Chapter Text
Leo was out of breath. He clutched a picture in his hand. His brothers, his dad, April. Distraction of the gunfire pulled him from the photograph. He couldn’t focus on that now. He had to run. Chaos broke out, lasers fired on the resistance, diminishing their already low numbers. His wound was still bleeding in his side. He was starting to get woozy.
“I got you Sensei. Stay with me.” Casey’s words pulled him back. Keep running.
“You’re a lifesaver, Casey Jones.”
"I learned from the best. Come on, we’re almost there,” Casey said, removing his mask. He was smiling, Casey always found ways to smile. It reminded Leo of who he used to be, smiling and joking when he probably shouldn’t.
Explosions rang out around them, but they kept running. Ahead was the destroyed head of the statue of liberty. Leo remembered when it got torn off, thrown carelessly into the heart of the city. Another disregarded object of the world that once was.
Leo heard the growling. It was too late, the war dogs had caught them. He was too slow, too weak to win that fight.
“Bad doggies!” His brother.
“Impeccable timing, little brother. Very dramatic.” Leo caught himself trying to lighten the mood. He was doing it less often now, but this was as good of a time as any.
Orange energy pulsed through the group of them, turning into chains that would pierce through their tough hides. A large explosion of mystic energy pulsed through the sky. Leo was always in awe at the ease Mikey could wield his mystics.
Casey helped him sit against the rocks. His eye was swelling shut, and the wound in his side still bleeding.
"Help him, Michelangelo. He’s hurt bad,” Casey pleaded, desperation finding its way into his voice.
Leo groaned in response, checking the wound that was still bleeding. He looked up, and all he saw was decimation. The technodrome, the minions, it was finally over. “That’s it. The resistance failed. The krang won.” He paused for a moment. This would not be the end. No, there was one final thing they could try. “But… but it isn’t over,” he assured his family, “We’ve still got a ninja’s greatest weapon, hope.” Leo turned to his brother, “Well that, and a badass mystic warrior.”
Leo let his face fall, he was about to ask his brother for the impossible, “Mikey, we need a time gateway.”
Mikey’s face matched the seriousness of his own. Leo knew what it would take, what Mikey would have to sacrifice. “It’ll take everything I have.”
“I know, but this is our last chance,” Leo responded. Never would Leo have dreamed of asking his brother this. When Splinter had sacrificed himself, Mikey had brought it up. A chance to set things right. It was rejected by everyone. If Mikey failed, then they would lose two family members. It wasn’t worth the risk. It wasn’t worth the risk when Draxum or Big Mama or Donnie or Raph fell to the wrath of the Krang. Leo had always refused to listen to Mikey when he brought it up, but now, here he was, asking for it. “It’s our only chance.”
Mikey nodded, keeping eye contact with Leo for just a moment longer before flying off.
“Wait, what’s going on? Where is he going?” Casey asked, voice filled with concern. Leo was unsure if Casey knew the extent of what Leo had asked his brother to do, but there wasn’t time for that now. The mission had to come first.
“Casey, listen,” Leo beckoned his protege to sit beside him. They watched as the master of mystics, his younger brother, began to channel an unbelievable amount of energy through him.
“The Krang first came to our planet through a mystic doorway,” Leo began to explain. He took out the photo of his family, looked at it one last time before flipping it over. The mission had to come first. “The key that opened the doorway looked like this.” Leo took a rock and drew, roughly, the shape of the key that he had let slip out of his brother’s hand over two decades before. Leo handed the photo to Casey.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because Mikey’s about to send you back in time to the day that key was stolen.”
Casey’s face twisted in shock. “Wait, he’s gonna… what?”
Behind them, Mikey began ripping a hole in time. The mystic energy began to eat away at space and at Mikey.
“The people who stole that key opened the doorway for the Krang. You have to find it before that happens.” Leo paused, only for a moment. Should he tell Casey that this was all his fault? That the key falling into the hands of the Foot Clan lies squarely on his shoulders? No, this was not the time for that. Leo half smiled, “Find the key, stop the Krang.”
“But Sensei…” Casey started.
Leo grabbed him by the shoulder, his smile replaced by intense determination. “Say it.”
“Find the key, stop the Krang,” Casey repeated.
Worry still hung on Casey’s face, but Leo knew that Casey trusted his judgment. Leo had spent years earning it. He patted Casey on the shoulder, and gave him a smile.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Casey looked as though he might cry.
“Casey,” Leo’s smile softened. “It’s not about me.” Leo had spent far too long, and lost too many friends, learning that lesson.
The unpleasant noise of a laser warming up and the deep crimson glow suddenly illuminated the both of them.
“They found us!” Casey yelled, starting up his chainsaw. Leo readied himself, but he was in no shape to fight this many enemies. Maybe once he could have taken them out without breaking a sweat, but now? Now he was old, he was injured, he hadn’t been able to use his mystic powers in years. Not since Donnie…
“Mikey!” Leo found his voice full of panic. This was their last shot. It had to work. The mission had to come first.
Mikey’s arms snaked with cracking orange yellow energy. It was tearing him apart. Mikey pushed more and more energy through his hands, they cracked further, but so did the crack in space. Mikey began to pull, to pull the gateway open, allowing the mystic energy to overtake him.
“Master Michelangelo, no!” Casey turned his attention to the younger turtle. “You’re gonna…”
Casey never finished the sentence. Mikey turned behind him, made eye contact with the two of them. A smile. A wink. And in one final pulse of magic, he was gone.
Leo’s heart shattered. Again. But hope quickly replaced it. Mikey had done it. A stable wormhole, a ticket to the past. He and Casey’s faces’ illuminated by the orange yellow light, enough to forget the crimson lasers that awaited them if they didn’t move fast.
“Casey,” Leo began.
Red light suddenly flashed across Leo’s vision. It had just missed him. Where Casey stood was now just a pile of ash. Leo stumbled back in shock.
No no no, Leo thought. This was for Casey, it was all for Casey. Casey deserved a real life, one in a world he didn’t have to fight for every day. And suddenly he was ash.
Leo took a shaky breath in. Mikey. Casey. It couldn’t be for nothing. The Krang war dogs were closing in on him. Leo had no choice. He gripped the hilt of his sword and ran. Ran at the open portal.
The sounds of war drifted into silence as he entered the gateway. It felt familiar, like a final hug from a brother. A safe passage to somewhere with hope.
Leo’s eyes opened. A bustling city surrounded him. He looked around in awe. Mikey did it. New York City, the one from his childhood. Leo stood up as a piece of cloth fell from his chest. Leo picked it up, inspected it. A face mask. Orange. A final gift to remember his brother. Leo clutched it close to his chest as he stood up.
The city was always noisy and bright, but bright lights made for excellent shadows. Leo blended into an alleyway, running off into the night to try and find the key before his past self would have a chance to screw it up.