Note: References to Tyroth Darkstorm's Fanfic's 'Ancient Legacy' and 'A Sister's Plight' are mentioned here.

Also, a big shout out to Tyroth Darkstorm for his ideas in this chapter! Thank you so much!

Chapter Eighteen

Learning Control

Sephie sat in the chair and looked at Kemeko who sat up in bed staring at the door where Leonardo had left with April.

The gecko couldn't get over how the young Asian girl looked. Her hair was a tangled mess instead of straight and silky like she usually had it, her skin was pale and clammy, and her eyes were swollen and red from the many tears she had cried, her nose was running with mucus.

"Hi Kemeko." Sephie smiled warmly yet Kemeko didn't answer.

"How are you feeling?" Sephie asked "Well, but of a silly thing to ask but, I can only guess what you're feeling now?"

Kemeko looked over at Sephie.

"I know the last few days have been very difficult for you, and after what you went through with Shredder…."

As Sephie said 'Shredder' Kemeko looked pained and scared and Sephie paused regretting her words.

"Sorry…" she said "I mean…after what you went through…with…you know…"

"Oruko Saki!" Kemeko snapped making Sephie jump slightly.

"Yes…him…" Sephie said softly "I can't imagine how it felt for you, and it's no surprise you feel the way you do and suffer so badly from the memories."

Kemeko swallowed hard.

"Why?" she whispered "Why?"

"Why what?" Sephie asked leaning in to hear Kemeko better.

'Why me?" Kemeko asked "Why am I related to that creature? That evil monster?"

"Kem." Sephie placed a hand on Kemeko's knee.

"Why am I related to him?" Kemeko asked.

"Well, you're not exactly blood related to him Lotus." Sephie said "Your mother was adopted by him."

"And she was raised by him!" Kemeko snapped "Raised to follow him and his evil ways!"

"How much did Leonardo tell you about Karai?" Sephie asked.

Kemeko closed her eyes and gripped her hair.

Sephie waited for an answer.

She along with Tyroth, the Knights, Old George, the turtles, Monalisa and Splinter knew of Karai's past and her brief reign over the Foot when Chrell was banished until she teamed up with the turtles to fight more advanced evil before she left with Chaplin to begin her new life.

The gecko needed to be careful not to give any information of what she knew away just in case it upset Kemeko.

"Only that she was the Shredder's daughter." Kemeko answered at last, "I also saw the DVD mum left for me."

"I see." Sephie said then she decided to ask another question.

"Kem?" she said, "If you feel comfortable to do so, can you tell me what happened at the Headquarters when you were brought there by the Foot when they captured you and Pandora?"

Kemeko swallowed hard again, and she jerked forward as she choked.

"Kem?" Sephie asked then she saw Kemeko cover her mouth and choke as if she was going to be sick!

Sephie quickly saw a cardboard sick bowl and quickly put it under Kemeko's chin, and the Asian girl spewed up into it.

Sephie looked over her shoulder wondering whether to call James and Dahlia, but she decided to leave it for now.

They were in the other room looking over the newly awakened Donatello and the still sleeping Monalisa, so she decided to handle the situation herself.

"There we go, get it up okay? Better out than in?"

She grimaced at the mess and once Kemeko had finished vomiting she took the bowl away and put it again hoping to discard it later.

Kemeko then took a few breaths and rested back on the bed.

"There we go!" Sephie smiled "That's much better isn't?"

Kemeko didn't answer.

Sephie then decided to try again with Kemeko, and she thought about what she said to Pandora about how holding in one's emotions was not a good idea.

"Look Kem." She said, "I'm not going to force you into telling me what happened, but it's important to know that it's not healthy to hold in your emotions."

Kemeko looked over.

"Yes…." she said.

"Okay, that's good that you know." Sephie said with a small smile "Now…if you don't want to talk about what happened in the Foot Headquarters, we can always talk about these dreams you've been having?"

Kemeko looked over at the gecko.

"I was told by Leonardo that you've been having nightmares." Sephie said "Do you want to talk about that?"

Kemeko sucked in a breath and looked at her hands.

"My dreams…" she said "I… I've been having these nightmares, flashbacks, I…I can't escape them, they're all the same!"

"What do you dream about?" Sephie asked.

Kemeko sucked in a breath and lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"I… I dream of…I dream that he's there… and mum…. and…. me…"

Sephie frowned and leaned in more to listen.

"They torment me! I can't escape them!" Kemeko brought her hands to her face "No matter what, they chase me down, they're inside my mind!" she sobbed "I'm scared to go to sleep, because he's there! Waiting for me! Waiting to torment me!"

"Kem?" Sephie said.

"Why won't he go away?" Kemeko asked "Why? Why won't he leave me alone?"

Sephie bit her lip as she watched Kemeko sob then squeezed Kemeko's knee.

"Kemeko, Lotus, turtle child." She spoke.

"I can't sleep!" Kemeko sobbed "I don't want to sleep!" she shook her head and sobbed.

"Kemeko!" Sephie said loudly "Shredder can't hurt you here! That's a promise! He hasn't won over you! He's not here! He can't hurt you here!"

"But he's in my dreams!" Kemeko wailed "He's always there! Waiting to torment me!"

Kemeko pulled her knees to her face and hugged them bursting into sobs.

"He won't leave me alone!" she wept "Even now he won't leave me!"

"She's been dreaming of him." She thought "And her dreams are controlling her, her fears are taking over, the PTSD is strong."

The gecko sat back on her chair and watched Kemeko, then she began to think back to when she had nightmares, and she had had many, both as a human and as a mutant, most involved her almost death by the demon Xazahl, and her vampire curse in Skyrim, and also when Tyroth was captured by the Foot those years ago, and Tyroth himself still had nightmares of that time as well.

The other one was Amber, after her traumatising time within the Foot Headquarters, and Sephie remembered helping her with her nightmares when they plagued her.

As she pondered, she then remembered a technique she had researched and studied and it had helped greatly when it came to hers, Amber and Tyroth's nightmares.

"Kemeko." She said placing her hand on Kemeko's shoulder.

Kemeko looked up from her hands.

"Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming?"

"What?" Kemeko asked as she sniffed.

"Lucid dreaming." Sephie repeated.

She saw Kemeko look confused as well as curious.

"Lucid dreaming means that you remain lucid while dreaming, aware that it is all a dream. If you can attain this state, you can control your dreams, and maybe turn your nightmares into something far less disturbing." Sephie explained.

Kemeko was silent yet she listened.

"Control my dreams?" she asked.

Sephie nodded.

"How?" Kemeko questioned.

Sephie tapped her fingers on her knee.

"Well, there are many ways." She said "Different people have different methods to reach this state. Some keep dream journals, others practice certain mantras that they repeat in dreams, and others still simply look at their hands while dreaming, remembering that they can control their hands, and thus the dreams."

"But…" Kemeko said "I don't feel I can control the dreams; I feel so weak."

Sephie gave a sympathetic smile.

"Kemeko, you're anything but weak." She said, "I know you don't feel it now, but you're the strongest person I know."

Kemeko said nothing, yet she kept looking at Sephie.

"I won't lie to you; this is a bit of a long shot. Even knowing all this, I have never learned how to enter this state at will, it has only happened by chance a few times. But since you and Pandora have been trained in meditation, you might have a better chance at this than anyone else here."

"You think that can help me?" Kemeko asked "Help me banish my nightmares?"

"I don't know." Sephie confessed "But I hope so."

Kemeko sighed and laid back on her pillow.

At the same time, the door to the next room opened and Dahlia appeared.

"Oh, hey Sephie!" the white wolf smiled then she looked at Kemeko.

"Hey there Kem! How are you feeling today?"

Kemeko swallowed hard.

"Alright I guess." She replied quietly.

Dahlia walked over.

"That's good to hear!" she said as she checked the machines Kemeko was attached to.

"How are Don and Mona?" Sephie asked as she looked to the door where Dahlia had walked out of.

"They're fine." Dahlia answered, "Though Donnie is very distressed, his physical wounds are almost healed."

"I see." Sephie said as she thought of the brainy turtle.

"Looks like I might need to use what I know on him too." She thought.

So Sephie has spoken to Kemeko, yet it has been like pulling teeth and she has introtuced luicid dreaming.

If any of you readers know, if you have nightmares, it is distressing and scary, but if one can control the frightening dreams, it is easy to overcome the fears within!

Such ways are facing the menace and saying, I do not fear you, or looking at your hands and saying, it is just a dream.

Again, big thanks to Tyroth Darkstorm for his ideas in this chapter!