Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leo rubbed the sleep from his eyes as his eyes drifted over to red glowing numbers by his room.  Three-o-four in the morning. He grumbled a bit before an unignorable migraine kicked in.  The slider stood up, trying not to trample over any comics or objects on his floor, grabbing his phone and turning on the flashlight.  Tracking over to med bay, he heard noises from the kitchen along the hallway.  Mikey doesn’t get up this early… he thought, getting into the med bay and grabbing the bottle of painkillers.  Making his way to the kitchen doors, the sound of soft footsteps walked around the closed off room.  He walked in, expecting Donnie or Mikey to be inside walking around but saw an unfamiliar face.

They had fluffy pale blue hair that seemed horrible unclean, the hair had two brown streaks as bangs. They had a white mask that sat on top of their head being wrapped with an orange flower and a black string that tied in the back. They had an orange shirt that was dirty and stained with the number 3102 in gray letters sewn on the sleeve perfectly.  The shirt was paired with dark gray sweatpants, and a hospital wrist band around their left arm. Their skin was a bland coloring of brown with light freckles on the bridge of their nose.  Their eyes a pink-ish purple-ish color that glowed in the dim light of the kitchen.  For a second the slider stood looking at them before he screamed out of sudden fear, jumping back as the person inside their kitchen noticed him, also jumping and making a distorted squeaking sound.  When they jumped they seemed to almost glitch, making this almost feel like a dream.  Leo would’ve thought that was true if Donnie and Mikey had not come running around the corner and down the hallway.  “What’s wrong!” Donnie asked, confused and sleepy.  

Leo tried to find the words to speak as the person’s purple eyes looked at him, finally making a sentence after a while, “There’s a person in our kitchen, right there!” This woke up Donnie quickly as he stood there and caused a slight wake up call for his younger brother.  Donnie looked inside the kitchen for a second, his blue eyes scanning the entire kitchen before stepping in the doorway with confusion. He looked at Leo with an irritated look plastered on his face.  “Leo… there’s no one there.” Donnie told him.

“What are you talking about! It’s right there!” Leo protests, seeing the person stand there in mass confusion.  Donnie looked around the kitchen for more time, turning towards Mikey who was about to fall fast asleep.

“Mikey, you can go back to sleep. I don’t think Raph woke up, I’ll take care of Leo.” he grumbled.  The box turtle turned around making his way down the hallway as Donnie looked at Leo worried yet annoyed.  “Leo… it’s not funny to wake me up or Mikey… I just got to bed finally… we can talk about this in the morning” he started.  Leo looked at the soft shell with a confused face at what he was talking about.

“I’m okay! There’s a person right there, I swear! Are you blind?” Leo asked, pointing straight to the masked person, who now had their white mask covering their face.  Donnie rubbed his temples annoyed before taking Leo by the shoulder facing the slider away from the kitchen.

“Leo, your eye bags could carry the world right about now.  You’re tired, and I get that you’ve still been having headaches.  You and I haven't had much sleep since the incident.  If something is bothering you, you can tell me.”  the soft shell explained, leading the slider back to his bedroom.  Leo checked behind him knowing what he saw, seeing the figure following him and Donnie as they walked. Glitching as they walked behind the two brothers, an uneasy feeling lingered inside of the slider as Donnie opened the train car door to Leo’s bedroom.  “Don, I swear, the person’s real, they’re walking with us.” Leo whispered, trying to tell his brother.  It didn’t sit right with him, the person looked creepy in the darkness, just now two glowing orbs watching.

Donnie patted Leo lightly on his shell, making sure not to hurt it, before stopping at Leo’s bed.  “You just need sleep, okay.  I’ll stay here for the night.” Donnie muttered, climbing laying closest to the wall as Leo gave up and laid down too. Leo stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the very present red glow, coming from the halfway closed door.  It’s all in my head… it’s okay…  Leo told himself, trying to make himself believe it.  They seemed so real, yet so fake at the same time.  He hands fiddled with the blanket as the thought of sleeping nagged at his eyes.  It was almost true, he hadn’t slept for six maybe even seven whole days, but he swore that that thing looked like it was real.  Almost too real, which made it so much worse.  Donnie’s light snores filled the room as Leo laid, forcing his eye to look at the ceiling as the person's presence became overwhelmingly obvious by each passing second.  Closing his eyes Leo tried to take his mind off of it, as the feeling of sleep started to drag him down.

After a few minutes of just laying down and fading in and out of sleep, Leo slowly got up out of his bed, tucking Donnie in more before walking away.  The glitching person was in the corner of his room, seeming to be asleep as he moved towards his door.  When he started to open the door the person jolted awake quickly looking at Leo tired and confused.  Leo jumped a bit at the sudden movement, covering his mouth to make sure he didn’t wake up anyone for a second time.  Rubbing his eyes quickly, he grabbed a blanket on his floor and walked out of his room trying to take his mind off of the person.  He moved into the living room, crashing on the couch in a heap of paranoid and pain ridden emotions.  The person finding a place in the corner and laying down quietly falling asleep.  Leo took a few seconds to get a good look at them, though a lot of their looks were glitched, they had a few scars around the neck with a very present scar in one corner of their head, kinda like a hit wound?

Leo knew how that looked all too well, the person curled up in the corner their breath slowing down quickly.  Time for sleep then. He thought, seeming more comfortable of the person sleeping then wide awake.  His eyes feeling like rocks now he fell asleep, hoping to get some sort of sleep for the night.  The light noises of the living room filled his ears as he fell asleep to the white noise.  Fading into sleep yet again.

I̴̧̗͈̥̬̫̫̪̲͋͋̄̆s̷̭̜̮͖͖̺̞̈́̊̅̾͌̃̕n̶̢̨̙̠̤̪̘͎̻͕͑́̀͑͆̀͗̀̈́̏͗̕'̷̼͓͖̣̟̻͛͗͒̉̈́̍͝ẗ̷̹̱̥̹̥̳́̆̔̾̕͠ ̴̧̧̛̜̰͓̭̘̟͖͊̒͛̍͂̎̋̈ṭ̵̤̯͉̩͓̜͖̖̀̈̒ͅh̷̳̤̥͌̑͜ä̵̲̗̟́̔̽̂͂͂͛́̿̈́́͝t̵̘̰͉̯̦́̋̊̍͌̾̚̕̕̕͜͝ ̵̨̢̟̓̄̎̀̇͊̆̋̀́͑s̸̪̩̫̠͚̻̓̑͂͂̾̑̾̈́̚̚c̸̢̧͖̰̤̭̰͖̋͠á̶̡̖̣̀̑̀͗̽ͅr̶͇̀̉͊́̀̇̍̐́̕ ̶͙̀̌͒̃̓̽̌̿͐̕͘w̷͚̽̍͗̄̔͛̊ë̵̻̹̔̋̂̍͛͝r̴̥̥͚̜̿ͅi̴͖̤̠̩͇̜̠͒̾̓̂̊d̸̨̯̥̩̣͙̥͓͓̠͉̈́̿̈̏͂͘̚͝?̸̧̳͇̝̥̲̻̭̳̥̻̭̈̅͝͠

Chapter Text

*Leo’s POV (kinda third person)*

Lifting his heavy eyes, Leo yawned, reaching for his phone, still dazed.  Who knew drifting in and out of sleep would be a bad thing?  The blue colored wallpaper greeted him with a blinding light as the slider checked the time.  “Eleven Twenty…” Leo read the letters, “Yeah, it’s time to get up.” he yawned again, placing his feet on the cold floor.  Leo looked over at the corner the person was in last night, they still laid on the ground in a deep sleep.  I wonder… Leo started, before a soft knock sounded from the living room doorway.

“Hey Lee.” Raph’s voice whispered, getting the slider’s attention quickly.  “Don told me to let you sleep, said you had a rough time this morning. Are you okay?” the snapping turtle asked, his voice soft and warm.  Leo looked back at the corner where the person laid curled up and shivering before meeting his green eyes.  

“I’m doing great.” Leo muttered, folding the blanket he was covered up with.  Raph nodded quietly, stepping into the living room more as Leo looked at the ground.  It was getting colder outside, and being in the sewers didn’t help much at this point.  A blue hoodie was held out to the slider greeted with a faint smile on his brother’s face.  “I thought you might be cold when you wake up.” Leo took it willingly, putting the heat padded hoodie on.  It was nice to feel heat again, the best part of having Donnie make hoodies. Though Leo can never figure out how he made them so lightweight but warm in the first place.  It was a great idea, but still.  Raph sat beside Leo with a worried face as Leo finished putting on the hoodie.

“So, where is Donnie and Mikey?” the slider asked, pulling his knees to his plastron.  

“Don wanted to stop by Repo’s and Mikey insisted on buddying with him instead of Raph this time.  If you ask Raph, he just wanted to get out of the lair so he could pick up a quick meal. He’s been tired lately, trying to take care of pops and Don.” Raph shrugged, looking at the slider.  Leo’s eyes were trained on the corner where the person slept,  with a blank face on.  Raph looked over to the corner before looking back at the young teen, confused on what he was staring at.  “Whatcha look’en at, Lee?” he asked.

“Just the person over there.  They’re sleeping.” Leo explained, pointing at the corner.

“Raph don’t see anyone. Are you feeling alright?” he asked, now more worried than before.  He placed a hand on Leo’s forehead, checking if the turtle had a temperature. 

“Raph, I’m fine. I was just joking.” Leo lied, pushing Raph’s hand away from his forehead with a smile.  The snapping turtle sighed with relief before looking at the slider with a worried smile.

“You can’t keep joking with Raph like that. You know I get worried for you!” he told Leo. Pulling the slider close, Raph nuzzled Leo’s forehead in a worried relief.  Leo smiled, looking back at the corner as the person slept soundly.  They were in a deep sleep, maybe just tired? Could hallucination sleep?  That would be a Mikey question.  “So,” Raph started, breaking Leo from his thoughts.  “Do you wanna play Mario Party? Mikey just texted me and said they won’t be back for a while.” Raph smiled.  Leo nodded standing up with Raph’s help, getting a steady balance before walking to the living room arch.  The person in the corner stayed asleep, taking a deep breath as they slept, leaving Leo confused as he walked away.

“Okay Leon, I’m being princess peach as always.” Raph smiled, distracting the slider as they walked to the game room.  Leo chuckled, feeling better to have a distraction to whatever was happening.

((Time Skip))

Leo sat in his blue bean bag, watching his phone screen waiting for Raph to come back from a task he needed to do.  The sounds of the empty-like lair filling his ears as he wait... and waited... and waited.  Leo groaned as he looked around the space for any clues that Raph might be back from his task.  He said he was just going to grab a cup, I don't think Mikey re did the kitchen again. the slider huffed, at this point needed pain meds again.  The headache hasn't gone away from the last time he was off of bed rest, and not that it was anything bad.  He was hit in the head so bad it caused a few memory issues! No reason he couldn't have a headache too.  His legs were hurting again so he didn’t bother to find out what’s taking so long, even though he wanted to know.  He learned that trying to walk with the pains of healed injuries will get him in a cot again with a concussion.  Leo didn't want that again, though he wanted to get pain med now.  His twin katanas were in his room, and he didn't just have a crutch on hand.  He sat listening to the sounds of the lair once more, texting Raph of where he was but getting no answer back.  As Leo sat in the bean bag soft cries filled the lair, getting Leo to focus on something else more anxiety inducing then where his big brother skipped off to.  It sounded like a little kid, something they didn't have in the lair.  The sound echoed through the lair, making Leo more anxious as he stayed in his bean bag.  Taking his phone out he texted Raph one more time now worried about what was happening.  Hey Raph, what’s taking so long? Leo typed.  Three dots appeared on his screen, taking what seemed like forever to get done with typing.  Sorry Leo, a mission came up. Leo looked at the words, annoyed about how Raph left without a heads up but now just anxious of what the noise was, trying to wrap his head around who… no what was crying.  A ping from his phone drew his attention back as the crying sounded softer now.

Are you okay? Raph asked.  Leo stared at it for a bit, trying to make a decision of what to do.  Maybe the crying was in his head? The person hasn’t showed up yet, so maybe he’s just going crazy.  That sounds reasonable.  Leo took a breath looking back to his phone, starting to type a few words.  There’s something bothering me. Leo looked at the words quietly, before deleting the words and placing down his phone in frustration. There was no way he could type that and not seem crazy in some way.   As a last resort Leo grabbed his ear buds beside him, putting them in and scrolled through his Spotify playlist for a song to listen to.  He came across his favorite song, pressed it and put his playlist on shuffle hoping the music would help drown out the present noise in the lair.  It worked after a while, calming his nerves enough to relax a bit in the chair, still frighten at the thought of something being in the lair.  What was he going to do? Get up and walk like some sort of healed miracle? No! He damaged his legs, and he didn't want to end back up on bed rest again.  Closing his eyes Leo focus on falling asleep in the bean bag, hoping whatever was crying was not trying to hunt him down with a knife.  Though that wasn't a pleasant thought Leo found himself drifting off but failed as he felt something wrong around him.

Opening his eyes for a moment a moving figure appeared on the side of his vision, getting a slight spook from the slider but soon calming him down about who it was.  It was the person he was seeing before, the one that was asleep in the living room and thankfully they weren't hold a knife.  They held a small cat plush in one hand as they made their way to a corner farther from the slider, wiping tears from their face as more rushed down their checks.  Leo took off one earbud, looking at the tearful teenager worried about them but trying to find the words to say something.  They sniffed softly sitting in the corner, pulling their knees to their orange shirt curly up in the corner they chose, shutting their eyes tight and stuffing their head in their knees.  Leo looked carefully at them, wanting to ask what was wrong, but too scared to bring himself to form the words.  Their body glitched heavily, their cries sounding almost fake like, still echoing but now distorted.  Leo placed his ear bud back in, keeping his eyes on the person as he sounded out their cries.  A guilty feeling in his chest as he tried to relax again in the bean bag.  Maybe if I ignore it, things will go back to normal again. He repeated in his head as he drifted off to a rim like sleep.

S̷̥̘̝̘̫͓̼̘͈̟͓̽̆͆͜ơ̸̧̧͉̬̯̰͕̖̟͙̞͛̿̆͐͛̍̑̊͑m̴̲̗̝̙͍̱̟̟̦̺̥̙̼̄̃͝ĕ̶̡̗̜̼̝͉̯̤̬̣̈͂̄̿̇͋̈́͑̒̅̉̍ͅt̶̢̘̰̮̜̯͙̱̞̦́̂̈̽͐̉̄ͅh̴̠͓̯̊͆͐̓̈́̎̔͌̆̊̈́͝͝ĩ̶͎̙̼̄̔̾̓̀͘n̷̢̨͎̮̖̬̮̝̖͗͜ͅg̴̫̞͉͉̭͍̜̿͗́̂̆̉̽̔̓̄͆̚͝ ̷̜̍̓̍͆̊̀͜͝͠͝͝͝ḯ̵͈̩̠̻̫͉̫͖͍̓͛͒̅ͅs̸̺̤̰̝̯̣̲̑̈́̆ ̶̜̣̞̼̮̘͑͒̅̒̊̒͠W̶̨̡̧̱̪̦͙͓͈̗̮͌́̿̂̽̚͝ŗ̶̳̻̭͚̳̦͒o̵̡̜̙̮̪̺̝̿̎̿̇n̴̢̡̡̥̩̳̣̻͖̹̠͎̫̽͐̿̏͑̋̈͝͠ğ̸̭̙̥͓̣̻̠̭̕ͅ

Chapter Text

It has been two weeks since the person had appeared in Leo’s life, not taking one moment away from being somewhere Leo was.  Leo had figured out no one else can see them, from the four family members that lived in the lair.  The person was in fact a male, that’s basically all Leo could figure out right now.  The boy looked at least sixteen, maybe even fifteen?  The boy didn’t speak much, nor at all.  Most days he would just cry as Leo listened to music.  At one point Leo had asked what was wrong but the boy just freaked out and pushed Leo away.  Oh yeah, he could physically touch any thing and any one, sometimes can pass through other people if they wanted to. Not Leo though. Leo could alway physically touch him, though Leo had never tried to touch them on purpose.   He hasn’t left the lair in what felt like years, and he was honestly tired of being cooped up in one spot.  Carol told him he was allowed to go out for a bit, but every time Leo wanted his legs to begin to hurt, he was tired, he had a killer headache, or his brothers wanted a cuddle moment.

The boy was still there, but he came comfortable enough not to sit in a corner all day, sometimes watching Leo’s screen.  The boy seemed nice, and honestly Leo got used to having them around, let him just watch what Leo was doing, though for the first week most of the things the boy did was sleep and cry, he was doing better.  Never followed Leo into the bathroom, which was a plus, just sat outside the door waiting patiently.  Today it was around lunch time, Mikey had just got food done, and Leo wasn’t having any conversation with a person only he could see, hear, and feel.  It was bad enough his family thought he was going insane by every passing day sometimes but he got them to believe him enough when he said he’s fine.  Getting his blue colored plate, Leo stood up staring at Mikey for a second before speaking up to excuse himself.  

“I’ll be in my room. I have a killer headache again.” he said, most of it being true.  He did have a headache, just wanted to try to talk to the boy.  His three brothers looked at eachother quietly, watching Leo walk out of the room.  As Leo walked the boy carefully and slowly followed behind him, a confused look on their mask as to why he left the table.  That’s another thing Leo noticed about him, the boy seemed to enjoy the mask, giving some sort of comfort and hiding most of their head scars.

When Leo got to his bedroom he shut the door when he got inside his room, looking at the person as he sat on his bed.  “Do you wanna talk yet?” Leo asked, catching the boy off guard.  They stared at him quietly, not saying a word, just staring while Leo took a bite of food.  He stared back at the boy for a bit before picking up a notebook from his floor.  “Do you have a name?” he asked, patting around his bed for any pen that was on his bed.  He found one, picking it up he waited for the person to respond, “No” they whispered, their voice soft and raspy.

“How do you not have a name?” the slider asked, before seeing a saddened expression on the boy’s face.  “What about…um, Luke?” he paused.  With a slight shake no, Leo looked at the notebook paper. He would have to get more creative than that.  Leo looked at the boy’s appearance thinking of some sort of name to call the boy. “Okay… what about Digit? That could be your nickname for now.” Thinking about their glitched appearance and distorted voice.

“That sounds good.” they whispered, lifting their mask up with a confused yet happy look. Maybe they never got a name? Maybe just didn’t know?

“That’s good to hear. So, Digit, do you know how old you are?” Leo smiled, shifting on the bare mattress. The boy just stared at him for a bit before taking a small breath in and shaking their head.  Hugging their knees to their chest as Leo spoke, their face pained with sadness and some sort of grief.  “Well… you look fifteen, so maybe you’re fifteen? I don’t know, I’ve seen twelve year olds as tall as you.” Leo joked, not getting any laughs out of Digit. Digit looked at him with a blank stare before smiling at his so-called joke.  “Do you know anything about yourself?” Leo asked, concerned.  

“No.  My head just hurts.” they shivered, their voice still below a whisper and monatoned. Looking at Digit the slider took a breath in before writing down the amount of information he collected so far.

Name: Digit  

Age: 15?

Gender: Male

Origin: Unknown

Hurt head, and low voice.  Maybe Abuse?

He wrote looking at Digit quietly, coming up with new questions. “Okay, well, I’m just going to eat my lunch… do you want any?” Leo asked, holding his turkey sandwich in his hands.  Digit nodded slowly, as Leo took one of his sandwiches on his bed.  Mikey always gave him two and Leo couldn’t have both of them yet, so he usually offered some to Digit.  Though turkey sandwiches was getting pretty nasty everyday by him eating them every time for lunch.  Though beggars can’t be choosers.  Leo watched Digit’s behavior quietly as he ate, observing everything about them. I mean, he was already doing that for two weeks straight. Maybe he could find out more? Though the science stuff was his twin’s thing, Leo was curious about them. Not like Donnie could see them.  They started to copy some of his movements and attitude, getting a mind set of who Leo is personally.  Which was weird and what not, but they were more like a computer thing… an AI or robot? No. The behavior was more of a child’s mind.

“Note to self: See if Donnie has research papers for first graders.” Leo muttered to himself.  Digit didn’t seem like a Hamato spirit, no, none of them ever glitched. If there’s a way to meet Gram-Gram again, that would be much appreciated.  Big Mama and Draxum might know something about the situation.  I just can’t sound like I’ve lost all of my marbles. Leo thought, finishing his sandwich.  The slider looked back up at Digit, who was now making lines on a piece of notebook paper.  “What are you doing?” Leo asked.  Digit looked at Leo quietly before looking back at the paper at his question.  “Can I see?” he asked, reaching a hand out to take the notebook paper, getting a small slap to his hand.  “Okay, okay. I’ll let you finish whatever you’re doing.” Backing off, Leo pulled his knees to the familiar feeling of his plastron, waiting for them to get done.

After a few moments Digit lifted up the notebook paper, watching the slider’s reaction closely as he looked at it.  To Leo’s surprise, they had a pretty good drawing, it was of Leo of course but better than he could do with a pencil. “You’re pretty good, how did you learn how to draw like that?” the slider wondered.  Digit shrugged, looking at the paper too before handing it to Leo fully.  “I’ll hang it up.” the slider smiled before a knock on the train cart door snatched both of their attention while Mikey's face appeared in the doorway.

“We’re stopping by Big Mama’s place if you want to come.” he started, looking at Leo’s resting bitch face. “But you don’t have to if you don’t want to! You’re probably still have a headache and stuff, so you can stay home!” he stuttered, panicked at Leo’s face.  Leo quickly fixed his expression, getting off his bed and standing up.

“It’s okay Mikey. I don't have a headache right now. Good timing too, I need to make some stops.” Leo smiled, walking up to Mikey as Digit followed the slider towards the doors.  Mikey beamed happily before making his way into the main part of the lair.  Leo gathered his on the go bag, tucking the notebook and pen inside it if any information were to pop up.  Leaving the room, Digit nervously followed, from what Leo could tell they were nervous about getting outside.  Maybe something else? It didn’t matter at the moment. The slider smiled at the thought of getting outside, joining his brothers at the door.

T̶̢̹͍̼͎͖̈̏h̴̡̛̼͉̬̙̹͍̼̱̘̟̫̏̂̄̍͆̓̄̈͜͠͠͝͠A̷̺̼̦͚̒̇͌̍̐̈́̀̀̾͛͝t̷͕̬̥̏̑̿̈́ͅ'̷̛̹͔̿̉̍̒̅Ş̸̡̛͕̰͎̖̲̮̪̣͍̻̘̊̎͆̾́̓̇ ̴̨͔̱͖̲̬͉͛̑̉͒̍̅̊n̵̰̞͈̎̓̃O̴͚̍̍́̅̓̉̂͌ţ̶̠̈ ̵̛͈̦̜͉̖͎͎͈̩̖̱̃̃̄̏̈́̇͝Ą̶̰͙̱͚͙̣̲̤͆͛͆́͋͛͊̆̈͊́̚ͅ ̴̙̘̬̯̰̗̣͙̬͈̤͉̔̂̅̍̔̈̊̃̐̕͠ͅg̶̨̡̪̫̣̯͔̪̙̼͚͖̍͊̈́̓̀̿̏̒͆́͠O̶͕̤̅̀̇́ó̷̡̰̝͍͖͋̽̎͠D̷̪͂ ̴̘̗̲̰̀͐͆͗͑͊̚i̵͖̣̥͖͂̓́̍͆͆͝ͅD̵̺̞͖̰̲̅̀̾͑̑̀ȇ̵̞̗̙̖̝̪͍͚̓͐̔͗͌̏̏͘Ą̷͈͉̥̘͖͈̦̳̫͕̎̏̾͋̔͝

Chapter Text

Leo walked beside Donnie, talking about various topics and laughing about stupid people on the internet with some random memes that they found here and there.  Mikey and Raph were on their own planet at the moment, keeping to themself and watching where they were going.  Leo would occasionally drag Donnie over closer to his side to prevent the softshell bumping into any yokai on the streets.  They would normally go to Big Mama’s place through the streets of New York, but it was still daylight at the time and no one wanted to jump rooftops just to visit someone.  They couldn’t cut through Witch Town though, being banned from it, so they had to take the long way.  Digit was following about five feet behind the group, staring at passing yokai and keeping to themself.  Some people bumped into them but found it more of a weird situation and shrugged it off. 

Yokai couldn’t see them either though some ran into them, ninety five percent of them phased through Digit, walking like nothing happened.  He looked immensely stressed about being outside, watching anyone and everyone who walked by.  Leo was confused about that a bit. Some yokai can just run into them but most yokai just walk right through like they're nothing. How come Leo can touch them consistently? The slider snapped back to watching Donnie tell him about various memes and people, keeping his attention for the soft shell.  “Hey Leo, where were you needing to go?” Mikey asked the slider.

“Well, I know you need to get some more food and you still have money from last Christmas for arts and crafts supplies. Donnie needs to stop by Repo’s junk yard, and I need some more medical supplies because last week they were still trying to keep a bunch of things in stock. Plus, I needed to talk to Draxum about some stuff regarding mystic stuff.” Leo listed off the various places they needed to go.  “I mean, we're out of the lair now and it’s been like years since I have stepped out and basically no one has gone shopping due to the storage in supplies, so might as well check the places out to see if we can find anything.” Leo shrugged.  Mikey nodded in response to his explanation, finding it quite smart.

“Didn’t CJ need something from the Kill Shop too? Dominic Flowers and Honey Mint, I believe.” Donnie asked. 

“Yep. So we got a few stops, probably need to text Pops that we’re gonna be a while.” Mikey said, pulling out his phone to start texting Pops.  Digit came up beside Leo attaching to the slider’s hoodie sleeve as they walked before speaking.

“Where are we going?” they asked, moving their eyes from yokai to yokai nervously.  Leo looked at Digit quietly before they started speaking again,  Leo looked at them quietly, getting the boy’s attention quickly as they walked. Leo couldn’t talk, if his brothers weren’t there maybe but he kept to himself.  He really needed to get those medical supplies, the shop restoked recently, and this time he could personally look instead of Donnie. Never again.  He had enough to get the supplies he needed and possibly a piece of candy if prices didn’t rise again.  Hopefully he could pay for it all, though there are a lot of things he needs to buy.  If he borrowed money from Donnie there was no possible way of getting out of any task or/and lab experiment the soft shell had lined up. Mikey saved his own money to buy a thing he really wanted and Leo didn’t want to make his youngest brother sad. 

Raph almost never had money on him, usually getting it out of nowhere sometimes.  April was still in college classes and needed to save money, and CJ hasn’t been around long enough to even have a good amount of money to pay for a meal.  Digit pulled down their mask, the lighter red tacking where their eyes moved from.  It was pretty weird, why was he so anxious? Leo pushed the thought aside, not thinking he would need that information at the moment.  What information would he need? Donnie pulled on Leo’s hoodie sleeve, stopping him from hitting the doors of the Battle Neux Hotel.  

Leo looked at the doors as Raph cleared his throat quickly and looked at all of us.  “Okay, Donnie, don’t glare at people like you hate them, unless you do.  Mikey, don’t try all the food there this time, we don’t want you to have food poisoning again. As for Leo, get along please, Big Mama is good now and she doesn’t like the attitude.  Big Mama ain't what she use to be.  As for Raph, Raph is good so far.” the snapping turtle smiled proudly.

“Maybe don’t try to take a bite out of a table again.” Mikey frowned, looking up from his phone with a single raised hand. Raph looked at him quietly before letting his common slid once again like all the other times.  He grabbed the handle of the door, opening up to the all too familiar lobby.  “Big Mama?” Digit asked worryingly as they walked, their voice still a whisper.  Leo opened his mouth to speak but shut it quickly as he drilled it into his mind that no one else could see nor hear Digit.  He instead texted the entire reason on a random notebook app he hadn’t used in a while.  Digit read along as he typed nodding quietly before coming up with words again.  “She sounds mean.” Digit said, looking at Leo.  Leo knew almost all of them were on edge still with Big Mama, Raph and Mikey being the least.  Donnie didn’t trust Big Mama from the start, and Leo didn’t trust her after the first incantor.  Leo found it shocking that she didn’t help with the Kraang thing.

Walking up to the kitsune bellhop, more known as Chad to the brothers. To be honest Leo has heard many other names he’s been called, but Chad stuck to all of them.  “Good afternoon Chad. We are here to see Big Mama for a visit.” Mikey smiled, being the most social one out of the group at the moment.  Chad nodded as he held the radio up to his narrow mouth.

“Big Mama, your boys are here to see you.” he said, getting the brothers attention about what he said.

“I’ve been waiting for the turtly-boo’s!” Big Mama’s cheery voice came through the radio quickly, making Digit jump at her voice.  “Send them up please!” she cheered.  The kitsune nodded slightly at the turtles, before unlocking the elevator’s gate and letting them inside.  “You know what floor, get there with no other stops please.” he said, before closing the gate. Raph clicked the button to Big Mama’s office, now located on the sixth floor of the ten something floor building.  Due to it having to be rebuilt, some floors are still under construction, most of them being the top floors.  Eight out of the ten something story building was done, but Big Mama felt more comfortable on the sixth, having a better view and fewer people.  Most people who don’t know Big Mama’s new building always expect her to be on the top floor, but are quickly mistaken now.  The elevator climbed the building slowly as Mikey put on some lofi music to listen to while they waited for the elevator to stop.

When they finally got to the sixth floor, Mikey still had his music going as he made his way down the hall with the brother following.  Leo kept to himself, as Donnie and Leo were communicating their mistrust through various facial movements.  Mikey of course didn’t notice his music was still one, even though he was feet in front of the group, ready to go to her office once again.  “Mikey forgot his hearing aids again.” Donnie whispered, talking to Leo.

“Well, the dude’s getting use to wearing them. You always have yours on because you got used to them. I remember when you were six or so and you were still trying to find them when they were in an empty watch container.” Leo whispered back, trying to give Mikey some credit. Plus Donnie’s hearing aids were his head phones in general, though he is fully deaf now Donnie’s headphones were adjusted to battle that.  Donnie was always good at doing that, making tech that took on any probably. Some good, some bad.  Looking to see where Digit was, they were walking behind the group again watching every detail of the hallway as he walked.  “Yeah, well…” Donnie started but struggled to find evidence against that.  “You have me there, but it would be more effective if he keeps his hearing aids at least in plain sight.  Last time Raph broke one of them while he was half asleep.”  the soft shell muttered, crossing his arms.

Though Donnie was considered the smart one, Leo had the same amount of brains as him.  Just used in a different way, sometimes he didn’t know how to show his emotions and came off as not listening.  After the Kraang invasion, it became harder to express them, keeping Leo sometimes with a blank face.  More commonly a resting bitch face, he was tired of getting asked how he was feeling, though Donnie was more common to keep a straight face, Leo was constantly bugged about it.  “A point for Leo.” the slider joked, bumping his twin's arm. Donnie chuckled along, bumping him back before looking at where they were at.  Big Mama’s door was a bit closer now, though the hallway looped around, Big Mama’s office was located in the middle of the loop, the exact polar opposite of the elevator.  Though Leo must admit, it was a good tactic.  Big Mama always complained about the people who got past security and knocked on her door, or even just let themselves in.  

Leo checked on Dgit, who was flapping their hands in a bit of distress as they walked.  Their red mask eyes were in a slightly overwhelmed eye shape, with small marks of panic in the corner of each one.  Their mask was just like the spider man's eyes, though it didn’t have a nose or mouth, just two void-like eyes with marks.  Getting to the office door, Mikey was going to knock before Big Mama’s voice came through the speaker right outside her door.  “Come in boys. Mikey-boo, you left your music on again.” Mikey looked at his phone inside his pocket, quickly turning off the music before entering her office.  Raph and Donnie went in next, with Leo trailing behind.  As soon as Leo stepped inside the office, Big Mama drew her attention straight to the slider in a curious yet confused look.  “What a delight to see you boys! A new guest would’ve been good to know.” Big Mama smiled happily, flickering her gaze over to the slider. Though Raph, Mikey, and Donnie were confused by this and brushed it off, anxiety sparked in Leo and Digit.   She knows.

Ś̸̮͚̰̘̏̔͘o̸̡͈̰̙̦̙͓͕̖̣̒ͅͅͅM̵͚̭͎̜̏̉̎̈́̉̒̎̓̿͑̇́͛͌̚ȩ̸̛͎͓͉̬̗͇̞̻͉̹͕̗̹͛̑̀̆̎͐̓̈͛́͛͘̕͜T̵̛͍̞͍̯̤̦̥͕̭̱͙̘̘͂̈̀͊͋͆̃͊͛̀͂̏̈́͊h̴̝̩̥̖̤̦̩͑͌̌̀̀̇͊͛̒Į̵̤̗͔̥̙̜͐̋̌͌̓̋͊̽͘̕͜ń̶͕̱̘͔̘̺̣͈̼̤̲̱̣͈̄̇́͜G̵̨̢̹̮̼̞̺̓̀̇̂̃͆̓̊͘ ̸̛̬̲̫͎͕̜̝̜̣͕̹̭͊͛̽̍͌̌̚í̷̛̘͍̫͍̟͙͖̭̗̝̈́͊̆̔̍̎̿͌̕Ş̵̨̨͕̬͖̼̬̹̿͋̀̊͋́̈͋́͠͝͝͝n̷̢̙̣̳̳̞̘͙̬̟̫̹͖̭͊͒̏̐̀͑̓̔͂̚̕'̸̨͈͙̩̜̣͕̤̳͚̤̻͔́͐́͑T̷͖̱̖̒̿̃̉̽̕ ̶̢̼̮͒r̴̛̫͕͓̝̘̮͚̊̎̈́̽̒͌̎̆̈́̑̂I̸̢̨̩̬͉͚͕̦̬̲̖̖͚̋̓͑̇͑̓͂̀̏̀̾̉̌͝͠ģ̶̨̻̗̖͚͎̗̠͔̻̭̈́̈́̈́̾̔͆̄͝Ḩ̸̧̲͉͖͖̮̆̓̉͑̃̇̊͐̐͗̽͝͠͝t̷̼̱̎̃̓͘

Chapter Text

Leo stood frozen in one spot, letting the words in his head repeat multiple times.  Could she see Digit? Maybe hear?  I mean, Digit doesn’t talk that much, could she just know? It’s been two weeks and Leo didn’t know this, he would’ve come fast if he did.  Big Mama was full of surprises, too much that Leo liked to be honest.  “So what do I owe the visit for you boys?” Big Mama asked cheerfully.  

“I just wanted to see you! I haven’t done it in a while, and Leo came this time!” MIkey smiled, bouncing up and down.  Big Mama turned her gaze over to the slider with a happy expression as she turned back to Mikey.  Big Mama looked at Leo once more, with a face that rang out that she knew, and wanted to tell his brothers.  Leo slightly shook his head, keeping it slow enough so she could get it through her head.  

“Well, I’m happy to see him finally. I see Donatello has finished his battle shell finally.” the spider pointed out.  Crossing his arms, Leo watched the conversation.  Maybe I could get Big Mama alone to talk to her? Leo thought.  As Donnie started to speak at all the technical things of his personal battle shell Leo tried to think of a way they could talk without causing too much suspicious vibes coming from the request.  After Donnie was done talking about ever note he had on Leo's battle shell, Big Mama smiled at the soft shell kindly giving her attention to Raph.  “I would love to hear more about what you boys have been doing, but I would like to talk to Leo alone.  He hasn’t spoken to me yet, and I would like to hear about his time in the lair with no interrupts please.  You can go to the fourth floor, tell Oscar I sent you to wait.” Big Mama said. Mikey’s face brightened up fast as Big Mama mentioned a different floor, grabbing Donnie’s arm and dragging the soft shell out of the room.  

Raph took one glance at Leo before making his way out of the room nervously.  The slider looked at Big Mama quietly before tapping his fingers nervously, waiting for her to talk first.  “So, who’s the tag along?” Big Mama asked after a while.

“How do you know that they were with me? Can you see them?” Leo asked, wanting her to answer first.

“Oh no, I can’t see them, I can smell them. You know spiders have a great smell, turtley-boo, and their smell is different from yours.” Big Mama explained.  Leo looked at Big Mama, trying to figure out if that was a good complement or a bad one.  He couldn’t smell anything, and his brother’s haven’t said anything.  Digit only looked at Big Mama confused and panicked about what she said.

“Do they know me?” they questioned, getting Leo’s attention.  Digit wanted to know where they came from, why they were here, and Leo understood that.  It was understandable.

“Do you know what’s going on? Why they appeared? WHY only I can see them?” Leo started, “Can other yokai smell them?” he asked.  Big Mama looked at the slider before clearing her throat and speaking up.

“I don’t know anything about what's going on, but I can answer, a lot of yokai can’t smell them. It’s only a rare time someone could, to be honest.  If you go to that Draxum he definitely couldn’t.” Big Mama explained, waving her hand around as she talked.  Digit stood in one place as she talked, seeming to be distressed by this information.

“So you can SMELL me, but you can’t get a single thought into your brain about how I got in this situation! Why can’t I remember things? I want to know who I am!” they yelled, pulling their mask up with tears in their eyes.  Leo looked at Digit for a few seconds as he was shocked by his sudden outburst.  This was more words he heard Digit speak, and it was over a topic they would cry about daily.  “It’s been two weeks! A- and-” they sobbed, crumbling to the ground in tears.  Taking a step back from Big Mama’s conversation Leo looked at Digit.

“She can’t hear you.” Leo said.

“I know!” Digit said, their voice breaking. They gripped their hair stressed about the situation, trying to get a grip on who they were. “I want to know what’s happening!” they cried.  Leo looked up at Big Mama who was confused about what was happening, not sure of what to say to either one of them. Should he ask her what she could know, or should he talk to Digit? Maybe calm them down? He didn’t want to talk in front of someone, even though Big Mama knows that Digit is there, it feels weird.  “Take some deep breaths, okay.  I’ll help you remember, okay?” Leo smiled, kneeling next to the boy.  He held the boy’s hand, pulling them away from his hair. Digit listened to Leo after a while, taking a deep breath as Big Mama watched the scene.

“Can they not remember who they are?” she asked.  Leo looked at the spider, annoyed and worried as he made sure Digit was doing okay.

“No, he doesn’t… Why do you ask?” Leo shifted his weight onto a different leg, standing up to look at Big Mama.  Big Mama didn’t say anything, just took a paper off her desk and handed it over to the slider.  “Scientific and business manager Eric Stacks, now arrested for…” Leo stopped midway of reading and looked at Big Mama.  Arrested for mistreatment, abuse, illegal testing, and murder of twenty seven kids. Leo stared at the paper in shock and disbelief.  

“Mikey and Raph went on that mission. So to speak, they didn’t like it. They still haven’t found some of the kids that were in there. They one have five of the sixteen that lived. Three of the eleven that were dead.” Big Mama explained.

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, confused.

“Maybe your attachment has something to do with it, though I’m not sure.  They do have a smell, a very strong one of death.” Big Mama explained.  Leo looked at Digit, who was now looking at the spider in confusion, their outlook on the situation seeming different.  They were definitely panicked about what she said, but what could they possibly know? Were they involved in the crime? Helped out but ended themself when it got too dangerous? Leo gripped the paper, confused yet sticking to what their behavior was like.  Though Leo wasn’t always the best at “reading” people, were they faking? “Big Mama, please tell my brother’s that I’m going home. I can get the medical supplies later.” Leo stated, holding one of his katanas in hand.

“Sure blue.” she nodded, watching the slider make a portal and walk through it, disappearing from sight.

Ȅ̷͙̤̱͙̪̞͎̪͉̩̫̏̈̿̂̊́̅̀͐̎̓̾͜͠͝ͅr̵̢̧̡̛̯̘̖̼̭͔̻͖̩̾̿͆̀̈̍̿̑̆͌̚į̶̤̠̏̉̔́͂͒̎̌̄̚ͅc̸̢̡̭͖̤̣̜̝̺̜͍̥̞͌͑͑͒?̵̢͎̙̞̬̥̜̯̮̹͜͝ͅ

Chapter Text

*Digit’s POV (kinda)*

Digit followed the slider into the portal, appearing in the lair he's spent two weeks in so far.  His head hurt, really bad.  He’s had this headache ever since he appeared, it was horrible.  Almost all of his memory was fuzzy, kinda just a fuzzy white that covered every picture in a book.  He wanted so badly to know who he was, why he was attached to some turtle, and why he had this power… It kept interfering with his life.  He didn’t look normal.  From the two things he knew from the past two weeks, he didn’t look human but he never resembled a yokai either.  Something felt off about the slider, yet almost welcoming.  He felt in some way that he knew the turtle, but couldn't put a finger on it.  Sometimes he felt alive, and other days he didn’t know.  Nothing at this point felt real. Like a never ending nightmare.

Though every time he tried to walk away from the slider, he would just be brought back to the slider.  Like an invisible chain.  After moving about five feet away from the slider it began to burn, until he would get to seven feet.  Like a loop.  Now he stood behind the slider, still stressed and upset about Big Mama -a yokai who can smell him- didn’t know anything about what was happening.  He depersonalized from his emotions now just feeling numb inside.  While Leo and Big Mama spoke Digit drowned out their words, maybe because of too much emotions? Digit stood in a deafening silence, Leo seeming anxious or maybe angry?  It was hard to tell. "Who are you?" Leo spoke up, breaking the silence. Digit looked at the slider confused before speaking up.

           "I don't know." he said, saying the truth.

           "Bullshit. Tell me who you are." Leo asked again, getting a bit more frustrated with it.  Digit just stood in mass confusion of what he was talking about.  "You're lying."

          "I don't know who I am. I'm telling the truth." Digit protested, trying not to panic. He didn't like when people yell or get angry, it was never fun, though Digit didn't know why it was like that.

         "You're covering up the truth. Tell me who you are!" Leo yelled. Digit quickly covered his ears, muffling the sound of the slider's voice as tears swelled up in his eyes.  "What do you know about the kids? You showed up in my life while this… crime was happening. What do you have to do with it! Did you think you could just escape your punishment?" Leo questioned, getting louder each time.  Digit looked at the slider as tears rolled down his cheeks.

           "What are you talking about? I don't know who I am or why I'm here! I'm not lying." Digit hiccuped, trying to calm himself down.  In a blink of the eye a sharp blade was placed against Digit's neck, as Leo looked at him with a determined face. Breathing heavily, Digit stared at the blade in fear.  He stopped making noises but his tears still rolled down his face.  Leo's face lightened up from anger as he saw how scared stuff Digit was.  He lowered the twin katanas guilt showing on his face as he realized what he did.  "Digit I-" 

         Digit started to move, going straight to a corner, hugging his knees and digging his face in-between his knees as he cried.  His clothes began to feel itchy, his hair heating up as he cried. He spiraled into his thoughts as Leo stood in the place Digit left the slider in.  His hand grabbing onto his pale hair, pulling at it as he panicked.  "Digit, calm down." the slider started, moving a bit closer to the boy.

         "Get away from me!" Digit cried, his magenta eyes glowing as he looked at the slider.  Leo stayed in a place for a bit before moving over to his bed as Digit's cries filled the place.  He just restarted his progress. The slider's eyes filled with tears as he cried slightly with the boy.  The emotion of anger becomes overwhelmed with sadness.

((Time skip))

           Leo wiped his eyes as he heard his brother's voices enter the lair.  Looking over at Digit who cried himself to sleep in the corner.  Leo stood up, picking up a weighted blanket and laying it on top of the boy.  The slider made his way out of the room, into the bathroom.  Looking in the mirror Leo stared at his face.  If he were to choose one word to describe his face at the moment. It would be horrible.  Though he couldn't bring himself to do his skin care, he could admit he looked better without it. Just have to get rid of the skin bags, and puffy red eyes.

         Turning on the sink Leo splashed some water in his face, rubbing it in before looking at his reflection one more time.  "Good spirits, I look like I've been hit by a car." he muttered before drying his face and walking out.  No doubt his brothers had questions, but if they saw his red eyes they'll have more.  Taking himself back to his room he flopped onto his bed, a sharp pain in his shell as he hit the mattress.  Taking off the blue fake shell, Leo laid it on the ground and cuddled up to his pile blankets.  A knock came from his door as he pretended to sleep.  "Leo?" his big brother's voice asked.

        Leo stayed still as he heard his door open slowly.  A few minutes passed by before his door was shut, making Leo believe he was left alone.  He opened his eyes looking away from the wall, seeing the snapping turtle still in his room looking at the slider.  "Leo." he said.  The slider made a nervous expression as he turned back towards the wall.  "Leo… why did you leave early? Did Big Mama say something to you?" Raph asked.

         "No." Leo muttered, as he heard his brother move towards him. Sitting on the bare mattress as he spoke up again.

         "Why were you crying?" Raph questioned.

         "What do you mean? I didn't cry."

         "Leo. Your voice is shaking, you have red puffy eyes, and you won't look at me. Something is wrong. What happened?" he started, Leo spoke up but was interpreted by Raph. "Don't tell Raph you have a headache or your legs hurt. You don't cry over that.  Something upset you. What?" he finished. Dang it. Leo thought. He knows me too well.  

         "Just… got overwhelmed." the slider explained, that was true but not the entire truth.  That was why he left and why he started crying, but two completely different times.  Raph sighed, rolling the slider over to face him.  The snapper's face was full of worry for his little brothers.

       "You know you can tell Raph anything. Right Leo?" he said. Leo looked at Raph for a second before nodding.  "It's just… Raph is worried about you. You've been acting weird, you keep on pushing us aside. Raph won't judge Leo." the snapper expressed, being in genuine concern.  Leo nodded quietly, keeping his eyes on the snapper.  Raph knew there was more to it, Leo knew that he knew but Raph didn’t want to push it.  Leo knew this well.  “Well… Mikey’s cooking supper and we’ll have food out soon.  Please join us for the meal this time.  Raph wants to see you eat today.  For safety measures.” his brother said.  Leo nodded quietly before the snapper got up from his bed and left the room. 

Y̵̛͈̮̺̞̺͎̖͍̲͖̬͎̖̊̀̈̋̈́̏͠õ̶̟͕̏̿̀͊̈́̓̔̑̔̉̆̀̊͘u̵̞̒̀͠'̸̧̳̺̳̯͈̪̥͚̺̈͊̀ͅr̸̨̻̘̾̏͐̅͝ȇ̴̦͇ ̸̨̢̢̦̪̯͓͎̝̯̓̓̈́͗͆̈́̄̈́͝t̵̨̯̰̠̩̓r̶̛͉̱͇̼̝̋̈́̊̾̉͌̚͜ͅỵ̵̢̭̘̟̻͗ͅî̴͕̀̾̈̇̕͝͠ń̵̜͈̈́͒̀̐̊̐̋̆̾̕̕g̴̡̦͙̖̗̺̘͖̐̓̅̆̓̑̃̋͆̈́͘͠ ̴̧̡̤͔̪̝̞̼͑̑̉́t̷̺̳͆̓̑́́̆̀̒͛͘ơ̵͎̺̹̗͕̈̀́̔͋͆͒̆ ̶̢̛̥̣̲͙͔͕̃̂͂́͐̿͆̓̂̎̂͒͝h̴̡̧̞̼̭͕͓͙͎͉̝͕̫̪̀͂̒͆͛̅͆͋̀̔̇̃̂ẹ̸̃̈̇́͆̀͂̒̕͠a̶̛̜̍̏̒̀̐̐̈́́̈́̍͋̽̎̚l̴̛͓̝̈̇͂͊͋́̕ ̵̡̡̰͙̜̱͇̓͌̎̋͋̏̂͗̂͆̏͘̕̕͝ą̵̲̻͌́̾̿̄̓́͌͒̅͆̿̕͠ ̶̢̹̭͇͖̞̦̗̯̖̻̯̖͆̉͋͛̈̂b̷̨̯͈̝̠͔̔̅́̂̓́̄̑͛͆̕͘͘͜r̵̢̺̣̖̦̭͙̿̐͋̊̓͘o̵̝̞̭̖̮͗͗̔̅͂̽̈́̉̕͜k̵̰̪̤̭̗͚̞̠͔͕͈͍͖̍͆͜ͅę̴̬̥͚͍͚͈̙̦̙͗ͅn̸̹̦̼͔͓̝̳̲̬̳̥̲̯̓̈̑͊̈́͆̈́̚̕͘ ̴̢̡̘̥̹̫͈̩͖̫̬̩̞͍́ç̶̢͇͔͓͓̼̖̻̜͖̽̀͌͌͂̓̑͛̆̅̀͝h̸̡͈̤̔̇͆i̸̛̻͓̤̬̦̱̯̙̠͖͙̝͂̊̽̈͐̉̆̚̕l̴̨͙̮̙̖̭̻͙̞̾̏̈́͑ͅd̶̦̈́̒͜

Chapter Text

Leo rubbed the sleep from his eyes, making his way down to the kitchen with a very tired Digit behind him.  With the only reason being Digit had to follow Leo around. He made a note of this within the first week of so. Every time Leo would walk away from Digit they would sometimes be teleported right to where Leo was. From five to seven feet it becomes painful to Digit, and sometimes Leo can feel it too. It wasn't a fun pain either, or one he could slide off easily from. It was like a heart attack, maybe worse? They didn't talk to each other. Leo was for sure Digit was gonna just lay in a corner sound asleep, but he didn't want to assume just yet.  The slider got to the kitchen doorway, looking into the kitchen that held Raph and Mikey talking as the box turtle got the food on the individual plate.  Donnie would already be here. Leo thought as he walked into the kitchen confused.

           Raph was the first one to greet Leo, waving at the slider as Mikey lied happily.  "Are you joining us?" Mikey asked.  Leo looked at him as he tried to process the turtle's words.

          "Yeah. I am. I don't have much of a choice." Leo yawned, rubbing his eyes.  Raph looked at Leo with a soft smile.

          "You got orders from our big sister?" Mikey asked, looking at the slider.  Leo looked at Mikey for a second before going to Raph.

          "What?" Leo muttered, still half awake from waking up.

          "Raph and Mikey had a talk, and I'm trans." Raph explained. "But it's okay if you forget! You can even call Raph your brother still! It's okay!" she stumbled over her words as she spoke.  Leo nodded slowly before sitting down next to the snapper.

         "It's okay. You know I'm trans too." Leo muttered, watching Digit move to a corner and lay down to sleep again. While Raph looked at Leo confused.

        "Since when?" he asked.

        "Since I was six maybe? I don't know. You never noticed?" Leo asked, taking a glance at Raph's face.  She was a mixture of surprise and guilty fear.  

         "You never told Raph you are trans fem!" he said.  Leo looked at Raph confused about what she was talking about before smiling.  

          "No, Raph. I'm trans male. You never thought about that?" Leo chuckled, as Mikey gave Leo a bowl of Mac and cheese.  Raph looked shocked by this information before being proud of herself for not saying the wrong pronouns.  The snapper took a bite of her food, as they enjoyed the meal.  Though Leo didn't see Donnie yet, just Mikey and Raph.  "Hey, where's Tello?" he asked. Raph and Mikey looked at Leo with a worried look before Mikey made a nervous face.

         "Don has another medical situation again. Carol came down to take care of it though." Raph started, knowing this would panic Leo.

         "You didn't wake me up? I was sleeping." Leo protested. Getting a few confused looks from Raph and Mikey as they exchanged looks of worry.

        "Leo… do you not remember being awake? I came to check on you after a while and you were just sitting in a panicked state… now, Raph didn't wanna bother you but you don't remember that?" the snapper asked, her emerald eyes looking at Leo.  Leo looked at Raph confused before looking at his bowl of Mac and cheese. He swore that he fell asleep. It wasn't an off and on sleep either, it was an actual deep sleep. Was he awake? Leo got lost in his thoughts as the sound of Raph's voice broke his concentration.  "Lee, you good?" he asked. Leo took a while to process his words once again, coming back to reality as quickly as he could collect brain cells. 

         "Yeah Raph… just thinking." Leo explained.  The slider took a bite of his food as he tried to wrap his head around what they were talking about.  After he was done Leo stood up pushing his bowl away from his seat.  “Thanks Mikey, the food was great.” he smiled before walking out.  Maybe I could visit Tello. he thought as Digit followed the slider, still tired.  He stopped in the middle of the hallway and faced Digit with a worried expression.  “Look, Digit-” he started, biting his lip nervously.  “I’m sorry for… threatening you… it’s been a rough few weeks.” Leo stopped as he saw the boy pull down his mask as he spoke.  He stayed looking at the boy before taking a deep breath and started again.  “I know you probably don’t want to talk to me anymore… but I’m really really sorry about what I did… um, I should’ve asked or just not choose violence.” he sighed, rubbing his knuckles.  Looking at the ground Leo waited for some sort of answer, knowing that he wouldn’t get one very soon.  After what felt like hours of silence Leo started to walk again, making his way towards the med bay.  Knocking on the door, the slider opened the door and peeked inside.

Donnie was on his phone, watching some video as he was covered up with blankets and a heat pack resting on his plastron.  “What’s up Tello.” Leo greeted, sitting by the softshell on his cot.

“Heard from Raph you weren’t feeling so well. What’s up with that?” Donnie asked, looking at the slider as he turned his phone off.  Leo looked at Donnie nervously before fiddling with his hands.

“Just… I have a question.” Leo started.  Donnie went quiet, observing his twin's actions as he laid in the cot.  The room became unbearingly quiet as Leo tried to think of a way to phrase the question.  “Big Mama talk to me… you know this.” Leo muttered to himself the last part.  “She said that Mikey and Raph went on this one mission… about some murder case…” he paused, taking a few minutes to make sure the slider was calm enough to ask his question.  “Do you have any information on the case?”

I̶̧̙̼̯͎̯̳͔͕͐̓̂͂͗̑̇͌̈́́̕͜ ̷̨̡̟̟̙͖̤͉̼͚͒̎͐̽̌̽̃̃͛̑͂́̕͜͜ẅ̷̢̨̳͎̗̖̥̜̈̔̍͜ä̸̡͓͍̰̳̫̟͉̠̰̱̠́́̈́̊͐́̀̇̐̇͗̋͆̒͑͜ş̸̺̻̺͓͍͓̙͉͚̮̥̯̲̥̍̀̾̃̋͛̓͑͆̀́̚̚͝ ̸̧̭̫̹͈̥̩̙̣̟̝͖̠͐̾͌̈́͑́̂̔́͛͒̊̀͜͠t̸̳̘̱̱̝̺̣̞̞͎̩̻̒̈́̌̀h̴̡͍͓̣̯͇̟̆̆͌̈́̋́͒̀̐̓̚͝e̶̲̙̼̝̖͊̉̓̀̀͆̌̒͌͆̎̋ ̸̢̻̣͆͋́̆̆̑̒͋̾̈́͂f̴̤̯͙̻͇̼̕į̷͙̯͇̼̥̮̼̞̎̃̈́̿̕͝ͅr̴͕̰̻̊̊̾s̴̨̖̙͈̤̤̮̤̖̪͈̿̈́̎͒̂̃͋̆̀̓͂t̷̡̞̝͍̠̳͍̟̼͈̍̾͊͋̃̕̚͝ͅͅ

Chapter Text

Donnie stared at the slider for a bit after he asked that question before gathering his thoughts.  “Why do you want to know?” he asked, getting the slider’s attention.

“It just seemed really interesting and stuff, from the way Big Mama put it… I just wanted to know more about it.” Leo explained, trying to lie about why he wanted to know.  Donnie rolled his eyes before crossing his arms with a sour face.

“What’s the actual reason Nardo? I know you, and you don’t read something because someone made it sound interesting.” the soft shell interrogated.  Leo rubbed his hands again, trying to figure out a way to word it without sounding insane.  He took a while, letting the silence fill the room, as he thought.  “You know you can just tell me the truth.” Donnier started, looking at the slider concerned.

“Yeah… it’s just… hard to put into words…” Leo stated, before speaking up again. “I have this friend, who knew someone that was involved in the case… and they wanted to know more about it.” Leo explained.  “And before you ask who, they don’t want you guys to know them yet.” he finished.  Donnie looked at the slider before nodding in understanding, and tapping on their wrist band.

“As long as this person is some sort of murder in the case, then sure… I’ll send you the notes I got from the government and stuff.  Just don’t get your head in a ruffle.  Also, be careful.  Don’t give this person too much information.” Donnie jabbered, Leo listening to what he was saying.  “From what Raph told me, there’s a few kids they haven’t identified, and most of them haven’t been found yet.  Though most of it is just sick for a person to do, I will say that some of the confirmed dead people haven’t even shown up yet.  They only have that Eric person's words to go off of at the moment.” Donnie finished as a bin came from Leo’s phone.

As his screen lit up a blue color he saw the link from Donnie, turning to the soft shell with a smile Leo nodded at his words.  “Thanks D, and trust me I won’t get my thoughts in a jumble.” Leo chuckled, laying down on the cot as well.  “Now, I know good and well, it’s bedtime.  You need rest, and I’m slammed, so scoot.” the slider smiled as Donnie tried his best to scoot over.

“Nardo! You’re such a jerk!” Donnie chuckled, pushing the slider softly.

“I love you too, twiny.” Leo smiled, laying on the cot Leo snuggled with Donnie, falling asleep quietly as the soft shell did the same.

(Digit’s POV but still third))

Opening his eyes, Digit looked around the room, realizing he wasn’t in the spot he was yet again.  Sitting up, he looked at his hand, seeing that they were the same on Leo’s.  Taking a deep breath, Digit tried to calm himself, sitting up from the cot with a worried look.  It felt fake, all of it.  He was used to being in his own form, keeping to himself but whenever he woke up like this, it just felt fake.  Like some sort of horrible dream, maybe a coma? Getting used to the feeling of not his own skin Digit stood up before being stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist.  He jumped, looking at the very tired soft shell turtle.  He covered his mouth trying not to yell by the sudden touch as Digit ripped his hand away from the soft shell’s grip.

“Leo? Are you okay?” Donnie asked, rubbing his eyes from sleep.

“Um, yeah. Just go back to sleep, okay. Just need some air.” Digit stammered, trying to get used to the voice change.  Donnie nodded sleepy as his head crashed back down on the pillow, falling fast asleep.  Digit made his way out of the room, trying to find some sort of anchor to help them calm down.  His lungs hurt, maybe burned? He couldn’t tell, it just felt wrong.  Just fake.  This wasn’t his body, this was never his body.  His lungs burned so bad, he couldn’t breath.  Like something was blocking it.  He saw a rat man from down the hall, coming out of the kitchen in a tired state.  The rat looked his way, now becoming concerned about what was happening.  “Blue? What’s going on? Are you okay?” the rat man asked, worried and now wide awake.

“I-I” Digit started, feeling his lungs close tighter.  He never could feel his lungs, maybe something emotional? Digit brought a hand to a hard plastron, gasping for breath at this point.  The rat seemed now panicked about the situation as he ran away from Digit, soon having the box turtle come into view.  “Leo? Are you okay? What’s happening?” Mikey questioned, worried.  Digit sat onto his knees, trying to get a single breath through the lungs he was given.  It felt horrible, almost like drawing but out of water.  Was he near water? No.  He wasn’t. 

The rat mutant came back to the scene, placing an oxygen mask over Digit’s face as he patted the uncomfortable feeling of a shell.  Digit coughed violently, before spitting out a very thick mucus, before wheezing and coughing again.  “Orange, get a cup, quickly!” the rat man said.  The box turtle nodded, quickly dashing away from the scene as the rat kept to patting his shell.  Taking the oxygen mask off of the unfamiliar face as Digit kept coughing.  Mikey came back quickly with a cup in hand, handing it to Digit in worry as he coughed up some more mucus.  Digit wheezed a bit more before wiping his mouth in worry.  A small bit of blood was on his hand, before he wiped it off on the stormy gray pants the slider wore.  “Are you okay Blue?” the rat asked, worried.

“Y-y-yeah.” Digit stammered, holding the unfamiliar plastron out of fear.  

“Do you know what happened? Are you sick again? I swear if you’re sick again Leo.” Mikey scolded, before looking at the slider’s scared expression.  Digit wheezed as he tried to get a hold of his ever so growing anxiety.

“I don’t know, I just… couldn’t breathe.” Digit explained, before staring at the floor, uncomfortable with the eye contact.

“Well, we can get Carol to look at you tomorrow, okay… for now… you can stay with me… okay?” Mikey smiled, placing a hand on their shoulder.  Digit jumped at the touch, pulling himself away from the box turtle’s hand.  Mikey was stunned by who he thought was his brother’s reaction before smiling softly.  “It’s okay. Pops, you can go back to sleep, I’ll keep watch over Leo.” he said.  The rat was hesitant at first before nodding in understanding.

“Okay Orange, but make sure if something happens again, let me or Raph know.  He’s still wheezing.  Make sure to pat his shell if he starts not breathing again.” the rat advised, before walking away from the two turtles.  Mikey nodded as he walked away, helping Digit off the ground as he led the tired turtle spirit into his room.  Digit never saw his room before, mostly just Leo’s room and Donnie’s lab.  The room was the normal gray colored walls like every room, but had a few spray paint parts along the wall.  Mikey didn’t live in a train cart, Digit knew this.  Though the rest of them did, unless you count Donnie’s lab as his room.  Orange lights were strung along the ceiling, sometimes overlapping other stringed lights.  There was a hammock on the back wall with a few boxes of art supplies.  Most of the room was very organized, more so than Leo’s room.  “Okay Leo, you can grab one of my blankets, and try to rest.  If you can’t rest… you can do something else? Just stay in here.” Mikey said, grabbing a sketchbook and pencil near his hammock.  Digit found a weighted blanket and laid down in the only empty corner inside the box turtle’s room.  Trying to curl but failing.  Mikey watched him, confused about why he was in a corner.  He didn’t know that it was mentally his actual brother.

Digit didn’t want to say anything either, he never really liked talking and now it just felt horrible to talk.  It wasn’t his voice, it wasn’t his body, it wasn’t him .  That terrified Digit, and would probably terrify everyone else.  Though he could still feel like his lungs were burning inside, he just wanted to sleep.  Maybe it was a bad dream? Digit closed his eyes, wanting to sleep until everything was okay.  After what felt like hours Digit passed out, feeling himself go feel good again.  He was himself .

T̵̡̬͚̻͉̼̞̦̿̒͂͒̋̉̈́̀͋͗̿̆͂̽ͅḩ̵͗̇͒̏͌I̷̼̬̳̠̼̱̔͐̑̉̃̃̀͋͂́̉͝͝ŝ̸̨̫͈͚̭͍͉̻̟̦̖̘̗̿̄̿͂̌ ̶̧̧̙̠̯̮̳͈̘̹̝̜͌̾͜͝I̸̛͚͉̦̒̌̅̿̇̀̀̐͛́̾̚̚͝s̵̩̫̟͙̖̥̳̹̱̦̫̽̊̀̒͑̇̃́̊̕ ̴̝̐̿̀́̒̀̌R̵̡̧͍͎̗̩͇̫̺̭͒͛̀̾̃̓͆͊̈́̓̚̕e̸̞̫̺̰͇̻̿́͌̉̑̿͂̔̅͌̃̕͠Ą̶̭̮̣̟̯̪͉̦͓͖͉̩̏̅̄̉͛̈́̿͗̿l̸̗̭̦͇̲̼̘̇͐͊͂͋̐̄̐̐͐̚͜͝

Chapter Text

((Leo's POV but still 3rd person))

Leo woke up, adjusting to the orange light before releasing that he wasn't in the med bay anymore.  Looking around he saw Digit in the middle of the floor sleeping.  They slowly woke up as Leo tried to remember how he made it here. Did someone carry him here? Did he just walk? He touched his head, a bad headache coming on as he sat there.  "Leo, you're awake." Mikey's voice beamed from his doorway.  The slider's eyes flickered over towards the orange colored turtle in confusion.  He sat up in the corner he was in, before speaking up.

"How did I get here? Did Raph carry me or something?" he asked. Mikey looked at him for a long minute before clearing his throat and speaking up.

"Do you not remember last night?" Mikey asked.  Leo shook his head, trying to understand what he was talking about.  "You were coughing badly, and couldn't breathe… pops told me to look after you. You don't remember that?" he repeated, now concerned.  Leo looked over at Digit who was concerned and scared, like they experienced it personally.  Leo shook his head again, standing up and making his way over to the doorway that Mikey was standing by.

"I was probably really tired and panicked then Angelo.  You know that emotions can mess with memory." Leo explained, patting the orange clad's shoulders.  "Anyways, I don't really feel up to eating today, with the family. So maybe you can send someone with my food please? I'll be in my room." he finished, walking away before Mikey could object.  Taking a look back at Mikey, he looked crushed.  Like he knew Leo was trying to avoid something, and to be honest it would be obvious to a lot of people. Just hoping that his brother's wouldn't be smart enough to get April on his shell.  Getting to his room fast, Leo shut his doors looking at the broken lock he had.  He looked away seeing Digit pop into view of his room.

He walked a bit too fast for Digit, and he understood that.  Digit looked at Leo quietly, still anxious about what Mikey said.  "What do you know about last night?" Leo asked calmly, trying to keep a steady volume.  Digit messed around with his carpet and the boy started to speak slowly.

"You fell asleep and… I got to control your body… but my… your lungs hurt so bad. It was horrible." Digit whispered, as he picked out a few loose strings.  Leo was confused and weirded out at first but then took a deep breath as he tried to understand more.

"So you took over my body while I was asleep?" he asked.

"I didn't want to! The first time it happened I didn't want to at all, it's weird and gross but it's just like whenever you fall asleep I'm forced to do so." Digit explained, whisper-yelling as they pulled at their pale blue hair.  Leo nodded as he took a seat on the carpet with Digit, thinking about what to do.

"This happened before?" Leo asked.

"After you fell asleep from crying… I woke up looking like you… and it only panicked me…" Digit muttered.  Leo grasped the boy's hands, slowly pulling them away from their hair.  It was more of a second hand knowledge for him, more because his brothers do that.  He took a deep breath as he spoke up.

"I'm just trying to understand okay… I'm not mad or angry… if you think that way." Leo started.  "You said my lungs burned or something?" Digit nodded as Leo let go of the boy's hands.  "Well… I don't feel anything wrong with my lungs specifically…" he said.  Digit pulled their knees close to their chest as Leo tried to link different things together.  "Maybe… you have lung issues?  Maybe it's a health problem you have. Do you remember having any issues?" 

Digit was silent, trying to think of something, getting themself worked up as they struggled to remember.  "I remember the feeling…" they whispered.  Leo nodded as he started to link things together slowly.

"Maybe… and this is a theory, but maybe when you get forced to look like me… your health problems affect me." Leo hesitated, trying to word it correctly.  He didn't think it was the best way to explain it, but it was the best with such little information.  He was just glad Digit was talking again, but was glad to know this information as well.  The one thing that bothered him always was that scar peeking out of Digit's hair line.  It seemed pretty big. Digit has said multiple times that he can't remember anything.  Maybe… "Nardo? Can I come in?" Donnie asked at the door.  Leo cleared his throat quickly, standing up and opening his door with a smile.

"Hey DonTron." Leo said, as Donnie stood with a bowl of soup in his hands.  Donnie looked at Leo for a second before relaxing.

"I was hoping, since you don't want to eat with the entire family, you would at least join me in my lab so you won't get soup on your mattress again." he said.  Leo took a moment to respond, before seeing Digit behind him willing to move around.  Leo looked back at Donnie with a smile as he stepped out of his room.

"I'll join you Tello." he smirked, grabbing his bowl and following Donnie.  After a few steps, Donnie unlocked his lab door and let Leo go first into the lab.  Looking the same as the last time the slider was in here.  Only a small unfinished project laid on his desk with pieces of scrap metal surrounding it.  "What'cha working on Tello?" he asked, watching the soft shell take a seat on his personal chair.  Taking a moment to look at his project Donnie looked back at Leo with pursed lips.

"Well, I was working on it for a while now. Still haven't gotten it right, but it's a communicator… for paranoia stuff?" Donnie said, his tone seeming to question himself.  "Of course I don't believe in ghosts, but Mikey thought it would be a great idea with what Casey told us about Mikey being able to contact Hamato spirits and stuff." he explained quickly, as he covered up the project. Leo smirked as he sat down in a chair beside Tello taking a bite… or sip, of his soup.  Mikey was probably worried about what Digit told him about last night. To be honest, Leo couldn't disagree.  He would be taking extra precautions himself, but it wasn't a him problem.

"I know you're intrigued too Tello. You just want to admit it." Leo chuckled.  The slider watched the soft shell try to protest but then quickly close his mouth.  Taking out his phone, Leo looked at the notification of Donnie's text message about the files he borrowed from the government.  Looking at Leo’s intense stare he drummed his fingers as he watched Leo for a second.

“Your friend is involved someway, aren’t they?” Donnie spoke up, catching Leo off guard.  “Come on Leo, we both know we’re not dumb when it comes to finding out things.  No matter how hard it is to deny it, you’re smart too sometimes.  So, is your friend involved somehow?” he explained before Leo could deny.  The slider turned off his phone, staring at Donnie for a while before looking away.

“I don’t know… I just know they weren’t the criminal in the case.” Leo told the soft shell.  Donnie sighed quietly, leaning back in his chair as Leo finished his soup quickly before he started asking more questions.  Placing his bowl done on Donnie’s desk in a clean space Leo looked back at Donnie, who was thinking.

“I think Raph would at least like to know… if it’s a kid in the case, they need to be taken home and given back to their parents and stuff.  From what Raph told me, some of the kids were taken without parental knowledge.” Donnie started, watching Leo’s expression change as he talked.

“I don’t think they could go home.” Leo muttered, glancing at Digit who sat quietly, listening to the two brothers speak.

“What do you mean?” his twin asked, looking over at the space Leo was looking at.  Leo drew his eyes back to his twin, knowing that Donnie couldn’t see Digit.  Leo stayed quiet, rubbing his knuckles as he tried to find a way to talk about Digit. Without seeming crazy.  Leo wasn’t even sure that Digit was a part of the case Raph and Mikey did together.  He only had a feeling about it.  It lined up in a sense that Leo understood, though now he just had doubt.  What if his theory was wrong? Or maybe he was just on the wrong path? Leo admitly didn’t know, he just had a strong feeling, and so far he’s worked on it.  “Leo… is the kid okay?” the soft shell questioned.

“They’re not ready to go home yet… but they’re somewhere safe.” Leo said, as Donnie took a hesitant breath before relaxing.

“I trust you.”

Į̶̡̥̹̥̥͎̺̔̓͑̆͋͗̅̕'̷̡̧̪͙͉̣̼́͆̿͊̈́̃̈́̾́̀̚̚͜m̴̜͚̆̓͆̀͒ ̵̖̬̦̠̞̱̌́̀͒͑̔̅̑͆͘̕Ầ̴̼̤̜͙̙̹̳̭͝ ̸̧̡̧̛̤͉͓̣̱̠͈̞̿̊̊̈́̒̌̑̚̚ͅf̴̨̧͙̞̠͉̰̪̮̥̈́͛͆̑̉̄͋̓R̴̢͍͍̺͚̤͎̟̬̹̄̽́̅͋͋̈́̂͜i̴̗̯̾͆Ë̵̝̳͎̮̟́̿̊̅̿͋͠ͅn̴̨̙͍̭̱̻̳̫̼͕͉̍͆͆̎͒̎̎̕̚͠D̷̡̼̱̣̬̙̻̪̺̭͐̀͑̃͆̅͛̒͝?̷̡̗̼͕̘̠͔̣̙̺̣̜̮̈͜

Chapter Text

Leo sat and watched as Donnie tampered with Leo’s quotidian dummy shell, aka his own battle shell to wear everyday for the rest of his life.  The slider listening to him go on and on about the cool things he placed in the shell to help Leo with his everyday life besides the one function it was made for, to protect his shell.  The kraang invasion was hard, and though his other brothers came out better than him they had their own problems too.  Mikey’s hands cracked and his hearing was almost completely demolished. Raph had vision issues and shell pains.  Though they healed the fastest.  Donnie and Leo were still healing but they got used to it.  Donnie has some memory fog and his joints were a bit weaker than before, he rarely has seizures now.

Leo had about the same amount of damage as Donnie, maybe a bit more.  The only permanent ones are weak legs and the cracks up and down his shell.  There was one small one across his plastron but his dorsal was almost completely gone by the time he was recused.  It was the main cause of his headaches, but he was used to the constant pain in his head by now.  A knock from the door interrupted the two twins getting their attention as Donnie unlocked the door from his desk.  Carol’s head popped in the room looking directly at Leo as she spotted the two turtles.  “Ah, Leo you’re in here.” she smiled.

“What’s up, Maw?” Leo asked with a nervous smile on why she was here.

“Well, I got a worrying call from you father and I came down here to do a small check up.  Are you free right now?” she explained, not really asking him.  Leo nodded as he gave Donnie a small wave, leaving the lab with the empty bowl he had.  Digit was teleported behind him, waking up a bit slow as they saw the slider was moving.  They scrambled to get up as they were teleported again, rushing them a bit more to get up and walk.  Leo watched out of the corner of his eye as the boy found his footing after many stumbles, and caught up to Leo and Carol.  Carol of course was completely oblivious about Digit as Leo wanted to make sure he was okay.  Digit gave a quick thumbs up as they understood Leo was worried.  The slider sighed in relief as he kept his eyes in front of him still nervously smiling.

“Are you feeling okay? You seem nervous about something.” Carol spoke up, giving a very concerned-mother look.

“Yeah, just ya know, nervous about what happened last night.  You know the cough and stuff, it was very scary.” Leo lied.  Carol took his words in for a moment before nodding in understanding of what he was talking about.  Leo carried on with Carol as she opened the door to the med bay for him.  Taking a seat on the nearest cot as Carol closed the door for privacy. Though Leo really didn't have any to be honest.  "Okay Lee, we're gonna get a basic run down. More focused on your lungs but a basic check up." she explained, trying to soothe most of Leo's nerves.  Digit took a seat right next to Leo for moral support, but more showing a 'sorry-for-possessing-your-body-and-getting-you-in-this-situation' face.  

Carol found a stethoscope in one of the shelves, grabbing it and walking over to Leo.  First placing it in-between the rim of his plastron and the skin underneath his shell.  Taking a few moments to listen to his heart beat before moving to his lungs.  Luckily, his battle shell was being tinkered with by his lovely twin, so he didn't have to take it off with the overwhelming anxiety with it.  The cold metal was placed in the middle first as Leo took a long deep breath, breathing out and doing it again at least three times before Carol wrapped the stethoscope around the back of her neck.

"You seem fine… I would assume it was just a panic attack and a possible mucus buildup… Do you feel better now?" Carol asked.  Leo was spaced out a bit, snapping back to reality as he looked at Carol.

"No." he said intently. "I mean yes, I feel better now. Sorry, force of habit." he apologized, making some direct eye contact with the older lady.  Carol nodded with a slight chuckle at his words before smiling at the slider.

"That's understandable. Call me if you feel any different, you have my number and I can call you back if I'm busy. I'll tell Raph to relay the message. I have to get to work right now." Carol explained, patting Leo's shoulder as she walked away.  "Have a nice day Leo." she smiled before walking out.  Leo took a moment to listen to her footsteps fade before looking at Alastor.

"Are you okay? I forgot you fell asleep." Leo started as soon as he heard her footsteps in the far distance.  Digit looked at Leo for a second before staring at the floor, still a nervous wreck.

"Yeah, it's fine, just painful…" Digit muttered, their voice still in a whisper like before.

"Are you feeling okay? Or something, cause you've been sleeping a lot ever since I met you." he asked, concerned but just curious.

"I don't know… I've just been really tired. Like I'm catching up on sleep I've missed? I've been more relaxed than I've felt in a while…" Digit started, chewing on their knuckles. "It's just, I'm feeling less tired than the first day I was here… so it's better now?" Leo nodded as he understood what they were saying. I mean, it took him days to get proper sleep again and during that time he was sleeping most of the day.  He was kinda glad he hadn't been on a mission recently, he would've just passed out.  "Well, ya wanna read those files Donnie sent me?" Leo asked, a smile on his face.  Though he was excited about reading some horrible crime he was happy to maybe get some sort of answer on Digit.  

Digit nodded as his words standing up as Leo got off the cot.  Making their way quickly to Leo's train cart, which wasn't that far away.  Which can become a blessing sometimes if there's a medical emergency.  Leo opened the door, letting Digit go first before shutting the door and crashing onto his mattress.  "I really need to get a sheet from Don." Leo grumbled, as he sat up.  Digit flopped onto the mattress as well but kept their feet on the ground as they did, only flopping half away.  "That's not how to jump onto a bed, Digit." Leo chuckled as Digit sat down beside the slider.  "I'll teach you that later." he noted, turning on his phone.  Pulling up Donnie's chat with him and clicking on the folder Donnie had on the case.

The files loaded, being in an organized vault from Donnie himself, of course.  Leo tapped on the first one, going down the words as he looked at the first one.  It wasn’t much, just a basic rundown of history prior to the events reading it quickly.  The next one had a small video to it as a side file, linking to the interview between Eric and the detective.

“Okay, Eric Sacks, case 102, date and time: August twentieth twenty twenty one, thirteen o four.” the detective started, sitting down at the table.  “So, Mr. Eric, tell me about this “project” you had going behind the government’s back.” the detective started.  Eric looked at him with a small smile like he did nothing wrong.

“The lab took in special kids who were dangerous to the world, or unique in a way.” Eric explained.  “Some kids were dropped off, some were… well, already homeless.”  he smiled, talking with his hands.

“You murdered many kids, eight out of the twenty seven kids you had, excluding the seven we still can’t find. The remaining twelve who were still alive, only two of them survived the trip to the hospital. With one out of the two surviving past two hours.” the detective said, their tone cold and hard as he said what Eric did.

“I didn’t murder them, they simply weren’t strong enough.  There was one kid who was really a case though, they were the strongest one.” he shrugged, staring at the detective.

“Who is this kid?” they questioned.

“I have a feeling you already know.” Eric smiled.

“James?” the detective asked. “One of the missing ones?” 

“Right on the dot.  Though that’s 31 02’s “fake” name…. I’m guessing it’s for privacy reasons?” Eric smiled.  

“That is not a question you get an answer to.” the detective started, “So, let me get this straight, you tested on kids.  Do you care to explain in what ways?” they asked.

“A bit of mind tricks here and there. Some kids didn’t want to be there, so of course I had to make them believe they wanted to be there first.  After a while they didn’t even try to break free from just a simple hand holding.” Eric smiled, “After they listened, a health check here and there, some needles and such involved.  My personal favorite was the maze.” he ended.

“What’s “The Maze”?” the detective asked.

“It was simple, we placed a small shock collar around the kid’s neck and had them run through a maze. If they reached the end we would restart it about ten times, maybe even more depending how fast they went.  If the kid were to rest, they would have three seconds or an itty bitty shock would wake them right up.” Eric explained, his face excited about telling someone this.  

“Well, Mr. Sacks, this interview is done for now, I’ll see you tomorrow.” the detective said, gathering his pages of work as he nodded towards the man.

Leo took a moment to process what he heard, looking towards Digit who was very upset about that video.  Tears ran down their faces as they just kept their eyes glued on to the screen with a pain in their eyes.  “I remember that now…” they muttered.

T̵̼̺̤̰͕̦̈̀͝ḣ̶̺͚̦̞͔̫̝͍̓̃̚R̶̮̩͚͓̂͑̒̎̿̔̽̔͠͝e̴͕̗͇̻͍̪̬̥̪͙͕̿̆͋́̋͜͜Ḛ̵͉̖͓̙̮͇̅̒͂̎̈́̈́̋̈́͝ ̴̨͉͙̣̜̻̼̟̹͚́͘͜o̵̝͔͓͈͌̀̉ͅN̸̢̨̗͓͍͉̗̘͖͍̹̙̘̑̈́̄̇͑͛̉̕͘͜ͅë̴̡̢͚̳̰̖͉̜̗̖́͑̿ ̵̨̢̣͓̪̰̫̠̤̥̹͕̹́̆̍̀̑̎̏̃̌́͋͜͝-̴̯͕͓͕̬͕̣͖̐̀̀͑̐͛ ̵̦̘͚̼̳͇̺̩̭̒͠Z̴̼̼̖͙̮̼̳͛͋̀͊̏̆̂̈̚é̸̛͓̱̹͙̗̺̠̱̤͊̍͐̌̐͘͘͘R̷̡̨̻̞͖̱̹̫̘̺̟͍͔͖̤̔̂̒͊̓͒̋́͌̕̕͝o̸͚͐̔͋̒͒̒̇ ̸̧̤͕͍̤͖̲͂̽̏̑̈́͗͂̕T̸̢̧̡̫̦̱̥̊̾̀̅̃̾w̸̢̡̤̞͎̹̝͈̲̙̬͍̝͕̻͒̏̀̿̌̓̂̂͆͘͠͝O̵̢̖̳͙̮̯͚̗̟͕͋̇̑͑̀

Chapter Text

Leo took a moment to take in what Digit said, forming questions inside his head as the boy wiped their tears away.  Trying to calm themself down as Leo looked back at his phone.  “You remember everything? Or what you just heard?” Leo asked.  Digit wiped their face again with their shirt sleeve, getting their emotions together before speaking.

“I remember the maze… it was horrible.” Digit muttered, a hiccup following suit with a few tears more.  Leo didn’t look back at Digit, just kept his eyes glued to the screen as he tried to remember the scars Digit had when he first saw them.  Most of what he looked like before was blurry, a few cuts and holes along their arms and legs, but it was scarred when Leo saw them.  The head wound being the most obvious one so far though he saw a scar across the boy’s chest once, maybe something about that.  The peek on one on their back showed once, and then the burn marks around their neck.  Leo covered his mouth as he stopped himself from speaking about Digit’s scars, not knowing if that was a sensitive topic or not.  This confirmed his theory, and gives a narrow path to follow to identify Digit in some way.

They were one of the kids, but weren’t dead.  At least, not in the representation of most ghosts or spirits in the media or books.  More just invisible or a connection to his soul? Leo knew ghosts can interact with the real world and things, it was a common thing to be shown but… a ghost would at least be transparent.  A spirit would be more shiny, but Digit just looks real.  They weren’t transparent and they definitely were not a bright light.  The only thing that glowed on them was their eyes, though they already looked strang, so it wasn’t a surprise.  Leo exited out of the file he was on, seeing a file with the title Children Involved (Confirmed) right next to Eric Sack’s file was.  Leo tapped it, looking at DIgit who was now just quiet as they watched Leo’s actions.

“Do you not want to go on? We can wait until tomorrow.” Leo asked, getting Digit’s attention.  Their eyes flashing a small determination as they sat up fast. "No! I need to know who I am!" Digit protested.  The slider stayed quiet as Digit kept solid eye contact with him. Not so anxious to even look at him anymore, just more determined and confident.  Leo nodded firmly as he turned his phone back on, putting his password back in as the file popped back in with a list of children's names with numbers by it.  Most of the names are lined up by number order with the first letter.  Starting with a more introduction to the file.  This system is set up with three groups, A, B, and C, with three categories behind them. Group a is the most powerful with 1A being the first batch of kids to come to this place.  Only two kids are from there, all kids are different numbers, not names. it read, leaving Leo in a state of confusion. 

The Eric guy just made them seem like objects or wild animals then actual people.  Which was just wrong to the slider.  Leo tapped on the first one being group 1A, looking at the two numbers listed, 31-19 and 31-02.  Both had a single name by it. The first one being named Bailey Jackson, a young female around the age of three.  The second number, 31-02 had only a first name, the name Alastor.  "That's weird." Leo throughout.

"What's weird?" Digit asked.

"This one kid only has a first name… not a last name. Alastor?" he pronounced, looking at Digit.  The boy was immediately triggered by that name, looking at Leo's phone quickly as they squinted their eyes at the text.

"That's my name." they muttered, looking back as Leo. "That's my name!" they beamed, getting excited.  Leo smiled at their excitement, feeling a small wave of vibrations coming from them as they flapped their arms back and forth.

"You remember your name now?" Leo smiled, as Alastor nodded as they giggled.

"That’s me…” they whispered with a nervous smile. Their color seemed a bit brighter than a few seconds ago.  They were more vibrant now, their magenta eyes glowing brighter, their grayish tan skin being a honey brown.  Their pale blue hair puffed up as they became excited each passing second. Their body glitched heavily, something Leo hadn’t seen in a long while, their appearance morphing into something else that at the moment wasn’t visible.  Leo watched in amazement as Alastor started to calm down again, their appearance different in a way.  “What happened?!” Leo asked, astonished about what just happened.  

Alastor still looked about the same, just younger from before.  Two poked out of their coily hair about the same color as their hand, maybe closer to white than their hair.  A fluffy white tail was behind them with a black tip, they seemed confused as well as what happened. Their mood turned uneasy as they tried to recognize what happened, like they didn’t recognize what happened in the first place.  They started to chew on their knuckles nervously as Leo just watched them, making sure they were okay in the moment.  Leo stood up from the bed, making Alastor flinch at the sudden movement.  Leo walked around the crates in his room, trying to find the one he needed at the moment. 

Quickly finding a small fidget and placing it next to Alastor with hopes that they would take it.  They look relatively six, maybe seven.  They picked it up from the sheets, keeping it close to their chest, starting to mess with the fidget quietly.  Break time I guess. Leo thought, laying on the ground tired, letting the noises of his room fill his ears.  The thought of what happened crowded his head now, making him a bit nervous as well on how fast it came on.  Maybe just a memory thing or idea… Leo groaned in frustration as his mind made up a ton of reasons or possibilities on what could happen.  They at least look better.  It was probably just excitement or an intense emotion.  They usually glitched with an intense emotion.  Leo closed his eyes, letting himself drift into a light sleep for the moment.  Trying to clear his head from the event.

S̶̡̡̛̪͖͚̙͖͎̪͈̙̽͐́̑͌̈́̀̇͜ő̸̪́̉̍͝M̷̧͍̔̾̒͑̈͌͋͗̃̄̔͠͝͝͠e̵̛̛͔̳̱͇̤̺̤͕̓́̑̎̏͐̉͆̌́̽̚̕T̵̛̘̜͇͛̆̿̓̾̔̆h̸̛̞͎̼̤͕͛͑͗́̍̈̄̽͗͋̌̃̚I̷̧̟͒͊͌̓̃̄̈́̇̓͗ṇ̴̲͈̺͙͝Ģ̴̬̜͋͋ ̴̨̡͇̞͆̚ĭ̴̡̼̲̟̮̻̫̞̀̿̿̌̄͆͆̋̌̍͊͒͝Ş̴͕͓͚̺̟̼̝̦͔͙͙͕̪͓̎̄́̉̌̍͗ ̸̟̤̤̤͎̟͇̲̬̲̿ơ̸̧̧̟̟̞̞̹̲̰̰̗͛̀̌͐̔̊̉̋̓͋͘F̷̨̘̘̝̬͇̘̳̹̳̻͚̦̅̐́ḟ̵̗͑͛̀̓́̾͗̄͑̌͋ ̶̢̯̖̹̩͑͑̄͛A̷̛̺͛̎̏͒̊̅͆̀̕͠͠ğ̵̛̳̖̪̱̜̙̦̩͍̤̙̗̉̊͗̿̃͛̾̀̏͌͂͠A̴̛͇͈̹̲͖̜̣͙̖̖̅͂̆̈́̃͆̒̄̄͆͝ī̸̳͌̽͋̚͝Ñ̸̻͊̅̾̾͒̈̃͐͋̈͘͝

Chapter Text

Leo opened his eyes drowsy from his nap, hearing someone’s voice calling his name from outside his room.  “Nardo? Are you alive in there?” Donnie asked, knocking on the door persistently as he tried to get Leo’s attention.  The slider sat up, dragging himself over to the door, opening the door to see the softshell standing in the doorway with an unamused face.  “What time did you fall asleep, Nardo?” Donnie asked.

“Maybe a few minutes after… the thing with meemaw?” Leo muttered, rubbing his eyes tired.  Donnie just looked at him for a second before sighing, giving up on lecturing him.

“Well, you got Mikey and Raph on your shell because you didn’t eat and didn’t leave your room.  You were asleep for a while.” Donnie explained.  Leo looked at the soft shell with a confused look as he tried to wrap his head around what Donnie was talking about before looking over at Alastor who was fast asleep.  Leo just looked back at the soft shell tired, leaning into Donnie’s arms.  “I’ma sorry Tello. It’s been rough.” Leo muttered, yawning as Donnie held him up.

“Well, you’re still getting used to sleeping soundly again.  It’s hard.” Donnie explained, patting Leo’s head.  “So, what did you get for the folders?” he questioned.  Leo just looked at the softshell, muttering a few words that were unrecognizable as Donnie walked Leo over toward his lab.  The small sight of Alastor teleporting behind Leo each time he moved far enough from them.  Though they didn’t wake up this time. Just slept uncomfortably through the travel to the lab.  His feet sliding across the floor with Leo’s eyes squeezed shut to try to stay awake.  It was failing slowly but Donnie got some weighted blankets on the floor in time before Leo fell asleep, the softshell just watching him as he sent a text to the group chat.

((Time Skip| Time: ???))

Leo’s eyes blinked open slowly as Donnie was working on something over at his desk.  The slider’s arm and plastron was littered with some wires and needle injections covered lightly with a sheet.  The slider just laid in the spot he was in trying to gain somewhat of a consciousness.  He remembered being placed on the floor of Donnie’s lab, but he was never moved from the place.  Leo didn’t even know what day it was, or the time in general.  It could be halloween for all he knew and he just missed a whole month.  Though no one moved him from the floor, just hooked him up to some machines on the floor.  A small warm body was cuddled up against him, giving a place of warmth as the slight sight of white-ish fur peeked up from beside him.

Alastor laid beside him, dead asleep and curled into a small ball of warmth.  The feeling of their hair and tail against his side felt great, but something about them felt off.  Like it wasn’t okay.  Leo looked back at Donnie who was quietly working on whatever project he had, before Leo fell into a sleeping state again.

((Time Skip | Time: ????))

Leo woke up again, his eyes slowly blinking open as he tried to stay awake again.  Donnie was nowhere around now, the distant chatter of his family filling his ears along with the beeping sound of different machines around the lab.  The slider shifted around in the blankets too weak to sit up as his mouth was dry.  The slight purple glow of a single light casted a purple line across Alastor’s tiny body, giving a slight direction of where they were.  They weren’t directly by Leo anymore, just off to the side covered by a blanket as well.  Sleeping uncomfortably as they were still curled into a small fluffy ball, trying to wake up from what Leo can see.  A small plate of berries were placed by them, just sitting untouched beside them.

The voices of his family were muffled, seeming to have more than just the four other members that lived there. He shifted around the blankets a bit more, one of the stick-on cords fell off by the sudden movement.  A very close machine started to go off with a red blinking light as two sets of running feet. The door opened quickly before Leo fell asleep again from exhaustion.

((Time skip again))

The final time Leo opened his eyes Donnie was back inside the lab, lazily sitting in his desk chair as Leo shuffled around in the mass of weighted blankets on him.  His shell hurt and his mouth felt like a desert now. His eyes burned with a killer headache kicking in as well. Alastor was still fast asleep and bathed by the purple lights in Donnie's lab.  Donnie spun around in his chair casually, seeing Leo awake and trying to move around.  His first action was rushing over to Leo and getting him back down on his shell with concern. "Do not move. I swear, you nearly gave me a heart attack when one of the stickers popped off." Donnie started, looking Leo up and down.

"Don… what happened?" Leo asked, still tired and confused.  Donnie sat down on the ground next to the slider, crossing his legs before speaking up.  His face full of anxiety and relief, Leo could tell he was scattered at the moment.

"You passed out and had a relapse. Do you remember much?" Donnie asked. Leo just looked at Donnie as he tried to find something in his memory that was recent. Maybe good information? Something he last remembered? All of it was pretty fuzzy, his brain reading some memories as he tried to think of them.

"I'm sorry Don… the last thing I remember is the… the Kraang… What's the date?" the slider questioned. Donnie sighed as he nodded at Leo's answer.

"For information sake, it's been about five days since you went blank… let's start with something simple enough. How are you feeling? Physically and Mentally." the softshell stated.

"My mouth is really really dry. That's two reallys… my shell really hurts and… I have a killer headache right now. Emotionally… I don't know. I still feel numb." Leo answered, getting a nod from the softshell.  Donnie stood up, poking his head outside the doors of his lab flagging someone in the hallway down.  "Can you gather some water, eye drops, and pain killers? Leo woke up." Donnie asked. "But don't alert everyone. We already made that mistake last time this happened." he warned, getting back into the room with a worrisome face.

The softshell's eyes trailing over to the white coated child four feet away from Leo.  A memory hit Leo like a wall, getting the slider a bit anxious about what Donnie did. "You can see them?" he asked. Donnie just looked over at the slider with a straight face again.

"Yeah… I placed the plate of berries for them… what do you mean by that?" Donnie asked.

"They've been with me for like… I don't know… the-" Leo snapped his fingers in frustration trying to get a memory. "The… the one night…" Leo grumbled, giving up on his journey to find the memory.

"That night you woke me up with a scream saying there was something in the kitchen?" Donnie questioned.  Leo nodded quickly, giving the softshell a nod of approval with a smile.  The soft shell leaned back in disbelief as he tried to get a hold on what he was told.  “Well… they haven’t woken up in a while.  So far they’ve been alive.” Donnie said before looking at Leo.  “It’s weird… Raph and the others… said they couldn’t see them.”

Ş̴̢̧̯̰͇̹͓͇͉̏̀̑͗̋̽̓̎ͅl̶͕̮͕̿̾͒͆̊͝͠Ơ̷͇̙̪̥̟̟̪͙̿̐̉̔̈́̑͂͊w̶̥̤̐̃̌͂̒̏́̏͑̕͠ ̷̢̺̻̝̖͖̙͐̌̏̾͗͋̂͌́͊͌̌͗̕̚A̸͎̤̖̘͈̓̃̐̄̍͐́͆͐͐͠͝n̸̢͍̯̫̩̟̺̦̦͓̲͍̆̊̓͑͑͂̒̚D̸͙̞̖̠̳͚͇̬̪͍̣̃ ̶̛͔̫͇͊̀̾̋̓̓̌̄̎͝͝͝s̸̢̳̻͓͋̆́̏̆̉͒̃T̶̳͈͓̠͚̺͓͈̔̍͜͠ͅȩ̵͕̺͙̼̬̜̜̺͖̪͗͊A̷̛̤̳̖̹͉̪͊̅͗͊̅͂̎̕͝͝͝ͅḍ̶̔͊́̉̓̒̓̿̏͌̊͆̄͜Ẏ̷̩̺͚̠̉̒̀͗̊̂͘͝͠

Chapter Text

Leo looked at Donnie, trying to find some sort of emotion to attach to, he was glad he wasn’t alone now but he was shocked that Donnie actually could see Alastor.  Leo tried sitting up again but Donnie pushed him back down onto the blankets.  “Don’t try to sit up again, I don’t need you passing out again.  Can you tell me who that is?” Donnie asked, as he held the slider down.

“His name is Alastor… and he was the friend that was involved with the case…” Leo explained, getting the soft shell’s attention quickly.

“That’s a kid… from the case?” Donnie repeated.  “Are they dead?” he asked, panicked.  Leo thought about it, long and hard. He knew they weren't dead, but they weren't alive either. Nor were they just invisible.

"More like… stripped away from reality." Leo muttered, his memory slowly coming back.  "Though… they looked different from before…" he stated.  His mind drifted away as he felt drowsy again, trying to stay awake.  A knock on the lab door alerted the two twins, waking Leo up again.  Donnie stood up, making his way over to the lab door, letting the lock click before opening it slightly. Mikey poked his head in, getting a slight look at Leo before giving a glass of water with two other things Leo didn't catch.  Mikey just looked at Donnie with a worried look before the soft shell ushered him out.

Sitting by Leo, Donnie set down the glass of water, putting a straw into the cup before setting down eye drops, pain killers, and an ice pack.  “What’s with the ice pack?” Leo asked.

“For your shell.” Donnie muttered, placing the straw up to Leo’s lips with a frustrated look.

“Why wasn’t I moved to the med bay?” Leo questioned.

“Because the rest of the lair has been cold and I didn’t want you to go into brumation while I fixed the heater.  Unfortunately the cold air has been seeping into here and I had to use more covers for you.” Donnie started, “The main room has the big heat lamp because my lab still has heat the most.  Raph and Micheal have been camping in the main room with as many blankets as they have gathered.  I want to worry about the fox one over there but I can’t physically hook them up to any machines for a long time.  After about six minutes the wires fall right off!” Donnie complained as he watched Leo drink the water.  It felt great to drink it, even if Leo doesn’t like water that much at the time it was his favorite drink.

“They look like they want to wake up… just can’t.” Leo muttered as he finished the water.  Donnie took away the empty glass as he picked up the eye drops.

“Yeah,” he started, holding Leo’s head as he put the eye drops in, “I know. I just don’t know how to at the moment…” Donnier muttered.  Getting done with Leo’s needs Donnie dusted himself off, standing up and looked over at Alastor.  “Trust me… I want to wake them up.  Just watching them try is painful already.” he said before looking back at Leo.   The slider wire a small smirk with proud eyes, making the soft shell cringe.

"You care about them already." Leo chuckled.

"I do not care about a small child who I just met five days ago, I just don't like seeing them in what seems like pain… and maybe I would go semi lethal if they get hurt." Donnie objected, getting a wide smile from his twin.  Donnie crossed his arm, holding his poster tight as Leo just looked at him and smiled.  The soft shell scoffed as he gave Leo a small shove.  "Okay Nardo, I'm gonna flip you on your side and make a little barrier for your shell so I can place this ice pack for the pain. It might hurt for a bit." Donnie explained.  Leo nodded as the soft shell began to move the slider around without removing any sticker cords.  As soon as Leo was on his side Donnie made a small hill out of the blanket under him, getting it up enough to place the ice pack and covered Leo up again as the slider leaned to the ice pack.

"That feels so good." Leo sighed as he rubbed against the ice pack.

"Soak it in Nardo, soon you'll be out of bed rest again." Donnie smiled as he continued to sit next to the slider.  "So… before this turn of events, I read up on Alastor's little case file. You wanna know some "fun facts" I know?" Leo looked up at Donnie with a troubled look at the soft shell spoke.  "Well… for starters they had disappeared from the lab they were in, when they were fourteen and a half. That was about a half a year before Eric was arrested. From what people working in the lab explained, Alastor was running away from one of the scientists and then just popped out of existence after injuring one of the scientists involved in the chase." Donnie explained, pulling his phone up on the file.

"So, Alastor is at least fifteen years old. The first time he arrived at the lab was when he was at least one year old, being dropped off by someone who wasn't even related to him… from any other files the scientists traced his DNA back to someone who didn't exist either. Though it doesn't have on file about who it was, some of the scientists said that their DNA was so scrambled up they couldn't trace it back to any one." Donnie explained, "He was given a birthday from the non-relatives which was October 30th, which is relatively coming up soon…" the soft shell stopped looking at the fox one more time.

"I hope, which judging by the situation, we can get them back to reality again before that date.  It would be pretty weird if me and you celebrated with air." Donnie chuckled, looking back at the slider.  Leo looked at the nearest wall as the soft shell's face made a happy expression.  "Well Leo-" A knock on the door interrupted their talk, both of them looking over to the metal door as another knock sounded off.  Donnie stood up, making his way over to the lab door, opening it and looking at who it was.  April stood at the doorway with a worried expression for, of course Leo.

"I know you don't like people visiting when someone just woke up, but my break ends tomorrow and I want to talk to Leo please." April explained, keeping eye contact with Donnie.  After a few moments of Donnie thinking about the pros and cons he stepped aside, motioning April inside.  April made her way over to Leo with a relieved smile to see him away.

"Leo… how are you feeling?" she asked, sitting down next to the slider.

"Better than before." Leo muttered, shifting around a bit to get his shell closer to the ice pack.  He felt better, the ice pack and water felt like heaven to him.  April nodded as Donnie flopped down beside them.  "Well… I was hoping to just hang out until I have to leave." April smiled.

"That's okay…" Leo muttered.

T̷̛̻̹̻̠̄̓̊̃̾͌̍͒́̃π̴̧̟̥̮̖͂̓̇̎͗̀̈̓̊̈́̓̕͝Ḛ̵̢̢̡̘̪̺̳͈̦̰̤̰̐͐͊ý̶̨͕͈͔̟̤͍́̅̋̅̋̔̆͝͠ͅ ̵̧̻͕̗̠͎̭͇̲̯̙̙̻̲̦͛̅̍W̴̩̾͗̈́̾ǐ̷̹̰͍͖̳͙̺͓̳̪͇̤͇͌̅͂̊͋̈͆̌͆̾̕͘ͅL̵̴̡̧̛̙̖̰̰̻͇̳̳͚̩̺̈́̀͆͒̄͒̉̑̐͋͆͐̆̑͋͆̐͒̐͘͝ͅͅ ̴̨̧͔̞̜̫͔̪̱͔͇̞̮̝̖͋̋B̴͍͓̋̇̃́̌́͒͆͆͜€̵̭̺̜̲͈̪͙̞͎͓͓̖̑̏͒̒ ̵̡̢̛̪̹̪͙͇̣͉̮̘̀̅̋̀͐̾̆̉̆͐̃͜͝͠O̶͕͙͑̌̅̽͆͋̚̚͜k̷͈̥̮̆̌̓̑̾̉́͛͌̆͗̿͋̓̀

This is Alastor's New Design Guys... Yeah

Chapter Text

((Alastor's POV / Third Person))

Alastor found himself inside his dreams again, looking around for anything around him.  White walls surrounded him with a few machines beeping around him, some attached to him.  He couldn't move around, just focused to watch the smaller him lay in the familiar cot.  Just looking at the cot made the feeling come back to him. A rock hard pillow with scratchy sheets and paper thin blankets.  The only blanket every patient had, no one could even ask for a second one.  Alastor looked at himself, feeling the familiar orange shirt and gray sweatpants pants. A stitched together A1 31-02 patch on his right sleeve and the scattered blood and dirt patterns around his sleeves. His right arm wrapped in bloody ace wraps while his left arm was littered in open wounds and blood.  His legs matching the ace wrap around his right arm.

He could feel his fox ears flatten in anxiety as nothing seemed to be happening around him, just the younger him laying on the cot and what seemed to be ear shattering beeps from the machines.  His tail dangling in-between his legs as he waited for something to happen.  "Patient 31-02, wake up." a white coat said, opening the air tight locked door.  Their face was blurred, a second white coat walked in their face more fuzzy than blurred.  "31-02 wake up." The white coat repeated, more stern and frustrated than before.  Alastor flinched at their voice seeing the younger him do the same in the cot.  The first white coat stepped over to the cot, pushing the younger him off the cot harshly, watching them fall to the ground with a slight pain.  "I said wake up, now stand." they hissed, watching the younger Alastor stand up quickly.  "Good, now hopefully you aren't resident in your activities today or that blue cat of yours will surely be burned next." they smiled with an evil glare as the second white coat got behind the young Alastor, holding the child's arms as they began to walk out.

Alastor followed behind the group of three, wondering where they were going next. Though he knew where they were going, this dream had played repeatedly in his head every night.  Though something felt different this time, but Alastor couldn't place a finger on it just yet.  The group of three turned into a room, one of the white coats scanned their ID card, shuffling the young Alastor inside quickly.  Alastor quickly followed after the group, finding one of the security standing guards inside.  The fifteen year old watched as the younger him was shoved down on the ground as one of the white coats forcefully clicked a collar onto the young boy’s neck.  Another white coat grabbed him by the arm, lifting him up into the air and dragging him over to tall, stormy gray walls.  Tossing the boy inside when an opening to the wall appeared and standing back as the wall quickly closed.

Alastor glitched through the gray walls, looking at his younger self as the small boy’s eyes looked around anxiously.  An ear shattering alarm went off, surrounding both of them from all angles causing both Alastor and his younger self to start moving fast.  Though it was never clear as to why Alastor moved quickly was because of his almost fox-like nature or his fear from wherever that noise came from.  Everytime the noise kicked in his mind told Alastor to run, to run and never look back or he wouldn’t survive.  As Alastor ran he looked for the younger him,  his chest tightening as he realized he strayed from the child again.  Pricking his ear up Alastor searched around for any noise that would lead him to the right path.

The longer he stood still the more panicked he got, adrenaline pumping into his veins, as the voice of his brain told him to keep running.  The numbness of his body filled his senses, feeling dizzy and nauseous Alastor anchored his ears on a far off sound.  As soon as he focused on the noise his legs began to move without a second thought.  Alastor slid past a corner, kicking up the bit of dust on the floor as a small line of white came from a single wall. Halfway there . Alastor thought to himself as he bounced off another wall, picking up speed.  The white fox flung himself around a sharp corner, jumping a big gap maybe six feet wide.  His magenta eyes tracing the spread apart platforms around the broad hallway.  There were multiple ways to get across.  Monkey bars, small platforms, a rock wall, and a tightrope across.

Alastor spotted the younger him already on the third platform, getting across an eight foot wide gap.  Though he was maybe four from what it looked like, Alastor could do more than just a human.  He wasn’t just human, he was a fox so he wasn’t your average run of the mill human.  He couldn’t remember how many feet he could jump when he was four but everytime he looked at the six foot jump he knew he could pass it.  Now that he was fifteen he could pass even the ten foot gap he got enough momentum but with the ever so noticeable small growing platforms he wasn’t able to.  Alastor jumped the next gap, passing the seven foot before passing the eight foot gap by almost an inch.  Tracing the new items to get across he grabbed onto the aerial silk curtains, wrapping the first one around his hand tightly as he placed his second hand over his first one taking a small running jump over to the other silk like curtain.  He missed the grab, his body swinging back towards the platform again.

Pushing off the platform again, Alastor swung towards the second silk curtain again, wrapping his leg around the fabric.  Making sure the fabric was tightening around his leg Alastor let go of the first one, getting the second strip of fabric around his other leg.  He sat up, looking down at the pitch black pit below him.  His stomach dropped like always, just staring at it overwhelmed with the feeling of dread.  Ripping his gaze off of the hole below him he saw his younger self already on the last platform.  Alastor quickly swung back and forth, wrapping the curtain out his hands and releasing his legs.  He knew what he had to do to get to the next curtain, though Alastor didn’t like the idea.  After a few pushes of the curtains Alastor let go of the curtain, flipping into the air as he watched for the yellow curtain.  Time seemed to slow down, his breaths growing shallow, his eyes burning with tears as he hoped he would grab the yellow cloth.

Feeling the silk-like texture brush against his hand, Alastor grabbed it quickly, getting his hand wrapped around the curtain as he was still airborne.  His other hand latched on as the feeling of gravity swung him a bit forward on the curtain.  Looking fearfully down into the black hole his hands trembled as his eyes focused on the platform in front of him.  The last gap seemed to stretch for maybe miles at this point, he could feel every inch of his body trembling from being airborne.  There were only two opinions at this jump, a rock wall or monkey bars that were spread out far enough you would have to jump towards the next one.  The feeling of being airborne again made Alastor feel sick to his stomach though he had an overpowering feeling that he wasn’t good at the rock wall.  Walking towards the most obvious choice Alastor gripped onto the first bar, making sure his grip was good enough.  The younger him was nowhere to be seen but Alastor didn’t keep his mind drilled on the younger him anymore.

Alastor lifted his feet up off the ground, swinging upwards and latching onto the edge of the bars.  He lifted his weight up onto the top of the monkey bars, standing on the cross between the first bar and the side bars.  Making sure he was stable enough Alastor slowly made his way across, making sure he didn’t tip anyway.  He balanced on the round bars, walking across while trying to keep his eyes off of the hole below him.  The platform crawled closer to his sight, until it was almost completely in front of him.  Jumping off of the top, Alastor quickly made his way down the labyrinth of hallways skidding to a stop when he saw nothing but darkness in front of him.  The twelve year old looked around, seeing nothing around him.  His ears pricked up as he tried to listen for any noise but only the sound of ringing filled them.  This was the same ending as the last loop, just him in nothing but darkness.

A soft light appeared as a corn field formed around the boy, filling his senses again.  The ground underneath him formed a small stream, flowing past his bandaged feet carrying some of the blood stains away. “What’s happening?” he whispered, looking around.  The scene was new to him, something felt peaceful or maybe even comforting about the place.  Though Alastor couldn’t recall what was so comforting about it. “Alice, there you are.” a woman's voice started.  Alastor whipped his head around, seeing a woman with long black hair behind him.  Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her skin a sand-like color with hazel brown eyes.  A few gray streaks littered the woman’s black hair and the faint glow of teal surrounded her. “It was so hard to reach you from where you are.” she explained.

The women looked familiar to him, but Alastor couldn't find out how she looked familiar in any way.  The women saw Alastor’s mixed expressions and smiled softly in understanding. “You don’t remember me I see… My name is Karai.  Hamato Karai.” the women introduced. “I am truly sorry for not reaching out sooner.  Maybe the events so far could’ve been prevented.” she apologized.

“You… know me? Can you tell me who I am? What to do? Even just how to get unstuck?” Alastor asked, desperately.  Karai’s eyes looked at the fox with a saddened but yet gleeful expression at Alastor’s questions.  She placed a hand on top of his head, rubbing his head softly as she looked out into the wheat field.

“We do not have much time here I’m afraid. Though I can tell you that the turtles will have a feeling of who you are.” Karai sighed, “I am sorry I can not answer more but our time is up now.  I’ll see you again Alice.” she smiled as Alasor could feel himself come back to reality.  Waking up quickly.

M̶̢̨̭͇̳̹̣̙̹͐̄͐͜a̵̧̙̝͍̤̣̹̗͉̦̣͌̑͋̄̔ͅÝ̴̹͖͉̠͙̠̯̭b̵̘͇̱̆̌͆È̸̡͎̮̰͇͈͇̦̳̦͇̥͈́͌̆͆͐̓̓̄͘͘ ̷̖͗̓̀̏́͐̽́͝á̶̧͉̠̮͕̣̻͚̮̔̋̇̅͐̐ͅN̵̮̙̽̊͗͌̌́ǫ̸̛͎̗̣̰̯͉͕̻̆͋T̵͍̘̤̦͕̺̫̜̯̱̰͈̬̼͐͂̐̈́̈͂͋́̋́̃͗ͅh̷͙̻͓̫̖͇̲̣͚̼̭̥͍̺̆̈́́̾̾̂͛̀́̉̚̕E̴̘̤͍̬͎̮̻̜͎̙͊r̷̮͔͉̼̭͇͙̹̲̮̫̱͙͔͍̐́͋̌̽ ̵̛̫̣͉̳́͊̾͛͊̿͗̈́͆͛͛̍D̵̡͍̝̬̦͚̭̳͆̒̆͗̆͋̈́̑́͑̅̅̕͘ͅa̷̛̛̘̹̗̯͇̤̬̥̓̎̋̑͛͗̋̒͋̾ͅͅY̴̘͈͙̲̍̐

Chapter Text

((Alastor's 3rd person POV))

Alastor shifted around on the ground, the feeling of a weighted blanket pushing him towards the ground under him. Though he still felt a bit numb like in his dream. Was it even a dream? Alastor questioned, feeling as if the dream was real. It felt real and it looked real, like something he knew all too well but like always he couldn't place a finger on it.  He could feel his lungs burn from the panicked breaths of air from his dream.  Wait… he thought, sitting up quickly and placing a hand on his chest.  He could feel himself breathing, he could breath, though the abnormal pain in his chest felt horribly wrong.  Looking around he saw the glow of purple light trace over a familiar turtle a bit away from him.  The slider slept peacefully inside a chrysalis of blankets.  A familiar feeling of his coccygeal muscles at the base of his spine came back, feeling better than before he woke up.  He could feel the utricle and saccule muscles pushing and pulling inside his ears, moving the familiar fuzzy triangles on top of his head.

Though the feeling of his different muscles in his legs and arms weren't permanent, the feeling of his tail and ears were the best and stayed longer.  The feeling of numbness going away slowly as Alastor felt like, well, himself.  For the first time in what felt like decades long, he felt safe in a way.  He could feel the small hairs on his arms, how familiar they felt. He was glad to feel at least comfortable in his own skin.  Looking around again he saw a metal door to the room he was in.  "Maybe something changed about my distance too…" Alastor whispered to himself, standing up and letting the weighted blanket fall to the ground fully.  He wore a blue hoodie with black shorts and a dog tag that had a engraving of the numbers he knew too well.  A1 31-02.  Alastor rubbed the dog tag, before seeing the light gray socks on his feet.  Reaching for the socks Alastor took the fabric off and threw them on the ground by the blanket.  The cold material of the floor seeped through his skin and into his  senses.

Alastor stepped away from the blankets, getting towards the door that had no buttons to open it.  The door was air tight locked but looked like a two way opening system. Alastor could see the wires in between the walls leading two different ways.  Placing a hand on the door, he could feel the chill from outside.  This was Donnie's lab for sure though Alastor only saw Donnie unlock the door from his own tech.  Getting deep in thought Alastor started to glitch until he phased through the wall, the door sliding open a bit as he fell onto the other side before shutting again, working functionally again.  The fox stood up with slight panic but joy to find out a new thing he could do.  His magenta eyes glowing brightly in the darkness around him.  The fifteen year old felt his heart begin to race out of the joy, his hands feeling the need to move around.

Flapping his hands in front of him Alastor began to get more happy than before.  His ears folded before pricking up as he calmed down again.  He felt better now, getting the feeling of actual happiness.  Feeling nothing but confusion, stress, anger, and panic just felt horrible after the first hour, now he felt something else.  Though it felt foreign it got his skin tingling, his brain jittered with curiosity as he wanted to find other things that made him feel that way.  Alastor looked around the outside room he was in, his brain was buzzing as the hallway seemed empty.  He started to walk down the way Alastor has mapped out so far, going down the stairs into the main area.  A small skateboard ramp was to his left with the entrance to the lair.  Four skateboards laid in a pile next to the ramp while a generator laid in the middle of the room.  The few arcade games lay on the other side with one archway leading to the living room and another one leading towards the train cart bedrooms and the two actual bedrooms.  

The different colored lights coming from the gaming items drew the most attention but Alastor wasn’t drawn to it the most.  He was more curious about the bedrooms, his curiosity of what the brother’s bed rooms look like was unavoidable! “It’s probably not as creepy as it sounds…” Alastor whispered to himself, “Plus, we’re all boys… right? So it’s not that bad!” he convinced himself.  Strolling towards the hallway with the bedrooms, Alastor came across the first one.  Inside a purple light bathed the room, which was obvious that it was Donnie’s.  At least Alastor hoped it was, he doesn’t remember if any one loves as much purple as he does.  On one side there was a gamer desk, which Alastor took as oblivious, and on the other side was a grounded mattress with a curtain going across to give some sort of privacy.  Nothing else seemed what Alastor would suspect out of the soft shell’s room though he did pick up a fidget from the floor. 

“I doubt he won’t mind… besides~ he can’t see me anyways.” Alastor hesitated, walking out of the purple colored room and making his way down the hallway some more.  The next room was Mikey’s, a room he was familiar with, though he wasn’t happy to be familiar with it.  The fox closed the curtain quickly, his hand phasing through the curtain before it closed all the way.  Looking at the curtain offended, Alastor tried to close it more but didn't get anywhere with it.  He huffed in frustration as he turned to walk to the next room, fidgeting with the small monkey noodle he borrowed .  Alastor passed by Leo’s room going on to the next room in the hallway.  The room had red painted walls with a few assortment of colored stuffed animals.

Alastor went up to the pile of plushies picking a blue one, putting down the monkey noodle, and started to organize the plushies by color, size, and alphabetical animal order.  After what seemed like a few seconds for Alator he successfully… cleaned the entire room.  “Eh boy…” Alastor wheezed, looking around the space with pure anxiety.  He looked around the floor for the monkey noodle frantically trying to find the fidget.  His ears flattened as he tried to find it faster but it didn’t show up anywhere.  “Come on, that was the good noodle.” Alastor grumbled, standing up and glazing over the room.  He then spotted the noodle sitting on a shelf above the bed he just made a while ago.  He grumbled as he grabbed the orange colored rubber from the shelf, dusting it off the best he could before looking around and seeing nothing else interesting.  He left the now over organized room, seeing no other room down the hallway.  “I should probably go back… Leo might wake up.” Alastor whispered, the fifteen year old trugging along towards the lab again.

He stopped at the main room again, looking over to the other side, the hallway leading towards the med bay and kitchen.  Anxiety and curiosity nagged at him more as Alastor tried to decide if he wanted to go towards the hallway or go back and sit.  Facing his feet in the direction he wanted to go, Alastor made his way towards the hallway passing by the kitchen archway.  Seeing the light on his feet stopped directly at the doorway with an anxious breath.  Inside the kitchen Donnie, Raph, and Mikey laughed along with two new teenagers he hadn’t seen yet.  The soft shell smiled as he calmed his laughter, taking a sip of water before looking over towards the fox.  In a heartbeat Donnie spit out his drink in surprise and shock over something.  Alastor looked at the purple clad confused as he looked behind him, seeing nothing but a wall.  Turning back he realized Donnie was staring right at him, trying to speak words again.  “Don, are you okay?” Raph asked worriedly, while looking over towards Alastor but not seeing him.

One of the new teens looked at Donnie, they weren’t surprised by Donnie’s sudden action, more conflicted about something.  “I’m just gonna go to my lab… to check on Leo, he might need something.” Donnie sputtered out a lie, gaining confused and anxious looks.

“Don, Leo just fell asleep. Are you okay?” Mikey asked.

“Yeah, yeah I’m ok.  Leo is unpredictable sometimes, so I’m just gonna check.” the soft shell denied, starting to walk towards the doorway where Alastor stood.  The only conflicted teen stood up quickly with a fake smile, getting everyone’s attention beside Donnie’s.  “Case, you ok too?” the other teenager asked.  Case just looked at her with a smile as he nodded anxiously.

“I’m good mom, I want to check on Leo too.  Ya know, I haven’t talked to him in a long time.” Case smiled, seeming a more possible truth than a lie.  That grabbed the soft shell’s attention quickly, looking back at Case with a confused expression almost starting to deny his invitation.  Case looked at Donnie with some sort of expression to make the soft shell stop and sigh.  “Yeah, Casey can come.” he said, a regretful look on his face.  Alastor looked between the two teens confused on what just happened, but not the interaction.  Is his name Case… or Casey? Alastor thought, Wait… his mom is a teenager too? Hold on… Alastor looked between them more, his head practically whipping back and forth as he tried to wrap his head around the situation.

D̵͈͉͊̈́̋̽̈́͝ǫ̷̱̹̼̰̈͆̋̑̃̕͝Ń̷̹̲̳̰̬͍̾̈́̕͝͠n̴̙̻̐̓̅̈́̂̕I̸̧̢̟̯̱̜̝̦͕̫̲̬͍͌̔͊̒̈̏̕͝e̶̤̩̼͕̅͌͆͋̒́́̊́̋ ̵͚̼̖͔͓̝̝̝̭͂̈͐͗̔̊̊̃́̐̓͘̕͜O̴̦̦̿̍̒͐͂͒̇̃͘͝r̷̭̱͎̗̘̣͙̼̤̘͕̪̟̲̓̿͌̔͑̈̋͊̅̾̃ ̵̯̟̜̠̦̝͌̑̍̄̇̓̉̈́̀̅̀T̷͎͈̥̜̝̻̆͆h̶̡̖̙̤̦̟̤̊̾͝R̸̨͚̮͖̓̇̒̈̚͝ȇ̶͓̲̹͇̘̲̗͓̠̜̮̜̉̄̿̒̈́̈́͐̊͠Ȩ̶̩͚͖̦̩̱͖̙̦̥͙̝̿̊̍̈͐̋̋͘͜ͅ?̸̡̧̩̲̰͔̻̣̳̒̾̎̉͒͛̊̐͆̑̿͝͝͝ ̸̛̲̹̼̝̭̜̝͍͈̈̈́͆͒̈́̆͆̚͠͠W̶̢̫̗̬̎̾̑̐h̶̢̡̨͈̫͔̲̣̬͍̄Ȁ̸͙̰̯̦̖͓̥̟͚̾́̈̽͛́̈̅́̏̕̕͜ť̵̞̻̟̠͉̭͎̉́̋̃̾ ̶̨̺̰̺͎̘̗͔͕̜̜̳̘͚̻̄͒͒̅͊̎́Ă̴̛͍̝̼̹͍̆ͅb̷͓͐͂̈́̌͛̉̿͗̈́͘͝Ỡ̷̛̳̺̟́̒̂͗͛̃̐́̔̃͋͘ͅǘ̵̜͎̣͉̈̑͛̓͗͐̃̿̐͛͒͛͠T̵̻̅̀͑̈́́̒͐͂͑̅̾͒͘͝͝ ̸͙̞͓̪̖̼̤̫̻̑̏̎̊͑͒t̶̪̗̆H̷̡̥͕̞̹̫̗͓̮͆̄͒̓̀̒̾͝͠ͅe̸̞̝̠͍̹̫͂̃̇͋̅͂̈̿͐̍̑̕͝ ̴̦͇͌̑̈̒̈́Ŏ̶̡̢͓͕̞͓͎̟̮̉t̶̢̧̡̤͓̤̻̪̜̹͍̱̅̔͂͛̃̉̚H̸̛̱̻͙̬͎̎͒̈́͌͛͒́̿̕͝͠ȩ̵̦̤̝̼͔͓̈́R̴̛̗̞͙͑̍̈́͂̽͒̾̅̇̓̽͠͝͝ṡ̷̢̨̛̛͖̼̠̮̦̳̻͇͇̺̱̮̋̈́̀̐͊̔̾̂̋̚ͅ?̷̝̭̩̱̎̎͑̽̎

Chapter Text

((Alastor’s 3rd POV))

Donnie and Case…y walked towards the lab as Alastor just stood confused about what Donnie saw or… heard? After Donnie got far enough Alastor felt the pain from being too far away from Leo again but before the fox could react he was teleported towards the last four feet of Donnie.  This time feeling it consume every inch of his body besides just his brain.  Alastor covered his mouth, trying to not to scream as the pain returned as soon as Donnie got too far again.  It felt like getting stabbed, or maybe cut open.  Whatever Alastor felt he knew it wasn’t a good idea to stick in it.  He placed his foot on the ground, trying to stand up again with the burning pain before being teleported again, feeling horrible again but he didn’t crumble to the ground.  Alastor stood up, his legs growing weaker as Donnie just keeped walking with the other teenager.

Alastor yelped as he felt the on coming pain again, making the soft shell halt in his spot and turn back.  The fox looked up at the soft shell, he seemed to make direct eye contact with Alastor.  Gaining his footing again Alastor sabled himself as the boy Donnie was traveling with just stopped, seeming more confident in what was happening than before.  The teen didn’t say anything though, just waited for the soft shell to start walking again.  Alastor stumbled towards the group, passing Donnie with no question as the fox could still feel the tingles of pain under his skin.  The soft shell started to walk again, trailing behind Alastor before getting to the door.  Alastor stood, confused and frustrated because he couldn’t do the trick he wanted to do again.  Donnie clicked a button on his wrist tech and after an air sounding off, the door opened quickly.  “So… Casey. What do I owe the pleasure to?” the soft shell asked.

Casey trugged into the lab, seeing Leo slowly waking up in his blanket bed on the ground.  “Good afternoon Sensei.” Casey smiled, happily.

“CJ, I told you not to call me that.” Leo smiled back, “Besides I’m not your sensei.” he ended, waking up a bit more.  Casey just smiled softly as he sat on the floor on the side Leo could face the boy best.

“I know, it just seems right to me… I’m still getting used to saying Leo.” the boy chuckled, before looking up at Donnie and back at Leo.  “Though I do have a question.” Casey started, his face turning a bit serious.  Leo and Donnie exchanged nervous glances before looking both at the teen.

“Sure Case, what’s your question?” the slider asked.  Casey nervously fiddled with his fingers as he tried to form the right words to ask whatever question he had.  Alastor was a bit nervous, walking into Leo’s vision.  The slider looked at Alastor with wide but happy eyes, seeing that the fo was okay.  “That’s what I wanted to talk about.” Casey spoke up, noticing Leo look at (what he was sure to be) Alastor.  Leo and Donnie both quickly look towards Casey with shocked looks, both equally anxious and surprised.

“Wha-”

“You can… well both of you I guess now… but you can see Alastor… right?” Casey asked, words forming slowly as he tried to express his… worry? Fear? Alastor couldn’t tell.  Leo’s face flashed a bit of shock, maybe some more of surprise.  He was flabbergasted at what Casey asked, after a while Donnie shared the same expression as well.  Leo’s face switched to a calm one as he cleared his throat with an awkward tone.

“Sorry, I forgot you came from the future…” Leo started.

“HE CAME FROM THE FUTURE?” Alastor exclaimed, getting both frustrated looks from Leo and Donnie.  “Sorry…” Alastor whispered.  His eyes drifted over to the soft shell who was still staring at the fox with a bit of curiosity and wonder.

“Like I was saying… I forgot about that bit of information.  Do you know Alastor?” Leo asked.  Casey tapped his fingers together as he nodded, not bothered by Alastor's sudden outburst because… well he couldn’t hear him in the first place.  “Do you know how to get them back to… life? Any useful information at all?” Leo quizzed, looking at the teenager.

“Well, if you suspected that Alastor was still alive, you would be correct.  From what Sensei explained, Alastor was in between the fine line of reality and illusion.” Casey started, “Which if the Alasor you see is anything like the Alastor I knew, they don’t have the best control of their mystic situation…” 

“Is that why they keep phasing into people and stuff?” Leo asked, while the soft shell and fox listened quietly.

“No, no it’s not.  Alastor can phase through things with or without being in between the line… if I remember correctly, Alastor is always close to the line.  They just need a small push away from the middle… and if Uncle Tello can see them then you were on a good start.” Casey explained.  Leo and Donnie exchanged looks again, both with now worrying glances.  Alastor just looked at Casey quietly with curiosity of how the boy came from the future.  He wanted to ask questions about what he was like, as far as Alastor knew he still didn’t know himself… well himself! If the kid knew him, then maybe he could answer questions and maybe Alastor could get answers.

“So we would have to trigger an emotion… to get Alastor fully out of the line?” Donnie asked, getting their attention.  “I mean… Leo was looking over the files I had of a crime before I was able to see Alastor…” the soft shell explained farther.  Casey nodded in agreement to Donnie’s question with a concerned look as to Leo’s reaction to the conversation.

“Well… it’s gonna be hard to do, since we can’t just waltz into a maximum prison and ask to see someone we aren’t even related to or know.  Maybe the lab?” Leo hesitated, getting Alastor a bit fearful about the word.

“No, no, that is covered in police officers and FBI agents, who– in all honesty– won’t take too kindly to us.  We might have saved the world but some humans still don’t like us.” Donnie rejected.  “Maybe we can ring some sort of happy or maybe somewhat fearful memory?” he suggested.

“Though if we try forcefully, it might not work… we could try but there’s no guarantee.” Leo piped up, getting Casey and Donnie’s attention as the slider had a valid point.  Donnie nodded slowly, looking over to Alasor with a straight face like almost half of the four people in his room.  Casey was basically the only one to hold some sort of emotional expression.  “Okay… Casey, can you tell Raph and Mikey that I’m gonna be out? I’m gonna see if I can get some sort of information.  I’ll be back before dinner.” Donne explained.  Casey nodded as Donnie looked towards Alastor.  “I hope you don’t mind being away from Nardo for a while, I really want you in real life before halloween.” Donnie explained.  Alasor nodded quietly as they both walked out but Donnie stopped before they went past the door frame.  “Hey Case, you know the code, unfortunately, can you keep an eye on Leo? I can’t respond fast if something goes wrong.” Donnie asked, muttering the ‘unfortunately’ part.  Case just smiled as he nodded again.

“I sure will, Uncle Tello, have a nice shop.” Casey verbally said, making Donnie sure the slider was in good hands before leaving the lair with Alastor behind him.

F̴͇̟̬̲͑͗̈̍̏̿̍̔̔̂̔̂̀̋̚u̶̘̔̑̀̇͛͋̂̉̏̽͗̋T̸̡̺͇͕̥͇̳̟͔̙̠̦̃̇̀̈́́̓́̉͒͊̓͝͝u̶̺̘̘̬̲̝̼̹̭͍̐͋̊̒̓̏̋̾̊̀̈́̕̚̕͜͝Ř̶̮͎̪̩̙͔̘͖̤̀ͅe̴̲̖̺̙̟̟̊͗̾̂͆̀͑̂̓̄͘?̷̨̡͔͉̲̯͓̬̺͚̮̤̟̪̅̾́̆̅̏̏̍̃̿͠͝ ̶̣̗̟͖̰͕͛̽̾̈́͝M̵̨̖̗͙̏̈́̊̌͛̿͘ă̷̰̺͍̰͊̂̎̋̽́̽́̓͜Ẏ̶̧̧̜̺̙̬̙̻͎͎̥̗̍͋̋͝b̶̢͇̤̦͙̲̦̙͓͈̰̣̱͂̀̒̍̾͌͌̊Ĕ̷̠͉͖̺̠̈́̅ ̷̢̨̖̬͍̳͇̼͌͋͑͐̇̓̏̎̍̂͠ͅͅͅs̸̨̟̤̓̃̄̓ͅO̴̗̣̦͈͆̀ͅͅm̸̛̥̩̹̪͙̥͇͔̙̉͒͂̀̈́̈́̅̀͊̕̚͘͘͠ͅE̴̛̮͊́̑̈́́͆͌̑͂͊̑̎̚d̷̙̓̈́͛A̴̛̪͇͙̔́̒͒̀̓͆̑y̷͖͚̫̜̯̺̮̩̥͎̱̪̖̐̓̓̀͛̽̎̂̊̉̕͠.̸̟̻͔̠̟̭̺̥̪͋̊̈́́͌͗͊̊͛̇͗̋̍̕.̴̢̰͔̤͉̩̺͇͗.̶̢̨̭̺̘̬̫̰͓̘͇̪͋̊͛̀̍̊̆̉͛͊̚͜

Chapter Text

Alastor looked around the Mystic City nervously as Donnie walked beside him.  The soft shell noticed the nervous behavior but didn't speak right away. He walked a bit more down the sidewalk before clearing his throat to start a conversation.  "Are you okay? You seem nervous." Donnie asked, looking at his phone to avoid eye contact. Alastor avoided eye contact as well, keeping their eyes drifting from one side to another.

"I'm just… anxious about something. Like seeing someone? I don't know.  I feel like I know the person but I can't draw a face to them…" Alastor whispered.  Donnie nodded at the fox's answer becoming a bit confused on another behavior.

"Why do you whisper? Like you do it constantly…" he asked. In his head it sounded better than saying it out loud. A few yokai passed by the soft shell with a confused look, some of them didn't care and just kept walking.

"Well… from what I can recall… inside the lab we could never speak… so sometimes I would whisper to newcomers…" Alastor answered, his eyes drifting over to Donnie.  The soft shell nodded, getting a surprisingly solid answer about his question.  Alastor flicked his left ear as he felt something touch it, getting whatever object off. Donnie shifted his weight to his leg side as they walked, getting a bit better balance.  "Well… the cops say that all the scientists and staff were arrested… so you don't have to worry." Donnie muttered, keeping his voice low. For the sixteen years the soft shell has lived he didn’t think he would be talking to someone he didn’t know and people couldn’t see.  Though it’s never been out of character for him to talk subconsciously to himself but it’s weird when he could get an answer.  When Alastor didn’t answer Donnie lifted his eyes off the purple glow of his phone seeing the young fox distracted yet again.  He reached for Alastor’s shoulder confused and concerned on how frantic the fox was.

“Hey, Alastor are y-” 

“Don’t touch me!” Alastor yelled, swiping at the soft shell’s hand quickly in defense.  Donnie, taken aback by the sudden outburst, snapped his hand back towards his plastron with widened eyes.  Donnie took a few stumbles back as Alastor did the same, while Donnie gained his footing back Alastor fell back against the ground.  The fox wheezed uncontrollably as Donnie watched, still shaken by the sudden motion.  Other yokai flashed a few glares at Donnie with a mixture of shock, concern, and pity amongst the yokai who looked.  Maybe two or three of them looked at Donnie at his sudden behavior, casting a few shameful looks at him.  The soft shell just stood, lost and confused on what to do as Alastor was panicked as well.

Noise throughout the city filled his ears, causing panic rise inside of him, the eyes on him weren’t helping any better.  Looking around the city he started his safety plan that he could use in the moment.  Reaching his hand towards his tech induced headphones,  Donnie turned down the volume making his hearing lessen by every dial.  As soon as the softshell couldn’t hear anything he calmed himself thankful that he made the headphones adjustable in the moment.  Donnie would’ve crumbled if he didn’t.  He looked over towards Alastor, nervous.  The fox still wheezed and coughed inside the ally he fell into just trying to get a hang of his own breathing.  Donnie walked over towards the fox, wary of what other sudden movements Alastor could do. I should've introduced myself first… or maybe gain trust. How can Leo just… get someone to like them? Or gain trust? Donnie grumbled, gathering himself in his own thoughts. 

To Donnie, Leo and Mikey made it look so easy to interact with people. Donnie would admit he jumped head first into this entire thing. Out of a feeling that he had, which he knew acting on his feelings wouldn't do any good.  Now Alastor was panicked and he was too, he didn't mean to cause any sort of anxiety. I should've talked to Leo about something like this. Donnie grumbled again.  The soft shell sat beside the fox, giving the appropriate amount of personal space he always needed.  This wasn't a good start, he would've been hesitant to help out if Alastor wasn't passed out in his lab for two maybe three weeks straight.  As Donnie waited for any interaction to start he scratched his arms nervously and overwhelmed.  He never got the right feeling from the Underground City. 

He didn't even know what the name was. Some yokai called it the Underground City and some called it the Mystic City.  Though both of the names were logical names, taking both physical characteristics of the city he never got a straight answer from anyone.  As he was in thought he saw movement from Alastor in the corner of his eye getting his eyes to move towards the fox.  Alastor had shifted around on the ground, holding some sort of clipboard and pen in hand.  He was writing something on it anxiously, his tiny scribbles connecting and making out a few words.  I'm sorry for hurting you, Donnie read. Looking at the words confused Donnie felt the tiny burn on his hand.  He did in fact get scratched, or hurt as Alastor wrote.

Donnie sighed as he rubbed the scratch before looking over towards Alastor with a nervous smile.  He shifted on the sidewalk before rubbing his eyes, seeing the sun slowly set on the glass-like blue sky.  He looked towards Alastor who was glitching more than usual, he saw the fox glitch before but something didn’t seem right in the slightest.  He stood up, turning back on his hearing aid headphones and looking down at the fox.  “Come on.  We weren’t ready for this shopping trip… and it’s getting late.  Supper will be in a few minutes.” Donnie smiled softly, trying to keep calm.  Alastor looked up with a hesitant look before standing up, following the soft shell as they walked back.  The blue light in the Mystic City sky covers the sidewalk in a pastel blue light. 

E̸̡̹͕̙̅͒͛̍̉ī̴̧̡̠̳̪͚̜̺̰̯̝̺̜͍͔̞̫̂͑͗̃̇͐͂͌͜Ğ̶̡̡̢̜̠͈͚͖͚̥̦͎̟̤̹̞̣̖̉̓̅͗̈́͐̽͆̓̾̿̑͜͜ͅh̴̡̤͔̜͖͖̘̬̣̟̮̞̎̎̓̒̕T̷̨͕̲̺̱͔̩̖̥̬̰̲̊ ̵̛̫̟̲̥̙̪͂̆̿̈́̍͑̓̾͌͐͊͘͘ȟ̶̬̬̥̝̹͖̦̞͔͎̹̒͋̉̌̈̉̂̐̍̅͂͊̊̂̃͑͜͝͝͝O̶̡̞̳̜̥̔̄͂̓̓̈́̊͛̀̈́̅̈́̀̂̇̎͑̋̌̉̽̋͘̚͜͝͝ų̸̧͎͓̮̜͕̟͖̖͈̬͖̞̦́̅̃̈́̽̍̂̂͛̌͗͐̿͒͑̌̈́̊̅̔̃̐͌̀̈́͜͠͝R̴͉̮͖̟̩͓̭̍̽̉̑̉́̍͗̄̍͌͊͐͑̓̔̇́͒́̓̑̽̚̚͝͝ͅs̸̢̧̧̲̗̮̳̳̗͇̱͚̩̙̪͎̠̮̺̲̞̬̠̰͗͋̉͒̄̐̏̑̋̾̉̑̄́̎̆̈́̍̇̂͂͐̀̒̔̈̚̕̕͠͠͝ͅͅͅ ̶̡̥͕͙͎͖̝̳̺̪̭̣͍̮͚̦̼͓̦̭̺̳̎́͌̈́̃̔̾̂̈̾̀̽̌̔̾̔̃̒͋͋͒̃͋̚̚̚͘͘͜͝͝͝͝͝+̸̝̞̦̯͕͑̈́̅̀̌̈́́̇̊̃ ̷̧̢̡̢̡̡̡̡̛͔͚̘̠̝̟̘͚̫̹̯̙̣͓͔̳̗͎̜̣̤̒͊̎ͅT̷̢̼̲͖̤̺̳͕̬̟̦̺̣̫͖̦̞̩̜͙̔̉̆͠h̷̫̳̣͈̤̩̎̉͒̉͗̂́̍̔̑͑͊̓̏Į̵̨̡̧͇̭͎͎͈̥̲͎̰͇͎̞͓͔̞͓̮̠̟̤͇͕͖̜͕̅̀͒̀ͅͅͅr̷̡̡̨̛̘̹̼̤͉̰̬͕̦͚̻̖̰̬͖̬̠̟͎̠͙̱͍̭̗̉̎̏̋̕ͅT̵̢̛͓̫͚̖͉̱̠̲͕̥̬͎̼͖̯̱͎̥͖̘̻̠͉͙̰͈͙̎̽͑͌̄̾͋̿̇͋̓͌͒͊̓̾̌̃͗͜͝͝͝ͅy̵̹͂͆̎̆̆̚͜ ̸̢͕͎̗̥͎̲̅̾͛̇̋̇͌͐͛̓̂̽̽̈̿̊̿̂̍̓̓́̊̃̕͘͝͠͠S̷̡̛̛͚̼̭̰̊́͋̄̅̍͐̾͊͊̀͆̈͛̒͠͠i̸̢̨̦̗̩̬͎̘̦̩̘͖͚͔͂̏̿̅̉͜͝͝ͅX̵̧͇̼̥̼̦̗̻̼̠͈̲͚̜̬͙̝̰̙̲͉̺̼̌̀̽̊̅̉́͐̓̅͠ ̸̨̨̘̠̭̖̝̝̦̣̺̮͖̗̞̲̱͉̰͎͑̃̓̀̔́̑̽̏͑͂̍̍̏̿̉̾̽̚ḿ̸͖̬͉̑̓̏̇̄͊̉̕I̴̡̡̢̞̘̗̺̻̠̖̜̘̭͆͝n̴̡̢̡̧̩̯̦͔̦̫̪̰͖̯̥̤͉̬͙͈̫̐̾̃͆̔́̚U̶̢̮̱̭̥̅̍͆̄̉̌́̓͐̎̈͆̊̓̕̕͠ţ̵̠̜͉͍̤̘͖̻̟̮̯͎̪͓͚̳͓̫̣̻̝͍̺̅̀̆̇́̉̈͑̃͊̂̉̉͋͌͑̓́͒̀́̈̌̔̃̀͘̚͠ͅE̶͍͉̖̯͌́́̎͛̈́̈͛̆̉͌̾̉̔̌̔͠͝ͅś̸̢̢̡̛̛̛͉̺̙̪̜͈̭͍͓̪̔̄̌̀̽̄́̈͆̅͊̊̉̃́͂̔̓̄̌̚͘ͅͅ ̶̡̗̳͇̤̩̤̙̬͈̘̤̘̼̗̪͆̿̍̆͛͂̈͂̄̓̿͗̊͂̎͛͝͠͠͠Ù̸̢̢̦̲͈͔̖̜̤͍̱͖̞̘̘̻̮̺͚͖̝̞͔̳̳̾̇͋̐̓̋̓̊͊̋̓̓̃͐̓̈́̈͊̆̚͜͝ͅn̴̛͉T̴̢̨̥̱̹̫̙͔̺̞̙̖̠͚̥͇͈̗̻͔̰̖̟͉̺̩̻̬̹̝̝́̓̍͑̈̃͐̒͑͊͒̅̊͛̍̋̀̇̏͘͘̚͝͠į̶̢̨̛̟̗̝̘̭̞̹̱͖̙̣̙͖̺͙͎̤͉̰̄̏̑̒̃̽̉͋́̏̿͋͒̈́́͛̒̇̑̉̐͗̀͘͝͝L̴̨̜͈̬͎̗̰̄́̍ ̶̛̞̹̮̤̩̬̦̮̖̻̀̏͑́̉̀̃̇̏̑̈́̓͋̐̊̕͝ͅͅr̷̡̿̂̃̈́͒͑͂̎̑̓͠͝͝E̸̡̨̛̥̱̭̗͇̹͓͍̰̹̱̘̎̎̉͌̀́̄͌̀̂̈́̍̀͑̽̿̐̿̈́̉͗̽̆̽̇̔̕̚̚͜͠͠b̸̨̲͚̅͂͌̈́̍̓̐͂̍̓͊͋̕͠͝ͅƠ̸̢̛̻̘̜̺͔̭̼̟͚͎̖̣͙͕͉̘̣̟̻͔̬̽́͒̇̈́͐̓̽͐͛̐̐͊̆͋̈́͘ͅò̴̧̧̩͚̟̮̤̪͙̜͔͎͚͈͚̆̐͗̏̌͐͒͐̾̔̀͌̃̾̊́̂͑̂͆͊̀͛͜͝͝͝͠T̵̡̨̨̩͇̭̰̬͚͍̫͓̱̝̟̠͖͈̩̺͌̎̾͊̑̔̾̔̾̑͆̏̓̌̍̈̔̂͌̔̀́̏̓͒̓̉̚̚͠

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Chapter Text

When Donnie got back home he made sure Alastor was inside before shutting the door.  He turned around the escape hallway, making his way inside the lair before getting tackled into a hug by Mikey.  “Oh mi gosh! I thought you died or were upset!” Mikey whined, hugging the soft shell tightly.  Donnie gathered his younger brother’s scatterbrained behavior, taking in his surroundings before clearing his throat.

“Well, I told Casey to tell you that I would be out and back in time for dinner.  I wasn’t upset or anything, I just needed to stretch my legs, Mikester.” Donnie explained, patting the box turtle on the head softly.  Mikey looked up at Donnie with a smile for the comforting words before grabbing the soft shell’s hand.

“Casey did say that but you had me worried by your sudden disappearance Don.  Raph isn’t the only one allowed to be worried about you.” Mikey laughed, retracting a small chuckle from Donnie.  “Plus, Cassandra fixed the heater, with Raph’s supervision, the rest of the way and Leo can now be out of the lab, I doubt he was fond of it.” the box turtle joked.  Donnie nodded, noticing the change in temperature himself and Mikey’s new change of clothes.  Wearing a light weight jacket and shorts now.

“Well, Leo should be healthy enough to get out of the tangled mess of wires too, I just hope Case has a good report.” Donnie smiled, trailing over to the lab stairs with Mikey.  He got up the stairs, seeing Alastor move out of the corner of his eye, his face unreadable and expressionless.  It didn’t pay much mind, Donnie was used to having people around him who rarely showed emotions.  Mikey and Raph were of course more emotionally intelligent, but with Leo, him, and Casey it became normal to not show most small emotions and not being able to tell small emotions either.  Touching a control on his tech watch the doors to his lab opened slowly with a hiss of air.  Pushing it open the rest of the way Donnie looked inside his lab seeing the teenager and slider chatting casually to each other.  The step he took got both of the two teen’s attention, their eyes staring at the soft shell and box turtle, with Leo’s drifting over towards Alastor for a few moments.

“Great news Nardo, the heater is fixed now thanks to future kid’s mother, you are allowed to rip the sticker wires off, carefully, and make your way to dinner.  I hope Mikey made some pizza today.” the soft shell spoke up.  Casey pumped his fist in the air one time to his mother’s knowledge and success as Leo smiled at the thought of moving around again.

“Actually, today I made pizza bites for everyone.  With their respected favorite pizza toppings.  Casey helped me before you left Don, and fortunately I had Raph awake enough to watch the oven today.” Mikey beamed as he gave good news.  Donnie and Leo gave a collected small yes to his news as Leo lifted himself off the ground.  Hobbling over towards his twin Leo began a small conversation with Donnie as Mikey and Casey followed after them, towards the kitchen.  “Is Alastor okay? Did you find something out?” Leo asked, a bit worried but kept a smile on his face.

“I’m sure Alastor is okay.  We had a bit of a hiccup before we could even go into any store.  Is Alastor always paranoid on the streets?” Donnie answered, bouncing back to Leo with his question.

“I mean, yeah.  He always seemed that way… I don’t know. Something feels off today.” Leo expressed, drawing a bit of concern from Donnie as well.  They got to the kitchen, seeing Cassandra and Raph speaking to each other and their pops sitting at the table peacefully reading a book while he waited.  Though it was more unusual to not have April around for pizza nights they all understood that April needed to put her studies first.  Donnie and Leo sat down by each other at the table with Leo making a sly joke, a joke he learned while talking with Casey.  Donnie laughed at his stupid joke, watching Casey sit down as Mikey got the plates ready.  Alastor walked over to his normal corner, keeping a distant profile as the family joked and spoke to each other, having a good time.

There wasn’t any talk about sensitive topics, no lying, or fake emotions, just like the normal pizza nights the family had.  With the presence of Casey and Cassandra the room seemed more lively then ever, Casey telling a few interesting stories about the future he came from and a few updates about Cassnadra’s life from Cassandra of course.  Mikey set down the dinner plates, letting the family eat their food.  After Donnie was done he looked over towards Leo’s plate that was half way ate.  The soft shell smiled comfortably as he watched Leo poke at the pizza bites.  “You full?” Donnie whispered to Leo as everyone else talked about different topics, drawing out the conversation between Donnie and Leo.

“No, just… feeling sick again.” Leo admitted, looking over towards Donnie.

“Well, if you eat two more, I’ll take the rest off of your hands.” Donnie bargained with a smirk on his face.  Leo nodded, shaking Donnie’s hand under the table in agreement as Donnie stole at least three of the pizza bites off Leo’s plate, making sure no one was looking as he did so.  Leo ate the two other one’s left slowly as to not upset his own imaginary stomach issues.  Donnie and Leo finished eating together, starting to get up from the table before Raph cleared his throat at their movement.  “Sorry dear brothers, but Raph called for a turtle pile tonight for comfort, so take your seats again and please wait.” Raph smiled sweetly.  Donnie looked at Leo before sitting down at the table without an argument or comment.  After a few minutes everyone was done, Cassandra and Casey waved the family goodbye as Mikey and Donnie gathered blankets and pillows for the turtle pile.

After all of the supplies were gathered in the living room Raph laid down first, getting comfortable in the small nest of blankets like usual.  Mikey took a bit longer to lay down, making sure Donnie and Leo got their own blankets.  After a while Mikey also laid down on the top of Raph’s shell, retreating into his shell to sleep better.  Leo and Donnie leaned against Raph’s side, staying up a bit later than the other two brothers.  Alastor was outside of the room, the light noises of movement coming from where they were.  After a while Leo fell asleep, and soon after Donnie did too, letting Alastor’s shifting be the only noise that filled the room as they slept.

F̸̡̛̭͕̝͇͔̝̼͉͕̝͇͙͙͚̦̖̲̟̝̱̟̘́́̄̎̄̽͗̒́̅̀̑̌͋̈́̊̈́́͘̚͝ớ̵̧̧̨͔̦̗̺͓͙̥̲̣̥͓̞̪̪̙͉͖̯͓̑̃̀̓̿̃̾̈͗̉͛̆͆̍̑̈́̐̊̉̒̓̒̓̂͘̕Ŭ̴̙̥̭̖͎̹̱̤̥̳͇̥̳͕̲͖̪̫̻͕͍̳̠̠͘ŗ̵̨̗͍͈̬̪̯͕̘͚͖̥̮̤͖̼͓̗̲̫͉̦͉̓̎̀̽̊͗̃̀̀́̌͑̆̌̓͗̄̉̓̇̽́͋̕̚̕̚͜͝ ̷̨̡̡̨̺͇̻͉͇͕̻̺̻͉̩̻̣̝̱̤̥͖͙͆̾̃͜ͅḨ̵̛̛̜͓͌̋̓͌̃̔͐̂̐̀́̔̈́͑̀̉̈́̃̄͊̿͊͒̌̚͝͠͝ó̵̢̡̰͇͇̟̯͕̲̤̠̹̮͙̞͉̯̻̳̼̠̳͉̤͎̺͚͎̺̙̮͕̉̄͐̂̀̑̆̀͋̅̔̕͜͜͠ͅͅỤ̸͖̰̓̃̐̔̽̄̎r̴̛̛̛̘̩͇̺̰̹̭̂̇̈́̃̈̋͐͛̃͒̄̔͛̍̽͂̏̋̂̈́̀̅̈̅͌̔̒͌̌̋̍̕̚͜Ş̶̻̰͉̹̳̹̦̪̮̘͈̯̱͖̻̫̮̙̺̤̖̫̦̥͍̇͂͌̾͌́̽̄͋̊̅̈́̓̍̋͜͝ͅͅͅ+̶̨̛̳̥̝͖͙̰̠͔̣͎̭̱̘̙̪̲̯̆̇̋̎̑͊͋͌͆̈́̍̀̆̕͘͜͠ͅṪ̶̨̛̥̩̭̞̬̻̯͈̭̘̯̺͉̰̞̗͍̜̯͉̥̩̳̜̭͈̟͕͙̘̭͒̈́͆͐̽̒̽̀̽̾̎̋̐͑̇͊̂̎̈́͊̀̄̚̕͜͜͠ḩ̸̨̧̧̲̩͓̪̥̦̯͕͖̯͇̖̼̯̺͉͚̫̟̦͈̖͈̦̮̔̀͜I̸̳̬̳̺͋̊̀̎́͌̄̐͆͆̓̑̑̈͐̒̾̆͐̄̆͗̀̅͋̾̒̂̈́̚̚͘͠ŗ̶͔̘̦̊̐̑̓̀̓͂̐̓̀̔̅̇̑̇́̀̋̔͘͠ͅT̸̨̛͇̯̦̘̪̖̠̪̅̇ŷ̴̧̛̻̯͇̤̪̫̻̩̰̻̠̗̺̪̩͓̟̙͈͗̂̈́̈̚͜͜͜͠ͅ ̴̨̘̞̹̬͈̺̺͓̦̟̣̟̝̦̤̱͖̦̖̭̳́̂̐̅̀̓̏̾̑͛̂̈́̎̈̄̌̕͝͠ͅT̶̢̨̡̛̛̪̲̼̣̝͙͕̫͖̼͍̩͚̭̹̫̬͙̗̤̦͔͍͖̺̩̜̹̲͊̒͋̈̔͛͗̓͌͆̀̃̅̈́͐̉̿͆͒̚h̴̢̡̢̡̛͚̲̭̳̦̼̭̗̦̟͚͎̹̙̭̤͎̰̠͓̟͉͈̗̱̐̈̇͆̋͛͑̐́̽̄͊̉͆̂́͌̀͐̃̇̄͗̚͜͝Ȑ̶̢̛͚̮̺̮̱̩̝͈̠̥̣̥͚̳̙͑̑̂̊̋̒͋̎͗̈̓̌́̈́̀̾̈̀̀́̀͂̄̓̋͒͗̕͝͝è̷̡̛̱͎͔͔̦̝͉̯̖̯̝̥̻̗̥̪̣̯̥͔͕̘̑͆̎͒̐̍͑̈͂̓̌̑͐̍̅̓̃̂̔̀̎͒̈́́̃̆͌̚̕͘͝͠͠ͅĘ̷̧̢̢̛̛̬̟͎͓͙̰͎̞̜̲͉̤̝͖͔̘̳̥̲̤̲̙̦̟̣͍̩̮͎̱̔̆̎́͌̈̈́̾̈́̾̏̌̔͌̄͑́͒̓̏̈́̿́̌̏̓̌͑̕͘̕͠͠͠͠ͅ ̷̧̡̡̧̧̛̰̬̞͉͚̠̥̗̤͈͈̲̞̙̣̙̹̪͉̗̹̘͍̦̪͚̱̲̱̗̽́́̃̓̄͒̋̑͌͋̒̋̄̾̐̇̌̄͊̿͆̍̆̆̍̚̕͘̕̚̕͝͝͠ͅͅm̴̛͇̙̳̙̘̫̝͇̑͌̿̍̓̄̆̃̈̓̽͗̒͊̈́̈̂͊̀̄̈͛͑͋̔̚̚̚̕͘͜͝͠͝͝I̸̻̟͖̩͚̙͓̗̻̩̻̜̠̗͚̒͌̇͜͜ͅͅn̸̖̳̞͗̅̂͛̐͆̉͂̀͆͛́̽͋̿̈̉͊͗̔̚͘͝͝Ų̶̧̧̧̛͚͖͖̜͚̩̲̜͚̦̮̻̼̯̯̝͈͈̟̞̥̖̰͈͕̪̺̙̪̼̈́͛̎͑̋̓͋̂̐͛̔̃̇̽́͋̓̈́̓́̈̏̆́̈́͋͘͘̚̚͝͝͝ͅͅṯ̷͎͚͒̅̒͌̿̂̈́̅͌͛̃͗́̌͆͊͊̂̀͒̆̽̃̂̊̈́̄̽̎̿̿͝Ȩ̶̛̤̼̦͔̦̱̫̞͉͔̩̖̋͂̌͑͛̃͆͒͑̓͊̅̇́̌͐̾̓͆̀́̚̕̚͜͝͝͝s̵̛̪̹͍͓̰̣̬̖͍̄̄͊͌̏̐̅͗̔̋͒̅̔̄̏̌̇̓̆̊̈́̂͒͒͋̚͘͜͝͠͝ ̴̢̛̛̙͖̦͔͈̞̼̦͎̹̪̭̩̪̼̗̰̝̣̜̻͕͚͎̫̈̏̓͊̅̐̽̆̃̋̈́̽̉̈́͌̔͐̚͠ͅͅ

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Chapter Text

Alastor sat outside of the living room, listening to the soft sounds coming from the four turtles inside the room.  His thoughts rushing by and crowding his thoughts, about who he was, who he is, how he hurt Donnie.  He completely forgot how he could touch the soft shell now, even though the scratch was minor and it was bleeding now he couldn’t help but beat himself down.  It was horrible, he didn’t like hurting anyone or maybe even touch people in general? He didn’t know.  How could he know? He’s the one that was trapped in this situation in the first place.  If he wasn’t so stupid he wouldn’t be here in general.  He would still be living… or maybe not? Was his existence in the stupid world he was placed in, just to die? Maybe even just hurt other people?  Alastor didn’t know, and at the moment couldn’t understand.

His rational thoughts got more distant and fuzzy the longer his subconscious blamed him for messing up someone’s life.  He was just sitting and watching a family interact like nothing was wrong, like everything was okay.  He never saw that since the stupid day Leo saw him in the kitchen.  Nothing ever made sense.  He thought the way Leo’s family was acting was a normal thing to deal with.  He knew nothing about family but he knew everyone had their ups and downs. Sometimes for weeks, sometime for months, or even years.  Tears gathered at the corner of his eye as the thought of messing someone’s life up became his own thought.  Something to focus on.  Something to reason to do something about it.  He was the reason any of this started to happen, and the fact that he couldn’t get his own emotions under control was even worse.

Everyone has self control, but it seemed like he had none, he was practically an infant with consciousness.  He never wished to be in this situation, he never wished to mess up someone’s life, and he never wanted to be unseen.  Alastor didn’t even know the reason why he was in this situation in the first place.  How did he get pushed towards this situation?  Where was he before? What pushed him to now? Why wasn’t he dead? Why wasn’t he gone, dead, non-existent to life like the other kids? Why was he the only kid that lived? It didn’t make sense. The lines didn’t connect. Reality wasn’t making anything correct.  It was just like everything was just an illusion.   Alastor stood up quietly, looking into the living of the sleeping turtle pile.  Everything was because of you. A voice whispered.  Alastor looked around the room he was in, anxious and confused on where the voice came from.

“Who’s there? Who said that?” Alastor whispered, his ears flattening.  Come outside and see. The voice sounded off again, getting Alastor undivided attention now.  I can fix everything. I can help. It soothed.  Alastor looked back inside the living room, scanning the turtle pile before looking back at the darkened exit to the outside.  Time slowed down as Alastor tried to make a decision on what to do.  He turned his feet towards his decision, walking slowly towards his target.  The cold air freezing his lungs as he walked, the concert floor of the sewers seeming more frigid as he progressed.  Soft noises got louder and louder as Alastor looked around the dimmed scene.  What a wonderful choice you made. The voice cooed as the yellow light from a nearby street lamp grew a bit brighter as Alastor made it closer to the exit.  The fox stepped outside in the cold weather looking around the empty alleyway in confusion.  “I don’t see you. Who are you? Where did you go?” Alastor asked.

I’m over in the park.  Just across the street, I’m by the swings, you won’t miss me, I promise. The voice answered.  Alastor looked around the outside of the ally, seeing a small gated park across the street like the voice was going on about.  The chilled air blew past Alastor as he stepped out of the safe cover of the ally’s walls.  He moved slowly, the feeling of anxiety yet hope filling his mind, his thoughts becoming purely leftovers by now.  As he tracked past the arch way in the park he looked around, seeing a small figure on the far side of the park, sitting on the swings just kicking their legs back and forth.  Alastor looked around the park, seeing if anyone else was there, knowing in his heart it didn’t matter.  He hadn’t even realized how far he’s gotten away from Leo and Donnie. Fifteen, maybe twenty feet by now? He couldn’t tell, he didn’t even think about it.

He tracked across the deserted playground as he kept a steady eye on the figure, now a bit more seeable, swinging back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.  It looked like a little girl. Maybe nine or ten.  She had long dirty blond hair that curled up at the ends.  Her skin was a fair tone of white with beautiful crystal blue eyes that shone in the moonlight.  The girl wore a white button up shirt with a large blue jacket over it.  She had a pink skirt on with long black tights and white dress shoes.  The dress shoes had small bows at the end with a small band of fake crystals across the middle.  A few brown freckles littered across the girl’s face and hands.  She looked beautiful for her age.  A small glow of white outlined her presence making the scene look like a dream.  “Hey, where are your parents?” Alastor asked, expecting a response from the girl.

You took quite a walk over here. Did you notice that? The voice asked, but the girl’s mouth didn’t move.  The swing slowed down as the girl looked at Alastor with a happy face.  The fox looked back at the alleyway he came from, realizing how far he walked now.  I told you I would fix everything. Now it’s time for the fixing. Alastor looked back at the swings, the girl was completely gone, vanished into thin air.  In a few heartbeats Alastor could feel the unspeakable pain kick inside his body.  The feeling of lava burning his insides by every passing second he spent standing in the same spot.  He couldn’t understand anything that happened around him, seeming to become unaware of the scene he was in.  Wanting to scream, Alastor crumbled to the ground holding his body tightly as the pain seemed unbearable now, consuming his whole body before everything seemed to go numb.  His eyes still watered from the pain until everything went black.

N̸̨̧̺̦͓̼͇̑̔̓̽̌̍͆̍̓͜͜o̸̩͍̻̯̣̬̤̭͗̓̄̏̈̽̒͌̈͊̀͌͛̄̅͛̓͋̔̀̓͐̒͋͠͝Ẅ̸̢̨̨̛͙͍̰̬̩̩̜͖̟̤̮̱̻̤̣̗̱̗̟͚̦̱͕̘͎̦̘̗̗͎̯̻̠́̽̎̆̈́͒̃̀̂̍̏̓̊͛̊̋̽́͌́̾̾͛̈́͒͋͊̆̓͆̿̇͒͘͠͠͠ͅṱ̸̨̨̨̻̮̯͚͉̹̻͓̞̭̬̭̹͎̪̝̰̖̻͉͕̘̜͎͔̫͔̣͚͍͔̮̏͛͜ͅͅH̴̤̜̤̹̮̩̩̺͖͊͗̽̒̃̕͝é̷̢̻͓̬̹̭̠̘̜͍͔̘̭͇̻̭̪̠̘͔͎͗̿̆̿͛̒͐͂͒̈́͑̉̄̐́͐͊̈̋̌̆̕̕̕͠͠F̸̧̤̹̤̭̼͎͈̹̱̮͙̥̩̤̬̣̦̖̠̰̱͉͓̜̗̣͖̼̔̀̃̎̐͐̌̀̆̇̇̓̍͐̃͐̔̎̈́̓͆̚̚͜͝͝u̶̡̲̺̩͚̣̗̤̲̙̙̩̺̫̳̼̹̖̥͇̯̖͇̳̠̜͖̳̠͖̹̠̣͌̃͐̓̓̾̓̏̓̑͂͛̆̔͆̃̔̈̅̓̄̓̚̚͜͠͝͝͠͝ͅn̴̙̳̠̥̪͚̰͕̙͂̔̂͘͠C̸̨̛̛̜̻̖̦͍̥͊͑͐͌́̅̈́̏͂́̆̂́̍̓̇̂͗̚͝a̷̡̨̧̢̨̢̡̛̛̺͖̠̦̲̠̪̗̳̲̥̖̭̞͉̗̬͗͛̀̄̓̊͑̿̽̆͂̊̄͂̏͒̽̊͂̉̊̌̈́͗͗͂͆͑̇̈̔̾͘͝N̴̨̮̜̳̼̪͉̰͕̼̗͓̹̟͚̟̱̣̳̬͉̯͕̾̊̃̐́͒͋͌̊̆͗͒͗̀̔̂͂̐̾̀̒̑͑̈́́̕̚͘̕͝͝͠b̷̨̨̢̮̪͚͈͖̱̦̝̝̼͕̰̥̪̺̬͆͊̈́̑̈́͝Ė̸̡͉͍̠͈͎͈͈͌̏͒͂́̒̀͊̐͆̂̽̿̅̀̆̚͠͝g̵̡̢̡̛̰͈̳͕̥̥̯̲͉̪̗͚͉͎̯̜̮̦̖̳̊͌͋͆̐͗͗̌̅͐̌̀̍̔́̒̈̓̍͋̎͋̇̈́͑̍̿̋́͊̀̚̚̕̕͠͝͠Ḭ̴͓̤͈̱̤̱̽̍̌̄̐̊͛̅͊̿̾̊̌̌̋͌̓̔̿̑̈́̈́̆̽͘̕͘͝͝͝ͅn̷̨̨͚̭̳̹͖̰͍̠͕͚̞͍̦̹̥͓͊͊̓̆̊̿́̑̍̾̅̎̅̒́̽̒̈̀̾̊̾̈́̑̍͋͑̉̿̽̆́̕͠ń̵̡̧̢͍̹̰̲͔̠̬̙̪̗͔̖̪͖̘̙̘̹̗̹͈̙̪͉̱͈̥̤͕͈̺̱̙͕̈́͐́̇̎͒̈̈̿̉̄̿̓̎̚̚̚͜ń̸̡̡͍̹̬̳͓͈̜͉͉̠̞̮̟͓̦͓̪͕͍͉̘͓̩̭͔̦̲̺̙͙̪̓͆̊̈́̐̎͑̿̏̎̀͐̀́́̄̂̉̿͋̎̈́̽̔̃͆̀͗͐̌͌̀̂͘͠͠*̷̢̯͙͚̩̯͍͓̫̻͖͍̾̎̈́̈́̎̊́̏͘*̶̡̡̡͈͔̗̱̖͉̗̘̳̘̥̞̲̟̠̗̜̹̭̺̻̮̝̖͍̗̬̝͇̤̰̫̰̟̖̇̋͗͂̈́͜͝*̴̡̧̧̡̪̫͎̩̺̫̪͔̖͍̮͔͇͈̝̻̲̰͓̻̻͉͙͔̣͒́͜͜*̸̹̩̬̹̘̟̀͋͗͆̏̐̃̀͝

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Chapter Text

When Alastor opened his eyes, everything was numb and fuzzy, there was no sound, no noise, no feeling. Just Alastor.  His eyes fluttered open slowly, revealing a white area that looked to have no ending, just ever going white coloring.  His face was smashed against what seemed to be a solid ground, but was of course white as well.  He placed his hands down, looking around the empty space in a small state of concussion and dizziness.  The room didn’t spin, but it sure felt like it did.  The consistent white color going on for what seemed like miles and miles.  Just a white void full of nothing.  No air, no feeling, no noise, nothing.  Alastor lifted himself up off the ground, seeing a small teal light fade from underneath him.  When he gained his footing the teal light stayed under his feet.

Making one step towards a random direction he looked back, seeing the teal light fade away from where his feet were, going back to a white color.  Alastor looked up from the ground, looking around the white space to see if he could find anything sticking out against the white color but again nothing appeared.  He began to walk in a single direction in hope to find something or maybe someone to tell him where he was.  The noise of his footsteps echoing around the space, bouncing off the air-like walls that were closed in.  Though Alastor did not physically hit any walls, the sound did.  After a while of searching the infinite space Alastor came by nothing.  With one last step the fox quickly gave up and sat on the ground, feeling the sort of fuzzy white ground below him.  Kinda like sitting on a cloud that you could actually touch.

As nothing rang any alarm Alastor relaxed in the white space watching the teal light make small lines and patterns below him.  His tail made a small pattern as it swung back and forth on the ground.  Letting the silence of the room fill his ears, making the room seem peaceful but unnerving the longer he sat.  After a few heartbeats Alastor heard a small song fade into the room, filling the white room with a soft song.  He listened to the song, his ears flexing as they focused on the noise, filling his mind from any thought he didn’t hear before.  The music calmed his emotions and nervous feelings as his muscles relaxed as well.  He could feel the peace fill his chest but only for a few seconds.  The sense of sadness and guilt pierced his chest as he sat listening to the music.  The music suddenly cut off as a small black glow came into his vision of the floor.  Alastor looked up quickly at the figure that appeared in front of him with wide eyes.

“Hello Alice.” the person smiled.  Though the person didn’t have detailed features, Alastor could make out their legs, head, hoodie… and four arms.  They had white eyes and their body made out of wispy black shadows.  Their shadow-like form flickered and shifted as they stood, their voice like a small echo.  “Who are you?” Alastor asked cautiously.

“I am but a dream young one. Someone here to help you.” the shadow smiled.  “You can call me Weasel.” they smiled, one of their four arms moving as they spoke.  

“You were the one speaking to me?” the fox quizzed.

“Well, not exactly! Reality and illusion is quite a complicated thing to understand. Such breakable minds can quickly go from one side to the other.  You were also passed the lines, just needed a small push. If you understand.” Weasel smiled, looking Alastor up and down.  The fox just stared at the shadow with a confused, or maybe comforted look as their smile faded slowly.  “Well, I told you I would help you out. So, do you want to hear my deal?” they asked, keeping the conversation going, their smile returning.

“You weren’t lying about helping?” 

“Well no dear! I told you I would help! I didn’t have you walk away a big distance to fade away and leave you inside this white void!” Weasel defended themself.  “You said you wanted to restart your life, to see if anything played out differently from before.  I am here to make that happen! All you have to do is shake my hand and then BAM! You are but a new!” Weasel smiled widely as they explained what to do.  Alastor took a moment to think about it, taking in what the shadow said for a few heartbeats before looking up at them.

“Is there a catch?” he asked.  A part of him wanted to shake the hand right away but he knew that it wouldn’t do any good.

“Nope. I don’t know what shows you watched about making deals, but this is not a deal with the devil. Just a simple task.” Weasel answered, their answer seeming like the truth as he spoke.  Silence filled the room again as Alastor tried to see some form of hidden lie or anxiety coming from the shadow figure, taking a few moments to just look at them.  The minutes, or maybe hours, ticked but nothing showed of any other emotion besides happiness and maybe kindness.  

“How can I trust you? I just met you.” Alastor asked.

“A question I get too often in my own career! Let me tell you what options you have. You can either stay inside the white void for all of eternity, which let me tell you from personal experience, it’s not that fun.  The second option is that you can shake one of my four hands, maybe all of them, and get back to a whole restarted world! If I had the choice I would’ve already shook my hand!” Weasel jabbered, keeping his cody faced towards Alastor as he spoke.  Alastor shifted around on the ground, standing up to get a better look.  They had a good point.  Even though he didn’t know the shadow, staying inside a white void with no sound, no feeling, and no objects around him was not the funniest idea he’s had.  He contemplated on the decision before looking at the shadow.  “I’ll shake your hand.” he answered.

“Great choice young fox! You made a marvelous decision! An excellent idea! Now, which hand would you like? Left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom, or do you want me to pick a hand?” Weasel asked as his excitement became more and more energetic.  Alastor shrugged, letting Weasel pick one of their own hands to shake hands with.  In an instant Weasel stuck out his first left hand with a wild smile as Alastor walked closer towards them.  Alastor gripped the shadow’s hand, feeling somewhat solid but having a cold like smoke feeling.  Shaking their hand Weasel smiled as everything faded to a pitch black, leaving the illusion of the white void forever.