Chapter Text
Pain.
So much of it.
Truly, Donnie has finally began to realize that there is no escaping this.
There probably never was.
He's been here for... weeks now.
And all they do is torture him.
He believes it's because they are petty.
Petty that they've been outsmarted by a 'Pest', as they call him, so many times.
Right now, he can't move.
They've taken his prosthetic leg ages ago, that's one thing, and another is the fact that they've broken the leg he still has.
He's unsure how much blood he has lost within these past few weeks.
Probably enough that would kill your average human.
Sometimes it sucks not being average.
An arm is broken, he has about a billion open wounds, his soft shell is... bad, and he definitely has some broken ribs.
He doesn't understand why they won't just kill him.
He won't give them the information they want, but they won't even zombify him.
Oh, right, yes, they're being petty.
That's what it is.
He honestly hopes his brothers don't find him.
One, he's beyond recovering, and two... this place is too dangerous for them to venture near.
Hm.
No Kraangs have come in here for a while.
He's bleeding out, his mind is getting extra foggy and nauseated.
And then he realizes their plan.
Oh.
Well that... sucks.
It appears that they are going to let him die. Slowly. Painfully. Bleeding out on this disgusting floor.
Why? He doesn't know.
He's not use to them being so... patient, about killing.
Torturing him for weeks with no end, just to let him die, huh?
In his opinion, it's stupid.
But maybe his opinion isn't the best one to rely on right now, it's becoming less and less reliable every minute.
Time passes.
Donnie doesn't want to die, that's common sense. Most don't.
But as his life fades, he can't help but kind of... accept it.
What sucks, though, is that he knows his brothers.
Mikey and Leo are going to be carrying the guilt for something that is not their fault in the slightest.
Especially Leo. That dum-dum still blames himself for the whole apocalypse starting, and a later point for Raph's death.
Raph.
Hm.
He'll get to see him again soon.
The whole... Hamato spirit thing they have going on, Raph should be there.
Maybe he'll manage to get there, even from here.
But he's... almost afraid he won't be able to.
Damn it, this hurts. It's getting harder to breathe.
He doesn't want this.
This is not how he wanted to go out.
He can't.
He won't...
His eyes open.
Huh?
What in the hell happened to being dead?
Dead people don't exactly wake up.
Donnie sits up, and looks around to see where he is.
Oh, ew. He was just lying on the sewer floor.
Wait.
Sewer floor?
He forces himself to his feet, quickly realizing he's completely uninjured, and he has both his battleshell and prosthetic back.
There's sewer water.
Water. As gross as it is.
Donnie puts a hand to his head, still disoriented, and he quickly realized both his mask and goggles are also there.
Okay. This is odd.
He's completely healthy.
He died broken and malnourished.
He reaches to see if he also has his Bō staff, and...
He does.
What.
Okay... just... breathe.
Because it's easy to do that again.
If he's in the sewers, somehow, he can figure out how to navigate where he is.
And then he can figure out what-
He hears voices.
"So... what did you say you were doing?"
What the- Junior?
Donnie sinks into the shadows, to keep listening.
"Skateboarding, duh."
...
Leo.
"Didn't.. Donnie say you shouldn't do anything crazy on that prosthetic yet?"
Wait, what? Donnie? He's right here.
What the hell is going on.
"Tell me, did future me ever listen to future Dee?"
Future...?
He begins to put some pieces together.
Future.
Junior's voice.
A less worn down sounding Leo.
His own name.
Did... holy shit, did Mikey actually end up having to use that spell?
That spell would've taken everything out of him, he would've...
Why the hell is he here?
He'll just have to see if they know anything.
Sorry, Junior, you're in for a surprise.
Oh, this Leo too. Who knows what age they are right now.
Soon, they're in sight, and...
Junior's in normal clothes.
He almost looks like a... normal kid. A kid who didn't grow up in the apocalypse.
It almost makes Donatello back off, to avoid ruining that for him, but he... he needs answers.
As for Leo, he's around the age they were when the apocalypse started.
Jesus, were they that damn tiny?
That's kinda fucked up, actually.
Anyway, he takes note of some scars that his Leo never had, and the prosthetic he heard Junior mention wasn't an arm this time.
It was a leg. The opposite leg that Donnie's missing, but a leg.
The only way he could think something like that would happen...
It seems that even with how normal everything seems, there had still been an encounter with Kraang. Ugh.
Okay! Time to get the information he wants, before they pass him.
"Junior." Is how he starts, gaining jolts of surprise, Leo almost dropping the skateboard he was holding, as they turn in his direction.
Oh, right, they still can't see him. They probably think it's their Donnie.
"Hey, Dee!" Leo says awkwardly "I know you said not to do anything crazy yet, but-"
Still a dum-dum.
"No. Stop." He interrupted, gaining a slightly confused look from Leo.
"Okay, no need to be all ominous in the shadows-"
"I'm not your Donnie."
Leo's confusion seems to increase, and now Junior's brow furrowed.
Okay, yeah, Leo did have a point though, he should probably get out of the shadows and stop being ominous.
So, he does, walking into the slight lighting of the sewer.
And that gains a more prominent reaction.
Leo actually drops his skateboard this time, staring up at him with a dropped jaw.
And Junior.
Donatello can't really read the emotions on his face, but to his surprise, the boy soon latches onto him with a hug.
Ah.
Right.
Yes, of course, the last time he had seen him was before he had been captured.
Donatello puts a hand on the kid's back, feeling the slight shake in his shoulders. Probably tears or something.
It... didn't seem like they actually knew anything.
"Wha-!?" Leo begins "You're-!? You're future Donnie!?"
Donatello raises an eyebrow.
"Yes." He stated in response "If the height is what you are worried about, your's is about the same."
Leo's eyes widen more "Holy shit!?" He just yells again, his surprise clearly unfading.
Junior's grip around him finally loosens, and he looks up at him "How.. how are you here?" He asked "How are you... alive?"
He noticed the slightest tense from Leo when Junior asked that, but it seemed like he had already known.
Hm.
"That is a good question." Is how Donatello answered "I was hoping one of you would know."
"Uh, no!?" From Leo.
"Definitely... not." Junior said, letting go and taking a step back, wiping his eyes briefly "Are you... okay? I know you-"
"I'm fine." The softshell interrupted "Which also makes it stranger, honestly. I'm not even sure how I have all my things."
As he speaks, he moved to check the screen on his wrist, and...
The only thing he gets in response is glitching.
Great.
"So you remember... everything?"
Donatello paused, crossing his arms.
"Yes. Honestly, every single detail." It was a simple response, and he only truly realized how much weight it actually carried after he said it.
Junior seemed to be looking at the few parts of visible skin that he had at the moment, which would be his shoulders, part of his face, and his fingers. Oh, and his toes, but Junior wasn't looking at that. More so his shoulders and face.
This caused Donatello to glance at his own shoulder.
He immediately notices the new scarring.
Ah. Seems his injuries stuck with him, in a way. He can't imagine what the rest look like, especially his shell.
Moving on.
"I would prefer that we head to the lair." Donatello suddenly stated.
Leo stared at him for a moment, before nodding "Right, sorry!" He then pulled out his sword and made a portal.
Oh?
Seems this Leo still has his mystic powers.
"You first, giant Donnie!" Leo said with a grin.
Clearly, the slider is plotting.
Most likely to surprise his own Donnie in a way or something. He knows this is something he would've freaked out about back then.
Donatello just sighed, and then walked through the portal.
He was immediately met by the sight of Mikey and.. Raph.
He didn't miss the scars they had. Raph had a bad eye, and Mikey had burn scars that looked to be from mystic energy.
They stared at him, Mikey dropping the pizza box he was holding.
Junior and Leo walked in behind him, and the portal closed.
He noticed the Leo wave at his brothers, before he seemed to call for the final one "Ohhh Donald!!" He yelled "I have a surprise for you!"
"'Nardo, if it's another beach ball, I'm not interested!" He heard his own voice from the direction of the lab.
It's definitely already kind of odd, hearing his own voice.
But he's busy trying not to look at Raph right now. He isn't quite ready, because he knows it isn't... his Raph.
Nor is this his Mikey or Leo.
Another thing of note that he almost forgot about was the beachball thing. It's still a slight fear, but it seems so minor now in the face of everything else that he's been through.
"Just come here, Mikey and Raph are already in here!"
Speaking of Raph, he speaks "Leo, what did you do!?"
"Hey, this wasn't me!"
"I concur, it was definitely not him." Donatello added, causing Raph to give him another surprised look.
Finally, a tinier version of himself comes into the room, wearing a purple hoodie and seemingly no battleshell.
"Leo, I swear to god, if this-" He freezes as soon as he looks up from his phone, stopping dead in his tracks.
Oh wow, this is definitely stranger than he expected it to be.
Honestly, though, he should've expected it to he strange.
"This cannot be real." Donnie muttered, not budging from where he is.
"Oh, dear brother, it's very real!" Leo says smugly, leaning on his sword "This is you from Junior's future!"
"Prove it." The smaller softshell than states "What are the lottery numbers."
Ah, yes, of course.
"One, you already have them." Donatello spoke, and Donnie frowned at hearing his own voice come from anyone but himself "Second, at some point in the apocalypse, I stopped worrying about it."
Donnie narrowed his eyes "Fine." He gave in, before crossing his arms, but knowing himself, he's trying to hold back from losing his mind "How are you here?"
"Unsure." Donatello shrugged "I just remember dying, and now I'm here, perfectly healthy."
All of them freeze up at the mention of him dying(Casey and Leo much less so, just a bit uncomfortable).
Ah.
"It appears the rest of you were unaware I did that." He finally said after noticing their expressions "Sorry. He shouldn't, since there's no more Kraang."
It didn't seem to help much. Donnie relaxed a bit, though.
Raph and Mikey looked an incalculable amount of worried, though.
Listen, it's an uncomfortable topic for him too, alright? All that is still fresh in his mind, and honestly he'd rather not think about it.
"Moving on." Donatello then lifted up his arm again, once again checking his tech, which still doesn't appear to be working correctly "My tech is... unusable, at the moment, I was going to ask if I could-"
He stopped himself briefly when he noticed Donnie suddenly behind him, trying to scan him.
He immediately turned to him, because he would much prefer to not have anyone behind his back right now.
"Can that wait?" Donatello knows he'll do it one way or another, so he'll just delay it for now.
Donnie frowned, but backed off "Whatever." He scoffed "My tech has been a little glitchy too lately. Maybe it's the same cause."
Oh?
He thinks about that for a moment, while Raph asked Donnie why he didn't mention that before.
In all honesty, it most likely has to do with whatever brought him back.
He started moving towards the lab without saying another word.
Donnie immediately started following him "Where do you think you're going?"
"The lab."
"Not without me, you're not!"
"That's fine."
A more surprised reaction at his response, but he kept following, and eventually they were in the lab.
Donatello noticed the seat was too small for him. There wasn't a present one big enough, so he just stayed standing as he started typing into the computer.
First, he wanted to see if there were any reports on Kraang.
There definitely was.
It looked like the apocalypse basically began in this timeline too, but they were able to stop it.
The city is still recovering.
There's some minor theories online, but nome of them seem to truly meet fact.
"How'd you die?"
...
Okay, wow, yeah, people aren't kidding when they say he's blunt.
"Kraang." Donatello answered.
"Scoff. Well I figured that out!" He seemed a bit annoyed now "I mean like- How?"
Donatello glanced at Donnie, and he noticed the slightest bit of unease.
Ah.
He knows what this is.
Even with the Kraang gone, Donnie's going to take precautions to avoid exactly how he died.
He would've done it, if he had known.
Especially if he knew how much it...
Ugh.
"Fine, but first," He crossed his arms "Tell me how you beat the Kraang, I want every detail that you know."
Donnie paused, before his shoulders drooped.
And then, Donatello got the whole story.
How they lost the key(which he already knew), when Junior arrived, how the Kraang got there.
And some things were clearly harder to retell than others.
Like the entire second half of the story.
Raph became a Kraang zombie, Donnie had to take control of the technodrome(even with the lack of details given about that, it sounds gross), and then came the final part.
Leo trapping himself in the Prison Dimension with Kraang.
Which immediately explains how this Leo looks.
Damn it, however does every Leo turn out this damn self sacrificial?
Anyway, Mikey had gotten him back by making a portal, and then the story is basically done.
"Sounds like you all had a... rough time." Donatello offered.
Donnie only glared at him.
"Your turn." He stated "You don't have to give me all the details, I just want the important ones."
Honestly, he'd hoped he had forgotten.
But, clearly he didn't.
After a long, uncomfortable silence, Donatello finally gives in "It was supposed to be a simple supply run. Leo and I had went, and everything was... normal, at first." He explained "Then everything, as it does in the apocalypse, went south. I got Leo out of there, but they captured me."
Now that he was retelling the story, it almost sounds like he got hit by the self-sacrificial bus as well.
"I was there for a few weeks." Donatello continued after a long pause "I don't know why, but they wouldn't kill me. Definitely got rid of my Ninpō, though. Oh, and there was a ton of torture that I'd rather not get into. Eventually, they got tired of not killing me. So they let me slowly die on the floor of my own prison."
Donnie clearly did not like that story.
"That... sucks." Was the smaller softshells response, and he looked nauseous "Makes me even more glad that we managed to stop the apocalypse."
Donatello simply nodded "You should probably call April and give her a heads up." He says, though unsure where he got the idea, though it was probably mostly to change the subject "You know how she is when you don't tell her what's going on."
Donnie paused "Right." He said, pulling out his phone "How was April in your time?"
"Still alive last I checked, but you'd have to ask Junior if that changed." He answered, a bit of bitterness in his tone now. He hates knowing so little about what happened after he died.
Donnie nodded, and called April.
He didn't fully listen to the conversation, but he did hear April yelling on the other end, something about two Donnie's, and that she'll come over as soon as she's done with her current project.
...
It's good to hear her voice again.
It's... good to hear a lot of voices again, even if they aren't the versions he knew.
And it frustrates him.
The call ends, and Donnie seems to get a text.
"Mikey's blackmailing me to go to sleep." The younger said bluntly.
Donatello raised an eyebrow and looked at him.
Ah, yes, Mikey's blackmailing is surprisingly the worst of the bunch.
"I'd do it, if I were you." Donatello said, and stopped Donnie before he could protest "Don't worry, I'm basically you, I don't plan on breaking anything. I'm just trying to find answers."
Donnie seemed hesitant, but he finally gave in, giving a small groan of annoyance "Fine!" He said "I'll be back as soon as I wake up though!"
"I don't doubt it." Donatello said, turning his head back to the computer.
He then heard Donnie stomp away, and out of the lab.
That was the weirdest interaction Donatello's ever had, actually.
Probably because it was literally with himself.
Donatello sighed, before continuing to search for answers through the computer.
Two hours.
And no signs, nothing that explains how he's back.
There can't not be an explanation for this!
Donatello moved away from the computer(silently repressing the urge to punch it) and pinched the bridge of his snout.
This is ridiculous.
He can't just be back from the dead, just like that.
Suddenly, someone enters the room.
"uh, Uncle Donnie?" Junior's voice, and he sounded worried. He has a few guesses as to why.
Donatello looks over at the kid, who's fidgeting with his hands.
The softshell moves his hands to cross his arms "Hi, Junior." His tone was unintentionally still a bit dry, probably due to his mood.
"I just..." Junior trailed off "Are you... feeling okay...?"
Donatello raised an eyebrow "Why are you asking?" He becomes more curious now.
"It's.. I don't..." The kid's fumbling over his words "We don't... We never really found out what... happened to you... I guess I'm just... worried?"
Hm.
Donatello sighed and sat down on the floor, crossing his legs.
He waited until Junior finally got the hint to sot beside him before speaking again.
"If you're worried I'm infected, then it's fine." He looked at Junior again "They didn't seem to want to bother with it, for... whatever reason."
Junior's expression tightened, and he looked away "What... did they do, then?"
Donatello starts to wonder how many times he's going to have to talk about it.
"For me, it feels like it... just happened." His brow furrowed "Before I answer, do you mind telling me how.. long it had been, back in our timeline?"
Junior paused.
"Um.. Four years."
ah. Well, guess that made Leo the older twin.
"Wow." He huffed "Right, okay. So for the... first week, the torture was for answers that they wanted. Locations, plans... those kinds of things."
he noticed Junior's eyes widen a bit at the mention of torture.
He thought it would've been obvious?
Well, maybe hearing it from the source is different.
"Eventually they... seemed to give up on asking, and at some point it was just for fun for them." He clenches his fist "Or, sometimes, to get their anger out. But they wouldn't just... kill me."
He opens his hands again, looking down at them "Well, until they did." He continued "I lost track of time, but it was probably over a month in. They left me alone. Lucky for them, I couldn't move. So, I ended up just... dying there. Eventually. I don't know why they did that, but... there's no point in finding out now, since..."
Since they're in a different timeline, where there's no more Kraang.
Donatello put his hands on the floor beside him, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling.
Actually saying all of that out loud...
He really starts to realize how much getting over it is going to suck, if he even can.
"None of us... ever stopped looking for you." Junior finally spoke up again, his knees up and arms crossed over them, staring forward "Especially Sensei. He was... really angry. He got himself hurt a lot. But when they..."
He trailed off.
Donatello looked at him, sitting back up. "What? When they what?"
Junior looked away completely "They had a.. way to tell us you were.. dead." There was a wobble in his voice "We, um.. finally thought we found where you were captured. They made it easier on purpose. When we got there, Sensei found your battleshell and mask. The mask was..."
"Bloody?"
He nodded, still looking away "Sensei still didn't believe it. Not until..." He shuddered.
Donatello doesn't quite like where this is going.
"There were... pieces of your shell."
Oh.
Maybe it's a good thing he hasn't taken off his battleshell yet.
Depending on however what brought him back works, it could be a lot worse if the aftermath was included.
And even before that...
"Some of that was before I died." He commented, and Junior tensed, looking at him again.
That face the kid had..
Donatello raised his arm, and once again, the kid latched on.
"I'm... so... sorry." He managed through small sobs once Donatello put his hands on his back again.
"You aren't one of the Kraang, Junior." He replied with his usual bluntness "You had nothing to do with all of that."
"I... I know, but..." A long pause "... It.. It isn't just that..."
Donatello looked down at him, slightly confused.
"When... when they sent me back, Sensei and Master Michelangelo-" He hid his face further into Donatello's clothes, sobs becoming more prominent "They-They didn't-"
The kid clearly couldn't speak anymore, and Donatello didn't force him too.
But what he said did hit him.
He had a theory that Mikey had, but... actually hearing it...
Yeah, it's different.
And... fucking Leo.
If he had to guess, that dumbass did some sort of self sacrifice.
Damn it!
Is he seriously going to be the only one here? Stuck with smaller versions of his dead family?
He's not sure if he can take it.
His mindset isn't... the best right now, not with torture and death still fresh on the mind.
He... probably won't be able to handle this.
They sit there, for about an hour. Junior's calmed down, and is taking a brief, probably needed, nap while still leaning on Donatello.
When trying to distract himself, Donnie checked his tech again, and-
"Holy shit!" He yelled, possibly a little too loudly.
Junior jolted awake, falling backwards before quickly sitting up again.
"What!?" He said "What happened!?"
Ah yes, the apocalypse mindset of 'if someone yells while you're sleeping, you're probably about to die'.
But that's not important!
There are much more important matters at hand.
He double checked the screen, making sure he wasn't actively losing his mind.
It was real.
He looked Junior dead in the eyes.
"It's Raph."