"Happy Birthday, bro; I don't have a present for you but I have something else," Leo opened his balled fist and opened up a crumpled piece of paper, "you'll remember this, I am sure," he laid the paper down, weighted by a stone, and turned away, tears in his eyes, and began the slow walk along to Raph's grave, a little further away, where Mikey was talking quietly to Splinter. He glanced backwards and saw the wind sweep through the long grass, "I love you, bro," he whispered to the wind, secure in his faith that Donnie could hear him.

A/N: - Ok, firstly, the paragraph above it the last little bit of the previous chapter when Mikey, Leo and Splinter visited the graves of Raph and Donnie. After the chapter you are about to read, there are going to be two more chapters. Sorry again for all the lateness but I've just finished performing as Aladdin (in Aladdin, funnily enough) with my local drama group and this is my first night in for just over a month! Anywho, thank-you, as always, to my reviewers for being so patient with me! Enjoy…

Beginning the long trek down from the graves, the two brothers and their master walked in silence, eyes fixed straight ahead and senses glazed over with sorrow. They had nothing they could say, or would want to say, that could express just what they were feeling at the moment they had stepped away from their brother's graves. As Leo recorded in his diary later that day, '…the closest I could come to describing it is this: When we were born, we were split into four – one soul, four bodies, each showing a different part of this soul – Raph was the strength, Donnie was the peace, Mikey is the hope and I am the determination with Splinter being the force that joins us together…love…and as we grew older we each developed in our separate ways but the bond always remained and was getting stronger every day. When Donnie died, that night on the rooftops, we lost our peace (of both mind and body) and a part of us was ripped savagely from us; then when we lost Raph, we lost our strength – the strength to fight, to carry on, to dream, to be normal – we lost the strength to live. When we reached the graves, it was like we were connected with them again – we became whole, just for a few minutes…and when we took that first step back down the hill we were split again and the wound was re-opened and the scars burned afresh…'

There was nothing to be said when they got back to the sewers either; Splinter locked himself in his room to meditate, Leo locked himself in his room to write in his diary and Mikey locked himself in his room and flicked through dog-eared editions of comics he had long forgotten. Only Leo emerged from his room that night for a rigorous training session – his aching limbs screaming at him as he attempted katas from happier times where Ninjitsu training was the most important thing they had to worry about, besides whether Shredder would be returning any time soon, of course.

Leo's thoughts were wandering and he was hurting more than he had in a long time – memories were plaguing his conscience and prickling at his soul, trying to force their way back to the front of his mind and making futile attempts to wrench his strength, emotional and physical, from him. But he was too absorbed in his training and more than lost in a world where all was white and silver, with a tint of blue. In his mind, he was walking through this land when he came to two large gates: a black, wrought-iron monster with claws and fangs that threatened to skewer those who dared challenge it; and a small, humble, rust edged iron gate which was friendly and welcoming. Looking past each gate he saw two roads, running alongside each other, criss-crossing, this way and that, eventually meeting to form one road. Remembering many stories from his infancy, he knew that the friendlier looking road would most likely turn out to have the greater peril, so he stepped through the large gate. That's when it hit him – something so devastatingly real that it tore his wits from him and snapped him out of his daze.

Letting out an agonising screech, Leonardo fell to the floor, banging on it with balled fists and crying out for justice. But they were cries only he could hear. The dream had been almost like a vision; as his body melted into the rhythmic movements of his katas his spirit wandered and saw what would ultimately happen to his family…he had seen his own fate and that of his remaining brother – but he was too late to act.

Next morning when Splinter appeared in the kitchen to join Leo, who was already clutching a large mug of coffee, for breakfast, one member of the family did not arrive. Mikey remained in his room, writing a letter to be found in years to come when the last of them remained and he was long gone. There was a distinct feeling in his gut that was telling him who would be the last member of their family standing and he had a few things to say to them that he wanted them to know – things he wanted to happen, to be remembered, before the last of them passed on. He could feel his body crying out for peaceful slumber but there was an urgency in his mind telling him that if he gave in to his body's will, he would not finish this letter – he would not finish his business. Upon finishing it, he folded it carefully and placed a tattered photo in an envelope with it, carefully sealing it and addressing it to who it concerned. Letting out a weary sigh, he then stood and slowly unlocked his bedroom door, but left it closed. Crawling onto his bed, he allowed a restful sleep begin to overtake him – he lost all sense of time and felt as though he were floating above even the highest cloud, like he was dancing among the stars. Even the faint voices sobbing and the echo of frantic pleas in a distant land could not bring him back down. As all went black, a cold fear overtook his body and he couldn't breathe. What seemed like hours later, his eyes opened to two faces he'd longed to look upon for many years – two more faces appeared in his line of vision and a hand was extended to help him up. He looked down at himself and saw not the frail, weakened state he had been in moments before but instead a body reborn with a new strength. All thoughts of past horrors were momentarily erased until he heard another grief-stricken cry from somewhere behind him and he looked back, taking a small step away from those whose company he was now in.

"Don't look back…" a gentle voice spoke.

"Come back to us…" a harsher, pained voice sobbed at the same time. Mikey closed his eyes and squeezed them shut, whispering to the hurt voice that was now echoing deep inside his head,

"I'm sorry…"

LEO'S POV – PRESENT

His last words to us were needlessly uttered – he did us no wrong, save for not coming back to us. I knew it would happen – I saw it, I saw it all in my head and yet I couldn't bring myself to accept it. The blow of losing Mikey hit us hardest out of all our losses so far. I have no doubts that this was because we'd shared our grief with him and I knew I still had a brother that would live as long as me, give or take a few years. Then I had the vision and was rendered powerless with terrible knowledge – and Splinter would not be around forever, as dear to my heart as he was, and I knew that I would outlive him by a matter of years, alone in the world with nobody else to turn to, save for the meek voices in my head telling me to stop trying to defy fate and just give up.

I would never yield to fate's desires: they are like the gates in my…vision, I suppose it has the right to be called that…you can take the easy road and get to the end quickly only to suffer a worse fate when you are there; or you can take the long road and weave in and out of fate's plans until you end up in the same place as it was intended for you to be – but with more strength to face whatever is in store at the end. That is the road I chose to take – and, knowing I could switch at any time, I have stuck to it and only now do I reach the end. Older, wiser, stronger, more determined and stubborn than ever I have been before. And I shall finally see my brothers again...

But do not assume that I arrived here without torment – I suffered another great loss not long after I lost my precious baby brother. Master Splinter died of grief for his youngest son, my brother, friend to all, Michelangelo – and his tortured soul would not free the elderly body of its sorrow until all had been forgiven. Splinter had to accept Mikey's last words instead of lingering on them as he did…sound complicated? Yes, it was, and it finished him all the more slowly – well, that and the fact he didn't want to leave me alone, stupid as it may sound, because I would be the last…

He explained, many years ago now, about how he had always hoped that when he passed on we would look after each other. I know, from eavesdropping and something Raph told me a long time ago that Splinter had spoken to him and said that should something happen to him, I would be in charge but he wanted Raphael to keep an eye on me and look after me if something ever went drastically wrong or I started beating myself up over something. I think Raph drew the short straw there, huh? I miss them all so terribly now and sometimes I find myself feeling so alone that I just want it to end – except it won't. It's like there's one more thing I have left to do…but I can see nothing, as is so often the case and as I have been told in my head over and over by the mocking voices of those responsible for the deaths of those I loved more than life itself.

But I digress...

EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

Splinter shuffled into the living room, where his eldest, and only remaining, son was sat, staring at a blank television which was coated in dust from having not been watched for over eighteen months. Now thirty, and having lost almost his entire family, Leonardo often sat in this manner, just watching as if he expected Michelangelo to suddenly be sat beside him flicking through the channels in a ceaseless search for all his favourite programmes, which were mainly cartoons, even at the last!

"My son, I am weary and must retire," Splinter sighed deeply, his lined and worn face showing the pain and suffering he could not, and would not, ever express in words and actions. He knew all too well that his time was coming soon but could not bear to leave his one remaining son alone in the world in the state he was currently in; barely eating, barely sleeping and speaking only when spoken to – his guilt eating him up inside.

"Yes, Sensei," Leo replied blankly, not even turning to the rat when he spoke, his voice soft and heavy with guilt and sorrow.

"Goodbye, Leonardo," Splinter left the room, knowing that he would not last out the night. The grief inside him was like a battering ram, hitting him harder and faster every time it rammed mercilessly into his frail elderly frame and his grief-stricken mind. The loss of his youngest son had been a blow he had by no means been ready for, in spite of the all-knowing mask he wore in front of Leonardo, and it had been the final straw in the destruction of his family – yes, he still had his eldest son but Leo had died long ago; at least, the Leo he had been since birth had died long ago.

In his room, Splinter reflected on his own spiralling deterioration; after the deaths of Raph and Donnie, he had been mortally wounded, and the demise of April and Casey left him too weak to handle any more and Mikey's death had struck the final blow. He sat in the lotus position on his bed and whispered,

"My master, Master Yoshi, I have done all I can here – three of my sons are dead and as dearly as I love the other, I feel that he is not long for this world. His guilt and new-found self-hatred will kill him. Please protect him and guide me to my sons – they need me and I must reach them. I know now that I must accept my fate gracefully and rejoin you and my family at the end of this, my final journey."

"Master Splinter? Who are you talking to, Sensei?" Leo stepped cautiously into the room, confused by the hushed speaking he had heard as he'd passed his Sensei's bedroom. Seeing Splinter in the lotus position, he assumed that the rat was meditating and turned to leave. But something pulled him back and a dagger twisted in his heart, telling him that what he had most dreaded would happen, what he had feared since the day they had first encountered the Shredder, was true at last.

He was alone.

A/N: - This particular chapter was originally a lot longer but as I re-read it I realised that actually Mikey's death was one I didn't want to milk out – I don't know if you'll agree or not – but I felt that his death was one that worked more effectively as a shorter death where he has featured so much in the story and his actual death was meant to be a sudden one. But don't panic, Mikey fans, you can expect a reappearance – I'm saying no more here! Please Review!