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Leo thinks he’s dying.His own blood is floating around him. It would be pooling underneath his shell, but he’s currently floating through the Prison Dimension. He’s almost grateful for the lack of gravity. It makes adjusting his body a little less painful. Thank God Kraang Prime got bored of him and left when he stopped making noise in response to his torture. But maybe that wasn’t a good thing. It might’ve been better if he just got it over with.Leo feels cold. Sluggish. He clutches the picture a little tighter. He couldn’t feel it in his hand anymore. Everything is just… numb. It doesn’t even feel real. He would think that he’d be out of it by now from the blood loss or something. Nope. He’s fully aware of what’s happening. Too aware. He wishes he could just pass out already.…Huh. His blood is kind of pretty, floating around him like that. It reminds him of angel wings wrapping around him. Or Raph’s mystic projection hands. Either way, it makes him feel a bit better. Raph is as close to an angel that any of them could get, except for maybe Mikey, when he isn’t in his Doctor Delicate Touch persona. Donnie and April were too chaotic-evil to be angels, hah. But that future kid seemed like an angel. Casey, right? …Yeah. He was an angel.A floating piece of metal lightly bumps into him and lights his entire body up in pain. He curls into himself a little more. God, he hurts so much. Why did Draxum have to build him so durable? It’s not fair. If he was a human, he would be dead already. Jeez, how long has it even been? A couple minutes? Hours? Days? He doesn’t know. His communicator broke sometime while he was being beaten, along with what feels like every bone in his body.He looks down at his plastron. It’s covered in blood, but from what he could see it’s almost cracked all the way through in one area. If he could look behind him, he would see that his shell has several large cracks running through it. Some are hairlines. Some are giant splits, showing his flesh. Some bits are missing. It looks like someone took a giant walnut cracker and used it on him.His left arm is bent at an odd angle, and his right kneecap is out of place. But his throat and neck are even more horrible, if possible. His throat is so swollen he could barely breathe, let alone make any noise. It probably doesn’t help that his chest feels like Kraang Prime is still crushing him underfoot.He’s glad no one could see him right now. They’d probably scream, or cry, or both. At least he left them with a heroic image of him to remember. But man, did his last words really have to be a joke? ‘You’ve been portal chopped’? Jeez. He knows he copes with humor, but he really should’ve said something more… he doesn’t know. Poetic? Strong? Leader-like? Something that Jupiter Jim would say. Raph would say something like ‘You will never win as long as the Mad Dogs are around,’ or some other cringy stuff. Donnie would probably make an anime reference, the nerd. Mikey would never be put in this situation. Leo and his brothers would never let that happen. Splinter, April or Casey… as much as he hates to admit it, they would be dead as soon as the Kraang stepped on them. Maybe earlier. Leo and his brothers were just a lot more durable. For better or worse.He’s tired. He just wants this to be over. Why won’t God let him die? He thinks that there’s probably a God out there. He started wondering about that after Gram-Gram died. If his ancestors could live after death, was there anything else? …What would happen to his soul? Did he even have one anymore, or did the Kraang destroy it along with the rest of him? Did he have to be human to go to heaven? …Would he even go to heaven?He can’t help but look back on his life and regret. He should’ve been more understanding of Raph and the stress that he’s under. He should’ve made Donnie feel more important than just his tech. He should’ve listened to Mikey’s doctor personas and his attempts to be an actually functional family. He should’ve helped April not feel like a weirdo. He should’ve tried to bond with his dad more. He should’ve given Draxum a chance. He should’ve listened to Casey from the very moment he showed up. He should’ve been a better leader. A better brother. A better friend. A better son.He should’ve, he should’ve, he should’ve.But it’s too late.His blood is leaving him in floating scarlet ribbons, along with the crumbling bits of his shell and plastron. He knows he’s going to be dead soon, and that it isn’t just him being dramatic like he usually is. It’s a lot more painful than he imagined. He always thought he’d die before he turned eighteen, especially since they started fighting villains, but not like this. Not alone. In here, no one would even find his body. He’d just… be here forever. Would his body even decay, or would it freeze over? Would Prime eat him? Would he transform him into a Kraang zombie? Would he just play with his corpse, or something?…Maybe he doesn’t want to die.The realization is honestly shocking. Really? As soon as he wants to live, he’s dying? That’s just stupid. How come his brain couldn’t have realized this, like, three years ago? Way to go, Leo. You finally come to your senses, and immediately die. Idiot. Should’ve thought about that before you threw yourself in here with no way to escape.He would do anything to just start over. He would do so many things differently. He’d be who his family needs. He’d completely change.God, please just give him one more chance. There’s a flicker of green light in the corner of his eye. It reminds him of Karai. Maybe she finally came to take him. Took you long enough, Gram-Gram. He's dying here! Pun intended.He feels the pull of sleep, and shuts his eyes.
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Yoshi doesn’t know what to do. He’s curled up in a cardboard box in some random alley in New York City, watching the small turtles sleep in a little pile next to him. The one that bit his lip is slightly larger and curled protectively around the smaller turtles. The tiniest one is snuggled closest to the bigger one, while the striped one rests on the softshell. They’re so small. How is he supposed to care for such tiny, fragile creatures? He doesn’t even know how to take care of himself!…Actually, he hasn’t even tried to take care of himself ever since Kikume betrayed him and kept him prisoner in her nexus. Ugh, she’s such a two-faced liar. She pretended to love him and only dropped the act when he proposed. What the actual heck is wrong with her?? He knows he should hate the jorogumo yokai—and he does, don’t get him wrong—but a part of him still loves her. Man, he wishes he could turn to her for help. He doesn’t know how to be a dad! He’s just some depressed, washed-up martial actor. He’s not fit to hold a child’s life in his hands, let alone four of them.He scratches his arm at the thought of holding something. He doesn’t think he can handle any textures right now, to be honest. His skin hurts, along with the rest of his body. Apparently, the goop that weird goat guy made works slowly after first contact. He can tell because, although he experienced some changes immediately, he still feels the sensation of growing and shifting. It’s painful when his bones creak or when something snaps or protrudes. It’s like his organs are moving inside of him, like that one movie with the alien baby. And when it’s not painful, it’s still uncomfortable and itchy. The fur growing on him feels like that one time he got a full-body wax for a role, and the hair grew back all weird and ingrown. It also kind of feels like bugs are crawling on him, making him paranoid. He should probably stop thinking about it before he scratches his skin raw.The little striped one shifts uncomfortably, his face scrunched up. Crap. Yoshi hopes he doesn’t cry. He’s not emotionally equipped for that. But sure enough, the baby’s lower lip starts wobbling, and big, fat crocodile tears roll down his cheeks. His cries start to wake the other three from their sleep.No, no, no, no, NO. Yoshi can NOT do this. Why did he have to jinx it?! What do you even do when a baby is crying? Is it hungry? Does it need to go to the bathroom, or something? Is it just being a baby? What if the others wake up and start crying too? He can’t handle four crying babies! He needs to stop the crying before the others wake up, so he hesitantly reaches out a hand and gently pats the turtle’s shell.…Oh. His shell has thin, barely noticeable indents, like a spiderweb. Almost like it was cracked in the egg but healed over. Maybe it’s a deformity. Yoshi wouldn’t know. He didn’t even know if turtles were reptiles or amphibians until a couple of years ago. Stupid, he knows. Don’t judge him—he used to use 90% of his brain power to remember lines, pull off sick moves, and be the hottest man alive.The turtle whimpers, trying to grab Yoshi’s hand through a blur of tears. Aw man, why does he have to be so cute? Now Yoshi feels bad for the poor thing. If the babies are feeling anything like he does right now, he doesn’t blame them for crying. He kind of wants to cry himself. It’s surprising that the others are still sleeping so peacefully. He scoops up the striped baby and holds him the way he’s seen moms do with their newborns. This one looks a little older than a newborn, but whatever, he’s playing it safe.“Gosh, how do I do this..? Uh, shh… it’s okay..? You’re okay, I think. Right, little Green? You’ll be fine. I just have to... what? Rock you? Psh- I can do that. I’m totally capable of being a good dad! I mean, I didn’t have a good example, but I’m not completely dense-”He stops his rambling when Green looks up at him. The baby’s pitiful blue eyes remind him of the lake his mom used to take him to as a little boy. They shimmer with tears, but he stops crying. Maybe he was cold. Yoshi moves the cardboard flap a little and peeks out into the alley. He’s pretty sure the dumpster he found this box in had some old clothes and stuff. Maybe there’s a blanket in there. He contemplates bringing the turtle babies with him, but decides against it. He can’t carry them and go dumpster diving. No, they need to stay in the box. They’ll be safe there. He rocks Green a little more before placing him back next to his brothers. …They were boys, right? He’ll have to look that up.“Hey, uh… stay here. I’m going to get us some stuff, okay? Please don’t cry.”Green seems to understand. Well, Yoshi likes to think so. He makes sure they’re protected from the rain before heading to the dumpster. It’s closed, so the contents should still be dry. He reaches in, sifting through the trash, and soon fishes out an old bed sheet and a torn windbreaker. Heck yeah, he can make something out of this! Take that, weird green goop! Hamato Yoshi isn’t totally incapable of doing things!! --- Okay, so calling all of the babies “Green” wasn’t working out. It reminded him too much of naming his goldfish “Goldy” and then naming the replacement fish the same thing after the original died. He grabbed colorful scraps of fabric and named them after the colors they seemed drawn to, but it felt too much like naming pets. Yeah, Red, Blue, Purple, and Orange might be cute nicknames, but it wasn’t very cool. They needed real human names, like Jack or Bruce. So he named them after some of his favorite actors and directors! He named Red “Raphael” after Raphael Sbarge, Blue “Leonardo” after Leonardo DiCaprio, Purple “Donatello” after Donnie Yen, and Orange “Michelangelo” after Michelangelo Antonioni. He had some actors he liked more, but he wanted the names to match the vibes, thinking they were quadruplets.A few weeks later, they’d grown a bit bigger, and Yoshi could tell they weren’t the same age. The goat guy must’ve gotten turtles of different ages before making them half-human with the goop. He was able to figure out their approximate ages and species from some turtle books he “borrowed” from the public library. Raphael was a two-year-old alligator snapping turtle, Donatello was a one-year-old spiny softshell turtle, Leo was a one-year-old red-eared slider, and Michelangelo was only a couple of months old ornate box turtle.After learning more about them and realizing he and the kids probably wouldn’t survive in the real world, Yoshi started looking for a place to stay undetected. Eventually, he found an abandoned, shut-down section of the sewers. It wasn’t much, but it was relatively clean after he fixed it up. He got an old generator, a busted-up heater, some basic appliances, and an old recliner someone had left in their backyard. He even found a homelessness program that left food, medical supplies, and clothes out overnight for people to take anonymously. His kids really liked the food, and he was able to scavenge a few old, abandoned stuffed animals for them too.…His kids. He’s proud of himself. He finally has a purpose.