Two weeks later the infection proved to be too much for his emaciated body and Donatello slipped into a coma. It was then that Raphael had brought up the idea. Leo struck him square in the jaw.
"Absolutely not, Raphael. How could you even think it?!" leo hissed.
"And the kittens were green like the sky and they were dancing around and around. Donnie loves kittens. We'll get him one, I'll show you." Mikey had fully disconnected from reality when Donnie fell into the coma. The part he played in it was just too much for his fragile mind.
"Here buddy, Raph and I need to talk so I'm going to need you to untie this, ok?" Leo sat him on one of the cots and handed him a Gordian's knot of sorts he had fashioned out of their masks. It seemed to do the trick when they needed him to keep busy. Mikey took the knot and looked up at leo with vacant eyes and nodded.
"Ok, but the rainbows are hugging and when they're done we get cereal. When do we get cereal?"
"Soon Buddy, soon. I'll be right back" Leo left Mikey and met raph back at Donnie's cot.
"He'd want us to do it Leo. I don't like it any more than you, but he ain't makin' it outta here and you know it. We have to." He faught back against the tears that were stinging his eyes and his voice hitched in his throat. "We have to… for Mikey. That kid ain't gonna live anotha week like this."
Leo opened his mouth to argue, but something made him stop. The hopelessness of their situation finally & truly sunk in. Donnie was dying, Mikey had gone off the deep end, and all four of them were starving to death. Worst of all, nobody was coming. For the first time ever, Leo gave up. His brother was right, but they would wait. Raph agreed.
Raphael woke up to the sounds of his brothers crying. Donatello had passed away that night.
He warily stood up and put a hand on Leo's shoulder "It's time."
"Jesus Raph! He's not even cold yet!"
"It's time for what? What is he talking about Leo?" It seemed that Donnie's death had pulled Mikey back (barely), although how long he would stay lucid was anyone's guess. Raph ignored his questions.
"It's now or never Leo, before it begins to rot, and it's of no use ta us"
"DAMN IT RAPH! HE'S NOT AN 'IT'! HE'S YOUR GOD DAMNED BROTHER AND HIS NAME IS DONNIE!"
"Donnie is gone. He's dead an we're not, not yet anyways. And if you want to keep on livin' that's not Donnie. Not anymore. That's food." The anger fell from Leo's face and was replaced by a mask of apathetic resolve. Mikey's eyes however, were wide with horror.
"That's not fucking funny Raph. Tell him he's not funny Leo. Tell him to stop joking like that…"
"He's not joking Mikey. I'm sorry buddy… We…. We have to. He's right."
At that moment what was left of Michelangelo's sanity was lost forever.
