Chapter Text
There was a life before, Two remembers as much.
The life before warm and carefree, isolated yet never lonely
Of course they weren’t lonely, Leonardo was never alone.
He was a part of something else, one out of a set of four that fit so perfectly together he used to think nothing could ever keep them away from one another.
Two should’ve known better
He remembers them, small hands that grabbed his own when they ran together, bodies that pressed to him in their sleep, shoulders that bumped to him softly, late night conversations that ended with them trying to muffle out their laughter, games used to be endless.
Shapes
Colors
Sounds
They used to be more to them, back when Two still waited for them he held onto everything they left.
But none of them ever came for him, and everything started to dissolve. Names became meaningless syllables that melted on his tongue whenever he tried to speak them, faces became blurry shapes and colors.
Voices became distorted and foreign, their sentences stopped making sense so Two stopped listening, stopped looking at their blurry faces, stopped reaching for small hands that were so frustratingly intangible.
It shouldn’t matter, he knows it very well.
“Attachment is a liability, trust no one, love nothing” (His dad’s words, his mom’s actions. He knows, he knows they’re right, why is it so hard to accept?)
His parents did everything they could to liberate him from who he used to be in the life before, they took his home, his name, his face. All in the name of making him stronger, smarter, better then the person he used to be could ever become.
He is the Battle Nexus champion and hero for Yokai kind, destined for greatness. (But what even was greatness? He was only great for as long as he stood victorious in a battle. Greatness was only achieved through bloodshed, and Two was as great as any mindless monster.)
And well, this life is just one that’s lived alone.
“Anatawa hitorijanai” Something whispers softly, it’s in the roaring of crowds, in the silent night breeze, it’s the ache in his bones and it buzzes on his skin. Kind and gentle yet so sad, so desperate for him to understand.
Two never did
There was a life before, Two remembers as much.
He wishes he didn’t.