Turtlefreak121: Ah...the smell of a new story fresh out of the oven - gives me that calming sense of accomplishment...like a banana split on Christmas Eve. (crowd looks strangely at TF) Ahem...alright, maybe it's not that big of a deal, but this is my first 'pure' turtle story. Heh heh...nice to lay out the facts. I may sound a little jumpy - that's because I'm probably going to get mauled by an angry reader of Baby Bro for leaving them on such a sour note... (shrugs) What can ya do? Anyway, back to the present!

Thanks to: coldsunshin, Scottenkainen, Lunar-ninja, jaunt, and kinguofdoragons.

The Dark Half

Chapter Two

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT, thank you.

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Restless Night

After giving a rather brief explanation to their master as to why they were home so early this night, the turtles decided to pack it up and go to bed. It was sort of a strange aura that was being sent from the turtles as they tried to get some sleep that night - each had something to think about to keep them all preoccupied, but it was always the murder of Big Tony and Weasel that would rear its ugly head again. And it was this very thought that kept Leonardo pacing back and forth quietly just in front of his bedroom door.

Finally sighing and heading towards the stairs, Leo gave into the sinking feeling in his stomach and started towards the only person in this family he could truly trust with such feelings of emotion and terror. The only person in his family he knew for surewould keep the note he found on the piece of paper secret...

Each step he took seemed to stretch the walk to Master Splinter's room even more. It was like trying to reach the light at the end of a never-ending tunnel - you could always seethe light and you could just almost reach out and touch it, but you could never really get there...

Letting out a sigh and beginning to reach his hand out to lightly tap on the wood frame of the rat-master's sliding door, he stopped and recoiled his arm. He blinked a few times as he looked at the door - a soft glow illuminating from the other side of the nearly transparent screen and the silhouette of Splinter's many hanging ornaments dancing before his very eyes. Leo couldn't - he just couldn't knock.

Shaking his head in defeat, Leonardo turned and headed back to the stairs and somberly climbing them until he reached the second floor and then dragging his feet to his room - something a ninja like Leonardo would rarely ever do.

Once in his room, Leonardo unsnapped the strap of his katana' sheaths and then hung them in their rightful place over his headboard. He then untied his blue mask and folded it in his regular four-fold pattern with the eye holes looking back up at him as he placed them softly on the nightstand. Again he sighed as he continued with removing his elbow and knee pads but leaving on his belt - something he did regularly.

Pulling back the covers of his bed before finally laying onto the mattress and leaning his head back into the pillow, Leonardo slowly closed his eyes and calmly started breathing slowly...quietly...peacefully...

Soon the ninja was deep in sleep, his head leaning partially to the left as his mind wrestled with a new kind of demon...

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Everything looked paranormal - the ground, the street ahead of him, the wall to each side; but he knew his mission and he would not fail it. Slowing to a small jog, he turned around and faced the door. He could feel the warmth of a light hanging over the door's wooden frame, but everything was black except for the ghoulishly white outlines of the objects.

Though he wasn't exactly sure where he was, it all looked strikingly - even frightfully- familiar. He then pushed on the door. Not to his surprise, it was locked - simple enough. He unsheathed the katana from the sheaths on his shell and then sliced cleanly through the crevice of the door - the door's inner handle was cut like butter and the lock made a 'click' to his delight. He then kicked the door open and entered the room.

He smirked with a lust in his heart as he stepped on the hardwood floors. Again, the place was familiar but the thought of where exactly he was just wasn't tangible. He slowly stepped over the floor, his strange vision making everything that appeared flash before him in an odd, nightmarish fashion.

After he made his way through the tables of junk and smoothly avoided the crap that hung from the ceiling rafters and made his way to the slick, glass counter of the store it struck him - he was in Second Time Around, his friend's store. But that didn't matter despite his gut wrenching feeling - he just watched as his body continued to calmly stride through the store - he was on a mission, after all.

Using his unsheathed sword, he slowly 'keyed' the glass counters before slicing through its center and shattering the glass into a thousand pieces. He let out a laugh as his own blood was spewed over the counter top.

"Stop this!" he growled at himself.

Who's going to stop me? his voice echoed back. YOU? it laughed before his body unsheathed his second katana and began to cut through the ornaments and antiques like an ice cream scoop ran through ice cream.

He laughed as the junk broke and shattered onto the floor. 'He' then knocked over a dusty, old coat rack and then demolished a suit of armor that stood to the left of the register before he chucked the register itself into the opposite wall.

"You're wrecking April's shop!" he roared.

That's the plan, Umbrae - he echoed back in his mind. And just for your information, I'm not wrecking the antiques...

He took his katana and then cut into his left forearm before throwing the sword into April's prized family picture that hung next to the closet.

You're doing this, partner - not me...

The ninja then took his right hand mashed it down into the running blood of his forearm. He then strode over to the busted glass counter and pressed his hand down hard like if he was just giving finger prints to the officers before he was sent in for a night in the big house. He then repeated the blood procedure except this time he wrote in his blood on the side of the counter.

Just as his subconscious was about to look at what his body was writing, a deafening screech echoed in his mind that mad his eyes roll up into the back of his head.

AND TOGETHER WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD! JOIN ME! AND TOGETHER WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD! JOIN ME! AND TOGETHER WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD! JOIN ME - JOIN ME - JOIN MEEEE!

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"And together we shall rule the world..." Leo mumbled in his sleep. "And together we shall rule...the...world..."

The blue-clad turtle tossed to his side. Leonardo was known for being the quietest of his brothers when they were at rest. He didn't have a snoring problem like Raph or talked like Mikey or even tossed like Don, he was almost always in the same position he fell asleep in as he woke up. This wasn't the case tonight; Leo would have the same mysterious nightmare at least five times that night and he would turn to and thro almost twenty times each...

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April turned and faced Casey as he walked her to the front door of her store. "Thanks, Casey...for everything..." she said as she looked down to her shoes and noticed she had somehow come to stand pigeon toed. Looking back up at Casey and smiling through her bright red lips so he wouldn't look down as she readjusted her feet, April reached into her purse and began looking for her keys.

Casey slicked back his hair again. "It was the dinner...man I knew I shoulda made reservations at dat stupid Chinese--"

"No really, Casey - it was great," April said as she brought out her keys and slowly shoved the key into the lock. "That Italian restaurant was fabulous."

The door made a strange klink noise before slowly creeping backwards. Casey and April stood still in bewilderment for a second before they looked at each other.

"Hold on," Casey stated as he stepped in front of April and they slowly opened the door.

Through the dimness of the room, April and Casey could make out a figure that was crouching down on top of the glass counter in the center of the shop. The first thought that entered the couple's minds was that it was one of their friends.

"Guys, are you there?" Casey called out.

The figure turned on its haunches before quickly running into the shadows of another wall. Slowly, the sound of its feet lightly touching the floor disappeared and there was only a dripping noise like a sink was leaking.

Casey and April slowly walked more into the room.

"Okay, c'mon, guys - this ain't funny!" Casey stated as April reached over to the wall and attempted to turn on the light.

"That's funny..." April stated. "The power must be out..."

"No, the light's working outside," Casey stated before walking over to the wall and clicking the light up and down. "Okay..." he stated in a low growl. "April, I'm going to turn on the 'open' sign so we get some light in here."

Casey stepped over to the left display window with cautious, slow steps. He felt around in the darkness for the plug in and the electrical chord to the neon sign. As he felt over the surface of the hardwood floors, he felt something warm and sticky. He pulled back his hand looked at it strangely though through the darkness he was as good as blind. Finally, he grabbed the chord and shoved the end into the plug in.

The 'open' sign illuminated suddenly and even though it was a small sign, it gave off a soft blue and reddish-pink glow to the empty shop.

April put her hands over her mouth as she looked at the scene around them. Most everything was broken, sliced, or shattered - even the counter tops were smashed in and bloody. Even the ornaments and antiques that had hung from the rafters were torn down or chucked out of their places. Worst was the evil feeling of being in the room - it was unnerving for even Casey as he stood quietly along side April.

Looking down to his hand, he saw that the substance that he had felt earlier was none other than crimson blood. His eyes widened and he took another look around the shop.

April slowly walked around the store. "Casey...one of the guys must be hurt!" she declared. "There must've been a fight...did you bring your shell cell?"

"Yeah," Casey answered as his face grew paler - there was a lot of blood in the room. He dialed Raph's number first - not only because Raph was his best friend but because he felt Raph was the most likely one to be in the center of something like this.

"Grr...Casey, you knuckle-head - do you know what time it is!" Raph growled from the other end.

"Were you in bed?" Casey asked in confusion.

"No, Casey - I was at the Museum at Natural History; would you like me to get you a souvenir?" Raph snapped.

"Are all of ya guys in bed?" Casey continued.

"Were before I fell asleep," Raph grumbled as he was no doubt rubbing his eyes.

Casey felt like commenting on how Raph could sleep through a hurricane, but there was still a chill in the air and he decided to get down to business. "Did you guys have a fight in April's shop?" he asked.

"What? No," Raph responded immediately. Casey could hear him scooting to the edge of his hammock. "Why? What's wrong, Case?"

Just then April screamed. Casey dropped the shell cell. "APRIL!" he yelled out.

"CASEY! WHAT'S GOIN' ON?" Raph yelled from the other end of the shell cell.

April pointed at the left side of the glass counter. "Casey! It's a message in...in..."

Casey ran over to his girlfriend and looked at the display case in horror. He ran back to the phone. "Raph..."

"What is goin' on over dere?" Raphael demanded.

"I-I think ya guys should come up here immediately..." Casey stammered as his eyes shifted back to the display case.

"Sure thing, we'll be right there!" Raph replied before hanging up.

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Raph ran out of his room after grabbing his Sai from his cabinet's top. He dashed before halting at Mikey and Don's tired yet curious forms.

"What's going on?" Don asked as he tied his bandana on.

"Summtin' bad's happening at April's store - Casey says he needs us over there!" Raph explained before they started towards the stairs.

"Hey! Where's Leo?" Mikey inquired from the back.

They looked around - if Raph's yells had woken them up then there was no way they couldn't wake up the light-sleeping leader.

"I'll get him," Don said in an unsure fashion before heading towards their older brother's room.

"Well hurry!" Raph growled.

Don tapped on Leo's door - he had never had to fetch the older turtle before, Leo was usually the first to rise and last to fall. There was a small mumble from inside the room but nothing else.

"Leo?" Don asked before entering. He gasped to find his older brother deep in sleep with blood gushing from his left forearm yet not a blade in sight.

The purple-clad turtle ran to his brother's room and began to shake Leo's body to awaken him.

"Join..." Leo muttered in his sleep.

"Leo, wake up!" Don commanded to no avail. He looked down to his hands and saw them covered in his brother's blood. The thought passing by him, Don continued to shake his older brother. "C'mon, Leo! Wake up!"

Leo screwed his eyes shut before opening them wide once more. "What--" He sat up in his bed and scratched the back of his hand. "I-I was having a nightmare..." he thought out loud.

"Leo, how'd you do this?" Don asked as he held out his brother's arm.

A chill ran down Leo's spine. "How...What happened?" he asked his brother.

"I'm not sure - I'll wrap this and then we have to go to April's store," Don explained as he ripped some of his older brother's sheets and began to use them as bandages around Leo's forearm.

The pit in his stomach growing, Leo dead to ask. "What's wrong with April's store?" he asked with a churning of his gut.

"I'm not sure - Raph's not giving descriptions, but then again he talked to Casey so..." Don began rambling but it was like a muffled noise to Leo as his brother continued.

AND TOGETHER WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD! TOGETHER...Leonardo...

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Turtlefreak121: (chills run up spine) I feel...the wrath of...angry...REVIEWERS! (waits a second then sighs) Oh, all right - bad joke, I'll admit. But could you please humor me and give me a review?