Author Notes: Please don't take a single medical anything from this chapter seriously. I was too lazy to research and made it all up. Just like this story. ^_^

Also, a shout out to anyone who suspected the title was based on the Porter Robinson song Goodbye to a World. This story overall was partially inspired by his incredible and interesting music.

—

I'll give them shelter, like you've done for me

And I know, I'm not alone, you'll be watching over us

Until you're gone...

—

"What the hell happened to you guys!?"

April had come to the lair knowing they would have been looking into whatever was going on at Metro Tower, but she was not at all prepared for the state she found her brothers in.

She and Splinter had still been in the middle of treating Raph when they had emerged from the escape pods.

Mikey was sitting down, painfully stretching out his left leg while Donnie cradled his right hand.

"Oh, Michael got his leg shattered and I broke my hand in at least 3 places. Appears to be one in each finger oddly enough-" he grimaced.

"FORGET ABOUT THAT! WHAT HAPPENED TO RAPH!?" Mikey shouted when he spotted the larger turtle.

When his feet failed to get him to his destination, the orange turtle gave up and opted to crawl towards his brother, tears pricking his eyes. They had seen Raph shield Leo and blood hit the ground, but hadn't imagined he was hurt this badly.

Still shaken from the encounter, but fearing Mikey would hurt himself further, Leo wordlessly helped his baby brother stand while sporting a minor limp himself.

"Is… is his shell…?" Mikey winced at the sight as Leo set him down next to the Raph, covering his mouth in horror.

Raph had since passed out and was easily the most injured of them all, even with his eye excluded. In his endeavor to defend all his brothers in the intense fight, it would be no surprise that he likely had multiple broken bones. There was also a nasty gash along the plastron that was his chest that would surely leave a scar.

Leo could only conclude that the sentinel had sent multiple attacks at once, intent on defending the gateway, and Raph had taken the entirety of the brutal onslaught in his place.

Then his eyes landed on the red turtle's shell that had been shattered from the impact. The aftermath had left Rap with a gaping hole in his natural defense near the top left shoulder.

And for them, it wasn't like getting a haircut or even chipping a nail—they felt their shells. While it was a point of protection, it wasn't like a piece of armor they could just throw off if it got damaged. Like losing a limb, cracking their shell wouldn't necessarily kill them, but it was still a gruesome and devastating loss. (1)

And then, most obvious of all, was his missing eye.

"Boys," Splinter addressed them gravely. "Before Raphael went under, he said that you were fighting the Krang. Is this true?"

"Y-Yeah, they… they did this to us. To Raph," Mikey sobbed, staring at his biggest brother's chest weakly rising and falling. "They were so strong," he muttered, clenching his fists.

Leo could barely stand to look, but he had also seen the damage up close and personal already. If he let his eyes linger, it would just be more self-inflicted grief.

Though he hated to add this burden onto his other already injured brother, he pleaded with Donnie.

"Can-" he flinched, feeling his throat swell, but needed to know and forced out. "Can you heal his eye, will this be… permanent?" he swallowed a lump in his sore throat.

After a moment of inspecting the wound as well as he could beneath the bandages, Donnie replied solemnly.

"I don't know, I… I'll do everything I can to fix it." Because that's what Donnie did. "Just don't talk anymore. You didn't exactly exit that fight scot free either," he noted. "None of us did." He glanced at Mikey, seeing the dark bruises start to form on his skin. "Dad can take care of Raph for now. Let's all head to the medbay."

Mikey reluctantly let himself get pulled away to be treated, leaning on Donnie.

"Dad, can you keep an eye on Raph?" Donnie asked. "Let me know immediately if anything changes."

"Of course," Splinter nodded, but furrowed a brow in concern as if he wanted to say something.

"April, can you help me if I direct you? I'm a little… short handed… ha ha, oh that was a painfully unintentional pun," he cringed as April nodded grimly and all four of them left Raph and Splinter. They'd need one of Donnie's machines if they had any hopes of moving the heavy alligator snapper.

In the end, no one was in any shape for another fight any time soon.

Mikey was relegated to crutches until his leg healed. He had immediately run (or hobbled) back to Raph's side the moment he was independently mobile again.

Donnie's dominant right hand was out of commission, secured in a full cast. Normally, there'd be no drawbacks to this since his additional battle arms stored in his battle shell were always at the ready. He'd ensured they had the same complex dexterity that his own hands could achieve as he often used to assist him when managing delicate tasks, but they were no true substitute for one reason.

Muscle memory required he use both of his own hands to fight and on the daily. The body was a complex thing and even the slightest change, like a papercut or bruise threw the whole system into re-learning mode.

His mind and body were trained in sync on all fronts, so something as major as losing the use of his hand would throw his usual rhythm off completely, like an old computer that took additional time to power on.

The situation could be worse, but he'd still have to make some concessions until his hand had fully healed.

Lastly, Leo's neck and throat were visibly bruised, tenderized like steaks that Meat Sweats would be proud of. The red eared slider would have to be on a liquid diet. Even swallowing a small amount of water was painful unless he took it slow. Donnie advised not speaking for at least a few days which Leo couldn't quite argue with—literally and figuratively.

"Now heed the words of Dr. Donnie or I swear I'll put a muzzle on you," he warned. "… Or don't heed them. Personally, putting a muzzle on you has been one of my life long dreams since we were 6," Donnie joked (sort of), but was disquieted to see Leo just nod quietly.

The turtle genius sighed. "Well if at least one of us has both hands, you might as well make the most of it." He grabbed Leo's phone with his one good hand and fiddled with it for a second. His handicap hardly seemed to slow him down at least.

"I installed my text to speech program. Mostly intended for underwater ventures where microphones don't work, so it's still in beta, but functional at the very least." He handed it back to Leo, adding, "It's this or an implant to send your thoughts directly to it, but I'm not exactly in the best shape to perform such an invasive surgery unless you feel like a gambling man."

"Thanks," Leo texted, surprised that it was his own voice that came out, albeit a more smooth and toneless version.

At his questioning look, Donnie smirked, "Ah, ignorant Leonardo. Did you think voice assistants like Siri and Alexa came from recording every word in the English vernacular and stringing it all together?" He shook his head knowingly. "No, that would be inefficient and very jarring on the ears." He leaned back in his chair, fully in lecture mode. "The voices are instead produced from a more limited myriad of sounds intricately woven together to create speech in a music-like flow—one which I have easily recreated from all the data I've collected over the years."

"So this is what else you've recorded," Leo texted, but his mild glare conveyed his disapproval. (2)

"Among other things… but don't worry about it," he shrugged casually, reaching under his desk for something. "Also, you'll need to wear this for a while."

Out of instinct, Leo leaned back defensively. Forgetting for a moment he couldn't speak, he then typed furiously. "You expect me to put that thing back on to get better?"

In Donnie's hands was one of his "gifts" to make them—Leo didn't know—improve their skills or something? (3) Which just turned out to be an underhanded way of saying he wanted to put a shock collar on him. Leo had been quickly disenchanted by the blue neck brace despite the sweet blinkity blinks by the third or fourth time he was shocked.

Donnie pursed his lips, conceding as if disappointed, "It won't shock you. Seeing as you didn't use the product as intended the first time, I put that part of it to better use elsewhere."

When Leo still eyed him suspiciously, the purple turtle groaned, placing the neck brace on himself.

"Let's see, um," he tapped his fingers in thought before speaking in a slow, monotone voice as if he were reading a foreign language, "I don't trust atoms. They make up everything—No no, that's still too clever," Donnie muttered to himself before pausing as an idea hit him.

"The things I do for you," he muttered darkly under his breath. "Ahem," he cleared his throat and spoke as if each word pained him. "What happens to an illegally parked frog? … it gets toad away, har har—There? Satisfied that I've humiliated myself for your peace of mind?"

Despite himself, Leo's lips curved at his brother's usual prickly attitude before he nodded and reluctantly let Donnie fasten the neck brace around him.

"I developed this more as a protective barrier, possibly with the potential for upgrades, but for now it'll keep your head, neck and shoulders in the correct orientation until you're healed."

Assessing how the brace felt, Leo was surprised to note it was actually more comfy than he remembered it being.

"You're welcome and off you go, lest your presence requires I embarrass myself further," Donnie dismissed his twin with a shooing motion, dispatching the medbay bots to go pick up Raph.

In that moment, Leo finally cracked a real smile, but it wasn't the usual grin of superiority or condescension.

Donnie was a mad scientist level genius that could take over the world if not for his moral compass (shaky as it may be). His imagination was wild and creative and his intellect allowed him to bring his visions to life. He acted the most detached of them all, but the way he designed his inventions told a different story. Making the door to the turtle tank big enough to accommodate Raph, the pedals of their motorbikes adjustable to meet Mikey's reach; he was narcissistic and irritable, but more considerate than anyone gave him credit for.

"What?" The softshell turtle prompted when he noticed Leo hadn't left.

"You're the best, Donnie."

"And? What else is new?"

Shaking his head, Leo turned to leave. Donnie obviously needed to focus on the alligator snapper once he arrived, so Leo left him to his work.

—

"This is bad," April muttered.

Like a train wreck, dread filled her stomach, but she couldn't look away from the monitors. Not even the Shredder had done this much damage when loose in the city. Then again, it was actually a blessing in disguise that Big Mama had trapped the people of New York while they fought, safely tucked away in a ball of paradise, blissfully unaware.

But that wasn't the only thing weighing on her. She had seen her brothers beaten and bruised before, but had never seen them come back in such a sorry state. Injuries would heal, but the look in their eyes told her this wasn't a simple defeat they were ready to shake off.

"April?"

"Leo!" She was jolted out of her train of thought and stopped short, squinting at him. "Should you be talking with your throat-?"

"Donnie." He interrupted her, waving his phone with a half-hearted grin. April nodded, hearing all she needed to know. "What's up?" he inquired.

She grimaced. "You don't wanna know, but… you gotta know, so I'll let you know." She gestured to the live feed of the city. "It's all going to hell, Leo. The streets are filled with monsters, people are turning into monsters..." she trailed.

The blue turtle had done his best to hide it, but she recognized a minor twitch in his features that she instantly latched onto. "You wanna tell me what happened at Metro Tower?" she asked gently. "Mikey told me what happened, but I wanna know what happened."

She was an investigative journalist in the making. That along with her natural empathy, intuition and having known the turtles for years, Leo didn't stand a chance. She could tell he was affected by more than just their defeat.

When he hesitated, she waited until he finally looked down at his phone (conveniently needing to avoid her gaze) and started to type.

"I messed up." He chose his words carefully. He had time to think about them more since they wouldn't just spill out of his mouth like word vomit. "Not just at the Tower, but even before that. Raph had the artifact that opened the gateway to let those monsters in. He had it in his hands today, but I was stupid and the Foot got away with it."

"Leo, you're not really thinking that this is your fault, do you? The Foot don't know when to give up. At least Casey wised up and left, but those bozos are gonna be making trouble to their last day and you can't blame yourself-"

She stopped as if he'd cut her off when he held up a hand with a stony look.

"You weren't there, April. Just ask my brothers. I basically handed it to the Foot myself and even if I didn't mean to, it didn't have to be this way." His grip on his phone tightened. "You saw how upset my brothers were with me earlier? They were right to be and probably still are. Raph wanted to retreat, but I was so sure I could steal back the artifact by myself. I took a risk and Raph is the one who paid for it. They all did."

Leo had to pause to breath, but still felt like he was suffocating. "Mikey can barely stand, Donnie's hands are too important to his tech to be without either of them and Raph is going to lose his eye because of me."

His lip quivered and his vision blurred. A drop of water hit his screen before he realized that he was crying. He struggled to swallow, feeling his lungs burning for air, before he saw April's hand reach out to him, covering his phone.

"Ok, Leo. I get it. But now's the time for me to talk and you to listen." April set the device away and pulled Leo into a gentle but firm hug. "We all make mistakes, Leo. Trust me, I know from failing over and over and over again." She sighed as he returned the hug, whimpering in her arms as he finally sucked in a shaking breath. "Sometimes it's no harm, no foul. And sometimes it's not. We'll never know."

She pulled back to wipe away Leo's tears like a child. "You might have been in the wrong, but it's never too late to fix things when we still have each other. I've known you guys forever. And I know you'll work it out and come out on top." April gave him an encouraging smile.

"She's right, Leonardo." The two pulled away to see Splinter approaching. He gently placed his hand over Leo's as well. "We cannot change the past. We cannot undo the harm we do to others no matter how much we may want to. No matter how much we didn't mean to do harm in the first place. But we can be better. For ourselves. And for our family."

A memory flashed in Leonardo's mind that wasn't even his own. The last time Splinter had seen his own grandfather, Sho.

"Yoshi! This is your last chance! Enough of this silly play-acting! You must come back to your family and fulfill your destiny."

"I told you, Ji-ji. I don't have time for that! Can't you see how important I've become?"

He'd slammed the door in his Grandfather's face and probably barely heard him say a heart-breaking goodbye from the other side before watching his Grandfather walk out of his life forever.

With an understanding nod, Leo sniffled and squeezed both of their hands unconsciously, feeling some of the weight lift from his shoulders. He was not in the clear, but he could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking into his father's eyes, he could tell the same memory likely ran through his head and gave his father a tight, meaningful hug.

"Yeah. Instead of beating up yourself, save it for the Krang," April spoke with a smirk.

Then came Mikey's excited shout. "Raph is awake!"

—

"Argh! Mikey, I'm happy to see you too, but you gotta cool it on the hugging. My arm, my everything!"

At his little brother's pathetic puppy eyes, Raph sighed with a smile and gently nuzzled his cheek against the younger turtle's who happily returned the toned-down affection. Raph couldn't say it was unwelcome as he never turned away such acts of affection with his family. One of the reasons he loved teddy bears was because he could hug them all he wanted unlike most animals/people (and he wouldn't have to risk spine crushing if he hugged too hard).

Turning to the second oldest purple turtle analyzing his vitals or something, Raph opened his mouth only to be cut off.

"Everyone made it back and is intact more or less. Our pride, however, not so much," the purple turtle answered without looking up from his screens.

"Or our mystic powers," Mikey mumbled, nuzzling Raph harder for comfort.

"WHAT!?"

"It's true. They're gone."

The trio looked up to see Leo, April and Splinter enter the room.

"Why are you wearing Donnie's pun shock collar again?" Raph inquired with a blink.

"The punk collar!" Mikey exclaimed his nickname for the neck brace.

"One slightly zappy gift I made with love from the bottom of my heart and I never hear the end of it," Donnie muttered before clearing his throat. "It's not rigged to zap anyone. Leo injured his neck during the fight and this is to aid his treatment. I also added a text to speech function to his phone fitted with his usual obnoxious voice while he's healing. Please hold your raucous applause… ok, proceed."

"It is pretty neat," Mikey admitted, having peeled himself away from Raph to poke at it.

When Leo gave a lovetap of a smack at his younger brother's hand, Raph spoke again. "Ok, wait. We're getting off topic. What do you mean our mystic powers are gone?"

Mikey exclaimed. "Those things let out some weird screech. It just felt and sounded… icky. And next thing we knew none of our weapons worked!"

"Mystically, that is," Donnie clarified. "I did manage to record it for later analysis and it clearly has to have had some range if it was sound based, but I'm not about to play it willy nilly with dad and April in the vicinity," he noted gravely.

April herself had no internal mystic powers, but her mystically infused bat from their last (and likely only) visit to Witch Town would still be an asset that couldn't afford to lose.

"Or Raph," Leo added.

Donnie rose a brow at that. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"The sound wouldn't have reached Raph. I portaled him home before we lost our powers since he was hurt," Leo explained.

"You're… you're not serious," Raph breathed out and reached down to one of the sais before Donnie could stop him. As he predicted, the usual red glow surrounded his arm. "Me, April and dad are the only ones with mystic powers now," Raph said in disbelief.

Splinter cleared his throat awkwardly. "There is something else I must tell you all about our adversaries. It is not good news, but… you must know what we are up against."

As Splinter explained, the tension grew thicker and thicker in the room until it was nearly suffocating. They were horrified to learn from Splinter that the Foot Clan hadn't simply found a new evil to serve when the last one didn't work out. No, this evil had made the evil that the Hamato Clan had fought for centuries to keep contained. The Krang had made the dark armor that the Shredder wore before being sealed away in another dimension themselves and apparently the artifact had been a key to unleash them back into their world.

Horror like no other made Leo's veins turn to ice. An evil worse than the Shredder was here, and three of the four brothers had lost their mystic powers.

However, before the guilt set back in, Dr. Positive eased the tension in his shoulders, if only a bit.

"It'll be ok." Mikey asserted. "Donnie will figure out how to get our powers up and working again, right?" He gave his older brother a bright look. "And then we'll train ourselves up for round 2! Oh! Maybe we just need to play his screech thingy in reverse!"

"Unlikely to be that simple, Angelo," Donnie stated bluntly. "But I have been dabbling more in the marriage of mysticism and technology since our battle with Shredder. My research so far in the former has still been limited though," he declared, threading his fingers together. "However, if I collaborate with Draxum, I think a solution will be soon at hand. It'll just take time. And finding him."

The sheep man had gone off on a journey to find himself. When he no longer had to worry about "the humans threatening yokai kind" and had gotten used to his life on the surface, he'd been in what Donnie could only equate to a midlife crisis. He'd gone on a sort of sabbatical, beyond the limits of even the Hidden City. (4)

"Then we need to find him," April stated. "The sooner yall get your mystic mojo back, the sooner we can kick these slimeballs out of the city. Plus, the Hidden City might be the only place around here that the Krang haven't gotten to yet."

"We'll come with!" Mikey insisted before Splinter shut him down.

"No! None of you are in any shape to travel and we do not know how long it will take. I am the most familiar with the Hidden City, so I will go with April to find Draxum. You will all stay here and lay low for the time being," he announced, balancing the line of father and master in that moment. Meaning either way, there was no arguing.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Donnie threw his hands up. "I plan to fortify the lair based on how easily the Krang dug itself a new home in Metro Tower."

Leo rose a brow. "Can't we just call him and tell him to come back? I thought Donnie had him on speed dial in case we needed help with the mystic menace of the week."

"The phone we gave him only works up here," Donnie explained. "And forgive me, but I didn't anticipate a world-ending threat to occur while he was gone. Least of all one that sealed our mystic powers."

The blue turtle frowned. "Guess we'll have to find him the old fashioned way."

Looking down at his leg helplessly, Mikey grabbed April's hand. "You two have to be careful! You weren't there to see how badly we were getting our butts kicked! If the Krang have hit the Hidden City, it'll be like New York all over again!"

"Donnie," Raph looked to his younger brother. "What about the escape pods? Would they not work in the Hidden City either?"

"The Donnie Pods—trademark pending—work best on earth, but since we spend so much time in the Hidden City, I did build in a solution… though I hadn't considered I wouldn't be a member of the party when I thought of it."

Setting his signature goggles on the table, with a brief tap to the ear piece he extracted the crystal he'd stolen from Draxum. Tapping a few buttons on the keyboard, a purple bot flew in and offered a small bracelet to Donnie, who opened the center and deposited the crystal inside.

"Thank you, Shelldos." He said as the bot delivered the bracelet to April. (5)

"So this will get the Donnie Pods working in the Hidden City?" She asked, putting it on and twisting her wrist appreciatively. Donnie never sacrificed function for style and she was all for it.

"Just in case," Raph insisted.

"Yes, the crystal itself mystically enhances whatever it comes into contact with. It will basically boost the signal to cross dimensions so that the pods can still find you and allow them through the portal into the Hidden City and back if needed," he explained. "Though I hope you don't have to use it," he frowned before adding slyly, "if you do, please make sure to rate the escape from very satisfied, very, very satisfied-"

"Donnie, not the time!" Raph berated.

Donnie scoffed. "Not the time? Not the time." He shook his head in disappointment. "Sometimes I can't believe we're brothers. You know how important data collection is to me."

"Just… don't do anything crazy and come back if things look like they might go sideways," Raph pleaded with Splinter and April. Although the two were older than him, he couldn't shake his habitual concern for others.

"We've got this one, big guy." April assured him. "We'll be back before you know it."

—

Later that night, April and Splinter traveled underground to one of the farthest hidden entrances they knew of from Metro Tower. It had been deserted but clear enough when Leo had escorted them and ensured they made a safe departure. He was the most equipped to fight out of the injured brothers and felt he needed the distraction.

They had peeked through the portal just to make sure that they wouldn't be dropping the two into Krang Central and at least found the outskirts of the city to be as deserted as New York.

With one last reassuring hug, the two had gone through and Leo was left alone with his thoughts.

—

Back at the lair, it had taken a full 2 hours of trying to fall asleep before Leo surrendered to his insomnia and got out of bed. His usual prescription? Tea and a Jupiter Jim movie on his phone he would only half pay attention to. At least his neck injury wouldn't take tea from him.

Earbuds in hand (specially made by Donnie as they didn't really have ears), he threw on his mask out of habit and headed towards the kitchen. However, he stopped just short when he saw the light was already on and spilling into the hallway. He was fairly positive he could identify the culprit by the hulking shadow and sighed, running his hand down his neck to where his neck brace was.

He might as well face the music.

"Should you be up like this?"

Raph turned to Leo with an unreadable gaze. "Seeing as my feet are one of the few things that actually work, I thought a midnight snack couldn't hurt," he replied distantly.

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"I'm fine," the red turtle replied curtly as he grabbed a box of cold pizza and sat down at the table to chow down.

Leo hesitated in the doorway before turning on the tea kettle (a new non-demonic one) and waiting for the water to boil. In the meantime, the two endured an awkward silence. He was expecting a lecture from Raph any moment, but it never came and the tea kettle soon whistled.

As to not wake up anyone, Leo turned off the heat immediately and dropped a tea bag into a mug with some of the boiling water. As the tea seeped into the water so did the trepidation throughout his body.

He couldn't take it anymore.

"Just say something."

Raph started at the monotone sound of Leo's voice. He chewed and swallowed slowly, watching his brother sit across the table from him sternly, dropping his mug onto the table, nearly spilling the contents.

"Like what?" Raph asked quizzically.

"You're upset, you're ignoring me, you're mad, you're obviously something," Leo typed quickly.

"No, just hungry," Raph shifted in his seat. "Why would you think that?"

"I messed up. I get it now. We're in deep shit and it's my fault." Leo wasn't saying this to beat himself up, but to own up like Splinter had said. And he decided the next step was clearing the air with Raph. "You can say it. I'm ready to listen."

"I'm not mad, Leo. I can see that you get it now and that's all I wanted," Raph spoke calmly. "I wish it hadn't taken this to make you get it, but beggars can't be choosers."

"You mean nearly getting us all killed?" He couldn't believe it, but he was glad for his neck injury at the moment. Even coming out of the smooth, near robotic version of his voice, he could hear the self-pity.

"No… yes, well… that's not what I mean," Raph sighed in frustration at himself. "I wanted you to shape up and now I know you will. But I also know you're scared. Because I've been there."

Leo frowned in realization, looking down at his tea in shock. He was scared. That was what he couldn't place his finger on. But with that fear came denial.

"How do you know that I get it?" he furrowed a brow. "We've barely talked since we got back."

"My overprotective brother sense," Raph shrugged with his usual gentle, snaggle toothed grin. "And April."

"You're not even upset that I didn't listen when you said we should retreat and overreacted when it was too late?" Leo insisted, anger without a clear cause boiling to the surface. "Did you even see the state Mikey and Donnie are in because I didn't let us run away when you told me to? Have you looked in a mirror?" he would have shouted if he could.

He immediately regretted his choice of words and nearly slammed his head into the table, wanting to crawl in a hole. He gave a meaningful glance at Raph's heavily bandaged head. Specifically his right eye.

He felt so terrible, but no one was angry with him. He almost wanted Raph to punch him like he had tried to when they fought earlier, like it would ease this feeling that was eating him alive.

"What's done is done and we all made it out." Raph frowned thoughtfully. "I can tell just by looking that this is hard on you. And I'm not about to pile on. That's not what family does," he affirmed. "And in the worst of times, we need to stick together. Not tear each other apart." With a bit of trouble, he got up to sit beside Leo. "I know you don't like thinking about it, Leo. But you are the leader now. And I'm not gonna lie. Being leader is the hardest thing I've ever done." He paused with a sigh. "It took me a long time to realize that I don't have to have all the answers. And hate to break it to you—-neither do you."

He placed an encouraging hand on Leo's shoulder.

"But you're not the leader because you can do anything. You're the leader because you'll understand that we can do anything."

The anger subsided to a manageable simmer. Still there, but on the back burner.

Leo believed that Raph was being genuine. He was known to sugar coat things to not hurt anyone's feelings, but when their lives were at stake he had no such qualms about putting the facts in front of them all.

That was why it bothered Leo that he could still sense Raph keeping something to himself, but couldn't justify pushing his brother after the day they had all had.

"You're right," Leo gave Raph a reluctant smile. "We can do anything," he repeated like a mantra he needed to hear to believe. Letting his head gently fall on his big brother's shoulder brought a modicum of comfort despite it all and Raph smiled, resting his head on Leo's.

Although he wished the world could stop with his brothers tucked away in their lair, shielded from the dangers of the world, the two eventually parted and Raph went back to the medbay.

Leo resumed his insomniac ritual, bringing the mug to his lips.

The tea tasted bitter and cold.

—

Author Notes:

(1) I was today years old when I learned that turtles can feel their shells. Makes what happened to Raph canonically in the movie that much more gruesome.

(2) The Clothes Don't Make the Turtle. Donnie records everything.

(3) Donnie's Gifts. Leo's gift returned with 100% less shocking!

(4) While writing this, I realized that Draxum was not in the movie, likely to give better focus to the main characters (but I also heard from an unconfirmed source that the movie had to be accessible to those who hadn't seen the series, thus likely why the Hidden City was never brought up either), so decided to give a reason why he was absent, especially considering they had lost their mystic powers and he had become their mystic Guru near the end of season 2.

(5) As Shelldon left this world in the finale valiantly protecting Gram Gram, I thought Donnie would be trying to get back everything they lost with the lair and would have made a new Shelldon. And yes, his name is Shell-dos as in the Spanish word for 2. I'm just that clever.

Watching back the movie, I also noticed a few things.

Raph appeared out of range for the Krang's mystic sealing attack, so if he hadn't gotten up to shield Mikey and Donnie, he probably would have kept his mystic abilities. Given that, I thought it would be interesting if Raph still maintained his powers, giving him even more pressure to protect his now more vulnerable brothers.

April had her mystic glowing bat (created during Donnie vs. Witch Town from the magic chair potion spilling on her bat) during the first Krang battle, but after the Krang mystic seal, her bat never glows again as far as I can see. Therefore, I considered that she also would have been affected by the mystic seal along with Splinter, but likely for plot purposes, the movie just didn't touch on them.

Also, although Leo may be progressing a bit more rapidly than in the movie, I figured without the blind rage caused by Raph being captured and the need to get him back, Leo would have learned his lesson a bit more quickly with the comfort that everyone was at least alive and safe. So seeing Raph lose his eye was the equivalent of getting the verbal beat down by Casey in the movie, both acting as the turning point for Leo to at least realize he needs to be more responsible.