A/N Okay, I was finally able to write a slightly longer chapter for this story. I will warn you that a good portion of the start of this chapter actually comes from the cartoon, and therefore isn't mine. However, other than a few more small scenes and some dialogue, I hope to make the rest of the story a little more original from here on out. In any case, hope you enjoy this.

The journey through the sewers was a quiet one with neither turtle saying very much. For Donatello, much of his silence was from shock. He couldn't quite believe he was in a world where Saki was actually in charge. It seemed like something out of his worst nightmares. Even worse, it seemed that his family in this world had been all but destroyed in the process of the Shredder ascension. Donatello shuddered. They had come so close over the past several years to having their family shattered that this reality was striking a little too close to home. Is this what would have happened if they had never found Leo two years ago? And what if the Babbots had managed to actually kill him? As for what had happened at the hands of Saki himself, Donatello couldn't bring himself to think too closely on it; it was still too recent.

As for Michelangelo, he wasn't quite sure what to say to this "brother" of his. Donatello had been gone for so long, and so much had happened in his absence, that it was difficult for the older turtle to relate to his younger companion. And then there was Donatello's claim that he wasn't even the brother Michelangelo thought he was. It had to be a lie. The question was, however, why would Donny lie about something like that? Especially since Donatello wasn't a turtle known for lying. There had been times he might not have revealed the whole truth in a pointless effort to protect his younger brother, but he had never outright lied to his siblings. So did that mean this Donatello was telling the truth, and that he really wasn't his missing sibling? The thought was almost as painful as if he had lost his brother once again.

Eventually the pair emerged from the sewers in what appeared to be some sort of overgrown, on-the-verge-of-death city park. As Donatello followed Mikey above ground, he finally asked a question that had been bothering him. "Where are all the people?" Michelangelo's response as the pair darted through the dark woods made his blood run cold.

"You mean the ones that survived? They're forced to work eighteen hours days in the Shredder's labor camps. No one's allowed out at night."

It was almost enough to make Donatello freeze in his tracks. The more he learned about this world, the worse it became. But, he decided, as long as he was getting the bad news, he might as well hear all of it. "What happened between Leo and Raph," he asked as Michelangelo finally came to a halt.

"Let's just say they got in a big fight a long time ago," the older turtle said as he cautiously scanned the ground in front of them. Without adding anything else, Michelangelo continued onward. Donatello followed, regretfully thinking that it was just like his older brothers to alienate themselves from each other, just when they needed to pull together the most. It made him ever so glad that his own brothers, with the addition of Raph, had finally overcome their old habit of fighting rather than talking. Their closer relationship of current times was a huge relief to the tension filled awkwardness that had once existed between them.

Donatello had taken only a few steps after Michelangelo, when an unusual, but very familiar sense, washed over him. In that moment he knew that his twin was somewhere in the city. Donny, wherever he was, was confused, understandably a little frightened, but safe. It was almost enough to make Donatello smile. While he regretted that his twin had been dragged into this mess as well, it relieved Donatello's mind that he was no longer in this alone. Once he found his younger brother, there was nothing that come between them and getting home. After they did what they could to fix the situation around here, of course. His heart feeling much lighter, Donatello set out once more after Michelangelo.

TTTT

After traveling together in silence for a little while longer, now walking rather than jogging, Donatello found the courage to ask Michelangelo a little more about what happened to his family.

"When you never came back, Donny, well, everything just fell apart," Michelangelo said, the ancient hurt clear in his voice. "We were a team. Without you, it just didn't work. Guess we really needed that level head of yours."

By this time, the pair had reached a small open glade. In the center of the clear space was what was very clearly a gravestone. A very familiar walking stick was propped up against it. Even knowing that his father was safely back in the other dimension, Donatello couldn't keep the shocked grief out of his voice as he said questioningly, "Master Splinter?" Approaching slowly, Donatello dropped to his knees next the stone marker. "No," he moaned sadly.

"Master Yoshi used to bring him here to the park, back in the day," Michelangelo explained, coming to stand by Donatello's shoulder. "It's not the safest place, but it's where sensei wanted to be buried."

"H…how," Donatello asked, his grief on his alternate brothers' behalf making it difficult to speak.

"A couple of years after you disappeared, Master Splinter gave his life protecting the three of us," Michelangelo explained. "We'd already been hit; badly. Raph and Leo, well, that's a story for a different time. But that was the battle where I lost my arm. Sensei knew it was either us or them, so he did what he had to do to make sure we were the ones who survived. It was after that, once I was on the road to recovery, that Raph and Leo had their fight. They each went their own way. Since then, I've been carrying on the best I can. But now you're back—"

"Mikey," Donatello interrupted. "After everything you have faced, after everything you've lost, I know you don't want to hear this, but I have to make you understand. I am not your Donatello. I come from a different time and place altogether. I have brothers of my own that are missing me; brothers I need to get back to."

"Why are you doing this," Michelangelo asked, his voice pleading. "Why can't you accept that you're back where you belong? Back where you're needed?"

"Because I'm not," Donatello said, though his throat was clenching with unshed tears. Hurting his brother, no matter what dimension he was from, wasn't something he enjoyed. "Because no matter how much this world might vaguely appear to resemble mine, it's not my home. And as much as you have missed your brother, mine will be missing me."

"So what are you going to do," Michelangelo asked stiffly. "Throw together some dimension-hopping device and just leave us on our own again?"

Looking at the hurting turtle, Donatello knew he could never just leave things here the way they currently were. Even if this wasn't his dimension, and this wasn't his family per se, he could never leave without doing the best he could to help them.

"No," he told his brother, determination filling his voice. "There is someone I need to find first, but then I promise we will help you however we can before we go home. This is not the way thing were meant to be. Maybe I can't change the past, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to change the present. We've got to face the Shredder, and take him down!"

"We've tried," Michelangelo protested. "Too many times."

"Well we're going to try again Mikey," Donatello told him. "After all, my brothers and I have done it once already; well, technically twice, if you count the one Leo killed. But if we could do it then, we can do it now." The determination in his voice caught the other turtle's attention. It was a very familiar tone.

Cautiously hopeful, Michelangelo asked, "You got a plan?"

"I'm working on it," Donatello said. "But we're going to need Leo and Raph. If this is ever going to work, all of us are going to have to work together."

"That's tall order, Donny," Michelangelo replied. "But I think I know somebody who can help."

TMNTTMNT

The pair took off on another trek across the city. After a rather circuitous route, intended to throw off any tails they might have picked up, the Donatello followed his brother to a half-demolished building in the middle of the city. As they entered, Donatello was surprised to see what was basically a war room set up in the building. Maps and communication consoles filled the room, and men and women dressed in battle armor similar to Michelangelo's were busy carrying out a variety of task around the room.

At the center of the room, standing over a large table-sized map, was an older woman. As he and Michelangelo approached in the shadows, Donatello heard her giving orders to a young woman in a voice that was hauntingly familiar, but he couldn't quite match a face to it.

"Yo, rebel leader," Michelangelo called to the woman. "Look what the cat dragged in."

The woman turned and walked toward them. It took a second, but eventually Donatello recognized her. "April," he asked in shock.

"Donatello?" April's voice was just as shocked. But there was something about the way she said his name that perplexed him. Yes, she sounded startled, but not as startled as he had expected her to. After all, the other Donatello had been gone for thirty years. Shouldn't she be a little more surprised?

Michelangelo must have caught it too, because he said, "What's goin' on, April? Aren't you glad to see him?"

"Of course," April replied. "It's just, well—"

She was cut off by the excited cry of "Donatello!"

The trio turned around just in time for Donatello to catch sight of a very familiar leather-masked figure hurtling towards him. Relief flooded him, and he opened his arms to receive his twin's embrace. For a long moment, completely oblivious to anything else going on around them, the two brothers held each other tight.

Michelangelo was at once flabbergasted and dismayed. It was obvious Donatello knew this other turtle; one of his brothers it would seem. But when the pair separated, and Michelangelo was finally able to get a good look at the newcomer, he was stunned by what he saw. Other than their masks and a few minor differences in gear, the two were identical.

"April, Michelangelo," Donatello said. "This is my twin; Donny."

Not sure what to say to the new turtle, Michelangelo turned to April. "Where the shell did he come from," he asked.

"One of the patrols found him wandering the streets," she explained. "Even though they weren't sure exactly who he was, they knew it wouldn't be good if the Shredder's people found him, so they brought him here. He only got here about an hour ago."

Well, Donatello thought, that explains the empathic message I got. Donny must have just arrived here when I picked up on his emotions.

Michelangelo turned on the two turtles with a scowl. "All right, you two," he growled. "I think you had better explain just what the shell is going on here."

"I suggest we take this someplace a little more private," Donatello said, eying the curious bystanders unabashedly watching them. "Then we'll be more than happy to tell our story."

TTTT

After reconvening to a more secluded room, the three turtles and April settled on the floor. Donatello took up the narrative by explaining about what took place with Leo two years before, leading up to his attempted suicide, at which point Donny took over. The younger turtle described how he and his brothers had worked to help Leo recover from his former trauma, only to have the oldest turtle's original brothers show up. From that point on they went back and forth, describing the first showdown with the Shredder, Leo's shooting, and all events that took place during his recovery. From there they moved on to describe what happened with the Babbots, and the nightmare that proved to be. Third, and with a great deal more difficulty, they told the story about what the Shredder, working with Darktide, had done to their family, and the final results of that confrontation (including Leo's two deaths and his final evolution to Avatar). They concluded their story by describing Malatempa's attack on their home, and their subsequent appearance in this world.

"Part of me doesn't want to believe it," April said. "But it's hard to ignore the truth of two of you sitting here."

Donny and Donatello sympathized with her, but their true concern was for Michelangelo. Not once during their story had the older turtle said a single word.

"Mikey, are you okay," Donny asked, and his twin could feel the younger turtle's innate urge to reach out and embrace the obviously hurting turtle.

"I…I'm not sure," Michelangelo said in a voice that was not quite steady. "I've faced some pretty hard things; the deaths of Master Splinter and Casey at the hands of the Shredder's troops; Leo and Raph's abandonment; the loss of my arm. But none of it hurt as deeply as my brother's disappearance and continued absence. And now, just when I thought I had gotten him back, I lose him again because he really doesn't belong here."

This time Donny couldn't stop himself. Having spent the past several years learning how to be more open and demonstrative with his feelings, he couldn't just by while his brother, even one from a different time and place, was hurting. He moved over to Michelangelo and wrapped his arms around him. The older turtle made no move to return the embrace, but all the same, Donatello could see him leaning into it. Whether Michelangelo was willing to admit it or not, he needed this.

"It's going to be okay, Mikey," Donny whispered, hugging him all the tighter. "Donatello and I, we're going to do everything we can to help set things right. After all, our family has two Shredders to our collective name; a third one will be a cinch. And we're going to put your family back together. We might not be able to give you back your Donatello, but we can help you regain the family you do have. Even if we have to pull the rest of our brothers here to do it."

Michelangelo leaned back and looked this second brother in the eyes. There was such fire and determination in them, he couldn't help but believe him. "Yeah, I think you just might," he said softly. Turning to April he said, "Contact my brothers. We're going to need them."