A/N: Ugh...too early. We stayed up till 3:00 am catching up on the new season, even though we still didn't see the first two. And to top it off, Alix's mom did something unspe-

Alix: SHE SOLD MY DISNEY MOVIES! GRR!

Leo: Grrr

Raph: What, yer a parrot now?

Leo: Grr.

Raph: Oh, my bad, you're still on your impersonation of me.

ET: Why is Leo so angry! I started crying last night because I felt so bad for him! LEOOOOO!

Leo: What do you want!

ET: -sob-

Alix: DISNEY MOVIIIIIES

Mikey: The drama...

Chapter 11: Perchance to Dream

"I know you're still awake, turtle."

Raphael did not move, not that he particularly wanted to with his aching wounds. If that stupid ninja was saying this aloud, that meant hat-boy was having difficulty believing the turtle's performance. He had a solution for that. As painful as it was to force air into his lungs, he managed several loud (painful, wheezing-sounding) breaths. Not able to withstand the burning any longer, Raphael put in a small snore to conclude the act –just for fun.

The turtle heard a small harumph and the creaking of a chair as his Elite Ninja guard leaned back.

That idiot had shut up when Raph crawled into his bed, pretending to sleep, and Raphael had no intention of allowing the silence to cease. Besides, who knew ninja respected a person's need to sleep?

The silence had given him a while to think about his predicament. Not like that had lightened his mood at all. He took an extra deep breath, wincing at the pain in his ribs.

Escape really was impossible. The only way that he would have a chance of getting out of here was if his brothers came and saved his sorry butt. As if that was bound to happen. They did not know he was here, let alone know that he had stolen Leo's mask. He mentally shook his head. There was no use dwelling on it anymore. He might as well get the sleep that he was pretending to enjoy. He felt himself begin to drift off, hoping to find peace in the halls of his subconscious...

"Master Shredder sends you a new assignment."

Raphael's eyes opened slightly. He strained to listen. This voice was different from his hard-hearted companion out there, so what-

"Proceed." Hat-boy's voice sounded suspicious. So he did not know what it was either, and probably did not trust the one giving it to him.

"Master Shredder has ordered Mistress Karai off of the Turtle Extermination Project. You have been instructed to bring the turtle Raphael to his chamber tomorrow morning and exterminate him."

His voice echoed through the cell walls. Raphael could feel the fear beginning to swell up in him again. Karai was off of this one? And he was scheduled to be killed the next morning? His heart sank down to join his broken ribs. This had just become worse then impossible.

It was hopeless.

"She was right here, I swear!"

Donatello shook his head as he gazed at the empty sewer hall. They hadn't heard anything as they approached, but Karai wasn't exactly a damsel who dwelled on her problems. Maybe she just needed a safe place to be for awhile... He shook his head. Who knew what that Karai was up to? She was always in a world of her own.

"Just look around. Maybe she left something to indicate which way she went..." Don sighed, scolding himself for believing that Mikey knew where Karai was. He didn't really have that much hope, but it was worth a shot.

Michelangelo rushed past him, searching along the sewers, looking this way and that for a clue, a smudge, a scratch to prove that he was not lying, not going crazy like his brothers. But nothing came up under his perusing eye. He couldn't find anything! He kicked something in frustration, watching it skid across the floor. Nothing. Now Donny probably thought he was lying. He went to go kick that something again, it made him feel better.

"Wait, Mikey!" Mikey turned, irritated that his brother was interrupting his therapeutic destructive session with the random scrap on the floor. His brother rushed forward and picked it up, looking at it under his magnifying glass.

"That's a transmitter!"

Mikey looked at the piece of scrap metal in his brother's hand. "That dinky thing?"

Donatello glanced at his brother and inwardly rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mikey, this dinky thing." He checked it closely, tweaking here, listening there, and then looked back to his brother. "It appears to be offline, but I can use it to help us track the Foot to their headquarters. Karai must have lost it when she came down here!" He leapt up and deposited the precious device into his bag of tricks. "C'mon Mikey. Let's get back to the lair and get some rest. I think we'll have plenty to go on-"

"Hey Donny?"

"What?" Donny sighed vehemently and turned, slightly irritated that he would have to backtrack and explain his thinking to his brother. Mikey, however, did nothing to of the sort. He just stood there, twiddling his thumbs, looking past the twirling appendages and down towards the floor. Something was amiss; he knew Mikey had mood swings but this was slightly odd, even for him.

"Do you...Do you think that Raph's ok?" Mikey's voice was soft, trailing off into nothing. For the second time that night, Mikey surprised Don.

He was no longer the happy, ostentatious little prat who usually entertained them (on one level or another). Now he was simply a lost mutant turtle who had lost one of his brothers much like the rest of them. Mikey might never see him ever again, and the pain he obtained from thinking such things showed on his face. And if one of them fell, or disappeared, then they would all be destroyed. Donatello had seen enough of that in the alternate future and did not need to again.

He softened, walking towards his younger brother, putting his arm around his shoulders. His voice was gentle, knowing his brother was showing him a side that rarely saw light.

"It's all right Mikey. We'll get him back, I promise."

"Really? Otherwise I'll have to start annoying you and Leo, and that's not as much fun." Mikey said quietly, his voice and face as serious as ever. Michelangelo really did depend on Raphael, and vice versa. They all needed Raph back, and soon.

"Come on. Lets go home."

Mikey nodded, allowing himself to be led away by his brother.

Leo landed at the bottom of the manhole ladder. He was so ready to be home. All he wanted to do was sneak into the Lair and climb into bed, living for a few hours in the halls of his mind, remembering happy times when he was without cares, maybe wondering why he wasn't getting his jump kick just right, or thinking about what the infamous 'topside' would be doing at this time of the day. But now, those days really were gone.

As he walked down the foul smelling halls of the sewers, Leonardo came to a realization. Gone were the days where they could really just lay back and relax for long periods of time. They had become the cities true protectors, the background task force who made everyone feel safe, even if they were being drawn as red bandana wearing, sharp toothed aliens. They would always have to be prowling, searching, vigilant on the needs of the city and its inhabitants. Leo could almost feel the load that he and his brothers now had on their shoulders. His shoulders slumped momentarily. Who would have seen this coming? He no longer felt like a sixteen-year-old turtle. He felt twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty.

They were only sixteen. They couldn't go out and single-handedly protect all of New York City!

He shook his head. This was not the time to worry about something like that. He was just going to sneak past his brothers' rooms and-

"Leo!"

"See, Don? I told you he went out too."

Leo looked up, surprised. What the shell? "Mikey? Don? What are you two doing?"

"We might ask you the same question, Sherlock." Don was half smiling.

"Same as you, Leo." Mikey looked more solemn then was humanly (or turtley as one could call it) possible for him. "We're trying to help Raph." Leo nodded, laughing at his own naivety. Of course thats what they were doing. He smiled at them, knowing it probably reflected theirs with its unsure disposition and sad awareness of the world around them.

"Well, none of us are going to be of any use to him if we're exhausted." Leo said to affirmative nods from his kin. "Lets get to bed."

Without another word, they walked through the hidden locked door of the sewers and retreated to their beds to sleep.

To sleep, perchance to dream.