Hey guys! So here it is! One week early! Yaay!!! I really had to crunch to get this chapter in! But I really wanted to get this one out there like I said I would. So there are probably a thousand and one grammar land mines, and if you see one please let me know! It would be very helpful! (Sorry!) ':D

Also, after experiencing this first hand, I'm going to let you all know that this will not be a regular thing. Maybe once Christmas break gets here I'll throw out a couple chapters early. Ya know, when school is no longer a determining factor. (; (But still no promises!)

Another thing. A close friend of mine just lost her grandma to a car accident this past week. It's hitting them all really hard, and if any of you guys could pray for God to bring his comfort to them that would be so great. If you aren't a praying person that's ok, if you can just keep them in mind and remember that you don't know when will be the last time you could ever see or talk with someone again. So don't waste the precious few words you can exchange together. And tell your grandma you love her.

Anyway, you guys aren't here to hear me rattle on about my life. Let's get back to the story!

Chapter 12

Michelangelo's once hurried rushing had slowed to a steady walk.

He'd managed to get lost three times already, and had to check the map frequently to prevent there from being a fourth. Every so often he'd feel the urgent sensation to hurry and would quicken his pace, just to slow back down a short time later.

He tried to concentrate on what he needed to do, but it wasn't a habit he was used to keeping. It especially didn't help that he was scared, nervous, and even more restless than usual.

When he'd found out that Raph had already left to look for Leo, he'd felt an overwhelming mixture of shame and fear.

Shame that, while he was snoozing in the living room, Raph had stopped at nothing to get out of the lair so he could find Leo as soon as possible. And fear that if Raph had been searching this whole time without any success, even with Donnie's special map, they might never find Leo.

Mikey thought back to when Donnie was telling him what to do back at the lair. He was so calm and collected, had already figured out a plan, and even made a map for it. He wasn't jumpy, or nervous, or scared, he was confident, steady, and faced this horrific accident with amazing courage.

Mikey wished he could be more like that. Have a mind like a steel trap, knowing if something was true just from knowledge saved to memory.

If Mikey could do that, he had a feeling that things would look much more hopeful right now.

But he couldn't. Instead he was hurrying through the dark sewers with the sick and terrifying realization that every second he spent scrambling in the dark, was another second condemning Leo to a helpless, hopeless fate.

Michelangelo couldn't help the despair creeping inside of him, poisoning his confidence.

What could he possibly do to help in this situation? Look at what his brothers did! Raph had started searching early, and Donnie spent all day making a map.

What did Mikey do? He took a nap.

I'm sorry Leo. He thought, never feeling more ashamed of himself.

No, he knew he wouldn't be of any help. But he could at least try, and as long as one of the others found Leo, then it would all be ok. Mikey would just have to make sure he stayed out of their way, and they would take care of everything.

Don't worry bro, Raph and Donnie'll find you.

He glanced down at the map again to make sure that he was still going the right way. This part of the sewers was darker and less frequented than the rest of the underground complex. There weren't as many interconnecting tunnels, so you could walk straight down one for five minutes before it finally split off into two different directions.

I bet that's why Donnie sent me this way. He concluded with a small frown.

It was colder there too. Greasy, slime filled puddles riddled the cement ground. A river of oil slicked water, almost as bad as the puddles on the pathway, oozed lazily in the river-way of the tunnel floor.

Mikey shivered and avoided stepping in the gooey puddles.

This part of the sewers always gave him the creeps. This specific part of the underground complex was to his brothers what a graveyard or abandoned house would be to humans.

A place with vengeful ghosts and man-eating monsters. The perfect scenery for a scary story. And, unfortunately, Raph was a very good story teller.

Mikey had nightmares for months due to Raphael's made up ghost stories about that part of the sewers. And, during that time, Leo would rarely get a good nights sleep.

Whenever Mikey would have a nightmare, Leo's room became the first place to go. Of course, he knew he could have gone to Splinter. But going from your room, across the vast living area, to tiptoe up stairs into the cold dojo and ultimately open the large door leading into your fathers room, all of this in near pitch darkness, was very intimidating for a small turtle. Besides, he always felt bad for waking his Sensei up for such a childish reason. So Leo it was.

There was something safe and secure about being with his older brother. It also helped that there was always some form of light illuminating from the wall or the nightstand. It made him feel welcome. Plus, everyone knows that monsters can't get you if the light is on.

Mikey remembered the same old routine they would go through.

He'd go in to wake up his sleeping brother, and Leo would pull back the covers to let Mikey slip into the soft, warm bed next to him. Then he'd ask Mikey to describe what happened, and, most of the time, Mikey would.

What happened after that was completely based on how Mikey was feeling.

Sometimes Leo would read stories from old Japanese books that he'd borrowed from Splinter. Other times he'd make up a fun game to help Mikey forget about his nightmare. And on some occasions, when Mikey just didn't want to do or say anything, they would both just go to sleep. Leo would drape his arm protectively over Mikey, pulling him closer to his plastron, and the once terrified turtle would drift off to sleep with the comforting rise and fall of his older brother's chest.

The memory only made him cringe with more shame.

Since the beginning Leo had been there for him whenever he needed it.

Now, Leo was probably going through a literal nightmare, and Mikey was doing anything but being helpful.

Don't worry big bro, at least you're in two sets of good hands. He thought bitterly.

Hanging his head he continued through the ever darkening tunnel, still avoiding stepping in the oily water, until he saw a rusted, metal ladder leading to the surface.

The sight made him perk up a bit, and he hurried over to it, eager to escape the suffocating grip of the spooky sewers.

He was just about to pull himself up onto the cold steel ladder when he heard something that made his blood freeze in his veins.

There was something, moving, farther down the tunnel.

He couldn't see what it was, the rest of the tunnel was shrouded in darkness thicker than chocolate pudding. But he could hear it, clear as day.

It sloshed wetly through the sludge-water unevenly, low mumbles and growls echoing through the passage.

Mikey felt the blood drain from his face as his temperature plummeted. Goosebumps plagued his light green skin as a chill colder than ice skittered up his spine.

His mind screamed for him to run but his body refused to obey, his feet planted to the cement. He stared wide-eyed into the dark tunnel, frozen with fear.

Whatever it was, he could hear it getting closer. Closer. Closer, with each uneven step. It's husky, ragged breaths ricocheting off of the walls and Mikey was convinced that he could hear it drooling.

His bones ached with cold terror, as his heart thudded in his ears at a thousand mile a minute, and all he could do at the moment was stand there to await whichever horror story would appear before him.

_

Oh, yes! I did it again! *laughs evilly* I shall inflict the world with cliffhangers! And no one can stop me!!

Seriously though, I'm just as eager to get through this as the rest of you! I have, what I call, 'inspiration mood swings'. And basically what happens is I'll be on fire and get a bunch of writing done and it's beautiful and fluent. And the next thing I know everything slows way down in writing and all of a sudden I just get a blast of drawing inspiration! (Which is really frustrating if you need to get your next chapter posted)

And guess which one I hit? Yep. Drawing. So now I'm sitting at my desk doodling on the back of my school papers when I know I should be writing, or doing school. (Which I now blatantly graffiti on a daily basis.) And guess what kind of drawings they are? Fan art based off of this story.

So now I hit a dilemma. I really want to post some drawings that I seriously made, but I can't because if I do then it will give everything away! (Oh the irony!)

So now you're not the only ones being tortured by these cliffhangers and stinkin plot secrets. (;