My Cub

My Cub

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(So, this story is basically a little mini AU to the TMNT fanfiction "Three Brothers and a Slave" written by Crystal Violeta on Fanfiction.com.

Unfortunately, the story has been deleted as of 2021 but basically, the synopsis of the story is: "Since Leonardo could remember, he was treated differently from his brothers. Leo was a victim of cruelty from Splinter until he ended up becoming a slave of his own family."

I have read her story before and that got me wondering: "What were to happen if a certain giant mutant tiger found Leo while he was alone in the sewers one night?"

And thus, this take on this long-gone but never forgotten fanfiction was born.)

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"Three Brothers and a Slave" belongs to Crystal Violeta on Fanfiction.com. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and its characters belong to Nickelodeon.

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Leo is around four years old in case your wondering.

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The finding of this little turtle tot hadn't happened by coincidence and the tiger had just happened to stumble upon the little one while searching for any necessities that had fallen down the storm drain.

What had caught his attention were the bruises, cuts, and dirt splattered all over his skin and plastron, the fact that most of his rib bones were visible, and that at the touch of his skin, he was cold as ice.

The little turtle appeared to be asleep, he caught the gentle rise and fall of his chest in between his soft snores and sight of tear stains down his cheeks and his right cheek, a fresh hand mark.

But what set off all the alarms in his head was that there was chained to the floor by an ankle chain.

The tiger looked around to see if anyone was around and began to gently shake the little turtle awake.

The small turtle groaned and opened his sapphire blue eyes which were red and puffy from crying. He rubbed his eyes and let out a small yawn.

The turtle looked to his right, expecting to find his master waking him up to get started on the daily chores and breakfast preparations but was shocked to find not his master, but a giant tiger with glowing yellow eyes, half an ear, and an eyepatch.

He gasped and began to scoot back.

"Relax little one," he replied, "I am not going to harm you. I want to ask you a few things. What is your name and why are you sleeping out here. Shouldn't you be at home?"

"T-This is my home.." replied the turtle, "I-I live in the sewers... m-my home's over there, not here in the tunnels," he pointed to the staircase that lead to the lair where he slaved day and night, "... my name's Leonardo b-but my brothers call me Leo."

Leo began to shiver from the cold winter air and blew into his hands for warmth.

"Why are you chained to the floor here and covered in dirt? And who gave you those markings?" the tiger asked before Leo could ask any questions.

Leo's lip began to tremble a little and he sneezed, "T-This is where I s-s-sleep. I-I'm not supposed to be inside a-and have a bed of my own... a-and this is to prevent me from going inside the l-l-l-lair. A-And my master, S-S-Splinter hits me and gave me these marks... b-b-but it's m-m-my fault f-f-for making him mad a-and messing up all the time. Besides, I-I-I'm just his slave and n-n-n-not a part o-o-of the family."