Author's Note: This short one shot just randomly came to me while watching 'Exodus I and II' as well as 'Cousin Sid' and 'Monster, I' and watching Leonardo rapidly darken between episodes. It made me think of his thoughts and fears and I just decided to do a short thought story. It's my first in this Genre so be kind.

A few things to know: Italics Voice of Fear

"What are fears but voices airy?
Whispering harm where harm is not.
And deluding the unwary
Till the fatal bolt is shot!"
---- Wordsworth

I Fear

One does not understand their own fears. It is something beyond our own comprehension though we try to rationalize it. A happening from one's childhood suppressed into the back of your mind? An all encompassing fear stressed upon you by society? That one cannot be right, for neither I nor any of my brothers have ever been a member of any society but our own. We live isolated below the feet of so many innocent unawares, so their fears are something we as outsiders have never truly understood. In turn however I feel they might not understand our fears, except, perhaps in the most primal part of their being could they ever comprehend what makes our hearts scream in terror.

We are forever battling for our lives knowing that one day we will lose, it is something long excepted by us all and we do not fear our own deaths. I have long understood my mortality, but there is a never ending whisper of fear in the back of mind that I cannot seem to shake. I hear it every time my brothers and I spar and I easily overcome them, when I see the bored and restless glint in their eyes when our Sensei is lecturing us about caution. It screams in my head a deafening shriek when we are engaged in battle, crying out to me, all they need is one... All our enemies need is one lucky shot, a moment in which they can slip past our attacks and defenses.

I refuse to let myself end up as the sole survivor of my clan...of my family. I do not fear my enemies, I do not fear my death, I do fear death just not my own. I fear the death of my brothers, of my father, of my friends, and it tears at my heart and sanity when their safety is out of my control. I do not know if this fear will save me or if it is the one thing that could hinder me; I do know that it is real, tangible. It is thick and it sticks to the back of my mind, my throat, my lungs, until all I can taste is its bitter flavor, all I can feel is its burning sting polluting my lungs.

I will never let this thing I fear come to pass, I am the leader and protector of my clan and I will serve my purpose to whatever ends it shall bring me too. I would rather my own life end than the life of my loved ones, and maybe that is why I have found myself in this situation. I am not afraid, I do not fear that blade because my body is between it and the body of my brother. I am not afraid of pain, I am not afraid of the cold setting in, I am not afraid of darkness...

They will be alone now without your protection...

Brothers, I am afraid...Father I fear...