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Leo didn’t know how it happened. Everyone was… fighting? He didn’t know. They had done something and were celebrating. He remembered there being some sort of fight; a staff was smashed, someone was crushed and Leo remembered being held up by… his throat? Or was it his leg? He didn’t know. He didn’t know a lot of things. Like his last name, or the difference between right and left, or why his head felt like it was being split open whenever he blinked. He especially didn’t know why he was lying on what guessed to be a mattress in a near pitch black room. Leo only had his mask on, he couldn’t feel his belt wrapped around his body, or his katanas on his shell. The only thing he could feel was pain. A sharp nauseating pain was spread through his arms, blending seamlessly into the hard throb that pounded right behind his eyes and all throughout his neck. Kinda like waking up after a brutal training session, only if he also fell asleep on a bed of nails. Leo tried so hard to get up. He was so numb. His body hurt so bad. His throat and mouth was stuck as if he downed an entire tray of taffy Mikey sometimes made. Leo had been staring at a wall for… an hour now? His head hurt too much to count. But he had to get out. His family could be hurt. A small bit of pain was nothing compared to one less family member.With a heave, Leo planted his hand into the mattress and pushed. Pain ran through his body and he bit back a scream. His body continued to protest against this; it obviously needed to rest more but he needed to do something while he could still form a rational thought. After around five minutes, Leo was able to sit up, his shell resting against the wall. He had to stop to catch his breath; what once was an easy task now felt exhausting. His head felt like it was going to pop off and float away. Leos’ vision began to swim and that made his heart thump with panic. He couldn’t black out now, he just managed to move! Taking another deep breath, he leant forward before putting his hand where his shell just was and pushed upwards. His knees threatened to buckle and he felt bile rise up into his throat. Leo hated feeling like this; weak. He always did. When his brothers lost, they took it. They thought of it as a learning opportunity. To Leonardo it felt like more weight was laid across his shoulders. He was the oldest, he was the leader, what type of leader couldn’t win a fight? What kind of leader couldn’t stand up? What kind of leader got knocked out and wakes up in a room blacker than the coffee Donnie liked to drink? If that’s what they did, they didn’t deserve the title of ‘leader’, he didn’t deserve the title of leader.With another dry heave, Leonardo was able to stand without the world spinning around him. He took a step and then another before dropping like a fly. Landing on his hands and knees, he couldn’t help but gag. Vomit began to rise in his throat and tears poured down his face. It felt like molten lava. He quickly expelled the chunky liquid from his body and wiped the vomit from his mouth. He was weak. Leo tried to move his leg again but found that something only tightened around it. He felt around his ankle and found he was being held back by a chain. Great, just fucking dandy. How did he not notice this before? The pain he felt probably overcame the sensation of the chain around his ankle. With a groan, he slowly crawled back onto the bare mattress and brung his knees up to his chest. He felt scared, Leo hated feeling scared. He hated feeling weak. He hated the feeling of wanting to cry. But he’ll be fine, his brothers will be here soon. He’s sure of it.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For the past half-hour, Leo tried and tried to get his leg free. It was proved futile. With an agitated groan, he laid back onto the mattress. His head felt clearer and his legs felt less numb. That was good. That means he could try to escape without throwing up his breakfast. First, Leo had to look at his situation. He was trapped in a small dark room with no window. The floor felt like it was made from concrete and so did the walls. He had felt around the walls when his head first began to clear and felt around the walls; the only way out he found was the frame of a door, sadly locked. There was no way he was getting out without help from the outside. Leo was hopeful however; his brothers were going to come for him, and they’d be there any moment.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It had been hours since Leo had woken up. He didn’t know how many, though. He had to keep busy somehow. He re-ran every single Space Heroes episode in his head, mediatated, and even tried kicking open the door. No luck.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leos’ stomach soon began to ache. It felt it had been days. He stopped trying to get out; he didn’t have the energy. He let out a low groan in pain and rolled over on the mattress. He hadn’t felt this hungry ever since he was a tot. Sleep through it; his brothers will be here soon. He was sure of it.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It became to painful to sleep; his stomach was only getting more painful, alongside his bladder. It was embarrassing but he couldn’t blame himself. Leo had been here for… a couple of days? A week? A month could have passed for all he knew. He squashed his thighs together as tears ran from his eyes. This was embarrassing. He was embarrassing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~He couldn’t do this anymore. Leo had fallen asleep and had woken up, his thighs and legs feeling disgustingly wet. Of course he pissed himself in a time like this. Leo had brought his knees up to his plastron and cried; he wanted his dad.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leo repeated the words in his head like a mantra: “My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon, My family will be here soon?” He was starting to feel less certain.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~It was so fucking quiet. Leo wanted to hear something other than his own laboured breathing and the growls of hunger erupting from his stomach. He was so fucking hungry.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After what felt like an eternity, the door opened and the room filled with light. Leo winced as light hit his face and brung his arm up to shield his eyes but that didn’t stop the smile spreading onto his face. This was it! He knew it; he knew he’d be rescued soon! He was finally going home! But that hope soon faded as Leo looked upon an unknown mutant. The mutant had orange and white fur with spikes protruding from his left shoulder. His left was much larger than his right one, and his lips were turned down into a scowl. Leo slowly brung his hand back down and his smile steadily became a frown.Leo tried to flex his throat and unstick it, and it was how he would imagine swallowing small shards of fiberglass would be. He worked on forcing himself to swallow and hoped it would make him start producing saliva again. Leo let out a few disgustingly wet coughs, spitting mucus onto the floor, and looked up at the mutant. “Wh-Who are you?” Leo asked in a raspy voice, god it hurt.The mutant ignored him and made quick work of unlocking the chain that had quickly worn away Leos’ skin. Before Leo could react, the mutant forced Leos’ hand behind his shell and he felt the tell-tale sign of metal binding his wrists together. Leo was forced up onto his feet and the mutant walked forwards, dragging Leo along as he tried to get his head to stop spinning.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The mutant made Leo come to a kneel in front of a throne, forcing his head down into a bow. His knees ached and there were swirling shapes of orange and red dancing in the air, accompanied by the purple afterimage that popped up with every word spoken by the mutant. With a steadying breath, Leo looked upwards to the person sitting on the throne and- Oh. Oh, sweet pizza supreme. The colourful spots evaporated as moon light spread into the room, illuminating the armour of the Shredder, the man father has told him about, the one who killed little Miwa and Tang Shen, and, chances are, the one to kill Leonardo. Leo looked into his eyes with a hardened glare and the Shredder stared into his with an expression just as cold. This lasted for a couple of seconds before the Shredder spoke.“Bradford, leave.” The Shredders’ voice was smooth; it reminded Leo of the springback carpets in the dojo, he would do anything to be back home. The mutant, Bradford?, bowed before leaving, scowling at Leonardo as he passed him. Bradford… as in Chris Bradford?! It all came back to Leo. They were fighting for whatever reason and Bradford had stabbed open the mutagen tank, releasing a torrent of it. Leo and his brothers were lucky enough to not get hit but Bradford and Xever…The Shredder stood up from his throne, casting a shadow over Leonardo, and walked down the steps towards Leonardo. He stopped in-front of Leonardo and he could feel his heart drop to his stomach, the reality of the situation finally settling in. The Shredder tightly grasped Leonardos’ chin and tilted it upwards, leaning it to the side every now and then. Leo couldn’t speak. he was going to die; he knew it. He wouldn’t be able to talk to April anymore, he wouldn’t be able and his brothers… Oh god, they must be worried sick. Leo wouldn’t be able to spar with Raphael anymore, won’t be listen to Michelangelos’ dumb little rants and Donatello wouldn’t be able to share his inventions with him anymore.The Shredder let out a hum before dropping Leos’ head and he began to circle the terrapin. Leonardo let out a deep breath and straightened his spine, closing his eyes. He wil be fine; he’ll get out of here soon enough, brothers or not.“It seems that your master has trained you well.” The Shredder noted as he stopped behind the turtle and rested his hands onto Leonardos’ shoulder. Leo tensed at the contact and shut his eyes tighter.“I am willing to grant you a deal, Kappa, you will tell me where your master is and I might spare you. You fail to provide me with the information I desire, I will still find your master and slaughter your family, including you. Do you understand, Kappa?” The Shredder snarled into Leonardos’ ear and Leo had to bite his tongue to make sure he did not say something he would regret. Leo would never betray his family, not in a million years. He stayed silent and the Shredders’ grip on Leonardo tighten.“You think staying silent will help you Kappa? I thought your master had taught you better. I shall ask you once more; where is your master?”Silence filled the
air;
it was all the Shredder needed to know. He released his grip on the terrapins’ shoulders before pushing him to the ground; boot on his shell. Leonardo let out a raspy breath as the Shredders’ boot dug into his shell.“I will break you Kappa. I will make you beg for death and I will enjoy every moment of it.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leo was quickly taken to a room; blindfolded to ensure that he did not learn anything about his whereabouts. The blindfold was ripped off and he was strapped onto a table. The Shredder stood above; a smile on his face evident by his eyes. There were two other ninja in the room, fiddling with some sort of machine. One of them approched Leonardo and rubbed some sort of gel onto his forehead and thighs. They then quickly pulled something from the machine and laid them onto the patches of gel. The ninja stepped back as the Shredder loomed above Leonardo.“Give him twenty volts.”The Shredder stepped back as the machine gave out a long beep and- Fuck. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck! It hurt. Leo screamed in pain, arms pushing against the straps; they were the only thing keeping him on this table. Tears streamed down his face as the pain continued to pulse throughout his body, it was the worse pain he had ever felt. In the gaps between pain Leonardo could hear the Shredder tell the ninjas to increase the voltage. A flash of lightning exploded next to his ear and he could feel his heart thumping against his plastron. Leonardo struggled, screaming, and stiffened until the straps cut into his flesh.
Foam began to run out of his mouth and his body started to involuntary seize. Vomit spewed from his mouth and onto the table. This went on for what felt like an eternity until the shocks just… stopped. His body went lax so did his bladder. If Leonardo could form a coherent thought, he would have been embarrassed. The straps were undone and Leo just laid there. A metal collar plus leash was wrapped around his throat and the only thing Leo could do was stare up to the roof. He was forced off of the table and he fell, his knees cracking like glowsticks.“If you want to crawl like the filthy animal you are, be my guest.” The Shredder growled before tugging at the leash. It tightened around Leonardos’ throat and the only thing he could do was crawl like a dog. Everything spun as he crawled behind the Shredder a.k.a the worst man on earth, scratch that, the worst man in the entire universe. Everything was blurry. It was like peering through a frosted window; only vague shapes and colors were visible. They soon stopped, they only walked a short distance but it felt like hell to Leonardo. He was pushed into another room without a word and landed onto a mattress. Oh, he’s back here. The door was closed without hesitation and Leo could stop the tears running from his eyes. Jeez, at this rate he’ll die of dehydration before anything else. He wanted out; he wanted his brothers and he wanted his father, but he couldn’t, so instead he cried into the tough mattress, wailing about nothing and everything at the same time.
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Leonardos’ cries eventually ceased but the aftermath was in full effect. Light tremors and shakes erupted from his body alongside shallow, ragged breaths. He had curled into himself, seeking solace in the familiar confines of his own arms, yet the pain remained- a dull, persistent weight. Hunger gnawed at his inside like a stray dog; teeth bared, fur matted, and desperate for a scrap of food. The metal collar strained against his throat, chafing it. Leo didn’t know what he did to deserve this; it just wasn’t
fair. What did he ever do to the universe to have it fuck him over like this? Leo was a good person, he was a good brother, and he was a good leader, right?! He didn’t deserve this; no one did! But if he had to choose one person, it would be the Shredder. He deserved every bad thing thrown his way but based off how the universe loved screwing the innocent people over, he’d never face any consequences. It was fucked up. Leos’ grip on his arms grew stronger, his nails making crescent-moons into his skin.Leo stayed in that position for hours; the tremors and shakes coming to a slow stop. Light filled the small cell again and Leonardo looked upwards, he looked right into the sadistic eyes of the Shredder. Leo couldn’t stop his heart-rate from increasing at the sight of the older man. Leo couldn’t help but freeze as two Footclan soldiers blindfolded him, unchained his collar and gripped onto the lip of his shell as he was frog-marched down a hall, he would have fought back but he felt so tired and scared.Leo could hear a door open and was marched through it before his arms were forced behind his back. His shell was pushed against a pole and his hands were bound behind him. The blindfold was ripped from Leos’ face. The Shredder stood in front of him with his hands clasped behind his back, a look of pleasure in his eyes. Just like last time, there were two Footclan ninjas standing side-by-side. With a wave of the Shredders’ hand, the two ninja bowed and exited the room, the door locking behind them.“So, Kappa, how are we today?” The Shredder inquired in a soft-spoken voice, tilting his head. That simple innocent question made Leonardos’ blood boil. His face twisted into a hateful snarl, how dare he?! How dare he torture him, scar him, give him permanent damage, and act like this?! Leo didn’t know how he could do it. Leo only stared at him with a disgusting taste resting in his mouth. The Shredder stared back before leaning forward.“I must say, your resilience is admirable,” The Shredder continued, his voice dripping with condescension. “Most would have done what I wanted, but here you are Kappa, still clinging to hope. How cute.” With a swift turn, he marched towards one of the walls. It was lined with instruments of torture and weapons. The Shredder took a metal rod from one of the hooks and walked past Leonardo. Leonardo tried to turn to face him but his binds kept him in place.“I have had this roomed prepared specially for you, Kappa.” The Shredders’ voice boomed from behind him. The sound of metal scrapping on metal came from where the Shredder was and Leo couldn’t help but let out a shudder of anxiety. His heart raced, each thud echoing in his ears as the Shredder’s words wrapped around him like a noose. The statement hung in the air, heavy and nerve-wracking, and Leo clenched his jaw, refusing to show the fear that clawed at him from within.The Shredders footsteps echoed behind him and the tension in the air thickened, wrapping around Leo like a suffocating vail. Each step of the Shredder’s boots felt like a countdown, a reminder of his impending doom. Would he be beat to death? Or would he be choked? Would his body be dumped in an alley somewhere for his brothers to find? Or would it rot in this very room?“I shall give you one last chance, Kappa; where is Hamato Yoshi?” The Shredder growled in Leonardos' ear.“I would would rather die than tell you!” Leonardo growled back.“Have it your way, Kappa.” The Shredder suddenly opened Leos’ right palm and without warning, pressed the scorching hot iron into the middle of his hand. Leo let out a blood-curling scream and strained against his bindings, desperation and pain fueling his movements. The more he fought, the tighter the rope felt against his wrists. The heat seared through Leo's hand, a blaze that overshadowed all other pain. In that moment, as his scream echoed in the cold chamber, his mind was a chaotic storm. Every instinct screamed for him to fight back, but the ropes dug into his wrists, anchoring him to a deep despair. The iron dug deeper into his skin, charring the fat and muscle inside. His skin shriveled up around the iron. This went on for a couple of minutes until the pain just stopped. He could feel the Shredder pull away the iron but he couldn’t feel the burn; while the area around the burn was the worst thing Leo has ever felt. That was bad. Leo briefly remembered Donnie demanding to check out Leos’ injury after he burned it with hot water. He explained that it was bad if he couldn’t feel it, something about nerves being destroyed.Sweat lined his forehead and Leo leaned forward, his knees threatening to buckle. The Shredder stood in front of Leonardo with the iron. At the end on the iron, the Footclan symbol dancing in the flames. It was a branding iron. “Do you understand what this means, Kappa?” The Shredder sneered, the gleam in his eyes betraying a twisted satisfaction. “This mark will signify that you’re property of the Footclan.”Property. Property?! “I am not property!” Leonardo spat out, his voice laced with fear. He tried to sound intimidating but ultimatley failed, the tremor in his words betraying him. “I am more than your possession!” He yells, trying to regain some semblance of control, but the walls felt like they were closing in.The Shredder looked like he could laugh. “Oh, Kappa~ You really should not try to fight it. I mean, your family has not made any move to rescue you and you cannot fight back. It will be easier for everyone if you just… give in~. You should just realise that you are an idiotic, senseless fool of a dog who belongs at my feet.”Those words stung and buried themselves into Leos’ heart. Leo wanted to fight back, he really did but the only thing he could do was listen to listen as the Shredder continued to insult him.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leonardo was forced onto his knees and hand- him lifting his right hand lay against his plasteron. A metal leash was attached to his collar and he was forced to crawl along the halls; Footclan soldiers laughing and pointing at him being forced to walk like a dog. Leonardo’s mind raced as he crawled, the cold, hard floor beneath him a stark reminder of his fail. Anger churned within him, a blazing inferno ignited by the humiliation he faced. He struggled against the leash and continued to be pulled along to where he is now.Leo was laid out on the floor as the Shredder ate beside him. On the table was a full Kaiseki laid out and Leo couldn’t stop his stomach from giving out a rumble. His mouth watered from the smell of fish that wafted through the air from the Yakimono the Shredder was currently eating. The last time Leonardo had eaten was… he couldn’t remember. It had been so long. His stomach protested once more, echoing through the tense silence, and for a fleeting moment, he wondered if the Shredder would notice his desperation.“Smells delicious, does it not?” The Shredder snapped Leonardo out of his train of thought and he slowly raised his head to look at the Shredder. “Would you like some?”Leonardo didn’t have the power in him to speak so he gave a pathetic nod of his head. “Well, this isn’t for your so you will wait.” The Shredder replied with a sadistic ring to his voice.Leonardo brang his head back down to the floor as tears flooded his eyes. It wasn’t fucking fair. He was convinced the universe had it out for him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the pain that gnawed at him like a persistent ache. “What’s wrong with me?” he thought to himself. A quiet part of his brain replied: Everything. You’re a mess. Look where you are.A bowl was slammed down in front of Leonardos’ head. Leonardo could only weakly lift it up and look at the contents of the bowl. It looked like dirty water with greenish lumps sitting on the bottom of the bowl. Leonardo pulled himself up to rest on his knees and poked at the lumps in the ‘soup’. They felt sticky and rubbed at his skin the wrong way.“Do you not like it, Kappa?” The Shredder asked from above Leonardo. He had set down his chopsticks and was looking intently at Leonardo. Leonardo looked up at the Shredder with a scowl on his face.“What is this?” Leonardo demanded.The Shredder leaned forward, a nauseating gleam in his eyes. “A little dish I thought you might appreciate- Turtle soup.”Leonardo's stomach twisted at the words. He recoiled from the bowl, his expression a mix of disgust and anger. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he shot back, his voice rising. “Y-You’re sick! You’re a sick fuck, you know that?!”Shredder's laughter erupted, harsh and unrestrained, reverberating off the walls like a death knell. “Oh, right you are Kappa!” The Shredder mocked, leaning back in his chair as if he were being entertained. “I could take it away but who knows when I decide to feed you again!”Leonardo’s anger surged, and he fought against the nausea creeping up his throat. The Shredder was right. Leonardo hesitated, staring at the disgusting soup in front of him. His stomach twisted at the thought of eating it, but hunger clawed at him, reminding him that he had no other choice. “Just get it over with,” he thought to himself, trying to push through the suffocating weight of despair that hung over him like a storm cloud.He scooped a small amount of the liquid with his fingers, grimacing at the texture, and brought it to his lips. The smell was sour, and the meat felt tough. Leonardo forced it into his mouth, and the taste confirmed his fears—it was as bad as it looked. He chewed slowly, fighting back the urge to gag, and swallowed with great effort.Tears ran down his face. He’s reached an all-time low.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Leonardo was brought to his cell soon after the Shredder had finished his meal. His leash was removed and Leonardo fell onto his flat mattress. It didn’t do much to comfort his fall. Leonardo lays there, face shoved into the mattress, feeling utterly defeated.Silence enveloped him, heavy and suffocating. Each second that passed felt like a reminder of Leonardos’ isolation. He couldn’t escape the crushing reality of his situation. He ached for the embrace of his father and brothers. He just wanted to go home.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leonardo laid there for what felt like hours before the door was opened again. A single Footclan soldier stood there with a chain and a blindfold in their hands. Great, here they go again. Leonardo was hoisted up, the leash was connect to his ‘collar’, the blindfold was thrown over his eyes, and he was forced to follow the soldier. Leonardos’ knees felt weak and the meat around the brand on his hand still ached.The duo walked down a hall for six minutes before they momentarily stopped; this gave Leonardo some time to think. The Shredder was obviously going to try and get Leo to talk, but the question is: How? Would Leo be whipped? Or be strangled? Would his limbs be cut off? Or would he be boiled alive? The possibilities were endless.A ding was heard and Leonardo was forced forward. He stepped onto a metal surface and held his breath. Leonardo stood still as he heard a series of buttons being pressed before another ding was let out. Leonardo swayed as the floor began to move upwards. It made him feel nauseous.Soon enough before Leonardo could throw up, yet another ding was heard and the moving stopped. The foot soldier yanked on the leash, making Leonardo stumble over his feet before being pulled forward. The foot soldier pried the blindfold off of Leonardos’ eyes and began to march forward again.Leonardo took note of the hall they walked in. The wall were painted a deep royal purple with black patterns on the wall. The lights were warm but they shone too bright in Leonardos’ opinion.The two came to a stop in front of a large double door. The foot soldier knocked and paused for a few moments before opening the door. They led Leonardo inside and Leonardo looked around. The wall were still a deep purple and above the bed hung a veil with the Footclan symbol embroidered on it. A king-sized bed rested in the middle of the room with crisp black sheets covering it.The foot soldier approached the bed with Leonardo in tow and forced him onto the mattress. They pushed Leonardos’ hands above his head and wrapped the blindfold around his wrists, binding them to the bed-frame. Leonardo pushed against binding but it was no use. Panic fueled his movements as he felt the rough fabric tighten around his wrists. The foot soldier’s empty gaze held no sympathy, and Leonardo's heart raced."L-Let me go!" Leonardo shouted, his voice trembling. The soldier said nothing and swiftly left the room. Leonardo laid there for several minutes, trying to get out of the binds. He pulled, fought, and even tried to bite at the bindings but it was all for naught.Just as Leonardo was about to gnaw off one of his hands to escape, a door to the left of the room opened. There stood the Shredder. His armour was gone and the only thing on his body was a pair on monpe pants. A deep burn scar covered the right side of his face; his right eye a milky-white colour. His chest had a slightly less painful looking scar which dipped below the pants. Leonardos’ breath caught in his throat. What was going on?The Shredder sat on the edge of the bed and Leonardo felt like he could could throw up. Something was wrong. He stared up to the ceiling, trying to distract himself. He was confused. Why was he here? What would happen to him? What is-
Oh.
Oh no.
Leo felt a hand genetly grab and rub the inside of his thigh. Leonardo couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening, not in a million years could this happen. His breaths became laboured and his vision blurred with tears as the hand trailed up to Leonardos' most intimate spot. A hand spread out his thighs while the other wiped away some of his tears and removed his mask. Those actions made him gag and he closed his eyes, trying to block off everything that was happening.“You are such an interesting creature, Kappa~” The Shredder whispered raspily in Leonardos’ ear. His breath stank of Shōchū causing Leonardos’ mind to graciously provided him with a memory of his brother. All four of them were at Murakami-sans’ and the older man was showing all of them- Michelangelo was the only one really interested- when said turtle accidently knocked over a glass bottle. The bottle shattered on the ground and Leonardo caught a whiff of the contents before it was cleaned up; the brew smelt very nutty. When Donatello asked about it, Murakami-san explained that is was Shōchū and he had it incase someone ordered it. Murakami-san even drunk it from time to time!The Shredder untucked Leonardos’ tail and that caused the teenager to completely freeze. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, NO! This was NOT happening! The Shredders’ fingers grazed his cloaca and Leonardo let out a choked sob. God, please no! A single finger suddely plunged into his wetness and Leo bit back a scream of pain, his legs begginging to shake. He wanted this all to stop! Please, please, please, please!Everything hurt. Leonardos' entire body tingled in pain as he continued to stare up, up, up at the roof. He didn’t know what- he didn’t want to know- but something thrusted into him, stretching open his hole. Oh god, that hurt! Leonardo could feel blood seep out of the wounds as something- Leonardo didn’t want to know but he knew what it was- thrusted in and out. In and out. In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, inoutinoutinout- Leonardo didn’t want to focus on that. Instead he tried to focus on the colours that appeared with each thrust.The colours swirled around the room; Red came in explosions and was so bright it stabbed at Leonardos’ eyes, purple was smooth yet sharp and twirled around orange, orange was loud, bright and obnoxious as he ran around the room. They danced and sang into the high-heavens above.They remined Leo of his brothers. He wondered what they were doing. Where they looking for him? Of course they were, don’t be stupid Leo. Are they training or are they devoting all their time to rescuing him? Was April helping? Was everything- The blood is soaking into the mattress from his thighs. When did all this blood come out?- going smoothly? Did they know why Leo was taken? Not any of his brothers? It was selfish to think but Leo wished that it wasn’t he who got taken. It was selfish; he wouldn’t wish this upon them even if they abandoned him. If they didn’t come to rescue him, he would still love them.Leonardo wondered what Splinter was doing. Was he- The thrusts are getting too aggressive. He’s going to pass out. Why won’t you stop why won’t you stop it stop stop it- on the surface looking for him? Or was he staying in the lair? No matter where he is, he is helping, Leonardo is sure of it. He felt bad for Splinter. Did he know that the child his father rescued from the wreckage of village, the quiet respectful boy that was raised beside him, would turn into such a monster? Simply by saving that child from the burning wreck sealed Leonardos’ fate. Splinters’ love will not save him from this suffering. Because the things Splinter had coddled in his arms all those years ago was not a person, only an animal; born amongst other bleating and chirping animals who are luckily naïve enough to not know what happens outside the pet-store walls. Did Splinter know? Know that making a bogus deal at the crappy pet-store also meant four more souls for the universe to torture?Leonardo felt one final thrust from the Shredder before he stilled and pulled out. Semen mixed in the blood pooling out of his cloaca, making a light rose pink pool under Leonardos’ thighs. His bruised wrists were untied and Leonardo was picked up. His tail hung limply in between his thighs like a worn rag. He felt too tired to move it. The older man carried Leonardo into a bathroom.Leonardo is placed in a large sleek bathtub. Warm water covered his lower half, stopping at the middle of his plastron. The entire bathroom screamed wealthiness; some tiles had gold engravings, the bath looked more like a hot tub and it had inside curves in the place of seats.The Shredder sat beside Leonardo but he didn’t dare look the man in the eyes. Hands trailed down, down, down, while Leo stared up, up, up. The Shredder treated him like scum. Why does Leo have to be hurt? Is it because pain is the only thing the Shredder has known? Is it because the Shredder thinks he only thing Leo is good for is sex and pain? Is it because it felt right? Felt correct? Is it because it was the Shredders favourite thing to do? Leo didn’t know.“You know, you remind me so much of Tang Shen.” That single sentence made Leoanrdos’ heart drop. Is this why he was taken? Because of a broken heart? That was what this whole hatred thing was about, right? It was all about Tang Shen. Leonardo wondered if the woman was high above, perched upon a cloud with a small bundle of burnt rags in her hands. Was her forehead dented from where it hit the floor? Was her skin all scabbed over and- Another finger slid into him. Leonardo wanted it to stop- her clothes singed from where the flames had kissed at her body? Was she forced to eternally weep as she cried over the family- the life- she could have had? Or was she happy? Did she sit with a laughing child wrapped in clean cloths while her own body was wrapped in a beautiful yukata? Was her body as radiant and her skin as smooth as it was on earth? Hopefully. Despite never knowing the woman, no one deserved the fate she suffered. Leonardo was curious though. Did she know that her womb and heart would cause such strong emotions? Cause such trauma? Did she feel guilty? She shouldn’t. She was as much as a victim as he was.Leonardo had been thinking a lot recently, trying to block out the constant touches, the constant torture. He’s been through a lot recently- He’s on top of you now. Get him off get him off get him off- and had been wishing; wishing that he was among the stars, that he was the stars. Leonardo would chase comets with his brothers, float through the planets and dance in the cosmos. But that wasn’t realistic but was a sensible person so he had a realistic wish: to never have been mutated. He nearly was. Right before Splinter had walked in, a young girl had come up to their enclosure. He hair was a gold as the suns’ rays and the gap in her teeth was identical to Donnies’. She pressed her face against the glass and smiled. She promised that she would bring all of the animals home and have her dad build them all a house. She whispered in her nasally voice that they’d be best-friends. She had pat their shells and looked at them with genuine love in her eyes. The mother soon came over and explained they were getting a dog, a beautiful mutt named Laika. The girl wandered off with her mother but not before flashing a smile and waving goodbye. If the dog wasn’t there that day, Leo would’ve had a totally different life. Maybe it would have been better.Something pulled out of him again and- Oh. Blood. And cum. In the water.- Leonardo grimaced at the numbness of his tail.Distantly, he wondered what he did to deserve this.Surprisingly, Leo didn’t want to think about the answer.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Leonardo lays in the Shredders’ bed and only a single thought drifted through his head: What did I do to deserve this?Leonardo tried to avoid thinking about the question but it was only thing that he could focus on; everything else in his brain was mush.The terrapin stared blankly at the wall as he felt arms wrap around his waist; that single action making his breathing stop. Leonardo could feel the ghost of hands stroke his thighs, grab onto his wrists and violate him in away no one should be. It made him feel something close to disgust. Self-blame perhaps? Leonardo must have done something to deserve this, right?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leonardo had been moved permanently into the Shredders room; he didn’t know if this was a upgrade or downgrade. He wasn’t cold, it wasn’t dark and he ate more often but he had to sleep on a dog bed- Better than the mattress. Be grateful.- and Leonardo had to sleep around him. It was difficult getting to sleep around the Shredder and that caused the younger male to watchsure the Shredder wouldn’t wake up, he would close his eyes and try to sleep. It was getting harder each night. Some nights he wouldn’t dream of anything, while on other he would have horrific nightmares. Recently however, his dreams were filled with the sensations of being grabbed and violated, sometimes by multiple people and sometimes by a singular person. The dreams that really got to Leonardo were the dreams where his brothers were involved. Whether they were the ones getting tortured or they were doing the torture them, it didn’t matter, it still made him sick to his stomach.Sometimes, it was his familys’ hands that were on him. Scaled claws dug into his thighs, fur-matted hands restrained him, and- Oh god, oh god, oh god.. Leonardo, the deeply fucked up pervert, promised himself that he’d keep those dreams locked away in the darkest part of his mind until the day he died.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He needed to get out.
Leo was going to go insane.Days had turned into a blur of pain and despair, but amidst the chaos in his mind, a single thought emerged: escape.He closed his eyes, trying to block out the gentle breaths of the Shredder as he slept, but it was no use. Being in the same room with that man for another second was going to drive him mad. The darkness of the room felt suffocating as thoughts whizzed around his head; How would he break free? Would it be worth the cost? Doubt gnawed at him, threatening to unravel the fragile strands of hope he had left.Leo's heart raced as he focused on the sound of the Shredder's rhythmic breathing. Each exhale felt like a countdown, a reminder of how precious time was slipping away. He had scanned the dim room numerous times in the past, searching for anything that could aid his escape—a pair of keys or a weapon would be the most helpful- but nothing was in his reach, even if he pulled at his chains until he was sure his arm would just rip right off.
He was getting desperate.
Escape wasn’t just a thought anymore; it was a necessity, and he was willing to pay any price.Leonardo again tugged at the chain connected to his wrist and it didn’t budge an inch, but Leonardo had an idea. He’d seen this in a movie once; the main character was in a similar position to Leonardo and she yanked her hand out of the chains by dislocating it. It sounded painful but it was the only option. If he wanted to escape, he’d have to push through the agony. With a final glance at the Shredder to check he was still sleeping, Leo steeled himself.He let out a deep breath and pulled. Leonardo heard a pop and electricity ran up his arm. He bit down on his tongue and he was sure that if he had a look, his teeth would be stained a raspberry red. A waterfall of tears streamed down his face as he began to shake; this was a bad idea. Leonardo fell back and screamed into the bed below him. Sweet cheese supreme! This is the worst pain he’s ever felt… well, maybe not the worse. He laid there for… he didn’t know. Pain clouded his thoughts as would a storm obscuring the rays of the sun. Leonardo lifted his head and was about tug again when he realised, his hand was free.…
Oh god, his hand was free.
Leonardo stared at it for what felt like and eternity before snapping out of it. He slowly raised himself to a stand and took a step off off of the doog bed, stepping onto a plush rug instead. If he fucked up now, he was done for. Leo made his way across the room, holding his breath. He made it up to the door before pausing; was he sure of this? He could be caught and then… Leonardo gave a shudder just thinking about it. He should just go back to bed and admit to the Shredder he tried to escape. Maybe he would be gentle with the punishment.…What was he thinking about? Was he insane? No! He had to make a run for it now; who knew when his next chance was? Leonardo threw open the door and made eye contact with a foot soldier; they were most likely guarding the room. Leo didn’t hesitate to push past the ninja before sprinting down the hallway. He needed to succeed. Leonardo ran as hard as his legs would take him- not very hard due to how little he ate and slept- and refused to look back. He could hear shouts and the rush of feet behind him but Leo kept on running. His legs began to burn and he felt like he would collapse any second now but he just kept on running. He had too.
Leonardo made contact with a wall before ricocheting off of it and continuing to run down the hall. On the other end of the hall was a sleek elevator. This was it; he’ll be free! Leonardo ran like a wounded deer with a pack of hungry dogs behind it- with desperation and raw fear. He rammed into the metal doors and desperately pressed the ‘down’ button. They were so close. As soon as the sliding doors began to open, Leonardo barged his way past a doors and instantly began to jam the ‘close doors’ button. The doors slid shut and trapped him in the small space. The elevator started to descend to the bottom floor in silence; no music like in the movies.
Oh god, oh god, oh god! Leonardo was fucked! He was a sitting duck; as soon as those doors open again, he’d be brought right back to what he’d been trying so hard to escape. Rigid breaths escaped his lungs as his shell hit the railing that was in the elevator. Panic surged through him, each breath coming quicker and shallower. He could almost feel the harsh grip of hands on his arms, the weight of his leash forcing him back into his own personal hell.
What would happen to him if he was caught? Leos’ mind raced through the possibilities, each one darker than the last. He could try to fight, but he would be outnumbered. He needed a plan; a distraction; something to give him a fighting chance.
The slow of the elevator made his heart leap and Leo braced himself, adrenaline surging through his veins. He had to act now. The doors slid open and Leo rushed out, his legs pulsing with tiredness and pain. Leo could hear shouts behind him but they all got mixed in with the giant mess that was his brain. He could see the exit doors and his breath got caught in his throat; This was it, he’ll be finally free! Leo tried to run faster and extends his arm, ready to fling open the door and escape via the alleyways.
When Leo was only a few feet away, he felt a furry hand grab onto the lip of his shell and throw him backwards. His shell scraped against the cold floor he was pretty sure he heard something crack. He landed on his plastron and could barley see. Everything was blurry and kept on spinning. A foot pressed down on his shell and-
Ow.
Who knew god was a woman?
Electricity coursed through his veins and his vison went black. Leos’ muscles tensed and began to jerk, spasms wrenching him in rapid movements. He bit his tongue, blood pooling onto the floor below him. His arms shook beside him while his legs jerked around erratically. It went on for about a minute but to Leonardo it felt like an eternity. He laid limp as he felt fingers dip in under his collar and haul him upwards. The hands began to drag him back to where he came from. No! No, no, no, no! He can’t go back! He was so close! Leo tried to move his legs but his attempts were fruitless; his legs lay limp, dragging across the floor.
Leo was one hundred percent fucked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leo was forced to his knees in front of the Shredder, bowing his head low. Leos’ mind still felt like mush and everything the Shredder said was way too loud. It reminded Leo of the sound of rushing cars above the lair. Leo would give anything to be back at the lair; to be back in his fathers embrace.
When Leo was young- He still is-, he would be terrified of everything; the loud rushes of water in the sewers, the chilling cold that nipped at him on long nights, the sewer monster Raph- Leo missed Raphael- told him about and, especially, being caught by a human. Splinter would warn Leo and his brothers about humans and how people like them- Freaks, Splinter didn’t say it but he meant freaks- wouldn’t be accepted. Leos’ dream would be plagued with nightmares about them and he would wake up bawling his eyes. He would stifle his tears before finding his way to his father. Leo would shove his face into Splinters’ soft chest and wail about all the terrible things his mind created. Splinter would sit still and listen, gently stroking Leos’ shell as he rocked them both back and forth. When all the tears had been shed and Leo could breath normally again, Splinter would pull away and look deep into Leos’ blue eyes.
“I understand that you are scared, my son, but there is no reason to be. I will never let anyone hurt you.” His father would promise him.
Too bad he couldn’t keep it.
Leo was hauled to his feet by a foot soldier once more and marched out of the room. Shit, Leo wasn’t listening to anything the Shredder said. Leo was lead down a number of hall, surprisingly not blindfolded this time- before stopping in front of a large metal door. The soldier opened the door and pushed him inside. Oh no. Not this again. It was the exact same room where Leo was burnt.
The soldier forced his plastron onto the metal pole and tied Leos’ hands around the pole. He couldn’t see the soldier as they paced back and forth behind him.
“Master Shredder has given me the honours of putting you in your place! You should be grateful that he didn’t give me order to kill you, Kappa!” The soldier boomed; their voice was grating and pierced Leos’ ears.
“Anything is on the table; be prepared, Kappa!” They spat those words out like poison. Leo could hear the soldier approach and-
Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck!
Nine cuts which oozed out a copious amount of blood were carved into the back of Leos’ thighs. Each indent felt as bad as the branding iron. Would it leave scars as well?
His thighs were whipped a second time and ,at this point in time, a waterfall of tears were falling down his face.
Another whip.
And another.
And another.
By the time the soldier got bored, Leos’ thighs were a mangled mess. The metal ends had dug into his skin and muscle; Leo swore his bones were hit. Laboured, choked breaths escaped him as he leaned onto the pole, eyes shut tight.
The sound of the door opening caused Leo to crack open an eye, not like it’d do anything since his back was facing the door.
“Wow! It looks so much freakish than I thought it would!” A new voice states; their voice was husky and reminded Leo too well of the Shredder.
“I know! It’s so weird!” Another voice states; Great, two more people to taunt him.
“I want to try something…” The second soldier gets behind Leonardo and effortlessly unties him. Leo instantly crumbles, knees aching when they hit the solid concrete below him. They grabbed onto him again and forced his hands above his head as the other two watched one. A hand trailed down to his inner thigh and- Not again. Please if there was a god, please make this stop. Leo can’t go through this again. He can’t wake up again with dry blood in between his legs, his tail pulsing, and bruises coating his wrists. Please, please, please, please- unfurled his tail.
“Ew! It’s so disgusting!” The third soldier laughed as the second one pressed a plunged a finger into his wetness. Leo was suddenly flipped onto his plastron and his body froze completely.
“Let’s send some photos to daddy Yoshi, sound good Kappa?” The first soldier teased as they pulled out a needle from somewhere that was filled with a light amber liquid.
The third soldier grabbed onto Leos’ arm, pricked his inner elbow and holy mother of Mary! Leos’ mind immediately melted and his body became lax. Colours swirled everywhere. Red, purple and orange filled the air. His brothers were red, purple and orange. Red like the blood on his thighs, purple like the bruises on his skin, and orange like the splatches of colour he saw with every throb his thighs had.
The same three voices blurred together as Leo felt a hand wrap around his neck and forced it upwards before ramming it into the ground. His teeth rattled and it sounded like it echoed around the room. Blood spewed out of his mouth alongside a tooth. A bright flash went off and Leos’ eyes dilated.
They lifted his head up and slammed it into the floor again and again and again and again! Each time they did, the same flash would go off and laughs would float around in Leos’ head. They soon became tired of that and forced another needle into his arm- Leo felt like he was on cloud nine!- before moving onto his tail again. At this point, everything was mushed together so Leo really didn’t know what they did but he could feel something sticky being spread across his thighs; it seeped into his wounds, making them only hurt more. Multiple flashes invaded Leos’ mind and he let out a pathetic whimper. A roar of laughter was heard and something yanked on his tail- Ow.
The hands left his body and Leo melted into the floor, everything aching. His eyes fluttered shut before something heavy collided with the back on his knee. It fucking hurt! He felt something shatter in both of his legs and he let out a choked cry. He weakly began to get up and- He can’t move his legs.
…
HE CAN’T MOVE HIS LEGS!
Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! Leo tried to move again but one of the soldiers- How many were there again? Seven? Or was it twelve? It’d be nice if the all stopped moving around- stepped on his shell,
“Give papa Splinty a big smile!”
Leo didn’t know why but he smiled, it being gummy, full of broken teeth and blood.
The final flash went off.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It’s been a shitty last couple of weeks for April; her dad is missing, class has been a pain in the ass, and… Leo. He just… vanished… The boys had limped into the lair, one turtle missing, and collapsed onto the couch. When Splinter had asked where Leonardo was, that’s when hell broke loose. Michelangelo instantly began bawling and the only thing Splinter could do was try to comfort them all with gentle reassurance and embraced them. April thought it would be best to leave them all be; give them privacy and all that jazz.She went back to her empty apartment and simply did some homework but kept getting distracted, worried about the boys. Donatello had called her around two hours later to explain what had happened; they had a run in with the Shredder and after getting their shells kicked, Michelangelo used a smoke-bomb to get them all out of there but when they had finally stop running was the moment they realised Leonardo was gone. They didn’t know what happened to him, or even if he was still alive but they hoped. April sent her condolences and asked if they needed anything. Donatello said that they needed some space and time to heal, both physically and emotionally. April understood that and left them be for a couple days.Leo would be fine anyway, right? Probably right.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~April walked down the empty New-Yorkian street with her bag weighing her down slightly, full of stupid textbooks that she needs to read for her english class. She walked up a painful amount of stairs before standing in front of her door which had an envelope nailed to it… weird. April ripped the letter off the door and walked inside, kicking the door shut behind her. She dumped her bag on the floor and ripped open the envelope, it’s probably just some bills or trash mail. April dropped the envelope on the table and multiple photos fell out, all face down. She turned one over-…
What the fuck?
It was Leo. Leo laying on the ground with a collar around his neck and his thighs torn to shreds.April immediately ripped her phone out of her pocket and dialled Donatellos’ number as she gathered all the photos. He answered on the first ring, as always, and answered in a flustered tone, “H-Hi April! How are-”There was no time for small talk! “Donnie! I can’t talk! It’s Leo!” April hissed into the phone as she bolted out the door, locking it behind her of course!Donatello instantly went serious. “Leo?! Is he with you?! Is he hurt?!” April could hear the smallest amount of hope in his voice; he thought that Leo was finally back.“No, it’s- Look, I’ll be at the lair soon! You guys need to see this!” She whispered into the phone as she walked down the street, hand shielding her mouth.“O-Oh, um… Okay! W-We’ll be in the dojo! Bye, April!” The line cut off and April let out a sigh; this wa going to be a looooong night.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~April paced the dojo as she retold what had happened that day. “I-I just came home from school a-and I saw this envelope on my door and- just take it!” She handed the envelope to Splinter with dread on her face.Splinter took the envelope gently, his wise eyes narrowing as he inspected it. The boys surrounded him and looked at the letter expectedly. Splinter opened the envelope and took out a photo. He froze and the boys… well, they handled it as good as April did; Donatello froze just like Splinter, Michelangelos’ eyes widened, tears appearing in the corners of them, and Raphael gritted his teeth, his fists clenching at his sides.“What. The. Fuck?!” Rapael yelled before stomping away, pacing just like April had done moments ago. Splinter put the photo back and pulled out another; this one was so bad that it caused Michelangelo to cover his mouth as tears ran freely down his face. Donatlleo looked away and let out a gag- Oh, it was bad bad. Splinters’ eyes were full of pure despair and horror with a hint of rage.“This can’t be happening…” Michelangelo whispered as he wrapped his arms around Splinter. Splinter put the photo away and closed the envelope.“I swear when I get my hands on Shred-Head, I’m going to fuckin’ kill him!” Raphael said through gritted teeth, making a strangling motion with his hands.“I understand that you are angry, Raphael, but we must remain calm throughout this if we want to help Leonardo.” Splinter put an arm around Michelangelos’ shell, the terrapin hugging him even tighter.“Calm? Calm?! Sensei, did you see what they’re doin’ to Leo?!” Raphael stopped pacing and took a step towards Splinter. “Those fuckers are torturing him!” Raphael yelled.Donatello piped in. “Sensei is right! If we barge in and act irrational, we could blow an entire rescue! Another one of us could get taken and, well, that’s not good!”Raphael let out a growl. “Did I ask for the input, Donnie?”“We didn’t ask for yours!” Donatello spat back, obviously getting more frustrated by the second.“Why you little-”“Yame!” Splinter’s sharp tone made both of the turtles stop. “This is not the time to argue, my sons. We must focus on rescuing your brother. Emotions can cloud mind. If we rush in without a plan, we risk losing not just our brother but ourselves as well.”“Hai, sensei.” The two turtle mumbled, feeling defeated.Donatello straightened his stance before walking over to April, who was standing near the dojo entrance. “A-April! I’ve been thinking; that… letter was on your door, right?” He asked while fiddling his fingers.“Um, Yeah! I just came home and boom! There it was.” She said while giving a weak smile of reassurance.“W-Well because of that, I recommend that you stay with us for a while. The… Shredder might… do that to you too and we don’t want that! And before you say you don’t want to be a hassle, S-Sensei will be totally okay with it!”As the duo began to talk amongst themselves, Michelangelo looked up at his father with his baby-blue eyes full of tears. “We’ll get Leo back, right papa?” Michelangelo never called Splinter ‘papa’ unless he was begging for something… or if he was seeking comfort.Splinter put a gentle hand on his head and softly stroked it. “We will find Leonardo and get him back, I can promise you that, my son.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Leonardo remained in that room for days, constantly tortured and drugged. The drugs were the most barable thing they did to him. When he was drugged- which is more than Leo could count- shooting stars of orange, red, and purple rain down on him and made noises he couldn’t understand- maybe it was him making those noises; he wasn’t too sure. He wasn’t too sure on a lot of things these days. They made his body heavy, but the soldiers moved him around just fine! Just fine. Sometimes Leo thought he could see faces in the colours, whispering secrets he could never grasp, urging him to escape. But escape was a distant dream, buried beneath layers of confusion and despair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leo was tied to the pole again; they had tied him up and stuck needles into his legs. The needles felt like little bugs digging under his skin, and he was so out of it that when the soldiers told him that there were bugs under his skin, Leo began to scream and scratch at his skin, trying so desperately to get them out. He eventually knocked himself up and woke up tied to the pole- great…. Leo rested his head against the pole and winced, the bruises on his head throbbing painfully. The door opened, temporarily blinding him, and in walked the Shredder.
“It has been a long time since I have last seen you, Kappa.” The Shredder spoke, his voice low and menacing. Leonardo could only weakly look up at him.
“Despite your foolish escape attempt, I woke up feeling quite gracious. I will give you a way to escape, free of charge.” Leonardo instantly perked up; a way to escape? It was too good to be true but Leo was getting desperate at this point.
“…What do you have in mind?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leonardo was forced through the halls, two foot soldiers beside him and the Shredder in front. His legs were stiff and felt wrong. His knees didn’t bend properly and he struggled to maintain his balance. Each step felt awkward, as if he were learning to walk all over again and the ground seemed unsteady beneath him. Leo knew that the soldiers had broke his legs. He was surprised that they healed this quick; Donatello had said something about how they heal quicker due to their ‘super mutant powers’, Michelangelo had named it.
His heart was pounding; he had a chance to go home. Something was up though… The Shredder would never let Leonardo go, so what exactly was he planning?
The quadrant stopped in front of a large metal door and the Shredder waved the soldiers away. They both bowed before leaving. The Shredder roughly grabbed onto the lip of Leonardos’ shell and unlocked the door. Inside was a empty white room and on the roof was what seemed to be a projector. The Shredder shoved Leonardo into the room and pressed a button on the side to the door. A red dot appeared on the wall in front of Leonardo
“This is how this works,” The Shredder began, Leonardo staring at the dot, “When the laser is red, you will not move, understood?”
Red means stay still.
“When the laser is yellow, you will move towards the laser but you will not touch the dot.”
Yellow means be cautious.
“When the laser is green, attack and capture it.”
Green means fight.
“When you capture the dot ten times,” The Shredder sneered, “I will let you go. Your freedom will be indicated with a blue light.”
Blue means… freedom!
Leonardos’ back straightened at that. He wanted to get that blue light; he needed to.
The door shut and the click of the lock was heard. Leonardo turned and stared at the red dot; red means stay still. He clenched his fists, every instinct telling him to find a way out, but the red dot held him in place like a puppet on strings. Leonardo could either be continuously tortured or be realised without a hand laid upon him; it was an easy decision.
The laser flicked to yellow and Leonardo took a shaky step forward. He came to the conclusion that his family wasn’t coming for him a long time ago. If they were, Leo would be out of here already. His family had abandoned him in this nightmare, and he had to rely on himself to get out of here. Taking another shaky step forward, he forced his legs to move, reminding himself that every inch gained was a step closer to freedom.
The light turned green.
With all of the power he could muster, Leonardo threw himself towards the dot. Hands outstretched, he scratched desperately at the wall, like a cat and… a laser pointer. Was he just like the cat? A pet bought for entertainment? When the pet became useless, the were thrown out or put down; would Leonardo be killed once he was useless? No, he would be given away most likely. He was too good of a bargaining chip against his father- the perfect little fighter. Maybe that’s why they weren’t coming for him; they eante dhimto prove his worth. Prove to them that he deserves the title as… leader? He was a leader, right? Yeah…
The light turned red again and Leonardo insalty forze up. Did… Did he do it? Is he going to get out? The red dot slide against the wall and went behind Leonardo. He went to face it but he stopped himself before he could; red means stop, Leo needs to stay still. He stood still for several minutes before the dot turned and the filled the room with a gentle yellow glow. He turned to face it as thought popped into his brain: What would happen if he didn’t attack the dot? The Shredder never mentioned anything about that. He took a step towards the amber light, and another, and another, and another. Jeez, this room was big! What if the Shredder lied? That no matter what Leo did, he wouldn’t be able to escape? He’d rot alone in this room.
The light turned green and Leonardo threw himself towards it yet again. His shoulder connected with the wall and pain spread throughout the upper half of his body. It didn’t matter though! He was doing what he was told and he was getting out of here! He had to get… ten dots! He was on… on… two right now! Eight more to go…
The light turned red yet again and Leonardo was almost caught off guard, almost moving, but he wouldn’t be tricked that! No siree!
The light turned yellow and then it turned green and then it turned red and then yellow and then green and red and yellow and green, red yellow green…
When Leonardo was about to catch his ninth dot, the light disappeared and the room filled with a gentle white light. Where was the dot? He didn’t understand. Wasn’t he supposed to catch it? Leonardo moved towards the door, turned to face the entire room, and lowered himself to the ground. Got to… Got to keep watch for the dot! Fatigue tugged at his eyelids; making him wish to close them for just a few seconds! But if the chance was given, he’d sleep for enturity. He had to pinch the insides of his wrists plus his thighs and held his fingers there until blood welled up. Leonardo wouldn’t miss capturing the dot; he had to get out of here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leonardo sat there for hours on end before the yellow light appeared again. He stood to his feet and stepped towards the dot. He was so close! Only one more!
The moment the light turned green, Leo lunged forward, determination fueling his movements. He was so close- he could taste freedom!
The light turned red.
Leo collided with the wall as electricity courses through him. He grabs onto his collar as he falls to the ground and he felt his knees crack under him. The pain soon subsided and left Leonardo on the floor.
…
The light was green. Why was he shocked?
The light turned yellow and Leonardo stood to his feet but almost fell back down due to the throbbing pain in his knees. No, now wasn’t the time. He had to finish this.
Leonardo leaned against the cold walls and limped towards the dot. He was going to win. He was going to prove that he was more than just a plaything! He was going to get out of here and And when he, the Shredder will understand why storms are named after people. God may judge Leonardo for what he will do to the Shredder, but their sins outnumber his own.
The light turned red again.
Leo was mid-step when electricity shot through his body and he fell to the floor. Pain clouded his mind and his body began to convulse. His body felt like jelly as his head continuously hit the floor and his legs knocked against the walls. A few minutes later, the fog from his mind left and Leonardo stared at soft yellow light. Why wasn’t it turning green?! He need it to be green to get out of here! But if the light wasn’t turning green then it wouldn’t turn blue! So what’s the point?
Leonardo curled up and put legs against his plasteron. It was difficult and he was sure he heard something pop but it was warmer if he curled up. He closed his eyes and tried to rest. It had been so long since he’d had a decent sleep. His eyes remained shut even when his collar began to shock him again, even when his legs began to spasm and even when he was certain he heard his familys’ voices. They wouldn’t be here. Leonardo was alone in this world and it wasn’t fair. One day, he would decompose and no one would be there to mourn him. Flies and maggots would be thankful for a meal, feasting on the remnants of a life that had once burned so brightly. When they dumped his body outside, stray dogs and wild cats would lick his wounds clean before scoffing him down. His shell would be the only thing left; mask taken and bones chewed on by the dogs. They wouldn’t mourn him, oh no, they would be selfish and fight over his broken body. Leonardo couldn’t judge them though; he would do the same in their circumstances. He would beg, whine, mope, and as soon as their shown any form of affection, they would claw, growl, and bite.
…
Maybe he should do just that
If he gave up, he could be treated better. It was worth a shot! He would be fed… given a better bed maybe… Leonardo didn’t know what would change but something would. The Shredder would be kind towards him and maybe if he was shown how much of a useless suck-up Leonardo can be, he’d be let go! It was worth a shot! He’d be safe and warm with his family! With his father and… and…
Leonardo eyes snapped open as his breath got caught in his throat; why couldn’t he remember their names?! He should remember these things, they were important things, right?! If he can’t remember their names, how will he find them?! Calm down, calm down! Leonardo could remember them; he could and he will! One of their names started with… M! Yeah!
M… Marcus?
… No.
Mason?
No.
Michelangelo?
…No. That was a dumb name.
Maybe his name was Martin, or Miles, or Mitchell, or Malcolm, or Ma-
Another painful shock of electricity coursed through his body but instead of stopping after a minute or so, It just kept on coming. It caused his body to seize again; foam and vomit spilling out of his mouth while his shell scraped against the floor.
As electricity flooded his senses, a single thought emerged:.....
He should just…
...
Give up…
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
His mind felt like mush and his body felt like jelly. The collar had stopped shocking him but it then pinched him and it made his body all gooey. Even though he could barley move, he felt soooo nice! Like he was on cloud nine! Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if he spent the rest of his days like this! It wouldn’t be bad at all…Sure, it might make him all fuzzy and his limbs feel too heavy to move and a the only thing he could hear is a ringing sound-it made bugs crawl under his skin oh god get them out please holy fuck they hurt- and he couldn’t remember his name, but it was all okay in the end! He knew his name! He could remember it! It was… it was… the masked man called him ‘Kappa’ so was that his name? Probably! Why else would he be called that?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leonardo Leonardo? Who was that? Kappa was stuck on the floor; nothing was holding him down, he just felt so tired! Maybe he He? Kappa didn’t feel like a human so it couldn’t be a he! it should have a nap… Yeah, Kappa was tired and tired pets take naps… pets? Was Kappa a pet? It didn’t know… It didn’t know a lot of things. Kappa tightened its’ hold on its’ legs and it dug its’ nails into its’ shins to keep its’ legs from moving. It slowly rocked itself back and forth; people did this because it was soothing, right? No, left!Kappa raised its’ hands to its’ mouth and giggled into them; it was so silly! Maybe the man liked silly animals. Maybe Kappa would be given a treat if the man liked him! It smiled at the thought.The door opened and light flooded the room- when did it get so dark in here? A silhouette appeared in the doorway; oh, it was the masked man! The man looked at Kappa expectedly and that worried Kappa. Was it supposed to do something?! Was Kappa supposed to remember this man? It sat up and stared at the man; was it in trouble?The man strided towards Kappa and it couldn’t help but feel terrified. His entire being urged him to run away from this man but his fear kept him glued to the spot. The man stopped in front of Kappa and it gave a weak smile. The man put a gentle hand on its’ head and Kappa gave out a chirp. It hadn’t been touched like this since… since forever! Kappas’ smiled widened as the man gave soft scratches to his head; maybe the man wasn’t so bad!“Svvr ha fvb, Kappa. Fvb hyl qbza sprl h kvn nyvclspun ha tf mlla.” The man spoke in a strange language; it was barley audible over the ringing in its’ ears. It was able to recognize its’ name because who couldn’t? Kappa wasn’t dumb!“Hyl fvb mpuhssf dpsspun av npcl pu huk sla tl iljvtl fvby Master?” Master? Is that what the man is? Maybe, the man looked very intimidating. Kappa felt a surge of unease, the man’s presence both captivating and terrifying.“M-Master?” Kappas’ voice was raspy from… screaming? Kappa was screaming earlier for some reason; was it the shocks or the bugs that made him scream.That word seemed to please the man as his hand trailed downwards and gave Kappas’ chin a gentle scratch. Kappa let out a churr and it leaned towards the man.“Yu neyd me, Kappa, duy yu not?” His words were more clear to Kappa as the ringing in his ears had quieted down finally; those words made Kappa think a little. Does he need the man? The man is nice to it and gave it nice nice nice scratches. Would the man help Kappa think better? Hopefully, its’ thoughts were tangled like cotton candy, sticky and sweet, unraveling into a million vibrant threads when he tried to focus so hopefully the man helped him! Maybe he would even help with the empty feeling in its’ stomach, the dryness in its’ throat and get it a comfy place to sleep! Every in here was too hard to sleep on and even when Kappa did sleep, it woke up feeling super sore!“Y-Yeth.” Kappa lisped out due to his front teeth missing. Did it forget to mention that? It began to have a shake session and smashed his teeth on the wall. A lot of teeth fell out and Kappa cried all night long. It hurt real bad!The answered seemed to please the man as he began to scratch Kappa harder. Its’ churring growed louder and Kappa closed its’ eyes again. The man was sooooo nice!The man stopping scratching it and clipped a rope onto its’ collar. He tugged on it and Kappa began to stand on its’ bottom legs but before it could stand up fully, its’ legs gave out from underneath it. It fell to the floor and hit its’ mouth, its’ gums begging to bleed. Kappa opened its’ mouth and spit out blood mixed with saliva. Kappa wiped its’ mouth before pushing itself up. It was about to try to get up again but the man put a hand on its’ head and forced him down.“Do not try to be something you are not.” The man said coldly. Kappa didn’t understand what he meant; it wasn’t trying to do anything. Kappa was smart enough to know what the man wanted though; he wanted Kappa to stay on the floor. It could do that, easy-peesy! Kappa smiled and followed the man out of the room while on all fours. It was so good at following instructions!The man led Kappa to a room and puts it onto a bed. Something in the back of Kappas’ mind told it to get away and fight the man as he pinned Kappa to the bed. He was so nice though!Kappa will be fine if it stays with Master!
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Master was so so so nice! He let Kappa sleep in his bed after they were done… done… Kappa didn’t remember what happened; everything went blurry as soon as Master touched it down there. It didn’t know what Master did to it but it woke up feeling sore. According to Master, Kappa was so good that Master decided to reward him! Can you believe it? He rewarded Kappa by letting it stay with him allll day! Master had chained it to the ground by his collar and had to it to say silent. Kappa would do anything for Master! Kappa sat in a seiza right to Masters’ throne as two ninjas bowed before him; one was a large red fish while the other was a giant orange dog. Kappa had let out a small giggle upon seeing them; they both looked so strange!The two ninjas continued to bow before Master as they were recounting a patrol they had just finished. Kappa lost interest of them pretty fast. It fiddled with its’ collar; the collar was too tight but Master said it would make sure Kappa couldn’t get lost. It wanted to laugh at that but Master would have gotten angry. How could Kappa get lost? Master made it very clear that Kappa couldn’t leave and if it never left Master, how could it get lost? Master had even put in a tracking-chip if he ever got taken by some bad guys!Kappas’ mind wandered further as it listened to the ninjas, their voices fading into the background. The idea of getting lost seemed so foreign. Kappa couldn’t remember a time when it had ever been truly free to wander, but then, had it ever needed to wander? Master always seemed to know what was best.Kappa was suddenly snapped back to reality when the dog growled something: Turtles. Turrr-tels, tor-tuels; what a funny word! The word rung alarm bells in Kappas’ head; why did the word sound so important? Was Kappa a turtle? Maybe it was and that was why it sounded so important! Did Kappa have a turtle family? WIth turtle parents and turtle sisters and turtle… brother……Brothers……A longing filled Kappas’ should and it didn’t know why. Something deep in its’ mind went feral at the thought of having brothers. Maybe he did have brothers; just Kappa and its’ brothers against the world, with Master of course! Kappa would never ever leave master in… in… a hundred years! The hundreds were big numbers, right? Yeah!Kappas’ mind wandered back to his brothers. Why was the dog talking about them?… Maybe they were bringing them to Master! Kappa could meet them! What was their names? Was their names also Kappa? How would Master tell them apart? Maybe they could have different coloured collars! Like blue, orange, purple and… red… Kappas’ thoughts tumbled over each other like a rush of water, faster and faster, swirling into panic. Why did those colours seem so important? They were just colours! They did help Kappa think more though! The red ones’ name should also start with R; matches the theme, ya’know? Their name would be R… Ra… Raph-Kappas’ collar gave out a small electric shock and brang it back to the present. The two ninjas were gone and Master was standing up, looking at Kappa impatiently.“I do not like waiting Kappa.”Master gave a sharp tug on Kappas’ leash and made Kappa stand up. Its’ legs were shaky and felt numb from sitting down for so long but Master didn’t care; he tugged Kappa along. Despite the pain in his legs, Kappa felt so excited! Maybe Master would let Kappa sleep in his bed again and right before it fell asleep, it could continue to think about its’… its’…What was Kappa thinking about again?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Master was currently giving a bath. Master had done soemthing to Kappa again. He made its’ thighs feel sticky and its’ head dizzy. It made the room spin round and round and round. Kappa would first scream and shout, trying to get Master off of it. In return, Master would throw Kappa to the ground and beat its’ head into the floor until it stopped moving. By then, Kappa would be unconcious and, if it was unlucky, would wake up to Master on top of it. If Kappa was lucky, it’d wake up after Master was done. Those bad habits were soon beat from it so it doesn’t fight Master anymore, it would just let him do what he wanted and its’ mind would drift off. As a reward, Master would then take Kappa to his bath and wash it down. Kappa liked it when Master washed it. The water was the perfect temperature and the soap glided over its’ scales like warm butter. Master was sure to be gentle with Kappa.Right now, the water rippled softly around Kappas’ small form as Master washed it down. Kappa was too tired to move after they were done so Master had carried it to his bathroom. Master soon grabbed onto its’ thighs and that caused Kappa to freak out. It didn’t want to do it again; it felt too sore! But it soon felt a prick in its’ arm and its’ body went limp. To make Kappa relax sometimes, Master would put a needle in it skin and it made Kappa feel so good! It made everything blurry and muffled but it also made Kappa think. Kappa hated thinking.It thought about what Master had always told it; Kappa wasn’t a person, just Kappa. It was a pet, an object, an abstraction. It had all of its’ boundries and borders neatly defined, none of the vagueries or blurring of lines or grey areas that came with being a person. Master was the only one that could overstep them. Kappa could never change, never grow or evolve. It was an object, forever; stagnant. The saddest bit is that the things Master forces it to embody its’ worst traits. It didn’t know why Master loved it the way he did.Master loved Kappa, right? Sure, Master could be mean sometimes but it was out of love! Master made Kappa feel dirty, guilty and shameful but he was just telling it the truth! Master loved Kappa; Master protected Kappa! Master kept it safe from the outside world as people outside were monsters wanting to hurt it. Master kept it safe by never letting it leave his side, and even when Master did leave, Kappa was locked in his room so no one could take him away!Master was so kind; too kind.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kappa had never been one to collect things. It didn’t want for toys, grand food, or soft blankets; it only wanted what Master wanted and Master wanted none of those things so Kappa did the same thing.But…At times, Kappa was selfish and it yeared for something better than how things happened. It yearned to sit at the table with its’ Master, to sleep in a bed just like Master and even be able to play outside with Master! Instead, it ate on the floor next to Master, slept on the floor next to him and stayed inside. Don’t get it wrong, Kappa was grateful for Master! Without him, Kappa would have died by now and if it was alive, it wouldn’t know how to behave. It would be all alone in the world and die alone! It would have no life, no purpose and its’ only use would be to die in a hole and-Kappa was forever grateful for Master. Kappa knows it shouldn’t want things but it did and it found things. It never told Master about his little collection; Master would just take all of it away. Kappa knows it shouldn’t be doing this but… it made it better; made it feel in control.Its’ collection consisted of a small piece of glass it found in the halls plus a metal clip and a blue piece of string it found in Masters’ office. The blue string made it… weird. The string made Kappa feel almost incomplete in some way. The colour made it nauseous and it wanted to rip it into a million small pieces just so it didn’t need to see it again! But… it also felt comforting. It reminded Kappa of memories that were shut away in a cloudy fog in its’ mind. It drove Kappa mad!It wasn’t just a simple object to Kappa. The colour made its mind flare with discomfort, a sickly twinge of something long buried. Every time Kappas’ gaze landed on it, the string seemed to twist and writhe, a physical manifestation of a deeper, ungraspable frustration. The blue reminded Kappa of something- someone?- but the memory was elusive, slipping through its’ fingers like water.It felt almost like an intruder, like a part of Kappa that should not exist, yet it couldn’t bring itself to destroy it. There was always a pull in its chest, something sweet and soft tangled up with the sharp urge to tear it apart. It was wrong, but it was also right in some way Kappa couldn't explain. The more Kappa stared at it, the more it felt this quiet gnawing feeling claw at its’ insides but the harder Kappa tried to make sense of it, the more it felt as though it was coming undone at the edges. The blue string didn’t belong in the present. It didn’t belong in Kappa’s collection. Yet there it was, gnawing at Kappa’s mind like a splinter lodged in the brain.It had to know why it felt like this, and yet, part of Kappa was terrified to find out.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Master loved to touch Kappa; all day and all night. He said that he liked having Kappa around; those single words made Kappas’ heart want to explode with joy! Master loved him! Master loved him. Sometimes Master would sit Kappa onto his lap and he would whisper thing into its’ ears. He did it every day!Today, however, they were doing it differently. Sometimes when Kappa misbehaved, Master would either lock him in the dark room or… this. Kappa would sit in Masters’ lap and he would discipline it in some way. He was cutting its’ thighs today.Kappa squirmed as the dull knife dug into its’ thighs. Tears streamed down its’ face and it desperately tried to hold onto Master. Master showed no emotion as blooded flooded into his lap.“K-Kappa’s sorry f-f-for whatever it did, Master! I-It really is!” Kappa wailed into the crook of Masters’ neck. Master didn’t tell Kappa what it did to deserve the punishment. He just told Kappa it needed to be disciplined. Kappa wanted to fight back; to tell Master that it didn’t do anything! It promised! Don’t get the whip oh my god please don’t please please please it would be better it would be please please please! But that would end in a worse punishment so Kappa only got up from its’ resting place. Master then told Kappa he’d stop once Kappa apologised for what it did. Kappa didn’t know so it couldn’t apologise.“ Master, p-please! Kappa’s sorry, i-it’s sorry! K-Kappa’s sorry for being useless and stupid a-and a burden!” It blubbered into his neck as cold fingers dug into the cuts. It hurt. It hurt so fucking much. Kappa didn’t beg and cry for Master to stop though, oh no. Kappa deserved this. It did something bad and Master was giving him the repercussions.“I know you are, but I am making sure you never become those again!” Master reassured it as he brought his fingers out of its’ wounds. Kappa removed its’ face from his neck and looked up at Master. It- It was over… It was over! Kappa actually did something for once and pleased Master! It still thinks it could do it but Master thought it was perfect. Kappa let out a giggle despite its’ gross face- snot running down its’ snout and its’ face and eyes all red. Master wrapped his arms around Kappa as he whispered sweet nothing into its’ ears and Kappa had never felt such peace before.Master loved Kappa.……
Then why did Kappa feel so scared?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Meetings.Kappa hated meetings.It would be paraded around on its’ leash- Why did it wear that? Kappa wouldn’t bite runaway- and it would be prodded and groped everywhere. A lot of the soldiers had never seen Kappa before and were curious about its’… everything! Its’ teeth, hands, feet but mostly its’ shell. It’s hard, scraped, cracked shell.Kappa would be chained down next to the head seat; Masters’ seat. A hand would be rested on Kappas’ head while Master and all the other soldiers talked about nonsense; turtles, Krang, weapon shipments and someone named Yoshi or Yobi or something like that. A lot of these things rang alarm bells in Kappas’ head and it didn’t like that one bit.Kappa was currently in that exact situation. It sat on the floor in a firm seiza as Master and the other discussed about weapons or something like that. During these times, Kappas’ mind wandered. It always wondered where it came from. Master never told it and forbid it from asking him but Kappa could always think about it. For all it knew, there was no one like Kappa on base so it couldn’t ask them. The again, Kappa never left Masters’ side so it never really saw or talked to anyone else. So where did Master get it from?Kappa was snapped out of its’ thoughts when a soldier burst through the doors of the meeting room. They ran in panting and bent over as soon as they entered the room.“Th-They’re here! Master Shredder, Ham-Hamato Yoshi, he’s- gag- he’s here and the other turtles!” The soldier panted out as they quickly went down into a bow. Master Shredder- Who was ‘Shredder’? The name rang a bell in Kappas’ mind and it brought up unpleasent feeling and memories.- swiftly stood up with a furious look in his eyes.“What?!” Masters’ voice cut through the room like a blade. His hands curled into fists, his posture rigid with rage. Kappa flinched; Oh, Master was angry angry.“Where?” Master demanded. “Where are they now?”“Th-They’re in the throne room, Master!” The soldier stammered, not looking up from their bowed position. "I... I didn’t know what to do. They had already taken o-out the guards when I saw them!”That seemed to anger Master even more; who ever these guys were, Master did not like them! Master instructed all of the soldiers to come with him as he marched out the room but left the soldier who burst through the door and another soldier at the end of the table, Master instead told them to guard Kappa. The one at the table quietly stood up and approached Kappa while the other one continued to catch their breath. Kappa had never seen this ninja before, or maybe it did, they all looked the same. The soldier reached into their belt and pulled out a lighter and a cigarette.“Wha- H-Hey! We can’t smoke in here!” The soldier at the table exclaimed as they also approached Kappa.“Why not? I mean, the Shredder isn’t here so he can’t care.” They lit the cigarette and lifted up their mask so their mouth was exposed. The soldier took a long drag and exhaled the smoke into Kappas’ face, making it hack and cough. Kappa stared at them, confused and uncomfortable.The soldier with the cigarette noticed Kappa’s stare and smirked, as though they were amused by the discomfort. They exhaled another cloud of smoke into Kappas’ face.“Never seen a smoke before, huh?” The soldier chuckled. They tapped the cigarette with their finger and ash fell into Kappas’ lap. The soldier seemed as if entirely unconcerned about the rules. "You should try it sometime. It helps with the tension."Kappa's body tensed. No; Kappa didn’t want to try. It didn’t trust anything people offered it, unless it was Master of course!“Stop it, you’re making the place stink!” The second soldier muttered. “We’re not supposed to be messing around. Just keep an eye on it.” They looked at Kappa, a sharpness to their voice. Kappa flinched at their stare; it didn’t want to be disciplined by them.The first soldier took the cigarette out of their mouth and shoved it into Kappas’ head, making the terrapin let out a whimper. It hurt, of course it did, but it was more of a dull pain than the sharp ones Kappa was used to.Master then suddenly marched back into the room, soldiers in tow. He seemed… annoyed, that was Kappas’ best guess. He wasn’t angry like before but he wasn’t content. Kappa could tell by the glare in his eyes; Kappa was around Master so often to know what to look for! There was slight splatters of blood on his armor and the other soldiers also had small patches of blood on their yorois’. Kappa didn’t know if it was their own or someone elses’.“Did everything go smoothly?” Master questioned the two soldiers standing beside Kappa. They both gave a bow.“Yes, Master Shredder. Kappa was very well behaved.” The first soldier replied while rubbing Kappas’ head like it was a dog. Before idiotic brain could comprehend it, Kappa bared its’ teeth, a growl stuck in his throat. As quickly as it had lifted it, Kappa dropped its’ mouth.What…was…
THAT?!
Kappa froze, heart pounding. It didn’t mean to do that! Why did it do that?! Was it trying to get punished?! It just… reacted. The soldier's hand was still on Kappa’s head, the touch unnervingly cold. No one noticed; No one noticed. Kappa quietly thanked its’ lucky stars as Master sat back down at the end on the table.Strangely enough, being near Master made Kappa want to gnaw off its’ arm.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kappa fucked up. It fucked up. It fucked up, it fucked up, it fucked up it fucked up it fucked up it fucked up it fucked it holy shit it was going to die alone and it was such a stupid fucking piece of shit just die already god damn it-It was safe to say Kappa was in trouble.Master had pinned down Kappa; okay, alright, Kappa was used to that. Kappa spread its’ legs, not enough apparently, and Master spread them further. Kappa bit its’ lip, leaned its’ head back and closed its’ eyes; all it had to do was relax and it’d all be over soon.
In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in.
Master stuck a thumb in its’ mouth; that happened a lot, Kappa was used to it, it should be used to it. That was Kappa messed up…It bit down. Hard.Blood flooded Kappas’ mouth and painted its’ teeth a metalic red. Master ripped his thumb out of its’ mouth and left Kappa dazed. Its body ached with confusion, shame, and an unfamiliar sensation bubbling up from its gut- pride. It wasn’t supposed to feel anything that didn’t keep Master happy. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t feel something like that.Kappa was pulled off of the bed and, through foggy vision, was marched out of the room. Reality hit Kappa and it began to scream. It screamed it was sorry, it really was, Kappa promised to be good it promised it promised it promised it promised promise promise promise promise promise please please please don’t punish it not again not ever please please please please please-Kappa was shoved into a small, dark, cold room. The door locked behind it and left it alone.At first, Kappa banged at the door until their hands were bruised and bloody, begging to be let out. It clung to the door, promising to never do it again, please just let it out please please please please please please please please please please please PLEASE!Nobody came.Kappa began to pace the room like a wild animal- it was a wild animal. It tried to talk itself down; Master would never leave it, it was fine, it will just take the punishment and then Master will be happy and he’d open his arms and Kappa would run into his arm and they’d hug and everyone will be happy! Everyone will be happy!Kappa cried it self to sleep on the cold concrete floor; there was a mattress in the room but Kappa didn’t feel like it deserved it. Its’ mind raced, a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions. The sharp tang of panic clung to the air around it, choking out any sense of calm. It needed to calm down, Master will come. He always does. This is nothing. Just a little time, a little patience. He'll forgive Kappa. Kappa repeated this mantra over and over as the hours stretched, pulling it into a restless sleep.Hours turned into days.Days turned into a week.
One. Single. Week.
All. Alone.
Kappas’ eyes flickered open after yet another dull sleep, and the crushing weight of isolation bore down on it like a boulder.Kappas’ throat burned with the remnants of the useless pleases it had screamed earlier. The bruises on its’ hands throbbed, but they were nothing compared to the pain gnawing at its’ chest. The worst part was the silence. It was unbearable.
Master won’t come back.
Kappa's breath hitched, and its’ eyes darted to the small, iron door, but there was no sound, no footsteps, no voice calling its name. Just the cold, suffocating silence. The longer it waited, the more its mind twisted. The more it realized just how powerless it was, how insignificant it had become.
Master doesn't love Kappa. He left Kappa. He’s never coming back!
Tears welled up in Kappas’ eyes and they fell like droplets of rain on a parched earth—slow, steady, and filled with unspoken sorrow. It had cried so much already.Kappas’ hands clenched into fists, nails biting into palms, the need to do something overwhelming. To move, to scream, to fight, to make the tears stop.Kappa couldn’t stop itself from rising to its’ feet, staggering toward the door. With all the strength it had left, Kappa slammed its’ body against the metal door, hands scrabbling at the lock as though its very survival depended on breaking through- it did."Please!” Kappa wailed. "Please, please, Master, I’m sorry! I’ll be good! I’ll never hurt you again, I promise! Just... just come back. Please... please, I need you. Please..." The words were a ragged, desperate plea, but the door remained cold, silent, unmoving.Kappa threw itself to the ground and gave out a choked scream.It was stupid.
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! And it was selfish, and entitled and so fucking dumb and it was sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sor-
The door opened.
Light blinded Kappa and it was forced to shield its’ eyes. Master stood in the door with his hands crossed behind his back, rage and disappointment evident in his eyes. “Do you have anything to say, Kappa?”Kappa immediately scrambled over to him and knelt at his feet. “Kappa is so sorry! Kappa tries to be a good pet!” It promised, fervent and almost pleading. “Kappa is not powerful, and it’s easily controlled, a-and Kappa will do anything you ask! Anything at all!”That seemed to satisfy Master as he began to stoke Kappas’ head. That simple touch made Kappa nearly gag but it held it in, not wanting to displease Master anymore. Master scratched under its’ chin and Kappa let out a strained chur.“So sweet, so innocent, and so eager to please. You are such a good pet, Kappa~” Those words alone made Kappa want to tear out its’ own throat. Why, why, why did it feel this way?! It was supposed to love Master plus everything he did and said! So, WHY?! Why did it not want to show love to Master?!Kappa was sick of itself.Sick of its’ face.Sick of its’ skin.Sick of the dark.It wanted to crawl outside of itself.
It wanted to get away from its’ Master.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kappa was so fucking done.
It sits up in its’ own dog bed as it tugged at its’ muzzle. The sharp edges dug into its’ soft flesh and dried blood stained the metal. Master said it was to make sure Kappa didn’t bite him again; that made Kappa want to bite him even more.Kappa pulled at muzzle again but it slipped from its’ grasp and hit it in the face again, blood splattering onto it fingers. Its’ eyes watered and its’ face stung. The pain made Kappas’ thoughts fuzzy, clouded, and all it wanted to do was fight; to snap, to tear through the air, to sink its teeth into the warm flesh of the hand that had put this on it. It wanted to see Master in pain, just once; it wanted to feel power, to taste the sweet thrill of control.But that wasn’t possible, was it? Kappa wasn’t allowed to bite anymore. Not unless Master said it was okay; not unless it had been ‘earned’.A low growl bubbled up from Kappas’ throat, weak and muffled behind the metal. It felt ridiculous; it was ridiculous.
Master was sleeping soundly in his bed without a care or struggle in the world; that made Kappa furious. He was the one who deserved to be muzzled, not Kappa! Master was the one who deserved to be punished, to be staved, to be locked away all alone, to be ridiculed!
…
Kappa could punish him.
Kappas’ heart raced at the idea. The muzzle made it hard to pant, but Kappas’ chest heaved with the effort. The instinct to attack, to punish, was nearly overwhelming.
It eyes drifted over to Masters’ sleeping body and its’ body burned with the desire to strike. To snap its’ teeth and tear him apart. But the muzzle held fast, and all it could do was whimper, a sound that tasted like defeat.
It wanted to break free. It would break free.
Kappa reached under its’ bed and pulled out its’ piece of glass; this should do the trick. It stood up on its’ shaky legs and limped over to Master. With a tight grip, Kappa put the sharpest edge of the glass on the left side of Masters’ throat and, as quickly as it could, slid it across his throat, making sure it dug into the flesh. Blood flooded out of Masters’ neck like a waterfall and pooled onto the mattress below. Kappa brought the knife back down and slid it across Masters’ neck again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again again again again again punish him Kappa punish him more!
After a grueling amount of time had passed, Kappa decided that Master needed to be punished a different way; his throat was basically minced meat! Master had hurt its’ thighs before so Kappa decided to hurt his! It dragged the blood infested blanket off of Masters’ body and turned him over. It dug the glass into his thighs and dragged the glass across his skin, almost shaving off the back of his thighs completely. Muscle and fat fat came off of his body alongside flesh and veins, the veins spurting blood onto the bed.
Kappa attacked his hands next, slitting the wrists and cutting off the fingers. It then stabbed at Masters’ eyes next and cut off his tongue. Kappa cut open Masters’ stomach and ripped open his intestines; that would punish Master so bad! That was all this was; a punishment. Kappa was hurt by Master so it hurt him back, simple! Master treated Kappa like a beast; like a pathetic show dog whose only sense of comfort was the warmth of the v spot lights; like a little jester whose closest type of applause is the jingle of his bells. However, at the end of the day, the dog would heave and hack due to the pain of the heat, eventually being deemed useless if it could not handle a simple light and the jester would be forced to drop his crown as the court jester, being cast away to stave in the street; Kappa was different, Kappa fought back before it could be thrown out.
Kappa gave a final stab to Masters’ face and brought the glass up to its’ chest. It got back up onto its’ feet and walked over to its’ bed; Kappa was going to leave and go somewhere far away so when Master woke up, he could calm down before bringing Kappa back. Kappa grabbed its’ thin blanket and wrapped it around its’ shoulders before walking out the room; Kappa knew where Master hid the key. It put the key in the same hand as the glass.
It opened the door and looked around, no guards. It gently closed the door so it didn’t wake Master. It limped over to the stairwell and grabbed onto the railing, blood smearing onto the metal. It walked down multiple flights of stair on shaky, brutalized, malnourished feet
Kappa soon came across a door with the word… e… x… i… t… Exit… Exit, exit! Kappa put the key into the loock and twisted because isn’t that how you unlock a door. It pushed down on the handle and opened the door, a blast of cold air hitting it. The air stank of garbage, smoke and something else horrible. It stepped outside before closing the door behind it.
Kappa had stepped into a small, filthy alleyway. Graffiti covered the walls and garbage overflowed in a dumpster. Kappa walked down the alleyway, behind buildings a kept waling for… it didn’t know how long but the sun went up and down multiple times.
Okay, maybe leaving wasn’t the best idea; Kappa was hungry, sleepy and its’ feet were bleed. Plus, the blood- whose blood was this again- had dried to his skin and smelt horrible!
After about… another sun going down, Kappa collapsed against a brick wall, scraping its’ arm and causing blood to well up at the deeper scrapes. It heard a small gasp to the side of it and weakly lifted its’ head to find the source.
It was a human.
The human had long orange hair and bright blue eyes. She was carrying a plastic bag full of something that smelt heavenly. It smelt like something only Master had the honour of eating- speaking of Master, where is he? Kappa thought he would have found it by now… Maybe he got tired, or lost, or he wanted to get rid of Kappa because Kappa tried to punish it oh god no please no Kappa just wanted to make things fair please god no plea-
“Leo?”
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April didn’t expect to end her day like- like this!She was just bringing some food over to the guys and when she got to the manhole… he was there; Leonardo was there. He was extremely skinny, covered in blood and was hanging onto a blanket for dear life. He stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car; frozen and unbreathing. A muzzle was strapped over his face and a collar was fastened tightly around his neck.
Oh Shredder, you sick motherfucker.
April took a step towards Leo and the latter quickly scuttered to his feet, holding out a blood stained piece of glass towards her. April put the take-away bag on the ground and raised her hands.“Hey, Leo! Long time, not see. Look, I know you’re scared but if you could put down the glass, that would be awesome! I’m not going to hurt you.” April tried to make sure Leonardo didn’t feel threatened so he didn’t run off or attack her. She took another tentative step forwards and Leos’ grip on the shard wavered.“How about we go back to the lair and get Donnie to check up on you? You’d love to see Donnie, wouldn’t you?” Another step closer and Leo lowered the glass even more. He didn’t flinch when her hands met his and she gently took the glass from his wounded hand; that simple action made April want to throw up. In the middle of Leos’ palm was an obviously infected burn in the shape of the Footclan symbol; Donnie can fix it, Donnie can fix it, Donnie can fix it.Repeating that mantra in her head, April wrapped an arm around Leonardo who was still staring straight ahead. She grabbed onto the plastic bag and led Leo to to the manhole. “Let’s get you back home.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This human was very nice but very dumb. She was calling Kappa ‘Leo’ and wanted to get it back home. Home was… was probably the other way, not down in the ground. The human was acting very weird as well; she was very gentle and soft spoken, it was very different to the sharp words and rough grabs Kappa was confused to so it let her touch it. It gently lolled its’ head to stare at the bag; the delicious, succulent smelling bag. The human seemed to notice this and instead of yelling at Kappa to ‘not be greedy and stop begging and wait for its’ food’,- it was always scraps; scraps or kibble.“It’s pizza gyosa; you and the guys love them. We’ll get that- that muzzle off and you can have some.” The human said with a smile; it looked forced.“I thought it sounded weird at first but Donnie made me try it and, let’s just say, I was hooked!” The human said, obviously trying to small talk, as she helped Kappa into the ground. Why was there a covered hole in the ground? Kappa would never though. It stunk a lot though. The girl didn’t seem to mind it though.“Off we go!” She grabbed onto Kappas’ non-branded hand and began to pull it forward; hopefully Master isn’t too mad.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Leo wasn’t saying anything; this raised some redflags for April. He only stared at the food in the bag- I mean, duh April! He’s obviously been starved!- and the infected hand didn’t seem to bother him; maybe it wasn’t infected, April didn’t really pay attention during their first-aid project. Leo didn’t seem to react to her mentioning Donnie, maybe he would when he sees him.April, practically dragging him, walked alongside Leo who kept staring. His eyes never caught on anything, except the food, and they were cloudy- Oh, shit! Was Leo blind?! Just to be sure, April waved her hand in front of his face.“Hello? Leo?” Leo tilted his head the smallest fraction to stare deep into Aprils’ eyes; creepy!“You can see, right?” He gave the weakest nod April had ever seen but hey! She wasn’t complaining; it was an answer!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This was getting weird. The girl had been asking it questions; questions that, to Kappa, seemed so obvious. Of course Kappa could see! It had eyes, didn’t it? It could see the dried blood coating its’ plasteron, dark and flaky, staining its’ skin like a stain that couldn’t get washed out. The girl, with her strange mix of concern and curiosity, just kept asking. She dragged him along and Kappa stared down into the water; geez, that’s a lot of blood. Maybe Master would let it have a bath if it took its’ punishment!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~April could see the entrance to the lair and that made her heart spike. She had no idea how the guys or even Leo would react! Leo had no reaction to seeing the entrance and April took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She had to stay calm, even though the pit in her stomach kept growing. April could hear the soft scuff of Leos’ feet dragging behind her as they entered the lair. His eyes scanned over everything- the t.v, Raphaels’ punching bag, the kitchen, etcetera. April didn’t see anyone and the lair was dead silent."Um, guys?" April called out, her voice carrying through the empty lair. She wasn’t sure what kind of reception Leo would give everyone; would he be scared? Happy? Would he attack them? Surely not, he would’ve attacked her already.“O-Oh! April you’re here!” Donatello called out from his lab and April heard him scuttle out of his lab, all excited.“I was just about to call you! I just-” Donatello came rushing and as soon as he laid eyes on Leo, he froze. His smile dropped as he stared was Leonardo, who was now staring at the food bag again.“Leo?” Donatello voiced in a weak tone as he took a step towards said turtle.“Leo!” Without any warning, Donatello ran towards the turtle and threw their arms around him. Leonardo let out a yelp and stood still as Donnie sobbed. April took a step back and watched the two turtles hug; well, it was more like Donnie desperately clinging to Leo as he just stood there. At least Leo wasn’t freaking out, right?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck?
The human said she was bringing Kappa home! Where is it and who is the turtle hugging it?!Kappa was just begging for some food- unlike Master, this human actually wanted to give Kappa food- when someone wrapped their arms around Kappa and began sobbing. Kappa just stood there as ‘Donnie’ hugged it.…Wait a minute……Oh! This was one of Kappas’ brothers; another Kappa! This brought a chur out of Kappa and the purple masked Kappa looked up at it with some much love in its’ eyes.“S-Sensei! Raph! Just- Everyone come here!” The purple Kappa cried out. Sensei? Probably just another word for Master! Soon enough, a rat appeared wearing a kimono alongside two other Kappas, one of them wearing red while the other wore orange. The red Kappa had a white patch over its’ right eye and the orange one had a couple of band aids while their Master didn’t have any visible injuries; he probably punished them earlier and patched them up. Master never patched Kappa up… The other two Kappas’ had a look of disbelief on their face, the orange one with tears in its’ eyes, while the… the… Rat Master! had a look of longing and shock in his eyes.Before Kappa could speak, the Rat Masters was embracing it in a hug, whispering something in Japanese. Kappa just stood there as its’ knees felt like jelly; the Rats’ kimono smelt so comforting. It smelt like lavender and incense with a hint of tea leaves. Kappa inhaled the soothing smell and leaned into him. Maybe the Rat would be as kind as Master…~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mikey had dreamt of this moment for months.Well, this wasn’t how it went exactly.Mikey had always imagined breaking into the Footclan lair, beating the Shredders’ butt and rescuing Leo before cele with a feast of pizza. He didn’t expect… this.Covered in blood, wounds covering every surface of his body, muzzled and collared; Leo stood before them. His papa was hugging Leo and Mikey swore he saw tears in Raphs’ eyes; Mikey would have made a joke about that but now was not the time.Donnie mumbled something to Splinter and, with Leo still leaning into Splinter, lead Leo to Donnies’ lab. Leo limped next to him and his eyes glanced over at Mikey. They were dull and slightly bloodshot; staring at Mikey with a thousand-yard stare. Splinter held Leo close, his gentle arms cradling the battered form of his son. His face was a mask of controlled worry, but Mikey knew better; beneath the calm, there was concern, fear, even anger for what had been done to Leo. Raph turned to face April with a look of pure rage and disbelief in his eyes.“Where did you find him?” Raphs’ voice was uncharacteristically quiet and if looks could kill, April would be dead and buried. He wasn’t angry at her, oh no; he was angry at the Shredder and whoever else hurt Leo.“I-I was walking here from Murakamis’ a-and I just saw him in the alley!” April replied in a stressed-out tone. Mikey didn’t say anything; too overwhelmed to speak.All of his words felt so small compared to the reality of what they were facing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kappa had never been in a room like this; there were tables covered in machines and books plus the walls were covered in posters and diagrams. It was led to an empty table and made to sit on it as purple Kappa scoured its’ tables for something. The Rat Master sat next to Kappa and it instantly moved to sit beside him, leaning against him once more. The Rat gave a sad smile and wrapped his arms around Kappa again. It gave out a happy chur and let the Rat embrace it. The purple Kappa let out a happy ‘ah HA!’ and walked over to the duo with a… two knives merged together? Oh… It was getting punished. It didn’t know for what though… Purple Kappa made quick strides towards Kappa and grabbed onto its’ muzzle.“L-Look, Leo, if this hurts, jus-just tell me to stop and I will.” The purple Kappa talked as if it was soothing a wild animal; Kappa might be an animal but it wasn’t wild! It had a Master!Purple Kappa put on the knife under the bottom strap of its’ muzzle. Kappa squeezed its’ eyes shut, waiting for the knife to stick into its’ face… but it didn’t. The strap of the muzzle snapped off and purple Kappa moved on to the other straps. Kappa was confused; it need the muzzle on, didn’t it? The muzzle was soon removed and purple Kappa instantly grabbed a medical kit.“Should’ve done this first but you- you can’t clean the wounds when you can’t reach them, no no…” Purple Kappa rambled under its’ breath as it dabbed a liquid coated cotton ball on the muzzle wounds. The liquid stung a lot and smelt funny; when Kappa tried to taste it, purple Kappa pulled it away and just… looked at Kappa for a few seconds before muttering something about ‘hygiene’ and ‘sanitation’.“You are doing very well, my son.” The Rat told Kappa as the purple Kappa put some patches on Kappas’ face- just like the red Kappa! Kappa was a little- no, very confused. Kappa wasn’t the Rats’ son but he was obviously talking to Kappa, not purple Kappa.“Yeah, it-it’s great to have you home Leo.” The purple Kappa flashed Kappa a smile. Who the hell is ‘Leo’ and why are they saying it’s nice to have Kappa home? They kept on saying Kappa was home.…But……
This wasn’t home; home was where Master was!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Raph leant against the doorway to Donnies’ lab. It was greatovergrown goldfish targeted Raphael. He made slashed towards Raphs’ face with his stupid knife and… one of the slashes landed, in Raphs’ eye. That was when they realised they weren’t winning this fight. Mikey threw down some smoke bombs and they quickly escaped. Raph thought he was going to die with how much blood there was!Donnie soon finished aiding Leos’ arms and face before moving onto his legs. “Can- Can you spread your legs, Leo? I need to- to check your thighs.” Donnie requested Leo as he slid some modified gloves onto his hand.Leos’ eyes seemed to glaze over and his head slightly dropped. “Master, Kappa doesn’t feel like it today.”Leo slowly opened his legs, unfurled his tail, and puts a hand on Splinters’ thigh.“Please be gentle, Master.”Raphael felt sick to his stomach.What. The. Absolute. FUCK?!Raphael swears to god, he was going to tear the Shredder a new one! That fucking cheese grater doesn’t know what’s coming!Raphael didn’t see what happened next as he quickly stomped away to his punching bag. He wasn’t made; that was a fucking understatement! He was fucking furious!Raphs’ fists soon collided with the sturdy punching bag. He briefly heard April ask him what was wrong but he quickly drowned out the question to focus on punching.Holy cheese supreme, he was angry.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kappa waited for Master to pin it down, to force its’ legs to open widers and to feel instrision in its’ nether regions. It waited for Master to start moving in and out, in and out, in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out-It never came.Kappa opened its’ eyes and saw purple Kappa with tears in its’ eyes. Oh, Master wasn’t here… Purple Kappa just stared at it.“Oh, Leo…” Purple Kappa sounded heart broken and as quick as lightning, wrapped its’ arms around Kappa, just like the Rat. Getting the gist, Kappa weakly put an arm around the other terrapin. That seemed to calm it somehow.“I’m- I’m not going to touch you like that Leo, never. I- I just- I just need to make sure you’re alright.” Purple Kappa reassured ‘Leo’- guess that’s what its’ going to be called now. Purple Kappa pulled away and Kappa quickly took its’ branded hand of off the Rats’ thigh; it did not want to played with on the first day, no thank you!Kappa soon zoned out, only zoning back in when the Rat gently dabbed the back of its legs; a place where only rough hands had grabbed and it wanted to cry. Other than that, it found the whole procedure boring and slowly drifted off with its’ head shoved into the Rats’ kimono.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Donatello was worried; really worried. The injuries that Leonardo had sustained were the things of nightmares. He had easily removed the metal collar- in which he discovered was electric; that made him sick- while Leonardo slept and contiued to bandage him up. His mind kept on drifting back to before. Where Leonardo called him ‘Master’- or maybe it was Splinter- and spread his legs. Donatello wnated to vomit but held it in and comforted his brother- thinking back to it, Donatello wasn’t thinking properly. If Leonardo was sexually abused, a hug could have triggered him! Said brother was now asleep in SPlinters lap, not looking a day over ten due to malnourishment- Donatello will have to get April to buy some medical needs and Donatello will set up an IV.Raphael and Michelangelo stood next to the table, Michelangelo rocking on his feet nervously. Donatello stood up from his desk and turned on ‘Doctor Donatello Mode’ as Michelangelo called it.“He had multiple malunited fractures, third-degree burns on his right palm, electrical injury burns and deep scar tissue formations from- from what I believe are whips and- and a knife.” Donatello said bluntly.“English, Donnie.” Raph spat as he crossed his arms in anger.“R-Right, um… He has- well, had multiple broken bones that healed but in the wrong positions as you can see from the bumps on his legs. On his right hand, he had very bad burns. On his neck, there are multiple burns from electricity, ch-chances are the collar he had on was electric. He has scars on his body and due to the formation- because of how the scars look, whips and knives were mostly used.” Donatello said in a dull tone while nervously fidgeting with his fingers. “He- He also has… syphilis which you can get from- from unprotected sex.”The tension in the air thickened and no one said anything, the silence only being broken by Leonardos’ small, raspy breaths. Raphael looked two shades greener, which was the opposite to Michelangelo who looked two shades paler. Splinter stroked his shell and let out a sigh.Your brother has been gravely injured so it is important that we take great care of him.” Splinter adjusted himself before picking up Leonardo bridal style.Michelangelo looked down at Leonardo. “He’s going to be alright, right papa?” Oh shell, his voice sounded so small. Splinter gave a sad smile.“He will be fine, Michelangelo. He will heal and we will help.” Splinter replied, his voice steady but filled with quiet sorrow. Raphael stood nearby, his fists still clenched, eyes full of frustration and fear. He didn't speak, but the tension in his posture said everything. Michelangelo, though, seemed to draw some strength from Splinter’s words, even if his heart still ached.Splinter left the room and strided towards Leonardos’ room. He laid Leonardo onto his bed and gave a small peck onto his forehead. Splinter didn’t know why the universe decided to break Leonardo but he was here to help pick up the pieces.
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Everything was soft; Kappa liked that. The room was slightly cold, the soft blanket making sure it wouldn’t freeze to death; so it wouldn’t freeze in that cold, dark cold lonely room where Master would leave it for hours days weeks why wasn’t Master letting it out it promised to be good please Master please please please please-
The door to the room opened and orange Kappa walked in with a tray in hand. A bowl of some that smelt amazing and a glass of water balanced on the tray. Oh, it must be feeding time!
“Heeeey Leo! I brought you something!” The orange Kappa seemed very excited. It put the tray next to Kappa on the blue sheets. Kappa sat up and just stared at the food, waiting for permission to eat from the superior turtle. You see, Kappa was smart and, even through its’ brain fog, figured out the hierarchy here. The Rat Master was the most important one here; everything he said, happened. The next in line was probably red Kappa it he? red Kappa seemed very important! He didn’t do any jobs like preparing food or treating people; he was a great warrior so that him important! Next one was purple Kappa! It knew about medicine and even patched Kappa up! That was very important to Master but not important enough for it to be considered a person. The Next person was the human girl. She seemed to be a cook- explaining why she had bags full of food. The second least important personthing- servants aren’t people, just like Kappa! Anyway, the second least important thing was orange Kappa; it was just a servant that serves food and probably cleans up sometimes. The least important thing was Kappa, duh! It was just a pet so therefore didn’t have any rights… It sucked sometime but that was how the world worked.The orange Kappa knelt down next to the bed and looked at Kappa nervously. “… A new season of Space Heroes came out!” Oh, it was actually talking to Kappa.“I watched all of the episodes and recorded them for… for when you came back! I actually liked some of the episodes; maybe we could watch it together sometime!” It seemed very desperate to initiate a conversation but Kappa didn’t know what it was talking about.“We could watch it from the start together! Donnie said you have to rest in bed for a while… Oh! I can get Donnie to update our T-Phones so they can play videos! Wouldn’t that be cool, Leo?” Kappa gave a weak nod to please the orange Kappa, even if it didn’t know what a ‘T-Phone’ was. It seemed to do the trick as the terrapin gave a small smile and leaned its’ head onto the bed.“So, uh, do you not want the broth?” The orange Kappa was changing the topic again, great… Kappa looked down at the broth; it was a murky orange liquid on the darker side of the colour spectrum, hopefully there wasn’t any turtle in it…“P-Permission?” It croaked out, waiting for the other Kappa to give the okay.“…Wha- Of course you can, Leo! You don’t have to ask!” That was enough words. Kappa instantly grabbed onto the bowl, threw its’ head back, and downed the contents of the bowl. It scolded Kappas’ throat but it ignored the pain. The orange Kappa said something but Kappa didn't catch it, too focused on the warm liquid that slid down its’ throat. It had to eat fast or else Master would take the food away. It soon reached for the water- the cold, refreshing water. The only water Master gave him was always warm and dirty. Kappa never complained though; it was grateful that Master thought it deserved water. It soothed the burning feeling left over from the broth. God it felt good.But the stupid terrapin had to fuck everything up! Halfway through the cup, Kappa suddenly felt wrong. The liquids felt like bricks weighing its’ stomach down. Water flowed from its’ mouth as it went into a coughing fit. The liquid dampened the blanket; in reality, the water wasn’t a lot, just a couple of drops. But to Kappa, oh no. No, no, no, no no no no no no no no no n- It was going to get punished. Fuck, FUCK! Kappa was doing so good; it even got rewarded!Kappa immediately pulled its arms to its sides, making itself as small as possible, eyes wide and fearful.Orange Kappas’ eyes widened too, its smile faltering for a moment as it processed the scene. “Oh no, Leo… I-It’s okay!” It reached out, but then hesitated. “It’s okay, don’t worry. It was just a little spill, okay?”But Kappa wouldn’t- couldn't calm down. It felt the overwhelming weight of the mistake, no matter how small, looming over it like a storm. The fear of Master, the fear of what would happen next, clamped down hard. It was too late to undo the damage."Hey, hey, Leo… it's alright. You're okay, it’s okay." The orange Kappa. spoke gently, trying to comfort Kappa, but it was lost in a panic.Kappa’s breaths were shallow as it stared at the small wet patch on the blanket, tears welling up in its eyes. Its head was swimming with thoughts of what Master would say, how it would be punished, how it never seemed to do anything right and it deserved to die in a hole all alone and-“Kappa’s sorry! Kappa is sorry! It’s sorry, it’s sorry, it’s sorry, it’s sorry, it’s sorry!” Kappa wailed, beginning to thrash about.Arms wrapped around Kappa and squeezed. Kappa wailed and wailed into the other turtles’ chest, sobs wracking its very soul.Someone else came into the room and they exchanged words with orange Kappa, Kappa didn’t catch any of this due to being so caught up in its own head; its mind was full of broken cogs and spiderwebs that Master was nice enough to fix.Hopefully Master would visit Kappa soon; it was starting to miss him.
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Kappa slept for days on end in the bed it was provided. It was a shame it was only here until it was fully healed, it always enjoyed sleeping in infirmary beds; soft sheets, fluffy pillows and Master wouldn’t do anything to it! He did anyway; Master didn’t care about Kappas’ injuries. Anyway, Kappa always got privileges whenever it was injured! Right now, it was allowed on furniture!Kappa was bundled up in some of the fuzziest blankets and the red Kappa, surprisingly, put on a random show called ‘Space Heroes’; it was the same show the orange Kappa talked about! The red Kappa sat down next to Kappa and he began to talk. Kappa let the words go in one ear and out the other; the only words that mattered were orders.The show was simple enough and actually kind of entertaining. It hummed along to the opening song and found the captain, Captain Ryan, pretty funny; it really enjoyed this show!The red Kappa seemed pleased with Kappa and a soft smile was plastered on his face. Oh, he was pleased with Kapp! That means Kappa was behaving!The red Kappa raised his hand and- Fuck fuck fuck Kappa messed up it did something wrong what did it do it was behaving it promised it was trying please please please- rested his hand on Kappas’ head.………Oh!Oh, okay! Nevermind! It was overreacting! Kappa leant into the gentle touch and purred; Master liked it when it purred.They stayed like that for a good half hour; the red Kappa brought Kappa closer and they sat in a makeshift hug, the show completely forgotten. Kappa swears that it heard the other begin to cry. There was noise from the entrance of the lair and the human girl alongside the purple Kappa walked in. They had bags full of something that smelt heavenly. It must be feeding time.“Hey Raph! Hey Leo!” The human girl said in a cherry tone, a smile plastered on her face it seemed forced. The purple Kappa also said something but Kappa just turned to face the screen again; if it wasn’t an order or Master, it wasn’t important.
The tv was on and Captain Ryan was giving a speech. The blanket was wrapped around Kappa just right. Everything was okay.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~There was a part of Raph that wanted to shield Leo from the guys, from everything. He looked so small, so broken in this state. But another part of him- the practical part- knew that everyone needed to help Leo and this was the only place where he would be safe, where he would be able to get the help he needed.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The human soon sat in front of Kappa.“Hey Leo! How’re you doing?” She asked ‘Leo’; silly human, not knowing who Kappa is!Kappa just stared at the girl, a blank expression on its face. They just stared at each other for a few seconds before the human spoke again.“We got you some food; it’s pizza gyoza!” The human handed Kappa the ‘pizza gyoza’ and it shakily reached out for it before sniffing at it, please don’t be poisoned! PLEASE do not be poisoned! Kappa quickly shoved the food into its mouth and it was divine; it was cheesy, meaty and was a touch salty. Kappa quickly finished its meal but it couldn’t stop its mouth watering for more. It was handed four more of the gyoza on a paper plate, it didn’t even breath before shovelling the food into its mouth. It was good.The other Kappas’ got some of the food so that means the human would leave to their quarters or go and prepare more food in the kitchen- what the hell.Nope! The human did none of these! Instead, she sat down on the couch! Just like that! No second thoughts or anything like that! Great! Now she’ll be punished by the red Kappa and maybe Kappa will be punished any second now!...............What’s the hold up?! The red Kappa didn’t even move! Neither did the purple Kappa! The human just- just sat there! If Master was here, oh boy! She would’ve been beaten black and green! Kappa stared at the girl with wide eyes and it took a couple of minutes before the staring was noticed.
“You alright, fearless?” The red Kappa asked… Kappa? Why would Kappa be called fearless? Whatever. Kappa pointed to the girl with a shaky finger and mumbled something.“Why- Why’s sh- she there?” Kappa found it really difficult to speak sometimes while other times it was as easy as breathing which was equally as difficult.“She’s here just in case the Shre- a, um, a very… bad person wants to hurt her.” The purple Kappa said from somewhere behind Kappa. Shre… shre… Shredder! Oh! They were talking about Master! They were calling him a… very bad person… He could be a little scary and mean and he always punished Kappa for NO reason but he always said Kappa did something did it do something Master would never tell it and force it to beg and say sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry- But at the end of the day, Master rarely always let Kappa lie in its’ bed and, if it was really good, Master would let it sleep in his bed! Can you believe it?! Some as gracious and magnificent and brilliant and breathtaking as Master would let a stupid creature like Kappa on his furniture and in his personal space! It made Kappa giddy at the thought of it! But… Master wouldn’t hurt the girl; he hasn’t woken up yet so...“N-No; Master wouldn’t- He wouldn’t hurt you- youse.” The purple and red Kappa gave a small flinch at the word ‘Master’.“Leo-” The red Kappa began.
“No, he’s- he’s not- he can’t hurt you anym- more! He- I- I hurt him and he didn’t wake up so- so he can’t anymore!” Kappa stressed, wrapping the blanket around itself tighter. Master wasn’t waking up.“Leo.” The red Kappa said in a dangerously calm tone, “Leo, what do you mean you hurt him?”“Raph, you know damn well what he means.” The purple Kappa hissed in the others ear, a look of dread on its face.“I- um- Kappa-” His throat, His throat, His throat; his throat was like minced meat “Kappa h- hurt him and he didn’t- he didn’t wake up! I don’t- I don’t know why but I promise- I promise I didn’t mean to hurt- to hurt Master!” Poor little Kappa was a liar liar pants on fire! Kappa was on fire because Master wanted to punish it punish it punish it punish it punish it PUNISH IT “Kappa just- I just wanted to make things fair!”The human girl had tears running down her face and a hand was slapped over her mouth. The purple Kappa had a saddened look on its face and the red Kappa looked indifferent; he just… pulled Kappa back into a hug. It was nice.The purple and red Kappa exchanged some words but they barely got through the cotton in Kappas’ head. Maybe it was for the better.
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Leo needed a bath.It was as simple as that.Donnie and Splinter had given him a sponge bath at one point to get the dried blood off him and to try to stop any oncoming infections but that didn’t really help the dirt clinging to his skin. It didn’t seem to bother Leo however; he seemed indifferent to it. But Raph had enough.“Hey Leo?” Raph turned to Leo, who was engulfed in the random cooking show Mikey put on, and asked said turtle in the gentlest voice he could muster. Gentle; they had to be gentle. Donnie had sat them all down with a power point set up. Raph would have made some comment, poking fun at the genius turtle: ”Oh, of course Nerdatello would try and bore us to death!” But no, it was serious. Donnie had talked about trauma, both physical and mental, and talked about making a recovery plan with April. He told them all to be gentle and patient with Leo, Mikey replying to that by calling himself ‘Dr. Delicate Touch’. Raph usually would’ve slapped him upside the head for saying something so stupid but Raph was so tired, he wasn’t the only one; Donnie had dark rings under his eyes and a slight tremor in his hand. Shell, Raph should have talked to him about resting but as soon as he was done, Donnie was back in his lab.Leo weakly tore his gaze away from the television, the person on the screen making some kind of pastry. He laid his head back onto the soft pillows of the couch before fully staring at Raph, a lazy look in his eyes. Leo’s hand absentmindedly scratched at the bandages wrapped tightly around his neck, the same neck where they had to get stupidly big wire cutters for the stupidly big collar that was stupidly put on Leo for some stupid reason- Calm and gentle. Calm and gentle. Like a river over stone.“How about I get you cleaned up? April even got that Space Heroes body wash you like!” Raph forced a relaxed smile onto his face as he stood up. Leo’s face pretty much went through the five stages of grief before his eyes filled with that same lazy look; Donnie had got him hooked up on some sleeping pills and they made him all woozy- it was the only way to get Leo to sleep without him waking up screaming every five minutes. Donnie planned on weaning the sleeping pills if when Leo made some progress.Raph slowly gave his hand out to Leo- who still flinched, Raph swears that if the Shredder wasn’t already dead, Raph would’ve killed him himself- and Leo cautiously placed his hand in Raph’s. After helping Leo to his feet, Raph wrapped a hand around Leo’s shoulders and led them both to the bathroom. Leo was… getting there. Every step was shaky and Leo made it look like they weighed a ton whenever he lifted his foot; making the twenty second journey three minutes long. It was because of those malunions or whatever Donnie called them. He said he was going to try and find a cane for Leo, but for the time being, they just had to help him walk everywhere.After a lot of patience and care, they reached the bathroom and Leo… was silently freaking out, Raph was sure of it but he had no idea why. Leo stood to the side as Raph began filling the bath up with warm water. Shell, the emotional tension in this room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.“So… you’ve been likin’ Space Heroes?” Raph asked tentatively as he ducked his hand into the water to check the temperature and poured in some liquid soap.Leo gave a small shrug of his shoulders as bubbles swirled up into the cold bathroom air. He chewed off a hangnail as he stared blankly at Raph. His eyes flicked to the running water and Leo shifted his weight, foot to foot. Raph stopped the running water and gently led Leo to the edge of the bath. Leo stared down into the foggy water and his grip on Raph’s hand grew together.“So, uh, Leo, ya’ think ya’ can wash ya’self or…” Raph glanced over at Leo, staring blankly at the water. The last time they had a bath together was when they were snot-faced toddlers. Well, they weren’t really bathing together but you get Raph’s drift.Leo was deathly still for a couple of seconds before shrugging again, you could have mistaken it for a twitch of the shoulders. Raph gave him a small, super gentle smile as Leo hesitantly stepped into the bath. He sat down, the bathwater going up to his shins, and pushed himself as into the farther end of the bathtub, away from Raph.Raph knelt down beside the bathtub, loofah in hand, and squirted some body wash April picked up into the scrubber.“..Can’t believe I’m admitting this, but Space Heroes ain’t half bad.” Raph opined as he scrubbed at Leo’s far-too dirty shell. “Captain Ryan is still way too annoying but, uh, Grundch is alright.”Leo stared down at his submerged feet as Raph tried to spark up a conversation to no avail. It wasn’t that bad as it gave time to Raphael to think.This whole situation was fucked up. It's so fucked up that those people took something from Leo that he will never ever be able to get back: months of his life lost to meaningless violence and… and the rape- Raph didn’t want to think about it.But Raph knew that he would have to face it one day..𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜Kappa was so, so fucking scared.The red Kappa wanted it cleaned up, cleaned up! The only time Kappa would be cleaned was when Master would… make Kappa see stars, oh the stars.Kappa would always wake up just long enough to see and feel, feel, FEEL the gunk between its legs and in the start, it would wail and cry and scream and beg for his father but why would Kappa cry for the god who did this to it?Kappa was good now, not great, not perfect, but good enough for Master to spare it its life; Kappa would stay still, float away and the stars!
Swirls of blue would flood his vision as its body would rock back and forth, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and- Master would stop, the gunk returning to its thighs.Master would pick Kappa up and whisper sweet nothings in its ear that sent the dumb beast over the moon. Master would scrub between its thighs and tail, Kappa feeling like it would expel its stomach at any moment.Master once said while Kappa was kneeling beside him that the reason why Master did this was because it showed Kappa truly submitted to him; submitted to its god. Kappa just looked up at Master with so much devotion, it hurt to breathe and think and walk and talk and exist- and gave a weak smile, teeth stained like raspberries after its most recent beating.So when the superior Kappa told it that it needed to be cleaned, of course it was scared; it meant the red Kappa would make it see stars. Kappa didn’t fight back, the stray beast in its mind wanting to bark, bite and claw its way to freedom but Kappa, unlike the stray dog, had a Master to please.The water was warm, it always was. As soon as Kappa sat down in the boiling water, it pushed itself away from the red Kappa, making room so he could join Kappa in the bath, it was also to get away from the poking and prodding hands sure to come.But he made no move to. The red Kappa grabbed a scratchy, pink ball and poured a thick, transparent slide onto it. He began to scratch at Kappa’s shell and- oh. That felt nice.Kappa rested its head on its knees and the red Kappa’s words became white noise to the turtle.Kappa could get used to this but it knew this wouldn’t last.The red Kappa moved onto its arms and the sudden contact had Kappa whipping its head up.“Hey, hey, it’s okay Leo, it’s okay.” The red Kappa said with so much anger panic in his voice. The arms retracted and he lifted his hands up in a mock surrender. “Just me; I’m just washing ya arms.”Kappa quickly dove its head back onto its knees; oh god, oh god, oh god! Kappa fucked up big time! The red Kappa would punish Kappa because it was ungrateful; it was interfering with what the red Kappa was doing so Kappa would be drowned and burned and shocked and starved and-“I’m going to touch your arms, okay?” Surprisingly, gentle hands rested on Kappa’s upper arm and began to scrub it in slow, gentle circles. Kappa’s breaths slowed down- when did they speed up?- and it looked the red Kappa in his toxic-green eye. Said turtle gave Kappa a reassuring smile as he continued to scrub at its scales. Dirt came off and Kappa actually felt clean; when Master ‘cleaned’ Kappa sometimes, it was just Master handing it a cloth and Kappa always felt so weak that it couldn’t properly cleanse itself, only strong enough to get the gunk out of it.The scrubber went lower on its plastron and Kappa realized what was coming. Kappa was stupid for thinking the red Kappa was more lenient than Master. Kappa should have just stayed on the couch and waited for the red Kappa to get angry and for him to drag it off the couch and beat Kappa until its skin is more black than green and the others would join in and they would hold it down and take turns with it but at least it wasn’t conscious at least it wasn’t seeing the stars and swirls and the black dots and the ringing noise-The red Kappa began to scrub at Kappa’s shin, the terrapin holding its breath. The scrubber went upwards and Kappa bit down on its tongue. The scrubber would go to its thighs and tail and its thighs would be spread and every bad thing that has ever happened to anyone would flash before Kappa’s eyes and it would wail and squeal and throw a fit-“Are, uh, ya okay with cleaning between ya’?” The red Kappa gestured towards Kappa’s thighs and unknowingly saved Kappa from screaming itself silly. Kappa shakily took the scrubber from the red Kappa, eyes plastered on the warrior. It began to scrub gently it couldn’t scrub any stronger at the fading bruises that painted its thighs. It shifted its body ever so slightly so that if the red Kappa changed his mind, he couldn’t grab its thighs.Soon enough, Kappa handed back the scrubber to the red Kappa. Silently, the red Kappa pulled the plug and drained the bath of its used water. He wrapped a fluffy towel around Kappa and helped it stand up. It was giving Kappa a gentle smile the entire time- it seemed forced.“I heard Mikey talkin’ about makin’ some brownies, ya’ feelin’ up for some?” The red Kappa asked as he dried Kappa off..𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜Raph couldn’t help but feel content as Leo gave him the smallest smile and a quick nod of the head.
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Kappa bit into the fudgy inside of the brownie, a content chirp escaping it. The orange Kappa was a great cook according to the other Kappa’s. A mindless reality show blared on the television that was really turned on to fill up the silence of the lair. The red Kappa had laid a soft blanket across Kappa’s shoulders and went off to find the orange Kappa a while ago. The orange Kappa, also known as ‘Mikey’ Kappa learned, handed it a plate with three small pieces on it.“Dr. Don said not to give him too much food- might upset his tum-tum.” ‘Mikey’ told the red Kappa as it put the plate next to Kappa on the couch. The red Kappa dragged Mikey into the kitchen and swapped words in hushed tones. When Kappa went to follow, the red Kappa softly pushed it back down onto the couch and told it to not worry about it, so Kappa did.After a few minutes and the orange Kappa plopping itself down next to Kappa, the purple Kappa strayed into the room. Mikey immediately jumped up and trotted over to the other Kappa. More words were exchanged but, as per the red Kappa’s orders, Kappa didn’t tune in.The purple Kappa rested a comforting hand onto Kappa’s shoulder and spoke a tender voice. “Hey Leo, how are we doing?”Mikey whispered to the red Kappa that “‘Donnie’ was on his ‘therapist’ mode” and that “He told me he’d read a super big amount of book about the mind and stuff.”Kapa gave a small shrug of its shoulders and rubbed at the branding on its hand. Master said it was to symbolize his ownership of Kappa, it caused many mixed emotions. The purple Kappa gave a soft smile and that made Kappa queasy.“I just need to ask some questions in my lab, think you’re up for that, Leonardo?” The purple Kappa had a gentle lisp, Kappa noted. Kappa stood up and swayed gently when the purple Kappa took it’s hand in it’s..𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜The purple Kappa’s ‘lab’- Stockman’s lab was much more advanced, hence making it a real lab- was… very cluttered. The rest of the lair was cluttered but the rooms were big, the purple Kappa’s lab was small. The walls seemed to close in on Kappa as it was guided to a plump beanbag. The fabric was soft on Kappa’s skin and it ran its claws against the polyester as the purple Kappa sat on a wheely-chair in front of the beanbag. The purple Kappa cleared its voice.“So, Leo, how are we today?” It asked gingerly as it crossed its legs and clicked its pen open. Kappa gave a small shrug of its shoulders and the purple Kappa wrote something down on a piece of paper attached to a clipboard.“...I heard that Mikey made some brownies, were they good? I didn’t get to have any.” The purple gave a nervous chuckle. Kappa gave a fearful nod of its head and began to chew on its nail.“That’s good.” The purple Kappa jotted down something. “As I said before, I just want to ask you some questions. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but I would prefer if you did.” You need to answer all my questions. You don’t have to but if you don’t, you’ll be punished. Remember, I might not be a person but I still have more power than you ever will~Kappa forced itself to hold in its hyperventilation and only nodded its head, the purple Kappa’s smile twitching a little.“Alright, first question: you talked about the Shr- Master a lot before, mind telling me about him?” Oh, Kappa would love, love, love talking about Master! He once made Kappa yell and scream about how much it loved him until its throat was raw. Kappa threw up and Master made it lick it up.“Master- Master- He’s my, um, master and takes- takes care of Kappa and, uh, yeah.” Kappa mumbled as it stared at its lap- Kappa really didn’t like this interrogationhim? Do you like him or…?” The purple Kappa questioned, not looking up from the clipboard.
“I- Um- I-” Kappa loved Master as much as it did itself. It may have been able to love itself a long time ago but Master came along and filled every part of Kappa- replacing the warmth of a hug from someone long forgotten with the cold metallic feeling of his hands, tracing and claiming every inch of Kappa until it slipped into something raw and beastly. Master once told Kappa that he was originally planning to make Kappa into a guard dog- a snarling, drooling, brain-dead beast that was farther from human than Kappa- but he changed his mind last second and turned Leo Leonardo Fearless My son Kappa into the pet it was today. Master made Kappa thank thank you thank you so much I love you so much Master thank you for bettering me- thank him for his efforts. “I like- love Master.”Love and like are two very different words. For example, Kappa loved Master and Master liked Kappa. Liking someone meant you put up with someone, took care of them and better them whilst loving someone meant you devoted your entire soul to that being, letting it entwine itself with you and letting it corrupt purify yourself. Kappa let Master wrap himself around it like a snake- the same snake that tricked Eve into corrupting herself and the same snake that laughed and laughed and laughed when Adam woke up and wailed that God graced him with their heavenly touch. The divine creator that graced Adam and made him one of the pillars of humanity by taking something away from him that he would never get back- A rib for Adam, Sanity for Kappa. Did Adam cry and beg God for one more chance, just one more feeling of home? Adam was too much like Kappa for comfort, just like how Shen was like Eve; a mother without a mother who was doomed from the start. That raises the question: was Master the snake or the god? If you look closely enough, you’d see that the snake came from God just like every other wicked thing in this god-forsaken universe.The purple Kappa wrote something down before skidding the chair over to an open notebook on the bench. “Okay, that’s… good. Can you tell me if… if you feel bad about killing ‘Master’?” Its tone was much more dejected.Did it feel bad? That question was about as foggy as Kappa’s memories. Maybe it didn’t. It used to pray every night that Kappa would wake up to see Master dead and buried or to not wake up at all. It didn’t feel bad when its body was stained with his blood; it was the highest form of love. Master spilt his blood and in return, Kappa did the same thing. Kappa was truly pure when blood splattered its body, staining its teeth and soul, evil parasites worming their way out of its skin. When the wounds wound themselves up, the worms returning to their nesting place, the cycle would repeat. Kappa would never truly be pure without Master; maybe that was the punishment for rejecting him. Maybe it did feel bad about hurting him.
Kappa shook its head.
The purple Kappa took a sharp breath. “That’s- That’s entirely okay, Leo. You thought it was the only way out, chances are it was,” It muttered that last part under its breath, “so you were acting rationally. Anyone undergoing your currently unpacked trauma would do the same. So there is no need to feel guilty; you don’t feel guilty, do you?”Kappa shrugged its shoulders and the other terrapin let out a sigh. “That’s okay, Leo. Killing someone wouldn’t have been easy. I don’t blame you.”More questions rained down on Kappa and it tried to answer to the best of its ability- it was only a stupid beast afterall. The purple Kappa asked it about Master’s training and punishments, that was a question Kappa could answer. Master had once traced his hands up and down Kappa’s wounds while forcing Kappa to remember why and how Kappa had them engraved on its body, fingers digging into its flesh. Kappa’s mind was fogged up as it recalled how Master had branded it and whipped it and starved him and snapped his legs but it was okay! Everything was alright! Master was training Kappa, purifying it!The purple Kappa had stopped Kappa’s rant and gave it a piece of paper alongside a pencil. When Kappa began to mindlessly scribble, the other terrapin walked out of the room. Kappa heard the other cry and mumble about something but Kappa took that as it getting punished. Kappa doesn’t know why but the purple Kappa’s Master Master must know what he was doing. The purple Kappa walked back into the room, eyes red and surprisingly without any markings on it, and Mikey in tow.“Hey, bro- Leo!” Mikey smiled at Kappa as it sat and spun on the purple Kappa’s chair. Wait a minute, if the orange Kappa had a name, why didn’t the purple one? The purple Kappa was hunched over its desk, rubbing at its eyes and looking over its notes.“Dr. Donnie over there said that he found a super cool cane but it’s kinda boring, wanna help me style it up?” Donnie. Its name was Donnie. Mikey spun on the chair again and Kappa shrugged its shoulders. Mikey reached over to the cluttered desk and pulled off a sleek black cane. “I got a bunch of paint pens and stickers! I even found some pizza stickers!”Paint pen in hand, Kappa simply watched as Mikey began to doodle on the cane. ‘Donnie’ passed by but Kappa tentatively took a hold of its wrist. “Yes, Leo?” Donnie asked delicately. Was that its name? Leo?“My, um, My name? I- Um- Do I have a name?” Kappa stared desperately into Donnie’s eyes. Donnie smiled down on Kappa.“Yeah, dude! We call you Leo! Well, your name is technically Leonardo but Leo is way cooler!” Mikey replied ecstatically as it coloured in an orange heart on the cane.Leonardo.Leo.Dude.It felt nice. Having a name. Kappa- No, Leo may have been moving away from Master but it felt good. It felt good having a name to call its own. Leo opened the blue paint pen and wrote the name down on the cane so it could never forget it. Leo smiled as the paint coats its fingers because, unlike with blood, the worms within it did not squirm with disgust, only delight.
Leo finally felt truly happy.