Bad Guy

Six

"I'll be good, I promise, please don't make me stay out there. I'm sorry honest, I didn't mean it!" Anxiety pleaded in between broken sobs as Patton tried to get him to spend time with the others outside. The older man was confused, Anxiety had never reacted like that before, so he walked towards the younger, who flinched back at the slightest movement. Anxiety's back hit the counter behind him, though the pain didn't seem to register in the mans mind as he cowered before the empath.

Patton could feel the fear radiating off of Anxiety, though he was unable to send out positive emotions to the man in order to calm him down. The emotions thickened the air and broke Patton's heart, no one should ever be as terrified as Anxiety was at that moment. He walked forwards again and Anxiety didn't flinch back, instead he curled in on himself as if resigning himself to his fate. Patton carefully and gently laid a hand on Anxiety's shoulder and he didn't expect the whimper that came from the (ex)villain.

"Please, Ill be good sir." He whimpered fearfully and had to restrain his arms from flying up to his face, it was as if he expected to be struck. Patton once again wondered what he went through, what could've possibly had such a horrific effect on someone even after them forgetting everything?

Patton wanted to kill whatever, or whoever, it was that traumatized such a sweet man.

Seeing Patton so angry reminded him of something just out of reach yet at the front of his mind. It remained him of words being shouted and punches being thrown, of extra training and untreated wounds. He couldn't remember faces or dates, just blurred images and faint words, as if he was underwater. His breathing became rapid and he felt like he was unable to hold himself up and - oh god Patton is so angry -the floor was rabidly approaching his panicking body.

But it wasn't the time for anger, that could come when they found the thing responsible, now was the time for comfort and love. Both of which Patton was very good at. The anger faded from his eyes, something both men where happy about, and Patton rushed forwards to catch Anxiety as he started to fall.

"Shh, you'll be okay. You don't have to go outside, I promise," Patton said as he rubbed soothing circles into Anxiety's back, it had worked last time so logically it would again. He tried to ignore the sound of Roman and Logan having a snowball fight in the snow, tried to ignore the longing in his heart that he and Anxiety weren't out there having fun with them. Instead he put all of his focus on the boy in front of him, trying to calm him down.

The circles being rubbed into his skin and the familiarity of Patton voice eventually grounded Anxiety, the steady beat of his heart calming Anxiety's breathing and the drip-drip of something hitting the ground gave him something consistent to focus on. It was only then that Patton realised the steady drip-drip was actually blood from a wound that Anxiety must have gotten after hitting his back.

"Anx, can you take of your shirt? I need to take a look at where you hit your back," Patton said and Anxiety complied without a complaint, as if he was taught to follow orders. He didn't have time to dwell on that fact because he struggled to hold back tears as he saw the youngers back and chest.

Scars littered his skin, burns and bruises mixing with cuts into some horrific painting of raised red and pastel purple. The thing that stuck out the most was the 'Belongs to Depression' branded into his stomach, constantly visible to Anxiety whenever he was shirtless. He felt sick at the sight of it.

"I need to call the others in, Logan is much better at the medical stuff, okay?" Patton asked as he walked over to the door to shout them in. As he was walking back to Anxiety he made a quick turn into the downstairs bathroom, throwing up his lunch, when he left the bathroom Logan had already started bandaging Anxiety's old - and new - wounds whilst Roman looked horrified and guilty.

"We fought him whilst he was in so much pain, we didn't even consider why he was doing what he did," Roman whispered as soon as Patton stood next to him, and Patton suddenly understood the guilt Roman felt. He had, after all, vowed that he wouldn't fight anyone else when hurt after what happened with....

Well, the details didn't matter, but the fact that Roman had broken the most important promise he had made and Roman never broke a promise, no matter what, and the fact that he - unintentionally - had must've made him feel so much worse about the situation. Patton pulled him into a hug as Logan started bandaging Anxiety's arms before asking if he was wounded anywhere else and Anxiety carefully removed his black jeans.

The sight of his legs made Patton's stomach churn again. Blisters and small cuts covered his feet and bruises littered his legs. Large slashes covered his still to thin thighs and round burn marks where scattered across his pale skin.

He heard Roman gasp and Logan suck in a breath of air as he fell against the kitchen table behind him, Anxiety just looked vaguely confused as if the sight of his wounds shouldn't concern them.

Once again, Patton wanted to kill whoever did this to Anxiety.