Cut to inside the building

After slicing through thick alien vines, Leo and Casey finally found themselves inside the building where Raph was supposedly held up. Just walking through what they could only guess was the main reception left Leo in awe, "Oh man, is this what the future looks like?"

Purple vines moved under their feet, taking up more space in the large room as they crept along. Casey looked around, the environment becoming more and more familiar to what he was used to. The young teen could feel his whole body shake, "Nope, the future is worse. Much worse."

Snapping out of the trance the room had put him in, Leo tried calling for his brothers; only now realising he hadn't heard anything from them in a long time. There was a lot of static before idle noise came through, "Donnie, Mikey, do you read me?" he called out. The room was eerily quiet save for the few sounds the vines made as they traversed the building.

But then, "Come in, Leo. Come in, Leo." Donnie's voice waded through the silence. Leo had never felt so much relief in his life, never thought he'd be so happy to hear his eggheaded brother's voice, "D-Donnie, where are you?" he practically begged. There were a few panted breaths over on Donnie's end, no doubt they were running from something, "We've extracted ourselves from the subway and are currently ascending a staircase."

A staircase? That must mean they were close, Leo thought. And if by magic, or certain chance, five figures appeared from the depths of the subway tunnels. Mikey, Donnie, April, Splinter and...(Y/N)...

Leo felt like he could collapse, after everything that had just happened to him his mind had drifted from their last interaction. After what Casey had told him, about the future, Leo was more sure than ever that he needed you by his side. Perhaps if he didn't act out like he did, then seeing you wouldn't have felt so painful.

Mikey, April and Splinter dashed towards the duo while Donnie lagged behind, tapping his techbrace like his life depended on it. You, however, choose to wait back not sure how you were meant to feel at this moment. Sure, you knew this would happen, and sure, some feelings needed to be talked about. But, whenever you looked at his face you're brought back to the moment that ended it all.

Mikey wrapped his arms around his brother, relishing in the tight grasp Leo held. Splinter joined the two while April hugged Casey, the poor boy freezing before accepting it with open arms. You watched the family with warm eyes, happy for them to be united. Though your gaze would flicker to Donnie who was, at this point, talking to himself.

"I'm getting a lot of interference, but if you hold still, I can triangulate your position using a complex geolocation algorithm."

Casey tried stepping forward "Donnie?", but Leo held a hand against his shoulder, a subtle way of telling him there was no point. Donnie continued to ramble to himself, you were certain he knew everyone was behind him and he was just ignoring them, "Odd numbers.. primes.. no almost... Almost!" he beamed,

Splinter coughed behind him, glaring at the genius' head. Donnie's shoulders sank, a small pout on his lips, "Ugh, I never get to use my algorithm." he moaned out. Leo pulled Donnie into a hug, much to the soft-shell's views on family embrace, "Man, I am so glad you guys aren't dead!"

Mikey nuzzled into the embrace, cheeks rosy and eyes watery, "Ditto." he whispered out. Casey had caught your gaze, standing rigid before he decided to move over to you. Originally you panicked, no doubt he was going to try to talk to you about earlier.

"Hey, sooooo-" here it comes "-about earlier, I appreciate you sticking up for me...I'm sorry I caused you and Leonardo to, erm, fight." something within you felt guilty, looking at this boy as though he was wounded by your's and Leo's actions. You shook your head, offering your own apologies, "No, no, if anything it was all on me. Don't ever think you caused this to happen, you didn't."

He tried to smile, but the frown on his face was holding his lips hostage in a tight grasp, "Back, er, back in the subway, me and Leo were trapped and we both said some things." You hummed for him to continue. Casey became clammy, maybe he shouldn't share this, maybe he should let Leonardo figure this stuff out. But maybe he could just help, fix at least one thing while he was here.

"He- he was miserable, not only because of R-Raph, but because he lost you too. I know he regrets what he did, but if he's anything like my master in the future, he'll come to apologise to you with the first break he gets." Casey could see the worry in your eyes, he could feel the nervousness radiating off of you. He flashed you a calming smile, "Go easy on him?" he asked.

You let out a small giggle, though it was part way a sob, and bobbed your head, "I'll try." you whispered. That seemed to satisfy Casey enough, with a brief nod he left to go chat with the others. But what stood behind him left you speechless, it was Leo. He was looking at you with broken eyes, a frown etched on his face like his lips had never known how to smile. He stalked up to you with solemn steps, a gentle "Hey," gliding past his lips.

You both refused eye contact at first, just choosing to stare at your feet or the ground, "Hey," you replicated. The air between you felt tense, it was an unusual feeling, to say the least. You were all so used to being open with Leo, showing your goofy side and your sensitive side. Whenever you got into an argument it would be petty and over within an hour, neither one of you could stand to be apart from the other for so long.

But this time it was different, this time you'd been apart, this time the words hit harder. Though your location wasn't the greatest for such a situation, and the rather large group that stood watching, it felt as though you and Leo were alone in your own special world.

"Listen, (Y/N)-" he began to say, taking a timid step towards you, "I- I was an idiot, a total, stupid idiot-"

"Leo-"

"No, (Y/N)." he cut you off, his voice authoritative. He finally looked at you, noticing how your shoulders slumped and your eyes were puffy, "I can't believe I ever thought I could treat you like that, let those thoughts pass through my mind. Who am I to question our relationship?"

He paused, trying to find the right words to say, "Casey told me- he told me that in the future we were like parents to him. And I don't know about you, but my parental life has always been a little iffy." he was trying to pull a small smile from you, he hated to see those beautiful lips pulled down.

"But the point is, if future us can make it work during an apocalypse, then why can't we make it work now? I'm sorry I yelled, I'm sorry I left, I'm sorry for- for everything. I was so in my own ass about saving Raph that I didn't take in how everyone was feeling, how you were feeling."

He took another step closer, "I want to make things right between us, even if that means we aren't together romantically anymore. I just- I need you in my life in any form that you'll give me. I- I can't lose you, but I'm already afraid I have. A-and I'll do whatever it takes to restore what we had before."

Leo slowly raised a hand to caress your cheek, feeling the warmth radiate and spread across his palm, "I love you."

You swallowed, fingers fidgetting as you stared into his big, dreamy eyes. Opening your mouth to form some coherent sentence, Donnie's voice rang out instead, pulling you apart, "Guys, Raph's signal has come back online!"

You gave Leo an apologetic look but rushed off to the others, all the red-eared slider could do was sigh. Donnie was stomping around the room, lifting his arm high and low to get a better grasp on the weak connection he had, "It saaaaaaaays, he's- Oh? He's apparently above us?"

The entire group slowly tilted their heads up, catching the glistening sphere that Raph was encapsulated in, "Raph!" they all cheered out. You watched with worried eyes, he looked like his entire body was wrapped in those pink and purple vines; he was unconscious too.

"Quick, get him down! Get him out of here!" Leo called out commands, you just continued to watch not sure how to help. But in all honestly, you didn't feel like you could offer much help to begin with, too in your own head, feet frozen to the ground and body slack with fear. This didn't feel right to you, Raph was too easily placed, too easily found.

You couldn't voice your opinions fast enough, but the others were too busy bringing their brother to the ground; no matter what. Once the pod was stationary, you all tried to claw him out but the pod felt almost indestructible. That was until Leo took action and slice through it with his katana, pink water gushing out as Raph's limp body puddled with it.

Leo placed an arm under his much heavier brother, lifting him up with all his strength, "Hang on, big brother. We got you, almost there...Raph?" You took a step forward, offering the duo a hand, "Raph?" you questioned. He was breathing that's for sure, you could see the gentle rise and fall of his chest. But the more you paid attention to it, the more it became irregular; Donnie seemed to notice this too.

"Raph, buddy?" Leo coaxed, you were all deafly quiet, waiting for any sign of movement. Though a punch to the face wasn't the movement you were expecting. Leo was shot across the room, a loud and whiny "Ow!" echoing as he tumbled and rolled. You focused on Leo for only a moment until you cast your gaze back to Raph. His breathing had picked up immensely, his stature getting bigger and bigger as he stood to his full height.

His movements seemed sluggish and stiff, you looked towards Donnie, hoping for an answer. Donatello had his mouth hanging open, eyes wide and in shock. A large clump grew over Raph, first taking his shell as prisoner and then blooming to cover the right side of his face. A large yellow pimple burst, splattering out pink goo, you thought you could hear Donnie gagging.

The now yellow eye clung to Raph like a disease, infecting him with this Kraang-virus. It spread along his whole body, wrapping vines around his chest and legs, while his arm seemed to upgrade with added spikes and claws.

"My son," Splinter whispered out in horror, nearly unable to recognise if his son was in there or not. Once Raph had finished his transformation, the room was filled with his grunts and panted breathing. The moment he looked up, he had locked you all in his sights, releasing a bellowing war cry before charging towards you all.

You, April, Casey and Mikey let out a loud scream, running away as fast as you could. Splinter and Donnie, however, took to Raph. They were being delicate in the way they fought him, needing to protect their loved ones but at the same time not trying to hurt Raph too much. As the fight progressed, you felt as though the room around you had come alive. More and more pods were birthed from the high ceilings, vines snaked and weeded their way through the cracks in the ground and walls.

April halted her movements, determination written across her face, "C'mon guys, this is Raph we're talking about. We have to save him!" she sprinted forward, backpack jostling as she ran, "Get ready for Aprillllll O'Neiiiiilllll!" she cried out. But Raph was faster, you were unsure if it was his natural ninja abilities that allowed him to move so fast or the Kraang enhancements.

April was flung to the ground, her backpack slipping off of her arms in the process, "APRIL!" you yelled, growing angry. You lept at Raph, easily being tugged off and thrown to the ground. That hurt like hell, like really hurt. You used to train with Raph a lot before the world went to shit, but clearly, he was going easy on you.

Raph was steadily approaching April's body while the others had their own attempts at batting him away. This resulted in both Mikey and Donnie being tossed to the side, you and Casey being knocked out entirely and Master Splinter being thrown into the wall. Raph's hulking frame shadowed April's, his alien tentacle wrapping around the foreign key that rolled away from its safety inside the bag.

Leo rushed towards him, only stopping when a swooshing sound caught his ears. Behind Raph stepped out the leader of the Kraang, Leo had never been bothered to learn their names, that's if they had any to begin with.

"Surprise~" the Kraang beamed, its smile was wide and gleaming, sharp teeth oozed in saliva. By now the others had awoken, limping towards Leo as they situated themselves. Mikey sniffled, unable to look at Raph, "What did you do to my brother!" he cried out. You placed a reassuring hand on his back, your heart breaking as he collapsed into you. Leo gave you a once over, but your attention was stuck on the youngest of the group.

"Why I improved him, don't you think so?" the Kraang cackled, no remorse in his tone. Perhaps that's what set Leo off. In the back of Leo's throat, a growl began to build, he would have charged and killed the Kraang bastard himself if the train cart from earlier didn't collapse the floor. On top was the sister Kraang, and just like her brother, she was screeching wickedly.

Poor Kraangified-Raph dropped the key into the awaiting hands of the leader of all Kraang, his expression was nonexistent. The Raph everyone and grown up with and loved was gone, who knew if he was able to come back?

"Thank you for this, by the way." the leader of the Kraang announced, gripping the key tighter, "We will be putting it to good use." He turned to his brethren, "Come, the world awaits destruction!"

The second sister glared at you, April and Splinter, at least she still remembers you; but with a hole in her face, it's not like she'd forget. Her voice bellowed out, a pointed claw aimed at you all, "Tear them apart!" she commanded the train. You had never seen anything like it before, how were the brothers not freaking out over this?

The subway cart charged towards you, April slapping your arm repeatedly while she stared at the thing, "W-we gotta move!" You all turned and made a mad run for safety, following Donnie as he guided the way to the exit. Although one person remained: Leo.

Casey skidded to a stop, turning back to his master with a pleading tone, "Leo, move!" he yelled out. But Leo was frozen to the ground, he couldn't leave his brother a second time. You saw all this happening, swallowing down your fear you ran back and stood in front of him, bracing your hands against his chest.

"Leo, I know, I know you want to save Raph, but you can't save him if you're dead. We need to go, we'll come back for him. I promise." you begged him, seeing his eyes dip away from Raph's retreating form to look down at you. Tears were brimming in your eyes, your breathing was frantic. Leo rapidly shook his head, allowing you to pull him along as the subway monster clawed at the ground where he once stood.

It seemed as though this was all a waste of time, Leo only came here to get Raph and once again they were leaving without him; some leader he turned out to be.