Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

i.

A shower of red petals, blinding lights, a roaring crowd, and blood-stained hands. This was a typical Monday afternoon for Leonardo in the Battle Nexus. It was his only day of the week in action, so of course he had to put on a show. The stadium’s viewing gallery would completely sell out whenever “The Cerulean Death” was listed to fight, and who wouldn’t want to see him battle? He was freaking fantastic at it! Slashing at yokai, spilling blood, guts, and other questionable substances, being exalted by adoring fans…

Then it was back to his room. The dull stone floors and walls were a stark contrast to the bright and colorful arena, and Leonardo almost wished that he never had to leave the arena at all. It was a happy place for him, a place where people could see him, and that’s all the fourteen-year-old wanted. To be seen.

Big Mama’s familiar steps came down the hallway towards his room, and as usual the teen sat up from his previously laid-out position on the slightly too stiff bed. Her multitude of eyes peered through the slot in the door before it swung open on its hinges and her delighted smile was clearly visible. Leonardo couldn’t help but smile back at her, sitting up a bit more. When Big Mama was happy, Leo was happy.

“There’s my little Cerulean Death!” She extolled, stepping halfway into the room and ducking through the doorway to fit. “How was today’s round? Those bear yokai certainly weren’t any issue I assume?”

Leonardo panted, holding the side of his plastron tight as the spider web-like cracks splayed out across the protective piece. The final bear yokai remaining had shiny white fur that was almost crystalline, and now stained red with the turtle’s blood. He was losing life fast, and wouldn’t last much longer. The first two bears, one brown and one a mix of black and white, both lay dead somewhere else in the arena, leaving the final yokai who had backed Leo into a corner. A corner with no escape.

His right hand’s grip tightened around the hilt of his bent tsurugi, the dull blue wrappings giving him a better hold on the weapon that had already been stained with bear remains. He needed a plan and he needed it, like, two weeks ago. He hadn’t realized it would be a three-on-one fight today, no wonder everyone was cheering so loud! The sheer volume of his fans was enough to make his ears ring and his headache worse. Or maybe that was the blood loss. Either way, Leo had to think-

The bear claws that were hard as diamond and black as charcoal came too fast.

Leonardo laughed, shaking his head in agreement with her. “Not a problem at all, took ‘em out real easy.” he paused. “..didn’t you watch the match?”

Big Mama paused as well, and her smile turned insincerely apologetic. “Mama got in a bit of a tizzy before your match, love. I couldn’t make it today, but next week, absolutely!” Leo knew she wasn’t actually sorry, her sincerity was about as real as his ability to fly. Even in knowing this, he couldn’t help but somewhat believe her.

“Pffsh– nah, you’re fine. Things happen.” he shrugged and gave her an easy smile, which made her smile back. “Besides, it wasn’t even that fair of a fight, I won way easily.”

He swore he felt his shell crack, but paid it no mind as he rolled to the right, narrowly missing being slashed to death by an angry yokai. Turns out the bear looked crystalline because it WAS crystalline- it’s fur wasn’t fur at all, instead being a very thin-pricked crystal material. Leo found that out the hard way after trying to grab the bear for a quick turn around where he ended up tearing his palm completely open.

Now with his bloody hand covering his plastron and his other hand holding his sword, he stood and stared at the bear, who stared right back with empty black eyes.

“Come on, Leon.” He hyped himself up under his breath, leaning from foot to foot to relieve the pressure on his twisted right ankle. “Come on, Leon, you’re the Cerulean Death, you got this. You fucking got this–”

And with what little motivation he had salvaged, he pushed on adrenaline and ran at the bear with the intent to kill.

“Good! Just as I would expect from a fighter like you.” Big Mama clapped her hands together in a way of showing she was pleased with this information, and Leo’s smile relaxed. He leaned back on the wall that his bed was beside, ignoring the shudder that threatened to slip. His bandaged up hand rested on his leg.

“...So, any idea what I’m doing tomorrow?” he asked, tilting his head. The spider yokai before him paused. She knew what that question meant, and she couldn’t help but sigh exhaustedly.

She gave him a look, then responded, “Ceru, you know I can’t let you leave here unless you’re in a match. It just isn’t fair to the rest of my babies.” She crossed one set of arms, and Leo groaned dramatically.

“Oh come on, you do know what tomorrow is right?” He questioned, ankle wrapped in bandages twitching slightly. “My birthday? ”

And just like that, Leo was given some new permissions. Once a year, on his birthday, the turtle would be allowed to go out. Of course, he would be under supervision by Big Mama’s security, and he wouldn’t be allowed to leave the Hidden City, but he was allowed out. That’s all that mattered to him. Last year on his birthday he had gone out to the markets and eaten quite possibly the best food he had ever tasted. This year he planned on doing the exact same thing, it was sort of a tradition to celebrate his aging-up by eating new food.

After Big Mama left once they were done negotiating the terms of his day trip, Leo fell back against his bed, grinning up at the ceiling with all the excitement of a kid on Christmas Eve. This year, he thought, maybe I’ll try topside food.

Screaming. That was all Leonardo could hear now, but it wasn’t his own vocalizations of terror, no. It was the bear yokai that had so unfortunately run directly into the sharp side of his sword. It ran into the side of his sword twelve times without moving, how impressive, Leonardo thought as he ripped his sword out of its side. The bear fell fast, completely unable to fight. The turtle stared down at the beast, and spit blood to the ground at his own feet. Finally, now he could go get bandaged up and eat something.

On second thought, Leonardo had lost his appetite. Heart full of disturbed dread, he picked a stray flower petal off of his shoulder and flicked it away onto the floor of his room– no, his cell. The only home he’s known for fourteen years and three-hundred and sixty-four days. The home that he’d see for the rest of his days.

Great, Donnie thought, another F. At this rate I can say bye to college. His brain filled with mush, the fourteen-year-old crumbled up the paper and tossed it into the nearby industrial blue trash bin. The school’s hallways had mostly cleared by now, the bell having dismissed all the students about ten minutes ago. Now only freshmen waiting for their rides home and after-school club-goers remained, making the linoleum hallways echo softly with each footstep. Donatello never liked the school when it was like this, he could hear everything. That fly buzzing by the bin, the creak of a door opening down the hall, two girls having a gossip sesh in the bathroom by the broken water fountain that never stopped running water.

It sucked.

He huffed, pulling his phone from his pocket to scroll idly. The latest IPhone, of course, with a sleek black case that had a purple dragon insinga, the same logo on the back of his beautifully tailored satin jacket. The dragon was a simple silhouette with bright red eyes that almost glowed in the dark. The puffy sleeves hid Donnie’s surprisingly fit frame, and the oversized fit fell to his upper thigh. That’s right, he had earned that jacket, and found a place where he belonged. A place without Draxum.

He quickly shook off that thought, huffing and pushing back some of the holo-dreads that were part of his human disguise. No point in thinking about that part of his life right now, no. Right now Donnie had to get to the computer lab. He straightened his posture, letting a fake and lazy smile grace his face as he started walking down the too-quiet hallway.

It wasn’t long until his black ankle-high Doc Martens crossed the threshold of his group’s regular meeting spot, which was a computer lab on the second floor of the high school. The lights were out as expected. Donnie walked in without hesitance, his motion triggering one of the sensors that alerted the group leader’s smartphone. There wasn’t really a need to announce his arrival, however, since he was always the last one here. The other members of the Purple Dragons looked over at the late-arriving boy, and their leader Kendra gave Donnie her signature squinty stink-eye.

“You’re late. Again. Don’t think you can just keep doing this, tortuga-” she scoffed, crossing her arms as she expected an answer to her silent question of “where were you.”

But, Donnie cut her off; “Relax, relax, I was just getting some water. You know how much turtles love water.” He gave her a smug grin, his digital cloak turning off at the press of a button on his armband. His dark brown complexion became its natural green, and the holo-dreads completely fizzled away. Five fingers became three, and the only part of him that remained were his heterochromic eyes, the left red and the right blue. “And I am, in fact, a turtle.”

Kendra glared, and Jason grumbled under his breath in annoyance. The club leader spoke again while Donnie took his usual spot in front of a myriad of seemingly disorganized monitors, commenting, “You’re lucky I don’t expose you to the world. We would make a pretty penny from the discovery of a mutant.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’d make money, but you’d lose me. And I know how much you love me. ” Donatello remarked sarcastically, booting up his custom systems and getting ready to continue his most recent project that may or may not have something to do with locating lots of uranium. “Besides, I’m too valuable for you to get rid of! My tech makes up… what, half of this room?” He gestured around vaguely with one hand, his grin widening as he leaned back in his plush purple computer chair.

Kendra’s hands balled into fists, and she didn’t respond. Instead, she walked off to her own set-up, sliding into her seat and glaring at her much less impressive monitors.

And that’s how the day before Donnie’s fifteenth birthday went: he worked on his project in the seething silence of his fellow Purple Dragons, and honestly, forgot that his birthday was in less than twenty-four hours. Someone else, however, did not forget.

Late into the night, around eleven, Donnie was alone in the computer room having never left. While the other club members went to their homes, Donnie hadn’t one to go to. So, he stayed at his work, eyes dry by now from too much blue-light exposure. He had zoned into his work, having no intention of stopping until early morning, when he planned to retreat to his hideout under the gymnasium bleachers.

As his fingers started cramping with the carpal tunnel he had developed, his phone buzzed on the table. The unexpected motion made Donatello jump, pulling his fingers quickly from the modified keyboard. He grabbed the phone, wincing as his sore wrists finally got rotating movement, and opened up the screen to see a text from none other than his best friend. A smile graced his face, Donnie relaxed, and opened the message from Miss O’Neil.

April O’N. : HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU IDIOT

April O’N. : wait its not midnight yet

April O’N. : DAMNIT I WAS EARLY

April O’N. : anyways r u busy bc we should meet up for midnight bday pizza

Donnie did hesitate, reluctant to leave his work, but the promise of pizza wasn’t something that he could just ignore. He sent back a quick response, then locked up all of his screens. After making sure everything was secure and safe, he left the computer lab. He stuck to the shadows of the hallways to avoid the cameras and late-night janitorial staff, making it outside soon enough. It didn’t take long for him to walk to the nearby building, climbing the fire escape with surprising agility, and making it to the roof easily. Once up top, he looked around briefly, made a mental decision, and started running from roof to roof, jumping between alleyways and avoiding security systems with ease.

Soon enough he landed on the roof of an apartment building, sitting criss-crossed on the edge and waiting patiently for his promised birthday food and confidant. It took around ten minutes, but the familiar clinking of converse on a fire escape came in time. April peeked her head over the edge of the building, wheezing and sliding three pizza boxes onto the concrete to relieve her shoulder muscles.

Donnie, of course, was of zero help as she pulled herself up and laid on the roof dramatically to catch her breath. “Goodness gracious– ” she coughed, staring up at the stars for a second. Donatello walked over, snickering.

“It’s my birthday, I didn’t have to help you.”

“Isn’t technically your birthday, yet.” She glared with no malice.

“False, Miss O’Neil, it is twelve-oh-two.” he smirked, holding out his hand to pull her up, which she took gratefully. With his help, she stood and sighed.

“Damn, why do you have to be correct..” she grumbled, but smiled despite this inconvenience. “..happy birthday, old-ass.”

“Thank you, even-older-ass.” The turtle sat down by the pizza boxes, opening up the top one and taking a slice of cheesy birthday goodness.

iii.

“....and.. Michelangelo is with the… Foot Clan?” Raphael asked with quiet disbelief, staring down at the dojo floor. He sat on his knees across from his father, Splinter, who nodded sadly.

“Yes, your brother’s fates were… unfortunate. I only wish I could have saved you all.” the mutant rat man said softly, a hint of guilt and regret lingering in the air. The atmosphere of the room was just sorrowful.

Raphael, freshly sixteen (as of literally five minutes ago), was just now hearing about the existence of three brothers. He had been raised here in the sewers alone his entire life, being trained by Splinter in the ways of the Hamato Clan.

“...why are you telling me this now…?” he asked, looking away from the ground and to his father, wanting answers.

But Splinter hesitated, mouth opening to speak but no words came out. Instead, a soft sigh escaped. Then, he tried again, managing to say, “...I… I believe you are ready.”

“...ready?”

“Yes, ready. I believe you are ready to save them.”

Chapter Text

i.

Raphael wasn’t stupid. He could read just fine, and he wrote legibly. He understood basic instructions, and was good at following orders, especially when instructed by Splinter. All that being said, Raphael knew he was not stupid. He knew that he was smarter than he let on. Which is why it confused him when his father said that he was ready.

“I believe you are ready to save them.”

Splinter’s words stuck to the snapper like gum to the bottom of a shoe. They kept replaying in his mind, the words echoing throughout his conscience as he grappled for a reasonable explanation. Has this been Splinter’s plan this entire time? Raise Raphael so that he could go save the other three from their terrible sounding fates? It didn’t make sense.

Whenever Raphael needed help rationalizing something, he went to his father, but now his father was the one not making sense. He didn’t have a back-up person to go to for help, he had been raised alone! Maybe if he was ready sooner, he would have had brothers. Had a family. He shook his head fast, making the thoughts disperse. No! He would not blame himself for this, he didn’t even know the three existed until an hour ago! No time to wallow in nonsensical guilt.

He looked down at his phone in hand, an older Samsung that probably had a handful of viruses and technical issues, but hey, it worked well enough to call Splinter and place pick-up orders at Huesos. Speaking of, he winced out of hunger when his stomach growled. All of this new and stressful responsibility made him hungry. Getting pizza right now didn’t sound too bad…

He called ahead, letting the worker on the phone know he would be coming so that they could have his food ready by the time he got there. Raph certainly wasn’t a VIP there, but he and Hueso had grown some sort of friendship in his two years of frequenting the restaurant. With his order placed, he let Splinter know he was leaving, and proceeded to do just that.

When walking around the shady alleyways of New York City, the large mutant kept in the shadows, close to dumpsters and trash piles in case he needed a hiding spot. But it wasn’t long, maybe twenty minutes, until he found the familiar graffiti on the old brick wall, and walked in without hesitation. He was greeted by the warm and friendly atmosphere of Run of the Mill Pizza, his favorite eating spot. Patrons mingled at their tables, all enjoying a variety of foods, drinks, and… substances that Raph hoped were consumable. He didn’t question it, though. He learned to not think too hard about stuff here, just enjoy the flavors and friendly conversations he had. Somewhere in the bar section, a group of male yokai were cheering loudly and drunkenly at a screen showing some sort of fighting match. Raph paid them no mind, sliding into his usual booth.

Looking around at the plush red seat of the booth, he couldn’t help but feel empty. Was that the right word? Maybe Lonely is a better descriptor, because Raph knew he wasn’t empty. He was feeling so many different emotions right now, and was 99% sure that he had gone through all five stages of grief in ten seconds earlier. Lonely was more like it, because he was suddenly very aware just how big this table was. There was enough seating left for three more people here. My brothers, he thought with a grimace.

He had not noticed Hueso walk up, holding a glass of water. It was set in front of the snapper, but Hueso was surprised to not get a response.

“...Alright, Raphael, what’s wrong.” It wasn’t really a question, more a subtle demand to know why his second-favorite customer was so quiet when he was usually the opposite. Raph looked up at Hueso from his seated position, gulping nervously. Hueso raised a boney brow, pulling his skeletal hand away from the glass. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Raph just stared for a second longer, then commented, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind. I don’t want to take up your time talking about my family issues.” He smiled to assure the yokai that he was okay, but it apparently didn’t work because Hueso immediately started asking questions.

“Your family? Did you and Splinter have a fight?”

“What??” Raph’s eyes widened. “No- goodness no, we didn’t fight. He just told me some… really confusing and stressful information that I frankly was not ready to get, but he thinks I’m ready?”

Hueso squinted skeptically. “Explain.” he said softly, his voice becoming more gentle than usual.

The mutant hesitated, gathering his thoughts, before speaking. “...I apparently have brothers. Uh, three. Their names are Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello. They-” he sucked in a sharp breath. “-they work for really really bad people and apparently it’s now my duty to save them. Bring them home. Dad said so.”

The skeleton yokai didn’t respond for a few seconds, processing the information. His face didn’t reveal any of his thoughts, but in time, he said, “...I see. Three, you say? Do they look like you?”

“Well, I don’t exactly know. Dad said we’re different types of turtles, but we are turtles. Two of them are in the Hidden City, and uh, the other one is up here working for some group called The Foot Clan.” Raph responded, almost not believing his own words. “...this entire time I could have had a.. I could have had brothers. ”

“Raphael, you do have brothers. You always have.” Hueso offered comfort, rubbing his shoulder. “Your souls are connected in one way or another, Caiman. Why do you think you have always sat at this big table instead of a single-seater?”

Raph looked at the empty table, hands balling into fists. “....you’re right.” he said softly, a small flame of determination lighting in his chest. “You’re right! ” He smiled, looking up at Hueso. “I have always had brothers! I just haven’t been able to see them! You’re the best-” He suddenly stood up and engulfed the yokai in a tight hug. Hueso choked, tapping his arm frantically in surrender as a plea to be put down. Raph noticed his suffocating confidant a few seconds later and released him, apologizing hastily and brushing off Hueso’s clothes. The skeleton yokai, still surprised, laughed and wordlessly forgave Raphael.

“Raphael- Raphael- you are fine, I know you are excited!” he chuckled, holding his hands up to stop his fretting. The teen stopped, giving a bashful smile. “You said two of your brothers are in the Hidden City and working for bad people, yes?” Raphael nodded. “Then I suggest you first start looking at the Battle Nexus.” Hueso gestured to the multitude of screens in the pizzeria, almost all of them showing the same ring fight. “It is run by Big Mama.”

Up on the screens, two yokai were duking it out in an already bloody ring. One of them looked like a mix between a lion and a rabbit, while the other was a parrot yokai. By the looks of things, the parrot was winning. Well, was. In one swift motion, the lion-rabbit had pounced and slashed without restraint, claws digging into the parrot and throwing it down. Raphael had to look away as the blood spewed halfway across the arena in one long red splat mark. The crowd on the screen erupted in cheers, roars, and excitement, and so did the group of men at the bar. Hueso winced, looking at Raphael.

“If your brother is anything like you, he’ll be okay there. You are strong, I’m sure he is too, Caiman.” He tried assuring Raphael, but the turtle just held a determined expression, his mouth a tight thin line.

“Hi strength isn’t what I’m worried about, Hueso. It’s his mental state that could be severely messed up by living, let alone fighting, in a place as bloody as that.” Raph said, sounding worried already. “I have to get him out of there soon.”

Hueso looked back to the screens, watching as the lion-rabbit was showered in red flower petals and the body of the parrot was cleaned up in the background. “...well, Raphael, I wish you luck. When you find him, be sure to bring him by here. Pizza on the house, just this once.” he smiled at Raphael and pat his shoulder a final time before wandering off to serve the other guests.

Raphael left shortly after their conversation, his pizza thoroughly devoured. Nothing but crumbs remained on the table, and a generous tip had been left under the still full water glass. Hueso might not have seen the turtle leave, but in the back of the skeleton yokai’s mind, he knew that he would be back soon enough with a new addition to the table. He sighed, smiling softly and wiping down a table. He would have to make an extra-special pizza once Raphael found all of his brothers. He soon lost himself in thought, mindlessly cleaning the restaurant.

ii.

Leo was barely able to sleep that night, but still managed to get some rest before his big day. His day! He sat up and practically threw himself out of the uncomfortable bed, landing on his feet with an uncontainable excitement buzzing through his body. His excitement was enough to let him ignore the throbbing pain in his ankle, and he started pacing his room to try wearing down. He wanted to save this energy and excitement for the city, because he had plans. 

That’s right, the amazing Leonardo was going to sneak away from his guards and have himself some real fun. He had worked it all out last night in his mind, and he knew his plan was foolproof! So while he waited to be retrieved from the room, he went over the plan in his mind to make sure he had every detail worked out perfectly. Even when he was sure there wouldn’t be an error, he went over it again anyways to fill time.

It was about three hours until the jingling of keys unlocked his door and he was greeted by the fox face of Big Mama’s assistant. Leo looked over with a smile, practically bouncing out of his bandages. “Hey, fox-face!” he snickered, rushing out the door without giving him time to reply. The fox yokai paused, but sighed in annoyance, leading Leonardo down the hallways of Champion’s Row. He kept the turtle going the right direction by putting a firm hand on his shell to guide him with force if need be. And it was indeed needed, since Leo had the confidence of an idiot and no idea where he was going.

Before the two left the Battle Nexus officially for the day, Leonardo was given a small pouch of a portion of his earnings from the match the day before. He tied the pouch securely to his black belt, thanking the yokai that had given it to him. He was quickly briefed on how the day would go, and was delighted to realize that his plan of having the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER would work.

Leonardo and the fox were to head down to the Pirate Bazaar first so that Leo could get all of his shopping done first. Then they would set off to get food in the downtown portion of the city, the place where Leo planned to slip away from the guard.

He internally high-fived himself for being so good at planning, and excitedly hopped from foot-to-foot as the gates opened to let him free. Free. As soon as they were open enough, he ran through, leaving the fox yokai to scramble in an attempt to keep up. Leo let out an excited “Whoop-whoop!” into the open air, laughing loudly as he booked it towards the bazaar, fox yokai close behind and shouting for him to slow down.

Leo, of course, did not slow down. How could he when all this excitement was threatening to make him burst?! He kept on his path, kicking up dust and running into a few people by accident. Some people recognized the mutant as The Cerulean Death and smiled, cheering as he ran off to god knows where. He of course, stopped at one point to give some kid a signature, but then immediately took off again.

The fox eventually caught up, finding Leo at a booth in the bazaar admiring a set of sais. Fox wheezed, catching his breath. “Leona ardo- ” he managed to say between heavy breaths, getting beside the mutant and slapping his paw on his shoulder. Leo looked over, completely unbothered by all the running.

“Oh, there you are! I thought you lost me for a second.” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Hey- check these out, think Big Mama would let me use these in the arena?” Leo held up the weapons, subtly pointing one of them at Fox, who leaned away uncomfortable. “She did say I could buy whatever I want.” he hummed, tossing the other sai up and down while the other poked at Fox.

“Yes, yes, very good.” Fox said, pushing the sai to the side so as to not get accidentally stabbed. “If you want to buy those hurry up with it so we can head downtow–”

“OH but look at those!!! ” Leo said excitedly, dropping the sais on the table and running to another stall where a pair of nunchucks sat on display. He wiggled his fingers excitedly and grabbed them, giving them a test spin with a laugh. “These are so cool!! Fox, what do you think Mama would say about these? ”

“Do you–” Fox ducked so the nunchuck wouldn’t hit him. “--do you even know how to use those? Don’t you fight with a sword?” he questioned suspiciously as Leonardo set the nunchucks back down and smiled at the booth seller.

“Yeah, I use a sword. Doesn’t mean I can’t also use some rockin’ chucks!” he smirked proudly. “Though I wish they weren’t orange.” he gave the booth seller a farewell grin, then started walking at a normal pace to keep browsing. Fox followed gingerly, keeping a keen eye on both Leonardo and the crowd.

“Well, maybe we can find you something blue. That does happen to be your signature color, yes?”

“Uh huh! But it shouldn’t be, since I’m a red -eared slider.”

“Do you like the color red?”

“Pfft, not at all.” Leo rolled his eyes, stopping briefly to admire a wooden bo staff with a purple grip-wrap around its center. “Can you imagine me with a staff?” he asked, crossing his arms to try and imagine it.

Fox did the same, pondering the image of Leonardo in the arena with a stick. The mental image made him have to stifle a laugh. “Well, I certainly can imagine it, Leonardo.”

The two laughed over the idea, waving off the possibility that he would buy a staff, and walked some more. Leonardo stopped at most of the booths, picking up trinkets to fidget with them or weapons to try out. Other than the previously mentioned weapons, he also ended up trying out a set of katanas, some shurikens, and an odachi. But nothing really caught his eye quite like the beautifully crafted kusarigama.

The weapon had a heavy chain that was gunmetal gray, and attached to one end of the grip was a sickle of a lighter metal. It had been cleaned recently, the clear reflection in the sickle blade being a dead give away that the weapon is well crafted. Its grip was almost black in color and wrapped neatly with a rough and thick navy blue wrap. Leonardo had to give the beautiful tool a double-take, almost passing it up as he was walking.

“Ohmegosh, Fox look at this- ” the mutant went to pick up the weapon by the grip, but his hand was slapped away by the booth seller who glared at him.

“No touching.” She barked out, voice being very deep and gruff. Leonardo laughed nervously and apologized, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Right, right. Uh, I don’t suppose I could give that kusarigama a test run..?” he asked in his sweetest voice, clasping his hands together in a plea.

The booth seller, who happened to be a bat yokai, raised a suspicious brow at Leonardo. “Hmm…” she hummed, apparently thinking. Her indecisiveness was enough to get Leo excited, thinking he had a chance at trying the weapon, only to be crushed when she barked out, “No.” She grinned at Leonardo and pointed at a wooden sign on her table with her long claw.

NO TRIAL RUNS

NO REFUNDS

“Leonardo, do not waste your money on that.” Fox scoffed, looking at the kusarigama with distaste. “It’s probably cheaply made, the second you touch it, it will fall apart in your three-fingered hands.”

Leo looked at Fox, then back at the beautiful weapon. He was torn, really. He whined, shaking his handouts to relieve some of the emotional pressure. “...oh, come on, but look at it, fox-face!” he waved his hands wildly, gesturing at the kusarigama dramatically. “It’s absolutely perfect! And not that expensive!”

“You’d have to use all of your money to pay for it.”

“That is not the point right now!” he argued, pacing back and forth from the booth to the street, going over the pros and cons of buying the weapon. Fox watched and sighed, unamused.

“...alright, come on Leonardo. Find yourself something out, we need to head downtown soon-”

“I am thinking !” Leonardo snapped, glaring at Fox and going right back to his pacing. The booth seller snickered, finding the entire situation amusing. “You know I’m only allowed out one day a year, and it’s my birthday man! I should get to buy what I want, regardless of how low-quality the thing is!” he reasoned.

The bat, clearly offended by his remark on the quality of her weaponry, glared at the two, and with a low growl, she spat at them. “Price just doubled , tortoise.”

Leo looked over, eyes widening with heartbreak and disbelief. “What?? No no- oh my god you can’t be serious!!--” he speed-walked up to the table, slamming his hands down on it and leaning over to get in her face. “That isn’t fair! It was- you- I-” Leo groaned. Fox pulled Leo away by the top rim of his shell, giving the turtle an apologetic look.

“Come on, let’s get going.”

“But- my kusarigama!--”

Leonardo ended up backpedaling to a booth and buying a beautiful blue mask and new grip-wraps for his blades. No new weapons today. He tied the mask on as soon as he paid for it, and was almost immediately comfortable. So he threw his old dirty one into a nearby bin. Finally, the two made their way towards the downtown food strip. Leonardo had almost forgotten about his plan to run off during his scuffle with the kusarigama, but now that his birthday outing was back on track, it was all he could think about.

Fox was still blissfully unaware that Leonardo would be trying to leave. He had supervised the turtle on his birthday outings for the past thirteen years, and not once had Leonardo ever tried anything like he was planning to do today. Fox, dare he say it, even trusted Leonardo alone in short moments if he had to step away to use the bathroom or get in a quick smoke. He had made it a point not to smoke around Leonardo, not wanting the teen to pick up the bad habit. Not that he cared if Leonardo smoked or not, but he knew that smoking would lower his fighting capabilities, which would make his matches less interesting and therefore, would lose the Nexus money.

Yeah, that was the reason. Totally.

The two walked down the downtown food strip, Leonardo being overwhelmed by enticing and strange smells he had never experienced. The arena always reeked of blood, body parts, and booze from the drunkards watching the matches, so any break from those all too common scents was welcome to Leo’s nose.

He only lingered in front of a few restaurants, letting himself salivate at the sight of all these foods. He spotted a myriad of sushi rolls and had to stop himself from giving in right then and there. No, he was looking for something specific. He had heard of a place that sold what he was looking for, but he wasn’t really sure where to find it. So, he started asking around.

Fox was confused by Leo’s social behavior, just tailing close behind the turtle to keep guard on him. “Leo,” he started, but was ignored. “...Leo- are you seriously looking for pizza ??” Fox asked, bewildered when the turtle nodded.

“Yep! Heard some guards talking about it one day, and thought I’d like to try it. They were talking about a place called Run of the Mill Pizza!”

Fox hesitated, not sure if he could break the birthday boy’s heart. “...Leonardo, that restaurant is topside, in New York.” he explained gently and watched the turtle deflate.

Leo sighed, slumping in defeat. “Damnit.. Okay are there any other pizza places around here? I really wanna try these cheese-triangles.” He bargained, still set on pizza. Fox laughed, a little surprised.

“Cheese-triangles? Well, I’m sure we can find something for you..” he smiled with reason, leading Leonardo further into the restaurant strip. They eventually found a small hole-in-the-wall type place that served pizza, and the beautiful scent was intoxicating. Leo almost started jumping for joy when he and Fox were seated and served a delicious pie.

The melty cheese, the perfectly grilled peppers and onions, the pepperoni slices, the little sausage bits, the unknown substances that just tasted good… it was enough to send Leo into a food coma.

Of course, his guard didn’t let that happen and instead instructed the turtle to pace himself, enjoying his own slices of pizza in moderation with a healthy amount of water to wash it all down. Leo did the same, chugging two glasses of water for every four slices of pizza. In the end, he had eaten three and a half pies, with the help of Fox, and the two were positively stuffed.

Leo almost thought he wouldn’t be quick enough for his plan now, but suffice to say, Fox would be even slower. The poor yokai wasn’t used to eating so many carbs in one sitting, and leaned back in his own seat in a pizza-induced daze. Leo took his chance.

“Hey, I’m gonna go to the bathroom really quickly, okay?” Leo said, and slid out of his seat before Fox could respond. He weaved between tables, speed-walking with his eyes trained on the front door. When he stepped outside into the open air, he felt something he had never felt before.

Alive.

He took a deep breath, relishing in the feeling of physical freedom. No one was watching him, making sure he took all the correct turns. No one was escorting him through the city. No paw was pushed against his shell, guiding him from place to place. He was his own guide now, his own guard, and his own escort.

That free feeling was enough to give Leo the confidence to start walking. It was more of a speed-walk, quick enough to get him away from the restaurant and slow enough to not raise suspicion from the thin crowds. Fifteen, Leo thought, what do normal fifteen-year-olds do?

As he pondered the question, he took sporadic turns in an attempt to get lost, not wanting to be anywhere anyone could rationally find him. Right, right, left, two more rights, go straight four blocks, left, right, straight, straight, left. It was enough to eventually get him away from the restaurant strip and closer to the slums. He took note of the change in scenery and raised his guard now that he was in unfamiliar territory. Honestly he should have had his guard up the entire time he was outside the Nexus, because all of the Hidden City is unfamiliar territory, he mentally reminded himself.

Leo wished he had his weapon in case he was attacked or robbed, but his fists would hopefully suffice. They had been enough plenty of times before in the arena on the unlikely occasion that he would become disarmed by his opponent. He just hoped they would be reliable in an open area with no walls keeping him in.

The more he walked, the more he started seeing yokai dressed in dirty torn cloth, giving the mutant looks of either cautiousness or envy. Leo was dressed unusually for this area, with his black pads and blue wrappings being in too pristine of a condition to be the norm around here. He was starting to semi-regret coming this far out until he passed by an alleyway.

He had to do a double take, backtracking to peer down the dark entrance. At the end of the surprisingly cold and ominous walkway there was a totally inconspicuous dumpster labeled “NOT AN ENTRANCE TO NEW YORK.” Leo deadpanned at how obvious it was, and glanced around. Surely just a peek topside wouldn’t hurt…

Just as Leo was about to climb into said entrance, he was grabbed by the rim of his shell and yanked back, and the familiar growl of a Fox was heard. He winced, looking up from his now grounded position to see Fox glaring down at Leo, ears flat and eyes sharp. “Leonardo.” he hissed, yanking him up. “We are going back to the Nexus, now. ”

“But–”

“Why would you run off?? This city is dangerous for a child like you! Let alone a fighter for the Nexus! Big Mama would have my hide if I lost you in this damn city! The slums, no less!” He snapped, silencing the turtle to a meer whimper.

“......I’m sorry–”

“And sneaking off to New York?? What has gotten into you??” Fox growled, starting to pull Leonardo forcefully out of the alley and down the street. Yokai avoided looking at the pair, averting their eyes to the ground or to the skies. Leo looked around, suddenly very embarrassed at all of the eyes staring. This kind of attention was nothing like the kind he got at the Battle Nexus. There, at least, people were cheering and staring in awe! But here out in public, everyone gawked in disbelief and bewilderment, their gazes judgemental and their aversion almost offensive.

Leo looked down in shame, in tow beside Fox now so he wouldn’t have to pull the mutant so much. Fox grumbled more under his breath, clearly annoyed. His paw’s grip never loosened on Leonardo’s arm all the long way back to the Nexus.

The entire walk was a walk of shame, and Leo felt it all.

Big Mama was, safe to say, less than pleased. Firstly, she confiscated his new grip-wraps he had purchased, only allowing him to keep his new mask because he had already disposed of the older one. She acted coldly towards Leonardo, not even giving him the privilege of being looked at. She didn;t look. She just spoke, and scowled, and insulted, and threatened.

Leo felt terrible.

“You have directly disobeyed my orders, confuddled my personal guard, and tried to go topside, Leonardo. This is unacceptable. Have I been a bad mother to you?? What have I done in all fifteen years of your life to deserve this??” She questioned, but didn’t expect a response.

Leo looked up at her, just wanting her to look back, but she did not.

“Of all my years, I’ve only had one other person treat me so unfairly after everything I gave him,” she spat, pacing back and forth in front of Leonardo’s cell. He could rightfully call it that now without feeling bad. “And now he is probably dead in a ditch because he refused to cooperate with me. Do you want to end up like that?? Dead in a ditch rotting ??”

“....n-no Mama–”

“Did I ask you to speak?! ” She shouted, taking a threatening step towards Leo. He didn’t flinch or cower, but lowered his head fast. The turtle gulped nervously, a bead of sweat running down his forehead and absorbing into his mask.

“...that’s what I thought.” She hissed, voice softening again. “Your birthday privileges are being revoked permanently. I hope your little escapade was worth it, because there will not be another.

“Get ready, you’re fighting in twenty.”

Leo paused, looking up again with his eyes widening faintly. “....but I.. I already fought yesterday-”

“And you will fight again, am I being clear? ”

“...yes, ma’am.”

iii.

Come on, Leon. He hyped himself up mentally, the throbbing of his ankle being ever-present as he paced back and forth in the waiting room. You got this. Two fights in a row, no big deal. You’re recovered from the last one, you’re in tip-top shape. His thoughts didn’t sound too convincing, but he hoped he could believe it.

He could hear the announcer’s voice outside the thin brick walls, shouting something about Kraken Tom taking down yet another yokai. His enthusiasm made Leonardo want to vomit, or maybe it was the surplus of pizza he had eaten about an hour and a half earlier. Probably both, actually.

Regardless, he swallowed both his bile and his fear, and gripped his blade handles tight. The twin tsurugi didn’t feel right anymore. The metal wasn’t shiny, and the grip-wraps were old and torn up. Why’d she have to take my new ones…

He jumped when the door opened and two of Mama’s workers came in, carrying a close-to-death yokai on a stretcher hastily. He watched them pass through the room, gulping audibly. Leonardo looked to the door they had left from, the stadium lights leaking in. They were brighter than he remembered.

Or maybe its because he finally looked up and saw just how blinding they were. The lights hurt to look at, he realized, and stepped away from the brightness creeping across the floor.

“And next up we’ve got a very special SURPRISE round!!!”

The crowd cheered, Leonardo tensed.

“You love him, it’s the birthday boy himself-”

He adjusted his grip.

“-The Cerulean Death!”

He stepped out into the light, walking with false confidence and pride. He threw on a smirk, and hoped that this lighting didn’t show his nerves. He looked up and around at the crowd, squinting just a bit to get a better look at the individuals. He didn’t recognize a single one of them, he realized.

There was a bat yokai, but not the one from earlier. A few different types he couldn’t pinpoint. He thought he saw some sort of bird-elephant yokai, but quickly lost them in the crowd. Some sort of super buff reptile with a red mask. A few skeletons.

Just like usual, they were cheering and shouting with reckless abandon.

Cheering for him.

“Ladies and gents, let’s all come together and sing our favorite semi-aquatic mutant Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday-”

The fight had already started, the crowd's voices ringing out in messy harmonies. They sang for him. They adored him. He slashed at the opposing yokai without even giving them an appraising glance.

“-to you! Happy Birthday-”

One more slash. He parried, rolled, and shielded himself from being struck with his shell.

“-to you! Happy birthday-”

He flinched, ducking and narrowly avoiding being decapitated by a kusari-fundo’s weighted chain-end.

“-dear Cerulean Death!-”

In one swift motion it was done. A spray of blood against his front, getting into the grooves and crevices of his plastron. He breathed heavily, glaring down at the dead buffalo yokai. It laid limp, soaked in its own blood. Did Leo even get hit at all?

“-Happy Birthday To You!”

Chapter Text

It rained more than April liked. New York usually wasn’t so cloudy in June so the dark clouds were unexpected. They blocked the dark sky, not letting the young girl see the stars. Not like she could see them when there wasn’t cloud cover. New York had too much unnatural light fogging up the sky.

She looked up at the clouds from her shut window, her second story apartment having an okay view of the heavens above.

Or, it would, if the clouds weren’t in the way.

“Stupid clouds…” she huffed, having been looking forward to seeing the moon tonight. It was supposed to be a full moon!

“April, honey, will you take out the trash for me?” She heard her mother call from the next room over. April turned and looked towards the door from her spot by the living room window.

She hesitated, and glanced down at the alley way below. It was dark, and the rain made everything blurry through the glass.

“...but it’s all dark right now, can’t I do it in the morning?”

Her mother peeked in from the kitchen, a half-clean plate in hand. She cocked a brow. “You’re gonna wake up at five to take the trash out? On a Tuesday? ” Mom questioned, and April giggled.

“Yeah! I’ll wake up and do it! It’s raining and I don’t wanna get all wet!”

“Oh, it’s just a little water. It ain’t ever hurt no one. Come on now, get the trash out.”

Upon realizing she had not won the debate, her smile fell and she huffed dramatically. Regardless, she gathered the trash in one big trash bag and headed down the big echo-y stairs of the apartment building.

Once downstairs, April pushed the heavy door open and sauntered into the alley. Her yellow rain boots made little splashes in puddles as she made her way to the dumpster.

Once the trash bag had been dutifully disposed of, she turned to go back inside quickly. Her hair was getting all wet and being out much longer would make her curls break. It was her plan to get dry as quickly as possible until she noticed the shadow not much bigger than her beside the dumpster, head in their knees and shaking.

She hesitated, staring. The figure hadn’t seen her yet.

For a moment, April wanted to just go back inside and let the person be all moody, but then the better side of her mind told her to do the right thing.

“Are you okay?”

The figure jumped, scrambling to their knees and looking up to April with big eyes full of fear. One eye was blue, and the other was red. They both reflected nothing but terror at the girl who stared back with gently curiosity.

“...you’re green.” April said softly, kneeling down beside him and giving a brace-face grin. “That’s my favorite color.”

The person whimpered, clearly on the verge of tears. He had on a black pair of shorts, and that was it. The rest of his front was covered by a plastron, and a dark speckled turtle shell sat on his back. No human features other than his general shape, but even that had some rougher edges.

“Are you cold?” She asked, moving to sit beside him. He just whimpered again, and leaned away. April didn’t get any closer and instead let her smile soften.

“I can go get my rain coat so you don’t get all wet out here, the rain is bad at night. It feels like little teeny tiny knives.”

To her surprise and delight, the person seemed to nod in agreement. He squinted a bit at her.

“...can you not see? Do you need glasses?”

“......” there wasn’t an auditory response, so April just kept talking.

“I need glasses, too. My mom just got me my new pair, my old ones are up in my dresser. According to her my pes-crip-shun changes a lot.”

“..........prescription…” he mumbled, his shoulders slowly relaxing.

“That’s what I said!” She giggled, watching him start to become more comfortable. “..so what are you?”

“Turtle.”

“Human!”

The two went back and forth for a while, April saying many words and the strange green boy saying little to none, but it was obvious that the two were becoming fast friends. The more they spoke, the more that the boy opened up. His name was Donatello, he was from a place called the Hidden City below New York (no, not in the sewers, he said), he was ten-years-old, and he didn’t have a place to live here.

“Well, you can just live with me!” April suggested excitedly, throwing her hands up. He flinched, but smiled a bit.

“Really…? With you and your mom…?”

“Sure! Well- okay probably not forever but you can stay for a little bit until you find a cool house to live in!” She stood up, shivering from sitting out in the cold rain for so long. “We can have a big sleep-over and dance and play games and–”

“April!”

The girl in question looked towards the now open door to the apartment building, the yellow light shining inside casting the silhouette of her mom in the frame.

“What are you still doing out here?? For Pete’s sake, I thought you got taken! Get your little butt inside.” Her voice, albeit stern, was only concerned for her daughter’s safety.

April smiled wide. “I’m talking with Donnie!”

“April, there ain’t no one else out here. Now come on.”

Confused, the young girl looked back to the dumpster, and was surprised to find that her new friend had disappeared.

“...okay!” She shrugged, hogging up the two stairs and inside.

“You are soaked, girl. Go on up and run a bath.”

“Yes ma’am. Hey, mom?”

“What is it hun?”

“Did you know there’s a super big city filled with yogurt under New York?”

“You’re so cold you’re speaking silly, you’ve probably gotten yourself all sick. Go on up now, don’t make me say it again.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Chapter Text

i.

    Donatello winced up at the bright purple GAME OVER screen, dropping his handheld controller in defeat. The large monitor was the only source of light in the computer lab, where the cloaked turtle sat with April playing a new game he and the Purple Dragons were developing.

    “Ha! Yes! Sherlock Corn for the win!!!” she cheered for herself across the room, looking at a much smaller monitor saying VICTORY in the same purple hue. She leaned back in her chair, giggling and looking over to the defeated turtle. “And what’s the name of this game again?? I wanna buy it when it comes out!”

    “We don’t have a name yet for it, so we’re just calling it Purple Game for now.” Donnie shrugged, turning in his own spinning seat to face her with a gentle smile. “Thanks for your help testing the combat, I need Jeremy to finish some animations, then we’ll be in beta testing.” he sat up, stretching and yawning loudly. His spine popped in a few places satisfyingly.

    April stood as well, cracking much less than him. “Geeze, Don, how long have you been in that chair?”

    “Ehh, not too long.” He responded casually, shrugging on his club jacket.

    “Uh huh, and how long have you been cloaked?”

    Donnie tensed, hesitating to answer. “...not long, I had a counselor conference earlier about college applications, I just forgot to turn it off.” he offered the semi-bullshit answer with confidence. April deadpanned, walking over and hitting the off-button on his armband for him.

    “You shouldn’t wear it all the time, it’s bad for your self image.” She hummed, watching as the hologram fizzled out. The teen before her rolled his eyes, but nodded in agreement. She smiled, apparently satisfied with his cooperation. “Besides, I like you.”

    “Well,” he started, unplugging his controller from the PC, “I’d hope you like me. I spent a long time perfecting my disguise-”

    “No, the real you, Donnie.” She corrected, and he paused.

    “...right.” He put the controller away in a drawer, and April put hers in the same spot. Technically she wasn’t supposed to be in this computer lab, so she had to put everything back where she found it so as to not raise suspicion. “Anyways, pizza?”

    “Pfft- Don, we had pizza like.. Twenty-something hours ago? You can’t seriously want pizza again.” She playfully hit his shoulder. “Let’s go to one of those late-night arcades, instead! We can get junk food, play just dance, Mr.Booty-Shaker-Nine-Thousand-With-A-Capital-B-And-Three-Y’s–”

    “Alright alright I get it my screen name is funny to you ha ha. ” He rolled his eyes and looked away to hide his little grin. “But I think I’ll pass on the arcade. You know, gotta preserve my self image or something.” April gasped dramatically, upset that he used her own logic against her. “I’d have to use my disguise, and that’s not good for me.”

    April glared with no malice, huffing. “Fine, then what do you want to do?”

    “At nine o’clock on a Friday night? Pause for dramatic effect. Oh, yeah, I’ve got work I need to do.” He fell back into his chair, turning and facing his screen once more. Closing out the game file, he opened up a new folder filled with code collections. His human friend leaned over his shoulder.

    “Oh? And what exactly are you working on ?” She asked, resting her head on his shoulder. It was stiff, but not uncomfortable, so she held her perch. She could feel the hum from Donnie’s throat.

    “Purple Dragons stuff, it’s a new surveillance hack for the banks uptown.”

    “The banks?”

    “Yep. The others are planning a cyber-heist to get some extra funding for Purple Game.”

    April winced, the subject of the Purple Dragons’ crime life being touchy for her, especially as an aspiring journalist. “Right, a cyber-heist. You aren’t actually getting involved yourself, right?”

    “Of course not, I’m just giving them the code to the camera systems.”

    “That sounds like getting involved?”

    “It isn’t.”

    “Donatello,” she straightened up and started her lecture, “crime is dangerous. Especially for someone with your situation! If you get caught–”

    “Which I won’t .”

    “--you’ll get shipped off to some freaky lab, probably in D.C. where you’ll be poked and prodded and probably killed in the name of science!” she argued, clearly worried for her friend’s safety. “The only reason you’re not in a lab right now is because I could care less about mutants and the Dragons–”

    “The Dragons need me, I know.” he sounded almost smug to say it, despite being in an entrapped situation. “I’m useful, it’s my best trait. I’m the tech guy.”

    April was upset to hear him talking about himself that way, and said, “But do you have to be? Why can’t you just be Donnie ?”

    The turtle paused his typing, the question seemingly resonating within him. April watched as he thought through it, obviously trying to find a way to defend his own views. But much to his disappointment, April was right. So, he settled for his usual go-to when he had no valid argument.

    “...Because no one needs a Donnie April. Not even Draxum.”

    Self hatred.

    April stared down at him, shaking her head after a few seconds. “...don’t talk about him, I know he upsets you. You’re fifteen now, Don, and he isn’t here to tell you that he doesn’t need you. I’m here, and  I need a Donnie.”

    He hesitated, but turned and looked at her in silence. His face failed to give away his thoughts, and April internally cursed at him for being so outwardly emotionless. She knew deep down that he was hurting, and that he felt just as much as the next person. She just had no idea how to help him embrace these feelings and cope. When Donnie said nothing, April took it as a cue to continue speaking.

    “You’re fifteen-years-old now, and you’re practically my little brother.” Her voice was soft and sympathetic. “I hate hearing you talk so badly about yourself, because you don’t deserve any of it…. Let me go pick up some ramen, okay? We can watch stupid rom-coms and eat until we pass out. How’s that sound?”

    Donatello was quiet for a few more seconds, but eventually nodded quietly and turned back to his work. Looks like he was done talking for the night, but O’Neil took his confirming nod as a win. Little victories, she told herself internally as she left the computer lab and school through a first-floor window.

    April came back half an hour later with a bag of instant ramen and some sodas, and found Donnie exactly where she had left him. She sighed, setting down the goods and walking over, where she grabbed his shoulders and gently started kneading into them with the heels of her palms. She felt the tension which slowly started melting away under her precise hand work. It took a few minutes, but Donnie soon stopped typing and leaned back fully in a relaxed slump.

    She smiled at her success. “...come on, Don, load up Netflix. Let’s binge Grey’s Anatomy and make fun of the inaccuracies.” And that’s how the rest of their night went, sitting together eating gas station ramen, drinking stale soda, and watching stupidly bad medical shows.

    April felt happy that she could at least be here to offer him comfort, even when she knew he would never accept it. He really deserved it, because he had apparently been more stressed and anxious than she realized originally. Donatello, in contrast to April, felt almost torn.

    Because how was he supposed to tell her every thought running through his mind when he couldn’t even comprehend them himself?

    The two friends ended up falling asleep leaning against each other, April drooling on Donnie’s shoulder while Donnie snored above her, Grey’s Anatomy having paused a while ago with Netflix’s automated “Are you still watching?” message shining a dull light onto their faces.

    By the time the sun peeked over the horizon, April had left Donnie with a blanket she had found in the nurse’s office.

    Donatello let himself lay quietly for another hour after he had woken up, which was around ten a.m. It was Saturday, therefore, no one would be in the building. Like usual Donatello planned on continuing his work without leaving the computer lab.

    His soft shell ached, sore from the awkward sleeping position. He sat up slowly around eleven with a wince and a quiet whimper. He really should have been more careful about his sleeping place.

    He found himself to be relatively unproductive, only having the mental energy to do so much before his mind went blank and he became lost in thought.

    Is it really so wrong that I like my disguise? I mean, it lets me fit in, it lets me stay hidden, and it lets me walk around freely! 

    He looked down at the silver wristband, which had a red light on signaling that the disguise was off.

    Draxum would be impressed by how good it is, I’ve fooled everyone.

    No, stop thinking about him.

    Draxum was all Donnie could think about for the rest of the day.

ii.

    “Do you think he’s learned his lesson?” Big Mama asked her fox associate. From her strategic position in the VIP box, she could see the Cerulean Death staring down at the yokai he had just slaughtered.

    “I sure hope so, today was a mess.” Fox grumbled, rubbing his temples in annoyance.

    Big Mama chuckled at his reply, tilting her head when Cerulean looked around at the crowd. He seemed to be avoiding looking at the VIP box. Smart boy, she thought.

    “Is he.. Looking for something, ma’am?” Fox asked, peering at the crowd to try and spot anything potentially out of the ordinary.

    Seats were almost all filled, and security was in their usual positions, exits were clearly marked… nope, things all looked good to him.

    Big Mama seemed to agree that things looked normal, because she replied by saying: “I’m sure he’s just giving his fans his usual smile. He is a heart winner, after all.” She chuckled again, resting her head in one of her many hands as a clean-up crew came into the arena.

    As the three cleaning yokai approached Cerulean and the Buffalo, the winner of the fight didn’t move from his standing spot. His grip hadn’t loosened on his weapon, and his shoulders never relaxed.

    Big Mama watched as the clean up crew started to drag the Buffalo away. The door that Cerulean had entered the arena from remained open, waiting for the turtle to return inside and out of sight.

    He didn’t move, just stared.

    She sat up a bit straighter, following his gaze and squinting into the crowd to try and see what he was staring at.

    When she saw a turtle shell sitting among the crowd and a red mask, she became rigid

    Leonardo saw him. He knew he did. Where did he go?? His eyes searched the section of the crowd where he had seen that glimpse of green. Come on, come on, he thought frantically, sweat dripping down his face and arms, where did you go??

    His hope slowly started to die as he realized maybe he had hallucinated it. The turtle he was looking for simply may not exist at all. The fire in his heart started to die, and his chest got tight.

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement from the VIP box, but he didn’t give them any attention. Big Mama didn’t deserve his attention.

    After a second, he swallowed his fear, and straightened up, preparing to break one of the biggest rules for Battle Nexus fighters. He took a deep breath.

    “.....Where is the turtle??” he called out, and the crowd got a little quieter out of confusion. A ripple of curiosity spread through the stands, and the clean up crew stared at Leon.

    “....you heard me!!!” he shouted, adjusting his grip. “I saw him, I know I did!!!”

    “Alright Ladies and Gents, it looked like Cerulean’s gone a little nuts! Let’s give him a big hand and send him on his w–”

    “Shut up announcer guy whose name I never learned!!!” Leon snapped, looking around frantically now. “I know I saw him!!! Where is he!!!--”

    By now, security started to get involved, walking from their stations in the crowd down towards the arena floor. The clean up crew got back to work quickly and avoided looking at Leo. There was more movement from the VIP box.

    Leo flinched, squinting in the lights. A wave of panic washed over him slowly, settling into his bones. Maybe he was going nuts. It was probably all of the stress and adrenaline from the earlier events, but how could he not feel crazy???

    Just as guards hopped into the arena and the hope truly died in his heart, he heard an unfamiliar yet heartstopping shout from the stands.

    “Leonardo!!!!!”

    His gaze drifted to his right, squinting up into the stands, the sight before him was enough to make his heart skip a few beats.

    A turtle- no, the turtle that he had been searching for, had stood up. His three-fingered hands were cupped around his mouth to project his voice when he shouted. He had on a red face mask with torn edges, and had a frame much bigger than Leo’s own.

    He looked like a guardian angel sent from God. For a moment, Leo felt fear. Who was he, how did he know his name, and why did Leonardo feel the unexplainable urge to go to him?

    Leonardo took a step towards the stands, his grip going lax on his tsurugi handles. The turtle above smiled wide, showing slightly yellowed crooked teeth, and an extra sharp snaggletooth on his top set.

    “......you’re real..” Leo whispered, the fear and nerves making his breath hitch.

    The unfamiliar turtle in the stands didn’t hear or see Leonardo’s hushed voice over the confused shouting of the crowd and the orders barked from the guards who were starting to advance on him.

    Leo’s eyes widened when he realized that this turtle was his only chance at escape.

    “..wait!!-- wait no don’t attack him–” He ran towards the arena wall, using his running momentum to throw himself up. He dug one of his blades into a crack between the bricks, grunting and pulling himself up slowly.

    He wobbled, but stood steady on the handle. Looking up he was only a few feet away from the edge of the arena. By now, the VIP booth nearby had gone completely empty.

    “Come on Leon- come on Leon!!! ” He shouted to himself, crouching before jumping and using his second blade to latch onto the wall. The blade, like the first one, lodged itself between a few bricks and stayed tight. His muscles burned and his shell ached, but he pushed on and pulled himself up onto the second blade.

    A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he finally grabbed the edge of the arena wall. His fingers hurt from how hard he gripped the brick and pulled himself up. He rested one elbow on the wall for support, catching his breath and leaning over, falling into the stands. The fans in the section who hadn’t been evacuated already cheered and shouted at Leonardo, who only ignored them in favor of looking around for his saving grace.

    Raphael punched another guard, grunting in frustration. He looked around, noting that he was outnumbered, but his size alone was enough to intimidate most of the guards to stay back. He glared outwardly at the working yokai, throwing more punches at any who dared to grow too close.

    Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur of green and blue pulling itself over the arena wall, and he shouted almost instinctively, “Leonardo!!! Over here!!!”

    Upon hearing the yell, Leo looked up from his crouched position and spotted the new turtle surrounded. His eyes were practically bursting out of his head. “Shit!!--” he stumbled and stood, running weaponlessly through the stands.

    He kicked a guard worker in the back, effectively throwing them to the ground. Using the opening he had created, he ran into the slowly shrinking circle of guards to the center, and to the turtle.

    Raph looked back, smiling wide when he saw Leonardo at his side, facing the guards with a determined glare. This was his little brother! He knew it the moment he had seen him in the arena, and the fact that it was his birthday, too? This had to be him!

    It was all but confirmed when Leonardo spoke, asking, “So– what took you so long??” He joked, still somewhat out of breath. His fists were raised in a defensive position, and he glanced up at the unfamiliar mutant with a cocky grin. “I figured my rescuer would have come ages ago!!”

    Raph ignored how much the comment hurt, and just laughed, throwing a punch at a guard who thought they were distracted. “Woulda come if I coulda! Dad kept me in the dark about you for ages!”

    “Dad?? We have a Dad?? ” Leo asked excitedly, following Raphael’s lead and starting to fight. The two needed to clear an exit and fast.

    “Of course we do! What kind of question is that??”

    “Well- Y’know, I didn’t even know you existed until ten minutes ago!!”

    “You– you didn’t know you had a family??” Raph sounded surprised.

    Leo rolled his eyes, ducking to avoid a guards swing. “Of course not!! The Nexus is– was my family!! Big Mama treats the fighters like her kids!!!”

    “Whatever– not important–” Raph said, shielding Leonardo from a blow with his shell. He smiled down at his little brother, who smiled right back. “I’m Raphael–”

    “Leonardo– but you already knew that–”

    “We gotta hurry, Splinter is waiting topside–”

    Leo’s eyes lit up at the mention of the world above, and he couldn’t help but punch a guard out of excitement. Raphael really was an angel sent from above! Literally!

    “Topside???” He asked, “You live topside??”

    “Yes!!!” Raphael laughed, looking around and spotting a gap between two guards. “Quick–” he grabbed Leo’s wrist and started to drag him through the gap and crowd. “We need to leave before backup arrives!!!”

    The younger turtle didn’t complain, and ran alongside his rescuer, his brother. Just the thought of having a family got Leo all giddy, the adrenaline coursing through his cold-blooded veins being enough to power him forwards.

    Their path was unfortunately blocked by an all too familiar spider yokai once they got to the stands exit. Big Mama stood in the frame, glaring down at the two with a heavy hiss. “You will give me back my champion!!!” She shouted at Raphael.

    The slider was annoyed that she still wasn’t looking at him, but decided to brush off his offense to instead focus on potentially kicking her ass. Raphael glared right back at her, his grip on Leo's wrist becoming protective.

    “Your champion is my little brother! I won’t let you keep using him like a toy in your killing games!!” Raphael stated firmly, using his free hand to hold a tonfa defensively. Big Mama’s glare hardened, her beady red eyes focusing on Leonardo, who swallowed nervously.

    “Cerulean,” she slurred, her voice sickeningly sweet, “Won’t you come back to mother? You’ve already had quite the day and this heathen has you in the wrong headspace.” She attempted to bargain, taking a threatening step towards the two. Raphael took his place in front of Leo protectively in response.

    “Don’t listen to her, Leonardo.” Raph demanded, preparing to fight the spider yokai. “She’s trying to manipulate you!”

    “Who raised you, fed you, sheltered you??” She argued, still talking to Leo despite not being able to see him anymore. “Who made you famous?? Made you strong?? ”

    “I’m tired, Mama.” Leo wheezed, coughing into his fist. The seven year old looked weakly up at the spider yokai who glared down at him.

    “You will train until I tell you to sleep, do you understand me? You will do as I say when I say, I am your MOTHER.”

    “Who gave you a life where you are seen and heard and loved??!”

    “The Cerulean Death is amassing quite the win streak, ma’am.” The Assistant mentioned, flipping through the day’s arena results. “He’s becoming a fan favorite. Ticket sales were higher than usual, and he had more bets than the rest of the fighters.”

    Big Mama hummed in recognition, thumbing a pen on her desk. “Interesting… remind me how old he is now?”

    “Twelve.”

    “Hm.. move him up a division. Let’s see how he fares against two opponents at once.”

    “Who let you celebrate your birthdays in the eyes of your adoring fans??! On the streets, making face??!”

    “Come on, come on, come on!!!” Leo laughed, and Fox glared at the ground as they walked. The now thirteen-year-old was as excited as he was every year.

    Fans waited outside the Nexus, cheering and shouting when Cerulean came running out. Flashing cameras blinded the newly teenaged turtle, but he didn’t mind and instead soaked up the fame and attention.

    “Me!!!!” She shouted, suddenly swiping at Raphael. Her large claws collided with the snapper’s side and sent him flying into the nearby stands. Leonardo jumped, not realizing he had zoned out, and looked over with worry.

    “Raphael!!!” he called out, eyes wide. When he moved to help, he was grabbed by Big Mama, who easily lifted him into the air.

    She shrieked in annoyance, demanding Leo’s attention, “You will listen to your mother when she speaks to you!!!!”

    “You–” Leo glared down at her, wiggling one arm loose.

    “Are not– ” He growled, his other arm coming free.

    “My Mom!!!!--” He bit down on her claw with all the force he could muster, surprising the woman enough to let him go. He fell down to the stands and landed in a roll, spitting out the terrible taste of spider from his mouth.

    “Raphael!!” Leo shouted and ran to his side, helping the red-clothed turtle stand. “Come on, come on!!-- I know where an exit is–” he pulled him to his feet and started to run, hand gripped tightly in the larger one.

    The older turtle, still slightly in a daze, ran beside Leonardo without question. The two weaved through seats and slid out an exit door, darting down the long and confusing visitor hallways of the Nexus. They passed large crowds, all of which shouted at the two as they ran.

    Leo couldn’t tell if they were shouts of joy that they saw Cerulean, or anger that he was escaping. He didn’t care anymore, he never wanted to hear their shouts again.

    The two made it outside after they traversed the maze-like building, and made it to the streets of the Hidden City. Leo’s lungs burned and his ankle throbbed viciously. His sight was blurry from crying, and he wasn’t really sure when the tears had started flowing.

    Raphael breathed heavily, focused on helping the two avoid any guards or security. He planned on going back to the entrance he had used near Run of the Mill Pizza, but Leo apparently had other plans. He hated to admit that he was nervous about his ability to navigate them to the surface, but he told himself to remember that the Hidden City was Leonardo’ turf.

    He’s lived here his whole life, Raph internally reasoned, allowing himself to be pulled down a back alley. He knows where he’s going, you’ve only been here less than a day! Trust your brother!

    Raphael did just that. Leonardo dragged his older brother down winding alleys and side streets, hyperfocused on the task at hand. The two eventually shot out into the main road, landing in the middle of the Pirate Bazaar. Leo looked around, recognizing the sais from earlier.

    In the distance he saw the purple-wrapped bo staff and started running again. His feet slapped asphalt and Raph’s were heavy and close behind. They passed the nunchucks and bo staff, then the katanas, and eventually blew past the angry bat yokai from earlier.

    Recognizing his location, Leonardo made a left turn. They landed in another alley, running past a few very confused skeletons.

    Leo didn’t want to risk stopping, he couldn’t. He had to get to the exit he saw, he had to-

    Raphael tugged Leo’s hand, slowing the younger turtle down a bit. “Leonardo- slow down you’ll tire yourself out-” he tried to reason, but Leo didn’t hear.

    Find the exit, find the exit, find the exit, find the exit– one more right then it’s a straight shot down the restaurant strip–

    Raph, upon realizing he wouldn’t be getting an answer, sighed heavily and decided to just pick up pace quietly to run beside Leonardo. He would let him focus, for now, but once topside he would make him slow down and breathe.

    He wasn’t sure what kind of training Leonardo had been provided, if any, and knew that all this sprinting wouldn’t be good on the slider’s lungs. Raphael also wasn’t sure where this sudden brotherly instinct to fret over Leonardo came from, either. He didn’t hate it.

    After half literal hours of continuous sprinting, weaving through crowds, turning and jumping walls, Leonardo slowed his pace into a jog. He jogged down an alley, stumbling and wheezing. His mouth and eyes felt dry, but he couldn’t blink.

    Raphael looked around in curiosity, taking in the corroded walls and shady substances ditched in the alley. Then he spotted the sign reading “NOT AN ENTRANCE TO NEW YORK” and deadpanned. Of course this exit was just waiting here.

    “This–” Leo wheezed, coughing into his fist and gripping Raph’s hand like a lifeline. “--is an exit way far away from the Nexus–”

    “Shh, Leonardo, breathe.” Raphael coaxed gently, rubbing his brother’s shell in support. “You’re safe, we’re just a few steps away from New York.” he smiled softly. Leonardo looked up at Raph, his wide and nerve wracked eyes starting to relax.

    “...right… we’re a few steps away…”

    Leo looked at the dumpster that emitted a soft mystic energy, the air lightly buzzing around the brothers as they walked to the entrance.

    “...Ready to go home?” Raph asked, feeling Leonardo’s hand weaken on his own.

    Leonardo hesitated, finding it hard to gather words.

    “....I don’t… I…” he hesitated.

    Raphael became worried, thinking that Leonardo was having second thoughts. “...This is gonna take us home, Leonardo. I promise, you’ll be safe from all of this mess.”

    “...I’m ready.”

iii.

    Splinter paced. It wasn’t unusual for the graying rat man to walk aimlessly just to burn off nerves that would build up for one reason or another. He worried his scruffy chin hair between two fingers, trying to conceal the truth of how he felt.

    Raphael was supposed to be back fifteen minutes ago. Sure, maybe fifteen minutes wasn’t a long time to be late, but this mission that he was on…

    Fifteen minutes was long enough to get killed.

    Splinter tried not to rationalize the possibility that his only homed son was deceased somewhere in the hidden city, but the more he tried not to think the more brutal images came to mind.

    Raphael impaled by a yokai after being mugged.

    Raphael bleeding out in the arena after falling in.

    Raphael locked away in Champion’s Row, being prepared to fight his own brother.

    Raphael dead, two feet away from the Hidden City exit.

    Splinter shuddered, the images in his mind being too graphic to bear. His heart lurched and he prepared himself to go looking for his beloved oldest son. Just as he was about to climb into the Hidden City entrance, the unmistakable buzz of Mystic energy seeped into the alley.

    He looked around in confusion when nothing came through the gateway. He thought this was the only entrance nearby? He apparently thought wrong, and slipped into the backstreet to try and find where the energy had come from.

    The more he walked, the heavier the buzzing got. The air became thick with mysticality and Splinter knew he was headed in the right direction.

    He had to cast a double take down a separate alley, backpedaling to look in shock.

    Leaned up against the spray painted bricks was Raphael, who was still catching his breath from the chase he had just endured. Pacing in front of Raphael, just as out of breath as said snapper, was a smaller and lighter colored turtle.

    The mutant had a dull blue shell with three square markings along it. Two red markings ran over his eyes and under his loose blue mask. When the turtle sniffled, the mask fell around his neck, revealing heterochromic colors. One eye red, one eye green.

    His arms were covered in black fingerless gloves that ended mid-forearm, concealing blue wrappings that barely peeked over the top of said glove sleeves. Black elbow pads and matching knee pads provided little to no protection, which gave reason to the multitude of scars, fresh cuts and bruises, and worn bandages on various sections of the turtle’s skin.

    “...Raphael? Leonardo?”

    Leonardo looked over at the mention of his name, immediately becoming tense again. He held his breath, taking a hasty step away from the strange rat yokai (maybe mutant?) and towards Raphael. He felt safe with Raphael. Raphael saved him.

    Raphael looked at the rat and smiled, immediately standing up. “Dad!!! Oh thank god you’re here– we had to use a different exit than planned–”

    The boy’s father smiled at them, opening his arms and being met by Raphael’s giant embrace.

    Leonardo watched with distant confusion and surprise, not moving from his place a few feet away.

    The older turtle set down Splinter after a few seconds, and the two looked back at Leonardo. The slider swallowed nervously, eyes moving between Raphael and Splinter.

    “...Dad..?” Leo asked with hesitance, focusing now on the rat man who nodded gently. He looked on the verge of tears, his ears flattening against his head.

    “Yes, my son.” He replied weakly, walking towards Leonardo, who found no strength to move away.

    Splinter didn’t hesitate to pull Leonardo down into a hug that the turtle had to bend over for. He froze up, feeling the loving and warm embrace he didn’t know he needed.

    It was a few seconds until the waterworks hit Leonardo, and his tough-guy front fell fast. He let a quiet choked sob escape his mouth as he wrapped his arms tight around his father.

    Raph watched the embrace, and like his little brother, couldn’t stop himself from crying. He joined the two fast, kneeling down and throwing his big arms around them both.

    The three stayed and cried for a while, their sobs quiet and their apologies quieter.

    Splinter was the first one to apologize, speaking through labored and sad breaths, “My dear son…” his voice weakened. “...I am sorry for not sending your brother sooner… you are so scarred…”

    Leo sniffled, letting out a sorrowful chuckle that wasn’t at all positive. “I-It’s fine– I-I get it I’m sorry I ended up with her and not–”

    “Never apologize for your fate, Leonardo.” Splinter cut him off. “You had no control over this. Draxum is a terrible man. This is his doing, not yours.”

    The slider choked on another sob, biting the inside of his cheek until it bled to try and stop crying.

    “I’m s-sorry for not being ready sooner, Leo!” Raph wept loudly, holding his family close and tight. Leonardo couldn’t find his voice to respond, his throat dry and his mind numb. Splinter gave his oldest son a reassuring smile despite still crying.

    Raphael looked down at the two and smiled back at Splinter weakly.

    “Come on now, my sons. Let us go home.”

    “...home…?” Leo asked in a hushed mumble.

    “Home.”

Chapter Text

i.

April O’Neil stared down from her living room window with wide eyes. It was the day after Donatello’s birthday, Saturday. The sun was just starting to set, and the city lights were getting brighter. She knew somewhere above her were the stars, but she had no intention of looking tonight.

She had much more interesting things to stare at, like the mutant family reunion happening in the alley by her apartment. She couldn’t help but stare at the two mutant turtles and mutant rat, all crying loudly on the ground.

April almost immediately recognized them as mutants, how couldn’t she? Her best friend was a mutant turtle!

It didn’t take long for April to formulate a theory on who these mutants were, or at the very least, who the turtles were.

She took a dazy step back from the window, eyes still wide from disbelief.

Uncles? Brothers? Cousins? What are they to Donnie? I mean they HAVE to be related, right?? They’re giant mutant turtles!! The smaller one kind of LOOKS like Donnie too!!

Still stuck in her daze, her head started to hurt from the multitude of possibilities rushing at her all at once. Donatello had a family, and they were outside of her apartment.

I should say something to them, she thought but then stopped herself from moving. No, that’s weird– what if they’re abusive or something and that’s why Donnie ran away from them? Are they working with Draxum? Or did they also escape Draxum?

O’Neil bit her lip, starting to pace from the window to the center of the room and back. This was fucking crazy. What if they weren’t related at all, and it was just a big freaky coincidence? Every single variable seemed to fly at her all at once, and it quickly became overwhelming.

She pushed her thoughts down, pinching her arm to ground herself. Once her mind had been somewhat cleared and there were clear marks in her arm from her nails, she pulled her phone out.

“I gotta tell Don.” She verbally affirmed, dialing his number quickly. Crossing her fingers, she gave God a silent prayer that the mutant would pick up for once.

“You’ve reached Donatello–”

“Donnie!!! You’ll never believe–”

“--It appears I’m too busy to pick up your call. Or I just don’t care. Leave a message or text me if it’s urgent.” Beep!

April groaned in annoyance, tossing her phone onto the coffee table and falling back onto the couch. She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, pushing her glasses up her forehead. “Damn you voicemail!!!” She shouted, frustrated at Donnie’s terrible reliability when it came to answering a phone call.

“Stupid stupid– okay–” She stood up fast after a few seconds, almost falling over from the sheer momentum of getting up so fast. “Think, April! You’re smart, you’re good at this– what would the people over at Channel 6 do??”

She started pacing again, glancing out the window every so often. After a few minutes of thought, the girl rushed to the window, phone in hand and already recording.

“Donnie you suck at answering your phone so just– look at this!” She whisper-yelled into the microphone, crouching by the window sill. She slowly peeked her head and camera over as to not be seen, and much to her dismay, the family of mutants was gone.

“Shit!!!” She shouted loudly, pushing the window open and looking around frantically. In her frenzy she dropped her phone down the fire escape. “Oh damnit– Donnie!!” She hopped out the window and onto the fire escape, jogging down the rickety metal stairs and retrieving her phone.

April made sure the screen wasn’t cracked, and then looked around the alley from her spot on the first step. It looked relatively normal, other than the Hidden City exit in her neighboring dumpster. It slid closed after a few more seconds, and the strange buzzing in the air went away.

She hoped she got that on video, and then started snooping around for the family. The teen figured they wouldn’t go out into the actual street for obvious reasons, so she instead slipped into the backstreet. Looking around and pointing the camera to document the entire search, she started to slowly walk around.

To her frustration, everything was normal. No weird exits to secret buildings, no strange noises, and certainly no turtle or rat mutants staggering about. She huffed in defeat, stopping the recording. “Damn.. this is what you get for not picking up the phone.” She glared at her phone, pocketing the device and stalking back to her apartment building.

She failed to notice the nearby manhole cover being slid back into place silently.

Meanwhile, Donnie grabbed his phone off of its charger. He had been heating up his dinner in the teacher’s lounge microwave when the call came through, and because he charged his phone in the computer lab, he hadn’t been there to answer. Looking down at the screen, he noticed the missed call and rolled his eyes.

He figured he could eat first, then call her back. Like his voicemail had said, if it was so important, they could text him. And because there was no text, Donatello figured it safe to wait a bit before calling back. Maybe April was just needing homework help or something for the coming school week.

Crunching down on the shitty microwave street tacos he had heated up, he hit the call button and listened to the dial tone. Of course, it didn’t take long for April to respond.

Donnie started talking with food in his mouth, voice slightly muffled, “Hey Apr–”

“Donnie oh my GOD why are you so TERRIBLE AT ANSWERING YOUR PHONE!!!--”

Surprised by her sudden interlude, he jumped and almost dropped both his phone and his food. He held the phone away from his ear so she didn’t shout and give him a migraine. “April, jesus fucking christ what’s wrong?? Is there a fire or something???”

“Donnie it’s– okay you’re never gonna believe this–” She laughed nervously, and he could hear her apartment window slide shut in the background noise. “It’s your family.”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“Uh huh. Your FAMILY. I’m telling you dude, two mutant turtles and a rat guy just had a very emotional reunion outside my apartment at the Hidden City entrance! They couldn’t have gone far so get your stuff and let’s go looking–”

“My family is dead.” He replied stiffly, the emotion leaving his voice and being replaced by numb apathy.

“...Donnie, you can’t possibly believe that.”

“Any family I might have had is dead, because if they were still alive they would have found me already. They might not be physically deceased, but they are dead to me if they are out there.” Donnie grumbled, losing his appetite.

April got quiet for a few seconds while she thought of how to respond.

“...do you think maybe they weren’t able to look…? What if something happened to them like it did to you?”

“Like what, April? They were shipped off to some different Hidden City laboratory with a different evil abuser and escaped through a different City entrance? Fat chance.”

“Hey, the chance is there. And, like you just said–”

“Please don’t say it–”

“--it’s fat!” She couldn’t help but giggle, easing the tension. “C’mon, Donnie. It’s worth it to look into, right? I’m the best investigator in New York City! I can track them down for you and at least see what they’re up to.”

Donnie grew silent, thinking over his options. The pros were seeming to outweigh the cons, but he didn’t think that was right. Maybe my math is wrong, he wondered, slightly annoyed.

Apparently he was quiet for too long.

“Dons? You there?”

“Yeah– sorry just uh, just thinking.”

“...well, think it over and get some sleep, okay? I won’t do anything until you give me permission.” She paused, and Donnie could imagine her looking out the window. “...but the offer always stands.”

“...Thanks, O’Neil. I’ll keep that in mind.” He sighed softly, and on the other end of the line he heard April quietly cheer in victory. He smiled exhaustedly, “Alright, alright, calm down. This doesn’t mean you can go stalking around the Hidden City looking for mutants.”

“Didn’t plan on it, Donnie D! Just let me know sometime tomorrow so that I can get started. I wanna help you out dude, and this is a way I KNOW I can help you out!” He could hear her smile.

It was contagious.

“Thank you, April. Go sleep now.”

“Can’t, I gotta get my investigation gear ready for tomorrow!”

“April don’t you– and she hung up.” He glared playfully down at his screen, huffing. “...goodnight, April. Sweet dreams.” He shut his phone off, and looked down at his now cold street tacos.

Donatello didn’t feel like walking back to the teacher’s lounge, so he forfeited his dinner and started on his work once more.

The lines of code for Kendra and the other Dragons were getting more complex the more that Donnie worked on it, meaning this was taking longer than he would have liked to finish. He had already been at it for a few weeks, and Kendra needed this program by the end of the month. Purple Game was set to release in three months, and they still needed that extra money from the cyber-heist to finish all the assets and advertising.

He had worked endlessly on this, and there was no room for error, especially as his deadline came closer and closer. Internally, Donnie cursed at the other Dragons for leaving him to work on this strenuous and time consuming task alone.

Then he remembered he was the only one smart enough to even write this complex program, and his fingers stopped typing. They hovered over the next keys to be pressed, and he looked at the blinking line of green text on the screens in front of him.

April’s words came to mind the longer he waited.

“Right, a cyberheist. You aren’t actually getting involved yourself, right?”

“Of course not. I’m just giving them the code to the camera systems.”

“That sounds like getting involved?”

“It’s not.”

Donnie shook his head, pressing his eyelids shut tight to soothe his dry eyes. You need to get this done, he told himself internally to cover the memory. Focus, Donatello. 

It’s all you’re good at, anyways. Draxum knew that, you know that, so surely your family knows that.

I’m glad they aren’t coming.

ii.

Leonardo wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but it had to have been recently, because when he woke up, he was in a very dark room that smelled like shit.

When his eyes opened and he saw nothing but shadow and black, his heart clenched in his chest, and his breath hitched. Was he back in the champion's row?? Did he not escape?? He tried to remember the events of the last day, sitting up.

The weighted blanket he had been under slid off his torso and into a pile on his legs, the extra weight keeping his over exhausted body on the bed,his legs immobile.He winced, a crick in his back making his spine ache. The bed under his hands felt more plush than the one he had grown used to, however, and it wracked him with a sudden wave of nausea and confusion.

He forced himself to lean over the edge of the bed, grabbing blindly onto the nightstand and upchucking bile and stomach acid onto the floor. His throat burned, and his eyes were wide open from crust build-up around the corners. It hurt to blink, so he instead wiped away the disgusting substances with the back of his free hand.

The newly introduced vomit on the floor did not help the room smell any better, and it certainly didn’t make the room brighter. Leo leaned away from the vomit, painfully shifting around to try and stand but not step in it.

He shoved the heavy weighted blanket off of his legs, swinging them over the side of the too-comfortable bed. Leo’s feet hit the ground and he flinched at how cold the hard brick flooring was. The tiles felt similar to those of champion’s row, but not the same. They were different shaped, he noted as his toes felt along the grooves of the floor with caution. 

He only became more confused. He reached up and felt his mask still around his neck. Then he reached up further, and felt bandages expertly patched onto the side of his head and sealed with medical tape. It was at that point he also noticed the bandages on other parts of his body, such as his ankle, legs, and parts of his arms. His fingerless black gloves, elbow pads, and knee pads were gone, likely discarded somewhere in this room or a different one.

Great, he complained internally, I have zero defense aside from my shell. Which is…

Leonardo reached behind himself, feeling part of his shell with a grimace.

Cracked. I knew it.

He squinted into the darkness, his vision still blurry from crying earlier. None of this was making sense. He couldn’t tell where he was. Being back at the Nexus would be the absolute worst case scenario, but the floor simply wasn’t the same.

On a wall across the room he thought he saw the blurry outline of a light switch, so he forced himself to stand. A wave of dizziness made the mutant sway, and he held onto the bedpost to try and steady himself. With the dizziness came more nausea, and he had to physically restrain himself from puking more. His stomach was empty, but his body was ready to discard whatever it could.

The air felt stuffier, he noted. It also reeked of sewage, shit, and trash. Despite the thick air and the brutal smell assaulting his nostrils, he could tell he wasn’t underground. At least, not Hidden City underground. Which ruled out the possibility that he was back in the Nexus.

So, that bears the question: Where am I?

Leonardo slowly released the bedpost and placed his palm flat on the wall. Like the floor, the grooves were all wrong and different, one hundred percent confirming his absence from the Battle Nexus.

He smiled tiredly, yawning and using the wall to find his way to the light switch that once found, he flicked. The light that came from the ceiling wasn’t as harsh as he expected, but was enough to make him squint. The light washing the room was a dirty yellow, and gave the room an amber hue.

The greenish-gray brick walls and floor were plain, with only a few posters hung up here and there. Some were of Lou Jitsu, which surprised Leonardo. Wherever he was must have at least known about the Nexus- Lou was a Hidden City celebrity! He took note of the nearby wooden desk with a few loose papers strewn on its surface.

None of them had any notable writing, except for a list of three names.

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello.

Leonardo was scratched out, and he mentlly assumed that didn’t mean a good thing. Am I dead? He questioned, looking down at his multitude of bandaged injuries. Is this heaven? Damn it’s a lot stinkier than I imagined…

The curtain acting as the no longer dark room’s door slid open on its pole, making Leo look over and prepare defensively. He took a step back on impulse, letting his weight rest evenly between his feet despite his ankle’s screams of protest and pain. He raised his arms slightly, letting his shoulders tense.

Raphael was, to say the least, surprised to see his brother up and walking. He stared at Leo and noted the fighter’s stance he had put up, and sighed quietly. He smiled a little bit to try and ease the younger turtle.

“Relax, Leo, it’s just me.” he said calmly, holding up a glass of water while his eyes wandered to his injuries. “I was just getting you water, you really shouldn’t be out of bed. You’re still pretty hurt.”

Upon realizing it was just the turtle from the previous events of the day, he relaxed slightly. His arms lowered, and he settled for leaning against the wall to relieve the pressure on his ankle. He hummed in acknowledgement at still being hurt, and gave a signature grin.

“I’m healing fine, I should be good to walk in a few hours.”

Raphael inwardly winced, understanding that Leo probably had to recover from injuries quickly in the arena. “Just because you can walk in a few hours doesn’t mean you should, little dude.” he reasoned, spotting the vomit on the floor. “...did you throw up?”

Leonardo mistook the concern in Raph’s voice for annoyance, and was quick to defend himself.

“Well– yeah, but I’ll clean it if you show me where the supplies are.” He reasoned, keeping up his smile. “I’m fine now, just nerves I think.” When Raphael looked at Leo again, he suddenly found it very hard to make eye contact with his older brother.

“I’ll clean it, you need to be resting.” Raph gently argued, helping Leo stagger back to the bed. Leo begrudgingly obliged with his fretting, getting back under the comfortable weighted blanket.

“How long was I out?”

“About an hour. Dad expected you to sleep longer.”

Leonardo paused, thinking over Raphael’s words.

“Where.. Are we exactly?”

Raphael smiled, setting the water on the nightstand that was made of the same wood as the desk. “New York City. The sewers to be specific.”

Leo’s eyes widened just a bit, and he couldn’t stop the excited smile and hopeful pounding of his heart. “New York??? We’re in New York???” He took another appraising glance around the bedroom. “Does everyone live in sewers up here?”

The snapper laughed, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning back. “God no– Dad and I just live here for safety purposes. Mutants and Yokai can’t just walk around up here, humans would get too afraid.”

Leonardo rolled his eyes at the mention of humans, and Raphael noticed his distaste.

“Geeze, I forgot humans existed. Let’s just go back to the Hidden City.” he joked, rolling his eyes playfully. Raphael gasped dramatically, but responded.

“Hey, humans ain’t so bad! They invented pizza, comic books, Lou Jitsu, Jupiter Jim, hot chips, teddy bears–”

“Humans invented pizza??? ” Leo cut him off, sitting up again with intense eyes of shock. “How could humans make something so delicious?? ”

“There’s pizza in the Hidden City?”

“Yeah!! Yokai Pizza! It’s probably different from human pizza, I doubt that humans could make something so divine.” Leo rolled his eyes.

Raphael hummed in a thoughtful way, then asked, “Where’d you learn your information about humans?”

“Nexus guards.” The turtle in question explained, leaning back against the pile of pillows he had been given to use. “Some of them go topside on occasion and used to bring me back cool foods and stuff to try.”

Raph nodded in understanding. “The guards generally liked you?”

“Oh yeah,” Leo said, “I was pretty great. I got along with mostly everyone, y’know? I kept mainly to myself, never complained, never lied…” he hummed, recalling his time in the Nexus. Raphael was surprised by his apparent fondness for the place.

“Were you treated badly?”

“I wasn’t treated differently. ” Leonardo responded. Raph opened his mouth to ask for an explanation, but Leonardo beat him to it, “Everyone in the Nexus got the same treatment. Same food, same cells, same access to weapons. My tsurugi were probably recycled like, eight times over before I got them.” he explained, fiddling his thumbs idly in his lap.

Raphael watched Leo speak, listening to his anecdotes about the guards, certain fights, certain events. Apparently one time someone tried sneaking out and they were never seen again. Hearing all of these events and imagining Leonardo in place of the real victims made Raphael want to cry all over again, but he held back.

“...I’m sorry you had to live with that, Leo.” He said instead, looking over to his little brother, who looked back in surprise.

“Sorry? Why are you sorry..?” He sounded genuinely confused, and it hurt Raphael’s heart that he was so oblivious to the straight up abusive conditions he was having to endure for fifteen years.

“I’m sorry you had to… to live that. I’m sorry that was your reality.”

Leonardo stared at Raphael, the snapper’s words settling into his stomach and making him want to vomit all over again. He felt sick, he felt nervous, and he felt fear.

Thankfully, he was easily distracted from these feelings by the sudden buzzing of something in Raphael’s pocket that made Leo jump. Raph jumped a bit as well, and pulled out his phone. Leo was surprised to see it, the distraction from his previous state of distraught being very welcome.

“You have a phone? ” Leo asked, absolutely flabbergasted.

“Yeah, but this one isn't mine.” Raph said, becoming cheery again, and held the device out to Leonardo.

Mind blown, Leo hesitantly took it like it were a precious porcelain artifact that would shatter if mishandled in the slightest. His older brother chuckled quietly at his care.

“It’s for you, Dad figured you would need one now. It has both of our numbers in it, and Huesos’.”

Leonardo clicked through the device, and despite it being just as old and rickety as Raphael’s, he treated it like it were a diamond. A grin slowly grew across his face, and he looked at Raphael with nothing but excitement in his heterochromic eyes.

“I get a phone??? And your number???” He beamed, taking a few minutes to get used to all the apps while Raphael explained how certain things worked. They even did a test call to Raph’s own samsung to make sure the call function worked.

“Yes, of course! Our other brothers will get their own, too, if they don’t already have one when we find them.”

Leo paused, his excitement being cut short by confusion.

“...other brothers?”

Raphael paused as well, realizing his mistake. He wasn’t supposed to tell Leonardo about that yet, and started to sweat. He chuckled nervously, playing with his own phone to keep his hands busy.

“...yeaaahhh.. We have, uh.. Two more brothers, both in situations similar to yours…?” he hesitated. “...I’m the only one that Dad- uh, Lou Jitsu, managed to rescue.”

“Dad is Lou Jitsu??!--”

“Not the time, Leo–” Raph face palmed. “Just– look the take-away from this should be that as soon as you’re ready, we need to go get the others. Donatello is in the Hidden City with Draxum, and Michelangelo is somewhere in New York with a group called the Foot Clan.”

Leonardo had taken in a lot of information over the past few hours, but the news of new brothers being in potentially worse situations than his own made him nervous.

“...Draxum is the.. Guy that created us…” Leonardo figured, remembering his name from a few eavesdropped conversations in the Nexus. “I heard Fox and Big Mama talking about him a few years back on my birthday, but I never really figured who he was. It wasn’t important to me.”

“Well, it’s important now,” Raphael stated, “Because he has our brother. Dad says that you and Donatello are both twins– you’re both fifteen. Michelangelo should have turned fourteen on our birthday.”

“How old did you turn?”

“Sixteen.”

“Aw, happy belated birthday, Raph!--”

“Thank you but now is not the time– ” he snickered, shaking his head to try and become serious again. Leonardo snickered along with him, fanning himself to cool his warmed cheeks from all the smiling he had been doing. His face hurt from his stupid grins.

Raphael cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. “Okay, back to business,”

“Donatello, I think, should be our next goal. He’s in the Hidden City, and with you we can hopefully navigate the place better.” Raph reasoned, pulling his legs up onto the bed to sit criss cross. The entire frame sunk a bit when he rested his full weight.

Leonardo hummed, “Ehh, I don’t know if I would be much help, dude. I was in the arena literally my entire life. Well, except for the birthdays I was allowed out, but even that was with supervision and with an itinerary! I couldn’t just go wherever.” he explained to his brother.

Raph deflated. “Damn, my initial plan was banking on you knowing your way around… I hate leaving Donatello down there with him. ” He shuddered.

“...can you tell me about Draxum?” Leo asked, and Raphael became rigid. He hadn’t expected a question like that so soon.

“...Draxum is… a terrible man. He’s a scientist, he’s an anti-human radical, he’s a borderline terrorist.” Raphael recounted the stories he had heard from Splinter. Most of the tales consisted of Draxum and Big Mama toying with Lou like he was some marionette, and Raphael hated to think that his other brother could potentially be going through similar treatment.

He was lucky that Leonardo was so damn self righteous and cocky that Big Mama could never break his spirit.

“He created us, and, according to Dad, kept Donatello to use as an experiment. I think he wanted to use his DNA to recreate the effects that the mutagen substance had on our bodies.” He reasoned, and Leonardo listened intently.

“So ‘Tello is being poked and prodded at?”

“That’s what Dad told me. I can’t be certain, because it’s too dangerous for me to check things out myself. Even getting you from the Nexus alone was a stupid plan, and I should have gotten back up just in case things went south– which they did.” Raph sighed, resting his head in his hands as he remembered the events in the arena.

“...I’m sorry you had to watch me kill someone.” Leo said softly, looking down at the weighted blanket with a little glare. He hated thinking about all of his so-called victories in the Nexus.

Raphael looked over, sighing quietly. “It isn’t your fault. I needed to get in, and the easiest and least conspicuous way was by buying a ticket. Sure, I gave Big Mama some funding, but I think the damages and chaos we caused are more than enough to justify it.” He half-joked and earned a laugh from Leo.

“Also, did you call Donatello ‘’Tello?’” He asked, confused. Leo just went back to grinning, giving his brother finger guns.

“Uh huh, I gotta think of nicknames for everyone!”

“Oh, yeah? What’s mine?”

“Raph, duh. Or maybe Boss Man– or Raph-A-Doodle–”

“Okay, okay I get it!!” He laughed, and Leo beamed once again, proud that he could make his older brother laugh.

“Hey, since we’re asking off-topic questions,” Leo started, shifting his seating position. “Whose Hueso?”

Raphael’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh my god- you’ve never met Hueso!” He realized. “That’s unacceptable, I’ve gotta take you to the restaurant.”

“That tells me absolutely nothing, Raph–”

“Right- uh, Hueso’s a skeleton yokai. He owns a pizza joint up here called Run of–”

“--the Mill Pizza???” Leo finished, becoming excited for the third time that conversation, and Raph looked surprised.

“You’ve heard of it?” he asked, shocked. Leo nodded ecstatically despite his raging headache.

“Yeah! I’ve wanted to try that place ever since I heard some guards talking about it a few months back!! I planned to go on my birthday because I thought it was in the Hidden City since, y’know, it’s run by a yokai? But my guard, Fox, told me it was topside.”

Raphael nodded in understanding, smiling. “Oh, you’re gonna love the place, Leo! Hueso’s like a second father to me, he’s always there to help me when I’m stressed. He told me to bring you in once I saved you and he’d make an extra-special pizza for us!”

“Really??”

“Yep!” Raph continued to extol the eating establishment, filling Leo’s head with vivid descriptions of food, wait-staff, atmosphere, and big round-booth tables. It sounded like a dream come true to the slider, and Raphael noticed his own growing hunger the more he spoke.

“...Y’know,” he started, standing up. “It shouldn’t hurt too bad for you to walk a few blocks, right?”

Leo caught on, throwing the blanket off his legs with a smug grin. “Pffsh, a few blocks? Easy!”

As he stepped off the bed, ready to get going to Run of the Mill Pizza, he grimaced and froze in place as his left foot came in contact with something very wet and very gross.

“...Raph.”

“Oh boy.”

“Did I just step in my own vomit.”

“... oh boy. ”

iii.

Run of the Mill Pizza was quiet. The empty atmosphere and moody lighting was expected of the restaurant at the time, considering the business would close in about fifteen minutes. There were no customers left in the dining room, just a usual drunkard at the bar watching the news. Something about an escape at the Battle Nexus.

Hueso paid the drunk and the news no mind, monitoring the main dining room to do a final sweep before shutting down the kitchen. He walked past tables, pocketing tips and gathering stray cups that had been left.

By the time he made two laps of the room he finally spotted the drunk grasshopper yokai being helped out by an employee. Hueso gave the yokai a thankful smile, making sure the two got out before heading towards the back.

He dropped the five glasses into the sink, sighing when he realized the rest of the kitchen staff had already left. He figured that, after the grasshopper got out safe, that his final employee would leave as well. Eh, he couldn’t really fault them. It had been a slow Saturday, no one else would come in knowing that the place closed in… ten minutes.

But, to his surprise, Hueso heard the unmistakable sound of someone entering the dining room from the hidden entrance. He sighed heavily, pulling his skeletal digits from the sudsy water and shaking the water off of them with an annoyed “tsk.”

As he walked out into the dining room he dried his hands fully with a hand towel, expecting to see someone wanting a last minute drink. So, he mentally prepared himself to shoo them away.

“I’m sorry, but we close in seven minutes. Last call was twenty-three minutes ago–”

“We aren’t here for drinks, Hueso.”

The skeleton looked up when he heard Raphael’s voice, and a confused smile immediately came to his skull. “Caiman? What are you doing here so…” He trailed off as his eyes drifted to the figure beside Raphael.

The new turtle was smaller than the usual, with lighter green skin that had triangular yellow and red markings. His shell was smaller and smoother, and he was wrapped up in bandages. Hueso internally questioned if this turtle should even be out of bed, but then the realization hit him like a sack of bricks.

“...you’re his brother.” Hueso said, eyes wide with surprise. “...he actually did it.”

The new turtle crossed his arms, giving Raph a skeptical look. “...looks like Hueso’s been drinking past last-call.” he jokingly whisper-yelled, earning a strict look from Raph.

“Be nice, Hueso’s great! He doesn’t even drink.” Raphael gestured to the skeleton with an encouraging smile. “Leo, this is Hueso.”

Hueso offered Leo a bewildered smile and greeting, guiding the two brothers to Raphael’s usual round booth. Raph slid into the center seat without hesitation, and it took Leo a bit longer to get comfortable after crawling in. The skeleton sat himself on the other side of Raphael.

“Tell me everything, Caiman.”

And so, Raphael and Leonardo recounted the last twelve-ish hours, starting with Leonardo’s birthday outing and ending with the two deciding to come say hello (they pointedly left out the part where Leonardo vomited.)

“...you were in the Nexus for that long…?” Hueso was wide eyed for the entire story, listening intently on the edge of his seat. Leonardo nodded, grinning smugly.

“It really isn’t a big deal. I became a champion and a fan favorite, my life was easy.”

“Your life was painful, Pepino.” Hueso stated firmly, sipping water he had gotten for himself earlier. The boys had their own drinks- Raph with water and Leo with an apple juice carton. “You were used like a puppet on a string, fighting unnecessary battles.”

Hueso’s voice was gentle but firm, getting across his point that Leonardo’s situation was in fact a big deal, despite what the young turtle said.

Leonardo got quiet, and eventually asked, “...did you call me Pepino?”

Hueso sighed, pinching the bridge of his nasal bone. “You’re avoiding the severity of your past, Leonardo.”

“Yeah, well, you called me a cucumber, so.” He scoffed.

Hueso raised a brow bone. “You know Spanish?”

Leo, now grinning because he successfully changed the subject, responded by saying, “Entiendo a tu mamá.”

Raph watched the two interact with grateful confusion. When Hueso started spouting off intense Spanish words and Leo started laughing, he knew he didn’t need a translation. Leonardo probably said something about Hueso, and Hueso was going off on him. Surely.

“Por eso tu padre es una rata.” Hueso declared, leaning back with crossed arms. Leo gasped in offense, thinking up a witty comeback in less than a second.

“Es por eso que eres todo hueso y nada de músculo!”

“I am all bones no muscle because I am a skeleton, Pepino.” Hueso said, ticked. Leo just laughed, hitting his fist on the table in amusement.

Leo elbowed Raph in the side, smiling up at him. “I like Hueso.”

“I am right here.”

Raph nodded in agreement, still smiling from the two’s play argument. “I like Hueso too.”

The skeleton took his turn to watch the two interact with each other, noting how, despite only being reunited for a few hours, they acted like fast friends.

Family, Hueso reminded himself with a relaxed smile.

Leonardo was a stark contrast from Raphael, but it was still blatantly obvious that the two were family. It wasn’t because of their looks or their partiality to pizza, but also because of their behavior.

Hueso considered himself to be good at reading people. First impressions were important to him. He recalled the first time he ever met Raphael, remembering how the, at the time, eleven-year-old turtle had snuck into the back by following the smell of pizza.

Raphael, to Hueso, was responsible. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders almost constantly, and that sort of pressure was bound to make him crack eventually. Hueso figured that was why he felt a fondness for the turtle. If he could help relieve that pressure in any way, he would certainly help at a moment’s notice.

Leonardo was, to put it simply, a nuisance. Hueso found him to be annoying, overly confident, and could already tell he was the type to avoid talking about his emotions. His evasion tactics earlier did not go unnoticed by the sharp skeleton. Leo would be a hard one to get close to, he figured. If Hueso could get past that hard outer shell and really get to know Leonardo and not this front he had, he expected they could get rather close.

Hueso snapped himself out of his thoughtful daze, watching the two brothers talk about anything. They went from topic to topic at lightning speed, seemingly catching up on fourteen years of missed memories. Raphael mentioned something about Jupiter Jim, Leonardo would make a comment about Lou Jitsu, the two would then talk about movies.

Unsurprisingly, Leo had not seen many movies.

“You’ve seriously never seen Jupiter Jim?” Raphael was still dumbfounded.

“Nope,” Leo said, taking a sip of apple juice mid-sentence. “That isn’t really a thing in the Hidden City. We’ve got some Lou Jitsu stuff, and some yokai celebs but that’s about it.”

“The Hidden City sounds lame.” Raph huffed, not being able to fathom a world without Jupiter Jim movies. His comment made both Leonardo and Hueso laugh, giving each other a surprisingly knowing look. Because the two were both from the Hidden City, they knew of its’ true beauty.

“You know, Caiman, the Hidden City can be truly great if you are not there on bad terms. Maybe, once your family is fully reunited, you could take a nice vacation? I’m sure your father could stand to get out of the sewers.”

“Ehh..” Leo said, leaning back. “Doubt. I don’t think I can ever show my face in the Hidden City again. If the wrong person sees me I could be taken back to the Nexus.”

Raphael paled a bit, not having even considered that possibility. “You’re right.” he said weakly, a little disappointed. “That makes it even harder to find Donatello now if you have to stay hidden.”

“You’ll have to stay in the shadows as well, Caiman.” Hueso said. “Surely your face is everywhere by now. Big Mama will be looking for you both, but her search will not extend to New York.”

“Well, that’s good, at least.” Raph mumbled, still feeling defeated. Leonardo patted his shoulder out of comfort, giving a smile.

“Hey, it isn’t so bad. Now I don’t have to be in that stupid skyless place again unless it’s an emergency!”

“True, that will be good for your mental state, little bro.” Raph grinned, side-hugging Leo, who leaned happily into the embrace.

Hueso was glad he had security cameras. He looked at his watch, noting that it had already been an hour past closing, and sighed.

“Well, boys, as fun as this was, I must go home. If you come in during open hours, ” he gave Raphael a look, who responded with a sheepish smile, “I’ll make that pizza for you. How does that sound?”

“Free pizza??” Leo stood up, stretching upwards with a grin. “Sounds like a plan!”

Raphael followed his brother and skeletal friend out of the booth and back into the alley, sending Splinter a quick text saying that they would be back shortly. Leonardo looked around for the nearest manhole cover, but Raph grabbed his shell to stop him.

“Hold on, Leonardo.” he said, leading him to a fire escape. “We’ve got one more stop.”

Confused but intrigued, Leo followed Raphael up to the roof carefully. Once up he did have to catch his breath, but was quick to recover. Raph hated how quick;y Leo had adapted to recovering in seconds. It was a constant reminder of his former home.

But, hopefully what he had planned would be enough to overshadow his worry.

“Alright, close your eyes.”

Hesitant, Leo did as asked. He felt Raphael gently pull him down to sit on the roof, and he felt grainy asphalt under his legs. He laid back at Raphael’s guidance, now facing upwards.

“And… open.”

Leonardo opened up his eyes. Instead of being greeted by dirt and stalactites, the dark abyss above him was endless and empty. The deep black–blue hue reminded him of a bruise, and his eyes started to wander around.

He spotted the big round moon and paused, eyes widening slightly. The pale white reflected in his eyes, and Raphael smiled as he saw the innocent wonder of a child starting to surface.

“...is that the moon?”

“Yep. If you look closer you’ll be able to see–”

“Stars.”

Leo was breathless, gasping wondrously when little dots of light started to fill his vision. One by one, stars started to fade into view. They weren’t nearly as bright and visible as the moon thanks to the city’s polluting lights, but they were there. 

Leo reached out as if to touch the sky, feeling a cool breeze on his fingers. He shuddered as the chill traveled down his arm to his spine.

“...there’s thousands. ” Leo said blatantly, still staring up at the sky with all the wonder of a five-year-old.

“Mhm.” Raphael confirmed, laying back and looking up alongside him. “Millions, actually. There’s a better view outside the city.”

“...will you show me one day?” Leo managed to tear his eyes away from the dark canvas above him to look at his brother, hopeful.

Raph smiled back at him, then looked up. “Of course I’ll take you. I’ll take all of you.”

“I’ll take you to the moon and back, Leonardo. I promise.”

iv.

“You are absolutely positive this is what you saw?” A scratchy male voice asked.

“Affirmative.” A female voice responded, alto yet energetic. “I’ve also received confirmation from the Hidden City. The slider escaped his assignment.”

“Hm.” The male acknowledged, huffing softly through his nostrils. “And you have reason to believe the snapper will attempt another break-out?”

“Yes sir, it only makes logical sense.” She explained her reasoning, “I believe his plans are to get the other assigned mutants one by one.”

“That leaves the box and the softshell.”

“Affirmative.”

The male seemed to think over her words for a few seconds, then averted his blank-eyed gaze out the dark window. Below the room him and the female resided in was an open warehouse floor that currently housed one of the mutants in question.

He had been spray painting one of the many warehouse walls. It was what he did in his freetime. The Foot allowed these behaviors because they aren’t destructive and they aren't distracting. They kept the mutant soldier busy.

“Well, Jones, what do you think we should do?” He asked, and the female stiffened her stance. “The mutant is your responsibility, after all.”

“I…” she hesitated, seemingly unsure of what to say. She had been relying on her Lieutenant for a plan. “...whatever decision you deem to be most profitable, sir.” Was her final response.

He scowled, shooting her a glare.

“My decision is to let you do your job .” He spat, and she nodded obediently.

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Good.” He relaxed slightly, sighing. Below, the box turtle had stepped back to admire his still drying masterpiece. The Lieutenant paused, letting himself process what the turtle had painted. “...Jones.”

“Sir?”

“What does that look like?”

Confused, the Foot Recruit made her way to the window and looked down. Her eyes locked onto the spray painted mural, and she sighed, her shoulder sagging.

“...it looked like the fellow assigned mutants, sir, but in an abstract style.”

“How is that possible.”

“...I believe the only rational answer to that question would be familial instinct.”

“Erase it. I don’t need thoughts of family getting in the way of his work.” The Lieutenant spat, leaving the window. Jones nodded, and made her way downstairs to her apprentice.

“...Michelangelo.” She spoke to grab his attention, standing a few feet behind him. Not startled at all by her sudden and silent entrance, he looked back and grinned.

“Oh, hey Cassie!” he said cheerily, and Cassandra swore she almost broke her tough-soldier demeanor. She took a deep breath to resist smiling at him.

“Explain your mural.”

Michelangelo looked back to his painting, giving it an appraisal once-over. “...well,” he started, trodding up to the large graffiti art to point out certain details. “This,” he gestured to a traditional clan symbol, “Is a pepperoni pizza. Because I am in a crave, Cass.” he snickered, and she rolled her eyes at his explanation.

“I’m more interested in who the figures are.”

“Ohh.” Michelangelo understood, looking up at the six figures depicted on the wall. One of them, a messy scribble of green with a bright orange smear across the “face,” was obviously meant to be himself. 

Two of them were humanoid silhouettes, one being more triangular and tall in shape with a similar orange smear across the “face.” The other was shorter, and more curved than angular. It was littered in dripping green dots on the torso that resembled gunshot wounds to Cassandra.

The largest figure was a dark and dull green, clearly a mix of layering black and green paint, that had a bright red vertical smear up and down the entire body.

The final two figures were virtually the same in anatomy and stature, being the most unclear. One had bright purple rectangles littering its’ legs that would probably glow under a blacklight, and the other had red “x” shapes for eyes layered on top of a blue smear.

“That one’s me, duh.” Michelangelo smiled, proud of his messy self-portrait. Standing so close to the fresh mural made him inhale nothing but paint fumes, and Cassandra found herself subtly stepping back to get some fresher air.

“And the others?”

Michelangelo stopped to think again, and Cassandra sighed softly. He always did seem to have some memory issues, which is what made him such a nuisance during missions. That’s why Cassandra Jones was put in charge of him. The Foot Brute likes to joke around and call her a “Zookeeper,” which is not a nickname she appreciates.

“The others are people from my dreams.” He smiled up at the paint, more specifically, at the more angular human figure. “I don’t know who they are, but I see them all the time! I paint them a lot too.”

Confused by that statement, Jones gave the rest of the paint-covered room a glance. At first, each individual mural looked different and completely unconnected to each other. But upon closer inspection, she realized he was correct.

In every single mural, at least one of the figures was present with that strange pizza symbol.

“...the Lieutenant isn’t pleased with this mural.” She explained, walking up to the paint and placing her hand on it. Feeling it was still wet, she nodded to herself. “We’ll have to clean it off, he doesn’t want to see it.”

“Why not?”

“...just clean it, Michelangelo. You can use the pressure washer.”

The mutant and the human spent the rest of the early Sunday morning cleaning off a wall, but no matter how much they scrubbed and scrubbed at the wall, there was still a faint stain from the orange, red, blue, purple, and green smears and splotches.

Chapter Text

i.

“Cowabunga Carl? ” Leo exclaimed, staring at the television screen with wide eyes. “That’s seriously a thing??”

“Apparently!” Raphael laughed, leaning back from all the chuckling he had been doing. The two had just recently borrowed (stolen) an old television from a nearby trash chute and managed to get it working with the help of Splinter.

Now Splinter could have the projector all to himself and the boys got to sit in a different room watching whatever came on public airwaves. And right now, it was some shitty childrens’ show from 2007 about an anthropomorphic turtle named Cowabunga Carl.

“I could do so much better than that.” Leo huffed, crossing his arms while Raph changed the channel to find something more interesting. “Get me up there and people would adore me.”

“Yeah, well, surface is a no-go in the daytime.” The older brother said, a hint of understanding in his voice. At one point Raphael also longed for freedom up top, but now it wasn’t his top priority.

Leonardo, on the other hand, had spent his entire life underground. Hell, the first time he even saw the stars was a week ago! There was still so much more he wanted to experience, places he wanted to go, food he wanted to try! What is a West Coast Burrito? What’s so special about the Grand Canyon? Exactly how long are TSA lines in airports?

“I get it, bro.” Raph consoled, patting the sliders’ shoulder. “You’re ready to stretch your legs, see the world… but you need to be patient. We need to focus on helping Donatello and Michelangelo first. Then we can all do as much traveling as we want, as a family.” 

The F-word made Leo smile. Everytime Raphael or Splinter would say it, Leonardo would get inexplicably happy. His heart got fuzzy just like right now. He wasn’t mad about these soft feelings, in fact, he embraced them. It was a sign that things could only get better from here.

So, Leo agreed with his brother. “Right, right. Once we get those two, we’ll travel the whole world, right?”

“To the moon and back, Leo. To the moon and back.”

Later that same day, the brothers were sitting together at the island in the kitchen, looking down at a multitude of papers scattered across the surface. They were covered in messy handwriting from both boys, though Leo’s was surprisingly better than Raphs’. When Splinter had come in to check on them, he was completely unable to read whatever chicken scratch they had written, and due to his confusion, left them be to plan.

Leonardo etched the words “Operation: Save Tello” on the top margin of a paper, and Raph snickered. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! Cool missions need cool names!” Leo argued playfully, clicking the pen shut with a snicker. “Besides, when we save everyone we can look back on all these cool plans and like, I don’t know, make a scrapbook or something.”

“Ah, yes, our Trauma Scrapbook.”

“Shut up, you know it’s a great idea.”

“Get serious, Leo. We need to solidify this plan.” Raph gestured down to the papers once more, standing up and walking to the other side of the island so that he could face Leonardo.

Leo shifted on his barstool, eyes flicking over all the ideas they had written down so far.

Raphael had initially wanted to bust into Draxum’s laboratory and just get Donatello back brute-force style, but they trashed the idea after Splinter advised against it.

Then, Leo thought maybe they could cause a distraction and sneak in, but Raphael didn’t like the idea of being separated. He wanted to be near Leo at all times. He wouldn’t lose him, not again.

The next few plan ideas that they cycled through were all scrapped as well for one reason or another. Like Leo not being comfortable crawling through small spaces, or Raphael not wanting to leave his tonfa behind. Almost every plan that the two had thought of wouldn’t work for some reason.

It had left the two slightly discouraged until Leonardo randomly said,

“What if we just… turn ourselves in to Draxum?”

Raphael froze, looking over to Leonardo with wide eyes full of confusion and concern. “...you can’t be serious, Leo.”

“No, think about it, Raphael. If we turn ourselves in to Draxum, we’ll likely be put with Donatello, meaning we can use all three of our amazing minds to escape! It’ll be easy as long as we stick together.”

“I’m not so sure-”

“Do you want to save Donatello or not?”

Raph paused again, a wave of guilt washing over him. Of course he wanted to save his brother!

When Leonardo saw his trembling lip, he immediately regretted his words. “...Raph, I’m sorry, I should have worded that differently.” He hopped the counter, landing at his brothers’ side where he proceeded to comfort him with a hand on his shell.

“You have been working tirelessly for weeks trying to help me, to help them. You’re doing amazing, I promise.”

Raph sighed, leaning his head into his hands with a quiet whine. Leo winced, not liking that he had upset him.

“...I really am sorry, dude.” Leo tried reassuring, and Raphael just nodded in agreement.

“I know, I know…” he mumbled through his hands, not looking at his little brother.

“...we don’t have to turn ourselves in, it was just a thought. I wouldn’t do anything without asking you first.”

“...you have to promise me you won’t try anything on your own. We’ll think of something together.” Raphael stated, sitting up a bit and looking at Leo with a serious authoritative stare.

Leo quickly nodded, but Raphael wasn’t satisfied.

“ Promise. ”

“...I promise, Raph. Come on, we’ve used our brains enough today. We can pick it up in the morning.” Leo smiled, pulling his brother up to stand. “Let’s go get pizza!”

Raph, despite the dread still settling in his stomach, laughed at his brothers’ enthusiasm.

“You are an endless supply of adrenaline, Leo.” He said, rolling his eyes. Together the two left the sewer system, letting Splinter know where they were going.

As Raphael slid the manhole cover back into place, Leonardo scoped out the alleyway. He looked up, spotting some stars peeking between the buildings and smiled, admiring the little lights. He caught himself doing that every chance he had.

Leonardo would never get tired of the sky.

Raphael joined his brother at his side, looking up as well. “As pretty as it is, we need to get going. We don’t wanna hang around past closing.”

“Right..” Leo agreed, still taken away by the beautiful night sky. Raph sighed, taking his brother’s hand gently and leading him around the back roads and alleys.

The two were quiet as mice, stalking through shadows and behind cover. By now, Leonardo had the route to Run of the Mill Pizza memorized. The walk that took them half an hour only a week ago now took ten minutes thanks to Leo’s quick adaptation and now-healed ankle.

Most of his injuries had healed by now, his little cuts and bruises faded or scabbed over, and his ankle feeling right as rain. Raphael and Splinter still fretted over the joint, but Leonardo assured them both that it felt great.

In the Nexus he had picked up some basic first aid skills since he was often left to himself for help. He taught himself how to wrap broken or fractured bones, stop blood flow, and even stitch together gashes.

He had sewn together his own chin and face once, that was his greatest achievement.

The blood wasn’t stopping. He couldn’t feel his face, but at the same time it felt like it was on fire. He stared into the reflection of the broken glass under his stiff bed, trying desperately to scrub away the blood. He had already gone through too many tissues and napkins.

He couldn’t tell the difference between his natural markings and blood.

He cried.

A guard had kicked in a first aid kit, but offered no help to the twelve-year-old. He was left to fend for himself.

So, with a rusty safety pin in hand, Leonardo challenged himself internally to be a man. Be strong. Be brave. Be better than the rest.

And he was.

The memory that had hit the slider suddenly made his footing waver, and he stumbled, leaning against the wall for a few seconds as he reminded himself to breathe. Raphael, recognizing the look of a flashback, was at his side in an instant.

“You okay, Leon?” He asked, worried. He held his arm out in front of Leo in case he fell, ready to catch him at a moment’s notice. Leonardo just nodded and smiled, feeling the stretch of scar tissue on his lip and chin.

“Mhm, I’m good. Just got a little lost in thought.”

Raphael didn’t believe him one bit, but let it go for now. Into the pile of other things I’ll never know about Leo’s past you go, he thought.

It wasn’t long after Leo’s stumble that the two made it to Huesos’, where they went in and were sat in their usual booth. Just having Leonardo be there with him made the table feel so much less empty.

Raphael loved having another seat filled out, and soon, they would have all of them here, enjoying pizza and laughs. Maybe they would try the maze, Raphael was sure he had seen Leo eyeing the portraits of past winners when they were here last.

“Welcome, boys.” Hueso’s familiar voice rang out, approaching their table with apple juice and water already in hand. Leo excitedly tapped the table with his hands, kicking his feet slightly under the surface. Occasionally he would his Raph, but neither brother acknowledged it.

“The usual, I assume?” the skeleton yokai said, prepared to go into the kitchen and whip them up a fresh hot pizza. The brothers both nodded, each offering their own iteration of a “yes.”

Hueso smiled and left the two to themselves, whistling as he went. Leo took a sip of his juice, looking at the booth. His memory from earlier was still fresh on his mind.

“...hey,” he hesitated, but got Raph’s attention. “...did you always sit at this table?”

Raphael, sensing where this was going, sighed with a sad smile. “...yep. Every time I came I would sit here.”

“...but wasn’t it so..”

“Empty? Yeah, I uh, never got used to it, but never felt like moving. Hueso says some part of me knew that the empty seats were for my brothers…” Raphael explained, spinning the ice in his glass.

“What, like an instinct?”

“I guess that’s the word for it.”

“...fighters in the Nexus are allowed to have a private box in the stands for any family members that may come watch them fight.” Leo said softly, looking down at his juice. “...Big Mama told me I didn’t have any family, but I still argued tooth and nail for that damn viewing box.”

“Really?” Raphael smiled a bit, a little surprised. Leo looked up at him and smiled back, nodding.

“Yep. She would get mad because it was wasted seating, but I made sure it stayed empty every time I fought.”

“How many seats were in it?”

“Five, but there was room for six.”

Raphael’s smile didn’t waver, but he did become a little confused. “...five? There would only be four of us there if we ever watched, me, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Dad.”

“Yeah, well five just felt right. Sometimes six felt right too, and I would have them add an extra chair.”

“Strange.”

“Maybe it’s for mom or something?”

The two both got quiet, but then busted out laughing. They had already discussed and debunked the possibility of having a mom a few days ago after drilling into Splinter about any potential matches. According to their father, the closest option would have been Big Mama, and both boys immediately turned that down.

Not like they needed a mother, they were doing just fine with the father they got.

“...hey, that’s… that could be an idea.” Leonardo lit up, and Raph raised a brow in confusion. His brother quickly elaborated: “Instead of turning ourselves in, what if we just started doing vigilante work? Y’know, gain some attention? That could grab Draxum’s attention, and maybe he would come after us with Donatello!”

Raphael paused, thinking over the idea as he sipped his water. The thought didn’t sound half bad, plus it would result in them both getting some combat experience before facing Draxum, and eventually, the Foot Clan as well.

“That doesn’t sound too bad, actually…” he agreed, surprised that it actually sounded plausible. Leo beamed, happy that his plan made sense.

“It wouldn’t be too hard, either! You’ve already got plenty of training from Dad, and I’ve got experience from the Nexus- we could focus on New York but go down to the Hidden City too!”

“We would have to be extremely careful, Leo. No getting caught.” Raph said sternly.

Leo grinned. “We’re basically ninjas, dude. Stealth is like, in our blood or something.”

“No, mutagen is in our blood.”

“Same difference!”

Raphael couldn’t stop his smile, face palming. Leonardo’s optimism was contagious.

“Alright, alright. We’ll talk to Dad about it in the morning, he’s probably asleep already. We’ll discuss it over breakfast.”

Leonardo, satisfied that he was of help, didn’t dwell on the topic for much longer and instead focused on the fresh pizza being delivered to their table. All thoughts of rescue now pushed aside, the brothers enjoyed the cheesy goodness in each other’s comfortable company.

Hueso glanced over at the two after dropping off the food, sighing with a light smile. Leonardo had quickly become a regular sight at Run of the Mill Pizza, and as annoying as the turtle was, Hueso always welcomed him happily.

There was something about the brothers that just brought joy to the place, and the skeleton yokai could only imagine how drastically the atmosphere would change once all four brothers were reunited and eating here. He did make Raphael promise to bring the entire family for a special reunion dinner once everyone was found.

He looked up at the mystic screens, most of them displaying the news. The only interesting thing happening in the Hidden City this week was the continued search for “The Cerulean Death” and his “kidnapper.” He had to roll his eyes when he read a headline saying “Nexus Kidnapper Still at Large!” Raphael was no kidnapper, just a concerned brother saving his family from harmful situations.

The surface was much safer for Leonardo. The air was a bit fresher, the sky was bigger, and there was no threat of the dirt ceiling collapsing on his head every day. Plus, he no longer had to fight.

But Hueso got the feeling that Leonardo would fight anyway. One way or another, the slider would manage to throw punches and swing blades. Not that that was a bad thing, but it was something to be looked into.

Raphael would have to keep an eye on Leonardo, Hueso figured. Leonardo was a powerhouse, and with so much experience, anguish, and trauma in such a young boy, it would be hard to help him fully adapt to societal norms. 

But with the help of Splinter, Raphael, and Hueso himself, Leonardo would be comfortable in no time. Some people adapt quicker than others, and however unfortunate it may be in Leonardo’s case, it was still adapting, and he was extremely good at adapting.

Hueso eventually watched the two leave, dropping a generous tip into the skeleton’s hand before meandering their way home. The skeleton sighed, pocketing the money. He spent the rest of his night cleaning and waiting for the dining room to clear out.

ii.

Donatello stared down at his phone, mentally noting the time marked at the top of the screen.

Two Fifty-Eight. Almost time.

The remaining two minutes of the school day went by painfully slowly, and it felt more like an hour before the dismissal bell finally rang and the class started rushing to their bikes, buses, or cars to get home.

Donatello went much slower than the rest, watching as friends reunited in the hallways to walk together. He sighed quietly, pushing in his custom bluetooth earbuds to tune out the obnoxious noises of highschoolers.

His music was loud, thank God, and effectively kept all the unwanted chatter and miscellaneous noise out of his ears. Instead, all he heard was the comforting buzz and synth of techno-club music. The type of stuff people dance to at raves.

For a brief while Donatello could almost imagine he was at a rave, bodies barely having room to breathe while lights flashed and bass shook the ground.

But then he opened his eyes, and the dancing bodies became teens walking in crowds, the flashing lights became the sun peeking through windows, and the booming bass became the thundering of feet in the echoing hallway.

His music, however, did not waver. Instead he kept the volume up at deafening levels.

The hallways cleared after a few minutes, and as usual, things got too quiet outside of his music. The flies buzzing, the straggling freshmen and sophomores, the water fountain that never stopped running…

He felt an eerie sense of deja vu.

Has he been here before?

…

Was someone watching him?

Donnie shook it all off as his usual things his paranoia would make up to torment him. It reminded him of the shadow figures he would see in the corners of his vision whenever he didn’t get enough sleep.

Yeah. It was just a hallucination caused by his years of mental and physical trauma.

Just like usual, Donatello made his way up to the second floor computer lab where he was unenthusiastically greeted by his friends.

Can I even call them friends? He asked himself as he took his usual seat, opening two or three programs so he could continue his work. Kendra is… well she isn’t an enemy, but she’s certainly not friendly. Jeremy is okay, I guess. Jason? I barely know the guy to be honest.

Donatello lent the room an analytical glance, spotting each of the people he was thinking about.

Jason was sitting behind his own monitor that was way too big, completely hiding his face from the investigative terrapin. Donnie could, however, hear the clickity-clack of Jason typing aggressively. Must be some really riveting information he was noting.

Jeremy, bless his heart, was still trying to fix his robot arm. He had been working on the prosthetic prototype for almost two years, and almost had it perfected! Until Jason had dropped it while cleaning. Now Jeremy had to pay the price for Jason’s clumsiness, and just couldn’t seem to find the issue.

Donatello had offered to take a look at it, but for some reason, Jeremy denied and claimed he would be fine on his own. The softshell tried not to think about the rejection too much, not wanting to take it to heart.

As he continued his observation, his eyes landed on Kendra. She was staring right back at him, a jealous glare pointed at him.

Surprised, and not expecting her to have noticed his wandering eyes, Donatello instinctively looked back to his own monitors, holding his breath. In the corner of his vision he saw Kendra look away after a moment, jotting down some formulas on her math homework.

He let out a sigh of quiet relief, and slowly allowed his shoulders to relax. He leaned back in his chair, and was confused when he heard the faint buzz of static.

It was when he sat back up that Donnie realized he had forgotten to turn off his hologram disguise. Whenever the hologram came in contact with anything too closely, it would buzz like static and become slightly transparent. It wasn’t an issue in class because of his hoodie, so no one ever tended to notice the slight green on his hands or neck.

But the buzzing wasn’t the issue at all right now. The issue was that he had forgotten.

Is that why Kendra was staring at me? He wondered, clicking the button on his wrist tech to turn off the hologram. Like usual, it fizzled from existence and left the turtle sitting in the comfy computer chair.

How long have I had it on?

Meanwhile, April O’Neil found herself scrolling on her phone, but not for the reason any person passing her on the street would think. She walked, one hand stuffed in her pocket and the other being used to thumb through Google’s search results for “Pizza in New York.”

Yesterday and the day before she had found pizza boxes dumped in alleyways for a restaurant she had never heard of. So, she had decided to do some digging, and so far found nothing.

Come on, there has to be something. Maybe it’s in Jersey? She almost immediately ditched the thought, not seeing how any New Yorkers would choose Jersey pizza over any from the Big Apple.

Is it like, secretly a drug market? A back alley strip club with pizza?

The mere concept made her snort in amusement, and she rolled her eyes. Turning off her phone screen, she ditched the internet and started asking around.

Much to her disappointment, no one had heard of the place she was looking for. None of the local pizza parlors knew what it was, no tour guides, and not even her friends from school. Frustrated with her lack of results, she kicked a crumpled up piece of paper into an alley.

And she almost walked away before noticing the ball disappear into the wall. Almost.

She stared in shock and confusion, looking down the dark alley towards a spray painted wall. The paper should have just bounced right off, but no. It instead went through.

What the hell.

What.

Don’t make any rash decisions, call Donnie.

April did the exact opposite of that, and walked into the alley with false confidence. She swallowed nervously and slowed her pace when she got up to the wall. It was so shady, and she was surprised she didn’t get mugged the second she entered the dark shadows.

The dumpster to her right was normal, and so were the random empty needles littered across the way. The posters hung up on the walls, the peeling spray paint, all of it was classic New York.

So what was the strange buzzing in the air? It wasn’t like Donatello’s hologram, no. This was not technology. This was something entirely different, something non-material. It felt like walking into a thick and suffocating mist but walking out completely dry.

She didn’t like the feeling, it felt wrong against her skin. So against her better judgment, April pressed her hand softly against the wall. It felt normal until it didn’t.

She fell straight through the bricks, yelping in surprise when the bricks faded away and left a warm and welcoming restaurant in their wake. She hit the floor with a thud and a grunt, her palms getting a little scrapped from the blunt hit.

Her knees would certainly be bruised, but she paid it no mind and quickly dove behind the nearest cover- a host’s stand. She held her breath, listening as unseen patrons went about their business. No one noticed her fall in- perfect.

She put a hand over her mouth, using her other to pull her phone out and immediately start recording. April peeked the phone around the corner of the host’s stand, and her eyes widened in fear and shock at the sight displayed on her screen.

Monsters- no, mutants, all sitting at tables and eating like it was a human restaurant with human patrons. They sat mainly in small groups, probably families or friends.

She was surprised at all the diversity, noticing different types of animals and even some hybrids. It was enough to make her scared. Of what, she wasn’t sure, but a particular fear wracked her heart and made it speed up.

She pointed her phone at the paper ball on the carpeted ground by her feet, and kicked it back towards the entrance. The camera recorded the paper go straight through the wall. Proof, she thought with an accomplished sigh through her nose.

“Ahem.”

April froze, slowly looking up. Peering over the host’s stand looking straight down at her was a skeleton with a mustache and a pinstripe suit with a matching hat.

She couldn’t hold back her scream, and scrambled to stand. The only human grabbed the closest thing to her to use in defense, but it unfortunately happened to be only an umbrella that one of the mutant patrons had left up front.

The skeleton winced, and after she had screamed, almost all eyes were on her. Most of the patrons stared at her in surprise, some in confusion, and others in fear.

Internally she recognized how invasive this must be for them- clearly this restaurant was some sort of safe haven for mutants in New York, and a human had just waltzed in and screamed. But she also recognized that there was a very likely possibility that she would be roasted on a spit now.

The skeleton gave her a concerned and hasty glare, then glanced at the dining room. He cursed in Spanish under his breath, and without hesitation, grabbed April by the wrist and dragged her to the back. She of course tried pulling away and fighting back, hitting him with the umbrella, but he paid her no mind and ended up in the kitchen with her.

“¡Fuera de! ¡Todos ustedes!” He shouted at the kitchen staff, who all went to the dining room without question. The skeleton released April, who took off to the other side of the kitchen. He groaned in annoyance, pinching the bridge of his nose (nasal ridge?) April wasn’t sure.

“Okay freaky skeleton dude!!!” She shouted from her new vantage point, holding the phone and umbrella out, still recording. “You’re gonna tell me what I need to know, y’hear??”

“Miss-”

“And I don’t want any bullshit either! I know I’m not dreaming!”

“...ma’am-”

“And no eating me!!!--”

“Ma’am!!” He shouted, cutting her off with an annoyed glare. “It is four forty-five in the afternoon on a Wednesday– will you calm down??”

April held the umbrella out defensively, glaring down the skeleton. But she did get quiet, sparing the kitchen a glance. It looked pretty clean, and pretty professional.

“...where the hell am I.” She demanded, prompting him by jabbing the umbrella in his general direction. Due to the distance between them, however, it didn’t affect the skeleton at all.

“...Run of the Mill Pizza.” He responded flatly, keeping his eyesockets on her. “You need to stop recording.”

She looked down to her phone, then back to him. “...not happening. I gotta show this to my friend.”

“Absolutely not– ” He immediately advanced on her, and April squeaked in surprise. Immediately she stopped recording and sent the file to Donatello, holding the phone out of the skeleton’s reach when he got close enough to swipe at it.

His sockets widened and he said, “How dare you! Miss you cannot–”

“Oh yes I can! I got a mutant friend who needs cool restaurants to go to and I was just– uh– looking and I found some pizza boxes for this place so I followed the metaphorical trail–”

“Mutant friend?? Pizza boxes??” He paused, clearly confused as he backed off her a few feet. He leaned onto a table, giving her a suspicious glare. “...what mutant.”

“...Donatello. He doesn’t have a last name.” She said with confidence, not seeing any reason to lie now.

Hueso paused, staring down the strange human girl with suspicion. Why did that name sound familiar to him? Has he heard it before? He couldn’t pinpoint it.

“...Okay, ma’am, let me start over. My name is Hueso, this is my restaurant, Run of the Mill Pizza. It is a yokai restaurant. Do you know what a yokai is?”

“...maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”

He deadpanned, getting frustrated with her. “Ma’am, be honest. Have you ever knowingly met a yokai?”

“Nope.”

“But you have met a mutant?”

“Yep.”

“Named Donatello?”

“Yep.”

“And he sent you, his human companion, to find a hang out spot for him, a mutant? ”

“Yep.”

“Likely story.” He sighed, rubbing his skull under his hat. This was giving him a headache. “Why are you really here, Humana?”

She seemed to hesitate, her shoulders tensing a little bit and her brows raising.

“...If I tell you, can I leave?”

“I was going to make you leave anyways after I erase the video.”

“If I tell you, can I leave with the video?”

“Fat chance.” Hueso glared, crossing his arms. “Now talk.”

The explanation was long, surprising, and quite a bit of information. A mutant had popped up in her alley beside her apartment five years ago, having escaped a place called the Hidden City. He confided in her about the Baron Draxum, and eventually joined society using technology to disguise himself as a human and was now a student at her highschool.

“...and his name is–”

“Donatello.” April sighed, leaning against a counter. She had set down the umbrella and phone mid-explanation in favor of using her hands to exaggerate her story more.

Hueso thought over her tale, pacing slightly across the tiles. And eventually, he asked, “...would you like a drink of water, Miss O’Neil?”

Taken by surprise, she hesitantly accepted. All the commotion made her tired, and her throat did feel dry.

“I’d like you to bring this mutant, Donatello, here one day.”

“I uh, don’t know if he would be up for it. He kind of hates all things yokai…? I’m only here looking for his family.”

“Family?” Hueso raised a brow bone and retrieved a glass of ice water, handing it off to her. She looked down at her reflection, wincing uncomfortably.

“...yeah. He uh, has a few brothers he hasn’t seen… well, ever. He gave me permission to go looking for them after I saw them.”

“...when did you see them?”

“About a week ago. Why?”

“...I may be able to help you, humana.”

iii.

Cassandra sighed, walking through the graffiti and into the hidden restaurant in the alley. Mikey had insisted on pizza for the third night in a row, and would only ever accept the ones from Huesos’. So here she was, walking in for the third time this week to get some stupid pizzas.

Not that she cared if he liked the brand, he would surely be fine with Papa John’s, or Domino’s. She just also happened to like Huesos’.

It was the closest she could get to the Hidden City, after all, since she didn’t know where an actual entrance was. She was forbidden from knowing, thanks to her association with Michelangelo.

Her curiosity had driven her to look many times, even resorting to following her Lieutenant, but ultimately had given up on trying to find a way in. Instead she left herself content to hear stories of the yokai-filled city under New York.

Now she stood in the front entrance of Run of the Mill Pizza, and was surprised to find the entire kitchen staff in the dining room. Almost everyone looked anxious. She pulled her mask up over the lower half of her face.

Cassandra had found this place four years ago by accident, having fallen right through the wall on one patrol. But the skeleton known as Hueso had taken her as a customer with open bony arms, letting her place to-go orders, but never stick around.

They had a strict professional relationship: she didn’t know about his life, he didn’t know about hers’, It just worked. Besides, she got pizza and he got money, so who could really complain?

“...uh..” she started, walking into the dining room. The kitchen staff gave her a look, and one told her to go wait in the lobby. Confused, she put her hands on her hips.

“Is there like, a fire in the kitchen or something?” She started towards the doors leading to the back, but was immediately stopped by a server she recognized.

The panda yokai blocked the way, holding his paws up in defensive pause. “Huesos’ dealing with something, so everything is on hold. It’s gonna be a bit until we can get your pizzas, Miss Jones.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Well,” she started, ducking around the Panda, “Maybe I can help with whatever he’s dealing with.”

Panda got a flashback to the time Cassandra beat up a yokai trying to mug Hueso and his eyes widened, and he moved to stop her again. “No, miss you really musn’t–”

But she had already pushed open the kitchen doors and sniffed the air, expecting smoke. Much to her surprise, she was only greeted by a clean and fire-free kitchen.

Oh, and Hueso and a human teen standing together chatting like old pals.

Chapter Text

i.

April eyed the newcomer for a few seconds, both confused and surprised as to why another human was there. She gave an appraising glance, noticing her ninja-wear and distinct orange colors. Her short black hair that was almost buzzed looked fuzzy, and her black eyes were sharp. April understood that the new girl was doing the same thing as herself: looking over the other human.

So, she decided to break the silence by offering a smile and a greeting.

“Hey.” April said casually, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets and leaning back against the counter. “Surprised to see another human here.”

Both girls looked to Hueso for answers, and the man only shrugged with a smile. April looked back at the ninja, who had gone back to looking at April.

“...yes, I am also quite surprised.” The ninja finally said, crossing her arms in an almost suspicious manner. “Hueso isn’t fond of human guests.”

“Yeah, well, I kinda found this place by accident.” April said sheepishly, moving to rub the back of her neck. Hueso nodded in agreement, confirming the story.

“...well, ladies, as wonderful as it is to have you meet, I need to get back to business so I’m asking you to leave–”

“What’s your name, girl?” The ninja said suddenly, raising a sharp brow. April smiled.

“April.”

“Cassandra.”

“Wonderful, you know each other. Now, please–”

“What are you doing in a yokai restaurant, April? Know any yokai?”

April huffed, immediately thinking of her mutant friend. “Nope.” She answered truthfully. “I could ask you the same thing, though, Cassandra. ” She mocked her tone of voice playfully.

Cassandra paused, her mind wandering to her turtle confidant. She shook her head fast though, denying the possibility. “I also do not know any yokai.”

“We both know Hueso though, right? Does he count?” April jabbed her thumb back to the skeleton, who was still trying to butt in so he could usher them out.

“Hueso doesn’t count, because he’s barely a yokai. He lives in New York, not the Hidden City.”

“Oh, so you’ve been there?” April asked, grinning. She internally applauded her skills of investigation and adjusted her stance against the counter to be more comfortable.

The ninja paused, and took a moment to glare. “No, actually. Have you? ”

“Nope.” April popped the p, starting to sense Cassandra’s frustration. Hueso wasn’t much different, also starting to get annoyed with April’s antics.

“Alright, girls.” Hueso said sternly, putting his hands on his hips. “Time to go. I have a business to run, you know.” He started to advance on them, ushering the two towards the kitchen door. April protested by stepping out of his way, holding onto a counter for good measure.

“I’ve actually got more questions, Hueso!” She said, smiling brightly. “It won’t take too long, really. Like where do you get your ingredients? How do yokai patrons get up here without being seen? Do you live in New York or the Hidden City? What’s–”

The skeleton groaned loudly, pushing Cassandra out of the kitchen door. “Haces más preguntas que pepino…” he grumbled. April raised a brow, still surprised that he spoke not one but two human languages.

“Miss O’Niel, as lovely as this has been, I need you out. I am sorry about your friend, I gave you all of the information that I have. If you wish to place an order for take out I would be more than happy to take your money. Now please– ”

April pulled her phone out, quickly dialing a number. Hueso, confused, watched. He was kind of curious about what she was doing. Until the phone in his back pocket started ringing, and his confusion turned into an annoyed frown.

April gave a smug grin. “...hey, I’m calling to place an order.” She said into the speaker of the phone when Hueso begrudgingly picked up the call. He sighed heavily, hanging up fast.

“What kind of pizza, humana.”

Needless to say, April walked out of Run of the Mill Pizza three pizzas richer. The hot pies were stacked in her hands, and she waved enthusiastically to the yokai patrons as she left the restaurant. Stepping out of the wall and into the alleyway, April looked up, spotting a slowly darkening sky.

“Huh…” she verbalized, surprised at how much time she had spent inside of the yokai restaurant. “...eh.” she smiled and shrugged, shooting Donnie a text saying that she was on the way.

But much to her surprise, she was left on read. Even after ten minutes of walking her message had not been seen. It was unusual, so she sent another message. Maybe he just left his phone plugged up in a different room again.

Another ten minutes of walking, and still no replies.

April had become a bit more concerned at that point. Seeing that she was about to reach the school, she figured that calling wouldn’t hurt, so she decided to dial.

“...”

Even as she walked around the side of the school building to the unlocked window, Donnie didn’t pick up the phone. April then decided to set the pizzas down in the empty hallway and jog up the stairs to the Purple Dragons room. That was surely where he was.

Her converse squeaked on the freshly cleaned floors as she hastily made her way to her destination. Once arrived, she opened up the door and waltzed in, immediately looking around for her friend’s familiar face.

“Donnie??” She called out, voice sounding a little bit shaky with nerves that she hadn’t realized existed. She cleared her throat when the dark room gave her no reply. “...come on, Donnie, where’d ya go?”

The girl started to slowly walk around the room, keeping her steps quiet to listen for any cues. “...I saw you a few hours ago, and you never leave here without telling me first… so are you here?” She asked steadily, calming her voice a bit.

For a few more seconds it seemed as if she was alone in the room, until the quiet sound of wheels on the floor squeaked out and betrayed the eerie silence. April jumped and turned fast to face the chair across the room. It rolled just a little bit, giving her a view of the desk, or more specifically, the little cubby underneath the desk.

“.....oh, Donnie….” she said softly, walking over after her brain registered what she was seeing.

Donatello, in his human disguise, had tucked himself away underneath the desk. He was shaking like a leaf, curled in on himself and frantically trying to wipe his eyes dry. The pushing of his palms against his face made the hologram disguise buzz from contact, and he sniffled quite a few times. His oversized Purple Dragons jacket’s sleeves were soaked with his own tears and snot from all the crying he had apparently been doing.

He looked so… broken. And April couldn’t figure out why until she remembered what she had sent him earlier.

A video full of her and yokai in a strange place that ends with her being chased down.

Oh.

Oh no.

In all of her excitement of discovering and communicating with yokai in New York she had neglected to think about how scary that could have been for her friend. But now April was remembering everything that Donnie had ever told her about yokai and the Hidden City.

That he was mutated, raised, and experimented on brutally by a yokai until he was ten.

That the Hidden City was full of turns, tricks, and traps beyond human comprehension.

That certain yokai hated humans.

They hated humans so much that they would kill them.

April internally started cursing herself out, now realizing that she was the cause of Donnie’s distress. Or, more specifically, the video she had sent him from Huesos’.

“...Don, hey, Don I’m okay…” she whispered, crouching down and sitting on her knees a few feet away from the desk. He needed space, crowding him under there wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“I promise, I’m here… I wasn’t hurt by anyone. I’m fine, and I’m safe.” She waited for a response, but received only a soft whine from the soft shell.

Donatello looked up from his compressed position, glaring at her faintly from over his arms. She looked back with only sorrow and understanding.

“I messed up, Don… I get it. I really do.” She stayed soft, scooting a little closer. Donatello shoved his face back into his arms, his arms tensing up. She hesitated, not moving anymore. “...and I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I’ll tell you whenever I go yokai snooping or.. Or family hunting.”

“.......I thought you died.”

“....I know, Don…”

“I thought you died. ”

“....I know….” She hesitated. “.....but I have good news…”

The disguised mutant scoffed, turning away from her. She just sighed, reaching over and carefully placing her hand on his arm. The soft buzzing of hologram on her palm sent a shiver up her spine, and Donnie tensed up more, but she didn’t move.

“...I know where your family is. They’re looking for you, Don. All of them.”

“Your family?” Draxum scoffed, merely laughing at the thought. The small turtle, only four years old, sniffled nervously up at him. Clad in only black shorts and a gray t-shirt, Donatello could only give his quiet remark.

“....I-I heard uh.. Muninn.. Talkin’ about other.. Turtles..” he meekly mumbled, playing with the ends of his shirt.

The goat yokai eyed him curiously, filling a syringe with a concerning amount of ooze. Donarello saw the substance and made himself look away, mentally preparing himself for what was bound to come.

“You can be assured, there are other turtles. They are not your family , though. You do not have one of those.”

“You don’t deserve one of those.”

Donatello could only nod in agreement, feeling the familiar prick of a sharp needle in his arm. He winced, whimpering and trying to pull away out of instinct, only to be pulled back roughly by his keeper.

“How many times must I tell you to sit still?” Draxum asked sternly, pushing the needle in further. It made Donatello tear up and squirm uncomfortably. The familiar sting of ooze filled his arm, and after a few seconds, the limb went numb.

As usual, Draxum was not pleased by this.

“You can wipe all thoughts of… family… out of your mind. Do you understand me? You aren’t even sentient, you are a scientific test.”

“And in the long run, the tests aren’t what matter.”

Suddenly the turtle pushed April away, shoving her off and choking on his own surprised sob. “G-Get off me– ” he croaked with a dry voice, staring at her with wide eyes that saw nothing.

Surprised by his sudden hostility, April scooted away and prepared to stand up, clearly worried. “Donnie?--”

“Don’t touch me– ” His surprised gaze turned into a glare. “I-I am not– ”

Oh, she thought, he’s having flashbacks.

“You aren’t there, Donnie.”

“Leave me–”

“You’re here. In New York. The surface.”

“I-I–”

“You’re safe.”

“I-I’m not–” His breath hitched.

“You’re safe.” April insisted, scooting closer once more. She reached her arms out to him.

“I’m–” he tried to flinch back but only ended up hitting his head on the desk, causing him to cry out in sudden pain. The impact amplified his migraine.

“You’re safe. ” She said firmly but quietly, wrapping one arm around him while her other hand turned off his cloaking technology.

He immediately tried protesting, trying to push her off desperately as tears clogged his vision. It was hard to tell if he was in a computer lab or a yokai lab.

“You’re safe. ” April affirmed, pulling him into a tight and intoxicatingly comfortable hug.

The turtle didn’t move, holding his breath for what felt like a millenia, until he felt himself slump into the human’s embrace, quietly sobbing into her shirt and gripping onto her like a lifeline. His sobs filled the room, choking and gasping for air as he desperately tried to calm himself down.

She only sat patiently, feeling the bruise form on her face from being shoved by him earlier. She paid the soon-to-form injury no mind, instead keeping her arms tight around him, rubbing his shell gently and running her nails up and down the back of his neck.

“You’re safe. ”

ii.

“So!” Leo excitedly started, spinning in a navy blue office chair that Splinter had lying around in storage. The younger turtle had found it while digging for things to claim as “his” and couldn’t pass up the comfortably used seat.

His present family sat on either side of him, Raphael using a comfortable red cushion on the floor as a seat while Splinter used his recliner. They both were equally as cheery but were much better at keeping it under control.

Leonardo, on the other hand, continued to spin to let out his pent-up vibes of goodness.

“Let’s talk family, boys!” The slider grinned from tympana to tympana, bringing his spinning to a slow stop. “I want to do as much as possible with Tello and Angelo once we get them back, so I figured, why not start planning now? ”

“Oh really?” Splinter bemused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “You wish to plan events such as…?”

“Oh I am so glad you asked, Pops–” Leo beamed, facing his rat father proudly. “Because I, your best son, have already made a list of family bonding activities for us to do!”

Raphael was silently and curiously listening to his little brother rant, just happy to see him so excited over something. He had grown to realize over his time spent with Leo that there will never be a dull moment with the slider.

Raphael saw Leonardo as this quirked-up kid with too much energy and no way to get it all out except to annoy the daylights out of anyone in range. And honestly? Raph couldn’t complain. He had never seen the lair so lively. Leonardo just brought this new spark of energy to the place that was even getting Splinter on his feet to chase the teens around after a playful debate on which Lou Jitsu film was the best.

Judging by the recognizable shine in Splinter’s eyes, the father felt the same way that the snapper did.

“Obviously the first thing we’ll need to do as a family is go to Huesos’.” Leo said confidently, crossing his arms. “The atmosphere is great, it’s a semi-public place that we can be ourselves in, and it has amazing food!”

“Ah, yes, the elusive Huesos’.” Splinter confirmed, nodding along with Raphael. “And what if, hypothetically, Michelangelo does not like pizza? Or Donatello has a thing against public spaces?”

“Well, pffsh–” Leonardo huffed. “Angelo has to like pizza, he’s a Hamato. And Tello not liking public spaces? We’ll just get a quiet corner booth, no sweat!” He concluded.

“Okay, well, what if we all can’t agree on a type of pizza to get? We aren’t made of money, you know.” Raphael mentioned. “We can’t rely on Hueso for free meals forever.”

Leonardo actually had to pause and think about that possibility for a moment, much to his family’s amusement. Splinter and Raphael both shared a quiet mutual smile.

“...well,” Leo started carefully, still mentally working things out, “...maybe I can pick up a side gig at Huesos’? Because, y’know, if I work there, I can get us free shit!”

“Language.” Splinter corrected.

“Free stuff!” Leonardo amended, his smile returning. Raph reflected the smile back, nodding at his solution.

“Sounds good to me. Prepare to wash dishes for the rest of eternity.”

“Oh, no. I’m no dish-boy. ” He grinned, standing up and placing his hands firmly on his hips. “ I am the Cerulean Chef! ” he proudly thumped his fist against his plastron, and an almost cartoonish draft of wind came from nowhere and made his bandana tails flow in the nonexistent wind.

Raphael couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped his chest. “The Cerulean Chef?? ” He questioned, rocking back and forth on his cushion with a stupid grin. “That is so stupid–”

“Stupidly cool! It’s a great name! Much better than Death, am I right?” Leonardo wiggled his eyebrows, looking to Splinter for approval.

The rat man’s expression had softened, and he nodded gently. “You are correct, my son. It is much better to provide life than to take it away.”

Leo, satisfied with his approval, sat back down.

“And then after Huesos’, I wager we can find a way to make this lair a bit more lively.”

Splinter couldn’t stop his sudden laugh. When Leonardo gave a look of confusion, he happily explained his outburst: “You have already made this place livelier. What more is there to be done?”

“Uh,” Leo snickered as if it was the most obvious and hilarious thing ever. “Decoration? This place is so dull! It looks like a sewer!”

“It is a sewer.” Raphael interjected.

“Not the point, big bro!” Leo smiled. “I’m trying to say we should like, I don’t know, paint the place? Get some pretty colors somewhere? I hope at least one of those two has some sort of artistic ability.” he rolled his eyes playfully.

“We could put our favorite colors everywhere! And the family symbol! Maybe build a nice skating ramp!”

“To be used for what?” Splinter questioned.

“...to skateboard.” Leonardo deadpanned. “I’ve always wanted to learn how, so why not just build a ramp? We can find materials literally anywhere in these sewer tunnels!”

Raphael thought for a moment, before slowly nodding. “That isn’t too bad of an idea… maybe one of our other brothers likes skating too!”

The slider went on for a while, talking about all the things he wanted to do with everyone. He wanted to go to a planetarium with everyone because he read about them in a magazine. He wanted to learn all about the stars so that he could teach everyone in the family about them. He loved the stars, and wanted people to share that love with.

He wanted to be able to go out on the surface with everyone and walk around Times Square. He wanted to show everyone the latest human fashion (even though his fashion magazines were outdated by two or three years). He wanted to get his brothers the nicest clothes that money could buy.

He wanted to sneak into a Broadway performance to watch a musical. He didn’t care what it was, he just wanted to see the big stage. The lights and costumes attracted him, and gave him a sense of nostalgia he couldn’t ignore. Ever since watching Hamilton on their Disney plus account, how could he not want to go see a show? He wanted to take his entire family to see something amazing. He emphasized having their own private viewing box.

He wanted to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve with his family from a rooftop in New York. The sounds of celebrating humans filling their ears while they snacked on pizza and made silly New Year’s Resolutions. Leonardo said that his first resolution would be to forever love his family.

Raphael listened to his brother rant and rave about all of these magnificent things he wanted to do and experience, and couldn’t help but feel the pang of sadness that was in his heart.

All of these things he was mentioning, like the walks in Times Square and the New Year’s Resolutions were all normal things that Raphael had gotten to experience all the time.

Because he was lucky enough to be saved by their father, while Leonardo got stuck in the mud of the Hidden City.

He had tuned Leo out a few seconds ago to truly think about everything he had been taking for granted.

Sure, he had never been to a planetarium, but he was lucky enough to get to see the stars whenever he pleased and whenever the weather permitted it. He could just leave the sewers, find an unoccupied rooftop, and be set for a night of stargazing.

He had been on the surface plenty of times, too. In fact, he had been on the Square plenty of times. Sure, it was only during festivals, because that was the easiest time to blend in, but it still counted. He got to keep up with the latest street wear and fashion trends without using outdated magazines. He watched models walk down sidewalks like it was nothing.

Now, he hadn’t seen a true Broadway performance of a musical, but he had seen a few flash mob performances in Central Park. He even got to watch a few proposals that either ended very sentimentally or very humorously. That was essentially the same thing, and he had seen them a lot.

And seeing the ball drop on New Year’s Eve? Shit, Raphael got to see that every year for the past thirteen years. It was the same thing every time, too. The city would shake from excitement, the lights would flash, the confetti would fly, and everyone would make resolutions that they had no intention of keeping. Raphael was guilty of this, too. Once, his resolution was to grow three feet. Of course, it was only a joke. But now he’s almost seven feet tall. 

How is that fair?

iii.

The plan was simple. Raphael and Leonardo would go down to the Hidden City through an entrance as far from the Nexus and as close to Draxum’s laboratory as possible. Thankfully, Splinter remembered where the laboratory was located, and after carefully transcribing his memory onto paper, the boys had a relatively detailed path laid out before them.

Now, all they had to do was break in and rescue their missing brother without being seen by their creator. Simple.

Splinter watched as his two present sons walked to the Hidden City entrance that they had chosen, which was somewhere near New Jersey. He nervously chewed the inside of his cheek as they waved goodbye to him and climbed in, and he sent them a silent prayer of luck and protection. He just hoped that would be enough to let them bring home Donatello.

The journey to the laboratory wasn’t very long considering they entered the city so close to the building. It was only a short walk through the Hidden City’s shadows to get to the large and expansive complex that loomed over them as they approached.

The rounded exterior that had been crawling with veiny vines now cast a long shadow over the two. Raphael swallowed nervously, while Leonardo confidently jogged up to the building, starting to walk around to the side.

“Come on, bro!” Leonardo said, probably a bit too loudly. Raphael caught up quickly, trying to calm his brother’s excitement without making too much noise himself.

“Leo- Leonardo– ” He sighed heavily, trying to grab his brother. Unfortunately for him, Leonardo was already climbing up the side of the building using the thick and long vines that crawled upwards towards a second story window. Raphael facepalmed, wondering why he even bothered at that point.

Said little brother pulled himself up onto the window sill, swaying a bit before finding his center and crouching on his balanced toes. He shot Raphael a cocky thumbs up before starting to pull the window open.

Not far behind Leonardo, Raphael climbed onto the window sill just as Leo got the window open and jumped into the dark room below. He landed after a few feet, surprised at how high up the window was. He started thinking it was more of a skylight now, but that didn’t make much sense. Why have a skylight if there was no sky in the hidden city?

Leo didn’t really have time to think about it, however, because Raph dropped down behind him and said: “Alright, bro. Let’s get searching. Stay low and stay quiet. We don’t want Draxum knowing we’re here…”

“Pff, I’m the best at quiet. There isn’t anything to worry about!” The slider assured, ducking under a dark table to prove his point.

The room itself that the boys had dropped into wasn’t very big, and was filled with metal tables and shelves that both lined the walls and made aisles to walk down. Some sort of storage room, probably, that contained all sorts of different strange technologies that Leonardo recognized as yokai-built. Raphael, on the other hand, had no clue what the origin of these gadgets could be.

Leonardo crawled out the other side of the table and picked up a small gray box with an antennae poking out of the top. He looked over to Raphael who was cautiously poking at a similarly built gadget.

“...whaddya think these are?” He asked curiously, to which Raph just shrugged.

The two decided to move on after trying and failing to identify the technology.

Raphael pushed open the door and poked his head out, discovering a hallway that extended in a curve both directions. He hesitated, starting to think.

We could split up, he figured, looking down the eastern corridor. But Dad said he didn’t want us getting separated and potentially lost… splitting is a no-go. This way is darker than the other way…

Leonardo was in a similar state as he gazed down the western path. Maybe I could go this way? I know Dad said not to split up, but I have my phone on me. I can just call if anything happens. This way has more light, too. Maybe I can convince Raph to split?

“Hey, Raph–”

“Leo–”

They both stopped talking, realizing they were having similar thoughts just by the look that they shared. Leonardo smiled confidently.

“...Hey, I’ll call you if I find anything, okay?” He said, giving his older brother a fist bump. It was supposed to be reassuring, but Raphael felt nothing but dread sinking into the pit of his belly.

“I.. if you’re absolutely sure. Keep your phone on, okay? Don’t fight. If you see Draxum do not engage. ” He reiterated with emphasis, making sure his phone was on.

Leo nodded in agreement, doing the same before putting the device back into the pouch on his belt. “I’ll call, I promise.”

Just like that, the two split up. Leonardo traveled west into the light-filled corridor. The floor was cold under his feet, and he had almost forgotten how chilly the Hidden City could be until now. A light shiver went up his spine as he remembered his first winter in the Nexus.

Cold. It was so fucking cold. Little Leonardo, only two years old, had curled himself up inside of his shell. Every joint in his body ached, he felt constantly disoriented, and his vision went blurry every few minutes. His head was pounding, and for a moment, he wondered if he would experience this severe discomfort and disassociation every time it got cold.

The guard outside of his room barely cast the mutant a glance as he unfolded from his shell to find his water bottle. Unfortunately for him, when he stood up to walk across the room, he almost immediately got dizzy and fell over. He hit the ground with a pathetic whimper, and the mutant could have sworn he heard the guard stifle a laugh through the loud ringing in his ears.

This sucked,

Leonardo later learned that the discomfort and dizzy feeling he had experienced was called brumation and that, yes, he would experience it every winter. Gradually as he got older the natural cycle became more bearable, but that certainly didn’t mean he got any less nauseated or dizzy.

He shook off the memory, glaring at the cold ground. Thankfully, being in an environment like this for a short amount of time wouldn’t cause him to brumate. It would just make him a little bit jumpy, and that was something he could handle. He was jumpy anyways, both metaphorically and literally.

The further he got down the west hallway the more light started to flood his vision. It was like the fluorescents were trying to roast him alive, and the heat from above did not mix well with the cold below his feet. He was just starting to miss his comfortably armored socks when he heard voices up ahead.

The slider paused in the middle of the corridor before quickly sliding into a side room, which he discovered to be a cleaning closet. The space was cramped with probably expired chemicals in spray bottles and crusty mops that definitely weren’t rinsed correctly. He gagged, thinking that perhaps a toddler had used them last.

He was broken out of his anti-germ thoughts by a familiar female voice talking to one he didn’t recognize.

“It is absolutely mortifying, is it not?? One of your other stupid experiments just… shows up and takes him away!” The sickeningly accented voice of Big Mama said, and was paired by the even more familiar sound of her multiple feet walking on the floor.

Leonardo swallowed nervously, regretting his hasty decision to hide in a cleaning closet.

“You mean the snapper? No, that one is not mine. It had been taken the night before I distributed the slider to you.”

“Taken? By whom?”

“Lou Jitsu.”

“...oh.” Big Mama said pointedly, clearly becoming discomforted by the mention of Leonardo’s father. The slider started to question what kind of bad past she had with him before he remembered Lou Jitsu’s legend from the Nexus. Things were starting to add up now.

“Yes, it is… unfortunate that your… champion was swept away, but I have no doubt that you will find another more suitable one. The slider wasn’t the strongest, and it certainly was never meant to be used as an entertainer. ” The male voice huffed. “I can only hope that it died gracefully somewhere in the Hidden City.”

“Wh–” big Mama exhaled in shock, her footsteps picking up pace. “You want my Cerulean to be dead?? For what purpose?? You didn’t kill him, did you??” Leo figured she was getting angry, considering her voice was starting to get higher in pitch.

“I don’t wish death on it lightly, Big Mama. I merely mean that it is the best possible outcome for both of us. If it is still alive, it is likely looking for the other two that I distributed.” The male, supposedly Draxum, explained.

At the mention of his other two brothers Leonardo lit up, smiling a bit in the dark. The footsteps from Big Mama and Draxum passed the closet, and once they were a ways down the hall, Leonardo slipped out and started to quietly follow them from a safe distance.

By now, they were talking about the other two.

“And what of them?” Big Mama asked from ahead of Leonardo.

Draxum hummed quizzically, thinking for a moment. “...the box is still with the Foot Clan, under training and close observation by a surprisingly obedient human girl.”

“And the twin?”

“The softshell is gone.”

Leonardo paused, staring as the two walked ahead. He listened as their voices got quieter.

Gone? What’s that supposed to mean?

Big Mama apparently had a similar thought, because she proceeded to ask Draxum where the softshell– Donatello– was.

“How should I know? It has not been under my care in five or so years.”

“Wh– well where is he? I need a new champion, Draxy–”

“If I knew where the softshell was I certainly would not waste it on you. ” Draxum growled, silencing Big Mama. “It escaped, and I have not seen it since. If I had a guess, I would say its body is rotting somewhere in the City.”

Whatever else the two said became lost to Leonardo as Draxum’s words settled into his mind. Its body is rotting somewhere in the City.

Its body is rotting.

Its body.

Leonardo let out a shaky and petrified breath, taking a measly step back. His head started to spin, and suddenly everything felt too bright.

By the time Big Mama turned her head to investigate the slightly too loud breath behind them, Leonardo was gone.

The slider ran down the hallway, choking on his own breaths as he ran. He didn’t care to watch his volume anymore, his feet slapping the cold ground without restriction.

A bead of sweat slid down his forehead and he pulled his phone out, calling Raphael as soon as his shaking fingers could press the button,

“Leo?--”

“He’s–” The slider choked on a gasp, forcing himself to speak. “He’s fucking dead, Raph–” his voice broke halfway through the sentence and he found that in place of words, his throat only permitted sobs to escape.

He hadn’t even realized he was crying.

“...what? Leo he can’t be–”

“D-Draxum–” he gasped for air, stopping his run and leaning against a door to brace himself. “Draxum said so– he said that Donatello’s body is rotting in the City–” a mortified whine came from his vocal chords. “W-We have to go– ”

“Leo– Leo please just calm down, you're getting hysterical. Meet me at the window we came in through, okay? We’ll.. We’ll talk about it when we get out of here, okay?”

Leonardo swallowed his nausea and mortification and nodded even though he knew Raph couldn’t see the motion. “Okay.” He forced himself to say, wiping his face with his hand.

Everything he had planned to do. The trips to stargaze, the skating ramp, the New Year’s resolutions, the family dinners. All of it ripped away with just a few words…

Leonardo forced himself to stand up straight and make his way to the window. He walked around the long way just to make sure he wouldn’t run into Big Mama and Draxum, and eventually the bright western hallway merged back into the dark eastern hallway that Raphael had gone down.

He pushed open the door to the larger storage room and found Raphael pacing by the wall, sweating just as much as Leo was. The turtles locked eyes, and for the second time in an hour, Leo started to cry without realizing it.

Raphael pulled the slider into a tight embrace, letting the door shut slowly behind them. Leo clung to his older brother, suddenly feeling very very small.

He was supposed to be a twin. But now his twin was dead. What was he without his other half? Leonardo might not have ever met this brother, but upon hearing of his death, he felt like he had lost an entire part of his own being. And in some ways, he did.

He lost his perfect utopian future that he had planned for all of them.

He lost his hope.

Chapter Text

i.

Raphael was stuck. Not literally, he could go wherever he wanted (within reason). He could currently move all four limbs, he could say anything, think anything, do anything. Yet here he was, stunted and unable to bring himself to go home.

His little brother, Leonardo, sat in his arms, clutching onto his plastron with the strength of a grieving God. In some strange way, Leonardo was a grieving God.

He had been at his highest: walking into the embrace of a warm family that was soon to be completed. His life was about to be perfect. But now, thanks to Draxum and his neglect of life, it was crushed.

Just another thing that Draxum had ruined for the Hamato family.

Raphael looked down at the weeping slider in his arms and swallowed his own emotional pain. Leo was hurting, so Raph needed to do everything in his power to make it better, even if that included ignoring his own screaming internal anguish over the loss of Donatello.

“...hey, c’mon, bud..” He said softly, rubbing the back of Leo’s shell comfortingly. “...we can’t stay here all day.. Let’s head home–”

“H-how are we gonna tell him.” Leo said shortly, taking Raph by surprise.

The older of the two had not really thought about Splinter over the last several minutes. “I…” he hesitated, just as unsure as Leonardo. “...I don’t know.”

“We can’t j-just.. go in there…” Leo trailed off, looking up at Raphael. “...we can’t …”

“I-I know that, Leo, I just don’t think.. Being out here is the best place to decide this. Let’s think while we walk.”

Leo hesitantly nodded, sniffling and rubbing his nose with his arm. He pulled away from Raphael’s warm embrace and instead hugged himself, his arms tight against his own plastron. It hurt Raphael to see just how much pain Leonardo was in. It reminded him of the day he first rescued Leo, and his poor brother’s panic in the arena. He never wanted to see his brother like that ever again, yet here he was.

As the two started to slowly traverse New York’s dark back roads and alleys, Raphael couldn’t help but think about why this happened.

The reason was obvious; Raphael himself was the problem. If he had known about his brothers even a few years earlier, maybe Donatello would still be here. Maybe they would all be together already, and maybe they would be happy.

Raphael was the problem. His poor timing, his slow maturity, his stupid emotions. 

Leo spared a glance to his older brother, and Raphael swore he saw hatred in those red and green eyes. But in a blink, the hatred was undetectable.

Leo didn’t hate Raph, how could he? If anything, he hated himself. If only Donatello had been the priority, not Leo. If Leo was just more patient, then Donatello would probably be okay and not rotting somewhere.

“...so how do you suppose we do this…?” Leo asked after regaining some of his composure- enough to speak clearly, despite being quiet.

Raphael seemed to think for a second before shaking his thoughts out. “...well..” he started. “...I don’t think we need to lie, obviously.. Being gentle but honest is the best course when it comes to Dad. He… doesn’t take loss well.”

“I can only imagine what he was like the day we mutated..” Leo chuckled weakly, rubbing his face with his palm. Raph cracked an empathetic smile, nodding in solidarity.

“So do we just… y’know, ‘Hey, Donnie’s dead,’ or what?” The slider asked, holding back from crying loudly again.

Raphael sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll.. I’ll say it. I’ve known him longer, I understand his emotions better. I… think.” He sighed, approaching the manhole cover and pulling it up with ease.

Leonardo huffed, giving his brother a small glare. Just because Leonardo had only been home for a few days doesn’t mean he doesn’t know dad. That’s just cruel to say, and he took some offense from the statement.

But that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was going home and explaining Donatello’s absence to Splinter.

Raphael climbed down first, taking his time on the ladder. Leonardo followed soon after and the two landed on the slightly damp brick-tile walkway of New York’s expansive sewer system. The wide man-made tunnels extended seemingly infinitely in each direction, and it reminded Leonardo of Draxum’s lab.

He hated that that was his first thought upon returning home. He shouldn’t be thinking about Draxum. He should be thinking about his father, and what exactly to say.

Raph started walking without waiting for Leo, but the younger brother got the gist and followed close behind. The remaining walk was mostly silent as they started getting closer and closer to the Lair.

“...hey, Raph?”

“Yes?”

“...Did you mean it? When you said you understand his emotions better than me?”

Raphael paused in his path, taking Leonardo by surprise and causing the turtle to accidentally run into his brother. He took a quick step back, looking up in confusion.

When Raph turned to look at Leo, he was crying. Fresh tears were flowing freely down his face, and Leo regretted ever thinking Raph was selfish.

“...oh, Raph…” Leo hesitated, but walked closer and threw his arms around him. Raph cracked fast, wrapping up his brother in another big and warm hug that felt like home. “I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry, dude–”

“No, no-” Raph sniffled, trying to calm down his cry. “It’s f-fine– I’m fine–”

Leonardo’s grip only got tighter as he shook his head firmly. “No, you aren’t, and that’s okay. It’s fine to be sad, or e-emotional.” He said sternly, glaring pathetically up at Raphael. “So quit hiding how you feel.”

Raph got quiet for a few moments, just looking at his younger brother with a deep sadness. Leo reflected the emotion back, understanding. For the first time, it felt like the two truly understood each other.

“...let’s go to dad, alright?” Leo said softly, grabbing Raph’s hand and starting to walk. The snapper followed without resistance, letting Leonardo lead the two back to the Lair.

The place was quiet when they arrived. There wasn’t any sign of their father in the main room, leading them both to infer that he was elsewhere. The kitchen or the media room were the best reasonable options.

The two shared a look, then checked the kitchen first. Unfortunately, it seemed he wasn’t there. Leo let out a surprising sigh of relief upon seeing that the kitchen was empty, and weakly held onto the counter for a moment.

The reality of what they had discovered was still hurting him. It hurt so much.

Its body is rotting somewhere in the city. Rotting away. Drowning. Dead. He’s dead. Donatello is dead. He is dead he is dead HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD HE IS DEAD–

Raphael left the kitchen and Leonardo, taking a second to breathe alone. Just breathe…

It was hard to do that at the moment. His brother was sobbing in the kitchen, his other brother dead, his other other brother with some crazy cult, and his father oblivious to their fate.

He hated this. He felt so stupid, so wrong. He wished that he knew how to be there for Leonardo. He wished he could just tell Splinter what happened, and that Splinter could make everything okay. He wished–

“My son?” the sickeningly familiar voice said softly, and Raphael opened his eyes to see his father standing before him, a look of pure worry on his features. “My son, what troubles you…?”

“...I…..” Raphael hesitated, looking down at Splinter. “...It’s.. Dad, we didn’t…”

“Did Draxum see you?”

“No, but–”

“Were there complications? Where is Donatello–”

“He’s dead.” Leonardo said, emerging from the kitchen with a soaked face and quivering lip. “He’s dead.” He repeated, voice weaker. “..he’s dead he’s dead– ”

The slider collapsed onto hands and knees as another sob wracked his body, making him shake uncontrollably.

Raphael could only watch as his brother sobbed and the news hit their father like a brick.

Splinter was unreadable for a long few moments, and like Raphael, stared at Leonardo. Unlike Raphael’s uncertainty, however, Splinter was numb.

“...I… I see…” Splinter whispered, trying to swallow the shakiness in his voice. “...I… I need a minute…” And so, without even offering to lend his sons comfort, Splinter turned and retreated to his own private chambers. The curtain slid into place on the rod, isolating the man from his family.

Leonardo pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, coughing as the tears became overwhelming. It was hard to breathe, and became harder when he felt Raphael’s warm hand on his shoulder. Leo flinched away, looking at Raph with wide unseeing eyes.

“I-I–”

“Leo–”

“Don’t fucking touch–”

“Leo it’s just me, your brother–”

“M-My brother is dead!!!-- ” Leonardo stood up fast, ignoring the dizzy pounding in his head as he suddenly turned and ran as far as he could. He ran out and away from the Lair, only his footsteps eventually fading into the silence of the sewers.

And just like that, Raphael was alone again.

Splinter grieved like a boulder. He didn’t move, he didn’t weep, he sat stiff, unmoving, and cold. The man never had a good handle over his emotions, especially the deep and overwhelming ones like grief.

Grief and Hamato Yoshi did not pair well.

Apparently, he had passed that gene on to at least one of his children despite them not being related biologically, because to Raphael, both Splinter and Leonardo were grieving in the same way.

They isolated, they hid, and they avoided any reminders of what they lost. Unfortunately for Raphael, he was a reminder. A reminder of the lost son, Donatello.

Raphael sat down in the empty kitchen, looking down at the wooden table that used to give him splinters when he was younger. The wood was dark, moist, and probably growing some sort of mold on the underside from its life in the damp bacteria-infested sewers.

He remembered the first time this table ever gave him a splinter, and he briefly wondered if Donatello ever had a splinter.

He could imagine a tiny figure, only nine or ten years of age, with some shade of green skin. Maybe his eyes were multi-colored like Leonardo’s– they were twins after all.

He saw the figure sitting at a table almost like this one, jumping and holding up its hand when it felt the sudden sharpness of cracked wood.

The thought made Raphael start crying again, but to be honest, he didn’t notice. He had cried and heard crying so much in the past few hours that right now his own tears barely phased him.

He sat in his lonely kitchen, listening to a pipe somewhere nearby drip endlessly into a puddle he had yet to clean up. The quietness of the Lair was a stark contrast to the usual sounds of laughter or at least the television's low volume.

But not now.

Raph figured that the lair would be quiet for a long time.

ii.

When Leonardo ran, he was so distraught that he hadn’t thought of where to go, and just based on pure instinct, he found himself climbing onto a roof and falling to his knees once more on hard concrete.

The flat top of the building he had found scraped his skin and left blood dotting in the tiny cuts. He didn’t wince, as small injuries like that had hardly bothered him since his time in the Nexus.

Just thinking of the Hidden City made him feel sick to his stomach, and he quickly found himself hurling up his already mostly-empty stomach over the side of the building. In his mind he prayed there was no poor soul walking below to get covered in his bile.

He pushed himself away from the edge and swayed, looking up at the sky. Tears dotted his vision as all he could think was why?

Why must the world be so cruel and heartbreaking? This was supposed to be my time to shine, my time to be free– but freedom has brought me nothing but dread and loss.

Maybe freedom was never right for me.

Maybe, he thought, eyes drifting from star to star, I don’t deserve stars. I deserve a dirt ceiling and the uncertainty of tomorrow. I deserve gross gray mush for dinner, not pizza.

I deserve the Nexus.

He sat himself down before he fell over again and sniffled, wiping his eyes with his hand. He stopped trying to stop his tears by now and just let the salty water flow freely from his eyes. He deserved to cry.

He was allowed to feel, just like Raphael, and just like Splinter. Hell, he had just lectured Raph on emotions not long ago! He really should start taking his own advice…

“...I-I’m fucking crazy…” he muttered to himself, shaking his head with a sad smile that was meant for no one but himself.

The sky tonight was just as big and expansive as it was every time he stargazed. The little lights flickered softly in a world miles above. He remembered his first time seeing stars not too long ago. Now, he couldn’t find himself looking away, gazing with wonder at every possible opportunity.

Even through foggy, tear-filled eyes, he could see the stars so clearly. Somewhere behind him the moon settled comfortably, casting a divine light on the unsuspecting city down below.

Leonardo found himself existing in an odd space between the city and the sky. He dwelled in the dark nothingness that lay expansive around him in every direction. No matter where he looked, he saw endless rooftops and stars.

He saw loneliness encapsulated by a city.

The honking of cars below pulled the turtle out of his daydream and he slowly stood up to make sure he wouldn’t fall over once more. Even the gentle motion of straightening out made him want to vomit once more, and he considered the possibility that he was sick.

I need to go home, he thought. He looked around again, then peeked over the edge of the roof to make sure no one was in the thin alley below. Upon seeing that it was empty, he carefully hopped down, using the brick walls, clotheslines, and fire escapes to make his descent easier.

Landing on his feet in a puddle, he realized that it must have rained while they had been searching for Donnie. He let his feet rest in the shallow puddle, letting the cold water sink into his skin.

It was nice.

He took water for granted when he was still in the Hidden City. There wasn’t much that went around in the Nexus, so whenever he was given a bottle, he felt like the luckiest kid in the world. He could remember sometimes going weeks without even a drop.

Memories like that make Leonardo realize how much he loves being home.

He started to regret his self deprecating thoughts from the roof as he approached a nearby manhole and dropped himself in.

I shouldn’t have left Raphael here alone, he probably feels just as bad as I do.

So, Leonardo trekked home in murky sewer water that still made him nauseated.

He trekked back to the warm embrace of his waiting older brother, and the two comforted each other into the night.

iii.

“Your what?” Cassandra deadpanned, dropping her sparring stance out of confusion. The box turtle mutant across from her on the mat just smiled stupidly.

“My dreams! They tell the future, y’know.” he said, also dropping his stance in favor of rolling the soreness out of his shoulders.

The two had been training for the past two hours under command of the Lieutenant. “Anything to keep the turtle from painting everywhere,” he had told Cassandra with a dismissive eye roll.

After Michelangelo’s stunt with the giant mural recently, he hadn’t been allowed to paint. Cassandra could tell, however, that the kid was itching to let his creativity out. All of his sketchbooks had been filled and he had resorted to drawing all over Cassandra’s arms with sharpies while she slept.

Not that she minded all of the cool temporary tattoos that the kid gave her, some of them were really good. He had a lot of talent.

She just didn’t appreciate waking up and having to scrub her arms everyday.

“Your dreams don’t tell the future, that’s ridiculous.” She said, rolling her eyes and sitting down criss-cross on the mat. Mikey followed her move.

“They do, though.” He grinned. “My dreams said that we would have to clean off the walls of the warehouse.”

“Your dreams or your common sense?” She snorted, glancing around the empty room before sliding a cell phone out of her pocket. She really wasn’t supposed to have it, especially around Michelangelo, but what the Lieutenant didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“My dreams! They tell me all sorts of things, seriously.” He wasted no time and scooted to sit beside her, leaning his body weight onto her left side and resting his chin on her shoulder so he could watch her screen with wonder.

Of course the turtle wasn’t allowed any technology, unless you count his digital alarm clock. It was too dangerous to let him use something like the internet, because according to the Lieutenant, he might start getting ideas.

“Oh?” Cass hummed, deciding to humor him, even if only for a moment. “And what else has your dreams told you?”

“Well…” his eyes wandered her screen, watching her flip between applications before opening up her contacts list.

“Well?”

“My dreams told me about that girl.” Mikey said, poking one of the contact photos. The touch activated the screen and it opened the contact profile. Cassandra watched, curious.

“She’s part of my family.”

“...your what?”

“My family! Y’know, the people I’m always drawing? That’s my family.”

“...says who?”

“My dreams.”

Cassandra hesitated, looking between Michelangelo and the picture of the dark skinned girl with red glasses currently displayed on her screen.

Michelangelo had never been away from the Foot Clan. He was always supervised, and it was almost always by her. The possibility of him knowing April, let alone being family, was impossible.

So, she simply brushed it off as mere coincidence. Maybe his mystics were acting up again.

She powered off the phone, rolling her eyes with a patient and playful smile.

“You’ve got weird dreams, little guy.”

Chapter Text

i.

It had been a week since the news broke on the Hamato family. Their brother, son, and twin had died years ago in the Hidden City, and none of them knew until recently.

They all grieved similarly, no wonder they were family. Splinter had stayed isolated all week, not leaving his room. Whenever either of the turtles passed the curtain their noses would burn with incense smoke. He was meditating, praying, and pleading with the spirits.

Leonardo found himself grieving alone as well. Whenever the overwhelming thoughts of Donatello’s death plagued his mind, he would escape the Lair and enter the city above, regardless of the time of day. He would sneak onto a roof and watch either the clouds or the stars.

Like his father, he too prayed. Instead of praying to spirits, he prayed to the indomitable energy of the universe. He would plead and beg for the stars to bring Donatello back, or to at least give him some sort of sign.

But the stars were just stars. They flickered endlessly.

Raphael grieved silently. He wandered the Lair, lost in thought. It wasn’t just Donatello he thought about, but also their other brother, Michelangelo.

The youngest had yet to be seen. Raph started to realize how Donnie’s death had affected his family.

They had completely forgotten about Michelangelo, who was still alive.

That was why exactly a week after they returned to the Lair, Raphael dragged his family away from their isolations.

“Leo.” Raph said firmly, watching the turtle walk through the main room towards one of the tunnels that led to New York City. The red-eared slider stopped in his tracks, and hesitantly turned to look at his older brother. That tone didn’t mean anything good.

“We need to talk.” He said, voice becoming softer now that he had his attention. “All three of us. You, Dad, and I.” Raph elaborated, hoping Leonardo would catch on.

Unfortunately, Leo hadn’t been thinking clearly for the past hour or so, and was confused. “...what’s there to talk about? It isn’t like we’re missing a sports game or something.” he joked, starting to walk backwards. “I’ll be back in a few hours–”

“No, you aren’t leaving.” Raphael stood up, startling Leonardo enough to stop his walking.

“Have you forgotten about Miguel?” The snapper questioned, hoping that the use of the nickname would help him understand.

And boy did it help alright, because after a few seconds of being lost in thought, Leonardo’s eyes widened just a bit and filled with immediate regret.

Oh. Oh.

Miguel. Mikey. Michelangelo. How could he have forgotten?? Leonardo started to internally scold himself, willing tears away from his eyes.

“..right, Miguel.” he said with an uneasy voice. “...we need to get him. He’s with the Foot, right? The cult?”

“Mhm. I want your help, along with Dads, to make a plan to rescue him. We can’t give up on him, because we never gave up on Donatello.” Raphael stated, walking towards their fathers room.

The blatant mention of Leo’s deceased twin struck him like a train to the plastron, and he swore in that moment that he almost wanted to run away. But he didn’t. He watched his older- wiser- brother make the walk across the Lair, and easily found himself following close behind.

“So, what’s the plan to pull pops out of his room?” Leo asked, grinning a bit. This was the type of stability he needed, someone strong enough to help them all move past this.

“That is exactly the plan. Pull him out.” Raph took a deep breath, inhaling the burning smell of frankincense, sandalwood, vanilla, and charcoal. The incense was stronger today than usual.

Maybe those spirits of his told him we were coming. Raphael thought sarcastically, and readied himself, before pushing the curtain aside gently.

On the other side sat their father’s room, a place that neither turtle dared to disturb. It sat on the second story of the Lair, being the only bedroom that far up. Both Raphael and Leonardo had chosen to stay on the ground floor, feeling safer there.

“...dad..” Raphael said softly yet firmly, peering into the dark room. Sitting at the far end on a mat, fully relaxed and surrounded by candles and incense, was the familiar rat. When his son spoke, one of his ears twitched thoughtfully.

Leonardo almost said something else to try grabbing his attention, but Raphael beat him to it.

“Dad, come on. We need to start the works on Michelangelo’s plan.” he spoke up just a bit, watching Splinter closely.

Apparently, there was something that Raph was seeing that Leo wasn’t, because the rat didn’t even move, yet Raph started speaking as if they were having a conversation.

“We can’t lose hope for him, there’s no evidence pointing to him being dead too. He deserves for us to at least try.”

There wasn’t a verbal response. Leon glanced between the two.

“...we have to give him a chance just like we did Donatello.”

The silence that followed his sentence was suffocating. Leonardo almost felt like an intruder on a family he didn’t belong in, like someone witnessing a friend argue with their parents. It was awkward, tense, and overwhelming.

“...I’m gonna go get pizza. We’ll need energy to plan something, right?” Leonardo suggested.

Raphael noticed this was an excuse to leave the confrontation, but regardless, agreed with his brother. “Sounds good to me. Go to Huesos’, leave your phone on, okay?” he asked, tearing his eyes away from their statue of a father.

Leonardo nodded, grateful for the excuse to leave. He backed up and turned, jumping down onto a beanbag that sat in the central atrium. He landed on the cushion then stood to leave, not looking back when he heard Raphael start talking again.

New York City was pouring, just like it had been all week. When Leonardo emerged from the manhole and was immediately pelted by cold rain, he couldn’t help but smile. He found himself starting to love more and more things about the surface world.

He climbed out fully and put the manhole cover back in place. Then, he took a moment to just look up and allow the water to wash freely over him. It soothed his mind, body, and soul. Leo stood like that until fully relaxed, his arms outstretched to feel as many of the droplets as possible.

After an impossibly short ten minutes, he stretched, and started his jog down alleys and backroads to Huesos’. Despite the rain, the city was still booming at this time of the evening, so he stuck to shadows and dumpsters as he made his way swiftly to their favorite pizza spot.

The familiar graffiti was within view in no time, and he didn’t hesitate to jog into the wall, passing through the invisible entryway and being greeted by warm yellow light.

The restaurant wasn’t as busy as it usually would be, and considering the weather, that wasn’t an odd thing. Yokai of the current generation weren’t accustomed to the surface weather, so most stayed underground unless the air was clear.

“Hola, Hueso!” He called towards the back, strolling past the host stand. He had tried shaking off most of the water near the door, but he still somehow managed to track puddles all over the place.

The few patrons in the room looked over, rolling their eyes at the familiar sight. Leo made messes all the time.

The skeleton yokai eventually emerged from the kitchen, shooting Leonardo with an appraising and strict glare. “Ve a pararte en la alfombra de lluvia, pagano.” He hissed, shooing the drenched turtle back towards the entrance with his free hand, his other occupied by a tray of food.

Leonardo grinned, raising his three-fingered hands in surrender and backing up. “Okay, okay– but how was my Spanish??” he asked, excitement evident in his tone.

Hueso quickly delivered the meal to a table, then made his way up front with a sigh and a small smile. “Better. You need more practice, though. You stuttered quite a bit.” he critiqued, and Leonardo nodded in understanding. “Now, what can I do for you, pepino?”

“Four pizzas.” Leonardo grinned. “Max size, deep dish, all your toppings except anchovies. If I see a fish on my pizza, I’m suing.”

“You cannot sue me, idiot.” he rolled his eyes and jotted the simple order down on a notepad. “Any special occasion?”

“Ehh, sort of? Me, pops, and Raphadoodle need the brain fuel. We’re planning something big.”

“I see.” He clicked his pen shut. “I’ll get your order started– please wait on the rain mat. You are going to give my restaurant water damage.”

About half an hour later, Leonardo left the restaurant with four pizzas in hand. The hot pies were steaming, but the temperature wasn’t enough to hurt him, just enough to make him toss the boxes from hand to hand every so often to avoid extended exposure.

As he started his walk home, he apparently hadn’t been paying enough attention, considering he almost walked straight into an occupied alley.

He quickly had to backtrack a few steps, hiding around the corner and listening to the human girl talk for a moment. She was saying something about school, and when she didn’t get a response, Leo guessed she was on the phone.

He hesitantly peeked his head around the corner to get a look at her.

She was relatively short, with puffy brown hair and dark skin with big red cat-eye glasses. Her outfit was mostly green and yellow, and he could have mistaken her for a highschool athlete.

He wanted to just brush her off as another random human, so he started to climb down the nearest manhole. When he pulled the cover back into place, he started to descend into the sewers carefully so as to not drop the pizzas.

Once at the bottom, however, the girl up top said something that made him drop the food in hand.

“Donnie! There you are!”

Leo’s heart lurched, and he looked up at the manhole with wide eyes. He tried convincing himself mentally that Donnie was a common name for humans, and to ignore the coincidence.

But how could he?

He started to slowly climb back up, stopping just below the manhole cover. He placed his hand against it, ready to push it up when someone stepped directly onto it with heavy boots.

“Calm down, the rain slowed me down. My tech can’t survive weather like this without precautions.” A calm male voice explained, walking towards the girl.

Leonardo listened as the two spoke a bit more before starting to walk away. Of course, Leonardo had no option but to follow them.

ii.

April was worried about Donatello. He had been isolating himself at his desk more and more often. She actually doesn’t remember the last time she saw him leave the school, which was more than concerning.

Which is why she decided to do what a good friend would do: take matters into her own hands and invite him out to take a walk.

In the middle of the night. In the pouring rain.

“Isn’t this nice? Fresh air, fresh sky, get your legs moving?” She smiled, playfully nudging his shoulder. The hologram buzzed against her fist and she held back an uncomfortable sigh.

Donatello nodded, looking up and around as they emerged from the alley and headed towards Central Park. “I suppose. The rain isn’t my favorite, though. I’d prefer a clear night.”

“Yeah, well this was urgent.”

“What was? Getting me out of the school?” he joked.

“Yep.” she said with a playful seriousness, giving him a knowing glare before looking forwards again.

The disguised mutant hesitated and then sighed, shaking his head a bit. “You know I’m busy, especially now. This heist is super important-”

“I know, I know.” April calmed him. “You guys need more funding. I understand.” she smiled, and Donatello smiled back.

“...it’s just that–” and there was the catch.

“--can’t you guys just.. Release Purple Game and not rob one of the biggest banks in the city?”

Donnie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn’t expect her to understand, but he at least expected her to be a good friend and not question his motives.

“Purple Game is no where near being done, and we need money now. The school cut us off after the Science Fair incident.”

“Legalize nuclear bombs. It’s the easiest answer to the energy crisis plaguing the western half of the country–”

“The Science Fair incident should have gotten you and the other Dragons arrested, or at least put on some government watch list.” April deadpanned. “You guys asked the school for money for uranium. ”

“That isn’t such a hard ask!” He defended enthusiastically. “And my powerpoint was accurate!--”

“Just because it’s accurate doesn’t mean it’s legal, Donnie!”

The two bickered playfully over Donatello’s insistent nagging for access to nuclear resources before falling into a comfortable silence. By now, the rain had calmed into a light drizzle that was only visible in the street lights.

Eventually, though, April stopped them both at a bench and they sat down together. She heard a tree rustle nearby and blamed it on a squirrel. 

“...I’m sorry for going to the restaurant.” she said softly, playing with the ends of her shirt as silence fell over them again.

Donatello soaked in her short apology, hesitating to respond.

Her little stunt in going to the yokai restaurant scared him almost to death. He was mad about it then, of course he was still mad about it! She could have died!

“...I forgive you.” he eventually said, not looking at her and instead watching the rain through a street lamp.

“..I.. Donnie, I got a lot of good information. On everything.”

The turtle hesitated again to respond.

“...can I tell you what Hueso told me?”

“..I guess.”

“He told me your family is alive. They’re alive and they’re searching, Donnie.”

He tensed up, and April could smell her mistake from a while away, yet she continued to speak, pressing on.

“...I need you to understand that you aren’t alone, Don. Your brothers, they’re.. They never stopped looking. They’re probably looking right now.” She paused to breathe. “...you have a home. Waiting for you.”

“...My home is the school, April.” he started slowly, voice more monotone than April had ever heard it. “The closest thing I have to a family is you and the Dragons. I don’t have anyone else.”

“...you could…?” she smiled softly, taking his hand in her own. “You could have a father, brothers.. A place to live instead of a blanket and pillow under the bleachers…?”

“...”

“Think about it, okay? I’ll help you every step of the way. I promise.” her smile relaxed, and she leaned against him. The pressure against his side was more than welcome, and he started to relax.

“I ain’t leaving you, Donatello. It ain’t in my blood to abandon my family like that.”

“I’m family?”

“Of course. You’re the best family I got.”

Leonardo almost threw up. He gazed down at the two humans sitting on the park bench together, listening and watching them interact.

When she– April– leaned against him– Donatello– he wanted to vomit. In fact, he felt the bile rising and had to swallow it down his burning throat.

He pulled his phone out, sending Raphael a text. All it said was “donnie.”

He looked down at the two, watching as they silently sat together in the sprinkle of rain. He almost convinced himself to leave, knowing somehow that it wasn’t his brother there on the bench.

But when the hologram fizzled and glitched in the rain and a dark green turtle donned in purple was revealed for just a split second, how could he deny it any longer?

Donatello was not dead, he was alive, and ten feet away.

Raphael responded a few minutes later, confused and asking if Leo was okay. The slider didn’t respond, pocketing his phone in his sash once more and watching the two.

It took him a solid thirty minutes to decipher that they weren’t dating and were instead like siblings. A brother and sister sitting together in the night rain of Central Park.

When they started speaking again, Leo jumped, startled.

“Do you think they’re nice…?” Donatello asked softly, his hologram fully disintegrating. The turtle left sitting there felt too familiar to be chance.

“I think…” April started, trying to find her words. “...I think they’re the nicest mutants in New York City.”

Donatello deadpanned. “They’re the only mutants in New York City.”

“Not true,” she grinned. “ You’re here.”

He scoffed, fake-offended at her teasing insult. “How dare you! I’m nice!”

“You’re arrogant, rude–”

“April–’

“--cocky–selfish–”

“Girl I swear to God–”

“--annoying– need I go on?--”

“I’m going to slaughter you–” he snickered, shaking her by her shoulders. “You demon of a woman!”

“You think all women are demons! You misogynist!”

“How dare you insinuate such a thing–” he hisses, squishing her face between his hands. “You fleshy wench–”

“Wench! You called me a wench!” April laughed, leaning back and away from Donnie with a big smile. She held him away at arm's length. “You hate me.”

“I do.”

“Then go find your family so you can have people you don’t hate.” she suggested randomly. The casual mention made both Leonardo and Donatello choke on the breath they were trying to take,

Thankfully neither April nor Donnie noticed the choked gasp from the tree behind them.

“I…” Donnie hesitated, surprised now. “...I don’t think…”

“I’ll help you, okay? We can start slow.” She suggested. “...they at least deserve to know you’re alive, they probably think Draxum killed you or something.”

“...I guess.”

She beamed, pulling him into a big hug.

“I know you’d come around, Donnie.”

He gingerly patted her back, not returning the tight embrace fully. He sighed, looking up at the sky again.

“I suppose…”

iii.

Leonardo wanted to run. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry, and kick, and punch, and suffocate. He wanted to vomit, so he did. As silently as possible, he chucked into the bush below.

The two sitting on the bench heard the sudden rustle of leaves, but ignored it. Leonardo stared at them, a cold sweat falling down the back of his neck.

Donnie was right there. Alive, and breathing, and with someone. They spoke some more, but the words went in one of Leonardo’s ears and out the other. He wasn’t hearing them.

When they stood up to leave, he jumped, having to recatch his balance on the tree branch he had not-so-gracefully found himself sitting on. The two started to walk, enjoying the soft drizzle of the rain on their skin.

Leonardo followed them silently, sticking to shadows and tree branches. Occasionally they would look around when the silence felt too loud, but would continue walking. Leo found himself holding his breath to not be found.

Why am I hesitating? He internally asked himself, sliding down a tree trunk and ducking behind a park bench to watch the two. He’s right there! Grab him and go! No- introduce yourself- he clearly knows about you because of the girl-

Donatello and April stopped walking, both of them listening. Leonardo sucked in a harsh breath, holding it tight in his heavy chest.

Donatello looked around slowly, his red and blue eyes peering into the dark in Leo’s general direction.

He followed them for two hours, ignoring the buzzing cell phone in his pocket every few minutes.

It was stalking, of course. Illegal, dangerous, and not his proudest moment, but how could he just walk away from this? Leonardo was entranced by his brother without even realizing it.

By the time one a.m. rang out in the city, April and Donatello spilt apart, going separate ways. Donatello’s disguise reactivated, the hologram sitting snug against his green skin and once again showing the dark skinned human boy.

The technology made Leonardo want to vomit again, his brother had been in plain sight this entire time. He was probably better off than all of them, even Raphael.

He seemed to have friends, a life, maybe he even went to human school. Leonardo always wondered what it was like to have that life, and he even dreamed of experiencing it one day.

That dream died with Donatello, but here he was, a dead man walking.

Leonardo found himself torn between following Donnie or April. On one hand, he wanted to grab his brother and get home. On the other, he wanted answers from the suspicious girl. Why hadn’t she reported Donatello as a mutant to anyone yet?

When did they get so close?

Why were they so attached to each other?

If given the chance, would Donatello even leave his life up here?

The thought made Leo’s stomach churn, but there was nothing else to throw up. His belly empty and his chest tight, he froze.

By the time he snapped out of his fear, both April and Donnie were out of sight, but not out of mind. They were the only things he could think about.

Leonardo ran home and didn’t look back. By the time he was emerging in the atrium of the Lair, he saw his father and brother sitting together on the floor, a paper spread out between them with crude drawings all over it. A plan map. They were strategizing.

“...dad.”

Splinter looked up and over, surprised to see Leonardo. It wasn’t the sight of his son himself, but just how disheveled he looked. He was soaked from rain, and smelled like a mix of vomit and grass.

“...were you rolling around in animal shit?” Raphael said playfully, trying to relax the tense atmosphere. It didn’t work, of course, because Leonardo stumbled over to the two and sat down, staring down at the map.

Leonardo didn’t say a word about what he had witnessed. Internally, he had convinced himself that it was all an illusion– a hallucination. His lack of sleep recently had to be the reason.

So he forgot about Donatello and April, and instead focused on his other living brother.

Michelangelo needed his help, and he would be damned if he let another brother turn into a ghost.

Chapter Text

i.

Donatello couldn’t remember how long he had been working on this blasted code. All he understood was that he was tired of reading the same few repeated lines over and over again. By now he could probably recite “incomeTransfer .BOA EXCESS” and “delfile .BOA transcript EXCESS” in his sleep.

No, no time for sleeping now, he internally reminded himself, cracking his undisguised three fingers at the knuckle to relieve some of the built tension. He had been typing for hours today, and the deadline was in two hours.

Though it was not like he would not meet his deadline. In fact, Donnie was ahead of the schedule he had set for himself. So there really was no reason to rush the finalization of his project, but Kendra’s intense glares of discouragement made a good stand-in for reason.

Speaking of, the mentioned girl was across the room at her own set up of monitors, computers, and empty cans of Monster Energy drinks. Her keyboard had glowing pink keys, and her sleek headset was hung up on her main monitor. Kendra’s eyes never wandered from her own screen, but Donatello kept getting the odd feeling that he was, in fact, being watched by her once more.

Maybe it was because he was uncloaked. He had been leaving his human disguise on more and more recently, and maybe she just got used to seeing the dark skin and dreads instead of the green reptilian reality that was his mutated skin.

Mutated, he thought with a quiet huff through his nostrils. A freak of nature. I should be swimming in a nice pond somewhere, eating grass, bugs, and aquatic plants. I shouldn’t be in a computer lab at some high school. He complained more to himself internally, finally pushing back from his desk to take a breather. When he stood up, Kendra clearly glanced over, locking her eyes on the parts of his plastron that peeked out from his oversized Purple Dragon’s jacket.

He avoided her gaze with his own, instead looking down at his coffee cup, which  he picked up to go and refill in the teacher’s lounge downstairs. “I’m gonna get another drink.” he stated aloud to the room, and as expected, did not receive a response.

The intense bzz bzz of his phone alerted him of a text, and he pulled the device from his free hand to check it while he walked down the hall towards the stairwell. To his delight, it was a text from his favorite person in the entire world.

April O’N. : busy? i yearn for greys anatomy

Donatello scoffed, rolling his eyes and letting a small smile appear on his face.

Bootyyyshaker9000: Gotta finish this code, I’ll text you when I’m done.

April O’N. : for the heist? u know that isnt a good idea, right?

Donatello’s smile quickly became a look of discomfort at her message. April had been… very vocal about her dislike for the Purple Dragon’s plan ever since Donnie told her about it. She had gotten into the habit of trying to convince Donnie to quit the club, especially since things were starting to get illegal with the activities.

But Donatello was a mutant living among humans in secret, his entire existence was probably illegal in some form. A little bank heist did not scare him in the slightest. Besides, it might just be enough to finally gain the approval of the other Dragons.

April O’N. : im just worried about ur safety

April O’N. : i know u r like obsessed over the pds but still, this is hella dangerous

April O’N. : imagine if u get caught

Bootyyyshaker9000: Then I won’t get caught, April. I’m taking safety precautions, I won’t even be on site with the others.

Bootyyyshaker9000: I’ll be at the school the entire time, honest. You can even track my snap if you’re worried.

April O’N. : aw don ur so sweet

April O’N. : still dont like the plan tho

Donatello sighed, pocketing his device once more and trotting easily down the stairs. School had ended about two hours ago, so the building was scarce. All that remained were janitors doing their jobs, Kendra, and himself. Jason and Jeremy had gone home briefly to get ready for the coming heist that night.

Finding himself auto-piloting into the teachers lounge, he moved to brew fresh coffee in the Keurig on the slightly sticky counter. The machine had seen many incidents in it’s time from students and teachers alike, and it was a wonder it was still in working order.

Oh well, Donatello had learned to count his blessings. He put his cup under the nozzle and let the slow drip begin, wanting only the most potent caffeine in his dishware. He savored any energy he could get from means other than sleeping.

While he let the coffee brew and drip, his phone buzzed once more. So he pulled it out and took a look at the message,

April O’N. : just remember 2 be safe, love u

He paused, but sighed, shooting back a quick response.

While he waited for his drink he took a moment to himself. Being away from the invasive glares from Kendra meant he could think without getting unreasonably anxious. So he let his mind wander.

This heist is gonna be intense… i’m glad Kendra is letting me stay here. I can’t risk being seen by other humans. Four is enough, I don’t need cops on my tail. Literally.

Donatello looked down at his hands, flexing his two fingers and thumb and analyzing the joints, feeling tension ease when he stretched out the appengages.

Sometimes I forget i’m not one of them. That’s a dangerous game, man. Gotta keep things under control. Don’t forget your cloaking band, either.

At the mention he looked at the device across his forearm. It could pass as a simple fashion accessory made to compliment his techwear fashion sense. The sleek silver metal and the two LED buttons complimented all of his outfits very well. No one ever questioned it.

Currently, the red button was lit up with a soft glow, while the blue one was dimmed to low setting, showing that the hologram he used to disguise his mutant appearance was off.

Heh, I unintentionally made the buttons match my eyes.

He looked over to the wall of the teachers lounge and walked over to the long mirror set up, intended to be just decoration to liven up the space. He looked at his appearance, and the little unintentional splashes of red and blue everywhere.

His goggle lenses were red and blue, alternating from his heterochromic eyes. The nail polish that April had recently put on him was the same hues, as well as the rubber band bracelet adorning his left wrist, opposite of the cloaking band.

Even looking down at his doc martens, he had gotten paint on the sides of the soles, leaving small traces of red and blue in every step he took. He allowed himself to smile a little bit.

Donatello liked his blue and red. It made purple, his favorite color. Almost everything he owned was one of those three hues, as he was a creature of habit and was not keen on changing his ways.

Well, except for the orange scarf he wore when it got cold, but that would not be needed until New York started to snow in the coming months.

Once his coffee was finished, Donatello went back upstairs, entering the computer lab and sitting quietly so he could get back to work. Even under Kendra’s unforgiving stare, he somehow managed to continue typing.

April looked down at her phone, Donatello’s message being her focus.

Don-Tron : I love you too, April. Don’t worry about me.

She huffed, her soft look turning into a glare. Of course she was going to worry! Donatello was about to do something extremely illegal over the course of the next few days! What if he got caught, or Kendra finally decided to kick him to the curb?

The older sister in her was restless as she scrolled away from their text conversation. She needed a distraction, something to clear her mind and make her feel better. She could think of a few ways to ease her nerves: take a walk, eat some food, call a friend. But usually she would do all of those things with Donatello, and he was very occupied.

Her eyes landed on a different text strand, and she hesitated. After a moment of contemplation, though, her thumbs were typing without her realizing it, and the message got sent.

April : think hueso will kill us if we show up 4 pizza?

She turned off her screen, letting her phone rest on her chest. Honestly, she did not expect a response. So, she started pondering other ways to distract herself. She considered watching Grey’s Anatomy alone, but that just did not sound appealing. The show was only funny when shared with friends. When watched alone, it was just straight up cringe.

The bzz bzz of her phone surprised her.

Casey Jonebonio : Probably. Wanna find out?

And just like that, April was tying her converse and jogging out the door of her apartment building. The walk to the nearby alley was relatively fast. This time of afternoon had a decent amount of foot traffic, which made sliding into the alley a little hard. But once she arrived at the opening, she was quick to duck out of the crowd she had been naturally walking with.

As if on cue, there was the distinct sound of someone sliding down a roof access ladder, and the familiar foot soldier landed a few feet in front of April.

Of course Cassandra had on her uniform, she was probably still on duty. But that did not mean that she could not take a break for some well deserved pizza. April smiled as a greeting.

“Wow, you were serious.” She started, walking through the graffiti with Cassandra at her side. “Honestly, I expected to get stood up.”

“Oh, really?” Casey grinned, rolling her eyes in a teasing manner. “Does that happen to you often?”

April gave her a knowing glare, but snickered. “Not like I go out enough to get stood up, so I guess not.”

When the two human girls approached the host’s stand, the yokai there recognized them almost immediately and sighed in obvious annoyance. “Dining in?” he gruffed out, already grabbing two sets of menus. The girls nodded, smiling to each other.

Hueso’s had sort of become a meeting place for Casey and April, it’s where they met when they needed a break from their duties and their mutants, so it was no surprise that the wait staff had learned their faces.

The two were led through the dining room to a small two-seater that was as close to the kitchen as possible. That was their table. It had been assigned to them by Hueso the first few times they came to eat in, and the seating arrangement just stuck. It kept the humans relatively away from any yokai uncomfortable with their presence, and also allowed them to get their food quickly so they could eat and leave without a fuss.

After a few moments of perusing the menus and sipping the cups of water, the skeleton of the hour emerged from the kitchen with a bored expression. “Hello again, ladies.” he said, tone being just as drab as his face.

“Hey, bones.” April greeted, flipping her menu closed. She already knew what she wanted, and just by judging the look on her face, Hueso wrote down her order. He had learned to gauge their body language to figure out what they wanted.

And today? April wanted pepperoni. A New York staple.

Cassandra, on the other hand, was craving a hawaiian pie of pineapple, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and roasted onions. With a curt nod, Hueso swept back into the kitchen, leaving two impressed and giggling girls in his wake.

“I still don’t understand how he does that.” Casey exclaimed, shaking her head with an uncontrollable giggle. April nodded in agreement, sipping her water to try controlling her glee.

“I think it’s just yokai magic- either that, or you and I are extremely predictable.”

“Me? Predictable?? Please. ” Casey scoffed, crossing her arms as her grin betrayed her feigned annoyance. “I’m about as predictable as a rock.”

“Well,” April started, playfully kicking Casey under the table. “When I kick a rock I can easily predict that it gets set toppling into the nearest wall.” She stuck her tongue out to prove her point, and that earned an easy laugh from Casey. April internally saluted herself for the victory.

“You are too much, April.” the soldier sighed endearingly, taking a moment ot sip her water. “So, where’s your mutant?”

At the mention of Donatello, April visibly deflated a bit. “...he’s working. He’s part of some club at my high school, and they’re doing some.. Really illegal and dangerous shit tonight.”

“Oh?” Cassandra said, her interest being piqued. “Illegal, you say? What are we talking- assassination, grand theft, or kidnapping–”

“Casey, I’m serious!” April said, still appreciating her attempt to lighten the mood. “It’s some.. Some heist. It’s all he’s been talking about for months.” she grumbled, glaring at her water and watching the ice as it very slowly melted.

“I never knew you associated yourself with criminals, O’Neil. You should be ashamed.” Cassandra joked again, following her gaze to the glass. “...seriously, though. I’m sure he’ll be okay. If he can survive in a public highschool, he’ll survive a cyberheist.”

April hummed, agreeing out of worry. On cue, Hueso swept out from the kitchen with two small pizzas that were placed in front of the humans.

“Eat, pay, leave.” he demanded softly, walking further into the dining room and once again leaving the two laughing.

“He’s like.. Some super sleep deprived uncle.” April said, pulling her slices of pepperoni goodness apart to let them cool quicker.

Cassandra grinned, whispering, “Skuncle. Skeleton uncle.”

“Oh my God- ”

Conversation from that point forward came easier than ever before, the two discussing and complaining about their daily lives. April more than Casey, though. The soldier had to keep some air of confidentiality, and April understood that. She would never push for unnecessary information.

“How’s your mutant? You already asked me about mine.” April said, half finished with her pizza.

Cassandra shrugged, chowing down on a slice before responding. “He’s okay? He’s still on a paint ban, which keeps him itchy. I feel like he asks me for a new sketchbook every day.” She exaggerated, rolling her eyes.

“Why’s he on a paint ban again?”

“His visions are freaking out our boss, and he’s got a habit of painting what he sees in his visions.” Cass said. April nodded, understanding.

“Well, I hope he gets let off soon. I get what it’s like to be held back like that. It’s way uncomfortable.” She sympathized. “We should just set up a mutant play-date.” She joked. Cassandra grinned, loving April’s sense of humor.

She found herself starting to love a lot of things about April.

ii.

“This is it?” Raphael said, surprised. The building in front of him was much smaller than he had anticipated. When him and Leonardo caught wind of a massive heist for New York’s fortune, he expected something a little… grander?

The building before him was only two stories, and was very hole-in-the-wall. It had been wedged between a bakery and a law firm on one of the many busy side roads of New York City. The sign out front read “Bank of Acres.” Currently, the place was closed.

“...well, a bank is a bank. Do you think they’re in there yet?” Leonardo asked, starting to walk around the side into the small alleyway, peering through any windows with the blinds open.

“Dunno. Place looks dead.” Raphael deadpanned, following his younger brother. The two stalked the side before finding a back entrance When Leonardo grabbed the doorknob and found it already unlocked, he tensed up. His free hand twitched instinctively towards his tsurugi.

Raphael saw and understood the motion, his own hands resting on his tonfas. With a quick and shared nod between the brothers, Leonardo pushed the door open and stepped inside, peering around the dark room with ease.

The room they had entered appeared to be a lounge room, with two cracking brown leather couches and a drab gray kitchenette. The red-eared slider went first, clearing the room and listening closely for any strange noises.

At first all seemed well, and Raphael was starting to wonder if they had the wrong address, until there was the distinct sound of whispered arguing coming from the main office.

“...not dead enough, apparently.” Leonardo snarked, giving his brother a playful glare that Raphael returned without missing a beat. This was their first real mission since the revelation of Donatello’s demise. They still needed to get back into the swing of hero-work.

Raphael took a deep breath and let determination wash over him. “...okay.” he grinned, glaring at the door separating them from the main office. “...let’s do this.” he adjusted his grip on the tonfa, and after a beat, kicked the door open with enough force to startle those on the other side.

When the metaphorical dust cleared and Raphael and Leonardo stood defensively, ready to fight, they were both shocked by the rag tag group of criminals before them. Were they even criminals? It was hard to tell since all three of them were teenagers. In fact, they were probably Leonardo’s age.

The largest one was a dark skinned guy with safety-goggle style frameless glasses and a shocked expression. He had on the same purple jacket that all three of them wore, and was looking between the two brothers in deep confusion.

The smallest one was an acne-covered nerd type with thick rimmed glasses and greasy brown hair, who glared at Leonardo with surprisingly personal rage. He glared like the two were long time enemies at their final stand off.

Their leader was the only girl. Her hair had been dyed a purple similar to their shared jackets, and she had a teal beret. Her lip was turned into a snarl, and even more confusing than the others, she looked betrayed. 

“Mutants??” The large one exclaimed, taking a step back. “Since when did BOA have physical security??”

“They don’t .” The girl spat, waving her hand in some sort of code to direct the two boys. They both apparently understood, because they ran in opposite directions, straying to different parts of the office and leaving the site of the mutants.

“So, he really sent some clones to stop us, huh?” She said to the room, keeping her glare sharp on the turtles. A shiver went down Leonardo’s spine at her cold eyes. Who knew teenage girls could be so cruel?

“Uh.. who?” Raphael asked, giving her a dumb look. She rolled her eyes.

“You know who! Oh he is in so much trouble when we get back to the school.” she grumbled, shouting. “Jasón! Jeremy! ¡Toma todo lo que puedas para que podamos salir de aquí!”

It took a second for Leonardo to register her words, but his eyes widened when he did. “Raph, go take care of the big one! I got the gross looking one!” He said, running off in the direction that Jason went, while Raphael split to go and find Jeremy.

Kendra scowled, watching the turtles run to go combat her confidants. “I cannot fucking believe Donnie.” she said to no one in particular, shooting the hacked security cameras a knowing glare. “I know you’re behind this, softshell!” She spat, finally moving to start collecting her profit from the heist.

Raphael found Jeremy rather easy to deal with. Despite the teen being taller than average, he wasn’t Raphael tall. The snapper was a good seven feet, and was still growing consistently. So scaring off the surprisingly shy kid was easy. It didn’t take long for Raph to shout the kid into a nervous fit, that resulted in him swinging at Raphael, cutting across the turtle’s jaw, and running out of the private office he had went to.

Surprised by the attack, Raphael felt his jaw gingerly and huffed. That kid had a solid right hook. He slid his jaw side to side, trying to work out some of the soreness that had already started to form. That would definitely bruise.

Meanwhile, Leonardo was having a much easier time at subduing the short and scrawny Jason. With his experience in the Nexus, it was no wonder that Leo was easily winning the fight. He couldn’t even call it a fight though, because it was really just a relentless assault on this pimple-faced kid with a bad mouth.

“Back, off you freak of nature!!” Jason shouted, throwing a chair that Leonardo easily avoided with a perfectly timed side step. “Fucking– ugh– you’re so similar to him it’s making me barf–”

“Well then, grab a garbage can, barf boy!” Leonardo laughed, internally questioning who Jason could be referring to, before picking up the small wire trash bin and chucking it in the kids direction. The two delved into a game of back and forth throwing projectiles and insults at each other that just frustrated Jason and delighted Leonardo.

Honestly, he was having more fun than he should have. The encounter felt all too familiar to fights in the Nexus. He could recall bantering with opponents like this to entertain crowds before spilling enough blood to fill a water tower.

His thoughts distracted him enough to let Jason land a hit, having thrown a rather thick and heavy accounting binder. It knocked Leonardo on the head, sending him stumbling back with a loud yelp of surprise and pain. “Shit!!! Jason no headshots man!”

“Fuck you! There are no rules in fighting!” Jason seethed, flipping off the still recovering Leonardo. “I can’t believe that freak sent his fucking family after us!”

“...what?”

Jason scoffed, grabbing another chair to go on the offensive as he spoke, voice dripping with hatred. “Oh don’t play dumb, you look just like him! Your eyes are even the same!”

Leonardo dodged the projectile chair with practiced ease, all of his amusement melting into fear and concern. “Jason, who are you talking about.” he demanded, taking short and threatening steps towards the human who cowered in surprise.

“Back off!! Quit being stupid, or are you the dumb twin??” he insulted, taking one step back for every two that Leo took.

His advances did not slow, and Leonardo glared now, brandishing his tsurugi with the intent to maim. “Answer me, you poorly packaged sack of teenage hormones!!” he shouted, raising the blade in preparation to swing.

“Leo!” a familiar voice shouted, and he turned to see his older brother, Raphael, standing in the door panting. “Come on, that Kendra girl is backing off! We need to get back to the lair!” he said, but then paused as he glanced between his brother, the raised swords, and Jason. “...Leo?”

“I’m not done questioning this prick.” The slider spat, turning back to Jason. “Who the fuck are you talking about.”

“Fuck you- listen to your brother-” Jason demanded and backed himself into the nearest wall. Outside the window to his left, a car passed by, it’s headlights casting a threatening shadow over Leonardo.

  “Tell me my brother’s name!!!”

“I don’t–” Jason was cut off by his own cry of fear as one of the tsurugi blades lodged into the wall beside his head, blocking his spectacled view of the window. Her flinched back with Leonardo got close to his face, the mutant’s glare scarier than Kendra’s.

“Tell. Me. His. Name.” he growled in a low voice, grip tightening on the tsurugi. “...or you’ll never get to use that mouth again–”

“Leonardo!” Raphael shouted, grabbing his brother’s shoulder and pulling him away from the now sobbing human. “Leonardo, calm down! This isn’t right!” He tried calming the slider, only to be shoved away by a calloused hand.

“No! It isn’t right! It isn’t right that our brother is dead and this– this trashy wannabe gets to talk like he knows him!” Leonardo growled, pulling his sword out of the wall.

The slider cast a stone glare to Jason. “...get the fuck out of here.” At his demand, Jason ran, sliding out the door to make a quick escape and probably reunite with the other two teens at the high school they had previously mentioned.

Raph watched Jason skitter away, then looked down at Leonardo, worry lacing his gaze. “...Leo.” he said, quiet enough to be soft but firm enough to be heard. The slider did not look at his snapping turtle brother, and instead glared at the spot where Jason had previously stood.

“...he was talking about Donatello.” he grumbled. Raphael hesitated, but let his hands drag down to rest on his brother’s elbows. At the soothing motion, Leonardo allowed his death grip on his sword handles to go slack, easing the tension building in his palms.

“...we need to leave before the police arrive. I don’t doubt that they’ll be reporting us.” The older brother said, gently coaxing his brother out of the little office and towards the back door, through the lounge and kitchenette.

Leo just grumbled intelligibly, following his brother’s movements. The two left the Bank of Acres hastily, climbing onto the rooftop of the neighboring law firm to start their journey home.

“...he said…” Leonardo started, but couldn’t finish his words. Raphael did not expect him to.

He said our eyes were the same.

iii.

“Donatello!” Kendra shouted, barging into the computer lab. The time was nine p.m. “I know you’re still in here, frog-face!” She growled, barging over to his desk.

The turtle in question was sitting in his spot, staring at his monitor still in disbelief. Kendra’s anger momentarily turned into confusion, but not before going back to her mental state. “Donatello, you are through! Finished! This was supposed to be our big break and now thanks to you and you’re back-up the heist failed!!!”

She shoved his monitor aside, slamming her hands on the cleared up space. “You ruined everything!!!”

Donatello looked up at her after a second, his eyes glossed over. “...they’re real.”

“What?? Donatello, you fucking idiot-”

“My family. They’re real. There’s proof.” he said shortly, looking to the monitor that Kendra had hastily shoved aside. The security footage from BOA was pulled up, and he had been replaying the last two or so hours. “...they’re real.”

Kendra scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, they’re real and they ruined everything. You didn’t call them in or something, did you???” her glare became unbelievable sharper. “They tried to kill Jason!”

“I didn’t-” his eyes became wide, and he looked to her again. “I didn’t call them in– I didn’t even- even know that they existed!!--”

“Tough story, frog-face. I bet you have contact with them.” She growled, her knuckles turning white from how hard she gripped the desk. “Which means you lied to me.”

“What?? No, Kendra I didn’t– honest–”

“Then prove it!” she snapped. In the back, Jeremy and Jason sat together at one of the empty tables, Jeremy applying bandaids to Jason’s hands. The two boys looked over to watch the scene, both of them still shaken by the sheer might and aggression of the mutants they encountered.

“...I..” Donatello hesitated, but huffed, letting himself fall back into his uncaring and cold exterior. His face became slack, and he glared up at Kendra. “..I don’t have contact with them. I don’t know them. I have never met my family. I  never plan to.”

“My family isn’t real, at least, not to me.”

“Good.” Kendra grumbled, pushing away from his desk and stalking to her own. “If I even hear you mention them, your ass is being turned in to the police.”

Donatello swallowed his guilt at disowning his family, but nodded in response to her demand. No more words were exchanged between the Dragons, and soon, the human teenagers went home.

Needless to say, Donatello would not be calling April that night.

Chapter Text

i.

Michelangelo was not the type of guy to own many personal possessions. Being a soldier for the Foot Clan meant that he was not entitled to many material possessions. Just the fact that he had a shelf full of sketchbooks and industrial paint was a miracle in itself. The Lieutenant was not a very generous man.

Which is why Michelangelo was always happy to show off things he could have. Really that meant his art, because what else did he have? His uniform wrappings and pants, his kusarifundo, and his art. That was it.

This paint ban that had been enforced after his particularly controversial mural of his dream people had his brain itching to release it’s creativity. His mind was an unstoppable stream of light and ideas, and now he had no way to let it all out

Thankfully, sketchbooks were still permitted, but were now heavily monitored by Cassandra for some reason. Not that he wasn’t happy she got to see his art, it was just.. Sometimes he wanted more people to see his art. It’s why he loved murals so much.

It’s also why he had started getting into the habit of sneaking out. If he ever got caught, especially by the Foot, he would surely be killed. But what fun is life without a little danger? So, he shoved as many different colors of spray paint and sizes of brushes as possible into a small black duffel bag with far too many straps and picked up a heavy can of industrial paint primer.

If he was going to paint something big, he was going to make sure that it stuck around for as many people to see as possible.

He took one last glance around the warehouse that he called home, and made sure that no guards were in the area, before slipping out of an unlocked window. He gently laid the pane closed once more, gave it a reassuring tap for good measure, and darted off into the night.

It took lots of running and jumping across rooftops to get to his desired destination, and with a bag full of paint and a full can of primer, it proved harder than anticipated. Looks like he would need to pick up on his cardio again.

After a solid thirty minutes of traversing New York’s rooftops and alleyways, Michelangelo arrived at his spot: Broadway. All of the large theaters and wide walls were perfect for his art, plus, who didn’t love a good mural?

So, as inconspicuous as possible, the young turtle mutant pulled on a black hoodie and slipped out into the crowd. He even donned a highly reflective yellow vest, blending in and looking like some sort of paint contractor. With his hood up, no one could see his face.

Plus, this was NYC, who was really gonna question a guy with green fingers, feet, and no shoes?

When he chose his desired wall, he pulled an impressive grappling hook from his duffel bag, a nifty item that he had slipped in while preparing a few days earlier. Pointing up at the tall roof of the theater, he aimed, squinted, and fired. When the thick steel cable wrapped firmly around a ledge, he internally celebrated and clipped the grappler to his belt.

When he ascended to about halfway up the three-story wall, no one even cast a glance. Just another painter renovating the outside of these historic theaters.

The mural he had planned was going to be a big project, considering that primer alone took hours to dry. Thankfully, his primer color was the same as the wall, meaning that he could lay down a good few layers tonight and finish the rest of the mural over the course of a few months, depending on his Clan schedule.

The base of the primer took about three hours to lay out, and once he was done, he repelled and retracted the hook part of the grappling device. He dropped it neatly into his bag, which he stashed in a nearby alley, before taking off to find something to take up his time with.

That occupant became a girl.

He thought he recognized the dreamily familiar hair puffs in the crowd, but had to get closer to be sure. As if God had sent an angel himself, there walking ahead of him on the sidewalk was a girl. But oh no, not just any girl.

A girl named April. How did Michelangelo know that? His dreams told him.

And so, in a surprisingly familial fashion, he proceeded to follow the girl. Her path was clearly charted out, because she weaved through the crowd expertly. Michelangelo was just as experienced as her, however, at navigating New York’s nightlife, because he followed her without trouble.

When she stepped off of Broadway, she pulled out her phone. Michelangelo smiled, being a safe distance away when she dials a number and presses call.

“Donnie? Hey, are you okay? You didn’t text me so I just–” Silence. She was listening to someone on the other side- Donnie. Don. Someone like that.

“...are you sure? You sound upset. Do you wanna maybe watch something? I can come ov–” Silence.

“...what the hell?? Don, what’s wrong with you?” she asked, suddenly sounding upset. A sound that Michelangelo did not like. It reminded him of his own human friend a little too well.

That’s when Michelangelo remembered that Cassandra knew April. He had seen her contact in the soldier’s own phone. The two were friends.

“Wh- you’re mad at me?? The fuck did I ever do to you??” she growled, stopping in her tracks. Mikey stopped as well, feigning interest in a nearby storefront as he listened to this half of the obvious argument.

“You cannot be serious right now. I told you not to do it!!” Silence. Michelangelo so desperately wanted to hear what this Donnie guy was saying about April, but the phone was too quiet for him to hear.

“And now here you fucking are– calling me and being a bitch like i’m the one that made you hack into the BOA– wh– yes i’m in fucking public.” a beat. “No, I don’t care. I’m angry at you, Donnie. You’re so stupid I wish you would get your head out of your shell and see the shit! Your family–”

April paused, pulling her phone away from her ear with a frustrated grunt. “That asshole hung up on me…” she complained to herself, and after a moment, continued her walk. However, she was much more frustrated now.

Michelangelo wanted to go to her, to ask her questions, to know her. He wanted to walk with April, not behind. He wanted to know what had happened, why Donnie was being an idiot, and why she was so upset.

“Any mentions of FAMILY are to be shut down immediately, or both of you will severely regret using your tongues.” The Lieutenant growled, glaring down at both Michelangelo and Casey. Both teens had their eyes trained on the concrete floor, Michelangelo bleeding from a large cut on his arm and Cassandra from a gash on her forehead.

The turtle backtracked, taking a few hasty steps back when April started walking again, airing out her frustrations to the air. Michelangelo couldn’t possibly talk to her. He couldn’t.

Instead, he ran out of fear of backlash.

ii.

A month passed. Hueso had not seen those two brothers in a whole month, and frankly, he was starting to believe they got taken back to the Hidden City. Their absence left a turtle shaped hole in his nonexistent heart that Cassandra and April were very bad at filling.

Much unlike the brothers, the two humans left a nasty stain on his restaurant. They were paying customers, though. Customers who he found very suspicious.

As he wiped down a table he thought about the girls and their odd habits. They both spoke about mutants, mutants that Hueso could not help but compare to Leonardo and Raphael. Even their names were a giant sign sent by the universe: Donatello and Michelangelo.

The four great artists of the Renaissance. It only made sense, as from what he gathered, all four mutants were artistic in some way. Raphael was patient, and gentle, and often found himself making carefully thought-out plans on the napkins of Hueso’s. Leonardo was an easy artist: using his weapons and body to create fighting that was comparable to dancing. He was almost majestic in his moves, and even his dodging looked like an impressive backbend. The kid was also unbelievably flexible, even with a shell like that.

Cassandra did not speak much about Michelangelo, but she did admit one day that the kid loved painting. Apparently he had a habit of sneaking out to go graffiti walls in the city, and Hueso pondered if he had perhaps seen the turtle’s art before in passing. It was a genuine possibility. One day, Cassandra had been showing April one of the multitude of sketchbooks that Michelangelo used, and the skeleton yokai managed to peek. The kid was talented, to say the least. Donatello, April’s friend, seemed extremely smart. To call him technologically advanced would be an understatement, and he did not doubt that Donatello would become famous one day for his inventions.

The turtles were all young artists in their own unique ways. This comparable trait between them made Hueso firmly believe that they were siblings. How could they not be? As unfortunate as their fate was, he had a feeling that they would all be reunited eventually. Stars knows Raphael would stop at nothing to save his family, even the ones he had never met.

As if summoned by thinking of him, the red clad snapper stepped into the restaurant, with Leonardo close behind. The two were smiling, discussing idly about something that Hueso did not hear. He turned to face the turtles, greeting them with a smile.

“Oh, bienvenidos chicos. ¿La mesa de siempre?” he asked, Spanish rolling off of his tongue expertly. Leonardo paused, processing the words before his smile brightened. 

He responded with ease after quickly planning his words. “Hoy no, Hueso. Por mucho que me encantaría devorar algunas pizzas, estamos aquí por negocios.” he explained, nodding his head.

Raphael just looked between the two, smiling. He did not understand a lick of Spanish, but was happy that Hueso and Leo had something that they bonded over.

“Business?” Hueso asked in English, setting down the menus he had grabbed, a little confused. “I see. How can I be of assistance?”

Raph took this as his cue to start explaining. “We need some information and.. Well, figured you may be able to help?” Leo nodded in confirmation. “You’ve got connections all over New York, so we wanted to ask you before we went snooping on our own.”

“Well, who do you need to know about?” the skeleton asked, leaning his arms on the host stand.

“The Foot Clan.” Leonardo said, copying his brother’s posture and putting his hands on his hips. Hueso seemed to tense up a little at the mention of the cult, but sighed.

“That is a dangerous group, boys. What could you possibly need from them?” Hueso questioned, cocking a brow bone in Raphael’s direction. The snapper was supposed to be responsible, surely he would know the Foot were not to be messed with.

“Our brother.” Raphael said plainly, and Hueso understood immediately.

“...Michelangelo, correct?”

“Yep. We gotta get Miguel home, and fast.” Leonardo said. “There isn’t anything that’ll stop us from rescuing him, so either you can help us by giving info, or we’ll find it on our own.”

Leonardo’s hostile tone was not personal, Hueso understood that immediately. The slider was worried, and after the soul-crushing loss of Donatello, Leo clearly was taking no more chances and wasting no more time.

“I understand, Pepino. Come, take a seat. We can talk over water.”

Once the turtles and yokai were settled comfortably into the usual boothed table, and glasses of iced water had been dished out, Hueso let the boys ask any questions that they needed to. Raphael started.

“Where are they located?”

Hueso sipped his water before starting, knowing that this would be a very long conversation. “The Foot is all over New York City. I have no doubt that you have seen them before, they hide in plain sight.”

“No, like, where is their headquarters ?” Leo amended his brother’s question, resting his head in his hand and his elbow on the table. “We gotta strike the heart.”

“They do not keep Michelangelo there.” Hueso said, surprising the turtles.

“Wait, you know where they’re keeping him??” Raph asked, shocked. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner??”

“Because I know that your younger brother is in good hands.”

“Bullshit, he’s with the Foot. How good can they be?” Leonardo snarked, leaning back now with a small glare.

Hueso sighed, watching his water and ice swirl in his glass. “...he has an… ally, we could say. A human girl who is part of the Foot. Her name is Cassandra.”

And so, the story started. Hueso recounted the first time he met the girl. She was a short powerhouse who didn’t often take no for an answer. She was sixteen, almost seventeen, and was apparently the closest thing that Michelangelo currently had to family.

“The two are very close.” Hueso said, tapping his phalanges on the glass. “I doubt he would leave her comfort easily, especially not if she gets left alone with the Foot.” he huffed, becoming dark. “They are a cruel society, and are harsh in punishment.”

Leonardo seemed to consider this, thinking. Raphael did the same, and came to a conclusion first. “Well, can we just bring them both with us? A cult like that is no place for a teenage girl, anyways.” he suggested, and Hueso blanched.

“Cassandra is not going to leave the Foot, Raphael. Not even for Michelangelo. It is unfortunate, she is just as brainwashed as the rest of their soldiers.”

“So we gotta separate the two and take Miguel.” Leonardo said, shrugging. “Sounds easy enough. But when do we strike?”

“There is.. An opportunity coming up that could prove beneficial to you.” Hueso said, sounding almost hesitant to clue them into the information. “But it would be extremely dangerous, and I highly suggest waiting until things are safer–”

“Tell us everything.” Leonardo said, leaning forward with obvious interest. Raphael nodded in agreement.

“I’m not.. I’m not letting another brother die because I waited too long.” the snapper said coarsely, sighing with a weighted guilt on his shoulders. “We need to get him fast.”

A supply train coming from the East coast would be passing through New York City. The Foot would be on site whenever it arrived, and would be guarding the precious cargo while it passed through the area. Hueso theorized that, because Cassandra would be there, so would Michelangelo.

“The turtle is quite the soldier, according to the human girl. He is an expert fighter in all traditional and nontraditional senses.” Hueso’s eyes sparked. “He could probably beat you both in a private battle.

Leonardo gaped, jaw slightly slack, before he was quick to defend his own strength. “Not possible! He’s what- fourteen?? No way he could take us both on at once.”

“You would be surprised. The Foot excels in training soldiers to be precise and strong.” Hueso hummed. “I do not suggest fighting him.”

“Didn’t plan on it.” Raphael huffed. “When’s the train supposed to arrive?”

“Four days.” Hueso said, having finished his water minutes ago. “It will be in the harbor. That is where the Foot is intercepting and taking control of security detail.”

“What’s the train carrying?” Leo asked, leg bouncing under the table. Just the thought of getting out there and fighting bad guys got him itching to throw a punch.

“That, I do not know.” Hueso admitted, feeling a little ashamed of himself. “Cassandra is not very willing  to give up information like that to me, knowing my connection to the Hidden City.” he explained.

“Must be something important to them if they’re gonna have all their soldiers guarding it…” Raph theorized, brain wracking to try and figure out what it was that they had. A weapon, maybe? Or some sort of magic item?

“...alright, I say we do this then. We go intercept the train at the harbor, and bring home Michelangelo.” Leonardo said, sounding like a healthy mix of determined and hopeful. “We’re gonna get our brother back, for real this time.”

The older brother paused, but smiled at his brother. “...you’re right.” Raphael looked at Hueso, giving him a big smile. “Thank you, for everything, Hueso. We couldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

iii.

Hueso watched the brothers leave after a few more minutes of light banter and basic planning. He had to admit, their idea was solid in rescuing Michelangelo, and their hearts were certainly in the right place.

He almost felt selfish as he watched them leave through the hidden wall entrance. He could have- no, should have - told them about Donatello. He knew that the boy was alive, April being enough proof of that, yet he had neglected to inform the two.

He figured that the news would not sit well. Leonardo, no doubt, would take his words as a cruel joke and push the yokai away out of anger. Hueso wouldn’t blame him, it would be cruel to joke like that. But he wouldn’t be joking, and he doubted that Leonardo would see it that way.

Raphael would probably become angry, or emotional. Both. Telling them of Donatello’s life was a surefire way of losing their trust. So, he resigned himself to wait. The right time would come eventually. For now, all thoughts were on Michelangelo.

Hueso hadn’t been lying when he said that Michelangelo was powerful. He could recall many times that Cassandra would come in with fresh bruises from a training spar, claiming that the turtle didn’t even have a scuff on his shell. He was strong, and resilient.

It worried Hueso. What if the youngest Hamato brother decided he did not want to leave Cassandra? He had no doubt that he would leave the Foot without question, but his human friend was a completely different story.

The two had grown extremely close, and it made Hueso worried for the future of the family. Michelangelo would never just leave Cassandra alone at the hands of the Foot Clan. He was far too kind for that, and far too attached to the human girl.

He could understand why: Casey Jones was just like him. A resilient powerhouse in a cruel world that only wanted to use her as a weapon. He wished that she too would leave the Foot Clan and find a much better life among regular human civilization.

Maybe she could go to high school, the same one that April went to? She would get to have friend, and participate in sports and clubs, maybe she would go to parties and get far too drunk. She would laugh, and smile, and relax, in the same way that she relaxed around April.

Hueso was not stupid. He saw April and Casey’s friendship coming from the moment they first met in his kitchen. The duo that they made was unsurprisingly strong willed, their opinions voiced loudly and proudly wherever they went together.

Maybe they were not so much a stain on his restaurant. Hueso shook his head, fixing his thought from earlier in the night.

Not a stain, no. he hummed delightedly, smiling a little as he bussed a table. Not a stain, but an oddly shaped colorful blob. It doesn’t necessarily… belong here, but it certainly makes the place prettier.

Hueso sighed, carrying a tray full of dirty dishes and cups into the back to get cleaned. Maybe he wouldn’t be so hard on the girls, stars know they’ve both been through an awful lot.

Chapter Text

i.

    Michelangelo’s night outings continued. He needed to finish his mural, after all. The painting on the side of one of the biggest theater houses in New York City was starting to garner attention from locals, tourists, and law enforcement.

    Not like anyone would ever catch him, he was much too quick at skedaddling from the scene whenever the police arrived to arrest the vandal. He was all over the news.

    The Lieutenant did not like that.

    By the time the beautiful mural was halfway done, he had been caught. He was just trying to sneak out to go work, but as soon as he had slipped out the window, he had been spotted by a guard and immediately taken up to the Lieutenant.

    “Clearly, you’ve been planning this so-called art for a while, turtle.” the Lieutenant huffed, glaring at the box turtle who stood across the room. The space was dark, and felt more like a dungeon than a training room. “Tell me, just how long have you been working on it?”

    Michelangelo did not hesitate to answer, not looking in the Lieutenant’s eyes. “Three days, sir.”

    “Three days? Three days of painting when you could have been doing something productive, like preparing for the payload we are guarding tomorrow.” The lieutenant snapped, turning on his heel to face the concrete wall.

    “This delivery is extremely important, Michelangelo. I need everyone focused and on task, not galavanting on Broadway with a bucket of paint and mediocre talent.”

    Mediocre, the turtle thought, looking at the Lieutenant and following his gaze to the wall. It was concrete, and looked so boring. It was probably coated in a layer of dust, Michelangelo can barely remember the last time this room was used.

    “Too messy.” Cassandra mumbled, kicking a small rock into the wall repeatedly. Michelangelo looked up at her from his spot sitting on the floor, throat dry.

    He had gotten them both in trouble, as per usual, by simply being himself. He had been drawing like usual, when the Lieutenant put both him and Casey in the ‘Nothing Room.’ It was, quite literally what it sounded like; a room with nothing that's purpose was to drain the energy from Michelangelo.

    “Too messy.” she repeated, glaring at the four-year-old. She herself was only seven, and had seen this room far too many times for a growing girl. “Thank you so much Mikey, this is just great . Who knows how long we’ll be in here this time!”

    “...sorry.” the turtle said in a dull voice, leaning back on his shell and looking up at the ceiling. Casey’s glare softened after a second, and the girl sat at his side eventually.

    “...this is ass.”

    “Agreed.”

    “...Lieutenant,” Michelangelo started, watching the man closely to gauge his feelings. “I apologize for my behavior. The paint ban has been harder on me than you may think.”

    “A paint ban is no excuse for sneaking out. You are one of our most precious weapons, turtle, and I cannot risk losing you to something so juvenile.” he growled, looking at the turtle with a sense of regret.

    “You are not to leave your warehouse until you are retrieved tomorrow morning, do you understand me?”

    “Yes lieutenant.”

    “Oops, looks like someone left the window unlocked again.” Mikey hummed to himself, grinning and pushing the window open once more. A little scolding and empty threats mean nothing to him! He was fourteen now, and could handle himself! With ultimate sneakiness in mind, the young turtle slid out the window and was off into the streets of New York once more.

    As he weaved through crowds with a low head and a hood up, he found himself thinking of more than just his unfinished art piece. That girl came to mind- April, he reminded himself with a small smile.

    The last time he saw her, she seemed really upset. She had been talking on the phone with someone named Donald. No, Donnie. Don. Something like that. He nodded as he thought, and without thinking, his feet detoured away from his mural and in the general direction of where he last saw her. He wanted to see her again.

    Not like he would talk to her, no. That was against the rules, but nowhere did it say he couldn’t follow her. Just light stalking.

    Much to his dismay, she was not on the sidestreet she had been at last time. But, Mikey expected this. With a little smile, he lowered his head and continued to walk. If she was the same age as Casey, then she would be attending high school. Surely she lived within walking distance, so if he headed towards the local inner city school, he would be able to find her much quicker!

    His search ended up lasting four hours, and he was getting tired. And annoyed. Where was she? She had been walking around last time, so she had to be awake now! Sure it was around three in the morning, but she was a teenager, and all teenagers had messed up sleep schedules.

    As he walked between two apartment buildings, he heard an almost too familiar sound of frustration coming from one of the windows above. On pure impulse he ducked behind a dumpster, listening for any more noise.

    The dumpster he chose to hide behind was not anything special, but there was a little graffiti painting hidden on the bricks. Mikey looked at it with curiosity for a short moment, recognizing the names “April” and “Donnie” to be written sloppily. He smiled. Those two must be really good friends.

    “Donnie!” the voice shouted, probably into a phone, and Mikey refocused. “Can you quit calling me to argue, it is three in the goddamn morning!”

    Looks like she had a normal sleep schedule.

    “No! I’m not some nocturnal terrapin like you, I was asleep. ”

    Terrapin?

    “...well, excuse me for valuing my sleep. I can’t run off coffee and spite like you.”

    Donnie likes coffee, that’s cool. Mikey’s never tried coffee.

    “Don, listen.” She started, and Mikey could see her pacing in her room. “You can’t keep doing this. You can’t keep calling me at ungodly hours of the morning!”

    This was repetitive behavior.

    “ Yes, I’m your friend, but I can’t be your only source of comfort. I can’t always be there.” She sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Have you even tried contacting them?”

    She had on a pretty silk bonnet. It was light green.

    “You know exactly who I’m talking about, don’t play dumb. I’m sure they’re still looking for you.”

    Someone was looking for Donnie?

    “ Yes, they are. From what Hueso told me, they haven’t stopped looking. Raphael sounds like a responsible guy, I’m sure they’re worried–”

    Raphael?

    “--don’t cut me off, asshole!” April glared out her window, and Mikey ducked back behind his dumpster alcove. Thankfully, she didn’t see the shadows move. “I forgot the other one’s name, but surely your twin is looking, too. And you have a third, remember? Some younger brother.”

    Brothers? Terrapin brothers. Turtle brothers. Teenagers. Older brothers.

    His brothers.

    His brothers.

    Mikey stood up suddenly, stumbling out of the alley with a newly formed nausea washing over him.

    April paused, staring at the clearly drunk man who just stumbled out of her alley with a huff. Sometimes New York could suck. She just hoped he got home okay.

    “Donatello, I love you man, but you can’t keep doing this. Look for them.”

    “I thought you said that you would help me.”

    “I am! But helping doesn’t mean I do every step for you! Go to Hueso’s one day, I’ve already texted you the address.” She offered the suggestion, sitting down on her bed with a yawn. If she paced anymore, she’d dig holes in the floor.

    “...I can’t do that.”

    “Then don’t. But quit calling me to complain if you aren’t going to accept my help or suggestions. Goodnight.” She hung up the phone, glaring down at the end-call screen.

    Her anger didn’t last long though, and she fell back against her mattress. A pit was forming in her stomach, and she knew exactly why.

    Donatello was getting worse and worse. His anxiety was spiking, and she couldn’t remember the last time she saw him without his disguise.

    But she meant what she said. If he wouldn’t accept her advice and suggestions, there wasn’t anything else she could do. If someone won’t accept help, then there isn’t really a point in trying anymore, is there?

    Michelangelo stumbled into Cassandra’s room, panting and shaking. A cold sweat dripped down the back of his head as he walked into the room, reaching out until he found her bed and fell into it.

    Casey jumped out of her slumber, surprised by the sudden presence cuddling up to her front like their life depended on it. When her eyes adjusted and she found Mikey, she sighed quietly and pulled her arms around him.

    “....what’s going on, Mike..” she asked, a tired deepness in her voice.

    “I-I.. Casey I–”

    “Shh. Relax. You’re stuttering worse than a lovesick college kid. Catch your breath.”

    He nodded, growing quiet and listening to the sounds of her heartbeat and the creak of the building they were in. His thoughts got a moment to stew and form actual sentences, and after a few minutes, he spoke in a soft voice that was barely above a whisper.

    “....I have a family, Casey.”

    The girl paused, letting his words settle in her mind. “...mhm? And what about your family?”

    “I have a family. They’re looking for me. Me. ” he sounded caught up in his own disbelief, and in a way, he was. “...they want me.”

    “...yeah, families tend to do that, Mike.”

    “...do… do you…?”

    “No.” she said, getting as quiet as him. “I don’t have a family.”

    Michelangelo hesitated. “...you have me…?”

    “...yeah, I have you, kid.” She smiled a little bit.

    Michelangelo shifted in her arms, and looked up at her after a moment. “...I want to see them. My family. I want to–”

    “To go to them?” Casey cut him off, reading his mind. He nodded vigorously, using a hand to wipe his eyes. She stared at him for a moment, expression unreadable. “...that’s gonna be hard. Mike. Leaving the Foot is unheard of.”

    “...well, people better start hearing it. I want to find them.”

    “.....maybe,” she started, sitting up a little bit to look at him fondly. “You should wait for them to come to you. It’ll be safer. That way, you can leave with them instead of looking around blindly.”

    “..will you help me?”

    “...Always, Michelangelo. Always.”

ii.

    “We still made a profit, right?” Jeremy asked hesitantly, sitting in the Purple Dragons lab. Technically, none of them were supposed to be there, considering it was midnight. But Kendra called a meeting, and the only way to guarantee that their fourth member would be in attendance, was to hold said meeting at the school.

    Kendra huffed from her spot behind her monitor, feet propped up on her desk and slowly turning back and forth in her chair. “Yeah. We got some . Would have made more though. We have a real problem now,” her glare moved from nothing to Donatello, boring into his own multicolored eyes. “Especially if you didn’t call those other mutants to the scene.”

    “I still don’t believe you, by the way.” Jason grumbled, also directing a glare towards the disguised turtle. The hologram tech was unsettling, and Jason would never forget that there was a disgusting creature hidden under those screens. “There is no other way they could have known what we were doing.”

    Donatello huffed, rolling his eyes and ignoring the shared glares from the two step siblings. “Oh pull your head out of your ass, Jason. I didn’t do it. I don’t even know their names. ” Not technically a lie. He only thought he knew their names, from sparse memories back when he was younger and living with his father.

    “Leo and Raphael.” Jason replied sharply. “Do you have more?”

    “None of your business.”

    “Uh, actually - it is our business! Especially if you did call them!! It’s just like you to do that- ruin our plans. I bet that April chick made you do it- does she know about them too–”

    The sound of Donatello slamming his palms onto his desk is what shut Jason up, along with the death glare the boy received from over Donnie’s monitor.

    “..Keep her name out of your mouth, you fucking rat.”

    Kendra watched the exchange closely, squinting at the defensiveness that suddenly crawled out of Donatello. It was odd, she thought. Obviously she knew that the two were close, but Donnie’s sudden defense of her was… unexpected.

    “...If anything, the failure is Kendra’s fault.” Donatello huffed, sitting back down and making Kendra immediately scowl in offense.

    “What?? My fault?!--”

    “ You’re our leader!! The plan failed because you didn’t account for someone seeing us!!-- You practically doomed this mission from the start!--” Donatello snapped, directing his glare to Kendra now, and the stare-off began between them.

    “You were on cams, Donatello! Your entire job was to watch! ” She growled, digging her nails into her jacket sleeves, threatening to tear holes in the fabric. “And you let them slip in!!!” The argument between the two colliding forces lasted for at least twenty minutes.

    “Enough of this!!! I’m sick of putting up with you!!! Jason, call the police–”

    “Gladly–”

    “What?! Just because we got into a stupid argument??” Donatello immediately questioned, standing up as a certain fear wracked over him. They were turning him in for this ? “You can’t turn me in!-- The police will know it was you who robbed the BOA!!--” He immediately reasoned, causing all three of the humans in the room to pause.

    Jason glanced between Donatello and Kendra, phone in hand as sweat crawled down his neck. He did not like the sound of being arrested.

    Kendra glared at Donatello, her pupils daggers. They could have heard a needle drop in this intense silence. “...Fine.” she said through gritted teeth. “You are on thin fucking ice, Donatello. Thin. I don’t want to see any more fuck ups, am I clear?” She asked, voice sickening.

    Donatello swallowed his fear, holding his ground and glaring back. “Crystal.”

    After the three humans left, Donatello held his glare. His frustration could not simply go away just because the cause of it disappeared from sight. Kendra’s grating voice still nagged at his mind.

    He stood and swept the papers and technology from his desk, angrily letting out an intelligible shout. He pulled his head into his hands, feeling the buzz of the hologram against his skin and hearing the quiet static. It was inorganic. Ingenuine.

    It wasn’t him.

    Yet here he was, presenting as the perfect human teenage boy. He was fifteen for God’s sake! He should be enjoying his life! These were his prime years!

    But he stood alone in an empty lab, feeling the weight of his life crashing down on his shell. It was like the world hit him with a garbage truck. 

    He didn’t like this feeling, so he tried walking it off. He couldn’t count the amount of times he paced the length of the hallway, pressing his disguised palms to his eyes in an attempt to calm down. It didn’t work.

    Donnie could not even call April. She had told him to stop calling.

    Quit calling me to complain.

    Fine. Donnie could do that.

    Instead of calling her, he fell asleep at his desk, face wet from crying. The hologram covering his entire body felt more claustrophobic than ever, and hid the tears that constantly spilled, even in his slumber.

iii.

    “Remember the plan?” Raphael asked quietly, crouching low on a rooftop next to the fenced off harbor. His brother, Leonardo, was right next to him, lowered and peering over the edge at the train tracks below.

    “Yup.”

    “I just need to find him, then we can fall back. Keep your phone on.” he whispered the silent demand, making the first move and sliding down the fire escape, stopping about halfway through his descent and using his remaining height to launch himself over the barbed wire fence that separated the harbor and train tracks from the residential street. Leo followed his moves expertly, and the two landed together on gravel.

    Avoiding flood lights and security, the brothers stalked through the yard. They passed an endless amount of large cargo crates of varying colors, but those were not what they had arrived for. What they were looking for was much more precious than whatever was inside of these containers.

    After a few minutes of avoiding lights and ducking into corners, they heard the whistling of a train and felt the rumbling of the ground below their feet.

    When Leonardo peered around a corner, shell pressed to a blue shipping container, he watched the cargo train pull in. Whatever was on it didn’t matter. In less than a few minutes of the train arriving, soldiers dressed in black and orange flooded the yard, attaching themselves to control points and entering the train.

    The Foot Clan, Leonardo reminded himself internally, tightening his grip on his tsurugi’s wrapped handle. They have our brother.

    Raphael climbed up the side of the container, staying low when he reached the top, crawling across it and monitoring the scene for a moment. He just needed to spot something familiar.

    “There is a girl, Cassandra.” Hueso hummed softly, telling the two turtle brothers about the human. “A companion of Michelangelo’s. They are extremely close.”

    “She’s Foot, too?” Leo asked over his apple juice box, raising a skeptical browbone. The skeleton yokai sitting across from him nodded, huffing through his nostril cavity.

    “You find Cassandra, you find Miguel.”

    Leo huffed quietly under his breath, ducking out of the light from one of the many sweeping flood lights. Raph made a similar maneuver, avoiding the light like the plague. “Come on, come on…” The larger turtle mumbled, scanning the crowd of soldiers. “Do you see her, Leo?”

    “No.” The slider huffed, peeking back around the corner and squinting. “All these soldiers look the same! How are we supposed to find one girl?” he said quietly, sounding frustrated.

    “Just keep an eye out. Hueso showed us a photo, she doesn’t wear that hood like the rest of them, remember?” Raphael replied. “As soon as we spot her, move in.”

    Leonardo nodded in quiet confirmation, a gesture that Raphael did not see or hear, but was still understood instinctually.

    It took about ten more minutes before Leonardo spotted who they were looking for- a short teenage girl with a dark buzz cut, pale skin, and certain green figure hovering nearby, tapping a foot on the ground with a tactically controlled buzz of energy.

    For Leo, spotting Michaelangelo felt just like spotting Raphael back in that unforgiving arena. For a moment, the ground below his feet felt like sand and concrete once more, and he was staring at the stands, at an angel sent from heaven.

    But then he blinked, took a step, and fell back to reality.

    Raphael was already moving in, a few seconds ahead of his younger brother thanks to his moment of daze. The red clad snapper maneuvered around the outskirts of the group, watching as Leonardo caught up to the plan.

    The younger turtle whistled through his teeth, grinning when a majority of the soldiers looked his way. Various weapons, including throwing stars, assorted blades, and blunt-force staffs, were all drawn as the cocky teen approached the crowd.

    Fifteen? More inside? He thought, heart pounding as excitement wracked his chest. Psh. Give me a real challenge.

    The Foot were the first to move, a group approaching Leonardo with vicious agility and intent. One of them shouted something that he didn’t quite catch, but it sounded like Japanese. Another one said something about the Specimen. He could only assume who that was.

    Raphael looked away as Leonardo made quick work of the soldiers, drawing them further away from the train as he sliced, kicked, dodged, and taunted with witty remarks and bad puns that kept irking the soldiers closer. All according to plan.

    The snapper shook his head, tearing his gaze away from Leonardo to focus on the task at hand: Michelangelo.

    Said young turtle was watching Leonardo’s display of strength and agility with wide eyes, almost frozen in place until Casey snapped him out of it with a quick tug to his arm. “Mikey–” she hissed through gritted teeth, pulling him further from the fray. “You need to stay back–”

    “But- Casey hold on–” he stuttered out, blinking between her and the drearily familiar turtle. “He looked like–”

    “I know, Mikey, which is why we need to get you out of here-” she said, taking his hand and pulling him into the nearest train car, tugging the door shut behind them with a loud thud.

    Raph was quick to follow the two, landing himself on top of the car they had gone into, using the sheer force of his own strength to break the metal roofing and gain entrance, falling in and onto the ground. The only light in the car came from the hole he had just created, and as the minimal amount of dust settled, he saw that the two had run out of the car through an open door and through the train.

    He followed without hesitation. “Michaelangelo!!--” he shouted as he ran, giving each car a hasty once over as he went, trying to spot either him or the girl. “Michaelangelo!!!-- Please, I need to talk to you!!--”

    This would be much harder than it was with Leo. Not only was Michaelangelo physically next to one of his captors, he was also best friends with her. There were, according to Hueso, no underlying issues between him and this Casey chick. They were close as family. The thought made his head hurt.

    After four or so cars and rushed searching, he stumbled upon a slightly larger interior, with an open layout. There was a singular box, made of some Hidden City metal and sealed shut with another metal, sitting in the middle of the room. It went up to about Raph’s waist, and had no label. It was interesting, and something he kept in mind as he moved on.

    “ Casey– ” Michelangelo whispered out, quickly being silenced by said girl’s hand over his mouth and her quiet shushing. The Box Turtle was a wreck.

    “ Shhh– I know, Mikey, I know– ” She silently sympathized, heart and mind torn. He couldn’t leave. He couldn’t. She knew what she had told him- that she would help in whatever decision he made- but what if this decision led to him getting hurt? What if his two brothers failed to save him?

    What if he died?

    The thought was not something she wanted to linger on. So instead, she thought about the chances of success. The chance that maybe, just maybe , those other turtles know what they’re doing. They take him away, someplace safe and warm, where he can paint as much as he wants, and he never has to stress about the Foot Clan ever again.

    That was all she wanted for him right now. And after some moments of debate, and watching the poor mutant internally tear himself apart to the point of tears, she had made up her mind.

    Fuck the repercussions. This was her brother, and she would do anything for him.

    When the larger turtle entered the train car, Mikey’s breath hitched in his throat in a high pitched wheeze, his feeble attempt to shut himself up. Their hiding spot, behind a large stack of heavy wooden crates, would be easily compromised if he was heard.

    Please don’t move on , Michaelangelo mentally pleaded, squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn’t sure if the prayer was meant for Casey or his brother, but he pleaded for it anyways.

    “ ..Mikey, look at me, hun. ” The human girl whispered softly, pulling her hand from his mouth and instead using both palms to hold his face, gentle as she wiped his tears with her thumbs. The turtle sniffled, opening his eyes to look up at her.

    When he saw her expression of sorrow, and guilt, he paused. Why was she making that face at him?

    “ ..you are the hardest soldier I have ever trained. You’re stubborn in the stupidest way possible, your energy is impossible to keep up with, and your brain is always going a mile a minute. ” She whispered sternly, pinching her brow together. 

    “ Take a second to breathe. Relax. ” She consoled, helping his shoulders slowly relax with each word. “ ..you know I would never do anything to hurt you, right? ”

    “.. w-what…? ” He replied, almost sounding confused. Of course he knew that. Casey Jones was the best thing that happened to him with the Foot.

    “ I love you with every fiber of my being, and that’s why I need you to go with him. ”

    The silence that followed her words was deafening. The large snapper, which was still moving around the train car, lifting tarps and hastily pushing through cargo, had yet to find them, but was easing ever closer with every second wasted.

    “ He will protect you. ”

    “ W-wait– ”

    “ He is going to keep you safe, just like I always have. I promise. ”

    “ Casey– ” She cut him off once more, fear and regret lacing her ever whisper. “ He is your brother. Family. Go to him. It’s where you need to be. ”

    “ You’re my family too, Casey. ” He immediately replied, voice shaky but firm. His tears had subsided, but the watery nature of his voice betrayed his faux confidence. “ I-I can’t lose you– ”

    “ You won’t lose me, I promise. I promise I will always find you. ” She replied, flinching when a nearby crate was pushed over. “ Go. ” She pushed the young mutant up, coaxing him forwards.

    Michaelangelo turned, tears threatening to spill over as she pushed him away. “C-Casey–” he broke, reaching for her.

    “Michaelangelo?”