Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Do me a favour.” Leo sucked in a breath. This is goodbye. “Grab a slice!” Leo flung him, and smiled at Casey. He ignored the horrified look on his student’s face.

One last time. One more minute. One more second is all he needs.

He blocked a Kraang bot with his right arm. He slashed at another with his sword. He turned to keep moving forward and all he felt next was fire. Burning. He was dying. He’s definitely dead.

And that’s how he came to, lying on the ground. Ears ringing, eyes closed, surrounded in a sea of warm liquid, but alive nonetheless. He couldn’t think straight. How was he not dead? He couldn’t hear. Why was it warm? It’s warm and cold. It was cold. It’s noisy, why was it ringing? Ringing… where? What was he doing? Why was it warm? Or cold… or…

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And he came to again. The wind was blowing, and he shivered as the warm liquid seemed to have turned sticky and all gross. And look, he’s thinking straight now.

Leo pried open his- ew, disgustingly-shut-by-some-weird-ass-liquid eyes, with great effort, of course. He was met with the familiar red sky and a barren wasteland. Because of course he got hit by a laser and survived, such miracles are his life.

Grunting in pain, Leo spent an embarrassingly long time to push himself up, his arms burning. Every jerk sent an electric shock throughout his body, but Leo still managed to get up.

Fuck his mutated-to-be-a-soldier specially engineered body. Made him stupid strong so Leo couldn’t even die from a fucking lazer. Leo stood up on shaky legs and took a glance at his surroundings. Contrasting the earlier ringing noises he heard, it was now dead silent.

Leo took a step forward. And another.

Leo noticed something. Not a Kraang in sight. Also not a person or yokai in sight.

Leo kept walking aimlessly. What was he even doing? Where was Mi—

“Oh fuck.” Leo whispered. “Mikey— Mikey!” Leo spun around, his heart beating a million miles. Where was he? Where…

…Oh.

Leo’s heart sunk.

Leo took a look at his left hand, and his sword. Specifically, the hilt of his sword. And the two colours on it. Not an orange bandana in sight.

“… you did it again, Leo.” Leo whispered. He put his prosthetic over the hilt of his sword. “You killed your only brother left.”

Leo kept walking after that, not knowing where he was going or what he was doing.

He came past a gruesome field, or maybe he could say it was dead man’s zone. He saw an arachnid he knew personally, dead, stabbed right in the stomach.

Leo definitely did not puke his guts out or stay at the place for longer than a couple hours.

When he moved on, Leo barely had to take a couple more steps before seeing the body of his… oh god. His older sister.

“Holy fucking…” Leo said, his face dawned in horror.

Maybe he cried, maybe he broke down, maybe his heart dropped and maybe he felt like just killing himself there and then because he was quite sure that that meant he was truly and totally alone.

It took him two days of moping around and literally nearly dying of thirst did he leave April and Big Mama’s dying place, dragging their bodies along with him.

Leo tripped on his feet a couple times, choking and holding in the sobs while the tears fell from his face uncontrollably, carrying Big Mama and April to their base. The destroyed base.

It took another day to make it back, a couple hours to bury his family, and another few to bury a few other comrades. All while not seeing a single Kraang bot, person, or yokai.

Leo sighed, looking at the still dyed red sky. Who knew what happened to everyone, but all he knew was that it was all over. For him, at least.

“Leo, Leo, Leo…” Leo mumbled, lying down to admire the sky he had despised for the last twenty or so years.

“What have you done to deserve being alive…?” Leo sighed. A moment of silence passed. “Why are you even talking to yourself like a crazy maniac? I think you’ve gone insane, Leo, maybe I should start being like Raph and talk about myself in third person.” Leo chuckled.

“Leo thinks this is dumb. Why is Leo even alive?” Leo groaned, putting his prosthetic over his eyes. Another moment passed before his heart sunk once again. He really was alone this time.

As if acknowledging his thoughts, a warm gust of wind blew by, warm enough that Leo could pretend he was home safe with his family. His alive family. And that they were hugging him, in a turtle-human-rat pile. Then a thought came to him.

“Actually, Leo being alone- Leo being alive last, the only one who didn’t die is the best outcome I could’ve asked for.” Leo sat up, and gripped his sword tightly.

“I never would wish this suffering on my family. Being alive sucks.” Leo stood up. “Being alive last while my family dies without me sucks.” He took a step forward, out of his base.

“No one should go through this. That’s why this burden falls on me.” Leo kept his gaze pinned straight forward, ignoring the generator short circuiting in his big brother’s chest as he walked past it.

“The leader. Leo’s the one that lost the key.” Leo unleashed the sword. His markings started glowing.

“It started with me, it’s gonna end with me.” Leo growled, his walk turning into a jog.

“Fucking- Fuck you, Kraang! Come out and fight!” Leo yelled in a surprising show of aggression. He didn’t think he had anything left.

Then again, what had he left to lose?

“Fucking shit- bitch- KRAANG! YOU MISSED ONE! THE LEADER OF THE RESISTANCE!!” Leo roared, breaking out in a full out sprint.

“COME GET ME!!” His markings glowed brighter, and brighter. Just like a movie, the Kraang emerged out of nowhere, brandishing weapons and metal and overall impossibly impossible situations.

“You think you’ve won? You wretched…little… pest?” Kraang prime, in the skin (goo?) laughed.

“I’ll fight alone. This isn’t about me.” Leo growled, running forward at a lightning fast speed. Kraang prime couldn’t see him coming before Leo was up in his face. His sword lit up.

There we go. Twenty years of fighting in the apocalypse got him somewhere.

“THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY!!” Leo yelled, a guttural sound echoing through the wasteland. He swung down with all his strength, and his markings broke for the first time in 22 years. He felt the familiar warmth of his ninpo, and the fight from then on was a blur.

Chunks of red and metal clanging and the red sky— Leo was moving quick. He was slicing through everything and portalling with insane precision since the first time he got back his powers.

He portalled far away whenever the Kraang did the weird sealing powers ritual, and came back to continue his massacre right after.

The fight may have lasted minutes, or hours, or days. Who knew? Leo was so fuelled with adrenaline, and he didn’t have a watch to tell the time, anyway.

Reinforcements were called, and at some point the wasteland was filled with Kraang bots and Kraangnified humans. As far as Leo could see, in all directions surrounding him, to the horizon and back, were filled with pink and grey enemies.

He sliced and slashed and stabbed, his muscles screaming for him to stop. But Leo was alive. It will end with him. He will win. He’ll avenge his dead family.

Then he finally caught a glimpse of the one thing he simultaneously wished he never set eyes on and wished he had found.

That shitty, cylinder shaped, piece of shit that ruined everything.

Yelling in pure exhaustion now, Leo reached forward with his left arm, his prosthetic long gone ages ago. He dropped his sword, his only weapon sacrificed for the key, and he reached out. He saw a tentacle going for him, and he’s not gonna make it—

The tentacle jerked to a stop right at his eye. For that millisecond, it was enough for Leo to rip the key right out of the ritual circle.

It was beautiful. Spectacular.

The portal shut close with a loud bang.

And that left Leo in the middle of Kraang corpses, grinning up at Kraang Prime’s half a body.

“You… you’ve ruined everything!” Kraang Prime screeched, his broken armour brandishing its remaining claws.

“Heh… how’s it feel being portal chopped?” Leo smirked, picking up his sword and ending his last slash.

Just like that, Kraang Prime dropped to the ground, Kraang bots stopped moving and the alien humans turned away, starting to walk aimlessly around the barren wasteland for eternity.

Leo did it.

He won.

Leo smiled, pride welling up in his chest. Two decades of hell and he finally won. He did it. For his family.

He won.

All.

By…

Himself.

Leo’s smile dropped as fast as it came.

He sunk down to the floor in defeat. He’d won but there wasn’t anyone left to celebrate the victory.

Adrenaline slowly leaving his body, Leo started to feel his injuries, his exhaustion of fighting for god knows how long, and overall hopelessness.

He’d kept up the fight and tried to keep everyone’s spirits up during the entire apocalypse, but Leo could feel his hope finally dying.

Leo collapsed to the floor, that little flickering flame of hope in his chest slowly burning out.

This is it, he thought. My brothers are gone. There’s no one left to care about.

Leo didn’t know, but as much as his family needed him as the shining beacon of hope for the resistance, he too, needed his family.

With that, the flickering light of hope took a deep breath, and let it go.

He sunk into darkness.

Finally.

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A warm gust of wind blew.

“GET THE FUCK UP, LEO!!”

Chapter Text

Just to recap, Donnie had absolutely no clue what was going on. One moment he was surrounded by his family, one moment he blinked and- oh. He was dead.

He hovered over his own body, senses finally working as they should, everything looking clearer. It’s as if Donnie was never sick!

Donnie cheered internally for a good second, and his twin’s eyes snapped open. Leo became frigid and tense. As if he knew instantly that Donnie was…

“No…Donnie…?” Leo whispered, looking straight at Donnie’s unmoving body. “I’m here, Nardo..?” Donnie waved a hand in front of Leo’s face, and saw nothing. No reaction or recognition other than Leo’s face crumbling. “Don… Don… Donnie?” Leo choked out, alerting Mikey to wake up. Mikey took one look at Leo’s face and started sobbing.

“No… No!! Donnie!!!” Mikey sobbed, draping his body over Donnie. Donnie’s non-existent heart probably rocketed, seeing his little brother cry brokenly for him. Being the smart and logical brother, Donnie knew. He knew what was going on was impossible, but he knew he became a ghost. That didn’t stop him from trying to put a hand on Mikey’s shoulder to comfort him in vain, his hand passing straight through Mikey’s body, as expected.

“Angelo… don’t cry, Donnie’s fine. Donnie’s right here, healthy and strong…” Donnie said softly. Mikey made no sign of recognition that someone spoke, continuing to sob over Donnie’s plastron.

Raph’s robot body moved, and a growl of static enveloped the base. Nothing could be made out behind the panicked static Raph sent out, but Donnie was pretty sure Raph was calling his name. Turns out the program did become gibberish if Raph’s mind was gibberish. Donnie floated over to the front of his big brother’s robotic eye, flailing around incessantly. “Raph! Raphael! Big bro! It’s Donnie, Donnie’s good! Can you see me?!” Raph, similar to his other two brothers, made no reaction noting Donnie’s ghostly appearance. Raph kept panicking, holding a crying Mikey and a ghastly looking Donnie, while the real ghost-looking Donnie stayed floating in front of Raph’s face in general.

How Leo would appreciate this situational pun, Donnie thought, as Raph shifted to cradle Donnie’s body in both his robotic hands rather than in the crook of Raph’s elbow.

Just then April and Casey came back right at that moment, Leo having slid down his big brother’s hands, his two brothers still panicking and crying.

April mumbled something to Casey while he yelled “Uncle Tello!!”, and Donnie replied, “Casey Junior…” out of habit, watching his brothers mourn over his dead body. He didn’t know why he was here, why he was floating around, why he wasn’t with their ancestors, but he’d rather stick around if he could, anyway, to watch over his family.

Leo had his leader mask on, already yelling out orders, but Donnie’s twin senses were telling him that Leo was absolutely shattered on the inside. Mikey stood off to the side with April, tears quietly running down their faces.

It ended up with Casey sobbing while grasping at Donnie’s hoodie, and Leo collapsed next to Donnie’s wrist, his twig like wrist which was no thicker than Casey’s, holding it carefully in both hands like it was a thread that could be snapped at any time.

Donnie watched his family go through all the stages of grief over a couple weeks. He watched Casey receive his gift and his prerecorded message, feeling guilt and relief at the same time for leaving his kid alone, but knowing he’ll be alright with his gift. He watched Mikey break down, and Leo barely keeping it together for their little brother, who was now the strongest mystic warrior the world had ever seen. “He’s gone, Leo! His spirit’s gone, I can’t talk to him… I…” Mikey‘s voice trembled. “I don’t know what to think…”

A moment of silence passed as Leo hugged Mikey. “It’s okay…. I’m sure he’s fine—“ Leo took in some quick breaths. “He just… got into some crazy shit again…” His voice trembled.

“You don’t know that.” Mikey mumbled into his brother’s chest, tugging his cloak. “It’s a…” Leo trailed off. “…a twin sense.” Leo concluded. “It’s more powerful than all that mysticism.”

Twin sense told Donnie that Leo stringing together those words took everything in him to not break down. But yeah, he wasn’t with the Hamato spirits because he was a fucking ghost floating around. Well, he did have some regrets like leaving his family behind to deal with the Kraang aftermath, so that was that.

He watched Leo’s prosthesis electrocute him, nearly costing him his life. Yeah, Donnie had a couple of self-hating cursing himself out days for that, but he could do nothing but stay by his twin’s side and watch his wounds fix itself at an astounding speed.

He watched Raph sacrifice his robot arm for Leo’s new prosthetic, for the lack of materials, and blamed himself once again for not being alive to help them out. He smiled as he finally saw Raph and Casey having their well needed son to father bonding time, lost from the time Raph was missing. Casey did a good job making the prosthetic, better having something rather than nothing, but Donnie was screaming and pointing at that one metal he just realised that would change everything, but no one realised it. Because no one could hear Donnie’s screams. Because he was dead and a ghost floating around.

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There was a mission where Donnie nearly combusted internally. There was nothing he could do but watch as the Kraang army looked to be three times larger than estimated, Leo and a couple other resistance fighters the only thing in between the hidden base and the army.

As numbers from both sides got smaller and smaller, the remaining people of the resistance started losing energy, while the Kraang stayed strong, being robots and mindless monsters and all. Leo sliced down another Kraangified human, getting in the way of others countless times to save them. Donnie saw something moving in quick-

He screamed where his brother could not.

He screamed as the Kraang hound nearly ripped his twin’s head out its socket.

He screamed as Leo got tossed around like a rag doll, his swords discarded and body limp.

He sobbed in relief as resistance soldiers returned the favour and rescued Leo, His neck bleeding profusely but he was alive. His twin was alive.

Goddamn, feelings were amplified by a thousand when no one could see him.

Donnie stayed by Leo’s side as he patched himself up, no one left to do the medic things in the middle of nowhere. Donnie grimaced as Leo used shaky hands and stitched his own wound up with a straight face. Some crazy times where sticking a needle in your own neck was just another day in the apocalypse.

Leo went back, got fussed over by his two brothers, did some more stitching and bandaging, and headed to Donnie’s lab in a sullen mood.

Donnie looked back at Raph and Mikey as they gave each other sad knowing looks before turning away. Donnie frowned. This Mikey-Raph behaviour wasn’t normal. Leo stalked off with a hole in his neck and they left him alone. So because he was a ghost and he could go wherever he wanted, he followed Leo to quench his curiosity.

Leo opened the lab doors and both of them listened to Donnie’s computer voice echo through the lab.

A click. “Security system is operating normally. Power levels are stable.” Donnie’s voice called out through the ceiling. Leo frowned before looking up to the voice in the ceiling.

“Protocols 3, 45, and 47 need to be updated.” A click. A moment of silence.

“Really?” Leo said softly. “Is THAT all I’m getting today?!” His voice got louder.

Donnie frowned. Wasn’t this what Leo had received every other time he came into Donnie’s lab? What was so different today? Did he miscalculate something? A fault in his adjusted programs that couldn’t pick out a problem in the base?

“You! You always have backup plans for backup plans! Now you’re dead! What is next?” Leo cried. “What do you have this time? A robot?”

Kind of, yes, just not really… happening anytime soon.

“Some weird AI thing? VOODOO MAGIC?!” Leo yelled in anger. “Come on! I’ll do your dishes for you. I’ll let you be the older twin forever. WHAT OTHER STUPID SHIT HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED?!”

Yes please to the dishes, Donnie smirked. Maybe to the older twin situation, Donnie still wanted to have meaningless fights over who was older, no matter how he wanted to admit he was annoyed. And to be honest, Donnie really wanted a cup of water and to breathe oxygen again. Or to walk on the damn floor like a normal turtle affected by the laws of gravity. Or to feel something. He watched Leo put his arms out, looking at the black screen on the top of his table.

“Just show your fucking face! Whatever you are now! I promise I’m not gonna be mad!”

Donnie huffed and flew around Leo, waving around and flying straight through Leo. No reaction. “And he shows his beloved brother his ‘fucking face’, he says sarcastically.” Donnie says sarcastically.

Leo stood staring angrily at the black screen, rubbed his eyes roughly and threw away the scarf that covered his recent injury.

“Oh.. look! Some Kraang hound tried to bite off my head today!” Leo gestured to his neck. “I had to use a fucking mirror to fix this! Wanna come here and tell me how dumb I am? Or maybe.. I don’t know.. help?”

“Or is all I’m going to get….”

“…is your voice from the ceiling telling me what I need to update?”

A moment of silence. Donnie scrunched his face together. He felt a surge of guilt watching his twin talk to the ceiling not knowing Donnie was actually ACTUALLY here. Donnie didn’t know whether to scream or to cry. He knew Leo nearly died from getting his head bitten by a Kraang hound. He saw every moment and couldn’t do anything to help.

He saw Leo keep a straight face and use a mirror to stitch himself back up. He kept fidgeting because he was useless as a ghost.

You are dumb, Donnie wanted to yell. You’re the dumbest selfless idiot who keeps throwing himself in front of danger to protect others. What about you? What about your life?! He wanted to slap Leo as soon as he could touch him…. right after a hug.

He would help if he could. Hell, that was all Donnie was good for, which is why everything was falling apart now without him. Dumb Kraang manufactured a disease to specifically bring Donnie down, and it worked. Donnie wanted so badly to help the resistance, or more specifically, his family win the war, but he couldn’t. Not in this state.

“I’m sorry.” Leo’s voice cut through Donnie’s thoughts. “I… didn’t mean to yell..” His voice sounded defeated, all previous anger seemingly disapperated. “..it’s not your concern… or your responsibility.” Leo sighed, picking up his discarded scarf.

Casey picked this time to knock on the lab door, peeking in concern.

“Sensei? Is everything okay? Why… are you yelling…?”

Leo looked back at the ceiling, before wordlessly walking towards Casey and out the lab. Donnie was still reeling from Leo’s surge of emotional anger, and stayed where he floated, watching Leo’s figure get smaller.

Right before he closed the lab door, Leo spoke up in a monotone voice, loud enough that Donnie could hear from inside the lab.

“Happy birthday, Dee.”

And with that, the lab plunged into darkness, leaving Donnie alone to despair in his spiralling thoughts.

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Yet another mission came by where Donnie couldn’t do anything but watch as his youngest brother destroyed himself.

It was one where they finally cornered Sister Kraang, fighting to gain ground in one of the large armies of Kraang.

Mikey was a force of nature, mystic chains circling around like shields as they protected Casey and other fighters.

He electrocuted Sister Kraang, who let out an animalistic scream, but otherwise stayed very much alive.

Mikey stayed focused, eyes glowing and chains moving, but then Sister Kraang started to taunt Mikey.

“Oh, what’s the matter, creature? Can’t you hurt me with your pathetic sparks?~”

The chains grew tighter on Sister Kraang, keeping her in place as Mikey turned to focus on other fights.

“I know you,” Sister Kraang continued. “You’re their support unit. Things must be bad for you, huh… Where’s all your firepower?”

Mikey stayed focused, eyes away from Sister Kraang and mystic powers flowing smoothly.

“Ah. Right~ It’s dead.” Sister Kraang smirked, knowing the damage she was dealing would be irreversible. “How embarrassing. It took longer than we expected.”

Mikey jerked. Donnie gasped. No way they just admitted that they purposefully killed Donnie.

Mikey’s eyes returned back to his normal shade of blue, mystic powers wavering and shaking. His focus was now fully gone from the fight, turning it to Sister Kraang.

Still smirking, Sister Kraang continued, “You green creatures are pretty hard to kill. You just kept coming back. The purple one kept bringing you back, it was so annoying-”

Donnie huffed. Of course he brought everyone back, he’s the fix it guy. Something happens? He fixes it. Good to know it was him they saw as a threat and not his other brothers.

“-but we did a good job making sure he stayed dead.” She finished.

Donnie snuck a peek at Mikey, and even though he technically could shamelessly look at the scene in perspective as an invisible floating turtle, he could (even if he couldn’t logically) feel the anger radiating out of Mikey.

Mikey slapped a hand onto Sister Kraang’s face, grabbing the ooey, gooey disgustingness.

“Ah. Did I hurt your feelings?” Sister Kraang chucked. “You dumb species get so vulnerable when you get hurt; it’s ridiculous.”

Mikey gritted his teeth, pushing Sister Kraang harder back into her armour.

“Shut.” His powers started up.

“The fuck-“ His powers weren’t the normal bright orange, but instead a dark, blood red.

“UP!!!” A boom, then red tendrils emerged from Sister Kraang.

It surrounded the whole battlefield, going past Donnie and into the enemies which were closing in on Mikey and Sister Kraang during their conversation.

Those enemies, the Kraangified enemies, started turning back to normal people. Their allies. And while there was a spark of awe that Mikey could do that in Donnie, it quickly turned to fear as he realised the magnitude of Mikey’s powers being spread on the battlefield.

“MIKEY STOP!!” Donnie screamed, despite knowing Mikey couldn’t hear him. “YOU’RE GONNA DIE IF YOU KEEP THIS UP!!”

His screams mirrored Sister Kraang’s, who was finally perishing under Mikey’s powers.

“YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!!” Mikey yelled, tearing up, fists clenched.

His powers circulated around him, finally killing Sister Kraang.

“I WILL DESTROY YOU!!” Mikey’s fists started dripping in blood. Strands of his hair were becoming white, and Donnie could only watch on in horror.

“EVERY!” Mikey’s hair was fully white.

“Single.” Mikey’s face fell and his face of anger merged into one of sadness.

“One.. of..”

Mikey sunk to the floor, fists unclenching. His face dipped down and he started to shake.

Donnie floated over to Mikey, trying to grasp at Mikey’s hands.

“Look at what you’ve done, you dum dum… it’s bleeding.” Donnie murmured, mostly to himself than to Mikey. His heart ached at the face his little brother was making; one of pain and agony as his teeth stayed clenched and silent tears dripped down in a constant flow down his face.

Donnie tried once again to touch Mikey’s ripped palms. To help, to comfort, to do something.

Then Mikey looked up, straight at Donnie. Donnie’s non-existent heart skipped a beat, hope filling his heart. Then as quickly as it came, it left as Mikey’s face changed into one of despair. Donnie turned around to see-

Mikey wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the newest wave of Kraang monsters.

Even more than what first came, even more than what Mikey just killed and those he just revived.

It had to be Kraang Prime calling for reinforcements. Donnie scowled. Knowing his sister died and getting reinforcements in less than a minute.

The Kraang ignored Mikey and Casey who was helping Mikey up, heading straight for… oh no.

“Master Leonardo!” Someone Mikey just revived spoke into the communicator Donnie programmed for the resistance. “The Kraangs are moving towards the base! Get out of there! Now!!”

The next hour was messy, Donnie anxiously floating around, watching as the base he spent all his hard work on got destroyed after being found, regardless of the lengths he went to hide this place, and people and yokai dying to the sudden invasion of Kraang.

He was so occupied with other people in the resistance that he didn’t see his war-focused brother, leader of the resistance, drop his facade for a second more than he had in a long while, looking into Donnie’s destroyed lab, before the mask came on again and he shot out orders like the experienced war leader he was.

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The new hideout in the caves had nothing. No electricity, no fresh water, not enough space, nothing. After Leo had enough time worrying over Mikey and Casey like the older brother and father he was, he checked on Raph and the other people in the resistance, feeding the injured and making sure Casey and Mikey had enough to eat. In this case, slightly thicker water with some vitamins sprinkled inside.

“You dum dum, when are you ever gonna take care of yourself?” Donnie sighed, knowing the burden Leo had to take as the leader of one of the only resistances left on Earth to go against Kraang. Doesn’t change the fact Leo didn’t eat.

And then all went to hell.

There wasn’t a backup generator for a backup generator. Lights were turning off and water wasn’t being filtered.

“We need another source of energy,” One of the adults told Leo.

“It’s okay. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do.” Mikey assured a Leo who crouched down behind a crate.

“I know what to do. But I hate it so fucking much.” Leo’s voice wavered. “There’s… another generator. But.. it’s..”

“Of course you can take it.” Raph’s robotic voice echoed through his position in the cave. He hadn’t moved much since they came under here; he was too big to really help out around the place.

“How can you say that so readily?? It’s practically your heart! You can't just live without it for a while!” Leo’s gritted his teeth.

“Yeah… I know.” Raph’s voice came out garbled, his clarity of speech getting lesser and lesser due to the whole apocalypse situation. Also because Donnie wasn’t there to repair it for him anymore. It’s a miracle he can still talk now, Donnie thought.

“Then refuse!” Leo’s face changed into one of desperation. “Say you’re against it! You’re a living being, not just a walking construction, for fucksake!”

Donnie thought, bitterly, that he’s been seeing everyone sad and angry more than he ever sees anyone happy anymore. It wasn’t a good thought. Or a good realisation.

“Leo, I understand that it’s a tough choice. You don’t have to make it— Raph will make it for you.”

Leo’s face switched from desperate to downright miserable, putting his head onto Raph’s face and whispering, “Dammit.. why are you like this…”

They told Mikey.

“No no no! Raph please!!” Mikey cried. “What if you disappear too? Just like Donnie?”

Donnie winced. Mikey tried contacting the Hamato spirits a bunch of times after the first one, and he was successful, just not with Donnie because Donnie was here floating in the present and not in the afterlife.

“Well then, wherever he is, I’ll give him a big strong hug for you, okay?” And Raph hugs Mikey the best he could with their size difference.

“I’m sorry Raph… I’m… uhghh… I’m so sorry…” Mikey sobbed.

Then Raph broke the news to Casey.

“You can’t do that!! You can’t leave us again, it’s not fair! Uncle Raph… please…” Casey begged, grasping onto Raph’s thumb which was bigger than his face.

“Take care of them for me, will you?” Raph whispered.

He set Casey down and addressed the three of them, Casey and Mikey, each clinging onto Leo’s arms. Donnie floated next to them, looking up at Raph, face falling from his next words.

“You all take care of each other.” Raph said. “Listen to Leo. He’s the eldest now.”

And oh, how the look on Leo’s face made Donnie want to kill Kraang over and over again to come back to life just to hug his twin.

Donnie watched as Raph’s generator got plugged up piece by piece to power up the cave. The last line went in and the movement in the Raph robot stilled, Raph going completely still. That was it. His big brother died.

Donnie shed tears of, definitely, definitely sadness. He watched his remaining two brothers weep in silence, face towards Raph and standing tall. They had to act strong in the face of the resistance, and it hurt Donnie to know they couldn’t show weakness like kids as the faces of the resistance. It was their responsibility.

Leo stepped forward and hugged Casey and Mikey, giving them the chance to sob freely as the now turned big brother covered them, away from the knowing glances of the remaining people and yokai of the resistance.

Donnie choked on his tears, wiping away a tear. He looked up and locked eyes with someone.

Someone who had shock written on their face, someone who looked so familiar and so fresh and healthy.

Someone who just died.

“Wha… Donnie?”