Author's Notes:

Wow it's been forever since I updated this, like I'm a whole new different person now (well, new age). It had just been a crazy busy school year but now that it's over I finally got around to finishing this chapter so

~Enjoy

Temporary Truce

Mikey's blue eyes fluttered open against the steel table he rested his head against. He began to sit up slowly, removing the white lab coat draped over his back. The lab was empty, not a sign of Stockman anywhere. Walking out of the lab and back to his room. Mikey noticed light seeping out of the cracked door of April's room and voices pouring out with it. Their conversations halted when Mikey opened the door. April was sitting at her desk with Angel and Stockman leaning over it, looking at the papers sprawled out on its surface.

"Michelangelo, is there something-"

"What do you need me to do?" Mikey asked

"I'm sorry?" April asked

"You obliviously had a reason for telling me all this. For bring me here. What is it that you need me to do?" Mikey asked again.

The three of them exchanged glances, the same thought running through their minds: was he ready for this? Making the group's decision April stepped forward.

"Follow me."

The four of them made their way back to the main elevator that brought them down to the HQ. April placed her hand on the touch screen to have it scan her hand before the elevator began to travel further down. Mikey held his breath in the silent elevator as he watched the ground move upwards through the glass walls. The anticipation was just as when he first stepped into that elevator, but this time it worse because this time he knew whatever the elevator's destination was it wasn't going to be good.

When the dirt walls came to an end, a wide open room came into view. There were several tables with different tools scattered across them and one with a blueprint spread on to it on the closer half of the room. At the halfway mark of the room was a large control panel similar to the one from Shredder's lair but this one looked like it was still under repair.

"Our first objective is to bring the dimensional portal from Donnie's lab here to be completed. Stockman has finally collected all the components to move it and once it is here it can finally be finished." April explained.

"And then what?" Mikey asked.

"Then once it's finished and working we'll set it to that specific date Donnie said in his message and you will travel there to stop all of this from happening."

"And you honestly think this is going to work?" Mikey asked with slight concern.

"It has to. It will! It was Donnie's plan. Once you're there you'll have the chance to change all of this. To make this future better. You'll be able to stop Donnie from being kidnapped, stop Shredder's plans for building the portal, stop the Foot clan from taking over the world, and you can stop Donnie from being killed." April told him. "So what do you say?"

"I'm in." Mikey answered. "Let's do this."

Leo was sitting with his legs crossed in a meditating position in front of the two slabs of stone in the forest. His meditation time was usually always peaceful. Due to its far out location Foot soldiers didn't patrol this area of the forest so he never had to worry about intruders, but today no matter how much he tried to ignore it he could sense the presence of someone in area.

Leo toke in another deep breath before letting it out, trying to shut out the world around him but a ringing in the back of his head was disturbing his peace. Slipping out one of the knives he kept under the wrappings of his hand he turned his body to throw it like a dart behind him.

Raph jumped back behind a tree before the blade could cut through him. "Jesus! Will you chill out with the weapons? What are you trying to kill me?"

"I thought I made it clear to stay away." Leo replied solemnly

"I know! I know and I was but that was before I realized I needed your help."
"You don't need my help." Leo scoffed with a laugh.

"Ok so maybe I don't need your help but someone else does: April." At the sound of their late brother's love's name Leo lifted his head a bit before he turned to face Raph.

"Somethings going on with her and her resistance team- she's lost it! She's planning on rebuilding Shredder's dimensional portal in some grand scheme to over throw him and she's willing to go to any lengths to get it done but her plan is suicidal. She's even teamed up with Baxter Stockman to make sure it gets done right." Raph explained. "And that's not else. There's something we didn't know about Donnie… Something he never told us-"

"-Donatello built the dimensional portal."

"What? You know?"

"Of course I know. Did you really think you were April's first choice for this?"

"Well I'm certainly not the last. She's got Mikey roped into this too."

"Figures. She's picking us off down the line."

"The worst part is I think he'll actually go through with it."

"Mikey wouldn't be stupid enough to be believe in some science fiction fantasy… then again." Leo stated.

"Well, it's starting to become fiction now. With the second portal in Donnie's lab, the plans in Metalhead, and Stockman and Mikey now willing to work for her, April has all the components she's needs to make it possible. She's going to recreate the Dimensional portal and put Mikey through it." Raph explained.

"I know and it's not going to work- I tried to tell her! But we all know that when she's determined there's no stopping her. You can't change the past, we learned that with Renet."

"I'm not just talking about changing the past I'm talking about keeping Mikey from being killed."

"Well, I can't say it isn't nice to see you actually care about Michelangelo for a change." Leo responded, standing up to walk around Raph.

"Of course I care about him! He's my little brother."

"It didn't seem that way when you would lock yourself away from the world- from him."

"Oh like you have room to talk! You weren't any better! I remember you sulking in Donnie's lab crying 'oh whoa was me!' and spending hours in the dojo meditating with father. For God's sake Leo, grow up!"

"A better alternative to grieving than what you chose."

"Stop it, Leo. I threw that me away years ago and I haven't gone back since." Raph told him.

"That doesn't change the fact that you did it! We all lost Donnie that day, but you chose a weak way to deal with it!" Leo scolded

"Shut up, Leo! You don't know what I went through that day. I saw him get killed, Leo! And then die in my arms! Do you know how much I wanted that image out of my head? I felt like that was my only option after I didn't have you to turn to. And why couldn't I turn to you? Because you wanted everyone to feel sorry for you. Because you didn't have our best interest in mind that day and Donnie paid the ultimate price for it. Now we've all had our time to grieve and move on, but yet you can't just seem to do that! Why is that Leo? Huh? Why can't you just let go of the past and move on like rest of us?"

"Because I never got to say goodbye!"

"What? What the hell are talking about?" Raph asked.

"Donatello. I was too late and I never got to say goodbye to him- I wasn't there. I never got to tell him how sorry I was that that happened and how much I was going to miss him. I never got to tell him how much he meant to the team, how much he meant to me. He was gone by the time I got there; my last words to him were harsh orders, not sympathy! I didn't get to see him one last time. Tell him everything was going to be ok, hear his last words, or be there when he needed all of us the most. He was my little brother too and I was his leader, the one who he looked up to since we were little and it was my orders that got him killed. It was my fault that he died… and I… and I never got to tell him how sorry I was."

"I-I had no idea. I forgot that he was gone by the time you got back to the lair."

"I didn't even know it had happened." Leo sat himself in front of Donnie's grave. "I had my focus so wrapped around Karai until Casey burst in and toke her down. He told me something awful had happened and we had to leave and get to the lair as soon as possible. I had never imagined that's what he meant."

Raph's gaze dropped before he planted himself next to Leo.

"I was his older brother, his leader, and I let him down."

"We both did. We both should've noticed something was wrong and stopped this from happening. We should've helped him."

"We could've saved him." Leo added.

"Well, now you have another chance to save someone." Raph said standing up. "To make things right again.

"Alright, I'll assist you," Leo stood up as well. "But let me make something clear. I'm only doing this for Michelangelo, not you. That means as soon as this is over with, we go our separate ways again. Deal?" Leo held out his hand.

"Deal." Raph shook his hand.

"Now let's go save our little brother."

Again thank you for you patience for this chapter and thank you for reading.