Endlessly, Love

Splinter

The room had been full moments ago. He knew it had been.

Looking around Splinter was vaguely aware this was not the room he thought it was, it felt off. Everything was slightly… to the left somehow. He stepped down into the living room, inspecting. The feeling slipping away the further into the lair he moved.

The couch was where it belonged, the recliner. The old inflatable chair patched with duct tape that the kids insisted on keeping because it was purple.

The tv was on, the cassette paused on the poorly colorized eastern film. The kind where the voice over didn't match the moving mouths of the actors.

It didn't matter, the boys ate it up. And the subtitles helped Splinter learn the English language. He migrated back to the kitchen.

"Ah." One child was found. "Blue."

The young turtle mutant looked up, frowned. "Master Splinter." His face held a look of childish reprimand that looked far too old for his features.

"Leonardo." Splinter corrected, shaking himself, finding it odd that he couldn't remember his child's name for a moment. Chalking that up to the earlier sensation of-

Splinter frowned as he rounded the concrete table, stroking his whiskers. What was the feeling earlier?

He shook it off, best to not dwell. "Where are your brothers?"

Leonardo watched with his deep blue eyes as Splinter sat, arms moving to display the drawing he had been working on, a magazine off to the side with paper scraps and glue and scissors forgotten.

"They're drawing." Leo explained, "or playing tag."

Splinter hummed, "what a nice picture." He tapped the crudely drawn people beside the turtle that was so clearly meant to be Leo, "who are these?" A tall figure and three smaller ones.

"This," Leo pulled it back, crayon in hand as he scribbled hair on the adult. "Is my wife."

Splinter felt his brows rise. "Indeed."

"And-and these three-" Leo's tongue poked out as he grabbed a green crayon, broken in half and water logged, adding grass beneath their feet. "They're our kids."

"Oh are they?" Splinter grinned, feeling his heart twist. "I will find your brothers. It is family day today."

"Oh yeah." Leo frowned, coloring paused. "I forgot." He looked up, his eyes large and too old. "It's been a long time."

The idea, the feeling, the statement making Splinter's fur rise. He quickly tapped down the notion.

"I guess last week does feel far away when you are so young." Splinter smiled, hand falling to pat his son's head as he left the table to wander the lair. To find his remaining children.

It was peaceful, the quiet. Trailing through to the shared room the boys still slept in. The spring riders filled with blankets and pillows.

"Dad!"

The little voice of Raph, overlayed by one much more familiar, took the mutant back for a moment.

But the little arm poked out from the mass of blankets, comic in hand, head and shoulders soon followed as a gap toothed grin found him.

"Dad, Dad." Raph waved the comic. "Look."

Feeling warmth steal over him Splinter crossed the distance to his excited child. Peering over the small form to the comic. A sci-fi.

"They're making it a series!" Raph beamed, craving back to look up at his father. "And look!" He pointed at a character.

Splinter frowned, twitching. He wasn't much for comics. Not familiar by a mile. But the boys shoved the media down his throat. He didn't remember this character.