EPILOGUE

SEPTEMBER 4TH
CHIHAYA VILLAGE, JAPAN

Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello stood between rice fields on grassy, lush terrain not far from the mountainside of the towering Fuji-san. The bump in the grass was barely visible. Even less visible was the hand-carved headstone that lay atop the bump directly before them.

"Fate has called us together again, united us as brothers; as a family," Leo began. "It was the death of our master that broke us apart, but here we stand, decades later, reconciliated at his final place of resting."

"But for how long?" If Mike had not asked the question, another Turtle would have. It was depressing to think on, but it was on all of their minds. "How long will we stay together?"

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "Mike, Raph, you've both said you want to remain with me in New York for the time being, at least until we get things sorted out. But Donatello, you own a company, a bustling business, and quite a fortune, as I understand it."

"I'd give it all up in a second to go back to the way things were," was Donatello's immediate answer. He soon looked down, his gaze shying away from the others. "But there are other factors for me to consider now. My wife, Melina..."

Leo's emotional demeanor sharpened into authority. "You have your own life, Donatello. It pains me to say this, but the path you have chosen is not ours any longer, not even now. Stay here, in Japan, with your wife. You go with our fondest wishes."

Mike was quick to ask, "You'll be visiting us whenever you can, right?"

"You--you bet your ass!" Don exclaimed in an unexpected burst of laughter. By the cracking in his voice, one could tell he wanted to cry.

Sharing the moment in the twilight of the Chihayan sunset, the Turtles' eyes at last fell upon the lonely headstone at their feet. Barely legible through the overgrowing grass and weeds, the inscription told of the one who had been there at the beginning and was here again not at the end, but at what was hoped to be a new beginning for four brothers with a bond that time could not break.

END

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