Just wanted to say thank you to Forgottenforever and Griffon of the Night for your wonderful reviews and support!
Chapter 14
Raphael watched as Katherine vanished from the Council room. The screen disappeared and Katherine appeared in front of them.
Donatello already had her in his arms and was holding her close. "You left me behind." He whispered. His helm had already been thrown to the ground as he tucked his face into her neck.
"I'm sorry Donatello. I was not willing to risk your life." She said to him.
"That is what I am for." He said quietly.
"No Donatello. You are worth so much more than just my protector. You could have stood up to them, but you are my ace in the hole as it were. If they believe you to be more powerful than them, they will stop at nothing to kill us both." She said pulling away enough to brush his cheeks with her clawed thumbs.
"If they knew your name, they could have killed you." Donatello said in a whisper.
"Possibly. They could definitely have bound me. That is why you must be careful. That is why I use the name Nightmare." She said to Donatello, whose eyes had reverted back to a dark rich brown.
Raphael understood then. If they continued to call her Katherine, even when it was safe to do so, they may slip up one of these times and the results could be deadly. He had to stop thinking of her as Katherine and start thinking of her as Nightmare.
She groaned. "This is going to be awkward." She said as she slumped in Donatello's arms. Donatello tried to catch her but he too slid to the ground.
Raphael grabbed at Katherine or he supposed Nightmare. Her eyes were half closed. Leonardo grabbed at Donatello who was unconscious.
"I think I overdid it." She whispered. "I don't feel very good. Being blown up sucked." She mumbled.
Raphael could almost have smiled if he wasn't so worried. She had spoken exactly like how Katherine used to speak.
"Gabriel and Azazel are pounding at the front door." She mumbled before she closed her eyes completely.
He looked at Leonardo. Leonardo scanned the area around them. They were back within the ring of trees by the lake, that is if they had actually left in the first place.
"Door." Michelangelo said motioning behind them. Raphael looked over his shoulder and saw a reddish brown door hanging in mid air.
"Help me with Donny, Mikey." Leonardo said as they struggled with their brother.
"He weighs a ton, when did Donny get so heavy." Michelangelo complained.
Raphael stood with Nightmare in his arms. He had to readjust his grip so that he was holding in her wings as well so they wouldn't drag on the ground. He strode towards the door, managed to get the door open and stumbled into the brightly lit foyer of the house. Raphael looked around. It was Katherine's house.
He looked at the front door which was being heavily pounded on and someone was shouting loudly on the other side of the door. Raphael glared at the door, turned and headed upstairs to put Nightmare in her room.
He opened the door to her room and looked around. Everything was the same as when they had left. Minus the bloody circle in the middle of the floor the last time he had been in Katherine's room.
He walked over to the bed and gently lay Nightmare down. He brushed a finger across her cheek and left the room. Leonardo and Michelangelo came out of the room Donatello had used the last time they were here.
They walked down the stairs and looked at the door. Raphael opened it. A very angry Azazel in human form stood about to pound on the door again. He was wearing jeans, and a bomber jacket. Raphael shifted his gaze to the man beside him. Gabriel looked exactly as he remembered. Blonde curls blue eyes, no wings though. He was wearing jeans and had a black wool coat buttoned up to the throat.
"She's fine go away." Raphael said as he went to slam the door in their faces.
Gabriel looked at him in shock and Samael looked at him in fury as he stopped him from closing the door. "Where is she?" Samael growled.
"Raph." Leonardo growled at him.
Raphael stepped back and let the former angel and demon in.
"Where is she?" Samael demanded.
"She's sleeping." Leonardo said softly.
Gabriel looked startled as did Samael. " She never sleeps." Gabriel said in shock as they brushed past him and took the stairs two steps at a time.
"Hey!" Raphael protested as he followed them up the stairs. By the time he and his brothers got to Nightmare's room Azazel and Gabriel were on their way back out.
"When I heard what had happened I couldn't believe the gods would try such a thing." Gabriel said in shock.
"Let's go to the kitchen, leave her to rest." Leonardo suggested. Samael and Gabriel agreed. They walked into the kitchen. Gabriel walked over to the cupboard and grabbed some cups, tea and put the kettle on to boil. He then grabbed a coffee pot and began to brew a pot of coffee.
Rage ripped through Raphael at this. It meant that they had spent enough time here to know where everything was, and they obviously treated it like home.
Gabriel made tea while everyone looked uneasily at each other. "Kitten's right, this is awkward." Michelangelo grumbled.
"Fine, if everyone is just going to stand around looking at each other I'll start." Raphael growled. "I get it, you two are her consorts and you've been looking after her for a really long time, and you both are in love with her, I get it, but you two have got to back off."
Samael's eyes bled from blue to yellow in restrained anger. He stood up, grabbed a mug and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Gabriel took a sip of his tea. "I don't think you really have the authority to be ordering us around." Gabriel said with a hint of anger. Leonardo placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "The thing is this. We are well aware of who and what you are to Katherine. We know that Nightmare has remembered who and what she is. We understand this and we know that if she was going to make one or both of us her actual Consorts that she would have done so by now. This doesn't mean that she doesn't love us, we know she does, but now we know who it is who has been in her heart all these Millennia." Gabriel said softly as he took a sip of his tea. His blue eyes flashed to him. "That being said, Nightmare must decide what it is she wants, not us. I am afraid we all must sit back and wait." Gabriel said looking at him over the rim of his tea cup.
This version of Gabriel pissed him off. Darkness' Gabriel was the quiet restrained one, Lucifer was the loudmouth. Here it looked as if Gabriel was the loudmouth and Samael was the quieter one. Raphael looked at Samael. Or Samael was too angry to even speak, which may be possible.
"Fine." Leonardo growled. "Now maybe you two can explain to us why a council of gods just tried to blow her up."
Samael and Gabriel looked at each other.
Samael threw himself into a chair at the table. "Heaven and Hell are the," He moved his hand as if looking for the right word to use. "Top of the dog heap right now, the high rollers, the big movers and shakers if you will. This, as you can imagine, does not sit well with many of the other gods, but there is nothing they can do about it. Gods are only as powerful as the strength of their worshipper's belief. This means that many of the older pagan gods are quite weak. "He said with a shrug. "So then Nightmare comes in, literally out of nowhere, and kills Lucifer. This left a giant power vacuum that needed to be filled, not to mention no one wanted to kick off the Apocalypse, so Nightmare became Morning Star. She cleaned up Hell a little, forged new Accords with Heaven, and everyone is happy except for the gods. She is too powerful. If she is a goddess of magic where did she come from? All of the other gods of magic are weak because of humanity's non belief. Nowadays everything can be explained by science, except when it can't, and people just tend to ignore anything that doesn't make sense." Samael shook his head.
"This being said, this young god of magic of all things, shouldn't be so powerful. No one believes in magic anymore. Don't get me wrong there are large population who do, but they would have to worship her specifically and no one worships Nightmare. Even with the power of Hell behind her she is much too powerful." Samael paused. "So they believe that it is Yggdrasil that is giving her the power. But the gods are blinding themselves to the truth and the truth is that Nightmare poured her power into Yggdrasil, not the other way around. So the gods believe that if they can take Yggdrasil from her, that they will once again become strong. So they want to take it." Samael said angrily.
Gabriel sighed. "Yes, the gods are acting foolish, this is nothing new. However I believe that after their failed attempt at killing her, they will not try to do so again. The real problem however lies with the Fae. She is going to have to do something about them. They are pushing harder to re-enter earth, some have even managed to slip through. The Old Powers are beginning to rise. It cannot go on much longer. Something must give, and I know Nightmare does not wish for it to be the humans who are trampled under the feet of creatures and monsters."
"And of course now there is the child." Samael said softly.
"What does April's daughter have to do with anything?" Leoanrdo asked softly.
Gabriel and Samael exchanged a look and shrugged. "We don't know."
Raphael looked at his brothers. This was so much bigger than just fighting The Shredder and the street gangs of New York.
Gabriel and Azazel stood. "We have duties we must attend." Gabriel said with a bow. He paused and said to them. "We never wished for her to remember who she was." He said softly.
"Why, because you wanted her for yourself?" Raphael accused.
Gabriel looked at him steadily.
"No Raph," Leonardo said softly. "Because if she remembered, she would remember what happened in Hell." He said softly.
Raphael opened his mouth then snapped it shut. He closed his eyes and turned his head angrily away.
Gabriel nodded solemnly. "Also, we did not know if her mind would remain intact if she did remember. For all that she is a First Soul, her soul is still mortal, and mortal souls can only take so much. We did not believe that her mind would be able to take the strain of so many awful memories. I believed that if she remembered, her mind would break." He said softly. "Watch her, she should wake soon." Gabriel said with a curt nod. Samaell gave a nod of his head and they let themselves out.
Raphael put his head down on the table.
He felt Michelangelo's comforting hand on his shoulder. "She's still sane Raph." He said softly.
"I know Mikey, but...this is just so much bigger than we are."
Michelangelo said softly. "I know. I said that Darkness' world was messed up, but I take it back, our world is messed up too, we just didn't realize it." Michelangelo mumbled.
"Yeah, but unlike our counterparts we ain't immortal." Raphael grumbled. "Well, except Donny." Raphael said awkwardly.
At that moment Donatello stumbled into the kitchen. Leonardo, who had taken a seat beside him, jumped up and went to help their too pale brother. "Donny, what are you doing out of bed?" Leonardo asked gently.
"I'm starving." He grumbled as he walked to the fridge.
They frowned and looked at each other. Donatello was never overly hungry. He would forget to eat most of the time if they didn't put a plate of something nearby so that if he happened to notice it, he would eat.
Donatello stood looking at the contents of the fridge.
"Samael and Gabriel must keep the fridge stocked." Leonardo observed.
Raphael nodded. It made sense, Nightmare didn't eat.
Donatello closed the door of the fridge and walked over to the cupboards beginning to dig through them.
"You want some coffee Donny, maybe a sandwich?" Michelangelo offered helpfully as he stood to pour his brother a coffee.
Donatello was beginning to look a little frantic. Michelangelo handed the mug to his brother who grabbed at it gratefully. Donatello took a huge gulp, turned and spit into the sink.
He looked at the coffee in disgust. "How long has that pot been on?"
"Ten, fifteen minutes." Michelangelo said frowning.
Donatello put the mug of coffee down. "Something's wrong with it. It tastes awful."
Leonardo frowned, grabbed the mug of coffee and took a sip. Leonardo grimaced. He wasn't normally a coffee drinker. "It tastes like coffee Donny."
Donatello frowned at the cup held out to him. He covered his nostrils. "It even smells bad." He complained.
Michelangelo managed to make Donatello a ham sandwich and handed it to him. Donatello shook his head and handed it back. "I can't." He said. "The smell is making my stomach roll." He said as he began to pace. He had started clutching at his stomach as if he was in pain.
"Donny are you okay?" Leonardo asked Donatello stilling his pacing.
"I'm starving Leo. I feel like my stomach is trying to claw itself to bits. It hurts." He said as he slid to the ground in front of the sink.
Donatello's eyes had turned gold. He clenched his teeth together in pain.
"Raph, go wake Nightmare up." Leonardo ordered.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Raphael asked.
"He's in pain Raph, she'll be able to tell us what's wrong." Leo said worriedly.
Michelangelo walked over and knelt down in front of Donatello. He reached over and pulled Donatello's lips back further from his clenched teeth. "You've got fangs Donny." Michelangelo said softly letting go of Donatello's mouth.
"What?" Donatello said wincing in pain.
"Well not fang fangs. They are barely noticeable, but your canines are sharper and a little longer than they used to be." Michelangelo said to him. "I thought when you were drinking Kitten's blood that she had cut herself, but you bit her." Michelangelo pointed out.
Raphael watched as another wave of pain rolled through his brother who doubled over. "So what are you sayin Mikey, that Donny's some sort of blood suckin' vampire?"Raphael asked in shock.
"I don't know Raph." Michelangelo said shaking his head in worry.
"I can hear the beating of your hearts. I can hear the blood coursing through your veins. I can smell your fear." His brother looked at them, red gold eyes glittering in pain.
Michelangelo pulled up his sleeve giving him his wrist. "If you need to eat Donny, do it, just don't kill me, or hurt me too much." Michelangelo said as he turned his face away so he wouldn't have to watch.
Donatello looked at Michelangelo's arm in shock. "Is this what I have become?" He asked in horror.
Leonardo knelt down. "It's okay Donny. We're here for you. We'll give you whatever you need." He said as he pulled back his own sleeve exposing his own wrist. He leaned his head forward but pulled back. He shook his head.
"Donny if you're starving and if this is what you need..." Michelangelo began.
"That's not it Mikey." Donatello said with a shake of his head. "I can smell you, I can smell your blood, but, you don't smell good to me." He whispered. Donatello's attention suddenly went to the ceiling. He pulled his lips back in a growl. He struggled to stand and ran from the room. They followed close behind him.
Nightmare tapped at the book in her hand as she stared at the fire that popped and crackled in the grate, but gave off no warmth. She had to make a decision. Either she accepted that she was Katherine, or she accepted that she had been Katherine. She couldn't be both. She threw the book down in frustration. There were too many men in her heart right now. She stood up and walked to the door beside the fireplace. She entered her Soul Room and looked at her damaged soul. It was still fractured and broken. She stared at the woman she had been. She huffed out a breath and sat on the floor staring at her soul as if it would give her the answers. She looked at the gold chains that encircled her, binding her to Donatello. The silver cord that linked her to Donatello's very soul burned with an intense light.
She was starving. She had used too much power protecting herself from the assault of the gods. She had pulled power from Yggdrasil through Donatello, because although they were able to cut off her power from Yggdrasil, they couldn't cut her off from Donatello. And as her demon Familiar, Donatello is able to draw power from Yggdrasil as well. It was then an easy thing to pull the power of Yggdrasil through the chains that bound them together. Nightmare was not sure if the gods could have actually killed her, but she hadn't wanted to be injured enough that they might have tried again.
If she was starving this meant that Donatello would be hungry as well, which meant that she had to feed soon. She did not want Donatello to have to suffer through the echo of her hunger as well as his own.
She contemplated her soul and frowned.
When Hun had captured the brothers she had referred to them as her lovers, which was not true. They had been Katherine's lovers, and yet if she had called them her lovers and as she could not lie, she then had to conclude that she did in fact view herself as Katherine, otherwise she would not have been able to tell Hun they were her lovers. "Huh." She said to her soul.
Darkness had said that one day she would be okay with having been Katherine, but Nightmare was okay with actually being her. She rolled this thought around in her head.
She was Katherine. But now that she was willing to accept this, the question that needed to be answered was whether or not she would be able to stay sane by becoming her? Would she still be able to be Katherine and be the moster she had become? She looked at the book. And what about her own Destiny? She wondered. Her own circle of Fate closing rapidly in on her? She had set off a chain of events that she was only just beginning to understand the consequences of. She neesded more time to think before she acted.
She watched in facination as her soul, whose hands were tightly clenched together, slowly opened. In each there floated a glowing soul. One burned red, the other a ghostly golden blue. Her eyes widened as she recognized who the souls had belonged to.
Donatello's agonized hunger suddenly ripped through her pulling from her Soul Room. She struggled to open her eyes, but she couldn't, her body was still too weak. She needed more rest, but she needed to feed more.
She felt a presence beside her. She managed to turn her head slightly as she was lifted gently from her bed.