[Loaded question, and it speaks to the known inevitability of Casey's timeline that Mikey doesn't wait for him to come up with an answer. There is, technically, a way to prevent it. Moderation. None of the others aged like he did, they made it to their 30s and 40s at a normal rate. But Master Michelangelo, with his over-the-top and seemingly (at first) infinite mystic powers, saving people over and over, protecting his family and everyone he could possibly spare... the toll was too much.
Casey reaches up and tugs down one of the photos, where the older turtle is cooking and smiling happily. He can't give a perfect cure of this fate that this Mikey can hopefully avoid, but he can at least paint a better picture of who this person is, rather than just the warrior.]
It's... still really hard for sensei to talk about him. We haven't yet, not even once. He- he died, right in front of us. It took everything he had left to open the portal that sent me back. Sensei always carried so much guilt, every time we lost somebody. Like it was something he did, not the Krang.
[Idly, he toys with one of the crinkled corners of the photos, trying in futility to smooth it out.]
I think out of everybody, it really struck me, how different you are from him. You're both so kind, you really love your family, that part's the same as ever. But he was so tired. All of us were, sure, but he was burning himself out in a way that everyone could see, and it was harder for him to be the optimistic one when everything kept falling apart. It frustrated him, how he couldn't just use all that power to fix everything forever. Maybe that's... why he agreed to do the time portal.
[Wasn't that at last fulfilling his wish? A single spell, to get rid of the Krang forever, save his whole family, save the world. It just wouldn't be their family, their world. Just Casey, and the new future they'd never see.]
When I see you doing stuff you love, like cooking, or your art, the skateboarding or games or any of it... I can really see him, finally. Who he used to be, and what he was still fighting for. He wanted to save who all of you were supposed to be.
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Casey reaches up and tugs down one of the photos, where the older turtle is cooking and smiling happily. He can't give a perfect cure of this fate that this Mikey can hopefully avoid, but he can at least paint a better picture of who this person is, rather than just the warrior.]
It's... still really hard for sensei to talk about him. We haven't yet, not even once. He- he died, right in front of us. It took everything he had left to open the portal that sent me back. Sensei always carried so much guilt, every time we lost somebody. Like it was something he did, not the Krang.
[Idly, he toys with one of the crinkled corners of the photos, trying in futility to smooth it out.]
I think out of everybody, it really struck me, how different you are from him. You're both so kind, you really love your family, that part's the same as ever. But he was so tired. All of us were, sure, but he was burning himself out in a way that everyone could see, and it was harder for him to be the optimistic one when everything kept falling apart. It frustrated him, how he couldn't just use all that power to fix everything forever. Maybe that's... why he agreed to do the time portal.
[Wasn't that at last fulfilling his wish? A single spell, to get rid of the Krang forever, save his whole family, save the world. It just wouldn't be their family, their world. Just Casey, and the new future they'd never see.]
When I see you doing stuff you love, like cooking, or your art, the skateboarding or games or any of it... I can really see him, finally. Who he used to be, and what he was still fighting for. He wanted to save who all of you were supposed to be.