A/N: Fair warning, this chapter is kinda brutal. (Don't worry, Leo is fine. You'll see what happens...)
Leo's pov
Leo woke up in a new, empty room. The walls were blank and white. There was one metal door on the end.
God, he was so tired.
Tired of the torture, tired of being put to sleep over and over. His muscles ached from the electric shocks. His head hurt. His stomach hurt. Heck, everything hurt.
So damn tired.
Leo lay on the floor. He just wanted this whole nightmare to be over. He wanted to be with his brothers without chains holding them back from each other. He wanted to be safe at home, in his bed, warm under the covers, not worrying or thinking about anything. Just… safe.
He missed April and Pops. And although it might sound weird, he missed his brothers. Sure, he just saw them a little while ago, but that felt so… wrong. He missed joking around and training and just… just being together, with nothing bothering them, just… chilling.
So tired. Just…
Tired.
Leo lay on the floor, mind blank. It felt nice.
And then Phobus came in.
Phobus's pov
"Hi turtle. Its torture time…" Phobus was so tired. "This one's fun…" Phobus tried to put some of his normal cockiness into his speech, but failed miserably.
Leo was laying on the floor, and didn't get up. Phobus wished he could do that. He was so tired…
He can't. He has to get this done. He absolutely cannot fail to do his job. The master would not be happy.
Leo looked up at him from the floor. "You look tired," he said emotionlessly.
"Ya THINK? Torture is hard work!" Phobus exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I haven't slept in days…The victims are always like, 'Oh, this sucks, oh, you guys are so cruel, oh, it's all terrible for ME and ONLY ME. It's not a cakewalk for us either, you know!"
Leo looked rather surprised at that. "Really? How so?"
Phobus sighed. He was so tired. "The master is ruthless. He pays us very little for a job well done, and none if we falter in the slightest. He gives us food, but it barely keeps us alive. He gives us housing, but it is tiny and taken away at the slightest mistake. Or maybe that's just me, because Frithjof and Gorgophone seem to be fine. They are high end employees. I am just an intern…" And even Ozul was treated better than he was. Why? Was he not good enough? Why did everyone else deserve good things and he didn't? He was useless and incompetent.
"Why don't you just, I don't know, quit this whole establishment and get a REAL job?" Leo says. Him and his stupid quips.
"Because this is the one thing I'm good at!" Phobus held back tears. Why was he telling him this? He was supposed to be torturing him, not venting! What was wrong with him? And why couldn't he stop? "The world thinks I'm dead! I've been shunned aside my whole life. This, torture, it's the one thing I can do right. Every day I'm called useless and incompetent and stupid and every day I take it, because I can't leave this place, I can't." (Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry) "I can't leave because I can do this. All my life, I've been told I can't. I tried my best, and I still fell short of everyone's expectations. Torture is something I can meet expectations with. Something I can earn a living and earn respect with. I can't stop."
Phobus leaned against the wall.
"I'm so tired," he said.
Leo's pov
Leo was stunned. Phobus just unloaded some serious baggage on him. He half wanted to get up and give the poor boy a hug.
The other half of him thought he deserved every bad thing that had ever happened to him for what he had done to him and his brothers, and probably lots of other people as well.
…But which side was right?
Did Phobus really deserve this? He may be torturing other people, but in a way, he's being tortured as well. Leo looked over at Phobus. He was sitting against the wall, clearly trying his absolute best not to cry.
Leo's brain was in two parts. One part was bigger.
Leo walked over to Phobus…
And struck him.
Hard. All the strength Leo had left went into it. Phobus's mask clattered to the floor as he was pushed over from the strength of the hit. Phobus stayed there on his knees, head down, trembling.
"No one cares about your stupid sob story, Phobo. You deserve every hardship in your life because you are a terrible person. You tortured people. You tortured ME. And you tortured my brothers." Leo glared angrily at Phobus. He looked so broken. How dare he look broken. How dare he be like that when he was torturing him and his brothers specifically to break them. "I HATE you, Phobo, now get up, you stupid weakling, and do your freaking job. Torture me. It'd be better than having to look at you, stupid, ugly, worthless you, any longer."
Phobus got up silently. He made a choking noise as he ran from the room.
Served him right.
Phobus's pov
Leo's words kept repeating in his head.
'You deserve every hardship in your life...'
'...You are a terrible person."
'I hate you, Phobo…'
'...get up, you stupid weakling…'
'... stupid, ugly, worthless you…'
He deserved this. Leo was right. He was a terrible person.
Tears ran down his face. His face hurt from the blow Leo had given him. Holding his mask in his hand, he sat against the wall and cried, not holding back. His wails echoed through the empty hallway.
When he was done, he got up, wiped his eyes, and put on a brave face. He had a job to do.
Leo's pov
Stupid Phobus. He deserved whatever thoughts were coursing through his head right now.
One part of Leo's brain was screaming at him for doing that to poor Phobus. He clearly needed help! Leo could've helped him, and maybe Phobus would've switched sides and helped him escape.
The other side was all like, 'Good riddance.'
Still, Leo couldn't help but feel sorta guilty that he had done that to Phobus. Plus, side two was right- he COULD have made him change sides. So by doing that to Phobus, he had just lost a maybe-chance of getting out of this hellhole.
Every maybe-chance counts.
Well, what's done is done. Maybe his brothers would be smart enough to help Phobus and maybe then they could get out. Leo hoped his brothers wouldn't be brash like him. God, he was so stupid. Phobus would probably torture him harder now.
After a couple of minutes Phobus came in again.
"Um…," said Phobus, taking a big breath, "I'm here to tell you about you torture. We're putting you in solitary. This is the last contact you will have with anyone for a while. You will receive no information about your brothers' current conditions. Your meals will be delivered by machinery." His voice sounded very lifeless. Leo supposed that was his fault. "So.. yeah," Phobus continued. "That's it, I guess… bye."
He turned and left Leo alone with his thoughts.
A/N: Okay I really like this chapter. It made me sad to write this. I really like Phobus and writing him like this hurts me as much as hit hurts him (Okay maybe not quite as much but you get the point.) Anyway, the next chapter will hopefully be out next week.
On a completely unrelated note, Animaniacs season 2 premiers tomorrow (November 5) on Hulu. I absolutely LOVE Animaniacs so I am very exited for this. So I'm going to binge it tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't give me too many fanfic ideas because I already have a list of 27 ideas of mixed fandoms (don't worry some are TMNT) on google docs. I don't think I can handle more than one story at a time right now with school and all so I'm going to write those later. I have no idea why I wrote this paragraph. I'm literally writing what comes to mind.
ANYWAY, see you next week (hopefully) with a new chapter!