A/N I do not own TMNT, but am forever grateful for their creation.

Sorry for not updating sooner. "Love or Blood" is kind of taking over my life lol, but hopefully with this longer chapter you will forgive me. Also replies to reviews have been relocated to the bottom so things are less cluttered up here.

Threads

VII.

He found himself weightlessly floating over the city's skyline. The buildings and streets below continuously winked in and out of focus as though covered in a veil of water. Even in this strange world the threads were present. He could see no one, but he was not alone.

In his peripheral vision an ethereal mass materialized. It took no solid shape, no recognizable form, but he knew it was regarding him. Another pang of hunger resounded through him and he looked longingly at the threads. His attention was drawn to the mist, "You need to feed."

He frowned at the being. He had heard no noise, but could feel its words slither into his thoughts, "Who are you?"

His skin crawled at its chuckle, "Avoiding it will not make it go away."

The images of the earlier News broadcast made him growl, "I'm not stupid. I know what happens when I touch them."

"Do you?"

He snapped, "It will kill them!"

"No one died before."

"Not yet!"

He could feel the being's penetrating gaze, "You need to feed."

"If you think I'm going to kill my brothers you're nuts!"

It laughed again, "Surely you do not regard the millions of mortals in this city to all be your brothers?"

"Of course not!"

It regarded him shrewdly, "Then what is the problem? Feed on the others."

Raphael growled, "What's the problem!? The problem is that I have no right to harm anyone!"

"That didn't stop you before."

"That was different. Now I know what I can do… I'm… I'm eating… their…"

It finished for him, "Their souls."

Raphael's hands covered his face, "God… So that's it? I'm eating their souls?"

The being seemed entirely unconcerned by his plight, "You have not consumed an entire soul. You have merely tasted. You would not be struggling with your hunger as much as you are if you had, but it does not matter. Whether you delay the inevitable by slowly torturing yourself with starvation or devour legions at once, the end result will be the same."

He dragged his hands from his face, "What result?"

Raphael felt as though the being was becoming impatient with his ignorance, "Either way you will transform."

If the turtle didn't feel so exhausted he would have released all his temper's fury on the cloud before him, but instead all he could do was utter, "Transform?"

"You are wasting time."

Then the being began to dissolve and Raphael panicked, "Wait!? You haven't told me anything!"

It did not stop fading, "You need to feed."

"I will not!"

What was left of it hissed, "Would you risk accidently feeding on your brothers' souls?"

"That can happen?"

It laughed before finally vanishing, "It already did."

Raphael opened his eyes in the corner of the warehouse where he had been hiding. He had thought meditating would help clear his mind and alleviate his cravings, but now he was more confused and even hungrier. However, what was most disconcerting to him was that three red strings were growing in intensity. Raphael cursed.

His brothers were coming.

Earlier, after reappearing at one of the many warehouses lining the docks, for several minutes all Raphael could do was breathe heavily while trying to cope with what was happening to him. He was obviously changing and whatever was happening was threatening to take away his mental stability. He had almost lost it in the Lair, and even though he was not willing to trust the being who had just appeared before him, Raphael knew it had a point. He had accidently fed off of Michelangelo and he knew the longer he went without a meal, the more likely he was to fully lose it. He loathed the very thought, but deep down, he knew if he was to save his brothers from himself he would have to quench his craving.

And he had to do it soon.

His eyes examined the multitude of threads connecting him to thousands of bodies. Hordes of humans doing what they could to make a living. Men and women tolling away, eagerly waiting to return to their families once another day of honest work was done. Either Raphael fed on them or devoured his brothers.

Great.

The being had said the best relief would come from him consuming an entire soul, but that just sounded… So… So wrong… So evil… Raphael knew that no matter what, he could not let that happen.

He tilted his head at the strings. Maybe the key was to feed on enough different energies at once? Maybe if he fed on enough individuals then not only would he not kill anyone, but maybe even prevent another mass collapse?

It was the only immediate solution he could think of, and Raphael decided if he had to feed, he'd rather do it while he was still himself. As it was, just after regaining control he found his mind beginning to slip away again, and so Raphael began collecting threads.

He pulled from as many different directions as he could and when his hands became full, he twisted the strands into cords, and when the cords became thick, he twisted them into ropes. After dutifully plucking hundreds of different strings, Raphael had successfully managed to weave one large golden cable. Now it was time to see if his theory would work. He took a deep breath and wrapped his hands around it.

His body immediately went on fire. So much energy was suddenly pouring into him that his mind was reeling in a whirlwind of voices and visions. He careened through an emotional rollercoaster paining over lost loved ones while elating at proposals and promotions. He was subconsciously aware that he was now surrounded by a veritable cyclone of rainbow iridescence. He held on for as long as he could and finally when he thought his head would burst, the cable began to dim. Quickly he released the threads from their binds before any irreparable damage was done.

Raphael sunk to his knees and for a few minutes was paralyzed in elated ecstasy. All he could do was listen to his laboured breathing while feeling slowly flowed back into his limbs. Finally he stood up, and was thrilled to discover he was now feeling infinitely better than he had five minutes ago. Not only was his hunger alleviated, but his body bristled with raw power. He slowly moved between piles of crates while basking in the shocks of blissful energy that came with each step. That alone was amazing, but Raphael's true relief came feeling that he was no longer struggling for control. His hunger was appeased and his mind was his.

He glanced at the three red threads he had dutifully left out of his weavings. His brothers were getting close. Basking in his after-feeding high, Raphael wandered to a nearby window and glanced outside. Before his eyes even began to scan the horizon, he felt his gut clench. All over the ground lay bodies. Hundreds and hundreds of human bodies.

Raphael froze in horror as his mind took in what he had done. Frantically, he teleported to an unconscious man laying at the entryway of the building across from his hideout, and miraculously Raphael managed to find the man's pulse. The turtle exhaled an immense sigh of relief while examining the thread leading from the man's body. It was dull, but still glowing, which meant that he and the others (he quickly examined the other threads to make sure) would probably wake up in about half-an-hour just like his last victims in Times Square. His relief was cut short however by the sound of an incoming motor. The turtle immediately vanished to reappear out of sight from the street just as the Shell Raiser pulled into view.

While he silently watched the vehicle park and his brothers pile out from the converted railway car, Raphael could not help but bear a ghost of a smile. He still was incredibly anxious about his situation, but at least he had finally managed to gain a brief respite from his hunger. Frankly, he was elated to no longer have to consciously restrain himself from touching his siblings' strings. The memory of his terror at accidently devouring Michelangelo's energy was still very fresh. Now that he finally had respite from his cravings, Raphael found himself being overcome by the impulse to be with his family again. Yet, he hesitated when he saw Leonardo interrogate Donatello, "Don, is he dead?"

While Donatello cautiously approached one of the unconscious humans, Michelangelo nervously played with his chucks, "Guys I'm getting some seriously bad jube jube vibes here!"

Donatello began searching for a pulse while Leonardo hissed, "Calm down Mikey!"

Michelangelo was not pacified, "Dude there are dead guys everywhere! How do you expect me to be calm!"

Donatello sighed in relief to snap at the younger, "Quiet Mikey! Leo this one at least is still alive. I think he's just unconscious."

"So the others?" Leonardo frowned.

"I'd have to check."

Raphael didn't want them to waste time. He could see the threads growing brighter by the second and did not want his brothers risking being exposed when the humans awoke. He reappeared beside Michelangelo while his other brothers crouched over another patient. The younger squealed, "Eep!"

Without even looking Leonardo and Donatello hushed, "Shhh Mikey!"

Raphael shrugged apologetically to the younger who was continuing to stare at the red-clad brother as though the devil himself was before him. Michelangelo cried in a voice pitched higher than normal, "Uh Leo I have a question."

The elder still did not look up, "What Mikey?"

"How are we going to sneak up on a guy who can teleport the instant he senses us coming?"

Leonardo groaned, "Do we have to do this now Mikey?!"

Raphael smirked, "I've been wondering that myself Leo. How do you plan on sneaking up on me?"

Both brothers whirled around in shock, but Leonardo did not let that faze him. In the same smooth movement, he drew his tranquilizer and fired a dart at his second oldest brother. It was a perfect shot and would have pierced the turtle's exposed arm, but before the needle met its mark, the mutant's reflexes intervened. Raphael examined his tiny catch while ignoring the dropped jaws of his brothers, "Wow, were you seriously going to tranq me Leo?"

Leonardo spluttered while gesturing around, "What do you want me to do Raph? You killed all these innocent people!" He prepared to fire another shot, "Brother or not, you have to be stopped!"

Once again Raphael blithely caught the dart out of the air and in annoyance snapped at his older brother, "Quit being an idiot Leo. None of them are dead. They'll probably be good to go in like twenty minutes, so chill!"

Apparently neither Donatello nor Leonardo felt like listening to reason as they both shot at their red-clad brother simultaneously. This time Raphael didn't bother catching the darts. Instead he disappeared so that the tranquilizer-filled projectiles harmlessly shattered on a nearby brick wall. Before the turtles could fire another round, Raphael reappeared to forcibly pull the guns from his brothers' arms. He chuckled darkly at how easy it was to disarm them, "Geez you guys should think about hitting the weights more."

In his obvious embarrassment at being so easily relieved of his weapon Leonardo hissed, "At least I'm not draining people's energy!"

Raphael quirked an eye ridge as he effortlessly snapped the rifles in half, "Would you rather have a sane brother or the guy you saw at the Lair earlier? Because I either I feed," he nodded towards the unconscious man, "or you get that psycho."

Leonardo balked, "Wha-What?"

The turtle sighed as he dropped the now useless weapons, "Something's happening to me Leo, and whatever it is, I don't think I can stop it." He glanced at the only armed turtle left, "Don't even think about it Mikey. I'll catch it and break it before you can count to three."

The orange clad turtle squeaked and lowered the barrel, "Please don't."

"Then don't try to tranq me."

Donatello was the first to recover from Raphael's earlier statement, "So what is happening to you, and why can't we stop it?"

Said turtle shrugged, "Hell if I know, and it's what my gut's telling me."

"Wait." All the turtles directed their attention to Leonardo, "So not only can you not tell us what's happening, but you are already admitting defeat because your gut told you?!"

Raphael cast his eyes downward, "Well that and uh… Someone told me."

The eldest was becoming more exasperated by the second, "WHO? You were talking to the humans?!"

"No I wasn't," Raphael growled, "It was from a dream or vision or something! This cloud thing told me that whether I fed or not I was still going to transform, and by not feeding I was wasting time."

"And you didn't think to ask for details?!"

The red-clad turtle replied sarcastically, "No Leo! I thought it would be fun to transform into God-knows-what while I run around feeding on people's souls just for the heck of it! Of course I asked! It didn't tell me!"

Michelangelo cried diverting the conversation his way, "WHAT?! YOU'VE BEEN EATING SOULS!?"

Raphael took a step towards his youngest brother, "Mikey…"

The smallest turtle jumped away, his eyes wide with fear, "IS THAT WHAT YOU DID TO ME!?"

The guilty turtle froze and reached a hand out to his brother, "Listen Mike –"

His baby brother practically screamed, "STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU SOUL-SUCKING VAMPIRE!"

In hurt at his brother's words and look of terror, Raphael shouted back, "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! THIS IS WHY I HAD TO COME UP HERE AND DO THIS SO I DON'T FUCKING FEED ON YOU GUYS BY MISTAKE!"

His three brothers merely stared at him in silent revulsion, and at that moment all Raphael wanted to do was curl up in his shell in shame. He looked down to see one of the unbroken darts resting near his toes. It wasn't a difficult decision. As he reached to pick it up he murmured, "Fine. Put me to sleep and keep me asleep. That way I can't do any more damage."

Raphael jammed the needle into his arm and as the film of unconsciousness blurred his vision, the last voice he heard did not belong to his brothers but that of another, "Hello reptiles."

A/N Thanks for reading guys! Oh and uh sorry for the cliffhanger...

To my lovely reviews:

Raigon: My intention was for Master Splinter's motivation for his actions to be a result of A) Crazy altar stuff happened the night before that he doesn't fully understand and is concerned about B) Raphael having unnatural butt-kicking powers in morning training and at Times Square C) His three remaining sons being freaked out (Leo and Don are still on the fence about what's going on and yes, Mikey is just being Mikey).

So basically Splinter's concerned and knows Raphael must be doing something (he didn't explicitly say he agreed with Michelangelo), and just wants his son back so they can figure stuff out.

All that said, when I reread the chapter I still agree that I really could have written Splinter much better so I apologize for that. Hopefully I will do a better job with his later appearances. Thanks so much for the constructive feedback. I really appreciate it! =)

Guest: Thank-you and I'm sorry for keeping you waiting!

mikeysgirl228: Thank-you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Guest: Sorry for the late update! I agree I too have a weak spot for super powers + Raph. These kinds of stories definitely make the insane fantastical writer in me delighted. Thanks for reviewing =)