"I had no idea it was so hard for them", Joan said, breaking from his grandfather's writings long enough to break the spell that had encased him and his younger siblings, transforming the small room that had been their grandfather's study into a battlefield over fifty years ago.
"Did they really kill each other", Sarasha, the youngest sister asked, on the verge of tears.
"Well, obviously not", Hailly, the ten year old, explained patiently, "Since he lived a long time after, and you saw uncle Don last New Year's Day."
Sarasha, being only five years old, needed a moment to consider this.
"Would explain why we never see uncle Raphael though", Joan mused.
"But what happened to the lizards?", Hally inquired, "Aren't they extinct now? And how did the civil war end, my teacher never covered that…"
"There you are", Tasia, their mother, exclaimed as she entered the room just in time to consul Sarasha who burst into tears at the thought of all the war and turmoil.
"Mom, did you ever read this?", Joan inquired, showing the diaries he'd found.
"No", she answered sadly, "I don't think he ever finished it."
"You're in it", Hailly pointed out, "He says you're one mixed up little girl."
Tasia smiled at the memory of her father when she was little, too young to understand what was going on.
"Mom, can you tell us what happened? He doesn't have much more here. How did they stop fighting?"
Tetiana calmly gathered her children around.
"I do know how it ends, because he told me:
The US Army, The Rebel Mutant Army, and the Human Mutant army converged in the NorthEast, and the fighting got really intense, the human mutant army trying to convert everyone to their side, the Rebel Army using all those weapons they stole on everybody, and the US Army is trying to arrest everyone. In the middle of all this, Mike meets his brothers, and they square off against each other. The four of them, each representing a different direction for the future of the country, look each other in the eyes, and draw their weapons. As they circle each other, Mike instinctively watches Leo, waiting for him to make the first move, thinking it will be for Raphael. He thinks, in the immediate battle, he can either win by jumping Leo as he goes for Raph, hoping both are taken out, that way he only has to deal with Donatello…
Or…he could stop this right now. He flings his nunchucks into the middle of their circle, joined almost immediately by Donatello's bo.
Together they lock eyes with Raph and Leo, now instead of representing four ideologies they once again represent four brothers. The war fades into the background.
"It's not going to go back to the way it was, Mike", Leo cautions, keeping one eye on Raph.
"It doesn't have to. It just has to go back to us all being alive", Donatello pleaded, focusing on Raph.
"I said I would kill you if I saw you again, Don", Raph replied, glaring at all of them at once.
"I know", Don replied quietly, "But you always were my favorite brother."
Raphael blinked.
"Damn you", he muttererd, and another moment later his sais joined the nunchuks and bo.
"Come on, Leo", Mike urged.
"But, the stability of the entire country depends on…I'm a Colonel, I can't just walk away…"
"Don't just walk away. Take your army with you."
"But if I do that…"
"What would Splinter do", Raph asked.
Although he meant it to be sarcastic, it achieved the desire affect of Leo's katanas joining the pile in the middle.
The End
A/N: Well, unfortunately something happened to the muse that carried this story so far. I waited for it to come back but I don't think it's going to, and no one else was able to carry it through to the end, a shame since it started off so well. But, that's the way the world is sometimes, and since I couldn't leave it hanging here forever I decided to just end it quickly and as well as possible. Thanks to everyone who contributed (Ziptango, Ramica, and reviewers).