CHAPTER 60: Healing! - Totally Not Angsting - All The Brothers (Fandom: TMNT 2012, ROTTMNT)
This was all Sidney's fault.
"Your total is $4.26"
All of it. Eir fault.
"Have a nice day!" The customer finally left. Seriously? Wizards? In New York? What a town.
That's Sidney's fault too.
Ty'oiu, Sky, laid his head in his arms in defeat.
You see, Sidney, after 'accidently' exploding the Nickelodeon headquarters, was fired. Sky was immediately promoted to eir job and worked the store alone. He hadn't even finished his training properly, and now he was dealing with these crazies. Stupid yokai.
Good thing it was his day to man the human side of the store. The bell jingled.
"I've never been in a Dollar General before! Master Splinter always said they were evil."
Sky lifted his head suddenly, he knew that voice.
He was right.
It was all Sidney's fault.
"Welcome to Dollar General." He said on reflex.
What were mutant turtles doing on the human side of the store. He wasn't as obsessed with TMNT as Sidney was, was this a normal thing for this type of universe? Was it the door controller messing up again?
"See, hermano, no one bats an eye, we just look like we're in costumes! Like the guy we passed dressed like a wizard."
"New York, what a town."
And they would be right, if it weren't for the fact that Sky had out of game knowledge, wasn't human himself, and even if he was, they literally just said they weren't actually people in costumes. And Shinigami is actually a witch. New York, it's all Sidney's fault.
While the five brothers roamed the store, Sky desperately tried to fend off the coming headache. It didn't work. It was also made worse not 2 minutes later.
"I told you this was a bad idea Leo!"
Oh crap. Oh no. There are now another three turtles in his store… Wait, there's only three…
"Wait… Mikey?!"
And it is now so much worse. Thanks a lot Sidney.
The brothers originally from this universe quickly stepped in front of their other brother.
"Oh, you're us… Huh. Thought you'd be taller."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, uh, nothing, nothing! Uh, what my brother means to say is hi! Welcome to our universe. Uh, how did you get here?"
"Well, we were running from some foot and Leo had us go in the Dollar General and here we are. And since it's day outside we can assume that we are indeed in your universe and not you in ours."
"Wait wait wait, Donnie, I thought you said parallel universes were impossible!"
"Scoff! I said improbable, nothing is impossible with science! And uranium…"
"Donnie! We've talked about this, pops said you can't have any until you're older."
"Your family won't let you have any either? My family say it's too dangerous."
"Ha! Never thought I'd actually be taller than Raph! This is great!"
"I'll show you great…"
Sky was abhorred.
Leonardo was focused on his missing brother.
Leonardo quickly stepped around this world's counterparts while they were distracted and looked at Michelangelo. The blue eyes, the freckles, and the same scared look. It was him, his brother. His brother that had been missing for nearly a year now.
"Mikey…"
Michelangelo took a step back from Leonardo. Leonardo felt his heart being crushed even more. This was his fault. If he had only realized sooner. No, he shouldn't have let it begin in the first place.
"...I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that we weren't there for you."
Michelangelo didn't say anything, just staring at his now former brother. But Mikey didn't hesitate to step in front of his brother and stop the confrontation from happening.
"Hi, I'm Mikey, you must be Leo! That's really cool that you're a different version of my brother! Oh, you have two katanas? Leo used to use those before he got his Odachi. I bet you're really good with them!"
Realizing his worst fears of never getting Michelangelo back, Leonardo asked one of the only questions he could.
"Is he okay now?"
Mikey hesitated, and Leonardo panicked.
"I mean, there's a reason he left, I may not know what it was specifically, but it must have been there. It's just…" Leonardo's eyes flicked to Michelangelo, "I know what we did was inexcusable, and we can't act like nothing ever happened, and that he may never want to come back to us, but, is he okay now? Is he happy?"
The other conversations had quieted while Leonardo was talking.
"I am."
"Angelo-"
"No, they deserve this much. I didn't mean to leave. I… I don't know what happened but they found me and took me in, they were trying to help me find a way home, but then nothing worked. And… They actually listen to me. I don't feel like I'm part of a B team anymore."
Sky held back a proud smile at that, but let the frown stay, still all Sidney's fault.
"B-But you never were a B team, You're our brother!"
"Did you look for me in the week after I disappeared or just afterwards? How long did it take for you to give up looking?"
"When you disappeared, I knew something was wrong. Master Splinter said you probably just needed a moment. But I went out after you. I found your T-phone. I called Leo and Donnie and we started looking, Donnie called April, Casey, and the Mutantanimals, and we all started looking, we broke into foot headquarters I don't know how many times. After a week of just looking til we couldn't, we started going in shifts and patrols, looking for even the smallest sign. The others had to get back to their normal schedule, but they still keep an eye out. But us? We never stopped. It's been a year Mike. I can't even remember the last time I was out busting heads and not looking for you. I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry. What I did wasn't right. I shouldn't have hit you just for being you. I just-" Raphael shook his head, wiping the stray tears away. He couldn't do this. He couldn't ask for forgiveness, couldn't ask for Mikey to come home.
A sob startled all of them. They turned to Raph who was being Very AffectedTM by what his alternate was saying, comforted by Mikey.
"It's just so sad! They never got to say goodbye and they miss him!"
"It's okay Raphie, there, there."
Sky, never able to stand something sad, a hold over from before, finally gave up and stepped in.
"Ok, yes, yes, you're alternate versions of each other, it's not as big a deal as you think it is. And yes angst exists. Point is, I think we can all blame Sidney."
There was a moment.
"Sidney? Like, the Orange Goo yokai? That Sidney?"
"Yes. This is all eir fault."
"Wait, how is it Sidney's fault? How do you even know Sidney?"
"Uhh… We were coworkers… And I really can't tell you all of the things, point is, ey saw what was happening in your universe," Sky pointed to the 2012 turtles, "and decided to kidnap your Mikey and give him to these turtles because… Fluff, I guess. I only had minimal things to do with it, I promise. It's all Sidney's fault."
A thud was heard from the ventilation, along with, "YoU bEtTeR nOt Be TaLkInG aBoUt Me LiKe ThAt!"
Suddenly, an orange entity fell from a grate and landed on the floor before forming into Sidney, the resident person to blame for this incident.
Unlike the turtles, Sky was unimpressed, "Can you stop talking like that? You know it gives me a headache and I already have one. What were you doing in the vents in the first place? You know now that you're fired you're not allowed to be here."
"And who's going to snitch? You?"
"... I'm already on thin ice, could you all please leave before somethin- No I'm not jinxing it. Just leave please, I have to go file paperwork for another door incident."
"I'll be nice. Come on boys, an explanation on life, the multiverse, and my spur of the moment decisions awaits back at home."
All non-employees left the building and Sky walked into the back office to start the paperwork. Hopefully, the 2012 turtles could get back home properly.
And they would have gone home too. If it weren't for the fact that after the door incident that got them there that universe was locked off for a brief time. Brief by void creature's standards, which could either be a week, a lifetime, or indefinitely. Oh well, it didn't matter to Splinter, who decided he really needed to get his eyes checked if he was seeing double this often.
No more scuba diving in Target.
! #$%^&*()
"The wind blew, a storm was moving in. Hopefully I'd have this cleaned up before it started pouring."
"Who- ugh! - Who are you talkn' to?- F- Freak? Oomph!"
"I quickly knocked out the last perp. He didn't look to be very old, maybe 18. 'There's no time like the present to learn that crime doesn't pay,' I say to myself as I put a card for a community building in the guy's pocket. The Purple Dragon's never learn. But the kid did have a good point, I need to stop saying my internal dialogue out loud."
"That would be very fortuitous of you to attempt."
Stifling the urge to continue the internal dialogue out loud, I spun to face the voice.
"No need to be alarmed, we come in peace."
"We've been looking for you."
"Who are you?" I asked.
I know perfectly well who they are, but they don't know that.
"My name is Bradford, this is my associate, Xever. Our master has noticed your work, he would like to offer you a job," Bradford said.
"Why should I trust you?" I shouldn't, I know that, but they don't.
"There will be food, and shelter. You won't have to hide what you are." The dog lied.
I pretended to look interested. Their trust is a tool that will come in handy later.
"All you have to do is help us find some people," The fish finally decided to say something useful.
Best way to an enemy's lair is through his ranks.
"Sure?"
! #$%^&*()
Well, this was an interesting turn of events. I mentally congratulated myself at keeping the internal dialogue, internal.
I had quickly become trusted by the Shredder and his subordinates. I tried to get in touch with the turtles to get their help on taking the Shredder down, but, according to all their allies, and father, they had been missing for several weeks, Mikey missing a year before that. So I went with plan B and Oroku Saki is now sitting in prison with 25 to life for various crimes. Karai is in the legal system and the lawyers are going mad with the tomfoolery that this whole debacle has dredged up. The superiors are none-the-wiser of what I'm doing in my limited free time from the feared - by ninjas - yellow store, and everyone still thinks I'm some form of mutant vigilante named Quarry. Hopefully Author-sama doesn't mind me being busy for a while.
At any rate, I will protect this city, this world, and this universe for as long as its' true protectors need me too.
"The wind blew on my scales-"
"You're doing it again."
"Shiitake mushrooms!"