Three Horrors 3 - Fear

By Red Turtle

A/N: I regret that the two previous stories in this series were funnier than intended to be, and that may have been misleading. This last story is about Splinter, and I don't think its funny. Be prepared. This is all based on the first movie, the events happening in continuous motion.

FEAR

Splinter stayed alone in the lair, cleaning up the toilet water while his sons escorted their new friend to her home. It was very exciting, to think that they might get to sit in a real apartment as guests. It was an experience he could never provide them with.

This thought emphasized the sadness that had been threatening to envelope him since they left. He still wasn't used to being alone, only with in the last year had they began to explore the outside, usually together although Raphael had taken the additional step of going off alone at all hours of the day. Any parent's worse nightmare.

At the same time, he wished Leonardo would leave more often. He feared his eldest son had grown too attached to their lifestyle, which by nature could not remain past their adulthood. They all needed to grow further, and in order to do that they needed to leave.

Splinter carefully disposed of the drowned rats' body, given it a small prayer as he did so. He was well aware that, in their precarious years when they knew nothing of the sewers, they could easily have made fatal mistakes and drowned themselves. Even the turtles, for although they could swim they couldn't hold their breaths forever. Donatello and Michelangelo had each proved that fact on separate occasions.

Very scary occasions.

Splinters fur bristled at the thought of what could have happened. He tried to calm it down with thoughts that they were past the danger now, they knew how to work the sewers (even if they hadn't gotten the basic toilet down yet), they were too big to fall through the numerous small tunnels leading to pools and flood zones.

Yet his fur refused to relax. At first he contributed this to the vision of Donatello at two years old, unconscious and not breathing from an extended period stuck in one of those flooded tunnels. Splinter knew it had been way too long by the time he had gotten him out, but still he tried to revive him, drawing on all he knew from his time with Hamato Yoshi. It was when this worked that Splinter embraced religion, formally taking up Buddhism as a part of his life.

Then there was the time he lost six-year old Michelangelo on a food trip, and did not find him until the next day, where he was discovered floating in a pool of rainwater. Splinter did not know how long he had been in that state, he had assumed when he went in that he was already dead, he was only rescuing his body for proper disposal. But lo and behold there was a heartbeat, and with some effort Michelangelo returned, more or less undamaged.

But these visions were of a different vibe than that which created the uneasiness in his fur. So he stopped and examined the feeling.

Then he knew.

He wasn't alone anymore.

He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there.

Raphael had been careless. Their mortal enemies now knew where they lived.

Splinter had never, himself, taken on an actual enemy, only trained with his sons. He knew that he had mastered several aspects of ninjitzu, but he would not be able to withstand an attack of this magnitude, for he felt the presence of several ninja.

Splinter did not fear death for himself. He believed in the peace of the next world, and of being regenerated into something new. He had lived his life long and well, and had no regrets.

Splinters only fears were for his sons.