A/N: Otto. RULES. Bottom line. XD No, really. He's such a sweet character, and his childlike innocence and obliviousness is so cute! He's my third favorite character, but because his fear was a little...odd...I winged it. Hopefully, this is adequate (this is also the first with actual dialogue! XD).

Six: Otto's afraid of clams...with feet.

Otto wakes from his nightmare.

It's been one week since Mandarin used Valina's powers to conjure one of his most hated memories.

At the time, he'd felt guilty.

Everybody else had practical fears—things that should and offered more-than-worthy reason to be feared—but he was afraid of…well, in Chiro's words, "Clams with…feet?"

But the root of his fear was deeper and not so bizarre as all that.

Otto's imagination ran wild naturally. It always had.

And so it was no surprise when, some years before Mandarin turned traitor, it got the better of him once more.

The Team had sat down to Gibson's seafood meal after a hard day.

Otto decided to play with his clams prior to eating them, and he was just getting into the scene he was creating when a bowl of the shellfish flew to hit him square on the head.

Snapping up, he looked to his brothers and sister.

Nova, Sprx, Gibson, and Antauri had stopped eating and were averting their eyes, but Mandarin… He was scowling at the green monkey, eyes ablaze. The mechanic gulped.

"Otto," the orange monkey began, trying to keep his temper under control, "what have I told you about playing with your food?"

The youngest of the Team looked away, drawing with one finger on his plate.

"Uh…not to…?"

"Yes, Otto," Mandarin affirmed through clenched teeth, "and do you know why I say such a thing?"

The green simian sank lower in his chair. He knew very well….

"B-because…" he started quietly, "…because we're not s-savages. We're not…not like Skeleton King. We—we don't—"

He couldn't bear to finish, nearly gagging as images of the mutant madman playing with his already-murdered victims flashed in his mind.

The Leader's eyes glinted and a growl rose in his throat.

"That's right, my brother," he said, commanding, raspy voice giving the everyday phrase a chilling edge. "We are not savages."

(The feet were the product of his memories, were of the people they hadn't been quick enough to save.)

And ever since then, Otto had been terrified.

But as he shakes his head to clear it, turns on his bedside light, and looks at the group picture of the Team on his nightstand, he smiles.

As long as he can prevent his family from becoming one of those 'images,' as long as he is able to help them defeat Valina and Mandarin and win this fight once and for all, he knows he'll be all right.

A/N: Mandarin has always been a bit of a harsh leader, I think, and that's why he seems almost like his traitor-self here. XD There was only one instance in "Golden Age" that really showed his still-stern, commanding, scary pre-series personality, and so I tried to go off of that as best I could... It was honestly pretty much the same as he is now, however, so... XP

Thanks for reading, as always! I hope everybody's in character!