I Had A Nightmare: Raph

Mikey ran as fast as he could from the thing chasing him. He was topside while his brothers were still in the lair with Master Splinter. Something was calling him to come topside. Something that sounded evil and yet, trustworthy. Mikey followed the voice and went topside without his family knowing. Once he was there, something popped out of the shadows and started to chase after Mikey. Mikey didn't dare look back at the thing that was chasing him. He stopped at an edge of a building. He couldn't make the jump so it was either die from falling or die from the thing that was chasing him.

Mikey turned around to come face to face with…himself? The other him laughed and placed his arm around Mikey. Mikey flinched at the touch and tried to get the other him to let go. At his struggles, Mikey 2 only laughed and turned Mikey to face him. Mikey 2 was like Mikey, yet different. Their appearance was the same except for Mikey 2's red eyes and sharp teeth. Their personalities were the only major difference. While Mikey was like Mikey, Mikey 2 was even more dangerous than Raph on his worst day. Mikey 2 smiled at Mikey, his smile making Mikey feel uncomfortable and calm at the same time.

"Hello Michelangelo. Don't you recognize me? No, well I'm you. I'm the real you. I am the you that you hide from everyone else. I am your true strength and speed. I am your anger. I am the you that is really you." Mikey 2 told the uneasy other. Mikey stared at him in shock. He knew who this was now. Mikey 2 smiled even more. "That's right. I am the one that helped you beat Kluh in the Battle Nexus. Even though I didn't go all out. That was only 1/20th of what I can really do. You need to stop hiding me Michelangelo. Let me out. Let me show your brothers that you are more than what they thought. That you are smarter than Donatello, stronger and much angrier than Raphael and more skilled than Leonardo." Mikey was so close to believing him until he thought of something.

"No. I am needed to be happy for my family. If I let you out then my family will fall apart." Mikey 2 hissed at Mikey's defiance. Then with another evil grin, Mikey 2 disappeared into the night. Mikey looked around before his head started to hurt. His teeth were getting sharper than Leo's Katannas and his eyes were turning redder than Raph's mask.

"Very well then Michelangelo. How about I show you what amazing things you can do if you let me out." Mikey 2's voice echoed around in his head. Suddenly the pain went and Mikey opened his now red eyes. He was at the top of the Foot HQ and he saw his brothers fighting the Shredder. He watched as they were knocked down like nothing. This made Mikey really mad and he charged at the Shredder. He heard his brothers telling him to stop, but he could never forgive Shredder for hurting his family. Mikey dodged the Shredder's attacks like they were nothing and focused his energy into his right fist. When he was close enough, he punched through the armor, through the Shredder's alien body and out the other side of the armor. The Shredder's robotic body fell on the roof and the alien's blood poured out. His brother's stared at him with shock and awe. Mikey felt good about killing the Shredder and having his brothers respect him.

The scene changed to when he was out on patrol by himself. He found a hideout for about one hundred Purple Dragons and Foot Ninjas. Hun was there himself. Mikey sneaked into the warehouse and attacked from the shadows. Blood sprayed everywhere from where he would slice their throats with a kunai. The last to go was Hun. Mikey loved the feeling of fighting and having everyone at his mercy.

The scene changed once more to the lair. His brothers were at his feet. They had cuts everywhere on their bodies and were breathing heavily. Mikey didn't have a scratch. His brothers looked at him with pleading eyes. Donnie spoke first.

"Please Mikey, stop. I need to tend to our injuries." Leo and Raph nodded.

"Training is over for today Michelangelo." Leo told his younger brother. Mikey laughed. He stared at his brothers.

"You guys are weak. Look at yourselves. You're weak if you can't get a small scratch on me yet get hurt this bad. You three shouldn't exist if you are so weak. I shall get rid of you for this world's sake." Mikey launched at his brothers with shurikins in both of his hands.

"NO!" Mikey screamed and bolted up in bed. He was going to fast to sit up and felt like he was going to be sick. He heard heavy footsteps running towards his room and his door flew open. Raph ran towards Mikey with his Sais out and ready for anything that could harm his baby bro. Raph didn't see anything unusual in Mikey's room and could only assume that Mikey had another nightmare. He walked to his brother with concern in his eyes.

"You okay bro?" Mikey shook his head. He actually felt good about hurting and killing everyone in the dream and that scared him. How was he supposed to be okay if he enjoyed killing? Raph settled down next to him. He wasn't one to really help with things like this so he was a little confused on what to do. "Um…you want to…you know…talk about it?"

"I enjoyed it Raph. I liked it." Mikey bowed his head. He started to cry but didn't want Raph to see it since he like, never cries. But Raph did see the tears.

"You enjoyed what Mikey?"

"Killing." Raph froze as he heard the response. His little brother dreamt of killing and he enjoyed it. Mikey saw Raph froze and explained his dream to him. "I was running away from something and when I turned around, it was me. Except it wasn't me. It was the angry, powerful me. He wanted me to let him out, to use his strength, speed and power. I thought about it and denied, but he went inside my head. The scene changed to when we were fighting the Shredder and using my other self's power, I killed him. I killed a lot of Purple Dragons and Foot Ninjas. Even Hun wasn't a challenge to beat. The last scene was the worst. You, Leo and Donnie was badly injured by me in a training session. I wasn't hurt at all and you guys wanted me to stop but I told you that you were all weak and that I needed to get rid of you. I was about to kill you guys until I woke up."

Raph was scared for his brother. How can someone so young and innocent have dreams like this? It was madness. Raph didn't know how to calm his brother down so he gave in to his instincts. He pulled Mikey in a hug and tightly held on to him. "Its okay bro. You would never be like that. Its just not you."

"But it is Raph. The other me is real. I have just kept him hidden. I'm scared that I might actually let him out one day. But he is real and he is inside of me." Mikey cried on Raph's shoulder. Raph couldn't bear to handle this. He looked at Mikey, his amber eyes determined to make his brother better and to never let this monster destroy the brother he knows and loves.

"Mikey, he may be a part of you but he is not. I will not let him break you down to something you're not. I will help you control this Mikey. I can't control my anger because that is me, but you can control yours because I know you can and you're stronger than you look even without his help." Mikey looked up at his older brother.

"Really?"

"Really." Mikey clung onto Raph. Raph chuckled. "Want me to stay here for tonight? Like old times?"

"Yeah." Mikey helped Raph feel comfortable before snuggling up to him. "Thank-you Raph." Mikey fell back to sleep.

"Night chucklehead."