The sound of someone coughing woke Leo up. He opened his eyes and with his own first breath began violently coughing as well, made worse by the fact that each cough seemed to lead to a stabbing pain in his chest, which then led to more coughing.

He forced himself upright into a sitting position and while he was grateful to no longer be in the burning hotel, he was immediately alarmed to find himself in a cave.

Nothing good comes when you wake up in a cave, he thought to himself.

Michelangelo was already sitting upright next to him. It was his coughing that had awoken Leo and he was still trying to get the painful hacking under control. His eyes were wide as he looked around and he did his best to ask Leo where they were in between coughs.

Leo shook his head, doing his best to remember what had happened in that burning building. They'd gotten close enough to the creatures that they'd been chasing for Leo to realize they were wolves. And not mutant wolves either, but actual wolves from Akito and Machi's original dimension. Wolves like the ones who had stood guard outside Leo's cave when he'd been kidnapped by Akito's uncle and the rebellion he was leading in that world.

They'd chased the wolves into the hotel and had been quickly trapped in an upper level hallway and surrounded by smoke and fire. He and Mikey had begun crawling, trying to stay below the smoke but Mikey had collapsed from breathing in too much smoke, leaving Leo to try to crawl and drag Mikey at the same time. He also remembered sensing Raphael nearby. He squeezed his eyes shut as he hoped that Raph hadn't entered that burning building to try to save him. He couldn't sense Raphael nearby now and he was left with no idea if Raph was safe or not. He must've fallen unconscious soon after that because he had no further memories. It explained why his lungs felt like they were on fire. But didn't explain where they were now.

Although he didn't care where they were right that second as he quickly wrapped his arms around his little brother's shoulders and pulled him into a fierce hug.

"Are we dead, Leo?" Mikey asked, his voice a hoarse whisper as he returned Leo's hug and glanced around the cave.

Leo huffed out a strange noise as Mikey's question was too close to his own current thoughts that he'd almost lost his brother in that fire. Almost lost himself in that fire.

"No, Mike," he said, and let go of his brother's shell. "I don't think we'd be in pain if we were dead." He stood slowly and looked towards the entrance of the cave. He could only see that it was dark outside. He turned and offered Mikey a hand and pulled him to stand as well before they headed towards the cave entrance together.

Usagi looked up from the small campfire he was tending to as the turtles exited the cave. His eyes locked with Leonardo's and he registered the shock he saw there.

"I was hoping you'd both wake up soon," Usagi said after a few moments of them staring back and forth at each other. It didn't escape him that even the normally rambunctious Michelangelo was being quiet.

"Did you pull us out of the fire?" Leo finally asked. He was trying to keep his tone neutral but his voice only came out as a hoarse whisper thanks to the smoke inhalation.

Usagi nodded.

"Thank you," Leo said, because it needed to be said. But the statement was quickly followed by a question. "What were you doing there?" he asked as he walked over to the fire and gingerly sat down opposite Usagi. Mikey followed his lead and sat down next to him. He glanced around them and saw only wilderness.

"The answer to that is actually a long story," Usagi said. "One that I will tell you, but first you should know that the transporter was damaged in the fire and it clearly didn't bring me home like I was expecting it to. And I believe we're in the last dimension I was traveling through before I came to yours. But I didn't want to explore further while you were unconscious. And you should also know that we are stuck here." He looked down at the inter-dimensional transporter he'd been trying to fix before the brothers had woken.

"What?" Mikey squeaked out with his damaged voice. He jumped up from his seat and was by Usagi's side in the next moment. He took the transporter from him and immediately noted that it had clearly been burned in the fire.

Usagi watched as Mikey appeared to be growing more frustrated the longer he pointlessly shook the transporter. "It won't bring us back. Otherwise I would have already returned both of you to your home."

"Leo," Mikey said, shifting his eyes away from the transporter and over to his big brother's face. "Leo, I can't be here right now."

Leo jumped up from his own seat as he recognized the signs of panic in Mikey's face. Mikey dropped the broken transporter as Leo reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"I can't. I can't, Leo," Mikey said, reaching his hands up to grab at Leo's elbows as he shook his head back and forth. He could feel the burn of tears behind his eyes. "I can't be in another dimension right now. This is your deal. This happens to you. This doesn't happen to me. Not right now when Woody is – when Woody is." He stopped speaking for a moment to catch a breath. "I can't be here. I have to be home, Leo."

Leo pulled Mikey into his plastron as he spoke and hugged him tight, doing his best to soothe his little brother while Usagi watched with a confused expression.

"And they'll think we were trapped in that fire, Leo. That we didn't make it out," Mikey continued despite the tight hug. "He doesn't need that kind of stress right now. It's not fair."

"Listen to me, Mikey," Leo said, doing his best to sound convincing despite his missing voice. "We are going to be found and we are going to be found soon. You're right," he said as he tried to huff out a laugh, "this is my deal, but that just means our family is prepared for what to do when we disappear. I'm sure Donnie is already using his machine to search for us. Okay?" He pulled back far enough to meet Mike's eyes. He realized for the first time that they were both covered in ashy soot as he saw tear stain tracts running down Mike's face.

"Woody needs me," Mike whispered back to him, his voice cracking on the last word. He pushed himself out of Leo's arms and walked away from him.

"How long have we been here?" Leo asked, directing the question to Usagi although he was keeping his eyes on Michelangelo.

"A few hours," Usagi responded.

Leo sighed. His thoughts immediately returned to Raphael and he wondered why it was that Raph was never with him when he was forced into other dimensions. He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped again that Raph had listened to him and stayed out of that burning building.

He opened his eyes and watched as Mikey stopped walking and merely stood by himself as he stared into the trees. Leo's eyes moved back to Usagi and he found the samurai staring at him.

"It's been a long time, Leonardo."

Leo nodded and slowly moved to sit across from Usagi again. It was impossible not to be reminded of Usagi when he trained his nieces and nephews nearly every day, but Leo hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about his old friend the past couple years. "Two years I guess," Leo finally said.

"Two years and five months."

Leo blinked.

"You have not tried to reach me," Usagi said, throwing another stick onto the fire.

"What dimension do you think this is?" Leo asked, eager to change the subject. "Who lives here?"

Two years apart or no, Leo could still read his friend's face and immediately noticed that Usagi looked uncomfortable.

"They are a friendly species," Usagi finally said.

"Not human?"

"No."

Leo frowned at Usagi's short answer.

"It will be light soon," Usagi said. "And if we are where I think we are, I believe we are close to my friends' compound."

"Compound?"

"They are a tribal group. They live mainly in tents but have built a large wall to surround their homes."

"Any chance they have a transporter?"

Usagi shook his head no. "This isn't an advanced world. They aren't even aware that I'm from another dimension. They simply believe I live far away."

"Anything else I should know about them?" He watched again as Usagi looked uncomfortable and ducked his head. He watched Usagi shake his head, even though there was clearly something the samurai wasn't telling him.

Leo was finished asking questions. He turned and found Mikey slowly walking back towards them. His little brother sat on the ground next to him and slumped against his shell with his eyes closed. They sat in silence until Usagi deemed it light enough to begin walking through the forest. Leo nudged Mikey awake, although he was aware that Mike hadn't actually gone to sleep. The two rose and began to follow Usagi into the woods.

"It took them two months to find you last time, Leo," Mikey said, following Leo in the darkened woods.

"Yes, but Donnie had to build the machine in the first place and you guys had to go to Dimension X for crystals to run it. It actually only took two days once it was turned on."

Mikey was silent after that. Two days still sounded like forever, especially when Woody's T-phone probably got a fire alarm signal from his phone. He looked up and was distracted as he noticed Leo immediately freeze when Usagi's arm brushed against Leo's arm as they walked. Mikey frowned as he watched Leo wait until Usagi took a few steps ahead of him before he began moving again. When Usagi had disappeared from their lives a couple years ago, he and Donnie had tried to ask Leo what happened. But Leo always looked so uncomfortable that they had quickly backed off and never got a real answer. But now that they were indebted to Usagi for saving them and following him blindly through an unfamiliar forest, Mikey wondered if they should've pushed for the whole story.

They left the trees a couple hours later and came to a large wooden door surrounded by a large stone wall. Usagi gave a few short whistles and soon the door creaked open.

Mikey audibly gasped when it was a turtle who opened the door. And his eyes widened when the turtles immediately smiled at the white rabbit.

"Usagi! Welcome back! Come in, come in," the turtle said as he pushed the door open further.

"Thank you," Usagi said as he helped push the heavy door open.

"You've brought friends?" the turtle asked, tipping his head and eyeing the two turtles with Usagi.

"Yes. Is Nantego here?"

The turtle nodded and led them further into the compound where Leo noted an abundance of tents. They were led to a large tent that Usagi entered without hesitation. They were greeted by a much older turtle who quickly rose from his seat to offer Usagi a friendly greeting.

"I'd like to introduce two of the Hamato brothers, Leonardo and Michelangelo," Usagi said, using his arm to indicate the two turtles who had slowly followed him into the tent.

"Leonardo," the older said, sending a pointed look to Usagi that wasn't missed by either Leo or Mikey. But he quickly covered the look and turned to the two newcomers. "This is a real pleasure to meet two of the warrior turtles that Usagi has spoken so highly of in the past." He reached his hand out and quickly shook hands with both Leo and Mikey.

Leo and Mikey quickly shook his hand and politely said their greetings.

"And this is Nantego," Usagi said, turning to the turtle brothers. "He's the leader of this clan."

"Of turtles?" Leo asked, frowning back at Usagi.

"Just turtles?" Mikey asked.

"You live with other creatures?" Nantego asked.

"Yes, we do," Leo said, although he wasn't about to elaborate.

"Come, you're probably hungry from your journey. We'll put together a feast to celebrate our new guests." Nantego led the way out of the tent and Usagi moved to follow him but stopped when Leo grabbed his arm.

"What is going on?" he whispered harshly to the rabbit. "You've never mentioned a dimension of just turtles before."

Usagi's eyes moved to the arm Leo was gripping and Leo quickly let go of him.

"I didn't know about it until after you stopped talking to me," Usagi said, moving out of the tent to try to catch up to Nantego.

"Usagi!"

Leo turned and openly gaped as a blue-eyed turtle with skin the exact same shade as his own appeared and threw himself around Usagi. "You said you'd be back soon but I wasn't expecting it to be this soon. And I hear you've brought others with you." And for the first time, the new turtle turned to eye Leo and Mikey.

"Word travels fast here as usual," Usagi said. "Lenape, this is Leonardo and his brother, Michelangelo. And this is Lenape. Lenape is my - ,"

Leo watched as Usagi fumbled over the next word and saw Lenape narrow his eyes at Usagi.

Lenape turned to the two new turtles and said, "I'm his good friend," although he didn't extend a hand to either of the Hamato brothers. He turned his eyes back to Leonardo and continued to examine him closely.

Mikey felt Leo tense and Leo resisted the urge to fidget.

"You said they were warriors, but you did not mention how very muscular they are," Lenape finally said. "I'm afraid you will have to use your skills to defend yourselves against our female turtles."

Mikey laughed loudly, doing his best to break the weird tension as Lenape turned back to Usagi.

"Save me a seat next to you," the new turtle said to Usagi. "We've all been summoned to the meal and I'll be there in a minute." He gave a quick nod to Leo and Mikey and then turned to head in a new direction.

"Exactly how often do you come here, dude?" Mikey asked once Lenape was gone. "They're like, in love with you."

"I have made friends," Usagi said before turning to walk towards the banquet tent where they could see several groups of turtles heading.

"I feel like I should be excited about all the turtles, but this seems a little creepy," Mikey murmured over to Leo.

Leo nodded in response, a cold chill running up his shell as he moved to follow Usagi.