Disclaimer: I don't own tmnt.
Chapter 2
Faster. Faster.. He was almost there. The sun was shinning. Warm and bright. He can feel the wind whipping past him, snapping his red ninja mask tales… Almost there.
The motorcycle is just purring beneath him. It's the perfect machine. Sleek. Powerful, and totally the best bike he's ever ridden…
Lean into the turn. The crowd roars. He left his competitors behind. They're still trying to catch him, but he has a major lead…
Just a little farther… A little more… Just a little more and he'll win the race… He can see the finish line. April is standing on the platform, waving the checkered flag…
Time seems to object. Everything starts going in slow motion. 'No! Not yet!' he wants to yell but the words don't come out.
Stubbornly he wills his bike to move to reach the finish line, to win, but it's like wading in thick mud. His bike slows to a crawl.
He wanted to yell, or scream, but mainly he was getting ticked off. Not an unusual emotion.
Suddenly the scenery wavered and changed completely. Before he can look at where he is the bike blasts forward as if it was suddenly released. Regaining it's the power and speed in the blink of an eye.
He turns and leans with the bike trying to regain control. He eventually succeeded, and looked around.
He was back in the city. He was riding in the middle of the road, and yellow streetlights illuminated it at regular intervals. But… But something is wrong.
Everything is black. No moon. No stars, and none of the buildings are lit. Besides the streetlights there are no other forms of light, and there are no people, not even a pigeon. It was like he was the last living soul on earth…
And… Worst of all, that bad feeling had returned.
He realized that he wasn't driving the bike anymore. Yes he felt his body move to drive it, but its direction was its own.
Left. Right, and another right. The bike stops.
That house looms before him. Twice as tall as it was in real life. Twice as tall and twice as foreboding.
'It is too quiet!' he wants to say, 'Damn It! Make some sort of noise!'
Was that…? Crying?
Yes. Someone was crying…
He walks up the steps to the house. It seems to radiate fear like a thick ooze, but that is were the crying is coming from… So he continues.
He opens the door, and walks into an empty room. Lit only by the yellow beams from the streetlights that trickle through the widow curtains.
He looks around, but sees no one. The crying, however, gets louder.
'Hey um…where are ya?' he asks the walls.
The crying suddenly stops…
'Hello?' he asks.
'Help me.' Calls a small voice, and the room starts oozing blood.
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Raph bolted upright in bed. Struggling against his tangled sheets.
"Breathe Raph. Breathe." He tells himself. Forcing his lungs to move in and out at regular intervals. It's a meditation technique Master Splinter had taught him years ago. Though he rarely used it.
The technique worked, and he was able to get out of bed.
"Shell that was bad." Raph moaned, and decided to see how Donnie was doing.
Turtle Genius was working in his lab, of course. Working, yet again, late into the night. He knew Don would be awake. So there was no need to check on him, but right now he just needed to be around someone else.
"Hey Don." Raph said, "How's it comin'?"
"Oh, hey Raph." Don replied, "I haven't found any more of Master Splinter's data bits yet, but I'm working on it."
Don glanced at Raph. He knew that shadowy eyed expression, and he knew what usually caused it.
"But that's not why you're here." Don says absentmindedly, and turning to face Raph adds, "How bad was the nightmare."
Raph shrugs, but Don expected as much. Raph, unlike Mikey, never talks about his nightmares.
"Well… Feel free to crash on the couch." Don sighs.
"Hm. Thanks," Raph smirks. Normally he would have gladly taken the offer. There was just something about the sound of his brother systematically clicking computer keys that could always ease him back to sleep. Tonight however, "but I think I'll take a walk."
"That bad?" Don asks, but Raph is already leaving the lab.
"I can't help you if you don't talk to me." Don called after him, but Raph didn't seem to hear him. Don sighed, but went back to work. Whatever it was Raph could handle it, or at least, that's what his brother hoped.
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"Ya know Raphie, ta be honest I didn't expect ya ta want ta run tonight. Ever since you guys came back from the future ya haven't been up for a good three in da mornin' goon bashin'." Casey said.
Raph had meet up with Casey topside, and the two were running over the rooftops. Casey found it odd that Raph hadn't wanted to take their bikes, since it was easier to find street punks from ground level, but hey, if his buddy wanted to run they'd run.
"You should be talkin'." Raph smirked, "Haven't ya been keepin' your fiancée company at night."
Casey blushed a bright red, and a few unintelligible sounds escaped him. The guys knew that he and April were getting married. Shell, Raph had helped Casey pick out the ring, but still… He and April had been very careful about their… Uh… sleepovers. They thought that no one knew….
"Relax big guy." Raph chuckled giving Casey a friendly punch on the arm. "I haven't told anyone… yet."
"Great." Casey groaned. He jumped to the next building mumbling something under his breath about how ninjas could be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
Raph shook his head and followed. He had pushed the nightmare to the back of his mind, but the cold feeling in his gut refused to go away.
"Bbbbbrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg!!!" A store alarm wails somewhere close by.
"Sounds like trouble." Raph grins and bolts towards the siren.
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"Stay Down! Unless you want a fucking bullet in yer head, Stay Down!" The punk yelled. The mom and pop Vietnamese couple that ran the store were quick to do as he said and hug the floor. While the gunman kept his sights on the two, one gangbanger raided the register while seven more grabbed snacks of the shelves.
"Nine dragon goons." Raph counted.
"Too easy." Casey grinned. He leaped down the fire escape and landed on the ground with a thud. Ten times louder than Raph who followed his friend swiftly and quietly like a living shadow.
"Goongala!" Case shouted as the two of them ran head first into the fray.
AN: I know this is kind of slow right now, but at least this chapter is longer than the last. PLZ review, if I don't recieve any then I'm afraid that either the fic or my writing style sucks.