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Just at the beginning of the morning he had received a call from Leo updating him on a whole situation about a boy (his name was Casey Jones) who came from a horrendous future where there was an amazing he-sensei and a mission the whole world depended on ( he didn't seem very worried), then he wasted no time complaining about how Raph only knew how to complain about his role as leader and all the wrongs he had done. He heard something about, the Kraang?, but Leo was interrupted by one of his siblings shortly after and they had to end the call with an effusive "I'll make Raph swallow his words!"
And he didn't know anything about them.
For hours.
He tried to ignore the concern building at the base of his throat , believing they had succeeded in their mission (whatever-it-was) and were simply too tired to let him know.
However, they were not like that, much less Leo or Mikey, with whom conversations stretched as long as waves. Donnie and Raph could simply send a message because they weren't that close or talkative, but they had at least sent him something. And the voice inside him said that it was something else, that he should look for them, that they were in danger.
The more hours passed, the more that feeling settled.
Then his intercom was activated (the one that Donnie installed in his suit once he had gained the turtle's trust) and Leonardo's voice came out broken. He was not cheerful, nor alive, nor colorful or noisy. He was turned off, to the point of tears, and the closest thing to despair.
What he told him could be cryptic any other day of the year. He said to find Splinter and April and Draxum and Señor Hueso and whoever else he could and get as far away from New York as posible, to never turn back, and protect The Key with their lives, that they will take care of the Krang.
Usagi hadn't understood anything at all. What were the Krang? Besides, the background sounds had distracted him too (the slight murmur of a voice he didn't know, rocks moving and the particular sound of a paper being folded and put away), damn his ears. He tried to ask, but Leo no longer answered him.
What the fuck?
He decided to leave his intercom on and active ever since, although he would regret it in the future.
He keep wondering what his dear friend was talking about, until he saw them.
Infected humans and even some Yokai, filled with pink goo and bodies completely deformed and twisted in ways that would make you vomit, somehow managed to enter the Hidden City. He then understood two things; Hell was only slowly coming to them and the Hamato siblings were facing death.
Its hind legs carried it as fast as fear and desperation allow it, and as soon as it reached the surface, everything was much worse than it imagined.
There was a hole in the middle of the sky that should be blue, (blue like Leo's bandana-like other blue things!), and not the hideous pinks and reds. He didn't know what that thing that looked like an eye was, but he didn't want to know, much less why it came out of the hole.
There was something about that thing that forced Usagi to watch it all the time, he would swear that whatever was up there must be the Krang. Something paralyzed him for a few seconds. Its was terrifying.
It was his fear.
But he didn't stopped anymore, he had a mission.
He tried to go for Draxum first. They had their differences in the past, but his skills as a mystical warrior and a scientist would certainly come in handy in combat, however he was only able to make it a few blocks towards the school before he ran into a tank from the human army. A fucking tank.
He didn't think twice and ran to the other side, straight to the lair.
He entered the sewers through the first opening he found and kept running, round and round until the path to the abandoned train station became clearer, and at the same time, the passage of a destructive force. While it wasn't in pieces, there was a lot of broken stuff and pink slime on the floor.
Touching it was worse than seeing it.
He started looking for any member of the Hamato family but only found empty.
His concern was his trap.
He barely had time to dodge an attack with his katana from one of those infected. Among the tangle of forcibly bent pieces and bones, he could make out the Foot Clan uniform. Of course it had to be them. Couldn't they find a hobby or something? Run a pastry shop or put The Foot Shack back together?
The battle was exhausting, Usagi didn't remember that these guys were so strong. They was draining the energy from him and had to run when he heard more of them coming. So he ran off.
Soon he was back on the surface and climbed to one of the highest terraces he could find between the buildings trying to lose those horrible things. Stabbing pain began to burn through his left leg as soon as his adrenaline kicked low enough. He looked up and found a terrible gash just below his knee. He tore off a piece of his bright blue haori (which had the symbol of the Hamato clan on it and was a gift from the family) and wrapped his leg in a mediocre work but one that would do until it could be revised.
He returned his sight to the place where he was, from this new height he had a better vision of the panorama. It was not comforting what he got to see.
In the sky near the eye-thing he saw figures fighting. Four little ones against something much bigger.
More dangerous.
Between the sickly red and pink sky, he seemed to see how that larger figure crossed an entire building and broke it in half. Usagi's breath caught in his throat, and it was at that moment that he saw a large red figure appear followed by something purple and a large orange fire at one end.
They were the powers of Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo!
In the fastest prayer of his entire life, he prayed to whatever god would listen that he might soon see Leos powers as well. And it was fulfilled.
The figure in red, orange and purple advanced several meters in the air in less than a second and with the blue flash that he so wanted to see all day.
Leo was with them.
Gods, Crying Titan, Buddha, Christ, whoever-it-was, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
His heart calmed for just a second.
The great figure of Raph was thrown back through the air and collided with some nearby surface, taking his brothers with him. A wave of air called to him and Usagi's terror grew as two tiny figures fell uncontrollably straight to the ground. A blue portal appeared again and on the other side, Raph appeared in the magnified version of him. He breathed when he saw how he was holding and saving the two brothers, and surely Leo was with them too. They crashed into the ground on Staten Island (eww), but they were fine.
They were safe.
Usagi was about to run to them and gather to help them, but… something stopped him.
His heart stopped him.
Something was wrong.
His heart and soul kept aching, kept forcing him to look at that hideous thing hanging in the air. His instincts said otherwise. It made him believe otherwise.
But Leonardo and his brothers were fine.
They were fine.
Then why-?
"Sensei, I'm here." a young voice. "And i've got eyes in the key. Just tell me when you're home free and i'll pull the plug!"
“Casey, listen to me, when I get the other side, you close that door." The adrenaline that kept Usagi on his feet was no longer enough then. Everything drained as soon as he heard that.
what?
"What? Sensei, no!"
“Casey, it's the only way. He's to strong. He's not gonna stay on the other side unless I keep him there."
"There has to be way!"
Please. Anything.
“We tried everything, Cass. This is the only way."
"Leo, please don't do this!" oh, Raph. "Leo!"
"Hah," an empty laugh. "You're one to talk bigbro. Hero moves are totally you're style."
Blue flashes were seen up there in a fight, where Leonardo is not supposed to be!
His heart shouldn't be up there. He should be down here.
At his side and not giving his life there alone!
It was not true.
"Leo, please! I can't lose you again." A young voice, but full of pain, he knew.
“Hey, future me would be real proud of you." tears began to come out of Usagi. "Im proud of you."
Leo's intercom hadn't been turned off since then and he was able to hear everything.
"Weak words," who was that voice? "weak actions!" Usagi knew the sound of a bone breaking, but never one of a shell. Leo's shell. "I have forever known what you fail to understand. Strength," a crack. "always prevail." and one more.
"What you fail to understand is i missed on purpose." One last flash, and Usagi didn't know in which direction to look for that stupid kame. For Leo.
His Leonardo.
But the battle continued.
"No, enough of your little tricks!"
More blows were heard from the other side.
"Casey, close the portal now!"
"Leonardo!" He yelled with all his might through the intercom, his instincts reaching him before his reason, waiting for his heartbeat to reach the other half of him. Big tears running down his fur. On the edge of life and death, people always revealed their true desires for them. "Leo, please don't do this, there is always another way." and they always did whatever it took to fulfill them. "Leo, I love you, please don't."
"Usagi," a mutter he couldn't make out, and then… "Casey, please!"
The sky that had darkened in the shadow of death and misfortune now glowed in brilliant colors as the portal closed and the ship departed.
Finishing it all.
Giving hope and a second chance to the world.
The light almost resembled the sun, which had disappeared for hours, and it was a beautiful image. He had never seen anything as beautiful as that. But he couldn't smile or feel anything else. Tears kept flowing and Usagi didn't have the strength to stop them.
The world had been saved, but his heart had stopped beating.
The day when he silently gave his heart to Leo, when he realized that it was true love what he felt for the turtle, his head didnt allow him to think about the future. But it was definitely one where he could hold his hand.
He couldn't even confess his feelings properly.
Leonardo Hamato, the third of four brothers, had given his life for them. For them all.
For a lot of people who never knew his name, and who would know less of his value. That they could never recognize him as a hero.
And all this had happened in just one day.
At what point did everything go wrong?
Then everything became a blur for Usagi.
He doesn't know how long he stayed on the roof of that building. Crying and bleeding, until there were no more tears left to give. Usagi looked at the stars with blurry vision, his body cold and trembling. Perhaps he had already lost enough blood. Maybe he was going to faint at last.
"Usagi!" He heard a voice call him. "Usagi are you there?" It was Raph.
A few seconds of silence passed in which Yuichi couldn't find his voice or energy.
"Answer dumb rabbit!" that was April.
"I'm here." His voice was drawn out and low.
"Where are you, dude?!" Mikey.
"I don't know, a rooftop?"
"You sound terrible, are you okay?" What question.
"I think I'm bleeding out." He heard a lot of noise and alarmed exclamations from the other end.
"Leo, don't move!" Donnie yelled. Did he say Leo?
"Usagi is hurt?" His voice. His stupid, unforgettable voice. He cried again.
"Leo, lie down. I can't treat you if you don't stay still. Sigh of frustration."
"He's alive?" He barely whispered but it was as if he had shouted it to the whole city.
“It is. He's with us, and it's all thanks to Mikey." Usagi got up immediately upon hearing Raph response, staggering, he should be here soon.
He had to see it. He needed to see him. Right now.
"Shit." The pain was worse than he imagined and, wow, everything was spinning.
"Don't move, Usagi, we're coming for you. You can get worse." April again.
"I don't even know where I am. I'll go there."
"Yes, they are for each other." Donnie said. "If you are injured you will only worsen the severity. I have located you, we will come for you in a moment."
"Did you put a tracker on Usagi too, Don?" a what?
"Of course not…" A short moment of silence. "It's a few streets away. Pretty close, actually."
"Ill not be late." He heard something confusing in the background but he was no longer hearing well. Everything sounded far.
He stopped at the edge of the building and smiled when he saw that the distance between it and the other building was not that long. His leg ached but he was sure he could jump a short distance.
He just never jumped.
His leg slipped and without being able to do anything to prevent it, he fell. Usagi fainted before he hit the ground, which didn't happen either, purple and pink roots trapped him a few miles from the ground. Draxum sighed, this had been a terrible day, first he had run out of carrots and then he defended the school from some zombie-aliens things and he just wanted it to end.
With an unconscious Yuichi, Draxum walked to the lair. He wanted to see his children and O'Neil. He wanted to see them breathe. And of course the rat too.
A week passed in which Leo navigated between conscience and medication.
He would wake up just long enough to then be lost for days on end. Usagi barely got away from him. Because he didn't want to and because he couldn't (his leg needed to heal a lot, the cut had reached ligaments and although Draxum saved him from falling straight to the ground from eight floors, some of his bones ended up broken), so he stayed in the medbay. Watching the brothers and father come and go, chatting with him and bringing soft food.
The brothers were no better than Usagi.
Raph had nearly lost an eye completely and it would be a long recovery for his shell and plastron. Donnie seemed to have arm problems like Mikey, his legs were failing as well, but it was more than that (he had said his nervous system may have been fried when he was "ripped" off the console) plus the new scars he could see on his shell. Mikey almost lost the mobility of his arms, all the time they were shaking and it seemed that they had lost their strength, there were moments when he couldn't even hold a pencil.
It was painful just to watch.
Clearly there was more the brothers weren't telling him. But considering all the events of the day, Usagi decided not to ask. Someday he would know everything that happened in those lost hours, but not at the moment.
And Leo, oh, he definitely got the worst of it; a shattered leg, shell and plastron had fractures, another of his arms was also broken, broken ribs, internal bleeding, a sunken left eye, a nearly collapsed lung, and bruises on his head.
A long list.
Usagi's fury hadn't calmed down one bit in all these days. He wanted to dismember that alien scum piece by piece. Gouge out his eyes, his teeth. He wanted to make him suffer.
As for Casey Jones JR (who would say Cassandra would have a child), he was a wonderful boy. Everything he had seen and suffered, and yet he could smile (something that Mikey from the future had surely taught him), was admirable. However, there were times when he was able to notice the looks he gave him. They were very uncomfortable and seemed to dig holes in his body, they were no different looks from the ones he gave Donnie and Raph.
So he decided to ask.
It was an awkward, confusing and sad conversation. He didn't want to know so much about his future (that wasn't his future anymore?). But it looks like it had served Casey, so he was fine. He decided to ignore the "General Usagi" whenever he referred to him, and offered his shoulder to cry on when the memories seemed to be too much for him. He then handed him something. It was the symbol of the Miyamoto Clan carved in a piece of wood and wrapped in a soft blue cloth. On the back of the pendant was engraved something in Japanese.
私の愛するカメ
"Watashi no aisuru kame." Usagi whispered.
I don't know what it means, I never learned Japanese. Casey said. “But General Usagi told me to keep it and give it to Sensei Leonardo if he didn't come back from the mission.” Usagi knew the implication in his words, he didn't come back from that mission. “But I couldnt. I didn't have the courage to give it to him after…”
“I understand Casey.” Usagi said softly, letting him know that there was nothing he had to be ashamed of or upset about.
“First Master Donatello and then you. I don't think he would have resisted.” Casey looked embarrassed anyway. Not having fulfilled his future wish.
“You wanted to protect Leo-san from further pain. I think that is also valid” Casey nodded, but Usagi knew it would take time to him to stop blaming himself for that kind of thing. “Besides, I don't know what my other self's intentions were, and who knows if Leo knew.” that was a lie. He knew well what that carving meant. But he wanted to ease Casey's heart a little.
During the days that followed, Usagi was allowed to walk freely around the lair, but taking breaks all the time. He joined Mikey and April in the rehab sessions they were doing every day, Donnie only joined them twice and then returned to his temporary position as a doctor. And he helped where he was allowed.
The rest of his time seemed unchanged. He stayed by Leo's side, he slept, and now in addition, he admired the carving work. Usagi knew what it was. It was an ancient tradition of the Miyamoto clan.
A tradition for a marriage proposal.
He sighed tiredly, wrapped the carving in the piece of cloth in which it was given to him, put it inside his kimono, and settled down to sleep. He looked at Leo sleeping, it had already been two weeks without him waking up enough to have a conversation.
He woke up after a while when the noise of a conversation became too loud for his sensitive ears to ignore. He turned to see Leo in his bed.
But it was not.
And ran.
With his heart in his hand, he ran with effort on his injured leg until he believed that his whole body was on fire, ignoring everyone who crossed his path and without stopping or encouraging his heart, he continued until he found the damn turtle.
He was in the living room, with Donnie at his side checking one of his bandages.
He was laughing as his twin scolded him for something. Such a common scene where he couldn't stop his heart from going to his stomach. He would ignore the bandages, and bruises, and other traces from two weeks ago. He would ignore all of that, because he was definitely not how he wanted to think about Leo. And above all, because he was here, alive.
Alive.
"Omae kame!" And he would see to it that it stayed that way.
All the eyes of the family were on him. Leo looked as if he had seen a ghost. “What where you thinking, irresponsible? Standing in front of death and leaving us behind without the slightest warning. Not a goodbye. Did you think we would accept your death so easily?” He gave him the softest blow he could (it wasn't so soft) on the arm that was fine, hearing the exclamations of his brothers. "You didn't even respond when I said I loved you, baka!"
There was silence for a second. But it seemed that Leo had had enough, so he spoke. "Does that mean you're mad at me?"
Please, Usagi was beyond angry. He was furious.
And he was also terrified.
All the time that Leo did not open his eyes, fear never left him. “Of course not.” He said quietly, suddenly embarrassed at being so exposed without meaning to. "I'm just glad you're alive.” big tears came out uncontrollably.
Leo said something in a low voice to Donnie, and soon the older of the two was leaving. It's not like he wanted to be present in a situation like this anyway. Leonardo patted the spot next to him on the couch, Yuichi sat down without thinking. The rabbit took the turtle's hands and brought them close to his face where he left two soft kisses on both backs. He hated the feel of the bandages on his lips so much.
Many times it felt like he was in a dream. Everything around him kept walking and going, but Usagi just couldn't move the same way. He was trapped and suffocating. He was alive, but he didn't feel that way. Because Leo wasn't next to him. Even when they had defeated the Krang, he was still fighting for his life day by day. He almost lost him forever.
He continued crying for a while, and Leo left him. Leo sighed. He also needed to feel Usagi like this. Close to him.
During those moments when Leo was just waking up and Usagi was asleep, the suggestive comments from his brothers wouldn't leave him alone. Sure, he'd pretended not to remember the white rabbit's confession, but Donnie knew better. They were his twin after all. In one of those rare heart-to-heart conversations with Donnie, and after a scolding, they let him know of his knight in furry armor's sleepless nights. Leo knew it was to keep him conscious while he checked his injuries, but that didn't take away the embarrassment.
“When I was up there in the dimension and I heard your voice, all I wanted to do was run and hug you.” the turtle said softly. "But I wanted to save you too. Keep you safe.” He left a kiss on Usagi's head, before the start of his ears. Supreme pizza in heaven, it was so soft! “I'm sorry.”
Yuichi squeezed his hands a little more and placed a kiss on each one again. “Do not apologize. Just don't do it again.”
“I promise.”
They both hugged. Coming together as two pieces that must stay together. That they were created to be together.
“I want to do something.” Leo said in a whisper, the rabbit smiled embarrassed.
Usagi looked at Leo to find his eyes with small tears. “Do it.” It was all he said.
"I love you too, Usagi."
Leo released his hands from Usagi and they soon found their way to the rabbit's now crimson cheeks. Usagi's hands did the same, traveling to the nape of the red-marked turtle. And after what seemed centuries of loneliness and cold, his hearts beat again in the middle of spring. They lips brushed against each other for just a few seconds and parted in fear of something unknown.
But it was something that didn't matter. Not now.
They both looked into each other's eyes and when they came back together in a kiss, a real one, the tears in both of them broke free. Everything was warm, and soft. Leo was finally able to relax and stop fighting for his life. At last Usagi felt that everything was going to be fine.
Because now they were together.
Two hearts beating at the same time, one next to the other. They were where they should be.
Where they belonged.
Maybe in the future where Casey had come from, they lost their chance for full happiness because of a war. Things were different now.
They both separated. With goofy smiles and blushes. Usagi gave Leo a light headbutt and they both laughed, then put their foreheads together. It wasn't long before they kissed again.
The future was no longer that horrible and desolate. Certainly neither of them knew what was in store for them, but just being together already made it brilliant.