Hi everyone! So, yes, I've been away from this account for a very long time. I do plan on continuing my Ducktales fic sometime, I just lost some inspiration for it for a while. But I definitely want to continue it (for those of you still interested in it….haha!)
Anywho, as I am also a huge TMNT fan, I was inspired to write this fic after watching the ROTTMNT 2018 movie. It was so good! I keep rewatching it because I am stunned at how beautiful the animation is.
Regarding the story of this fic, I'm not certain if someone else may have already beaten me to this idea (most likely since I'm a little late to the party), but I have not read any other TMNT fics as of late. So I'm sorry if there are any similarities between this one and any other ones!
Of note, THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE! If you have not watched it yet then I encourage you to stop reading and do so now! This chapter contains major spoilers for the ending of the movie.
Otherwise, enjoy! And no, I don't own TMNT :(
Everything had been going right. They were all fighting as one unit. As a team.
How could it have gone wrong?
"HOT SOUP!"
All four turtles yelled their father's catchphrase in unison, combining their power together to finally put an end to the Kraang's reign. The roaring of the wind was strong in their ears, but the beat of their hearts was stronger. Adrenaline coursed through their veins as they focused all their power into their attack to ensure Kraang one was thrown far into the portal, back into the Prison Dimension where he had come from.
One flick. One flick of his fingers and Kraang One was able to match the power they exerted into their attack. Raph did his best to not be thrown backwards, pushing forwards to make some sort of advancement and overpower the attack. Unfortunately, the attack outmatched his own, and the turtles were thrown backwards, Leo and Raph landing on the Technodrome while Mikey and Donnie landed on a floating building.
Donnie barely had time to register what had happened as he gasped when the monstrous figure flew at his direction at an ungodly speed, shattering the windows of the structure he and Mikey were currently standing on. Little glass shards scraped against his skin, but he barely felt them as he prepared to somehow block the oncoming attack.
He unconsciously began to spin his Tech Bo in a clockwise direction while starring in horror at the oncoming attack. The purple clad turtle knew he would be unable to block the inevitable punch coming his way, but he needed to protect his baby brother. He needed to protect him and there was not enough time to move out of the way. He needed –
The punch landed and Donnie felt all air escape his body. He felt himself smash against Mikey, who let out a small squeak, as they were both launched into the air. Donnie was immediately rendered unconscious from the blow but not before feeling the rush of cold air surrounding his body.
It took a moment for Leo to come out of his daze from smashing his shell against the Technodrome, but when he did, he stared in horror as two of his brothers were struck and launched away from them, falling towards the earth at an alarming speed. With tears in his eyes, he turned to his oldest brother, yelling at him to go and save their brothers.
"Raph, go!"
Raphael verbalized understanding. Without the need for further communication, Leo swung his katanas, creating a portal for the red clad turtle to go through. He made sure the other portal opened up in the correct location where Raph could easily catch Donnie and Mikey.
Leonardo sighed in relief as he watched his eldest brother rescue their brothers from falling to their deaths. He kept their gaze focused on them until they disappeared into a tiny speck, followed by a distant cloud of dust signaling they had landed.
"Staten Island," He whispered with a grimace, something he would have joked about had their situation been different. Though he could no longer see his family, he had faith that everyone was okay.
The weight of his injuries suddenly hit him at full force, making him sway and fall to his knees. He let out a small grunt of pain and glanced up at the open maw of a portal.
Right. They still had to trap the Kraang on the other side. Only now, he was alone.
He made a valiant attempt to stand and move forward, only to fall on his knees once more. With the support of his Katanas, he began to crawl forward along the exterior of the Technodrome.
BOOM!
Leonardo had only moments to comprehend what that sound meant as a wave of air hit him from the left. He squeezed his eyes tight as the blast passed through him and made his eyes sting. When the wave had passed, he glanced up to see the ominous figure of Kraang One, so far yet so close, staring at him with eyes full of hatred. Leo attempted to stand up once more with the aid of his Katanas, but his knees gave in, sending him to the ground in a kneeling position. That is when Kraang One began taking slow but loud, agonizing steps towards him, the red light of the robotic eye glinting brighter with each step.
Leo frowned.
"Casey? Casey, come in!"
There was a moment of silence before Casey's voice came from his communicator. "Sensei, I'm here. And I've got eyes on the key." Another pause before the sound of running footsteps could be heard. "Just tell me when you're home free, and I'll pull the plug!"
Leo glanced up from his wrist to the looming figure with uncertainty, fear settling in as the Kraang's figure was now closer than before. Kraang One's eyes were practically glowing red with hatred, further illuminated by the shadow cast on his face from the gaping portal behind him. The pink and purple light encompassing the circumference of the portal was unnerving yet almost beautiful. And beyond the opening was a stretch of never-ending grey, broken machinery, and nothingness.
He swallowed. The thought of existing alone in that world was terrifying. A world without his brothers. A world without his family. A world without New York. A world deprived of everything that made life worth living. But there was only one thing he could do to ensure that Kraang One would stay trapped in the portal.
Sacrifice. This is what heroes did, right? They sacrificed themselves for the sake of the ones they cared for. Heroes weren't cocky. Heroes didn't show off and try to impress everyone by doing things by themselves. They listened. They made tough decisions and choices. Not for fame. Not for glory. Not for selfish intentions. But for the safety of the entire world. For their families.
For his family.
Dang it, Leo. Everything is not about you. When are you gonna grow up and start acting like a hero?
It's a good word! We need to be that word.
You just don't get it.
How many times will it take for you to be serious, Leo?
Leo, for once, listen to me!
My son, listen to your team, this is not about you.
You're impulsive! You're arrogant! And you don't see how every decision can cost someone their life!
The world needs Master Leonardo, and all we got is this guy.
For the first time in his life, Leo fully comprehended what it meant to be a "hero".
The fear left his body as he spoke the next words with confidence. He knew what he had to do.
"Casey, listen. When I get to the other side, you close that door."
He expected the protests that came after.
"What?! Sensei, no!"
Grimacing slightly, he explained, "Casey, it's the only way. He's too strong. He's not gonna stay on the other side unless I keep him there."
Another protest. "There has to be another way!"
"We tried everything, Case. This is the only way."
Then, another voice he did not expect to barge into the conversation spoke up, "Leo! Please don't do this! Leo!"
Ah. Right. Everyone could hear the conversation. The desperation in Raph's voice made Leo wince and almost re-think his thoughts. He hesitated for half a second before responding with a brief chuckle, half in relief to hear his brothers were okay, and half because he found it amusing that his brother, his hero of a brother, would argue against his plan when he would do the same in Leo's position.
"You're one to talk big bro! Hero moves are totally your style." He then lowered his voice slightly, and with a slight shake of his voice, whispered, "I love you guys." He got no response back, likely because his voice had been too low for them to hear. Good. He didn't need any more objections.
The laugh coming from Kraang One as he slammed one of his robotic feet on the Technodrome snapped Leo out of his thoughts.
"Outmatched and alone. Yet you persist. For what? Redemption? Honor?"
Leo stood up and readied his katanas.
"Sacrifice? All meaningless."
He twirled the right katana so that the tip faced behind him. "We'll see about that," he growled. And with that, the two were off.
Adrenaline pumped hard throughout Leo's body as he slid through the Kraang's armored legs and portaled, only to re-appear behind him and toss one of his katanas straight at Kraang One. As expected, he dodged, but the weapon continued to twirl towards the intended location. The turtle let out a gasp of surprise as he was grasped roughly from the air and squeezed tightly, only to then be flung towards the ground, hard. He was certain he felt the portion of the Technodrome crack with the impact, and he was grateful for his sturdy shell. Unfortunately, his plasteron did not provide the same level of protection as a robotic foot slammed into his front, making him cough up some blood. He let out a moan of discomfort as all air left his lungs. Temporarily dazed, the turtle regained his surroundings by taking in a restricted breath of air.
"Leo, please! I can't lose you again!" Casey's pleas came through. Oh shell. Casey had already watched all four of them lose their lives over the Kraang in the future. This couldn't have been easy for him.
"Hey. Future me would be real proud of you. I'm real proud of you," He spoke truthfully. Leo unfortunately was unable to say more as the pressure against his plasteron tightened. The metal foot was crushing him down against the technodrome with each word Kraang One spoke.
"Weak words. Weak actions. I have forever known what you fail to understand."
Crush!
"Strength!"
Crunch!
"Always!"
Crack!
"Prevails!"
Through gritted teeth, Leo gathered the strength to stab his left Katana into the foot of the Kraang, spraying his face and chest with black liquid that squirted out. The right katana he had thrown earlier was now in position. It was time.
"What you fail to understand is…I missed on purpose!" The grip on the left katana tightened, and the blue clad turtle could feel his ninpo surging through his body as he mentally reached out to his other sword to teleport both himself and their enemy across the portal.
Once they re-appeared on the other side, Leo was surprised to find Kraang wrestling both swords out of his arms while demanding he stop his "little tricks", tossing them behind him before he smacked Leo in the face. The action caused him to spit out some more blood. The large robotic hand gripped Leo around his throat and plasteron. Leo gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut with discomfort, barely able to verbalize his next words, "Casey! Close the portal, NOW!"
"WHAT?!" The disbelief in Kraang's voice was hilarious. Leo would have totally laughed in other circumstances.
Through the communicator, Leo could hear faint whimpering and sniffling. He could tell Casey was crying. The pressure on his plasteron was lifted as the Kraang tossed him aside and he attempted to reach the portal. Leo inhaled sharply and swam towards Kraang One, grabbing at whatever he could grab on to, which appeared to be the Kraang's left cheek.
"NO! Let go of me!"
For one moment Leo had the dreaded feeling that Casey would be unable to remove the key and his actions would be fruitless. He could already feel Kraang slipping from his grasp as he was struck in the head. In desperation, Leo cried out, "Casey!" Another strike. "Please!" His vision dangerously darkened after the second blow. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused all his strength on the hand gripping onto the pink alien. Kraang One continued to make futile attempts to free himself from the blue turtle's grasp, striking him once across the face. Leo felt warm liquid flow down his nostrils but did not lessen his grip.
When he next opened his eyes his body flooded with relief as the portal shuddered once before shrinking, closing in around the Technodrome and slicing it in half in a violent explosion of fire and light.
It was beautiful.
Leo gave a genuine smile through the pain, demonstrating his signature grin and confidently stated his new catchphrase as he let go of Kraang One.
"You've been portal chopped!"
Leo loved it.
He wished Donnie had been there to hear it.
The connection between the prison dimension and his world had been severed. Leo kept grinning like a maniac at the sounds of disbelief the alien produced, watching where the portal once stood. He continued to smile as the shockwave hurled both him and Kraang One away from the explosion and into the never-ending stretch of grey.
Leo had no idea how long or how far he was thrown from the explosion but eventually he struck something solid and tumbled across the length of the floating structure, striking his head all the while until he hit the back of his head on a wall of some sort. Hard.
His vision went dark for several seconds, then wavered. He couldn't move. Every fiber of his being was exhausted and aching, and it hurt to breathe.
He took several shallow breaths, unfocused eyes staring at the ground he had landed on.
"Y-you…!"
The voice was muffled, but he could tell Kraang One was addressing him. Still, Leo was dangerously close to passing out and couldn't find the strength to avert his gaze up from the floor to the alien. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth onto his outstretched left hand in front of him.
He was so tired.
A heavy footstep headed towards him. "YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" Kraang One roared, his voice sounding strangely far away yet so close. The half of the Technodrome that got chopped into this world landed somewhere to his left, the sound muffled. Leo could also hear multiple, faint THUD!s Of Technodrome pieces falling around them as the alien got closer.
"And now…" The Kraang chuckled darkly. "My wrath will be reserved for you alone…"
It took Leo's brain a second to notice that Kraang One was now standing in front of him, and was caught slightly off guard when he was punched hard across the right side of his face. Stars formed in his vision and he spat out blood that had pooled in his mouth, his face scrunching up in pain.
The onslaught of punches didn't stop. The blue clad turtle barely comprehended that he was releasing small groans of pain as he was punched all over – his arms, legs, face, abdomen. Yet he couldn't do anything to defend himself. He no longer had his swords and his body refused to move.
"You think you've won? You WRETCHED. LITTLE. PEST?!" The enormous robotic hands pounded his chest with tremendous force at the last word that caused the floor of the structure to cave in and collapse underneath them. Both beings crashed into the floor below, Kraang One landing on his feet while Leo landed on his back. His back and head took the blunt of the fall but Leo felt completely numb at that point that he did not feel the impact.
The turtle laid there for a few seconds, completely dazed and eyes unfocused. He had blacked out again for just a moment. When he regained consciousness, he noticed he had been holding onto something for dear life in his right hand though was uncertain when he had reached for it. He closed his eyes tightly and re-opened them to find that he was grasping the photograph of his family Casey had brought from the future.
His family.
Through the pain, the numbness, and the exhaustion, he felt a new emotion overwhelm his senses. His mouth trembled and he whimpered at the final realization that he would never see any of them again. He would never see Mikey grow up into the amazing mystic warrior Casey mentioned he would become. He would never see Donnie win any Nobel Prizes or become the amazing inventor he was destined to become. He would never see Raph be the first of them all to become an official adult or see April graduate University or get a chance to re-watch their favorite Lou Jitsu movies with their father for the 50th time.
Because he was going to die.
Tears streamed down his face and Leo almost regretted his actions as he longed to be with his brothers. He whimpered and swallowed thickly. He was terrified to die alone. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to be the hero of this story. He needed his family and he missed them so much.
But his actions meant that the world was safe from the Kraang's world domination. New York was safe.
That's right. He did this to protect his family. His family was safe and that's all that mattered. That thought was enough to bring a watery smile to his face.
His smile was short lived as Kraang One roared something at him, but his words fell on deaf ears. Leo focused his attention on the photograph as his plasteron was slammed into the ground with enough force to tear apart half of the structure they were on. He knew his plasteron and shell were likely cracked beyond repair at this point, but he could no longer feel the pain. The turtle did all he could to not let go of the photograph as he sailed across the robotic graveyard, enveloped in a dust cloud. When it cleared, he noticed the trail of blood droplets he was leaving behind, glistening like rubies as they reflected the distant light coming from an unknown source. His vision blurred once more as he brought the photograph near his heart, hugging it as more tears spilled from his eyes and floated off around him.
He noticed Kraang One's murderous glint in the shadows as he lunged forwards towards Leo. Leo squeezed the photo tighter into his chest.
He didn't want to die.
Somewhere off in Staten Island, Michelangelo stared incredulously at the dust cloud that had yet to settle since the explosion. Eyes wide and mouth agape, he gawked at the spot where the Technodrome had been only moments ago.
Raph had fallen to his knees sometime after the explosion, being unable to look up at the sky due to the painful realization that his brother was gone. He wallowed in sadness and regret, face scrunching up with whimpers and self-loathing. It should have been him. He was the eldest and he was supposed to protect everyone and yet he had failed. He had jumped off the Technodrome at Leo's command to rescue Donnie and Mikey without a second thought that Leo would attempt to do such a thing. He was Leo. He was selfish. He was never supposed to pull a sacrificial hero move like that.
Yet he did. And now he was gone.
Raph made a whining noise as tears fell from his eyes and his fingers dug into his palms.
Donnie had also refused to look at the aftermath of the explosion, instead turning to look at the sky in the opposite direction. He could not comprehend what he was feeling at this time. He never showed emotion and yet, what was that liquid he felt stinging at his eyes? When had they appeared and why was the amount of liquid overflowing –
'Nardo is dead.
I will never see Leonardo again.
Mouth agape, he felt a stream of liquid fall from his right eye, his arm instinctively reaching up to his face to feel the foreign sensation. When he brought it back down, he noticed his fingers were moist with clear fluid.
Tears.
He was crying. He rarely cried and yet here he was spilling the salty liquid from his eyes. The purple clad turtle whimpered and shook his head in disbelief. His other eye decided to follow suit and more fat, salty tears flowed down his cheeks, gathering at his chin. Donnie continued to wipe away the foreign liquid as much as possible but the more he did so the faster the flow came.
He heard Mikey begin to whimper next to him but Donnie was too lost in his thoughts to turn and glance at his youngest brother. The torrent just would not stop.
Mikey raised his hands without thinking and stretched them out to the dust cloud, uncertain what he was doing but reaching out for his blue clad brother nonetheless. He stretched out his arms until they hurt, but he needed to reach Leo. He needed to reach him because Leo couldn't be gone. He couldn't be dead. He could still reach Leo –
His own tears began to fall down his cheeks and stain the concrete. He strained his arms as far as he could, feeling as if they were going to pop out of their sockets.
Mikey began to sob louder as nothing happened, hiccupping, and straining his arms even further. He didn't know what he was trying to do but he needed to do something. He could not feel Leo's ninpo energy anymore, but he was still trying to reach for it. He HAD to.
"Mikey," Raph's voice came from behind him. It was low and gravelly. "It's over."
"Leo never gave up on us," Came his watery response. "So I'm not giving up on him!"
Mikey continued the same action for several minutes as his two remaining brothers looked at him in pity and sadness. Mikey continued to sob louder each time he failed to do something. Anything. Yet whatever he wanted to happen was not happening.
"Mikey," Raph pressed again, this time walking over to the youngest turtle and placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's over. There is nothing more we can do."
Raph saw Mikey's heart break in his eyes as the orange clad turtle shook his head. Several emotions crossed his face before finally settling on despair. Mikey wailed loudly and Raph quickly wrapped him in a comforting embrace, letting his own tears flow down his face and onto his youngest brother's shell. Donnie stood by their side awkwardly, face buried in his own hands, shoulders shaking with wracking sobs.
The world had been saved at an incredible price.
Yes, this chappie was mostly the movie, but next chapter things'll be completely different! Please let me know what you think and leave a review It'll motivate me to write :D
Stay hydrated y'all. The heat may be slowly dying down but it's still hot out there.