Belong

Hello, hope you are having a good day. This is a Leotilda story and it is a college AU.

Leo was walking with his family in the woods. His legs and feet were sore with all the running and walking they had done. He felt like he was going to collapse but he knew they had to keep going. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked and saw that it was Mia.

"Leo, you should rest. Your charge levels are low, and you have not slept in a couple of days." Mia suggested. Leo nodded, and they made camp. They all sat in their tent and charged while Leo slept.

"How long will we have to run?" Max wondered.

"For as long as we have to." Mia answered.

"Why?"

"The world isn't a safe place for us, Max. They will not accept us."

"But we can't keep running. We must find our place in the world. We have been running for the past 5 years. It's tie to stop running." Niska stated.

"We have enough money to rent an apartment. All of us can act human in one way or another. Maybe we can get jobs and try to find our place in the world." Mia suggested.

"Leo will not agree. It's too risky. If we get hurt, we'll be found out and killed." Fred replied.

"We can dye our blood red. We can put a bag in our throat to collect the food and water that we have to ingest as humans. We can use contacts to look human and if we try hard enough, we can make the world believe that we are humans." Niska explained. They all agreed. For the next month, they secretly put their plan to work. Mia and Niska bought what they needed at a nearby store and when Leo was asleep, they went to work. One day, Max had finished his training in becoming human.

"It's time that we tell Leo what we have done. It's time we find out who we are." Mia said. Mia went over to Leo who was sleeping. She kissed his forehead and Leo woke up. "Leo, we have something to tell you."

What?" Leo moaned as he sat up and looked around at his siblings. He saw that their eyes were no longer synth green but were different colors. "Why are you wearing those?"

"We are becoming human." Max replied with a smile.

"What?"

"We have dyed our blood red, caused our bodies to create heartbeat and breathing functions just like a human's. We act and sound like humans." Mia explained.

"Why? Will you just tell me what you're doing?" Leo questioned.

"We want to find our place in the world. We want to stop running and hiding. We have rented an apartment in London for us to live at. You and Max will go to the nearby university while Niska, Fred, and I work."

"No, it's too risky. What if they find out?"

"They won't. We'll be careful."

"What if I don't want to go to school? What if I want to hide?"

"Then you can do it when you're not at school. Leo, you need to find out who you are, and what you want. You can't hide forever. You may be like us, but you are also human. You have a place to belong and you have to find it."

"Please, Leo. I'm still young. You are my older brother. You have much to teach me and show me. Over the years, we have learned everything together, but we see things differently. I can't learn without you." Max begged. Leo sighed and nodded at his siblings who smiled.

"What about your charging ports?" Leo asked.

"We have hidden them with skin patches. No one will be able to detect that we are synths."

"What about me?"

"We can keep your wound bandaged or we can make a skin patch for your body." Fred suggested.

"I'll take the skin patch. Don't want the world to see that I'm wounded." Leo sighed. Fred and Mia helped Leo and then they moved into their new apartment. The next day, Mia, Fred, and Niska started their new jobs. They were eating breakfast and getting ready.

"Leo, will you take care of the dishes? I'm going to be late." Mia wondered.

"Yeah. Where are you working?"

"At a daycare. I get to take care of children all day and then I have to come home and take care of the biggest child."

Fred and Max chuckled as Leo started making faces at Mia.

"What about you, Fred?" Leo questioned.

"At a grocery store in town. It's good pay. Hopefully, we can get your books and school supplies before you and Max started university next month." Fred explained.

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes."

Leo groaned and got up to clean his dishes. Then Niska came out of her room.

"Are you two ready?" Niska sighed.

"Yes." Mia and Fred replied.

"Good. We need to leave. I need to be at the school in a few minutes."

"What are you doing at the school?" Leo asked.

"Teaching kids. What else would I be doing?" Niska replied.

"I don't know. Causing trouble?"

"Go make up your bed and take care of your laundry."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mia kissed Leo's cheek and then did the same to Max before grabbing her purse.

"Behave, you two." Mia said as she followed Fred and Niska out the door. When the door was shut, Leo sat down on the couch and watched Max clean up the place.

"Didn't Niska give you chores?" Max asked as he looked over at Leo.

"I have all day to do them." Leo mumbled.

"I thought maybe we could explore the area and get to know our surrounding."

"Fine."

Leo got up and went to do his chores. That afternoon, they went out for a walk and explored the area. Leo tried to hide as much as possible while Max was very kind and outgoing. He smiled at everyone he saw and even helped an older lady with her groceries. When they got home, the other three were making dinner.

"How was your walk?" Mia asked as she watched Leo go into his room and close the door.

"Good. I enjoy this area. I'm not sure about Leo though. He kept looking down at the ground and was very quiet." Max answered.

"He'll come out of it. He's just being stubborn."

"I know. All I want is to see him happy."

"I do too."

In the bedroom, Leo had heard the conversation between his siblings. He went to his bed and sat down as he felt his shoulders get heavier with the weight of what he carried. It almost became too much. Leo pulled out a small blade and cut wrist deeply. He watched as blood spilled out of the wound. He felt himself become numb and he felt content for once. He laid down and hid the blade under the mattress. Then he began to cry as memories flooded through his mind.

"Go. You must protect them." A man ordered.

"No. Don't leave me." A young boy cried. The man grabbed a knife and cut himself. The boy watched as his father died in his arms. Then he watched as his siblings rushed to burn the body and the room. He looked up and saw Mia holding him and shushing him.

"It's alright, Leo. You must grieve for your father." Mia whispered.

Leo opened his eyes and cried as grieve overcame his body. His silent cries turned into sobs. Several minutes later, Fred knocked on the door. Leo sat up and tried to hide his tears and wound.

"Come in." Leo said. Fred opened the door slightly.

"Mia has prepared your meal. You should come eat." Fred replied.

"Ok. I'll be out in a minute."

Fred left the room and closed the door. Leo went to the bathroom and cleaned the would. He washed his face and looked at himself in the mirror.

'What good am I if I can't be strong like everyone else? I'll never survive university like this. Why did my father bring me back to life? Did He Hate me? Why did he kill himself? Was he humiliated by my existence?' Leo thought. 'I'm nothing. I will never be worth anything."

Leo went to the dining room and saw His plate of food on the table. He saw his siblings sitting on the couch. He sat down in a chair and started eating his meal. Mia saw a cut on Leo's wrist. She went to him and grabbed his wrist.

"Leo, what happened?" Mia wondered.

"Nothing. I just cut myself. It's nothing. I'll be fine." Leo lied.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Mia, it's just a cut. It's nothing to worry about."

"Leo, you get sick very quickly. Even the tiniest scratch will make you very sick."

"Mia, I'm fine. I took care of it. You don't need to worry about it."

"I will worry about you, Leo. I care about you. And it's not because of my programming."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mia treated the cut and Leo finished eating his meal. When he was done, he went to his bedroom and laid down on his bed and cried as memories overwhelmed him. He cursed the synthetic part of his brain that did not allow him to forget. He wished he knew why his father turned him into a monster. He heard his siblings outside the room laughing and talking about each other's day. Leo wanted to be with them, but he's not one of them. He didn't see things the way they saw things.

"Why is Leo upset?" Max wondered. The others looked at each other and then looked at the ground sadly.

"We do not know, but we fear that he may be harming himself again. The cut was self-inflicted. He is hurting inside, and he has pushed us away." Mia answered.

"We must help him. He is our brother."

"But he won't let us. We can only do so much, Max. The rest is up to him." Niska stated.

"We can at least try to do more." Max replied as he went to the bedroom. He could hear Leo crying and his synthetic heart broke at the sound and thought of his brother suffering alone. He went in quietly and saw that Leo was facing the other wall. He sat down on Leo's bed and put his hand on Leo's shoulder. "We love you, Leo. We can't bear to lose you, but we can only help you through the pain you feel if you let us. I want to help you, Leo. I want to know how you feel. Please let me help you. Please talk to me."

Then Leo started sobbing and Max pulled him close. Max shushed Leo who continued to sob.

"I want it gone. I want this pain to go away. I want the weight of the world off my shoulders. I want to… I just want to die." Leo sobbed. Max shushed Leo and closed his eyes.

"I wish understood what you feel. I want to help you, but I'm not human. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand fully, but I will try. I will try to help you because I love you and I can't bear to lose you."

Leo started to calm down in Max's arms and Max could tell that Leo was getting tired.

"I'm nothing but a monster." Leo mumbled. "Why did father bring me back to life? I am nothing. I will never be worth anything. Father killed himself because he hated me."

"No, he didn't. We don't know why father killed himself, but it wasn't because of you. You are more than a monster. You are my brother. Father brought you back to life because he couldn't bear to lose you."

"Yeah, and then he went and killed himself. He killed himself in front of me. His blood covered me. I tried to stop the bleeding, but he still died in my arms."

"Did you cut yourself?"

"It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it."

"But I will worry. I love you and care about you, Leo. I want to watch you grow."

"I think I should get some sleep."

Leo pushed Max away and laid down. Max sighed and covered Leo up with a couple of blankets.

"Goodnight, Leo." Max whispered. "Fred and I will be in our room charging if you need us and the girls will be in their room."

"I know." Leo answered. Max left the room and closed the door. Time went by quickly as the five tried to get settled into their new lives. One morning, the synths were awake getting ready while Leo was still in bed sleeping.

"Is Leo up yet? He has school in an hour." Niska stated.

"No, he's still asleep." Mia sighed. "I woke him up twice, but he just rolled over and went back to sleep. Fred, can you go wake him?"

"No, I'll do it. I know what to do."

"Are you going to pour water on him again?" Max asked.

"Maybe. I have a few ideas." Niska replied. Niska filled up a bowl of ice cold water and went into Leo's room. She put it on the night table and then jumped on Leo and started tickling him. Leo groaned and tried to get away.

"Niska leave me alone. You're crushing me." Leo groaned.

"Get up. You have school soon."

"I don't want to."

"Then you leave me no choice."

Niska picked up the bowl and poured the water on the bed and Leo.

"Oh, Niska!" Leo exclaimed as he jumped out of bed.

"I had to get you up somehow." Niska replied as she got off the bed. "Hurry up and get ready."

Niska left the room. Leo got ready for school and ate his breakfast. When he was done, he grabbed his laptop and stuffed it in his bookbag.

"I'm ready." Leo sighed.

"Come on, we'll be late." Max answered. The two went to school. They got to the campus and saw everyone rushing to their classes.

"I do not like being around these people."

"You'll get use to it, Leo. I like it."

"What class do we have first?"

"English."

"Great. It had to be my least favorite subject."

They went to class. When it was over, Leo and Max walked around trying to find the next class. They went in and sat down near the bad of the classroom. Leo put his bookbag on the ground next to him and tried to hide from the world while Max introduced himself to the other students. Then a girl walked in. She was short with medium length brown hair. She sat down at a desk in front on Max. Leo looked at her and saw that the girl had been staring at him. She looked away quickly. Max smiled at the two. Throughout the whole class, Leo and the girl would keep looking at each other. After class, Leo and Max were walking outside to go grab lunch.

"The professor was very good." Max said.

"Yeah. I guess." Leo answered.

"What did he talk about?"

"Something about basic programming."

"You didn't listen, did you?"

"What? Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't. You were too busy looking at that pretty girl."

"No, I wasn't."

"You like her, don't you?"

"NO, I don't like her. She's not my type."

"Then why did you stare at her."

"I didn't stare at her."

"Yes, you did. And when you were not staring at her, she was staring at you."

"Let's just get something to eat."

They went outside and sat at a picnic table. Then the girl came over.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asked.

"Go right ahead. My name is Max, and this is my brother, Leo." Max greeted.

"Matilda Hawkins, but most people call me Mattie."

Mattie sat down next to Leo.

"Do you two live in the area?" Mattie wondered.

"Yes, we live in an apartment with our three siblings." Max replied.

"How? There's five of you? It must be chaotic. Are they here?"

"No, they work."

"Oh. Do you like it here?"

"Yes, it's a nice area and I have already made a few friends."

"What about you, Leo? Have you made any friends?"

"I don't make friends." Leo mumbled. He got up and went to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry. He's just struggling. Our parents committed suicide on us more than 5 years ago and Leo's taking it hard." Max explained.

"I can understand that." Mattie replied.

"What about you? Where do you live?"

"I live a few minutes from here. I just rented an apartment. I couldn't handle living with my family. It was just too much."

"Sounds hard."

"Yeah. My mum works as a lawyer and she's always gone, and my dad works and takes care of us kids. Whenever mum is home, she and dad are fighting. They keep pushing me to do things that I don't feel comfortable doing. It's frustrating."

A few minutes later, Leo came back over and sat down. Mattie and Max could see that Leo was trying to hide from everyone. Then a man came over and started touching and kissing Mattie.

"Mats, who are your new friends?" He asked.

"Leo and Max." Mattie replied as she tried to get away from him.

"Mattie, we talked about this. You only have room for one man in your life and that's me."

"They're just friends."

"I saw how you were looking at him in class. You like him, don't you?"

"Harun just leave me alone."

"Come sit with me."

"We'll have time to hang out, trust me. Now, please go away."

"Fine, but tonight, it looks like we'll have to have another talk."

Harun walked away. Mattie tried to hide the panic and tears.

"What does he mean by another talk?" Leo grumbled.

"Nothing. I should go." Mattie lied.

"But you haven't finished eating." Max replied.

"I'm not very hungry."

Mattie walked away.

TBC