Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Leo ducked out of the path of the nunchunks as they came hurtling towards him, candlelight reflecting off the metal chain, and the weapon sailed past him harmlessly. His opponent recovered quickly, blocking his retaliating swing. The resulting clash echoed through the room, bouncing off wooden walls and adding to the tension. Leo huffed and retreated a few paces, muscles rigid as his assailant grinned and fell into a ready position.

The creaking sound of old wood walls was faint in between the heavy breaths of warriors locked in furious battle. He paid no attention to the flickering light from the candles strewn about the room. He couldn’t care less about the cold night wind rustling the leaves outside. All that mattered was the fight, and getting out alive.

Leo narrowed his eyes, shifted his foot, and pushed forward. His grip on his weapon was strong, his will was made of iron, he was a fighter, he was brave, he was—

– flat on his shell.

His opponent’s weapon was wrapped around his legs, and Leo dropped his head mournfully to the floor in defeat. The chains weren’t wrapped around him too tight so he was able to break free, struggling for the breath that had been knocked out of him.

“You brought your fists to a sword fight,” Leo wheezed, pointing an accusing finger somewhere above him. “That’s not fair.”

“Oh, come on, you let yourself wide open!” Mikey grinned down at him triumphantly. “Plus, it’s more fun like this.”

“Maybe for you,” he shot back, not half as irritated as he was pretending to be. Mikey was his little brother. He was used to his quirks and could never be mad at him. “Help me up?”

He threw his nunchunks to the side, giggling softly as he offered his big brother a hand.

“I don’t believe that that is the correct way to treat your weapon, Angelo,” a new voice suddenly spoke. Mikey, startled, dropped Leo’s hand and he fell back to the ground with a dull thud.

“April!” Mikey exclaimed, having whipped around so fast that a nearby candle flame danced in the wind he’d created. The corners of his beak were turned slightly upwards in a sheepish expression, like he’d been caught sneaking cookies straight from the jar. From what Leo could see – lying on the floor dejectedly – he could use some backup. He valiantly stumbled to his feet.

In the open door of the empty barn was their big sister April, already dressed and ready for the day in her sturdy training outfit and stern frown. She made for a scary sight, as she always did, but the amusement in her eyes betrayed her. Leo knew better than to be truly fearful, though he didn’t always.

Six years ago, back when he and Mikey had first met April – through a stroke of luck or fate – he’d been terrified. He’d also been 8 years old, afraid of the dark, and living in an orphanage with his little brother. The same orphanage that they’d lived in for as long as Leo could remember. There’d been a lot of other kids there over the years. Yokai and humans alike, as they lived in a fantasy world were the two could mingle in harmony.

Some of them came and went like clockwork, while others just showed up one day and never left. Some had been there longer than Leo and Mikey had, and everyone tended to avoid those kids; they looked sad and lost and hopeless. Mikey, bless his sweet heart, had wanted to help, but Leo didn’t know how they could, and he admitted to his little brother one night that he’d been a little bit scared of them. A little bit scared of becoming them. So, wanted to protect himself and Mikey, stayed away, and everyone else stayed away, and the boys couldn’t ever make a friend without having to watch them leave. After a while, it didn’t matter to the two brothers. They still had each other. They were each other best friends and that’s all that matter to them

Then one day, they were found by April. Leo decided that enough was enough. Him and Mikey snuck out early in the morning one day and gone to walk in the market -- because some of the vendors were kind and gave out free samples – and they had run full tilt into a human girl that was slightly bigger than them. Leo immediately went into protective mode, looking to defend Mikey. But, April had such a kind heart and told that she wasn’t going to hurt the boys. Mikey immediately ran up and hugged April, and although Leo was still a bit skeptical, he caved in after seeing the happy look on Mikey’s face

The three of them became fast friends and largely inseparable during the two weeks that April stayed in their village, much to the amusement and annoyance of her parents. April’s parents were traveling trainers, going from village to village to teach the less fortunate how to defend themselves, whether it be with swords, fists, or by other means. Since the fall of the Kingdom many years prior, bandits and thieves had become disturbingly commonplace, and business was booming. Especially back then. Which meant that as quickly as April had arrived, she had to go just as fast.

And Leo and Mikey weren’t going to watch her leave. They were 8 and 7 years old, respectively, and afraid of the dark and they didn’t want to be alone anymore, not if they had anything to say about it. So, they ran away with what little they owned stuffed in a potato sack, and April hid them in a chest of clothes on her parents’ wagon. Her mom found them 2 hours later, and immediately fell in love with them. After talking with her husband, they agree to let the young turtles stay. The rest, as they say, is history.

“It’s dangerous to spar without an experienced supervisor, which is either me or our parents” April used her foot to flick Mikey’s nunchunks into his waiting hand. “You could have been hurt.”

“Sorry, Apes” said Mikey earnestly. “We just wanted to practice before we leave today. And we’re fine! No one got hurt.”

“Totally fine!” Leo wheezed, bent over with his hands on his knees. “Even if it wasn’t fair.”

“Not everyone fights fair, Leo” April said gently.

Leo glanced up from his braced position – Mikey was rubbing circles on his back/shell apologetically – and finally noticed something strange. Mikey brought it up before he could.

“I thought we weren’t leaving until noon,” Mikey said. “You look ready to go?”

“We have to depart earlier than usual if we wish to make it to the next village by tomorrow,” April explained. “It’s not a well-known place. The roads will be rough.”

Leo straightened as their big sister moved closer and took his sword from his slack hand. When he and Mikey had woken up early to get some practice in, they’d been counting on no one else being awake to catch them. Oh, well, thought Leo, so much for stealth.

“Go back to the house and get your things together,” April instructed, holding open the door of the shed for them. “We leave in half an hour.”

“Yes, ma’am” the turtles said, and they nudged each other on their way through the door.

The first rays of sunlight were peaking over the horizon as the teenage turtles made their way to the house. The sounds of the locals beginning their day followed them down the neat dirt road, and Mikey smiled and waved at every person they happened to pass. The villagers couldn’t help but wave back; even some of the gruffer ones offered a smile. After all, no one could resist Mikey’s kind nature and overflowing optimism. Everyone ended up loving him eventually, and everyone missed him when he left.

Leo suppressed a sigh. Mikey, April, and her parents were the only family he remembered having. He doubted anyone even noticed when they ran away.

Don’t get him wrong, April and her parents were saints for taking them in. April slowly became their big sister and, despite being different species of turtles, Mikey was, without a shadow of a doubt, his baby brother. They came to the orphanage together and Leo will always love and protect Mikey with everything that he had.

But he never stopped feeling like a part of him was missing. Like there was a big, empty space in his chest. Filling it with Mikey’s endless cheer and April’s big sister love and positivity didn’t work, and throwing himself into training didn’t make it go away. Nothing did, and it ached something awful. Especially at night when there was nothing left to distract him. It felt like loneliness, or pain, or grief. It was confusing, since as far as he knew he had nothing to grieve.

“Are you okay? I didn’t throw you too hard, did I?” Mikey’s concerned voice broke Leo out of his thoughts and made him realize that he had been subconsciously rubbing his chest. They were stopped at the door to the house, his little brother examining him for any sign of injury.

“I’m fine,” Leo reassured him, stepping past him to open the creaky old door, “but I will be wanting a rematch. I must reclaim my title of undefeated champion!”

“But that would be a lie,” Mikey pointed out, walking backwards so he could look him in the eye with a cheeky grin. “You’ve been defeated a great many times.”

“That’s a gross exaggeration.”

“Maybe, but even if you’d only been beaten once, the title of ‘undefeated champion’ would be a lie.”

“Okay, I’ll just have to go for the title of occasionally defeated, but still a champion.”

“That would be your current title.”

“Ouch, Miguel, tell me how you really feel.”

Mikey grinned at him as they gave in to giggles, and they entered the room they’d been staying in. He pulled aside the dull curtains hanging in front of the small window, revealing a brilliant sunrise that bathed the world in golden light and came close to burning his retinas. It also revealed the disaster area that was the floor, covered in clothes and blankets. Leo winced. They’d have to stuff their things into bags pretty quickly if they wanted to leave on time.

“You’re getting better,” said Mikey about his sword fighting skills, beginning to pick through the mess. “You could fight someone with less training than me and win easily.”

“Too bad I only ever fight you. We have been training for the same amount of time and somehow you are still better then me” Leo teased. “Well Carol and Kirby did say that I have a natural talent” Mikey retorted back with a sly grin

Leo fixed his little brother with a deadpan stare, leading to Mikey throwing a pillow at him with scary accuracy “I’m telling you you’re talented, dummy. Most people can’t do what you do, and you’re still learning!”

Leo hummed in reply, haphazardly shoving random items of clothing into his bag. Carol and Kirby, who were April’s parents, would scold him for not folding them, but they were probably busy scolding random villagers outside by the wagon, so he was in the clear.

He closed his bag the best he could what with the overflowing clothes and set it down on the floor next to the door. Then he took his favorite jacket off the hook in the closet and slid it on over his light blue shirt. The jacket was dark blue, collared, and made of leather, with a pocket on the left side, right over his heart. Leo patted lightly at said pocket, feeling the hard metal shape of the object inside, reassuring him that his prized possession was exactly where it needed to be.

Leo turned around just in time to watch Mikey painstakingly fold his last orange shirt and put it carefully into his neatly packed bag, before putting on the same outfit that Leo had, except his was orange rather than blue. Leo chuckled quietly, fondly as he watched Mikey pat his pocket lightly

Leo came up quietly to Mikey as he gestured to his pocket. Mikey smiled softly as he brought out his prized possession, which was the same as Leo’s. Leo brought his out as he stared at the two identical metal objects in their hands. Leo brought Mikey into a side hug and softly kiss the top of his forehead. “I love you so much little brother” Mikey nuzzled against Leo’s side. “Love you too Leon”

At that moment, April poked her head in “Hey. You boys ready to go?”

The boys nodded their heads to indicate that they were ready. April left and Mikey followed her, but he then felt a hand on his arm. He turned around to see Leo with a genuine smile on his face “Thank you Angelo”

Leo felt a little down about himself and doubtful of his abilities more often than he liked to admit, and Mikey’s unconditional support and kind words mattered more to him than he could ever say. He didn’t know where he’d be without his little brother.

He beamed and squeezed Leo’s hand. “Can’t have my big bro thinking he’s no good.”

They hauled their bags down the stairs and out the front door to the familiar waiting wagon. The sun had been steadily climbing since they’d left the training shed, and it had finally made its way fully out from behind the earth’s horizon.

April took their bags from them as they hopped in the back of the wagon and threw their luggage into one of the three chests at the front. One for supplies, one for clothes, and one for weaponry. April’s mom, Carol, poked her head in and looked them over before nodding to herselves.

“Where we’re going is more dangerous than any outer villages we’ve been to. I know it will be difficult, but I want you to stay close and do as we say,” Carol said calmly.

“Have you ever been there, Mom?” April asked.

“No.” Carol frowned. “But there are rumors. Promise me?”

April, Leo, and Mikey glanced at each other.

“We promise,” they said in unison.

Carol tapped the boys on the head and hugged her daughter before shutting the back of the wagon. The back was a piece of wood that only flipped up to cover the bottom half of the opening; it was just there so that nothing fell out during their journey. A canvas covering shielded the sides and top so that the inside stayed dry when it rained.

Carol went around the front to her regular seat, right next to her husband, who took the reins of the two horses who would be pulling them, urging them forward. Mikey leaned the whole top half of her body out the back of the wagon to wave goodbye to everyone as they passed, while April watched him fondly and Leo patted the pocket over his heart one more time.

Chapter Text

Angry shouting echoed through the dark alleyways, the sound bouncing off cold stone walls as Donnie ran. His newly acquired treasure was tucked safely under one arm as the other held the hood of his cloak firmly over his head. It was a beautiful and clear night, lit by the stars, the moon, and the flickering lanterns in otherwise dark windows. The spotty light came from all angles, casting odd shadows across the maze of pathways that was his escape route. All the better, because as far as Donnie was concerned, shadows were his closest friends.

He took a hard left as he plotted his path carefully in his mind. Pass by two alleys; make a right. Immediate left. Straight until he reached a dead end. Turn right. Past the hanging shop sign with the faded lettering. Turn left. Take a—

His feet flew out from under him when a puddle of mud took him by surprise. He landed hard on his left arm and the hood slid off his head, revealing the tip of his handmade bo staff that he kept hidden underneath as well as the top of his battle shell, that was also carved from his own two hands. Donnie grimaced, heart racing and arm throbbing. He hadn’t accounted for puddles, he hadn’t seen that particular angle, and now he would pay the price for his ignorance. He scowled. Stupid unpredictability. Stupid mud.

Dumb mistake.

The pounding of a great many hurried footsteps snapped Donnie out of his scolding thoughts, and he scrambled to stand. His arm ached with the impact of the fall, but he was still clutching the bundle with his prize under his good arm. After the danger he’d put himself in to get it, he wasn’t letting it go without a fight.

Donnie spun around and started to run, but of course, it was too late. A large hand grabbed him by the hood and yanked him violently backward, choking him briefly and causing him to let out a dry cough. His back hit the wall less than gently, and when the shock of it all wore off, he was dismayed to find himself surrounded by about five brutish looking street thugs.

“The jig is up, kid,” the Leader growled, as if that wasn’t the most cliché thing he could’ve said. “Give back what you stole, and we won’t hurt ya.”

“Much,” another one piped up, grinning.

Donnie barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Intimidating figures that they made, they were also all muscle and no brains. Muscles could pummel him to a pulp much easier than brains could.

Unfortunately, he could not get to his bo staff as one of the brutes had him hanging by his neck and his battle shell was only used for protecting his soft shell, not really useful for fighting

Trying desperately to steady his breathing, Donnie cast about frantically for a new exit strategy. The word on the street about this group of brutes was unreliable at best, and grossly embellished at worst. The one thing that stayed consistent was that the group had four members, not five. Which meant that more than likely, one was newly recruited. A plan coming together in his mind, Donnie straightened up best he could.

“What— this is what you want?” Donnie looked up at them with what he hoped were honest eyes. Maybe they’d spare him if he looked innocent, since being a literal child apparently wasn’t enough. His voice shook, and that part wasn’t an act. “I don’t— I don’t understand.”

The biggest brute, which Louie spontaneously named Meathead, ground his clenched fist into the palm of his hand in an expression of his apparent toughness.

“Maybe we spell it out for you, then,” said Meathead.

“I’m just doing what I was told.”

“You expect us to believe that?” The leader scoffed, but something unsure shone through his eyes. “What idiot would tell you to steal from us?”

Donnie made a show of nervously glancing at each of their faces, not quite meeting their eyes, before landing squarely on one member in the back of the group. The one who didn’t have as much muscle as the rest, the one who’d been shuffling his feet and looking worriedly up and down the alley, the one that the rest unconsciously separated from, used to being a four-man team. The one who was new, or so Donnie was hoping.

“It was him,” Donnie said, pointing with a shaky finger. “H-he said he wanted to look good and catch me red-handed, but he promised he’d let me go!” Donnie said pleadingly, staring imploringly at the new guy with wide eyes. “You promised!”

The accused thug froze like a deer caught in headlights, aware of his tenuous position in the group. His wide eyes only served to further back up Donnie’s claim. The rest of the members gazed at New Guy incredulously.

“Jason!” Meat Head roared, glaring at the accused before whirling to face the leader. “I told you it was a bad idea to take him in!”

Leader scowled and shifted his focus to New Guy, apparently called Jason.

“Is this true?” Leader demanded. “I stick my neck out for you and this is how you repay me?”

Jason shook his head frantically, backing up a few steps down the alley. The poor guy looked scared out of his wits, and Donnie would’ve felt sorry for him if it weren’t for the fact that the same guy had been ready to watch him get beat up just a minute ago.

“You know I wouldn’t! I would never!” Jason shouted, fists clenched but shaking.

“Then why did you disappear an hour ago? Meeting with him?” Meat Head gestured angrily toward Donnie without looking at him.

“No! I went to get my jacket!”

“Likely story.”

“True story!”

“Ain’t nothing true from a liar like you.”

“The kid is the one lying, I swear!”

“You think we’re dumb enough to be fooled by some street rat?!”

Soon enough, all the members of the sad little group were at each other’s throats and shouting nonsensically. Several arguments were happening all at once; issues that had been allowed to fester for years were coming out in the open. In all the confusion, one guy even admitted to being afraid of the dark.

Through the commotion, Donnie was let go. Once he was free and making sure that they couldn’t see him, he slowly pulled his hood back on his head and slipped away into the shadows. As soon as he turned a corner he began running again, stepping more carefully this time, shivering as the wind cooled his muddy clothes. The shouting faded the farther away he ran, reassuring him that his attackers either didn’t realize he’d gone, or no longer cared if he was there or not. After a tense minute of full-on sprinting, his destination finally came into view.

Built into a long row of run-down stone houses was a small storage shed. It had no doorway, as the entrance had been filled in long ago by a family who’d wanted the new door to connect to their kitchen. When they tried cutting the hole for the new door, the house had collapsed, and the family moved away soon after. The house was empty, and broken, but the shed was still mostly whole and almost fully closed off from the rest of the world.

Donnie passed by where the old door used to be and squeezed in between the doorless shed and the tall building still standing next door. It was a tight fit, which anyone bigger than Donnie would be hard-pressed to manage, and that made it the perfect hideout. The perfect home.

He brushed aside the small section of cloth he had hung and hopped up to climb through the window it concealed. Donnie dropped into the dim room and sank to the rickety wood floor, struggling for breath and straining to hear something besides his own heartbeat. His tired eyes scanned the room automatically, searching for a threat that wasn’t there.

The shed was small, with stone brick walls and a reasonably sturdy roof that only leaked in two spots. In the corner was a good-sized pile of faded blankets he had collected over the years, which was the closest thing he had to a bed. A small wooden table sat in another corner, left there by the previous owners. It was where Donnie placed his food and other useful supplies he found. Or stole, whatever. The only other thing in the room was a chest – which had also been left behind – where he put his clothes. Most of the shirts and jackets were too big for him, but he wasn’t in the position to be picky.

Once he was sure that no one had followed him, Donnie let out a shaky sigh and brought a hand up to the hollow piece of metal that was the clasp of his cloak. He rested his fingers on it gently, knowing that it would pop open like a locket if the right pressure was applied; knowing that his most important treasure was kept hidden inside.

He sat there on the ground until he calmed down before standing up and unclasping his bo staff from his battle shell. He then shed the dark purple cloak, now muddy. At least his shirt matched the mud, but he’d still have to wash both of them at the river the next day.

When his cloak was folded and set down on top of the clothes chest, Donnie finally turned his attention to the thing that had nearly gotten him beaten within an inch of his life. He unwrapped the cloth carefully. Two loaves of fresh bread, a pouch of strawberries, and a good chunk of cheese greeted him. His stomach grumbled, his bodies way of reminding him that if he didn’t eat soon, it would protest by dropping dead. As much as Donnie wanted to stuff his face and call it a night, it was smarter to ration the food. He broke off a small piece of bread, and even smaller piece of cheese, and popped a few strawberries into his mouth. The rest was wrapped back up and placed on the table in the corner.

It wouldn’t last long, and it really wasn’t the type of thing that warranted the extreme violence his actions had been met with. Thugs, however, hardly ever listened to reason, and they listened to each other even less. They were only joined together by their need to incite fear in everyone in the immediate vicinity, even children.

But whatever, Donnie could take care of himself just fine. He’d been doing it since forever. What had happened in the alley was just one example in a long line of similar incidents

As long as he could remember, Donnie had always been smart. He wasn’t sure where he got it from but he just knew that he had this gift. It was just a shame that using his talents, his gift, left him on the streets

Donnie was around maybe 8 years old when his orphanage burned down. Donnie had tried to create something using his small hands because he wanted to impress the other kids and the caretakers. It ended up backfiring on him, quite literally as the whole orphanage went up in smoke. He was the only one who survived

Since that time, Donnie decided to not use his gift, unless strictly necessary. The only thing that he tried to create since that incident was his bo staff and his battle shell, and that was only when he had a too close call about a year ago

One thing that Donnie was able to pick up on in the last six years was streets smarts. For instance, he knew things about people. He knew that loyalties shifted quickly; that trust was the most fragile thing in the world. At least in that respect, he was invulnerable. Donnie had no one to be loyal to, and no one to trust.

He sighed. It was lonely business, being a homeless orphan. He certainly wouldn’t recommend it. Zero stars.

Around the time that he caused the orphanage to burn down was when the pain in his chest got worse. He’d been eight years old, holding a stuffed animal in the middle of the street, scared and young and all alone in the world.

The pain had always been there, of course, but never was it more apparent than when he was newly homeless and had no one to turn to for help and reassurance. Every day, to some degree, he’d be minding his own business and there it was – the empty space in his chest where it felt like something had shattered, or broken beyond repair. It seemed to poke at him, urging him to find whatever would help him heal beyond jagged edges and broken glass. Pushing him to find a family to love, and to love him in return, as corny and cheesy and unattainable as that sounded.
The feeling irritated him, because if he had no one to be loyal to, and no one to trust, then there certainly was no one out there for him to love.

Donnie exhaled softly as he took off his battle shell, before crossing the room and blowing out the half-melted candle, making his way to his pile of blankets. He wrapped himself up in his favorite one and flopped down on top of all the others, eyelids already heavy.

He wasn’t entirely comfortable, and his stomach wasn’t completely full, but it was close enough, and close enough was good enough for Donnie.

It would have to be.

Chapter Text

A giant roar was heard from a gladiator ring that was on the outskirts of town. Everyone would come for miles to see the fights, which was the main form of entertainment in the kingdom.

All the fighters were amazing, but none other then Big Mama’s prized fighter known as ‘Big Red’, though Raph wasn’t too fond of that name

Truth be told, he wasn’t fond of any aspect of his life. Ever since he turned 12 years old and had grown big and tall, his ‘guardian’, if you honestly wanted to call her that, had told him that she wanted him to fight in her gladiator arena that she called the ‘Battle Nexus’. Raph had refused at first, but once Big Mama threatened to kick him out on the streets, he had no choice but to give in and fight for her

Raph felt like he had been fighting for his entire life, every since he was a young turtle, fighting to stay alive first in an orphanage, and then on the streets. He was lured in by Big Mama’s sweet charm and motherly like attitude. Raph thought that she would treat him like he was her own child

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Raph was certainly a handful as a child and Big Mama was so busy running her ‘Battle Nexus’ that she never had time for him. Raph needed love and attention and Big Mama never gave him that, always being brushed off.

Raph only seemed to have Big Mama’s attention whenever he was fighting in the ‘Battle Nexus’. For the past 3 years since fighting in the ‘Battle Nexus’, Raph hardly ever saw Big Mama. She rarely showed her face, but it always felt like she was watching him anyways. When she did address him, which was usually after he lost a fight, she loved to remind him that without her he’d be rotting in a filthy orphanage somewhere. He was lucky, she claimed, to have been taken in by such an esteemed member of society with a noble bloodline.

Said bloodline was where the nobility started and ended. There was nothing noble about Big Mama, the half-human/half-spider yokai who had taken him all those years ago and pretending to be his mother, when she acted nothing like it, only seeing him as a means to get money. Just another pawn in her game.

Raph didn’t know why she bothered to adopt him if she hardly ever wanted to see him

Raph had just gone done with another fight, once again victorious as his winning streak continued to increase. The crowd around him was screaming and the announcer was saying something about his victory, but he blocked it out as he trudged his way towards the tunnel that led out of the arena and into the armory. Ignoring all the other fighters, Raph took off his armor and put away his weapon of choice, which were sais. He then turned and walked towards the house that was connected to the arena, dragging his feet the whole way, almost hoping that he’d never get home, that he could just walk forever. Sadly, even slow progress was still progress, and he reached the familiar front door all too soon.

As expected, no one was there to greet him when he entered. Raph sighed, running his fingers down his face as he made his way to the kitchen, trying to make his footsteps as quiet as he could.

The kitchen was a large room – as almost every room in the house was – with one whole wall made of glass, giving Raph a great view of the sunset. A view that he ignored.

He rummaged through the cabinets in search of something he felt like eating, eventually coming up with some leftover biscuits and a container of rice. Munching slowly on a biscuit, he made his way to the table in the next room.

The table was solid oak and surrounded by six chairs. Raph allowed himself to imagine, just for a moment, what it would be like to sit down for a meal with a loving family. A mom, a dad, maybe some siblings, laughing and joking and arguing and yelling because that was what a family did. He could come home to a house full of loud and occupied rooms and feel happy to be there. He could feel like he belonged.

Raph grimaced, the food suddenly losing its flavor. Indulging in such fantasies never failed to make his chest feel as if he were being crushed by an unseen weight. It was something that had been plaguing him for as long as he could remember, and he’d been searching for a cure for at least half of that. Raph hadn’t even been able to find an illness that fit the description, much less a cure. He’d eventually resigned himself to never knowing what caused it – the invisible weight of what resembled failure on his shoulders, or maybe an unfulfilled responsibility. On his worst days it made him terribly sad. After all, he had no one to be responsible for.

He stopped eating halfway through the rice. Suddenly, he had no appetite.

Raph stood up from the table, berating himself for bringing his own spirits down so thoroughly. He went to leave the way he came in, turning around slowly only to nearly die of a heart attack at a tragically young age.

In the doorway was Cassandra, who had been silently standing there for who knew how long.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to recover from whatever embarrassing squeaking noise he had made, and his mind was racing. The only person Raph was less likely to see than Big Mama was her ‘daughter’. Cassandra wasn’t biologically Big Mama’s daughter but, like Raph, Big Mama rescused her from an orphanage when Cassandra was young. However, unlike Raph, Big Mama treated Cassandra a bit better as Cassandra was the best female fighter.

Cassandra was five years older then him and, as such, Cassandra became like his big sister, taken care of him when he was really young since no one else was going to do it. However, Cass, as he liked to call her, had become increasingly distant in recent years. Raph had tried multiple times to start conversations or help her do chores, but he was rebuffed every time with short one-word answers. Eventually she stopped speaking to him altogether, if he could even find her in between all the errands their ‘mom’ had her running.

Which was why Raph was struck speechless by the simple fact that she was standing right in front of him. And now that the initial shock had worn off, he noticed that she was wearing an odd expression, looking him up and down almost like she was sizing him up, which was funny considering the huge height difference. He shifted awkwardly, rather unused to being on the receiving end of such intense attention.

“Hey,” Raph greeted cautiously. “Are you…doing okay?”

Cassandra grimaced and broke eye contact, huffing softly. She stood there a minute, clenching and unclenching one hand, the other one hidden in the pocket of her sweater. Fighting a war with herself, it appeared.

“Cass?” He asked uncertainly, taking a half step closer.

There was a tense moment where nothing happened. Then Cassandra’s expression shifted to something firm – resolute – and her shoulders straightened. The battle decided.

“You have to go,” Cassandra said softly, but surely. “She’s got her goons coming to get you. You have to leave.”

Raph felt his heart begin beating faster as his mind tried and failed to process the words.

“What?” he croaked.

“Big Mama” Cassandra’s mouth twisted into a grim line. “She’s got criminals on their way to— to come and kidnap you. Tonight. Right now.”

The older one moved closer with jerky, hurried steps, yanking her hand out of her sweater pocket. She held something out to him.

“Here.” She pushed it into his clumsy, shaking hand. “This is yours.”

Raph clutched the object – which looked like it was made out of gold of all things, but the world was kind of fuzzy at the moment, he could be wrong – in his hand. Dizziness made him sway on his feet and he braced himself against the table behind him. Nausea burned low in his stomach, making him regret ever eating anything ever in his life.

Violently pushing his blind panic to the back of his mind, he grabbed Cassandra’s wrist before she could back away.

“You’re giving this to me? What is it?”

“No, it’s not mine,” she snapped, stressed. “It’s the only thing you had with you when we took you in. It’s yours. Big Mama took it, and I’m giving it back.”

Cassandra pulled her wrist out of his grip and took back the object, which he now realized was attached to a chain. He bent down so that she could slipped it over his head, where it fell to hang around his neck. His hand automatically came up to where it rested on his chest, over the place that always ached, and he clutched what might’ve been the only clue to where he came from tightly in his hand. So tightly that it hurt.

Cassandra then took out his sais and handed it to them “Take these and go out the back door.” Cassandra shoved him towards the hallway. “Find somewhere to hide, hitchhike if you must, but you need to go far. And you can’t come back.”

With his plans for the evening in shambles, his world turned upside down, and his head filled with a million questions, he asked the most important one.

“What about you?”

Cassandra’s face softened and she held his hands gently

“I’ll be fine, Red” said Cassandra. “Go live your life. A good one, yeah? For me.”

Tears sprang into his eyes and he pulled the older into a spontaneous hug. He had always hoped that under different circumstances the two of them could’ve been closer. Now he would never know.

Cassandra hugged him back briefly before pushing him gently in the direction of the back door. Tears clung to her eyes as well, much as she tried to hide it. She grinned weakly.
“Bye, Raph”

He hadn’t heard her say his name in years.

“Bye, Cass”

He slid the (golden?) object under his gray vest, letting it rest on the long sleeve red shirt underneath. He then slipped the sais on his belt, making sure that they were hidden. He then darted down the hallway to the door, resolving to get a better look at the thing later, when he wasn’t running for his life.

Raph wondered vaguely why he didn’t feel much betrayal. Maybe because there had to be trust first for it to be broken. While he never trusted Big Mama, he never in a million years thought that she’d do something like this. There seemed to be no reason for it, surely there were simpler ways to get rid of him. Why go to all the trouble? Why him? It made no sense.

Then again, he didn’t know Big Mama very well. Maybe this was the sort of thing she did for fun.

Cold night air hit him square in the face as the door to the house shut behind him for the last time. Gravel crunched under his feet as he headed for the woods behind the estate. He used to play there when he was little, pretending to go on grand adventures with his make-believe family. Maybe it was sad, but those were some of the happiest days of his life.

As soon as he reached the edge of the forest, he turned to get one last look at the place he grew up in, chest heaving. An empty house with empty people all pretending that the others didn’t exist. Where a lonely boy looked out of his window every night and wished that the hollow space in his chest would stop being so heavy. Paradoxical, he knew, but he had no other way to describe it.

Lost in thought as he was, he failed to notice the creeping footsteps until he a giant net fell on top of him. He immediately panicked and tried to break free, but realized that maybe this net was made of some hard material as even his spikes weren’t sharp enough to break it. He couldn’t even stand up as the weight of the net was so heavy that it was holding him down. Maybe he was more exhausted from that fight then he thought

“Well now, looks like we’ve got a wiggler,” said a voice from his right, unsettlingly delighted.

A young woman, who looked around Cassandra’s age, walked right up to him. She was smirking and rubbing her hands together, as villains tended to do. Despite being bigger than her and being a ‘Battle Nexus’ champion, Raph trembled helplessly, eyes wide.

“Sure seems like it,” a deep voice sounded from his left. “D’you think Boss will be happy, Angel?”

The woman – presumably Angel – scoffed.

“Of course she will,” she said haughtily. “The jobs gone off without a hitch! Use your brain, Hun”

A bigger figure, who even appeared to be bigger then Raph, came out from behind Hun. “Yeah use your brain, Hun!” the bigger figure laughed as he advanced his way towards Raph

Hun’s face turned into a scowl as he turned to the third member of the group. “Whatever Timothy”

Timothy grunted and came to a stop in front of Raph. Raph continued to try and fight, but it was no use as Raph was lifted off the ground, the net keeping him trapped as he was placed on Timothy’s back. With Raph secured, the group made their way back through the woods.

Right about then, Raph was wishing that he had been using his brain. Of course criminals would sneak in through the woods! And of course, he would walk blindly into their arms. Tears of frustration and fright fell down his face

Now he was being taken away to who knew where. Away from the guardian who had sold him out. Away from Cassandra, who had tried her hardest and given him a chance. He’d let her down.

The net was soon taken off him but he didn’t have much time to react when he was thrown harshly into a dark wagon. The whole thing was enclosed and made of wood, with no windows, making him feel like he was in a coffin. He then noticed that the sais were missing from his belt and he turned his head to see the three members laughing at him as they held his sais. The double doors slammed shut, cutting off any light and trapping him inside. He sat in shock, listening to his kidnappers celebrating and laughing outside of his prison. Raph didn’t know if he was breathing; he couldn’t remember how.

He reached down to make sure that the object that Cassandra gave him was still against his chest, relieved to see that it was, but the relief was short lived when he took in the severity of his situation

As the wagon moved slowly but surely away from his hometown, he curled up in the corner and hugged his knees to his chest, doing his best to ignore the crushing weight of his fatal mistake.

Chapter Text

April had been right about the road being rough, but Leo wasn’t surprised – she was right about most things.

It had been over a full day since they started their journey, traveling slower than usual to properly rest the horses occasionally. Not to mention that April’s parents did need to sleep if they wanted to arrive safely, which Leo most definitely did.

It was tedious, but with Mikey and April along for the ride the trip had hardly been boring. April had been traveling this way her whole life, and had since come up with a ton of different games to play, which she passed along to her brothers. Some were incredibly complex and imaginative, with a long list of rules and a runtime of several hours. Other times they just competed to see who could yell the loudest. April’s parents did not approve of that game.

“I spy something…green,” Mikey said, the words long and drawn out.

Leo’s little brother was laying on the floor with both legs up the wall, looking completely at ease in his odd position. Leo turned and squinted out the back of the moving wagon. He always had difficulty guessing what on earth Mikey was looking at, and he didn’t make it easy. Most of what he saw was green!

“Okay,” Leo began slowly, buying himself time to think. “Is it a tree?”

Mikey shook his head.

“Grass, then.”

“Nerp!”

“What about that bird?”

“No,” Mikey giggled.

“That one?”

“No!”

Leo sighed in an exasperated fashion. That accounted for all the green he could see. “Did we pass it already?”

“Definitely not.”

April’s parents chose that moment to jerk the wagon to a stop, much to Leo’s relief. Mikey’s feet slid sideways down the wall and thudded to the floor at the same time Leo’s elbows did, since he’d fallen backwards unsteadily. April chuckled fondly as she shook her head at her brothers’ predicament. Leo huffed at April before tilting his head back to look at his little brother upside down.

“I yield,” he said with a half grin. “What was it?”

Mikey stood and walked over to pick up something off the floor of the wagon. He held it down in front of his upside-down eyes. It was a tiny piece of broccoli left over from breakfast. Of course, he would see it. He scowled playfully.

“I’ll get you next time,” he said.

“I know you will.”

Grass rustled, and Carol appeared at the back to let down the wagon door. They had parked off to the side of the path, and their two horses were being led away by Kirby to be taken care of.

“We’ll have to walk from here,” Carol said. “The roads aren’t made for a vehicle this size.”

The chests were unloaded, with Leo and Mikey carrying one between them and April and Carol carrying one between them too. Leo and Mikey craned their necks around to take in the sights as they made their way into the village. Carol had stressed the importance of staying close, apparently because the people who lived here were just as rough as the roads were.

Leo had to admit that he felt the strange vibe flowing through the place. It wasn’t as nice as other villages he’d been to. Everything looked run down to some degree; the houses were crumbly, the path was cracked, and vendors sold their wares from lopsided booths. Walking in the middle of the street, he got the feeling that he was being watched from several different nooks and crannies. Noise echoed around him. People haggling for a better price in the market, kids arguing nearby, and the parent trying to pull them apart. Leo’s chest tightened and he blinked cautiously, uneasy and a little sad. This seemed like the type of place you lived if you had nowhere else to go.

The door to the old Inn creaked as they pushed it open, as did the stairs when they were directed to their room. As soon as they entered, April stacked the three chests one after the other in the closet while Leo and Mikey raced to claim their beds. There were only two in the room, so after some arguing, Leo and Mikey agree to share one bed while April took the other bed.

Leo plopped down on the bed closest to the window and looked out at the busy street. There was a market going on, and colorful booths lines the road on both sides. There were fruits and veggies meticulously stacked at some, and varying items of clothing at others. He thought he’d seen someone selling knives on the way in. He shuddered.

“It’s really something, huh?” Mikey said, joining him at the window, and he nodded.

“You think we’ll get souvenirs?” Leo joked.

“Maybe a knife.”

“You saw those, too?”

“Of course I did!” Mikey shot him a teasing grin as he nudged him in the ribs. “You’re looking at the world’s leading I Spy champion.”

Leo shoved his shoulder playfully as they both laughed, relieved that the somewhat tense mood had been alleviated. Then April cleared her throat, and they turned in unison to see her standing there holding out Leo’s sword and Mikey’s nunchunks and the sash they could sheath them in, which was called a baldric. They stared at her in confusion, unblinking.

“Just this once,” said April, something heavy in her eyes, “you can carry these with you. For protection only.”

Leo exchanged an uncertain look with his little brother. They were never allowed to carry their weapons through town; this was a big deal.

Mikey stepped forward to take his things, and Leo followed. They slipped the baldric over one shoulder so that it hung like a sort of leather sash, both boys having to first remove their jackets to do so. Leo then put his jacket back on and sheathed his sword at his side, Mikey having already done the same with his nunchunks. Their weapons had been custom made for each of them, both lighter and smaller.

Leo shrugged slightly at Mikey, who turned to their big sister for further instruction. April nodded to herself and they followed her when she started out the door.

“You two know the drill. We’ll be offering our services, but this time stay close. Do not wander off,” said April.

For the next hour they traveled the streets of the village, telling the residents and merchants what classes they offered and inviting them to sign up. Almost in complete contrast to the last place they had visited, most people were gruff and short with them. There were only a few exceptions, and the ones that did sign up seemed to be a little too eager.

Mikey walked beside his big brother where they trailed behind April, headed for the next part of town. Mikey was attempting to balance the apple he’d bought on his head, swaying back and forth, eyes narrowed in concentration. Leo laughed at his little brother when the fruit rolled off and into his waiting hand.

“What do you think the point of this trip is? No one here seems like the type April and her parents would bother to train,” said Leo, keeping his voice at a volume he was sure April couldn’t hear.

“I always hear April and Carol say that everyone deserves the chance to defend themselves, as long as they don’t use their skills to hurt people who did nothing wrong,” Mikey recited.

“I guess.”

Mikey went back to balancing his apple, and Leo wandered off into his own thoughts. Everyone did deserve a chance to defend themselves, but what if their original good intentions changed and they injured others who were still defenseless? Would it be April and her parents’ fault for teaching them, or their own fault for making the bad choice? He had asked a similar question once, after an incident in a small fishing village. 'We do the best we can, but in the end, we are responsible for our own choices. Not anyone else’s,' April had said. Leo had a sneaking suspicion that she’d felt guilty anyway, but he supposed she’d wanted him to learn a lesson that she never had. Most days Leo was just glad that someone cared enough to teach him.

Unfortunately, one lesson that he hadn’t yet learned was how to think and pay attention to his surroundings at the same time. Thus, he failed to realize that Mikey had stopped walking until he bumped right into him.

A few things seemed to happen at the same time. The apple made an arc toward the ground as Leo bounced back a few steps upon impact with his little brother, which put him in the perfect position to witness a purple blur jump out from behind a booth and grab the falling apple before it hit the dirt. It was a miracle of reflexes that Leo grabbed the culprit before they could escape down an alleyway.
Leo looked down in bafflement at the fistful of dark purple fabric he had a hold of. It appeared to be some kind of cloak. It was slightly damp, like it had been recently washed. Finally, his gaze traveled upwards, only to meet a pair of startled mismatched eyes. But not just any mismatched eyes. No, Leo was staring directly into the same mismatched eyes as him. Shocked and curious blue and red eyes meet scared blue and red eyes. The crook had to be around his age, and was maybe an inch or two shorter. Not only that but he was also a mutant turtle, just like him and Mikey. His beak was hanging open in surprise.

Mikey walked over with a confused – and slightly worried – look on his face, not picking up on the fact that the crook had the same eye color as Leo.

“That’s actually my apple,” Mikey said, pointing.

The turtle looked down at said apple clenched tightly in his hand, then at the weapons hanging at their waists with a calculating gaze. Leo frowned.

“We won’t hurt you,” he said carefully. “We just want it back.”

The turtle in purple sighed silently and held the red fruit out to Mikey, resigned. Leo reluctantly released his hold on him.

“Here,” the mystery turtle said quietly. “Sorry.”

Mikey shook his head and gave a small smile. “Keep it.”

Leo and the mystery turtle turned nearly twin (haha) expressions of shock toward her, and something strange flitted through Mikey’s eyes, there and gone before he could name it. Then Leo’s little brother shook his head as if to clear it and waved, starting in the other direction to catch up to April.

“Come on, before April realizes we’re not right behind her,” Mikey called back at Leo.

The purple turtle beside him gave him one last suspicious look before darting off into the alley, disappearing within seconds. For some reason, it felt wrong to let him go.

Leo fought the instinct to chase after him and ran to catch up to Mikey.

“Why would you do that?” he asked his little brother.

Mikey shrugged. “If he needed it badly enough to steal it, then he needed it more than me.”

It never failed to amaze him how Mikey could see the absolute best in people even after witnessing the worst. His baby brother made it seem so simple.

“Plus, he kinda looked like you,” he added with a mischievous grin. “I couldn’t just leave him hanging.”

Leo rolled his eyes. He hadn’t noticed any resemblance at all. They had different skin colors. But, then again, neither did he and Mikey and they were brothers. On top of that, him and the mystery turtle had the same eye color whereas him and Mikey did not. How did that make any sense?

Leo decided to put that in the back of his mind as him and Mikey caught up to April, immediately feeling bad when they noticed their big sister looking around frantically. They smiled sheepishly when she saw them, marching toward them quickly.

“Where have you been?” She demanded, and they winced.

“We got a little held up,” said Leo. “Mikey dropped his apple and we were looking for it.”

He mentally high-fived himself for that one. Between him and Mikey, Leo was the best liar, with Mikey being one of the worst. If April found out what had really happened, she might make them stay behind at the Inn for the whole trip.

“And we found it, but it was really dirty, so we threw it away!” Mikey added brightly, and Leo could honestly say that he was impressed with the fact how quickly his little brother caught on to the lie and ran with it

Their big sister looked between them suspiciously, but evidently decided to drop the subject, and they continued on their route.

Several hours later saw them heading back to the inn for the evening. It would be getting dark soon, and one thing they didn’t want to experience was the village night life.

They were stopped at a food booth where April and her parents was shopping for dinner when Leo heard the noise. A faint crashing sound and some kind of yelp drifted from a nearby alley. He met eyes with Mikey, who had seemed to hear it too.

Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

Leo jerked his head slightly in the direction of the noise and then gestured between them and the alley, indicating that they should go check it out. Mikey was a bit hesitant as he jerked his head towards April and her parents. Leo knew that Mikey was asking if they should tell April. He shook his head, knowing that April would not approve of it and immediately tell her parents. Leo grabbed onto Mikey’s hand and had that mischievous look in his eyes, but still held a look that told Mikey to trust him on this. This will be quick, I promise. Trust me on this Leo seemed to say with his eyes. Mikey sighed, nodding and looking at him with as stern a stare as he’d ever seen on his little brother, as he squeezed his hand, letting Leo know that Mikey, while hesitant as hell, still trusted his big brother, and that was enough for Leo

With one last glance to be sure no one was watching, Leo held on tightly to Mikey’s hand and the two of them ran down the alley, listening for any further noise to guide them. Leo heard the dull thud of something heavy hitting the dirt close by, and the two brothers cautiously peeked around the next corner.

The alley opened into a square shaped space guarded by the stone walls of tall buildings on each side. A pile of broken wooden crates sat in a corner. Leo hadn’t realized they were so close to the edge of town, but there was a large opening on one side of the clearing with nothing but open fields and rolling hills beyond it. A completely enclosed wooden wagon with four horses faced in that direction, poised for a quick escape should the need arise.

And there in the middle of the square was the same turtle in the cloak from earlier, on the ground and surrounded by three people of varying sizes. One seemed to be pure muscle, and they all wore purple shirts of varying styles.

“This is just— It’s a misunderstanding,” the turtle in purple was saying, hands up placatingly, voice trembling minutely.

“Are you calling me an idiot?!” the only girl in the group roared angrily. “Grab him, Timothy!”

As the mountain of muscle advanced, Leo felt a strange feeling building in his chest. It was growing alarmingly quickly, and strangely enough it originated exactly where the hollow space had always been. This time though, it burned instead of ached. An odd, strong, strangely nostalgic protective instinct had been awoken, like it was a dragon that had been hibernating for a thousand years. It wasn’t even the same protective instinct that he had towards Mikey. They was something completely different. Rawer and with way more fire. It made absolutely no sense, especially directed at this random stranger, but Leo made the executive decision to be confused later.

Leo made eye contact with Mikey and he could see that while Mikey wanted to go help, the look at the three thugs was enough to have him slightly cowering in fear, looking at Leo with scared eyes, as a silent way of telling his big brother for them to not intervene.

Well, Leo was never good at following directions. Especially when his instincts told them otherwise.

“I’m sorry Mikey. But I can’t ignore my instincts. I must go in there and help him” Leo said softly. Mikey tried to argue but Leo placed a hand on his shoulder before he could. “Stay hidden. If I need you, I will call you”

Mikey knew that he couldn’t really argue with his big brother, so he sighed reluctantly as he placed his hand over Leo’s. “Be careful Leo”

Leo smiled softly as he told Mikey that he would try. The slider in the blue jacket reached slowly for his sword. ‘For protection only,’ April’s voice drifted into his mind, and he winced. Well, she had never specified for whose protection.

With a deep breath and a whispered apology to his big sister, Leo stepped into the clearing.

Chapter Text

The first thing Donnie had done that morning was head to the river with his cloak. He’d doused it with water and thoroughly scrubbed it of dried mud, doing the same to the brown shirt he’d worn underneath. He had left them both on a rock to dry and given himself a quick wash, keeping a close eye on his clothes in case anyone got any ideas. As soon as the cloak and shirt were mostly dry, he’d put them back on and continued his day with newly clean and fresh clothing.

Which was why it was such a shame that he’d ended up in the dirt again so soon.

Three crooks surrounded him wearing varying styles of purple outfits. They were hilariously staggered in height. One was huge, while another was about his height but stout, while the three was the only female and was a few inches taller than him.

Donnie had been minding his own business, trying to break into their wagon, when the walking mountain had grabbed him from behind and tossed him into a precariously stacked tower of empty, rotted, wooden crates. They had, of course, toppled down on top of him. He hadn’t been given any sort of recovery time either. The medium sized purple crook had pulled him out by his leg and dragged him to the middle of the clearing, where walking mountain and the rest of the crew now stood over him menacingly. All in all, it wasn’t an ideal situation.

“You really thought you could get away with stealing from us, you little brat?” The only female hissed, red in the face with anger. “You thought you could rob the Purple Dragons?”

Donnie had no idea who they were, but he was not about to tell them that. Having no information put him at a distinct disadvantage, giving him less to work with to talk his way out. He’d have to try some general de-escalation tactics. He didn’t want to have to use his bo staff unless absolutely necessary

“Hey, I didn’t know that belonged to somebody,” he began, moving into a sitting position and raising his hands up in front of him. “This is just— It’s a misunderstanding.”

Donnie knew it had been the wrong thing to say when the woman immediately scowled.

“Are you calling me an idiot?!” she screamed, then turned angrily to the biggest one. “Grab him, Timothy!”

The huge henchman started towards him, and Donnie thought for sure that he was about to die. If that guy got one good punch in, he’d be dying of internal bleeding before the second one landed. Not to mention the external damage he’d be suffering from. Not only would Donnie die, he would die looking like roadkill, and his last meal would be an apple.

An apple that had probably been poisoned, let’s face it. No one just gave food away. Especially not kids that carried around very sharp, scary, deadly weapons. Even his weapon couldn’t compare to those weapons.

Speaking of his weapon, Donnie could hear his mind screaming at him to grab his weapon, to defend himself, even if his bo staff wouldn’t stand a chance against the big guy coming towards him. Unfortunately, his body had decided in that moment to just shut down and he couldn’t move a muscle, frozen in fear for reasons that he didn’t know why

The big guy – Timothy – reached toward him with a hand about the size of Donnie’s whole self, and Donnie wanted to close his eyes, but no part of his body seemed to be responding.

So, it was with eyes wide open that he witnessed the miracle that took place next.

“Hey!” A voice called sharply from behind him. “Let him go.”

Donnie’s head jerked to the person who had spoken, and he concluded that the apple had been poisoned, because he was surely hallucinating.

Standing right behind him was the turtle in the blue jacket from earlier, face determined and sword drawn, looking about ready to punch the universe in the face and/or die trying.

Donnie stared wide eyed in surprise, barely breathing. Part of him thought that maybe the stranger had come back to exact his revenge on him for stealing his brother’s apple, and was only attempting a rescue so that he could kill Donnie himself. The other part of him thought that he should just forget about the apple thing and enjoy the last few minutes of his life on earth.

The turtle in blue took another couple of steps, effectively moving in front of him. Timothy was quite obviously confused at this interruption, and the large man turned to the leader for guidance.

“Uh, Angel?” he asked uncertainly.

Angel scowled, which she seemed to do a lot, and stomped her foot. It reminded Donnie of the children he saw throwing tantrums in the market sometimes, which was funny considering that Angel seemed to be a few years older then him.

“He’s just another turtle! Get them both!” Angel shouted.

Donnie finally thought to stand, and did so in as coordinated a fashion as one might expect from someone fearing for their life. The ground seemed to sway beneath his feet, and Donnie took a few deep – albeit shaky – breaths.

“I’ll take the big one, you take the quiet one,” the turtle with the sword whispered back at him.

Donnie’s head shot up. “What?!”

But his mysterious would-be-savior had already rushed headfirst into danger like it was as simple as breathing, expertly evading and dodging the clumsy attacks of his adversary.

Timothy at least didn’t seem to have any kind of formal training, relying more on brute force than anything else, which of course still made him fairly dangerous. Fortunately, sword turtle appeared to have been well taught. Unfortunately, Donnie’s strength tended to lay more in verbal sparring matches, and the still unnamed Purple Dragon that was approaching him didn’t seem much for conversation.

His opponent lunged at him, quicker than he expected, and Donnie ducked clumsily out of the way, stumbling as he went. Get it together, Donatello.

He grabbed his bo staff from his back and held it in his subtly trembling hands and whipped it up in front of him just in time to block the punch that came seconds later. His bo staff shook as the fist connected with it, and his attacker released a garbled growl. Donnie quickly scrambled around him and spun around when he’d created some distance.

His opponent was closer than he thought he’d be, and Donnie cried out as he was shoved back into the wall behind him. Thinking fast, he kicked out hard with his foot and connected it to his attacker’s shin before ripping himself out of his attackers grasp and shooting past him.

In a moment of misplaced confidence, Donnie swung his bo staff at his opponent’s head.

He missed.

The wooden bo staff clipped the Purple Dragon’s shoulder with all the strength that Donnie had in his body at the moment, which was only enough to knock them both a bit off balance. He tripped backwards until his back hit someone else’s, and he jumped in surprise, shooting a glance over his shoulder and relaxing only slightly.

While Donnie had been engaging in a somewhat comical fight with the silent member of the gang, the sword turtle had been battling fiercely with the huge one. Timothy’s shirt was now torn in multiple places, and one of his arms was bleeding from a nasty – but not life threatening – cut. The huge man was not happy about it.

Angel was standing off by the wagon shouting what could be mistaken as encouragement to her lackeys, though Donnie noticed that she occasionally glanced at the alleyway behind them and seemed to find something in that alleyway as she was slowly moving towards it

Donnie thought about saying something about it to the sword turtle but decided that they needed to take care of the two attackers in front of them. Donnie and the strange turtle in blue stood back-to-back as their two attackers regrouped and circled them menacingly.

“I have a plan,” said the sword turtle quietly. “Do you trust me?”

“No!” Donnie snapped, overwhelmed and half hysterical.

“That’ll work.”

Not two seconds after that declaration, the sword turtle spun around and put his very sharp, deadly weapon right up to Donnie’s neck. He let out a strangled yelp, more like a wheeze.

“Thanks for this, really, but I’ll be going now.” The turtle pulled Donnie backward slowly as he spoke. “I have a bone to pick with this one, so I’ll take it from here, don’t worry. Good day.”

It was a terrible plan, but Leo almost thought it could work, especially since Timothy and the other one had stopped advancing on them. What they didn’t see, however, was that Angel had found what she was looking for. A high-pitched yell came from behind them which immediately got the attention of the sword turtle

“MIKEY!!!” the sword turtle yelled and Donnie turned to see Angel had a tight grip on the other turtle that Donnie had seen earlier, which he assumed was the blue turtle’s brother. The sword turtle tried to rush to save his brother but because of this, it left them vulnerable

Timothy rushed forward and knocked over the sword turtle before he could get very far, essentially knocking away his weapon, and Leo was yanked into the tight embrace of the remaining member of the group. His trusty bo staff dropped unceremoniously to the ground as Donnie was picked up (Donnie was shocked at the strength of the guy) and thrown over the Purple Dragon’s shoulder. He thrashed best he could in the hold, but it was clear that the fight was over.

Donnie watched as the kid with the nunchunks – now nunchunkless – was handed over to Timothy before bending to pick up the fallen nunchunks and sword. She then went over and picked up his bo staff and Donnie began to struggle but found that he couldn’t move much because of the tight grip and, realizing that had little strength, decided to give up, silently mourning the lost of his bo staff. Donnie could hear the nunchunks turtle crying as he was handed over, clinging onto the sword turtle, who started to comfort the nunchunks turtle, while also hissing loudly at Timothy and Angel. Donnie wasn’t sure why but seeing the nunchunks turtle crying left him feeling extremely uncomfortable

The leader turned toward the group, amusement shining in her eyes, putting up the front of someone who hadn’t just ordered criminals to fight children.

“Timothy, Hun” said Angel gleefully. “Why don’t we take them to Kitsune, too?”

The only female in the group went over to the waiting wagon and put the weapons in a storage chest attached to the side before pulling a key out of her pocket and unlocking the back. The double doors swung open menacingly.

“Throw ‘em in,” Angel said, gesturing grandly to the interior of the wagon.

Timothy and Hun carried the struggling turtles swiftly to their doom, the sword turtle and nunchunks turtles now recognizing their situation and calling loudly for help. Donnie didn’t follow their lead. He knew that no one was coming, at least not for him.

Being thrown into the wagon didn’t hurt as badly as being thrown into the crates had, but it was extremely painful in other ways, like being torn apart from the inside out. Donnie had been living on the streets for a while, and he’d been through more than he cared to recount, but this was definitely a first. His heart pounded in his chest and his hands shook – he was scared.

Donnie’s attempted rescuer and his brother landed beside him with a thud, having been thrown in none too gently. The doors slammed shut with depressing finality.

Sword turtle and nunchunk turtle held on to each other as they checked over each other, relief washing over them as they realized that they weren’t hurt

Then they realized the severity of their situation as they came up to the back door and started shaking the bars, still yelling and screaming for help. “You can’t do this!” Nunchunk turtle yelled, jumping up and shaking the doors, with sword turtle not too far behind him

His exclamation was met with mocking laughter from the outside of their prison, and the sword turtle kicked the door in frustration. Donnie focused on remembering to breathe.

“Actually, they can.”

Donnie jumped at the unexpected voice, pushing himself off the ground on weak arms and jerking his head around. There at the opposite end of the wagon was yet another turtle – captive? – this one in a long-sleeved red shirt and a grey vest. Despite being hunched in the corner, this turtle was definitely bigger then all three of them. He looked about the size of Timothy, though Donnie had a feeling that this turtle was gentler then Timothy. The turtle’s gaze was flickering between them nervously.

“They did it to me,” the new turtle continued quietly.

“Who are you?” Sword turtle asked shakily, his hushed voice breaking. “What are you—why are you here?”

“I’m Raph,” said the turtle, and he shrugged his shoulders a little awkwardly. “I’ve, uh—I’ve been kidnapped, I guess.”

It hit Donnie then that he was being kidnapped, too. Which was ludicrous, because only important people or people who were important to someone were worth kidnapping, and he was neither.
Donnie dragged his trembling hands down his face and groaned in frustration. The day had started out so well.

The sword and nunchunk turtles – having had the same revelation, if the look on thier faces was anything to go by – opened their mouths to reply, but the wagon jerked, and they knocked their heads against the door. Donnie’s breath hitched, and he had a hard time keeping his balance as he pushed himself further against the wall.

They were moving, which meant that the kidnappers were likely fleeing the scene of the crime, and taking them far away from any sort of help. He dropped his head to his knees and shut his eyes tightly.
“No, no, no,” Nunchunk turtle mumbled to himself, eyes fixed on the doors as if he could see through them at the world they were leaving behind. The sword turtle gently moved the nunchunk turtle away from the door as they moved to their own corner across from Donnie, the sword turtle bringing the nunchunk turtle into a side hug, as a means of comforting him

Donnie figured that they must’ve been holding out hope that their friends would come and save them. They were all getting their hearts broken today, it seemed.

The wagon moved quickly and steadily away from the village, until the muffled voices of the Purple Dragons were all that they could hear. Eventually, the cries of the orange turtle died down as the two turtles glanced at Raph and Donnie

“I’m Leo, by the way.” The sword turtle replied with a small smile

The nunchunk turtle’s smile was surprisingly bigger and Donnie couldn’t understand why they were smiling at a time like this

“And I’m Mikey” came the small voice

Chapter Text

Raph spent the first few hours of his life as a kidnapped turtle alternating between crying, hyperventilating, and staring at the wall. He’d lived in the same village – in the same house – for as long as he could remember. He’d never left before, never seen much of the world outside of the small part where he was raised.

Big Mama, of course, had never been one for family road trips, although she was prone to sudden unexplained disappearances. Raph hadn’t thought much of her trips then, when life was boring and lonely and normal, but now he wondered if she’d been off somewhere throwing criminals at unsuspecting children, like it was a hobby or something.

Eventually, and after many false starts, Raph pulled himself together enough to think about what he should do next, which was difficult because he had absolutely no context to his situation. He didn’t know why he’d been kidnapped, why Big Mama had wanted it to happen, or where he was being taken. So, the best plan he could come up with was one in which he sat still, gathered information, and kept an eye out for an escape opportunity.

About two days after he got snatched – the longest two days of his life – the wagon stopped. Not the stops he’d grown used to, the short ones where they let him out to use the bathroom and gave him food, but a long stop in what Raph had determined must be a village. His hypothesis was confirmed when he heard the Purple Dragons discussing the gathering of supplies, needing to be ready to see ‘The Big Boss’ or Kitsune as he soon learned.

Their voices had disappeared for a bit, so Raph took the opportunity to unfold his stiff limbs and thoroughly search the space in which he was being held. It was barren except for a chest filled with identical shirts of varying sizes, and a metal hook on the wall that could be used to hang a lantern. There was no lantern, however, since it apparently wasn’t enough to leave him metaphorically in the dark – they went for the literal meaning, too.

The walls were solid. The doors were sturdy, and perpetually locked. Overall, it was a very depressing analysis.

Raph was sitting dejectedly on top of the chest – wondering why the universe had such a personal vendetta against him – when he heard the noise, and he froze like a deer in headlights, barely breathing, wondering if he was imagining it. The faint metallic scraping of the lock outside being messed with, unaccompanied by the loud voices of his captors.

The sound persisted for a few seconds, as quiet and fragile as Raph’s hope, and then it stopped. There was a surprised yelp, and then from farther away came the sound of wood cracking and hitting the ground. Raph cut his eyes toward the noise worriedly, wishing he could see what was going on. He pressed the side of his head to the wagon wall, trying to hear what was happening.

There were voices. The Purple Dragons, mostly Angel, and then there was one that Raph didn’t recognize. A young voice, belonging to a kid, who was presumably the one who’d almost become his unintentional rescuer by breaking into the wagon. Raph’s stomach tied itself in knots, reacting to his feelings of helplessness. He didn’t want to hear anyone get hurt, especially not when he couldn’t do anything about it.

Angel shouted something authoritative and annoying, and Raph’s heart jumped into his throat. And then there was a new voice again. Another kid. Another person who didn’t know what they were facing.

What followed could only be some kind of scuffle, if the panicked breathing and occasional cries were anything to go by. It seemed to go on forever, but it couldn’t have been any longer than three minutes. It didn’t matter. A lot of damage could be done in three minutes.

The kids were captured. The Purple Dragons’ amused laughter grew louder as they neared the wagon, as did the shouting of two of the kids, calling for help. Angel opened the doors, and Raph squinted into the light with watery eyes, just barely able to make out the evil grin on his captor’s face. The kids were thrown roughly into the wagon with him, and Raph’s breath hitched.

They were turtles, just like him, even if they appeared to be different species of turtle. By what Raph could tell, the three turtles look younger than him, by maybe a year or two. One had on a brown long-sleeved shirt that was a bit big on him, and a purple, hooded cloak that fell off his shoulders and down his back like a cape. The other two kids were wearing light blue and orange shirts, respectively, with the one wearing the blue jacket having some kind of leather strap running diagonal over it, while the one wearing the orange shirt only had a belt on. Both were wearing dark blue and dark orange collared jackets, respectively. All three of them were in obvious distress, and Raph was right there with them because what the heck.

Raph introduced himself best he could, since they hadn’t seemed to notice him and he kind of thought it was important that they were all on the same page, or that they at least knew of each other’s existence. They didn’t have much of a conversation, since they were rudely interrupted by the wagon moving, which incited renewed panic in his new cellmates, which made Raph panic by association and for a great many other reasons as well.

The blue one paced frantically as they got farther and farther away from the village, while the kid in purple stayed hunched against the wall, seemingly unaware that he was shaking. The one in orange was watching the blue one paced with a concern look in his eyes. All three of them had tears gathered in their eyes, but in general Raph thought that they were handling it better than he had, which wasn’t hard but was still something to be proud of.

Some undetermined amount of time later, the kid in the blue jacket sat down next to the one in orange and put his arm around him in a side hug and the two of them announced that their names were Leo and Mikey, respectively.

“Oh- um, nice to meet you?” Raph said, unsure of what a normal response would be in this situation.

“Could be nicer,” Dewey said simply, and yeah, that was true. Mikey turned his attention to Raph “What are you in for?” the young turtle asked

“Big— My guardian hired these guys to kidnap me,” Raph said tiredly, avoiding eyes contact that was sure to be awkward. “I was taken almost two days ago, I think.”

“Oh,” said Mikey, and Raph huffed a laugh, because he didn’t know how he felt about it either. “Uh, why?”

“I don’t know.” Raph shrugged. “I didn’t know her that well.”

“You and her… you aren’t related?” Leo asked, clearly trying to get a grasp on the – admittedly, confusing – situation.

“I was adopted,” Raph explained. “I’ve lived with her my whole life, but she didn’t want much to do with me. I barely saw her.”

Not that he was all torn up about it, especially considering recent events.

“Hey, we are kinda adopted, too!” Mikey perked up, gesturing to him and Leo, clearly excited to finally have common ground, and Raph couldn’t help a small smile. “We ran away from the orphanage and stowed away on our adopted family’s wagon when Leo was six and I was five.”

“And they let you stay?”

“Oh, yeah, they’re the best.”

Mikey deflated suddenly, the light in his eyes dimming, as he turned towards Leo. “They’re gonna kill us when we get back,” he said. “April probably thinks it’s her fault.”

Well, at least one of them was holding out hope for getting home. Mikey had said when, not if. Raph wished he knew how to hope like that.

Mikey had laid his head back on Leo’s head as Leo rubbed his hand up and down Mikey’s arm, eventually moving to his shell as he comfort his little brother, whispering what Raph could only assumed was comforting words and reassurances

Looking at his dejected fellow prisoners, sitting hunched up in the dark headed someplace that was surely dangerous, Raph couldn’t help but feel at least partially responsible for their predicament. If Raph hadn’t been stupid enough to get captured, then maybe the Purple Dragons would’ve never crossed paths with those three boys.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Raph flicked his gaze between the two sheepishly.

“What? Why?” Leo waved a hand dismissively and shook his head. “It’s not your fault that they kidnapped us, or you for that matter.”

Raph gave a tentative smile, a bit shocked at how sure Leo seemed about that. Leo returned his small smile with enthusiasm. He seemed the type to do most things with enthusiasm. And Raph could tell that enthusiasm spread to his little brother

Speaking of which…

“So,” Raph said, changing the subject, “I know that you two are brothers” he said gesturing to Leo and Mikey, before adverting his eyes between Donnie and the other two boys “how do you three know each other?” They looked like they could be brothers, or at least cousins.

“We just met him today actually.” Leo turned to face the other with a questioning gaze. “We don’t even know his name.”

The nameless kid shifted uncomfortably and crossed his arms, the very picture of someone who was out of their element. Which was fair, because they all were. Raph would be concerned if this was something that they were used to.

“Are you okay?” Raph asked, and the kid cut his eyes towards him warily. “You’ve been quiet.”

Leo straightened in alarm, and Raph and Mikey automatically tensed.

“I forgot! You fell into those crates, right?” Leo asked, eyes searching the poor kid for injury.

“They threw me into the crates actually,” said the kid quietly, and then he cleared his throat and spoke louder. “I’m fine. Probably just have some splinters.”

“And bruises,” said Leo, and the look in his eyes said that he was prepared to argue, but the kid just shrugged.

“Was it— which one of you tried to pick the lock?” Raph asked, nodding his head in the direction of the doors.

“That was me,” said the nameless turtle with an irritated sigh. “Guess I wasn’t quick enough.”

The kid tapped absentmindedly on the clasp of his cloak as they all lapsed into silence, settling into their bleak situation, and becoming accustomed with each other’s presence. They’d be spending some unconventional quality time together, after all.

“Donnie,” said the kid suddenly, staring at the ground as the other three turtles jolted a little. “That’s my name.”

Raph blinked at both the soft, tentative voice, and the odd tension it held. It was almost like it had been painful for the young turtle to say out loud, like it was secret information that would get him killed. Maybe in certain circles it would. Or maybe Raph was reading into it too much.

“Alright, Donnie,” Leo began, leaning forward. “Why did you steal my little brother’s apple?”

Mikey elbowed Leo in the side. “Leo… It was no big deal” he said, before turning soft eyes to Donnie and gave the purple turtle a small smile. “It’s no big deal”

Raph frowned in confusion. For three people that had only met that day, they had some very baffling history.

“Well, I ate it,” said Donnie evasively, looking at the blue and orange turtles warily. “It was poisoned, wasn’t it.”

“What? No!” Mikey exclaimed, looking mildly offended. “Why would it be poisoned?”

“No one gives food away for no reason,” said Donnie, like it was a law of the universe and they were fools who didn’t know.

Leo scowled and crossed his arms. “You’re avoiding the question.”

Mikey once again elbowed Leo. “Leo I told you that it was no big deal”

“Why did I do it?” Donnie asked, avoiding the sibling bickering that was going on with Leo and Mikey.

Leo nodded, as Mikey let out a sigh of frustration.

“We all need to eat, don’t we?” Donnie shifted and leaned back on his hands. “Unless I got kidnapped with an immortal.”

“If I was immortal,” Leo scoffed, “then we’d all be out of here already.”

“Sure,” said Donnie and Mikey sarcastically at the same time.

Leo ignored them as he continued “In fact, we wouldn’t be in here in the first place.” Leo pointed at Donnie. “I would’ve saved you first try, no problem.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Raph butted into the conversation, no longer willing to listen confusedly on the sidelines. “You were there because you tried to save him?”

“Yeah,” said Leo, but he seemed frustrated with himself. “I should’ve been able to. But I— the guy was unarmed, and I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Raph stared blankly. Who was this turtle that had to hold back if he didn’t want to injure someone? It was possible that Leo was exaggerating, but his gut feeling told him otherwise, and Donnie, who had been there, who had seen it firsthand, didn’t seem to question it. Not even Mikey, who was Leo’s little brother, was questioning it

“I… am not much of a fighter,” Donnie said. “What about your bo staff that I saw?” Mikey asked. Donnie shrugged his shoulders “It is my weapon of choice but I haven’t quite learn the skill to use it since I just made it last month”

All three of the turtles’ eyes went wide, with Mikey being the one to speak “You made that bo staff?” Donnie realized that all eyes were on him now and he began to blush “Yeah. I have been creating things since I was young”

Donnie noticed that all the wide eyes were still on him and he wanted to change the subject face. He turned his attention to Leo “I’m sorry I kind of got you into this.”

That seemed to shake Leo out of his shock state “It’s okay, I can get into trouble just fine on my own. Just ask Mikey here” Leo grinned at them, all soft edges and warm eyes. Almost fond. Of people he’d just met. “Both of you stop trying to take the credit.”

The four of them laughed softly, though it was more enthusiastic exhaling than anything else. It was hardly audible of the rattling of the wagon traveling uneven terrain, but it was something, and it mattered.

Raph smiled slightly, letting the tension drain out of his limbs for the first time in days, noticing that the other three had mostly dropped their defensive body language. He felt lighter than he had since he’d been captured. Less lonely, somehow, than he had felt in his entire life.

The wagon shook violently as it rolled over rocks and holes in the ground, and it was this that led Raph to doubt that they were on any actual road. It would make them harder to track, probably, if anyone was looking. If they listened closely, they could hear the voices of their captors, happy and carefree and invincible, and if they listened closer then Raph could make out the sound of crickets chirping nearby, signaling the end of another very long day.

“Does anyone know where we’re going?” Leo asked, flopped against the wall, with Mikey still leaning on him.

“All I’ve heard is that they’re taking us to ‘The Big Boss’ or Kitsune,” Raph said, doing air quotes.

“I heard that, too.” Donnie frowned. “But why kidnap me, Leo, and Mikey? They couldn’t have planned that.”

“Something tells me that they don’t plan much at all.”

Leo and Mikey had laid down with their backs on the floor and their legs up the wall, for some reason.

“What do you mean?” asked Mikey, tilting his head back to look at Raph.

“They’re up for hire,” Raph explained. “They’re like low-level henchmen. Someone else is calling the shots.”

Like Big Mama, or whoever Kitsune was.

“I don’t think they had much time to consult their boss in between capturing us and throwing us in here,” Donnie said.

“Impulsive decision, maybe?” Raph shrugged. “Angel seems to mostly run on emotion. You made her mad, and she’s doing something about it.”

“So they’re dumb,” Leo stated dryly.

Donnie snorted. “Seems legit.”

Raph leaned back against the wall, sensing that the conversation was over for now, and crossed his arms against his chest. He was met with the hard shape of the strange object that Cassandra had given him before he’d left. He had inspected it closer after calming down from his kidnapping, and now he knew what it was; he knew what it meant.

He’d been trying hard not to think about it too much. It was too confusing, and overwhelming, and decidedly not what he needed to worry about right now.

Raph uncrossed his arms, closed his eyes, and pushed it from his mind once more.

Chapter Text

Silence had fallen in the wagon, which was good because Leo had a lot to think about. Just that morning he’d been playing travel games with Mikey and April, and now he and his little brother were heading into an uncertain future with two complete strangers. It was safe to say that the day had been a complete emotional roller coaster, one that left his legs shaky and his head spinning.

On the bright side, Leo thought that they all got along well, for people who’d been thrown together in the worst possible circumstances. They’d talked on and off about where they could be going or how to make an escape, but in the end, they were talking themselves in circles, digging themselves deeper into despair, even Mikey, his bright and energetic little brother, was getting despondent the more they talked about it. They stopped talking about it for their own sanity, and really, there wasn’t much to be said anyways. They would have to wait and see.

Raph had fallen asleep during a lull in the small talk they’d turned to, and he was sitting slumped over with his head resting against the wooden chest, eyes closed and breathing softly. Leo recalled him mentioning that he’d been taken around two days ago, and figured that the poor guy hadn’t slept a wink since then.

Mikey was leaning against Leo, having also falling asleep sometime ago, probably feeling ok to do so knowing that the other two strangers were just like them and that he knew that Leo would protect him if something were to happen

In all honesty, Leo should probably be sleeping, too. They needed to be well rested and alert for whatever would come in the following days. Leo wished that he could sleep along with his little brother, but it was easier said than done.

Leo had been in his first real fight that day, and he had lost. Not only that but he had put his little brother in danger, which is the one thing that he said he wouldn’t ever let happen

He tried telling himself that there was nothing more he could’ve done. Timothy was too big and had been unarmed. Leo and Mikey hadn’t been trained to fight someone who had no weapon, and they hadn’t been trained to kill. Leo wasn’t sure about Mikey, but he know that he himself didn’t want to be trained that way. And on top of all that, he’d also been woefully outnumbered and half distracted by the other turtle he’d been trying to save and the fact that he wasn’t paying attention to Angel and got Mikey caught as well.

These were all things that both Mikey and April would say to cheer him up, but it didn’t make him feel much better. Not when April wasn’t actually there, not when he wasn’t sure if he wanted her to be or not. Because maybe she would’ve been better. Maybe she would’ve won, and succeeded where Leo had crashed and burned. Where Leo had failed.

Heck, maybe even Mikey would have done a better job then Leo, since Mikey was a slight bit better then Leo was when it came to their training, even though Mikey was younger

And it was worse, because he’d failed more than just himself. He’d failed Donnie, who he hadn’t been able to save, who maybe would’ve been better off without him. He failed Mikey, his little brother, was now caught up in this situation along with him, which was the last thing that Leo wanted. Sure, he was glad to having his little brother close, but not like this.

He had hoped that by some miracle Mikey would escape and went and find April to get help. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and it was all because of Leo

Neither Mikey or Donnie seem to hold it against him, at least, and Donnie had even sort of apologized for his role in getting them both captured, but the apology wasn’t needed. The purple turtle hadn’t asked for Leo to swoop in like some kind of hero and make everything worse than it already was.

In fact, Donnie hadn’t said much at all.

He had participated in their discussions, of course, but he was carefully, subtly guarded with everything he said. He gave away nothing about himself, whereas Leo and Mikey had let slip basically their whole life story without realizing. All that Leo knew about Donnie was that the turtle was some kind of thief, which he had mixed feelings about, seeing as how Leo and Mikey lived with people who traveled the world teaching people how to defend themselves from thieves.

Thinking of thievery brought him back to that morning, with Mikey and his apple, and Leo’s stomach growled. It wasn’t very loud, but both Donnie and Mikey seemed to hear it, as Mikey woke up from his slumber and Donnie shot him an amused look.

Leo felt bad for waking up Mikey from his slumber, just another mistake…another failure. Leo truly was a bad big brother

“I haven’t eaten since lunch, okay?” Leo said defensively, half smiling.

Mikey softly giggled and an odd expression flashed across Donnie’s face, a moment where his walls cracked a bit, but it was gone before Leo could decipher the meaning of it. Still, he got the sense that he’d said something wrong, and he tried to fix it.

“Good thing you got that apple then, huh?” Leo prompted, wishing that he had an apple right about then. He was starving.

“I guess so,” Donnie said slowly, his gaze fixed firmly on the wall somewhere next to Mikey’s head, eyes flashing like he was gathering the nerve to say whatever it was that he was about to say. “It was the only thing I ate today.”

Leo and Mikey’s eyes widened in surprise, and somewhere in the back of Leo’s mind his aforementioned ‘mixed feelings’ were rolling in their grave, because now he absolutely did not care if stealing was illegal or not. He cared more about the turtle sitting in front of him, who maybe needed more saving than Leo had initially realized.

He’d known that thieves didn’t typically live lives of luxury, but he’d known it without knowing that he knew it. Mikey had known, of course he’d known, and he knew and knew that he knew, and well. He’d said it best, when Leo asked Mikey why he’d let Donnie take the apple.

‘If he needed it badly enough to steal it, then he needed it more than me.’

And his little brother had been right. Donnie probably needed a lot of things more than other people did.

It was distant, distorted and covered in fog, but Leo still remembered a time before he and Mikey had been adopted, when Leo had gone digging through the trash for extra scraps because there’d been too many mouths to feed and not enough food and he hadn’t been strong enough to fight for it, or selfish enough to want to. But he still went out of his way to do because he was doing it for Mikey. He always valued Mikey’s health and safety over his own.

“I’m glad that I gave it to you,” said Mikey from beside him, and Leo knew that Mikey meant every word, which cause Leo to smile at his little brother’s sweet words.

Donnie broke his staring contest with the wall and fixed Mikey with an assessing gaze, intense and searching. Mikey tried his best not to squirm, or make a stupid face, and he stayed quiet for as long as Donnie needed. The turtle must’ve found what he was looking for, because he relaxed and quirked the corner of his mouth up in what might’ve been a smile.

“Thanks,” said Donnie, but it was a little more casual than anything he’d said before, and Mikey felt like he’d won something. Donnie then turned his eyes to Leo, with the same smile on his face “And thank you for trying to help me. You didn’t have to.”

Leo thought to wave the gratitude away, but something stopped him. Donnie hadn’t thanked him for saving him, because he really, really hadn’t; he had thanked him for trying. And since Donnie most likely didn’t go around thanking people very often, Leo thought that maybe it was important to accept it.

“You’re welcome.”

Donnie shrugged and leaned his head back to look at the ceiling.

“You’ve mentioned April a few times,” he said conversationally. “She seems nice.”

“She is.” Mikey smiled fondly. “She’s the one that convinced her parents to let me and Leo stay, she’s like our sister” Mikey then turned to Leo with sad eyes “They— they’re probably freaking out right now. Looking for us”

The thought both comforted and upset Leo. Maybe they could find them, but they must be worried sick. He imagined himself in April’s shoes, and immediately wanted to throw up. He cleared his throat and tried changing the subject, as he kept one arm around Mikey for the silent comfort.

“Uh, what about your family? What are they like?” Leo asked, blinking away visions of a distressed April.

He was taken off guard when Donnie gave a short laugh. It sounded more resigned – or pained – than happy.

“I’m part of the orphan club, too,” said Donnie with a sad twist of a smile. “My orphanage burned down a few years ago. I…I was the only one to survive”

Leo and Mikey couldn’t believe what they just heard

“That’s…that’s terrible” Mikey said, his voice oddly strangled and Leo could tell that Mikey was getting misty eyed, his heart breaking for this random turtle that they just meet. Mikey had always been emphatic like that

Leo, however, had no words as he stared at this other turtle with an even worst backstory then theirs. There weren’t many times in his life where Leo had absolutely no clue what to say, but this was one of them. Pieces of a puzzle he hadn’t been aware he was building clicked into place, quietly and subtly, like it was trying to not draw attention to itself.

Donnie stole because he had to, because there was no one taking care of him. He had looked surprised when Leo showed up to save him, and he hadn’t called out for help when they were being taken away. Donnie was completely alone in a way that Leo and Mikey had never been, and for a moment Leo was struck speechless by the enormity of it all – of how much it mattered.

“Those idiots out there actually lucked out when they chose to kidnap me,” said Donnie absentmindedly, now frowning at the wall. “Because there’s no one who’s gonna come looking.”

Silence. Leo tried to form a complete thought, tried to think of anything to say that wouldn’t sound totally stupid, and he failed even that. How could he comfort someone who was so confident that they were right? And how it pained him to admit it, but maybe he was. Even Mikey seemed lost on what to say next.

“There’s no one looking for me, either.”

The voice was quiet and vaguely apologetic, and the other three turtles jumped and turned to look at Raph, who’d apparently woken up at some point during the rather tense and serious conversation they were having. Leo didn’t know how much of it he’d heard, but it must’ve been enough.

“My 'legal guardian' got me into this mess, and I doubt she’s had a change of heart.” Raph sighed and let his head fall back against the wall. “And Cassandra tried to warn me. She might not even know what happened, and if she does, she doesn’t owe me anything.”

A despondent silence settled over them, the hopelessness of their situation becoming more apparent than ever. It was well into the night now, the interior of the wagon only lit by the moon and stars shining through minuscule cracks in the wooden walls. The wagon still rattled along without a care for its miserable prisoners.

Leo hadn’t had the easiest life, especially not the first half of it, but now he wondered if he still took it for granted. He and Mikey never really had a home, as April and her parents traveled too much to make owning a house anywhere practical, but him and Mikey had found a sort of family. Not just with each other but with April and her parents as well. Even if it didn’t always feel like it was enough, or like there were missing pieces. Him and Mikey never went to bed hungry, or alone, and both knew without a doubt that April and her parents were coming after them. Raph and Donnie didn’t have that certainty. They’d never had it.

From what Raph had been saying about his life, it must have been luxurious, but also insurmountably lonely. Especially if he couldn’t think of a single person who would look for him.

And Leo wasn’t sure if Donnie even had a home. Obviously, he stayed somewhere, but he’d had to learn to take care of himself at a very young age. He’d had to learn to survive. All on his own.

Mikey had always been an empathetic person, but the heartache he felt thinking about what these kids’ lives have been seemed a little overboard even for him. And one look at Leo proved to Mikey that his big brother felt the same way. They wanted these two random turtles to have better lives, wanted it so fiercely that for a moment they believed they could will it so.

But the past was the past, and the present was challenging enough as it was. Maybe though, in the future, they could convince April’s parents to consider taking Raph and Donnie in. April would be all for it; she’d probably end up leading the charge.

For now, however, the one thing that had become painfully apparent was that they couldn’t count on outside help to get them out of this mess.

“Well,” Leo said, straightening up with newfound confidence, “then I guess it’s up to us. We’re going to get out of here it it’s the last thing we do.”

“It’s certainly headed in that direction,” Donnie mumbled, and Leo graciously ignored him.

“We should try to sleep if we want to accomplish anything tomorrow.” Raph could be heard shifting around, attempting to get comfortable. “Or today. I don’t know what time it is.”

“You were doing more than trying to sleep for a while there,” Leo teased, unable to help it.

“Very funny,” said Raph, yawning. “Goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight” Mikey echoed happily

“I’ve had better,” Leo mumbled as he settled down, with Mikey settling down right beside him

“I’ve had worse,” said Donnie

Chapter Text

Sleeping in a moving wagon was actually very difficult, Donnie discovered. He’d never been in one for any length of time, never had a reason to, and the unfamiliar feeling made it impossible to be anything other than stubbornly awake. He’d been dozing on and off, hardly aware of the passage of time. Though he vaguely remembered hearing the faint sounds of soft snoring and slight movements from the others.

What finally jolted him awake for good was surprisingly not a particularly bumpy stretch of road, but the absence of movement at all – the wagon had stopped.

Donnie wasn’t the only one to register the change; His fellow companions were already rubbing their eyes and looking around blearily, warily. They’d all ended up closer together during the night, somehow becoming huddled at the front of the wagon, at the farthest possible point from the doors. It felt safer there, but not by much.

Gravel and dirt shifted outside, the lock rattled, and the doors opened.

Donnie had to shut his eyes tightly against the stabbing light. He doubted that it was much past sunrise, but after being in the dark for several hours even dim light was like staring directly into the sun. A hand latched onto his shirt sleeve; judging from the angle it was probably Raph. Donnie’s first instinct was to shake it away, but he stopped himself, since it was a good way to keep track of where he was in relation to others. And maybe it calmed him, somewhat.

Someone snickered meanly outside the door as Donnie tried desperately to see through squinted eyes. The wood floor groaned as weight was added to it, and then a much more menacing hand grabbed Donnie’s other arm, yanking him toward the outside. He cried out, and his eyes flew open involuntarily – ow – just in time to see the gravel and rocks he was headed for. Raph hadn’t let go of him, either of out fear or surprise, and he had apparently grabbed hold of Leo as well, who of course had a hold on Mikey.

All four of them hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, groaning and yelping as they tried to get their bearings, Donnie feeling grateful that Raph was at the bottom of the pile. He managed to get to his knees, and he blinked dazedly at his now scraped up hands. His eyes had finally adjusted a little to the light, and he winced at the sharp, stinging pain coming from the cuts. They weren’t bleeding – much – but it was still a shock to his system.

Raph finally let go of his sleeve, and Donnie turned to look at the rest of the sorry scene. Raph’s spiky shell cushioned his fall, though he did end up with a few scratches on his knees and elbows. Mikey had landed mostly on top of them, and had been spared scraped hands. His knees, however, had not emerged unscathed. Leo had initially landed on top of them, but had immediately tripped over them and dove headfirst into the ground. His forehead above his right eye was bleeding slightly, but he still glared fearlessly at their captors.

“Aw, did we wake you?” Angel grinned maliciously. “I’m sorry.”

The Purple Dragons all had a good laugh at their expense as they sorted themselves out. Donnie had thought that they might’ve reached their destination, wherever that may be, but they appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. All he could see – blinking nervously at his surroundings like a baby deer – was rocks, dirt, and grass nearly as tall as he was swaying in the breeze. The sky was a light shade of blue; the sun had just risen.

Donnie’s breath hitched and his heart leapt in his chest, beating at all the wrong moments. Why had they stopped if not because they’d arrived? All he could think was that maybe their captors had realized that he wasn’t worth keeping. Maybe they were dropping the dead weight.

He shared a look of suppressed panic with Mikey as they were separated, but Raph and Leo were shooting reassuring glances their way, as though they knew what was happening.

It turned out alright, because apparently, they’d stopped for a reason other than killing and/or abandoning kidnapped children. They were taken away to use the bathroom while the horses drank and rested.

Donnie thought briefly about making a run for it, but the Purple Dragons were watching them closely, and there was no way to know which direction to go. He could be running to his death for all he knew.
He reluctantly climbed back into the wagon when he was told, although not without several unprovoked, bruising shoves from Angel. The other three joined him soon after, looking about as disheartened and pained as Donnie felt. They were given a slice of bread and flask of water each. Poison once again occurred to him as a possibility, but at this point it didn’t make much sense, and he was tired of worrying anyway. So, Donnie gobbled the bread and simply glared at Mikey when it looked like he might offer half his piece for him to eat. Leo glared back at him for giving Mikey that look, but Donnie just choose to ignore him

When they were finished eating, Raph moved closer to Leo and Mikey and carefully inspected Leo’s head wound, with Mikey being there for moral support. The turtle in blue winced when Raph touched it, which lead to a gentle squeeze of his arm by Mikey. Leo did sit still enough to let Raph clean it with a bit of water and one of the Purple Dragons’ extra shirts.

“Thanks,” said Leo, and he immediately brought a hand up to try and touch it, but Raph smacked it away.

“Leave it alone or it’ll start bleeding again,” Raph said sternly.

“Yes, mom,” Leo teased, which lead to a giggle from Mikey, but Leo listened.

Raph rolled his eyes and thought about attending to Mikey, but Leo said that he would do it. Raph decided to let Leo be, Mikey being Leo’s little brother and all, as he shifted closer to Donnie, reaching out to him, intent on checking his scraped hands next. Donnie jerked said hands back toward his chest on instinct, and Raph paused, looking up at him for a tense moment before smiling a small, encouraging smile, so honest that it almost hurt to look at.

Slowly, and without consciously thinking about it, Donnie held his hands back out, palms up, an offering, and Raph took them very gently in his

For the first time since they’ve been thrown into this wagon, Donnie realized just how smaller his hands were compared to Raph’s. In fact, with Raph so up close, he was now realizing just how much bigger Raph was compared to him. Donnie thought he would be intimated. But, for some reason, he wasn’t. Raph’s big persona made him feel…safe in a way that he never felt before

Donnie watched as Raph proceeded to remove the bits of gravel stuck in the cuts and clean them with water while Donnie stared the whole time, not sure how to react. When it was done, he thanked Raph, who just grinned softly and shrugged like it was no big thing. Except that for a turtle who rarely had someone willing to help him, it was huge, and a little bit terrifying. And when Leo came over to inspect Raph’s work, complimenting Raph on his good work, the feeling only increased

Some amount of time later, they were moving again. There was nothing new to talk about in relation to escape plans, so Leo and Mikey regaled them with stories from their lives, with the two of them taking turns. They told Raph and Donnie about how their friend/big sister April had convinced her parents to let them stay, and how they traveled all over to train people in self-defense. Leo had been practicing sword fighting since he was seven, and Mikey had been practicing with his nunchunks around the same age. Raph was surprised by this, having not seen the fight that led to them getting captured. Not that Donnie had seen much of Leo’s sword skills, either, since he’d been equally busy at the time, and he didn’t even get the chance to see Mikey’s nunchunk skills as he didn’t even know Mikey was there until it was too late

Raph told them about his life fighting in the ‘Battle Nexus’ and living in a huge house with occupants he hardly ever saw, one of whom was the entire reason they were in this situation. He had been fighting in the ‘Battle Nexus’ for the past couple of years, only doing so when he got big and strong enough. Because of this, he never seen much of the world. He was the exact opposite of Leo and Mikey in that way. And it was clear that Raph didn’t like his home life, but he perked up a fair amount when he spoke about Cassandra and how much she meant to him, only going so far as to say he even made friends with some of the people who worked for the ‘Battle Nexus’ and with the people that he competed with

Donnie himself didn’t have much he wanted to say about his life, since most of it was either extremely boring or insanely pitiful. He did end up telling them about the stray cat that visited him called Shelldon. He would give him scraps of food if he had some to spare, and he was good company – his only company. Mikey immediately wanted to meet him

Despite everything, Donnie found that he was becoming more and more relaxed around these other three turtles, even though he kept reminding himself to keep his guard up. It was like second nature to joke and tease them, and an odd, all-encompassing feeling arose when he did – a feeling that he didn’t recognize. It troubled him how easily his walls were coming down, and how open he was to being hurt. It was dangerous to trust anyone when trust was so fragile, and so easily broken. If these three could find a way to escape without him, he was sure that they would do it. They’d be stupid not to, and Donnie wouldn’t even be able to blame them.

However, such an opportunity hadn’t presented itself, and this was still the case at the end of the day, and through another restless night.

Around noon the next day, a full day and a half since their capture, and after hours and hours of stopping randomly and increasingly rough treatment, they finally reached their destination.
One by one they were dragged out into the sun. Their surroundings hadn’t changed much since their last outing; there was still only fields as far as they could see. But this time there was a small house not far away from where they were parked, another wagon that had windows, and standing right in front of them was Kitsune

At least, that’s who Donnie assumed she was. She was a short woman –though still taller than they were – in a simple pink shirt and purple skirt. A leather bag was hanging low at her side, and she was scowling at them.

“What is this?” Kitsune snapped at the three criminals. “You were sent after one turtle. I count four.”

Angel stepped forward from where she’d been standing proudly behind them and yanked Donnie back by his hood. Donnie flailed to keep his balance as the other three shouted in alarm, held back by the other two Purple Dragons.

“We caught this one—” Angel shook him violently, “—breaking into the wagon in the last village.”

Kitsune sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in a long-suffering way

“And the other two?” Kitsune asked tiredly.

“The blue one tried to help the thief, but we snatched him, too. And we caught the orange one hiding in an alleyway” Angel stated proudly.

Timothy and Hun nodded eagerly in agreement. Kitsune inhaled sharply, and Donnie tensed.

“You’re all morons!” Kitsune exploded. “We have no clue who’ll come looking for these turtles!”

Everyone flinched as she yelled, and a flock of birds burst out of the grass to flee. Donnie watched them go with envy.

Timothy and Hun shrunk back as Angel frantically tried to defend herself.

“No one’s lookin’ for this one!” She pushed Donnie back to his spot beside the others. “He’s just a street brat.”

Ouch. The truth hurt sometimes.

Leo and Mikey clutched at each of his sleeves, presumably to make sure that he wouldn’t be taken again, and when Donnie glanced at them, they were scowling at Angel. As was Raph, though he appeared to be scowling at all four of their captors…to the best of his ability that was

“What about those two?” Ma Beagle gestured at Leo and Mikey, continuing to refer to them as if they were produce at the market. Leo instinctively moved closer to Mikey

“I don’t think they got family,” said Angel nervously, obviously unsure. “No one would let their kids wander around a village like that by themselves” Mikey looked like he wanted to interject but Leo gave him a look that said ‘don’t you dare’, so Mikey didn’t say anything

Kitsune looked over each of them, and was quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time. Eventually she walked slowly around them until she was behind them, standing in front of the wagon that had been their prison. They turned to face her cautiously, with Leo keeping a protective hold on both Mikey and Donnie, and Raph moving subconsciously behind them, his arms moving in a way that he could grab them and run if he needed to.

“Well, what’s done is done,” said Kitsune, a cruel smile pulling at her mouth. “Suppose we can find some use for ‘em.”

Donnie shivered, certain that he never wanted to know what his ‘use’ might be.

“Throw the brats back in the wagon” Kitsune said, still smiling. “We’re heading out.”

Again? Donnie barely stopped himself from groaning aloud as they were shuffled back in the direction of the wagon. His breathing picked up, and he was struck with panic at the prospect of once again being hopelessly trapped, knowing that the longer they stayed, the less likely escape was becoming. C’mon, Donatello, think, he told himself firmly. You’re good at this. Find the solution to the problem.

Donnie’s eyes flitted around restlessly, weighing options, and making connections before landing on his target. Kitsune’s bag hung low enough that he could easily see inside, and something in there was reflecting the sunlight – a glare being thrown off a metal object. And Leo may have been a trained swordsman, but Donnie had a certain set of skills, too. If the object was what he thought it was, then it could be exactly what they needed.

As they got closer to Kitsune, Donnie hesitated a split second, uncertain, but he had nothing to lose. He purposefully tripped and slammed into her side, arms flailing. He only had a second before she shouted in anger and shoved him harshly to the ground, dusting herself off, but a second was good enough.

Raph rushed to help him up with a concerned gaze, and Donnie shot him a small, half-crazed smile. He’d accomplished what he had set out to do. They were still woefully outnumbered, hopelessly lost, and completely trapped, but now they had something more.

They had a chance.

Chapter Text

Raph was getting very tired of hearing doors slam shut. Wagon doors specifically, and specifically the doors of the specific wagon that they were in. He tried to open them – on a whim; on a hope; on a wish and a prayer – but as usual they didn’t budge. He sighed and sat down heavily, feeling crushed by the weight of the world.

“Where do you think we’re going now?” Mikey asked, huffing in exasperation.

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Raph replied.

The Purple Dragons could be heard moving around and conversing loudly outside their prison. The wagon swayed slightly, and then there was the sound of hooves on gravel, getting fainter as the source of the noise got further away. Raph guessed that their captors were transferring two horses over to pull the other wagon; presumably the one Kitsune would be riding in. He assumed she wouldn’t be riding with them, or at least he hoped.

The occupants of the wagon of doom sat in silence as they listened to the chaotic movements outside. Angel apparently got her knack for yelling orders from her boss, whose screeching overpowered everything else.

Eventually, they heard the shouting fade, and the other wagon roll away, theirs following close behind.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Raph said quietly, partially to himself as motivation.

If they didn’t escape before they reached their final destination, who knew what would happen to them. The Purple Dragons appeared to have plans for him, but the other three were unexpected. They could be in more trouble than he was.

“I agree, like, wholeheartedly,” Leo said, “but we kind of need a plan.”

Raph’s heart plummeted, sank right to the ground, because nothing had changed. They were still trapped and alone, and was it really this hopeless?

“I… might have one,” Donnie spoke up, glancing around as if afraid the criminals would hear him.

The other three turtles blinked at him in uncomprehending confusion, and then Donnie pulled a knife out of his sleeve.

And it was no pocketknife – it was larger than any normal knife Raph had ever seen, about the length of his forearm. It had a sturdy handle and a serrated edge. If he had to guess, it was probably best when used to saw through things. Thin branches, for example. Or the wooden walls of a wagon.

“Are you— What?!” Leo reached out and took the knife to examine it closer, with Mikey peering over his shoulder. “Have you had this the whole time?”

“No, Leo” Donnie shook his head in exasperation, but a smile was pulling at his mouth. “I took it out of Kitsune’s bag when I tripped into her.”

And yeah, it was concerning that Kitsune carried around this kind of topnotch weaponry in her handbag, not to mention unsheathed and plainly in view. What did she even use it for? Raph suppressed a shiver and added that to the list of things that he didn’t want to know.

“And she didn’t notice?” Raph asked.

“Not yet at least.”

Raph gave a short laugh of astonishment. Of all people he could have been stuck with, here he was with a skilled swordsman, a skilled nunchunker, and a master pickpocket. Only time would tell if this was a good thing or not.

“What are we gonna do with it?” Mikey asked curiously, a new spark in his eyes.

“We might be able to cut around the lock,” Donnie explained, a hint of doubt beneath the thoughtful tone of voice. “The lock would – maybe – fall off. And we could open the door.”

Raph felt hope bloom in his chest, but was reluctant to let it grow too much. He was just as reluctant to kill it.

“Wouldn’t they hear us?” Leo asked. “You know, sawing and stuff?”

“Not necessarily,” Raph cut in. “Not while we’re traveling on these bumpy roads. The wagon makes too much noise, and they’re always shouting anyway.”

Leo grinned excitedly as he handed the knife back to Donnie, who seemed to be trying his best to not smile. This was the first semblance of a plan that they’d had, and it brought both relief and anxiety upon them.

“Is there any way we could get our weapons back?” Mikey bounced in place. “I don’t—I mean we rather not leave them if we don’t have to.”

“Maybe,” Leo said, frowning thoughtfully. “We could try to cut a hole in the wall to get to the storage box.”

Raph remembered seeing the storage boxes during the few times they were let out. There were two on each side of the wagon, bolted tightly to the outside for easy access. Well, easy for anyone who wasn’t trapped inside. They might be able to cut into it, though, if they played their cards right. The question was: did they want to risk it?

Leo turned around to examine the wall behind him, staring for a few seconds before pointing at a spot a few inches above they floor.

“It would be right around here,” he said.

It seemed like Leo had a good enough memory to be reasonably confident in that statement, so Raph didn’t question it.

“Are we going for it?” Mikey asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

Raph shared a look with Leo and Donnie, conflicted, because they knew that it would be safer if they left it alone. The longer they sawed away at the walls of the wagon, the more likely it would be that they’d be caught.

Of course, having their weapons could be a good idea, too, if Leo and Mikey were as skilled as they said they were. And even though Donnie wasn’t as good with his bo, it would still be a good weapon to have. And it was obvious that the weapons meant a lot to Leo and Mikey; a piece of home that they carried with them – a piece that he didn’t want to leave in the hands of the Purple Dragons. Raph felt the weight of the ‘necklace’ he’d been gifted against his chest, and he understood.

“Might as well,” said Donnie, beating him to the punch. “We’ll have to wait until night, so we won’t be interrupted. And we’d better hope Kitsune doesn’t miss her knife.”

Leo, Mikey, and Raph nodded in agreement, Donnie hid the knife behind the chest, and they settled in to wait. Mikey brought up travel games, and having nothing better to do, they agreed to play readily enough.

Mikey won most games, much to Leo’s dismay. The only game that Mikey couldn’t win at was Rock, Paper, Scissors, to which that belong to either Donnie or Leo. Both were scarily good at predicting what move they would make before they even thought of making it. Raph did win once – on complete accident – but the other three still cheered and applauded playfully.

It was a strange, foreign feeling, to be getting along with kids his age. The truth was, Raph didn’t really know how to have friends. The only people he consistently spoke to were the people at the ‘Battle Nexus’ and Cassandra. He hadn’t known the other turtles very long at all, and the circumstances were hardly ideal, but already he was closer to them than to anyone else. Though to be fair, the bar was low.

Raph laughed to himself as Leo once again accused Donnie of cheating, while Mikey laughed out loud. Maybe they weren’t quite friends yet, but they had a long road ahead of them, and a long time until it ended. Things could change.

They stopped three more times before night fell, and the four of them grew more and more tense each time. Raph could only hope that the Purple Dragons hadn’t noticed, even though he doubted that they were paying much attention.

They were at least being given plenty of water, but it was clear that they were being fed table scraps. Donnie seemed perfectly content with the food, and Leo and Mikey didn’t complain either. Raph guessed it must’ve had something to do with the depressing conversation he’d overheard the first night – the one about Donnie’s past. It did seem shallow to complain about the amount of food they were getting when it might be more than what Donnie got on his worst days.

Eventually, they were shut up in the wagon for the night, water newly refilled. There was still no sign that Kitsune had noticed her missing knife, and that was a miracle, as far as Raph was concerned.

A few minutes after the wagon started moving again, Raph wordlessly took the knife from its hiding spot and handed it to Donnie, who turned to begin the process of recovering their weapons. The hardest part was getting the knife through the wood for the initial cut, but after several long minutes of persistence, a big enough slit was made that they could begin the sawing motion.

“You take over,” said Donnie quietly, huffing a shaky breath and waving Leo over to him.

Leo eagerly began sawing away at the wall with Mikey’s guidance, and Raph leaned forward to check on Donnie’s hands again. He’d forgotten about the scrapes over the course of the stressful day, and now they were chafed and irritated by the friction from the knife. Raph frowned, knowing that he couldn’t do much more for them, and feeling like he couldn’t do much at all.

After what felt like almost an hour of taking turns, hushed conversations, and carefully listening for any sign of danger, the rectangle of wood fell obediently out of the wall. Donnie put the piece of wood into the chest to keep it out of the way, and Leo reached through the hole to grab his sword. It took some careful maneuvering and a great deal of patience, but eventually he pulled it out of the wall and grinned, relief in his eyes. Then Mikey reached in and grabbed his nunchunks. Donnie was the last one as he grabbed his bo staff, before realizing that there were sais at the bottom, which Raph said belong to him. It felt great to have his sais back and by looking around, he tell that his companions felt the same about their own weapons

“Anything else in there that we could use?” Raph asked.

Leo sheathed his sword at his hip and reached back into the storage chest to dig around. All he came up with was empty flasks and torn, dirty clothing, which was promptly shoved back into the wall.

“Nothing good,” said Leo, a hint of disappointment in his voice. “I was hoping that we’d get lucky and discover a feast.”

Donnie scoffed from where he was starting to cut around the lock.

“Keep dreaming,” he said, though not unkindly.

“I think I will,” said Leo, smiling a cheeky smile, and Raph and Mikey shook their heads to hide their own grins.

They fidgeted as Donnie sawed away at the door, scared of discovery and anxious to get going. Mikey went over to watch Donnie work and to also take over if need be

“Where are we gonna go?” Leo blurted suddenly, and Raph glanced at him. “You know, when we get out.”

“Away from here,” said Donnie, pausing to wipe his forehead and look at them with tired eyes.

“I think that first we should focus on putting distance between us and them,” Raph suggested, wringing his hands together. “Then we can decide where we’re going.”

“That works for me.” Mikey nodded at Raph, before holding his hands out to Donnie. “My turn.”

As Mikey took over the job of breaking them out, with Leo and Donnie watching him, Raph walked over to the chest at the front of the wagon and started pulling shirts out by the armful. He tried to ignore the way his arms shook with unreleased tension and nerves.

“What are you doing?” Donnie asked, who was now standing over his shoulder.

“It’ll take them longer to realize that we’re gone if the door isn’t swinging open,” Raph explained, and he pointed between the hook on the wall and the door. “If we can tie these shirts together like a rope and then tie one end to the door and the other to the hook, then we could leave a big enough gap to jump out without it becoming obvious that we’re gone.”

Donnie looked at him and cracked a small, genuine smile as he sat down to help, and Raph felt like he’d won something; he felt like he was finally being useful.

They’d just finished the rope of shirts and secured one end to the hook when Mikey gave a choked cry. They whirled around to see him and Leo holding tightly to the edge of the door, holding it shut. There was a chunk of wood missing where the lock used to be, and Raph’s heart leapt in his chest, either out of fear or joy.

“The piece fell out,” Mikey said, sounding breathless and looking wild.

Donnie took the other end of the shirt-rope and rushed to the door, reaching through the hole to fumble blindly for the outside handle. He found it, and managed to tie the rope somewhat securely. Mikey and Leo let go of the door on Raph’s signal, and it swung open just enough to let them through. They gathered at the edge to look out, each holding their recently refilled flask of water. Leo and Mikey clipped theirs to theirs belt, and Raph slung his over his shoulder to hang by his side, while Donnie stored his in his battle shell

The wagon was traveling along a narrow, overgrown dirt path, guarded on either side by thick foliage and trees. Fortunately, Kitsune’s wagon was leading, or else they would’ve been caught for sure.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Leo said, mostly to himself, staring wide eyed out at the world. “Uh, right or left?”

It really didn’t matter, but it would be best to decide on a direction before they all hurled themselves out of a moving wagon. Raph remembered the few times they’d been let out of their prison under close guard, how they’d had to stop themselves from gallivanting off into the countryside because there was no way of knowing if it would be their doom. They weren’t stupid, or desperate enough to run then, but they were now. Or something like that.

“Right?” Mikey said it like a question, eyes fixed in that direction, but they all agreed easily enough.

Raph dropped his gaze from the trees to the ground, steadily moving beneath them. They weren’t traveling very fast, but it would still be difficult to stick the landing and rush immediately into the woods, especially quietly.

Raph swallowed hard, trying to encourage his heart to get out of his throat and go back to where it belonged. He glanced over at Donnie, who looked almost as nervous as Raph was, though he hid it better, and he looked at Leo and Mikey, who were shuffling their feet, obviously growing restless.

Without warning, and without grace, a fierce sense of responsibility crashed into him. Raph wanted these kids to be home and safe so badly that the force of the feeling almost knocked him down. He would get them home. He had to. They were here because of him, and he would get them out of it. He’d keep them safe.

“So,” said Leo, in such a conversational tone that you’d think he was talking about the weather, “who wants to go first?”

Seeing that his question was met with ringing silence, he turned to look at them.

“Come on, it’ll be fine. Just bend your knees and roll if you must,” Leo said. “Trust me?”

“I do” came Mikey’s earnest reply while Raph and Donnie said “Do we have a choice?”

“Nah,” said Leo, grinning, and with that he grabbed onto Mikey’s hand and the two of them leapt out of the wagon.

Raph couldn’t stop his gasp, and he and Donnie rushed to look out. A relieved breath escaped when they saw that Leo and Mikey had landed successfully and were bolting silently into the woods. Raph shared a look with Donnie, either offering reassurance or searching for it, and then he pushed back his fear and jumped.

He landed hard on his hands and knees, the same knees that were scraped and already sore, and he jerked his head up just in time to see Donnie hit the ground a few feet away. The wagon continued uninterrupted; the open door held in place by the rope of shirts. Raph pushed himself to his feet and stumbled swiftly towards the trees, reaching down to grab Donnie by the sleeve on the way.

Leo and Mikey were waiting for them a few feet in, and they stopped to regroup, breathing heavily and sharing incredulous, muffled laughter; watching to be sure that their former captors hadn’t stopped.
The wagon kept going, and Raph smiled somewhat giddily, because something had finally gone right. He’d done something right.

As one, they turned and ran deeper into the woods.

Chapter Text

Twigs snapped and leaves crunched underfoot as they charged blindly forwards. The surrounding trees towered over them menacingly, looking more like silhouettes of horrific monsters than the friendly shapes that they were in daylight. The world was dark, made of shadows, and they had no clue where they were headed, but Leo still preferred it to being stuck in the wagon. At least they were doing something. At least they were free.

They ran for as long as they could handle, crashing through bushes, snapping tree limbs, and altogether probably leaving an obvious trail, but they couldn’t stop. They were being driven by the need to get as far away from danger as possible. Distance was priority, and then they could attempt to be stealthy.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of frenzied running, Raph stumbled into a tree and leaned against it, coughing and panting. Leo took a slightly different approach and fell flat on the ground to rest, with Mikey coming up right beside him. Leaves crunched and shifted beneath him, and he spared a moment in between gasping for breath to hope that he wasn’t laying on any spiders.

He fumbled for his water flask and unhooked it from his belt with shaking hands, popping the lid off to take a small drink. It was difficult to restrain himself from gulping the whole thing down, but he had to. Who knew when they’d find more water?

Leo eventually recovered enough to lift his head, and he saw that Donnie was sitting against the same tree Raph was leaning on. Neither of them seemed very eager to keep going, but they also hadn’t yet lost that trapped, cornered look in their eyes. Even though they most likely hadn’t been discovered as missing yet, the feeling of being chased clung to them and didn’t seem to be letting go.

Leo sat up, along with Mikey and the two of them walked over to Raph and Donnie. Clearly, they couldn’t keep going at the pace that they had been, but at this point any pace would do.

“This is too much exercise,” Donnie wheezed from his spot on the ground.

Raph laughed weakly. “Especially after sitting in a wagon for several days.”

It was true. Leo’s muscles ached and his arms were sore from sawing wood and his legs an odd combination of weak and numb. Still, he managed to offer Donnie a hand up.

“Yeah, and if we don’t want to do that again,” Leo said as Donnie took his hand, “then we should definitely keep going.”

Donnie sighed, and Mikey turned to look back at the way they came.

“And we should maybe be a little more subtle about it,” Mikey said, a tired amusement in his voice.

Leo followed Mikey’s gaze, and he had to chuckle a bit. It was dark, but he could still make out a clear path where foliage had been crushed and leaves had been disturbed, and anyone who knew what they were looking for would pick up on it right away.

“You know, I think you’re right.” Leo turned back to face the others. “Which way now?”

It really didn’t matter as long as they weren’t retracing their own steps, so they chose a random direction and started walking. Carefully, this time, without destroying the environment. With any luck, the Purple Dragons wouldn’t be able to find where they’d jumped off, much less find them, but luck hadn’t exactly been on their side. Until recently, he supposed. Escaping felt lucky.

Leo tipped his head back to look at the stars as he walked. He couldn’t see them clearly through the canopy of trees, but they twinkled in between leaves and gave him the impression that the sky was winking at him, like it knew something that he didn’t know. Soon enough, he tripped over a root, and he decided to focus more on the ground than on the stars.

They walked for most of the night, keeping up light conversation about mundane topics to chase away the tension. Favorite colors, favorite foods, funny stories…you know all the topics you talk about to pass the time, with Mikey being the most verbal

They did have to stop and rest a few times, and they tried their best to drink as little water as possible. Inevitably, it would become an issue, but they were attempting to put it off for as long as possible. Another issue was food – or rather, lack of food – because already Leo was hungry. As captives, they had been fed twice a day – it hadn’t been enough, but they could survive on it – but as fugitives there was no telling where their next meal would come from. Leo avoided thinking about it, and hoped that his stomach would do the same.

Gradually, the sky got lighter and lighter. Mikey yawned greatly, and as if it were contagious, Leo did too. Walking all night had taken its toll, and sooner or later they would have to really rest.

“Do you think they’ve noticed that we’re gone?” Mikey asked, rubbing the nonexistent sleep out of his eyes.

“If they haven’t yet, they will soon,” said Raph, in a tone of voice that suggested he was too tired to care.

Raph had been leading the way for a while now, with Leo right behind him, and it felt right somehow. Like this was how it should be.

In the morning sun, the forest had transformed. Beams of light shone through the layers of leaves and cast dappled shadows on the ground. Birds sang from places they couldn’t see, and the wind rustled bushes and wove between their fingers.

Leo couldn’t help but think that Mikey blended in well here. With his whole thing being orange, he almost resembled the sun. He snickered, and Mikey shot him a questioning look over his shoulder.

“What?” asked Mikey, eyebrows furrowed like he couldn’t decide if Leo had lost his mind.

“Nothing, you just—” Leo laughed again. “You kinda look like the sun”

Mikey looked even more bewildered.

“I’m not sure if I should be offended or not.”

“Well, it wasn’t meant to be offensive Michelangelo” Leo then walked up to Mikey and put a hand on his shoulder. “Besides it perfect for you. I have always considered you the sunshine of my life”

Mikey could only laugh as Leo picked him up and spin him around in a hug “Haha alright Leonardo I yield”

Raph made an ‘awe’ sound from behind him while Donnie let out a snicker, no doubt laughing at the drop of his full name. Leo was really starting to regret telling them his full name. At least Raph had given his in return – Raphael wasn’t much better – but Donnie was adamant that his name was already full.

As Leo put Mikey down, the other two came up to them, with Donnie looking above them towards the sky “One of us should climb up and check our surroundings.”

“I’ll do it!” Leo volunteered, bouncing excitedly. “Hold my sword!”

He thrust the sword at Mikey, who caught it surprisingly well, probably because he was used to Leo just tossing his sword at him all willy-nilly. Leo sped over to a sturdy-looking tree, cracked his knuckles, and started climbing, distractedly agreeing with Raph’s reminder to be careful. It took several minutes to reach the top, but he made it without injury, which was a miracle in and of itself. He steadied himself on the branch below him and looked around.

Leo was sure that he’d never seen so many trees in one place before. They spread out in every direction as far as he could see, all different shapes and sizes, a sea of green, moving gently back and forth like waves. A few miles away rose what was either a small mountain or huge hill, breaking the monotony of the forest. That too, had trees growing on it, but they were sparse in some places and allowed him to see the rocks and boulders behind them.

He stayed put for a moment longer than necessary, enjoying the vastness of the world and the breeze – the way that everything seemed alive. He’d developed a new appreciation for open spaces after having been confined in what was essentially a glorified box for several days. He was sure he’d never see a wagon in quite the same way ever again.

Eventually, with some reluctance, he climbed back down and reported his findings.

“I think our best bet is the mountain,” Raph said when he’d finished.

“Why?” Donnie asked flatly, seemingly not excited at the prospect of hiking uphill.

“If Leo couldn’t see any roads or villages from here, then we need to get higher up.” Raph eyes flitted in the direction Leo had pointed out to them. “If we still can’t find anything, we’ll have to make our way back to the path that the Purple Dragons are on.”

No one needed to say what that would mean, because they all knew. They’d be easy targets there, where their former captors might be looking for them at that very moment.

“Mountain it is,” said Donnie resignedly, as Mikey gave Leo his sword back.

Leo pointed them in the right direction, and they set off once more. It took a while, but eventually the ground began to slope, and they could see the large shape of the mountainside looming over them. The incline only got steeper as they walked, and Leo took a drink from his flask when he could stand his thirst no longer. He was discouraged to realize that it was now only half full.

Before he could bring up his concern however, Mikey spoke.

“Do you guys hear that?” he asked.

They all stopped walking to listen, perking up for the first time in hours, and there it was, almost too good to be true: the sound of rushing water. Leo and Mikey took off running with no heed to their former sluggishness, and they ended up charging straight into a small creek. Cool, clear water flowed around their ankles, and sunlight reflected in points off the waves.

They turned to see Raph and Donnie standing on the shore, looking shocked, and Mikey couldn’t help the bright, beaming smile he sent their way. As the rush of excitement caught up to them, they cheered and waded in, splashing each other as they began to refill their flasks, drink as much as they wanted, and then refill them again. Raph was babbling about how he should have known to look for water at the base of the mountain, like he expected himself to think of everything, but Donnie threw water in his face and shut that down quick. Leo had never been happier to see water; it felt like reuniting with an old friend.

Old friends. Thinking of old friends made him think of April, and his good mood diminished somewhat. He missed her, badly, but he didn’t wish that she was here with them. Not here in the middle of nowhere, not back in that stuffy wagon, not struggling to survive – even if she’d be better at it than he was.

It was a horrible, overwhelming situation that Leo had found himself in, but at least he wasn’t alone. Despite a small part of him not wanted Mikey to be here, he was still glad to have a sense of familiarity with his baby brother here. Like he said earlier, Mikey was the sunshine of his life and he planned to keep it that way. He had Raph, who grew up lonely and without love but was no less kind for it. Raph, in a way, was a big teddy bear with a heart of gold. And he had Donnie, whose main goal everyday was survival, who fed stray cats when he could barely feed himself, yet probably had enough smarts in him to take over the whole kingdom if he so desired.

Well. Mikey and April had always teased him for getting attached too quickly.

It was around noon when they finally left the stream and continued up the mountain. Rather reluctantly, he might add. The ground became rockier the higher up they got, and eventually they had to push each other over ledges and up steep walls to make progress. They couldn’t go on forever, however, especially running on exactly zero sleep. So, when they stumbled rather miraculously upon a cave, they stopped.

The cave wasn’t that big, being about the size of four wagons put together. Leo chuckled at his own system of measurement, but it was accurate, and wagons were the only point of reference that was fresh in his mind. It was a cozy space, and it offered a sense of security that they hadn’t had in a long time.

Leo glanced at the horizon before turning back to the cave. The sun would be setting soon; it had been almost a day since their daring escape.

The mouth of the cave was only big enough for one person to go in at a time, but was still big enough for Raph to squeeze through. Leo encouraged Mikey to go in first, which he did, with Leo following right after him. There were a few little holes in the ceiling worn away by time and other nightmares, allowing sun to shine down and illuminate the place in a haphazard way. Raph trudged in soon after, looking dead on his feet, still a little soggy from the creek, and then there was Donnie.

Donnie, whose cloak got snagged on a rock sticking out of the wall. When it didn’t come loose with a tug, he sighed and reached for the clasp. Leo had been looking on in amusement and even chuckling, but what happened next shocked him into silence and cut his laughter off at the knees.

The clasp of Donnie’s cloak did something peculiar. There was a faint clicking sound, and the front half of the metal piece swung apart from the back half like a locket. Something tumbled out from inside and bounced across the stone floor to land perfectly in a sunbeam. Light reflected brilliantly off of gold.

There on the ground was a piece – a fragment – of what could only have once been a triangular medallion. And except for the three purple gems set into it – into the gold – it looked exactly like his.

Chapter Text

When Donnie was seven years old, the orphanage that he lived in burned down because of him. He still didn’t fully know what went wrong in his experiment. Could have been a faulty wire or maybe just a miscalculation on his part. Either way, it had the same result. It ended with him standing in the street, alone and with nowhere to go.

It started with a staff member, who had been the only adult left in the orphanage, and she’d called him into her office three days before he burned everything down. She’d been tired and resigned, and Donnie had been small and wary. He didn’t know why she’d been there – why she’d bothered to stay. Possibly, she’d drawn the short straw, or maybe she’d felt like she owed it to them to be there, like a captain going down with the ship.

She’d sat him down and told him that he had a file, and that in that file was something that was his – something that had been with him when they’d found him. She’d given it to him, and Donnie hadn’t let it out of his sight since.

It was a piece of a medallion, made of gold, with three deep purple gems set into it so that they could be seen from both sides. It was shaped like a weirdly odd shaped triangle, and on the back was his name and the date he was born, carved into it precisely. It had been a big deal, for a seven-year-old.

It was still a big deal.

He should’ve been more careful. He should’ve been. It was such a dumb mistake, but Donnie had been kidnapped, and then he had walked for miles, and he was so, so tired. His cloak getting snagged on the wall of the cave was just the cherry on top of a very difficult day, and in his haste and frustration, he had been reckless.

The clasp split apart and opened. The sound of metal bouncing on stone echoed around the otherwise silent cave, and the medallion piece settled down gently in a sunbeam, reflecting light from gold and gems.

Mikey had moved automatically to pick it up, Good Samaritan that he was, but he froze suddenly, seemed to stop breathing, and he looked up at him in shock. Donnie’s heart beat faster at the odd behavior, at his own inability to predict what would happen next.

He freed his cloak with one more panicked tug and rushed over to recover the fallen object. Donnie brushed it off with trembling hands and examined it for damage, but thankfully it looked the same as always; beautiful and impossible and golden. It was incredibly valuable, but Donnie had never been able to bring himself to sell it.

It was the only thing in the world that was his.

“Where did you get that?” Mikey spoke softly, carefully, like his voice was a wrecking ball and the silence was glass.

When Donnie looked up, all three of his companions had adopted odd expressions – eyes wide and unblinking, like they couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. It put him immediately on guard.

“…It’s mine.” Donnie matched Mikey’s tone of voice. “An orphanage worker gave it to me before the orphanage burned down. She said it was mine.”

He’d been seven years old, receiving his first clue to where he came from in the form of a very expensive and personalized item. Someone somewhere had loved him, once.

Mikey and Raph were still frozen and staring, a hand raised halfway in the air in some forgotten action. Donnie blinked at them, tense, wondering if he should say something, and then movement from Leo caught his eye. At first Donnie flinched, thinking that he was going for the sword, that this was the part where they robbed him blind and left him alone, but Leo went straight for the pocket of his jacket. The one on the left side of his chest.

And he pulled out a medallion piece almost identical to his.

Donnie’s eyes widened, his breath caught, and he glanced sharply back at his own hand to make sure that his medallion piece was still there, that this wasn’t some kind of magic trick. But there it was, and there Leo’s was, existing separately and simultaneously.

Leo then nudged Mikey gently and Mikey shakily did the same thing that Leo did and pulled out a medallion piece that was identical to him and Leo’s

Donnie couldn’t believe what he was seeing right now and he could hear Raph make some sort of strangled noise, overcome by an emotion that Donnie hadn’t yet identified. He hadn’t even identified his own emotions.

“Mikey and I snuck into the orphanage archives before we ran away.” Leo was staring at him. “These were under our names. They have our names on them.”

Confusion. Shock. Fear. Donnie’s head was spinning as he struggled to form any coherent thoughts. The medallion piece had been his best kept secret for years, closely guarded, because if anyone in his rundown village had known that he’d had it, they would’ve fought him for it, hurt him for it. It could support a family for years; it was one of a kind. Or maybe not.

Here in front of him was a missing piece. Part of the whole that Donnie had never really tried to find.

“I don’t…” Donnie began, and then changed course. “What?”

Leo shrugged distractedly.

“We’ve only ever told Webby about it,” said Leo, “and we looked for an answer for years. We couldn’t find anything.”

Raph finally broke out of his reverie, shaking his head in astonishment.

“I’ve read about them,” Raph said, and each word sounded heavy. “Before the Kingdom fell, they were given to members of the royal family at their birth”

Donnie leaned heavily against the cave wall, sure that his legs wouldn’t support him for much longer. It had to be a mistake.

But Raph was sighing softly, and Raph was pulling something out from under his vest by the chain around his neck.

“Cassandra gave this to me when she told me to run.” He was holding a fourth medallion piece, identical except for the single red gem sparkling in the light. “Big Mama had—She’d hidden it away for years, and I never knew.”

What did it all mean? His brain still refused to connect the dots.

“Do you think…?” Mikey trailed off.

He walked over to Raph, and they held their pieces close together. Leo also came over and joined his piece together. Now Leo could clearly see the gems: two blue ones on Leo’s, four orange ones on Mikey’s and the red one on Raph’s. Their pieces fit together perfectly, clicking into place, and held there by an invisible magnetic force. Leo laughed, unbelieving, and turned to smile widely at Donnie as he beckoned him over.

Donnie moved slowly toward them, unsure of when he decided to do so and feeling more like he was in a dream than reality. He hesitated – clutching his medallion piece tightly – and then he handed it to Leo, giving in to the part of him that needed to know. It clicked into place with no trouble at all.

At that moment, all four of them felt a strange, sort of magic, energy flowing through them as the markings on their arms, and the red markings on Leo’s face lit up at in their respective colors, as well as their respective weapons. The four of them watched as the medallion glow a bright green for a few seconds, all of them too shocked to understand what was happening

As soon as it happened, the light from their markings, weapons, and the medallion faded away, leaving only the sunlight from above

There in the palm of Leo’s hand was a complete medallion, perfectly circular and dazzling in the fading sunlight. The pattern on the front was whole again, and he recognized it as the old royal crest – the letter ‘H’ with some old language written underneath – carved into gold and surrounded by gems of red, blue, purple, and orange.

They all stared down at it, maybe waiting for something to happen that reflected the importance of the discovery, but the world was still and quiet. It almost felt like time had stopped, just for them.

“What does it mean?” Donnie desperately wanted something to make sense, and he turned to the one person he thought could help. “Raph?”

Raph let out a barely audible sigh, fixated on the object in Leo’s hand, and then he looked up.

“If it’s real, and if what I read is real, then—” Raph shook his head to clear it. “Then we’re part of the royal family. We could be related; we could be brothers.”

“Brothers?” Leo and Mikey repeated, and they sounded cautiously excited.

Donnie, however, was feeling nauseous. It was too good to be true; it couldn’t be true, and if it was, there was no way that they’d just happened to stumble upon each other like this. They were not brothers, he didn’t believe it. They didn’t even look alike. Sure, Leo and Mikey were brothers and, though he didn’t want to admit it, him and Leo were about the same height and had a similar body build, though Leo had more muscle then him. But still, there was no way that all of them could be brothers. He didn’t believe it. Not yet.

“Hey look” Mikey exclaimed excitedly, all eyes on him, as he pointing specifically at Leo and Donnie’s pieces. “You two have the same birthday. Same date and everything”

The blue and purple-loving turtles came to the same conclusion but both had different reactions

“Wait…so that means…” Donnie began to say before Leo cut him off, a super big grin on his face as soft eyes landed on Donnie “We’re twins!” Leo exclaimed excitedly

“It’s possible,” Mikey said, smiling tentatively, before pointing to the gems. “And what’s more is that, if the number of gems is to be believe, then Leo is the older twin and Donnie is the younger twin”

And Donnie wished more than anything that he could disappear and give himself maybe a couple of years to just think. Time was moving too fast, and nothing was making sense. He unattached his medallion piece from the others and firmly held it over his heart, trying to somehow calm its frantic racing. It was all too much.

As a fellow hostage, Donnie was okay; he was useful. But as a brother, as a twin, he’d be nothing but a disappointment. He couldn’t be what Raph, Mikey, and especially Leo were suddenly hoping that he was. He couldn’t be what they wanted or deserved. He was still just a thief, and a con artist. Still just a stranger.

“No, it—it’s not,” Donnie said, backing away a few steps, looking for room to breathe. “It’s not possible.”

The other three turned their attention to him, with Leo looking mildly offended.

“Why not?” asked Mikey softly.

Donnie shook his head, having a hard time finding the words he wanted to say and the breath he needed to do so.

“Okay, Let’s say—Let’s say that we are long lost brothers. What are the chances that we all just—just happened to run into each other like this? Things like that don’t happen in real life,” Donnie said.

“It just did,” Leo insisted. “It doesn’t matter what the chances are, it’s done.”

“So, what, it’s fate or something?”

“It might be!”

Donnie stopped pacing – when did he start? – and stared down at the floor, breathing shakily, wishing that he wasn’t alone in his skepticism.

“There’s no such thing as fate,” Donnie said quietly.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Leo had a determined look in his eyes and was now within arms reach of Donnie. Leo looked like he wanted to reach out and hold Donnie’s hands as way of comfort, though thankfully he kept his distance. Donnie feared that his carefully constructed walls would crumble from the force of Leo’s look and his near actions. “But there’s us. Right here, right now.” Leo spoke a bit softer

Yeah, here they were, standing in a damp cave that was miles away from any sort of civilization, having recently escaped captivity. They were hungry, and exhausted, and they were still in danger. If fate existed, it had a cruel sense of humor. And it hadn’t been kind to Donnie.

Leo was silent for a moment, looking between them, heart on his sleeve whereas Donnie’s was in his throat. Leo then gestured for Mikey to come closer to him, to which Mikey did. Leo brought his arm around Mikey and gave it a gentle squeeze before he spoke

“Have you ever had this— like, a weird feeling in your chest?” Leo asked. “Where it hurts like something’s missing?”

Donnie blinked back the sudden surge of tears in his eyes – overwhelmed and exhausted – because how could Leo have known that?

“And it just feels sort of…” Leo paused, eyebrows furrowed, like he was searching for the right word, before Mikey found it for him “…Hollow.” The smallest one said quietly as he leaned his head against Leo’s shoulder. Leo smiled down at his little brother as he gave his arm another gentle squeeze and started to rub it softly. “Yeah Mikey…hollow”

“It’s has always felt heavy to me” Raph spoke softly, gazing back at Leo and Mikey, clutching his medallion piece tightly in his hand.

And then they looked at him, these three turtles he’d stumbled upon by accident, and he felt like he was seeing them for the first time. Raph, and to an extent Leo, who had tended to his damaged hands. Leo, who had tried to save him. And even Mikey, who showed him kindness from the very beginning. They had all cared for him in their own special ways. And Donnie had been lying his whole life, but he couldn’t lie to them.

“Broken.”

A pause.

“It’s been better, recently,” Leo told them. “Since we met you guys.” And by the small head nod from Mikey, he agreed with Leo

With a jolt, Donnie realized that he was right. He’d felt a lot of things during the past few days, but that familiar ache hadn’t been one of them. Some of the jagged edges had been rounded out, and the glass had been swept to the side. Not quite healed, but somewhere close. Somewhere on its way.

He looked down at his hand – at the medallion piece that fit perfectly with Raph, Leo’s and Mikey’s and had the same date encrypted on there as Leo’s – and there was a part of him that wanted to believe, to throw caution to the wind and be their brother, to be Leo’s twin, to have a family. But the other part was too damaged, and guarded, and so, so tired. He couldn’t let himself hope.

“What do we do now?” Raph asked.

That was the question. Everything that they’d thought they knew had just gone out the figurative window, and they’d have to reach some conclusions about the new information pretty soon, but Donnie couldn’t think any longer; he couldn’t deal with this right now. Nothing good would come from trying to figure it all out right then, anyway, at the end of a very long day.

“Can we just sleep?” Donnie asked, hoping that he seemed steadier than he felt.

Despite his efforts, he must’ve sounded pretty pitiful, because Raph’s anxious face softened, and Leo and Mikey stopped bouncing in place.

“Okay,” said Raph softly.

Leo looked like he wanted to fight it, but both Raph and Mikey shook his head at him, possibly picking up on Donnie’s need for time to process, and Leo relented. They were all exhausted anyway. The topic was reluctantly dropped until such a time where everyone was both well rested and reasonably sane. Although, based on that criteria, it may never happen.

Donnie made his way to the side of the cave, pulled his hood up onto his head, and curled up on the ground facing the wall. As the sun sank slowly below the horizon, he took one last look at his piece of the medallion – his piece of the puzzle – before hiding it away in its place once more.

Another problem for another day.

Chapter Text

Unsurprisingly, Raph didn’t sleep very well. His emotions were fighting in a bloody, brutal war with his logical thinking, and neither one was coming out the winner. The idea that they were brothers – that they were royalty – seemed fantastical even with the evidence right in front of him; even with Leo, Donnie, and Mikey in front of him. Even with the few facts that they had.

The sun had been slowly setting during their accidental discovery and the subsequent conversation, and now it was dark. He didn’t know how long it’d been since they’d all settled down, but it was long enough for Donnie’s irregular breathing to even out, signaling that he was asleep. Which was a good thing, since Donnie seemed to be the most distressed by the day’s events.

Frankly, they all needed rest, and it was a shame that Raph wasn’t getting any.

Leo let out a sudden sigh, and Raph just about jumped out of his skin – wow, he really was on edge – before sitting up quietly to look towards him. Leo was laying on his back close by, wearing just his shirt and jacket, having removed his sword and put it on the ground next to him. Mikey was on Leo’s right side, curled up against the slider, his breaths even and slow, which mean that he was asleep. Leo, however, wasn’t asleep as he was staring at the ceiling of the cave with intense focus.

“Leo?” Raph whispered, not wanting to be too loud unless he woke up Donnie and Mikey

Leo flinched a little, hand twitching toward his sword and subtly bringing Mikey closer to him before Raph’s voice registered and he relaxed. Making sure that he haven’t wake Mikey up, he pushed himself smoothly into a sitting position, propping his elbow on his knee and resting his chin in his hand, blinking slowly back at him in the dark.

“Can’t sleep?” Raph asked, softly.

“No,” Leo replied, and then he nodded to in Donnie’s direction and the turtle sleeping below him. “I can’t believe that they can.”

Raph glanced over at where Donnie was sleeping and then back at Mikey, both still and silent as the world around them.

Raph wasn’t really worried about Mikey, as the youngest turtle was just as excited as Leo about the idea of them being brothers. Donnie on the other hand…

“I think it’s been a lot for Donnie”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Leo, frowning thoughtfully at the wall. “Do you really believe that we’re brothers?”

There was no simple answer to that question. Raph hardly knew where to start. The truth, maybe.

“I don’t know.” Raph smiled somewhat sadly, hating to admit it, hating that he wasn’t sure. “Do you?”

Leo looked at Mikey before turning his gaze back towards the ceiling, and Raph realized all at once that he had actually been looking through one of the holes – past the cave ceiling and out at the sky. It was a beautifully clear night, but it hung over deeply troubled people.

A ghost of a smile crossed Leo’s face when he answered the question.

“I think I do.”

But he said it like he was talking to the stars, or making a solemn vow to the universe, and it made Raph believe just a little bit more.

Mikey curled a bit closer to Leo and let out a content sigh in his sleep. Donnie shifted rather abruptly in his sleep, turning over so that he was now facing towards them, back to the wall. He was curled up on his side, his slightly oversized shirt making him appear smaller than he was, and something in Raph’s chest squeezed.

And from the look on Leo’s face as he stared at his supposed younger twin, Raph knew that Leo felt the same way

“I don’t want things to go back to the way they were before we met each other,” Leo said, more serious than ever, staring at Donnie across the cave. “I’d never forgive myself, if he had to go back.”

Raph sighed sadly, breathing slowly and deliberately, trying to untangle the writhing knots in his stomach. Because he’d never forgive himself, either. He already shouldered the blame for getting them all caught by running straight into the arms of the Purple Dragons and setting the wheels in motion.

“Yeah,” agreed Raph, frowning. “I guess neither of us really has a place to go.”

It wasn’t something that he’d thought about while they were escaping – because, you know, priorities – but now that they were free it was becoming more and more relevant. It wasn’t like he could go back to Big Mama, so where exactly was he escaping to?

Almost as if he’d heard the question, Leo spoke quietly, vulnerably.

“…You could come with me and Mikey.”

Raph turned with wide eyes, and Leo smiled sheepishly.

“You’d do that?” Raph asked. “You’d let us stay with you?”

“Well, of course we would. You know Mikey would absolutely love to have two more older brothers,” Leo said, enthusiasm returning to his voice, filtered as it was through a grin. “Based on recent experiences, I can say with absolute confidence that there’d never be a dull day between us.”

Raph laughed as quietly as he could. Yeah, things had been quite…exciting, recently. It was becoming difficult to imagine each other in any situation other than this one. It was hard to remember normal life.

“We could use a few dull days,” said Raph, suppressing a yawn.

“Yeah, I guess that fighting for your life loses it’s charm after a while.”

Understatement of the century. Raph had been dead tired and sick of fighting since the first day he’d been captured. Perhaps even since the day he was born.

“Maybe Donnie’s got the right idea,” said Raph as he laid back down, nodding sleepily at their dozing companion.

“Oh, he definitely does.” Leo fell back to the ground with his arms spread wide. “At least about this.” Leo then curled around his arms around Mikey as Mikey subconsciously moved in closer. Leo rubbed small circles into Mikey’s shell as he stared at his supposed younger twin on the other side of the cave

Leo was potentially a twin and wasn’t that a concept, something that Leo never imagined in a million years. And, in all honesty, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He was excited at first, but after seeing Donnie’s reaction to it, Leo was just feeling…well he wasn’t sure

“Can’t believe that Donnie doesn’t believe that we are brothers” Leo spoke so softly and with so much hurt in his tone. Raph figured that Leo was likely frustrated about Donnie’s disbelief in their family ties. Though Raph had a feeling that Leo was probably mostly upset by the fact that he and Donnie could be twins and Donnie essentially rejected that reality

“Give him time,” Raph whispered softly, eyes already closed.

Leo and Mikey might have been ready to believe wholeheartedly, but others were more cautious. As much as those two were prone to throwing themselves fully into things, there were also people who preferred a quieter approach, like Donnie did. Raph himself fell somewhere in the middle. He needed facts to feel sure, and while he did have some facts, he still wasn’t ready to fully believe it. Not yet.

Raph needed time, too.

He was awoken the next morning by the sun shining rather mercilessly directly in his eyes. He blinked blearily at the ceiling, squinting and scowling lightly. It was just his luck that he’d positioned himself perfectly underneath a hole in the ceiling.

Raph fully intended on going back to sleep, but he sat up to check on the others first. Leo and Mikey were sprawled on the floor a few feet away, their mouths hanging open and snoring softly, sleeping with the same enthusiasm that he applied to everything. And Donnie was gone. Donnie was gone.

Raph knew that he was probably fine, logically, but a newfound brotherly instinct was urging him to check, just in case. And Raph wasn’t one to ignore his instincts

Raph pushed himself up off the ground – wincing at all of his sore muscles – and exited the cave, emerging groggily into the early morning sun. He didn’t have to go very far before he found Donnie, who hadn’t gone more than ten feet away from the entrance to their shelter. He was sitting on a moss-covered rock near the edge of a steep drop, facing toward the sun, cloak swaying gently in the cool breeze. It was a serene sight, but it seemed out of place after all they’d been through.

Raph walked over, being sure to make noise so Donnie could hear that he was approaching, and he sat down next to him on the rock. Donnie glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, still on guard and wary. In his hand was his medallion piece.

It was still jarring to see it; it looked so much like Raph’s own. The three purple gems sparkled. If it was true, if they really were brothers, then the order went Raph, Leo, Donnie, then Mikey as the youngest. If the dates on their medallions were also true, then what Mikey said was correct. Leo was the older twin and Donnie was the younger twin. They were born on the same date, but it was unsure by how much older Leo was. Maybe not by much, but by enough that it mattered. At least to Leo it mattered. When it would matter to Donnie was yet to be seen

Raph took his time enjoying the view of the landscape. They had made it a few feet over the treetops, but they weren’t yet high enough to see much else.

“I don’t know if I can believe it,” Donnie spoke suddenly, and he was staring resolutely into the distance when Raph turned to look at him.

“You don’t have to,” Raph assured him, voice patient and understanding.

This wasn’t something that could be forced. It was too important.

“I mean, some of it makes sense, I guess,” Donnie said, words rushed like he was forcing them out. “But the royal family disappeared years ago, how could we be part of it?”

“It’s a long shot” Raph said, “but the Kingdom falling happen a year after Mikey’s birth. It was a dangerous time, maybe they had to give us up.”

“It’s a really long shot.”

Raph shrugged. “Maybe.”

“And how would we have gotten so separated? What went wrong?”

“There was a war,” said Raph, moss beneath his hands and his heart on his sleeve. “It would be easier to ask what went right.”

“Seems like nothing did,” Donnie said, sounding defeated, and Raph’s chest constricted, a spark of anger at whatever had brought Donnie to this point.

He took his medallion piece out from under his vest and flipped it over to the side with his birthdate, and his name. Big Mama had always called him Raphael; it was Cassandra who gave him his nickname

Raph then noticed Donnie was rubbing his thumb across his medallion, right over his three gem pieces, as well as the date. The same as Leo’s

Raph thought about asking Donnie’s thoughts about being Leo’s twin, but Donnie beat him to it “Do you think that Leo and I are really twins?” Donnie asked in a small voice. Donnie sounded uncertain, but there was a small hint of hope in there as well

“It’s not a matter of what I think. It’s a matter of what you think and how you feel about it” Raph answered as he moved closer to Donnie

“I was afraid you were going to say that” Donnie huffed

Raph just watched as Donnie continued to rub his thumb across the medallion before sighing. “Being a brother just sounds…complicated. Being a twin sounds even more complicated. I’m just afraid that I am going to disappoint Leo. That I won’t be the brother…the twin that he wants. Or even deserves”

Raph thought about saying something back before Donnie let out a small laugh. “But honestly, and don’t tell Leo this, but a small part of me, deep down…and I mean very deep down, is actually thrilled by the concept of having a twin”

Raph smiled fondly. It seemed that while Donnie had his reservations about all of this, there was a part of him that at least was trying to maybe accept the idea. But, from what Raph had observed from Donnie so far, the kid kept his heart guarded under lock and key, afraid to let other people in. Raph could only guess that it was because he was afraid of disappointment. Afraid of getting hurt if he let people in

Raph totally understood that

As he scooted closer to his supposed second youngest brother, Raph noticed Donnie’s name on his medallion

“Donatello?” Raph asked, amused.

Louie winced, but he shot him a small smile.

“Don’t tell Leo or Mikey” he said.

Raph chuckled, but he agreed, and he hung his piece back around his neck and tucked it beneath his vest.

They sat in a comfortable silence, watching the sun climb over the treetops and the clouds glide slowly across the sky. The Purple Dragons most definitely had noticed that they were gone by now, and could be in this very forest, searching for them. It was a beautiful place they’d found, but they couldn’t stay.

“I’ve never had a family before,” Donnie said quietly, some time later. “I don’t know how to have one. I don’t know how to be a brother. I…I don’t know how to be a twin”

Raph sighed “I’m sure that you will figure out your twin thing with Leo soon. But let’s not worry about that right now. How about—” Raph stood up and looked down at Donnie – “you and Leo…all of us really… start as friends?”

Donnie shot him a wry grin.

“I don’t know much about that either.” He stood up. “But I can try.”

Raph smiled and held out his hand to shake, which Donnie did, his eyes mischievous and still just a little bit unsure. But he was trying. Something warm came alive in Raph’s chest and settled down to stay. It was like they’d finally been properly introduced.

Leo and Mikey chose that moment to arrive on the scene, sleepily rubbing their eyes.

“Are you guys sealing a business deal or something?” asked Mikey, smiling quizzically.

“Or something,” Raph and Donnie spoke in perfect unison, and then looked at each other in surprise; Donnie seemed mildly annoyed.

“’Not brothers’ they say,” Leo grumbled, but he looked satisfied.

Together, they cleared away any sign that they’d been there, saying silent goodbyes to their temporary shelter before continuing up the mountain. Some parts of the journey were easier than others, but after about an hour of groaning and complaining, they finally reached a point high enough to survey the landscape. As it turned out, and to the relief of them all, the climb had been worth it.

They stood at the ledge of a dauntingly high cliff, with the treetops now far below them. It looked pretty much the same as before, except now they could see where the forest ended, and beyond that—

“There, see?” Raph pointed out past the edge of the forest, shielding his eyes with his other hand. “A road! It’s got to connect to a village somewhere.”

There it was – their salvation. A dirt road worn away by time and continued use, cutting effortlessly through fields of tall grass and wildflowers.

Mikey whooped and held his hand out for a high five, which Raph happily returned – albeit a bit awkwardly. It felt like they were finally going somewhere, rather than wandering aimlessly or running away.

Raph took a moment to stand still and breathe it all in, standing high above the rest of the world and feeling elevated for the first time in his life. The cliff a few feet away had a steep drop, and yet he had the strange thought that if he fell, he might float instead of sink.

He turned just in time to watch Leo pull Donnie off the ground, where he’d collapsed to catch his breath after the climb. Behind them – a glorious backdrop – was the beginnings of the forest that would lead them back down the mountain, almost on the opposite side from where they began. Raph could hear running water not too far away; it was likely the source of the stream they’d found earlier.

Unbidden, Raph was suddenly overcome by the feeling of déjà vu. Multiple memories jumped excitedly to the forefront of his mind, memories of being young and lonely and going off into the woods to play pretend. He’d spend hours in the forest behind his house, going on imaginary adventures with his imaginary family and friends. It was bittersweet to look back on that time and realize just how much things had changed, and how his current circumstances were an echo of a young boy’s dream, twisted into a nightmare. It was no longer pretend, and there were consequences to that.

Donnie came up next to him quietly, now interested in seeing where they were headed, and even he couldn’t help a small smile. It was a big improvement from that morning, at least. Raph turned his head to look out at the wide-open world that was spread out before them, just as beautiful as it was dangerous.

“Ready?” Leo asked from behind them, and Raph nodded absentmindedly.

“I’m ready!” Mikey exclaimed excitedly

“As ready as I’ll ever be” Donnie replied with less enthusiasm, but still determined

“Raph? You ready?” Mikey asked as he glanced up at the bigger turtle

Eventually, they’d have to talk about the medallion and what it meant. Eventually, they’d need a plan beyond ‘keep walking’. But right now, they had to get off this mountain and out of the woods. It was another problem for another day.

“Yeah,” said Raph, eyes fixed on the road far below, as he placed a hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “I’m ready.”

Chapter Text

Never in his life had Leo felt so close to just – literally exploding. Everything after the ‘big reveal’ of the medallion was total internal chaos. His thoughts ran in circles like an excited puppy, and it was almost torture trying to stay still; trying to not blurt out everything that he was thinking at any given moment. He’d never been one to keep his hopes and dreams to himself, so this was painfully new territory.

Because, well, they had agreed to not talk about it until they were safe – or the decision was at least implied – but seeing as how the one thing they weren’t talking about was also the one thing that everyone was thinking about, conversation was slow. There hadn’t been any meaningful exchanges since they’d set out to find the road, and it was all Leo could do to hold it together, and he knew that Mikey felt the same way

The two of them talked about it for a bit while Raph and Donnie were outside. Mikey share the same sentiment that was very excited about the potential of them having more brothers, but there was still that underlying certainty. Mikey was like Raph in that regard, and Leo couldn’t really blame Mikey for it.

Mikey then asked Leo about what it was liking knowing that Donnie was his twin. Leo simply stated that he was over the moon about it, but that he wished that Donnie shared the same sentiment. Mikey could tell that Leo was upset over it and, like Raph, told Leo that Donnie just needed time. That they all did and, once again, Leo was just baffled on how wise his little brother was. In that moment, they both agree that they really didn’t want to scare away Raph and Donnie with an excited, emotional outburst, thus deciding to keep it to themselves

To cover their tracks, Raph had suggested that they make their way to the stream they’d heard, and they had been wading through the knee-deep water ever since. It was tedious, but it kept them cool and provided them with plenty to drink. Leo’s stomach, however, was getting difficult to ignore, and he heard Mikey’s rumbling on and off. None of them had eaten in over a day.

Walking in line formation – with Raph leading, himself in the back, and Donnie and Mikey sandwiched in the middle – he could watch his little brother and his two new brothers friends closely. They were all low on energy, due to lack of food and insufficient sleep, and it was easy to see the effect it was having on them. They walked slowly, they stumbled, and they drank a ton of water trying to fill the empty spaces. Everyone was a little subdued, because they’d come all this way and still didn’t have an exact plan – especially in regards to their newest discovery. They’d reach a village, hopefully, but then what?

Leo was lost in his uncharacteristically brooding thoughts – maybe even frowning a bit – when Mikey suddenly yelped, stumbling and splashing through water as he scrambled to the side a few steps. Donnie and Raph jumped, and one of Leo’s hand automatically fell to the hilt of his sword, while the other had a hand outstretched to his little brother

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked, voice tight as he surveyed the area for danger and to see if his little brother was hurt

Mikey laughed in a nervous fashion, shoulders shaking like he was trying to suppress it.

“Oh, ha—just a fish, I think,” Mikey said sheepishly, face a little red. “It touched my leg.”

There was complete silence for at least three seconds as the words sunk in, and then Donnie started giggling quietly. That was apparently all it took, because now the dam was broken and before long the four of them were doubled over in laughter. They were standing in a river, in a forest, on a mountain in the middle of nowhere, and Leo was crying laughing. Maybe it wasn’t really that amusing, but after days and days of stress and revelations, it was the funniest thing in the world.

They didn’t stop laughing for a long time, but when Leo finally got himself down to just the occasional giggle, he had never felt so warm and full. He then felt Mikey nudge him gently as he pointed at Raph and Donnie whose laughter was dying down. The slider and box turtle looked at their friends smiling faces, and they realized that this was the first time they had seen Raph and Donnie really laugh. Happy was a good look on them.

Tears were streaming down each of their faces, their bodies letting go of all excess emotion they had built up over the last week or so. A weight that he hadn’t been aware of lifted off his shoulders. If Leo ever saw that fish again, he might even attempt a grateful hug.

“We’re a little jumpy, aren’t we?” Raph asked through soft giggles.

“More than a little, I think,” said Donnie, breathless and still smiling a bit.

“You can say that again,” said Mikey, whose face was still a little red. “I think my life flashed before my eyes!”

This set them off giggling again, but they pulled themselves together and made a valiant attempt to continue onward.

They’d only been walking for a little while longer when they came across a fork in the stream. One way would presumably lead back around the mountain to where they’d started their climb, which they did not want to repeat. They had no idea where the other option would take them, but it was their goal to stay in the water for as long as possible so as not to leave behind footprints or disturbed shrubbery.

The turtles stood and stared for a minute, discussing which way was the correct way to go. Leo said that they should go left, while Raph politely disagreed and said that they should go right. Donnie hit up the logic that whenever in doubt, always go right. Mikey seemed to agree with Donnie’s logic and, walk over to where Donnie was standing with Raph. Leo just shrugged his shoulders, saying that he trusted Donnie’s logic and Raph’s sense of direction, following after them, hoping that his new friends were right

In all honesty, Leo felt a little useless out here, where there was nothing and no one to fight. The other three had been instrumental in their escape; Raph with the rope of shirts and Donnie with the knife. Heck, even Mikey had been playing a role by being the one to stay mostly positive and distracting them from the situation that they had found themselves in. Raph and Donnie were very smart on a logic level while Mikey was very smart on a mental and, dare he say, on an emotional level. In different ways, they complimented each other. They were useful, not that they had to be.

Leo figured that his main purpose now was as the guy with the sword – the protection. Though he felt like maybe Raph had him beat in that department too, with his big size and everything. And he was more than fine with that. He’d like to see the Purple Dragons just try and mess with them again. This time he would be ready.

Somewhere along the way, Mikey had begun humming. It quickly turned into full-blown singing, though, with Leo singing along with him, Raph mumbling along, and Donnie pretending to be annoyed by it. They were the same songs that Leo, Mikey, and April would sing together on long trips, trying to outdo each other as they watched the world go by. It made him miss April and her parents even more. He hoped that they were safe.

In the middle of Leo’s personal favorite song, Donnie suddenly splashed his way out of the river, stumbling along the bank as he adjusted to walking on dry land again. Leo and Mikey quit singing and walking, sharing a confused look with Raph as they watched from the stream. Donnie stopped a few feet away and started inspecting a bush.

“What are you doing?” Raph asked, baffled.

“There's berries,” said Donnie, waving them over with a small, triumphant smile.

Leo wasted no time in getting over to the berry bush, with Mikey right on his heels.

Raph, however was a bit hesitant “You’re sure they’re safe?” he asked.

“Yes.” Donnie rolled his eyes, already chewing. “I’ve been eating them for years. There’s a bush near my village.”

Raph still seemed a little wary, but soon enough they were filling their pockets with as many of the little red berries as they could carry, eating a ton along the way. Raph and Donnie didn’t actually have pockets, though, so they compromised by filling Donnie’s hood to the brim with the berries. There was no sense in leaving food there if they could help it.

They left behind a much different bush than the one they had originally discovered, most of the berries being either on them or in them.

Trudging back into the stream and resuming their traveling line, they were in higher spirits. It still didn’t take long for Mikey to get bored.

“How much longer?” Mikey asked, trying to not sound like he was whining.

“Who’s to say,” Donnie responded vaguely.

Mikey looked behind him at Leo, who said the same thing as Donnie did, which got a smirk out of Donnie. Mikey then looked towards their ‘leader’, and Raph glanced at them over his shoulder, meeting Mikey’s pleading gaze with a grin. He shrugged.

“Who’s to say,” Raph said cheekily.

This got a laugh out of the older three turtles as Donnie and Leo shared a high five. Mikey groaned dramatically, though still with a smile on his face. It was a nice atmosphere that they had created, joking and laughing – and then Leo tripped.

It was just their luck that they happened to be at an unfairly steep part of the mountain slope.

The blue clad turtle found himself rather abruptly on his back, and the rushing water combined with gravity pushed him along at a pace that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Leo slammed into Mikey’s knees, already screaming, causing the younger to fall on top of him before sliding off with a splash and a shout of alarm.

They took down Donnie next. Raph heard their screams and he turned around just in time to see them coming at him at an alarming speed. He tried holding his arms out to stop them but the force of gravity was too much and Raph was taken down as well

Before long they were all being washed swiftly down the mountainside, having just completed the worlds worst domino chain reaction. The world was a blur of water and leaves and brief contact with the others, and Leo was pretty sure that all of them were screaming. If there was any sense to the yelling, he couldn’t decipher it.

Eventually, and thankfully not too long later, the ground evened out enough that they could find their bearings. It had been only a few minutes, but they had been long minutes of flailing and scrambling, and they came out of it soaking wet, spitting out water and stuttering coughs.

“That’s one way down a mountain,” Leo laughed, wheezing, but only when he was sure he wasn’t going to fall over.

The other three simply glared at him from where they were standing, and Leo was struck by how similar they looked glaring at him.

He seen that look from Mikey many of times in his life. But now seeing it come from Raph and Donnie made Leo realize that, since finding out about the medallion, that these were his brothers. Leo knew it in his heart, and felt it in the not-so-hollow space in his chest. Never had he believed so strongly in something. This, he knew, was worth fighting for.

“Whatever,” Donnie grumbled, taking off his cloak so that he could check to see that his battle shell and bo staff didn’t get too wet. “We should be close to the edge of the forest.”

Almost out of the woods, Leo thought humorously, but he didn’t say it aloud just in case his jokes were wearing thin.

They had lost quite a lot of their precious few berries while they were being washed away. Leo and Mikey’s own pockets were still relatively full, but Donnie had lost most of his, and Raph had none. It was disheartening, and they could only hope that they would soon reach a village, and then they could eat something more substantial than berries.

When the trees started getting thinner and the river started to curve, they refilled their water flasks one last time and set out on dry land. Finally, the end was in sight. They came to the edge of the forest – only a few trees surrounded them now – and they stared out into the greenish-yellow grass. It was nearly as tall as they were.

Raph knelt and allow Mikey to climb up his shell, so that Mikey was resting on his shoulders. It warmed something in Leo’s heart as he carried Mikey like that. Almost like Raph had been doing this all his life. Almost like Raph had always had little brothers

Leo shook his head of that thought as he watch Raph walk around with Mikey as Mikey examined the terrain. Leo noticed that Donnie was watching too and Leo could tell that Donnie also wanted to climb on Raph’s shell so badly

“If you ask nicely, maybe Raph would give you ride” Leo whispered quietly to Donnie, which made Donnie jump because he wasn’t expecting it. “What?” Leo put his hands up, feeling bad for scaring his friend younger twin. “Didn’t mean to scare you dude. I was watching you and I saw that look in your eyes. I can tell that you want to also be on Raph’s shoulders and I was just saying that if you ask nicely, Raph might let you climb on his shoulders” he said, as he pointed to where Mikey and Raph were

Donnie just scoffed. “That was not what I was thinking about. And even if I was, I’m sure Raph wouldn’t want me on his shoulders”

Now Leo was confused. “Why you say that?”

Donnie seemed to shrink on himself a bit as he spoke “Well because I don’t know Raph that well” “Mikey doesn’t know him that well either and yet he is up on Raph’s shoulders” Leo pointed out “Mikey is also younger and the smallest. He is the perfect one to be on Raph’s shoulder and I’m just…” Donnie then seemed to get a bit agitated “Look I’m just not comfortable with asking for a multitude of reasons…so can you drop it please Leo?”

Leo hated seeing Donnie look so distraught and he really wanted to continue asking Donnie about it, but he saw that Raph and Mikey were coming their way and he didn’t really want to be having an argument in front of them, so he decided to drop it and Donnie seemed grateful for that as he straighten himself up and cross his arms across his chest

“Do you see anything?” Leo asked as the two other turtles walked up to them.

“Kind of.” Mikey said. “It’s a straight shot. It should be simple.”

“We’ll see,” Donnie said.

Leo lightly slapped Donnie on the arm.

“Stop being so pessimistic,” Leo said lightly. “We’ll make it!”

“Dead or alive.”

“Stop that!”

“Come on guys!” Mikey plunged forward into the grass. “We’re wasting daylight!”

Without the trees to block it, the sun was now beating down on them full force. At least their clothes would dry faster.

Mikey took the lead this time since it was simple and easy, and because he wasn’t particularly afraid of the tall grass. Leo was right behind, as he too wasn’t afraid of the tall grass and also because he could be ready in case something came their way. Raph was behind them mumbling about hidden snakes while Donnie very carefully only stepped where they already had.

Leo was very aware of the extra weight against his chest in the one pocket that he hadn’t filled with berries. What he really wanted was to sit down and talk about it; put their pieces back together and stay in one spot until they all believed in it. Until Donnie believed that all of this was reality and that the two of them were really twins

Back when he and Mikey had first trusted April enough to tell her about the medallion piece, they’d gone crazy trying to solve the mystery. They would sneak off to the library in every village and try to dig up information. But after years of nothing, the excitement had faded. Now it was back, ten times stronger and more important than before. Leo was restless. He wanted to get to work and figure it out.

It was at that moment that he couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

“So, Raph,” Leo said as they walked, doing his best to appear nonchalant. “How’d you know about all that medallion stuff?”

“Oh, um, there was this big library in my— in Big Mama’s house, and after I read all of those books, I snuck into her private office,” said Raph sheepishly, and Leo grinned. “She has a ton of books about the royal family, and that’s where I read about it.”

Raph trailed off, and Leo rolled that information around in his head.

“Do you think she knew?” Donnie asked suddenly. “You said that Big Mama had your piece, and if she was reading all those books, and then she had you kidnapped…”

“I don’t know,” Raph said, voice strained.

It was all adding up to paint a suspicious picture. Big Mama had to have suspected that Raph was royalty, or even known for sure. But why the kidnapping? What had she been up to?

“She sounds crazy,” Mikey said, scowling.

“Probably not entirely sane,” Raph agreed, with a short, humorless laugh.

And yeah, he would not be letting her near Raph ever again, not after what she’d gotten them all into. Not after the way she’d betrayed Raph

Leo had meant what he said about taking Raph and Donnie in. They both deserved better. In fact, Leo believed they deserved the world. The good parts, not the bad. They were a good part.

“Did you learn anything else from those books?” Mikey asked.

“I don’t remember all of it,” Raph admitted. “There was a lot of stuff about the old Kingdom, and the war. The king and his relatives disappeared right after, and it did all happen a year after you were born Mikey”

“What was the war even about?” Donnie asked, kicking at the ground as he walked.

“I heard April and her parents talked about it a lot.” Leo frowned. “I think they lost people in it. Basically, the king went to war against a bunch of corrupt people, and no one knows what happened at the end because both sides just sort of…faded out of existence.”

Leo and Mikey had only ever heard about the fighting, since they hadn’t been around to see it. Most people remembered it – even though it had occurred upwards of a decade ago – but no one liked to talk about it. It was forgotten in the way that bad things were when everyone was set on pretending that it never happened.

“So even if we wanted to get definite answers, we couldn’t,” said Donnie.

“I guess not,” said Raph. “There’s no one left to ask.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Mikey turned around and shook his head. “All of the records say that they disappeared, not died. There’s gotta be someone out there who knows.”

“It’s a long shot,” Raph said, and Donnie nodded in agreement.

However, Leo agreed with Mikey “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” said Leo, “but we’ve been operating on long shots since we met.”

“True,” said Donnie hesitantly, “but we still don’t know if any of it is real.”

Leo turned back around to hide his frustrated scowl. It made perfect sense to him, so why didn’t Donnie feel the same? You know why, said a voice in his head. It sounded suspiciously like April, and he chuckled. Count on her – or his memory of her – to still be giving him advice.

It was a long time ago, but Leo still remembered the feeling of being alone in the world. Sure, he had Mikey and Mikey was his saving grace a lot of time. His sunshine, as he said earlier

However, not even his sunshine of a little brother was enough for that lonely feeling to take hold. Before April and her parents, they had been in the orphanage which had had an especially hard time with food supplies in the winter. All the children would end up squabbling over the food. There’d been quite a few kids there, and they’d been older and stronger than them back then.

After dealing with that for years, it had taken a while for Leo and Mikey to believe that April and her parents were fair and trustworthy, that they wouldn’t keep anything from them, and they’d give Leo and his baby brother their fair share.

A lot of time had passed since then, but it wasn’t the type of thing that was easily forgotten. For Donnie, the wound was still fresh, and much deeper than Leo even knew. He’d have to give it time to heal. It would be frustrating – siblings were like that – but it would be worth it; it already was. Mikey was worth it. Raph was worth it. And Donnie was especially worth it, considering that they were potentially twins. Leo would wait for as long as he had to.

He was startled out of his thoughts as he quite literally stumbled upon the road. It was as a lower level than the ground surrounding it, hence the tripping. They let out a small cheer as they celebrated their accomplishment – this one thing that had gone right – and the discovery of this small piece of civilization.

“Alright, so, left or right?” Mikey asked, a surprisingly common question, recently.

“I don’t know,” Donnie said, examining both directions. “What’d we do last time?”

“When we jumped out of the wagon?” Leo asked, and Donnie nodded. “Oh, we went right.”

“That seemed to work,” said Mikey, shrugging.

“Okay, right it is,” said Raph.

They resumed their normal lineup with Raph in front, and they finally got to walk in a straight line, on flat ground, able to clearly see where they were going. It was glorious. Leo grinned and popped a few berries in his mouth. Things were looking up.

An hour later they were hiding in the grass on the side of the road, having spotted a wagon coming up behind them. They watched anxiously as it got closer.

“It’s not either of the ones that the Purple Dragons have,” Mikey remarked.

The driver was an older rabbit with long floppy ears, and overall did not appear very threatening. The wagon he was driving was more of a trailer, really, with no roof and low sides.

“We’d get to a village faster if we tagged along,” said Raph nervously.

“But would we survive the trip?” asked Donnie.

Leo rolled his eyes.

“Come on, we’ve seen worse than that guy,” Leo said, “and I could protect us if I had to.”

Raph sighed, but nodded, with Mikey seeming to be fully on board with a big smile on his face. The three then turned to face Donnie who noticed his friends staring at him, waiting for his answer

“Fine,” Donnie gritted out.

Leo led the way out of the grass and flagged down the driver with flailing arms.

“Excuse me!” Leo shouted as the guy stopped. “Would you give us a ride to the nearest village, please?”

The man looked disgruntled, and who wouldn’t in this situation, but he agreed easily enough and with minimal questions about what on earth they were doing alone in the middle of nowhere. You had to appreciate the people who didn’t ask questions. Well, except for maybe a few, because as soon as they got going, the guy did have a few problematic things to ask.

“Are your parents waiting in the next village, then?” the rabbit asked, and then, sensing the hesitancy, “You four are related, aren’t you?”

Donnie said no while Leo said yes, and they shot annoyed looks at each other. Raph and Mikey sighed tiredly.

“Who’s to say,” said Raph and Mikey together.

Chapter Text

Donnie was absolutely blindsided by the strong urge to cry when the village came into view the next day. It felt like maybe, just maybe, they were safe.

The driver, who had introduced himself as Usagi, had kept them traveling for half the night before pulling over to the side of the road to sleep. It had been another tense night, feeling more vulnerable out there in the open than they had in the cave. They’d dozed on and off for a few hours before Usagi awoke and they carried on.

Now, as they rolled leisurely into the village, it was just past sunrise. Instead of the clear and sunny skies that had been following them relentlessly for the past few days, it was overcast and grey. It made Donnie feel a little better. Finally, some appropriately themed weather.

The village they had arrived at was a smaller village; smaller than Donnie’s own, which was saying something. It was well kept and clean, with neat little stores and fully stocked booths of produce.

They said their goodbyes to Usagi – who had said almost nothing the whole trip – once they reached the center of the village. The driver grumbled and continued to wherever he had been going before they’d stopped him. Donnie hoped that he made it there okay.

Then they were standing alone in the square. Only a few people were bustling around, but after the last few days, it seemed like a crowd. It felt unreal. The citizens and travelers surrounding them had been going about their regular daily routines while the four of them had been fighting tooth and nail to make it in the wilderness after escaping the clutches of criminals. Everything about Donnie’s life had completely transformed, but the rest of the world had remained largely unchanged. He felt horribly out of place, somehow.

But there they were. They had made it to where they’d wanted to go, and they’d reached the end of their plans. There was only one question left to answer.

“Now what?” Mikey asked, still staring at the scene around them, looking similarly unsettled by the fact that there were people who still lived normal lives.

Donnie reached up slowly and rested his hand carefully over the clasp of his cloak. This was one mystery that he couldn’t ignore. He’d been thinking about the medallion through all of yesterday – agonizing over it, really – and he still didn’t quite know how he felt about it, much less what he should do about it. There was so much that didn’t make sense, so much that they didn’t know.

Then find out, a part of him whispered. Solve it.

Donnie spent a lot of time in his life being scared, it was just how he was, but he’d never been this terrified and conflicted before. He’d never had to let anyone in, never had to worry about anyone being close enough to hurt him.

He’d never had a family. So how could this ever work out?

“We should find somewhere to rest,” Raph suggested, shuffling his feet nervously as he looked around.

Donnie deflated in relief, but his mood soon changed when Raph managed to lead them to a library after asking a few of the locals for directions. Donnie had always wanted to go to a library, but his village didn’t have one, and even if it did, he was sure that maybe he wouldn’t be welcome in. No one looked at them strangely, which was strange in and of itself. He felt like everything that they’d been through must show in everything that they did, but no one seemed to pick up on it. They weren’t looking for it.

They made into the library without incident, and Donnie wanted to tour it so badly. However, priorities were more important and so he followed his friends to the back of the library, where there was a wooden table, pushed up against a window unlike any that Donnie had ever seen. It was made of painted glass to form the picture of a field of flowers.

They looked around the area to be sure that they were alone, and luckily, they were under the cover of several tall bookshelves. Leo unbuttoned his pocket, took out his medallion piece, and laid it on the table; he didn’t say a word, but the absolute certainty in his movements spoke for him. Mikey put his piece next to Leo’s, with the same amount of certainty. Raph put his piece next to Mikey’s, though he was a bit hesitant. With a great amount of reluctance, Louie followed slowly and put his piece between Raph’s and Leo’s.

All four pieces rested innocently on the table, oblivious to the emotional turmoil that they were causing. Donnie could hardly bring himself to look away, and he sighed quietly at the sight, at his piece that would fit so readily with others when he himself did not.

“Okay, so, what do we know?” Leo asked, hands braced on the tabletop, ready to get down to business, and— oh, they were going to talk about it.

Donnie grabbed the sides of his chair to ground himself. He wasn’t ready; he would never be ready.

He had to be ready.

“We each have a piece of a medallion, and they fit together perfectly,” Raph began, confident in listing off facts. “According to the dates on the back, we are all one year apart, except for Leo and Donnie, who are the same age.

“Which makes us twins!” Leo exclaimed excitedly, as he turned to face Donnie, hoping that maybe the softshell had come around to the idea. Leo’s hopes were dashed when Donnie gave him a glare and mumbled, “no we are not”

Leo looked like he wanted to argue but Raph stepped in before he could saying, “And we also know that— that only members of the royal family get medallions like this.”

“And,” Mikey continued excitedly, “the royal family disappeared after the war, and the castle was destroyed and abandoned. We’re all orphans, which can’t be a coincidence.”

Leo looked straight at Donnie when Mikey said that last part, a pleading look on his face. A pleading look that begged Donnie to just accept the facts and to believe that what they had learned so far was true. That they were brothers and, even better, that him and Donnie shared that special connection as twins. Leo wanted Donnie to believe it more than

It appears Donnie was super stubborn as he chose to break eye contact to stare at the table, feeling a little trapped. A small part of Leo felt bad for making Donnie feel this way

“Big Mama wanted Raph kidnapped,” said Donnie quietly, glancing around the room, wary of anyone who may be listening, “and she knew about the medallion. She had all those books about the Kingdom, and the war.”

And the medallions, apparently.

Even Donnie had to admit that there was a disturbing pattern here. At least part of it had to be the truth. Raph was probably royalty for sure, since Big Mama seemed to think so. Not that she was very trustworthy or anything.

“Right,” Mikey said absentmindedly, pushing their pieces until they clicked together, all four of them feeling that strange energy from earlier and their marking lighting for a split second, as well as a small green glow from the medallions. They quickly disconnected the medallions in case anyone was looking. “Gosh I hope that doesn’t happen everytime we do that. That’s getting a bit annoying” Donnie muttered quietly

Everyone silently agreed with Donnie. Once they had all recovered, Mikey spoke up “Big Mama’s probably got some answers.”

Both Leo and Donnie opened their mouths to say something, mildly alarmed at what Mikey had just implied, but Raph beat them to it.

“We’re not going to her,” said Raph firmly. “I’m not going back and putting you three in danger again.”

What about you? Donnie wanted to ask, something indignant making itself known, but it got stuck somewhere along the way.

“Oh, no— I didn’t think that we should.” Mikey said quickly, head tilted apologetically. “I’m just saying that she can’t be the only one who knows something.”

They all fell silent, Leo and Mikey tapping their fingers on the table as Donnie gazed out the window, deep in thought and not really seeing anything.

What were they even going for here? There was nothing for them at the end of this. If they were royalty, then they were the heirs of a ruined castle and a broken throne. They were still just a bunch of orphans, out of place and out of time, just as lost as they’d always been.

“There was, a… a rumor,” Raph said hesitantly, “about what might have happened to the King and his family.”

“There are a lot of rumors,” said Donnie, who couldn’t name one but knew that they existed. “Why is this one special?”

“Because this is the one that Big Mama seemed the most interested in,” Raph replied. Leo and Mikey leaned in as he spoke, and Donnie narrowed his eyes a bit. “She, um, she seemed to think that there was another castle somewhere that they had fled to.”

“How has no one found it then?” Donnie crossed his arms and shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Hamato Yoshi, or Splinter as those close to him called him, was a crafty king,” Raph countered. “He was known for being sneaky, quick, and willing to do whatever it took to protect his family. It’s not out of the question.”

“So, what, you think we should just up and go looking for this fictional secret castle?”

Donnie looked around incredulously, searching for someone who shared his shock, only to be met with Raph’s deadpan gaze and Mikey and Leo’s excited nodding. His eyes widened.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Donnie said flatly.

“I think that we should look into it,” Raph said placatingly. “We can’t go anywhere until we have an idea of where it is, anyway.”

“I second that,” Mikey said, and Leo and Raph nodded.

“You two have a family to get back to!” Donnie pointed to Leo and Mikey, ignoring whatever it was that suddenly squeezed in his chest.

“Yeah, we do,” Mikey said, frowning and looking away, “but they have no clue where we are or what happened to us, and we don’t even know where they are. There’s no way they’re still at your village. They would’ve left to look for us by now.”

“But—”

“And besides,” Leo cut him off as he pulled Mikey close, “now we have another family to get back to.” He looked at Raph and kept his gaze a bit longer on Donnie as he flashed him a soft smile, one that Donnie knew was meant to be comforting but didn’t quite have that effect

“How can you be so sure?” Donnie asked quietly, genuinely curious and way out of his depth.

It was like both Leo and Mikey had some kind of superpower that allowed them to believe in things wholeheartedly without worrying about getting hurt. What if they went looking and there was no one left? What if everyone really was gone? What then?

“I’m not sure.” Leo gave all three of his brothers friends a look. “But I’d rather know than not, and I’d rather try than give up.”

“I agree with Leo” Mikey answered from beside Leo, prompting Leo to give his little brother’s shoulder a gentle squeeze

“When you put it that way…” Raph said, hesitant but hopeful.

Then all three of them were looking at Donnie for an answer, and he exhaled shakily. This was nowhere near what Donnie had expected would happen when they reached a village. He had assumed that they’d say their goodbyes and go their separate ways and that they’d forget about him; they’d move on. This weird loyalty seemed misplaced – maybe since he’d never encountered it before – and he couldn’t be sure of what they were actually loyal to: each other or the mystery.

But as much as Donnie’s brain was screaming at him to get out now, there was a bigger part of him that wanted to stay, that knew he couldn’t leave if he tried. He’d gotten to know Raph, Leo, and Mikey pretty well over the span of a few days, and he could no longer do them the disservice of believing that they would rob him blind or leave him for dead. They were too good for that. If anything happened that made them hurt him, it would have to be his own fault.

Now what?

The question had been following them for days, being repeated after every milestone, or whenever they reached the end of their half-baked plans. When it was asked, they paused, decided, and then they kept going. They kept going. Now it was Donnie’s turn to answer that question for himself, and no one else.

He looked down at the medallion, and found that he could no longer deny what it could – maybe, just maybe – mean. It was possible that he belonged somewhere. That he belonged to a family. That he had brothers. And even, dare he say, have a twin brother. But he had to be willing to put in the work to find it. He had to be willing to put his heart on the line.

He had to be brave.

Donnie took a deep breath; felt it tremble in his lungs. Well, he had nothing better to do.

“How do we start?” Donnie asked.

“Yes!” Mikey and Leo exclaimed, pumping their fists in the air in celebration. They both looked like they wanted to run up to Donnie to hug him, but thankfully, they refrained from doing so, probably not wanting to scare Donnie off

Raph grinned widely as Donnie glanced away in embarrassment and checked to make sure that they were still alone.

“Okay, spread out.” Raph stood up and spoke with authority, still smiling. “Bring back anything that might be useful to figure this out. History books, maps, anything.”

Donnie nodded, and they grabbed their medallion pieces off the table before shooting off in different directions to search the library. Divide and conquer, Donnie thought, a slight grin pulling at his beak. He’d never been able to try that strategy before.

There was one problem, though. Despite living out his dream of being in a library, Donnie was immediately overwhelmed. There was just so many books, he didn’t even know where to start. Didn’t even know where to look first.

Maybe it would help if he could find the history section. Yeah, that was definitely useful

Useful.

As Donnie made his way to the history section, he regretted thinking those specific words the moment that he thought them. Kitsune’s threatening remark from a few days ago shoved its way into his mind, and he couldn’t quite suppress his shiver.

“Suppose we can find some use for ‘em.”

Once Donnie made it to the history section, he leaned lightly against a bookshelf and closed his eyes, willing himself to get a grip. He wasn’t a tool, or a slave; she would never make him into one. She wouldn’t get the chance.

He shook his head and opened his eyes stubbornly, forcing himself back into the real world. He didn’t have much luck in the history section, but he did find a couple of books that looked somewhat related. He just hope that the other three were having better luck then him

Donnie then headed to the front of the library where the owner was sitting behind a desk. Mikey were already up there talking to her, and between the two of them, they managed to talk her out of a few pencils and several sheets of paper for note taking. She also let them rifle through the box of lost and unclaimed items, and Mikey grabbed a small brown backpack. It was a nice bag, and the librarian only let them take it because it’d been there for months.

With paper and pencils secured in the backpack over Donnie’s shoulders, he started to head out the building. When Mikey asked where he was going, he said that he was going to search for food. Donnie thought that maybe Mikey would tell him not too and would potentially tell him to Leo and Raph. Donnie thought for sure they were going to kick him out now

However, to his surprise, Mikey didn’t run off. In fact, he asked if he could come with Donnie. Donnie, was of course, hesitant. Donnie didn’t really know Mikey all that well. And besides, Mikey was Leo’s little brother. Been by Leo’s side pretty much the whole time. He woul feel guilty if something happened to Mikey while they were out there.

But Mikey hit him with pleading eyes, and Donnie broke down, sighing and saying that Mikey could come along, if he didn’t tell Raph or Leo. Mikey agreed and the two of them stepped out of the library to search for food

The two of them walked around for several minutes, asking everyone they saw if they had food or money to spare. Most people avoided them like the plague, avoided even looking at them, but a friendly baker invited them to his shop and gave them everything that was about to go bad. That included two short loaves of crumbly bread, a dry batch of muffins, and a block of slightly squishy cheese. Donnie put the food carefully in the backpack and Mikey sincerely thanked the baker. Their mouths were watering the whole way back to the library.

Raph and Leo were sitting at the table when they arrived, fidgeting with the items they’d collected, and the moment they saw them they jumped to their feet. Their eyebrows were pinched with worry, but their eyes shone with relief. Donnie glanced out the window at the sun and realized that they might have been gone longer than he thought.

“We couldn’t find you,” Raph said, a thick band of nerves straining his voice.

“Where did you go?” Leo asked – well, borderline demanded – as he grabbed Mikey’s arm and pulled him to the table, but not before giving him a hug and checking him over to make sure he was ok. Raph pushed Donnie down into a chair.

Donnie sat in awed silence as Leo focus his attention on him and crossed his arms, while Raph stared straight into his soul and Mikey gave him a sheepish smile. He had never had parents to grill him on his whereabouts, or scold him for missing curfew, but he imagined that it was something like this. He didn’t know if he liked that thought or not. Maybe this is what having big brothers is like

“We got food,” Mikey explained slowly, hoping to break the tension as he nodded in Donnie’s direction. Donnie took that as he cue. He took the backpack off his shoulders to dig through it. “It’s not fresh, but it shouldn’t be terrible, and it’s not like we can afford to pick and choose.” Donnie said

The tension bled gradually out of Raph and Leo as they sat down heavily, helping Donnie pull out the food and inspect it.

“We can’t afford anything, really,” Raph pointed out, eying a muffin. “We’re broke.”

That just so happened to be Donnie’s area of expertise. He knew how to live on practically nothing; he knew how to survive without a dollar to his name.

They settled down to eat, research and medallions momentarily forgotten. All the berries that they had left were quickly eaten, and they each took a muffin so they could save the bread for later. They would need to make the food last for as long as possible, and if there was another thing that Donnie was good at, it was rationing.

“Where’d you get the backpack?” Raph asked when they were finished eating, examining said bag with curious eyes.

“Lost and found.”

“That’s pretty smart,” Raph said, smiling sideways at him.

Donnie shrugged, turning his attention to the pile of books and rolled up papers at the other end of the table.

The food was packed carefully back into the bag, and the table quickly became a disaster area of research. They got to work, bouncing ideas off each other and relaying information for Leo to jot down on the paper Mikey had given him. Thick history books and single sheets of old paper kept appearing in front of Donnie so that he could examine them; he was lucky enough that he taught himself how to read. He wondered if the other three had been taught to read, though he could tell by their thoughtful expressions that they probably had to some degree

As Leo had mentioned in his story of researching with Mikey and April, nothing came up about the medallions specifically, which Donnie thought was strange. Why was that information missing? All that they had to go on was what Raph remembered reading in some weird secret books in his weird legal guardian’s weird secret office. It was very…strange.

Donnie shook his head lightly and reread the same page for the third time, having accidentally not been paying attention. He hadn’t known much about history before, but after this he might as well become a professor. The story was like this:

King Hamato Yoshi, or King Splinter, rose to power when he was a teenager, quite a long time ago. He became known for his adventuring spirit and expert fighting technique, especially in the art of ninjustu, but he was also a fair and just ruler. It wasn’t until many years later that a mysterious women came into his life, with four children with her. No one knew exactly where the women or her children came from, but the King loved her and her children. After some time, the King and the women were married and the King adopted her children, making them officially his own. The people felled in love with the King and his family

Well, most people.

Sadly, as it turned out, no one could be well-known without having enemies, of which Hamato Yoshi had no shortage. Those villainous citizens banded together to form an army and waged war on the kingdom. A mysterious war, for no one was aware of how it had turned out.

Now the royal family was gone, the villains were gone, and much of the land was in shambles as people struggled to get by and return to normal. This little village that they’d found to hide out in was a positive example of a community, but the place where Donnie had grown up was on the opposite end of the spectrum. With no king, everyone was fending for themselves, and this was the world that they had been born into. It was all that they knew.

Donnie closed the book he’d been reading with a quiet groan, rubbing at his aching head. There had been no mention of a medallion, and certainly no information on a second castle.

When he lifted his head out of his hands and looked around, Mikey was facedown on the table and snoring. Raph and Leo were staring intently at the map they’d spread on the ground – due to lack of space on the table – and frowning.

“So,” Donnie began, plopping down next to Leo on the floor, “this is horrible.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Leo said dryly.

Donnie snorted and turned his attention to the map. It was a map of the entire kingdom, so it was large. Leo had marked some things down and made notes in pencil, which Donnie asked him to explain.

“This is where we are.” Leo pointed to where he’d drawn a little star, a much too happy shape for their situation, in Donnie’s opinion. “Right here is the forest that we came from, but there’s no marked roads that go through it.”

The forest was huge, and the mountain they’d climbed only took up a small portion of it. He almost couldn’t believe that they’d been so lucky as to make it out.

“So the Purple Dragons were using some kind of unmarked path?” Donnie asked.

“I guess so. There’s no way to know exactly where we escaped the wagon.” Raph furrowed his brow and shook his head. “Anyway, this is your village, where you, Leo, and Mikey were taken, and here’s mine.”

Donnie gaped as Leo drew a thin line predicting their journey up until this point. He’d known, of course, that they had to be pretty far from where they’d started, but to see it was a whole different thing. They really were on their own, and far away from anything familiar.

“This is where the old castle is, or the ruins of it, anyway.” Leo drew a little crown to mark it on the map, and then leaned back on his hands.

“So we’ve got nothing,” said Donnie.

“So far, yes.”

“It could be anywhere.”

“Yes.”

“It could be nowhere.”

“Also yes.”

Donnie sighed and mimicked Leo’s position leaning back, glancing out the window. It was just past noon; the weather had become more pleasant, and the sun was now blazing through the painted glass, turning their research space into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of light. Everything was bathed in color.

Without warning, Leo shot straight up beside him, scrambling to his feet, and Donnie and Raph almost jumped up.

“Don’t do that!” Raph sputtered, putting his hand over his heart and taking a few deep breaths, with Donnie thinking the same thing.

The two of them looked up in irritation at Leo, who was standing and staring down at the map with intense focus. Half of his face was lit up by the colorful light coming through the window.

“What?” asked Raph. “What’s wrong?”

Leo glanced at Raph, then at Donnie, and gave a hopeful smile.

“I’ve got an idea.”

Chapter Text

One moment Leo was sitting in silence with Raph and Donnie, despondently staring at the map, and in the next he was on the move with his brain in gear, suddenly inspired by the sun, of all things. The midday sunlight had come streaming through the painted window, casting colorful shadows all around the room, which of course included the map. It had stirred something up in the back of his mind, and without warning he was reminded of that fateful day in the cave, light reflecting off the gems of Donnie’s medallion piece.

All at once, he had an answer, or at least a theory.

“Mikey!” Leo said excitedly, rushing over to shove his sleeping brother’s shoulder.

Mikey startled awake and nearly fell out of his chair.

“What ‘s it?” Mikey asked tiredly, gaze darting around the room. “What’s wrong?”

Leo’s stomach twisted a little, wishing that he could’ve let Mikey sleep – they hadn’t gotten much, lately – but he also knew that he would want to be awake for this.

“I need your piece of the medallion,” said Leo, holding out his hand, “and a ruler.”

Mikey’s face scrunched in confusion, but he handed over his piece.

“What do you need a ruler for?” Donnie asked from his position sitting cross-legged on the floor.

“You’ll see,” Leo replied, nearly vibrating in excitement. “I need your piece, too.”

Donnie opened the clasp of his cloak – Leo wondered where he’d gotten such a thing; he’d never seen anything like it – and gave him his piece easily enough. Leo couldn’t help but smile, warm and giddy, because Donnie wasn’t as reluctant or wary as he had been in the past.

Leo then asked Raph for his piece, which he handed over without question “Thanks,” Leo said, then turned to Mikey, who was just getting to his feet. “Now go get that ruler. The librarian should have one.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Mikey gave a playful salute and raced away.

Leo grinned and shook his head helplessly, getting to work putting the pieces together. They clicked into place audibly and stayed together well; Leo suspected some sort of magnetic devices had been inserted into the gold when they were made – made to be both separate and together, it seemed.

Leo was surprised that the medallions didn’t light up this time and that the energy that normally came when the medallions were clicked into place wasn’t as strong as it had been the past two times. And when Leo looked at Raph and Donnie, he could see that their markings weren’t as bright as they had been the past two times

It made Leo even more curious as to how the magical energy worked and how often it will come up when the medallions were together. Leo could agree with Donnie on one thing and that was feeling that magical energy everytime and seeing the green glow could get old fast

“There’s a lantern in the next room, could you get it? The one that’s already been lit,” Leo said, kneeling on the ground as he addressed Raph

“Sure,” Raph replied, and he went off to do his task in a much more subdued manner than Mikey had.

For Donnie, Leo had him move the map where the colors from the window couldn’t touch it. Leo then placed the medallion in the center and ready a pencil to the side. Mikey burst out from behind a shelf just as Raph came back through the door, each carrying the respective items they’d been sent for.

“Is anyone gonna tell me what’s going on?” Mikey asked amusedly.

“Leo has an idea, apparently,” said Donnie, as Raph set the lantern to the side.

“Okay,” Leo began, shaking his hands out as he prepared to explain. “So there was this one summer where I developed a fascination on maps and stuff—"

“I remember that,” Mikey said, while Raph and Donnie fixed him with a perplexed look.

“I wouldn’t take you as someone who was into cartography” Donnie retorted, but it was said with a fond smile. Leo rolled his eyes anyway, and continued the explanation.

“—and I somehow ended up reading about this old code. It had to do with light passing through an object to mark a specific location on the map. There was a certain way that you had to hold the object the light.”

“Okay, so the lantern is the light. What’s the object? The medallion?” Raph asked.

“I think so.” Leo shrugged self-consciously. “It only works with the specific map you were meant to use, and since this is the most common map of the kingdom, it’s our best shot.”

“But what’s the goal? How does it work?”

“The object usually has a few holes in it, and the point is that when the light travels through them and creates dots on the map, all the dots would line up with an existing landmark except for one, and that’s the location,” Leo explained, wracking his brain as he tried to remember everything.

Raph and Mikey seemed like they were trying to understand what Leo was talking about. However, Donnie knew exactly what Leo was talking about, having taught himself this when he was barely a preteen. He was actually the first one to jump up and say “Let’s do it,” the softshell rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “How high do we have to hold it the medallion?”

Leo smile as he watch his younger twin friend get excited for the first time in who knows how long “Standard height was twelve inches. Lantern directly above the medallion.”

Donnie measured twelve inches with the ruler, Raph lifted the medallion to the correct height, and Mikey held the lantern

Immediately, little points of light shone down onto the map, traveling through the total ten gems.

“Cool,” Mikey and Raph whispered, and Leo and Donnie smiled wider.

With Leo’s instruction, Raph moved the medallion around slowly, and Mikey followed with the lantern, their eyes chasing the colorful little dots around the paper. It took a few tense minutes, but eventually Leo narrowed his eyes, asked Raph to rotate the medallion a bit, and found exactly what he was looking for.

“Look!” Mikey exclaimed excitedly, leaning forward and bumping Raph’s shoulder in the process. “It’s all lined up!”

And he was right; nine of the gem lights were dancing above existing villages, but one of Leo’s blue dots was swaying out in the middle of nowhere.

“Mark it down!” Donnie urged.

Leo scrambled for the pencil and drew a smiley face right under his blue light, laughing a little breathlessly, a bit surprised that his plan had worked.

The location was surprisingly only a few miles out from an existing village – practically halfway across the map from where they currently were – and was nestled deeply in yet another forest. It wouldn’t be easy, exactly, to get there, but it was a start.

“That’s where we’re headed,” Leo declared with a grin.

“You say that as if it’s just down the street,” Donnie grumbled, the frown appearing on his face again, “but it’s like a million miles away.”

“Road Trip!” Mikey exclaimed, shaking Raph’s shoulders excitedly.

Raph set the medallion down and took the pencil from Leo, drawing a star next to his smiley face. Then Leo took the pencil back from him and drew them a path from village to village until they reached the one closest to their destination, connecting it near to the star with a decisive line.

Leo grinned softly to himself, feeling a little giddy, because this was what he loved doing. Putting his little knowledge that he had to good use and charting maps and making plans made him feel like his life had meaning, like this was what he was meant to do. The other three didn’t even seem to mind that he was a huge nerd. Mikey was his little brother and knew from the start about his brief obsession, even taking part in said obsession from time to time. Raph and Donnie were new and just learning about Leo, but they welcomed it. Raph was just amazed at Leo’s ability and Donnie seemed to share the same excitement as Leo. There was teasing, of course, but it was lighthearted, and for Leo – whose chest had always felt heavy – that was a big deal.

Maybe soon they would find out if they were really brothers, though he found himself drifting closer and closer to that line of thinking. Not that he put up much of a fight otherwise; he wanted to believe it; he really did.

Leo wanted to believe so bad that all four of them were brothers. He especially wanted to believe that he had a twin in Donnie; having that special connection with someone else was Leo’s dream, no offense to Mikey

Mikey was already his little brother and he already thought of Raph and Donnie as his closest friends, though there wasn’t much competition. They knew things about him that no one did. He couldn’t imagine leaving and never seeing them again.

“Gimme that,” Donnie said suddenly, and he grabbed the pencil form Leo’s hand to draw a question mark next to Leo’s smiley face and Raph’s star.

“It may be mysterious, but we’re still going,” Mikey said as he came up to them and drew a smiley face and star right next to the rest of them

“Yeah, yeah.” Donnie waved him off.

“Not right away, though.” Raph began closing and stacking their books. “We can rest for a bit.”

“Oh, good,” said Donnie, deadpan.

Raph rolled his eyes and went back to tidying up their space. Their books and other papers went off to the side as Leo and Mikey rolled up the map and Donnie returned the lantern and ruler to their respective locations. They split the medallion and took their pieces back.

Leo carefully put the map, pencils, his notes, and blank paper into the backpack with the food. He settled it onto his shoulders, along with the weight of the world. Or at least the weight of responsibility. He was the one that had chosen their destination, and he was the one with the map.

Raph felt bad for making Leo do most of the work, and, in a weird sort of way, he felt like he was passing the leader role to Leo, which didn’t quite feel right. The whole reason that they were in this mess was because of him. He had to keep Leo, Donnie, and Mikey safe from Big Mama, who was first and foremost his problem.

They walked out of the library with much more purpose than when they’d walked in.

They headed towards that village square and refilled their water flasks at the well in the center before sitting down on a bench beneath a tree. Raph relaxed, the small crowd of people milling about the square giving him the assurance that nothing bad could happen to them – not with this many witnesses. Big Mama couldn’t get to them.

Raph sighed tiredly. He and Big Mama had never been close – had never been anything close to close – but it still hurt that the person who was supposed to take care of him was the whole reason that he was in danger. Was he really that easy to just— not care about? Cassandra had drifted farther and farther year after year, he’d never had a friend his age, and his guardian wanted him kidnapped. Had he never been worth it to anybody?

“Raph? You okay?” Mikey’s cautious voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see all three of his little brothers friends looking at him in mild concern.

“Yeah, I’m just— I just wish I knew why she did it.” Raph kicked at the cracked stone bricks beneath his feet, avoiding eye contact. “And why she wanted me gone.”

“Crazy people don’t need a reason,” Leo said, tense and angry.

“Big Mama has a reason for everything. She’s smart.”

“Not smart enough to love you, though.”

Ha.

“No one loves me,” Raph said, and he shook his head ruefully. “No one even likes me.”

“Hey! I do.” Mikey put a hand on his shoulder, and Raph looked up at him in shock.

“You’ve known me for like, a week,” Raph protested weakly.

“That’s long enough.” Mikey grinned and nudged Donnie. “Right, Dee?”

“You’re a good person,” Donnie said slowly, looking a little embarrassed but sounding sincere. “And you’re my first friend. That’s a pretty big deal.”

Yeah, it was. Raph was proud of that accomplishment.

“Aww look at you being a softie” Leo teased Donnie as he playfully nudged his shoulder. Donnie scoffed and rolled his eyes, but a small smile did appear on his lips

“Thanks, guys,” Raph said quietly, smiling sheepishly. He was a little ashamed at needing reassurance; he wasn’t usually so dramatic.

“No problem,” Mikey said breezily, then he fixed Donnie with a playful glare. “I’m your second friend, right?”

“I guess you’d have to be, by default.” Donnie grinned slyly, noticing the moment that Leo gawked at him. “Hey what about me!!! I’m technically the same age as you. We are probably twins from crying out loud. If anything, I should be your first friend”

“Hmmmm….jury still out on the twins thing and just because we were the first to meet, doesn’t mean that you are my first friend”

Leo was offended and shoved Donnie’s shoulder, Donnie shoved back, and the two quickly began some sort of play fight, not quite giving into a shoving match, though Mikey figured he should stay close in case it did get to that. Huey watched the three of them in amusement, his spirits lifted. Truth be told, these three younger turtles were his first friends, too. They may even be his brothers. His little brothers. What a world.

As the day went on, they talked more about how they might get to where they were going. Modes of transportation and concerns about food and water were discussed. It would be nice to find more people like Usagi, who would give them a free ride and ask minimal questions. ‘Free’ being the key word, since they were dirt poor and had exactly zero money between them. The irony of carrying around solid gold and not being able to afford a single grain of rice was not lost on him.

More and more Raph was intimidated by the journey ahead of them. They’d have to stop at quite a few villages, because if they didn’t, they’d likely starve to death, which would be a bummer. All in all, nothing about the trip was certain. As Leo put it, they’d just have to ‘wing it’.

But did they really think that they could make it on their own? Raph had spent the last few days hungrier and thirstier and more scared than he’d ever been, and there didn’t seem to be and easy way out. His life had become a blur of dark rattling spaces, endless forests, and restless wandering. The wind had been knocked out of him the day that Cassandra had told him to run, and he hadn’t quite been able to draw a full breath since.

Donnie had never known a life of luxury, so he was handling the rough and tumble portion of their adventure quite well, and all Leo and Mikey did was roll with the punches; they were adaptable. Raph relied heavily on what he knew, and this was uncharted territory. It made him feel frozen and fragile.

And Donnie, Mikey, and Leo to some extent, were putting so much faith in him. Raph really wasn’t all that confident in himself, but his three friends were willing to follow him anyway. A knot formed in his stomach at the thought of disappointing them. He had to be right, had to lead them to safety.

“So, where are we gonna sleep?”

Raph turned at the sound of Mikey’s voice, and paused to consider the question.

“Well, no Inn would take us because we can’t pay them,” said Raph, “but maybe someone will let us stay in their barn or shed or something.”

“I’ve always wanted to sleep in a barn,” Leo said wistfully, looking for all the world like his dream had just come true, and Raph chuckled.

“I’ve slept in a shed for the past few years,” said Donnie casually, as if that was a totally normal thing to say.

Leo and Mikey made a wounded sort of noise, and Raph’s heart dropped.

“That’s sad, Dee,” Mikey said, and that didn’t even begin to cover it.

“It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Donnie said defensively. “It’s kept me alive this long.”

“Well then, I’m very glad that it exists,” said Leo gently, backtracking a little as he scooted a bit closer to Donnie.

Leo had picked upon the fact that Donnie seemed very sensitive to pity. He seemed to be very emotionally sensitive in general, despite his tough life. None of the bad things that happened to him could quite harden Donnie’s heart; the kid routinely fed a stray cat, for crying out loud.

Donnie seemed to flounder for a minute, lost, before landing on a simple response.

“Okay, whatever.”

Leo shared a look with Raph and Mikey, fond and hopeful and exasperated at the same time. They all had a lot of healing to do, and Leo was unspeakably happy that Donnie seemed to be letting them get closer to him.

But, back to the task at hand.

“Split up and look around?” Raph suggested hesitantly.

Donnie and Mikey nodded, but Leo furrowed his brow anxiously.

“Split up?” Leo repeated, standing up and turning to face them. “What if one of us gets into trouble?”

“We’ll be fine, we’re miles away from where we last saw the Purple Dragons.” Raph placed a comforting hand on Leo’s shoulder, trying to convince himself as much as Leo. “What are the chances that any of them are at this specific village, anyway?”

Leo looked conflicted, clenching and unclenching his hand around the hilt of his sword. Raph thought he understood; their lives had changed so much recently, and the only constant had been each other. Being apart would be difficult, and it might seem wrong, but it was the most efficient way to find a place to sleep.

“We’ll be fine,” Raph repeated, and Leo sighed.

“Yell if you need help,” Leo said, waiting until Raph nodded before turning to give a stern look to Donnie. “You too, don’t be like last time.”

Raph tilted his head confusedly before he remembered what Leo was referring to. He had only heard one voice calling for help when he’d been stuck in the wagon - listening to strange kids fighting criminals - and the voice had been Leo’s.

Donnie gave a small smile, looking like he wanted to make a snarky remark, but he refrained. Leo was both serious and worried; the situation called for an equally sincere reply.

“Fine,” said Donnie, “I promise. But the same goes for you.”

“Deal,” Leo said, and relaxed a little bit.

Raph stood up – more than a little nervous himself, now – and looked around. “Meet back here in half an hour?”

The other three agreed, and they all set off in different directions, with Mikey going with Leo.

Raph curiously examined the storefronts and produce booths as he walked. It really was a nice little village that they’d found, and the good number of travelers hanging around were a testament to that. In truth, it was the kind of place that Raph wouldn’t have minded growing up in. The village where he’d lived with Big Mama was a large and upscale place, mostly home to the wealthy. Everyone seemed to be competing, somehow. And he wasn’t just talking about the Battle Nexus. It was all ‘Look at my big house, look at my huge fighting arena where people go to die, look at my expensive things, look at this poor orphan child that I adopted out of the goodness of my heart, just so he can become a fighter for me. Beat that.’

This village felt more like a community, and Raph liked that.

However, he was unfamiliar with this community, and he didn’t really know what he was looking for. He had never been the type of person who could walk up to strangers and make conversation, much less ask them if they had a barn to sleep in. That seemed like Leo and Mikey’s thing. But, the other three were counting on him. They needed this. They all did, so Raph furrowed his brow in concentration and kept looking.

A few minutes later he stumbled across a crowded diner, or at least that’s what he thought it was. It seemed to be a place where people could gather to talk, eat, and drink. While Raph didn’t like big crowds – detested them, actually – it was as good a place as any to get some information.

He pushed through the swinging doors and walked cautiously into the room filled with tables and chairs and people. A few of them were obviously farmers, and he started with those ones, asking them if there was anywhere that four young turtles could stay the night. Some were suspicious and turned him away, while others just said that they didn’t have the space.

Raph was beginning to think that this would be harder than he thought - and maybe more trouble than it was worth - when he walked by a hallway and heard a voice that made him freeze.

“Those pesky turtles ran off into the woods a few days ago. With any luck, they’re dead.”

Raph could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest even as his breathing stopped completely.

The voice was Kitsune.

How is she here? How? His thoughts were frantic.

“If you believe that, then what do you need me for?” asked a deep voice. It sent shivers racing up and down Raph’s spine.

“My crew have been in those woods ever since, following the trail, and they haven’t found ‘em yet.” Kitsune paused. “I’ve heard that you’ve got yourself quite the reputation for this sort of work. There’s a big reward in it for you if you can find ‘em and bring ‘em back alive.”

“I’ll need more information.”

Kitsune sighed in an exaggerated fashion. “The turtle that we were hired to nab - he’s special. Guaranteed part of the old royal family line, according to her.”

A pause.

“And the other three?”

“They’ve seen too much," Kitsune said angrily, “Just grab ‘em all.”

“Is there anyone else that you’ve contacted about this?”

“I’ve got plenty of people out lookin’, but I hear that you’re the best of the best. Claw, right?”

“Tiger Claw,” the voice confirmed, “and I’ll do your job.”

Raph’s lungs were burning with the need for air, and he stumbled back frantically, trying to remember how breathing worked. Air began wheezing in and out of him, a shallow victory, and he forced himself to focus as he scrambled as quietly and inconspicuously as he could to the door, now wary of every single person in the diner. He had to find the other three, and they had to run. Again.

Raph’s eyes stung as he ran toward their meeting place. He had thought that they were safe, that the criminals would be busy searching the woods, and that by the time they were finished they would be long gone and far away, but he was wrong. Everything was so much bigger than he thought it was.

Kitsune had her people – and who knew how many there were – out looking for them at this very moment. Not to mention the mysterious and intimidating Tiger Claw, who apparently had ‘quite the reputation’.

Unbidden, a stray thought ricocheted to the forefront of his mind. Did Big Mama know that he’d escaped? Was she looking for him, too?

“Raph! Raph, what’s wrong? What happened?” Mikey’s voice was frantic, and as Raph came back to himself, he realized that he was back at the bench in the village square, hyperventilating. Mikey was gripping his shoulders, and Donnie and Leo were standing behind him looking a little scared.

Raph shook his head helplessly, trying to get his breathing under control enough to speak, to warn them.

“I saw— I heard—” Raph gasped. “Kitsune! She’s here, and, and she’s got people e-everywhere looking for us!”

Mikey’s grip on his shoulders tightened as he glanced wildly around. Leo and Donnie shuffled closer to them until they were gathered in a tense huddle.

“What?” Donnie whispered, his voice breaking.

“She’s still looking!” Raph said, anguished. “And she’s here. We must go. Now.”

It reminded him of what Cassandra had said before he’d been kidnapped, when she’d given him a chance to escape.

‘You must go. She’s got her goons coming to get you. You must leave.’

Nothing much had changed, it seemed. They were still running. They had never been safe.

Raph jerked himself up into a standing position and grabbed the sleeves of his friends with shaking hands to keep them all together. They started down a random road at a brisk pace, trying to move quickly without drawing unnecessary attention to themselves.

“Where are we going?” Mikey asked worriedly.

“I don’t know,” Raph replied, wracking his brain for an answer. “For now, just— away from here.”

They finally turned onto a smaller street and put their backs to the wall, assessing the situation. It was less busy here, with only a few people milling about. A few wagons slowly rolled by.

“We’ll have to start this trip early,” Raph said. “If there really is a second castle, maybe someone there will help us.”

“Agreed,” Mikey said, “but that might take a while.”

To hear even a shred of negativity from Mikey, the eternal optimist, meant that things were very serious indeed.

“We need someone to drive us,” Leo said.

Raph nodded in agreement. No way they’d make it on foot.

“I’m a driver!”

The four turtles screamed bloody murder and grabbed onto each other at the unexpected voice that came from close by. Raph blinked, and Leo had his sword in hand, holding it in front of them all protectively. Mikey was holding onto Raph’s arm tightly and Donnie held onto Leo’s arm tightly.

Next to them was a short capybara, who like half the size of Mikey. He had yellow hair, a yellow mustache, a pink shirt, and blue pants. On top of that, he had a friendly smile that was turning apologetic.

“Sorry about that,” said the capybara. “Didn’t mean to scare you, but I heard you say that you needed a driver, which I am. A driver, I mean.”

The capybara scratched at his head and gestured to a nice-looking wagon across the street.

“That’s mine right there. Just got repairs, so she’s ready to roll!”

The tension melted slowly out of Raph’s body. This guy didn’t seem malicious. In front of him, Leo slowly put away his sword, and Donnie’s grip on his arm slackened, though he didn’t let go of Leo’s arm.

“Who are you?” Leo questioned warily.

“Oh, right.” The capybara smiled sheepishly. “I’m Todd!”

“I’m Leo, and that’s Raph, Donnie, and Mikey.” Leo hesitated. “Can you really drive us?”

“Sure can! Where do you need to go?” Todd asked enthusiastically.

Mikey nudged Raph gently, letting go of his arm, and Raph stepped up next to Leo.

“Um, we have a map, if you can follow it,” Raph said.

“I can do maps,” Todd said seriously, nodding.

“We don’t have money,” Donnie spoke bluntly.

“I do,” said Todd, with an excited smile. “You can have some of mine!”

There was baffled silence as the four turtles exchanged flabbergasted looks, and then Donnie finally let go of Leo’s arm as he pushed in front of them.

“Okay, whatever, can we go now?” Donnie asked.

“Absolutely! Just get your things, and—”

“We don’t have things,” Raph interrupted, growing more restless by the second.

Todd very briefly had a confused look on his face, and then he just grinned and stood up. “Then hop in!”

They crossed the street to the wagon, which was made with a rounded canvas covering rather than wood. There were no doors, just a little piece of wood that flipped up like a tailgate. It looked nothing like the Purple Dragons wagon, but Raph still felt the suffocating feeling of being trapped, just by looking at it. The other three had to have been feeling it, too, because they somehow found themselves congregated at the opening, hesitant to get in.

But Kitsune was here, and Tiger Claw was here, and it was only a matter of time before the both of them learned that they had been here, too. All they’d have to do was ask around; plenty of people had seen them. So, one by one they climbed into the wagon, flinching when Todd closed the tailgate with a bang.

Leo pulled the map out of the backpack with trembling hands and crawled to the front of the wagon, where the canvas split like a curtain. He pulled part of it aside and stuck his arm out towards Todd, who was sitting on the driver’s bench holding the reins of the horses.

“Here’s the map,” said Leo. “Try to follow it exactly.”

Todd took it from him and propped it up on the seat next to him.

“Yes, sir, random turtle I just met,” he said merrily.

Leo backed up and let the curtain fall back into place, turning to face the others just as the wagon began to move. Raph was sitting closest to the opening, able to keep an eye on the outside. Leo knew that he’d positioned himself that way intentionally, ready to defend if need be. Mikey sat not too far from where Raph was, and Donnie was a little further in, against the opposite wall from Raph and Mikey, and Leo was standing at the front. He sat down about halfway between the front and where Raph was, gesturing to Mikey to come close to him, which he did without hesitation as he curled against Leo’s side.

They were tense, and still, and quiet. The illusion of safety that they’d felt when they’d arrived at the village had been shattered, and they were trying not to cut themselves on all the glass.

The late afternoon sun was shining brightly as they left, the clouds from that morning having disappeared. Raph watched Donnie pull the hood of his cloak up onto his head, which Raph thought may happen mostly when Donnie was upset; it was a small way to hide from the world.

Raph sat down heavily and pulled his knees to his chest. It was a bumpy ride so far, with Todd somehow managing to hit every single bump in the road. No wonder the wagon had needed repairs.

“Did— did you say that there are people everywhere looking for us?” Mikey asked suddenly.

Raph nodded sadly.

“And she was talking to someone. A professional, I think.” Raph paused. “She knows about me. She thinks I’m royalty. They all do.”

There was silence, each of them drowning in their own thoughts.

“We’ll have to be careful. We can’t be seen, and we don’t know who can be trusted,” said Leo. “Everything will be fine once we get to the castle."

“If,” Donnie said quietly. “If we get to the castle.”

“We will. We’ll be fine,” said Leo, with Mikey echoing the same sentiment

Raph stared out the back of the wagon and watched the village get smaller and smaller.

“We’ll be fine,” he whispered to himself.

Chapter Text

Very frankly, Mikey was sick and tired of running away. It had never been his style. Ever. That had been April’s biggest complaint, back when his life was normal and he regularly practiced nunchunk fighting under her instruction. She’d said that it was one of his biggest weaknesses, that he didn’t know how to back down or step away. It was something that he had to learn – something that he was still working on.

If only she could see him now, actively avoiding confrontation and backing down so thoroughly that the enemy was hardly a blip on his radar. Not that running away didn’t have its own downsides. It was exhausting. Mikey was usually all for a challenge, but this was one thing after another with no rest. Eventually, they’d crumble.

For now, though, they were traveling steadily away from the nice, peaceful village that had turned into the center of all evil, and all were silent except for Todd, who was talking quietly to himself in between his humming. The noise helped to ground him and Mikey was thankful for that.

Once the village they’d left behind was completely gone from their view, and they no longer felt as if a single whisper would bring calamity upon them, they huddled together in the center of the wagon and spoke quietly.

“So you— you actually saw Kitsune?” Mikey asked, desperate for every detail, wanting to understand.

“Not exactly,” Raph replied, and his hands were still shaking, “but I know it was her. It’s not a voice that you forget.”

“Don’t I know it,” Donnie said, voice hushed, and they all shuddered.

Mikey honestly doubted that he’d ever forget anything about the past few days; not unless things got somehow worse and he received amnesia. At which point he may throw in the towel and give up on happy endings entirely. Which was not like him as he believed that everyone deserved a happy ending, him and Leo especially, and now their two new friends

“Alright, so, uh, she’s got tons of her evil henchpeople hanging around,” Leo said, recapping, “but who was she talking to? A professional, you said?”

Raph nodded uncertainly. “She called him Claw, I think.”

Mikey felt as if he’d been sucker punched in the stomach; he would’ve doubled over if he wasn’t frozen solid in shock. He shakily turned to Leo and he could see that his brother had the same look on his face. They knew that name.

“Tiger Claw?” Mikey choked out, hands curled into fists.

Raph nodded and looked at Leo and Mikey in concern.

“Yeah, that was it,” said Raph. “Are— are you two okay?”

Leo shook his head lightly and turned to stare out the back of the wagon, almost expecting the criminal himself to be standing in plain view. Mikey, on instinct, moved closer to Leo and curled in on his side, with Leo bringing his arm around Mikey without even looking. They’d been hearing that name for years, from April and her parents themselves. There was never very much information attached to it – their guardians didn’t talk about such serious things around the two of them, and even April was spared some things until she got old enough – but what they did overhear was spoken in hushed whispers and worried tones. Tiger Claw brought April and her parents a lot of clients, unintentional though it was. Anyone who’d had the misfortune of a run-in with the guy came out of it wanting to learn self-defense, if they even made it out at all.

“We’ve heard of him,” Leo said, glancing back at the others with a grim look, “and it’s nothing good.”

Mikey could see that Leo was just going to leave it at that, and honestly, he was glad for it. There was no need to incite more panic than there already was.

“Well,” said Donnie in a flat tone. “That’s promising.”

Leo simply shrugged and mustered up a teasing grin.

“Glad you think so, Don-Tron.”

“Do not—”

“Okay!” Raph lurched forward in between them before they could get into it. “So, what are we doing? Are we still following the original plan?”

Oh, right. It already seemed like forever ago that they decided on a destination for their ongoing road trip of insanity, but it had only been a few hours. Huh, and to think that they’d had hopes of sleeping tonight.

Now that they were aware of the monsters lurking around every corner, they once again had to revisit their plans. Every time they stopped in a village, they would be in danger, and everyone would be a threat. It was hardly an ideal situation, but what choice did they have? They’d been backed into a corner. They couldn’t just go back to their normal lives anymore, not with every criminal on the planet looking for them.

“We’ll be targets everywhere we go, so we might as well be going somewhere specific.” Mikey leaned back against the wall with a huff. “Moving targets are harder to hit, anyway. I say we keep going.”

“We’ll have to be careful,” Raph reminded.

“When are we not?”

Raph gave him a deadpan look, and multiple incidents jumped to the forefront of his mind, practically begging for attention. There was Leo, jumping in to save Donnie and putting a sword to his neck.
There they all were, crashing blindly through the woods to escape, and then later, screaming and yelling as they were washed down a river. Mikey cringed, chuckling a little anyway.

“We’re not exactly subtle,” Donnie grumbled.

“Okay, yes, but now we can be better,” said Mikey. “We’ll just have to enter Stealth Mode.” he whispered the last part with a playful look in his eyes. Leo chuckled fondly from beside him

“We keep a low profile,” Raph said, nodding, “and we try to not be seen by literally anyone if we can help it.”

“Sounds like my daily life,” Donnie remarked, laying back with his hands behind his head. “Count me in.”

With that resolved, they took the time to rest. It didn’t seem to be getting any easier for Raph and Donnie to sleep in a moving wagon, because unlike Leo and Mikey, they weren’t used to it. They were exhausted however, so eventually they dropped off into light sleep.

“You should get some sleep too Mikey” Leo said from beside him, trying to hide his yawn, but failing big time as a large yawn escaped Leo’s lips

Mikey shook his head fondly. “You need sleep more than I do Leo. You go ahead. I’ll follow you shortly” Mikey saw the apprehensive look in Leo’s eyes and he placed his hand on his big brother’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I will wake you up if anything happens. I promise”

That seemed to be enough to convince Leo as he gave Mikey a sleepy smile before making himself comfortable against his little brother and closing his eyes to get some sleep

With his three big brother and his two new friends asleep, it gave Mikey some time alone to process everything that had happened.

Todd’s wagon, he’d noticed, was almost an exact replica of the one that April’s parents owned; the one that he’d traveled on for half his life. It was shame that he was wary of it, now. After having been kidnapped and trapped in a wagon for several days – not to mention experiencing less than kind treatment – it was now almost impossible to feel safe or calm in one. He knew that the others felt the same, if the way that Donnie jolted when they hit a bad bump or Raph kept a close eye on the door was any indication. Even though Leo was used to this as much as Mikey, the box turtle could tell that his brother wasn’t asleep because his brother was known for his insomnia. And, the situation just screamed for Leo to be awake, despite Leo saying that he would sleep. Mikey had a feeling that Leo had his eyes opened right now, but being sneaky enough so that Mikey couldn’t see it

It would be a difficult thing to explain to April and her parents, who he refused to think he’d never see again. Heart sinking, Mikey closed his eyes and sighed, as he leaned against Leo. They had to be worried sick, and who knew what they were up to, or even where they were? He hoped desperately that they were safe, and that they would stay that way until he saw them again. He couldn’t wait to introduce them to his two new brothers. April might just have a heart attack when she found out. It made Mikey chuckle just thinking about it.

And it was true, part of him felt guilty that he was going on this spontaneous quest instead of looking for them, but he had to hope that they would understand. The sad truth was that Mikey just, didn’t know where they were. At this point, it might’ve taken longer to find them than it would the hidden castle, which they already had a possible location for.

Mikey told himself this, but still felt guilty. He missed them.

Mikey shifted to curl up against Leo, with Leo pulling Mikey closer to him and Mikey could tell that maybe Leo had fallen asleep as his breaths were evening out as he trap Mikey in a protective embrace. Then Mikey shifted to look at his sleeping companions, and he couldn’t help but crack a small smile. Beyond the fear and guilt of the day, there was unmistakable excitement and a kind of deep-rooted contentment. Despite Donnie’s doubts and Raph’s, and to an extent, Leo’s caution, they had agreed to go looking for answers, possibly feeling the same strong pull that he did. There was an odd and deep connection between them, strong and steady even though they hadn’t known each other for very long. It was a bond that had grown beyond its years, and it brought with it a feeling that filled the empty space in his chest that had been there since forever. And Mikey knew without a doubt that Leo was feeling the same way

That same feeling seemed to be pushing them towards finding the answers to their questions – maybe even pushing them home. Mikey had never actually had a home. Leo was the only thing that he considered as home, but even his big brother couldn’t compete to an actual home as they had to move around so much. Mikey knew that Raph would hesitate to call the mansion that he’d grown up in a home. Donnie— Well, Donnie lived in a shed. So maybe they’d all lived very different lives, but now they were searching for the same thing, and Mikey knew that somehow – some way – they would find it.

Without much warning, the wagon jolted violently as they rolled over what had either been a large rock or a deep pothole. Donnie woke with a muffled shout of surprise, and Raph and Leo shot upright, eyes darting around confusedly. Mikey waved his hand gently to get their attention.

“Everything’s good, Todd just keeps hitting every possible obstacle,” Mikey explained, half amused.

“Of course, out of everyone, we’d get the crazy driver,” Donnie mumbled tiredly.

“A free ride is a free ride.” Leo shrugged. “All things considered, we’re pretty lucky.”

“I really wouldn’t call anything that’s happened to us so far ‘lucky’.”

“Fair enough.”

And that was how the evening passed, with the four of them dozing on and off, bickering back and forth, and playing games to occupy themselves. When asked, Todd informed them that they’d eventually be making camp for the night and continuing in the morning. It should take them two days to arrive at the next village, and the four of them intended on using that time to plan on what they’d do when they got there.

The nights were spent on the side of the road. Todd slept in a bag on the ground, while they stayed in the wagon. Mikey was especially appreciative of the fire that was started – the nights were cool – and the blankets that they were given. It had been quite some time since he’d slept so cozily. They were finally able to catch up on some of the sleep they’d missed, even if it meant dealing with the occasional nightmare.

Eventually, their next stop was only an hour away and Mikey was growing restless, filled to the brim with nervous energy. Raph and Leo were methodically going through the supplies from his backpack for what had to be the fifth time at least. Donnie was sitting against the wall with his eyes closed, not asleep but rather attempting to block out the world.

The backpack scraped across the floor as Leo buckled it and pulled it towards him. They’d eaten the rest of their food that morning, but Todd had been kind enough to gift them a few blankets, and Donnie had grabbed two of the more informative books before they left the library, so the bag was pretty full.

“Should we go over the plan?” Leo asked, and his voice was thinly strained, anxiety posing as calm and collected. It had the same effect as children stacked on top of each other wearing a trench coat, a poor disguise worthy of pity.

And Mikey wasn’t much for plans, as anyone who knew him could tell you, but they made Leo more comfortable, so he’d been making an effort. They might as well be on the same page anyway.

However, they’d ‘gone over the plan’ several times already. Mikey could probably recite it in his sleep, but if this was Leo’s way of keeping his cool, he could go along with it.

“Sure,” Mikey said, and Donnie and Raph didn’t argue.

The plan was this: Todd would drop them off just a few minutes away from the village, and then circle around in the wagon to the other end to wait for them. Their odd driver had agreed to take them as far as they wanted to go, and had never questioned anything they asked of him. It was strange, in a comforting sort of way.

The four of them would then make their way through the village, staying mostly separated so as not to be seen together, since four turtles would be more distinctive and easier to remember than one. They would not make appearances in the same place twice, nor would they double back without reason. Todd had given them each some coin to pay for food or other supplies, and they’d collectively decided to just go and see what they could afford rather than try and plan it out beforehand. They would then meet back up at the other end of the village and hop in the wagon to travel once again.

“It’s a pretty good plan,” Donnie assured, high praise from a schemer like him.

Leo nodded and swung the backpack stiffly onto his shoulders. Mikey double and triple checked that both his nunchunks and water flask were attached to him, noticing that his companions were doing the same. He didn’t fault any of his friends for being nervous; he was, too. Tiger Claw was the monster that he’d grown up hearing about, and he’d be perfectly happy if their paths never crossed. Not to mention the unknown number of scouts out there searching for them, and the fact that they had no idea what they might look like.

Mikey and Raph had been against splitting up, but Leo and especially Donnie had argued for it. Leo even assured Mikey that the box turtle could always stay with the slider if it made him feel better. In Mikey’s opinion, it did as it made him feel safer

As soon as the village came into view, they piled out of the wagon and stood – tense but determined – in front of Todd.

“We shouldn’t be more than an hour,” Raph told their driver. “Just— if you could wait by the side of the road where we’ll be able to see you?”

Todd smiled and gave them a thumbs up. He really was one of the most genuine people that Mikey had ever met.

“I’ll be there,” Todd assured them. “Have fun!”

The driver hopped back on his wagon, pulling recklessly onto a side road to begin the roundabout journey around the village. They’d told him that he could go with them, as long as he kept his distance and didn’t draw attention to them, but he had declined. He was rather attached to his wagon, it seemed.

“Do you think that he can make it without crashing?” Donnie asked absentmindedly, fiddling with the strap of his water flask, and Mikey chuckled. There’d been quite a few close calls these past two days.

“Let’s hope,” Mikey replied, and they started the short trek towards the distant buildings.

Walking in silence, Mikey had the distinct feeling that he was a soldier marching into battle. Going straight into a place with unknown dangers was bound to make anyone antsy. Sometimes, it made Mikey excited, but not this time, not when there was this much to lose. This wasn’t a fun adventure like he, Leo, and April used to talk about.

In a perfect world, Mikey and Leo would have met Raph and Donnie randomly on the street, and April and her parents would’ve taken them in, and then they could all go looking for the castle together. No criminals would be looking for them, or chasing them, and they wouldn’t be in danger of starving. It would be amazing.

Honestly, in a perfect world, the four of them wouldn’t have been separated in the first place. They would’ve grown up together, and Raph would be more confident, and Donnie would be less wary. They would both be loved so, so much. He was sure of it. He knew that Leo would take being twins with Donnie and use the power of being the older twin to his full advantage. Of course, April and her parents would be there too, somehow, because no world of his could be perfect without them in it.

They came to a stop a few yards away from the entrance to the village, standing side by side in silence.

“Stay on the main road as much as you can,” Leo instructed, shifting his backpack restlessly. “We’ll see you soon.”

Raph and Donnie gave Leo a nod and a half smile before setting out at a brisk but steady pace, deceptively nonchalant. Leo sighed and patted his sword carefully for reassurance, watching his brothers until they disappeared into the crowds. His anxiety levels ramped up the moment they were out of sight, but he pushed it down best he could as he turned to Mikey with a smile as they headed off in their own direction

This new village was much different from any of the ones they’d been to so far, but it also seemed oddly… familiar. The place was even more crowded than where Donnie came from. People were milling about in groups or with their children, causing a cacophony of noise, of yelling and laughing and just the general sounds of existence and life. It was overwhelming, grating on his nerves and dancing on the grave of the normal life he’d left behind. Or rather, the one he’d been forcibly removed from.

Mikey exhaled heavily and strode forward with purpose, him and Leo weaving around kids and adults and vendors pushing carts. There was no time to freak out; they had a job to do.

The sun beat down on them mercilessly as they made their way down the road. It really had been far too long without rain; even the river on the mountain had not been as full as it could’ve been.

Leo then told him that they should split up as there was a ton of vendors and they could cover more ground that way. Leo handed him a few coins and told Mikey to be safe and that Leo wouldn’t be far if he needed him. Mikey smiled as he felt good that Leo had confidence in him to be on his own for a bit.

Mikey exchanged a few coins for a basket of fruit at one booth, and he gave a few more to buy pie at another. He did his very best to not stand out in any way. He made no eye contact, he told no one who he was, and he stayed close to the walls, keeping an out on Leo who was on the far end of the street. Mikey had never been more invisible, which was why it scared him half to death when someone called him by his name that wasn’t his big brother.

“Mikey?” A voice asked from behind him, and Mikey just about jumped out of his shell.

He whipped around – one hand already hovering over his nunchunks – and immediately understood why the village around him looked so familiar.

“Sunita?” Mikey said faintly, and there she was, standing in front of him with a basket of bread and a confused look on her face.

Mikey had been here before – to this exact village – with Leo, April, and her parents. It had to have been almost a year ago, so it was a wonder that Sunita had recognized him at all. She and April had hit it off well, and they’d hung out together every day of their visit while April’s parents handled the business stuff. Leo and Mikey had tagged along, of course, since him and Leo were kind of a package deal. April had nearly cried when they’d left, making her parents promise that they’d come back one day. Mikey had never thought that he’d be the first one to return, and without April in tow.

“Sunita!” Mikey rushed closer to her, beyond excited to see a familiar face, and so relieved he might cry. “Oh my— How even—"

Sunita held out a hand to steady him, confusion and concern fighting to be the dominant facial expression.

“Are… you alright? Are you back in town?” Sunita asked, glancing around and looking over his shoulder. “Where’s April…and your brother Leo?”

“I’m right here” Mikey about jumped for a second time when he turned around to see his big brother walking towards them with a smile and a perk in his step. “Good to see you again Sunita. And to answer your question—it’s actually a long story, but she’s not with us, right now.”

“You two are alone?” Sunita frowned. “It was my understanding that you are supposed to stay together.”

“Well, yes. Usually it’s— I mean—” Mikey sighed and looked over his shoulder at Leo before turning back with a serious expression. “Look, she’s not even in the village, and neither are April’s parents. We’re kind of, sort of, very separated.”

Sunita stood in front of them, now utterly flabbergasted, and Mikey knew that they didn’t have time to fully explain. All the time in the world might not have been enough.

“Listen, if you see either of them, tell them you saw us, that we’re okay.” Leo swallowed against the lump in his throat as he came up next to Mikey. “And tell them that we’re sorry, but we can’t stay put.”

“Leo…Mikey, what’s happening?” Sunita asked, her grip on her basket becoming stronger.

“We… We think it’s safer if we don’t tell you.” Mikey didn’t want to drag her into it, or give her information that people would hurt her for. It wasn’t worth the risk. “Just, if anyone else asks about us, we were never here. Okay?”

Sunita nodded jerkily, and Mikey flashed a small smile.

“One more question,” Leo said from beside him, pointing to Sunita’s basket. “Are you selling that bread?”

Sunita shook her head incredulously and shoved the basket into Leo’s arms, making him fumble with the other things he’d bought until they were arranged in a way he could carry them.

“Take it,” said Sunita tensely, worry masked as frustration, “and be careful. I still expect a visit from you two and April.”

Leo and Mikey nodded, fully intending on keeping that promise. They wouldn’t be running forever, after all. Just until they reached the finish line.

“Count on it,” Leo said, resolute, and he mentally mapped the way to the meeting point. “Thank you, Violet.” Mikey said with a soft smile

Sunita smiled thinly.

“See you later,” she said, almost like a threat, or a promise.

“See you later.” The two turtles said together

And then Leo turned around and Mikey followed right behind him, the two of them leaving as quickly as they’d come, dodging people and keeping an eye out for shady characters all the same, while Leo showed Mikey the goods that he got, all of it being stored in the backpack. While Mikey was impressed by Leo’s finds, tension crept back into Mikey’s frame, paranoia at having stayed in one place talking to Sunita for so long.

They saw a flash of red and grey as they came to the edge of the village, and Mikey ran in front of Leo, knowing that it was Raph. Sure enough, there he was, leaning against a well – which reminded him that he needed to refill his water flask – and watching him come closer with obvious relief.

“Have you seen Donnie?” Raph asked as Mikey scooped some water into his flask.

“Not yet,” Mikey said, not paying attention to the way that Raph and Leo seemed to tense at the revelation. “Why?”

“I keep feeling like someone’s watching me.” Raph glanced away sheepishly and fidgeted with his sleeve.

Mikey took a quick look around. No one seemed to be abnormally focused on them, at least.

Leo came up to Raph and Mikey and place a hand on Raph’s arm. Whether that was to calm Raph or to calm himself, Mikey couldn’t tell “Well, as soon as Donnie gets here, we’ll leave.”

“I’m here.”

Donnie’s sudden voice cause Mikey and Leo to jump and Raph to yelp. Mikey had somehow never noticed how naturally silent Donnie was, both light on his feet and practiced at blending in.

“Give a guy some warning!” Leo exclaimed, laughing lightly, and Donnie shrugged with a grin.

“But it’s so much more fun this way.”

Leo shook his head playfully and nudged Donnie’s shoulder. “You and April would get along great.”

Mikey didn’t doubt that for a second

Donnie refilled his water, and they eagerly left the village behind to head for Todd and wagon, carrying their newly acquired supplies best they could.

“It was so weird to actually buy something,” Donnie commented, shifting the sack of vegetables in his arms.

“Welcome to the straight and narrow,” Leo said teasingly, in higher spirits now that they were leaving the village. “We hope that you enjoy your stay.”

“Yeah, no offense,” said Donnie, “but so far it’s been less than ideal.”

“We here at the straight and narrow are very sorry to hear that,” Mikey said, using the tone of voice that most innkeepers used. “What is it that we can improve?”

“Less danger and criminals, please,” Donnie replied, glancing behind them to ensure that they weren’t being followed.

“We’ll see what we can do.”

“It’s kind of ironic that the straight and narrow needs less criminals,” Raph said.

“Kind of sad, too,” said Mikey, returning Raph’s grin.

They came upon Todd and the wagon just a few yards away from the last building. It was closer than they’d agreed upon, but it hardly mattered at this point. They were too relieved that he was there at all.

They piled into the back tiredly, worn out by their hour of constant vigilance. Leo and Mikey laid their things out on the floor and then Mikey crawled up to the front, pulling back the canvas curtain and tapping a sleeping Todd on the shoulder.

“Rise and shine, Todd. We’re ready to go,” Mikey said as the driver opened his eyes.

“Got it.” Todd saluted goofily and set about preparing to leave.

Mikey let the curtain fall as he backed up and turned to face his friends. Leo and Raph were reorganizing the backpack, while Donnie was sitting next to them munching on a piece of broccoli.

Without warning, a prickling sensation slithered up his spine and up the back of his neck, accompanied by an unsettling feeling in his stomach. He shuffled along the floor towards the back of the wagon, which Todd had just closed. They were moving now, on their way to the next destination. Mikey stared out at the row of buildings they had just left behind, straining to see something - anything.

There was nothing there, and in some ways, that was worse.

Chapter Text

If Donnie could travel back in time to the day before he’d been captured, his past self would most certainly slap him at least twice. The first time would be to make sure that he was there and whatnot – proof of existence, if you will – but the second slap would occur only after attempting to explain to past Donnie exactly what the future had in store for them.

It said a lot about his character, Donnie thought, that he couldn’t even trust himself; that he would sooner slap himself (twice) than believe a word that he said. And Donnie knew himself better than anyone, that’s why there was no trust there.

Anyway, bottom line: time travel was problematic at best. If Donnie could travel back in time to the day before he’d been captured, he wouldn’t. That was just his personal choice, seeing as how he’d literally end up beating himself up about it.

Snap out of it, Donnie. Pay attention.

Currently they were sitting a few yards off the road, huddled by their campfire, and closely examining the map. Donnie had gotten a bit carried away, staring at the tiny black dot that represented the place he’d spent most of his life in. He was so far away now, both from the village and from the turtle he used to be before he left. Involuntarily, he might add.

In other ways, though, nothing much had changed. He still had people chasing him, he was still running, and really, he was only a few days older than he had been. Funny how time worked that way.

But no, what had changed the most was the level at which those things were happening. Instead of common crooks and street thugs chasing after him, it was every criminal with a reputation and a connection to Kitsune. Instead of running for a couple minutes to the safety of his shed, he’d seen more of the world in just the past two days than in his entire life. Really, it was just escalation. Some parts of this whole adventure were very familiar to him, while others managed to be completely foreign.

His companions for example. The fact that he had friends. That was different. Donnie couldn’t remember the last time that he had looked over his shoulder and been relieved to see someone right behind him. Probably because it’d never happened before. Except it did, once.

“Donnie? You with us?” A hand waved in front of his face, along with a blue sleeve, and Donnie blinked back into awareness. “Earth to Donnie? Your brain working up there?”

Donnie scowled at the amusement in Leo’s voice and pushing the waving hand away.

“Are we really that boring to listen to?” Leo grinned and shared a look with Raph and Mikey, who were shaking their heads in a resigned sort of way and smiling. “Say it ain’t so, little bro.”

There was a part of Donnie – the worn and frayed and broken part – that recoiled at the implications of what Leo had just called him, even after having had some time to process the possibility. But there was also something in him that grew warm, silently and completely filling every empty space in his chest and overflowing into emotions that he couldn’t even begin to sort through.

For now, those two parts pretty much canceled each other out, so he simply shrugged and smirked.

“I hate to be the one to tell you, I really do,” Donnie said, “but it’s true.”

“How dare!” Leo gasped loudly and fell back onto Raph’s lap. “I am wounded.”

“Drama queen.”

Leo turned his head enough to wink at him before poking Raph in the side. “The disrespect am I right?”

“Tragic,” said Raph, deadpan. “I can’t believe that you would do this to us, Donnie” Mikey said from where he was beside Raph

“Alright, I’m sorry.” Donnie rolled his eyes and scooted closer, peering down at the unrolled map. “What were we talking about?”

“We?” Raph repeated, amused.

“You.”

Gosh, was having friends always this annoying? Donnie pushed down the urge to smile and instead shoved Raph’s shoulder, which in turn jostled Leo, who was still in his lap.

“Well,” Leo began as he sat up, “Raph, Mikey and I were discussing our options for the next stop we make.”

“We want to minimize the number of populated areas we stop at,” Mikey explained. “So, we’re figuring out which villages we can cut from our route.”

Donnie nodded to show that he was following.

“We have enough food for a few days, so we can skip this next village and go straight to this one, and from there we can decide what to do next.” Leo tapped another black dot on the map before sitting back. “I’m trying not to plan too far ahead. Everything is so unpredictable.”

Leo stopped talking, looking at him like he was waiting for something, and Donnie realized belatedly that he wanted his opinion.

“Sounds good to me,” said Donnie, and Leo nodded.

“And you’re sure you don’t need us to repeat it again?” Mikey shot him a teasing grin. “Or were you listening this time?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Donnie mustered up as innocent a look as possible. “Were you saying something?”

The four of them bickered back and forth until Todd came back with more firewood and suggested that they get some sleep. So, they grabbed their blankets and crawled back into the wagon to curl up on the floor. When Raph curled on the floor, he looked like a pillow. Mikey saw it as his opportunity to lay beside him

Raph seemed to flinch for a second and Mikey quickly apologize. “Sorry Raph, I didn’t mean to…” Mikey didn’t get to finish as Raph curled his long tail around Mikey and brought him close. “It’s ok Mikester. I don’t mind. Honestly” Mikey smiled a big smile and lay down beside Raph, curling around him.

Leo and Donnie shared a look, before Leo shrugged his shoulders and laid down beside his little brother as he hugged his shell from behind. Donnie was on the outside of the pile as he laid his shell against Leo’s. Leo’s elbow was kind of digging into his back, Mikey’s cold feet were shoved against his leg, and Raph was snoring loudly in his ear, but it was surprisingly comfortable, and it felt safe.

Donnie gazed sleepily out the back of the wagon at the stars, twinkling lazily in the dark sky. He couldn’t remember falling asleep, but he must have, because the next thing he knew the sun was shining into his eyes and Todd was rattling around outside.

Then they were traveling again.

And it was boring.

He kept telling himself that this was better than the alternative of being captured and/or enslaved, but there were only so many travel games that a person could play before they went insane. However, Donnie could live with the boredom, actually, because he knew that it was hardly the worst-case scenario. Far from it, really.

So, they traveled, and it wasn’t all bad.

Todd was a calming presence somehow, for how chaotic and scatterbrained he seemed. When Donnie took naps or when Leo and Raph organized or when all three of them happened to be doing those things at the same time, Donnie knew that Mikey would go up front to sit by Todd. The two got along quite well, which— yeah, that was fair.

Todd had let Mikey take the reins one day, happy and smiling as if nothing could go wrong, and of course anyone who let Mikey drive a wagon was going to be one of his favorite people. It was also a good way to have Donnie waking up in a panic after his maniac friend scraped the wagon against a tree on his way by.

Or maybe Todd had been driving, it was honestly hard to tell sometimes.

In between sleeping and game playing and strategizing, Donnie was often left alone with his own thoughts. He was used to it, of course, but the things he thought about now were very different from what they were before. The usual concerns about food and water and shelter were there – they always had been – but they had faded into the background a bit; Leo and Raph had most of that handled, anyway. Now, Donnie’s mind ran wild with theories and debates.

And doubts.

What if the medallion piece had never been his, and it was given to him by accident? What if the second castle didn’t exist? What if everyone who could give them answers was dead and gone? What if they were wrong about all of it?

What if they were right?

Somehow, that last question was the most terrifying of them all. If they were wrong, nothing much would change. He would just go back to his shed and live like he always had. It would hurt, he got those phantom pains in his chest just thinking about it, but at least it would be familiar. If they were right, then everything would change. More than it already had, his world would change around him, and Donnie was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to keep up.

It was four days later that they stopped at a lake. The surface was calm, the stillest thing they’d seen in what felt like years.

“Now Mikey,” said Leo, amusement lacing his voice, “there might be fish in there. You think you can handle that?”

Donnie and Raph chuckled, immediately brought back to that moment on the mountain when Mikey had scared them half to death screaming at a fish. Simpler times.

“Only if you promise not to trip and fall,” Mikey shot back, grinning.

And who could forget being tackled from behind and being washed away. Donnie swore that there was still water in his ears.

Leo rolled his eyes with a bright smile – more relaxed than Donnie had ever seen him – before nudging Mikey’s shoulder and taking off for the water, throwing everything he was wearing except his light blue undershirt onto a rock. Mikey followed shortly after him and they waded into the water and waved at them enthusiastically, already soaked.

Donnie turned to Raph, about to remark on the childishness of their friends, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

Raph smiled, possibly the most unrestrained smile that Donnie had ever seen on him.

“Race you,” Raph said, excitement dancing in his eyes, and he shoved Donnie lightly before running off toward the water.

Donnie stood in shock for a moment, then let out an incredulous laugh and shook his head. Childish though it was, they were children after all. Well technically teenagers, but still. Sometimes Donnie forgot – when he was running from thugs, or stealing food, or huddled in a shed during the winter months – that he was still young. He forgot to let himself be a kid. His brothers friends were reminding him now, whether they knew it or not.

Donnie ran for the water and didn’t look back. He left his cloak on the shore next to Leo and Mikey’s jackets, and splashed his already soggy friends as soon as he was close enough.

They spent the whole day at the lake, and it was like a mini vacation. The next village was only a day or so away, and they had enough food to last, so there wasn’t much pressure to get going. Well, apart from the nagging feeling that they were being chased, which Donnie tried his best to suppress for just one day. Just one.

And it was the best day of his life; the most fun that Donnie had ever had. Maybe there were a few happy tears mixed in with that lake water, but no one would ever know for sure.

Raph beat them all at a cannonball competition, and then they each took turns riding on his shoulders in the water. Donnie didn’t like it very much – it was too high, and he didn’t fully trust Raph not to drop him – but Leo and Mikey had an absolute blast. And honestly, his feelings from a few days about not wanting to ride on Raph’s shoulders were almost completely forgotten about whenever he was on Raph’s shoulders. Despite not liking the height and the fear of being dropped, Donnie kind of enjoyed it. It was like being king of the world whenever he was on Raph’s shoulders

All too soon, the sun was setting, and they waded out of the lake with the intention of drying off and eating something for dinner. Leo and Mikey went with Todd to get the food out of the wagon and start a fire, and Donnie found Raph sitting on a log overlooking the lake that the sunset had painted orange and red.

Donnie sat down next to him, aware that the light and playful mood from the day had changed into something else. Not exactly something negative, but rather reflective. Somber, even.

“It’s been two weeks,” said Raph, quietly, and he didn’t have to elaborate.

Two weeks since he’d been captured. Two weeks since Big Mama had turned his world on its head.

It took Donnie off guard. He hadn’t exactly been keeping track, but he remembered that on his first day of being kidnapped, Raph had already been there – alone – for two days. In two more days, it will have been two weeks for him, Leo, and Mikey too. He wasn’t sure why that felt like such a big milestone. The weeks had passed in an instant; they had dragged on for years. How much longer would they be going on like this?

Donnie didn’t say anything in response to that. What could he say, anyways? And he suspected that Raph didn’t need words. So, Donnie leaned gently on Raph – a way of support; of supporting each other – and hoped that it was enough, hoped that he was enough.

It wasn’t long until they heard their other traveling buddies coming back towards them. Leo and Mikey were loudly singing some campfire song while Todd roasted something on a stick over the fire that they’d made. Raph leaned more heavily against him as they watched the others, and Donnie almost wished that they never had to leave this lake, this day, this moment.

Raph sighed – although not unhappily – and stood up.

“C’mon, Todd will most definitely burn the food if we don’t help out,” Raph said, the corner of his mouth lifting upwards.

“Sometimes I wonder who saved who,” Donnie remarked.

He knew, of course, that Todd was doing more for them than they were for him, but he also had to admit that the guy could use some help. So they cooked sometimes, they cleaned, and they never complained when Todd had to stop and rest. As they had no money, this was they closest they could come to paying him back.

They gathered by the fire and ate. It wasn’t exactly a luxurious meal, since they were still trying to ration, but it was more than enough, and Donnie had learned a long time ago to take what he could get. He’d been eating more consistently the past week than ever before, anyway. He had Todd to thank for that.

“Hey, look!” Mikey was suddenly on his feet, pointing at the sky, eyes shining in excitement. Donnie looked up on instinct and caught the tail end of a flicker. “A shooting star! Make a wish!”

“What?” Donnie asked, confused and a little lost.

“When you see a shooting star, you make a wish,” said Leo, like it was obvious, and Donnie rolled his eyes.

“That makes no sense.”

“So? It’s fun!”

Donnie looked over to Raph, who he expected to be the one with a logical outlook. Since Leo and Mikey had presumably already wished something, and Todd had loudly proclaimed that his wish was to fly, Raph was his last hope.

Raph was grinning.

“Don’t look at me,” said Raph, with great amusement. “I already made mine.”

Donnie threw his hands in the air. “You’re all insane!”

“I’m almost offended that you ever thought otherwise,” Leo shot back gleefully, and Raph and Mikey laughed, freely and joyfully. It was contagious, and soon enough everyone was laughing.

Donnie looked up at the sky in a long-suffering sort of way – not half as irritated as he was pretending to be – just in time to see another shooting star. The full thing from start to finish; bright and beautiful and far too easy to miss, if you weren’t looking for it.

Make a wish, it taunted him, like the stars were waiting, like the universe had been building to this one insignificant moment.

And he felt silly, but no one would ever know, so he caved.

Make a wish.

More days like this one, Donnie thought.

More days like this one.

Chapter Text

“Okay, we’ve got three more villages to stop at, then we have to go on foot,” Leo was saying, examining the map closely as they once again revisited their plans.

“Great,” Donnie said, but he didn’t seem all that thrilled. “Any mountains this time? I need to mentally prepare myself if things are going to be difficult.”

“I’m not sure,” Leo replied, squinting at the map. “It’s hard to tell. Maybe not? No promises.”

He glanced apologetically at Donnie, who was sitting at the edge of the wagon with Mikey and Raph, peeling oranges and dropping the peels out the back and onto the ground. They’d be arriving at the next village any minute now, and they’d be able to get more food, so eating a little extra was okay, and even encouraged.

Raph knew that he’d lost weight since being captured. He had lost a good bit of muscle. Two weeks of sporadic food intake had taken its toll on all of them. Leo and Mikey had become leaner, but it wasn’t as noticeable due to the muscle they had built up from years of training and general athleticism. It was shocking how he seemed to lose more weight then Leo and Mikey, despite being bigger then them and also going through training

And Donnie was skinny, but he’d been that way before. He was an inch or so shorter than Leo, and his shirt hung off him a little awkwardly, since it didn’t quite fit. Raph knew that it was all just more proof of the way he’d grown up. Not getting enough food in his early years could account for how short he was, and having no money to buy proper clothes solved the mystery of the baggy shirt.

Donnie was skinny, yes, but maybe a better word would be small. Small in more ways than just stature. It was there in how he held himself, in how he was ready to disappear at a moment’s notice. It was there in how easy it was to lose track of him if you weren’t paying attention. If Donnie didn’t want to be found, then you wouldn’t find him. It was as simple as that.

It almost made Raph want to tie them all together, so he knew where all three of them were at all times. It made him want to shove food in Donnie’s direction every chance he got. However, if he shoved anything at Donnie it would most certainly push him away.

And Raph needed him to stay. He needed Leo to stay. He needed Mikey to stay

It scared him, how much he wanted them to be what Leo and Mikey thought they were. Brothers. Raph had grown up alone, had always been alone in everything, but his life hadn’t been terrible, really. He’d had enough food, of course, and he’d had a place to live, but it hadn’t been enough. Why hadn’t it been enough? Raph always thought that it should’ve been.

But there had been plenty of things that he’d wanted. He’d wanted friends, a family, a mother or a father, but those things had really been more wishes than wants. They passed by, and he’d never known what exactly he was wishing for anyway.

This thing, though, this new idea that these three turtles could be his brothers, made him want. His wish to the shooting star had been a simple and easy decision to make.

Please, let it be true.

Only time would tell, but it was unclear if time or the universe or the stars were on their side. Only time would tell, but time had always loved its secrets.

“The village plan hasn’t changed, right?” Mikey asked, and it startled Raph out of his brooding thoughts, as he turned to Leo

“No, it hasn’t,” Leo answered.

“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, I guess,” Donnie said distractedly. He’d finally peeled the whole orange and was preparing to eat it.

“That doesn’t mean that it can’t be improved,” said Raph, because it was something that had been drilled into his head during his time in the Battle Nexus. “So if anyone has any suggestions…”

Donnie shook his head, apparently unwilling to talk while chewing orange slices.

“I don’t have any ideas,” said Mikey, who had no such reservations and was speaking with his mouth full. Leo folded up the map and put it back in the backpack “I don’t have any ideas either. We’ll be fine, I think.”

And they were.

The next stop went off without a hitch, aside from being just as terrifying as the first one. Todd had a good amount of money, surprisingly, and had no problem with handing it out, long as they also bought some things that he wanted. So they went down the main streets buying food and when they were done they refilled their water at a well. They still stayed separate – which was nerve-wracking and seemed somehow fundamentally wrong – but every now and then Raph was reassured by a flash of blue, purple, or orange in the corner of his eye.

They made it back to the wagon without issue, and Raph crossed that village off of his mental checklist. One down, two to go.

Much like the past two weeks, the next few days went by in both a flash, and dragged on for what could have been centuries. He spent most of that time observing his new friends/almost-brothers.

It hit Raph, sometime between one village and the next, that he’d never known these kids except as captives: as children running from criminals. He really didn’t know what they were like in normal life, and how could he? It bothered him – knowing so little and missing so many pieces – so Raph did his best to pay attention to everything.

Leo and Mikey were constantly moving, tapping their feet or bobbing their heads. Anything, really. They made noise, they hummed, and usually Mikey was always starting conversations, with Leo taking his turn every now and then

Other than that, another thing that Raph had come to notice about Leo and Mikey was the odd intensity of their friendship, not just with Raph and Donnie, but with each other too. Being on the run as they were, it was easy to see the nervousness that came when they had to split up, and how one of Leo’s hands was always hovering just above the hilt of his sword and the other was gripped in one of Mikey’s hands. Leo and that piece of metal were practically attached at the hip – pun intended – and he wielded it with a sort of desperation that Raph recognized. It was just like how attached his was to his sais

Now Mikey wasn’t as attached to his nunchunks as Leo was to his swords, but Raph had a feeling that was because, being the youngest, he didn’t have a need to use as much as he could trust Leo to protect him. Raph hoped that someday he could protect Mikey the same way that Leo could

In many ways, Donnie was the opposite. He was eerily still and quiet at times, and Raph got the unsettling feeling that every move he made was intentional somehow; planned out, even though it couldn’t be.

More than that, Donnie carried himself with a deceptive sort of nonchalance, gliding through life in such a way that it made you wonder if he was paying attention to any of it, but it only appeared to be disinterest at a surface level. If anyone bothered to look closer, they’d see the constant awareness. Donnie observed. Maybe it came from a life where zoning out yielded terrible consequences, or maybe it was just how he was; it could be both.

And if Raph wanted to really believe that Leo and Donnie were twins, then Leo was sort of the same way. To Raph, Leo was a perfect mix of Donnie and Mikey. Leo had the boundless energy of Mikey, but could also sit back and be nonchalant and slightly disinterested to where it seemed like he was observing. Raph would call it as being sharp.

It felt like a triumph, the few times that Donnie had let his guard down around them. Donnie’s tentative trust was the type of thing that Raph could wear as a badge of honor, alongside Leo and Mikey’s easy friendship and utter devotion.

The day before they reached the second village in their line up of three – it was two days after leaving the lake – was the two-week anniversary of Leo, Donnie, and Mikey’s capture.

“We should have a party,” Mikey said as they laid side by side on the wagon floor, and he was grinning. “Donnie’s in charge of invitations.”

Donnie didn’t even move as he spoke, “You’d be very disappointed in the guest list, then.”

“Can I be the planner?” Raph asked. “I’ve always wanted to plan a party.”

Big Mama used to host parties, whenever she happened to be at the house. Raph hadn’t been allowed to leave his room during those, and he had never seen the guests. It didn’t bother him much then, but now he wondered if the Purple Dragons had been there, or any of the other monsters chasing them.

“Of course!” Leo answered enthusiastically, seemingly happy that they were playing along. “And I’ll be the entertainment.”

They woke up in the morning right outside the next village. Once again, they followed their plan, and things went well. Leo stuffed the backpack as full as it could be, and the others carried as much as they could without falling over.

The only hiccup for that trip was that Donnie was late.

Because he’d gotten lost.

The other three had waited at the end of the village near the wagon for nearly 20 minutes, becoming more and more worried by the second. Raph had been about to charge right back down the streets searching when Donnie appeared, walking swiftly toward them with an irritated expression on his face. It was obvious what had happened.

“Not a word,” said Donnie, but they had plenty.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Leo said dryly, too relieved to be mad.

It was two days later that they arrived at their last village, and that was when things finally went wrong.

“Can you believe we’re almost there?” Mikey asked in an awed voice. He was leaning halfway out the back of the wagon, enjoying the sight of passing fields of wheat.

“I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that we’re going,” said Raph.

There had been a few moments here and there where what they were doing caught up with him, and in those moments he felt insane. So, he mostly tried to ignore it and just focus on the next step. It was better that way.

“What if there’s nothing?” Donnie’s voice drifted over from where he was sitting against the wall, staring vaguely in their direction.

There was silence, because of course they’d all been thinking that same question. They each had a lot riding on this. They’d put aside their lives for it; they’d bet all that they had. Would it even be true?

“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” said Raph. One thing at a time.

Donnie looked worried, but he nodded anyway.

The closer they got to their end destination, the more tense they all became. Tense with anticipation, with fear, with excitement. The air was thick with it.

“We’ll have to say bye to Todd,” Mikey said sadly. The two of them had grown quite close, it seemed, but after they left the next village, it would be simpler to go on foot.

“Maybe you’ll see him again,” said Leo. “He seems like the type that’s hard to shake.”

“Yeah,” said Mikey. “I wish we could’ve told him more, you know? Or explained why we have to leave, or where we’re going…”

“It’s safer for all of us this way,” said Raph gently.

“And he never asked,” Donnie said, voice relaxed and amused.

Todd never ceased to amaze, or amuse. After having seen – experienced – the worst of the world, Todd had really come out of nowhere to represent all that was good. The only reason they’d gotten so far was because of him.

The wagon stopped right outside their last village, and their loyal driver came around to meet them as they got out for the last time.

“Where do you want me to wait?” Todd asked, smiling and eager to please.

Unexpected emotion tripped Raph up.

“Nowhere,” Raph said eloquently, mentally reprimanding himself afterwards.

Leo stepped forward to save him.

“What we mean to say,” said Leo, “is that this is our last stop.”

“Go,” said Donnie. “Be free.”

Todd looked momentarily confused – a familiar expression – before he smiled sorrowfully. “It was an honor”

Mikey leapt at him for a hug, and the capybara wrapped his arms around the box turtle. Donnie took a small step back, as if afraid he’d be next.

“Bye Todd,” Raph said

“See you around,” Leo added, and Todd waved.

“Hope you get home safe,” said Todd.

A lump formed in Raph’s throat, choking whatever he might have said in response. Their driver had never really known where he was taking them, but was it possible that his words were right, anyways?

“Thanks,” Mikey said, smiling a watery smile. “We will.”

Todd hopped back onto the wagon and turned around the way they’d come. He waved goodbye until the wagon blocked his vision, and Raph waved back.

“You guys are saps.” Donnie’s voice was steady, but he was blinking a bit too fast for it to be normal. “It’s disgusting.”

“Oh, please.” Leo grinned and nudged Donnie’s shoulder. “You’re all heart, Don-Tron. Don’t even try to deny it.”

Raph and Mikey suppressed a laugh at the disgruntled look on Donnie’s face

“Time to go,” said Raph, before a fight could break out. “Meet you at the end.”

They’d done this three times already, the being separated thing, and it never got any easier – just more familiar, he guessed.

Raph held the small bag of coins – the last thing Todd had given them – as he walked down the main road. He knew the other three would be spread out by now, but he couldn’t help but keep an eye out for them anyway.

He bought bread, even though it’d made up a lot of their diet for the past week or so. It was cheap and easy, and exactly what they needed in their complicated life. He carefully put the wrapped bread away, and he never did get to buy anything else.

A voice called out suddenly, a voice that was angry, a voice that Raph recognized, and he froze, instantly on guard.

“Wha— You!”

Against his better judgment and ignoring all his instincts, Raph turned around, and there was Angel, stomping toward him at an alarming pace, radiating pure fury. It almost didn't compute, at first, and it didn't seem to make sense. But that didn't make it any less real.

They were in a large village, but still the crowds were thin, so there was no one on hand to hide behind and nothing in the Purple Dragon’s way. Heart simultaneously in his throat and in his feet, Raph spun around and did the one thing he’d become very practiced at during the past two weeks: he ran.

His heartbeats echoed in his ears, his breaths came in shallow gasps, and each footfall sent a jolt of fear shooting up his spine. Running, running, running. They’d been running all this time, and someone had finally caught up with them.

Where before he was passive about it, now he was frantically scanning the street for his friends, and by sheer luck he found them. Leo and Mikey were standing at a booth on the side of the road, and Donnie was a few meters away on the opposite side. They were unaware of the very immediate danger that they were in, and Raph tried to get his voice to work, to warn them, but all that came out was a strangled sort of wheeze.

As it was, he crashed into Leo and Mikey full force, and his friends just barely managed to keep their footing as Raph coughed violently, trying to dislodge what was clearly panic in his throat.

“Whoa, Raph, what’s—” Leo’s voice cut off and his breath hitched as he saw who was chasing them, and without further ado he grabbed Mikey’s sleeve and yanked him up. The three of them made eye contact and they – once again – ran.

Raph saw that Mikey was lagging a bit and so he picked him up and carried him, Mikey being so lightweight that it didn’t matter. Leo went straight for Donnie, and with suck certainty that the blue-clad turtle had to have been keeping tabs on him. Donnie turned around before they got there, having sensed something about their presence – possibly the utter air of panic surrounding them – and his eyes widened. He threw a handful of coins at the vendor he’d been talking to before snatching a bag of oranges off the table. Leo grabbed his hand as they ran by, and they fell back into the routine of fleeing danger side by side. At least this time they weren’t in a forest in the dead of night.

“Are there any more?” Donnie gasped out, glancing over his shoulder at Angel, who was currently neither gaining nor advancing.

Raph shook his head and finally found his voice. “I didn’t— didn’t see any.”

“The other two have got to be around here somewhere,” Leo said breathlessly. “What do we do?”

Raph was about to express that he had no flipping idea when he felt his foot catch on uneven ground, and he went crashing down, causing him to let go of Mikey and for Leo and Donnie to stumble and cry out. They got him to his feet quickly enough, but it was still too long. Angel was even closer behind them, shouting angrily.

“The well!” Donnie exclaimed suddenly, pointing beyond the deserted side street they were on to the ring of stacked stone bricks signifying the well.

“What about it?” Leo asked, one hand on his sword as they ran.

“Just— come on!”

Raph decided to trust in whatever Donnie was scheming up, and they directed their frenzied attention to their new destination.

They didn’t run fast enough.

Mikey went down hard as Angel grabbed the back of his jacket, and all four of them screamed. Mikey was immediately struggling, kicking at every part of his attacker that was in range as the other three attempted to pry Angel off him. It was a cacophony of noise and sound. No one quite knew what they were saying, but they were very passionate about saying it.

Angel yelped suddenly and reared back, letting go of Mikey, and throwing both Raph and Donnie to the ground. Leo sprung up, sword in hand, though it was unclear how he’d unsheathed it. He made eye contact with Mikey, who unclipped his nunchunks from his belt. Angel was now backed up against the well. All of them were breathing hard, and Donnie was coughing lightly from having had the wind knocked out of him.

“You pesky turtles!” Angel seethed, glaring at the sword and nunchunks, the only things keeping her at bay. “Do you know what you’ve done? You made me look like a moron!”

“Like you need help with that,” Leo scoffed, sword held steadily in front of him, eyes focused.

“Why, you—” Angel was now advancing on Leo and Mikey, who were slightly frozen in fear

The Purple Dragon’s voice cut off with a startled cry as Donnie – who Raph hadn’t even seen move – made his own battle cry and swung his bag of oranges with both hands and all the strength in his body. The bag connected with Angel’s face with such force that juice sprayed out. She started to stumble, but she tipped backward into the well by Donnie’s bo, her screaming cutting off with a distant, echoing splash.

Raph sat frozen on the ground in the wake of the chaos, which couldn’t have lasted more than five minutes. Leo and Mikey let out incredulous laughs, and Donnie dropped the bag of oranges, grimacing at his juice-stained and sticky hands, as he put his bo staff back in his battle shell. It should’ve been a happy moment, but something heavy was sinking into Raph’s chest. My fault, he thought. It’s all my fault and I couldn’t even help.

He was utterly useless – sitting on the floor, or running away, and overall never facing this problem that he’d dragged them all into. Big Mama was after him. Why couldn’t he be strong and handle it himself? Why was he insisting on keeping the other three close? It was so very selfish of him. They didn’t deserve any of this; it was Raph’s problem to solve, his broken life to fix.

It struck him then – too late, always too late – that he should’ve led Angel away from his brothers – brothers? – and that it would’ve been better that way. If they got him, would they still chase after the other three? Could the whole swarm of criminals be stopped if only Raph gave himself up?

Angel couldn’t have been here alone, Raph thought with sudden clarity, and that was what finally got him to his feet to interrupt the celebration.

“Donnie, you were— you were like a fruit ninja! Oh my—"

Raph cut Leo off by grabbing his arm urgently.

“We need to hide somewhere,” said Raph, rushed and tense.

Donnie cleared his throat pointedly, and Raph turned in time to see him gesture grandly to something in the distance. It turned out to be a small wooden barn stood between a row of houses. It was an odd place for a barn, sure, but it would suffice.

Despite everything, the prospect of staying in a barn made Leo and Mikey’s eyes light up, and they set out swiftly for the structure, only leaving behind a bag of smashed oranges and a Purple Dragon stuck in a well.

Chapter Text

Leo grunted as he pushed the sliding wood door to the barn closed. It was stupidly heavy, which managed to be both reassuring and worrying. On the one hand, it wouldn’t be easily opened by their enemies, but on the other hand, they had sort of backed themselves into a corner.

Already, Leo swore that he could sense danger closing in on them from all directions. He was experiencing the slow kind of dread that came with hiding themselves away, unable to see what was coming. It had them all on edge.

“How’d they find us?” Leo hissed in a low voice, back pressed up against the shut door.

The barn was dimly lit, setting horribly appropriate mood lighting for the situation they’d found themselves in. Raph was pacing on the hay covered floor, running a shaking hand down his face.

“I don’t know,” Raph’s voice came out breathlessly, sounding almost more panicked and desperate than Leo felt. “I don’t know.”

“It was either sheer luck, or they had some idea.” Donnie was sitting on a large sack of wheat against the wall, and his voice was venturing into hysterics. “May—maybe they followed us.”

Leo thought of Raph’s apparent paranoia – the feeling that someone was watching them – and he thought of eyes staring out from the shadows. Had they ever really escaped?

“What do we do?” Mikey directed his question at both Raph and Leo, whose careful planning and abundant knowledge had gotten them this far. Mikey hoped that one of his big brothers would have some answers to their dilemma

They needed a miracle; they were too close to the end to fail now. Time was running out, and Mikey felt so scared. He knew that his big brothers felt the same way

“Raph?” Leo’s scared voice brought Mikey out of his thoughts and he turned to see the turtle in question lifted watery eyes to look at them.

Raph’s expression shifted through a million different emotions before settling on something like resolve. But it was a kind of resolve that seemed wrong, the kind that made the younger three stomachs twist.

“You three go,” said Raph, oblivious to the slowly dawning horror on the others’ faces. “And I’ll stay.”

There was a long moment of stunned, heavy silence.

“What?” Donnie and Mikey croaked, with voices like broken glass.

Raph’s gaze flicked between the two of them before settling somewhere on the wall.

He’s serious, Leo thought, and something in him burned.

“What?” Leo didn’t know what he sounded like, he only knew of the chasm in his chest and the fire in his heart, wild and raging. Donnie’s head snapped up, and Mikey and Raph flinched. “How could you say that?”

“Leo—”

“No!” He cut Raph off. “We get there together. That’s the plan!”

“It can be improved.” Raph hugged his arms against his stomach, voice small but firm. “This is how I improve it.”

“No it’s—no it’s not.” A laugh slipped out of Leo, high-pitched and fast, without humor. “This is how you get captured, Raph. This is how we lose you.”

Raph said nothing, and Leo stepped forward until he could see the moisture in Raph’s eyes, unwilling to back down.

“Why would you even suggest—”

“Because I’m the one they’re after!” Raph shouted suddenly, eyes blazing and fists clenched. “This has never been your fight. It’s mine!”

“Not anymore,” Leo snapped. “Not since we got thrown into the wagon with you, not since I found out that you’re my big brother, not ever again!”

Raph shook his head violently, glaring daggers right back at him. Leo had the vague thought that he’d never seen Raph this angry before, but he pushed it aside.

“And you’re gonna bail?” Leo poked a finger at Raph’s chest, and the latter slapped his hand away.

“I’m giving you a chance to get out!”

“Guys, come on.” Mikey appeared next to them, on the sidelines of their fight, voice strained and eyes worried. “We need to think of something else.”

Leo ignored his little brother, his eyes boring accusingly into Raph’s.

“You’d leave your family?” Leo asked lowly. “Or did you never really think it was true?”

“I told you already,” said Raph, and his voice finally broke. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t want to find out?”

“That’s not—”

“Leo—” Donnie started, finally coming up to them and standing beside Mikey, but Leo snapped his head toward him and cut him off.

“And you,” Leo said, angry and hurt and so, so scared. “You never believed in the first place! You never believed that we were brothers…that you and I are twins! You…you never even tried!”

He didn’t know what he was saying, didn’t know why he was suddenly so furious, and he didn’t know how to stop.

Donnie blinked slowly, one hand hovering in the air where he’d started to put it on Leo’s shoulder, and then his gaze cut to the ground. He stepped back and let his arm fall back to hang stiffly at his side, silent.

“What the heck Leo? How could you say that to Donnie?” Mikey exclaimed, getting mad on Donnie’s behalf it seemed

Leo wasn’t sure why but that seemed to irk him as he turned his fury onto Mikey. “Why are you defending him, huh? I’m your brother…not him. I’ve always been your brother. Am I just not good enough for you anymore, now that these two have come into our lives and presented you with perhaps better brothers?”

Leo’s anger seemed to dissolved for a second as he watched Mikey’s face fall from anger to heartbreak, trying to process Leo’s words, as he took a step back from his big brother in shock and moved closer to Donnie

What are you doing? A horrified voice echoed in his head, and it sounded like a mixture of everyone whose opinion had ever mattered to him, Mikey being the loudest of all. What have you done?

“It’s my problem,” Raph reiterated, teeth clenched.

“It’s ours.” Leo turned back to Raph and felt something wet drop onto his hand, and he finally realized that he was crying. “Why can’t you see that?”

“All I see is a way to fix it, and this is it.”

Leo let out a strangled scream, turning away and pacing angrily. How was he messing it up so badly? Why did he always mess it up?

“Are we really that easy to leave behind?” Leo finally asked, facing firmly away from Raph and staring at the ground, watching the tears drip down.

And that was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it? It was Leo the orphan, always afraid of being tossed aside. Leo the fighter, who couldn’t fathom having no one left to fight for. Leo the brother, who only wanted his family to be together.

Mikey was in the same boat as him and yet Leo yelled at him, not understanding that Mikey was also just trying to keep them all together and probably feeling the same feelings that he was, though he was doing a better job at hiding it

Deep down, Leo knew that it wasn’t a selfish decision that Raph was making. Quite the opposite, really, but it couldn’t happen. If Leo’s only purpose was to keep them safe, then he’d do it until he died.

He vaguely remembers a younger him making that same promise to himself in regards to protecting Mikey

“It’s not easy.” Raph’s quiet voice floated over from behind him, soft and fragile. “It’s the hardest thing I’ll ever do.”

“You won’t do it.” Leo turned around, and both were crying now. “Raph, you can’t.”

Raph’s face crumpled, and he squeezed his eyes shut, wiping at them furiously.

“I know.”

“Why, then?” Leo’s voice was desperate and wavering.

“It’s just— It’s my fault. All of it.” Raph opened his eyes and stared at him miserably, and Leo found himself drifting closer. “I got captured, and it’s the reason you got captured, too. They’re after me. I’m tired, Leo, I want it to stop.”

Leo was sure that nothing on the planet could’ve kept him from hugging his brother just then. He crushed himself to Raph’s plastron with waning strength, squeezing him as hard as he could and wrapping his arms around him as best as he could. Leo knew that Raph, like Donnie, had only ever known how to be alone. Leo swore that they’d never be that way again.

“I thought we covered this,” said Leo, with just a hint of amusement. “No blame game, right?”

Raph laughed quietly, as he brought his arms around Leo and gently squeezed him, rubbing his shell up and down. Leo let out a churr on instinct, feeling slightly embarrassed by it, but Raph just laughed softly and the sound coming from Raph’s chest made Leo feel safe and, dare he say, loved.

Raph step back and wiped away any remaining tears.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Raph said weakly.

“We can’t ever make things easy on ourselves, can we?” Leo sniffed and picked up the backpack, throwing it over his shoulder. “We need a new plan. One where we all make it.”

“Okay,” Raph said tiredly. “We’ll do it your way. I’m sorry for— going off the rails, I guess.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have yelled.” Leo quirked a grin. “Especially since we’re supposed to be in hiding.”

Raph ducked his head and chuckled.

“And Donnie, Mikey, I’m so sorry for— Donnie? Mikey?” Leo had turned to address his twin and baby brother, intent on apologizing, but Donnie and Mikey were gone.

Donnie and Mikey…his little brothers were gone.

Leo whirled around to check behind him just in case, a knot forming in his stomach when there was nothing there. He felt cold all over.

Where are they?

Raph was checking behind a hay bale, as if the younger two would just be chilling back there for some reason, but he came back empty handed, wearing an expression of barely restrained panic.

“Did you see them leave?” Raph asked.

“No!”

He would’ve known if the door had opened, he would’ve heard it, so how on earth did Donnie and Mikey disappear?

Pieces of the hay that Leo was walking on tickled his ankles as he paced. They were rolling on the floor, blowing in the wind—

Wait. Wind?

Leo scrambled suddenly to the wall, following the breeze, and there it was. Hidden behind a rusty old farm machine was a small square opening, presumably for smaller barn animals if the barn had been in use. It was just big enough to fit through.

Raph walked up next to him, breathing irregularly. “Do you think…?”

Leo nodded. Of course, the first thing that Donnie would have done upon entering the barn was find all possible exits and escapes, and of course he could’ve left without drawing attention to himself. Leo had a guess that maybe either 1. Mikey saw Donnie leave and decided to go after him while Leo and Raph were arguing, or 2. Donnie decided to take Mikey with him on his volition and Mikey agreed to go with him, because that was just who Mikey was

Leo had a feeling that it was more of the former rather than the latter

It wouldn’t have been hard, what with the intense argument that had been going on, not to mention Donnie’s natural talent for sneaking around and Mikey being the smallest of all of them

Leo was filled with sudden guilt. In trying desperately to get one brother to stay, he’d pushed two of them away, with one of them being his actual little brother. The one who has always been by his side. The one who always looked up to him with so much admiration. The one that Leo loved so much and hated to disappoint

‘So much for that’ Leo thought as his heart pounded wildly in his chest, and he saw Raph turn to him anxiously out of the corner of his eye.

“Where do you—”

And Leo never did get to hear the question that Raph had started to ask.

Because that’s when the screaming started.

Chapter Text

Two weeks and three days after stealing an apple from a box turtle, who is also his supposed little brother, on the street, Donnie walked silently out of a barn, making what had to have been his stupidest move in recent memory. He shouldn’t have left, and he knew that, but he’d never been good at watching things fall apart; he’d always been too aware of his own inability to put it back together.

Two weeks and three days after stealing an apple from the box turtle who became his little brother, Donnie smacked a criminal in the face with a bag of oranges and sent him tumbling down a well. They’d been found. Trouble had finally caught up with them.

Raph had tried to give himself up, and Leo had finally had enough of being the only one who seemed to believe, even though Mikey seemed to believe as well. Leo tried to build an anchor to keep Raph with them, an anchor made of accusations and fear. Donnie had never cared enough about anyone to care if they were fighting, and it scared him that now he did.

Two weeks and three days after stealing an apple from the box turtle who became his little brother, Donnie continued the ongoing trend of running away from his problems. Raph and Leo were fighting, and it brought Donnie straight back to that alley with the group of thugs who’d been after their little bag of food that he’d stolen. All Donnie had to do was make them fight, because he knew that it weakened them as a group, and once they’d started fighting, he’d run away. He ran now, too, because while so many things had changed, this one thing was too deeply ingrained.

Donnie had tried to stop the fighting. He’d tried to do a lot of things.

‘You never believed in the first place! You never believed that we were brothers…that you and I are twins! You…you never even tried!’

Somehow, Donnie made it back to the well. The bag of squished oranges was still laying on the ground dejectedly, and it took several seconds of staring at it for Donnie to realize that he shouldn’t be there. He never should’ve left the barn.

Belatedly, he realized that he’d been crying silently for a while now, and he wiped at his face halfheartedly. He took a deep, trembling breath, trying to calm himself enough to think clearly.

“Donnie?”

Donnie about jumped 10 feet in the air and let out a loud yelp as he turned around to the owner of the voice. Mikey had his hands up in the air. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you”

Donnie was trying to get his breath down to normal rate as he stared at the box turtle, furiously wiping away any remaining tears. “What are you doing here?” he asked, surprised as to why the box turtle would come all the way out here for him

Mikey looked at him like he had grown a second head. “Your my brother Dee. I couldn’t just let you be out here all by yourself” Mikey then got close to him and nudged his shoulder. “Besides, I wanted to make sure that you were ok

A weird, but warm feeling settled into Donnie’s chest. Whenever any of the other three refered to him as ‘brother’, it always left Donnie feeling…well he couldn’t exactly place it. It was a weird mix of warmness, yet uncertainty. As a result, Donnie always felt indifference, unsure how he should feel about it

Donnie placed his hands on his forearms. “I’m…I’m fine”

Mikey stared at him “You don’t sound fine” he answered, soft and a bit concern. When Donnie didn’t say anything for a minute, Mikey grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Hey…don’t let what Leo said get to you. He…he was just scared”

Donnie was surprised to hear this. “Leo…scared?”

Mikey nodded “Mhm. It doesn’t happen often. But I’ve seen it before. Whenever Leo gets scared, he usually shuts down. He is just trying to protect his heart. Which…in this case is the three of us. And…the possibility of losing this new thing that he found…what he has wanted his entire life…it scared him and he just chose the worst way to deal with it”

“…which was to yell and argue with the same things that he is trying to protect?” Donnie seemed to put all of the pieces together as he squeezed Mikey’s hand

Mikey used his other hand to shoot Donnie a finger gun “Bingo”

It was then that Donnie realized that maybe there was some merit to him and Leo being twins, as Donnie was almost the exact same way. Donnie didn’t like to put his literal heart out there, in case of getting hurt. So, he shuts down, never letting anyone in.

And Donnie also realized just how much putting his literal heart out did. He found friends, maybe even a family, and one of those people who he let into his heart hit him where it hurt

Which speaking of which…

“I am trying” Donnie spoke softly, which got Mikey’s attention as he turned to immediate older brother. “What Leo said…maybe it was true to begin with…but...I am trying” Donnie finished quietly, not sure how to finish

Mikey could see how upset Donnie was getting. He cautiously leaned his head on Donnie’s shoulder, hoping that the softshell wouldn’t turn him away. “I know you are Donnie. I think we all are… to a degree. Even Leo is struggle in his own way”

Mikey felt Donnie lean his head on top of his and he could feel his heart melt, grateful that the usually reserved Donnie was open to affection. “What about you, Angelo?”

Mikey shrugged his shoulders. “I’m doing fine. I’m used to a mad and scared Leo, and honestly, the whole brothers thing is something that I want to believe with my whole heart. But, I also know that I won’t fully be on board until we reach the end” Mikey then eyed Donnie with a serious look “By the way, this stays between me and you. Don’t tell Leo”

Donnie pretended to zip his mouth shut and dramatically throw away a key. “My lips are sealed”

The two younger turtles dissolved into giggles for a bit before they wiped at their eyes. Once they had calmed down, they turned their eyes to the night sky. Donnie eyed the orange-loving turtle and he noticed how the stars seemed to shine in Mikey’s eyes

A strong sense of wonder and fondness bursted in Donnie’s chest as he brought his arm around Mikey. “Glad you came out here Mikey. I hope that all of this is true and that we really are brothers”

Mikey smiled warmly as he leaned into Donnie. “Me too Dee”

The two would have stayed in the moment longer if large hands didn’t grab them roughly by the shoulders, and they were lifted swiftly and easily off the ground.

Both were struggling in the hold and Donnie did all he could to keep his eye on Mikey. The box turtle was certainly trying his best, but couldn’t do much against the hold. The two made eye contact and Donnie could see the panic look in Mikey’s eyes, and he knew that he probably had the same look, not knowing what he could say or do to make the situation better

Harsh laughter sounded from behind them, coming from more sources than he was entirely comfortable with. Donnie’s heart was beating loudly in his ears, causing the laughter to echo strangely in his head, like some kind of nightmare. The person holding him was eerily silent.

Donnie took in great, gasping breaths as he twisted violently in the unrelenting grip, kicking himself mentally for the stupid mistake he’d just made, made worst by the fact that he was dragging Mikey with him. He strained to look over his shoulder, and he caught a glimpse of orange fur and a neutral expression. Tiger Claw, presumably, was the one currently holding him hostage. Perfect. It seemed like Mikey was being held hostage by one of the Purple Dragons. Timothy, he assumed

Behind Claw were the other Purple Dragons, either grinning maliciously or outright glaring. Donnie felt his hands start to tingle, and was unsure if it was caused by fear or the tight grip that the tiger had on his shoulders. He really was in over his head this time.

“Are these two the ones?” Claw asked, and his voice was monotone and professional; cold and detached.

It was somehow worse to hear the complete lack of emotion in the tiger’s voice than to hear the anger in the Purple Dragons’. Donnie renewed his frantic struggling, trying to free his arms, and he could Mikey trying to do the same.

“No, that ain’t them,” said Angel, scowling and still looking soggy.

It was likely that the whole whacking-her-with-a-bag-of-oranges thing had now caused the Purple Dragon to have a personal vendetta against Donnie specifically.

Angel smirked, an angry glint in his eyes. “But they’ll do.”

Donnie and Mikey winced.

Tiger Claw didn’t nod or acknowledge the statement in any way. He took away Donnie’s bo staff and simply threw Donnie over onto one of his shoulders, holding him there firmly with one unfairly large hand. Timothy also took away Mikey’s nunchunks and did the same thing with Mikey that Tiger Claw did to Donnie. Now able to see behind the tiger, Donnie was forced to face the burning resentment that was present in the eyes of the Purple Dragons. If nothing else, villains sure knew how to hold a grudge.

Donnie’s gaze darted to the distant barn for a split second, mind racing. Would Raph and Leo come for them? Definitely for Mikey…but what about him? From what he knew, they probably would come for him too, but did he even want them to? They’d be in danger if they came, they’d be walking right into the hands of all the enemies they’d made. Some of which they hadn’t even met yet.

And Donnie cared about his friends more than he’d ever cared about anything, but it was life’s great tragedy that loving someone might put them in danger, that friendship could cause them to be hurt. How did people do it? How did anyone summon the courage to walk around caring and act like it wasn’t an open wound?

Donnie blinked his eyes forcefully against the well of frustrated and terrified tears. Maybe he was just being dramatic, but recent events left him feeling like he had the right to be that way.

Leo’s usually the dramatic one, he thought, somewhat hysterically. After all, Leo had been the one to leap into a fight that wasn’t his own to try and save Donnie’s sorry butt. His current situation was reminding him of the first time he’d been captured by these people, about two weeks and three days ago. He had struggled then, too, silent where Leo was loud.

Loud.

‘Yell if you need help. You too, don’t be like last time.’

The words floated gracefully into Donnie’s panicked mind as he recalled a conversation, from the very first time they’d decided on splitting up for real. Leo had said it, because Leo maybe knew him better than he’d thought, and he’d said it loud enough to echo through time, it seemed.

And when Leo had said that, Donnie had promised, even though he’d never made a promise before. He couldn’t bring himself to break it.

Two weeks and three days ago, Donnie went quietly. But not today. Today, he screamed.

“Leo!” Donnie shouted, voice cracking under the strain of it, squirming in his captors hold, eyes fixed on the ground so as not to give away his friends’ location. “Raph!”

Mikey seemed to easily caught on to what Donnie was doing and shouted right along with him, his voice being louder and able to protect more then Donnie’s could

It was late in the day, and some kind of event was happening on the opposite side of the village, so out of sheer bad luck there was no one else around to hear their cries. Donnie and Mikey still shouted their friend’s names anyway, unsure of what exactly they wanted them to do. Did they want them to save them? Did they want them to run?

Mostly, they just wanted them to be aware that they had to decide about it.

Tiger Claw growled, stopped short, and grabbed Donnie harshly by the wrist, yanking him out to hold in front of him and cutting off his yelling. Mikey yelled out Donnie’s name in concern, struggling in Timothy’s grip as he tried to reach his brother. A sharp pain shot down Donnie’s arm, and Donnie let out a strangled gasp, weakly attempting to pry the hand off of him. Claw just scowled at him before maneuvering him against his chest and covering his mouth with one hand. Louie kicked his legs violently, his shouting now muffled, but it had no effect. He could hear Mikey crying out for him, though once Timothy made a threat to do the same to him, Mikey shut up and Donnie wished more than anything that Mikey wasn’t here right now so that he couldn’t see and feel all of this

The tiger and Timothy continued walking, and the other Purple Dragons followed closely behind, jeering and laughing cruelly. Donnie tried to bite the hand over his mouth, and he tried to wiggle his way out, but nothing worked. He kept trying though, because Raph and Leo wouldn’t want him to go without a fight. And Donnie knew that Mikey was probably doing the same, if the grunts from beside him was any indication

After several panicky, pain-filled minutes of walking – his wrist hurt - they reached the outskirts of the village, where the grass was tall and suspiciously dead-looking. The small party of criminals went straight for a medium sized stone building that appeared abandoned. It was covered in ivy, and small bits of the stone walls had crumbled away over time. There were no windows on the front wall where the heavy wooden door was, and even without seeing the inside of the house, Donnie could guess that it had recently acquired some new occupants.

Hun rushed ahead to open the door – it creaked and groaned on its hinges – and Donnie and Mikey were carried inside the room. They had to blink to adjust their eyes to the dim light, and once they did, they almost wished that they’d just closed them instead. Although maybe not, because Donnie had always preferred to see the danger in front of him, of which there was plenty now.

Kitsune stood in the center of the building – the whole house was only one room – beneath the only lantern, addressing maybe ten other people. Many of them appeared to be soldiers with symbols of foot on their faces, but Donnie could also see a dog-like humanoid figure that was huge, though Donnie would describe him as more demon dog than anything else, with razor sharp claws and teeth

In the corner of the room were a rhino yokai and a warthog yokai fiddling with something that smoked, and they had looked up and smirked when they came in, taking a breather from smoking to do some weird high five. The turtles’ weapons were also dropped at a table beside the two yokai, meaning that they were probably going to be guarding their weapons, which was just fantastic. Other than that, everyone else was just your generic everyday henchman, and Donnie didn’t have the patience or mental space right now to give them the time of day.

Somewhere behind them, the door slammed shut, and Donnie’s heart, for the second time that day, jumped against his chest before sinking. This one wasn’t going to be easy.

Kitsune didn’t acknowledge them – didn’t even look at them – until Tiger Claw and Timothy literally tossed them at her feet. Donnie winced as he caught himself on his hands. Mikey immediately scurried over to him, asking him if he was ok. The wrist that Claw had held him by was throbbing and sending sharp pains shooting up his arm. He gave Mikey an honest answer by saying ‘Not really’. Mikey fixed Donnie with a scared and concern look as Donnie sat back on his knees and cradled his arm to his chest. Mikey came up beside him and leaned his head on his shoulder before they snapped their gazes up to Kitsune, who was – predictably – scowling. Donnie and Mikey summoned the courage to glare.

“I know that you” Kitsune said, pointing to Mikey “You are the nunchunker, the little one”

Mikey let out a low hiss and Donnie was surprised that Mikey could even make that sound. It honestly scared him a bit, though he would never admit that to Mikey

“And which one are you?” Kitsune drawled, leaning forward menacingly as she now had her eyes on Donnie. “The swordsman, the thief, or the royal?”

Maybe two out of three, Donnie thought, but he rather liked being alive, so he didn’t say it out loud. Information and knowledge were power – power that he did not want his captors to have. So, he resolved to stay quiet. Thankfully, Mikey seemed to caught on to the idea as he remained silent too

Kitsune began to walk around them slowly in examination.

“No sword, so you’re no fighter,” she said, coming to a stop in front of them with a gloating grin. “And you’re too rough around the edges to be Big Mama’s kid.”

Donnie’s resolve broke.

“Raph’s not Big Mama’s anything,” Donnie sneered, and the band of criminals around them looked amused. A few chuckled or cooed.

His body was achingly tense, and though his knees hurt, he didn’t move off of them. He’d always hated being surrounded, though Mikey was a comforting presence beside him

“The thief, then,” Kitsune continued, dark amusement coating her voice. She reached into her bag and slowly pulled something out. “Recognize this?”

She dangled the object a few inches from their faces, and Donnie’s already strained breathing hitched, feeling Mikey’s doing the same beside him

It was the knife.

It probably would’ve been smarter to have taken with them when they’d escaped, but of course, they hadn’t, and as soon as she’d seen it, Kitsune would’ve known that it had been stolen and used to help them get out. She now knew that it had been him who’d taken it.

She came closer with the knife in hand, dipping it down to lightly rest it on the top of his head. Donnie fought against the swirl of fear and anger in his stomach, and tried hunching closer to the floor, much as it humiliated him. Mikey let out a threatening hiss from beside him that was no doubt aimed at Kitsune

Kitsune seemed to take no concern for Mikey’s turtle noise as he called out “Timothy,” Kitsune said, and it was a thinly veiled order.

The largest Purple Dragon came up behind them and gripped their arms, lifting them and setting them on their feet, holding them firmly in place with such a strong grip that Donnie was sure he’d have bruises on his arms later. He hoped that Mikey wouldn’t as that would definitely be something to explain to Leo. Donnie and Mikey grunted, glaring in a way that they hoped helped to cover their terror.

As the knife moved slowly towards his face again, Donnie ducked his head, and he caught a flash of movement in one of the windows at the back of the house. Everyone in the room was focused on him, which was lucky, because there was Raph and Leo peeking up over the edge. Donnie’s eyes widened in shock.

Then the knife touched his head again and he flinched violently, having been unprepared and distracted. His gaze flitted over to the window again, just in time to see Leo grab Raph’s arm as the latter prepared to launch himself into the room. Both appeared furious, and seconds away from intervening, which would certainly end in disaster.

Donnie, in a grand moment of panic, spoke out loud.

“Wait!” He shouted in a strangled voice, eyes cutting up to Kitsune to make everyone think it was directed at her. Raph and Leo had gone still, though, so he knew they’d gotten the message. Mikey was eyeing his warily, wondering just what Donnie was planning

Kitsune simply chuckled, tapping him once on his beak with the knife before moving away.

“Keep in mind,” said Kitsune, “that the only way that the two of you are useful to me now, is as bait.”

Huh. She’d found a use for them after all.

“That is, assuming that they come for you,” Kitsune continued, slipping the knife back into her bag and smiling cruelly. “You two were alone when my crew found you, weren’t you?”

It was obviously a rhetorical question.

And they had come for them, but would they be able to get them out of this mess?

Timothy dropped them less than gently back on the floor, and Kitsune finally shifted her focus away from the two turtles to address the room.

“I want most of you dimwits out lookin’ for the other two turtles, and two of you posted outside the door.” She gestured and pointed importantly. “Claw and I have to go meet up with her highness.”

Kitsune had said the title sarcastically, and it was clear who she was referring to.

Big Mama.

Donnie’s heart raced and his stomach flipped. Once upon a time, the hardest thing he’d had to do was escape a wagon with four captors, and now there was a whole brigade.

“Razor!” Kitsune barked, and the demon-looking dog stepped forward. “Do you think you can handle two restrained turtles?”

Restrained? Donnie was mildly confused, until he saw Timothy and Hun coming towards them with a long coil of rope.

“It would be my pleasure,” the dog – Razor – answered, and he snarled in their direction, causing both Mikey and Donnie to flinch and for Mikey to let out a small chirp that Donnie could only mean that the box turtle was scared of Razor

If he even dares lay a claw on Mikey, Donnie thought bitterly as he tried to glare at Razor. He was almost furious that this was the person meant to be watching them, but then the ropes were wrapping around him and Mikey, pinning their arms to his sides, putting them back to back, and he no longer cared. His wrist hurt, his breathing was restricted, and he felt more vulnerable than ever. Tears pricked at his eyes, but they were the kind that were easy to blink away.

“Alright, move out, all of you!” Kitsune shouted and gestured pointedly towards the door.

As the rest of Kitsune’s crew began shuffling for the exit, Donnie was struck by how stupid of a plan that was. They were spreading their forces thin and sending most of their people out to search the village. Did they really think that Raph and Leo wouldn’t come for them? Were they so sure of it that they didn’t even consider that maybe they already had?

Then he thought of the way that Kitsune looked at her own crew, as if they were little more than strangers. There was a coldness there, one that Donnie had seen plenty of times before. He’d seen it in every group of thugs he’d ever run into, the same ones that he’d been able to manipulate so easily. Loyalties shifted, and trust was easily broken, but now he thought that it might not have ever been that simple. Maybe there hadn’t been loyalty or trust in those groups, not really. It was only ever a surface level feeling. It was all for show. It was all fake.

Maybe the real thing wasn’t quite so fragile.

Kitsune was sending out her best defenses to search the village because she couldn’t fathom what would bring someone running towards danger. She couldn’t fathom family.

He felt Mikey grabbed onto his hand and give it a squeeze. He dropped his voice to a whisper so that Razor couldn’t hear him, “Don’t worry Donnie. Raph and Leo will get us out. We just got to hold on and wait”

Privately, Donnie smiled and squeezed Mikey’s hand in return, acknowledging his statement and being just a bit grateful that he wasn’t going through this alone.

For once, Donnie’s smile didn’t feel like broken glass.

Chapter Text

Raph had never really gotten angry before. Even in the Battle Nexus he was never angry as most of it was just for show, and even the opponents that he fought against never made him angry, even when he lost. He’d been frustrated or annoyed, irritated even, but he’d never had a reason to be as irate as he currently was. He guessed that it was just a side effect of having siblings.

The fight with Leo had been stupid. Raph didn’t know what exactly he’d been thinking, only that it was his responsibility to end it all, if he could find a way. The best way had seemed to be giving himself up to the enemy, since he thought that maybe then they’d leave his brothers alone.

But he’d been wrong, he knew now. It would have been merciful to let Leo, Donnie, and Mikey go, and these people were without mercy.

So, he’d gotten angry during that fight with Leo, but it was the kind of anger that came from a place of hurt and fear and guilt, the kind that lived somewhere near his stomach. The anger that he felt now – watching all those people taunt Donnie and Mikey, and hurt them – was all consuming. It felt like fire, starting in his chest and growing outwards until he was sure that everyone could feel the heat. Maybe this was those protective ‘big brother’ instincts that had been slowly building over time

He could sense Leo sitting tense beside him, and it was a kind of tension that he usually adopted right before drawing his sword. Raph absentmindedly wondered when he’d learned to recognize that, or when he’d learned to read him so well.

Because he had come to recognize that Leo’s emotions worked differently than his own did. Leo’s were like an underlying current, always close to the surface. His feelings showed clearly in everything he did, and it didn’t take much guessing. When he was angry, the current got stronger, almost electric where Raph’s was hot.

In this moment, Leo looked just as furious and worried as Raph was, and he wondered vaguely if he would feel a shock if he touched Leo’s arm; he wondered if Leo would be burned if he touched his.

Reading Mikey was easy. The box turtle wore his heart on his sleeve, showing it off for all to see. His emotions were the easiest to read, at least in Raph’s opinion. Right now, his youngest brother, while seeming scared out of his mind, was also trying his best to remain calm, despite the situation

Getting a read on Donnie was a little more complex. Any ordinary person would not be able to tell what he was feeling, but if you spent any amount of time with him, it became the easiest thing in the world, though it was different then how Mikey’s was the easiest in the world. Unlike Mikey, his emotions were very internal, and yet whatever he was feeling tended to radiate gently outwards, invisible to anyone who wasn’t looking for it. Donnie didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, like Mikey, but it was sewn into every fiber of his being, if you looked close enough.

And currently, they couldn’t be looking much closer. It was easy to tell that the two youngest were scared, sitting tied up in a room full of their greatest enemies. Donnie kept shooting nervous, secret glances over at them, and Raph wanted nothing more than to charge in and burn, or more like smash, the place to the ground, but Donnie had told them to wait. They’d gotten the message loud and clear, even though Donnie had made it seem like he was addressing Kitsune.

She’d been holding a knife and it had been way too close to Donnie—

But Donnie was right. Raph couldn’t fight ten criminals and win, no matter how angry he was.

Leo pulled him back down into the bush below the window as the majority of the room’s occupants filed out the door on the opposite side. They laid low in the dirt – trying to keep their breathing quiet – and listened carefully until the sounds of footsteps and whispers faded into nothing.

Finally, they shuffled back into a standing position to peek through the window, which was just a gaping hole, since the glass had long since broken. Donnie and Mikey’s gazes snapped over to them from where they were sitting beneath the only lantern in the room, and they smiled a tiny, strained smile. Raph tried to smile back, though he was sure it looked more like a grimace.

Next to Donnie and Mikey was – What was his name? Oh, right – Rahzar. The demon dog was keeping a sharp eye on the two youngest, sharpening his claws and scratching himself every now and then. Raph could even hear a deep growl from him every now and then, which certainly made Mikey flinch

Raph shared a look with Leo, silently trying to figure out what to do next. They had better odds now that most of their enemies had left. It had been a tactically unsound decision, in Raph’s opinion, but he wasn’t about to complain about the much-needed good luck.

Leo turned to him, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and he looked like he was about to say something, but then Donnie cleared his throat from inside the house. Raph snapped his attention back to his younger brother.

Something had changed in the way that Donnie was holding himself. There was a spark of something building behind his eyes, and he straightened up in his bindings, collected where before he was scattered. His gaze traveled from Rahzar, to the window where Raph and Leo were, and then to the corner for some reason; Raph couldn’t see into that corner from the angle he was at.

He saw Donnie take a deep, quiet breath, and without knowing why, Raph suddenly got the feeling that he was about to watch a show.

“So,” Donnie said, his voice remarkably even, “how’d you get stuck with this job?”

Raph frowned in confusion and shared a baffled look with Leo. Donnie was… making small talk?

“Well, obviously, I am the best choice.” Rahzar responded in a deep voice, apparently not fazed by the attempt at conversation. “Kitsune trusts me, as she should.”

Donnie tilted his head in a considering sort of way, casting eyes to Mikey, who seemed to immediately get what Donnie was doing

“Oh,” said Mikey simply. “I thought it might’ve been because the job is easy, you know? Less legwork and all.”

Rahzar scowled and crossed his arms. “Easy?”

“Well, yeah.” Mikey wiggled a bit in place, careful to not rub too much against Donnie. “We’re tied up, aren’t we?”

The demon dog was silently fuming now, his sense of importance having been diminished. He huffed and turned away from Donnie and Mikey to pace. Raph and Leo quickly ducked out of sight.

It was silent for a while, with the only sounds being of pacing and the noise from whatever was going on in the corner.

“How long are all your pals supposed to be out there? All night?” asked Donnie, with half-faked concern.

“Until your bothersome friends are found,” Rahzar said with a grin. “And it is only a matter of time before they succeed.”

“Huh, guess whoever finds them gets all the glory,” Donnie said, not missing a beat, and the demon dog appeared to be having an epiphany. “But I doubt they’ll find where they’re hiding, anyway.”

Rahzar narrowed his eyes and whirled around and almost got right up in Donnie’s face. Donnie tried not to flinch at the proximity. “You know where they are?”

“Did I say that?” Donnie stared hard at the floor, doing a very good impression of someone who’d let a secret slip. Mikey tried his hardest not to giggle at Donnie’s antics

“Tell me.” When the demon dog’s demands received no answer, he growled and and marched angrily over to Mikey, drawing one of his claws and baring his teeth. “You will tell me!”

Rahzar knelt and held his claw against Mikey’s neck, and there was a flash of genuine fear in Mikey’s eyes as he felt the sharp claw scarp against his neck; the same flash of genuine fear being mirrored in Donnie’s eyes as he realized just the danger that his little brother was in. Raph automatically latched onto Leo’s arm to stop him from moving – which he had started to – because they couldn’t intervene. Not when Donnie was so obviously up to something.

“Be patient,” Raph breathed, just the faintest trace of noise in the air. Leo huffed, but settled back.

“Where are they?!” Rahzar asked loudly, as he barely nicked Mikey’s neck, a whimper escaping Mikey’s throat, which was enough for Donnie.

“The barn!” Donnie exclaimed, voice strained with very real panic. “The barn by the well, that’s where I left them.” A true statement.

Rahzar removed his claw from Mikey’s neck with a triumphant smile.

“Then perhaps I will get the glory,” said the demon dog, heading for the door.

“That’s what you think!” Donnie shouted, straining at the ropes. “You won’t even be able to get in!”

Rahzar scoffed. “Why not?”

“The main door is stuck.” Donnie glared at Rahzar, telling the lie without flinching. “And you’re too big to fit in through the back.”

Raph wasn’t sure what the purpose of that lie was. The guy was already going to leave, so what was Donnie up to?

Rahzar seemed to consider the words before turning to grin towards the corner of the room, the one that Raph couldn’t see.

“You, warthog,” Rahzar addressed the corner, which Raph belatedly realized must have been hiding another person. Well two persons actually as two figures stepped out of the shadows, a rhino and a warthog

“The name is Bebop, actually. It’s really not that hard, even for you,” the warthog said, seeming naturally disinterested and sarcastic. Raph immediately disliked it.

“You will come with me to capture the other turtles,” the demon dog said, like it left no room for question or arguing. “You are small, thin, and weak, and can fit through the back door easily.”

The rhino seemed offended by Rahzar’s comment about his friend, but Bebop didn’t really seem to care “Uh, I don’t think so. I don’t do outside.”

“Ah, but Big Mama may give you treasures beyond your wildest dreams.”

Raph’s mind suddenly filled with static. His heart beat faster just knowing that she was near. This whole thing – from the beginning until now – was her fault. She had kept so many secrets from him; nothing she’d ever told him had been the truth.

Leo put his hand on Raph’s arm in comfort, and Raph refocused his attention.

It seemed like Bebop had agreed to go, apparently, but was still dragging his feet.

“What about these two?” Bebop asked, looking down at Donnie and Mikey without emotion.

“Can’t your friend watch him?” Rahzar asked, gesturing to the rhino. The rhino huffed. “The name is Rocksteady. And I go wherever Bebop goes. Besides, you might need some muscle” he responded in a deep voice

Rahzar sighed “Alright fine. You can come with. The guards outside the door will watch them,” Rahzar said, reaching down to rub the top of Mikey’s head, which made Mikey flinch and Donnie to give a glare and a low hiss at Rahzar. “It’s an easy job. They’re all tied up!”

With that, the three criminals walked to the wooden door across from the window. The door creaked as it opened, and slammed shut after letting through a jubilant Rahzar, a grumbling Bebop, and a neutral Rocksteady. Donnie smiled amusedly and sighed in relief, along with Mikey, before they looked up to make eye contact with them.

Raph was floored. In five minutes flat, Donnie had talked the only three people in the room into leaving him and Mikey alone. He was more than a pickpocket, more than a thief. Donnie was clever, though it probably helped that the people who’d been watching him were not exactly the brightest in the bunch; victims of their own ego.

“Are you ok Mikey?” Donnie asked their little brother quietly. Mikey nodded his head. “Yeah. I don’t think he drew any blood. Just scarped me a bit…and scared me too” Mikey finished quietly and when Donnie made eye contact with them again, he could see the same protective instincts that Raph had. He could tell that Donnie now had a personal grudge against Rahzar for what he did to Mikey, and Raph knew that Leo felt the same

“A little help?” Donnie asked quietly. There were still guards outside the door, after all.

Beside him, Leo let out a rush of air, and they both scrambled through the window as fast as was physically possible. Leo crashed into Donnie and Mikey at a barely restrained speed, wrapping his arms around his younger brothers. Raph joined them in a slightly gentler way, because of his size, wrapping all his little brothers in a hug. Raph realized for the first time that this was the first real hug that he haven’t given to his brothers. Mikey seemed to enjoy it as he chirped and nuzzled against Leo and Raph. Donnie, however, just sat there in partially stunned silence. Raph briefly wondered why Donnie and Mikey weren’t returning the hug, but then he remembered the rope. They should probably do something about that.

“Ow,” Donnie said mildly, and they all chuckled quietly.

After tugging at the rope to no avail, Leo sniffed and then stood back, drawing his sword and examining the ropes. Raph backed away and glanced worriedly at the door, unsure of how much time they had.

“I’m gonna cut you free.” Leo spoke surprisingly softly as he stepped closer and brought the sharp edge of the sword down against the rope. He paused. “Stay still.”

Donnie and Mikey sat stiffly on the ground until Leo was done cutting through a length of rope, and then he wiggled in place to help as Raph unwound it from around them. Once free, Donnie and Mikey immediately stretched out their arms. Mikey leaped into the arms of Leo and held on to him tightly, with Leo spinning him around. When Leo put Mikey down, the slider smiled brightly and reached down to help Donnie off the ground, but Donnie hesitated, staring at Leo’s hand with an odd expression. Then he reached up with his left hand – his non-dominant hand, Raph was sure – forcing Leo to switch which hand he was offering.

That was weird, Raph thought, but there was no time to talk about it here, where they were still in too much danger.

With Donnie finally on his feet, he went over to the table and grabbed him and Mikey’s weapons. He handed Mikey his weapon while subtly looking him over to make sure that he was ok. The brothers darted back toward the window and climbed out into the grass and dirt and bushes. It was dark now, and they looked around frantically, having not decided beyond ‘get Donnie and Mikey out of there’. Leo grabbed Donnie and Mikey by the hand and began tugging them towards a small patch of trees a short distance away, with Raph following right behind them

Leo released his younger brothers as soon as they were hidden in the shadows, and Donnie immediately cradled his wrist to his chest and made a small, muffled noise of pain.

“You’re hurt?” Raph asked, alarmed, and he frantically grabbed Donnie’s shoulders to hold him in place as he examined him. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Leo and Mikey came up next to Raph, and Donnie winced.

“I haven’t exactly had much time,” Donnie said, exasperated. “It’s just my wrist, it’s not that bad.”

Raph released his shoulders and Leo gently took Donnie’s wrist in hand.

“Sorry for grabbing it,” Leo said with an undertone of guilt as he inspected the injury.

Donnie just shrugged. “You didn’t know.”

“Can you move it?” Mikey asked worriedly, concerned about the swelling he was beginning to see, and Donnie hesitated before nodding.

“Yeah. Just kind of hurts is all.”

“Kind of?” Raph was skeptical.

“It’s manageable.” Donnie rolled his eyes and glanced behind them at the building he’d just escaped from. “We can’t do anything about it now, anyway. We must get out of here.”

Leo nodded in agreement and reluctantly let go of Donnie’s wrist. They didn’t have much time before the villains discovered that their captive was missing, and the farther away they were when that happened, the better.

“Wait, one more thing,” Leo said suddenly, turning to Donnie and Mikey with apologetic eyes and a sheepish smile. “Raph and I shouldn’t have fought, and I’m— I’m sorry for saying what I said to you. To both of you. I was wrong. Mikey, I know that all of this is new to you too and I shouldn’t have yelled at you”

Mikey smiled and hugged Leo. “I know Leo. And I’m not mad at you. I appreciate your apology”

Leo smiled as he now turned his attention to Donnie “And Donnie, I know you try your best. I just got to be patient with you. No matter how long it takes, I will wait”

“Me too” Raph said, the sinking feeling of guilt back in his stomach. “And Leo is right. It’s our fault you got captured. My fault, really. My idea was stupid anyway, I was just scared.”

Leo elbowed him when he said ‘my fault’, but otherwise remained silent and still.

“You wanna talk about stupid ideas? I’m the one who left and got caught. I practically walked right into them!” Louie shook his head incredulously. “And I’m the one who went after him and got captured as well. Can we just agree that we all lost our minds for a while there and move on?” Mikey chirped in

Leo chuckled and Raph broke into a relieved grin.

“I wonder if part of being brothers…of you and me being twins Donnie… means that all of our brain cells just die at the exact same time,” Leo said.

“Let’s just hope that they’ve revived themselves, because we really do need to find a way out of this place,” Donnie said.

Raph peeked out from behind one of the trees and stared at the dark houses in the distance. There had to be at least eight henchpeople out looking for them, and they needed to go straight through the village if they wanted to make good time. The way to the hidden castle would best be accessed if they set out from the other side of town.

“Okay, we’re going straight through,” Raph said, straightening up, “but this time we stick together.”

“Sounds good to me,” Leo said, grinning.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” said Donnie.

“Born that way,” said Leo and Mikey.

Raph nodded once, and together they left the cover of the trees and ventured closer to the buildings.

“Stick close to the walls,” Donnie whispered, and that’s what they did.

They reached the first house that marked the beginning of the main part of the village, and they peeked around the corner one by one. There was the building that Donnie and Mikey had been held in, and there were the two guards that had been left behind. One was dozing and leaning against the wall, and the other was staring off into the distance. Donnie scoffed.

“Where do they find these people?” Donnie withdrew back against the wall. “They’re all so painfully stupid.”

After a few seconds of waiting, Raph deemed that the coast was clear, and thus they began their most nerve-wracking quest yet: traversing a village filled with enemies, and quite possibly Big Mama.
They actually made it quite some distance without any trouble, darting across roads and hiding in shadows, and Raph was just beginning to think that it would be easier than he thought when the inevitable happened. They turned a corner just as the Purple Dragons turned the one opposite them, and they stared at each other in shocked silence for all of two seconds.

“Stealth mode failed,” Leo gasped out. “Time to run!”

They turned and bolted, angry shouting echoing off the stone walls of the houses and buildings on either side of them. Adrenaline buzzed through Raph’s veins, and his feet seemed to ache with every impact they had with the ground. He really was getting very fed up with running.

But still they ran, and Raph managed to guide them in the direction they needed to go.

“We’re halfway there!” Raph coughed, hoping that his brothers could hear him.

“Yeah, so are they!” Donnie shouted, and Raph looked over his shoulder.

The Purple Dragons were still behind them, and didn’t show any signs of slowing down, much less stopping. Raph’s heart skipped a beat, and he pushed himself to go faster.

Mikey kicked over a basket of peaches as he ran, and they spilled over the road behind them. One of the Purple Dragons slipped and fell hard, causing a chain reaction that took the other two out with muffled angry shouts. The three older brothers gave Mikey a shaky thumbs up.

Knowing that it wouldn’t take long for their pursuers to recover, Raph skidded to a halt at the next building and tried the door. And maybe crime and criminals had never been an issue in this village – it was now that they’d arrived – because the door swung open without difficulty.

Raph scrambled inside after holding it open for his three younger brothers, and then he closed it frantically, pressing his back against it.

For a moment, the only sounds were the wheezing breaths that they were all taking, and Raph surveyed the room he’d brought them all into. Now that they were inside, he could tell that it was not, in fact, a store. At the other end of the room was another door that led outside. Around them, there was armor and weapons hanging on the walls

“It’s a weapon arsenal, a place to store weapons and armor needed for battle,” Raph said in a hushed voice, face slack with shock.

Nostalgia hit him full force. Reminded him so much of the Battle Nexus

“What do we do?” Mikey asked from over by the back door, and Raph looked around, a crazy idea forming.

“You know, I’m a little sick of being the one’s who’re trapped.” Raph locked the door behind him and stepped towards the shelves of armor and weapons. “How about we change that?”

“Yes. Definitely yes,” said Leo, “but how?”

“Unlock that back door, that’s how we’ll get out.” Raph pointed out as Donnie followed his instructions. “And unlock the other one, too. Get their attention.”

Mikey went to the front door, unlocked it, and then turned to face him.

“You sure?” Mikey asked, a quizzical look on his face.

“Yeah,” said Raph, a sense of giddiness settling in his chest. “I’m sure.”

Mikey swung open the door and leaned out, head tilted in the direction of the floundering Purple Dragons.

“Hey!” Mikey yelled, clearly having too much fun. “You’re almost as ugly as you are stupid!”

Then he slammed the door and ran for Leo and Donnie, who were still standing at their exit route.

“You sure showed them,” Leo said dryly, and Mikey grinned unabashedly.

“What do you plan on doing Raph?” Donnie asked warily

Raph eyed his little brothers and smile. “I have a secret weapon that I’ve been hiding for a while. I think it is about time that the Purple Dragons knew about it”

Raph felt a powerful energy surging through him as he heard the yelling of the Purple Dragons. Red sparks started to fly out of his sais and Raph turned behind him to see the wide eyes of his little brothers. “As soon as they come in here, you three go right out back” Mikey grabbed onto his arm. “What about you?” he asked frantically. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you”

The Purple Dragons made their appearance and Raph’s little brothers went out the backdoor in a flash. In that same flash, Raph quickly channel his rage and protective instincts that he had felt for such a long time. Images of his new little brothers flashed through his mind and all Raph thought was ‘Do it for them’

The Purple Dragons didn’t know what hit them as they were casted in a red energy of light as Raph suddenly became so big that he was wrecking the entire building. He made big fists and brought them down on the Purple Dragons, seeming to crush them and the building in one swoop

Raph felt his ninpo diminished as he took several deep breaths, staring down at the bodies of the Purple Dragons. Raph had a horrifying moment of thinking that he’d just murdered these people, but then he saw that they were still breathing. Unconscious but still breathing and Raph was relieved that they might be out for a while. He turned to check on his brothers, who were staring at Raph with the biggest eyes that they have ever seen.

“Oh my— what even—” Mikey was being very vocal about his shock.

Leo and Donnie were just sitting on the ground with their beaks hanging open.

Raph scrambled to his feet and tugged Leo and Donnie up by their sleeves and grabbing a still babbling Mikey by the arm right after. He pushed all three of them into a jog down the street, continuing their journey towards freedom.

“Raph!” Mikey had apparently recovered enough to form complete sentences, and he sounded unspeakably excited. “How’d you do that?”

“I just tapped into my anger and protective instincts,” said Raph with a smile. “I don’t like to be angry but I thought now seemed like the appropriate time”

Leo and Mikey laughed incredulously and Donnie shook his head like he was trying to get water out of his ears.

“We’re almost out,” Raph told them. “We just turn here and it’s a straight shot.”

They turned, and Raph’s words were proven correct. Past the end of the road was a wide-open field, a blanket of stars hanging over it.

It was a straight shot.

But there was someone in their way.

Chapter Text

Somewhere during all the quality time he’d spent with Raph, Donnie, and Mikey over the past few weeks, he’d noticed that their collective luck was much like a seesaw, in that it was either really good, or really bad; up or down. It was like they were on one side of the seesaw and Big Mama and her goons were on the other, and they were simply trading luck back and forth until the speed at which it changed was almost dizzying.

For example, Donnie and Mikey getting captured had been bad, but the relatively easy escape had been good. Being chased through town by the Purple Dragons had been bad, but Raph seeming to tap into this weird mystic thing that they all had and using it to go super big and helped them in their escape – it had been so cool – had been good.

So, yeah. Seesaw.

Leo suspected that they were once again on the downswing of things, because they were so, so close to leaving this village and this whole horrific day behind, and right in front of them was Razar, blocking their way and scowling and being the perfect physical manifestation of their bad luck.

Mikey slightly flinched and Donnie groaned aloud beside him, though Leo could see the way that Donnie subtly flinched. Leo scooted himself close to Donnie and Mikey, that protective instinct being on high alert. He was tired, tired of all of this.

“You have made a fool out of ME!” The demon dog shouted, flashing his claws and pointing them accusingly in their direction. “You will pay.”

Leo reflexively grabbed the hilt of his own sword, willing but not quite ready to use it.

“These villains have got to get some new material,” Donnie remarked.

“They must’ve all read the same ‘How to Be Evil’ book,” Leo replied, his eyes firmly fixed on the threat in front of them.

“He’s not gonna move,” said Raph worriedly.

“Not willingly, no.” Mikey said from beside him, seeming to have found some courage as he had a hand on his nunchunks

Leo and Mikey had spent years learning how to fight. They chose the sword and nunchunks, respectively, because they found those the most interesting as well as helping them focus. It had been years since Leo and his little brother began training, but they were still young with years more to go, and a lot still to learn. They had never been in an actual real life-or-death fight before, unless they counted the one with Hun and Timothy, which Leo tried not to. Neither Hun or Timothy had a weapon; their weapon mostly resided in their strength. Razar was no different as his size and strength was a weapon, as well as his claws and teeth, which Leo had no doubt could be lethal

And Razar wasn’t April or Mikey. The demon dog would not hold back, would not go easy on him, although nothing about Leo’s life recently had been easy; why start now? They were too close to the end to turn back now, too close to do anything but fight. Because he was done running.

Rahzar wasn’t going to move? Leo would make him.

He drew his sword in one smooth motion and held it out in front of him, the same way April had taught him to back when he was eight and scared of monsters.

“Hey, Rahzar, right?” Leo called out, stepping closer with a cocky grin. “I’m Leo. That’s Raph. Oh, and you know Donnie and Mikey”

“Leo, what are you doing?” Raph asked in a strained whisper.

“It’s like you said,” Leo replied. “It’s time to turn the tables.”

“You’re missing some context—”

“Shh, I’m paraphrasing.”

Leo turned to face the enemy, readying himself for the greatest test of skill he’d ever faced. But before he could even move, something – a small, round object – hit the ground in front of him and exploded into a cloud of dense white smoke.

Leo immediately backpedaled, coughing and holding his weapon defensively.

“Watch where you throw those things, you’ll blind us both!” Rahzar’s voice could be heard from the other side of the smokescreen, presumably yelling at someone.

Two pairs of arms caught Leo as he stumbled out of the dissipating smoke, and he leaned back into his brothers as he surveyed the area. Rahzar was standing in the same place he’d been before, waving his hands erratically to fan smoke away from his face and glaring at Bebop and Rocksteady, who were standing on the sidelines looking extremely irritated and holding what looked like a handful of white pebbles. Leo put two and two together and realized that the smoke had come from one of those things.

No way would he be able to fight Rahzar with smoke in his face; the pellets would have to go.

“Okay, here is the plan. Raph, you take on Rocksteady. Donnie and Mikey, you guys take Bebop” Leo stood up and faced his brothers with a half-grin. “I’ll get Rahzar”

Donnie huffed, but he wore a small smile. “This didn’t go so well last time, you know. Remember how bad I was with my bo staff?” “And remember how I didn’t really fight at all?” Mikey chimed in, slightly sarcastically

“I’d like to think that we’ve grown a little since then.” At least, he hoped. Leo turned towards the villains, but looked over his shoulder one more time. “And now we’ve got someone on our side that can turned into a giant.”

Raph cleared his throat. “That was more of a one-time thing, actually—”

“Go!”

Leo ran straight at Rahzar – who was still distracted and arguing with Bebop and Rocksteady – and swung his sword decisively at his opponent’s right arm. His main goal now was to injured him enough to where he wouldn’t be able to fight back

Rahzar blocked Leo’s swing with his claws at the last second. Leo was surprised that Rahzar’s claws were able to stop his swing, the demon dog turning and regarding him with malicious amusement.

“You believe that you, a young and lowely turtle mutant, can defeat ME?” The demon dog smirked. “It will be your doom!”

That’s dramatic, Leo thought, but he was afraid that he might be right. What fights had he really won, recently? Sure, he beat Mikey every now and then, but what did that matter if he lost when it really counted? He hadn’t been able to defeat the Purple Dragons when they’d come after him, Donnie, and Mikey. And now here in front of him was someone who was bigger than him and more intimidated, as well as probably a good fighter. What chance did he have?

Somewhere vaguely to his right he heard a scuffle. Rocksteady and Raph seemed to be going at each other as being the muscles of their respective groups while Bebop was being attacked – distracted, really – by Donnie and Mikey, who were calling out warnings to each other as they worked to subdue their target.

Leo’s brothers hadn’t argued with him or questioned his plan, and they’d never once doubted his abilities. He owed it to them to try. He owed it to Mr. and Mrs. O’Neil, who’d taught him everything he knew. And he owed it to April and Mikey, who had always, always believed in him, especially when he didn’t believe in himself.

There was always a chance, he realized, but you had to take one first.

“But a young, lowly turtle mutant did beat you, right?” Leo repositioned his sword defensively with a smirk, referring to Donnie’s easy trickery. “Or is it just battles of wit that you suck at?”

Rahzar growled and leapt forward, swinging his claws with deadly grace, and Leo prepared himself for the fight of his life.

He ducked out of the way of the claws as they came toward him, moonlight reflecting off his blade, as it scraped one of the claws. His opponent recovered quickly, blocking his retaliating swing. The resulting clash of metal on, what Leo could assume was metal claws, caused a ringing sound to echo dully off the walls of the house around them. Leo huffed and retreated a few paces, Rahzar glaring and falling back into a ready position.

The persistent sound of chirping crickets and the distant crackling of fire was faint in between the heavy breaths of the warriors locked in furious battle. He paid no attention to the flickering lights of the stars above him, and he couldn’t care less about the cold night wind rustling leaves and grass. All that mattered was the fight, and getting himself and his brothers out alive.

Leo narrowed his eyes, shifted his foot, and pushed forward.

(The grip on his weapon was strong.)

Time simultaneously sped up and slowed down as they fought. Leo put all of his focus into blocking swings, and attacking if he felt it was safe. But his hands were sweaty, and he clutched his sword tightly. If he dropped it or fumbled with it, the fight would be over.

(His will was made of iron.)

He wouldn’t let the fight be over. Not until he won.

The tip of one of Rahzar’s sharp claws angrily grazed his left arm near his shoulder, and Leo cried out at the blinding pain. He heard his brothers calling out to him worriedly, and he shouted back that he was fine; he didn’t want them near this battle. Leo shoved the sharp pain coming from his shoulder to the back of his mind and focused on trying to find weaknesses in his opponents fighting style.

(He was a fighter.)

Style. Rahzar did everything with style, or with a flourish. He was always performing, always making things more complicated than they were meant to be. It was impractical, and Leo could use it to his advantage.

Now that he was looking specifically for that type of mistake, it didn’t take him long to find an opening. Leo made a decisive swing that slashed the demon dog shallowly across the hip, causing him to growl and stumble to the side. Leo dodged the next move – one made out of anger – and stepped back to once again observe.

(He was brave.)

All that time ago in the training shed with April, she’d caught him off guard pretty easily by doing something that you wouldn’t expect from a sword fighter. Back then, he’d thought it was unfair, but now he saw its value. He couldn’t flip Rahzar over his head like April had done to him, but maybe he could get him off his feet in another way, by relying on the power of shock and confusion.

Leo grinned widely at his opponent, pulled his arm back, and sent his sword flying through the air. It sailed harmlessly past the demon dog, but it was not meant to hit him; it was meant to distract him.

Rahzar turned to watch the discarded weapon – possibly thinking that he’d been throwing it to someone else – and Leo tackled him at the knees.

The demon dog hit the ground hard, and Leo had a moment of panic, having not planned this far ahead, but then Mikey called out to him.

“Leo, catch!”

Leo looked up just in time to see a dark object heading for him, and he caught it on instinct, even though his hands were trembling with adrenaline.

It was a frying pan.

Thinking quickly, Leo held the frying pan high in the air – just as Rahzar was sitting up – and he slammed it down with all his strength on the demon dog’s head. Rahzar collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, out like a light, flat on his back.

Leo’s brothers came over to him, dragging a similarly dazed Bebop and Rocksteady, and Leo wondered what on earth he’d missed while he was busy fighting his own fight.

“Where did you find a frying pan?” Leo asked incredulously, a bit lightheaded with relief.

“Well, I thought that my nunchunks wouldn’t be good against Rahzar, so I had to improvise,” Mikey said, dropping Bebop with a thud, while Raph did the same with Rocksteady.

“I wish I’d thought to bring the rope we cut Donnie and Mikey out of,” Raph said, staring down at the three unconscious criminals with a furrowed brow. “We could’ve tied them up.”

“Oh, well,” said Leo. “I don’t think they’ll be moving for a while anyway.”

Raph and Mikey nodded, and Donnie appeared next to Leo, having retrieved his sword for him. Leo took it back gratefully and sheathed it at his side with finality. He’d finally won a fight.

“I guess we have gotten better,” said Donnie, still breathing heavily, but smiling. “Or at least good enough.”

“Miracle of all miracles.” Mikey’s voice was coated in amusement. “Donnie orchestrated our rescue, Raph became a giant, and I helped Leo defeat a demon dog with a frying pan.”

Raph huffed a laugh. “Royalty, indeed.”

The four of them chuckled quietly, exhausted but feeling like winners. Leo’s heart was soaring. April and her parents would be proud, he thought.

“Okay,” said Raph, clapping his hands together gleefully. “Who’s ready to leave this place forever?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” said Mikey.

They started walking, still catching their breath, but didn’t get far before pain came roaring back. Now that the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off, the cut on his arm was throbbing. He suddenly had a lot more sympathy for Donnie and his wrist.

He must have made some sort of pained nose, because Donnie – who seemed to have sense his pain – turned back and gave him a look.

“Come on,” said Donnie, and he dragged them toward a dark alley.

Once upon a time, Leo had avoided dark alleys – well, sometimes – but now they were a place of safety. Leaning against a dirty and damp stone wall under the cover of night, on the run from tons of shady criminals, Leo realized that he was the creepy dude that parents warned their kids about.

Mikey stood guard and Raph glanced between Mikey and the supposed twins as Donnie inspected the cut with a stern and focused look on his face. He hummed once, then ripped a strip of fabric from the blanket in their bag and wrapped in tightly around the injury.

“It’s not too deep, but there’s no sense in losing blood if you don’t have to,” Donnie said, hands twisting anxiously.

“I’d have to agree with you there,” said Leo, carefully moving his arm to see what it felt like.

It was a little sore, and it hurt worse if he moved it too far up, but it was still attached to his body, and at this point, that’s all he could really ask for.

“Let’s get out of here,” Mikey said, peeking around the corner to make sure the coast was clear.

Together they ran down the main road until they reached the end of the village, and they went straight into the fields beyond without stopping.

Now, supposedly, they were home free, and Leo would like to think that it would be all downhill from here, but he had a feeling that their troubles were far from over.

Chapter Text

In the end, they hadn’t been in the village for any longer than two hours. It was such a small number, and it was incredibly misleading. How much could really happen in such an arguably short amount of time? The answer is ‘a lot’. Too much, if you asked Donnie.

Time was funny that way. Just when you thought you had a handle on how it all worked, the rules changed. That was just how things were, he supposed. Every now and then the universe let you live a lifetime in the span of a second, either to your detriment or delight.

Either way, Donnie wished that time would make up its mind, because he really needed a constant in his life. He hadn’t stayed in one place for very long since the day he’d been kidnapped. They were always going somewhere, and what he really wanted, more than anything, was to finally reach that somewhere and never go anywhere ever again.

“Not too long now,” said Raph, speaking softly as he led the way through the early morning light.

Donnie simply hummed in response, fighting a yawn before realizing that he didn’t have to. His head felt heavy, and his eyes were dry; one of these days he’d have to get back on a semi-normal sleep schedule.

The sun just barely poked over the horizon as they walked through the forest. They’d entered into it about an hour ago, and it brought back memories of the last time they’d gone wandering through the woods. Their surroundings were a little different this time – a different species of tree, possibly – but the feeling was the same. They had a head start on the villains they’d left behind, at least, but for how long could they keep their lead?

It had been several hours since they walked out of that awful place, and Donnie finally allowed himself to consider what they were headed for. They could find it soon. They could find it today. They could find nothing. At this point Donnie was almost too tired to care. All he could do at this point was keep walking.

He could almost fall asleep this way, listening to Leo’s quiet footsteps as he consulted the map in his hands, feeling Mikey’s presence behind him and hearing the rocks skittering across the ground as he kicked them, and Raph’s heavy footsteps leading the way as he had conversation with Leo. It was calm. After so long worrying about being chased, they’d settled into the feeling and now it felt familiar. He might’ve been able to pretend that it wasn’t there at all, were it not for his throbbing wrist as a constant reminder.

Raph and Leo had stopped them as soon as there had been enough light to see by, and Leo wrapped Donnie’s wrist with more strips of torn blanket. The black fabric made it feel more stable, but it still hurt, of course. He kept it still as much as he could, cradled against his stomach, and he noticed that Leo didn’t move his left arm as much anymore on account of the cut. They all had bruises, and were certainly worse for wear than they’d like to be, but they were still alive and free.

Mikey groaned rather dramatically and suddenly, and Donnie blinked back into reality.

“Are we there yet?” Mikey whined, and Donnie heard him dragging his feet.

“Yes,” Leo replied, deadpan and unamused. “We made it. It’s beautiful. Can you not tell?”

Raph and Donnie snorted a laugh. The scenery had not changed at all in quite some time.

“Ha, ha.” Mikey’s voice was coated in sarcasm, but it changed into something more sincere. “I’m just feeling like I’ve reached the end of my rope, you know?”

Donnie did know, but he had a lot of experience with that feeling, and he knew that the only way out was keep going.

“Time to free climb,” said Donnie, glancing over his shoulder with a slightly teasing half-smile. “I don’t have enough energy to climb all the way back up to the top.”

Raph blinked once, and then grinned softly. “Fair enough.”

Donnie rolled his eyes good-naturedly and resumed staring at the back of Leo’s head.

“So, if we’re really not that far away from where we think the second castle is, then why has no one found it before?” Donnie stumbled over a rock as he spoke, and Mikey kicked it as he passed. “It’s not that far from civilization.”

“I don’t know,” said Leo, slowing his pace as he thought. “Maybe it’s hidden? Like, really hidden.”

Maybe it’s not there. None of them said it, but it was a fear that they shared.

“What makes us think that we can find it, if no one else ever has?”

Mikey came up behind him and flicked him gently on the back of his head.

“Because we’re looking,” said Mikey, with a teasing grin, “and that already helps our chances.”

Count on Mikey to give a super simple answer that somehow actually worked. They were looking, and sometimes that was all it took.

They continued walking in silence for a few minutes, and then Leo started up his quiet singing, with Mikey joining him. It seemed like it was nearly impossible for them to be going anywhere and not sing about it, but it did help to fill the silence, so Donnie mostly didn’t mind. He was even learning a few songs just by exposure.

Donnie found himself walking on autopilot, which was something that tended to happen when there was no end in sight. Because of that, though, Donnie bumped right into Raph when the latter stopped unexpectedly. His injured wrist was momentarily crushed between his stomach and Raph’s back, and he winced, managing to turn a yelp into a muffled groan.

“Why’d you stop?” Donnie asked, resisting the urge to collapse on the ground in a heap. Now that they were no longer walking, he somehow felt more tired.

“Look,” Raph said, his hushed voice sounding slightly confused, and he pointed at something in the distance. “Do you see what I see?”

The other three turtles turned and squinted over Raph’s shoulder, trying to spot something other than trees and bushes and dirt. Finally, they saw it.

“Is that… a shack?” Leo asked, baffled.

“Let’s go check it out,” Mikey said tiredly, because someone had to say it.

They walked carefully closer, crouching behind some bushes to survey the area, and Leo’s hypothesis was proven to be true. It was a small wooden shack in relatively good condition, with moss growing near the bottom of the walls and a curtain hanging in place of a door. Not too far away from the front of the shack was a fire pit, though it was mostly ash, and farther still there was a pile of wood logs. A clothesline stretched from the roof of the shack to the branch of a nearby tree. It all suggested that someone must live there, but what kind of person would live in a shack in the forest away from any semblance of a society?

“You know, the lost castle is smaller than I thought it’d be,” Leo said, humor in his tone.

“Welcome home, your highness,” said Donnie.

“Much obliged.”

They stared in silence for another few seconds, not sure what they were looking for.

“Do you think someone lives here?” asked Raph, who watched Leo roll up the map and slide it into the backpack.

Donnie nodded. “It’s too well kept to be abandoned.”

“We should go inside,” said Mikey, and he left before either of them could reply.

The older three shared an exasperated look before jogging after him and catching up just as he got to the shack. They stood in an awkward huddle just outside.

“Should…should we knock?” Raph asked nervously, wiping his hands on his vest.

“On what?” Donnie gestured towards the hanging curtain. “There’s no door.”

“We could use the wall?”

“Who knocks on a wall?”

“People who don’t have access to doors.”

“What if a murderer lives here?” Donnie crossed his arms. “We’ve made enough enemies.”

“That’s ridiculous. What are the odds it’s a murderer?”

“That’s the kind of thing I’d expect you to know.”

“It could be a very nice person.”

“I don’t think anyone who lives alone in the woods is mentally stable.”

“A-ha! How to you know that they’re alone? What if a family lives here?”

“Then we’d be outnumbered, and our odds of survival go way down.”

“Wha—”

A voice cut the back and forth off.

“No one’s home!” Mikey called from inside the shack, and he pulled back the curtain to peek out at them with a grin. “You can come in.”

Raph and Donnie’s beaks was still hanging open from getting cut off midsentence, and Leo simply stared as Mikey winked and ducked back inside.

“Well, that solves that,” said Leo, and he stepped through the doorway cautiously, Raph and Donnie following close behind.

It was immediately apparent upon looking at the room that it was for one person only. There was a small mattress in one corner, and a stack of food and supplies in another, but it was the wall that made Donnie do a double take. Leo and Mikey were already staring at it from their spot in the middle of the room, still and silent. He heard Raph’s sharp intake of breath from behind him, and Donnie walked slowly closer.

The wall was absolutely covered in maps of all shapes and sizes and kinds. Many of them were marked with bright red ink, X’s covering either a single location, or in some cases, the entire map. Some were partially covered with other maps, where the ink looked newer. Small notes and random question marks were scattered across the papers, and it was all too much information for Donnie to make sense of right then, but the whole wall gave off the general impression of someone who’d been searching for something for a very long time. That, or it was the worlds creepiest wallpaper.

A desk was sitting below the maps, similarly covered in papers and a few tattered books. Raph walked over and picked one up, flipping through it almost dazedly before looking up at them.

“It’s about the Kingdom and the war. The royal family.” Raph turned back to the books and shuffled through them quickly. “All of it is. The books, the papers, the maps. Everything.”

“Someone’s been looking for longer than we have,” Donnie spoke quietly. “A lot longer.”

He had thought that they were alone in this quest, that – apart from maybe Big Mama – they were the only idiots chasing a conspiracy. Now he didn’t know what to think.

Leo pulled their own map out of the backpack to compare it to those on the wall.

“Well, if someone else found this place, then that’s good, right?” Mikey walked up to the wall and put his hand on the centermost map, the one with their current location marked. “We’ve gotta be doing something right. We’ve got to be close.”

“Maybe,” said Donnie, and he suddenly wanted to get out of that shack more than anything. The red ink on the maps was beginning to remind him too much of blood.

“Are we done breaking and entering?” Donnie asked, backing slowly towards the door. “Because we should leave before whoever lives here comes back.”

“We’re not breaking and entering,” Leo said, but he turned away from the wall and followed him. “We didn’t break anything.”

“That doesn’t sound like us.”

“Hey, Raph’s the one we’ve gotta worry about! He can smash anything!”

Raph scowled as he joined them at the door. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“Nerp!”

Donnie rolled his eyes as he reached for the curtain in the doorway. “Whatever, let’s get out of—”

He cut himself off with a scream – they all screamed, actually – because when the curtain was pulled back, there was someone standing on the other side. Donnie was honestly sick and tired of jump scares. Would it kill the public to always remain in plain view?

The man in the doorway was scowling almost comically, wearing what appeared to be armor, like he was a soldier. Or maybe a samurai was a better term. He also appeared to be wearing a mask. He was probably about the size of Raph, maybe a bit shorter, and he had a built similar to the snapper turtle, though again a bit smaller

“I don’t get many visitors.” The man’s voice was deep, and Donnie would say a little frightening, and he spoke like he was suspicious. Which was fair, since they were standing in is house. “What business do you turtles have all the way out here?”

“Our business is… our business,” Mikey answered evasively, and Donnie would facepalm if he wasn’t so afraid, with Raph and Leo seeming to want to do the same

The stranger’s eyes moved to stare at the map in Leo’s hands, and something like surprise flickered across his face.

“Are you sure you aren’t…looking for something?” The man’s voice seem to take on a much lighter and pleasant tone, but something about him still put Donnie on edge.

Leo folded up the map in jerky movements, and the owner of the shack stepped through the doorway, forcing them to take a step back. The stranger was now blocking the only exit, and Donnie was tense all over, ready to run or fight because he was trapped, trapped, trapped. He’d learned long ago to always have an exit strategy, and now he’d failed even that.

“So you’re the person who lives here?” Leo ignored the stranger’s question.

“Only recently,” the man said, sounding frustrated.

“What’s this obsession you have with maps?” Donnie finally found his voice, though it was laced with doubt and suspicion.

“It’s a hobby!” The man crossed his arms and scowled, but his eyes shifted to the side. “Can’t a guy have a hobby?”

In the awkward silence that followed, Donnie narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, trying his best to act like he wasn’t terrified. Mikey and Raph shifted restlessly beside him, and he could hear the faint crinkling of the map in Leo’s tense hands.

“We’re looking for a castle,” Mikey blurted suddenly, and the older three turtles’ heads snapped over to look at him incredulously.

“Mikey,” Leo and Donnie hissed quietly, and Raph dragged a hand down his face in what could have been anxiety or exhaustion.

“Maybe he can help,” Mikey whispered back at them, eyes fixed on the man in front of them.

“That I can, orange one,” the stranger said, with a tone of smug superiority. “That I can.”

Donnie turned his guarded gaze to the man in the doorway, observing and analyzing, as was his habit with most people he met. Maybe a bad habit sometimes, when it got out of hand, but still occasionally a useful one.

Something about this man felt dangerous, yet he somehow also seemed almost…silly. Harmless, but in a way that could cause harm; not that made any sense.

“Okay, well, I’m Mikey, actually.” Mikey held out his hand for the older man to shake in an odd attempt at pretending that this was a normal introduction. “The big turtle is Raph, the one with the map is Leo, and the grumpy one is Donnie”

Donnie scowled and elbowed Mikey in the side, though he did it so that it wouldn’t hurt his ‘supposed’ little brother

“And who are you?” Donnie asked testily, unwilling to sit back and let Mikey lead the discussion.

“I’m Oroku Saki,” the stranger said with an odd grin, like he thought they should be impressed.

Donnie raised an eyebrow, and he could almost hear the figurative crickets that sounded in the silence.

Oroku Saki huffed and frowned.

“Oroku Saki?” the man prompted, and still they said nothing. “I used to be the second-best ninja master in the kingdom?”

“Second?” Raph asked, breaking out of his nervous silence for the sake of curiosity.

“Only second to one!” Oroku Saki exclaimed suddenly, though his voice had already been obnoxiously loud. “The Great Hamato Yoshi never let me live it down. Always rubbing it in my face, but I’m the superior ninja master! I am—”

“You knew the king?” Donnie cut off the ranting, focusing in on the one piece of useful information they’d been given.

“I know the king,” Oroku Saki corrected. “There’s no way Yoshi is actually dead, he’s practically immortal! That’s my theory, anyway.” He flapped a hand dismissively. “I’ve been looking for Hamato since he ran and hid all those years ago. There’s no way that the only way I become the best ninja master in the kingdom is because he forfeits his chance! I’ve been meaning to drag him out for a proper battle.”

“You’re the best ninja master in the kingdom?” Raph asked, voice flat.

“By default!”

“Then why are you living in a shack?” Leo asked, a smirk appearing on his face.

Oroku Saki sputtered angrily, and Donnie allowed himself a small smile.

“That’s none of your business.” The self-proclaimed ninja master crossed his arms and looked at them sideways. “How’d you find this place, anyways?”

Donnie shared looks with his ‘supposed’ brothers, silently pleading with them to not give away their secrets. He especially shared a hard look with Leo, hoping that maybe twin telepathy or something would come in handy. If either of them got the message, they ignored it. In the next moment Mikey was reaching into his pocket with nervous but rock-solid determination, and he was pulling out his piece of the medallion as if he was ripping off a bandage. Donnie gaped.

“It’s kind of a family matter,” Mikey said, holding his piece tightly in his hand and holding it where Oroku Saki could see. Leo sighed and also pulled out his piece of the medallion from his pocket, while Raph tugged anxiously at the chain around his neck until his piece slipped out from under his vest.

Donnie wanted to snap at them to hide them, wanted to tell them that valuable things were stolen, that people were willing to hurt you to take them, but he clenched his jaw and stayed quiet, worried about giving too much of himself away in front of this stranger.

Oroku Saki didn’t seem to be the smartest or the brightest, but immediate understanding still made his face light up – or darken, he couldn’t be sure – as he stared hungrily at all visible medallion pieces.

“You’re the sons?” Oroku Saki’s voice cut through the silence, intrigued.

Sons? Was that what they were? There had been all of that ‘we’re royalty’ talk, but there had always been the question of how. Oroku Saki had just said it like it was nothing, had spoken it so nonchalantly that Louie almost felt stupid not having known.

“Yeah, we are,” said Mikey, apparently handling the new information better than he was. “Donnie’s just shy about it.” Leo chimed in, with a sly look on his face

Donnie turned and glared at Leo. That was not it at all, he was just very cautious about telling random people that they could be part of an old royal family line. He was funny like that.

“What happened to ‘trust no one’? Anyone could be an enemy?” Donnie whispered at Leo and Mikey heatedly, staring hard at them – and by extension Raph, who looked far less confident than the other two, staring at his medallion like it had taken on a whole new meaning now. “We’ve got basically a whole army after us, he could be another scout!”

“He lives alone in the woods,” said Mikey waving a hand dismissively. “He’s fine.”

“Living in a shack like a serial killer somehow makes him more trustworthy?” Donnie whispered viciously, glancing at Oroku Saki out of the corner of his eye. “We couldn’t tell Todd, but we can tell him? How does that make sense?”

“Donnie, he— he knows things. Things that we don’t.” Leo looked at him with sudden desperation, clearly pleading. “If you can’t trust him, can you trust me?”

Donnie blinked against sudden unwelcome emotion and turned to look down at the floor in front of him, refusing to answer. He didn’t know. Could he? Didn’t he? He wasn’t sure what trust felt like.

“You can’t be them, anyway. It’s impossible,” Oroku Saki interrupted the awkward silence, leaning forward to inspect the medallion pieces.

“Why?” Raph’s voice was steady and focused, demanding an answer even as his hands shook. “Why is it impossible?”

“Because last I heard, you were all dead!” Oroku Saki yelled, seemingly frustrated at this turn of events, going on despite Donnie feeling like his breath had been sucked out of him, like the world had turned upside down for the second time and still somehow wasn’t right side up. “The rumor was that the young princes had been killed in the war!”

“Killed?” Mikey repeated in a daze.

It would explain why no one had ever looked for them, if they truly were the sons/young princes, but this new information raised more questions than it answered. Because even though the rumors and Oroku Saki said differently, Donnie’s heart was beating wildly in his chest, very much alive, just like Raph, Leo, and Mikey were. What on earth had happened to them? How did they end up where they did? Why?

“Of course, I never met anyone who knew for sure,” Oroku Saki mused, unsympathetic to their wild emotional states, “and you do bear a resemblance…”

To who? Donnie wanted to ask, but the words got stuck in his throat. He’d been telling lies since he could talk, mostly out of necessity, but he’d always had trouble being sincere. Laying the vulnerable parts of himself out for everyone to see never failed to make him want to hide, and he couldn’t hide from this, even if it would be easier.

“Is the castle here?” Raph asked, directing the conversation back to what they’d actually come to find out.

“Of course!” Oroku Saki spread his arms wide with a grin. “I finally found it, and I didn’t need any of your fancy gold heirlooms.”

“Just years’ worth of trial and error,” said Donnie, who was finding great joy in riling the older man up.

But beyond the quick comeback, Donnie’s mind was racing. The castle existed, according to this guy. Seeing was believing, however, and he hadn’t seen anything yet.

“Well, do you want me to show you or not?” Oroku Saki asked, his voice growing stronger with his frustration.

“Yes,” Leo said emphatically, finally fed up with the inaction.

“Follow me, then,” said Oroku Saki, but the way he said it made Donnie shiver and tense. There was no way that this guy was sincere, no way he’d told them everything. “It’s a long walk.”

Donnie groaned quietly; he just wanted to rest.

“That’s okay,” said Raph, ever the peacemaker, though he sounded worn out. “We’re pretty good at walking.”

“We’ve had plenty of practice,” Donnie grumbled, following Oroku Saki and the others outside the shack.

There was a brown sack just outside on the ground, and Oroku Saki yanked it up on his way by, slinging it over his shoulder and causing the contents – whatever they may be – to clatter together. Then he veered a little to the left, toward a noticeable trail beaten down by continued use; though not enough that the foliage had fully backed away from it, so they had to slap aside branches and step over plants as they walked. Donnie had somehow ended up at the back of the group, possibly because he was the one most reluctant to follow the mysterious stranger.

“What else do you know?” Leo spoke from where he was trailing just behind Oroku Saki. “About the war and the royal family, I mean.”

“Hamato Yoshi and I were rivals, you could say.” Donnie couldn’t be sure from this distance, but he thought he saw Oroku Saki smirk. “He was always trying to show me up – taking all the glory, and the women, and leaving me in second place!”

Donnie absentmindedly wondered what it was like to harbor such a deep-rooted and petty grudge against someone.

“Our paths crossed constantly, and every time I saw him, he got stronger and stronger. He always had his right-hand man, Baron Draxum with him, who was also his head scientist and head general of his army. He almost always had his wife, Hamato Karai, with him as well. She was also a very impressive fighter, and was considered the most beautiful women in the land”

All four brothers were silent, drinking in as much information as they could, practically starved for it after being in the dark for so long.

“Somewhere around twelve years ago, the start of the war broke out. Hamato Yoshi had plenty of enemies willing to work together to take him down, but that didn’t mean it would be easy. Nothing with Hamato Yoshi involved ever was,” Oroku Saki muttered. “The fighting seemed very unorganized, maybe on purpose so that it was harder to plan for. I, of course, took no part in it.”

The way that last part was added seemed suspicious, but Donnie let it slide for now, placating himself with the knowledge that he’d watch out for other red flags.

“There was a rumor that enemy forces were going to attack the castle, and in all the chaos, it was said that Baron Draxum and Hamato Karai had escaped with the young princes,” Oroku Saki continued, slapping a low-hanging branch out of the way angrily. “There was a big ‘final battle’ where most of both sides were either killed or injured, and after that the last thing I’d heard was that the escaped members of the royal family had all been found dead.”

Hearing it laid out like that made Donnie feel very disconnected from reality, like he’d suddenly been thrown into the backseat of his brain and someone else was driving. He’d seen plenty of awful things in his relatively short life, but he’d never seen war; he’d never witnessed destruction on such a large scale. He couldn’t fathom it. The old castle – where much of the last fighting had taken place – had been reduced to rubble, or so he’d heard. And it scared him, because it was far too easy for things to crumble and disappear, far too easy for people to do the same.

“No one ever found Hamato Yoshi, and most people think he’s dead, but his enemies know him better than that. The man always has a backup plan,” Oroku Saki continued, in that rough, grating voice of his.

“Enemies?” Mikey’s eyebrows were furrowed, and Oroku Saki turned briefly to face him. “You think there are people who fought Hamato Yoshi in the war that are still alive and looking for the castle, too?”

“I know there are,” Oroku Saki replied, grimacing and turning back around to keep walking. “Hamato Yoshi only ever made enemies who were as stubborn as he was.”

“Did you know any of them?” Donnie asked, narrowing his eyes at the back of the older man’s head.

“I knew everyone,” Oroku Saki answered haughtily. “I, uh, kept up with current events, back then.”

It was all laid out in Donnie’s head like a puzzle, the things they knew or had learned connected to each other and surrounded by empty spaces. He heard Raph’s voice in his head, telling him that Big Mama’s study was filled with books on the kingdom and the war and Hamato Yoshi. He heard Raph again, telling them that Big Mama had hidden the medallion piece from him for all his life, saying that Big Mama was never home, that Cassandra was always running ‘errands’ for her. New puzzle pieces clicked into place, having been there all along but only now making sense.

“So you know Big Mama?” Donnie asked, without mercy, and all four of the people in front of him whirled around to stare at him; three in confusion, one in shock and maybe fear.

“How do you know that name?” Oroku Saki demanded, his eyes snapping around the area they were in as if he were looking for the woman herself, like the mere mention of her name would summon her.

“She’s kinda the reason we’re here,” said Donnie slowly.

He hugged his wrist to his chest, looked at his ‘supposed’ brothers, and wondered if he should thank her or push her over a cliff.

“She was my guardian,” Raph said, looking a bit paler with this new revelation of just how much Big Mam had been involved in their lives. “She had me kidnapped a few weeks ago. We— we think that she knew who I am. Um, royalty, and such.”

Oroku Saki’s eyes finally settled on them, and it was like he was seeing them for the first time.

“Maybe you really are them,” Oroku Saki mused. The words were heavy, and still they managed to hang in the air.

“Donnie, Mikey, and I were more of an accident,” Leo cut in, turning to Donnie with a grin, causing him to roll his eyes. “No one knows who we are, and I still think that’s pretty funny.”

Donnie smirked despite himself. None of those villains knew who they were chasing, or exactly what they’d lost by losing them. Not even Big Mam knew, but she’d only ever seen Raph, so that at least made sense.

“She’s got this whole brigade of criminals after us, so that’s been pretty annoying,” Donnie added, kicking at a rock on the ground as they resumed walking.

Oroku Saki stiffened. “You’ve got an army chasing you and you led them to me?!”

“We lost them, I think,” Donnie said, hoping it was true, “so don’t get your armor in a twist.”

They walked for longer than Donnie would have liked, and it was almost noon when Oroku Saki told them that they were close. It finally caught up to Donnie just what it was that they were heading for, and doubt and uncertainty crept back up on him. It had taken so long to get here, were they that close to the end? And would they find what they were looking for, or would they find what they were dreading?

Looking in front of him, he noticed that Leo and Mikey had become bouncier and more restless, and that Raph was almost manically focused on where he placed his feet. Donnie wasn’t the only one feeling nervous and overwhelmed.

“Here we are,” Oroku Saki announced suddenly, and they stepped rather abruptly out of the forest.

Oroku Saki moved to the side, and Donnie stopped and stared.

There was 20 or 30 feet of mostly clear space laid out in from of them, an expanse of rock and small patches of grass, and then there was a huge canyon. The gap in the earth was too wide to be bridged by a fallen tree, was too wide for even three trees to cover the distance. On the other side of the canyon was what would be called an island, if they were in the ocean. It was a large column of land sticking up out of the canyon, slightly higher than the ground they were currently standing on. The ‘island’ was covered in fog, heavy fog, so dense that they couldn’t see anything beyond it. It almost looked like a cloud had descended from the sky just to rest there on the ground, blocking everything from view.

Donnie turned his head in a daze, looking both left and right, and he saw much of the same thing. The canyon curved in both directions, suggesting that it formed a sort of barrier around the column of land that sat in the middle, hopelessly out of reach

“My theory,” said Oroku Saki, oblivious to their shock, “is that the second castle is hidden on that island.”

“Wow,” Mikey said simply, the first of them to find his voice, and he sounded breathless.

Everything seemed so suddenly real, and Donnie nearly stumbled with the force of it. It was like someone or something had slammed him into the present, and everything surrounding him was too tangible, too much.

Leo gripped Donnie’s arm – it tingled, like it was waking up – and stared out at the distant fog, with such a far away gaze that Donnie almost thought he might be able to see through it. But the fog, of course, was just as painfully real as everything else was.

“It’s like this everywhere?” Raph asked in a weak voice.

“All the way around,” said Oroku Saki, walking closer to the edge of the canyon. “And it doesn’t get any closer than this. No way across.”

Leo was the first to start towards the cliff, and Donnie followed without much thought. He stood a bit away from the edge, unwilling to risk the fall, and peered carefully down into the earth. The effect was dizzying. Donnie could see down for a good while, the walls darkening as they went, but he couldn’t see the bottom. More fog was crawling up from the depths of whatever was at the bottom of the canyon, once again obscuring their view. If you fell, you wouldn’t see the ground before it hit you. You wouldn’t see anything.

Donnie stumbled back away from the ledge and sat down heavily. It felt too dangerous to be near the canyon. With their track record, they’d most definitely find a way to fall in at some point. It was almost inevitable, but Donnie had never believed in fate of destiny, so he put it out of his mind.

Leo backed away from the drop next, walking over and plopping down next to him on the ground.

“Now what?” Donnie asked tiredly, hoping for a day when he’d never have to ask that question again.

Leo shrugged, his eyes fixed on where Mikey was still standing too close to the edge for comfort, though he felt a little bit better knowing that Raph was watching him. “Not sure yet, but we’ll figure it out.”

Donnie hummed, and a cloud passed lazily over the sun, casting the area in dimmer light and painting the distant island fog in shadows.

The castle could be right there. He could practically be looking at it, if there wasn’t fog in the way. Donnie felt a great tug in his chest, as if his heart was on a leash, trying to pull him forwards. They were so close to solving the mystery, they had to be.

Mikey’s feet slapped the ground as he came toward them, with Raph following right behind him. Mikey sat in front of the twins on the uneven stone, cross-legged and rocking gently from side to side, while Raph sat right behind them

“Neither of you happen to have bridge building expertise, do you?” asked Mikey, and even he sounded exhausted.

Donnie and Leo shook their heads and Donnie leaned back on his good hand.

“Not even you?” Mikey looked at Raph with a small teasing smile.

Raph returned the smile and shook his head fondly. “Not even me.”

Mikey sighed and rested his chin in his hand.

“Yeah,” he said. “Me neither.”

They sat in silence for a while. Oroku Saki was pacing along the edge of the canyon in the distance, having forgotten about them for the time being, but Donnie didn’t mind.

His wrist was still a near constant ache, but he’d dealt with similar injuries before, so he mostly tried to ignore it. He did wish that it hadn’t been his dominant hand that was injured, though.

“How’s your wrist?” Leo asked in concern, clearly having read his mind.

“It’s fine,” Donnie said, holding it out to demonstrate that the wrapping was holding up.

He winced when pain shot up his arm from the movement, but allowed Leo to look at it as he tried to keep his arm from shaking.

“The swelling isn’t as bad as it was, at least.” Leo gently tucked it back against Donnie’s stomach. All eyes then turned to Leo. “What about your arm?” Raph asked

“Hmm?” Leo’s eyes snapped up from where he’d been staring at Donnie’s wrist. “Oh, it’s not that bad. It’s just kinda sore, and hurts if I move it too much.”

Mikey huffed, obviously believing that Leo was underselling it. “Can I look at it?”

“Sure.”

It didn’t occur to Donnie until that maybe Leo had taught Mikey some first aid skills. They did grow up together after all. Mikey carefully unwrapped the injury, wincing whenever Leo did. After peeling off the last layer, he asked Leo to take off his jacket, and then he poured some clean water over the healing cut. Leo flinched then, drawing a sharp intake of breath, and Donnie and Raph’s stomachs was tied up in anxious knots.

“It needs to be kept clean,” Mikey explained apologetically. “I know that” Leo said through gritted teeth

Mikey rewrapped Leo’s arm with a new strip of blanket, and Donnie helped Leo put his jacket back on, which was slightly humorous, being as they both only had one good arm.

“I could’ve done that, you know,” Raph said, sounding slightly amused but with an undercurrent of guilt

As the only one without anything more than bumps and bruises, Raph must have been feeling bad about letting them get hurt. Donnie knew that he’d felt responsible for everything, ever since the beginning when they barely knew each other, and he wished that Raph could see his own worth, wanted him to know that he didn’t have to do anything alone.

“You’ve done enough.” Donnie spoke gently, putting his hand on Raph’s shoulder. “I know I said that Big Mama is the reason we’re here, and she is. I blame her for the bad parts of this whole thing. But we have you to thank for the good parts.”

Raph looked at him uncertainly, doubtfully, and Donnie saw himself mirrored in his eyes.

“You’re the one who’s been protecting us the whole time, almost being like our shield, and you’re the one who knew what the medallions meant, and it was you who cracked the code and gave us a place to go,” Donnie said, listing all the practical ways Raph had been useful, but he realized that there was more to it than that.

“You’re the one who told me that it was okay to be unsure, and you’re the one who gave me friendship, despite all the ways that I am.” Donnie’s voice got softer as he spoke, and more certain.

“You never left me, you know.” Donnie let out a short laugh, pretending that his eyes weren’t tearing up. “You never even tried, and I was sure that all three of you would. But you guys stayed.”

Donnie looked at Raph, who was sniffling and wiping at his eyes, wearing a sad smile.

“Thank you,” Donnie said, and Raph reached out to hug him.

Donnie hadn’t received many hugs in his lifetime. In fact, the first one he really remembered was when Raph and Leo had hugged him and Mikey while they were tied up in Kitsune’s creepy hideout, and he hadn’t even been able to hug back. Now, though, he could, even though it was a bit clumsy and he was trying to keep his wrist still. It felt a little strange, and a little unnatural, but it also felt like… like coming home, especially when Leo and Mikey joined in and wrapped their arms around them both, smiling wide and unashamed. The hug felt warm and complete, like it was always meant to be

They pulled back what could have been hours or minutes later, and Leo grinned at him and poked him fondly on the beak.

“All heart,” said Leo, in a soft voice, and Donnie shook his head playfully.

“If we’re going to do this,” Raph said, smiling, “then you guys have been important to this trip, too.”

“You think so?” Leo asked teasingly, but there was something vulnerable in his eyes.

“If you hadn’t jumped in to save Donnie, then we wouldn’t have met, and if you hadn’t failed, then none of us would be here,” Raph said, and Leo looked almost happy at the mention of his failure, at the acknowledgement that it had meant something good.

“And you and Mikey push me and Raph to do things.” Donnie joined in. “The two of you believed in all of it when we couldn’t. When I couldn’t, and you didn’t give up on us…on me. You two are the reason we even decided to look for this place.”

“Not to mention Leo’s amazing fighting skills, because that saved us all,” Mikey said, with a smile of fond remembrance. “And you talked some sense into me when I wanted to stay behind and give myself up.” Raph chimed in

“Yeah, while I ran away,” Donnie added.

“Don’t act like you had no part in this,” Leo admonished, looking suspiciously misty eyed, “because you did a lot. Like, a lot.”

Donnie shook his head, feeling embarrassment creep in.

“If you hadn’t gotten in trouble with the Purple Dragons, then you, Mikey, and I wouldn’t be here, and if you hadn’t snatched the knife off of Kitsune then we’d still be stuck in the wagon!” Leo exclaimed, gesturing dramatically to make his point.

“And if you weren’t so clumsy, we might have never found out about the medallion,” Raph said, a teasing grin on his face.

Donnie glared halfheartedly, something warm blooming in his chest.

“Not to mention that you basically saved us after we got captured, because that was super cool,” said Mikey, nudging his shoulder.

“Okay, we get it!” Donnie stood up and looked down at his two older brother who were smiling and his little brother who was snickering. “We’re all important, we couldn’t have done it without each other, all that jazz.”

Donnie helped Leo and Mikey up off the ground, ignoring his slightly heated face. Raph reached out his hands with a smile and all three of Raph’s little brothers helped him up, smiles on all four of their faces as they stared softly at each other

“I’m so glad that we talked about this instead of how to cross the chasm of death,” Donnie continued sarcastically, trying and failing to cover up how touched he was by the assurance of his value.

“It needed to be said.” Leo rolled his eyes playfully. “And it’s not like we don’t have time. We’ll figure it out.”

As if to mock them, a twig snapped in the woods behind them, breaking under the weight of an intruder.

Chapter Text

Raph had his sais at the ready as he whirled around facing the tree line before he fully formed the thought of doing so, reflexes having been sharpened to a fine point over the past few weeks. Well, reflexes or prey instinct, whichever you preferred.

His eyes strained as he stared unblinkingly into the woods, struggling to find something worth looking at. Mikey was standing on his left side, his hands instinctively on his nunchunks. Donnie was on Raph’s right side – a bit behind him – and standing shoulder to shoulder with Leo in such a way that both of their injured limbs were nearly pressed against each other, Leo having his hand on the hilt of his sword and Donnie already having his bo ready at his side. The four of them together presented a united front, and they had stood that way without thinking.

Oroku Saki was off in the distance somewhere – Raph could just barely see him out of the corner of his eye – and would be absolutely no help if something were to happen, which seemed to be more and more unlikely as the seconds dragged on.

Raph was almost ready to allow himself to relax, chalking it up to nerves and coincidence, when a great hulking shape burst forth from the shadows.

Donnie and Mikey flinched violently beside him, and there was no time to prepare, no time to think, before the figure tackled Leo to the ground. Raph and Mikey screamed out of sheer surprise, just barely hearing Leo’s muffled sound of pain over the noise; the cut on his arm must’ve been moved too roughly. Well, he’d been tackled, so of course it had.

Raph barely had time to register that it was Timothy pinning Leo to the ground before two pairs of hands – he’d been too focused on Leo and neglected his own surroundings – grabbed him and dragged him forcibly backwards; Angel and Hun, he was sure. He tried to fight them but they kept a firm grip on his arms, making him unable to reach his sais, which he had put back in his belt. He looked around wildly, spotting Leo struggling madly despite the pain he must’ve been in, and he saw Tiger Claw quickly advancing on Donnie and Mikey who were standing and looking frantically between their two older brothers and not moving. Frozen in fear, even though Donnie had a tight grip on Mikey’s arm, as a way of making sure that his little brother stayed with him

Raph opened his mouth to warn Donnie and Mikey, fear already clogging his throat, but his captors yanked harshly on his arms again and his words turned into a short, pained yell. Leo’s head swiveled towards him in alarm, but Raph could only focus on the two youngest, who had also turned, giving Tiger Claw just enough time to grab Donnie by the hood and Mikey by the collar. They were both struggling fiercely but stopped when Tiger Claw growled at them, Mikey letting out a quiet whimper, which Raph identified as a chirp. A scared chirp

In less than five seconds, they’d been captured. All it had taken was strength in numbers and the element of surprise. Although, why would he be surprised, at this point? Why would anything be easy?

Raph struggled madly toward his brothers – either of them, just as long as he was closer. While Mikey was not putting up much of a fight, because he was scared, Donnie was as he was trying to yank his hood out of Claw’s grip with his one good hand. Raph wanted to yell at him to just take it off, but he knew that Donnie wouldn’t leave it – or them – behind. Not while the medallion piece was still in it, anyways.

Timothy finally stood up, Leo clutched in his grasp and wincing from the pressure that had to be on his injured arm. Raph scowled at the Purple Dragon holding his brother hostage, about to shout some choice words, but a horribly pained cry from Donnie had his head snapping around and his blood running cold.

Tiger Claw had given up on holding Donnie by the hood, and had instead grabbed his sprained wrist in a tight, unrelenting hold. Raph could see the tears in Donnie’s eyes from where he was – could watch as he slowly sank to his knees under the pain – and anger burned hot in his chest.

Leo was already screaming something, thrashing wildly in Timothy’s hold and getting nowhere, and Raph followed aggressively in his footsteps, fighting the arms holding him back with everything he had. Mikey was trying his damn hardest to reach Donnie, but found that he couldn’t do much, letting out more whimpers and chirps as he watched his immediate older brother writhe in pain

Seeing all of his little brothers in so much pain ignited something inside of Raph’s chest

“Stop it!” Raph screamed, voice breaking.

Finally, one of the arms around him slipped, and he yanked himself forward, lunging toward the monsters hurting his little brothers. And he threw himself forward with more weight than he had, with the weight of all the anger and fear that he was feeling, but it was hopeless. Frustrated tears pricked at his eyes as he realized that there was nothing he could do

“Now this is a surprise.”

A clear voice carried across the clearing-turned-battlefield, and Raph, despite himself, froze. Everyone did as Big Mama stepped gracefully out of the woods, Kitsune close behind. Raph noticed that she was in her human form, her purple dress flowing gently in the breeze, and her sweet, sickly smile that had creeped him out when he was younger terrified him now, but he steadily held her gaze anyway, unwilling to back down from the person who’d caused them so much trouble. He couldn’t say that he was surprised to see her; somewhere inside of him he had known that he would have to see her again.

The only noise around him now were the sounds of Donnie and Mikey’s strained breathing, Leo’s sudden growl, and his own heart beating in his chest.

Big Mama strolled leisurely toward Raph, stepping past the other criminals and his brothers as if they meant nothing, and to her, they probably didn’t. She stopped in front of him, staring down without emotion as Raph glared weakly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you give up a fight so easily before. I thought you were going to do more damage,” said Big Mama, and with the neutral face that she had on, Raph couldn’t tell if she found satisfaction in the current situation or disappointment.

Honestly, it didn’t matter. Raph hadn’t heard her voice in weeks, and he couldn’t say that he’d missed it.

“I used to hate fighting. But now, I have a reason to,” Raph said, trying and failing to keep his voice steady.

“Who, them?” Big Mama straightened up and gave Leo, Donnie, and Mikey a onceover. “They hardly seem worth it now, do they?”

“You’re wrong,” Raph bit out, hearing Leo’s muffled protests off to the side.

“My dear,” said Big Mama, and she pat his head patronizingly, “I am never wrong.”

Raph exhaled shakily and looked past Big Mama to check on his brothers. Leo was held firmly in the strong grip of Timothy, both feet off the ground and a huge hand covering his beak; it was exactly how Raph had been held the first time he’d been kidnapped. On the left was Donnie, standing with his eyes shut tightly, being held by one hand on his left arm and the other around his injured wrist. It would hurt him more to struggle, and Tiger Claw had figured that out immediately, especially having been the one who’d hurt him in the first place. Mikey was to Donnie’s left and he sounded like he was trying hard not to break down in tears as Tiger Claw had a tight grip on him, holding him the same way that Timothy was holding Leo

As Raph was looking, Donnie’s eyes blinked open and met his blearily. Raph strained against the arms holding him back unconsciously, and he made a faint noise of frustration when they didn’t budge. One thing left to try, then.

“Then let them go,” Raph said, meeting Big Mama’s steely eyes, which were looking at him with something akin to curiosity. “If you say they’re not worth it, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Big Mama smiled thinly, in such a way that it could be mistaken for a twitch, and turned around to walk to the center of the small circle of captors and captives. Raph glanced at Leo, only to see him looking back at him with an admonishing gaze, staring straight into his soul. Raph cringed.

“Oh, but you seem so attached,” Big Mama said, mock sympathy in her voice, and she reached a hand up smoothly to caress one of Leo’s red stripes, leading Leo to flinch away from her. “It would be a shame to separate you.”

Raph’s heart skipped a beat and dropped into his stomach. He felt nauseous. Had they really come this far only to fail? Had he led Leo, Donnie, and Mikey this far only to let them down?

“Why?” Raph’s voice cracked, utterly defeated. “What do you need me for? You’re the one who got rid of me, remember?”

“Well,” said Big Mama. “It was nothing personal.”

It never was.

His former guardian returned to the tree line and turned to face the remainder of her criminal posse, still holding them hostage.

“Tie them up. We’ll be staying here a while,” said Big Mama, gaze fixed behind them at the island and the swirling fog, and everyone leapt into action.

Kitsune produced a truly insane amount of rope from her bag of absolute horror, tossing it over to Angel, who had to let go of Raph’s arm to catch it. Hun gripped him harder to compensate, and Raph winced, knowing he’d have bruises on his shoulders later. Then he was being pushed forward, feet digging into the dirt and scraping across stone. If he was going down, he was going down fighting with dirty and bruised feet, and he was leaving evidence of a struggle so that no one could ever say he went quietly.

Timothy met them in the middle, still carrying an extremely miffed Leo, who was kicking his legs with all his might and only succeeding in being a minor nuisance. Raph met his eyes briefly, and saw his own panic and frustration reflected back at him. He wanted to comfort him, wanted to tell him that it would all be okay, but he also didn’t want to lie; he didn’t want to make promises he couldn’t keep.

A suppressed whine from Donnie made him jerk his head frantically to the left, where Tiger Claw was coming towards them and tugging Donnie along by his sprained wrist and Mikey by his collar. Donnie had his mouth clenched shut in a way that looked painful, obviously trying to keep quiet, while Mikey was looking between his three brothers, scared and unsure of what to do. Both were attempting to pry themselves from the tiger’s grip, but it wasn’t working. Nothing was working.

Timothy yelped suddenly, yanking the hand that had been covering Leo’s mouth out and away from his body, shaking it off. Raph spotted a few dots of blood on the Purple Dragon’s skin, and came to the slow realization that Leo had bitten him. His brother immediately began shouting.

“You— you sick, twisted monster!” Leo glared venomously at Big Mama, at Tiger Claw, at everyone in his line of sight. “Let us go!”

Raph had never heard Leo this angry. Maybe the barn had been a close second, but that had been more hurt than anger. Right then, Leo only sounded furious. Raph would have to ask Mikey later if Leo ever got this mad before

“You can’t hurt me with words, turtly-boo,” Big Mama drawled, leaning against a tree, and it was odd to see someone so evil looking so relaxed. “Hurling insults is merely an admittance of having nothing left to fight with.”

Big Mama then turned to Angel and Hun. “Tie the big one to that tree right there” she said, before turning her attention to Timothy and Tiger Claw “The other three will go on the tree next to it” she said so calmly, yet sinisterly

Raph’s heart began beating like crazy as he realized that he was being separated from his little brothers

Raph tried to fight the hands that held him but a harsh kick to his plastron and a foot on his tail was enough for Raph to yell out in pain. He could hear his little brothers worryingly call out to him, but he found that he couldn’t answer through the ringing in his ears and the wave of pain radiating throughout his body

Angel and Hun forced Raph down to sit in the dirt, almost in sync with his sinking heart. They took the rope and bind him to the tree, wrapping it around the trunk and tying it in knots. They then wrapped his legs together, making sure that he was secured

Raph couldn’t help but watch as Timothy placed Leo down at the root of the tree next to Raph, with Leo squirming widely. Mikey was placed next to Leo, and immediately sought comfort in the red-eared slider as he nuzzled into Leo’s side and began letting out barely there soft chirps. Raph watched Leo nuzzled his face against Mikey’s, probably whispering comforting words, though Raph knew it was probably not doing any good due to their current situation

“Be still, or the wrist will be more than sprained,” said Tiger Claw, in a calm, cold voice.

Raph shivered, and Leo and Mikey froze, the red eared slider and the box turtle sitting rigidly as Donnie was pushed down beside them – his back to theirs, so they formed a kind of triangle – and then a coil of rope was wrapping around them, being pulled tighter and tighter as more was added. When their torsos were fastened together with no wiggle room, each of the Purple Dragons took separate pieces of rope to tie their legs together.

Raph watched all of this happen, feeling helpless and guilty, knowing that all he could do was watch and not help his little brothers. Couldn’t be tied up with them, instead having to be tied separate from them

Maybe it all made sense. He was bigger than them, ergo making him more a threat. He was the reason that his younger brothers were in this position in the first place. Perhaps it’s for the best that he be tied up by himself

Raph, Leo, Donnie, and Mikey had learned a lot from their recent adventures, but so had their enemies. That was – sadly – how the world seemed to work. Even bad people learned from their mistakes, and they used that knowledge to do worse things than before.

Raph vaguely registered Oroku Saki stomping toward them in the distance, but he couldn’t care less, too focused on making sure his little brothers were okay. The group of criminals had stepped aside to converse in whispers, so why not do the same?

“Are you guys alright?” Raph asked quietly, worry evident in his voice. His little brothers just within a foot of him, so it was easy for them to talk quietly to each other

Three pairs of eyes turned to him and a moment of relief passed over them before the seriousness of their situation settled in

“Well, no.” Leo grunted as he tried to shift positions. “I mean— yes, I’m fine, but no.”

Raph huffed a shaky laugh – everything about him was shaky – before turning his attention to the two youngest. “Donnie, Mikey…what about you guys?”

“I’m ok Raph. A bit shaken up and a little scared, but I’m ok. I’m just glad that we are all together…well sorta” Mikey said sheepishly

Raph gave his youngest brother a small smile before turning to Donnie who was being quiet “How bad is your wrist?” Raph asked, and his fingers were twitching with the urge to check on it himself. He could tell that Leo felt the same as his eyes immediately went to Donnie’s wrist, mentally examining it

Donnie took as deep a breath as was possible when surrounded by ropes before performing what might have been a shrug.

“Not any better, surprisingly,” Donnie said, voice hoarse.

“At least Tiger Claw didn’t injure your sense of humor,” Leo remarked, teasing, with a dangerous undercurrent of tension.

“Can you move it?” Raph asked, head ducked and eyes carefully trained on the cluster of villains off to the side.

Donnie mumbled something, and all three of his brothers realized that none of them heard what Donnie said

“What?” Mikey asked.

“I don’t- I don't want to,” Donnie repeated, much cleared that time, but weighed down with anxiety.

“Try?” Leo asked, and he wiggled his own hand and managed to bump it against Donnie’s good one, offering either encouragement or a demonstration. “I just— we need to know how bad it is.”

A pause.

“Please?” Raph tried, and Donnie sighed.

Donnie’s shoulder tensed and his breath hitched, the very definition of uncomfortable. A moment passed.

“It’s pretty stiff, and it— it hurts, but I can move it,” Donnie said, relief and pain clear in his voice. Raph wondered if the reason Donnie hadn’t wanted to try and move it was out of fear, like he was afraid of knowing how bad it was. But he’d done it, and something loosened in Raph’s chest, and Raph could see that it was the same for Leo

Raph’s younger brothers relaxed a bit, leaning into each other and trying to calm down enough to think rationally. They turned their eyes to Raph and tried to smile reassuringly at him. Raph wanted so badly to be right there with them. However, all he could do was smile back and move his large tail to brush against his brothers’ legs

To Raph, it didn’t feel like much

However, to Raph’s younger brothers, it was some form of physical contact with their big brother and that was enough for them

It was then that Oroku Saki arrived on the scene, scowling and stomping, neither calm nor rational.

“Big Mama!” The man waved his fist in the air and came to a stop a few feet away from the person he was addressing. “Still playing catch up after all these years?”

As soon as she laid eyes on Oroku Saki, Big Mama seemed to rotate quickly through all five stages of grief before her facial expression finally landed somewhere between surprise and annoyance.

“Oroku Saki,” said Big Mama simply, tiredly. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you know.” Oroku Saki waved a hand. “Taxes.”

There was complete silence as everyone waited for something even remotely useful to be said, staring down Oroku Saki with little patience and zero tolerance. It was a terrible joke, in Raph’s opinion; there wasn’t even currently a government to collect taxes.

“Fine, fine,” Oroku Saki muttered. “I suppose I’m doing the same thing you’re doing, except my scheming didn’t involve children.”

“Don’t act so superior when we’re both standing in the exact same place,” Big Mama said, barely restrained anger coloring her tone. “Children or not, you’re no closer to Hamato Yoshi than I am. In fact, I’d say that I’m closer.”

Oroku Saki crossed his arms and glared up at her. “What makes you so sure?”

“I’ve got his son,” Big Mama said, an evil smirk on her face as she gestured towards Raph with great importance. “And when dear Yoshi realizes this, he will bend to my will. Nothing is more important to him than his family.”

Big Mama’s smug facial expression twisted into fury when Oroku Saki started laughing outright, doubled over and clutching his stomach. Raph leaned back, trying his best to shuffle away from such an obvious display of insanity, while also making sure to keep the contact with his brothers, who were eying him concerningly

“So they were right!” Oroku Saki straightened up and wiped a tear from his eye. “You really don’t know.”

Raph’s blood ran cold as he realized what it was that Oroku Saki was dancing around, the information he was holding over Big Mama’s head. The secrets they’d told him – rather foolishly – just because they had so desperately wanted to trust someone, wanted for things to be over. If Oroku Saki told Big Mama that they were all royalty, that they were the lost sons/princes or whatever, then they’d be in so much more danger than they were currently. Leo, Donnie, and Mikey would be in more danger, and that was what Raph had been trying to avoid this whole time.

“Brothers, we might be in trouble,” Raph whispered, casting about for any means of escape he’d missed.

“What gave it away?” Donnie asked sarcastically.

“For me personally,” said Leo, “it was the rope.”

Raph was then struck by the idea that maybe they could use their weapons to free themselves. However, when Raph tried to reach for his sais, he found that he could barely move and couldn’t reach his beloved weapons

“Hey…can you guys reach your weapons? Because I can’t”

Raph watched as all three of them tried to move to reach for their weapons, but found that they couldn’t. There was slight movement as Leo shook his head, and the pit in Raph’s stomach grew bigger and heavier.

“They tied us too tight,” said Leo, and it was obvious that he’d give anything to be able to help them out; it killed him that he couldn’t.

Raph returned his attention – reluctantly – to Oroku Saki, who was now taunting Big Mama “I know something you don’t know. I know something you don’t know,” over and over again.

“Oh, for the love of— Shut it!” Kitsune exploded, stepping forward to shove Oroku Saki.

“What are you talking about?” Big Mama pushed her way in front of Kitsune to demand answers.

“I’ll tell you,” Oroku Saki hedged, rubbing his hands together, and Raph’s heart picked up from its already frantic pace. “But only if you let me in on whatever your plan is. Just like the good old days, right?”

Big Mama clenched her teeth and rolled her eyes skyward, a look Raph recognized as the calm before the storm.

“Fine,” said Big Mama, with a cool steadiness, “but you answer to me.”

“Sure, sure,” said Oroku Saki, looking anything but obedient.

And why had they ever trusted Oroku Saki? The man had said outright that only Hamato Yoshi’s enemies were still looking for him, and since Oroku Saki himself had been looking, it wasn’t that difficult to guess the relationship. Raph had foolishly thought that they had been rivals through martial arts only, instead of whatever was going on here. It shouldn’t have been hard to be more cautious, except it was, because they’d wanted Oroku Saki to be trustworthy, so much so that they’d ignored all signs to the contrary. Well, Donnie hadn’t, but Donnie didn’t trust easily. Didn’t trust anyone, really.

Still Raph felt like he should’ve known, like he should have stopped Mikey before he laid all of their cards on the table. It was too late now, but he wasn’t going to give up. He would never give up on his brothers.

“We have to get out of here,” Leo whispered urgently.

“How?” Donnie asked, already sounding defeated.

“Leo? Raph? Do you guys have any ideas?” Mikey asked his two biggest brothers cautiously.

Leo’s eyes immediately went to Raph. Like Leo was all out of ideas and thought that maybe Raph would have a plan, since he was apparently the oldest.

Unfortunately, Raph didn’t have any ideas and he felt bad for letting his little brothers down. “I don’t know. I don’t have any ideas. I have no idea how we are going to get out of this. I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry held so many meanings.

I’m sorry for not coming up with any ideas

I’m sorry for getting you three into this mess

I’m sorry for not being the big brother that you wanted

However, none of that seemed to matter to the three younger turtles as they all smiled at Raph

“It’s okay,” Leo said, and Raph knew he’d be patting his shoulder if they weren’t all tied up and he wasn’t so far away from them. “You are not alone Raph. We’ll figure it out.” Mikey chimed in with his optimistic smile

“Together,” Donnie added, and two weeks ago that was something that Donnie never would have said.

Raph couldn’t help a small smile, even though the world was falling apart again, even though things seemed bleak, because with him were Leo, Donnie, and Mikey. His little brothers. They carried with them a bond that couldn’t be broken the way the world could.

Raph curled his tail tighter around them as a way of showing his thanks. “Together. Thanks guys. I love you” he said sweetly. Raph saw the moment that Leo and Mikey’s eyes light up with admiration and affection as they smile sweetly at their big brother. Raph noticed how Donnie didn’t have the same look, but it was ok as he still could see a small smile appear on Donnie’s face, no matter how much he was trying to hide it

Oroku Saki came up to them, ignoring the heated glares he was receiving from literally everyone, and he turned to grin maliciously at the group of villains following him.

“You’ve got Hamato Yoshi’s son, you say?” Big Mama inclined her head in a single nod, and Oroku Saki chuckled. “Only one?”

“Get to the point,” Big Mama said shortly.

“And the only reason you know that,” Oroku Saki continued, and he reached for Raph, pulling on the chain that held his medallion piece until it came out from beneath his vest, “is because of this.”

Raph jerked his head to the side, causing Oroku Saki to release the piece, and it fell back against Raph’s chest as he glowered at the man in front of him.

Big Mama just stared in silence, very judgmentally, and Oroku Saki crossed over to Leo.

“Don’t you dare,” Leo snarled, but no one listened, and Oroku Saki reached into Leo’s jacket pocket. He also reached into Mikey’s jacket pocket and pulled his medallion piece out, despite Leo and Mikey snarling and hissing at him

Leo and Mikey’s medallion pieces had no chain attached to them, so Oroku Saki fully removed himself from them and held the pieces up to show it to Big Mama, casually revealing their best kept secret as if it didn’t matter at all.

It mattered. It mattered more than anything else in the world, at that moment. The secret was out. Raph held his breath.

His former guardian reached out and snatched the gold pieces out of Oroku Saki’s hand. She stared at them intensely for a good few seconds, her group of criminals gathering around her comically, and then she slowly raised her head toward them with a blank expression.

“The purple one has one, too, but they didn’t show me where,” said Oroku Saki, grinning like a maniac, nowhere near as harmless as he’d seemed a few hours ago.

Raph met Big Mama’s eyes cautiously, and she didn’t even blink.

“You’ve been busy,” Big Mama told him, as if she had any right to say that to him, and the fear he once had for her vanished, replaced by the betrayal he was only just beginning to feel.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy. Busy running from your decisions, your people!” Raph shouted, scowling and leaning forward in his restraints. “Busy figuring out everything for myself because you never bothered to tell me!”

Raph paused, drawing strength from being able to at least have some physical contact with his little brothers.

“Why?” Raph asked, practically hissing. “Why did you do any of it? How?”

Big Mama flipped Leo and Mikey’s medallion pieces once in the air before catching them and holding them in a tight grip. She was still staring at him, and Raph had the vague thought that this was the most she’d ever looked at him, and the first time she’d ever seen him. She blinked once, slowly, before folded her hands behind her back and walking a few steps closer.

“12 years ago, the war ended,” said Big Mama. “Many people on both sides perished. Some of them I knew quite well.”

She paused, perhaps expecting questions, but for once in his life, Raph couldn’t imagine asking one.

“A few escaped, of course, such as myself and the people you see here, the people you harmed in the last village.” As if she had any moral high ground. “And on the other side of the war was Hamato Yoshi, who disappeared without a trace. There was his right-hand man and head scientist, who my informants told me had escaped the castle weeks before the end of the war with Hamato Yoshi’s wife, and her four children”

Oh, thought Raph. My mother. He’d somehow just realized that he had to have had one, and here he was learning about her from Big Mama of all people, who had played a part in the war that had destroyed his life before it had even really started.

When he’d found out that Big Mama was having him kidnapped, he’d felt numb. Now, after all that had happened, and after the new strength he’d gained from friendship and brotherhood, he was angry, and hurt.

“Just a few days before Hamato Yoshi vanished into thin air, a group of soldiers found his family that had fled, and reportedly killed them all.” Big Mama placed no emotion in the words. She was reciting facts. “Except, just after I returned home, a caravan of traveling salesman came into town, and they brought you with them.”

“They claimed to have found you and three other small turtles hidden in a crate of produce,” Big Mama continued, “and said that they’d intended to care for them all, but that two of the turtles had gotten sick and had to be left in a village to be cared for. The last one went missing, and they theorized that it had been stolen.”

Raph saw the entirety of his life laid out before his eyes, and realized all at once that he’d pretty much been born on the run. Running away from villains, away from the same people who were chasing him now.

“It seemed likely that all three of the missing turtles had died, and seeing as the medallion you wore around your neck told me who you were, I then had the sole heir to the throne in my grasp.” Big Mama’s gaze flicked down to the medallion piece that Raph was wearing as a necklace, resting on his chest. “I’ve been looking for Yoshi ever since, pouring over history books and everything I could find on those blasted medallions.”

There had been times, when he was younger, where he saw Cassandra returning from errands with her arms full of books. She’d be gone for days, and she’d come back like that, and Raph had just always thought that she was an avid reader. He’d even attempted to make conversation with her about it, trying to find some common ground, but she’d always found a way to walk away.

Raph now realized that the books hadn’t been for her. She’d been getting them for Big Mama, who had spent his entire youth looking for the remains of the family she’d destroyed, ignoring the piece of it that lived in her house.

“After over a decade of finding nothing, I sold you to the highest bidder.” Raph felt something flare up inside him, indignant and defensive. Big Mama glanced over at the Purple Dragons and Kitsune. “But it seems that they couldn’t quite keep you contained, and I had to get involved.”

The most involved she’d ever been in his life, and it was because he’d escaped being basically sold like some kind of object. She’d thrown him away as soon as he’d outlived his use.

“So you accidentally found all four sons, is what I’m hearing?” Raph asked sharply, knowing that she would hate it. Big Mama only ever did things on purpose, through meticulous planning, and this unforeseen circumstance had to irk her.

“Hey, that was us!” Angel exclaimed, and she had no issue with doing things on accident. She’d kidnapped Leo, Donnie, and Mikey because her pride was wounded, not because she’d had some sixth sense that told her they were important.

“All the better for me,” said Big Mama, with what could be a serene face if her eye wasn’t twitching, “because now the stakes for Yoshi are higher. He will have no choice but to concede.”

“What is it that you want from him?” asked Donnie, all sharp edges, the same way he’d talked to them back when they were strangers.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“I beg to differ,” said Leo, clearly frustrated that he couldn’t see Big Mama as well as they could. “I’m very concerned.”

Big Mama stood and stared at them for too long, gaze bouncing between each of their faces as if trying to connect the dots. Looking for similarities, maybe, of which there were many. They were brothers, after all.

Finally, she handed Leo and Mikey’s medallion pieces back to Oroku Saki – with a pointed look at Leo and Mikey – and turned away. The rest of the criminals around her obeyed the silent order, following her off to the side to converse in more hushed tones. Oroku Saki grinned at them, and Raph felt the sharpness of it deep in his chest. The man tucked Leo and Mikey’s medallion pieces back into their jacket pockets, and Raph saw them relax slightly, and he was sure Donnie could feel it.

“Sit tight,” said Oroku Saki, mockingly, and he walked off to join the group that obviously would rather he wasn’t there.

“Gotta love informative villain speeches,” Donnie said, after a moment of silence, and Leo snorted.

“Betcha she’s been planning that one. Practicing in the mirror and whatnot,” Leo replied, shifting again in the ropes, trying to loosen them.

“I’d hate to be her mirror.”

Raph and Mikey laughed breathlessly. Raph’s mind was now scrambling to put all the new information together, but everything seemed to be in disarray. Save it for later, he told himself. And that’s what he did.

Miraculously, they were really, really stuck this time, and it was several long uncomfortable hours before anything noteworthy happened. Tiger Claw and Big Mama had walked off in opposite directions just as the sun set, carrying torches to light their way, probably searching for some way across the ravine that kept them all from their goal.

Oroku Saki was standing near the edge of the cliff, next to what appeared to be the remains of a very, very old rope bridge. Raph had seen it, briefly, just two wooden poles stuck in the ground with a few frayed pieces of rope hanging down into the canyon. Nothing else was left, and Raph almost wondered what had broken the bridge, exactly, and if someone might have been unlucky enough to have been on it when it happened.

The Purple Dragons sat nearby around a campfire, eyes flickering over to them periodically to make sure that they hadn’t up and vanished like their apparent dad. Kitsune had gone into the forest for an unknown reason and had yet to return.

The stars were bright, and the moon was full, so it was bright enough to see the movement when it happened.

There in the woods – a few yards behind the Purple Dragons – were several shadowy shapes moving about just inside. Mikey’s breath hitched, and he nudged Donnie, who might’ve actually been asleep, and Leo, who most definitely had been. The movement against his tail also managed to rouse Raph a bit, who was starting to doze off

Leo’s snores cut off immediately, and Donnie and Raph made a questioning sort of noise, to which Mikey simply nodded his head in the direction of their new guests.

For a moment, everything was still and quiet, aside from the faint crackling of fire and the gentle wind in the trees.

Then Raph blinked, and the area was chaos.

The Purple Dragons never knew what hit them, but Leo and Mikey did.

Chapter Text

Leo didn’t remember falling asleep, and he hadn’t planned on it, but at some point he’d become a little too familiar and comfortable with being a hostage, so sleep he did.

And he’d been dreaming, he remembered that much; a dream filled with soft colors and warm voices that he couldn’t quite recall. His mother had been in it, even though he’d never gotten a clear look at her face, and he didn’t know how he knew it was her. The feeling of family and safety had surrounded him so completely that it almost drowned him. It should’ve hurt, it seemed like, but instead it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. It kind of made him want to cry.

Then Mikey nudged him out of sleep, and he woke up and saw the new crazy thing that was happening, like the universe had a whole lineup of crazy, impossible things just waiting to be deployed in their general direction.

Leo opened his eyes, and suddenly doubted that he’d woken up at all. But the cut on his arm was stinging, and the ropes chafed, so he reluctantly accepted that he was back in the real world.

The thing was, the world had changed. His world had changed. For the longest time it had been just him, Mikey, April, and her parents. Then suddenly April and her parents had been gone, and it had been him, Mikey, Raph, and Donnie. There hadn’t been much of an overlap between the two, or any sort of transition. The only constant between the two was Mikey, his baby brother. It had happened in the way that things just do sometimes, too quick to process until it’s a memory you can review, or a moment to relive.

So, long story short, there was his first world – the one with Mikey, April, and her parents – and then there was his second, current world with Mikey, Raph, and Donnie. And suddenly, without any sort of warning whatsoever – right in front of him – they were colliding rather violently.

It was bright enough to see, since the full moon was shining bright and unobscured – at least the universe let them witness the crazy events they encountered in glorious clarity – and Leo still hardly believed his eyes. His past was clashing with his present, quite literally.

April was punching a guy in the face.

April was punching Angel in the face.

She was wearing a scowl, unlike any that Leo had ever seen from her. Her green and yellow dress was dirty, and leaves were tangled in her hair, and she was right there. Fighting his monsters for him.

Leo’s incredulous gaze next landed on Carol and Kirby, who had just flipped Timothy over their head and slammed him to the ground. The Purple Dragon laid there, groaning.

So focused was he on the sudden appearance of his family that it took him a minute to register that there were more people there.

Todd was standing at the tree line, seemingly ready to catch anyone who tried to flee, and he threw a rock harshly at Angel, nailing her in the head. The female Purple Dragon yelled in outrage and turned her attention to their former driver, making the mistake of putting her back to April, who kicked her solidly in the back of the knees and sent her tumbling to the ground.

The last Purple Dragon – Hun – was facing off with a girl that Leo had never seen before. She appeared to be the same height and age as April, had very little hair and appeared to wearing some warrior outfit, and she was smirking maliciously at her opponent, eyes flashing angrily in the dark.

Mikey nudged Leo and Leo could see tears in the corner of Mikey’s eyes of seeing their sister and parents again, though he had a big smile on his face. Leo smiled right back and was able to nudged Mikey back in the shoulder

“Am I hallucinating?” Donnie mumbled, to no one in particular.

“Only if I am,” said Raph, sounding far away and disconnected, which made sense considering where he was. Leo and Mikey each gave Raph a smirking smile

“Come on,” Leo said, some sort of aching hope growing in his chest. “We’re not that crazy.”

“Yet,” Donnie replied, automatically, and then he sort of froze in place. “Is— is that…?”

Mikey’s smile grew, because he knew who Donnie had recognized. “Yep.”

April’s parents moved to take over fighting Angel for April, leaving Todd to deal with a stumbling Timothy, and April turned her attention to Leo and Mikey, complete relief shining through her eyes like a spotlight.

She ran towards them, hair blowing dramatically in the wind, as spirited as Leo and Mikey had last seen her. She stopped just short of tackling her little brothers, seeing as how it would’ve more than likely ended in disaster what with the rope tied tightly around them. April took one look, frowned, and drew her sword.

“First of all, I’m gonna cut you free,” said April, and it was so good to hear her voice, even though it was stern and kind of angry, “So try not to move. Secondly, I am going to kill you.”

“Get in line,” said Leo, still wearing a stupid grin.

The corners of April’s mouth turned upwards, probably through years of muscle memory that made her want to smile whenever he did, but then she shook her head in a helpless sort of way and readied her sword. It took a few careful slices, because the rope was thick and swords weren’t exactly made for cutting through it, but eventually enough of it was cut that Leo and his brothers could help unwind themselves from it, and then untie their own legs. April then moved over to Raph to help untie him as well

As soon as Leo and Mikey were free – their limbs were tingling, and they could still feel the ropes against their skin even though they were gone – Mikey was the first to launched himself into a standing position and threw his arms around April, tears falling down his face as he chirped happily against his big sister. April hugged him back with almost more vigor, and a lot more strength. Which made sense, because she probably hadn’t spent weeks starving and exhausted. Leo then moved over to join his siblings into a hug and April hugged him just as hard as she was Mikey, planting kisses on their foreheads.

It felt so good to be in the arms of his big sister again. Leo missed her so much and he knew that Mikey felt the same

While Mikey was full on crying, Leo blinked tears from his eyes, smiling so wide that it hurt, because he’d been so, so worried about them this whole time, and he could only imagine how they’d felt about him and Mikey.

Then April was pulling back and grabbing the tops of Leo’s shoulders and shaking him back and forth, and Leo could still only grin even though the cut on his arm was throbbing, while Mikey was laughing at their sister’s antics.

“I cannot believe you two!” April exclaimed, and she was definitely crying, in a happy, overwhelmed sort of way. “You two disappear in some shady village down a shady alley and you don’t come back? You gave me a heart attack!”

“I gave myself a heart attack, trust me,” Leo replied, secretly glad that April hadn’t released her grip on him yet. He might collapse from the emotional weight that had just lifted off his shoulders. “I know he sure gave me a heart attack” Mikey added, which earned a look from Leo

Leo turned to look behind him, seeing Raph helping Donnie with the ropes around his legs, and then carefully helping him to his feet. Donnie was immediately cradling his injured wrist to his stomach, shielding it as if someone was going to hurt it at any second. He had to be in absolute agony, at this point, since Tiger Claw had taken it upon himself to exploit the weakness that he’d caused in the first place and make it worse.

That guy was still around here somewhere, and Leo was not letting him get that close, ever again. Big Mama was here, too, which meant he’d also have to keep an eye on Raph; Leo was so done with these people who would hurt his brothers for their own gain, and who didn’t even care what horrible things they caused.

He didn’t realize that he was grabbing Mikey and drifting closer to Raph and Donnie until April had to let go of his shoulders, and then he grabbed her hand without looking to lead her over to them. A quick glance to the side proved that April’s parents and the others were still fighting, but it looked like they had it well under control.

“—just try to keep it still, until we can make a sling or something—” Raph was saying as they walked up, in full mother hen mode. He cut himself off when Donnie gestured their way, turning to face them, anxiety and tentative relief clear on his face.

“Hey guys,” said Mikey as they stopped right next to them, and he was grinning as though they weren’t standing just a few feet away from a midnight brawl. “This is April.”

April gave a short little wave next to him, looking a bit confused and nervous, and that’s when Mikey realized that April didn’t know who their brothers were

“This is Donnie,” said Mikey, with a fond and teasing grin. “Don’t let his hard look fool you, this guy is actually a softie at heart.”

“Yeah” Leo pipped in as he threw an arm around Donnie’s shoulder. “And guess what, he is also my twin”

“Please don’t.” Donnie groaned, using his good arm to throw Leo’s arm off of him

The supposed twins started a small play fight and Mikey turned his attention to Raph, who looked just as, if not more, nervous then Donnie. Mikey slowly approached Raph and nuzzled Raph’s arm. “And this big lovable giant is Raph. He may be big and look terrifying, but he is nothing but a big old teddy bear”

Raph laughed softly as he rubbed the top of Mikey’s head, leading to him giving Mikey a head noggie, which made Mikey laugh

April looked a little puzzled, but nonetheless amused – a little wondering, maybe – and then her eyes landed on Raph’s chest and nearly bugged out of her head. Mikey panicked for a short moment, jumping to the worst-case scenario that Raph was bleeding out or something. Leo had even stopped his play fighting with Donnie to see what the problem was, but then he looked over and saw Raph’s medallion piece still hanging there for everyone to see, and he understood.

“He—That’s not yours?” April looked at him for answers, and Leo and Mikey shook their heads with a little half-smile. “He…has one too? What— How—”

“It’s a long story,” said Leo, and the prospect of explaining everything was suddenly extremely daunting, and almost impossible considering that they didn’t even have all the answers. “A very long story.” Mikey added on

Raph huffed a laugh, distracted by the Purple Dragons still fighting their rescuers, seeming pretty focused on one of the newcomers in particular, and then he turned away and held his hand out for April to shake.

An enraged yell drew their attention back to the battle taking place a few feet away, and Leo couldn’t help but be a bit happy that the Purple Dragons were finally getting a taste of their own medicine.

Angel was on the ground, now fully unconscious, having uttered her last war cry seconds before passing out. Timothy was a few feet away, obviously dazed and stumbling, and Todd was just waiting nearby for him to lose the fight with gravity. The mystery girl had her back to a tree, seeming like she might be in trouble until she dodged a punch from Hun, causing his hand to collide rather violently and painfully with the tree behind her.

Timothy finally fell to the ground, out cold, and Todd went to help subdue the last remaining Purple Dragons, which left April’s parents marching towards Leo, Mikey, April and two kids they’d never seen before. Leo winced, sure he’d hear a lecture and a half before the night was over.

Carol stopped in front of them with a stern expression, with her husband right behind her. Mikey was hiding slightly behind Leo and Leo’s wince turned into sheepishness. He felt Raph and Donnie become tense behind him, even though there was nothing to be afraid of. But he understood that his guardian could be intimidating.

“Hey, so,” Leo began, floundering a bit for something to say. “Mikey and I may have wandered… a little bit.”

Something in the older woman’s eyes softened, and then him and Mikey were being pulled into a fierce hug. Leo felt the tears flooding back as emotion welled up in his throat and he knew that Mikey was probably already crying again, happy to be in their guardian’s arms again. April joined the hug soon after, and Leo and Mikey couldn’t be happier. Leo knew that he could never really be happy, if all of his family weren’t there, and he was so full of relief that they were. He was tired of missing pieces.

“Cassandra?” Raph’s astonished voice rang out, and Leo and Mikey twisted around in the arms that held them, because they knew that name, from quiet nights in caves and wagons and forests, where they’d told each other things about themselves that they’d never told anyone. And that was before they even knew they were related.

Ever so carefully, Leo and Mikey extracted themselves from the arms of their adopted family and turned – still holding hands with Webby – to face their brother.

The mysterious girl from earlier was standing easily and casually in front of Raph, arms casually crossed across her chest, a half-smile on her face. Leo glanced behind her and noticed Todd keeping an eye on the pile of unconscious Purple Dragons. Todd caught their eyes and waved, which Leo and Mikey happily returned.

“Hey, Red,” Cassandra greeted, and though her appearance would almost suggest that she didn’t care, her voice was unmistakably fond.

From what Raph had told them, him and Cassandra hadn’t been close in a long time, but circumstances being what they were, things had changed a bit. There was potential, there. There was hope. Raph only hesitated a second before hugging her.

Their hug was a lot less rambunctious and emotionally charged than Leo and Mikey’s had been with their own family, but it seemed to work for them, and if Leo and Mikey had learned anything since they met Raph and Donnie, than it was that people showed emotions in different ways, and that everyone was so terribly different that it almost circled back around to being so completely the same.

“I can’t believe you followed me all the way out here,” Raph spoke in a wavering voice, pulling out of the hug with suspiciously wet eyes.

“Well I didn’t go to all the trouble of warning you just to sit back and let it happen,” Cassandra said, with a guarded sort of affection that reminded him of Donnie.

Donnie, he remembered suddenly, even though he’d never really forgotten, and couldn’t if he tried. Leo didn’t have to look far to find him, standing off to the side with his right forearm plastered to his stomach and a faint frown on his face, looking for all the world like he’d just lost something important.

And Leo heard a faint voice swimming somewhere in the back of his mind; a memory of all that time ago sitting trapped in the Purple Dragon’s wagon heading toward an uncertain fate with his baby brother and two boys who became his new brothers. Back then they’d been little more than strangers, but Leo had still cared in the way he always had, and since then the feeling had only grown – grown until it filled that hollow space in his chest that had been there for as long as he could remember, the ache that had gone away without much fanfare. It had been tearing him apart for far longer than he realized, and only in its absence did he notice just how bad it had been.

And there was Donnie’s voice in his mind, bitter and broken and sharp, telling him that there was no one in the world who was going to come and save him.

Terribly, he’d been right, and there he was standing off to the side while all this hugging was going on, and it probably looked a lot like being abandoned.

Leo decided, right then and there, that he was going to be the person who went after Donnie. The one who would save him, and look for him for as long as it took to find him, until Donnie could roll his eyes in that way of his that meant laughter and complain that Leo was always following him too closely.

In Leo’s heart, it just made sense considering that Donnie was his twin. His younger twin at that and Leo didn’t want it any other way

Without really thinking about it, Leo pulled himself away from his adopted family and came to stand beside his twin, placing a hand on his shoulder, a silent way of saying that Leo was here for him. Donnie glanced up and gave Leo a small smile, placing his good hand on top of Leo’s and giving it a gentle squeeze. Leo was soon joined by Mikey, who came up to Donnie’s other side and leaned his head on Donnie’s shoulder. Raph pulled away from Cassandra to stand behind his little brothers, a protective barrier formed around Donnie. In that moment, Leo knew that he had competition. He’d never been happier for it. Although a small part of him knew that as Donnie’s older twin, he would be the main one to protect him and to always be there for him

“Where’s Big Mama?” Cassandra asked, after they’d all settled back into each other’s orbits, and yeah, they should probably get down to business.

“She went that way not long ago,” said Raph, pointing to the left. “She’s looking for a way across. Tiger Claw went the other way, Kitsune went into the wood, and Oroku Saki…”

Raph trailed off, and Leo looked towards the last place he’d seen the self-proclaimed ninja warrior, only to find an empty and barren stretch of land. Oh, well. Leo couldn’t bring himself to care one way or the other about Oroku Saki, who had to have known that he didn’t stand a chance if he’d seen the fight break out. But if he’d run off to warn Big Mama, then they didn’t have much time.

“Never mind,” Raph said, sharing a look with Leo and Mikey, who shrugged, and Donnie, who just frowned. “She’ll probably be back soon.”

“Let’s go, then,” said April, letting go of his hand to rub hers together and bounce in place nervously. “We don’t wanna be here when she gets back.”

Cassandra must have told April about Big Mama, he realized. Since they’d shown up together, they’d probably been traveling as a group for a while now, or long enough to get a vague sense of what they were dealing with.

But.

April’s parents agreed with April’s statement, and they started to give out orders and instructions. Leo caught the barely hidden panic in his brothers’ eyes, and knew that he looked the same.

Everyone had turned toward the forest – even Todd came over from where he’d been watching the Purple Dragons – and they were all ready and eager to leave, willing to close this chapter and make their quick escape into the night, victorious and completely unaware that Leo was only standing here in this place because he wanted to be.

“No,” said Leo, firmly, and he was standing next to his brothers before he fully registered moving. “We can’t leave.”

The group near the woods turned to face them, and it was like the two worlds were separate again, like Leo had chosen a side even though that wasn’t what was happening at all.

Across from him, April looked years older, and so did her parents. Maybe they all looked that way; maybe everyone did when they’d been nonstop stressed out for weeks. The weeks that felt like years, stretched out between them like the few feet that may as well have been miles, for all the distance Leo felt.

He was gearing himself up for a longwinded explanation of just why they couldn’t leave – he had no clue what he was going to say – when a low chuckle sounded out from their right. Shivers raced up his spine, and he turned to look just a split-second after Donnie did.

Once again, Big Mama and the rest of her gang were stepping out of the woods, having used it to sneak up on them. That forest was really becoming quite the blind spot.

Big Mama was at the front of the group, dark amusement sparkling in her eyes, staring right at Raph in such a way that made Leo step a bit closer to him. Beside her was Kitsune, back from wherever she’d gone, and a smug Oroku Saki who was smirking at everyone present. Tiger Claw stood just at the edge of their little group of villains, wearing a blank facial expression.

Donnie and Mikey pressed closer to him on both sides, and Leo’s hand drifted to the hilt of his sword. He tried his best to ignore it’s shaking, dead set on keeping his family safe. It was only when April spoke up that he remembered that this time, they weren’t alone. He’d fallen back into the mindset of a lone soldier much easier than he liked, but it wasn’t long ago that it has been a necessary state of mind.

“What do we do?” April asked steadily, coming up behind him. He did his best to shoot her a reassuring look, but was unsure if it worked.

“We’re gonna have to fight,” Leo replied, backing up until he was right between his brothers, slightly in front of them, and then he drew his sword.

April followed his lead, stepping up to stand next to him, a little shaky but with the kind of determination that moved mountains, and he’d never been happier to have her there. Mikey, seeing the courage from his big brother, came up to Leo’s other side and pulled out his nunchunks, getting into his fighting stance. Raph and Donnie seemed to caught on and pulled out their respective weapons, although they were a bit shakier than Leo and Mikey were. April’s parents got in a ready stance, a scary expression on their faces, and Todd and Cassandra fell into place as well, completing their odd little group of people who’d just found something worth fighting for. Even if not all of them knew what it was just yet.

“Well, isn’t this sweet,” Big Mama said, but her voice was bitter. “It’s nearly enough to bore me to tears.”

Leo’s eyes hardened, steely blue and red eyes, almost glowing in the dark. Make a move, he thought. I dare you.

“And my own family.” Big Mama clucked her tongue, staring down Cassandra with a patronizing gaze. “I thought I raised you better.”

“You thought you raised me?” Cassandra shot back, eyes narrowed, taking two rage-filled steps forward. “You think I owe anything to you? After what you’ve done— what you’ve made me do?”

Cassandra turned back to glance at Raph, remorse clear in her expression, but there was only anger when she turned back to Big Mama.

“You’ve been nothing but selfish,” Cassandra snarled, “and you won’t hurt anyone else with your lies, I swear it.”

“Cassandra, dear, you should know better than to make promises that you can’t keep.” Big Mama smiled sharply. “You never did live up to expectation.”

“Yeah, well,” said Cassandra, rolling her eyes. “Neither did you, and the bar was low.”

Big Mama’s smile dropped from her face, and an unsettling blankness took over. “You—”

Her voice cut out with a shout of alarm as April’s parents took a flying leap at Tiger Claw, throwing all their weight into a punch that managed to both surprise and unbalance the composed criminal. Everyone surrounding the sudden violence let out various cries of surprise and/or anger. Even Leo jumped, though he felt he should have seen it coming. Carol had always said that it was better to be unpredictable when fighting, so it made sense that she would make the first move, when no one was expecting it.

It didn’t take long after that for the clear stretch of land to become absolute chaos. April’s parents were still facing off with Tiger Claw, who’d recovered fairly quickly. Leo blinked, and Todd was back over by the Purple Dragons, who had been quietly regaining consciousness and were now almost back on their feet. Cassandra had taken her shot at getting away from Big Mama – and who could blame her – by getting the attention of both Kitsune and Oroku Saki, and she made them chase her a few yards away to give herself some room to work.

Which left Leo standing with his sword in hand, Donnie and Mikey on his left with their respective weapons, Raph on his right with his sais, April right in front of him with her weapon, and Big Mama staring them down from where she hadn’t moved a muscle since the fighting began, her stare being a weapon within itself

“What are we supposed to do?” Donnie asked quietly, not taking his nervous eyes off of Big Mama. “Kill her?”

“Well, no.” Leo shifted his footing a bit as April glanced back at him. “You didn’t happen to bring that frying pan, did you?” Leo asked Mikey, who shook his head

“Pretty sure we left it back in the village with the demon dog and the smoke bomb guys,” Mikey said.

“That wasn’t very smart of us.”

“In our defense,” Raph interjected, “I think we were all hoping that our days of knocking people out were over.”

“If only,” said Leo.

Big Mama took a slow step forward, and April backed up closer to their group.

“Raphael,” Big Mama said, and Raph winced. “Enough is enough. This won’t end well for you.” She paused to smile patronizingly. “I never lose a fight.”

“But you’re about to lose me,” Raph snapped, and Leo took that as his cue to start swinging his sword.

Big Mama sure didn’t expect a child to actually attack her, and as Carol and April say, surprise was an advantage. But only for a second.

Leo managed to put a good-sized tear in the skirt of her dress when she tried to move out of the way, and he ducked and spun under the arm that attempted to hit him in retaliation. Finding himself behind her now, Leo kicked out at her knees to unbalance her. He missed her knee, since she was moving too much, but she stumbled from the force of the kick anyway.

Big Mama growled in frustration and that’s when she pressed a button on her dress and transformed into a giant spider, which seemed to freak everyone out but Raph, who somehow knew that she could do that. When Big Mama transformed, she somehow hit his shoulder exactly where the cut was, and he tripped backwards with a pained yelp. He never hit the ground, though, because Raph was there to catch him. Mikey was already taking his place in the fight, flipping over Big Mama’s attempts at hitting him with an ease that Leo had always been a little jealous of. Well, jealous and proud, because that’s how siblings worked.

All around them, their new allies were fighting their apparent lifelong enemies, and Leo couldn’t even begin to make sense of all the noise, so he did his best to filter most of it out.

April had come up to join Mikey in the fighting, the two of them training flips and hits, the two of them working together like a well-oiled machine

“Your sister’s pretty cool, and I can see where Mikey gets his skills from” Donnie said casually, helping Leo regain his footing.

“I know,” Leo replied, grinning, and then he leapt back towards the fight, turning briefly to give a playful salute to his brothers. “But they could still use my help!”

Leo slid in front of Mikey just in time to block a blow that would have hit him, and he flashed a grin over his shoulder, to which his little brother smiled back, amusement sparkling in his eyes.

Leo then moved over to April, the two of them now back-to-back as they used their swords to defend against Big Mama, looking for some of her weak spots

“Miss me?” he asked her, pushing Big Mama back a few steps.

“I’ve been missing you for weeks, you jerk,” April replied, though lightheartedly.

Magica swung one of her spider arms (legs?) at Leo’s head, and he ducked down into a crouch on the ground, which gave April plenty of room to launch over him and counter the attack. Her sword grazed Big Mama’s cheek, and the now spider yokai cried out furiously in the fiercest display of emotion he’d ever seen from her.

“Leo!”

Leo turned his head at Raph’s voice, trusting April and Mikey to watch his back while he was distracted. Donnie and Raph were in a fistfight with Hun, but Raph was frantically pointing towards the edge of the forest. Leo followed Raph’s line of sight, and felt his heart sink.

Rahzar had just burst out of the foliage, the good-sized lump on his head more visible. The demon dog’s eyes met Leo’s and narrowed.

“Blue one!” Rahzar exclaimed loudly, using his claw to point dramatically. “You will pay with your life.”

Leo groaned. Would they ever catch a break?

“Who’s that?” April asked incredulously. “How many enemies could you have possibly made?”

“Too many,” Leo and Mikey answered at the same time. Leo’s eyes were now trained on the demon dog marching towards him angrily. “And that would be Rahzar” An enraged yell cut through the air. “He, uh, he does not like me.”

“That’s the demon dog? The one that Mikey knocked unconscious?”

“With a frying pan.” Mikey answered, feeling proud of himself

“Where’d you get a frying pan?” their sister exclaimed

“Hey, Donnie’s the one who whacked someone with a bag of oranges!”

April laughed like she couldn’t help it, which seemed to enrage Big Mama, especially since she was being held at bay by a teenager and a mutant turtle.

“Not all of us have fancy sword training, you know,” Donnie said, dodging a punch from Hun. “Sometimes you gotta use fruit.”

“Well, it certainly worked,” Raph remarked.

Rahzar finally drew closer to Leo, and the demon dog didn’t hesitate to start snarling and clawing at Leo. It was exactly like before, except this time Leo had the confidence that he could beat him. After all, now he had some backup.

April and Mikey were still fighting Big Mama ferociously off to the side as Leo and Rahzar traded blows fiercely, hardly daring to breathe in between movements. The night air was cold, but Leo could barely feel it what with all the energy coursing through him.

“You will not best me again,” Rahzar growled. “Reinforcements are on their way as we speak. You are all doomed.”

Leo’s steps faltered, and the demon dog managed to push him a few feet away, giving Leo time to think. Reinforcements?

Oh.

The rest of Big Mama’s crew that she’d left behind in the village. Leo didn’t know why they weren’t here now, or how they’d even find them, but if they managed to show up here, the battle would get a lot uglier. But how could he keep them away?

Leo’s eyes drifted across the clearing as he backed up slowly out of the reach of Rahzar, gaze skipping over all the separate fights taking place before landing on the lonely campfire the Purple Dragons had made. Bingo.

The sparse grass beneath his feet was dry, as had been the forest when they’d walked through it earlier. This area had seen quite the drought, recently, and there was maybe a reason why the fire had been built away from the trees. Leo glanced back at Rahzar, and smirked.

Not wasting a second more, Leo turned and ran, ignoring the confused shouts from Mikey and April

Rahzar didn’t move for several seconds, too shocked at his sudden retreat, but then he was pursuing him with vigor. His brothers were looking at him – bewildered and worried – as he got closer, and Leo did his best to shrug while running. He shoved his sword as gently as possible into Donnie’s arms on his way past him, which made Donnie drop his bo staff

“Hold him off!” Leo called out, ignoring both Donnie’s confused shout and the knot of terrible anxiety in his stomach – for now.

He ran full tilt for the campfire, weaving around Todd still battling Angel and Timothy, and going straight through the fight between Tiger Claw and April’s parents, praying he was short enough to have not gained much attention.

Coming to a screeching halt – finally at his destination and not daring to look back – he knelt by the fire, examining it, and then grabbed the non-burning end of a burning log. It was still hot, of course, and it burned his hand, but there would be a bigger price to pay if he didn’t stick with it.

Ignoring the clamoring behind him, Leo held the log in both hands and darted for the trees. He took a deep breath, looking at the innocent bush in front of him, and said a silent apology to mother nature for what he was about to do.

The bush caught on fire nearly instantaneously, jumping into existence and growing stronger and brighter by the second. Leo felt the warmth on his face, watched as new shadows danced on the ground, and kept going. He ran parallel to the forest, leaving a trail of fire burning ferociously behind him, spreading at a phenomenal rate. It was traveling up trees, further along the edge of the forest, and pushing deeper and deeper in. The clearing was now as brightly lit as if the sun was out, and Leo hurled the log into the forest with finality. His work was done.

Everyone was now staring at the forest fire with no small degree of horror, bathed in an orange glow as the world burned around them, and Leo stood just in front of it with the heat at his back, the cause of the destruction.

There would be no reinforcements.

Leo quickly scanned the battleground, finding Raph now facing Hun alone, and everyone fighting pretty much the same people that they had been before. Except Donnie was near the edge of the cliff, holding Leo’s sword clumsily, Rahzar advancing on him slowly.

It was like being back in that alley, hiding just around the corner, listening to a stranger try to talk himself out of trouble and wondering why his instincts were screaming at him to get out there and save the kid. Those instincts were louder now, and just because he understood them didn’t mean that they were easier to ignore. It didn’t mean that he wanted to.

Because gosh darn it, that was his younger twin. And his twin was in trouble. It didn’t matter if Donnie still believed it, Leo sure as heck did. And, not even an hour ago, Leo promised himself that he would protect Donnie. That he would love him and save him, no matter what

So, because of this, Leo ran.

He was halfway there when Rahzar said something that made Donnie wince, and the demon dog raised his claw. Leo arrived just seconds before the blow could be dealt, and he wasted no time in slamming himself into Donnie’s side and tackling him to the ground. It probably hurt his twin’s wrist, but Leo was not going to be the idiot who pushed the person in danger out of the way and then just stood there and died, so to the ground they both went.

Donnie’s wide eyes were the last image he could make sense of, because everything directly after that was a blur of color. Donnie cried out in pain, and Leo grunted, and several other people made various sounds of alarm, but he couldn’t look to see who they might be. The ground was hard, and then it was lumpy, and then it disappeared.

Momentum did a lot of good in the world, but it was also the reason Leo and Donnie went over the cliff.

Everything for a moment seemed to be deathly silent, and then Leo inhaled sharply, and time and gravity caught up with them. Three voices rose above the rest, and he was finally able to recognize them as Raph, April, and Mikey’s, equally horrified and helpless as they called their names.

Leo and Donnie flailed for less than a second, and the feeling of falling barely got the chance to start before they jerked to a stop. Leo coughed from the jarring sensation, pain in his shoulder as he looked around wildly to try and make sense of their situation.

Up above him was Donnie, hanging onto an old rope – he recognized it as the remnants of the collapsed bridge that had been pointed out earlier – with his good hand in a grip that looked painful. Leo was holding on to Donnie’s ankle with his right hand, having no memory of grabbing it but beyond glad that he did.

“Leo!” Donnie called in a strangled voice, almost like a statue above him, if statues swayed in the wind. “What was— What was that for?”

“What was— He was gonna kill you!” Leo shot back, his voice strained.

“He could’ve killed you, too!”

Mikey’s head briefly poked over the edge of the cliff above them, face dripping tears and wearing an expression of pure, raw fear. He let out what could have either been a laugh or a sob upon seeing them hanging a few feet down, and Leo tried to smile, sure it came out as more of a terrified grimace. Mikey spun around suddenly with an angry battle cry, surely picking up the fight with Rahzar.

“It doesn’t matter, anyway. We’re both fine,” Leo said in response to Donnie, turning his attention back to his twin. Although ‘fine’ was a relative term.

“Doesn’t matter?”

Leo winced at the hysterical quality to Donnie’s voice. Hanging over a chasm didn’t exactly inspire sanity.

“Leo, what—” Donnie paused to groan in frustration and collect his thoughts, and then he started over.

“Leo, you have a sword,” Donnie said slowly, in a voice that was forcefully calm, “but you’re not a weapon.”

A few pebbles fell past them into the fog below, stirred up from the fighting up top.

“And you can jump in front of me all you want, but you’re not a shield, either,” Donnie continued, letting out a shaky breath.

Angry yelling echoed strangely against the canyon walls.

“Then what do you want me to be?” Leo asked, a little lost, trying his best to not look down.

“I just—” Donnie twisted his torso and tilted his head towards him, making hesitant eye contact, looking worried in a million different ways.

“I just want you to be my brother,” Donnie said softly, trying his hardest to not let his emotions get the better of him, because this moment was too sacred and Donnie wanted Leo to know just how he truly felt. “My…my twin” he finished, his voice shaky, but his eyes loving and endearing

Leo blinked in surprise, overwhelmed by the sudden feeling that he and Donnie were in the eye of a storm, the only calm for miles. Below them was darkness, and above them was fire and war, and they were suspended somewhere in the middle, beneath a clear sky.

Maybe Donnie’s doubt hadn’t been entirely his fault; maybe some of the blame was Leo’s. With the way he’d thrown himself out to save Donnie right after their first meeting, with the way he’d been guarding him and Raph ever since, with the way that he was persisted over the fact that him and Donnie were twins, almost getting to the point of being annoying about it. Even with where they were right now, and why – maybe Leo had been making himself out to be more of a bodyguard than a brother.

Somehow, Donnie had still had a change of heart. His quiet acceptance – after all of his doubt – was like a breath of fresh air, and it was Leo’s wish come true. Back at the lake with Todd and his brothers, he’d wished on a shooting star, and all he’d wanted in that moment was for Raph and Donnie to really believe it, like he and Mikey did. He wanted so badly for Donnie to believe that the two of them were twins, just as badly as Leo did

Now, many days and miles away, hanging suspended in the air, he got what he wanted.

“Okay,” said Leo, heart full to bursting and trying to keep his own emotions at bay. “I can do that. I will gladly do it for the rest our lives. Only the best for you Dee”

Donnie smiled softly at his twin, and gosh Leo was his twin now. His older twin. It…well it seemed just right now

However, the pain soon settled in and Donnie grunted, arm shaking from where he was holding their combined weight. He couldn’t even use his other hand to stabilize them, since it had been thoroughly taken out of commission.

“Leo! Donnie!” Raph called out from above them, voice high-pitched and terrified. “Are you guys okay?”

Raph appeared near the edge, blinking down at them anxiously, looking seconds away from a breakdown.

“Yeah, Raphie, we’re good.” Leo flashed his best smile, trying to stay as still as possible so as not to unbalance them. “We’re just hangin’ out.”

Raph’s brow furrowed in concentration, and it looked like he might’ve tried to say something had Big Mama not chosen that moment to appear behind him.

“Watch out!” Leo yelled in warning, accidentally causing a jolt that made Donnie’s hand slip an inch or two down the rope.

Raph reluctantly turned away from them, standing up and seeming to engage in conversation with his former guardian. At least she wasn’t attacking him right that second.

Donnie made a distressed noise, muffled through his tightly clenched teeth.

“I can’t hold on,” Donnie warned him, voice strangled.

“I know, I know Tello,” Leo said breathlessly, wondering where the air went all of the sudden. “Just a little longer, little brother, I promise.”

More shouting echoed around them from those who were lucky enough to still be on solid ground. Leo redirected his gaze upwards to look for Raph again, or anyone else who might be available to help them. He found Raph and Big Mama facing each other, a few feet between them, standing parallel to the canyon. The two of them were still conversing, but Leo couldn’t hear a word of it.

As he was looking up, some vague article of clothing flew out over the canyon, like it had been thrown with great urgency, and whatever it was, it was on fire. Leo blinked at it as it fell past them, resisting the urge to snicker at it for no reason. He followed it with his eyes…

Leo finally looked down.

He was immediately lightheaded, but he watched the burning object as it fell through the fog, cutting through it in the way only light could. Down it fell as Leo watched, and quite a ways down – though not as far as Leo would’ve guessed – it extinguished. All at once. Suddenly. And before the light had gone out, it had almost looked like a reflection had come up to meet it. Almost like…

Leo blinked, and let out an incredulous laugh, because maybe they’d been looking at this all wrong.

If they truly believed that the castle really was on that island, then maybe the canyon wasn’t a canyon at all.

Maybe it was a moat.

And that made things a lot simpler.

Chapter Text

Donnie had been minding his own business, fist fighting one of the Purple Dragons with the help of Raph, when Leo ran by and had the audacity to shove his very sharp weapon into Donnie’s hands, which lead to him dropping his bo staff

Now usually, his hands were capable, but not with a sword, and certainly not now that one of them was pretty much useless. So there he was, left holding a weapon that he had no training for in his nondominant hand, and he was expected to hold back an expert. Donnie really hoped that Leo had a good reason for leaving him with this.

Regardless of how much he was complaining on the inside, outwardly he simply side-stepped into the path of Rahzar, as casual as he’d ever been, trying to pretend like he knew what he was doing.

“Hey! Remember me?” Donnie called out, backing up a bit when it looked like the criminal might plow right through him without a care. Rahzar stopped and fixed him with a glare, glancing between him and Leo, who he guessed was still leaving them behind. Donnie stared back at the demon dog unflinchingly. “Or did you block out the memory of the one who got away?”

Raph shot him a concerned glance, seemingly unhappy with his taunting of the enemy, but not able to do much about it for fear of getting knocked out by Hun. Donnie kept his gaze trained on Rahzar, shooting the demon dog a carefully crafted smirk. He wasn’t much good with a sword, but he knew how to push people’s buttons.

Rahzar growled wordlessly and swung his claws through the air towards him carelessly, as if swatting at a fly; he obviously didn’t believe him to be worth his time. Donnie jerked himself down into a crouch – trying to ignore how the movement made his wrist throb – and retaliated with an awkward stabbing motion that no one would ever mistake as being ‘skillful’.

Predictably, the stab failed, and Donnie decided that he’d have to do things his way.

Catch me if you can, Donnie thought, and he rolled to the side and up into a standing position, taking off in the opposite direction than the one Leo had gone in, leaving his bo staff behind and nudging the demon dog harshly on his way by. Rahzar cursed at him, but followed him with the singlemindedness that Donnie was so fond of in criminals; it made them much easier to trick.

Donnie came to a screeching halt a few feet away from where Cassandra was fighting, valiantly holding her own against Kitsune and Oroku Saki. Donnie, already out of breath, spun to face Rahzar, who pulled up short and attempted covering his obvious confusion with anger.

“So Big Mama’s your boss, right?” Donnie asked, shifting his grip on the sword, holding it out in front of him in a way that was surely wrong.

Rahzar didn’t bother to respond, leaping at Donnie to unbalance him. Donnie scrambled out of the way, stumbling over some dumb tiny rock, and Rahzar just barely avoided colliding with Kitsune.

“Watch it!” the head Purple Dragon snapped, then turned her attention back to Cassandra, who’d just shoved Oroku Saki to the ground.

“Anyway,” Donnie said, like he hadn’t been rudely interrupted. Some semblance of a plan was coming together in his head. “When Big Mama, you know, rules the world and all, what are you gonna do?”

Donnie took a few careful steps backwards, feeling mildly victorious when Rahzar looked suspiciously thoughtful; furious, but thoughtful. Kitsune and Oroku Saki being close enough to hear him was also a plus, because he knew that they were listening, and it meant that he had more to work with. This, he could do.

“I mean, you’re probably good enough for some kind of second-in-command position,” Donnie continued, shrugging, “but you’ve got some tough competition, what with Kitsune technically owning the rights to Raph—” which that statement alone left a horrible taste in his mouth, “and Oroku Saki having given Big Mama some valuable information. And you’re the one who let me escape, so… I wonder who gets given the most power here.”

Rahzar slashed his claws near Donnie’s legs, making it necessary to either jump back quickly or lose a few inches of height. Cassandra shot Donnie an odd look, maybe some form of curiosity, and he simply gave a little half-smile in return.

“What have you really done to impress her?” Donnie finished strong. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’ll make an excellent janitor.”

Rahzar let out an enraged yell, storming forward towards Donnie like an angry bull, and Donnie turned tail and ran, his heart in his throat.

It was immediately apparent that Leo had been up to something after all, since the forest was now a burning inferno. Donnie could feel the intense heat from several feet away, washing over him in waves, and he quickly changed direction so he wouldn’t be swallowed up by the flames.

He’s insane, Donnie thought, but ultimately decided to give Leo the benefit of the doubt that it was for good reason. That is, assuming that the fire had been set on purpose, because if anyone could manage causing absolute destruction on accident, it was Leo.

Donnie continued running, Rahzar on his heels, until Tiger Claw stumbled backwards into his path, having been shoved harshly by April’s parents. Donnie stopped dead and made a sharp left turn, praying that maybe his pursuer hadn’t been so graceful. Looking behind him, that fragile hope died. Rahzar was no farther away than he had been.

They came up on the canyon much quicker than Donnie was anticipating, and it was almost unfair how fast the demon dog had blocked him in against the edge, far too close to certain death for comfort. Near Donnie were the two wooden poles sticking out of the ground, and the frayed ropes hanging into the abyss – the ruins of an old rope bridge. Donnie spared a moment to wish that it was whole, because that really would’ve made things easier.

“You will die for the fool you’ve made of me!” Rahzar shouted furiously, claws at the ready, silhouetted by the forest fire raging behind him.

Donnie winced, his heart racing and his lungs heaving as his mind worked desperately for a way out.

Rahzar raised his claws.

Donnie looked frantically to his right, starting to really panic now, seeing nothing but empty space and the wooden poles and newly burning trees. Then he turned to his left – halfway hoping that no one was paying attention to him and thus would not have to watch him die – and he just barely had time to meet Leo’s eyes – narrowed, determined, and the same as his – before he barreled into him and tackled him to the ground.

They hit the stone hard, and Donnie cried out from the impact, already knowing that he had new bruises forming; his whole body was basically one big bruise, now.

They rolled for maybe two seconds, Donnie’s vision consisting mostly of blue fabric and the occasional glow of fire, and then the ground dropped out from under them, and Leo let out some sort of strangled gasp, and he heard various other people shouting their names. Donnie himself would’ve been screaming, except he couldn’t quite find the breath to do so.

Which might’ve been a good thing, because it allowed to focus more on the rope that he knew was hanging nearby.

Donnie reached out with both hands, his inner monologue a jumble of pleas and internal screaming, and by some miracle he managed to grab hold of the rope; he just hoped that it wouldn’t break. Immediately, he had to let go with his right hand, because his wrist absolutely screamed at him when it had to do anything resembling its normal function. And now his good hand was suffering from rope burn, so that was just fantastic.

And there he was, hanging on with one hand, dangling over a chasm. Leo had grabbed onto his ankle – thank goodness - and as soon as Donnie managed to claw his way back to some sort of composure, he was chewing out his idiot brother for his latest stunt. Seriously, Leo risked his life like it was his sworn duty, and Donnie was sick and tired of the heart attacks that gave him.

“Then what do you want me to be?” Leo asked him, like Donnie’s opinion mattered.

And maybe it did.

Donnie had thought that if he ever accepted Raph, Leo, and Mikey as his brothers, it would be this big moment that changed him forever, or the sort of thing that shook the earth. But he was wrong. It was quiet, and gentle, and it kind of felt like waking up. That feeling that had been chasing him ever since he’d met the other three – the one that he hadn’t been able to identify – didn’t have a proper name. It just felt like home. The only home Donnie had ever had.

Dangling over the edge with Leo, he felt something just snap into place. Inside his heart, he felt blue energy, which he could only assume was Leo, flow through him, intermingling with his purple energy. A piece of blue thread that was intertwining with his purple thread. A warm, calming fire nestling right beside his purple pixels. Donnie recognized this as what they had called their ninpo. This was completely different then what it was with Raph and Mikey. No, this was only special to him and Leo.

Almost like they were…like they were twins

It was a new sensation and thought that Donnie had pushed away for far too long. He feared it at first because he didn’t want to feel this comfort…this security…this love that only came from siblings. That came from having a twin

But now…now Donnie didn’t deny it any longer. In fact, he welcomed it with open arms and was willing to give a Leo a chance at brotherhood. A chance at being twins

“I just—” Donnie twisted himself around in order to look down at Leo, because this was the kind of heartfelt declaration that required eye contact, he felt like. “I just want you to be my brother. My…my twin”

Some mountains were moved slowly, but they were still mountains moved.

Leo blinked up at him, the only thing close enough to be fully in focus, hanging above swirling fog and trusting Donnie to keep them from falling.

“Okay,” said Leo, something soft and warm growing in his eyes; something that Donnie had never seen directed at him. “I can do that. I will gladly do it for the rest our lives. Only the best for you Dee”

And now that they were all emotionally connected and stuff, it would really suck to die. Donnie’s hand was shaking, the tremors traveling throughout his body and growing stronger with every inch. Raph’s panicked voice sounded from above them, and Leo said something back, but Donnie could hardly concentrate on anything other than the rough texture of the rope beneath his failing grip.

Leo jolted suddenly, shouting a warning to Raph, and Donnie slipped just a few inches, feeling his heart pounding nearly out of his chest.

“I can’t hold on,” Donnie said to Leo – to anyone who was listening.

“I know, I know Tello” Leo might’ve sounded reassuring, if he wasn’t wheezing quietly for air. ““Just a little longer, little brother, I promise.”

A few seconds or minutes or hours passed, and then Leo spoke up in a strange tone of voice that set alarm bells ringing in Donnie’s head.

“Hey, Donnie?” Leo asked, getting his attention, and Donnie hummed in response. “Let go.”

The suggestion almost startled him into doing just that, and he barked a hysterical laugh that was nowhere near as strong as he thought it’d be.

“What?” Donnie asked weakly, opening eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed to look down at Leo.

Leo stared back intensely, unblinking in his determined gaze, and unwavering in his belief that things would work out okay.

“I have a plan,” Leo said, and Donnie was transported back in time.

Several weeks ago in a dirty back alley, Leo had fought to save a stranger. ‘I have a plan,’ he’d said, like the words were both light as air and written in stone. ‘Do you trust me?’

It had been a stupid question, because Donnie didn’t trust anyone; it was his number one rule that kept him alive. But then he’d met Leo and Mikey, who defied all rules like second nature, and he’d met Raph, who’d taken it upon himself to draft new ones when he wasn’t looking. Somehow, Donnie thought that the trust between the four of them could be stronger than he thought was possible. Maybe it would hurt sometimes, because nothing was perfect, but it could be worth it. Broken glass and empty spaces aside, this would be worth it.

Leo was still looking up at him patiently, like they had all the time in the world, and the unspoken question floated in the air between them.

“Donnie?”

(‘Do you trust me?’)

“Okay,” said Donnie, the words light as air and written in stone. “I trust you.”

And before he could talk himself out of it – before he could think too much – Donnie let the rope slip through his fingers.

Chapter Text

It terrified Raph, how quickly bad things could happen. Things like death took place in an instant, in the space between one heartbeat and where the next one should have been. Many times, it happened too fast to stop it, too fast to do anything but stand by and watch.

Knowing that his two immediate younger brothers had gone over the edge of the cliff easily made the top three in his ever-growing list of traumatic events. In all honesty, it was right up there in the number one spot, though it probably would have been made much worst if Mikey also went over the edge

Because Raph had been watching, wide-eyed and horrified as Rahzar had raised his claws to hurt his little brother, and no amount of hope or luck was going to get him there in time to help. But then Leo had been there, in between one beat of Raph’s racing heart and the next, plowing into Donnie’s side and saving him like he’d tried to do all that time ago. They hit the ground and rolled.

Then Raph blinked, and they were gone.

Mikey screamed, and someone else did, too; maybe him, but Raph hardly registered it over the ringing in his ears. He didn’t realize that he was sinking to the ground until his knees scraped against stone, and he had always been smart, but it took him forever just to remember how to breathe.

Not seeing it happen was somehow worse. Instead of a memory of his two immediate younger brothers disappearing, instead of having any kind of closure, all he had was an empty space. There was nothing. Raph stared and stared, the heavy feeling returning to his chest fast and hard, like nothing had changed, like Leo and Donnie had never been there in the first place—

Mikey peeked over the edge, shaking like a leaf, and he sobbed in relief at whatever he saw. He looked over at him and the look in his baby brother’s eyes was enough for Raph to get up and stumble forwards towards him. Once Raph got close enough, Mikey held onto his arms

“They—they’re okay, they’re alive,” Mikey told him, tears dripping down his face and something fragile in his eyes, yet something told him that his little brother still had the power to tear down a stone wall with his bare hands.

April made brief contact with them, tears in her own eyes, because she too saw Leo and Donnie go over the edge. Mikey smiled at her and seemed to convey in his eyes to his big sister that Leo and Donnie were alive. April breathed out a sigh of relief before her face steeled and she went back to fighting

Mikey’s expression twisted suddenly, into something angry and afraid, made even more intense by the light of the fire surrounding them and spreading at an alarmingly fast rate. He stood, grabbing Leo’s sword from where it lay discarded on the ground, sheathed it, and held his nunchunks in front of him slowly. Rahzar took a step back when Mikey made eye contact with him. Raph’s little brother yelled ferociously and charged. Raph thought about going after him, but felt a strange sense of pride wash over him. Mikey was such a badass. He would be fine. Plus, it seemed like April was keeping an eye on him, so Raph wasn’t really worry about Mikey. He was more worried about Rahzar who didn’t know what he was getting into with a pissed off baby brother

Raph took longer than he would've liked getting to the edge of the cliff. His knees were wobbling, and he had to dodge multiple fights that were taking place all around him. Everything was loud and chaotic, but he paid them no attention; he could only focus on his destination, stumbling forward with manic determination.

He made it to the cliff - finally - and fell to his hands and knees at the edge, only remembering bits and pieces of how he got there, already calling out for Leo and Donnie.

And there they were, Donnie hanging onto a frayed rope with his left hand and Leo hanging onto Donnie’s ankle, dangling over swirling fog and darkness.

Raph felt breath rush back into his lungs, heard new sounds filtering in through his ears, and finally felt like he was back in reality.

“Yeah, Raphie, we’re good,” Leo called up to him, answering a question that Raph hadn’t realized he’d asked. “We’re just hangin’ out.”

Puns hardly seemed appropriate in this situation, but it was as good a reassurance as any that Leo hadn’t changed much in the few feet they’d fallen before catching themselves. His immediate younger brother seemed to have a way of pretending like he wasn’t in mortal danger, even when it was very much the truth. Because Donnie wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. Raph opened his beak to say as much, but then Leo’s facial expression changed dramatically.

“Watch out!” Leo yelled, and Raph spun around to see what new horror life had brought him.

Or an old horror, because Big Mama was standing there calmly, like the world around them wasn’t burning, like her people weren’t fighting for their lives, like it didn’t matter that two teenagers might die. She was also back in her human form, Raph noted, which could either be a good thing or a bad thing.

And Raph was angry in a way that he wasn’t accustomed to, but was beginning to understand. Having people you loved meant that you’d do anything to keep them safe, and Raph was currently facing the biggest threat that his family had ever known.

He had inherited a bit of a temper, it seemed. From who, he didn’t know, and it hardly mattered right then. Hardly anything mattered, right then, apart from his brothers.

“Haven’t you done enough?” Raph snapped at her, glaring daggers and spitting fire.

“Not nearly,” Big Mama said simply, circling around to stand at the edge with him, so that they were standing with his brothers hanging down below almost right in between them. “Not until Hamato Yoshi is gone, and I am ruling in his place. Only then will I have done enough.”

Raph took a deep breath, smelling smoke, and tried to gather his racing thoughts. It was difficult, what with the fire and the fighting and his immediate younger brothers two seconds away from a painful death, but he had to think. He had to think of something.

“You’re about to lose two of your bargaining chips,” Raph said, glancing down at his struggling younger brothers.

“I only ever needed one,” said Big Mama, tilting her head, “and you seem to be the least troublesome.”

If only she knew, thought Raph, being assaulted by visions of growing red and angry villains. The truth was, they could all cause their fair amount of trouble; Raph just had a talent for looking like he couldn’t. And he didn’t mind being underestimated, even if it stung coming from someone who should’ve taken care of him. Anyway, having the upper hand was always better if your opponent was convinced that you didn’t.

Before either of them could attempt to continue the conversation, an object flew over Big Mama’s head, only avoiding hitting her by a few scant inches. Whatever it was had been on fire, moving too fast to really identify it, and it was still undecided as it disappeared over the edge of the cliff. Big Mama turned to holler at whoever had thrown the thing, and Raph leaned a little farther over the canyon, looking down.

The burning object was long gone, but Leo seemed to be staring at where it had been. Donnie had his eyes tightly closed and his chin tucked against his chest, a thin sheen of sweat clinging to his forehead. Raph’s heart skipped a beat. They were running out of time.

“Raphael,” Big Mama began, and Raph bristled at his full name being said in her voice. “All of this could stop if you agree to surrender.”

“You’re not a ruler, you’re a liar,” Raph said harshly, glancing at his former guardian, “and that’s all you’ll ever be. You won’t get what you want. You won’t win.”

“Ungrateful turtly-boo,” Big Mama snapped. “Did you forget who’s house you’ve been living in your whole life?”

“How could I?" Raph shot back. "You reminded me every chance you got.”

Instead of listening to whatever Big Mama was saying in reply, Raph turned slightly to check on the rest of the battlefield, and it was no easier to make sense of it than it had been five minutes ago. In fact, it seemed that things had gotten a lot more complicated, somehow.

Kitsune and Oroku Saki were now fighting each other instead of Cassandra, who was leaning against a tree nearby, looking half confused and half impressed. Oroku Saki was missing his mask - which might’ve been what was thrown into the canyon earlier, since his face looked slightly singed - and the two criminals were shouting at each other. Raph couldn’t make out much of it, but it was something about who had the right to more power. The Purple Dragons were distracted by their leader’s shouting, and Todd was taking them out easily, now. Rahzar was doing his best to fight off the barrage of attacks Mikey was unloading on him, and Tiger Claw and April’s parents were still locked in intense battle, with April bouncing back and forth between helping them and helping Mikey.

It was chaos, and Raph thought that maybe Donnie had had something to do with that. He’d seen his younger brother over by Kitsune and Oroku Saki earlier, and it wasn’t a stretch to think that Donnie might’ve tried to get in their heads. Apparently, it was working.

Raph smiled a bit, and he looked back down at his immediate younger brothers hanging beneath them, too antsy and restless to go long without checking on them. He needed to find a way to get them back up there, he had to get them back to where they were safe. Maybe if he really, really tried to pull them up, he could do it. If he just tried hard enough, maybe—

Leo looked up and met his gaze, eyes alight with some new discovery, obviously trying to get his attention without Big Mama noticing. Raph blinked down at him, concerned and confused. Leo raised the hand not hanging onto Donnie and waved it, then pointed down into the swirling fog below them.

Raph must’ve appeared rightfully baffled, because Leo pointed again, a little harsher. Then he changed course, made some sort of wavy motion with his free arm, and gestured between him and Donnie and the chasm below them, miming falling and an explosion. Or, not an explosion – a splash. Raph’s eyes widened in alarm, and Leo grinned.

His insane brother in blue turned his attention to Donnie, who opened his eyes and looked at Leo as he said something. Donnie tensed all over, chest heaving once as if he was laughing, but Leo’s face remained serious.

There was a moment where nothing happened.

Then Leo and Donnie shared one last exchange, and Donnie let go, and they dropped like stones.

Leo used the last few seconds of visibility to wink at Raph, and then both of his little brothers vanished into the fog.

Despite what Leo had been trying to tell him, and despite the fact that he had seemed to have a plan, Raph still found himself struggling to breath, and he still felt like he’d been punched in the gut and the world had tilted on its axis.

Somehow, Mikey had abandon his fight with Rahzar to come up to Raph, at the same time that Leo and Donnie fell into the fog. Mikey cried out for their brothers as he reached a hand out, grasping nothing but air. Mikey glanced fearful and teary eyes up at Raph and whispered to him that evidently, Leo had a plan, though what Raph didn’t know. That seemed to ease a bit of tension from Mikey, but he was still out of breath just like Raph was, seeming on the edge of a breakdown, which Raph knew that he wasn’t faring much better

Big Mama actually laughed when she saw what had happened, and Raph and Mikey slowly looked up at her, a heat behind their eyes that had nothing to do with the fire around them.

“Don’t you love when gravity does your job for you?” Big Mama asked, smirking and haughty.

“Yes,” Raph answered, in a voice low and even and filled with resentment.

He shared one look at Mikey, who seemed to think the same thing that they did

Mikey went into his shell, while Raph threw him. The weight of Mikey’s shell was enough to throw Big Mama off balance, which gave Raph a perfect opportunity to tackled her at the knees. In an instant, all three went over the edge, shouting echoing behind them and wind rushing past their ears. Mikey came out of shell in that moment and Raph clung tight to him as they descended, protecting him from the hard landing that was sure to come

Raph trusted Leo, who never would’ve had Donnie let go if he thought it could hurt them. And Donnie, despite everything, had believed in Leo enough to place his life in his hands. That was all that Raph needed to know. It was enough to make his decision and never doubt it for a second, even while he was choking on terror and screaming on his way down

A small part of Raph wondered if Donnie had finally accepted Leo as his twin

The farthest that Raph had ever fallen was less than four feet. He’d been six years old, and Cassandra had been walking him to the waiting area for the Battle Nexus, and he’d tripped halfway down a set of stairs. He’d been fine, of course. He’d scraped his knees, and no one was going to kiss them better, but it was okay. Raph had been smart enough to know that kisses didn’t heal injuries. (He’d been childish enough to want it anyway.)

Big Mama was screeching a few feet below them as they plummeted, but Raph had quickly run out of the breath that was necessary to scream. Mikey was doing most of that for him. He just fell, cold air ruffling his scales on the way down, as he held on tightly to Mikey. He didn’t see the water until it was inches from his face.

Raph and Mikey hit the water hard, lucky enough to go in vaguely feet first, and it was freezing. Raph couldn’t get his limbs to work for several painful seconds, and he panicked a bit because he really hadn’t taken much of a breath before being submerged and also because he lost Mikey for a split second. Then he hit the bottom, rocky and smooth, and he managed to find Mikey struggling to push himself up. He got Mikey attention who managed to swim to the back of Raph’s shell, hanging on for dear life. Raph shove enough energy into his stiff limbs to push him and his baby brother upwards. The river was shallow, all things considered, probably on account of the drought.

Raph broke through the surface of the water, coughing even though he hadn’t inhaled any of it. He couldn’t see a thing and Mikey said that he couldn’t either. Or at least, not at first, but they could hear Big Mama sputtering violently somewhere to their left. Raph blinked a few times, desperately trying to adjust his eyes, treading water all the while, while Mikey graciously continued to cling to his back. After a few long seconds, Raph’s vision cleared up enough for him to make out a dark shape that looked like land, and he swam for it before his limbs could freeze in place and grow icicles.

The land-shaped thing did indeed turn out to be solid ground, but it came in the form of a very slippery rock that took multiple tries to climb onto. When he finally successfully made it on, Mikey climb off of his shell and the two of them laid there on the cold surface, shivering all over and soaking wet, already looking for their brothers in the dim lighting. They looked up, and it was predictably foggy, but a faint warm glow could be seen, and distant sounds could be heard.

Before Raph or Mikey could call out to their brothers, there were several splashing noises and multiple hacking coughs as the dark shape of Big Mama pulled herself up onto the dry-ish land. Raph and Mikey pushed themselves into a sitting position with shaking hands, eyes finally adjusted to the dark as they watched and waited, with Raph slightly in front of Mikey, acting as a protective shield

“You fools,” Big Mama seethed, face turned in his general direction, narrowed eyes almost glowing.

Why was that every villain’s go-to insult? And ironically, they almost always used it after being outsmarted.

“You disobedient, reckless, ungrateful child,” Big Mama continued, hands sliding on the rocky surface as she tried to sit upright.

She called him a child like it was an insult, like it was the only part of him that mattered and everything else was secondary to his age. People looked at children and automatically put them below them, and ignored them, and said that they were too young to know much of anything or too young to do anything important. But kids saw and heard everything, the perfectly unassuming spies, because no one gave them a second glance beyond wondering if they understood a word of whatever they were saying; maybe wondering if they understood anything at all.

And the fact that he was a giant mutant snapper turtle gave him more of an advantage since people tend to stay away from him, not because he was just a teenager, but because of his size.

“You won’t win,” Raph told her, standing up on shaky legs that were used to standing on uneven ground, grateful that Mikey was a grounding presence beside him as his baby brother helped him stand “Our friends are going to defeat all of your allies up there, and you’re never going to ‘rule the world’, or get whatever other ridiculous, unrealistic things you want.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself,” said Big Mama, and Raph scoffed, because he’d never been accused of that before. Quite the opposite.

Big Mama finally found her footing, stumbling to her feet and meeting his eyes in the dark. Raph swept his gaze across his field of vision, still seeing no sign of Leo and Donnie, becoming more anxious by the second. With the way that Mikey clung to him and his eyes were nervously looking around, he knew that his baby brother was probably feeling the same the longer that their brothers were out of sight. A knot had been forming in their stomachs since the moment the twins dropped out of sight.

“Alright,” Big Mama said suddenly, in a completely different tone of voice, her hands up placatingly. “Circumstances being what they are, I am willing to make a deal.”

“What deal?” Huey asked, bringing Mikey closer to his side, suspicious and tired of guessing at the motives of others.

“As the eldest son, you are the next rightful heir to the throne.” His former guardian took one step forward, his voice steady and deceptively kind. “If you stop all this nonsense and join me, the rulership is yours. If you grant me a position of power alongside you.”

She really was hitting every cliché in the book with that ‘join me’ speech. There was no way that she was being genuine, and even if she was, Raph wasn’t interested.

“Raphel, my child,” Big Mama said, extending a hand towards him, and Raph shifted back a bit, bringing Mikey with him. “If you surrender now, you can come with me. You can come home.”

“You are crazy if you think Raph will go with you. Besides, he’s already home!” Mikey screamed out, trying to defend Raph. Raph could see that Big Mama was about to say something rude to Mikey, and he knew that he couldn’t have that. He placed a hand on top of Mikey’s, smiling softly at his little brother. “Thank you, Mikey. But I got this” Mikey nodded as he turned back to stare daggers at Big Mama

Raph took a deep breath before staring down Big Mama “I’ve been a lot of things, Mama,” Raph said, in a voice both wounded and strong, “but I’ve never been your child.”

Big Mama withdrew her hand, the air thick with tension and frozen in anticipation.

“I’ve been a lot of places, too, but I wouldn’t call any of them home.” Raph huffed a short breath, matching Big Mama’s steely gaze. “I won’t join you. I won’t be the captain of your sinking ship.”

Somewhere around them, the sound of dripping water echoed freely, and it was the only sound aside from ragged breathing and chattering teeth.

“Shocking that you’ve chosen now to grow a backbone,” Big Mama remarked angrily. “But it will do you no good. You’re alone down here.”

In an instant, Big Mama transformed into her spider yokai form. Raph didn’t have much time to think as she ran forward and use one of her legs to hit Mikey square in the plastron, which sent him sailing into the fog, his yell echoing around them

“MIKEY!” Raph cried out as he tried to run towards his little brother, but he was stopped by Big Mama grabbing onto him and holding him in her spider arms. Raph struggled to get free, but found that he couldn’t. “Like I said, you’re all alone” Big Mama sneered as he brought him close to her face, her huge eight eyes staring right into his soul

Raph struggles became less and less as he faltered, his chest aching like he’d been hit. He had always been alone, for as long as he could remember. Cassandra had taken care of him for a short while, yes, but Big Mama had never allowed the girl to rest for long, and soon she’d been gone every waking hour doing whatever Big Mama asked of her. And that had left Raph, by himself in an empty house, making up imaginary friends and family so he didn’t feel so achingly lonely all the time, because of none of the Battle Nexus competitors wanted to talk to him. He’d hoped that it would make his chest feel lighter, wishing more than anything that one day he could stop feeling that crushing weight, but nothing ever worked, and eventually, he’d learned that the only person he could rely on to be there for him was himself.

“You’ve always been alone,” Big Mama repeated, smugness saturating her words.

She’d paid just enough attention to him to know how best to hurt him, it seemed. Raph was stuck. He couldn’t do anything, not by himself. Not like this.

Then suddenly, Big Mama screamed out and she dropped him hard onto the wet ground beneath them.

“For someone who hates being wrong, you sure make a lot of mistakes," someone called out, and Raph smiled involuntarily at the sudden playful voice, tears stinging his eyes and breath evening out.

There was no mistaking who had spoken, and when Leo stepped out of the shadows behind him, for the first time in Raph’s life, he felt like breathing wasn’t a chore. Leo was soaking wet, and he still managed to look like a hero, especially with his sword propped over his shoulder

“He’s not alone,” Mikey said, stepping up beside Leo on his left, and Raph was so relieved that he was ok. Donnie stepped up to Leo’s rightside, casually confident in the way only he could pull off, and he grinned at him softly. “He’s our brother.”

And even though part of Donnie must’ve been dying from saying something so cheesy, Raph knew that he meant it, and he couldn’t help the sappy smile that crossed his face. They were all on the same page now, finally accepting each other as family whether it was true or not. Raph wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

“You’re all weak,” Big Mama sneered, as she regain her footing.

Raph’s little brothers carefully made their way over to him, soaking wet and shivering just like he was. Ready to face the threat together, like they’d been doing since they met. Mikey got up on Raph’s shell again, and Raph ended up slightly behind Leo and Donnie. The twins were standing side-by-side, and the hands that their weapons didn’t occupied were held by each other. It warmed Raph’s heart as it looked like the two had come to an agreement about being twins. To keep himself grounded, Raph held on tightly to Mikey with one hand and his other hand came to rest on top of the twins’. Leo and Donnie smiled at him before turning their attention back to Big Mama

“Just like Hamato Yoshi and his bothersome family,” Big Mama continued, forming her words like weapons, razor sharp and meant to hurt. “Just like your mother, before I had her killed.”

Raph and Donnie felt the instinctive lurching movement Leo made, just barely able to hold back from flying towards Big Mama in defense of a family member they’d never known. He was shaking with restrained anger, and fear, and probably a million other things. Compared to Mikey’s eerie stillness, it made for quite the sight.

“It was you,” Raph breathed, suspended somewhere between numbness and pure, blinding pain. “You— You oversaw the army. You led the uprising.”

“Oh, I did, didn’t I?” Big Mama said as she changed back into her human form. She smoothed her dress, the very picture of indifference if it weren’t for the smirk on her face, or the wicked amusement in her voice. “Did I not mention it? What a shame.”

Raph should’ve known. Big Mama had told them that she’d been involved, but hadn’t said to what extent. He’d guessed that she’d been pretty high in rank, but hadn’t considered this. Although, it made sense that she had been in charge, because she still was, after all. You only had to look at the mismatched group of criminals currently brawling on the surface, the way they followed Big Mama’s orders without (much) complaint, and how they were all just a little bit afraid of her.

It had been Big Mama’s army against Splinter’s army, and in the end, they’d almost destroyed each other.

“Murderer,” Leo accused, low and angry, and if tones of voice could kill, he’d be a murderer, too.

“Oh, no dear. None of the blood is on my hands.” She spread her arms with a flourish, hands facing palms up, like a demonstration of her supposed innocence. “I only gave the order, and the dirty work was done for me.”

Raph’s stomach twisted into knots, and he thought he might be sick; he was certainly lightheaded enough.

“You’re a monster,” Mikey rephrased, his anger like raging winds in the face of Leo’s electrical storm.

“That, I can accept,” said Big Mama, taking another threatening step, looming over them with glowing yellow eyes. “Are you afraid of monsters? Children often are.”

“I used to be scared of you,” Raph began shakily, finally finding his voice. “I used to care what you thought of me, but it was a waste of time, wasn’t it? Because you never thought of me at all. You only saw me to an end.”

Big Mama tilted her head, like she’d come across some pitiful sight. Raph barreled onward.

“You don’t scare me anymore, because now I know exactly who you are,” said Raph, “and people like you don’t win wars.”

At least, not when it was fair.

Wars were won with loyalty, and Big Mama didn’t know the meaning of the word. Raph was still scared of her, of course, but only because she had the power to hurt them, not because she was a mystery, or a wildcard, or something he couldn’t prepare for. He’d gathered all the data he’d ever need on Big Mama, and she wasn’t worthy of that type of fear.

“Children are only afraid of monsters until the lights come on.” Raph narrowed his eyes and stared straight into Big Mama’s soul. “What are monsters afraid of?”

Big Mama didn’t seem to know what to do with the inquiry, defaulting back to glaring at them heatedly. Raph’s fingers were numb where he was clutching Mikey’s hand and the twins’ damp sleeves, but he didn’t make any move to warm them up, too involved in the standoff and wondering what came next when they’d all run out of moves to make.

“I have a guess,” Donnie said suddenly, and Raph knew without looking that he was smirking.

“Go for it,” Leo encouraged, not looking away from where he was meeting Magica’s glare head-on.

“Fear is fight or flight, right?” Donnie asked, and the other three nodded curiously. “And just who has she been trying to fight, all this time?”

Raph grinned, suddenly understanding what Donnie was getting at.

“You’re afraid of Hamato Yoshi,” said Raph, a firm statement rather than a question.

Leo and Mikey burst out laughing. It was somewhat hysterical, but laughter nonetheless. Donnie joined in with an amused wheeze that sounded mildly painful.

Big Mama growled sharply. “You have no respect for—”

“Nope,” Leo cut her off, still cackling.

Raph could pinpoint the exact moment where Big Mama snapped. Her fists shook and her eyes narrowed. She couldn’t have looked any angrier if there was steam coming out of her ears.

Raph took a stumbling step backwards, Mikey still thankfully hanging on, just as Big Mama’s hand shot out, latching onto Leo’s arm like a claw, digging into the cut that she’d found on complete accident. Leo cried out in pain, and Donnie and Mikey yelled at the sudden action, but Raph stayed completely silent and hardened his resolve.

He released Donnie’s sleeve and bent to pick up a good-sized, smooth rock in one motion. He hefted the stone over his shoulder, giving it to Mikey. Mikey caught Big Mama’s eyes in the darkness, and swung his makeshift weapon with all of his might, using his nunchunks as extra leverage

The stone collided heavily with the underside of her chin, not hard enough to do permanent damage, but enough to send her falling back into the water with an outraged scream. Her grip on Leo’s arm slipped, and the four of them stumbled backward a bit from the release of pressure, which cause Mikey to release his grip on Raph. Big Mama flailed in the water, and Raph searched his mind frantically for an idea of what to do next.

“That was just like with the oranges Miguel,” Leo remarked breathlessly, gingerly moving the arm Big Mama had let go of. “Except maybe even cooler.”

Mikey scoffed, then yelped as he slipped on the uneven, slimy surface beneath them. Donnie steadied him with a hand on his arm, and then started tugging him forwards into the darkness, towards where he thought he could see a bit of light that wasn’t coming from above.

“Come on,” Donnie urged, blindly reached for Leo’s hand and grabbing it tightly. The three of them started to move before they were scooped up by Raph

Like many of their adventures thus far, they only made it halfway before disaster struck. Big Mama had once again transformed back into her spider yokai form, so her legs were longer than theirs, and she was now running on pure anger and adrenaline, fighting like someone who had nothing left to lose.

She grabbed the back of Raph’s shirt and pulled, sending them all tumbling back onto their backs, rough rock scratching their skin as they protested loudly over Big Mama’s heavy breathing.

“You’ll pay for that,” Big Mama seethed, dripping cold water all over the place.

“I haven’t already?” Raph snarked, because his little brothers were rubbing off on him.

Big Mama sneered, reaching behind her back and pulling a very sharp and fancy-looking dagger out from practically nowhere. She held it above them menacingly, and Raph tried scrambling to his knees in panic as his little brothers made frantic cries of alarm. Maybe he’d been too hasty in saying that he wasn’t afraid of Big Mama anymore. She wouldn't kill them, would she? She needed them, she'd said it herself. She needed one of them, a traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind, and his heart started beating even faster.

Big Mama raised her weapon higher, poised to strike, and then – in between one heartbeat and the next – she crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She slumped to the ground, unconscious, and the dagger clattered noisily to the stone before bouncing into the water with a faint splash, gone as quickly as it had appeared.

Raph lay there with wide eyes, just breathing as his brain attempted to catch up and process the horrifying situation he'd just been part of, listening to Donnie and Mikey’s coughing and Leo’s muttered ramblings.

There was the sudden sound of fabric being moved, and then the area was bathed in a cool teal glow. It wasn’t a ton of light, really, but it still made Raph squint a little, swiveling his head around to look for the source.

Someone cleared their throat, and Raph looked up, feeling more than a little dazed.

Standing above them was a skeleton yokai, wearing a suit, hat, and bowtie and staring down at them with an eyebrow raised.

“Um,” Raph said, feeling a little awkward. “Hello?”

Chapter Text

Leo pushed himself up on one arm, his other one still throbbing from where Big Mama had aggravated his injury. The dim blue light made for a strange shimmering effect across the damp, rocky surface they were on. It felt wrong to notice how pretty it was in the aftermath of his latest near-death experience, but it was pretty, even with the ugly lump of unconscious Big Mama obscuring some of it.

Donnie started coughing on the other side of Raph, and Leo crawled over to smack his back between his shoulder blades. They’d had a tough time hitting the water, what with Donnie’s abused wrist and Leo’s sliced arm and the coldest water he had ever had the displeasure of touching. Leo had come up spitting and wheezing, and then he’d had to dive back down to grab Donnie by the hood and drag him up. He’d pulled his younger twin off the side of the canyon, finding a pathway of stone by sheer luck.

Leo remembered clearly the moments that followed. Leo had put his hands on Donnie’s shoulders and was examining his twin all over to make sure that Donnie didn’t injure himself further, paying extra special to his wrist. At one point, Donnie placed shaky hands on Leo’s cheeks. Surprised by the touch, Leo glanced up to see that, despite being drenched, there were clear tears on the corners of Donnie’s eyes. Immediately, alarm bells were going off in Leo’s head that Donnie was hurt. “You ok, Dee?” Leo asked, softly and worryingly.

Then, to Leo’s surprise, a smile appeared on Donnie’s face as he shook his head and rubbed his thumbs along Leo’s red stripes on his face. “Yeah. I’m ok Nardo”. Donnie then shuffled closer to Leo and bonked their foreheads together, sniffling slightly. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to believe that we are brothers. That you and I could be twins. Being here with you right now makes me realize just how much I’ve been missing my whole life. And now that I know that we are twins, I can’t imagine my life without you” Donnie then leaned up slightly so that his eyes locked with Leo, his voice slightly breaking at the end “So please, Leo…don’t leave me”

Well Leo just had to hug Donnie after hearing all that. The older twin threw his arms around his younger twin in a tight hug, being mindful of both of their injuries. “You don’t have to apologize Don” Leo said, a few tears of his own spilling forward “Your hesistation and lack of faith was completely justifiable. I honestly wouldn’t have believed it either if not for our medallion pieces” Leo then pulled back slightly to cup Donnie’s face, brushing away some tears that were falling “I can’t imagine my life without you either Tello. Now that I have you and Raph, my life is now complete. And I promise you, I will never ever let you go” Leo laughed through his tears as squeezed Donnie’s cheeks, which caused Donnie to laugh too “You are my brother. My twin forever and ever until the end of time Don-Tron. That is my promise to you”

Donnie smiled sweetly as he leaned into Leo’s gentle touch, bonking their foreheads together again. “I love you Leo” Leo instinctly let a chirp escape as he placed a soft, but small kiss on the side of Donnie’s head “Love you too Donnie”

The twins would have stayed in their little bubble forever if not for the fact that they had more pressing matters on their hands. They had heard Big Mama and their other two brothers splash down not too long later, and could only begin to look for them when they heard their voices, trying to find a way to their brothers in the dark and cold.

Leo’s head shot up when someone cleared their throat in a decidedly strained sort of way. Raph was sitting right in front of him, looking up at the newcomer. Leo followed his gaze and saw that a skeleton yokai was standing a few feet away, holding a glowing blue lantern and a long wooden rod. The rod had to have been the thing that took out Big Mama, and Leo almost broke down and laughed because she’d come all this way and done a million terrible things only to be taken out by an skeleton with a glorified stick.

Their rescuer was wearing some oddly fancy clothes, basically a suit and tie, and Leo wondered why on earth someone at the bottom of a ravine would be dressed for a high-class dinner party. Then again, he’d never actually been to a ravine before. Maybe that was just how people dressed here. The skeleton yokai had the expression of someone who was both hopelessly baffled and completely unimpressed. Leo flashed a nervous smile, one hand still on Donnie’s back.

“Um,” Raph said quietly. “Hi?”

The stranger’s eyes bounced between the four of them rapidly, like he was trying to connect invisible dots. Leo was getting used to being looked at like a puzzle, but he did wish that it wasn’t so time consuming.

“Where did you come from?” The skeleton yokai asked in a stern, level voice. “Why are you here?”

Leo shared a nervous look with Raph and Mikey, who had glanced back at him and Donnie, probably looking for some help in answering the questions.

“We, uh, we came from up there,” said Leo, pointing weakly towards the surface. “And we’re here to see Hamato Yoshi.”

The stranger narrowed his eyes and shifted the lantern, sending shadows dancing on the walls.

“You’re working for Big Mama?” the skeleton yokai asked, a cleverly concealed threat buried in the words.

“Against,” said Donnie, sounding exhausted and hoarse. “We work against her. Not very successfully, but still.”

Leo nodded enthusiastically, ignoring how it made his head spin.

“It’s true, we hate her,” Mikey said quickly, sensing that if they didn’t convince this guy of a few things, they wouldn’t be getting anywhere near Yoshi. “We’ve been running from her and the others for like, weeks.”

The skeleton yokai blinked. “Others?”

“Tiger Claw,” said Donnie and Mikey.

“Rahzar,” said Leo.

“Oroku Saki” said Raph.

Leo and his brothers shared equally tired looks.

“The Purple Dragons,” they said in unison.

The skeleton yokai nearly dropped his wooden rod in shock, his eyes widening in surprise before visibly gathered his wits and stared them down. “Who are you?”

There was an awkward silence as they all tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t sound completely insane. There was no telling whether this guy would believe them, and it was a lot to explain anyway. There was no protocol for falling down a deep dark hole and telling the first person you met that you were long lost royalty.

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Donnie said eventually. “Who are you?”

The stranger’s lips thinned. “Hueso.”

Raph nodded for some reason, probably because there wasn’t much else to be doing. This whole thing was painfully uncomfortable.

“Okay. Hueso,” Raph began, pulling himself up to stand on shaky legs. “Can you take us to Hamato Yoshi?”

Hueso furrowed his eyebrows at them, glancing down to Big Mama and back again, seemingly contemplating the whole situation. Something strange crept into his eyes as he looked at them, something simultaneously sad and skeptical; maybe even a little hopeful. He took a deep breath.

“You’re brothers,” Hueso said simply, the words somewhere between a question and a statement.

Donnie and Leo sighed softly, Mikey nodded, and Raph just stood still, devoid of the energy necessary to respond. Hueso stared at them unblinkingly, then nodded slightly to himself, coming to some silent conclusion. 

Hueso snapped his fingers sharply, and two figures detached from the shadows. They were wearing matching outfits and were holding identical spears, a bow and arrows slung across their backs. They were probably guards of some sort, and Leo figured that they’d followed Hueso down here and were operating under his guidance. It was weird, since Hueso didn’t really seem like the guy who’d be in charge.

The guards knelt on either side of Big Mama, each gripping an arm harshly as they picked her up and hauled her off to wherever they’d come from.

Leo watched them go in silence, feeling uneasy for a hundred different reasons. Donnie was tense beneath his hand, breathing shakily, and Raph and Mikey just stared at Big Mama until she was out of view, until they were left staring at darkness.

Big Mama was gone, and it almost seemed anticlimactic.

Maybe it would’ve felt that way no matter what had happened. She was only a person, after all. It just seemed like after all the trouble and pain she’d caused, she would’ve left a bigger mark where she’d fallen, or made more noise as she was taken away. Instead she hung limply and silently between the guards, not half as big and scary as the things she’d put them through.

Raph was still gazing unblinkingly towards where Big Mama had disappeared to, an unreadable expression on his face. Mikey caught Raph’s attention with a gentle hand on his shoulder and a small, understanding smile. Raph smiled back, a little bit sad, and then he turned to face Hueso.

“Come along then,” Hueso said after a beat of silence, and he turned and started walking towards the side of the canyon.

Leo pulled Donnie to his feet, shoulder now aching as a consequence of hanging off the side of a cliff. Raph and Mikey waited patiently – perfectly still – until they were all ready to go, and they shared nervous looks before following Hueso towards the wall.

“We have friends up there, on— on the surface,” Mikey said with sudden urgency, the realization hitting him out of nowhere now that their own crisis was averted. “They might need help with all those people that we mentioned were chasing us.”

Hueso stopped walking for only a moment, turning his head slightly so that Mikey could see his profile. His expression was unreadable.

“It’s being handled,” was all that Hueso said before continuing in the dark, lantern held high in a steady hand.

Leo had half a mind to be irritated, and he could tell that Mikey felt the same. But one look at each other and they decided to let it be. If anyone could handle themselves, it was April and her parents. Leo and Mikey had faith and hope that they’d be okay.

The ground beneath them was still annoyingly slippery, so every step came with the risk of falling. It was difficult work, especially for those who weren’t in peak physical condition, and it required almost full concentration; their legs weren’t exactly the strongest or steadiest things to be standing on at the moment.

He didn’t notice the hole in the wall until they were stepping into it.

Leo startled a bit when their footsteps started echoing, looking around in surprise at the passage they’d just entered. He hadn’t been able to see it in the dark, but it was a tunnel. A tunnel. He knew immediately that they were walking beneath the ‘island’ they’d seen earlier, and he smiled to himself tiredly. Guess they didn’t need a bridge to get across after all.

It didn’t take long to see a faint blue glow of light at the end of the tunnel, and Leo tilted his head, confused. Where on earth were they going?

Maybe he could’ve figured it out if he wasn’t so stupidly exhausted, but in that moment he just felt like he was looking at a big jumble of things that in no way connected or made sense. He blindly followed Raph and Mikey, who were blindly following Hueso, and Donnie was behind them all, sighing every now and then as if he really couldn’t help it.

This is just my life now, Leo thought, and he couldn’t dredge up much emotion to go along with that statement. If there was nothing at the end of this tunnel, Leo thought that he almost wouldn’t care, as long as there was solid ground to flop down onto and go peacefully into a coma or something. Leo snorted quietly at that imagery; that was such a Donnie thought to have.

Less than a minute later, Hueso walked out of the tunnel without any preamble at all, like nothing special was going on, which turned out to be entirely and severely misleading. Leo exited the tunnel and pretty much stopped breathing.

It was a huge cavern. The biggest hole in the ground that Leo had ever seen. And it was beautiful.

The walls and ceiling were covered in tiny patches of glowing blue moss, dark rock peeking out from in between the clusters, and it was like looking at the stars, or standing in the center of the universe. The ground was taken up with pools of water in various sizes – also glowing a faint blue because of algae or plankton or something, Donnie would know – and in between the pools were smooth stone pathways, lined with warm glowing orange lanterns hanging from metal posts. There were a few stalagmites – ha, and April said he wouldn’t remember that science lesson – sticking up from the ground in some places, reflecting the glow from all around them. Leo was suddenly reminded of why blue was his favorite color.

He could hardly feel his heart beating. Either it had stopped completely, or it was going too fast to pick up on. Leo stared past all the blue and bits of orange, directing his unblinking gaze and unwavering focus on his new favorite sight, and he would’ve broken down sobbing if he had the breath to do so.

Near the back of the cavern was a castle.

The castle.

Mikey’s hand grabbed onto his sleeve tightly, a bit shaky, but Leo could hardly judge; he was shaking all over.

The castle was smaller than he’d imagined it to be, but it was every bit as regal and official looking, even if it had bits of moss growing on parts of it. It had a wooden drawbridge laying across one of the larger pools in the cavern, and Leo couldn’t see beyond it yet, but he was still in awe. He craned his neck upwards, spotting a single tower that was jutting up through the roof of the cave, the rest of it presumably being on the surface of the island above. A sort of lookout tower, maybe?

Leo probably made some sort of emotional noise, and he looked to his brothers to share the moment with them. They were the only ones who would understand.

Mikey and Donnie were staring up at the ceiling, blue dots of light reflecting brilliantly in their watery eyes. His twin and baby brother turned to meet his gaze, and suddenly they were grinning and crying and hugging. Raph immediately scooped the three of them up in a big emotional embrace. They were all standing maybe a hundred feet underground having simultaneous emotional breakdowns, bathed in blue light and finally standing where they were meant to be.

Their shaky laughter was interrupted by a forceful cough, causing them all to startle apart, halfway expecting some sort of attack. But it was only Hueso, who was standing a few feet ahead and looking back at them rather awkwardly, with a hint of both patience and sympathy. Leo wondered what kind of impression they’d made on the guy, if he was having such mixed emotions.

“If you’d like to continue…” said Hueso, leaving the sentence open-ended.

“Oh— um, sorry.” Raph sniffed and wiped at his face, flashing an uncertain smile at their mysterious new friend. “Please. We’ll follow.”

Hueso huffed a breath and continued elegantly down the path, a line of dirty, wet, and shivering turtles trailing behind him.

“Hey, Leo?” Donnie said next to him, getting his attention, and Leo hummed happily in acknowledgment. Donnie just smirked in response, mischievous eyes glinting in the lighting, and he pointed at something off to the side. Leo turned to look, uncertain of what he might see, and Mikey and Raph were giggling a second before Leo burst out laughing.

It was one of the stalagmites, about his height and covered in the glowing blue moss. Leo looked at it, and then down at his outfit; the light blue shirt with the dark blue jacket. Yeah, he matched the stalagmite well.

“Wanna play hide and seek?” Leo asked his little brothers cheekily.

“I think we’ve done enough hiding for a lifetime,” Raph said, a hint of humor in his voice.

They were all still giggling, and it probably wasn’t that funny, but none of them could stop. Maybe the healing began after you’d gone insane. Maybe pointless laughter was a good thing, especially with the turns their lives had taken recently.

Hueso spared only one glance at them before focusing his gaze forward, where it remained until they came upon the drawbridge. The wood of the bridge was in surprisingly good condition, given the water that surrounded it. It didn’t give at all beneath Leo’s feet as they crossed it, Hueso nodding to the guards positioned on either side as they passed.

They entered a small courtyard, empty except for a white stone fountain in the center, ironically devoid of water. Donnie snorted as they strolled past it, and Leo grinned teasingly at him.

Then they reached the front doors of the castle and new nerves flared to life, tying his stomach in knots and shoving his heart into his throat. Mikey fidgeted on his right, and Raph and Donnie went stock still on his left, with Donnie wracked by the occasional shiver. Leo exhaled loudly and clenched his jaw as the large doors opened slowly inwards, being pulled by two more guards. And what on earth were they guarding? How many people could even possibly find this place?

They walked into a large room, red carpet covering dark wood floors and more lanterns lining the walls. Shelves and other surfaces were covered with random knickknacks, and a wide staircase – the biggest that Leo had ever seen – extended in front of them. Hueso started up them without halting. Leo shared slightly apprehensive glances with his brothers before they followed as one.

“I’ve never been anywhere this fancy,” Donnie said quietly, looking around and seeming almost overwhelmed.

Mikey nodded. “Leo and I have seen some nice places before, but nothing like this.” Everything screamed quality.

Hueso turned right at the top of the stairs and led them halfway down a long hallway before stopping in his tracks. Leo pulled up short, and Hueso gestured calmly to a soft-looking cushioned bench pushed against the wall.

“Sit there until I call for you,” said Hueso. “Don’t move.”

He waited until all four of them were sitting before opening the nearest door and disappearing behind it. Leo took a moment to just breathe.

After weeks of constant and terrifying action, all they had left to do was wait.

Chapter Text

There was a mirror hanging on the wall across from the bench they were sitting on, and Donnie couldn’t stop staring at it. He’d only ever looked in a mirror a few times in his whole life. Since they usually cost money and required a house or something to place it in, he’d never had one.

Most of the time, Donnie only ever saw himself in calm waters or dark windows, and he had no problem with it. It didn’t matter. Mirrors never ranked very high on his list of things he wished he had, and it was a sad list honestly, with things like family and food and a roof that didn’t leak written right at the top. How stupid would it be to wish he had a mirror? Especially when all he would see would be a skinny child whose only goal in life was to survive to the next day. In all honesty, Donnie was almost scared of seeing himself, of seeing the lost look in his eyes, of seeing a person who might not make it through the winter.

Looking in the mirror now, he hardly recognized himself. He was still wearing his damp clothes, torn in some places and smudged with dirt in others. His wrist continued to be a major issue, and it wasn’t any fun to look at. It only brought the pain back to the forefront of his mind, even more so when he noticed that it was still slightly swollen and looked more bruised than ever.

Other than his wrist, he was covered in various other injuries; all four of them were. Scrapes and bruises littered their bodies, probably par for the course when you throw yourself into a canyon and slip and fall on sharp pointy rocks. There was a particularly visible scrape on his forehead above his right eye, and Donnie raised a shaky hand up to touch it, unsure of where it had come from and just now feeling the sting. His shoulder protested at the movement, sore from the yanking motion of grabbing a rope midair. It didn’t seem to be dislocated or broken or anything, so Donnie counted that as a tentative win.

All three of his brothers met his eyes in the mirror, each of them offering him a knowing, tired smile. A cut on Raph’s cheek had been bleeding earlier, but it had stopped at some point. Louie stared blankly back, breathing slowly.

The way that they were seated was that him and Raph were at the end, with Leo and Mikey being in the middle. Mikey was on Leo’s right and Donnie was on Leo’s left. Raph and Mikey dropped their gazes and went back to staring at nothing, with Mikey tapping his foot against the ground.

However, Leo continued to stare at him with that same smile on his face, reaching out to throw his arm around Donnie’s shoulder, pulling him into a side hug. The comforting gesture was much appreciated as Donnie leaned his head on Leo’s shoulder, grabbing onto Leo’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, a tiny smile appearing on his face, his eyes drifting slowly shut

Leo seemed to notice, leaning down to whisper softly to his younger twin “You can rest your eyes if you need to Don. I got you”

Well, how could Donnie say no to that?

“Thanks Leo” Donnie whispered back as he leaned further into Leo, his snout buried in the crook of Leo’s neck, taking immense comfort in his older twin

The silence continued, only broken by the tapping of Mikey’s foot against the ground.

Donnie opened his eyes at one point to blink at his reflection.

“What are we even going to say?” Raph asked quietly, staring at the plush red carpet on the floor.

Donnie opened his eyes again halfway, and after a moment of processing the question, he shrugged…well as best as he could with leaning against his twin

“We could start with ‘hi, sorry to drop in unannounced, we promise we’re not assassins’?” Mikey suggested, stopping the tapping of his foot to gently swing his legs. “I feel like it’s important that we make a good first impression.”

Leo snorted and leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I think that went out the window when we led every single enemy of the King right to his front door.”

“That wasn’t our fault, though,” Mikey said stubbornly.

“Still happened.”

There was a pause. A door opened and closed somewhere around the corner. Donnie tensed automatically, skin crawling at the unfamiliar territory he’d been thrown into. He hadn’t been fully comfortable in a long time.

Leo pulled Donnie closer to him and rubbed his hand up and down Donnie’s arm, as a means of comforting his younger twin, leaning down to whisper softly “It’s ok Dee. You are safe. We are all here. I’ve got you” Donnie slightly relaxed, feeling a bit safer knowing that his older twin wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to him

“What if he doesn’t believe us?” Raph asked.

“He will,” said Mikey, glancing at the door Hueso had disappeared behind. “He has to.”

“Not really,” Donnie said, feeling like he had to be the voice of reason. “He could just kick us out or throw us in jail.”

“Well, I convinced you, didn’t I?” Leo shrugged and grinned, meeting his eyes in the mirror once again.

“Maybe he’s more stubborn than I am.”

“Maybe,” Mikey allowed, “but now we’re a team. We can convince him together.”

“If I don’t pass out from exhaustion first,” Raph remarked, rubbing his eyes and blinking vigorously.

“And if he lets us live long enough,” Donnie added.

Leo and Mikey rolled their eyes, and Donnie stuck his tongue out at them. Raph sighed.

The door across from them opened, and they all jumped, which lead to Leo and Donnie disengaging from each other.

“You have five minutes,” Hueso said somberly, waving them over.

Mikey stood first, unsurprisingly, but he also stumbled. Raph caught him by the arm and didn’t let go, because they both seemed to need steadying. The twins trailed in right behind them, with Donnie trying to convince himself that he wasn’t hiding and leaning himself against Leo as a way of staying close to his twin. Leo smiled a reassuring smile at him and grabbed onto his hand to squeeze gently

Hueso left the room as soon as they entered, closing the door behind him with a firm click.

The room they’d walked into was large, with random knickknacks and sculptures laying around. The hand that wasn’t holding on to Leo had been twitching since they’d come into the castle, and it was only getting worse. Once upon a time, he would’ve stolen any number of these things, knowing that he needed it more. Now, though, there were more important things to deal with.

The floor was bare, no longer covered in carpet. Instead it was dark oak planks that seemed almost ancient, but still polished. The walls were a dull beige color, and there was a chandelier with lit candles hanging from the ceiling. A few lanterns sat around the room at regular intervals, lighting the space warmly.

A few feet in front of the far wall was a chair.

Behind the chair was a painting hanging on the wall, and Donnie stopped and stared, distantly aware that his brothers had done the same.

It was a large painting, in a golden frame, and the wall around it was scuffed as if it had been taken down and put back up multiple times. In the painting were two humans, a goat yokai, and four little turtles. It wasn’t lost on Donnie how completely different everyone was in the photo, yet it seemed like that didn’t matter as they were still family, regardless of what species they were

Donnie vaguely recognized the human wearing the fancy crown, brown robe, and white ninja outfit as King Hamato Yoshi. The goat yokai wore a lab coat and was grinning nervously. The woman, who Donnie thought was very beautiful, had her hair up and wore a smaller crown on her head, her green and white dress bringing out the color in her eyes. She was beaming down at four turtle babies sitting on a table in front of her. Four babies.

The one with the blue mask was in the middle, blue and red mismatched eyes wide and sparkling in delight as he leaned backwards to reach his short arms up towards his mother, smiling widely, seeming like he was mid-giggle. The one with the red mask, the biggest of the four turtles, was staring inquisitively at the room he was in, the urge to explore prominent in big green eyes. He was only being held back by the goat yokai, with a gentle hand on his tiny shoulder. The one with the purple mask was holding some sort of stuffed toy, in such a tight grasp that it suggested he’d refused to let go of it. The babies chin was resting on top of the toy, and he was looking straight out of the painting with the same mischievous blue and red mismatched eyes as his twin, with a content grin on his face. The one with the orange mask was being gently in the arms of his mother, a small smile on his face as he tried to not fall asleep

Donnie had traded one mirror for another. That was him, and that was Raph, Leo, and Mikey. Raph had their mother’s eyes. It had all been real.

Donnie’s shaking hand fell on top of the clasp of his cloak, and it felt warmer than the rest of his body, somehow.

Without warning – which was the way most things happened to them – the chair turned around, and there was Hamato Yoshi, sitting and staring at them, his eyes tired and guarded.

Donnie only had a moment to take in his appearance – registering the carefully concealed grief and surprise in his expression – before Mikey spoke up to say something that they most definitely had not approved as a group.

“You don’t look how I thought you’d look” Mikey blurted, in such a way which made it clear he hadn’t thought much about it at all.

The corner of Hamato Yoshi’s mouth ticked downwards, and Donnie winced. Off to a great start, then.

“Who are you?” Hamato Yoshi spoke, and Donnie blinked in surprise at how deep his voice sounded, a Japanese accent present. “Why are you here, and how did you find this place?”

Donnie sensed that if they answered any one of those questions wrong, they’d never get a second chance to do it right. His heart sped up and his wrist throbbed. He winced and held it closer to his stomach, and if he wasn’t mistaken, Hamato Yoshi followed the movement with his eyes.

“It’s.. it’s not easily explained,” Raph said haltingly, taking a half step forward. “It’s a long story and we— we only have a few minutes.”

“Try,” Hamato Yoshi said in a neutral tone of voice, leaning his elbows on his desk and clasping his hands.

Everyone took a moment to breathe, the silence of the room almost deafening. There they were in the presence of the Lost King, and none of them knew what to say, or even how to start. Donnie prided himself on being able to talk his way in or out of situations, but when it was real – when it was genuine – he had trouble with it. Probably because he didn’t have a lot of practice with dealing with people who had no ulterior motives. He didn’t have a lot of experience with family, either.

But he had to start somewhere, and here would do just fine.

“I’m Donnie,” Donnie spoke up, voice shaky and quiet but determined. Raph and Mikey looked at him in shock, but Leo squeezed his hand in reassurance

He’d been the last one to offer his name, back in the Purple Dragons wagon. And he hadn’t offered it since then. Maybe now he was braver, or simply too tired to be afraid. Either way, Leo’s hand in his was a boost of confidence. A silent reminder that his twin was there and would back him up if need be

The King blinked at him, eyebrows drawn slightly downward, like he was thinking hard about something. Donnie was good at reading faces; he’d had to be, once upon a time.

“I’m here because I tried to break into the Purple Dragons’ wagon and got kidnapped. He—” Donnie gestured to Leo, while also squeezing his hand, “—is here because he tried to save me and got kidnapped, and Mikey over there wearing the orange mask…” Mikey waved shyly when Donnie said his name “…was already with Leo and got kidnapped along with us. Raph was already in the wagon, because Big Mama sold him off to the Purple Dragons. Big Mama sold him to the Purple Dragons because he’s royalty.”

Raph and Mikey were still staring at him like he’d grown a second head, while Leo was looking at him with what Donnie could describe as maybe…proudness? Fondness maybe? Donnie himself was feeling a little hysterical. But what did he have to lose?

Hamato Yoshi glared at them slightly, looking angry, and scared, and full of grief, even though to the average person he’d appear unimpressed, or just plain mad. Donnie recognized the look; he’d worn it himself once or twice.

Eventually, Raph shook himself and returned his gaze to the former king.

“What he said,” said Raph, sounding slightly dazed, and maybe a little proud.

“We escaped the Purple Dragons and found out that we were brothers and possibly royalty,” said Mikey, jumping in and speaking fast, “and then we found a library and Leo did this cool thing with our meda—”

Hamato Yoshi slammed his fist on the desk, and the twins automatically fell back a few steps before they even registered moving. Raph stepped closer to them on instinct, and Mikey stayed rooted in place, beak snapping shut.

“You’ve outstayed your welcome,” Hamato Yoshi said, glaring at them with his hands shaking. Donnie hadn’t felt welcomed in the first place, but whatever. “Guards!”

“No— Wait, I—” Leo spun around to face the two guards that suddenly entered the room, his grip on Donnie becoming a bit tighter. “Stop! Just— just listen!”

Donnie turned to look at Hamato Yoshi with desperate eyes, but the man was glaring over all of their heads, not even looking at them, almost like he couldn’t.

“It’s true!” Donnie shouted, voice breaking. There had been a time when he didn’t believe it. There’d been a time when he was scared – terrified – of thinking that it was true, of even indulging it for a second. He was still afraid, and maybe he always would be, but now it was for different reasons. Now he knew it was worth it.

Hamato Yoshi was still grieving, that much was clear to see, and he didn’t want to believe what they were saying because it would leave him too vulnerable. It would hurt to have hope. It would hurt. Donnie knew what that was like.

“I promise it’s true,” said Donnie, who hated making promises, but this one he knew he could keep.

“Just wait a second, we have proof!” Mikey exclaimed loudly, rushing and stumbling over words that seemed to mean nothing to Hamato Yoshi.

Before Mikey could bust out the proof and save the day, the guards were upon them, and they probably didn’t mean to be so rough, but at that moment all four of them could be knocked over by a gust of wind, even strong and invincible Raph was taken down easily. So when the poor unknowing guard grabbed Donnie’s wrist, he couldn’t have known the chaos it would cause.

The grip wasn’t as forceful as Tiger Claw’s had been, but a little went a long way in this situation. Every other source of pain was suddenly numb as his brain devoted its undivided attention to his sprained – or maybe worse, at this point – wrist. Donnie let out a strangled, half-muffled scream, his vision immediately going blurry. Part of him wanted to just give up and pass out and possibly stay asleep for the rest of his life, if this was what being awake was going to be like.

Then a blur of green and red slammed into the guard’s stomach, and the guy released Donnie’s wrist as he stumbled back.

Donnie tried to even out his breathing, once again cradling his inconveniently injured limb to his chest. To his surprise, Raph was the one who’d gone after the guard, and his oldest brother was now standing in front of him, looking furious, looking ready to fight the guard if he had to. Raph would do it to protect his little brothers. Mikey and Leo were being held back by the other guards, who looked out of their depth, but were succeeding in wrangling two angry and squirming turtles. Leo, for his part, was hissing angrily at the guard holding him down before he made eye contact with his younger twin. When Leo saw the state his twin was in, his struggles got even more fierce, trying everything in his power to break free and run over to his younger twin to help him

The male guard, which was about the same size as Raph, managed to somehow overpower Raph, snatching him by the arm and Donnie by the hood, dragging them towards the door as all four of them struggled and shouted, with Leo’s shouts being the loudest of all as he desperately called out to Donnie

Donnie could physically feel his heart sinking into the floor, and he already felt the broken feeling returning to his chest. It hurt more than his wrist ever could.

Distantly, he realized that tears were running down each of their faces. They weren’t strong enough to resist the guards, even Raph got overpowered. They weren’t even clever enough to convince Hamato Yoshi of the truth. They’d used up all they had just to get there, and there was nothing left of them to complete their mission. There was nothing left.

But something had to give.

Donnie didn’t believe in fate or destiny, but he would be hard-pressed to write what happened next off as coincidence.

The clasp of his cloak swung open, and it was like déjà vu when the medallion piece tumbled out.

Chapter Text

One day, life would be easier – and that was maybe – but that day had not yet come about.

Raph’s elbow was aching from where he’d shoved it into the guard’s stomach, but he didn’t regret it at all. In fact, he wished he’d done it sooner, and with far more force. He wasn’t usually prone to violence, but he couldn’t stand seeing his brothers get hurt, and he became so unbelievably angry and upset whenever they did, which had been happening much too often recently. Raph knew that even after all this was over, he’d be stuck on the defensive for a while – just to be safe, just out of instinct.

If it was ever over, and if they were ever safe. It wasn’t looking too good, currently.

The male guard had one hand twisted into the fabric of Raph’s vest, and his other was gripping the hood of Donnie’s cloak. There was quite a bit of noise in the room, mostly because of Leo, who was alternating between begging Hamato Yoshi to listen and shouting at the guards to let them go, crying out for Donnie. He might’ve been more convincing if the other guards didn’t have him and Mikey slung over their shoulders like a sack of flour.

Raph was doing some yelling of his own, although he had no clue what he was saying. All he knew was that he was never going to go quietly again. Mikey had the same idea as Raph and Leo as he was doing some yelling of his own. The guards seemed to be both conflicted and annoyed at their persistence, and who could blame them, honestly.

Donnie, however, was silent, and Raph turned to check on him.

The younger twin was staring intensely at something on the floor a few feet away, his good hand fumbling for the clasp of his cloak – the clasp that was open. Raph followed Donnie’s eyeline and realized what his brother was trying so desperately to get to.

The medallion piece.

Oh.

Raph’s eyes widened, hands subconsciously going to his chest where his own piece was concealed beneath his vest. Raph had forgotten, somehow, that they had proof. Leo’s yelling suddenly made a lot more sense.

There was a triumphant noise as Donnie finally freed himself from his cloak, and his brother stumbled forwards with his momentum, leaving the purple fabric dangling in the startled guard’s hand. Donnie went straight for the golden object on the floor, and Raph started violently wriggling out of his vest before the guard could react.

The vest came off quickly and smoothly – which was a miracle honestly, given their luck – and Raph felt his piece of the medallion fall back against his chest with a dull thud, fully visible for everyone to see.

Leo and Mikey fell silent, and Raph looked over just in time to watch them tumble face first towards the floor, having shifted their weight suddenly in a way the guard hadn’t expected. Raph’s breath caught, anticipating a horrible collision with the ground and a possible concussion, but Leo and Mikey landed gracefully on their hands and sprung onto their feet, only stumbling a little. Leo and Mikey stood upright, shaking out their hands and grinning to themselves for only a moment before turning and racing towards their brothers

Mikey came over to Raph, placing his hand on Raph’s arm, making sure he was ok. Raph smiled at his little brother as he subtly scanned Mikey for any injuries, relieved to find none, placing his hand over Mikey’s.

The warm colors duo turned their head to see their cool colors counterparts. Leo had a gentle hold on Donnie’s wrist, gentle and shaky hands moving all over Donnie to make sure that he wasn’t hurt. A lone tear escaped down Donnie’s face as he leaned his forehead into Leo’s, telling Leo that he was ok and wasn’t hurt any further. Raph could see all of the tension escape Leo as he leaned into Donnie’s touch, a hand coming up to briefly cup Donnie’s cheek and wipe away his tear, before leaning back. A panic look appeared on Donnie’s face, leading Leo to quickly grab onto Donnie’s uninjured hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. A way of grounding and a sense of comfort

The guards were right behind them, and could easily grab them again if they so desired, but they appeared to be at a loss. One of them was holding Raph’s vest and Donnie’s cloak in opposite hands, standing there with a baffled look in his eyes.

Raph didn’t blame them for their confusion. The four of them together were a lot to handle, and they’d been dealing with people far more ruthless than several guards who couldn’t have seen much action in recent years. Compared to what they’d been through in the past few weeks, this was nothing.

Raph turned his attention to the King, his eyes blazing with determination and anger and the knowledge that no one was going to leave that room until they’d finished what they came to do. Mikey stood tall on his right, and the twins materialized calmly to his left, with Donnie clutching his retrieved medallion piece in his good hand and Leo having a feather-light grip in his bad hand. The guards stood listlessly where they’d left them, and Raph put them out of his mind.

Hamato Yoshi was openly staring at the object hanging against Raph’s heart, halfway out of his chair, and the king had gone paler than anyone that Raph had ever seen. His hands were faintly trembling, and the man was hardly breathing. He looked like he’d seen a ghost, but if anyone could have been mistaken for a ghost, it would be the king himself. Everyone had thought him dead, after all.

“My name is Raph,” Raph said firmly, clearly, demanding to be seen and heard. “I’m your oldest son, these are my brothers, and I can prove it.”

Raph reached up and grabbed the chain of his necklace, carefully pulling it over his head. No one else moved or made a sound. He walked forward purposefully, stopping when he got to the desk, less than three feet from where Hamato Yoshi was standing on the opposite side. He set his medallion piece down carefully on the wooden surface, and it was kind of like laying all his cards on the table. There was nothing left to hide, no more map to follow, and nowhere else for them to go. Hamato Yoshi sank back down into his seat.

Leo and Mikey placed their pieces on the desk next, with more vigor – clearly still reeling from the recent skirmish – and Donnie set his down gently, like it was made of glass instead of gold. The noise it made as it settled against the wood was one of finality.

“I’m Leo, by the way,” Leo said lightly, the same way he’d introduced himself to them, all those weeks ago. “My favorite color is blue.”

Donnie and Mikey snorted softly, and Raph almost cracked a smile. Only Leo.

“I’m Mikey” Mikey introduced himself with that sunshine positivity that all of his brothers were beginning to adore

“And I’m Donnie,” the younger twin said, leaning slightly against his older twin, almost like he was trying to hide behind him. “In case you forgot.”

Hamato Yoshi stood suddenly and violently, chair scraping roughly against the floor as it was shoved backwards. He braced both of his white-knuckled hands against the edge of the desk, staring the four of them down with some strange and desperate emotion building in his eyes.

“How—” The King’s voice escaped in a strangled whisper, breaking halfway through, and he didn’t finish what he was going to say.

Instead, his gaze darted down to the medallion – all in pieces – on his desk. He reached out and lightly touched Leo’s piece, barely making contact before withdrawing. He leaned back, but his eyes stayed trained on the golden objects on the desk, as if he was both examining them intensely and looking right through them, not really seeing them at all.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Hamato Yoshi said slowly, an ancient sort of grief weighing on every word. Raph felt it deep in his soul, in the same way he felt the heaviness.

“We know,” Donnie said, a little awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Leo added, humor twisting his words. “We’ve heard.”

The king inspected them with a distraught gaze before turning slowly to face the painting behind him, the painting of smiling people – of an intact family. A painting of what he’d lost; a picture of what he might be getting back.

Hope hurt to look at, sometimes, when you’ve gone so long without it. It was like light, in that way. You had to let your eyes adjust.

There was a long and weighty moment of silence, in which it felt like everything they’d worked for was hanging in the balance. Beside him, Mikey shifted a little closer. Raph grabbed his hand.

“Your mother,” Hamato Yoshi began eventually, in a sad but thoughtful tone of voice, “never ceased to amaze me.”

Raph blinked at the sudden tears that sprung up in his eyes, swallowing hard against the persistent lump in his throat. Hamato Yoshi turned around to face them and smiled softly, hesitantly, unbearably fragile.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d managed to save you. It shouldn’t surprise me,” Hamato Yoshi said, almost like he was talking to himself. “But it does. It seems too good to be the truth. So much time has passed.”

A shadow crossed the king’s face, there and gone in the space of a second, in between one heartbeat and the next. Scrooge turned his gaze to Raph, and he looked at him a little wonderingly, a little bit hopeful. The expression was slightly awkward on his face, having maybe not felt those feelings in a long time.

“You have her eyes,” said Hamato Yoshi, quietly, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to say it out loud.

And now Mikey was crying next to him, which made Raph realize that he was crying, too. The twins were still holding each other hands, squeezing tightly, and faint sniffling could be heard from both as well, quiet and honest.

“And all of you have her bravery and propensity for trouble,” Hamato Yoshi continued, a tentative sort of smile on his face as he looked at them with shining eyes. “Oh my how much you boys have grown.”

Raph choked on a laughing sob, overwhelmed and tired and so, so happy.

The King glanced at the medallion pieces one last time, and then he made his way around the desk to kneel in front of them, like the gold and gems didn’t matter as much as they did.

“I…I’ve missed you. My…my sons” their dad said, voice breaking but filled with unmistakable fondness.

The twins crashed into their long-lost dad before he could even finish opening his arms, and Mikey followed at only a slightly slower pace, Raph a few steps behind him. They fell together in a crying heap on the floor, limbs tangled and four of them covered in damp clothing from the ‘moat’, but their dad didn’t seem to mind.

They were deep underground and somewhere above them a forest was burning to ashes, but it was perfect.

Raph cried and cried and cried, and he’d never felt lighter.

And by the sounds of sobs and relived looks that he saw on three faces, he knew that his little brothers felt the same way

They were finally home

Chapter Text

The last thing Leo wanted to do was sleep, but after he saw April and the others safe in the entryway, and after a rather tearful reunion, he collapsed in the first bed he saw.

Hamato Yoshi himself had brought them down the hall to a wing of the castle that had two rooms beside each other, which had apparently once been used for guests. In each of the two bedrooms were two beds, which meant two to a room. After some debate, it was agreed upon the Raph and Mikey would take one room, while Leo and Donnie would take the other room

However, just for the night, Raph declared that the four of them shared the twins’ room for the night, since they were all tired and wanted to be with each other. The other three agreed with him. The four brothers all piled onto the same one, too used to being right next to each other and still partially afraid that it was all a dream. Raph was the first one on the bed, with his little brothers piling on top of him. Raph gathered them up in his arms and held them close, falling asleep almost immediately. Leo laid in the middle, while Donnie and Mikey curled up on either side of him

Mikey snuggled himself against Leo’s left side, his arm laying against Leo’s plastron, hand out in case Donnie wanted to grab on to it. Donnie smushed himself up against the wall, curled around his rewrapped wrist. There’d been talk of sending for the castle physician, but everyone had been too overwhelmed and exhausted, surrounded by new people and halfway convinced they were still in danger. Donnie specifically had looked particularly spooked at the mention of a physician, and so they’d only been checked briefly for life-threatening injuries before being sent to bed with the promise that they’d get a proper checkup in the morning. It was probably better that way, because the four boys were beyond exhausted.

While Raph and Mikey had already fallen asleep, Donnie and Leo were still awake, though Donnie look like he could barely keep his eyes open. Leo smiled softly at his twin as he rubbed his thumb across his cheek. “You can fall asleep Don-Tron. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you or our brothers” Leo whispered softly so as not to wake the other two. Donnie closed his eyes and leaned into Leo’s gentle touch, nuzzling his hand before opening his eyes and looking back at Leo. “You’ll still be here when I wake up, right? You won’t leave me?” Donnie asked in such a small voice that it broke Leo’s heart. Leo leaned forward to bring his forehead against Donnie’s. “I’m not going anywhere Dee. I’m staying right here. I promise” he answered sincerely

It seemed to satisfied Donnie as he chirped quietly before yawning and laying down right next to Leo, cuddling up against Leo’s right side, as his other hand came over to hold onto Mikey’s hand, which brought a small smile from Mikey while he slept

Hamato Yoshi didn’t leave the room for quite a while, which was a little unsettling but not entirely unwelcome. Their dad sat on the empty bed across from them, and Leo, being the only one still awake, gazed at him with half lidded eyes and a sleepy smile. They hadn’t been able to explain everything, but it could wait until they were physically and mentally prepared to do so. It was a lot to unpack, really.

Eventually, Hamato Yoshi sighed softly and stood, startling Leo, who’d just begun to drift off. Their dad smiled softly at him – like he was scared to but couldn’t help it – and he laid a gentle hand on Leo’s head.

“Sleep well, my son,” was all their dad said before padding quietly out of the room. He stopped at the doorway and looked back for a long moment – backlit by a flickering lantern hanging somewhere in the hallway – and then he was gone.

Leo smiled to himself, feeling Raph’s elbow dig into his back and hearing Donnie and Mikey’s soft snores. He kissed the top of Mikey’s head, before moving to Donnie and doing the same, the grip that his little brothers had on him tightened when he did so. The next time he blinked, he fell asleep.

They slept for a long while, and Leo woke up multiple times, because Donnie whimpered in his sleep and Leo had to nuzzle him and let out quiet chirps to get his twin back to sleep, before managing to stay that way. He was disoriented at first, too used to waking up in Todd’s wagon, but then the memories of the past few days hit him all at once, and he blinked slowly, automatically sitting up and turning to check on his brothers.

Donnie and Mikey’s arms were still resting across Leo’s plastron, their hands still interlocked with each other, and Raph was still sleeping soundly with his head against the headrest and his arms still holding the three of them securely. A soft, fond smile, crept onto Leo’s face, accompanied by unfamiliar tranquility.

They were finally safe. They’d all made it.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” a voice broke the peaceful silence of the room, and Leo jumped in surprise and whirled around, his heart giving a painful lurch before he realized who had spoken.

April was sitting on the other bed, a slightly apologetic look on her face, having most likely not intended to scare him. A burst of happiness surged and expanded in his chest, and he couldn’t help the grin the grew on his face, or the moisture that collected in his eyes. He was so unbelievably glad to have her there, to have his whole family safe.

He carefully extracted himself from his brothers, but had to stop when he heard a small whine from Donnie, reaching out to try and look and feel for Leo in his sleep. Leo gently rubbed the top of Donnie’s head, shushing him and quietly telling him to go back to sleep. On instinct, it seemed like Mikey could hear Donnie’s distress and, without even opening his eyes, moved closer to Donnie to hug him. Donnie seemed to relax into Mikey’s hold and fell back into slumber, with Raph tighten his grip on the softshell and box turtle

Feeling content that his brothers had gone back to sleep, Leo stood up – wobbling a bit – to go and sit by his sister. He pulled himself up on the bed to plop down beside her, wincing at the ache that was present basically everywhere in his body.

“Are you okay?” April asked him, painfully worried, her brow furrowed in concern. It reminded Leo of a few days before he’d been kidnapped, standing outside the village inn rubbing at the pain in his chest as if that would’ve helped it to go away. April had asked him the same question then that she was asking now, and this time he had a different answer; a more truthful one.

“I am now,” Leo replied quietly, grinning at April, mindful of his volume so as not to wake his sleeping brothers.

April looked a little doubtful, raising a single eyebrow as she looked him over.

“No offense,” she said, a mixture of concerned and amused, “but you look like you tumbled down a mountain.”

“I kind of did,” Leo said, thinking of being washed down the mountain river. He could still hear the screaming, half excited and half fearful as it had been.

April shot him a questioning look, and Leo laughed softly.

“That happened in week one,” Leo explained. “Obviously we’ve upgraded to leaping off of cliffs, now.”

Leo’s eyes fell to the palms of his hands, scraped up and bruised and a little burnt from the fire. Things had escalated very quickly after the kidnapping, and especially since their – first – escape. He took a moment to be very thankful that he and his brothers were alive.

“I…I thought you and Mikey were dead,” April whispered suddenly, voice breaking and tears collecting in her eyes at an alarming rate. “Your friend— Raph? He tackled Big Mama over the edge and when I looked—”

She cut herself off, wrapping her arms around herself and closing her eyes tightly for a few seconds as she breathed shakily. A knot formed in Leo’s stomach, twisting it in guilt, and he frowned faintly. Before he could say anything, April opened her eyes and looked at him in anguish.

“When I looked, you were gone. All of you were gone,” April continued, wiping at her eyes. “I thought— I thought I’d never see you or Mikey again.”

Leo sniffed and blinked fast, greatly affected – as he’d always been – by the emotions of his best friend…of his sister, and he wished that it had been easier on her; on all of them.

He wasted no time in pulling her into a tight hug, burying his face into her shoulder, and just breathing, because finally he had the time to do so. April hugged him back, clutching at his dirty jacket, and they were both trembling uncontrollably.

“I’m okay,” Leo said sometime later, pulling back and taking hold of her hand, squeezing reassuringly. “I’m— I’m better than okay.”

“Yeah?” April asked, offering a tentative smile.

Dewey turned his head towards his brothers almost involuntarily. They still lay sleeping on the bed, Donnie and Mikey now halfway on top of Raph, Raph’s arms still wrapped tightly around their younger brothers’ backs. They looked peaceful, and Leo’s chest – his heart – was full to bursting.

“Yeah,” Leo answered, voice unmistakably fond, staring at the slow rise and fall of Raph, Mikey, and Donnie’s chests, thankful for every breath they took.

With a little luck, and a lot of purposeful actions, maybe his brothers would finally get the lives that they deserved. It would be a difficult adjustment, for Raph and Donnie – maybe even for all of them – but Leo was going to be there every step of the way.

“So, uh— Who are the big guy and the one in purple?” April asked suddenly, curiously. “Cassandra told us a bit about Raph, and all, but who are they to you?”

April had always been surprisingly perceptive, when it came to him.

“What? I— Oh.” Leo smiled a little sheepishly. “I guess you guys were never properly introduced, aside from names.”

“Well,” April said with a teasing grin, “a lot was going on at the time.”

Leo giggled quietly with April, and he was so happy that things were okay between them. He didn’t know what he would do if they weren’t.

“The big one, the one in red, is Raph, and the one in purple is Donnie, but, uh— I guess you knew that, ‘cause we already told you, and—" Leo realized that he was beginning rambling a bit, and he paused to chuckle, meeting April’s wondering gaze with a wide smile. “You already know that Mikey is my younger brother, which is true as Mikey is still the youngest. But the other two, They’re…they’re my brothers. Raph is the oldest and Donnie…” Leo smiled fondly at his younger twin as he turned back to April “…Donnie is my twin. My younger twin to be most precise”

April’s eyes widened, then darted between him and Raph and Donnie and Mikey for a few seconds. Her mouth was hanging open, and then she snapped it shut and regarded him somewhat suspiciously.

“Wait, you— You’re not joking?”

“No!” Leo exclaimed, playfully offended. “We’re really brothers. According to our medallion pieces, Raph is indeed the oldest, which honestly makes sense with him being the biggest and all, and Mikey is indeed the youngest. That makes me and Donnie the middle children, with me being the older twin and Donnie being the younger twin. We’re kind of long-lost royalty.”

April had a baffled look on her face, so Leo continued his frenzied explanation.

“I mean—once we escaped the Purple Dragons’ wagon and made it onto the mountain and into the cave, we found out that we all had pieces of the same medallion and Raph told us that it meant we were members of the royal family. So that was kind of a shock, and then we made it off the mountain and out of the woods and hitched a ride with Usagi who took us to the nearest village so we could sit down and relax and talk and stuff. And we sat down in the library and did a bunch of research and then I remembered this super smart map-code-thing and we used our medallion to find the place where the secret castle might be and that’s why we’re here now, because we found it!”

April stared at him, visibly processing his rambling run-on sentences.

“You’re brothers, and you’re related to the King, who’s been in hiding since the war,” April recapped slowly, and Leo nodded. “So you figured this out, and then went off on your own, bringing our little brother along with you, to find out if it was true?”

“Mikey and I would’ve waited for you. We wanted to,” Leo said immediately, feeling the need to explain himself even though April had sounded far from accusatory, “but Big Mama had her whole band of associates out looking for us and following us, and I just— We couldn’t ever stop moving.”

April squeezed his hand gently, comfortingly.

“I guess that explains the message that you and Mikey gave Sunita,” she said with a small smile.

“So you did see her?” April nodded, and Leo sighed in relief, his shoulders dropping. “We didn’t know how far behind you were, or if you even knew where to go.”

“We met Cassandra in the village you and Mikey were taken from. She was looking for Raph, and after a bit of talking and stuff we thought that maybe you three were together.” Leo hummed to show that he was listening, and April continued. “We found the alley you and Mikey were taken from, and we followed the trail until we couldn’t find it, and then we headed for the nearest village. When we asked around, the librarian told us she’d seen kids of your description, and after more investigation we found someone who’d seen the way you’d left the village.

“We did that for a while, mostly just guessing, and I was so scared that we were never going to find you,” April said, emotion creeping back into her voice. “And then we found Sunita, who’d seen you and Mikey for sure, and I was so relieved that you two were alive, but I was also kind of angry that you two weren’t there for me to hug.”

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, utterly sincere but feeling like it wasn’t enough. “We didn’t—We didn’t want you to be worried, but we knew you would be, and we feel bad for doing that to you.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said April gently, and then she flashed a wry smile. “And I don’t think you two regret it that much anyway.” She sent a pointed look at his brothers.

“We regret the trouble we caused you and your parents, but no, we don’t regret anything else.” Leo smiled and shrugged. “Everything that happened led me and Mikey here, to them, and we have to think that it was worth it. It is worth it.”

“I believe you,” April said simply, and then she gave him a stern look. “Just don’t do it again.”

“We’ll try our best,” Leo laughed, and then he tilted his head and smirked, glancing over at the other bed. “And Miguel? I know you’re awake. You too Tello”

April’s eyebrows shot up as she followed Leo’s gaze to the bed across from them, where Mikey was already up and moving, coming over to the other bed to hug April. April smiled as she hugged her little brother close while keeping her eyes on the other bed. Donnie was shuffling into a sitting position against the wall, squinting at them. Leo chuckled and let go of April’s hand, as he came over to the other bed, crawling over to Donnie as he held Donnie’s hand. Donnie leaned his head down on Leo’s shoulder

“You stopped snoring a while ago, Don. Who were you trying to fool?” Leo asked teasingly, watching as Donnie scrubbed his good hand down his face.

“Myself,” Donnie groaned, wincing when he dropped his arm back into his lap, as he buried his face into Leo’s shoulder and whined “Everything hurts.”

Leo felt bad for his younger twin “I know bud. Tell me about it,” said Leo, his own shoulder throbbing in solidarity, as he nuzzled the top of Donnie’s head, planting a soft kiss there. “Does your shoulder hurt, too?”

“Among other things.”

“Is there a physician here?” April asked, looking between them with a concerned look on her face as Mikey let go of her and came to sit beside her

“Yeah, we’re under strict orders to see him today,” Leo replied, almost looking forward to the visit, if it meant the pain would ease.

“After we’ve had a bath, according to Hamato Yoshi,” Donnie grumbled.

“Can’t say I blame the guy. The last time we bathed was at that lake a few days ago.”

“Simpler times.”

Leo huffed a laugh, and Donnie snorted in response. Even the lake had hardly been simple. And yet he wouldn’t mind going back someday. Maybe they could wish on more shooting stars; it had seemed to work last time.

Donnie’s stomach made a loud rumbling nose rather suddenly, and Leo grinned at him teasingly. Donnie sent him a weak glare, but then glanced up in surprise as Raph sat up blearily, head swiveling like he was taking stock of his surroundings.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Mikey said, getting Raph’s fragile attention. “Welcome back.”

“Hm?” Raph yawned and stretched carefully, wincing several times. If nothing else, the pain was good for waking up faster. “What’re we doing?”

“I’m thinking we look for some breakfast, as Donnie’s stomach suggested.”

“Breakfast?” April repeated, sounding amused.

“Yeah?” Leo shifted to look at his big sister, befuddled. “What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s halfway through the afternoon, that’s what’s wrong,” a new voice said from the doorway, and Leo whipped around – ouch – to see Cassandra standing there with her arms crossed.

“Afternoon?” Raph asked tiredly, still partially asleep.

“Yep!” April hopped off the bed and bounded towards the door, stopping and turning back when she got to Cassandra. “You guys slept for like, ever.”

“We needed it,” said Donnie, a touch defensively. “We kind of had a lot going on.”

“Understatement of the year,” Raph mumbled, sliding to the edge of the bed and stretching his legs experimentally.

“Understatement of the century,” Mikey said dramatically, flopping backwards and regretting it when his body complained, loudly and painfully.

“Everyone’s waiting in the dining room,” Cassandra informed them after a short silence. “They sent me to get you and bring you there.”

Leo hummed in acknowledgement, hearing Raph’s feet hit the floor lightly and the shuffling of blankets as Mikey moved to get up. Leo gently nudged Donnie to get him to move and while Donnie seemed hesitant to get up, at Leo’s gentle coaxing, he decided to get up. Leo let himself slide off the bed into a standing position, blinking as his body adjusted to being vertical. He then reached a hand out to help Donnie up, who got up on shaky legs, using his twin to stabilize himself. Then the twins were following the small group out the door and into the hallway, with Donnie keeping a tight grip on Leo to keep himself upright…and also to stay close to his twin as a means of comfort. Leo didn’t mind as he let Donnie do it. It was just as much comfort for him as it was for Donnie.

“How’d you get that cut?” April asked Leo as they walked, pointing to the hastily made bandage on his upper arm.

“Sword fight,” Leo responded, grinning almost maniacally.

“No way!” April gasped, eyes sparkling. “Did you win?”

“Yeah.”

April reached over to noogie his head, beaming at him proudly, and Leo ducked his head and laughed, while Donnie let out a soft giggle.

“Told you that you could do it,” she said smugly, happily, and April bumped his elbow into her arm.

“Thanks for believing in me,” Leo said, soft and sincere.

“You don’t have to thank me for that,” said April, grinning and nudging him back. “But you’re welcome.”

.

.

.

Leo could smell the food before he could see it, and his stomach loudly complained that they weren’t going fast enough. He sped up without really thinking about it, dragging Donnie along with him, catching up with Raph and Mikey who were similarly inclined to go as quickly as possible.

They hadn’t eaten at all the day before, and their eating schedule before then had been rather irregular. Leo knew that he’d lost weight, and he knew that Mikey and Donnie had as well. He couldn’t really tell with Raph, because of his size, but it did seem like his big brother had lost a little bit of muscle. And, of course, Donnie had already been a little too skinny, even before they’d met; thinking about it for too long never failed to have Leo’s stomach churning in worry and his heart doing some painful jumping in his chest. He gripped Donnie just a bit tighter at the thought of it

Mikey tripped over his own feet and almost faceplanted, but he caught himself on a small table against the wall. The twins nearly fell also, simply because they were startled by the noise that Mikey made as he stumbled, and Raph considered that maybe they should slow down.

“Woah, there,” April said, face twisted halfway between concerned and amused. “Where’s the fire?”

Mikey straightened up, his face a little pink, and he laughed nervously.

“There isn’t one,” Donnie replied, eyes focused down the hallway towards where the food smell was coming from. “Well, not anymore.”

“But that could change any second, with Raph around,” Leo said lightheartedly, and Raph gaped at him.

“Me? You’re the one who sparked an uncontrollable forest fire!” Raph exclaimed, exasperated.

“And you grew to a crazy size and brought a whole building down,” Leo said with a wide grin, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Wanna call it even?”

Raph scowled at him, truly exasperated in the way only an older sibling could be, and Leo only smiled wider.

“Wait a minute— You did what?” Cassandra asked incredulously, looking at Raph like she’d never seen him in quite the right light before.

Raph fidgeted a little, shrugged jerkily, and glared at Leo with no real heat.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Cassandra, newfound respect and pride burning through guarded eyes.

Raph blinked slowly in surprise, then offered her a tentative smile. Leo felt like he was witnessing a new beginning, a fragile hope.

“Okay, we get it,” Donnie interrupted, continually inching down the hallway. “You both have an unhealthy obsession with blowing stuff up. Can we eat now?”

“Unhealthy Obse— It’s called being heroic!” Leo said with feeling, gesturing with his hand and wincing as a muscle in his shoulder twinged.

“Sure,” Donnie said easily, fully distracted and walking away.

Leo rolled his eyes, and everyone continued their journey towards wherever the food was, catching up to Donnie and grabbing a hold of his hand again. Cassandra pulled ahead quickly, being the one who knew where they were going – and they eventually came to a stop at a large set of doors at the end of the hall. Every door in the castle looked basically the same, dark oak with golden handles.

Murmuring could be heard coming from the other side of the door, and a faintly nervous energy settled over their group, making them reluctant to enter.

In the end, the promise of food outweighed any desire to run and hide, and April and Mikey pushed through them all to open the door with their familiar bravado.

The chattering cut off as soon as they walked into the room – a large room with a long and sturdy wooden table, stone floor, and a swinging door to the kitchen on the opposite side. Hamato Yoshi himself sat at the head of the table, April’s parents sitting stiffly in the chairs on either side of him. All three of them looked up, and Hamato Yoshi appeared to be just as nervous as they were. His hands were clasped tightly on top of the table, and his eyes couldn’t seem to stay on any one of them for very long.

“Boys,” Hamato Yoshi said awkwardly, making a move like he thought he’d stand and then decided not to.

“…Hi,” said Raph, and they stood in an uncomfortable huddle just inside the door.

They stared vaguely in each other’s direction for a few long seconds, until Carol cleared her throat pointedly and Hamato Yoshi jumped, looking both annoyed and chastised. This was a man who’d become unused to social interaction, but apparently Carol wasn’t having it.

“Come and sit, then,” said Hamato Yoshi, all in one breath. “You must be hungry.”

“Starving,” said Leo, who could think of nothing better to say.

April plopped down happily next to her mom, and Cassandra slipped past all of them to head into the kitchen, where Todd could be heard attempting to make enthusiastic conversation with the staff. Mikey sat next to Mr. O’Neil and Raph bravely took the seat to the right of Mikey with a nervous smile, and Leo sat beside April, with Donnie coming to sit down next to him.

Leo leaned across April to make eye contact with Carol, grinning a hesitant grin, feeling sheepish and guilty for all he’d put her and her husband through. She raised an eyebrow amusedly before breaking out in a helpless sort of smile, shaking her head slowly in a what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you sort of way. Leo ducked his head and felt immense relief at being forgiven.

“So,” Raph said eventually, picking at a lose thread on his shirt, “we— I mean, you probably want to know how we got here.”

“Yes, my son, I do.” Hamato Yoshi’s shoulders slumped with something resembling sadness, but he smiled anyway. “But it can wait until you’ve eaten, and your injuries are taken care of.”

“Okay.” Raph nodded absentmindedly, stealing a look at Leo, who shrugged imperceptibly. “Okay.”

When the food came, it was rolled out on carts, and there was an overwhelming amount. It was a lot for Leo, which meant that by Donnie’s standards it was earth shattering; his eyes were wide, and his hands were twitching. Leo reached out to take a hold of Donnie’s shaky hand and when wide, teary eyes meet his, Leo smiled softly at his twin, feeling so happy that his twin can finally eat a real meal

After that, there wasn’t much talking at all. Just four boys eating like it was their last meal, and worried eyes watching them like they might fall apart.

Chapter Text

“How did you say that this happened?” The physician – he’d told them his name, but Donnie had already forgotten it – asked him, and Donnie sighed quietly.

Almost immediately after they’d finished eating what they could – and they couldn’t stomach much after weeks of so little – Hamato Yoshi had ushered them down to the medical room to get looked over. Their dad had stood awkwardly to the side for a few minutes before telling them he’d send someone for them later, and then he’d fled the room. Donnie didn’t blame him; he knew what it was like to feel suffocated by walls and uncomfortable situations.

The physician had taken one look at them huddled together in the middle of the room before sternly ordering them into a huge tub of warm water. The tub was big enough to hold all four of them. Donnie had never actually been in warm water before, but he found that he liked it. It felt kind of like a long, continuous hug, and it was exactly the sort of thing that would’ve made him feel less lonely, back when he was alone.

Once they’d shed their clothes and masks, and Donnie took of his battle shell, Raph was the first one into the tub, sinking down and sighing contently immediately. He then gently coaxed his little brothers into the tub with him. Mikey immediately dived in and started churring happily, coming up to Raph to lay against his plastron. Leo was the next one in and he found the water to be so relaxing, his aquatic turtle instincts kicking in. Leo reached out a hand for Donnie who took it eagerly, also finding the water to be soothing and relaxing as he came up beside Leo.

Once all four of them were in the tub, the no-nonsense physician had practically shoved some sweet-smelling soap at them and told them to get on with it. They’d taken turns scrubbing at themselves vigorously, and the water had slowly turned foggy with dirt and grime and soap suds. Donnie hadn’t realized just how dirty they’d been, but looking back, he supposed it made sense. Personal hygiene had hardly been a main priority those past few weeks.

They each took turn scrubbing each other shells, with all three of the younger turtles having to work together to help clean Raph’s shell. Donnie was nervous to ask any of his brothers to help clean his softshell. However, Leo picked up on it and he quietly asked if he could clean Donnie’s shell, while Raph was cleaning Mikey’s. If Donnie trusted anyone, it would be his twin. So he turned around and allowed Leo to clean his shell. He was surprised to find that despite Leo’s outgoing and crazy personality, his twin was gentle was his hands, moving in soft and soothing circles, making sure that he got every area and didn’t hit anything sensitive

After a while, Leo had stopped cleaning. Before Donnie could turn around though, Leo started to gently rub his shoulders. Donnie didn’t realize that there was so much tension in his shoulders. The feeling and movement was relaxing and he let out a soft churr. Leo didn’t say anything, except for a fond giggle. Donnie then turned around and bonked his forehead against Leo’s, feeling ever so grateful for his twin. “Thank you Leo” he whispered softly. Leo smiled as he leaned his forehead against Donnie’s. “You’re welcome Dee. Thank you for trusting me” Leo whispered back, as he squeezed Donnie’s shoulder. Donnie planted a kiss on the top of Leo’s head. “Always” he said quietly. Leo tried to not let any tears fall, though one lone tear did managed to escape, but it was a tear of happiness and of love

They made it through bath time with minimal splashing and horseplay, which was a surprise considering the younger three looked like they wanted to. However, a good amount of water had still ended up on the floor, curtesy of Raph moving around a lot. Once they got out, they’d been bundled in identical pale green blankets and told to sit and wait while the physician set things up.

Despite all of the tension leaving his shoulders and being with his brothers, Donnie could still admit that he was nervous. He’d never had a warm bath before, so he’d certainly never seen a physician. The closest thing to medical attention he’d ever received had been when he’d gotten horribly sick one winter, passed out in the middle of the street with a high fever, and awoken two days later in some stranger’s barn. The guy’s conscience apparently hadn’t allowed him to leave a sick child to die, but he’d seemed to be perfectly fine with watching that same child leave the next day on shaking legs, with the weight of the world on his shoulders and nothing to his name.

So Donnie was nervous, but he was trying his best to be hopeful, too. Maybe something could finally be done about his wrist and the near-constant pain emanating from it. Maybe Raph would stop trying to hide that limp of his. Maybe Leo would stop looking like every breath hurt. Maybe Mikey could stop looking at all of them like they might fall apart, that his big brothers could disappear at any moment. Maybe it would all go okay.

Mikey was the first one called up to the physician’s table and all three older brothers watched the examination warily. Thankfully, Mikey didn’t suffer as many injuries as his older brothers did. The only major thing was a small scar on his plastron when Big Mama hit him square in the plastron and sent him flying in the ravine. Other then that, he only had some bruises and scrapes on his arms and legs, which got cleaned and taken care

Once Mikey was finished, he hopped down the table and happily strolled over to his brothers, showing off his cool bandages. The physician then called Donnie gently over to the table and had instructed him to climb onto it. At first, Donnie didn’t want to. But, a gentle squeeze of his hand had him looking at Leo who gave him a soft smile. Leo communicated with his eyes that they were all right here and that everything was going to be ok. Donnie smiled shakily and squeezed the hand in return before getting up on shaky legs and walked over to the table. Donnie kept his brothers and the exit in his line of sight to calm his racing heart. It worked enough to keep him in place, but not enough for him to feel good about it. His brothers smiled at him reassuringly, with Leo and Mikey giving him a thumbs up.

The physician repeated his question.

“Someone grabbed it pretty roughly,” Donnie answered, eyes trained on his vulnerable, hurt wrist resting in a stranger’s hands. “And he kind of— he held me up in the air by it. Shook me around.”

The physician hummed, furrowing his brow and moving Donnie’s wrist gently in each direction, causing him to wince at the dull throbbing pain. There was no mistaking that he was injured; his wrist was swollen and covered in what looked like bruises. Donnie hated looking at it, but he couldn’t seem to stop.

“And then people kept grabbing him by it, and messing with it,” Leo piped up from his place sitting cross legged on the floor. His expression was openly concerned. “He didn’t have much time to rest it, and I didn’t know how to make it better.”

Leo deflated as he said that last part, and Mikey scowled from where he was half asleep next to him, no doubt about to open his mouth and defend Leo from his own self-doubt. The physician – surprisingly – beat him to it.

“You did very well with the supplies available to you,” said the physician, grabbing at something on the table next to him and looking at Leo with something like respect. “There’s not much I would’ve done differently.”

Leo brightened, smiling shyly, both embarrassed and pleased. Mikey nodded to himself and Leo rubbed the top of Leo’s head with the hand attached to the arm and shoulder that wasn’t in extreme pain.

The physician bound Donnie’s wrist in some contraption that limited movement and stabilized it, and while it still hurt, it bothered him less.

“I’ll give you some medicine for the pain,” said the physician as he finished binding the injury, “but other than that, all you can do is rest it. It will be a few weeks before you can use it, and a few more before it goes back to normal completely.”

The guy must have seen the dismayed look on Donnie’s face, because he smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder.

“There is no way to know the exact amount of time that it will take to heal,” said the physician, “but it will heal, and I expect regular visits until then.”

The words were inspiring for reasons beyond the obvious. Donnie knew that he had issues. His doubts and rough edges and broken glass hadn’t fully gone away, and maybe it never would; the memory of it certainly wouldn’t.

But, he could still heal. Slowly, maybe, but even slow healing was healing all the same. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that one day he might forget about the damage he used to carry with him, but he thought that maybe it wouldn’t take up as much space as it used to. There was always room for growth, and the more he grew, the smaller the damaged part of him would become.

“Alright,” the physician said eventually, after cleaning a few cuts and scrapes and examining his many bruises. “Who’s next?”

Raph quite literally shoved Leo towards the examination table as Donnie hopped down from it. Leo huffed, but made his way over without complaint. When the twins meet in the middle, Leo eyed the handiwork of the physician and smiled gently at Donnie, seeming pleased and happy that his younger twin was all patched up and on the road to recovery. Donnie smiled back and squeezed Leo’s arm with his good hand before nudging his shoulder, a silent gesture of encouraging Leo and letting him know that he was ok

Donnie collapsed next to Mikey and Raph against the wall, feeling drained, but better; clean and cared for. Mikey leaned his head gently against Donnie’s shoulder, while Raph carefully grabbed his good hand and held it gently between them, all three of them watching Leo with observant eyes as the physician checked him over. Donnie felt a little uneasy at Leo being on the other side of the room, not next to him, but the presence of his baby and oldest brother was enough to ease the tension…if only a little

“How do you think the talk with Hamato Yoshi is going to go?” Mikey asked quietly, and Donnie cringed.

“I don’t know,” said Donnie, “but it can’t be worse than the last one.”

“Don’t jinx it, he still has the power to throw us out,” Raph said nervously, reflexively squeezing Donnie’s hand.

“I thought I was the pessimist.”

“You don’t have the sole claim on it,” Raph argued, laughter in his voice. “It’s not like it’s your personal character trait or something. You can share.”

“Only if you share some of your brute strength with me.”

Raph scoffed “Bold of you to assume that you will get as big as me one day. The three of you could never match my strength.” He said fondly, no real heat behind his words

Donnie was too shocked to suppress his sudden laughter, and Raph and Mikey grinned at him sideways. Across the room, Leo was staring at them as if he couldn’t believe they had the audacity to have fun without him.

“Fine, then we’ll just have to work hard to at least try,” Donnie said lightly.

“Well Leo and I sort of already have you beat there Dee as we’ve been training for years with our weapons” Mikey responded lightly

Donnie rolled his eyes as he brought Mikey closer “Whatever you say, Angelo,” said Donnie, smiling.

Mikey just grinned and settled back against the wall, enjoying the feeling of having nowhere to rush off to and nothing to run from.

He didn’t miss the subtle way that Donnie clung close to Leo once he came back over from his examination, Leo smiling to reassure Donnie that everything was ok, the twins finding anyway to be the most adorable thing that Mikey had seen

.

.

.

Their clothes weren’t in the best condition, but they had nothing else to wear. Donnie figured that there hadn’t been much reason to keep children’s clothes in a secret castle known only to a few, and he wasn’t going to complain about it. He’d feel weird without his hooded cloak and battle shell anyway. Which he’d done multiple times over the past few weeks, but still; he needed something familiar to hold onto throughout all of the change, and thus he was wearing the same clothing he’d been wearing since the day he’d last left his little shed.

Leo and Mikey had been able to bring themselves to part with their jackets, with Leo parting with the leather thing that held his sword, and Mikey getting rid of his belt that held his nunchunks. Raph had similarly ditched his vest for his red shirt. They looked smaller, somehow; they all did. Even Raph looked a bit smaller. Now that they didn’t have to be larger than life and two steps ahead, they could just be kids. Teenagers. Tired teenagers.

The physician pushed them gently out into the hallway, bandaged and clean and nervous about their next meeting with Hamato Yoshi. It wasn’t long before Hueso appeared, walking briskly towards them and gesturing for them to follow without stopping.

Donnie was slightly annoyed with the way they were being rushed about. They were all injured in various ways, and Raph had sustained a twisted ankle he was supposed to be careful with. So in the end, Hueso was forced to slow his pace in order to accommodate them, and fortunately he didn’t seem to mind it.

They were led to a different room than the one they’d been to yesterday, though not too far from it. It was a large room with a big fireplace, three large windows, and several comfortable-looking couches and chairs. Through each window was a breathtaking view of the cavern, glowing blue points of light and all.

Donnie was struck by how clean and sturdy everything in the room looked. It was overwhelming, and it had him on edge, though he knew it was stupid to be so nervous. He’d just never seen anything like it before, never been surrounded by things that weren’t easily broken. Everything about the room and its contents suggested that Donnie didn’t belong there, that he was out of place with his cuts and bruises and rough edges.

Hamato Yoshi sat in a cushy red chair to the right of the fireplace, facing the matching red couch a few feet across from it. The King turned to face them when they entered, and the painful doubt that had been present in his expression before was gone. In its place were soft eyes and a smile as warm as the fire burning beside him. Donnie’s heart jumped into his throat, and his breath hitched. Leo, who had been holding his hand the whole time, squeezed it as a means of comfort

“Thank you, Hueso,” said Hamato Yoshi kindly, his gaze flitting over their heads as he spoke to his friend. “That’ll be all.”

Hueso nodded once, bowed shortly, and left them alone in the room. Donnie watched him go with something like envy, but turned back around when Hamato Yoshi cleared his throat.

“You can sit there,” said Hamato Yoshi, gesturing to the couch with his hand, “and if you’re ready, you can tell me all about the trouble you’ve gotten into.”

Raph led the way to the couch, grinning nervously at Hamato Yoshi as they all sat down. Raph sat in the middle, with Mikey on his right, and the twins on his left. Donnie let out a shaky exhale, determined to calm himself enough to participate in the conversation, squeezing Leo’s hand, as their hands were still intertwined and neither seemed keen on letting go anytime soon. Mikey was practically vibrating in excitement, but it was warring with the tension in his shoulders. Raph was right there to ground Mikey, pulling him into a side hug. Leo was the exact same way as their baby brother; he was still halfway stuck in the role of ‘protector’, just like Raph was. Donnie leaned his shoulder against Leo’s, their sides touching. Donnie wanted to have as much contact with his twin as possible, figuring that it could help them both.

“What do you want to know?” Raph asked tentatively once they were all settled

“Whatever you’re willing to tell me,” Hamato Yoshi replied carefully, and there was no trace of deception

There was a pause.

“It’s a long story,” Donnie warned, eyeing Hamato Yoshi suspiciously for any sort of frustration or impatience. “It might take a while.”

“I have the time, my son,” their dad said calmly, and he didn’t seem like a king, he seemed smaller. Just a tired man who’d once lost everything he loved.

Before meeting his brothers, Donnie hadn’t talked much. Well, he did, but not for real. His words were always tools, or weapons, or a way to get himself out of a sticky situation. And for all the talking he did – only ever when he had to – he never said a word about himself, and he never spoke the truth. No one remaining in his village knew his name, preferring to come up with creative insults as he made off with their stale bread or threadbare blankets. A lot of the items he’d stolen had come straight from the trash, but then the people who’d thrown it out had seen that he wanted it and suddenly, so did they. It had never seemed to make sense.

So Donnie didn’t have much experience in talking about himself, or sharing memories, or telling stories. For several years he hadn’t even heard his name spoken aloud. But for this, for the promise of family, he could try. Donnine hesitantly met Hamato Yoshi’s patient eyes, and nodded.

“I think Raph should probably start,” Mikey said, glancing at his oldest brother. “Since he was the first to get snatched.”

Raph huffed a laugh at the wording, but he visibly gathered his courage and organized his thoughts.

“Ready?” Raph asked, needing one more confirmation.

Hamato Yoshi nodded, and they started at the beginning.

.

.

.

The tale they spun was only vaguely linear, seeing as how they kept jumping in and interrupting each other to add something or challenge if they were remembering correctly.

Raph had soldiered through his own part of the story, brow furrowed and fingers twitching as he relayed the events leading up to his capture like they were scientific facts. His younger brothers were less graceful, stumbling through a clumsy telling of their skirmish with the Purple Dragons and how they’d apparently been annoying enough that Angel couldn’t leave them be.

Hamato Yoshi had looked at them oddly throughout their account of the fight, regarding Leo and Donnie’s reflexive nervous bickering with some sort of wistful, far away expression, like he was caught between the past and the present.

Phase one of the story ended with the three of them trapped in the wagon of criminals who had no idea who exactly they’d captured. Of course, they themselves hadn’t known at that point, so the Purple Dragons were given a reluctant pass.

They then went on to explain their daily routine as confused captives, unsure where they were going or why they’d been taken. It wasn’t difficult to recall the choking fear and suffocating uncertainty of those first few days; days they spent knowing nothing, and barely knowing each other. The memory made his voice shake, when he could force out enough words to be of any help to his other brothers, who were doing better only marginally.

But Hamato Yoshi was patient, and he encouraged them to take their time, and he provided them with water and crackers while they talked. Donnie couldn’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop, partly expecting to be suddenly accused of lying and dragged off to the dungeons, if such a place existed.

They talked about meeting Kitsune, about swiping the knife, about their escape and mad dash through the woods. They talked about how tired they’d been, how hungry and thirsty and hopeless they’d felt, and how they’d climbed a mountain anyway because sometimes there was nothing left to do. They talked about the cave, and how it’d been an accident to find out that they were all brothers, that Leo and Donnie were two halves of the same whole, and how they hadn’t been sure what it meant, except that Raph had told them about something he’d read, and it seemed too good to be true; well, mostly Donnie had thought so, but whatever.

On and on the story went, telling tales of libraries and puzzle solving and map reading, of food rationing and eavesdropping and realizing that they weren’t done running. They spoke of Todd with fond amusement, and touched briefly on every village they’d visited, eventually arriving at the one where it had all fallen apart and gone up in flames.

All of their enemies had been in one spot, most of which they’d never even met before. Raph and Leo fought, Donnie and Mikey got caught, Donnie got hurt, and him and his baby brother escaped. The four of them had been chased through the streets, Raph had blown up a building, and with the help of both a sword and a frying pan, Leo had taken out a demon dog – which had sent them running through the woods a second time, eventually stumbling upon Oroku Saki’s sad shack of obsessive madness and telling him their story because they were tired and they wanted someone to know.

Then there’d been Big Mama and her allies, and there’d been ropes cutting into their arms, and there had been a daring rescue involving familiar faces. There had been fire, and then there’d been water, and there’d been Hueso, banishing their greatest foe.

Which led them there, sitting parallel to a grand fireplace across from the long-lost king who was also maybe their dad. Donnie had stolen an apple, only wanting a snack, and somehow that translated into becoming royalty. It was absurd. He couldn’t have made it up if he tried.

“So that’s pretty much most of what happened,” Leo said, bravely meeting the king’s eyes and shrugging sheepishly. “I mean— It’s hard to remember everything, so it’s just, you know, the important stuff.”

Donnie took a trembling sip of water to avoid the contemplative silence that followed the end of their longwinded explanation. Hamato Yoshi looked stricken, leaning forward in his chair. Donnie fought the urge to pull his hood up on his head, instead squeezing Leo’s hand like a lifeline

“You— you all came from different places?” Hamato Yoshi asked croakily, a hint of sorrow and confusion buried in his tone.

“We never met before we were captives,” Raph confirmed, “and we know that we were separated pretty early on.”

Hamato Yoshi turned to investigate the fireplace, well-hidden anguish twisting his face slightly.

“Big Mama said that she found Raph as a young turtle tot, with traveling merchants,” Donnie said, feeling like they should offer all that they knew. “She said he’d been the only one left, but that there’d been three others that they’d had to leave behind in two separate villages.”

The King turned to look at him, illuminated in an orange glow, and Donnie thought that maybe he wasn’t the only one with rough edges and haunted eyes.

“I think it is time that I explain my side of the story. How you boys were before…before you were taken from me. And I will certainly answer the question that you know you must be asking yourselves: how can four turtles be the sons of a human, such as myself?” Hamato Yoshi said with sadness, yet a hint of fondness

Donnie knew that all of them thought that…he knew Leo and Mikey surely did. However, he figured that there was an explanation behind it, so he waited

And oh boy the story that their supposed dad told was a doozy

Apparently, their mother, Hamato Karai, was also a human. She was one of Big Mama’s most prized fighters, coming to Big Mama as an orphan, and training underneath the best. Donnie noticed the wonder in Raph’s eyes, as it was also his origin story. Just one more thing that one of them shared with their mom

Yoshi continued by saying that Big Mama wanted to create more fighters. Yokai fighters that were strong and could last a bit longer than humans. So, she got in contact with her head scientist, Baron Draxum, to find the best mutants around. Draxum had stumbled across a local pet owner, who was selling four different species of turtles, claiming that they were ‘special’. Draxum bought the four turtles and thought they you would make the perfect warriors

However, Yoshi continued, Draxum had taken a liking to the turtles, as well as Karai, who at the time was about around his early 20’s. Yoshi explained that Karai liked to visit Draxum’s lab a lot, becoming like his assistant in a way, although Yoshi claimed that Draxum told him that the scientist saw Karai as more like the daughter he never had. Which made it all the more heartbreaking when Big Mama ordered Draxum to use Karai’s DNA as the basis for mutating the turtles.

Yoshi explained that, despite many attempts at convincing Big Mama other wise, Draxum could not persuade her. Karai and Draxum made a secret plan that they would do the experiment, but that they would escape soon after. Once the experiment was done, and Draxum gave their creations to Karai, Karai couldn’t help but fall in love with the turtles. These were her creations, from her DNA, and she already loved them like they were her own children

Yoshi went on to explained that Karai wrapped the young turtles up in several blankets and her and Draxum made their escape, barely escaping with their lives, as they were being chased by Big Mama’s henchman, once Big Mama realized that her prized fighter and scientist had escaped with her new prized fighters.

The next part of the story was when Karai and Draxum showed up at Yoshi’s door, dripping wet from the rain, with the four turtles cradled in Karai’s arms. Yoshi welcomed them in with warm, open arms, giving them the care that they deserved, with him letting the castle vet look the turtles over to make sure that they were well taken care of and giving the amount of love and nourishment that they needed, because even they had some human DNA, they were still turtles and needed to be treated as such. Yoshi explained how Karai won him over with her story and the two of them felled in love, before getting married.

Yoshi then looked up with a warm, fond, sad smile on his face “You four might not been my sons biological, but I loved your mother. She loved you like you were her sons, and I became the same way. The two of us loved your four like you were our own children” Once their dad said that, there wasn’t a dry eye among the four turtles, hearing just how much they were truly loved and how much their mother went through to save them

Yoshi then looked at them with tears falling down his face “I… I don’t know what happened,” their dad said, a tinge desperately, like it pained him to admit it. “She— Your mom left with you four and your uncle/grandfather, and he was the only one who came back.”

Hamato Yoshi looked a little lost again, caught in the memory of a different time.

“Our uncle/grandfather?” Raph asked tentatively, the only one who had the least amount of tears between the brothers, being rewarded when Hamato Yoshi sighed and shook his head slightly, coming back to himself.

“Sorry. I meant Draxum” their dad told them, eyes filled with regret. “He took care of you three when your mom and I couldn’t. He sort of became like an uncle/grandfather figure to you four.”

“He’s… alive?” Leo asked carefully.

“Yes, as far as I know.” Hamato Yoshi scraped a hand down his face and rubbed at his eyes. “He came back and told me that you were all gone, and then he left. He couldn’t bear to stay.”

No one knew what to say to that, and Donnie took another sip of water.

“I’ll find him,” said Hamato Yoshi, burning with sudden determination as he looked them over. “He deserves to see you. To know you’re alive.”

There was a long silence in which everyone lost themselves in thought. Donnie took slow breaths, trying to organize the information that they had, adding new pieces to the puzzle and taking note of which ones were still missing. Despite it all, they still didn’t know everything, and maybe they never would.

“Dad?” Mikey said tentatively, and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. Their dad looked like he couldn’t decide whether to hug them or run away. “What— what happened? To our mom, I mean.”

Hamato Yoshi sighed, his eyes a little glassy, and smiled in a sad and resigned sort of way. Just looking at him made Donnie feel fragile and wounded.

“I knew that moment that the six of you showed up at my door and your mother told me her story that there was a war coming. You see, Big Mama used to be my former lover”. This got a gasp out of all of the four brothers, who just couldn’t believe that. “We went through a nasty breakup and she never got over it. Her hatred of me was no secret, and neither were her intentions, made all the more worst when she heard of my marriage to your mother” Hamato Yoshi continued, and the four boys listened with rapt attention. “I knew she was gathering an army, and with you four being so small, I became obsessed with trying to stop her.” Hamato Yoshi chuckled humorlessly. “Draxum thought that I was wasting my time. He said that Big Mama was too smart to go down easily, and he thought that it would be better to wait, and not rush into things”

Their dad looked at each of them in turn. “You four were still in your toddler phase, with Rapheal just having turned four. I wanted to make the world a safe place for you. I wanted it more than anything, and I was reckless with my decisions”

“I sent a group of soldiers to where I’d heard Big Mama’s forces were, and I thought that we could get rid of them before they did any damage. Cut them off at the knees.  But I was wrong,” Hamato Yoshi continued, staring into the fire blankly. “She’d gathered more allies than I’d expected, and they caught or killed most of my soldiers, sending a few back to me with a warning: that she was coming for me and my family, and that no one would be spared her wrath.”

Hamato Yoshi paused and glanced at them, and Donnie thought that he’d never seen someone look so defeated.

“You were so young the last time I saw you, with you (pointing at Raph) being four, you two (pointing at Leo and Donnie) three years old, and you (pointing at Mikey) was just barely two. I sent your mother and Draxum away to keep you safe. All of Big Mama’s army showed up on my doorstep a week later, and only a few survived the resulting battle. Those who did survive disappeared, and a few days after the war ended, Draxum came back alone to tell me he’d lost you all.”

Donnie rubbed at his eyes absentmindedly, a slow burning ache in his chest. Leo sniffed quietly beside him, as the two of them squeezed their hands together. Beside them, Raph was rubbing his eyes, like Donnie, while Mikey was sniffling quietly, just like Leo

“He couldn’t tell me what happened to your mom,” Hamato Yoshi said, voice breaking, “but he did say that he’d never found you four. We’d assumed you’d been taken and…disposed of. Draxum stayed for a while, but when I said that I was moving here, he left. I haven’t seen him since”

“Your mother’s name was Karai,” Hamato Yoshi told them, giving them a warm smile, as sad as it was nostalgic. “I suppose she found a way to save you. She was always clever, and smart, and brave. More so than me, most days.”

Hamato Yoshi stood up on shaky legs and crossed over to kneel in front of them, looking each of them in the eye.

“I see a lot of her in each of you,” Hamato Yoshi said quietly, resting a hand on Raph’s knee.

“That’s good, right?” Leo asked hoarsely, blinking against the wetness in his eyes that Donnie had already given up on controlling.

“Yes, my son,” their dad said fondly. “It’s very, very good.”

Donnie wasn’t used to hugs. Mostly when people put their arms around him they were trying to keep him still, so it became that whenever it happened, his first instinct was to escape. He still wasn’t used to it, he could count the number of hugs he remembered receiving on one hand, but this was his family, and it was still a little uncomfortable, but there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

Their dad hugged them all, gently and fiercely at the same time, and Donnie latched on with his hands and his heart. Maybe he’d found people worth loving, after all.

Chapter Text

They were maybe a hundred feet underground, but Raph felt like he was on top of the world.

After weeks of basically being hunted, he’d ended up in a castle. It still shocked him every time he woke up, half expecting to be somewhere else. It was almost too good to be true, having a roof over their heads and a soft bed to sleep in and fresh food to eat. Consistent food, and plenty of it. Raph would never take it for granted again, especially with Donnie’s wide eyes every time he was given his plate.

It had only been a few days since their arrival, mostly spent sleeping and eating and answering any questions their dad, Hamato Yoshi, asked them. The king was a little awkward, and seemed unsure of how to act, but he was obviously trying, and Raph could think of no greater gift than that. He’d spoken more to Hamato Yoshi in less than a week than he’d spoken to Big Mama in his whole life. It was bizarre, but not unwelcome.

Weeks later, they still kept the same bedrooms. They alternated between which bedroom they meet in right before they went to bed. They would talk and just hang out for a bit before their dad would come in and tell them to go to bed, and then they would retreat to their own respective bedrooms

All four of them agreed to keep the doorway that was shared between their bedrooms always opened. It was a comforting thing, knowing that they can see and hear each other, as a means of comfort. A lot of the time, the snores coming from Raph was enough for the younger brothers to fall asleep

Unfortunately, just because they were safe, doesn’t mean the nightmares just suddenly vanished. They learned that the hard way when Donnie would sometimes wake up screaming, crying out his brothers’ name. Raph and Mikey would run into the room to see Leo trying to calm Donnie down. Raph and Mikey would soon join the twins and Donnie would break down crying in their arms. It wasn’t until he calmed down that Donnie told them that he dreamed that he was all alone again…or that his brothers died in front of him. All three of his brothers would reassure Donnie that he was safe and not alone anymore, with Leo wiping away his tears and all three of them letting out chirps and churrs to help soothe Donnie. It was usually then that Raph and Mikey would spend the night with the twins, the presence of having all four of them together soothing to all of them

After that, Donnie and Leo tried their best to sleep in their own beds. However, there were a lot of times when Raph would get up to go to the bathroom and passed by their bedroom and see the twins curled up together on the same bed, Donnie safely secured in Leo’s arms. There were also times when Raph would hear Donnie’s cries and he would run into the twins’ bedroom to see Leo already in Donnie’s bed, trying to comfort his twin. Raph and Leo would make eye contact and Raph would sadly looked between Leo and Donnie, silently asking permission if he needed to be there. With his eyes, Leo told Raph to just hang on and to come back in a little bit. When Raph did come back, it was to Donnie’s teary face deep in Leo’s plastron as he cuddle beside his twin. Leo had his arms wrapped around his younger twin, softly caressing Donnie’s shell as he singed softly to Donnie, kissing his forehead. It warmed something inside of Raph’s heart and put a smile on his face to see Leo being such a good older brother to Donnie. He had really taken his role as the older twin seriously

Also in their new rooms was a large dresser with six drawers, which was generous given that they had absolutely nothing to put in them. Donnie had said as much, in that slightly sarcastic tone that he got when he was pretending not to care. Their dad had waved it off, and the next day they’d been given brand new clothes crafted carefully by some talented member of the castle staff.

All their old clothes were washed, mended, and returned to them as well. Donnie wore his signature cloak religiously, even though he’d been given new ones. Raph didn’t blame him; he himself wore vests every day, although he’d branched out a bit with the colors. As long as part of him was red, he was content. Leo and Mikey had pretty much stayed the same, although they carried their weapons around less and less each day.

Each of their rooms had a window, and dark curtains hung in front of it. The view was amazing, and Raph found himself staring out of it at night, thinking of when he used to do the same back when he lived with Big Mama. Things were different now, though; he wasn’t so lonely anymore. How could he be, with Mikey’s constant shifting and kicking in his sleep in the bed beside him, or even when he came over to sleep with Raph, and with the twins’ voices coming from the room next to them? It made him smile until his cheeks hurt, until his chest ached with overflowing happiness. He’d been getting the best sleep he’d ever gotten, recently, even with the occasional nightmare from all of them. It was peaceful.

It was early morning one day about a week into their stay at the castle, and Raph ran into Cassandra on his way back from the bathroom. He hadn’t seen much of her, but that wasn’t exactly a new development. It was a big castle, just like the big empty house that they’d both grown up in, and it was easy to avoid each other even if they didn’t mean to.

Anyway, he did run into her, literally, and he nearly fell over. Not his proudest moment, and yet certainly not his most embarrassing, either.

“Cassandra!” Raph exclaimed in surprise, just barely managing to keep his feet under him. Cassandra’s expression landed somewhere between amused and distantly shocked.

“Long time, no see, huh?” She shifted to lean against the wall casually. “Been busy?”

“Oh, uh, not really? I mean, kind of, but also I sleep a lot,” Raph said quickly, mentally cursing his rambling and inability to translate thoughts into understandable speech.

Cassandra hummed a little awkwardly, and Raph laughed nervously.

“I don’t— I don’t think that I ever thanked you, for the whole ‘warning me of my kidnapping’ thing,” Raph said, when it became clear that she wasn’t going to say anything. “So thanks, even though I messed it all up. Even made it easier, probably.”

“It…wasn’t right for her to do that,” Cassandra said quietly, eyes shifting like she thought Big Mama might pop out at any moment. “You didn’t deserve it. You didn’t even know why you were so important, and I didn’t know how to tell you. Didn’t know if I should.”

“I don’t blame you for not telling me,” Raph assured her. “I’m not even sure what I would’ve done, if you did. Nothing good or reasonable, I’m guessing.”

Cassandra let out a soft laugh at that, tension subtly melting out of her shoulders.

“Big Mama has that effect, I guess,” Cassandra said, humor in her voice.

“Just— unreasonableness by proximity.”

“That must be why I’m so messed up.”

Raph blinked, taken aback by the slight self-deprecating tone and the smirk on her face. Raph had been lonely growing up, achingly so, but so had Cassandra, in a more tired and hopeless sort of way. She’d been worked to the bone for most of her life, and Big Mama cared no more for her than she had for Raph. They were only as good as what they could do for her. Nothing more than tools.

“It’ll wear off soon, now that she’s gone,” Raph said, softer than before, and Cassandra shrugged.

“Maybe,” she said, and she gave him a small, grateful smile.

Belatedly, something occurred to him.

“Where is Big Mama, anyway? What happened to her?” Raph asked, wondering how he hadn’t thought to ask before now.

“Guards caught her – which you knew – and they also got all the other idiots who’d been listening to her,” Cassandra told him, eyes sparkling with mischief. “They were taken to a prison, though I don’t know exactly where. And frankly, I don’t care, as long as they’re gone.”

“They really caught them all?”

“Yeah.” Cassandra paused, smirking vindictively. “They were carted away in wagons a few days ago.”

Raph couldn’t quite keep from smiling, the memories of his own captivity that he’d spent stuck in a wagon coming to the forefront of his mind. What a fitting punishment. He couldn’t wait to tell his little brothers.

“Poetic justice,” Raph remarked, unapologetically satisfied.

Cassandra nodded, sudden fire in her eyes as she took in Raph’s bandaged and bruised body.

“I hope they rot,” Cassandra said harshly.

And Raph could hardly disagree.

.

.

.

A week later, they were allowed back out of the cavern for the first time since they’d arrived. They went with the accompaniment of Hueso and April’s parents, of course, though they kept a respectful distance to give them some space.

April and Cassandra met up with them in the hallway, the former bouncing excitedly in place and the latter not quite managing to hide a smile. The older adults regarded them fondly as they walked up several flights of stairs, chattering happily the whole way up.

They were in the tower, Raph realized, the one he’d seen that went past the ceiling of the cavern and broke through the surface. They went up for quite some time; old aches and pains had returned with vengeance by the time they reached the top. Donnie and Mikey had been groaning since the second flight, which led to Raph picking up both and carrying them on his back. While Donnie was relaxed on his shell, Leo and Mikey talked with April the whole way up, their excitement never wavering.

They eventually reached a single lonely door at the top, and they tumbled through it hastily, tired of being surrounded by stone walls. Raph took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air, closing his eyes and relishing the faint wind he could feel drifting across his face. Donnie got down from him and did the same thing that Raph did

When Raph opened his eyes, he knew immediately that they were on the island they’d seen all those days ago. Really, it was more of a column of land, and it was largely featureless beyond the very top of the tower that stuck out of the ground, and the sparse patches of moss and grass peeking up beneath rock and stone. Everything was covered in a thick layer of fog, so he couldn’t even see the edge of the island, which worried him. They’d done enough falling, in Raph’s humble opinion.

Hueso walked past them all, a confidence in his stride that Raph tentatively placed his faith in. Mikey, unable to stand still for any longer, set off quickly after Hueso, grabbing Raph’s arm to drag him along beside him. Raph pretended to be annoyed, but he could hardly fault Mikey for being excited. The twins’ soft laughter could be heard slightly behind them, and Raph felt a smile grow on his face without his consent.

Rather abruptly, a large shadow of a shape emerged from the fog in front of them, a huge rectangle extending high into the sky. Raph craned his neck to look at it, trying to guess at its purpose and failing. Hueso called out to a guard standing near the shape, and as he got closer, he could see that the rectangle was made of solid wood and metal braces. Raph’s jaw dropped and he realized what its purpose was.

The guard moved closer to the wood and grabbed the handle of a crank, beginning to spin it steadily. The wood thing groaned, slowly beginning to tip away from them, towards the canyon beyond the edge of the cliff. Raph could only watch in awed silence as Mikey clutched at his arm and Leo and April squealed from somewhere on his right.

The bridge – because what else could it be – continued in its gentle descent until it sloped slightly downward, at which point it came to a stop with a jolt that Raph felt in the soles of his scaly feet. The figurative dust settled.

“Watch your step,” said the guard at the crank, stepping back and taking a seat at a nearby bench.

“Thank you, Henry,” Hueso replied, stepping onto the wooden platform and waving the group of gaping teenagers along. Mystified, they followed him.

It was nerve-wracking, walking over an abyss. Raph’s knees felt weak, hearing the occasional creak of wood. He wondered what caused bridges to collapse when they did, wondered if there was ever any sort of warning. He tried to push the negative thoughts out of his head, but it was difficult when for so long he’d always been waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

About halfway across, the fog cleared up enough that Raph could see the other side, and it was immediately apparent to anyone with eyesight that there had been a battle. If the marks of struggle scored into the earth weren’t enough, then the blackened remains of a once beautiful forest was plenty.

Raph stared, and for a moment he wondered how all his life choices had led him here, to this. Cassandra whistled lowly, and Raph blinked several times in quick succession. Leo and Mikey laughed sheepishly.

They arrived at the other side without issue, and Raph let out the breath he’d been holding, turning to look back the way they came. The bridge sloped upwards toward the island, fading into the fog as it went.

“Things would’ve been a lot easier,” Donnie said, “if that had been there all along.”

“Agreed,” said Mikey, as the bridge began to lift off the ground and return to its previous position.

“Oh, come on. Cliff jumping was way more exciting,” Leo said with a grin, coming up between them and slinging an arm across each of their shoulders.

“Not when you get tackled off the edge by your twin brother,” Donnie pointed out with a playful glare.

“I,” Leo began importantly, letting go of Mikey in order to poke at Donnie’s forehead, “saved your life.”

“You gotta stop doing that.”

“Never,” Leo said lightly, as he leaned his forehead against Donnie’s, like a vow and a promise, and that was that.

.

.

.

After traipsing through ash and foliage for the better part of an hour, their little group finally arrived at the edge of the village. It was the same village they’d escaped from all those nights ago, and they were standing in pretty much the same spot where they’d left it behind.

Raph and his brothers stood in contemplative silence, taking in the familiar area. It was strange how places could stir up emotions with ease, and how simply looking at the place could bring back the echoes of the emotions they’d been feeling last time they were there.

They passed by the spot where Leo had fought Rahzar, and Raph shared a look with his brothers, one that was half amusement and half relief that it was all over. Leo was slyly looking around for the frying pan, but it was nowhere to be found. Raph rolled his eyes at Leo’s pout, patting him on the shoulder as he passed.

The village turned out to be a lot less scary during the day, and when no one was chasing after them. Residents and travelers alike wandered around on the streets, stopping at booths and stores and letting their children run around and play. It was nice, being surrounded by normal life, even if it was overwhelming at times. It was proof that the world wasn’t all chaos and life-threatening situations.

Somewhere around the center of the village they split up into two groups. Mikey gasped at something he’d seen in the distance, grabbing Cassandra and April’s hands and dragging them off towards whatever it was. Carol and Kirby sighed and followed them, sharing a look with Hueso before they went.

Hueso cleared his throat to get their attention, and the three remaining brothers turned as one to face him. The skeleton yokai reached into his coat pocket and removed a small pouch, dropping it unceremoniously into Raph’s hands. The contents jingled together, and Raph had a feeling that he knew what it was.

“What’s this for?” Raph asked, shifting the pouch of coins into one hand as he looked up at Hueso.

“Whatever you want,” Hueso replied simply. “Your Dad thought you might want to purchase something, and sent along the funds to do so.”

Leo was smiling widely when Raph turned to look at him, nudging Donnie excitedly with his elbow.

“Come on, come on!” Leo grabbed each of them by the arm and tugged them along, much like Mikey had done with Cassandra and April a minute before. “Let’s go look!”

Raph had to admit that it was fun to rush about without the fear of capture. It was still a little strange, because he’d learned to associate villages with the fear of discovery, but it was still good. It was freeing, knowing that they were there because they wanted to be, and that nothing was keeping them there or pushing them away. Hueso trailed behind them at a respectful distance, mostly doing his own thing.

Without meaning to, they eventually arrived at the sight of Raph’s extreme act of vandalism. The building was surprisingly still standing, at least, but it had clearly been through an ordeal. The windows were blown out and partially melted, most of the doors and parts of the roof were charred beyond recognition. Raph suspected that the inside was worse, and a small bit of guilt twisted his stomach. It would’ve bothered him more, if it weren’t for the fact that their dad had promised to pay for the damages.

“This – is a historical monument,” Leo said solemnly – dramatically – as they stood gazing at the wreckage.

“This is my legacy, huh?” Raph replied, a wry smile tugging at his mouth.

“There are worse ways to be remembered, I think,” said Donnie, “and I, for one, would rather that this happened than the alternative.”

“Fair point,” said Raph, and they moved on, leaving the ruins behind them.

It was a beautiful day, and for the first time in a long time, Raph allowed himself to enjoy it.

After leaving the burned building behind, they went on a sort of sight-seeing tour, revisiting all of the places where something of note had happened to them. They stopped by the well that Donnie had knocked Angel into, and Leo performed a rather exaggerated retelling of the event, getting so into character that Raph had to lurch forward and grab him before he threw himself down the well in a fit of theatrical passion. Donnie stood back and laughed the whole time, offering no help.

Their next stop was the barn, and all three of them were assaulted by guilt and fear and exhaustion, though they each had their own reasons for feeling that way. They didn’t stay there for long, deciding to move on without speaking a word out loud. Hueso seemed puzzled, but he didn’t ask any questions.

The last place they visited was the old building where Donnie and Mikey had been kept during their brief capture. They walked in through the front door, and it was almost odd to see the place empty of villains. Donnie held his neatly wrapped wrist closer to his chest, and Leo scowled at the small pile of smoke pellets that Bebop and Rocksteady had left behind in the corner, while staying close to his twin. Raph stood stiffly in the middle of the room beneath the single unlit lantern, staring at the window he and Leo had looked through all those days ago.

“I hate this place,” said Louie vehemently, and Raph and Leo immediately agreed.

They slammed the door behind them on their way out, and Raph felt the sudden urge to go big again and destroy that stupid building with his bare hands. It passed quickly, however, leaving him feeling a bit lost, and he was left with nothing to do but move on.

They eventually ended up back on the main road, surrounded by smiling people and street vendors selling food and supplies. In the distance, Raph could see Mikey, April, and Cassandra watching a juggler with rapt attention. Hueso stopped to look at something that had caught his eye, waving Raph and the twins onward, suggesting that they meet up with April, her parents, Cassandra, and Mikey

They continued down the street at a casual pace, in no hurry.

“It’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?” Leo asked suddenly, gazing wonderingly at the sky. “That we made it?”

“I still find it hard to believe,” said Donnie, adjusting the collar of his cloak with his good hand. “I was prepared to die violently pretty much the second I got caught trying to break into that stupid wagon.”

“Could you imagine if you’d actually done it before the Purple Dragons got back?” Raph grinned at his little brother, a spark in his eyes. “What even would you have done if you’d opened the doors and seen me?”

“Run, probably,” Donnie said truthfully, smirking playfully. “And then you would’ve been free and none of this would’ve happened.”

Raph shook his head in false regret. “What a shame.”

“I’m glad that things went the way that they did,” Leo chimed in, turning and walking slowly backwards so he could face them while he talked. “I think it happened how it was supposed to.”

“Fate and destiny?” Raph asked, a hint of a teasing tone in his voice.

“Maybe!”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t call it that,” Donnie said, and Raph chuckled at the expected response.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Leo said, but his eyes were fond. “What would you call it then? How else did we get here?”

Donnie snorted. “I dunno. A miracle, maybe?”

Huey regarded the twins with amusement, and was able to pinpoint the exact moment Donnie realized that his response – a miracle – was exactly the type of thing that Leo would latch on to. Donnie’s eyes widened, and Leo broke out into a wide, excited, exceedingly happy smile.

“A miracle it is, then,” said Leo, as his expression melted into something softer.

They passed by a booth filled to the brim with fresh fruits, and Leo snatched an apple on his way by, inspecting it with a wry grin before tossing it in Donnie’s direction. Donnie caught it with his good hand before it could hit the ground, glaring at Leo even as a smile slid onto his face.

Raph laughed unabashedly – freely – as Leo turned and bolted down the street, towards where Mikey and the girls were at. Donnie was hot on his heels, cloak billowing out dramatically behind him.

He shook his head in a longsuffering sort of way as he went to pay the vendor for the apple.

“Your brothers, I’d imagine?” the vendor – a middle-aged woman with a kind face – asked, tilting her head in the twins’ direction.

“Yeah,” Raph replied, and he couldn’t keep the fondness out of his voice – the awe that it was true. “Sorry about them.”

“No worries, honey. I’ve got some siblings of my own.” She took his coins with a soft smile. “Keep them out of trouble, do you?”

“I try.”

“Not always an easy thing to do, is it?” the vendor asked, not seeming to expect an answer, and then she winked at him. “It’s worth it though, wouldn’t you say?”

Raph’s eyes were magnetically drawn down the street, where Leo was smiling and giving Mikey a head noogie, before turning around and doing the same to Donnie. Mikey was laughing, while Donnie was scowling and swatting at Leo’s hand. Leo and Mikey were laughing at Donnie’s face, and Raph could faintly hear it over the noise of the village. His heart was beating loudly and steadily in his chest, finally fueled by something other than fear and aching.

“Yeah,” Raph answered quietly, and he thought that his very being must be overflowing out of him, with how happy he was. “They’re worth it.”

Raph thanked the vendor and pocketed the rest of the coins, turning to catch up to his brothers.

From a few yards away, Mikey caught his gaze and waved as Leo and Donnie shot him a genuine, honest smile. Raph smiled back – because he couldn’t stop himself and didn’t want to – and like the pieces of a puzzle, or the four parts of a whole medallion, they came together again.