The breath choked. Mikey's face crumbling into disbelieving hurt flickered across Leo's thoughts as he shifted and tried so hard to exhale some of the anger. It seethed in his veins, poisonous and potent as lava. Grew teeth, claws, bit down, and wouldn't let go.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Leo buried his aching head in the frail refuge of his hands, shoved the palms over his eyes and squelched the tears. Guilt seared,
trickled through him, but did absolutely nothing to curtail the swell of rage. He was shaking and sick, trapped and helpless, and he didn't know what the hell to do.

He had hurt Splinter. Splinter, his sensai who had raised him, loved him, protected him. His master, who could have easily inflicted permanent and serious injury if Splinter had chosen to retaliate. Leo swallowed at the thought. Splinter considered striking children as punishment to be appallingly cruel.

Leo sighed, the crushing sense of loss and failure each weaving the strangling knots over his gut. The sickening toll kept parading itself through his thoughts. He had cut his own master, lost his swords, and made his baby brother flee.

For a moment, the hope lingered and he almost rose to his feet, to apologize, and restore, to make some of this right. His resolve trickled away when he remembered the sudden agony of Splinter's dismissal. And when he heard the footsteps on the dojo mat,
he froze like a startled rabbit, rather than sliding back into the meditation.

"Fearless, what the hell is wrong with ya, eh? What'd ya say to Mike?"

Raphael eyed his brother with irritation, as he shook his head and ambled over to the barbells.

"I mean, I know Mike can be damn annoying, but still-" Raphael stopped when he saw Leo's tremble, the fists balling up, the swell of his brother leaping upward and bristling.

Leo's eyes were narrowed, dark, burning, in absolute rage.

"Leo, what crawled up your shell and-"

An explosion. A snarl, a flurried movement, agonizing ache to his jaw and Raphael toppled so fast he literally had no time to figure out what had had hit him.

Blood. Numbly, Raph touched the trickle over his split lip and stared stupidly at the bright red dribbling over his finger tips. Rage and brittle instinct flared as Raphael shot from the floor and hurled himself at Leo like a cannon ball.

They toppled together,landed in a writhing tangle of limbs, anguished confusion, and pain. Raphael slugged Leo hard in the shoulder,
and relished the small grunt of pain. His victory was only a few seconds. With the speed of a striking snake, Leo twisted around, and wrapped both hands around Raphael's throat.

Eyes glittering, his lips quirking into a smirk, Leo' squeezed. Raphael felt the hands tighten like a noose, the thunder of his pulse pounding in his frantic brain, his lungs swelling,his breath ramming against his ribs like a fist...

He couldn't breathe. He couldn't BREATHE-

His hands clawed at the hands at his neck as he spasmed from the overwhelming pain. At the edge of his fragmenting awareness,
Raphael heard the thin, shrill scream, as his senses dribbled away like water. Drowning. He was drowning...

Dying-

And suddenly, the very air itself rippled around him, as Leo's grip was suddenly broken, followed by a dull thud, and disbelieving voices.

His choking turned to a cough, and he lay, sprawled and panting. He tensed when he felt the gentle fingers at his throat,cracked open his eyes, and saw Don staring at his throat in horror.

Leo's animalistic shriek tore at his soul, but the look that flickered in Don's eyes made him tremble.

"Stay down, Raph."

The bo was already in Don's hands, as he suddenly flipped over Raphael's head. The thunderous crack of wood against shell, followed by another gut deep scream. Leo.

More voices. Mikey's gasp of shock, followed by the bewildered whisper of Leo's name. Don, pleading with Leo to stop whatever it was, followed by Splinter's anguished order.

Raphael rolled himself to his feet, ignored the burning at his throat and the dizziness of almost being strangled to death.

All hell had literally broken loose.

Don and Mike were both laying across Leo, one gripping his wrists, the other gripping his ankles, in the attempt to hold him down.
Mike was already sporting a massive bruise from where Leo had kicked him in the face, but he clutched his brother's bucking ankles like a drowning man who had found a rope. Don had taken the more sensible approach of nearly sitting on Leo's elbows as he calmly peeled off his mask and tethered Leo's wrists together.

Leo was still fighting, and nearly scrambled to his feet when he kicked Mikey away. Raphael slammed down on him, landing with both knees on Leo's stomache. Leo shuddered, the keening cry slithering out from his clenched teeth. But, he managed to swing his arms free of Don's grip and club Raph in the face.

"My sons, restrain Leonardo, but do not harm him."

Splinter's voice, deceptively calm, his steadying paws still mindful, still gentle as he painfully lowered himself to Leo's face.

"I am sorry, Leonardo. But you leave me little choice."

And with that, the rat draped the herb-soaked cloth over Leo's face, pressing a palm over his nostrils. Leo stiffened, and whimpered when the vapor slithered up through the rag. Flinching, he tried to roll his head away, only to feel Donny's palms come to rest at his temples.

He screamed, body nearly lurching in half, as Mikey quickly shifted his weight to keep his legs flat.

"Do not fight it, Leonardo. It is for your own good that I make you sleep for now."

The betrayal felt like a stab wound, as Splinter caressed the twitching forehead. "Rest, Leonardo."

Leo whimpered again, in tears. A plea, a demand, a sob...his thoughts were sliding too fast into oblivion for him to know.

Splinter watched in despair as Leo's tortured lurches finally stopped. None of his brothers, nor his master let go of him until they felt him go completely limp.