Hey guys! So... I'm not going to apologize for the shortness of this chapter because, come on people! Almost all of my updates are like FOUR - FIVE THOUSAND WORDS LONG! Remember that NINE THOUSAND WORD UPDATE A FEW CHAPPIES AGO?! I need a break! Gimme a little break please?

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 36: Listening to Stupid

Annalisa Warren stumbled on numb legs across a shadowed alley heading for the manhole her and Leonardo had come out of not even an hour ago. She clutched her child close to her chest as hard as he could without actually hurting Grace. They were only a few feet away from the entrance to the sewers now. Anna's arms trembled with exertion as she gripped Grace, she still wasn't at full strength yet so the simple task of holding her daughter was taxing. Anger and sadness also had a hand in sapping her strength.

Tears rolled unnoticed down from her eyes and she sniffed silently. Gently, she lowered Grace to the ground. Anna wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffed again before bending down to use her full weight to heave the manhole cover aside.

Her legs wanted to run the other way, back to the Foot Tower and to Leo. She had just gotten her brother back and now he was gone again, dammit!

The unfairness of the whole situation was almost crushing. She had wanted to fight Karai alongside Leonardo but he had forced her to leave claiming it was the best thing for Grace. He said he'd be right behind her. He said that everything would be ok and she needed to be brave…

Liar.

Begrudgingly Anna had left the roof, but that didn't mean she'd taken her eyes off of Leo. Anna had pulled Grace down the fire escape only to hike up another building nearby that was close enough for her to see what was happening but far enough away that she wouldn't be noticed. She had almost jumped to his aid when Karai sliced his plastron with her blade but Grace had grabbed her pleading for her not to leave her alone. By the time Anna had looked back up Karai had Leo drooped over her soldiers shoulders and was leading him away. For a moment Anna feared Leo was dead, he looked so pale and limp between the Foot soldiers. Blood painted his lower body from the gash on his chest. Anna had peaked out of the place she had hidden Grace and herself away into just in time to catch Leo's eyes open and flicker her way. She held his gaze for a long moment before taking a small stepped forward but was stopped again by an urgent pull on her arm.

"He's talking to me," her daughter whispered. Grace's eyes held a thousand yard stare as she listened to Leonardo's voice in her head.

Grace seemed to come back into herself, her eyes again took light as she looked up at Anna. He doesn't want us to follow him, he... he said to tell his brothers he died in battle against Karai. He doesn't want them to come after him. He thinks they'll just get hurt.

"What?" Anna said aloud, her voice rang through the air scaring her with how far it seemed to travel.

It's what he said Mommy. Grace looked up at Anna with tears in her deep blue eyes. Her face was dirty and her hair was greasy but the child still looked like an angel in the dim moon light. A small sob was choked inside of Grace's throat making her jerk and her mouth quiver. Her lips trembled more as another sob tore through her chest. Another came and then another until Grace was crying into the shirt Anna had borrowed from April.

Anna didn't know what to do or say. She couldn't possibly say anything that would magically take all the pain and confusion away. She couldn't lie to Grace and tell her that everything would be OK because it couldn't and wouldn't be OK. Karai was taking her brother away and she had no clue what the hell she was supposed to do.

"God Dammit!" cursed Anna looking down into the dark sewer. A tear ran down her face as she sat down next to Grace. Her head fell into her hands. She felt defeated. Utterly defeated. And beaten and lost and so many other emotions that she wasn't sure the names of because she'd never gotten past the fifth grade. All the years she would've spent in school she'd spent either in a cell or hiding in her parents house before Bishop killed them.

Karai has Leonardo... so that means he would be dead within the night. Anna shook her head in her hands then screwed her eyes shut. She had just gotten her brother back and now he was in the clutches of the enemy. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair!

He doesn't even want to be rescued! Anna screamed in her head grabbing her own hair tightly in her numb fingers. Damn selfless prick! She was so angry she couldn't hold her minds tongue even though she knew Grace was listening. Leo doesn't even want to be fucking rescued! He doesn't want his brothers to know he was even captured; he wants his brothers to think he's dead because being dead would be better than his brothers risking their lives try to save him. God damn idiot, Anna growled in her head curling her fingers harder into her skull.

She had felt a new kind of hope when Karai had told her that Leo was alive. She'd felt strengthened and rejuvenated. She had a purpose and now... now that purpose was going to his death like a lamb to the slaughter.

Pulling her legs up to her chest next to the entrance to the sewer she buried her face into her knees and sobbed soundlessly. She didn't know what to do or where to go from here so she sat, defeated.

"Mommy..." her daughter whispered tearfully, "I'm scared. Are they going to hurt Daddy like they did in Central America?" Anna looked up at her child who was standing by her side, her lip quivering. The moon washed into a cloud putting the alley into complete darkness.

Anna bit her lip in an attempt to still her tears. She hadn't even thought about Karai hurting Leo, she just assumed she would outright kill him.

I heard one of the soldiers say they were going to hurt him until he begged to die... They're gonna hurt him Mommy, really bad. Grace again turned to her ability to mutter the things her mouth could not.

Something inside Anna lit up. The ember that was all but burnt out fired up as gasoline was added to her resolve. She would not let her brother suffer anymore, he didn't deserve that. He had survived Hanson for a year then six months by himself in the jungle. He hadn't died in that jungle, he had fought and survived. He had finally made it back home to his family after two years. He had fought to get back home and now he was finally home. He had fought with Karai knowing he didn't have even half the strength to do any real damage. He had fought and someone who fought as hard as Leonardo did doesn't deserve to die by Karai's vengeful hands. If he was to die it shouldn't be by a vendetta. It shouldn't be because he was sick and weak from spending two years in the jungle. If he was to die –

No. He shouldn't have to die at all. He shouldn't have to suffer at all.

With new found strength Anna stood up to her feet with her head high and wiped away her broken tears. She crouched down letting the child climb onto her back, "Come on Gracie."

"What are we doing Mommy?" asked the child sniffing away her own tears.

Anna began to make her way down the rungs of the ladder into New York's grimy sewers. "We are going back to Leonardo's home and telling his brothers what happened. If I know them like I think I do than we're going after Leo."

With a grunt she heaved the manhole cover back into place cutting off the moonlight and engulfing the two into darkness and artificial dim light from the emergency lights in the sewers.

"But Daddy said he didn't want us to-"

"Leo doesn't know what's best for him. He was being stupid when he said that and I don't listen to stupid." The child on Anna's back giggled as she felt the resolve surge through Anna. Grace settled into her mother's back. She let out a loud yawn feeling her small body twitch in exhaustion She laid her head tiredly on Anna's back.

Anna, feeling Grace's flinch whispered, "Go to sleep sweetie. I'll wake you when we get close to Leo's family." The child nodded and mumbled something already slipping off into her own dreamland that Anna prayed wasn't full of nightmares.

"I just hope I remember how to get back home," Anna whispered into the dark and empty sewer, her voice echoing off the walls.

Thoughts?

Wow. If you think the wait for this chapter was long you should ask the people following Charging Backwards. I hope I have at least some diehard readers out there that are still following that story. I'm sorry its taking me so long to update.

PUT DOWN THE PITCHFORKS, BACK AWAY FROM YOUR ASSORTED NINJA WEAPONS AND PUT AWAY YOUR ANGRY REVIEWS! I know this chapter was god awful short but that's okay... if your nice maybe I'll post another chappie in the next day or so? :)

The angst in this story is borderline ridicules - I'm tellin' ya!

Have a good day fellow readers!