Chapter Text
Once Raphael found a good rhythm and kept moving, the pain was manageable. It was stopping that was going to be the problem. To his benefit(or current hindrance), he hadn't been to Leatherhead’s in a while, not really ever having a need to. When there were holidays or general get-togethers, the turtles hosted. More hands made light work and honestly, none of them really wanted to burden anyone when their place was most accommodating. He and Michelangelo would grab the pizzas and any other things they needed while Leonardo and Donatello would take care of the setup. They hadn't all gathered here since Donatello mutated again and they had to keep him here until a cure was ready, -and that was years ago now. So, nostalgia aside, Raphael was re-acquainting himself with the layout of his friend's home, trying to recall exactly where the main console was. To his relief, the night lighting easily gave way to the eye-catching flicker of technology. There sat Vincent, alone, his attention completely on whatever the screen was showing and he was scrolling through. Raphael was never really tech adjacent outside bike maintenance, but even he could tell that as he approached, the script on the main console was nothing he recognized.
Vinnie noticed his approach, turning to meet Raphael at the sound of his footsteps. He expected another round of frustration or at least Vin’s expression to drop, but Raphael was instead given all of his attention.
“Raphael,” Vinnie said cordially.
“Er… hi there…” Raphael responded awkwardly. “You uh… busy right now…?”
Vin raised a brow, particularly at how meek Raphael was being. “Not… really? Are you doing a little better?”
“Y-yeah, I think so, but uh,” Raphael nervously rubbed the back of his head, avoiding eye contact just before he fully committed. “...Look,” he said defeatedly. “I wanna apologize, to you and your sister. I’ve been… honestly, a jackass to you two, and I wanna make it right.”
He didn’t look taken aback or unwilling to accept the apology, though Vinnie did regard Raphael with a minorly confused expression. “...You do realize I was never upset at you or your actions, …right? I was and am still mad about this situation both of our families are in, for the implications it brings.”
“I mean, yeah, but-” Raphael sighed. “...Just because shit’s fucked doesn’t mean I get to treat you two like I did. So, I’m sorry.”
Vin’s other eyebrow raised, a small but tickled smile replacing his resting frown. Something about just how brash Raphael’s speech was with no filter brought him a funny sense of ease, relaxing in the moment. “You’re forgiven, -if you find it in your heart to forgive me too. I shouldn’t have been so hostile and standoffish on our first meeting -even with my job. It didn’t help and my actions were immature, so, I’m sorry too, Raphael.”
“If that’s what it takes,” Raphael shrugged. “I don’t think you need to apologize either, but whatever, if we’re cool, we’re cool, yeah?”
“We’re fine, Raphael. I don’t hold grudges, I really don’t have time to,” Vin said truthfully. “And the person I may have had any lingering resentment for is long dead, thankfully.”
Raphael took notice of the distant look in Vinnie’s eyes, harboring a guess as the information he’d been given resurfaced again. “...Drako?”
“The Great, yes,” Vin minorly corrected. “His children are our family.”
“Which is still so weird to me…” Raphael shook his head. “No offense.”
“None taken. You didn’t let that stop you from saving Wick,” Vinnie started to get up from his chair. “-Which I still need to thank you for.”
“‘Saving’ might be a little much, -geez!” Raphael balked at Vin suddenly deeply bowing.
“Raphael Splinterson, thank you for lending my niece aid in her time of need. The Hamato Clan is in your debt.”
“Hey, cut that out! You don’t owe me nothin’!” Raphael shook his head with a sour expression, watching Vin rise back up to standing. “...Maybe you are a Leo after all. You’ve got all the tradition and humbleness crap in ya.”
“He says to the turtle with one arm down and three years behind his family due to negligence,” Vinnie bit back dryly.
“I don’t think either of those things are your fault?”
“Semantics. It’s still reality.”
“OK, whatever, I ain’t gonna fight you about it,” Raphael rolled his eyes under his mask. “I’m gonna go apologize to Nelli now.”
“Mmmmmmmm,” Vinnie’s lips creased into a solid line, “mmmmaybe don’t do that. Yet.”
“Why not?” Raphael asked innocently enough, Vin realizing he probably didn’t know about Nel’s cool down routine.
“Well, for what it’s worth, Raphael, even if I don’t think I’m much of a Leonardo, Nel is still my Raphael,” he gave Raphael a look he knew well. “Does your brother let others chase you down after you’ve had a blow up?”
“Not… usually, no. Unless it’s an emergency,” Raphael recalled.
“Exactly. It seems that every Raphael has their own issues with anger or being overwhelmed and cools off in their own way, usually by separating themselves,” Vinnie explained, less factually and more just trying to convey his point. “Nel has always left when things get to be too much, and then return once she’s calmed down. I would usually be the one to wait up for her, so,” he gestured to the set up, then sat back down. “Shelldon’s keeping an eye on her regardless, but if she’s not ready to come back, I’d just leave her be.”
“...Even if I was the cause of this and want to apologize to make it right?” Raphael said with a mildly confused bite.
“Look, Raphael,” Vin held back a sigh. “I’m not saying you can’t try and I’m not telling you what to do, but my sister is not in the best state of mind right now. Do not blame me if she does more than aggressively hit one of your pressure points if you go out there and try to smother her with an apology.” Raphael’s eyes widened at the prospect and the serious tone in Vinnie’s voice to hammer his warning home. “And besides…” he briefly trailed off, his eyes wandering past Raphael to the door that currently held his niece and the ever diligent Leatherhead doing all he could to keep her alive. “It’s less about you and more about how things don’t seem to be getting any better right now.”
Raphael realized where Vin’s concerns were, glancing back to the room himself. “...Hey, Leatherhead is the best we got and he’s never let us down,” he said comfortingly.
Vinnie allowed his sigh this time, closing his eyes as he leaned back into his chair. “...I know,” he said with a voice that Raphael felt the weight of, like it was burdened with more than he could ever know. “I wish I could have persuaded him to take more than one pint of my blood, but,” Vin’s eyes reopened, looking down to his uninjured arm, firmly wrapped where Leatherhead had drawn blood. “...I guess I shouldn’t be any more incapacitated than I already am.”
Raphael didn’t know what to say to that, suddenly feeling bogged down by Vin’s troubles instead of his own, more than he expected. But, understanding came quickly, his empathy resurfacing as he put himself in Vinnie’s shoes, imagining where his head would be at if it was his niece on the operating table right now, flung into another dimension, and with her life in the hands of a stranger. Raphael would probably be losing his mind waiting for news. To look at him now, Vinnie waiting patiently while pouring over… whatever the screen was displaying, it was merely another shade of losing one’s mind with worry. It really furthered Raphael’s understanding of just how much garbage each and every version of them endures time and time again, and brought him to even more forgotten empathy he’d discarded through his traumas.
“Proximity warning!” Shelldon’s voice and siren interrupted Raphael’s intent to reach out further. “Leonardo is coming in hot!” A Shell Cycle echoed into Leatherhead’s lair after the warning, and Leonardo arrived with a tightly bound package on the back of it. Him removing his helmet revealed a perturbed expression on seeing Raphael and Vin so close to one another, expecting the worst. “Welcome back, Leonardo!” The little drone manifested fully and chimed happily.
“Thank you, Shelldon,” Leonardo responded politely, his eyes still on Raphael.
“Relax!” Raphael put his hands up defensively. “I’ve been apologizing, see? No hostilities here!”
“We’re fine, Leonardo,” Vinnie reiterated.
“See!?”
“Then why are you hiding pain in your movements?” Leonardo approached with a scrutinizing glare.
“Leo, for crying out loud, I wiped out hardcore on my bike!”
“I know, I’m up to date on the situation,” he crossed his arms. “Donnie needed me to put a new tracker on your bike so our friends can pick it up instead of it lying out there, so I made a stop on the way back.”
“Figured that was you he was on the phone with…” Raphael grumbled. “But I’m seriously not beefing right now! And yeah, I’m in pain, but I’m fine! Karma got my ass, but I’ll live.”
Leonardo looked to Vinnie, eyeing the splint and the wrappings. “...These have nothing to do with anything you’re thinking about. Raphael has been fighting through his pain to apologize to me.”
“Yeah, and now it’s Nelli’s turn! I’m getting out of here before you start henpecking me!” Raphael said in a huff, taking his few steps away shakily before finding a rhythm again.
“...I warned you…” Vin said with a shake of his head, finding himself doing the motion in unison with Leonardo, who was more unimpressed with his brother’s decorum than whatever warning Raphael wasn’t heeding. They both took notice, looking away from each other awkwardly.
“...If I were to guess, Nelli isn't one to be disturbed when cooling her head?” Leonardo asked, easing them through the strange atmosphere.
“You would be correct in that assumption,” Vin nodded, then lightly shrugged. “...But this isn’t the first time a Raphael counterpart has gone after her either.”
“Yeah, but Uncle Raph didn’t make her mad~” Shelldon said factually and playfully.
“Mmm,” Vin’s shrug deepened.
“Should I stop him?” Leonardo asked.
“-Can- you stop him?” Vinnie asked back.
“You don’t need to stop him,” Donatello said confidently, entering into the main area. “He’s got his head back on straight,” he was wearing a tired but genuine smile as he closed the gap between him and Leonardo. “...And I do too.”
Leonardo’s own smile surfaced on seeing his brother had found a bit of peace from whatever plagued him, relieved and proud. “That’s good to hear, Donnie.”
“Thanks for being patient with us, Leo. We’ll talk about it later, alright?”
“I figured, especially considering all the stuff I brought back for you,” Leonardo pointed his thumb over his shoulder to his overencumbered bike. “Want me to bring it in for you?”
“I actually came out here to-” Donatello’s gaze was caught elsewhere, the main console’s screen intriguing him out of his thought. “-to grab… it…” he squinted, fully turning his body from Leonardo and to the projected image. “...What is this?”
Vinnie made no attempt to hide what he was engaging in before he was approached by Raphael and he wasn’t against sharing either. “It’s ancient Yōkai script from my dimension and my twin’s” he revealed casually. “While I’ve been both waiting for Nel to return and for news on Wick, I’ve been getting caught up on my reading.”
“The following is an account from an unknown individual who wrote down the events of a great war between Yōkai! AND They wrote it in their own blood! Gnarly, right?” Shelldon explained further.
“A bit of a dark thing to be getting ‘caught up’ on, if I’m being honest,” Leonardo said with a very slight chide to his voice.
“I have my reasons,” Vinnie defended himself, but deflated slightly. “...Even if it is just grasping at straws…”
“As in; it may have some reason to be related to our situation?” Donatello questioned with intrigue.
“...Probably not…” Vinnie shook his head. “Because again, grasping at straws. The odds of this being relevant is very low.”
“Well, that wasn’t a definite ‘no’, Vincent,” Leonardo said towards the tentative turtle. “And considering the warning you gave Raph today after we’d met, we shouldn’t take any idea you have for granted, especially with your experience.”
Vincent crossed his arms (well, arm), still not quite convinced this truly needed to be spoken about beyond what was already revealed. “You diiiiid say that ‘my knowledge is yours’ to Donatello,” Shelldon teased, prompting Donatello to jump in.
“Right! And I’m interested in this, connected to our situation or not.”
“...I just don’t know if you in particular should be wasting time on this…” Vin looked back briefly to Leonardo’s Shell Cycle, specifically to the bundle of parts needed to fix the Trans-Dimensional Portal Stick.
“By my calculations, it’ll take Donatello no longer than three hours to assemble the improved Trans-Dimensional Portal Stick, while your explanation of the war miiiight take 10 minutes max. 20 if you get really, reaaaaally rambly,” Shelldon explained, Vinnie locking eyes with the projection with a less than pleased expression.
“Are you… insulting me…?” He questioned with a very small chuckle.
“I’m just saying, I could do it quicker~” He jabbed back playfully. “I only have two S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.s lives in my cranium while you have hundreds of Leonardos! Or thousands, or-”
“Alright, stop that,” Vin waved his hand through Shelldon, dissipating the hologram. “For the crime of being too sassy, you’re on the exclusive duty of making sure Raphael and Nel don’t clash. Go on.”
“You’re not my dad!” his disembodied voice sassed back.
“No, but I am your uncle who’s painkillers are wearing off and is woozily irritable due to blood loss. Don’t push me, young man,” he shook his head and placed the one good hand on its corresponding hip.
“Pbbbbbbbtttttt!” Shelldon blew a loud raspberry, despite probably not even actually having a tongue, but he relented with a; “fiiiiiiiine…”
“Thank you,” Vin allowed the childish act, even participating in one himself as he rolled his eyes, feeling Shelldon’s main presence fade. “...You are certainly your father’s son…”
“Uh…” Donatello hesitated slightly. “Is my counterpart really that, er, ‘sassy’?”
That got Vinnie smirking, but dropped it as he addressed the two brothers again. “We only have time for one discussion if you want to get cracking on your project, and Donatello Hamato would definitely take more than 20 minutes to explain all his nuances. But know that I say that with love. Sassiness aside, we are only in the position to talk about the Yōkai War because of his ingenuity and thoughtfulness." He gestured to the T-Emblem sitting atop of the console’s tower. “So if you want to be enlightened, then sure, fine. I did say my knowledge was yours until we get out of this mess.” Vin went for the wired computer mouse, clicking twice, revealing another window underneath with a near identical image showing the Yōkai script. “How much did my sister tell you about the ‘Dragon’s Eye’, or ‘Janome’?”
“She told us that it was something you were all trying to steal, that Sofonisba accidentally swallowed it, and that it was the reason for her dimensional powers prematurely activating and eventually fully transforming her,” Donatello answered the query.
Vinnie nodded, noting where their knowledge was at. “That’s the basics, probably all she could manage while trying to get you up to speed,” Vin said mostly in assurance to himself, pushing the chair slightly out of the way, so that he could better showcase the screen. “There were two wars, not concurrent, but mere years apart, in separate dimensions, thousands of years in the past, both over the same relic; the Janome,” he said, watching Leonardo’s and Donatello’s eyes widen.
“What? As in the very same one?” Donatello made his skepticism known, Vinnie nodding before continuing.
“There is only one; created by my Twin’s dimension Krang with the intent to sow discord, …for the sake of it, they’re just jerks by nature,” Vinnie put up one hand, showcasing one of the scripts. “The script on the left is theirs. It follows the war in detail all the way to its conclusion. This dimension is under Lord Simultaneous’ charge, and he was the one to end the war,” he took the mouse again, scrolling all the way to the bottom, double clicking on the last section of text. A translation in English appeared over it, both brothers leaning in to read it.
“‘And lo, came our saviour, a man made of flesh who commanded both time and space. With his prudence, he took the Janome from us, unaffected by its sway, and disappeared with harsh words of guidance’,” Donatello read out the inscription.
“Sure sounds like Lord Simultaneous,” Leonardo added.
“And that should have been the end of it,” Vinnie said. “Lord Simultaneous took the Janome and added it to the hall where we keep all the timeworn relics and artifacts. …But when Savanti Romero betrayed his master and raged through Null Space, a lot went missing, not necessarily with him, but scattered through time and space.”
Donatello brought a hand to his mouth, mulling over the tale. “...And it ended up in your universe?!” He came to the realization, Vinnie nodding. “That’s a crazy coincidence!”
“Coincidence, fate, whatever, it was our problem now, and Lord Simultaneous wasn’t going to step in this time.”
“And why is that?” Leonardo pushed.
“Because my universe wasn’t worth saving,” Vin disclosed with a shrug, seeing more confusion rise in the brothers. “...And I’ll explain why. In Null Space, universes are assigned to and monitored to keep on their paths by various Time Lords. However, universes are coming in and out of existence every nanosecond -and not every single one of them is worth monitoring. It’s not as cruel as it sounds, because most are blips or just can’t sustain themselves and would require 24/7 monitoring.”
“And yours?” Donatello inquired with an eyebrow raise.
“I don’t know,” Vin answered truthfully. “Lord Simultaneous' whole purpose in taking me on as an apprentice is due to seeing potential in me, and is allowing me to try and save my universe as my ongoing, seemingly never ending task,” he voice was bitter, Vinnie forcing himself to shake it off. “But, yes, the Janome came to our Earth, and caused a nearly identical war. Lord Simultaneous didn’t bother looking for the Janome as if it wasn’t in any monitored universes, that meant it was a non issue, set to be destroyed one way or another.”
“Nearly identical…” Donatello’s eyes were going back and forth between both of the shown scripts.
“Yep,” Vin lightly reaffirmed. “It’s mostly grammar. Sofia and Draxum together translated both versions of the script, looking for a way to remove the Dragon’s Eye from her. There was unfortunately no answer, but that then begs the question; how did the Dragon’s Eye manage to make it all the way to the present day after causing such turmoil? Who stopped the war this time instead of Lord Simultaneous?” He scrolled all the way down in the second window, repeating the clicks to bring up the translation. “The answer may surprise you,” he smiled specifically at Leonardo, prompting him to read this time.
“‘And with a slash of his blade, …Miyamoto Usagi’-?!” Leonardo stopped to look at Vin, who simply nodded, smile enduring and gesturing for him to keep reading. “‘...Miyamoto Usagi cleaved the thrall in twain, reclaiming the Janome and entrusting it to his companion Kagehito before departing whence he came’.”
“Most likely -my- Usagi, not yours,” Vin squashed the next question he knew was coming. “The turtles encountering a version of Miyamoto Usagi is a common event in their lives. …Usually by a dimensional mishap of some sort,” he over enunciated specific words, watching the gears turn in Donatello’s head, receiving a gasp, pleased he didn’t have to further elaborate.
“You’re trying to correlate if your Usagi’s dimensional mishap may have some sort of connection to our current one!”
“Yes, full marks!” Vin said with a snap of his fingers, pointing proudly at Donatello, though it fell down back at his side immediately after. “But, again, it’s so far-fetched that I highly doubt it. An earlier entry mentions that Usagi was literally thrown into their midst and another mentions how he was pursuing a demon he believed was from our dimension in his own time.”
“It’s all… slightly similar, in a frustrating way,” Leonardo said almost exactly what Vin was thinking. “Is there any mention as to how he returned? Or the name of the ‘demon’ he was pursuing?”
Vinnie shook his head. “No. Both journals are very concise and to the point, naming no one else of importance. -And as far as I know, this is the only recording of the wars. These are only in the T-Emblem’s storage thanks to Sofia’s translation project.”
“What if I told you,” Shelldon’s voice butted itself back into their midst. “There actually IS more?”
“...Shelldon…” Vinnie said, a less than impressed tone in his voice.
“What?! Raphael and Nelli are FINE!” He re-manifested, right into Vin’s face, his metallic nose almost touching him. “They’re just yapping about feelings and how much pain they’re respectively in. I do NOT need to listen to that! I’m an assistive AI, not an observational therapist!”
“Told you,” Donatello said smugly to Leonardo. “We shouldn’t be having any more problems.”
“Alright, alright,” Vin gave in to Shelldon’s tiny tantrum. “This is news to me, Shelldon. I don’t know all the intricacies of the T-Emblem, so if there’s more to know, then please share.”
“Thank you for saying please~” Shelldon said victoriously, Vin doing everything in his power to not sharply inhale against the AI’s abrasive personality traits. “Don-Dad uploaded the entirety of both Mystic Libraries into the T-Emblem’s storage for easy access and I’ve been programmed to be able to find and cross reference any material!”
“When the hell did he have time to do that…?” Vinnie said dumbfoundedly. “Especially mine…”
Shelldon shrugged with his rotors “The growing time for a homunculus is preeeeeetty boring, dude. He and Giorgio had a lot of little side projects going on. -So do you the deets or not?!”
“Yes, I do. What do you have for us?”
“Well, it’s a little weird, to be completely honest, because it was done long, looooong after the war, but, eh, you know what, just look at it yourselves;” Shelldon moved over to the monitor, tapping and switching it over to the new data. The journals blipped away to a mural, specifically of that in Ukiyo-e styled paintings. On the left showed a very obvious Miyamoto Usagi, his bright blue kimono and tied back ears striking and very recognizable. Beside him was whom they assumed to be Kagehito, a spiderlike Yōkai. They were both primed to fight the beast shown on the right, it looking shockingly similar to Sofia after the transformation had fully taken over. Vinnie leaned in silently, taking in the painting wholly, down to every last detail.
“That’s definitely Usagi…” Leonardo said in awe, admiring the historical painting of his friend, or at least, an identical counterpart.
“How strange,” Donatello took to observing it closely as well. “It must have been painted by a survivor of the war, but that would make the artist thousands of years old. Ukiyo-e paintings were really only prominent from the 1700s to early 1900s. Do Yōkai live that long?”
“Remember, Drako the Great was in the thousands, -though I don’t know if that’s due to him being a dragon,” Leonardo reminded Donatello of the facts they’d learned from Nel.
“They can be, but it depends,” Vin was practically glaring at the painting, not a single second of attention wasted elsewhere. Leonardo and Donatello let him mull for a while, the former observing his grip tighten on the chair’s armrest.
“...What do you see, Vincent?” He asked, feeling a bit of dread from his counterpart’s silence.
Vinnie didn’t answer immediately, taking a few more moments for himself before speaking. “Shelldon, can you increase the contrast?”
“Sure! 50% contrast applied!” Shelldon complied, the image lightening and becoming harsher in its colors.
“Oh!” Donatello noticed the changes first, perking up at a secret revealed. “There’s more characters! Shadowed behind them!”
There were three more, in fact. Barely seen even with the adjustments, there was one more each on opposing sides, and another in the sky. To Usagi and Kagehito’s left, was an anthropized fox in a long, beautiful kimono, and to the thrall’s right, an anthropized rat in gaudy samurai warlord armor. Finally, the sky held a humanoid figure, far away, but descending, feminine and godlike, -and Vincent felt the blood drain from his face.
“Oh fuck,” shook out of Vin’s mouth, nearly jumping to close the three windows. The look of being genuinely shaken took the brothers aback, Vinnie appearing to be nearing a breakdown. “...Storytime’s over. Forget we ever had this conversation.”
“W-what? Why?” Donatello asked in more concern than curiosity.
“Look,” Vincent swallowed a lump of fear in his throat. “I don’t dare evoke the names of who we just saw lightly. If they are relevant, then I’ll elaborate, but for now, just keep it to yourself.”
“Vincent,” Leonardo, feeling the gravity of the situation, leaned down onto one knee, lining up his and Vin’s gaze, taking in the poorly hidden fears he was having wash over him. “Explain this to us in a way that doesn’t add to our already building anxieties, please,” he said harshly, but with purpose.
“All I can say…” Vinnie closed his eyes, regretting ever looking into things this deeply in this moment. “Is that I may have figured out why it’s so hard to save my universe.”