Wild Uncharted Waters.

Chapter 13: Into Dark Waters.

LEONARDO POV
Rule number 1, don't be like me. Seriously. Unless you actually want to screw yourself over.

The current felt rough against my skin as I rushed my way out of the room. The salt irritated my eyes, no matter how much I swam through it.
This was it, I was finally out of that place.

Look, do you really think that I would listen to them talk about the same thing to me all day?

I know they don't want to lose me. I don't want to lose them either, but are they really that afraid of them? No matter how hard I tried to prove my point, I got shut down left and right.
What if.. maybe they're even afraid of me just because all of this happened? Do I really even matter to them at that point?
It's not that different after all.

A life's a life, right?

Pssh, what am I talking about, I'll be fine. I'm thinking about this too hard. Plus, this'll test how much they really trust me anyway.

For the first time, I got to be fully away from
everything.

It was just me and the water alone.

I got to be free again.

I finally shut them up.

It had been a few minutes, but then I started to wonder how far I was really going.

Oddly enough, the corals around me looked unfamiliar, almost as if I haven't been here yet. Well, I haven't. I checked around to look for any familiar spots, and I eventually found nothing.

I was starting to think about what they meant when they mentioned me going too far.
Probably not far enough in my case, but I'm completely lost.

Either way, I tried staying on duty, glancing at the palace behind me from time to time. Which in turn has shrunk, by a ton. It was kind of daunting seeing it gradually disappear into the distance like that.

Turning my head back, I sighed.
I swore I swam farther than this, why am I just now feeling a chill run up my shell? In a place that I've never even been in. I clutched onto my necklace in alarm, which I was so close to chucking into the sand.

See, I'm usually the type of guy who knows my way around these things. I'm used to running away. I find it strange that I'm suddenly so scared of swimming into unknown areas like these. Almost as if it was the wrong thing to do. (It probably is.)

Like, I'm not supposed to be scared of stuff like this, I'm the face man! I loved this stuff, I shouldn't be afraid of anything. I literally wander around whenever I need to.

But the thrill is no longer there. The passion and everything, gone. Like I don't even know where I'm going anymore.

Oh well, now that I'm alone, I can finally do things my way. I'm sure my brothers will be fine back there, and they don't need to worry about me anymore!
I can't cause any trouble to them at all now that I'm gone, right?

I checked for danger around me, 'cause you'll never know what's coming. No. Not in this part of the ocean. I tried to get a chuckle out of myself at least to ease the feeling.

At least I'm in full control.

Well, for now—until I rammed my head into a rock.
Now I'm starting to realize how important looking straight ahead is.

I felt it dig right into my brain. I wanted to let out the most painstakingly loud scream, but that's just sending a signal flare to the rest. I choked up my scream trying to keep it in, taking my hand off the wound.

When I thought it wouldn't be any serious, the water around my hand clouded up, and it became darker. It sure was a deep cut.

Then when I looked at it, I gasped in horror. Turns out, my hand's covered in blood.
seeing the red scatter above me and into the water made me tremble.