Ancient Prophecy.

Chapter Ten:

"We all come from the goddess, like a drop of rain falling to the ocean." Leonardo squeezed Serena's hand as the High Priestess spoke in front of Isabella Craft's coffin, "We all come from the horned one and through him we are reborn." He glanced nervously around making sure that the glamour cast by Rose was still holding around himself and his master ensuring that the humans around him only saw what they expected to see and not two mutants attending a funeral in the middle of the day. April was on Serena's other side with one arm around the girl's shoulders, in turn being held by Casey. "Corn and grain, corn and grain, we shall rise again." The priestess stepped back as Serena stepped forward and said a few whispered words to her aunt's body before stepping back to allow the body to be cremated, "Journey on now sister. We will follow when we can. May you be born again at the same time and in the same place as those you knew and loved in this life. May you know them again and love them again." The coffin was moved and Leo slipped his arm around her as he felt her wet cheeks on his shoulder. "The sun will rise again, life continues, love is all that we can be sure of, only the mother is eternal." The ceremony was stopped for a while as the body was cremated and the burial sight was blessed by the priestess, once all was ready the small party of four followed the ashes as they were carried from the crematorium and taken to the burial sight, they followed behind in a black car throughout new York to the cemetery that Casey's father had been buried in.

"You okay." Leo asked not really needing an answer and only receiving a nod from his lover in return. Splinter patted her shoulder and smiled at his son then sighed. "It'll be over soon." He pulled her into a hug and opened the door as the car pulled up.

"Come on Renie," Casey said an uncharacteristic softness to his voice as April wrapped her arms around herself, "let's go they're waiting." The small party walked over to the burial sight to find a few other people waiting to say their goodbyes to her aunt and the Priestess waiting to finish the ceremony.

"Are you ready to continue dear?" the priestess asked Serena kindly and the girl nodded, "We welcome the spirits of the ancestors and the honoured dead not yet reborn. We welcome our heroes and inspirations. We welcome the ancestors to incarnate in our children and grandchildren and our families. We welcome our deaths and our lives." Leo frowned in confusion as some biscuits and wine was passed around, Serena stepped forward and took a sip of her wine, then poured the rest into the grave then a bite of the biscuits was taken and she placed the rest in the grave. Each of those gathered copied her as the priestess finished her blessings, "It is not that we bless this food and drink, but it which blesses us, in its nature it nourishes our bodies and in sharing food and drink we create community." With that the grave was filled in and the priestess left the last of the wine in its bottle along with the last of the biscuits beside the grave and they all began to leave. The drive took a while to get them back to April's place that was still in the process of being repaired; April thanked the driver and gave him a tip on top of what she'd paid the company.

"She sleep at all last night?" Casey asked eyeing Leo as teen gently lifted his sleeping girlfriend out of the car and held her bridal style as she snuggled closer in her sleep.

"Not a wink," he replied, "I would have tried slipping something in a drink but with her magic back to full power and these sickness spells she keeps having I didn't want to risk it. I've seen her loose her temper and knocking her out like that would qualify for it."

"She will be alright my son." Splinter rested a hand on Leo's arm.

"She's getting worse sensie," Leo said quietly, "she's eating fine but most mornings she throws it all up. I'm worried there's something really wrong and with everything that's going on, I just . . .I'm not sure if I'm missing something."

"You are there for her that is all you can do my son."

"Come on guys lets get back to the lair before that spell wears off," April turned and stopped to pick up the mail piled on the side for her by one of the builders, "better check these while we're at it." They slipped down to the basement and began making their way home.

Xxx

"Yuri! No fair!" Mikey whined as she yet again beat him in a game of snap and he childishly threw his remaining cards across the room, "No one else ever beats me at this game and you've won three times already! Are you cheating?"

"I do not cheat!" she replied glaring at him, "Besides you're the one who keeps asking me to play, if you don't want me to beat you then stop asking me to play." Raph snickered from his place behind them on the couch.

"But you're the only one who will!" The youngest turtle whined, "Can't you pretend to loose just once?"

"Why would I do anything with the intention of loosing?" Yuri raised an eyebrow as she picked up the cards and tidied them up.

"To be nice to you bestest friend Mikey!" he grinned as she looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"I would like to point out that if I simply let you win then there would be no satisfaction in your winning," she said moving to sit by Raphael and watch the television momentarily closing her eyes at the dizzy spell she had from moving too quickly, "besides there's only so many games I am willing to play with you Mikey and I have another headache."

"You okay?" Raph asked frowning.

"Your brother says they should pass after a few more days." She shrugged.

"Don says you were lucky they didn't crack your skull Yuri," Mikey stood and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "maybe you should go back to bed."

"I'll be fine besides Raphael wanted me to watch this movie about a . . . what was it about again?" She hated headaches they always made it difficult to think when she had one.

"It's called die hard, it's about a cop who's tryin' ta make things right with his wife but the building they're in gets taken ova and he's gotta try an save all the hostages."

"Man haven't we watched that to death?" Mikey moaned, "I mean I know it's kinda funny but if Yuri's got a headache won't it be too loud for her? Maybe we can watch something else . . . I know what she'll like." He rummaged through the DVDs and Yuri gave Raph a questioning look, receiving a shrug in return.

"Is he always as bad as this?" She asked adjusting her position to make sure she was more comfortable without getting too close to Raph's personal space.

"Worse," he chuckled, "but he means well and it usually means he likes you."

"Should I be worried about that?"

"Not whilst you're banged up, but be prepared for a few pranks when you get those stitches out," he indicated to her forehead that still had a dressing over the wound there, "and you stop getting those headaches."

"Here it is!" Mikey produced a box set of DVDs and his brother groaned when he recognised them as the Lord of the Rings.

"Mikey I've never watched anything so boring in my life!" Raph snapped.

"Come on Raph! It's all about magic and sword fighters and quests," he reasoned, "it'll be right up her alley! You don't wanna watch Die Hard, you wanna watch these, right?"

"I have no idea about either so it really doesn't bother me." She shrugged and felt a little guilty at the groan Raph made.

"Don't expect me ta like it and it goes off if she gets bored, got it?" He waggled his finger at his little brother and the younger grinned before putting the disk in the machine then jumping up saying that he would get some suitable snackage before he started it. "You really gotta stop letting him get his way all the time."

"I do not let him get his way!" she said defensively and blushed when he glared at her, "All right but he's like a big kid and reminds me of my nephew."

"The one your bro said he never found? He said there was a niece too right?" he rubbed the back of his head, "At least that's what Don said about that little conversation Zuko had with you when you played hero again."

"His name is Alexander and my niece is Anastasia," she started not looking at him, "I found my parents barely alive at our home, I tried everything I could to save them but I was too late and had to watch them die, but not before my mother told me who was responsible and that he was going after our eldest brother Kaoru and his family. It took everything I had to track down Kaoru. They had already heard rumours that he and his family were in danger and they were travelling to the city of Avalon to Azmaria's parents where they would all be safe. There were several ways they could have gone and it took me a while to find out which route they had taken." She paused for a moment allowing the memory to flash through her mind as fresh as the day it happened, "They had set up camp for the night. I can only guess what had happened but when I reached the camp sight all I found was carnage and my brother was already dead. A little searching revealed Azmaria's body not far, it looked like she'd tried to run and from the tracks around her I could see that she had Alex with her and could only hope he was carrying his sister. I searched for hours but found nothing until I reached a small river and curled up beside a large tree was a unicorn foal with both my niece and nephew curled up against it's side. I approached but as soon as I had the foal's mother appeared looking furious." She smiled slightly at the memory.

"What did you do?" Mikey asked making the other two wonder when he had returned.

"Thankfully Alex woke up and ran straight for me," the smile widened, "I always was his favourite aunt. I asked the unicorn if she could escort them the rest of the way to Avalon and she nodded. I told Alex that he had to go to his grandparents and do everything they were told, that he had to take care of his little sister whilst I went far away. I knew it was only a matter of time before Zuko came after me and I intended to find him first."

"Did they get there?" Mikey asked.

"More ta the point did ya find him?" Raph wondered out loud.

"Oh I found him and they got to the city because Serenity and Arthur sent out guards to find me once Alex had told them what had happened," she sighed, "if they hadn't then I certainly wouldn't be talking to you right now."

"Why not?" Both boys asked in unison.

"Because I took on my brother and he won," she shrugged, "he left me for dead and an old healer woman found me. When the guards came to her village searching for someone matching my description she brought them to me and they took me back to the city where I was treated by more healers until I was better."

"So Alex and Anastasia are still in that city?" Mikey asked having forgotten all about the movie now and was as entranced by the tale as his brother.

"No, that was too obvious," she replied pretending to yawn so it looked like her eyes were watering from that and not because she was crying, "once I was fully recovered they were taken far away to a place no one would ever think to look for them. While I went after Zuko again. Not long after that I found that he'd come to this world and followed him here."

"How old were they?" Raph asked almost fearing the answer.

"Alex was seven and," she sighed before carrying on; "Anna was only a few months old, I doubt she even remembers me."

"And now?" Mikey placed a hand on her knee hoping to comfort her.

"Alex would be a nearly nine and Anna around eighteen months or so."

"Do you miss them?" the youngest carried on.

"A little, they're my family but I wasn't really around much for the two years before Zuko attacked," she rubbed her arms not entirely sure why she was revealing all of this but at the same time feeling a little better for doing so, "I hadn't met Anna until that day, but little Alex was always so cute, I taught him to ride when they still lived in the village and gave him his first pony." She laughed, "he loved that fury little guy, I'm not even sure what happened to him but he was pretty old so I guess he died." She looked up at the two boys and blushed, "Guess I do miss them, huh?" Mikey wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight.

"We'll be your family Yuri." He grinned as he pulled back pleased that she both smiled and blushed harder.

"I'm not sure your eldest brother would approve."

"Yeah well he don't approve of me an I'm his real family so join the club!" Raph grinned, "Besides Splinter trusts ya and you've saved both me and Mikey now! He'll come around eventually."

"You know I think we need to watch something happy!" Mikey exclaimed and dove back into his pile of DVDs and produced a new one, "Here's a chick flick that's funny and full of girl power! I watched it with Elyssa and Don the other day and it's real funny and will sooo cheer you up." He displayed the box to reveal Miss Congeniality, "It's Serena's but she won't mind." Mikey swopped the movies and grabbed the remote before taking the free space on the couch effectively sandwiching Sayuri between him and Raph, the latter of which rolled his eyes.

"Anything's better than Lord of the Rings!" the older turtle shrugged.

"So what's this one about?" The girl asked shifting again trying to get comfortable.

"An FBI agent who's like the ultimate tom boy and she has to become a beauty queen to figure out who the bad guy is and stop all the pretty girls getting blown up." Mikey explained very quickly as the disk loaded.

"Am I likely to understand it?" She murmured to Raph as Mikey kept blabbing on about how funny the film was and how she'd love the main character Gracie.

"I ain't seen it either," he shrugged in reply, "so worse comes to worse we can always just wait till he's so inta it that he won't notice us leave." Yuri snickered looking towards Mikey who was watching the adverts at the beginning.

"Hey guys we're back!" April said quietly as she hobbled over to the armchair and sat down in it, "What are you watching?"

"Miss Congeniality." Mikey replied not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Oh I love this movie!" She turned back to see Casey and Splinter heading for the kitchen and Leo carrying Serena off to his room. She sighed and made herself as comfortable as her bump would allow so that she could watch the film.

Yuri didn't really have too much trouble understanding it; there were a few things that she wanted to ask about when it came to references to human culture and so on. However she think it appropriate to ask during the movie, so she made a mental not of what she didn't understand and would remember to ask once it had finished. She did however find a lot of it very funny and had to agree with Mikey that she liked the character Gracie. She was almost sorry as the film ended but Mikey found another movie to watch called Cool Running's and put that on. She found the second film funny but not as much as the last and felt herself drifting off to sleep. It was odd, she had rarely felt safe enough to allow herself to relax like this since she had lost her family and particularly not in the strange world she currently found herself in and as she was thinking this she slipped into a deep slumber.

"Mike turn it down will ya?" Raph said grabbing a throw rug off the back of the couch and wrapping it around her, "Looks like Yuri's tired." He smiled then blushed furiously as she shifted and would up with her head resting on his shoulder, he moved his arm to the back of the couch so both he and she could get comfortable and purposely ignored the amused looks from April and Mikey.

"Awe!" Mikey said just loud enough for Raph to hear, "now that's just cute!"

"You better not move Raph or you'll wake her up." April teased reaching into her pocket and pulling out her cell, she pointed the camera and took a picture laughing at the teen's expression as he realised what she was doing, "What? You didn't think I was going to miss a Kodak moment like that did you." She giggled along with Mikey as the turtle in red's face nearly matched his mask.

"Shut up you two!" He grumped secretly enjoying the closeness of the girl snuggling up to him even if she didn't realise she was doing it.

Xxx

Yuri opened her eyes slowly as her pillow seemed to move. She could have sworn she'd been lying on an inanimate object but when she looked up she found she was using Raphael as a pillow instead. She then realised that on of his arms was draped lightly over her shoulder and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks, however she dare not move in case she woke him up. Of course she would die of embarrassment if Elyssa or one of his brothers found them in such a way. She rested her head tentatively on his shoulder once more glad that they had been left alone and all the lights were off and tried to calm herself enough to fall back to sleep. She wasn't sure how long it had been before he began to mumble in his sleep, the snoring was bad enough, but the mumbling soon turned into laboured breathing and his body began to twitch. Yuri frowned in concern and pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Raphael?"

"No get away!" he murmured as tears began to flow, "Leave us alone!" Yuri looked around wondering if she should go and alert his father or one of his brothers but something stopped her.

"Raphael it's a dream." She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him slightly, "Raph?" He began to scream as he thrashed narrowly missing her with his fists.

"Please stop!" He yelled as tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"Raph you have to wake up!" Yuri shouted as she moved in front of him and shook both shoulders, "Raph!"

"He won't wake up." She spun around at the voice to see Leo standing behind them with a sad look on his face. She frowned more at the fact that she hadn't even sensed his presence then at what he had told her, "He's had these dreams since he was little, we can never wake him and when he wakes up he says he doesn't remember the dreams." Leo sighed, "He hasn't had one in nearly a year."

"So you just let him thrash around in terror?!" she asked incredulously.

"There's nothing else we can do." Leo replied guiltily.

"There's always something that can be done," she replied irritably, "you just have to try everything until it works!" Leo blinked at her not really sure what she meant and surprised that she seemed so worried about his little brother, but then he'd been so preoccupied with Serena lately that he hadn't really paid much attention to what Sayuri got up to. He knew Mikey liked her and he'd been told the youngest was often found keeping her company when she wasn't out hunting demons or her brother. "Raphael, please you have to listen to me! Whatever you are seeing, it's not real! You're safe at home and there's nothing to worry about." She grasped his face with both hands and gently held him still and to Leonardo's surprise Raph began to calm down, although the tears still fell. Raphael's eyes blinked open and he stared at her for a moment before pulling away and wiping at his face.

"Raph, you okay?" Leo asked making his presence known to the turtle who gave him a look that told him he was the last person Raph wanted to see at that moment.

"I'm fine," he said getting up and avoiding eye contact with them, "I'm going to bed." Leo shrugged and watched his brother quickly get up and leave before setting off for the kitchen for a drink. Yuri glared after the leader and would have liked nothing better than to give Leo a piece of her mind about what she felt should be done in situations such as these but she was more worried about Raph and hurried after him.

"You are not fine." She told him when she caught up with him, "What was the dream about?"

"Nothing." Raph snapped and entered his room.

"Oh nothing had you screaming in terror huh?" she raised an eyebrow and folded her arms.

"I'm sorry I ain't as strong as you or Leo or Splinter," he shouted and she heard someone fall out of a bed moments later, "I get these dreams and they freak me out an I act like a baby when I have them." He turned away intending to slam the door in her face but she had already slipped inside.

"You weren't acting like a baby," she snapped, "you were seeing something that obviously terrified you and you acted accordingly, dreams have a way of making things seem a lot worse than they actually are when you don't know how to control them and it doesn't matter how strong you are everybody gets scared!"

"You can't control your dreams." He huffed.

"Actually you can but you have to believe it and it takes a lot of practice," she paused and looked straight at him, "and you remember the dreams don't you." He looked at her and the answer was written all over his face before he slumped down on to the bed Donnie had insisted he have in there for when he was recovering from the various injuries he always received. "I thought so, so are you going to tell me what it was you saw in your dream or not." Raph looked up to see Yuri had quietly closed the door and leant against it with a determined look on her face. He sighed and shrugged then made his decision.

"There was this thing," he said staring at his fists which were resting on his knees, "it looked like nothing I've ever seen before, an I've seen a lot," he chuckled then his face turned serious again, "it was after me an my family an we couldn't stop it. Then it made a weird sound and these creatures attacked us. I tried to fight but there were too many and they held me down as the first thing walked over to me and asked what I feared the most." He stopped ashamed to go on and jumped when Yuri placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring look, he hadn't known she'd moved. "It touched me an then I was back there again."

"Back where Raph?" Yuri coaxed.

"When I was little I went exploring on my own and fell inta an old disused tunnel. I broke my leg and couldn't move and there were all these bugs and spiders and they kept biting me and I was covered in them and . . ."

"It's alright Raph, calm down." He shuddered at the memory and made an effort to slow his breathing.

"Splinter didn't find me for a while an I got real sick from all the bites and from getting cold. When he asked me what my biggest fear was I was covered in bugs, they were everywhere! I couldn't see or breathe and . . ." he looked in the opposite direction, "some tough guy I am, what kind of a warrior's afraid of bugs!"

"To tell you the truth I'm not exactly fond of bugs myself," Yuri shrugged, "and I certainly give spiders a wide birth. Some fears are irrational and can't be explained. The fact that you got sick cause of bugs probably triggered a subconscious reaction ever since it happened to avoid them like the plague." She smiled.

"You don't like spiders either?"

"Creepy things, really don't like them!" she shuddered then placed her hand on his shoulder again, "the other dreams do they happen before or after something big occurs?" He frowned at the question and thought back.

"I'm not sure," he said and stifled a yawn, "sometimes I guess. I try to forget about them."

"Fair enough." she thought for a moment before carrying on, "Raph, the thing in the dream. Have you seen it in other dreams or anything similar?"

"I . . ." the turtle frowned racking his brains and nearly gasped, "Yeah the thing's been in a few! Sometimes it attacks my bro's and . . . you know. Other times it makes me see the bugs. Think it means something?" He looked at Yuri hopefully.

"I'm not sure," she replied, "when you have the dreams can you remember if you were feeling, I don't know depressed or sick or anything?"

"I'm sorry I don't really remember," he shrugged, "I guess I never really thought about it and they never really happened on a regular basis so . . ."

"I can teach you to control your dreams if you like." She said staring at a point on the floor as if she had something else on her mind.

"Would it stop the dreams?" Raph almost begged despite himself.

"It might," she looked at him and placed a hand on his face, "I can't guarantee it but I can at least help you a little." She got up and went to leave, "We can start tomorrow if you want, the others are going to April's to move some stuff around so there'll be piece and quiet." Raph simply nodded wanting to curse at the fact that he felt like a small child who was going to get something special the next day for being good, but he had suffered from these night terrors for so long and no one had ever been able to help him with them before so this was progress to him, "Good night Raphael." She said as she left for her room. She lay in her bed for some time remembering something she had been told as a child.

"Your dreams are your own and you must learn to control them."

"Why mother?" the small child asked as she tried to get used to the uncomfortable position she was being asked to sit in.

"Because my little one, you are destined for great things and there are evil spirits out there who will wish to try to harm you in your dreams."

"Is that why I have the bad dreams mother?" the child hugged herself remembering the one from the night before.

"I'm afraid so, which is why we must make sure you are able to fight these demons on both the physical plain and the mental."

"But why me?" she whined.

"Because that is the way it must be," the blind woman sighed and reached out for the smaller of her twins who always seemed so frail and delicate, "you have been chosen and many bad things will fall upon you. But you must see past all of that and find others like you who are chosen by Mab herself," the woman pulled her child into a tight hug, "no matter what happens my little Sayuri you must never stop fighting. Promise me Sayuri."

"I promise mother."

Yuri drew her blade and looked at the writing engraved on the Elvin steel, she had been given it by her mother saying that the sword had been meant for her and she must use it well. She remembered the nightmares she suffered as a small child but she had learnt to control them and send the demons out of her mind for good by the time he'd reached eight years old. She couldn't be sure Raphael was suffering from the same thing she had but the fact that the fates had brought her to this place seemed too much of a coincidence.

"Are you one of Mab's chosen too?"

Another chappy, I'm going off to be pampered at a spa now so yay me! The service at the beginning was not made up by the by, I found it on the internet under wiccan funerals and decided to use it so it is not mine, I simply borrowed the words etc . . . Hope you enjoyed this one. Toodles Angel xxx.