The moon shone through the window into the room, the only sounds there were the sounds of soft breathing and humming. In the bed, Dogpound was laying there with Fishface after he put in his breathing apparatus, but not his robotic legs
Dogpound has his huge arms wrapped around the mutant fish and caressed his cheek gently with his claw, soothing and comforting him. After hearing him tell his whole story about how he and Jinx had been growing up in those horrible conditions, he felt guilty
He understood his burden more and the burden of being the oldest. He himself used to be one, but he'd rather be an only child than to share something with his idiotic little brother, who had been taken by CPS, because of his parents treatment and their belittling. He couldn't care less, until now
"Bradford?"
"Hm?"
"You think... you think Luna hates me that much? You think she'd be better off without me?"
Hearing Fishface ask him that, he just pulled him closer and made eye contact
"Xever, you tried everything you could, but even monsters can disguise themselves as your closest friends, like that Vitor guy. You couldn't have known"
"It's not only that, it's just... thinking Luna had died, I stuck with him for a very long time, until he turned his back on me and betrayed me. That was when I also realized that he was the one that took her away from me, never have I ever wanted to kill someone that badly that day"
Now Dogpound felt like he had to share his story with Fishface, considering that Xever assumed he knew nothing about having siblings and being the oldest, having to take over the parenting role most of the time without having anyone to comfort him
And perhaps he learned a little too late to appreciate your baby sibling and that they could be taken from you at any given moment, to never take advantage of them
"Y'know... I had a little brother"
It was quiet, before Fishface spoke
"You had a brother?"
Dogpound chuckeld as he nodded and adjusted his hand around Fishface's waist
"A real brat, even worse than me"
"How?" Fishface asked with a grin as he leaned on his arms, Dogpound smirked back as he had some crazy stories in mind
They spent the whole night listening to each other's stories about their lives with their little siblings. Dogpound told him about his little brother always being a whiny, bratty child who was never grateful for their parent's sacrifices and fancy stuff they got
Fishface told him about how he and Jinx would always play together, sneak out food from the kitchen and that they'd stick together like glue after their parents kicked them out and even after that, they made it
"It must've been rough, being a child on the street and taking care of a child while being a child yourself" Dogpound sighed under his breath, feeling ashamed about looking down on Fishface, before he continued
"But you must know that whatever happens, you've done nothing wrong"
Hearing those words come from him felt both odd yet reassuring at the same time. Dogpound noticed that Fishface wanted to stand up, so he grabbed his pair of robotic legs and helped him with putting them on him
"How will we even get her?" Fishface asked under his breath as Dogpound replied
"Mustn't be hard. For now, Karai won't be a bother to us"
"You must've seen what Luna did to her, it's nothing like Luna would do" Fishface spoke up
"No, but it's something Jinx would do" Dogpound answered, not expecting him to sound so... wise
YOU ARE READING
The Fallen Child (a TMNT 2012 fanfic)
FanfictionWhen Xever was still a child, he and his little sister Luna were both neglected by their parents and abandoned on the streets. He and Luna were inseparable and sticked together like glue when they had to fend for themselves But one night, the worst...
