Chapter Text
"We've taken different paths and traveled different roads,
I know we'll always end up on the same one when we're old,
And when you're in the trenches and you're under fire,
I will cover you
If I was dying on my knees,
You would be the one to rescue me
And if you were drowned at sea,
I'd give you my lungs so you could breathe,
I've got you, brother"
Brother by Kodaline
This was kind of his worst nightmare. All things considered it could have been worse… but. No. This may have been the worst-case scenario.
That’s not true. He knows it could be worse. But honestly this was too much…
Leo was currently sprinting top side with three tiny turtle tots squirming in his arms.
Holy Pizza Supreme Raph, those spikes are turning my arms to pincushions. Stop wiggling!
Donnie was crying and Mikey was clinging like a koala to his neck preventing air from getting to his lungs properly.
This day was insane. Leo had gotten portal jacked, but when he tried to redirect himself home, he found himself in Baron Draxum’s lab. Draxum’s lab fifteen years ago. He didn’t have time to wonder what was happening. He saw his brothers being held by an ooze covered Lou Jitsu and offered to help them escape. But when Splinter – Lou? Saw a much larger mutated turtled he quickly passed off the tots with an excited: “Oh you must be the parent turtle. Here’s your babies.” And then he ran out the door! Abandoning them!
Donnie would have been better at this. He would have known not to get involved and would not have messed up the ‘space time continuum’ or whatever it’s called.
He didn’t have time to really think too hard about it. Because Draxum had been furious and sent yokai lackeys chasing them to ‘retrieve his specimen’.
Which led Leo to now.
Sprinting down an alleyway, tearing the manhole cover off before leaping in being sure to pull it closed behind him as he went. He ran through the sewers automatically taking himself to their home… their first home. The one that Shredder destroyed in the future.
Stepping into the large space he thought would be a hard sight, but it was pretty neutral. The space was empty and grimy. It wasn’t a home. It was an unlived in part of the sewers that had potential, but hadn’t been touched in many years.
A sharp pain in his harm made him jump and look down. Donnie was biting him! His tiny turtle jaws were surprisingly strong.
“Hey Dee, I know you’re upset, this is a weird day. But I need you to let go dearest brother of mine.”
Raph was still squirming and he could feel Mikey trembling against his neck still.
“Ok. You know, I could use a breather too.” He sat cross legged on the floor letting the little turtles rest in his lap. Raph immediately scrambled away and began exploring the area around them. Mikey slid down his plastron and snuggled himself into the crook of Leo’s knee before yawning and drifting to sleep. But Donnie was still giving tiny little hisses as he clung to the scales of Leo’s arm with his beak.
“Donnie. My sweet little Bitey-Tello. Its ok. We’re safe now.” He started lightly tapping a finger against his brother’s softshell in a rhythmic pattern. After a few moments of quiet Donnie finally released his arm and gave a distressed chirp.
Leo gave a comforting chirp in response on instinct. The twins had always done this as kids. Raph made a low rumbling noise that was almost like a cat purr. And Mikey copied all three of his older brothers’ noises to fit whatever he needed.
At the response chirp Donnie turned and glared at Leo, finally meeting his eyes. The older turtle racked his brain trying to remember what Splinter had said about how old they were when he rescued them. The mutation aged them up a bit, right? If he was correct, then over the next twenty-four hours his brothers would grow to be four to six years old.
He was trying not to feel stressed out because he didn’t want to lapse into a panic attack. His brothers needed him. But what was happening? Was this the past? Did he get sent back somehow? If he did – did he just ruin his brothers’ future? Splinter – no. Lou Jitsu abandoned them. He passed them off and disappeared to who knows where! Leo was barely seventeen himself! He didn’t know how to raise three kids!
He choked on a sobbing laugh running a hand down his face. Raising kids… jeez…
He did have the advantage of knowing his brothers likes and dislikes pretty well. And he had the added benefit of being a turtle just like the tots and knowing what was the best for them.
When they were kids Splinter had tried, but there were so many things that they had learned the hard way. Like when Raph got shell rot, and the first several times Donnie injured his soft shell.
Also brumation.
Holy shell.
It was winter in the sewers… the tots were too small to brumate. Honestly, they had discovered that brumation was always a bad idea. And he was already starting to feel the chill now that his adrenaline was dying down.
Donnie chirped again.
Leo looked down and saw his twin’s small hand lightly touching the taller turtle’s plastron as if examining it. Gently he guided the soft shell’s hand to the indention in his plastron where his own Donatello had taken a bite when they were still normal turtles. His twin and his inquisitive nature… surely, he was too young to realize what was happening?
But oh man did he wish Donnie was here. His Donnie. Leo could strategize and make plans all day, but that was useless if you didn’t have the info. And his Smarty-tello would already have a grasp on where and when they were if he was here.
Donnie would know what to do.
Mikey would be better at calming the tots who still seemed pretty shaken up.
Raph… Raph would have done what he always did. Handled everything and saved the day like a boss. Or an amazing big brother.
Leo was the worst one to be stuck here. With his track record he would accidentally have his brothers frozen to death or kidnapped by Draxum in days.
Right.
It was cold.
Raph had toddled back over and was checking on his little brothers before looking up at Leo.
“Do you want to sit with us?” Leo gently lifted the snapper onto his leg that Donnie and Mikey weren’t occupying.
Donnie seemed content with his evaluation of Leo and was firmly tucking himself into the taller turtle’s plastron for a nap.
“I can’t leave you guys alone… but I can’t ninja in and get some supplies while carrying all of you either…”
Mikey was starting to retreat into his shell. That wasn’t good. That meant he was likely getting too cold.
“I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear huh?” Leo chuckled mirthlessly. “You guys don’t realize how funny that is yet. Because you don’t know we don’t have ears. Well, not like humans anyway. Or maybe the joke is that I’m a red earslider?” Man he was losing it if he didn’t even know where he is own jokes were going.
He carefully scooped them up into his arms. Mikey was so small. They all were. But… his littlest brother was tiny. So tiny he actually could fit into his medical pouch. He carefully placed him in there tightly buttoning the flap to keep him safe which freed up more room in one arm for Raph and Donnie. That left one hand free to grab his katanas if necessary.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary.
The great Pizza Supreme in the sky was clearly looking out for him right now because he lucked out with his first dumpster dive. There was a pile of dirty blankets and a large ragged quilt in there. Opening up a small portal he tossed the larger stuff through back to the lair and kept one blanket to make into double slings. Donnie was on his right with Raph on his left. He would have preferred to have them both on one side but he didn’t want to risk it with Don’s exposed shell. Raph was super spikey right now and one wrong tumble would hurt the smaller turtle quite a bit.
Another few trips down some alleyways and a trip to the junkyard and he had secured more soft things, a torn beanbag that he knew he could sew up, and some canned goods that were bent and had the labels removed, but they were still sealed. A trip inside of a hardware store and he ‘borrowed’ multiple battery-operated space heaters and lots of batteries to keep them going.
He could hear Raph scolding him for stealing in the back of his mind, but he also knew that realistically his brother would do the same in this situation. Family first. Besides. This was one of the big chain companies. They could afford some things to go missing. It wasn’t like he was stealing from a local owned shop or something.
It was still stealing.
But.
He would do that and worse to keep his brothers alive. So be it.
One more quick stop into a large grocery store and he grabbed a few fresh fruits and vegetables for the tots and emergency medical supplies just in case.
Once he had settled all of his new finds around the Lair, he quickly made a nest of sorts with all the soft things he found. The tots were still small enough that the blanket barrier he made would hopefully keep them from roaming away if they got restless – Mikey. Not that he anticipated sleeping too well himself.
Everyone was fed, clean, and safely snuggled into warm blankets that were surrounded by the heaters he set up. No brumation in this Lair! All three tots were snuggled up against him and making quiet little chirps in their sleep.
It was adorable.
And he had no one to share it with.
Because his brothers were babies. He was in the past somehow.
Lou Jitsu had abandoned them…
What did he do? He wasn’t smart enough to create a time machine like his twin could have. And his portals just took him to different places. Not times.
Except this time apparently.
He was stuck here.
His only real hope was that his brothers would find him.
And until then he would… raise these three tots…?
What could go wrong?
He laughed hysterically into the echoing sewer.