Wow... I've been putting this story off for entirely too long. I apologize for how long it has taken me to get this story, and thank everyone for reading and waiting so patiently for me to update. Thanks to Faithful Whispers for beta-reading this chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

The soles of her new sneakers slapped lightly against the concrete as April jumped over the turnstiles and into the turtle's lair. She was beat from a long day of school, but it was the good kind of tired. As usual, Casey hadn't bothered to show up to class, and she was sure that he was going to ask to copy her calculus homework… again. Oh well, he wasn't the focus of her thoughts right now.

The urgent phone call she'd received that morning from a very anxious Leonardo replayed in her ears as she scanned the empty lair for activity. He was convinced that she could get rid of Donnie's nightmares using her psychic powers, like she had when they had been attacked by the Dream Beavers. Personally, April was a little dubious that she could do that, but she promised that she would try. At the very least, she might be able to see what was causing them.

"Hello?"

April raised her voice as she walked farther into the lair, the direction of the dojo. No one was around, and the only sound came from the live television, where a rerun of Crognard was playing at a low volume. Where is everyone?

She hadn't taken a half dozen steps when Leo appeared from the dojo. He looked as grim as a cryptkeeper, though he attempted to smile as he approached. It looked horribly fake and made her feel even more concerned.

"Is he okay?"

There was no need to ask which 'who' she was talking about. He shot a glance toward the lab and sighed, like a disappointed father seeing his son going through a rebellious stage.

"He's been in there all day," Leo said gloomily. "Not really working himself to death, but… I haven't been able to get anything out of him and it's kind of freaking us out. He's been acting like a zombie, or a vampire."

"I'll see what I can do," she promised with a little two fingered salute. Leo fidgeted, twiddling his fingers awkwardly.

"It's probably a stupid idea," he said self-consciously, "but I am officially out of ideas. He won't talk to us about what his dreams and… I'm scared that something's wrong with him and I don't know what else to do."

April put a hand on his shoulder, and he covered it with his own, not quite meeting her eyes. She understood the weight of the responsibility he had taken on and how the thought that one of his team members might be in trouble must be excruciating.

"We'll figure it out. This is Donnie we're talking about. He's strong, and he's got us to help him."

Leo squeezed her hand lightly and April smiled as she stepped away. She ran up the steps, then rapped on the lab door. When there was no answer, she knocked again, a little more loudly. Again, there was only silence within. Finally, she had had enough of waiting and pushed open the door, cringing when the hinges squeaked loudly.

The room was dark; even the computer monitors were switched off. Piles of junk were everywhere, strewn about in abnormal messiness. Usually, everything was strategically placed in a sort of controlled chaos, but today, tools were thrown into random boxes and vials of fluid sat forgotten in a corner, some dripping onto important papers. This was definitely not normal for Donnie to be so worn out or stretched thin that he couldn't keep his sacred workspace clean.

Donatello himself lay sleeping at his desk, his head buried deeply in his arms, surrounded by a variety of papers and writing utensils. His soft snores carried across the room and made him sound like a purring cat. An indulgent smile pulled at the corners of April's mouth and she flipped the light switch up as she entered the room. Donnie didn't flinch at the sudden addition of light. He continued to snore, unfazed.

He was completely dead to the world, though that part wasn't so strange. What was strange was the sickly grey tinge to her friend's usually olive complexion and the open wounds on his face. What looked like claw marks on his cheeks were scabbing over but several more marks looked fresh, especially on his hands. Several of the cuts were deep, and still bleeding. What had he been doing? Playing with a tiger?

She placed a hand on his carapace and shook him lightly. With a surprised snort, his eyes fluttered open and he stared across the desktop with a dazed expression. Pity flooded April and gently ran her hand over his head. His scaly skin felt clammy, as if he had been woken a nightmare.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

"H-hey." He sat up stiffly and a couple of pieces of scrap paper that were stuck to his face fell heavily to the desk. He watched them, obviously dazed and half awake. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and a line of drool dropped from the corner of his mouth. She laughed lightly as he wiped the drool from his face.

"You feeling okay D?" April asked as she pulled up a chair to the desk. Donnie yawned, rubbing at his eyes, then grimaced sharply.

"Yeah, yeah… 'M fine. What time is it?"

"Four in the afternoon. Do you want some coffee?"

"Yes please," he said gruffly before burying the heel of his hand into his right eye and rubbing it roughly. April rubbed the top of his head tenderly once more before turning away.

"I'll be right back. You stay put."

She jogged into the kitchen and set up the coffeemaker to brew a full pot of strong coffee. Her mind kept wandering back to the marks on Donnie's face and hands as she watched the pitch black beverage drip down into the glass pot. They didn't look like self-harm marks, like cutting or anything like that, but it still made her skin crawl. Other than playing around with Leo's katana, she could see no way that he could sustain injuries like that.

When the coffeemaker beeped the completion of its task, she poured a generous amount into mugs for the two of them and walked back into the lab. Donnie looked up from rubbing his eyes and took one of the cups out of her hands, a drawn and exhausted looking smile on his lips.

"Thanks. You're an angel."

The moment the words were out of his mouth, he colored the shade of an overripe beet and began to stammer incoherently.

"What I m-mean is is th-that y-you're a very special person a-and I appreciate the coffee and-"

"I get the idea, Donnie, and thank you," she interrupted pleasantly, trying to hide her amusement behind her chipped ceramic mug. Donnie bit his lip awkwardly, then drained his coffee in three large swallows.

"What happened to your hands, D?" she asked in as casual a manner as she could manage. Donnie looked puzzled, then glanced down at his fingers. He flexed them experimentally, then sucked in his breath painfully.

"I… I don't know… I don't remember. That's been happening a lot lately. I keep waking up in a place I don't remember going to sleep in and I always have cuts and bruises I don't remember getting." He rubbed his face with his hands and winced. "Leo says I'm working myself into the ground, but I've been trying to take it easy."

"Here, let me…" She walked over to a shelf and grabbed his first aid kit off of a shelf. Sitting by him, she pulled some bandages and some antiseptic and worked on cleaning and dressing his cuts. Donnie's hands shook in her grasp, but she didn't pay much attention. Some of the cuts were deep and may probably require some stitches. April had no experience doing that, so she just made sure that they were clean at least.

"So, Leo says you've been having nightmares," she ventured cautiously as she draped an adhesive bandage around his thumb. The way that Donnie stiffened and averted his eyes told her that she had hit it right on the mark.

"They're not really that bad… Just some bad dreams," he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. April raised her eyebrows skeptically. She could read the turtle like a book and she knew that there wasn't a grain of truth to that.

"How long have you not been having these nightmares?"

"For about a week," he answered, paying a lot of attention to her hands as they finished their work and repackaged the kit.

"Would you like me to take a look?"

Donnie's brows furrowed as he raised his head and studied her, confusion etched onto his gaunt face.

"Look? At what?"

"In your head, D," she said patiently. "You know, look in at your dreams. See if there's anything that I can do to get rid of them."

"I... I don't know..." He hedged uncertainly. "I don't want you to see any of that."

"Come on, it's not like I haven't seen a lot of other crazy stuff since I've met you guys. The least I can do is help."

She smiled encouragingly, hoping to disarm any trepidation he might be feeling. She was a strong psychic and had traveled through the turtles' dreams before, so she was certain that she could handle whatever was haunting him. Donnie's resistance crumbled quickly and he shrugged half-heartedly.

"Well..."

She didn't give him an opportunity to decline.

"That settles it!"

April grabbed his chair and wheeled him out of the lab toward his bedroom. The action was so unexpected that Donnie didn't even have the chance to protest. He wanted to hide in a hole at the sight of his brothers in the living room, staring at the spectacle. Donnie pulled his head down into his shoulders in response to their curious, amused stares.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked petulantly as April backed the rolling chair into his bedroom, pushing open the door with her back. She scoffed at him gently and pulled him to his feet.

"Bed, mister. Now," she said sternly, not giving him the option of refusing. With a sigh, he climbed into bed and pulled his blankets over his legs and plastron. Laying his head back on the pillow, he searched her with his drooping, bloodshot eyes.

"So... You're just going to sit there?"

"Yep," she said as she pulled a worn book off of a shelf and settled in a chair next to the bed. "Just until you go to sleep. I don't think it works if you're awake."

Donnie closed his eyes, and for a moment, she thought he had drifted off to sleep. She was about to start reading the book when he groaned loudly.

"What?" She asked, suddenly alarmed. Donnie covered his eyes and sighed again.

"I can't sleep with you staring at me," he protested limply. April pinched her nose, trying to keep her temper in check.

"Would it helped if I turned around?"

"I… Maybe?"

He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. With a huff, April turned on her seat so that her back was to him and cracked open her book once more. She had barely finished reading ten pages about particle physics when she heard Donnie snoring, his breath whistling between his gapped teeth.

Closing the book, April turned back to the bed and pulled the chair closer. She cracked her knuckles, then her neck as she mentally prepared herself to go in. It had been a long time since she had used her psychic abilities to look into someone's mind. She didn't like doing it very often, feeling that it was a serious invasion of privacy, but in this case, she thought that she could make an exception. She placed her fingertips on his temples and concentrated, focusing all of her powers into Donnie's mind.

At first, she couldn't see much. Donnie's mindscape was dark and infinite, with wisps of fog rolling around her feet. It made her feel uneasy to see his mind be so dark and empty. April could make out the outlines of a number of skeletal trees around her and tufts of dry, dead grass that crunched under her feet every time she took a step. It was like a scene from a horror movie, and it sent chills up and down her spine. All that was missing was the serial killer hiding behind a tree…

She swallowed her unease and pressed ahead, hoping that she could find the source of Donnie's nightmares and get the hell out of there. April looked up and around at the surroundings, but there was little to see except the instead branches on the trees, animated by a wind that she could see, yet not feel, clawing at the black, grey and purple streaks in the sky. Silence, apart from her footsteps, shrouded her as she walked down the dark path.

She had a feeling that she was being watched, though she knew it was ridiculous. There was no one here except herself, and maybe Donnie's subconscious. Yeah. That's probably what it was. Maybe she would get to see Donnie here, and then she would ask him where the danger lay so that she could eliminate it.

It seemed as though she had been walking for hours through the ghostly trees when she first heard it. A soft chiming sound came the darkness from somewhere ahead of her; so faint that she almost missed it. April strained to hear it better and to discern its source. It could have been music… But she couldn't be sure… It was too irregular to be a bell. What else could it be? Was Donnie trying to tell her something?

Slowly, she pushed forward, trying to find the source of the sound. With each tentative step, the volume increased until the notes were recognizable. Yes, it was definitely music, but she still couldn't find the source. It must be right in front of her...

Something on the ground tripped her and she fell, sprawling ungracefully into the dirt. Her hands were sore as she picked herself off the ground and she looked down at the red welts on her palms. April turned back to see what had tripped her and was surprised to see that it was so small. Tentatively, she reached out and picked up the object. It was a wooden music box, chipped and gouged with a crude heart carved into the top. She recognized it at once. It was the music box that Donnie had made for her long ago. The one that she had refused at the farmhouse. Guilt pricked her heart as she remembered how heartbroken he had looked when she had turned him down, but she couldn't help how she felt.

Carefully, she lifted the lid a fraction and the tinkling chiming sounds she had heard before reappeared, ghostly and hollow. But there was something else there as well… another sound underneath the music. A duo of heavy thuds, then another and another. A steady beat, not in time with the melody of the music box.

She felt something wet on her fingers and curiously, she pulled her hand back. Her fingers were covered in something red and slick and smelled heavily of copper. Something in the box was leaking. Suddenly, April's throat felt dry and foreboding weighed her down like a rock around her throat. She knew what it was, but she didn't want to acknowledge it. It was too horrible.

Gingerly, she pulled open the lid of the box and almost screamed at the sight of the mass of pulsating purple and red muscle that lay inside, marinating in an inch deep pool of blood. The veins and arteries lay like bloated slugs on its surface and the sounds of the chambers contracting boomed like shots from a canon.

She was holding a functioning, dismembered heart.

Horrified, she threw the box with all her might into the darkness. There was a loud crash and something screamed; a horrible, blood curdling sound that made April cover her ears. Even with her ears stopped, she could hear the scream turn into a mournful wail, like a dying animal.

"No! Make it stop! I don't want to feel anymore!"

Donnie? It had been his voice echoing through the dreamscape, full of agony and despair. She whirled around, searching for him, wanting to help, but there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. His voice had been so loud and desperate that she had become inexplicably afraid that he was dying. She had almost forgotten that she was in his nightmare. That she might actually be his nightmare.

Naughty little girl; poking around where she doesn't belong…

The voice that spoke was gruff and gravelly and full of malice. April whirled around, but could not find the source of the voice. She ran forward a few steps, thinking that she could catch the stranger in the darkness but there was nothing there but the suffocating fog.

"Who are you? Show yourself!"

Instinctively, she reached for her tessen, though it was nowhere to be found. In here, the only weapon she had was her mind.

You are not safe here, the voice taunted. Leave while you still can, little girl.

A strong force, like a gale of wind pushed her backward. She fought to keep her footing, but it was too strong. Her feet flew out from under her and she was flying. The flight was short lived, because the force was gone as soon as it had begun. The ground had vanished, like it had never existed. Beneath her was black, like an inky lagoon and suddenly, she was falling.

She opened her eyes with a terrified shriek. Hyperventilating, she looked down at her hands, still pressed against his temples. Donnie looked so pale that for one horrified instant, she thought he was dead. It was only the pulse that beat against her fingers that convinced her that he was still alive, just deeply asleep.

Shaking, she pulled her fingers away. They were clammy with sweat and she suddenly felt cold. Her palms stung and when she turned her hands over, they were covered with the red scrapes she had seen before. But that was impossible… She had fallen in his dreamscape. There shouldn't be any evidence of that here.

April hugged herself, hoping that it would bring her some comfort and wasn't surprised when it didn't. Her chest contracted and an unbidden sob escaped her mouth.

"April?"

Raph was suddenly at her side, pulling her to her feet. His touch was gentle and much kinder than usual as he draped his arm over her shoulder. April cling to him and held him tightly, finally feeling the safety and stability that he offered her.

"Let's get outta here."

She nodded and followed him without protest. When they were out in the hall, he took her by the shoulders and looked directly into her face.

"What happened in there? Is Donnie okay?"

She bit her lip and shook her head, trying to keep the tears from coming and barely succeeding.

"I don't think he is, Raph. Something is haunting him, and it's bad… It's really, really bad."