Summary: Something, or someone, is slowly turning the turtles insane, and slowly tearing them apart. But what has Master Splinter got to do with all of this? And just what, or who, exactly, is he hiding from the turtles?

Takes place a month after the end of the 2007 CGI movie.

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT.

Warnings: This will be a rather dark fic with dark themes including violence, angst, hurt and comfort, possible tragedy, swearing, hurt feelings, possible torture, insomnia, and a lot of psychological horror. But I think this story will have a happy ending. At least I hope it does anyway…

A/n: Just a warning for Raph's potty mouth in this chapter as well as dark themes and dreams! Oh, and just a note, for anyone who wanted to know, 'Diego' is the eldest of the brothers…

~Hear Me Scream~

-Michelangelo's POV-

My heart felt like it was trying to crawl up my throat as the sounds of Raphael's pained cries echoed harshly around us. I felt my blood freeze as my feet turned to stone, my body unable to react or move.

"Raph!" Leo shouted, eyes wide as his earlier anger disappeared to be replaced with worry for our missing brother. "Hold on Raph!"

He raced around the corner, the dark, almost impenetrable shadows swallowing him up and turning him invisible.

"Leo, wait!" Don shouted, grabbing my numb hand and pulling me after him, our footsteps echoing loudly in my ears as we splashed trough the filthy sewage water, all attempts at stealth and silence gone.

We raced through the sewers towards the sounds of Raph's screams with blinding speed. Everything turned into a blur around me as I swore my feet were moving so fast they weren't even touching the ground. I followed Leo and Donnie, skidding around a corner and smacking painfully into Don's shell as he stopped abruptly. I rubbed my aching head and was about to ask him what he was doing when I saw what he and Leo were staring at.

Raphael was chained against the wall, his face swollen and bruised, as he thrashed violently in his metal shackles, trying to pull away from things that weren't even there.

A dark chuckle snapped my attention away from Raphael. Diego walked slowly out of the shadows, his eyes glittering with malice and a cold smile twisting his face into a grotesque mask.

"Diego, leave him alone!" Leo yelled, his voice filled with hatred as he narrowed his eyes to deadly slits, his hands twitching for the comforting feeling of his katanna.

"Oh? Is it bothering you?" Diego chuckled, his smile growing bigger and sending shivers racing down my spine.

Leo gritted his teeth together in unbridled anger, his hands moving to un-sheath his weapons. The polished steel of his twin blades shone wickedly in the flickering light of the sewers, sharp and deadly. And I knew for a fact that they were soon going to be dripping red, because with the look in Leo's eyes, I knew he wasn't going to hold back.

Don quickly followed suite, pulling out his bo-staff and twirling it expertly in his calloused hands. It may just be a long piece of wood, but in Donnie's hands, it was as deadly as a hatchet.

I quickly pulled my nun-chucks out and got into a fighting stance.

Diego laughed an eerie, cold laugh that echoed around the sewers and made me freeze and shift with unease. Diego turned slowly to face us, completely unarmed and smirking, his eyes shining with cold confidence.

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and waited for Leo to give us the order. He didn't need to say anything. Gripping his katanna in a white-knuckled grip, Leo let out a fierce cry as he charged straight at Diego, swinging his katanna in a deadly arc, right for Diego's neck.

Diego smirked, not even trying to get out of the way of Leo's attack. Diego lifted up his hand, like he was going to try and fend the sword off with it. Instead, Diego flicked his wrist and Leo's katanna blades completely shattered into hundreds of tiny, glistening pieces.

I stared in numb shock at what remained of Leo's prized swords, which were now nothing more than decretive hilts and shattered steel, as harmless as mouse. Diego laughed and I felt my hands suddenly grow numb. My nun-chucks dropped out of my unfeeling fingers and clattered on the ground next to Don's bo-staff, his hands also rendered completely numb by an unknown force.

I felt Diego's pale eyes bore into mine, and it felt like he was draining all my energy. I felt weak, and my legs started shaking with the effort of trying to keep me upright. Diego's grin got bigger.

"I can read your minds, and I know what fears you the most," he said in a sing-song voice, eyes flashing with manic glee.

That's the last thing I remembered before darkness crept into the corners of my eyes and the ground came rushing up to meet me.

-Michelangelo's POV-

It felt like I was falling. Air rushed past me, sharp hands trying to grab me. My heart lurched in my chest and felt like it was trying to crawl out of my throat. My scream was snatched away by the air as I kept hurtling at a break-neck speed, down, down, down…

My eyes stung and tears blurred my vision, not that it mattered, because everything around me was pitch-black. No matter how hard I strained my eyes, I couldn't see a thing. I have never been in a place so dark before. I didn't even know that being this dark was actually possible.

Suddenly, I wasn't falling anymore. My legs wobbled unsteadily beneath me before giving way. I fell with a thud onto the hard, cold ground. Disoriented and unsteady with vertigo, I managed to push myself up onto my hands and knees. My chest heaved with exertion and sweat coated my body like a second skin. I blinked, trying to get my eyes adjusted to the darkness, but to no avail.

A shiver ran down my spine as the fear of the unknown gripped me in its cold claws.

"Hello?" I called out into the darkness, my voice echoing eerily around me.

Silence.

Swallowing the lump that had risen in my throat, I took an unsteady step forward, hands moving around me, searching in the darkness for something, anything that would give me clues to where I was and what had happened.

Something brushed past my arm and I screamed, flinching away from whatever was hidden in the swarthy shadows. I felt something breathing on the back of my neck and something crawling over my skin, sharp talons sinking into my flesh and drawing blood. I cried out and tried to brush off whatever was on me, but it was no use. My hands brushed against something that felt like rotting skin, and a terrified scream tore free from my throat.

It was too dark, too dark...

I didn't know where I was, but I knew I wasn't alone. Whatever had grabbed me, held me tight, with no intention of letting go.

I couldn't see. It was too dark, so dark.

And I was trapped here alone…

My petrified screams echoed all around me.

-Raphael's POV-

I growled as the chains dug painfully into my skin, cutting off my circulation. I hated feeling this weak, this defeated. I couldn't just stand around and do nothing while my brothers were being tortured. With Diego's focused shifted towards my brothers, I no longer felt his presence in my mind, or the thousands of big hairy bugs that had been trying to burrow into my skin.

If only I could distract Diego long enough to slip out of these chains, it might give my brothers to snap out of the realm of nightmares they had been cast into, and a chance to sneak up on Diego and kill him.

"Hey! You leave my brothers alone you sadistic son of a bitch!" I yelled, pulling against my restraints and trying furiously to loosen them.

"Or what?" Diego asked, turning slightly to face me, but still keeping an eye focused on my screaming brothers. "You're a little…tied up at the moment," he smirked.

"Fuck you!" I spit. "You pathetic, weak jerk."

"Haha, me, weak?" Diego laughed, snapping his attention back over to my brothers. "Look at them Raphael. Look what I'm doing to them. Look what I did to you. I wouldn't call that weak."

"If you weren't weak you'd fight like a true ninja, not hide behind your little mind games," I growled.

Diego smiled. "They seem to be working though, don't they?"

"Admit it, you're just a coward! A lying, sneaking, fucking coward!" I shouted. I just needed a few more minutes. I could see Diego's focus wavering, which meant my brothers had more of a chance to fight the nightmares he had created within their minds.

Diego turned around to face me slowly, a smirk on his lips as his eyes flashed with something I couldn't identify. And just like that, his eyes changed, turning completely black, before he disappeared into thin air…

A/n: Did I just leave you all at another cliffie? Why, I do believe I did. Do not fear however, there will be answers to the various questions you may have in the next chapter…

I'd love to hear what you think. Leave a review; let me know your thoughts so far ;)

Until the next time,

~Cat