just the way you are

straight for the earth

---Notes----

I wrote this shit on New Year's Eve at 11 o'clock bc I wanted to update one of the last Aussie fics *cries*

AnYwaYs, Happy New Year's everyone!

Half of this chapter is part of Tokka vs the world (s4 ep23) but changed up a lot, and the canon stuff is going to be really spread out because I need a break honestly.

I am having some cool new Ocs because I said so. But they don't show up yet.

Idk. I should NOT be posting this rn but this joint has Wifi and I was born ready to tear apart the planet with fanfiction on global holidays, despite you northern earthers still being on the 30th (imagine, wtf lol)

:)

Have fun!

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Raph sat cross legged on the floor, his only comfort the creature in front of him. Chompy was looking at him quizzically, almost as if asking him what was wrong.

He wished he could say the truth: everything was wrong. Donnie was gone. Casey was gone. And he could feel himself starting to fade away too.

It hurt a lot.

Chompy let out a little fire burp, and Raph smiled a little. "I'm glad I have you, buddy. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't." The fire-turtle let out a little chirp of agreement, nudging his bumpy maroon head against Raph's hand.

He heard Mikey enter the room, like a tornado of chaos as usual. "Hey Raph, watcha doing?" He asked brightly, holding Ice Cream Kitty in a bowl from the kitchen.

Raph pulled Chompy closer to him, feeling a burning in his neck. "Nothing, Mikey."

After last night, the control the chip had over him had been weaker. It was Casey's words keeping him from giving in. You need to be strong enough for both of us.

So he would. And he'd find a way to bring Casey back. And Donnie. Whatever it took, he'd break free.

"Dude, do you ever think about how big Chompy will get one day? His mum was huge."

Raph grunted, standing up. "Yeah, that'll probably take hundreds of space years or something." He didn't feel like he was wrestling for control now. It was coming easy. He let himself sink into the moment, feeling what it felt like to be him for a minute.

A burning shock at his neck snapped him out of it.

"I feel bad about Chompy's mum," Mikey said sadly, scratching the little turtle's head. Chompy chirped in reply.

"I do too. Donnie... Donnie said that there's... probably..."

Mikey looked at him strangely. "Raph?"

"He said there's no way anything could survive a supernova. Not even a giant, cosmic monster like Tokka."

Chompy but Mikey's finger, and he pulled it away, letting out a small cry of pain.

Raph's mind wasn't focused on Mikey though.

He could recall when he'd had that conversation with Donnie, during one of the late, sleepless nights they'd shared together after returning from space. Donnie had seemed more distant, more complative than usual. Which meant he was dead silent most of the time. He didn't even seem to want to talk to April that much, he'd just... be in his lab, doing things.

And Raph would find himself in there with him a lot. It was just the two of them, in each other's company, only interrupted by the occasional explosion or comment. "Honestly, Raph, I doubt even a huge space creature like Tokka could survive a supernova. I'm sorry... I feel so bad for Chompy." At the time he'd been kind of upset, because he knew the odds were slim, but not that slim. Not impossible. "I get it," he'd replied. "At least we took him in." Donnie had given him a small smile, and continued working on what he was doing.