CHAPTER 13: THE OPENING OF THE RIP AND THE RETURN.

Finally! Zamir and Yoro had collected all the necessary black essence that they needed! Now they could finally bring back Shredder to the living! Zamir took the cylinders and poured the essence in a bigger one to take with them and Yoro gathered a ninja army if someone would be interfering. They went to the biggest plaza of New York and made a hole in the middle of the plaza and placed the cylinder there.

Zamir took deep breathes. He was so excited! They were in front of the cylinder, and both of them started to say a magic formula in an ancient language. Soon the world would be their!

The Turtles went back home. It was already late in the evening, and the city was empty, with grey clouds covering the sky. When they arrived at the lair, Raph had disappeared. Splinter said he hadn't come home in a while. They searched for him through the whole lair and the sewers, but it seemed like he'd vanished. Julie was the first to notice the letter on the kitchen table. She opened it and read it. There was written:

"Dear brothers, Splinter Julie and April:

I know, it's not like me to write a letter like this, but it doesn't matter now. You're surely asking yourselves were the heck I am. The truth is that I'll surely be far away from New York when you're reading this. But why have I leaved you? Because I know my behavior in these past weeks has let everyone down, making everyone angry and sad and that's why I've decided to put things right. I'm a coward, I know, but I think it's best this way. It's best for me to leave now. Forgive me brothers, for everything bad and horrible I've done to you during these years, I mean it.

Julie, if you are reading this too, I want to say sorry, because I've made you suffer. I'm a complete idiot, while you are a fantastic girl. You've always been my side, and I'm grateful for that. To not make you suffer any longer, I've decided to leave. But I want you to know I will never forget you. Forgive me.

Goodbye,

Raph.

In a second, she realized everything: But then…the girl that Nightwatcher talked about, the reason why Raph had left…they were connected! And that then meant that…Raph and Nightwatcher WERE THE SAME PERSON, and that for all this time, RAPH HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH HER!

She remained still as a statue with the letter in her hand and her eyes staring empty. The others read it too, and when they took it from her hand, without thinking, Julie ran out of the sewers, in the streets and started shouting furiously:

"RAPH! WHY DID YOU LEAVE? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE! WE NEED YOU AND YOU JUST RAN AWAY! WHERE HAS THE BRAVE RAPAHEL GONE? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE NOW? YOU'RE AN IDIOT!IDIOT, IDIOT! COME BACK RAPH, I BEG YOU!" The Turtles came up to the surface and ran to her. Donnie hugged her.

"We'll continue search for him in the surface too…" He said reassuring. A cold wind blew over them and the sky was greyer than ever. From the plaza a bit away, they all saw a purple and crooked rip over the sky.

"Holy pizza! Do you think Yoro and Zamir have something to do with this?" Mikey said with big, worried eyes.

"It might could be my sons. You have to hurry, go now!" Splinter said who had followed them up.

"And Raph?" April asked.

"I'll search for him. Go and fight my sons, the final battle awaits you. They all nodded and turned around to go, and Splinter stopped them to say some last words, looking at them with eyes filled with pride.

"Remember, I'm proud of calling you my sons. Good luck." The Turtles looked at their father with grateful and thankfulness and ran then towards the plaza.

When they arrived, there was a big cylinder with the essence inside, in the middle of the plaza. A purple ray was coming out of it and it was slowly opening the rip in the sky. It was the Rip of The Underworld. Yoro and Zamir were close to it, saying words with no sense at all.

"Oh, look who's here! The Turtles! I knew you'd come here! Now, in an hour, the rip will open completely, and you'll have to kneel in front of the master Shredder!" Yoro said.

"You believe that, Yoro!" Mikey shouted. He ran towards him and jumped and twisted with his nunchakus. He trapped the cylinder with his kurigasama, but it gave him a violent electric shock and the turtle flew in the air and hard on the ground. Donnie ran to help him.

"Oh my gosh Mikey! With a shock wave like that you should already be dead! How are you?"

"Hi princess! I have saved you, so why don't you give me a kiss?..." He said with spinning eyes and crazy voice. He came closer too!

"MIKEY!" He slapped him hard on the head and the youngest turtle screamed and shook his head.

"Oh Donnie! Thank you!" He hugged him. "But I was almost kissing a princess! Why did you wake me up so early?" Donnie sighed desperately and continued fighting against the ninja army Yoro had prepared. Zamir was fighting against Leo, and started teasing him:

"I don't see the red one! Where is he? Did he run away leaving you here? What a coward!"

"Shut up! Don't you even dare talk bullshit about my brother?"

"Well then why isn't he here? He's just a fool is he thinks he can escape Shredder, because he'll kill every each one of you!" Leo pushed him away with his katanas so Zamir felled to the ground. Leo pointed the swords near his neck.

"To be honest, I don't care why he left…because….I want him back here! It doesn't matter what he did, we all want our brother to come back!" Zamir was surprised to hear those words. Why didn't this turtle feel any resentment against his brother?

"Even if has done many bad decision and things in his life, even if he doesn't have a great mood all the time, Raphael is an amazing brother and friend. His loyal, strong and is always there when you need him. He has always helped me through hard times, he always understood me. Even if he had hurt me deeply, I forgive him, because I know he'll come back. I trust him!"

Zamir pushed the sword away with a kick and rose up, punching Leo in the face.

"Believe what you want, he won't come back!"

"We'll see on that one!" Leo said with a challenging tone in his voice.

Splinter was jumping on the roofs in search of his son. From the letter he'd left, the sage rat had understood that Raph had loved Julie all this time. His silent suffering had forced him to leave, and he had to find him as soon as possible. At the same time, he couldn't just be mad at him. Splinter understood that feeling, and knew that his brothers would've forgiven him too. From his mistakes of the past, Splinter had teached his sons about the power of forgiveness.

Raph was sitting on a roof and was staring at the empty streets. He couldn't believe that he had just run away from his family. He wanted to come back, but he had left that letter, and he was sure that Julie had already told Leo about their kiss and the rest of the story.

"Shit…I'm such a fucking moron!" He threw a stone down the roof and sighed irritated.

"Rapahel." His eyes widened, surprised as ever. He rose up and turned around.

"Ma…Master Splinter!" The turtle ran to his master.

"Why have you looked for me?"

"Because the final battle is going on, and your brothers need you more than ever."

"But…master, I don't dare looking them in the eyes anymore after what I've done. Do you think they'll forgive me? And Julie and Leo? I know that I've hurt them deeply…." Raph looked away from his master, looking down at his feet.

"Raphael…if there's something important that I've teach you all, is forgiveness. Seeing what my choices from the past has caused, I've teach you about forgiveness. Remember always that forgiveness has an enormous power, as big as love. It can do many things, and I'm sure that Julie, Leo and the others has already forgiven you. Don't be afraid!"

"Really?"

"Yes. The time of hiding is over, we have to go back and fight evil to save the world. All right?"

"Yes, Father.

The Turtles, Julie and April were fighting as best as they could: Mikey attacked every ninja spinning and kicking fast with his nunchakus and kurigasama and his special move Hot Nunchuck Fury. Donnie was beat every ninja with his staff with April. Leo was still facing Zamir while Julie fought some ninjas alone.

Zamir was tired to fight against Leo and aimed Mikey instead. He tried to get rid of Leo, but the eldest Turtle wasn't an easy bite. But en the end, Zamir kicked him pretty hard in the stomach; making him fly some meters and making him drop his katanas. Leo didn't have the time to take them, and Zamir already was in front of his younger brother.

"Mikey! Be careful!" Leo shouted. Mikey got in a defensing position and was ready to fight. Zamir attacked him quickly and violently. Mikey dodged the attacks with stealth, but was hit sometimes too.

"You think you're though huh? You think you're strong? You think you can resist my Hot Nunchuck Fury? Huh?" The orange clad turtle said dodging more attacks.

"I'm surely smarter than you!" Zamir said, taking him by surprise by kicking him fast in the stomach. Then, he jumped and made a kick in the air, hitting Mikey right on the face. The others tried to interfere, but were stopped by a barrier. Mikey was scared. What could he do all alone?

"Now there aren't your strong brothers and friends here to help you! Give up, you pitiful insect! Now you'll die!" Zamir lifted his swords.

"MIKEY!" They all shouted together. Zamir was almost cutting him in a half….it was the end for him…"

Suddenly, everyone heard a voice coming from a roof:

"I think you calculated wrong there, my dear Goldilocks!" The person jumped in front of Mikey, defending him:

The red bandana blew in the wind and the scars on the shell were clearly visible, and the ambra-brown eyes were burning like indomitable fires. A challenging giggle spread over his face. It was Raph.

Mikey wasn't sure if shout in happiness our cry. He felt an incredible joy inside him along with surprise and shock. His brother was back! He managed to shout:

"RAPH! YOU'RE BACK!" Mikey ran to him, hugging him very tight. The others were happy to see him too. Raph smiled happily and said:

"Yeah Mikey, I'm back…" He looked up to Julie and Leo. "To stay." Julie smiled joyfully.

The earth started trembling and Zamir laughed happily:

"YES! The rip is almost fully open!" The barrier disappeared and Julie ran and hugged Raph tight.

"Raph! You scared the freaking shit out of me!" Raph hugged her back and said:

"Sorry darling…" Then, he said to Leo:

"Leo, look…I…I…" His brother stopped him:

"Don't worry, it's all forgiven. We'll be brothers forever, wont we?" Raph smiled and nodded. The wind was blowing hard now and the rip completely opened now. Yoro ended the formula:

"ETERNAL MASTER SHREDDER, RESURRECT FROM THE DARK WORLD, AND REGIN FOR THE ETERNITY!"

There was a hard wind blow that almost make the Turtles flew in the wall. Julie closed her eyes and hugged Leo tight. When she opened them again, she saw along with the others, a black shadow coming out of the rip, which was black-purple inside. The shadow became clearer for every step, and finally, a man with a silver armor, swords and red, threathful eyes came out. It was Shredder.

"No…it's not possible…" Splinter said. Shredder was floating in the air, stopping his eyes on Yoro and Zamir. He flew to them and they kneeled on the ground, adoring him.

"Oh, great master, we are so happy to see you here." Shredder nodded.

"You have been very loyal to me. I'm glad to see you too." He turned to the Turtles and said:

"It seems that you're still around. It doesn't surprise me; you've always been quite resistant. But now the moment has come to end this once and for all…" He took out his sword. Raph tightened his grip on the sais.

"I'll be happy to beat the shit out of you!" He shouted running towards him. Shredder laughed evilly.

"Hah! Incompetent scum!" He lifted his hand and pushed Raph away with a single strong and powerful shock wave.

"You shouldn't underestimate me, in the Underworld I gained some power that you pitiful creatures can't even understand…" Mikey helped Raph up.

"What do we do now?" April asked worried.

"It's obvious! We fight!" Leo said! They all nodded and ran to attack Shredder. He just lifted his hand and hit them with his shock wave. He said with a scorn voice:

"You don't know who you really are facing. I'm MUCH stronger than last time we met. I think a journey in the Underworld will do you good!" He laughed and did a strange formula in an ancient language. He gathered his hand and stretched them as he was controlling the wind and shouted with decided and evil voice:

"UNDERGROUND WIND!" In a second, almost everyone except for Shredder, Yoro and Zamir, were dragged, or proper said sucked in the rip by a powerful, ice-cold wind.

"NO!" Julie took quickly and tightly Leo's hand. They both flew up in the air while the wind tried to suck them in.

"REMAINED UNITED!" Leo shouted. Shredder got irritated and made the wind stronger, and managed to separate Leo and Julie's hands.

"LEO! Help!"

"JULIE!" He tried to catch her hand and almost did, but in the end, the wind separated them completely. Julie was swept violently inside the rip.

"LEOOO!" When she fell into the rip, it felt like being thrown in ice-cold water. It was like the cold darkness filled your body and soul, covering everything: smell, sight, feeling… In the end, everything was completely dark around her and she couldn't breather anymore. She closed her eyes and felt how her heart slowly stopped beating. Then, it was like disappearing in the eternal darkness.

A/N: SOOOO folks, what do you think? I think it was exiting to write this chapter in English! We are soon coming to the end (c'mon Sushi, don't stress that much, there are like 5 chapter left or something like that) ok, but at least, we are close to the very final battle with the Shredder, which won't be next chapter actually. But now I won't spoil more than that! Hope you liked this chapter, see you soon!

Hugs and cookies, your

-Sushi :D