Chapter 33: Shredded Sleep

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"Destiny..." a deep voice sounds from an undefined point, dragging out the "s" in her name to make it sound like a hiss.

Destiny pivots in place, darkness surrounding her on all sides. She's holding her uchigatana, the blade giving off a faint glow in the pitch blackness. Her knuckles turn white.

"Who's there?" she calls, causing an echo.

A low, growling laugh rings from the void. "Join me, Destiny," the owner says. "You don't need those insolent turtles."

"How do you know what I need?" she demands, her shoulders starting to quiver.

A man in sleek armour steps out of thin air. He's wearing a helmet that looks like it belongs to a samurai, a cape draped behind his back and lethal blades emerging from metal gauntlets on his arms. Destiny believes that they're called tekkō-kagi, that is if she's remembering the lessons from Splinter correctly. She can only see his eyes from behind his visor, one is blinded and surrounded by burnt skin.

Destiny feels her entire body seize up as she aims her sword at him. She opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out.

The man's good eye seems to glint before in a flash of momentary light, he's directly in front of the wolf mutant. She lurches backwards and shuts her eyes, lifting her sword and preparing for a blow, but nothing comes. When her eyes open again, she's alone and she has no weapon.

She rests a hand over her pounding heart, her head starting to ache. There's a scuffling from behind her and she catches a whiff of a familiar scent. Turning to look behind her, she sees Leonardo standing at a distance. His shell is turned to her, his eyes on some spot in the unknown distance.

"Leo..." Destiny breathes, starting to walk towards him. "Oh thank god, I'm so confused. Do you know what's going on?" The turtle doesn't say a word. A sick feeling grows in her stomach as she reaches him. "Leo?" she repeats, slowly reaching her hand out.

Just as her fingertip touches the rough surface of his shell, there's the ringing sound of unsheathing blades and another flash as the tekkō-kagi of the unknown assailant sever his life thread. Destiny lets out a scream as Leonardo's body topples into an ever-increasing pool of his own blood.

Her eyes fly upwards to the armoured man, but he disappears before she can do anything. There's another scream from behind her and she again jumps towards the noise only to see Donatello crumpling at the hands of the nightmare warrior.

Destiny can't make herself speak, her throat is just too constricted. In fact, she can hardly move. Every nerve in her body is alive and screaming for her to run, to stop him from hurting anyone else, but she can't. She can only watch in horror.

Raphael and Michelangelo appear only to be cut down, their short-lived screams adding to the ringing in Destiny's head. Tears start to roll down her face, the crushing feeling on her windpipe increasing.

A hand rests on her shoulder and her body unfreezes, making her let out a gasping breath as she wobbles and falls to her knees. She looks up to see Splinter standing at her side, eyes locked on where the armoured man is slowly approaching, lethal weapons dripping with the blood of Splinter's sons.

"Sensei..." Destiny croaks.

"Saki," Splinter murmurs, his voice low and wrought with emotion. "You got what you wanted, now I am the only thing in your way."

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