Chapter one: The Darkness.

We couldn't have known.

As soon as we stepped into those ruins we sealed the fate of the world. We set the world towards a path of horrible change.

Worst of all we lost something that can never be replaced.

All thanks to those ruins.

...

"Hm. I guess there's nothing here." Leo hums as they finish their look around some ruins.

Ruins found on a patrol just outside of the city. They look like just an old building left to waste away.

"Dang it!" Donnie sighs having hoped there was something here. He was so disappointed that the walls are so affected by the elements that any paintings are gone.

"Let's go." Leo tells them all and leads the way out. He starts to head to go back home with the other three following. He gently brushes his hand along the top of a smooth cloudy crystal ball pillar at the entryway.

Only Raph does the same as Mikey and Donnie are a bit busy talking.

Leo gets them a little away before briefly pausing to glance back. He could have sworn that he felt eyes on him... Not the eyes of his brothers. He doesn't see anything but his eyes lock with Raph and he can tell the other feels it too. He glances to Mikey and Donnie who are oblivious. He doesn't see the source of the feeling so he turns away to keep going. He remains cautious as they keep going.

No signs of anyone following them even when they are in a more open space; it was dangerous as the four may be seen however Leo had to know.

They make it to the lair safely where they separate for now.

Raph goes to feed Chompy.

Mikey heads off to the kitchen humming to himself.

Donnie goes straight to his lab.

And Leo decides to head to meditate. He sits there with his eyes closed just like Sensei taught him. He finds an image coming to mind almost like a dream like land. He is looking at Mikey and Donnie who are smiling happily... Only to blink and find the two laying on the ground bloody and dead. He opens his eyes in the real world with a gasp. He glances around himself confirming that it wasn't real. He lets out a breath and tries to go back to meditating however he can't get that image out of his mind. He gets up after a bit with a sigh and he heads to the dojo. He sets up a dummy and he shifts to set up for offensive attacks. He glared at the dummy finding an anger towards that he can't quite place. He charges using his katanas in order to attack the dummy. He uses speed to dodge and move around.

The dummy rocks from the onslaught of attacks and rips appear in its fabric body.

Leo growls and as he dodges back before his gaze locks onto the dummy's throat. He can see a good amount of it as it is a duck shaped all brown dummy. He dashes forward once more with his gaze remaining on the throat. He swings his sword skidding to a stop it's before the dummy, barely managing to stop his blade inches away from the dummy's throat. He is panting a little while wondering what got into him. He shivers feeling a desire to slice open the throat before him. He shakes his head stepping back as he reminds himself that killing is only a very last resort. He puts away his swords deciding to just read Space Heroes comics instead. He catches himself slightly smiling at some of the violence. He closes his eyes about to groan when an image of his favorite character killing comes to mind. His eyes snap open almost instantly. He puts the comic aside not sure what is wrong with him. He turns as someone knocks on his door.

Raph is standing there looking at him. "Leo? Can we talk?"

"Sure. What's wrong?" Leo can sense that something is wrong with Raph.

"I don't want to go on the next mission tomorrow."

Leo blinks at this. "Why not?"

"I went to work on some punches and I don't know something happened. I grabbed a sai and slashed it wanting to just kill something. That's never happened before. I don't want to lose control." Raph shifts clearly uncomfortable with sharing this. He however seems concerned about what he might do if he goes on the mission.

"You've been having these weird violent thoughts too? Well more than usual." Leo's words get a surprised blink from Raph. "I had to stop myself from slicing one of our dummy's throats in my own training today."

The two fall silent at this. They can both tell that something isn't right.

"Do you think that Mikey and Donnie have been getting things like this too today?" Raph sounds a bit hopefully.

"I have my doubts but we could check." Leo points out to which Raph nods so the two head to find their brothers.

Luckily Mikey isn't hard to find playing video games. He glances to them as they approach.

"Hey Mikey." Raph speaks up first. "Have you noticed anything different since we checked out the ruins?"

"No. Nothing. Why?" Mikey blinks at them.

"Raph read that ruins can contain ghosts so he didn't want anything following us. So he wanted to make sure you weren't hearing any whispers or anything." Leo covers it up though gets a look from Raph who looks like he wants to punch him.

"Oh! Well don't worry Raph I haven't noticed anything weird! I also feel fine! I think as animals we'd be able to sense it!" Mikey smiles at Raph who huffs turning away.

"Yeah whatever." Raph storms off towards the lab with Leo quickly following. He approaches Donnie right away with Leo quickly catching up. "Hey! D! Got something to ask you!"

Donnie turns with a blueprint rolled up in his hands. "What is it? Did Leo break the toaster?"

"No." Leo lets out a breath at hearing this. His eyes fall half open.

"Actually we wanted to know if you've noticed anything off since we visited the ruins?"

"Raph here got worried about a ghost having followed. He wants to make sure that there won't be any unusual feelings, whispering voices, or anything else weird. He read that there were ghosts at the ruins. He doesn't want any following us home."

"I am not worried!" Raph tries to smack the back of Leo's head who dodges easily. He turns away with a huff after this.

Donnie blinks in understanding. "I see. Well I can safely say that I have not noticed anything. No weird new feelings or whispers or anything."

"Okay. Thank you." Leo nods his head and Raph heads off. He leaves the lab calling over his shoulder to remind Donnie to be out by supper time.

Donnie calls back that he will be.

Leo goes with Raph to the hotheads room where they quietly close the door. He looks to the other who paces with a slight growl.

"Why aren't they affected?! Why is it just us that have noticed that something is wrong!?"

"I don't know. But we're going to figure this out?"

"By ourselves?" Raph stops pacing to look to Leo with a slight glare. "How in the fuck do you expect to do that!?"

"You want them to think we might be losing it? By saying we got some sort of darkness from the ruins and now we want to kill?" Leo questions and Raph calms a little.

"No."

"Then for now let's try to figure it out. If needed we will include them. Let's just give it a shot by ourselves."

Raph sits on a beanbag chair surrounded by magazines of all sorts. "Okay then fearless leader. Where are we starting?"

"Looking more into those ruins. Maybe we can find something."

"Why don't we just go to the ruins again and do our research while there?" Raph snorts as if this is obvious. "It might make it more worth it. Besides it started there and maybe there's a way to make it end there too."

Leo rolls the idea over in his head. He supposes that they might be able to find more by doing both. He also hopes that maybe the ruins have some way they can seal this new darkness away. "Well okay. Just let's start by the two of us before bed doing what research on the ruins we can do. Whatever we can find. Tomorrow after the mission we will go there by sneaking out. Mikey and Donnie don't need to know where we are going."

Raph grins at this glad that his idea was agreed to. "Great! Sounds like a plan!"

"See you at supper." Leo heads away with that. He truly hopes that everything turn out alright. He just gets this bad feeling in his gut that there is something truly wrong with both of them. He just wishes he truly knew what was going on. He also hopes that this can be fixed before something bad happens. He mentally shakes off his worries for now since they are going to try to fix this. He makes sure that he appears normal not wanting anyone to notice any worries.