Hello all and welcome!

I'm happy to report that I have come back from my journey into the distant lands of IRL, writers block, and plot diversions to deliver my findings: the next chapter in this story!

This chapter also somehow managed to be the longest one so far and I have no idea how that happened. But hopefully it's good enough to be worth the wait!

I would like to take a moment to thank you all for your patience, favorites, follows and reviews. Seriously, you have no idea how much it blows me away that so many of you have shown your support for my little jaunt into the fictional unknown. Speaking of reviews:

TheRealDreadPirateRoberts: Awwww, your going to make me blush! Thank you for the kind words! And yes, the last chapter was quiet crazy. And it's only going to get crazier from here!

As far as I know, in my time away TMNT has not magically fallen into my possession and still belongs to Nickelodeon.

As always, all Japanese translations can be found at the bottom of the page and are helpfully provided by Google Translate.

With all that out of the way, onto the story!

*LEO POV

It was dark.

Quiet.

The smell of copper and salt hung thick in the air like a cloud.

The smell of blood.

The quiet was broken by the out-of-sync beating of six hearts.

My stomach flashed with a sharp pang.

I locked onto the sound of the closest heartbeat.

My first kill.

Silent as the surrounding shadows, I stalked my chosen prey. I crept close enough to feel the quick breaths they exhaled as the tempo of their heart accelerated. Though I could not see the figure, instinct guided me to a small weak point, a vein where the heart pushed blood through to the head. My fangs sank easily into the soft, almost leathery flesh. I began to suck greedily on the red liquid within. A few, far to short moments, and every drop was gone.

I released my jaw, and stalked towards my next meal.

The first hadn't even hit the floor.

The second figure went down just as easily.

As did the third.

And the fourth.

The fifth.

Sixth.

The dark was quiet again.

I felt full.

Satisfied.

…

A click echoed too loud in the dark.

A spotlight chased away the shadows and I wanted to run as far from here as I could but my feet were frozen to the ground. I tried to look away, close my eyes, find some way, any way to escape the horrible, heart-shattering image before me.

The six pale figures that laid lifeless on the ground.

The dark red blood that flowed from four small holes on their necks, sticking to flesh and emphasizing how skin clung to bone.

The black, soulless pits they had for eyes, the horribly mangled bodies of my friends and my father and my brothers who were all dead because of me just so I could have one, small, insignificant moment of satisfaction and feel full and whole and oh so empty.

One moment where I lost control, one moment where I failed and now they were all dead because I just wasn't good enough to protect them from a monster.

Because I failed to protect them from me.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed into the quiet as I collapsed onto my knees. "I'm so, so, sorry."

*)(*

I shot out of bed, a half sob caught in my throat as I stared at the sweat-drenched sheets with wide eyes.

It was just a dream.

A really, really bad dream.

I rubbed my temples in a failed attempt to dispel the lingering images of the blood-soaked nightmare. My hands came back wet.

The sob I tried to stop broke through as I brought my knees up to my plastron. Another followed, and with horror I found I couldn't stop. The more I tried to muffle it the worse it became. A low, frustrated hiss slipped out, abruptly cut off as I willed myself to be quiet. My brother's don't need to know about this; they're already worried about it as it is.

Besides, it was just a stupid dream, I shouldn't be as shaken up about it as I am.

I can totally, definitely handle some stupid nightmares.

But...

It could still...

Happen and...

They could all end up dead .

Because of me.

Because I was strong enough to protect them from a monster .

I fought to prevent another sob from breaking through.

A loud CREAK froze me in my tracks.

My door was opening.

My door was opening .

If I wasn't panicking before I was certainly panicking now over the possibility of one of my brothers seeing how shaken up I was because of a stupid dream where I couldn't keep them safe and they weren't safe around me and how the shell do I protect them from myself -

"Oh! Leo!" Mikey said as he jumped back from the door. "You're awake. Cool. Then I'm just gonna, gonna go get some water and, and, yeah."

He stood there awkwardly for a moment, trembling slightly as he bit his lip. The scent of fear lingered around his form. I was sure it was because he had to get so close to me. He turned to leave.

Leaving was good. Leaving meant I couldn't hurt him and he'd be safe from a freak.

Leaving was the perfect solution to keep them safe from me.

I heard Mikey stop not two steps away from the door.

"Can I," he started, "Can I stay here, just, just for a little bit? I promise I won't leave the doorway or come any closer to you but..."

I wanted to say no. What I wanted more than anything was to keep him safe from a monster so he stayed alive and smiling and safe.

"Onegai, aniki," he begged at my silence, his voice wavering. "I just need to know you're still here and not really…"

He paused as his breath hitched.

"Gone."

Oh.

He must've had another nightmare where we all disappeared or died to squirrelanoids or kraang or…

Shredder .

Or me.

He sniffled and rubbed at his face.

…

I hated to see him like this.

I didn't want to hurt him.

But I also didn't want to worry him more than he already was.

"Ok," I said softly after a moment, brotherly instinct winning out over my better judgement. I steeled my nerves and patted on the edge of the bed.

Mikey slumped a little with relief, but still cautiously shuffled into my room to sit on the edge of my bed.

He reached a hand towards me and I flinched back. His face fell, but he drew his hand away, instead using it to grip the sheets. He closed his eyes, perfectly still for a strange, foreign moment. He took a deep breath in, then out, tear tracks shimmering in the blueish light from the door.

The image of a pale bloodied corpse flashed over my brother and icy fear drove its way through my veins. All I could see was the last remaining drops of red blood trickling out of four small holes on the neck, staining the pale corpse just so I could feed and now he's dead and it was all my fault-

Thu-THUMP thu-THUMP thu-THUMP.

A steady heartbeat shattered the image, revealing my very-much-alive-and-still-seeking-comfort brother. I took a deep breath—when had I stopped?—and focused on the fact that he was still breathing and moving and alive.

I scooted closer to my baby brother until my leg brushed against his.

He was warm and alive and I wasn't hurting him.

He stiffened at the contact.

At least not yet.

I pulled my leg back a fraction.

Mikey looked at me, eyes wide and hopeful. He bumped his leg back up against mine. He leaned in slowly, bringing his arms up to gently squeeze me tight, leaning his head against my shoulder.

I froze. Mikey was so close. So extremely close. I could feel his warm breath against my shoulder and could practically feel his heart thumping inside of his plastron. The fear-scent that lingered when he first came in evaporated as he buried his head into my shoulder, leaving his neck on full display and right there...

But I wasn't hurting him.

And I wasn't going to hurt him.

I let him hug me, but I made no move to hug back. Mikey pulled back, looking at me with a slight frown on his face. He grabbed my arms, and moved them from my sides to around his shell.

"You're not gonna hurt me, Leo," Mikey whispered. "Anata o shinrai suru."

"How can you trust me, though?" I whispered back. "How do you know I won't hurt you or, or worse?"

"Because you're Leo, dude. My totally awesome, better-than-any-pizza-to-ever-exist-ever brother. Your like, the best at all that self control stuff and like, the last turtle who'd actually try to hurt us on purpose 'cause your a total mother hen."

Any retort I had died the moment Mikey resumed the hug position and rested his head on my shoulder. A warm feeling spread in my chest as Mikey snuggled just a little bit closer.

My brother trusted me.

My brother trusted me to not hurt him even though his vulnerable neck was right there next to my sharp, fang-filled, bloodsucking mouth.

I forced my eyes away from his neck, taking a deep breath.

I could do this.

I wasn't going to hurt my brother.

I slowly brought my arms up and wrapped them around Mikey's shell. He squeezed my shell, I gently squeezed back, being mindful of the amount of pressure I was exerting and listening for any signs of distress from my baby brother.

I heard none.

I had, however, heard the slightly-out-of-sync breathing of my other two brothers just outside my door.

"Are you two just going to stare at us all night?" I called softly.

I glanced at the door, where both my brothers stepped into the door frame, rubbing the back of their necks, staring at us with a slight blush. Their eyes shimmered a bit in the light from the hall.

I briefly wondered if they too had nightmares tonight.

I cast my eyes over them them for any other signs of a distress. I flinched as I spotted the bright white cast on Donnie's left arm. The cast that wouldn't be there if it wasn't for me and oh shell what was I thinking this was such a bad idea didn't they know I was dangerous-

"It's just dislocated Leo," Donnie's clear tenor broke through my train of thought as Mikey squeezed just a little tighter as I tried to carefully pull away. "I've had far worse and you know it. I'll be fine in a few days."

But he shouldn't be fine in a few days.

He should be fine now.

He would've been fine it it wasn't for me.

He placed his good hand on my shoulder—when had he left the doorway?—and offered me a reassuring smile. I brought the hand that wasn't currently around Mikey up to gently prod at his shoulder and arm, and sure enough there was nothing more than some swelling at the shoulder.

Donnie sat down on the edge of my bed as I looked over the rest of him, satisfied when I saw nothing more than some already healed over scrapes and some mild bruises. I stared at his neck just long enough to ensure a lack of vampire-shaped teeth marks and stubbornly pushed down the fleeting thought of adding a set myself. He leaned into my touch as I brought my hand to his head. I froze when I felt a small bandage on the back of his head.

"Brainiac got himself a minor concussion," Raph said from his place at the door. "He's on a science ban the rest of the day."

Donnie shot him a half-hearted glare as I quickly brought my hand down and tried to put some distance between me and my brothers.

"Nope, none of that self-blame crap," Raph said as he stomped across the room and grabbed my hand, forcefully bringing it around Donnie and pulling us into something that resembled a group hug. "Whatever happened in there wasn't your fault."

"But-"

"Nope," Raph cut me off. "Not your fault."

"But I-"

"Leo," Donnie said. "What you experienced was a perfectly natural reaction to the ultraviolet waves meeting your sensitive scales for the first time while being bound in place by an outside force that prevented you from vacating the immediate vicinity of the area causing your discomfort. How were you in any capacity prepared to achieve any outcome other than the one that occurred?"

...

"See?" Raph said after a long moment. "If Donnie can give you one of his certified science lectures that it's not your fault it's not. Your. Fault."

"But-"

"Anata no seide wa arimasen."

I was cut off by both Raph's reiteration of my lack of fault and a gentle squeeze from all of my brothers.

The warmth of their bodies, the slowly syncing beating of their hearts and the uneven in, out, in, out of their breaths all confirmed that my brothers were here and alive.

They were so close and I wasn't hurting them.

I inhaled deeply, allowing each of their scents of motor oil and smog and pizza to dance and weave around each other before burrowing their way into the deepest recess of my brain.

And my brothers seemed to draw as much comfort from the hug as me, if the way they all seemed to compete to see who could squeeze me tightness was any indication.

"I vote we do nothing except watch movies all day," Mikey's muffled voice came from somewhere inside the hug. "With popcorn and and pizza blankets and pillows and chips and pizza."

"I second," I responded. I heard mumbles of agreement from our other two brothers.

It was still another few minutes before any of us bothered to move.

Mikey was the first to un-bury himself from the hug to start work on the popcorn. Donnie pulled away next with a wince, sitting upright on my bed and stretching what he could. Raph was the last to pull away—but only by a few seconds—and he pulled my comforter and pillows off the bed before leaving to I presume kidnap everyone else's soft and fluffy items from their rooms.

I glanced at the clock on my nightstand, which said that it was 7:34 pm.

I slept through the whole day again.

Apparently I was nocturnal now.

That was an interesting development.

Raph came back in a few minutes later, and dragged me and Donnie out of my room towards the main lair space.

Where he carefully, but none too gently, shoved us into a large mass of pillow and blankets haphazardly piled in the pit.

Only for Donnie to immediately get up and start heading for the kitchen.

"And where do you think you're going, brainiac?" Raph said as he blocked Donnie's path with his arms crossed.

"The kitchen," he replied with an unimpressed glare. "To make the popcorn with Mikey? Like I always do on movie night?"

"Not this movie night. Tonight your only job is to sit in that nest of blankets and relax."

"But cooking is an art, not a science! Therefore, I can assist in the making of buttery popcorn goodness!"

"That's not what you're always telling me bro!" Mikey taunted from the kitchen doorway as Raph forcibly yet gently dragged Donnie back to the couch. "Though I totally agree with you, it is an art. A very, very delicious art that..."

Donnie twisted himself out of Raph's careful hold and made a break for the kitchen as Mikey continued to go on and on and on about the apparent art form that was cooking.

I wouldn't know, seeing as I've been banned from all things cooking related except the teapot.

"See, Mikey agrees with me!" Donnie argued. "And he's the head chef, so if you don't mind I'll just slip past you and-"

"It's still close enough for me!" Raph said firmly, and firmly grabbed Don's carapace and dragged him back to the couch, gently throwing him into the mass of pillows next to me. "Keep an eye on him, Leo, and make sure he doesn't try to do anything but sit here and relax."

With that, he shoved the still-rambling Mikey back into the kitchen to create the perfect movie watching snack.

Donnie, meanwhile, sulked next to me, muttering under his breath about art and cooking and stupid brothers who didn't know the difference between the two and kept him trapped on the couch.

As if the two didn't get into an argument about this every other day.

"What happened to get you banned from the kitchen?" I asked with a small snort at my brother's expense. "Or science, for that matter."

"A slight concussion," he answered, and I felt the smile drop off my face and a small stab of guilt in my gut, "which wasn't your fault, that led to everyone but you placing me on a short-term science ban. I'm not even allowed to enter my lab today unless there's an emergency. Or the kitchen, apparently."

"Welcome to club," I patted him on shell as I chuckled. "If only for the rest of the day."

"Thanks," he replied, completely monotone. "I feel so honored to join your exclusive club."

Regardless of Donnie's reaction, the ban was probably for the best, considering what happened last time.

I still found a new sticky patch in the lab every once in a while that I was convinced was created by…

The incident.

A while later, Raph and Mikey came back with several bowls of fantastic smelling popcorn, smothered in butter and salt. Mikey popped the first movie into the VHS player while Raph got comfy between me and Donnie, handing each of us a bowl of popcorn before tucking into his own. Our science-banned brother took a handful and popped it into his mouth with a muttered comment about how it was good, but it would've been better if he had made it.

The opening credits rolled and we sat in comfortable silence, enjoying both the film and being squished together on the couch.

Normally we tried to keep as much space between ourselves as possible so as to better guard our popcorn bowls.

The near silent footsteps of our father as he emerged from the dojo broke me out of my thoughts.

Which was more sound than I'd ever thought that I would hear from my father when he tried to be quiet.

And if I stayed quiet, he'd scare the shell of my brothers.

I listened as his footsteps came up right behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him take Raph's bowl of popcorn right out from underneath his beak. I heard the slight crunch as he popped a piece into his mouth.

Raph reached down into his lap, his eyes glued to the screen.

He let out an indignant yelp as his hand met nothing by air.

"This popcorn is quite good, " Sensei's voice said from behind us. "But it could be better with a little cheese, no?"

My brothers jumped, causing the popcorn to fly everywhere.

And, oh shell, was it hilarious!

"Your faces!" I managed to get out between laughs.

"You knew he was behind us, Leo?" Raph spluttered somewhere between frustration and amusement.

"A ninja must be aware of his surroundings at all times," I quoted, doing my best Sensei impression, before dropping the voice and waggling my hands around my ear slits. "And I have super hearing now, remember?"

I could feel Sensei's glare on the back of my head at my terrible impression. My hot-headed brother stole a piece of Donnie's popcorn and tossed it at my face.

The only correct response, of course, was for me to whip a piece back at him. Mikey started laughing and got a piece of popcorn to his face courtesy of Raph. And—since I didn't want him to feel left out—I threw a piece at Donnie's face too.

Before long, it became all out war. We started whipping popcorn back and forth, using the blankets and pillows as cover.

It was amazing.

Until a stray piece of popcorn hit Sensei in the snout.

Our game came to a screeching halt. We all shrank a little into our shells at our father's look.

"So it is war you want, is it?" he said as he slowly pulled himself up to his full height. "Then it is war you shall get!"

He threw a piece of popcorn at each of us before throwing up a blanket and vanishing into thing air, an impish grin crossing his face as he disappeared. We stood, blinking owlishly at the space where he once stood, and I could smell the concentration of incense and fur and home move from one pile of blankets to a different one. Another piece of popcorn pelted the back of my head and all of us quickly turned around to find the source.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey said as he snapped out of his stupor. "It's on like Pizza Kong! Booyakasha!"

And with that he threw a barrage of popcorn at the pink nose peaking out under the blanket pile and the spell was broken.

Now it was all out war.

Laughter filled the main lair space as alliances were formed just as fast as they were broken. Popcorn bullets flew across the battlefield of furniture and blankets. Nothing was spared from the carnage. By the time we were done, we had all collapsed into a giggling, panting heap onto the couch, our father sitting next to us with a fond smile on his face.

The rest of the day passed in a similar blur of movie watching, board games, and just general family time that we hadn't had in…

Well, let's just say that stopping some being or another trying to end either the world or us every other week and the ever prevalent New York criminal underworld doesn't leave a lot of time to spend with your loved ones on the couch doing nothing.

And if said family seemed to hover a little closer to me than normal, with more pats on the shell or nogies-turned-awkward-half-hugs and small bushes and touches that seemed to reaffirmed that I was still here, well, nobody said anything about it.

It was almost a perfect day.

The end of the night brought a sobering reminder of why we'd had such a fantastic family day in the first place.

"No, I won't do it," I started my genius brother down, nervously eyeing the object he was holding in his hand, even as my stomach gave a sharp pang. "Yesterday was one thing, but today? That's another story."

"I don't like this either, Leo," Donnie said, "but until we find a better solution, you're going to be stuck doing this every time before bed. And according to Mikey, and what I've seen in my research, the alternative to, this, is a lot worse."

"In other words," Raph joined in, "Drink the blood so we can go to bed already."

I stared at the offered bag with Mikey's name on it with apprehension. I knew I had to take it—and a very loud, very persistent part of me was begging to take it—but it was still my brother's blood.

My baby brother's blood.

"This is only temporary Leo," Donnie reiterated. "With any luck, tomorrow I can start looking for a permanent solution that doesn't involve either our blood or our murder."

"But, what if I try to go after him or-"

"Mikey is probably halfway across town by now," Raph butted in, "just like we all agreed. And if you're that worried about it, I'll put a few cloves of garlic outside of your's and Mikey's doors. Does that work for you?"

"I know, but-"

"You promised, aniki."

I shut up, sighed, and finally gave a reluctant nod.

I can't believe that Raph of all turtles would pull out the aniki card.

I took the bag of blood from Donnie's hand and stalked off towards my room to…

Eat in peace.

Hopefully not murder my brothers just to get my next fix.

Great, now I'm starting to sound like a drug addict.

I waited until the moment I could smell the garlic placed outside my door. Once I did, I bit into the bag. I found myself dragged into just how good and filling this was and wondering why I had ever even thought to deny myself this in the first place. The small amount went far too quickly and there was more just outside the door if only...

If only there wasn't a revolting smell outside my door discouraging me from going after the source of blood.

Besides, my eyelids were starting to get heavy. I stumbled into my bed, even as my stomach demanded more food than what it had.

Well, I could always try again tomorrow.

Onegai, aniki- Please, big brother
Anata o shinrai suru.- I trust you.
Anata no seide wa arimasen.- Not your fault.
Aniki- Big Brother