Confusion

As Michelangelo hurried to his room in order to contact Renet with his communication orb, Leo watched Donatello and Raphael, eyes narrowed.

"Renet? Who's that?"

"She's… an old acquaintance," Donatello whispered, his tone showing very little enthusiasm. "We'll give you the details later."

Michelangelo was already coming back. He looked despondent.

"She's not answering."

Raphael threw his arms up. "Just what we needed."

Michelangelo frowned. "She's busy. She's working, not like some people I know!"

"It must be such high-quality work!" Raphael shouted. "Don't worry, it wasn't set on time travels," he quoted, deliberately taking a high-pitched tone. "Not set on time travels my a-"

Leo cleared his throat, catching his brothers' attention. "Time travels?"

"Well done, Raph." Donatello sighed. He wanted nothing more than to take a shower, but he didn't see it happening anytime soon.

Leo crossed his arms. "What's happening here?" he asked, his firm tone clearly indicating that he wasn't going to be satisfied with evasive replies.

Raphael kept silent. Everything in his sulky attitude indicated that he wouldn't answer. Donatello didn't talk either, too busy thinking about the best answer he could give to this embarrassing question. So Leo turned his focus towards Michelangelo, who bit his lip and blinked several times. Leo narrowed his eyes and Michelangelo moaned.

"So, uh… you see…"

He interrupted himself and sent a desperate look his other brothers' way.

Leo shook his head. If nobody was willing to answer him, it was time to go to a higher instance. "I'll ask Splinter."

"No!" his three brothers exclaimed in unison.

Their voices sounded extremely panicked, and Leo interpreted it as the well-founded fear that their father wasn't going to be happy with the living room's state. How could he have known that Splinter was no more?

"Then tell me what's with you," he demanded.

"Donnie, you're the explanation-lover. You tell him." Raphael waved towards Donatello, not caring about the glare said explanation-lover was giving him.

Donatello courageously opened his mouth to speak, his brain suggesting one almost plausible explanation after another - they had to tell Leo the truth or he would never leave it down, but not all the truth, there was no way they could tell him Splinter was dead - when a tiny purple turtle trotted inside the room. Breathing fire.

Leo jumped. "What is that?"

"Don't talk about Chompy like this," Raphael threatened him as he carefully picked up the tiny turtle.

"It's Spike 2." Michelangelo nodded. "It's an alien. His mom is a gigantic flying turtle who could destroy the Earth with a sneeze. In fact, she almost did."

Leo took a deep breath and rubbed his temples.

"Spike 2. And where is Spike 1?"

"Uh…" Michelangelo offered him a sheepish smile. "Raph mutated him into a giant battle turtle."

Leo nodded. "Sure, Mikey. Whatever you say."

"It's true!" Michelangelo protested. "Raph, tell him it's true!"

Raphael looked daggers at his brother. He didn't appreciate to be reminded of this disastrous episode of his life.

Donatello, having taken advantage of the interlude to choose the best possible explanation according to the circumstances - only 30% of probability that Leo would have a heart attack - took the plunge.

"Listen, Leo. I know this must look strange to you, but you don't have to worry. Everything is fine. It's just that… that you are…" Donatello wasn't aware of it, but his voice was becoming more and more high-pitched. "In the future."

"In the future." Leo seemed doubtful at best.

"Yes, exactly. In the future," Michelangelo and Raphael insisted.

Donatello went on, anticipating future difficulties. "And Splinter isn't there. He took April with him for her kunoichi training." He made a mental note to give April a phone call so she wouldn't pay them a visit for as long as this Leo would be there.

"Then where is Future-Me?" Leo asked, his arms still crossed but his voice slightly hesitant. He was looking at Chompy, the alien turtle, rubbing his tiny head against Raphael's cheek.

His three brothers looked at each other.

"Now that's a good question," Donatello whispered.

Four years earlier

Leonardo rubbed his head to soothe his violent headache and stood up. Looking at his surroundings, he immediately knew that he wasn't at the right place.

Or more precisely, he wasn't at the right time.

Granted, he was still in the lair's living room; but an old episode of Space Heroes, his favorite cartoon, was on television. He must have been - that was, his past self must have been - watching it.

And he hadn't been watching it alone. His three brothers were sitting on the couch, looking at him with big eyes.

Great. Just what I needed, he thought.

He cleared his throat. "Hello."

"Uh, Leo?" Mikey asked. "Are you sick? Your voice is all weird."

His voice. Of course. It gave Leonardo a clue about the length of his temporal jump. He had landed before the disastrous episode when the Shredder had beaten him almost to death, sending him into a coma that had lasted three months.

"Hmm, yes. About that…"

Leonardo interrupted himself, unsure of how he could explain any of it to these younger brothers.

"Leo, what about the scars?" Raph suddenly exclaimed.

"So you're seeing them to?" Donatello nodded. "I thought I was hallucinating."

From his expression, he must be wondering how such marks could have appeared on his brother's body in a mere few seconds.

Leo swore inwardly. Another thing that wasn't going to be easy to explain.

"Listen, I…"

"Leonardo?"

Leonardo froze. He had heard that voice for the last time months ago, coming from a spirit. He turned around, his heart beating faster in his chest.

The tall figure in front of him wasn't a disembodied being, but rather a giant rat in the flesh. Leonardo called upon every fiber of highly trained ninja in him to keep his composure, but he couldn't entirely prevent his voice from shaking.

"Sensei."

Author's Note: So we have Leo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello in the present, and Leonardo, Raph, Mikey and Donnie in the past. With Splinter.

I wonder how they're going to cope…

And feel free to report any mistake you see. It would be immensely helpful to me.