Helping Hands
Chazz sat alone in his dorm room, sitting with his back against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest. His arms wrapped around his legs while his head rested on his knees. The curtains were drawn, limiting the sunlight entering the room despite the fact that the lights in his room were left on. Across the way, his black coat rested again on the chair opposite the bed. Chazz would never tell anyone this, but more often than he'd like to admit, even to himself, after class he would come back to his room and just... sulk.
He knew it wasn't the healthiest thing for him to do, but after a bad day, there wasn't anything else he could bring himself to do. And today hadn't exactly been the best after being embarrassed in front of the entire class by Dr. Crowler that morning. After that, his mood slowly deteriorated, more or less completely receding internally by the end of the school day. It was always like that for him now, no matter how good he seemed to be doing one day, no matter what, it seemed even the smallest thing would be enough to send him spiraling, only to land him sitting alone in his room spiraling further. Trying to keep his breathing slow and even while he tried to calm himself down, Chazz took slow and deep breaths, in through his nose and out through his mouth, but the image of his elder brothers' disapproving and angry faces flashed before his closed eyes.
"You're pathetic, Chazz!" They shouted at him as Chazz retreated further internally, moving his entire body closely against the wall. "You can't do anything right!"
"You're just a waste of time and space." Slade declared, shooting daggers at the youngest Princeton brother with his cold, jaded eyes directly peering into Chazz's fragile soul.
"All you know how to do is get in everyone's way!" Jagger followed up, raising his voice at the vulnerable younger boy, not at all helping things any. Practically cowering against his dorm's wall, Chazz tucked his head down between his chest and legs, digging his fingers into the sides of his head, intertwined into his thick black hair, his eyes screwed shut as his brother's voices continued to torment and berate him.
"I can't believe we wasted so much time and effort trying to make you worth anything at all." Slade snarled in contempt for his youngest brother, "All you did was disappoint us. You're a disgrace to the Princeton name!"
"Please... stop..." Chazz pleaded in desperation, his voice wavering as he fought the tears fighting to emerge from his tightly closed eyes. Chazz trembled as he fought against his emotions, finding himself unable to keep them in check.
"You shouldn't have even been born!" The eldest brother shouted, bringing his fist down upon the youngest, causing Chazz to flinch like he had really been hit by an actual physical person and not just a figment of his imagination. Grabbing at the wall he was pressed up against with his right hand, his breathing accelerated from the little shock he sustained from the phantom blow. "The world would be better off without you, you worthless dog!"
At that precise moment, there was a knock at the door.
Chazz quickly shot up from his balled up position as the sound broke him out of his hallucination. Quickly looking around the empty room, his mind spinning around in confusion, the sound of the door knock didn't quite process as to what it was before he heard the loud ,obnoxious knock again. But this time it was quicker and stronger, and accompanied by an annoyingly familiar voice.
"Chazz?"
There was no mistaking Jaden's frustratingly friendly tone, even in such a scatter-brained state as he was at the moment. And at that moment, there was nothing Chazz needed less than for Jaden to bother him. All he wanted was to be alone and left to wallow in his thoughts like he always did. Though it had been quite some time since he hallucinated about his brothers like that...
"Hey, Chazz! You there, buddy?" Jaden called, knocking once again loudly and obnoxiously. Swiftly wiping his face of any possible tears, Chazz hopped up from the bed, which took up the majority of the room, and composed himself before finally opening the door for the annoying Slifer.
"What." Chazz asked flatly, his expression hardening back to his normal unimpressed and unenthused look.
"Oh! Hey, Chazz." Jaden said, offering him an overly friendly smile. "I just wanted to see if you were okay? You seemed kinda off this morning." Jaden's expression changed to his own kind of intrigue, noticing that Chazz wasn't wearing his signature black coat. It wasn't a big deal or anything, but it was weird seeing the dark purple turtleneck without the coat covering it. "So what's up?"
"None of your business. That's what." Chazz asserted, narrowing his eyes at the Slifer before turning his back to him. "Now go away."
Closing the door in Jaden's face, Chazz turned back into his room. Walking over to the desk beside his bed, he placed his dainty hand gently on the back of the desk chair, feeling the soft fabric of his coat on his pale, silky skin.
"Hey, Chazz, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here." Jaden protested. Following him into the room, much to Chazz's chagrin. "I just wanna know if you're okay, that's all." He explained, softening his tone to one more gentle. "We all do."
The brunette sighed quietly, shaking his head slightly as he thought of what to say next. He didn't want to push Chazz, but he couldn't figure another way to get the snow white boy to open up to him.
"I didn't ask you to." Chazz snapped, whipping his head to the side just enough to see the brunette out of the corner of his eye. "I didn't ask anyone to worry about me and there's nothing to worry about!"
"Chazz, you don't have to ask us." Jaden said, taking a step closer to him, but still keeping a small distance between them. "We're your friends. We're gonna worry about you no matter what."
Taking a moment to think about what he would say next, Jaden got a bold thought. Fearing the reaction he might receive, he hesitated. Jaden knew he shouldn't bring his brothers into things, but he also figured that if anything was bothering him so badly, that's probably what it was. Bastion had even posed the possibility himself, and they all knew that that was a touchy subject for him to broach. Taking a deep breath, Jaden placed his hand firmly on Chazz's shoulder and turned him around so the two were facing one another.
"Look, I think I know what the problem is. It's your brothers, isn't it?"
Chazz stiffened when the words reached his ears. His eyes widened, taken both off guard and by surprise at what Jaden had deduced. Of course, he was right, but there was no way he was going to let Jaden get inside his head like that. Not like the two elder Princeton's had done, etching themselves into the youngest's mind, forever inflicting more and more mental wounds upon the poor boy.
"You really don't want to go there, Jaden." Chazz warned, his eyes narrowing again, reaching up and pushing Jaden's hand off of his shoulder. "I told you, it's none of your business."
Keeping his eyes narrow and his as gaze stern as he could, the images of his brothers flashed before Chazz's eyes. Shaking his head quickly to try and make the images go away, Chazz stepped away from Jaden, his eyes fixated on the medicine cabinet before taking another step past Jaden. Jaden watched him walk away, and in a moment of pure instinct, reached his arm out and reached for the dark haired teen. Chazz felt the tug on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. Looking back, he saw Jaden's hand clasped around his wrist, looking up, he saw that Jaden's eyes were serious, focused. Much different than they'd ever been before in his memory of the other teen, which wasn't exactly much, but even so.
"Let go of me, Jaden." Chazz asserted, tugging against Jaden's grip as his own serious eyes shot daggers back into Jaden's, though his thoughts were begging Jaden to release him.
"Chazz, I'm just trying to help you." Jaden countered, keeping a firm yet gentle grip on his wrist. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want you to talk to me. Talk to us!" Fearing he had already gone too far, Jaden cursed himself for what he'd managed to do in such a short time. He was also baffled by how much he had managed to mess things up so fast. He didn't exactly know how to handle these types of conversations, but one minute he was being nice and calm and collected, and the next minute there they were almost yelling at each other. "Look, don't think the others and I haven't noticed how weird you've been acting lately."
"I'm fine Jaden. Let me go!" Chazz commanded, raising his voice at the concerned brunette, struggling against his firm grip. The image of his brothers still clouding his mind, his breathing began to accelerate as his heart pounded, remembering what had happened only moments before Jaden arrived.
Looking away from the brunette back to the medicine cabinet he aimed to reach, Chazz's eyes widened in a moment of panic feeling his mind began to spin as it had before, impairing his logical thought process. Realizing he would be unable to reach the cabinet with Jaden holding him like that, he turned back to gain the momentum he needed to shake himself free of Jaden's firm grip. Letting out a slight gasp, Chazz's eyes widened at what his eyes beheld.
When he turned around, it wasn't Jaden holding him anymore.
"What's wrong with you, Chazz?"
Chazz nearly screamed at what he saw. Looking forward with his eyes widened in a panic, he looked upon his eldest brother, Slade, glaring at him with his hand clamped tightly around his wrist. Blinking quickly, hoping it was just a hallucination, the image didn't go away. Breathing heavily and yet quickly in a panic, Chazz struggled hard against him, only to have his grip tighten against his own tugs and yanks in an attempt to get himself free.
"Get off of me! Let me go!" Chazz shouted in fear, his heart pounding at the sight of his eldest brother sending him in a panic induced frenzy, pulling hard against him, frantically scratching at him with his free hand.
"What are you doing!? Have you lost your mind!?" Slade shouted back, seemingly disturbed by Chazz's frantic behavior. Grabbing at Chazz's free hand, he held him tightly and securely in his grasp, pulling him in a little closer. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! You need help!"
"No! Leave me alone!" Chazz yelled back, his eyes screwed shut as he pushed hard against the eldest Princeton, breaking his hold on his arms and causing him to stumble and fall down. Catching himself on the bed, Chazz turned and backed away from his brother before he could get back up and restrain him again. Covering his face with his hands, Chazz tried to keep himself from hyperventilating, making an attempt to control his breathing, but only failing. His heart pounded harder and harder, making his whole body tremble.
"Chazz..."
Lifting his head back up, Chazz recognized the familiar voice. Jaden had returned to Chazz's panic distorted reality, looking back, he saw the brunette slowly begin to stand from the spot his brother had fallen, and that his brother was nowhere to be seen. Fully realizing what had just happened in the span of about four to five minutes, Chazz's eyes widened again for a moment before returning to normal. He couldn't let Jaden see him like this. Or anyone, for that matter.
"Get out." Chazz commanded, turning fully back to the brunette, his trembling hand pointing back to the doorway of the small dorm room, his head lowered so the brunette couldn't see the tears forming in his beautiful black eyes.
"But Chazz-"
"-I said GET OUT!"
Scrambling to get fully back upon his feet, Jaden scampered quickly past Chazz, consumed in his own small aura in fear of what he had unintentionally done. Ripping the door open, he stopped in the doorway, looking back at the trembling boy.
"Chazz, I-"
"-GO!" Chazz growled, storming over to the brunette and shoving him violently out of the door before slamming it hard in his face.
As soon as Jaden disappeared from his sight, Chazz felt like his heart stopped in his chest. Without the need to hold up the façade, it crumbled from underneath him.
Breathing quickly and heavily, he made a break for the medicine cabinet, practically tearing it open to find his medication, not wanting the attack he was having to get any worse than it already was paired with the hallucinations he was having before Jaden came and made things worse for him. He hated taking the supplementary meds, he preferred getting through these things on his own, but there were times where it was just too much to handle trying to calm down on his own. And with everything he had been through in the span of about fifteen minutes it seemed, this was one of those times.
Rummaging through the cabinet he grabbed bottle after bottle of pills and other such over the counter pharmaceuticals for regular everyday problems like headaches, stuffy noses and the like, along with a few containers of vitamins, and his small amount of actual prescription medications. Taking only seconds to read the labels to see if he had found the right container, Chazz continued to frantically rummage through the cabinet. Tossing aside the bottles he didn't need, tears beginning to return to his eyes, unable to stop them now that he was alone with no need to put on his façade.
Getting his trembling hands finally on the right bottle, Chazz practically tore the lid off of the small orange container, shaking it over his opened palm. His eyes widening with a sharp gasp as nothing fell out of the bottle into his palm, he looked inside to find that the bottle was empty. Stiffening for a moment, the little orange bottle fell from his pale, dainty hand. Plastic clattering on the floor with the other bottles he had tossed while looking for the thing.
"I-It's okay... you're gonna be fine, j-just calm down..." He thought, feeling his breath accelerate into slight hyperventilation. His body continuing to shake, he took a step back, stepping on one of the pill bottles he tossed in his panicked search before, causing him to lose his footing and start to fall. Quickly catching himself, Chazz stood back up straight before promptly stumbling back, slamming his thin body into the desk across from the bed. Hitting the desk chair in the process, causing it to lose it's own balance and tumble to the ground throwing his coat from it's back, sending it to the ground as well a short distance away at the foot of the bed.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Slade's voice boomed through the small dorm, freezing Chazz in his tracks once again. His heart pounded and his head spun. On the edge of hyperventilation, he stepped back, looking around for his brother, but neither of the elder Princeton's were anywhere in sight. "Quit being such a baby! You're even more pathetic than we thought!"
"L-Leave me alone...!" Chazz pleaded, retreating back into the corner of the room, pressing his back up against the wall. Tightly closing his eyes, he clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block out any noise he could. Already failing to control his panicked breathing, Chazz hoped to lessen the stimulation around him, but he doubted it would be very effective.
"And to think we wasted so much time and money on you!" Jagger joined in, further adding to the boy's torment. "If we knew you were so weak, we wouldn't have bothered!"
"You'll never amount to anything, Chazz!" Slade continued to scold as Chazz slowly sank down to the ground in the corner of his dormitory, tears escaping from his tightly shut eyes.
"Go away!" He cried, shaking his head violently from side to side in a vain attempt to make the voices go away. In truth, Chazz was terrified. His attacks had never been this bad before. Not since they effectively disowned him for losing to Jaden. Sure, he heard their voices mocking and tormenting him all the time during his attacks, but he'd never had emotional and panic attacks at the same time. And on top of that, he was terrified.
He didn't know what to do.
"You'll never be worth anything either!" The two shouted at once, loud enough it sounded they were yelling right into his ears. "You're worthless, Chazz!"
"Somebody help me…" He pleaded through his tears and hyperventilating, his body shaking uncontrollably through the overloading of negative and conflicting emotions overwhelming the poor child all at once. And even he could admit it was too much to handle on his own.
Jaden ran down the pathway from the Slifer dorm, fearful of what he had done to his friend. After all, he had unintentionally managed to push him too far in about three minutes. The wind created by his quick movement, whipping his hair all around getting his fringe into his eyes, Jaden's breath was heavy from encroaching fatigue after practically sprinting along the entire way.
"I-I've gotta get help!" He remarked to himself as he hurried along, racking his brain for who would be the best option, quickly excluding himself before he even began, fearing that he had already hurt Chazz badly enough just being there at all.
Taking a moment to stop and catch his breath, Jaden looked up to see the Obelisk Blue dorm across the way. Laying eyes on the immaculate building, he felt the wheels turning in his head. But with an actually good idea this time.
"Atticus!" Jaden declared, shooting back to his full posture with his finger pointed up in the air as the idea escaped his lips. "He's close with Chazz, he'll know what to do!" Without a moment's hesitation, Jaden made a break for the Obelisk dorm.
He figured that if anyone could help Chazz now, it was Atticus. After all, he had managed to befriend the boy almost immediately upon his return. And despite his erratic and amusing behaviors, Atticus was much wiser than he seemed. In all honesty, Jaden questioned why they didn't send him in the first place. Sprinting down the paths and past the Academy, Jaden made his way to the ridiculously fancy dormitory, barreling past the numerous Obelisk students offering strange looks to the Slifer running around their dorm. Wandering for a moment before remembering where the elder student's room was, Jaden pounded on the Rhodes boy's door, hoping to every deity he could imagine that he was there.
"Atticus!" He called, banging loud and hard on the bedroom door, his own frantic thoughts racing. He'd never hurt a friend like that before, he had no idea what to do about it. He cursed himself again when he thought about the condition he had left Chazz in, wondering if it was really a good idea to leave him on his own. "Atticus, open up!"
"Jaden-" The elder brunette asked, opening the door for the younger boy. Widening his eyes, Atticus quickly slipped to the side, avoiding Jaden's fist as he went to pound on the now open door. Causing him to stumble forwards into the open room. "-Whoa! Jaden? What's going on?"
"It's Chazz!" Jaden replied urgently, looking up at the older boy, his eyes wide with panic and concern. "Something's wrong!"
"Whoa, whoa." Atticus preempted, shaking his head and waving his arms for Jaden to stop talking, his gorgeous milk chocolate eyes looking down at the younger in confusion. "What do you mean? What's going on?"
"Well, I went to talk to him like we decided," Jaden explained, trying to compose himself so he could accurately recount the event he had just witnessed and accidentally caused. "a-and he wasn't talking to me, so I told him what I thought his problem was and-" sighing Jaden, shook his head quickly, disappointed in himself, "-Oh man, I shouldn't have done that, because I told him I thought his problem was his brothers, right? And he just got really mad at me and tried to leave, so like a total moron, I grabbed his arm to stop him a-and he just started... freaking out! Screaming at me to let go of him and it was like... he thought I was someone else? I-I think he's having a panic attack o-or a breakdown or something! Please, you have to do something!"
Atticus stared at Jaden for a moment listening intently to his words. Realizing the gravity of what Jaden was describing, he took notice of the scratches on Jaden's left hand.
"Did he do that to you...?" He asked, pointing to the red marks on the younger boy's hand. Already knowing the answer, he didn't wait for Jaden to answer him before turning around and running out of the room, his heart filling with concern for his young friend.
Hurrying as fast as he could, Atticus reached the Slifer dorm, hurrying up the stairs to Chazz's room. Catching his breath quickly, Atticus gently knocked on the door, not trying to be rude, though he did feel the urgency of what Jaden relayed to him, and the responsibility he was entrusted with.
"Chazz...?" Atticus asked gently, pausing as he waited for an answer. Greeted only by silence, the worry rose in his heart. Taking a deep breath, Atticus slowly pushed open the door, looking into the room.
The lights were off, but the daylight was enough to light the room through the windows. Taking a quiet step inside, Atticus heard a small rattling at his feet. He looked down and a small gasp escaped from his lips. The floor was covered in spilled pills from bottles that had been obviously thrown around the room, a few of the less well secured lids having fallen off in the process, spilling some of their contents onto the floor. Very concerned for the wellbeing of his friend, the brunette shut the door behind him, taking a step further into the dimly lit room. The desk chair had also been knocked over, Chazz's signature coat lying in a heap on the floor by the bed. The room looked like something had really gone down in there.
"...Chazz...?" Atticus gently asked again, scanning the room for the younger boy.
Listening for a moment a small, uneven breath caught his ear. Whipping around in the direction it came from, Atty's eyes fixated on the source before widening quickly. His eyes beheld the younger student curled up in a ball in the back corner of the doom, backed up as much as he could against the wall, his knees pulled up to his chest with his head tucked down between the space, one hand wrapped around his legs to hold them in place, the other clutching at the wall adjacent him.
"Chazz!" Atticus called in concern, hurrying over to the younger boy, descending to his knees beside him.
Observing him for a moment, he could hear Chazz's haggard and uneven breathing more clearly. It was as if he had been hysterically hyperventilating a bit too long, like he was terrified of something and had strained himself in reaction to it. From the gap between his arm covering his face and the exposed skin, Atticus could see his normally exponentially pale face had taken on a new reddish tint, like he had been sobbing before, only adding to his breathing issues. Very worried for the youth, Atticus slowly reached out his hand to the boy.
"Hey, Chazz...?" He asked, very cautiously approaching him. "You alright…?"
The moment Atticus's hand made contact with Chazz's shoulder, a cry escaped from the boy, his head popped up out of it's spot between his legs, smacking the elder's hand away with the hand that was clasped around his legs. His eyes were widened with panic as tears stuck to the sides of them and his breath accelerated again, backing away from the intruder, going nowhere seeing as he was already tightly pressed against the corner walls.
"Chazz, it's me!" Atticus informed, moving closer to the frightened boy. Grabbing his shoulders, he held tight as Chazz began to struggle and cry out at his touch. "It's Atticus!"
Shaking him slightly, hoping to bring the boy back to his senses, he locked eyes with the panicked child in his grasp, connecting their gazes together in an outstretch of comfort he hoped to give to the teen. Continuing to panic, tears streamed down Chazz's red, puffy face. Struggling in Atticus's grip, he began to sob, his breath hitching and catching in his throat as he failed to regain his senses, fighting hard in the intruder's grasp.
"Alright, let's try this." Atticus said, taking the smaller boy into his arms, he hoisted him up into the air, situating him in his arms gently and protectively. Keeping his arms secured around him to minimize his squirming, Atticus held Chazz in his arms, not entirely sure what to do to help, but trying his best to come up with a plan. "We've gotta get you calmed down before you hurt yourself."
Holding Chazz firmly but gently as he struggled and cried, Atticus turned from the corner to the rest of the room, walking over to the bed and laying Chazz down on the large, soft comforter. Sitting down next to him on the side of the bed, Atticus grabbed Chazz's hand, hoping his presence and support would do the boy some good. He only wished he knew exactly what to do.
"G-Go away...!" Chazz cried, pulling his hand away from Atticus's gentle hold.
Atticus looked on with sadness at the younger student, upset that he was affected so badly by his brothers, knowing from what Jaden told him that that was the problem. It's true he didn't know as much about Chazz's family as the others did, but they had told him that he was abused by them for years. But it was also clear that this wasn't a simple situation. From what the brunette could gather, the panic had been sparked when Jaden grabbed him before, causing something to trigger within him. Maybe a memory associated with his brothers from a long time ago? And beforehand his emotions probably had to have already been running high to spark something like this. He was probably already having an emotional breakdown of some sort before Jaden even arrived.
"Chazz, it's me. Your friend." Atticus said calmly, slowly reaching out for Chazz's hand once more, but immediately he backed off when he noticed Chazz wince away form him again. "I'm not trying to hurt you. Jaden wasn't trying to hurt you either." he explained, offering him a slight and gentle smile. "I'm here to help you. But if I'm going to do that I need you to calm down, okay? …can you hear me?"
Chazz listened to the familiar voice through his sobs, his head still spinning from everything he'd been put through that day and all the years before. Trying his best to focus on his friend's voice, Chazz's breathing slowed and his body tried to stop moving, but all he could manage to do in that moment was nod at Atticus's question.
"Good. That's really good..." Atticus sighed in relief, glad to know that Chazz wasn't completely hysterical and could hear what he was saying. That would make things exponentially easier to handle from here on out. "I need you to calm down, okay? Just relax. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Hear me? No one here is going to hurt you."
Placing a hand softly against Chazz's arm, Atticus smiled slightly as the teen slowed his movement down to a stop, though his breathing was still hitched and uneven while he cried.
"You've gotta stop crying..." He soothed, still maintaining his serious demeanor about the situation. This wasn't something to be taken lightly, in fact it was just the opposite.
"I-I..." Chazz tried to speak, but the hitching of his breath caught his words in his throat, stopping him from making any sound aside from his heart wrenching sobs.
"I know." Atticus nodded, sympathizing with the crying child next to him. "But if you don't stop crying, you won't get better. I'll let you sit up, but not until you calm down, okay?" Thinking back to how scared Jaden was when he came to him, Atticus sighed quietly to himself, shaking his head at the thought of how everything must have gone down before. Of course, no one knew that Chazz was susceptible to attacks like this, or really anything about his health at all. Jaden had no way of knowing he would react the way he did, effectively scaring the both of them in the process ultimately.
"I know Jaden's sorry for scaring you, but he didn't know. Don't blame him, alright? The others and I asked him to talk to you because we were worried about you, and we thought... It's just... we care about you. Now you've got to calm down, okay? Just breathe." he instructed, thinking for a moment as he listened to Chazz try and fail to calm his breathing. Taking his right hand, Atticus pressed it against his chest, holding the limp appendage supportively so it wouldn't slip, taking deep slow breaths of his own and placing Chazz's other hand on his own chest so he could feel both of their breathing in tandem.
"Match my breathing." He instructed, breathing deep and slow for the boy, watching satisfactorily as he watched Chazz's movement slow and calm down. "In and out, nice and slow."
Chazz felt Atticus's chest move with his breathing, his own chest rising and falling much quicker than the elder's. Doing his best to focus on only breathing slower, he took as deep a breath as he could before his breath caught itself in his throat causing him to breath out again, the sobs still plaguing him.
"Come on Chazz, you can do this." he thought to himself, attempting to take another deep breath. "Just breathe. You're okay."
"There you go, that's better." Atticus praised as Chazz's breathing slowed, his chest rising and falling at a more even pace while he focused on calming himself down and matching Atticus's breath. "You're doing good, kiddo." he soothed, looking him over to be sure he was really alright.
Chazz's breath evened out slowly, calming his cries in turn. Letting him lie for a few moments longer, Atticus let go of the boy, placing the pale, limp hand back at Chazz's side as he listened to his quiet breathing, listening for any hitching that could still be present in his current state. Satisfied with the quiet even breath, Atticus spoke up again.
"I'll sit you up now if you want, but you have to talk to me, okay? I want you to explain to me what's wrong. If that's okay with you?"
Chazz nodded slightly in response, still coming down from the high of what had all just happened to him over that afternoon. In all honesty, he just felt like death. But he was sure he wanted nothing more than to stop lying down. Sitting up sounded heavenly to the youth, more than ready to get up, feeling like if he stayed down much longer he would only start crying again. Which neither of them wanted.
"Alright." Atticus nodded in return, gently sliding his left arm under Chazz's back while his right hand was placed lightly on his shoulder. Mentally counting to three, Atticus slowly lifted Chazz up and forwards into a sitting position. "Now, what's wrong?"
Keeping his arm around the boy's shoulder, Atticus listened carefully to what Chazz had to say to him.
"I..." Chazz sighed, keeping his voice low and soft almost like he was ashamed of his answer. "What can I say...? It's been like this for a long time now... because of them... among other things... depression, panic, all kinda of stuff like that..."
Atticus tensed when he heard. After all this time, none of them had any idea. Chazz had never said a word before now. After everything they'd been through together... not one of them knew even a single thing about it. Realizing that, Atticus couldn't help but feel an almost sort of happiness that Chazz would be comfortable enough with him to talk divulge such personal information like that so freely.
"Chazz…" Atticus said with an air of both sadness and disbelief in his voice. None of the others would have believed it before, not even Atticus. But after everything he had just seen... "Is that why you were freaking out like that...? Does this happen... a lot?"
Chazz nodded silently, keeping his gaze away from his elder friend and downcast towards the floor, fixating on the mess of pills and bottles he had made in his hysterical outburst before.
"You've seen doctors about this, haven't you? Professionals, I mean...?" Atticus asked, just trying to cover all of his bases and just over all put the pieces all together in his mind. And just generally trying to figure out what to say. What to do. That, and he realized he was going to have to tell the others about what he had learned and seen when he saw them again, there would be no getting out of that now. Not after what Jaden had witnessed. They'd have to have an explanation of some description. He figured he may as well gather all the facts. "Sorry, I don't mean to insinuate or overstep or anything, I just..."
"No, it's fine. Of course I have." Chazz answered. Bringing up his left hand, he began rubbing his forehead for a moment before leaving it covering his left eye, sighing quietly to himself. "But I never told anybody. And when my brothers found out... well… look."
Slowly lifting his shirt, Chazz revealed a series of small scars all across his stomach, chest, and sides. No doubt he had more on the rest of his body too. Atticus gasped when he saw them, covering his mouth with his free hand in his surprise and shock. He knew Chazz had been abused... but he never imagined…
"A-Are those all...?"
"Not all of them. Actually, most of them aren't. Most of them are from before that..." Chazz explained, shaking his head at Atticus's notion. "But yeah, that's the basic idea..."
"So that's why..?"
"Why I freaked out when Jaden grabbed me, and when you touched me?" Chazz sighed, nodding his head as he let go of his shirt, the dark purple fabric dropping back down, concealing the old wounds again in their shroud. "...Yeah."
Looking back up at the elder, Chazz's normally shiny black eyes were dull and empty. Sad, and even looked defeated. The poor boy had been through more than any of them had ever imagined. And whether to the same degree or not, unfortunately, Atticus realized that was something they both had in common. Perhaps that was why Chazz felt like he could confide in the Obelisk. At least in part, maybe.
"And why I haven't told anybody. Except you, that is." He shrugged, looking away again. "In case you were wondering."
"I'm so sorry…" Atticus sympathized, his arm around Chazz's shoulders stiffening slightly as he tightened his supportive, and frankly now protective hold on the teen next to him. "We're here for you, okay? We care about you. And we want to help you... I... I want to help you..."
In a moment of pure brotherly instinct, Atticus reached out, grabbing Chazz's hand in his own, squeezing it gently in a show of his support and sincerity.
"No one will ever hurt you like that again. I promise you that."
"I... appreciate the sentiment, Atticus but..." Chazz sighed, clasping his free arm around his stomach, as if he were holding his scars in his hands like a precious treasure. "When it comes to my brothers... I'm trapped... they could do anything they wanted to me..."
"That's not right!" Atticus stated, raising his voice in complete appalment at what Chazz was insinuating. "You can't let your brothers treat you like this! It's wrong!"
There was no excuse for their treatment of him. No self respecting older brother could treat their kid sibling so badly and not show even a little remorse. And as an older brother himself, even Atticus was offended by the thought of what the elder Princeton's had done to cause those scars on Chazz's fragile body, and inflict such hurt and pain on his young mind. And he would make certain they did something about it.
"Look, Atticus." Chazz countered, turning away from his friend. "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, I really do. But there's nothing you can do about them... believe me."
"Bet." Atticus declared. His gorgeous, shining eyes narrowed while his tone strengthened, becoming more serious than Chazz had ever heard it before. "We're here to help you, Chazz. We care about you and we don't want you to be hurt."
He stood from his spot next to the boy. Walking over to Chazz's coat, Atticus kneeled down and picked it up, the soft fabric in his hands he went back to the boy. Gently draping the black shroud over Chazz's shoulders, Atticus knelt back down so that he was eye level with his friend.
"You can trust us. The others and I will do whatever it takes to help you. You just have to let us. And if that means taking on your brothers to do it, then so be it."
"You're more stubborn than me, aren't you?" Chazz sighed, a small chuckle escaping through the tail end of the sigh. Shaking his head he looked to the elder teen once more. "If they find out about this-"
"-They wouldn't dare." Atticus interrupted, quickly returning to his feet. Smiling at his young friend, Atticus placed a hand gently on his caped shoulder. "Don't you worry about those creeps, okay? I won't let them anywhere near you. Hear me?"
Pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders, Chazz curled up back into a little ball on the bed. Resting his chin on his knees, he sighed as he clutched at his scars again, closing his eyes for a moment he looked back at Atticus with his defeated black eyes.
"I just can't do this anymore, Atticus..." He said quietly, keeping his gaze away from the elder as he began to wallow again his thoughts wandering back back to everything he had had to endure alone all this time. "Not alone... I-I don't know what to do..."
"It's alright, kiddo." Atticus said, gently rubbing the younger boy's back, thinking about how he was going to tell the others about everything he had seen and learned here today. "We're here for you. Just say the word, and we'll do whatever it takes to help you and make you feel safe. Your brothers can't hurt you anymore. not if we have anything to say about it. And believe me, we do."
The two teens sat there in the dim bedroom in silence after that. Atticus thought about what and how he would tell the others about Chazz's complicated condition. There was no getting out of that conversation, he knew that. They both knew that. But the problem he figured would be getting Chazz to talk to the others. It's not that he didn't trust them or anything, but he certainly seemed to be less comfortable around them than he was Atticus. Of course, that could always change. But more than anything, Atticus wanted to help protect the troubled youth. By now, Chazz was something of a younger brother to him, like Syrus was to Jaden. That's how Atticus described it to himself, at least. That seemed to fit well enough, but somehow even that didn't feel like it was a strong enough sentiment.
The image of the boy's scars haunted Atticus's vision, he was appalled that his brothers would inflict such wounds upon their little brother, who did nothing but try and satisfy their unreasonable demands. Retaking his seat next to him, Atticus gently rubbed small circles into the boy's back, not planning on leaving until he was completely sure Chazz wouldn't relapse into what he was when he arrived. Even though Chazz had taken a big step in beginning to heal, there was still an even longer road ahead of him. But from there on out, Atticus had swore to him that he would never have to walk that road alone.
