Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the reviews! I really do appreciate all the feedback and every single review puts a gigantic smile on my face. I'm terribly sorry about how long this chapter took to write and upload but I hope you all enjoy chapter nine!

Chapter Nine: Into the Dark

The dark place in which he found himself again was becoming all too familiar to Leo.

He felt the coolness on his skin and opened his eyes to find that the darkness above him seemed endless.

Blinking, Leo sat up and tried to shake away the haze that surrounded his mind. He squinted through the dark, searching for anything even resembling life but with a feeling of dread growing in his stomach, Leo only found that the space around him was ceaselessly black and simply empty.

"H-hello?" Leo called, his voice leaving his mouth huskier than he had expected. He coughed, clearing his throat, before trying again. "Hello? Anyone there?"

His voice rang out into the space, moving further and further away, until the call for help was swallowed up by the darkness altogether.

Leo breathed, reassuring himself. "Okay. Okay. This is fine. I'm fine…"

Pushing up onto his knees, Leo gathered his strength and surprised himself when he was able to stand.

Looking down at himself, his wounds had completely healed. He rotated his shoulder where the poison had once entered his system to wreak havoc upon his body but found that there was no longer any pain which resided there.

He frowned. "Huh, okay. That's weird."

Taking steps forward, Leo began to walk through the space, searching for a sign, in fact for anything which would tell him what to do or where he was meant to go.

Leo's steps were soundless. Looking down at his feet, he tried to drag them across the blackness beneath him but still no noise graced the space. Silently, he searched for what felt like hours, walking aimlessly through the dark until his limbs began to numb.

"I'm probably going in circles," Leo sighed. "Come on, just give me something. Anything…"

And just like that, as if the space had heard his plea, under his feet, the blackness began to vibrate.

Leo crouched and placed his hand against the darkness, indeed confirming the vibrations as they sent tiny pulses up his arm.

"Okay. What am I meant to do?"

As soon as the words left his lips, large bricks rose from beneath him, carrying him into the black sky, a gargantuan wall appearing from nothing.

"Whoa whoa," Leo startled, gripping onto the bricks as they hurtled him up into the abyss.

The giant wall rumbled to a halt, groaning as it slowed and finally settled. Leo clutched onto the wall, still in a crouched position and peered over the edge, only to regret his curiosity when his stomach churned at the sight of the blackness below him which now appeared to have no end.

Leo breathed, calming himself and sharpening his eyes but even with his heightened senses, he could only see an infinite blackhole below.

Unsettled, Leo turned his attention away from the abyss, instead choosing to study the stonework which he still clutched onto with his shaking fingers.

He knew the stones.

They were old and weathered, as if from architecture built long ago. Chips and cracks were mottled across the rough grey stone. Leo recognised every single one of them.

"You should know your own creation," a voice suddenly pierced the quiet, coming from behind him.

Leo whipped his head around, only to see an all too familiar silhouette sitting on the wall a few meters away. The darkness clung to the figure. A shiver shuddered down Leo's spine. He knew the figure, but something was very wrong with it. Fundamentally wrong.

The figure sat with his legs hanging over the side of the wall. His blue bandanna rested calmly against the back of his shell, completely still. His shoulders had a heavy hunch to them, as if the weight of the world were pressing down upon him.

Slowly, Leo released his vice grip that he had on the wall in order to stand unsteadily to his full height. To stabilize himself, Leo outstretched his arms to either side and took his first cautious steps, across the top of the wall, towards the figure which he refused to think of as himself.

His steps were slow and calculative. On any other day in New York, Leo would have been completely comfortable to be standing atop a high rise, but in this foreign place, he was cautious; somehow knowing that if he fell, he would fall for all eternity.

Carefully, Leo advanced towards the strange turtle and finally after closing the gap between them, the figure turned his head to face him. The shadows which had lingered around the figure's head cleared and what had made Leo initially uneasy was made all too clear.

The turtle's face was hollow, making his cheeks appear as sharp as razor blades. His skin was a sickly murky green, like that of sewer water. His carapace was flaking and cracked around the edges. Across his body, his muscle tone had wasted away leaving a weak frame of frail bones and skin. A sadness was etched into his face, like it had lingered there for years, weighing down his lips into a permanent grimace. Around his sunken eyes were dark circles and when he looked up, Leo recognised the pain in his eyes, as he had seen that same expression in the mirror so many times.

"You're me," Leo said knowingly, his voice ringing out into the dark.

The strange version of himself nodded solemnly, casting his eyes downwards.

Leo took a careful step forward and gestured to the blackness around him, waving his hand across the space. "So, this is my subconsciousness then?"

The turtle nodded.

"What happened to you?" Leo asked.

"That is the wrong question," the turtle replied.

Leo frowned. "I don't understand."

The turtle sighed and folded his legs underneath himself, gradually rising to stand, although once upright, his fragile legs began to tremble. His shoulders stooped and his breaths were ragged, as if standing had drained him of what little strength he had left. "I am what will happen. I am your future, if you continue to travel down this path that you have set yourself."

"And what path is that?" Leo asked skeptically, hesitant to believe anything that the strange version of himself was saying.

"The path where you rebuild your fucking wall!" Fury flashed across the turtle's skeletal face and then disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, replaced once more by that same dark defeated expression. "The path where you lock out everyone who cares about you, despite them partially knowing about what you can do. You refuse their help and you refuse to let them in."

Leo shook his head. "I hurt people without the wall! Thoughts pour in and my telekinesis just responds. I can't control it!" With shame, Leo remembered the man in the warehouse. He remembered the pained look across the faces of his brothers after he had hurt Mikey and burnt the dojo almost to the ground. He felt his hands tremble. "I don't want to hurt anyone else."

The strange turtle's eyes grew darker. "And yet, you will. Continue down this path and you will hurt everyone you love."

"I don't believe you," Leo said. "You're just in my head."

"Then let me show you."

Before Leo could respond to the strange statement, the turtle took a swift step forward, closing the gap between them. Then, moving faster than what anyone in his condition should be able, the turtle spun and landed one hard kick square in Leo's chest.

With the impact, Leo staggered backwards and for a horrifying moment his feet grazed the air, finding nothing to step back onto.

And then he was falling.

Leo's scream was swallowed by the darkness.

Air pushed past him as he plummeted into the dark.

He fell, shell first, his limbs trailing behind him. His wall disappeared as he descended into the everlasting abyss, increasing in speed as he fell.

His blue bandanna whipped at his face and then was pulled free, slipping off his head with the force of wind blowing against it, to fly upwards whilst Leo continued to descend.

Desperately Leo reached out for the piece of cloth but his hands only scrambled through the air, catching nothing.

The bandanna was rapidly consumed by the void and for a moment there was only darkness before a brilliant flash of cerulean blue erupted across the space, as colossal ribbons of the cloth exploded forth, swirling towards Leo.

For a second the cloth danced about the darkness, simultaneously elegant and colossal.

It was almost peaceful.

And then the cloth was upon him.

Violently, four pieces wrapped around Leo's wrists and ankles, abruptly halting his descent and threatening to pop his joints out from their sockets. His neck snapped forward in whiplash but he didn't have the chance to struggle as across the remaining pieces of cloth which still flowed all around him, images suddenly appeared.

He saw himself, covered in blood, standing over a large brown shape which was curled in a ball on the floor, flesh and fur peeled back to expose bone. The bloodied version of himself collapsed to his knees in sorrow; a raw scream erupting from his throat whilst a waterfall of tears, mixed with the blood, cascaded down his face. Ever so gently, he cradled the head of the figure, and turned it so that the mangled face of his kill was revealed to Leo.

Leo gasped.

The eyes of his Sensei were wide and anguished as if he died screaming. His mouth was ajar with crimson blood dripping from his throat to coat his fur.

"NO!" Leo yelled in the dark. "I WOULD NEVER HURT HIM!"

The cloth rippled and Leo watched as the image changed to reveal the faces of his three younger brothers as they rushed into Master Splinter's room, their eyes wide and falling upon where Leo was holding his dead Sensei in his arms.

Flowing in the cloth, Raphael stepped forward. "Leo, what have you done?!" His voice cracked with a deep sorrow.

The image rippled as Leo turned to face them. "It was an accident! I didn't-"

The cloth rippled once more as Mikey ran forward, collapsing over Master Splinter, his hands not knowing where to touch and his face scrunched in utter sorrow. Sobs wracked his body as he buried his head in Master Splinter's bloodied chest and when he looked back up, there was actual hate in his eyes. "Get away from him!" he yelled towards Leo, shoving him in the chest.

In the dark, bound and with the images swirling around him, Leo's heart sunk deeper into his chest. "This can't be real," Leo whispered. He closed his eyes for a moment. "Please don't let this be real."

Leo slowly opened his eyes once more and what he saw, destroyed what remained of his heart.

In the cloth, the image rippled as sheer panic enveloped cloth Leo's face. His eyes dilated, appearing like an endless galaxy and he pressed his hands to his head, as if it were about to explode.

In the cloth, Raphael saw the signs, lunging forward with Sai drawn. "LEO! WAIT!"

But it was too late.

In the image Leo threw his head back. His mouth opened in a scream and his arms blasted outwards as an enormous pulse of telekinetic energy ripped from his gut before he collapsed, his torso crumbling forwards.

In the dark, Leo's vision blurred as tears pooled in his eyes.

He watched as Donnie ran forward, outstretching his arms towards Mikey but unsuccessfully reaching him before a large slab of cement smashed into Mikey's skull, burying him and Splinter beneath.

"Mikey!" Raphael screamed.

"NO!" Donnie yelled.

Together they reached towards the cement slab, desperate to pull it off from their already buried brother, but just as they gripped the debris a stomach sickening sound came from above. The sound of cracking concrete.

Donnie and Raphael locked eyes.

Donnie opened his mouth. "Raph-"

And then the whole roof gave way, burying the Hamato family deep under New York City.

"NOOOO!"

Leo screamed in the dark. "I'll never let that happen!"

His own voice answered back, coming from the dark. "You will have no choice in the matter. And do you want to know the pièce de résistance?

Unable to hold them back, silent tears streamlined down Leo's cheeks. "What?" he asked, his voice cracking.

There was a pause.

"You survive."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"You survive the collapse of the Lair," the voice explained solemnly. "Even unconscious, your telekinesis keeps you safe from falling debris and then you spend the rest of your days alone and ashamed. You try to end it all, multiple times, but we already know how that turns out, don't we?"

Leo tightened his grip on the cloth that held him. "I kill them all?"

"Yes, but it doesn't have to be this way! All you need to do is…keep the wall down and listen."

"You have to give me more than that!" Leo pleaded.

No answer came. The space once more was eerily silent.

"COME ON!" Leo yelled. "Tell me how to save them!"

Leo's pleas remained unanswered. He hung in the silence, the cloth around his limbs cutting off circulation, numbing his hands and feet.

Although he wished for the images to be a trick of the brain, somehow, deep down, Leo knew that what he had been shown was indeed his future. He was going to kill everyone. What he feared the very most in the entire world was going to come to pass.

Unless he could stop it.

His family dying simply wasn't an option.

"Okay Leo," he whispered. "Just…listen. The voice, my voice, said to listen."

Leo breathed, closing his eyes and withdrawing within himself. He searched for his centre; slowing himself down into a meditative state where his whole body was simultaneously calm and yet absolutely aware.

"Just breathe and listen," Leo breathed.

In his ears, he could hear the steady drum beat of his own heart.

And against his palms, he suddenly felt something wet as if his hands had been submerged. The water flowed up his arms and crept into his shell. He shivered, swiftly becoming aware that his whole body was cold.

"Leo? Pl-please wake up bro."

The poignant plea of Leo's youngest brother cut through the darkness.

Leo snapped his eyes open.

"MIKEY!" Leo yelled into the dark, ecstatic to hear the voice of his younger brother, especially considering that the last time he had seen him, Leo had hurtled him against a wall, breaking his leg.

"Mikey, where are you?!" Leo asked, his voice echoing.

"Dudes! I think he's waking up!" came Mikey's voice again.

Rushed footsteps echoed around the dark and then other voices joined the fray, bouncing and ringing around the darkness.

"Leo?" Donnie called from somewhere below. "Leo can you hear me?"

"Come on man!" Raph encouraged. "Mikey, what the shell happened?"

"I dunno! He just started twitching all funny and he said my name! He sounded…scared."

"I'M HERE GUYS!" Leo yelled.

Leo pulled against his restraints, thrashing his limbs in a feeble attempt to free himself. Around his wrists, he felt the binds tighten and cut into the skin to drip blood into the dark.

He had to get back to them.

He had to protect them.

He had to tell them…everything.

Rebuilding his wall and locking everyone out wasn't an option. Not anymore. Not if it meant that his family would die in result of his actions.

He just couldn't take that chance.

He had to make things right.

"Leo…come on dude…."

"Leo, you need to wake up."

"Please Leo…"

The voices of his brothers echoed up from far below him, emerging from the darkness and becoming clearer.

Leo arched his neck to look downwards into the dark; except it wasn't completely dark anymore. Far below, there were shapes of smoke shifting through the darkness. Leo squinted, focusing further on the shapes and engaging his heightened sight until slowly the bathroom of the Lair was revealed, with its mildly mouldy tiles and flickering light over a toothpaste stained mirror. The smoke dissipated and steadily the entire scene below was revealed.

His brothers were huddled around the bathtub where Leo saw himself, pale and half submerged in slightly browned water. He looked dead, his body too still and his eyes closed. There was a bandage wrapped around his shoulder, kept out of the water. But, to Leo, that didn't matter as more importantly a deep pang of guilt pierced through his gut as he noticed that Mikey's leg was in plaster. His younger brother sat awkwardly on a rickety wooden chair, trying harder to lean over the bath without falling in whilst Donnie and Raph knelt beside the porcelain tub.

Leo watched as Raphael reached out towards him in the bath.

With more tenderness than Leo thought possible from his hot-headed brother, Raphael cupped the side of Leo's face.

And with the touch, warmth radiated through Leo's cheek to the rest of his face. He leaned into the hand, knowing that it was there in the real world. The warmth travelled down Leo's neck and filled his shell.

He looked towards the cloth which remained wrapped around his hands. Reaching within himself, he breathed deeply and calmly. "I'll make this right," Leo promised. "The future can be changed. I'll change everything!"

Leo focused his mind on his restraints, imagining them unravelling.

There was a pull in his gut.

And the binds obeyed, loosening and then suddenly unwrapping, allowing him to fall as they receded back into the darkness as quickly as they had arrived.

Leo plummeted face first towards the bathroom scene below him.

"Whoa! WHOA!" Leo yelled, shielding his face as the bathtub rose fast to meet him.

Leo slammed into his own body.

In the bathtub, Leo flung himself upright, sending a tidal wave of dirty bathwater over the side of the porcelain to splash across the floor.

"LEO!" Mikey hollered in disbelief, barrelling into Leo's chest in a hug which almost suffocated him.

"Take it easy Mikey," Donnie warned, gently pulling him back.

"Bro…you with us?" Raphael asked from behind them.

Leo blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light but managed a nod as he stared up at his brothers.

"Oh my gosh," Mikey sighed. "Dude! You've been out for a week!"

"A week?!" Leo exclaimed, his voice a husky whisper.

Leo gripped the side of the bathtub, trying to find something to hold onto in order to pull himself up and out of the tub but his fingers were stiff and refused to close. His injured shoulder seared and his arms splashed uselessly back down into the water.

"Wait Leo," Raphael ordered sharply.

Leo snapped his attention towards Raphael. He had heard those words but in something that felt like a dream. Although, somehow, Leo knew that it had been real.

Leo watched silently as Raph climbed over the side of the bath to stand behind him. Leo turned his head to study him. He looked tired, with circles under his eyes.

"Here - let us help you," Donnie said, offering a hand towards him.

Leo looked at his brother's hand.

This was the choice.

He had to let them in, now and forever.

Gratefully, Leo outstretched his own hand and his fingers interlocked with Donnie's. Behind him, Raph wrapped his own hands under Leo's arm pits.

"Okay ready?" Raph asked.

"Yeah. Get me outta here," Leo replied.

Together, Leo was lifted to his feet by his brothers but once standing a sense of vertigo hit him. He swayed in the tub and would have fallen back into the water if his brother hadn't still been holding him steady.

"Just focus on me dude," Mikey coached from the other side of the tub, with a makeshift crutch under one of his arms.

Leo shifted his eyes onto his youngest brother and a fresh wave of guilt hit him.

"Mikey," Leo breathed. "I'm so sorry."

Leo was surprised when his orange banded brother gave him a wide toothy grin.

"Doesn't hurt that bad," Mikey replied. "You can help me scratch it though! I've got this itch, like down near my ankle and I think I've almost perfected a scratchy pole to get to it."

Leo didn't miss the frown that Donnie shot towards his younger brother.

"Mikey! I told you – no scratching!" Donnie huffed. "You'll mess up my cast."

"But Donn-nniieeee, it's really itchy!"

"Hate to interrupt," Raph interjected, annoyance in his voice. "But can we focus on getting Leo out of here? This room is super nasty."

"Feeling okay Leo?" Donnie asked.

Again, Leo managed a nod. "Yeah, let's go."

With his brothers by his side and supporting more of his weight than what Leo cared to admit, Leo found himself being pulled out of the bathtub and lead through the door. Mikey trailed behind them, the sound of his crutch against the floor piercing the silence of the Lair with each step he took.

Outside, the Lair was dimly lit. An old episode of Space Heroes was playing on the TV. Leo recognised it immediately as the episode where Captain Ryan saved the universe by traversing through a seamlessly endless blackhole.

Leo smiled.

It was almost ironic.

"Where to?" Raphael asked from beside him.

"The living room," Leo requested.

Slowly, Leo was guided through the Lair and to the couch. With his brothers by his side, Leo found himself being lowered gently down onto the cushions. Mikey sat closely by him, clumsily propping his casted leg out to the side and leaning his crutch against the couch.

"Can you go fetch Master Splinter?" Leo asked Donatello.

His purple banded brother nodded shortly before turning to walk towards their Sensei's room.

Raphael shoved himself into a bean bag near to the television, beans cascading from a small tear to spill over the floor.

"Leonardo, my son."

Master Splinter's voice soothing came from behind him before his Sensei walked into view, his eyes soft with compassion and his whiskers twitching.

Leo sucked in a breath, his heart jumping into his throat as his Sensei looked so…alive.

Only moments ago, his Sensei had been shown to Leo slaughtered, brutally butchered in an image of the future.

"Are you alright, my son?" Master Splinter asked, coming to kneel by his side. "Donatello, has the antidote worked?"

"Y-yes Sensei," Leo replied. "It's just really good to see you. To see all of you."

Leo scanned the faces of his family and as he did, their thoughts entered his brain as if his abilities had woken up from a slumber and had suddenly caught up with his body. The onslaught of thoughts was violent, thoughts suddenly clashing in his brain, colliding into one another and becoming so painfully loud.

He felt the tension in his gut build.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

Without his wall, Leo had no control.

A dread filled him.

"Leo…Leo…you okay?"

"Tell us what's wrong…"

"Breathe Leonardo. Remember your training my Son. Breathe…"

"Focus on my voice Leo."

The voices of his brothers and father were around him but it was difficult to differentiate between them and the thoughts which reverberated in Leo's own head.

"Everyone quiet!" Raphael barked. Then quieter, in a hushed voice Leo heard his brother's calm plea. "Come on Leo…just focus on me. Come on…"

Leo opened his eyes to slits, blinking through mostly closed lids.

Raph was directly in front of him, still talking in a hushed whisper. "I don't know what's going on with you man, but we're gonna figure it out. Just like we always do. You gotta work with me here. Just focus…"

Leo nodded, letting air pass through his lips in a breath that he had not been aware that he was holding.

He focused on just his brother's mouth as he continued to speak to him and slowly the thoughts in his head subsided, becoming whispers before dispersing altogether.

Raphael gripped him by the shoulders. "Okay?"

Leo nodded. "Okay."

Leo continued to breathe whilst Raphael settled on the couch, twisting his arm through Leo's as if they were brother's in battle.

Leo looked towards each member of his family. No thoughts invaded his mind.

It was time for the truth.

He opened his mouth and began to tell his story from the very beginning.

To be Continued…

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