Disclaimer: I do not own this franchise, for it is older than I am.

Are you sane? Where's the shame?

A moment of time passes by, you cannot rewind.

Who's to blame, and where did it start?

Is there a cure for your sickness, have you no heart?

Now I don't believe men are born to be killers, I don't believe the world can't be saved.

"World so Cold" By 12 Stones

Michaelangelo knew he had a lot to answer for a lot to mull over. All he could keep thinking about was that event so many years ago, how initially all he wanted was the plunge that knife deep into the chest of Karai's beast child, and how he could not bring himself to in the end. He looked to the child's innocently sleeping face - a near perfect replica of Karai's own face - and a sinister plot had entered his mind. Why kill the daughter of his hated enemies when he could do much worse, take her away to an orphanage to never know about her demented heritage

Yet that sudden deviance withered away on that train ride to the orphanage; the child was really such an innocent baby, just like Leonadi had been, and really she couldn't help it if her mother was an heiress to an evil curse. Over the next five years, he watched and visited, and he knew that Moth was his daughter.

Of course it crossed his mind that she would find out the real truth, but to be truly honest he thought it would be after killing Leonardo and Karai... Things really had messed up along the way hadn't they?

And now he and his sister Venus DiMilo stood across Leonardo and his vast swarm of Foot Ninja - big evil brother was not happy, his eyes cruelly dark and angry. "You killed my hier." Leonardo coldly said as he approached them. They were in a large, abandoned warehouse. Venus and Michelangelo had sent him a challenge in the form of a letter attached to a flaming arrow. They had the advantage of time and place, he had the advantage of an army of ninja.

"Kai's in a better place now that you can't harm him any more." Venus said calmly, uneasy around her twin.

"So this is your little foot soldier army?" Michaelangelo said, unimpressed "My daughter told me how these mcninjas are trained; a lot of incorrect stance, moves taught in the wrong order...Really Leo, you thought that teaching them combo-sets before the basics was the way to go? How pathetic." Oh, he was fully aware that it was Kai who was in charge of training, but the poor turtle died too young to really judge.

"What's truly pathetic is that it's just the two of you." Leonardo retorted darkly "Where's that savage of yours?" Michaelangelo frowned at the question, he knew that Venus had informed Moth of this battle. If she hadn't shown up already, than his grim hunch about losing the support of his daughter had been right.

"I'm here!" A new voice said and the owner, none other than Hamato Moth herself, materialized seemingly out of nowhere. Michaelangelo was taken by surprise, not just because she had just unexpectedly came, but that she was not in the fur-and-bones gear that she usually wore. Rather she was in traditional black ninja garb, her twin scimitar strapped to her back, her tomahawk was gone and in place was the dagger that Venus created from Kai's ashes. She had even cut her hair to shoulder-length and wore a green headband. Michaelangelo really saw it at that point - Moth was the spitting image of her mother Karai. If her eyes and hair were black and if the intense scar on her face was clear he would swear up and down he was looking at Karai.

Maybe it was symbolic of Moth accepting her origin... Perhaps of her rejecting him as her adopted father... Or maybe both. It might not have even been symbolic at all.

"I am here too." Joyce stepped up as well from the shadows. And before Michaelangelo or Venus's eyes, out stepped others; four boys they assumed were Moth's foot ninja comrades Reno, Keene, Travis and Jones. He was well aware about Cody Jones' situation, Moth had told him on her first report. Michaelangelo felt his fatherly instinct kick in when he saw the quick side-glance Keene threw at Moth; it was a look of admiration he recognized all-too-well, but he knew that while could interpret small gestures like that his daughter, due to lack of social experience, was unable to. Right now was an inappropriate time to bring it up though, he would be sure to scold the boy once this was over.

"This is it?" Leonardo said with a scoff of amusement, a cruel grin across his leafy-green face. "A few Foot drop-outs?"

"Not quite." Yet another voice came out from the shadows. The two priestly brothers Bellicose and Benign appeared. Both of the brothers held a sword. At their feet trotted Moth's coyote Raphael, eyes glinting in aggression and a dagger held in his fierce jaws, metal claws strapped on to his paws.

"Two bitter disabled turtles, a savage, an attack dog, two priests and a few dropout foot ninjas." Leonardo counted off "And I have an army."

"There's a reference somewhere in that statement(1)" Joyce said and crossed her arms with a smirk. Oh yes, Michaelangelo now recognized the girl as the long-lost Shadow Jones, he had an inkling when they first encountered her, but he never discusses this theory with Moth.

"Enough of the introductions." Michaelangelo said and raised his arms, his red-banded blue eye rested on his disowned brother "How do you want this?" He asked.

"To the death or nothing." Leonardo said, he brought out his katana and ran his tongue along the sharp edge quickly, eyes never leaving the opposing party.

"I figured as much." Michaelangelo muttered, he turned to his allies "I want all of you to know, it is an honor and a privilege to stand amongst you, and if any of us shall fall we fall as warriors."

Moth grabbed a curled fist with one hand and bowed "I understand father, I trust the training you gave me."

Michaelangelo gave his daughter a small smile; did he really bring her loyalty to question?

"Feh!" Leonardo grunted, he charged at the group, swords out and loyal ninja's charging with him, the splinter group stood ground and unleashed their own weapons and power.

It was amidst the long, brutal battle that Moth felt her natural and trained abilities truly come alive; whatever barriers had kept her inner power at bay prior were suddenly ripped down as though aware of the severity of the situation.

Most of the Foot ninja's were down, and Moth was glad to see that none of her allies were down yet, Raphael was a true asset right now, at her side working with her they mowed down Foot ninja after Foot ninja like they were nothing, and knowing their inferior training as well as she did from months of the same training there was really nothing they could do about it.

Joyce was taking on a dozen at a time, the training from the Justice Force and the priest brothers must have been some very effective martial art training, because none of them stood a chance, the other allies from the Foot clan, though struggling, were holding their own. Moth found herself especially worried about Keene for some reason. Subconsciously she kept glancing at him to make sure he was okay.

Most of the the Foot ninja's had been killed, the two remaining Elite Guards Mashimi and Stockman were also dead; seeing this, the remaining Foot ninja were beginning to flee. Moth took this opprotunity to join her father in his one-on-one clash with Leonardo.

They were on the second floor of the warehouse, both extensively beat up, cut and bruised, Moth was about to assist her father when she heard a loud high-pitched yelp, she whirled around and horror filled her as she saw her faithful coyote fall to the ground, his throat slit. Wailing in sorrow and rage, Moth charged at the responsible Foot ninja and with a swift swipe of her scimitar separated his head from his body. She looked to the ground at Raphael, dead, the thick fur around his neck soaked in his own still-warm blood. Pain filled her chest; it was as if the link to her life in the mountains was destroyed. Sure she originally took over the coyote pack for her own gain in order to inflate an adolescent ego, but being as isolated as she was they had been almost like friends to her, Raphael was more than a pet to her, he was a true friend.

Not wanting her coyote friend to die unavenged, Moth swallowed her tears and turned back to help her father fight his evil brother, she would allow herself to indulge in emotion later, but now it was more important to stay focused.

Moth did not say a word as she swung at Leonardo, it was as if simultaneously all of the lessons Master Michaelangelo had taught her since her childhood were replaying in the back of mind and guiding her movements; she had a counter for each hit, she had a different move whenever one didn't mind, she was chain-fighting with the same ease she saw in her father. The mental block that had kept her from achieving her full potential was now gone, coupled with her being in the prime of her life and backed up by seventeen years of training, Leonardo was definitely at a severe disadvantage since he was also fighting against Michaelangelo who had as much experience and knowledge as he did.

"It's over Leonardo." The priest Bellicose said "Even you can't be so full of yourself to believe that you can win at this point."

"I can kill these fools! I killed my so-called Master! I killed my other two worthless brothers as well!" Leonardo roared.

With pity in his voice, Benign said "Did you really... Leo." Moth and Leonardo's jaws dropped as Bellicose and Benign changed forms, their skin changed to scaly green, their human facial features contorted and became reptilian, their backs swelled and became dome-like.

"No! This is impossible! I killed you!" Leonardo screamed, brown eyes wide with shock; lo and behold Moth knew stood her 'dead' uncles Raphael and Donatello.

"Ya thought ya did." The darker green one Moth knew to be Raphael said in a Brooklyn drawl, "Buy ya forgot we was trained to play dead if the situation called fer it." Moth observed that his shell was very broken, the shattered parts of it kept together haphazardly by staples with the sensitive flesh scarred beneath it.

"Using magic, Venus manipulated our chi; to anyone who looked at us, they only saw two frail priests." Donatello said, there was a wicked scar running down one of his sides, and there was a missing chunk of plastron in his abdominal area, showing an olive-green scar.

"Using that magic," Venus DiMilo started with sadness in her voice "I wiped the event clean from mine and Michaelangelo's minds and stored them in a mystic box(2); If we wanted you to believe they were dead, we wanted to make sure even we believed."

"No..." Leonardo began calmly, red veins appeared in his insane eyes "NO!" He shot himself at Michaelangelo, wrapped his arms around him and drove with his legs.

"Father!" Moth shouted and attempted to follow, but could not catch them in time when Leonardo threw himself and Michaelangelo over the edge of the factories second-story platform.

Moth dove down the stairs followed by her aunt and uncles, heart racing; on the concrete ground Leonardo and Michaelangelo lay blood-spattered and dying.

Wailing, Moth knelt next to her father "Please don't die, please don't die daddy I'm not mad at you, I'm really not mad, I'm proud to be you student and daughter, please don't die." She rambled, her voice growing pathetically quieter and higher-pitches and slipping into immature mannerisms, tears fell from her eyes. She didn't even look at Leonardo.

"It's okay Moth..." Michaelangelo said, his spine and arms were broken, his leg was at a really bad angle, blood and chunks of his and Leonardo's shells surrounding him in a morbid puddle "You'll get past this, I promise; you're tough you know..." He coughed, blood flying out of his mouth as his lungs were beginning to fill with blood from his broken ribs puncturing them "All of that brutal training... I was so surprised you put up with it."

Moth shook her head, refusing to believe this was happening. She felt someone wrap an arm around her shoulders and grab her hand in comfort, she tearfully looked the side and saw it was Patrick Keene holding her, wailing again, she buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

Michaelangelo smiled as best he could, blood seeping past his cracked teeth; his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he departed to another world. Mournfully, Venus shut her little brothers eyes for him, her heart twisted in a deep sadness, comforted only in the semblance that Michaelangelo could now join his beloved and first-born daughter in the afterlife. Her long-lost brothers shared with her this grief and were silently offered support even through their own deep sadness.

"No..." A weak voice said, all eyes but Moth's turned to see Leonardo; his eyes... they were very different from before. "No... I'm so sorry..."

Raphael growled in anger and hurt "You're sorry you piece of shit?"

Leonardo coughed and retched before releasing his last breath and going limp. Following his brother in death but no doubt taking a different path of afterlife.

All of the allies began to cry, even those who did not know Michaelangelo; they knew that he died as a hero. Though he wasn't the superhero he had wanted to become in his adolescent years, he was a hero none the less, a tragic hero.

To be concluded...

(1) Yay, Avengers references for the win!

(2) Does anyone recall the chapter when Venus and Michaelangelo talked to the priestly brothers and there was a box?...No?

Yes so Raphael and Donatello did not die; Leonardo and Michaelangelo dying was supposed to be a symbolic trade of some sort; now there are still only three turtles remaining. There re-appearance was supposed to be more bad-ass, but action scenes aren't my kind of specialty, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and had your emotions stirred by it like I hope...

I am really sorry it took so long, but there are still one or two chapters left and I'll try really hard to write them, because I still do love that I wrote this story, I almost was going to leave my entire fanfiction-writing hobby behind, but then I got this review a long time ago by a guest who said that they really liked this story and really wanted to know how it ended and whether or not Moth was going to become the new Shredder, at the very least I'd like to say no, and thank you whoever you are for giving me a bit of drive back.

There will be more information about Leonardo's last words later. Also I want to assure that the whole Moth/Keene thing had been intended to happen early on and was not made last minute, if you read back there have been hints, it just hasn't been shown very much or in great detail because it was a small side-plot and I didn't want it to distract people from the core plot.

R and R

-KGD