"Death awaits you turtles."
It was these words that sent Leonardo into a mode of panic as he turned towards his brothers immediately during their final battle against the Foot. For a second he thought that he would lose himself and his family in the heat of battle, but no such thing happened.
Instead, the turtles found themselves waking up in a garden of bliss, virtually unharmed. Was this all another dream? Or simply the afterlife?
"Where are we?" A dazed but comfortable Leonardo asked as he felt the grass gently breeze against his face.
"I think we're dead, dudes." Michelangelo said, looking up into the sky. "Remember the dream? This could be it for us."
"But, what about the others? April, Casey, The Mutanimals?" Donatello asked, slowly getting up on his feet.
"They didn't make it unfortunately." A familiar voice echoed from behind them as all four turtles turned to look. It was Renet, holding the time scepter. "I saved all four of you just in time, because Lord Simultaneous needed you."
All of the turtles except for Raphael greeted her.
"Raphael, are you alright?" Renet asked him in a concerned tone as he refused to look at her.
"Renet, all my friends back in New York are dead at the hands of that heartless Shinigami. Of course I'm not alright." Raphael said with a mixed look of anger and sadness on his face, still refusing to face Renet. "You are a time traveller, why didn't you just prevent all this from happening in the first place? Or if not that, why didn't you save the others from the explosion?!"
"Raphael, I know how you feel." Renet said in response. "But it is beyond my control to dictate the course of history. Forces beyond our control had already decided eons ago that this was what was always meant to happen. I'm only here to help you fulfil your destiny."
"Well, they decided wrong! Shinigami doesn't deserve to live after all she has done, and our friends didn't deserve to die like they did." Raphael said, defiantly walking off into the nearby bush.
"Raphael!" Renet said as she pursued him, only to be stopped by the other turtles.
"He just needs some time alone." Michelangelo said as he put his hand on Renet's shoulders.
"I understand. Thanks, Michelangelo." Renet said in response, before sitting down on the soft grass, alongside the remaining 3 turtles.
"So, where are we anyway?" Leonardo asked as he looked around at the beautiful surroundings. The place was an Oasis, full of life.
"The home for you and your brothers, 50 years in the future." Renet said with a smile on her face as she looked around and admired the scenery.
"Its Beautiful." Donatello said. "I just hope everyone we lost is in a better place."
"No need to worry, Donatello. They're all in good hands." Renet said. "And I promise you all, whatever injustices you have suffered for in this world will be settled in the next."
"I bet Shinigami will suffer even more than Shredder for what she did." Raphael said as he came back from his solitude, still upset but more level-headed than before.
"She already is." Renet said in response. "Shinigami is dead too."
"What?!" All four turtles said as their attention turned to Renet once again.
"But I could've sworn that she had a decoy back there." Leonardo said, recalling how he decapitated the disguised robot wearing the makeshift Shredder armour during the final battle.
"She did manage to survive the battle Leo, but that's only one half of the story." Renet said in response. "What you all didn't know was that Shinigami's not your real enemy. She was nothing more than a puppet of the Kraang, who simply disposed of Shinigami when her usefulness to them was up."
"Looks like what comes around, goes around." Michelangelo said as he began to think of how Shinigami must've felt when the Kraang betrayed her. It was indeed a lowly end for someone, not dying in the heat of battle as a martyr or a hero, but as an expendable pawn in someone's scheme. Shinigami began her regime of terror by betraying Karai, and now her fate had come full-circle by making her experience loss and isolation before finally killing her off at the hands of the very Kraang that helped her rise to power. Either way, It was the end of Shinigami in this world, for a greater evil lay ahead for the turtles.
"So, we and everyone else had been distracted away from the Kraang. It is probably exactly what they wanted, to buy time for whatever they're planning next." Donatello remarked.
"Correct, Don." Renet said in response. "And that's why all four of you are here. You have to stop the Kraang, otherwise the consequences will be devastating."
"I understand." Raphael said as he grabbed his shoulder in slight pain after emerging back from the thick vegetation that he had formerly disappeared into just prior. "I'm sorry I lost it with you back there."
"Its ok, Raph." Renet said with a smile on her face as she helped him onto his feet. "You four are still a bit shaken up from your fight back there, aren't you?"
"Yeah, that battle did take a lot out of us." Leonardo said as the turtles nodded in agreement.
"Guess it is best that all four of you take a rest for now." Renet said in response. "I'll be gone for a while to get help across the multiverse. Just give me a signal using Michelangelo's temporal holo-projector when you're ready to start your mission in Dimension X."
"We will." Leonardo said as he and his brothers got back onto their backs, letting their bruised bodies slowly heal as they basked in the sun of the Oasis.
Renet then looked at all four of them going to rest with a pleasant smile on her face before using her Time Scepter to go on her way across space and time.
"You know dudes." Michelangelo said serenely as his eyes were shut as he lay on the grass. "I'm sure glad we got to see Renet again."
"You see her everyday on that thing you hologram thing." Raphael said in a cheeky tone as he continued to lie on his back as well.
"April, Casey and everyone else is up there with Master Splinter and Karai now." Leonardo said as he looked up to the sky. "Time sure flies by pretty fast, so many people around us are gone, and so soon."
"Yeah, I guess everyone's time is bound to be up someday." Donatello added as he stared into the beauty of the Oasis. "But I guess there's still a long time till ours, I mean Renet told us that this would be future home eventually."
"Look forward to be here in 50 years, guys?" Leonardo said as he slowly closed his eyes, feeling the gentle breeze against his face.
"Yeah, Home Sweet Home." Raphael said as he happily stared into the bliss.