Ch 2 Nightmares.
Leonardo bolted upright in bed. Sweat pouring down his face, his heart pounded hard in his chest, his eyes darted around his room as he panted hard and gulped in air. The horrific nightmare continued to play out in his mind as he attempted to reassure himself he was still in his room and safe. He ran a hand down his face as he tried to calm his breathing.
"Get it together Leonardo." He told himself. "These are just dreams, they can't hurt you."
For the last several nights, Leo had been having one nightmare after another. They all started out the same way but lately the strange frightening dreams, or what he thought were dreams, were becoming more intense and more real, almost as if he were actually there.
The dream would start with a happy family of oriental background, a mom and dad with four boys, and another child on the way. The family seemed familiar but he did not know why. Then the dream would change and become nightmarish. The village was now on fire, smoke and flames everywhere. People running and screaming. Riders on horseback brandishing swords, chasing them, killing them. Innocent women and children running for their lives while men, both young and old, tried to defend the village and themselves.
Leo shuddered at the memory of the latest nightmare. A voice calling to him, to pick up a sword and strike down the family. He watched as the woman, now with a baby and her youngest son held tightly in her arms, ran screaming from a horseman who was swinging a katana wildly at them. The voice encouraging him to take his sword and slice them down. He didn't want to, he knew it was wrong to hurt anyone, to kill innocent people, but something prodded him forward with the long blade. He watched as his hands took up the sword and readied it to slice the women. It was then he heard her scream and the nightmare ended.
Leo turned to the clock radio on his bed side table. It was just after three in the morning and the thought of going back to sleep did not appeal to him. With a sigh, he made his way out of his room and to the dojo. He grabbed his katanas and began working on some of his katas. As he swiped his katanas through the air, he heard a noise that seemed to come directly behind him.
He turned and looked around the dojo, straining his hearing. Nothing. Nobody seemed to be around. He went back to his workout.
"Satsugai-sha." A voice called to him.
Leo looked around. "Sensei?" He called out. Nothing. "Whose there?" He said a little louder.
"Why do you run from me?"
Leo looked around confused. "Who am I running from?" He wondered. "Whose there?" He called out again.
"You know who I am." The voice told him. "Come to me."
As Leo continued to look around, a strange feeling of someone or something being behind him had him turning around quickly. Swinging his katanas as he turned, he sliced through what looked to him to be a strange black cloud. As the sword sliced into the cloud, the strange voice called out to him again.
"You can't deny me."
Leo turned to see the cloud once again behind him. He brought his katana down upon it and watched as it once again disappeared.
"Why do you fight me." The deep dark voice intoned. "You know who I am."
Leo continued to fight the strange cloud as the voice continued to speak to him. Everywhere he turned, he would see the cloud, slice through it, hear the voice and turn to see the cloud behind him again.
"This is getting me nowhere fast." Leo said to himself as he panted hard. "Who are you?" He said into the air."
"Remember me, come to me." The voice seemed to come from all directions.
Suddenly, Leo felt a hand grab him from behind, he turned swiftly, his sword raised and ready to hit. As he turned, a strange ghost like face appeared before him, two ghostly flaming swords advanced on him and the dojo suddenly became engulfed in darkness. Leo began fighting the strange swords, they came at him hard and heavy. Challenging him with everything he knew. All throughout the fight, the voice continued to call to him, beckon to him, haunt him.
"I know you, your very heart and soul. I made you long ago and will take you back."
Leo felt ripples of fear run up and down his spine. It scared him to listen to the cold dark disembodied voice as it tried to get Leo to obey it, to come to it and follow it. As he fought the flaming swords, his mind began to think back to the nightmare again, but this time he saw the family with several others at the village fighting for their very lives. The man fought alongside two of his young sons swinging what looked to be farm tools.
The voice yelled at Leo, demanding he take his sword and strike the man and his two sons down. But he couldn't, he held the sword and shook as he looked down at his hands wanting to grip the long sword tightly and swing at everyone who ran past him. But he kept telling himself it was wrong to feel this way.
Leo blinked and saw the strange ghostly swords coming at him. He swung his katanas wildly against them, putting his whole mind and body into the fight.
"I won't listen to you." He yelled into the air. "I don't know who you are but I will never do what you say." He did a roundhouse turn, holding his swords horizontally as he sliced them through the air, ready to finish the fight. He yelled loudly as he felt his swords hit hard.
"LEO!" A familiar voice screamed at him. "STOP!"
Leo blinked his eyes and opened them wide in shock. Startled to see his brother Raph holding his sais against his swords and looking at him in confusion and shock. "What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled again.
Leo looked around to see his other brothers standing behind Raph, looking at him as if he was losing his mind. Leo panted hard as his swords dropped from his hands. He looked around and noticed he was no longer in the dojo but out in the sewers, far from their lair.
"Leo?" Donnie came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing out here?"
"Yeah bro." Mikey said looking at Leo over Donnie's shoulders with wide frighten eyes. "We've been looking for you for over two hours."
"What?" Leo shook his head as if trying to shake himself out of a daze. "I...I don't know." He told them. He looked up at Mikey in surprise. "Two hours." He said, dumbfounded.
"At least." Mikey answered as Leo bent down to pick up his katanas. "Sensei got worried when you didn't show up for morning meditation, woke us up so we could find you."
"Yeah Leo." Donnie walked over to him and looked him over quickly. "If we hadn't heard you yelling, we probably would never had come this far into the sewer."
Leo blinked and looked around the sewer again. He put a hand on his forehead as he tried to figure out what had happened to him. After a moment of his brothers staring at him, he shook his head and began walking back to the lair.
"Let's just go home." He told them.
"Wait a minute." Raph walked over toward Leo, grabbed his arm and stood in front of him. "Who were you fighting Leo?" He questioned. "Who were you yelling at?"
Leo looked up at him and shrugged. "I don't know Raph, I...I was probably just sleep walking." He walked around him. "I'm fine now, let's go home."
"Leo!"
"Raph! I don't want to be any later for my meditation, let's go." He said as he continued to walk away from them. He stopped when he realized none of them were following him. Leo turned back to see them staring at him in disbelief.
"Uh Leo." Donnie began, "You're way past late for your meditation."
"Yeah Leo." Mikey walked up to him, a look of fear and concern in his eyes. "I said we've been looking for you for almost two hours." He reminded him. "That was after five, now it's after seven.
Leo looked at Mikey feeling more confused then before. He'd gotten up just after three, probably worked out for possibly thirty minutes when he heard the voice. When did he start to wander away from home? He'd been out here all this time and yet it didn't even feel like an hour, but according to his brothers he'd been out of the lair for possibly close to four. "How could that be?" He wondered.
He shook his head one more time and took a deep breath. Turning on his heel he continued to walk toward the lair. "Let's...just get home."