CHAPTER 12: THE LAST THING.

Yoro and Zamir had managed to gather a lot of black essence, and there wasn't much left to reach the perfect quantity that was needed to open the Rip of the Underworld and resurrect their evil master, Shredder. But, as said above, they needed just a little bit more essence.

"What can we do my Lord?" Zamir asked Yoro. Shredder's younger thought about it…yeah! They would've hypnotized some humans and made them do crimes in their place! What could the humans do then? Steal some cars? Or rob a shop? Maybe the second choice was the best. He told Zamir about his plan and the blonde, vicious man smiled evilly: The Turtles would be defeated once and for all!

The Turtles prepared for the patrol, lost in their thoughts. Some time earlier, after their almost-kiss, Raph and Julie hadn't spoken or looked at each other. When they were alone in the living room for a short while, in silence, Julie noticed that Raph hadn't prepared himself to go.

"Will you go tonight?" Raph was surprised that she had finally opened her mouth in his presence. He answered quickly:

"Ehm…no…" Julie was close to ask him why, when Leo walked into the room. When he saw them he didn't know why, but an ice cold goosebump spread all over his body. His sixth sense was telling him something, but he didn't know what. He surely noticed that something must have happen between Raph and Julie. When the Turtles had gone out, Raph prepared himself as Nightwatcher and came to Julie's New York in 0 seconds with the portal.

When the Turtles , Julie and April came to the other New York, they jumped roof to roof as usual, watching over the streets to see if something unusual was happening. Then, they finally arrived near a shop, where there were some men robbing it. One of them was blonde and was wearing black clothes just as his companion. The other one had black curly hair and was caring boxes to their big car. But there was something strange about them too; they looked like robots, as they didn't know what they were doing. The Turtles decided to stop them and jumped down from the roof, in front of the odd criminals, who were carring one box each.

"Stop right there, thieves! The party is over!" Donnie said with serious. The thieves laid down the boxes and took out baseball rackets, one for each of them, and ran to attack the Turtles.

Mikey ran to stop the attacks with his kurigasama, and wrapped the blonde's racket.

"HA-HA!" Mikey said loud, satisfied. But the blonde criminal wasn't stupid. He lifted the racket with all his strength and Mikey flew high and hit the ground pretty hard.

"Leo! Mikey's KO!" Donnie shouted. Leo ran to help his youngest brother.

"Mikey, are you all right?"

"Ghyeah, I'mgf all righf, but wöy are vhere fuve Leos? Sfinfse whuen do you have tfwins?" He said with a dumb voice. Leo sighed desperately. No, he was knocked off.

"Brööö…." Mikey loosed consciousness in the blue clad turtle's arms.

"NO MIKEY! Stay awake!" He shook him, but Mikey remained with his eyes shut. The black haired criminal took out a rifle and started shooting in their direction. Leo jumped away with Mikey in his arms to skip the shooting.

"Julie!" She ran to him.

"Take care of Mikey!" Julie nodded and tried to cure him with her chi (she always had the medallion with her) She tried a million times, but it didn't work.

"Leo! I can't! I isn't working!" She said desperate. Her boyfriend answered while stopping the criminal's attacks:

"If you're stressed then the magic is weak! You have to concentrate and calm down! You can do it!" Julie nodded again, taking deep, calming breathes. He laid her hands on Mikey's chest and activated her chi, concentrating as well as she could. The red stone shined bright and the light came to Mikey's heart and in the end, the young turtle opened his eyes and flew up, scared as heck.

"HOLY PIZZA! Julie! I'm so glad to see you! I had a horrible dream! I dreamt that Leo had 4 twins!"

"It's all right Mikey, don't worry…" Julie said comforting and they soon got back to fight again. While Donnie was fighting, he noticed that someone had to control the humans from some place, because when he beat the shit out of them, the rose up again as dolls. He looked around and saw them in a second:

Yoro and Zamir were on a roof some meters away and Zamir had his eyes shut and did strange movements with his hands. Donnie ran towards them.

"Donnie! Wait! Where are you going?" April shouted. The purple masked turtle climbed on the wall and jumped towards them lifting his staff to attack them.

"Oh, it seems that we have a visit!" Yoro giggled vicious. What Donnie hadn't calculated was that they had a barrier. He was hit by the magic shield and fell on the ground.

"Are you all right?" April asked kneeling in front of him. Donnie nodded and became serious soon.

"Zamir and Yoro are on the roof controlling the criminals!"

"Exactly, brainhead!" Zamir laughed. They were floating in front of them now.

"Too bad for you, we have enough black essence to awake our master!" Yoro shouted to them.

"No! We'll not let you do it! Guys, break the cylinder down!" Leo said. They ran all towards Yoro and Zamir and jumped high thanks to their chi. But Yoro activated the barrier and they flew to the ground again, defeated.

"You can't do anything anymore!" Zamir laughed and disappeared with his lord in a purple small tornado, and the silence laid again on the city.

"Holy pizza…what'll we do now?" Mikey asked worried.

"I don't know, I guess we've to get home and elaborate a plan…" Leo said sadly. The others nodded. Julie took a deep breath. She was a little bit tired after the battle; the chi had taken a bunch of her energy.

Suddenly she felt metal arms wrap her and dragging her into a dark corner. They mysterious man took her in his arms and jumped some roofs away. All this happen very fast, and Julie hadn't got the time to scream for help. When they arrived on a roof a bit away, the man let her go and Julie saw it was Nightwatcher.

"Night! You scared me! Why did you take me here?" She said sighing with relief.

"Ehm…I…where were you last night? You didn't come, I was worried!" Oh! In the end she hadn't gone out with him, but had stayed with Leo at home.

"Ah! I'm sorry! Last night…" She looked away. "I wasn't in the best mood, but I'm all right now. If you wanted to see me only for this, I have to go now, the Turtles are surely searching for me…" Raph stopped her, taking her hand.

"No! Wait! The thing is…I wanted to talk to you, alone…" This time, he looked away.

"Oh but then let's sit down!" They sat on the edge of the roof, looking over the panorama of the city. Raph started:

"Well….I…" Julie tried to decode those mysterious, thoughtful and hesitating eyes.

"I…I'll leave the city." Julie gasped in surprise hearing those words.

"What? But you can't! This city needs us! It needs you! Yoro and Zamir has taken all the necessary black essence, you just can't leave like that!"

"Listen, it wasn't an easy decision!" He answered sharply. "It's just that there's a person that I care a lot about and she's suffering a lot because of me. My behavior can tear the family apart too, and I don't want that to happen, not because of me…." When she heard what he said, Julie was a bit sad but understood. She smiled sadly and sighed:

"Well, at least you have a reason to leave…" Julie looked up and their eyes met for a moment.

"I'll miss you…" Raph felt how his heart beat faster and faster.

"I'll miss you too…" This would been the last time he'd ever seen her, and he hadn't told her yet about his feelings…he would never see her again…he felt, like last time, how the reasonable part of himself slowly slipped away and his feelings took control…

"But before I leave, there's just one last thing I want to do…" He looked at her serious and sincere.

"What kind of thing?" Julie asked curious. Raph took all the courage in his heart.

"Close your eyes, and don't open them for any reason until I say you can, understood?"

"All right!" Julie said laughed and closed her eyes. Raph took a deep breath and took off his helmet. Now or never. He caressed her cheek, and Julie felt goosebumps on her skin. Why was this feeling so familiar?

Raph put his hands around her neck, without hesitation and sighed. There was just silence and a high tension in the air. His heart beat hard and fast in his chest, covering every single sound. He came closer. Then, he did something that he usually never had dared to do in his whole life, but he couldn't stop himself anymore:

He kissed Julie with all the love he felt for her.

When Julie felt the kiss, she almost pushed Raph away. But then the mixed and intense emotions of the kiss came over her as a powerful, enormous wave, and she didn't stop it. Julie relaxed and Raph embraced her tightly.

It was a passionate kiss. His lips kissed her with indescrivible warmth, at the same time as it had a sweet, bitter and melancholic taste, making her shiver. It was like a sweet and melancholic goodbye. It was so deep, beautiful. She felt so sad…

Raph stroke his hands in her hair. He didn't want to let her go, but he had to. It was the best for both of them. It seemed like an eternity had passed when he finally stopped kissing her. He sighed again, and whispered in her ear with a broken voice:

"Goodbye…" Julie heard him disappear with a slight movement, and knew he was gone. She opened her eyes. Julie felt shocked and speechless. Then, she realized what she had done, and the feelings of guilt washed over her as If they were ice-cold water.

She had let Nightwatcher kiss her, even if she loved Leo. Julie felt so guilty, but at the same time she felt that she just couldn't had stopped that kiss. It was filled with emotions, which had touched her deep in her soul. She didn't love Nightwatcher in that way, but Julie still felt that she had betrayed Leo. Leonardo had always helped her, comforted her and loved her with all his body and soul, but she had betrayed him. She hid her face in his hands, falling down on her knees.

The Turtles reached the same roof were Julie was, and saw her on her knees, hiding her face in her hands, still as a statue. They all looked wondering at each other as Leo ran to her.

"Julie! We've looked everywhere for you!...hey, are you ok?" He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Suddenly, Julie woke up as from a deep sleep, and slapped the hand away. Leo was shocked. She had never acted like that before. Had he done something wrong?

Julie looked at him with sad and teary eyes, but she wasn't crying. She rose up and Leo tried to reach for her, but she shook her head and said angrily:

"NO! Stay away from me!" She ran away fast as lightning, down the stairs to the exit and down on the silent streets. Leo stared in the direction she had run away, with eyes big as plates. Donnie came to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey…Leo… "The eldest brother came back to reality.

"Don't worry for me, let's go and search for Julie! Spread out and search on the streets and the corners!" They spread out and started searching. They looked for her for half an hour. Donnie passed near a dark alley, and heard a silent crying, and saw a silhouette he recognized quickly. It was Julie, who was sitting against the wall, and had her face buried in her knees. The turtle walked slowly and silently to her. He sat down by her side, and laid his arms around her shoulders.

Julie jolted scared, and tried to push him away.

"NO! No! Let me go!"

"Calm down Julie! Calm down! Don't worry; I won't take you to the others, not now." Julie calmed down and looked away from his eyes.

"What has happen? Why did you react like that with Leo? He hasn't hurt you in any way, at least what I know…" Julie sighed with teary eyes and answered with a broken voice:

"No, it's not him, it's just…" She stopped herself.

"Talk about it Julie, it's good to talk things out!" Julie nodded and told him everything that had happen between her, Raph and Nightwatcher so far. When Donnie heard that Raph aka Nightwatcher had kissed her, he almost felled down on the ground. Ok, it was official, Raph was completely crazy. Julie continued worried:

"The thing is that I've betrayed Leo. I haven't told him anything so he wouldn't go mad at Raph, and because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. He's always been so honest and sincere and open with me, and suddenly I let another boy kiss me! I am a horrible girlfriend, a horrible person!"

"Julie! You know it's not true! You are a fantastic girl, who always understands and can read other people's feelings, that's why I know that Leo won't be mad at you because you didn't stop the kiss." Donnie answered reassuring.

"Really?"

"Absolutely! But I still think you should talk to him!" Donnie said with a light smile. Julie nodded and hugged him tight.

"Thanks Donnie, you're my very best friend!"

"You're welcome, you're mine too! Let's go back to the others now, they are surely worried!" They walked out of the alley and Donnie called his brothers with his T-Phone. They quickly came to him and climbed on a roof to talk unnoticed. Julie and Leo looked heartbroken at each other, and the others knew it was best leaving them alone. They went back home and leave them alone. They looked at each other and sighed. Leonardo started talking:

"Julie…have I done something that I shouldn't done? Have I done something bad? If there are any problems with me that you want to tell me about then it's important to tell me…" Julie took all the courage in her heart and spoke:

"Leo…it's not you, absolutely not…it's just…Raph…" Her voice broke.

"What? Has Raph done something to you?" He said with a sting of anger in his voice. She shook her head.

"No…" Then she told him everything that had happen between her, Raph and Nightwatcher and told him about the kiss too. Leo felt pain in his heart, but listened to her. Julie explained why she didn't stop the kiss, and Leo nodded in silence.

"Leo, I…I'm sorry for everything that I've done, I mean it…I've been an idiot not telling you everything, I didn't wanted to hurt you, but the truth is that I've already hurt you a lot with not telling you about this. I'm a horrible girl and girlfriend, I don't deserve you. But I want you to know that I can't live without you…you're the only one I love, I don't want another man in my life than you…T…The only one I want is you. But the truth is, I've failed you…." She waited for Leo's disappointed, angry and bitter voice to tell her it was over. But he didn't say anything. She turned around and looked away, taking a step forward. Suddenly, she felt Leo's hand taking hers, and he dragged her close to him, hugging her tightly. Julie remained shocked. Leo whispered warmly and softly:

"Julie, my love, you've never failed me. I understand everything, and you don't have to worry. For me, you're unique. You're a beautiful, strong girl, who I'll never leave. You're my present and my future. I promise you that I'll do everything to keep you by my side. Because neither I can be without you. You're the princess of my destiny. We are bound by destiny, by eternity…" Those words warmed Julie's heart deeply.

"So…you're not angry for the kiss?" Leo shook his head laughing. Julie smiled and asked:

"We'll be together forever, won't we?" Leo smiled sincerely back.

"Yes princess…" He said giggling delicately. "Forever…" He ended whispering softly. Then, he kissed her passionately under the beautiful moonlight.

A/N: Aww that was cute wasn't it? But OMG JULIE AND RAPH DA FEELS THO! This chapter breaks my heart and yet I think it's one of the best I've wrote. I listened to Implode by BoA and Evening Sky by Ailee while writing the scenes with Raph and Julie before and during the kiss, they fit so good, you should give them a listen! And princess serenity death theme from sailor moon was amazingly fitting for this chapter, just after the kiss and when she runs away….I love the sailor moon soundtrack! XD thanks for reading, see you next chapter!

Hugs and cookies, your

-Sushi :D