Chapter Text
The sky that morning didn’t blush its usual pastel pinks and oranges. It was an explosion of electric blues and greens, hot pinks and purples. It was amplified by the fires below it and the thunder that boomed within it. It would be stunning, so long as you kept your eyes on it.
As a matter of fact, a whole city was staring at it. Twenty million people were just in awe of the sky. No one understood what had just happened. All they knew was that some form of alien or monster had tried to invade their city, and were stopped. The entire assault lasted only a few hours and over half the city was destroyed. After the invaders self-destructed, confused people asked each other what happened. No one knew.
Except for three brothers.
For all their pleading, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey couldn’t convince their brother to stay. They tried. God, they tried. They strained their voices to work, to scream to the bright sky, but their overly stubborn brother didn’t listen. He never did.
They were forced to listen as Leo gave a final order to his new ward. They were forced to watch the enemy ship rise higher into the portal, taking their brother with it. They were forced to wait impatiently to see if the world would end. It was maddening.
Raph stood protectively in front of his brothers like he had his entire life, trying to protect them from reality. His body was weak from the past several hours but that wouldn’t stop him from standing and waiting. He had already failed so far. All he wanted to do was protect his brothers. And how did that work out? He was captured and turned into… one of them. He had helped them against his will. Sure, he had broken free and was at least able to shield his brothers from their fall, but now the universe demanded he be forced to fail again. Was it because he forced Leo to be a leader? He had shouted at him that he wasn't a hero. Was it his fault?
Mikey, exhausted and scared, held tight to his purple-clad brother, shaking his arm, begging softly for an answer. An answer to why the world was broken, to why his brother was sacrificing himself, to why he wasn’t moving! He felt so small in the middle of it all. He had just turned seventeen! He had a skateboarding competition to see who would get to order pizza just last week! He had fought against this threat so hard, but now he just had to stand back and do nothing? Why him, why his brother, why now?!
Donnie couldn’t move. He couldn’t move as he was forced to listen to his brother fight a monster and his other brother beg for answers. Donnie was a man of action, always thinking of a thousand different solutions. He always had a backup plan. But this threat was strange and foreign to him. How can one person, a teenager, devise a solution to this? He knew it was impossible, but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty. His mind was racing a million miles per minute to figure it all out, so he couldn’t will his arms to move. As much as he wanted to comfort his brother, he was stuck.
They all were.
So when Leo demanded Casey close the portal, and they witnessed the ship explode, what could they do?
***
It was beautiful, the colors that lit up the prison dimension. Dazzling whites and yellows reflected off of rusted metal and rotting vines. It was divine, and probably the only light in the dark dimension.
Leo, for the first time in days, felt peace. For just a moment, he shut his eyes. He felt himself become weightless. It felt kind of nice, even though it was short-lived.
The shockwave knocked him out of the air. He landed harshly on the stone of a long broken ship, hitting the ground multiple times. The awkward gravity of the realm mitigated some of his fall but not by much. He slammed against his shell and felt it crack. The Kraang general was coming. He couldn't afford to stay here. He had to find a hiding spot and let the Kraang pass him by. Maybe the dimension was endless and they would never have to see each other again.
Yet he couldn't move. Everything hurt. His entire being was exhausted. He wanted to hide, yet he was forced to stay in the light.
“You've ruined everything!” Kraang yelled at him.
He needed to move.
“And now? My wrath will be reserved for you alone.”
No.
“You think you've won.”
Kraang delivered blow after blow.
“You wretched, little, PEST!”
He fell, landing on an already broken shell. The tiny picture smiled back at him.
“Wipe that grin off your face!”
An explosion pushed him back into weightlessness. Hopefully that took the Kraang with it. Leo took a second to look around him. This was less of a prison and more of a graveyard. Broken goliaths were scattered in the dark and Leo was grateful they weren’t alive to take over his home.
Speaking of which, he’d never see his home again. If Mikey made a breakthrough with portals, then it would be a different story, but there was no way to know. He’d never eat pizza again, never walk with April at her college, never curl up and fall asleep next to his dad as they watched old movies. It was all gone. He had done right by his brothers and the world, he had saved them all, but his life was over. Instead of becoming a better ninja like he dreamed, he only had two choices now: die from hunger or by the Kraang.
He pulled out the photo of his family and curled around it protectively, letting his shell guard him. He wept and grieved for his life and his family. Even for Casey, who he was already attached to. Heh, Donnie always made fun of his brothers for getting attached easily. Now, he’d never hear him again.
***
The smoke in the sky was starting to clear. It looked… normal. The world was resetting itself at an alarming rate, Donnie thought. His brother was gone and the universe didn’t care. His remaining brothers were broken beyond fixing and the universe didn’t care.
“You…” a familiar voice hissed at them. The brothers looked at each other. Did they miss a Kraang? “You ruined everything!”
No, it was coming from the comms! Looks like Donnie’s tech was enough to travel across dimensions. Maybe they could speak to Leo now! Mikey thought.
“And now? My wrath will be reserved for you alone.”
Oh no. No, this was bad. They had to get him out now!
“Leo! Can you hear us?!” Raph screamed into his communicator. A series of blows followed by pained grunts was the answer. Hit after hit mixed with the Kraang yelling his anger out. Mikey held tight to Donnie’s arm as Donnie could only stare and cry. Raph fell to his knees, wanting to rip out the comm and throw it in the water, but wanting to hear if his brother would be okay.
“You think you've won. You wretched, little, PEST!”
Leo was silent before they heard him land on hard stone. What was happening? Could Leo even escape the Kraang?
“Wipe that grin off your face!”
He was smiling. He was happy with this? Why?!
With one final hit, the comms fritzed out and they were forever separated from their brother.
Mikey wailed loudly as Donnie finally unfroze to hold him. They collapsed into each other like the ground had been swept out from under them. Raph fell to the dirty pavement in tears.
The clouds were going away.
***
Casey hopped down from the ledge of a broken building. As much as he hated to admit it, broken New York felt like home.
He had thrown his comm away after Leo’s had been destroyed. Based on the sound, the Kraang had hit it out of him. Casey’s breathing was picking up faster and faster.
He had lost him again. Again! In less than a week! Hell, less than three days!
Where were the others? They had to be around here, right? They couldn’t be gone too… right?
Casey kept running. It was what he was good at, had been doing it his whole damn life. He passed by civilians helping each other out of rubble and finding provisions. Some people were offering free rides to others and others were lending phones out for people to contact their families. How amazingly stupid that this was how people were brought together. It should be in celebration, not in mourning.
Casey rounded the corner. He wasn’t looking where he was going, his eyes blinded with tears, and he tripped over a piece of metal. He landed sharply, cursing the world for it. When he turned back to see what had caused his fall, he saw his master’s sword.
Casey gasped soberly. He inched his hands towards it, hesitating slightly. With the utmost reverence, he held it and raised it to his forehead.
There was nothing he could say, no final message, no final thank you. Nothing.
***
Mikey had tried it before and he wasn’t about to fail again. He let go of Donnie and stood in front of Raph. He stared at the sky, giving it one last chance to mourn. It refused, and his fury flared.
He stretched his hands out as he imagined power flowing to his fingers. He imagined a portal in front of him. He imagined his brother coming home.
“Mikey, it’s over.” Raph said with a grim voice.
“Leo never gave up on us,” he replied with gritted teeth. “I’m not giving up on him.”
With a final push, his hands started to glow. A small disc of light steadily opened in front of him. His other brothers gasped.
“Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop!” Raph urged as he and Donnie put their hands on Mikey’s shoulders to support him.
Casey neglected to mention how painful it was to open a portal. Thin lines of light slithered up his arms, reaching for his head. They reached up Raph and Donnie’s arms as well. Nevertheless, they were getting Leo back so he kept going. Mikey widened his arms to make the portal bigger.
And there, just faintly, Leo gazed back at them.
***
Leo knew, from the second the light shone on his face, that the portal was his brother. His adorable and strong baby brother. Of course they would get him back. He knew they would. The portal opened wider until he could see his brother’s stunned faces.
“Took you guys long enough,” he joked easily.
Raph summoned a giant arm that reached into the void. It grabbed Leo by the wrist and pulled him to safety.
Leo smiled with hope.
Suddenly, the Kraang hissed behind him. He was snapped out of his trance as a metal hand wrapped around his ankle and pulled. He instinctively reached for his swords but was met with empty space. Raph was strong but the general was stronger. Leo tried kicking the hand away but it didn’t budge.
Leo looked at his brothers in fear. He noticed Mikey start to sway slightly, his eyebrows knit with pain and exhaustion.
“Donnie… help!” Mikey shouted. His hands were starting to shake while layers of skin began to peel and disintegrate off of them.
Donnie took notice and summoned a giant drill and shot it into the portal. It headed right for the Kraang’s face but he slapped it away like it was an annoying fly.
“Please!” Leo cried. “Help me!”
Donnie started to summon another drill, but the portal closed and Leo was pulled into the darkness.
***
Mikey collapsed into Raphael’s arms. His arms were horribly burned and he had passed out. The yellow portal fritzed out and was no more.
The sky turned blue.