Archive of Our Own ^beta

The day started out unusual. 

It had rained.

It rarely did in the apocalypse.

Gregory watched as the rain steadily poured outside, hazardous. Acid rain. The ground steamed beneath it as raindrops landed. Still, the familiarity soothed him a bit. Nostalgic as well. The eight year old next to him was on his tiptoes, trying to look out the window as well.

“GG, what’s that?” Casey asked, looking up towards the young adult. 

Gregory grins, “It’s called rain bud. It used to actually yknow, not cause that much harm, but things change.” His gaze softens as he continues to look outside. He turns his head down to look back at Casey, who’s staring up at him with his big ol’ brown eyes.

Gregory huffs, “You’re not going to let it go, are you?”

“No!” Casey continued giving his best puppy eyes. Gregory ruffles the child's hair, which was quickly growing in length, before picking him up. Casey let out a squeal as Gregory placed him on his shoulders.

He points, “Onwards then! To the mech!” The two laugh as they head toward the workshop, the dingy lights of the shelter providing them some illumination. It didn’t matter really, they’ve both memorized the place by heart. The two hummed a tune, one that Gregory knew from childhood.

The Toreador March, or something. He wasn’t quite sure what it was actually called, just knowing it lurked deep in the corners of his mind, hummed by a blank face. They eventually reached the small room Gregory called his workshop, the Freddy Mech taking up a giant portion of it. He was glad the ceilings in this room were decently high.

He puts Casey back down on the ground, shoulders sore from carrying him here. Hey, he might be a bit buff, but carrying an eight year old child is still a lot. Casey doesn’t hesitate to dash towards the mech, trying to find the button and/or lever that opened the stomach hatch.

“Hold on there, squirt.” Gregory walks on over, rolling the sleeves of his flannel shirt up, “Leo will murder me if he finds out I’m letting you hang out in there, okay? So not a word. Got it?” Casey giggles in response, “Alright.” Gregory pats his head again, opening up the hatch with a flick of his wrist. The button was well hidden, behind a piece of metal on the torso.

With a hiss the compartment opened up, Casey clapping his hands excitedly before climbing into the mech. Gregory had no intent to power on the mech, just knowing how much damage the small child could make in the span of five minutes with access to all controls. 

Casey’s eyes widened as he took in everything, from all the screens to all the levers he could pull. Oh, and get this, tons of buttons that he has no idea what they do.

The thing to ruin it all was the blaring alarm throughout the shelter, a speaker crackling to life above head.

“ALERT: THE KRANG HAVE FOUND US!” It was distinctly Leo’s voice, “Gregory, we need you to arm the weapons in Donnie’s absence. Can you do that?” Panic flicked over Gregory’s face for just a moment before it dissipated, giving a firm nod towards a camera. The speaker crackled off and Gregory turned towards Casey.

Casey shakes his head, “GG, don’t-”

“Sorry squirt, gotta keep you safe.”

“But- but I want to help! Please just let me help, Sensei has taught me so much I’m an effective fighter-”

Gregory holds his hand up, “Casey. Listen to me. If anything, and I mean anything, comes through those doors-” He points at the doors leading into the room, “Press these three buttons,” He points to a blue, yellow and red button, “And leave this mech as soon as possible. You will see from these monitors. You got that?” Gregory hastily flicks the power in the mech to life, then the monitors.

“But- but what about you? Please, I- I don’t-”

“Casey. Remember our promise. If anything happens to me, you need to run, remember? Promise me that again. Please.” Gregory is even pleading with his eyes now.

Casey was quiet for a moment.

Then he starts nodding, “Okay,” He whispers, “Okay.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Gregory shuts the hatch to the mech, and Casey can see him bolt to Donnie’s lab through the monitors. Casey thinks Gregory is an idiot right now. His mech was the most powerful thing the resistance had, why didn’t he take it?

Casey had a small inkling feeling that Gregory wanted to keep Casey in the safest place possible, which happened to be the very mech he was in right now. Casey can hear his own labored breaths inside the robot, everything happening outside muffled. He hears screams. He covers his mouth, staring down at his lap as he tells himself to breathe.

This isn’t the first invasion of a shelter in his life, but it scares him to the core each and every time. Even more so that Gregory was out in the field in Donnie’s place. Casey’s eyes flickered from monitor to monitor, the cameras fixated and pointed on the very doors Gregory had talked about. 

He feels something shift. Like something was crumbling behind him. No. No no no, that’s not good. He doesn’t have a visual back there. He stares down at the controls, all of them becoming a mess of shapes and blurring together as he feels the mech tilt backwards. That’s definitely not good. He hears a spark of electricity and everything inside flicks off, leaving him in total darkness.

He hears something climbing its way around the mech. Slimy. Grotesque. He should be used to these noises now. They get him every time. In a desperate attempt to get out of there, he presses the buttons Gregory had shown him. Nothing happens. He rapid fire presses the buttons. Still nothing. His breathing started to quicken as he felt something move behind him. He scoots forward as much as he can.

Silence. Pure and deafening silence. He doesn’t know how much longer he can take it. It’s been a minute. Is it waiting to strike, waiting out for all of Casey’s fear to take front? Because it sure was, and he’s almost certain he’s about to die-

Something banged against the front of the mech. Hard. It made a dent. The slithering behind him started up again, reaching out towards him, he feels the tendrils graze his back-

The hatch gives away, Gregory standing there with a crowbar in his hands. He grabs Casey and hoists him out of there, out of reach from the Krang tentacles. Casey let out a cry, seeing the damaged state of the mech and what had become of it. Krang tendrils had broken the wall it was resting on, the tendrils twisting around the arms and head of the mech. 

Gregory looked solemn at his prized creation. But that was the least important thing right now. He checks to make sure Casey was alright, that nothing gotten to him, no Krang infection taking place either. He sighs in relief, happy to see Casey would be fine. His own face was bloodied and bruised from getting hurled into debris and debris being hurled at him. 

Casey hastily pulls in Gregory for a hug, seeing the kid about to break down in tears. He was almost surprised he didn’t already. Casey cried into his chest, sobs wracking through his whole body. Then Gregory feels something.

A bad thing.

He shoves Casey away, Casey stumbling onto the ground in shock. It was the least he could do. Gregory feels his limbs getting yanked backwards by the creeping Krang, which was momentarily forgotten. Casey looked up in horror as Gregory tried his best to yank the tendrils off, to no avail.

His gaze sweeps back over to Casey, a sad look upon it.

“The promise, Case. The promise. ”

And Casey, albeit reluctantly, bolted out of the room.

And now Gregory was left to his certain doom. There’s no doubt about it. He’s trying with all his brute force to break the tendrils, but these ones seem more thicker. Like vines almost. They pulled him along the ground, cheek sliding against concrete to dirt. More scraps and bruises to the pile, he guesses. 

This branch of Krang had a goal, and it was actually looking for him. Great. Just fucking great. He notices the pink tendrils dragging the Freddy Mech as well, it taking a slower time because of how heavy it was. Hah, take that, idiots.

He had another idea to get out of this. Biting. But that could lead to him getting infected. Ah well to hell with it. He bites the nearest tendril, which caused it to let go out of pain or shock. Gregory didn’t care which, spitting out the chunk of alien flesh he took out of his thing. Gotta thank Donnie for teaching him how to bite as an actual attack movement.

Speaking of the turtle, what the hell was he doing up in the Technodrome? Why hadn’t he returned yet? It was supposed to be a quick in and out trip. Gregory feels cold fear and dread sweep over him, imagining the worst possible scenario. He was never one for optimism.

He’s hoisted up into the air, being held aloft as a different Krang alien stole his mech. Bastards. The one holding him constricts its hold on him, causing him to gasp for air slightly. Goddamn it was hard to breathe right now. The Technodrome must’ve been close, because holy shit- is he floating?

Well goddamn.

Then like a poorly written horror movie, his vision cut to black.

Casey ran. He ran, sobbing, racketing his body as he looked for something to use as a temporary weapon. He rummages throughout the shelter, trying to be as speedy as possible. All the sounds that he heard inside the mech were loud and clear now. He even recognized some of the voices. He perks up as he realizes a perfect place to search.

Uncle Tello’s lab. Or what’s left of it by now.

He dashed towards the lab, rubble falling from the ceiling behind him. No going back now. He reaches the lab, finding that a whole wall had collapsed, but some stuff still remained. He scours for something he can use, then he spots a sticky note that was somehow still intact. It said “For Casey.”

Casey gingerly picks the note up, reading the small text.

“Hello Casey Junior. If you’re reading this note, 1. I did not return safely back from my trip and 2. Leo kept his promise and gave you the gadget. This is an early birthday present. Your mother used to love hockey- that’s what the mask is for- and I’m sure you would love it too. Take good care of it, as it has all my files stored on there. Ask Gregory for help if you need to. Check the safe in my lab for another present. Code is 24395.”

~Donatello.

Casey carefully shoves the note away, eyeing the safe. It was underneath rubble. Lots of it. He glances back at the mask. He decides it’ll give him some protection against everything falling around him. He slips it on, the mask being slightly too big. Must’ve been intended for when he was older. A screen flashed to life, blinding him momentarily.

He looks around, spotting the safe. A small note in the corner of the screen told him the password. Huh, nice. It also gave multiple warnings to stay clear of certain areas, as the rubble was dangerous and could give way easily. Said it was fine for the rubble atop the safe though.

He inputs the code and opens the safe, finding a long purple stick. What is he supposed to do with that?! He takes it out, finding a button on the side. He hit it and a giant chainsaw part of it flicked out, causing him to jump in surprise. A small but manic grin laced his face. Oh he’s going to destroy the Krang out there.

He was wrong. Casey charged into battle, chainsaw blazing as he took down the smaller Krang trying to murder toddlers. Sickos. The blade was sharp, piercing through the pink flesh easily. The toddlers fled as fast as possible to hide under something. They have good common sense. For toddlers.

Casey turned around to find a tendril coming right for him.

Gregory woke up, groggy and vision blurry. Okay, at least he’s not dead. Yet. He looks around, finding himself in some part of the Technodrome. Gross, the place was gooey all over. Then he felt the squirming of the tendrils keeping him suspended in the air, and he himself started to squirm. Oh hell no. 

He wasn’t alone though.

Someone was gently tapping his face, urging him to wake the hell up. He blinks his eyes, seeing a familiar green turtle clad in purple (or what was left of the color). Donnie was telling him something, but his ears were ringing. Then he felt how sticky and clammy he felt, looking down to find a giant gash in his side.

“Jeez, when did that happen?” His words were slurred. Everything was slowed down immensely, Donnie’s voice being lost.

Gentle tapping again, “Hey hey, don’t fall back to sleep. I am getting you out of here. Just stay still.” Donnie went fishing into the pocket of his jacket, trying to find something. Gregory hummed, woozy and losing lots of blood. The tendrils did not help with the building up nausea in his stomach.

His blue flannel was stained red. He’d have to apologize to Leo later for that.

Gregory feels his head turn to the left, Donnie whispering something to him. Something something about his device to ward off any signals from the tentacles themselves. Gregory remembers Donnie telling him that; that the tendrils send out alerts to others of the hivemind or whatever.

Of course Donnie made something to counter that.

He hears beeping, but it could just be the ringing in his ears.

Oh now his arm feels numb.

Donnie sighs, “Apologies if your arm feels numb. It’s a numbing agent for the tendrils, not you.” His discomfort must've been obvious. 

Another voice joins the one-sided conversation, deep and brooming. And British. He won’t understand how that logic works. He refuses.

“Well well, look at what we have here.”

Donnie turns to look at Prime Krang, “Fancy meeting you here too, I suppose.”

The Krang laughs, more of a forced one though, “I guess it is, brat. Now, I’m going to put this nice and simple for you. I’ll let you leave on one condition.”

“That what, you won’t let Gregory come back with me?”

“That’s- that’s exactly that, yes, if that’s what the meat-sack is named.”

Gregory huffs, “That’s…mean.”

Krang waves a claw about, Prime currently being in the weird titan mech armor thing, “Don’t know why you’d even want to rescue him, he seems pathetic anyways.” 

Donnie’s gaze hardened as he cracked his knuckles, “You really care to repeat that?”

Prime grinned, “Why not. Your little flesh bag over there is an idiot. I mean, he tried to be smart, from what I’ve seen on the field, but he’s been annoyingly resilient, no matter how many times we bagged him down. But finally, he’s here to be of some use. As your prodigy, you must’ve told him tons, haven’t you?” Donnie’s expression didn’t change, but his hands went to grip for his bo-staff, “I bet it couldn’t even understand half of the puny crap you said!”

Donnie snapped. He flung forward, hitting Prime straight in the center of his face, ninpo glaringly bright in the dim room. The cool colors contrasted the warm ones pretty well. All Gregory could do is watch, his mind finally catching on to what the hell was happening. The gash in his side was really starting to hurt now. Still can’t move his arm. Okay.

His arms were strung tight, and without anything he couldn't escape.

“Tello! Bit of assistance here!” Gregory yelled out, Donnie and Krang Prime flinging themselves throughout the whole room. Something was thrown at his feet, Gregory giving the dirtiest look possible to Donnie. At least he had the nerve to be apologetic. 

It was a makeshift knife made out of Donnie’s ninpo magic. It lifted shakily into the air, Donnie’s concentration being more focused on the hand on hand combat he’s in with the alien currently. It had the decency to place itself in one of Gregory’s hands. Gregory tried to saw himself out of there without drawing too much attention to himself.

He guesses that yelling out he needed help didn’t help.

Because now Prime was barreling towards him.

A sword sliced in front of Casey before the tendril could.

“Junior! What are you doing? ” Leo hissed out, looking around the Battlefield, “Where’s Gregory?” Casey shifted the mask to the top of his head, hands trembling a bit. Leo’s eyes softened as he saw the terrified expression on the small kid's face. He sighed, sheathing his sword and hoisting the child up.

“Come on, we’re finding a safe area. You have to stay there.” Leo scolds him, shifting all of Casey’s weight to one arm as he fights the pink aliens.

Casey, even at eight, was lankier and bigger than the other children his age. But to the turtles, he weighed literally nothing. It’s weird how that logic worked. Leo plowed through the enemies, getting to a spot away from the main battle, finding a hidden door into the ground. He lifts it open, entering before closing it tight.

No one else seemed to have run to this one in time before they were taken down.

The bunker was silent among the turtle and human, the child clutching close to the ninja’s chest. He shouldn’t be feeling like this. He’s getting older, he has to learn better than this.

Leo speaks finally, “Case. Do you know where Gregory is?”

It was like he knew.

“H…he was taken,” Casey murmured out, “The Krang took him. He told me to run. I didn't look back.” He whispered the end part. He feels sobs starting to climb their way up his throat, the whole view of everything starting to dawn on him.

He had abandoned Gregory. Gregory, the human who had been there since as long as he could remember, growing up with him. They were practically brothers. Silent but wet tears trailed down his face as he clutched tightly onto Leo, neither saying a word as explosions carried on overhead. He was eventually forced to be peeled away from Leo, being placed on a ratty and beaten up couch.

“I see you found Donnie’s surprise gifts.” Leo points out. Casey nods, “I know you want to help, but your training has just begun, Case. You shouldn’t be out there yet.”

“But I want to!” Casey protests, “I- I hate standing on the sidelines watching everyone I love die because I can’t save them!” His breathing was becoming irregular again.

“Hey hey, calm down.” Leo shushes him, “How about this. Since I (rarely) go back on a promise, let’s make a promise. After this battle we can train more, and maybe you can go out on the field faster, sound good?”

Casey nods slowly.

“Alright champ,” Leo shakes his shoulder, smiling, “I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

“Okay.” Casey whispers.

Leo’s face fell the tiniest bit, but the smile was back immediately after. He exits the bunker, leaving Casey alone.

Casey looks up at the hatch, pretending like he’s looking at the sky. He hopes Gregory can hear his prayers, if he was still alive.

Gregory was not having the best of times. He was slammed onto his back (ow) and was currently trying to dodge every attack from the pink alien from outer space (or another dimension, the story always confused him with that). Donnie was trying his darndest too, managing to crack one of the poisonous blue vials full of chemicals onto the Krang’s face. It left a giant hole through his head.

Not enough to kill it somehow.

“Tello, arm me up?” Gregory asks, dodging a claw barely from Prime. Donnie slams a hammer made of ninpo onto the top of Krang’s head, shooting Casey a look. “What?! I’ve got nothing! Freddy got destroyed! Mangled! All of the above!”

“Sometimes you’re awesome when you start joking mid-battle.”

“Jeez I know, thanks.”

“Today’s not the time.”

“Right, right.” Gregory replayed the words Prime said to him in his mind. So what if the antagonist is right about some things? Donnie is the smartest guy he’s ever met, don’t blame him for not understanding everything. 

“Use your ninpo!” Donnie recommended, beating a jet engine into Prime, who got launched into a wall.

Gregory fumbled at that, “I- Donnie, you know-”

“Yes, I know. Look for something here. You’ll find s-” Donnie gets slammed into a wall. Gregory winces at that. He takes a scan around the room, finding a…well. Skeleton. A few dozen of them. He could use a few at a time, but uh…they can shatter easily. He finds a few clad in armor, thick bones to go with.

Perfect.

Prime started barreling towards him again.

Light blue magic swirled around the skeletons, one moving suddenly in the perfect position. It clocks Prime right in the jaw. Another skeleton stands up, charging toward the leader, Prime simply trying to knock them away. Donnie came blazing in, blood oozing from his skull as he took another hit onto Prime.

“Pathetic pests. “ Prime hissed out, “That’s just all you are. You are never gaining your world back, you just should submit!”

“Hell no buddy.” Gregory manages out, one of the bigger and heftier skeletons standing up. It went barreling toward Prime, punching him right where the acid got him. Sweat was dripping down Casey’s face as he tried his best to fight with all four skeletons under his control.

Donnie joined next to him, limping and ninpo flickering in and out.

“Hey…want to shut this place down?” Donnie breathes out, catching his own breath.

Gregory can only manage a nod, his ninpo flickering out. The skeletons dropped dead, Prime rising up, looking awfully pissed.

“And that’s our queue to leave!” Donnie scooped Gregory up (being mindful of his wounds) and dashed off, towards the direction to where the control room was, “I was in there looking- that was my trip- to find a viable weakness we can use against the Krang to even perhaps take down the mothership.”

“That shit you said came straight out of a…a…” Gregory struggled to remember the name for a second, “Jupiter Jim series, didn’t it.”

“A bit yes, but most of it is true,” They take a sharp right, Gregory hissing in pain, “Sorry. We’re here.”

“That was quick.” Gregory breaths out.

“We weren’t that far, it’s how I found you so easily.”

“Makes sense.”

The two looked down at the supposed controls, Donnie letting a full-body shudder run through him, “This is how they control this whole thing. From my observations you have to be completely immersed in it to be able to do anything.”

Gregory grimaced, “Gross.” He presses a hand into his side to try and slow the bleeding, “Well, I’ll do it. I’m about to bleed out so-”

Donnie whipped his head to look at him, “No, I- that wasn’t the plan at all.”

“Then why mention it?!”

“Because it’s good information!” A crash alerted them, announcing Prime’s presence. “And Brother Krang is in it right now.” He murmurs quietly to Gregory.

He turns to look at Gregory, “Listen to me. You’re going to take these explosives and nuke this goddamn place to the ground. Here I-” Before Donnie could finish he was flung hard into a pillar, an audible crack resounding through the room.

Gregory knew he could hear himself yell for the turtle, his name falling from his lips. The air was punched out of him as he too was launched across the room, landing next to a particularly sharp looking spike. Luck helped him on that one.

He gets back up, hissing, and deciding it was not a good idea. He hears the booming of Prime above him, but he barely registers it correctly. Ringing was loud and prominent in his mind right now. Might as well go out dying as a hero, right?

“What, not even an answer to that?”

Gregory looked up to the menacing being above him, who looked bored , “eat ass motherfucker.”

“What-”

Light blue energy lit up in Gregory’s eyes, the ship suddenly lurching toward the ground at an intense speed. He doesn’t know how long this would be able to stop the Krang’s world domination scheme, but he hopes it’s enough. His vision starts to blacken out, his head looking toward where Donnie was laying on the ground. 

The purple clad turtle looked back at him, smiling. They both understood the chance of them making it alive out of this was slim. Prime growled, calling for Brother to fix this, try to gain back control, but Brother could do nothing.

It was glorious.

Gregory let his eye slip shut as the Technodrome barreled into the ground..

A giant boom resonated above ground. Casey stared at the ceiling. It was louder than the small mini explosions blowing up the ground. And bigger too, if the giant tremor throughout the whole bunker was anything to go by. He crept slowly to the latch of the bunker, stick in hand. He still wasn’t quite sure what it exactly was supposed to be- maybe it was related to the mask? Hockey stick? Sounded right.

The latch suddenly flew open, a bloody Leonardo standing in its wake. He beckoned Casey out, Casey stumbling up the stairs.

The view he got was not what he was expecting. 

The gigantic Technodrome that always loomed in the sky was on the ground, creating a giant crater into the ground because of the impact. It was already stitching itself back together, the organic material making a quick haste to that.

Casey was only looking for two people. Gregory and Uncle Tello. He believes that both are still alive, they have to be. He’s charging for the fallen Technodrome, ignoring Leo’s calls for him to stay behind. He rummages through the rubble, looking for substance that was not alien blood. Red blood. Splattered on the ground.

He stumbled over, lifting a piece of rubble.

The lifeless eyes of Gregory stare back at him.

Casey feels a sob climbing up his throat, tears resurfacing as he stared down at the body of Gregory, the blood staining the ground in all its glory. A small but empty smile was ghosted upon his face, but his usually bright and mischievous eyes full of fire were snuffed out.

 Casey muttered “no” under his breath several times, shaking the body, refusing to let the realization of the situation dawn on him. Not yet. Gregory couldn’t go yet. All promises Gregory made, that they had made- they are all empty now. He holds Gregory’s hand to his chest, the skin cold compared to the warmer temperature outside.

Leo and Mikey weren’t doing any better.

It was a miracle they were able to find Donnie’s body, in the condition he was in. Blood was oozing out his skull, an arm twisted as well as a leg. His body was mangled and bleeding everywhere, staining the usual pristine (as it could be) jacket he always wore.

Leo carefully slips off of Donnie’s goggles, untying the mask around his head as well. He’s holding back as many tears as possible, too many emotions overwhelming him. Mikey wasn’t doing any better, sobbing on the ground next to Leo. Leo puts an arm around Mikey, who leans into it thankfully.

And yet it rained. It washed the stains of war away, somehow. It didn’t hurt either.

Strange how that logic worked.

Casey looked back into those same brown eyes, with a much dimmer fire, but one still present.

Grief overtook him. As well as a panic attack, probably.

This- this small kid in front of him- it-

“Casey Casey, hey, breathe with me, alright?” Leo managed to shake Casey out of it, Casey desperately trying to control his breathing. 

A quiet but snarky voice came from the child, “Does he always react like this to kids or something?”

Leo sends him a glare, quietly telling him to shut up in the most polite way possible. He guides Casey through the steps, Casey finally being able to calm down.

He murmurs out an apology, looking back down at the kid.

“And are you a walking mutant turtle? Because that is so cool.” Gregory’s eyes shined in delight. There’s no doubt about it- the small ten year old was no doubt the older brother figure he saw dead on the ground in front of him.

Okay try not to think about that. He takes a few shaky breaths in, “I. Uhm. I knew him. During the. You know. Closely.” Twenty-one. That’s how old Gregory was when he died. That’s how old Casey was now. Did fate have a cruel sense of humor or what? “This- this all makes sense now.” He murmurs, mostly to himself, “GG told stories of the Pizza Plex- where he met-”

“Gregory! You ran off so quickly. Who are your friends?”

A pretty decently tall animatronic bear was quickly approaching, stopping right behind Gregory. Casey can see the resemblance between the animatronic and mech- the cyan and red embellishments, as well as a few other things.

“Er…they’re…my key out! They found an exit and were just about to lead me the way out!” Gregory’s eyes were fleeting around as he spoke, looking around the ends of the hallways. As if on the watch out from someone.

Leo frowns, “First off, why would w-”

“Okay.”

Leo whips his head around, “Wh?! Casey! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“He wants to get out of here, his senses are going into overdrive looking for danger!” He whispers to Leo, “Plus, I’m not sure if he even has a home outside of here…it’s the best we can do.”

Gregory shuffled on his feet, watching the two adults argue quietly. Snippets of other names entered the conversation, hinting at possible more people being in the mall as well. It was just by pure coincidence that they hadn’t run into another until now.

His vision starts to go haywire, a tell-tale sign of a certain who is approaching. He quickly climbed into Gregory’s compartment, charging towards the nearest charging station. 

Leo and Casey hear it too, Casey blinking out of existence entirely.

“Oh come on! Really!?” Leo angrily whispered, going and hiding behind the nearest thing. The threat soon passed, the footsteps becoming quieter and quieter as the person left. Were they wearing a freaking bunny costume? Weirdo.

Everyone emerged from their hiding spots, Casey popping back into view.

Casey was grimacing, hating that his ninpo kicked into overgear like that sometimes.

“Did- did you just turn invisible?! ” Gregory guffawed at what he just saw.

Casey shrugs, smirking, “So what if I did?”

“That is so fucking cool man.” 

Casey hums, looking over to Leo. Leo sighs, but smiles, texting the family group chat about the situation.

He kneels down to Gregory’s level (felt weird doing that. Still hard to believe Gregory used to be this tiny), “So. You want to get out of here right?” The boy nods, “Do you have a place to go to when we get out of here? Place to drop you off or?...”

Gregory hesitated at that, messing around with his fingers. He let out a quiet “no”. Freddy seemed shocked by this, probably planning on interrogating the poor kid later.

“You can hang with us for now, alright? We’re chill. You’ll just have to deal with four mutant brothers and a rat. I think you’ll like Donnie though- he likes building stuff.” He thinks about it, “He might be dismantling one of your friends, sorry for that.” He glanced up at Freddy.

Freddy looked so worried. He felt bad that such an inanimate creature can have such weird sentience. 

“But only if you’re up to it, okay squirt?”

Gregory smiles a small bit, “Okay. What’s your name?”

“Casey Jones. You?”

“Gregory. No last name. Your name is so cool.” Stars from the lights above head reflected in his eyes.

“It’s actually Casey Jones Junior- but yeah. Guess it is. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The rest of the gang were rounding the corner, Donnie with tons of spare parts from spare endos and storage room junk in his arms.

“All aboard!” Leo hollers, probably alerting the person who walked past. It wouldn’t matter. He sliced open a portal, everyone heading through. Gregory looked hesitant (probably still processing that a portal opened), looking up at Freddy.

“He can come too.” Casey says.

Gregory beams, gently tugging Freddy along with him into the portal. Casey chuckles at the sight.

“Kids these days huh?” Leo ponders.

“Yeah. Huh is right.”

Casey enters the portal, choosing to shove the memories of his warlife in a folder in his mind. He needs to make room for new memories. He’s already done that. Bonding with the people he looked up to the most. Guess all that was missing was Gregory, the missing piece.

And now he found that piece.