Human in the Sewer
"Raph", eight year old Leonardo's voice sounded tired and exasperated. "I want to go back home, Donnie and Mikey went back a while ago and Sensei probably has supper ready by now."
Leo was getting tired and hungry but he knew he was not suppose to return to the lair without his brother. This was an arraingement the brothers had agreed upon awhile ago to appease their Sensei so they could explore the sewers without him worrying. And although Leo was more then happy to explore he could only do it for so long before he had enough. Now was the time to return but Raph continued to walk further down a tunnel they were not even suppose to be in.
"If you want to go back to the lair then go, I'm not done exploring".
Raph's said sneering.
"But Splinter doesn't want us going this way, he says it's dangerous". Leo implored, "We'll get..."
"Splinter says this, Splinter says that, if you're so concerned with what Splinter says then go home already, I'm staying here!" With that said, Raph began to run down the forbidden tunnel.
Leo stared after Raph debating weather he should go after him or just return to the lair, but he knew his father would be upset if he came home without Raph so he he finally decided to go after him.
Raph had quite a bit of a head start and had turned to the left at the junction of the tunnel, so when Leo got to the junction he turned left and was surprised to see Raph was nowhere in sight.
"That's weird," Leo thought, "I thought Raph went this way", he continued to walk down the tunnel looking left and right thinking his brother would eventually jump out at him and try to scare him but so far Raph was nowhere to be found. As Leo continued down the turnnel he did not notice a pair of green eyes staring down at him from an open pipe hidden in the ceiling.
Raph watched as his brother walked directly under him, he waited with bated breath to see if his brother would look up or turn around but so far Leo continued to go down the tunnel, occasionally he heard Leo call out for him but he would not answer, he only smirked and stayed silent until his brother was far enough away that he could slide out of the pipe and run home.
"Serves you right for tattling on me to Sensei," Raph thought as he left his brother behind in the sewer.
Leo continued walking along the tunnel calling out his brother's name but Raph did not respond. As he walked, a growing feeling of anger and resentment came over Leo. He was hungry and was sure Splinter had managed to find spaghetti with hot dogs for supper. "Damn you Raph", Leo thought, "I should just leave you and go home, but then Sensei would get mad and I'll probably end up going to bed without supper so I might as well just keep going", he huffed. After a while of still searchin, Leo was starting to get a feeling of panic when he came to another junction where he had a choice of going left or right and decided to go left. His instincts were telling him he should just turn and go home but the brotherly part of him told him to continue to look for Raph even if he was being a jerk. So he continued figuring if he was not down this tunnel then he would search the right side, and if he couldn't find him after he searched that side, he would then go home. At least no one would say he didn't try. This part of the tunnel was not as long and he eventually came to the end where in front of him was a door with a sign that said "Utility Room". The door was slightly open and Leo figured Raph must be hiding in there so he decided to check it out. He slipped in and was surprised to see that the room was about the size of a small bedroom with a small mattress and some bedding in the middle. Above was a single dimmly lit light on a cord that hung a few inches from the ceiling. Leo walked in looking around and ignored the feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him he should just leave and return home, instead he moved into the room and began to scan the room when he heard a noise behind him, he turned expecting to see Raph and was about to reprimand him in his best Splinter voice when the sight before him caused him to let out a loud scream.
xxxxx
Meanwhile, Raph had made his way back to the lair, he figured Leo would give up searching for him and would eventually come home but he also knew that Leo was concerned about his father being upset with him if he came home by himself and with that in mind Raph knew it was going to be a while before he would see Leo. So when he arrived at the lair, he found his brothers Donnie and Mike in the living room watching TV and his Sensei was in the kitchen finishing up supper. He greeted his brothers and sat next to Donnie.
"Uh hey Raph?" Donnie looked at him with a quizical look, "Where's Leo?"
"How the hell am I suppose to know?"
"Dude," Mikey turned to him, "Weren't you two suppose to come home together?"
"He wanted to come home before I did so I assumed he was already here", Raph did not care if his brothers or Sensei got upset with him for leaving Leo in the sewers by himself, he could tell a story and just hoped they would fall for it.
"Well, he is not here Raph and you and Leo were suppose to stay together, what is Splinter going to say?" Donnie asked.
"The same thing you just said," Splinter came out from the kitchen to get his sons for dinner and had overheard the conversation between the three of them. "Raphael, where is your brother?"
xxxxx
There in front of Leo stood a human, rather tall and gaunt with a scraggly beard, dark hair could be seen under a filthy looking knit hat, he wore ragged torn blue jeans and a faded red torn t-shirt with a jean jacket on top, the human looked to be in his late 30s and had an disgusting smell about him that assualted Leo's nose as he continued to approach him. Leo was so startled at seeing a human this far into the sewer that he forgot about his surroundings and backed up into the mattress and fell on top of it. Panicked, Leo quickly scooted accross the mattress to the opposite side of the room till his shell the wall. His breathing was quick and his eyes wide with fear as he watched the human move closer to him.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" the human said in a low husky voice, his eyes were fill with a mixture of curiosity and bewilderment with a hint of something Leo had never seen before, but whatever it was it made his skin crawl as the human continued to stare at him. "Don't you know it's impolite to just walk into someone's elses home?" The human stood infront of Leo and gazed down at him questioningly. "What are you exactly?", he asked, "some kinda of turtle child?" He brought his face close to Leo's and it was everything Leo could do to not gag from the smell of the man. He turned his head away from him. "And who were you looking for, someone name Raph was it?" The human reached out to touch Leo which made him jump.
"P..please, I..I'm ssorry," Leo stammered, "I d..did not mean to i..intrude, I was looking for my brother when I saw your dddoor open and thought he had come in hhhere." Leo shruddered as he felt a finger go down along his arm.
"Your brother?" The human sounded amused, "There are more of you down here?"
"Y..yes", Leo responded. "And I should be getting back to finding him so I'll leave now a..and won't bother you again." At this statement, Leo hoped the human would step aside and let him leave but instead the man continue to play his finger up and down the young turtle's arm.
"Oh but you can't leave yet," The man said with a low husky tone, "It's been a long time since I've had any company and I have a fun game I'm sure you'll enjoy playing with me." He began running his thumb along Leo's cheek.
Something about the way the man said his words told Leo that the game he had in mind would not be as much fun for him as it would be for the man. Leo shut his eyes tight as the human put his hand on the top of Leo's shell gently rubbing it, his hand then proceeded to run along his neck and down his plastron. Leo began shaking and pressed himself further into the wall. The human hummed approvingly and licked his lips as he continued his hand down along Leo's chest and stomach. Leo could feel the man's breath on the side of his face as his eyes looked him up and down in anxious curiosity, his breathing becoming more rapid as his hand dipped further down along Leo's plastron until it came to the just under the edge by Leo's legs and inner thigh. It was at this point Leo felt his heart leap into his throat, his eyes went wide and with a loud "NO!" shot his hands forward and pushed the man away from him. He began running across the small room to the door when he felt himself falling forward.
"Daddy!" Leo screamed as he felt his right ankel grabbed and he was pulled back onto the mattress. The human forced Leo onto his shell and began to try and grasp Leo's hands which were swinging wildly trying to get the human to let him go. "Let me go!" Leo screamed, his legs kicked out but the human continued to hold him down.
"Were not done playing yet little turtle child", the human sneered. "There is so much more I want to do but you first need to hold still." The man grunted when Leo's right knee hit his stomach but the hit was weak and it only made the human angrier. The human then straddled Leo's legs and managed to grab both of Leo's wrist and place them above his head and hold them down. He got hold of his wrist with one hand and began to hit Leo with the other in an attempt to stop Leo from screaming. "You need to be quite, otherwise we can't play!" The human yelled. Finally, after several blows, Leo stopped squirming, his screams quieted and he fell unconscious.
xxxxx
Raph looked at his father with a steady gaze as he recounted his adventure in the sewers beginning when Donnie and Mikey had taken off to come back to the lair. "Leo wanted to go home but I wanted to keep exploring, he didn't follow so I assumed he came back here." Raph tried to sound as innocent as possible, he knew he would be introuble for going on without Leo but he figured it would not be as severe as him delibertly leaving Leo in the sewer by himself. But from the way Splinter looked at him, it was clear his master was not totally believing everything Raph was saying.
"Show me where you last saw Leonardo," He demanded. And with that the two walked out of the lair with Splinter advising the other two turtles to go eat.
After several minutes they came to the part of the sewer where Leo had begged Raph to return home. Splinter looked at Raphael disapprovingly.
"Did I not tell you boys this part of the sewer is forbidden?" Splinter asked.
"Well, yes Sensei but I only went down a little ways, when I realized Leo was not behind me I decided to turn back." Raph gave an innocent smile.
Splinter looked closely at his son and then huffed. "Go back to the lair and eat, I am going to go find Leonardo." With that he turned and made his way through the tunnel sniffing the air and keeping his keen ears opened for any sound of his missing son.
When Raph returned to the lair, he found his other two brothers waiting anxiously at the turnstiles for him and Splinter.
"Where is Dad?" Mikey asked, "Where is Leo?"
"Dad wants us to eat, he'll look for Leo and come home when he finds him." Raph replied.
"How could you just leave him out there, Raph?" Donnie wanted to know.
"I didn't just leave him!" Raph became defensive, "Maybe Splinter's perfect little student just got lost this time!"
"That's why he wants us to stay together!"
Raph did not respond, instead he just walked past them and went to the kitchen to eat. Donnie and Mikey followed. They sat at the table and while Raph forced himself to eat his spaghetti, his brothers picked at their food, concern showing on their faces. The mood between them was so tense that after he was done with his the spaghetti he grabbed his hot dog, placed his plate in the sink and went back to the living room to watch TV. But both his brothers could tell he was getting a little worried himself.
xxxxx
Splinter walked down the tunnel Raph had shown him that he had gone down. He did not want to call his son a liar but he could not deny that Raph was not telling him the whole truth. First, he knew Leo would not return home and leave one of his brothers by themselves in a sewer they were forbidden to be in. He knew Leo was too responsible for that. Second, if he had return home without Raph, he would have let Splinter know right away more out of concern then anything else. As he walked, he sniffed and listened using his keen senses to help in trying to find Leo. When he came to the junction where Raph had led Leo, his senses could tell the young turtle had gone left. So he continued down that path, and that was when he heard it. A small scream calling out for daddy. His heart quickened as he began to pick up speed. His child was introuble and was calling for him. Another junction, he could hear cries to the left. A shorter tunnel with a door at the end, that was where the noises had come from. He ran toward the door and pushed it open forcefully. What he saw made his blood run cold.
xxxxx
The human had managed to knock the young turtle out, and was now placing himself in between the turtle's legs. His forced Leo's legs wider apart and began exploring in between them. He felt Leo's tail and forced it down and began playing his fingers over Leo's cloaca trying to find his entrance. It had been a long time since he had "played" with any other person, especially a young one. It was because of this "need" of his he had chosen to live in the sewers, away from the other humans that would judge him and force him into a prison. As he continued to explore, he could feel his heart pound in his ears, his throat went dry and his excitement build. He was just about to unzip his jeans when the door crashed open. His eyes widen in fear when he saw a giant brown rat appear in front of him.
Screaming, he flung himself toward the wall. "Stay away from me!" Splinter looked from where Leo laid to where the human was cowering at the wall and advanced on him. "What are you!" He cried out in fear.
"A very angry father!" Splinter yelled then lunged at him. The next several minutes, the small room was filled snarls and ungodly screams.
Several minutes later, Splinter stood over the body of the human, panting hard and watching as blood flowed from various wounds and pooled around the man's body. Splinter watched as the body stopped twitching then turned his attention to his son. He felt his heart pound in his ears and tears prick at the corner of his eyes as he knelt down by his unmoving child, the only sign of life was the boy's chest moving up and down. He quickly wiped his bloody paws on some of the bedding that laid around before placing a nervous hand on Leo's forehead and then placed his hand on the side of Leo's neck. The turtle's pulse was beating rapidly and he had a slight fever. Splinter's heart sank when he saw blood inbetween his son's legs. He looked back at the body and growled, "How dare he violate my child." He thought, a low, angry growl viberating in his throat, he gently inspected the area around Leo's inner thigh and saw the blood was coming from a deep scratch close to Leo's cloaca. He breathed a small sigh of relief, "at least the human had not manage to do any more harm then that, physically anyway." Splinter told himself, grimmly. He continued to inspect Leo. He saw Leo had multiple bruises on his face and arms, especially around his wrists. His left eye was swollen and his bottom lip was bleeding and swelling. Splinter ran a hand gently over his son's arms, no broken bones from what Splinter could tell. Blood was clotting on some of the deep scratches on Leo's arms. The human had beaten him in order to force Leo into submission.
Splinter removed his kimono and gently wrapped his son in it. He gave another low growl and stared at the human's body as his son gave a small whimper at being moved. He carefully picked Leo up and cradled him in his arms and left the room. He took one last look back and decided he would return to make sure the body would not be found. With the claw marks on the body, he could not afford other humans to nose around. But at least this human would never again hurt his or any other person's child again, and with that thought in mind Splinter began the walk home.
xxxxx
Mikey stood at the edge of the lair waiting for his sensei and Leo to return home. He and his brothers had finished supper long ago and now found the minutes ticking by very slowly. What was keeping them? Mikey wondered. Was Leo okay? Behind him Donnie paced back and forth nervously. Something was wrong and they all knew it. Even Raph at this point was starting to feel ashamed and nervous about what he had done. He had told his brothers more then once that everything was probably fine and Sensei was probably scolding Leo, but even he didn't seem to believe what he said.
Mikey watched and waited with bated breath. Finally he could see a figure coming out of the darkness. "It's master Splinter!" he yelled to his brothers, "and he's carrying something." Mikey's eyes widen in horror. "It's Leo! He's hurt!" With that, Donnie and Mike ran toward Splinter, questions flying from their mouths.
"Sensei, what happened?" "Where did you find him?" "Is he alright?" "Why is he wrapped in your kimono?"
Splinter quieted his sons, "that is enough," he told them gently, "Leo is hurt and I must tend to him right away, go and get yourselves ready for bed and I will be in to tuck you in later."
"But Sensei," Donnie said, "What happened."
Splinter stopped and stared at his young sons with sad eyes. "There was a human in the sewers." And with that he turned and took Leo into his room.
Donnie and Mikey turned toward Raph who had turned his shell to them. They wanted to yell at him, demand an explanation from him but when they saw his shoulders shaking, they realized he was already feeling very guilty for what had happened. Donnie turned to Mike.
"Come on Mikey, let's go get ready for bed." He said sadly and gently took Mikey's hand to lead him toward the bathroom. But Mikey stopped and looked at Raph.
"Raphie?" Mikey began slowly.
"Don't want to hear it." Raph choked out. Nothing could be said to help relieve the guilt he was now feeling, his brother had been hurt and it was his fault. He waited for his brothers to leave the room before he let the tears fall.
Master Splinter stayed with Leo for the entire night, tending to his wounds and placing a cold wash cloth on his son's forehead. When the fever finally broke, Splinter made a quick trip back to where the utility room was. There had been a reason why Splinter did not want his eight year old sons to venture into these tunnels, the structure was weak and could easily collaspe on them. So it did not take much strength for him to push some pipes down infront of the tunnel leading to the utility room to create a blockage so no one would be able to get to the room for a very long time. His mission completed, he made his way back to the lair and remained by Leo's side til he woke up.
xxxxx
The human hovered above him, the smell surounded him like a cloud making him want to hurl, he couldn't breath and he couldn't run, the man held him down, taunting him and laughing at him, wanting to play his 'game.' "No." Leo thought, "I have to get away, I can't let him hurt me."
Leo felt a hand moving on his forehead, "please," Leo whispered, "please let me go, don't hurt me." Leo started sobbing as the hand touched his forehead again. Suddenly Leo realized his arms were free and instantly he started to flail them, striking the person arms and chest screaming for him to be let go.
"Leonardo, my son," Splinter said sternly, trying to wake his son from the nightmare he was having. "It is your father, please my son open your eyes, you are safe now, you are home". He wrapped his arms around his son and broght him close to his chest. Leo sobbed against him still begging to be let go, Splinter continued to give him words of comfort till Leo quited down. It was then he finally began to recongnize the familiar smell of his Sensei, the warm fur of his chest and arms and the familiar beat of his heart and breathing. He was home, he was in his warm bed and it was his father that was holding him.
After several minutes, Leo finally calmed down and looked up at his father with red eyes, he was still shaking from his nightmare and silent sobs escaped his mouth. "Master Splinter?" Leo held his father again, not wanting to let go afraid that if he did it would end up being a dream and he would be back in the small room with the human.
"It is alright my son, you are safe now." Splinter continued to stoke Leo's head and shell, "The human will not hurt you anymore."
"I'm s..sorry Sensei, I was trying to find Raph when..."Suddenly Leo looked up, his eyes wide and panicing, "oh no! Raph!" Is..is he" Leo chocked on his words.
"Your brother is fine," Splinter told him. He gently laid him back on his bed, "Now try to get some rest, you are probably hungry, I will get you some soup."
From outside Leo's bedroom, his three brothers had heard Leo's screaming, realizing he was awake they ran to the hallway and listened. Leo had been unconscious for over a day and they had become very anxious. Splinter had not allowed them into Leo's room and all he would tell them was that the human had attacked him. Raph lowered his eyes as the other two turtle's turned to him. "I never wanted this to happen," he said quietly, "I just wanted to teach him a lesson for tattling on me."
"Pretty harsh lesson dude," Mikey commented.
"Exactly what did he tattle you on?" Donnie asked.
"He told Master Splinter that I went topside the other night, that's why I got all those extra chores, remember?" Raph crossed his arms and huffed.
"Raph you know we're not suppose to...
"I know Donnie!" Raph said in a harsh whisper, "But he didn't have to tell on me, I was only up top for a few minutes."
"Leonardo never told me about you excursion to the surface Raphael," Splinter stated from behind him.
Raph and the others jumped when he spoke, Raph looked at Splinter incredulously,
"But he was the only one who knew, how else did you find out?" Raph blurted.
Splinter smiled and shook his head at his hot headed son. "My son, have you never heard the old sayin 'the walls have ears'. "
Raph remembered the argument between Leo and him, he had been braggin about what he did and now he realized Splinter, with his extremely good hearing, had probably heard the whole thing.
Raph lowered his head, "I'm sorry Sensei."
Splinter placed his paw on Raphael's shoulder, "I do not believe I am the one you should be apologizing to. You three may go visit your brother while I make him some food."
Raph, Donnie and Mikey peaked into Leo's room, he was laying down on his shell staring at the ceiling trying to block out the memories of what had happened to him. His head hurt and arms hurt and his face was still swollen on his left eye and mouth. His brothers had not yet seen him since Splinter brought him home wrapped in his kimono and gasped at the multiple scratches and bruises on his arms and face. Mikey was the first to come over to him and hugged him gently.
"Oh Leo," Mikey sobbed, "We were so worried."
"It's okay Mikey," Leo whispered, "I'm okay." He stroked Mikey's shell as Donnie came up and also hugged him.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Somewhat sore, but nothing too bad, I'll be up and around in no time," Leo tried to grin but his lips hurt too much.
Leo looked over toward Raph, he was still by the door leaning on the frame and looking down at the floor, his face showing his shame.
"Guys," Leo looked at Donnie and Mike, "Can you give Raph and I a minute,"
"Sure," They answered.
As soon as they were gone, Raph slowly walked over to Leo.
"Leo, I'm..."
"Save it Raph", Leo said angrily. "Just tell me what I did to make you hate me so much that you could just abaondon me like that in the sewers?" Leo was forcing back the tears as he tried to give Raph his best steely glare.
Raph looked up at Leo, his face in shock. "Leo, I don't hate you, I..I could never hate you."
"Then why Raph, what did I do?!"
"I thought you tattled on me to Sensei, so I was trying to get back at you." Raph once again hung his head in shame. "I never meant for you to get hurt. I'm so sorry Leo." He whispered. Tears were forming in his eyes. "I know it was stupid, so much more could have happened to you in the sewer other then meeting a human, And I know I was wrong, you never told on me bro." Raph looked at Leo, tears running down his young face. "Can you ever forgive me?" Leo just stared at Raph in disbelief.
"You did that to me because you thought I told on you?" Leo was beyond angry. "Couldn't you just get Mikey's help to prank me or something?" Leo shook his head. "I don't know Raph, what you did was inexcusable." Leo sighed. "How can I ever trust you again?"
Raph just looked at the floor, "I understand bro," Raph was about to turn and leave but stopped and looked back at Leo.
"Even if you never forgive me for this, Leo, I just want you to know I love you very much and I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you bro." Raph quickly ran to his brother and gave him a hug. He was about to let go and leave when Leo wrapped his arms around him.
"I love you to bro." He whispered. "And I do forgive you, but please don't ever leave me again alone again."
"I promise."
From outside the room, Splinter smiled.