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Reality is falling apart.
Donnie’s aware of it before he’s aware, knows it like he knows that the square root of 144 is 12 (easy example, but that doesn’t really matter, now does it), knows it like he knows that he has three brothers that he needs to find.
When he opened his eyes, he didn’t know what he was expecting, but it’s a desolate wasteland. The sky was red, the ground wasn’t much better, and the few remains of skyscrapers are all dull looking against the harsh landscape.
The first thing Donnie hears at the end of the world is a groan.
When he looks towards it, he’s not sure what he’s expecting to see, but it’s surely not a mutant turtle, wearing a blue mask with tails that fall by his elbows, and with a set of katana strapped behind his back. It’s not Leo, but it’s close, and Donnie just knows that it’s Leo from another universe.
“Hey,” Donnie says, as softly as he can considering the circumstances, and before he knows it the other Leo is on his feet, pointing a katana at Donnie’s neck. It doesn’t take him long to figure out what’s happening, either, the whites of his eyes still not disappearing as he places the sword back in its sheath.
“I’ve met a Raphael that sounds like you,” he offers lamely.
Donnie huffs a small chuckle at that, despite the fact that his brain is running a mile a minute trying to figure out what’s brought him here. “I’ve met one, too. Maybe they were the same ones.”
“Those guys were somethin’ else, I wouldn’t put it past ‘em.”
Following the statement (which had surprisingly not come from this version of Leonardo) there's a harsh clap, and Donnie spins around to see his Raph lifting up a Mikey that matches the Leo standing next to them. Without a second thought, both sets of brothers rush towards each other, or at least Donnie and Leo rush forward, Raph begins complaining about the hug almost instantly but Donnie is already lost in the relief that at least he’s not alone in a desolate wasteland.
“We gotta figure out how we ended up here,” Leo finally mumbles, drawing them back to Earth.
“And where here is,” Mikey agrees, the whites of his eyes beginning to scan the terrain surrounding them.
“Well I say we head towards the bright yellow light,” Raph grouches, and before Donnie can scold him for making a joke about the sun, he catches sight of it too; a yellow light shining through the dust.
With only a glance, the four of them are taking off towards it in a sprint, Raph and Donnie unconsciously checking behind themselves to make sure that Leo doesn’t trip – despite the fact that their Leo isn’t here.
When they finally weave around a big piece of rubble blocking the light’s path, they’re suddenly gazing upon a bunch of bright, glowing chains, moving in a wind that Donnie can’t feel.
In the centre of it all stood a lone, dark green figure. There were yellow paint-splatter-like splotches across his body, which were flickering. His arms were outstretched and he was tensed all over, despite the fact he wasn’t pushing anything.
What catches their collective attention, however, are the orange mask tails that fly behind the figure, again waving in the non-existent wind.
It’s the only thing they need, and then Raph is yelling out a “Mikey!” And the figure doesn’t look back, but falters, and the chains flicker, and the entire world rumbles.
“I didn’t mean to bring you here!” The alternate Mikey calls, not commenting on the glowing cracks that are beginning to appear on his fingers and stretch towards his wrists. “I need to send you back!”
“What the hell is this?” Raph demands, and of course there’s worry under all of that – of course there is, any version of Mikey is still Mikey as far as Raph is concerned – but it comes out as an angry demand, and it clearly catches the kid off guard.
“I… I’m the only thing holding this universe together,” the kid says, and there’s an undertone there that not even Donnie can place, but he has a feeling it has something to do with the lack of other turtles in the desolate wasteland around them. “If you aren’t sent back, you’ll crumble with me and… I can’t let that happen, ‘ight? So just, let me do this.”
Part of Donnie wants to protest, to save this kid from whatever this place is, but the way the kid is saying sounds like the moment he gives up the universe will collapse, and that means there’s now way out for him.
So Donnie turns to the white-eyed counterparts of his siblings and they all share one clipped nod before a yellow light engulfs them all, and suddenly Donnie and Raph are stumbling to stay upright in their own lair, the only evidence that it had ever happened being the dust stuck under Donnie’s finger nails.
And of course, he and Raph share a look that means they’ll never speak of it again, and both try to ignore the burning knowledge that somewhere in the multiverse, a version of Michelangelo had died to save their lives.