[Insert turtle joke here] - Chapter 1 - ALt_writes_stuff - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024)

Chapter Text

Michelangelo felt pain and coldness as he died.

Finally, peace

Giving his last lesson to Casey Marie, to know peace , he closes his eyes, expecting to finally die and rest in peace with his brothers.

.

.

.

Then a drop of water falls on his forehead, waking him up.

Huh?

That was weird, he doesn’t…

He died, right?

Opening his eyes, he found himself in the sewers, but it didn’t look like the sewers he knew and grew up with. He checked his body and found that, while he was still bloody, he wasn’t injured. In fact, he felt younger and more energetic.

That… That can’t be right. He’s dead! He’s supposed to be dead . Why… Why is he still alive? Who- what saved him?

Who took away his opportunity to die?

He looked around to see if he could find something familiar. This section of the sewers wasn’t one he was familiar with, at least not one that he remembers. It was less… dull, in a way. Walking more he found some water that he could use as a mirror to see himself and surprised he was.

In the reflection, there was a younger version of himself, the wrinkles were gone and his eyes were back to normal. No more white eyes due to radiation, he could now see his brown eyes for the first time in years. A movement at his side caught his attention and he pulled a sai (somehow he still had all his weapons with him.) at the person and immediately dropped at who he was looking at.

In front of him, there was a rat– a mutant rat– with dirty, ruined clothes. Grey fur with some parts that were still pinkish, like he didn’t have much fur before mutation. In his hands there were four small turtles.

Four turtles. And a rat. In the sewers .

Sounds like the start of a joke because that must be.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Muttered Michelangelo before passing out.

———

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a different part of the sewers, and it looked like someone lived there. And his theory was proven right when a small chirp called his attention. Looking to his side, he saw a small turtle. It was a box turtle with orange spots, and an orange piece of cloth tied around his neck as a bandana. The tot was looking at him with curiosity before chirping with a smile. Michelangelo can’t help but coo at the sight of the baby.

“Hello little guy.” He said softly in the same way he talked to cats to pet them. Extending his finger, the box turtle gives it a hug, his small little tail wiggling.

“Was I this cute has a child?” Through the older turtle, then he heard other chirps and a hiss.

A spiny softshell turtle with a purple bandana and a red eared slider with a blue one approached him. The former was hissing in warning while the latter just chirped excitedly. The softshell grabbed the box turtle, bringing him away from the stranger while the slider just looked with curiosity. Michelangelo couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight, as always the younger being protected. Then, an alligator snapping turtle with a red bandana entered, running at the sound of the hissing and the chirps, hovering worriedly around the box turtle like an overbearing mother.

The chuckles were soon accompanied by tears. Once, in better times, his brother Don explained to him about the multiverse theory, and the possible existence of parallel universes. And how there were other worlds similar to theirs. He ignored it back then, saying that it sounded something straight from comics. Who could have guessed that it was true? Don would have gone crazy.

“Oh! You’re awake.”

Michelangelo flinched at the voice. It was way different from the one his own father had; it was less gruff, with the japanese accent having a bit of american in it. But looking at him was harder. Looking at this alternate version of his father and not wanting to kill hug him was hard, even more was the urge to cry.

“Father?” He couldn’t help but whisper that as he looked at the rat man.

For Lou Jitsu, now known as Splinter, he couldn’t help but aid this stranger. At first, he thought that he was one of the bounty hunters hired by the goat man to hunt him down. Then, he saw the Hamato clan symbol… or at least a similar version of it. It was a bit different from the one he knows, but it still put him at a defensive stance. He didn’t want anything to do with that cursed clan. Nor did he want his children to know about it. However, the look in his eyes before passing out told him many things.

Anger

Sorrow

Nostalgia

Grief

Love

The fact that his newly-but-not-fully-tested-out father instincts gave him a nagging feeling about the turtle, a similar feeling of recognition as seeing one of his sons…

Kneeling in front of him, a hand touching one of his cheeks, he wondered with tears in his eyes, and a small smile on his face. “Michelangelo? You grew up a lot.”

Michelangelo couldn’t help but cry on his shoulder, embracing a version of the father he lost, surrounded by the versions of the brothers that he lost.

With a baby turtle on his lap, a version of himself that he lost a long time ago, due to blood, pain and suffering.

He wanted to die. But now, he was doubting that.

Now… he didn’t know what to do.