Turtlefreak121: I had an awesome vacation - had to get out of the water for a shark sighting once on the last day, but my dad let me back in eventually. Then we saw a five footer near the pier - I think it was a Thresher (sp?) Shark, but I can't be for certain. (pokes Leo) I saw some Yellow Belly Sliders at the aquarium! Leo: Did you make evil twins for them and cause their family to be almost KILLED? TF: (blinks) No...they were cute turtles Leo: (smacks self in the forehead)

Question - why do I use Leo to talk to when I don't have an OC here? ... ... Oh...I do have an OC in this story! I'll talk to Yin in the next chapter! Kewl.

Thanks for all the nice reviews guys! (beats fist over chest) They go right here!

The Dark Half

Chapter Sixteen

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (heroes in a half shell - TURTLE POWE!) nor the title 'The Dark Half' (sigh) OR anything related to the TMNT 2003- series' episode 'The Darkness Within'. I don't even own myself - my butt belongs to my parents, so watch out! They're deadly.

&&&&&&&&&&

Your Fault

"We're in Aku's mind"

The very thought of this made Michelangelo shiver as he and Leonardo stepped up to the next door. Though there were many to choose from down this 'hall' this had been the only on the left so far with the exception of Mikey's door.

"This it?" Mikey asked in puzzlement as he looked over the simple door.

"Hopefully..." Leo answered him in a mumble before taking a deep breath and holding onto the door handle. Slowly, the eldest turtle opened the door and like before, found themselves surrounded by light as slowly the scene of the maze around them began to disappear.

&&&&&&

April couldn't really remember a time in her life where she had been more scared than when she slowly backed away from the menacing Yin and his gleaming katana. Yin's smirk was all but gone and his face had grown into a snarl as April and Splinter - who heavily relied on leaning on April - backed away from the turtle.

"Answer me, April," Yin snarled in a dark voice. "When someone tells you to stay home what do we do?"

She felt her back bump against the ledge of the training area and she was too petrified to think of climbing over with Master Splinter and running for their lives. After all, what good would it do? If this guy was even half the fighter Leo was then there was no way April and an exhausted Splinter could escape from him.

Receiving no answer from April, Yin reached back with his free arm and grasped the handle of his second katana. His eyes narrowed further. "Stupid humans..." he growled as the katana was unsheathed.

Splinter released his hold around April's neck and wobbled to a fighting stance. Finally able to take in what was happening; April remembered the katana in her hands and held it at the dark turtle.

Yin snorted at this and his eyes suddenly became a gleaming ruby color as his mouth snarled further at her. Then, Yin did something April wasn't prepared for...

As the turtle lunged at her giving April barely enough time to block the attack and give a shrill yell, he yelled out in a voice different than the deeper one he had been using earlier. Instead, this voice was very familiar...

"WHY?" Yin yelled in Leo's voice as he viciously attacked April's shoulder only to have his attack blocked by Splinter who had retrieved a sword from the fallen weapons rack as well. "Why can't you stupid humans leave my brothers alone?" he roared as tears ran down his face. He attacked at April again and avoided her block. He paid no attention to her scream as his katana glazed over her right thigh.

"I just want to PROTECT them! But you petty humans and your 'differences' just have to make that impossible!" 'Leo's' voice yelled through Yin. "Do you know how many women like you I've saved only to have the ungrateful tramps scream in my face? How many times the very people I help are the ones holding the gun the next night?" he yelled before backing up just a bit as if he was dazed.

Helping April sit down, Splinter's eyes narrowed. "I know this is not my son. I know that I must fight back to protect us both, April," he explained his future actions. "Please try to remember, he is not Leonardo - even though this may be hard..."

The elderly rat stood in his stance as Yin finally regained enough of his composure to lock eyes with the frightened April again. Before she could look down from the savage look he was giving her, Yin lunged.

Splinter quickly caught both of the copy's weapons and threw them back, but Yin did not loose his hold.

Shaking his head of the tears, Yin looked at them both. "What's the point?" he demanded from them. "If the people I save will only hurt other people, what's the point of helping them? This is no comic or cartoon or novel! Good guys finish last - they're the ones that are on the opposite side of the gun! They're the ones who get trampled and stomped out!"

Both April and Splinter remained quiet to his speech. Though they were avoiding contact with him mostly by doing this, they were also not sure how to answer it. At least April wasn't.

He's right... She gasped at her own thoughts. Humans don't deserve the right to live... Blinking at these thoughts, she shook her head. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered to herself. "What am I thinking?"

Splinter's charcoal eyes remained cold and angered as Yin looked into them. He could feel the master's anger towards him, but also something else... Maybe...empathy?

"The truth is, Leonardo's Yin," Splinter explained. "You cannot understand for you are not balanced. You are but one of two halves. In order to understand the actions of beings who are whole, you would need to be joined by Yang - thus creating Leonardo. You cannot understand your own actions because you are but one of two. Incomplete."

Yin stepped back in shock and awe at first. He knew it was true - all true! And he had always known about it, but what you know and what you believe is usually - if not always - two different things.

"WHY CAN'T I PLEASE YOU?" Yin suddenly yelled before lashing out and swiping his katana towards Splinter's left side. The master - even in his poor condition - completely avoided it. "Why is it so easy for you to tell Mikey he did a good job coloring, or Don that what he made was wonderful, or even tell Raph openly that you still love him despite what he does when that's all I've wanted from you?" he screamed as he slashed again.

Shocked by the sudden outburst, Splinter was slow to move out of the way of the katana and found his robe being slashed through at the hem on his left sleeve. Still, he stayed quite as Yin continued - he wasn't sure how to respond.

The slashes became more like hacks as Yin continued.

"You picked me to be the leader! You told me to always watch my brothers! You always made me practice longer and harder! You always made ME the example! And I did it! I never complained! I never disagreed! I never disobeyed you deliberately and yet you can never give me more than a nod when I accomplish what you wanted me to do to begin with!"

Yin managed to direct a kick straight into Splinter's chest and cause the rat to fly into April. Splinter's momentum took them both back a foot or two before Yin stepped over them again. His eyes narrowed further.

Splinter shook his head. "Before you finish, do me the favor of telling me if these words are yours or of my son's mind..." Splinter pleaded.

Yin's eyes closed before opening to reveal they were no longer red but a brown eyes now running with tears. "What you are not understanding..." Yin's deeper, darker voice returned. "Is that I am your son's mind..."

He held his katana up to April and Splinter's horror and frowned further.

Splinter's ears twitched at sudden swift motion in the air and an echoing, screeching scream that rang throughout the air.

&&&&&&

"Where the heck are we, Leo?" Mikey asked as he stood close to his older brother in this place.

As if straight from the lab of a mad scientist in a horror movie, tubing ran in odd shapes and designs around the entire room with strange and devious looking chemicals flowing through them. Things bubbled and burned and unidentifiable noises came from every corner and crevice.

Leo himself was frightened by this. What was going on? It seemed as if too many things at once were going on and his head couldn't put them together. But the smell is what got them both. That deep copper-like smell of nothing else but blood and lots of it!

"Come on, Mikey..." Leo stated comfortingly before the two continued through the room. "Stay close..."

After only a few steps with Mikey grasping onto the sheaths on his back and walking so close he accidentally kept stepping on Leo's heel, Leo turned around and gave Mikey a look.

"What?" the younger turtle asked.

"Not that close!" he hissed before shaking his head and continuing.

Mikey frowned at this before folding his arms and looking crossly at Leo. "Well, make up your mind!"

"I did," Leo snapped.

Before they could continue there was a deafening scream that rang throughout the terrifying lab. It was one of absolute pain and misery - one that was like someone being forced on their last breath.

As one, the two brothers began running with a single cry of "DON!" on their lips as they ran. It was a heart pounding moment of terror, even though they knew it was a dream.

After all, Mikey had thought his dream was real and that the pain he was feeling was real. So Don probably did, also. And if their brother truly believed he was dead and his body believed...

"Mikey, hurry up!" Leo yelled back as he ran into a full sprint to reach the frantic cries of his brother.

"I am!" Mikey yelled back in a panicked voice.

When the two brothers reached their brother they both froze and looked upon the gory sight in horror. It was a worst dream for anyone to come true... The sight alone made them both want to become ill.

Donatello was strapped to a platform-like table that was standing up. His head was hanging loosely as his plastron hung open revealing the precious and vital contents inside. But the blood! There was so much blood! The very sight made Leo shiver before he sprinted to his poor brother and check his neck for a pulse which - to his relief he found.

"Ishe...ishe..." Mikey blubbered out as he cried. He was a complete wreck already. He didn't want to see any of his brothers like this! Don's very body was in complete disarray.

"He's fine..." Leo breathed with a sigh of relief as he lightly tapped Don's cheeks to try and wake him.

"What are you doing?" Mikey growled in anger. He knew Don was in doubt pain and that by being unconscious he was in some sort of relief.

"We have to!" Leo answered back. "This is the only way we can get him out of this place!"

"I don't think he will be going anywhere..." a sly voice answered back as the sounds of someone walking from the shadows came to the turtles.

Leo and Mikey both turned around with their weapons drawn as they glared at this ruby eyed scientist that looked too old to be a threat. However, things for the turtles were hardly ever what they seemed and this was definitely one of those times.

"Says who?" Leo said as his eyes narrowed.

Suddenly, the scientist morphed before them into another look alike for Leo and smirked confidentially, evilly as his red eyes glowed. "Says you!" the turtle copy growled before lunging at the brothers.

&&&&&&

Yin landed perfectly on his feet and stood straight as he looked back at the surprised Splinter and April. Suddenly, the sliced in half tentacle fell to ground still squirming and screeching as the alien yellow slime squirted from it. His eyes narrowed further.

"You're lucky that that was only a scout," Yin hissed at the two. "They're not attached to the Master."

Confused, the two stood up and looked at Yin questioningly. The turtle copy only turned around and sheathed both his katana before slowly walking around again, as if on patrol.

"Stay away from the last pod to the left," Yin warned as he smirked. "He's got a job to do first... I suggest that you get Raphael's first. First on the right..." he stated.

April stood silent as he first began walking away and then she couldn't help but smile at him. "You are somewhat good..." she said with a soft smile to him. "Aren't you?"

Yin looked back at them and his eyes narrowed at April. "I am not Leonardo. Keep track of your enemies and your friends, woman," he snorted.

"Keeping your enemies close?" Splinter asked as he cocked an eye brow at Yin.

The turtle merely smirked and walked on towards the other side of the lair. "I work for a mission no one shall ever know..." Yin answered back. "Sometimes, not even I know what it is..."

April looked at Splinter worriedly. "Can we... Can we trust him?" she asked in a sort of scared tone.

Beginning their walk towards the pod that Yin had done the favor of identifying as Raphael's, Splinter gave an uneasy sigh towards April. He wasn't sure himself, but they had to trust him.

"For the time...he has given me the means of saving my sons and as long as he has done nothing further to endanger my quest I will not consider him an enemy," Splinter explained before he looked back to Yin. "But if he shall..."

April nodded. They would trust what Yin said - at least for a time. It was all they had that could possibly help her friends and they had to do it.

Upon reaching the designated pod, Splinter readied the katana he had picked up earlier and took a deep breath before slashing at the egg-shaped device. It tore as easily as human skin but inside it secreted something very different from blood.

"Help me, Miss O'Neil," Splinter pleaded as he reached in and grabbed his son's left forearm. April followed with the right and they began pulling on the delusional turtle.

"No... NO!" he yelled. "I-I didn't mean to! LEO!"

"Raphael, my son!" Splinter pleaded as the turtle finally began to allow himself to be pulled out from his 'seat'. Splinter embraced his son as soon as he fell into their arms. "My son, I am here now...it was...a dream..."

Raph winced for a moment before blinking and looking around. "Wha-... ..." Slowly, he looked over and saw Splinter and hugged his father back. Joyously Raph nearly lifted his father off the ground.

"Raphael..." Splinter chuckled as he patted his red-clad son on the head.

"You're not dead!" Raph burst out in tears.

"Not yet, my son... But we must save your brothers," Splinter explained seriously.

Raph finally looked over and saw April and gave a sigh of relief. "They're alive?" he asked hopefully.

April smiled mildly and nodded. "From what Le... This 'Yin' guy has told us..." she stated.

"Who?" Raph asked before looking over from his father and friend and locking eyes with a grinning Yin. The copy of Leo gave a mock wave to the turtle before turning around and continuing his walk around their home.

Raph's eyes narrowed and he snarled at the turtle. "WHY THAT--"

"Raphael!" Splinter warned as he held back on his son's arm. "I am not sure why, but your brother's yin is helping us."

"'Tis a trick!" Raph snorted as he glared at Yin who - even while looking the opposite direction - placed his right hand behind his shell and flipped his 'brother' off. "That lil'--"

"Raph, we have to get Leo, Mike, and Donny," April said as calmly as she could manage.

Ending his glare with Yin, Raph looked to them. "Alright, where are they?" he demanded.

April gave a spare glance to the three 'active' pods behind them and Raph froze. He blinked and shook his head.

"Oh...god..." he gasped. "This... Dis happened before!" he said as he backed up a bit. "Leo was right..." he whispered to himself before noticing the large clump of red matter in the center of the home. Could it be that this had been what had happened to them before? Could it?

April looked worried. "What do you mean this happened before?" she asked.

"I mean it happened before!" Raph growled before starting off toward the next pod. "And we better get 'dem outta dere before summtin' bad happens!" he growled as he reached for his sai and spun them between his fingers.

"Hold on, Bro!" Raph growled. "I'm gettin' ya outta dere!"

&&&&&&

"Why are they obsessed with you?" Mikey growled as he blocked yet another slice from the copy of his brother. "Why is this whole thing obsessed with you?" he whined before receiving a hard kick to his plastron that sent him flying over a table and through many glasses of chemicals and substances Michelangelo just wasn't familiar with.

Leo returned the kick to his clone and looked at Mikey. "I don't know!" he sighed. "Maybe it's because I started this to begin with..."

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for that!" Mikey said jokingly before leaping off the table and to Leo's side

Giving him a dull look, Leo didn't even have to voice how little he liked that joke. When his brother merely shrugged his glance off, Leo's attention was directed to the copy again who merely smiled and laughed as he stood up.

"Alright, alright..." the copy laughed.

"You give up easily? I forgot," Mikey asked Leo before he held his breath.

"No..." Leo answered.

Holding out his sword towards them, the look-alike laughed. "I'll settle with you," he said slyly. "I'll let the two of you do as you wish," he stated smoothly so far.

"Alright..." Leo responded. "And the catch?" he questioned.

"This!"

The copy hurtled the sword at Donny's table and straight towards his nearly exposed heart. Leo and Mikey both dove for the sword but neither could reach it in time.

"NOOOO!" Leo screamed.

Your sword. Your brother. Your fault.

&&&&&&&&&&

A/N: Yin - the same as the word 'Ying' - means evil of the world and also is used to identify money which I found convenient since at the beginning it was how it all started out. Max wanting money.

Aku is a word meaning 'evil'. Yin referred to it as a perfect name for his master because indeed that is what the alien is after - the evil in the world.

I thought that you guys would find that interesting.

Turtlefreak121: Well, on a personal note I'd like to thank anyone who's read thus far. I hope you realize you're reading my first horror story and (smirks) I'm beginning to like the genre. Dear goodness, what have I done? Poor Donny-boy (ends there so as to not spoil the rest of the story)

Anyways - how did I do? Touch a nerve? Please tell me, and thank you.