Whumptober 4. I don't own RPM. Mentions of rape and panic attacks.
The first time it happened the team was training. Scott had gotten behind him and grabbed both of Ziggy's arms to prevent him from turning. Fear rushed through him and he felt his heart start racing. His surroundings started to blur together until his senses entirely shut off.
The next thing he knew, he heard Dillon breaking through the fog, "Come on Ziggy, breathe. Slowly, in and out." He finally opened his eyes to find Dillon kneeling next to him while the other three were staring at him in horror. When feelings started to come back to his limbs, he rushed out of the training room.
No one questioned him when he came back to the garage that night for dinner. He acted normal and so they did too. They never brought it up, but when they would train, they'd avoid grabbing Ziggy in case it sent him into another panic attack.
The next time it happened Dillon woke up to hear Ziggy crying and mumbling in his sleep.
"No! Stop. Please," he begged someone in his head.
Dillon rolled out of his bed and knelt by Ziggy's, "hey, Ziggy. Wake up."
Ziggy, only half awake, punched Dillon in the face.
"Shit," he cursed as he felt his nose start bleeding. He flipped the light on and grabbed a Kleenex. "Ziggy, it's just me. See?"
Ziggy's eyes finally focused and then grew wide as he realized what he'd done. "I'm so sorry," he choked out as tears streamed down his face.
"Hey, it's ok. Just a little bloody nose," Dillon assured, more worried about his friend than himself. "You were having some kind of nightmare."
"I'm sorry," Ziggy curled the blanket around himself as he leaned against the wall and continued to let tears out.
"I'll be fine. What can I do to help?"
Ziggy just shook his head, "Don't worry about me, just go back to sleep."
"I'm your friend, Zig. I can't just sleep knowing you are upset."
"Could you just sit here with me? Until I can fall asleep?" Ziggy asked nervously.
"No problem," Dillon made sure his nose had quit bleeding and turned the light back off before climbing in to sit next to Ziggy against the wall. Ziggy and Dillon both fell asleep and ended up leaning on each other. Come morning, neither of them spoke about it.
The third time, they were on a mission. They ran down alleys to find the attack bot but he froze when he noticed the landmarks around him.
"Come on, Ziggy!" Scott called.
Dillon turned back and noticed how hard the green ranger was breathing. "Hey, focus on me. You know I won't push you to tell me what's wrong but the team is counting on us. Whatever this is, is just fear. I don't know what happened in your past but I'm here now to make sure nothing hurts you, alright?"
Ziggy took a few breaths before nodding. Ziggy went ahead of Dillon while Dillon watched his back. Ziggy was just a bit quieter the few hours after defeating the bot, but after a while, he seemed back to normal.
The fourth time, Ziggy and Dillon were out shopping. They reached the checkout line and Ziggy froze upon seeing the cashier.
"Do I know you?" the guy asked, "You look familiar."
Ziggy's eyes were wide as he struggled to breathe but he just shook his head and waited for Dillon to finish paying. Once they got outside Ziggy slid down the side of Dillon's car.
"What's wrong?"
Ziggy took deep breaths, "the cashier."
"He said you look familiar?"
"He raped me," Ziggy whispered when Dillon knelt down.
"He what?" Dillon growled about to storm back into the store.
A shaky hand reached out to stop him.
"I couldn't go to the police, because I worked for the cartel. I couldn't tell them, because they'd laugh that I couldn't fight back," Ziggy finally voiced.
"And that's why you get panic attacks?"
Ziggy nodded in response. It all made sense to Dillon now, how Ziggy would shy away from a lot of contact, why he had nightmares, why he froze at just the one alleyway.
"I won't hesitate to kill him, if you wanted me to."
Ziggy actually gave a small laugh. "It's ok. I mean, it's never going to be fully ok, but him being alive or dead won't change that."
Dillon held a hand out, "If you are up to it, these groceries do need to get to the fridge."
Ziggy grabbed the hand and climbed into the passenger seat. He felt a bit better finally telling someone and hoped maybe it would help the healing process. Dillon glanced over at his friend, worried, but glad that he finally had the trust to explain his attacks.