Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fan Fiction ❯ Masked Insecurity ❯ Leonardo's Enemy ( Chapter 2 )

He opened his eyes to see a wide expanse of grey. How boring, Raphael thought. My mind is much better than this.

The other turtles were standing stock still, presumably with their eyes closed. He snorted and tapped on Leonardo's forehead. The blue-masked turtle opened his eyes and gasped. Suddenly there was a thud and New York appeared before them. They were, as was typical of them in the real world, standing on a roof at night. My mind is much, much better than this, Raphael thought dryly.

"We're in my mind?" Michelangelo asked, looking around.

"No, we're in my mind," Donatello argued.

"No," Raphael said seriously. "We're in Leo's mind."

"My mind?!" Leonardo exclaimed, suddenly looking extremely nervous. "Why…why would be in my mind?"

"Because I wanted to go into your mind," Raphael said with a smirk.

"Take us out of here, Raph, now!" Leonardo barked.

"No."

"Why Leo?" Michelangelo asked. "It looks pretty cool! Hey are there any monsters for us to face?"

"No," Leonardo said shortly.

"Hey, who's that?" Donatello asked, then he and the orange masked turtle raced off after the figure.

"Stop!" Leonardo shouted as he took off after them.

Raphael stayed put. He looked around, knowing he had to be there somewhere…. There! Right behind a cooling unit.

"What emotion are you?" he asked suspiciously.

When the figure tried to hide more, the red masked turtle frowned and walked over pulling him out. It was Leonardo, but a paler version of him, with purple oozing across the mask in his hands along with the blue. His eyes, like the actual Leonardo's had irises of blue and silver, the colors swirling together, but not mixing.

"You, my little mystery, are Fear!" Raphael said triumphantly. "I knew you had to be around here somewhere. Leo sounded terrified when Donny and Mikey started running."

"Y-y-you're Raph," Fear Leonardo said, shrinking back against the unit. "Please, d-don't hurt me!"

"Leo's afraid of me?" Raphael asked, tilting his head.

"Of c-course! You're so b-big and strong! And…He's afraid you'll hurt Mikey and Donny, too. They can't fight like he can."

Raphael felt bad. "I know. I really do. It's just…" Raphael swallowed a lump in his throat. "Hard to control myself sometimes. I don't want to hurt anybody."

"R-really?" Fear looked a little relieved at that.

"Really," Raphael said with a nod. "Hey, what else is Leo afraid of?"

"Oh, lots of things. He's still a little afraid of heights—he gets a horrible shaking sometimes when really high up. He's afraid of disappointing you and Mikey and Donny and Master Splinter. He's afraid of death—his death, your death, everyone's death. He's afraid of wetting the bed, because he still occasionally does that, but not even Master Splinter knows that. But recently he's especially afraid of…him."

"Him?" Raphael asked, feeling a little nervous then murmured to himself, "He can't be as bad a my him."

"Hello, Raphie."

Raphael tensed and Fear shrank back then ran away. The red masked turtle had heard that voice before. It was Leonardo, but a side that Raphael had thought that he'd beaten out of his leader. The voice was condescending and rude, hateful and mean. Raphael turned to see a purely blue masked Leonardo, but he knew it wasn't the real one because the blue was navy, not the usual middle ranged blue that his leader had.

"Hey, Leo," Raphael said weakly, all his confidence gone.

"Hey, Leo," Leonardo's Enemy mocked, for it could be no other. "Geez Raphie, you're pathetic. Still a weak fool. You just wish you could be as good as me."

"I'm just fine, especially without you!" Raphael snapped, cheeks coloring as he eyes got wet beneath his mask.

"Pinhead," Enemy said, yawning and looking bored.

"Stop calling me names!" Raphael whimpered, his voice cracking.

"Small fry. And you know I don't mean your height, little boy."

"Stop!"

"Take off your mask, Raphie. Let's see if you still have black eyes. Black, colorless eyes. Eyes like that mean you don't have a soul. That means the devil's gonna getcha."

Raphael sank to the roof with a moan and placed his hands on either side of his head, gripping his mask so that Enemy couldn't take it off. He had sworn to himself when he was little that nobody, and he meant nobody was ever going to see his eyes again, and it was because of those words that Enemy had just uttered. Because Enemy was a part of Leonardo. A part that the blue turtle no longer wanted, it would seem, but a part that had wounded Raphael many, many, many times. Enemy was the reason that Raphael was closed off and distant. He was the reason Raphael had his own Enemy.

"Get away from him!" an angry voice bellowed.

Raphael looked up to see his three brothers sprinting over the rooftops toward him. The bottom of the red mask was soaked with tears, and Raphael shook his head. He had also sworn that he would never cry in front of anybody again. Suddenly, the red masked turtle realized that he could leave, so with a heave of his mind, he jerked himself and his brothers out of the nightmare.