Venus brushed off her clothes as she stood up from the crumbling pile of plaster, charred glass and bits of brick and wood.
The glass crunched against her immense, black boots and she praised herself dearly for putting them on.
She had felt something was going to happen. Or it could be that she just loved the boots. She didn't care which it was at this point. She had to go and see how the others were holding up. Or not holding up. She bit her lip and hurried over to another pile in the path of destruction. She began lifting a bunch of junk, and under a piece of an old couch, she found Leonardo.

She shrieked. His body was perfectly unharmed, save for some scratches and bruises, maybe. The problem was not his body. It was his head. It wasn't there anymore. She clutched her stomach and decided that even if he had to be buried with his head, she was certainly not ready to start looking for it right now.
Venus was too shocked to start crying, and begun searching for the others, mumbling a few prayers in Chinese, then English, just to make sure. Just in case.
Donatello wasn't covered by anything where he lay, and when she saw him, she wished that he was. The horrible wound to his gut was unbearable to look at. Some of his intestines were threatening to come out, and he was clutching them hopelessly.
He was still alive. She wished for him-- knowing that he'd never survive this-- that he would soon die, ending his pain.

"V-Venus?"
"Yes, Donatello? I am here,"
"I kn-know it's pretty ob...obvious," he struggled to say, "but thi-is really h-huuurts,"
"I know, Don, I know," she whispered, putting her hand on his cheek, "But, I-- there's...Don,"
"There's no-nothing you can do, r-right?" he sighed, a sigh that was raspy and sounded lethal.
"Don!" she finally sobbed.
"That's...okay. I gue-g-guess it's uh, my t-time now, as Su-Splinter says..."
"No..."
"Yeah...is anyone else...h-hurt?" Here he coughed violently.
Venus thought of Leonardo and wondered if this was the kind of thing Don should be hearing at his death bed.
But she figured she had to be truthful. "Yes. You will meet Leonardo in Heaven," she smiled sadly. That was a nice way of putting it.
"Okay," Don nodded, his already watery eyes filling up even more at the thought of his brother, "I just hope that th-there's a place for tu-turtles in He-hea...Heaven," he swallowed, "Huh?" Venus cracked another smile, he grinned, and slowly his eyes started to close.

Venus' search for Michaelangelo and Raphael was futile. They were nowhere to be found.
She wandered around for a long while, after she had done the difficult jobs of lugging Leo and Don on a flat sircle of ground and covered them with some sheets, one of those her own. She was planning to bury them later, and on finding Leo's head.
She hated this duty, but it had to be done. They needed respectful funerals. She didn't like the way she smelled now. Death, blood, sorrow...
And she still needed to find Mike and Raph. Again, she prayed for them to be alive.
She went frantically around, lifting pieces of junk, calling their names. Her voice sounded more and more desperate to her as the moments creeped along, and she started to feel very alone indeed. This was not good. This awful silence...
Filling it with her voice didn't do any good. It rather made it sound even more eerie. She took a step forward, looking around her with both frail hope and nasty suspicions.

"Hey, V,"

A dark, monotonous voice was heard. It hosted nearly as much grief as her own, but hid it better.

She turned around, to be face to face with Raph.

"Raphael," she said, "you're alive," It didn't come out the way she had meant it to.
"Disappointed?" he asked ironically.
"Raph!" she blurted. How could he say that?
"Forget it, Venus, okay? Just a joke. I...I found Mike,"
Venus heart sunk at the way he said "found". Please, please... "How is Michaelangelo doing?" she asked anxiously.
Raphael wiped a hand over his face, "Not too good, V, not too good..."

He took her to a overthrown wall, leaning in a crooked angle on an old barrel, serving as a roof.
Underneath lay Mike, without respiration. She could already see that.  She reached out a hand, tentatively, her other hand resting on her face, drying the tears away.
She stared and stared at the lifeless turtle, the one she considered a beloved little brother, despite their ages being quite close, and she thought she saw something leave him. Or perhaps it was just an optical illusion...

"I watched him die, V," Raphael suddenly said. Quietly, but enough to give her quite a start.
...couldn't have been his spirit leaving him...he has already passed on... "Raph, I am so sorry--"
"Yeah, good. Great," Raphael huffed, turning his back to her, "but it ain't gonna bring him back,"
Venus took a reserved step back, "No, it is not. But I still feel like I have to say something," she shrugged. "Please do not be so harsh to me, Raphael. He was my brother, too. Do you not think I feel sad?"
Raphael gave her no reply.
"And Raphael," said Venus, choking back her tears, "I watched...I watched Donatello die,"
This made Raph snap his head around in astounded attention. "No! He's not-- Donny's dead, too?"
Venus nodded, once again wiping away those tears.
Raphael swallowed, taking these horrible news in. "And Leo?"
Venus just nodded again, and didn't mention the circumstances of Leonardo's death. This would have just upset him further.
"Fucking hell..." cursed Raph, then fell silent. "That means we're the only ones left," he said, stating the obvious.

Venus sat down on the ground, hiding her head in her hands. She knew the truth, but nevertheless didn't like Raphael voicing it, making it even realer. Raphael and her were the only mutant turtles left. Raphael and Mei Peih Chi. Ha ha. Raphael.
The only turtle she didn't get along with. Ha ha. Fate was cruel. She groaned.

I don't know what possessed me to write this story, I tell ya. Never listen to Tarkan's "Simarik" when you haven't had much sleep! You see before you the strange and frightening effects. <G>
The last few lines of the story just popped up in my mind, and I started forming a "prologue" to them. Okay, not a very creative title, I might add. But fitting. Hmmm...
Um, by the way, that picture up there was taken from the Official TMNT site, and is made by Michael Dooney.