Hello once again my friends, and welcome to another story, a follow up fic after the events of 'Falling Inside the Black' and 'Oh Sister Where Art Thou?'
This story centres on Mona's younger brother Callum, or Diablo the Raven as he calls himself.
In 'Oh Sister Where Art Thou?' he and his older brother Jake travelled to New York for closure on what happened to their older sister who went missing over 11 years ago. They soon got the shock of their lives when through the crimes of the Purple Dragons they reunited. As much as they were horrified at what had become of their sister, they soon had to accept what happened, Jake was willing to embrace Monalisa's new life as a mutant, yet Callum was unwilling.
Then not long afterwards, through Callum's misadventures, the Foot took the brothers hostage and after a fight with Mona and the Turtles, Callum was fatally wounded by the Foot's merciless leader, the Shredder.
Not wanting to loose her brother again, Mona along with Jake and the Turtles, took Callum to the Underground city of Mutopia, where she used the water from the sanctuary's magical well to heal him yet at a cost as the water would take away his humanity and turn him into a mutant.
In 'Falling Inside the Black', Callum was horrified to discover he had become a mutant Raven, and was furious at his brother and sister for what they did to him. Through the help of Tyroth the Dragon and the other residents of Mutopia, Callum began to accept his new life, until he realised what he could be capable of with his new body and abilities, but was angered when the Mutopians and the New Yorkers didn't agree with his ideas.
Unwilling to follow the rules of Mutopia, Callum turned on Mutopia and after stealing some of the Well's Magical Water, and seriously injuring many residents, even his own brother, he fled Mutopia and began a new life on the run declaring himself no longer Callum Freeman, but Diablo the Raven.
Now known as the Mutopian Rogue with his own supply of magical water, Diablo decides to find his own path, meanwhile his sister desperately misses him as well as blames herself for what happened, whilst Tyroth, Jake and the Chicago Knights work tirelessly to protect their home, as well as hunt Diablo down.
United By Fate
Chapter One
Three Days...
"Are you hearing yourself?"
"This is me sis! This is who I am!"
"I'm not sure I know you anymore! You're not the little brother I used to know!"
"You could leave these cowards behind and join me sis...You and I? We could show the humans who should be the dominant species!"
"Cal...you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I can't follow!"
"So, you choose to remain with the ones who choose to hide?"
"No! Please come back! Come back baby brother! I love you!"
"LIAR!"
"NO!"
"You cannot stop me!"
Mona shot bolt upright in bed, sweat dripping from her forehead and tried to catch her breath, she had felt like she had participated in some harsh physical activity, but she had done anything but that.
This was the third nightmare in a row since she and her family had returned to New York since the incident in Mutopia involving her younger brother's betrayal.
Each time she had closed her eyes, she remembered the look in Callum's eyes (Or Diablo, as he now called himself) as he attacked her in the bedroom, saying how he wished to live his own life as a mutant, and if she wasn't with him, she was against him, the words he spoke to her had cut deeper than any wound she had received before and it hurt so much.
She looked across to her turtle mate Raphael who was laying on his back, one arm flung over his head and snoring softly.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Mona rose from the bed and walked towards the door to head to the kitchen, using her ninja skills to sneak out quietly.
She was glad her tossing and turning hadn't woken her mate and luckily it hadn't the past couple of nights, she didn't want to worry Raphael, since he was already worried enough about her.
The Lair was dark yet it was lit by some night lights just in case anyone awoke in the night, or day as the mutants were nocturnal.
Mona crept from the bedroom and soon made it to the kitchen where she turned on a small light and took a glass from the cupboard so she could get a drink of water.
Her nightgown was soaked with her sweat and she shivered slightly as she started to feel cool again, she swallowed some of the icy cold water which hit her stomach like a kick in the guts, yet it didn't help her dry mouth and she kept refilling her glass and drinking more.
"Mona?"
A voice made her jump and she turned around before dropping the glass making it smash.
As she recovered from her shock, the lizard lady saw her younger adopted brother Donatello standing in the doorway, maskless and looking half asleep, yet concerned.
"Don...you scared me!" she croaked.
"I'm so sorry." Donatello said before walking over to help clean up the glass and dispose of it without injuring himself or Mona.
"Tell me," Donatello asked "You've been having another one of your nightmares sister?"
Mona nodded, there was no denying it, her eyes were bloodshot and there was dark circles under them as well, she hadn't gotten a proper nights sleep since that fateful day.
The night Diablo had betrayed her, everything had changed, and the pain she felt, it was almost like that morning she had woken as a mutant in the sewers those years ago. No, she felt this was the worst emotional pain she had felt since then.
"It's been three days since we left Mutopia." she said "And I still blame myself for what happened."
"It wasn't your fault!" Donatello said placing a hand on his adopted sister's shoulder, "You didn't make him betray us!"
"Would have it been better just to let him die?" Mona asked, tears forming in her eyes, both in anger at herself for thinking such a thing, but also sorrow "Should I have given him what he originally wanted? To die by the hand of the Shredder?"
"No!" Donatello barked "No fucking way!"
Mona looked up at Donatello almost shocked at how he spoke to her, she expected that reaction from either Raphael or Tyroth, but never or almost never from Donatello, the most soft spoken and gentle of the Ninja Turtles.
"Don't you think on that Mona!" he clasped Mona's cheeks and made her look into his eyes "Don't you dare think on it! You did what you could for your brother! But he made his choice! You didn't force him to do what he did!"
Mona opened her mouth and closed it again like a fish, tears streamed from her eyes and she broke down sobbing.
Donatello sighed and pulled Mona close to him so she could cry into his chest.
"Shhh shhh." he whispered soothingly as the Lizard Lady wept and shook.
"Don?" the brainy turtle turned around and he saw Raphael walking into the kitchen "What's going on?"
Donatello looked at his older brother then down at Mona to which Raphael walked over concerned.
"Mona? Babe?" he asked placing his hand on his mate's back.
Mona sniffled and looked up at Raphael who instantly pulled her into a hug.
"She's been suffering nightmares." Donatello said.
Raphael sighed and held Mona closer to him running his fingers through her hair until she began to relax into his embrace.
"Three days." he said.
Donatello nodded.
"Tyroth has been keeping me updated." he said "So far nothing, Diablo's not been found."
"Where could that bird have gone to?" Raphael asked "Where would he hide?"
"With his black feathers, and ability to fly, he could hide anywhere." Donatello said "And what he plans to do next, none of us know."
"Well he wouldn't dare try and go back to Mutopia." Raphael said "If he has any intelligence, he'd never even try."
"True that." Donatello agreed "Even though the Mutopians have promised that they won't hurt him if they caught him, he doesn't know that, he may think Tyroth would burn him alive if he sets eyes on him."
Raphael nodded then looked down at Mona who was drifting in and out of consciousness, having cried herself into exhaustion.
"Come on babe." he said "Let's get you back to bed."
He gathered Mona into his arms and began to carry her back to their room but not before turning to Donatello to tank him for comforting her.
"No problem Raph." Donatello said "Just let me know if you need help."
"Will do." Raphael promised "And again thank you."
Donatello winked then returned to his own room turning off the kitchen light as he did so.
Meanwhile, miles away in Chicago Illinois, the sky above the windy city was starting to get dark, yet the city like New York never slept and as stars began to dot the sky, then lights in the many high rise buildings began to light up.
One one of the roofs of the buildings, Sephie the Gecko and Kate the Viper were scouting the area.
"We're taking a major risk you know." Kate hissed "We could be spotted by the humans in this light!"
"You know why we have to do this!" Sephie said "We have to use every advantage to find Diablo!"
"That damned Raven!" Kate growled "I know! But we're putting ourselves at risk as well, its bad enough trying to make sure we're not seen during night time hours, but..."
"I know!" Sephie said exasperated "But since Diablo betrayed us, we have to take more risks to protect ourselves and our home! We don't know what that Raven might do if we're off guard for one second!"
"Three days since our friends went home." Kate sighed bitterly, thinking of Michelangelo "Three days we've been scouting at earlier hours, and not a sniff of that Mutopian traitor!"
"After what he did to that Hate Preacher, and his wife and brother," Sephie said "I would have guessed he would go searching for similar victims, but since he fled Mutopia, he hasn't struck again."
"More than likely the cowards laying low!" Kate growled "I know it! He's hiding from us hoping we'll give up! But we won't! We won't rest until he's found!"
"That's our vow." Sephie said, then she jumped slightly as her cell phone rang.
"Hun?" she asked, seeing who it was on the screen.
"Sephie? How are you and Kate doing?"
"We've searched everyone corner here, and not a trace, he seems to have developed a good sense of hiding." The Gecko reported.
"Damn!" Tyroth's voice cursed "Third Night in a row! I haven't found anything, and the others have reported the same"
"Shit! What now boss?" asked Kate.
The two mutant reptilian women heard Tyroth sigh on the other side.
"Return to the Rendezvous girls." he said "We've converse further!"
"Very well hun." Sephie said "See you in a few minutes." she hung up and turned to Kate "Come on." she said "We better get back!"
Kate nodded in agreement but not before looking over her shoulder and glaring, as if expecting the one they were hunting to see that even though they were abandoning their search for now, it would not be forever then she followed Sephie off the roof to meet with the others.
As the Gecko and Viper left the roof, a dark figure appeared from behind a door in the roof they had been standing on, revealing themselves to be the one they were hunting.
His moonstone blue eyes glowed slightly as he watched them leave and a smirk curled on his black beak.
"I thought they'd never leave." he thought, then he opened his large black wings giving them a much needed stretch.
"I knew I would have to be prepared for this." he thought "Three days I have been running, and hiding, so far I have been successful, even with their army, they cannot search everywhere at the same time, and as long as I am ahead of them, I will continue to avoid their eyes."
He felt on his belt a pouch where he kept the bottle of stolen magical water from Mutopia's Well.
"But soon I will not be alone, I have plans, as I cannot run and hide alone for long...soon I will find some who will be willing to follow me."
Smirking after the figures of the girls leaping across the buildings, he turned and walked away before opening his wings to take off into the sky, as the sun started to disappear on the horizon.
So much has changed for our heroes, poor Mona still feels pain over the betrayal, the Mutopians are searching for Diablo, yet the raven is one step ahead, and he has plans of his own.
I have to admit I was going to post this after I'd finished 'Bad Habits' but because it was my dear friend Tyroth Darkstorm's birthday today, I thought I'd give him a surprise since this is a fic he's been looking forward to seeing since I finished 'Falling Inside the Black'
Hope you enjoyed it T! And Happy Birthday! Love Bloodrayne666
