DISCLAIMER – Ah, yes, what was to be the last chapter is now – the second to last chapter, with that last chapter the epilogue. I do want to give a nod to Chibi Rose Angel. I think you'll know why as you read about Splinter's ordeal! Tee hee. I seem to be having fun with a few 'other stories', although it was never my original intent to parallel mine with them. As things developed, I realized that there were some stories out there that mine might have reference to, so – courteously – I give nods to whomever either inspired me or had something similar to this one.
With that said, as it has been with countless times before, I don't own anything other than the inspiration for this story. So far, you all seem to be enjoying it. I've tried to keep up the momentum, but this one may not necessarily warrant the kind of responses I've received so far. Nevertheless, it is what it is, and nothing more. I hope I can tag it with a good epilogue, though, one that might garner a few 'wide eyed' and 'you have to be kidding' expressions! Bwahaha!
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Chapter 5 – It's Only a Dream
Splinter definitely did not feel well, especially after the horrific dream he just had. Now awake, he was trying to dismiss the aftereffects of his nightmare. What bothered him was that, no matter how hard he had tried to manage the images in his mind, the visions continued to harass him. Usually he could manipulate his dream cycle whenever they began to go awry. He had learned long ago to control such visions, to rearrange the scenes or events whenever they became too disturbing.
Like the first time his sons went out on patrol.
He had had awful nightmares for the first few evenings following that monumental occasion. Even though they had come back unharmed and unchallenged - only because nothing had happened - until they had arrived back home, the rat had worried.
As it was, his subsequent dreams for the next few nights afterwards had been disturbing. He had dreamt of his sons' capture by government officials, and then another night it was the Foot, who dissected them and then sold their parts to laboratories and scientists. One dream had them on display in a zoo for the entire world to see, and then that dream morphing into a sideshow of feats and acrobatics to amuse the human masses. Although Splinter had trained them well and had imbued confidence in them, the rat knew that fate could oftentimes be cruel. It was this, in and of itself, which had invaded his subconscious and had given him the horrific dreams of haunting images.
Now, though, this latest nightmare, this phantasm, was quite honestly the most disturbing one of all.
Splinter had dreamt that he didn't have just four sons, he also had four daughters as well.
He shuddered with dread at the disturbing memory. He knew with certainty that had such a thing been real, more than likely, he probably would have committed seppuku, just as he had done in his dream.
Nevertheless, even though the nightmare was long over, he still did not feel very well. The aftertaste of the late night pizza Mike had brought home was still fresh on his mind, or tongue – as it were. He decided right away that a cup of chamomile tea just might help his unsettled stomach.
"How anyone could think that bananas would make a good pizza topping – would have to be a chimpanzee!" he growled, "Especially when combined with the other awful selections."
Splinter then decided that, when his sons awoke, he was going to have a serious talk with Michelangelo; that is if the turtle lived long enough after the rat worked him in the dojo.
As the old master came out of his bedroom, still trying to rid his mind of the horrifically bad dream and looking forward to a cup of tea, screams suddenly filled the otherwise quiet hallway of the lair.
Splinter became instantly alarmed.
From Leonardo's room, the rat could hear mumbled yelling, as if his oldest was in the midst of either an argument or a shouting match. Just the same, he could easily hear what it was Leo was saying.
"NO, YOU CANNOT MEAN THAT; THAT CANNOT BE TRUE! NO!" Leo bellowed out angrily. Then, more softly and almost in grief, with his voice quaking with weeping emotion and then rising again in volume, "No, Raphael cannot be dead, my father IS alive; you are a LIAR, SAKI!"
Certain that one of two things had happened, Splinter did not waste a moment. Either his son was having a terrible nightmare or, and this was where the rat's heart nearly stopped, Saki – his old nemesis - was in the lair and had found his way into Leonardo's room.
Splinter wasted not a second and barged defensively into his oldest son's bedroom, nearly undoing the door from its hinges as he did. As the wooden barrier crashed against the concrete wall behind it, a resounding bang echoed noisily, announcing the arrival of the 'grand master of the sewers'.
Splinter looked quickly around; noting that, other than his son and himself, it was quite empty. Thankfully, Saki wasn't anywhere to be seen. However, the rat glanced over at the bed where Leonardo lay, and noticed his son tossing and turning in his sleep, as if fighting imaginary demons. It was indeed a nightmare and, for that, the rat was grateful.
Had it been Saki, things would have become quite messy, Splinter was sure of it.
Slowly, the rat eased over to his son's bedside, hesitating lest he worsened Leonardo's already active dream cycle. Yet, he was still anxious to help him, too.
Finally, as he laid a calming hand across the young turtle's forehead and sat down next to him on the mattress, Leonardo shouted out once again, "NOOO, you sadistic…" and then he suddenly quieted. It was almost as if someone had flipped the 'off ' switch to whatever Leo was dreaming about. In reality, however, his father had used a favorite acupressure technique along the turtle's brow. Splinter's bony fingers now massaged the area above his son's eyes, followed with caressing the ridge in-between. First, he went across the forehead and then down just above Leo's snout in the middle of his face, the rat's fingers working gently yet firmly. Then, back up again, and across the top of his forehead, repeating the process until – slowly – Leonardo woke up, his nightmare finally over.
As Leo's eyes opened and as he became more aware of his surroundings, Splinter eased back on his massage. "Are you all right, my son?" the rat asked worriedly, now cupping his hands on his robed lap.
Looking up at his sensei, his father, a sudden bright smile spread wide across the ninja's face, "You're – ALIVE!" he rejoiced happily, nearly crying out in joy.
Chuckling a bit, Splinter replied, "For now, my son."
Leo suddenly sat up and gave the rat an enormous hug as he flung his arms around his father, almost choking the wind out of him. It was quite an unusual gesture for him to give, having been years since the turtle had last shown such affection for his old master. Now in their early adult years, Leo and his brothers were more formal with their expressions where it concerned him. However, with all pretenses aside, Leonardo just couldn't help but embrace his sensei, now that he had put his worst fears to rest.
"Oh, God, Sensei," Leo nearly cried, his head buried into his father's furry chest, "I dreamt that you were dead, th - that Raph had…" Suddenly, he stopped, unwilling to repeat the rest of the dream to Splinter, where Saki had told of how Raphael had killed him. What would his father think?
Sensing a sudden shift in Leonardo's demeanor, the rat asked his son, "What did Raphael do, Leonardo?" He pulled away from the turtle's embrace to sit back and look at him, repeating his query, "Was there something that he did in your dream?"
Leonardo glanced once at Splinter. Then, from horror of what his nightmare entailed, he suddenly looked away, his eyes downcast as he replied, "Nothing, Sensei, it was just - just a dream." How could Leo tell his father that Raphael had killed him, even if it was just a bad dream? Yet, as he recalled the memory of Saki's grin, how 'real' it all seemed, and the casual way the man had behaved, the poor turtle couldn't help but tremble.
Easily sensing his son quaking body, Splinter knew, though, that he was greatly disturbed. The rat asked compassionately, "Leonardo, if it was just a dream, then telling me about it cannot harm me. What was it that Raphael did?" Splinter knew the answer from moments earlier, when Leo shouted out while he was still asleep, but the rat also knew the importance of sharing about it, too.
Gulping anxiously and with the lingering affects of his nightmare slowly dissipating, Leo replied, "I – dreamt that Saki had moved in with us and that - he had brought Raphael back to have him commit seppuku – after…" He looked up into his father's kind face and saw the expectant expression there. Leonardo really didn't want to tell him, but – he knew he had to be obedient, "After Raphael murdered you." He hung his head, now, ashamed that he would have dreamt such a dream and fearful that in some way, this would deeply hurt his beloved father.
As Splinter took his son's face in his hands, he turned it up towards him. Then, the rat smiled as he said to him, his voice soft and caring, "It is only a dream, and one induced by the pizza we ate last evening."
"But," Leo asked worriedly, "don't dreams have meaning, though?"
"Sometimes they do," Splinter replied, "It may be that my death and the death of one of your brothers is your greatest fear." Of course, Splinter had his own fears realized only moments earlier, so he understood how his son was feeling. "Yet, I know that you and your brothers love me and would protect me with your very lives – as I would protect you with mine. There is nothing to worry about or to be ashamed of, my son." The rat then smiled, "It was only a dream and nothing more."
Nodding and yet still somewhat traumatized, Leo swallowed, "I – I guess so, Sensei."
Splinter's whiskers twitched, recognizing the doubt in his son's voice, yet knowing that in time, the dream, or nightmare, would soon be a distant memory, "Hmm…yes, I am certain of it, but, regardless, I think it is time for you to get up. It's nearly six in the morning."
As the rat was leaving Leonardo's room, another anguished cry echoed through the corridors. Splinter rolled his eyes and knew that the pizza was evidently affecting everyone in similar fashion as it had with Leonardo and himself. Recognizing the voice, he rushed towards Michelangelo's room and quietly opened his door. There on the bed was the poor turtle, his arms and legs flailing around as if trying to ward off an attacker. His head thrashed wildly on his pillow with equal fervor as his voice filled the room, "PIZZA, I NEED MY PIZZA; I'll DIE without my PIZZA. You CAN'T ban the world's most gnarly food."
If it were not for his own experience from their late night meal and with witnessing Leonardo's own personal torment, Splinter would have chuckled. As it was, he did not. Yet, he knew the only way to break the cycle of Mike's bad dream was to offer his youngest the same courtesy that he had given to Leonardo. After a few moments of having his forehead massaged, Michelangelo finally emerged from his nightmare, free from the shackles of his worse fear, and quite relieved to be home, in bed, and so very glad that there truly wasn't a ban on pizza.
As Leo eased into the room and leaned against the door jam, he heard Mike briefly tell their father about his horrible dream. Leonardo smiled a little as he listened to Mike's account of the banned pizza. He chuckled as Mike went on to tell how he had tried to stock up so he could sell the prohibited pie. As he thought about it, Leo realized that a ban on the popular food really would be Michelangelo's worse nightmare come true. Just the same, he had to agree that to live without the delectable pies would certainly crimp their eating style quite a bit. Nevertheless, he felt that he would have rather gone without such a delicacy for the rest of his life than to lose either his father or Raphael - or even to have Saki move in with them!
After Mike finished telling about his dream, how the authorities had caught him, and how he would have spent six months in jail for stockpiling his precious pies, Splinter sighed, stating, "It is all because of the choice of toppings you had on that pizza last night, Michelangelo. They were obviously not compatible with you, nor would it seem, with any of us." Then, as he informed him that it was time to get up, the wise old rat added as an afterthought, "And, Michelangelo, I am imposing a one week restriction on pizza, just to impress upon you the importance of choosing your toppings wisely – as well as giving the rest of us a chance to recover," he added dryly.
The rat could not help but smile, though, at the sound of his son's groans, with Mike exclaiming, "Great, I wake up from the most awful dream any pizza-loving turtle could have and what do I get, another nightmare!"
"If you would prefer, Michelangelo, you may do fifty back flips in the dojo instead." Splinter remarked, as he sternly raised one eyebrow.
Looking up in horror, Mike shook his head as he wrapped his arms around his middle and groaned, "Not with the way my tummy's feeling. I'll go without the pies, thank-you-very-much!"
No sooner had Splinter exited Mike's room than another scream pierced the air. It was Raphael, and as his voice echoed into the hallway, for some odd reason it sounded very different. As Splinter rushed to his aid, Leonardo and Mikey were quick to follow, their sense of curiosity and concern too great to ignore.
With all three easing through the doorway of Raph's bedroom, they could see him thrashing about, much as they had done earlier. They quickly realized that he, too, seemed to be having a nightmare. Just as Splinter had found his other two sons doing, Raph seemed to be talking in his sleep, as well, only there seemed to be something strange with the way he was talking.
"No, Moikey, please – don't go tell'n Leonawdo aboot my English awccent! Please, I'll put Splintah's teacup bahck, just the way I found it. Gah, Moikey, do ya hoff to gheo an' tell Donnie, teeoo. I thawt we were chums. WHY're ya tell'n them thaht I wawtched Pride and Prejudice? Why'd ya go an' tell'em I cried?"
With eyes as big as saucers and smiles growing wide across their snouts, Leo and Mike nearly collapsed in hysterics as they erupted into a fit of laughter. They doubled over as their mirth grew, but with one quick bark of "Quiet!" from Splinter, they ceased their merriment almost immediately.
Internally, though, they were completely losing it. As their eyes teared from their suppressed amusement, the two brothers literally had to grasp onto the door jam to keep from falling to the floor. A silent fit of laughter shook their bodies, their mouths gaping noiselessly in repressed hilarity.
After a moment of finding a chance to breathe again, though, Leo looked over at Mikey. Shaking his head and wearing the widest grin on his face, he chuckled as he looked over at his youngest brother, "Pride and Prejudice? Raph?"
"That would be a nightmare for him, you have to admit!" Mike guffawed a whispered reply, "But, what's with the accent, though?"
"I dunno," Leo admitted thoughtfully, "Maybe his greatest fear is losing his Brooklyn one? I mean, it's not like any of us talk like that anyway; he adopted it, remember?"
"Yeah, I do," Mike nodded, still smiling, yet finally gaining some control over his mirth, "He talked like the rest of us until he watched Taxi Driver with Robert DeNiro. After that, he started sounding like someone from Brooklyn."
"And, remember how we used to tease him about it at first?" Leo was starting to calm down now, a sudden thought coming to him, "And remember how Donnie said he would sound better if he talked with a British accent!"
"Ah, so that's where this is coming from; a repressed memory and fear." Mike sighed, "Sort of like mine." He then looked over at Leo and asked, "Say, did you have a nightmare?"
"Yeah, I did," Leo nodded slowly, "I – dreamt that Raph and Splinter died and that – well, that Saki came to live with us." Other than his father, he vowed never to tell anyone that Raph had killed Splinter. Leo would forever keep such a horrific thought from his brothers – or from anyone else for that matter.
Nevertheless, Mike's eyes grew quite large, now, his perspective just a bit different from earlier, "Wow, that is a bad dream. Makes mine seem trivial by comparison." Shaking his head, he muttered, "Guess that pizza last night wasn't such a good thing, eh?"
"No, Mikey," Leo agreed solemnly, "It wasn't, but it did show us what we fear most." Mikey nodded quietly and then turned to watch Splinter deal with Raphael.
The rat had walked over to Raph's bed and, as he did with his first two sons, laid a gentle but firm hand along his temperamental son's brow. Soon, Raphael woke up and, looking around to see that most of his family was present, asked, his Brooklyn accent completely recovered, "Wh-what's goin' on?"
"My son, you seemed to have had a nightmare," Splinter replied evenly, "and one that evidently included a movie and a cup of tea."
"A – cup of tea?" Raph nearly strangled on the words, the memory of his dream still quite fresh on his mind. "H – how'd you know 'bout that, Sensei?" he chanced a question, becoming quite concerned as he was completely aware, now, that two of his brothers were in his room.
"Well," Leonardo interrupted, adding a bit of a slant to his own words, "you seemed to be quite whauried about Moikey tell'n Leonawdo about it…."
"And tell'n Donnie-boy about you whatchin' Pride and Prejudice, too!" Mike interjected, breaking up into another round of guffaws and chuckles. "Oh, and CRY'n!"
"It WASN'T funny!" Raph bellowed, "It was downright the most scariest dream I've ever had!" he insisted.
"Well, be that as it may, Raphael," Splinter interjected quickly, "It was just a dream and only that. However, it is also time to get up. Practice will be in fifteen minutes."
Raph snorted contempt as he watched Leonardo and Mikey, the two brothers ushered out of his room as Splinter moved them along. Just before he eased them through the doorway, the rat glanced back at his reclining son with a compassionate smile. He had to admit that, yes, it was quite funny to hear Raphael speaking with an English accent and, although he knew it was just a dream, Splinter thought he had done a nice job with it nonetheless. Still, he also knew that his son's reputation had been tarnished just a little, the tough-turtle image now stained with visions of him holding a cup of tea between thumb and forefinger, with the third digit pointing upwards. Yes, he definitely provided them all with a rather amusing mental picture.
As it was with his first three sons, however, the fourth now called out, only it seemed to be a bit worse for him, like it had been for Leo.
"NO, I CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS! PLEASE, GOD, DON'T LET THEM EAT ME!"
Donatello's frantic voice resounded through the lair as his dream seemed to take on an epic proportion. Now, not only did Splinter, Leo, and Mike rush to his room, but Raphael, too. When he had heard his genius brother call out so desperately, the red-banded turtle leaped out of his bed in concern. As he joined up with the rest of his family in Donnie's room, he saw his brother thrashing around on his bed, his legs working frantically as if he were trying to run away.
"Good God, what's with him?" Raph exclaimed with his eyes wide and worried.
"It's the pizza we all had last night," Leo explained calmly.
"What? The pizza did this to us?" Raphael growled out, remembering all the strange toppings Mike had added to it. He then shot a withering glare over at his youngest brother.
With hands up in defense and backing further into Donnie's room and away from Raphael, Mike shook his head, "Hey, how was I t'know that would happen."
"You did this t'us?" Raph fumed angrily, stalking towards Mike with murder in his eyes.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault, okay? I had a nightmare, too. So did Splinter." Mike reasoned. Yet, he knew that Raphael wasn't going to be placated quite so easily, not until his big brother had the opportunity to pound him into the ground. However, he did have one saving grace, "Look, you beat me up, I'll puke all over you 'cause that's what I feel like doin' right now!" Mike then stood there defiantly and swallowed, making as if any moment he would spew what was left of his pizza right out in front of Raph.
Wisely, the other turtle gave Mike's comment serious consideration, stopping mere inches from his brother's mildly retching body. "You really feel like yer getting sick?" Raph asked him suspiciously. He raised one eye ridge in question, looking his brother over and reaching out with his senses.
Initially, Mike had faked it. Yes, he did feel rather ill, but not ill enough to lose his 'cookies.'
However, his phony retching seemed to have triggered a reaction, one that he was not expecting in the least. The moment Raph questioned Mike's sincerity, right then and there, Mike's stomach began doing a little dance, one that was soon to crescendo at any moment. With eyes wide and as he slapped a hand over his mouth, Michelangelo mumbled through his fingers as he raced out of Donnie's room, "I – I think I am going to be sick!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Raph chuckled, "Serves 'em right!"
Leo couldn't help but join in with Raph, snickering a bit as he watched Mike charge into the bathroom across the hallway and then slammed the door closed behind him. Soon, the sound of retching came to their ears, causing the other two brothers in Donnie's room to shudder once in empathy and then disgust.
Nevertheless, Splinter, although busy waking Donatello from his nightmare, commented dryly, "Raphael, Leonardo, you will not take delight in your brother's torment, no matter what responsibility he may have with the pizza." He then glanced over to his sons and, with one look, ceased their merriment.
"Yes, Sensei," they both chorused.
Finally, Don woke up, blinking nervously as he sat up a bit and looked around his room. "I'm – awake? It was just a dream?" Realizing the truth of the matter, he collapsed back into his bed again, exclaiming in relief, "Oh, thank God! I thought for sure I was going to be someone's dinner."
"What kind of dream did you have?" Leonardo asked as he and Raphael stepped closer to the bed. Splinter sat on the edge of the mattress, equally as curious about Donatello's nightmare as his other two sons were.
"Well, it was actually a very interesting dream." Don began to explain, calm now, where he was finally awake and no longer surrounded by T-Rexes.
"Figures," Raph deadpanned, "Nightmare or not, leave it Don-san to find something interesting about it."
"Well," Donnie said defensively, "it was! I was transported back to the Cretaceous era!"
Both of his brothers gave him a blank expression.
"And – that's interesting because?" Raph asked dryly.
"Dinosaurs!" Don beamed, "I dreamt I went back in time to the reign of dinosaurs." He then looked around and asked almost in disappointment, "Hey, where's Mikey? He should be here to listen to this!"
"He's in the john, losing what's left of the pizza." Leo explained.
"Oh, well then," Donatello said, shrugging, "I guess I'll wait until he's done."
"Hey, you can tell him later, 'kay? He's th' one responsible for givin' us nightmares in th' first place," Raph exclaimed hotly.
"Raph," Donatello remarked with a roll of his eyes, "Mike wouldn't have done that deliberately. You know how he is about pizza toppings; anything that's different is fair game for eating."
"Well," Raph grouched, "he needs t'be more discernin', more careful about it."
Splinter suddenly interrupted them as he looked over at Donatello and then at Leonardo and Raphael, "Nevertheless, my sons, the nightmares were just dreams. But, we have practice in ten minutes, so as soon as Michelangelo can join us, we will begin. Please go on ahead."
The rat then stood up and walked towards the bedroom door, saying as he went, "However, I am going to check in on him, it may be that, if he is indeed ill, he will have to sit out of practice and rest." Glancing back over at Don as the turtle slipped out of bed and stood up to grab his elbow and knee pads, the rat added, "After practice, Donatello, you may then tell us about your interesting dream."
"Yeah, I wanna know who tried t'eat ya!" Raph grinned wickedly, slapping Donatello on the back good-naturedly.
A few minutes later, after Splinter checked on Mikey and found that he had sufficiently recovered, the two of them were walking through the hallway and towards the back part of the lair to meet up with the other three. However, Michelangelo seemed unusually quiet, which only piqued Splinter's concern.
"My son, you seem a might – distracted. Is there something bothering you?"
Sighing, Michelangelo replied, "Yeah, well, I feel so bad that my wonderful, narly pizza caused so much trouble. I mean, all of my brothers had a bad dream because of me." He then looked up at his sensei and asked, "Did you have a bad dream, Master?"
Nodding his head, the rat frowned a bit and said, "Yes, Michelangelo, I did, but do not blame yourself. How was anyone to know that the combination of toppings would have such an affect on us."
Mike nodded sheepishly and shrugged, still not up to par and still feeling rather badly about it all.
As they came into the sparing room, the rat had his head down, thinking about the incredibly large brood of ninja children he had dreamt of. He almost didn't hear Mikey as his son asked, "What was your nightmare about, Master?"
Splinter looked up at him and smiled wryly, "I dreamt about many things, my son, but I am thankful that it was only a dream, I just couldn't imagine…" And then, as he looked over to see if his other sons were present and ready for practice, what met his horrified eyes were not three ninja turtles – but seven, with four of them obviously females. That is, if their garish colored masks were any proof! They all waved excitedly in his direction, giggling, and teasing each other. He heard some comment abouthow lucky it was that they had decided on eating salads the night before, rather than the 'awful' pizza.
In the next moment, the poor old rat could do nothing else but to faint dead away!
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A/N – Well, it does look as if I'll be doing a sixth chapter, or epilogue, after all. This one kept growing and growing and, as a result, I decided to break it up and make it separate from the ending. Just as well, too. I was getting impatient about uploading for y'all to read:0) Sorry for the simliarities to other stories, but - well - this would definitely warrant a 'bad dream' for our favorite mutant rat! Bwahahah!
COMMENTS – Thanks to all for reading and reviewing. LUNAR NINJA – CHIBI ROSE ANGEL – RAMICA – PACPHYS -KELLIE FAY – LIONESS-GODDESS – THE REAL CHEESE MONKEY – DIERDRE – REDWATERS. Be blessed