Chapter 17

Raphael woke up to something warm pushed against his side. He must have thrown an arm over the wiger sometime during his sleep. He remembered the wiger had lain next to him and Leonardo. The only thing was that the body partially under him was not furry and there was a blanket thrown over him. He opened his eyes and saw the back of Goddess' head. He sat up quickly and saw that it wasn't a blanket but a wing that had been thrown over him. Leonardo was just on her other side, a wing thrown over his body as well. Leonardo had an arm thrown over her waist and was facing her. Raphael's movement disturbed her and she turned her head towards him, body moving to find the warmth of his. He looked down the line of her back and realized that she was naked.

Leonardo woke up and sat bolt upright. They looked at each other then back down at the goddess between them. Raphael rolled over and grabbed the blanket Michelangelo was using. Michelangelo woke up with a start. "Hey what's the..." He began but stopped when he saw the goddess on the floor. Raphael covered the goddess and let Leonardo pick her up.

"Move it Mikey." Leonardo growled as he kicked him off the couch. Donatello woke up and looked at her in shock. He got up off the loveseat and sat down in front of her. He touched her face.

"She's warm. I wouldn't say feverish, but she is more warm than I have ever felt her being."

"So what happened to the wiger?" Michelangelo asked.

"She was the wiger shell for brains." Raphael said. He looked at her and didn't know what to feel. He knelt down beside her. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it down enough to see where he had put his sai through her. It was healed. He brought up each hand and wrist and inspected each in turn. They were both healed, there weren't even marks to show she had been injured. He couldn't forgive himself. He couldn't forgive himself for hurting her, for making her go through so much to save them, to save him. But the thought of turning away from her hurt more than any physical pain. He stood up and made room for Leonardo. It was him she had wanted anyway. He felt his heart break.

"But if she was the wiger, then why was she acting so funny?" Michelangelo asked.

Donatello shook his head.

Leonardo brushed the hair from her face. Her face followed his touch. Her eyes opened and she looked at him. She smiled a weak smile at all of them and tried to sit up. The blanket fell down and he rushed to cover her back up. She shifted her legs over the side of the couch. She placed a hand on Donatello's shoulder, legs pressed against him.

"Are you okay?" Leonardo asked pulling her into him. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..." She put a finger to his lips and shook her head.

She pulled away doubling over, falling into Donatello. He caught her and pulled her into his lap. Jealously ripped through Raphael but he stamped it down. She wasn't his.

"Are you okay?" Donatello asked. She shook her head. She pushed away from Donatello and ran for the bathroom. The blanket fell to the floor as the bathroom door slammed and there was the distinct click of a lock.

The brothers looked at each other in shock.

"Should we go see if she's alright?" Michelangelo asked.

"If she wanted us there she would have asked us to come." Leonardo said looking at the bathroom door with worry.

"Donny..." Raphael began.

"No Raphael you listen to me." Donatello said angrily as he stood. "She's not yours Raph." He paused then said more evenly "She's not any of ours."

"I know, and I don't have any right to her, especially after I...All I've ever offered her has been violence." Raphael whispered. Then winced in pain as Michelangelo hit him up the side of the head.

"Grow up Raph. You guys are worse than children. She's mine, no she's mine. If you guys feel any more sorry for yourselves I am going to start a giant pity party for you while I take her from all of you. If she blamed you for anything she would tell you." He looked away. Raphael looked at Michelangelo in shock. The misery in his voice was tangible. "What if she's not okay?"

The door to the bathroom opened slightly. They all looked towards the bathroom, but she didn't come out. They all stood up and walked to the bathroom. She grabbed the door frame. "I don't feel very well." She said, as she collapsed.

Michelangelo grabbed her and swung her up into his arms. She struggled. "Toilet now." She said desperately. Michelangelo strode into the bathroom kicking the door closed behind him. They heard the click of the lock.

Raphael angrily pounded on the door.

"Mikey, let us in!" He shouted.

Michelangelo looked at the goddess in his arms. She looked pale, strained, and almost green. He put her in front of the toilet in time for her to puke into the bowl. He looked away concentrating instead on making sure her hair was out of the way.

She wiped her mouth. "I think I heard someone say once that, you know he is in love if he holds your hair while you puke into the toilet. " She flushed the toilet. She still looked pale, but the greenish cast to her skin was slowly fading.

"No offence sweetheart, but green is so not your colour." He said attempting to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I'll let you guys have green, much more your colour." She said eyes closed. "Green always was my favourite colour." She opened her eyes. She ran a hand through her blood clumped hair. "Eeww." She looked down at her body which was covered in dried blood. "I looked like I bathed in blood."

Michelangelo tried to be a gentleman and look away, but he found his eyes roving over her bloodstained flesh. "Are you okay?" He asked trying to get his thoughts back in order.

"Do you have any idea what she ate? Please tell me she didn't eat anybody." She said as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"You don't know?" Michelangelo asked in shock. "But wasn't the wiger you?"

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Wiger?"

"You know that wolf tiger thing, get it wiger." Michelangelo said with a smile.

"You mean the Were?" She asked.

"Where what?" Michelangelo asked in confusion.

"Not where, Were, as in Werewiger...I guess, but I would just call her a Were. She is comprised of both domestic cat and tiger as well as coyote and wolf. She is...Ryn." She said as if that explained everything. She closed her eyes. "I am so tired." She whispered."She didn't eat anyone did she?" She asked her voice was slurred.

"No. Just some sea lions." He said gently.

"Good I told her not to eat anyone, and to protect all of you." She clutched her stomach in pain.

"What's wrong?" Michelangelo asked squeezing her tightly. He was worried. Black veins began crawling their way under her skin. "Something's wrong." He said panic filling his voice.

Goddess looked as the black moved its way down her arms. "I told her my body would reject it, well most of it."

"Reject what, told who?" He was clutching her tightly.

"Could you run me a bath Michelangelo. The smell of animal blood and flesh," She started turning green again. He quickly stood up leaving her hanging onto the toilet.

He ran the water and shrugged himself out of his shirt. He could still hear his brothers banging on the door outside. He grabbed his toothbrush and some toothpaste.

"Are you done, you know, puking?" He asked. How did you ask that delicately? He wondered.

She nodded her head. He passed her his toothbrush and toothpaste. She looked at it in shock. "It's mine, I would've gotten you a new one, but we don't have any spares lying around."

"Thank you." She said. She brushed her teeth, spit in the toilet and gave the toothbrush and toothpaste back to him. She tried to stand and managed to do not so bad. He helped her over to the tub and helped her get in. She plunged her whole body under water as well as her head. Her hair floated around her like a cloud of ink. He could now see all of the black veins running through her body. The water was beginning to cloud with blood. She sat up. He stood up and grabbed a bar of soap and the shampoo he had seen sitting in the shower. He helped her with her back and her hair. The bathroom was full of steam and silence, the water was a muddy red. Michelangelo pulled the plug letting all of the water go down the drain. She went to try to stand but he held her down. He filled the tub again, dug up some of the bubble bath he had seen her use and poured it into the tub.

"Now tell me what is wrong." He said quietly. She looked at him. She seemed tired and she was still in pain. It was tempting to get Donatello in here, but her knew he wouldn't be able to help her.

"Ryn thought that she might be able to use my body and turn my lust for blood into meat instead. It worked, sort of. But she was not able to hold the form for long enough for all of the meat she ate to digest. My body can't digest solid food, what goes in must come out. And the blood she ingested, my body is trying to process it but it can't because it is just regular animal blood. That is why you can see all the veins in my body turning black. My body is getting rid of the blood it can't digest, and it is," She closed her eyes. "Painful."

Michelangelo tried to wrap his brain around how someone else could use her body, but decided he would just leave it for now.

"Raphael is hurting." She whispered. She seemed sleepy. "He hurts here." She pointed to where her heart was.

"How do you know?" Michelangelo whispered.

"Because I can feel him." She said softly.

"You love him, don't you?" Michelangelo asked, his own heart hurting.

"Yes. I love all of them." She said sleepily. Michelangelo realized her defences seemed to be down.

"But who do you love? Who is it you want to be with?" He asked her desperately.

"I love them all, but they, they want me to choose between them, but I want to be with them all. They don't realize that I can't choose."

"Why can't you?" Michelangelo whispered feeling guilty for asking her as vulnerable as she was, and yet needing to know.

"Because I am what I am." She whispered. "I love Michelangelo's humour and his kind heart; Donatello's quiet strength and keen mind; Leonardo's honour and protective nature; and Raphael's passion and vulnerability. I love them all, with all my heart, but I could never ask them to share. That's why I can never have them."

Michelangelo looked at her in shock. She loved them, all of them. He wondered what his brothers would think if they knew what she thought of them. He tried to picture the vulnerability she saw in Raphael. And then he saw it. Raphael always used his anger like a shield, never letting anyone get close. It shocked him to realize that she really did know them that well, but then again she had always seemed to be one step ahead of them, so he guessed he really wasn't that surprised.

He was holding her up now, to stop her from slipping below the water. "How do you know Raphael is hurting?" He asked.

"Because I left a kiss upon his soul." She whispered.

Michelangelo brushed a finger across her cheek. He leaned down and kissed her. She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled away and put his forehead against hers. He loved her, but she loved his brothers as much as she loved him, and what did she mean she left a kiss on his soul? He pulled away settled her so she wouldn't slip under the water and got a towel.

"Michelangelo?" She asked him. She opened her eyes, she seemed a little more focused. "It burns." She said as the black of her veins got darker and thicker. They had faded a bit during the bath but they seemed to be coming back with a vengeance.

He pulled her from the tub, but she had gone limp. He lay her down on a towel he had put on the floor and wrapped her up as best as he could. She was unconscious or asleep he wasn't sure which, but when he tried to wrap her in the towel she struggled. He pulled her against him and she stopped struggling. He lay her down on the floor. He grabbed his shirt from the floor and put it on. He picked her up and although she settled a little she still struggled. He pulled his shirt off and she snuggled into him, her struggling stopped.

He looked at her in confusion. There was something about flesh on flesh contact that she needed. The veins got worse when he wasn't touching her, but got better when he was. He stood up and walked to the door. He managed to get it open. He strode out of the bathroom. His brothers were waiting around the couch.

"Mikey what the..." Leonardo asked.

"Raphael strip." He said striding up to him.

"I...what?" Raphael asked in surprise.

"What's wrong with her?" Donatello asked. Tracing the black veins that ran through her arm.

"I'll tell you in a sec, Raph strip now. The more skin the better," He looked down at the black veins, "Naked would probably be best." He said worriedly. "And lie down on the couch, Leo get Raph a blanket." She was worried about Raphael and seemed to have some sort of link with him. He was her best bet, but they would switch off every few hours until those black veins disappeared.

Leo grabbed the blanket that had fallen to the floor when she had run to the bathroom. "What's going on Mikey?" Leonardo asked.

Raphael was taking off his shirt and pants. He lay down on the couch grabbed the blanket, spread it over himself. His boxer briefs made it to the floor "This better not be some sort of joke Mikey." Raphael growled.

"I just hope I'm right." He said as he lifted the blanket and lay her stomach down on top of Raphael. He gathered up and folded her wings so they were outside the blanket. Her head was lying on Raphael's shoulder. She seemed to sense him and snuggle in deeper.

Raphael blushed red. "Mikey what are you..." He began. The veins running through her body lessened.

"The more skin the better Raph. Touch as much of her as you can." Michelangelo said trying to keep his own jealousy in check. "We'll need to switch off every couple hours until those veins go away or she actually wakes up, whichever comes first." Michelangelo said to his brothers who were looking at him in shock.

Michelangelo looked at Raphael who turned his attention back to the woman laying on top of him. He hugged her tightly one hand pulling her head in closer. He hugged her like a man who did not think to ever hold her again. He closed his eyes. "I can't Mikey, I can't forgive myself for..."

"Shut it Raph and enjoy for a bit." Michelangelo growled.

"What's going on Mikey." Leonardo asked angrily. Leonardo's jealousy was rising.

So he explained to them about Ryn and her body's rejection of all of the animal blood in her system, along with the other chunky bits. "Don't ask me who Ryn is cause I don't know. I also don't know how her body is getting rid of the blood, but she seemed better when I was touching her. She got worse when I wasn't. I don't know why, I'm just trying to help her." He said looking at Raphael and Goddess.

"So why Raph?" Donatello asked in confusion.

Raphael opened his eyes and looked at him. "She was worried about him." He said. "She has some sort of link with him, she could feel him through this link. I thought that maybe she would get better faster with him." Michelangelo said with a shrug ignoring the pain in his heart.

"She really did choose him didn't she." Leonardo said softly closing his eyes.

Michelangelo shook his head. How was he supposed to explain to his brothers what he knew? That she was never going to pick any of them because she loved all of them. "She hasn't chosen any of us. It may have something to do with her bringing him back, or maybe something to do with how she helped him with the nightmares, I don't know, all she said was that she had 'left a kiss on his soul.' Whatever that means. Like I said before in a few hours we will switch off, Raph can get up and stretch, and whoever wants to go next can take over. No fighting and no getting jealous. It is more important for her to get better than for us to figure out which one of us she wants to be with, got it." His brothers nodded shocked.

"What happened to Mikey?" Donatello asked Leonardo as Michelangelo turned and began walking away.

Leonardo shook his head in shock.

Raphael kicked the kitchen table. He burned with jealousy. He couldn't help it. He agreed with Michelangelo, but he needed to know, needed to know if he could call her his. "We are such idiots, she's a goddess! What would she want with us?" He hissed trying to keep his voice down. Donatello was lying with the goddess and Michelangelo and Leonardo were in the kitchen with him. "We're just mutated freaks who happened to have just enough magic in us to have her claim us as being hers. She will never choose any of us because we...we...we're not good enough for her." Raphael finished, his anger burning itself out. "I mean look at her. She the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and look at us." He looked at his hands. "I need to go hit something." He said as he walked away to punch at his heavy bag.

He hit and kicked the bag and it felt good. He had never felt so good to be able to use his body again like he had used it before. He was able to punch, kick and move again with no muscles cramping, no more pain. He had grown so used to the pain it was a relief to feel like he was himself again. The pain had made him more irritable, more bad tempered and he hadn't had an outlet. He landed a punch then grabbed his bag. Except Her. Shame burned through him as he thought about how she must have seen him almost every night. A screaming, frightened lunatic. What did she do to him that had rid him of the nightmares that had plagued him for two months, and why hadn't she gotten rid of his nightmares earlier? He was the charity case, that's why she seemed to prefer him. Even as he thought it he knew it wasn't true. He leaned his head against his bag. He didn't think he would be able to keep his sanity if she picked Leonardo. Michelangelo said he had some sort of link with her, but her couldn't feel anything. And she had kissed Leonardo before she had left. It was Leonardo who she had handled so carefully these two months. His head was starting to hurt from thinking too much and all he did was go around in circles.

Leonardo put a hand on his shoulder. "Why didn't she help me sooner Leo?" He asked as he looked at his brother. Guilt crossed his face.

"I didn't know that she could help you Raph. The thought that she might be able to control your mind in some way. I just couldn't take the chance that she would do something to you. Now I realize that I let my fear rule me and that I could have saved you two months worth of suffering if I had have just trusted her. I just remember when Mikey asked her if she could do something about your personality, she said yes. She's the most frighteningly beautiful creature I have ever met, and sometimes I feel so insignificant being around her. She is so much more than us." He shook his head. "I don't even know what she did to you, but I am glad you are feeling better Raphael." His brother turned and walked away. Raphael looked at his bag and gave it another hard punch.

And so it went for the rest of the day. They took turns switching off every couple hours. Raphael watched as she slept on Leonardo. Jealousy burned hotter and angrier through him as it hadn't when she lay on Michelangelo or Donatello. He wanted to rip her from his arms but he knew he couldn't, he knew he shouldn't. It was his last thought before he fell asleep.