Thanks thanks thanks! I am grateful for the support. I've finished the story, but I will wait to post the last chapter. I want to be sure I've written a satisfying ending! Thanks to all of you! Forgive me for not naming names!

TMNT are owned by Mirage, and who can blame them?

SPLINTER:

"Sensei! Sensei, can you hear me?"

I hear Leonardo as if from a distance, and realize that I am lying down.

I do not remember doing so- once again.

I open my eyes to find all my sons looming over me, like they did in my death-dream, and for a brief second I wonder if I have passed over.

Then they all sigh with relief, I am guessing because I have opened my eyes, and they sit back while Leonardo helps me sit up again.

I lean back against the wall, feeling tired.

"Are you all right, Sensei?" Leonardo asks, handing me some water, while Raphael feels my forehead. "What happened?"

"After you left the room, I was distracted once again by seeing something from the corner of my eye," I decide I must be open with them. "I turned to hopefully get a better look at it. And then I felt chilled and dizzy. That is all I can recall."

They look at each other.

"He feels hotter than earlier," Raphael says. "But I don't think his fever's high enough for hallucinations."

"I agree," Leonardo says. "Sensei, I still think it must have something to do with your attempt to meditate this morning. Do you still feel like eating something?"

"Surprisingly enough, I do, my son," I discover, and though I do not eat all of it, or quickly, I do eat with some appetite the rice and sliced fruit he has brought me (and I compliment Michelangelo's creative designs with the fruit, though I must admit, I cannot tell what each shape is supposed to be), and I drink the broth to make them all happy, and I feel better than I did this morning.

Leonardo, meanwhile, explains to Donatello and Raphael what we were discussing earlier, and what we were contemplating doing, and asks them for their opinions.

"Well, I don't like that stuff, you know," Raphael says, thinking of his past experience- it nearly stopped him from meditation all together- "but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try, as long as we're there to help out in case of trouble."

"I don't know," Donatello says, who still recalls our "connection" during the evil mind torture of the Triceratons. "Don't you think we should wait until you're a bit stronger? Or at least until your fever goes down? I mean, you've fainted twice today already. Perhaps you should wait until morning, when you've rested a bit longer."

And as he speaks, once again I think I see something to my right. I turn to look, but of course, nothing is there. I feel chilled again, as well as dizzy, but I force myself to remain upright.

When I turn to look at my sons, their faces are identical in expression: one of disbelief and shock.

"My sons! My sons, what is the matter?"

"You see? You see?" Michelangelo is almost shouting. "I told you that something was here! Did you see it? Did you see it?"

"Did you feel that?" Leonardo says, ignoring his brother but addressing Donatello and Raphael.. "The room suddenly seemed- cold."

"This room is well-heated, yet it felt like a shivery wind just blew through here," Donatello replies.

"It's very creepy," Raphael says, looking at me. "Did you see something, Sensei? Did you and Mikey really see something?"

"Yes, but I still do not know what it is." And Michelangelo agreed readily.

"We should get Sensei out of this room!" Donatello says, moving as if he is personally going to carry me himself. "We should put him in one of our rooms if something is in here!"

"I don't think it'll matter where we put him," Raph says, now looking at Michelangelo. "Mikey's been feeling this thing all day- what's to say it can't follow Sensei to another room?"

Leonardo looks determined, as if he has made up his mind already, yet wishes to have conformation.

"Sensei, you decide. Should we try it now, or wait until you feel a little better?" he asks. "Should we move you to another room? Tell us."

"I don't know about you guys, but I think if it's doing stuff like this, we'd better not wait around," Raphael says. "Sensei, what if it's something waiting around just to hurt you? We need to find out now!"

"Sensei, let's move you to another room and wait until tomorrow, when you're stronger," Donatello urges. "You still have a fever, and I don't like having you exert yourself while you're ill."

Michelangelo is strangely silent on the whole thing, though I notice that he has moved close enough to hold my hand.

I look at the expectant faces.

"I do not feel that moving me to another room will be necessary," I slowly say. "I also do not wish to wait any longer. The fact that all four of you are witnessing this indicates that this is not a hallucination or 'fever dream'. Leonardo, you and Michelangelo will assist me with this venture that we discussed-"

"Nothin' doin'!" Raphael abruptly cuts me off. "All of us! Donny and me as well, Sensei! We're comin' along!"

"Raph is right," Donatello is adamant. "We will be a part of this, too. But I still think we should do it from another room."

Such sons! I do not know what I did in a previous life to deserve such sons! I feel nothing but pride at the moment- and my depression over death is forgotten for a brief time.

Such sons!

So it is decided that my sons and I will attempt to discover what this is by reaching out to the astral plane.

Since I sleep on a futon, it is not a problem for them to sit close enough for us to join hands and attempt this type of thing.

Leonardo has set up all of the things I like to have around me while meditating in this manner.

"Shouldn't we like set an alarm clock to go off after a certain time, you know, just to make sure we come back and stuff?" Michelangelo is suddenly nervous, and in spite of all he has witnessed today, he is reluctant to begin.

I remember discovering, when he was younger, that he had this fear of leaving your body and not being able to return- a fear he developed from the horror movies he would watch behind my back.

"It will be all right, my son," I assure him, and Raphael makes sure that Michelangelo is sitting between me and him, sensing that perhaps his brother will feel more secure between us.

Michelangelo on my left, then Raphael, Donatello, and Leonardo on my right.

And we begin together.

MIKEY:

I told them so, I told them so!

Yet they still don't want to believe that I've been "seeing" this stuff all day, that I've seen that something is after our father!

Leo is acting the way I thought he would- in charge, all-knowing, you know, that kind of leader stuff he is always pulling.

Even when he's not sure what it is he is leading us against.

I'm frankly surprised that Don hasn't questioned all of this. He's such a techno-geek, I am still amazed that he believes in the supernatural without question- or rather, without some scientific explanation like he has for practically everything else in life, from popcorn to automatic flush toilets (which I really wish we had, 'cause Raph- oops, sorry- told you my mind sometimes wanders-). The only things he is questioning are Sensei's strength and the location. I don't think moving him from this room is the answer, but I can see where Don might think that this thing is in here and couldn't follow. He's wrong, of course, these "somethings" can go where ever they want. I've seen enough horror movies to know that!

Raph insists that he and Don are "comin' along", despite the fact that Raph hates that kind of stuff and Don- well, since that mind-probe, Don has been rather hesitant to do more than simple meditation.

But now that we are agreeing to this plan, I'm the one who is suddenly scared.

Scared to face this "something".

I look at the others; they show no fear at all.

What is wrong with me? Why am I the only one who is truly afraid of this stuff?

I mean, we're talking leaving your BODY! Just totally leaving your body behind, like you would leave your apartment or home or whatever, and going somewhere dangerous and mysterious and possibly deadly-

And you might never get back-

And Don, in spite of his experience, acts as if this is some great scientific experiment with himself watching in a detached way.

And Leo acts as if it's his show, and he will lead in spite of Sensei.

And Raph- well, nothing (except bugs) really scares Raph, so there's no surprise there.

And me? I'm shaking like a leaf and sweating like I have a fever.

"Shouldn't we, like, set an alarm clock to go off after a certain time, you know, just to make sure we come back and stuff?" I hear myself asking, and wishing with all my might that I could have kept quiet- the "baby" is complaining, and I don't want to hear about it- I don't want to be left behind- I don't want to-

Sensei is kind; Raph is even more so, and I am almost floored by the obvious way he makes sure I am sitting between him and Sensei, as if I need protection.

I don't need protection- I need support- and it dawns on me that I am getting it from older bro!

I'll spare you the details; I never understand how this kind of stuff works. We start by simply meditating, finding our centers and all that junk. Calming our spirits.

And my spirit needs calming, let me tell you!

And then I am floating- I think- it feels like I'm floating- but I could be wrong, and I'm just using that word to describe it, 'cause I can't think of any other words to describe this feeling. I feel like- well, like weightless. We were weightless in the triceraton ship that time- weightless-

I realize I still have my "eyes" closed, and cautiously open them.

Damn! I can see we're in the room, but at once I feel as if I'm "there"- that "there" I've been feeling all day!

Everything is the same, and yet instead of dark like it was, now it's this weird night-vision thingie- everything is in sharp detail, yet it doesn't look normal or real- I can't explain it.

"Wow! This is so cool," I say- or think- I am never sure how we are communicating. I feel like I'm talking, yet I don't feel as if I'm talking, you know? "I feel so floaty, like I'm full of helium."

"Or hot air," Raphael says- or think- I am not sure.

I wonder if I can hit him- and if so, can he chase me?

I see us sitting there, and I abruptly turn away- I don't want to look at myself, it's too creepy. So I keep searching the room, trying to find in all this detailed darkness the dark "something" that has messed up our day.

Then-

"There!"

"Look at that!"

"Sensei, watch out!"

And Sensei is struck by something cold and frightening before I have a chance to do anything, even call out, struck by something dark and evil and laughing like glass breaking!

"Sensei!" I finally cry, somehow getting to him, "standing" over him.

And I turn and finally get a good look at the "dark something"!