"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."

"S-Saki?" Destiny whispers, realization dawning over her as her wild eyes snap to the man. "So he...he's the Shredder..."

"Face me, Hamato Yoshi, and die like the coward you are," Shredder says.

Splinter moves into fighting stance, instantly causing Destiny to lunge for his robes as if somehow she can save him. Her hands go right through them, failing to halt his advance as he rushes the Shredder. There's another flash and a piercing scream before both of the men are gone. Destiny's breaths get faster, more panicked.

"Why didn't you stop it?" comes a whispered, female voice from Destiny's left. April stares down at her with pain in her eyes, tear tracks staining her freckled cheeks. "They're gone, all of them, and you didn't do anything."

"Geez Destiny, what kind of a friend are you?" Casey's voice accuses from Destiny's right. She quickly looks at the vigilante, taking in the almost terrifying rage that inhabits his face. "You were right there! Why didn't you stop it?!"

"I...it, it h-happened too fast," she squeaks, more tears running down her face. "He was in one p-place, then another, I—"

"I never want to see you again," April whispers, lifting a hand to her face and wiping away fresh tears.

In an instant, they too are gone. Destiny slumps further onto the floor, trembling, eyes aching, a growing pain resonating in her chest and her brain throbbing.

"Alone," a gravelly English-accented voice sounds next to her wolf ear.

Her head snaps upwards, the hair on the back of her neck prickling. The presence behind her doesn't leave. Instead, his face appears next to hers, his white hair tickling her cheek.

"You're alone," he repeats. "You have no one else. Even the ones who are still alive have left you."

"They can't be g-gone..." Destiny whispers, unable to look him in the face. "They...they can't...t-this isn't real..."

"Destiny, you don't have to do this alone. I can help you, just come with me."

He holds his hand out to her. She stares at it, her fingers twitching, but she forces her arm to stay locked at her side.

"No."

Destiny wakes with a start, the only sound the faint dripping of water in the pipes. She takes short breaths, her face covered in a sheen of sweat and her pillow stained with tears. She pulls the blanket closer to her body, smoothing her spiked tail fur down with a trembling hand.

Are the turtles okay? she asks herself. That was just a dream...right?

She squeezes her eyes shut, but try as she might, she is unable to rid her mind of the dream. Could that armoured man really be Shredder? She's never seen him in person, but...

She climbs from bed, dragging the Space Heroes blanket with her. She makes shuffling movements across the floor and out into the hallway, where she stands in the quiet.

The darkness seems to close in on her for a moment and she jolts slightly, heading towards the deeper part of the hallway where the turtles' bedrooms are located without another pause. She sniffs in front of each door, trying to find the correct one before she intrudes.

She stops short when she catches a whiff of incense from one of the doors. She moves to it, gripping the blanket a little tighter before grasping the handle and pushing it open with a minuscule squeak.

If she wasn't occupied with other thoughts, Destiny would've noticed the near-tidiness of the room she's just peered into. The shelves are cluttered with figurines and there's a few posters hanging on the walls. The bed is pushed into one of the corners, where there's a turtle-shaped lump huddled beneath the blankets.

Before she can say anything, the lump moves and makes a low groaning sound. He looks up, propping himself on his elbow as he blinks a few times. Destiny feels a surge of relief roll through her, his movements reminding her that her dream was just that; a dream.

"Des? You okay?" Leonardo mumbles, blinking a few times as he rubs his eyes. His mask is off, leaving him looking unnaturally bare.

Destiny runs a hand up her bandaged arm, scratching at the cloth as she shivers. All too quickly, the feeling of absolutely stupidity overwhelms her and she finds herself backing up.

"Nightmare, it was nothing," she responds in a low whisper. "I...I'm sorry."

She scoots completely out of the room, face reddening and eyes starting to itch out of embarrassment.

"Hey, hold on," he calls, also keeping his voice relatively quiet. She stops, looking back at the bed as he starts to get out of it. "Do you need anything? I can talk."

He yawns, resting his hand over his mouth to block out some of the sound. Destiny's ears flatten against her messy hair as she takes a hesitant step back into the room.

"Could I stay with you?" she asks.

His dark blue eyes widen a little and he finally looks at her completely. "Oh, you sure?" he asks. "That's all?"

"I'm...scared," she admits. "I keep thinking that I'll wake up in that cell and..."

"Got it," he murmurs, swinging his legs back onto the mattress and scooting over. He pats the open spot and gives her an expectant look. "Well, come on."

"Like...on the bed?" she asks, the heat in her face getting worse. "I thought I'd just, uh...sit on the floor until I feel better."

He shakes his head and laughs a little. "Nah, can't have that. I've got room for you here, and it's a lot more comfortable than the floor," he says. When she still looks hesitant, he clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck. "But, it's fine if you don't want to. I can take the floor—"

"Do people usually share beds when they're...together?" Destiny asks, twisting the pointer and middle fingers of her left hand together as she adjusts the blanket around her shoulders.

"Depends on the couple," he responds. "Do you want to?"

She thinks about it for a second before giving a sheepish nod. She shuts the door behind her and moves to the bed with slightly unsure steps, where she flops onto the mattress as she takes the blanket off her shoulders, laying down next to him and wiggling to find a comfortable position. Leonardo smiles a little at her actions, waiting patiently for her to be ready. He pulls the blankets over them when she is, both kicking their legs slightly as they figure out how to share the single bed.

Soon, they're both settled. Destiny lays on her side facing Leonardo, he lays on his back. They remain silent for a few seconds, just breathing.

Destiny scoots a little closer, resting her head near his shoulder as her stomach and chest make contact with his side. Her eyes flutter shut. He shifts his arm to drape over her shoulders, his hand starting to rhythmically rub at the tensed muscles of her back.

"This is nice," she mumbles, sleep starting to take over again.

His plastron lifts as he takes a soft breath. "Yeah...it is."

More silence. He shifts slightly, she inhales and exhales deeply through her nose.

"I'm glad I said yes," she murmurs as the haze of sleep starts to settle on them.

His cheeks turn pink and instead of responding, he tilts his lips down to her forehead and leaves a gentle kiss there. Wrapped in each other's arms, they drift off.