Chapter Text
~~~
Leo Hamato - 2044
~~~
Leo knew. He had known what he was asking of Mikey, he knew what the gateway would take. He knew that Mikey knew. He knew that Casey didn’t. He had known the second that Casey had called out to Mikey that the kid would likely never forgive him for what he was about to do.
(He had known the second that Casey had begged that he didn’t want to lose Leo.)
(Leo wasn’t sure he would forgive himself either.)
And then Mikey shattered, a million flecks of glittering gold swept away in the wind, and there simply wasn't any more time. He allows himself a second- the guilt and rage and hope all bursting within him- before he pushes everything down and turns to Casey, smiling. He could give Casey this, he thinks. A good memory for Casey to remember him by, as all of Leo’s brothers had done before him.
It was almost easy, as he put his hand on Casey’s shoulder, to let a joke he knew Casey would not understand fall from his mouth with mirth he didn’t truly feel. He takes in Casey’s face for what he knows will be the last time, tries not to focus on the heartbreak and despair on his student’s face, and launches Casey towards the gateway.
And as Casey, his student, his son, disappears into the portal, Leo turns and fights. He can make his rage-grief-sorrow productive, give Casey a few more seconds for his journey, protect the kid one last time.
The Krang hound on his right catches up first, before it makes the mistake of latching on to his prosthetic arm, and Leo uses its momentum to slam it into the ground as hard as possible. The one on his left makes a leap for him, and he slashes it with his blade before the attack even registers.
Three things then happen in rapid succession:
- Leo hears the time gateway close behind him.
- He also hears the Krang above him charge its death ray.
- Leo makes a split second decision.
He runs.
With a last burst of hope- for him, for Casey, for the world- he twitches his blade, and jumps through his portal just as he feels the heat of the Krang blast at his shell.
~~~
Leo hadn’t really been thinking much when he had opened the portal, only that he needed to get somewhere safe, at least for the time being. So he is caught by surprise when he gathers himself up off the floor and takes in his surroundings, his breath hitching as he looks around, recognizing the candles and the art scratched into the walls. He was in one of the rooms at their base.
But it wasn’t his room. It was Mikey’s.
And all of the sudden, Leo is hit with the finality of his situation. He hits the floor, tears streaming down his mask as it all finally sets in.
Mikey was gone. So was Casey. The Resistance had failed, there was nothing left. They had thrown everything they had at the Krang, and it hadn’t been enough. Leo let out a disjointed sob because- oh. There’s nothing left, is there?
And as he curls his limbs around himself in some sad imitation of a hug, clutching desperately at his right arm like he would the brother it was modeled after, the shallow hope he had for Casey’s success shatters- the barrier holding down everything he was feeling gone with it.
His family was gone, the Resistance was gone- any hope he had of fixing this, of a future just over the horizon that he could fight for- all gone with them. This was the end, had been the end, and there was nothing he could do about it.
And just as soon as he realizes this, as soon as the hopelessness and despair set in, he feels something crack within him- and he is filled with a profound sense of loss because- he can’t feel his ninpō. There is a void inside him where an electric energy used to lie, but it's all gone dark now.
Leo simply curls tighter as his sobs rack his body, because he not only has lost his last family member, but his only remaining connection to said family as well.
But-
But that's not quite true either, now is it?
And as he sits curled on the floor of his dead little brother’s room, cradling the arm made in the image of another dead brother by yet another brother still- it hits him. He can make sure that his family’s sacrifices weren’t in vain, could continue doing the one thing they couldn’t-
There was nothing left Leo could do- except survive.
~~~
Casey Junior - 2020
~~~
It has been about a month and a half since what was supposed to be the end of the world, and Casey still isn't used to it. “It” of course being the distinctly un ended world, Pizza Supreme knows if it was just the end of the world it would have been easier for him to adjust. At least he knew how that one worked.
There have been so many things for him to learn and get used to- and it all seems so intuitive for everyone around him! He had to get used to the fact that yokai and mutants were a secret, had to re-learn allies and enemies, had to learn the laws this world abides by- and that was just the easy stuff!
Don’t get him started on how abundant resources were here! He had seen other groups the Resistance came across, had thought that the Resistance was doing well, but nothing could have prepared him for just how much everything there was in the past. He didn’t get how anyone could throw anything away, not hoard it all for themselves and those close, just in case.
(It had been a struggle, in the first few weeks, to get him to understand this. That they were not in danger of losing these resources, and even if they did, they could get more.)
The biggest adjustment by far, however, has been trying to understand these new versions of his family. He doesn’t get it, how much of an easy going jokester that Leon is here, how joyful Mikey is, how relaxed Donnie and Raph are. He recognized them more in the few weeks after the invasion, when they were all recovering and on edge, before they shifted back to what they considered ‘normal’, and he feels awful about it.
Because it's just more proof that the family he had known all his life had been formed through suffering and hardship, and these people just aren’t them. That this is the better world, one where they would never have to stay on edge and lose the dramatics in favor of efficiency.
But god damn it, he misses his family- he misses his dad.
So Casey gets up and does the same thing he always does when the longing for his own time grows too strong. Crossing his room, he swipes his hockey mask off his desk and goes to sit on the edge of his bed. He pulls up the hologram displays, and navigates to the recordings that his Donatello had created.
It had been a gift, around when Casey started to go off on missions more often. A backdoor into the rest of Donnie's tech, but initially just the recordings. In hindsight, it was probably to get him to understand and know what he was fighting for, that the world had not always been like this- but it also had recordings from the early days of the resistance, and ever since Raphael’s death Casey had always used the feature to remember what his family was like.
So he pulls up an older recording, (it looked like they were simply training, but he knows by heart that this is the recording where they found out that Michelangelo could fly), and cradles the hockey mask to his chest as he lets the longing wash over him, tears pricking at his eyes and a mournful smile on his face.