Falling.
A never ending abyss of blackness engulfed him, swallowing his screams, his hammering heart, and whatever courage he had left.
Leonardo was downright petrified.
He didn't know what had happened. One minute he and his siblings were running through the sewers, playing a game of tag, and the next giant sinkholes opened up underneath their feet, swallowing them.
Donnie went first. The ground shifted beneath his feet, making him trip. His face smacked into the rim of the other side of the hole, dazing him before he fell.
Raph was next. He tried to save his brother, diving in to grab his hand. But Donnie had slipped away too late. The large teen's weight caused the hole to enlarge, and before he could scramble away in time, he was tumbling off the edge, green eyes wide with fear.
Mikey and Leo danced around, trying not to get stuck in the slowly melting tunnel. Leo looked over at his little sister, and saw that she was holding up fine. "Stay with me," he ordered as he leaped over another large pot hole. "I don't know how far down these things go."
"Relax, bro," Mikey smiled, running alongside the wall, avoiding the holes better than he. "I'm not afraid."
Suddenly, a blur of silver flashed in the dim darkness before catching itself on Mikey's chest. She tumbled back, and into a hole that opened up immediately. Luckily, she managed to swing her nun-chucks up and the blade end had caught itself in one of the pipes that ran atop the tunnel.
"Mikey!" Leo cried as he leaped over another hole. His hand grabbed the lead pipes and he found himself right next to the chains that kept his only sister from falling to her death. He looked down, and saw that she was trying to climb up, and he could also see that she was clutching her left shoulder, just above her heart. A sickly red liquid gushed from a deep, open wound.
"Grab my hand!" he said, reaching down. Mikey reached her bloody hand up for her brother, light gleaming off her baby blue eyes. Leo's hand was only a few inches away.
But then the chain on her nun-chucks snapped without warning, and she fell into the nothingness below, screaming her head off like the child she was.
"MIKEY!" Leo wailed. "DONNIE! RAPH! COME BACK!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as his hand continued to grip nothing. He was so close to saving her, and yet all of his siblings were dead. And he was supposed to be a leader . . .
Suddenly, his hand was covered in something thick and moist, and had the same texture as clay. He glanced up, and his deep blue eyes widened with fear. The lead pipes that he was clutching to were melting. His hand sank right through, and a few more seconds and he would fall as well. He gripped the smooth walls, but all he left were deep gouges. His katana blades were useless in the terrain he was in.
His hand broke free of the lead mush and he fell into the same hole that his sister had fallen though only moments ago. Twisting, turning, screaming, Leo was going to die.
Screams below caught his attention. There was light within the darkness, but he could see no source of it. Below, long tendrils like snakes wrapped around his brothers and sister. They were bleeding, broken, fearful but alive.
The tentacles ripped their black armor off, and started to skin them alive. Donnie had lost three fingers already. Raph was in the mist of having his eyes ripped out. Mikey was wailing like no banshee could ever do. It broke and destroyed Leo.
He hit the mass of evil, faceless snakes, and they immediately wrapped around his throat, legs, arms, keeping him bound. They crushed his katana blades and used the shards to cut his pale skin away. Blood stained the creatures crimson, but they didn't stop. Leo heard screaming, and was faintly aware that it was him.
Up above, a deep chuckle filled with insane malice cut through the atmosphere of cries of pain. A face pushed through the shadows, silver shining off the unseen light. A man with all but his eyes covered laughed delightfully as he watched the four teens being ripped to shreds.
The mass of razor tendrils had cut Leo's skin completely off, and were going to work on his innards. They ate away at his intestines, bones, muscles. He began to feel lightheaded and dizzy, as if the incredulous pain weren't doing enough of that.
He was sinking; they all were. Leo could see Raph's head and Donnie outstretched hand desperate to grab something in the smooth cavern. Mikey had just gone under, movement seen as she thrashed about. Her movements of struggle became less and less before the ceased completely.
The same thing happened with his younger brothers. As he was the only ninja left alive, Leo threw his head back and screamed bloody murder, which never beat the corrupt howls of the beast above him. The snakes took advantage and slithered up his neck. Before Leo could understand their plot, he felt them in his mouth, crawling down his throat, suffocating him. He clawed at them with his hands, but his fingers were all gone, only bony stubs left.
His head pounded, and he felt the most horrible pain ever in his chest. As he sank down, the snakes covered him, so that he may never see the light of day ever again. His one good eye bore into the single human eye of the Shredder above him, filling it with as much hate as he could . . .
{EPIC LINE BREAK}
"Bro! Dude, wake up!"
Leo bolted upright, drenched in a cold sweat. His body tingled painfully, and his heart rammed against his ribcage so hard he thought it would beat free. His vision was blurry and unfocused, and his pants were forced.
"Good god, what happened?" someone said, their voice full of worry.
"I don't know! He just started screaming. Must have been one heck of a nightmare."
"Leo! Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?"
He tried to see the faces in front of him: boy with caramel skin and hard green orbs for eyes: another boy, taller, with a mop of brown hair holding out three fingers in front of him: a girl who had long scratched down her chest and neck, blond hair stained red.
Leo let the images come into focus, then felt himself cry again. His siblings were really alive.
"Whoa! Dude, is he really crying?" the girl asked, holding Leo's hand.
"He must be in shock," the tall boy exclaimed. "Hold on, I'll get sensei."
"No! Don't go!" Leo felt himself say. The boy stopped and turned around with large brown eyes staring back. The look on his face said: Maybe it's more than shock. Maybe's he's gone nuts?
"Leo, wake up!" The caramel-skinned boy cracked the back of his hand against Leo's face, whipping his head back. As the other boy and girl gasped and chewed his attacker out, Leo could only smile happily. He jumped forward and crushed all three of his younger siblings in a bear hug. They froze with uncertainty and surprise.
"Sorry guys," Leo sobbed. "I just had a nightmare. You all . . . died." He choked on that last word.
The girl scooted out of his arms and patted him on the back. "Leo, none of us will leave you that easily," she said, grinning crazily, but with a softer look in her eyes. "Who cares how strong our enemies are? We'll kick their butts back to Japan, no matter what."
Leo smiled at Mikey, then at the green-eyed boy who said, "Yeah man, so quit crying. It doesn't suit you." He brushed his messy white hair out of his face, and for once in a rare while, Raph smiled with kindness and pity.
Donnie, the tall boy, sighed happily. "You seem to have calmed down, Leo. Can you get back to sleep?"
The eldest knew that it was his job to be the strong one, but the images of his dream hit him again and he shivered in fear, feeling his heart race again. "No," he responded, very honest with them.
No words were spoken, and Leo worried greatly if his siblings now though less of him. Instead, they lay down with him. Raph off the side of the bed on his knees, his elbows on the mattress to make a pillow for his head. Donnie, ever the flexible, curled up into a ball at the foot of the mattress, his hair gently tickling Leo's feet. Mikey pulled herself up to the head board and leaned against the wall, her hand petting Leo's black mane of hair. "Just go to sleep, bro," she said, sounding annoyed but with a giant grin on her face.
Leo smiled back, and settled into his soaked pillow. Mikey in front, Donnie below, Raph to the side. The eldest ninja felt so protected that when he fell asleep, the presence of his siblings kept his nightmares away.
Kinda just derping right now.
This is a proluge to the story, just introducing the characters and how different they are here.
They are human. Mikey's a girl.
But they still live in the sewers, and Splinter is still a giant rat. And Shredder is still hell-bent on killing them.
So yeah. Thanx for reading!