Author's Note: hey guys - I'm very sorry for putting this halfway through the tale, I don't like doing this, but I'm a little conflicted between the first versions of Chapter 2 and 3 I wrote and the actual ones I posted... Please, if you'd like, let me know which version you prefer, or what parts, and why :).

I skipped to the parts that are different for your convenience :).

Author's Note UPDATED!

Thank you for your patience – I took a break, pondered, and realised my confliction was from a poor utilisation of what I had earlier written. For example, Michelangelo's summation of Movie-Raphael's conversation with Movie-Casey in Chapter 2 felt like a poor substitute for the broader version I had earlier written here which takes it apart piece by piece and makes better sense from where Mikey was coming from.

But the official one I posted had Don's awesome conviction in Raph's face. But this older one I had was balanced and attuned to what Movie-Raph was going through. But the official one I posted is more fluid and all-round better edited. But this older one makes a bit more sense as to why Raphael would speak and comment in Chapter 3 at all when he was in deep humiliation from Leonardo's unthinking outburst at the end of Chapter 2 (then again...) etc...

I think I simply rushed posting it when I should have held off for a few more days to smoothen everything I wanted with editing and to be better at peace with what simply didn't make it.

I'll take this lesson and try to learn from it – for I am a bit of a people pleaser and was just trying to get things in 'on time'… when there is no schedule for this thing and it's done in my spare time when I could've been playing with my little sisters!

So… what of this Alternate Versions chapter?

…Ah what the heck! Have these extras! Enjoy! XD

...

...

...Chapter 2 Version...

"But… But didn't you tell him how weird things have gotten with the turtles?"

"He knows it's a trap… they're acting off 'cause they're zombie vampires," Mikey insists, whispering mostly to himself, "Suck him dryyyyyyyy…"

The movie gives a grand low sweep of a large golden building.

Leo wrings his hands in emphasis, "This stylistic animatiiooooon-!"

"…Is that an external elevator?" Don shudders, "I've never trusted those. They seem too exposed to the elements… and public viewing. What if there's a technical issue and the whole thing just falls off and smashes into the pavement-"

"Stop talking Donnie," Raph snaps, "You give us nightmare fuel and now paranoia and we're not even halfway through the film!"

Donnie bashfully sinks into his chair and says with a tiny voice, "…I'm sorry…"

"…Gah, no one can stay mad at you."

"Hey guys?" Mikey asks, "Since when did April have this kind of job?"

"Hm… April would be offended at how her design is shaped," Don agrees, "And not only due to the obvious materialism of beauty, but… just look at the way this Movie-April moves. It's… they've gone too far with the design… it's CREEPY!"

"SHADDAP DONNIE! …You're scaring me."

Whilst carting the large crate, Movie-Casey accidentally pulls it too close to a vase and knocks it over. Once it smashes, the entire building blares red and goes into lock-down.

"…Imagine if someone was standing underneath the doors at that one random point. Such a tragic squish."

"DON-!" Raph screams.

Donatello jumps, "I'm sorry-!"

"That is totally the 3000 year old immortal dude!" Mikey interrupts as the movie introduces 'Mr Winters'.

"…Is it just me, or does this 3000 year old Native American appear… rather Western?" Don latches on to something else for nit-picking, "The accent isn't surprising, as someone that old can easily master a language fluently in that time. But…"

"Are you sure those facial features are Western?" Leo tilts his head sideways at 'Mr Winter's' bold visage.

"…Well good," Mikey relaxes, "A bad dude that gets his own unique look without going overboard or looking 'perfect'. Eeeeexcept for that massive chest which leads to a tiny waist. At least he doesn't have a tiny head on top of a massive chest like Hunny-bunny."

Raph blinks several times and tries to speak, "Hunny-bunny-?"

"That's it; we've crossed the line from healthy criticism about physical beauty and appealing strength to bullying appearances. Let's stop criticising people by how they look, please," Leo takes in Yaotl/Winters' demeanour, "…Now he sounds weathered and nice. I bet he's gonna be an anti-villain."

"You shouldn't give the benefit of the doubt to the baddies, Leo," Raph smirks, "Have you so soon forgotten how your first meeting with Shred-head went down?"

"Stop mentioning that. Seriously."

What was meant as a joke sizzles into a bad taste in his throat. Raphael opens his mouth to apologise but, unsure of how, ends up merely watching the film.

They all quieten for a moment…

"…Karai's in the room," Splinter says a full three seconds before she indeed does make an appearance.

They all give their father an impressed look, "…How-?"

"And there is Foot too."

Sure enough, before they too appear, he's got it right.

"…That's a movie, Sensei. You shouldn't be able to do that!" Donatello almost freaks out.

Splinter just smiles to himself; if only they knew he developed this sixth sense from watching his soap operas!

"I knew it!" Mikey exclaims as Mr Winters converses with the Foot, "He is Yaotl!"

"Interesting," Don calms down and observes, "The movie has chosen to dispense with the mystery… wise call, I feel, for this story."

Raphael mockingly gapes at his brother, "Did you just say something positive about a film? Shock gasp horror!"

"Funny."

"Karai looks gorgeous like that!" Mikey dares and then slyly addresses his big brother, "Hope I'm not making you uncomfortable, Leeooooo."

"…We're not even the same species-"

"You two have quite the relationship. Quite a history."

"I befriended and respected her. In the end we just couldn't trust each other. How do you confuse that with love-"

"Quiet!" Raph growls, "A pigeon just got eaten off-screen! How can you ignore that so heartlessly?!"

A few seconds pass before Michelangelo mouths his response back in silence. Catching the movement with his practised eyes, Leonardo leans forward in his seat and mouths back a silent retort.

They continue wordlessly mouthing and gesturing until Raph puts a hand to Leo's forehead in checking his sanity temperature, all while Donnie's unblinkingly observant gaze from cuddled into Splinter's side finally catches Mikey's attention.

Master Splinter is the only one watching the film, "Is this what you get up to when handling people such as these? Are you that rough and proud with frustration at the ones committing crimes?"

"…Nnnoo," Raphael settles back into his seat, trying to resume his viewing of the movie as the picture of innocence – his brothers shyly do the same.

Raphael rapidly realises that this scene contains the Nightwatcher strutting his stuff before the sort of persistent yet hapless crook that offers you a visceral pleasure in overpowering.

He twitches and almost giggles out loud as the Nightwatcher hauls the crook up by the shirt with such commanding badass finesse.

"And we wonder why small children are growing up with the wrong messages from these 'cool' scenes," Don puts morality on it, then adds a tactical, "Why don't they make engaging stakes with causes and effects instead of detached coolness in action scenes anymore?"

And at that Raphael privately squirms with an easily ignorable confliction that still makes enjoying this unbearably uncomfortable now.

"-Wait a minute… aw, how'd you know it was me?"

"Wasn't that hard man – you know you look like a big, metal turtle?"

Movie-Raph sighs as he responsibly removes his helmet in full view of the crook, "It's that obvious, huh?"

"Buuuuut for some reason no one else has connected the dots?"

"Yeah that doesn't really make sense…" Raph admits.

"Or does it?" Leo sadly ponders at the distant and detached state of the Movie-family.

"But seriously – a once extremely close-knit family doesn't consider he's out all night doing what he loves disguised in a full-body suit that resembles an armoured turtle? Really? …Raph," Don turns to his brother with an epiphany, "This movie is up your shell."

"…Oh my gosh it IS. I LOVE THIS FILM!"

Leo looks at him with big sad eyes.

"…Well… I mean… it's just… with you, you're a stick in the mud… I love you bro'," bearing an awkward smile he turns his body away from the beseeching gaze.

At the corner of his eye he spots Michelangelo locking watery baby blue eyes at him; suddenly feeling cornered, he tactlessly wriggles in his seat and tries to ignore them both.

"What was I supposed to do? Sit around, wait for Leo to come back and save the day?"

"Good question," Splinter strokes his thinning beard, "My sons are all warriors, and Raphael needs a passionate outlet. What was there for him before he turned to this vigilante delusion? …Wait, why was there nothing to do simply because Leonardo left?"

"Why is it always all on Leo? You have two other brothers that exist too – and a Sensei!" Don makes clear.

"And what has my counterpart been doing for the guidance of this family during Movie-Leonardo's absence?" Splinter muses suspiciously., "Not to pin the blame on an aging single parent, especially since they are no longer children, but…"

"SOMEONE MAKE THEM STOP LOOKING AT ME!" shouts a randomly desperate voice.

"I mean we haven't heard word one from him, since Splinter sent him away on his little vacation."

"…I thought there were letters…" Mikey mumbles, eyes slowly returning to the big screen.

"Little 'vacation'?" now Leo returns to the film, "I could be DEAD from plant poisoning or eaten ALIVE by a jaguar. My head could be shrunken in a tribal house somewhere! I might have gone INSANE!? Yeheeheehahaahaaahaahaah-! Ahem… I'm good."

"…I think only the Jivaroan tribes in the north-western Amazon rainforest perform headshrinking. And that's in South America, not Central."

"Come on, you think these lowlifes take vacations at the first sign of pressure? No."

Don nibbles on one of Mike's lollies, "Beating up lowlifes won't solve the pre-existing issues that lower their standards of life."

"But they certainly deserve it when they get it, like people who won't shut up," Raph adds, squinting at his Movie-version, "…What's he s'posed to be talkin' 'bout? Movie-Leo leaving on a bogus training exercise at Sensei's command has zilch to do with the existence of crime in our home city."

"I'm sure it's from a confusion of bitter jealously, betrayal, feeling unworthy-"

Raphael punches Leo in the face before the list could get too personal. In response to this affront, Leonardo… opens up a bag of chocolates. And doesn't share!

"The criminal element of this city may be guilty of a lot of things, but being quitters ain't one of them."

"To be or not to be!" Mikey dramatically proclaims.

"I know what he's talking about; dodging the bullet of personal accountability. Note the content of this discussion – blame others and circumstances to excuse his own choices and behaviour," Don calmly discerns.

"I thought we're just watching a movie here," Raph grunts a touch defensively, "Can't we just watch the movie?"

"I don't even care about Leo anymore!"

And at that Raphael ignores what he said a second ago, "You know I wouldn't mean that right bro'?!"

Leo turns to him with his face stuffed with chocolate, "Muff?"

"Kind of hope he never comes back."

"You-! You NOOB! Stop makin' me look bad!" Raph panics.

Leo pats his arm, "Mifuh phay Phwaph."

"Come on, aren't you being a little hard on the guy?"

"I don't know, it's possible."

"STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THOSE EYES!" Raphael abruptly turns the blue mask around, easing his sensation of guilt, "…Aaah. Now all is well."

With the knot over his face and the material tails hanging over his mouth, Leo just shoves some more chocolate in while listening to the film.

"I guess if I could live anywhere other than the city, I'd go too; but I could never leave this place."

"But… then… what is he saying?!"

"Mikey shush. Let Movie-Raph ventilate to a trusted friend," Leo is still blinded, "It's important to listen without a critical attitude."

"I can't even sleep without the sound of the subway running over my head. Guess it comes from growing up with a house full of brothers…"

"…His subconscious habit of the familiar subway comes from… us? What?"

"Donnie shush. Not everyone is articulate with their personal junk."

"But this is a movie. You need clarification, even about that trait! Or it just falls flat!"

"Or this is one of those personality things that some just can't relate to as well as others, y'know? There's more than one life… then again, in entertainment there's even a wrong way to do that-"

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I'm just saying that, if it was my brother, I'd find a way to work it out."

"Casey shu- oh wait."

Mike and Don simultaneously berate, "Leo SHUSH!"

"But that's just me. I've got my own issues, you know? Like back at home with April. It's just this whole thing about settling down thing that… makes me miss the old times. I don't know if I can be the grown-up she needs me to be…"

"That concern… is actually rather self-aware. Where did this Casey come from?"

"…Good talk Raph."

"…He fell asleep without a subway rumbling over his head."

"And siting on the precarious edge of a roughly thirteen storey apartment building."

Leonardo jerks upright at the unseen info, "WHAT! Without his baby harness!? RAPH – what have I said about that!?"

Raphael turns deep red with horrified mortification; a huge silent grin is mounting on Michelangelo's face as he gradually leans forward to see them whilst Donatello's grows ever increasingly blank at the thought.

Splinter is the only one to speak up, "We need to talk after this, Leonardo."

END PART 2

...

...

...Chapter 3 Version...

"Arise my brothers – arise dear sister!"

Mike is busy marvelling at the animation and sounds, "Sweeeeeeet."

"The Stars of Keekan align – all ye generals wake from your stone slumber!"

"Why would a 3000 year old Native American speak with 'ye'?"

"…'Cause he's speakin' it in English?"

"OHMIGOSH LEO THERE'S YOU!" Mikey points excitedly, kicking his legs like a child.

"What?" Leo corrects his mask to see through.

"There is NO way he could stand there without being blown off like an idiot!" Don protests.

"I'm sure the movie-makers know that; in fact, there's a lot about movie making that the movie-makers know about which we, who criticise them, do not. Give them a break!" Raph sighs.

Watching Movie-Leo glide through the air over the river Mikey shouts, "Go Leeeoooooh wait, I'm still weirded out with you calling me 'cute'. Find someone else to give you big brother worship! Hmph!" and with that, Mikey crosses his arms and stubbornly sticks out his chin.

"Okay then," he playfully taps Raph on the arm, "You."

"Dammit bro' I'm your equal, I will not be giving-…" all it takes is one look at Leo's subtle endearment and he's immediately pressed with obligation, "…It's still a no! …How do you do that…?"

It's Don that speaks, "You should never look him in the eye when he's goofy, Raph; you just can't be prepared for it."

Splinter smiles warmly at the current scene of his younger sons sleeping and laughs, "I will never understand how you boys can stand to sleep in such a mess."

The scene reveals Movie-Leonardo, having somehow entered the home completely air dried.

"Movie-Leo is watching us sleeping…" Donnie jokes.

"…What's wrong with that?" Leo asks, genuinely confused and hurt.

The two youngest brothers blatantly stare at him before leaning to their father between them.

"…Nothing wrong with that…" Leo mumbles quietly to himself.

Raph just chuckles darkly to himself.

"Enter. Kneel, my son."

"'I can't Sensei'," Raph voices for Movie-Leo, "'I've got a bad knee bone that nearly got grinded to dust by a freaking anaconda; in fact, I'm my own fully grown turtle from these two years survivin' alone and I expect YOU to call ME-"

"I return from my training, Master. I was so caught up in my own world, I forgot about everyone else. I'm sorry I failed…"

Leonardo chews his lip, "If I went into the wild without any prior skills or know-how to survive there how can am I so spotless? There's no visible scaring or even a tiny frayed part of the mask or anything."

"That is what crosses your mind?" Raph waves a hand at the big screen before them, "Are you even looking at the internal display animated on your Movie-self?! It's making me squirm!"

"On the contrary, my son. Now you are much stronger."

"…Somehow that feels like the incorrect thing to say," Splinter is regarding his movie incarnation with scepticism.

"You're strength is needed here now."

"Aaand there's Movie-Raph! Popping up just when Movie-Leo is done coming close to pouring his heart out and the context can now be incorrectly translated to anyone who is eavesdropping from this point on. Geeeeniuuuusss!"

"Mike, it's an overused cliché."

Raph shrugs at Don's tone, "Eh, it's cliché but it doesn't make these sort of misunderstandin's less real."

"…True."

"Heck, Movie-me is looking in on 'em but I bet he's just seein' more reasons to feel bad despite the fact Movie-Leo ain't even smilin' 'bout receiving that medallion," then he adds faintly, "Done it enough times myself…"

"You owe me no apology. But perhaps you should talk to Raphael."

"Because mending bonds is long and difficult, requiring a conscious effort from both sides to fully heal. This is why you prepare your long-awaited son…" Splinter quickly reels in on his counterpart, "Or are you just hoping for a quick-fix now that the one Raphael happened to gripe over for is returned? Surely you've had talks with your troubled son long before this, yes?"

Mikey rolls his eyes, "Sensei, you're giving your Movie-self way too little credit."

He sighs, "It is… something in my gut, my son. As much as I respect his voice actor – may he rest in peace – I feel there is a reason I cannot fully approve of this version of me… I'm just trying to find out what that is."

"Your absence has been particularly difficult for him. Though… he'll never admit it."

"Aaawwwwww!" everyone coddles Raphael from all sides, "You just miss your big brother!"

Raphael freezes up, acting on an old instinct that if he doesn't move they'll get bored and go away.

"I'm c-certain things will be back to normal in no time, Master."

"Ah the shy awkward start of wanting to patch things up in family…"

"Good. Because until you can act as one, you are forbidden to fight."

"See Master? Common sense of precaution," Mikey cheerfully asserts, "He's still an acting father and sensei, he's just… old and tired."

"I have missed you, Leonardo."

"I've missed you too, father."

The moment Raphael notices his Movie-version glancing away pained he lunges forward, ignoring the subsiding protest of his gut, "Oh don't you DARE feel sorry for yourself when those two ain't hugged for TWO YEARS YOU SELF-ABSORBED GIT! How can you be twisting this into fuelling your angst?! " he leans back and eyes his startled family, "What? Just because I know how doesn't mean I give him a pass for it."

"Raphael! Your brother is home!"

...

...