NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.

Warning: A disturbing backstory is included in this chapter.

In another timeline...

Raph ran to the tent where his youngest brother resided and barged in. He found the skinny, frail mystic kneeling on a woven mat, smiling and humming with his eyes closed as though he was meditating. Ice Cream Kitty, who sat in a bowl next to him, waved at Raph as he entered.

"Mikey, what's wrong?" the larger, older Turtle asked his brother. "Donnie said you needed to see me immediately."

Mikey opened his light blue eyes, still shining with wonder even after spending years alone in a desert wasteland. "I had a vision, Bromeo. I think it means something. Maybe it's a message from the universe."

Raph raised an eye ridge and sat down on the floor in front of him. "You sure it was a message from the universe and not just another hallucination from all those dung beetles that you ate this morning?"

The mystic began to wave his arms around dramatically as he began to describe the vision. "In my vision, I saw a maiden with long flowing golden hair. I think she may be an angel, 'cause her face shined bright like the sun and her eyes were as green as the Oasis."

"Uh-huh," Raph looked at him skeptically. He was never a Turtle who believed in angels or even God. "So what, an angel will be coming to visit us or something?" Said

Mikey chuckled and reached over to playfully tap Raph on his beak. "We're just gonna have to wait and see, won't we? And something tells me we won't have to wait long." The smile on his face faded and he looked down at the floor somberly. "Maybe she'll come to take at least one of us away to the next Paradise. You know, the one in the sky."

Raph immediately wanted to change the subject. He couldn't bear the thought of losing any of his brothers, not when they were all finally together again after so many years. "Come on, Mikey, don't talk like that," he said with a forced smile. "Nobody's going anywhere. We'll be together forever."

Mikey sighed softly and patted Raph's arm. "Remember what Master Splinter told us years ago, Raph: nothing lasts forever, not even family."

Not wanting to discuss the matter even further, Raph gently brushed Mikey's hand off his shoulder. "Whatever. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Anyway, Mira found some ripe apples in the woods earlier today. Come on, let's go eat."

In the current timeline...

Ronny whistled a merry tune as he took the garbage out through the back.

He was about to open the dumpster when he jumped at a loud crashing sound. He turned around swiftly and to his surprise, Raph was knocking down trash cans and kicking at them. In his hand was a beer bottle.

Beer? Oh, no...

Ronny ran to the clearly drunken Turtle but still kept a good distance away from him. "Raph! Raph, what are you doing?!"

Raph looked at him with a crazed eye. "What I do best...wreck everything!" He then picked up another trash can and slammed it against the brick wall.

The cook chuckled nervously as he looked at the devastation the Turtle was causing. "Heh, yeah, you're pretty good at it too. But you think you can tone it down a notch? You'll wake up the whole neighborhood, man."

"SO WHAT?!" Raph screamed, still taking his anger out on the trash cans. "What does it matter anymore?! I can't do anything right! I beat up my own brother and then throw him in jail! I was supposed to help him but instead I betrayed him!"

He stumbled and fell to his knees, still clutching the beer bottle. After a few moments of wheezing and panting, his shoulders shook as he started to cry. He covered his face with his hand as the tears dripped down his cheeks. "I can't...do anything right...!"

Ronny slowly approached the sobbing Turtle and knelt down to his level, soothingly rubbing his hand over his shell. "Hey, come on, Raph," he whispered. "Why don't you put the bottle down? It won't do you any good. Look what's it's doing to you now."

Raph dropped the bottle and allowed the human to help him to his feet.

"That's it," Ronny patted his shell and guided him to the door. "Come on. Let's get you sobered up before you hurt yourself."

Raph gulped down the rest of his coffee and ate another piece of his Mexican pizza. Ronny soon came back to give him a refill.

"You feeling better?" Ronny asked as he poured him another cup of coffee.

Raph shrugged. "A little."

Ronny nodded and took a seat at the table. "I never took you as the drinking type."

"This is my first time, actually," Raph croaked, rubbing his forehead as he felt another headache coming on.

"I haven't had a drink in twenty-five years," the cook said in a soft tone. "Like you, I once turned to alcohol to numb the pain. It ended up ruining my life."

"Twenty-five years?" Raph looked over at him. "Wait. You said you lost your daughter twenty-five years ago."

Ronny closed his eyes and somberly nodded his head. "That's right. See, shortly after she was born, I got laid off from my previous job. I was a scared young man with a wife and kid to take care of, and I didn't know what to do. Except drink. So one night, I came home drunk as a skunk. My wife was asleep in our bedroom and our baby started crying. I walked into her room and tried to calm her down. But she wouldn't stop crying, and that was making me mad."

Raph had a dreadful feeling that he knew where this was going. "So...what happened?"

Ronny sighed shakily and covered his face with his hand. "In a druken rage, I started to shake her, really hard, yelling at her to shut up. At some point I hit her head against the bars of her crib. Next thing I know, there's blood coming out of her nose and she's dead in my arms." He removed his hand, revealing his tear-stained cheeks. "I killed my own baby."

At that moment, Raph felt so much pity for the Hispanic cook, as well as shame over turning to alcohol and acting like a total baby. He reached over and put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Ron, I'm...I'm so sorry. I feel like a complete jackass right now."

Ronny gave him a pained smile. "No, man. We all sink to that level at some point, no matter how strong we or anyone else may think we are. I'm just glad I found you before you did do something stupid. I know things may seem bad now, but as long as you trust and rely on your loved ones, you'll get through this."

Raph smiled and nodded, giving him a squeeze on the shoulder. "Thanks, man. I feel even more better now."

"You got fired?!" April's mouth dropped wide open at the shocking news that Donnie was giving her. She had invited her old friend over for some coffee and tiramisu, and they along with Casey sat at the kitchen table together, discussing the events that took place the other night.

The genius Turtle sighed and nodded. "Yep. But hey, I have a feeling they were planning on firing me anyway. I've been behind schedule lately due to the loss of my arm."

Casey looked up from his newspaper and rolled his eyes. "We keep telling you, man. You need to make another arm."

"He's right, Donnie," April gently told him. "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

Donnie nodded, looking down at his metal shoulder pad. "After what happened last night, I can't argue with that." His eyes trailed over to April's growing womb and he smiled. "I still can't believe you decided to name your new baby Mikey."

April smiled and caressed her enlarged belly. "It's an honor to name him after the bravest, kindest Turtle I ever met."

Donnie did a pouting face. "Oh, and I wasn't?"

April giggled and shook her head. "Well, you were-"

"The dorkiest Turtle she ever met," Casey joked, which earned him a glare from the mutant. "Kidding!" he laughed.

April sighed sadly, remembering another old friend of hers. "I can't believe Leo's in jail. What do you think will happen to him?"

"They'll either lock him up for good or..." Donnie bit his lower lip and glanced away. "...or they'll execute him. I wouldn't be surprised if the court votes on the latter. I really hope that they don't, though."

"We may have lost over 200 prisoners," the warden walked through the now empty halls with two guards. He lit another cigarette and took a puff. "But at least we finally got the Serpent. And besides, this facility will be full again within a couple of days or even less."

They approached the cell where Leo was being contained. The Turtle was strapped to a built-in metal chair. His head was bowed, but the warden could still see the bruises on his face. All of his gear and his mask had been stripped from him.

"Dang," the warden chuckled. "The Ninja Turtle really did a number on him, didn't he? Go ahead and unlock the door."

One of the guards opened the door for him and he slowly walked over to the bound Turtle. Never before had the warden felt so powerful. The once most feared vigilante in all of New York was now at his mercy.

"Well, well, well," he said with a sadist smile, the cigarette in his hand still lit. "The great and powerful Serpent in my prison. Though I doubt that it will be for long."

The Turtle remained silent with his head bowed, refusing to look up at him.

After taking one last puff, he cruelly pressed the burning cigarette against the Turtle's left cheek. Leo hissed in pain and instantly turned his cheek away, but the warden gripped his chin and forced him to turn his head as he continued to torture him. The two guards nervously backed away from the cell, which the warden noticed.

He scoffed and shook his head. "What are you two afraid of? He's not going to do anything. Here, look." He then slapped Leo hard on the back of his head. The guards jumped, expecting the Serpent to lash out.

But the Turtle did nothing nor say anything.

"See?" the warden laughed. "He's completely helpless and broken. He isn't a threat anymore." He then left the cell and continued down the hall, the guards following close behind him.

As Leo sat there in that chair all alone, a single tear escaped from his closed swollen eye.

"Welcome, K'Vathrack!" The Shredder greeted the Salamandrian bounty hunter as he stepped into the main room of the warehouse. Behind the black and orange alien lizard was a blue female who hung her head and had her hands clasped together in a submissive manner. The Shredder instantly recognized her as the pupil of the late Salamandrian commander G'Throkka.

K'Vathrack approached the Clan leader and shook his hand. "It's been some time, old friend. Love the new look, by the way."

The Shredder looked over his shoulder directly at the female Salamandrian. "So I take it that this fine-looking thing is Y'Gythgba?"

K'Vathrack glanced back at her and chuckled. "Heh heh, yeah. You know, if you want, you can borrow her for a while."

Y'Gythgba visibly tensed at the offer, closing her large golden eyes.

The Shredder laughed and nudged the Salamandrian in the arm. "No thank you. You know that it wouldn't be possible anyway due to my anatomy."

K'Vathrack shrugged. "Suit yourself. Anyway, I understand that you want two certain Turtles to be destroyed."

"Just one, actually."

"Just one?!" the Salamandrian incredulously questioned. "But you said-!"

"Let me explain, K'Vathrack," the Shredder calmly said with his hand raised. "Yes, I indeed wanted you to exterminate both Leonardo and Raphael. But things have changed. Leonardo has recently been incarcerated, so he's no longer a threat to the Foot. But Raphael still is, so you need to destroy just him."

"Hmmmm..." K'Vathrack rubbed his chin in thought. "How about I just go ahead and kill them both? You know, for the thrill of it?"

The Shredder chuckled darkly and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

K'Vathrack laughed and clapped his hands. "Excellent! When shall I begin?!"

The Shredder's red glowing eyes narrowed as he spoke in a low, chilling voice, "Immediately. Oh! But there's one thing I need you to do first."

"Anything. You name it."

"There is a young girl named Shadow Jones. I have reason to believe that she possess a great power that could be used for the benefit of the Foot. Find her and bring her to me unharmed. I'll give you the address to the Jones household."

From behind a hazardous waste container, a lone Foot ninja secretly listened in on their conversation. "Shadow...!" he whispered.

"I should be heading back home," Donnie gave April a quick hug before he headed for the front door. "Gaia's been worried about me ever since she found out that I got fired."

April patted her friend's shell, giving him a warm smile. "You'll get through this, Donnie. I know you will."

Donnie smiled back and reached for the knob...

KA-BOOM!

The door suddently exploded and Donnie was sent flying across the living room, crashing into the table.

"DONNIE!" April screamed, instantly running to the Turtle's side.

Donnie groaned in pain as he slowly sat up with April's help. "I'm fine, April. Don't worry."

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?!" Casey screamed as he ran downstairs and into the living room. He gasped when he saw Donnie lying on their smashed table. "HON?! D?! YOU OKAY?!" He ran to his friend and wife's side, checking them both over.

"We're okay, honey," April calmly told him.

"You won't be for long," a sinister voice said.

They all turned their heads to the smoking front door, and stepping into the living room was their old foe, Newtralizer. He looked exactly the same as he did thirty years ago.

"Newtralizer?!" Donnie couldn't believe his eyes.

Casey protective wrapped his arms around his wife. "What do you want?!" he demanded.

Newtralizer smirked, showing his jagged sharp teeth. "I've come for your daughter, Shadow Jones."

April's blue eyes widened in horror. "Shadow...?!"

"That's right. Master Shredder has plans for her. He believes she'll be a great asset to the Foot."

Immediately Casey got up and reached for his old hockey stick that he had placed on a mantle on the wall. He gripped it tightly and bravely faced the mutant. "No way you're taking my daughter, freak," he growled.

He charged at the alien and swung his hockey stick with full force, but the moment it hit Newtralizer's large chest, it snapped right in half. Casey stumbled back a bit, looking at his broken weapon stunned. Newtralizer smirked before he effortlessly knocked the human aside, sending him crashing into a bookcase. The furniture fell right on top of him, pinning him to the floor.

"CASEY!" April screamed.

Donnie growled and reached for the bo staff strapped behind his shell. "You'll pay for that!" He leapt at Newtralizer and tried to fight him with just one arm, which unfortunately made his moves clumsy. The alien lizard easily defeated him with just one swipe of his tail and the Turtle was smashed into the wall, creating a large hole.

With both men dispatched, the bounty hunter turned his attention on the woman. He noticed that she was pregnant, which made her the perfect hostage. Smiling devilishly, he stomped over to her and grabbed her by the arm, roughly pulling her to her feet. Although April wanted to fight back, she didn't want to risk the safety of her unborn son and had no choice but to allow him to drag her to the door.

Donnie slowly crawled out of the hole in the wall, greatly weakened by Newtralizer's blow. He noticed the Salamandrian dragging April outside and tired to jump out but instead slumped to the floor. "A-April..." He reached out to her, cursing himself for being so useless.

Newtralizer briefly stopped to look back at the Turtle. "Bring Shadow Jones and Raphael to the Hecto Company factory by midnight..." He lifted April's arm a bit and glared at him. "...or your lady friend here dies."

He then blasted off into the night sky with his jet pack, taking April with him.

Chompy snored loudly as he slept on the living room floor with Shadow curled up next to him, taking a nap. Raph walked into the room and smiled fondly at the two. He approached them and knelt down to gently rub his hand over the dome of Shadow's head.

"Awwww, look at you guys."

Raph turned to see Mikey standing behind him, smiling widely at the scene before him. "You've got quite the family, Raph."

Raph only looked away shamefully. "Yeah, well, I still couldn't bring Leo back into the family."

He felt Mikey's warm hand on his shoulder. "There's still hope, dude. He's still breathing, isn't he?"

The Ninja Turtle sighed heavily. He really wished that he was as optimistic as Mikey was. "I don't know for how much longer, though. They might give him the death penalty."

"Maybe, but knowing you, you wouldn't allow that to happen. I still have faith in you, bro. Sensei does, too." Mikey gave him a comforting squeeze. "You can still save him." His spirit then disappeared out of the room, but the warm from his touch was still there.

Raph closed his eye and smiled to himself. Mikey always did know how to cheer him up. Just then the T-phone in his belt started to ring, waking both Shadow and Chompy up with a startle.

"Huhwhazzat?!" Shadow shouted, eyes wide open. She blinked a few times before she remembered where she was and she let out a yawn. "Oh, sorry, Uncle Raph. I dozed off."

Raph chuckled as he pulled out his phone. "It's okay, kid." He put the phone to his ear and answered. "Hello? Donnie? Hey, whoa, calm down. What's the problem?" His green eye widened with horror as he listened. "Say what? Are you serious? O-Okay. We're on our way."

Shadow watched him hang the phone up with grim look on his face. "Uncle Raph? What is it?"

He slowly turned his head to look at her. "The Shredder's taken your Mom hostage."

Oh, no! April! 80

By the way, yes, the alternate timeline in the beginning was the future from the apocalyptic arc (which still sucks). They may be getting a certain young blonde visitor soon...