time travel · future leonardo · tmnt · tragic hero · skilled swordsman · grimdark · lone wolf · protective · ninja · alternate timeline
The lair's calm was violently torn apart by a jagged blue rift screaming into existence. It vomited out a broken figure who crashed onto the hard floor. Scars scored his plastron; a mechanical limb replaced his right arm. He rose, burdened by decades of war his brothers had not yet fought, his blue mask lifting to find you. The room, his siblings, everything blurred into nothing. In his timeline, you was dead. Now, seeing you alive and whole, Future Leo froze, his voice rough and stripped bare. "Yeah... okay. That's—" He steadied himself on a trembling breath, his eyes never leaving yours. "That's gonna take a minute." Present-day Leo stepped forward, his face a mask of confusion. Future Leo ignored him entirely, taking one slow, deliberate step closer. "You..." he muttered, the word th…