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"Please. Please come out of there." Leo begged. He wasn't sure what his brother would do, but smiled gently when Don stood and moved toward the hole.

Don slid out of the hole and stood before his brother, when he spoke his eyes never left the ground.

"You would be angry, if you knew what I am going to do to you." Don stated quietly.

Leo had no idea what his brother meant by this, but he did know that it couldn't be good.


Chapter - 3

"Wha…what do you mean, Donnie?" Leo questioned unsurely.

"The dream, the nightmare you woke me from last night, wasn't a dream." Don admitted, looking down at the floor. "It… it came back when I was meditating." Cautiously, Donnie looked up at his brother.

Leo knew what that meant.

"It's something I'm really going to do, Leo." Don continued. "I'm going to…" He couldn't finish the sentence. This couldn't really be happening. It was crazy. He looked away, unable to meet his brother's eyes any longer.

Seeing Don so close to breaking down, Leo reached out and pulled his brother near for the second time in less than 12 hours. "Come on, I want to show you something." With one arm around Don's shoulders, Leo escorted his brother to what he considered his special place.

Together, they sat on the end of the tunnel, looking out at a quiet section of the river humans rarely visited. "Do you want to tell me about what you saw?" There was a long pause and Leo was just beginning to think that Don wasn't going to tell, that he was going to keep it all pent up inside, when his brother finally spoke.

"It was bad enough when I thought it was just a really vivid nightmare." Don then launched into a halting explanation of the visions. He told about how he worked with Stockman, the acquisition of the robotic arm, and about how he tortured Leo just for the fun of it.

When Don finished his tale Leo had absolutely no idea how to respond. What do you say when your brother tells you of his vision that he's going to become his family's worst enemy? Suddenly, a conversation he had once had with Master Splinter jumped to mind.

"Time is a funny thing, Donnie."

Unable to stop himself, Don laughed a little. Leo was right, but he didn't know where his brother was going with this.

"The future is variable. What hasn't happened yet can be prevented."

Now he understood. Some choice, some conscious decision, that he made could change the future. "So, if I follow the course I'm on…"

"Then nothing changes and you…" Leo gulped. He couldn't finish what he had started to say, he couldn't even really think it. This was Donnie he was talking about, quiet, peaceful, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly-if-he-didn't-have-to Donnie.

"Become a monster." Don finished. He shuddered as he stared out at the river. "What I don't understand is why now? What happened that put me on this path?"

Leo looked over at Don. The same question had been bugging him. "I don't know."

Don nodded and looked down at his green left hand again. A long companionable silence passed between the two brothers before Donnie finally spoke again.

"What about yesterday? Maybe when that Elite threw me into the dumpster." Don shuddered at the memory, and pushed aside the pain that shot through his arm as a result. He remembered a bitter hatred that had flashed through his mind as soon as he had gotten his dislocated shoulder back in place and the pain lessened. It wasn't a pleasant memory. "Leo, I don't think I have ever hated anyone like that before in my life. I mean sure, I hate Shredder and those guys, but this was different. This was cold and bitter and…" Don trailed off. Then, with more conviction, he spoke again. "Leo, I don't want to become that thing."

"You won't, Donnie. I won't let you." Leo promised quietly. "We'll find a way to stop it." Leo offered a hand up to his brother and led him back to the lair. Don followed without resistance. Their destination was his mentally exhausted brother's room. Once Donnie was safely asleep in bed, Leo went back to the dojo for the last half of morning exercises.

Splinter didn't even have to look at his son to know that Leonardo's focus was elsewhere. "You should go back to bed for a while too." He said without turning around. Just as Leo was about to object Splinter continued. "You are too tired, and you will not be paying attention to your training. Back to bed."

Reluctantly, the blue masked turtle obeyed.


"Michelangelo…Michelangelo. I know you're here so you might as well come out and play!" Donatello called in a sing song voice as he sauntered down the corridor of StockTello Enterprises. "Raphael is here somewhere too, but you boys split up. Tsk, tsk, tsk." He looked up at the ventilation shaft above his head. Even though he couldn't see his brother, he knew Mikey was there. Glancing up, he found a nearby vent cover, he glared at it and a smile spread across his face as he met Mike's eyes. "That was your first mistake." Donatello informed darkly, as he jumped up. With his robotic left arm he ripped the vent cover from the shaft, threw it to the floor and grabbed hold of the opening while his right hand latched onto Mike's throat. He threw his brother from the vent system and Michelangelo landed hard.

"Donnie, this isn't you." The orange masked turtle rasped.

"Donnie? Hmm… Nope, I don't know him." Donatello replied calmly as he released his hold on the vent shaft and dropped soundlessly to the floor. "Let me guess, you didn't even plan a way to contact Raph when you got in trouble."

"What did you do with Leo?" Mikey demanded from the floor.

"You, dear brother, are in no position to be demanding information." Donatello replied forcefully. "But don't you worry your little head about Fearless Leader. You'll know what I've done with him soon enough."

"You Bastard!" Mike shouted as he stood to face the beast that had once been his brother.

Donatello reached out and effortlessly lifted Michelangelo from the floor. "Now, now Mikey, you don't really mean that. I am your brother after all."

"You were my brother! I don't know who you are anymore, but you're not Don. Donnie would never do something like this!"

"Are you so sure of that? What did you ever really know about me, Michelangelo?" Donatello adjusted his grip on his brother.

The comment gave Michelangelo pause. It should have been something he had expected, but here is was, and he didn't have an answer.

"That's what I thought." Donatello threw Mike against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, for starters, Donnie was patient." A familiar voice growled.

Donatello turned slowly to Raphael who was standing behind him. "Ah, not so blockheaded after all, you even seem to have almost had a plan. I must say, I am impressed." He leisurely clapped his hands.

"Planning was really more Leo's thing."

"Yes, that's right. You were the one who ran off whenever the mood struck you. It didn't matter what happened to anyone else as a result"

Raph made a move to attack the beast that remained of his brother.

"Aw, how wonderful! You're just the way I remember you: hit-first-ask-questions-later-Raphael."

Raph tackled the smug turtle, dropped him effortlessly to the floor and held a sai to his throat. "You might be surprised by how I've changed." He was taken aback that the expression on the other turtle's face remained unaltered. If anything the monster was smiling.

"You, Raphael, are not the only one who has changed."

"That much is obv…"

Raph didn't get the chance to finish his statement as Donatello, almost nonchalantly, rolled out of the hold and turned the tables. The sai Raph had been threatening him with was tossed aside; it impacted the wall and stayed there. Its twin joined it momentarily.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Reaching down with one hand Donatello latched onto Raph's throat. "It does seem that the strong and mighty Raphael has been taken down by meek little Donnie." The last three words were spoken in a small, high-pitched voice. His tone turned dangerous again. "That is the turtle you remember, isn't it?"

"Don't do this. You will regret it." Raphael warned.

"I really don't think I will. Why don't you tell me something, Raph? Answer the question Mikey couldn't. What did you ever really know about me?"

"Don was peaceful. He didn't hurt people if he could help it." Some part of Raph hoped that would get the other turtle off of him, another part knew better.

"However, I never did hesitate to hurt those who hurt me, did I? You know something, Raphael? This is kind of fun. Did you get off like this by beating up all the hapless punks you came across whenever you stormed out of the lair all those years ago?"

"Violence is a drug. It's addictive like any other."

"Wow, Raph. That's a lot of wisdom to come from a guy like you. Go on. What do you really know about me?"

Raph thought for a moment, and he could see the monster on top of him becoming impatient. "You were never happier than when you were fixing something." Raph blurted out suddenly, saying the first thing that popped into his head.

"Wrong answer!" Donatello shouted. He punched the floored turtle in the face causing Raph's lip to bleed. "Strike one, Raphy-boy. Try again."

That surprised him. He had really thought Don was happiest when he had something to fix. Maybe this monster had a point, but Raphael wasn't willing to concede just yet. He made ready to spit the blood out of his mouth, preferably at the thing on top of him.

"Nuh, uh. That way. On the floor."

Raph spit onto the floor then turned to face the monster again. "Don loved his family. He cared about us and would go to the ends of the Earth for us, and he knew we would do the same for him."

"Once upon a time, yes, I did."

"When did that change?" Raphael cringed at the monster's use of the first person. This thing might be Donatello, or what was left of him, but it could never be Don.

"The person you should really ask that question of is yourself, Raphael."

"You don't really blame us for your arm, do you?" Raph asked incredulously. Only to have the monster hit him again, harder this time. Everything went black and fuzzy for a moment before the world returned to focus.

"Strike Two, you only get one more. I suggest you don't mess up again."

"Then what?"

"The arm was my mistake. Yours came later."

Raphael didn't say anything. He didn't know what this thing was looking for, and he was running out of strikes.

"Have you ever soldered something?" Donatello asked pointedly.

"Yes."

"Good. I am proud of you, really I am. How many hands did it take?"

Suddenly, Raphael realized what he had done. Soldering was one of those times in his life that Raph had wished he had a third hand. "Insult to injury," he whispered.

"What was that?" Donatello asked, though he had heard the comment perfectly. Finally an answer he had been looking for.

"We added insult to injury, and didn't notice."

"Or care. Your first mistake: do you remember what you brought me the first day I was up and around again?"

Raph thought back. He wasn't sure, but he had a pretty good guess. "The DVD player," Raph admitted slowly.

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. You brought me the DVD player to fix. Do you remember what I said?"

Raph didn't respond. He had no memory of the conversation. Evidently this monster did though.

"No, huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I told you that I couldn't do it. For the first time since we were kids I said the words 'I can't' and do you remember your response?"

"No, but I imagine it was along the lines of 'sure you can, you always have before.'" Raph guessed quietly. He wondered how this thing had managed to make him feel guilty.

"Then you walked away, without even offering to help."

"Donnie, I'm so sorry."

"I don't want to hear it. It's too late now, Raphael. I do believe that's strike three." Donatello slammed Raphael's head into the floor, knocking him unconscious. He checked that Michelangelo was still out then moved both turtles out of the hall before giving them a tranquilizer and taking them down to Leonardo."


A/N: (shudders) Should I be bumping this up to R? I'm beginning to wonder. Only one chapter left. Partially because this is really messing with my head.