Title: It's Gonna Get Me by the End of the Night
Day: Whumptober 2023, Day 23
Prompt:
"It's gonna get me by the end of the night," Shadows/Stalking/ "Who's there?"
Fandom:
TMNT 2003
Word Count:
2471
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: Michelangelo, Leonardo
Warning: NA
Summary: Mikey's heartrate shot up as he saw Leo, swathed in shadows, only one side of him visible. Leo took a step into the kitchen and his arms tightened on his food as his fight or flight started to kick in.
Leo, flicked on the kitchen light, and looked at Mikey, confusion clear on his face as he stood there, both arms in plain view. Mikey let out a breath, the panic easing.
"Holy shell, Leo," Mikey said, looking at his brother. "You nearly scared me to death."
"So, I noticed," Leo said raising an eye ridge. He looked at the stuff in Mikey's arms. "Midnight snack?"
The Volpehart building left its mark on two of the turtles, although they didn't know it until now.
Notes:


It's Gonna Get Me by the End of the Night

"Guys?"

Mikey looked around. Where was he? He didn't remember getting here. And he was pretty darn sure that wherever he was, he wouldn't have come alone—that he didn't come alone. Mikey's hands went to his nunchucks. Something wasn't right here.

He was in a cave of some sort, in what seemed like a tunnel. Something about it didn't feel right. Mikey couldn't pin what, exactly, it was, but he had the worst feeling that something had made this cave, and that whatever it was, it was still around. He really didn't like that, but there was nothing he could do with that feeling, except be on guard.

The cave was dripping, shadows hiding the bends and corners. It should have been completely dark, somehow, he could still see. There were only two ways to go, too, forward or backward, although, honestly, which was which was up the air. Mikey wasn't sure which way to go. There was nothing to tell him which way might be better. Running his thumbs nervously on his nunchucks, Mikey picked a direction and started walking.

He wasn't sure how long he traveled. It felt like a while, but it also didn't seem to take that long. The cave stayed rounded, although it twisted and turned. Occasionally there was a stalactite or a stalagmite, or even one of those columns, but for the most part, the cave stayed remarkably the same. It didn't stop the feeling of something stalking his every move, though.

And then something caught his year.

Mikey whirled, his nunchucks out and ready. "Who's there!" he demanded.

"Easy, Mikey."

Mike relaxed a bit. "Leo? Oh, man, Leo, scare a turtle why don't you? I almost soiled my shell!"

"Sorry," Leo apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah, well, you failed on that," Mikey shot back. He squinted at his brother. He was still half hidden by one of the stalg-columns or whatever they were called. "Why are you standing over there?" Mikey asked. His bad-feeling-o-meter was beginning to kick in again. "You're kinda hard to see."

"I didn't want to startle you, Mikey," Leo said, his voice deceptively gentle. "I didn't know how you'd take it."

Mikey took a step back, his hands once again drifting towards his nunchucks. "Take what, Leo?"

"We didn't really kill it, you know. We just put it back to square one," Leo said.

"Kill what?" Mikey asked.

"It's not too late," Leo said, stepping forward. "We can still join it."

Alarm and panic ran through Mikey as Leo finally revealed himself. Now Mikey recognized this place. Now he knew what was going on. The red tentacles bursting out from where Leo's arm used to be told Mikey exactly what he was dealing with.

The creature. The one from the Volpehart building. It was back and it had gotten Leo!

"No—" Mikey said. "No, that was just a—a dream! And illusion! We broke out! We got free!"

Leo shook his head as he moved closer to Mikey. "No, Mikey. We never did. We rejected it, but we didn't get free. But the creature is merciful. Instead of trapping us, it's giving us another chance to join it. And I took it. We all did."

Mikey backed up further. "What do you mean, we all did?" he asked, backing up further as Leo got closer to him.

"He means we all did."

Mikey whirled at Don's voice. His brother was standing in the middle of the tunnel, seemingly whole—at least until tentacles started to creep up and around his shell, and Mikey knew that they were coming from his shell.

Mike took a step away from Don too, his shell now facing one of the walls. His panic rose.

"He does mean all of us, Mike."

Raph's voice came from the opposite wall, and Mikey saw his brother rise from behind a boulder. For a moment, he looked normal. Then he stepped out from behind the boulder—or rather, slithered. His legs had been replaced by tentacles.

"No, no way, nuh-uh!" Mikey said as he backed up. "This is not happening!"

"But it is, Mike," Raph said. "And your gonna join us too."

Mikey saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, and he dodged just as Leo's tentacle arm shot out at him. Mikey hit the ground and rolled, coming up, only to have to leap away as Raph pounced down on him, tentacle legs forming a sort of net to pin him. He landed on his butt, near Don's feet, and Don's tentacles shot down at him with precision. Mikey was faster, though, and swept Don's feet out from under him. He went down, hitting the musty, damp cave plastron first, giving Mikey a full view of the tentacles that were literally coming out of a jagged hole in the center of Don's shell.

Mikey felt like he was going to be sick.

There was no time for that, though, as his brothers didn't slow down, and so Mikey had no time to either. But as fast as he was, Mikey couldn't fight all three of them forever, and soon he found himself pinned down. Mike struggled as his brothers leaned over him.

"Don't worry, Mikey," Don said. "You'll grow to enjoy it."

"Where should we start?" Raph asked.

Leo looked down at him. "Hm. How about… with an arm."

"No—No, stop, please!" Mikey begged, panicked as he felt his brothers shift, holding down his arm. Leo's arm tentacles slid over his arm, wrapping firmly around them. He could feel them digging in, burrowing into the skin, into the muscle. "No, no please, don't please don't!" he cried out, knowing that his big brother was about to rip his arm off, and then put a tentacle in its place. He felt the tentacles stiffened, as if grabbing ahold, and Leo pulled back and Mikey screamed—

—and sat up in his bed, breathing hard. For half a second, he sat there, and then he scrambled to feel his arm. It was there. It was there, and Mikey let out a breath. A dream. It had all been a dream.

Knowing it was a dream and being able to go back to sleep were two different things, though, and Mikey had absolutely no desire to relive that dream again. He groaned, and then sighed, jumping down from his bed. Maybe if he made himself a snack or something, it would help.

The lair was mostly dark and quiet as he made his way through it. He could hear Raph snoring away, and for once there didn't seem to be any activity coming from Don's room or lab. Maybe he was actually sleeping, unless he was up in the garage. The TVs were off, and there was no sound of music or of anyone practicing, so Mikey felt pretty safe in the assumption that he was the only one awake right now.

Of course, that made things kind of creepy, too, but Mikey was going to try hard not to focus on that.

He made his way to the kitchen with no problems, opening the fridge and rummaging about for something to eat. They had some fruit, right? Maybe he'd get some of that. Or, oh, there was caramel dip too. Mikey had forgotten that April had brought that over. He could pull that out and a couple of apples, and that would make a good snack. He pulled out the caramel dip and a couple of apples, and backed out of the fridge, turning towards the table—

—and yelped in surprise as he saw a figure standing there.

"Mikey?"

Mikey's heartrate shot up as he saw Leo, swathed in shadows, only one side of him visible. Leo took a step into the kitchen and his arms tightened on his food as his fight or flight started to kick in.

Leo flicked on the kitchen light, and looked at Mikey, confusion clear on his face as he stood there, both arms in plain view. Mikey let out a breath, the panic easing.

"Holy shell, Leo," Mikey said, looking at his brother. "You nearly scared me to death."

"So, I noticed," Leo said raising an eye ridge. He looked at the stuff in Mikey's arms. "Midnight snack?"

"Uh, something like that," Mikey said.

Leo nodded. "Mind if I join you?"

Mikey blinked in surprise. "Oh, uh, sure." He shrugged. "I don't mind at all."

"I'll get a knife for the apples."

Mikey got them a plate, and poured two glasses of water while Leo got a knife and got started on cutting the apples up into slices. While he was working on that, Mike put the caramel dip into the microwave, warming it up a bit. Still, he couldn't help but glance at his brother. It wasn't like Leo to be up this late. Not unless something was really bothering him.

Finally, Mikey broke the silence. "So, uh… why are you up?" he asked.

Leo hesitated in his slicing for the briefest of seconds. "Truthfully? I had a nightmare," he said.

Mikey winced. Ever since the Shredder had beaten Leo and thrown him through that window, Leo had suffered nightmares, usually about that night. "Oh. The usual?" he asked softly.

"Actually, no," Leo said, continuing to slice steadily. "This one was about the Volpehart building."

Mikey jerked his head over to stare at Leo. "Really?" he asked.

Leo didn't look up from his work, but he did nod. "Yeah. We all said that the creature had shown us disturbing things, but we never talked about what we saw. I think Don and Raph have managed to deal with their experiences alright, but…" his hands tightened on the knife. "I don't think I can get over mine so easily."

The microwave beeped, startling Mikey, and he opened it, pulling out the now warm caramel dip—and its hot container. He hissed a bit as he burned his fingers slightly, but he still managed to get it over to the table without incident and sat down.

He hesitated, but then looked at his brother. "…What happened in yours?" he asked quietly.

For a moment, Leo didn't answer him. He just focused on the apples. But, after a moment, he did speak.

"I woke up in the pod we all were in. Master Splinter broke through it and pulled me out. We started to look for all of you, but the creature caught up to us. He grabbed Master Splinter and… and he killed him."

Mikey stared at his brother. "Leo…"

"And then I woke up in the pod again. And again, Master Splinter was breaking me out of the pod. But I knew what I had seen, and I didn't understand it. That was when Master Splinter attacked me. His eyes were glowing red and… and we fought. He leapt at me, and I had my sword and…" Leo stopped cutting the apples. "And he was impaled. I saw the way he was coming, and I didn't move the sword. And then… his eyes turned normal, and he asked me what I had done. He started laughing and then—"

Leo took a breath. "—And then I woke up in the pod again. Only this time, I was alone, and I got myself out." He glanced up at Mikey. "And then that's when I came to find all of you. I was dreaming that… that it was all true, tonight, and I killed Master Splinter."

Mikey frowned, and reached out, laying a hand on Leo's arm. "Leo, I… yeah. Yeah, that would mess anyone up."

Leo smiled faintly at Mikey. "Yeah," he said. He cleared his throat. "So, why were you up?"

Mikey withdrew his hand, and picked up an apple slice, turning it over in his fingers. "Would you call me a copycat if I said I was having a nightmare about the Volpehart Building, too?"

Leo looked over at Mikey, curiosity on his face. "Can I ask what yours was about?" he said, finishing cutting the apples and sitting down.

Mikey dipped his apple slice into the caramel and stirred it around. "In mine, I was in a cave-like tunnel. I couldn't find any of you. But then you showed up. Only you stayed partially hidden. When I asked you what happened, you said that the creature got us, but gave us the chance to join it." He lifted the apple slice up, watching as the extra caramel dripped off of it. "You came around the corner and one of your arms had been replaced by tentacles. You, uh, you attacked me." Mikey looked up at Leo. "When you got me out of there, the not-you and I were fighting."

"Mikey… I'm sorry," Leo said.

Mikey tossed the apple slice in his mouth. "Nah, don't worry about it, Leo. It wasn't really you."

Leo frowned. "Mikey. If it really didn't matter to you, then you wouldn't be here right now."

Mikey lowered the apple slice that he had picked up. "Yeah, well… I dreamed about it again tonight. Only this time, Raph and Don were there too. Raph's legs were tentacles, and Don had tentacles coming out of his shell. All of you had accepted the monster's offer. You all grabbed me, forced me down and you were about to rip off my arm to replace it when I woke up."

He looked back up at Leo. "It wasn't a very fun dream." He paused and looked at his brother. "Does… does it sometimes feel like it's still there? Like maybe we haven't escaped, like maybe it's stalking us, like it's going to get us before the end of night?"

Leo frowned, looking at the apples and caramel sauce. "Yeah, it does. Sometimes I wonder if we ever really escaped."

"That's how it started in mine," Mikey said. "You said that we hadn't really escaped."

Leo frowned, taking a breath and putting a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "Sounds like we both have some issues to work through."

Mikey smiled back up at Leo. "Yeah, we do," he said. He looked back down at the apples and caramel sauce. "Think this'll be a good start?"

Leo smiled at Mikey and reached for an apple slice. "I think this is a great start."

Obviously, apples and caramel sauce weren't going to solve everything. But as the two brothers sat together and talked, later joined by their father, and then, eventually, their other two brothers, things seemed a bit brighter. The feeling of stalking, of something coming after them faded bit by bit. And over the next few days, whenever Mikey felt that feeling creeping up on him again, Leo was right there, reminding him of what was real, just like Mikey did for Leo.