***
Indigo jumped as her phone rang. Raven and Morgan sat up a little straighter as she picked it up, noting with a cringe that it blocked her caller ID.
"Hello?"
"We need your answer," a voice on the other end replied.
Indigo gave her friends a quick look before answering. "We accept."
"Good. Be here the night the moon is full. Three days." Then they hung up.
Indigo set the receiver down and fell backwards onto her bed. She looked up at the ceiling. "It's set."
***
Splinter lifted his head from his meditation sharply, catching the attention of his star pupil. "Sensei? What is it?" Leonardo knelt beside his aging master.
Splinter put a furry hand on Leonardo's arm to help calm him, although Splinter was far from calm himself. "I received a disturbing vision, my son."
"About what?" Now Leonardo was very worried.
Splinter closed his eyes, as if trying to remember. "I'm not sure. I can only remember a sense of dread and great danger. I have not had this feeling since the Shredder was defeated."
Leonardo tried to think of something relevant to say. "But he's dead. We made sure…"
"Yes, Leonardo," Splinter replied. "But evil like his is strong, as is not destroyed simply by killing the body. I fear that it will come back to haunt us."
Leonardo took a deep breath. He didn't like the sound of that one bit.
***
Indigo snuffed out her candles before crawling into bed. She had so much on her mind she wasn't sure if she could sleep. Three days? That was hardly enough time for something like this. They hadn't even given them any instructions, just 'be there'. The whole situation rubbed Indigo the wrong way, but she had no choice unless she wanted her and her friends to end up in a shallow grave somewhere.
She looked up at the nearly full moon through her window. It sat there, reminding her.
Despite it all, she fell asleep rather easily…
She moved down a long corridor lit only by sparse light fixtures along either wall. There were doors along the way, but when she tried to reach out, her body did not respond. She just kept moving, followed by the distinctive sound of metal moving against metal. The clicks and clangs followed her out into a large room lit from overhead.
Five figures knelt before her. She saw them clearly. She saw Raphael, whom she easily recognized, and couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here. Three other turtles knelt beside Raphael, all with their hands tied behind them. The last was a large rat with brown and gray fur.
A young man dressed in black said something she couldn't understand and held out a sword. It was beautiful. She curled her fingers around the hilt without realizing the action until it was supported completely in her grip. She turned back to the figures and found that Raphael was staring at her.
She raised the sword to eye level and caught a glimpse of her reflection. She gasped, although her body refused to acknowledge the action. A metallic mask covered her lower face and a helmet shielded her head. The only things showing were her eyes. But they weren't her eyes. They were solid black and full of malice.
She screamed silently as the sword came down and met little resistance as it sliced through his neck…
The scream continued as Indigo awoke in her room. "Raphael!"
She clutched her sheets to her chest and tried to slow her breathing. She realized that she was safe in her room but it was like a part of her was still in the dream. She shook her head but that only made her dizzy and she pitched to the side, falling out of the bed.
She stayed on the floor for a long time, the strength to pick herself up lost to her. After several attempts to fight, she finally gave in and cried.
***
It was dark. Not as in an absence of light, more of an absence of everything. Bits and pieces of things, but nothing solid. Darker than the space was the single soul that resided there.
Is it necessary?
A grunt was heard. No, more felt then heard. More universal, as if all the senses were working at once. The sounds registered as something more abstract than words.
They won't like it.
Will he even approve?
If it saves him…
The soul tried to focus in on the sounds, but that only made them more distant. The more effort used, the more jumbled and faded they became, as if they were heading away from here. Or the darkness was moving from them.
It's the only way…
***
"It will save him!"
Brian circled the table on which his master lay. He eyed the old man across the room suspiciously. All this talk of magick and junk was all just too much for him. He turned to a dark haired boy in the corner.
"I can't believe you volunteered your sister for this, Jay."
Jay looked over at his friend. "I just said that she was into all this, I didn't think they'd drag her and her freak friends down here." He glanced at the shrouded body on the table. "Besides, Raven's not the one they need. The other's are only coming to keep her from being suspicious."
Brian nodded. He approached the old man hunched over a scroll and several vials. "Will this work?"
The old man didn't even bother turning to the youth. "If we time it correctly. He is still tied to his body, but not for long. If not for the special circumstances then we would have already lost him. Has the girl agreed?"
Brian nodded quickly "They'll be here. I still doubt he'll approve."
"We must prepare," the old man whispered, holding a vial of green liquid in front of a candle flame.
***
Raphael sat in the section of their home that served as the kitchen. Don had even managed to pull together some major appliances and they all worked decently most of the time.
The last few days ran over in Raphael's mind. It all started when Mike found that damn book. He should have let Mike take it back. His brother would have an easier time with these feelings.
"Are you going to drink that?"
Raphael snapped out of his trance and looked up at Leo. "Leave me alone."
Instead, Leo took the seat across from Raph. "You were very sloppy in practice today."
Raphael took a swig of the drink only to find that he'd let it get warm.
Leonardo watched his brother carefully. "You shouldn't be interfering in her life."
Raphael glared at his brother. They both knew who he was talking about, but Raph didn't want to have this conversation at the moment. "And you shouldn't be interfering in my life."
"Our lives are dangerous, Raph, and it would be wrong to drag her into it, no matter how much you have the hots for her."
Raphael slammed his glass down. "I do not 'have the hots for her'. Wouldn't matter if I did. What about Casey an' April, huh? We put them in danger."
Leo remained calm, angering Raphael all the more. "As I recall, you introduced them to us as well."
Raphael stood up angrily and his chair fell backwards. "Look, Leo, as much as I should appreciate this, I don't, so save it for someone who gives a damn." He kicked the chair legs out of his way and headed for the ladder.
***
Indigo took a deep breath as she waited for Morgan and Raven. Last night's dream was still with her, and she remembered it with vivid clarity. That's what made it so strange, and what disturbed her most. It was un-dreamlike, almost real, almost like…a vision.
She tried to hide her shock as she saw Raphael approach her, dressed in his usual coat and hat. She smiled but she knew by the look he gave her that he wasn't buying it.
"What's up?" he asked casually.
Indigo shrugged. "Just waiting for my ride." She hoped her makeup hid the fact she'd been crying and never got back to sleep. She looked at him, but it brought back the images of her dream, red from green…
She took a shuddering breath and leaned back against the cement handrest. Raphael set his hand against her back, trying to steady her. "Are you okay?"
Indigo nodded and clamped her eyes shut. The images kept coming until she finally snapped opened her eyes and looked into Raphael's worried face. "I'm sorry, but I had a nightmare last night."
Raphael put his arm around her and Indigo had to admit that it made her fell a little better. Safe. "Wanna tell me about it?"
Indigo shook her head. How could she tell him about…that? "No, you don't want to know."
Raphael grinned. "What makes you say that?"
"You were in it."
He let his smile drop. "And it was a bad dream?"
Indigo laughed despite the tears streaking her makeup. "Not because of you…because of what happened to you."
Raphael took his arm away. "'Kay."
"Raph…" A car horn honked and she looked over to see Morgan's old, beat-up Chevy pull up to the curb. "I have to go."
"Uh, huh."
She felt bad about just leaving him like this. "I'll see you later."
"Yeah, sure."
Raphael watched Indigo slide into the back seat and waved to the girls as they pulled away. He sighed and began to walk away, in the opposite direction of the lair. He didn't want to go home right now. He wondered if Casey was home and headed in that direction.
***
Indigo craned her head back to watch Raphael until they turned a corner. Morgan snapped her gum.
"He was waiting for you outside your house again? I told you the guy was a stalker. Probably some kind of incubus."
Raven looked back at Indigo. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"
Indigo suddenly felt angry with her friend. "Why would he hurt me?"
Raven bit her bottom lip. "Sorry. Then why are you crying?"
Indigo pulled out her compact and looked at her face. Aw, man, she looked awful! She took a tissue to dab the mess. "I just had a bad dream last night, and…I don't want to talk about it."
Morgan stopped at a red light a little too close to the car in front of them for Indigo's taste. "By Isis, girl, what it wrong with you? You have dreams all the time."
"Not like this one."
Raven and Morgan exchanged glances. Raven turned back to Indigo, her bright green eyes reflecting deep concern. "Indigo, we've been worried about you lately. You've been acting strange the last few days."
"Life's been strange the last few days," Indigo replied, reapplying her eyeliner.
"Yeah, well, we think it's because of this Raphael guy…"
Indigo looked up at her friend. "That's stupid. If anything it's because your brother suggested our services to his little cult."
Raven flinched. "It's not a cult. It's just…a group. It's very important to him."
"Whatever."
***
Casey Jones plopped down on his stained couch cushions. He set a six pack on the table and a bowl of chips in his lap and used the remote to turn on his thirteen-inch TV. "All right, time to use my day off to do some serious veg-ing."
Of course, it was at that moment that someone knocked on his door. He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling. "You hate me, don't you?"
The knock came again, a little harder this time, and Casey got up. "I'm coming, alright!"
"It's me, Casey."
Casey pulled the chain on his door. "Yo, Raph, what's up?"
Raphael walked inside and sat down on the couch without a word. He sat there for a few seconds until Casey sat next to him. "I need some advice."
Casey raised an eyebrow. "Why not ask Splinter or Leo or…"
"I need advice about women, Casey."
Casey blinked at this. "Women?" This was new.
Raphael leaned forward. "Well, one girl…I really don't know what to do. Leo says forget her, but I really like her and…"
Casey broke in. "Whoa, time, bro. I think you should start from the beginning."
Raphael took a deep breath. "Mike and I were coming home from a pizza run a few nights ago…"
***