Summary: They thought they had defeated him. They thought they had gotten rid of him. They thought they were finally at peace. But you can't outrun the devil, no matter how fast you go...Diego has finally gotten what he's always wanted- a body. So how are Leo, Don and Mikey supposed to kill Diego now, when he is possessing their brother?

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. Only my oc.

Author's notes: The last chapter is finally here! Agh, what a ride this has been! From what I thought would only be a single story has blossomed into a trilogy! And now the ending to the trilogy is finally here! I'd like to firstly thank everyone for the continued support, follows, favs and reviews. All your kind words and encouragement has kept me going, even when I was without plot bunnies. I do hope that you all enjoy this final chapter and the ending I have install for you, whichever one it may be.

So, for the final time, please read, review and enjoy…

Drag Me Down

"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."

~Jon Milton

Chapter Nine

Leonardo

Leo made sure that the straps were bound tightly this time, so that there was no chance of Diego escaping again. He was still unconscious from the blow to head, and a dark bruise was starting to form around that area. Once he had made sure Diego was tied down sufficiently, he stepped back to allow Don to check him over. Like it or not, Diego was still inside of Raphael's body, and if any damage had been done to Diego, it most likely would also damage Raphael.

He walked over to Mikey, who was watching anxiously from the doorway. Leo could see from his eyes that Mikey was still shaken up about what had just transpired, and Leo didn't blame him.

"Hey," he said gently, resting a reassuring hand on Mikey's shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay," Mikey responded, trying to pull a brave face and hide behind a strained smile. It didn't work and Mikey deflated, letting out a sigh. "Okay, I'm not really ok. I...I thought, for a moment, that it was actually Raph there, and this whole thing with Diego was just some kind of horrible nightmare."

"I'm sorry, Mikey," Leo said apologetically. "I came as quickly as I could."

"It's not your fault, Leo," Mikey reassured his brother. "Diego probably would have killed me, but...I saw Raph. His eyes were gold, not black. He must have regained control of his body, even though it was only for a second."

Leo frowned. "Are you sure, Mikey? You might have just been wishing or hope."

"No," Mikey insisted, "it was Raph. He's still in there and he took back control. He fought back and told me to run. If he hadn't been able to regain control of his body, even for that split second, Diego would have killed me."

Don walked over to join them by the door.

"How is he?" Leo asked.

"His head will be sore for a while, and I think he has a concussion, but he'll wake up soon. We need to end this now, while he's still unconscious. We need that book. I have to perform an exorcism now, or he'll be too strong."

"Then we look everywhere, and quickly," Leo said, cold determination shining in his eyes.

"Let's move," Don agreed, "because Diego won't stay unconscious forever.

Mikey looked around his cluttered bedroom with a frown. Books and papers scattered the floor where he had knocked over his bookshelf, making it impossible to find anything. With a determined look crossing his face, Mikey kneeled down on the floor and began stacking papers and books into piles. He tried not to get distracted by every comic book he picked up. The bright, colourful pages leapt out at him and practically screamed at him to read them, but he had more pressing matters to deal with. Once he had saved his brother from a crazed demon, he would sit down and read his comic books, but not now. He started to shift through the paper that scattered the floor when his hand bumped something hard under a pile of crumpled and dog-eared paper. Frowning, Mikey pushed the paper aside and pulled out an old looking book. He turned it over in his hands, frowning in confusion. This didn't look like the type of book he would have, let alone read. Opening the leather-bound cover, Mikey looked down at the confusing scrawl across the aged paper.

Donnie's book...

Mikey gasped and looked back down at the book like it was the most precious thing he had ever seen. It was the book!

"Guys, I found it!" Mikey shouted excitedly.

Clutching the book to his chest, he leapt to his feet and ran out of his room, comic books forgotten.

"What were you doing with my book in your room?" Don asked suspiciously when Mikey handed him the old tome.

"I don't know," Mikey shrugged. "I probably used it as a page weight or something for my comic books. I must have put it back on my bookshelf and forgotten about. So in hindsight it was actually pretty lucky Diego attacked me, because if he didn't I never would have pulled my bookshelf over, and then I never would have found the book."

"Is the exorcism still in there, Donnie?" Leo asked, peering over Don's shoulder at the book.

"Yes, it's still here," Don said with a relieved smile, finding the exorcism.

"Ugh, Donnie, it's in some kind of alien language," Mikey frowned.

"Mikey, that's Latin," Don sighed.

"Whoa, you can read Latin?"

"Yes, Mikey."

"Cool,"

"Anyway," Leo cut in, "do you need anything else to perform the exorcism?"

Don studied the page with a concentrated look upon his face. "Salt would be a good idea," he said. "A ring of salt around the table and a dab of salt on his forehead should do the trick. It should bind him to the table while I perform the exorcism."

"Then let's do it," Leo said. "The sooner we get our brother back, the better."

A single, solitary candle lit the room in eerie light. Flickering shadows danced along the walls and floors and played jokes on the eyes. Diego did not look impressed as a line of salt was poured around the table he was strapped to. He was even more so unimpressed when Don smudged salt along his forehead.

"It's never going to work," Diego growled at the turtles as they got into position. "Exorcisms may work with lower class demons, but not with me."

"We'll take our chances," Donnie said, fixing Diego with a hard stare. "No tricks this time."

"You better say your goodbyes, because there will be no greetings where you're going," Leo said coldly.

Diego scoffed and was about to retort, but Don cut him off. "Alright, let's begin." Moving in front of the candle and opening the book to the correct page, Donnie cleared his throat and began to read.

"De cornu tenet, noctis ignis d, cistern tua fata,"

"It's not going to work," Diego said again, though there was a frown darkening his face as he squirmed in his bonds. Don ignored him and kept reading.

"Redire praecipio tibi, exi ab eo quod anima,"

Leo and Mikey watched on in a mixture of hope and fascination as Diego's discomfort began more pronounced.

"AH!" Diego suddenly cried, throwing his head back in a pained scream as his body convulsed and withered on the table.

"It's working!" Mikey shouted.

"Post corpus ad, domum iura…"

"I will kill you all, I swear!" Diego screamed, his teeth clenched in pain as he continued to convulse. "You will all suffer! AH!" Another cry of pain was ripped from his throat. Shadows started to circle the table, a moving black wave as dark smoke started to drift from Diego's skin.

"Sanguinis et dolore, et ibi in perpetuum, fatigari in Dei omnipotentis nomine!" Don shouted, fighting to be heard of Diego's scream and the whirling black mass of shadows that oozed from his pours.

With a final, anguish-filled scream, Diego roared in pain and threw his head back as the wave of dancing black shadows elongated into fingers and grabbed him. There was a sound of one thousand people screaming in a crescendo, and the loud flicker of flames and the bright flash of shadows, before everything went silent. The shadows disappeared and the screaming stopped. Raphael lay motionless on the table.

"Raph!" Leo and Mikey shouted, running to their brother's side.

"Did it work?" Mikey asked, daring to hope.

Don put aside the book and examined Raphael. "I don't know," he admitted.

"Raphael, Raphael wake up," Leo whispered, gently shaking Raphael's shoulder.

They waited with baited breath as Raphael groaned and slowly opened his eyes. They all leaned forward; anxiously waiting to see if the eyes that stared back at them would be golden or emotionless black...

Leo let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when a pair of bright golden eyes blinked up at him.

"Leo?" Raphael rasped, his eyes clouded with confusion.

"Raphael, you're alive!" Mikey shouted, tears of relief shinning in his eyes.

"Quick, help me untie him!" Donnie instructed, untying the bonds around his wrists.

"What…what happened?" Raphael asked groggily as his brothers carefully helped him to sit up.

"You were possessed by Diego," Leo said.

"Bastard," Raphael muttered weakly. "Thinking he can take my body from me. Wait…where is he?"

"Donnie sent him straight to Hell, where he belongs," Leo said with a wry smile.

"So that's it, he's gone for good?" Raphael asked.

Don smiled and rested his hand on Raphael's shoulder. "Yep, Diego's gone for good. The nightmare's finally over."

Two weeks had passed since Diego was banished and things were finally returning to normal. Raphael was back on his feet, moving around freely and more than happy to finally have his body back again. Over the past week, none of the turtles had had a single nightmare, and there were no visions or whispered voices of Diego. He truly was gone for good.

However, as Raphael sat down to breakfast, he couldn't help but hear a small voice in the back of mind that one day, Diego could come back. But Raphael didn't care. Because right now, in this moment, Diego was gone and he and his brothers were finally free from the nightmares.

And for now, that was enough.

~Fin~

Author's Notes 2: And that's it guys, the end to the Hear Me Scream Trilogy. And what a ride it has been. I can't thank you enough for your continued support, favs and amazing reviews. As you can see, the 'happy ending' won! But keep on the lookout for Drag Me Down Alternate Ending which will be the not so great ending. I hope to have it posted soon. The translated version of the exorcism is below.

"From the darkest corner of the night,

From the firey pit,

I command you to return to your plight

Leave this body and this soul behind

return to your home domain

of blood and pain

and forever there toil,

in God's almighty name"

I do hope you all enjoyed this story and its conclusion. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts! If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I hope to see you all again in many other adventures I am to write :)

But for now, until the next time,

~Cat