Sequel: Angel's Child ›
Golden Angel
Chapter 68
“Where am I?”
Artemis spun around to face the swampy forest, the ghost-white mist…
“You’re in the Spirit World.”
Turning, crimson eyes widened…
“Aang?”
“I didn’t expect to see you face-to-face so soon…”
The truth hit her heart first, stealing her breath, and her fingers lightly touched her neck…
“I-I’m dead?”
“I’m afraid so…” Katara admitted as the group appeared.
“…How’s my family?”
The spirits were confused, to say the least…
Normally, the newly-dead asked questions such as ‘how’ or ‘why’, but Artemis’s first instinct was to ask about her loved ones…
No one really wanted to tell her…
“They’re still fighting…” Sokka answered vaguely.
He expected a witty retort, a jibe for more information…
What he got was much worse…
Tears shimmered in her vulnerable eyes, a few slipping free before a hiccup of a sob left her throat…
“They’re hurt, aren’t they?”
“…Yes.” Toph admitted.
“…Is there anything I can do?”
Aang shook his head sadly…
“…You can only watch…”
A window, like one from the Battle Nexus, came up, showing the interior of the starship…
It looked like a war had gone rampaging through like a herd of elephants…
The turtles were beaten on the floor, bruises and flinching in pain, and the girls were nursing broken limbs or harsh bruises that impaired their bending…
Don was using his body to shield his girl, and Chi sat up, with some difficulty, next to a nearly-unconscious Mikey.
Kasai was holding her side with one hand and was trying to wake up Raph with the other.
Leo…
He didn’t seem willing to get up…
And Splinter seemed so weak…
The blue-banded turtle finally started struggling to his knees, and it tore at her heart…
“Leo…Leo, don’t…”
The tears were slipping at a faster pace, and she hardly kept back a full sob…
“Love…”
A gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looked over it at Katara with foggy eyes.
“…Aang?” The Waterbender asked, throwing a desperate look his way.
“…I think I can help…”
Artemis looked up at him with a snap, a flicker of hope deep in her eyes…
“For your selfless sacrifice…and the fact that it isn’t your time…”
He gave a warm smile, touching her forehead…
“…I’ll give you a second chance…”
A warm glow spread through the turtle’s body, and she closed her eyes…
“Just remember…there is energy, life, in all living things…but to wield it, your own soul must be…unbendable.”
Then the Spirit World sank away to warmth…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shredder raised his gauntlet, ready to make the final swipe…
A whip of water lashed around his wrist, freezing, and pulled him away as air seemed to knock his feet out from under him…
Whirling around, expecting to face the Waterbender whose wrist he’d shattered, he nearly choked at what he DID find…
“What’s wrong, Shredder?”
A wicked smirk, and a ball of metal floating in the air around her…
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost…”
“How…How is this possible?!”
“Anything’s possible…”
Karai stared at the female turtle in shock…
She’d just seen that face, motionless…
Seen those eyes, cold and deprived of that light that was Artemis…
Somehow, she’d faked death.
Karai was sure of it.
“How could you survive such an injury?”
“Simple…”
The metal wound around the she-turtle’s knuckles…
“I didn’t…”
Blood running cold, the older kunoichi hardly seemed able to breathe...
“Are you still of the dead?”
“Not anymore…”
Metal shifted under the crimson-eyed turtle’s feet, and her smirk sharpened dangerously as the ship quaked…
“I’ll gladly send both of you to the Spirit World on a one-way trip…”
The Shredder grabbed her wrist, and her eyes were hidden in shadow…
“It’s already too late for you to save them…Don’t even bother.”
“If it was too late, I would’ve bumped into them on the way back…”
A reinforced punch caught the exo-suit in the chest, crumbling the metal inward as he flew away.
Her wings flexed, wind coming up to allow her to hover off the ground…
“You may have started this…”
Bright gold glow over her skin, her eyes…
Sparks escaped her mouth like an enraged dragon…
“But I’m going to end it…”
All she registered was a bright light, and then she was dazed on her knees…
Half-lidded eyes hardly registering that she’d knocked Shredder and Karai from the room, whose door automatically closed.
Feeling weak enough to topple over, she tried to stay awake when a hand was placed on her shoulder.
Looking up, she saw Leo’s worried eyes…
“Love?”
Smiling softly, she leaned into her mate…
“I’m alright, love…Just had to take a little…vacation, that’s all…”
The others slowly rose, overjoyed to see her alive, when Splinter sighed…
“My children…I am sorry…”
“It’s not your fault, sensei…we couldn’t stop him…we failed…we failed the Utroms…Master Yoshi…We failed YOU…” Leo replied.
“I failed you…”
“So that’s it? Shredder wins?” Raph growled.
“It’s not like we’re in any shape to stop him…” Mikey stated, helping Chi.
She had a broken leg and a nasty bruise on her side.
Raph sighed, turning to Kasai.
Some ribs had broken from a powerful punch, and the skin was bruising as she tried to sit up.
Mizu had a badly-dislocated shoulder and a shattered wrist that Don fretted over despite his own injuries.
Mikey was right…
They were in no shape to stop him…
“Unless…”
Everyone turned to Artemis, whose eyes were locked on the power core…
“That’s a lot of energy…I could…disturb it…”
“It would make a pretty big bang…” Mikey admitted.
“We’d never survive.” Don reasoned.
“Neither would the Shredder.” Leo replied.
The gold-banded turtle stood shakily, shaking her head…
“No…I won’t survive…”
“NO!”
A bit startled at the sudden hug from behind, she was spun around to face her mate.
“Love…”
“I already lost you once!”
His hold tightened on her shoulders, and he pulled her into another hug, just listening to her heartbeat and feeling her breath on his skin…
“…I don’t think I can take that again…”
Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his shell…
“…I know…I don’t think I can take it again, either…”
The she-turtle pulled back enough to look him in the eyes…
“But I’d rather go through hell ten times over then let you go in once…”
“…I know…”
Artemis pulled him into a heated kiss, almost tasting the sadness, before she had to break the connection…
“…I’m sorry…”
Leo gently took hold of her hands…
“…I’ve already forgiven you…”
Nodding, she held back tears before stepping back, trying to hold herself together…
“Kasai, can you make a shield?”
“I-I think I can…”
“Artie, don’t!”
Mikey hugged her tight, though his legs shook with pain as tears flowed.
“You can’t leave us! PLEASE! We can’t live without you!”
“…I’m sorry, Mikey…”
She tried to keep her voice from shaking, and caught the eyes of the others…
They didn’t want her to go again, either…
“…I’m sorry…”
Gently unlatching her youngest siblings arms, she kissed his forehead…
“…I’ll always be with you…all of you…remember that…”
Stepping away, she turned to the power core.
Lifting her arms, she focused her energy to her hands…
The power core glowed gold/white like her hands, and started detonating.
Seconds after Kasai threw up a fiery shield, everything seemed to…
Stop…
When time began to move again, Artemis seemed to wake up to a bright light and a dull throbbing on her neck, shoulder, and plastron…
“What happened?” She slurred weakly.
“Are you alright?”
She remembered that voice…
“Mortu?”
The Utrom floated over her, looking worried, and she smiled a bit…
“I’m fine…Thank you…”
“…It was the least we could do.”
“How are the others?”
“Awake…And ready for the Shredder’s trial.”
The crimson-eyed turtle nodded slowly, sitting up…
“Do you need help, my friend?”
“I’ll be alright…Come on.”
Artemis twitched when she realized she had ice packs on her sore body parts, but continued walking nonetheless.
Reunited with her family, she smiled and hugged them.
“Hey guys…You feeling alright?”
“Hunky-Dorey!” Mikey replied, grinning.
“…Never say that again…”
Everyone’s attention was directed back towards the Shredder, whose Utrom body was restrained, and Karai, along with the new little scientist.
Mizu breathed deeply, leaning on Don weakly.
She was so tired…
That whole episode had tired them all out, left them battered and in need of relaxation and rest…
The Utrom Council was behind the family, stating every single crime he’d ever committed, every innocent life he’d ever taken…
Millions, billions…
They all understood the pain, the suffering those people must have gone through…
“We shall now commune on the outcome.”
There was silence, and Chi bit her lip as she held tight to Mikey’s hand.
‘I ‘ope they throw ‘im ‘way forever…’
“In the name of the great law-giver, this tribunal finds you Trell, guilty! You are hereby sentenced to eternal exile on the ice asteroid!”
“You are not fit to judge me! I am the Shredder! I am invincible! I-I…No! NO!”
Artemis closed her eyes as he disappeared, burying her face into Leo’s shoulder…
“May your actions haunt you forever…As for the Shredder’s comrades, they shall be returned to Earth and handed over to the proper authorities.”
The platform beneath Karai moved, and Kasai sighed, flinching as her ribs pulled…
She felt bad for the kunoichi, but she couldn’t stand up for her…
Too many mistakes, too many wrong choices…
Even Kasai, who managed to find good in people, could hardly find any in the older kunoichi now…
“This is not what I wanted, Leonardo…This is not what I wanted!”
The floor sealed itself shut, and everyone breathed out…
“We all owe you a debt of gratitude.” Mortu stated.
“The Shredder has finally been brought to justice.”
“…Is it really over?” Don wondered.
“No more Shredder?” Raph agreed.
“Yes, my children…my Master Yoshi’s spirit can finally rest in peace…The Shredder is finished.”
Artemis nodded, giving Leo a confused look when he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.
“Love?”
He didn’t say anything, and she almost yelped when he lifted her up towards him.
That possessive, strong hold…
That heat seeping through her shell…
‘Is he alright?’
Artemis spun around to face the swampy forest, the ghost-white mist…
“You’re in the Spirit World.”
Turning, crimson eyes widened…
“Aang?”
“I didn’t expect to see you face-to-face so soon…”
The truth hit her heart first, stealing her breath, and her fingers lightly touched her neck…
“I-I’m dead?”
“I’m afraid so…” Katara admitted as the group appeared.
“…How’s my family?”
The spirits were confused, to say the least…
Normally, the newly-dead asked questions such as ‘how’ or ‘why’, but Artemis’s first instinct was to ask about her loved ones…
No one really wanted to tell her…
“They’re still fighting…” Sokka answered vaguely.
He expected a witty retort, a jibe for more information…
What he got was much worse…
Tears shimmered in her vulnerable eyes, a few slipping free before a hiccup of a sob left her throat…
“They’re hurt, aren’t they?”
“…Yes.” Toph admitted.
“…Is there anything I can do?”
Aang shook his head sadly…
“…You can only watch…”
A window, like one from the Battle Nexus, came up, showing the interior of the starship…
It looked like a war had gone rampaging through like a herd of elephants…
The turtles were beaten on the floor, bruises and flinching in pain, and the girls were nursing broken limbs or harsh bruises that impaired their bending…
Don was using his body to shield his girl, and Chi sat up, with some difficulty, next to a nearly-unconscious Mikey.
Kasai was holding her side with one hand and was trying to wake up Raph with the other.
Leo…
He didn’t seem willing to get up…
And Splinter seemed so weak…
The blue-banded turtle finally started struggling to his knees, and it tore at her heart…
“Leo…Leo, don’t…”
The tears were slipping at a faster pace, and she hardly kept back a full sob…
“Love…”
A gentle hand on her shoulder, and she looked over it at Katara with foggy eyes.
“…Aang?” The Waterbender asked, throwing a desperate look his way.
“…I think I can help…”
Artemis looked up at him with a snap, a flicker of hope deep in her eyes…
“For your selfless sacrifice…and the fact that it isn’t your time…”
He gave a warm smile, touching her forehead…
“…I’ll give you a second chance…”
A warm glow spread through the turtle’s body, and she closed her eyes…
“Just remember…there is energy, life, in all living things…but to wield it, your own soul must be…unbendable.”
Then the Spirit World sank away to warmth…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shredder raised his gauntlet, ready to make the final swipe…
A whip of water lashed around his wrist, freezing, and pulled him away as air seemed to knock his feet out from under him…
Whirling around, expecting to face the Waterbender whose wrist he’d shattered, he nearly choked at what he DID find…
“What’s wrong, Shredder?”
A wicked smirk, and a ball of metal floating in the air around her…
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost…”
“How…How is this possible?!”
“Anything’s possible…”
Karai stared at the female turtle in shock…
She’d just seen that face, motionless…
Seen those eyes, cold and deprived of that light that was Artemis…
Somehow, she’d faked death.
Karai was sure of it.
“How could you survive such an injury?”
“Simple…”
The metal wound around the she-turtle’s knuckles…
“I didn’t…”
Blood running cold, the older kunoichi hardly seemed able to breathe...
“Are you still of the dead?”
“Not anymore…”
Metal shifted under the crimson-eyed turtle’s feet, and her smirk sharpened dangerously as the ship quaked…
“I’ll gladly send both of you to the Spirit World on a one-way trip…”
The Shredder grabbed her wrist, and her eyes were hidden in shadow…
“It’s already too late for you to save them…Don’t even bother.”
“If it was too late, I would’ve bumped into them on the way back…”
A reinforced punch caught the exo-suit in the chest, crumbling the metal inward as he flew away.
Her wings flexed, wind coming up to allow her to hover off the ground…
“You may have started this…”
Bright gold glow over her skin, her eyes…
Sparks escaped her mouth like an enraged dragon…
“But I’m going to end it…”
All she registered was a bright light, and then she was dazed on her knees…
Half-lidded eyes hardly registering that she’d knocked Shredder and Karai from the room, whose door automatically closed.
Feeling weak enough to topple over, she tried to stay awake when a hand was placed on her shoulder.
Looking up, she saw Leo’s worried eyes…
“Love?”
Smiling softly, she leaned into her mate…
“I’m alright, love…Just had to take a little…vacation, that’s all…”
The others slowly rose, overjoyed to see her alive, when Splinter sighed…
“My children…I am sorry…”
“It’s not your fault, sensei…we couldn’t stop him…we failed…we failed the Utroms…Master Yoshi…We failed YOU…” Leo replied.
“I failed you…”
“So that’s it? Shredder wins?” Raph growled.
“It’s not like we’re in any shape to stop him…” Mikey stated, helping Chi.
She had a broken leg and a nasty bruise on her side.
Raph sighed, turning to Kasai.
Some ribs had broken from a powerful punch, and the skin was bruising as she tried to sit up.
Mizu had a badly-dislocated shoulder and a shattered wrist that Don fretted over despite his own injuries.
Mikey was right…
They were in no shape to stop him…
“Unless…”
Everyone turned to Artemis, whose eyes were locked on the power core…
“That’s a lot of energy…I could…disturb it…”
“It would make a pretty big bang…” Mikey admitted.
“We’d never survive.” Don reasoned.
“Neither would the Shredder.” Leo replied.
The gold-banded turtle stood shakily, shaking her head…
“No…I won’t survive…”
“NO!”
A bit startled at the sudden hug from behind, she was spun around to face her mate.
“Love…”
“I already lost you once!”
His hold tightened on her shoulders, and he pulled her into another hug, just listening to her heartbeat and feeling her breath on his skin…
“…I don’t think I can take that again…”
Slowly, she wrapped her arms around his shell…
“…I know…I don’t think I can take it again, either…”
The she-turtle pulled back enough to look him in the eyes…
“But I’d rather go through hell ten times over then let you go in once…”
“…I know…”
Artemis pulled him into a heated kiss, almost tasting the sadness, before she had to break the connection…
“…I’m sorry…”
Leo gently took hold of her hands…
“…I’ve already forgiven you…”
Nodding, she held back tears before stepping back, trying to hold herself together…
“Kasai, can you make a shield?”
“I-I think I can…”
“Artie, don’t!”
Mikey hugged her tight, though his legs shook with pain as tears flowed.
“You can’t leave us! PLEASE! We can’t live without you!”
“…I’m sorry, Mikey…”
She tried to keep her voice from shaking, and caught the eyes of the others…
They didn’t want her to go again, either…
“…I’m sorry…”
Gently unlatching her youngest siblings arms, she kissed his forehead…
“…I’ll always be with you…all of you…remember that…”
Stepping away, she turned to the power core.
Lifting her arms, she focused her energy to her hands…
The power core glowed gold/white like her hands, and started detonating.
Seconds after Kasai threw up a fiery shield, everything seemed to…
Stop…
When time began to move again, Artemis seemed to wake up to a bright light and a dull throbbing on her neck, shoulder, and plastron…
“What happened?” She slurred weakly.
“Are you alright?”
She remembered that voice…
“Mortu?”
The Utrom floated over her, looking worried, and she smiled a bit…
“I’m fine…Thank you…”
“…It was the least we could do.”
“How are the others?”
“Awake…And ready for the Shredder’s trial.”
The crimson-eyed turtle nodded slowly, sitting up…
“Do you need help, my friend?”
“I’ll be alright…Come on.”
Artemis twitched when she realized she had ice packs on her sore body parts, but continued walking nonetheless.
Reunited with her family, she smiled and hugged them.
“Hey guys…You feeling alright?”
“Hunky-Dorey!” Mikey replied, grinning.
“…Never say that again…”
Everyone’s attention was directed back towards the Shredder, whose Utrom body was restrained, and Karai, along with the new little scientist.
Mizu breathed deeply, leaning on Don weakly.
She was so tired…
That whole episode had tired them all out, left them battered and in need of relaxation and rest…
The Utrom Council was behind the family, stating every single crime he’d ever committed, every innocent life he’d ever taken…
Millions, billions…
They all understood the pain, the suffering those people must have gone through…
“We shall now commune on the outcome.”
There was silence, and Chi bit her lip as she held tight to Mikey’s hand.
‘I ‘ope they throw ‘im ‘way forever…’
“In the name of the great law-giver, this tribunal finds you Trell, guilty! You are hereby sentenced to eternal exile on the ice asteroid!”
“You are not fit to judge me! I am the Shredder! I am invincible! I-I…No! NO!”
Artemis closed her eyes as he disappeared, burying her face into Leo’s shoulder…
“May your actions haunt you forever…As for the Shredder’s comrades, they shall be returned to Earth and handed over to the proper authorities.”
The platform beneath Karai moved, and Kasai sighed, flinching as her ribs pulled…
She felt bad for the kunoichi, but she couldn’t stand up for her…
Too many mistakes, too many wrong choices…
Even Kasai, who managed to find good in people, could hardly find any in the older kunoichi now…
“This is not what I wanted, Leonardo…This is not what I wanted!”
The floor sealed itself shut, and everyone breathed out…
“We all owe you a debt of gratitude.” Mortu stated.
“The Shredder has finally been brought to justice.”
“…Is it really over?” Don wondered.
“No more Shredder?” Raph agreed.
“Yes, my children…my Master Yoshi’s spirit can finally rest in peace…The Shredder is finished.”
Artemis nodded, giving Leo a confused look when he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.
“Love?”
He didn’t say anything, and she almost yelped when he lifted her up towards him.
That possessive, strong hold…
That heat seeping through her shell…
‘Is he alright?’