Um...I hope everyone is still with me (crickets chirp) Yeah...this chapter took awhile, sorry. Hopefully it is ok. Thanks again to Royal Frog and Leo112 for your input :)

I asked for them for my birthday, all I got was a shirt :(

_________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3 part 4: Not So Fearless Leader

Leo's eyes fluttered and he let out a small groan. The entity clung tighter and a small roar rolled through the room.

This one was going to fight it...

*Kitchen*

"Did you hear that?" Mikey asked Don.

Don looked up from his soda can and his brother stared back at him through torn eyelids. Blood pooled on the table under him. Donny gasped and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, Mikey was fine, and staring at him like he had grown an extra head.

"Are you OK, Don?" Mike raised an eye ridge.

"Huh? Yeah, um...what did you say?" Don shook his head and took another drink of pop.

"I asked if you heard that noise." Mikey scooted his chair out and stood up.

"Noise?" Don glanced back toward the stairs. "Uh, I think that Raphael is awake."

Mike nodded. "I think I'll start breakfast."

It was still early, but he needed the distraction. Anything to take his mind off the images of his dream.

*Leo's room*

The temperature in the had room dropped. Leo rolled to his back and pulled the blanket tighter. His teeth started to chatter. The mist continued to roll and dig, it tried to find an opening...a weakness.

Insecurities, a drive for perfection, a need to protect his family at all costs. The shade darkened.

Wonderful.

Such responsibilities for one so young.

The room grew even more cold.

Leo shivered, but didn't bring the blanket any closer.

...Dark hands pulled him along. He tried to fight, to run. But that made them dig their fingers deeper into his arms. His own bound hands tried to create slack in the leather strap that they had around his neck, jerking him where they wanted him to go. The thunder rolled across the sky, a storm threatening a downpour at any second.

He tried to scream, nothing but choked air escaped his throat.

They threw him to the ground at the Shredder's feet. His hands and knees sank into the soft, freshly dug dirt.

Lightning sizzled across the sky, illuminating the tombstones, crosses and concrete angels. Their faces stretched up to the dark, starless sky. A gaping hole was a few feet away from where they had thrown him. Dark and endless.

Leo swallowed thickly and he tried to push himself up, only to be kicked back down by Shredder.

"Your family is gone, Leonardo." Shredder's voice boomed over the thunder and howling wind.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut.

There was an ambush. Shredder had slaughtered his family, right in front of him.

Their screams still fresh in his mind. The smell of blood thick in his nostrils.

He failed to protect them. They were gone and it was his fault.

He failed as a brother.

As a son.

"You are the only one left of your pathetic kind and now you will perish. My only regret is that your family will not witness your demise!"

"Do-do not speak of my family!" Leo scowled. "You murdered them, you have no honor."

"Honor? Their blood is on your hands, mutant! You were the one that was supposed to protect them."

"Shut up!" Leo hissed.

"You have failed and now there is no one left for you! No one will mourn your death, Leonardo. And when you are gone, I will rid this planet of anyone who was unfortunate enough to have tainted their life with knowing you and your wretched family."

Lightning raced through the sky again.

"Accept your fate."

Leo's blood ran cold. The leather strap pulled tight around his throat again and several sets of hands jerked him to his feet. They shepherded him backward toward a wooden box.

"No!" Leo twisted and turned in their grip. The strap bit hard into his throat, leaving a deep red welp behind.

He gasped when his feet tripped over the side of the box and he was roughly lowered into the makeshift coffin. Before he could catch his breath and try to sit up a heavy lid was slammed into place and he was plunged into darkness. Every bone in his body rattled as they hammered the lid into place.

He felt the coffin being lifted then dropped. Pain shot through his body when it hit the bottom of the hole.

The wood was just a few inches away from Leo's nose. He could smell the pine. His heart accelerated, no matter which way he turned his head, thick, black darkness met his eyes. So heavy, he could almost taste it. He tried to push on the lid.

It wouldn't budge.

"Help!" Leo could barely rasp out. "Someone! Help..."

There was no one to help him...

He heard a thud on top of the coffin. Then another. And another.

They were shoveling the dirt on top of the box. The thuds came faster, louder.

He no longer could hear the howling wind or the thunder rolling through the sky. Just the dull sound of dirt scraping across the top of the wooden box. He wasn't sure how much air he had. How long he would live. He tried to calm his breathing, but panic swelled up in him and it became erratic. He could feel his pulse throb in his head and he felt that his heart was going pound out of his chest.

As more dirt was piled onto the top of the wooden lid, it started to creak and groan under the weight. Leo cried out when the lid split open and dirt spilled around his chest and upper legs.

"NO!"

More cracks and the wet earth poured in like sand from an hourglass, slowly filling the space around his head and neck. He tried to push what he could from around his mouth and swiped his eyes with his muddy hands. But it came faster and there was no where to go. He couldn't move, the small box was filled with dirt, rock and debris.

No air. His lungs screamed for oxygen.

While Leo was in the middle of his nightmare, his arm shot out and knocked the lamp off of his night stand. Raph had just toweled off and heard the crash.

Don and Mikey heard the noise too and were heading upstairs. Raph was coming out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam trailing behind him.

"What was that noise?" Raph asked.

Mikey shrugged. "We were hoping that you could tell us."

"It came from Leo's room," Don said.

Raph went to Leo's door and knocked. "Leo? What are ya doin' in there?"

Nothing.

"Leo?"

Raph pushed the door open and the cold seeped around his feet and legs. The light from the hallway only penetrated a few inches into the room.

Leo was thrashing in his bed, gasping for breath. Don pushed past Raph and ran to his bedside.

"Leo?" Don held his brother's shoulders down to keep him still. "What's wrong?"

Nothing but strangled noises came from Leo.

"What's going on, Donny?" Mikey came up behind him. "Why isn't he breathing? Oh God, Don, he's not breathing!"

"I-I don't know!" Don opened Leo's mouth and swiped the inside with his fingers. "There isn't anything blocking the airway."

"His lips are turning blue! Do something!" Mikey was in a panic.

"I'm trying!" Don snapped "I-I don't know what's wrong!"

"Back up, Mike!" Raph pulled Mikey aside. He knew Don couldn't help Leo with Mikey freaking out beside him. "Let Don work!"

"But Raph, he's not breathing!"

Raph stared wide eyed as Leo clawed at his own throat, trying to pull air into his lungs. Raph leaned heavily on the nightstand, hot bile raised in his throat. His own nightmare coming back, not being able to breath. Thousands of bugs choking him.

"Raph?" Mikey put his hand on his shoulder. Raph jumped. "Are you OK?"

"M'fine," he growled, not taking his eyes off of Leo. "Don, what's going on? What's choking him?"

"Nothing!" Don stammered. "Help me hold him down, I-I can't figure this out with him whipping around like this."

Raph held his shoulders down and Mikey held his legs. Leo continued to choke and gasp.

Don smacked him on the face. "Leo! Come on! Breath!"

He smacked again, with more force.

The shade soaked up all of the fear and frustration in the room. But he couldn't let anything happen to these creatures, not yet.

The brothers were preoccupied, trying to get the one in blue to breath, they didn't notice the mist roll off of him and melt into the shadow on the wall. It quietly slipped under the bed. As soon as the shade released it's grip, Leo's eyes shot open and he pulled a strangled breath in.

Then another.

"Leo?" Don breathed out. Relief washed over him as he watched the color return to Leo's face.

Leo stared wide eyed at his family, he struggled to get his breathing under control.

"What happened?" Mikey's voice seemed far away.

A horrible sense of vertigo swept through his body and he closed his eyes to will the nausea away.

"Leo?" Raph's voice this time.

Leo cracked his eyes open. "I-I don't," he tried to speak, but he couldn't hold down the urge to throw up.

"Bathroom!" Leo quickly pushed himself out of the bed, knocking Mikey down in the process. "I-I've got...now."

He stumbled to the door.

"Let me help you," Don called after him.

Before he could get to the door, Leo was down the hall and the bathroom door slammed behind him.

"What was that all about?" Raph asked and then he cringed when the uneasy sounds of Leo emptying his stomach reached the room.

Don shrugged. "Maybe it was something that he ate."

"Maybe something that all of us ate," Mikey said.

______________________________________________________________

The shadow is getting stronger...hmmm. Next chapter soon.