Interwoven

A/N: I do not own TMNT but am forever grateful for their existence.

II.

The turtles were all at Mr. Murakami's huddled over their usual pizza gyoza, yet despite their favoured cuisine, the atmosphere in the room was far from joyful. It had been a week since their return from the Soul Nexus and they had not heard nor seen any sign of their divine brother. Although pleased to still have their most current set of memories still intact, the group hardly felt victorious. They could feel his absence strongly around them, and although they had no recollection of him in their lives, their current feelings spoke volumes to the impact the green-eyed turtle had had on them.

The evening they returned; they had materialized in the dojo beside their meditating sensei. Although initially startled by the sudden appearance of his sons and April, Splinter knew immediately from their distress that they had just parted from Raphael's side. It had still taken a good hour for his sons and April to fully recount the events they had witnessed while at the Soul Nexus Gate. Splinter also had to admit he was more than a little disconcerted about their description of what they had seen as they were teleported away. Hearing them describe the turtle being ripped apart by light didn't help settle anyone's unease.

Still, after that first night and still waking up surprised that their memories of their recent adventure were still intact, the mutant family tried to get back into as normal a routine as they could while April returned to her university. After all, finals were literally around the corner for her and she had a lot of studying to do if she wanted to have any chance of passing this semester.

Although Mr. Murakami's cooking was unmatched, none of the turtles found themselves with their usual appetite. They had just come from a scuffle with a very furious Karai and although they had left this round the victors – without the aid of their divine brother – seeing her had only reminded them of what they had recently lost – for what apparently was not the first time. Trapped in their own thoughts, as they poked at their gyoza, the turtles missed Mr. Murakami's sudden tense expression as he looked towards the back of his noodle shop.

The elderly Japanese cook had been blind for a long time. Although this hindered him in many ways, Mr. Murakami had learned to develop his other senses in ways he would have previously never thought imaginable. His hearing was impeccable and despite his lack of vision, his skills with a skillet were legendary in Chinatown. However, neither hearing nor touch were what aided him tonight. No, it was a whole other feeling entirely that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Knowing the presence was getting closer, the man suddenly brandished a frying pan in the direction of one of the empty booths near the back. Swallowing hard he warned, "I do not know who you are, but my restaurant is closed for tonight. Come back tomorrow."

At Mr. Murakami's words, the three turtles immediately jumped to their feet, their weapons drawn and held in defensive positions.

"Wow, talk about a welcome wagon." The three brothers gasped as they saw Raphael step out of the shadows.

"Raph!"

Although the three turtles lowered their weapons at the sight of their sibling, surprisingly, Mr. Murakami was not so quick to trust. "You know this…" He paused obviously unsure of how to describe the visceral waves of energy that keep emanating from the creature before him, "This being?"

Michelangelo was the first to respond, "He's our brother, Raphael!"

"Your brother?" Frowning in confusion the cook replied, "He is nothing like you, my friends."

By glancing at Murakami's thread and observing his reaction, The Soul Collector was quick to realize the spell that he and Zephyr had procured did not have the same effect on those who could not see. Without vision to help solidify the illusion into the observer's mind, Raphael realized that with or without his current spell, Murakami would be perceiving the same experience. Sighing, Raphael addressed the human, "I apologize for upsetting you Murakami-san, I still need practice obscuring this form, especially for those without vision. Michelangelo is telling the truth; I am indeed their brother."

"Wait…" Michelangelo stepped forward, tilting his head at the image of his brother. To the turtles, Raphael looked the same as he had at the Soul Nexus, possibly a little older. However, the three brothers knew that didn't quite add up. Afterall, none of them could shake the fear they had felt when they saw Raphael's body being ripped apart by beams of light before they abruptly found themselves in the Lair. Additionally, now that Mr. Murakami had drawn attention to it, there was definitely something very off about the Raphael that currently stood before them, "What's going on? No offense dude, but we thought you were toast after what we saw… Or what we thought we saw happen to you…"

However, the eldest turtle was less concerned with Raphael surviving and more concerned as to why his brother had chosen now to reappear, "Never mind that, why are you here?"

"He's probably here to steal our memories again." Donatello muttered darkly from where he stood.

Unimpressed on the direction the conversation was taking, Raphael found himself on the defensive, "I am not here to take your memories and I am not here to cause any trouble." Swallowing his temper, the green-eyed turtle consciously tried to calm himself, "I am here because I want my brothers back."

"I knew it! See guys, I told you we would see him again." Completely beyond caring about the shock he knew he would receive, Michelangelo bolted across the restaurant to pounce on him. Yet, not only was he spared the burst of energy that usually came with touching his divine brother, but the youngest found himself having his embrace returned by Raphael. The freckled turtle pulled back in confusion, "You are different."

"Well now that I've ditched my original body I have a bit better of a handle on my powers. So, I'm a little better at dampening them." He looked apologetically in Mr. Murakami's direction, "At least in most cases. But Hell, I did absorb the entire Soul Gate, so you can't blame me for not being able to hide them completely."

"You did what!?" Leonardo and Donatello cried together.

Raphael shrugged but still allowed Michelangelo to continue to remain latched to his side, "Think of it as a new level of divinity. I've upgraded essentially."

Still thoroughly confused about what was going on, Mr. Murakami finally lowered his frying pan before returning to his stove. Cooking had always calmed his nerves and this time would be no exception. Even though the turtles had been unusually reserved tonight for their interest in their pizza gyoza, the human figured he could at least try again with this… Being, the turtles' so-called brother. "Please take a seat and join your brothers then, Raphael. I will make you your own dish of my signature pizza gyoza."

Not having the heart to tell Murakami that food really didn't do much for him these days, The Soul Collector carefully pried off Michelangelo before pulling up a stool to the left of Leonardo. Not wanting to be anywhere too far from him, the youngest planted himself to Raphael's left. Donatello returned to his original seat to the right of the eldest. With everyone seated, an awkward silence fell on them filled only with the sound of oil spitting from Murakami's hot pan. Finally, after a good minute, Leonardo huffed, "I'm still waiting for an explanation. You said you're here to get your brothers back. What does that mean exactly?"

Glowing green eyes met Leonardo's blue, "It means this."

With a quick gesture to all threads connected to the four mortals in the room, Raphael easily peeled off the cobweb he had laid on them so very long ago. All four of them found themselves overwhelmed by what they saw. Mr. Murakami, having the fewest memories of Raphael, recovered first. However, a tidal wave of recollections was still completely inundating the others. With the turtles lost in the trance undoing the spell had caused, the human looked straight in Raphael's direction, "I remember you Raphael-san!" He shook his head, "But however did you become this?"

Fully aware the noodle shop owner had been left in the dark regarding Raphael's entire transformation, The Soul Collector knew he would have to fill in their human friend at some point, "It's a long story Mr. Murakami. I am sorry I do not have the energy to explain it now, but I promise I will one day. Just not tonight."

Nodding in understanding, Murakami responded as he gestured to the still silent siblings, "I suppose they have a lot more to go through than I did."

"A lifetime's worth of memories is a lot to take in all at once." The Soul Collector quietly murmured.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the three turtles were left gasping and reeling as their current reality caught up to them. As soon as they could regain their bearings, the group exchanged looks, realizing the gravity of what had just occurred. Donatello found his voice first, "Our memories… Our memories, you gave them back!"

"He did bros!" Michelangelo jumped up in a cheer, "GUYS I remember Raph!" Just as quickly, the youngest deflated, "Guys… I remember Raph…"

The grief flowed through them all simultaneously. None of them had realized until that moment that they had spent the last two years in grief. Until receiving their memories, they had no idea why they had felt this way and now that they finally had that piece of them returned, it felt like they had each been given their heart back just to have it smashed to bits. None of them were even remotely sure where to begin. Leonardo ran his palms over his face before finally staring directly at the brother he had lost, "How could you do that to us Raph? How could you cut us out like that?"

"I…" Raphael stared down at his hands in shame, "I honestly thought it was for the best. Obviously now I know I was wrong. You guys showing up at the Nexus reminded me how much I need you in my life."

"But it's not forever…" Michelangelo's eyes began to well with tears. "You have forever, but we don't."

"Which means one day you'll have to watch us die," Leonardo murmured.

The god solemnly nodded, "And once you reincarnate, that's it."

"So, what's the plan then?" Donatello looked up from his coffee, "I can't imagine you just did all of this just to poof back to your palace and ignore us again."

"No, just like I said before," Glowing green eyes were as solemn as they were sincere, "I came because I want my brothers back. Even if it is only for a single lifetime, I don't want to waste it. I want to spend what little time we do have together."

"Geez," Trying to lighten the atmosphere Michelangelo teased, "You make it sound like we're going to die tomorrow." Blue eyes suddenly widened in horror, "Wait, we aren't going to die tomorrow, are we?"

"No, you're not going to die tomorrow." Raphael had checked the Tapestry of Fate enough times to know all three of his brothers would live to an old age. Admittedly, having a god constantly keeping an eye out on them helped ensure no unfortunate accidents were about to befall them any time soon.

"Whew! That's a relief!" The youngest turtle rocked back and forth on his stool, "So does that mean we can come back to your crazy cool palace again? I gotta say I've been thinking about ways on how to improve on our skate park's design!"

Raphael snorted at that, "You mean my entrance hall?"

"How many people actually come in through that doorway?"

The Soul Collector had to admit his youngest brother had a point. Most of the entities that came to the Soul Nexus could teleport and therefore had no need for a fancy door to let them in. Still as the new ruler of the universe, he had to keep up some appearances. "How about you set up your park outside the castle? That way I can at least attempt to show that I take my job seriously while you can still have all the fun you want at my place?"

"But before you said we couldn't go outside." Michelangelo frowned in dismay, "Because if we did our souls would get sucked out!"

"That was true before." Raphael nodded in acknowledgement, "But the Soul Gate no longer exists. Now I am the Soul Gate."

"But if you're the Soul Gate then how come we still have our souls?" The youngest looked at his brother as though at any second, he would suddenly pull out their eternal essence.

Raphael rolled his eyes, "Obviously if it was the same as before you'd be soulless husks by now. I've upgraded past all that. Now with my various powers unified I am stronger and, in more control, than ever before."

Chewing this over, the freckled turtle responded, "Which is why it's now safe to go outside your palace?"

"Exactly."

"And there's no gods or anything that are going to be offended when we show up?"

Raphael laughed at Donatello's words, "Hell no. The new council was hand-picked by me. Remember Zephyr? He's one of them."

This time Leonardo interjected, "What do you mean 'new council?' What happened to the old council? And why did you get to pick it?"

"Oh yeah… About that…" Raphael found himself rubbing the back of his head subconsciously, "Did I forget to mention that I kind of overthrew the High Council when I regained my full power?"

"You overthrew them?" The eldest simply gaped at the god before him, "Just like that?"

Opting to play with his chopsticks, instead of meeting his big brother's gaze directly, Raphael quietly but still audibly muttered, "It's easy to do when you control all the souls in the universe."

Still trying to grasp the unbelievability of it all Leonardo countered, "Even the souls of gods?!"

"Well before my upgrade there was no way I could do it, but after I regained my true power, it was kind of a piece of cake."

"Uh huh." The eldest still was doubtful, "You'll have to do better than that Raph."

Although not interested in the food at all, Raphael was eternally grateful that Mr. Murakami chose this particular moment to announce, "Pizza gyoza!" As he placed a plate of sizzling dumplings in front of the turtle. All too easily, the god jumped on the opportunity to avoid the discussion further. Shrugging at his eldest brother, "Well that's the explanation you're getting, Leo. Thanks, Murakami-san." Before quickly shoving a dumpling into his mouth.

The god had to admit it was disappointing that he could not appreciate all the flavours he knew as a mortal he had adored about this particular dish. There was still a tiny hint of it, but it just wasn't the same. He supposed this was just another draw back to his divinity. Still, if eating meant avoiding more of his brothers' interrogation he would happily endure it.

At first Leonardo seemed like he had more to say on the matter, but at Raphael's stern look thought better of it. The group was silent as the god ate, not appreciating being the focus of their attention Raphael tried another tactic. In between gyoza he asked, "You guys heading back to the Lair after this?"

"That was the plan…" The eldest replied, "Did you uh…" For a second Leonardo was completed unsure of himself and although he would admittedly deny it if asked, "Did you want to come with us?"

Finished his last gyoza, Raphael stood up, "Sure, I mean only if you want me to…"

Seeing the awkward and self-conscious exchange between his two eldest brothers, Michelangelo immediately jumped between the two. With an arm wrapped around both of their heads he teased, "Lighten up you guys! Stop pussyfooting around, just admit that you're happy to see each other!"

Ice blue eyes met glowing green, and they both couldn't help but laugh. The two smiled as they shoved the youngest off while Donatello admonished, "Mikey, you can't rush these things!"

Beaming at the grins his oldest siblings shared, as they continued to snicker at each other, Michelangelo objected, "I beg to differ, Donnie. Look at how happy they look!"

Taking a break from their teasing of each other, each turtle gave a short bow while thanking Murakami for their food. The three mortal turtles ran out of the restaurant while Raphael lingered behind for just a moment, "Sorry again for bombarding you with well you know…"

The Soul Collector exhaled in frustration at knowing he still had a long way to go before he could master the spells Zephyr had been teaching him. Murakami simply nodded with a small smile. In his mind he could only see a being composed of light with bright emerald eyes, "Do not fret Raphael-san. I am sure your brothers will accept your new form. Trust in them, they will not let you down."

"Thanks, Murakami-san." Raphael bowed before dashing out the door to join his brothers.

A/N: Well it only took me seven years but I finally did it. I finally finished chapter 2! I confess although I always did plan on finishing this, it took be a long time before I revisited it. Just like with "Growing Pains" (and pretty much and fanfiction that I write these days) I owe this all to Gwydion. Together we will ride our 2k12 fanfics into the sunset! Thank you for anyone who is still willing to check out these dusty old fics. 3