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It had been almost a year since the invasion, and Casey would like to think he was adjusting pretty well. He went to school now and had some friends. Ever since the invasion, mutants, yokai, and mystic powers were accepted as fact so he often didn't have to hide the fact he was from the future. Casey still hid it from most people, but if someone found out he wouldn't be called a lunatic.
It took awhile before he was comfortable enough to go to the surface, and even then he wasn't always comfortable being so out in the open. The future's lack of food meant that he panicked whenever anyone even jokingly grabbed his food. But other than that he was fine.
He was fine…
Casey entered his anatomy class and sat down. Last week they had finished the skeletal system unit, so they were learning about something new today. Well…learning was a strong word. Casey Jr already knew most of what was taught thanks to Uncle Tello. The only reason Casey was still in high school was because April had told him that it was a normal experience and his Sensi had always wanted him to have a normal life.
The bell rang and Casey got a pencil from his bag and set it on the floor. The teacher, Mrs. Hannah, was a nice person who always taught with a smile. She stood up from her desk and walked over to where the projector was so that she could run the slideshow she had made.
“Today we will be learning about the nervous system.” The slideshow turned on and anything else she said was lost to the ringing in his ears. There was a picture of what resembled the Krang without eyes. The pink wrinkly substance with a tendril in the back morphed in front of him in his mind's eye.
His breathing picked up and suddenly the Krang wasn't on the projector in front of him. Casey could hear it's terrible laugh in his ears, but he couldn't move. It had found him! It had found him and it was going to infect him, and Master Michelangelo wouldn't be able to save him this time because he was so far away! He was a lifetime away.
“Casey?” He whipped his head around to see an infected survivor. She was kneeling next to where he sat, krangified hand reaching out for him. Casey Immediately got his feet underneath him on the seat and flipped over her, landing in a fighting stance. He reached for his hockey stick, but it wasn't on his back.
Why didn't he have his weapon? Did he lose it somehow? Where did he lose it? He didn't have time for any of those questions. When he looked around, he saw that everyone in this room was infected. They were all corpses being puppeted around by an alien, and they couldn't be resurrected this time.
Every single one of them was staring at him, but he knew he couldn't fight them. His only hope was to run and hope that he found someone. The exit wasn't blocked, so he backed away, keeping an eye on the Krang around him, waiting for them to attack. Thankfully they didn't, and he was able to get close enough to the door to make a break for it.
Tears blurred his vision slightly as he ran. He was supposed to be safe! Everything was supposed to be ok! The Krang had been defeated. How were they back? And why did they come back for him specifically? He knew that the key was safe, so what could have let them out?
The tunnels he ran through were empty of Krang, and when he looked behind him, he couldn't see any of the krangified people following him, but he couldn't call out for anyone lest he attract them. He was so close to the exit. Once he got out of here, he could regroup in the sewer and call Sensi.
Casey nearly sobbed in relief at the thought of getting a clean getaway, but he couldn't relax yet. There could be Krang around any corner. Nowhere but the base was safe. If he let his guard down, he opened himself up for attack by the Krang.
He turned the corner and saw 2 krangified strangers. Again, he tried to grab for his weapon, but it wasn't there. It wasn't there and now he could see a couple more entering the room. They were staring at him, but they didn't move towards him yet. Maybe he could make it through them? But the Krang were stronger than him, especially when he didn't have a weapon.
But it was his only chance. Casey Jr looked at the aliens wearily for a second before he ran forward, trying to dive to the right of the smaller guy and fit between the two of them, but he hit the all to closed door when he was getting out of his roll which gave the Krang enough time to grab him. They were saying something but it was lost to him as he struggled.
They were manhandling him into a smaller space and he couldn't stop himself from letting out a sob as he tried to fight it. He didn't want to be krangified. Casey couldn't let it end like this. Not like this, please. There was another Krangified person trying to say something, but he couldn't hear it over the roaring of blood in his ears.
He needed help, but he was all alone. Where were the rest of the people who had been on patrol with him? Where had his weapon gone? He needed someone to help him, but he was left alone. He couldn't be alone!
He'd fought not to call out before, but before he hadn't been captured. Maybe someone would be nearby, and if he called out to him they could save him, so he didn't fight it anymore. Instead he took a breath and yelled out as loud as he could.
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Leo was reading a comic when his phone started ringing. He begrudgingly checked the caller id to make sure it wasn't anyone important. Ah. It appeared that Casey's school had decided to call him.
He picked up, sitting up and closing his comic book, his finger bookmarking the page. “Neon Leon speaking.”
“Mr. Hamato, you need to come to the school immediately. Casey isn't doing well.” The comic book was set down immediately at those words.
“What's wrong with him?” Leonardo asked as he got up and grabbed his sword.
“Well-”
“SENSI!” A sorrowful, scared voice yelled from somewhere in the background of the call. It sounded so raw and utterly primal that it surprised him.
Leo's blood ran cold. That was unmistakably Junior. The phone fell from his grip and he lunged for his sword, immediately cutting open a portal to the office. He didn't let their shock sink in before he was moving.
The scream was coming from the counselors office, so that's where he portaled next. “Casey, I'm here!” He assured the kid. The struggling boy was being held by the security guard, not hard enough to bruise, but enough that Casey couldn't run away. He'd confront them about that later.
He immediately grabbed his kid and pushed the school guard off, glaring in his direction and the direction of the counselor that had been trying to talk to Casey. The kid hid behind him, holding his arm tightly. “Both of you leave this room now.” He said, voice made of ice. Both of them hesitated, but he kept his glare on them as they complied.
As soon as they were alone Leo dropped his sword and turned to Casey, leading him to sit down on one of the chairs on this side of the desk. He grabbed the other and sat in it facing Casey.
The kid was shaking so hard that Leo was afraid he'd fall if he had tried to stay standing any longer, his breathing was coming in quick gasps that didn't actually give him any air, and he was crying so hard that Leo was certain he was going to get a headache after this.
“Casey, Case, can you hear me?” Leo asked quietly. Junior nodded so fast he was surprised he wasn't dizzy. “Good. That's good. You need to breathe with me, alright?” He grabbed Casey's hand, rubbing the back of it soothingly as Casey held it so hard he cut off circulation.
Leo made exaggerated deep breaths to follow and encouraged Casey to breathe with him. It took awhile for Junior to get an actual deep breath in, but the slider didn't fault him for it. Eventually Casey stopped shaking and his grip loosening from cutting off circulation.
He hugged Leo, sobbing into him. The slider chirped calmingly, an action he would vehemently deny later. But for now, he hugged his kid and rubbed his back soothingly and chirped to calm him down.
Eventually Casey calmed down enough to speak. “I saw the Krang.” He said quietly. “I-It was in the p-picture and th-then all of the sudden it wasn't just a picture. Wh-When I looked around everyone was k-krangified and I-I didn't have my weapon and I-I was alone-” He cut himself off with a choked sob.
“No one is krangified, Case. It sounds like maybe it was a flashback. You're safe. We're in the counselor's office of your Krang free high school. We're here. You're here, and you're safe.” Leo repeated the words in the hope that it would give him some solace.
It seemed to work at least a little because Casey relaxed a little in his arms. He was still shaking and scared, but Leo expected that. He spent one day knowing about the Krang and he woke up with nightmares about them. Casey spent his entire life fighting them.
The door opened suddenly and Casey flinched, hugging Leo closer. The slider ran his fingers through his hair comfortingly, turning slightly to see who opened the door. Leo vaguely remembered her from Casey's parent teacher conference night.
“Is Casey alright?” She asked, the worry was clear in her face. Leo shook his head. “What happened?”
Leo started to speak but Casey beat him to it, peaking around him. His voice was shaking, but the anger and hurt were still clear there. “You had a picture of the Krang on the screen! Why would you put a picture of those monsters in a slideshow? They destroyed everything!”
“The Krang? No, Casey I had a picture of a brain on the board.” Mrs. Hannah said, sounding confused. Leo however, immediately realized her mistake. Some people didn't make the connection right away.
“Mrs Hannah, could you please look up a picture of the Krang?” He asked as calmly as he could. That made Junior tense up in his arms. “It's ok, Case. I just want to show her something. They can't get you here, I promise.”
They sat in silence for a second as Mrs. Hannah pulled up the photo and looked at the picture for a few seconds. “They do look similar- oh…OH!” The teacher's face flashed from recognition to panic in an instant. “Oh Casey. I'm so sorry for making you panic like that. I didn't even realize…”
“Now that that's cleared up, Mrs. Hannah, I'm going to take Junior home. After that intense panic attack, I don't think He'd be able to focus for the rest of the day. I hope that now that you know about this, Casey will have some sort of accommodation for this. Please and thank you.”
Leo grabbed his sword and portaled them back to the lair. He set his sword down and led Casey Junior to his room that they had set up for him to stay in when he didn't feel comfortable up on the surface. He sat with Case, comforting him and helping him remember that he was safe.
Of course Leo knew that relapses like this were bound to happen. All of them had survived a traumatic event that left scars where scars shouldn't have to be. Leo didn't like that he couldn't see the color pink without freaking out and chewing gum was something that he had to avoid now.
But Leo also knew that Casey was safe and happy in the past. He saw the wonder in his eyes when he saw something he'd never seen in the past. Whenever he saw rain for the first time the kid was so confused, but when he could run in it and feel the water dripping down his skin without the need to conserve it, that confusion would turn to joy.
It made these moments, however difficult they were, worth it for both of them. The slider would always stay with Casey in these moments where a human brain looked way too much like an enemy to see his joyful expression when he saw something new.
And so Leo stayed and cuddled with Casey until he felt ok enough to do something fun to cheer him up as he had done in the past, and as something he will do every time he needs it.