So this is a combination of the requests by Hawkfeather, efarraiz, and Pheonix09. I added a few twists though. It features a surprise guest star from a newly released horror film. Hopefully you guys will like it! :)

NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.

"Do you know why you are leader of this team?"

"Um, yeah, because I asked to be. You said it wasn't because of my skills."

"I said that only to temper your ego at the time. I knew that even when you were a small boy that you would one day grow up to be the leader of this team, and when I pass on, to be like a father as well."

"You're not my father, Leo!" Raph banged the kitchen table with his fist, glaring at his leader with furious emerald eyes.

Leo sternly crossed his arms. "No, but I am your leader and Sensei," he calmly told Raph. "And the answer is still no."

Mikey cautiously peeked into the kitchen, having heard the yelling all the way from his bedroom. "Um, what's going on?" he squeaked.

Raph pointed an accusing finger at Leo. "He still won't let me go out and fight crime as the Nightwatcher! But he, himself, went behind Sensei's back and did secret missions with Karai for a while!" He took a step forward and got up close to Leo's face. "So who are you to tell me I can't get into the vigilante business?" he hissed.

"It was wrong of me to do that, Raph," Leo said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I admit it. And as your Sensei, I can't let you make the same mistake I did. I just want to protect you guys."

Instead of calming down, Raph grew even more infuriated and slapped Leo's hand off his shoulder. "Well, we don't need your protection! We're not helpless babies! We can take care of ourselves!"

He then stomped out of the kitchen, nearly pushing Mikey out of the way.

"Raph, wait!" Mikey called after him. "Where are you going?!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Raph yelled back. "I can't even leave the sewers! As decreed by Master Leonardo!" The angry Turtle stepped into the tunnels and disappeared.

Leo groaned as he felt another splitting headache, rubbing his temple and sitting down at the table. Mikey sighed and sat down across from him, folding his arms and resting his chin on them.

"I wish Master Splinter was here," the freckled Turtle murmured sadly.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. Me, too, Mikey."

Donnie yawned and rested his chin in his hand as he continued to scroll down the web page. He was so fixated on the computer screen that he hadn't noticed a figure reaching out to him in the darkness.

He nearly jumped out of his chair and screamed when he felt a hand lightly touch him on the shoulder. He swiftly turned around and saw Leo standing behind him, a concerned look on his face.

"Donnie, you need to get some sleep," Leo gently said. "You can't keep doing this your body."

The genius Turtle stretched himself and let out another yawn. "I'm fine, Leo. Really. I'm used to it."

"Well, it's not healthy." Leo turned off the screen and as well as the monitor.

"H-Hey!" Donnie protested. "I wasn't finished reading my article!"

"You can finish it tomorrow. But now you have to go to bed."

"Stop treating me like a child, Leo! I'm fine!"

Quickly losing his patience, Leo reached for the mirror that was on the table and held it out in front of Donnie. "Look at yourself, Donnie. You certainly don't look 'fine'."

Indeed, Donnie looked awful. His eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them. He practically looked like a zombie. But he stubbornly knocked the mirror out of Leo's hand. "Leave me alone, Leo! Quit worrying about us so much!"

Now Leo was getting angry. He didn't want to deal with this twice in one day. "In case you've forgotten, it's my job to worry about you guys! Why can't any of you understand that? I worry about you because I love you!"

"Maybe," Donnie sneered. "OR...maybe it's because you always want to be in control. That's why you jumped at the chance of becoming our leader. It's all about being in control."

Leo had had enough and his eye twitched in anger. "Control? Yeah, you're right, because without me, there is no control in this household! Obviously none of you can take care yourselves! You wouldn't be able to survive without me!"

Donnie never once took his eyes off Leo as he reached down to turn the monitor back on just to spite him. With a huff Leo stomped out of the lab and headed into the kitchen to make tea. Tea always soothed his nerves.

Mikey was sitting at the table and eating a slice of his extra large chocolate chip, jellybean, and pepperoni pizza...that was over a week old. Just watching him eat made Leo feel sick to his stomach.

"Um, Mikey?" Leo walked over to him and closed the pizza box. "I don't think you should be eating that, especially at this late hour. I don't want you to get sick."

"Awwwww, c'mon, Leo!" Mikey whined. "I need a midnight snack! I can't sleep without something in my belly!"

Leo reached into the cabinet and pulled out his Space Heroes cereal box, offering it to Mikey. "Well, then why don't you eat something that's lighter on your stomach, like cereal?"

"Cereal?" Mikey snorted and rolled his eyes. "I need something cheesy and spicy, like pizza!" He opened the pizza box and got himself another slice.

Leo sighed exasperatedly. "Mikey, please, I've had a long night. Would you just put the pizza away?"

When Mikey kept ignoring him, he reached for the pizza box. But like an animal protecting its meal, Mikey snatched it away in time and held it close to his plastron, making a hissing sound.

Leo stepped away and looked at Mikey in shock, before his face became distorted with rage and he furiously threw the cereal box to the ground. "FINE! GET SICK FOR ALL I CARE! SCREW ALL OF YOU!"

Mikey's blue eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he watched Leo run out of the lair.

"Then he just ran off!"

Mikey was now in the living room with Raph and Donnie, telling them about what took place in the kitchen. It had been almost an hour since Leo left the lair, and he still hadn't returned. Worried about his eldest brother, Mikey immediately alerted his two other brothers.

"Well, what are we standing around for?" Raph roughly nudged Donnie, who almost dropped his coffee cup. "We gotta go look for him!"

"Right," Donnie quickly finished the last of his coffee. "We'll start with the sewers. Mikey, get the flashlights."

They decided to split up in order to cover more ground.

Raph kept replaying his argument with Leo in his mind over and over again as he went deeper into the tunnels. He blamed himself for his brother running away. Why couldn't he control his temper?

After all, Leo was only looking out for his brothers' best interest. It's not easy being the leader, especially after your teacher and father has just died, leaving you to take care of the family alone.

Just then he heard footsteps running down the tunnels. He swiftly turned and pointed his flashback in the direction of the sound. "Leo? Is that you?"

Something shiny and red was floating toward him from out of the darkness, and to Raph's surprise and confusion, it was a balloon. Was there a kid lost in the sewers or something? Soon even more balloons appeared, so many that Raph lost count.

"Okay...this is getting weird..."

A balloon that got very close to his face suddenly popped...

...and a bunch of cockroaches came flying at him. Raph screamed as they landed on him and frantically tried to get them off, dropping his flashlight in the process.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

More and more balloons burst, thousands of cockroaches raining down and crawling all over him. His whole body was completely covered in bugs. But as he began to hyperventilate, he remembered one of Sensei's final teachings to him. He took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

"Kore wa nanimo imi shinai...kore wa nanimo imi shinai...kore wa-"

A maniacal laughter interrupted his mantra.

"It won't work, Raph," a sinister voice echoed in the dark tunnels. "Daddy isn't around to protect you from the big bad bugs anymore."

He opened his eyes and saw what appeared to be a clown standing in front of him. He was holding a single red balloon and smiled devilishly at him. Something about him terrified Raph even more and he ran off screaming, the cockroaches still latched onto him. He could hear the clown's haunting laughter again as he continued to run.

Donnie felt so guilty about calling Leo a control freak.

Perhaps he was right; without him to keep them in check, they would've survive a week. When Splinter was still around, he'd force Donnie to turn off the computer and head to bed so that he'd get a goodnight's rest. Leo was only doing what Sensei would've done. He was trying his best to fill in the father role that had been forced upon him in the wake of Sensei's passing.

As he continued down the tunnel, he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder, startling him. He whipped his head around and flashed his light at the stranger.

"April?"

The teenager was as white as a sheet, like she had just seen a ghost. "Donnie," she breathed.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I was just coming down for a visit," she explained. "Then I heard Leo screaming. I went to go look for him and...Donnie, something weird is going on in the sewers."

He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "What? What did you see?"

"Something...just horrible," she shuddered. "We need to find Leo and fast."

"Okay, just stay close to me and we'll look for him together," he gently told her. As they walked down the tunnel, April hugged Donnie's arm and leaned against him, causing the Turtle to blush and gulp nervously. They walked in silence for a while before she spoke again.

"Donnie, now that we're alone," she whispered, "there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Donnie whispered back, still focusing on the path before him.

"It's the whole reason I came down here," she continued. "I know how you feel about me."

He looked over at her with blushed cheeks. "Huh?"

She smiled shyly at him. "And you're probably wondering how I feel about you."

"Um..." he chuckled nervously, "now's not the best time, April. We'll discuss this after we find-"

"No," she cut him off and stopped him from walking any further. "I have to tell you now. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and well..." Her beautiful blue eyes looked straight into his auburn one as she reached to touch his cheeks. "...I think I like you, too. A lot. Kiss me, Donnie."

He felt his heart going over a hundred miles per hour as she leaned up to kiss him. Before he could pull away, her soft lips pressed against his, and before he knew it, he was kissing her back passionately, carelessly dropping his flashlight. This had to be a sweet, wonderful dream. If it was, he never wanted to wake up. Ever.

As they continued to embrace and kiss each other, Donnie's mind suddenly went back to Leo, who was still missing and possibly hurt. Although he didn't want to stop this moment, he gently and reluctantly pushed her away. But to his shock, the person that was standing in front of him wasn't April, but a strange, creepy clown. There was a red smear from his lipstick on the side of his face as he smiled creepily at the horrified Turtle.

"Kiss me, Donnie!" he said in a mocking, girly voice.

Donnie just about threw up in his mouth and he ran away from the laughing clown. The wonderful dream just turned into a horrible nightmare.

"A few seconds more and I would've bitten your face off!" he heard the clown taunt him in the distance.

"Oh, man...I shouldn't have eaten all that pizza..."

Mikey hugged his stomach as he continued to walk through the tunnels, holding the flashlight out in front of him. He felt like he could throw up anytime soon. He should've listened to Leo and eaten that cereal instead.

He was shocked by Leo's outburst earlier, but he knew that he deserved it. Leo had been stressing a lot lately since the death of their Sensei, and his brothers whining and acting like a bunch of babies certainly didn't help the situation. Leo was trying his best and he knew that he could never replace Splinter.

Mikey really missed his Dad. They all did. But Leo probably was hurting the most.

"Michelangelo!"

Mikey stopped dead in his tracks when he heard that familiar voice. It called out to him again.

"Michelangelo!"

No way...it couldn't be...!

The freckled Turtle quickly followed the voice to the septic tanks, and sure enough, standing on the other side of a drain directly across from him, was Master Splinter, himself, smiling and waving at him. "Hello, Michelangelo," he greeted with his usual warm smile.

Mikey's blue eyes widened and he nearly dropped his flashlight. "...Papa?" he said barely above a whisper.

Splinter spread his arms wide open. "I am here, my son."

Although he wanted nothing more than to run to his father and embrace him, something held Mikey back. He closed his eyes and slapped himself in the face to see if this was a dream. Or maybe a hallucination from all the pizza that he ate. When he opened his eyes again, Splinter was still standing there and now had a bunch of red balloons in his hand.

"Do you want a balloon, Michelangelo?" the rat asked him, a smile still plastered on his face. "They float. They all float."

Fear began to creep into Mikey's heart and he started to step away. This wasn't his father. It may had looked and sounded like his father, but it didn't feel like him.

"Come with me, Michelangelo," "Splinter" said as he pointed to the drain. "You'll love it down there. It's a wonderful place where you'll never have to grow up. No more worries. No more pain. And most importantly, we'll be together forever."

Those sweet words tempted him even more, but Mikey still remained where he stood and shook his head. "No!" he closed his eyes and gripped the sides of his head. "No! You're not him! You're not Splinter!"

A creepy laughter made him open his eyes again, and in "Splinter's" place stood a really scary clown with red poofy hair and piercing blue eyes. He stood there and continued to laugh at Mikey before he suddenly disappeared.

Mikey was both confused and terrified. What just happened? Who was that clown?

Then all of a sudden a clawed, rotting hand reached out for him from the waters of the drain. Mikey screamed and nearly tumbled backwards, and he gasped in horror as a rotting Squirrelanoid that had its flesh hanging off its bones slowly resurfaced, staring at him with dead white eyes.

"They float," it spoke to him in a creepy, raspy voice. "They all float. And when you're down here with me, Mikey, you'll float, too."

Before it could even crawl out of the water, Mikey ran away screaming at the top of his lungs.

"GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"HELLLLLLP!"

The cockroaches stuck to him like glue even as he wiggled and kicked with all his might. He was blinded by the all bugs that covered his face to see that something was headed right toward him.

"Oof!"

He bumped right into someone and fell on his shell.

"Raph?"

He looked up and saw Donnie standing over him, much to his great relief. "Donnie! Get these things off me! Quick!" As he stood back up, Donnie quickly swept the cockroaches off of him, and soon he was completely cockroach-free. "Whew, thanks, bro."

"What the heck happened to you?" Donnie asked him.

"I'm not sure," Raph mumbled before he noticed something strange on Donnie's face. "What happened to you?"

Donnie raised an eye ridge. "Huh?"

"You've got a red smear on your face right there," Raph pointed at the left corner of his lips.

Donnie wiped his lips with the back of his hand and realized that Raph was right. But how was he going to explain that he had unknowingly made out with a clown?

Before he could begin to explain, a bright light shined on both of them.

"Dudes!" Mikey lowered his flashlight and ran to them, wrapping his arms around them in a big hug. "You're both okay!"

"Mikey, are you okay?" Donnie patted his little brother's shell.

"Guys, you won't believe this," Mikey pulled away. "I ran into Master Splinter, only he wasn't really Master Splinter. Then he turned into this creepy clown, and then he turned into a-"

"Hold up," Raph interrupted. "Did you say you saw a clown?"

Mikey should've known that his brothers wouldn't believe him. "Yeah, dude! A clown! And not the funny type of clown either! I know you don't believe me but-"

"No, I saw him, too."

"You..you did?"

"So did I," Donnie joined in, nodding his head.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" Raph demanded, getting even more creeped out by the minute.

"I don't know," Donnie said. "But we gotta find Leo and fast. And we can't split up again. We need to stick together."

Mikey and Raph both nodded. No argument there.

With Mikey leading the way with his flashlight, the trio explored the rest of the sewers together, searching for Leo. At some point they heard a low growling sound and immediately stopped.

"Mikey, tell me that was your stomach," Donnie whispered fearfully.

"No way, dude," Mikey whimpered. "My stomach doesn't growl like that no matter how hungry I am."

The growling grew even louder as they continued down the dark tunnel, and eventually they reached the end of it. They all gasped in unison as they saw what stood before them.

The very same clown they each encountered was holding Leo up by the neck. The Turtle was motionless and his eyes were completely white as if he were in a trance. The clown then opened his mouth very wide and his teeth slowly became sharp and jagged like a shark's. With a guttural growl, he lifted Leo and prepared to bite his head clean off his shoulders.

"LEO!" Mikey screamed.

The clown whipped his head around and glared at the other Turtles with yellow eyes instead of the blue ones from earlier. He roared threateningly at them, showing off his horrid sharp teeth. The sound he made was unlike anything they ever heard, and it sent chills down their spines.

But Raph bravely charged at the monster with his twin sai, bent on protecting his brother no matter what. "LET HIM GO!"

The clown immediately let go of him and dashed away at an incredible speed, disappearing into the darkness. Leo fell limp to the floor and Raph knelt down to hold him.

"Leo?"

The Turtle remained unresponsive, his white eyes still white.

"Leo, come on!" Raph repeatedly slapped him in the face. "Don't do this to us!"

Leo still didn't respond. The others began to fear the worst.

"Donnie, nothing's working!" Raph cried, tears starting to glisten in his eyes.

"Here, let me try!" Mikey shoved Raph aside and gently lifted his head. He pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes. For a long time, they stayed like that, very still and silent.

Raph looked over at Donnie, who somberly shook his head. Although Mikey tried, it was already too late. Donnie was about to pull him away when Leo gasped and started to hyperventilate, his blue eyes back but full of fear.

"Leo!" Mikey hugged Leo and nuzzled his beak against his brother's cheek. "It's okay! I'm here for you, bro!"

"Yeah, and so am I!" Raph grabbed Leo's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're safe, brother."

"We're all safe," Donnie grabbed Leo's other hand.

Leo started to calm down and he closed his eyes, a single tear escaping and sliding down his cheek. "S-Safe..." he whispered.

"Here you go, Leo." Donnie handed him a steaming cup of his favorite tea. With shaky hands, he took it and brought it to his lips.

"You okay now, bro?" Raph soothingly rubbed his shell.

Leo sipped his tea and shook his head slowly. "No," he said softly. "I don't think so."

"What happened back there, Leo?" Mikey wrapped a warm blanket around his brother and sat down on the couch next to him.

Leo closed his eyes and began to shiver, the memory of what took place on the sewers haunting him.

"Hey, it's okay," Raph gently told him as he continued to rub his shell. "If you're not ready to talk about it yet-"

"No," Leo firmly said. "No, I have to get this off my chest." He took a deep shaky breath and straightened up a bit, preparing to tell them the story...

He stopped running and leaned against the wall to catch his breath.

He felt so ashamed of himself for snapping at Mikey like that, but he was so tired of his brothers rebelling against him and making his job as leader much more difficult than it already is.

He closed his eyes as he murmured a prayer to his Sensei. "Father, I'm sorry...but...I can't do this anymore. I need help."

"Hello, Leo."

Leo startled when he heard a high-pitched voice speaking to him in the darkness. "Who's there!" he shouted.

The voice didn't respond back and Leo started to become afraid, deciding that it was time to head back. But just as he turned to leave, he found himself face-to-face with a very tall clown, nearly giving him a heart attack. He instinctively reached behind him for his katanas, but he then remembered that he left them back at the lair.

He just hoped that this clown wasn't dangerous.

The stranger smiled creepily at him, offering him the red balloon in his hand. "Do you want a balloon, Leo?"

Leo suspiciously looked at the balloon and back at the clown before shaking his head. "Uh, no thanks," he politely declined. "I really should be- wait...how do you know my name?"

"Oh, I know everything about you," the clown said. "And I know you've been stressing a lot lately. It's not easy being leader, is it? Especially for someone as young as you are. Oh, how rude! I haven't introduced myself! I'm Pennywise the Dancing Clown."

Although he was seemingly polite, this clown stated to give Leo the creeps. "Y-Yeah, nice to meet you. Look, I really gotta go."

"Go?" Pennywise tilted his head. "Go where? Back to that nightmare you call family? You don't really want to go back there, Leo."

"Maybe not," Leo said, "but I have to be there for my brothers."

"But don't you want to be happy for once? I can help you with that, Leo. I can make all your troubles...float away."

The Turtle shook his head and brushed past the clown. "No thank you. My brothers are more important to me than my happiness."

Pennywise began to cackle. "But how can you protect them...when they're already dead?"

Confused and startled, Leo stopped and looked back at the clown, who pointed at the sewage waters below them. Leo reluctantly looked down and to his horror, the bodies of his brothers were floating and bobbing up and down in the water.

"Wha..." Leo looked at the bodies in panic. "No...no, this can't...!"

Slowly the undead Raph lifted his head from the water and looked at Leo with dead white eyes. "Jump in, Leo," he gurgled, dark green sludge coming out of his mouth as he spoke. "Join us...and you'll float, too."

The corpses of Donnie and Mikey lifted their heads and chanted, "You'll float, too...you'll float, too...you'll float, too..."

Leo slowly shook his head and stepped back. "No...No!" He dropped to his knees and began to wail, gripping the sides of his head. "NOOOO!"

The corpses continued to chant endlessly. "You'll float, too...you'll float too...you'll float, too..."

As Leo continued to stare at the gruesome scene in horror and dread, Pennywise smiled devilishly and crept up behind him, reaching for his neck with his gloved hands...

"Then I-I blacked out," Leo shuddered, gripping the blanket that covered him. "For a long time, I didn't feel or see anything. I was completely lost in the darkness. Then I felt this warmth, and it brought me back."

Raph glanced over at Mikey, smiling gratefully at him. His little brother never ceased to amaze him.

Leo sighed heavily. "I know this all sounds unbelievable, but-"

"No, we saw him, too, Leo," Donnie told him.

Leo looked up at his genius brother. "Th-The same clown?" Donnie nodded.

"Just who is this Pennywise guy?" Raph rubbed his chin.

"Or maybe we should be asking ourselves, what is he?" Mikey gulped. "He's obviously not human."

"He seems to know our greatest fears and uses them to break us down and make us vulnerable," Donnie concluded. "Much like Fungus Humungous, but something tells me that the two are completely unrelated. What we're dealing with here is something far more sinister. Evil, even."

"Well, whatever he is," Raph growled as he pounded his fist into his hand, "if he ever comes back, we'll be ready for him." He then turned to Leo and sat down next to him. "But we have to face him together. Leo, you've been carrying all this weight on your shoulders, and it's starting to wear you down. You're scared that you'll fail to protect us. But you can't handle this fear on your own. Let us help you, bro."

Leo shook his head. "No, Raph. It's my own burden to bear as your leader and Sensei. And you guys were right: I worry about you too much."

"No, you don't," Donnie said, kneeling down in front of Leo and placing his hand on his knees. "We need you to keep us in shape. You always know what's best for us, even if we don't always agree."

Mikey rested his head on Leo's shoulder, affectionately nuzzling him. "You're always taking care of us, Leo. Let us take care of you."

Leo bit his lower lip and closed his eyes, a single tear escaping and sliding down his cheek. He felt Raph, Donnie, and Mikey engulf him in a warm hug. He couldn't ask for better brothers.

"Thank you."

Somewhere in the dark, lonely tunnels, a solitary red balloon floated around aimlessly. And Pennywise's sinister laughter echoed in the darkness.

So I never saw the new "IT", but I did watch the 1990 miniseries, and some of the scenes in this fic were heavily inspired by that version. But the Pennywise in this story looks like the newest one.

Right now I am NOT taking any more requests until the current ones are finished. But you're more than welcomed to review! :)