Hopefully the spelling error's are cleaned up, I practically just skimmed through this chapter...I'll stop being lazy someday, I swear.
Chapter 3: Patient.
-After meeting the security guard named Gilbert Nightray, Oz's sanity slips passed his fingers momentarily after Gilbert's departure. Now racing against the clock to save Oz from the clutches of other security guards, Gilbert might stumble upon the truth of Oz's past. And who is this white-haired man exactly?-
Oz shakes his head furiously and throws himself to the safety of the wall as he clutches his sides and falls to the floor.
"Make them stop!" He screams, throwing his hands over his ears to block out the loud sirens and the many enraged and yelling voices around him.
'So…Much…Noise!' He screams inside his head.
He can hear the shrill ringing of sirens, all he could see were the images of the many faces he had disappointed and had gotten angry in the past, and all he could hear above all else—besides the sirens—was his father's booming voice.
His father was still screaming at him, his father was still pinning him, his father was still beating him. He had nowhere to go, everywhere he went, his father would only follow, there was no escaping the clutches of such a dangerous and evil man such as his father.
He would die alone; he would only die by the hands of his father if he didn't make the noises stop.
"Stop it!" Oz screams yet again, shaking his head quickly as he brought his knee's up and curls up into the wall.
Where was he exactly?
Who were these people surrounding and screaming at him?
Why did they look so angry?
Were they angry at him? For what?
Were they only there to hurt him? Because he was a good for nothing and useless child like his father had told him that he was, right? That's why their angry?
"Ada…Uncle…" He whimpers in fright, he shuts his eyes tightly as he continues to huddle in the corner of the room and block out the noises with both his hands covered over his ears.
Every one despised him, but why couldn't he remember where he was? And who he was?
Where in the world did he belong…?
He was alone…But not alone…People were surrounding him, but they only wanted to HURT him.
He felt the need to do something…He felt the need to be by the side of someone, anyone…But no one was going to save him. Who wanted to save him anyways?
Because Oz, all he ever was…Was a nobody. He was nothing in the eyes of many…And he was surely nothing in the eyes of his father…And he was only going to continue to nothing until he died.
Unless he got his father's forgiveness, and unless his father finally looked at him like a human being, instead of a hopeless monster.
"Father!" Oz cried. "Please forgive me!" Oz screams, throwing his head back. "I don't want to be hurt anymore! I'll be good! I promise I won't do it again! Please father!" He begs and pleads, clawing at his blonde hair and tearing at his sleeves on his arms.
His eyes were now brimming with large tears as they spilled forth and streaked down his flushed cheeks, his body was trembling uncontrollably as he continued to scream and tear at his skin and hair. From his clawing, his arms had long red and bloody welts going from his shoulders, down to his hands, and his hair was being pulled out in chunks.
"Oz! Enough!"
Oz instinctively flinches back at the shout of his name and shakes his head furiously as he slaps his hands over both his ears in fright. "No father! I don't want you to punish me again!" He shouts, hiding his face inside both his hands.
Gilbert couldn't believe what he was seeing, Oz, the naïve looking—but horrifically mischievous—boy that he just got acquainted with, was sitting, curled up in the corner of the cafeteria with torn sleeves and red swollen nail marks scratched over his revealed legs and arms as the boy only continued to scream for forgiveness. Gilbert couldn't stand the sight of it, Oz was meant to be happy, he was only a teenager for Christ sake! He isn't supposed to be here and unhappy! And Gilbert also knew that he couldn't just stand there any longer and let the boy hurt himself.
Gilbert shakes his head and pushes many of the people surrounding Oz away from the teen and shouts at everyone to: "Step back!" And "Give him some room to breathe!" as he then hurriedly falls to his knees in front of the terrified looking boy and raises his hands out towards the frightened teenager, but then reminds himself, to never touch a delusional patient, not when they are in a state of confusion and fighting their inner turmoil. There really was nothing else to do for the boy…
'But I'm not giving up damn it!' Gilbert shouts at himself. "Oz! It's me!" He shouts out desperately, trying hard to grab Oz's attention as a way to stop the boy from further inflicting harm against his own body.
Oz heard the voice shout again. The voice wasn't his fathers, he knew that much.
But whose voice was it? He didn't recognize it.
Oz then starts to listen closely as he continues to rock back and forth on the floor and moves his arms to wrap them securely around his knees, which were propped up to his chest. He didn't want to leave the safety of the wall; no one could reach him from there. The voices won't follow him. His father won't hurt him anymore.
"Oz…It's only me…Gilbert…"
'Gilbert…?' Oz thought, his brow wrinkling in confusion as he hid his face between his knees once again and shakes his head denial.
He didn't know a Gilbert. No one knew him; no one knew who Oz was. Because who exactly was he? Where exactly does he belong?
"Remember me? I'm the security guard…" Gilbert continues to try and persuade the teenager to look up at him and remember who he was. "We just met in this cafeteria Oz…" Gilbert tries a small smile and tries coaxing the blonde teen out of his stupor and delusional state of mind.
'What exactly is happening to him? I never saw a patient act this way before—wait, scratch that—I know a girl who has split personalities that practically lives inside the hospital, and I saw her act out before…But I never would've guessed that Oz would have the same disorder.' Gilbert thought, wondering just what exactly it was that he should do to help out Oz.
What exactly did this teenager go through? And why was he pleading to his own father…?
"Father…Is going to punish me…" Oz whispers.
Gilbert froze on the spot and held his breath.
"He'll punish me for talking to you…Please…Leave me alone…Please…." Oz whispers a plea as he hugs his knees closer and buries his face in between his knee-caps as he tries squirming back and closer to the wall behind him.
Oz felt the need to escape, his father didn't want him to have friends, his father told him many times that friends would only 'drag him down'. His father wanted nothing to do with other people that had actually cared for him in the past; his father hated other people as much as he hated his own son.
The blond teen whimpers pitifully and bites down on his bottom lip harshly and manages to tear open the sensitive skin. His father only hated him more when he started crying, it showed a sign of weakness, and that's exactly why his father despises him. He was too goddamn weak to even be his son.
From what Gilbert could tell, this boy's father…Might have been abusing his son…
'That bastard!' Gilbert roars inside his head. "Oz…I'm not going anywhere…" Gilbert kept reminding himself not to touch Oz while he's in a state of confusion.
But it was getting harder and harder to do so, Gilbert wanted desperately to grab the boy by the shoulders and shake the boy awake.
"Please…Look at me." Gilbert tries again, this time in a more soothing and calmed tone of voice. Every time he inches closer towards the huddled and scared looking Oz, Oz would only whimper and close-in on himself further. What else was there for him to do?
He didn't want to inject the boy with a sedative, or with an analgesic, because then Oz would be out of it for a couple days. And Gilbert knew well enough that if he did inject someone again, he would be no better than the other security guards that work there with him. He would never stoop to their level, the other security guards hide behind their needles and try injecting everyone with a drug—that would numb and dull their senses for at least a couple of days at the most—just because the patients didn't listen to them. And Gilbert knew that he wasn't cruel enough to go through with it…Especially injecting a sedative on Oz. So what was there for him to do?
"Oz…"Gilbert whispers, smiling small as he raises his hand and gently eases it on the boy's blonde head.
All the while, cursing at himself for casually putting his hand on top of a delusional patient. He knew better than this…But he also knew that if he didn't…Then he had no other choice but to sedate the boy.
Oz freezes at the touch and his breathing hitches inside his throat at that unfamiliar hand resting on top of his head; he all but squeezes himself into the wall. "Who…?" He whispers, opening his eyes but still keeping his head buried between his knees.
"Oz…It's me, Gilbert." Gilbert smiles. He managed to get a response from the boy, now all that's left he needed to do, was calm the boy, have him look up at him, and have him realize what he's doing, and that he needs to get his surroundings together again.
Gilbert would not dare punish this boy; he would further hate himself if he ever did, because Oz didn't have a clue on what exactly he was doing, so it really wasn't his fault.
Oz whimpers and continues to bite on his bottom lip. "Gilbert…?" He remembers a face, a warm face, unruly black hair…Black clothes…And piercing golden eyes. Gilbert, Gilbert Nightray was a security guard that worked…At the Pandora Hearts Hospital!
In a flash of recent images and memories, Oz now remembered what it was he was doing, what it was that he was going to do, and also knew that he was in a hospital inside of the cafeteria, and also knew that Gilbert was there again.
'He came to…Calm me…? But…That really isn't in the security guards job description…Is it…?' Oz thought uncertainly, before he peeks up from behind his knees and blinks at the tears blurring his vision, until finally, he catches the sight of cafeteria workers surrounding them, catches the sight of the security guards that had just come bustling in through the cafeteria doors, and finally, his eyes rest upon the golden eyes he was searching for.
"Gilbert…" Oz repeats his name; his bloodied bottom lip quivering as he all but threw himself in the security guards arms and buries his face within the black confines of the long black trench coat belonging to Gilbert. "I'm sorry Gilbert…" He apologizes. His eye's still blinking back the tears as he tries calming the beating of his racing heart and the throbbing of his head. Blacking out really does take a toll on his body, only because he hadn't had an episode this badly in weeks, but he was doing it again…He was beginning to forget, he was beginning to black out again. But what exactly did he say this time? He can't even remember…
"No problem…" Came the unsure reply of Gilbert, who ever so slowly, wraps his right arm around the small form of Oz—who had wrapped himself around his torso tightly—and gave the boy a firm one armed hug.
'Oh my God, he's hugging me! And in front of staff workers too! Damn it this is embarrassing! Now what am I supposed to do!? Do I shove him off? Do I—!'
"Gilbert…?"
Gilbert broke out of his thoughts and looks down at the blonde head resting in the middle of his chest.
Oz worries his lip with his teeth, winces at the feeling of his teeth scraping harshly against his unusually sensitive lips, then clears his throat and peeks up at Gilbert. "I…Blacked out. I didn't mean to, but I just—" Oz tries to explain as he gives the black-haired man an apologetic expression but was caught off from his sentence when he saw Gilbert shaking his head at him.
Gilbert rest a hand on top of Oz's messy blonde hair again. "You don't need to tell me why Oz, you just need to calm down so I can take you back to your room to rest. Just focus on breathing, alright?" Gilbert asks as he then began smoothing back the teenager's blonde hair with a small reassuring smile.
Oz smiles back and nods his head in agreement. "Alright…" He rests his head back down on top of Gilbert chest and giggles lightly. "Gilbert treats me like a child." He whispers.
Gilbert's hand freezes in-mid sweeping back of Oz's blonde hair and felt his face heat up instantly once he realized what he was doing. "I-I-I-I'm…J- just—" He stutters hurriedly as he then lightly wriggles away from Oz.
Only to have Oz hold him tighter in place. "It's alright." Oz quickly explains. "It's…Soothing." He mumbles as his eyes slowly fall shut.
Gilbert sneaks a peek down at the boy wrapped around his stomach, to see that both Oz's emerald coloured eyes were closed. And he couldn't help but smile at the gentle and calm look the boy had.
'But he really should let go of me so I can get him to rest in his own bed…' He thought, before he shrugs his shoulders. 'Or I can just let him rest here and—'
"Gilbeeeert!"
Gilbert's back instantly tenses at the sound of the painfully familiar voice coming from behind him.
"You took off so suddenly that I didn't get a chance to ask you somethiiiiiiing!" Whined the white-haired man, who was steadily approaching him from behind.
Gilbert quickly grabs hold of Oz's small shoulders and throws the poor sleepy looking boy away from his own body with a bright red blush staining his cheeks as he whips his head over his shoulder. "B-Break!" He squeaks in surprised fright.
Oz grumbles under his breath and rubs his eye. "Who's Break?" he mumbles sleepily with a short yawn.
Once Oz looks up, he sees a man, probably in his mid-twenties, with pure white and messy hair tied back with a simple purple ribbon as the rest of the pure white tresses of hair, fall messily around his face as the black glasses on his face—and in front of a piercing red coloured eye—droop slightly with each hurried bounce he took in his steps, as a bright smile was stretched far too widely across the sickly pale featured face of the man—that dressed just as oddly as his personality seemed to be, the man wore black boots with a dark purple three piece suit with a matching purple top hat worn atop his white head, at the same time he wore a pure white doctor's coat that hung just a tad bit too loosely down and passed his shoulders, as a brown coloured satchel hung from one side of his shoulder and down to his hip as he scurried across the cafeteria floor until he stood just behind the stiff and rigged back of Gilbert Nightray.
"My, my, getting a bit too friendly with the new patient, aren't we Gilbert?" Break states unabashedly, with a wicked smile stretching across his face as he pokes the security guard in the back with the toe of his boot.
Gilbert flinches at the touch of his boot and hurriedly gets off the floor to point an accusing finger at Break's smirking face. "Yenno what I came here to do! And that was to calm the new patient down! Who is—by the way—named Oz Vessalius, and NOT 'new patient'." Gilbert defends, crossing his arms firmly across his chest as he scowls deeply at the smirking white-haired idiot in front of him.
Oz wanted to point out to Gilbert that he had just called him 'new patient' not seconds after, until he notices the I.D Card that hung from the white-haired man's long white coat. He tilts his head to the side in confusion and gets up off the floor. "Who're—"
"—Excuse me, boy?" Break cuts the blonde patient off in his sentence as he turns his attention from the scowling security guard, to the blonde teenager by pushing away Gilbert's scowling face with his hand uncaringly.
Which Gilbert responds to that rude shove with a small yelp of surprise.
"Is your name, Oz Vessalius?" The white-haired man asks, smiling happily at the blonde teenager standing before him.
Oz nods. "Of course I am." He replies confidently.
Break smiles wider. "Perfect! I've been wanting to have a word with you ever since you first got here Mr. Vessalius." He announces, going over to the teenager's side as he wraps an arm around the boy's shoulders. "Gilbert, you may follow along if you want to." He announces with a wave of his hand dismissively. "But I suggest you calm every one down here first." He then leads Oz away from Gilbert with a smile. "And then announce to the other patients that all is well in hospital land, Alright?" Break calls from over his shoulder as he then starts to lead Oz across the cafeteria, waving every staff member aside who got in their way to the door.
Gilbert bristles and points a finger at the retreating figure of Xerxes Break. "Why do I have to be the one that calms the situation down?" He snaps.
"Alright?" Break presses, more firmly and threatening than before as he sneers over his shoulder and over to Gil.
Who visibly shivers at the menacing smile and stiffly urges everyone to calm down and to go back to what they were doing before.
Break nods his head in appreciation and then leads Oz Vessalius out of the cafeteria doors and into the hallway of the hospital. "So tell me Oz, what exactly happened back there?" Break asks casually as they then walk down the hallway, smiling happily at every nurse that happens to pass them by and greeting them by tipping his top-hat down them.
Oz flinches at the casually asked question and wrings his hands together nervously. "Umm…I don't really know what happened actually…" Oz admits, then quirks an eyebrow up at the strange looking man and stops dead in his tracks inside the hallway.
Break stops and turns around as well once he notices Oz was giving him a skeptical expression.
Oz crosses his arms over his chest and glares heatedly at the white-haired stranger. "I know you're wearing a white Doctor's coat, but I don't even know your name! Who are you anyways? And where exactly are you taking me?" Oz questions, taking a cautious step back.
All too ready to turn tail and run away from this strange man.
Break smiles brightly as he takes off his hat and bows deeply in front of the skeptical looking teenager. "My name is Xerxes Break, you may call me Break of you like because everyone else calls me that. And I'm the Therapist, and Counsellor here." He announces, bowing deeply in front of the stunned looking teenager. "Pleased to make your acquaintance Oz Vessalius." He declares whole-heartedly as he bent back up right and straightens out his purple coloured top-hat on his head.
Oz's eyes widened in surprised momentarily after Break's introduction and hurriedly he shakes his head in refusal. "You gotta be kiddin me…No Doctor would go around looking and acting like a complete f—" Oz cuts his sentence short when he notices Break's lip start to quiver. "Geh…" Oz—now feeling slightly disturbed that a man that old would even stoop to a low like that and visibly pout in front of others—took another cautious step back.
"Oz is being mean!" Break cries.
Causing Oz to flinch at the horrid noise.
"And after I only got acquainted with him too!" Break shouts out in dismay as he hides his face with both his hands and turns around to put his back to Oz's face as he heavily sobs into his hands.
Oz sighs heavily in defeat—and in slight annoyance—and already he had a feeling that he wouldn't get along with Break that well, Therapist and Counsellor aside, the man was just plain crazy!
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." Oz says in regret, but behind the tone of regret and sympathy, was a perfectly hidden away tone of annoyance and frustration. "Where was it that you were taking me Break?" The teen asks more gently, smiling small despite his raging nerves.
Break whips around with a smirk and throws his hands up in the air. "To my office! I need to confirm a few things, ask you a few questions, yenno. Just the normal, usual stuff every patient has to go through when they first arrive here, nothing out of the ordinary." Break smiles. "Mmkaye pumpkin?" He later says as he goes rushing over to grab Oz by the collar of his white dress shirt and all but drags the teenager around the hospital and down the halls.
And all the while, Break was laughing like a mad man, as Oz tried desperately to keep his face hidden with both his hands covered over his face in embarrassment.
First of all, I'm sorry if things seem too speedy and rushed in these most recent chapters, it's because I just wanted to get these things out of the way before I start the more serious chapters :) which are steadily following along any moment now...
Also...
I don't know which Counsellor I have here...Whether it's "Counsellor", or if it's spelt like "Councillor". Should I just put Therapist? And cancel out the counsellor? I don't even know...
Hope you guys liked this chapter though :) I'm still working on my other chapters in this story (which is almost up to chapter 13)...And as I said in the first chapter, my updating in this story will be slow. Almost non-existent, but please bear with me ._. (Again) But for the last couple of days now, I've been updating fast. But just to warn you. All that will be over soon. I just felt like uploading a fast chapter for the hell of it. Hope you enjoyed it.
And I hope the characters are more IN-character now. I SWEAR TO LORD JESUS, that I'm trying to get them right and IC. Oz really comes off as OOC for me in my story, so maybe he is? And maybe it should stay that way? Your opinion?
Tah!