Inside the lair, everything is calm- well as calm as it could be in the circumstances. With two sets of turtles and two extra humans, everyone is a little uptight. Leonardo has been peacekeeping over the last day or two, at his own expense of course; a Leo is gonna Leo after all. In the living room resides both Raphs and Mikeys, while Leonardo and both Donnies are in the medbay alongside Leo, keeping a close eye on the slider. Donnie has already given the brief on their medical history, including their recent injuries against the Kraang and the shredder. He is reluctant to give any information about how the injuries came about, simply saying that he wants to wait until his Leo wakes up, but Leonardo has the slightest inkling that there's more to it than that.
The humans, now identified as the alternates of their April and Casey, are just as secretive as their turtle companions. The lingering thought that something is off about the Casey-Alternate plagues Leonardo, the humans actions resonate with him all too well and are a dead giveaway that he is mourning someone. But who? All the turtles and April are here, and all relatively ok (other that Leo of course), so who is Casey missing so deeply that it affects him so badly? He is a husk, a shell of someone who appears to typically be very outgoing and energetic, moping about the lair and only conversing with his friends if the conversation is started by one of his peers. Since the time that these mysterious alternates appeared in his dojo, Leonardos' concern and unease has only grown. It festers inside him and causes him to be wary of the visitors. He feels bad for being suspicious about them, but last time a set of alternates appeared in this city, there was an impending Kraang invasion, and Leonardo feels way too old to deal with another one of those; and he thinks his alternates would agree.
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After hours of convincing from both sets of brothers, Donnie finally decides to get some rest. "30 consecutive hours awake can really hit you like a brick wall sometimes" he chuckles to himself. His anxiety has grown greatly over the days, and his brain sends him constant reminders any time he tries to rest about how his twin brother is currently unconscious in the bed nearby. After negotiating the conditions of his rest with seven other turtles, he gradually convinced them to let him sleep in the medbay beside his brother. Whenever he leaves the medbay, he makes it as quick as mutant-turtley possible; whether its for food, or cleanliness concerns, nothing beats the anxiety of knowing his brother could wake up and panic at any moment. Donnie makes his way back to the medbay, arms full with bedding for him to sleep on. He is trailed by Leonardo and Donatello, Leonardo carries food both for Donnie and Leo, while Donatello carries various medical supplies to stock up the seriously depleted medbay. The sudden commotion is a quick change from the serenity of the empty medbay, which obviously is a shock to the previously unconscious Leo, who immediately sits upright. Leo then clutches at his head and hisses, obviously pretty knocked up.
"LEO!" Donnie whisper-yells at his brother, he remains quiet as he realises that his twin has a splitting headache. Looks like he won't be resting any time soon. "Lay back down I'm begging you. You're the medic, you should surely realise something is wrong! And don't lay on your shell, that's a story we are yet to figure out."
Leonardo and Donatello stand off to the side, yet to be noticed by the blue masked slider. They stare at the situation currently in front of them, then turn to each other in shock. Donatello leans over to his brother, "is it just me, or is their dynamic a little wack?" he whispers sarcastically. Leonardo only grimaces in return, while Leo is still trying to get out of bed despite his brothers whispered lecture.
Leos' eyes dart around the room, frantically searching for his large, spikey big brother, and his tiny, colourful baby bro. He gets up, ignoring the searing pain that threatens to tear him down. Leonardo mentally commends him for his strength, but quickly shifts to block the doorway from his alternate.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Leo cries out, then lets out a string of curses at his outburst and reaches for his head again. He's understandably confused and disoriented. He doesn't fully remember what happened, nor where he is. Spots quickly fill his vision, and his grip on reality falters as he stumbles into his twin. Except for the fact its not his twin.
"Donnie? What the fuck you look so boring now? Did someone less zesty than me give you a makeover, 'cos you need to never go back to them again." Leo groans into the boring-Donnies' plastron. He then takes a closer look and realises that this is in fact, not his Donnie after all. He feels woozy, his vision is swimming in front of him and now he's seeing double? Nuh-uh, this is wack!
"Donnieeee- knock me back out please I'm seeing double, and they're boring too! My worst nightmare!" Leo pretends to swoon in shock, then actually nearly faints from the sudden movement. After that dramatic display, Leos' twin has had enough. Metal limbs protrude from Donnies shell and swoop up his brother, plonking him back down onto the bed with enough force to tell Leo to sit down and shut the fuck up. Donatello gawks in awe of the incredibly complex technology in front of him. He shakes his head and resolves to himself that he will question his alternate after this whole situation was dealt with. Leonardo takes a deep breath, internally glad that his invention-loving brother managed to contain the flurry of questions that was no doubt filling his mind. Leonardo starts to chuckle, gradually getting louder and louder. His brother stares at the out-of-character display, confused as the chuckle turns into bellowing laughter.
"Oh my God! This guys hilarious!" he breathes, struggling to string together sentences between his fits of laughter. "I WISH I had such a great sense of humour! How old are you like, 20? Jeez, but seriously Leo, sit down you've got a bit of a situation on your back, and y'know, everywhere else." The blue masked gestures to his alternate, and his laughter slowly fades into a content silence, while both Donnies and Leo stare at Leonardo, just a little confused on what he found so funny. Donatello smiled after a while, glad to see his brother laugh so heartfully; for a while he was worried he wouldn't hear his brother truly happy ever again. Donnie interrupts the situation at hand to remind his peers about the massive list of injuries Leo is recovering from, and to stop himself from going mad. His brother is in pain, he nearly died!- and this Leo was laughing because he found Donnies twin funny? Anger twinged at the sides of his face, his smile turned to a grimace before he glanced in the direction of his brother to see him happy. Happy and distracted. After all the events of the last week. A smile returns to Donnies' face. That is until his brother, true to his stubbornness, once again pushes himself off the medbay bed and stumbles off in search of his other siblings.
Leos' head hurts. His body hurts. Everything hurts, but he pushes forwards off the medbay bed to find his brothers. In the back of his mind, he hears Donnie and his alternate, who he desperately wants to call old/and or boring Leo, reprimanding him and demanding he come and rest. He ignores their pleas and continues on his mission. Leo occasionally comes to a stop and leans against a wall, begging his mind to stop betraying him and make the dizziness stop. His tight grip on the rough, stone walls is the only thing keeping him grounded, as if letting go will make him faint again. His shell is starting to ache, probably from misuse of his joints. He rattles away to himself, mentally brainstorming the injuries he could have accumulated while in the prison dimension, as well and how long he was asleep for. Leo slowly makes his way to what he thinks is the living room of the lair, keeping his fingertips touching the wall until he reaches a doorway and realises he has to somehow make his way to his brothers without making a fuss. He doesn't want any extra attention right now, just conformation that his brothers are alright. "Then I will rest." he tells himself. Leo peers through the doorway into what is definitely the living room. His baby brother is laying on top of Raph, sleeping peacefully. Leo notices that Mikeys' fingers are twitching in his sleep, and bandages wrap from his fingertips up to his forearms. A deep guilt festers in his gut, knowing how those injuries came about- saving him. Raph is starfished out on the living room floor, with a thick doona shielding Mikey from his spikes and protecting Raph from the cold. More guilt pangs in Leos' stomach; Raph only starfishes when he's completely exhausted, which is expected after stopping an alien invasion and being possessed, but Leo can't help but feel as if he could have done more to make sure Raph was safe.
"Oh well" Leo sighs. He leans against the doorframe, silently watching over his siblings and their counterparts. He then smiles to himself, "what's done is done, I just have to do as much as I can now."
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Donnie warned Leonardo about his brothers stubbornness before Leo had even woke up.
"My brother, or twin as he likes to call us, appears very, very silly. He acts like he doesn't have a care in the world. That is until one of us is in danger of course. He's going to be very touchy when talking about our experience before we landed here, and act like he isn't in pain when he is. He will try and train while his shell is healing, and scream and shout when we try to stop him. He also uses humour to deflect people that are concerned about him, but don't let that deter you when asking questions. Unless you feel like you are overstepping personal boundaries, or setting off trauma responses; which I hope you know how to recognise that or we are going to be in trouble, don't hesitate to ask him things. Any questions?" Donnie had finished his rant, and gasped for a few seconds, as if he forgot to breath while explaining his brothers behaviour. Leonardo almost believes that Donnie is apathetic about how his brother feeling. There aren't many physical giveaways to how he is feeling, and Leonardo finds him extremely difficult to read emotionally. But if he pays very close attention, he can see the slightest glint of fear in Donnies' eyes. Fear for his brother, fear for his family, and fear for the future.
Leonardo is currently following his alternate towards the living room. He tried calling after Leo, first demanding and then begging for him to stay and rest. His injuries were bad- really bad. His shell was cracked, he had a really bad concussion and bruised ribs. His injuries gave the impression that he had been slammed into something thick, like concrete, by something extremely powerful. Leonardos' mind raced, thinking of the possibilities and the dangers that could have presented itself in their dimension. He considered the Triceratons or the Shredder, but he had a suspicious feeling that it was something else. He planned to ask Leo about it, in time of course. The healing of him and his brothers was most important, that and them finding their way home. However to do that, they would need some info on how they got here, and what their dimension is like. Leonardo figured that talking to their alternates would be the easiest conversation, as surely they would be similar in personality- right? He decides to ask Raphael to talk to his counterpart, as he had a lot going on and Leonardo assumed that both Raphs would have the same problem of struggling to open up about their emotions, lashing out with sudden anger rather than simply expressing how they were feeling. Leonardo passes his alternate and approaches Raphaels' bedroom. He knocks on the door, uncertain on how the conversation will pan out. It all depends on what mood Raphael was in; his mood swings were more controllable now but he is still a hot-head after everything they have been through.
"Hey Raph, can I ask a favour of you?" Leonardo asks his brother, pleading mentally that his hot-tempered sibling would be in a good mood. His pleas were answered as he heard his brothers light natured reply;
"Of course, oh fearless leader" he smirks, "What's up?"
"I want to gather some information about our mysterious visitors" Leonardo begins, and Raphael starts to speak, probably to object the sudden invasion of privacy, however he keeps his mouth shut, awaiting an explanation from his older brother. 'Leonardo isn't unreasonable, and they have had visits from their alternates before!' He thinks to himself, 'and besides, we do need to find them a way home after they heal up. That's probably what Leo is trying to do!'
"I don't want you to ask too many questions, especially not at once; these turtles have been through a lot, and need some down time to rest and heal up. But we still need to find out how they got here, and whether their dimension is still dangerous. I don't want to send them back to a dangerous New York if they are still in recovery, but we are going to struggle feeding an extra six mouths."
"Sooooo-" Raphael drags out, questioning what his leader wants him to do.
"Soooo" Leonardo responds, "I want you to talk to Other-Raph- ask him some questions, get to know him, see if you can find out how they got here; but make sure to not overstep any boundaries, and BE NICE" He emphasises the last two words, to which Raphael scoffs as he walks towards the living room, where the larger version of Raph is currently residing-
"Jeez Leoo, I'm a lot better with my emotions than I used to be! Besides, this is another me- what could go wrong?"
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Raph awakens to his little brother sheepishly whispering in his ear, trying to disturb him from his deep sleep.
"Hey Raph, your doubleganger wants to talk to you" Mikey murmurs, gently gesturing in the direction of his big bros alternate. The two Raphs looked pretty different so far, and from what Mikey could tell, their roles in the family were different too! This Raph seemed much less level-headed than Mikeys' Raph, and had never been the leader either! Mikey found himself pondering what the family dynamic was going to be like, and where their father was in this alternate universe? Mikey watches his large, spikey brother slowly pull himself up from the floor, where he had been laying for what felt like an eternity. Raph hissed at the sudden movement, and a wave of dizziness struck him before he was caught by his counterpart.
"Ugh" Raph groaned, "thanks for the helping hand, other me" he smiles at the rather small version of him; that would be a question for later. For now, Raph had to figure out how he and his family were going to get home! He hoped that this was what the conversation would be about, but anxiety quickly built up inside him- he wasn't sure whether he was ready to talk about what happened yet- and he definitely didn't want to go crazy and scare the people that were taking care of him and his family! Raphael helped Raph slowly make their way towards his bedroom, which they would probably share when they weren't turtle piling in the living room. As Raph approached the doorframe, he hesitated.
"What's up Other-me?" Raph turned around to look at his counterpart through the doorway, and then remembered the tremendous size difference between them. "Oh shit, I'm sorry I sorta forgot how huge you are in comparison to me- I'm gonna be bitter about that by the way!" Raphael adds the last part of the sentence on at the end to add some humour, after being shocked by the reaction of the snapping turtle. At least he assumed that his alternate was a snapping turtle, based on the brief turtle knowledge he had acquired over the years. Raph appeared hurt, even scared when Raphael mentioned their size difference, as if he was worried he was going to hurt his counterpart. The pair sat in silence for a few moments after deciding to just sit outside of the bedroom, leaning against the door. Raphael was unsure where to start the conversation.
"Sooo-" he begins awkwardly, "As long as it's not a touchy subject, how did you guys get here? And why are you all so knocked up? Especially your Leo" Raph takes a deep breath, preparing himself. The entirety of the invasion, he hadn't been able to process what was going on, and now it was hitting him all at once. Tears began to sting his eyes, slowly running down his cheeks.
"Hey, woah! I'm sorry if it's too soon to talk about yet but-" Raphael starts to backtrack his abrupt wave of questions when he is interrupted by his watery-eyed companion.
"No it's ok! Really." He smiles. It was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I'm going to be pretty brief until I've processed it myself, but here's the basic story. Our world got invaded by aliens, called the Kraang? Have you heard of those?" He asks his counterpart, to which he gets a nod in return, probably not wanting to interrupt the flow of Raphs's words, Raphael keeps his mouth shut.
"Yeah, well they came to our dimension through a key which got stolen by the foot due to a mistake made by our leader, Leo. I'm not blaming him of course; he's only been leader for a few months, and didn't get any guidance from our Dad. Basically, they invaded and they were really powerful, like really powerful. We would've had no chance, even if they couldn't block our mystic weapons and our ninpo." Raphaels' face is one of confusion, still listening but letting himself truly ponder on what his alternate had to say; mystics? ninpo? Kraang that were actually dangerous? What more didn't they know about?
"You are probably wondering what a 'ninpo' is, based on the look on your face" Raph chuckles, it sounds happy yet Raphael can tell, it was an empty sound, void of any true happiness. 'Raph was trying to act tough, just like he used to' Raphael thought to himself, and the thought plastered a sympathetic smile on his face
"I'll explain what it is later, I really don't want to talk about this longer than I have to. We went to steal back the key and close the portal to the Kraangs dimension, but I got captured and they..." he pauses, hesitant on whether he can continue without breaking down completely. There was still a steady flow of tears running down his face, but they were yet to turn into sobs. Secretly, he was proud of his display of self control. "They did some things to me that I don't think I can talk about yet." After that, he gestured to his eye, still red and irritated; its appearance and the implications behind it sent shivers of fear down Raphaels' spine.
"Leo knew we couldn't defeat them, but we could trap them back where they came from. Leo he- he sacrificed himself to keep the Kraang distracted while we closed the portal to the Prison Dimension. We still don't know what happened in there, but by how he looked when he came out, it couldn't have been good huh?" Raph pauses, contemplating what to say next. He was still confused on where the second portal came from, after they saved Leo. Mikeys' markings were glowing and the portal itself was his signature orange, but Mikey would be a lot more injured if he had somehow opened a second portal. Silence followed for a few minutes. Raph basked in the comfortable quiet while Raphael processed everything said so far. Raphael suddenly had a lightbulb moment, blurting out rather abruptly-
"Wait! If Leo got trapped, how did he get back? His mystic powers or whatever you were on about can't make portals right?" He questions, then mentally lectures himself for the sudden lack of mental maturity. Raphael goes to apologise for his outburst when yet again, he is interrupted.
"You're half right about that, see Leo can make portals with his power, but not interdimensional ones as far as we know. The one that opened the portal was Mikey." Raph emphasises the name of his youngest brother, clearly trying to make a point on how very proud he was. "Mikeys' mystics are the most unpredictable sure, but they are also the strongest, and they are affected by your emotions. If your Mikey is anything like ours, he is extremely emotional, and loyal to his loved ones. That, combined with us also giving some of the energy required for such a feat, was enough for him to literally rip through time and space for his big bro."
"Wow. Just wow." Raphael was breathless. He wasn't even trying to flatter his alternate, he was genuinely impressed and also a little scared of these turtles and their abilities. He would never admit that out loud though. "You guys have been through so much, go rest Other-me, you deserve it- you all do." He smiled, and with that, Raph hauled himself up and lumbered off in the direction they came from. He turned back to give a small grin and thumbs up before turning the corner to the living room.
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After that exhausting conversation, Raph couldn't wait to return to his brothers. He was probably being too clingy, but hey? I guess that's what an alien invasion does to ya! Turns out, his brothers were thinking the same way. Even Leo, to Raphs relief, had been granted leave from the medbay to spend some time with his family. Raph quietly approaches his siblings, tapping them on the shoulder. He doesn't even have to speak, as they already knew what was going on. Raphs' brothers immediately begin to shift, allowing room for him to lay on the ground. Slowly, they take their usual spots; Donnie laying across Raphs' back, Mikey curled up against Raphs' side and Leo resting besides Raph, using Donnies' soft shell as a pillow. Casey and April also join, finding a spot each on the edge of the turtle pile. Exhaustion from the last few days finally hits them all, and their breathing slows as they all fall asleep, laying together in the middle of the living room as their alternates watch from afar.