Disclaimer: TMNT is the property of Eastman & Laird, Mirage Studios, Funimation, Archie Comics, and anyone else you can think up, except me.

Author's Notes: It helps to be familiar with the Turnstone from the Archie Comics TMNT universe, but it isn't essentially. This is set in the universe of the current cartoon series.

Summary: A visitor from another reality brings a warning of the end of the world.

The Man Who Was a Demon

Once upon a time, there was a man who found great power. As men are known to do, he took this power, touched it, grasped it and gave himself into it. But he was stronger of will and more determined than most men, and instead of being consumed by the power he made it a part of himself.

This man became power. He did not become darkness or corruption or evil, because he was those things already, and power only enhances and entices. It does not change the soul. But the power that the man had consumed became these things, because power has no soul and no will, and so the power grew dark and taint and bitter to the taste, but the man never noticed.

And in this way, he became a demon.

Men who sought power came to him and asked how he had become so powerful, and were unsatisfied with the answers he gave them, for they did not understand that he was not full of power, but that he was himself a power.

Men who sought to banish evil came to him and asked how he had become corrupted by the power, and were unsatisfied with the answers he gave them, for they did not understand that all men choose, and that good and evil are only choices.

Demons who feared him came to him and asked what power could turn a man into a demon, and were unsatisfied with his answer, because there was no such power beside the soul of a man himself.

And so the Man Who Was a Demon began to conquer a world.

There was a second man, who had also found this great power some years before. He had touched it, grasped it, held it. But the second man felt power like a fire against his skin and knew that, like fire, power could burn him. He did not take the power into himself, instead he pulled himself away. But he did not pull away soon enough, and the power marked him, left a wound that healed over with rough scar tissue, though no one could see it who did not know to look.

As the Demon conquered, he came upon the second man, and he recognized the wound in his soul for what it was. He demanded to know how the man had come to know the power, and did not like the answer he received, for the Demon was strong and corrupt and evil, and even smart, but he did not understand that the only way to truly control power is to deny it.

Angry and afraid, the Demon believed the man a threat to him, and he was right. The man had once grasped in his hands all the power that the Demon was made up of, and perhaps he could grasp it again. So the Demon forgot about conquering what was left of the world, and he went instead to conquer the man.

He found something the man would cherish, and took it away. But he did not destroy it, because he was afraid to make the man angry. Instead he offered the man a trade. If the man would give up the mark of power on his soul, the Demon would release the cherished thing.

The man knew this was not possible. The mark on his soul was a scar and could not be taken away any more than one carved into flesh. The Demon did not like this answer, though he knew it was true. But the Demon still feared the second man, and so he demanded a treaty.

The man made his first mistake, but it is one that none could truly hold against him. "I'll give you everything I have, everything I am. Everything I ever was or will be or could have been, only please let my brother go."

The Demon said, "That is exactly what I will take."

The man made his second mistake, because he was smart and even wise, but he was not as devious as the Demon, so when his brother was returned to him, the man went to honor his end of the bargain, and gave himself to the Demon.

"I have already taken what was offered to me," said the Demon. "All that you have is now mine." And it was true, because the world had been conquered and all within it belonged now to the Demon. "All you are belongs to me." And it was true, because the man had given his word of honor. "And all that you could ever have become will soon be mine as well." And that was true as well, for the Demon could reach into worlds that might-have-been.

The man began to understand what he had done, and tried to offer another exchange, but he had nothing left save the life of the brother he had begged for, and that he would not offer. The Demon touched him, and made his first mistake. He ripped open the scar where the power had once been, and when the man was bleeding and dying, said "I will take all of what you could have been and make it mine, save for what you are now." It was not mercy; the Demon wanted the second man to live and see, and hate what his bargain had wrought.

But he had ripped open the wound, and let the power back within the man; had given the man the ability to touch and grasp and hold what he had once denied.

He had given the man control over himself.

And the Demon had given up control over the man, if only in that one world that might-have-been.

And so the man, who was perhaps more determined and perhaps wiser, and the Demon, who is perhaps more devious and stronger, must now each seek control of one another, even as more worlds-that-might-have-been fall in payment to the Demon.

"Cute fairytale." Raphael's voice is as cold as steel from the other side of the fire, but April does not look away from the flames. "But that doesn't tell us who you are or why you're here."

April smiles a little, because in every world-that-could-have-been he's answered her in much the same way, and she's come to take comfort in the small similarities. "I'm from the world-that-was. Where the Man Who Was a Demon and the second man made their bargain. I'm here because we can't stop him, but we can warn as many worlds as possible." She can feel the eyes of the other-April, the April-that-might-have-been, heavy against her skin. She does not like to see the things she might have been. It is fascinating and comforting to see all the things her friends had become, but it's too easy to see disappointment in her own eyes.

"Can we stop him?" Leonardo asks, and there's just enough inflection on the second word that April can tell what he's thinking. Her world could not stop this perhaps, but surely his world can; every Leonardo she's met so far has had the same conviction. She is fairly certain most of them are already dead.

"I don't know. If we knew who, or how, we'd have done it already."

"How have you been able to venture into these many different worlds, child?" Splinter's question is calm and curious, patient for the answer. It is usually he who asks, though in some worlds it is Donatello or Leonardo or even her other-self.

"The second man sent me," April answers. "He sent many of us." Because there was always the hope that some world-that-might-have-been would have an answer. And if nothing else, April knows, it makes it harder for the Demon when the worlds are forewarned.

"How are you going to get back?" Donatello asks quietly. He sounds thoughtful, and April glances at him quickly, but his expression is invisible in the shadows.

"I'm not." It doesn't bother her very much anymore. There isn't much left in the world-that-was. Everyone she cares about is gone; dead or, like herself, desperately seeking an answer.

"I'm sorry," the other April says, and the sympathy and pity in her voice makes April so furious for a moment that she wants to scream.

"If the second guy can touch all this power, why doesn't he just make the demon dude stop?" Michelangelo pokes a long stick into the fire and makes the wood pop and bits of ash float into the air. "Why all the running and warning?"

"The Demon is evil," April says. "And it's hard to touch evil without giving into it. He's tried and he nearly failed." He did fail to stop the advance of the Demon, nearly losing himself to the corruption that had tainted the power the instant it had been consumed. "The power is not a seperate thing anymore. The Demon made it a part of himself. Touching it is like touching his soul."

"When he ripped open the scar on the second man's soul," Donatello says thoughtfully. "What he really did was give the second man a direct path into his own mind, didn't he?"

"Basically." Who knew if it had been intentional or not. April certainly didn't think so. More likely, she thought, it was just something done to hurt and cause pain.

"That's stupid," the man named Casey objects. April doesn't know him from the world-that-was but she's met several of him since setting out. He is refreshingly simple sometimes, if she can ignore the way he looks at her other selves.

"He probably didn't realize what he was doing," Donatello muses. April wishes she could see his face; the disappointments of a dozen worlds never stop her lingering conviction that this time he'll figure something out. "It seems more likely he thought that by opening that wound he could control the second man."

"How long do we have until he comes?" Leonardo asks, cutting to the practical heart of the matter.

"Couldn't tell you. Worlds fall quickly, but time is pretty relative." She licks her lips. "Some worlds are spared him. He can only take worlds where some version of the second man exist."

"This second man," Splinter says, "exists in our world, I assume, or you would not have taken the time to warn us."

"Yes." Despite the fire she's very cold. They always ask, she never really answers. She is a little afraid of saying the words, as if they could make the end come faster.

"Who is it?" Raphael asks. "If we off this second guy, can we stop this from happening?"

They've asked her that before, but only a few times. "I don't think so. There are worlds where he's died, but it doesn't stop anything. It's still a version of what he might have been." It's time to leave, to find the next world and warn them, to tell the story again and hope that it does some little good. She hugs her knees against her chest. "And that would be ungrateful of you, since he did all of this to save your life."

That brings a silence like none other.

"The brother that the Demon took was Raph, in your world?" Leonardo asks.

She can see the four of them exchanging glances, realization sinking in that one of them had been sold to the devil by himself in a world they'd never heard of.

The scar on the soul is there for anyone who knows to look, and April knows to look. She's seen it only in one other world, seen the realization and the understanding so much deeper than what she sees here. In this world there is no scar upon Donatello's soul, no mark of that incredible power, so they don't fully understand what they are about to face.

Shredder is coming, consuming and consumed by the power of the Turnstone and April does not think this will be the world to stop him.

When they glance back across the fire, she is gone, and the night creeps into the empty place where she used to be.

to be continued