Chapter Text
Every step sends an unbearable agony shooting throughout his entire body. He clutches desperately at the wound, trying to put as much pressure on it as he can with his rapidly depleting strength, but he can still see the warm blood leaking through his fingers. He struggles to draw in breath, feeling likes he’s suffocating as he pushes on, knowing that if he stops or hesitates for even a second, that he will be unable to continue. And he knows he must. As much as it pains him – both physically and mentally – he knows he has no choice. So, as the world falls apart around him, he presses on, clinging desperately to the last shreds of hope he has left.
He can feel Casey pressed tightly against his side, trembling as he carries them both forward, and through the pain, Leo takes a second to feel so incredibly proud of his student.
“I’ve got you, Sensei.”
Casey says, trying to be reassuring but Leo can hear the slight tremble in his voice as he does so. He readjusts his hold, clutching Leo’s hand as tight as he can.
“Stay with me.”
Casey doesn’t quite beg, both of them know how bleak their situation is, but neither of them wants to lose the other.
He chuckles, trying to ease some of Casey’s worry, but it falls flat when a sharp stab of pain shoots through his side and he winces in response, squeezing his eyes shut through the pain. When it subsides for a moment, he opens an eye and tries to smile at his student once more.
“You’re a life saver, Casey Jones.”
Casey flips open his mask and gives him a watery smile in return. “I learned from the best.” He says, sounding so utterly sincere, that it takes him by surprise for a second. “Come on. We’re almost there.”
They continue on in silence after that, both too tired and focused to keep up a conversation. Leo struggles to keep going, knowing and hating that he’s relying more and more on Casey to keep upright. His thoughts are slow and heavy, slipping through his grasp like smoke as he tries to reach for them. The pain is becoming overwhelming.
The ground shakes, bringing him a brief moment of clarity, as an explosion goes off beside him. He trips, legs too weak to hold him as the earth moves beneath him, but Casey pulls him back up in one swift movement and the two continue their desperate sprint forward. He’s panting even harder now, breath coming out in short wheezing gasps that only cause more pain. Once more he wishes that he could stop - to rest or give up he doesn’t know – but the warmth of the body beside him keeps him going.
He opens an eye again; unaware he had even closed it again in the first place and glances around. They’re at the top of an incline now, giving him a clear perspective of the chaos that surrounds him. No matter how many times he lays eyes on the world he now lives in, it never fails to terrify him. A broken symbol of liberty reaches up through the ground, its dilapidated state a sombre reminder of just what been had lost. Buildings crumbling and long since destroyed. The myriad of lives that once called them home are now either long gone or stuck fighting a futile battle. Amidst the smoke and the rubble, New York is not even a shadow of what it once was.
It is hell.
Complete and utter hell.
He drops to his knees. He is exhausted, hurting, and losing more and more blood every second. He knows that he cannot continue. Even Casey is unable to keep him upright anymore.
As he hears the beasts behind him, growling and snapping in anticipation of finally catching their pray, he can only think of his student.
One more person I’ve let down, he thinks, bitter and full of hatred towards himself. He braces for death, hugging Casey as tight as he can as he waits for the inevitable.
But there’s a crash behind him, and a voice breaks through the haze of his mind. He turns, facing his rescuer, and watches with joy as his brother appears in a flash of golden chains.
He has never felt more relieved.
“Impeccable timing, little brother.” He says, unable to keep the grin off his face. “Very dramatic.”
His once energetic brother says nothing in response, more focused on defeating the enemies before them. There’s a brief moment where Leo feels grief at the loss of who his brother used to be, but his focus quickly shifts as Casey places him as gently as he can in a slightly – very slightly – safer location, and begins checking him over.
By now the coherency is quickly leaving him again. With the immediate distractions gone, there is nothing keeping him from focusing on the pain and on how weak he really feels. Everything seems to fade out around him. He vaguely hears Casey talking but cannot concentrate enough to understand the words. Through swimming vision, he glances down at the blood coating his hand and then up at the destruction that surrounds him.
He knows what this means.
He cannot fight anymore. He refuses to make Casey fight anymore. And he knows – despite how powerful he is – that his brother cannot survive fighting by himself. Nor does he want to make his brother fight all alone.
“That’s it. The resistance failed. The Krang won.”
He thinks of all that’s been lost, broken, and torn apart.
All because of one stupid, pathetic mistake.
“But it isn’t over. We’ve still got a ninjas greatest weapon... hope.”
He turns to look at his brother.
“That and a badass mystic warrior.”
He hates that they have reached this point. That he has to say his next words. He pauses, hesitant, and the smile drops from his face.
“Mikey, we need a time gateway.”
Mikey’s eyes widen and Leo hopes, against everything, that his brother will refuse. But Mikey steels his expression and says:
“It’ll take everything I have.”
“I know,” he chokes on the words feeling horrified but desperate. “But this is our last chance.”
He takes a deep breath and faces the consequences that his choices have made.
“It’s our only chance.”
Mikey hesitates for a brief second and then nods in determination. He floats off, rolling up his non existent sleeves as he goes to face his death.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Casey asks from behind him. “Where’s he going?”
Leo tears his gaze away from Mikey to face his student, holding a hand up to silence him.
“Casey, listen.”
There’s a flash of gold in the corner of his eyes and it takes everything he has to stay focused on Casey and not turn and look.
“The Krang first came to our planet through a mystic doorway.”
He grabs the old and warn photo from his bag, glancing wistfully at it one last time, before he turns it over and begins drawing.
“The key that opened the doorway looked like this.”
He draws the key and hands it to Casey, who grabs it, looking confused as he does so.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because Mikey’s about to send you back in time to the day the key was stolen.”
Casey’s eyes widen in shock and he shakes his head.
“Wait, he’s gonna what?”
“The people who stole that key opened the doorway for the Krang. You have to find it before that happens. Find the key, stop the Krang.”
“But, Sensei-” Casey tries to say but he interrupts, knowing that they don’t have much time.
“Say it!” He demands, pressing his hand into Casey’s shoulder, desperate to know if he’s been understood.
Casey pauses, looking conflicted but dutifully repeats him.
“Find the key, stop the Krang.”
Leo smiles, proud, and pats Casey’s shoulder. Tears fill his student’s eyes as he reaches up to grab the hand on his shoulder. Leo is sure that the grip would be painful if he could feel it.
“I don’t want to lose you.” He cries.
“Casey, it’s not about me.” Leo responds, trying to put on a brave face. Of course, he knows that he cannot be selfish and he knows that his words come across sounding harsh, but this is a point that he has to make. It is a lesson that he had learned the hard way.
Being selfish is what caused all this and he’ll be damned if he lets it prevent a chance at saving everything.
Then suddenly, a red light appears above them and he turns and faces the giants that tower over them, cursing himself that he did not notice them approaching.
He knows that their time is up.
Wincing, he leans on his sword and pushes himself up, blocking out the pain as best he can as he swings his sword around, ready to attack. His vision wavers dangerously and he knows that he will not be able to fight for long. Another light appears behind them. They are completely surrounded now.
“Mikey.”
He glances over at his brother, hating that he needs to hurry him up. Mikey says nothing, but Leo watches as his little brother’s arms begin to crack at a faster speed, unable to do anything.
Red and purple masks brush against his hand and he tightens his grip on his sword, whispering apologies in his head to the long and soon to be dead. He stares unwaveringly at Mikey. At his wonderful and brave little brother.
He hears Casey yelling from beside him, desperate and confused as he finally realises the truth of what’s about to happen.
Mikey turns back to face them, a soft look on his face and Leo feels his heart sink.
This is it.
Mikey winks and Leo looks his brother in the eyes for what he knows will be the last time. And then, finally, Mikey turns round, and in one last brilliant flash of gold, his little brother – and only brother left – vanishes into sparks of sunlight.
And then Leo is the last brother standing.
He wants to cry and scream and break down into an incoherent mess. He’s suffered loss before - suffered it many, many times - but it still hurts just as much as the first. He wants to give up and mourn but he knows he doesn’t have time.
Even if he knows he will not have time later.
So, he takes a second to clear his thoughts, closing his eyes and watching the spots of sunlight fade. He wills back the tears, knowing that he needs to be strong for just a little bit longer. He opens his eyes, feeling sad yet proud, takes a deep breath, and continues on.
He puts a hand around Casey’s shoulder, calling his students name as he does so.
“When you’re done saving the world, do me a favour.” He smiles, tightens his grip, and shifts his stance.
“Grab a slice!”
He throws Casey towards the portal, takes one last look at the boy he could almost call his son, and then turns around to face his destiny.
To join his brothers once again.
He puts up as much of a fight as he can whilst week and tired. He kicks, punches, and slices enemy after enemy.
And then it is over.
In one agonising yet peaceful moment he finally lets himself rest.
As his body fades, and as he relishes in the weightless bliss of unconsciousness, he is oblivious to the specks of sunlight that dance around him.
A familiar voice whispers amongst the wind.
“I’m sorry.”
And then he is falling.
He suddenly feels heavy and wrong, as if he is being shoved into something that he does not fit into.
He is screaming.
A voice, so familiar yet different, is screaming in tandem with him.
There is a fear that is not his own, that shoves at him and fights against him. Desperate, panicked, and pained but unable to do much.
There is a cacophony of noise within his head. Everything is loud and quiet at the same time.
He cannot think or feel. He is numb and his thoughts are jumbled and incoherent. He does not know who he is or where he is. Only wishes desperately that all this will end.
And then every thing tilts.
Something shifts.
And all is still.
He lands with a hard thump onto solid ground.
The world is quiet for a brief moment. He lays where he landed, panting once more. And then the world slowly reappears with a harsh ringing in his ears.
There is someone talking, lifting him off the ground and trying to get his attention. But his vision is still blurry and hearing still ringing. He blinks, trying to clear his vision and can just about make out a large blob of red and green.
Wait.
Red and green?
There’s stinging in his eyes and he reaches up a hand to rub desperately at them. He needs to clear his vision. The voices are sounding slightly more hysteric now but his eyes are finally starting to clear and the shape of his oldest brother finally starts to take shape.
“I made it.” He sobs. “You’re all here.”
He can now see his other two brothers, both hovering over him with worried faces.
I’m in heaven, he thinks, happy for first time in years.
But there’s a thought in the back of his mind that feels like him, yet isn’t.
This is hell, it whispers, sounding like it can barely talk. Get out. Get out. Get out.
He shoves the thoughts back, confused and scared, and begins to really take in the world around him.
The ground is solid beneath his hands. His body hurts and something feels wrong. Raph is shaking him now, and every jerky movement hurts. He shoves away from his brother, despite wanting nothing more than to be enveloped within his embrace, and stumbles away.
He’s at the top of a bridge, he realises, a very familiar bridge. There are several pizza boxes discarded around him.
He’s beginning to come to a realisation.
There’s a shrill beeping coming from behind him, snapping him abruptly out of his spiralling thoughts.
“Huh? What is all that ra- oh that’s me.” He hears Donnie say.
Leo’s heart sinks and dread fills him.
This can’t be...
He can’t have...
And then, suddenly, he is aware once more of the voice trapped within his head.
Please, it begs, let me out.
Images of golden sunlight fill his thoughts, and he remembers a soft voice.
Oh.
Oh no.
Maybe this is hell, he thinks, as the voice of his younger self cries out fearfully in the back of his mind.