★☆★☆★☆

𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚
𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝...

★☆★☆★☆

❝𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞
𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮...❞

     𝙇𝙄𝙁𝙀 without the Krang was admittedly more chaotic than Casey Jones Jr. expected. To be fair, when the turtles — his timeline of the turtles, at least — they had expressed the times before the Krang to be the epitome of peaceful.

So Casey was not exactly sure what he was expecting with a world void of Krang.

However, anything was better than the wastelands of Earth from the original timeline and the dangers that came with it.

Rather, the dangers were things such as Hypno running around with his worm mutant partner or Leo (who was his sensei, once upon a time) hurting himself by trying a more than dangerous skating move ... or being tricked into eating poison because it looks good.

Like seriously dude ... whatever Meat Sweats is trying to get you to eat is obviously not good!

Life with the Hamatos was both the same and different than it had been. Casey was raised by everyone (except Splinter) in his own timeline, but he was used to the more serious theatrics of the wastelands and surviving the Krang.

In this timeline, he had to become accustomed to Leonardo not being so much his father, but rather his buddy. The same goes for his mother, Commander O'Neil, and everyone else who had once been authority figures in his life.

Family, all the same, but not so much as parental figures rather than friends.

Splinter and Baron Draxum were arguably the only parental figures anyone in the entire family had at the moment, and even that was a stretch seeing as Splinter was far more lenient than his mother or Master Leonardo had ever been.

But Master Leonardo had his reasonings behind being protective over him.

In Casey's own timeline, when he was born Splinter had long since joined the ancestors, and Baron Draxum passed when Casey was but a young child.

Nevertheless, Splinter reminded Casey of ... Stevie — his leniency and easy-going nature reminded Casey Jones much of the woman who served as a second mother to him. Especially after his mother had died when he was nine going on ten.

Stevie Carter, now that was a name that Casey had not heard for a second... especially since traveling to the past and saving history.

Suddenly, memories invaded Casey's mind — Stevie's eyes that were always full of wonder and hope despite the dreary times. Her breathtaking smile never wore throughout the years of fighting. Her wild curls were rarely done.

And the music — oh, Casey remembered her music taste. The best out of everyone in their family, she taught him to love old classics. Stevie told Casey how her mother, a woman of the Earth named her after the overall greatest artist to ever exist: Stevie Nicks.

Stevie taught him how to dance, even when Donnie and Leo tried to claim they were better dancers, but it was apparent that the best dancer was Stevie.

And Casey remembered the rare late nights when there was laughter in the air of the resistance camp: the nights that he would watch with wide eyes as Master Leonardo and Stevie spun in whirling circles for hours to classics like Elvis Presley or The Smiths.

The long treks through the plains of Texas in which Stevie would play The Doors on her little music device.

It was her, Stevie Carter, the human-alien hybrid that kept that hope and wonder alive in every person of the resistance. Her promises of when her crashed starship was revived how she would whisk them all away to the stars and far away from the Earth.

How she spoke of the beauty in the universe and the wonderous other planets.

"So..." there was an awkward cough.

Casey jumped about ten feet in the air, his mind flicking back into the present as his eyes widened. Leo, or as he called himself, Neon Leon stood in front of him rocking on the balls of his feet with his eye ridges raised high.

The young version of his Master watched him with that obnoxiously casual look written across his face. Behind Leo, Raph was looking at him in concern with Mikey just to the side of him and Donnie standing in the doorway paying attention to nothing but whatever was on his phone.

Splinter easily walked in front of him, the short stubby rat-man making his way toward his sitting chair. Casey watched as he wordlessly hopped into the chair, getting comfortable before flicking on the television and laughing loudly as some Japanese comedy switched on.

His attention was back on Leo as he  suddenly flicked Casey on the head.

"Ouch," Casey complained while rubbing his forehead.

Leo did not look apologetic in the slightest.

"Yo — we asked if you wanted to come with us to the mutant pizza place, mi amigo?" Leo rubbed his chin in thought, eyes lighting up, "or shall I call you my student?"

Casey rolled his eyes, but he had already gotten used to the antics of his much younger sensei.

"You okay, Case?" Raph finally spoke, already having noticed Casey's odd behavior.

However, they had understood that look by now. That far-off demeanor that Casey often adorned: a clear sign that he was thinking of the timeline he originated from. Casey did not like to share too many details on the grim future that the boys had managed to veer from.

From what they were able to discern about it, by the time Casey arrived in the past everyone from the original future had died.

They were doing their best to support Casey in his new journey while also healing themselves from the trauma that happened only a few weeks ago. After all, the events of the Krang were still decently new having only occurred a little more than a month ago.

"Yeah, yeah," Casey said while waving it off.

He shook away thoughts of Stevie. Casey was not even sure how to approach that topic with the turtles. Like what did he even say?

Oh, by the way, Leo: you haven't met her but in the original future you had this totally awesome half-human half-alien wife. I'm not sure if you'll even end up meeting her anymore seeing as the whole reason she was trapped on Earth before was because of the Krang.

Not to mention, Leon was pansexual with a preference toward men at the moment. He preferences varied at different times.

Not that his romantic history was much. But still, in this version of events Leon and Stevie would not be pushed together as they had in the past.

Leonardo literally married Stevie within two years of meeting her because (of course, he loved her more than words could describe) but also they were very short on time. In the future with the Krang, you could never be sure which day would be your last — so you live all days as though they are your last.

Although, Stevie and Leonardo ended up being married for just over twenty years. Not that they looked it, they both aged slower than the average person seeing as Leo was a mutant and Stevie was just half-alien.

Casey did not feel like trying to explain everything to everyone. He could not be sure how Leon would take the news either.

Casey knew the turtle would obviously be elated because the dude was obsessed with Jupiter Jim and to learn he was married to a literal alien who had promised him space adventures ... well, that one was a no-brainer.

Plus, she was not bad-looking either.

But it would just complicate things seeing as they had not met yet, and if they did happen to meet by some miracle Casey did not want to make it awkward for Leo knowing that in another world and time, they had been happily married.

Especially because it still seemed as though Leon was trying to explore his own sexuality.

"Are you sure you're okay," Mikey said unconvinced, they could all see there was something that Casey quite obviously wanted to spill, "anything you want to talk about?"

Casey had walls. He had secrets and memories that he was not always eager to share with the turtles.

Michelangelo had made it his life mission to break down those walls and encourage Casey to express his feelings and talk about his old life more.

"Nope," Casey nervously scratched the back of his neck, eyes accidentally rolling toward Leonardo.

Leon looked at him in surprise, seeing the secrets swimming behind the teen's eyes. The Leader in Blue had a knack for reading people, and he knew that Casey was hiding something — something that had to do with him.

"Compadre," Leo seemed to almost slide over, wrapping an arm around Casey's shoulders, his blue eyes twinkling, "c'mon, you know there are no secrets here, what's running through that handsome futuristic mind of yours? You can tell your sensei!"

Casey closed his eyes and shook his head. He removed Leo's arm from his shoulders, something that had Leon making a face of hurt. Especially as Casey walked away from them, making his way toward the hallway sadly where his newly built room was.

Upon Donnie building an entirely new room in the lair, he also invested in giving each of the brothers doors. It was long overdue ... especially after their last mating season... yuck.

"You guys go on without me, I think I'm gonna turn in for the night," Casey said wistfully.

Leon stuck his hip out, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. However, it was only to mask the heavy amount of worry that he felt toward the slightly younger teen.

"No way you're gonna leave us hanging, mi estudiante...!" Leon complained.

However, after the words left his mouth — something fell out of Casey's pocket. It hit the floor with a loud clink and Casey silently cursed as he watched the round object roll until it hit Leonardos' large foot.

The turtle blinked in surprise, reaching down and grasping the round object. It was not very big, he realized and it appeared to be slightly beaten up. However, he reckoned in its original state it had been a shimmering silver.

There was a compass design on top of it along with some stars.

Casey watched with dread on his face as Leon opened the object, the guy holding his hand out to stop him. "Wait, sensei—!" He found the old title for Leo slipping back, it happened sometimes.

Leo had already popped open the circular object, and immediately he was greeted by a moving holographic image.

"Woah!"

"Wow!"

"Wow, look at that tech!"

Immediately, Leo's three brothers were behind him looking at the moving holographic image from behind his shoulders. The holograph was blue, and Leo immediately recognized himself — the future version of himself, at least— dancing with another.

Future him was big, bigger than Leo expected. He was slightly proud of this achievement, he was already rather tall. And what was up with that arm?

However, the future him was spinning around with a wide grin written across his lips. Leonardo was surprised by the look of pure adoration and love in his eyes, a sort of devotion that Leo currently did not hold for anyone other than his family.

Finally, Leon pulled his eyes away from his (awesome) future self and to the person he was dancing with. She only came just to his shoulders. Wild curls exploded in every which way from the woman's head and stopped just after her shoulders.

Her figure was beautiful with full hips that swung to the beat and an incredibly athletic body. Tight combat pants squeezed her ass just right (not that Leo was paying attention to that!) and a heavy-looking belt hung low on her hips.

Bright boots adorned her feet, but no one could tell what color they actually were due to the entirely blue hue of the projection. She had nothing but a tank top on revealing nicely toned arms, and her hands which future Leonardo seemed to engulf had some sort of leather half gloves on.

It was the love that had Leo hypnotized — the very obvious love that the two shared. Something that Leon had only ever dreamed of.

He tilted his head in wonder as the woman — who did not appear all that old, maybe in her mid-twenties? — jumped suddenly and the future Leo caught her and spun them around even faster. They were smiling and laughing.

Leon noticed that twinkling wonder in her eyes: her eyes which Leo could not help but compare to that of a swirling galaxy. The brightest of stars in the vast cosmos.

And then it was the song that Leonardo had noticed. He could not pinpoint the exact tune but he recognized the song.

"You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you..."

Stevie Nicks? But what song is it?

However, Leonardo's thoughts were suddenly stopped as Casey snatched the object away from him and closed it faster than Leo could even blink. And suddenly the girl with the cosmos in her eyes and that bright smile was nothing but a daydream with a familiar tune.

He could still picture how he had picked her up and spun her around.

It was not only Leonardo who had eyes wider than saucers, but his brother's as well. They stared at the image in disbelief. It was more so amazement for the pretty and advanced technology on Donnie's part.

He briefly wondered if he could test the metal that the object was made of. Even with it being dirty and old, Donnie did not think that type of metal was a common occurrence.

Casey protectively held the object close to his chest. It was the last thing along with the picture of his family that Master Leonardo had given him. One of the last memories that Casey ever had of the closest thing to parents that he would get.

Leonardo slowly looked up meeting Casey's eyes as did the others.

Even Splinter's attention had been caught by the sound of the tune. Splinter recognized the tune, it was a song by Stevie Nicks — Silver Springs if the rat was not mistaken. It had been a rather popular song back in Splinter's golden years.

He rose a furry eyebrow at the sight of what appeared to be one of his sons dancing with a woman.

Casey appeared to be a deer caught in headlights, his breathing coming out heavy and his eyes turning misty.

As curious as Leonardo was, the turtle mutant held up his arms and allowed a flamboyant easy smile to draw over his features. He purposefully lit up his eyes in a nearly cocky manner.

"Aw, c'mon — Casey, my man, you gotta tell me about that one," he chuckled at the end, using humor and easy-going nature to diffuse the sudden tension and unwind the wasteland teen.

"Yeah, and let me evaluate that technology. What is it made out of?!" Donnie expressed, bringing down his red and blue goggles, and adjusting them so that he had a clearer picture of the object in Casey Jr's hands.

He was surprised when he saw the energy signatures were more than uncommon — it was not of Earth at all! Not even mystic energy came from it. Oh yeah, Donnie had to get his hands on that.

"Guys," Raph pinched the bridge of his nose with a long sigh.

"Whattt?" Leo drawled out with an innocent-enough shrug. "I only want to know why there is a cool hologram video-image thing of me dancing with a hot señorita..."

Donnie rose a brow at that and shared a look with his brothers. It was no secret that Leonardo tended to favor men over women, at least, that was where his attraction and attention generally diverged to.

They supposed they had heard Leonardo express his attraction toward girls a handful of times, this just happened to be one of them. Also to be fair, his preferences tended to sway at times.

"Uhm, she is not necessarily a señortia..." Casey said, his words not giving anything away.

"He then?" Mikey asked, wondering if that is perhaps what Casey meant.

"Uhm no — definitely she — but I mean she is not unmarried... in this scene at least..." Casey said almost awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably.

It was on the tip of his tongue, he was going to spill the beans.

It then occurred to Leo that someone who could be described as señorita is an unmarried woman. That was the textbook definition, he was surprised and slightly impressed that Casey was so on-the-nose with that.

"Aww — what a shame," Leon spoke overdramatically and clicked his tongue, folding his arms behind his head, "do we know the lucky guy or gal?"

Casey flushed, "a yeah, pretty well actually..."

Raph had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where this was going.

"And who — pray tell —  is this person?" Donnie questioned before anyone else, one of his drawn-on brows raised.

He also had a slight hunch, his eyes locking onto his twin's form. Well, this should be interesting.

Everyone waited in curiosity before Casey finally folded, shoulders dropping.

"It's you, sensei!" Casey finally blurted, unable to stop himself. "Stevie is or I guess was your future wife!"

It was a no-brainer that Stevie was obviously the person who the future Leo was dancing with.

Silence.

Casey cringed at the echoing silence and the looks of shock that were thrown around.

"Oh — there is no way that Leon got married, scoff!" Donnie was the first to break the silence.

"And to a girl, you've always preferred poles to holes!"

Leon scoffed at his youngest brother, shoving Mikey away.

"Shut up — I like both..." he mumbled the last part quietly.

Raph was silent simply making noises of shock and disbelief.

"I can't believe this..." Donnie was shaking his head, "at least if there is hope for him then I'm set..."

Leonardo was rubbing his chin thoughtfully, a goofy smile lighting up his features. "Mmm, I always knew I was destined to be with a hot person..."

What?! It was about more than just that — it always had been with the love that Leon and Stevie shared.

"MY BABY BLUE!" Splinter sobbed, startling everyone in the room.

He rushed forward, grabbing Leonardo in a tight hug. Leon heaved as all the air escaped him. Splinter was crying, babbling something about how proud he was and about one of his sons finally doing him good and giving him grandkids.

If there was one thing that Splinter said he wanted out of his sons, it was grandkids. Splinter did not care who they chose to be with so long as a baby was in the mix somehow.

"Dad... can't breathe..." Leo wheezed out as Splinter released him and showed him off to his brothers.

"You must all follow in your brother's footsteps!" Splinter announced proudly, giving his son a loving pat before wiping his teary eyes.

Upon catching his breath, Leon gave his brothers a cocky smile, placing his hands on his hips. All of them glared at Leo, slight envy in their eyes. This was exactly like the Lair Games.

"Exactly, maybe one day you guys will get a total hottie wife and have tons of kids like me!"

Okay — Casey had said nothing about Leonardo ever having children with Stevie. He pursed his lips as his eyes glassed over.

They almost had. There was almost a child involved between Leo and Stevie, almost a little one that Casey would have happily been an older brother to.

"First of all, Casey did not say you two had kids—" Raph had started angrily, Leo already able to grind his gears.

"She died pregnant..."

Once again silence enveloped the place. Except for this time it was far tenser.

Everyone turned to Casey in shock, Leo albeit nervously. He had hoped he heard that one wrong. He definitely had to have heard that one wrong.

"M'sorry, come again?"

"She died Leo," Casey finally was able to grit out through clenched teeth, "she was pregnant, but none of us knew until after she and Don died, they were together. The results had been in his lab, and they had been planning on telling you when they got back... but they never came back..."

Casey was staring at Donnie, his eyes wide and misty. His breathing was beginning to pick up, a clear sign of an impending panic attack.

"We lost you both that day, Don — you, you..." Casey could not finish for he crumbled to the ground, "you never came back..."

His mind flashed with the death of everyone. First his mother, then it was Don and Stevie, then Raph...

His mind was a whirlwind.

Stevie stood behind him. He was young, maybe eight. He held a blaster and Stevie adjusted his stance with a wide smile, her poofy hair taking over his vision just slightly from how close she stood.

"And you keep both your eyes open to shoot, kid..." she had told him.

"Leo offered to teach me to shoot too...!"

"Oh, don't take lessons from him, Case — dude knows how to wield a sword but can't shoot for the life of him..."

His memories whirled.

It was right after his mother had died. Casey was nine and he could not sleep by himself. The skinny little boy had slept between Leonardo and Stevie in their bed for nearly a year after Cassandra had passed.

Casey's shoulders shook as he sobbed, he heard multiple voices trying to gain his attention. Someone was grasping his shoulders.

"You were named after the woman who sings this?" Casey had looked up at Stevie with wide eyes.

The mixed woman nodded with a bright smile. "Yep," she hummed before teaching Casey how to dance, the woman singing every lyric to Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks.

Casey was lost in his thoughts, his own sadness overtaking him.

"Oh — oh my god! Eww, sensei!"

Casey cried covering his eyes and running out of the room he had accidentally walked in on. Loud laughter followed him.

"Kissing is normal, child! Me and your ninjitsu master love each other very much!"

"Yeah, VERY MUCH!" Leonardo screamed back.

"CASEY!"

Casey was forced out of his flashbacks, his cheeks wet and body quaking. He met the blue eyes of Leonardo, his young master watching him with worry. Leonardo was grasping his shoulders with Mikey hugging him.

Donnie and Raph stood by Leo's sides, worry evident in their gazes. Splinter stood back watching the young man sadly.

"Case—" Leo started only for Casey to shake his head and cut him off.

He then realized how hard he had been clutching the music box. Stevie made it herself, she gifted it to Leo for their 18th marriage anniversary. She used broken alien technology to make it into something beautiful.

Master Leonardo gave it to him along with the picture of their family right before he sent Casey to the past.

Casey found himself speaking, babbling before he could stop himself. Thoughts and memories that he had been dying to share with those who were now closest to him for a while.

"You loved her more than anything, Leo. You always said that hope is a ninja's greatest weapon, but when everything went to hell — Stevie was the one to truly kept that hope alive and burning bright in everyone. She knew the words to every single classic you could think of, she saw the beauty in everything she came across. Stevie was your North star, she was your compass, and when she died a chunk of you died with her..."