Chapter 52 52

Chapter 52 52
“Come back here, Azxel. Get in the car.”

Jaelen’s voice carried down the street as the car rolled slowly beside him, the engine idling low. Azxel didn’t turn around. He kept walking, his steps uneven, his grip tight around the strap of his bag like it was the only thing keeping him upright.

“Azxel,” Jaelen said again, firmer now. “Stop.”

Azxel stopped but only for half a second. Then he laughed a short, brittle sound that didn’t reach his eyes.

“So now you chase me too?” he muttered, staring straight ahead. “Is that part of the plan?”

Jaelen pulled the car to the curb and got out, slamming the door harder than necessary. He jogged the last few steps and caught Azxel by the arm.

“Don’t touch me.” Azxel yanked his arm free violently. His eyes were wild and unfocused. “You already did enough of that. Watching and reporting and playing hero.”

“That’s not what this is,” Jaelen snapped, his voice cracking despite himself. “You’re not thinking straight.”

Azxel turned on him then, fast and sharp. “I was never thinking straight, was I?” he said bitterly. “That’s why you were sent, right? To monitor me? To fix me? To make sure I didn’t embarrass anyone.”

Jaelen ran a hand through his hair, exhaling hard. “Your mom was scared. And I was… scared too.” He whispered.

Azxel stepped back, shaking his head. “Scared? More like, you were being obedient.”

The word landed heavy between them.

Jaelen flinched. “You don’t get to do this,” he said quietly. “You don’t get to rewrite everything just because you’re angry.”

Azxel’s lips trembled, but he forced them into a crooked smile. “Rewrite? I finally understand it. That’s the difference.”

A car passed slowly behind them, someone inside glancing curiously before driving on. The street felt too open, too exposed.

Jaelen softened his tone. “Get in the car. Please. We’ll go somewhere quiet. You can scream, curse me out, whatever you want but not out here.”

Azxel hesitated. For a moment, something like exhaustion washed over his face. His shoulders sagged, just slightly.

Then he straightened.

“Fine,” he said flatly. “But don’t think this means anything.”

He walked past Jaelen and opened the passenger door himself, dropping into the seat without looking back. Jaelen stood there for a second longer, his jaw tight, before getting in and starting the car.

They drove in silence.

Azxel pressed his forehead to the window, watching houses blur past. His reflection stared back at him, his piercings glinting, his hair dyed loud and wrong and perfect. Someone else’s version of him.

Jaelen glanced at him once, then again, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

“This therapy,” Azxel said suddenly, his voice calm in a way that felt wrong. “Is it going to make you feel better?”

Jaelen swallowed. “It’s supposed to help you.”

Azxel smiled faintly at the glass. “That’s not what I asked.”

The car kept moving, the distance between them stretching wider than the space of the seat.

The car rolled on, tires humming against the asphalt. Jaelen didn’t answer him. He didn’t need to. The silence did it for him.

Azxel’s smile faded.

They pulled into a quiet side street lined with trees, far from the house, far from anyone who might see. Jaelen parked and turned off the engine. The sudden quiet rang in Azxel’s ears.

“So,” Azxel said softly, still staring out the window. “Where to now? Therapy? Confession booth? Or do you drag me back home so she can cry some more.”

Jaelen turned toward him. “You don’t get to use her tears like a weapon.”

Azxel finally looked at him. His eyes were glassy but sharp. “Then stop putting them on me.”

Jaelen’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t spy on you.”

“You watched,” Azxel shot back. “And when you thought, you had watched enough, you left!”

“I left because I was scared of what he was doing to you.”

That landed.

Azxel’s breath stuttered for just a second. He laughed again, quieter this time. “You mean Sky?” He shook his head. “You don’t even say his name like it belongs in your mouth.”

Jaelen leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “He doesn’t belong anywhere near you.”

“There it is,” Azxel said.

Jaelen snapped his head toward him. “I watched you disappear, Azxel.”

Tgere was dead drop silence.

“You stopped sleeping. You stopped eating unless he told you to. You flinched every time someone raised their voice. You looked at him like he was your oxygen.” Jaelen’s voice dropped. “That’s not love.”

Azxel’s hands curled into his sleeves. “You don’t get to define it.”

“I get to call it what it is.”

Azxel shook his head hard, like he was trying to shake the words out. “You’re wrong. He helps me, he makes everything become quiets, you don’t know what it’s like inside my head.”

Jaelen leaned forward. “I know it got quieter when he drugged you.”

That did it.

Azxel’s breathing went ragged, fast and shallow. “Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t say that.”

“You didn’t even remember me, you let him take over,” Jaelen pressed. “You didn’t even remember the days you had me in your life. And you were fine with what he did.”

Azxel clutched his head with both hands. “Stop. That’s not true. That’s not, he said it was to help me sleep.”

Jaelen reached out, then stopped himself. “Open your eyes.”

Azxel snapped his head up. “I don’t want to.”

The words came out broken.

They sat like that for a long moment, tension coiled tight between them.

Finally, Jaelen spoke again, quieter. “Therapy isn’t punishment. It’s not control. It’s somewhere you can talk without someone rewriting your thoughts.”

Azxel’s shoulders shook once. He wiped at his face angrily. “You don’t get to say that tome, you said therapist is where no one gets to rewrite your thoughts, but tou don’t even understand that those therapist do rewrite them...”

Jaelen nodded slowly. “Maybe it’s true, but I’m not going to watch you burn and pretend it’s warmth.”

Azxel laughed weakly. “Funny. I already did that once.”

Jaelen looked at him sharply. “What?”

Azxel didn’t answer. He turned back to the window, pressing his forehead to the glass again.

“Take me,” he said dully. “To therapy and to…. wherever.”

Jaelen started the engine.

As the car pulled back onto the road, Azxel whispered, barely audible, like he was afraid the words might hear him.

“But when I go back… he’ll still be waiting for me.”

Jaelen’s grip tightened on the wheel.