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When Splinter looked around, he found himself back on one of his old movie sets, surrounded by his fellow film crew and co-stars. He hears the buzz and the noise of the people around him working on the next scene of the movie.
He walked around a for bit, suddenly finding the door to his old dressing room, a big star hung on the door, his name written with cursive letters inside of it. But once he opened the door, he then suddenly found himself on the red carpet, paparazzi tacking pictures of him and fans chanting his name. On his right was a woman holding on to his hand. Beautiful white hair cupped her face, with stylish glasses that matched his own. She wore a perfectly tailored purple dress, hugging her features and showing off all of her beauty. He tried looking her in the eyes, but the lights made it almost impossible to do so.
Together they walked by the crowds of fans, which stood behind a red rope, that separated the nobody’s and the paparazzi, from the stars.
They screamed in joy once he walked by them. All of them asking him for his autograph, a picture, a video, all of which he happily provided. A big smile formed around his lips , enjoying every moment of it.
But as his eyes darted back to the woman that had been with, he suddenly recognise her beautiful face. The beautiful face , those eyes, they belonged to non other then his Sassy hunnybaedger. Her eyes followed him, her eyes locked on him, like a hunter would have watched his pray.
Suddenly the world around him broke away and he was now in an arena , forced to fight all kinds of monsters, while his once beautiful queen was now locking down at him in her true spider form.
Feeling unhappy and betrayed, he did what he was forced to do, until two black crow looking mosters sweeped him away. At first he was happy, thinking that anything would be better then the hurt he had felt bevor, but he was soon proven wrong and the faint glimmer of happiness soon faded.
He was trapped in a cage, a goat like looking man, was now standing in front of him. He was begging to ramble on about his plan to create powerful warriors, that left nothing but chaos and destruction in their wake, destined to destroy human kind, crossing his DNA with the once of…. Baby turtles?!
Was this man serious? Why would he want to turn those precious little creatures into bloodthirsty warriors?
“Wait Stop! I will not let you turn these innocent creatures into violent monsters!” He screamed, but it was to late. All of those precious little creatures where put in some sort of chamber above his cage, getting mutated by the gunky ooze and his DNA.
He had to stop this. He had to save those little baby turtles!
He thought his way free, saving the four turtles. However in the process he himself got mutated as well.
His once handsome self now turned in to an ugly rat.
While he escaped from the lab that was about explode soon, he looked down at his hands. Four baby turtles looked back at him, confused and scared.
Seeing their faces felt bitter sweet. It felt like the right thing to do in the moment, and yet?
How was he gone care for these small and fragile creatures?
How was he gone protect them?
Where was he supposed to go now?
What if they still turn out the way this evil so called ‘scientists’ wanted, blood thirsty warriors with no compassion and love in their heart?
All those questions filled his head, screaming louder and louder in his own voice. Fear, doubt and sadness took root in his heart and spread all over in body, corrupting his mind, flooding it so no real answer to those questions could be found.
He raised his head up in to the now raining sky. The explosions now far behind him. He closed his eyes, forming one final question in his mind, he begged who or whatever was evoce for an answer, a message for him to see if he did tge right thing.
However when he slowly opened his eyes again, he was left alone in darkness.
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When Splinter woke up, he found himself in his bed. His bed that was in his room, located in the sewers he was now calling his home. He looked down on his hands, seeing his rat like claws that he had now gotten used to seeing.
It had all been a dream. Granted a dream with some truth behind it, but still a dream.
It was all in the past now, five years had gone by since the incident, and everything was gone and no more.
He shook his head thinking about it, trying to shake the thoughts and feelings of, that were still left in his head.
No matter how much he tried, he was unable to escape the prison of his mind, a prison of his own design.
The sadness still ran through him, negative thoughts and regrets where still echoing in his mind, no matter how hard he tried to tone it out.
He couldn’t tell how much time went by only being brought back to reality by the noise of small footsteps, stopping infront of his room.
“Dad?” Asked a small voice, belonging to his oldest son, the curtain of his room slightly shifted , bevor he saw him walking in. A red helmet was on his head, bobbing from side to side with every step he took. It was way too big for him, but the young boy did not care and refused to take it off, nor did he go anywhere without it.
He was not alone however, his brothers followed him inside.
A small turtle toddler walked next to him, his small hand holding onto his big brother, while his other hand was holding on to toy figure.
Next to them where the twins. The one dressed in purple played with the ends of his hoody, looking rather shy, while the other dressed in blue dashed past his brothers, right after entering and jumped in to the bed, landing right next to Splinter and giving him a hug.
Splinter tried to smile the best he could. His inner voice still calling him out, still listing of every mistake he made, still telling him that he was not good enough to let those precious little children see him as a father.
He tried to shake it off to the best of his ability’s, shifting his focus to his beloved sons. He reciprocated the hug from the blue one, only letting go for a short while, after seeing the youngest one attempting to climb into his bed as well, but failing at it.
He chuckled a bit, bevor lifting him up and sitting him in his lab, a cute giggle escaping the small turtle as he did.
“My sons,” he looked at them while he began to speak.
While looking at them, their nicknames came to his mind. Nicknames that coresponded to each of their colours, he had picked for them to better tell each of them better apart.
Baby blue, precious purple, and optimistic orange.
All of them had special little nicknames in his mind, nicknames non of them knew about, ans shall never know. He had given them all one, all except the oldest.
It was not like he did not love him enough to give him one, far from it, it was more about the fact that that he just... could not come up with one that fit him, like the others did.
Excuses all of it! You simply are not good enough, every good parent would have had no problem finding one.
Spoke his voice inside his head. It's word stung in his heart, fearing tgat it might have been true.
“What brings you in my room this early in the morning?”
“Dad it’s almost 1 pm! “ responded the oldest.
Splinters eyes widened in surprise, he quickly looked over to his alarm clock, checking the time and, they were right.
Bold red letters displayed the time clear as day, 12:55.
“Oh sh... shoot I’m sorry, you must be hungry! I-“ said Splinter, wanting to get out of bed as quick as possible. However his word were interrupted by his son dressed in red ”Don’t worry! We ate the cereal you bought us,” “I ate a wainbow !” Exclaimed the youngest one, happiness in his eyes as he spoke. “Oh, by the way, we are out of lucky charms cereal,” added the one dressed in purple.
Splinter breathed a sigh of relief.
Congrats you only nearly starving your children
“I will write that on my shopping list, thank you purple,” he smiled at them softly “was that all you wanted to tell me?”
“No we-“ Raph started to speak but his younger brother in blue quickly took over the sentence “we were worried about you!”
“Worried? Why that?” Splinter asked with a surprised tone in his voice.
“Because we haven’t seen you all morning and when we called you, you did not answer us,” answered his son dressed in blue. He could feel his hug tighten as he spoke those words, he really must have scared them a bit.
“I’m sorry I did not answer you, I really did not hear you. I just…” splinter tried his best to find the right words. How could he describe how he felt to his sons? They would not understand, they were just little kids after all.
He instead resulted to a small lie. “I just woke up with a strong headache and I needed to lie in bed for a bit,” Worry started to form in his sons eyes.
“Oh no, are they still strong?” asked the the twin dressed in purple, trying his best to now keep his voice whisper tone.
The other once shared his concern, even though they said nothing, looking at their father for a response.
Splinter thought for a bit, he technically did not lie, his head did hurt him, not like a headache would, but it still did.
“It still hurts a bit, but do not worry my sons, it will probably be gone later,” he tried to reassure them.
“Oki dad, we are gonna play really quiet today so you will feel better in no time!” Said his son dressed in red in his best quiet voice. “You will stay here until you feel better, I will be the dad today!” A big smile was on his face as he spoke, his eyes sparking with determination.
Splinter wanted to argue against it, already starting to form a sentence, but Raph already walked out of the room, motioning to his brothers to follow him.
Purple walked directly behind him, followed by blue who quickly jumped out of the bed. The youngest one tried to do the same, readying himself to jump of, just like his older brother did, but Splinter quickly stopped him and helped him to the floor, to scared that the small toddler would hurt himself on the way down.
The small one did not like that however, a small pout on his face, bevor running out of the room to joining his brothers outside.
“okay, dad is not feeling well, how can we make him feel better?” was the first thing the oldest of the four said to his brothers after no longer being in the room, earning a confused look from his brothers.
“What do you mean? I thought the best way for him to get better would be not to disturb him and to be quiet,” asked a confused Donnie which prompted Raph to shake his head slightly, his helmet shaking with him. “No, I mean when ever we have something, dad always makes us something to make us get better more quickly. Like when I hurt my head when I was playing sportsball with you guys, he gave me this helmet. And even though it still hurt allot, the helmet made me feel a little bit better,”
Now his brothers understood him and they started to come up with ideas.
The Boys came up with many great ones, including but not limiting themselves to thinks like:
Drawing him a picture, lending him their prised comic book collection, building him a robot that would bring him tea whenever he wanted.
They all brainstormed for a bit bevor Leo had a bright idea. “What if we made him some pancakes? He hasn’t eaten anything all morning and food always makes you feel better!” no one could really argue against that logic, it was a genius idea.
“Great idea Leo, dad will love this! Let’s go, to the Kitchen!” exclaimed Raph bevor the turtle tots made their way to the kitchen.
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While the Tots thought of something to make their dad feel better, Splinter was left alone in his thoughts, only hearing snippets of his sons conversation through the curtain. But it was hard for him to focus on what they said, with his inner voice calling out to him.
Look at you, playing happy family... face it Yoshi, you are not their father, just a poor excuse for one
He tried arguing against it, he tried to fight it, but it was to loud in his head. Only a silent "No, I am their father" went over his lips.
Sure… And what a great father at that! Leaving your sons alone all morning, nearly starving them, lying to them, letting them now take care of themselves. Father of the year material right there!
I bet leaving them would have been better for them then being with you. Everything you do is wrong! You-
But the noise in his head got interrupted by a loud voice, exclaiming something to his brothers
“Let’s go, to the Kitchen!”
The kitchen?! They know they are not allowed in there without him!
He quickly got out of bed, he had to stop them bevor they got hurt!
See they don't even listen to your rules! But who would? You are just one big joke!
He quickly followed behind them, quite like a ninja, ready to take then by surprise and ask them what the thought they were doing.
But then he heard the youngest one chuckle "Dad will love this little surprise!"
A surprise? For him? Where they bending his rule for him?
He did not follow then inside the kitchen, insted hidding next to the entrance.
If they wanted to do something for him, and he foilled their plans like that, chances where that they would find something even more dangerous to do as a surprise for him, like building him a robot that serves him tea.
Maybe if he watched over them from where he was standing now, he could still make sure they where okay, and will not escalate the situation.
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“Okay, what now?” asked Raph who looked over to his brothers " let's make pancakes! He hasn't eaten breakfast yet!" Was the next great idea the younger twin came up with . “Dad always keeps the Pancake mix in the cupboard over the sink,” recalled Donnie “Leo-“started Raph to ask, but the younger twin already understood him. He exclaimed a quick “On it!” bevor using the small stepladder next to the fridge to climb up to the cupboard, retrieving he pancake mix from it.
“What’s next?” Raph did not need to answer that, his little brother dressed in purple already got it.
“There are ingredients listed on the back, we need to get those and mix it together with the contend of the packet” He held out his hand for his brother to give him the packet so he could read it to them.
“Okay, for one cup of Pancake mix we need half a cup of milk, one tablespoon of oil and two eggs, “
after Donnie listed off the ingredients, Leo and Raph started to gather all of them, as well as measuring spoons, a mixing bowl, and a whisk, and placed it all on the kitchen table in the middle of the room.
They also grabed a pan and ladle and put those two items next to tge stove for later to use.
Now they just need to put everything together and create the batter.
Raph already pushed the small step leader next to the table, and was now standing on it, ready to start, but a small hand taped him on the arm, stopping him bevor he does. A confused look to the side reveals that his youngest brother Mikey was suddenly standing next to him.
“ I wanna help to!” declared the small turtle to his brother. “Okay, you can help Raphy, but we will do it together, got it?” the small turtle eagerly nodded his head and together they started.
Splinter watched as his oldest and his youngest son workimg together to mix in the ingredients, amazed at how gentle the oldest one was to his little brother.
He watched as the bigger one made sure the smaller one could reach all the ingredients and put them in the mixing bowl, and saw how he helped pouring in the milk.
“Carful with the eggs,” warned the oldest “we need them in the mix and not on the Tabell. Here I show you how dad thought me” He carefully cupped the smaller ones hands, making him follow his motions as they both cracked one egg after the other, making sure it all landed inside the bowl.
“Okay now we gotta mix this thing. Mikey can you please pas me the whisk?” The youngest one grabbed the wisk, located infront of him, but held one to it for a bit looking at his brother with a sad pout, “but I want to…”
“I know, but this one is a job for me,” Replied his brother. “Mikey you are not strong enough to mix the whole batter, let Raphy do it, he is the strongest out of all four of us” emphasised the older twin, dressed in purple.
The small one did not like this answer however, continuing to pout. “I’m stwong to!” further emphasising his point.
“Sure you are, you are really strong, and I promise you that you can mix next time. This time I show you how to do it, just like dad showed me first, okay?” Explained Raph in a comforting voice. At first, Mikey did not budge, clutching to the whisk as strong as he could, however the words of his brother made him lose his stubbornness.
With a sigh he finally passed the whisk to the other and they could continue with the task.
Splinter had to smile when he saw this whole situation pan out in front of him. Not only because this whole situation was just too sweet, but because he was trying to act like him
Raph was mixing the content of the bowl with all the strength he could gather in his tinny little body, a few spats of batter flying in his face while he did so. He continued to do so, until the batter was smooth enough to be used.
Now the only thing left to do, was make the pancakes.
The small boy lifted the bowl and carefully, carried it down the stepladder, and waited for his brothers to reposition the ladder in front of the stove. After they did so, he climbed up the stepladder again and placed the bowl next to the stove.
“Careful Raphy, Dad said the stove was to dangerous for us to use!”warned the younger one of the twins, however the oldest only shook it off by saying. “Dad also gave us weapons to play with last week, Raphy thinks he can handle that.”
Look at that, he is doing dangerous stuff because of you, You know how hurt they where after you genuis left toddlers alone with dangerous Hamto clan weapons?
Raph then used a ladle to poor the Pancake batter in to a hot pan.
Thankfully, all went well enough and even the flipping of the pancake happened without any kind of accident and soon 3 misshapen pancakes were put on a plate, the oldest had a proud smile on his face.
“See? Told ‘cha Raphy’s got it!”
While the little one was celebrating his accomplishment, splinter exhaled a breathed he did not realise he was holding.
his 7-year-old son so close to something so dangerous.
The other three toddlers climbed up the stepladder, to admire the finished product “they look great !” Commented Leo, but his twin had a different opinion “ I dunno, something is missing…” he expressed while trying to come up with what the ‘thing’ that was missing was.
“I know!” The smallest of the bunch, carefully climbed down the step ladder and waddled as fast as his feet took him to the fridge. He opened it, grabbing the bottle of whipped cream and the small basket filled with strawberries.
Upon seeing the smallest grab multiple things at once, the biggest one rushed to him to help him carry the items. Together they went up the stairs of the ladder, and Mikey started to decorate.
He started to draw a crooked smilie on top of the pancakes with the wiped cream and carefully placed the strawberry’s on the side.
Now the older twin was more pleased “that’s more like it!” He nodded with approving smile. “Great, now the only thing left to do is to bring it to dad and surprise him.” announced Raph out loud.
That was splinters cue, he quickly went back to his room, preparing to act surprised when his sons came through his door, possibly one of the most important acting jobs he ever had to perform.
The four turtle were now marching towards their das room, red and blue carrying the plate, orange and purple making sure to clear their path from any obstacles in their way until reaching their destination.
“surprise!” The boys said in a louder whisper tone, still trying their best to not make their parents headache any worse. After that, Mikey and Donnie carefully pushed open the curtain of the room, waiting for Leo and Raph to walk in. They placed the plate on the bed , and now all four of them were standing next to it with excitement in their eyes.
Splinter looked at the plate, seeing the misshapen pancakes staked on top of each other, the crooked smilie made out of wiped cream. Considering his sons made those for him, and him alone, he quickly decided that those where about the be the best pancakes that he ever had in his entire life.
“Is that for me?”asked splinter even though he already new answer. Raph quickly nodded “yes! We made them because you always try to make us something to make us feel better when we are sick, so this time we are doing it for you,” Splinter really had to hold back a tear or two after hearing those words, his precious little sons, all four of them, they were all to cute.
His joy showed in a genuine big smile, bevor thanking them.
“Thank you my sons, I can already feel my headache is getting better by the moment. I will enjoy this breakfast you have prepared for me “
He then opened he’s arms, to give them all a big hug, and all four of the turtles were happy to give him one.
He loved his special little boys, each and every one of them.
His Baby blue, his precious purple, his optimistic orange and his little red.
His negative thoughts were silent for now, he knew they would come back , maybe even stronger then bevor. But one look at them and he knows it all was worth it, that he made the right decision in the end.
One look at Raphael and he was reminded that all his decisions in his past led up to this, that his children cherished and loved him even though he was not the best dad in the world.
like a reminder of all the small things he does for them where apriciatedby them more then he could imagine, like a reminder that he somehow did not suck at this parenting thing.
Maybe he was his singn , he was the message he needed when his head became to much, he was his little red reminder.