Ladies and Gentleman, you are about to read Weezelee's Philosophy on...something truer than logic! This is my opinion only. Sorry, if it sounds like I'm preaching in this chapter. A little bit of a background on me, I use to be an Atheist. I believed that logic, science, is all there was when dealing with what truth is. All the science that I found disproved faith. One semester at college I read a book. "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. This book isn't exactually on God or science, but it taught me something. Sometimes, dispite life and science or maybe because of it, believe in something is better than believing in nothing at all. I conider my faith to be stronger than my knowledge, and my faith only makes my knowledge stronger because I fear nothing.

Disclaimer: TMNT ain't mine, yo! I come from the Southside of Idaho, fo real dawg...yo? (I'm so WHITE! LOLZ!)

Chapter XIII: Light within Darkness

"While there's life, there's hope." Cicero

It was dark and lonely inside the crypt. With one hand on the right wall, Don cautiously walked forward into the darkness. The lonely light of the outside world behind him grew dimmer and dimmer until Don was left in complete obscurity.

It was cold there- within the darkness. His fingertips felt the clammy, stone walls as his feet walked on the broken path. The ground became more uneven as he walked. The walls began to loose their symmetry to each other. The surface thereof became more earthy, and Don could smell the wet soil.

Soon the ground began to decline slightly. Like a grave, Don noted as he walked further down into the earth. Where the tunnel slopped, Don could see light ahead of him. Walking with renewed hope, Don saw the light grow with each step.

This was the end of the tunnel. The light came from a door-less entrance into a separate room. The threshold was carved from the soil. The structure of the whole cave left Don uneasy about its constitution. How was it staying up like this? With so many tons of dirt and stone, a cave made out of soil shouldn't stand.

Despite this logic, the cave stood firm.

Walking into the separate room, Don looked around for his brother. Then…he saw him. Don's heart froze.

Mikey was nailed to a wooden cross placed in the center of a vast, empty room of soil. Mask-less, Mikey's head was bowed, and his eyes were closed as if dead or meditating. Four iron nails pierced both palms and wrist on the arms of the cross. His feet were pierced by one that dove through both feet. Blood dripped from these wounds to the soil floor. The blood soaked into the loam, turning it into a dark mud.

A campfire burned at the foot of the cross. Mikey's feet were in danger of the flames, but they seemed unburned. Even the wooden cross that stood far to close to the fire, but it remained untouched. It didn't make sense.

Don's mind wasn't resting upon the illogic of this, but he stared in horror at his brother- nailed on a cross. Walking slowly, Don dared not speak for some reason. He stood on the other side of the fire from his brother.

Looking up, Don gently whispered, "Mikey."

Instantly Mikey's eyes opened. Rising his head to look down at Don, Mikey smiled weakly. There was a certain dullness in Mikey's blue eyes. The light of the fire couldn't penetrate the blackness of those eyes.

"I knew you'd come, brother," Mikey said wearily, but he still smiled. "You always keep your promises."

"Who did this to you," Don demanded.

"A man. Didn't…give his name," Mikey answered slowly. Despite being nailed to the cross, Mikey didn't look like he was in any pain. He just looked so tired.

"What is truer than logic?"

Don turned around to the voice. There, in the same robe, stood the man that showed Don the way. His face looked so old and unnatural in the fire's light.

Steeping forward, the man continued, "You've made it so far, Donatello. You've found what you've been searching for."

"That's him," Mikey breathlessly said. Don looked up to see absolute terror in Mikey's eyes. "That's the man."

Don pivoted to the man and drew his bo staff. Angrily, he glared at the man, "Why did you do this to my brother?"

"Because it is what must be in the Laws of Logic. Someone who dies must die. It is Nature's Law." The man walked toward the flames. He stood looking up at Mikey, but he addressed Donnie.

"As a man of science and logic you already know the price of being mortal. All mortal things must die in their due time."

Don demanded sharply, "You told me that logic made me blind. You told me there's something greater than it! You…you told me he wasn't dead!"

"Yes…I did," the man turned to Don. "It has made you blind, but the Law clearly states that things that are mortal must die."

"You know, as a spirit of knowledge you sure are giving mixed signals."

"Do you believe in these Laws," the man asked, ignoring Don's comment.

"Yes, I do, but there has to be more to it."

"So…you finally believe in something existing beyond logic and reason?"

Don stood there, transfixed and lost. His mind repeated those questions over and over in his mind. Recalling old memories and even older books, Don searched for something- anything truer than logic.

"Remember what you read before entering this Cave," the man interrupted Don's thoughts, "Above the crypts door, it reads that this," he pointed up to Mikey, "poor soul has learned for a very tender age the thing that is more real than logic."

Don looked up at his brother on the cross. Mikey's gaze was fixed upon the good-sized fire blow his feet. Slowly tears appeared in the young turtle's eyes. They fell from his slightly bowed face to the fire. Instantly they extinguished in puffs of vapor.

"Why…why are you torching him?" Don glared at the man as he felt his own emotions getting the better of him, "He's done nothing!"

"Such are the tragedies of life. Like it says, the good die young," the man looked to Don. "Can you hope, Donatello? Can you blink back that logic that says your brother is dead? Can you believe?"

Don looked up at Mikey. Already his image was fading into shadow. His body began to drift into the darkness, but he was still nailed. Don panicked.

"Mikey always believed in Santa," Raph's voice whispered in the darkness. Don blinked. Raph? No, he couldn't be here. It wasn't logical. Still, his brother's voice echoed from the darkness.

"We told him that Santa wasn't real," Raph's voice continued. "He didn't care. He still believed. We even showed him that it was Master Splinter who hid the presents under the tree on Christmas night."

Leo's voice added, "Seeing all this evidence against his belief, he still choice to believe. I asked him 'why he would believe in something like this? He knew it wasn't real.'

Raph's voice laughed, "He answered…"

"Because," Mikey smiled from his cross. "There may be a hundred reasons not to believe in something. You may think you have found a logical and scientific reasons, but the moment you've lost faith beyond reason…you loose everything…even the will to find the beauty in life. Because once you loose faith, life becomes a period between birth and death. Your thoughts…feelings…and dreams become nothing more than damn wishes. Life looses life when it loses it's faith in something more than."

Master Splinter's voice echoed from the cave's shadows, "That's hat made Michelangelo so special. Never did he forget his faith in life despite powerful evidence against his faith. He had faith in his brothers, in me, and in life. Disappointment couldn't deter him because he made up a choice when he was young. He decided that no matter what, he would never give up, even if he died in the process."

"Faith," Mickey looked directly at Don. "The choice to believe despite it all. To believe that you would save me."

Don shock his head, "Why? Why, Mikey? Haven't you learned that life isn't fair?"

"Sure it isn't fair. I know that, dude," Mikey smiled that same warm smile. "War happens, people die, yadda yadda…" He laughed, "We both know you could go on for hours, even days, telling me how stupid and illogical it is to believe in life, but you know what? I don't care. Can't you think of anything that has awed you because you can't explain it? Can't you remember times that cause you to question logic itself? I have…many times."

"Faith," Don blinked.

"Faith that Raph and Leo won't tear each other apart when their fighting get's heated. Faith that justice exist despite the injustices of the world. Faith…in something truer that logic. Faith that I have that you would save me."

"What if I don't," Don became teary eyed.

"I have faith that you would have. You're my brother, and you love me. Logic didn't tell me that you love me. You did, and I have faith that you do. You could say, logically, that you love me because I'm your brother. I don't think that's all of it, right? Brothers can hate each other, so why do you love me?"

"Because of…my faith in you," Don whispered. Mikey nodded. The man steeped back into the darkness.

Mikey smiled, "What do you say, brother, we get the hell out of here?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask."

Don walked into the fire. He was not burned. His fingers reached and gently brushed Mikey, and the world disappeared into light.

Faith within logic. Light within darkness.

Yep, there it be! My Philosophy-e! Before you write your review, I don't believe in The Secret. Sure, it may sound as if I do, but seriously that book takes faith a bit tooooooo far. I'm a die-hard skeptic fo realz! Yo yo! Anyway, don't forget to reviewz! I would love...youz! Psychology rulzzzzzzzz and Philosphy too!

As always, thanks for reading!

-Weezelee