Alrighty everyone, this is the sequal to With Death We met. I would recomend reading it before this one otherwise nothing will make sense.
A/N still don't own TMNT or any of its characters, but all other characters are mine.
I hope you enjoy! Please read and review!
Darkness and Light
Chapter 1
Master Splinter looked at him. He had thought that he had been quiet enough, but obviously not.
"The path you seek is not an honourable one my son." Master Splinter said to him.
"I don't care Master. It is the only thing I have left." He said anger and despair in his voice.
"Revenge will not heal what has been broken. She gave you your life back my son, do not waste it. And think about your brothers, they need you."
"I don't have a choice Master, it is who I am. My brothers, they don't need me. I was never any help to them anyway. I was always the one who made things worse. Goodbye Master...Father." Raphael turned and walked away from everything he had ever known.
5 years later...
Raphael looked at the entrance to the lair. It was abandoned. He could tell just by looking at it. His trench coat swirled around him. He walked in anyway, not expecting anything but old memories. Dust covered everything and the very air felt stale, and yet even after all of these years he could still smell Her. It looked like his brothers had left almost everything they had owned. A few personal belongings, but most of the furniture was still present. Donatello's workroom had been cleared out, the kitchen empty, his brother's rooms cleared of some of their possessions. His room had been left untouched. He looked at everything he owned and felt nothing for any of it. He turned and walked out of his room.
He was about to leave when something caught his eye. He walked over to the coffee table. There sitting in the centre was the photo album delivered by the goddesses. He was surprised that his brothers had left this here. He sat down on the dusty couch and touched the leather binding. Dust covered his fingers. He stood leaving the album unopened.
He turned as he felt a presence behind him. "Hello Leo." He said to his brother as he emerged from the shadows.
"Raph." Leonardo replied. Leonardo stood with his arms folded. He was wearing his trench coat, but his mask was gone. Raphael had wondered how this meeting was going to go. The night She died, he left. He took two photos from the album and left with nothing but the clothes on his back and Her bow. Her armour and swords were gone, reclaimed by the goddesses he supposed.
He had to train, to learn, to get better. He had a few more scars, but knew more than when he left. He gave no thought to his brothers, nothing had mattered but the need that consumed him.
"Master Splinter is..." Leonardo began.
"I know Leo. The Ancient One found me, the old one, not the new one. I visited Master Splinter's grave in Japan. He was buried beside Master Yoshi."
Leonardo nodded. Leonardo didn't seem to know whether to be glad he was back, or angry with him for leaving. "You Left." Leonardo said.
"Yeah. I did."
"We needed you Raph." Leonardo said voice low, a slow anger leaking into it.
"You guys didn't need me. You guys never needed me." He said to his older brother.
"Yes we did Raph." Leonardo growled. "You have no idea what it has been like, how broken our family has become."
"Leo..." Raphael began.
"No Raph. It was bad before Master Splinter died, it was even worse after. Donny and Mikey," He shook his head. "You have no idea how bad they have been, especially Donny." He whispered.
"I'm sure Donny will be fine." Raphael said, unconcerned by his brother's worry.
"Yeah, because you are such an expert on him since you've been gone." Leonardo growled.
Raphael turned to leave. He was tired of hearing his brother's accusations.
"He cuts himself Raph." Leonardo said softly, anger draining from his voice.
Raphael turned and looked at his brother in shock. "Donny, no way Donny would never..." He began but was cut off by Leonardo.
"No, Donny is the logical one, the one who hates fighting and violence, the one who broke when she died because he blames himself. He thinks if he could have figured things out sooner, somehow he could have changed things. It doesn't matter that there was no way any of us could have done anything." He sat down on the couch. "I think maybe he got addicted to Her bite." He whispered. "I'm not sure, I can't talk to him. He has shut me out. The only one he talks to is Mikey and even Mikey hasn't been able to get through to him. She broke all of us." Leonardo whispered, then shook his head and stood."Are you staying or are you leaving?" Leonardo finally asked.
Raphael hesitated. He really didn't know why he was back. He had travelled the world gathering information, fighting, getting better, then he felt the need to go home. He visited Her grave first. He had placed white Heather and his red mask on the headstone that marked where Her body lay, but her soul, her soul was somewhere else.
"I don't know." He said truthfully. He didn't think he was going to stay, but if Donatello was really that bad...
"Well are you going to at least see Donny and Mikey?" He asked.
"Maybe." He was non-committal."So Leo a school." He said awkwardly.
"Yeah." Leo said not giving him anything. He didn't know where Donatello and Michelangelo were but he knew Leonardo had opened a martial arts school for anyone who wanted to learn. Usually his students were members of the 'Underground' population. Creatures who were either like them, genetically mutated, or else magically inclined. Some of Her magical creatures had come out of hiding, a few werewolves, a vampire or two. The creatures who could blend in with human society but still felt that they were 'other'. A few humans made it there too, humans who ended up snagged into the world of the Underground.
"She's pretty Leo." Raphael said to him.
Leonardo looked at him in surprise, then nodded. "You aren't angry?" He asked.
"Why would I be angry Leo?" He asked curiously.
"I had just thought..." He began.
"She's dead Leo, She only ever wanted us to be happy. If you have found someone to be happy with, She would be happy for you." Raphael said reasonably.
Leonardo turned his head to the side. "There isn't anything going on between us." He said finally.
"But..." Raphael began.
"I know, she is interested, and I tried, but," He shook his head. "She was only with us for two months, and I have grieved for Her for over five years. But I can't move on Raph. Maybe I need more time, I don't know, but I just can't." Leonardo looked at him. Raphael was silent. "How about you Raph?"
Raphael pulled his black fedora down lower over his black mask, then put his hands in his pockets. "What are you doin' here Leo?" He asked instead of answering the question.
"You've gotten good Raph, but not that good. I knew you would show up here eventually." Raphael nodded then turned to leave.
"I'll meet you at your school tomorrow Leo, see if you can bring Mikey and Donny." He said walking a few steps.
"We didn't know where you went Raph." Leonardo said quietly. "You were just gone. We heard rumours here and there, but we hadn't heard anything for over a year, no rumour no nothing. We thought you were dead." He said quietly.
Raphael looked at his brother. A twinge of guilt trickled through him. "I should have been here when I found out Master Splinter was gone. I should have let you guys know I was still alive. I regret not coming back Leo, I do."
"So what were you doing out there Raph. What we heard was that you have been fighting. A mercenary for hire or some such thing." He said the last with loathing. "And to think I had never pictured you as the suicidal type Raph."
"Would you believe that of me Leo?"He looked at his brother. Leo's eyes steadily looked at him. "I have been working for the Utroms." He said finally. "They hooked me up with the best fighters from around the world. I have been training Leo. Sometimes the Utroms have had me infiltrate some of the Underground groups that have been rising. The Utroms are going to reveal themselves to the world soon Leo. And the world is going to change when they do. They needed me to make sure that some of the Underground groups were under control, so that when the Utroms reveal themselves, the things that go bump in the night, don't bump back." He paused.
"I don't have a death wish Leo. I never did. She risked everything for us, I'm not going to just throw it all away. Besides I had some things to learn before I died." He clenched his fist and his markings flared to life.
Raphael had noticed that his markings were the only ones that had flared when he had used Her sword during the demon war. He had found a mage that had been able to show him how to use the magic she had awoken in him.
"How?" His brother asked surprised.
Raphael shook his head. "I'll catch you tomorrow Leo." He walked to the entrance but paused. "There will never be anyone else for me Leo." He said as he tapped the place where She had left Her mark. He didn't know what, if any, power the mark held now that She was gone, but he knew with absolute certainty that he would never love another, even if he managed to find someone who could love him. He turned and walked out.
Raphael watched his brothers through the windows of Leonardo's school. Class was in session. Leonardo had about ten students, some were really good, some were just starting out.
Raphael heard a noise behind him. He tried to turn and pull his sais, but a hand bodily picked him up off the ground by his neck. He tried to get a look at the figure that emerged from the darkness.
"Hun." He managed to whisper
"I've waited a long time for you to get back." Pain blazed through his stomach as something was plunged deep through old scar tissue. Hun ripped out the blade and threw him through the window of Leonardo's school.
Glass shattered around him as his shell slammed into a metal support beam. Students screamed around him as he tried to stand.
Leonardo ran over to him. "Raph are you alright, what's going on?"
"Yeah I'm fine Leo." He said as he pulled his black trench coat closed so Leonardo wouldn't see the wound. "We have company." He said grimly as an army of 100 Purple Dragons stormed the building.
"Mikey help get the students to safety, those who want to stay and fight, stay, those who need to go, go." But all of Leonardo's students stayed. Only a few were human, and most had learned how to fight on the streets, of whatever 'Underground' world they inhabited. The Purple Dragons were no better than they had been in the past. A few Werewolves in wolf form circled a few Dragons, while the vampire cut her way through a great swath of them.
"Turtles!" Hun yelled. "How I have dreamed of this moment. All four back together again. All four of you can share the same grave." He screamed as more of the Purple Dragons charged.
"Nice welcome back hey Raph?" Michelangelo asked him as he kicked a Dragon trying to sneak up behind him. Raphael looked at Michelangelo in shock. There was a hardness and a bitterness that Raphael never thought to see on Michelangelo's face. None of his brothers were wearing their masks anymore.
"Yeah, real nice of Hun to roll out the welcome wagon." He growled. He could feel his blood running down his legs. Pain burned and rolled through him. Spots began to dance before his eyes. He shook his head trying to clear it. He focused on ridding Leonardo's school of Purple Dragons. The girl who was interested in Leonardo was doing well. She was a human with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a coffee and cream complexion.
Raphael's eyes sought out Donatello through the chaos.
A Purple Dragon was going to get the drop on him. He managed to make his body move as he hit the Purple Dragon with a kick to the stomach.
He looked in shock at his brother. He was thinner, more drawn and when he moved he could see the lines of scars that worked their way up what he could see of Donatello's exposed arms.
"Donny." Raphael managed to choke out.
Brown eyes that held no emotion looked back at him. "Still alive Raph?" Donatello sneered at him. "You're not doing a very good job at getting yourself killed are you? If you were braver maybe you would have just taken your own life instead of being a coward and trying to get someone else to do it for you." Donatello said to him as his bo hit a Purple Dragon in the face.
Raphael hit another Purple Dragon. Moving away from Donatello. His vision was starting to go black. He struggled against it.
When Hun finally called retreat he stood looking back at them a smug smile on his face. "You think you have won, but at least I managed to get one of you." He walked out with the rest of the retreating Dragons.
"What do you think he's talking about?" Michelangelo asked no one in particular.
Leonardo shook his head. Raphael felt confused because he was sure he had just been standing and now it felt like he was on the floor.
"Raph!" Leonardo said as he pulled him up into his lap. "Donny!" Leonardo yelled as Donatello came running.
Donatello opened up his trench coat and pulled up his shirt. "How bad is it Donny?" Leonardo asked him.
Donatello looked at his wounds in shock. "I didn't..." He said as he paled. Looking at Leonardo his eyes held regret and guilt.
"Donny, I never wanted to die." Raphael choked out. "She risked everything to protect us, to save us, and just because she died, it doesn't mean she's gone." He said to his brother.
Raphael felt as if his body was growing colder. Donatello closed his eyes and shook his head. "So that's why I needed to come back Leo, to clean up your mess, and save your ass." Raphael said to Leonardo. He winced, but suddenly found that the pain was beginning to go away. "Yeah Raph, I guess you did." Leonardo choked out.
"I've missed you guys." He whispered, "Sorry I..."
Leonardo shook his head. Michelangelo and Donatello were looking at him with misery filled eyes. "No sorry's Raph." Michelangelo whispered.
Darkness was pulling him down. "I'll find Her Leo." He whispered as darkness claimed him.
Raphael looked around him and found everything to be washed out. He stared down at his body that was clutched in Leonardo's arms. "I'm sorry Leo, Donny, Mikey. I really screwed things up." He whispered. He glanced over his shoulder as something black swept over him like an all consuming darkness and he knew nothing else.
Leonardo looked at his brother in his arms and felt grief overwhelm him. He stood up as the need for revenge burned through him. Melanie came up to him and looked at him with sadness. He took out his cell and contacted the Guardians. If Raphael had been working for the Utroms they would need to know that Raphael was gone, and the Utroms could help them with The Purple Dragons. Raphael was gone, so the Purple Dragons were going to suffer the same fate. Leonardo thought angrily to himself.
"Leo," Melanie said softly. "Please don't do this. I know you are hurting, but revenge is never the answer."
Leonardo looked at the remains of his school. "I know, but sometimes it's all you have left. Take care of Raph."
Leonardo led his brothers against Hun. A few of the Utrom Guardians helped them. Hun was not expecting an attack so soon after the devastating loss of their brother. Hun didn't survive the attack, most of the Purple Dragons retreated. Leonardo knew that without Hun the Purple Dragons would be destroyed by another street gang soon enough if they attempted to reform.
Two weeks after Raphael's death Leonardo stood on the roof of Belvedere Castle. He was looking at the pictures that he had carried with him since She had died. The two blood stained photos that Raphael had carried with him had been buried with him along with her bow in its scabbard form. They had buried him beneath the floor of the old lair. The place had already been a tomb of memories, now it was actually a tomb. Leonardo had taken the photo album with him. It was the only record of Raphael and Her. They had no pictures of themselves anywhere. Leonardo had decided that it was time to stop ignoring the memories, and enjoy them for what they had been.
Hun's death had left him feeling empty and restless. It had not cured his grief, and it didn't make him feel any better. Another street gang was going to come along and fill the crime vacuum left by the Purple Dragons and the cycle would begin again.
Donatello and Michelangelo seemed to be getting better, or at least, they were talking to him again, which was a start. They were all still devastated by the loss of Raphael, but knowing that Raphael hadn't been trying to get himself killed had acted like a balm on their grieving souls.
He felt Melanie come up behind him. "I thought the worst of him." He said, voice emotionless. "I had thought that after She died that Raph had just snapped. That he had this death wish and was going to throw himself into any situation that would grant his wish. And here he was fighting the good fight, helping people, training, learning, trying to make the world a better place for us." He closed his eyes.
Melanie was silent. "Is that her?" She finally asked.
Leonardo looked down at the photographs forgotten in his hands. He let her look at them.
"She was beautiful." She said. He didn't need to look at the pictures to know what she was seeing. They had been ingrained into his memory. He carried with him the photo of Her and him dancing, the other was a picture of their final fight. She was spread along his body, her arm flush with his, in the act of grabbing his Katana from his grasp. He looked angry in the photo, he looked more than angry, he was full of jealousy and rage and hurt and if you looked past all of that you could just make out the love. Her expression was serene, eyes half closed, his trench coat swirling around her.
"You loved her a lot didn't you Leo?" She asked.
Leonardo closed his eyes in pain. "More than anything." He said as the wind whipped through his trench coat. Sometimes, when the wind blew just right he could still smell Her scent on his coat.
"It's kinda hard to compete with a goddess. Everyone after that is really just a step down." She said quietly, as she looked at the final picture. He had just pulled this one from the album. It was the one that had hurt his heart the most. The final picture of the album. Her looking back at them as she went to her death. "Even harder to compete against someone who sacrificed their life for you."
With Raphael gone, somehow it was as if his heart had been ripped open anew. But now instead of one piece missing it had two.
"But Leo, I love you, and only you. She was in love with you and your brothers, all of them, she wanted you to share!" She stopped talking as if realizing she had said the wrong thing. He looked at her.
She sighed and looked out over the lake. "Do you think he will find her?" She asked finally.
"Raph will tear apart Heaven and Hell looking for her." He said with a slight smile.
