That Which Prowls in the Dark of Night:

Disclaimer: The TMNT belong to Mirage and other people. Not me.

Chapter 6 Questions

"This news is most disturbing," Master Splinter said as he finished listening to the tale his sons brought him. "It seems that this creature can control minds, and bring others to violence."

Leonardo accepted the bowl of soup from Splinter and sighed. "Well it explains why everything in the city has been crazy the last few days. This thing has been loose and for some reason it likes to make people violent."

"Which may be why Mikey originally predicted the thing going after Raph," Donatello pointed out.

Raphael sipped at his soup, and shook his head. "It did come after me first, Don. I don't know why, but it couldn't touch me. It was so pissed about it, it went after you and Leo."

"That still doesn't make sense to me," Leonardo said, allowing the heat of the cup to warm him. "You told me that Mikey predicted that it was going to eat you. He's not usually that far off."

"Unless it means something we don't understand," Donatello mused.

Michelangelo was sitting slightly away from the others. A look of worry on his face. The others didn't blame him. His ability to predict the future was back, and like before it wasn't under his control.

Raphael finished his soup and, laid the cup at his feet. "I think that if I had gone out the first night it would have gotten me."

"So what changed between last night and tonight?" Leonardo asked. Without meaning to he glanced over at Michelangelo.

"I don't know," Michelangelo said defensively. "I didn't even remember that dream until I saw that thing out there, and like Raph said, it did go after him first, but when it touched him it got hurt.

"I've got a better question," Donatello asked, giving Michelangelo a sympathetic glance. "Why were Mikey and Raph the only one's to see it?"

"It may be that Michelangelo's gift to see the future, allows him to see this creature." Splinter said thoughtfully.

"Maybe not," Michelangelo said sullenly. "Raph could see it too, and he doesn't have any wacked out gifts." He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.

Leonardo and Donatello shared a look. They knew that wasn't necessarily true, Raphael did have one or two abilities himself, but like Michelangelo he refused to use them. Even so Michelangelo would never mention them in front of Splinter. None of them would. By unspoken agreement none of them, not even Leonardo, would mention the encounter they had with the spirit of Hamato Yoshi. None of them wanted to upset Splinter. Raphael had heard the ghost with no mental preparation, and was able to speak with him. Leonardo had spoken with the spirit too, but only in dreams, and that wasn't his doing. It was this encounter that got him interested in trying to connect to the spirit world himself. He had some small successes recently, but to him it seemed that he was working very hard to do what came instinctively for both Raphael and Michelangelo.

Leonardo took another glance at Michelangelo. His brother had his back up against the wall and in his voice Leonardo heard an all familiar attitude. Michelangelo had never liked his ability to see into the future. To him it was more of a curse than a gift. He had tried to keep the visions at bay by not sleeping, but it never worked. Eventually he'd collapse from exhaustion. Leonardo decided that maybe later he could ask Raphael in private what he thought, but for now he went with the rule. Don't let Splinter know they had seen a ghost.

"Mikey's right," Leonardo said evenly. "Raph's never done anything remotely psychic. Why could he see the thing, and me and Don couldn't?"

All eyes were on Raphael who shrugged and threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "How am I supposed to know?"

"And you hurt it too, Raph," Michelangelo said. When you went after Leo, you cut it with your sai."

"Only this one, Mikey," Raphael reminded him holding up his right sai. "The other one couldn't touch it. In fact we couldn't really touch it at all, and it couldn't really touch us. It could get it's poison into people but it never really touched them. It was almost like it was only partly here."

"I wonder," Donatello said, almost half to himself. "Only one of your sai could hurt the thing, you and Mikey were the only one's to see it, and your convinced that Mickey's premonition was accurate for yesterday, but not today. That means something happened to you between Mikey's first prediction and tonight So what happened?"

Raphael rose from his seat on the floor, and began pacing the room. "I keep telling you Don, nothing happened. Me and Case talked a bit at his place, and then we decided to come back here."

"How did Casey get knocked out?" Leonardo asked. He tried to keep his voice neutral. Raphael was on the verge of a blow up. He was glaring at Donatello as he answered. That was usually the first warning sign that they were getting too close to Raphael's temper.

"I told you," Raphael said, his voice growing harsher. "We ran into The Purple Dragons."

Raphael's voice was the second warning sign, but Donatello never noticed the changes. "So why couldn't we wake him up?" Donatello asked still pushing the issue. "Why did Mikey tell us that Casey was bound by bands of magical energy?"

"I don't know!" Raphael shouted at them, finally blowing up. "We're just talking this thing in circles." With a growl of frustration he stormed out of the room heading for his bedroom.

Leonardo got to his feet. "Raph! Come back!" He called.

Splinter sighed heavily. "No, Leonardo," he said sadly. "Let him go."

"But Raphael knows something, Master Splinter," Donatello said.

Splinter nodded. "I believe you are correct, Donatello, but your brother is unwilling, or unable to tell us what it is."

Leonardo turned and faced his sensei. "You mean he might be under a spell? Like Casey?"

"If Mr Jones is indeed under a magical spell to keep him asleep, it is possible that Raphael had magic cast upon him as well. Some of the things he has told us may indicated a change within him."

"That may be why he could see that thing," Leonardo said nodding to himself.

"And why he can't tell us what happened to Casey," Donatello added.

"Unfortunately," Splinter reminded them. "There is no way for me to tell if his resistance is due to magic unless he allows me to examine him." Then for no reason at all he looked over at Michelangelo who was being unnaturally quiet.

"Why are you all looking at me for?" Michelangelo said uneasily.

"You saw magical bands on Casey," Leonardo reminded him. "If you saw that magic, it stands to reason you would see something different about Raph if he's under a spell."

Michelangelo tried to back away from Leonardo. "Well maybe I didn't see magic at all. Maybe I was just seeing things, or I had some bad pizza, or maybe I'm losing my mind!" He turned to make his escape, but Donatello and Splinter were right there to stop him.

"Michelangelo please!" Splinter said tenderly yet with conviction. "I understand your dislike for your gift, but this is extremely important. If you had not forewarned Raphael this creature may very well have consumed him."

"Gift?" Michelangelo sighed and looked to the sky. "With all due respect sensei, this isn't a gift, it's more like a curse! It's like being stuck in a horror movie but there's no way out, and it's not happening to some dude on a screen. It's happening to you guys. Why is this coming back? I thought I got rid of it somehow."

"Easy Mikey," Donatello said placing a gentle hand on his shell. "We'll figure that out, but right now we need your ability to see. You saw something when Raph was blowing his temper at us, and don't deny it. I saw the way you were looking at him."

"Michelangelo, sighed but didn't argue further. With his head bowed he said, "I'm...I'm not sure if I saw anything, but when Raph was yelling and stuff I could have sworn I saw a pair of gold bands around his wrists."

"Gold bands?" Leonardo asked puzzled.

Michelangelo nodded vigorously. "I saw them during the fight too they were clearer then, but I only saw them out of the corner of my eye. Any time I looked at them directly they kinda faded away."

"So maybe, maybe not," Leonardo said. Michelangelo shrugged." "Anything else you can tell us? right now almost anything will help us. "

"I dunno," Michelangelo said with a yawn. He began to rub on his forward absently. "This is starting to give me a headache."

"Then you should rest, my son," Splinter said gently. "Go off to bed, we can talk in the morning."

Michelangelo looked uncertain at first, but Leonardo nodded and gestured to the upstairs. "Go ahead Mikey. Go to bed. I'll let you know if we find out anything."

Michelangelo sighed torn between being relieved and feeling guilty. He went slowly up the stairs to his own room. He kicked his basket ball and his skateboard out of the way. He flopped down on the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. He remembered back when they were little kids. Splinter had told him his ability to see the future was a great gift, and if he wanted to he could learn to control it. He didn't want to control it. He wanted to get rid of it, and now it was getting worse. He never saw things like monsters or magical bands before, and he had never had a nightmare while he was wide awake. What was wrong with him?

I can't even try not sleeping now because I'll just have the visions when I'm wide awake. What the shell am I going to do? A second later he wondered if he wasn't just being selfish. Raphael was a bigger problem. Something had changed him. Even Raphael knew it. He just didn't understand what it was.

We need your ability to see, Donatello had said. He didn't want to see in the first place and now they're telling him they needed him to. He knew they were right. He needed to see for them to help Raphael but he really wished he didn't have too.

I really wish I could help without having to have nightmares for them. Sensei is wrong. I can't control this. If I could I'd be able to find out what was wrong with Raph. Still pondering his and his brother's problem, Michelangelo drifted off to sleep.

Leonardo watched Michelangelo as he went up the stairs. Once he was certain his brother couldn't hear them he turned back to Splinter and Donatello. "Which problem is more important right now? Mikey or Raph?"

Donatello shrugged and looked upstairs as well. "Wanna flip a coin?"

Splinter sighed. "Michelangelo's abilities are distressing, but we may need them. They may have returned because of this strange being that is causing trouble."

Leonardo didn't like that idea. "But that would mean that this thing is far more dangerous than we think." Splinter nodded gravely.

"Why?" Donatello asked.

"Because Don, since Mikey's ability's come back he's only predicted one or two things, but they've always been major. Now He's had a nightmare while he's wide awake. I can't shake the feeling that whatever we've stumbled into this time it's way over our heads." Leonardo looked sadly over to their sensei. "So what do we do?"

Splinter stood quiet in thought for a moment then said, "Donatello, tell April to stay at Mr Jones' home until dawn. I shall tend to him then, and tell her why as well. She must not go anywhere after dark by herself." Donatello nodded and went off to make the call. Once Donatello was gone, Splinter turned to Leonardo. "Michelangelo needs to be watched while he sleeps. He may have more dreams to guide us. You and Donatello should take turns at this. I will meditate on this delema, but Michelangelo may find an answer before I do."

Leonardo nodded. "Yes Sensei." As Splinter moved off into his own chambers Leonardo went over to where Donatello was already on the phone, and said, "Master Splinter wants us to keep a dream watch on Mikey. Come up after your done talking to April. Mikey usually has his dreams late in the night. I want to be awake and with him then."

Donatello nodded as he spoke to April on the phone. Leonardo moved to the stairs and went into Michelangelo's room. Michelangelo was already sound asleep, but his normally sunny expression had been replaced by a stress laden frown. Was he dreaming already?

"It's all right, Mikey," Leonardo said in a voice barely above a whisper. "We're here for you." With that he sat down next to Michelangelo's bed and waited for Donatello.

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Coming soon Chapter 7 Perchance to Dream

"Raph!" Michelangelo cried out. Movement on the first floor caught his attention. He saw Master Splinter at the door to his privet chamber. Splinter had heard Michelangelo. "Master Splinter, did you see? It pulled him right through the wall!" He cried out to his sensei.

Splinter looked up at Michelangelo, and to Michelangelo's complete and utter shock floated up to Michelangelo's side. Michelangelo didn't know what to say.

"How...how did you do that, sensei?" Michelangelo finally managed to sputter out.

Splinter still hovering two inches above the floor, grabbed onto Michelangelo's arm. That felt solid enough. "There is no time," he said, "We must move quickly if we are to discover where your brother is being taken too." With that Splinter pulled Michelangelo into the air.

"We're...we're flying?" Michelangelo wasn't sure what to think,. He only had a few seconds to register that they were flying through the lair, when he saw that Splinter was flying them towards the same wall Raphael had passed through. Splinter showed no signs of slowing down.

"Uh Master Splinter, we're gonna hit the wall!" Michelangelo's voice became faster and higher pitched as they advanced on the solid red brick barrier. Michelangelo threw his free arm up to protect his face, and shut his eyes to brace himself.

Nothing happened.