Futago No Toki
a/n: This is the shortest one-shot I've written in a while, but there was nothing that I felt needed added that we haven't already seen. There is a lot of fluff in this one as well, mostly between Samie and Donnie (I call this twin fluff). I was avoiding writing anything to do with the Same as it Never Was mostly because its been done a thousand times. But I recently realised that this experience is something that Samie would have also had to go through with the rest of her family. Using this as a major opportunity to further develop her character and relationship with Donnie. I know I tend to overuse her character a lot, even adding her in when she's not needed to advance the plot and if it is too much, then tough because I've grown attached to Samie in the last couple of years. She's a great character who I think has developed a lot over time. Futago no toki, means 'when you are a twin' in Japanese. The word for this chapter is enjoy. Enjoy! :)
Chapter 1
Sam came to in the lair. She had no idea how she got there but she knew that something wasn't right.
"Why do you look so much like my sister?" A familiar voice asked. She turned around and found Mikey standing there.
"Mikey? Is that you?" Sam asked in response. "It is you, but you look so much older and your gear is-"
"The last time I checked you were dead. Leo isn't going to like this."
"But where is everyone? Master Splinter and Donnie and Raph. We were all in trouble thirty seconds ago."
"Trouble with who?"
"Draco and the Daimyo's son."
"I remember that. They were so mangled." Mikey said. He pulled her toward Leo's room and pushed open the door.
Leo was sitting down and staring at the wall. He mumbled something in Japanese and bowed forward.
"After you died, Leo jumped into shintoism and trained harder than ever, Raph well he became more violent than usual for a while but he eventually calmed down. I drank a lot, until I almost killed myself with it one night then I stopped and began training again. By that point it was too late." Mikey whispered as to not to distract Leo.
"What about Splinter?"
"He had a heart attack and died a year after you did.
"And Donnie?"
"Donnie, he took it harder than any of us did. I guess losing you put him over the top. Your bond was really strong."
"Yeah, sometimes it's like we can read each other's thoughts."
"I always thought that I wanted a bond like that with someone. Until you died and I seen what losing you done to him."
Leo noticed them and walked over. Having already figured that this younger version of his sister was not supposed to be there.
"Mikey what, is she doing here?" Leo said changing his question when he seen Samie. "You're supposed to be dead."
"So I've heard. I'm assuming that I'm in an alternate future." Sam explained to him. "But there is a problem, I have no idea how I'm going to get home.
"I think you assume correctly." Leo responded.
At that point Raph came running into the lair panting. "Donnie's cracked his shell."
"What's he doing now?" Leo said almost bored.
"His little meeting with me was to tell me his plan for world domination."
"World domination, that doesn't sound good." Mikey said.
"For a moment there I thought you said world domination. That doesn't sound like something Donnie would do."
"I told you he lost it." Mike responded.
Leo guided the shocked Sam over to the sofa and sat her down. "Listen Sam, the night you died was the worst night of Donnie's life. He changed after seeing you killed by the foot. He swore vengeance and took down Shredder's operations single handed for what they done to you. After that he became cold and began to distance himself from us. Eventually he took over the foot clan for himself and began running his operations. He started creating advanced weaponry several years ago now. Now apparently he wants to take over the world."
"And with his intellect and resources he could do it with the push of a button." Sam added.
"Come on guys story times over. We have to stop him before he does something he'll regret."
"Do any of you ever get tired of cleaning up his messes."
"Yes but this time we have someone who knows him better than he knows himself."
"Me? But how am I supposed to help him. I'm not your me, I'm a different me."
"This is getting to be a bit like Rick and Morty." Raph commented.
"I choose to ignore that comment Raph." Sam said. "Let's go and save Donnie from himself."
At that point Sam began fade out, she seen the silhouette of Leo and a few other figures appear and just before they became solid, it stopped and she was in the lair with the others again.
"What was that?" Leo asked confused as to why she had disappeared and then came back again.
"I think I was being pulled away from here. I don't know how but it felt just like when I came."
"Samie are you willing to help us save Don?"
"Of course. I would do anything for Donatello."
They left the lair and went to foot headquarters.
Donnie was in his office going over the paperwork. His assistant walked in and tapped his shoulder.
"Sir, your brothers and a young woman are here to see you."
"Good I was expecting them. Send them straight up please." Donnie said not looking up from his papers.
"Right away sir."
"Thank you."
He waited for a good five minutes before his brothers came in.
"Donnie are you insane?" Leo yelled at him as he came through the door flanked by Mikey and Raph. Don couldn't see Sam, she was behind her brothers.
"I thought we already clarified that I'm not." He responded. "Not since-" He dragged off. The others looked at the floor for a few moments. "I take it Raphael told you of my plans."
"Of course I told them. Did you think I was going to let you do something so stupid?"
"This is the only way to make them suffer the way I have."
"Donnie the world is not to blame for the death of our sister and you know that. The people that were responsible are long gone because you have already taken out them and all of their allies." Leo reminded him.
He slammed his hands onto the desk making Donnie drop his pen and jump back in fright. "Donnie look at me. Look at me. You can't do this to yourself, you can't blame the world for her death. She wouldn't want this even ask her yourself."
Sam stepped out from behind the others. "No, your dead. Shredder killed you. I was there. He forced me to watch as he gutted you in front of me and left your insides all over the floor."
"I might be dead in this dimension but we're still twins and I know that my sweet-natured twin brother is still in there somewhere."
Donnie stepped back away from her. "Stop talking." He said putting his hands over his ears.
"No because this is something you have to hear." Sam went over to him and pulled his hands away. Don stayed silent. Usually he didn't like it when anyone touched him, but for some reason her touch, the realisation that Sam was a solid being made him smile.
"Sam." He said softly.
"Donnie. I can't say that I know what your going through because I still have my version of you. That is if I can ever get home. But I do know that losing you would be the end of my world. It isn't healthy to internalise the pain you feel and it isn't good to destroy the world to make people understand that pain either. Talk to someone, let those feelings out. But don't put your guilt on the world."
The twins pulled away and Sam felt the eyes of her inter-dimensional brothers on her. "How did you know I feel guilty."
"You said yourself that you were there, when the me from this dimension was killed, that you were forced to watch and that you couldn't do anything to stop it." Sam said. By this point the two of them were on their knees on the soft carpet. "I know you well enough to know that everything you've done since then is because you felt responsible for what happened and you wanted to fix that mistake."
Donnie excused his brothers and they left the room waiting outside for when they were allowed to re-enter.
"Sam, I know you aren't from here. But if you help me do this, we will be equal partners again."
"What exactly is it you plan on doing?"
"I plan on making the world a much darker place."
"How? It's not like you can block out the sun."
"No I'm not going to block out the sun. I'm going to make every person on the planet suffer for what they done to our family."
"Why?"
"Because they don't know what it's like for us. They lived in ignorance of our existence until I killed the Shredder until I took over the Foot and enslaved the human race."
Samie realised that she had to play this smart. "Can I ask one more question, why do they deserve to suffer."
"They deserve to suffer because they outcast our family made us feel like monsters when we aren't. And for that they must pay, every last one of them."
"Don if you feel that way, then I will support you through anything." Sam told him. She didn't really mean it of course but she knew it was a good way to lull him into a false sense of security.
She stood up. "I'll go and get the others. You stay here and do more of your paperwork for a few minutes while I do that for you."
"Thanks, some peace and quiet would be good." Don responded.
The others lifted their heads as Sam poked her head out of the door. "Guys come back inside. Me and Donnie have something we have to tell you." She stated. Leo looked confused but still he followed in anyway. Mikey and Raph followed Leo, unsure of what was going to happen next.
Donnie explained to the others that her and Donnie were going to go through with the plan to kill everyone. That because of how long this Don had spent without his twin sister, she felt as though she had to stay with him for a little while.
"Why do you always side with him. I should've known this time wouldn't be any different?" Raph stated and stormed out of the room.
"I would get him before he leaves the building. That is if you want him to survive." Don stated. Leo ran after Raph, leaving Mikey alone with the twins.
"So, inter=dimensional counterpart of my beloved late sister, read anything interesting lately?"
"I found a great book in the library's trash that was only a little damaged that explained how grief can affect the brain." Sam responded, gesturing subtly toward Don who now had his face buried in paperwork.
Leo came back in the room with Samie and the four of them waited for about five minutes.
"Why am I doing this, there isn't going to be anyone left but the five of us to even care or read about the legitimate companies ran by the foot."
"Donnie is it time?" Sam asked him.
"I think it is. I have to retrieve the key and activate the nuclear explosives from here. The building is protected by all of the lead I had installed into the framework. This plan has been in motion for years and you three never even noticed."
"How stupid of us. We thought that you were renovating the building. Not planning on destroying life on earth as we know it." Mikey yelled at him.
"Mike enough." Leo warned. "Sit down and be quiet."
Don took the key out of a wall safe and put it in a hole on the desk.
"Samie before I turn the key that will bring up a computer and with a set of precise activation codes for the nukes I need to know. Is this what you want?"
Mikey couldn't stay quiet anymore. It wasn't one of his strong suits.
"Donatello, she's lying to you. She doesn't want you destroying the planet. She wants you to be like her Donnie again. What happened to the turtle that believed violence wasn't the answer?"
Donnie's face turned hard as he swung his head toward Samie "Why did you lie to me?" He asked her, his voice choking up as though he was deeply hurt by the fact that she had lied to him.
"Because look at what your anger is doing. Donnie you killed the Shredder and enslaved all of humankind. You're attempting to single handedly destroy the planet because you can't stand to face a life without your sister. Look at what this has done to you, look at what your doing." Sam explained. "Donnie please, destroy the key. Don't destroy the planet because you happen to be mad at the world."
Donnie looked at where his hand was and where the key was placed. He then looked up and seen his brothers and his interdimensional twin and closed his eyes.
"I can't do it." He cried out and forcefully pulled the key out of the desk before tipping it over in rage. "I'm weak I can't do it." He stated and went down onto the floor and curled into a ball.
Samie went to him over to him and knelt down beside him. "I love you so much Donnie and I'm pretty sure that my counterpart from this dimension loves you just as much. If she was anything like me, I think that destroying the world would make her really disappointed in you."
"Shut up you don't know anything about her."
"Donnie, essentially she is her." Leo reminded him.
Don stood up and pulled Sam to her feet. "If you are really Samie, who's idea was it to joust when we were eight?"
"That was my idea, but you had the idea to use naginata."
"Okay you won that round." Don thought for a moment. "What did Master Splinter tell the two of us when we were ten and had just discovered that we were twins?" He asked staring into Sam's brown eyes, hidden by her mask.
"Anata ga futagodearu toki, anata wa hontōni hitoride wanai." Sam responded. "When you are a twin you are never truly alone."
"That's why you put that on her grave." Leo whispered. "I had no idea Splinter told you guys that."
"Donnie have you ever visited her?" Sam asked. Don shook his head.
"Then I think that we should all go together. Don you need closure." Mike suggested.
"Won't erase the last ten years." Don managed.
"But it might just save the world." Sam explained to him. "Why don't we give it try."
"Fine but because you asked me." Don agreed.
He called his assistant and took a vase of flowers from a side table.
"Get a car, some flowers, and clear my schedule for the rest of the day. We're taking a trip up to North Hampton."
"And the flowers sir?"
"The flowers are for the trip. Don't ask any questions."
"Yes sir, right away sir." She ran off again.
"Dude you run a really tight ship in here."
"Tighter than Shredder ever did. Yet the foot soldiers do not fail as much as they did when Shredder was in command."
"And you can't stand the sight of blood so no risk of severed limbs either."
"It's about raising productivity and morale." Donnie said. "Happy workers, happy bank accounts."
They drove up north and stopped just outside the farmhouse. They had to walk for a bit before they arrived at the lake. Donnie stopped and looked down at the graves before him. He placed a picture of him and Sam as kids on one of them, followed by the flowers.
"Anata ga futagodearu toki, anata wa hontōni hitoride wanai." He said. "Samie, I miss you, we were twins and with you gone there is something not quite right. Without you I am alone." He said and broke down big tears falling from his face.
Don cried for about a minute before Mikey stepped forward and embraced him joining in with him. Raph was next and then Leo. The four brothers were united in their grief, united despite losing their only sister.
When they finished the boys turned to their father's grave. "Sensei, father. If you were here you would welcome this inter-dimensional sister with open arms as your little girl. It is because of her that I am able to open my heart to my remaining family." Don said. He turned to face Sam. "Thank you. I will never forget what you have done for me."
Sam began to fade again. Her inter-dimensional brothers faded from her vision as the silhouette of her father appeared before her. "I have to go now Donnie. Remember, you are never alone."
"Not anymore. Because I have my brothers beside me. I love you Samantha."
"I love you too Donatello." Sam said and disappeared from the sight of the brothers.
Don cradled his head in the crook of Raph's neck. All the pain of losing his sister came flooding back to him without a moment of delay of Sam disappearing. "I'm gonna miss her too Donnie. But what she done for us has helped make the world a better place."
"Our Sam would hate what I've become. I would never have done any of the things I've done since she died if she were here."
"If she were here you would still be our Donnie, the guy who went out of his way to build me a bike just because you wanted to." Raph said holding his brother closer.
"The guy that built my hover-board." Mikey added.
"The guy who stood up for what he believed in and used a bo staff because it was a weapon that is used primarily for self defence." Leo contributed.
"And I can be those things again. I am still that Donatello, deep down inside. Can you ever forgive me?" Donnie said determined to make a choice.
"For not destroying the world, yeah we'll forgive you." Leo told him.
"But you have to turn it around. No more sending me bottles of whiskey for Christmas. I have to give them away because they're too tempting." Mikey put in.
"Sorry, that is pretty cruel of me. You nearly died from alcohol poisoning." Don apologised.
"Let's go home boys." Leo said.
Sam appeared in the middle of a dust trap right beside her brothers. Almost immediately Donnie wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back.
"Promise me we will never separate again."
"That's not healthy for either of us." Sam responded. "Besides we're already twins. Anata ga futagodearu toki, anata wa hontōni hitoride wanai."
"I'll keep that in mind thank you." Donnie said.
Mikey and Raph looked at each other. "Are we missing something?" Mikey asked.
"With those two, always." Raph responded as Donnie wrapped his siblings in a massive bear hug from the relief of knowing that they were safe.
"Mikey, Raph. You're young and Mikey you have both your arms. And you're alive." Donnie stated did.
"It's nice to see you too Donnie."
"What?"
Eventually the whole problem with Draco and the Daimyo's son was fixed and they returned home to where Casey was waiting for them. Apparently it had only been around ten minutes since they had left.
Later that night Sam couldn't sleep. And Donnie tossing and turning in the bunk above hers didn't help much. So she went to see if anyone else was awake and found Splinter watching a late night news broadcast.
She sat on the sofa beside him. "My daughter is everything alright?" He asked upon noticing that she was there.
"I can't sleep. I keep thinking about the alternate future I was in. And I think Donnie's having a bad dream which doesn't help me at all."
"I see, what is on your mind child?"
"Well in this alternate future, the Shredder had me killed in front of Donnie and he had snapped to the point where he was willing to destroy the planet at the touch of a button."
"Why does this fact play at your mind Samantha?"
"Sensei do you ever worry about what me and Donnie are capable of? You raised us with honour and to have values but what if for some twisted reason me and Donnie no longer went by those values or honour. Do you ever worry that we have enough knowledge to, you know end the world."
Splinter turned off the television and looked at his daughter.
"Samantha listen to me. You and Donatello are honourable and good natured, there is no doubt in my mind that no matter what happens you will both be an unstoppable source of peace in the universe." Splinter told her. "Remember that you are my daughter and Donatello is my son. Remember who raised you and always remember the values that I installed into your minds and hearts. When the time comes you will know what the right thing to do is."
"Hai Sensei. Wakarimasu."
Sam went back upstairs and climbed up into Donnie's bed. She shook him awake.
"Donnie, don't ever scare me like that again okay."
"Okay, I guess." Don responded. "Sam do you think we're okay?"
"We're always gonna be okay Don, we're twins our bond cannot be broken."
"Can you sleep up here with me tonight. I kinda feel like I need someone here. Today really had me freaked out. It was horrible."
The two lay down side by side in Don's top bunk and told each other what was in their dimensions.
"I couldn't imagine being that alone, not having you at all would devastate me. No wonder that guy snapped."
"Yours sounds a whole lot worse though. I mean the counterparts I had visited didn't have a life that was as messed up as Shredder taking control of the world. At least with you in charge more money was being dedicated to the sciences."
Don laughed a little and yawned. "I'm gonna try and go back to sleep. See you in the morning."
"You too. Night Don."
"Night."
The twins closed their eyes and fell asleep in each other's arms. Both hoping that their nightmare universes didn't turn out to be self fulfilling prophecies.