Leo felt a tremor go through his body as he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of Donnie's lab. Donnie's lab in the lair. In the sewer.
His eyes widened as he looked around. The last time he'd seen the lair lab it had been completely emptied since Donnie had moved all his things to his new building. But right now the lair's lab was completely covered in papers and machines. He found Donnie sitting at a lab table staring wide-eyed back at him.
"It worked," Donnie whispered out.
"What worked?" Leo asked. "What are you doing in the lair, Donnie? When did you move all this stuff down here?"
Donnie stood and moved closer to Leo. His mouth hung open as he stared openly at his big brother.
Leo's eyes widened as Donnie approached. Donnie looked different. Younger. He glanced down at Donnie's left hand. No "S" mark on a finger. He took a step back.
"Who are you?"
"It worked," Donnie repeated.
"Who. Are. You?" Leo questioned again, stepping into an offensive pose.
"Whoa, whoa, Leo, I'm Donatello. I'm your brother!"
"You are not my brother."
Donnie rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. "Well, technically, no I'm not because we weren't raised together. But I am still your brother. You're just from a different world." Donnie shrugged.
"What?" Leo shook his head. "No, Donnie."
"I figured there must be other dimensions and I made this machine to look for another you," Donnie said. He could see Leo was in shock so he tried to keep his excitement over his success to a minimum.
"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?"
"I – we – we need a Leo."
"What?" Leo repeated. His chest felt tight as a bad feeling began to grow within. "And you thought any Leo would do? Where is your Leo?"
Donnie shrugged again.
"I – I don't understand what that means."
"I don't know where he is. He left."
"Left? When?"
"Two years ago."
"Why didn't you make a machine to look for your own Leo in this world?"
Donnie paused. "Our – our Leo doesn't want to be here."
"Do I look like I want to be here?"
Donnie looked at the ground again. "You just got here. Maybe you'll-,"
"Send me back, right now, Donatello!" Leo growled, glaring at him.
Donnie froze for a minute. It had been two years since he'd seen Leo but also two years since he'd heard that leader tone of voice he'd been trained to listen to. He'd never been so happy to hear anything in his whole life.
"It-it doesn't work that way. It's a one-way transporter."
"What? What was your exit strategy for getting me back home?" Leo felt his breathing quicken and his chest tighten again as he watched Donnie's eyes move to the floor of the lab. "So your plan was to bring me here and I'd just live here forever?" He was completely aware that he was beginning to yell. His knees felt funny and he looked around the room until he found a stool and quickly sat himself down on it. "Call Usagi. He's got an inter-dimensional transporter. He can take me home."
"Who's Usagi?"
"Oh, fuck," Leo said, letting his face drop down on one of Don's lab counters.
"Heh. Our Leo doesn't swear."
"Well neither do I. That's how bad this is, Don."
"And he's never called me Don."
"I'm not your Leo! I have to go back. I have a family!"
"Well, I don't! Not since you disappeared."
"I didn't disappear from your world. But now you've made me disappear from mine. How could you do this?"
Donnie chewed on his lower lip and watched his distraught big brother take several deep breaths. "We need you, Leo."
Leo's head suddenly swung to the lab door as he heard his baby brother's voice approaching.
"Hey, Donnie, I don't feel like cooking so do you want me to -," Michelangelo froze when he spotted Leo sitting on one of Don's stools.
Mikey ran to him and Leo stood up to greet the baby brother. He was shocked though when Mikey flung his arms around his shell and pressed his face into Leo's plastron. Leo's arms flew up in surprise before he gently patted the back of Mikey's shell in return. Mikey pulled back and looked back at Leo's face and Leo's eyes widened at just how young Mikey appeared. He watched, though as Mike's eyes narrowed and he took a step back away from Leo.
Mike turned to Donnie. "What did you do? You said you'd find Leo. That's not our Leo, dude."
"But he is Leo."
"But not ours," Mikey repeated, looking Leo over one more time before he turned and left the lab.
Donnie sighed. "We need you, Leo," he repeated. "I can't do this by myself anymore. Mikey doesn't joke or laugh. And Raph-,"
Leo tensed at Raphael's name. Of course there would be another Raph here.
"- is going to end up dead soon if he keeps going the way he's been going."
"Where is Master Splinter?" Leo asked.
Donnie rubbed the back of his neck again. "You're older than we are. We're twenty," he provided before asking, "How old are you?"
"Thirty," Leo said.
"Thirty," Donnie repeated in awe. "Is Master Splinter still with you?"
Leo's eyes lifted quickly to Donnie again. "Yes."
Donnie's eyes widened slightly. He looked down at his lab table. "Our Master Splinter got sick two winters ago. He died."
"He's not here?" Leo asked, his chest tightening again as he realized he wouldn't be able to consult with his father. Or ever see him again if he couldn't get out of this world. "Did he die before your Leo left or after?"
"He died shortly before."
Leo felt slightly relieved at that, even though it wasn't him who had left. At least this other Leo had been here when their father passed.
"Where is Raphael?" Leo asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to see him. But he at least wanted to know where he was. He watched Donnie shrug.
He thought about what their younger ages in this world meant. If these turtles were twenty and their Leo left two years ago at eighteen, then that meant this Leo had left a good year before he and Raphael would've reconciled and gotten together. This world's Leo and Raph didn't even know what they were missing. Actually, he took that back. They probably did know what they were missing. They just didn't know they could actually have it.
"You asked before what I was doing in the lair. Why wouldn't I be in the lair?"
"Donnie, listen to me," Leo said, ignoring his question. "I need you to send me back. Ok? Just – just get to work on your machine and reverse it so I can go back. If you need help, just get Sadie down here."
"Who's Sadie?"
"Oh come on!" Leo said, throwing his hands in the air. He felt slightly ridiculous but the panic was beginning to really set in.
"I don't know how to even begin to reverse it, Leo. It took me months to get it to work this way."
Leo sat back down on the stool again and let his chin drop to his plastron. Months? He thought carefully about his next statement before he said it. It was selfish, but he didn't really care in that moment.
"Fine, then bring my Raph here."
Donnie lifted one shoulder and Leo felt his stomach clench.
"It – the machine is programmed to find you. To find a Leo. It doesn't find anyone else."
Leo stood, ready to actually charge at this other version of his younger brother. Raph's grinning face, followed by Akito's and Machi's faces flashed in his mind before everything went dark.
When Leo woke he was in a bed in what looked like his old bedroom in the lair. He stayed right where he was and willed himself to go back to sleep and wake up again in his own world with his face pressed into his own Raph's neck. Was it just that morning that he'd woken and found the post-it from Raph on their bathroom mirror?
And Raph. Leo knew Raph must be frantic. As well as the kids. After the Winters' incident five years ago, they'd managed to avoid major battles, major bruises and disappearing for days in a row to try to give the kids a stable, normal environment. They'd even figured out a way to get the kids set up with a tutor for school. But literally disappearing into thin air in front of them would not be counted as normal in any way.
He pictured what they were probably doing now. First there would've been shock at what they'd seen happen. Then Akito would try to be brave and calm as they tried to figure out what happened to him, which was good, because Machi tended to favor Raphael's methods of stomping around angrily when she was upset.
He pulled his T-phone off his belt and swiped it open. No signal. Of course. He pulled up his photo album though and swiped through it as pictures of Raph and their family filled the screen. He swallowed over a lump in his throat.
Even though he wasn't in any immediate danger and even though he was sitting in a place identical to the one he'd called home for over 24 years, he'd never felt this frightened or alone before. There was no immediate way home.
Months. Donnie had said it had taken months for the machine to work. Going home in a few months would be better than being stuck here forever. But months? He was going to miss Halloween. And this was probably the last year Akito would want to go before he declared himself too old. He'd miss Thanksgiving. Christmas. What if the kids got sick? He wouldn't be there to help take care of them.
And Raphael. How was he supposed to go months without Raphael? His eyes filled and he quickly sat up and exited the bedroom. He headed downstairs into the darkened lair and wondered just how long he'd been passed out if everyone else had gone to bed. His stomach growled and he thought about the pancake breakfast he didn't get a chance to eat that morning as he headed to the kitchen.
He was chewing on cold pizza - the only thing he could find in the fridge - when he heard heavy footsteps at the entrance of the lair. He silently headed that way and narrowed his eyes when he spotted this world's Raph head clumsily towards the stairs.
Raph stopped suddenly and turned, his eyes focusing immediately on Leo. Leo watched the emotions run through those green eyes as soon as he was spotted. Disbelief. Hope. Happiness.
Raph lumbered over to him and immediately lifted a hand to Leo's cheek. His eyes narrowed on Leo's face though and Leo was sure that Raph could see the age difference. And now that Raph was this close, he could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Are you drunk?" Leo asked and watched as Raph snatched his hand back and took a few steps away from him.
"Who are you?" Raph asked and then Leo heard it too. The voice was close, but it wasn't the same. The pitch was off. His voice must've sounded wrong to this Raph as well. Strange he hadn't noticed any difference in Mike's or Don's voices when he spoke to them earlier.
Before Leo could answer, Raph lunged to the side and bolted for the bathroom. Leo sighed and followed him. He'd seen Raph drink in the past but he'd never actually seen him drunk before. He wet a washcloth with cold water and put it on the back of Raph's neck as he hung his head over the toilet.
"Don't need yer help," Raph growled up at him.
"Fine," Leo said, turning to go.
"Wait," Raph said, shifting himself back until his shell hit the wall behind him. He slid his eyes shut. "Who the fuck are you?"
Leo stopped but kept his shell to this Raph. "I'm not your Leo."
"No shit," Raph said. He took a slow breath to try to calm his stomach as he tried to ignore how nice the washcloth felt on his neck. "Our Leo isn't comin back. Not after-,"
Leo turned when Raph didn't continue. He quickly saw that the drunk hothead had fallen asleep. Leo scowled at him in the dark bathroom and quickly turned again to leave.
He left the lair and began sprinting through the familiar tunnels until he reached what should've been the location of the hidden elevator for Hamato Engineering. Except there was no secret button. No secret elevator. He reached street level via a manhole cover instead and stood in the shadows at he stared up at the dark, rundown building that should've been his home.
