I may not live, but I will survive.
The guards dragged Leo down hallways. Familiar hallways. The ones Usagi and Him were trending fondly only a few hours ago. It was officially one week and Leo couldn’t believe he couldn’t have just kept his mouth shut.
One week in the S.E.E.K and he had never felt more understood, by anyone other than Raph.
And even his and Raph’s mutual understanding of each other managed to grow more and more faded every time they spoke.
The guards had attached chains to his cuffs, Leo hadn’t realized how weak he must’ve gotten, how tired, he hadn’t been able to sleep in this metal bubble since having arrived, he was exhausted, but even worse; he was weak.
Leo kept fighting though. Never letting up on the tugging, the pulling, the yanking. Leo screamed, he screamed until his throat ran dry and his voice horse, but even then he just kept on yelling. Even when the soldiers tazed him, when they kicked him and yelled at him to shut up.
Leo didn’t stop.
This place, it had given Leo a sense of relief, a potential safe environment that happened to be run by a fascist freak. It had fed him with the false belief that he may actually belong somewhere, that all he had to do was free them and he could be in a world of acceptance.
Leo had never been more disgusted by himself.
How foolish does one person have to be to believe they can fix a broken home- a broken prison and find happiness?
The guards dragged Leo with an alien strength, Leo was over 280lbs when he had left New York, he felt lighter now, was that a good thing?
Leo felt a cold rush go down his spine as the guards approached the doors; the ‘forbidden’ doors that Usagi had rather learnt to swim than go near.
All Leo could do was fight, he had no choice.
Leo knew he couldn’t break free from the soldier’s grip, so he had to prepare himself, prepare himself to take whatever shit they threw at him. He will not break.
Leo calmed his thrashing when the soldiers unlocked the metal doors, forcing Leo inside.
The hallway was not warm, not happy, and nothing like the others, it was cold and sad.
The whole area seemed to just be metal. Metal flooring, metal walls, metals floors.
Leo allowed the guards to lead him down the freezing path. Each wall was lined with cages, some had Yokai, some had things that Leo didn’t think he could even try to describe.
Leo felt weird. The long hallways felt longer than it had to be, it was so hot, it smelled weird, Leo didn’t like it here; he wanted to go back.
The hallway looked like it stretched for miles, Leo looked around himself some more, trying to shake the feeling that he was looking at everything from outside his body. Like he was watching himself from the third person.
The guards didn’t seem to feel any different, their helmets rattled slightly against their masks as they swung their heads back and forth to check the cages.
Leo could hear the faintest amount of noise coming from the cages. Pained whimpering, moans and cries of sadness and anger echoed off the walls and through Leo’s ribcage.
He felt so disoriented, but Leo could understand one thing; whatever they did to them was going to happen to him, and he had to be ready for that.
Splinter had taught him what to do in these kind of situations well, maybe too well. His Sensei’s methods may be unorthodox and some might even call him cruel but his methods worked.
Leo couldn’t afford to be calm and happy anymore, those months in the jungle were going to be locked into the safe, along with everything he was taught to hide and hate about himself.
Leo didn’t need to live right now; he needed to survive- Leonardo needed to survive.
The guards shoved him into an empty cage at the end of the hallway, the door shut behind him instantly, allowing only a little light to escape through the thick bars of the caged door.
Leonardo will find a way out of here so that Leo can find peace.