A/N: - Mwahahaha – sorry to keep you waiting – I've been busy with my performance as Lt. Cassio in Othello (only female cast member playing a guy – strange sense of déjà vu…) Anyway, after the 22nd of July I should be able to write quicker because that's when my school breaks up and I get six weeks holiday! YAY! Read and Review and, most importantly, Enjoy!

Back in the lair, Mikey and Donnie were hooked to the television set, watching a show on the crime in New York rising once more and that such a wave of crime had not been seen since the disappearance of local 'saviour' Oroku Saki. The only problem was, the crimes weren't as they had been back then – this time, it was vandalism and extensive graffiti. There were mysterious pictures popping up in dodgy back-streets all over the city and, Donnie noted, always near a manhole cover. The pictures always consisted of different torture methods and there was always a stripe of colour above each method; the colours? Blue, red, purple and orange – these were calling cards for the turtles living in the sewers and a warning of what they had coming to them if the human brothers caught them. As far as vandalism went, there were drains being smashed, manhole covers being stolen and the fire escapes of buildings being broken and twisted out of shape. Donnie and Mikey shared a significant look of mixed fear and understanding; the battle for victory over the Shredder was still not over – not until they or the brothers were finally dead, along with the remainder of Marcie's family…

Raph fought as hard as he could against Ramakha and Reginald, and with every block he pushed himself even further. On the other side of the rooftop, Leo was doing exactly the same with Roshiri and Ronald. On the whole, things seemed to be going reasonably well for the human brothers, with only the occasional problem and loss of control, and they mainly remained on the attack. Raph and Leo were primarily on defence, unable to gain the upper-hand. This was not good and not how they wanted it to be; they needed to be able to go on the attack. Leo was getting dangerously close to the sky-lights in the roof where he would easily be pushed through, and Raph could see it. He could see it but he could do nothing. His concentration blipped as he watched his brother with an anxious face and Ramakha took his chance, sweeping his left foot round and knocking Raph to the floor, bringing his blade down on the unfortunate turtle moments later. Raph barely had time to move so it missed his heart. Instead it took a chunk out of the flesh of his shoulder. He growled in anguish and Leo whirled round, cursing as he saw his brother's situation. Darting over as fast as he could, he took down Ramakha with a sharp blow to the side of the head. Roshiri, yelling in rage at the blue-clad turtle, pulled out a small dart and fired it, hitting Leo directly in the crook of his right elbow.

"What the shell?" Leo looked down and pulled the dart out, waiting to fall under some tranquiliser or something – but nothing happened, "Poison?" he murmured aloud, wondering if he'd receive an answer.

"Not exactly…" Ronald smirked, clicking to what Roshiri had just done.

"Three days," Reginald grinned at his brothers.

"Three days?" Leo repeated, eyes wide.

"Three days," Roshiri cackled menacingly, "come on guys – Reginald, get Ramakha!" he barked. Reginald nodded and obliged, lifting his fallen brother off the ground and bounding away across the rooftops.

"Leo?" Raph sat up, gritting his teeth, blood positively pouring out of his shoulder, "You ok?"

"I guess," Leo looked at the small dart he held, I'll take this back to Donnie; maybe he can figure this out, he thought, "Oh shell, Raph, look at your arm!" his hand rose to his mouth in shock and he untied his bandana, pressing it against Raph's shoulder tightly.

"Ouch!" his brother protested.

"You have to keep pressure on it – c'mon, let's go!" Leo led the way across the rooftops, the same words echoing over and over in his mind, three days, three days, three days,

Three Days…

Three…

Days…

Three Days…

Bursting through the entrance of the lair, Leo yelled for his brothers,

"MIKEY! DONNIE!" he cried out.

"Leo?" Mikey looked round from his position on the sofa.

"Bro, what's the matter?" Donnie got up in time to see Raph stagger through the door three paces behind Leo, extremely pale and with a blood soaked bandana, which used to be blue, pressed on his shoulder, "Aw, man," Donnie cringed and went to his brother's aid, leading the hot-headed turtle into his lab while Leo went and sat next to Mikey. Donnie's voice came from the lab, "Mikey, can you give Leo the once over? Make sure he's ok?"

"I'm fine, Don," Leo called back.

"Mikey, don't listen to him – check him over anyway!" Don replied.

"Sorry, dude, just following orders," Mikey began looking Leo over and making sure he wasn't too badly cut up. He came upon the puncture wound from the dart, "what's this?"

"Some kind of dart…" Leo responded vaguely.

"Poison?" Mikey looked up worriedly.

"No…well, Roshiri said 'not exactly' then they kept saying 'three days'. I don't know what they were on about though…"

"Well whatever it is, it can't be good, them being the Shredder's brothers and all," Mikey mumbled despairingly.

"Leo," Donnie walked out of the lab and grabbed his eldest brother by the arm, receiving a surprised yelp in response from the turtle in blue and a snort of laughter from the one in orange, "Raph told me I should check you over."

"Is he ok?" Leo asked immediately on the mention of his brother's name.

"He's gonna be fine – let me just check you over, ok? What's this I hear about a dart?"

"Nothing, Donnie – well, ok, it is something; I got shot with this dart and then they wouldn't say anything else except that is wasn't exactly a poison and then they just kept repeating the words 'three days' over and over – what does it mean?" he asked the last question more of himself than of his brother.

"Hmmm, come with me," Don led Leo into the lab and sat him down on a chair opposite where Raph was sat, head slumped onto his chest and his arm wrapped tightly. Looking inquiringly from Raph to Donnie, his purple-clad brother laughed lightly, "Don't worry, he'll be fine – just had to stitch his wound and didn't want to do it while he was conscious – and he lost quite a bit of blood but not so much that it will be a problem. He won't be able to use his arm for a few days though."

"Bad luck," Leo sighed, "he won't be too pleased."

"He wasn't," Donnie grimaced, "I'm surprised you couldn't hear him cursing from the Living Room…"

"Nah, we couldn't hear a thing of what was going on in here…so can I go?"

"Yeah – just give me the dart to have a look at and you go and get some rest, understood?"

"Yes, Doc," Leo saluted his brother and left the lab, heading straight for his room and crashing on the bed.

That night, all Leo could think about were the same words – they chilled him to the bone – their significance was as of yet unknown but he was certain he would soon find out, and that he wouldn't like it when he did.

Three Days Three Days Three Days

Three Days Three Days Three Days

Three Days Three Days Three Days

All three of his brothers lying dead?

Three Days Three Days

Three Days Three Days

Three Days Three Days

Himself dying of some deadly and slow-working poison?

Three Days

Three Days

Three Days

The final battle…?

Three Days

The next day dawned and Leo awoke from a fitful night's sleep, dark rings framing his eyes. He groaned as he heaved himself out of bed and into the kitchen. Looking at the clock, he started suddenly; eleven o'clock? Not possible! He never slept in! And Master Splinter would never let him get away with missing practice, would he?

"Hey, bro," Mikey greeted him warmly as he walked out of the dojo and into the kitchen, where Leo was still stood dumbfounded, "we decided you and Raph could use a rest after yesterday,"

"Oh…uh…thanks," Leo replied distractedly.

"Hey, Leo!" Donnie ran out of the dojo to his oldest brother, "I had a look at that dart and there's definitely some sort of chemical substance in it – not poison – something else…don't worry, I'll figure out what it is."

"Hey, bro," Raph arrived from his room, arm still in a sling, "how are ya?"

"Fine," Leo answered woodenly. Less than five minutes after waking up and he already had a headache!

"You sure you're ok?" Mikey asked worriedly, raising an eye ridge at his eldest brother, who had sat mechanically down at the kitchen table.

"I'm fine, Mikey, ok?" Leo made an attempt at a grin, "Raph, you should still be resting – go back to bed now – you had a tough night last night."

"So did you…"

"You know what I mean; you lost a lot of blood and then you couldn't sleep – I heard you wandering around at some ungodly hour this morning."

"I saw you tossing and turning, Leonardo, you barely slept either," Raph shot back sharply, causing an obvious flinch in his brother's effortlessly calm-looking countenance.

"Just go and rest, Raph, ok?" Donnie stepped in, sensing the early signs of a fight between his two older brothers.

Raph did go back to his room only to reappear at dinnertime in an even fouler mood than he had been in before.

"Someone's chirpy this evening," Mikey laughed, shutting up when he received a death glare from his wounded brother.

"Shuttup, Michelangelo, or you will not live out the next three days," Raph growled. Leo's head shot up at the words – those words again – three days…except it was only two days to go now…two days until what? He asked himself the same thing over and over, three days until what, Leonardo, three days until what? But every time he asked it he ended up going round in circles and never coming up with anything even remotely close to the type of answer. He didn't know whether any of his guesses were right or wrong for certain, but a gut instinct told him he was going down all the wrong roads. The only path of thinking that had felt a little warmer than the others was the thought of a final battle. Glancing at Donnie, whose eyes were fixed curiously on the blue-clad turtle, he smiled wanly and turned back to his food, picking at it and barely eating anything. Only a few mouthfuls later, he got up and left without a word.

The atmosphere remained tense for the next day also – the last day. The three days were up and Leo was a nervous wreck, although he didn't let it show, save for in his obvious distraction in practice and his restlessness in meditation. Every time he tried to focus, the same images barged into his head and forced themselves to the front of his mind, driving him slowly mad. The evening arrived during which it would reach exactly seventy-two hours since Raph and Leo had their fight with the human brothers on the rooftops of New York City.

"What do you think will happen?" hissed Raph to Donnie.

"I don't know – hey, where's Leo?"

"In his room, pacing," Mikey sighed, "he's been in there for half an hour. It's only five minutes until it's been exactly three days…he's a total wreck and is acting like some kind of raving lunatic."

"He is a raving lunatic!" Raph muttered.

"Raphael, that is no way to talk about your brother," Splinter chided his son sternly.

"I don't care, Sensei," Raph replied fiercely, "Leo's been acting all whacko for days now and it's driving me crazy!"

"It is a little weird, Master Splinter," Mikey piped up quietly, "and it's only four minutes now, and then---"

"Then this will all be over," Splinter reassured his youngest son gently.

The next four minutes passed like a dream of some sort – although to Leo it seemed more like a nightmare, each moment, slow and painful, adding to his distress. Finally, the four minutes were up and the seventy-two hour mark was reached. It was now or never – he was about to find out what the brothers had meant by their cruel laughter and simple words…

A/N: - You wanna know what happens? Three days is up and Leo is about to find out – but I'll leave you hanging in there a little longer, for methinks there is more suspense to be had yet and more brutality and possibly even a---well, I won't give any more away. You'll just have to read the next chappie – now, shout outs!

Lioness Goddess: -Stroppy means moody/stressy - English word, I guess...in answer to the question: How do you burn soup? You ask me to make it!

Eldarevenstar: - I'm saying no more winks but I'm really glad you like it and your reviews always make me smile!

Chibi Rose Angel: - Get some tissues ready - by the last chappie, you will need them! Thanks for the review!

Spootycup: - You'll get pain for Leo all right - I can say no more on how he will suffer but you can guarantee that a lot of them will suffer, too many will suffer! Mwahaha!

BlueRaven: - Aww, thank you so much - I'm really flattered by your review! Thanks as always and hope you enjoyed this chappie!