Puppeteer (TMNT AU)

Chapter 4: The deceivers, the prisoners, and the runaways Part 1

AN: so...yeah, I might start publishing every week, on Saturday and Sunday, because this is taking really long...anyways, here's chapter 4! 

~Leo & Karai~

Leo paced. He could handle being trapped in a cellar. But when the cellar is that of your own clan's, and you're trapped with someone who hates you, now that he couldn't handle. 

"Will you stop that annoying pacing already?" Karai got up from the bed, and sounded rather annoyed. "Damare!" Leo shouted.

"You're telling me to shut up? I should be telling that to you!" Now she was mad.

"Both of you shut it or I'm getting Jonin to come down here!" A ninja guard shouted from somewhere outside the cell. It was completely closed off, the only source of light, air, or even anywhere to look other than the walls and floor was a small, barred window, opposite of the door. 

"I'm gonna go mad..." Karai stated, plopping onto her bed and pushing her hands into her face. Leo almost wanted to cry...but he had to stay strong. But for who? He gasped, trying to hold back tears.

"Oh, Leo," Karai said, drawing his attention. "Happy birthday. You didn't deserve this...I'm so sorry. Kitsune's been in my head since the moment I could breathe, you had fourteen years. I was jealous of that. Even if I made you believe that it was because you were chosen as Chunin." She looked up.

"It was because I loved you like a brother...I didn't want that for you. I want you to know...it was never hate, it was anger." They stared at each other for a long moment. Leo couldn't say anything in return.

"You're right to be mad," Leo started, "what happened to you wasn't fair, what's happening to both of us because of father's lies...and Mikey..." He choked on the last word. Where had their sweet brother gone?

"He'll be fine." She said, motioning for him to sit by her with her hand. He complied. He felt like a broken toy, one that nobody loves anymore, so they throw it away, and it'll never have a place in someone's heart ever again, because it failed its duty as a bringer of joy.

"You can cry..." she said softly as Leo leaned onto her shoulder. "...you need to let it out at some point." He nodded, tears already falling down his face.

He was defeated, maybe Karai felt like this all the time. She was like a mystery to him, he didn't know her, she didn't know him. Destiny sure had a way of making two people meet.

~Splinter and the 'remaining'~

"My son, are you absolutely sure?" He asked one final time. "Yes." Raphael said sternly. "I will not disappoint you." 

Splinter glanced over his shoulder, a dark look in his eyes. "If you do...I will be greatly disappointed..." "don't worry father," He replied.

"I was born to kill..."

~Leo & Karai~

Hours had passed, maybe? They'd told each other almost everything. Now they knew each other like a book, mostly.

"See, I told you that you needed to laugh!" Karai said, her laughing dying down, but a cheerful tone still in her voice.

Leo laughed a bit more, then his face turned dark. "I guess..." he said sadly, rolling onto his side and letting the last rays of sunlight warm his cool skin before the cold night air could strike.

"What do you mean 'I guess'?" She asked, "you can't still be sad." 

Leo looked up at her. He was still crying. Why did he do this? Karai would say something to lighten the mood, Leo would laugh for a bit, and then...this. He'd just flop to the ground as if he'd been completely drained of every ounce of energy and happiness he had left.

"Stop moping around like a couch potato!" She half joked. "Come on! Get up and...do something. Like..." she thought for a moment about what Leo said he liked doing.

"Katas, or...or calligraphy, Japanese, drawing, reading. Do we have any Manga down here?" She grunted, glancing under the beds and in the cupboard under the sink.

Leo sighed, a really long one. Karai stopped her rummaging and crawled up to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "I don't know...it's this stupid Kitsune...she's been in my head all day..." he took lots of pauses to catch his breath. 

Was that unnatural? Should she ask for a nurse? Was he sick? 

"Do you want me to call for someone?" She asked, rubbing a hand along his arm. He shook his head and curled up.

"Just...tell me...how to...get...it out...of..." he had to stop to breathe. She clutched his arm tighter. "...my...head." He whispered the last words.

He laid his head on the stone floor, and went limp. His breathing got more natural, and it slowed. 'Oh! He's sleeping!' She realized, and she lay down next to him, the pale moonlight shining across their bodies.

~Splinter and the 'remaining'~

"Jenny...look at our family, it's so...broken." Venus said. Donnie sat nearby, toying with some machine. "Yeah? I've noticed." She was having none of this.

"Jen..." Venus reached for her sister, the only sister she had left. "Don't leave me... my birthday is in six months, just stay until then..." she begged.

"I want nothing to do with this clan!" She yelled. 

"But what about father?" Venus asked.

"Chichi wa nan-nen mo mae ni ankoku no sekai ni kuwawatta..." (father joined the dark years ago...) she said in Japanese, because Donnie and Mikey weren't completely fluent yet. (I'm sorry, I had to add Japanese)

"How do you know?" Venus asked.

"Anata wa hōhō o shitte imasu ka" (you know how) and with that Jenny was gone.

"What'd she say?" Donnie asked from his little corner.

"Chichi wa uragirimonodesu" (father is a traitor). Those were the few words that Donnie would understand, and remember for the rest of his life.

~Mikey~

Cold...why was it so cold? He wanted his bed, his brothers, his sisters, his father...would his family even be there?

He was ten years old, that was too young to be all alone, at least from what Donnie had said, but...he looked at his pocket watch, a beautiful golden one his father had given to him about two years ago.

It had already been a day? He'd done fine. He'd found food, a good shelter, and humans weren't as mean as Splinter said they were.

Sure, they had a base, and they lived with humans, but Splinter said that anyone outside of that was a monster.

Mikey had come to find out that it was the exact opposite. Splinter was the monster.

"Fakkuyū" he whispered, throwing the watch as hard as he could at the ground, and it shattered upon contact. (You can translate that yourself, not trying to be rude but, yeah.)

He pushed into his shell, closed his eyes, and let sleep take over.

AN. So how was that? I'm open to any suggestions because I'll run out of ideas soon. Check out my other story, 'Limits' (will have Leo!). Please comment and vote! I'll see you tomorrow...