Everyone says you only fall in love once, but that's not true, because every time I see you, I fall in love all over again.

That is the essence of our marriage.

I was in my room, busy on a paper for school. I didn't notice my window open or the figure standing right behind me. I didn't notice…. and then everything suddenly went dark.

No One's P.O.V.-

The four teenagers entered the lair, being their noisy usual selves. So noisy in fact that they failed to see a familiar yet unfamiliar presence sitting on their couch. It was only when Donatello felt something was off about the room that they shut up and looked ahead of them. What appeared to be Splinter was seated with his backs to them. "Uh, Master Splinter?" Michelangelo ventured to ask. "Michelangelo…." The old rat whispered to himself like he hasn't said that name in years.

The four turtles looked at each other and went down to face their master. But to their utter horror, it was not Splinter on the couch. Well, it was Splinter but not their Splinter; a much older version of himself. He was gruffy and had this air of suffering and wariness about him. It looked like life had not been easy for the rat. But what was more terrifying was the human girl he was holding in his arms. She was clearly knocked out unconscious, though there were no signs of force or trauma. For the first minute, none of them knew what to think except for that this person must have either been attacked and/or kidnapped. None of them sat well with those possibilities.

"Who are you?!" Leonardo demanded, not taking his eyes off the girl, terrified for her wellbeing. "I think you should recognize the one who raised you, Leonardo," older Splinter fired back. "You're not our Splinter!" Michelangelo stated the obvious aloud. "Yeah! You're like way older!" Donatello added. "Where's our Splinter?!" Raphael demanded, getting ready to pull his sai out. "He's asleep at the moment. I knocked him out before I picked her up," he motioned down to the human. "K-knocking him out?" This genuinely surprised them; Splinter wasn't one to take down so easily. "W-why?" Leonardo was almost afraid to ask. This Splinter was not only stronger than their Splinter- which made sense considering the age difference- but also potentially dangerous. He did have a human with him after all.

Older Splinter didn't answer right away. To their surprise, he just gazed down at the girl; a sort of affectionate, sad gaze. "I had to bring her to you." This definitely caught all their attention; Donatello and Michelangelo's jaws even dropped. With them too stunned to speak, Splinter continued. "You weren't supposed to meet her for another two years, but that's too long. You need to meet her now." "W-why?" Leonardo's voice was still shaky. Again, Splinter didn't answer right away, peering back down sadly at the mysterious girl. Eventually his lips parted when he was ready to talk.

"As I'm sure you've realized, I'm from the future." The shocked them but they didn't physically show it. While stunning, it didn't seem impossible; if aliens from another dimension could find them, why couldn't Splinter from the future. But that still didn't explain why they had to meet her now of all times. "In my reality, you meet her when you're seventeen. Her name…." His voice caught in his throat for a moment; this was clearly difficult for him. "Her name is Dilara de Vries. She's from Amsterdam. She becomes your dearest friend and….. and she's also your future wife."

"Wife?!" They all shouted in unison. They didn't know that they could legally get married, much less to a human. But Splinter didn't appear to be joking; the exact opposite in fact. Judging by the way he looked at her, even held her suggested that she was important- precious- to the old rat. "W-who's wife?" Donatello finally sputtered. "Leonardo's," and all brothers looked at the now furiously blushing, speechless leader. "And Raphael's," he continued. The equally surprised red-masked turtle blinked to his older brother in surprise. "H-how can she be both our wives?" Raphael asked in a lower tone this time. "She's not," he went on to say. "But you agreed before I came to the past that I shouldn't say which one of you marries her." "W-we said that?!" Leonardo gasped in disbelief. Splinter responded with a nod.

"That's stupid! Why would we do that?!" Raphael's voice rose again. "Because you said its more advantageous for her this way; you'll both be more motivated to protect her." "Protect her? Protect her from what?" Leonardo then asked with a hint of worry and curiosity. Splinter hesitated to answer, lowering his breathing like he was in pain. His eyes wouldn't leave her face; it was as if he was afraid he'd never see it again once he looked away. If they didn't know better, they could have sworn that the rat was tearing up slightly.

"I brought her to you, so you could keep her safe. This won't be a problem for a couple of years but eventually the Shredder will learn about her and seek her out. She…" Splinter took in a deep breath. "She died, in my reality." "W-what?" Leonardo felt like he was immediately punched in the gut for some reason. "Shredder killed her, on your wedding night. She… traded her life for all yours."

None of the turtles said anything; what could they say to that? A girl- one of their wives- sacrificed herself for them, all of them. Never, not even in their wildest dreams, could they have imagined such a thing. And it felt utterly disgusting; disgusting that they couldn't stop Shredder from destroying someone they loved- loved enough to marry. And this obviously destressed Splinter, considering the expression on his face. He loved her too, it seemed. "S-she traded her life for ours?" Splinter only responded with a pained nod.

"I see," Donatello's fingers snapped. "You came back in time to prevent her death, is that right?" "Correct as usual, Donatello. In the future, you look into multiple timelines to find which time I should bring Dilara to you. The only conditions were that she does not die and she still marries either Raphael or Leonardo; this was the only timeline that allowed for both those." "N-now? You mean us meeting her now will prevent her death but also still allow Leo or Raph to marry her." "Yes, Donatello." And Leonardo and Raphael just looked at each other, unsure what to say next.

They all took a few steps back as Splinter unexpectedly stood up. Spinning around, he tenderly set her down onto the couch. His paw gave her cheek a caress; a kind, loving caress. Yes, he loved her; he loved her dearly. And why not? She marries one of his sons; she'd be like a daughter to him. Her death would have hurt him too, so much that he travelled back in time to save her. After staring down at her in awe for a long, long minute, the rat straightened up and turned back to the dumbfounded turtles.

"I'll only say this once: it's your job to protect her. I'm counting on you to keep her alive and safe from Shredder. He won't be an issue for a while but someday he will be, and on that day, I expect you to be there for her. You will marry her, my sons; she is your future wife. So as her future husbands, it's your jobs to keep her from harm. Do you understand, Leonardo, Raphael?" "Uh…." The pair looked one another before gazing shyly back at the old rat. "Y-yes, of course!" Leonardo elated. Splinter gave a nod in his direction and then looked to Raphael, expecting an answer. Knowing he wanted one, the red-masked turtle nodded firmly.

Seemingly satisfied, Splinter then turned to walk towards the exit, leaving the girl unconscious on the couch. He gave the turtles one final look. "Remember your promise." They nodded obediently, afraid of angering him in any way. But then Donatello had a thought. "Hey!" He caught Splinter's attention. "Why did you knock out uh, our Splinter? Shouldn't he know this?" "You're right, he should, and I'll leave you four to tell him. But, as you'll soon learn, Dilara has a considerable phobia of rats." And then, with one last gaze at Dilara, the old rat evaporated into thin air, never to be seen or heard from again.