A/N: Finally, a longer story for the turtles! All I ask is, please give me a chance. This is just the prologue, a little teaser for you, but we're diving in headfirst... don't bring out the lynch mob just yet, or you'll never find out what happens next! The rest of it is almost entirely completed already... I'll put the second chapter up tomorrow, just so nobody tries to hurt me (heh), then I'll be posting every other day.

See my profile for my thoughts on disclaimers. I'm not going to put one at the beginning of every chapter, I'll just say once and for all that NO, I don't own any turtles, only the plot. Also, I have an illustration for a later chapter on my deviantart account for anyone who's interested... there's a link to that on my profile, too, since I can't put links in the story itself.

Thanks oodles and bunches to Mikell, who's been a fantastically patient beta. Without her encouragement, the story would never have come as far as it has. Thanks, Mikell! You're just awesomesauce! ;)

Without further ado, strap yourselves in. The timeline's going to jump around a bit, but I have every confidence that you'll be able to keep up. And remember: if I've learned anything here at college, it's never to assume you know what's going on....

Control

Blood.
He tasted the blood from where a lucky shot had got him in the face.

Sweat.
He felt the sweat running down his face, threatening to get in his eyes, but he ignored it and kept moving. He had to keep moving, or die.

Pain.
It was all over him… the aching, burning sensation that he was fast reaching his limit, but he couldn't afford to stop yet. Not yet.

Darkness.
Closing in on his sight, shutting down his senses.

And finally, the hard surface of the rooftop coming to meet him.

Leo felt the blows raining down on him, but there were too many ninja for him to fight back. He was defenseless, and from his position on the ground surrounded by a sea of legs kicking at him, he couldn't see his brothers. He could hear Mikey crying out in pain, though, and Raph's heavy grunts, and he knew that they at least were as bad off as he was.

He had led them straight into the ambush.

"Enough!" The call cut across the sounds of the battle, causing the Foot ninja to cease their merciless barrage of attacks on the turtles. Many pairs of hands grabbed Leo, pulling him from the ground up to his knees with his arms held firmly behind him and a blade hovering dangerously close to his neck. From the edge of his peripheral vision, he saw the same happening to at least two of his brothers.

Shredder stomped towards them, footsteps clanging raucously from his heavy metal armor. Leo glared up at him, though his enemy paid him no heed, apparently looking for something or someone other than the oldest turtle.

"Where is the fourth?!" Shredder demanded. "Fools! I want the one called Donatello! These three matter nothing. We need him alive at all costs! Where is he?"

Leo twisted his head around as far as he dared with the sword still in place at his throat, casting about for Donny. Why wasn't he…

Before he could wonder how Donny had managed to escape and where he might be, Leo heard a sound that froze his heart, plummeting it down into the bottom of his gut. Raph started screaming in agony – not pain, but deep and infinite agony.

"NOOOOOOO! DONNY, NO! OH GOD, PLEASE NOOOOOO!"

"DONNY!" Mikey joined in, the raw fear in his voice tearing at Leo's heart. "DONNY! NO, NOT DONNY! PLEASE, NOT DONNY! DONNY!"

They were staring at a point on the other side of Leo. Mouth dry and eyes moist, Leo slowly twisted the other way to be met with a sight that he knew would haunt his waking nightmares for the rest of his life, however long that might be.

Donatello's body was on the ground, sprawled across the rooftops. His bo lay beside him, marked and broken from the fierce fight he had put up. Blood was pooled all around him, far more than any of them had ever bled in a fight… it appeared to be seeping out of a wound from his plastron… right where his kind and gentle heart would have been beating… There was no discernible rise and fall of his chest whatsoever, and his darkened eyes stared unblinking and unmoving out into the starless and infinite night.