Referenced to "Things Change" episode and The Ancient One character along with the "Big Brawl" episodes themselves. I own none of these things. Please enjoy for free. I make no money, so please don't sue. :)

"You should listen to him, young one."

The Ronin turned his head to see his host entering the room. "I would not be alive right now if not for his honor." The Daimyo bent his head. "And his sons have always been more honorable than my own."

Usagi's eyes flicked to the nezumi to see the other warrior's ears had gone back, his eyes had gone wide, and the corners of his mouth drooped in the saddest expression he had yet seen there. The Samurai's heart dropped. Somehow, he could not imagine the ninja he had known ever having so compassionate an expression on their faces nor did it feel like a lie. His spirit relaxed as he bent his head in acknowledgement. "I see and know."

"Good, now, if Splinter would be so kind, I'd like to have a word alone with you myself."

. . .

"So, are we really gonna take that rabbit back to live with us?"

The four turtles sat together in a small circle, facing each other, discussing their day. For normal people, being transported to a nexus and battling against the best fighters in the multiverse and high-end level assassins would have been exhausting. But Mikey had not come down from his high of winning the championship or speech-giving about it, yet. Every one of his family members knew when he did, he would crash. Also, when you are a teenage mutant ninja turtle used to completing Splinter's training routines and then playing hours of video games or going on patrol-runs across the rooftops of New York City, your stamina is quite impressive.

Leo answered Raph with a raised eyebrow. "He might do the same for us if our roles were reversed."

"Right." Raphael raised an eyebrow back. "And run that one by me again? Seems to me he has a pretty good friend from back home, and it don't look like he's been starving or going about in rags there either."

"And is he gonna share my room?" Mikey asked this while pointing to himself. Then his hand turned into a palm pressed into his plastron. "Because the 'Battle Nexus Champion' is not sharing his room."

Everyone else there groaned. Donnie interjected this time. "He can share 'my' room Mikey, or Leo's, or live where April did until she got her new place."

Mikey's grin widened, his head lifted even further, and he gave a thumb's up. "Okay, then I'm good."

Raph lifted his hands and his voice. "What is going on here?"

"What do you mean, Raph?"

Raphael pointed his thumb at his own plastron. "'I' was the one who saved Master Splinter from 'jail' along with Traximus. None of the rest of you had noticed he was even in there! Maybe if you had, we wouldn't have needed the Samurai bunny to defend us 'or' the Daimyo!"

The other three brothers stared at Raph. Their faces had fallen. Even Mikey looked subdued. Leo spoke first more softly this time. "Raph, all of us are grateful for what you did. And you're right. None of the rest of us had noticed. You and Traximus saving Master Splinter might have saved the whole Battle Nexus. But he might have been executed, maybe along with the rest of us, if Donnie and our new friend hadn't protected the Daimyo from an assassination also meant to frame 'us.' Or, at the least, it would have made it a lot harder for us all to escape from here together. And father would have lost a good friend."

Donnie interjected. "Not to mention Leo might have died! Because 'I' sure didn't know how to cure him from that poisoning, and neither did 'you,' or the best healer in the Battle Nexus!"

Raph's face fell. He looked down with crossed arms. A voice came from the doorway that they all knew well, low and raspy. "Well said all of you, though you all should have listened to each other's tales more closely earlier."

The turtles looked to the doorway and saw their master standing there. "Master Splinter!" They all rose and went over to him. The rat smiled and embraced his sons. Raphael spoke again first. "Man, I was beginning to think I'd have to track you down again!"

Splinter looked up at him with a grin. "And, if I have not said it already, I am very glad you and Traximus found a way to my cell and a way to free me from it when you did, Raphael." He looked next to Donatello, "Just as I am proud of how you stayed with your brother, Donatello, when he needed you most," he looked to Michelangelo, "and of how you won the championship after rescuing your opponent from a rip in space and time, Michelangelo." He looked to Leonardo with a sad face, "And of how you attempted to save your enemy who was also the son of my dear friend." His smile returned. "I am very proud of all my sons this day."

They grinned at him, but then Leo's worried face came back. "What did Usagi say, Master Splinter?"

The rat raised a hand he'd been touching his eldest son's arm with and placed it atop his staff instead, but he continued to meet his son's gaze. "He is speaking alone with the Daimyo right now." His ears lifted, and he tilted his head, "That is the reason I left."

Mickey lifted his face to the ceiling and groaned. "Ooooohhh … you mean he didn't give you an answer?"

Leonardo's worried face returned in full force. He glanced from his youngest brother to his father. Splinter kept his gaze on his eldest as he nodded, "Yes, I am afraid 'that' is what I mean."

Leonardo's voice rose and wavered. "Why?"

Splinter frowned. His gaze dropped to the floor as he thought. "It is a very great change to consider my son. He'd probably have wanted time to think even if we had not been interrupted in our talk over it."

Leo looked down, crossed his arms, and also went silent in thought. Raphael threw an arm around him and leaned against the other turtle. "See, Fearless, maybe he's not chomping at the bit to leave behind everything he's ever known and throw in his lot with us after all!"

Splinter looked up and raised his ears at this. But his gaze pierced Leonardo. "Raphael might be correct, my son. While much tragedy has befallen the young Ronin, his home may still hold and represent many good things for him. Do not think your offer spurned because of what he thinks of you or us if he decides differently than you wish."

Leonardo's smile returned as he shrugged. He looked back to Splinter, "That's just … kind of what I feared. That if he did disappear, no one but Gen would miss him there, and that … that didn't seem right. I thought he should have … more, friends or family …"

Splinter raised his head, a serious expression entering his eyes. "Ah. Like us if the ceiling of our old home had crushed us, or all but one or two of us, before the four of you reached the upper world that first night?"

Leo grimaced, looked down, and nodded. The other three turtles watched him with grim, horrified faces filled with a sudden and sickening understanding.

Splinter reached out and laid a hand on his eldest's shoulder. "Even if that had happened to any of us, a few, like the Daimyo, would have missed us. I'd already told him to contact you if anything happened to me during my first competition." The four looked to him with slightly open mouths and wide-open eyes, but only Raphael said, "You did?"

Splinter nodded and put his hands back on the top of his staff. "I did. And another might have missed and looked for you too. And Usagi, also, has those who would have missed him at home as well, I think. Some will likely try to be at his side in times of trouble as you would, Leonardo. Be content."

The eldest turtle gave a still sad, but wider smile at the rat.

What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes