It wasn't that Mikey hated the dark...well, okay, maybe he did hate it a LITTLE bit. Given his life, could you really blame him though? Aliens, government agents, mousers, crazy Frankenstein-ified scientists...there was something to be said for being cautious, wasn't there? Plus, he had crept in the shadows to sneak into SO many places that the old parental comfort "there's nothing in the dark that you don't see in the light" just plain wasn't true. There was a shell of a lot in the dark that you couldn't see!

Well, he certainly thought so and forgive him if he was not overly thrilled by the prospect of going down into that dark underworld again! Hadn't they had enough problems with that stupid place? He thought when they defeated the crazy lonely dude and freed all the people that there would be a 'do not enter' sign placed there. With blazing neon lights and a 'trespassers will be shot' warning.

Nope, no such luck. The ol' Turtle Luck working true to form.

He could tell that he was unnerving his brothers though. Not because he was being his annoying self, poking jokes and teasing but because he wasn't. Felt bad about it too! That was his job, the jokster. He took it upon himself to make everyone lighten up, to keep everyone from going all doom-and-gloom. He couldn't shake the feeling though. Something felt off. As much as he and his siblings teased Leo about having all the crazy 'ninja senses' they all had them. Michelangelo was not routinely known for "utilizing" his but they were screaming at him right now.

Or maybe he was just scared.

"Mikey..."

Donnie, he could always count on Donnie. His genius brother lay a hand on his shoulder, his warm brown eyes focused and attentive. "What's wrong?" He added, "We're with you, you know. You're not alone." He smiled, knowing as well as his other two brothers how much Mikey despised being alone. "So, what is it?"

Their two older brothers up ahead, paused, turned around. Mikey considered, for a moment, being honest. After all, wasn't Leo and Master Splinter always blabbering about how honesty is what propelled the link and all that stuff? However, there was also the pride. He had grown since their last trip down here. He was a Battle Nexus Champion, right?! He could handle anything!

Plus, his brothers didn't need any more reason to go overprotective emo on him.

"Oh, nothing." He said simply, folding his arms, "Aside from the fact that we're going back down into that creepy, underground city and I seem to be the only one that's been keeping score. Every time we go in there, something tries to kill us!"

His brothers, as expected, rolled their eyes in exasperation. Good. Having them be annoyed at him was a lot better than having them worried. He'd take the blows against his character if it avoided that. Leo already worried enough for all of them for the rest of their lives. Besides, it wasn't like he had any evidence about something. Aside from, you know, ALL their past experience down here!

Raph elbowed Leo, "I see the Turtle-Chicken is back in season."

Leo, to his credit, turned around and addressed his youngest brother, despite how easy it would have been to go along with Raph's teasing. Mikey made it way too easy sometimes and while he tried to focus on being a good leader, he was a brother and some things the sibling part of his personality could not resist, "Mikey, you saw it, same as us."

"I saw something" He felt inclined to correct. "The fact that I didn't get a good look at it suits me just fine." He added, "I also don't know how many teeth Leatherhead has and I'm in no rush to find out."

Donnie interjected, "Mikey, it had all the traits of one of Bishop's experiments-"

"Traits, my shell," Raph interrupted, twirling his sai on one hand. "He might as well have signed the thing."

Mikey frowned, crossed his arms across his chest. Granted, he had to admit they had a point but something had felt different. Everyone and their mother knew Bishop was always obsessed with creating the next "step" in evolution of a super soldier but this thing had _felt_ different. He couldn't describe it to you if you asked why it felt different just that it had. Now, give him a sheet of paper and he could have painted or sketched EXACTLY what he felt from it but that wasn't an option.

Besides, no one in his family was very good at the emotional interpretation thing. Hence why when things got rough, it fell to Therapist Mikey. Oh, they didn't say it in so many words but when Raph got into his Wolverine-mode or Donnie became hermit-man or Leo decided he was 50,000 years old, it fell to him to snap them out of it. Fine by him but that made it a little difficult when he needed someone that spoke his language. Donnie came close but right now, despite having that worried look that made the genius turtle look way older than he was, there was the same exasperated 'here-we-go-again' look.

Leonardo opted to break up any potential fights by taking command, "We don't know where this thing is going. With all the alien technology that Bishop has been exposed to, we can't take a chance."

Raphael felt inclined to add, "Then there's that abandoned Foot lab down here too. I bet Ol' Agent Smith would love to get his hands on that."

Mikey winced "Thanks for the reminder, Raphie!"

They continued in silence. It was a familiar path, one they had walked several times but this time, they didn't really have any tracks to follow, just an overall direction. Don had said something about being able to pick up on any genetic abnormallies when he got within range but beyond that, they were just wandering blind. Mikey felt it necessary to comment on them playing a huge game of Hot and Cold (which got his head smacked soundly) but it at least broke up the somber feeling.

Except when the time came to rest and sleep.

Leo took the first watch but Mikey couldn't sleep or maybe it was more he didn't want to sleep. The last time they had wandered down here, he had gotten dreams of that creepy city. Granted, it had ended up helping him but with the way he was feeling now, he didn't want to risk having another one of those. Rolling over onto his shell, he changed position for what felt like the fifteenth time-

"That's the twenty-third time you changed positions."

Leo's voice was hardly provoking but Mikey's eldest brother had this amazing ability to deliver an unspoken command. Shifting, Mikey rolled onto his left side, eyeing his brother who simply looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "You've been keeping count?" He intoned, "Bordering on stalker-creepy, bro."

Unfazed, Leo remarked, "Only because it's about double the amount of times you usually turn. You've never been a still sleeper Mikey but even for you, this is a bit much."

Mikey sat up, giving up on sleep. Least he had someone to talk to. "Hard to sleep when we're tracking some giant mystery monster into the depths of some creepy cursed city that we've been to twice before and never with good results."

Leo eyed him, again, with that critical leader look that not even he was good at resisting. "It's more than that, Mikey."

Sighing in defeat, Mikey relented, though only somewhat, "What? Your ninja-senses haven't been tingling?"

The blue banded leader gave a half smile. "While I wouldn't exactly describe it like that...yes." He looked his brother up and down "And yours?"

"Like a freaking five bell alarm." Mikey admitted. He considered, for a moment, describing what happened before, when he had seen the city in his dreams before they even had gotten a glimpse of the place but that desire faded quickly. Much as Leonardo tried to be a good leader, he probably wouldn't believe him and to be candid, Mikey couldn't really blame him. He'd experienced it and it still made no sense. "Can't tell you why though. I mean...aside from what I've been saying."

Leo leaned back against the nearby wall. "Sometimes, we can't name a reason." He lay a hand on his sibling's shoulder "But we're in this together Mikey. You're not alone."

It might have been silly but hearing Leonardo say that (making him the second person to say it) made him feel a little better. Being an extremely social turtle, being alone was easily the worst fate that Michelangelo could picture for himself. As much as he loved to play tricks and bother his siblings, he'd feel completely lost without them. They had a camaraderie that most brothers rarely experienced.

That being said, he couldn't shake that feeling of doom that lingered over his heart. It made no sense and sitting awake with Leo helped some but it was still there, like an itch he couldn't quite reach. He took to fidgeting, swung his nunchaku around and over all, did anything to keep his body occupied so that his mind wouldn't play its favorite game of 'Worst Case Scenario.'

He was almost relieved when they had all served a shift and it came time to continue walking. Leonardo watched him carefully. The fact that he had not slept did not sit well with the leader but there was little to be done about it. So, they pressed on, each of them taking a different approach. Leonardo always out in front so he would be the first one that this creature, whatever it was, encountered. Raph always the next in line, his sai at ready and positioning himself between Leonardo and Donatello and Michelangelo. That was his style, much like Leonardo, he would serve as a barrier between danger and their younger siblings. Donatello was always checking his sensors but so far, they were telling them nothing.

Mikey trailed in the back, thinking. He had not yet said anything for a good five minutes and he could tell it was unnerving his brothers, again. Raph kept glancing back at him and had called to him a few times about 'spacing out' on them but he hadn't the energy to quip much of anything though. His mind was doing it favorite torment hobby, firing all kinds of scenarios at him and he didn't like any of them.

Stranger

Jerking his head up, Mikey's vision blurred for a moment, just a split moment going dark and in that moment, like a camera flash, he saw a pale face, long black hair, shrunken in eyes...

"Mikey!"

Shaking his head, the teen opened his eyes, recognizing Raph's gruff tone. His hot-blooded brother had dropped behind so he stood right next to him and was currently staring right into his face. "You zoning out on us, knucklehead?"

Looking around, Mikey observed his other two brothers had stopped and were looking at him worriedly. Donnie asked, simply, "You just started to stare right ahead. You would have walked right over the edge" he indicated the narrow path they were currently walking, "If Raph hadn't caught you."

"You didn't hear it?" He asked simply.

Leo frowned, his brow crinkling in thought "Hear what, Mikey?"

"The voice." The youngest of them argued. "_I_ heard it."

Donnie approached, "Mikey, there was nothing." He eyed his sibling with concern painting his features. "What did you hear?"

"Not just hear" The nunchaku wielding turtle corrected "Saw. You didn't see her?"

Leonardo turned and walked over, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder, "See who?"

Realizing abruptly that he probably sounded utterly crazy, Michelangelo could hardly back down now, "I heard a voice distinctly say 'stranger' and then there was a white face with black hair and shrunken in eyes."

Raph blinked once then twice "Come again?"

Leo folded his arms, taking on his 'thinking' pose. "You saw a girl with black hair and a white face? Where?"

"Well..." Mikey winced, rubbed the back of his neck. "Right here. You guys were gone for a second and she was there and then boom, Raph's voice brought you guys back." He teased his older brother "Tol' you that your voice could scare off the dead, Raphie!"

Raphael wasn't biting. "Brainac, what do you think?"

Donatello frowned. "Well, it sounds like a hallucination. That can sometimes be brought on by not enough sleep or by lack of oxygen." He locked eyes with his younger brother, "Have you ever had that happen before, Mikey?"

"Uh...nope. If any of us is gonna go crazy, it would be Raph here!" He joked, gently pushing his gruff brother's shoulder.

A lie. He had but he sure as shell wasn't going to tell Don that! Well, this was a little different because he'd never had it been of a creepy little girl before. It _had_ happened before though. After they'd come back from that crazy cross-dimensional trip courtesy of Draco and that stupid time scepter, when he'd been sitting next to Donnie, trying to convince him to talk to them, he'd gotten a simple flash of a black, broken down world and what looked like him but this one had been older with a missing arm and was definitely sporting a Raph-like attitude. Less than a two second flashy image and then it was gone. That had been the first time, that he could remember, but then...he was known for having such a crazy imagination that sometimes it could be hard to tell the difference between what he was imagining and what was happening.

Though, he hadn't really had that problem since he was about seven.

And then there had been a flash of the Shredder as a Dragon when they'd first gone to see the Ninja Tribunal. Same deal. Two seconds tops and then gone. He'd just contributed it to deja vu when they'd faced crazy demon giant-lizard-thing.

TOTALLY different than some creepy little girl suddenly invading his personal bubble!

Raph turned, eyeing their leader, "Leo?"

Shaking his head, Leo turned to Donnie, "You didn't pick anything up, Donnie?"

With a negative shake of the head, the resident technology turtle responded, "Nothing."

Raph eyed his youngest brother and pulled his arm around his shoulders, "C'mon chuckles, stick close to me. I don't want to have to save you from your bungee-jumping hobby again." He paused, lowered his voice, "We're with you, Mikey. You're not alone." Whether that was said for his comfort or for Raph's, Mikey wasn't sure. In any event, he opted to take it.

Their steps definitely became more cautious. Leo had taken his swords out of their sheaths and he peeked around any curves and bends in the rocky walls with true paranoia. The way he kept looking back at Mikey was not doing wonders for the youngest's confidence either. He wasn't an idiot. He knew as well as the others that what he'd described seeing sounded very much like a onryo.

Great. It wasn't enough that they had to go explore that creepy city but now they were in a cheap version of The Grudge? Lovely.

Away. Away

Mikey jerked. "...please tell me you heard that...?"

He didn't hear any of their responses because there was that blasted girl again! But at least this time she wasn't right in his face! He could see her right ahead, less than two yards. He pushed Raph's arm off and took off at a run. He did NOT appreciate anyone playing with his head and this girl was totally doing that! It _had_ to be her, right...

"Mikey, stop! Those rocks aren't stable!"

"Huh?" Looking down at Leo's warning, he caught sight of the very crumbling rocks under his feet right when they gave away. He swore it was like a cartoon for a moment, where he seemed to hover before dropping like a sack of bricks. The fall was quick and long, with the oh-so-friendly cavern walls deciding to take small little slices out of his arms on the way down.

"Mikey!"

Landing hurt. A lot. It was kind of embarrassing actually. He was a ninja! He should have gone into a tumble or found footing or something but instead, he found himself rolling like a giant bolder to flop down on a disgusting wet and slimy cavern base. It knocked the wind out of him to be frank. For a minute or two, he laid there before his lungs remembered how to breathe and he yanked in a huge lungful.

"Ow...ground floor. Bruises and bodily pains." Rolling to a sitting position, he blinked, rubbed his eyes and then blinked again.

Okay, not cool. The creepy rocky paths had been freaky enough but down here, it was like some third grader went nuts with the black paint on a picture. He held his hand out and could just barely see the outline of it. Truthfully, even that was more than likely his mind playing tricks than actually taking anything in. Okay. Okay. Inventory. Despite hurting and aching, everything was intact. No broken bones, maybe a bruised rib or two from the fall (which despite what movies told you, hurt a LOT) but he wasn't bleeding.

That wasn't what was bothering him though.

It was silent.

And not just quiet, no literally, silent.

"Raph! Leo! Donnie!"

The darkness swallowed his voice like some type of hungry monster. Not even an echo.

Reaching up with his hands, Mikey yelped when his fingers met stone surface. But, wait...he had just fallen down here. There had to be an opening where he'd come crashing in. Standing slowly, he found he had to crouch slightly to keep from banging his head. This made no sense! Feeling with his fingers, the whole place felt concealed, crushing but smooth. Not like stone. Like glass almost.

Step after step. Feeling. Smooth surface with no breaks, no hinges, nothing.

All with that horrible drip-drip-drip nasty wetness. His feet were probably coated in it and he'd nearly fallen on his butt more than once. It was an unfamiliar texture and yet it smelled familiar.

Raising his fingers to his nostrils, he inhaled, slowly.

"Blood."

He wiped his hands over the nearest surface and found the same thing. Blood. You never forgot the metallic smell of blood.

"RAPH! DONNIE! LEO!"

Again, nothing. His voice just wafted away, little more than a whisper. He fell to his knees, suddenly feeling like this place was getting smaller. It wasn't, the walls hadn't moved but it felt like it. It was so...this was too bizarre! He'd fallen down here. His brothers were less than a half mile away (most likely a lot less but he was not very good at distance calculations) and he heard nothing. Literally nothing.

"Okay, okay." He coached himself. "Calm down, Mikey. You're just panicking. Relax." Easy to say, really freaking hard to do. Meditation had never been his strong point anyway and yet here he was, trying to meditate, trying so desperately to cling to something that would shine some light (either figuratively or physically) on this place. He couldn't panic. Yes. In. Out. In. Out.

It seemed to do something at least. The room no longer felt so closed in and he swore when he reached up, he had to reach up higher to touch the cavern walls. Okay, that was weird. That made no sense and...

In. Out. In. Out.

He didn't know how long he had been doing it before something occurred to him and it was not a good thing.

He reached up, placed his hand on the rocky wall.

Breathe In.

The wall moved out. As in, literally moved out.

Breathe Out.

It condensed.

The room was breathing with him. The actual stone walls were moving in sync with his breathing!

Sound then. Glorious, glorious sound. Amid this dead silence it...

"-Onnie, Leo!"

Wait...that was his voice. That was what he had been shouting but that had been a good ten minutes ago! And it wasn't, like, normal. It swirled, seemed to come at him from every direction, every angle, like there was another him in every inch of this space, just calling. Calling over and over.

Michelangelo sank to his hands and knees again. Feeling around on that horrible wet floor, he finally found something different.

Hard. Cold. Round...with two large holes, not far from one another and...

"Oh...God..."

A skull. He was fingering a skull.

Scooting back as far as he could until his shell hit rock walls again, Mikey whimpered, this time not ashamed of it. "Donnie? Raph...Leo..." He again, only heard the swirling of his own voice in response. "Anybody?"

Something hot, warm right at his neck.

You are alone.