Work Text:
Waking up felt like a relief to Leo, the human-monster from his nightmare gave him a strange feeling, like he had seen him before and even if he was concerned by the strangers in the wagon he still felt grateful that they woke him.
“Haha, the princess has risen,” joked a big guy with a thin mustache, followed by laughter from what should probably be his crewmates.
There were hills on each side of the road and the sun was rising, or was that a sunset? No, Leo was sure the sun rises from the east, that is what Don Ándres had told him.
“Where are you going?” The man who had woken him asked, he seemed to be the leader, or maybe it was the mysterious guy wearing a cloak sitting next to him.
“To Puebla,” he responded and paid attention to the looks of worry the two men shared.
“Eh… and are you on your own?” Leader man wondered to which he only nodded to respond.
“Just to eat a delicious Manchamantel?” asked the guy who had teased him before, “there is no need to risk your own life that way, lad.”
“Haven’t no one told you there is war, kid?” Spoke a new guy, shorter than the other three, “what I think is that you. are. a. spy, ” he hissed.
Leo was about to take the accusation seriously, but the smirk on the man’s face before they broke in laughter had betrayed them.
“How is he going to be a spy? He is just a little kid!” The same guy declared to make it more clear that Leo could be no threat, “because you aren’t a spy, right?”
“No, he is not a child, he is already big,” Cloak guy said, finishing the unspoken joke, “continue with your story, lad,” he suggested to the big guy.
“Aah, I remember it, like it was yesterday–”
“Because it was yesterday, jerk,” the shorter guy interrupted him and laughed with the others, Leo included.
“Shh… And suddenly I find myself surrounded by more than one hundred enemies! All of them pointing at my head with their guns–”
Leo let the story went over his head while he studied his surroundings. He saw an interesting object in the leader’s bag just for a second because it was tucked away by the latter who made a sign of silence towards him, Leo wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean.
He only went back to the conversation when he saw the mood dampened, “ Lieutenant Mandujano ” Leo noted to himself, that was the name of the leader.
The wagon stopped and they saw a guy muttering with the coachman, who turned to Lieutenant Mandujano to give him the message.
“What did he say?” Leo wanted to know, this seemed important.
“A pivot joint…”
“I said a checkpoint!” Lieut. Mandujano corrected quietly and suggested to the cloak guy to reach his destination on foot, “We got you covered,” and with that Mandujano gave him the weird object from his bag.
“What’s your name?” Mandujano asked the kid, he was sure the boy was still a child, no more than thirteen, it didn't feel good to drag a kid to adult matters but there was no option right now.
“Leo San Juan.”
“We are rebels, standing to fight, you know what are we fighting for?” Perhaps Mandujano can make the boy feel a little more brave to face the situation ahead.
“We are fighting for justice for this country”
“And for work, and food for our own, mostly for the food.”
“Can we count on you?” Mandujano asked the real important question and the kid did not disappoint him.
“You can count on me, sir.”
“Death to the bad government,”
“And long live México!” They all cheered quietly.
“Okay kid, here’s the plan,” Mandujano sat down, “You are just a child, so you don’t need to get involved, what we need is for you to stay silent, you can fake to be asleep and sit down next to me.”
“They tend to let their guard down when seeing kids.”
“So do not worry yourself, kiddo, it’s all going to be okay,”
Mandujano hoped that Garcia’s words could ease any worries in the kid, ‘cause they could no longer delay the inevitable.
In desperate times humans tend to come the best at everything and Mandujano hoped this counted as one, because they needed their actor skills to shine, tightening his grip on the child who was covered to the shoulders with a blanket, he relaxed his face and put his best ‘I’m in a really good mood or just high as fuck, can’t tell’ expression.
“Where are you going?”
That was an easy one, “To Puebla, officer.” Mandujano followed their eyes while they inspected the few things they had.
“And the child? What is your relationship with him?”
“He is my son, officer,” he answered happily, if they saw them like a proud dad with a bunch of uncles they would go easy on them.
“Hey kid, rise and shine laddie!” The officers nearby laughed while officer Asshole started to shake Leo’s shoulder, this is not what they expected.
Leo felt his heart trembling against his chest, he totally preferred to fight México’s legends and not people who could blow his head with one bullet, but Lieutenant Mandujano and his team were counting on him, so he decided to play along the best he could.
Pretending to wake up from the shake Leo stretched out his arms letting the blanket fall from his shoulders to his lap and with a little yawn he dared to ask, “are we there yet, dad?” without acknowledging the officers.
“No, son, we’re at a checkpoint, look.”
“Hey there, lad, can you tell me where are you going?” Even when the officer softened his tone for Leo, they could still hear the order behind it.
“Uh… To- to Puebla, sir.” Leo damned his stuttering, it only happened each time someone spoke to him like he was a three-year-old or when they were mad at him, like Teodora, but he had got used to her.
“To-to Puebla, you say?”
“We are going to play at a baptism,” the shorter man informed them, he was trying to get the attention from Leo, he didn’t look pleased at the officer’s mocking.
“But we are already delayed,” Garcia added and while his friend José continued with their fake story he touched the gun hidden in his clothes.
After a while they heard the blessed phrase.
“Let them go.”
Leo was relieved, even with the mocking from the mean officer, they were free to go, his heart started to calm and he folded the blanket they used for the act, standing up he walked to Garcia’s side and a second before he returned it back everything went to Hell.
“There is someone near the river, captain!”
“Wait!”
They stopped the wagon again, but Mandujano was having none of it, he knocked out the nearest enemy with his gun now unfolded and they stood up armed, “José, get the kid behind you!” He ordered and counted the enemies.
“Now you are going to see who we really are, motherfuckers!” Garcia yelled pointing his own gun to the enemy in front of him.
They were ready for what would surely become a massacre, but before the first shot, Mandujano watched out of the corner of his as an officer pulled Leo out of the wagon, he still had the blanket, unfolded again, and he was struggling because of an arm around his neck, he looked smaller and terrified.
“If you go ahead who is going to pay it’s the kid,” the fucker smirked pointing his gun to Mandujano’s head.
“The child has nothing to do with this!” Mandujano hissed, this doesn’t look any good, and when he saw more enemies approaching, he realized they were fucked.
“Put down your guns guys…”
One by one they let their guns fall and raised their arms, nothing was worth the death of a child and they were no monsters.
“Licona, release the child and tie up the prisoners,” commanded captain Asshole and when he saw the officer hadn’t followed his orders he pushed him to do so and grabbed the child by his vest.
“Do as you’re told, officer.”
Mandujano remained quiet while they were being tied up with their hands behind their backs, Leo was the only one with his hands tied up in the front, the blanket had been snatched away from his hands by the same psycho who had threatened them.
General Torreblanca was pleased with the information about the old Monastery, he didn’t think this day could be any better, but when soldier Zubieta informed him about the group of rebels they had captured, he was more than ecstatic.
The feeling didn’t last longer, he had thought Galeana had been captured as well, he didn’t care about a bunch of useless rebels, “Lock them down in the Monastery, first thing tomorrow morning I want them all dead!”The General yelled at them, “You are dismissed.”
“General, the– the thing is–”
“What, now what?!”
“There is a child within the prisoners.” Soldier Zubieta revealed and Torreblanca wondered how much information they could obtain from the kid.
“You just gotta say that you didn’t see anything,” Lieutenant Mandujano assured him, “you are just a kid, the army will surely let you go,” he tried to cheer him up, but Leo couldn’t say it was helping, even if he escaped, what would happen to them?, he didn’t want to leave them behind.
They stayed quiet after the soldiers brought another victim, an old man who Leo thought looked like a ringmaster, a few moments later someone who seemed more important than the soldiers approached them.
“We think Galeana was with them and they covered him while he escaped.”
He was an old man with gray hair, despite this he was also a lot bigger than Leo who lowered his gaze when the big man crouched to meet his eyes, he just wanted the dumb soldier to shut up.
“Laddie,”
“ Oh no, ” Leo whined internally, “not again with the baby-talk,” he wasn’t an incompetent infant, why couldn’t they all understand?
“If you just point at the direction Galeana took off, I can set you free, wouldn’t you want that?” When the General spoke he pretended sympathy for the child, any kid would be crying by this point and he was sure this one couldn’t be any different.
When the child remained quiet the General tried one more time, “Wouldn't it be nice to be back at Puebla with your real mom and dad?” He tried to make the child think about his parents, it would surely broke him.
After two more minutes he was done with this game, “Bring him to my tent!” he ordered at soldier Zubieta, “We have other ways to make him talk.” He stepped aside and smirked when the child tried to escape from Zubieta’s grasp, being that small it was like dealing with a baby goat.
“Don’t you dare!”
“All of you are monsters!”
“He is just a child, don’t you dare to torture him!”
The three of them were trying to stand but were held easily by more soldiers. Torreblanca didn’t know if they were naturally this stupid, because the word ‘torture’ had reached the kid’s ears and Zubieta had to carry him like a sack of potatoes because of his struggling, the General only spoke after the two of them disappeared behind the tent’s curtains.
“Monsters, you say?” He grasped the hair of who was probably their leader, “we are the good ones Lieutenant.” The General walked away and yelled at his soldiers to put the prisoners in one of the monastery’s cells.
“ What this child needs is a firm hand and I’m about to give him that just that, ” he smiled to himself and made his way to the younger prisoner.
Leo was uncomfortable, far from that, he had attempted three times to make it to the exit of the tent, which not only didn’t result but now he was trapped in the soldier’s lap and his struggling to, at least, sit down next to him were met with a firmer grasp, the moron had even started to bounce him, like he needed to be soothed! He was about to be tortured, not even weed could make him relax!
The bounce and his struggling ended when they saw the General entering from the tent’s curtains, Leo saw how he walked like he owned the world and sat himself in a chair next to the bed they had occupied.
“What is your name, lad?”
“Leo.” He shared his first name with a neutral voice earning a chuckle from the man, “ butthole. ”
“You know why are you here, Leo?”
“ Because you are dumb and ugly, ” he deduced mentally, “because uh… because I– I didn’t give you information?” Leo stuttered again, he wondered if they would really torture him till he broke.
“Partially,” the General told him, “but mostly because you decided to disobey an adult, Leo,” Torreblanca accused him like it was the worst crime a child could commit, “soldier Zubieta, do you remember what your parents did each time you disobeyed them?”
“They punished me, General,”
“And why would they do that, soldier?”
“Because they wanted the best for me, sir.”
General Torreblanca wondered if the kid had realized what was coming, but when he saw the confused expression he decided to continue.
“Do you want me to cut those ropes, kiddo?” When he received a nod by response the General made a sign for the kid to come closer.
With hesitation Leo stood up from the soldier’s lap, he was at least grateful for that, he took just enough steps for the man to be able to cut his ropes.
Anyway, he should have known better, the General grabbed the rope within his hands and pulled him closer, so much closer, with an unmanly yelp, he was suddenly standing between the man’s knees.
Leo snapped his eyes shut waiting for the pain, but he just felt a knife cutting slowly his ropes.
“I don’t think you would want a punishment, right Leo?”
He only shook his head, if he could reduce his speaking to the minimum it would be helpful.
“I don’t want to punish you either, believe me, but you are not leaving me any option boy, so, why don’t you just tell me what you saw or heard in the wagon, mmh?”
Leo didn’t want to be punished, really!, he can’t recall a time when nana Dionisia or grandma punished him in the past, he had been always a calm child, and didn’t had any friends to be mischievous with, but people were counting on him, that Galeana guy was important to whatever war México was experiencing right now, so he remained silent, with a stubborn pout he didn’t knew he had Leo looked away and waited for the General to finish with his ropes.
When he felt the ropes fall he pulled his hands away, but the General had a firm grasp in his left one, Leo noticed the glint in the man’s eyes, like he had expected this to happen, suddenly he was being dragged to the man’s left side and he made Leo bend over his knees, his feet didn’t even reached the floor, so he was pretty much vulnerable in this position.
Then it clicked.
How could he forgot?, this position was Nando’s half childhood probably, his mind was racing now that he understood what was about to happen, in panic he tried to get up.
“No!” Leo yelled when he felt a hand in his back pushing him down again, “ He is joking, right?, he can’t be serious! ” Even if Leo wanted to believe that, the situation said otherwise.
“Please, at least not in front of him!” He could still perfectly see the soldier who had him in his lap before, ‘Zubieta’, he recalled.
“Naughty children don’t have that privilege, young man,”
Leo could hear the smirk in the dumb’s face and the laughter nearby just made his face grow redder than it already was.
“Now, would you like to share something with me before starting, kiddo?”
He really wanted to tell him to go to Hell, but the only thing that escaped from his lips was a little “I don’t know anything!” that sounded like he was already at the verge of tears.
Leo snapped his mouth shut just in time as the first spank came down, he resumed his struggling and kicked his feet to make the job more difficult to the General who only gave him two more harder spanks.
“No no, none of that, you had your chance, lad,” The General chuckled, “take your punishment like a big boy, or do you need soldier Zubieta to hold down your little feet?” He warned the boy and saw him slowing down his kicking, “Now–” remarking with a spank “–how old are you, my dear boy?”
“Ah!– twelve!”
“Do you consider yourself a big boy already, Leo? He made sure to spank the boy’s bottom on the last four words, while he just gave little yelps each time.
“N– no, no, sir?”
“Was that an answer or a question?” He gave another spank.
“Aah! an– an answer, sir!”
“Do you think a war is a place for a child like you?” Torreblanca knew they were not being silent, everyone outside and near enough to the tent could easily know what was going on inside, the child didn’t need privacy.
“...”
“Answer me, kiddo,” He ordered before raising his knee a little so he could give a good slap to the child’s sit spots.
“Ow!, no sir, it is not!”
Torreblanca glanced at the boy who was opening and closing his hands, probably to prevent himself from hitting the General’s legs, “ what a clever boy, ” however it wouldn’t last long.
“It’s not what, Leo?” He lowered his knee again and gave soft taps to let the child answer.
“It’s uh… it’s not a place for children…”
Even if Torreblanca heard the mumbled answer he wasn’t satisfied, “Speak louder Leo or you are going to spend the rest of your day bent over my knee.” The General gave a slightly harder spank on the boy’s bum to get the message across.
“It’s Not!–” Leo managed to suck down the yelp, “–war it’s not a place for a child like– like me!”
He was trying his best to endure this, but his facade was breaking quickly, the baby-talk from the horrible General combined with the growing sting in his backside made him want to beg for it to stop.
Leo whimpered when the General spanked him hard two times on each cheek, he thought this couldn’t be worse, but God probably hated him because he heard a louder laughter, one much more different than Zubieta’s one.
"Getting rid of the rebelliousness inside this little boy, General?"
He recognized the psycho’s voice, what was his name again? Leo didn’t want to turn around to see the moron’s face, his eyes were filled with tears he stubbornly held and he was sure the soldier would taunt him even more if Leo acknowledged him.
He felt one last spank followed by a hand playing with the buckle of his belt.
“NO!, please don’t!” In panic Leo tried to get up again, when that didn’t work he freneticaly threw his hand to try and reach his pants and underwear, the different laughters were making him so overwhelmed that he didn’t realize when the tears started to flow down his cheeks.
His hand was pinned down on his back and Leo let out a scream over pure frustration. He hated them, he hated them so much, but he couldn’t do anything, his noodle arms and small frame had always been easily overpowered.
The first blow over his bare backside made him shriek and mentally beg for anyone listening to make them stop.
“Don’t you want to tell me something, little Leo?”
His lower lip trembled while more tears escaped from his eyes, it didn’t matter how hard he tried to erase them with his little left palm, they kept coming, another hard spank made him sob and remember the General had asked him something.
“I– I did see him…” He sniffed and tried to ignore the other men in the room.
“Aren’t you just the littlest sorry boy now?”
“A good spanking always works wonders if you ask me.”
“Atta boy,” Chuckled the General and released Leo’s hand to pet his brown hair.
“Buh– but I swear sir, I did– I didn’t hear anything of–” Leo had to stop and take a breath he so much needed, “– of where the man would go.” He finished with a whimper and kicked his feet a little to distract himself from trying to reach his flaming bottom and rub it.
“Then,” The man spanked him again making him jump, “you can tell me what you saw and heard, what about that? if you do it I will call this punishment over.”
He knew this would be his only opportunity and he would be damned if he didn’t use it, but he had to be careful, Leo needed to give enough information so they could think he was really cooperating, but not enough to put his new friends in danger.
“Aah!– okey, okey, I’ll do it!” He cried and rubbed his eyes softly, he realized how tired he felt and wondered if they could see it too.
“I remember waking– waking up at dawn, it was still uh, pretty dark–” Leo had his gaze on the floor while he played with his hands, “–they stopped tuh– talking when they saw I was awake, but I, I think they were talking about a fight where the leader, he uh… where he lost a lot of people… his people.”
Leo was relieved when he felt the General putting his clothes back, a bit ashamed because they thought of him like a kid… a littler kid.
“They told me about– about the war and uh, they asked for me– my help–” He was startled by the laughter from the General, “ Of course they would not believe me, ” Leo thought bitterly.
“Those rebels were not in their right mind, were they soldier Zubieta?” The man patted his back while he spoke, “dragging a child to adults matters, unbelievable.”
“Lieutenant just asked me to stay quiet…” he explained and sniffed again, “we made up a family story and– and then I went back to sleep.”
“...”
“I’m– I’m telling the truth!” He cried and turned the most he could in that position to see the General’s face, “the man you wanted wuh– was still in the wagon when I first woke up, buh– but the second time he wasn’t there anymore,” more tears filled his eyes once again when he saw the neutral expression in the monster’s face.
“Soldier Licona, you were there, what can you say?”
“ Did he really asked the psycho!? ” Leo turned again so he could see the man, he wasn’t surprised by the smirk in that ugly face.
“Well, he did ‘woke up’ when captain Zubieta shook him, right?”
“Yes, he didn't even noticed us at first, but I can’t say if that was an act as well…”
Leo couldn’t let them know the truth, so he played his last card: beg.
“Pluh– please, no more please!” He shook his head vigorously, “I’m tell– telling the true!” Well, at least his tears were pretty real.
“Guess you ain’t a big boy as you thought, right kiddo?”
Even if Leo wanted nothing more than to punch the psycho-clown and break his nose, he needed to play along, “Nuh-no! Oww!” He hadn’t expected that spank, but before he could worry they had discovered his lie the General picked him up and slowly made him stand on his own feet.
“Now you know what happens to kids who disobey adults, don’t you Leo?”
He nodded using one hand to rub his puffy eyes and the other one to rub the soreness of his bottom, the snickering did nothing to him anymore, he was already humiliated beyond belief.
“I’m a man of my word, Leo,”
The horrible General stood up and grabbed the hand Leo was using to rub his bum, he guided him to one corner of the tent, “ You can’t be serious, ” he wanted to whine again but held it down.
“So, we are going to set you free, but it has to wait till tomorrow,” Torreblanca informed him, “for now you will have a time-out till one of my soldiers can come and take you to one of the Monastery’s cells.
All Leo wanted was to lie down and sleep for an eternity, but he realized his new friends would be in the Monastery as well, with luck they could all escape from these people’s hands.
He was dozing off, it had probably been less than twenty minutes, but he felt like he hadn’t sleep for days, maybe that’s what happens when you cry as much as he did, he continue to rub his bottom, the sting still very present and his eyes were still puffy no matter how much he tried to rub it away, the General and his clowns had left him since the start of his ‘time-out’ and he couldn’t be more grateful to God.
“Baby bro?”
Never mind, he hated that guy.
Leo turned to meet the one and only person he hadn’t expected to see here and was wearing a uniform of his sworn enemy, “Nando?” His voice was small and sore.
“What– what are you doing here?” Nando entered the tent and approached him, “and why are you rubbing–” Leo knew his brother realized what had happened to him as his eyes shone, “– No way!” And he was damned, again.
“You were the one who was screaming his lungs out?!– Pfffth– HAHAHA, oh man, this– this is priceless,” Nando was nearly wheezing, he was having the time of his life, Leo couldn’t say the same as he just lowered his gaze.
“Did– did the big meanie man give my wittle Chisguete a hard time?”
Leo knew his brother was just teasing him like in the old times, but his bottom was sore, his eyes were red and puffy, he felt tired, thirsty and hungry, that was NOT a good combination and when he realized his cheeks were wet again a sob had already break from his lips.
He sobbed again and brought both his hands to his face trying to cover himself.
“Chis… Leo?” Nando was not laughing anymore.
Leo wasn’t even mad at Nando, he was just… sad, sad at everything that had happened to him, sobbing and whimpering like the little kid everyone said he was, sobbing like a child who needed his parents to make everything better, unfortunately, he didn’t had neither mom nor dad to cry to.
He was full crying now, as if he had been put back on the monster’s knee.
“No– no, Leo, c’mon–”Nando reached to pat Leo’s hair, “–it’s okay baby bro, it’s over, it’s all over now.”
There were just a few times were Nando would comfort Leo, they could be counted with a hand, the last one had been during his parent’s funeral, so he was a little startled by his brother’s soft tone and dared to look up, even with the tears covering most of his view he distinguished Nando’s smile, not a mean one, but a sincerely one.
“No need to cry, your big and awesome brother is here now,” Nando was rubbing Leo’s tears from his face, he hadn’t noticed how callus his brother’s hands had become since the last time he felt them.
“I will kick those assholes to the moon if they dare to put one hand on my Chisguete ever again!”
Leo closed his eyes, he was sobbing and laughing at the same time, when his brother’s antics weren’t against him they could be pretty funny, “You– you said a bad word.”
“Yup, that’s what I did, don’t tell grandma,” Nando muttered at his left ear like it was the most important secret of his life while getting rid of the last of his tears, “c’mon baby bro, I still need to put you in a cell till tomorrow.”
An involuntary whine escaped from his lips and he felt Nando’s arms embracing him, he could feel the rumbling of his brother’s laughter, “I want to sleep for the rest of my life.”
“The cells are not the comfiest place to sleep, but at least they gave me this, ”Nando showed Leo the blanket he had a few hours ago, “and I can wrap you like a burrito.”
“Hahaha, I would prefer you not to,” Leo grabbed the blanket while his other hand was firmly held by his big brother's, they were walking to the tent’s exit at their own pace.
“I think I can escape tonight,” he told his brother and as expected they stopped before reaching the exit.
“But… you are supposed to be set free by tomorrow–” Nando looked at him with confusion in his eyes, “– why don’t wait?”
“I need to rescue those people who were with me in the wagon,” Leo explained, “they’re going to be executed if I don’t do nothing.”
“You can’t stop putting yourself in danger, can you?” Nando’s voice held a little bit of exasperation but he knew his little brother had a kind heart, “Okay, but I will help.”
“You don’t have to–”
“And leave my little baby bro in the hands of those pricks?” Nando ruffled Leo’s hair with his free hand, “yeah, no way,” his hand traveled till he cupped Leo’s cheek, “and, you know, it’s kind of a part of being an awesome brother.”
They resumed their walking and let false expressions cover their faces once they left the security of the tent, it was easier for Leo, he was exhausted after everything and just let Nando guide him.
He didn’t care about the laughter directed towards him, he may not have neither mom or dad, but Leo knew even if Nando was mean sometimes he was still Leo’s big and ‘awesome’ bro, and he would make things better.