Turtlefreak121: I've noticed this is a depressing story to write. (shrugs) But it's not like I've ran out of cheery happy ones. (thinks about it) Well...Nova's stories are fun to write...and Mutamon's fun to write... That Road Rovers crossover is semi-funny... Summer Roses is kinda depressing... My Immortal's basically over so forget it... And Hiro's stories are always crossed with cute and depressing so I'm not sure. And that new one I'm working on (grins) it's just going to be fun for me to scare myself. MWAHAHAHAHA! Yin: Why did you make me come over here? TF121: Because I said I would in the last chapter... Yin: You're not even talking to me! TF121: Really? What am I doing now? (Yin groans) And... SOLD to the pet rock!

Thank you for the reviews! Makes me very happy!

The Dark Half

Chapter Seventeen

By Turtlefreak121

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the actual book 'The Dark Half'. It's good but uses filthy language and makes me gag at times like Cujo. That is all.

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A Partnership

The whole world stopped as Leonardo and Michelangelo screamed and screamed for their brother but received nothing. The world around them slowly began to fade and melt away as did the hackling of the double that had first caused this horrendous pain in their hearts.

Leo's mind was racing with him as he dropped to his knees and pounded the floor with his fists. YOU WEREN'T FAST ENOUGH! his mind roared at him at all corners of his being as he tightly wedged his eyes shut barely stopping the flow of tears from running down his chin. YOU'RE THE OLDEST! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HIM! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? YOU KILLED HIM?

At the rate his thoughts were flying, Leo couldn't be for sure that they were even his own. But it wasn't as if he cared. He could care less about his own being. If anything - if not for Mikey - Leo could see himself as nothing more than a failure. He wished all of this - everything - would end right there. Even then he would not be able to live with himself. The thought itself was near impossible for him.

Slowly, despite the pain he was feeling, Michelangelo looked up to his older brother who was yelling at himself in a mumbling tone as he banged his fists as hard as possible against the 'floor'.

It was then that the tearing youngest turtle noticed something he hadn't before. Though the world was melting away, he could clearly make out their prior surroundings - specifically the table their deceased brother had been positioned on.

Now, however, not even Don's body remained.

Michelangelo was not as much of a fool as he made himself out to be, he knew that they were in their brother's mind - making the thoughts he was having all the more contradicting - and that if he had died his existence in his mind would - of course - be dead as well and probably cease this event in their lives. But only Don was gone. The world - though fading - was disappearing as had Leo's when they had forced their way out.

The hope that twinkled in Mikey's eyes he wished to reflect into his brother's hopeless expression, but in Leo's state it was seemingly impossible.

"Leo!" Mikey called to him. "I don't think Don is dead!"

There was not as much as a movement on any part of Leo's body. He was stone and lost in his own mind as it was. Frowning at this, Michelangelo knew he had to reveal this revelation with him before Leo's spirit was lost forever within itself.

Cautiously, Mikey walked towards his defeated brother - for he had no idea what Leo's actions towards him may be. Slowly, he got on his knees and placed his right hand on Leo's shell - careful not to touch the tender skin where his shell had partially been cut out. Silence and dread filled the atmosphere around Leo.

It was at this time that the world around them once more became the maze of Aku's mind and sent a distinguished chill through Mikey's body. He ignored it and rubbed his brother's shoulder. Both his shoulders were tense as Leo's head hung between them with a vacant and lifeless look in his normally alert and cautious eyes.

Pain followed the silence and made Mikey wince at the feeling.

"Leo...listen to me, Bro..." he stated softly as he lowered his head to let Leo hear him better.

There was no change in Leo's body - he was lost in his thoughts still, yet Mikey felt it was better to continue despite this.

"I don't think Donny's dead, Leo," he continued.

There was the tiniest flinch in his brother with was only noticeable because Michelangelo's hand was cupped on his shoulder.

Still, Mikey continued. "Donny woke up or something - he just wasn't in his mind," Mikey explained slowly.

Finally, there was somewhat of a reaction. However, this was not what Mikey wanted. "Don't...lie..." Leo said slowly as if his jaws were indeed made of stone and took time to move.

Taken back a bit, Mikey wondered what this reaction could mean coming from his brother. Again, Leo returned to his immobile state and didn't seem to even realize Michelangelo was there. This made Mike shiver considering the neglect he had 'experienced' in his own dream.

Sighing, Michelangelo - determined - started again. "Leo, I'm not lying! Don's alive! I know it! Can't you feel it?" Mikey asked curiously as he remembered that if anyone was in tune with their brothers' spirits it was Leo.

There was a moment of silence before Leo shivered in a scared way. He then answered with another tear escaping his right eye.

"I can't feel...anything..."

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Slowly, Raph and April placed the shaken turtle on the floor. It was something horrible that was on Don's mind or had been in it because he flinched at every contact he made with them whether it was them touching him or looking at him, it sent a tremor through the purple-clad turtle's body.

As soon as Donatello was placed on the ground, his eyes looked down to the ground and he blinked at it as if he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the setting. Why was it so different from what he expected when he woke up and first heard Raph mutter the words "It's okay, Bro! We got ya! We're home!"

Home? Don should think not! Home had a sense of pleasure and well-being. Home meant safety and seclusion. Home meant Leo training with Splinter, Raph laying some issues down with his punching bag, Mikey playing video games, and him being alone in the lab or his room or the garage carelessly working on any device he could lay his hands on.

This? THIS was not home. This was a place that reeked death and sent chills of unimaginable horror through every fiber of its being. This place - this horror - was the farthest thing from home Don had ever known.

Once his shaken son had been placed safely on the wet ground and away from the horrid pod that had so kept him, Splinter fell to his knees and hugged his son - they were both unclean and somewhat covered in the Muk-like yellow slime that had made them so difficult to get out.

Don shivered for a moment at the touch but otherwise only allowed his eyes to win the battle to once more close and fell 'asleep' in his master's arms. Raph resisted the urge to rush to his brother and Splinter sadly hugged his son tighter.

"What's wrong wid him!" Raph exclaimed immediately.

April remained quiet in horrified wonder. What had happened to Don that caused such a traumatizing affect?

"I...I died..." Don seemed to answer in a mumbled voice as his body grew weaker and Splinter resorted to laying his son face-up in the water and cupping the back of his head to keep it up.

Splinter looked sadly to his son and friend. "You must retrieve Michelangelo and Leonardo, Raphael. Michelangelo has been 'dreaming' for far longer than any of us and we can only speculate as to Leonardo's condition."

Raph remained quiet and nodded - as did April. They silently agreed to start on the last two pods. The first of which - due to the information Yin had given them earlier - was Michelangelo's.

They rushed to the glowing egg-shaped chamber and reluctantly began to process of slicing the skin-like doors open in order to retrieve the youngest of the turtles.

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Finally unable to stand his brother's unmoving stance, Michelangelo had positioned Leo in a sitting upright position with is head resting against one of the maze's 'walls'. Leo blinked on a few times every couple of minutes and looked completely out of it.

Ya did it, Aku... Mikey sighed inwardly in defeat. You broke him...you took my older brother and left me a veggie.

"Leo..." Mikey sighed softly. "C'mon, Bro! We're still here so that must mean we still gotta help Raph or something, right?"

There was a long pause before Leo's reply - almost as if he had to soak up each of Michelangelo's words separately in order to understand them.

"Why...?" Leo's answer finally came. "So I can be responsible for his death as well?"

The orange-clad mutant grunted at the reply and had to turn from his brother's pity party. It made his skin crawl at the thought of how lusterless and lost his brother's soul had become with the passing of a few seconds and one seemingly traumatizing event - one Michelangelo continued to insist to himself just wouldn't be, couldn't be real.

"Leo, that wasn't your fault!" Mike yelled back at him.

Silence remained Mike's only reply. Leo didn't even move the corners of his mouth in the slightest.

"What on earth would make you think it was your fault to begin with?" he growled. "You can't keep insisting everything that happens to us is your fault! Don't you see that?"

Leo's clam hands tightened into angered fists at his brother's words. They don't understand me! Leo's mind growled. His eyes narrowed. They never understood me! But I understood them! Mikey's only being hopeful...I killed my brother...Don is dead... I killed him...my brother... With my sword.

The more the thoughts replayed themselves, the more the 'truth' became evident and the more he could block Mikey's words from his mind. His vegetated state continued and he allowed it to continue.

Sighing in defeat, Mikey stood up and looked down at his brother. His brother didn't even take notice of him. Just like you never took notice of him! a thought ran past Michelangelo. His frown deepened more until it seemed like a caked-on expression that was forever to be forced on him. Because as much as it wasn't his thought it was true...

Just as he was beginning to allow the thoughts sink in, there was a tug of his chest that seemed to pull him forward as if there was a string running from his chest and there was someone on the other end pulling it.

His heart raced in the confusion and his mouth allowed quick, shaking breaths to escape. He had not been pulled into his dream again, but he feared this might be what it felt like - and he did not want to go back!

"LEO!" Mikey yelled to his older brother in a panicked fashion as the tug became tighter and more forcible. "LEO! HELP!"

Slowly, the older turtle snapped out of his illusion and looked in confusion at Mikey who was slowly fading away before his eyes just as Don's world had done before. Leo's eyes widened in horror and he quickly got to his feet and tried to run to his brother.

"MIKEY! NO!" he screamed as he scrambled to reach his youngest brother.

As he reached Mikey, he found that his hands completely went through his brother. He attempted in a blind panic to grab his brother again and again, but with each attempt Mikey faded more and more until nothing was there.

"NO! NO! No...no...no...NOO!" Leo yelled at the top of his lungs. "MIKEY! MIKEY! NO! I...I don't want to be alone!"

He fell to his knees once more in a defeated fashion and looked dully. "I...I failed...again..."

You let two of your brothers die...maybe even three... Why go on? Why go on alone? Why not ask for someone to be your companion? To be there for you for all of eternity and never die for you? One who will keep you from failing?

Leo looked up into the darkness and was so exhausted in his mind and body and was so broken and so confused that he completely pushed aside all consciousness and thought only of the soft voice.

"Who would do that for...for me?" Leo asked as he felt his eyes droop more in a sleepy state and his shoulders slouch forward.

A slimy feeling 'hand' rested on his shoulder from no where.

"ME..."

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Mikey looked around as he saw April and Raph's faces. They seemed happy enough to see him, but Michelangelo could not think the same about them. His face was horrified.

"What have you done?" Mikey asked as his eyes widened.

"What have we done?" April repeated in confusion.

Raph's eyes narrowed angrily. "We saved yar stinking shell! Whaddya mean 'what've we done'?"

Mikey wobbled a bit on his own before he ran as fast as he could to the last pod. "LEO! Hold on, Bro! Please forgive me!"

Feeling a since of dread, Raph ran to the pod as well and helped Mikey by slicing the pod open for him.

Inside Leo remained in an eerily quiet dreamy state - just as the others had. However, a tentacle from Aku was beginning to creep itself dangerously close to Leo's head.

Without knowing what dangers could possible serve as the outcome of this tentacle coming in contact with Leo, Mikey and Raph both immediately jerked their brother away from the so-called danger and out of the prison-like pod. Leo stirred and looked at them both wide-eyed and confused.

"Back from the grave?" Leo asked Raph, recalling Raph's reaction to him in his dream.

Raph nodded. "I s'pose..." Raph answered shortly.

Splinter - with Donatello leaning against him - joined the group. Don was still dazed-looking but his expression was genuine.

"You're all okay!" Don exclaimed as he slowly released their father's neck and stumbled forward - embracing his brothers who returned the embrace.

Leo looked completely horrified by Don's sudden appearance and paused before hugging Don back. He wanted to be sure - wanted to be sure he was real.

As the reunion seemed happy enough, darkness engulfed the partial happiness - particularly when there came a tisking from above them and they looked onto the second floor to find themselves looking up and a disgruntled-looking Yin. His eyes narrowed particularly on Leonardo who had no memory of his double.

"So close, Leonardo..." he hissed. "And you threw it away. No wonder Aku made me, you weak-minded fool. I set this all up for you - spare your family for a time - and you ungratefully return it by rejecting my Master's wishes."

Yin shook his head angrily before unsheathing his katana. "It's a good thing that..."

Suddenly Yin's eyes once more glowed a deep red and his mouth became lined with fangs as tentacles from Aku swarmed around the mutants and April. Yin laughed as he opened his mouth and a combined voice of both his own and the screeching voice that had been in Leo's mind the entire time came out.

"IT'S A GOOD THING THAT AKU AND I ARE ONE AND THE SAME!"

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Turtlefreak121: Well, that was a nasty cliffy, eh? Now...no throwing things... I'm going on a second vacation for the weekend (winces at the thought of being hit with a tomato for she hates them so) Meh, just the weekend. Not like it'll affect the stupid brain farts I have with this story!

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