous energy you’ve got buildin’ up.” She waved one hand towards the windows. “And I didn’t park this close to a body of water on accident. I believe you requested a proper bath?”

That conversation felt like it had been years ago, Leo barely remembered asking about water in the sonic shower.

He glanced at the river outside the windshield.

It did look pretty tempting. Leo could barely remember the last time he took a swim for just the fun of it.

Chula had finished taking her armor off while Leo was contemplating the river and hadn’t bothered with the ladder when she left the bridge, if the loud thump from below was any indicator. Leo stood quickly, only pausing long enough to pull off his cowl and toss it aside.

He jogged outside to find Chula already pulling her ship open, wires hanging out around her. She paused only long enough to give Leo a ‘go on’ gesture.

Leo looked from Chula to the river then back to Chula.

Then made a beeline for the water, pulling the rest of his gear off as he went.

He dropped it all in a messy pile on the river bank before diving in.

The water was cold but Leo’s full body dive helped him acclimate quickly. He swam all the way to the bottom, digging his hands into the sand and rocks, relishing in the gritty feeling on his scales.

Small fish swam past him, plants gently swayed in the current and beams of warm sunlight filtered down from the surface, making everything around him almost glow.

Leo pushed off the riverbed, bursting to the surface with a whoop.

He dived a few more times, taking his time exploring and letting himself just enjoy swimming in water that wasn’t full of trash.

He wished, once again, that his brothers were here to enjoy this. None of them ever complained about the less than stellar conditions of New York's rivers but there was a reason they tended to break into rooftop pools.

And even then, the colorine felt itchy on their skin and burned their noses. Donnie in particular insisted on finding the nearest source of clean water after swims.

But this; clean, untreated, cold water, clear as glass and busting with all sorts of new things to look at. They all would have loved it.

He still felt guilty for wishing his brothers were with him, but it was now joined by guilt for enjoying himself.

His family was probably mourning him and there he was, fit and healthy and taking a swim.

But it wasn’t like he had anything else to do. Chula was doing repairs and Leo didn’t even know how to fix a microwave, let alone a spaceship. And Chula had told him to go explore.

Still…

Leo’s musings were interrupted by something suddenly splashing into the water. He looked up and caught sight of Chula’s legs, quickly wading towards him.

Alarmed, worried that something had happened, Leo swam to the surface as quickly as he could, bobbing out with a gasped, “What’s wrong?”

“Karabast! You scared me verd’ika!” Chula huffed. She was almost up to her knees in the water, panting slightly.

“Me?” Leo swam closer so he could stand as well.

“You didn’t come up for ten minute!”

“Oh,” Leo waved his hand dismissively. “I can hold my breath for almost an hour. It’s a turtle thing.”

“Karabast,” Chula rubbed a hand over her face. “Of course you can. You’re a terrapin, of course you can stay under the water.”

Leo was only half listening, instead focusing on the fact Chula was in the water. In the water and standing pretty close to him and clearly not paying attention.

Chula’s yowl when she was suddenly hit with a huge splash of cold water had Leo cackling.

She shook her head, spraying water everywhere and making Leo laugh harder.

“Oh, is that how it is?” Chula growled playfully and Leo barely dodged when she made a dive for him.

“Ha, you can’t touch me here!” Leo called as he moved back into the deeper water. “I am in my element!”

With that Leo dived, shooting straight down to the bottom and burrowing into a cluster of tall river plants.

Chula swam after him but she was clearly not built for water. She moved much slower and lacked a third eyelid to help her see but it didn’t deter her much. So Leo had no mercy as he swam circles around her, even letting her get close a few times before quickly spinning out of reach.

She was nowhere closer to catching him before she had to swim back to the surface. Leo took a little pity and swam up with her, both breaching at the same time.

Chula spit water out of her mouth and glared at Leo, “Laugh it up you little womp-rat.”

He giggled, relaxing his body so that he floated on his carapace, “Hey, we’re not all meant for greatness!”

She splashed in his direction but didn’t give chase, instead paddling back to dry land, “We are sparing after this! I will not let my honor be mocked by a verd’ika!”

Leo laughed and dived back underwater.

Chapter Text

Leo was pretty sure Chula had been joking when she’d said they should spar.

But as Leo basked in the sunshine on a large rock jutting out of the river bank, Chula closed her ship back up and pulled out her staff.

The black metal expanded with a soft pop and she started to spin it with smooth practiced movements before twisting into an imaginary fight, jabbing and swinging at the enemies only she could see.

Leo hadn’t gotten much chance to watch her fight before but now he took the opportunity.

He watched as she almost danced on her feet, utilizing a lot of jumps and spins in combination with the metal staff swinging around her. She was a lot more heavy handed about it then Donnie was, strikes focusing more in concentrated strikes then the wide sweeps Donnie favored. But it made sense, her staff was clearly heavier than his brothers, both the wooden and the titanium one, and she had a clear power and defense advantage between her size and her armor.

He wondered if she would let him take her up on the joke.

He enjoyed sparing, it was much more fun to have an actual opponent instead of fighting empty air. And she knew he could fight so there wasn’t really a need to hide it anymore. He would just have to remember not to portal until he got his nimpo sorted out.

Chula turned to look at him suddenly, head tilting, “Want to test your metal verd’ika?”

Leo smirked back at her, “I don’t know. Wouldn’t want you to be embarrassed when I beat you.”

Chula twirled her staff over her head before spearing the end into the ground and leaning on it, her other hand on her hip as she smirked at Leo, “Careful with that confidence kid, I’ve been in the game a lot longer than you.”

Leo stood, moving towards his gear and grabbing his katanas, “That just means you’re slow and old.”

Chula laughed, “Better come back up that smart mouth verd’ika!”

Leo grinned as he stalked towards her, twirling his blades before falling into an opening stance. Chula didn’t fall into one of her own. She just grinned wider, ears twitching back and forth.

Taking the clear invitation, Leo sprang into action. He weaved back and forth as he ran forward, trying to keep Chula guessing where he would strike. He zeroed in on her right side, aiming to kick her leg out from under her in a quick takedown.

She jumped away at the last second, dancing away from Leo’s strike before spinning her staff towards him. Leo blocked it, letting the staff slide off his blades as he twisted away.

Create distance, reassess, plan.

Chula followed Leo as he moved back, now wielding her weapon in earnest, swinging her staff almost like a club before bringing close again to block Leo’s next strike.

Metal shriek loudly against metal as the two moved around each other, trading blows and jumping away before charging again.

Chula was grinning the entire time and Leo had a matching one on his face.

Fighting in an actual battle was good, sometimes Leo even thought it was fun, but sparing was a different kind of fun. The kind where Leo didn’t have to worry too much about actually getting hurt so it let him bounce around and be a bit more chaotic.

And honestly, as they traded strike for strike, block for block, Leo felt like him and Chula were pretty evenly matched. She was bigger and hit harder but Leo was quick and used to taking on opponents that were twice his size. 

He even felt, as he struck Chula’s staff away, that he was getting the upper hand.

Until she suddenly dropped and slid under him.

Leo jumped to avoid her but her legs shot out, clawed toes locking around the edge of his plaston. Chula rolled, bringing Leo with her until he was suddenly on the ground with the end of her staff pointed at his nose.

They were both panting and grinning like loons.

“Not bad,” Chula laughed, stepping off Leo and offering him a hand. “Not bad at all verd’ika.”

Leo accepted the help to his feet, “Thanks. You weren’t too bad either for an old lady.”

“An old lady who handed your shell to you.”

“Lucky shot!”

“Sure verd’ika.”

Leo sighed, “Okay, no dancing around it this time. What’s ‘verika’?”

“Verd’ika,” Chula corrected. “It’s Mando’a, my homeworld’s language. Means ‘little warrior’.”

Leo frowned at her, “Seriously? You called me little in front of the Salamandrians?”

Chula snickered, “Sorry, you’re not old enough for just ‘verd’.”

“You don’t know that!” Leo replied, crossing his arms. “Maybe I’m an adult on my planet!”

“You’re, what, thirteen?”

“Sixteen!”

“Ah,” Chula nodded very seriously. “Sadly, you are still only a verd’ika.”

Leo huffed, pouting at Chula while she kept her mock seriousness.

Even if a part of him was absolutely elated about the nickname.

✧✧✧✧✧

Getting to Vohiri would take about two weeks and Leo didn’t feel like playing the silent standoff game they’d had before meeting the Salamandrian’s. He had made it to nickname status afterall, it seemed silly to keep existing around each other without engaging.

So when they were back in space and well on their way, Leo decided to ask questions.

“Are you really the last Mandalorian?”

Chula almost choked on her water, coughing and thumping her chest with a fist, “What?”

Maybe not the best question to start with but it had been buzzing in the back of Leo’s mind. “T’Usset said you were the only Mandalorian left.”

“I need to go edit that karkin’ log,” Chula let out one more cough. “No, I’m not the last Mandalorian. Only Lasat-Human hybrid I know of but that doesn’t really count.”

“Lasat?” Leo asked.

“On my mother’s side. It’s where the stripes and eyes come from.”

Leo hummed, “So are we going to meet more Mandos at some point?”

Chula paused, “...no, we tend to stay pretty far apart.”

“Why?”

“It’s a bounty hunter thing,” Chula turned her chair and suddenly there was a deck of cards in her hand. “Anyway, pretty sure I said I’d teach you to play sabacc.”

It was a painfully obvious deflection, even Donnie would have been able to see it.

But Leo decided it was best not to push. It was only fair, since she didn’t push him.

So he held out a hand for some cards as Chula started explaining the rules.

✧✧✧✧✧

A few hands later, Leo started to ask questions again.

“What happened with the Glycon fleet?”

Chula frowned at him, “I would think someone had filled you in about that. T’Uesst seemed very interested.”

“Well, yeah, but I think it’s safe to say the story was misinterpreted a lot.”

Chula hummed, drawing a card, “You’ve got a point there.”

Leo waited a moment for her to continue.

When she didn’t he poitendly cleared his throat. Chula poorly hid a smirk behind her cards, “Take your turn and I’ll tell you.”

Leo glanced at his cards, deciding to swap for his turn.

Chula nodded, “It’s not a very good story honestly. I got a distress signal and went to check it out. It didn’t take much to figure out what was going on, between the dead ship and the freighter circlin’ it. The raiders made the mistake of using a blanket EMP, created a bit of a dead zone that they couldn’t get close to without knocking out their own systems.”

She swapped a card, Leo drew a card.

“So I jumped aboard and rammed their ship right into the dead zone. Turns out they had terrible eyesight so when the lights went out it was easy to subdue the crew.”

Leo’s jaw dropped, “Seriously? You just…turned the lights off?”

“Pretty much,” Chula rattled her dice box before opening it and smirking. “Doubles.”

Leo sighed and surrendered his cards, he’d had a pretty good hand too. They both drew  a new hand, “The way all those guys were talking made it sound like you fought your way through the ship.”

“Had to clear that up with Second Leader,” Chula said. “He was under the impression I had killed all the raiders in cold blood.”

“Oooh, that’s why he didn’t like you.”

“He still doesn’t, but we have an understanding now.”

It was Leo’s turn again, he looked at his hand for a few seconds, “Pass.”

Chula’s ear flicked and she drew a card.

“What’s your ships name?” Leo asked.

Chula paused, tilting her head with a questioning hum.

“Almost every ship I’ve been on has a name,” Leo explained. “But you never told me your ship's name.”

“Doesn’t have one.”

“Wha- seriously? Why not?”

Chula shrugged, “I’m not good at namin’ things.”

Leo frowned at her, “Well that’s a waste. There are a million possibilities with a turtle spaceship!”

“You can name it if you want.”

“Really?” Leo jumped up, almost dropping his cards.

Chula smirked at him, “Yeah, if you can beat me on the next round, you get namin’ rights.”

“Oh you are going down,” Leo sat back down, grinning as he drew a new card.

✧✧✧✧✧

“The Tortuga!” He proclaimed as he flipped his cards around, showing his near perfect hand.

“Been thinkin’ on that this whole round?” Chula chuckled and laid down her own hand. It was a terrible hand, which made Leo wonder if she let him win, but whatever he got to name a spaceship!

“It’s perfect,” Leo said, crossing his arms and grinning.

“Yeah, fits well,” Chula gathered up the cards to reshuffle, “Another round? We have a few hours before sleep cycle.”

“Heck yeah! I’m on a roll here!”

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo had to mentally remind himself to breathe when Vohiri came into view.

It looked exactly like Earth, from space anyway.

“We’re going to go in quiet,” Chula said as they dropped into atmo. “The last thing we need is the locals freakin’ out. I’ll fly over and drop you off if we’re in the right place.”

Leo was only half listening, eagerly watching out the window as the cloud thinned and the view exploded into a sprawling blue ocean.

It looked so much like home, Leo was almost vibrating.

The hope wavered a bit when a large ship appeared on the horizon.

It wasn’t a spaceship, it was a boat ship, with massive white sails and red flags on the top of the masts. Leo frowned when he saw it, not sure who actually used ships like that anymore, then looked at Chula when she started getting closer, “I thought we were going in sneaky?”

“I’ve got us cloaked,” Chula said. “Unless they can sense air displacement from a dozen meters away, they won’t see us.”

Leo gave her a doubtful look but didn’t say anything.

Instead he looked back at the boat below them, squinting as the crew on board grew more visible.

His heart sank when he saw the people.

They were human-like, in that they had heads, two arms and two legs. But they all looked like rock monsters. Big, bulky and broad, in various shades of rusty red and browns. Chula kept the Tortuga on course, flying over the boat and heading towards land, but Leo was already slumping back in his seat.

They still did a sweep, confirming that not only was this planet not Earth because of the rock people, but they didn’t have anything more technically advanced than a catapult.

Leo tugged his hood up as they left Vohiri behind them, disappointment weighing heavily on him.

Chula reached over and patted his shoulder, “We still got Iotor to check. Should only take three weeks to get there.”

Leo sighed but managed a small smile Chula’s way.

✧✧✧✧✧

They had to stop at a waystation before they reached Iotor.

“The smaller planets have better deals on fuel,” Chula said as they dropped towards a massive, gray structure covered in various spaceships. “And their open markets tend to be better too. Waystations on bigger planets are more picky about who parks and sets up shop.”

“Why?” Leo asked, watching as Chula carefully brought the Tortuga down to a parking spot.

“Bragging rights mostly,” Chula said. “It’s not like they're any better than these.”

The Tortuga touched down with a small jolt. Leo looked at Chula, tapping the O-two mask around his neck, “Will the air here kill me?”

Chula shook her head, “There’s enough oxygen here that you should be able to breathe fine. But keep it close, just in case.”

“Right-o cap’in,” Leo bounced up, stretching as he followed Chula out of the ship.

A small, purple skinned alien with long ears was there to greet them as they disembarked, looking up at Chula with one, massive green eye. They spoke in a high pitched, fast language that had a lot of clicking sounds sprinkled throughout.

The aliens’ voice grated on Leo’s ears but he tried very hard to keep the grimace off his face.

He was actually a bit surprised when Chula responded in the same, weird clicky language. Her voice wasn’t pitched as high and her clicks weren’t as sharp but the alien nodded and scurried off.

Chula put a hand on Leo’s shoulder and started to lead him away from the ships, “That was the boss of this place, wanted to know our business here.”

“I’m just surprised you got anything out of that.”

Chula snorted, “Languages overlap all the time. I have enough basics to get me by, do simple transactions. And speakin’ of,” she directed Leo onto a street lined on both sides by stalls covered in colorful fabric and filled with goods. “I need meat and root vegetables.”

“I thought we were good on food?” Leo asked, even as his eyes started scanning the vendors as they walked past them.

“I have the extra credits to make somethin’ special. And don’t try and tell me you’re not tired of eating just Gihaal and Haarshun bread.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong about that. A turtle could only eat the same thing over and over before it got old. Except for pizza, pizza would always be the best food.

“So what are you making?” Leo asked.

“Tiingilar,” Chula answered. “It’s a classic on Mandalore. I think you’ll like it, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like a hearty bowl of Tiingilar.” She paused to tap a passing alien on their arm. “Basic?”

The alien answered in a gruff, grating language that reminded Leo of Russian stereotypes in old TV shows. Chula answered in kind, trading a few sentences back and forth before waving and turning back to Leo. “Come on, there's a butcher down this way.”

Leo trotted alongside Chula, “You gotta teach me some of those languages.”

Chula huffed, “How about I start you on Mando’a?”

“I’m cool with that,” And it would be funny to see the look on Donnie’s face when Leo came home speaking a real alien language and not a made up one from Jupiter Jim.

Chapter Text

Michelangelo crouched so he could stare at the cakes baking in the oven.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” April asked from where she was perched on the counter.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Mikey rolled his neck so he was looking at her and Mayhem, who seemed glued to April's shoulders as of late.

“Well,” her face pinched slightly. “It’s been two months and…he still hasn’t left the lab.”

Mikey felt his mood drop at the reminder but he didn’t let his smile waver, “But it’s still a special day for him! Leo would’ve wanted us to celebrate!”

Mikey had no doubt that Leo’s ghost would come and haunt them if they didn’t at least have cake.

…maybe he should trash the cakes and pretend he didn’t remember what day it was…

Mikey internally slapped himself for thinking that and went back to cake watching.

April sighed, “I know you’re trying to cheer him up but…I dunno, this could make him feel worse.”

“It’s his birthday dude! How could getting cake on your birthday make any situation worse?”

April groaned in her throat, “Just, maybe tread lightly?”

“April, April, April,” Mikey tutted. “I’m Doctor Delicate Touch! This will get Donnie out of his funk in no time.”

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Mikey was really, really hoping that this little surprise would at least get Donnie to leave the lab.

Because it was starting to feel like he’d lost two brothers that day.

Leo’s sacrifice hit everyone hard but…they were healing, leaning on each other for support and figuring out how to move past it.

…okay, maybe not move past it quite yet, but at least figuring out how to live with the sudden gap in their family.

Expect Donnie. Because Donnie refused to leave his lab and refused to talk to anybody and just…existed in a state of eat, sleep and stare. And even then, they had to bring him food and water or he probably wouldn’t eat or drink and no one really knew how much actual sleep he was getting.

And his absence from Mikey’s everyday life was making the cracks in his chest open wider, more painful each time he inhaled.

He tried, of course, to keep his chin up. Leo had always been the one who cheered everyone back up when they were down but now that he couldn’t, Mikey was determined to step up into that role.

Hence, the birthday cakes currently puffing up in the oven. One the blandest vanilla he could make, much to his souls disappear, and the other crammed to the brim with strawberries in a chocolate cake mix.

It was Leo’s favorite. It was Leo’s birthday too after all, even if he wasn’t with them to celebrate.

He heard footsteps and glanced at the door in time to see Casey poking his head in, “Hey Cas!”

“Hi,” Casey stopped next to Mikey, stooping so he could peer into the oven too. “What’re you doin’?”

“Making the most boring cake on the planet,” Mikey sighed dramatically. “But Donnie will probably think it’s awesome. And a chocolate and strawberry cake for those of us with normal taste buds.”

Casey frowned at Mikey, confused, “Why are you making cake? Isn’t cake for special occasions?”

“Well it’s Dee-Man’s birthday. It’s not everyday you turn seventeen!”

Mikey felt Casey freeze next to him.

He tried to ignore how icy the silence in the kitchen had become.

“It’s Donnie’s birthday today?” Casey asked quietly.

Mikey nodded.

“...and Leo’s.”

“Yup!” Mikey said with false cheer, trying very hard to keep any waver out of his voice. 

Casey opening up had been a hard won fight, one that was still on going, so Mikey beamed up at the teen to try and soften the blow of the reminder. Because there really wasn’t a way to celebrate Donnie’s birthday with some sting of missing Leo.

But it didn’t feel right to not celebrate it.

So Mikey kept grinning up at Casey, even if he couldn’t think of a single word to comfort him, hoping that this plan wouldn’t set back the teens progress.

Finally, April, bless her soul, broke the silence, “You haven’t gotten to try cake yet, have you CJ?”

Casey startled a bit but he recovered quickly, “Oh, uh, I had cupcakes last week?”

April huffed, “Lesson two-hundred-fifteen of the past, cupcakes and cake are two completely different things.”

“I feel like you’re making up those numbers at this point,” Casey grumbled as he sat with her at the table.

Mikey went back to watching Donnie and Leo’s cakes bake as the two humans chatted away, smile still fixed firmly on his face despite the ache in his sternum.

✧✧✧✧✧

A few hours and two small cakes on the counter later, one covered in super sweet buttercream and the other covered in an almost tasteless glaze, Mikey was knocking on the lab door.

He listened for a reply to his knock, even if he knew Donnie wouldn’t say anything. Still, it was polite to knock and Mikey didn’t want to just burst in and startle his brother. That could ruin his whole plan!

He waited about a minute before letting himself in.

His brother was standing by one of his many workbenches, arms crossed and eyeing Mikey like he was expecting an attack, “It’s too early for dinner.”

“I’m not here about dinner,” Mikey laughed, trotting over to lean on the worktop next to Donnie. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what day it is?”

Donnie blinked, tilting his head slightly and not saying a word.

Mikey had to fight down a shiver. 

He didn’t like when Donnie got quiet. Donnie was loud and boastful, always going on about some great invention he’d made or his latest hyperfixation, with a dramatic flair that would make the best Broadway actors weep in jealousy.

He wasn’t quiet, he didn’t do questioning looks and soft hums. Except when something was wrong.

But Mikey ignored the uneasy feeling, pushing it down with a grin as he leaned over to flop on his brother's shoulder “Come on dude, it’s a big milestone today! I even made you a super boring cake and everything! I mean, you only turn seventeen once!”

Donnie just blinked again, eye’s fixed on Mikey for a few seconds before turning to look at some middle distance on the far wall,  “Thanks for the thought Michael, that was very nice of you.”

Mikey tried to not let his disappointment at the lackluster reply show.

Instead, he beamed bigger, leaned on Donnie harder until his entire body weight was pressed onto Donnie’s shoulder, “Seems a shame to spend such a big day cooped up in your lab, right? Maaaybe you wanna come see everyone? Eat some cake? We can sing and everything!”

Donnie heaved a sigh before turning away, his departure removing Mikey’s support and making him stumble a bit, “As nice as the gesture is, we both know I’ve never been a fan of birthdays.”

Mikey did frown at that. 

Because, yeah, Donnie had opted out of choosing a birthday when they were kids. And Leo had not liked that so he’d proclaimed that, since he and Donnie were twins, they had to share a birthday. And after a lot of pestering and insisting, Donnie had agreed to share Leo’s birthday.

But as the years passed, Donnie had gotten more invested, more excited for each passing year. Last year he and Leo had planned a huge bash for their sweet sixteen party together and they were somehow still picking glitter out of the furniture despite moving Lairs.

Donnie might not have liked birthdays when they were little but Mikey knew they had grown on him.

So Mikey chased after his brother, determined to get him out of the stupid lab, “Come oooon, I never get to see you anymore! I miss hanging out with you!”

“We hang out all the time.”

“Bringing you food and water so you don’t turn into a husk isn’t hanging out,” Mikey argued. “And we can’t play video games in here, or skateboard, or reenact Lou Jitsu movies, or prank anybody and Casey has a weird thing about not coming anywhere near you lab-”

Donnie huffed at that.

“-so you can’t hang out with him. And we don’t all fit in here anyway so you gotta come out for family time with everyone. Please, just a little while?” Mikey pleaded, reaching out to hook his arms around Donnie’s, mustering his biggest, saddest puppy eyes. “Please? I miss you bro!”

And most of the time that would have worked instantly. 

Because despite Donnie’s rocky relationship with empathy and his insistence on maintaining a ‘bad boy’ persona, he had a soft spot for his family. And especially one for Mikey, which the box turtle had no issues exploiting.

But now, when Mikey was literally clinging and begging Donnie to just come out of his lab for a few minutes, the soft shell just wiggled his arm out of Mikey’s hold, “Maybe later, I have stuff to do.”

Oh, no, no, no, Mikey would not be deterred this time!

He latched back on, really leaning on Donnie this time as he squeezed his arm, “Nooo, you’ve had two months of later! Just come out for a few minutes! Please?”

Donnie paused, frowning, “Mikey-”

Mikey growled and tightened his hold, “I am not above dragging you out.”

Donatello sighed, finally looking down at Mikey with a very tired expression, “...I will participate in birthday celebrations for thirty minutes.”

“Really?!” Mikey started to bounce on his feet. “Oh mi gosh, yes! It’s about time you got out of here anyway! It’s so stuffy, when was the last time you dusted in here-!”

Mikey kept chattering on as he half dragged Donnie to the door, hoping the constant stream of noise would distract his bro enough so he wouldn’t change his mind. He didn’t dare let go of Donnie all the way to the kitchen, where the rest of the family was gathered around the two cakes waiting on the counter.

They all perked up when the pair matched in, Mikey loudly announcing their arrive, “Look who’s out of his nerd cave!”

Dad grumbled under his breath, “Finally, we can have cake.” But Mikey could see the slight smile on his mouth and the relief in his eyes.

“About time!” April cried as she ran over to help Mikey pull Donnie over. “I thought you were going to turn into a cave turtle.”

Donnie just hummed as he was dropped into a chair.

Raph reached over, patting Donnie shell, “For real, glad to see you bro.”

“You see me everyday,” Donnie grumbled.

Raph let out a slightly strained chuckle at that.

Mikey beamed as he bounded around and started dividing up cake for everyone, bland and boring vanilla for Donnie and strawberry for everyone else, and started singing the opening to ‘Happy Birthday’.

But even with his joy and everyone joining in to sing, he didn’t fail to notice Casey giving Donnie a wide berth and staying very quiet.

And he definitely didn’t miss Donnie sending a very fast, sharp look at Casey.

Mikey saw that glare, the venom and anger in it, and his chest tightened again. He’d hoped this would be a good chance for Donnie and Casey to bond, maybe even become friends. But that one look, barely a second long, showed that that road was a long one.

But Mikey didn’t let that slow his momentum as he passed around cake to everyone, smile still firmly in place.

They’d get there, he had to focus on that. The frigid tension between them all would go away eventually.

People’s brothers died all the time and they moved on. So Mikey was determined to help his family move on.

✧✧✧✧✧

They managed to keep Donnie out of his lab for nearly an hour, despite the clear tension directed at Casey and his complete lack of interest in celebrating his seventeenth birthday. 

But they managed to get him to eat cake and watch most of Jupiter Jim: Pluto Vacation IV before he slipped off back to the lab.

It wasn’t all Mikey had hoped for but, hey, he got Donnie to come out of the lab.

The evening sort of petered out after Donnie left, with everyone wondering off to sleep or do their own things.

Mikey waited until everyone was out of sight before slipping off to the hastily patched up subway car.

His own room was an actual room, tucked into the corner of their new Lair, but it had seen very little use over the last two month.

Mikey knew he was being a little hypocritical. Keeping his optimism up around his family, trying to help them all move on without Leo despite how much it hurt. And yet here he was, two months later and still bunking down in Leo’s room.

No one had really touched it, aside from setting a piece of plywood over the hole Raph had punched in the side. Raph still winced every time he saw it.

Inside was almost exactly how Leo had left it, the only change being the blankets and pillows Mikey had piled up on the bed.

It didn’t really smell like Leo anymore, which was mostly why Mikey had started sleeping in Leo’s bed in the first place, but he couldn’t bring himself to go back to his own room.

It was comforting, being around Leo’s stuff, especially after a long day of trying to stay happy and upbeat.

It was hard, especially in the first few days post-Krang, to be optimistic and hopeful. But it hadn’t taken long for Mikey to see how much they all relied on Leo for morale, how much they leaned on his corny jokes and silly puns to keep their spirits up during tough times.

So Mikey took on the mantle. Raph was leader again so he had enough to deal with, Donnie was…well…,Casey was still adjusting to a new time period, Dad’s brand of humor was borderline depressing at the best of times, and April wasn’t around a lot because of school.

So Mikey took on the role of jokester for Leo.

It was a surprisingly cumbersome burden but Mikey took it.

Even if he still cried almost every night, curled up on Leo’s cold bud and surrounded by his abandoned possessions.

Chapter Text

“What does Dee’kat mean?” Leo asked.

“Di’kut,” Chula corrected as she heaped chopped veggies into a pan.

“Dee’kut,” Leo repeated slowly.

“Sharp ‘di’, hits harder that way.”

“But I don’t know what it means,” Leo groaned dramatically.

“Pronounce it right and I’ll tell you.”

Leo wrinkled his beak, “Di’kut.” He said it quick and sharp, mimicking the way Chula had said it when she’d talked down T’Usset.

Chula nodded and looked over her shoulder to grin at Leo, “It means a few things, ‘idiot’, ‘fool’, ‘one who forgets his pants’.”

And Leo could help but giggle, “You call an entire rebellion 'idiots who forgot their pants’?”

“Hmm, I guess I did,” she went back to adding ingredients to her Tiingilar. “I assume this is your way of askin’ for that Mando’a lesson?”

Leo giggled again, “Yeah, Yeah, how do you say ‘Leonardo’?”

“Leonardo.”

“What? Nooo,” Leo flopped over on the repurposed crate countertop. “That’s boring, why is my name the same?”

“Most names don’t have translations verd’ika.”

“Fine, fine, what about Oya? What does that mean?”

“It means a few things, dependin’ on the context. A good blanket translation is ‘let’s hunt’ or ‘don’t die’.”

Leo raised an eye ridge, “Those are two very different things.”

“I didn’t invent the language, I just speak it.”

“Ooookay,” Leo grinned as a word that Chula had hissed out when someone bumped her in the market came to mind. “What does ‘ha chark’ mean?”

“Har. Chak.”

“Haaar chak.”

“Haar’chak!”

“Haar’chak!” Leo sniggered. “It’s a swear, isn’t it? You’re teaching swears to a child.”

“It means damn it,” Chula finished mixing her Tiingilar and popped it into a large, metal box that was her oven. “And sixteen is more than old enough to swear.”

Leo grinned at that, leaning closer to Chula and batting his eyes at her.

Chula gave him a very exasperated look back, “You wanna know the swear first?”

“I wanna know the swears first.”

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo frowned when he saw Chula adding more spice and peppers to her helping of Tiingilar, “Why didn’t you just make it spicier to start with?”

Chula glanced up, “Because I’m a Mandalorian?” 

“Okay, that answers nothing.”

“We Mandalorians like our food spicy,” Chula grinned as she added a chopped vegetable that looked like a purple carrot but tasted like a habanero when Leo had stolen a bite earlier.

“But this,” Leo gestured to the casserole-like dish sitting between them. “This isn’t Mandalorian spicy?”

“Let’s just say most non-Mandalorians can’t handle that level of heat.”

“Oh really?” Leo leaned over, grinning up at Chula smugly. “Bet I could take it.”

Chula chuckled, “Could you now?”

Leo nodded and started to reach for the various spices next to Chula. 

She lightly bated his hand and pushed her own plate towards him, “Try some of mine before you go nuts, okay?”

Leo pouted a bit but still scooped himself a bite of Chula’s ‘true Mandlorian style’ Tiingilar.

The heat hit his mouth like a physical punch. Fire exploded on his tongue and made his eyes water. He jerked back from the makeshift table with a heaving cough as the single spoonful burned down his throat.

Chula laughed, thumping her palm against his shell as he gagged through the spicy inferno burning in his chest, “I told you it was hot.”

Leo sat back up, shoveling his own, much more reasonably spiced Tiingilar into his mouth, “How are you alive?”

Chula laughed again, “A question many have asked me.”

Leo breathed open mouthed a few times to chase away the worst of the spice before grabbing his water and hesitantly taking a sip. He recalled hearing somewhere that water made spicy food even hotter but it seemed he’d gotten rid of enough for the fluid to be more helpful than harmful.

He looked at Chula through tears and she started giggling again at his incredulous expression, “Oh, sorry verd’ika. But I did warn you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo grumbled as he took another bite of his food. “...I want this recipe though. The non-lethal one.”

Chula snorted around her own death-food, “I’ll write it down for you before we get to Iotor.”

“And you have to teach me how to say fuck in Mando’a.”

“It’s ‘shab’.”

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo spun his blade and fell into an opening stance.

He was on top of the Tortuga, probably not the best place for his impromptu training session but…the air felt clearer. And Leo needed to clear the storm clouds gathering in his head.

After another week of flying they had come into sight of Iotor and Leo, despite himself, got excited again. Their entrance to the planet had been much the same as Vohiri, dark space fading to white clouds and then blue skies over a dark ocean. They’d closed in on the closest landmass and Leo was almost bouncing in his seat when he saw towering skyscrapers against the horizon.

And then a ship whizzed past them and into the city without anyone batting an eye.

Iotor was so close to Earth it almost hurt. The city reminded Leo of New York, with towering buildings and densely populated streets, there were even humans wandering around. But there were also non-humans among them, and the cars were hovering above the ground and the billboards were holograms and a massive ship port for off-planet visitors.

Chula hand scrambled at her controls, muttering about the holonet and reading over the screens before turning to Leo with an apologetic expression.

Iotor hadn’t been classed as space fairing because the native humans didn’t have any interest in traversing the stars themselves but they were very aware that they weren’t alone in the universe.

So that only left Terra and an eleven months long trip across the galaxy.

And Leo had known there was a good chance that would happen, Terra was basically a fancy way to say Earth, but now that it was their only option, it made something in his chest splinter and throb with pain.

So he had curled up in his seat and glared out the windshield as Chula landed in an open field outside the city, citing that paying for a spot at the shipyard was silly when she didn’t need the refuel.

Leo had just grunted at that and later declined her invite to go on a supply run with her. He stayed behind and sulked for a while before venturing up to the top of The Tortuga to try and train his frustration out.

And maybe get his powers working.

Because those were still being stupid and not working and it was starting to get annoying because he didn’t spend two years perfecting his portal game for his Nimpo to just up and stop working!

But every time he tried the results were more or less the same. He’d gather his energy, feel the thrum of his Nimpo under his scales, arch his blade up and focus his mind to summon a portal on the downward motion-

Only to lose focus as his limbs locked up and his mind sputtered to a halt along with the beginnings of a portal.

He was on his fifth try and his bad mood had only gotten worse.

Leo did a few moves to hype himself up, cutting at invisible enemies, each swing building the sparks of mystic energy at his fingertips.

The metal sang as Leo went through each motion, focusing on his breathing, on the feeling of the katana in his palms, on the warm metal below his feet, on where he wanted the portal to open.

His katana started to glow, symbols appearing down the length, curving around and around until they reached the end of the weapon. Leo swung it upwards, preparing for it to rip through the air in front of him as he brought it down again-

His arms froze, his lungs stuttered, his heart rate suddenly skyrocketing as his focus shattered and the glow of his powers vanished.

Leo yelled and threw his katana, “Shab you too you piece of junk!”

The weapon clattered across The Tortuga’s hull before rolling off the edge and out of sight.

Leo yelled again and dropped, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face behind them. He couldn’t even blame his weapons for faulty portals anymore because he technically made his katana’s, so any problems he ran into were on his own shell.

He felt so useless.

He wasn’t sure if he could get a portal all the way to Earth but he’d managed to drop his brothers in Tahiti that one time and he’d managed to get out of an alternate dimension. So maybe he could skip the whole space road trip if he could just make his brain stop being stupid. But no, he couldn’t even open a portal, could barely tap into his Nimpo without his entire body just…locking up.

He groaned into his knees and jerked the hood of his cowl over his head.

He didn’t keep track of how long he sat there feeling sorry for himself, but after a while, after most of the anger had left and he felt ready to start crying, he heard the top hatch of the ship groaning open. He felt the vibrations of heavy footsteps coming closer to him and Chula’s massive presence crouching in front of him.

He peeked up from under the hood at the soft clink, clink, clink of his katana being tapped on one of her gauntlets, “Lose somethin’ verd’ika?”

Leo grunted before tucking his head back down.

Chula hummed and took off her helmet, laying both it and Leo’s katana next to her before leaning back to sit down fully, “Do you want to spar?”

“No,” As fun as sparring with Chula was, Leo really just wanted to sulk for a bit.

Maybe cry.

“Okay,” Chula said. “You want to tell me what’s eatin’ you?”

Leo grumbled again.

Chula didn’t reply.

Leo wondered if she was planning to just wait him out when she suddenly spoke up, “I can make a guess at how you feel right now.”

For some reason, that statement made Leo mad. He lifted his head enough to glare at Chula.

She leveled his anger with a cool, calm gaze, “You're upset, for a lot of reasons. Main one bein’ you gotta wait a year to get home now. You’re mad at the universe because it won’t just cut you a break, you’re mad at yourself for not knowing a better way to get back. But you’re also sad because you want to just go home already, go back to what you know because the universe is big and scary. Guilty too, because there are people home that are worried about you-” 

Leo tensed at that. He hadn’t said a word about his family to her, even after nearly a month of traveling together. The time never felt right so he’d never said anything.

Chula hummed and started to loosen her chest plate, “I know you haven’t told me anything about a family but I’d be pretty surprised you had no one important to you back on Earth. And I know that look in your eye when we hit a dead end. People are waiting for you back home, people who probably think you're dead because, why wouldn’t they? And that thought makes your insides all twisted up because you don’t want them to mourn you, they shouldn’t have to because you’re fine but you can’t tell them that.” 

She reached under her chest plate and pulled out a small, silver painted, circular object with three thinner pieces curled around the outside, “And you feel guilty for a lot of other reasons. For wantin’ them to be with you, for enjoyin’ new things, for takin’ so long to get back and show them you’re okay.”

Leo slowly uncurled himself throughout the speech, watching the sad, distant expression on Chula’s face and glancing at the device she was holding in her palm.

She tapped the top of it with her thumb and a hologram appeared.

It was different from the projector on the Tortuga, showing a contained, flat rectangle like a physical picture instead of a three-dimensional figure. Six people looked back at Leo in the picture, four humans and two non-humans, all except one wearing purple and white armor.

The humans all looked almost exactly alike, the same jawline and dark skin, the same brown eyes and black hair.

But there were a few differences between them. 

The man closest to the camera had his hair just long enough to allow the locks to curl, and a short beard under a wide smile, eyes crinkled with mirth. He had his arm around another man, whose hair shaved on the sides, the longer hair on top pulled back in a small ponytail. He was smiling as well and elbowing the first guy in the side.

Next to them was a woman, her long, curly black hair held back by a light blue, pink and white headband and a small tattoo of a wing curling around the ridge of her eye socket. Her expression had been captured mid-eyeroll, as if she was annoyed instead of grinning at the first two's antics.

Further back was the fourth human, hair short but messy and a five o’clock shadow over his jaw. He looked tired and mildly annoyed, eyes fixed towards the camera as if having his picture snapped was a grave offense that he was forced to tolerate.

Next to him was a tall non-human. She had sharp features, a long narrow nose and face and pale blue-gray skin that faded into darker grays around her cheeks and neck. Her hair was dark blue, held back by two thick braids and framed by weird cat shaped ears that looked like they were actually meant to be plates of keratin. She looked as annoyed as the human next to her, the scowl made grimmer by the scar over her left cheek.

The second non-human was almost a copy of the first, the only differences being her shaved head, the stronger saturation of blue to her skin and the layered robes she wore. She was looking at the camera, eyes soft and affectionate and a small smile on her lips that screamed affection towards the picture taker.

A picture taker who was most likely Chula herself.

Leo stared at the picture and was reminded of the tattered piece of paper tucked into his belt.

Chula pressed on, pointing to each person as she started to list their names, “These are the triplets, Magpie, Jay and their sister Raven. The grump in the back is our medic Crow and next to him is Seena and her sister Astra. They are my aliit, my family.”

Leo looked at Chula, at the absolute sadness and pain in her face and wondered if she ever saw that on his face over the last few weeks.

Chula took a deep breath and deactivated the picture, “I didn’t tell you about them because I didn’t want to burden you with my problems while you had so much to worry about already. But I think…our situations aren’t the same, we’re two different people under different circumstances. But since we’re going to be sharin’ a ship for the next few months, I just want you to know that I understand and I’m here if you need help.”

Leo stared at her, processing what she’d just told him before uncurling a little, “You’re lost too.”

Chula nodded, “I’m lost too.”

Leo moved his knees down and started to reach for his belt.

As he pulled out his picture and started to unfold it, Chula placed a hand over his, “I didn’t tell you all that to pry your secrets out of you.”

“I should’ve told you before,” Leo mumbled. “You haven’t done anything worse than give me spicy food.”

“Trust isn’t about layin’ out everythin’ about your life,” she paused for a moment, before drawing her hand away. “I will listen if you want to talk about them. But do not tell me about your family out of some sense of obligation.”

Leo hesitated, thinking carefully, “No, I want to talk about them.” He unfolded the picture, holding it with both hands in the space between them. “I think…I should talk about them. Someone told me once that talking about things you love helps people bond or something.” He glanced up at Chula with a small smile. “And...you can tell me about your family?”

Chula nodded, ears flicking forward as she looked down at the image of the Hamato family, “I think that’s a pretty great idea.”

Leo inhaled shakily before pointing to his older brother, “This big lug is Raph, he’s the oldest, and that’s our baby bro Mikey, and that my twin Donnie, he denies it, but we’re definitely twins. And that’s our big sister April and our dad…” He couldn’t help but smile a bit. “They're amazing, every one of them. And Casey too, he’s not in this picture but he’s a great kid.”

Chula hummed and reached out again to hook her fingers around Leo’s hand.

When had his hands started shaking?

Leo stared, mind not quite processing the tremble in his fingers.

Or the tears gathering in his eyes.

“That’s going to happen a lot,” Chula said gently. “You’re grieving, in a way, even though this separation is temporary. Brains are kinda dumb like that.”

Leo sniffed, screwing his eyes shut and clutching his family’s photo to his chest.

“Do you want to be alone?” Chula asked.

Leo shook his head and squeezed her hand. He looked out at the horizon, when the sun was starting to sink slowly behind the ocean, “Can we just…stay like this for a bit?”

“Sure,” Chula shifted next to him so that they were side by side, still holding his hand. “We can do that.”

Chapter Text

Later, after the sun on Iotor had set and the pair had resumed their flight into space, Chula handed Leo a flat, silver-y rectangle, “I grabbed this for you, found someone who gave me a good deal.”

Leo gingerly took the object, turning it in his palms, “Uh, thanks?”

Chula snorted and reached over to guild Leo’s hands, “Hold it on the long sides and pull it apart.”

Still confused, Leo did as she said.

The rectangle split apart easily, only resisting after the two sides were about a foot apart. The space between the bars flickered and a soft green screen appeared.

“Don’t know if Earth has datapads but they're pretty handy, I already set it up for Basic and hooked it up to the Tortugas network. It’s not as high end as some of ‘em, but you can keep track of the days and watch our progress with the map. And it can take notes so, I dunno, Astra always said journaling helped when people are going through stuff so you can do that if you need to. Oh, and it takes holo-images.”

Leo stared down at the tablet in his lap, carefully tapping an icon that looked like a calendar. A series of neat squares appeared, each with smaller squares inside appeared. The topmost slot already had the days marked out.

One month down. Eleven left.

Leo mentally shook off the melancholy. There was a long trip ahead but the fact he could keep track now was a bit comforting. He started tapping through the other icons, “I’m going to have to hide this from Dee or he’ll take it apart.”

Chula snorted as she turned back to face the front, “I’ve got a few broken ones I haven’t scrapped yet. You can take ‘em with you for souvenirs.”

Leo chuckled, imagining how hyped Donnie would be at getting to play with alien technology. He kept tapping at the tablet until he managed to open the app that showed him an image of his lap.

He held up the camera, aiming it at Chula and snapping a picture right as she turned to give him a questioning look.

Leo snickered at the immortalized image of Chula, one eyebrow raised, her visible ear turned towards Leo and mouth slightly open. It made her look almost like a confused cat.

Leo grinned up at her, “Thanks.”

Chula smirked back, “Not a problem verd’ika.”

They sat in silence for a while, Leo exploring all the apps on his tablet and Chula watching her consoul.

But Leo piped up again before long, “So, the Astra lady? Why wasn’t she wearing armor?”

Chula groaned, loud and long, “I have asked myself that so many times. I mean, you’d think gettin’ shot at almost everyday would encourage her to put some on, but noooo. Because she’s a Jetii and ‘the force guilds her ’. Guilds her to an early grave maybe!”

Leo couldn’t help giggling at her tirade, “So why doesn’t she?”

“Hinders her fightin’ style or somethin’ like that. I think she just likes makin’ us all worry over her risk takin’ Jetii ass.

“What does Jetii mean?” Leo asked.

“Jetii is the Mando’a word for Jedi. The Jedi are an order of peacekeepers that offer help where it is needed,” she paused. “Well, before the war anyway. They got promoted to generals of the Republic’s army.”

Leo frowned, “Peacekeepers to war generals? That’s a bit of a jump.”

“Yeah,” Chula slumped a bit. “It’s been an adjustment for a lot of them. Astra had a pretty hard time at first, that’s mostly why I’m the unofficial commander of her battalion.”

Leo frowned in confusion, “Unofficial?”

“Mandalore isn’t under the Republic, so we all figured they wouldn’t let me be an official commander. So we just told them I was an old friend of Astra’s that she called in for missions sometimes.” She leaned over and dropped her voice. “Officially, all I do is steal intel for Astra and she pays me for the service.”

“And unofficially?”

Chula grinned wolfishly, “I’ve had a hand in almost every mission the 244th took on. And the Senate doesn’t have a shabing clue.”

Leo laughed along with Chula, “But why would you need to do all that? Why not just do things solo?”

“Ah, many reasons verd’ika,” Chula sighed. “But mostly? Astra is very important to me, so when she asked for my help, I went to her. And then she couldn’t get rid of me.”

Chula’s expression was almost wistful, only a bit of sadness in her eyes undercutting the warm smile.

Leo couldn’t help asking, “She’s that close of a friend?”

Chula chuckled, “Don’t be coy, I can hear the gears spinnin’ in that little brain of yours.”

“Oh, I got you dude,” Leo flashed all his teeth in a teasing grin. “You two are a thing , aren’t you?”

Chula just hummed.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You’ve got yourself a crush!”

Chula hummed again, smirking at Leo.

“Dude, that’s embarrassing.”

“Oh, you say that now but wait until you meet someone special,” Chula waggled an eyebrow. “You’ll feel all mushy and gross inside and love every second of it.”

“Ew, no, that’s gross!”

✧✧✧✧✧

He knew the date was coming up, even if the dates per month were a little off on his tablet's calendar.

But he knew it was coming up and he had thought he was braced for it.

And yet here he was, staring at the ceiling and feeling sorry for himself.

Because he turned seventeen today.

He and Donnie turned seventeen today and they were a galaxy apart.

It felt wrong to not be spending his birthday with his twin, even though Leo knew there wasn’t anything to be done about it. But it still hurt, still sent an ice pick through Leo’s heart and pinned him to the bed. He stayed awake almost the entire night cycle, wanting to sleep but unable to.

Normally, when his insomnia got that bad, he could move to the common areas and let the ambient noise of the Lair lull him to sleep. And when that didn’t work, he could crawl into bed with one of his brothers, usually Raph because weighted blankets were nothing compared to a sleepy Raph hug.

But it was just him and Chula on the Tortuga.

They had been more open with each other since leaving Iotor, Leo telling her about his family and she about hers. But Leo doubted they were at the ‘hey, I can’t sleep and having a warm body next to me helps with that’ stage.

So he laid in bed and stared at the ceiling, or the wall, and tried not to have another breakdown because it was dumb, it was just a birthday, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t ever going to have another birthday with Donnie. Seventeen wasn’t even a milestone! And if they kept up their current pace, Chula was confident they could shave a few weeks off their time.

But it still made his chest hurt and he hated it.

So he laid in bed, feeling exhausted but not sleeping, for hours. He barely moved all night cycle and well into the day cycle.

…ha, when had he stopped thinking in terms of just nighttime and daytime?

He was pretty sure it was ship standard ‘noon’ when the door hissed open.

His shell was facing it but it really could only be Chula.

Her clawed feet clicked across the floor before the bed dipped from her weight, one large hand pressing against the center of his carapace, “Are you okay?”

Leo sighed and curled up a bit, “I don’t know.”

“Do you need to talk?”

Leo shrugged, “It won’t help much.”

“Maybe it will.”

“Nah,” Leo huffed. “I just…I dunno, guess it feels weird to not be there on Dee’s birthday.”

He knew Chula would understand what he ment.

Her hand stilled for a moment before continuing to lightly scratch at his shell, “Ah…do you want to do something special?”

Leo shook his head. He honestly wanted to just sleep this day away and pretend he was still sixteen and he hadn’t spent a birthday miles from home.

Chula was quiet for a few more moments, “There’s this thing I’d do for the boys in the battalion when they were having bad days…sing ‘em a little piece from Mandalore to keep their mind off whatever was buggin’ them.”

Leo rolled enough to smirk up at Chula, “You sing?”

Chula grinned back, “I like to think so. Never had complaints.”

“Well now I’ve got to hear this.”

Chula chuckled before inhaling deeply, “Olaram onidir, oloram ramanaar.”

The words were harsh, more spoken than sung, in a deep, growling tone. Leo almost made a comment on how Mandalorians needed better taste in music when Chula began the next verse.

“Mhi b'verda Mandalore, Mhi be a'den aru'e, mhi b'verda Mandalore, par cyare buir.”

The tone had shifted, Chula’s rumbling voice taking on a softer timber as she sang in Mando’a, rising and falling on each note.

“Mhi pirur Mandalore, gaa'taylir b'vode, mhi pirur Mandalore, par cyare buir.”

Leo rolled over and sat up, staring as Chula continued to sing, trying to pick out the few Mando’a words he knew as her voice climbed on the next verse.

“Akaanir tsad droten adenn! Akaanir darjetii balyc! Mhi be a'den aru'e, par cyare buir. Mhi b'verda Mandalore, Mhi be a'den aru'e, Mhi b'verda Mandalore, par cyare buir.”

Chula held the ‘buir’ for a few moments, letting the final notes of the song fade into the air before turning to Leo with a grin, “I take it my singin’ was acceptable?”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t sing!” Leo protested. “I just…um…nevermind.”

Chula snickered, “I wasn’t offended.”

“Yeah, yeah, but what’s all that mean? I got a few words here and there.”

“It’s an old folksong, we teach it to children while their learning to speak.”

“Can you teach it to me? Might help move my Mando’a along.”

Chula chuckled, “Only if you sing it in its proper language, the Basic translation doesn’t sound right.”

Leo nodded and leaned forward to listen as Chula started to break down each verse of the song for him.

The sadness still hovered over him, weighing him down. But learning all the new words was a good distraction.

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo stumbled again and yelped when Chula jumped on his slip up and slammed him into the floor.

She frowned down at him, ears flattening to her skull, “Why do you keep doin’ that?”

Leo let her help him to his feet, “Doing what?”

“You keep coming up short on your jumps or stoppin’ in the middle of a maneuver. Your planet have lower gravity or somethin’?”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Leo shifted from foot to foot, trying very hard to not look away from Chula’s face.

He hadn’t told her about his powers, or the fact they weren’t working right. He felt…he didn’t want her to know he was missing a good chunk of his arsenal and he didn’t know why.

So he shrugged and grinned up at Chula.

She didn’t grin back. She was frowning thoughtfully and tapping her staff absently.

Finally, she said, “How strong are your blades?”

The question made Leo pause in confusion, “...pretty strong? I mean, I’ve never really tested but they’ve held up through a lot.”

“Could they hold up against a blaster bolt?”

“Say what now?”

Chula collapsed her staff and moved to where her gear was set aside against the wall of the hold, “The Jetii have these laser sword things and they could deflect blaster bolts with them. If your blades are sturdy enough I think you could pull off the same trick.”

“Oh is that all,” Leo said. “What, you planning to shoot at me?”

Chula paused where she was swapping her staff for a blaster, “It’s on stun, I heard Skywalker did this with his Padawan and she was fine.”

Leo hummed, eyeing the blaster as Chula spun it around her finger.

“Plus, it might help cover the gaps when you, er, trip again,” she added.

Leo chose to ignore the comment about tripping, instead focusing on the idea of being able to deflect blaster beams.

It would be pretty cool if he could do that.

So he spun his katanas and grinned at Chula, “Give me your best shot!”

“Easy verd’ika, we’re going to start slow,” she made a show of aiming the blaster to Leo’s left and waiting for him to get ready for the shot before firing.

Leo had only heard Chula’s blaster once or twice when she did target practice, and the sound was pretty loud. Like a sharp whistle that ended in a bang when she hit her target.

So he could hear the difference of the stun setting from the normal one, not nearly as loud, only a small bwaap sound that followed a blue ring that dissipated harmlessly on his katana.

“That felt really anti-climatic,” Leo commented dryly.

Chula shrugged, “I mostly just wanted to see if your weapon could disperse the shot.”

“I thought you said Jedi did this kinda thing!”

“They have laser swords. ” Chula aimed her blaster again. “I’m rampin’ it up slowly, just to be safe.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo sighed as he whacked another stun bolt out of the air.

Chula fired a few more slow and very obvious shots before she started moving, slowly circling around Leo as each blast started coming closer together.

After almost three minutes, her shots were only a few seconds apart and she was almost running around Leo, trying to break through his defenses as Leo spun and deflected the blue rings.

Both of them were grinning, the seriousness abandoned in favor of the two almost competing to see who would break first. Leo felt sure he would win this one, that Chula would stop before she managed to hit him.

A sudden jolt to his gut had him doubled over on the floor. 

“Oh, karabast, are you good?” Chula was by his side in an instant, putting a steadying hand on his arm. “I thought your shell would absorb the shock, I had it set-”

Leo recovered his breath and released something very important. Namely, that Chula was right next to him. And worrying over his state more so than their sparring slash training.

Chula yelped when Leo jerked up, locked his arms around her neck and twisted. The move sent her onto the floor with Leo scrabbling onto her back, keeping her head locked between his arms as he crowded loudly, “I finally got you!”

Chula was still under him and Leo could almost picture the baffled expression on her face. But it only took a few seconds for his shoulders to start shaking and then her loud, barking laugh filled the space, “You little womp-rat! That was sneaky!”

“Oh, no, you definitely knocked the wind out of me,” Leo climbed off Chula and offered a hand to help her up. “But I recovered by the time you got to me, I just took the opportunity when I saw it.”

Chula laughed again, and thumped Leo heartily on the back, “Well done verd’ika, maybe next time you won’t need a distraction to pin me.”

Leo gasped in mock offense, even though he was grinning just as broadly as Chula.

✧✧✧✧✧

It was about five months in when Leo noticed.

He almost slapped himself for not noticing sooner.

He spun his chair around to narrow his eyes at Chula, “Why do you never take me on bounty missions?”

Chula paused in watching her screens to give Leo a very confused look, “What?”

“We’ve been traveling together for a few months now.”

“...uh-huh?”

“We’ve stopped on at least a dozen planets and whenever I go with you we only get supplies, which makes me think you’re taking hunts when I opt to stay on the Tortuga. The closest you’ve gotten to taking me with you on a job is when you trade all your scraped parts.”

“Ah,” Chula turned back to her console. “Well you’ll be happy to know I actually haven’t taken any hunts since I brought you on board.”

“What?” Leo frowned. “Why not? That’s, like, the thing you’re super well known for!”

“I am well known in the Outer Reach, the closer we get to the center of the system the more hunters there are and the less well known I become. And besides that, takin’ a bounty would set us back a lot.”

“How? Don’t you just grab the bad guy and drag them back and get paid? Sounds pretty straightforward to me.”

“Well first I have to find a client,” Chula counted on her finger. “And most of the time I have to spend a few hours bargainin’ with that client to get some credits upfront. Then I have to collect intel and if I’m lucky, the person I have to find is on the same planet but usually they’ve run off to who knows where. Then it’s days of flying around and askin’ questions and lookin’ under every rock until I finally find the di’kut and then I have to backtrack back to the client and haggle again to get the rest of my pay.”

She looked at Leo with a very flat expression, “All in all, I have never had a bounty that didn’t take me at least a week to finish. It would put us way behind if I tried taking any when I didn't need to.”

“Oh,” Leo nodded. It made sense. “But I thought you said fighting and stuff was Mandalors whole thing?”

“I’m unconventional,” Chula shrugged. “And you want to get home.”

Leo shrugged, “You got me there. Just don’t leave jobs on my account.”

“You let me worry about our credits.”

✧✧✧✧✧

“I’m not sure if this will work.”

“Relax, this is basically exactly like pizza back home,” Leo sprinkled a few more toppings onto his cobbled together version of pizza.

He’d managed to convince Chula to get her hands on an approximation of cheese and tomato sauce, both were not quite the right color but it was close enough in taste for Leo.

He’d put the ingredients on top of Chula’s latest batch of haarshun bread and started throwing on whatever odd food stuff she had on hand on top.

Chula watched him the whole time, carefully controlling her amusement as he bounced around the kitchen.

A few weeks ago Leo probably wouldn’t have been able to see it, but almost seven months in close quarters did wonders for reading her beyond just outward appearance.

Like right now, when she was clearly trying to not smile as Leo placed a small number of peppers on top of his creation before tossing it into the oven, “And soon, you are going to have the best meal of your life!”

“Am I now?” Chula said. “That’s a tall order verd’ika, I’ve been to quite a large number of planets with very good food.”

“Are they on par with those ‘cheesy disks’?” Leo shuddered a bit at the memory.

He’d spotted the pizza-like food being sold in the last market they’d stopped at. Chula of course noticed his staring and had bought a small pie for him.

Leo had been ecstatic until he actually took a bite.

It wasn’t bad but he found it was literally melted cheese on a…something. Definitely not pizza crust or bread but whatever it was had a weird spongy texture that reminded Leo of cake.

Melted cheese on cake was not a combination he was a fan of.

He ate about half before handing it to Chula and shuddering again when she’d wolfed the rest down without blinking. Sure, that was their thing when Leo tried something and turned out not liking it but still! That stuff had been a poor representation of the best food in the universe and Leo was not waiting until they got back home before Chula had real pizza.

It still wasn’t perfect but it was way better than their weird cheese covered cake thing.

Chula hummed thoughtfully, “I’ll admit, that was a weird one.”

“It tasted osik’la,” Leo said.

Chula chuckled, “Alright, alright, it was pretty bad.”

“I will not let that be your introduction to pizza before we get to Earth,” Leo huffed, crossing his arms and leaning a hip on the counter. “I couldn’t even call myself a true turtle if I just left the universe without this integral food group!”

Chula smirked at him, “Do you expect me to share this very sacred food with the wider galaxy?”

“Eh, the wider galaxy will be fine,” Leo waved his hand. “But you have to come with me to Run of the Mill when we get home. Spoiler, it's anything but a run of the mill pizza joint.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Leo snorted and leaned more on the counter so he could be more in Chula’s space, “No, seriously, it’s like weird-o central. Well, other than the Hidden City, but Senor Hueso branched out to mutants when so many of ‘em kept popping up. I bet even your big scary self would just blend right in.”

“And Senor Hueso is-?”

“He’s a yokai…I think? He’s pretty much a walking, talking skeleton. But he’s cool, you’ll like him!”

Chula blinked, “Just when I think nothing can surprise me anymore.”

Leo laughed at that, stepping back to take a peek at his creation as it cooked, “You need to get a front window for this thing. Why don’t space ovens have a front window?”

“Well, this thing didn’t have an oven to start with.”

“Well duh, I can tell this room used to be like the hold. But you couldn’t have found an oven with a glass front?”

“I built that one actually.”

Leo paused, “...for real?”

“I’ve basically rebuilt the entire ship at this point. I added onto the weapons system, upped the power output on the engines, rebuilt the escape pods into shuttles, and flipped this room to be a living space.”

“Really?” Leo grinned. “You and Donnie are going to have a lot to talk about.”

Chula chuckled and tilted her head towards the oven, “I think your pizza is done.”

Leo spun around and cracked open the door. Sure enough, the bread base had turned golden and the teal-ish cheese was perfectly melted, “How’d you do that?”

“Heightened senses,” Chula tapped the bridge of her nose. “That’s why the oven doesn’t have a window.”

Leo laughed at that, dropping the food on the counter between them, “Fine, fine, I’ll stop judging your engineering skills.”

He reached for a knife and, once the pizza was cool enough, cut sizable slices for each of them, “Dinner is served my lady!” Leo didn’t wait for her reply before diving in.

It still wasn’t quite the same as pizza from home, the cheese was a bit too mild and the crust wasn’t the right texture, but it got the big picture across.

Leo moaned in satisfaction and gestured for Chula to try her own slice.

She snorted but dutifully took a bite of her own helping. She chewed slowly, eyes narrowing in thought, “Huh.”

Leo frowned, “Huh?”

“It’s good, don’t worry!” Chula added hurriedly. “It just reminds me of the meal wraps on Bespin. Only on a flat crust instead of rolled up.”

Leo gapped at her, “You have hot pockets but not pizza?”

Chula blinked, “What’s a hot pocket?”

Chapter Text

“Well, well, well, look who finally crawled out of the shadows!”

Donatello sighed, glancing over his shoulder at the purple hovercraft that had appeared on the rooftop behind him.

Normally, he would have quipped back, engaging in the back and forth of verbal combat before figuring out what scheme the dragons were cooking up and putting a swift stop to it. But he had better things to do at that moment so he went back to his current task.

Kendra waited for a few seconds before speaking again, “No comebacks? No quips? That is quite unlike you, Von Ryan!” Donnie felt the thump of the Dragons hovercraft landing on the rooftop. “And so is breaking into a tech development center. That’s more our thing, you know.”

“Well, I was here first,” Donnie replied as he kept carefully pulling wires out of the security system on the skylight lock.

“But that’s not how this works!” Jason cried. “We were going to craft an ingenious plot to get our revenge on-!”

“Shut it Jason,” Kendra snapped.

Donnie heard her jump onto the roof and her footsteps coming closer. He sighed and dropped the wires, turning to face her.

Her eyes were narrowed, face scrunched up in clear distaste, “But he is right, this is quite unlike you Von Ryan. I thought you disapproved of this sort of thing.”

“Yeah, well, things change.”

“Well, we were going to steal from this place first,” Jason piped up again, waving his tablet. “We’ve been planning our latest revenge scheme for weeks!”

“What my dumb-dumb step bro said,” Kendra waved a hand dismissively at Donnie. “So go back to your little cave and do our game properly.”

“No.”

Kendra spluttered, “Excuse me?!”

“No,” Donnie repeated, pulling out his Bo. “You should leave.”

Kendra scoffed, eyeing the Bo staff, “Looks like you’ve gotten a downgrade since last time. Shame, I quite liked the Tech Staff.”

“Us on the other hand!” Jason tapped his tablet, summoning a dozen dragon bots to surround them. “Have used the break from school to upgrade! There is no way your flimsy little stick can hold up against our arsenal!”

Donnie rolled his eyes and spun his Bo. Mystic energy hummed to life under his scales, his stripes beginning to glow as he summoned forth his own arsenal. He mental visulized every part locking together, constructing each gear and wire and trigger in his mind before pushing it out into the physical world.

Kendra stepped back, eyes growing wider and wider as Donnie summoned his own arsenal.

It was probably overboard, crafting basically a wall of laser cannons and missile launchers, but they were wasting his time and he only had a small window to get this done.

“I’m not here for games,” Donnie snarled, eyes flashing white. “But if you insist on bothering me-” He slammed the end of his Bo onto the roof, letting the sentence hang in the air.

The Purple Dragons blinked, looking at the dozens of primed weapons behind Donnie, then at their own suddenly less impressive robots, then at each other.

Jeremy broke first, scrabbled for the controls of the hovercraft while muttering a litany of, “Nope, nope, no, no, nope-”

“Hey!” Kendra scrambled for the craft, barely managing to climb aboard in time. “Do NOT leave me here alone you nitwits!”

“How is he doing that?” Jason was muttering as he recalled his robots, hands shaking. “How? Is it nanobots? Nanotechnology can’t make anything close to that scale! How is he-”

The teens' panicked muttering faded as the Purple Dragon sped away, Kendra screeching about revenge while the other two kept their focus on getting far, far away.

Donnie waited until they were out of sight before he released the construction. Purple mystic energy dissipated around him like a cloud as he crouched back over the gutted alarm system and got back to work.

It only took him a few more seconds to fully disable the alarms. He carefully opened the skylight and dropped down into a large lab.

A few months ago he might have stopped to admire all the technology, at the rows and rows of robots and circuit boards, maybe pull up the latest in programming advancements on one of the computers, admire the hub of innovation and creativity unfolding into more advancement for humanity.

But a few months ago he probably wouldn’t be breaking into such a high profile place in the first place.

His eyes scanned the room until he finally spotted what he came for.

It looked so small and insignificant next to some of the bigger machines under development, a square piece of blue covered in gold and silver circuits just sitting on the table half complete.

But if Donnie did his homework right, this was one of the most advanced motherboards created to date. When finished, it should be able to run an army of computer systems with minimal power and unmatched speed.

Donnie probably could have made his own but it would take months of testing and building and failure.

And he’d already wasted six months.

So he carefully tucked the part into a case he’d brought before turning to the nearest computer and pulling up every file and footnote about the project.

He climbed back out less than an hour after going in, battle shell heavier with a super motherboard and an encyclopedia's worth of stolen information.

✧✧✧✧✧

For the first week after the invasion, Donatello had kept a close eye on the news around the city cleanup.

Lethal casualties had been minimal and mostly contained to the military personnel that had attacked the Technodrome directly. There were a few people talking about the long term mental trauma from being under the control of the Krang and of course the local politicians were trying to garner some brownie points with the voting populace by showing up at the rebuilding efforts to smile and wave to the news crews.

But there was no mention of a turtle-like humanoid body being recovered anywhere.

Which meant that Leo was on the other side of the portal.

Logically, it made sense, Leo had been trying to keep the primary Krang on that side of the portal. The explosion from the Technodrome most likely launched both of them further onto the other side if they were not close enough to be vaporized instantly.

Either scenario left a high chance of Leo being killed instantly.

But Donnie couldn’t help but think of what Mikey said.

The whole day after the portal closed on his twin was a bit of a blur for Donnie but he recalled what Mikey had said. He’d said Leo never gave up on them. 

Never gave up on the team, on their family.

There was a very high chance Donnie would be pulling a body out of the prison dimension if he went through with his plan but…

There was a chance he wouldn’t be.

And even if he did, even if he only managed to save a corpse, he couldn’t leave Leo there. He didn’t deserve to rot away in a dimension solely made to lock away monsters. His brother deserved to be laid to rest properly. Especially after what he did to save them.

So, a week post-invasion, Donnie slipped out of the Lair when everyone was asleep and headed for the warehouse where the Foot Clan had set up the first portal. 

There wasn’t much of it left, between him and his brothers rampage and the EPF crews scouring the entire city and cleaning up anything Krang related. Still, Donnie spent a few hours turning the place upside down, scrounging together everything he could before heading home.

Then he had turned to the internet, digging up every crumb, scrap or insinuation of the Krang he could. There was a surprising amount of information, all dismissed as superstition or folklore, but a lot were clear exaggerations of facts and there was very little on how to build a portal.

So he turned to his other option. Or tied to.

Apparently, in case of an alien invasion, the Hidden City would lock down all access points. Which meant until they opened again, Donnie couldn’t sneak into the Mystic Library for more information.

So while he waited, he turned to the key.

His lab was the most secure place in the Lair so no one had questioned when Donnie kept it. And since his family was largely leaving him alone, it gave him ample time to study the key without interruption.

Normal scans showed nothing but a carved wooden idol but since they discovered the Hidden City and mystic powers Donnie had invested a lot of time into building scanners and tests, with a bit of help from Draxum after he’d stopped trying to kill them, for mystic items.

The thing was clearly powerful, it logically had to be to rip through reality, but it also was imprecise. Donnie recalled how both times it was used, the portals had been drastically different. That could be due to the different means the portal had been constructed but Donnie’s scans showed how chaotic the power was. It was wild and erratic, swelling and ebbing at random times and around random objects.

Donnie had scoffed, mentally scolding the four mystic warriors who had first forged the key. He knew they were probably in a hurry but come on, this was just pathetic.

But he could fix that. He just had to use an outside source to control the wild mystic energy.

He had to wait a month before the Hidden City opened again and he wasted no time in getting to the library. It proved to be much more informative than the internet, with more accurate information and much more of it to dig through. 

Sadly, there wasn’t a step by step guide to how to build a portal to another dimension but he did manage to find a manuscript on how the portals between New York and the Hidden City were made.

He doubted the librarian would let him check the books out so took everything he deemed most important and slipped back out.

He studied the new intel for another month before designating a spot at the back of his lab to begin construction, carefully positioning his weapons rack to wall off the space from the rest of the room.

He couldn’t risk anyone finding it before it was ready.

Raph would undoubtedly take everything, smash it to pieces and then scream about the risks of opening the portal again.

But Donnie had already weighed all the risks, that was why he was putting so much time into controlling the key’s power. He wasn’t going to just rip a hole in reality willy-nilly and hope Leo was within grabbing range. He felt confident he could open a portal exactly where Leo was, it would only be opened for a second, just enough to pull his twin through.

But it was taking a lot of time. 

He kept hitting setbacks. He had limited resources, especially since his current lab was still under construction. And Mikey threatening to drag him out of the lab reminded him he had to keep up some appearances. He could only hole up in the lab for so long before his brothers started getting nosy. They’d left him alone as long as they had because everyone was still recovering in some way or another but his and Leo's birthday was the beginning of them pushing him to go out more.

So he turned to…less savory ways to speed up the process. Building an interdimensional gateway went much faster when one took some of the groundwork from outside sources and then built on it.

But it was still slow and it infuriated Donnie.

So much time was being wasted when he had to leave his lab and interact with his family and future Casey Jones.

Spending time with his brothers and sister was alright sometimes but having to be around future boy was borderline unbearable. He couldn’t help but glare at the other teen, bare his teeth and let out quiet hisses whenever the other’s weren’t paying attention.

But of course Mikey picked up on the tension between them and had set about trying to fix it, forcing the pair into situations where they had to interact and wasting more of Donnie’s precious time. Donnie wanted to scream every time Mikey forced him into a room with Jones, a part of him wanted to demand how they could have him in their home after everything. Casey had basically condemned Leo to death, hadn’t given the rest of them time to find another way to save their brother.

The only thing holding Donnie back from throwing Casey out himself was that it would upset Mikey.

Donnie had cameras everywhere and was watching them constantly to ensure no one found his portal. So he saw the way Mikey deflated when no one was watching, how he was still sleeping in Leo’s room even months after the invasion. Mikey was clearly struggling the most but he was also trying so hard to keep everyone happy.

So Donnie let Mikey pull him around, let him coax Donnie into outings and family time and eventually patrols. He couldn’t pretend to like Casey, but Mikey rarely left them alone so Donnie bore the discomfort for his baby brother's sake and tried to keep the hissing to a minimum.

And late at night, when everyone was asleep, he worked.

He ran calculations and simulations, he poured over yokai and human studies into alternate dimensions and portal technology, he stayed on top of technological advancements and snatched up what he needed the second he could.

The months ticked back slowly, and with each passing day more of the portal came to be.

Donnie looked up at the half circle of metal and wires, at the open panels waiting for motherboards and power cells.

He set the stolen mother board on his work station and started uploading the data into his own computer.

It was taking months but he was so close.

He’d get Leo back, he wasn’t going to give up on his brother.

He was so, so close.

Chapter Text

Leo climbed the ladder into the bridge to the sound of Chula talking in a very angry voice. He peeked up before pulling himself all the way up, assessing the situation.

Chula was standing, arms crossed and shoulders tense. Not a good sign.

But she wasn’t wearing her helmet. Good sign.

“I told you, I’m on a job and don’t have time to spare for an escort,” she barked loudly. Bad sign.

Leo hauled himself the rest of the way up and took a running leap so he landed squarely on Chula’s back, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and locking his legs around her middle. “Adu gar jorhaa’ir baylc?” He asked while peering at the holoprojector.

The figure on it was humanoid, except he had very long, elf-like ears, long blue hair that somehow defied gravity by coming into a massive point in the front, and a very shoulder pad heavy, high collared jumpsuit.

“Atin uteekov,” Chula was glaring down at the guy, teeth flashing as her lip curled. Leo had seen many aliens cower from Chula’s snarl, even when it was hidden under her helmet. The guy on the hologram just grinned at her, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Now, why you gotta switch to that Mandana language that no one speaks? That’s pretty uncool of you Chu-Chu! And so is not introducing me to your new compadre back there!”

“Chu-Chu?” Leo gasped, grinning at the stupid nickname.

Chula sighed, “Leonardo, this is Dask of the Neutrinos. Dask, this is Leonardo Hamato.”

“It’s about time you got yourself a new crewmate!” Dask laughed. “How long have you been kickin’ around all by yourself? Way too long if you ask me! But hey, another set of hand will make this little job go faster-”

“I already told you, I’m not taking contracts right now.”

“Come on,” Dask threw his arms up. “You know how hard it is to find guys who won’t nark on us to the Federation? It won’t even be that long, I just need you to escort our ships!”

“Uh,” Leo tapped at Chula’s shoulder, “Meg mhi jorhaa’ir beh?” He could have swapped to Basic but the face Dask made when Leo spoke Mando’a was pretty funny. Plus, he needed the practice. 

Chula sighed again, “I’m going to mute for a second Dask.”

“Wait, no! You can’t-” Dask’s indignant shout was cut off by Chula tapping a button.

“Come on, get off so we can chat,” Chula gave her shoulders a shake, not nearly enough force to dislodge Leo but he let go anyway.

He dropped into his seat, grinning at the silently fuming hologram of Dask, “You finally got a hunt?”

“Not exactly,” Chula took her own seat. “Dask here is part of a rebel group called the Neutrinos. They’re up against the Federation, you remember when I told you about them?”

“Yeah, yeah, the other big powerhouse of tyranny in the universe other than the dino guys. But what does a rebel group have to do with an escort job?”

“In short? Dask wants me to fly along with him and his crew through Federation territory.”

“Okay? How’s that different from the jobs you’ve been taking?”

“For one, the route is from planet to planet and will at least take three days. And it’s out of the way, so that’s another few days to backtrack. So we’re looking at a four day delay and that's without Gungan’s Law.”

Leo blinked, “The what?”

“Gungan’s Law,” Chula said. “If something can go wrong, it will.”

Leo snorted, “And despite aaall that, you haven’t hung up.”

Chula tensed, head ducking to look at the console.

Leo smirked, he knew Chula like family at this point. Helping out a rebel group that was trying to overthrow an oppressive government? Yeah, right up her alley.

He leaned forward in his seat and propped his chin on his fist, “You said we were a few days ahead of schedule anyway. I’m not going to get bent out of shape because you want to help your buddy out.”

Chula looked up and Leo sombered at her serious expression, “You say the word and I’ll hang up. There are other people who can take this job instead of me.”

Leo leveled her with a serious look of his own, “Just take the job.” Then he smirked. “Chu-Chu.”

The tension in the air popped with Chula’s groan, “Ashla’s sake, do not call me that!”

Leo giggled and flopped back into his seat, “Only if you unmute your friend before he explodes.”

Chula rolled her eyes but unmuted the line, “Dask.”

“Finally!” He sighed. “You know, you’re lucky we like you!”

“Yeah, yeah, send me the rendezvous to meet up with your convoy.”

“Wha- really?! Oh, you are the best Chu-Chu, I told you your other contract would be fine, didn’t I say that? And the rest of the crew will be happy to see you again-”

“Coordinates Dask,” Chula interrupted.

“Right, right, rightrightright-” Dask disappeared from the frame and a few seconds later a screen next to Chula flashed.

Leo squinted at the Aurebesh symbols. He’d only recently started learning the little symbols that were on every screen of the Tortuga and it was proving harder to pick up on then speaking Mando’a had been. But he recognized a few numbers.

Dask reappeared on the holoprojector, grinning almost manically, “I’ve got the meetup spot all sent to you, so glad you reconsidered helping us out. I promise you won’t regret it! Oh, Tala and Zak will be thrilled to see you!”

“Yes, yes, I’ll be glad to see you all too. Now cut the line before someone picks up on it.”

“Pfft, no one can track out signals. You know that! But I do gotta get everyone prepped!”

The holoprojector fizzled out and Chula started to input their new destination, “Forewarning, they are very friendly.”

“Nice,” Leo grinned. “Be cool to meet some more friends of yours.”

✧✧✧✧✧

Their destination was a very small, dusty moon in the space equivalent of the middle of nowhere, far away from inhabited planets and surrounded by asteroids.

Leo sat up to look around when the Tortuga shuddered to a stop in the asteroid field, frowning when he saw no ships, “Ibicir staabi naritir?”

“Elek,” Chula replied, pointing out the windshield.

Leo looked, squinting to try and pick out any ship-like shapes. He nearly jumped out of his shell when a particularly large asteroid opened up, releasing two small ships before quickly closing again, “Tion’bor gar haa’taylir ibac?!”

Chula laughed as she turned to meet the oncoming ships. As they got closer, Leo could get a better look at the boxy, dull colored crafts, the shape of them reminded him of old vintage cars but with the windows backed out and no visible doors.

The holoprojector pinged a few times before flickering on. Dask reappeared, along with two other Neutrinos’; another guy with slicked back hair and dark glasses on his face and a woman who’s hairstyle reminded Leo of an ice cream cone.

The girl beamed when she saw Chula, waving enthusiastically, “Chula! It’s been an age girl!”

The second guy grunted in agreement, “Finally done skirting around the Abyss?”

“For now,” Chula said. “Leonardo, this is Tala and Zak, they’re Dask’s main crew.”

“Su’cuy!” Leo grinned

Dask groaned and turned a pleading look to Chula, “He’s not going to speak that the entire time is he?”

Chula and Leo smirked mischievously.

Zak laughed, “Oh no, there’s two of them.”

“As pretty as Mando’a is,” Tala interrupted. “We would love to get to know you Leonardo!”

“Oh, well, since you asked nicely,” Leo said.

Dask groaned again but he was smiling, “Okay crew, enough games! We have a pick up to make!”

“Lead the way captain,” Chula said as she guided the Tortuga into formation.

Tala piped up again when they were back in open space, “Sooo, how did you two meet?”

“I fell on her ship,” Leo answered without hesitation.

✧✧✧✧✧

It took nearly a day to get to the pick-up spot. The ground was full of rocks and cliffs, with the only flat areas being mostly taken up by settlements. They all landed just outside a small town, in a circle of large, cliff like rocks that hid the ships from prying eyes. The Neutrinos had pulled brown hood over their head, keeping their head down as they led Leo and Chula into the settlement.

It was a pretty small town and pretty unremarkable, just normal small buildings and dusty trader stalls and a midday crowd milling up and down the streets. Unremarkable and unnoticed and Leo couldn’t help but grin at the perfect choice the location was.

But no sooner had they entered the borders of the town, Zak and Tala split off from the group. Leo frowned questioningly at Chula.

“Val morut’yc cuun ba’slanar,” Chula explained. “Ret’lini kebise slanar dush.”

“Jat,” Leo replied, eyes scanning the dusty streets of the town for any possible threat.

Dask led them in a lot of circles, weaving between buildings in a confusing path that was probably to shake off anyone that might be following. But finally they ducked into a particularly dark alley and Dask knocked on a very beat up looking door.

The door creaked open on actual metal hinges and a thin, pointed alien peeked out the door. Green skinned and tall, with massive, solid red eyes that took up way too much on his head to look natural.

Dask grinned up at the guy, “Hey, Ventreth, long time no see.”

Ventreth hums and narrowed his eyes at Leo and Chula. He makes a small gesture, so fast Leo almost didn’t catch it.

Apparently Dask did because he waved a hand, “Yeah, they’re cool. The big one is Chu-Chu, I’ve told you about her, haven’t I?”

Ventreth hummed again but pushed the door open more. Dask breezes inside and Chula placeed a hand on Leo’s shoulder as they follow.

The building interior looks a bit like a warehouse, high ceiling, exposed supports, piles of crates and one very rusty fighter ship taking up the majority of the floor space. But what really caught Leo’s eye was the group clustered against the back wall.

There was one clear adult, a human woman dressed in simple gray clothing and with bright pink hair. But around her legs were six, very small, various non-humans. Leo would go as far to say they looked like kids.

Ventreth made more hand gestures and a sharp clicking sound that had the human looking towards them, “About time you got here Dask.” She grumbled.

“Hey, I had to grab an old friend. Isn’t anyone I trust more with getting us all out of Federation space.” Dask stolled over to the woman, smirking at her before softening into a genuine smile for the kids. “Nothing is going to touch us when Chula Verd is around.”

Leo frowned, looking from the group of kids then to Chula, “I feel like I missed a meeting.”

“Cargo doesn’t always mean rations or parts,” Chula said solemnly. “The Federation isn’t above blackmail…or using hostages as leverage.”

Oh. Leo let out a low hiss between his teeth as he looked back at the gaggle of kids, “All of them?”

“No, just the two in good clothing. The rest probably don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Leo winced.

Some of the kids were peeking around Dask, clearing gawking up at Chula. One kid, who looked a bit like a small bear, ventured closer to scrunch his little face up at her and Leo.

Chula huffed a laugh and crouched, “Bold one, aren’t you?”

The kid squeaked and scurried back to the group.

Leo couldn’t help but giggle. The kid looked like a teddy bear, it would impossible not to find his little scamper cute.

“We’re burning daylight,” the woman said, dragging two large crates out of the corner. “The enforcers don’t patrol here much but I don’t want to bank on that luck any longer than we have too.”

The kids all eyed the crates warily and Leo could make a pretty good guess why.

Trooping around the town with six kids would probably look suspicious, especially if someone saw said kids being herded out of town and disappearing.

Chula picked up on the kids' unease too. She walked over to them, pulling off her helmet and reaching into one of the many, many pockets in her jumpsuit. Leo recognized the puzzle cube she pulled out, she’d bought a bunch a few weeks ago and had given Leo one.

The one she had now was held out to one of the kids, “You should have enough light to play, right?”

The kid, a light purple, amphibious looking girl, carefully took the toy, rolling it in her hands before grinning and chittering excitedly. Her excitement over the new toy caused the rest to look up at Chula, who was more than happy to hand out more little toys to them, “Yes, yes, there’s plenty for all of you, don’t worry.”

The kids started to relax, small hands twisting a pulling at their new toys and the apprehension disappeared from their faces in a blink.

Dask was grinning like a loon as he stepped back to stand next to Leo, watching as Chula helped get the kids settled into their hiding spot, “See that? I love it when she comes on these kinds of missions, it makes the whole thing way easier.”

Leo snorted, “What, can’t hand out a few toys?”

“Nah, I don’t have the same vibe she does,” Dask chuckled. “Even when she was being all mopey and brooding, kids would just gravitate to her.”

Leo snorted, “Brooding?”

“Yeah, she was so gloomy when we met her, barely talked, never took off the helmet. I said to her, ‘you need a crew before you go nuts. Being all by yourself on that old rust trap of yours isn’t good for you.’ And I was totally right.” He punched Leo’s arm lightly. “She’s so lively now and I bet it’s all thanks to you kid!”

Leo frowned at that, looking at Chula helping the kids into the crates.

She had been a bit distant when they had first met but she opened up quickly after the Salamandrian incident. She was loud, sarcastic, tactile…Leo was honestly having trouble imaging her being ‘distant’ and ‘brooding’.

…she never did tell him how long she’d been separated from her family. He could imagine becoming pretty surly if he was alone on a ship long enough.

Before he could chase that line of thought anymore the last kid had been settled and the lids closed on both crates.

Dask clapped his hand together as he took one of the boxes, pressing a button on the top that made it start hovering, “Always a pleasure dudes! See you for the next pick up!”

Leo fell in step next to Chula again, taking up the job of pushing the other crate while she replaced her helmet and stood guard.

They ventured back into the town, six kids heavier and with no one the wiser. 

When they were about halfway back, Leo couldn’t help but grin up at Chula, “See? I told you we were going to be fine.”

Chula huffed, “Don’t get cocky verd’ika.”

Leo sighed dramatically, “Oh don’t be such a buzz kill. My fam can wait an extra day while we run errands with your buddy. And this whole thing went off without a hitch.”

Three things happened very quickly after that sentence left Leo’s mouth.

Someone screamed from behind him, loud and piercing and panicked.

The sound of a blaster discharging, two shots echoing through the air.

Leo turned to the sound at the same time Chula’s arm jerked up.

Two shots collided with the armor on Chula’s arm, which would have hit Leo right between the eyes if she’d been a second slower.

Time seemed to freeze as Leo’s brain comprehended what just happened.

Someone tried to blast his head off.

An enraged roar caused time to snap back to normal. Leo looked under Chula’s arm and at the person who’d shot at him. A huge, humanoid tiger was charging right for them, blaster still raised as he fired again.

Chula jumped in front of Leo, drawing her own blaster and returning fire, “Get back to the ship!”

Dask was already moving, sprinting down an alleyway. Leo hesitated, hand automatically going for his weapon.

Chula’s head whipped around for a second, long enough for her to growl at Leo, deep and commanding, “Tok’kad!”

The harshness in her voice made Leo jump, made his limbs start moving before he could think, shoving the crate ahead as he ran after Dask.

Behind him, he heard the tiger roar again and Chula’s answering cry of “K’olar shabuir!” and both of their blasters shreking as people scattered.

Guilt clawed at Leo’s insides as he ran. He had wanted to stay and fight by Chula’s side against whoever this crazy was!

But he was pushing a box of kids and the way she’d snapped at him…it reminded Leo of when Raph ordered a retreat, month ago when the Krang portal had been opened the first time. 

Leo grit his teeth and pushed forward, back towards the ships. He’d get the kids safe first and go back for Chula. She’d taken on bigger and tougher, she’d be fine until Leo got back.

That thought managed to keep Leo focused as he ran after Dask, dodging around the panicking crowd as the sounds of roaring and blaster fire faded.

It probably only took a few minutes but Leo felt like it was an age before he burst out of the town and into the rocky plains around it. He could see the outcrop where they’d parked the ships, see Dask was already halfway there with Zak running at his side.

Leo almost drew his katana when a presence was suddenly next to him but he relaxed a bit when he saw Tala was running next to him.

“What happened?!” she yelled.

“Some psycho started shooting at us!” He shoved the crate towards her and spun. “I gotta go back for Chula!”

“Are you nuts?” Tala yelled but Leo was already running back to the town.

He didn’t bother with trying to navigate the streets, opting instead to find somewhere he could climb onto the rooftops. He fumbled for his comm when he made it onto a roof, “Chula! Chula, come it!”

He could hear her breathing heavily, and the fact the comm was filtering it out sent a chill down his spine, “Chula! Where are you? I’m coming back, just give me an idea where you are!”

“Dunnu,” Chula mumbled. “Got turned…haar’chak, slana’pir…”

“What do you mean you don’t know!”

A blaster went off on Chula’s side of the comm, one that definitely wasn’t hers.

Chula grunted and there was a solid thud, “Leo, listen….that…osi’kovid drugged me with somethin’-”

“He what?!” Leo skidded to a stop, looking around wildly. The little town suddenly felt huge and sprawling. And somewhere in it Chula was in trouble.

He had to find her, fast.

“Listen…” Chula’s growl didn’t have as much bite, her words slurring too much into each other. “Go back, get off planet, I’ll catch up.”

“NO!” Leo almost screamed. He couldn’t…the thought of just leaving her behind, “Please, just tell me where you are!”

“Leo…I’m orderin’ you to run.”

There was a muffled voice and Chula cursed again.

Leo’s breath caught in his throat when he heard the sound of fighting, the sound of something hitting Chula’s armor and her snarling, blasters discharging before Chula yelped.

Air heaved from Leo’s lungs as he looked around, as if being on a roof would show him where Chula was or he could spot where the shots were coming from.

There was another, very loud thud and Chula cried out in pain.

Leo almost dropped the comm as he grabbed his blade, mystic power already building in his limbs.

He shut his eyes and pictured Chula, clenched his fist as he tried to remember what the tiger looked like, focused on the image of both in his mind's eye and sparks of power coursed through him. His heart rate jumped as he lifted his katana, limbs already going rigid in anticipation. 

Leo grit his teeth and shoved down the fear trying to choke him, trying to lock up his joints and force him to stop, trying to snuff out his ninpo before he could use it.

He’d left Raph behind, he’d left his family behind.

He wasn’t going to leave Chula behind. 

He wasn’t going to fail this time!

Leo’s eyes snapped open with a yell and he swung down, shoving all his focus into opening a damn portal!

Blue simmered in front of him, first a sputtering line, then slowly, it expanded.

It was shaky and not anywhere near what he could do at his best but…

But it was solid, it was there and real and Leo had actually done it!

He didn’t dare dwell on the small victory for long.

He dived through the portal, tumbling out on the other side to find himself landing in a dark, dusty alleyway.

Right in front of a very angry, snarling tiger

The tiger bared his teeth, golden eyes flashing with rage as he snarled at Leo, “You wretched brat! I’ll rip you apart!”

Leo gulped and drew his second katana, “Shab.”

Chapter Text

“Shab,” Leo gulped.

The tiger roared and started firing at Leo almost instantly. He jumped back, creating distance as he deflected the bolts and searched the narrow alley for Chula.

He almost missed her, the black paint of her armor making her blend into the shadows. If she was shaking so much he probably would have missed her. She was leaning on a wall further down the alley, staff clutched tightly in one hand and her blaster in the other. Leo briefly wished she didn’t have her helmet on, seeing her face would be nice, help him gauge how bad she was.

He moved towards her, opening his mouth to ask if she was okay, when the tiger was suddenly right in front him.

Leo jumped back, massive claws barely missing his plastron. The tiger snarled, continuing to swipe furiously at Leo, eyes blazing with rage as he roared in Leo’s face, “Little BRAT! I’ll rip you out of your shell!”

Leo’s breath jumped in his lungs. He had heard that kind of tone before, seen that kind of enraged hatred in cold yellow eyes. This tiger guy wasn’t just ‘ticked off merc’ mad. No, this was something personal.

But that…didn’t make sense…

He and Chula had met a handful of other bounty hunters over the last year, a few lone sharks with a bone to pick with Chula personally. But Leo couldn’t recall ticking off a tiger alien enough to warrant such a huge amount of anger at himself.

Leo dodged another attack, “What’s your problem? We didn’t do anything to you! We don’t even know you!”

The tiger snarled, “I am Tiger Claw. And I will not be bested again by an insolent pest like you!”

Leo shivered at the words, a second voice echoing them in his head. But he couldn’t get distracted now, especially when Tiger Claw pulled out a freakishly huge sword.

Who needed a sword that big?!

Leo brought his own twin blades up to block the attack, twisting and spinning out of range. Tiger Claw hissed and arched his own blade up before bringing it down towards Leo again. Leo felt the force of the strike all the way up his arm as he blocked the attack, almost too much for him to hold back but he refused to yield.

His mind started to spin for a plan. He was dealing with a very strong and very angry tiger who seemed very ready to actually rip Leo out of his shell. And as Leo watched, he could see this guy had some real skill behind the blind anger.

Best plan? No mister nice turtle, he needed to get this guy on the ground quickly.

Leo bared his teeth, grip tightening on his katanas as he snarled back at Tiger Claw. He dashed forward, spinning nimbly around the swinging sword aimed at his head and slashing at Tiger Claws' side. 

Tiger Claw moved at the last second, the tip of Leo’s blade only ripping into his clothing, “Bold little thing, aren’t you?”

Leo didn’t like the sneer that had entered Tiger Claws' voice. It sent an uncomfortable shiver up his shell and made his limbs twinge in phantom pain.

But he didn’t let that show. Instead he sneered back, let his ninpo flow through him and light up his stripes, “Oh, you have no idea kitty cat.”

Tiger Claw growled and charged again, and Leo met him blow for blow.

It was a familiar dance for Leo, more so now that Chula had been having him keep a training schedule. Strike, dodge, jump in and jump out, block and twist. He matched Tiger Claw blow for blow, steel striking loudly against steel.

His arms shook under the pressure from Tiger Claw’s attacks but he refused to back down or go on the defensive. He just needed an opening, a gap in the defenses so he could at least incapacitate Tiger Claw long enough to open another portal.

But finding that opening was proving to not be easy. And Leo really didn’t want to mess around with this guy for too long. Chula had said she’d been drugged, he needed to get her back to base and check her over, make sure the drug wouldn’t kill her in the near future.

He twisted away from Tiger Claw, creating the distance he needed before he jumped straight up. He landed hard on Tiger Claw’s chest, raised both his swords over his head and brought them down-

He yelped as both his wrists were clamped into a massive paw, claws digging into his skin. Tiger Claw lifted him, swinging Leo around and slamming him onto the ground. Hard.

Leo hissed when he heard something crack under him, felt a bone shift in his wrist that wasn’t supposed to. He was slammed against the ground again before being lifted, beak to maw with the Tiger Claw.

“You may not be the turtle from my universe,” He hissed, raising his other hand to Leo’s throat. “But I think you’re close enough.”

Leo let one of his katanas drop, kicking it to the far side of the alley before focusing on it. The world tilted, shifting around Leo for a moment as he focused on the blade spinning away from him. He heard Tiger Claw yelp in surprise as he teleported to his blade, sliding further away as he landed, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Of course, Tiger Claw didn’t answer. The shock had worn off quickly and he was pulling out the blaster again. Leo braced, bringing his swords up to deflect the bolts.

A shot fired, and Tiger Claw yowled when a red bolt grazed off his temple and through his ear. The shot surprised Leo but he couldn’t afford to look at where it came from because this was his opening! He dashed forward, swinging his katana up at Tiger Claws face. He jerked back but Leo’s hit still landed, right across Tiger Claw’s eye. He howled in pain as blood poured over his fur, stumbling back and clutching at his face.

Leo spun and ran for Chula. She’d managed to stand up at some point, leaning against the wall of the alley, blaster clutched tightly in her hand and pointed at Tiger Claw. She was still shaking, her trembling was probably why her shot had hit an ear instead of between Tiger Claw’s eyes.

“Hey, hi, hang on, I’m getting us out of here,” Leo pressed himself against Chula’s side, raising one katana to summon a portal. He shut his eyes, focusing on the Tortuga as he cut through the air. The blue vortex was still shaky, still not quite the smooth, seamless energy that he could do but he wasn’t going to complain. He grabbed Chula’s arm, dragging her with him as he ran through the portal.

He stumbled under Chula’s weight and all but fell into the dirt under the Tortuga. Chula didn’t catch herself and fully face-planted into the ground.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Leo scrabbled to roll her onto her back and pull off her helmet. “Please don’t be dead…or brain dead…or mind controlled or something-!”

“Uh.”

The voice made Leo spin around, markings and eyes flashing as he unsheathed a katanas and snarled a warning-

Only to see Tala, standing and staring wide eyed at Leo in utter shock.

Leo quickly resheathed his weapons and forced himself to relax, “Sorry.”

“Can…” Tala gulped. “Is that normal?”

“Yeah, totally,” Leo crouched next to Chula again, turning her face towards him. “Chula? Can you hear me?”

She blinked at him, eyes glazed and pupils way too dilated.

Leo patted her arms and looked at the gaps in his armor, frowning when he couldn’t find any kind of dart or needle. The mentally slapped himself because why would she leave in whatever she was jabbed with. But it did mean he didn’t have anything to figure out what was currently in her system. He tapped at her cheek, trying to get her focus, “Chula? Do you know what he got you with? Hey, hey, focus here!”

Chula’s eyes rolled up at Leo, narrowing at his fingers snapping in front of her nose.

Leo felt Tala coming to stand next to him as he tried to get Chula to respond, “What’s wrong with her?”

“She got drugged and I need to know what with. Come ooon chief, work with me, do you know what that creep gave you?”

Chula blinked at Leo. 

Then burst into tears.

It was so sudden Leo almost thought his eyes were playing tricks. But nope, she was crying. Tears rolled down her face as she whined and clumsily grabbed Leo's hand.

Leo stammered, flapping his free hand, “Dude! Don’t cry, I don’t do well with mushy stuff like that! I’m sorry if I’m freaking you out but please don’t cry!”

“Caaan’t” Chula slurred, tugging at Leo’s hand.

Leo inhaled shakily, “Okay, fine, that’s fine, you can cry all you want, it’s all good-”

“Nooo,” Chula groaned. “Should…shouldn’ ‘ave…gotten stabbed.” Suddenly both her hands were framing Leo’s face, pressing at his cheeks. “I can’t protect you if I’m drunk.”

Leo blinked.

Tala was giggling but Leo just stared at Chula while she sniffled about needing to protect him. She had been shot at and drugged and she was crying about being too drunk to protect Leo.

“You,” Leo grabbed her hands and shook them. “Have very skewed priorities right now!”

“You’re a baaaaby,” Chula whimpered. “I gotta protect you.”

Tala’s giggles turned into a loud laugh. Leo glared at her, baring his teeth, “This isn’t funny!”

“Oh relax, she’ll be fine,” Tala wheezed. “She’s tougher than some inhibitor injections.”

“You don’t know if that’s what she got jabbed with!”

“But I have seen her walk off a sidewinder bite,” Tala said. “Those things have some nasty venom, but she was fine after a few hours. Although,” she looked down at Chula. “She didn’t start crying then.”

Leo huffed and set to work hoisting Chula into a sitting position and pulling her arm over his shoulders, “Look, I don’t know if you guys are on a time table but she’s not going anywhere soon.”

“No sweat,” Tala waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll just call Zak and Dask back and you can fly the ship, easy peasy.”

Leo winced, hissing through his teeth, “Ah, yeeeah, that’s not gonna work.” Oh he’d tried getting her to let him fly a few times but they never seemed to get around to having lessons.

Tala blinked at Leo a few times before realization dawned, “Oh, right, um…I’ll talk to Dask. How about you two get inside and…patch yourselves up.” 

Leo grunted as he stood, heaving Chula up with him. She staggered once she was on her feet, blinking owlishly before looking at Leo, “How’d we get back so fast?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leo started half carrying, half dragging Chula to the Tortuga’s ramp. “Just..just relax for a bit.”

With the adrenaline wearing off, Leo was starting to realize how shaky he felt. His skin felt almost tingly and his limbs had gained a fine tremor. The feeling made him frown as he gilded Chula into the common area.

He’d been in loads of fights, he and Chula had had a minor altercation less then a week before this mission. He hadn’t felt nearly as weird after that fight…okay, that wasn’t much of a fight, the guy could barely throw a punch, but still.

It wasn’t until he was lowering Chula down on the couch and trotting back outside to gather up the dropped gear that it clicked. He’d felt this way the first few times he’d used portals, all weird and shaky. It made sense, he hadn’t portaled in almost a year. But the realization filled him with both a sense of joy and opened a pit in his gut.

He was excited because his ninpo was finally working properly and he teleported! But he was almost back to square one on the skill. He hadn’t felt this shaky after using his powers in ages and the fact he was shaking almost as bad as Chula after only portaling twice made him hiss in frustration.

But he couldn’t think too hard on that, and frankly he didn’t want to. Tala may think Chula would just bounce back but Leo didn’t want to treat this nearly as flippantly. The last thing he wanted was for Chula to take a bad turn and no one notice because they assumed she’d be fine. So it was up to Leo to keep an eye on her until the drug was out of her system and make sure she didn’t up and die on him.

He returned to the common area quickly, dumping Chula’s helmet, staff and blaster by the couch before frowning down at her.

Ideally, he’d get the armor off so she’d be more comfortable. But he didn’t even know how all the pieces stayed on her half the time. He experimentally tugged at a pauldron, trying to wiggle it off the jumpsuit. 

Chula opened one eye to watch him. She snorted when he tried to pull the armor off by twisting it, “That’s not gonna work.”

Leo glared at her, “Well how does it work? How do you attach half this stuff anyway?”

“Veeeelcro~,” Chula almost sing-songed as she reached up and started taking off her armor.

Leo watched, still confused at how the pieces stayed firmly on the jumpsuit with velcro and how Chula could just take them off without any problems, even while high as a kite.

She placed it all in a neat pile, almost reverently, before looking up at Leo with a dopey grin, “You-you know Manda…Mando, we pass our armor down?”

Leo hummed as he went to get water from the kitchen, “That’s kinda neat.”

“Mine was buir’s first,” Chula explained. “And…and his buir’s before. And his…before…we’ve had it a loooong time.”

“Really?” Leo came back and sat down next to Chula on the couch. “It doesn’t look that old.”

“Beskar,” Chula said the word very solemnly. “Beskar…is real good stuff. Can hold up against lightsabers…” she rolled her head to look at Leo. “I kept buir’s colors…so he’d stay close to me…” She trailed off, eyes going teary again and Leo couldn’t help but cringe at the implication of her statement.

“Can you drink?” He asked, shaking the water jug he’d grabbed. “Or are you going to choke on it?”

Chula made a low grumbling sound and rolled so that she was sitting up on her side. She reached for the water but her hand grabbed at the air next to it instead. Leo cringed as she tried again and missed, “Okay, don’t- here, let me.”

Leo helped her gulp down some water, holding the container while she drank until she pushed it away and flopped back down, “You’re such a good kid…the beest…the squad would love you sooo much.”

“Well, duh, I’m a very lovable person.”

“Yeah, but, but.” her arm shot up and waved in the air. “But lisssten…they’d love you…even Seena would and she hates everything…I think…she's hard to read…” she paused before frowning again, arm dropping onto her chest. “I miss her…ha, that’s funny…we don’t even get along…but I miss her…and the kids…and Astra.”

The tears were back, Chula sniffled miserably and Leo awkwardly patted her arm, “Uh…you’ll see them again soon.”

“Nooo,” Chula whined. “I’ve been lookin’...lookin’ for five years Leo…I can’t find them.”

Leo froze, “You’ve been by yourself for five years?”

Chula closed her eyes and whimpered, “I miss home.”

Leo could relate on some level, even if he’d only been lost in space for a year, it still sucked. But five years…he was having enough trouble dealing with one. He couldn’t image being away from his home and family for five years-

There was a knock on the hold door.

“Who goes?” Leo hollered, pressing a hand on Chula’s shoulder when she tried to sit up.

Dask opened the door, grinning down at where Leo was trying to keep Chula from getting up, “Hey boss, how’s Chu-Chu doing?”

Chula groaned, loudly, “That nickname is STUPID!”

“She’s pretty out of it,” Leo said. “I think we’re stuck here for a bit.”

“Oh, but you are not,” Dask beamed, putting his hands on his hips. “Since we only brought two ships, I'm going to pilot this old can. If we run into trouble, Chula has some pretty sick weapons on it.”

“Tortuga!” Chula managed to sit up to point very angrily at Dask. “She’s called the Tortuga!”

“Is it?” Dask frowned. “Thought you said naming the ship was dumb.”

“I didn’t…didn’ like it when I said that,” Chula growled. “Like it now. Leo made it better…so don’t crash her.”

“Ha,” Dask laughed. “Good job Leo. And don’t worry, I’m an amazing pilot.”

Chula shook her head, hard enough that she tilted against Leo, “He lie…he drives like…like Skywalker.”

Dask giggled behind his hand, “Maybe we should move her to the bridge. Ya’know, to keep an eye on her.”

Leo gave Dask a very flat look.

The Neutrino raised his hands in surrender and started walking out, “Kidding, kidding. You two have fun, I’ll yell if we run into trouble.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Leo turned back to Chula, pushing her off his shoulder. “Okay, we should make sure you’re not hurt or anything.”

Chula blinked at Leo and pointed to his belt.

Leo looked and groaned when he saw his emblem was cracked, “I meant, like, cuts and stuff. I can get Dee to fix that when I get home.”

“I can fix it…” Chula made grabby hands at Leo. “I’m the fixer…’m good at fixing.”

“Well then help me fix any injuries you might have,” Leo grumbled as he pulled open the first aid pouch on his belt.

“Oookay kiddo.”

The Tortuga rumbled to life as Leo was checking Chula over for injuries. He didn’t find anything serious, only a few scrapes on her hands, a blaster graze where the flight suit didn’t fully cover her ankle, and the whole being drugged situation.

After dabbing bacta on her injuries, Leo tended to his own cuts and scrapes. He carefully prodded his wrist before concluding it was sprained and not broken before wrapping it in dry gauze. He wasn’t hurt much beyond that, other than a few scraps here and there and the small cuts on his wrists where Tiger Claw’s claws had dug in.

Then he settled back to wait, Chula muttering and babbling next to him.

Personally, he thought this whole trip wasn’t going too bad.

Chapter Text

At some point, between keeping an eye on Chula and occasionally peeking into the bridge to check on Dask, Leo fell asleep.

He hadn’t meant to, but he went from sitting next to Chula, absently agreeing with all the weird ramblings that came out of her mouth, to blinking awake in a darkened common area. He’d been moved to a lying position on the couch with a bunched up blanket under his head and another tucked securely around him.

Looking around, Leo groaned when he realized that Chula and her armor were gone, meaning he’d been out for awhile. He shoved the blanket off, stretching and yawning widely before sleepily making his way towards the bridge.

He heard Chula before he even got to the ladder.

“Again, no, you cannot fly anymore! I’m fine now so there is no reason for you to be hot roddin’ my ship across the system.”

“Aw, come on Chu-Chu,” Dask whined. “I was being careful! I wouldn’t dream of hurting this beaut!”

Leo climbed into the bridge in time to see Chula glare at Dask, “I’ve heard you call her a hunk of scrap. Many times.”

“Ah, ah-ha,” Dask chuckled nervously, eyes darting back and forth until he spotted Leo. “Well hi Leo! You have a good nap? Chula said you were out like a light!”

Leo hummed as he walked to the front, taking his usual seat, “I’m just glad we’re not going to be doing anymore rolls.”

Chula’s glare hardened as Dask spluttered, “I did not roll the ship! And even if I did, the grav-sim would have made everything feel normal!”

“Hm, guess you were spinning pretty fast than,” Leo yawned. “It’s a miracle I didn’t get sick.”

“I did notice the room spinnin’ a lot,” Chula added.

Dask looked between them both, jaw opening and closing in baffled shock before he finally huffed and spun on his heel, “I need to check in with my crew!”

Leo and Chula didn’t reply, holding their very serious expressions until Dask had left.

Chula broke first, snickering through her teeth and setting Leo off in a fit of giggles.

“Okay, to be fair,” Leo choked out between his laughs. “He didn’t do too bad.”

“Only because he knows I’d strangle him if he did anythin’ too crazy,” Chula replied.

The pair lapsed into silence for a few moments, just listening to the sounds of the ship and watching the stars slip by.

But then Chula spoke, “So…teleporting. Is that new?”

Leo couldn’t help but tense and shrink a bit into his shell. He was pretty sure Chula wouldn’t be mad but it was also a pretty big thing that he’d never brought up. In his defense, how does one explain that they usually have super boss powers but he couldn’t use them over the last couple months because every time he tried, it felt like his chest was going to explode?

Chula continued when he didn’t reply, “Remember when I said you could keep your secrets? That still applies here. I won’t ask if you don’t want to tell me but I’m not gonna lie, I am wonderin’ why I’ve never seen you do that before.”

Leo hesitated again, “Um…it hasn’t been working right lately.”

Chula hummed, brow pinching in thought, “Wanna talk about it?”

Leo shook his head, “No…I mean…maybe not right now.”

Chula nodded and they were quiet again.

Until she suddenly slapped the arm of her seat, “That’s how you landed on my shabin’ ship! You teleported!”

Leo snorted, “Portaled, actually. I can do both.”

“Eh, same concept, different transport.”

Leo snorted again before sobering, “I don’t know if you remember but…that tiger dude said something really weird.”

“Remind me? That whole fight is kinda fuzzy after he threw me into the alley.”

“Right. Well, he said something about getting revenge, which is weird because I have never seen him before. Then he said I wasn’t the turtle from his universe? That’s weird right?”

“Unless you’ve been sneakin’ out and causing trouble, yeah, that’s weird,” Chula hummed to herself. “Maybe he was just nuts?”

“I don’t know…could there be turtle-like aliens out there that ticked him off?”

Chula shrugged, “Probably. I’ve met one or two but they don’t look quite like you do. And what idiot picks a fight with someone who kinda looks like the person they're mad at?”

Leo shrugged, “One that looks like a big tiger?”

Chula snorted, “Yeah. Hopefully we roughed him up enough that he’ll leave us alone.”

Leo nodded in agreement, settling into his seat.

He probably should tell Chula about his ninpo, break down what his problem was. She had already kind of helped him with the home sickness so she could probably help with this. 

He looked down at his hand, opening and closing it into a fist a few times. He could feel the mystic power in his skin, stronger than it had been in months.

Maybe Leo would practice some in his own time first.

✧✧✧✧✧

The next few hours to the Neutrinos drop off was thankfully uneventful.

They dropped down on another out of the way dustball with no name. There was a much bigger ship waiting there that kinda looked like a sixties party wagon in Leo’s option, only with chunky wings and a lot bigger.

He was happy to see all the kids they’d picked up uninjured and happily ooo-ing and aw-ing at the new ship. He glanced at Chula, spotting her smiling softly at the scene.

Dask stomped down the Tortuga’s ramp behind them, stretching his arms over his head, “Well, that was an experience!”

Chula huffed, “You say that everytime we work together.”

“Aw, good old Mando luck I guess!” Dask chuckled as he reached over to slap Leo on the shell. “And a little magic turtle luck this time!”

“What can I say?” Leo smirked. “I’m a lucky kinda guy.”

Chula laughed, shaking her head. Leo puffed himself up a bit, crossing his arms and shooting her a glare.

Dask laughed as well, giving Leo’s shell another firm smack before stepping back from the pair, “Mind staying on the ground until we take off? We’re outta the Feds territory but you never know!”

Chula flicked her hand dismissively, “We’ll wait until your crew is out of range before take off. Safe travels to you all.”

“And to you as well, my friend!” Dask waved as he trotted over to where Tala and Zak were waiting for him.

Chula huffed and sat down at the bottom of the ramp. She pulled a tablet out of her belt, popping it open and pulling up her map. Leo sat next to her, leaning on her shoulder so he could watch.

“So this entire thing put us a little behind,” Chula explained as she brought up their planned route to Terra and started drawing paths to get back on it. “But I think I can get us back on track pretty quick. We have extra fuel stored up so we won’t have to stop for at least two weeks and the rest of our supplies are in good shape.”

Leo nodded, only half listening as he alternated between watching the map and watching the Neutrinos herd the kids into the party wagon ship. He noticed the little amphibian girl had paused before going inside, turning to look back at the Tortuga.

Leo grinned and elbowed Chula to get her attention. She grunted and looked up, just in time to see the little girl wave at them. Leo grinned broadly and waved back, elbowing Chula again, “You’ve got a fan muchacho!”

Chula elbowed Leo back, “She won’t even remember me in a few years.”

“Oh, I bet she will!” Leo said.

The little girl waved again before turning and running into the ship. Leo grinned as he watched it close up and the engine started up with a loud rumble.

Leo watched it lift off as the Neutrinos smaller ships started up to follow, “Bet she’s gonna tell this story to her kids someday.”

Chula chuckled, shaking her head, “Sure verd’ika.”

✧✧✧✧✧

After they took off again, Leo had run for the hold, eager to try making portals.

He stopped in the middle of the floor, kicking aside scrap to make room before drawing one blade. He spun it, the metal singing as he dropped into an opening stance.

He paused.

His hands tightened on the hilt.

He’d been panicking a bit before, high on adrenaline and fear that he was going to lose Chula. But now…

He shook his head, “Focus, you did it twice only a day ago. Third time won’t be any sweat.” Leo spun his blade again before raising it over his head. “Don’t need it to go far anyway. Just a little portal to start.”

Leo took another breath and shut his eyes.

He felt the warmth of his ninpo flood through him.

Felt some part of himself recoil from it in an almost primal fear.

He pushed the fear away as he swung in a downward arch.

His eyes snapped open at the same time as his portal.

It was pretty small but he’d been going for that, planning to just scratch his own shell before moving to something bigger. And it worked! He could see his own shell right in front of him! His eyes locked onto a spot partly hidden under his scarf and it hit him that he hadn’t had a good look at his back since he escaped the Krang.

He vaguely recalled Chula putting a lot of bacta on his back.

He pulled at his cowl so he could see better. He knew it should be a lot worse and the reason it wasn’t was because of miracle space goo. But the very clear spot where his shell had been cracked still made Leo’s lungs seize. It was healed, but there were dozens of tiny lines splintering out, going from the smooth, unblemished scutes to a slight dip of new shell that all converged into one massive healed over chuck near the top. 

He could imagine what it looked like when it happened, when the cracks were still fresh. He shivered at the memory of something cracking as he was tossed around, of not being able to move without pain.

The portal winked out of existence and Leo gasped out a breath he didn’t notice he’d been holding. He lifted one hand up to touch the edge of his shell over his shoulder. He sucked in a shaky breath and shivered at the mental image of his broken shell now imprinted in his brain.

“Hey.”

Leo jumped at Chula’s voice, pointing his katana at her.

She raised her hands in surrender, “Same side verd’ika.”

Leo dropped the point down again, ducking his head in embarrassment.

Chula tilted her head at him, stepping closer, “You okay? You look pale.”

Leo glanced up again, “I just…” he paused, took another breath. “I thought the bacta fixed everything.”

Chula frowned, “Are you in pain?”

“No! I have a piece of my shell missing!” Leo turned so she could see the damage. “Why didn’t you ever mention this?”

Chula frowned, “It’s healed.”

“No it isn’t! There’s a chunk missing!”

Leo wasn’t sure why he was so upset about it. His shell was technically healed but…

Chula stepped closer and placed a careful hand under the scarring of his shell, “I messed up.”

“No, no, I don’t know,” Leo sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I dunno, it’s just…I don’t know.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. It’s like you said. It’s technically healed.”

Chula hummed, “Technically.”

Her hand moved to the edge of one crack. Leo was hyper aware of each one now, he could almost see Chula’s claw tracing the mark.

She kept talking, “You haven’t said much about what you were fightin’ before I found you but I image it was something pretty scary.”

Leo snorted, “Yeah, he was.”

“Pretty tough too I bet.”

Leo shrugged.

“Seen a few guys like that, scary and powerful. Comes with the deal of followin’ a Jedi around.” She pulled her hand back and stepped around to stand in front of Leo. “And yet, here we are.”

Leo frowned, “What?”

Chula gestured to herself, then at Leo, “Fate, the universe, the Force, whatever you wanna call it, it throws stuff at us to try and knock us down, kick us down a peg. And yet we’re here, alive and livin' our lives with a few extra scars. And sooner or later, those’ll fade too.”

She placed a firm hand on his shoulder, “You wanna talk, I’m here. You don’t want to? I’m still here.”

Leo couldn’t help an exasperated groan, “Yeah, yeah, you’re in my corner or whatever.”

“And I will keep tellin’ you that until you quit havin’ freakouts and not tellin’ me,” She playfully growled the sentence out, bapping Leo lightly on shoulder. “But seriously, you okay now?”

“Yeah, yeah, I think so,” Leo inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly. “Could you-”

“I’m just a yell away,” Chula replied easily as she left the hold.

Leo waited a few seconds before going back to practicing. 

✧✧✧✧✧

It was dark.

It was way too dark.

And the floor was missing. Leo was pretty sure the floor wasn’t supposed to be missing.

He felt cold. Which was weird because it wasn’t Christmas yet. Or maybe it was? Time was weird.

Leo kicked out, trying to find the floor.

A low hiss made him twist around, reaching for his katana. Only his hand closed on empty air. Panic surged in his chest as he raised both hands to grasp at where the blades should be.

There was a low laugh and something slammed into Leo’s back.

Leo tried to scream as massive clawed hands closed around him, but there was barely a sound. He was slammed down into a floor that hadn’t been there before. Once, then twice, three times before a massive weight started pressing him down into the ground.

Leo struggled, clawing at the ground, trying to drag himself away but the thing holding him down wouldn’t budge. He looked around frantically, trying to find something to help, or someone, anyone.

He screamed again but it was drowned out by his shell making a loud cracking sound. Leo froze at the sound, mouth open in a silent yell as the hand kept pressing down on him, pressing down more and more on his fracturing shell, ripping into his spine, please, STOP-

His eyes shot open as he all but fell out of his bunk. He managed to catch himself but he still ended up sitting on the floor, breathing heavily and frantically groping in the dark for his weapons.

He almost sobbed in relief when his hand bumped into one of his katanas. He grabbed up both blades, pulling them close as he tried to slow his jackknifing heart rate, tried to focus enough to open a small portal. 

It took him two tries before the blue doorway finally opened. The light from the portal illuminated the room softly, just enough for Leo to see his shell.

It was still cracked but…the damage was healed over, new cartilage covering where he’d been crushed. 

Leo stayed on the floor for a few moments, focusing on getting his breathing under control. He had had a few nightmares over the year but that one…he hadn’t had one that bad in awhile.

He’d dealt with the bad ones by himself before, when Chula was still a stranger he was hitching a ride with and by the time they became friends, most of the bad ones had tampered off and he’d been fine dealing with them alone.

He didn’t want to be alone after that one.

Leo tucked his katanas under one arm and pulled his blanket around his shoulders before venturing into the hallway. The night cycle automatically shut off most of the Tortuga’s lights, but there were still few active ones along the floor, just enough for Leo to pad his way to Chula’s room without tripping. He hesitated for a second at the door but the hallway was cold so he pressed the panel to open the door.

Chula sat up the second the door opened, hand moving under her pillow before she saw Leo. She blinked at him, eyes reflecting the low lights like a cat’s.

Leo shuffled awkwardly in the doorway, “I don’t wanna sleep alone tonight.”

“Okay,” Chula sat up, scooting to the edge of her bunk. “You want the one above me?”

Leo shook his head.

Chula smiled and patted the mattress under her, “Come on.”

Leo didn’t need more encouragement. He dumped his katana’s next to the bunk and clambered in, curling up with his shell facing the wall. Chula settled next to him, a solid mass between Leo and the door. He pressed against her back, letting her body heat chase away the last of the chill in his bones.

Leo shut his eyes and let his mind drift away back to a wonderful, dreamless sleep with the sounds of someone else breathing next to him.

Chapter Text

Casey felt like he should leave.

He’d hoped that after almost a year things would settle. Not completely fixed but…some semblance of a normalcy. Not perfect, or whole, because they needed Leonardo for that but maybe something that felt like home.

And in some ways, he did feel at home in the Hamato’s Lair. Raphael, Michelangelo, Splinter and April had all taken great steps to make him feel comfortable and help him adjust to his new life.

And it was great! He was learning so much everyday between them all chipping in. He felt more relaxed then he had in…well, ever, and he had a warm bed every night and could go outside without constantly watching his back.

But…Donatello.

He didn’t blame Donnie for hating him, hell, he hated himself for basically killing Leonardo a second time.

But the fact Donnie had only said a few words to Casey since that day made something uncomfortably squirm in his guts. And he felt guilty for that too, because he had no right to crave Donnie’s attention, but he still wanted it desperately.

He knew this younger Donnie and his Donnie weren’t really the same but…aside from Master Leonarndo, Donnie had been closest to Casey. He’d spent most of his time on base, only going out on critical missions with his brothers and April. And since Casey’s mom went out on missions a lot, it had resulted in Casey spending a lot of time with Donnie.

He’d gotten a love for mechanics from Donnie, learned how to rip apart scrap and recycle it into weapons and gear. One of his fondest memories was building his hockey stick with Donnie, shortly after mom died. Casey had slunk into Donnie lab, holding out his rough sketch of the weapon and mumbling about how he wanted to honor his mom. Donnie had nodded and stood by helping Casey with the whole process.

Maybe that’s why it hurt so much when this younger Donnie looked at him with cold hatred and spoke to him with clipped words. Neither Donnie was good without outward emotion but the pure venom in every sidelong glance or passive aggressive sentence stung like a physical blow.

But he’d still hoped that, with time, things would get a little better, that some of the ice would thaw between them.

But ten months later and the tension only seemed worse. Donnie rarely left the lab, only venturing out if Mikey physically dragged him. And he barely said a word to anyone outside of absolute necessity. 

Casey’s presence in the Lair was clearly not helping Donnie.

He’d thought about leaving a few times. Told himself he should just pack up and leave New York behind him.

But…the thought of actually leaving made him feel cold all over. He didn’t want to be alone, didn’t want to just wander aimlessly from place to place. And maybe it was selfish but he loved living with the Hamatos. He loved Raph’s bear hugs and Mikey’s amazing food and Splinters weird shows and April dragging him to the surface to do ‘teen stuff’. And if he left, he wouldn’t have any of it anymore.

So he stayed and tried to give Donnie a wide berth. He knew it was selfish staying when he had no right to this family but he was too scared to do more than think about leaving.

If there was one positive in the entire situation, avoiding Donnie was pretty easy. Like right then, since Mikey didn’t have any excuses to pull Donnie out of the lab. So Casey was free to roam around without worrying too much.

It’d actually be a pretty good day if he didn’t feel so…on edge. He wasn’t sure why or what could have triggered it but Casey felt like there was a hammer somewhere poised to drop. His skin felt itchy and his hands twitched and he couldn’t relax his shoulders at all.

The nervous energy made him want to fully gear up, but not want to leave the Lair. He paced around the entire perimeter of the Lair, trying to dispel all the nervous energy bubbling in his limbs.

But he couldn’t quite get rid of the uneasiness in his gut, telling him something was off.

He heard Raph lumbering over awhile before the snapper spoke to him, “You alright Casey?”

“Yup!” Casey answered without hesitation, grinning up at Raph. “Everything’s fine!”

“Uh-huh,” Raph made a show of looking Casey up and down. “Raph thinks you’re lying.”

“It’s…” God, Casey sucked at lying, He looked down at his feet, rubbing his arm. “I guess I just feel…jumpy today.”

“Raph can relate to that,” the turtle nodded very sagely as he said it. “I usually spar with Buddy.”

“Buddy?” Casey frowned.

“Yeah, he used to be a Foot Ninja,” Raph waved a hand. “But he’s not around too much anymore, since Dee gave him a wax seal he’s been traveling around a lot. Buuuuut, a few rounds of Lethal Conflict are a close second. We could play for a bit? See if it helps?”

Casey hesitated, then nodded slowly, “Couldn’t hurt.”

“Awesome!” Raph patted him on the shoulder. “I'll grab April and Mikey too, we can make a night of it!”

Casey nodded again, plastering on a grin.

Raph smiled back, wide and toothy, before he ran off to collect the family.

Casey nodded to himself as he made his way to the TV room. Raph was probably right, he just needed a distraction. He’d play a few rounds and the jittery feeling would go away. He rolled his shoulders, forcing them to relax as he started the calm breathing exercise that Master Leonardo taught him.

Everything was fine, he was just having a paranoid day.

Everything was fine.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the Lair suddenly turned red.

Alarms blared loudly with the flashing red lights and a recording of Donnie mumbling, “Intruder, Intruder, Intruder.”

Casey bolted towards the Lair’s entrance, whipping out his hockey saw out with a loud whirr. He could hear the others yelling, probably scrabbling for their own weapons, but he focused on the entrance, skidding to a stop and planting his feet, waiting for the threat to come through.

A low, manic cackle echoed from the sewers and a single glowing eye appeared from the darkness, “Awww, how cute!”

Casey froze.

No, they won, they WON. It couldn’t be back, please.

The female Krang crawled from the shadows, long tentacle arms oozing across the turnslides, a cruel, demented smile of sharpe teeth sneering down at him. Casey could smell rot in the air, the Krang reeked of it and he’d hoped it was another thing left in the future.

“Lady Brainface!” April skidded to a stop next to Casey, bat flaring with green fire. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Area fifty-one?”

“Ha! You think your pitiful human cages could contain me!” Lady Brainface cackled again. “Now, I believe you have something of mine.”

“Like we’re telling you that!” Raph snarled from behind Casey. “We kicked your slimy butt once already!”

“And we’ll do it again!” Mikey’s words were punctuated by his mystic chinese lashing out at Lady Brainface.

She skittered away from the attack, screeching loud enough to snap Casey out of his stupor. He sprung into action alongside April and Raph, screaming out a battle cry as they charged after the Krang. But she was fast, dodging around their attacks like a snake and lashing out with powerful limbs.

Through the ringing in his ears, Casey heard Master Splinter yell, saw his furry little body streak through the air and kick Brainface between her eye and the hole in her head. She rolled across the floor, crashing into the couch in the common area before righting herself.

Her hiss was interrupted by a loud pop and a glowing purple net coming down on top of her.

“Donnie!” Mikey cheered as all eyes looked up.

Donatello stood on the catwalk outside his Lab, still glowing with mystic energy, eyes wide and teeth bared in an expression of pure rage.

Lady Brainface writhed under the net, screaming in rage before suddenly jerking up, hard enough to snap the net and make it disappear.

Raph snarled and charged forward, red energy enclosing his arm in a massive fist. Lady Brainface smirked before slipping out of the way, wrapping one tentacle arm around his neck before throwing him. Raph went flying into a wall with a loud thwack that made Casey wince.

Mikey and Splinter ran to where Raph had fallen. Donnie looked ready to jump down into the fray but Brainface was faster. She launched herself up, crashing into Donnie and sending them both tumbling back into the Lab.

“Go, go, go!” April yelled as she grabbed onto Casey’s shoulders. He shot out a zipline, pulling both himself and April up to the lab door before running inside.

Donnie and Lady Brainface were still moving, spinning around each other and trading blows, knocking each other into work benches and walls.

“Where is my Key you little rat!” Brainface screeched as she grabbed Donnie and threw him at the weapons rack.

The entire wall crashed to the ground in a cacophony of noise, laser guns, harpoons, and ninja weapons scattering across the floor.

Casey barely heard it.

His feet were stuck to the floor again, breath stuttering in his chest.

It wasn’t anything like the other portals. It was made from sleek metal, unpainted and unadorned, no candles or weird symbols or fleshy structuring.

But the Key was locked into it, casting everything in a sickly pink glow.

“Donnie…” the word almost sounded pushed out of April's chest.

“Well, well, well!” Lady Brainface laughed, lifting Donnie off the floor with a tentacle coiled tightly around his middle. “You’ve saved me a bit of time little turtle!”

“Piss off!” Donnie hissed as he brought his Bo over his head, forming a rocket powered hammer.

The weapon crashed right on Lady Brainface’s head, making her screech in pain and flail out wildly. Casey and April dived out of the way as Donnie was slammed into a control panel.

Casey heard the low humming of something powering up. His eyes shot to the portal, widening when he saw electricity sparking inside the metal ring and lights starting to flash.

“NO!” Both Donnie and Casey cried out.

Casey scrabbled for the key, pulse roaring in his ears as he begged his body to move faster. He’d fixed it, he’d fixed everything, it couldn’t happen again, he couldn’t lose someone else, please-

The portal almost screamed as energy poured into it and Casey dove for the Key.

His hand closed around the wood.

He felt a three fingered hand seize his shoulder.

He saw April out of the corner of his eye, grabbing at Donnie.

He heard the Krang screeching, somewhere behind him.

He thought he heard Raph yell something.

And then everything went white with a loud pulse of energy.

And then Casey was floating. The world had disappeared around him, except for the hands grabbing at his arms and the old wooden Key clutched in his hands.

No sound, no gravity, just empty, silent, nothingness.

Time froze, maybe for moments, maybe hours.

And then sounds suddenly rushed back with a pop and they were falling.

Casey crashed onto hard concrete, air wheezing out of his lungs as Donnie landed on top of him in a small, “Ow.”

He blinked his eyes open, relaxing slightly when he saw the Key safely in his hands.

He’d stopped the portal, they were fine. Now they just needed to take care of-

“Ah, hell, not this again!”

Casey didn’t know that voice.

He scrambled to his feet, bucking Donnie off in the process, spinning to look for whoever had spoken.

And felt like a rug had been yanked from under his feet.

Because they were not in Donnie’s lab anymore. 

Or in the Lair.

The room they were in looked a little like the Lair, except there wasn’t any graffiti on the walls, and the ceiling was too low, and everything looked too dark and grungy.

And there was another mutant turtle standing on a landing above them, red mask over solid white eyes and glaring down at the three teens.

“Seriously, can’t go a week without any weird stuff happenin’,” the turtle grumbled in a  brooklyn accent.

“Well, at least it’s not as bad as last time.”

Casey looked around wildly for the second voice before he spotted another turtle. He looked almost exactly like the first one, except his scales were more olive green and his mask was purple.

Casey’s tongue felt way too big to form words as his brain tried to figure out what had just happened and what he was looking at. He turned to April and Donnie, both of whom looked just as stunned as he felt.

April recovered first, pointing her bat between the two turtles, “Who the heck are you two and where the heck are we?!”

The purple masked turtle opened his mouth to reply but Donnie scoffed loudly and lowered his bo staff, “They are clearly alternate dimensional versions of myself and Raph.”

“Er,” Other Donatello smiled and shrugged. “Basically. Don’t worry, we’ve had this happen before. I’ll have you three back in no time!”

“Yes, yes,” Donnie was clearly not paying attention anymore, instead tapping at his wrist tablet. “I have taken the liberty of signaling the rest of our family to this location. It would appear the portal pushed us quite far apart.”

“Hey!” Other Rapheal jumped down from his perch. “You can’t just put a beacon on our Lair buddy!”

Casey couldn’t help but stare. He’d thought the other Rapheal looked short but now that he was on the same level as the rest of them…he was really short. It looked weird.

“Relax, your location is perfectly safe. The signal for the trackers only works if you have my tech. And while we wait,” Casey jumped when Donnie suddenly turned to him, eyes narrowing and reaching out a hand. “I’d like the Key now, if you don’t mind.”

Casey jerked back, clutching the Key closer.

April zipped around Donnie, putting herself firmly between them, “Oh, no, no, nope, nu-uh, not giving you that! Because apparently you thought it was a good idea to use the thing!”

“If we’re going to get home we need another portal,” Donnie growled. “And it will be faster if I have the Key that opened said portal.”

“Nnnnope!” April popped the ‘p’ in the word as she pushed Casey more firmly behind her. “We’re waiting for Raph and you’re going to explain what the heck you were doing!”

Donnie hissed, actually hissed! , at April. Casey shuffled back a few more steps, almost running into other Rapheal…they needed to come up with some nicknames.

Other Rapheal looked at Casey, than back at Donnie and April, “Geez, what the hell is goin’ on here?”

Casey swallowed hard, “Um…it’s a long story.”

“I’ll bet,” Other Rapheal looked towards his brother, who was staring at the fight brewing. “Ay, yo, Don! Quit catching flies and call everyone, would ya?”

Don startled, shaking his head and fumbling at his belt, “Right, right, I’ll get on that. Leo and Master Splinter might take awhile to get back but-”

“Just call ‘em,” Rapheal grumbled as he walked away. “I’m gonna wait by the door for the rest of ‘em.”

Casey blinked, looked at April and Donnie one more time, and then ran after Rapheal, still clutching the Key in a death grip.

He doubted Donnie could slap together another portal before everyone else got there but-

The thought of what could have happened made Casey shiver, made his throat and chest tight and his heart rate jump. They’d barely beat the Krang the first time and it had cost them dearly.

And Donnie had almost…he’d almost…

Casey bumped into Rapheal’s shell.

The turtle looked over his shoulder, raising an eye ridge, “You’re an alternate Casey, right?”

He nodded.

Raphael snorted, “Awful quiet for a Casey if you ask me.”

“I’m…” Casey swallowed. “I’m technically Casey the second. My mom is…the original?”

“You serious?!” Raphael laughed. “Man, that’s rich! Casey is gonna love that.”

Casey wasn’t sure how to reply to that. So he nodded and shifted from foot to foot while he waited for everyone else to show up.

The wait wasn’t too awkward. Raphael didn’t try to strike up conversation and Casey was quietly happy about that. He had way too much rattling around in his head to carry on small talk.

It still felt like ages before he saw a massive, spikey silhouette in the sewer tunnel.

“Raph!” Casey dashed forward, flinging himself into Raph’s plastron and letting the turtle basically pick him up in a hug.

“Hey Cas man!” Raph squeezed Casey close, nuzzling his chin on top of Casey’s hair. “Glad you’re okay. We we’re just getting into Dee’s lab when everything went white.”

“We thought we lost you man!” Mikey almost wailed as he clambered over Raph to join the hug. “We woke up in the middle of nowhere.”

Splinter piped up from next to Raph, “Why are there two Reds? And why is this one tiny?”

Casey turned to look at said short Rapheal. He was staring at Raph, eyes wide and jaw clenched. Casey couldn’t see his pupils but he was pretty sure Rapheal was looking his Raph up and down, assessing him.

Casey sighed and wiggled out of the hug, “Short version? Donnie built a portal and it accidentally got turned on while we were fighting. And now we're in..an alternate reality, I think?”

Raph, Mikey and Splinter all blinked, looking from Casey to Rapheal and then back.

And then something clicked in Raph’s head. He jerked back from Casey and shouted, “Donnie did what?!”

His voice boomed in the tunnel, making everyone cringe. Raph usually tried to keep his volume under control but he seemed to not be concerned about that as he stormed into the alternate Lair, “Donatello Hamato! What did you do?!”

Chapter Text

Don had seen a lot of strange things in his life.

He was nearly twenty and over the last five years, he’d been to space, stopped invasions, found underground cities, destroyed said underground cities, used magic powers, turned into a dragon, been to the future and traversed cyberspace.

And of course, had a short stint through the multiverse.

Yet, even knowing how different other universes were, his jaw still dropped when the alternate Raph came charging through the entrance. Because he’d expected a small, thin turtle, like his own alternate, not a massive behemoth of a snapper thundering through the Lair and making a beeline for where teen April and Donnie were having their standoff.

“Donatello Hamato, what did you do!?”

Said turtle’s eyes snapped to Raph and he bared his teeth, “I am trying to get us back home but April and Casey are-”

“Not. That.”

Don stepped back a bit. He was already plenty out of range but if this Raph was anything like his, the situation could go south real fast. He hoped their Leo was close by to mitigate the situation.

Big Raph stopped behind a still frowning April, picking her up like she did weigh a thing and placed her to the side before crowding into Donnie’s space, “You were building a portal to the prison dimension!”

“Well clearly it didn’t take us to the prison dimension so I don’t know why you’re upset.”

“Did you forget what it took to beat those guys the first time?! Why would you try to open the portal again?! In WHAT world did that sound like a good idea?!”

Donnie didn’t say anything, just glared up at big Raph.

Don felt his own Rapheal shuffle over to stand next to him, “This is weird, right?”

“Which part?” Don replied.

Because the fact that all the alternates looked so different was already weird. Other Mikey, who was tiny and round and looked like a baby, and Splinter, who wasn’t that different except this one was really short and…well, fat, had come in. They didn’t venture further into the Lair, sticking close to the entrance with alternate Casey as they watched big Raph and Donnie yell at each other. And that was weird too, the fact that Donnie and Raph were fighting like Leo and Raph fought, only Raph was filling in the role of Leo.

Speaking of, “Did you see their version of Leo?”

“Nope,” Raph said. “Must have gotten thrown out further than the rest.”

Donnie finally spoke, leaning around big Raph to glare at teen Casey, “If you’re done trying to be my keeper, I need the Key to get us all-”

Donnie was interrupted by big Raph snarling, “Like Raph is letting you anywhere near the Key! You could have brought Krang right into our home!”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but one got in anyway.”

“We could’ve beat that one!”

“Boys,” alternate Splinter stepped between them, looking between his sons worriedly. “Purple, I don’t know why you were building a portal, but I know you’re smarter than that!”

Donnie scoffed, loudly, “Oh, like you know me soooo well. You barely even talk to me! All you do is watch your stupid shows with Casey!”

“Donnie-” There was a warning in big Raph’s voice but Donnie kept talking.

“All of you have just been focusing on Casey! We gotta help Casey adjust, we gotta help Casey settle in. He shouldn’t even be here! He should’ve disappeared when we stopped the invasion!”

Don saw teen Casey flinch at that, his shoulder hunching around his neck in an attempt to make himself smaller.

“Why are you being so hard on Casey!” Big Raph shouted angrily. “He’s basically family! He helped us make sure the Krang didn’t succeed!”

“He killed Leo! He was going to leave you with the Krang! He’s not our fucking family, he killed my twin!”

Don and Raph jerked at the shout, not because of the volume but because of the words.

Did this version…not have a Leo?

Big Raph seemed to deflate a little and the other Splinter flinched back hard.

“Donnie-” Big Raph reached out a hand in comfort.

It was smack away by Donnie, “No! I’m done! I am sick of all of you using Casey as a replacement for Leo! Yeah, I was going to open a portal, because we left our brother there!” Donnie pushed past Splinter and forced himself into Big Raph’s space.

Big Raph seemed to shrink under the yelling, holding his hand up, “Donnie, Leo isn’t-”

“I know!” Donnie shouted. “I know he’s probably gone by now but I will not let him rot in another dimension with that…that monster ! We didn’t even have a damn service for him! You just put his picture on Dad’s shelf and moved on! You’re all just fine with not bringing our brother home!” Donnie swung, fist knocking into Big Raph’s chest. “Well I’m NOT! And for your information, I was taking MULTIPLE precautions! I would have been able to open a portal right on top of Leo! But now I’m stuck in another reality and my idiot brother won’t let me fix it!”

Donnie shoved at big Raph, who took a step back, eyes wide and jaw slack.

Everyone was staring at Donnie in some form of shock as the turtle heaved in breaths, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

The silence stretched for a few seconds as big Raph and Donnie stared at each other. 

The tension in the air popped with the door opening and Mikey poking his head in, “Uh, I am very happy we have more alternates of us but what’s with the yelling?”

Donnie’s head snapped to glare at Mikey, mouth opening and clearly gearing up for a retort.

And then Leo walked in, skirting around Mikey and followed by Master Splinter. He stopped just inside the entry, taking in the room, eyes narrowing into a stern look that meant he was trying to process what he was seeing.

All the alternates, the turtles, Splinter and the two humans, froze and stared at Don’s brother. It was a very mixed bag of stares, different levels of shock and sorrow, the alternate Mikey looked like he was about to start crying.

They all were silent for a few long seconds, Leo taking in the alternates and they taking in him.

And then Donnie’s shocked expression morphed back into anger.

He shoved past big Raph, shrugging off the hand that the bigger turtle tried to put on his shoulder, “I want to be alone.”

“Donnie, hang on, we need to talk-”

“I said,” Donnie spun, shoving a finger against big Raph’s beak. “ALONE!”

The snarl made everyone draw back a bit, giving Donnie enough room to slip out of the Lair and into the sewers. Big Raph moved to go after him but the alternate Splinter grabbed his arm, shaking his head and holding a silent conversation with big Raph.

The snapper sighed, heavy and sad, but nodded. He straightened, face taking on a determined edge as he turned to Leo, “Sorry about that. We’ve…it’s been a bad year.”

Leo frowned up at big Raph, sizing him up before answering, “You’re Rapheal, right?”

Big Raph nodded and put on a very fake looking smile, “Yeah. And you’re,” he hesitated, swallowing hard. “You’re a Leonardo.”

Leo nodded and looked around the room again, “Do you all…need a minute.”

“Please.”

And, dear god, a Rapheal that huge should not sound so small and desperate. But somehow, the massive snapper not only sounded small, he almost looked small too, head tucking down into his shell a bit and shoulder hunching. Absently, Don wondered how old these versions of them were. The first bunch had acted like kids but they were pretty close in age to Don and his brothers.

Leo nodded and moved towards where Raph and Don were watching, grabbing Mikey and dragging him along while Master Splinter ambled behind them at a slower pace. Once they were close enough, Leo dropped his voice, “Don, what happened?”

“Well, three of them dropped in the Lair,” Don said. “And then the other me turned on some kind of homing signal to get the rest of them here. I’d say it took them…fifteen minutes to get to the Lair?”

Raph nodded in agreement, “The lil’ Casey said their Donnie built a portal, I think other Don used the glow-y thing the kid is huggin’.”

Don glanced around Leo to see the group, and yup, teen Casey was still clinging to the wooden, glowing object. He’d been around the block enough times to guess the simple looking wood held a lot of power. Probably magic.

That made things mildly more complicated. Magic had a nasty habit of making things difficult.

Master Splinter sighed sadly, drawing the brothers attention, “I sense much grief among them. An old wound that still festers.”

Don and Raph glanced at each other.

“I don’t know if you heard that whole fight,” Don started slowly, dropping his voice to an almost whisper. “But…I think something happened to their Leo. Something pretty bad.”

Mikey tensed, hands flying up to clutch at Leo’s arm, Leo’s expression gave only the barest of twitches, brow pinching slightly. Master Splinter merely nodded, looking down sadly, “If they are anything like you four, such an event would fracture the ones remaining.”

The word hung heavily in the air.

Mikey squeezed Leo’s arm tighter, looking back at the alternates, “Sooo, what do we do with them? Do we just open up another portal and send them back?”

“Those little versions of us took the trans-dimensional portal, remember?” Don said. “I still have the notes we took but building any kind of working device would be tricky. Especially without the tech from that reality and that Donatello’s…impossible abilities with tech. And we don’t know which reality these guys are from so that’s another problem to work around.”

“So use the glow-y thing they have and ask their Donnie how he made his!” Mikey grinned, like he’d cracked some super secret code.

They all gave their brother a flat look.

It still took a few seconds before it clicked in his head and Mikey’s grin dropped, “Oh, right, he’s not here.”

“He’ll come back sooner or later,” Leo said. “And until then, just do what you can Don.”

Don nodded, and glanced back at the glowing object in young Casey’s hands and wondered if the kid would let him take it.

Mikey piped up again, “So what you’re saying is, we have inter-dimensional cousins over for the foreseeable future and no nut-case bad dudes or golf balls on wheels trying to erase reality this time?”

“Well, yes,” Don nodded slowly. “But maybe don’t jump on them too fast?” 

Mikey finally let go of Leo, waving one hand dismissively, “Relax Don, I’m a great host.”

“Yeah, that’s why April passed out twice when she saw ya,” Raph snickered.

“Dude, it’s been years,” Mikey grumbled. “Can’t you let it go already?”

Don huffed as he stepped away from his family, letting Raph and Mikey’s bickering fade as he headed for the lab to pull up everything he had from the last dimensional wires crossing incident.

He chanced another look over at the alternates as he went, pausing for a moment.

They were still clustered together. Big Raph had picked up the alternate Mikey at some point, squeezing the much smaller turtle close to his chest. The short version of Master Splinter was patting big Raph’s arm, but his eyes were miles away. The teen version of April had an arm around teen Casey, looking between him and the Lair entrance.

And as teen Casey looked up, his eyes locked right onto Don.

He looked scared, in short. Eyes wide and teary and teeth biting his lips. He was still clinging to the idol thing, knuckles almost white from holding onto it so tightly.

Teen Casey looked away quickly and muttered something to the other April. She frowned but moved away from her friend, saying something in return. Casey nodded, straightened up and scrubbed at his eyes before turning and marching towards Don.

He stopped in front of the turtle, fidgeting anxiously with the idol even as his face tightened with resolve, “I…I know a little about the Key. I could help you until Donnie gets back.”

The offer surprised Don a bit. Their own Casey did enjoy mechanics but if it wasn’t a very loud car or motorcycle engine he tended to lose interest. There was also a good chance that this teenage Casey would be the same and just wanted to get home but not let the idol out of his sight.

Don could work with that.

He offered a smile, beckoning the teen to follow him, “Sure, let’s take it to my lab and I can get some scans started. We’ll have you all home in no time.”

Don quietly hoped he wasn’t making false promises as he led teen Casey into his lab and absently noted to himself to assign nicknames to everyone.

Chapter Text

Leo was nervous.

He couldn’t stop from pacing the whole ship because he was so nervous.

And he shouldn’t be nervous, he should be excited! He should be singing with joy because they had actually passed a planet he knew! Saturn looked pretty different from up close but it meant they would be at Earth in a few short hours.

And he was excited! He was absolutely hyped that he was going to be home soon, that he’d get to see his family and introduce them to Chula and tell them all about his adventures-

But there were so many things that could go bad. There was still a chance Terra wasn’t Earth, he’d seen plenty of planets that looked like the ones around Earth. And if Terra turned out to be another dead end and then they’d be back to square one. And Leo had seen enough sci-fi movies to know about time displacement, it had been a year for him but how long had it been for his brothers? And how much had changed since he’d been gone? Even if it had been only a year for them, a lot could change in a year.

Leo had changed a lot in a year.

He was stronger, for one. Chula’s regular training regimes and his lack of portals had forced him into focusing more on his physical skills than his mystic powers. He’d shot up a few inches too, sometime after his birthday, and it felt weird to not wear pants twenty-four-seven now. And the massive scar over his shell would definitely freak everyone out and have Raph mother henning him for weeks…actually, he’d be okay with Raph’s mother henning.

Because as nervous as he was, he still missed his family. He missed Raph’s lectures and Donnie’s surprise experiments and Mikey’s habit of eating the peanut butter straight from the jar.

God, he hoped they still did those things, all those annoying little habits that he hadn’t thought he’d miss so much. Hoped that his assumed death hadn’t shaken his brothers up so bad that he wouldn’t recognize them anymore.

Leo sighed and leaned against the wall next to the bridge ladder, rubbing at his face, “It’s fine, it’ll be fine, don’t need to get all wound up on ‘what if’. It’s only been a year, everything will be fiiiine.”

The Tortuga rumbled in reply.

Leo sighed again and let his head thump against the wall behind him.

If he was honest with himself, he was mostly scared. His family definitely assumed he was dead and he could imagine the shock it would be for him to come waltzing back into the Lair, whole and hardy. He didn’t doubt they’d be happy to see him but…

Thinking about it all scared Leo.

And he felt guilty for being scared because he was going home.

Something thumped loudly at the top of the ladder, making Leo jump. He looked up to see Chula, crouched on the top of the ladder and holding her knife.

Leo frowned at her, “Really?”

She smirked and banged the handle of her knife against the top most rung again, “Got you out of your own head, didn’t it?”

Leo crossed his arms and looked towards the floor, “I wasn’t in my own head.”

“No, you definitely were,” Chula slipped the knife back into its hidden sheath on her gauntlet. “And you’ve been stompin’ around down there for a while now. Wanna come back up here and talk?”

Leo sighed and glared at the floor for a few seconds before hauling himself up the ladder. Chula was in her seat when he got to the top and she pointed towards Leo’s co-pilot chair. He groaned dramatically but sat down.

Chula raised an eyebrow at him, “Do you want to do the ‘sit in silence for way too long’ part of this or you want to just rip the patch off?”

Leo rolled his eyes, “It’s not even a big deal.”

“Verd’ika, when flyin’ by a planet makes you run down below and pace the entire ship for two hours, I think it means somethin’ is going on in that little brain of yours.”

Had he really been pacing for two hours?

Leo glanced out into the void of space.

Saturn was starting to disappear behind them and the massive, striped mass of the next planet in like loomed ahead. Leo couldn't see any sign of the blues and greens of Earth yet, but he did see a lot more planets than then there were supposed to be. Chula had said they were moons but Leo was suspicious about that.

He let the silence hang between them for a few minutes, listening to the ambient humming of the Tortuga as he watched stars slip by.

“I’m scared and I’m mad at myself for being scared,” he finally said.

Chula hummed, “Ah, that makes sense.”

Leo frowned, “How? How in the world does it make sense?”

“Well, you’ve been gone a long time, even if it’s not your fault. It’s scary to have to face your family again after so long.”

She went quiet, her sentence trailing off and eyes going a little distant. Leo couldn’t help but wonder if she would be scared when she found her family.

Chula gave herself a small shake before focusing back on Leo, “It’s okay to be scared Leo. I bet it’ll go away once you’re back home.”

Leo nodded and looked out the window. They were passing the stripey planet and Leo could see a few ‘moons’ around it.

They still had a long way to go but..Leo took some comfort in the fact Chula would be with him when they touched down. So he grinned back at her, “Thanks.”

Chula hummed back with a smile.

✧✧✧✧✧

Leo stayed on the bridge for the rest of the flight, alternating between talking to Chula and just watching planets slip by. It took awhile to get around the big striped one, then Chula had had to switch to manual to get them through an asteroid belt.

It took an age to get to the next planet, a tiny red one that Leo was confident was Mars. Then another large stretch of nothing but black and stars.

Leo had been absently playing with his tablet when Chula suddenly reached over and tapped his arm. He looked up and his hands froze.

It was still far away but the Tortuga was a fast ship and dead ahead of them was a quickly solidifying large, blue and green planet.

Leo’s hands shook slightly as Earth got closer and closer, until he could pick out clouds, the dusty browns of deserts, the white of snow at each end.

And Leo knew, in the back of his mind, that this could still be a dead end.

But something felt different this time, Leo felt it deep down that this one would be different.

When they got close Chula frowned and flicked on the ships cloak, “Looks like the locals here have better tech. There’s satellites in the atmo.”

Leo frowned, “Is that bad?”

“Just means we’re going in very slowly and quietly.”

Leo sat forward in his seat, watching as they descended dowards, towards the darker side of the planet. He watched in mild curiosity as the inky black of space changed into more of a dark blue as they descended into the atmosphere.

Chula stopped descending over the ocean, letting the Tortuga hover for a few moments before moving forward. Water rushed by below them but Leo kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. It felt like time dragged by for hours before he finally saw something.

Leo squinted at the shape, far too skinny and tall to be any kind of landmass. Leo stood up to stand closer to the windshield.

Slowly, the shape on the horizon took form and Leo’s face broke into a wide smile. Lady Liberty stood tall and proud, torch held high like a beacon to guide them home. And behind her were the lights of New York City.

Leo could help throwing both arms into the air with a loud whoop, “We made it! Haha! Yes!” He spun and launched himself at Chula, squeezing her around the shoulders. “We actually made it! That’s New York! There’s no way that isn’t New York!”

Chula patted his arm as she laughed, “That we did verd’ika. Now I just have to find somewhere to drop you off-”

Leo frowned, pushing back enough to look at Chula, “Excuse me? Drop me off?”

“You can find your way home from here, can’t you?”

“Well duuuuuh, but you can’t just drop me off and fly away! You gotta meet my fam!” Honestly, Leo was a little offended that Chula thought he wouldn’t want her to come with him. “And you’ve been helping me out for a year! The least I can do is show you around my city for a bit. And you have to try real pizza before you leave! And see the Hidden City! And-”

“Okay, okay,” Chula patted his arm again, interrupting his babbling. “Get off so I can land somewhere, would you?”

Leo quickly scrambled off, almost bouncing as Chula started slowly moving towards the city.

“Gonna have to put her in the water,” Chula muttered to herself as she slipped around the Statue of Liberty and headed towards one of the rivers, the East River if Leo was remembering correctly. She grinned and started dropping down, almost touching the water and coasting until they were under a bridge. “I can get us up there easily, so we won’t have to swim.”

Leo laughed as the Tortuga dropped into the water, gesturing to his back, “Uh, hello? Magic portal guy here? No need for your fancy zipline.”

“Ah, of course, forgot you can do that now,” Chula pushed a button and suddenly metal sheets slammed over every window on the bridge, making Leo jump, and a loud splash as the Tortuga submerged. Chula laughed as she stood up, pulling on her helmet, “Well?”

“Well,” Leo snarked back but he opened a portal.

It dropped them on the bridge above them, which Leo hadn’t been aiming for, he’d wanted to get them to the rooftops but it was close enough. He started running, waving an arm at Chula, “C’mon, C’mon, C’mon!”

He heard her laugh as she ran after him, easily catching up to his run with her much longer stride.

Leo grinned as he skidded and opened another portal, one that actually did drop them on a building this time, “Welcome to New York! Greatest city on planet Earth!” Leo gestured grandly at the city, turning to look over the sprawling building and bright lights.

He frowned.

He might be remembering wrong but…the city looked kind of dark. In his memory, the city was always alive, no matter the time of night or day. He could see lights, of course, but they were spread out and…dull?

His mental confusion was interrupted by Chula whistling, “Your stories don’t do it justice.”

Leo flashed her a grin, “Flattery will get you everywhere! Now come on!” He started running towards the next building. “We’ll get to the Lair faster from up here!”

Chula followed after him, easily clearing the gaps between buildings as they ran.

Leo glanced down at the street a few times, trying to pick out landmarks to help him get to the Lair. He frowned when he couldn’t find most of them, missing ventors and night life people, yokai portals disguised as graffiti. He wondered if all the changes were because of the invasion. He wondered what else about the city had changed.

He’d been so worried over his family changing that he hadn’t even thought about the city.

Luckily, despite how long he’d been gone, street names seemed to be the same. It meant Leo had to stop more than he’d like but it was still his city, despite the missing trash wizards.

“Why don’t you just portal?” Chula asked as they stopped again so Leo could look for a street sign.

“Well, distance is still an issue right now,” Much to Leo’s chagrin. “And…I don’t know, feels like it wouldn’t be right to just…drop in. Like, portal opens up, I drop into the Lair with a ‘surprise, not dead, meet our new space aunt’!”

“Space aunt?” Chula said as they started running again.

“Yeah, you’re like a really cool aunt I never had!” Leo grinned at her. “And you’re from space so that’s double cool!”

Chula went quiet, visor fixed towards Leo and he couldn’t help but frown. Did she really think he hadn’t gotten attached? Didn’t want her to be around once they got him home?

Couldn’t have that.

Leo stopped, putting his hands on his hips, “Look, I don’t know what funny ideas you have in your head, but as far as I’m concerned? You're basically part of the family. And I can do that because I’m the leader!”

Chula tilted her head and Leo wished the helmet’s visor was see through so he could get a better read on her.

She chuckled and put a hand on Leo’s shoulder, “Quite an honor you’ve bestowed on me, verd’ika.”

“You bet it is!” Leo crowed as he started running again. “And we’re nearly home! We can go underground in just two more blocks!”

As they got closer, Leo couldn’t help but put on a little speed, his hands itching to grab a katana and teleport to go faster but he knew Chula couldn’t keep up with that. So he did his best to ignore the feeling, even as excitement built more and more in his chest.

He leaped off the last building, aiming to climb down to street level and get underground as quickly as possible.

He was jerked quite harshly out of the air and dragged back onto the roof, “Hey! What are-”

Chula shushed him before jerking her head at the ally. Leo grumbled but peeked down.

Ah, there were people down there.

Leo could just make out four people on the ground, three cornering one against the wall. But it didn’t look like a mugging. Didn’t look good either but definitely not a mugging. Leo frowned and turned to Chula, “Can you hear them from here?”

“Yup,” Chula leaned over the roof edge, flipping her scope down. “Little guy apparently messed up….somethin’ about a weapons shipment that got derailed by…oh.”

“Oh?” Leo asked.

“By, I quote, ‘the green ninja freaks’.”

“Awww, well that’s not a very nice thing to say,” Leo grinned as he looked back into the alley. “Guess my bros really stepped up since I’ve been gone.”

Chula hummed and flipped her scope back up, “They’re about to beat up the little guy.”

“You wanna stop them?”

“Yes.”

Leo grinned and launched himself off the roof. He used the old brick walls to slide down, landing cleanly behind the group, “Alright, break it up kids, it’s way past your bedtimes!”

The three guys spun to face him, pretty generic street punks if you asked Leo. Big, decked out in leather and haircuts that screamed early two-thousands. One even had ink, a massive purple dragon that curled around his neck and traveled up his jaw until the open maw framed his eye.

Tattoo guy groaned, throwing his hands in the air, “Really? Can’t we get away from you scaly freaks for five minutes?!”

“Well if it makes you feel better, my friend here isn’t green.”

Leo almost patted himself on the back for his timing. The second he finished his quip, Chula landed behind him with a loud thump and crash of armor. Leo grinned, knowing full well she made so much noise for the dramatics.

All four stared in shock, eyes following Chula as she straightened up to tower over all of them. Leo smirked and lifted one hand to his katana hilts, “Now, you wanna rethink a few life decisions yet?”

Two of the guys stepped back, skinny guy was clearly trying to meld himself into the wall, but tattoo guy stood firm, pulling a pipe from his jacket, “You think you can scare us because you made a new friend? We da Purple Dragons! And we don’t run from freaks of nature like you two!”

“Ooohh, he’s mine,” Chula growled as she stepped forward, slamming a fist into her palm.

Leo unsheathed his blades, “Only if I get the other two!”

Tattoo guy yelled, running straight for Chula while waving the pipe over his head. Leo almost felt bad for the guy as he moved swiftly towards the other two.

Dummy numero uno yelped when Leo was suddenly in front of him and Leo took advantage of the surprise to slam the hilt of his katana into the guys temple, sending him to the ground. He spun on dummy number two, who had a crowbar raised in front of him. He was shaking like a leaf and Leo huffed a laugh as he easily dodged the swing and sent the guy flying into a trash pile with one solid kick. He looked over at the little guy, who was still cowering against the wall.

Leo blinked at him a few times, “...boo.”

The guy yelped and made a mad dash for the street.

Leo snickered and looked over at Chula, who…had not knocked out the tattoo guy and was instead holding him by his jacket and letting him flail around in an attempt to hit her. But all that was in range for him was solid armor.

Leo giggled behind his hand as he watched, “Dude, what are you doing?”

“It’s like holding a nexu kit,” Chula said before dropping the guy and sending him on top of dummy two with a punch. “Now, where were we?”

Leo laughed as he found a manhole and lifted the cover, “Right this way!”

Chula jumped down and Leo waited until he heard the thump of her landing before he dropped down and shut the cover behind him.

He took up the lead again, going into a quick walk instead of running, “You hear that guy say they were Purple Dragons?”

“Yes?” Chula replied. “Is that important?”

“Maybe. I think Donnie ranted about them a few times but I thought it was just three nerds in fancy jackets, not weapon dealers.”

Chula shrugged, “Maybe there’s two gangs.”

“Maaaaybe, ah, I’ll ask Dee later!”

The two moved through the tunnels in silence for a bit and Leo relished in the familiar sounds of leaky pipes and water rushing over his head and rats scurrying away when they got too close.

No place like home. 

“Now, if I remember right!” Leo turned a corner into a long tunnel. “The Lair should be right…about….”

Leo trailed off when he saw the end of the tunnel, far sooner than he should have. He jogged forward, reaching the end and his jaw dropped.

The tunnel opened into a cavernous space, like a mineshaft. More tunnel openings peppered the walls and the roof had old, rusted rebar jutting out of it. Far below, Leo could make out more rusted rebar and crumbled rock sitting in a shallow pool of dark, murky water. It was dark, dank and definitely not the Lair in any way shape or form.

But...that couldn't be right.

“I…no, I’m in the right spot,” Leo looked around the caveran, leaning into it a bit like it would give him answers. “The Lair is supposed to be right here! Why isn’t-”

Chula’s hand suddenly closed around Leo’s shoulder and he froze.

It wasn’t a gesture meant to comfort, it was a silent way for her to tell him to be quiet. And that meant she heard something. Something she registered as a threat.

Leo turned to look back the way they came, searching the darkness for any movement.

The drip, drip, drip of water echoed like thunder through the tunnels.

The silence shattered when Chula suddenly shot her blaster, the bolts illuminating the tunnel in red for a few seconds.

Leo’s breath seized when he saw a mass of pink flesh and tentacles and a single, raged filled golden eye.

The Krang's screech shook the sewers as she charged towards the pair.

Chapter Text

“Look out!” 

Leo dived out of the way of Sister Krang’s lashing tentacles, rolling back to his feet and bringing both his katanas up in front of him.

Sister Krang roared again, lashing wildly towards Leo, “Where is it?! Where have you taken it?!”

Leo ducked and spun to avoid the limbs, smacking a few blows away with his blades, “Okay, no idea what you’re talking about creepy but I’m not gonna tell you anyway!”

Sister Krang snarled but her reply was drowned out by a flurry of blaster bolts striking her in the back. She hissed angrily, rounding on Chula, “Stay out of this!”

Chula brought up her staff, blocking the attacks before spinning out of the way and bringing one arm up. Flame rocketed out from her gauntlet, lighting up the entire tunnel and forcing Sister Krang back. Leo charged, swinging both blades deep into her back. She roared and spun around, trying to knock Leo and Chula aside.

Leo jumped back and spun his blades, bringing each one into a thrashing, fleshy limb and pinning them to the ground. Chula leaped up, her staff crackling to life as four sharp, thin blades popped out of both ends. She landed on Sister Krang’s back, claws digging in as she brought the staff down into her empty eye socket.

Sister Krang screeched in pain as electricity coursed into her body, her free tentacles lashing out wildly to throw the pair off.. The air slammed out of Leo's chest as he was thrown back, a few seconds too late to dodge. He skidded across the ground, trying desperately to get a second wind and stand back up at the same time.

He managed to pull himself up, sucking in air as he looked back towards Sister Krang. Fear sunk icy claws into his chest when he saw she had one limb wrapped around Chula’s middle, wrenching her off Sister Krang’s back and smashing her into the floor.

“No!” Leo snarled as he charged, bodily slamming into Sister Krang and driving his katanas into her body, over and over. Quick, vicious stabs that didn’t do much damage but it succeeded in forcing the aliens attention back onto Leo.

She tossed Chula aside, sending her sliding dangerously close to the edge of the pit and over the drop but Leo’s vision was filled with snapping teeth and a glowing eye as he was shoved to the ground. 

He jumped back, zipping in and out of range of Sister Krang while still stabbing into her, praying that he’d get lucky and hit something vital.

Luck was not on his side today.

He misjudged an attack, wasn’t quick enough to block or move out of the way. One of Sister Krang’s tentacles slammed into his side, sending him crashing against the wall.

Leo started to get up but a tentacle lashed out again, wrapping around his torso and pinning his arms, squeezing tightly around his chest and constricting his lungs painfully. Sister Krang pressed Leo against the floor, looming over him.

“WHERE IS THE KEY?!” she screeched into Leo’s face, spit flying from her maw. “WHERE DID YOU LITTLE PESTS HIDE IT?!”

Leo coughed as more weight pressed down on his lungs, “Ew, brush your teeth lady. I’ve smelled cleaner trash cans.”

“If you will not tell me!” Leo cringed as a tentacle circled around his head, pressing hard against his temple. “I will tear the answer from you myself!”

Leo yelped as she started to press a tentacle into his ear and oh god, it hurt, stop it, stop it, no, please, get it out, getoutgetoutgetout-!

An explosion ripped through the tunnel, the shock wave throwing Sister Krang off of Leo and further down the tunnel. Leo rolled away, gasping and shaking and fighting down the urge to vomit as he tried to stand again.

He looked up and saw Chula advancing at Sister Krang, throwing more tiny bombs. They stuck to the walls, beeping wildly and blinking red before exploding causing the tunnel to shake ominously. Chula stopped moving when she reached Leo, close enough for him to hear her scream over the blasts, “Get to the pit!”

Leo stumbled to his feet without hesitation, throwing one of his katana and letting it fly right into the cavern before teleporting. The momentum carried him right into the opposite wall and he dug his other blade deep into the rock.

Another boom made him turn in time to see Chula leap out of the collapsing tunnel. She landed over Leo, her claws digging into the wall. The pit shook as the tunnel collapsed, burying the Krang inside.

She looked down at Leo, then at the shifting rocks where the tunnel used to be, “That ain’t gonna kill it, isn’t it.”

“Nope,” Leo growled. “My bros and me could barely scratch these guys! So we gotta move before she digs her way out!” 

Chula growled and started looking around the caveran, like some way to win this fight would just pop out at her.

Leo wanted to smack her.

“Dude!” Leo scrambled up so he could cling to Chula’s back, arms hugging tightly around her neck. “We can’t fight that! My mojo is still off and, no offense, but I don’t think you have anything that can hurt her!”

“How big of a portal can you make?”

“Uh, how is that important right now?!” Leo could hear the cave-in shifting and the enraged roaring and growling of Sister Krang.

“Can you get everything from the bottom of this pit to the top?”

Leo gaped at Chula, a retort on the tip of his tongue.

Chula cut him off, “Verd’ika, trust me. We can end this here!”

Leo paused, only for a second because Sister Krang’s voice was getting louder. But the second was really all he needed.

He looked down at the bottom of the pit, taking in all the debris at the bottom, “...size shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Good,” Chula shifted, moving to grab her staff off her belt and snap it open again. “Get down there and be ready to get all that up in the air.”

Leo nodded, letting go of Chula before opening a portal that dropped him at the bottom of the pit. No sooner had his feet hit the ground when rocks exploded from the wall. Leo ducked under a large slab of concret to avoid the avalanche that rained down.

He heard Sister Krang roar in rage and peeked out to see Chula launch herself off the wall and into the mass of pink charging towards her. Leo held his breath as the two started to free fall but Sister Krang extended her limbs, catching the edge of another tunnel and slamming both her and Chula into the wall.

Leo forced himself to look away from the fight, he needed to get moving if he wanted a portal ready when Chula signaled him. He ran along the wall, trying to block out the screeching and roaring above his head and force his mind on only the portal.

His blade splashed loudly in the water, the tip dragging loudly on the ground and he circled the perimeter. The blue outline started to glow behind him, mystic energy building and ready to crack open a portal once the circle was complete.

He glanced up when he was close to closing the circle. Chula had a zipline connected to a pipe overhead and was running along the wall as she swung her staff at Sister Krang, both moving in a very dangerous game of cat and mouse. But for each blow Sister managed to land, Chula returned with a loud crack of her staff striking Sister Krang and making her recoil from the shock.

Leo sucked in a breath when Chula suddenly jumped into open air, swinging like a penglim as Sister Krang screamed in rage and gave chase, leaping off the wall at Chula.

“Jii!" Chula’s voice echoed loudly in the pit.

The reverberation of the command hadn’t even faded before Leo dragged his blade the last inch to close the glowing circle.

The portal flared to life, filling the space with a bust of blue light as the water and debris were sucked in. High above. Almost at the very top of the pit, another portal opened, ready to drop all the rocks back into place.

Leo scrambled to get out of the way at the same time Chula cut her line. She landed right on Sister Krang, both free falling down to the bottom of the pit with a loud crash. There was a flash of metal as Chula’s knife drove deep into one of Sister Krang’s tentacles, pinning it to the floor before she sprinted towards Leo.

Leo opened another portal, grabbing Chula’s arm and dragging her with him to the other side, right into another tunnel connected to the pit. 

The second portal winked out of existence at the same time as a thundering crash sounded from the pit. Water, crumbled concrete and metal smashed back into the bottom of the shaft, right on top of where Chula had pinned Sister Krang.

Leo and Chula both turned, peering down to see Sister Krang trashing from under a pile of rocks and trash. Leo winced when he saw a few rebars had stabbed through Sister Krang, pinning her more effectively to the floor.

She screamed in rage at them, “You think this will stop me?! I am a Krang! I cannot be stopped by such pathetic and disgusting creatures such as you! I’ll rip you all to pieces! I’ll tear you limb from limb! I’ll destroy your pathetic little world and every lifeform on it!”

“Do you know what happens when you use a blaster power pack for an electrical power source?”

Leo froze at Chula’s question. Not because of the question itself but because of her voice. He’d heard her mad, she’d been mad in front of him quite a few times. But there was always a fire, a passion to her anger that added to her already huge presence. But her question, said so coldly and deadly, made Leo tense and look up at her.

She had opened up the side of her blaster and was prying out a small, cylindrical object that glowed a soft blue, “I don’t. Never really thought about it, I don't think anyone has honestly.” 

Her blaster clattered to the floor as she opened up the handle of her electrostaff, pulling out wires and quickly connecting them to the glowing cylinder. “But you, oh, you get the special privilege of findin’ out firsthand. Because I really, really, want you shabbing dead.” 

She pulled out a length of her zipline, tying her blaster’s power pack to the staff. Chula tightened the cord before lifting the staff like a javelin, aiming it right at the Krang, “And I want you to know, you were bested by a pathetic lifeform.”

The electrostaff cracked to life again, loud and bright as Chula launched it. The electricity popped louder and louder as the weapon sailed through the air, landing right between Sister Krangs' eye sockets. The metal sunk deep into the screaming alien, pinning her like a fly as she screeched in pain. Electricity coursed through the water, up the rebar and through Sister Krang’s body.

Leo watched in wide eyed horror as Sister Krang spasmed and screamed, as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. He had to turn away and cover his ears as the screaming grew louder, as the electrical current from the staff continued to screech and crackle. He panted through his mouth to try and dull the stench in the air.

And then with a loud pop, everything went quiet.

Leo stayed where he was for a few seconds, breathing heavily and clutching at his head as the silence rang out in the tunnel.

Slowly, he turned to look at Chula again.

She stood, tall and unmoving, gaze fixed into the pit. The sudden darkness cast her in a heavy shadow, with only the black visor of her helmet gleaming. 

Leo swallowed hard.

It was easy to forget that she was trained to fight. Trained to kill.

Leo turned around to look into the pit.

Sister Krang hung limply, pink body now blacked and smoldering, limbs twitching slightly from residual electricity. Her face was contorted into an expression of fear and pain, her single eye wide open but dull of any life.

She was dead. Without question, Sister Krang was very, very dead.

Leo suddenly felt queasy. His knees gave out and he stumbled.

And Chula was right there to catch him, to carefully guild him down to the ground.

“Easy, easy, just breath, it’s okay now,” her voice was soft and soothing, warm and safe.

Leo stared down at the clawed hands holding his arms, holding onto him firmly but gentle. He almost laughed at how those same claws had just killed something Leo thought to be unkillable.

Chula raised one hand to Leo’s jaw, tilting his head up to look at her.

“Are you hurt?” she asked.

Leo started to shake his head but he winced when the movement made his brain hurt.

Chula made a soft, sympathetic sound and pulled Leo into her chest, cradling him close and rubbing a hand over his shell.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his temple. “I’m sorry you saw that. But she can’t hurt you anymore. We ended it, it’s over now.”

Leo sucked in a shaky breath. She was right, Sister Krang couldn’t hurt any of his family now. 

He felt like some invisible string had been cut as the information fully sunk in. He all but melted into Chula, breathing out an almost laugh of relief.

They sat there in silence, just breathing and relishing in their victory.

It only lasted a few seconds before Chula suddenly tensed, arms clutching Leo tighter to her chest and a growl bubbling out her throat.

Leo’s muscles coiled whip tight as he looked into the tunnel, ears straining for whatever Chula had heard. Chula’s snarl rumbled loudly against Leo’s ear but he managed to pick out the sound of someone running. Running straight towards them.

Leo couldn’t help but shrink back into Chula’s bulk. They had just won, they were done, he just wanted to lay down for a second and let what just happened process-

A figure appeared from the darkness.

Chula’s snarls suddenly stopped and Leo stared in shock at the newcomer.

Because despite the darkness of the tunnel, Leo recognised the person.

Recognised the green scales and purple stripes, the jet black gear and bright purple mask and wide eyes.

Leo sat up, standing shakily as he took in his twin, his twin that he hadn’t seen in almost a year and he’d been dreaming of what he’d say in this moment but the words were stuck and he could barely breathe because his brother, his twin -

“Leo,” Donnie’s soft voice echoed in the tunnel.

Chapter Text

Leaving probably was a bad idea.

Logically, running into an unfamiliar sewer system without anyone to back him up was a very bad idea.

Logic hadn’t been at the forefront of Donnie’s mind for a while.

So he ran out of the alternate Lair, leaping into the air and activating his battle shell and moved as far and fast as he could. 

He zipped through the tunnels, not really paying attention to where or how far he was going, only focusing on getting away. Away from his stupid brothers and the stupid alternate turtles and stupid Casey and April and Leo-

God, he hadn’t been ready for that. This reality’s Leo looked nothing like his but…Seeing him had still been a punch to the gut, one he wasn’t ready for. Just thinking back to that moment, of turning around and coming face to face with the exact same shades of blue and green…

There weren’t any red or yellow stripes and the other Leo was bulker but damn it…

Tears blurred Donnie’s vision, enough that he had to deactivate the battle shell to scrub furiously at his eyes.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this! He’d only started narrowing down the precision on the portal, figuring out how to make sure it only dropped Leo through. He didn’t know how it managed to transport them all into a completely different universe but hey, why not? Might as well happen!

Donnie slumped against a wall, curling up and burning his face in his hands.

He wanted to go home. 

He wanted Leo. God, he wanted Leo so bad.

Who would have guessed that? Emotionless, bad boy Donnie, crying in a dark sewer tunnel because he wanted his twin back. His probably dead twin who couldn’t hold on to Donnie while he broke down or watch dumb movies with or play video games or just…be in each other's space.

Donnie missed that the most, missed Leo just walking over and sitting next to him and babbling about anything and everything under the sun. Missed when he would just sit in Donnie’s lab because he just wanted to be around somebody. 

And even if Leo wasn’t alive anymore, at least he’d be home and not in another dimension but now he’d never get there because his brothers knew now and they wouldn’t even let him touch the key. Raph would definitely hide it somewhere when they got home and Donnie would never have another chance-

He screamed into the tunnel.

It echoed back his frustration and pain before fading into silence again.

It didn’t make him feel any better.

Donnie slumped against the wall again, pulling his knees up to hide his face behind them.

He didn’t know how long he would sit there. He knew he’d have to go back eventually, he needed to figure out how to get them home after all. But at the moment he was too high strung and worn out to even consider heading back.

The sound of an explosion derailed his plan very quickly.

Donnie lurched to his feet at the sound, pulling out his Bo on instinct, powers sparking at his fingertips as he looked around wildly for the source of the sound.

There was another explosion and Donnie spun in the general direction it had come from.

He heard more blasts in quick succession, growing louder and louder until the tunnel shook with the sounds. Then it stopped.

Donnie stood frozen in the middle of the tunnel, mind spinning for what to do.

Explosions were generally a sign of trouble and the smart thing to do would be to call his brothers or head back to the alternate realities Lair. He started to reach for the panic button on his belt, fully intending to summon his family to his side.

But he paused, tilting his head a bit to listen for more explosions or any other unusual sounds. He didn’t know why but…something deep in his gut was pushing him to investigate, go find the source of all the noise. And maybe it was more mystic mambo jumbo but…he'd started having a lot more ‘gut feelings’ after embracing his ninpo.

And following them tended to lead to good outcomes.

He kept his Bo staff at the ready and let his powers simmer just under the surface as he slowly made his way down the tunnel, eyes flicking back and forth and ears straining for any signs of trouble.

He had only walked for a few minutes when the tunnel shook again. Donnie jumped when he saw a light, far away from where he was. He probably would have missed it if he wasn’t looking. But the color made him pause.

Because the flash had been such an achingly familiar blue-

And then there was a deafening crash that shook the tunnel again.

Donnie brought his Bo up, ready for something to come charging out of the tunnel. He waited with baited breath.

When nothing happened he slowly started to move again.

Only for the most horrific scream he’d ever heard to halt him again.

Donnie clamped both hands over his ears as the scream ripped through the tunnel, growing louder and louder. He could smell of something burning and the reek only got worse the louder the screams got.

And as suddenly as they started, they ended again, cutting off abruptly with a loud pop.

Donnie stood frozen in the tunnel, panting as he stared in the direction all the noise had come from.

He should call Raph, he should press his panic button, should turn and run far, far away from this place.

But the feeling in his gut had gotten stronger, strong enough for Donnie to realize it wasn’t a tugging in his gut. No, it was a pull of his subconscious, something was reaching out and tugging at his mind, almost begging him to come closer.

It almost felt…felt like wherever he and his brother did a mind meld.

And that flash of blue…

Donnie started to move again, slowly.

And the further he went, the more the feeling grew, the more he could feel the presence tugging him closer, almost screaming in his head I’m here, I’m here.

But that was impossible.

But the closer Donnie got, the faster he moved, the more solid the connection got.

And then he was sprinting down the tunnel, mind begging for this to not be his overworked brain playing tricks.

There was some kind of light source at the end of the tunnel. Donnie wasn’t sure what it was but it cast just enough light for him to pick out a bulky figure crouched at the end of the tunnel.

He froze, mind reeling and trying to figure out if this person was friend or foe, if he should run while he still could, if they had been the one screaming before-

A black visor gleamed in the darkness as the figure leaned back and Donnie realized that there wasn’t one person but two.

The second was much smaller and curled up against the larger one. Donnie’s breath hitched when the smaller one moved, revealing green skin, unveiled yellow stripes along their arms-

Impossible. This is impossible.

The smaller one stood, slowly and very shaky, but when he looked up Donnie could see his face.

See the blue mask over bright eyes, the two broad strokes of red.

“Leo?” he breathed the name out in disbelief.

The person smiled, and it was so bright and joyful and exactly like his, “Hi Dee.”

Donnie blinked, breaths quickening as his mind started to catch up with what he was seeing. But it was impossible because Leo couldn’t be here, living, breathing, smiling at Donnie and opening his arms invitingly for an embrace-

He wasn’t very good with the mind meld, but he focused on reaching out with his mind, trying to feel if this was really…if this was really…

A warm, fiery prince responded to Donnie’s mental reaching and Leo’s smile widened.

Leo’s. Leo’s smile. Leo’s smile that Donnie didn’t think he’d ever see again.

Donnie moved before even thinking about it. He surged forward with a cry, finally grabbing onto Leo and pulling him close because it was Leo, Leo was here and alive and he was hugging Donnie back, oh god, it was Leo-!

He felt the vibrations of Leo chuckling, felt strong arms squeeze him close and felt Leo nuzzle his face against the side of Donnie’s head, “Man, am I glad to see you.”

He hiccupped on a sob, clinging to his brother tighter, burying his face in Leo's shoulder. Tears were pouring down his cheeks but he couldn’t bring himself to care because Leo was alive!

Leo reached up to rub at the base of Donnie’s neck, right under the lip of his shell, crooning softly, “Hey, it’s okay, I got you, just let it all out bro.”

Donnie shivered, “I-I’m sorry-I’m so sorry, I’m sorry-”

“Hey, no,” Leo squeezed Donnie, hard enough to almost be painful, “You don’t need to be sorry for anything. I’m okay now.”

That just made Donnie cry harder. They’d left Leo in the prison dimension and he’d been alive this whole time! Donnie had been poking and picking at the Key for a year and Leo had been alive and trapped that whole time.

He wanted to tell Leo everything, talk and rant and babble until he was hoarse. But any words he tried to form just came out jumbled and intelagible and Leo just shushed him softly and let Donnie cling.

Donnie felt Leo shift after a moment and he couldn’t help but tense, couldn’t stop his claws from digging into the blue hood Leo was wearing because he just got him back, he couldn’t let his twin slip away again-!

“Hey, it’s okay,” Leo said gently. “We’re just sitting down. Sitting seems like a great idea right now.”

Donnie whimpered but let Leo guide them both down to the ground.

And this was better, because now he could get closer to Leo, could crawl up into his lap and wrap his legs around Leo’s waist. Leo chuckled again but didn’t push Donnie off. He rested his chin on Donnie's shoulder and sighed, “I gotcha, I’m home now.”

Donnie sniffled, blinking hard to try and clear up the tears.

And suddenly remembered there had been someone else with Leo.

The bigger person was still there, sitting on the ground, watching them. The limited light didn’t give Donnie much to work with other than this person was very big and they were wearing armor.

He tensed as he stared at the person, torn between clinging to Leo or making the new guy go away.

He settled on a hiss.

It was a terrible hiss, all wobbly and watery and made between hiccups from crying, but Donnie gave it his best effort.

Leo turned slightly then laughed, “Relax, that’s just Chula. She’s cool.”

‘Chula’ tilted her head in a small nod. Donnie glared back, making a point to bare his teeth at her.

She chuckled, the sound crackling through her helmet. Donnie tensed as she stood and hoooly truffle mac’n’cheese, she was tall.

“I’ll give you two a moment,” she said, stepping back before jumping out of the tunnel. Donnie heard a thump as she hit the ground somewhere out of sight.

Leo groaned and bonked his head against Donnie’s, “Dude, don’t be mean. Chula is, like, the whole reason I got back here. And speaking of here! Where the hell is the Lair?”

Donnie blinked, sitting back enough to frown at Leo, “What?”

Leo frowned back, reaching up to wipe away a few stray tears, “The Lair? I mean, it took awhile to find ‘casue topside looks weird for some reason but I’m in the right spot! But there wasn’t anything here but a big hole in the ground!”

He was…Donnie blinked as realization dawned.

Leo didn’t know.

He took a shaky breath and cleared his throat, “Leo…do you remember my theories about alternate realities?”

Leo scoffed, “Hard to forget them, you bring those up every chance you can! But what does that have to do with the Lair being missing?”

“Well…we’re in one…so I was right.”

Leo blinked, frowning, “I’m sorry, we’re where with the what now?”

“We’re in an alternate reality…you’re…in an alternate reality. That’s why everything looks weird.”

Leo blinked again, frowning hard and brow furrowing, “....oooooohhhhh, that actually explains a lot…but how did you get here? And where is everyone else?” Leo’s face suddenly dropped, eyes widening in fear. “Are they still in our reality?”

“No…no everyone is here. I just…needed space.”

“Well why are we just sitting here?”

Donnie yelped when Leo suddenly stood, bringing Donnie up with him. Donnie clung to his twin, both to stay close to him and not to end up face planting on the floor. But Leo just hooked an arm around him and held him steady. Donnie frowned, wondering when Leo got strong enough to easily carry Donnie while he was wearing his battle shell.

Leo walked over the end of the tunnel, yelling down into the pit it opened up into, “Yo, Chula! Get your stuff faster! We gotta go meet up with everyone else!”

Donnie peered down into the pit to see where Chula was.

And almost choked.

Because the smoking, blackened corpse of Lady Brainface was at the bottom of the pit, buried partly under rocks with a metal pole jutting out from between her eyes. And Chula was standing on top of said corpse, trying to pull the pole out of the body.

Her helmet turned to look up at Leo, “I’m comin’, I’m comin’, have some patience verd’ika.”

Leo laughed, actually laughed as Chula finally ripped the metal from the Krang, letting her body crumple into a fleshy heap. Donnie cringed at the wet sound of flesh tearing, scrunched up his beak when he realized the burning smell was Lady Brainface’s charred body.

He twisted away and gagged over Leo’s shoulder.

“Oop, sorry bro, forgot you don’t like this fleshy stuff,” Leo stepped back into the tunnel. “But you missed an awesome fight. Chula totally kicked the creep-o’s shebs! We won’t have any problems from her again!”

Donnie nodded slowly, brain still trying to wrap around the fact that this Chula person had managed to kill a Krang.

And he didn’t know how Leo didn’t see the issue with that. Their track record with newcomers showed that they turned on them, almost every time. And this lady had killed a Krang-

Donnie wiggled out of Leo’s arms, but kept a tight hold of his arm as he whispered, “We gotta go. Now.”

“Yeah, I wanna see the guys too. We just gotta wait for Chula to get her stuff back.”

“No,” Donnie hissed, tugging at Leo’s arm. “Leo, we need to go before she gets up here.”

“Oh come one dude,” Leo rolled his eyes. “Look, I know we have a pretty bad relationship with adults but Chula is cool. She even let me name her spaceship!”

Donnie hissed again but before he could get another protest out Chula climbed back up. She had the pole on her back, which Donnie noticed was actually a modified Bo staff of some form.

Leo grinned up at her, wide and trusting, “You gonna roll that up for storage?”

“Circuitry is fried,” she said. “It’s gonna stay like this until I can fix it.”

“Aw, sorry man. But I bet Donnie can help you out,” Leo turned his smile back to Donnie. “Can'tcha bro!”

Donnie eyed Chula, only replying by narrowing his eyes at her.

If she reacted, Donnie couldn’t see it. The black out visor was frustrating.

Leo tugged at Donnie’s arm, pointing down the tunnel, “Lead on hermano! I need a group hug from the fam, pronto! Not that yours was bad, of course, but I have been waiting for this day for a year!”

Donnie nodded and started walking, leading the way back.

He didn’t dare let go of Leo’s arm.

Or take his eye off the lumbering beast that trailed after them.

He didn’t know what long game this Chula had planned but he wasn’t going to let her take his brother.

No one was coming near Leo ever again.

Chapter Text

Raph was anxious.

He wanted to chase after Donnie the second his brother stormed away, wanted to bring him back and hold onto him until this newest mess was sorted out. Because as angry as he was that Donnie had messed with the key, that he had thought trying to reopen the portal was a good idea, in any way, he was mostly scared.

Sacred that Donnie wouldn’t ever come back, would just stay away forever in this strange new world or run into some kind of trouble that he couldn’t beat.

But Pops had told him to stay put, give his brother space. And to make sure he stayed, he’d put a very shaken up Mikey in Raph’s arms and assigned April guard duty before going to talk with this reality’s version of himself.

So Raph had found a spot and hunkered down, a far too quiet Mikey in his lap and a very angry looking April leaning on his arm.

And they waited.

Hours ticked by slowly and Raph passed it by watching taking in this world's Lair.

It wasn’t as bright as their Lair back home. There wasn’t graffiti on the walls for one thing, and the walls themselves seemed to be a lot duller, for lack of a better word. But the lack of color was made up for in the size of the place.

The main room was a massive, circular space, with a gym in one area, an entertainment slash living room set up in another, and he could pick out a temporary wall on the far side of the room that was probably the other-Donnie’s lab, since that’s where he and Casey had disappeared to. There were a few openings along the walls, most of them were bricked up or were too dark to see. One had a wall of paper screens hiding the interior but Raph caught a glimpse of soft candle light and rugs when Pops and other-Pops went inside. And at the center of it all was a platform over a large pool of water, and on top of the platform there was what looked like some kind of command center, one in quite a lot of need of repair. There was another level, separated by a catwalk that circled around the entire room, with more added walls and doors. Raph guessed there must be bedrooms up there, or maybe storage.

Raph himself had settled by a couch near the entertainment area, positioned in a way he could have an unhindered view of the entrance and most of the Lair.

He tried to pretend he wasn’t watching the alternates.

Pops and other-Pops had left to probably have boring grown-ups chat and other-Donnie and Casey had gone to mess with the Key. And the other three were trying to look like they weren’t watching him.

Raph could give them a little credit, they were a lot more subtle about it than his own brothers would have been. They actually milled around the Lair, acting like they were just going about their day. But at least one of them stayed where they could see Raph at all times, especially the small version of him.

Raph didn’t blame them, he’d probably do the same if the roles were flipped…well, maybe not exactly the same but he understood.

He didn’t mind too much, except…

Looking at the other-Leo was hard. He didn’t look anything like his Leo but he couldn’t help being reminded of his Leo. And it made the ache in his chest so much worse that he could barely breathe.

But he couldn’t really hide away from the other-Leo, he had to be there for his family, he was the leader so he had to look after them!

So he settled for just avoiding eye contact and waiting for Donnie to come back.

And waiting.

Aaaaand waiting.

…waiting sucked.

Raph sighed and glanced down at Mikey and April.

Both had passed out at some point, leaning into Raph as they snored away.

Raph didn’t blame them. The fight with Lady Brainface had been short lived but seeing her again had been a nasty shock for everyone. Not to mention everything that happened after the portal went off.

He was feeling a little droopy himself but he didn’t want to sleep until all his brothers were back where he could keep an eye on them.

So, more waiting.

…until something small and furry brushed against Raph’s leg.

He barely managed to not jump at the unexpected contact. He twisted his head, trying to see what had brushed against him.

A pair of bright golden eyes blinked up at him.

Raph blinked back at the cat. It was a small thing, ginger with white paws and muzzle, and a small splash of white on the tip of its tail. It blinked up at Raph with huge, adorable eyes, letting out the tiniest, sweetest mew before rubbing against Raph’s leg again.

And Raph didn’t dare move because animals usually ran away from him, or bit him, very few actually got close to him, let alone pressed right up against him and, oh mi gosh, it was purring.

Raph couldn’t help a happy little squeal as the cat purred away but he didn’t dare touch the little guy, terrified he’d bolt if Raph made one wrong move.

He heard almost silent footsteps and glanced up to see other-Mikey coming closer.

“Aww, are you making friends Klunk-y?” Other-Mikey cooed at the cat before turning a wide grin towards Raph. “That’s my little dude Klunk. He loves new people.”

Raph nodded, eyes turning back to Klunk. The cat mewed again and, wonder of wonders, actually climbed up into Raph’s lap. Mikey made a low grumble as the cat climbed over him but both settled quickly, Mikey back into sleep and Klunk perched primly in the dip between Mikey’s legs and torso.

Raph hardly dared to breathe.

Other-Mikey snickered, “Dude, he won’t bite, you can pet him.”

Raph glanced at him, then back at Klunk, “...I don’t wanna scare him.”

“Pft, please,” Other Mikey, okay, they needed nicknames, waved a hand dismissively. “Rule one of the Lair, Klunk fears nothing and no one. And rule two, he gets all the pets.”

As if to punctuate the rule, Klunk meowed and started to paw at Raph’s plastron.

Raph hesitated, a second too long if the much more impatient meow was any indicator. Raph winced at the sound, fearing it would wake up his slumbering siblings. When it didn’t Raph dared to move his hand not pinned by April. Slowly, opened his pam to Klunk, letting the cat close the last few inches of distance.

He looked so small next to Raph’s massive hands but it seemed rule one was not exaggerated, because Klunk butted his head firmly against Raph’s palm.

Raph didn’t really pet Klunk at first, it was more letting him rub his face all over his hand and arm, but he slowly gained enough confidence to scratch under the cat's chin.

Klunk purred happily and leaned hard into the scratches.

“See, what’d I tell ya?” Other-Mikey chuckled.

Raph let out a small laugh of his own, eyes almost watering with joy.

Other-Mikey clapped his hands, regaining Raph's attention, “Now that we’re all comfy, there is very important business to get to.”

Raph frowned in confusion at other-Mikey, “Uhhhh-”

“Dude, as funny as calling you ‘bigger Raph’ is, I don’t think that’s gonna work long term.”

“...Yeeeeah,” Raph agreed with a sheepish grin. “If it helps? My Mikey goes by Michel a lot and we usually call Casey CJ since we know two Caseys.”

“And my Donatello prefers Don,” Mikey added. “So that leaves April and you and Master Splinter!” Mikey leaned closer, grinning impishly. “So, I say we call my brother Raphie until further-”

A pillow came flying out of nowhere and smacked Mikey in the back of the head with a surprisingly loud thwack.

“Ow!”

“Not. Happenin’,” Raph looked up to see his smaller counterpart standing by the couch, another pillow raised and ready to launch.

Mikey twisted to smirk at his brother, “Awww, but it suits you so well, especially since this guy is so much bigger-”

Somehow, the second pillow hit harder, hard enough to send Mikey flat on his shell.

Raph blinked at Mikey then at his counterpart, “....I could take Raphie?”

Raph narrowed his eyes but didn’t reply. Instead, he flopped onto the couch and snatched up a comic book.

Mikey rolled so he could look back towards him, “Dude, come on, help me out here!”

“I don’t mind being called Raphie.”

“Please pick anything but that,” Raph groaned loudly. “Literally anything!”

“Um,” Raphael looked between the two, frowning. “I can just…use my full name.”

“But that’s no fun!” Mikey exclaimed dramatically.

And loud enough to stir April and Michel.

Both blinked groggily, April yawning and stretching while Michel rubbed at his eyes.

April blinked at Raph, “When’d we fall ‘sleep?”

“A while ago!” Mikey replied. “Me and Raphael here were coming up with nicknames for everyone! So we don’t get confused.”

“Without me?” Michel whined.

He tried to shift upright but Klunk made an unhappy grumbling sound and batted a paw at his face. Michel blinked at the attack, staring down at the cat for a few seconds as his brain fully woke up.

Raph saw the moment before Michel processed what was in his lap and preemptively moved his hand away.

Michel gasped, hands flapping in excitement, “You guys have a cat?!”

“Yup!” Mikey said, pride in his voice. “That’s Klunk the ninja cat.”

“Awwwww, hi kitty,” Michel cooed as he picked Klunk up and hugged him.

Klunk merely meowed at the josling, twisting in Michel’s arms to bat at the turtle's face.

Raph felt some tension leave his shoulders as Michel giggled and cooed, happy to see some of the life return to his baby bros eyes. A quiet Michel was never a good sign in any way.

The moment of good cheer ended all too soon, with someone clearing their throat behind Rapheal. He already had an idea how it could be and based on April tenseing, his guess was probably right.

He knew it was silly to be nervous around the other Leo but he couldn’t help the stab of pain somewhere in his chest when he looked at the other turtle.

But…he probably wanted to talk, and Raph was the leader now. So he plastered on a grin and looked up at Leonardo, “Hi.”

Leonardo blinked, “...hi. How are you all feeling?”

Terrible, sad, depressed and scared out of his mind for his brother who was still MIA.

What Raphael said was a simple, “Oh, you know, hanging in there.”

“Right,” Leonardo nodded. “Well, don’t worry. We’ve tangled with alternate dimensions before and there’s no way this could end up worse than before.”

“Famous last words,” April piped up.

Raphael gave her a look, one he hoped translated to ‘don’t be rude’ then looked back at Leonardo, “I’m not worried! Once our Donnie comes back he’ll have it sorted in no time!”

Leonardo nodded slowly, brow furrowed, “...so, nicknames…”

Mikey jumped up, “We need one for big Raph! Ours won’t go with the obvious-”

“No,” Raph growled and held up another pillow.

Leonardo shot him a glare, “Raph.”

Raph grumbled but dropped the pillow.

Raphael shrugged when Leonardo turned back to him, “I really don’t mind going with my full name. Or I could use my middle name? Red?”

“Ew, no,” Micky made a face. “We can’t call you a color…and why is your middle name ‘Red’?”

“Uh, well-”

“Their old man sucks at names,” April said.

“April!” Raph and Michel said simultaneously.

“What? He is!” she defended. “And if we gotta have nicknames, I can go by Apes. And you-” she pointed at Rapheal. “Are not going by your full name. Full names are for when you’re in trouble. We’re doing Raphie.”

Raphie couldn’t help but snort at the assertion. But when April O’Neil laid down the law, the law had to be followed, “Okay.”

“You cannot be-!” Raph’s protests were cut off by a sharp look from Apes.

Her mouth twitched slightly into a smirk, “We could always call you Raphie tough guy.”

Raph stared at her, mouth opening and closing as he tried to come up with a reply.

Mikey cackled as he jumped up, running over to Raph and slinging an arm around his shoulders, “Ha! She told you, didn’t she? Aw, don’t feel bad, Raphie suits the big guy better anyway!”

Raph growled and shoved Mikey away, sending his brother sprawling back to the ground.

The whole interaction settled something in Raph. It’d been…it’d been awhile since he’d sat in the middle of a loud and carefree atmosphere. At home, even when everyone was in better moods, there was always a cloud over them, weighing down their shared joy.

But these guys, these darker, less colorful, grupier versions of themselves didn’t have that.

Raph glanced at Leonardo and swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. He couldn’t help the small coil of jealousy, knowing that that cloud wasn’t over them because they still had their Leo.

He looked away before the feeling could build anymore, quietly berating himself for even thinking about it. No version of him and his brother should lose one of the team and he was a dumb-dumb for thinking it in the first place.

He focused on Mikey and Raph instead, watching as the two play fought, Mikey egging his brother on with a grin and cackling laughter.

Raphie sighed and tried to just enjoy the moment.

He enjoyed it for a few minutes before a presence pressed against his subconscious.

He perked up a bit when he felt Donnie’s spirit, turning towards the entrance as it grew closer.

But he frowned when he realized there was…another.

Which didn’t make sense because only Hamatos could use the mind meld and they were all here.

Raphie stood up, depositing Michel on the ground and moving closer to the entrance. There was definitely another presence with Donnie, probably walking with him. Maybe there was another version of them in the sewers? Ones that also had ninpo?

Raphie frowned harder, trying to place the spirit as they got closer…

It felt so familiar but…no, that wasn’t possible.

Raphie watched the entrance, smiling slightly when he saw Donnie speed walking into it.

His heart stopped when he saw who Donnie was dragging behind him.

Because…that couldn’t be…

Dark eyes beamed up at Raph with an equally bright smile, “Hey big guy.”

Raphie stared, frozen, not comprehending.

That…that couldn’t be Leo.

Leo had died. He’d seen the portal close, seen the Technodome explode.

But…but his spirit was so similar.

And the turtle in front of him…he was wearing clothes, had a belt made of dark brown leather instead of black, but it was the same red and yellow stripes, the same green scales and dark eyes and slightly crooked smirk-

There was a rush of air at Raphie side and Michel was suddenly clinging to Leo, burning his face in Leo’s shoulder and sobbing, “Leo!”

Leo laughed, loud and bright and exactly how Raphie remembered, embracing Michel back tightly with one arm, “Heeey little bro, sorry I’m late to the party.”

Michel let out another loud sob and clung tighter. Raphie couldn’t see his face but he imagined he had tears waterfalling already.

Apes shoved around Raphie, clinging onto Leo on his free side, “How the heck are you here?! Don’t answer that, just don’t go anywhere for the next decade!”

Leo chuckled and tilted his head to rub his cheek into her hair, “Missed you too sis.” He looked at Raphie, still smiling, tears slowly streaming down his cheeks, “You okay there Raph-a-doodle? Are you even breathing?”

And it was the damn ‘Raph-a-doodle’ that got him to move. Because only Leo called him Raph-a-doodle. He lurched forward, wrapping his arms around all four of them, pulling them close and squeezing.

Leo was alive! Leo was alive and here and Raph had been so sure he’s pushing for leo to be a hero had killed his brother but he was actually here!

“‘m sorry,” Raphie choked out, his own tears finally falling as he ducked his head down, pressed his temple against Leo’s as he shook with emotions.

Leo chuckled, “Aw, no, don’t do that. Just hug me, will ya? I’ve been looking forward to this!”

“What is going on out here?”

Raphie probably should answer the other Splinter, explain a miracle had just walked through the door, but he didn’t dare loosen his hold, fearing Leo might disappear again.

Luckily, he didn’t need to, because he heard Pop’s low gasp and a quiet, “Blue?”

Leo turned his head and Raphie glanced up to see Pops slowly coming closer, face as shocked as his own had been just seconds ago.

“Hey Dad,” Leo said.

Pops face broke, muzzle scrunching up and tears and snot already streaming down his face as he charged towards the group hug, throwing his arms around Leo and hugging hard enough to make Leo wheeze.

“Okay, air, air, need that to live, Dad.”

Raphie let out a wet laugh and snuggled his face back into the crook of Leo’s neck.

“As nice as this is,” Raphie wanted to snap at his counterpart. They were having a moment! A moment they all needed a year ago! “Who the hell is tall, dark and scary over there?”

Raphie frowned and looked back towards the entrance.

His arms tightened instinctively when he saw that there was indeed someone tall, dark and scary standing on the threshold, covered head to toe in black and gold armor, blacked out visor fixed on the Hamato family.

Leo squirmed in the middle of the hug, getting an arm free to wave at the armored figure, “Oh, oh, oh! That’s Chula, she drove me here and she’s our super cool space aunt now!”

“Say what?” Michel leaned out from the hug, narrowing his eyes at Chula. “Since when did Dad have a sister in space?”

Pops didn’t answer that. He stepped away from the hug, moving closer to Chula.

She reached up, pulling the helmet off. Raph couldn’t help but blink stupidly at how…not scary she looked without the helmet. Her face looked pretty human, if you ignored the red fur and pointed ears and the large, solid green eyes.

But she smiled warmly and dipped her head towards Pops, “Chula Verd, it’s an honor to finally meet Leonardo’s family. He talked about you all non-stop”

Pops stood in front of Chula, staring up at her for a moment before reaching out a hand. She took it, massive claws making Pops thin hands look even more frail.

Pops clasped her hand in both of his, “Thank you.” he rasped. “Thank you for bringing my son home.”

Chula nodded again, “I’m glad we found you.”

“And that we didn’t get murdered by the creepy Krang lady!” Leo added.

…wait…. “What?”

“Oh relax bro, Chula totally murdered her first! It was kinda awesome.”

“What?” Raphie asked again.

“Nevermind that!” April shrieked, tugging at the blue cape Leo was wearing. “What happened to your shell?!”

“What?!” Raphie yelped as he frantically pawed at Leo’s shell.

His breath stuttered in his chest when he felt healed over cracks, his heart almost stopped again when the cape was pulled away to show off the clear chunk that was missing from said shell.

Leo sighed, as if the damage was little more than an annoyance, “Okay, can we go somewhere a little comfier for story time? I don’t know what you guys have been up to but the last year has been wild for me!”

Chapter Text

Introductions were made while the group moved towards a large couch in front of a wall of various TV screens and as they settled Leo claimed the nickname Leon before looking around and taking in his family.

Raphie settled behind him, pulling Leon into his lap, Donnie was still clinging to his arm like a giant leech. Michel settled on his other side, leaning on Leon’s shoulder while Dad held his hand. And Apes was hanging off Raphie’s shoulder, one hand resting on Leon’s shell.

And Casey was there too! But he seemed to be keeping his distance, settling next to Mikey in the knot of family members and keeping quiet. Leon made a mental note to talk to the kid when everyone dispersed a bit, let him know that he didn’t blame him for what happened.

But for now, everyone was looking at him expectantly.

So Leon launched into his story, starting from waking up on the Tortuga, about how Chula had fixed him up and offered to take him home, about the Salamandrian ship and the coup to overthrow the king that he clearly helped uncover when the leader of said coup grabbed him-

“You let him get kidnapped!” Leon winced when Donnie yelled right next to his ear.

He gave his twin a flat look, “Dude, they weren’t even good kidnappers! I escaped in, like, ten minutes.”

Donnie turned his glare to Leon, growling, “Based on your timeline of events, you would have still been seriously injured and still recovering at that point. You should not have been out of bed,” he turned back on Chula. “Let alone walking around extraterrestrial salamander spaceships and being left alone with strangers!”

“Pft, I was pretty much back to a-hundred percent by then. Chula has this miracle salve that had me fully healed in less than a week!”

“Bacta,” she corrected absently from her spot to the side, sitting on the floor. And, unfortunately, within range for Donnie to kick out a foot and hit her in the hip.

The action probably would have gone better if there wasn’t a plate of armor in the way. He winced, jerking his foot back before glaring at the offending piece of armor.

Leon snorted and shook his arm to get his twins attention, “Dude, chill, Chula came and got me in no time. It was so cool! She just charged in like, wham, boom,-!”

Leon plowed forward with his story, omitting the bit where he’d been running low on air during the escape, and moving onto the next leg of their journey.

“Oh! Oh! When you flipped because you thought I was drowning! You remember that, right Chula? When you thought I was trying to drown myself! Ha!”

“I forgot that you were a terrapin,” She grumbled, crossing her arms. “And it was only the one time.”

“Oh, but it was not, brothers mine,” Leon smirked as he looked around the room. “There were many times she had minor freakouts because of my turtle-y nature. Hey, remember when I pulled my head into my shell in my sleep?”

Chula groaned, “Oh, this storytime is going to be painful.”

“You don’t have to stay for it,” Donnie snapped out.

“Purple,” Dad said chidingly.

Leon quickly moved on to the next story point before Donnie could snap at Chula again.

He got why Donnie was being snippy, he hadn’t been very trusting towards Chula at first either. But he’d thought they’d warm up to her quickly, since Leon himself clearly trusted her.

But that was another problem for later. When he wasn’t in the middle of recounting his little space adventure, pausing here and there for questions and carefully omitting some of the closer calls that might set Donnie off again.

He was surprised Chula didn’t chip in more. She only nodded along and let Leon pretty much run the show. He appreciated the center stage but how was he supposed to get everyone comfy with her if she just sat on the side and grunted?

Oh well, add it to the list of things to sort out later.

For now, he’d do what he could to paint her as a daring and dashing hero in the eyes of his family.

So he talked for nearly an hour before reaching the point they’d found planets he knew, “And then parked the ship in the East River, went looking for the Lair but we found miss slimy and creepy instead. But that was no problem because, like I said, Chula totally fried her. And then Donnie found us!”

“Woah,” CJ mumbled. “That’s…insane.”

“Indeed,” Don nodded in agreement. “But how on Earth did you jump realities?”

“Yeah,” Michel frowned at Leo. “How’d you get out of the prison dimension?”

Leon winced and glanced at Chula. He technically hadn’t told her the full story yet so…

Her ear flicked slightly, one eyelid twitched.

Ooohh, yeah, she was going to want to talk later.

Leon looked back at Michel and grinned, “Well, I managed to hang onto my swords so I just opened up a portal!”

“What?” Mikey said.

“Yeah,” Leon continued. “Meant to land in the Lair but I guess I got portal jacked or something because I landed in the Tortuga instead.”

“No, no, back up!” Mikey leaned forward and pointed at Leon. “To the part where you opened a portal?”

“Uh,” Leon and his family all looked at each other then back at the other themes. “Hamato ninpo? Mystic powers? Ring any bells?”

“Uh, no!” Mikey shook his head. “Only time we had mystic powers was when we had to fight a demon dude.”

Leo leaned closer to Mikey, putting a hand on his shoulder, “I think what my brother means to say is that we don’t have mystic abilities. I certainly cannot create portals.”

“Man, you’re missing out,” Leon said.

“Hmm,” Don tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe the prison dimension acts as an inbetween point?”

“Eh?” Leon frowned.

“The prison dimension was artificially created so there is a high chance it’s not its own reality, but a space in between realities,” Donnie rambled. “When you portaled out, you opened a door into this reality instead of ours. Which would also explain why my gateway brought us here, since I managed to adjust the energy to lock onto you’re DNA signature and was refining the positioning when Lady Brainface activated it prematurely-”

“Wait, you were doing what?!” Leo shrieked.

“....don’t worry about it.”

“Donatello-”

Raph cut Leon off by tightening his arms, “Can we…leave that alone right now?”

Leon frowned but relented. There was a good chance Raph had already given Donnie a lecture about how stupid that plan was. Sure, the thought was sweet but opening the portal again would have been nothing but a disaster.

He was also quietly grateful that the gateway hadn’t let the Prime Krang out again.

But now was not a time for what if’s and maybe’s. Leon shook off the somber thoughts and tipped back, letting his head rest against Raphie’s chest and beaming up at his big bro, “Fine, but now it’s your turn! What have you guys been up to? Other than jumping around realities!”

He’d hoped the question would loosen his family up a bit, get them chatting and laughing. He fully expected Michel to at least start chattering away on all the trouble they’d gotten into.

Instead, everyone went tense.

It felt like a cord had snapped tight and brought down a very heavy, awkward cloud over them, one that even made the alternate turtles shift uncomfortably.

Leo frowned and glanced at Chula.

She frowned back with a tiny shrug.

Raphie carefully cleared his throat, “We’ve been…ya know, doing our thing.”

“Yup!” Apes said a bit too loudly. “Just, ya know….fightin’ crime, eating pizza…”

“We found out CJ likes sushi!” Michel added helpfully.

“Nice!” Leon beamed at CJ. “Sorry you had to get Living Present Day 101 from these bozos. When we get back, I’m giving you and Chula a true, full New York experience!”

“Hi, yeah, me again,” Mikey raised a hand, frowning. “What do you mean ‘living present day’?”

“Uh, ‘cause CJ here is from the future?” Leon said.

Raph jolted upright, eyes wide, “He’s from the WHAT?!”

“Have you guys not told them anything yet?” Leon groaned dramatically.

His family looked away sheepishly.

“Honestly, we kinda forget that sometimes,” Apes mumbled.

“How do you forget someone is from the future?!” Raph threw his hands in the air.

They all shrugged. Except Donnie, who mumbled acidly into Leon’s shoulder, “Fantastic question.”

Yeah, Leon was definitely having a talk with Donnie later. 

But for now he beamed at CJ, “Come on, don’t keep all the details from me! What else have these guys been showing you?”

CJ hesitated, then finally smiled a bit before telling Leon about everything he’d been doing since Leon…left, yes, that was a good way to think of it. And the more CJ talked, the more everyone else started to relax and tell Leon about their year while he was in space.

The alternates had started to move away as the stories went later and later, only interrupting to drop off a pile of blankets and pillows. Slowly, the pile turned into a nest and they all settled down, Leon still in the middle of the turtle pile forming.

Chula had wandered off at that point as well, between the blankets being passed out and the family settling down in them. She didn’t go far, just closer to the pool in the middle of the room, where she could disassemble her electrostaff and have room to spread out the pieces.

And slowly, as the lights started to dim, each of Leon’s family members started to nod off, cuddling close and snoring away as, one by one, they drifted off to sleep.

Leon himself did not sleep. Maybe it was insomnia or wanting to enjoy his family’s presence or maybe he’d gotten used to the day/night cycle on the Tortuga. But he was still wide awake even after Donnie finally dropped off.

He lay in the middle of the pile for nearly an hour, making sure everyone was well and truly asleep before he moved. He carefully pulled off Apes’ glasses and Donnie’s battle shell. CJ’s chestplate was a little tricker to wiggle off without waking him up but Leon managed it with flying colors. He set everything aside on the couch, in a neat row, and used a few stray blankets to tuck everyone in. He left a space to climb back into the pile later before trotting over to where Chula was bent over the pieces of her staff.

He flopped over her back, letting his full body weight hang off her shoulders, “Hi.”

“Hello,” she said, not even twitching at the sudden turtle backpack.

“Sooooo, I know you said that you were just gonna get me back to my family, but I’m technically not home yet.” 

Chula snorted, “You can just ask.”

“Please don’t leave yet, I wanna show you my actual home.”

Chula snorted again, but didn’t reply.

Leo frowned and moved around to sit next to her.

She had that far away look again, her hands absently pulling scorched wiring out of her staff.

Leon waited patiently for her to speak, “I don’t know if I ever told you how I ended up lost in the first place.”

Leon inhaled sharply and shook his head.

She continued carefully, “Astra contacted me about some scavengers who’d somehow gotten their hands on kyber. The Jedi didn’t want it circulatin’ because it actually a surprisingly effective power source but they also have some weird force connection to the rocks so havin’ people just running around with them is seen as a grave disrespect to the Order and the Force.”

She paused, taking a breath, “They were easy to find but it turned out to be a lot more than some idiots tryin’ to make a quick credit. There was this wack job in changed, fancied himself an expert in Sith osik and wanted to recreate a Force storm.”

Leo frowned, “A who-in-the-what now?”

“It’s not really my area but based on his monologuin’, it’s basically your portals but a lot bigger. Kept goin’ on about controlling time and space, using the hyperdrive and the crystals to recreate the Darkstaff, typical, power hungry di’kut spiel that I wish I’d paid more attention too. I go do my thing, knock out most of the crew and secure the ship so Astra and the two-forty-forth could pick it up. But someone punched the hyperdrive and then,” she paused again. “Next thing I know, I’m wakin’ up in a totaled ship on a planet I don’t know.”

Leo nodded slowly as dots started to connect in his head, “You think that guy's crackpot idea actually worked?”

Chula sighed, “Two hours ago? Not at all. But since Donnie’s little theory on how you got here?” She set her tools down, leaning back to look up at the ceiling. “I’ve been lookin’ for any signs of home for five years and haven’t found anythin’. No one I’ve talked too have heard of the Jedi, the Republic, the Separatists, or even Mandalorians. Not one map, rumor, story or folklore has anythin’ that connects to home.”

Leo frowned thoughtfully, “And the chances of not finding anything that could lead you home for that long-”

“Are almost none,” Chula finished.

“Is that why you didn’t name your ship?” Because it had been a mad science experiment and not her original ship. Because it was the ship that took her away from her family.

Chula hummed in confirmation.

“Why didn’t you get rid of it?”

She snorted humorlessly, “At first, because it was my only option. But after a while…it was pretty much the only piece of home I had. I hated it but I also could get rid of it.”

Leo hummed and nodded, “Well, maybe while we’re finding our dimension, we can find yours too. We’ve got two Donnie’s working on it after all!”

Chula huffed a laugh, reaching over to tug playfully at Leo’s mask tails, “Guess you’re stuck with me then.”

“Oh, woe is me. I shall do my best to bear it.”

She tugged at his mask again, “Quiet, there are people sleepin’.” She let go and patted his head before going back to her staff. “And don’t think I didn’t miss the whole ‘got locked in a prison dimension’ part of that conversation.”

“Ah, hoped you forgot about that.”

“Nope,” Chula side-eyed him.

He sighed, “Look, it was…a rock and a hard place, I had to make a call to protect my family. And I’m the leader now so if anyone was going to make the call, it was me.”

“And what call did you make?”

Leon paused, “I pushed the Krang leader into the prison and told CJ to lock it down.”

“So you locked yourself in limbo with an alien hellbent on murderin’ you.”

“Well when you say it like that it sounds bad.”

Chula hummed and looked right at Leon, “I understand you’re young so let me give you some advice on leadin’. Your job is to make sure everyone has the best chance of gettin’ home, including yourself.”

Leo frowned, “It’s not about me.”

“Bantha-osik,” Chula replied. “You’re the leader, not an idiot. You shouldn’t lay down on a wire when you can just cut it.”

“You weren’t there,” Leon grumbled.

“No, I wasn’t,” she put a hand on his shoulder, eyes serious. “But if you hadn’t held onto your katana’s, if you hadn’t managed to portal out, if you hadn’t managed to land on the Tortuga, you would have died. And the last thing I want is for you to get yourself killed because you were taking on the most risk out of some sense of duty.”

Leon glared up at her, “You tellin’ me you never took on the bigger risk so your squad wouldn’t have too?”

Chula looked away, “...I’m nearly forty Leo. You’re not even twenty. And my squad were clones that were barely eight years old.”

“So you laid on the wire instead of cutting it?”

She sighed, “Yes, yes, do as I say not as I do.” She looked back at Leon. “Look, just…please, for my sake, don’t do somethin’ like that ever again. And if not for me than for your family, they clearly need you.”

Leon looked over at the turtle pile, at how…worn out everyone looked. Thought about how clingy Donnie was and how quiet Michel had been, how Raphie had kept putting his hand on Leon’s chest and how Apes and Dad constantly reached out to touch him.

He sighed heavily and looked back at Chula, “Well, since we’re not planning to have another alien invasion anytime soon, I guess I can manage that.” 

Chula shoved him playfully, “Alright smartass, go back to bed. We’re probably goin’ to have a big day tomorrow.”

“Yes aunty,” Leon groaned as he picked himself up.

He hesitated briefly, then dropped down to pull Chula into a hug, “Thank you. For everything.”

Chula hugged him back, warm and strong and safe, “Of course verd’ika. We’re family now, it’s what we do.”

“Yeah,” Leo squeezed tightly. “Yeah.”

He pulled away and carefully made his way back to the nest, slotting himself into the gap and settling in.

It still took him ages to fall asleep but he eventually dozed to the sound of Chula tinkering with her staff and the comforting sounds of the sewers and his family breathing around him.