"Of all the things you choose in life, you don't get to choose what your nightmares are. You don't pick them, they pick you."

-John Irving

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Deep beneath the streets of New York city in an old, unused portion of the subway, an olive green teenager tossed and turned, tangling himself in his sheets. His forehead and neck were drenched by a thin sheet of cold sweat. He grimaced and whined, sucked back into a world that was damp and dark. Cold, alone, apocalyptic.

Everything was grey. He was alone. No, no, no! Where are they? His brothers, his friends, his father? All gone? Where were they?! Ah!

He was cornered by Footbots. They were everywhere, all around him. But these all looked different. They were bigger, more heavy-duty, dangerous. There was no way he'd be able to take them all.

Suddenly a dark figure swept in front of him and started taking them out. He watched in wonder as the figure twisted and turned, slashing them down and throwing them around with a pair of nunchucks. No, it couldn't be—

All the bots fell, and the figure jumped back into the shadows.

"I can't believe it. You actually came back."

Came back? What was that supposed to mean? And why did Mikey's voice sound so strange? It was older, deeper. He didn't sound like Mikey anymore.

Donnie flinched as 'Michelangelo' emerged from the shadows. Mikey—his arm—he was—but how? What?

He tossed and turned in his bed, a low whine leaving his lips. Sheets tightened around his neck, strangling him. He couldn't breathe. Brothers! His brothers! No!

He cried out in pain as he saw Leo struck down by a mind-controlled Karai. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes and streamed down his cheeks as Raph charged and fell beside their older sibling. No, no, please!

"MIKEY!"

The sheets tightened even more. He twisted and turned, desperately trying to free himself.

No! He had to get to his brothers! He had to save them, he had to—

He awoke with a start, shooting up in bed, tearing the sheets off of him and away from his neck. Panting wildly for breath, he couldn't stop shaking. A pathetic whimper left his lips and he curled up into a ball, pulling his knees in towards his plastron.

The creaking of the door opening made him jump. The figure outlined in the doorway was a familiar one, not the strange one from his dream, but the real one. Don jumped off the bed and tore across the room. He clung to his brother for dear life. "Mikey!"

Such an enthusiastic welcome stunned Michelangelo for a few moments, but he soon smiled and returned the hug with fervor. "Gee, Don, yur acting like you haven't seen me in days!" Then he noticed the tear trails on his brother's cheeks, his face softened and settled into a worried frown. "Donnie, you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Mikey stepped out of the hug and saw the way that Donnie's face fell. He put a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "Doesn't look that way to me."

"I said I'm fine, Michelangelo!" He snapped.

The youngest turtle straightened. "Fine, then you won't be needing me to bother you anymore!" He turned to leave, but Donnie called him back almost immediately and wrapped him in a desperate backwards hug.

"No, don't leave." Don begged, pulling his younger sibling tighter. "Please don't leave."

Mikey pouted. "I'm not stupid, Donnie." He murmured.

"I know you're not."

"Yeah, sure. That's why you guys treat me like an airhead all the time. You think that I don't notice anything."

Don's grip on Mikey's shoulders faltered a little as the image of an older, solemner Mikey flashed before his eyes. No, he wasn't going to let that happen. He couldn't, not to Mikey, not to his precious younger brother. Mikey was their joy, without that—they'd collapse.

"Do you really think that I don't notice, Donnie?"

The brainiac couldn't answer. He'd just assumed Mikey's aloofness was parallel to youthful ignorance, but he was wrong. Perhaps they'd all been wrong about their little brother.

"You think I can't see the way that Leo beats himself up every time we botch a mission? You think I don't notice the way that Raph wallows in his depression? You think I'm blind to the way you sulk every time an invention goes wrong or one of us gets hurt? I know how nervous you get every single time we go out because you don't know what's going to happen or what you'll have to deal with. We put a lot of pressure on you to solve our problems, Donnie. I've seen how hard you work for us."

Donnie was dumbfounded. His arms fell to sides somewhere in the middle of Mikey's tirade and he stared with a dropped jaw.

Mikey smiled, his youthful innocence returning, and turned around, wrapping his immediate older sibling in a proper hug. "We love you, Donnie. And I'm always here for you."

And then, Donnie did something he hadn't done since he was seven and a half years old: he lay his head on his little brother's shoulder, let go of all his inhibitions and sobbed. Mikey quietly hushed him and rubbed his shell gently.

"What happened, Don?" he asked, softly.

Shaking his head, Donnie whined at the memory of his horrible nightmare and squeezed Mikey tighter.

"I heard you shout my name," the youngest whispered, allowing his fear to show.

The brainiac's bottom lip trembled and he bit it gently. He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to relive that horrible nightmare. He wanted to push it to the back of his mind, to forget. He wanted it to just go away, to be like it had never happened. But it had, and there was no going back now. He sniveled a little. Mikey eyed him worriedly.

"Nightmare?"

Don nodded through his tears feeling pathetic, embarrassed and weak. He shouldn't have to burden Mikey with something like this. He shouldn't have to burden any of them. He shouldn't have been so damn upset by a stupid nightmare. But—what if it came true? What if he lost them all? What if they fell apart? No, no, no...

As though reading his brother's mind, Mikey said softly, "It's okay, Don. We all get nightmares."

"But it was so real, Mikey! So real! Everything was destroyed! Shredder had taken over the city—Our team had fallen apart!"

"You-you said I'd been missing for years. You guys had tried to face Shredder, but he defeated you. You were—you'd lost an arm."

Mikey seemed very disturbed by that. His eyes were wide and he pulled back, rubbing his arms nervously.

Don turned his carapace to the youngest and rambled on in a terrified whisper.

"Leo was blinded, Raph lost an eye, and Sensei was—" His voice died, indicatively.

Mikey stared, a shudder running up and down his spine.

"Raph and Leo had a major falling out and everything had gone to hell. I got everyone back together and we made another try at defeating Shredder."

"And?" Mikey asked, sounding small and afraid.

"I killed him, but—" he swallowed heavily, his whole body starting to tremble in terror. "Karai was under his control. Leo was trying to talk her out of it and she—" Again, his voice faltered.

Mikey went pale, small tears gathering in his eyes.

As fresh, salty tears cascaded down Donnie's cheeks, he choked out, "Raph went at her and she—k-killed him, too. And—and," he could barely process the words as they tumbled from his mouth, "you were—"

Mikey shakily stepped forward and placed his arms on Donnie's shoulders, though he, too was horrified.

"You were fighting Footbots. They surrounded you. There were too many. One of them struck you and shoved you backwards onto a blade. I-i-it went straight through..." Donnie couldn't take it anymore, he fell to his knees, "And even after all that, April thanked me. She said that we'd given them back their future! She said that I'd saved them! But I lost you! I failed you! I—"

"Donnie!"

The unexpected ferocity of the shout made his mouth snap shut. He found Mikey kneeling on the floor in front of him.

"You did save them, big brother. You saved them from darkness and hopelessness. It's okay. It's all okay, Donnie. We're safe. We're all safe. You don't have to be afraid. That won't ever happen."

Don shoved Mikey away roughly. "How can you possibly know that, Michelangelo! No one can know that! It could happen! We can't predict the future." He said, his voice dropping to a low whisper.

A harsh slap to the face made him gasp and stare at his little brother.

"That kind of attitude is as good as admitting defeat, Donnie! I know you're a lot stronger than that! Didn't you learn anything from this nightmare?!"

Mikey's words ignited something inside of him and he glared. "Learn? What the shell am I supposed to learn from it, Mikey?! That weight of the world rests on my shoulders? That one of these days I'll get you all killed? That—"

Donatello cut off when he found himself robbed of air by his little brother's tight embrace.

Shaking his head, Mikey whispered, "That we can't function without you."

Don's arms slowly rose to return the hug. He hadn't seen it like that at all.

"Without you, everything would go to shell. You're an important member of this team. We need you."

Tears came once more to Donnie's eyes, but this time, he couldn't tell whether they were from fear, sadness, or relief.

"But, I'm not—"

"Yes, you are. We're a family, Don, we need each other because we're all we've got. No matter how many fights or insults or failures or challenges we face, we'll get through and we'll always come back, because that's who we are. No matter what."

With a relieved sigh and a beaming smile, Don hugged Mikey tightly.

"Uh—Don?"

"Hm?"

"Can't breathe."

Don's eyes widened and he let go, a little embarrassed. "Sorry."

Mikey waved it off. "S'all good."

Don rubbed Mikey's head, affectionately. "Thanks, little brother."

"Anytime, Don, anytime. What are bros for?"

"You're the best."

"Of course I am, bro! I'm the cute and cuddly one, remember?"

Don snorted and punched him gently in the arm.

"Playin' favorites, Don? I don't know if I should feel relieved or offended."

Both he and Mikey whirled around in time to see Leo punch Raph roughly for the comment. Raph snorted and grumbled, "Okay, fine, fine, I'm just yanking your bandana tails."

Leo leaned an elbow casually on Raph's shoulder and smiled like a proud father. "It's so nice to see our younger brothers getting along so well, isn't it, Raph?"

With a roll of his eyes, Raph muttered, "As if they didn't get along well enough already."

Don couldn't help but smile.

Leo let out a startled yelp as Raph shoved him off and he toppled to the ground. He glared up at the hothead and Raph smirked.

Mikey giggled at the look on Leo's face. Don smiled and crossed his arms over his chest as he realized, "How long have you two been standing there?"

The question made the older turtles' smiles fade. Raph yanked his older brother up and received another punch to the arm. After shooting a warning glare at Leo, he took a few cautious steps toward Donnie with a very serious expression.

"Long enough."

Don avoided Raph's eyes. He didn't need Raph making fun of him for being so disturbed by a nightmare.

He wasn't expecting to receive a harsh growl for his evasiveness. Raph stomped angrily away, heading for the door, but paused in the doorway and spoke lowly over his shoulder, "You're not the only one with nightmares, Don. You're not the only one who gets scared. Nightmares aren't always rational, they don't always relate to your experiences or past events. Sometimes they're meant to teach you something. So learn from them and move on." He vanished into the shadowy hallway, leaving the three of them alone.

"Raph's right, Don." Leo said evenly, coming closer and wrapping the brainiac in a protective hug.

Still trembling a little, Don whispered, "You think I should go apologize to him?"

"Don't worry about it. He's just out of his depth. You know how he hates enemies that he can't punch in the face." Leo said soothingly.

Don laughed. "Yeah, I know."

"Besides, he's just lingering outside the door. He'll be back as soon as he lets out his frustration."

A telltale bang made them all jump and less than thirty seconds later, Raph came stomping back into the room like clockwork.

"Feel better?" Mikey teased jovially. He cried out as his older brother tackled him to the ground and tugged him into a headlock.

Completely at ease, if a little sleepy, Leo sternly stared Raph down. "I hope you didn't make a hole in the wall this time."

"Wall's fine, Fearless." Raph turned to his captive. "What do we say, Mikey?"

"Raphael is all wise and powerful," Mikey recited remotely, "and he's better than me in every possible way."

A forest green hand on Raph's shoulder made him sigh.

"That's enough for tonight, Raph."

"Aw, we were just getting to the good part." The hothead whined.

Leo rolled his eyes and shook his head, with a faint smile on his lips.

Raph let Mikey up and they all stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

"What now?" Mikey asked softly.

"Well, we do have training tomorrow so we should get back to bed." Leo stated.

All eyes slid over to Donatello. A bit of anxiety swept over him at the mention of returning to bed. Frowning with understanding, his three brothers fell silent once more, deep in thought.

Snapping his fingers and grinning excitedly, Mikey blurted out, "Let's have a party!"

His brothers' eye-ridges rose.

"We'll eat leftover pizza and watch movies and play games and listen to music and stuff!"

Donnie smiled at the idea, but paused in thought and asked, "But what about training?"

The three younger siblings all turned to their eldest brother. Leo glanced at each of them in turn. Mikey was pleading, Donnie was uncertain, and Raph was giving him the 'you're an idiot if you say no' look. Keeping a straight face, he put a hand on his genius brother's shoulder.

"Donatello, I am the leader of this team," Leo enjoyed the way his brothers deflated at his words, and then added, "but even I know that there are some things more important than training."

All three of his brothers smiled widely and Raph patted him approvingly on the shoulder. Mikey was bubbling with excitement.

"Booyakasha! Let's get this party started!" The youngest grabbed Raph and Don by the arm and ran for the door, Raph snagging Leo's arm at the last possible second and tugging him along as well.

His brothers' laughter echoing down the hall, Leo beamed happily. Yes, indeed, there were some things that were far more important than training.

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Less than an hour later, an old rat was awakened by the sound of strange voices coming from the main room. He silently padded across the dojo and exited silently into the main room, concealing himself in the shadows. His guard dropped as soon as he realized that the strange voices were emanating from the television. He was standing behind the couch and could not see them, which meant they were either lying down or seated on the floor, but his sharp ears had already told him that more than one of his sons were present. He began to approach, intent on reprimanding them for staying up so late, when a voice said softly:

"Donnie, I hope you know that we'll always protect you. You're safe. You don't have to be afraid."

Leonardo. Hmm, there was a gravity in the eldest turtle's tone, which meant that he was being very serious. Splinter paused and took a couple steps back into the shadows.

"Yeah, dude, we're always here for you."

Michelangelo as well, interesting.

"But what if—"

"It's not gonna happen, Don. It was just a nightmare."

Raphael's forthrightness was always a very useful quality to the old ninja master. He could always count on Raphael to come directly to the point. Splinter frowned. A nightmare?

"Donnie, you know that even if something did happen to us—" Leonardo was cut off by a warning growl from Raphael, but quickly finished his sentence, "we'd still be with you in spirit."

Raphael huffed and added, "Fearless is right. I know I'll never really leave you guys. I'd come back and kick your shells if I heard any of you were losing it cause of me bein' gone."

It was a harsh statement that brought about rather morbid thoughts and Splinter could sense disquiet in Leonardo and Michelangelo's aura because of it, but Donatello, upset as he was, seemed oddly comforted by the gruff words.

"Thanks Raph."

"No prob. Anybody for thirds?" He stood with a pizza box in hand.

"Me! Me! Me! Me!" Michelangelo shouted eagerly, jumping up and grabbing the box from Raph's hands. It was empty. His face fell.

Raph conked him over the head, playfully. "There's more in the kitchen, goofball. You two knuckleheads want any?"

"I suppose." Leo replied.

"I think I've had enough," Don said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Raph moved to take the box from Mikey, but the youngest jumped away.

"I'll get it!" He chimed in a singsong voice. He turned to head for the kitchen, but paused and did a double-take as he eyes swept over Splinter's hiding spot. He caught the old rat's gaze, smiled, and gave his father a thumbs-up.

Grinning and shaking his head, Splinter returned to his room. Tomorrow he could determine whether or not it would be best to approach Donatello about this nightmare, but tonight...he was content to let it rest. Though they didn't always realize it, their bond was by far their greatest strength.

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So, how was it?