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“And then there was only one turtle left, Raphael” Raph said while closing the book, “and that is all for now, goodnight my children, I love you” Raph said gently, while putting away the book, “but what happened after that?” one asked concerned, “did he die too?” another asked, “I will tell you more, one day, when you are older, I promise” Raph said with a smile, before kissing each of them goodnight, then he went to the door and turned the light off, went out the room and closed the door.
As he was walking toward his own room, he couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened, since April and Casey’s wedding. After the wedding, they had gone back home and kept on doing their thing, with protecting the city, then April and Casey had children, and therefor they decided to move to the farm, which meant that they couldn’t help them out as much, but they never lost touch with them, because they would go and visit them every now and then.
Then one day while they were out on a mission, they came inside a lab of some mad scientist, and during the fight, Raph got smacked across one of the tables, and got a lot of different liquids on him, along with a few needles in him, but he was able to finish the fight, and as soon as they got home, Donnie checked Raph’s everything and everywhere, so much that it nearly drove Raph crazy. But as time went on and they grew up, and started to get old, that was when they started to notice, that Raph wasn’t getting older like they were, in fact he wasn’t getting older at all, and no matter how much Donnie tried and tested Raph, he couldn’t find the reason, nor could he make the rest of them the same as Raph.
Which meant that Raph was left with the fate, of watching his family get older and die, something he wasn’t looking forward to, Raph even tried to give some of his blood, to his brothers, but even that didn’t work in the end. The first brother to die was Mikey, Raph remembered how he cried for days, he even cried himself to sleep for days, but it just made him want to spend more time with Leo and Donnie, before they too would be gone. Mikey died because of a decease, that Donnie couldn’t cure. From the time Mikey got the decease to he was dead, was only two days, Raph remembered that Mikey had a fever and a chough, but no pain otherwise, Mikey simply went to sleep and never woke up again.
The next one to go was Leo, he died when they were out to on a mission at the harbor, Raph remembered that one too well, because Leo literally went into a machine, and came out the other end in pieces, it was a real horror for them to watch, Raph and Donnie had been lucky that they had time that night to get all the pieces together, and take them home with them to burn, it was a decision the four of them had made, after Splinter died, just to be safe that nobody would be able to use their bodies.
Then it was just Raph and Donnie, and Raph tried his best to keep Donnie alive, for as long as possible, but Donnie got older and weaker, and when Donnie got deadly sick, Raph had stayed with him to the very end. After Raph had burned Donnie’s body, and put the ash in the ground at the farm with the rest of the family and friends, Raph had decided to travel as much as possible, and he did and he got to see some wonderful places, he also learned so many new things, that he took home with him.
Raph had spend a lot of time studying, and had found out that he wasn’t as dumb as he had thought, he just toke a little longer to figure things out, which was okay for him. He had studied a lot of different things, but mostly biology and medicine, he also studied technology, cooking, fighting and how to make things from scraps, they were all skills that came in handy, some more than others from time to time.
He went to bed that night, and couldn’t believe that it had really been over 50 years, since Donnie died, deep sigh ^I still can’t believe it. 50 years since I lost Donnie. I do whish there was a way for me to get you guys back, but there is not…hmp I can’t even die, not for the lack of trying^ he thought while lying in his bed, before he fell asleep.
While Raph was sleeping, he dreamt about years ago, when he moved to the underground city, and made it a home with farming fields and animals to eat, but the biggest thing was when he had finally cracked the code to having children of his own, without a second person, he had been over the moon happy, when his first child was born.
Raph had gotten four children, first was Leon, then Donald, then Spike and then Mika, three boys and one girl, yet he loved them all just the same. He had named them after his family, Leon was named after Leonardo and he was almost nine, Donald was named after Donatello and he was eight, Spike was named after Splinter and had just turned six, and finally Mika, she was named after Michelangelo and was five.
His family grew in numbers and he was happy about it, but also nervous about it, because ^what if they became to many for their home?^ Raph thought while looking around at his family in the dojo, he also knew that one day some of them would leave, in order to see what he was protecting them from, Raph dreaded that day, but he knew it would come, and all he could do was hope that they were ready, that he was ready, when that day would come, and he was right, the day did come when his four oldest children wanted to leave their home.
Standing at the main door to the tunnel out of the city, Raph hugged and kissed his four oldest children goodbye, “be careful and don’t let any human see you” Raph said firmly but concerned, “dad, we know” Donald said calmly, “we remember everything you taught us, about the world above” Spike said calmly, “don’t worry dad, we got this” Mika said smiling, Leon came over to him and hugged him, before saying reassuringly “I will make sure everybody gets back home, one way or another. I promise dad” Raph made a deep sigh “I know you will, but I will always worry about all of you, because I love you” Raph said concerned with a small smile, “we know that dad, and we love you too” Donald said reassuringly with a smile, Raph smiled back at him in responds.
Then he watched as his four oldest children walked out the door towards the human world, and some of his other children hugged him calmly, but he still couldn’t help but worry, if he ever would see his children again, but then again, he did have time to wait and see.
The end.