Okay so random thought I had while thinking of Arcane
Donnie would totally figure out how to dimension hop, right.
So imagine that they never get Leo back alive. Of course, they could all slowly cope and work through their grief and live on and all, but that's no fun sometimes.
They lose Leo and they're grieving and they're falling apart and the pieces don't seem to be fitting together again like they're supposed to and what are they supposed to do about that now? The one who knew how they were supposed to fit is gone and now they're sitting blind trying to put themselves back together one crack at a time.
So Donnie throws himself into his work. He locks himself inside the cage that's his lab and researches over and over and over because he can fix this. He doesn't know how he will, but anything is possible with a bit of willpower and knowledge and he can fix this.
Raph and Mikey are coping in their own ways too but they've already lost one brother and they aren't willing to lose another to himself so they show up. They're there by his side with food or just company because the three of them can do this together, just you wait. Donnie may feel like he's lost half his soul, but they lost a piece of theirs too, and they're desperate to get it back.
Somehow it's done. Donnie's done it! He's finally made the mystic device that'll bring back his brother! No longer will they have to live with the twisting sorrow rooted in their bones or the unspoken force trying to drag them to their knees.
They try it out. Leo is there, joking around as if nothing had ever happened, like he'd never thrown himself into a prison to save the world even at the cost of his life. Their tears hit the ground before they can even speak and they hold their brother so tight he gasps at them that he can't breathe.
They think that they've gone to the past. They keep up their guard and they start to prepare for the worst but there's no key. No kraang.
Donnie is the first to come to the conclusion that this was an alternate dimension. Of course, it's odd because everything is the same but it's also so different. But, they let themselves relax, because there's no kraang and no end of the world. No sacrifice of their brother.
But, of course, every hero has to fall.
There's no kraang, no, but there's something just as big, just as deadly. Even with their updated powers they're still no match and Leo still ends up at the tip of the winning arrow. The brothers can only scream in anguish and frustration as they watch their brother once again disappear from their arms for nothing but the sake of the world around them.
Donnie is resolute in finding the happy ending, but no matter how hard they try it happens again and again and there's so many times that it's something only Leo can do and Donnie can't stop him from sacrificing himself again (it's even worse because Donnie is always right there to watch it happen, too close to be a bystander and too far to help) and Donnie gets more and more desperate to save him.
If in just one dimension Leo is okay, then that'll be fine. He has to know that his twin is not doomed in every reality, that the spirit of his entire existence isn't cursed to end as a tragedy at 16 because Leo deserved better than that. Leo deserved to be happy and live and do every stupid thing a kid should be able to do because Donnie refused to believe that he was born to be a martyr and not just his dum dum twin that was too selfless for his own good.
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
jbbartram-illu
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