Enveloped in warmth and light and beauty, Leo felt himself slipping away. Slowly, his body started to fade into pure light. Finally, he would have peace…

"No, Leonardo," a stern voice said.

Leo stared. Master Splinter's silhouette stood out against the field of light. Sensei?

"I forbid you from this. You cannot abandon your role."

Leo thought he heard muffled cries. It sounded like his brothers.

"Your family needs you. They need their leader."

I'm not a leader, Sensei. I'm not cut out for it. I never was.

"I chose you as leader for a reason, Leonardo."

I know, I know…it was because I asked.

Splinter approached Leo and placed a gentle hand on the side of his face. "You asked because you were the only one with the courage and capability to lead. I chose you because I believed – and still do – that you are able to lead this family with bravery and honor. Do not give in to despair. Fight. Fight, my son."

Fight. Leo latched onto the word. Since when did he give in, anyway?

Splinter held out two katanas like a promise of new hope. "Fight, Leonardo!"

Hai, Sensei.

Slowly, steadily, Leo reached for his swords. When he seized them, his fingertips began to tingle with sensation. He gasped as feeling returned to his whole body at once. On his next breath, his lungs inflated with so much air that he thought his chest was going explode.

"Hajime!" Splinter delivered a spinning kick that struck Leo straight over his heart.

The light vanished. Everything went black. He plummeted in a free fall, and when he landed, it was as if the ground had punched his heart. He felt around blindly in the dark. There was some kind of barrier blocking his path.

"Come on, Leo! Please!" Donnie's voice cried. "You can't do this to us!"

Another sharp blow landed on Leo's chest. He didn't know what was attacking him, but he knew one thing: Nothing kept him from his brothers. With a shout, he raised his katanas and slashed through the barrier.

Leo was still crying out when he opened his eyes. He was lying on the living room floor in the cabin. Five voices cheered at once; Donnie loomed over him, looking like he was about to faint with relief.

"I knew you could do it, Donnie!" April said. She ran over and planted a huge kiss on Donnie's face. "Mwa!"

Donnie laughed nervously. "Let's get him upright." Together, he and April eased Leo into a sitting position.

The minute Leo was sitting up, April threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He went to return the embrace, but as he moved his arms, a sharp pain stabbed through his chest. "Ow."

April gasped and pulled back. "Sorry – I didn't mean to hug you so hard. I was – we were all so worried that you weren't going to wake up."

Leo glanced down at his plastron. A star-like pattern of cracks had formed over his heart. "What – "

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Donnie said sheepishly. "CPR works a lot better when one doesn't have a shell. If it makes you feel any better, it's pretty common for humans to get sternum fractures during the process."

"CPR?" Leo looked around the room. Casey, Mikey, and Raph stood close by. They all had the same expression of relief on their faces that Donnie and April did. Suddenly, everything made sense. "Oh, no…Donnie kissed me, didn't he?"

"Yup," Raph said, grinning broadly. "And he didn't even buy you flowers first."

Everyone else but Donnie burst out laughing. He crossed his arms. "It's not like I enjoyed it!"

Leo smiled weakly. "Don't worry, Don. We'll never speak of this again. Seriously, though – thanks."

Donnie blinked rapidly several times, as if he was fighting back tears. "No problem. Just – don't make a habit out of coding, okay? I don't think any of us can handle another close call from you."

Mikey raised a hand. "I have a question. What's 'coding?' Isn't that a drug?"

Donnie shook his head. "Codeine is a drug, Mikey. Coding is medical slang for flat-lining."

"Was it really that close?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, dude," Casey said. "April said you'd been without a pulse for a couple of minutes even before the other guys woke up."

"Technically, you were dead," Donnie added.

"I have another question," Mikey said, his voice oddly squeaky. "Is Leo gonna be okay now?"

Leo looked over at his younger brother. Mikey's face was tearstained and puffy with crying. "I'll be fine, Mikey. C'mere." Mikey ran over and threw his arms around Leo; moments later, Leo was the center of a group hug. He ignored the pain in his chest for the full duration of the hug.

Predictably, Raph pulled away first. "All right. Leo's not dead, and we're all very happy about it. Anyone have any theories as to what the heck just happened?"

"Yeah," Casey said, as they all broke apart. "You guys were being haunted or possessed or something by Dream Beavers."

April raised an eyebrow. "Those little fluffy things were possessing them?"

"Um, they were not little," Donnie said.

Mikey grinned. "They were pretty fluffy, though."

"Can it, Mikey," Raph said.

"So, how exactly does that work, Casey?" April asked.

Casey told them how the old man had discovered that dreams were a different dimension, and that the beavers fed on the life force of sleeping people. "He said that the more terrified the victims are, the better they can drain you, or something. Basically, you die of a nightmare. They use all of your worst fears and subconscious junk to freak you out to death."

"Dude, that makes so much sense!" Mikey said, putting his hands on his head. "I dreamed I was completely and totally alone, and that I was gonna be alone forever…it was scarier than anything I've ever experienced!"

A surge of affection welled up in Leo's heart. That would be the sort of thing that Mikey would fear more than anything else.

"Being totally alone was scarier than everything that's ever happened to us?" Raph snarled.

Mikey frowned. "Well, yeah, for me! What did you dream about that was so much worse, huh?"

Raph drew a lip into his mouth and glared at the floor for a few moments. Finally, he looked up. "Okay. I dreamed that you three had died, and I was the last one left."

"Dude, that's basically exactly the same thing!"

"Basically and exactly," Donnie muttered. "Two modifiers you don't usually pair together."

"What about you, Donnie?" April asked.

Donnie's eyes widened. "My dream? Oh…well, there was a lot of stuff, but, basically the same thing as Raph."

April frowned skeptically. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I dreamed that you were trying to wake me up, though. I actually thought I wasn't going to make it…but then you showed up and told me I was asleep."

"Really?" This time, April's eyes were wide in delight. "I knew that it had helped your heart rates, but I didn't know you could actually hear me."

"Yeah, I heard you too," Raph said.

"I probably would've heard you a little better if you weren't a giant talking lollipop," Mikey added.

April grinned. "What about you, Leo?"

Leo's stomach flipped when he realized that five pairs of eyes were glued on him. "I – dreamed that I couldn't protect you three, and you all died."

"And you were alone?" Mikey demanded.

Leo, exchanged glances with Raph and Donnie. Clearly, their summaries had been over-simplified, and he recognized the haunted look in their eyes. "Yeah, Mikey. I was alone."

"See?" Mikey crowed.

Leo turned to April and smiled. "At the end, though, I dreamed that April was trying to get me to wake up."

"Aw, that's so sweet that your biggest fears were all about losing each other," April said.

"Yeah. We all love each other. Fantastic," Raph growled. He picked up his sai from the coffee table where he had left them earlier. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to beat something up. I'm gonna find a tree to be my practice dummy." With that, Raph stormed out of the house.

"Good plan, Raph," Donnie said. "I'm going to find my portable medkit – I think I have an oximeter in there, and I really want to check Leo's blood oxygen levels after all of this." He turned to Leo. "Plus, I'll come up with something to help your shell heal a little faster."

"Ooh, can I help?" Mikey piped.

"No," Donnie said sternly, as he got up and left.

"Come on, Mikey," Casey said. "We've got to get this dude out of here before he wakes up."

A matter of minutes later, Leo and April were the only ones in the living room.