Landing on the street, Leonardo looked down at the manhole cover at his feet.
A light rain was falling, but he barely paid it any mind. The cold was refreshing; but no matter how awake he felt, he still could not get over his nightmares. The shadows in the dark alleys that used to signal safety were now symbols of foreboding. What was hiding behind the trash cans? Would a man in a dark overcoat actually prove to be a walking mutant corpse?
Even as these thoughts flooded his mind, Leonardo knew they were foolish. And yet, he could not deny that he was anxious to return home for one reason only: to be sure his brothers were safe. He had always been protective of them, but everything was different know. He had to protect them. They had to protect each other. They were all they had now.
Fear still pacing through his veins, Leonardo lifted the cover and slipped into the sewer. Once below, he let the stuffy air and the familiar smell of sewage take over. They helped to provide a sense of normalcy… but only for a moment. The steadily trickling water made him wonder if someone was hiding in the dimness and waiting for him to lower his guard once again. Unsheathing a single blade, Leonardo quickly sprinted towards the lair.
It was not long before he approached. Drawing near, he could hear his brothers' voices. Raphael and Michelangelo. Arguing. This hardly seemed unusual, yet Leonardo felt the need to remain silent as he entered the room in which his brothers were having a heated discourse.
"Hey, don't go blaming me, all right?" Michelangelo yelled at his sibling. Fuming, Raphael replied, "No one ever said I'm blamin' you, Mikey. Jeez, and ya call me the hothead. All I'm sayin' is that we was stupid to let 'im go. We. Both of us. Stupid. Ya got that, shell-for-brains?"
As they continued to yell at one another, Leonardo gradually came to two realizations. One was that the center of the room—around where Raphael was heatedly pacing—seemed to shimmer slightly, as though there were an invisible flame on the ground. This struck him as odd until the second realization hit him with greater force. His brothers weren't referring to him.
Raphael and Michelangelo quieted down when they caught sight of their brother stepping into view. "Where is he?" Leonardo asked with veiled panic. "Where did Donnie go?" Walking towards Leonardo, Michelangelo tried to speak calmly. "Hey, don't worry about it bro. Looks like there's a bit of a problem-"
Raphael was shocked to see Leonardo drop his sword and rush at Michelangelo, nearly pushing him to the floor. "Where is he?" Leonardo nearly screamed. "What's happened to him? Damn you, Mikey, spit it out and tell me what's-"
"Whoa, whoa," Raphael broke in, quickly pulling Leonardo off of Michelangelo. "Leo, calm down. I dunno why you're favorin' Don all of a sudden, but ease off 'a us long enough for us to explain." Raphael marveled over the heavy breathing coming from Leonardo as he allowed himself to be pulled back so that Michelangelo could step away from them.
"We had a visitor," Michelangelo stated, still shaky from the unexpected attack. "Your bunny buddy, Usagi. Looks like that Hebi character's still got a vendetta against you, and it's actually his fault you can't sleep at night. Donnie and Usagi went back to talk to some wizard chick about lifting some dream spell from ya, since Donnie's not exactly a fan of Hogwarts or anything."
The slightly inadequate explanation did nothing to change Leonardo's demeanor. Pulling free of Raphael, he kept his stern gaze on Michelangelo. "And you let him go? Alone? That's crazy!"
"He wasn't alone," Raphael interjected. "Usagi was with 'im, remember?"
As though he had never been interrupted, Leonardo asked, "Is there any way to contact him?" Michelangelo took out his shell cell and looked at it. Fiddling with the buttons, he said, "We tried calling him right after he left, but it looks like he's not getting any service over there."
Leonardo made an exasperated sound and began looking around the room. "A marker. Give me a marker! I don't know how to get to Usagi's homeworld, but I can get to the Battle Nexus. Maybe the Daimyo can get me there so I can bring Donnie back."
As Leonardo began to dash through the room in his search for a writing utensil, Raphael shadowed him carefully. "Leo," he finally said, "get a grip on yourself. Donnie's a big boy. He can take care of himself. Besides, he's with Usagi-"
"That has nothing to do with this!" Leonardo nearly screamed, flashing Raphael an angry look. "You have no idea what's going on, Raph, so I'd appreciate it if you just got out of my way and let me do what I need to do to protect our brother!"
"Hey, what's with you?" Raphael barked, grabbing hold of Leonardo's upper arm. "Usagi's with him, or did you not get that memo? Usagi, the rabbit who can probably whip your butt in a fair fight. One of your best friends. They're goin' to meet up with someone Usagi knows, and they're doin' it for you."
"So you're saying it's my fault if something happens to Don?"
From his spot a few feet away from his brothers, Michelangelo could clearly sense the change in the conversation. "You see him die," he said quietly. Leonardo slowly turned his gaze to meet Michelangelo's eyes. "At night. When you dream. That's why you wake up yelling for him. Every night, you see him die."
Feeling slightly ashamed by the somewhat hurt way Michelangelo was speaking, Leonardo shook his head. "No," he said. "No, that's not what-" Michelangelo wouldn't let him finish. Death was a sensitive subject for the brothers, and rarely did they ever allow themselves to talk about it.
"I don't get it, then," Michelangelo blurted out. "I don't get what's so bad. I mean, I love Donnie and all, but watching someone die in a dream is like watching a movie. At least, unless it's a documentary. Cuz you know who I watch die every night, Leo? Splinter. Every night. I watch him die. But I don't know how it happened. The last thing I remember is turning away from him and heading outta there, and I could swear I see him looking upset, upset that we all deserted him. But not you. You never would. So you got to see it happen. I didn't. So my imagination fills in the blanks. My imagination that's been gorging itself on horror movies for as long as I can remember. And I can bet that whatever happens to Donnie in your little night terrors, or whatever he calls them… it's nothing like what I see. Because what I see really happened, on some level."
It was the most Michelangelo spoke at a time since Splinter's death. Leonardo was moved, and he felt ashamed that his sense of urgency had not died down. "Mikey," he eventually murmured. "If I don't help Donnie, then my dreams might just become real. I know it sounds crazy, but if there's a spell involved, I don't think we can take any chances."
"No, we can't," Michelangelo agreed. "And we're not. That's why me and Raph are coming with you." Leonardo shook his head and took a step backwards, his shell bumping into Raphael. Before Leonardo could even voice his disapproval, Raphael put his hands on his brother's shoulders in a surprising effort to keep him calm.
"No use yellin' over it, bro," Raphael told him. "Usagi even said that we should come with ya if you get back before he and Donnie do. You ain't in tiptop shape, and like you and Mikey said, we can't take no chances."
"The portal Usagi created is still open," Michelangelo explained, gesturing towards the space of empty air that seemed to quiver. "After they left, I took out my yo-yo and hurled it in to test it. It disappeared, but wouldn't come back to me. I had to ditch it. So whatever this portal's made of, it's now a one-way street after Usagi came through. We can go in, but we'll need to find another way to come back."
Having calmed down slightly, Leonardo was allowed to leave Raphael's grip and edge towards the portal. "I don't like this," he finally asserted. "What would make Usagi use a special portal? He isn't the type that would use magic."
"Sounds like more excuses, buddy boy," Raphael remarked. "Usagi said something about making it easier for you to follow after him. He probably figured that you'd be in the wrong frame 'a mind to concentrate on openin' a normal one by yourself, so he's lessenin' the strain. Besides, this is better than your run-'a-the-mill portal: it won't let any potential bad guys from over there make it over here."
Leonardo said nothing for a long time. He merely stood in silence, glaring into the wavering image of the gateway to Usagi's homeworld. At length, he managed to voice exactly what it was that had been bothering both Raphael and Michelangelo about the portal ever since they discovered that the yo-yo could not be retrieved.
"Yes… but it also means that Donnie also can't make it over here."