"Don? Where did we start going wrong?" When did you start hating me?"

"Leo, come on. I don't hate you."
"YOu don't like me very much. Was it because I didn't come back when I was supposed to? Was it before that?"

"Leo, you know what? You really know how to talk a topic to death."

"I'll stop bringing it up when you start giving me some answers."
"See? There you go again."

"Again with what?"

Donnie sat up suddenly and turned to glare accusingly at his older brother. Gesturing with a wave of his hand toward him, he spat out. "You are doing it again! Acting like some kind of stiff, annoying self-righteous prig! When will you ….Oh, forget it."

Donnie's voice rose a fraction with every word he said, until he paused a moment, and it was like all the building anger just drained away into the ground.

"Please, go on."

"You'll hate me." Don said tonelessly.

"Can't be worse than what you been saying so far." Leo sighed, looking tired, but resolute. "I been angry as shell with you once or twice, but I'll never actually hate you."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, trust me."

Donnie turned to face him with the oddest of odd expressions on his face. He chewed his lower lip for a minute, then sighed. "Leo, I can't." He said in a soft, reluctant tone.

"You can't what?"
"I...I can't trust you, Leo. I mean, once I could. Once a long time ago. I trusted you then. But now...You just kept betraying my trust. You…." He sighed again and looked away. "And now you come back in acting so self-righteous and so...so above the rest of us, that it makes me never want to trust you again. I don't trust you, Leo, to care about us anymore. Just...just leave me alone now."

….

"I don't trust you, Leo."

Those words hung in the air long after his younger brother walked away. They seemed to haunt Leo that night as he tried to sleep. He tossed and turned and couldn't drop off. The words ran over and over in his brain like a broken record.

Leo sighed, and got up. He settled down on the floor, got into a lotus position, with the instinct of heavy practice, and closed his eyes, forcing himself to slip into a meditative trance. His mind wandered in a way that was not the most encouraging. Mostly, it kept going back to a time when he knew Donnie still trusted him. A time when that trust was severely tested. A time when they were fifteen…

…...

Donnie stared at April, his sweet perfect wonderful rose, as she turned on him and viciously shown her thorns. She looked as though she had fallen into some kind of crazy, demonic rage. And worst of all, Donnie had no idea what cause it! "Get away from me! You disgust me!"

Donnie took a step back, his eyes widening with shock, even as he instinctively raised his bo as thought to defend himself from her hate-filled words. April followed his shaking steps. Her eyes were pitch black. Her teeth was the sharp fangs of a carnivore. How in the name of Newton did that happen? And strangely enough, The closer she drew to his hesitantly retreating self, the larger she seemed to loom. A tiny part of his brain screamed at him. "This is not logical! This makes no sense! There is no way, outside of being mutated that this can happen in real life. This is not real!" too bad the rest of his brain resembled tiny yappy poodles running around in frenzied terror and was in no way paying attention to the tiny voice of reason.

April, in the meantime had not stopped spewing vile, hate-filled words that his bo staff did little to defend from. "Get away from me, you three-fingered freak! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you for what you did to my Father! Looking at you makes me sick!"
"A..April! What...what are you saying?" Donnie gasped, sounding as skittish and panicky as he felt.
"Gee Donne. You're the 'smart' one." April said spitefully, doing the air quotes with her fingers as she taunted. "Surely you can figure it out. Unless you were just pretending to be smart all this time."

"April really hates me.." Donnie yelped. He would have bolted to get away from her, when a stone rolled under one of his feet, sending him hard on his shell.

"Everyone stay together!" Leo shouted from somewhere nearby, but it seemed to be from far away. As Donnie struggled to get off of his shell, he heard the faint splash of someone running away. Or more than one. Again, it was so distant, to him, he couldn't make it out. The very air around him took on the vibe of a nightmare. Part of him was waiting for Freddy to show up. The next moment, a hand grabbed his, and hauled him to his feet. A few feet away, glared evil April, his April, who was still spitting out words that tore his heart apart, and cut into his soul. He fought to run away, but a pair of strong hands grabbed his arm and refused to let go. "Donnie, listen to me."

April hates me! Why does April hat me? This makes no sense! His thoughts circled around and around to this theme. But at least it helped him ignore some of what April was saying.
"Donnie. Stay with me!" Whatever you're seeing is not real. Open your eyes."
Surprised that he had closed them without knowing, Donnie gulped and obeyed. He shuddered when April cruelly laughed at him "L...Leo? what is April doing?"

"April?" Leo blinked and looked down. Why was he looking down? April loomed high above them! What was Leo looking at? "Cowering, mostly….why?"

"You're not lying to me. Are you?" Donnie asked wistfully,

"You're not Lying to me. Are you?" Donnie asked. In Leo's ears, his younger brother's voice sounded terribly thin and shaky. It was one of the most pathetic things he heard in his life. Donnie's brown eyes were huge, staring, slightly glazed orbs. His pupils were so wide that they almost covered the brown. Leo realized that Donnie was not far from bolting, like Raph and Mikey did. And the thought gave him a feeling of dread. "I'm not lying, I swear. I'll do my best to protect you. But you got to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"I...I trust you." Donnie whispered faintly. Leo watch as he closed his eyes again, and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he looked steadier. And a weight was less heavy on Leo's shoulders. "I trust you." Donnie repeated in a more sure tone.

"Remember what you said about the mushrooms? What do the spores do?"
Donnie's eyes widened, this time in realization. "Of course! This is a spore induced vision! I almost forgot!"
"This things must have the kick of a kangaroo." Leo blinked, surprised.

"Leo, you have no idea."

"Just try to keep it in mind, and you'll be fine. Keep fighting the effects."

"I…" He glanced up as snarling, foaming April again, who somehow didn't seem as hugely tall as before. "I'll try."
The moment hung in the air. Then he watched Donnie as he once again closed his eyes and took a deep breath, let it out, and took another. Only then did he realize that his own fears had almost overwhelmed him. It was so insidiously subtle, that he almost didn't even notice it. When he saw Raph and Mikey run down the sewer tunnel, when he realized how close Donnie came to following, he felt himself getting lost in fear and shame. He had failed them! He had failed as a leader! But...no, he had not failed completely. Donnie was still there. He had helped him get a grip on his fear. And once they figure out what is going on, Mikey and Raph will be okay too. He hoped.
"Come on, let's find the source of this mushroom menace." he said, trying to sound brave and fearless. Like captain Ryan. "And end this thing."

Donnie stared at him like he grew a second head. "Wow, how long did you sit on that one?"
"You like it?"
"It's...better than some you said."

TBC