Work Text:
Model house life meltdown
Still a modern dream let down
It kills me, you know I'm dying out here
What would you trade the pain for?
I'm not sure
When Leo sees the red laser indicating the imminent energy blast, he’s too injured, too weak, to avoid it.
The blast isn’t a direct hit, but it still leaves harsh, angry burns all over his body as it sends him flying. Airborne shrapnel collides with him, worsening his already mortal condition. He crashes into debris on the battlefield with a pitiful, pained groan. He manages to pull himself into a sitting position, propped up against broken cement. But as Leo tries to force himself to stand, to fight, he quickly discovers he no longer has the strength to do so.
He's dying.
The Krang Dogs, at least the ones that survived the blast, leave him alone. Perhaps the Krang thought it would be delightfully funny if Leo's last moments were spent listening to his dying brethren as the Resistance fell.
Considering the hell the Krang unleashed upon the Earth, Leo wouldn't put it past them.
As his strength leaves him, Leo realizes he would do almost anything to know if their last resort–sending Casey back in time–was successful.
We were a hammer to the Statue of David
We were a painting you could never frame and
You were the sunshine
Of my lifetime
What would you trade the pain for?
This city always hangs a little bit lonely on me
Loose
Like a kid playing pretend in his father's suit
I'd never go, I just want to be invited, oh
Got to give up
Get the feeling, get the feeling
Don't fight it, fight it
Leo's not sure how much time has passed as he sits alone on the battlefield. It could have been seconds, it could have been hours. But as he gazes up at the sky he realizes it's... fracturing, disintegrating. It’s falling apart at the seams in a dazzling display of flashing colors.
The universe is breaking apart.
Like Mikey did in his final sacrifice.
Does... Does that mean we were successful? Leo wonders.
He remembers one conversation he shared with Mikey and Donnie years ago, when they discovered it was possible to send someone back in time. Donnie mentioned something about the fragility of the time-space continuum and how sending someone back could end their current timeline. So, ignoring the fact that such a feat would kill Mikey, they had to be 100% positive it would work. Or they had to be sure that this timeline was unsalvageable to the point that sending someone back in time was their best shot at defeating the Krang.
Unfortunately, the latter option turned out to be their only option.
Leo remembers another conversation, this time with Mikey, of the possibility of communicating with versions of themselves in other timelines. Mikey believed it was possible, but despite his best efforts, he could not open a communication channel. The barrier separating timelines was practically impenetrable. Mikey saw no point in killing himself trying to talk with his past self.
Not when he might be needed to send Casey back.
But, if this timeline is falling apart, perhaps the barrier is weakened. Perhaps...
Leo closes his eyes and summons the last of his mystic strength to try and communicate with himself in the timeline Casey was sent to, to see if they were successful.
To see if he and his family survived.
Sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse
And I just about snapped
Don't look back
Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand
Leo's eyes blink open, but he is not on the battlefield. He... he’s in the Med Bay! He’s in the Med Bay back home, in the abandoned subway station!
He didn't think he would ever see it again.
He almost sobs.
Before he gets a good chance to look around, he hears a voice–his, but younger–cut through his mind.
God, why does my head suddenly feel so weird? Did Donnie increase the pain meds?
Leo pauses, considering how to approach the situation. He doesn't have a lot of time.
He decides to rip the figurative band-aid off and go for the direct approach.
Don't panic. It's me, ah, future you? I’m from the same future timeline as Casey. If... that makes sense.
Oh really? So you’re the Master Leonardo that Casey’s talked so much about?
His vision moves to the left–younger Leo must be tilting his head–and his eyes land on Casey.
Casey.
He's alive and he's safe! Raph and Mikey surround him–oh god, Leo hasn’t seen his best older brother Raph in so long–in a classic turtle cuddle pile. He spots Donnie–oh, Donnie, his beloved twin–on another bed behind the pile. Donnie’s on his plastron, bandages wrapped entirely around his shell, with April sitting by his side, one hand resting on his shell as she dozed.
Raph! Mikey! Donnie! April! You… you’re all alive. Oh, thank Mikey and his badass mystical hands. You helped Casey complete his mission then? Find the key and stop the Krang. You saved the world from the apocalypse.
Yeah, we’re all alive. Somehow. I didn’t think I would make it, but we stopped the Krang. The Earth is safe. My… Our? Our family is safe.
You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Sending Casey back was our last cha-wait, you didn’t think you would make it?
Oh, right. Yeah uh, I may or may not have gotten stuck in the prison dimension with the Krang for a bit. May or may not have been used like a turtle punching bag.
His younger self’s vision shifts again, and Leo’s eyes widen as he gets a look at his poor younger self’s body. His entire body appears to be in one big mummy-like cast. One leg is in a cast and elevated, the other is wrapped in bandages. Both arms are in casts, one more so than the other. His plastron is not as covered, but if the number of wrappings is anything to go by, there’s severe damage to his shell.
Holy shit. I’m so sorry.
But hey, good news! Donnie and Draxum think I’ll be recovered enough to start physical therapy within two months. And I might be able to start training again in six. So, not bad… right?
I’m still sorry that happened to you. You didn’t deserve that.
I know.
Love from the other side of the apocalypse
And I just about snapped
Don't look back
Every lover's got a little dagger in their hand
Leo feels his connection fading. His younger self must sense it as well.
Are you dying?
Yes. Unfortunately. My universe is falling apart. A consequence of sending someone back, if I remember Donnie correctly. But… we stopped the Krang. So… I can die in peace. Knowing that.
His younger self is quiet for a second, mulling over something in his head. He then shifts his gaze again, back to Raph, Mikey, Donnie, April, and Casey.
Well, considering we’re the same person, I know I’d like to get one last look at my family before I die. So, here. It’s the least I can do as a thank you for saving our family and our home.
…Thank you. I’m sending my love from the other side of the apocalypse. Take care of yourselves, and let Casey see a world that was unjustly robbed from him. And never, never lose hope. It’s a ninja’s greatest weapon.
Heh, so Casey got "hope is a ninja’s greatest weapon" from you, er, us? Not surprised. And of course... Rest in peace.
Leo’s connection finally severs, and the image of his family sleeping is the last thing he sees.
Generation sleep, I'm falling in and out of love
I'm getting that tilted feeling out here
What would you trade the pain for?
I'm not sure
Leo’s eyes open. He’s back on the battlefield. The universe has continued to shatter, to disintegrate, to break apart at the seams. No longer are there sounds of fighting, of battles. Instead, the sounds of earth breaking and air hissing overwhelm his senses. The Krang are running, terrified, with no idea what to do or how to respond.
His body is numb, but he manages a smile.
Nowhere left for us to go but heaven
Summer falling through our fingers again and
You were the sunshine
Of my lifetime
What would you trade the pain for?
Something lands with a heavy crash nearby, and Leo shifts his eyes to see Krang Prime. He wastes no time approaching Leo’s broken, dying body with an angry yet frantic look in his eyes.
“What have you meddlesome turtles done?!” Krang Prime shrieks, lifting his mech suit’s leg before his metallic foot crashes down on Leo.
Leo weakly laughs, blood spattering out from his lips. “Ha! Nothing too big, just sent someone back in time. Now the universe is falling apart. Because this is a failed timeline. The Krang were never supposed to conquer the Earth.”
Krang Prime snarls, raising a fist to deal a finishing blow to Leo, but suddenly his arm is disintegrating into nothing. He screeches, tumbling backward. He holds his disintegrating arm in horror before he notices other parts of him are fading. Krang Prime tries to grab onto himself and stop his body from turning to dust, but it’s futile.
Leo smiles as he watches his enemy, the monster that destroyed his life and his family in this timeline, becomes nothing.
Justice, albeit a bit late, is served.
Leo’s eyelids are now too heavy to keep open, and his lungs are losing the strength to keep intaking oxygen. But… that’s ok. His family is safe. He is safe. In another timeline. He can be at peace with that.
He closes his eyes with a smile on his face.
They won the war against the Krang.
Sending my love
Sending my love