#sometimes she'll bring lita with her

[skeleton-in-a-hoodie]

Thinking about ageswap Renet. Under a readmore cause long as hell and there's some slight spoilers for ageswap

Her and Mikey were a couple in this au once. When they first met, they caught feelings quickly and after she visited a couple more times they started dating. It was an open relationship, they were free to date other people.

Sometimes they'd go weeks or months without seeing each other, and could then could only spend a few hours together. But they made those hours count.

Renet is willing to admit that at first she was a wee bit startstruck by Mikey. She'd grown up hearing about the great warrior and hero Hamato Michaelangelo, how he and his brothers had fought back invasion after invasion, saved the Utrom, destroyed the Heart of Darkness, brought about the end of the Triceraton Republic, defeated the [REDACTED]! And she knew he wasn't that turtle yet, but she knows that's who he'll be one day!

But that's one of the problems that ended the relationship.

Renet knows what will happen to Mikey and his family.

Time Masters are not allowed to change the past. Their job is to maintain the timeline and intefer as little as possible.

Renet hold's Mikey's hand, and knows one day he'll lose it. When they help her save the timeline, she'll watch Donnie's back, knowing she can't warn him about the day his shell is cracked. She can't tell Raph to watch out, least he lose an eye. Renet can't explain why Leo's voice sounds so odd to her, and has to be careful not to ask him too many times how his leg's doing, just in case that tips the Brothers off that something will happen to him.

And she can't tell them about the things their kids will go through either.

The ageswap kids have a similar reputation to their uncles in Renet's time.

There's June, an inventor trained by Hamato Donatello himself. She played a key role in closing the gap between the technology of Earth and the rest of the universe.

And Mayday, a shapeshifting Kraang bio-weapon that decided no, the Earth and humanity were worth protecting, that she was more than the weapon the Kraang made her to be.

Maria "Shadow" Jones, a programmer and powerful psychic. When Renet was a teenager, she used to listen to archival recordings of Shadow's radio show, the first to include mutants and aliens. Her voice is still known centuries after her death, and it helped sooth Renet through hard times.

And of course there's Master Splinter! One of, if not the, most gifted ninja of his time who taught generations of ninja. After his teacher and uncle, Master Leonardo retired, Splinter led the clan he helped rebuild. And he was an artist - Renet has seen some of his paintings. He'd made them under a fakename, but a few decades after his death it was discovered that he and the artist were one and the same!

But from Mikey, she learns about the children they currrently are.

There's June, traumatised by the kraang kidnapping her as a baby. She's non-verbal, so they all learned ASL. Mikey and his brothers are trying to teach her JSL too. Junie likes to sit in Donnie's lab with him, watching him repair equipement or carefully make a new invention to help in the war against the Kraang. She likes bubblegum icecream and hates the texture of grapes.

Mayday is scared of needles and lightening. Her hair is bright yellow because Spongebob is her favourite cartoon. She loves horror movies, but hates that people like her are so often the monster that needs to be killed. Mayday doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but there was a solid three months where the answer to that question was a horse.

Shadow can hear the thoughts and feelings of everyone around her and there are days were it's too much. Her family are overprotective of her, and she wants to prove that she can look after herself. She's scared of inflatable tube men and her favourite jacket looks like a bear.

Yoshi loves Godzilla and will make minature cities out of books and toys so he can pretend to terrorise them as his favourite kaiju. Draws constantly, and the Lair walls are covered in drawings left by him. He has terrible nightmares and Mikey isn't sure if they're dreams or visions anymore. He's a sweet kid with a big heart.

And Renet knows about the terrible things those children will go through.

If it's difficult to talk to his brothers, April or Casey at times, it's even harder to look at the children Mikey adores and pretend nothing bad happens to them.

The more she gets to know the people they are, and not the near mythical heroes she was taught about at school, the harder and harder it gets to resist warning them.

Falling in love with Mikey makes it even more difficult. She wants to tell him, but she can't, not unless she wants to alter history and potentially destroy the timeline. And even if the timeline wasn't damaged, the universe would demand compensation. Maybe the same thing would happen in a slightly different way, or something even worse could happen instead.

She refuses to gamble Mikey or his family for the sake of her guilt.

And Mikey knows she can't tell him. He doesn't blame her, not really, he knows she can't no matter how much she may want to. But he's a person and people aren't always rational - it's hard not to think about the fact that she could have warned him. Mikey does not want to ever grow to resent Renet. He loves her too much to ever think about hating her.

And she loves him enough to want to warn him.

But she also loves him enough to think about the future he'll get to experience one day, where he's happy and at peace, where the wars are over, where the children he raised are happy, where he'll have students he adores and guides through life with the same love and care he gives to his own niblings. Him and his family go through hell and back, but they come out the otherside together.

When the secrets she has to keep weigh her down, she'll flip to the last chapter of a history book and will read about all the joy Mikey can look forward to.

She loves him enough to want to warn him, but she also loves him enough to want to protect his wonderful future with all she has.

Even if that means she has to let him go.

Hamato Mikey is the best thing Renet never had.

But she knows how his story ends and it's a good ending.

And that's more than enough for her.