TMNT: ...To Die For

The turtles, April, and Ember were in a secluded gorge. They were playing around and messing with each other...chasing each other around and what not. They were having a good time.

“Ha-ha!” Michelangelo laughed. “You can’t catch me, Raph!”

“Oh, yes I can!” Raphael exclaimed while chasing Mikey. He finally caught Mikey and pinned him to the ground. “GOTCHA!” He said it very loud and it echoed.

All of a sudden, rumbling was heard. Everyone looked down and saw some pebbles shaking. Then they all looked up. The Foot Clan had found them and started running down the cliffs to attack. It was an ambush. Everyone gasped and started running. The turtles, April, and Ember fought some ninjas off as they caught up to them. Pretty soon, more ninjas caught up. The turtles, April, and Ember fought off as many as they could.

Leonardo knew they were badly outnumbered, but that didn’t stop him.

“Ember, April, go get help!” Leo called out. “Go find Splinter!”

“Are you sure?!” Ember yelled as she pushed a ninja off. “I don’t know if he would like this!”

“Just go!” Leo commanded.

Ember and April nodded at each other, fought their way through the ninjas, and climbed up the cliffs to get away. Thankfully, no one followed them.

The turtles fought as well as they could, but they were barely making progress.

After some running, Ember and April finally found Splinter meditating in a nearby valley.

“Master Splinter!” April yelled. Splinter looked up and saw Ember and April out of breath.

“What is it, girls?” Splinter asked.

“There’s an ambush...in the gorge...Foot Clan!” Ember said taking breaths in-between.

“What?!” Splinter asked in shocked.

“Yeah...” April said “they sent us to come get you.”

“Come, we must hurry!” Splinter said. They all started running.

The turtles were still fighting, but not well. The Foot Clan kept coming and coming. Splinter, Ember, and April made it to the gorge and saw the turtles fighting.

“My sons!” Splinter yelled. Raph looked up and saw Splinter, April, and Ember. “Girls, wait here. I will go help them” Splinter said as he jumped down to go help. He took his sword out and took out the Foot ninjas with speed like no one has ever seen.

Ember was getting frustrated. “Ugh! We can’t just stand here! We’ve gotta do something!”

“I know” April said, also frustrated. “I hate just standing around.”

“Well...maybe I can help with that” a familiar female voice came from above. Ember and April looked up and saw Karai. She jumped down and landed in front of them.

“Karai!” April said in a growl.

“Oh, you remember me” Karai said sarcastically. “Maybe you’ll remember this, too!” She pulled out her sword and went to fight. Ember and April fought her with everything they had learned from Splinter.

Leo looked up and saw Karai fighting Ember and April. He glared and growled. A Foot ninja jumped up behind him. He noticed this and blocked the ninja’s sword with his own.

Mikey and Donatello were still fighting…helping each other whenever they could. Donnie looked up to the cliff and saw April and Ember fighting Karai. He was shocked. He wanted to go help, but there were too many ninjas blocking his way. All he could do is hope that they would make it out okay. Mikey noticed the fight on the cliff, as well, but there was nothing he could do but fight and hope that everyone made it out alive.

Splinter noticed that his sons were getting tired. He slayed a ninja and turned to the turtles. “My sons, you must get out of here!”

“Not...until...we win!” Raph exclaimed. All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his side. A ninja had stabbed him. He screamed in pain as the ninja took the sword out and pushed him down.

“Raphael!” Splinter screamed. He tried to run over to him, but was stopped by another ninja. Splinter had no choice but to keep fighting.

Meanwhile, Ember and April were doing their best and they actually landed a few hits to Karai.

“You girls have gotten good...” Karai began “...but let’s see if you can handle this.” She hit April on the head and knocked her out then stabbed her.

“April!” Ember yelled.

All of a sudden, Karai jumped on Ember and stabbed her as well.

Donnie and Mikey saw what happened.

“April!” Donnie yelled.

“Ember, no!” Mikey yelled at the same time.

Both Donnie and Mikey shouted to the sky and ran towards their loves. Donnie turned April over onto her back and held her head up. Mikey did the same with Ember.

“April, are you okay?” Donnie asked.

April looked at him through squinted eyes.

“D-Donnie...” April began through shallow breathing.

“Yes, April...I’m right here” Donnie replied.

“I...I lo...love...you...” were April’s last words before she fell limp in Donnie’s arms.

“No...NOOOO!!!!!” Donnie shouted to the heavens. Then he went back to the fight, taking down every ninja in sight.

Mikey was still holding Ember.

“Ember...you’re gonna be okay...” Mikey tried to comfort her. Ember looked up through half-lidded eyes.

“Mikey...” Ember started “don’t forget me...” were her last words as she died in Mikey’s arms.

“Ember...no!” Mikey said. “Please don’t leave me!” He then got mad and yelled to the heavens just as Donnie did. He jumped down the cliff and took down every ninja he could.

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey were doing badly. They had bruises and cuts all over their bodies…most of which wouldn’t be able to heal. Splinter was trying his best to protect his remaining sons and keep himself alive.

“My sons...we must retreat!”

“Hai, sens-” Mikey was cut off by a stabbing pain in his chest. He had been stabbed by a ninja.

“Mikey!” Donnie cried before he, too was stabbed by a ninja.

“Donnie, Mikey!” Leo cried. He kept fighting. It was no use checking on them...it was too late.

“Splinter, we have to get out of–” all of a sudden, Leo was knocked onto the ground by a ninja.

“Leonardo!” Splinter exclaimed. He ran over to his son, picked him up, and carried him to the nearest cliff, avoiding the ninjas. He set his son on the cliff then was swept off his feet by the oncoming ninjas.

“Sensei!” Leo cried.

Leo looked around trying to find Splinter in the horde of ninjas. Then, Splinter jumped out of the crowd and landed on a cliff wall. Leo smiled. Splinter tried to climb up so Leo went to go help him.

Splinter reached cliff and looked up to see the Shredder there. The Shredder took Splinter and held him up by his collar.

“And now, Hamato Yoshi...it is over” Shredder said as he stabbed Splinter in his chest. Splinter’s breathing stopped and Shredder threw him down.

“NOOOOO!!!!” Leo cried.

The Shredder ordered the Foot Clan to leave and they all left.

Once they were gone, Leo went over to April and Ember first. He couldn’t hear any breathing and he knew they were gone...thanks to Karai. Then he went down to where Raph, Mikey, and Donnie lay dead. He started tearing up. He then realized and ran to find Splinter.

“Sensei!” Leo yelled. “Master Splinter!”

After a bit of searching, he found Splinter’s body...cold and lifeless near a broken tree. Leo ran up to him and turned him over to see his face. His eyes were closed and there was blood from the wound where Shredder had stabbed him. Leo started crying and he hugged Splinter’s lifeless body.

“I’m sorry...I failed you...father.” Everything turned white.

...

“NOOOOO!!!!” Leo woke up in a jolt, cold sweat all over his body and his eyes wide with panic. He gasped for breath and looked around. He was in his own room. He looked down and found nothing in his arms. He started to panic more.

Leo jumped out of bed and went through the lair. He looked in Donnie’s room to find him asleep at his desk. When he saw that he was breathing, he sighed with relief and closed the door. Next was Mikey. He found the youngest turtle asleep on his plastron in his room, sucking his thumb.

“Typical” Leo said to himself as he smiled.

Next, he checked on Raph. He was perfectly asleep and breathing. After that, he checked on April and Ember. He peeked in and found them both asleep peacefully. He smiled and closed the door.

And last, but not least, was Splinter. Leo was nervous when at first, but he saw Splinter meditating in the dojo and was relieved. Tears started welling up in his eyes.

Splinter sensed this and his ears perked up.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, Leonardo?” Splinter asked before looking up to see tears in Leo’s eyes. “What is wrong, my son?”

Leo couldn’t say anything. He just ran up to Splinter and gave him a tight hug. He started crying in the crook of Splinter’s neck.

Splinter was shocked at first, but then he understood and he hugged his son back, petting his head and whispering words of comfort to him.

“It is okay, my son...the nightmare is over.”

Leo kept crying for a while before he finally said, “I...I don’t wanna lose you...father.”

The turtles rarely called Splinter “Father.” They used to call him dad when they were just tots, but when they started training, they called him “Sensei” or “Master Splinter.” To hear Leo call Splinter “Father” made him feel...happy...he felt like his son really does love him enough to call him that. He hugged his son tighter and tears started welling up in his eyes, but Leo didn’t know. He could only hear his own sobs.

“You’ll never lose me, Leonardo” Splinter finally said. He held Leo in front of him. “No matter what happens to me...I’ll always be with you...” he pointed to where his son’s heart was “in your heart.”

Leo looked at Splinter and smiled. “Thank you...dad.”

“You are welcome” Splinter said. “Would you like to meditate with me?”

“I would like that very much” Leo replied.

Leo sat cross-legged across from Splinter and they meditated for the rest of the night, both happy to be in each other’s company...and hearts.