Interwoven

III.

The night air was cool on their scales as they raced across the rooftops together. Raphael had dreamed of this moment for so long; part of him had a hard time believing it was real and truly happening. Sheer elation gave him huge bursts of speed that had him leaving his brothers in the dust, but he would quickly loop around to join back up with them every time he did.

"Show off." Leonardo jeered as he smoothly hopped over an air conditioning unit.

Smirking, as he leapt from a fire escape to a roof, Raphael smirked, "Better not get jealous bro, because there is no hope of you beating me."

Blue eyes lit up as a thought manifested in the eldest's mind, "Maybe so, but I bet we can still make you work at least a little bit." He then called to his nearby brothers, "Mikey, Don, let's show Raph what we can do. It's time for Operation: Smokes Away!"

Before he could sense what the three were up to, Raphael suddenly found himself surrounded in a cloud of his brother's homemade smoke bomb mist. Laughing at their attempt to hide themselves from him, The Soul Collector, he called out into the night, "You know just because I can't physically see you does not mean you're hiding from me. I can still see your souls' essence."

Obviously, not wanting to waste any time, the three brothers continued to streak off in opposite directions despite their sibling's warning. Shaking his head, with a smile still on his face, Raphael opted to first teleport to Michelangelo's location. Instantly appearing in front of his youngest brother, the freckled turtle had to pull some impressive acrobatics to avoid running smack into his brother. "Dude not fair! Why did you have to come after me first?"

Pulling up Michelangelo's thread, Raphael gave a smug smile as he got his own idea, "Don't worry Mikey, you'll be glad you're on my team in a second."

Smoothly connecting a tiny thread from his own heart's harp to his youngest brother, Raphael watched as Michelangelo's body suddenly grew several inches in both height and muscle before then acquiring a gentle orange glow, "What the shell?!" Baby blue eyes shone with the current Raphael had hooked him to, "This feels amazing! What did you do?"

The Soul Collector grinned at his handiwork, "Just giving you a tiny taste of what being a god feels like." Nodding in the direction of Donatello's thread he continued, "Ready to hand Donnie his shell?"

"Shell yeah!"

Raphael could not help but laugh as Michelangelo took a soaring jump through the air, easily clearing two buildings in a single hop. Just beginning to understand the depth of what his big brother was capable of, the youngest found himself bouncing back and forth across the skyline at insane speeds. Slightly delirious from the experience, the freckled turtle briefly forgot their goal until he saw Raphael easily gaining ground on Donatello. Not wanting to miss out on the experience, Michelangelo hollered loudly as he came crashing down onto his geeky brother right before Raphael could grab him. Seeing Donatello laying flat on his plastron with Michelangelo sitting on top of him, the god laughed, "How's that asphalt taste, Donnie?"

"What happened?" Groaning, the addressed turtle turned his head to see what had hit him and gawked at the glowing form of his youngest brother on his carapace, "What the…" Mahogany eyes zeroed in on his older brother, "What did you do to Mikey?"

Shrugging nonchalantly The Soul Collector responded, "Just gave him a temporary power boost." Lifting his hands in a placating gesture he continued, "Don't worry it's not forever. Having you guys hooked up to me too long could cause some real problems. But short stints like this are fine." Quirking an eye ridge at his second oldest brother as Michelangelo easily pulled him up, he offered, "I can give you a taste too if you want Don."

"Dude, you got to try it!" The youngest bubbled beside them, "I mean just check out how high I can jump!" Immediately Michelangelo jumped up about thirty feet into the air before coming back to earth, "It's like having superpowers!"

Obviously more than intrigued by this proposition, the purple-clad turtle nodded, "Alright, I'm game. Hook me up Raph."

"That's the spirit Don!" The Soul Collector immediately went to work. Moments later a burlier version of Donatello stood before them with a soft purple glow surrounding his body. "Well, what do you think?"

The newly transformed turtle merely let out a loud whoop before catapulting himself up into the sky. Upon returning earth, Donatello exclaimed, "This is incredible! I feel like a whole new turtle!"

Raphael smirked, "Now who's up for catching Lame-n-ardo?"

His two younger brothers exchanged mischievous grins before Donatello replied, "Poor Leo has no idea what's coming."

Breaking off into a run with his siblings quickly at his heals, Raphael commented, "Gotta say, even after all this time, there is still something special about putting Leo in his place."

Michelangelo snorted, "That's just cuz you guys were always competing the most."

"Sibling rivalry was an understatement when it came to you two." Donatello added.

"I suppose you're right." The god acquiesced. "Stay sharp, one leader turtle at two o'clock."

It had hardly been a fair match. Taking a flying leap, Michelangelo literally jumped over his eldest sibling effectively cutting off his route. Admirably, Leonardo kept his cool at the uncanny display his brother had just performed, he turned around to find himself flanked by both Donatello and Raphael. Skidding to a halt, the blue-clad turtle briefly turned back to glance at Michelangelo before turning back in his other brothers' direction. He responded to the situation flatly, "What did you do to them, Raph?"

"Just gave them a small taste of divinity." Seeing the eldest raise an eye ridge, he continued, "Don't worry it's only for a short while. Too long and it could start to cause problems..." Waving his hands at the disapproving look Leonardo gave him he countered, "Don't worry Leo, a short dose won't hurt them. Speaking of…" He gave a small knowing smile, "You want to have a go?"

"No!" Leonardo was quick to retort before biting his lip, "I mean… It doesn't hurt, does it?"

Snorting at his older brother's caution, Raphael wrapped an arm around Leonardo's shoulder before gesturing to the other two, "Why don't you ask Mikey and Donnie?"

"Do it Leo!" Michelangelo quickly bounced over, "It is seriously like the best feeling ever!"

"It is pretty exhilarating." Donatello nodded in agreement with his younger brother's assessment, "We definitely would never be able to do what we can do without Raph's power boost, no matter how much we trained."

Still looking a little dubious, Leonardo finally exhaled, "Okay, just for a little bit though. Then we really should get back to the Lair and Master Splinter."

"Don't worry Leo," Raphael had already begun the weaving, "You'll be glad you said yes."

The Soul Collector couldn't help but use a slightly bigger thread compared to what he had used for his younger brothers. He knew no matter what he did, he could never have his eldest sibling on the same playing field as him, but he wanted to try and get him as close as was possible. Inhaling as a surge of divine power engulfed his own life force, Leonardo's eyes became electric blue as he surpassed both Michelangelo and Donatello in height and muscle. Just shy of seven feet, the eldest was a powerhouse of a turtle. With the subtle blue aura emanating off of his features, when it came time to exhale, he looked down at himself in awe, "Holy shell Raph. Is this how you feel all the time?"

"Kind of." Raphael shrugged, "What I gave each of you is a drop in the bucket of my power supply, but hey, it's still something. Besides now you three have a chance at keeping up to me – if I slow down that is!"

As The Soul Collector broke into a sprint, Leonardo raced after him, "You are so on!"

Whooping and hollering, the four turtles hurtled themselves across the skyline. Able to race back and forth across the city many times over, if any human happened to look up at just the right time, they may have been lucky to catch a split-second blur of colour as one of the reptiles bounded overhead. The three mortal brothers had fun, but Raphael found himself releasing hundreds of years' worth of tension as the night air whipped over his scales. So lost in ecstasy, he found himself subconsciously letting the spell he and Zephyr had woven so meticulously loosen with every new rooftop he crossed.

Finally, with a particularly large jump, as though caught by the wind itself, Raphael let his glamour fall away completely. Left behind was a massive being of white light. What was left of his carapace merged with wings composed of luminous soul cables. These tendrils of light gently undulated as they moved with the heartbeat of the universe before gradually fading into the ether. Sensing his brothers suddenly stopping, Raphael realized his mistake. Slowly he turned around; stunningly bright green eyes found themselves looking down on his siblings. For even with the temporary growth spurts he had bestowed on the others, The Soul Collector in his true form still towered over them.

"Whoa…" Michelangelo gasped while Leonardo and Donatello were speechless.

For a moment The Soul Collector remained silent as he accepted their stares. Eventually Raphael somehow found his voice, "Hey guys…"

So enchanted by the being before them, the turtles took a moment to even register that the deity before them had spoken. If it wasn't for the fact that their typically masculine brother would probably punch them if they said it, they would have told Raphael he was beautiful.

Unable to mask the awe in his voice at what he was witnessing, Leonardo spoke first, "This is what you became after you absorbed the Soul Gate?"

"Yeah…" Raphael gave a pained smile, "This is it. This is my true form now."

Donatello stepped forward to examine one of the cables more carefully, "How is this even possible? Where do they disappear to?"

"They connect to every soul in the universe, Don." Quickly, he found the one he was looking for, gently guiding it away from the rest, he pulled the main branch away before moving aside the plethora of other smaller threads aside. Pulling up the desired target, he showed it to his immediate younger brother, "Even yours. See?"

It was easy for Raphael to light up the thread that linked Donatello's heart to the one in his hand. Although the younger could not feel the thread, he went to touch it anyway, his fingers easily slipping through the light. "How can you touch it when I can't?"

"Because I'm one in the same Donnie. I not only guide all the souls in the universe, but I'm composed of them as well. That's why I am The Soul Collector. I am both a collector and a collection."

"This whole thing is just unbelievable." Leonardo shook his head, "I know you're my brother, Raphael, but it's hard to see you as it when you stand before us like this."

Feeling their stares gradually growing more and more uncomfortable, Raphael abruptly decided he needed to tone down all of this now. He also figured that he had given his brothers more than enough of his energy for one night. Subtly, The Soul Collector moved his fingers in order to disconnect the mortals from his power. If any of them were shocked to suddenly be regular mutant turtles again, they kept it to themselves. Besides, it was easy to distract them from this when the celestial being before them suddenly reverted to his terrapin form. Securing the weaving he and Zephyr had made back into place around his heart's harp, Raphael averted his gaze so he could look anywhere but at his brothers while he muttered, "I know it's a lot to wrap your head around. It was for me too. Hell, it still is."

"You can't blame us bro," Michelangelo tried in vain to get his immortal sibling to make eye contact, "I don't even really remember how you got to be this way in the first place."

"Come to think of it…" Leonardo frowned as he folded his arms, "I knew about your whole divinity thing from Zephyr and visiting the Soul Nexus, but my last memory before things get blurry was you talking about how you could save Mikey..." Leaf green brow furrowed in frustration as the eldest clearly tried to recall the past, "Why can't I remember more?" Blue eyes glared in the direction of his divine sibling, "I thought you said you gave us back all of our memories?"

"I did!" Raphael snapped, "It's not my fault that me stripping your immortality resulted in you losing most of the memories you made when my transformation started!"

"Hold on," Donatello's mahogany eyes narrowed, "Are you telling me that not only were we once immortal, but despite the fact that you knew we would die eventually as mortals, you still stripped away said eternal life?" The geeky sibling's own temper was starting to flare, "What the hell Raph?!"

"Yeah dude," Michelangelo's eyes began to water, "I thought you said you needed us?"

"Apparently not." Donatello snorted, "Otherwise we wouldn't have to worry about dying now!"

"It wasn't like that!" The Soul Collector found his own ire beginning to simmer, "I had to take your immortality away or risk having The Tapestry of Fate unravel thereby putting not just you, but the whole universe in danger!"

"That seems like a stretch Raph." Leonardo's arms were still folded over his plastron, "And even if it is true, now that you've regained your true form can't you just give it back to us?"

"No, I can't." Green eyes crackled with intensity, "Did you not just hear a word I said? If you guys stay immortal the universe literally falls apart, or at best you three get your souls sucked into oblivion with no chance of reincarnation."

"Can't you just fix this 'tapestry' then?" The purple-clad turtle countered, "Then give us immortality again?"

Why weren't they getting it? The Soul Collector found his own frustration and exasperation continue to grow, "No I cannot 'just fix' it! The last High Council almost ruined it trying to do in the entire Soul Collector lineage. It doesn't matter how much power I have; if I fiddle with it more I could literally end everything!"

"So just to summarize," Donatello started ticking off his fingers, "First we began immortal, then you took our immortality to save some tapestry, in the process we lost a chunk of our memories, and to top it all off you then ditched us for however many years because you couldn't handle the guilt of what you had done to us. All while you get to continue to live the good life as a god. Did I miss anything, oh Lord Soul Collector?"

Silence.

Damn it. Raphael had tried so hard to keep his cool. He had done so well, but Donatello's words cut deep and ignited all the emotions he had desperately been trying to keep in check since reappearing on earth that evening. Regardless of their feelings on the matter, Leonardo and Michelangelo found themselves slowly backing away from the now irate god before them. However, everyone within ten city blocks found their power abruptly cut out when a wave of pure energy erupted from The Soul Collector. His weaving of his turtle form was instantly obliterated as its maker's true form burst forth. Although still primarily composed of white light, the god's luminous body held a distinct red tinge throughout as a result of his fury, and it was only emphasized by the darkness that now engulfed them.

Yet, despite the deity towering over them, his voice was relatively quiet while somehow being utterly terrifying in its tone, "Let me make one thing crystal clear, Donnie." Dark emerald eyes burned bright as he then acknowledged the other two, "For all of you. The day I became The Soul Collector was the worst day of my life. Falling onto that altar, interrupting that ritual, cursed me." Raphael stretched out his wings in demonstration, "All this power comes with a price and I will spend all of eternity paying for it."

Lowering his wings, he continued, "And for the record, the reason you lost your immortality is because I had to make an impossible choice. Do you know what that choice was?" He waited a moment to allow the three time to shake their heads, "With the tapestry deteriorating, I had only two options: either I could lose my brothers and potentially even the universe to oblivion or I could take my brothers' immorality so that I can save both them and the universe. I dare any of you to choose differently than I did."

Raphael's three dumbfounded brothers just stared back at him speechless. Thoroughly done with this evening, the god broke the silence once more, "Look, I promise I'm not going to cut you guys out again, but I just can't be here right now." Turning around, he began plucking the necessary strings, muttering "I'll see you later."

Just as the city lights came back to life, The Soul Collector vanished from sight.