A/N: I had two ideas of how to end this story, but I couldn't decide which ending to go with. So then I thought, why should I be the one to chose? Why not let you, the readers, read whatever ending want.
It Can't End Like This…Can It?
(Ending 1)
Hours later, in the ER waiting room…
With arms crossed before him, Casey paced the floor. April sat in one of the chairs placed there. "Man!" The black haired man grunted when he stop moving to glare at the wall before him. "How could such a thin' happen?" He unfolded his arms and pounded the wall with two balled up fists and a forehead. "How could it happen now?" He asked as he leaned on the wall with his forehead still pressed against it.
"Don't think like that." April scolded. She rose from the chair and put a comforting hand on the distraught man's shoulder. "We should be thinking positively."
"Yeah, I know." Casey sighed. He pushed himself off the wall and turned around to face April. "It's just that…I dunno know. I have this fe…"
"Excuse me…. Ms. O'Neil? Mr. Jones?" A doctor dressed in the usual hospital garb appeared at the doorway to the room. His skin was tan, clean-shaven, and he had short salt/pepper hair.
"Yes?"
"Uh…yeah?"
"I'm Doctor Marcus. I'm one of the doctors that worked on Jeffery." The doctor said.
"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" April asked hopefully. "When can we go see him?"
"I'm afraid you can't…" Dr. Marcus heaved a heavy sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "We…lost him."
April turned pale. "What!" She started shaking so badly that she couldn't stand on her own anymore. Casey caught her just as her knees buckled and escorted her back to the chair she had originally sat in. "H…how?" The red head breathed.
"The seizure he was suffering from was a fatal one that most drug addicts have when they hadn't been using for a couple of days." Dr. Marcus explained. He opened a fold he was carrying. "According to the tox report, he hasn't been using in over a week." He pulled out an x-ray photo of a head from the folder. "But even if the seizure didn't kill him, the head trauma he acquired due to it would have." The doctor held the x-ray up to the light for Casey and April to see. "See there." Marcus pointed to a thin black line going down the middle of the skull. "Jeffery cracked his head pretty good. With the blood that entered the brain, he would have been brain dead in a matter of minutes."
"B…brain…dead?" April shuddered. Casey was too amazed at what was going on to make any comment at all.
Dr. Marcus gave a nod as he put the x-ray back into the folder. "Yeah..."
"How can we tell them?" April cried. "How can we even face them?" She covered her face with her hands. The tears that came from her eyes slid down her cheeks, down the palms of her hands, and dripped off her chin.
"Don't worry, I'll be the one to tell his parents." Dr. Marcus assured. "Just don't let anyone know that I gave you the news first. Really parents and/or family members are supposed to be the first to know."
Casey gave the doctor a nervous look. "Um…we weren't talkin' about his parents. We don't even know dem."
"Oh…well, I figure since you two were friends of his that…"
"Uh…we just met him today."
Dr. Marcus eyes grew wide. "Ok, this is awkward." He put a hand over his nose and mouth, blowing air through his fingers. After a second, he took the hand away and crosses his arms in front of him. "Alright…" The doctor said while bowing his head. "This conversation never happen and we never met." He said flatly. "If word of this gets out that I gave information to non-family member or friends of the family I could lose my job."
"Don't worry, our lips are sealed." Casey assured. Dr. Marcus gave a nod of approval before leaving the area at a very quick pace. The black haired man pulled the red haired woman up from her seat. "Come on…let's go." Supporting her, he escorted her out of the hospital and over to her van. Knowing that she is in no real shape to drive, he helped her into the passenger seat, put his bike in the back, and climbed into the driver's seat.
April stopped crying and was now staring at her dusty dashboard. Casey leaned his forehead on the arms he crossed on top of the steering wheel. For awhile the two sat in silence until it was interrupted by the light tapping of water drops hitting the roof of the van and sliding down the windshield, hinting that it was going to rain soon.
"How does it know?" Casey wondered quietly.
"How…does what know?" April asked in a scratchy voice.
"The sky." Casey replied. "How does it know when someone passed so dat it would rain? It's like it was cryin' or sumpthin'."
"How do you know that the sky is crying for him and not someone else?"
"Know someone else dat's passed?"
"Believe it or not, a person passes almost every second of the day. The sky doesn't cry for every one of them, does it?"
"Well…no, but…it just feels like it…don't it?"
This caught April by surprise; Casey was actually being logical for once. "I…I guess so." Not only had he made a point, but it was a valid one to boot. "So…" Breaking off April reached for a box of tissues she had stashed under her seat, dabs her eyes, and blows her nose.
Casey lifted his head off his arms and looked at her. "What?"
"Well…we have to tell them…." April sniffled. "We have to tell him."
"We shouldn't tell him." Casey sighed and April shot him a look. "I'm not disagreein' with ya." He said quickly. "I'm just sayin' we shouldn't be da ones ta tell him. It should be one of dem doing it. Maybe it should be Master Splinter…or Leo."
April nodded. "Yeah…I suppose it would be best hearing it from one of them." Once more that Casey had made another valid point.
Suddenly Casey pulled his hands from the steering wheel and ruffed his hair vigorously. "Dis is all too weird."
This caught April off guard briefly. "What is?"
"We don't even know da guy and we're upset over his death."
"I don't think we're upset over him. I think we're upset for the guys. No matter how small a part he was, he was apart of their lives. There's has to be some kind of bond between him and them."
"I suppose yer right."
"So…when should we?" April asked Casey, chancing that this intellectual roll of his was not coming to a quick end.
"In da morning would be best." Casey replied. "They're all probably in bed by now, no sense in wakin' dem up."
"I guess it would be best. But…" April gave a depressing sigh. "I don't think I can sleep now."
"Well…um…do ya wanna get some coffee or sumpthin'?" Casey asked nervously.
"Yeah…sure."
Next Day
"Donnie!" Raphael's voice hollered through the lair. "Fer shell sakes, will ya replace dat stupid song fer sumpthin' else?"
"But that song makes perfect sense for the Casey alarm." Donatello yelled back.
The elevator doors open to reveal Casey and April. "Boy don't you guy look worse for wear." Leonardo greeted.
"It's been a rough night." April said quietly. She smoothed her out of place hair as best she could.
Leonardo noticed her eyes were quite red and Casey's were a slight pink. "Is there something the matter?" The blue clad turtle asked.
Casey rested a heavy hand on Leo's shoulder. "Where is…um…Mikey?"
"In his room." Raphael answered. He let out a laugh when he joined the group. "He's cleanin' his room. Amazing ain't?" The red clad turtle walked around the two humans; examining them. "But what I'm wonderin' is what you two were up ta last night." He said slyly.
"We told you, we had a rough night." Casey answered sternly.
"It certainly looks that way." Donatello laughed. He and Leo joined Raph in looking at the two humans slyly.
"Look, sumthin' happen last night and we couldn't sleep. So we went to an all night coffee shop and den caught a few hours sleep in Ape's van." Casey explained.
"Oh yeah." Donatello said sarcastically. "That certainly clears things up."
"Probably went out into the van so Jeffery could get some sleep." Leonardo joked. Both April and Casey turned white. Casey's hand dropped from the blue clad turtle's shoulder. "What?" Leo looked from one human to the other. The black haired man turned his head away to avoid making eye contact and the red haired woman looked down at her feet.
"Mikey is in his room, right?" April asked in a quivering voice.
"Y…eah." Raphael cocked his head to one side. "What are ya hidin'?"
"This is goin' ta be really fer him…on him." Casey sighed. "Maybe fer you guys too."
"Come on Case, spit it out." Raphael ordered angrily.
"He's dead!" April blurted out.
"Who?" Raphael asked.
"Who?" Casey asked with surprise. "Yer owner, dat's who."
"Jeffery's…dead?" Leonardo asked slowly. Both humans nodded.
A deafening silence fell in the room. Nobody knew what to say, or even what to think. The sound of sliding doors broke the quietness and Master Splinter emerged from his room.
"I sensed a great sadness in this room." The elder rat said. Nobody looked at him. "I see, the boy?" Everybody nodded.
Again, there was silence. Eventually it was disrupted.
"How?" Donatello asked.
"He had one of dem seizure he said he had before." Casey replied. "It was a fatal one."
"This could devastate Mikey." Leonardo sighed.
"How?" Raphael asked. "We just met da kid yesterday."
"Cause Jeffery meant something to Mikey." Leonardo answered. "Some how Mikey developed a bond with him that we never did."
"So let's not tell him da kid is dead." Raphael said flatly.
"We can't do that." Donatello retorted. "How would we explain Jeffery not coming around to visit?"
"We could tell Mikey dat da kid ran away or sumthin'." Raphael replied.
"No." Master Splinter said sternly. "Michelangelo deserves to know what happen to his human friend." He ordered. "Such a thing cannot be hidden from him."
"So den who is goin' ta tell him?" Raphael asked coldly.
"Not you, that's for sure." Donatello answered just as coldly. "You obviously don't care."
"Gee, I wonder what gave dat away." Raphael replied sarcastically. "Are ya sayin' dat yer volunteerin' brainac?"
"Maybe Master Splinter should do it." Leonardo suggested.
"Naw, it should be me." Donatello responded.
"Why you?" Leonardo asked.
"Because I've been with Mikey since the whole thing began." Donatello answered. "I helped look Jeffery up, I helped find him, and I helped bring him home." He let out a deep sigh. "I should be the one to give him the bad news and bring this whole event full circle."
Master Splinter puts a hand on Don's shoulder. "You knew that the task you had taken was a hard one." He said calmly. "But what you are about to do is going to be even hard." The elder rat gave the purple turtle a brave smile. "But I know you have the strength to carry it out to the end." Splinter gave Don an approving nod. "Still, I will wish you luck."
Donatello gave a slight bow. "Thank you Master." He went over to Mike's door and knocks on it lightly. "Mikey?"
"Just a moment." Michelangelo sang. The door flew open and the orange clad turtle greeted his brother with a wide grin. "Come in, come in." He grabbed Don's arm and yanked him into the room.
"It's…it's clean in here." Donatello gasped. "You can actually walk around without stepping on anything." He walked around to look at the room. "Did you dust?"
"Uh-huh." Michelangelo nodded proudly. "And come look at my shelf full of trophies."
Donatello raised an eyebrow. "Trophies?"
"Yeah, see?" Michelangelo pointed to the far end of his room. "It's over there." He dragged Don over to it. "Here is a plank of wood from the water tower Master Splinter dropped on Shredder the first time we defeated him. And here is a chipped up statue from Shredder's building for the second time we defeated him."
Donatello still didn't understand. "Mikey, why did you display…?"
"To show Jeffery our many achievements over the years." Michelangelo answered brightly. "Oh, here is a rebar from the TCRI building to show the third time we defeated Shredder and that we save the Utrom from him. I've got to tell Jeffery it's because of them that we are who we are."
"Mikey, about Jeffery…" Donatello took a deep breath for courage. "He…"
"He's going to be so proud of me when he sees this." Michelangelo held up his glass pyramid trophy he got from the Battle Nexus tournament.
"Mikey." Donatello said sternly.
"I know, I know." Michelangelo waved a hand at his Don. "You guys are tired of me talking about it, but…" He picked up a cloth and polishes the glass object. "I was the runt of the family. I was weak and stuff, but Jeffery knew I was going to grow up to be strong and he was right. I mean, I have to be strong to beat the Battle Nexus tournament. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him I proved him right"
"You can't do that Mikey." Donatello told his younger brother.
"What do you mean I can't?" Michelangelo exclaimed. "Are you saying that he's no longer allowed to come down here?" He started to get angry. "That's not fair. He's my friend, he should be allowed down here."
"That's not it." Donatello said defensively.
Michelangelo missed what Don said and continued to be angry. "April is your friend and she's allowed down here." He huffed. "Casey is Raph's friend and he's allowed down here."
"Mikey let me speak." Donatello ordered. "I have something I need to tell you and it's going to hard to take." He looked at his little brother with sad eyes.
Looking at his older brother, Michelangelo finally figured out that something was wrong. "I don't think I like where this is going." He said, dreading whatever Don had to say.
"Of course you're not." Donatello said sternly. "And if it were possible, you wouldn't have to." He inhaled deeply and lets it out slowly. "Jeffery is…gone."
"Gone?" Michelangelo asked. "Like run away gone?" Don shook his head. "Like…" Don nodded. "No…" Mike whispered. He lost hold of his glass pyramid trophy and it hits the floor, developing a crack in it. "He's not."
"Yes, he…"
"NO!" Michelangelo shouted while he covered his ears. "I can't hear you. La, la, la, la. I'm not listening."
Donatello grabbed Mike's face and looks his young brother in the eyes. "Listen to me." He yelled. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true." Mike lowered his hands in time to hear Don say, "He's dead."
Those words echoed through Michelangelo's head. He couldn't believe it, he wouldn't believe it. "How could he be dead?" The orange clad turtle asked. "He was fine yesterday."
"It was from one of those seizure he was telling us about."
"You mean those fits he has when he's not doing drugs?"
"Yeah."
Suddenly it hurt to breath and Michelangelo wished that his mind would go blank so he didn't know what to think or to say. But it didn't, instead it was full of guilt. "My fault." The young turtle whispered.
Donatello saw the guilty look come onto his little brother's face. "What?"
In a disoriented daze, he broke away from Don's grasp and wondered out of his room; Don followed after him. Everyone was sitting in the T.V. area waiting to know how Mike was going to take the bad news. When they saw the orange clad turtle wondering lost about the lair, they ran over to find out what's the matter.
"Mikey?" Leonardo whispered.
"It was me…" Michelangelo continued to mumble. "My fault."
"What in da shell are ya talkin' about?" Raphael asked.
Michelangelo looked at his red clad brother with tears in his eyes. "I killed him. I killed Jeffery."
Donatello couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grabbed Mike by the shoulders to make his young brother look at him once more. "You? How could you think that you killed him?"
"I talked him into coming clean." Michelangelo whimpered. "He said that without drugs in his system he could die from those fits and he did."
"But you can't blame yourself." Donatello said soothingly. "Just cause you asked him to quit doesn't me that what killed him."
"But without the drugs, he couldn't…" Michelangelo started rubbing away streams of non-stopping tears.
April gentle put her arms around Mike's neck and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It wasn't you who killed him." She said comfortingly. "The doctor said he had been clean for a week."
"Yeah." Casey butted in. "I bet he was just thinkin' of makin' changes in his life. Ya just gave him a helpin' hand."
"But he's gone now." Michelangelo sobbed. "I'll never get to tell him how well I…we…turned out. I'll never get to thank him for giving me a chance to have a life."
"Thank him for a chance in life?" Raphael exclaimed. "What are ya talkin' about?"
"He believed in me Raphie." Michelangelo cried. "I was weak, might not live, but he never gave up on me." Then he gave Raph a glare. "And if it wasn't for Jeffery, you three would have been snake chow."
"Whatever." Raphael snorted.
As sudden as it was to hurt to breath, as sudden as it was to cry, Michelangelo felt an amount of anger build up inside of him. For no reason, he wanted to lash out at anyone and everyone around him. He wanted to express his pain and anger by yelling, screaming, breaking things into a millions of pieces.
Fearing he would actually hurt someone in his rage, Michelangelo broke away from Don and April. When someone else tried to reach out to him, he swatted their hands away. Feeling surrounded and smothered, the young turtle ran out of the lair. He just wanted to be a lone.
"Do you think he's going to be alright Sensei?" Leonardo asked.
"Maybe someone should shadow him, in case he might do something reckless." Donatello suggested. "Or get himself into trouble."
"He will be fine." Master Splinter assured. "For now, let him have time alone to sort out his thoughts." Before heading for his room, the elder rat looked at his three sons. "I'm going to meditate. I want you three to go patrol the sewers."
"Yes master." The three turtles answered in unison and they gave their master a bow.
"I guess I'll take April home and then go home myself." Casey said.
"Yes, you two should try and get some more sleep." Master Splinter replied. "I appreciate all the help you have given us."
"Of course Master Splinter." April nodded. "I…I'm sorry for your lost." She said to the turtles.
It was at this point that the turtles realized that they really didn't know how they felt about all this and they weren't really sure what their reaction should be. Of course they were sorry Jeffery was dead, but were they sad that he was gone? Sure Raph did his best to show he did not care, but deep down he was just as confused about it as his older brothers.
"Thank you." Master Splinter replied for his sons. After he gave a slight bow, he entered his room.
Casey walked April into the elevator to take her home. Leo, Raph, and Don exited the lair by the 'front door' to patrol the sewers like their master ordered them to.
Now that the lair was empty, the doors to Splinter's room open again and the elder rat emerges back out of his room. He looks around to make sure that there wasn't anyone lingering around before he, himself, left the lair in the search for Mike. Splinter knew after his alone time, the young turtle would want some he could talk to, someone who could relate.
It really didn't take Master Splinter long to locate his son. Knowing Mike liked nature, it was only natural that the young turtle would be in Central Park. Because of the rain from last night and the threat that there was going to be more, not a lot of people were out in the park. Splinter found Mike sitting up in a tree over looking the lake where a couple of children, dressed in raincoats, were playing with a sailboat. Deciding to wait for the best time to approach his heavy hearted son, the elder rat parked himself in a tree not too far away to watch for Mike to give the right sign.
After a couple hours pass, the children were collected up by their loving parents who had promised them hot chocolate when they got to their nice dry home. In their excited haste to leave, the children accidentally leave their sailboat behind. Because he had been watching all this time, Michelangelo jumps down from his tree to pick up the sailboat. He was going to chase the family down through the trees and leave the boat where they could easily find it, but something stops him from doing so.
There was something about seeing the boat on the water triggered something in his mind. He looked around to see if any other humans were going to be coming around, but it didn't look like any were because of the ever threatening sky. Satisfied that it would be safe to stay, Michelangelo put the boat back into the water and sat down to stare at it.
"Remembering something my son?" Master Splinter said as he slowly approached Mike.
"Yeah…" Michelangelo let out a depressed sigh. "I was remembering a time when Jeffery took us down here to the lake and put us on one of his model sail boat he put together himself." A small smile came onto the young turtle's face. "It was a huge boat that had taken him months to build. There were like twenty sails on it and the deck was huge. I was first mate Shelly of the J.J. Turtilion." As quickly as it came, the smile soon faded away. "Master…?
Master Splinter kneeled next to Mike and watches the sailboat drift on the water with him. "Yes my son?"
"How long will it take before the pain and memories go away?"
"They will never go away."
"Oh…"
"But the pain will ease in time and the memories will help make your feel better. You mustn't forget your memories. It's what keeps the people we cherish most alive in our hearts."
"You think about Master Yoshi a lot, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And it makes you sad, don't it?"
"At times it does. But sometimes it makes me happy."
"Do you think I'll ever become that way?"
"As I've said before, it will take time."
"Thanks…father."
"For what?"
"For…just being here."
"You are welcome my son."
A/N2: That's right, I killed him...or did I? Remember, there is still other ending you can read. Since this is the sad ending, then that has to mean the other one is a happy one...right?
Thanks for reading, until next time.
