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The afterlife was not what he thought it would be. Sure, his family was here.
His father looked young and happy, his biggest brother's body free of all the scars and reminders of their life, smiling and laughing as if he wasn’t torn apart trying to protect them one last time. Mikey watched him as he picked up his friends and family happy to see them, unwilling to let go even once. Then there was his second biggest brother, body free of the metal he’d welded to his body as armor the longer the war had spanned, face free of those dark bruises under his eyes. He was relaxed, shell intact and unprotected. His big sister, whom he held while she bled out in his arms. Her smile is warm and face free of the stress that took her youth from her. Last was his immediate older brother, whom he had given the last of his life energy for, sixteen again. Both arms intact. He was joking again and being who he really was, under all those years of mistakes and hard decisions.
He sat away from the others, basking in the warmth that seemed to seep from everywhere here. He was at peace, finally, his dream since they had lost their fathers. His family was at peace, they were free, happy, unburdened by the world.
There were no words he could speak. Because with one look his family knew. They knew that it was over. That they needn't fight anymore. The war was over. Their fight for life was over. And this is their deserved reward, one they had fought for. Tooth and nail, blood and sweat.
So he basked in the warmth of his family here. In the deep sense of peace and happiness that seemed to seep from the very air.
Something is wrong.
It started with a tight feeling in his feet. Strange. He ignored it in favor of a turtle pile with his family.
The feeling grew. Soon it was his whole lower half. Once again he ignored it in favor of cooking a feast.
It ended when he was meditating with his brothers, something they all picked up during the war to feel connected.
His chest tightened, he gasped. All his brothers looked at him with worry. They sat there in silence. All silent communication.
Then his eyes widened. His heart. It was beating again.
"I'm alive." Was all he said before he was ripped from his family once again. Little did he know that as he was ripped into life so were his brothers.
One by one, the war torn heroes of the apocalypse were forcibly shoved into life.
Ripped from their family and forced into a battle they had no say in or want for.
--
“Get back here!” Loud crashing could be heard, followed by the sound of two large bodies colliding. Then muffled grunts and shrieks. Leo sighed as he tried to gather his focus back together, he really needed to ask Donnie about soundproofing the dojo, at least a bit. As he sat in the center of the small room, the grate above him allowing sunlight to filter in, he felt his body relax. His mind slowly drifted.
HIs breathing slowed as he entered the spirit realm. He’d been trying to reach his father for sometime, hoping that by coming here he could seek guidance from his sensi and father. But just as he had a stable connection he heard yelling. But it wasn’t from the world of the living.
The sound sent shivers down his shell. He looked around, not seeing anything in the inky blackness. As he searched, calling out to the sound, he saw something. A flash of vibrant red, then he felt a sudden pressure. It pulled him closer. He tried to resist, but he was pulled closer.
There, barely visuals in the darkness around him, he saw a figure. It was huge, it seemed to be fighting. Flashes of red sparking off it. Creatures attacked it, biting him and dragging him deeper into the darkness under them.
Leo called out, “Hey! Wait!” He rushed forward but was stopped by a wall. The figure looked up at him, and the moment they made eye contact Leo forze. He felt like he knew this person. The person reached out, a large three fingered hand landing on the wall separating him.
Leo and the figure just looked at each other, then the figure was dragged under by those dark creatures. And Leo was alone, alone and he suddenly felt cold.
Then just as fast as the other was torn away, so was he. He woke to Donnie standing over him, worried all over his face. “You’ve been meditating for five hours, you missed lunch.” Leo looked around him, trying to collect himself.
his body was stiff, his scales felt like cloud fluff. What had that person been, what were those things? And how did he know them?
he looked over to Donnie, who was grabbing a plate from the table by the door. “Thank you, can you get the others? I have something to talk about.” Donnie just nodded, quickly running out the door. Leo doesn’t know what’s going on exactly, but he knew that person needed their help.
~~
The lair was quiet, it being one in the afternoon that would be why. A nocturnal lifestyle does that. While everyone was sleeping, Raph and Mikey in their shared room, Leo in the room he was supposed to share with Donnie, Donnie asleep at his desk, his neck will definitely have a crick once he wakes up, and Master Splinter in his small room.
All dreaming whatever it is teen mutant turtles dream of, well all but Master Splinter now. While dreaming he heard a scream, a scream he’d only heard a few times in his long life. His son was screaming. He thought he’d woken up, but as he ran around what he thought was his home he saw shadows. shadows that seemed to overtake all around them.
But he saw it, the shadows eating his son. He called out, trying to get to him. But as he got closer something stopped him. And he realized something. That wasn’t his son, but it was. He was yelling, screaming, fighting the shadows that tried to pull him under and into them. The turtle before him called out to him, asking for help, and the rat tried. He fought to get to him. But he couldn’t. Something stopped him.
he was helpless to watch as his not-son-son was pulled into the darkness, screaming and fighting nonstop. Never giving up, reaching out for the elderly rat.
Splinter woke breathless, heart beating quickly, he felt tears in his eyes. His son needed him and he was unable to save him, to help him. While he sat there, trying to gather himself, an alarm went off in the lair.
He came out to chaos, his sons in various stages of waking up staggered to Donnie's lab. His second oldest speaks a mile a minute.
He placed a hand on his shoulder, “My son, slowly now. What is going on?” Donnie nodded, taking a few deep breaths. “Remember two years ago, the Krang? Well, I made sure to keep records of the magnetic frequency of the portal it opened, and the radiation signal it put out, so we can be in the now if it ever came back. Well, my system just picked up a brief spike in both those. For about an hour my system watched it grow in strength, until about five minutes ago it reached its peak.”
Raph groaned, “Don, it's too early for this! What does that mean poindexter!” Donnie looked at his family, his face serious and maybe a bit nervous, “it means something came through a portal. Something from the Krang." Silence reigned through the lair, Donnies news taking a few moments to filter through half awake brains.
Then three out of four brothers sprang into action. Quickly running out of the room and to get their gear together, making sure they had everything. Donnie and Splinter just watched as they ran around. Just as they were getting to the front entrance they used to go on patrol and their father stopped them, “My sons, wait.” He made his way outer slowly, his aging body rearing its ugly head, “Wait my sons, it is daylight right now. Let Donatello look into this energy, let us form a plan. Do not act rashly in the face of your enemies.”
Leo was panting in his anxiety, not wanting a repeat of their last fight with Krang, looking to his brothers. Seeing the same fear. “Right, right. Uh, let's figure this out first.” Raph and Mikey just nodded, looking at each other. Both visibly lowering their shoulders.
~~
the world shook, not in the earthquake kind, but more in the sense that something fundamental was thrown out of balance. They could all feel it, something was wrong. Master splinter and Leo mediated, Raph tried to train, Donny ran test after test, and Mikey tried his best to double check the lair and everything he thought could cause this.
But three out of five individuals were unable to get rid of the feel or find the cause of it.
it was driving them crazy, Raph and Donny had given up and went to meditate with their father and brother. but Mikey was still looking. He threw couch cushions around, opened and closed doors and cabinets. Slamming drawers shut. Asking Klunk if he had seen anything. He looked behind things, under things, and above things. But found nothing. His body was buzzing, an unseen force causing him to be restless.
His scales felt hot, breath coming in pants. His missing arm felt itchy, like it was still there and waiting to be used. He was reaching the end of his rope, mind unable to handle the sensations anymore. He stormed into the dojo with his family. He threw himself down, getting comfortable and ready to hopefully let this day pass him by.
As each brother connected with the other while meditating they slowly came to the spiritual realm. Last to show up was Mikey, his family waited. It was hard for Michaelangelo to focus and then relax enough to get here for long. His family knew this and would wait for him.
But as they waited they saw a flash of light. And while it's not unusual to see the lights of spirits as they zip around this plane, the sheer luminosity of this light was strange. Following the light was sound, then screeching. They waited for their brother a bit more tensely. Not knowing if this was a threat, not wanting to leave their brother to fend for himself.
Soon Mikey materialized, his body flickering, but present. As soon as he was there though, it was like he was taken over by something. As soon as his eyes opened he took off running, his father and brothers yelling after him.
Mikey had single mindedness to him, running across the spirit realm as if it was a track, ignoring his family.
AS they ran they came upon the place of that bright light and noise. Someone was fighting, fighting with fire. Mikey stopped on the outskirts of the fight. His family stopped beside him. Watching the fight before him.
The figure looked to them, “Get out of here! It’s not safe!” As the figure spoke he was tackled by more of the attacking monsters. Mikey tried to reach out, his eyes were glowing. His chi makes his scales glow.
The figure spoke again, his body being dragged into the shadows, “Don’t! Just leave!” With one last flash of light the figure disappeared. Mikey then spoke, “Find him.” Then his body flickered out of the realm. His family was left too stunned to speak, looking from the space that person had been, to where their brother had stood moments before. “Oh what the fuck was that!?” Raph yelled as he flickered out of existence. Donny followed soon after.
Leo and Splinter just looked to the other, a silent lan forming between them. Their son and brother had asked them to find this figure, so they would.
~~
Two years after coming home Leo can say that he’s four years behind his brothers. While he was wallowing, Mikey’s words, in the South American jungle his brothers were growing. Maturing. Hell two out of three brothers had a job! They paid taxes!
He was lost, trying to catch up with them. His father assured him that they weren’t out of reach, but it felt like it. When Donnie talked to Mikey about tax forms and if he’d kept that years worth of receipts from his parties and other expenses. Then listening to Mikey talk about business expenses and other ‘deductibles’. Raph just ignored them, eating cereal at three in the afternoon.
Leo had tried to bond with them, asking them about things he remembered them liking. Donnie just gave him curt answers and the cold shoulder, Mikey tried to talk with him. Including him in conversations and stuff, while Raph just watched him flounder. It was exhausting.
So he’d come to mediate. Find his center and maybe think of a way to reconnect with his family. He didn’t know how to do this. This had never been an issue before. This is his fault, he’ll be the first to admit that.
It was his choice to leave, and his to stay away. He did this to his family and so it was his duty to fix it. Whatever it takes.
As he meditated he found himself in the astral plane. And he wasn’t alone. Next to him was a figure, large in size and radiating a sense of familiarity.
Leo looked at them. They were dripping in shadows, bodies almost completely encased in it. Leo didn’t move or speak, unsure if this creature was friend or foe.
The figure spoke, “Don’t be the reason your brothers leave. Talk to them. Don’t be the maker of your own ending.” The figure looked to him, pale green eyes with a horizontal black stripe stared right through him. “Don’t let my mistakes be your mistakes.”
Then the figure was gone. Melting into the shadows covering their body. Leo was left alone, a sense of dread and coldness left to blanket his body. The sheer amount of dread kicked him out of his meditation.
In the real world his heart was beating too fast, the physical thuds felt through his plastron. His breath came out in shallow quick puffs. Leo looked at his hands, they shook more than the first time he’d fought foot soldiers. More than the first time he’d taken a life.
“Leonardo?” His head snapped up, his father stood in the doorway to the dojo. Worry etching his face into a grim frown. The old rat slowly hobbled his way into the dojo, “What is it my son, what is troubling you so?” He just looked at his father, words stuck in his throat. Unable to explain the warning and presence he’d received in the astral plane.