Archive of Our Own ^beta

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The first thing he heard when he first consciously opened his eyes was crying. Baby crying. A thin voice that cried with anguish, bitterly, as if in search of something or someone. A heartbreaking sound, not because it's too loud or high-pitched, but because it sounds in the way that makes his insides twist. The sound that makes him instinctively want to protect the source of that cry. It bounces off the walls, echoing through the dark tunnels.

He lies on his side, and sees his outstretched green hand. Only three fingers on the palm. He doesn't question why or where, in fact, he feels like he's been this way all his life. Maybe he's right. He's not sure.

With a low groan, he begins to rise. The desire to calm the one who cries does not go away and only intensifies with every passing second. His skin itches, his bones ache, and his muscles feel like wood. Beneath him, he sees stains of an unfamiliar green-blue liquid. He doesn't care. He exhales and finally gets to his knees, pushing off the floor with his palms. His head is spinning, his vision is hard to focus, and it doesn't work the first time. He blinks the veil away and his eyes clear.

And he sees them. Three small bodies pressed against each other. His heart skips a beat and he lunges forward, nearly falling over, his legs still not working properly. Does he know how are they should work?

He understands that it doesn't matter. Because he can finally see the source of the crying that woke him up. A small baby lay on their shell and tore their childish vocal cords. Fat tears flow down their freckled cheeks. The baby pushes arms and legs and continues to cry loudly.

Something from this sight breaks inside him. Crushes him into small pieces. He finds himself closing the small distance between them, crawling closer and closer on his knees.

A quiet growl stops him. He looks down and sees, to the side of the crying creature, another one lying on their stomach. This one had darker skin than the one with freckles. He looks straight into big, wild green eyes. Irises pierce through him with aggression. They continue to growl at him.

He doesn't know why, but he's not at all frightened by the sound. Instead, he churr in response. The protective one shudders and looks up at him with uncertainty. He moves closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Even closer. Left just a little bit. Green-eyed one doesn't attack him right away.

He is a millimeter away from the crying one, as suddenly he feels a fleeting touch on his palm. He looks down again and sees the third little creature. This one has a little gap in their teeth, interest that shines in their brown-red eyes has clearly overcome the fear of a stranger. He thinks it's very cute and funny.

And finally, finally, he gently holds out his hands to the crying baby. He holds their head with one hand, and with the other he lifts them by the tiny shell. So small that they easily fit in his palms. He holds the baby in his arms and silently examines.

As soon as he began to lift the little one, they quieted down and stopped crying, instead looking up at him with its sky blue eyes with moisture in them. They look at each other.

Then the baby begins to pull their short arms towards him, making quiet sounds. He melts in place from the warmth this action sends through his chest.

He holds the baby with one hand so he can carefully pick up two more with the other. A green-eyed one bites him with their sharp teeth, to which he doesn't react. The one with the brown eyes just twirls, trying to look around him and the place they were at.

The pale light of the moon fell on them through the sewer grate.

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With each sunrise, his mind cleared up more and more. More thoughts appeared in his head, more feelings, more awareness. He began to think more, reflect and ask many questions about everything. About the world around him, about who he is, about who these children are, to whom he is so drawn.

In the first few days of his full life, he spent following his instincts: protecting the little ones and finding at least some food for them and himself. It was very hard, especially when he didn't know where to look. He carried the small ones in his arms, he was too afraid that they could fall into dirty water and drown - he didn't check the depth.

The place where they wandered exuded a fetid smell, there were ditches of water here and there, dripping could be heard from behind the wall. It was dark, but his eyes had gotten used to it. The kids couldn’t see anything, and that’s why they clung to him even more with their little fingers. They made quiet, frightened squeaks to which he responded with reassuring churrs.

His stomach rumbled and his insides clenched with hunger. Judging by the new whine-like chirp, the little ones felt the same way. He can think, but he doesn't know how to turn those thoughts into sound, so all he can do is rub the tip of his nose against their heads. Silent comfort and a promise that he will take care of them, will try to do everything in his power to keep them safe.

In the distance, a staircase was visible on the steps of which a muffled dim light fell. He strode forward faster, holding the little creatures tighter in his arms.

After climbing the stairs and almost falling a couple of times, he's still a bit clumsy, he runs into a barred door. He took the squeaking babies with one hand and with the freed one opened the rattling partition with an effort. Finally, taking the little ones into a more comfortable position, he entered the room.

The room was quite spacious, with boxes here and there. Iron curtain doors were in one wall, locked. Walking a little further, he spotted a broom. Wait, does he know what it is? But why he doesn't know what kind of creature he is, like these babies in his arms? So many questions, but no answers, which creates even more questions.

With a sigh, deciding to leave his thoughts for later, he goes further into the room, looking around. There were quite useful items in the boxes, it is worth searching each one for something valuable. He released the kids to the floor, and he began to rummage through the first cardboard box that came across.

After some searching, he finds many useful items such as blankets, a medium thick box that could be made into a small bed. He also took a box cutter that had been stuck in the tape of one of the sealed boxes. Having collected everything he found, he began to think what to do with it. In the end, he made a makeshift crib for the kids on the bottom of which he laid a small diaper and put a small blanket on the side for them. Basically, he just cut out the top of the box, making something like a cardboard opening lid.

Exhaling and looking at the work done with a small smile, he turns to the strangely quiet little ones. And then his heart melts.

As it turned out, they managed to get tired and fall asleep during their little trip. The defender, for now he decided to call the baby with green eyes that way, slept on his stomach, placing his small hands under his chin. On its shell rested the other two - Curious and Blue-eyed little ones. The three of them sniffed softly and let out baby talk in their sleep.

Well, now it's time to use the crib for its intended purpose.

Gently lifting each sleeping baby one at a time, he shifts them inside the crib. And when they are comfortable, he covers them with a small blanket on top. The sight of sleeping little ones made him tired and drowsy. He needs to sleep and rest too, because he still hasn't found food.

He lies on his side, curling up around their bed in a protective manner. He doesn't notice how he falls asleep.

...

He dreams of fuzzy images and silhouettes. Slurred words and distant voices. Everything is familiar and so alien at the same time. But he is sure of one thing - these images, shapes and sounds are all part of important memories.

He sees a seated man crying in front of a frame with a black and white photo inside. He sees a man as if he is a hundred times bigger than himself. It's like he's in an aquarium. And maybe that was the case? He doesn't remember exactly. What he remembers is the tired, agonizing, but kind notes in his voice. And how the man often spoke to him, telling him something.

For some reason, thinking about a man makes him worry. Is he all right? Does he also cry in front of that photo? Since he's not with the man, who is he talking to? He feels sad thinking about all this. Wait, is it possible to think in a dream? He doen't know.

As he sees more and more flashbacks of the man, he begins to miss his soft and longing smile. Was the man trying to appear happy and okay just because he was with him? It may well be. But he will not know this for sure, because he does not know where the man is, or where his home is. He doesn't remember. And will he remember?

The only word he can make out when the little hands on his face wake him up is...

Leonardo.

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When he opens his eyes, he is greeted by a baby face and red-brown irises.

He lets out a questioning chirp and rubs his eyes from sleep as Curious tugged at his arm to show something. Finally, he hears the sounds of a small struggle between the Defender and Freckles. He instantly wakes up completely, forgetting about the remnants of sleep. Freckles was hiding from the Defender's fists that hit his back. As it turned out, all three had already crawled out of their crib.

With a churr of displeasure, he picks up the Defender. He stops, and lets out a disgruntled babble while Freckles snorts resentfully. He sighed, they really were full of energy.

But all this was interrupted by a rumbling in small stomachs. Freckles began to cry loudly as the Defender just endured, and Curious sobbed, raising his eyes to him with a silent question. His heart sank. He needs to find food, not for himself, but primarily for them. He can go days without food, but the little ones...

Having made up his mind, he again began to rummage through the things he found until he dug up what he was looking for - an old worn backpack with many pockets. Great for looking for food outside.

On the way to their new home, he managed to notice a staircase leading upstairs, from where voices and the noise of cars passing by could be heard. He seems to have been on the surface, at least he thinks he was. Fuzzy images of his dream began to flash before his eyes. The man in front of the photo, a kind and sad voice. Who was it?

The quiet squeak of Freckles pulled him out of his thoughts. Yes, that's right, food search. Thoughts can wait. And still, everything that he saw in a dream was not just like that. Could it be his memories? But why are they like this? Why is he like this? Why are babies the way they are?

Shaking his head and discarding all these thoughts, he begins to gather himself. After some thought, he decides to carry Defender in his backpack, with Curious and Freckles in his arms. It's uncomfortable, but he just doesn't know how else to do it, and leaving them alone in their little hideout is definitely not an option. The very thought of going somewhere far away while the kids were here alone made him nervous. What if they get hurt and he's not around? No, he'd rather take them with him.

Despite the Defender's irritated chirps, he manages to get him into his backpack. He does not fasten it completely, giving the baby inside the opportunity to stick his head out if he wants. Gently, he slips the backpack over his... shell? Is that a shell on his back? He's not sure.

Checking everything one last time, he takes a deep breath as he stands at the entrance to their lair. Well, it's time to move out into the open world, hunger scratching his insides unpleasantly, and he already feels weak due to malnutrition.

He turns and walks out with the little ones in his arms, sliding the barred door behind him.

...

After several outings, he worked out certain rules that he and the kids must follow while they are on the surface. First, they should always stay in the shadows and alleyways. The hard way, but he realized that beings like him are considered something terrible, abnormal in the world above the sewer. He just happened to catch one woman's eyes, and she first screamed, and then threw a stone at him. Unfortunately, it hit him right in the temple.

It was the first time he saw not just, but his own blood. Without thinking, he grabbed the children and ran as fast as he could while that woman kept shouting something he couldn't understand. His lungs burned and his knees buckled, but he didn't dare stop. He ran, ran, ran, listening to his heart pounding in his throat and head. He only stopped when they were securely hidden behind trash cans in a dark nook. He rolled down the brick wall.

And cried for the first time. He did it quietly, almost silently. The children in his arms and backpack made restless chirps, touching his wet cheeks with tiny fingers, carefully stroking around the abrasions on his temple. When he calmed down a bit, he decided that was enough for today, and retreated back into the familiar sewer tunnels.

Second, always check food for suitability. And never eat food covered in white or green moss. Unfortunately, he learned this the hard way. It was some kind of piece of pastry, thin and triangular in shape. He found it in the trash and it looked worse than all the other scraps, so he decided to eat it himself and give the babies the best he could find. As a result, he spent the rest of the day emptying his stomach into a ditch. In addition, he had never felt as bad as that day. He was both hot and cold, and his head was spinning up and down and around. He was turning inside out and back again. He could not get up for two days, all he could manage was a rare sip of dirty water from the pipe and heavy breathing.

While he couldn't get up, the babies crawled around or lay side by side with him or on him. Curious stroked his forehead again and again, hoping that it will help, while Freckles chirped worried against his chest. And the Defender crawled restlessly in a circle, growling at the beetles that were trying to get to him.

They took care of him. This filled his eyes with tears.

On the second night of his temporary helplessness, he slept curled around them in a protective position. To keep them safe. Despite everything.

...and third. Never go in contact with people on the surface. He didn’t know that he would break this rule very soon.