NEW YORK, 2020

Mikey ran into the TV room as fast as possible to grab onto CJ's shoulders and shout out his question, "CAN I REFORM THE SPARKLES THAT SURROUND YOU?"

CJ, who had been settling in quite well the past four or so months since being brought from the future, quickly patted one of the mutant's hands while his other held a cup of highly spillable cranberry juice. The box turtle immediately withdrew his hands up.

CJ put his cup on the table stand next to him before turning his confused attention back to Mikey. "Can you what with the what that's surrounding me?"

"Yes!" Mikey exclaimed happily. He then got uncomfortably close to the boy by immediately leaning against the armrest of the sofa chair he was on. "This entire time, I thought it was just leftovers from when you time-hopped, since Leo also had a similar thing going on from when we pulled him from that nasty dimension." He did a wave motion at Leo who sat on the beanbag next to the couch while frowning at his mention. "However, his sparkles went away in like a week! Yours haven't yet. Barry says it's something else and it's like shredded paper. Something that just needs to be arranged and taped together again!"

CJ looked at him more confused, just sort of following along. "Why can only you see it?"

"Papa sees it too."

"Okay, why do only the both of you see it?" He corrected.

Draxum then cut in from across the room as he entered, "Because we have a trained eye for mystic stuff." He started to explain. "Of course Michelangelo's eyes have more natural talent than anything. Donnie's modified goggles would be able to see your little.. sparkles too." He did air quotes as he said that.

"Is there any reason to rearrange them?" CJ asked. "Doesn't seem to be doing anything."

"When rearranged, it could turn into something or even a person. Anything made of matter."

"It's a person." Mikey said. Leo turned his gaze from the TV screen and to his younger brother.

"You just said it's sparkles. How do you know it'll be a person, Mikey?" Leo asked. Mikey frowned at that, but it wasn't in anger.

"I..don't know. I see it and just know."

Draxum continued on, "It's like an attached entity then. But we don't know if it's something that will reform on its own once it's gathered enough energy from you. You don't want to wake up with a random person standing next to you, do you? There's also the chance that it'll disappear for good once enough time has passed."

"Michelangelo just said it hasn't even begun to disappear yet." CJ said.

"Yes, but since this is supposedly a person's being, it'll take much longer to dissipate than a portal's leftovers."

"So CJ basically has a ghost following him everywhere." Leo said. "Watching his every moveee." he droned on with a fake spooky voice.

Draxum replied, "It's most likely in a limbo state. Unaware of anything happening around and doesn't know time is moving. Stuck in its last moments."

CJ looked back at Mikey. "Do you know who it could be?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." He chirped back. He grabbed the table stand holding the cup and began pushing it towards the wall, accidentally spilling some of the juice in the process, making CJ slightly sad at his loss.

"We gotta make space!" Mikey told them.

"Do I have to move my seat?" Leo asked.

Draxum easily shoved Leo off with his hoof. "Yes."

"Ughh." He groaned from the floor. CJ started to push the couch with Mikey's assistance as Draxum left the room to go grab some supplies.

"C'mon Leo! You can help us out!" Mikey said. "The more hands the merrier!"

"It's supposed to be a free day. I don't wanna push furniture around." He complained.

"You can grab Donnie's goggles to help me with the sparkles!"

"I guess." Leo sulked. He then lazily got up and went to Donnie's lab.

"So how long is this process?" CJ asked as they turned the TV room into a makeshift ritual space.

"You know what? I don't know." Mikey said. "It shouldn't be that long though!"

"You weren't aware of how long it'll take before asking me?"

"Didn't care much about that part."

"Well, it seems like there's only us two helping, so perhaps a couple hours." Draxum answered the question as he returned, carrying a bag of tealights and gloves.

"That's quite a while." CJ mumbled.

"And sounds extremely boring." Leo joined back as he returned, accidentally having brought along Donnie, who held an extra pair of goggles.

"Aren't you interested in who it could be?" Mikey asked.

"Well, yeah , but it still sounds like a super boring process."

"Now there's four, so it should be faster." Draxum said.

"What's with the fake tealights?" Donnie asked as he handed the lower quality goggles to Leo.

The Yokai lifted the bag up to show it off. "I do not have actual candles, since I don't want to light them, so I just assume these would work for now." He opened the bag and started to place them in a circle large enough for them all to fit within, turning them on as he did so. "If it is truly a person like Michaelangelo says it is, then once they start to form, they will likely try to get away. We need them to stay to finish the ritual."

"Do the candles scare it or something?" CJ asked.

"No no. It's—" he thought about it for a second, "It somehow tricks the spirit into staying calm and contained."

Draxum pointed at CJ then at the center of the circle. "You, sit there." He commanded. The teen carefully walked to the middle to sit down.

"And you two put these on." Draxum handed Leo and Donnie a pair of gloves. "This will allow you to grab and piece it together."

"Do we have to be precise about which piece goes with what?" Donnie asked.

"No, it just needs to be all gathered in one spot." The Yokai turned to the box turtle. "Mikey, you will be in charge of keeping the gathered pieces together. Once we capture enough, you must radiate and expel some of your mystic energy into the pieces so that they will want to stay and gain enough to start properly connecting to each other and begin to take their form. Sounds easy?"

"A bit, yeah."

"It won't be, but at least you understand."

And so, for a while, they started to grab the small bits and pieces and gave them to Mikey, who tried his best to stop them from moving back onto CJ.

About halfway through the progress, Raph finally came back from his personal mini-escort mission of dropping off Cassandra and April at their respective locations and stumbled upon them doing their thing. He then went to get them all drinks and sat on the beanbag Leo was on previously. He didn't have any goggles but decided to stay and help pass the time by making small talk with Leo about a random new show he had watched with the slider and Splinter.

This turned into Donnie soon joining in by discussing fan theories with them, with Mikey giving context on canon plot stuff to CJ and Draxum. It did thankfully pass the time much faster for them until Mikey managed to gather a ball of the glowing sparkles near the size of a football into his hands.

"Try to see if it'll form now, Michael." Draxum suggested.

Mikey closed his eyes, and with a slow, deep breath, he put all his concentration on the ball in front of him, visualizing a flow of energy from his arms and body and into the sparkles. He imagined it grabbing the rest of its pieces itself with little arms to help form its body.

"Woah . It's working!" He heard Raph gasp out.

Mikey opened one of his eyes to take a peek.

The ball had started to glow and swirl around itself. From it, small strings went out to gather the other bits that hung around CJ.

Leo took off his goggles. "Oh wow, we can see it without these now."

The others just stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the ball as it slowly got bigger and bigger at a much faster rate than what they had going on before. Mikey opened both of his eyes.

"Uh, do I just stay here or—?" He began to ask, glancing to Draxum.

"Try moving away to see if it does anything else." Draxum suggested.

The young turtle slowly backed away. The ball thankfully stayed in place, still doing what it was doing.

"W-wait, what about me?" CJ questioned.

"CJ the thing is picking off of you, I'm pretty sure you're meant to stay." Leo stated.

"The person isn't going to fall on me, are they?"

"It is forming in front of you, not above. You should probably be fine." Draxum said.

The ball of mystic energy steadily turned as big as the teen. The shape then started to shift its form into a body with limbs.

Mikey noticed his brothers instinctively reaching for their weapons. Leo frowned, realizing he forgot his.

"We're not gon' attack it!" He told them.

"No no! Of course not!" Raph immediately put his arms down. Donnie still had his hands on his bo staff.

"It is a precaution." Donnie stated. Mikey gave him a pleading face, which made the softshell lift his hands up in defeat, putting away his weapon.

CJ's eyes widened as the form solidified and gained other colors. Most notable were a green and orange tint. Then, from the head sprouted long, gray locks of hair as the figure's feet planted on the ground.

It was pretty hard to contain the gasps of everyone in the room as it was someone they didn't really expect (they didn't expect anyone they knew but still).

"Uncle?" CJ's voice shook with his eyes welling up.

Oh that was so weird to hear for the Hamatos. They knew of the relationship between CJ and the older Mikey, but hearing it as an actual confirmation made them feel really weird.

The new turtle gave a halfhearted smile, "Hiya, C—" he then immediately crumpled to the floor with a PLOP .

Just as fast, everyone went to help the guy up, though Leo and Donnie accidentally tripped over each other.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Raph said, making sure more didn't scramble over each other. He grabbed the fallen older Mikey and lifted him to place on his shoulder. However, he accidentally misjudged the weight and threw him over the entire way, making the poor guy land on his back against the floor. This panicked the others even more, CJ the most.

"Raph!" CJ shouted.

"Raph wasn't trying! He's lighter than any of you!" He tried to excuse himself.

"Don't be silly, big guy!" Leo said. He then grabbed underneath the other's shoulders to lift him off the floor. His eyes widened as he easily got him completely off the ground. "Oh, wow , he wasn't lying. Dude is so light even Donnie can lift him."

"I'm not that weak, 'Nardo." Donnie went to grab the legs to help out. "Oh , he is. What the fuck?"

CJ stood by closer. "Is he still alive?" He asked softly.

Leo shoved the top half onto Donnie, who got more surprised by the lack of weight, and placed his fingers on the older one's throat, while also leaning in closer to his face.

"There is a pulse, and breathing." He confirmed.

"Let us take him to the infirmary." Draxum told them. "We do not know how long he will be out."

Donnie shoved the top half back to Leo.

"Hey! He's easy to carry!" The slider complained.

"Not the entire way, idiot."

"Ugh, baby."

The twins followed right behind the yokai with the others following behind them.

That's when Splinter chose now to step out of his room and finally saw what his kids were up to. They all kinda froze up and couldn't come up with a short, easy explanation as to why there was suddenly a much older Mikey with long hair that was knocked out and being carried somewhere. Not counting all the misplaced furniture and candles on the floor forming a big circle.

If anything, it probably looked like they were going to sacrifice him.

Their dad just huffed and said, "I'm making lunch," and walked to the kitchen, rubbing his heavy eyes. He probably expected the explanation later on.

The merry little group were seemingly in a trance, thinking about how they would explain all this later to their father, only to be snapped out of it by Draxum doing a clap with his hands.

"We should continue moving, unless you are fine with carrying the body for a lot longer?"

"Right!" Mikey pumped up his fist.

As they carefully stepped down the big staircase, Leo glanced over to CJ.

"Did you ever have to carry Big Mike like this?" He asked the teen, who slightly frowned at the question.

"No, not—" He caught himself. "Well, only a couple of times, but accidentally."

"Accidentally?"

"Hugs." Was all he answered.

"Why's he so light?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe he doesn't eat much?" Mikey proposed.

"Why would he not eat?" Raph questioned him.

Donnie chimed in, "Perhaps the lack of hands can be the reason."

"The lack of WHAT ?" CJ immediately ran down the steps that were below Leo and Donnie, stopping the two just before they got to the last couple of them. He looked closer at the old guy in their arms. Sure enough, the wrists and below were gone, indicated by stumps with scarring.

CJ's own hands then grabbed the top of his head. "He's supposed to have hands! Why doesn't he have hands?!" He panicked.

Mikey's took a step above. "We can go see if we accidentally left them behind, maybe?" He suggested in a hopeful tone.

"All of the pieces were collected." Draxum said then rubbed his chin in thought. "Perhaps the spell was too great and took something. No matter. Just an obstacle to overcome."

CJ buried his face in his hands. "First legs, now hands. He's not going to be happy."

Donnie looked at the half he was holding. There were a few scars but legs were obviously still intact. "What is wrong with his legs?"

"Something about not being able to stand on them for too long."

"He's disabled?"

"I—I guess? He just usually floats everywhere."

"Aw man, I can do that?" Mikey asked. "I can't wait till I learn how to. That's so cool!"

Leo advised, "Should we get an auto wheelchair ready then?" as he looked at Donnie. "If he relied on magic to move, I doubt he has enough left now to even do that again for a while."

Before the softshell responded, Draxum cut in, "Good catch on that." Leo slightly beamed at that. "He would need a lot of rest to even properly build his magic back up." He motioned for CJ to move so they could continue their way to the med bay. The boy realized and quickly jogged down the rest of the steps to make way. The two turtles started to walk again.

"That time spell he casted seems to have torn his body apart. The regeneration had taken what magic he had left, which was Michaelangelo's own. The younger him that is." He added on. "It could just be that not all of him was able to be salvaged."

They turned the corner right past Leo's room to head to the med bay. Draxum opened the door for them and picked the nearest cot out of the two standing by the door for them to put the body on. Donnie and Leo did it almost effortlessly. CJ walked up to the cot, his worried eyes observing his uncle laying there unconscious.

"Any thoughts on explaining this to the other household members?" Donnie asked.

"Cloning!" Mikey suggested.

"We found the body." Raph offered.

"Or, hear me out on this crazy idea," Leo said, "how about we just tell the truth? That CJ had a ghost that we brought back to life?"

"Sounds more confusing." Raph said.

"Then cloning ? Even Dontron here hasn't cracked that yet."

"How'd you know I was trying that?" Donnie asked.

"Please, you're you." Leo deadpanned at his brother.

Donnie appeared elated at that answer nonetheless.

Draxum walked up next to CJ. "It'll be best to do Leonardo's idea. If they remain confused, oh well. You'll have done your best. Hopefully."

"See! Even Draxum agrees with me on this!" Leo said.

Raph and Mikey still didn't look convinced.

Leo frowned. "We deal with mystic and alien stuff everyday. How's this more confusing?"

Raph swayed his head a bit, now in some agreement. Mikey just shrugged. Leo sighed in disappointment.

CJ snapped up a bit as a thought came to him. He looked at the other teens. "Where will he sleep?"

They all looked down in thought. This didn't occur to them at all.

Mikey pounded his fist on top of his hand as an idea came to him. "Oh! We still have the guest car!" He suggested.

"Wouldn't Piebald be upset about that?" Raph asked.

"I'm sure she'll understand!"

"She does only drop by about once a month or so." Donnie said.

"Yeah but she gets upset even if there's simply a cat on her bed." Leo pointed out. "Doubt she'll even want to sleep in the TV room or rest area when she eventually comes back."

"Are you certain that's not because it's a cat instead of anything else?" Donnie asked him.

"Yes, I'm sure!"

"Then we should get a spare bed." Raph said. "We can find a car later if either wants their own space."

"That is the fish one?" Draxum looked at CJ.

"Yeah, Piebald." CJ answered.

Mikey nodded at Raph. "Yessir!"

Raph then put his hand over his mouth as he tried to think more. "What else would we need for him?" He glanced at CJ. "Any ideas?"

CJ looked down as he thought. "I guess the wheelchair. Probably some clothes too."

"We also need to get more pillows and blankets." Leo added.

"He would need some way to eat his food without hands." Donnie chimed in.

"It's also important he gets a way to use the bidet when he goes." Mikey joined.

"Oh yeah, that's really important." Leo agreed.

"He likes to sleep with a lot of blankets and pillows." CJ said.

"Like you?"

"Yeah."

"If you're going on an errand run, can you bring coffee beans?" Draxum asked. "Carol is already complaining."

"We're out?" Mikey questioned.

"Seems so."

"Should we prep the room with, like, a tv or something, so the big guy doesn't get bored?" Leo asked.

"He likes to make things when he's bored." CJ said.

"Like what?"

"Clothes n stuff."

"I guess we also need to figure out how he'll be doing that without his hands."

Raph's eyes kept on shifting between everyone who offered more ideas, getting increasingly more overwhelmed. He then scratched the top of his head. "Ugh I feel like we should write all this down."

"Already done." Donnie stated, holding up his wrist to show off his interactable bracelet.

"Oh thank goodness." Raph breathed out in relief.

From the kitchen, they all heard Splinter loudly shout out " LUNCH!"

Mikey deeply sniffed the air.

"Taco day!" He remembered. He was the first to immediately attempt to rush out the room, however Raph instantly yanked his little brother from the top of his shell to throw him back and become the first to exit the room instead.

"RAPH! " Screamed the younger one in betrayal as he chased after his older brother.

Leo quickly punted Donnie's tail before running out as fast as possible, leaving Donnie to painfully grunt before chasing after his twin at a speed not shown before yet, full of rage.

"YOU ABSOLUTE SIETE MARES!"

Teenage boys really share one brain cell, don't they?

Draxum shook his head at his sons' antics and turned his attention to CJ who just stared at the unconscious being in front of them. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, making him look at the yokai.

"You should go join them." He said.

"But what if...I want to be here when he wakes up." He stated.

"Oh trust me, he's not going to wake anytime soon." Draxum let out a chuckle as he spoke. "From what you have said, the amount of magic he dispersed before sending you back? It is a miracle that he was even able to reform without harming Michelangelo in some way."

CJ became confused. "How could he have hurt Mikey?"

Draxum rubbed his chin as he tried to think of the best way to explain this to the apocalypse ridden teen. "Think of them both as batteries, and magic is their juice within. They can be refilled and break down whenever, but they are containers for the energy, not the producers. Your uncle's body is a vastly larger battery than his younger self, so it takes more energy to even start up to use."

"And he needed Mikey's juice to even reform." CJ recalled.

"Precisely. He needed something as powerful as lightning, but Michelangelo's battery is currently barely enough for a flashlight." Draxum crossed his arms as he thought aloud. "Really is something I cannot grasp or fathom. Even in a comatose state, his mystic abilities instinctively draw in from another source. It is possibly why you were never aware of him lingering about. He never drew anything from you."

"Then what source does he refill from?"

The yokai didn't respond for a moment, now lost in his own thoughts.

"Draxum?" CJ called out quietly.

The yokai sighed, "I do not know." He admitted. "Truth be told, I do not even know where Mikey and his siblings draw their mystic powers from. Over time, we Yokai have ours driven by an artifact that contains magic and that refills automatically. That is, ifwe wish to do something that requires a great deal of magic to use. Other than that, we just use ourselves like a stamina bar for the much smaller things. I thought that was how the brothers worked their magic until the Shredder event happened."

CJ didn't say anything as he looked back at Angelo. Draxum nudged him this time with his elbow.

"I promise to take care of him while he is out. I doubt he would want you to neglect your own needs to just watch over him. I may not know much about his magic, but making sure he stays alive is simple enough to do."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "I don't have work for a while. It is why we chose today to attempt this anyways."

CJ let out a heavy sigh. "Okay then."

"I will call out for you if anything is wrong or when he wakes." He promised.

The teen gave a soft smile at that. "Thank you."

He then slowly walked towards the door

"Wait." Draxum called out.

CJ turned around.

"Tell the rat to bring me a plate. He knows exactly what I want for my lunch." He asked of him.

"Sure thing."

"I am serious about him bringing it. The others always try to be sneaky and eat some part of it."

CJ couldn't help but giggle at that. Sounded about right. "Yeah, I'll make sure of that."

"Alright, now off you go!" He shooed him while beginning to move around to properly get stuff set up to monitor the unexpected newcomer.

CJ took a quick glance at his unconscious uncle before heading out.

When the teen arrived at the top of the stairs, he was able to hear the others screaming at each other in the kitchen while someone laughed along.

He walked in and saw 3 of the boys all around a table trying to get their taco toppings while Splinter just sat in his chair, a plate of food in front of him, giggling at their arguing. Mikey seemed to be the one laughing out as Donnie screamed at Leo to stop hogging the chopped onions. Raph just seemed to have put his toppings on top of the tortilla first before going to grab the meat, since he was the only one at the meat counter grabbing each of the different types.

CJ walked up to the slider and tapped his shoulder. "Hey, Leo?"

The slider momentarily stopped trying to steal the cheese to look back at the teen, facing more with his right side. "Yeah?"

"Is it okay if I sleep in your room tonight?" He asked.

"Of course!" He playfully punched his shoulder with his newly freed hand, despite the tongs he held being in the way. "I don't know why it wouldn't be okay this time!" He then snapped back around. "Mikey stop hogging the cheese!"

Mikey, whose entire hand was in the bowl, stood blank faced for a moment before sticking his tongue out. "I WAS FIRST!" He grabbed his share to throw onto his plate before running away to the table. Leo groaned and, as he went to grab some more cheese, Donnie instantly shoved his own hand into the bowl to grab his portion before running away too.

"LEAVE SOME FOR ME!" Leo cried out.

"You took the onion, it's only fair!" Donnie shouted back.

"AT LEAST USE THE GRABBY THING, YOU DEGENERATES!" He wildly waved the tongs at them, making the cheese thieves giggle maliciously. He finally left CJ to go sit in his own seat.

CJ went to grab his own plate to get his tacos. All he did was grab from the mostly full bowl of ground beef before going to sit down. Mikey glanced at his plate and became disheartened at the plainness of his food.

"You don't want to try some of the other meats, CJ? The carnitas are pretty good this time!" Mikey suggested. Splinter looked proud of himself.

"I'm fine with this." CJ replied.

"Not even cilantro? Granted there's no onion anymore to add but, still."

"No thanks, it kinda tastes weird."

Leo looked at him confused. "I've literally seen you eat raw roaches. Now you have taste buds?"

"Eugh!" Raph exclaimed.

"Even I don't go that far." Splinter mumbled.

"We ate them in the future! I told you this!" CJ tried to defend himself.

Mikey, ignoring the roach problem, whined out, "Don't tell me you got the soap gene too."

"The what?"

"Raph says it tastes like soap." Leo answered.

Raph stopped before taking a bite of his food to shout out in defense, "It does!"

"It's a gene in some humans that makes coriander taste like soap." Donnie gave more explanation. "Only Raph has it out of all of us."

"Stop calling it that." Splinter's body shivered. "Weird name."

"That is its name."

"I refuse to believe that!"

Mikey looked back at CJ. "You sure on no toppings?" He questioned.

"I'm fine with plain, thank you."

"BORING !" Leo playfully shouted.

"Just be glad he's not also stealing your cheese too!" Splinter told his son. Leo just pouted at that before shoving one of his overloaded tacos into his mouth.

"Mhawevar." He spoke through his chewing.

"Stop talking while eating!"

"MmMmHMMm!" He said through closed lips.

"Oh, Splinter. Draxum asked if you can bring him a plate of food when you can." CJ told him.

"What? Why me?"

Mikey raised up his hand. "I can give it to him!"

"He was adamant that Splinter take it instead of you guys." CJ said.

"What !? Why?"

"Something about you always eating off of it."

Mikey lowered his hand, guilty. "Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

Donnie slapped Leo's hand from attempting to take his drink then just slid the liter bottle to him. Leo happily grabbed it to pour into his cup.

Splinter made a 'tsk tsk' as he shook his head. "I thought I raised you boys better." He jumped off his chair, annoyed. "If you steal off a plate, at least put more than what your guest wanted so they do not notice." He said as he started assembling the plate.

"What does Draxum even like on his tacos?" Raph asked.

"Greens and cheese."

"Greens and cheese?" Leo questioned.

"Yes. Avocado, lettuce, cilantro, lime, green sauce. And cheese." He explained as he put the items on it.

Raph scrunched up his nose. "That's even worse than CJ's."

The human got slightly offended. "I only have meat!"

"It's like you're not even trying." Leo shook his head at him.

"Well I personally think it's better than CJ's." Mikey said. "At least he adds some flavor!" He smiled.

"There's no winning with you guys, is there?" CJ asked.

"Adding on the fact you don't even like soda, you monster." Donnie inputted.

"Why would I drink something that attacks my mouth?!"

"I'm not complaining about that." Leo shrugged as he refilled his cup once more. "More for me."

Donnie frowned. "Hey, wait!" He grabbed the bottle back harshly, spilling Leo's cup. "You already refilled!"

"Dude !"

"Serves you right for over-drinking."

"What? You do the same!"

"And?"

Leo reached over to take back the bottle from his twin, who only pushed on his face to shove him away while attempting to refill his own glass.

Eventually, Splinter walked up to them, smacked their heads with his tail, and snatched the bottle from Donnie.

"Stop that nonsense!" He said. He then sighed, "I'll be right back." And walked out the room with the plate of food for Draxum and the bottle.

"Way to go, Dontron." Leo mocked.

"Why can't you two just share?" Raph asked, exasperated.

"Ew." The twins simultaneously replied.

—

Leo heard a sound that suddenly woke him up. That small set of panic momentarily washed over him as he realized he accidentally woke himself with his own snoring.

He groggily sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes harshly to get that gross eye mush out. He doesn't even know how he got that already, since he kept going in and out of consciousness for only a couple of hours, not even a full night.

The slider opened his eyelids and saw a faint light coming through his window curtains and the door that was left ajar. From the way it flashed and changed colors, he figured that someone was still in the TV room upstairs.

Leo let out a sigh, which made him smack his lips together to get any sort of wetness on them. Gosh, his throat was so dry...

He took a glance at CJ who peacefully slept in the makeshift pile of blankets and pillows he called a bed. The brothers tried multiple times to suggest a mattress or a mat to sleep on but the young man always refused. Heck, they even offered to go find an abandoned car for him to have his own room and he always would say he hated sleeping alone.

Leo couldn't blame him on that. They had different reasons for not liking to sleep alone, so he never minded when the teen wanted to sleep in his room. The boy switched rooms so often, they each just left the piles of beds in each car just in case.

The slider carefully walked by him towards the door. He focused on the way CJ snored, which honestly sounded like a pug trying to breathe, to make sure he didn't accidentally wake him up. Dude could pass out within seconds but wake to the slight change of noise. Leo couldn't understand it.

He grabbed onto the barely opened entrance and began sliding it slowly. He used to have it fully closed and locked, but even the clicking could wake up the future boy. When Leo finally got out, he gently slid the door halfway closed. Least he could do is try to block most of the light for his sleeping companion's sake.

When Leo got to the top of the stairs, sure enough, the TV projector was on and playing a random obscure media in Korean.

He would've assumed it was Donnie watching, had it not been for the small figure on the laid back recliner who was usually here this late at night.

Leo went up to the recliner and rested his arms on the backrest, peeking over to confirm that, yup, his dad had passed out while eating some chips. He grabbed the sides of the chair and began to wiggle it, making his dad snort awake.

"What!?"The rat shouted in surprise then turned around to see his son smirking at him.

"Blue! It's bedtime!"

"It sure is." Leo stated.

Splinter flopped his back against the recliner with an annoyed huff, now crossing his arms, realizing what Leo was stating.

"I am fine here. At least I am the one sleeping!"

"I was thirsty." Leo said.

"Oh." Splinter said, instantly calming down.

"Are you stuck here cause Draxum kicked you out again?"

"What? No! He does not have that pow—! I had found this wonderful new show to binge!" He quickly changed the subject. "All about this poor girl who ends up in a contracted marriage with this acto—"

"You should sleep in your room, dad. You deserve your bed instead of this chair!" The turtle wiggled said furniture again, this time more violently to state his point.

Splinter smacked one of Leo's hands with his tail to get him to stop. "There is nothing wrong with my chair! It fits my butt nice and comfy." He snuggled his back deeper in.

"If you don't need your bed can I have your mattress then?"

"No! That is my foam!"

"But you're not using it!"

"Go get your water and stop bugging me!"

Leo couldn't help but let out a snicker, but did as he was told.

He went to the kitchen, found one of the bigger jugs to fill up, and got slightly annoyed by how slow their water filter dispenser was. He debated on putting ice cubes but decided against it. He was going to pass out again soon anyway so there was no reason to have them.

As Leo walked out of the kitchen with his fresh jug of water, he noticed the light from the lab still flickering on. Ugh, time to remind his bro too that it's bedtime! Or they all would have to deal with a sleep-deprived grumpy softshell for a couple days if he didn't get the dude to bed.

He begrudgingly walked over to Donnie's lab, and noticed the empty recliner and turned off TV along the way. Meaning his dad, thankfully, had gone to his room while Leo got his drink.

The slider slowly opened the door, expecting some loud dubstep to be blaring over the speakers or something, but all he heard was something causing a sparking noise every now and then.

Curious, he peeked inside and saw his twin hunched over one of his work tables, a light flickering at random times. He was definitely working on something. He walked up to him.

Before Leo could tap Donnie's shoulder to get his attention, he hesitated. He then repositioned himself to knock at the end of the table instead.

His brother was deep in concentration and the last time Leo just touched him, Donnie immediately whipped the slider so hard with his summoned staff that it sent him halfway across the room due to getting shocked. Leo didn't want to go back to sleep that way.

When Donnie didn't acknowledge him, Leo knocked a bit harder, which grabbed his attention this time.

He glanced, then saw Leo's whole body, and went to change the settings on his headphones.

"What?" He demanded.

"It's bedtime."

"I'm still working."

"Still sleepy time."

Donnie groaned. "I'll be fine."

"You know we're still out of coffee, right?"

"And I will still be fine."

"Yeah, I don't believe you in the slightest."

Donnie just waved him off before going back to work on his mysterious little contraption.

Resigned, but not entirely giving up, Leo placed his jug on the ground. "What you workin' on that's so important this late at night?"

"I'm making the battery for the automatic wheelchair. For our new guest, remember? As well as a joystick that can work better for him." He answered.

Leo leaned closer to look at it.

"I won't apologize if I accidentally burn you, Nardo."

Leo turned around with a huff and leaned his hips against the table's edge, crossing his arms grumpily. He then noticed the automatic wheelchair against the wall nearby.

"You couldn't have attached that when making the chair with your powers?" He questioned.

Donnie's hand stayed hovered for a moment before slowly going back down to his board.

"Carol brought it over from work." He admitted. "I'm remaking the battery and stick connection since the old one is broken, as well as other parts of it, hence why they gave it to her."

Leo stared at his twin in confusion for a bit. "You couldn't make the chair with your powers?"

Donnie let out a heavy sigh. "This way was easier." He still worked slower than before, even with his words. "To make sure everything is properly connected and working, you know?"

Leo frowned at that. Donnie was trying to pick his wording carefully. The slider recently noticed that his twin had been trying to change the way he lied ever since a couple months ago when CJ started pointing out how bad he was and how. Thanks CJ . It used to be easier to play Among Us with Donnie, but now the softshell won semi-frequently as the imposter.

Leo's fingers tapped against his as he lingered in his thoughts. He had a hunch about the reason his brother could be clamming up now, but it would reveal something about Leo himself that he had kept hushed for a while.

Nonetheless, the cons for currently keeping it quiet were being overthrown by the very obvious pros. What if Donnie was going through the same situation as him? They all would need to help their brother if that was the case. After all, his mystic powers were extremely useful for everyone, including himself.

Leo straightened his back a tad before softly asking, "Are your powers acting up too?"

He was beginning to think that Donnie didn't hear him and was going to ask again when his twin started to slowly put his soldering wand down before turning towards him while putting his goggles back on top of his head.

"Too ?" He quizzed, like he just fully processed what Leo had said.

"It's been wacky?" Leo raised a brow to get the confirmation.

"What do you mean by your previous question, Nardo?"

"Question for question." Leo stuck his tongue out, annoying his twin. Donnie let out a groan then leaned back into the chair, crossing his arms. His fingers lightly pulled at his hoodie's sleeves as he considered his answer.

"I.." he hesitated. "Have to make the item before I am able to summon it." He finished quickly.

Leo looked at him completely dumbfounded. That didn't seem right. Was it always that way? It didn't seem to be.

"You—you have to make it before you can summon it?" He repeated in a more confused manner. "Has it always been that way?"

Donnie, with a heavy frown, lifted a finger up close to Leo's mouth. "Question for question." He repeated his twin's words. Leo frowned back at him, a little frustrated at his own rule now that it was biting him back in the ass.

He bit his lip for a moment before replying. "I think my portals are appearing slower than before."

It was Donnie's turn to be dumbfounded. "What?"

Leo did a quick poke at Donnie's forehead, though accidentally too harshly as Donnie tried to swipe back at his hand as he withdrew.

"Always thAT WAY ?!" Leo quickly squeaked out as Donnie almost stood up immediately, ready to fight.

"That way for wha—? Oh." Donnie immediately calmed down a little as he realized the question was for him. He then grumpily flopped back into his chair, crossing his arms again. Now frustrated at this small deal they had made. Easy to answer one question at a time, but so stupid when you easily had another question to ask and wanted it answered immediately after.

"I don't know. I didn't think it did but it works better when I do it this way." He said.

"That doesn't seem right." Leo frowned. Why hadn't any of them noticed this? CJ had said before that the older Donnie in the other timeline was able to make anything in seconds, though that could have been childlike amazement too.

"How do you know your portals are slower? You literally do them in like a fraction of a second." Donnie asked this time.

Leo uncrossed his arms to grip the table's edge behind him. He glanced at a screen behind before turning his head back to his twin.

"Well, compare it in footage. We can check." He gestured with his head back to the flickering monitor.

Donnie looked at his screen for a moment too. He was thinking for a bit before sighing, "Alright." His curiosity got the better of him.

He flipped his wrist and clicked a button. This created a holo-screen right above it.

Leo's thumb slid under the table. "Just pick any time before the Krang showed up and compare it to any other time after."

As Donnie swiped through a catalog of videos, Leo took notice of the thumbnails on them.

"But like, after Shredder too. Height of power, y'know?"

"Sigh ." Donnie swiped back the other way. The softshell then picked footage of a battle between them and those crab brothers. He swiped the image to go onto the bigger screen in front of him.

As Leo turned his body around, he noticed the date was the day before they met the Krang.

The recording played for a while until, finally, Leo was in frame just long and stable enough to accurately time him properly.

Donnie then zoomed in on his twin, making the screen get more blurry.

"Enhance." Leo joked.

"Don't be a dumbass. You literally cannot reconstruct the image quality as such unless you just remake it in a much higher resolution." Donnie stated.

"Bro, I was joking."

"Make your jokes funnier."

"That's rude."

"Plus we're looking at your portals, not even what happens in the video."

"Why can't you just let me make a joke?"

"I just love to deprive you of your chances."

"Okay, well, just time the freaking thing of me using my portal powers if you're going to be such a killjoy." Leo rolled his eyes.

And Donnie did so without another quip. He played the video a few times to get the millisecond just right. He then pulled up another recording of them fighting Meat Sweats after the Krang and did the same thing.

Donnie stared at the two timestamps for what felt like forever. Leo kept on waiting for the 'it's in your head ' answer he had been craving, but the softshell just said nothing the entirety of seven seconds.

"Uh, Donn? Care to share the results with the rest of the class?" Leo asked.

Donnie frowned, but said nothing still, his eyes glued to the screen.

"I need more data." He finally spoke. He pulled up a few more videos of Leo in fights in both of the timeframes he suggested.

After timing about twelve or so videos he just said, "0.24 second slower."

Leo did a clap which startled his twin. "Alright! So that's good, maybe?" He hoped out loud. "It's not a full second and barely noticeable so it's not bad?"

Donnie's gaze just lingered on him, then spun his chair to fully face his twin. He asked, "How did you notice?"

Leo gulped.

"Notice what?"

"It's not even half a second late and you noticed it being slower. How? I doubt any of us would've noticed that with our own mystic abilities."

"I...I don't know. I just thought it was my head messing with me."

Donnie's frown didn't falter. "You were very sure it was slower, weren't you?"

Leo quickly thought about it. He was, wasn't he? That was why he had the assumption with his twin in the first place too.

"I just...knew it was slower, I guess. Is that a weird thing?"

"It's honestly slightly impressive." Donnie mumbled to himself as he turned his head back to the screen. Leo rubbed a finger over his right ear, as if he was clearing a nonexistent ringing.

"It's what?"

Donnie spoke barely loud enough: "It's slightly worrying. Do you know why it's a tad slower? Any theories?"

"Best guess is that our meeting with the krang kinda messed it up."

"Yes, but what was the exact moment it started to feel 'different' ?" He made quotation marks with his fingers.

Leo thought about it more. When did it feel different? Before their powers were momentarily taken? Right after? Right after, definitely.

"When you guys got me back." Leo answered.

Donnie's eyes widened a bit in surprise at that, but he quickly shook his head a little before going back to his trademarked apathetic expression. "Due to us?"

"I..I don't think so. No."

The softshell accidentally let out a sigh of relief. He grabbed onto his hand and started caressing his knuckles distractedly. "Then what?"

Leo lifted his own hand close to his mouth, subconsciously rubbing his lips. "It...I don't know. Maybe they just kept some of it somehow? Or..." he focused more as his finger stilled. "One of my katanas was left behind." He stated.

"Yes we know. That's why CJ gave you that new sword."

"No, I mean. My katanas hold my power, right? They help me summon it?"

"It seems that's how it works for all of us." Donnie said. He then quickly corrected, "'Sides Mikey. His powers work in weird ways that I can't even fathom to figure all out."

"Well." Leo placed his chin against his palm. "Does that mean a part of me was left behind?"

Donnie just stared at him, not knowing how to respond to that. Even Leo didn't know.

"Just a theory." Leo quickly added. "It probably doesn't even work that way."

"But if it does?" Donnie quietly replied.

"Then..." Leo sighed. "Then I still have my other sword. It's not that big of a difference, we saw that."

The softshell didn't respond to that.

Leo bit on his fingernail, another thought forming in his mind. He had changed his preference on what sword he used, he realized. But why?

"Remember those Baxter bots we fought last week?" He suddenly asked.

"Didn't really fight them, that was more on CJ."

"Excuse me, I still ported us there?"

"I think so."

"Can you just time that one, please?"

Donnie nodded and did as asked. Doing the same process and then hitting the timer. He lingered on the new timestamp as his eyes widened.

"That's...not possible." He retimed the footage multiple times over, as well as the other clips he had pulled previously. "What's the difference?" He asked, gaze still glued to his screen.

"The sword." Leo pointed out.

Donnie froze and focused his attention onto Leo's sword. It was extremely blurry and he was really wishing the enhanced feature was real. But then he noticed the difference of color and length in the weapon the slider was holding on the stilled image.

He turned his gaze back to his twin.

"That's the sword—?"

"CJ gave me? Yeah."

He let out a baffled chuckle. "I-I don't understand? How? What is the difference there?"

"If anything this could just mean my previous theory was completely wrong."

Donnie went back to rubbing on his knuckles. "What if the sword belonged to the…other you?"

Leo was surprised at that. Sure, he always had the suspicion that maybe it did. After all, CJ kept little knickknacks that belonged to the rest of them all over his body. So him having both future Donnie's staff and Leo's sword? Wouldn't even surprise them in the slightest.

But the dude only ever talked about his uncle, the older Mikey, and even that was rare. How did they go about confirming that theory then?

Leo stretched his arms high as possible as he yawned loudly, sleep finally catching back up to him. Donnie turned annoyed at him. Leo Ignored the look and bent down to pick up his jug of water.

"Well there's always tomorrow to discuss more about this."

Donnie frowned at him. Leo then snapped his fingers in realization.

"Oh! What better way to actually get all these questions answered than asking that knocked out future Mikey we got in the med bay?" Leo tried to cheer up. "If anyone can spill any secrets, it's a Michelangelo!"

Donnie looked like he was internally debating about this, but exhaustion was starting to hit him as well as he yawned and rubbed one of his eyes, which only annoyed him further.

"Dagnabbit !" He cursed. "See what you've done to me!"

"Good." Leo joked. He pushed himself off the table he had been leaning against for so long, ready to leave. "We have to wake up early anyways."

"For what?"

"Patrol, remember? I literally told you guys a couple days ago." Leo groaned.

"Since when do we do patrols?"

"For a while? You just often oversleep until we're done. Which is, y'know, fine , I guess. So long as you tell us whatever we miss with your scanner."

Donnie frowned as he tried to remember. "Is that why you guys sometimes return with a bunch of snacks, figures, and coffee?"

Leo felt himself nervously sweating in an instant. "No." He promptly lied.

Donnie narrowed his eyes. "Is patrol just another way of going out on a snack run?"

"No...?"

Donnie rolled his eyes then waved his hand at Leo to leave. "Whatever, as long as you guys still bring me my supply of Red Bull, I don't care."

"Aw c'mon! We usually hit the comic shops along the way too!"

Donnie looked away in thought. "We'll see. If I wake up on time, perhaps."

Leo held his thumb up at Donnie. "Well if you have trouble sleeping, you can always come on down to my room with CJ and me. I promise it's clean enough."

"I don't believe that in the slightest."

"It's cleaner than everyone else's." He reworded.

Donnie acknowledged that that was an improvement.

"I'll think about joining if you promise me one thing." Donnie said.

"Oof, you know how I am with promises." Leo warned.

"Will you tell the others about your power issues? I don't mean tomorrow ," he stopped Leo from trying to protest, "but eventually? Before it worsens or I accidentally blurt it out and you get angry at me. I'd rather have us not end up like the Winchesters."

Leo raised a brow at the last sentence, unsure what he meant by that but decided to ignore his brother's obscure reference this time. He relaxed his face as he looked down.

"Sure. Yeah." He promised.

Donnie tapped his desk with his fingers. "Also about mine."

"What?"

"If you talk about yours you can bring up mine too." He said. "Might as well."

Leo just nodded at that. "Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I can promise that."

At least, he finally had an incentive to go through with it one day.

Donnie then pointed to another workbench. "Also, Carol brought you more workbooks she found. Take it before I accidentally throw it away."

Leo looked over and saw the small stack of paperbacks.

"Oh, sweet!" He excitedly jogged over to grab them with his free hand.

"What are you even planning with all these health books?" Donnie asked, extremely curious.

"Uh, study? What else?" Leo asked.

"Make a fake city out of them." Donnie recalled.

Leo held the books closer to his plastron as he started walking to the door. "We were TEN !" He turned his back to the open door. "But we should definitely do that again when I'm finished with these! That was fun!" He took a sip of his water.

"Don't forget to close my door."

"See ya tomorrow!" Leo ran out.

"'Nardo? 'NARDO! MY DOOR!" He threatened.

"Night!"

"LEO I SWEAR TO ALL— !"

The slider continued running all the way down the stairs to make sure Donnie would be too lazy to chase him the entire way.

When Leo got to the bottom of the stairs, he saw Raph peeking over the top of his own car while standing on a small footstool.

"Hey, Raph, bud? Everything good?" Leo called out softly, trying to not spook him. It still made Raph almost leap out of his skin. He frantically waved his arms to not fall down to the ground. When he regained his footing, he faced towards his brother immediately and, seeing the water jug and books, he calmed down a bit. Leo was almost impressed that Raph didn't let out a scream when he got spooked.

"Were you the one scattering about?" Raph motioned towards the floor with his hands and fingers wiggling. Leo looked at him very confused.

"What are you talking about? I was with Donnie for like 20 minutes if that's what you're asking."

The answer seemed to make Raph more worried.

"Someone's been stepping all over. Each time Raph comes out it just stops. When Raph goes back in, it starts again." He said. He then gestured the entirety of his car with his hand. "It's coming from all over but it still just stopped again."

"I'm sure it's nothing. It could just be the cats." Leo tried to reassure them both. "CJ is in my room. He's a light sleeper, and so is Carol! If they haven't woken up, then it's nothing to worry about."

"Right, right." Raph mumbled. "They've woken up to less."

"Exactly!" Leo walked closer to his big brother to give a pat on his arm. Raph frowned more.

"Now go back to sleep, we got patrol tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah." His eyes widened. "Yeah! Nothing to worry about." The snapping turtle returned the pat against Leo's back. "We all need to sleep."

"If it helps, you can just sleep in my room too if it becomes too much for you."

"No no, Raph will be fine. It's probably nothing."

Leo watched his brother cautiously enter his room again. The slider let out a sigh as he turned around and was about to head back to his own room when he heard his older brother let out a small yelp and, suddenly, he felt two large hands grab his body and lift him away.

"NononoNoNONONO!" Raph was loudly whispering out as he took them both to Leo's room.

Alright, well, seems like something was definitely bothering the snapping turtle.

The big guy accidentally slid Leo's door open way too hard and too loud, making CJ immediately sit up with his fists clenched in front of him, ready to fight, despite his eyes and face being all droopy and saliva coming out the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry, CJ." Leo apologized as Raph set his younger brother down on his bed.

CJ yawned as he rubbed his eyes before wiping his mouth. "Wuh happ'n?"

"Something's scaring big daddy." He explained as Raph just plopped down next to CJ. Leo placed his books and water on the dresser right up against the train's chair he called a headboard.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Raph apologetically mumbled to the human.

"Oh, uh." The teen pointed to the shelf behind the turtle. "It's right there."

Raph carefully grabbed it and turned it on. He then turned the screen to CJ. "Password?"

CJ squinted at it as he pushed the numbers, quietly mouthing out 0-3-2-3 enter to himself.

"Okay, it's open." He said.

"Thank you." Raph said. "Raph forgot his."

"So what scared you?" CJ asked.

"Tiny footsteps." He muttered, still busy using the phone. CJ looked at Leo in confusion. The slider shrugged.

"He was hearing tiny footsteps. Probably rats if anything."

CJ looked back at Raph. "Rats aren't all that bad."

"They're annoying." He frowned. "Trying to sleep."

"I'm sure if you asked them, they'd stop."

Leo and Raph looked at him extremely puzzled.

"CJ, do you think you can talk to rats?" Leo asked.

"Can you not?"

"Why would we be able to?"

CJ frowned at that. "I'm sure you can. To a couple of them at least. I did it before, I think."

"What?"

It was Mikey's turn to poke his head in through the open door; "Sleep over?!" He exclaimed excitedly as his eyes landed on the small group in Leo's room. This accidentally made Raph let out a quick shriek before it clicked who it was in his head.

"My bad, Raph!" Mikey then fully entered the room carrying a couple of large blankets and pillows. "Brought your stuff over like you asked!"

"Wait, when did you ask?" Leo looked to his older brother.

"Thirty seconds ago, probably?" Raph took a blanket and a pillow.

"He texted me!" Mikey smiled. He pulled out one of Raph's teddy bears from underneath the other blanket.

Oh, so that's why he asked for CJ's phone, Leo thought as Raph placed said phone back where he found it.

Leo shrugged. "The more, the merrier then." Whatever could help Raph calm down.

Mikey proceeded to throw his own pillow at Leo's face. When Leo got it off, he immediately saw Mikey hauling himself at him with his blanket in both hands, acting like a useless parachute.

"Mikey!" Leo shouted before being engulfed in the blanket hug. Mikey, who had landed on Leo's plastron, pouted up at him. "There's no space on the floor for me."

That was a lie.

Nevertheless, Leo grabbed Mikey's body and flipped him over to the side closer to the wall. The box turtle let out an 'oof' .

"Your side." Leo stated.

"Score!"

Leo thought he heard CJ giggle and said something to someone. The slider sat back up to peer at them on the floor.

"Especially Ezzy!" Raph loudly added as he held Ezzy, the teddy, up to his face before embracing it tightly.

Mikey raised one of his arms to be seen better. "No problemo!"

Leo finally just plopped down to lie on his stomach at last. He didn't really want to keep trying to hear or guess everything they were saying all night. "Imma pass out now. One of us has to be awake during patrol." He mumbled to nobody in particular.

"Gasp, Leo being responsible? Am I sleepwalking?" A monotonous voice asked from the door.

Had no one really closed his door? The slider looked over.

From there, Donnie looked at him with a raised eyebrow, holding his own blankets and pillow in his hands.

"Donnie!" Mikey and Raph happily chirped.

Leo smugly grinned at his twin. "Took up my offer, hm?"

The softshell was the one to finally shut the door behind him before he dropped his pillow and one of his blankets on the floor for padding softer than metal.

"Yeah yeah." Donnie grumbled out as he made his bed. "Better than staying up all night, yadda yadda."

Mikey said something Leo half heard. About his chest?

"No need." Donnie waved a hand dismissively. "I brought the weighted blanket this time."

Oh, so it was about pressure on his chest. The softshell did like to always have something pushing down.

As Dontron was settling into his makeshift bed, Leo turned his head so that his left ear was directly into his pillow.

"Gotta sleep, guys." He reminded them.

"Whatever." Donnie replied.

"Oh, wait!" Mikey sat up to be on top of Leo, who grunted at the sudden pressure, to peer over his brother's shell to face CJ better. "You should tell us more about your uncle!"

"Which one?"

"The one next door, silly!"

"Oh!"

"I feel like he's told us a lot about him already." Leo pointed out. He shifted his head up to rest on his chin to breathe easier at least under Mikey's weight.

"Nah." Mikey patted his hand against Leo's shell. "You can never know too much about a person!"

"He's you, what more is there to learn?"

"A LOT! He's me from the future!"

CJ crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees. "Well, what did you want to know?" He asked Mikey.

Oh shit, he was willing to spill.

"What was his favorite spell to do?"

CJ scratched the side of his jawline. "Uh, that's kinda difficult. He uses a lot and always switches his first choice."

"Which did he use the most?" Raph tried to help.

"Does floating count?"

"I suppose so."

"Nooo!" Mikey whined. "You said he did that for walking. Doesn't count." He pointed at Raph with a playful scowl before looking back at the teen. "Name another!"

"Uhh." CJ frowned. "Shields I guess? The most recent thing was mimicking Don's powers. But that was to make blankets and clothes mostly."

They all stared at him with shocked expressions, greatly confusing him.

"What?"

"What do you mean by my powers?" Donnie questioned.

"By like, your powers? I don't know what else I can mean." CJ frowned, growing confused.

Mikey pushed his body up and practically bounced with his hands on his brother's shell, making Leo grunt as his body was being pushed into the bed repeatedly.

"Mikey!" He wheezed out.

"Sorry!" The box turtle stopped his bouncing but still remained in place. Better than the bouncing at least, Leo thought.

"Are you saying I can use Donnie's powers?!" Mikey asked, stars in his eyes.

CJ shrugged at that.

"Aw, c'mon! You just said I can! How?!" He pleaded.

CJ shrugged again. "He never said how. He just knew how to do it."

Donnie had crossed his arms a while ago, slightly fuming at something only in his own mind. "Scoff! Access to my powers all just to make simple blankets? My powers aren't just for some common materials!" He threw his hands up. "It can do much more! It—I..." he frowned for a bit as if he realized something much more important to him. "It's not just machines?" He looked back at CJ. "He's not making machines?"

"N-no? He said he couldn't really make those like you did. They were really hard."

"Are you telling me that I can create anything?"

"I didn't really say that but that's how it was described to me."

Everyone just looked at Donnie, who looked like his world was being turned upside down. Which was understandable. It was the same for them all. They thought he could only create any type of machinery or sciencey gadgets on the fly. But being able to make anything? He was practically like Green Lantern in their eyes now, except cooler because the stuff remained.

But it confused Leo the most. His twin just previously described to him that he could only make what he had made before. He doubted the nerd had made clothes, or even wanted to. So how would he learn about creating other stuff? Mikey on the other hand...

"Did he always use magic? That seems pretty tiring to do constantly." Leo went to change the subject. Donnie had frowned at him doing so, no doubt having many more questions for Future Boy about his powers. His expression changed to realization soon enough.

Continuing this thread of conversation would lead up to him admitting to his brothers the small new issue with his powers; which might also lead to them spilling about Leo's similar issues. Granted, Leo and Donnie usually had trouble remembering there were others in the same room, which led them to saying stuff they shouldn't, but this meant that maybe Donnie's powers worked differently than what they previously believed. He could possibly probe some answers from CJ tomorrow, or even from the older Mikey when he would wake up.

"Actually, he didn't." CJ finally answered as he leaned over to the side of his bed and reached inside one of his bags. He pulled out a small ball-looking thing in his palm to show the brothers properly.

"He made these orb things that contain a type of magic. Some were fireballs, ice crystals, or smoke bombs. There was always something new! His favorite to make were ones that sprouted a bunch of vines super fast to contain a being inside! It's really helpful to distract enemies and keep them in place for a long time."

"So it's like Draxum's?" Donnie asked.

"Draxum has them?"

"Yeah!" Mikey answered. "He has these little magic balls that create huge vines too! Once he even made this huge robot to attack us with it!"

CJ put the orb back in his bag. "Well, Master Angelo did say someone taught him to make them. So maybe it was him?"

"Are those the thingies you used when we went against the Krang?" Raph asked him.

CJ nodded. "Yeah. They are."

"This explains a lot to Raph." The snapper nodded.

Mikey finally went back to just laying on top of Leo. "Is there a reason why his hair is gray? Like, did he dye it or something?"

"I think he's just old, Mikey." Leo joked.

"I doubt he's that old."

Donnie nodded. "You're right. He's probably just a ball of stress. That can happen."

"But his roots are black."

"His what are what?" CJ questioned. Even Leo attempted to crane his neck to properly look at Mikey. They were all pretty sure he had a full head of gray.

"His hair at the roots." Mikey pointed at his scalp as best as he could. Seeing no reaction from the little group, he decided to explain better by spreading some strands of hair on his head until they could somewhat see some green peeking through the dark locks. "They're black like mine."

CJ looked more confused. "No, I'm pretty sure the last time I saw him it was fully gray."

"From this morning?"

"I—..hm." CJ looked down as he tried to use all his brainpower to remember properly. Had he paid enough attention?

"Does he dye it?"

"He doesn't. He..he never explained why it happens but I had assumed it was because he uses a lot of magic at times. It always happens when he comes back from a big battle."

Leo raised a brow and was about to ask something though Donnie beat him to it with the same question. "Always happen? Does it turn double gray or something?"

CJ shook his head. "No. It grows out black but then it turns all gray. I was never there when it happened so I can't really explain it well."

Mikey rested his chin on top of Leo's head. "Well as long as it doesn't happen to me, hopefully. I'm too young to look old!"

"Hold on, how old is big Mikey?" Raph asked.

CJ thought about it for a moment. "Uh...he's definitely older than thirty-five. It's been a while." He looked at his left hand to count them. "Thirty-eigh—? No, thirty-nine. About to be forty."

"You had to count after thirty-five?" Leo asked.

"No one has celebrated his birthday in a while. I'm counting from my age." The teen pouted.

"Old at a young age. Tragic." Mikey shook his head. Felt weird and hard as his chin kinda dug into Leo's head.

"I don't think forty is that young, Michael." Donnie said.

"Well it's not old either."

"Eh." The softshell shrugged.

Leo attempted to shake his head awake. He wanted to sleep so badly, as told by his heavy eyes, but even he couldn't help himself wanting to ask more questions. The boy from the future has been in the present for a few months but he had been clamped up tight when it came to talking about his past life, aside from small remarks and bits like that roach comment he made when he first arrived. Seriously though. Eating roaches and leaves? Leo would rather kill himself than be subjected to a world without being able to make pizza.

It was also nice to see CJ finally opening up. Something about his uncle coming back seemed to have ignited a buried feeling within him. Even Draxum got annoyed with him earlier as told by him texting Leo 'Tell Future Boy people take longer than an hour to wake up when they come back from the dead. Probably don't say dead .'

The slider had been tempted to push his luck and catch him off guard by asking who CJ's dad was. The boy had been super zipped on that subject. Heck, he only ever admitted to having a dad and that was because he had been incredibly angry at Leo! The dude hadn't even come close to that level of anger since! Which was kinda impressive considering how annoying Leo could be. The question nonetheless was burning in everyone's mind as to who it could be. Yeah, sure, it could be an absolute stranger but what if it was one of them? It would explain why he never wanted to talk about it.

Of course, the real reason behind Leo's desire to find out was because he wanted to win the bet. Literally, no one else picked his option and he was pretty good at these guessing games compared to everyone else. Sure, CJ was slowly beating everyone else at those guessing games, but Leo was still numero uno! That was all that mattered. Also, since CJ was the bet, he couldn't join anyway, which meant Leo was more likely to win this one.

"So what was Donnie like in the future?" Mikey asked.

"I, uh, didn't see him much, so I mostly have stories."

"How about April?"

"Same thing."

"Raph?"

"Not as much."

"And what about future Leo?"

"I also didn't see him as much."

"You seem to not have seen anyone else much except for Mikey." Leo pointed out.

But CJ let out a big yawn, teeth and all. It was always kinda neat to them that his teeth appeared a bit sharper than other humans, especially his canines. Leo couldn't help but notice the scar inside the boy's mouth on...what was the word..? Palate! He had been noticing more and more small details about the boy and even his siblings. He thought it was because of Carol.

Wait, shit, he distracted himself, was CJ trying to avoid the subject again? No! They just got him talking about this touchy subject at last! He couldn't give up now!

"I think it's time to sleep." CJ mumbled, his own eyes heavy looking now as he looked back at Leo. "There was that patrol, right?"

Oh, now someone cared about that?

Mikey groaned. "But there's so much more I wanted to ask you!"

Donnie rubbed his eyes as he stated, "I'm 'fraid Future Boy is correct here. For even Raphael has fallen asleep a while ago." He gestured to their older brother who clutched his teddy bear close to his face, eyes closed and softly snoring. His large tail had curled around CJ accidentally, trying to go against his body had the dude not sat next to him.

Leo reached his arm out to pat Mikey's whatever the best he could. "You can always bug him tomorrow, Mikey. He's not going anywhere."

The box turtle let out a weak whine as he deflated. "Finee." He slowly slid off of Leo at last and onto his side of the bed on his back. He raised his arm to point in the air. "Don't think you're escaping me!"

CJ let out a worried chuckle at that comment. "Tomorrow." He promised. Mikey flopped his arm back down.

Leo turned to rest on his left side and draped his blanket over him while Mikey threw his entire blanket all over himself as he turned to lay on his stomach. Leo then felt Mikey move a bit more before settling down. If he guessed correctly, as he usually did, he assumed his younger brother just hid into his shell.

Before Leo tried to close his eyes, he just watched as CJ and Donnie settled into their own beds. CJ had slowly moved closer to Raph, who instinctively grabbed on to him instantly to pull him into a cuddle hug once he discovered the warmth generator next to him, briefly shocking the other.

Donnie laid on his back. He raised his arm with his hand close to his face, pushed a couple of buttons and the lights in the room went out. Leo then heard a soft metal sound after the wristband turned off, likely Donnie had taken it off and placed it next to him.

"Thanks." Leo said. "I didn't want to get up."

"Yeah, I figured." Donnie mumbled out.

"Good night."

"Night!" Mikey's voice came from behind him.

"Good night." CJ softly responded.

Donnie just grumbled then turned in his bed.

Finally, Leo fully closed his eyes as the darkness went over his mind. He did his best to clear his brain to sleep fully. He had no reason to be scared of sleeping tonight. Whenever there was someone with him, the nightmares were kept at bay, and now all his siblings were sleeping in the same room for the first time in weeks.

Throughout the night, Leo kept finding himself randomly waking up to nothing, upsetting himself. Even more upsetting though, was that he kept finding himself facing the wall and holding onto Mikey's shell like it was a plushie. Ugh. He would've chosen the wall side if he knew this would've kept happening.

Still, the slider kept on flipping back to the other side, facing the door. Why did his body have to prefer laying on his right side? Couldn't he have been like Raph and slept on his stomach or Donnie who slept on his back? Maybe he needed his own weighted blanket to keep him from turning throughout the night or just go into his shell.

Leo subconsciously let out a small, annoyed groan.

Being on his left was something he had to either get used to or find a better position for. His body being uncomfortable was nothing compared to the unnerving experience of hearing complete silence when he would wake up, especially during the night.

It had been around four months since their encounter with the Krang. His right ear should have either gotten better, or his body should have adjusted to the lack of hearing in that ear. Ever since that loud screeching ability that had taken their powers though, he couldn't hear from the side that had faced the alien.

Leo let out yet another huff and tried to go back to sleep. Feeling growing anger as his body was super tired while his mind raced with the most obscene thoughts and various memories.

He wasn't even aware that he had fallen asleep until he faintly heard some people talking. He begrudgingly opened his eyes and, immediately, he could see that the culprit was none other than CJ, whose face was only lit up enough by his phone screen. The talking was coming from a random video he was playing. The boy was still in Raph's hold, so Leo didn't really know how he had gotten his phone in the first place.

Leo was happy that he was still on his left side until he realized that half his body was off the bed. He readjusted his body to be back on, making CJ jump and face his screen towards Leo as a light source. Thankfully it was on the lowest setting so it didn't blind the turtle.

"Sorry." CJ whispered, he turned the screen back to him and paused his video. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Nah, you didn't." Leo lied. "Can't sleep?" He whispered.

CJ released a deep breath, still looking at the screen. Likely pretending he was reading the comments. "I heard something."

"The pitter patter?"

"The cats."

"Oh." Leo looked confused. "What'd they do?"

"They were fighting each other or something else."

"That's not normal." Leo mentioned.

"It was just a loud scream and nothing since. I was going to check if I heard it again."

Leo moved his pillow to be more underneath him. He stared at CJ for a bit, contemplating.

"Hey CJ?" Leo whispered out.

"Yeah?"

Leo wondered for a moment if he should really tell him, then assumed that maybe the teen would talk more if no one else could really hear.

"It was nice to see you finally open up about your uncle." He said. "Aside from just the basic 'he was so cool ', y'know?"

CJ's expression softened. "Yeah..I guess I was more excited to see him again than I thought."

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"I was angry."

Woah. New lore drop. "Why?"

CJ looked like he was debating in his mind if he should tell Leo. He lowered his phone closer to the floor.

"Before I came here from the future, he had told me he was coming with me."

Okay, well, Leo will admit that he would also be quite upset if any of his family members did the same thing.

CJ put his screen back up, looking back at the paused video. "I guess he kinda ended up telling the truth."

Oh that...that was a sweet idea to Leo.

"Hey, Case?"

"Yeah?"

"I think that, despite not seeing future us that much, they'd still be proud of what you've become too." He tried to cheer him up.

CJ just stared at his phone for a while before clicking the screen off. Leo heard him shuffle and put the device aside.

"Goodnight, Leo. Still got that patrol." He stated.

Oh gosh, Leo just made things super awkward, didn't he?

The turtle shoved his face into the pillow in the hopes that, if CJ just suddenly developed night vision, wouldn't see the growing embarrassment written all over his features.

The next time Leo woke up, Mikey was aggressively trying to pry Leo's limbs off of him while trying to jump out of the bed, following the others that had been startled awake.

Leo turned around and heard Raph getting angry at the door.

"WHY ISN'T IT OPENING!?" He shouted.

Donnie scrambled to find his wristband from last night. "I locked the doors!"

"WHY?"

"SAFETY!"

"Hurry! We need to help Carol!" Mikey started to panic.

Okay, so something definitely had happened that had set the alarm bells in all of their heads. Curse Leo's lack of hearing!

CJ was quickly wrapping his red banana on his head. He then grabbed one of his bags and jumped through the blanket that covered Leo's broken wall next to the door.

Donnie smacked his forehead. "Right..the hole you made and I forgot to fix."

They all ran out through the hole as Donnie cursed that the lock didn't even help anyone.