"My sensors indicate a power conduit attached to the generator. But, I'm unable to determine the source of power," Shelly said.

"We'll figure that out when we get to it," Raphael told her.

His brothers had vanished off the computer screen, and he could only assume they had made it to the portal. He revved the engine and sped up. The creature had fallen silent, for which he was grateful. One less thing to worry about.

"Raphael, I'm concerned. The Dictator has done nothing without reason. What if he's luring you into a trap?"

"Of course it could be a trap. But, he still has my brothers. I'm not giving up on them."

He found the others gathered around the front of the portal. Raphael slid to a stop and jumped off the bike, throwing off his helmet in the process. Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo waited for him.

"You're not opening that portal," Raphael snarled.

Leonardo grinned darkly. "Yes. We are."

Chains suddenly shot out of the power chamber, wrapping around Raphael's wrists and ankles. He cried out as he was pulled into the small chamber and locked inside. Something snapped around the back of his head and neck. He screamed in pain as the device sent electrical shocks through his skull. The demon within him jolted from the blasts, making Raphael cry out more.

The three demons stepped up to the chamber. "Give in, Raphael," Leonardo said. "There's no use in fighting."

Raphael's back arched as he continued to scream. The demon thrashed around, growling and snarling. Its power surged. Raphael let out a blood curdling scream.

"Stop fighting it," Donatello said. "Give in. Set your demon free."

"Release me!" the demon roared.

Raphael's eyes shot open, amber turning solid, flaming red. His body fell limp in the chains, eyes remaining open and staring forward. Metal began to creep across Raphael's body. The portal sparked and ignited. A swirling vortex appeared in the columns. The Dictator and his demons approached.

"Well done," he praised. He turned to face his army. "Onward, my demons. First, we take Earth. Then, we take the Aeons."

With a collective cry, the demons charged forward with Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo leading the way. The Dictator glanced at Raphael and grinned. The metal continued to wrap around the turtle's body, charging the portal even more. The Dictator stepped through the portal and was met by mass hysteria. Humans ran for their lives as demons descended upon them.

The demon brothers raced through New York, the roar of their vehicle engines mixing in with the screams and cries of the humans. Leonardo noticed an abandoned warehouse at the end of the street. He motioned for his brothers to follow. They rode up to the warehouse and stopped outside. Donatello got out of his car and walked up to a panel on the side of the building. He flicked the panel open, revealing a number pad.

"Can you open it?" Leonardo asked, stepping up behind him.

Donatello's finger hovered over the buttons. As if on instinct, he tapped a series of numbers. The warehouse door unlocked, granting them entrance. Michelangelo slid the large metal door upward and the brothers headed inside. There was nothing special about the warehouse. It was just filled with car parts and tools. A strange green van sat in the corner.

As they walked further into the warehouse, a noise filled the space. A door opened up in the middle of the room as a chamber lifted upward. The front of the chamber opened, as if beckoning them to enter. The brothers hesitantly stepped into the chamber. The door closed and it descended rapidly. Within a few seconds, the doors opened up and the brothers walked out into a massive underground dwelling.

"This place...it's...familiar," Donatello murmured.

The brothers spread out, going to different parts of the dwelling. Michelangelo headed upstairs and walked into one of the rooms. He noticed a leather bound book on the floor. He picked it up and studied it. All that was keeping it locked was a piece of leather string wrapped around the book. Michelangelo unwrapped the string and flipped through the pages. From what he could gather, it was a journal of some kind, written in a strange, yet somehow familiar, handwriting. Somewhere within the deep recesses of his memory, he knew the handwriting belonged to Raphael.

He came to one page in the middle of the book. Scrawled on the page was a poem. Clearly the red masked turtle had always battled with his inner demon. Michelangelo carefully read the poem.

Living in the shadows one tends to see everything
Living in darkness means everyone else is living in the light
In the dark there is security, in the light there is disaster
Though the darkness is lonely and in the light there are friends

But even still, friends betray and condemn
The darkness knows nothing of betrayal
Some may say those who live in darkness are blind
It depends on what darkness one means

The darkness of the soul is dangerous
Eternally damning a person unless they turn to the light
The darkness of the mind clouds judgement
Making people do irrational things

Then there is the darkness that comes from living in secret
People know you are there, yet they do not see you
You blend in with the surroundings
Creeping from place to place

You see other people's wrong doing
Their secrets, their lies
You see their betrayal, the hurt they have caused others
You want to step in, but the darkness won't allow it

The darkness stills your tongue
Capturing your voice and locking it away
You are silent in the darkness
It forbids you to speak

Even tears are silent in the darkness
Only the walls of your room can hear you
Only they know that you are there, that you exist
For in the darkness, you don't even know yourself

Something inside him seemed to break. As he read the poem again, the thing inside him stirred. Michelangelo lowered the journal, eyes filling with tears.

"Raph," he whispered.

He cried out and flinched. The journal fell to the floor. Michelangelo screamed in pain, his body jolting violently, sending him to the floor. The turtle gasped for breath, shaking his head and looking up. Blue eyes widened when he saw an orange shadow hover above the journal. With a cry, the shadow dissipated. Michelangelo panted for breath, trying to figure out how he had ended up back home. Wasn't he supposed to be racing in the Dead Zone?

"Guys!" Michelangelo cried, bolting to his feet and running for the door.

He ran out into the lair just in time to hear his brothers scream in pain before a purple and blue shadow shot out of the dojo and lab. Michelangelo rushed downstairs just as Leonardo and Donatello came stumbling out into the lair.

"What happened?" Donatello asked, rubbing his head. "How did we get back home?"

"And, where's Raph?" Leonardo wanted to know, looking around for his missing brother.

The brothers turned towards the elevator. The doors opened and Tory, Sonic and Venus came running out.

"You did it!" Venus exclaimed. "You bested your demons."

"That's all well and good, but where's Raph?" Leonardo asked.

"You don't..." Venus trailed off. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Donatello questioned.

"He's the one powering the portal," Tory answered.

Leonardo's heart dropped like a rock. "He's what?!" he cried.

"Your demons lured him to the portal," Sonic explained. "They're using his demon to power it."

The brothers made a mad dash for the elevator. The others followed quickly behind them. When they were outside, Tory, Sonic and Venus transformed and the team rode back to where the portal had opened. The brothers weaved in and out of traffic and through the swarm of demons and panicking humans. They shot back through the portal at break neck speed. The Dead Zone seemed eerily empty without demons running around.

Leonardo jumped off the bike and ran to the chamber on the side of the portal. Raphael's body was almost completely encased in metal. Leonardo whipped out a sword and began pounding away at the glass door. However, it wouldn't shatter. He looked up just as the metal wrapped around his brother's eyes, completing the cocoon. Raphael's solid red eyes burned behind the metal.

"No," Leonardo breathed in horror, stumbling back. He looked down at his sword in stunned shock. "What have we done?"

"We're too late," Donatello said, his voice shaking with emotion.

Leonardo sank to his knees, the sword falling from his hand. He hung his head, squeezing his eyes tight against the burning tears. He let out a chilling, agonized scream. Shelly tentatively approached the group.

"There has to be a way," she said.

"There's no way to shut the portal down," Tory said.

"The demons will tear through the planet like a plague. They'll consume everything and everyone in their path," Sonic added.

"There must be something we can do," Michelangelo said, his voice desperate.

Donatello shook his head in regret. "There's nothing we can do," he replied with remorse. "If we try to free him from the portal, we might end up killing him. And we can't shut the portal down with the Dictator and his demon army still rampaging through New York."

"So, we've lost," Michelangelo said, his shoulders dropping. "In more ways than one. We've lost Raph and our home."

Leonardo's sobs ebbed away as something began to pulse within the metal around Raphael's body. He looked up, seeing a tiny light flash periodically in the metal.

"We have caused you great grief. And, for that, we are sorry," echoed a sudden voice.

The friends turned to see a bright light appear behind them. From the light stepped out three creatures that seemed to be made out of pure light. Their skin was snow white. Their thin bodies covered in flowing robes of silver and gold. Their heads sloped upward in natural looking crowns. Though their bodies looked the same, their eyes glowed a different color. One was solid blue, one was solid purple, and the last was solid orange.

"Deja-vu," Michelangelo said.

Leonardo got to his feet, turning to face the creatures fully. "Who are you?" he asked.

The creature with the blue eyes stepped forward. "We are the Aeons," it said with a distinct male voice. "And, we are the cause of your grief and pain."

"How?" Donatello asked.

The creature put a hand to his chest. "My name is Levi. And, these are my sisters, Dawn and Mika." He looked at the turtle brothers. "It is our brother who has corrupted yours and has turned him into a source of power for his evil."

"Your brother?" Michelangelo said.

"You mean the Dictator?" Leonardo asked, stepping closer to the Aeons.

"Is that what he is calling himself, now?" Dawn asked.

"Somehow it suits him," Mika commented.

Levi sighed and bowed his head, closing his eyes.

"Who are you?" Leonardo questioned, his voice low but sharp.

Levi opened his eyes again. "We are the protectors of the realms and keepers of Light," he began. "For millennia we have watched over all manner of life in the known dimensions. However, there was one of us, our brother, Rafe, who wanted more. He began dabbling in the forbidden dark arts, creating creatures of darkness, chaos and destruction. Eventually, it consumed him. Turning him into a shadow of his former glory. He wanted to use his new dark powers to take over the realms we had sworn to protect."

"The only way we could stop him was by opening a portal into the Dead Zone," Dawn continued. "We banished our brother and his demons to this place, where we thought his influence could not reach any other beings."

Mika looked over at the power chamber. "We were wrong," she said.

Levi walked over to the chamber and put a hand on the glass. "It seems, even in banishment, that Rafe found a soul similar to his."

"Raphael is nothing like your brother," Leonardo hissed venomously. "He would rather die than cause harm to others."

Levi lowered his hand. "No one is truly pure," he stated. "I see myself and my siblings in you and your brothers, blue one."

"My name is Leonardo. And my brothers are Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael," Leonardo said. "We're nothing like you."

"Keepers of peace. Guardians of justice. Upholders of good. We are more alike than you think, Leonardo," Levi told him. He turned back to the chamber. "We can save your brother, but he needs to remain powering the portal for a little while longer."

"You have a plan?" Sonic asked.

"I do," Levi answered. "And this time, Rafe will not be able to harm anyone else."

Leonardo was about to object, but Donatello's hand on his shoulder stopped the words from leaving his mouth. The look on his brother's face told him that they should trust the Aeons.

"What's the plan?" Leonardo asked.

Levi nodded to his sisters. The siblings headed through the portal together. The others watched from the other side of the vortex. There were words exchanged and Levi, Dawn and Mika came back through the portal. The friends ran to the side when the demon army and the Dictator came crashing through the portal.

"You have run rampant for far too long, Rafe," Levi said. "But, your madness ends, now."

The Dictator threw his head back and laughed. "That's what you said last time, dear brother. And look what your carelessness has wrought."

"You have pulled these innocent creatures into your web of hatred. This feud is between us," Mika said.

The Dictator's eyes flashed. "I will end you all," he declared.

Levi, Dawn and Mika raised their hands. "Not where you're going," Levi hissed.

The portal sparked and began pulling the demons towards it. The Dictator fought against the portal's pull. He glared up at his brother and sisters, red eyes blazing with anger and hatred.

"You will never be rid of me," he vowed. "I will destroy you!"

"Not in oblivion," Levi said.

The pull increased and the Dictator yelled as he was pulled through the portal. The siblings closed their hands and the portal sealed. The brothers jumped back as the chamber door hissed open. Leonardo hurried over and removed the chains from around Raphael's wrists and ankles. He pulled his brother out of the chamber, laying him on the ground. The metal still remained, red eyes still staring forward. Levi, Dawn and Mika walked up.

"Take this gift as our apology for bringing you into our sibling feud," Levi said.

The Aeons reached down and touched the center of Raphael's chest. Veins of light suddenly broke out across the metal casing. The veins cracked, breaking the casing into pieces. Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo began removing the metal fragments. Leonardo pulled off the metal from around Raphael's head, throwing it on the ground.

"Raph?" he asked, touching his brother's cheek.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Then, very slowly, Raphael's eyes closed for a moment before opening again. He blinked a few times before his vision started to return. He moved his eyes to look at his brother in blue. The solid red faded to be replaced by amber.

"Raph?" Leonardo breathed.

A worn, tired smile ghosted Raphael's lips. "Hey," he whispered, his voice hoarse.

With tears of pure joy streaming down his face, Leonardo pulled Raphael into a tight hug, holding his brother close. Donatello and Michelangelo threw their arms around their brother. Other arms wrapped around them. Sonic, Tory, Venus and Shelly joined in on the group hug. Leonardo looked up, eyes locking with the Aeons.

"Thank you," he whispered.

The Aeons smiled, light flowing from their bodies. "It's time we said farewell," Levi said.

"Peace be with you," Mika added.

"It's time to go home," Dawn said. "May you find everything as it should be."

There was a flash of light and the Dead Zone vanished. The brothers looked around to find themselves back in the warehouse.

"Did that really just happen?" Michelangelo asked. "It's like we never left."

Raphael glanced over to find the shell cycle standing innocently on its stabilizer. There was no damage, no evidence that an accident had ever occurred. The red metal gleamed and he thought he saw Shelly wink at him. Raphael smiled tiredly. His thoughts were his own again, he could no longer feel the demon stir in his mind. He laid his head against Leonardo's shoulder and closed his eyes.

It's good to be home, he thought.

A/N: That's all she wrote. A HUGE shout out to R.A. who, with one review, made me realize I was closer to finishing this story than I thought. Thank you all so much for staying with me, for your patience and feedback. It means the world to me. Well, that's it for this story. On to the next. I still got to finish Blood and Honor, which is next on my To Do list (almost finished that one too). See you all next time. Take care.

Disclaimer: see chapter one