Chapter Text
Leonardo woke up feeling weird that morning. Still half asleep, he notices how off his bed is, and— wait. Did he not put pajamas on last night? He could've sworn he did. Trying to get up some more he hits his head on what he assumes to be ...bricks? Ok. Now that is really suspicious and gets him out of bed completely. Not that that made him feel any easier, as he looks around the dark room he realizes this wasn't even his room! Trying not to make any noise in case this was some nefarious villains doing, he scopes his surroundings, quickly taking in as much information as he can. There's a closed tent that has snoring coming from it, and to the other side of that is what he can only assume to be some makeshift bunk beds with each bunk having a sleeping mutant teenage turtle in them!? Except not any mutant turtle that he knows because the only ones he's ever known so far are his brothers and himself and they looked nothing like any of his brothers. This place didn't seem dangerous by all means, in fact it looked like what you'd typically expect from a teenagers room. Still though, Leo knows better and knows how looks can be deceiving especially if it was anything yokai related.
Taking as delicate steps as possible he tries to maneuver out of the room in hopes of finding some exit, only, he failed to notice the mini basketball next to him as he tried to turn around for his first step. The crash to the floor was immediate and loud. Loud enough that it woke up the other sleeping turtles.
"W-wha hap'ed?"
"Wha- LEO? Dude what are you doing up so early, geez..."
"Arghhh c'mon I can't be getting up this early *yawn* I stayed up way too late- uh, Leo? Did you fall over?"
Leo stayed dumbfounded for a few seconds before answering the turtle in the tent as he had fallen right next to him causing them to be face to face with one another, noticing that he squinted really hard at him almost like he was genuinely questioning if he was "Leo". Not really having any time to process how they knew his name, or where they all were really, he opted to say the first thing that came to mind.
"Uhhh- sorry guys I had to use the bathroom and I guess I just slipped on something, haha sorry…" OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO MY VOICE!?, he thought to himself as he finally heard his voice since waking up. And no wonder he wasn’t as stealthy as normal, when the other turtles turned on the lights near them he finally noticed that he wasn’t even in his own body! What in the pizza supreme is going on!
Luckily he was a master at covering up how he really felt at this point in his life, so his internal panic hadn’t been noticed by the other turtles. Instead they just looked annoyed at him. As he got himself up he took in the body he was currently occupying, noticing how his muscles weren’t as sharp and defined and how his gorgeous yellow markings were gone; not to mention the completely different looking plastron that was now flattened on him. "Welp," his train of thought was interrupted when the tallest turtle spoke up, "there’s no way I’m going back to sleep now."
"Yeah, we got school in like two hours, might as well get ready.", said the turtle Leo had fallen next to, who now wore a pair of square glasses he probably had near him.
Guess I’m Leo to them? Agh, this all feels too real to be a dream, maybe I’m under a spell or something. Yeah that has to be it.
Noticing the others leaving the bedroom he decides to follow them as nothing really screams immediate danger, plus if he could find a mirror to look into then he’ll know if he’s dreaming or not, at least that’s what Donnie says. Something about weird reflections snapping you awake or something. Honestly he half pays attention to his brother's long winded ramblings and usually leaves when he gets the chance, though now he wished he finished listening to the one about dreams. Navigating himself towards this place’s kitchen he sees the others have already started breakfast, and more importantly they’ve donned colored masks. Colored masks? Hang on; purple, orange, and red. Those colors!
What? Those are my bros colors! THEY’RE TRADEMARKED!, as he walked by the table he noticed what probably was the bathroom and discreetly made his way towards the mirror in there. Looking at himself he-
Oh.
Oh man.
That’s not my face at all.
Reaching towards his face he gives himself a quick pinch. Ouch! Ok. It’s real, doing anything worse would just be stupid. His face was rounder, lumpy for a lack of a better term. His eyes were more like almost complete circles and his red face markings were gone too. Aw man, those are what define him!
*Sigh* This isn’t a dream. This isn’t a dream and I have no idea what’s going on. Wait, if I’m not in my own body what about my ninpo?!
Before he could continue with his internal panic he heard Mikey, at this point just basing off colors, call for him, "Leo are you ok? Don’t you want breakfast? Or did that fall mess with you?" Leo couldn’t just ignore him. Putting on his best game face, he’s a face guy after all, he walks back towards the table. Seems like the rest of them were almost done eating.
"Oh no I’m fineee guys. Guess I just wiped out a bit when I fell. Um, I just need to drink something."
Not really familiar with this world, his safest bet was just making a cup of coffee and probably liking it. Luckily there was a coffee maker and it works the same as you’d expect, wasn’t he glad wherever he was was just the equivalent of his old home lair only less technologically advanced and smaller. Definitely a sewer and not an abandoned subway station. The coffee maker beeped and he poured himself a cup. He was tempted to use the ugly homemade looking rat mug but he probably would’ve giggled too much and he wasn’t exactly trying to attract too much attention from these imposter brothers. He found himself a comfortable spot sitting next to "Mikey" and began sipping.
"Dude, is that all you’re having? Since when were you a coffee person?", asked not Donnie.
"Um, I just need a little jump to start the day after that fall, don’t worry bro."
"Leave him be D, I mean you don't question my "pancake tower of everything" now do you.", stated Raph as he pointed towards the half way eaten pancakes where you could see remnants of whipped cream, bacon, eggs, syrup, berries, banana, and popcorn. It was a sight to behold.
"I'm desensitized to how you manage to eat all that in under 5 minutes.", Donnie snarked as he went back to his eggs and bacon.
"Well, if you're still feeling weird you could ask dad if you could stay home today. I mean it is Friday.", Mikey suggested while spreading jam on a piece of toast.
"Uh, where are we going today?"
"Uh, school, obviously? Dude, maybe that fall did mess with your head.", Donnie answered while looking at his brother with concern.
"WH- I mean yeah obviously. School. It just slipped my mind what day it was today that's it."
In his internal panic he failed to grasp on to the fact that Donnie had mentioned earlier that these guys go to school. Like, public human school? No way right, maybe a yokai or mutant school? Then again they probably wouldn't be living in a sewer if that were the case. Leo still had his other theory in mind that this place was just some mystic made world in his head. Like that one TV special of Jupiter Jim where he was trapped in a simulation where Jim lived a life of never becoming a space adventurer and instead lived as an ordinary civilian with a wife and kid but by the end of the special Red Fox snapped him out of it by instructing him in the simulation to do something only the regular Jupiter Jim would do. Yeah, if Leo could just activate his ninpo than maybe he could find a way out. Looking over towards Mikey who was done with his breakfast and so were the others he had an idea.
"Hey, since you guys are done let me handle cleaning your dishes. I mean it was my fault you guys woke up so early in the first place."
"Sweet, thanks Nardo."
"Oh you don't have to Leo it wasn't on purpose."
"It's fine Mikey, I insist."
"Well ok!"
That was easy.
As he waited for the others to leave the room completely he made his way towards the sink. Grabbing one of the butter knives from the dishes he tried to channel his ninpo and waved it in hopes of transforming it into a katana. After a few seconds nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. One last try. Nothing.
Arghhh!
Leo threw the butter knife in frustration into the sink. His face now in his hands as he tries to calm down. Taking in what he’s seen and what he’s feeling, this didn't seem like a situation with any easy or obvious answers, but he isn’t going to give up. No. His best course of action now is to just play by the motions of this fun house mirror version of his life and see if he can find any clues on what’s going on. Though right now he should get back to these dishes, he did promise after all. Just as he finished that thought he suddenly heard a voice.
"My son, is everything alright?", asked an older sounding voice. Whipping his head up to see a mutant elderly brown rat with glasses wearing a maroon robe with a black belt standing across from him. He was about his height as far as he could tell but slightly shorter and hunched over. He was looking at Leo with worry, waiting for an answer.
Wow, ok, this place has a Splinter too. Great. Totally not messing with my head.
Leo really shouldn’t be surprised, at this point he should just expect even more familiar faces to start showing up when they can. He wonders if Draxum is nearby anywhere.
"I’m fine dad, just tired from waking up so early. I mean it is my fault the others are up too.", he wanted to sound less tired but hoped Splinter would get the gist that he probably didn’t want to talk much right now.
"I heard. Understandable. If you are still feeling bad at school you can call me and I will come pick you up early."
"Yeah, ok. Thanks."
Giving a quick head pat to Leo, Splinter returned to his room, leaving Leo to collect himself for a bit. After cleaning the dishes he returned to the shared bedroom and saw how the others were dressed in human clothes. Guess they dress up for school, so which ones are mine? He saw that there was a dresser near "his" bed and on top of it were neatly folded blue clothes. Going off that these guys also color coordinate their clothes like him and his brothers he guessed these were likely his. Once he unfolded them he was a bit taken aback by the outfit choices.
This is like store employee fashion, I am in high school right? Oh man, if Donnie was here he would call this outfit a fashion faux paw.
Although he would like to go through the motions of this world, maybe he could do some things more his style.
"Leo, hurry up. We’re going to leave without you if you’re just going to stare at your clothes.", Raph told him as he grabbed his backpack and duffel bag.
"Right, just give me a bit. You guys can go ahead without me. I’ll catch up soon."
"If you insist."
"We really won’t leave without you, we’ll be up the manhole waiting."
"Mikey, dude, c’mon I was trying to scare him a bit."
As they left, Leo looked through the turtle's clothing options and he picked out some navy blue denim jeans and a baby blue graphic tee that had a palm tree island design with a green to orange ombré effect. He didn’t really like his shoe options, none of them really had that added height he likes. Looking over to Raph and Mikey’s side of the room he did notice some Timberlands that were right up his alleyway.
I’m sure they won’t mind, we are brothers after all.
Having his outfit almost done, he remembered the others were wearing some form of jacket or long sleeves as they left. It was likely cold out so he looked around for something to keep him warm. He spotted a dark indigo jacket near Donnie’s tent and liked the asymmetrical patch work it had going for it. Having an outfit that he knew wouldn’t give his Donnie a conniption he changed and quickly looked over what his backpack had making sure he knew where everything was. Lucky for him there was also a folder with a class schedule he could follow without looking suspicious to everyone around him. There were some helpful notes written on it too, one that caught his eye immediately was a note that read "NEWSPAPER CLUB WITH APRIL" with some hearts doodled next to it.
Awesome, April is here! Newspaper club makes sense, she is majoring in journalism now. Cute hearts.
Not really giving the hearts a deeper thought he puts the folder back and hauls the backpack over his shell. Guess these things were modified with them in mind. After telling Splinter he’s leaving he makes his way up the manhole and spots the others waiting for him. As he hauls himself up the others take notice of his outfit.
"Hey! Is that my jacket?"
"Are those my shoes?"
"You look different, not a bad thing by the way."
"Yeah, thought I’d change it up a bit. Sorry for not asking but you got to admit I look good." The brothers shared glances with each other, the way Leo was acting has been a bit off since this morning but they brushed it off and started their walk to school.
"Dude, you could’ve at least asked me if you could borrow it!"
"Hey I’m just glad he doesn’t look like a Best Buy employee right now."
"Yeah yeah, again, sorry Donnie, tell you what I’ll buy you whatever snacks you want at lunch today. No limit."
"Really? Ok, I’m holding you to that."
"Hey Leo, did April say yes?"
"Uh, say yes to what little bro?"
"To see if we can eat in the newsroom today during lunch?"
"Oh. Uh, let me check my messages, I don’t really remember."
He had already checked if he could access his phone in this world, surprisingly the same password he’d usually use. He recognized some of the contacts in it and some he didn’t. No Draxum in them so he worried if he even knew him here, which he wasn’t used to thinking about the guy who threw him off a roof.
"Jeez dude, did that fall mess with your memory?"
"Yeah, or maybe he was too nervous to ask."
"Oooo~ yeah, felt like maybe he was asking her for more personal time together?"
What?
"Why would I be nervous? Don’t we like hanging out with April?"
"I bet you do, pfft."
"Ok, why are guys being so vague-", and then it hits him. Oh. The hearts, the teasing, he got it now. Oh boy.
"Whatever, do guys want to know or not?", trying quickly to change the subject.
Keeping that realization in the back of his mind, the rest of the walk to school was an experience. He and his brothers would come to the surface whenever they'd want but never without disguises or keeping to rooftops and shadows or a really convenient excuse on why they look like mutant turtles. Now though, he was out here in the open walking by humans, humans that recognized them as mutants without any fear or disgust. Some even said good morning to him as he walked by. It was so different, he didn’t really know how to feel about it.
Finally they arrived at school. Wow. Leo wasn’t ready for how crowded these hallways were. He spotted a bulletin board that read "EASTMAN HIGH GO RHINOS!", the name sorta sounded familiar to him. There wasn’t any time to take everything in though as the bell rang, he waved goodbye to the others as he walked to his first class.
Already he was having a hard time paying attention. He could barely sit still and anything the teacher was saying was going through one ear and out the other. Even though he’s faced literal near death experiences he somehow would take that over listening to the importance of square roots or cosine or whatever. He never understood why Donnie fantasized about attending school, maybe it was the routine or the nerdy clubs he could join but he really can't imagine himself doing this everyday. Hell, even Raph or Mikey would have a better time than him right now. The only class he sorta paid attention in was language arts, it did help that the class had a fish tank with fishes that reminded him of Piebald.
It was finally time for lunch. He made his way through the lines, got his "lunch" and found the others waiting for him. April had said yes that they could eat in the club room for that day so they made their way there. He was kinda excited to meet April in this weird world. Raph knocked on the door and the one who answered was a teenage black girl with short auburn hair styled in locs, she wore a black beanie and glasses and had freckles on her face. Honestly she looked younger compared to his April and seeing how she was still in high-school she was probably the same age as these guys.
"Hey guys! Leo, new look?"
"You bet."
"I like it. No one else is here so you guys can sit anywhere. Just watch it if you spill anything."
"No problem, and dear Nardo, I remember you promising me some snacks."
"Here, go crazy." As he handed Donnie the wallet he found in his backpack.
He was glad for lunch as his head was starting to feel dizzy from staying seated for so long in between classes. He really needs to be careful not to disassociate as school was only halfway done.
He really didn’t have the energy to talk so he left the others to chat among themselves, he didn’t want to risk saying anything too out of place as he still didn’t know where or what he was experiencing. Like, if this was some mystic force or highly advanced simulation and some villain was behind it to keep him in place. Honestly his only experience with reality being manipulated around him was when his bros were trapped by Hypno in an illusion caused by an enchanted song that made them try on different fashion as a distraction. The only thing is he’s extremely aware of his surroundings and knows he isn’t where he’s supposed to be so what any would be villain would want out of him being here like this he couldn’t figure out.
"So did you guys finally watch Spider-Verse? Cause I’ve been dying to hear your guy’s thoughts on it!", asked April.
"Not yet, I mean, trying to get these guys to watch a movie that’s more than an hour and thirty minutes long is hard enough. Too bad, they're really missing out on one of the better multiverse storylines.", Donnie answered as he opened his third bag of chips.
"Hey don’t blame us, I just think a movie like that is better on the big screen and no offense we don’t really have a good enough TV for it. Plus aren’t multiverse stories overplayed.", Raph said as he tried throwing a balled up napkin into a trash can nearby.
"Since when have you watched or read any multiverse stories to compare it to."
"I haven’t, I just like disagreeing with you."
"Raph, believe me you’ll love it especially the action scenes, Mikey you’d love the visual style of it all and Leo I know you’re a DC fan but I think Miles would be a character you’d really enjoy."
Multiverse? Wait.
"Yeah I probably would. I mean, uh, what do you guys think about the idea of multiverses in general though?"
"Like Raph said they’re kinda overplayed but I don’t think that means every story is automatically bad."
"Yeah same, plus there are some creative characters that can come from a sorta reimagining of a preexisting character. I mean isn’t that what a reboot kinda is anyways. Having a multiverse adds some cool meta depths to it all."
"Well, I think there is something cool about other worlds existing. Like in real life, imagine other versions of us. Now that’d be something.", added Mikey.
"If there was another version of me that’d be awesome. Someone I could finally go all out in wrestling with."
"Woah, multiverses existing in real life is a bit of a stretch. I mean there’s a lot to consider; the law of physics, conservation laws, quantum mechanics, Einstein's Theory of Relativity-"
"We get it ya’ nerd.", interrupted Raph.
"What I’m saying is it’s all hypothetical and there’s very little evidence of alternate universes existing."
"What about us, I mean humans didn’t know we existed."
"Yeah, but we do exist Mikey, we literally are the evidence."
That's it! What I’m experiencing right now has to be some sort of alternate universe. Like what Donnie’s crazy conspiracy board said! Oh boy, don’t I owe him a lot of money.
Leo finally had something to work with. It’s no wonder this world was so similar but so off. He wasn’t in a villain's poorly replicated version of his reality, he literally was in a different universe. The way these guys were the same type of turtles, the way April and all of them seemed to be the same age, how they were attending a real human school, the way he was painfully aware of every single difference. Even the way the world looked could be explained. More importantly these guys were real, they were his brothers, they were just this other version of Leo’s brothers. Oh man. That was the other important detail wasn’t it. Why was he in this version of Leo’s body and not his own? What happened to his original body? Was it back home? And more importantly, where was this version of Leo?