#off screen death

I wrote a little something.

There is very minimal actual stargazing, btw.

The one where Steve makes it to a ripe old age, and Eddie comes back to help him say goodbye.

CW: Steve dies. He’s very old and it’s very peaceful, if that’s any consolation.

605 words.

“Come with me,” Eddie says while offering Steve his hand.

Steve looks up at him and takes his hand. It’s harder than he remembers it ever being to get up, but it’s okay. Eddie came back for him. He looks just as beautiful as he did back in 1986.

Better even.

“Where are we going?” He asks.

prompt: masks

gen: rise

ao3

@tmntober-2023

cw: angst, off screen death, on screen death, major character death, way too little editing

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The first mask was when he was ten. Raph had already gotten his own on his tenth birthday, which all three brothers called unfair. But then Donnie and his tenth birthday approached, and Leo couldn’t stop bugging his dad about it. 

“C’ mon Dad! Raph already got his own mask, now it's my turn! For mine, can you make it blue and less bandanady? I wanna look like Lou Jitsu! And Lou Jitsu has these glasses that look a bit like upside down masks. But can it be in blue? You don’t even need to make Donnie one! Please? ”

His dad always chuckled and said, “Maybe, Blue, if you’re good.”

Leo always pouted and left for a bit, only the next day with the same requests.

Dad had worked a couple days sewing Donnie and his masks. Leo had pretended not to notice when Dad had snuck into his room and tried to sneakingly mark Donnie and Leo’s eyes on the fabric.

He had placed them in their christmas stockings and the tails poked out playfully. Leo had instantly fallen in love.

He put it on and admired himself in the mirror. They reminded him of Lou Jitsu’s glasses, a revelation that made him squeal. Dad had listened to him! He showed off his mask to his other brothers.

“Look! Dad made me a different type of mask ‘cause I’m cooler than you!”

“Did not!” Donnie protested.

“Did too!” 

______

The second mask was much later. It wasn’t blue and it wasn’t his. Raph had, without Leo’s permission, gone on a mission with Casey Sr. and Mikey to investigate reports of a nearby village that had found a cure for krangification.

Leo had looked at the live footage their communicators broadcasted in the days that followed near obsessively. 

There were times where April would come into Donnie’s lab to get his brother to bed, only to find a different brother staring intently at the monitor. She would nudge Leo gently. He’d barely glance her way. The monitor at most showed one of his brothers or Casey Sr. walking steadily through the barren wasteland that their home had become, but Leo started to believe that if he didn’t watch them then something terrible was going to happen to them. Something he can’t control. She seemed to understand that mindset, as she asked Donnie to get Leo’s monitor in his room hooked up to the footage. She was certain that once Leo was in his own bed willingly, he might actually fall asleep. 

After three days, she was proved right. Leo unwillingly slept that night. It was something he regretted for the rest of his life. Donnie had recorded the footage, which Leo watched so many times that every miniscule moment was ingrained into his mind. 

First Raph, Mikey and Casey Sr. come into the village. It was surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs, with only one slim path for them to squeeze through. A red fog had draped over the ground, only allowing the slight outline of a village through its misty grasp. 

Raph signaled for everyone to proceed with caution, and they all stepped trepidatiously into the village. The only noise was from what looked like a community center. It was quiet, almost so quiet that Leo didn’t notice it on his first watch through. Raph told them to wait while he went to investigate.

Casey Sr. and Mikey waited impatiently for three minutes before deciding to go inside. Leo wished they didn’t. Mikey was never the same after what he saw. 

Raph was holding an unconscious person, who had krang pulsating underneath their skin. He has smiled, assuring and comforting and everything he will never be again.

The person had woken up before anyone could say a word and screeched out wordlessly. Everyone in the world knew that sound. It told them that the infected were close and would all be moving towards that screech. They were not equipped for a hoard. They all knew it. 

“Run!” His brother yelled. Mikey and Casey Sr. were wired to his orders. Like a switch for a light, they didn’t question or hesitate. They ran. Raph had yelled a battle cry, the light from his ninpo reflected in the damp fog. 

Then Raph screamed, and the camera shook as Mikey stumbled. His younger brother steadied himself and turned. Then Mikey wailed. Chains rose up and blinded the cameras, striking through the chest of the krangified person Raph had been holding. The chains rose and used the still attached person as a makeshift Kusari-fundō, plowing through the fields of krangified beings that approached. It was the first time his younger brother had summoned the chains in combat. 

Casey Sr. ran to Raphs side, yelling her war cry. His plastron was completely cracked through where his heart laid and his eyes were without life. 

She called Leo, who instantly shot awake at the sound of his ringing phone. The monitor in front of him stalled his every thought. All he could see was his brother. Dead. 

He didn’t have time to mourn right then. He made a portal and got them home, including his brother's corpse. Mikey had instantly collapsed, exhausted. Leo tucked him into his bed, then faced Raph.

He took the mask off of his brother's face and wrapped it around his sword. No matter where he went, he’ll take his brother with him. 

_____

The third mask was much too soon. Donnie had gotten obsessed with revenge, with hunting down the Krang and making them pay . When he left, it was silently. Leo only noticed he was gone by the mask draped over his keyboard, with a note for Leo to go to the ‘Leo’ file on the computer. 

Donnie popped up on the screen.

“Leo, if you're seeing this I am either dead or you noticed my absence too quickly. In order to keep your attention on this very thoughtful recording, I have attached my vitals In the upper right corner of the screen. Please focus on what I say more than my heart rate,” Leo's eyes instantly looked up at the vitals that were on the upper right. His brother’s heartbeat pumped at 160bpm. Leo tried to pull up Donnie’s coordinates.

“And don’t think about trying to get my coordinates. I have deactivated that feature of my tracker.”

Leo sat back, horrified. Just what was his twin doing? And where the heck did he go?

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering just where I’ve gone. I can easily assure you that I have made this decision with a clear mind and pure logic. My emotions do not cloud my judgment so easily. However, emotions have nothing to do with the fact that they killed our brother and that I am making them pay .” A strangled gasp escaped Leo's throat, “Although my projected chance of dying is only at 60%, I felt it better to prepare just in case. As you carry Raph’s mask around with you always, I thought I’d also give you the comfort of mine in case of my passing.” 

Donnie’s recording continued to talk in the background. Leo brought his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees. The world became blurry as tears budded up. He had to do something, right? 

A shaking hand brought his phone to his face. The phone rang. His brother never picked up.

The heart rate that had been going so quickly suddenly stopped. Donnie’s voicemail lines and the still talking recording overlapped each other. His hand went limp and the phone dropped to the floor.

“I have taken care to keep instructions on how to continue to run the base in the ‘Instructions’ folder. And Leo, I love you. I’ll see you soon.”

He sat there for hours. Mikey had been the one to find him, staring at the still vitals as Donnie’s recording looped. His younger brother had collapsed, sobbing into Leo’s shoulder. Leo mechanically picked up Donnie’s mask and wrapped it by Raph’s. Another brother he wasn’t with when they died. Another brother to keep by his side.

______

The fourth mask was during an argument. Leo and Mikey were camped a bit away from the rest of the rebellion. Their campfire was at a gentle flame, at odds with the intensity at which both brothers were talking.

“I refuse to be kept to the sidelines! I am a mystic warrior , Leo, and I can’t be a warrior without fighting!”

“Mikey, please, you’re too important to just go out there! I can’t let you get hurt or…” Leo trailed off, rubbing the masks wrapped around his sword subconsciously. Mikey scowled at that.

“I will not be another mask on your sword!” Mikey tore off his mask and stomped over the campfire. He hovered the mask over the flame, holding it by the short bands. It dangled tauntingly over the flames.

“Wait, Mikey, wait–”

His little brother, his only remaining brother, didn’t wait. His mask went up into flames instantly. 

Little flakes of fabric rose up with the smoke, resting on the rocky floor. It felt like a sucker punch to Leo’s gut. He watched as something that in his mind has defined his family for so long got destroyed so easily. 

“Mikey,” He said his brother’s name softly, mournfully. 

Mikey gave a quiet sob as he swept away his tears roughly.

“I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, ok? So stop being such a mother hen and let me do what needs to be done. We both know that without my mystic prowess we will fall. I’m the only mystic left, so let me do my thing.”

Word Count- 954

Request?- Yes!

Summary- This date was turning out to be one of the weirdest ones you'd been on. You had thought it'd at least make a good story for later but...

Tag List- @cookielover0001010 , @swag-droid , @watchoutforfrostbite

Warnings- offscreen death, unnamed character death

Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant) Haven 3x7 Magic Hour (2012)

Nathan Wuornos: A Troubled person blackmailed him to bring his wife back. Who does that sort of thing?

Claire Callahan: I’m gonna have to put them all on a family therapy plan.

NW: Appreciate you coming in.

CC: I was surprised when you called. I thought you’d be in Colorado with Audrey.

NW: Ah... She took Duke

CC: That’s a polarizing choice. How does it--

NW: Not now, Claire.

+death http://yokyopeli.tumblr.com/post/147111066550/the-many-deaths-of-nathan-wuornos-4a-3x7-the

+Wuornoses [aka Nathan sees his son for the first time!]

(just a quick thought i had to write out!)

Word Count- 450

Request?- Nope!

Summary- One possibility of the end of the road. Though it seemed unlikely for there to be any others...

Tag List- @cookielover0001010 , @swag-droid , @watchoutforfrostbite

Warnings- Descriptions of gore, off screen character death