Last chapter of Part 2! Thank you to forgotten forever for your review! Also thank you to everyone who has reviewed and stuck with the story!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 17

Raphael looked at Katherine's soul.

"Darkness." Leonardo said softly. "Is there nothing that can be done?" He asked wretchedly.

"Why are you guys looking like that, we got her soul back, why do you look like something's wrong?" Raphael demanded.

"Raph, her soul is not supposed to look like that." Donatello said softly. "She should look like those souls over in that line. It should look like her, and even if she wasn't in her human form, her soul should not look like it is…shattered. It should be one solid ball of light."

Raphael looked back at Katherine's soul. "So fix it." He said to Darkness.

"Raph, she shattered her soul so that Satan couldn't use her soul for evil." Leonardo said gently, but he looked to Darkness.

"I cannot fix her soul. Only she can fix it." Darkness said as she peered at the glowing ball. "But I do not know if there is anything left to fix."

"When you said you were going to give her rest, what did you mean?" His baby brother asked Darkness.

"I intend to Destroy her soul." Darkness said softly.

"But you just said that she can fix her soul!" Raphael yelled in horror.

"Darkness…." His counterpart asked softly, his face a mask of agony.

"I know you cannot understand, but I have sundered my soul. For thousands of years my soul was broken into three pieces, but it was as if I chopped off an arm and a leg. I could survive without an arm and a leg, but what Katherine did was freeze herself solid and shatter, like breaking glass. There could be hundreds if not thousands of pieces and no main body to bring the pieces back together. She sacrificed her soul to save Heaven, and to save your lives. Give her rest. I think she deserves it." Darkness said softly.

Raphael shook his head in denial. "She can't be gone." He said, voice breaking. "It isn't supposed to end like this. I can't have failed her. Why didn't she wait, she could have waited, we were right here! We came to save her!" He yelled wretchedly.

"Her soul began cracking when Satan tortured her. Her soul was already damaged, the process had already begun and continued after her death." Darkness said softly.

Their counterparts looked at them, each with a look of sadness etched onto their faces.

"We did all we could Raph." Donatello said gently.

"She knew her Fate." Darkness said softly a tarot card appearing between her index and second finger. It was The Hanged Man. "She made her peace with her Fate. You must accept her decision."

Leonardo took the card from Darkness. "What does the card mean?" He asked softly, his voice breaking in grief.

"The Hanged Man is a complex card. It means many things. There are several actions that a person must complete. There is the first action, Letting go. The person must let go, accept what is, and to be open and vulnerable. The next action is reversal. The person must change their point of view, change old priorities and see the world from a different angle. Next is the suspension of all action. It is a time to live in the moment, and take the time to just be. And then finally there is the sacrifice." She said softly. "The card is never meant to be this literal, but for her, it was a foretelling of her Fate, of actions required, of actions done, and finally, her end." Darkness finished quietly.

Raphael shook his head. He didn't care if she knew, he didn't care if she accepted it, he couldn't, he would never accept it. "It isn't fair! You're telling me that she sacrificed her very soul, and that that's it. We are supposed to accept that!" He yelled at her.

"Yes." Darkness said as she closed her fist over Katherine's soul, which vanished as if it had never existed. Raphael swore the world got darker and wept because such a thing of light had existed and ceased to be.

"There is nothing left for me." Raphael said wretchedly. "You won't even let me get revenge on the bastard who did this to her!" He accused her. "You should have let me kill Azazel, even Michael, hell, Satan himself, but you stopped me! You've denied me my revenge!" He spat out.

"Revenge does not fill the emptiness." Leonardo said softly. "Trust me. I sought revenge for Raph's murder and it did nothing to help heal the hole in my heart. Killing Michael, Azazel and Satan would bring you nothing but more emptiness." Leonardo said wretchedly. "And Katherine would not wish for you to stoop to such a thing."

Michelangelo put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He's right Raph. Kitten never wanted us to fight her battles for her. She fought her own battle, and she won." He said softly. "She didn't win in the way we would have wanted her to, but Hell couldn't break her and Satan did not wield her for very long. She gave a big old eff-you to Satan himself." He managed to say with a smile. The smile did not reach his tear-filled eyes, but he was trying to help him. His baby brother was trying to make him feel better and he knew he was right. He knew in his mind that he was right, but just because he knew it, didn't mean his heart wanted to accept it.

"It's time to go home." His older brother said putting a hand on his other shoulder.

He gave a terse nod of agreement. They had to bury her and…His blood ran cold, his eyes opened wide with shock and he paled. His looked at his younger brother. "Donny." He managed to choke out.

"It's okay Raph." Donatello said softly. "Kitten saved my life. She pulled me back. I figure I have been living on borrowed time anyway. I got to know her, love her and be loved by her. I have no regrets."

"No." Raphael said his head shaking from side to side in denial.

"Darkness take Donny. Take him back with you. That would work wouldn't it?" Leonardo said pushing Donatello towards Darkness. "I know we will never see him again, but at least I will know he is alive." Leonardo said desperately.

Darkness shook her head. "Donatello is alive. The moment we shift back to our world, he will die. Katherine's body is in the world of the living again. The Universe will have accepted her death. T'lae-ran is a world of the living. Donatello would have to remain here or in Hell for him to survive. He cannot outrun his Fate, just as Katherine could not outrun hers." She said regretfully.

Leonardo looked at Donatello. "We can't lose them both Darkness, please, please think of something." He pleaded.

"Your Donatello is a fucking god of Fate, get him to save him." Raphael yelled desperately.

"Chwyl is a god of fate for the gods. Your Donatello is not a god, and Chwyl's powers only extend to his own world, not this one." Darkness said looking at Donatello.

Darkness spread her wings wide. "No!" He managed to shout before his stomach rebelled and he found himself on his knees in the cold snow outside Katherine's house.

Raphael's heart stopped and he fell face first into the cold snow. His heart began to beat again, but was suddenly staggered by a sense of absolute and total loss. Something felt as if it had snapped, as if a piece of himself he hadn't even known existed, was suddenly missing, leaving him incomplete. He felt as if he couldn't move the pain was so great. It wasn't a physical pain, but it should have been. At least physical pain he knew how to deal with, the sheer force of the emotional pain he was in at the moment, broke him.

He managed to lift his head looking for Donatello who lay crumpled in the snow like a broken doll. He managed to reach out an arm to drag himself to his fallen brother. A new wave of horror and grief poured itself into a cup that was already overfull.

Michelangelo managed to pull his fallen brother into his lap. Tears streamed down his face as he clutched him close.

"I would suggest getting him breathing and his heart beating." Darkness said from where she was crouched on the ground. She looked as if she was in pain as blood stood out starkly against the pure white snow.

His head whipped around to where the other Donatello was laying motionless in the snow. His brothers ran to him and helped him up. He groaned in pain.

Leonardo got Michelangelo to lay Donatello flat on the ground and began administering CPR.

Raphael managed to crawl over to his brothers and watched in hope as his brother puffed air into Donatello's lungs and pushed at his chest. He willed his brother to breathe, willed his heart to beat.

"Breathe Donny, damn it, breathe!" He yelled at his younger brother. Suddenly Donatello gasped. He felt relief flood through him as Leonardo helped him sit up. Raphael felt the tears he had been holding in check fall. He pulled his younger brother into his arms.

"How?" Leonardo managed to choke out.

Donatello painfully pulled off the top of his bio-suit showing bloody wounds that had cut through his shell. Deep gouges and bruises marked his arms and sides. With some of the bruises Raphael could just make out the imprints of what looked like chains.

"My Donatello has essentially the same soul as your Donatello." Darkness said as Leonardo and Raphael helped her to stand, while Michelangelo helped Donatello to stand. "He is Chwyl, but here he cannot act as a god of fate to the gods, so even though he is still a god, he is essentially Donatello. He stood in front of the chains and acted as a shield for your Donatello."

"I've never complained before, but next time could you just tell me what you want me to do, in plain English?" Donatello grumbled. "I almost didn't take the hint in time."

"Well, I did not wish to give them false hope if it did not work. After all, there was no guarantee." Darkness said in a strained voice.

"Darkness, are you okay?" Leonardo asked in concern.

"Light has been taking the brunt of the damage, and she has been holding the tear open for us to return. Our time here is coming to a close. But there are a few things left to be done." She said shaking off Raphael and Leonardo's helping hands.

"Come forward Azazel. I shall take her." Darkness said softly.

A figure stepped out of the shadows. Raphael did not even notice him standing there until he stepped into the moonlight, his arms gingerly holding the wrapped body of the woman he had loved.

Azazel looked better than he had. His wounds had healed to a certain degree. Raphael looked at the demon that looked like the stereotypical devil. The thought of killing him briefly entered his mind to be discarded. As much as he wanted Azazel's death, he knew that Darkness was right. He had, in the end, tried to save her, and he could see the regret and sadness in the demon's eyes. Katherine would hate him if he tried to kill this demon who had tried to save her.

"I'll take her." He finally managed to choke out. "We'll bury her."

Darkness shook her head. "You forget Raphael, she has a family back home. She cannot just disappear. It would not do for the humans to have any reason to come looking for her. Her family deserves peace of mind." She said gently as Azazel deposited Katherine's body into Darkness' arms.

Raphael wanted to protest so badly it choked him, but he knew he couldn't. He wanted to be selfish, but he couldn't. Her family had a right to know she was gone, even if they would never know how or why their daughter, their sister, had died,t at least they would know that she was gone.

Raphael reached back and untied his mask. He walked over to Darkness and lay it atop Katherine's wrapped body. "It's hers, she won it from me. Make sure that they bury her with it." He said as he stepped back. Part of him wanted to rip the cloaks away so he could see the torture that was inflicted upon her. But he realized that he wanted the last image of her to be her face smiling at him with joy, with mischief, with determination, and with a love that was beyond anything he could even begin to comprehend.

He looked to where Katherine's house had stood. A tree bigger than he could almost fathom stood in its spot. The tree was huge but looked like it was dying. Although it was winter there were still leaves on the branches, but they were withered and brown.

He looked at Darkness and their counterparts and nodded. There wasn't anything to be said. They vanished as the lair came into focus in front of him. Casey and April leapt up from the couch they had been sitting on. April took one look at their faces and she choked back a sob shaking her head in denial.

Darkness cloaked everyone within a wall of darkness and looked at the woman in her arms. She looked at the men who surrounded her and she lay Katherine down in the snow.

"Kaethryn?" Lucifer questioned softly.

"I had wondered." Darkness said quietly to the voice in her head. She looked at the card of The Fool that she held in her hand. It vanished.

She pulled Katherine's soul from within her robes. She had been reluctant to Destroy her soul, but had fully intended to do it, and yet, she felt that the time was not yet right to do so. She knew that there was another possibility waiting for the right time to present itself.

She looked at the black, golden tipped butterfly that landed on Katherine's soul.

"I see." She finally said.

"Wait, Darkness what's going on? You said you intended to Destroy her soul." Raphael said in confusion.

"I had intended to Destroy her soul, but intention is not the same as implementation." She said quietly. "Besides, if I had Destroyed her soul, Raphael and Donatello would have died."

"So you're making her the new god of Nightmares, but you told them that her soul was shattered!" Raphael said in disbelief.

"I am not making her the new god of Nightmares. That position has already been filled." Darkness said slowly. "Heterion was not only the god of Nightmares you know." Darkness said in thought. "He had two brothers who I killed. As the surviving heir, he assumed the powers and responsibilities of his brothers. Did you even wonder who Heterion was before he inherited his father's godhede?" Darkness asked him.

"Can't say I cared." Raphael said with a shake of his head.

"He was the god of Daydreams. So technically with both godhedes he was a god of Dreams." She said. "Hence the gold tipped wings on the Nightmare godhede." She said pointing to the wings of the butterfly that was sitting on Katherine's soul. "He was also technically a god of the night, inherited from his brother, and a god of the moon, also from his other Destroyed brother." She paused in thought. "So what do we get when we mix together, dreams, the moon, the night, a star, and power so ancient and powerful that it transcends all time, all belief, and all reality?" She asked motioning to the indistinct man who stood in front of her offering her a single green leaf. She took the leaf with a slow nod of understanding.

Donatello's eyes widened. "Magic." Donatello said with disbelief. "You're creating a goddess of magic!" Donatello said with awe.

"This world still contains magic, but it is not focused. The creatures of magic are weak and dying. The gods on this world are just soft voices drifting in the wind. But there is a need and a want for something, and thus the Universe answers the need." Darkness said softly. "And technically I am not doing anything. I do not have the power to Create, only to Destroy." Darkness said with a shake of her head.

"But her soul is shattered." Michelangelo said to her.

"It is." She said slowly. "But there is a body, a soul, a godhede, and hope." She said softly.

"But you told them that there wasn't anything you could do." Raphael protested.

"There isn't. Katherine shattered her soul. Even on the off chance that she managed to pull her shattered pieces together, it could take her millennia to do so. And that is a big if. And even if she did manage to do this, I do not know what she would come back like. Best case scenario, she would come back with no memory of who she was; worst case scenario she would come back completely insane." Darkness took Katherine's soul and placed it on her body. She pushed the soul and godhede into Katherine's body. She placed the single leaf on her chest. She cloaked herself Michelangelo and Katherine's body in total darkness leaving the men who surrounded her unable to see. The others did not need to witness her broken body. She pulled off the capes that were dark enough to hide all of the blood that had soaked into them. She looked at the red mask in her hands and deftly tied it around Katherine's upper arm.

She heard Michelangelo gasp. Katherine's body wasn't as bad as it could have been. Darkness acknowledged to herself. She had been badly beaten, stabbed, and cut. After she had died strips of flesh had been cut from her back to wrap around the grip of the sword so that Lucifer could hold it. But it was the type of injuries that she had sustained that had made her not want the four brothers to see. Her Lucifer had been right. Satan had tried to break her by using the images and the weapons of the men she loved to torture her. She knew her husbands doubles well enough to know this knowledge would add too much to an already heavy burden.

"Mealtair, I can only Destroy. You however, can Create. Between you, the Power, and the Nightmare godhede, I believe you should be able to create a new god."

Michelangelo looked at her in surprise. "But Darkness, I can't." He said shaking his head.

She looked at him and he reluctantly nodded. Michelangelo placed his hands on her chest. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Power began riding over Katherine's naked, bloody and battered body. Her body rose up as she was enveloped by the power that blazed through and around her.

"Good luck." She said to the woman who stood in front of her.

The woman looked at her blankly, her golden eyes glowing softly. She bowed and vanished.

Darkness dropped her cloaking of darkness and looked into the empty night sky.

"You can't just let her go! You have to at least tell them that she is alive and somewhere!" Raphael protested.

"Tell them who is alive?" Darkness asked.

"Katherine!" Raphael gestured to the spot where Katherine had lain.

"That was not Katherine" Darkness told him.

Raphael opened his mouth to reply but stopped. "How do you know it wasn't her?" He asked.

"Trust me." She said softly as she silently wished the woman luck. She only hoped that one day, she may at least remember Katherine.

"Darkness what did you mean by the position of the god of Nightmares has already been filled?" Donatello asked in confusion.

"The new god of Nightmares was born just over two years ago." She said spreading her wings wide. 'Or I should say, goddess of Nightmares."

Donatello's eyes widened in horror. "Hitsuzen!" He whispered.

Darkness looked at her worried husband. "Don't worry, she is actually a Goddess of Dreams." She said as she took out the butterfly she had trapped within her cloaks. Her daughter had sent it along to follow her 'other' father. It was golden with purple tipped wings. A recurring dream, and yet more than a dream, a gateway would be a better way to think of it. A gateway to The Dreaming. It was this butterfly that had stilled her hand and stopped her from Destroying Katherine's soul, because her daughter was never wrong. She let the butterfly go so that it would find the other Donatello.

She looked around where they stood. Azazel had vanished. She had an inkling as to where he was, and what was going to happen.

"Kaethryn?" Lucifer asked her.

"Yes Lucy?" Darkness asked as she felt the universe shift, the Accords of Heaven and Hell break. Satan was dead. Darkness frowned. That was quick. She thought to herself until she remembered that time did not work the same in this Hell as it did on Earth. Whoever had killed Satan could have worked decades, possibly centuries to kill him.

Lucifer looked up into the night sky as he realized what had happened. He shook his head. "Is that what happened?" He asked her. "Did my Father make me fall in love with you?"

Darkness looked at Lucifer. "What do you think?" She asked back.

Lucifer frowned. "He could not have made me do anything, but there was the possibility that I would fall in love with you." He said softly.

"There is Fate and Destiny and Chance, and so many forces that work to push and pull one towards the future. But there is always free will. God gave you that Lucy." She said softly.

Lucifer nodded.

Darkness spread her wings wide as she took the men she loved home. She looked at Light, who looked worn and like her, had blood dripping from her lips. They collapsed against each other.

She found comfort in Light's arms as they held each other, healing the tears within the universe and within themselves.

Light kissed her gently and vanished. Darkness looked at where Light had been and felt as if part of her wanted to go where Light existed. There would always be that part of her that wanted to fall back into the nothingness that was true Darkness. To chase Light, to be chased by Light, to exist in a time and place where things were so complex they had reached a form of simplicity, where things just were. She looked at the men that she loved, and thought about her children. But there was too much holding her here.

She looked at Lucifer and Gabriel and smiled sadly. They looked at themselves as their demonic forms were stripped away leaving their angelic forms in their place.

Lucifer's hair was still white, but he was now an angel. He marvelled at his feathered wings. "I think your Father wishes you home." Darkness said softly.

"But…but how? Why?" Gabriel asked in shock.

"Well your Father is all about forgiveness." Darkness said with a shrug. "But perhaps it is because you have finally realized the simpleminded pettiness of your sin."

"That could have been me." Lucifer said softly. "No, that monster was me. I was him. The way I was back then I would have destroyed everything, just to prove that I could. I wanted to prove that I was somehow greater than my Father, but I could never be." Lucifer shook his head. "I don't want to be." He finished softly as he looked at his hands.

"We can go home Luce." Gabriel said softly.

Darkness could see that home was not just a place for them. Heaven was an extension of themselves. Being kicked out of Heaven was like a bird losing its ability to fly. To be offered the chance to fly again, was something that was hard to resist.

"Oh screw it." Lucifer said with a shake of his head. "Not interested in redemption."

Gabriel's jaw fell open in shock. "I'll keep the body though, just to remember." Lucifer said with a smile. "But I can't lose all of my…evil credibility." He said as his feathered wings turned black as pitch. Gabriel laughed then as his wings turned black.

Her husbands looked at the two Fallen in shock. "But why?" Leonardo asked.

Lucifer and Gabriel looked at each other and shrugged. "How would you like to be moved out of your Father's house of several thousand years and then have to go back and live with him, plus all of your lovely brothers and sisters? No thank you."

Raphael strode up to Lucifer and grabbed him by the arm hauling him away to talk privately. She listened to their conversation while she pretended not to hear.

Raphael studied Lucifer. "I know that was the truth, but what is your real reason for not wanting to go to Heaven?" He growled.

Lucifer looked at him and lost his smile. Although she knew Lucifer wasn't going to lie, she had assumed he was going to give a truthful but flippant answer, but this didn't seem to be the case. Darkness attempted to keep the smile from her face. As much as Raphael hated Lucifer and as much as Lucifer tried to get under Raphael's skin as much as he could, she knew that Lucifer actually liked Raphael. Of all of her husbands Lucifer liked him the most. Lucifer once told her that Raphael reminded him of himself, a tiny bit.

"Because if I went back to Heaven, I would not be able to see my true family again." Lucifer whispered.

Darkness attempted to school her features but she knew by now they were all eavesdropping on Lucifer and Raphael's conversation and no one was paying attention to her.

Raphael's mouth hung open. "Wait, say again I must still have some sulphur or brimstone wedged in my ear, I think I misheard you." Raphael said shaking his head.

Lucifer did not answer, just looked at Raphael and shrugged. Darkness could see the wheels turning in Raphael's head. "You really do love her." Raphael finally said. "You would throw away a chance to go home, for her." He said in shock.

Lucifer remained silent.

"I always knew you loved her, but…I thought that you were just trying to get under our skin and piss us off." Raphael said in shock.

Lucifer gave a quick smile. "I was." He said with a shrug. "I have loved her for over three millennia and through three incarnations. I would give up Heaven for her. I would do anything for her, but it is more than that." Lucifer said softly.

"Wait you said family, like as in…us?" Raphael said in shock.

Lucifer sighed. "They say you cannot pick your family, I suppose that is true because I would not pick the one I was…born…into, and I would not have picked the one I have been…adopted into." Lucifer said with a shrug.

"You think of us, as your family?" Raphael asked incredulous. Lucifer shrugged. "But you hate us! You want to steal her away from us!" Raphael exclaimed.

"Perhaps I did, the first part, but I would never steal her from you." He finished softly. "I love her too much to do such a thing to her."

Raphael's mouth fell open in shock. "But…but…" Raphael couldn't complete his sentence.

Lucifer looked at him. "Now do not misunderstand me reptile, if at any point Kaethryn came to me and indicated that she had tired of you and wished to share my bed, I would accept that. If she wanted me to kill you all and become her new husband, I would do it, but I would never seduce her from your arms. She's too smart for such a thing and I respect her wishes too much to even try." Lucifer shook his head. "And yet part of me would so dislike having to kill you, so I would suggest you not mess this up." Lucifer growled at him.

"So even though you know, she would most likely never be with you, you are still giving up Heaven?" Raphael asked him.

"Are we back to this again?" Lucifer asked in a bored voice. Raphael glared at him. He sighed. "However much I wish I didn't feel this way, you are my family. I have thought of you as part of my family for…let me see, about 5 years now. Such a short time for feelings of hatred and jealousy to turn into acceptance and I hesitate to use the word love so I will say instead liking. But I believe it all began with two sets of eyes, one moss green the other honey brown looking up at me and smiling. Added to those eyes are now two other sets of brown eyes and a pair of violet ones, and all of the temptations and glories of Heaven could not pull me away from those eyes that smiled at me with the absolute innocence of freely given love." Lucifer said fiercely.

"You really do think of the children as your own." Leonardo said not even pretending he wasn't listening anymore.

"We do." Gabriel said as he walked over to Lucifer. "You are all our family. And we will never abandon it, and will protect it with our lives." Gabriel said with determination.

"Because sometimes it is the family that chooses you, which you cannot so easily walk away from." Darkness said with a loving smile at the two Fallen.

Lucifer looked at her seriously. "You are planning on leaving now, aren't you my love?" He asked her.

Darkness tipped her head to the side. 'And why would you believe I am leaving?" She asked him.

He gestured to her now pale husbands. "You have made them untouchable by the other gods. I believe you would only do such a thing if you were going to leave them unprotected." Lucifer stopped and his eyes widened. "Or if you believed you were not coming back." He finished in shock.

"There was the possibility that I would not make it back, that is true, but I have not made them anything; they are what the Universe wishes for them to be." Darkness said with a soft smile.

End Part II

So what did everyone think of Part 2, a little out there I know, but Part 3 is back to the world we know and love LOL, and the fallout of Katherine's death. But of course I have plans for our heroes and for Katherine. *Evil grin*

Chapter 1 Part 3 is up under Morning Star Part 3