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The golden sky peaked between buildings, covered by fog. Amber leaves faded off the branches of nearby trees, signaling that the end of Autumn was slowly approaching. Which meant that the days would become darker, the warm sunshine would become nonexistent, and snow days would be a new normal.
Raphael would be excited, if it weren't for how bitterly cold it was. Sitting perched outside, crouched on a rooftop for roughly an hour was not his idea of a good time---but it needed to be done. Typically he would be shushing his little brothers from their constant giggles and chatting on an evening like this, but tonight he was solo. Not for the sake of being the Red Angel of Preventing Harm, but for a different means entirely.
He had arranged a meeting. A meeting between Casey Jones of the current time, also known as Cassandra, also known as the former Foot Recruit and Casey Jones Jr. Raph hadn't had much time to sit and chit chat with Cass, seeing as she was often doing her own thing. Sometimes they stopped by to play street hockey whenever they could. But other than that...it had been a while. Not to mention the whole Krang invasion halted any casual hang outs period.
Cass deserved to know her future son. Even if it meant shattering the time-space continuum as Donnie had warned. It wouldn't be right to keep this secret from her, especially since they had no way of knowing how to send the other Casey back to his own timeline.
Raph shook his head and sighed. He could barely keep track of his own brother's names. How was he supposed to tell the two Caseys apart? Aside from the obvious.
All was quiet, save for the car horns honking, and the shouts of rowdy New Yorkers and various music genres played all at once from different speakers--okay maybe all was not quiet. The sky was dark now, which meant Raph had been sitting in the cold for far too long. As he was contemplating whether he should bail and grab a pizza to go, he felt a firm tap on the shoulder.
Raph unapologetically let out a shrill soprano scream. Not loud enough to be heard by any regular humans, but still certainly enough to make the person behind him jump. He turned around.
"Relax, it's only me."
His shoulders relaxed once he saw the short teen take off her mask. "Casey! Hey! What're you doing here?"
It was still weird seeing her not in her Foot Recruit uniform, but normal civilian clothes---including some borrowed from April.
Cassandra stared at him. "You told me to meet you here."
Raph blinked and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh...duh, yeah I did." He let out an unnaturally loud chuckle. The kind of laugh that seemed as if it was more out of obligation than anything else. His shoulders slouched and he sat back on the roof's edge. He didn't comment when Cass sat beside him.
"So, are we going to battle tonight?"
He shook his head. "Nah...an' Cass, we don't 'battle' anymore. It's just sparring. Battling implies we're enemies. Which we aren't."
"Right..." Her expression twisted into a smirk. "Almost forgot we're friends now, my apologies."
It took a second to realize that her attempt at a joke before he huffed out an actual genuine laugh. After a moment, Cass spoke up again.
"Then if we aren't sparring, then I suppose we could play some street hockey?"
"Sure, but actually I wanted to introduce you to someone first."
Cass raised an eyebrow. "It isn't that creepy woodchuck, is it?"
Although Raph did want to correct her in saying Todd was a capybara, he decided not to. "Nope, it's actually---"
"Yo Raph, I'm here!" A new voice suddenly piped up from the rooftop. Raphael flinched in slight surprise, beaming as he saw the young teen wearing an interesting looking mask approaching them. He was about to wave, when Cass reacted in a different way.
With zero hesitation, she spun around and tackled the supposed intruder, pinning him to the ground roughly. His hockey stick flew into the air and right down the fire escape.
"Intruder!" Cassandra growled, voice dangerously low. "Tell me who you are and why you were spying on us. Now."
The teen squirmed under her grip. "I- I- '' then he glanced desperately at Raph. "Raph! You told me to meet you here, what's the big idea?"
"Woah, woah, woah Cass relax this is--'' He started, but was interrupted again by a loud, tearful gasp.
"Mom?" Casey uttered.
Cass narrowed her eyes. "Excuse me?"
"Release him Cass, it's okay." He placed a hand to her shoulder and helped her pull away.
Despite the size difference, Cass still managed to look intimidating as she glared at him. "You better explain to me why this one---" She pointed at Casey. "just called me his mother. I am no one's parental unit."
"I know Cass, and it's a little hard to explain but---"
"I'm seventeen! When would I have time to---"
Raphael exhaled, taking a long look at the other Casey. "Would you mind...?"
"Oh sure, no problemo." Casey casually took off his mask, revealing a somewhat average looking teen with dark hair and some stubble. He held his hand out expectantly, which she did not shake.
"Casey, this is Casey." Raph explained, grinning as he saw both of their eyes pop out. "We met him while we were fighting those Krang creeps during their invasion of New York."
"And...?"
"He came to help us out, and warn us all about them because he's..."
"I'm from the future!" The male Casey blurted out. "Isn't that amazing? I mean, it's not so amazing, a lot of terrible things happened but still, the future is like, the future---"
"Yes. That."
"Raph, didn't Donnie tell you this would mess up the time space continuum? Since she shouldn't know about my existence?"
"He might have said...something along those lines."
Cass took one long look at Casey, then at Raph. "Let me get this straight. This fool is from the future?"
"Yup."
"And he called me his mother. Which means...oh no." Now that she was looking at him closer and without the dumb mask, she could almost see the resemblance. Her eyes went wide. "Absolutely not. I can't be. That would be too weird."
"If you think that's weird, you should see what the future is like. It's messed up." Casey shuddered.
Cass gave him a funny look. "Raphael said your name was Casey? As in Casey Jones Jr?"
"Yeah, you told me when I was little you named me after the most inspirational person you know!"
Her lips curled into a satisfied smirk. "Casey Jones Jr. That does sound like something I would do. Well, Junior, it's nice to meet you. I guess."
Casey beamed, hugging her tightly. "I'm so happy to see you mom? Have you met ma yet?"
"Um...who and the what?" Cass wrinkled her nose. "I thought you said I was your ma, kid."
"No, no, other ma! Oops, wait. Spoiler alert?"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." She patted his back and lightly nudged him away. "So...do you know how to play hockey, Junior?"
"What's hockey?"
Cass and Raph shared a look. The latter couldn't hold back a bright laugh. "Guess I'm gonna have to teach you. Come, my child, are you prepared to learn the art of street hockey?"
Casey nodded firmly. "Yes mom! I mean ma'am." He still looked slightly confused at whatever street hockey was, but seemed just as eager to spend quality time with his mom. Although it was a tad weird that they were the same age.
"Good. We play till dawn."