Chapter 24 people yay! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter! I think things will start getting a little darker from this point on...we will see.=) And as always Forgottenforever thank you so much for your review!
Chapter 24
Raphael could smell the musty, dry smell of straw. That was the thing he first noticed. A young girl leaned over the prone form of a sickly woman. Raphael looked around what looked to be a cabin or cottage, wooden walls, wooden floors, very sparsely furnished. There was a kitchen in one corner, a small living room, and the bedroom. There were no walls to divide up the space, it was all just crammed into on large room. He looked again at the woman who lay on a bed of straw. "If you drink this tea three times a day, you will get better." The soft voice of a child said, as she handed the woman a small bag.
The girl stood at the sound of the door of the house being thrown open. "We've come for the girl Annie!" A large man said as he muscled his way into the house.
The girl fell back in fear. She had dark black hair, bright moss green eyes, and a fair complexion. Raphael looked in shock at Katherine, because like Kaethryn he knew she was Katherine.
The man unrolled a scroll. "Kathlynn Faire you are hereby charged with the crimes of witchcraft, heresy and making a covenant with the Devil." The man bellowed.
Raphael looked at the man as two men came around and grabbed Kathlynn. "You've got to be kidding me, she's like 10, at the most!" Raphael yelled as one of the men grabbed Kathlynn, while the other held down the sickly woman.
"Robert, she's not a witch!" The woman said weakly.
The man picked up the bag that Kathlynn had given her. "Trying to finish poisoning this woman." He accused Kathlynn.
She looked at the man Robert, fear radiating off of her in waves. "It is only and herbal tea to help with her cough."
"A likely story. There are 50 pigs dead over at Good Farmer Jacob's place, and 10 girls have gotten ill, all because of you." Robert accused. "Bring her Sam." Robert ordered.
Kathlynn struggled but there was no way she could stand up against the force of a full grown man.
Robert stopped just outside of the house. A man who looked like a priest stood in the darkness. "Good work Robert. Bring her to Good Farmer Jacob's place."
Robert's brow furrowed in confusion. "But Reverend, I was going to take her to the jail. The magistrate should be along within the week to perform the trial."
The Reverend held out a piece of paper. "Her execution warrant has already been sighed by the magistrate. She is to be executed immediately." He said.
Robert paused but nodded, not bothering to look at the paper. Kathlynn was as white as chalk, but she looked at the Reverend. "I see you." She whispered to him.
Raphael was dragged along as they threw her in an enclosed wagon.
The scene shifted. They pulled up outside a farmhouse. There was already a large crowd that had gathered. Torches flickered in the darkness as Kathlynn was unloaded from the wagon and tied to a post.
Robert looked at the Reverend. "But I thought we only hanged witches." He said to him.
The Reverend smiled cruelly. "True, but the only way to purify such a young tainted soul, is through a purification only the red hot flame can bring."
The people of the village cheered at the little girl being tied to the stake, some even threw things at her. Raphael screamed and shouted at them.
The Reverend walked up to Kathlynn holding the burning torch in his hand, it's flame illuminating his sadistic smile. "A demon doing God's work." She said to him with a smirk.
"Hello Kaethryn, I found you." He said smiling maliciously at her.
"My name isn't Kaethryn." She said to him.
He laughed. "You shall always be Kaethryn. After all, it was her light I first extinguished. Of course there have been so many after, but I will never forget the look of absolute confusion and resignation on your face. You wished for death that night, rather than suffer mercilessly at the hands of that man. You welcomed death, and with death, you welcomed me."
He reached out and touched her face. She just looked at him. "Of course I had to start thinking of new and interesting ways to kill you. Mostly though, at times, the quickest solution was always the best. After all, I am not the only one that hunts your soul through incarnation after incarnation. I however, am not a coward. I do not hide behind accidents and diseases and twists of fate. I care enough to kill you personally." He said rubbing a thumb across her cheek. "Do you remember?" He whispered to her. "Do you remember all of the deaths I gave to you?" He asked as Kathlynn closed her eyes and screamed in agony.
Raphael felt hismself reel as image after image, death after death ripped through his mind. There didn't seem to be an order, as the images jumped from country to country, and time period through time period. The only thing his horror filled mind noticed as he watched murder after murder, was that through much of it, she was no more than a child. Kaethryn had been the oldest of all of her incarnations.
He couldn't scream anymore, couldn't feel anything anymore as his mind shut down, turned off the horror and the pain and agony because it was too much. He looked at the Reverend's face glowing red in the light, features stretched and contorted so that a red skinned demon looked back at her. "And those are only the lives that I helped take. Imagine all of the lives taken from you by THEM." He said as he put the torch to the wood stacked at her feet.
"Goodbye Kaethryn, until we meet again, and we will meet again." He said seriously, all joking and good humour leaving his face. He grimly watched as she began to cough through the smoke. "One day. One day soon, he will want you." He said wretchedly.
"What are you waiting for!" Kathlynn yelled. It looked as if she was staring right at him. "What are you waiting for!" She screamed.
Donatello's eyes snapped open. Dread clawed and ripped through his stomach. He began coughing as his lungs burned. He stumbled to the bathroom. He took a deep painful breath. Something was terribly wrong, but he wasn't sure what it was. It was then that he smelled the first traces of smoke.
Michelangelo yawned as he walked down the hall to his bedroom. He had just finished putting Starlight and Starbright to bed. They were currently comatose at the moment their sleep was so deep. The sun was just starting to make its way over the horizon and he was glad because it had been a very long night.
Michelangelo stopped. Listening. He thought he had heard something. He frowned. Why did it smell like a campfire? He wondered.
He tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. Had Leonardo left the fire burning in the library? He wondered as he walked back down the hall towards the stairs. That is when he saw the smoke trickling out from underneath Katherine's door. He grabbed the door handle and turned. The room was full of smoke. He covered his nostrils and mouth peering through the smoke, and waved it away. He couldn't see where the fire was coming from but he could just see the bed through the smoke. He ran to the bed. Raphael was holding Katherine tightly, his face a mask of agony. He reached out and shook his big brother. "Wake up!" He yelled at him as he tried to see where the smoke was coming from.
"Raphael, wake up!" He screamed in his brother's ear. Raphael blearily opened his eyes but seemed dazed or still too deep in sleep to understand what was going on. "We have to get out of here! There's a fire!" He yelled at his brother.
"Kaeth...need...need...wake up." Raphael managed to say and he goy his brother to sit up. Michelangelo then ran to the other side of the bed and began shaking Katherine roughly. "Wake up!" He yelled at her. But she didn't wake. "Wake up!" He shook her again as Leonardo and Donatello ran into the room.
"What's going on in here?" Leonardo shouted over his pleas for Katherine to wake up.
"I can't get Katherine to wake up and I can't find the fire!" Michelangelo said as Leonardo strode to the bed. He grabbed Raphael by the shoulder.
Katherine suddenly sat up and began coughing and wheezing. Then she started to cry. She began to thrash as Michelangelo and Donatello tried to hold her down.
"I'm burning, I'm burning!" She screamed, through the coughing. Her breaths were coming rapidly as if she could not get enough air.
"Katherine you're okay you aren't burning." Donatello said trying to calm her. But she continued to thrash.
"My legs!" She screamed. Donatello grabbed the sheets around her legs and pulled them off. Fire erupted around her legs, her pants were on fire.
"Shit!" Donatello exclaimed as he covered her legs and grabbed her pulling her and all of the covers off the bed. He ran with her into the bathroom. He leapt into the tub turning the taps on as he placed her legs under the tap. She finally stopped thrashing, as she lapsed into unconsciousness. Donatello was holding her tightly against him. Michelangelo looked at his grim brother. "Mikey take her to my room, grab towels, wet them with cold water and put them on her legs, do not try to remove her pants. Go downstairs and grab the first aid kit from the kitchen, and grab a jar of honey. Go, now!" His brother ordered.
Michelangelo nodded grabbing Katherine out of his brother's arms, and running as gently as he could to Donatello's room.
Donatello climbed from the tub, his whole body was shaking with fear. He shoved away the feelings because if he panicked he would break down. He walked into the empty room, pulled open the window and began letting the smoke out. He walked to the closet and pulled out the oxygen tank Katherine had used to save his life, now he hoped use it to save hers.
Donatello strode out of the room. Leonardo and Raphael were in the hallway. Leonardo was holding Raphael up. Raphael looked grey, his body looked clammy and his breathing was quick and shallow, eyes glassy and unseeing. "He's in shock." Leonardo said to him.
"Take him to your room, watch him, keep him warm, he needs to rest." Donatello said to him.
Leonardo nodded. "Donny what...?" He asked.
Donatello shook his head. "Leo, Katherine could still die." He said grimly as he dashed to his room.
Katherine lay pale and unmoving on his bed. Michelangelo was kneeling on the floor, hand gripping hers tightly. Towels covered her legs. He moved Michelangelo out of the way and put the mask over her face, turning it on and hoping Katherine hadn't used the whole tank on him.
He heard the sound of oxygen hissing into the mask. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to Katherine's legs. He removed the towels and looked at the charred remains of her pants.
"How could a fire burn under the covers Donny?" Michelangelo whispered to him. "And if the fire was burning her, why didn't she wake up, why didn't Raph wake up when the room filled with smoke?" His voice sounded lost, worried and frightened.
"I don't know Mikey." He said as he began cutting her pants away. Her legs were burned but the burns did not appear to be serious. "The burns aren't that bad Mikey." He said breathing a sigh of relief, but it was the smoke inhalation he worried about.
He checked to make sure the burns had cooled, and finding they had, slathered honey on all of her burns which covered her calves in angry red splotches. He then gently wrapped her legs with bandages and covered her with the blankets to keep her warm and comfortable.
"Mikey go to Leo's room, see if Raph is coughing." He ordered his little brother. Michelangelo stood and ran from the room. He returned a moment later saying that Raphael was asleep and not coughing.
Donatello nodded. Katherine was either unconscious or asleep he wasn't sure.
"Is this why you feared sleep so much?" He asked her as he stroked her hair gently.
He looked at Michelangelo who was fidgeting. "Go to Leo's room, tell him to get me if Raph wakes up, tell him to watch him. After that go check on the girls, make sure they are okay, then get some rest. I will watch Katherine and promise I will get you if anything changes." He said to his brother who opened his mouth to protest. "You will need to be alert for the girls if they wake up, keep them away as best you can." He said reasonably.
Michelangelo's shoulders sagged in defeat, but he nodded.
Donatello pulled up a chair and took her hand in his.
Katherine opened her eyes and looked at him. "Don't make him remember." She whispered as her eyes closed again.
Donatello looked at her in shock. "What happened?" He asked her softly even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
He looked at her pale face. What had happened? He wondered. He wondered then if it was the smell of the smoke that had woken him from his sleep, or if it was something else that had tried to warn him that Katherine was in danger?
A few hours later Leonardo ran into Donatello's room. "Raph's awake." He said breathlessly. Donatello leapt up. "Should I stay with her?" Leonardo asked.
Donatello paused but shook his head. They would only be gone a moment. "We have to know what's been going on, grab Mikey." He said as he took one last look at Katherine and walked to his older brother's room.
Raphael was sitting up in bed looking miserable. "How do you feel?" Donatello asked him checking over his brother's vitals.
"How do you think I feel?" Raphael growled.
Michelangelo and Leonardo came into the room. "Can you tell us what happened?" Donatello asked gently.
Raphael shook his head. "Raphael this is not the time to be keeping things from us, Katherine was almost killed!" Leonardo yelled at him.
Raphael paled. "Katherine. Where is she, what happened!" He yelled as he tried to get out of bed.
Donatello looked at Leonardo in confusion. "She has mild burns to her legs, but it is the smoke inhalation I am more concerned about. I have hooked her up to oxygen so hopefully she will be fine. You were in shock so I need you to lie back down and tell us everything you remember."
Raphael looked at his brother agony in his face as he closed his eyes. "I can't...I don't remember." He whispered.
"Take your time Raph. Whatever happened was enough to throw you body into shock. Just take it slow and tell us what happened from the beginning." Donatello proded gently.
"We went to bed like we usually do." He said in a whisper.
"We?" Leonardo asked with a growl.
Michelangelo hit him in the shoulder. "Quiet Leo." He growled.
"I was worried after what had happened today. I told her maybe she should tell you who Kaethryn was, but when I looked down at her, she was already asleep, which was a little strange. I closed my eyes and I couldn't wake up." He said miserably. "She...it happened again."
"What happened again, and who is Kaethryn?" Leonardo demanded.
"Leo if you can't play nice go outside." Donatello growled at his older brother. He wasn't happy to learn that Raphael and Katherine were sleeping together either, but that was not important at the moment. Leonardo huffed out a frustrated breath and crossed his arms.
"She died." He said wretchedly, as if the words were dragged from his throat.
"Who died?" Leonardo said very evenly.
"Kitten, the night that Donny woke up...Kitten...I don't know how long she had stopped breathing for, how long her heart had stopped, but she was dead, for a few minutes at least, until I managed to get her breathing again, get her heart beating again." Raphael said wretchedly.
"What the hell happened Raph, and why didn't you tell us?" Leonardo yelled at him.
"She drowned." He said softly.
"You mean she had a bath and passed out?" Donatello asked in confusion.
"No she drowned in her sleep, in her bed." Raphael said looking at his hands. He took a deep breath.
"That doesn't make any sense Raph! Do you hear yourself!" Leonardo yelled.
"I know what happened Leo!" Raphael closed his eyes.
"Raph, how the hell did she drown?" Leoanrdo roared.
"Something shoved a sword through her and threw her off a cliff, that's how!" Raphael yelled at him.
"Raphael are you listening to yourself you aren't making any sense at all!" Leonardo screamed in frustration.
"She was having a nightmare." He began. "I just reached out to wake her up, and she pulled me into her nightmare." He whispered. "Only it was so much more than just a bad dream, it was real. Donny did something when he called her Kaethryn, like...I don't know, like he triggered a memory, only it wasn't Katherine's memory, it was Kaethryn's memory, but I think Kaethryn is Katherine." He said trying to explain the unexplainable.
"That makes no sense, are you saying Katherine isn't Katherine." Leonardo asked in confusion.
"No, Katherine is Katherine. Kaethryn..." He tried to explain it. "Past life maybe, I don't know, Kaethryn was around when they still travelled by horses and lived in big draffy castles and talked in a language I have never heard before, but I could understand every damn word they said anyway."
"Raph are you sure you weren't having a really bad dream?" Donatello asked him gently.
"A bad dream, where Kaethryn who is Katherine, is killed by some thing, and tossed into the sea, and when I wake up she is blue and I pump sea water out of her lungs." He yelled at his brother in frustration.
"Horses, sea water and blood."Michelangelo said in a soft voice.
"I have no idea what happened, but whatever that was, I never wanted to see anything or experience anything like that again, and neither did she." Raphael finished.
"So that is why you didn't sleep for three days. You were both too afraid it was going to happen again." Donatello said to him.
"Yeah. She's was still nervous about sleeping, and so was I." Raphael said with a slight nod.
Leonardo closed his eyes in acknowledgement. "So why didn't you tell us she almost died Raph?" He asked angrily
Raphael glared at his brother. "What would you have had me do Fearless? Tell you that Katherine managed to make her dream real enough to kill her after Donny triggered the whole damn thing? Katherine didn't want Donny to know because it would have hurt him." Raphael growled. "Is that really what you wanted us to do? Besides, you ever peeked into someone's head Leo? Ever seen someone's dreams up close and personal? Those are supposed to be private." He said to him.
Donatello felt himself pale. It was his fault. It was all happening because of something he had done. "What happened tonight Raph?" Donatello asked quietly.
Raphael looked away. "I couldn't wake up. I was dragged into another memory, but...there was a man, and flames." Raphael closed his eyes trying desperately to remember what he had forgotten.
"Raph. Whatever you saw caused you to go into shock. Don't push yourself, okay." Donatello said gently.
"She was screaming at me, but I couldn't wake up." Raphael said opening his eyes.
"Who was screaming at you?" Donatello asked.
"Kathlynn, they were..." Raphael swallowed
Raphael's breaths became shorter, faster. He clutched his blankets to him like a lifeline. His eyes stared at nothingness as he talked.
"Raphael." Donatello said in concern.
"He was a monster. A demon wearing a man's face. The flames, she was screaming..." Raphael was near panic.
"Raphael stop, please stop." He begged his brother. His mind was pushing too hard, he was going to go into shock again. Raphael closed his eyes and slumped back.
Donatello leapt forward and adjusted Raphael so he would be more comfortable.
"Is he okay Donny?" Leonardo asked softly.
Donatello frowned. "I don't know Leo." He told his brother truthfully. "I don't know what happened. All we know is that Raph thinks Katherine was Kaethryn, and that whatever happened she was able to drag Raphael into her nightmare and manifest it to a degree that it became real, real enough to affect her in the waking world. But whatever happened, we shouldn't try to force anymore information out of him. Katherine doesn't want us to make him remember." Donatello said to his brothers. "She woke for a split second and told me 'don't make him remember. Whatever it is, if we force him to remember, it may..." He stopped not wanting to think of the possibility.
"May what Donny?" Leonardo asked quietly.
"His mind may never recover." He said with worry as he looked at his sleeping brother.
"What do you mean his mind may never recover? Are you saying that...?" Leonardo demanded.
"Whatever it was, was so horrifying, so traumatic, that it is possible his mind may break." Donatello said wretchedly.
Leonardo and Michelangelo looked at Raphael, their faces looking grey. Leonardo's eyes widened. "Katherine?" He asked.
Donatello shook his head. "I don't know Leo. Maybe she will forget as well. If it is bad enough for Raphael to go into shock, I would imagine it could destroy Katherine's mind as well." He said grimly. "I won't know anything until she wakes up."
Poor Raph, poor Katherine, but what does it all mean! LOL guess you will have to keep reading to find out!=)