Beyond the Ticks of His Watch

I Could Lift You Up

Chapter One|

Casey Jones Junior. The only survivor the... of a future.

A dark one at that, hell, in his last moments of being in that future he became a witness to the death of his remaining family. God, it felt like forever ago but he could still vividly visualize the world; dead, dry, filled with krang and debris. Nowhere was safe, nowhere to call home. It wasn't the easiest to live during the apocalypse, but when you're like Casey, you will never know the "before."

It didn't help that the only people that stayed long enough began to forget, his Master Leonardo did-Sensei Mikey too! He wasn't sure about Donnie, the purple turtle would never confess, regardless.

Even his mother! A person who he had known to be very expressive, admitted that her memory of a time when everything was typical-she would never use the term "normal" when talking about her past, it was just typical-was getting fuzzy.

Casey learned not to ask about the "before." He learned not to ask the family he had no memory of, namely a particular red-themed alligator snapping turtle he recently had the pleasure to meet. Or at least, the younger version.

His version of the turtle, his future version, was long deceased. His Mikey explained it happened when he was the age one, maybe a little older, perhaps a little younger; he was an infant. Not much was said about him, Raphael, that is, only small stories.

However, based on the stories and this younger version, Raphael had little change in his personality; then again, that might be because he died fairly young. He was the first one to fall; That set off a chain reaction. Or so Casey assumes.

The person he saw the most change was Leonardo, the younger version was more arrogant-cocky.

He wasn't the same Sensei who raised and stayed by his side till the end. Then again he felt like he was judging this version of his sensei too harshly, they weren't the same; not in their maturity, experience, not even their looks. (The last part was understandable).

Casey felt like it was unfair to set the same standard, to put him on the pedestal, just as he did with his master. They were too separate people, and Casey had to learn to cope with that.

To cope with the fact that he will never see his family, and carry the burden of what was left of them.

*Tick**Tick**Tick*

Casey glanced down at his wrist, he wasn't wearing the clothes he came into the past with. He was wearing a large shirt April had in her closet; it was grey with a band logo on the front, and short sleeves. His arms weren't covered like they normally were, so the presence of a watch was easy to detect.

This watch wasn't an accessory April had given him, none of these past versions of the people he knew had made it either. This item was special to him, for it was one of the few relics he possessed from his world, and one of, if not the only, gift-gift he received from his family. Master Leonardo told him it was a gift from Donatello, that the purple-themed turtle had planned to gift it to his upcoming birthday... before his sudden passing.

If Casey had to be honest, he didn't know what to think of the inventor; Donatello was an enigma. Although Casey continued to care for him, he knows Donatello cared for him too.

*Tick**Tick**Tick*

The teen was surprised to see the watch in almost perfect condition, especially after the hell he went through. He was sure it would have broken by now, then again Donatello has the habit to create items that are almost indestructible.

Why was he overthinking the brilliance of the brightest mind in his world? Why was he overthinking the watch, it was just, well, a watch!

Casey frowned as he gingerly took the wrist off to inspect it. Donatello wouldn't have given-wouldn't have made him something simplistic, there had to be a deeper meaning to his possession. An extra function, or quirk, something that screamed it was made by the great inventor.

He sighed as he noted how nothing stood out as "abnormal" in the watch standard. It looked like a regular watch, Casey groaned as he tossed the watch in frustration before he curled himself into a ball. Why was he so pressed about this? Nothing everything had to have a deeper meaning, maybe Donatello wanted him to not forget the time. The inventor was the one who taught him how to tell the time, after all-

"Good evening, Othello Von Ryan, otherwise known as Bootyshaker9000, in other words, the great Donatello, is present and recording."

Casey heard His voice. It was his Donatello, he quickly rushed to get his watch. A small hologram emitted from the small device as he glanced at the turtle's appearance; he looked rather young, maybe early or mid-twenties. Donatello's stubbles were barely noticeable.

"Welcome, to my amazing vlog of living through the most despair-inducing hell imaginable," Casey chuckled at that. "Unfortunately, as much as I would love this to be about me, I am making this an extended vlog to capture the life of my family, but mostly me, of course," Donatello scoffed with a cocky smile. "With my presence known, it is time to introduce my lesser minions-by which, I mean, my brothers. Come along."

The hologram shakes to simulate the holographic turtle's movement, the visuals were bright and clear. It was an abandoned factory, all the machinery left on the side, no window in sight. It looked relatively typical, close to the past while showing the effects the Kraang had on the world.

Casey watched as the first person the inventor approached is the purple turtle's only younger sibling; Michelangelo. It didn't shock Casey to see his mentor have no grey hairs, however, it was odd that the orange didn't have a carefree smile, it looked more wise...more tired. The orange turtle also didn't have his orange clock, and he had bright stickers all over his shell, Casey thinks back to his Michelangelo's final moments, did he still have those stickers? He shakes his head as Donatello's voice brings him back

"Angelo, would you like to say hello?"

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It's been put on Ao3 for a while and I only now decided to stop procrastinating and put it on wattpad 💀

Word count: 1095