Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It starts three months after the invasion. Well, really, it started at the invasion, maybe even a little before, when Casey first time traveled into the past. Because that’s what first started the series of fractures in the time branch. But they didn’t realize how often it had separated or fractured until three months later.

They were sitting in the infirmary at the time, Raph away with Splinter, April, and Casey – the boy Casey, not the girl Casey, because they hadn’t been able to get in contact with girl-Casey since the invasion – and Mikey was busy with Draxum, participating in some kind of weird mix of mystic-physical therapy. Donnie was sitting off to the side on Leo’s right, mug of coffee in hand, scrolling through his tablet aimlessly.

The silence was comfortable, soothing. Donnie had spent the first month avoiding Leo, terrified of losing him again, terrified of feeling all the emotions that had burst through him the second the portal closed on Leo, locking him in the Prison Dimension. The only time he spent in the infirmary was when he was absolutely forced to, usually to attend to the occasional medical emergency for Leo, or late at night, when he thought Leo was sleeping. Sometimes he talked to Leo’s still figure. Other times he just cried.

It didn’t take as long as Leo had thought, but somehow felt like an eternity anyway, for Donnie to finally return, realizing it felt even worse to abandon Leo than to constantly fear him slipping away. “It’s better to love and lose,” Donnie had said in a hushed voice, hovering just out of reach like he was scared Leo would send him away if he was any closer. He burrowed himself in Leo’s arms, anyway, the second Leo held out his arms for him.

It had been two months since then, and Donnie spent every available moment he could by Leo’s side, especially when the rest of their family was sleeping. He slept when everyone was awake and someone else was keeping Leo company. It worked better this way, and made Leo feel happy that someone was always with him. More appropriately, it made him feel loved.

Leo rounded his gaze over to Donnie, a gentle smile on his face, about to tell him as much – probably for the hundredth time – when Donnie abruptly spat out his coffee. Thankfully, not over his tablet but back into the mug and slightly on his hand, but it was shocking nonetheless.

“What? What’s going on?” Leo demanded, getting an arm underneath him and pushing himself up to a sitting position, eyeing Donnie with worry.

“It’s…” Donnie struggled for a minute, still coughing around whatever coffee he had accidentally inhaled, setting the mug down on the counter to hack for breath for a solid minute. When he got enough air back in his lungs, he shook his head numbly. “...It’s probably nothing, Leo, it was just…”

Oh. Leo felt a heavy stone sit in his stomach, and he tucked his arms around his abdomen, leaning forward in a futile attempt to take the weight off of himself. He thought he had a pretty good idea on what could get Donnie to act like that. “...Did they finally get a total casualty toll from the Kraang?”

“Huh? No, they got that weeks ago.” Donnie dismissed, quickly, glossing over it like it wasn’t big news.

But it was. Leo had to know how much he had messed up, how many people he had killed from his mistake, and he had spent the first two months on his bed asking if they had gotten the numbers yet. Maybe they had known why he was asking and hadn’t told him, but even so…

“Then…” Leo struggled for words for a moment, and Donnie lifted his gaze from his tablet to regard him, steely eyes warning him not to pry. Leo, as gracious of a brother as he was, danced around the idea of the kill count and went for a different question. “Then what is it, Donnie?”

“Well, it’s…” Donnie hesitated, lips pulled together, and then he pushed the office chair over to Leo, spinning as he did, but coming to a solid stop in just the right angle that he didn’t need to adjust. He propped the tablet up between them, and Leo leaned back on his elevated pillows, relaxing at the near proximity.

The chart displayed on the tablet wasn’t anything obvious, as far as Leo could tell. There were dozens of purple lines, running perfectly parallel from left to right. Most of them branched off of one central line, from one central point, going up only a couple pixels before turning to continue on in a straight line, parallel to the straight line and each other. They seemed to be evenly spaced, a couple interconnecting with a zig-zag line branching off of one, touching onto the second, and then returning back to the first one.

“Donnie, what am I looking at?” Leo finally relented, turning a confused glance over to his brother, hating how uncertain and confused Donnie looked, as well.

“It’s a chart of alternate realities that I grafted out using a complex algorithm based on mystic energy signatures.” Donnie explained, puffing himself up with pride over his own accomplishments but his expression remained downcast, staring at the tablet in concern.

“Wait, like, the Prison Dimension? You’ve been keeping tabs on the Prison Dimension?” Leo choked, not sure if that was a good thing or not. On one hand, at least Donnie would know if someone managed to release the Kraang again, in theory. On the other, he didn’t like the idea of Donnie having anything more to do with the Prison Dimension. He would rather all of his family just forget the whole situation ever happened and leave it.

“No.” Donnie said, stiffly, in a tone that Leo couldn’t tell if that was the truth or a lie. He was avoiding looking at Leo spot on, though, so it was probably a lie. “That’s a dimension. Not an alternate reality. Dimensions are different universes that can overlap with our own, while realities are technically the same universe,  just… there was a change that caused them to separate. Which is displayed on this chart.”

“…And?”

“And technically the Prison Dimension is a pocket dimension, which means it belongs inside of our reality, so I suppose it actually is displayed on this chart.” Donnie pressed a button off to the side, and grey lines appeared across the chart, contained in each of their individual purple lines, zigzagging erratically in the confinement. “But I digress.”

Leo didn’t feel all that great seeing them all displayed. “Shouldn’t they… also be moving in a straight line?”

“No. Time dilation.” Donnie corrected. “We already knew you were in there for a few days instead of just a few minutes, like it was for us. So I just… Properly applied the information, and now it looks like… This. First of all, look. The Prison Dimension never actually touches the edges of these realities. Except for these three points.”

Donnie scrolled along the timeline until it was a point before the branches, pointing at a segment where every so briefly, the grey line intersected with the edge of the purple line, traveling along with it, and then bounced back down. “When the Foot first opened the portal, then here.” A little further on, it intersected with the line for much longer, stretching on until the branch occurred. “This is when they plugged the key into Metro Tower, all the way until Casey pulled the plug, and you…” He trailed off, for a moment, and then finally pointed to another point, still around the same time the branches were coming off. “And this is when Mikey opened up the portal to bring you back.”

“M’kay, so, what’s with the branches? Why does it divide right then, Donnie?”

“Because. Maybe in some realities we don’t get you back. Maybe in others Casey didn’t follow your dumb-dumb orders and the Kraang really do carry through with the apocalypse. Maybe we get you back but you land in a coma for the next three months. Maybe one of your swords gets stuck in the Prison Dimension. There’s a million ways the timeline could’ve changed at that point.” Donnie explained, not noticing Leo’s attention shift to his katanas, leaning against the bed.

It had taken a while for them to find his second sword, buried in the rubble. Even it being gone for that week had made Leo nervous, feel too disconnected from his Ninpo, searching with his minds’ eye for it everywhere. It being trapped in the Prison Dimension would mean that he would always be looking. And he’d never find it.

“There are so many ways everything could’ve gone wrong.” Donnie admitted in a low voice, eyes fixating on a part of the wall. “Yeah, you’re really, really hurt, with two reallys, and you still have probably two months of recovery left. But you could’ve lost one of your senses permanently, gone insane, got amnesia, went into a coma, been disconnected from your Ninpo, or… So many other things. I think… We were probably one of the luckier timelines.”

Leo nodded, knowing how many times any of those situations had been brought up, especially during the first few weeks. Casey had fretted over him, especially with his mind always wandering, looking for his second katana, worrying that one injury came too close to his eyes, or that he had too big of a concussion that gradually he’d lose himself. He even checked his shell daily to make sure that none of the injuries would paralyze him, even when he had already confirmed that they wouldn’t.

“But, anyway,” Donnie continued, waving aimlessly at the tablet. “Ever since I learned we were part of a bifurcated time branch, I’ve been checking back on this every week. See if another branch forms. See if anything branches off of our time line. And today…”

“Did something branch?” Leo asked, narrowing his eyes at the screen in fascinated confusion.

“No, not… exactly.” Donnie hesitated as he made the grey lines disappear, before somewhat reluctantly pointing to one timeline near the top of the chart. He scrolled up so that it was front and center, and gestured. “See how one of the threads breaks off of it, collides with another timeline for a bit, then comes back?”

“Mmm, yeah?”

“It’s called a blip. It means something traveled to another timeline. Very similar to how the Prison Dimension will become synced with our own, except…  It’s not like that at all, because it’s not part of our reality. In fact, I don’t think it should even be possible! Then look, two days later, it did it again, but it traveled through two timelines, without actually merging with them, to reach another one before going back.” Donnie tapped the screen, and when he looked back at Leo, his brow was pinched. “Something’s traveling to other realities.”

“Is that… Something we should be worried about?” Leo inquired, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Donnie.

Donnie shrugged, not seeming to be necessarily bothered, so Leo found himself able to relax. “Who knows? It’s clearly not destroying timelines, just… Tapping them for a few minutes then fading out again. If it does come here, then we can probably just ignore it and it’ll go away. I just have to check after it goes to make sure that there’s no dimensional rift, but other than that it should be fine. It’s nothing to worry about, it’s just… Weird.”

“Then don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Don.” Leo encouraged, reaching out to tug his arm around Donnie’s shoulders and pulling him tightly against him. “We’ll be okay, and even if it does turn out to be dangerous, then we’ll handle it, together, like always.”

“Oh, so no more stupid self-sacrificing stunts?” Donnie grumbled, with a touch of hope to his voice even as he relaxed against Leo, one hand coming up to rest against Leo’s plastron, over his heart.

“No more sacrifices.” Leo agreed, arm falling around Donnie’s shoulders but leaving enough slack that Donnie could pull away if he so desired. “We’ll handle it as a team, as brothers. And that’s a pinky promise.”

Neither of them lifted their hands to make said pinky promise, Leo’s word as good as anything. Even so, Leo didn’t miss how Donnie gave his tablet a thoughtful look, staring at the chart like it was deadly. Or, even worse, like it would take one of them away from him again.

“Donnie?” Leo asked as the silence elongated, desperate for some kind of recompense. “I love you.”

Donnie nodded slowly against his chest, not bothering to look up at Leo. “Yeah.” He whispered, but he didn’t need to say it back. Leo could hear it loud and clear regardless.

Chapter Text

Leo woke up abruptly, managing to prop himself up on his shoulder as he lifted his head, swinging his gaze around the infirmary. There was still a heavy thickness resting over his skull, pulling down on every inch of his brain, refusing to let him get up and move, claws snagging into his brain, his body. Everything felt slightly out of balance, vaguely shifting from side to side.

Leo blinked heavily at the counter, then down towards Donnie’s chair, where he had been sitting when Leo had finally drifted off. Donnie wasn’t there, anymore, which was odd in of itself. And then there came the fact that Leo was pretty sure that right before he startled awake, he had heard someone scream. Someone who had sounded like Donnie.

Shell.

Leo rolled right back onto his back, head lolling back slightly with the height his shell gave him, and then he managed to get his elbows beneath him, shoving himself up to a sitting position. The world seemed to rotate on its axis once more, but that was hardly notable next to the stabbing pain that lurched through his abdomen and head.

Leo bent himself in half, briefly, tucking his arms around himself in a pathetic attempt at a self-hug, trying to breathe evenly through his nose. Everything ached and dragged at him, even as he fumbled for the bedside table, searching for his ibuprofen or, more ideally, his morphine bottle.

He found the morphine bottle first first, thank pizza supreme, and, after also finding the rubbing alcohol, managed to clean the vial, first. Then he fumbled around with the syringe until he finally figured out how much air to measure into the syringe. Then it was another long time trying to find the proper opening on his PICC.

It was when Leo finally managed to get the morphine syringe into his PICC, a deep sigh vibrating through his whole body as it finally slotted perfectly into place, that the door began to creak open.

Leo startled at the noise, the movement pulling uncomfortably at his abdomen, almost jarring the syringe too roughly to the side as he twisted his whole attention to the door. It eased open, little by little, pausing each time the metal of the train car began to squeak against one another in a loud, high-pitched rasp. Despite his initial surprise, Leo relaxed almost instantly as he watched it open, able to tell that – because it didn’t swing open in one solid movement and it didn’t tip over from added weight being added on – that it was Donnie coming back in.

With a smile on his lips and a joke on his tongue, Leo prepared to greet his wayward brother. Both faltered the second Donnie actually stepped into the infirmary.

Bright purple cracks ran across his arms and plastron, starting at his fingertips and stretching up to his cheeks and into his eyes. His whole body twitched like a malfunctioning robot, sparks fizzing out of shaking joints and from eyelids. Donnie looked exhausted, like he would tip over from the slightest gust of wind.

But what stumped Leo most was the look on his face. He stared at Leo with such open affection, affection that Leo spent every waking day craving. But he held the love in his eyes the same way a desperate man held lunacy.

“Leo–” Donnie choked, and that was all the incentive Leo needed.

Maybe there were more steps to be had in the PICC process, more effort to be had so that Leo could avoid the risk of infection. Deep down, Leo knew that there were. But that would cost extra time, and it wasn’t worth anything in the face of his brother, wide-eyed and terrified, staring at Leo like he was a ghost.

The effects of the morphine weren’t instantaneous, but that didn’t stop Leo. Even as his ribs screamed at him, he abandoned the vial in the mess of blankets and sheets that was his bed, lurching his way to Donnie as fast as he could. The electrodes pressed against his plastron flew off and away, and behind him, the heartbeat monitor flatlined. 

The pain in his abdomen brought him to his knees only a few steps away, finally sick of Leo’s desperate struggle to get to him, grabbing him and pulling him down. It flared with agony, lacing through him like a knife or a billion needles, and before Leo could even register the pain, his legs were crumbling underneath him like a wet sheet of paper.

Donnie joined him on the ground only a second later, hovering nervously over Leo for a beat, and then he was diving right into Leo, dragging him right against him. His arms wrapped securely around Leo, the slider’s face buried in his plastron. The flickers that sparked from the weaving cracks still decorating Donnie’s arms gave Leo a shock, but it felt more like a discharge of static electricity than anything. Leo relaxed right into his grip, fingers grappling against Donnie’s shoulders.

Something cold and wet dripped on Leo’s head, dripping down onto his carapace. He swore he felt one drip into his shattered shell, but he ignored it. Donnie, Donnie who never cried, needed to cry, and Leo would let him, even though he didn’t know why.

The cracks on Donnie’s skin were still present, not fading to a creamy colour like Mikey’s did, and when Leo blinked his eyes open he got a faceful of harsh purple, bent and twisting like Donnie’s markings. Unlike the jagged lines like ripped paper that Mikey hosted, Donnie’s were twisted and running across him looking like arboreal circuitry. Of course, he still had the Mikey-esque cracks tracing out from his new purple ones, but they didn’t take precedence.

These new cracks were specific to Donnie, not Mikey. Whatever Donnie had done… He had overused his own music energy, but not in the way Mikey had. Whatever had happened, it reduced Donnie to tears, and it wasn’t something Leo could fix, other than being there and fingering the purple streaks across his skin.

As Leo adjusted to get a better look at his brother’s carapace, he could see the cracks stretching to even underneath his shell, even covered by the battle shell. The battle shell was singed slightly where the cracks went underneath the metal, starting to climb up the battle shell and then cutting short at the inorganic material. It was nothing like their gloves, where the cracks got burned on permanently, too, too thick to be affected so severely. 

Leo couldn’t figure this out. “Donnie,” he cooed as gently as he was able, withdrawing as carefully as he could, even as Donnie tried to claw at him and draw him back. As much as Leo loved the touch, and apparently Donnie did, too, at the moment, this was something he needed to be able to look Donnie in the eyes to ask. To make sure he wasn’t lying. “What did you do to yourself?”

“It’s nothing.” Donnie sniffled, looking down at their interlocked hands, and then bending his head down so that Leo couldn’t see him. The slider reached out to grab his chin, anyway, and gently tipped it right back up. Donnie blinked at him, eyes wet with tears. “I-I just… I didn’t want Raph and Mikey to know, not… not yet.”

And it was true, it was cursedly honest; Donnie wasn’t good enough at lying to deceive Leo. Leo could read him like an open book, and after the invasion, Donnie could do it right back. Except Donnie was looking at him like he wasn’t real at all, a ghost or specter of some sort. The love was still in place, obvious and horrific, but under the wide-eyed stare, Leo felt like he was under a microscope.

“But… Why? What even happened?” Leo begged, reaching out to clamp his palms over Donnie’s cheeks. “What would make you want to do this? We already told Mikey to never do anything like this again, so why would you do anything like this–?”

“You don’t understand. You don’t get it!” Donnie snarled, but his bitter expression dropped a moment later, expression smoothing out to be something startlingly gentle and caring. Leo wasn’t used to Donnie letting his face go soft along with something so overwhelmingly affectionate. He stared at Leo like he had hung the stars and the moon in the sky. Donnie never showed his love so deeply, so obviously, and it was almost unsettling.

It was hard for Donnie to express his affection, both visually and verbally. He preferred expressing it through actions, and only really liked words of affirmation when someone else was providing it. The thing was, Leo had never needed Donnie to express his affection in obvious ways, because he could hear it as easily as he could think, and he considered himself to be pretty dang smart.

But, he must’ve wanted Donnie to show it, regardless, because the moment he met Donnie’s eyes he felt himself melt, relaxing into Donnie. The love Donnie was expressing was palpable, filling the air like it had always been there, and it really always had been. But it was just… Easier to feel.

“I’m,” Donnie’s gaze flickered over behind Leo’s shoulder, locking on the heartbeat monitor, and then right back to him with a wispy smile, “I’m going to turn that off, and then I’ll explain, okay?”

“Okay.” Leo agreed, his hands falling away from Donnie as his brother pulled away to return to the heartbeat monitor, turning to watch him go. His abdomen didn’t hurt enough to drag him down anymore, so he planted his hands against the ground and pushed himself up. His leg felt sore, the miniature fracture in his tibia and knee ached, but not in a way that would actually make him kneel over. In a moment, the soreness would fade, too.

Leo stumbled slightly when he stood, anyway, leaning against the counter and watching Donnie fumble with the heartbeat monitor. Leo was pretty sure he was actually turning the volume up, instead of the comfortable low pitch that they had turned it to when Leo had eventually complained of how hard it was to relax from it.

They never officially removed it because his brothers loved listening to his heart – hearing that he was alive and breathing, and he had gotten a bad scare about a week into the first month where he passed in his sleep. Mikey found him thirty seconds later because he had just happened to be passing nearby and heard the flatline. They hadn’t been comfortable removing it, since then, even when Leo was out of the danger zone, so Leo didn’t. He just requested them to keep the volume low.

He thought Donnie would know, by now, how to turn it up and down depending on Leo’s stimulus needs, whether he was okay with it being loud or quiet – even if Leo usually did prefer it being quiet –to know how to adjust it accordingly.

“Dee?” Leo asked, frowning as Donnie struggled. “Are you, ah, doing okay over there?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I’ve almost got it.” Donnie nodded slightly, Leo barely able to tell he even nodded, but able to tell by the bandana tails bobbing. “I just need to, ah… Okay, this button definitely does not turn it off, what if I-?”

Leo sighed, taking a step forward to help Donnie, his dum-dumb brother being far too stubborn for his own good, when a hand wrapped around Leo’s mouth. Before he could even blink, he was pulled right out of the room.

Donnie didn’t even turn around as Leo’s feet scraped against the ground, too occupied with the heartbeat monitor.

Leo didn’t even try to struggle, even as he was yanked backwards and right out the door. He was not scared, for the hand clamped around his hand and the arm wrapped around his plastron were familiar, but simultaneously it was odd in a way Leo couldn’t place his finger on. Seeing Donnie in front of him, especially, made it feel detached, wrong. And with that oddity, Leo decided to drag his feet and be the biggest hassle of all times. If one of his family members was going to pretend to kidnap him, he wasn’t going to go without being a nuisance.

His kidnapper dragged him several feet away from the infirmary, away from the windows and the doorway. Leo rolled his eyes playfully by the time they came to a stop, immediately lifting his hands to cross his arms over his plastron. The hand wrapped around his plastron moved to his shoulder, and the hand covering his mouth still remained in place. With a twist, his kidnapper spun him around, and it–

It was Donnie.

Leo stared.

Donnie glared at him, downright blood thirsty, and Leo felt himself deflate immediately underneath the withering look. He already missed the love Donnie had handed him mere moments before, and he… Wait, wait, wait, Leo pivoted right back on his heel, startling for the doorway, because what’s going on, there were two Donnies, one so loving, and one so fierce, but Donnie pulled him right back, yanking Leo against him and giving the infirmary to a silent snarl.

“Donnie?” Leo asked, keeping his voice as low as possible even as his heart pattered dangerously away in his chest, even as he glanced over at the soft-shell nervously. “What is–?” Donnie cut him off, hand folding right back around Leo’s mouth, effectively silencing him.

Something terrified and frantic started to take hold of Leo’s whole chest, and he shuddered against Donnie’s grip. He looked down at the soft-shell’s unblemished skin on the arm wrapped around his neck and shoulder. There was not a crack in sight, but when he peaked right back at Donnie’s other arm, he could see the faintest, creamy scars running up and down his arm. From Mikey’s portal.

Well, that cleared up nothing at all.

Leo was afraid.

The Donnie behind him was holding him, albeit carefully so as to not injure him further, but he looked at Leo with a creased brow and furious eyes that made Leo cringe into himself. The Donnie in the infirmary wasn’t gentle in his touch. On the contrary, he was rough, desperate, but he looked at Leo with the type of love that never died.

Leo reached behind him, with just as much desperation as the Donnie in the infirmary, snagged the Donnie holding him. No matter how much physical therapy Leo had partaken in during the last month, he was still weak. He couldn’t run more than a few meters without tripping, and he spent most of his time lying around, not just because of the bed rest mandate but because he couldn’t wander around easily, morphine or not. And he certainly couldn’t win a fight with any of his brothers.

The only thing that worked with Leo in this moment was the element of surprise. Donnie was, right now, heavier than Leo was, the slider nothing more than skin and bones, lacking any of the muscle or fat that made him up prior to the invasion, but that didn’t stop Leo from getting a grip on Donnie.

However, this particular technique did not rely on size, nor on strength, though both certainly helped, so Leo was able to body slam Donnie right over his shoulder and into the ground. Donnie lay dazed for a long moment as Leo scampered backwards, as far away as he could without tripping over while keeping both the infirmary doorway and Donnie in his line of vision.

It only took a second for the Donnie in the infirmary to burst through the door, hand against the frame. The lights behind him flickered in sync to the sparks crackling off his arms. His eyes landed on Donnie laying on the ground, and something dark and hateful spread across his face. Leo was not surprised to see that the cracked Donnie was also not surprised to see the Donnie on the ground, and the latter just stared up at his counterpart for a moment, blinking dizzily up at him.

And then Donnie on the ground’s bo staff snapped right out and caught Donnie’s cheek. He recoiled with a sickening crack, head slamming against the doorway to the infirmary. Leo did not miss the curse that he let out, hand grappling at the door frame even as he slipped towards the ground, legs scraping out against the concrete even as he tumbled into the cold metal of the infirmary.

The Donnie who lashed out was on his feet in an instant, side-stepping around the attacked-Donnie’s kicking legs, reaching out to snag Leo’s hand.

“Don’t touch–!” Leo snapped, starting to side-step away, half-desperately, but Donnie grabbed his arm a second before he managed to get out of reach.

He yanked Leo along, right behind him, as he burst into a run. Leo stumbled as he was half-dragged behind his brother, trying desperately to keep his feet underneath him, not wanting to be completely dragged after him like a ragdoll. However, he withered in Donnie’s grip, pulling as hard as he could against the cold fingers around his wrist. He twisted against the thumb, utilizing every technique Master Splinter had taught them, as he pulled and pulled, and yet-

Donnie kept running, maintaining a firm grip. He only shifted his hold on Leo once, not looking back, but Leo didn’t utilize the time efficiently enough to burst free from the soft-shell’s poisonous grip.

A quick peek backwards revealed that the Donnie in the infirmary, cracks flaring more brightly than ever, was stumbling to his feet. He stared after them with an expression that had been morphed to pure rage. A wave of his hand, and his bo staff appeared in his hands. His hand was on the wall of the infirmary within the next second, and cracks of purple dashed across the wall, following the same pattern as the cracks on his skin.

The cracks moved too swiftly for Leo to keep track of them, vanishing from view between train cars but must have moved to the metal rails and crossed between them, instead, for they appeared across the next train car on the row and kept going and spreading, until everything glowed an angry violet hue.

Leo looked forward again just in time to see the metal lung off of the walls of the train car in front of them and to the right. It came in front of them, sheets of jagged metal pulling off of the wall, shards and wires circling around them as a barrier.

The Donnie that dragged him along stopped just short of colliding with it. Leo slammed into his back, not quite able to stop from stumbling an extra step or two, but Donnie didn’t react to that. Instead, he reached out his own hand to push against the metal. It didn’t budge, flaring dangerously, the purple glow that surrounded them not even flickering at his touch.

And somehow that made Leo more terrified. As if having a double of his brother – or two doubles because what if neither of them were him at all – wasn’t bad enough, but one of them was impossibly more powerful than the other. Leo didn’t even realize he could control metal like that, apart from using it to form new battle shells in the thick of a fight. But the Donnie behind them…

The Donnie who had dragged Leo along suddenly pivoted on his heel, snagging both of Leo’s arms and throwing himself behind him, almost against the metal but not quite, whipping around and lifting up his own arm to shield Leo from the glowing Donnie, who strolled forward slowly, bo staff resting on his shoulder, the cracks increasing across his body with every step.

And now that Leo was looking, he could see that the metal from the other train cars had ripped off, too, stretching out beside them, like a long tunnel. On the other side, they were blocked by a purple mystic fence, and that, at least, Leo had seen Donnie use many times. The metal beside them and behind him settled down with a metallic thud, melding onto each other.

The purple fence, decorated with Donnie’s logo, cast a dangerous glow across the cracked Donnie’s facial features. His eyes were full of such raw anger and disgust, and even though Leo could tell that it wasn’t directed at him, but rather at the Donnie trying to protect him.  The cracked lines across the further Donnie’s face made him covered by a flickering purple light, but the light to his side kept the purple across his body consistent.

Leo trembled, trying to take a step back, but when his shell touched the metal he shuddered right back to his previous position, looking between the Donnie only a few inches away and the Donnie across the Donnie-made hallway. He couldn’t do this, he didn’t want to do this, he wanted to wake up, he wanted to run to Raph, he wanted to escape, not be stuck here in a stupid custody battle between–

“Leo.” The cracked Donnie said, voice startlingly gentle, and Leo’s head snapped back to stare at him, eyes wide. His expression was back to being loving, softer than Leo could believe. “Run.”

Where? Leo wanted to ask, but then the metal behind him creaked. He looked down towards his feet, alarmed but relieved all at once to see that the metal had parted way just enough to allow Leo to scamper through if he went onto his knees. And even though Leo didn’t trust either of them, running sounded like a great plan. He wasted no time in leaping down and through it.

“Leo…” the Donnie closest warned, and then, upon realizing he was already gone, shrieked out “LEO!”

Leo felt a hand on his foot a second later, but he kicked it right off, and Donnie, who was reaching after him, choked on his breath. Leo looked over his shoulder, horrified to see that a piece of metal was stabbed straight through Donnie’s wrist, poking out the other side in a bloodied mess. Donnie and Leo both stared at it for a long second while Donnie panted. 

And then Donnie put his hand against the ground and pulled his hand off of the spike with hardly a hiss of pain. And that was terrifying in more ways than one because Leo knew that was supposed to hurt; he had been stabbed enough times in the same way while he was in the Prison Dimension. But at least then his wounds reset within a few hours, and he didn’t need to–

Oh gosh, that was so much blood dripping off of Donnie’s arm.

A hand appeared on Donnie’s shoulder, cracked and glowing, and pulled him right back out of the hole, the top of his head scraping against the jagged metal, and probably leaving horrible scratches and cuts, but–

Leo couldn’t watch. He shoved himself up to his feet as both Donnies, on the other side of the wall, snarled at one another, and there was a ripping noise, and a choked scream, but Leo didn’t pay attention to that. His hands fluttered around him, looking around, trying to look for the most unpredictable place to hide. Somewhere that even if the Donnies looked for him in the most unpredictable place, they wouldn’t be able to find him.

He started to run for Raph’s room, which was, honestly, pretty predictable, but he couldn’t curse Mikey to fight for him again, not when it had already cost him lasting damage across his arms, and– Oh, gosh, Leo had forgotten about his eye and shell, which were already blights across Raph’s skin, and suddenly he didn’t even want to go to his big brother.

But at least Raph wasn’t infused with mystic energy the same way Mikey was, the same way one of the Donnie’s behind him was, and he would– The second he saw the Donnies he would form his mystic form, curl around Leo, stronger than any material, any person, and he would shield him from whatever was happening, from the demon in his brother’s skin, the ones that were pretending to be him, and were both of them fake? Was one of them real? They were both trying to protect him and yet, and yet–

As Leo began to run towards Raph’s room, in a completely separate sewer room, he looked over his shoulder just in time to see the metal wall crack open and crumble, Donnie’s trademark drill crashing through it. The uncracked Donnie stumbled backwards through the hole the drill created, blood on his arm, across metal and the concrete floor.

The cracked Donnie delivered a firm kick that sent Donnie onto his back, clawing at the ground and the air at the same time. Leo froze as the cracked Donnie’s eyes landed on him, stumbling mid-step, and then he was running again, keeping an eye on everything that was metal, watching for the tell-tale purple cracks.

He thought he heard one of the Donnie’s make a rasping sound, like air was squeezed out of them, but he didn’t bother looking back. Instead, he ran as quickly as his fatigued legs could take him. He burst into the room, housing all of their train cars, all of their bedrooms. He catches a glimpse of his own bedroom, that he hadn’t seen in three months, and the huge hole that’s still torn into it, half of his room on full display.

And then he’s forcing his attention right back to the situation at hand, back towards Raph, and he still ran forward, but even as he did he bellowed out a frightened “RAPH!”  

And then something was grabbing him from behind, knocking him hard against the ground. He stumbled for a second, hands grappling against the ground, running against the rough concrete and his soft, uncalloused hands hurt from scraping against it. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed the cracked Donnie was on top of him, one arm wrapped firmly around his neck.

Leo gasped as the cracked Donnie rolled around backwards, moving Leo on top of him as they faced the direction they both had just come from, and the second Donnie burst from the hallway, looking dazed and exhausted all at once, blood slashed across his plastron and arm. Leo kicked out against cracked Donnie, sending a desperate look over his shoulder at Raph’s room. It remained still.

“Don’t come a step closer.” Cracked Donnie hissed at the second Donnie, his grip on Leo increasing.

“Don’t touch me!” Leo sobbed at cracked Donnie, and almost immediately his arm fell away. Leo rolled away, hands against the ground, scrambling backwards, but this time he no longer tried to run, looking between Donnies with wide eyes, and sneaking another glance at Raph’s train car.

“Sorry.” Cracked Donnie hissed at him, but his gaze remained fixated on the other Donnie, getting his legs underneath him. He was still talking to Leo, even so. “But listen, to me, Leo, I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m trying to save you.”

“Don’t lie to him!” The second Donnie snapped. “Leo, listen, remember just a few days ago? We discussed alternate realities and them fusing and everything else! That’s me, you and I did that, and this Donnie–! Clearly, he’s not me, he’s an imposter–!”

That made sense. That made a lot of sense, and cracked Donnie was glaring at the other Donnie like he was saying things that didn’t make sense, like he hadn’t been there. When Mikey had split open space and time itself to reunite with Leo, his arms had cracked. And if this Donnie had split open his reality to come here, then of course he had been cracked worse–!

“Shut up!” The cracked – no, the impostor – Donnie snarled, twisting his head to stare at Leo. “They stole you, they took you from me, from us, and I’m trying to bring you home!”

What?! “What are you talking about?!” Leo spat, but he refused to dwell on that, even going so far as to refuse to listen. Instead, he snapped his head right back towards Raph’s train car. “Raph! RAPH, come here, please–!”

“I’m here,” The real Donnie cried out gently, and Leo pried his gaze right over towards him, eyes wide and terrified, “I’m here, Leo, please come here, step away from– NO. STAY. PUT.”

The impostor Donnie froze for only a moment, purple, sparking eyes rounding up to the real Donnie for only a moment, and then he was turning right back towards Leo. “I’m not waiting for you and your brothers.” The impostor snarled, and before Leo could even blink, he was leaping towards him, landing right next to him.

In that instant, four things happened. First, the alternate Donnie pulled a device out of his shell and threw it at the ground. Second, the door to Raph’s door burst open, as he lunged through the entrance and took one look at the Donnies and promptly froze. Third, the device sparked, and something purple and huge spread out of it, blistering across the ground. Fourth, Mikey jumped out of his own room, but unlike Raph, he didn’t even pause upon seeing the two Donnies, gaze fixated on Leo as he lunged forward.

The impostor Donnie reached towards Leo, and even though he had let him go when Leo demanded it of him only a minute prior, he wrapped his arms right around Leo, snarling at his brothers. And then the purple touched their feet, and though Leo struggled, it swept right underneath them as easily as Leo could breath.

Leo and the impostor fell right through the floor, and Leo looked up as they fell, and the last thing he saw was real Donnie’s terrified face staring after them, and the top of Mikey’s head, and then the portal above them was gone.

Leo stared up at the ceiling, laying on the floor, eyes wet as he tried to wrap his head around everything, chest aching, hearth pulsing, and everything felt all kinds of wrong, and he was going to scream, going to cry.

The impostor Donnie crumpled off of him and choked on a scream as the cracks flooded across his body.

(:)

Three months ago, every Donnie, everywhere, watched the portal to the Prison Dimension close, and knew that his brother was gone. And yet when Mikey tore open the portal, he poured his heart and soul into keeping it open.

Three months ago, some Donnie, somewhere, sobbed on Staten Island, kneeling over Leo’s dead body, deceased before the portal even opened. Raph and Mikey sat, on either side of him, and cried right along with him, Raph as silent as Donnie was, but Mikey wailed with all his heart.

Today, some Donnie, somewhere, broke down in the lair, his very own home, as his brother was torn from his grip by his very own counterpart, watching him fall through a portal that his doppelganger had crafted. And he knew. He had lost his brother again.

Chapter Text

Leo wasn’t sure how long he lay still, staring at the ceiling, a pit forming in his stomach that was far too deep, far too wide. It spread the longer he lay still, becoming larger than he was, threatening to swallow him up just like the portal that brought him here. And frankly? He would honestly prefer that to whatever this was. Wherever it led – the Prison Dimension, all roads would always lead back to the Prison Dimension – would surely be better than this place.

The alternate of his brother, the impostor who dared wear his brother’s skin like a prize, regardless of if they were the same person, the one who stooped lower than Donnie ever would, screeched into its hand, biting into its skin in a desperate attempt to muffle itself. Leo could see it laying there, out of the corner of his eyes. Helpless, weak. He wanted nothing more than to grab it and wring its neck for stealing him away from his loving, caring family, and then force it to tell him how to get back. 

Better yet, he wanted to run. Get up and leave, run far and wide, never return. Run until he couldn’t any longer, and trust that his brothers would tear open a portal into the universe and drag him home, drag him back. Unfortunately, his limbs were refusing to cooperate, heavy with either overexertion or the numbing reality of how helpless he really was. So he waited for rescue where he was, staring at the ceiling through blurring eyes.

But as time stretched on – Leo knew it was longer than ten minutes, longer than twenty, but after that it stopped holding meaning, stopped being worth counting – no glowing yellow portal appeared to pull him right back. There was no sun blossoming underneath him or above him, and nothing sparked with gentle love. Neither did a purple light appear, threatening to swallow him up. Nothing like what brought him here.

Instead, the silence poured on and on, interrupted only by the sniffles coming from the impostor, its screams falling to silence. Donnie – the real Donnie – had always been a quiet crier; almost quieter than Leo himself. But one thing he couldn’t hide was the sound of his desperate inhales through his clogged nose. And it sounded so much like Donnie in pain, like how Donnie used to cry over Leo’s bed when he thought Leo was asleep. Physical pain or grief, Leo didn’t know. It was too familiar to be comfortable listening to, regardless.

Leo dared a glance over to the impostor, hand reaching out unbidden towards them in a comforting motion, but when he realized what he was doing he immediately pulled his hand back. He settled for studying the impostor. The cracks that laced over their skin were just as terrible and horrific as when Leo first laid eyes on them, but now they stretched further than ever.

Just about every square inch on the impostor had at least one crack running through it, with the exception of their feet and shell. The cracks just shy of their ankles, and Leo couldn’t see their carapace under the battle shell, nor their plastron from the way they angled themselves away from him. They sizzled, alternating between glowing bright violet and fading to a gentle periwinkle. Either way, the cracks stood out stark against their skin, but at least the periwinkle didn’t look like it was actively burning, and as time progressed, the lighter purple became more prominent than the glowing bits.

Leo turned his back on the impostor, once again, even as it withered against the ground, curling one arm over his plastron and trying not to cry against the hot tears that welled up in his eyes and threatened to spill across his cheeks and onto the ground.

We were probably one of the luckier timelines, Donnie had said, what felt like an eternity ago. This reality, clearly, wasn’t one of the luckier ones. There was no reason to steal him, to kidnap Leo, unless their Leo was dead.

If they pulled him out a little earlier… Or even a little later, their Leo would’ve been dead upon arrival. Either from his injuries or from actually being dead from his surplus of injuries. His body wouldn’t have reset once dragged through the portal. Through saving him, they would’ve killed him.

Leo didn’t know if the alternate Donnie was aware of this or not. From his perspective, one moment Leo was alive… and the next he wasn’t. Who knows if they were even able to tear open a portal to the Prison Dimension to drag him through, but seeing as how Donnie opted to kidnap a new Leo and not to rescue his own Leo – or maybe he tried that first – Leo was pretty sure he had already confirmed with his own two eyes that Leo was dead and gone.

“Are you okay?” The alternate breathed over Leo’s shoulder, and Leo startled, not realizing he had stopped sniffling and had come to hover over him. “You’re shak-”

“You kidnapped me!” Leo snapped, twisting around to slap away the alternate’s wary hand, but even that was too much, and his hand crumpled again in the next minute against the ground. The alternate didn’t try to touch Leo again, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. And though Leo felt pity that his life had turned out this way, that the alternate must have lost his own Leo, he couldn’t condone this. He wanted to go home. “Of course I’m not okay! When can I-?!”

The alternate was silent for a long beat, watching him with gentle eyes, eyes that had flipped from Donnie’s typical brown to a dark amber – the difference nearly unnoticeable to the point where Leo only saw because he was looking for it – stars in his gaze that was directed to Leo alone. The purple glow was gone, fading with the rest of his cracks. “I’m sorry.”

To his credit, he did sound apologetic, and he had the face of someone who had witnessed great pain, someone who never wanted anyone to slip away again, as long as they could help it. He stared at Leo, though, with a jealous kind of love. The type that would never let him leave, never let him go.

It was terrifying.

“Look,” the alternate offered, shifting again to plant one hand above Leo’s head and the other next to his shoulder, leaning over him. Leo flinched, and above him, the alternate deflated, shrinking back a few inches but not removing his hands. “You’re tired. You’ve had a long, confusing day. Why don’t I help you back to the infirmary and we can get you set up, okay?”

“No!” Leo growled, and even though his whole body felt full of lead, weighing him down heavily, Leo managed to pull himself a few scrambling inches away, eying the alternate with terror. “No, I’m not going anywhere else with you, I’ll–! I’ll scream, I’ll get Raph and Mikey out here, so they can– They can–!”

“What an excellent idea!” The alternate praised, and just like he had the moment Leo scolded him for using mystic energy, his entire face narrowed into one of pure rage, his leering expression threatening. “What makes you think they’ll be willing to help send you back?”

Oh, oh really? The alternate thought he could threaten Leo with this? Leo may be out of his depth, and maybe this Donnie had changed more in three months than Leo thought possible, becoming a twisted version of his brother, bent on recovering Leo, no matter what. But seriously? Leo was smart. He paid attention. Which is why he knew that “Raph and Mikey don’t know that you kidnapped me.” Leo growled.

The alternate blinked in barely masked surprise, going slack. Just like that, all the aggression, the threatening, animal-like demeanor vanished.  “What makes you think that?”

“Because,” and Leo couldn’t quite hold off the smirk of victory that bubbled up his face and in this, this alone, he had the upper hand. “You were being honest when you said you didn’t want Raph and Mikey to know what you were doing. It was just about the only thing I can trust about you. So, what, you’re going to let the secret spill immediately? I know that you prefer doing a dramatic reveal, having all the facts in place, and–and–! Raph and Mikey would never let you get away with this.”

That last part was a lie, because Leo didn’t think Donnie would ever do such a thing as kidnap him. Except his alternate had. And now, the impostor stared at him with an expression that sent nothing but a flood of fear down his cracked spine, watching him with open frustration.

“You’re smarter than you ever let on.” The alternate determined, and the frustration bled out of his eyes, replaced by a gentle glow of pure love. “You’re right, I didn’t tell Raph and Mikey. They would’ve argued against this, no matter what I tell them or even prove to them. They don’t care much about themselves anymore. They would only allow this if you were in front of them already.”

“What the heck does that mean?” Leo spat, “Good, they have morals! But how the shell would you even begin to prove that this whole situation was a good idea?!”

The alternate blinked at him, and then, voice barely above a whisper, said “I need to tell you something.” Leo didn’t miss the way his eyes darted to the side, the way they always did when he didn’t want to be caught in an open lie or when he was trying to be bitterly, thoroughly honest. Whether he was being truthful or dishonest was the question, now. And while Leo could usually figure out which it was at a glance, here Leo couldn’t tell. Perhaps due to his own inaptitude, his own unwillingness to listen to him, combined with the gentle thoughtfulness painted across Donnie’s face that looked too much like honesty. Leo wished, hoped, he was lying.

The impostor risked a single peak at Leo, and his expression was warm with such affection that Leo could barely stand it. And then he was looking away once again. “I can’t imagine how much you hate me right now–”

“Understatement.” Leo growled.

The alternate paused for a long moment, at that, tucking his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs to fiddle his fingers together, staring with wide eyes at the ground. And then, softly, “...But I’m being honest when I say that they stole you first.”

Leo stared at him. “Liar.” He hissed out from between a clenched jaw and snapped teeth.

“I can prove it.” The alternate pleaded desperately, fumbling with his battle shell. It disengaged with an angry hiss, tearing off his back and bringing seared skin right along with it, and he fumbled it until it was resting peacefully against the ground. Leo cringed as blood began to ooze off of the alternate’s back, able to catch a clear view of his carapace as the alternate began rummaging through all of the seemingly infinite storage space of his battle shell. Just like he assumed, the cracks spread across it, too.

“Your shell…” Leo began, despite himself. Donnie would be so angry if he saw what his alternate had done to himself. So very furious. Leo was angry, too, because he had spent so much of his life trying to get Donnie to take care of himself. It wasn’t like Donnie purposefully hurt himself, but neglectance could be just as harmful as physical injuries.

And when Donnie finally realized Leo had been right, he had vowed to never treat himself like that again. Like a tool. And here his alternate was, doing the same thing that Donnie swore he never would. The timeline was only supposed to split three months ago. That promise had been made a year ago.

“Unimportant.” The alternate said, stiffly, though his back curled like he was trying to hide it, a blight upon his shell, but it just made Leo able to see the damage done to his lower regions more easily, the half-light reflecting off of the dark blood that coated him. “This takes precedence, I swear it does, I’m just…” He stopped shuffling through the battle shell to twist to face Leo again, eyes thick with tears. “I missed you. And I know you don’t get that, because you thought you had us all along, but…”

Leo glared at him. He did get it, because he didn’t have Donnie for that first month. He had reached the conclusion three weeks in that nothing he could do would ever get Donnie back, would ever make his brother want to hang out with him again, but his alternate wouldn’t know that. He just assumed that he knew Leo better than Leo knew himself.

“Here, let me just.” The alternate turned back to the battle shell and scampered back to Leo’s side, even as the slider flinched away from him. The alternate cringed at the movement, but held out the tablet to Leo as he slid it open to reveal the chart that Donnie had showed Leo only a few days ago. “The other Donnie,” the alternate growled, “mentioned talking to you about alternate realities, right? Did he show you this chart?”

Leo didn’t grace that with a verbal response, instead staring at the screen, adjusting it to view the newest reality blip, one that clearly showed a convergence from the current reality to another one – the one that was supposed to be Leo’s – and then shot back. The lines continued on after that point, but Leo couldn’t keep scrolling for more than a few pixels after that, and he realized that the timeline was caught up. Nothing else could be charted.

The alternate lifted his hand to direct Leo back along the lines – giving only a few moderate gestures to show him how to adjust the timeline back three months – but he didn’t dare breach Leo’s personal bubble of space. He didn’t dare touch him, not without asking, and Donnie never liked asking.

“Look at that,” The alternate said, stiffly, quietly, as Leo located the chart three months ago, around the same time as the invasion. Branches split out from it, and the Prison Dimensions' lines, carefully revealed with the press of a button, perfectly synced up with the purple reality lines.

Leo’s own reality shot down towards the alternate’s reality a brief pixel or two before, syncing up perfectly with the Prison Dimension, and then they went back up. Something from Leo’s reality had entered the alternate’s reality. Someone had altered something.

It didn’t take a genius to find out what.

Leo couldn’t – wouldn’t – believe it.

Leo clutched the tablet so hard that the screen cracked.

Donnie wrapped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed until the tears came.

And when they did come, they flooded his senses. “When it rains, it pours,” is what April always used to say, before the invasion. Back when it seemed like a fun phrase and not something that defined each and every one of their breakdown. But all of those meltdowns were nothing next to this one.

Leo felt a hiccup breeze right up through his throat and then quake out from between his shaking lips. But there was still a bubble, a ball, sitting heavily inside his throat, and so he unhinged his jaws, letting his mouth split open as wide as he could. He inhaled sharply, pausing for only a half second. What followed was the loudest scream he could manage.

The tablet snapped in half in his hands, and he wasted no time in hurling both chunks clear across the room. Donnie didn’t even flinch as he did, but as Leo kicked off of him weakly, he dropped his arm to let Leo roll away, the slider trembling and shaking all over.  

Leo screamed again, louder, slamming his shell against the cool concrete, legs bracing himself up against the ground, and tipping himself down down down until his head was pressed against the floor but the rest of him was raised. His hands swiped uselessly at the air, grasping for a purchase but finding none, writhing across the ground.

Everything was all kinds of ugly and broken. And in his mind’s eye, his brothers’ and his families’ faces all shattered like the screen of the tablet. Shards of them were everywhere, but they stabbed especially deep into his heart, his soul, fake facets of who they were, because they had all lied, with every breath. And Leo had blindly believed them, because why wouldn’t he?

Leo screeched into the all-encompassing silence, hating how Donnie kept hovering, just out range. But even worse, he hated every motion Donnie made to reach towards him, impossibly grateful that Donnie never made contact. He didn’t need touch, he needed to understand! He needed to slot things together, he needed things nice and orderly, he needed things to be perfect–! Perfect–!

Up until yesterday, up until an hour ago, Leo had kept all of his brothers in neat little boxes, each of them slotted into perfect categories organized by their personalities and attributes. They had been kept in a cabinet named “Love and Trust”, but that shelf had tumbled down, spilled the contents of his brothers across the ground, and he couldn’t fix it, he couldn’t figure out what pieces matched, how they fit together, and–!

They would never lie to me. But they did. They did they did they did they did did did did did did did did did–!

“Donnie?!”

The scream, that wasn’t Leo’s, ripped through the air, echoing off the walls, loud and pulsing in Leo’s own ears, and he bent his hands to cram them over his ears, but it didn’t help, he could still hear them, he could hear their voices everywhere and they echoed, they echoed oh-so-loudly, and he just–! What was happening help him help him help him help him–!

“What did you do?!”

“Shut up! Just–! HELP HIM!”

“Aw, geez, okay, okay, um, let’s…”

Arms enveloped around Leo, completely surrounding him, pulling him close against something warm and solid. Leo’s ears rang dangerously loud, and he shoved his hands as hard against the plastron – because it was a plastron he was pressed against  – and tried to push himself away, he did not want touch, the last thing he wanted was touch, he needed to categorize, to organize, he couldn’t–!

Smaller hands came from who-knows-where, laying down gently alongside Leo’s arm and shoulder, slowly spreading across the length of his arm and head, spreading far across him until it was hugging him, as well. And then it squeezed, one hand rubbing against his carapace in just the right spot that sent a shudder down Leo’s whole body.

His heart thudded impossibly tightly in his chest, painful and irritable, surrendering to the arms surrounding him. He needed space, but the touch… It was warm and comfortable, and all Leo wanted to do was to snuggle in and be held forever. A gentle shushing filled his ears from somewhere distant, and he was rocked back and forth. His screams, lurching out of his throat, trailed off into desperate sobs, even as he thumped his hand erratically against the plastron above him.

“I’m–” The single word was snagged by his throat, stopping any other words from escaping but allowing free passage to a sob that pushed past it. He choked on both his voice and tears, hating how the murmurs and gentle melodies cut off all at once at his futile effort to speak. The rocking briefly stopped too, but when he shook his head numbly, chest heaving with the start of hyperventilation, it resumed, albeit not as frantically as before.

Tears dropped onto Leo’s face from somewhere far, far above, and mingled with his own wet cheeks. The next sob he let out was more rugged than the last, but it died down quickly, replaced by quieter sniffles. They didn’t pull quite as painfully against his throat, but they weren’t distracting enough, and Leo hated it, because if he was forced to think, his mind would spiral, and he–!

“Donnie,” came Raph’s voice, and it was just as soothing as his counterpart’s, just as soothing as Leo remembered, but it was wrong, or maybe it was right, because what Leo thought had been right was all wrong, because he had been taken away, he had been stolen, but in the opposite way, and he just wanted to go home! Where everything made sense again!

“Nononono…” Leo sobbed, eyes blinking open to stare up at Raph in open terror, and then they slipped close again, “don’t wanna, can’t do it, don’t make me nononono…”

“Oh gosh, nono,” Raph choked, squeezing Leo against him defensively, “Donnie, what did you do?! Oh my gosh, I’m here, Leo, I’m here, oh gosh, what’s happening?! What’s wrong?! I’ve got you buddy, I’ve got you, oh my gosh, Dee, what did you…? Leo, Leo, shh, shh, I’ve got ya, oh man, com’n...”

“How’s Leo even here?!” Mikey implored, his face pressed into Leo’s shoulder as he sniffled wetly, allowing himself to be pulled back and forth by Raph’s steady rocking. The youngest sniffled, and Leo echoed it with his own sob. “This has to be–! Oh, gosh, is this a dream?! A nightmare?! Donnie, this–?! Leo, nono, don’t cry, don’t cry…!”

“It’s not a dream.” Donnie cut in, startling all three of his brothers with his snapping tone. Donnie’s voice softened considerably at the reaction, and his hand appeared against Leo’s forehead, gracing its way across his face, down his cheek. As Leo flinched, the sob in his throat sounding more like a wali, the hand retreated. “He’s really here.”

“How?!” Raph demanded, voice reaching a dangerous pitch that made Leo shudder, recoiling even as he braced himself for the sneer of ‘When are you going to take things more seriously, Leo?’ or the inevitable ‘You only think about yourself! I can’t handle that right now, Leo!’ that was coming.

Neither happened. Instead, Raph’s voice lost all of the heat, and he gasped weakly, bringing Leo right back against him. “This isn’t possible, Donnie! He’s dead, he’s gone, he’s–! We buried him at the farmhouse, he’s gone, we can’t…!” He went quiet for a moment, grip going slack, and then returning full-force, squeezing the breath right out of Leo, barely paying attention as Leo feebly kicked out against him, and–! “Get talking, Don.”

“I brought him home.” Donnie reinforced stubbornly, and Leo dared peek at him enough to see that his arms were crossed, hunching in over himself, bottom lip set into an angry scowl. When neither Raph or Mikey’s glares let up, he continued, “I don’t think Leo is going to be open to me talking about it! He only broke down when I started explaining it to him, and–!”

“I don’t care!” Raph huffed, settling Leo down across his crossed legs so he could have his hands free. Leo wasn’t sure what to expect until Raph’s hands went towards his head, settling down over Leo’s earholes. Leo reached up to mimic him, hands going over Raph’s, and his big brother squeezed until the pressure in his head was too distracting, too overpowering, and Leo couldn’t focus on anything else even if he could hear through the hands. It was then that Raph stopped, turning to face Donnie and snarling out something Leo couldn’t hear.

The quiet that stretched on then was painful, and Leo knew Donnie was giving them the full monologue, explaining all he had done, what had apparently happened to Leo, the lies Leo had been fed, how it wasn’t him that they had buried, and–!

“I wanna go home…” Leo pleaded between breaths, but Raph only sent him a sorrowful side-eye, his attention remaining locked on Donnie. Mikey’s focus, however, remained centered on Leo, lifting his face off of his shoulder enough to give him a horrified look, and it was enough to make Leo curl away, trying to twist his head in Raph’s hands to bury his face into the palm. Raph didn’t budge enough to let him move it even an inch, and his head pulsed with an ache and a burning pressure, everything focused and centered and screeching– “Don’t wanna, can’t do this, I wanna go, I wanna go…!”

Mikey’s grip tightened on him, too, and Leo felt like he was suffocating, trapped between the pressure against his side and on his head, but it was consoling as well, knowing someone was with him, but it burned, it burned–! He withered in their grasps, managing to get a leg up between him and Raph, foot pressed against his plastron as he tried to push–!

Raph released him fully after a few seconds, right after asking an inaudible question, and Leo immediately lurched away, dragging himself as far from his brothers as he could get. It only wound up being a few inches, but Raph sagged back a bit to give him more room.

“I can’t believe this,” Mikey sobbed somewhere behind him, voice building up into a heartbroken wail that, if Leonardo was actually able to focus past the lack of breath in his lungs, Leo would immediately be on his feet to comfort. “We would never–! We didn’t–! We’ve gone through the stages of grief, I–!”

“Three months is not enough time for that.” Donnie argued, growling out a breath.

“No!” Mikey exploded, but there was still a heavy undertone or terror in his voice, “It’s different for everyone! I’ve already accepted it, we’re not getting Leo back, never ever, and I don’t care that you’re still stuck on denial, or bargaining, or whatever B.S. this is!” Beneath Mikey’s screaming, Raph mumbled something that got lost underneath the high volume of it. “But you can’t just– You can’t just kidnap a random Leo to get ours back!”

“He wasn’t random!” Donnie snapped right back. “He really is ours! I would never stoop so low as to just– Just steal another one! I did my research, I made sure, I would show you the charts right now, but he–!”

“Shouldn’t exist.” Leo snarled, but he didn’t know if he was talking about himself or the chart that lay, snapped in half, at the far end of the room. Raph might’ve known which one he meant, because his hand appeared comfortingly on Leo’s lower carapace.

“I mean,” Raph said, hesitantly, not towards Leo even as his hand rubbed circles into Leo’s shell, “if they took him first… I can’t… He’s here now, and that’s the important part. And he’s ours, Donnie said he’s ours, so he must be!”

“So we’re taking everything Donnie says at face value?!” Mikey howled, taking Raph’s shoulder between his hands and angrily shaking him. Leo could see it if he turned his head just enough. “If Donnie would ‘never go so low’, his own words, then neither would this… this Le–Leo’s other Donnie! Be-because they’re the same, aren’t they? If it took Donnie this long to be able to build a device to get him back, then how would they…!”

“Our realities breached away from each other before then.” Donnie amended, voice thick. “I don’t know what the change was, exactly. I don’t exactly have future vision, Mikey! Who knows what happened to breach realities? Maybe the impostor Donnie took an interest in the science of alternate reality travel before the invasion. Maybe he already had a device at the ready, or his ninpo is more powerful than mine, or… There’s just a million ways it could be different!”

And then, abruptly, Donnie adopted a different tone, sounding sadistic and smug, but hidden under a heavy layer of pure fear. Leo could only hear it because he was used to the same tone being directed towards him, when Donnie was trying his hand at manipulating Leo. Leo never got manipulated, though he pretended to be so that Donnie would feel accomplished.

Now, it made a heavy ball of dread settle in Leo’s stomach. It makes him think that this Donnie isn’t his, but in the same breath it just solidifies the belief that it is, because only Donnie could be rawly terrifying in such a way. It was just why he was behaving in such a way that caused such great worry. “Miguel,” Donnie proceeded, “all this sounds like, to me, is that you’re not happy Leo’s back. Did you want him to die?!”

Leo feels everything close up around him, the room going deadly quiet. Leo stops sniffling for several long seconds, his breaths choked off before they could escape.

“I’m–” Mikey tried and failed to explain, and Leo caught a glimpse of him wrapping his arms around himself before he made another effort. “No, no, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m–! I’m really glad Leo’s back, but… Shouldn’t there be a give and take? What if there’s consequences we don’t know about? What if they come back?! What if they take him again, what if–! Donnie, if I was quicker, could I have saved Leo before he…? Before they-?!”

“No,” Leo sniffled, rolling onto his back so he could face Mikey. He recognized the personal-blame in Mikey’s tone and words, thinking of how often he had thought identically, when memories of the invasion were brought up in any shape or form. Mikey didn’t deserve to think about that. Not at all.

Leo pushed himself up into a sitting position, even as his arms shook beneath him as he did, threatening to give out under his weight. He was hardly able to hold himself together, but as soon as he was able to sit up without the extra support, he switched to stretching out his eyes in front of him, gesturing to Mikey. “No, nono,  “No, nono, come here, ‘m sorry, shouldn’t feel bad, Mikey–”

Mikey was in his arms in the next second, knocking Leo right back onto his back. Leo shuddered at the unwarranted touch, but he wrapped his arms firmly around Mikey regardless, brushing hands along his shell and praying that this Mikey also loved being scratched on his shell in the same places that the alternate Mikey – the first Mikey – did, because if he didn’t…

Leo felt sick.

“Oh,” Donnie blinked in surprise, meeting Leo’s eyes evenly. Leo glared back, but Donnie didn’t even flinch. “Are you… okay?”

Leo’s gaze just tightened, both unsure how to answer and fully aware that he didn’t want to talk to Donnie, no matter how honest he was, because he just… He didn’t even ask. He took him, kidnapped him, and everything here just. Felt. Wrong. Maybe he was just unused to it, but it was just…

It felt like going home, after the Prison Dimension. Where after days of torture everything felt wrong, just slightly to the left and awkward. Everything passed in a bitter haze and he felt disconnected, mind rummaging for his swords and not fully able to grasp what was happening for the first two weeks.

It was wrong here, too.

Everything was wrong. Leo’s life was wrong, his brothers were wrong, Leo felt lopsided, Mikey felt lopsided, hugging him like he was shy but also like Leo was the last tangible thing on earth. It felt too heavy, too thick, and Leo…

Leo hated this, he wanted to go home, but this wasn’t home, and now he was stuck here with three brothers who were practically strangers, ones who were more than three months different than the ones he had spent so long with, and he–! He couldn’t do this.

“I’m sorry.” Donnie said while Leo began to spiral all over again, his voice firm and grounding, though Leo wished it wasn’t. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you, but… I needed you out of there, and I needed you to understand, and I–”

“I don’t trust you.” Leo seethed, recoiling back and cradling Mikey close, even as the younger whimpered loudly at the declaration. Leo wasn’t even certain what Mikey was so upset about; hardly a moment ago he had been expressing his own distrust towards Donnie.

“I know you don’t.” Donnie admitted, impossibly gentle as he lifted one hand up to cradle Leo’s cheek, but at the flinch and the tear that dripped out of Leo’s eye, he left it hovering next to his face, instead. His thumb and palm traced the shape of Leo’s jawbone into the air, but he didn’t dare touch Leo.

Leo was both grateful and angry over that, the unusual combination making his chest twist and warp. He leaned a little further away from Donnie, and the soft-shell lowered his hand.

“You don’t get it.” Leo sniffled, and just like that all the frustration was threatening to leap right out of his chest again, and he felt tempted to scream and rage and hit Donnie, but it just… It all felt wrong, wrong, far too wrong, and he hated it. “I don’t care if that wasn’t my real reality! I just–! I don’t!”

“Don’t say that!” Mikey screeched into his shoulder. “You’re home now! You’re home, you’re home, doesn’t that matter to you?!”

“No!” Leo snapped, and he said it with his whole heart, in the way that ached and burned.

Donnie and Raph stared at him, eyes wide. Donnie only looked annoyed, but Raph had to immediately put his head down to scrub furiously at his eyes. As Raph looked down, Mikey pulled back enough to stare at Leo in open terror, his whole body shaking.

“Why would…” Leo untangled his arms from Mikey, burying his face into his hands. And then, with every inch of himself, choked into his palms. “You–! You didn’t even ask–! I-I… I can’t believe–!”

He looked up enough to catch Donnie’s shocked face, and anger took over again, and he put his hand against Mikey to try to shove him off. Mikey, however, was stronger than he was, and didn’t allow himself to be pried off, clinging onto Leo for all his might while the older snarled at Donnie.

Leo almost dragged Mikey with him as he lurched towards Donnie, but his limbs refused to let him move more than half an inch before they all gave out at once, sending him toppling right back onto the ground.

Apparently, that was all his body could take, because everything faded to black.

Someone, far away, screamed.

(:)

“From what I can tell,” Donnie stated, pulling at the emergency generator’s cord, even as he knew it would do nothing, staring at the decaying overlay that was his lab. “That… That impostor managed to short out my entire lab. Half of it blew itself up, and the other half won’t turn on without power.”

“How long will it take to fix everything?” Raph fretted, hovering over his shoulder and looking impossibly guilty. He had been yelled at, already, for freezing for a precious few seconds while the impostor grabbed Leo and trapped him until the portal swallowed them both up. Donnie regretted it, and Mikey did, too, but apologizing wasn’t a priority right now.

“With my intellect and mystic abilities combined?” Donnie puffed himself up, sending a smug look in Raph’s direction. “Ten minutes. I just need to find what needs to be repaired. But then I’ll look back over energy signatures and construct a device for easy access across realities…”

“How long until we can take him back?” Mikey asked, one hand on Raph’s forearm, rubbing gentle circles on Raph’s arm, though the youngest looked even closer to breaking down than Raph was. The only thing stopping him was likely the knowledge that he had already fainted from trying to pry open a portal to wherever the impostor had taken Leo, and his brothers had already had to take care of him once already.

“Anywhere from a day to three months.” Donnie told him, wincing as the generator began to splutter beneath his fingertips and leaping away. “Fortunately, transreality travel has been done already. We all know it. I just need to replicate it. It shouldn’t take more than a week. Maybe two, if I’m unlucky.”

“Good.” Mikey snarled, and Donnie echoed it with his own growl a second later. “That monster is going to pay for what he’s done to Leo.”

In the following silence, Raph punched the wall.

Chapter Text

“Oh no…” A soft voice tickled the edge of Leo’s mind, and he felt something shift to grasp onto it. His mind clinged onto it for all that it was worth, and the voice shivered in his grip but did not flee. “This can’t be happening, it just can’t!”

And then it vanished, and with nothing else to cling to, Leo let himself fall into the void.

(:)

Leo woke up to a coughing fit that shook his whole chest, a sharp pain dragging through his abdomen, his throat! His back arched best as it was able through his shell as he scrambled to gain purchase, and he felt something heavy claw at him from inside. His hand came over his mouth, in a futile effort to silence his coughs and screams, his body heaving. He choked against them until his breathing turned into a wheeze, and he winced, mentally beating himself up for doing so; Donnie might get–

Wait.

Leo thumped back down the second he was able to get enough air into his lungs. Panting through the haze, his gaze circled around the infirmary. Leo’s gaze circling around the dimmed infirmary. The lights were still on, dark enough to allow him easy rest but light enough that he could see everything clearly around him.

He wasn’t alone, this time, as his three brothers – Alternates? Real? – were all situated around the room, fast asleep. There was a mess of pillows and quilts on his left, where Raph lay, carapace-down, and Mikey nestled right on top of his plastron. On his right, Donnie dozed in the office chair, tipping forward, over his knees, arms limply perched across his thighs.

Leo’s lips fell into a scowl, and his hands curled into tight fists. He wanted to attack, so desperately, but he couldn’t. Even without the unfairness that pulsed through his chest at the idea of attacking his brother in the chest, Leo could hardly even lift himself up, as the pain darting through him was tedious and moving was difficult.

Shell, shell, how long was he asleep? Enough time for his pain meds to wear off, and the turtles around him hadn’t… bothered? Hadn’t known how to switch his meds? He automatically reached for the bedside counter, like he had who knows how long ago. Last time he woke up. Moments before he was kidnapped and brought here.

Was it even here anymore? Or had he been taken again? Stolen away, dragged elsewhere, taken to another reality where he didn’t fit in, claiming to be real?! Who knows how many times it had happened already! What if they were both telling the truth? What if his first brothers stole him, and then the second Donnie stole him, but neither were the original? What if neither were his?

Reality hopping. Forever.

Leo mouthed a curse, but didn’t dare utter a word.

He looked down at his plastron, taking note of his distinct last of electrodes or an IV line in his PICC. He was honestly just relieved they hadn’t removed the PICC, or maybe they hadn’t been able to figure out how to safely remove it yet. He didn’t know. There were too many unknowns. Where they usually went ahead and did everything in their power to administer him with the proper dosage of medication, even while he was asleep, they didn’t do that here. Maybe they didn’t know how to do the doctoring-stuff. Maybe they didn’t realize he needed it.

If that was the case, jerks, the lot of them. Especially since Donnie had seen him in the infirmary. They had even put him back in here! So, they should have… Right, right, might not be the same ones that had him last time he was awake.

A quick peek and long squint at Donnie revealed he had the same scars, but that proved nothing, because if… Gosh, The first Donnie hadn’t had scars. Did that prove that he hadn’t kidnapped Leo, or did that further condemn him? Had they found a workaround without slowly killing themselves.

Leo squeezed his eyes closed and tried not to groan from the frustration, from the pulsing static of his chest. If his wheezing against the pressure in his lungs and straight out coughing hadn’t woken them, then it was possible nothing would. Or maybe they were used to it. 

Too many unknowns, too many, too many–!

Some of them weren’t even based on the reality switch.

He glowered at Donnie for only a second longer, and then he resolved himself to do the stupidest thing he had done since three months ago. Since the invasion. His brothers had made him swear that he would never do anything that would hurt himself again, but those might have not even been his brothers!

How messed up was that?!

Leo planted his hands on either side of himself, and pushed himself up slowly, and his abdomen screeched at the pressure, twisting uncomfortable and doubling back over itself. If Leo even had antibiotics right now, not even pain killers, he’d be a lot happier. But it wasn’t worth searching through the cabinets, risking knocking over pill bottles and nearly waking up the sleeping turtles. So he’d cope.

Leo twisted himself, gently lowering himself off of the medical bed, wincing as his feet touched the cold floor. He’d be able to walk just fine as long as he didn’t run, didn’t overexert himself, like he did with the second Donnie.

Leo pushed himself upright, sneaking a single glance over at Donnie, and then looking right back over at Mikey and Raph. Mikey thumped his head against Raph’s chest but didn’t otherwise stir, and Raph just readjusted his hand to be a bit more firm across Mikey’s carapace. Leo felt a flicker of jealousy at their mini turtle nest.

Leo hadn’t been able to join their bale since the invasion, still too much in the danger zone, still risking being crushed if they lay on him wrong. The funny thing was, even though Leo was smaller than Raph, he liked being tucked underneath the significantly larger turtle. Raph was able to shift just enough that not a lot of weight was put on him, but enough that Leo felt surrounded and secure, but… With his injuries, there was too much of a risk.

The first batch of turtles had sworn that the first act they would do when Leo got better was a huge turtle pile, with Leo right at the bottom, just like he wanted. He guessed that promise was moot, at this point. Maybe these turtles would be more willing to–? No, these turtles might not be real, either, these turtles might not be–!

He was getting sidelined. He was letting his mind wander too far, and the longer he waited around and got lost in his head, the bigger the danger was that they would wake up and see him. And Leo didn’t want to wait around. He needed to get somewhere far, somewhere safe, and reevaluate without fear of interruption. They’d be mad, later, but that was a problem for another time. That was a problem for Leo when he was confident who was who, when he was done sorting it out.

Donnie’s lab felt like the best place to look for proof, for answers. But if Donnie was smart, he would’ve deleted any and all evidence. Leo must not be very smart in comparison – duh, wow, really using his brain power here – because he couldn’t think of a single way that would actually prove anything. He didn’t even know how to make sure the chart wasn’t edited or something, showing false crossover lines that didn’t exist. He didn’t even know how to prove this was the same reality he had collapsed in. That would only be solved by asking one of them what their conversation had been before he lost consciousness; and he wasn’t waking them up for that.

Donnie had proximity sensors installed in his lab, though. He’d be alerted the moment Leo entered, even if Leo used the typical entrance code. The only way to breach it was to get April to give it to him, as she was Donnie’s emergency backup, but the less people that knew about Leo being here the better. Maybe he could raid her apartment whenever she next left it. Y’know, like a cool person.

Leo could totally do this.

The confidence in himself and his abilities increased at the sight that the infirmary door was open, and Leo slipped through easily, though the moment he was able to climb out of the train car he had to stop to regain his breath. It was a delicate balance, leaning on the train car but not quite enough that the train car would shift. Even the slightest noise would be enough to alert them.

Keep going, Leo, keep moving.

He pushed himself up, nearly doubling over immediately from the effort, choking back the screech that threatened to rip itself up. He managed to clamp down on it before it made any noise, wheezing through his lips, but swallowing it back. He froze, listening for any movement from the infirmary, and upon hearing none, he started moving again.

It was a hobble more than a walk, and a walk more than a run, but even so, Leo made good progress through the lair, following the same route that the first Donnie had dragged him through the day before, but this time there was no metal to block his path, the train cars lined up against him still in perfect condition.

Leo’s hand hurt, and so did his wrist, and he swore he could feel that Donnie’s fingers squeezing into his skin, crushing his bone in a terrified grip. He wished he could sit both Donnies down and question them, thoroughly, completely, and figure out what was happening. He wished he could sit down every Donnie who dared touch him, who dared to pull him away, who were so ridiculously overprotective and possessive, and have a nice long conversation until one of their stories contradicted the other’s, or until the other’s gave up, and–!

Leo would normally say that only his real Donnie would have the patience to sit through the whole thing, not losing hope, and the others would give up because they would know trying was futile. Leo would always find out the truth, no matter how long it took. But he couldn’t say that, because he didn’t know. Even when the first Donnie had showed him the charts, Leo hadn’t given that much thought to it. Whatever happened, they would be able to handle it, except he hadn’t predicted it’d be one of them.

He should’ve.

He should’ve been able to guess, when his brothers sobbed above him and held him tight, refusing to let him go after the Kraang, even as the shock and adrenaline wore off and he felt himself slipping. With Raph’s sob of “We’re never going to let you do that again.” and Donnie’s snarl of “The next time he lays a hand on you, I swear, I’ll–!” and Mikey’s quiet chattering of “Hey, hey, you’re okay, we’ve got you, nobody’ll ever hurt you again, I promise! I’ll find you no matter where you go, because I…!” He should’ve been able to guess that every version of his brothers would feel that strongly.

It was only then that Leo came to the realization that, perhaps, his brothers, for those few minutes on Staten Island, hadn’t been talking about the Kraang, but something else instead. If they truly had been the first to kidnap him… Then they could’ve been talking about the alternates. Anything was possible, now.

And until Leo knew how to trust, he didn’t want to stay put. He wanted to escape, to run far and wide, to scurry off and never return. Or at least not until he got that code.

Leo shot the train car bedrooms a look as he snuck past, even though he was perfectly aware he had left his brothers back in the infirmary. Old habits from sneaking around, he supposed.

The stairs leading up to the kitchen came next, and though there weren’t too many, Leo still had to take his sweet time easing himself up them. Physical therapy had yet to account for stairs, and the simple movement wore him down even easier than running did, to the point where he had to sit down on the steps and push himself up them one by one instead of just normally stepping.

When he was three quarters up, he dared to look back down at the bedrooms, and his gaze landed on Splinter’s door; one of the few bedrooms that wasn’t a train car. It took the place of one of the ticket stands, and after replacing the glass with wood and shoji sliding doors, it was now the most private room in the whole lair, aside from the bathrooms. And right now? Leo wanted to do nothing more than barrel his way right through it and wrap himself up in his father’s arms, but…

His father was likely not his real father, either. Or, he was about as likely to be his father as these turtles were his brothers. And nothing made sense anymore. Leo couldn’t stop, thump right back down the stairs, and face Splinter. He had to leave!

And so the moment he was on top of the stairs, he did. He beelined straight past the kitchen – and tried to ignore the messy state of it, looking like it hadn’t been cleaned, used in, or managed for months, and frankly, it likely hadn’t been. Depression was a very prominent side of grief, and a lot of the time that could lead to untidiness – and headed for the main entrance.

The shower of water that flooded over the tunnel was tricky to navigate around with Leo’s stiff, sore muscles, but he managed, flinching back from the sprinkles of water that did manage to land on him. But at least it was relatively clean compared to the rest of the sewers. The last thing Leo wanted was to get a fecal infection, so he kept his steps cautious and rooted to the concrete as he walked through the sewers.

He only got halfway down the tunnel when a loud beep! vibrated through the air.

Leo startled, looking down between his feet to see if he had triggered something, just in time to see his PICC bracelet light up with a harsh, purple glow. And then it beeped again, louder, harsher. Leo startled, slamming his finger against the PICC and the purple, glowing orb, trying to force it off, get it off, what the shell, Donnie?!

“Thank you,” The bracelet announced, in a perfect copy of Donnie’s voice, loud and horrible, “for choosing the shopping cart program! It appears you have bypassed your allowed parameters! Please stop where you are; Help is enroute.”

“No, nononono…” Leo snarled beneath his breath, edging his finger nail against it and getting a grip, but then his finger slipped right out from beneath it. A growl squeezing out from between his clenched teeth, and Leo gave up on tearing it off, instead slamming it against the wall, praying it would fizzle out and break.

It held against the force easily.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Leo spat into the sewers, wincing as it echoed right back, and slammed his hand against the wall, instead. The PICC beeped even louder than before, and the automated voice played again. He didn’t know if it was how physically weak he was, or because Donnie had coated it out of titanium, but whatever it was, it just. Wouldn’t. Break.

There were footsteps in the lair behind him, running quickly,  and Leo did not wait to find out who was coming for him, even though he already knew that it was Donnie. Going against his own limitations, Leo broke into a run, too.

One positive thing Leo could always say about himself was that when it came to a crisis, he usually could keep his head on straight. His thoughts didn’t scatter and become a hopeless, panicked mess. That was to say, Leo knew exactly where he was going as he ran. Not too far away was a sewer grate, that he could climb up – hopefully – and wiggle himself through it. If he managed to get more than three steps of the ladder, it would be too dangerous to pull him down without risking extra damage to his shell, and Donnie would be slowed down, or– Or something.

It wasn’t a good plan, Leo would admit, but it was the o nly one.

His legs decided a few meters short of the ladder that they had had enough walking and running for the day, for the last eternity, and chose that moment to turn into jelly. Leo went sprawling, tumbling right over himself. He managed to get his hand on the lowest rung of the ladder as he came to a stop, but it wasn’t enough–

The lower half of his body wouldn’t even budge, anymore, too sore and painful, and trying to drag himself up made his stomach heave and he wanted to throw up and he couldn’t even breathe–!

“What are you doing?” Donnie asked, his footsteps slow and cautious as he came up on Leo’s side, opposite the wall. Leo winced, but all Donnie did was carefully round around him until the ladder was between them, keeping a respectful distance even as he crouched.

Leo snarled at him best he was able, narrowing his eyes as Donnie’s expression faded into one of bitter remorse. Leo crumpled down, face-down, into the ground as his abdomen ached from the awkwardly bent angle, but kept his hand firmly wound around the rung. “Get…” Leo snarled, lifting up his second hand, armed with the PICC, “...this thing off of me!”

“I can turn it off,” Donnie volunteered over the next loud beep that pierced the air, “but I’m not taking it off. Or dismantling it. This is important, Leo.”

“It’s invasive.” Leo growled.

“That’s not what I meant for it to be.” Donnie huffed, fiddling with . “We can take you wherever you want to go, y’know, but I’d rather we have something in place that will at least let us find you if, say, you faint!” Donnie stopped himself from that train of thought, letting out a loud, slightly irritated breath. “I’m sorry. I know you hate the idea of being tracked, but I can’t risk losing you again. How about I bring you back to the lair, and we can–”

“No.”

“Um.” Donnie hesitated, and looked down at Leo with confusion, but his eyebrows remained up and kneaded together at the top of his forehead instead of down and scrunched with anger. It wasn’t bitter confusion. Just concern. And that stung. All of Donnie’s expressions that weren’t angry hurt more than they should’ve. “Do you want me to get Raph? Would that be better than me?”

“I’m not going back, period!” Leo snarled, “And you can’t make me!” In this state, Donnie absolutely could make him. Leo chose to ignore that fact.

Donnie was silent for a long time. Leo only knew he was still there because Leo was glaring at him, twisting his head against the ground in order to see as much of him as he could. With the distance, Leo was able to see just about all of him. Most importantly, he could see Donnie’s hands were out, laying on his lap. They weren’t rummaging for anything else, or holding a tranq gun, or anything else that could harm Leo and drag him back against his will. So that was. Good.

The silence got uncomfortable, but still Donnie didn’t say a word. He was always better at handling long periods of silence than Leo, so of course he could just… sit there. And say nothing.

“I need proof.” Leo mumbled, a little quieter, and pretended not to notice Donnie perking up at his voice. “That you’re telling the truth.”

“What about the chart I showed you?” Donnie asked, and there was the proof that it was still the second reality. Not a secret third one. Which was… Well, not great. But it made relief pulse in Leo’s chest anyway, glad another reality hadn’t been added into the mix. Yet, anyway.

“They’re not enough.” Leo snarled, not daring to mention that train of thought to Donnie. It didn’t feel important to mention. “You’re smart, you can change it, or edit it, or whatever. I need something real. Something tangible. I’m not coming back unless you prove it to me!”

Donnie blinked at him for a long second, his face bunching up with concern and frustration, looking like he was considering something, and frankly? Really? Leo hated that.

“I’m leaving.” Leo announced, trying to drag himself up the ladder, but he barely got himself a little bit up when his legs crumpled again, and Leo realized with horror that he couldn’t even feel anything below his thighs. And everything above that, from his hips to his chest, throbbed and screamed with every movement. He swore he could feel his ribs grinding into each other, and wow! How pleasant was that!

“Pizza supreme, Leo!” Donnie scolded, his hands hovering a few inches away but not touching him, not even catching Leo when he fell, and begrudgingly, Leo had to feel thankful over that. “Why are you so stubborn, I swear to–!” He cut himself off with a groan, and reached down to rest his hand beside Leo’s. When Leo flinched, he took away his hand. “Look! Can you just–! Come back?!”

“No.” Leo growled.

“Look, I’ll–! I’ll figure something out, okay? I’ll find proof, or-or something! I’ll make it up to you, alright?!” Donnie trembled next to him, still hovering, still looking like he wanted to reach down and gather Leo up in his arms, but he didn’t scoot any closer. “I’ll… I’ll admit I messed up. I did, Leo, I did! I should’ve explained it to you, and been more careful. Or…”

“You should’ve asked.” Leo hissed into the ground, and Donnie trailed off, silent and, Leo hoped, properly chastised.

The silence didn’t last nearly long enough, as Donnie dared to press on a few beats later. “And if you refused? Leo, I don’t know what I would’ve done!”

“So what?!” Leo seethed, but even as he did he knew it wasn’t fair. For him and for Donnie both.

Donnie just missed his brother, and whether or not that was Leo was to be determined. Leo just wanted the truth, and it was still debatable what that was. Leo was entitled to stay with, to go with, whoever he wanted. Donnie was right to want whoever his brother was back. There was too much at stake for Leo to be callous about this. To be dismissive of Donnie’s feelings, but. That didn’t make Donnie right.

That didn’t make it right for him to do at all.

“Leo, I love you,” Donnie said, stiffly, so quietly that Leo almost missed it if he hadn’t been clinging onto everything Donnie could’ve said. “And I get that it was wrong, I know it was, but I think. I think it was a justified wrong.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, Donatello!” Leo seethed, curling one arm underneath him and crying to use it to lift himself up. It didn’t work. Nothing worked anymore. He couldn’t do anything, three months of recovery and healing equaled laziness, equaled weakness, and he couldn’t even lift himself up, he could do more against the Kraang after days of being beat then he could right here right now–

“I know that, believe me I know that, I just–! I need you, I need to…” Donnie’s voice picked up, and Leo, despite all his frustrations, could not resist when a brother needed him. He looked up at Donnie, and Donnie stared right back at him. “Can I,” Donnie tried, hesitated, and dared to try again, “can I touch…” and then couldn’t finish the thought. 

“I don’t know where to find what you… I don’t know where to find that proof that you want, I don’t know how to…!” Donnie whispered, but he shut himself down quickly, falling silent, and withdrawing back, pushing himself up to his feet. He took a long, halting breath, as Leo craned his neck upwards, staring up and up at his supposed brother, Donnie shaking and trembling all over as he stood there, looking so lost, so alone–

“I’m sorry.” Donnie whispered into the silence, staring away and refusing to look at Leo at all. “I’m not… When has the impossible ever stopped me? Y’know? Ha! Haha!” And he laughed in a self-deprecating way, palm pressed against his forehead, almost condescending, and he turned his back on Leo to stare down the empty abyss of the tunnels.

His sniffle echoed through the sewers, loud and grating, and Leo forced himself to move, forced his legs to get underneath him, even as they refused to cooperate, forcing himself up and to move, and everything snarled and grated within him, but he had to get up, he had to move, he had to–!

He wrapped his arms around Donnie and squeezed. Donnie’s sniffle caught in his throat, and he lifted trembling hands up to clutch at Leo’s hands wrapped around him, and he bent right over them. And Leo felt awful for denying Donnie it when he needed it most. He didn’t know what to say to make it better, and whatever he said… Would just make it hurt more. So he did neither. He just held Donnie, and tried not to cry, either.

Donnie was never one for crying for a long time, and only did so when he was in deep agony. It only took a few minutes for Donnie to drag himself out of the stupor, turning around to hesitantly hug him right back. Leo let him, did his best not to flinch, because Donnie – brother or not – needed him.

“I want to take you home.” Donnie whispered against Leo’s shoulder, holding him tightly but gently all at once, more comfortingly than he ever had the right to be. “If you… If you would let me?”

“Still need proof.” Leo mumbled, and Donnie squeezed him again.

“I know, and I’ll… I’ll get it for you, somehow.” Donnie promised. “But if you came home… I would feel a lot better.”

“Fine.” Leo relented, as lightly as he could, but as he pulled away he nearly completely collapsed. Donnie caught him just before he fully hit the ground, and Leo guessed the only reason he had been able to remain standing for so long was Donnie holding him upright. Now, Leo couldn’t support himself in the least.

It made his stomach twist in irritation when he realized how easy it would be for Donnie to drag him home, even without his consent. And yet he hadn’t. Donnie had given him his space, and waited until Leo was ready.

But he still wouldn’t even remove the tracker on Leo’s PICC. One way or another, Donnie would have dragged him home. One way or another, Leo would’ve ended up back in the lair. Illusion of choice. Illusion of control.

Clever, Donnie, clever.

(:)

“I’m not meaning to pry, but…”

“Yes, Raphael.” Donnie huffed, rolling his eyes up to stare at his older brother, lips sewn together into an angry grimace. “I am fully aware that it has been a full day, and yet! Nothing! No progress!”

“That’s not what I was going to say.” Raph grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, frowning down at Donnie. “I was going to ask when’s the last time you actually slept. You don’t have to put so much effort into this. I mean, we’ve dragged Leo from another reality before. And all we needed was Mikey. We can do that again–”

“First of all, that was another dimension, and you saw how much that little stunt hurt Mikey then! I’m not going to risk Mikey’s well-being to get Leo back, and… And if my counterpart can make a device that can travel between universes, then I can, too!” Donnie snapped, gaze drifting right back down to his hands, clasped into two tight fists. “I can do this, Raph. I can.”

“Not saying you can’t.” Raph reassured, looking down at his crossed arms. “Just… Just take care of yourself, okay? ‘M not gonna let you work yourself to death, either. Leo’ll be mad. If he saw what you’re doin’ to yourself just to get him back.”

Donnie pursed his lips again and nodded stubbornly. Raph stared at him for a few beats more, and then turned away, leaving Donnie to his own devices. Leaving Donnie to attempt the impossible.

Chapter Text

“You need to figure this out.” The voice reached a new desperation as Leo reached awareness, though his head was still thick and weighing him down, even as he thrashed and tried to break free, to see who was talking to him. “Please! I don’t know if you can hear me, but you need to listen! You have to listen to me–!”

“Who–?” Leo begged, thought it felt like his mouth was filled with cotton, but like he wasn’t using his mouth at all.

The voice stuttered off, and then, said, gently, “Hello?”

And then everything vanished around him, crumpling away, because–?

(:)

“Is he asleep?” Raph asked, quietly, the question enough to stir Leo awake. Regardless, he tried not to stir at the half-indirect mention, frustrated at being woken up from… Whatever that dream was. But whatever was up with Raph was important, too. And if he showed he was awake, there was no way they would talk freely.

“Yeah, looks like it.” Mikey murmured, shifting enough that Leo could figure out that he was sitting on the end of the bed next to him, his breath briefly stirring against Leo’s face before he was leaning away again.
“I’ve never seen him sleep this deeply.” Raph muttered with a touch of nervousness, “Should we be worried? I mean, he’s hurt, yeah, but not that hurt! Donnie was worse after the Shredder, when his shell… It’s just been two days of just this, and I dunno….?”

“Naw. I think he’s just been tired since his ‘escape attempt’. It just took a lot out of him.”

Two days? Really? Leo supposed he did feel pretty tired, but not enough to just… conk out for days on end. Or maybe he didn’t feel tired because he had slept for two whole days. Where was Donnie, anyway?

“Aw, com’n, Mikey. Don’t call it that!” Raph implored, sounding a tad exasperated, and Mikey twitched over to the side like he had been nudged by their older brother. Leo didn’t dare blink his eyes open to check. “He was – is – confused!” There was another pause, broken only by Mikey snorting under his breath, quiet enough that Leo didn’t think Raph could hear it, but Raph pressed on like he could, anyway. “Mikey, do not tell me that’s what you wanted to talk about!”

“Don’t you think,” Mikey mused curiously, like he hadn’t heard what Raph had said, “that this whole situation is just a little weird? I mean, we love him just as much as Donnie does! Maybe even more.” Mikey hesitated for a breath or two as Raph grumbled with disagreement, and amended himself. “Okay, no, you’re right, Raph. Not more. Definitely not more… But you would think that Donnie would tell us that he was going after him!”

“I mean… Yeah.” Raph agreed hesitantly. “That’s frustrating… But didn’t he say that was because we wouldn’t let him? I mean, I don’t approve, but Donnie just did what he had to to get him back, and isn’t… Isn’t that good?”

“He didn’t even explain it to him before stealing him!” Mikey argued. “He won’t even let Donnie touch him! Just us! He obviously thinks that something’s wrong, and I know Donnie’s trying to find proof or something so that he trusts him, but…”

“I know, I know, it was stupid of Donnie…” Raph sighed, long and hard, still wanting to deny that there was anything wrong. Leo could hear it clear as day. “Of course he was going to panic, and run the first chance he got… But Donnie still did bring him back, didn’t he? I mean, he’s sleeping right here! He’s back, Mikey, shouldn’t that count for something?”

“I wish it did.” Mikey said, quietly. “I really, really wish it did. And I’m so happy, Raph! I am, I swear I am, because he’s here!” Mikey smothered his sobs for only a moment, and then he broke completely, and shifted completely off of the bed. Raph moved, too, and Leo heard them collide with each other, and wished he could be a part of their loving, tight embrace, and yet…

“But–!” Mikey proceeded with a choked off sob that built into a wail, “but Donnie went behind our backs! He should’ve–! He should’ve said something! I don’t care about his stupid insecurities, I just wanted to–! I missed him! I missed Donnie, and he was alive! Isn’t that messed up?! Isn’t that–?!”

“Donnie’s weird.” Raph sniffled, and Leo dared peek one eye open so that he could see them melting against each other, Raph’s eyes screwed shut and squeezing Mikey so tightly it looked like the younger would snap in half. But Mikey was holding him just as tightly, so maybe it evened out. “We… We can’t force him to tell us what’s going on in his head, or his secrets, or really anything, because he…”

“He could.” Mikey sobbed, in a way that Leo was able to tell that they had had this same conversation before, “he always could get Donnie to-! To come out of his shell! Y-y’know? But now he’s—?! But he’s not, because Donnie just… He got him back, he did, but what if he didn’t?!”

“Mikey, what are you talking about?” Raph implored, pushing back from Mikey, and Leo closed his eyes again so he wouldn’t say. “Of course this is him! Donnie wouldn’t lie about that, you know that!”

“Do I?! Do you?! We—! Donnie’s been different. Ever since that… Ever since the-the invasion…! We used to be close, y’know, when-! When you and-and him were too busy fighting, Donnie and I would… I dunno, but… But ever since the Prison Dimension, he doesn’t talk to me anymore—! I’m… I’m scared, Raph, he’s not himself!”

“You… you think he’s insane?”

“I think there’s something wrong! I just… can’t explain it!”

“Donnie’s still our brother—!”

“But is Leo?!”

“SHHH! You’re going to wake him up—!”

“Too late for that.” Leo finally announced, getting his arms underneath him and pushing himself a few inches up, but then he collapsed again, blinking blearily up at the ceiling. The room had gotten deadly silent, so he rolled his head around to make sure they hadn’t fled. He immediately locked gazes with two wide-eyed brothers, and wow, uncomfortable, much? “Now, what were you saying about Donnie being insane?”

Mikey stared at him for a second longer, and then began spluttering nervously. “I-! I never said that! You and Raph—! No, no, that’s not what I meant at all! He’s not crazy! I swear he’s not crazy, that’s not what I meant—!”

“How much did you hear?” Raph asked, taking a step forward, moving his arms around Mikey so that he never let go of him but was now standing in front of him, closer to Leo.

Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes and waving a hand lazily. “Everything from ‘Is Leo asleep?’ to ‘You’re gonna wake him up!’.” Leo swallowed, and looked over at Mikey. “You said… he’s been acting weird. Are his symptoms, like… Isolation? Quietness? Crying when he thinks you guys can’t see him? Showing up only when you need him?”

Raph and Mikey were still staring at him, but the intensity of their gazes got even worse as Leo kept talking, looking horrified and all kinds of funny. Those expressions managed to answer every question Leo had but also provided nothing more that he could use to figure out the truth.

Because, the thing was, the first Donnie had spent the first month secluded in the exact same way. And, just like this Raph and Mikey, Leo had missed him. They were both alive, they both breathed the same air, but it was like his brother was just gone. Leo’s drive to stay in bed and prove to his family that he was perfect, now, and not an egotistical, immature pest was stronger than his need to protect Donnie from himself.

In Mikey and Raph’s eyes, Leo could see the same sorrow, the same realization that they couldn’t stop Donnie from doing horrible things to himself in the name of love. If this Donnie had spent his three months of isolation trying to get Leo back, then what had the first Donnie been doing? Had he really been protecting his own emotions from losing Leo again, or had he been learning to lie?

“Great,” Leo dared to say out loud, leaning heavily back against the mattress and pillows, squeezing his eyes shut. “That’s about what I thought.” He lifted his palms to squish against his eyes, and groaned over the pressure he had thrust against himself.

“H-how’re you doing, little buddy?” Raph asked him, lightly, and when Leo dared to peek, Raph was staring down at him nervously. “We, uh, didn’t mean to wake you?”

“Naw, don’t worry about it,” Leo waved his hand absently, even though he felt maybe the littlest bit annoyed at them interrupting his dream. It felt important, all things considered. “I’m just, I dunno, glad that you two are talking it out. And, frankly, I trust you a lot more than Donnie right now, even if you are actively trying not to tell me squat about him.”

Raph and Mikey glanced at each other, hard, an unspoken agreement passing between them without really talking. Which was ironic, because this whole time, all they had been doing was talking.

“It’s not really important, Leo,” Mikey determined, which was a lie, but hey, at least they hadn’t actively kidnapped him. “You just keep resting up and focus on getting better, okay? We can talk about this later.”

“Jerks.” Leo hissed, glaring at them while they fumbled around and pointedly did not look at him. But his scowl fell a second later, staring down at where his toes were jutting up below the blanket, wiggling them a bit. He couldn’t fault them, as much as he wanted to. If his brother was on the mend… He would’ve reacted the same way. As it was, he just tipped his head backwards and stared at the ceiling.

That’s about when he realized that his chest felt deep and empty, searching, and the feeling felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He needed something he couldn’t find, some type of piece, or proof that he was missing. And it wasn’t just longing for his brothers or answers or anything. This was something else. And it hurt.

(:)

All things considering, Donnie was making good progress on the transreality device. If he was starting from scratch, he was sure it would’ve taken him months to figure out, but he was good at observing. His good old alternate-imposter-counterpart had clearly used it to draw power out of himself to open the portal, and Donnie had managed to get a good reading of the transreality portal that had split open.

So, Donnie just needed to craft a device that channel his mystic prowess and that connected to the frequency that had emitted. And he felt like he was already halfway done. If only his tech worked and he wasn’t deathly afraid of overusing his ninpo and being unable to rescue Leo.

He didn’t know nearly enough about transreality/transdimensional travel. They had a lucky break with Mikey, last time. And Donnie hadn’t worried about the specifics at the time. Just that Mikey had gotten Leo back, and that was all that mattered.

And right now? That still was all that mattered.

Donnie would stop at nothing to get Leo back, and he knew Raph and Mikey felt the same.

Chapter Text

“You heard me last time, didn’t you?” The voice paused long enough for Leo to speak, but he wasn’t able to quite get his jaw working. If he was awake, maybe he would be able to groan or mumble or something, but as it was, he couldn’t.

“Okay,” the voice continued, “that’s okay. If you can still hear me, then that means… I’ll figure out how to talk to you for longer next time. I’ve got to go now, so just… stay safe.”

And it all faded away.

(:)

“Leo, Leo, wake up! I figured it out!” Donnie’s voice cut into the haze after what felt like an eternity later, the soft shell’s hands gripping Leo’s shoulders and shaking him awake excitedly.

“Hnn?” Leo groaned, blinking his eyes open and trying to focus on his brother’s face tiredly. There was only one reason he could think of that Donnie would wake him up instead of letting him sleep. “‘S there an… ahhh, whatchamacallit tonight?” 

“What?” Donnie blinked. “A what?”

“‘Stronomy?” Leo returned, mind fuzzily regaining his knowledge and what was going on in the great world of astronomy. Donnie had promised Leo that, if the slider teleported him over to the country, that he would send a livestream of the upcoming astronomical events because Leo couldn’t be there in person. There were only two he was seriously invested in that were approaching. “Like the… uhh, Geminis Meteor Shower or… uhhh, Jupiter and Saturn are gonna go bingggg!” Leo murmured, holding out his hand in a peace symbol and then folding his fingers together so they were merrily sitting side by side.

Donnie stared at Leo for a long hard second, and the confusion in his brother’s gaze urged Leo to look around the infirmary. He took in the lack of comics strewn across every available source, and the surprising absence of blankets packed into a corner, and… Hmmm. Nothing about the infirmary felt lived in. It looked far too sterile, and that was usually good, but in this case, when the infirmary was more like his room than his actual bedroom…

“Wait.” Leo blinked, his mind snapping back into the present and registering what exactly was going on. And this wasn’t the Donnie who had promised him to document the astronomy events. This wasn’t the Donnie who had taken hours out of his invaluable time, listening to Leo ramble excitedly about astronomical events. As far as Leo knew, both dates had long since passed. Last he had checked, he had already been here about five days, spending most of his time just waiting for Donnie to reappear with proof.

Which meant that’s what Donnie was here for, and not to deal with anything astronomical at all. “Oh.”

“Sorry.” Donnie admonished, looking down at his hands, nibbling his bottom lip while Leo sat and stared blankly at him, a disappointed crawling in his gut. “I… I can do… whatever it is he promised to do for you, but first! First, I figured it out. Me and my sheer genius have figured it out.”

“Physical proof.” Leo guessed, mouth twitching into a partial smile even though he felt the disappointment coursing through his gut. The least he could do was give this Donnie the slightest benefit of a doubt. “What have you got?”

“Okay. Frankly, it’s situational… subjective proof. At best.” Donnie amended with a slight wince. “Since our realities were identical up until the invasion, and you were with us that whole time, there’s really nothing physical I can provide, unless you can think of something.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed slightly, a bit miffed since Donnie had said when he first arrived that it hadn’t been identical, but… As far as they knew, sure. But Donnie wouldn’t change what he meant unless… If one was a lie.

“I know you told me you needed physical proof, but it’s impossible.” Donnie flapped his hand dismissively, then looked back at Leo with slightly furrowed brows. “However, I do have something that I think will be equally valuable to you, that will maybe, hopefully, prove it to you.”

Leo frowned at Donnie for a long time, before letting the soft-shell pull Leo’s hand with the PICC into his lap, gentle and kind, smoothing his thumb right over the back of Leo’s hand.

“Leo,” Donnie proceeded, gently, “I know you don’t trust me. I know you look at me and rightly think about how I stole you away. And I know you want physical proof, and the fact that I’m not providing it? That’s got to be a black mark against me, but, Leo. The only thing I can offer to you is my trust.”

Leo blinked at Donnie in confusion, arching an eyebrow. “Oh? And how are you going to give that?”

“Leo,” Donnie said, again, with a tad bit more desperation as his fingers slipped against the PICC bracelet. “I’m turning off my tracker on you.” And with a beep, a purple orb dropped right off of the PICC, sparking noisily, and a few wires came loose, too. “And I know, I know, how uncharacteristic, Donnie, giving Leo an upper hand on anything! But seriously. Leonardo. Whatever you choose… Whatever you’re going to do… If you want to run away, to April’s apartment, or meet up with Papa and Casey at the farmhouse…”

Well. That was the first time he heard about the farmhouse and Splinter and Casey’s wearabouts.

“It doesn’t matter.” Donnie pressed on. “You can even go to the other reality! I’ll open the portal so you can go back to that… That place. If that’s what you really want.

“Wait.” Leo blinked down at their interlocked hands, and then back up at Donnie in shock. “What?! What does that even mean, Donnie, wait–?! You’ll–?! You’ll let me go back?!”

Donnie stared at Leo for a long moment, and then broke eye contact. “...yes. I can. I can open a portal for you right now. Right here, right now, and send you back to… To that reality. No protesting, no insisting. But if you go, you can’t come back.”

Leo looked down at the cracks across Donnie’s arms, and how the soft shell’s body and voice both trembled and, suddenly, a deep, deep pit crawled into his stomach. He was both so confused by how willing Donnie was to just… Let him go. It was so out of character, so unbelievably confusing, and yet. Why would a thief be so willing to let him go?

“Donnie.” Leo said, hesitantly, “Why couldn’t I come back?”

Donnie didn’t say anything.

Looking at Donnie’s arms, at the device that had already popped right out of his battle shell, gripped so tightly that his knuckles turned pale enough that the scars looked dark in comparison, and suddenly, everything clicked. “You’ll die,” Leo guessed, though it came out more of a statement than a question, “if you open the portal to bring me back here.”

Donnie was quiet for a few more, tense minutes, and then he softly said, “Sure.”

Oh. Oh, sooner than that. It was going to be so much sooner than that. If Donnie sent him back he would die. And Leo couldn’t do that to him. Of course he couldn’t! Donnie wore the face of his brother, to do something that would actively hurt him, actively kill him–!

And Donnie was willing. That was the worst part. Donnie would die if he let Leo go, and it looked like his face reeked of too much information all at once, like he was okay with that lot in life. Like he was okay with dying if it meant Leo was happy.

Leo felt like he was going to be sick. “How?”

“It’s too much energy.” Donnie whispered, looking down at the cracks. “I… I overheard Draxum. Explain it to Mikey. It’s a separate reserve from ninpo, y’know. Once it drains, it doesn’t refill, even though I can still use my ninpo just fine. If I do too many interreality portals, I die. If Mikey does too many interdimensional portals, he dies. Even if I… Even if I got Raph and Mikey’s help? It wouldn’t work. I can’t only use their reserves, and if I use any more of my own…”

Donnie shook his head with finalization. “It’s a one way trip. That’s all.”

“You should’ve said that.” Leo wailed, “first thing! Why would you–?! Why were you even trying to hide that?!”

The look that Donnie sent him – tired, uneasy, open, was enough to make Leo clamp his mouth shut and not say anything. All he could think was how Donnie had just told Leo he would die for him, but in the same breath told Leo that he trusted him. Whatever Leo did, whatever Leo chose, Donnie would go along with it, because Donnie…

Donnie wasn’t a kidnapper. Not really.

Yeah, most kids who were kidnapped got abducted by someone they knew.

And, yeah, Leo wished Donnie had talked to him about it, given him evidence or at least asked him what he wanted.

But Donnie? Donnie stared at him like he was the last good thing in the world. Donnie wanted his brother back so badly that he had almost killed himself. He would never be like this. Not if he thought there was even the smallest chance of Leo finding out that he was lying. He’d never put himself on the line like this, because Donnie wasn’t a strategist like Leo was, and he wasn’t a liar like Leo was, either.

Donnie was his. Donnie was real.

Donnie would never let Leo go.

And yet.

Donnie was letting Leo go.

Something in his chest, in his stomach, reached out, searching for something that wasn’t there, pouring past Donnie, looking, searching, but it wasn’t important. It had to be the last fragments of doubt pulsing at his body, at his chest. And those fragments did not matter. All that mattered was his brother, and how he had barred his soul, his morals, his thoughts, for his brother. How cool was that?

“Donnie.” Leo said, before he was quite sure what he was going to say. When Donnie looked up at him, though, he knew. He knew exactly what he was going to say, what needed to be said. “I trust you, too. If you say I’m home, then I’m home.” And then, like the liar he was but the liar Donnie wasn’t, he said with all the conviction he could muster “End of story.”

Whatever he was searching for, in his heart of hearts, didn’t matter. It didn’t feel like the end. Leo still felt like he was missing one thing, one object, maybe two, that he couldn’t quite find. Couldn’t quite locate. Something felt missing, in the way Donnie held his hands with the brightest smile on his face that Leo had ever said.

And Leo thought it was their other two brothers, because of course he did! But even as Donnie called them, and summoned them, Leo and Donnie put their fears to rest, and Leo had to assure Mikey a thousand times over that Donnie wasn’t lying, not about this, not about anything, his chest still searched.

There was something out there. One last thing Leo needed, but not something he could find. And the longer he looked, the more desperate Leo became.

(:)

Two days ago, some Donnie, somewhere, stared at the computer in front of him as it flashed red and, right before him, the impostor reality flickered. It blinked out of existence for a fraction of a second. Leo blinked out of existence for a fraction of a second.

When the signal came back, it was weaker. Less tangible. He couldn’t quite lock onto it anymore, either. It was just out of reach, and even as he readjusted all the sensors, looking for something that didn’t exist anymore, it shrank just out of reach. It did not want to be seen, it did not want to be felt.

And Donnie couldn’t reestablish the signal. Not in a way that mattered. In front of him, the reality almost served his attempts to reach it. He was nearly done with the portal generator, too. Had worked out the final kinks. He was supposed to be able to bring Leo home! And yet.

Something had happened, something had shifted. It could not be reached. Not with the portals Donnie or Mikey could make. It was simply too evasive. Not certain enough. The link would have to be reestablished before he could access it, and Donnie didn’t know how to do that.

Because, as far as he could tell, the problem was on their end. Not his. Unless someone reached out, or made the reality accessible again, Donnie could not reach it. 

Three months ago, immediately after the invasion, Donnie had done his own research on this subject. Trying to stop realities or dimensions from breaching their universe, especially when it was right after the invasion. He had discovered, pretty quickly, that while there was no spell that powerful, no curse that potent, there was a single solution.

Karai had discovered it, five hundred years ago, though her method had flaws, because her method was not fine-tuned in the way it needed to be. Her abilities focused on all things, instead of latching onto this one thing.

For this to work, for a shield this effective to go up, the Hamato family curse would have to come back a second time. But this time, it was not a person who locked it away. It was a real sword. And that sword was a key.

Chapter Text

Leo’s awareness flooded into being piece by piece.

Grey and cloudy, feeling like a storm on the horizon, the pressure pushed into him from all sides, thick and stuffy. But there was something else there, at the same moment, something Leo could barely register. It was doing something to the fog, shifting between increasing it and directing it elsewhere, but it seemed like a struggle.

And then, suddenly, the pressure disappeared in a flash. Leo sat up with a gasp, choking over himself, gasping for air and for relief, the freedom sudden but welcome nonetheless. He jerked his head around, searching for more in this blank expanse.

He came face-to-face with himself.

“Oh my gosh!” Leo screeched, floundering backwards and pointing a finger at his blue, transparent copy.

“Oh, thank Pizza Supreme,” the Leo double whispered, shoulders relaxing even with the accusing finger, the worry in his face dropping to be replaced by a wobbly smile. “Okay, so, you can see me, you can totally see me… That’s a whole step better than before! Can you, uh, still hear me?”

Instinctively, Leo nodded numbly, mouth opening and closing with terror and steadily building horror at the second Leo in front of him. It all came to a head as the Leo double began to shift forward, and Leo kicked out wildly at him defensively, trying to find purchase against his plastron, but instead his foot phased right through the secondary Leo’s body.

The secondary Leo wavered like mist, pivoting around to stare at the foot that should’ve caught him in the center of his ribs, his body fitting itself together again and slotting right back into place. “Oh, geez,” is all the secondary Leo said, even as he pressed a hand against his chest and inhaled sharply, his own hand not phasing through. “That was my bad…”

“What the heck–?!” Leo snapped, not knowing what else to do as he stumbled backwards, getting his feet underneath him and rising himself to his full height, even as he took a few frantic steps backwards. “What even–?!”

“Hi,” the secondary Leo grinned, though his smile was wobbly and terrified and altogether felt all too familiar, even though Leo himself had never seen himself wearing that face. It wasn’t like he looked in the mirror whenever he was terrified. “I’m the dead version of you! Surpri–?! CAN YOU STOP KICKING ME?!”

“Nope, you get free kicks.” Leo snarled, giving his dead counterpart another kick for good measure. “Where have you been?! Real glad that you’ve been sticking around for your family, congratulations! You couldn’t have done this, I dunno, a week ago?!”

“I’ve been trying! But, believe it or not, it’s been hard to figure out how to connect to you when you’re sleeping! I haven’t even been able to do it with my brothers! Our brothers!” Dead Leo yelped, scrambling away and trying to swat away Leo’s foot, but his hand also just phased right through Leo’s foot. “You’re different, I guess! Congratulations, you special butterfly freak!”

“Wait.” Leo paused, cutting off his own seething mad, twisting insides as he squinted down at the dead Leo, who, apparently hadn’t been ignoring him for a week. “Wait, what do you mean our brothers?! Don’t you know? I mean, we’re definitely not the same person, even with our matching rugged good looks! For one, I’m alive! For two, I’m not blue!”

“You rhymed.”

“Yeah, yeah, I noticed! Anyway! Answers?!”

“Are you going to kick me again?” The dead Leo asked, narrowing his eyes at Leo suspiciously, “Because I can actually sort of feel that! Like, geez, you’d think you would have better bedside manners…”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Forgive me for being a little freaked out about seeing myself! As a dead dude! Like, I guess–!” Leo had to pause, rethink about the last week and all of his weird dreams that he had, almost all right before waking up, and came to the startling realization. “Wait! I have been hearing you! I just didn’t realize it was… You! Your voice sounds weird!”

“Everyone’s voice sounds weird coming from someone else.” The dead Leo deadpanned. “Donnie’s told us that before, idiot. Or, um, some version of Donnie? I. I honestly don’t know anymore…”

Something about the way the dead Leo’s voice drifted off, hushed and confused, made something tight wind around Leo’s chest constricting, and a bout of sympathy washed over him. “But.” He tried, feebly, “But you’re supposed to know, aren’t you? That’s… Why you’re here? To tell me I’m dead wrong for trusting this Donnie even after he offered to die or whatever? Or get my help in getting you back to your own reality? My first reality?”

“Man, I wish.” The dead Leo grumbled with frustration. “I’m just as confused as you are, dude! Guess what; I’m not alone in the dead-place! The, uh, afterlife! There’s just a ton of our ancestors, everywhere, and they’ve, like, set up a perimeter or something! They won’t let me even come close to Donnie, and I… Do you know how hard it was, how long it took me, to walk from New Hampshire to here? Even though I could float! It sucked!”

“You. You walked here from New Hampshire?” Leo gaped, staring at the dead Leo. “It… Days?! Did it take you days? Weeks?”

“Like, two weeks.” The dead Leo confirmed. “And that was because I got lost a few times, too! One of our great granduncles had to come find me! And I also only left after I realized I couldn’t connect to Dad and Case, so I only actually got here, like, a month ago!”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “Look. It’s a long, exhausting story, and I don’t know how long I can actually keep you in this dreamscape, so! Skipping all the expedition-wada stuff, here’s basically all I know; Absolutely nothing. Zip! Zilch! Nada!”

“Then why am I here?!” Leo groaned. “Can’t your – our? – ancestors just tell you what’s going on? Why aren’t they letting you be around Donnie?”

“Protection, I guess! They said they don’t want me hurt. I think that’s a load of hooey, because you being here? That’s hurtful in of itself. Like, no offense to you, but it means that some family, somewhere, chose to replace me!” The dead Leo snorted. “And believe it or not, some ancestors think I should be flattered! Wow, good job, they went above and beyond to get a Leo back! While I’m still here!”

Leo stared at the dead Leo, the… technically younger’s chest heaved. “Oh. Shell.”

“You’re telling me!” The dead Leo wailed. “So! Yeah! Basically, our whole family are idiots. And they think I don't notice! Even our ancestors think we’re stupid!”

“Okay, great!” Leo enthused. “So why am I here, if you’ve already figured everything out?”

“Because! I want to know for sure! I want to know if I’m right, or if you’re right, or if we’re both right, or–!” The dead Leo fell quiet for a moment, and then said, slowly, thoughtfully, “I think you do, too. I mean, I saw what Donnie offered you. The price.”

“I thought you weren’t allowed near Donnie.”

“Only when he’s alone! But when he’s with you… Look. I’m trapped in this demo-reali-whatever, because my body’s here. So I kinda wanna know who I’m stuck with for all of eternity! Guys who replaced me, or guys who aren’t even my family in the first place.”

“Wow. What a nice thought!” Leo sarcastically celebrated, doing jazz hands. “I guess you weren’t convinced by Donnie’s proof, huh? I mean, he offered to die, dead Leo.”

“Don’t call me that.” The dead Leo deadpanned. “There’s nothing wrong with it, I guess, but, I know you and I are both thinking the same thing; one of our families lied to you. If he’s lying again…”

“There’s a difference between lying and manipulation.” Leo pointed out, but even he had to admit that the dead Leo had a point. “Though, if he can do one… Yeah, you’re right, he can do both.” He had to pause and think, and the dead Leo watched him expectantly, as he properly organized his thoughts. “I don’t want to abuse his trust by, like, sneaking around. Behind his back. For more proof.”

“The swords.” The dead Leo said, softly. “Our swords, I mean. Since you’re alive, your Ninpo is always changing, but mine isn’t. Because I’m dead. Your Ninpo is still similar enough for me to connect to, but… Something’s wrong with my swords. I can’t connect to them, and Gram-Gram won’t explain that, either, so I think it might be something related to them.”

“So, basically, find my – our – swords,” Leo regaled, “And see if I can connect to them?”

“Yeah.” The dead Leo agreed, reaching out to take Leo’s hands, and holding them tight. “Thank you for doing this for me. It means so much, even if it doesn’t affect you at all, I just–”

“Well, we’re figuring out where we truly belong, right? And you’re getting closure. We’re good, dude.” Leo squeezed the dead Leo’s hands right back, and smiled as brightly as he could. “Now, do you know where to find the swords?”

(:)

Leo woke up with a start, kicking his legs up in the air to leverage himself into the air, reaching up to rub at his eyes quickly, trying to wake himself up, and then he was rolling right off of his bed. And then everything started hurting immediately. How fun, time for pain medication!

After that, he was due for the dojo, on the hunt for the first sword.

(:)

Nothing.

There was absolutely nothing Donnie could do.

His brothers were on hold, and he knew the device was complete. The other side had to open up for them to breach it, so all it became was a waiting game.

And foolishly, Donnie hoped, desperately, for Leo to pull through, or someone else in the other reality to have pity, or them to deem it was unnecessary, or…

Please, Donnie begged to nothing, hands folded in front of his forehead. Please, let us get Leo back. I can’t go without him again. Not again.

Chapter Text

“You can do this.” The ghost Leo encouraged, hovering after his unaware counterpart as he heaved himself off his bed, and, though he stumbled, started off on the hunt.

“Leonardo!” Karai scolded, bursting out of the ceiling to grab ghost Leo’s cheeks, squeezing them between her palms, gentle but irritated all at once. “What are you doing?!”

“You can’t stop him!” Leo gloated. “He’s going to figure out what’s really going on. I’m going to learn the truth! We both are!”

“I don’t want you to be hurt!”

“Okay?! I’m already hurt! And it’s only going to get worse the longer it goes!” Leo protested, drawing back from Karai, who just stared at him with a heartbroken expression as he retreated. “I’d… I’d rather know where I’m going to spend the rest of my afterlife. With my brothers, or without them.”

“I understand.” Karai said, softly, but she didn’t sound like she actually understood at all. “I… I’ll tell you, myself. It’ll hurt less, I think, coming from me.”

Leo lifted his head and stared at her with hope.

(:)

Dead Leo had told Alive Leo that one of his swords was in the dojo, so that’s where Leo went, first.

Sure enough, it was the first thing he saw upon entering. The sword was planted on what must’ve been a shrine. A shrine for Leo. Or, rather, dead Leo. The Leo who wasn’t Leo, who was buried here, who couldn’t leave, who had been replaced one way or another–!

…It was sweet, though. That even when they grabbed Leo, whether or not he was truly theirs or not, that they were still mourning the Leo that had died. That they still loved him enough for that.

The shrine was covered in selfies Leo had taken – they had gone through his phone?! – and group photos. Where the photos weren’t occupying, candles were sitting, some of which were still flickering, others long since gone out. It was clear someone was replacing the candles, but likely hadn’t been there in the last day or so.

Definitely still within the time frame that they had gotten Leo here.

It was almost surreal, staring at the shrine. Because it wasn’t him they were mourning. Or… Maybe it was, if he was originally theirs. But the person they had buried, the person they had put six feet in the ground?

That wasn’t who Leo was, anymore. He stopped being that person four months ago. Their Ninpo was always changing. But so were they. Leo was quieter, smarter, braver than he was back then. No matter the Donnie, he was softer, too.

In a metaphorical sense, Leo was constantly dying. Who he was before Yokai came into their lives. Who he was before the Foot, Shredder, being leader, Casey, the invasion.   Those old Leos were dead, they died whenever he grew. But he could learn from them.

Kinda like he learned from dead Leo. Less literally, but even still.

Leo had never seen an actual, physical memorial to his past self, though. To who he could be? Yes. Casey was a walking, talking, breathing memorial to that.

Funny thing was, for all of his inner dialogue about past selves dying, Leo didn’t truly know if dead Leo truly acted like he used to. If he was truly the embodiment of who Leo used to be.

It’s someone else, it’s someone else, Leo mentally chanted to himself, but that didn’t make reaching for the singular katana any easier. In fact, Leo almost, almost, felt like he was grave-robbing.

Leo pulled the katana off the shrine before he could think too deeply about it, spinning it experimentally in his hand. It felt numb. Like regular steel. He allowed his mind to search for the connection; the untapped Ninpo energy.

He was unsurprised to find that he really could sense it; dormant, resting. It felt like his brothers’ weapons did. Like his odachi had.

“Okay,” Leo said, aloud, swallowing against both the wave of nausea and the tears that swept over him. Because he knew what that meant. Donnie, this Donnie, was a liar. And yeah, it had always been a possibility. And it certainly hadn’t remained in the back of his mind in any regard. Even if he had spent the rest of his life here without any ghostly visits…

There always would’ve been that doubt.

It didn’t make it better.

It didn’t make his inability to connect to his portals any better.

And for the first time he got here, he was able to place why his soul, his heart, and his mind were always searching for something. They had been searching for his swords.

He had spent a week back in his own reality searching, that he would think the feeling would be easily placed. But he hadn’t figured it out.

Denial, maybe. Hope that the manipulation, that the lying, was finally over.

Hope wasn’t always a good tool. Not for this.

Leo’s hand pressed to his eyes, and his shoulders shook. The sword was heavy in his grip, but heavier still was his heart.

His breathing came much too quick for his own liking; Leo reached up his wrist to scrub at his eyes, hunching his shoulders and curling into himself but not daring to sob aloud.

He didn’t have time to cry, anyway, as much as his chest hurt, as much as he wanted to go home. He only had a few precious seconds, and then he had to shake it off, get up, and move.

“Hey,” he said out loud, to dead Leo, as quietly as he could while still being heard. “I’m, uh. Not sure how much access to my mind that you have, so I’m going to say it out loud. This isn’t…” He cut himself off as a sob bubbled up in his throat right along with a curse, reaching up to cover his face again. “Sorry. I bet you… You probably know exactly what’s going on by now, huh?”

He wondered if it was possible to take dead Leo back to his reality. Where he hadn’t been replaced. Where his brothers were still there. Where they stuck around and spent time with him, but were comfortable leaving him be, because he was safe—! 

But, no. He knew it wouldn’t work. It wasn’t fair to everyone else, and somehow… Leo thought of himself, in dead Leo’s situation, and… Well, he may be stuck here, with a brother who replaced him, but Raph and Mikey were still here, and they never meant to hurt him. They just wanted him back.

Donnie, though…

There was no way Donnie accidentally did anything like this.

Everything was put into perspective. The way Donnie looked at Leo, with something gentle but fierce, like a mother bear over her cub, like he was fresh meat, like he was something that Donnie had taken, like he was his. The way Donnie spoke, hesitating, rearranging his words, but also sometimes spoke too fast, hoping nobody caught onto the plothole Donnie’s carefully arranged plan had held.

And Leo hadn’t caught on. He hadn’t trusted him, sure, but he hadn’t listened enough. He had let Donnie lead him astray. Trick him, goad him. The distrust might’ve still been there… But the wariness had been all but gone.

“This is your reality.” Leo decreed, touching the sword gingerly, and almost wished it was his own, because he knew how much this must be hurting his younger self. And after he sacrificed himself for them, too. “Not mine. But I don’t think… It’s home for either one of us, either. Do you?”

Predictably, dead Leo did not respond.

Leo heaved a sigh, pushing himself up to his feet with one clumsy motion, half-stumbling as he stood up, but managed not to cut himself with the sword as he did, adjusting his grip on it. One step at a time, and all that jazz.

His next destination was not anywhere that he actually expected his second sword to be, but he went there anywhere. After all, once he found his second sword… He needed to figure out a way back home. And that meant to be ready. For anything.

So off to his bedroom he went, grabbing some of his gear, like his sheath and gloves – and slid his sword neatly into the sheath – and then heading back over to the infirmary to grab painkiller pills and a knee brace. 

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Leo said, quietly, and hoped he was listening, “And I don’t even know how I’m going to go back. Donnie is– He took me, and I don’t care what he said– He’s not going to let me go back. And even if he did… I don’t want him to die. Even after everything, y’know?”

He waited for a response, and didn’t get any. “I’m… I’m really sorry, dude. It’s not fair. You shouldn’t be… You shouldn’t be stuck here. And I’m just…”

He slid the painkillers into his fanny pack and dragged a hand down his face. “...I’ll leave a note or something. Remind them to meditate to find you, but… But I don’t think I can do anything more than that.”

Louder, and more confidently, he announced “I’m going to head to Donnie’s lab. If you don’t know where sword number two is… I think that’s the best bet. Since you’re, like, not allowed in there or whatever.”

The only problem Leo could foreseeably see at the moment was if Donnie was in his lab, but if that was the case… Leo figured just popping in and offering to spend time with him would be enough to get his guard down. This Donnie…

Cracked Donnie, he helpfully reminded himself, was desperate for attention. Desperate for Leo to love him, to care about him. And maybe, once upon a time, Leo would’ve. If cracked Donnie hadn’t lied to him.

It was easy to imagine. Cracked Donnie, coming into the lair, hands clasped and begging, thoroughly honest as he helplessly explained, “I’m from another reality, and our Leo… We never got him back. I just need closure, we all do, so please. Let us talk to him.”

And yeah, cracked Donnie – or any Donnie, really – would never so openly beg like that. But Leo wished he had. If he had been gentler, kinder, Leo would’ve been fine having them and his brothers splitting custody with him! 

Like being the kid of a divorced couple, or having two different friend groups… Living with them on the weekend, after he got better, after there was nothing else to worry about? He would’ve been fine! Relaxed, even. But…

But this was…

He wanted his brothers back. And not this messed up version; he wanted them. His Donnie, his Raph, his Mikey, and he wanted Dad back. Dad who wasn’t away in another state, in some dingy farmhouse, helping Casey instead of being here for Leo, and, wow. Leo never thought he’d be jealous of Casey about anything. And yet, here he was.

Wishing their spots were reversed.

They hadn’t even texted Splinter to tell him Leo was here, yet. Cracked Donnie hadn’t even tried to lie and say that they had recovered him. It made Leo… hopeful that Splinter would’ve been like Raph and Mikey; worried and suspicious.

Maybe, if Leo was able to go to him right now…

But, if Splinter knew, then Casey would, too, and Leo couldn’t force the kid to lose him a third time.

It was only a second later after that particularly horrifying revelation that Leo arrived at the lab, sneaking a nervous look into the room. Cracked Donnie wasn’t in it; that much was immediately apparent. There wasn’t any smell of scorching metal or sawdust, or anything else, so it likely had been vacant for a while. If cracked Donnie had gone to bed at a normal time…

He was probably extra confident in his ability to manipulate Leo, or he had simply pulled too many all-nighters in a row.

Either way, it left the lab open for Leo to snoop in, though not a lot of time. Whatever alarm would go off when he entered would likely alert Donnie, and he’d be in the lab within two minutes.

The good news was, there weren't a lot of places for cracked Donnie to hide Leo’s sword. Despite how big the lab was, Leo was aware of every single place where cracked Donnie could keep his sword; it was close enough to his Donnie’s lab in that regard. There weren't even that many drawers or cupboards; all his big machines remained out in the open, or at least in the garage, and everyone frequented the garage enough that Leo bet that dead Leo would’ve seen it or something.

It turned out, Leo didn’t even have to look at all.

 The most Leo had to do was enter, slide the door quietly closed behind him, and turn to the left, and there it was.

And, frankly, he wondered why Raph and Mikey hadn’t even mentioned it yet. Because they would’ve seen it, right? Said something about it to Leo? Even if he hadn’t asked about it, shouldn’t they have brought it up?

Leo didn’t like the implication of his sword, actually floating above a machine – Donnie and active mysticism? Who knew – and covered in the same cracks this Donnie had donned. The bright purple glow radiating from the divots clashed messily against the hilt of the katana, and it made something dark expand through Leo’s chest.

The machine let out a dull hum, and somehow, the noise felt like a brick wall. One Leo’s soul was pressed against.

“Dangit, Donnie!” Leo snarled, his trembling hand lifting to grab the hilt, sparks flickering off of the smooth metal and almost making Leo flinch back. Dangit, he was too injured for this. If it fought back, if it hurt him, he wouldn’t be able to…
“Don’t do this to me, buddy.” Leo begged the sword, heart hurting far too much as he gripped the sword, and it vigorously wavered against his palm, and oh, wow, did it ever hurt, but it wasn’t the sword. It was the machine that was putting up a fight, not the sword, the sword, it seemed, was reaching for him, even if it wasn’t his.

If it were alive, Leo might’ve thought it was in pain.

“Com’n, com’n,” Leo pleaded, gripping it tightly in his hands and pulling back. The sword angrily shook in his hands, dark and dangerous, the sparks hurting his palms, but it was okay. He was getting it out of here.

His shell ground against each other, screeching, and his whole back was on fire, but the pull the machine was exerting was starting to give out, and just a little farther, his leg hurt, but just a little farther–!

Tears were in Leo’s eyes, and he hissed from between his teeth, and–

“Leo…?” 

Leo’s head whipped around, and met cracked Donnie’s horrified expression, and despite himself, he couldn’t stop the sadistic, victorious smirk from crawling across his face.

“What are you doing?” Cracked Donnie asked, taking a stumbling step forward, hand raised in a desperate attempt to stop Leo, but Leo wouldn’t. “Leo, what are you–?!”

The sword broke free from the machine’s pull, but it was too much.

The katana shattered into a thousand million little pieces.

And even though that wasn’t Leo’s goal, he could not stop the delighted laughter that split from his throat. Somehow, it hurt worse than the tug-of-war had, but it felt so much better.

(:)

Donnie’s computer beeped, and his head snapped up, swiveling around to stare at the charts, the object he had mindlessly been fiddling with long forgotten.

He stared at the screen, and then he blinked.

And blinked again.

Registering why the energy signature looked different. Why, for whatever reason, there was a direct path between–

Oh.

“GUYS!” Donnie snapped, jumping out of his chair and tripping, but he didn’t care. “Dad, Raph, Mikey!! Mikey, it’s open! Everybody! The reality’s open!”

Chapter Text

“Why would you–?!” Cracked Donnie croaked, looking down at the shattered shards scattered across the ground, and then, slowly, back up at Leo. “Why would you even–?! You don’t know what you’ve done!”

Leo’s arms were raised into a fighting position, sagging back onto his good leg and narrowing his eyes at cracked Donnie, braced and ready. “Oh, yeah, I know exactly what I’ve done.” He really didn’t, but if cracked Donnie’s horrified reaction was anything to go by, it was something good. Something that made cracked Donnie’s hold over him weaker.

Cracked Donnie wasn’t really listening to Leo at all, diving for the floor, desperately collecting up the shards, pulling them into a messy pile. Under his fingers, they sparked but did not otherwise react. “No no no no no! This can’t be–! You can’t–! Leo are you– Are you stupid?! Why–?!”

“Daw, can’t handle it?” Leo snarled, beginning to lean forward, hands on his knees, before he realized how stupid this was. Goading cracked Donnie on? He had already broken dead Leo’s swords, and had his other one strapped on his back. The smartest decision would be to run.

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Cracked Donnie snarled, as ferociously as he could manage, somehow reading Leo’s mind as he straightened to run off. “You–!” His eyes locked on the katana currently strapped to Leo’s back, sharply down at the pile of scrap metal in his hands, and then back up, eyes flickering with realization. “Give that to me!”

“Nope!” Leo snapped right back, dancing backwards and out of cracked Donnie’s immediate reach. His leg tensed with the sudden movement, but did not buckle. “You aren’t–! Whatever you were doing, you can’t–! Not anymore, not with his swords!”

“Your swords!” Cracked Donnie corrected, almost on instinct, and then he paled. “Wait–? How did you–?” He blinked, realizing Leo was beelining for the door, and hit something on his gauntlet that made the doors slam shut and click into place, keeping Leo trapped inside. “No. You are staying put. You absolute–! You don’t get to do that!”

“Yeah, I kind of do.” Leo growled over his shoulder, reaching up to grab dead Leo’s katana and see if he could cut straight through the wall. “Guess what? Your Leo isn’t too keen on being replaced!”

Cracked Donnie did not grace that with a response, stumbling to his feet. His hands were still full of shards, but his eyes were locked on Leo’s katana, and he stumbled forward messily. He dropped the shards as he went, reaching up to grab the sword’s hilt, but Leo managed to adjust in time for cracked Donnie’s hands to lock around his wrists instead.

“He would want me to be happy!” Cracked Donnie quipped, nails digging into Leo’s skin. “But it’s–! It’s okay. I don’t know how you figured it out– But that’s okay, that’s okay! I can just– I can erase your memories! You and Raph and Mikey and Dad and Casey and April–! Noone… Noone has to know!”

“Yeah, good luck!” Leo snarled, reaching up his bad leg to kick against cracked Donnie, but it seized halfway up, and his balance slid out from underneath him. Cracked Donnie, hands still wrapped around his wrist, jerked down with the sudden shift, but managed to keep standing, even as Leo found himself on the ground. “You got so caught up in– In this, that you forgot about our ancestors! Surprise, idiot, your Leo’s here, too, and he–!”

Something occurred to Leo, as Donnie shifted to place a leg on his chest. It was something that he couldn’t quite understand, and yet could relate to wholeheartedly. He thought of dead Leo’s wide eyes, hands clasped pleadingly, willing Leo to listen, his first link to the outside world, and–

“I kinda wanna know who I’m stuck with for all of eternity!” He had said, and Leo had thought he meant that, maybe, he would prefer to be stuck with Leo’s brothers instead of his own. But, instead, he realized that dead Leo hadn’t meant that at all. He had meant that he wanted his family. That was, perhaps, all he wanted.

“–your Leo,” Leo said, softly, staring up at cracked Donnie’s raging eyes, sparking with irritation and anger, “he hasn’t given up on you yet.”

“Liar.” Cracked Donnie snarled. “He hasn’t talked to me, or approached me, or anything! If he had even tried–! His soul’s not here at all, idiot!”

“That’s not true–”

“Of course it–!” 

Cracked Donnie was cut off by a flash of purple light on the ceiling, and both Leo and cracked Donnie’s head snapped around to stare at it, both of their eyes wide, but Leo’s was with shock and cracked Donnie’s was with pure fear.

“No.” Cracked Donnie hissed.

“That’s why you–!” Leo realized, twisting his head up to stare at him. “His sword was keeping them out, wasn’t it?”

Cracked Donnie gazed down at him, and his expression…  Was so painful.

And Leo…felt pity for him.

It was about all Leo could think about before the portal suddenly pulsed, and his family – who he hoped was his family – were spat out. Only Splinter and April landed on their feet, his brothers landing, face-first, with a symphony of groans.

Cracked Donnie jerked off of Leo, immediately, surging forward, towards Leo’s family, hand brushing against the ground, and Leo got his mouth open in a warning–

Splinter looked up just in time to get a face-full of cracked Donnie, and it must’ve unsettled him, he must’ve not expected to see him look identical to his own son, because he paused. He hesitated just long enough for cracked Donnie to get the advantage. Leo saw the glimmer of something in cracked Donnie’s hand – a shard of dead Leo’s katana – and then he was pushing it into Splinter’s stomach.

Splinter choked, and cracked Donnie twisted.

April reacted faster than Splinter had, and maybe it was because she was used to beating up her brothers, or maybe because she wasn’t as overprotective in comparison to the rest of her mutant family, or maybe she was just as overprotective over Splinter, but she didn’t have even the slightest hesitation as she slammed her mystical bat straight into cracked Donnie’s face.

“Dad!” Leo spluttered at cracked Donnie went flying, scrambling up to his feet desperately to try and help him,but his leg still didn’t work, and he went sprawling a second later. He broke out into a whine, but Splinter was so much more important.

All his family’s heads snapped over to stare at him, their eyes filled with the same possessive, fervent love that cracked Donnie had worn, and yet. Theirs held none of the insanity he had.

Even Splinter was sitting up, scrambling to see Leo, eyes soft and gentle, even as Mikey tried to force him to lay down, hands already pressing into his abdomen. Splinter’s eyes were filled with such affection and devotion that it made Leo dizzy.

Raph, Donnie, and April, though… They weren’t busy. And they took off running, arms outstretched, shouting Leo’s name over one another, like they were trying to one-up each other, laughing, crying, running–!

Leo held out his arms right back, struggling against his suddenly very limp and sore legs, dragging a knee beneath him so he was somewhat upright, but leaned into the reunion, eyes bright.

His brothers got a full five steps in before the room lit up with a blaze of purple. A barrier snaked across the whole room, and stopped them halfway to Leo, fast enough that Raph smacked face-first into the barricade.

Leo froze, hand retracting, and rounded wide, terrified eyes over to where cracked Donnie had been hit, unsurprised but horrified all the same to see him already standing, albeit shakily, hand against the wall, eyes glowing a nasty purple.

“You,” Cracked Donnie snarled, but his gaze wasn’t for Leo at all, but for the other Donnie. From the bandages wrapped firmly around Donnie’s wrist,and how limp his hand was hanging, even when he banged his fists against the purple wall, he could only be Leo’s. “How’d you even figure out how to come so fast?” Cracked Donnie demanded, pacing right up to snarl at him, mouth drawn into a snarl. “Why do you–?! You’ve ruined everything!”

“You kidnapped my brother, you sadistic son of a biscuit!” Donnie seethed, slamming his good first against the barricade a final time, resting his palms against the surface, instead, eyes narrowed. For the first time, Leo noticed that there were purple cracks on his hands, too, working their way halfway up to his elbows.

April was too busy swinging her bat into the barrier to pay cracked Donnie much mind, her gaze firmly rooted on Leo, instead, and caring for what Donnie would do, and Raph, on Donnie’s other side, was pointedly not looking at anyone as he slammed his sais into the wall furiously.

“Go back to your reality.” Cracked Donnie demanded, and if Leo hadn’t been listening for it, he would’ve missed the desperation that lay underneath each word. “You got an extra three months with him that nobody else in the multiverse got!”

“You–!” Donnie snapped, and the wall began to flicker under his touch, but he didn’t continue whatever insult was on his lips.

Instead, April barreled into the conversation and took his place before cracked Donnie could think too hard about why his barricade was starting to spark. “It really isn’t our fault that your Mikey sucks at saving people!” April spat, voice dripping with venom. “Maybe he should’ve done better!”

“Hey!” Cracked Donnie and Leo barked together, carrying the same offended tone.

“The Mikey of this reality is actually a pretty decent little dude.” Leo told April hastily, before cracked Donnie could impale her with the metal in his lab, holding up the peace sign. “It’s only this Donnie who’s like this.”

“Oooh,” April mused, pausing with her attack briefly to actually look apologetic. “My bad, sorry. That was on me.” And then she was attacking the barricade again, with even more fury than before.

Leo didn’t know if they had timed it that way, or if it just so happened that, in perfect sync, but as April’s bat collided with the barricade, the whole thing shattered. It was obvious that it had been Donnie’s doing, and not April’s, the cracks in Donnie’s skin deeper and darker. The soft-shell hissed sharply, but that did not stop him as he snatched up his bo staff again, advancing forward sharply.

Cracked Donnie stumbled backwards, looking absolutely mortified.

“Surprise, idiot, you’re not the only one who leveled up.” Donnie declared, and like he had just said a code word of some sort, he, Raph, and April leapt forward as one, focusing firmly on cracked Donnie and not Leo at all, anymore.

Cracked Donnie released a choked noise, but Leo didn’t let that worry him. He had full confidence that his family weren’t going to kill him; just beat him absolutely senseless, for both kidnapping Leo and stabbing Splinter–

And, speaking of, Leo was in no shape to fight. But he could help in other ways, and Splinter… He had Leo’s swords strapped to his back. All it took was Leo clenching his hand, and he was by his and Mikey’s sides.

Mikey already had an arm up to tuck around Leo’s shoulders by the time he appeared, pulling him in close in a one-armed hug, leaning over to kiss Leo’s cheek, affectionate in a way only his little brother could be, and mumbled out a quick “I missed you.” and then he was pulling his hands back from Splinter. Leo’s hands were on Splinter’s injury half a beat later, perfectly in-tune with Mikey, as his little brother bounced up and joined the fight.

“Leonardo,” Splinter said, reaching up to pat Leo’s arm with a breathy rasp but with such soft eyes, “I was so worried, when Donatello said…! But now I see you were handling yourself, just fine.”

It didn’t feel ‘just fine’, but Leo nodded back, laughing loud and watery regardless, and pressed just a little more firmly into Splinter’s injury. Beneath his hands, there wasn’t as much blood as he expected, and the wound also didn’t feel that deep. The shards were small, after all, even if cracked Donnie had grabbed one of the larger pieces…

Somehow, Leo didn’t think cracked Donnie had been going for lethality. If he removed his hands from Splinter, he highly doubted he would actually bleed out any time soon. But. It had been a calculation. Leo knew that. Splinter was, after all, their best fighter, None of them stood a chance against him alone, so the best thing cracked Donnie could do to enhance his fleeting chances…

Was catch Splinter off guard. Put him out of commission, and potentially another sibling; even out his chances just by a little bit. And maybe it was supposed to serve as a distraction, but.

Leo had a feeling that cracked Donnie hadn’t been thinking of it too deeply. Just trying to win, or survive, to drag Leo wherever he wanted, though Leo wasn’t even sure where that was anymore, where cracked Donnie thought he was safe, especially with Leo’s brothers in this reality…

He was broken from his thoughts by bright purple light, soaring from the source of the battle, and he looked up just in time to see April and Raph slam into the lab wall, the whole room shaking with the impact. Before either one of them could react, metal curled around April’s arms and legs, locking her in place, and a purple barricade formed around Raph.

Raph straightened to slam his hands against the barrier, but it didn’t so much as sway from the pressure, even when he summoned his mystic armored hands. And maybe it was a fluke… But maybe cracked Donnie really was more powerful than Raph.

Whatever cracked Donnie had done was enough to stun Donnie and Mikey, too, both of them struggling to get their arms underneath them, but cracked Donnie didn’t bother with them. Leo had a split second to wonder if he cracked Donnie was already wearing himself out with mystic energy, or maybe he didn’t see them as big of a threat as the two oldest Hamato children. Rude.

And then cracked Donnie lunged forward, crossing the distance between him and Leo in less than a second, reaching out to seize one of his hands and yanking him off of Splinter before Leo could react at all.

“We’re leaving.” Cracked Donnie snarled, fingers biting into Leo’s wrist.

“No, we’re not!” Leo huffed right back, twisting his arm to break out of his grip, wrenching his arm towards cracked Donnie’s thumb, managing to free himself, and stumbling backwards onto his haunches.

It only took him a half a second to realize he had backed away from Splinter, leaving him behind with cracked Donnie, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. Splinter, immediately upon finding himself alone with cracked Donnie, whipped himself around to grab Donnie’s leg, and bit his ankle.

Cracked Donnie barked out as sharp yelp, seeming to be less from pain and more from surprise, his staff slamming into the ground near Splinter’s head, purple cracks clawing their way down to the metal on the ground. Splinter lurched away from him as fast as he could, which wasn’t nearly as quick as Leo was used to seeing him go, but it was still enough to avoid the spikes of metal that jutted out of the ground, warping like clamps or restraints, and it looked uncomfortable, but not deadly.

Regardless of how deadly it was or wasn’t, Splinter still managed to avoid it. Cracked Donnie didn’t get enough time to readjust and attack again before Donnie was lunging down upon him, bo staff raised and dangerous.

It felt like watching an anime movie, with how quickly cracked Donnie’s head whipped around to eye Donnie, and within a fraction of a second, the metal on the ground lunged up like a spike, grinding straight into the bo staff and freezing both it and Donnie in midair.

Donnie’s eyes narrowed, and with a snap of his hand, broke off the end of the bo staff, and used it to create a new staff, lunging it right past cracked Donnie’s head, close enough that it grazed his jaw.

“You can’t take him!” Donnie hissed, capturing cracked Donnie’s attention for long enough that he didn’t notice Mikey slinking up behind him, nunchucks flaring up with a blaze of fire.

Leo had to hold in a cheer as Mikey’s nunchuck slammed into the back of cracked Donnie’s head, not knocking him unconscious but making him stumble a few steps–

But it also caused a burst of energy to shriek through the metal flooring, spikes an inch tall lurching through the ground, not quite far enough to catch Leo and Splinter, but Mikey and Donnie both got snagged in the blast, letting out sharp yelps a split second apart, and Raph roared in anger, and April shouted their names.

Leo choked on his breath, staring with horrified eyes as both Donnie and Mikey bent in half, trying not to drive the spikes further in, but wanting to protect themselves all the same.

“I didn’t mean–?” Cracked Donnie choked once he regained his footing, looking from Mikey to Donnie with wide, rounded eyes. And then his voice changed, dark and angry, all with one breath. “Next time, stay out of my way!”

“Really going for the villainous vibes, huh?” Leo hissed, hands curling against the ground as cracked Donnie gave Splinter one look and warped a purple barrier right around him, stopping him from getting too close as he approached Leo briskly. “When are you going to get it through your thick skull? I’m not going back with you!”

“If I can’t have you,” Cracked Donnie cried, “then why should anyone else?”

“I’m my own person, dude.” Leo pointed out, though his voice came out sounding shaky, and he looked over at Donnie and Mikey, relieved to see that, at some point, cracked Donnie had withdrawn the spikes, but now there was blood pooling around his brothers’ feet as they tried to gasp for breath,hands grabbing onto their heels tightly. “I can… choose!”

“And where did that get you?” Cracked Donnie demanded, and Leo’s eyes slipped past him, looking at his brothers, his sister, his father, and a deep, deep pit formed in his stomach.

“LEO!” Raph bellowed, slamming his fists against the barricade, staring at him with fear. Leo felt sick. “Leo, don’t listen to him! He’s getting in your head, he’s not–!”

“Shut up!” Cracked Donnie bellowed, and the metal wall behind Raph lunged forward, clamping down over his mouth like a muzzle. Raph screamed through it, but it came out muffled, like a wail.

“Come on.” Cracked Donnie said, gently, even as Leo tried to reach for Raph, holding out his hand toward him again. “If you come with me, I’ll fix everything, okay?”

Leo slapped away his hand as hard as he could, lips drawn into a snarl.

Cracked Donnie’s expression flashed with heartbreak, and his mouth opened again, but he didn’t get the chance to say anything at all.

Because the lab’s doors were ripped right off their hinges, and the alternate Raph burst through the newly crafted opening, the alternate Mikey on his heels.

They must’ve peaked through the window before entering, because they barely looked at their counterparts, gazes locked on cracked Donnie, their faces blank, the picturesque of neutral. Leo could tell there was a storm going on behind their face masks, but he didn’t know whether it was directed at cracked Donnie, or Leo and his family.

“Gentlemen!” Cracked Donnie cheered, pivoting on his heel, and Leo could’ve sworn he saw nervous sweat drip down his forehead right before he turned his back on Leo. He held out his arms in greeting, but when neither of his brothers moved, he let them drop. “I’m glad you’re here; the alternates are trying to steal Leo from us. But he’s okay,” He enthused, turning back around to face Leo, a warning in his eyes, but great sadness there, too. “Right, Leo?”

It was because he was facing Leo that he didn’t see the alternate Mikey unclip his nunchucks from his belt. He didn’t see the alternate Mikey begin to swing his nunchucks in low arcs, and he didn’t see the alternate Mikey throw the chains forward.

And maybe, just maybe, when the nunchucks swung around cracked Donnie, Leo choked on a laugh. Cracked Donnie, however, let out a wild, confused scream, back going ramrod straight as the chains tightened around his arms, drawing them straight across his body. Alternate Mikey stomped on his chain a second later, dragging cracked Donnie away from Leo.

Purple cracks started to spread across the ground from where cracked Donnie landed, but alternate Raph lunged forward, grabbing him into his arms and held him up above the ground, away from metal and away from his bo staff, and anything else he could manipulate–

Just like that, it was over.

Leo felt like he could cry. And maybe he was, but so was his Mikey and Raph. He could see it, clear as day, as he looked over towards them, Raph prying off his muzzle, leaving cuts all over his face but he didn’t falter, and Mikey, unsteadily getting to his feet and leaving bloody footprints across the ground as he scurried over to Leo to wrap his arms around him.

Splinter was trying to get up, too, but Mikey reached out one hand to push him back to the ground, glaring at him with slitted eyes in a warning. Splinter laid back down.

Raph, still sobbing, crossed over to where April was pinned, reaching out to tear the metal off of her, but April, mouth unguarded, was all smiles, as she shouted over “Leo, you were not joking about him being the coolest little guy!”

And that’s when alternate Mikey began crying, too. Alternate Raph might’ve been crying already, face pressed into cracked Donnie’s neck while his little brother withered in his grasp, screaming and snarling, on the brink of having a mental breakdown, but. But they weren’t letting him go, alternate Raph wasn’t letting him go.

“You– You guys are awesome,” Leo croaked, against his better judgment using Mikey as a prop as he struggled to stand up, forgetting about Mikey’s injured feet, but Mikey didn’t complain as he helped Leo straighten up, arms wrapped around his shoulders. He didn’t even sway, so maybe they were helping each other stand. “You’re like– You’re so cool, I don’t know what to say–”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” alternate Raph rasped, barely heard as cracked Donnie seethed, but held his tone firm. “It’s not– I’m so sorry, if we had done something sooner–”

“Why are you doing this?” Cracked Donnie begged, deflating against alternate Raph’s chest, a sob breaking out of his throat, eyes squeezed shut, and wow, if that didn’t pull Leo apart, he didn’t know what would. “Why aren’t you–? Don’t you want Leo back? He’s– He’s right here, we can–!”

“Donnie.” Alternate Raph snarled, and that’s when his voice broke. “Just– Just don’t, okay?!”

“But–” Cracked Donnie choked, “but Leo is–!”

“He’s not ours, Donnie. You know that.” Alternate Raph scolded. “And he doesn’t want to be, okay? Beating up his brothers isn’t gonna make him change his mind, and it’s not going to make him even want to come with us at all, okay?”

“But–!” Cracked Donnie pleaded, “But it’s Leo! I need him, you don’t understand–!”

Alternate Mikey slowly reached up his arms to wrap him in a tight hug, a sob tugging its way out of his throat, and alternate Raph bent down slightly so that alternate Mikey could get a better grip. And cracked Donnie’s voice cut off, and he broke, and…

“I know you miss him, Dee.” Alternate Mikey sniffled. “We all do, I promise, but… But it’s just us, now, and we love you forever, okay? I’m– I’m sure we’ll see him again, but… replacing him? That’s not… That’s not right, okay?”

“You will,” Leo promised, stumbling forward unevenly, and he felt so sorry for them, he wanted to join the hug. Give them closure, of some twisted sort. “See him again, I mean, because– Because that’s why today even happened– He’s able to talk to me.”

All three turtles stared at him quietly.

“Liar,” Cracked Donnie hissed into the silence.

“No, that’s not–” Alternate Mikey started, delayed, thought about it, and then said, quickly, “That’s not possible. We tried, at the beginning of– of this, right after, in New Hampshire, and when we got home, and we–we spent over a month trying! And we had other ancestors say ‘Hi’ and check in on us, but not Leo!”

“Maybe he didn’t have the energy yet.” Leo offered, quietly, feeling guilt swirl through his chest. “But he was able to talk to me. And I know he wanted to talk to you guys, but… Maybe he wasn't allowed to. I don’t know all the details, I was only able to actually talk to him once, but I know he wanted to. He’d never intentionally leave you.”

There was an elongated pause, and then alternate Mikey held out his arms hopefully, and alternate Raph shifted enough that he was only holding Donnie in one arm, and held out his free arm towards Leo.

Mikey hesitantly let him go enough to reach out and hug the three of them, leaning against cracked Donnie but wrapping his arms around alternate Mikey and Raph. He melted into their collective embraces, and they clung onto him as tightly as they could. Cracked Donnie’s knees bent slightly, putting his all into the touch, the embrace, and Leo leaned in, too.

He knew they all needed this. To touch his alive self, potentially for the last time. They might one day be able to hug dead Leo, when they managed to connect to him, but it was becoming quickly evident that it really wasn’t the same.

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, barely standing straight, supported only by the alternate versions of his brothers, cracked Donnie buckling beneath alternate Raph’s arms, but failing to save himself. It felt like too long and not quite long enough, but eventually he felt a hand on his shoulder.

And when he turned around, it was to see his own Donnie watching him, expression blank and quiet, and Leo could tell how hard he was trying not to react. “We should go,” Donnie stiffly pointed out, gesturing first to his and Mikey’s feet, blood pooling around where they stood, and then up to Splinter, held in one of Raph’s arms. “We need first aid, and you…”

There were a range of thoughts in Donnie’s eyes, thoughts that only became louder, probably angrier, as cracked Donnie broke into another round of sobs, straining against the chains. Donnie kept his gaze firmly pointed away from his alternate, locked on Leo and how his legs shook, his bottom lip curling.

“You need rest.” Donnie said, but Leo read between the lines, and heard him, loud and clear, saying ‘You need to come home’.

And Leo had to agree. He was so ready to return back home, to leave this reality and finally, finally…

“Yeah.” Leo agreed, swallowing thickly, and nodded. April’s arm that wasn’t currently wrapped around Mikey came out to hug him, shifting him against her. Leo sent one last look back at the alternate versions of his brothers, and gave them a slightly strained smile and a wave. “I’ll, uh, catch you guys later?”

It was as close to a goodbye as he could give, and they knew it, too.

But as Donnie grew a device onto the ground, a similar-looking device to the one that took Leo out of his reality, he heard cracked Donnie release an anguished cry.  “You can’t go,” Cracked Donnie wailed, and Leo felt his heart break and shatter into a million pieces, but he didn’t dare look back. Even as the alternate version of his brother screamed his name, he did not look back even once.

(:)

Donnie felt rather numb to this whole situation, really. He didn’t know what to do with everything that had happened to Leo, especially when it was his own face doing it all. But Leo wasn’t numb.

Whatever had happened during that time had clearly shaken him up, to the point where Leo had gone silent as soon as he said goodbye to their counterparts. At least he had made friends. Somewhat. The alternate Raph and Mikey seemed decent, at very least, they had turned the tides against alternate Donnie, who…

Well. Who had been throwing an overgrown temper tantrum.

Donnie was sure that, later, he would be horrified over the implications on who he could’ve become without Leo, but… But it didn’t really matter. Because he had Leo. Leo was his best friend, his confidant, and… And he was still alive, still with him, and maybe Donnie would’ve freaked out if he hadn’t gotten him back so soon.

But he had gotten Leo back; his very own Leo. And that was pretty great.

Everything else was inconsequential.

And maybe Leo thought the same, because it only took a few minutes after arriving home, Donnie staring down at his steadily cracking arms, wondering how he was going to fix them, for Leo to cross over and rest his head on his shoulder.

Donnie startled, but did not shrug him off, following his gaze over to where Raph and April were rapidly bandaging Splinter. Mikey’s legs were drawn up to his chest, already bandaged, and Donnie was fine, too, so once Splinter was all fixed up…

That’d be the end of it all. Vaguely, Donnie wondered if he could seal off their dimension, like his counterpart did. Try to fix everything.

“Are you okay?” Donnie asked, slowly, turning his head to stare at his brother. “You look… tired.”

“It’s been a rough few weeks.” Leo agreed, quietly. “I mean, it wasn’t… all bad. They were all really nice and stuff, they just… Y’know. They were mourning, and I didn’t… I didn’t really know what to do. I’m glad I’m back with you guys.”

“Yeah.” Donnie agreed, softly. “I am, too.”