They tumbled one by one through the window, landing in a heap, Hun, Shredder, April, Karai, Renet, Donnie, Leo, Mikey, and Raph. As they untangled themselves and got to their feet, Karai held out a hand to Donnie. "Apprentice Scepter, Donatello."
Donnie handed it to her without question as the seven of them encircled a snarling Shredder and disoriented Hun. Karai pointed the device at the man who'd stolen her mother from her, who'd forced her to endure countless agonies. "What do I do to make it work?" she asked.
Donnie pointed to the dial, then the button, but said nothing.
Karai turned the knob and as the end of the scepter illuminated a window opened behind Shredder. "This is the end of the Foot, and the end of you Oroku Saki. The Hamato Clan will rise again," Karai smiled through her tears, "I'll be sure to personally see to it."
As Shredder opened his mouth to protest four turtle feet landed square in his chest launching him through the portal. April and Renet stepped up to Hun and the fool jumped in on his own. The window closed and an exhausted Karai handed the scepter to Donatello.
They stood together in a long silence before Michelangelo asked. "Where'd ya send him, Rai?"
Karai wiped her face with the back of her hand and smiled despite herself. "Hell if I know, but it sure was a long way from here."
000
The seven of them had pushed three tables together in Michelangelo's pizzeria, and devoured slice after slice. Donatello had eaten all he could, and the silence that blanketed the closed pizza parlor waned between the lot of them. They were too old for battles, long out of practice, and sore from it. They were tired, and bruised, drained and… he looked at April's battered face, beautiful.
How had he ever doubted her? The vial, she'd returned to him, in his pocket reminded him of all that he had not understood, but that in only a short amount of time had become clear.
April took a sip of her drink, then another bite and chewed while keeping her eyes averted from him. A small dribble of cheese escaped her and her tongue flashed across her split lip in an effort to chase it in. She was nervous, he could tell by the way she ate. He knew her well, so much so that he understood why she was upset, and it occurred to him that he could do something about it. After all she'd tried to sacrifice herself in an effort to save them. His heart swelled.
Her coppery strands spilled over her bare shoulders, splattered with terrible blue and green marks. His teeth ground together. How many times had knowing him brought her life so close to its end?
As if reading his mind she looked up at him and flashed him an uncertain smile. He felt the corners of his mouth tip up instinctively as his insides melted. It was so far past time that he did the right thing by her.
He glanced down the table where Michelangelo was shoving an entire breadstick in his mouth with a trembling hand. He had to talk to Renet the same way Donnie needed to talk to April.
"Hey, Mikey," Donnie said to his little brother.
Michelangelo looked on Donnie with grateful eyes. "Y-y-eah, D?"
Everyone looked to Michelangelo.
"Do you still have that package I left here a while ago? The one I asked you to keep safe?" Donatello's confidence in his decision grew as Leo interjected.
"You gave Mikey something to keep safe?"
Donnie's gaze drifted from Michelangelo to April. "Yes, I did."
Mikey bounced out of his seat and bolted through the swinging door into the kitchen. He reappeared moments later with a stiff plastic bag and handed it to Donatello.
The cold seeped into Donnie's hands and the stiffness of the bag surprised him. He looked at Michelangelo. "Where did you keep it?"
Mikey shrugged. "In the walk-in freezer, next to the pepperoni."
Donnie shook his head as he pushed back his chair and walked around the table to where April sat. He pulled back her chair with her in it and she stared at him in surprise. He knelt down before her.
"April, I am so sorry I ever doubted you. You have been my best friend most of my life and I don't know what I was thinking." As he talked Donnie was ashamed of himself. He knew her better. He knew her love and how deep it ran, for every time they'd covered each other in a battle, for every mishap that had befallen them, from her father turning into a mutant bat when their friendship was tested for the first time, to her seeing him through the death of his father when he was at his worst. "I'm sorry, April. Will you please forgive me for being a jerk? And," he reached into the bag, "forgive me for waiting so long to ask you," he pulled out a small box and opened it revealing an amethyst encircled diamond ring. "Marry me?"
April stared open mouthed at the ring. She was quiet so long Donnie began to fear she would say no.
Then April tore her eyes off the diamonds and looked him in the eye. "Hamato Donatello, if you don't know by now that I'd do anything for you and with you, then you don't know me at all." Tears clung to her cinnamon eyelashes and she let them spill over as she nodded emphatically. "Of course I will marry you."
"Yes?" Donatello breathed.
April nodded. "Yes."
000
Leo and Karai left the pizzeria hours after the recovery dinner turned into a celebratory one. Hand in hand they strolled along the sidewalk. Leo had to admit it was long overdue, all of it, April and Donnie's engagement, the end of Shredder, and… he stopped walking. "Are you here to stay, Karai?"
She turned to face him. Her golden-brown eyes stared into him, the circles beneath them like a slap across his face. How could he ask anything of her after everything she'd been through, after what she'd sacrificed?
Finally she nodded her head. "I'm home now, Leo. Shredder is gone. The Foot will disband, I'll see to it. And the Hamato name will live on. I'll open a dojo, and we will have students. I've thought it all out." As tears filled her eyes his heart clenched. He'd never seen her cry so much. "I just, I guess I never thought this day would come." She let out an exhausted, bitter laugh. "There's just one thing I'm not sure of, I guess."
Leo listened to her, was glad to hear she had some type of plan for her life post-Shredder revenge. Even more so it brought great joy to him that she intended to open a dojo with the Hamato name. "What aren't you sure of?"
Her fingers flew forward, quickly snatching the tails of his mask and she whipped him around slamming him into the wall of the nearest building, thrusting her face in his. "Will you quit being a cop and come help me run it?"
A fire stoked in Leo, a solitary flame that burned only for her. His hand worked its way into her hair, his fingers wrapping around the back of her head as his mouth drew near hers. "Only if you'll come live with me," he whispered ghosting her lips.
Her mouth curved into a smirk, her eyes locking with his. "I can't believe you called me a Taka Onna."
"Let it go, Karai," Leo breathed her in, the sweet scent of her filling his head. He could slip into an easier life as long as she was in it, together they could conquer anything he was sure of it. His lips brushed lightly over hers. "Let it all go, and just say yes."
She hummed softly, leaning her body closer to his. "Make me," she challenged.
He snatched her mouth up with his, kissing her deep. She tugged on the tail of his mask and he slipped an arm around her back and pulled her closer. "Say yes," he prompted between kisses.
They engaged in a push and pull, squeeze and grab, panting make-out until finally she thrust him hard against his own front door. "Leo," she gasped.
"Yes," he panted.
"Yes," she moaned.
"Yes?" he echoed.
"Yes."
000
Raph leaned back in his chair, picking at his teeth with a toothpick. Michelangelo began picking up plates and Renet chewed on the end of her straw, but none of them said a word.
Raph sighed, slamming the front legs of the chair against the floor as he got to his feet. "I'm gonna go home, Mikey," he said, stretching. "I gotta soak this old shell in some Epsom salts." He cradled one shoulder and made little circles with his arm. "Think I pulled somethin' today."
The pizzeria doorbell jingled and Raph and Mikey looked up, and Renet stopped chewing on her straw. Raph sensed the girl stiffen, caught the slight flinch that she tried to smooth over with a forced smile. He shifted his focus to the door and felt his heart soar.
"Mona Lisa!" he exclaimed, leaping over two tables to get to her.
"Yes, Raphael!" Mona Lisa smiled wide, snatching him up into her arms and planting kisses all over his face.
After long moments of smooching Raph came up for air and looked at his long lost love. "What are you doing here? How?"
Mona shook her head. "Don't you watch or read the news, Raphael?"
Raph shrugged. "I been busy, with time travel," he motioned to Renet, then continued, "and crazy end of mutant-kind madness. I got no time for readin' the paper or watchin' the tube."
Mona waved at Renet, and the woman with her smiled. Renet nodded at them both but said nothing.
"Raphael," Mona Lisa began, "they have lifted the ban on alien immigrants. We are here with work visas. Renet has told me they will be hiring at the police department soon and I am more than qualified."
Raph's brow furrowed. "You know, Renet?"
Mona Lisa and her companion laughed. "Of course, Raphael. She is the Time Masters Apprentice, soon to be Time Master. Time is universal through thousands of dimensions. Not just Earth."
Raph frowned, and rubbed the back of his mask. "So you, uh, gonna stay with me?"
Mona Lisa motioned to her friend. "Only if Kala can stay too."
The petite red-haired woman thrust out a hand to Raphael. "Hi, I'm Kala. Wow, you are just, wow. Even hotter than Mona described." Then her eyes flitted past Raphael to Michelangelo, "but you, are just irresistible. You single, Mr. Orange-clad Cutie?"
Raph near choked on his own spit.
Michelangelo's eyes darted back and forth between Renet and Kala. He opened his mouth but Renet interrupted, answering for him. "Yes, he is."
000
Michelangelo's heart was pounding. What was happening?
Renet pushed back her chair and stood, feigning a yawn. "You know, I was just going actually." She stretched, "I've got to get to Time Mastering, destiny and all that jazz."
Michelangelo's face crumbled as she walked past him to the kitchen door. He glanced at Kala then spun around and followed Renet.
"Renet, wait!" he called after her, grabbing her wrist just in time to stop her from slipping through a portal. "Don't go," he pleaded.
"Oh, Mikey," her shoulders dropped as she turned to face him, her eyes on the ground. "It's not our time, you sweet turtle you."
Michelangelo's heart clenched as he stuck a finger under her chin guiding her to look him in the eye. The tears he found streaming down her face tore at him. "I know, Renet. You're mother-"
Renet blanched. "My mother was here?"
Michelangelo nodded.
"Was she nice to you? Oh tell me she was. I swear, if she'd just give me some space-" Renet rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.
Then Kala walked through the kitchen door, and as she passed through a vapor seemed to rinse over her. Michelangelo thought he'd seen everything, but couldn't make sense of what was happening right then. As the swirling steam cleared Kala was Ever Tilley.
"Some space to what, Renet? To run off on fool missions, to shirk duties and nearly get yourself killed with your epic adventures?" Ever stepped between Mikey and Renet forming an odd triangle.
Renet glared at her mother. "I'm a grown woman, Mom." Then she gazed into Michelangelo's eyes, "and I've waited so long to do what I want." She looked at her mother again. "And since when do you say awesome words like epic?"
Ever Tilley's perfect red lips spread wide as she smiled so wide her teeth showed, then her fingers wrapped around Renet's wrist. "Since I am so proud of you for risking everything to do what you believe is right. For your final test as apprentice was all of this. Right up to the moment you were willing to sacrifice the greatest love of your life."
Renet's mouth fell open. "What?"
"You were in a position to sacrifice your love for Michelangelo to protect your friend, April, from harm. And again just now when I walked through the door as Kala, you would give him up." Ever squeezed her daughter's hand. "Why would you do that, Renet?"
Michelangelo felt like he shouldn't be privy this conversation but couldn't help wanting to know, to understand. So he watched, helpless and curious at the same time.
Renet blinked and sucked a trembling lip into her mouth. She seemed to be shaking all over and Mikey resisted the urge to step forward and comfort her.
Finally Renet found her words. "It was all I could do to protect April, and I know the role she plays to the Hamato's," Renet gazed off to the side as if peering into the future, "and the priceless role she has yet to fill. She is special. She cannot be replaced." Renet looked at Michelangelo and his heart fluttered. "I will be with Mikey in my next life." Then her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "at least I thought Kala would be with him until that life." She glanced at her mother, "but you can't be with him!"
Ever laughed. "Daughter, it was all a test, right down to the fake alternate future I showed you where Michelangelo was happy with Kala. Darling daughter, you have always had the choice to be Time Master, and you can be Master while being with Michelangelo. But," Ever glanced at Mikey, "she will need to travel a lot and at strange times, so you will need to be very understanding."
Michelangelo tried to keep up but couldn't help reeling.
"Wait," he held up a hand to Ever and surprised himself with the anger in his voice, "are you saying us defeating Shredder and Karai losing her mother that was all a test? You made all this up, tortured us all, and for what?"
Ever shook her head. "No, Michelangelo, it was all very real. The only parts that weren't entirely true was me telling you Renet couldn't be with you, and me showing Renet your happy future without her because she had to prove to the elders that she would make the sacrifice, the right choices, the difficult kind where you put time and the universe before yourself and what you want. And now that they know she will do that she is free to be with you and do her duty as Master." Ever frowned. "There was enough sacrificing going on within the Hamato family. You each deserve your happy endings. Besides, the future I showed you with my daughter," Ever winked at Mikey, "that was very real and not at all in the distant future."
Renet and Michelangelo stared at Ever. Mikey couldn't decide if he was thrilled or furious.
"Well," Ever said after long moments of awkward silence, "I've got to get back to the office." She glanced at Renet. "But the new Time Master will be ready for work bright and early, right?"
Renet scowled at her mother. "I'm taking the day off," she hissed. Then she turned to face Michelangelo with a smiled on her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I've earned it."
Mikey considered his future with the blonde Time Master he'd known for so long. "Epic," he nodded moving in to kiss her.
Renet grinned, peeking at him beneath long lashes. "Better than epic, Mikey."
"Yeah?" he murmured breathing her in, feeling his heart fill.
Renet nodded. "Everlasting."
