"It was a cardiac arrest." Zane explained, coming into the waiting room. He had been the only one allowed in Chazz's hospital room. Not even Jaden had been allowed in. They hadn't wanted anyone loud, anyone who might disturb the only rest that Chazz had gotten for quite some time.

"What's that?" Jaden asked, tilting his head, standing up rapidly, wanting to get in and make sure that Chazz was alright.

"It's where your heart stops beating." Zane explained shortly. Alexis stood also, wringing her hands. Mindy and Jasmine, and Chazz's southern friend was there. Most of the Obelisks were there, in fact, and quite a few Ra Yellows. Though Chazz hadn't declared himself friends with him, no one wanted Chazz to get hurt, because he was one of the best duelists that the school had.

"Oh my God…! Is he okay now?" Asked Mindy, her dark eyes narrowing sympathetically, her shoulders shaking faintly. Jasmine wrapped her arms around Mindy's shoulders. Mindy had had a crush on Chazz for such a long time that it was quite possibly the scariest for her. Chazz had never liked her in return, but she was still hoping, especially since he had asked her to the dance.

"We…well…we don't know yet." Zane's voice was quiet, and for once, it held a trace of fear. "He's started breathing on his own, but…Jaden, Bastion, I need to talk to you alone." He said.

Mindy and Jasmine, Alexis too, looked extremely nervous.

He pulled the two other boys into a separate room, and closed his eyes, letting out a breath. "Chazz…he's dropped tons of weight lately, his hands have been shaking…I know you guys have seen it too. And his heart stopped…the doctors say that he's been taking drugs, guys. Speed, cocaine, acid, everything that he could get his hands on." Zane's eyes narrowed, and his shoulders hunched faintly. "But I don't know why. It's killing him. Whenever he's around you guys, you've gotta keep him from doing that."

Zane's words were simple, almost too simple for the situation.

Coughing came from Chazz's room, and Zane hurried back to Chazz's room, but this time Bastion and Jaden followed, their faces solemn and cold. Jaden had grown up, today. He had grown up, because his friends needed him.

----

Chazz's eyes were closed, but they fluttered open when the three boys walked in. He had an I.V. strapped to the back of his hand, and his arms looked frail, and almost completely skeletal encased in the hospital gown. His arms were bare, and covered with bruises where he had slammed them against the walls when he was high, and where he had hit himself in his fits of self-loathing.

"Chazz…? Are you okay?" Jaden asked, sitting on the edge of Chazz's bed.

"Can you hear us, Chazz?" Bastion asked, watching the boy shift uncomfortably under the bedding.

Chazz opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He swallowed hard, then. "Yeah…I can hear you…" He mumbled into his blankets, his voice hoarse and raspy, starting to regain consciousness.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Zane…" He mumbled quietly.

"Chazz Princeton! How DARE you do this to our family?" Spat Jagger as he stormed into the room, his suit coat flapping open, his tie half-undone. He had clearly come here in a rushed state.

"Get out. Get OUT." Slade growled, pushing Jaden, Bastion, and Zane out hurriedly. They stood outside, trying to get back in, struggling to open the locked door. Jagger's screams could be heard as well as Slade's angry, spitting voice.

----

"We can't just leave him in there with him!" Bastion exclaimed, jiggling the knob. Jaden pulled out his lunch card, the one he used to get food. He slipped it into the doorjamb, and the door swung open

Zane stared, and Bastion raised an eyebrow.

"The doorknobs jam all the time in Slifer Red." Jaden said with a laugh, scratching the back of his head.

Jagger and Slade were looking at Chazz with looks of complete and total disappointment on their faces. Chazz's cheek had a fresh bruise from where he had been slapped by his older brother, and his frail shoulders heaved.

"You are not my brother." Jagger hissed, spinning on his heel and walking out.

Slade closed his eyes, and looked down at the ground quietly, thinking of what to say. "You will come home for winter break, and Jagger and I will make sure that you have ceased this habit. You may be useless, but we still need you as a pawn." He finally said, then walked out of the room, his heels clicking.

"Chazz…" Jaden started, about to tell a joke to cheer the boy up. Zane shook his head as Chazz's shoulders heaved, and Jaden fell quiet. Zane sat on the edge of the bed, and Chazz collapsed forwards into his arms.

Jaden watched as Zane held Chazz to his chest while Chazz's frail shoulders heaved, and he sobbed into the boy's shoulder, eyes shut tightly. Chazz's wrists looked like those of a corpse, and his hair had fallen out of its strict shape. His hair fell long and straight, past his shoulders, a stunning wash of almost-black silk.

Jaden felt a surge of a foreign emotion, a hot, burning feeling, washing through his stomach as he watched Zane holding onto Chazz, stroking his back. He hated that, he hated seeing Zane's arms around Chazz.

He didn't understand why he hated it, he couldn't get it, because it made no sense, but…he just did. Chazz's shoulders shaking, those beautiful eyes filled with tears as he struggled not to cry…he wanted to make those looks go away. But the beauty of it was that Chazz's lips were parted, and dyed red with the blood from where he had bitten them. And…God…there was just something about those lips, the way that they looked, that made something around Jaden's groin stir.

"I'll be in my room, if you need anything. Give a holler, Chazz…" He said, and walked out quickly. Bastion saw Zane and Chazz holding each other, and he left quietly, following Jaden, as was Syrus.

Chazz didn't even acknowledge that, but for some reason, even though Chazz was always like this, Chazz's sudden movement to ignore him hurt even more, as though Zane's arms around him magnified it.

The door closed, and Chazz looked up at Zane with a sad smile on his face. "I really am pathetic, aren't I?" He asked quietly. Zane shook his head, and stroked Chazz's hair back from his face.

"No. You're just not what your brothers want. But I wouldn't have you any other way…" He asked quietly.

Chazz smiled softly, and seemed a bit more content. He moved so that Zane was in the bed with him, and Chazz was now in his lap. Every movement caused a jingle of his I.V. hitting the pole It hung from to resound, but that didn't stop them.

"Chazz…" Zane said softly, stroking Chazz's long hair back from his beautiful face. "Don't think of yourself as pathetic."

Chazz nodded quietly, and then decided something. He obviously couldn't be what his brothers wanted, and he couldn't do what they wanted him to do. He would never live up to their standards, so…why not do what he wanted?

Zane looked confused for a moment, but that look of confusion slipped into one of surprise and pleasure as Chazz leant forwards and crushed his lips against Zane's.