A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed thus far. I hope you're enjoying the story.
Disclaimer: see chapter one
Casey examined the mask in his hands. There was nothing special about it, it was just a piece of red cloth. The air in the lair was thick with tension. He could practically feel the nervousness radiating from Raphael. He couldn't blame his friend. If their roles were reversed, Casey was sure he would be just as nervous.
"What happened to your mask?" Casey asked. "It's missing a tail."
Raphael swallowed thickly. "I uh..."
"That was my fault," Leonardo spoke up, making Casey look up. "We were sparring and I swung at Raph's head. He ducked and I ended up slicing off a piece of his mask."
Casey nodded. "Okay," he said. He handed the mask back to Raphael. "Sorry about the suspicion, Raph."
Raphael took the mask back and put it on. "You're just doin' your job," he said.
"Still. I don't like suspecting my friends of murder," Casey explained. "I became a detective to put real criminals away, not the innocent."
"The NYPD is lucky to have you, Casey," Leonardo said. "You fought hard to get here."
Casey smiled. "Yeah, well, it took a while since my credibility came into question because of four certain turtles, though," he joked.
"Our bad," Michelangelo piped up.
"But, it all worked out, in the end," Donatello put in.
Casey chuckled. "Again, thanks to you guys." He checked his watch. "I'd best be getting topside," he said. "I have a dead body and no suspects."
"Good luck," Leonardo told him.
Casey waved over his shoulder as he headed out of the lair. Raphael's shoulders visibly dropped as he sighed heavily with relief. Leonardo patted him on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Leo," Raphael whispered.
"I simply told him the truth," Leonardo said.
"Still," Raphael muttered. "Saved my shell."
He turned and headed off towards the weight room. The others watched his retreating back with curious worry.
"Does Raph seem...off to anyone?" Michelangelo asked, his voice low.
"Yeah," Donatello agreed. "He could have easily told Casey about the spar, but it was like his brain just shut down."
Leonardo sighed in worry. "Something's going on. I know there's something else that's bothering him. I just don't know what that is."
"Raph's always been guarded," Donatello said. "It's nothing new."
"Except he told me that he has nightmares about the first time we faced off against Shredder," Leonardo confessed.
Donatello's eyes widened in surprise. Michelangelo frowned.
"Raph has nightmares?" the youngest asked.
"Who would've guessed?" Donatello mumbled.
Leonardo looked between his brothers. "Something's going on with Raph. And whatever that something is, it's breaking down his walls."
"It's possible. When people are in distress they seem to gravitate towards those closest to them," Donatello said. "Maybe that's why he opened up to you about his nightmares."
Leonardo crossed his arms, shifting on his feet. "If anything I've only ever driven Raph away," he muttered. "Why would he come to me when Master Splinter could help him so much more?"
"Only Raph can answer that, unfortunately," Donatello replied.
Leonardo lowered his gaze to the floor. He hoped his hot-headed brother was okay. The turtle with the black eyes flashed in his mind's eye. Leonardo rubbed his shoulder absent mindedly. Was the turtle just a figment of his overworked mind? Or was the dream actually a vision? Leonardo had read countless books about the possibility of seeing visions, but he never put any stock in them. Yes, he meditated to focus his mind, but it was more of a stress relief than seeking inner enlightenment.
"I guess we'll never know, then," Michelangelo's voice broke Leonardo out of his thoughts.
"Maybe, maybe not," Donatello said. "Only time will tell."
Leonardo gazed up towards the weight room. The rattling of the weights echoed down from high above. What was going on with their brother? Leonardo wondered if Raphael was having the same dreams he was having. But, how was that possible? Although, it was the only explanation he could come up with.
"I'm going to talk to Master Splinter," Leonardo said. "I'll see you guys later."
He walked off, leaving his siblings to do their own thing. He stepped up to Splinter's bedroom door and knocked softly. A gentle voice bid him to enter. Leonardo opened the door and entered the room. Splinter was sitting in the middle of the room, legs crossed and eyes closed. Leonardo closed the door and quietly walked over to sit down in front of his father.
"You are troubled," Splinter stated without opening his eyes.
Leonardo nodded, even though he knew Splinter couldn't see it. "I am," he confirmed.
Splinter opened his eyes and looked at his eldest son. "What troubles you, my son?"
"A number of things," Leonardo replied.
"Name one," Splinter instructed.
Leonardo took a breath before speaking. "The first is Raph. He's been acting strangely lately."
Splinter nodded as he listened. "Go on."
"Earlier tonight, he came to check on me, saying that I was crying out in my sleep," Leonardo explained. "Then, he confessed to me that he has nightmares about losing me, Donnie and Mikey to Shredder."
"A rare thing for him to say," Splinter commented, processing the information. "What else?"
Leonardo shifted, trying to get more comfortable. "Just then, when Casey was here asking about his whereabouts this evening, it was like he couldn't remember...or rather, he couldn't trust his memories."
"What happened?" Splinter asked.
"I told Casey that Raph was with me. I told him that we were sparring earlier tonight," Leonardo answered. "Casey accepted it and apologized to Raph for suspecting him of murder."
"An honorable thing to do, admitting one's mistakes," Splinter said. "And where is Raphael, now?"
"In the weight room," Leonardo replied.
Splinter hummed in thought and nodded. "What else has been troubling you? Besides your brother."
Leonardo inhaled deeply and slowly released it. "I keep having these dreams," he began. "I'm standing on the edge of the Chrysler Building. I'm all alone and I have no weapons and no way to contact the others. It's then that I discover the Technodrome is assembling, even though I know we defeated Krang and sent him and the Technodrome back through the portal. Then, I hear a scream. I turn and see April hanging off the side of the building. But, when I go to help her, I hear my brothers call for me."
Leonardo could feel his hands begin to shake as he recalled the dream. Splinter could see his son's distress. He reached out and put a hand on Leonardo's shoulder.
"Go on," Splinter coaxed.
"I turn again, but it's just as Krang throws Raph off the platform. All I can do is watch in horror as Raph plummets towards the ground. April screams for me again, but I know I can only help one. It's either her...or my brothers. A voice sounds behind me, confirming my horror. I turn around and see a turtle that looks like Raph standing behind me. Though he looks like Raph, he isn't. Even though he has Raph's face and build, his eyes are wrong. They're a deep, soulless black. When I ask him who he is, he always says he's the one I couldn't save. He continues to say that I can only save one, either April or my brothers, and yells at me to choose. I wake up when he pushes me off the Chrysler Building and I land on a panel of the Technodrome."
Leonardo exhaled heavily, his shoulders feeling lighter after confessing about the dream. Splinter hummed again and pulled his hand away, his fingers going to his chin. Leonardo looked up, his blue eyes questioning.
"What does it mean, Dad?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
He could almost see the gears turning in Splinter's mind. He hoped beyond hope that his father knew something about this other turtle; if he was real or just a figment in a dream.
"Could it be..." Splinter mumbled under his breath. His ears twitched.
"What is it?" Leonardo asked.
"It's not possible," Splinter whispered.
"What's going on, Dad?" Leonardo questioned.
Splinter shook his head. "No. It's nothing. I just...need to meditate on the matter further."
Leonardo nodded. "Alright," he said before getting to his feet.
Splinter watched as his son walked out of the room and closed the door. He looked down at the floor, his eyes haunted. How was it possible? It couldn't be true. Splinter closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.
There had been only four, he told himself. There had been only four.
If there had been another, then one of his sons had perished in that fire.
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