AN: I had this kicking around my PC for a while, after watching the new movie (again) and a few 2k3 episodes (again) I decided it was about time I posted it. Your opinions are always appreciated. Enjoy!
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-TMNT-
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I didn't hear them when they entered, I didn't see them either, but I knew they were there. Seventy years of them coming in and out through my windows, of them sliently moving around my apartment, the farmhouse and their lair. You learnt to recognise the signs, the slight movement of air. That sixth sense of just knowing that somebody you care about is near you.
"Hello boys," I said quietly into the darkness.
"Hello April," replied Donnie as he stepped into the light, bending down he kissed me on my forehead.
"You came back?" They'd been away for so long. Enjoying the freedom that came with travelling the stars.
"We came back," he smiled as he sat down on the edge of my bed.
"We got Shadow's message," said Leo quietly as he stepped forward, a small smile playing at his lips.
"It's so good to see you all again."
"It's good to see you too, Ape," smiled Mikey as he stepped forward, bending down to give me a hug. He was gentle, barely squeezing me. Not like when we were younger, when I was younger.
"You boys still look so young," I smiled as I picked up Donnie's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. My strength was failing me, had been for a while but I wanted them to know that I was okay. "You've grown though."
"Solar flare," grinned Mikey as he helped me to sit up more, plumping up the pillows behind me. "We spent too long on this one planet that had endless white sand beaches, perfect for basking and the surf was amazing. Did us wonders for having a growth spurt."
I laughed, they were all around the six foot mark now, Donnie might even have been taller.
"Oh, I do wish I could see the stars again." I looked up to the window, the bright lights of New York City was all I could see. No stars.
"We can help with that," said Donnie. "Raph?"
"Got you a gift," grunted Raph as he stepped forward and placed a gold glowing orb in my lap. I looked up at him in question. "Jus' touch it," he growled. I saw the smirk though. Even after all these years, Raphael still had that wall around himself and his feelings. Over the years I'd learnt not to push at it and just appreciate the small cracks where the lighter side of him shined through.
I reached out, my fingers hovering over the orb, they trembled now, but that had nothing to do with nerves, that was just me, me and my age. I touched the orb.
Light exploded from in every direction, I squinted through it and when it finally died down I couldn't help but gasp at what I was seeing. My room had been transformed, no longer was I surrounded by my bedroom furniture, instead I was in space, surrounded by bright stars and planets of every size and colour.
"Oh boys," I gasped as I felt my eyes tearing up.
"It gets better," whispered Donnie. He reached through the stars until his finger was hovering over a little reddish planet. "This is D'hoonnib, the first planet we ever went to. It's where we met the Professor." He touched the planet, it glowed slightly before the scenery around us changed and suddenly I was surrounded by buildings, a red sky glowing above us. People, no aliens moved about. Then suddenly the four turtles appeared before me, but there was something different about them, something familiar. They were younger, more innocent. Smaller than the boys that stood before me in my bedroom.
"This is what happened to us when we first arrived," said Leo from somewhere near me. I watched as they ran and fought and then laughed until I had tears in my eyes as I witnessed Raphael trying to drive a tank. I remembered them telling me about this adventure when we were all younger, but to see it with my own eyes was truly amazing.
Then it all disappeared and I was back in space. The stars swirling around me.
"Ooooh, touch this one next," said Mikey grinning. His finger hovering over a large bluish-green planet. The pure energy Mike had and his excitement just told me this would be a good one. He hadn't changed one bit over the years, everything was still a game for him.
The scenery changed again, this time the environment was all ice. In front of me was the biggest motorcycle I'd ever seen, it was huge. So big that it was taller than the turtles themselves. Approaching it was the turtles, they were older than the last vision I'd seen, probably closer to their current age.
Donnie had a bag of tools in his hand, Leo had some form of data pad and Raph and Mikey were wearing biker leathers and had helmets perched on their heads.
I watched as Leo tossed Mikey what looked like a USB stick, then the two turtles climbed up on the bike, Raph in the front.
the next moment I was then taken on the most exhilarating of journeys. It was Casey and Raph that had introduced me to motorcycles. The joy of going as fast as you can on the open road. The freedom a bike gave was just amazing. There was nothing else like it. Something else I had come to miss in my old age.
This bike though, this was something else, we were travelling faster than I'd ever gone before and the landscape was both beautiful and terrifying. I loved it. I felt like I was right there with the turtles, travelling with them. I was even sure I could feel the wind blowing past me and through my hair. It had been so long since I'd been well enough to go outside, this was a dream come true.
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I spent hours with the turtles travelling from planet to planet, watching their adventures. Laughing at the trouble they seemed to always get themselves into. With each planet, they told me about the friends they had made, the enemies they had defeated and the strangers they had saved.
I'd watched these four amazing individuals grow from teenagers and into men. They were my family, and even though we went long periods of time between seeing each other these days, when we were together it was like no time had gone by at all.
Today would be one of those days that I would treasure for what remained of the rest of my life.
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-TMNT-
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"That was a beautiful gift," said Renet as she watched the four turtles step onto the roof.
"You saw?" asked Donnie.
"Mistress of all Time," she pointed to herself. "I see everything."
Renet had been showing up in their lives since they had been in their mid teens. Sometimes it was because she needed help, sometimes because she had some free time and wanted an adventure, then other times, like today, they needed her help.
The brothers had got Shadow's message just like they had told April, what they hadn't said was that they'd got it too late. By the time they had made the long journey back to Earth, months had gone past and April had already passed away.
Their oldest friend, one of their family and they never had the chance to say goodbye. So they had called in a favour, asking Renet if they could go back in time to make it right.
After a long lecture on how the time-stream was not their personal plaything and they couldn't just manipulate it anyhow they pleased. Continuing on to lecture them on time-streams, paradoxes and other stuff which they were all sure only Don had understood, she'd agreed to help them out.
They were used to meeting Renet 'out of chronological order' is how she put it. Sometimes she was still only a student, sometimes she was a fully qualified time-mistress, the one standing before them now was a lot older, more mature.
"Thank you, for this. It means a lot," said Leo.
"I know," she smiled slightly. "April was a good person, one of the best. I liked her, but Leo you have to realise that there may be repercussions for this. You've changed the timeline."
"You just said you saw everything, how come you don't know what'll happen?" asked Mikey.
"Time Mikey, is always in flux. There are certain events though which are set and will always happen, those we cannot change. Like the apparent coincidental events which took place in New York City all those years ago to create four heroes," she smiled. "I've watched that event many times over, even tried to change it. It didn't matter though, the result was the same. Four seemingly ordinary turtles, became humanity's avengers, saviours and defenders."
"You tried to make us not us?" asked Mikey in confusion.
"No, I tried to make things better. I was young, I thought I was helping. It didn't matter though, fate always intervened and you four were born. However, most events in time are not fixed and are in flux. They can be manipulated and changed, but it means that they do change the time-line from that point on. It's very wibilly-wobilly." Rennet explained, wafting her hands around.
"This can be a good thing, you can try and make a better future. The bad thing about them is that they are unpredictable. You change one aspect in time, you change multiple events after, big and small. You affect the lives of multiple people.
"Anyway enough of that, I agreed to help you, agreed to take the chance that what would come would be better than what came before it, but now I need you to help me."
"We know Renet, we already said we'd help you," said Leo.
Renet smiled, "I know. Shall we get going?" she twirled her staff creating a portal next to her.
Leo stepped through the portal first, Mikey next, grinning as always, nunchucks swirling in his hands. He always did like a good adventure.
"You know, you never answered Mikey's question," said Donnie. "You said you see everything, so that means you do know what will happen?"
Renet smiled, "I've got a lot of time lines to sort through, it will take me a while to find the diversions."
"Timey-wimwy bits, huh?" smirked Don.
"The Doctor is nothing compared to me, but he does have some very accurate explanations on how time works."
Don laughed, shaking his head as he stepped through the portal.
"In all the time we've known each other you've always been a bad liar," said Raph as he stepped forward. "I mean you talk more now, use bigger words and you distract very well. But I know when it's all bullshit."
Renet smiled, "I'm surprised Donnie bought it."
"He gets distracted easily, give him a day, maybe two and he'll probably figure it out."
"You don't though?"
"I know that look, Renet. You wear it every time you know something that we don't. You know exactly what will have changed by us coming back in time, saying goodbye and changing the timeline."
"I do," sighed Renet. "I'm not going to tell you what I saw though. You've seen your own future before, you know it doesn't turn out well when you know what might be coming."
"I saved Shadow," Raph said.
"But was the price to high?"
"She's family," shrugged Raph. "No price to high."
Renet stepped forward touching Raph's left eye, he didn't flinch. He couldn't even feel it. It wasn't real. He'd lost that eye a while back. Touching the side of his bandana, he switched off the holograph that was creating his false eye. "You sure about that?"
"I lost an eye, Shadow kept her life. That's not a price, it's a fair trade."
"But nobody knows, not Shadow, not your brothers. The circumstances of how you lost your eye, you made it all up. That secret is the price, the burden I talk about."
"Again, I say no price too high for family. So I ask again, do I need to know what the price for this little trip will be? How far will I have to go to protect my family?"
Renet sighed, "Oh Raph, you can't keep doing this. You stand in the path of danger and you protect your brothers with such passion and ferocity. It's admirable but one day you won't be able to keep standing alone."
"Renet, how long have you known us?"
"Four hundred and twenty three years of my life," she smirked. "Time-travel," she shrugged.
Raph smiled, "In all that time what did you learn?"
"We've had this conversation before," sighed Renet. "Fine, Leo he's your leader, keeps you out of trouble, gets you out of it when you can't avoid it. Keeps you honest. Donnie, he's the brains. The genius, with all his inventions he granted you the things that made your life so much easier and will continue to make your life easier. Mikey he's the heart. With his jokes and pure optimism, he finds your silver linings in any situation. He keeps you sane."
"And me?"
"You protect," she sighed. "You stand between your brothers and danger. Hit first, so your brothers aren't the ones that get hurt first." Rennet smirked, "Sometimes you even consider asking questions later."
"Renet, do I need to protect them from something in the future that we caused to happen with our actions today?" asked Raph in all seriousness.
"No," smiled Renet. "This time, your brothers got off with no consequences."
"Good," smiled Raph before he walked past Renet and through the portal.
Renet watched the last turtle step through the portal. "Once again Raph, it is you who pays the price, and there is nothing I can do about it."
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-TMNT-