"Can you move?" Leo asked as soon as Versallia spoke to him.

"Yes," Versallia answered in what was barely more than a whisper. "But I'm afraid to."

Leo wasn't sure if she was whispering because she feared the sound would trigger another collapse or because she was injured. Her answer could be a verification of either or both of those things.

"I need for you to stand up," Leo said, keeping his voice low and firm. "Hug the wall as you do so, keeping your feet spread so that your weight isn't centered in one spot. Extend your arms up towards me as soon as you begin to move. Can you do that?"

"I will," Versallia said with determination, though she still kept her voice down. "Please be careful; the ground is treacherous and I have no control over it."

While she spoke, Versallia slowly pushed herself up onto one hip. Leo could see that she still wore the crystal medallion around her neck, but it appeared dull. Without its power, the Y'Lyntian woman had no bond with the earth and no way to save herself. She shouldn't have been able to reach Leo with her thoughts either, but somehow she had.

"Hold onto me, Raph," Leo called back to his brother. "I'm going to catch hold of Versallia and pull her up."

"Just get a good grip on her and let me do the pulling," Raph replied. "The less wiggling around ya' do the better."

Mikey sat down, dug his heels into the ground, and wrapped his hands around one of Raph's ankles. Don quickly followed suit, getting a good, strong grip on the other.

"Come on up, Versallia," Leo urged, his eyes fixed on the woman. "Nice and slow."

As Versallia began to move, Leo carefully stretched out his hands towards her. Even with the extreme care he employed, small sections of dirt broke off and pelted the woman.

Once he was in position, Leo froze in an effort to maintain the integrity of the ground beneath his upper body. It was clear that once he began to support her weight, a good portion of the crater's edge was going to fall away.

Leo watched as Versallia slid up against the rock wall, gripping at whatever handholds she could find before attempting to rise. As she slowly stood up, Leo got a better look at her, and saw the raw scrapes across her jaw and forehead, the bruises that colored her arms along with at least one bloody gash above her elbow.

Dirty and disheveled, Versallia still looked as resolute as she had the first time they'd met her. Though she had admitted to being afraid, she did not hesitate to do as Leo asked.

Even though her movements were small and cautious, there was a distinct cracking sound from the ledge Versallia was on. She immediately stiffened, her fingertips just beyond Leo's reach.

"All the way, Versallia," Leo instructed calmly. "Straighten your knees and get up on your toes. I'll catch you, don't worry."

Eyes wide, Versallia stared up at Leo as she stretched as far as she could. Her hands slid along the wall until they were right under Leo's.

An even louder crack rent the air and Versallia suddenly shifted sideways as the ground disintegrated beneath her feet. Leo lunged downwards and caught her wrists, his quick movement shredding the edge of the crater.

Together they plunged a couple of feet towards the lava and then their momentum was abruptly checked.

"Hang on, Leo!" Raph shouted, frantically tugging on his brother's legs.

"We've got you, Raph!" Mikey yelled.

He and Don rose onto their feet as they pulled Raph back towards them. Muscles straining, Raph dragged Leo's legs closer to him, tucking his brother's calves into his armpits and gripping Leo's outer thighs tightly.

"Faster guys!" Raph exhorted, afraid that the ground would fall apart before they could get away from the crater.

As one, Mikey and Don dove backwards, yanking Raph along with them. Their momentum propelled Leo's body away from the opening and he in turn hauled Versallia completely out of the pit.

Versallia hit the ground hard and Leo immediately pulled her close against him to protect her upper body as his brother's continued to draw the pair farther away from the pit. Though the woman had clutched as his shoulders the moment she was within reach of him, her hands had loosened with their movements.

Leo became concerned with how immobile Versallia now was and as soon as they were on solid terrain, he called out, "Stop!"

When Raph released his legs, Leo rolled over into a seated position and brought Versallia's limp form onto his lap. Her eyes were closed, her normally pale skin flushed.

Swiftly stripping the gloves from his hands, Leo tossed them aside and placed his palm against Versallia's cheek. It felt overly warm to his touch and he gently patted her face, murmuring, "Versallia?"

Don was at his side in an instant, dropping to his knees and pulling off one of his gloves. He pressed a finger to Versallia's neck and after a couple of seconds said, "She's unconscious but her pulse is good. I doubt that she's had anything to drink for quite a while and is probably suffering from heat exhaustion. We need to get her out of here and to someplace cool."

"Right," Leo agreed. "Back to the Tunneler as quick as we can. Let's keep our eyes and ears open; we don't want to run into whoever it was Versallia was trying to escape."

Raph held his arms out and said, "Here, give her to me."

Shaking his head, Leo stood up, bringing Versallia with him. "I've got her," he said, cradling the woman to his chest.

Mikey scooped up Leo's gloves and Don said, "Hang on a second."

Going over to his tech pack, he delved inside and brought out a bottle of water. Joining Leo again, Don unfastened the crystal clasp that held her shawl in place and removed it from her shoulders. After handing it to Mikey, Don opened the bottle and carefully bathed her face and neck with water.

"Okay, that's all we can do right now," Don said. "The sooner she's out of the heat, the better."

This time Raph led the way, with Leo following along behind him. If they ran into trouble, Leo wouldn't be able to respond quickly while holding Versallia in his arms.

Don stayed close to Leo with Mikey once more bringing up the rear. "Think she's gonna be all right?" Mikey asked the genius, keeping his voice down.

"I hope so," Don said. "If she were human she'd probably have expired in this heat. The fact that she's used to it probably helped her survive that fall and the lack of water. I'd really like to know what she was running from though."

"Wouldn't we all," Mikey said with feeling. "Like, how come we only saw the tracks of her pursuers in that first cavern? It looked like they stopped chasing her after she ran into the tunnel, so why'd she keep going?"

"I couldn't even hazard a guess," Don said. "Not enough data. I'm still trying to figure out how Leo had that crystal dream in the first place. As we can now see, it was obviously real, but Versallia's crystal medallion looks as burned out as the other crystals. So what was making our crystal light up?"

"Bro', this is why I hate coming down here," Mikey said morosely. "There are always too many mysteries and none of them are the fun kind."

"Hey, look on the bright side. We did save the girl," Don said.

"Leo saved the girl," Mikey corrected, "and now he's hogging her."

"She's unconscious Mikey," Don said pointedly. "It's not as though he's preventing you two from playing Parcheesi."

"What's Parcheesi? Is that a new video game? How come you didn't tell me about it?" Mikey asked.

"It's not a video . . . you know what? Never mind. Forget I mentioned it," Don said with exasperation.

"Why can't you stick to the point?" Mikey asked irritably.

"What exactly was the point?" Don countered, though he wondered why he didn't just let the matter drop.

"Jeez, pay attention, Donny," Mikey said, sounding vexed. "The point is that Leo is acting the way he gets when he's starting to obsess over something, like our training. Only this something is a someone."

For a couple of minutes Don didn't say anything, watching as Leo strode ahead of them, his head periodically coming down as he looked at the woman he was carrying. Several times he almost stepped on Raph's heels, forcing the red banded turtle to move faster than normal prudence dictated he should.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Don murmured.

At each of the intersecting tunnels along their return route, Raph forced the group to stop and wait for him to determine that no one was lying in wait for them. Normally it would have been Leo calling for the extra caution, but he seemed to have fully turned that task over to his brother, his attention more focused on Versallia.

When they reached the set of tunnels where they would have to make their first turn, Versallia moaned and stirred slightly. Leo immediately stopped and knelt down, resting his elbows on his thighs so that he could continue to cradle the woman.

Don quickly shed his tech pack and extracted another bottle of water, dropping to the ground in front of Leo as he removed the bottle cap. Versallia's eyelids twitched and then barely lifted, though the rest of her body was still immobile.

"Versallia, it's Donatello," Don said. "I'm going to give you some water. Please try to drink."

He got no acknowledgment but Versallia's eyes did remain open. Receiving a nod from Leo, Don touched the bottle to her bottom lip and tilted it until a sprinkling of the liquid entered her mouth.

Don stopped as soon as a thimbleful of water had made it past Versallia's lips. He waited, watching her neck, and finally saw the movement that indicated she'd swallowed the water.

With a sigh of relief, Don proceeded to pour another small portion of water into Versallia's mouth. While he ministered to the fallen woman, Mikey and Raph shed their Y'Lyntian armor and tucked the suits back into their tech packs. Then Mikey stripped Leo's armor mask from his head and placed it along with his brother's gloves, into Leo's pack.

Versallia managed to drink a quarter of the bottle before her eyes slid shut again. Don used the rest to once more cool her face and neck.

"Take a minute to get out of that armor," Raph told him when Don stood up.

As Don began stripping down, he said, "Mikey, can you get water from my pack for the rest of us? We all need to hydrate."

"I'm on it," Mikey said, digging out four bottles of water and tossing one to Raph.

Don stuffed his armor into his tech pack and accepted water from Mikey, taking a long drink as he watched his younger brother approach Leo.

"I can hold her while you drink some water Leo," Mikey offered. "Maybe take a minute to take that gear off."

"No, I'm good," Leo said, his eyes still glued to Versallia's face.

Mikey looked over at Don, whose lips tightened as he glared at the leader. "If you don't drink some water we aren't going anywhere," Don said, his voice holding a determined tone that Leo knew very well. "You were face down in a lava pit and these suits aren't all that breathable. It isn't going to be helpful to Versallia if you get dehydrated too."

Leo finally glanced up to see the expression on his genius brother's face. "We need to get her back to the lair as soon as possible."

"Then drink your water," Don said very distinctly, his tone brooking no further argument.

Raph opened his mouth as though to say something but Mikey shook his head, stopping him. Don and Leo stared at one another, neither moving, until Leo inhaled deeply and said, "Fine. Give me the bottle."

Slowly taking his left arm from beneath Versallia's legs, he lowered her hips onto his thighs. Accepting the bottle from Mikey, who had opened it for him, Leo tilted his head back and drained the water from it in one long pull.

When he was done, Leo handed the empty bottle back to Mikey and once again slid his arm beneath Versallia. Rising to his feet, he told Don, "I'll remove the suit once we're back at the Tunneler."

Don knew how and when to pick his battles, so he merely nodded an acknowledgment. For a moment Raph merely stood there, looking from Don to Leo, before uttering a low growl of discontent and angrily strapping on his tech pack.

The brothers forged on, turning right into the tunnel that would take them back to the cavern where they'd first picked up Versallia's prints. Despite his dissatisfaction with the situation, Raph was once more vigilant, knowing that they could easily encounter whoever had left those other set of foot prints.

They reached the cavern without incident and for once Raph was glad they weren't walking into a fight. Over his lifetime he'd experienced all of Leo's differing moods but knowing he could count on their leader during a battle was the one constant. At the moment though, Leo was exhibiting such strange behavior that even Raph was unwilling for their group to be tested by an altercation.

As they turned towards the last of the tunnels, Raph waved Mikey into the lead. "I'll watch our rear, ya' make sure we ain't got anything unpleasant waiting for us back at the Tunneler."

"Right-o," Mikey called out, darting ahead of Leo who hadn't slowed down.

Before Don could follow them, Raph caught his arm.

"What the fuck is Leo's problem?" Raph growled.

"I wish I knew," Don replied honestly. "It isn't like this is the first person we've ever rescued. From my own experience with a crystal dream, I know its message can plague you, can crawl into your head and buzz around in there until you solve its riddle. But once you've done what it's asked of you, it goes away. Leo is behaving as though he hasn't finished with that dream."

Raph appeared thoughtful for a second, his head swiveling around to ensure him they were still alone. "Yeah, well maybe there is more we gotta do. Versallia sure as hell wasn't running away from nothing. But Leo better let go of this whole possessive act of his and get his head on straight, or he ain't gonna do anybody any good."

"I'm sure once Versallia's back on her feet and can tell us what's happened, Leo will go back to normal," Don said, trying to sound reassuring.

Raph didn't fail to notice the nuance of doubt in his brother's voice. "I wish I was as optimistic as you are," he said sarcastically. "Come on, let's blow this joint."

As Don moved on ahead of him, Raph took a moment to look back at the foot prints Versallia's pursuers had left behind. Eyes narrowed and expression grim, Raph jogged to catch up to his family. In his mind was the concern for what he might have to do to snap Leo back to reality.

Raph knew deep down that was part of his job on their team, but it didn't necessarily mean he enjoyed doing it.

TBC…