Author's Note: This is set after the TMNT 2012 Season 2 Finale, The Invasion. Completely AU (Alternate Universe). If you haven't noticed, I've changed the title and the summary because I just realized now that it sounds so awkward and corny. Anyway, please review guys, ya know I love ya'll! XDD

PROLOGUE:

It is pretty peaceful here now, New York was no longer a disaster zone. No longer quite as chaotic as before. Maybe the Invasion of the Kraang caused even the local street thugs to be afraid of their own shadow.

Let me summarize to you what happened.

The Alien Invasion was stopped ultimately by the Turtles, the Kraang were defeated though not yet gone, the Shredder is confirmed to be killed by the combined strengths of Leonardo (who gave him a fatal injury) and Master Splinter (who dealt the last blow), and everyone in New York resumed their normal lives after repairing the city. Except for the saviors of the city themselves: The Turtles.

They sustained the most terrible losses.

Master Splinter, their Ninja Master and their Father, is dead. Thrown in the sewer by the Shredder and ultimately succumbed to his injuries and drowned. They only found out what really happened to him after the mutated Snake Karai brought them back his body.

Karai then went missing right after.

Casey suffered massive injuries after trying to defend his family from the Kraang.

He's the only one of them to survive.

Leonardo went missing and presumed dead after Raphael lost him in the fight in April's apartment. Their brief glance at him before they were attacked showed evidence that Leo fought until the end.

No one knows where he is now.

April lost her father after his body collapsed from receiving mutagen too many times. She now tries to resume her normal life and rebuild her apartment. To this day, she can't bear to look at the window where they last saw Leonardo fall, nor glance at the couch where she last saw his father sat.

She lived a terrible life on her own.

Raphael is now the official leader and guardian of his brothers after the two eldest were gone. He finally showed enough discipline and succeeds in keeping his remaining brothers safe and alive. But Raphael never gave up on his original leader. He sometimes organizes search parties for Leo, refusing to believe he's gone and losing that slim chance of hope. But he too is losing himself. Michelangelo can sometimes see him at night crying when he thought nobody was awake. Donatello notices how he doesn't eat much anymore and how he lost a lot of weight. It was literally breaking their hearts whenever they saw him like that.

No one. No one up at the city knows how much these people and mutants sacrificed almost everything they had to keep the city safe. No one knows, and no one would ever will.