No Escape

Chapter 26

Raphael opened his eyes, feeling oddly disconnected. His body felt light, or perhaps he was numb; he wasn't sure. He heard hushed voices coming from a little ways away. He recognized the hushed and serious voice of Donnie, followed by the small, quavering voice of Mikey.

"Donnie," Mikey pleaded quietly.

"There wasn't anything we could do." Donnie said wretchedly. "I did everything I could. I just... I'm so sorry, Mikey." Donnie's words were choked back with a sob. "I tried... I really tried, and there wasn't anything I could do. He just... he just slipped away." Donnie's voice was barely audible, as Raphael struggled to open his heavy eyelids.

"W-what..." Mikey began, in a choked and grief filled voice. "W-what do we tell Raph?" He questioned, as a sob was ripped from his baby brother's throat.

There was a heavy silence for a few moments before Mikey spoke again, his voice even smaller and more wretched than before. "D-Donnie?" His baby brother stammered out the question in a horrified whisper.

The silence stretched on and on. Raph was unsure if Donnie had too quietly answered his brother's question, or if he was too upset to manage to speak at the moment. All Raph heard was another choked, grief filled sob from Mikey.

"We'll have to wait until Raph recovers. It may be too much for him if we tell him too soon. I don't want him going into a decline. We... we're going to need to bury him, Mikey." Donnie finished quietly.

"N-now?" Mikey stammered in shock.

"We can't keep him here, Mikey." Donnie said gently. "I'm going to go and make our father some tea and... and tell him what needs to be done. Could you call April and Casey, and let them know that Leo... " Donnie couldn't seem to finish the sentence, but continued. "We'll bury him at Casey's farm, underneath that huge oak tree he always liked to meditate under." Donnie finished sadly.

Raph wasn't sure what Mikey's answer was to Donnie's request, because the blood had begun rushing through Raph's ears so fiercely that he could barely even hear his own heart that beat with painful rapidity in his chest.

"Leo." Raph croaked out in a whisper. "No." He managed to growl out in disbelief, as he forced himself to sit up and slide off his bed. He couldn't believe his brothers weren't going to tell him that Leo had... had... his mind refused to accept the word 'died' until he saw his brother's cold lifeless corpse with his own eyes.

He nearly fell to his knees as he stood up, he was so weak. But he finally managed to straighten up and stand on two very shaky legs. Raph stumbled to the door, bracing a hand on the doorjamb, his vision swam and his stomach clenched painfully. But he ignored both as he made his uneasy progress to Donnie's lab.

He stood there in the doorway of his brother's lab, so stunned that all he could do was stare in shock at the white sheet that covered his brother's body. "No." He said in wretched denial, as he shook his head vehemently back and forth, hot stricken tears trailing down his ice cold cheeks.

On leaden feet, Raph managed to make it to his brother's body, lying on one of the medical cots, covered in the white sheet. He slowly pulled back the sheet, expecting it to all be a bad dream or something else, but instead, he revealed his older brother's blue tinged features. "Leo." He whispered desolately.

His brother looked as if he were just sleeping. Raph gently shook Leo's shoulder, hoping to rouse his eldest brother from his eternal sleep. Leo's head rolled limply to the side- rigamortis having long since passed- which hammered home the painful realization that Leo had actually died. "LEO!" He roared in miserable grief, as he realized that his big brother was gone, forever.