Chapter Text
Casey ran up the winding stairs, his breath coming out in angry huffs. He had his mask tipped over his face, chainsaw hockey stick ready to smash into anyone who was prepared to stop him. His lungs burned as did the walls around him, and the sounds of fighting between the Kraang and the Resistance on the grounds below echoed up to him. He never stopped, cloak flying behind him as he stormed down the hallways to the one person left he needed to protect.
Leonardo.
He smashed down the door that was normally a safe haven for the turtle, crossing his fingers that the Yokai would be there. "Leo!" he felt his voice crack in a small moment of emotion, one he normally reserved for the two of them.
The room was once beautiful, with a soft bed with curtains and a long window that let the sun shine in each morning he came to awaken the leader, and at times a bit messy with several outfits laid out for the day to choose from. There was no warmth now, only terror as he looked around fearfully, then paused, swallowing.
Michelangelo floated near the bed, mumbling to himself, blood sliding over his face as Casey took a step closer. "...Uncle Michelangelo...?"
"Casey."
Ah. There was that familiar voice that was always full of eager joy, that would swing him around and call him a 'handsome young man', teasing the Leader about how 'cool their kid was'.
Casey turned to face Leonardo who came from the closet, dressed in a rough looking robe but still smiling at him. The sleeve on his right side was pinned up against his shoulder, a harsh remnant of the war going on.
The outfit did not suit the energetic Yokai. Casey swallowed roughly. "L-Leo-"
"Casey." He held his arm out, and for a moment he was no soldier, but just a scared kid, running into the arms-arm-of his elder who held him tightly, rubbing his back as he shook from the adrenaline. "I know, I know, it's really scary," he murmured, and Casey felt those green lips touching his hair as they had done very often. "We've fought long and hard, but it's over now."
"What!" Casey jerked back, his mask flying up as he stared up at his leader, shaking his head. "N-No, it can't be-the others, they're holding them off-"
"But not for long," Mikey said behind them. He must have been keeping watch on the battlefield. Leo nodded, still smoothing his hand over Casey's hair gently.
"We've always known it would not last. Their numbers had grown extensively," he murmured, and stepped away from the door of the closet, and Casey followed with practiced ease. They stared out the once beautiful window onto the blood-covered grounds, Kraang fighting the mortals of this Earth. "...but...there is something we can do."
"What? Anything, what can we do?" his fingers tightened in Leo's robe, not willing to give up his family without a fight.
Leo chuckled, patting his cheek with a smile. "Years ago, when this all happened, it was slow getting to where we are now. We were brash and brutish, thinking we could just...do whatever we wanted," he sighed, and Casey recalled this story immensely. It was one that he was often told. How young and foolish they had all been at first, thinking they had the world in their hands, only to get nearly killed in the first ten years. Then it became easier, but now...Leo gripped his shoulder tightly, staring down at him with a frown. All Casey could see was the old scar that stretched from the turtle's shoulder to his plastron, the proof of how this Earth was a horrible place to those it knew not. "Casey. You have to go back and help us."
"...what?"
Leo nodded at his brother, who gave a cheery wave in comparison to what was about to happen. "We've been working on this since the last time we heard of their movement. If we had someone, anyone at all, to help us keep things...under control, then it would have been far easier to get to where we are now." He squeezed Casey's shoulder again, smiling. "That's where you come in, Case. Go back in time, get the key, and talk to Kalin. He...might not be very supportive at first," he let out a sharp laugh and Casey couldn't help a watery smile at the thought of the now felled Leader. "But, you know how he is. I get in his ear and it's all smooth sailing from there," he winked.
"But, you didn't know about him until he came here," Casey mumbled as Mikey started rolling up imaginary sleeves, flexing his fingers as Leo pulled out a piece of glossy paper, uncapping a marker to doodle on the back.
"I didn't, but I know how that story goes. Trust me, I lived it," he winked, making Casey sniffle a bit, taking the image from him. "That's what it looks like, you've seen it before, but this way they'll...we'll know. You got this," he said, hugging Casey tightly as if it would be the last time they'd see each other. And it would, wouldn't it? This Leo would no longer exist and Casey- Casey hugged back, shuddering as he nodded. "Find the key. Find us. And make our utopia."
When the Resistance finally stormed the castle, all that remained was the last of the Leaders, who smiled at them before setting off a bomb, effectively taking out the last of Earth's protectors.
~~
Casey landed in an alleyway of what he knew was New York, taking in a shuddering breath as he quickly swiped his gloved hand over his face. "Find the Key...find the brothers," he mumbled, taking out the image again. He studied it, flipping it over to see the photo with a soft smile, feeling the tears well up again.
It was the Leader in his mechanical body, large and imposing, one metal hand on the arm of the throne. The other was reaching over to his side, where another throne sat, and Leo, normally prim and proper-ish during meetings, had one leg crossed over the other, head balanced on his fist and sticking his tongue at the Leader who had a smile on his face. Their guard, Raphael, stood to the side, halfway into an eyeroll, Michelangelo peering over his shoulder and waving at the camera. Donatello stood with his hip touching the arm of his twin's chair, looking both bored but happy. A metallic hand was reaching up and out of the way, taking the photo, while another had wrapped around Raph's shoulders playfully. A woman Casey only knew through stories had climbed upon the Leader's throne, holding a bat aloft and grinning smartly at the camera, one milky white eye staring ahead with her hair in puffs. The 'lone' friend they had, they had always claimed.
This was before even Casey was born or even thought of, before things went downhill fast and hard...
He shook himself out of that, folding it carefully and putting it away before pulling his mask down. He knew from a few sparse stories that they had originally lived in the sewers, away from humanity in order to keep safe.
He just had to find where.
--
When humanity came to fall, they really had only themselves to blame. You see, they would have been protected had they only kept their prejudices out of their minds. But alas, it was this that began our...'heroes'...story.
Leo is only ten when the series of events that would lead him to ruling over an alien race would occur. His youngest brother was eight, and his oldest, 11.
Some workers had been curious on why a vault door would not unlock, and it was in the early hours of the morning that they had cracked it open, finding a small home created by a man turned rat trying to raise his four children.
He was then, summarily, killed.
Not, you know, immediately. It wasn't like they had a gun on them. No, what happened was they were chased from their home, and in true fear, the humans shoved the older rat into the sewer water, drowning him before the young children.
They then decided that the young ones were...something to involve the FBI with, and no one dared to grace them with another look as they sobbed on the ground in fear and sorrow.
They didn't wait to be captured. They ran.
They hid.
They survived.
And humanity would be regretful that they did...
~~
Leo hummed as he wrapped the bandage around Mikey's hand, peeling and smoothing over a clown sticker with a chuckle. "Maybe be more careful with your knives, yeah? I know you get excited while carving."
"Yeah," Mikey pouted, flexing his fingers lightly with a huff. "I keep carving the wrong way."
"You'll get it, little bro," he chuckled, patting Mikey's cheek playfully. "Now, go on, I gotta make sure we're stocked up. It's Saturday, you know?"
"Kay! Bye, bro!" he laughed, darting out of the medbay with ease as Leo sighed, standing up and clapping his hands together.
Saturday was the day that most offices tended to close, Sunday being for sure but they often had cleaners coming in on that day. Saturdays were the easiest to bust in and get stuff they needed.
He sighed, letting his mind wander as he started counting out medicines and the like, mumbling and making notations on his clipboard.
He and Donnie had turned 17 just last month, and they had celebrated with a small cake made courtesy of Mikey, candles and all. They put up a picture of their father and sang together, then Mikey gave them nice little paintings to hang up in the medbay and lab respectively.
It felt so strange to be this old. He really figured that they would have all died eventually by the hands of humans. The only one they truly trusted was April, who would sneak down to give them supplies or would play games with them to ease their worries.
He hummed, adjusting his blue mask over his face, glancing over at a mirror.
He was a red slider turtle with the red marks to boot, but the most fascinating thing was the scar that spread from his upper right shoulder down into his plastron. It was a ‘gift’ from a horrified human who had wandered down into the sewers. Leo had still been so young and had wondered if, maybe, being nice would be the way to get to know these strange beings.
For his attempt, he got a knife to the shoulder that grew infected in no time, and somehow he survived, but with a brand new reason to be fearful of the ones up top.
April, their only human friend who had not betrayed them, had wrapped his wound and eased his tears. Despite being young herself, she had taken on an ‘older sister’ role, making sure none of them went hungry or got hurt, as best she could being older by Raph by only a year.
Leo shook his head, taking out a clipboard with a soft, stuttering sigh. Okay, they were needing more bandages, stickers, ointment…thankfully not a lot, they’d tended to avoid getting injured too much.
He hummed, tapping his pencil against the clipboard as a distant alarm sounded. It was most likely April, since Donnie had set alarms for whenever someone got too close to the lair, but he peeked out of the medbay curiously all the same. His twin was pacing in the ‘living room’ as he pecked at his wristband, frowning. “April needs some help. Nothing SOS.”
“Okay,” he said, ducking back in to put away his clipboard before coming out. Were it not for their masks…well, that wasn’t true. You could easily tell who was who due to their differences in species, but their father had always had difficulty telling them apart (playfully, of course), so they wore them in his honor.
Leo was blue with a half mask over his eyes, like Mikey and his orange one. Raph and Donnie shared a bandanna that covered their heads, but were red and purple respectively.
He stretched as Mikey bounced into view, the clown sticker still on his hand as Raph waited by the entrance. “Let’s gooo, maybe she’s got a present for us!”
“Maybe,” Donnie said, shooing them out the door as Mikey climbed up Raph’s back, content to cuddle up to their older brother that way. “Let’s go find out.”
Leo felt a smile quirk on his face, happily following after his brothers, something squirming into his heart for a second.
It felt like…
…something new was about to take place…