Sam felt as if someone slapped her across the face. She couldn't believe what she just heard: Mikey was dying, and Raph knew the whole time. "Are you sure it's not a mistake? People misread cancer all the time…please tell me it's not true." Sam begged her older brother not to tell her what she didn't want to hear: that her younger brother was spending his last minutes of his life dying of a disease that could never be cured. "It's true Sam, I really sorry. It's hit most of us pretty hard too." Leo said coming forward and holding Sam's face in his hands as small tears streamed down. "Go ask Raph about this, he knew a lot longer than we did." Sam walked out and straight to Raph's room, fury rising through her. Sam opened the door to Raph's room and if looks could kill; Raph would be dead and buried.
"How could you not tell me, tell your brothers?" Sam asked furiously. Raph stood up and put his hand on her shoulder, but she roughly brushed it off. Raph knew she was furious with him, and she had every right to; but he didn't realize now that his baby brother's life was slipping away. "Sam, Mikey swore ta me not ta tell anybody. I didn't really know what to say at ta time because I was too shocked." "So your little brother is out there dying right now and you chose to keep it from us for this long?" Sam said, tears welling in her eyes again, thinking of how Mikey could take his last breath any minute now and she and Raph would probably be too late. "Sam, I also did it to protect ya from getting hurt," Raph said gently his hand brushing away tears that ran down Sam's face. Sam leaned into his hands and onto his shoulders, crying against his shoulders, her arms wrapped Raph's shell. Raph began to sob, his shoulders shaking as he tried not to think of how think the place would be so different without Mikey.
Sam was kneeling next to Mikey with Raph sitting beside her, holding her hand as Mikey was slipping away right in front of them. Sam had never watched anybody die before, but it was one of her brothers, something Sam wished she would never have to see. "Sam, don't let Raph get into my comic books," Mikey whispered feebly, Sam nodded, trying so hard not to cry in front of Mikey. Raph held Sam's hand as tight as he could when he heard Mikey faintly say "I love you guys" Raph felt tears well in his eyes but he nodded and whispered, "We love you too, Michelangelo." Mikey hand slipped down and drew his last breath, he was gone. Sam wrapped her arms around Raph and sobbed against his chest seeing her dead brother slip away from her. Raph cried too as his Leo and Don came in, seeing their dead brother before them and joining in the embrace, tears streaming down their face.