Monster

Winter finally disappeared into spring. The trees were just in bloom, more cars were making themselves at home on the highway and more crime was happening more and more often since high school was out. It was quite the scene. It wasn't helping either that the thing Don feared the most was crying inside of him, longing to get out. The beast, or so Donatello believed it to be, was angry for being trapped in the confinements of his mind.

To be honest, Don couldn't help but to sometimes start thinking about what it would be like if he just let Mr. M do his job. It would mean less of a headache and less arguments and reasons to deal with. But it also meant that his family would get hurt and that always snapped him out of leaning into Mr. M's clutches.

'It's spring. How much trouble can we get into? The crime rate is up very high.' Mr. M coaxed. 'We could beat them down before it gets up. Keep the rates low is what everyone wants, isn't it? Don't you live to make people happy?'

Don gritted his teeth and did his best to ignore him. However, looking down in the alleyways, watching two kids beat up a woman for her purse, wasn't the best thing to look at when one was trying to resist temptation. He jumped down from the roof, whistled to catch their attention and easily swiped at them, hitting the mark. The boys went backwards and the woman disappeared, clutching her purse tightly against her person.

'You know they don't really have to get up. They did hurt that woman. Who said the purse was all they wanted? Her life would be a good prize to get.' Mr. M gently teased him, hoping that he would fall.

'Just shut up…' Donny thought as he twirled his Bo and watched the kids get up. One of them had a good sense to run away, but the other pulled out a knife to try to even out the injuries. Don didn't even have to use the bo to disarm the kid. He did wince when he accidentally broke the boy's arm. He screamed and yanked his limp arm away from Don's grip and disappeared around the corner.

'Could have done more than that,' Mr. M said disdainfully. 'Blood spilling on the ground is much more a better sight. Broken bones are just the joy, but it's the blood that brings out the monster in all.'

'And who says I'm a monster like you?' Don demanded before locking him away, imagining him in the tightest cage and strongest bars he could imagine. He could hear Mr. M's howls echoing around his mind.

Lily pressed her face against the cold window as the spring showers started pouring. It didn't look too bad out there, but that didn't mean the rain wasn't freezing……she much preferred Fall Showers than Spring. The reason for that was, Fall Showers just came from Summer water, where Spring Showers cane from Winter, and Winter included ice and cold. Her tail swished and her ears were down as she frowned. Donny had patrol, but in this weather…

Lightening struck and thunder boomed overhead. Rachel looked up at the ceiling, listening to the rain and the wind collide together to make loud clamor. It was deafening. She didn't even have time to think when a vision crashed into her head-on. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head. It was black and white and her heart squeezed tightly in her chest cavity. Donatello was in the middle of the alleyway, slumped over. Inside his mind was a conflict.

Something was tearing Don apart. It went deep into his heart and passed the soul. God, it wanted out! It wanted blood…and because it longed for it so much, it could taste it. It didn't settle with Donny, but he was losing his restraint. The buttered up words weren't helping any. Dark red eyes…

Rae couldn't breathe, she couldn't even scream. She could see Donny struggling so hard against the creature, and he was losing. The want of blood was too much, the desire to kill was so strong……Rae watched the vision fade from her eyes. She opened her eyes breathing heavily.

Raphael was at her side in an instant as Michelangelo caught her, "Rae! Breathe, Rae," he shushed her and brushed her bangs from her wide and frantic eyes.

She wasn't breathing? Rae tried her best to try to breathe, but her chest just cramped up. She felt so dizzy from lack of oxygen. When she finally managed to regulate and start breathing without much difficulty, she tried to talk. Instead, her mind flashed to the vision. This never had happened before, normally she could brush her visions aside. She was reminded about Don's pain, his suffering, his wants and wishes inside his head and what was truly going on in his mind. The red eyes. Why was her mind doing this to her? She wanted to stand, she wanted to do something other than lying down with a shocked expression on her face. She had to tell them. She had to!

Raph looked at Mikey, "Bro, please?" he held out his arms carefully, noting how Mikey was shaking. The orange-banded turtle had always been able to pick up moods and fear better than even Leonardo, so the temper-prone brother wasn't surprised he was feeling whatever Rae was going through, but he was a jealous. He shook his head and brushed that feeling off, more concerned for his woman. Wait…his woman? Rae didn't belong to him…

Mikey understood fairly well that Raph wanted to hold Rae, to be the one there for her. He did have a crush on her, loved her to death. It wasn't really fair of him to just hold Rae and not give her to him. Gingerly, he transferred Rae into his arms. The minute he did so, she looked so torn. "It's Donny." She said, causing everyone to tense up.

"What did you see?" Brianna asked trading spots with Mikey, "Esu, what happened?" she felt her sister's forehead, frowning at the small fever she felt.

Rachel wasn't sure how to describe the mixture of emotions, of hate and of longing she felt. She wasn't sure how to paint the red eyes and the fear, and the growing sense of understanding her dark side had, the understanding of two things. Murderer and bloodlust. Two things she had felt before. How could she explain that when Donny was the pacifist of the family? He couldn't even hurt a fly unless it there was a good, solid reason and there was no other solution. "He can't do it anymore." She said, her voice cracking. "He doesn't…he can't do it anymore. He's trying so, so hard."

Lily had been able to avoid screeching her nails across the window she was frozen at. However, when a flash of lightning and a boom sounded like a canon went off, her nails left three, thick distinct impressions in the glass as she whipped around, eyes burning with fear and the driving need to dart out to find her beloved before anything bad happened. She growled deep in her throat along with the rumble from the skies, "Where?" she demanded the redhead.

Leo stared hard at Lily, already knowing what Rae was trying to say. "You're staying here, Lily." Leo said firmly. "Rae, tell us where he is. I'll go and find him." When Rae pursed her lips, he knew that he had to say something more. "I'll be fine. I know what's going on without you having to tell me." Can't do it anymore was the key words that he needed to know exactly what Donny was up against.

Lily stepped forward dangerously, "I'm going, Leonardo," she hissed, "I am not nor was I ever put under your orders as leader. I am free to do what I want, what I need to do."

"It doesn't matter if you were under my orders to begin with! If you have any common sense, you will realize that this has nothing to do with you." Leo snapped coldly at her. "You don't know what you're up against."

"It has everything to do with me and who are you to say I haven't been through worse before coming here?!" Lily snapped right back.

"I don't care if you seen worse. I don't even care if you been through worse. You may have a crush on my brother, you may love him, but the fact remains that I know, we know, what we're dealing with and you're just a stranger to our family. Nothing more or less!" Leo shouted at Lily angrily.

While the two argued over the case, Rae felt herself falling back into a vision, only in a violent way. Her heart felt as if it was being ripped to sheds and her mind was starting to pound harshly against her brain. Her skin burned as if it was on fire and her muscles felt weakened, lax. There was no way to move from this vision. Her mouth was sealed shut with what felt like hot wax.

"Donatello loves me, too!" Lily clenched her fists, "Would Bria not do the same for you, though she's also a stranger?" she stared him down, trying to find buttons, "She cares for you, you care for her. What would you feel if someone prevented her from coming to your aid?"

Bria looked up sharply at this, allowing Mikey to again take that place next to Rae. She watched the two, interested highly on Leo's response to such a blow.

Her mind flashed picture of mutilated corpses bleeding onto the street. Cars stacked on one another and piled up against guardrails or even inside stores and other buildings. Every single body that she could see didn't die a peaceful and caring death. All of them, somehow and way, died in a torturous manner. Some had their throats ripped out, their limbs, torso, and any other body part was torn away from the body. Some had their chest and stomach cavity open and ready for seeing. She could see organs spewing out of some bodies.

Rae could see all this horror and there in the middle of the road was a male turtle. His Bo was abandoned for weapons of any sort, including his own hands. His plastron, his mask, face, every part of him had some speck of blood, but his hands were covered in it like gloves in winter.

Bile rose in her throat and she couldn't believe what she was seeing; let alone, what she was feeling. Her whole world wanted to spin, her body wanted to reject the smell. God the smell of rotting corpses and drying blood was ruining her senses. Her stomach wanted to revolt, but she held it in.

Leo glared over at Lily and said in a deep tone, "This is a different matter Louise. If something prevented her, I would go ahead and make a way for her to come, but if I was going through what Donny is going through, she would be the last thing I want to see."

"Bull," Lily stomped her foot, "She would be the only person able to help you while the rest of us couldn't. Leo," she slapped away her anger, forcing herself to act more civil instead of an animal, "Look, Leo, this isn't the time to fucking fight. The moment Rae says where Don is, I'll be out of here and you can't stop me. We'd be going in the same direction anyway, so why the fuck are we doing this? Let's just go together!"

"NO!" Leo snapped at the same time as Rae who seemed to jerk away from Raph. Her body was covered in cold sweat and she looked so pale, so sick. Her pupils were dilated and she was shaking violently. Leo turned around, quite surprised that Rachel actually screamed, not yelled. Her scream didn't sound right, coated in fear and in heartbreak.

Lily stepped and locked eyes with Rae before Raphael could, "Rachel, where?" she beseeched.

Rachel broke down crying, her tears didn't sound right to Leo either. They were more than hysterical, but there wasn't another word for it. "In the alleyway," She said sobbing. "He's in the alleyway. Right by where the Water Snakes sometimes patrol. Oh god," She got up and ran from the living room, slamming a door behind her.

Brianna watched as Lily bolted, the front door slamming the same time Rae's did, and she looked at Leonardo, "Leo, you can't stop her. Lily told me Don wanted to be the person to run after Lily, to help her…how can that be when he's not around? Let her repay the favor," she pleaded gently.

Leo sighed and said softly, "I'm never going to be able to look at Donny in the face again if something goes wrong." He went into the training room with that sentence hanging in the air. He sat down in the middle and centered himself before meditating. If what Bria said was right, then there was no point to worry. However, if what she said was wrong, then he had to prepare himself mentally for the battle of the wits and of the strongest.

Before Leo got too settled into the realm, since Lily had at least a few moments, Brianna joined him, turning off the main light and instead turning aflame a few candles. She sat next to him, and placed a hand on his bicep, feeling it flinch under her touch. She kissed his shoulder tenderly before resting her forehead against him, "I would've done the same, Lionheart…" she murmured, "I would've done everything I could…I still would, if anything were to happen like this."

"That's the thing, Bria. You and Lily don't know what's going on, so the words are easy to say and harder to keep." Leo said, emptying his mind by breathing in and out at the slowest pace he could. "You saw Rae's reaction. I don't think anything, anything at all, could have shaken her that badly besides what she had Seen. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what she saw and what Donny is fighting against. Lily can and can't help. She could be a trigger, not the water for the fuse."

"I'm going to force you to apologize for doubting her when she comes back. I can't say Don won't be harmed in some way, but he'll be safe," Bria shifted positions but still kept her hand on him. She focused and slipped halfway into the real with him so she could pay attention to when she needed to act, "Leo…I love you…Lily loves Don and Don loves Lily. Rae loves Raphael and he loves her…Mikey's heart is big enough to fit all of us. We're a family now…all of us. Donny will be fine," she breathed steadily.

"Alright," Leo consented before tossing himself in his own tranquil realm, no longer wishing to be bothered by the outside world. Peace was what he wanted right now, and a quiet mind.