Leo was the first to approach the door, with others a few steps behind him.

"Be still, all of you." Stephen said. "We just need to enter and catch it immediately."

"Say that again." Mikey said. "That will be easier than doing it."

Leo laid his hand on the knob, with sweat on his forehead. He tried to make himself squeeze it and pull it.

"I can't!" he said, panicking. "I can't do it! What if it lashes out! What if it comes out and butchers all of us!"

"Like sweet turtle meat!" Raph said. "And eats us for dinner!"

"And then leaves me as the dessert." Stephen added.

"I don't wanna do it!" Donnie said. "I don't want to! Please! I don't want to see that creature again! I can't look at it again." Donnie grabbed Stephen by the shoulders. "Please, Stephen! There has to be another way! There has to be!"

"I...maybe..." Stephen gave it a thought, but..."No! We go in there and get it out! We can't give up now!"

"We have faced that monster once!" Leo said. "Why must we do it again! Why can't we find another way?!"

"You think I am going to jeopardize everything because you guys don't wanna do something? Are we in school or something?"

"Oh, and you want to see it?"

"Not in the least!" he said. "But I will!"

"Be my guest, dear wizard!" Leo pointed at the knob. "Fearless leader!"

"Well, you bet I will!" he said and laid his hand on the knob. He even squeezed it, but then just stood there, paralyzed. He felt as if his brain didn't, couldn't and wouldn't even think about opening that door.

I am the Sorcerer Supreme. He paused. Okay, I were the Sorcerer Supreme.

I fought Thanos and won. I fought Dormammu, I fought Wanda, I fought an evil version of myself, I fought an army of demons, I endured Peter Parker...there is nothing I can't endure.

"I can't!" he said. To himself or to the Turtles? Probably a bit of both. "I can't! I don't want to see that creature again!"

"Ahh!" screamed Mikey. "Now you are all being silly. Booyakasha!" he yelled and pushed Stephen away, opening the door. All they could do was yell: "No!" at him, but Mikey instantly turned away and closed his eyes.

"Don't stare at it!" he said. "Don't!"

"Yes, we know it's scary, but..."

"No, no, no!" he gathered them all in a circle. "You don't get it! I think I know why it got so agressive when seeing us."

"Why?"

"The face! Listen!"

From the corner of the dark room, they could hear the creature screaming in pain and agony. It was a horrible and unpleasant sound, but they could describe it as one thing: sobbing.

"He attacked us because we looked at his face." Mikey said. "At least I think so."

"How can you know that?"

"Do you wanna try?"

A sudden scream sent shivers done their spines, as the creature raised its face to cry at them. Then it turned back, covering itself.

Stephen left out a small, childish sound of fear. "Dear heaven."

"Mamma!" Donnie whispered.

"He hates to be looked at." said Mikey, looking at its back. "As long as we don't look at his face, we will be fine."

"Well, we agree on that one." Leo said and chuckled frightened.

Stephen swallowed the lump in his throat. "Okay. I will seize him and you will not look at him."

"Perfect!"

"Go, dude!"

"Seems like the best option!"

"Yeah!" said Leo. "We will watch your back and...uh...be the emotional support!"

"Yeah, thanks a lot." Stephen said and patted him on the back.

He made few reluctant steps forward, looking back at the Turtles three or four times. Every time the creature exposed as much as a forehead, Stephen would look down or close his eyes. "Don't stare, don't stare." he kept whispering to himself, feeling the sweat go down his forehead and cheeks.

He tried to calm himself, but the fear continued to linger. Instinctively, Stephen just raised his hands and quickly formed fiery circles around them. This caused the creature to flinch, making Stephen look away. He couldn't see, but the creature seemed to have only taken a look and went back to its weeping.

Stephen then prepared to fire the magic at it. Now or never, he thought to himself. But someone else came in.

Stephen Strange.

Everything around him was no longer heard. Not even his own heartbeats.

You cannot run from us.

Possessing a dead body is forbidden!

Get away! he commanded. Get away, now! You are the last thing I need!

And we need you!

He could see their thin threads forming around him, red and black shadowy lines only he could see.

"Get away!" he managed to say out loud in a low voice. "What did I do to you? Why don't you leave me?!"

You broke a law of the Cosmos, Stephen Strange.

A sacred law.

You invited us.

Called us!

Summoned us!

We helped you do it!

"What do you want from me?" he chuckled desperately. "What the hell can I even give you?"

Long has passed since we had our bodies, Strange.

Very long.

We have been bodiless for centuries.

We want to feel it again.

Stephen realized with horror.

The warmth of the wind.

The taste of food.

The passions of flesh.

The knowledge.

The feeling!

We remember them! their voices sounded desperate. We remember all of those feelings. We remember every touch and every deed and every sensation. But...we do not feel them.

We want them! We want all of it back!

We are not living, but neither are we dead!

We have been undead and unliving FOR AGES!

If we cannot die, we will live!

Stephen gave them a hint of sympathy and compassion. But only a hint. No! he responded. It is not any better than what I did with the dead body! i regret that and I am sorry for releasing you. But this...This is MY body and MY body alone! It belongs to me! I will NOT share it!

Suddenly, he felt an angry energy emanating from them.

You will not share?

You will not give us your body?

No. Never.

He could see skull-shaped ghosts rising in his mind.

So be it!

You have made your choice.

If you will not let us be among the living, then neither shall we let you!

As they said so, they gathered together in a cloud of power and struck the creature. "No!" he cried, right before the creature raised its eyes up and made contact with Stephen's. Then, it spread its freakish jaws and screamed.

Turtles reacted as soon as they could, striking with their weapons. Leo, with the greatest combination of his skill and strength he could find, managed to hit the creature in the eye with the sword, sending drops of blood around the room. The Pale Man screamed in pain, covering its right eye, but continuing to scream and grabbing, obviously, Donnie for his head.

"Of course." was all Donnie said.

Stephen retreated away from the fight. He almost decided to open the Mirror Dimension, but remembered how it turned out the last time.

"Get away from me!" he yelled.

"Oh, really!" Raph said. "Might wanna lend us a hand instead!"

"Get away!"

Accept us in.

"No! Never!"

"Never what?"

"Strange, to whom are you talking to?!"

Then die!

The creature released itself from the Turtles and reached out for Stephen, tearing his Cloak. The Cloak then, on its own will, attacked and enveloped the Pale Man's face.

Donnie pulled Stephen closer. "What is wrong with you?"

"Stop!" Stephen yelled. "Their voices are bad enough, I can't listen to you as well."

"The...the voices?"

"I said shut up!" Stephen fired a light at the wall, lighting the entire room and scaring the Turtles.

That will not banish us, Strange.

We are everywhere.

And nowhere.

You can see us.

But not find us.

"Stop this now!"

The creature threw the Cloak away, incapacitating it. It grabbed Leo next.

"I said stop!"

Never.

The creature squeezed Leo' neck, while other Turtles jumped to save their brother.

"You freak!" Raph yelled. "Let him go!"

"Strange, do something!"

"Stop! Please..."

Not until you give us your body.

"I don't even know how to do that!"

Then you shall die!

No! We shall not let you die!

Yes, yes...

You will join us! You will join us, Stephen Strange!

You will be damned, just as we are!

Those last words echoed in his mind. Join us...just as we are...He raised his eyebrows. He got an idea.

The creature scratched Raph in the face, but that did not stop him from stabbing it in the elbow with his sai. The arms seemed resistant, but the elbow bled and the monster hissed in pain.

"As you wish, guys." Stephen said and grabbed the Damned by their long tails. They looked back at him, surprised.

What are you doing?

You cannot banish us, fool! the undead laughed confidently. How can you not understand that?

"Oh, I do." he said. "I am not banishing you at all."

He sent his power, binding their tails to his own body and pulling them closer and closer to himself.

What?

What are you...

They paused, and he could feel their realization.

No.

No. You cannot!

You must not!

It is forbidden!

"Yeah." he said. "I hear that a lot."

The creature, once again, broke their hold and ran towards Stephen, but Mikey caught its hand with his nunchaka, pulling it away. "You're going nowhere, Shy Guy!"

The Turtles paused at that. "The...Shy Guy?"

"What?" he asked. "He doesn't like to be looked at, so I thought..."

"Just pull!"

Stephen was absorbing their power, ignoring their screams.

No!

It burns! It burns!

"Nice to feel something again, is it?"

Let us go!

We will kill you! As soon as you lose attention, we will peel the flesh off your bones!

We will devour you!

Just like we devoured al-Hazred!

"Right." he said, through gritted teeth. "But first, I will devour you!"

They resisted, kicking, striking and clawing with their spiritual forms, trying to latch onto Stephen or run to the monster. But he was the one who gained the upper hand, pulling the beasts into his own body. In one moment, he shone with a sharp red light, so strong that even the Turtles saw it.

At the moment, he felt as if he was standing on a mountain, looking down on the world bellow. The feeling of power was tempting. He could now grasp many things and realities he couldn't before. His senses were larger, his knowledge spread. But then came the pain.

Stephen felt the third eye, rising above the other two and once again the surge of pain returned. The eye was just the beginning.

The black magic enveloped him, twisting his face beyond the point of recognition. His body was bent forward, breaking the bones of his back. Something was growing from behind but he could not know why. As if something was stabbing him from the inside out and making its way out of his skin.

It hurt. It burned. It was agonizing. But he had the power.

The Turtles, who were until then staring at the monster, now stared at him, confused.

"Let him go." he commanded. "Now!"

They didn't wait for a second time and the moment they let the creature, it charged at Stephen. He grabbed it by the hands and, for the first time, confusion could be glimpsed behind the soulless eyes of the creature. It screamed at him and in response, Stephen, in his monstrous form, left out a roar and he pulled the creature into a bloody embrace.

They wrestled, clawing, bitting and punching each other. The Turtles only looked in horror, with Mikey's stomach turning. Stephen felt only pain. Not even anger or fear, just pain. He had the faintest idea of what he was doing, but pain was the primary feeling in his body and mind. The Damned screamed in some corner of his mind, but he turned a deaf ear to that.

Stephen finally grabbed the creature by the throat, squeezing it. The creature kicked in the air and begged for breath. Stephen was staring directly at its face and it was crying in misery and pain. He hissed at it, which made it cry even louder.

It was afraid of him.

He commanded threads and bound the creature in golden, burning chains. He put such great power into those chains that the creature continued crying in agony.

Now we have you!

The Damned returned, clawing at the tip of his skin, killing him.

You will become one of us!

His screams were horrible, echoing in the cursed temple.

"Press the buttons." Donnie said to Leo. "Now! We all do it!"

"What..." Leo said, panting in fear. "But what if there is someone else..."

"Look at him..." said Mikey. "He is..."

"DO IT, IDIOTS!" he yelled and they pressed the symbols.

No!

The portal formed right above them, now stronger than before. The creature screamed louder, the Damned screamed louder and Stephen screamed louder. It hurt, but the four couldn't think of it now. The Turtles grabbed not the creature, but Stephen, and, with all their remaining strength and will, jumped, pulling him up.

Then they were all gone.


Scary, right:)

I hope I succeeded in scaring you, possibly disturbing you or terrifying you in the process. In the spirit of Halloween, of course.

Please tell me what you think. There will be a bit longer pause this time around, but a return to the adventures of Turtles and Strange is a top priority.

See you later and sleep well tonight:)