Turtlefreak121: Writer's block - my apologies. Umm...I'm really tired right now so this is all of a note you get. Hazaa.

Thanks for those who reviewed for the last chapter. Really. Thanks.

The Dark Half

Chapter Fourteen

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT.

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Through a Door

Groaning in confusion, Leonardo stood up in the complete darkness. Woozily, he swayed back and forth before glancing around. He couldn't see anything but the black around him and could feel nothing but the cold chill of the unfamiliar place. Where was he? Where was Raphael? Had he been able to reach out to his younger brother? He couldn't remember for sure - but he hoped so. He hoped...

Feeling a confirmed feeling that he would probably not be allowed to enter Raphael's nightmare again, Leonardo began to wonder how to reach his other brothers, who he could only suppose were going through a nightmare of maybe even greater comparison than Raphael's. And that frightened Leonardo - the thought his brothers could be even worse off than Raph who had refused to believe Leo even existed still.

Scratching his neck, Leo began to wonder to himself. Why was Aku allowing him to venture through the other's dreams like this? What was the scheme - the plan to make Leo even worse off? Then again, what were the chances this was Leo's nightmare? Not being able to reach out to his brothers - unable to save them from themselves.

Maybe...

Maybe this is truly what Leo feared all along... Having the ability to protect his family from every outward danger, but having no control over his family themselves.

"So..." Leo thought out loud. "Still...why allow me to come any closer to defeating Aku? Why give me that chance to help my brothers when it's the furthest thing from what Aku needs right now?"

Standing still, Leo placed his hand to his chin and closed his eyes in wonder. Perhaps...

"Perhaps there's something...or someone else in this..." he thought before straightening up and looking around after receiving a strange vibe. Someone was in danger, and Leo had felt this before. His eyes widened. "MIKEY!" he yelped before running towards the origin of this feeling.

He stopped and looked around. Where was he going? Was he going at all? How could he tell if he was moving in this darkness?

He growled in his throat. "This another game, Aku?" he hissed under his breath. "Unable to get to my brother while he's in trouble?" Leo's eyes narrowed and he scowled at the darkness around him. "Because if it is your game - I'm not playing!"

Standing straight, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to concentrate on his brother - had to keep his mind clear of anything but helping Mikey. Then, he began to concentrate on seeing - on being able to look through the darkness. And the best way to do this was to have light.

Slowly opening his eyes, Leo was amazed to see the blackness of his surroundings to slowly melt into a deep gray - and revealing a network of walls and doors. A maze.

As surprising as it was, Leo was glad it wasn't as dark anymore. He stopped for a moment and scratched his head. There was something about mazes that he was supposed to remember.

"Use...the key..." he remembered. He then looked around. "What key? How can there be a key to a maze - maybe for all these doors...but a key for a maze?"

It didn't make any sense - but he highly doubted it was supposed to.

Now facing his original direction, Leo took a deep breath. "Well, Mikey's this way - I know that. And his nightmare is probably through one of these doors...so..."

Leo began to run down through the part of the maze he had picked - and hoped for the best.

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Following orders was what he did. That was what he was created for, and doing anything less was not important. Yin was Leo's darkness - his dark half - and he obeyed a master similar to Leonardo. Only Yin followed a master of not only himself, but of all darkness. This was the strongest master a form of dark - like Yin - could ever imagine following. It was his duty - his life.

And in his line of duty - having no heart helped quite a bit...

Now walking across the lair his counterpart so lovingly protected, Yin headed towards a forming pod - his master's treasured device. Here, his counterpart's very soul would be fed from and after years - maybe even decades there would be no soul left and Leonardo's body - along with his family's bodies - would be left to decompose in their pods. Their decomposition would serve as very nutritious for Aku.

At this time, Yin would need to go out and retrieve more food for his master - along with his master's persuasive powers. Who knows? Someday, there would be the chance - as Aku gets stronger - that all of Earth's humanity would have served its purpose for Aku. And the Earth itself would be left as food for Aku.

Then? Then Aku would leave - as he always did - and send himself to the next planet that would be chosen for Aku's appetite. It was a never ending work, but it was how an embodiment of darkness - like Yin - lived. If you call it living.

Seeing as how Aku liked cold, and dark atmosphere, the alien had turned the cookie cut-out in the middle of the lair into a three inch puddle of cold, chilling water. He had already worn down all of the turtles' furniture and appliances - broken Donatello's beloved technology, torn open Raphael's punching bag, ripped the pages of Michelangelo's comic books and scattered them around, created a gash in the screen to Splinter's room, and scattered the weapons on Leonardo's weapons rack.

Yin would give Aku one thing - when he destroyed people's most cherished items, he did it evenly. Unlike humans who were so careless they would not give their feelings out evenly. At least with Aku, things made sense.

At the moment, Yin's two-toed feet were sloshing through the deep water on the floor with Leonardo's motionless body carried over his shoulder. The turtle kept mumbling mindlessly in his state, but Yin wasn't listening - only keeping track of what Leo was talking about.

"...d-d...d-door...d-d-doors..." Leo groaned as Yin stopped in front of the finished pod that opened up for the first time - the last time.

Yin smirked at Leo's words. It was working.

Harshly shoving his double into the pod, Yin backed off as Leonardo's slouched form nearly fell forward and out again but two tentacles that had already been in the pod grabbed his arms and yanked him back.

His head bobbing up and down from every minor moment, Leonardo could not resist at all as he was forced back into his 'throne' and secreted there by the ooze surrounding him.

Yin looked emotionlessly as Leo's head fell forward and the pod began 'healing' itself to close up again.

"Go through the door..." Yin hissed before the door completely shut itself.

The double then turned on his heel and headed back to his master. His plans rested easy now.

Yin was only a small part of dark. And dark follows orders. But dark is complicated like that. They follow orders of the strongest. And you never know who's the strongest. Sometimes even a dark's master doesn't know it. Not until they miss their chance...

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Grabbing the door handle, Leonardo did not hesitate to pull the door wide open. To his horror, a swirling blackness was behind the door with a hideous creature that had been resting easily before Leonardo opened the door. It had the head of a woman, the mane of a black lion, the chest and forearms of a zebra, and the rest of its body was a winding snake that raised its head and showed it was a cobra before spitting acid at Leo that he barely avoided.

The beast began charging at the turtle, but he reacted quickly and slammed the door shut and sat against it as the monster thrashed against it. He gave quick, nervous breaths. This had been at least the tenth time that something wretched and horrid had escaped from behind one of those stupid doors!

"Alright, alright!" he growled at himself. "I'll try to figure out what this 'key to a maze' is..." he snapped at his conscious.

Trying very hard to concentrate as the scratching and growling behind the door had stopped; Leo began thinking outside of regular keys.

"Maybe..." he thought. "There's a 'secret' to getting through mazes..." Remembering that 'keys' sometimes meant a trick for something - almost like a video game. Then it all came together, he remembered that Donny had once told them something when they were kids...

Standing up since the door was 'safe' again, Leo walked over to the left wall and hesitantly placed his left hand on it. Taking a deep breath he began walking forward - his hand always on the left wall.

Leo then began to notice something he hadn't noticed earlier. All of the doors - they were on the right wall. He wasn't sure if it had already been like that or just since he placed his left hand on the wall, but he was for sure not taking it off. This was working.

Ahead he turned right with his hand still on the wall. His eyes widened in amazement. There was finally a door on the left side! Could this be it? Could this be where to reach Mikey?

Running up to the door, not even concerned with the 'key' anymore, Leo got in front of the door and held his breath in complete awe. What should he do now?

Should he go through the door? Was this truly the door to Mikey's 'nightmare'? Or would he have to brace himself for another close encounter like all the times before?

Go through the door...

The whisper sent a chill down Leo's body and he had to look around to see who had said it. He found no one around.

Taking in a deep breath, Leo reached out for the door. His fingers barely glazed the surface of the knob when he felt himself being ripped away.

Everything was black and decrepit when suddenly, flashes began taking hold of Leo's body and mind. He stabbed his master. Stabbed him through his heart. He attacked his brothers. He killed their friends. Blood. So much blood. Everywhere. It was blood everywhere he looked. Even on his hands - especially on his hands!

He held his head and shook.

"NO!" he exclaimed. "I didn't! You can't trick me! I DIDN'T DO IT!" he exclaimed.

It all stopped and Leo felt himself jerked forward and in front of the door again. He shifted his eyes down to his hands and saw no blood. It was his nightmare trying to suck him in - but it didn't work. He wouldn't let it work! Never again would he let it work...

Closing his grasp onto the knob, Leo shut his eyes and worked up the guts before turning the knob slowly and not stopping until it made the safe 'clicking' sound.

Sweat poured down his face and he bit his tongue before pulling the door towards him and becoming swallowed in light...

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Yawning, Mikey got up from his bed and cheerfully began walking from his bedroom. As usual, Don was walking from his own room with a gadget tucked under his arm. Don seemed to be muttering something, but Mikey could not hear it.

Placing his hand on his chin, Don continued walking, his eyes slanted to the floor. He was heading - as usual - to the stairs.

"Say, Bro!" Mikey exclaimed before jumping right next to Don. "Beat ya dere!"

Don didn't even acknowledge Mikey; instead he kept walking and muttering.

Mikey slowed to a stop and looked in confusion had his brother. What was up with Don? Don sighed and pushed past Mikey before continuing his walk down towards the stairs.

Only fazed for a moment, Mikey wildly smirked again and jumped down to the stair's second platform and got right in front of his brother. Don stopped and glared at him for a moment.

"So! Whaddaya been up to, Donny-ol-buddy-ol-pal?" Mikey smirked.

"Stuff you wouldn't understand," Don growled before pushing past Mikey and rolling his eyes at his little brother.

"Huh?" Mikey wondered out loud. "What was that all about?" he grimaced.

Slowly regaining control of his 'happy place', Mikey went running at Raph who was working out with his beloved punching bag. The red clad turtle already looked ticked as he went all out on the exercise tool, but Mikey felt kind of bad about the Don thing and knew that he could tolerate the usual busts from Raphael - it was only when the rest of his family made him feel bad was when Mikey didn't like it.

Throwing himself into a sitting position on the ledge behind the punching bag, Mikey gave a wild smirk to his red masked brethren.

"So, Raphie!" Mikey said with a smirk. "How's the work out going?"

"Shut up, Mikey!" Raph growled already before side kicking the bag. "I don't feel like it t'day, Bro!" he warned.

"But I was just going to see what my favorite brother wanted for breakfast!" Mikey exclaimed.

Raph then punched the bag so hard that it knocked into Mikey and knocked the turtle back.

"Breakfast?" Raph snorted. "'Tis, noon! Ya missed practice and boy was Leo ticked! Especially when Splinter sent him ta get ya 'n ya weren't in yar room!" Raph finally smiled - but it was an evil, twisted way compared to usual. "I didn't think the leader got ticked like that!"

Mikey's eyes widened. "Noon? How? I was in my room the whole time!"

"You calling me a liar, Mikey?" Leo's voice came from behind the orange banded turtle.

Mikey quickly turned around and looked up at Leo's scowl.

Leonardo glared at his brother with such an intensity it 'hurt'. Raph wasn't kidding! Leo looked madder than any time Mikey could ever think of. In fact, it almost scared the younger turtle.

Gulping, Mikey forced himself into a sitting position and looked in shock at his brother.

"No, Leo!" Mikey finally answered before pushing himself up. "I was just saying I was in my bed--"

"So you are calling ME a liar?" Leo growled before Mikey could finish.

Mikey could suddenly feel the eyes of his other two brothers.

"I hope you don't mind us giving you double the amount of practice time at three o'clock tomorrow, Mikey!" Leo hissed. "Cause it's what you're going to get!"

Leo began to turn around and Mikey shook his head. "But I was in my room!" he finally exploded.

Before Michelangelo could think, Leonardo and jumped on top of him and had his katana resting insecurely on Mikey's throat. Mikey looked to his other brothers, but they had returned to their own business - Raph punching away on his punching bag, Don sitting at his lab with his gadgets... And where was Master Splinter? Surely if Master Splinter was here, Mikey would be safe from his own brother!

Leo suddenly spit in his brother's face. "Don't you ever call your superior a liar, Michelangelo!" he hissed before pressing his blade against Mikey's chin and causing it to bleed a little.

"AGH! LEO!" Mikey exclaimed.

"And quit ticking all of us off, Mikey!" Leo snapped. "We can't stand you as it is! Don't make it worse by being a pain in the arse!"

Mikey began feeling stinging tears forming in his eyes. He sniffed to try and keep them back, but the tears in his right eye broke through and a small stream fell over the grooves of his cheek.

"Aw! The widdle baby's crying!" Leo mocked. "But if you don't mind..." Leo stated as he began raising his katana up to his brother's cheek, "I prefer tears to be red!"

Mikey looked at his brother in horror. "NO, LEO!" he exclaimed as the tip of Leo's sword rose up and pointed directly at Mikey's right eye...

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Leo felt more comfortable in this dream. The lair was lit and looked very much lively compared to Raph's version. He was in no doubt Mikey's nightmare, because only Mikey could have a nightmare where the light was still clear...

"NO, LEO!" he heard his kid brother screech from bellow on the first floor.

Leo's eyes widened. "MIKEY!" he shouted before pulling out his katana and leaping onto the first floor. To his horror, he saw this version of himself on top of his little brother with his blade dangling dangerously over Mikey's face.

"MICHELANGELO!" he shouted before charging towards his look alike.

Both Mikey and 'Leo' looked at Leo as he charge.

The look alike grabbed Mikey's mask tails and yanked them as he stood up before pointing his blade at his double.

"Any closer and I'll kill him!" the fake hissed.

Mikey looked from the Leo keeping him captive to the one who was trying rescue him. He was so confused!

"What's going on?" Mikey demanded.

"SHUT UP!" 'Leo' roared.

"I'll explain later, Mikey - promise!" Leo guaranteed.

'Leo' growled and looked to the other fakes. "Get rid of our intruder!"

Don and Raph both glared at the real Leo who backed up. Mikey looked in horror.

"LEO! Get out of here!" he yelled.

"Not without you, Mikey!" Leo growled as he prepared for the ensuing fight.

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Turtlefreak121: BTW, Leo doesn't know yet that Splinter is in a pod/nightmare. That's why I only mentioned his brothers at the beginning - just wanted to clear anything up.

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