Nevaeh's eyes snapped open upon hearing the anger in Eliot's voice. Her eyes slowly trialed to where he was looking and her eyes widened even more to where he was looking at.
She yanked her hand away and tried hugging it close to her chest but he wasn't having it. His eyes were blazing with uncontrollable rage and anger.
He kept a firm hold on her wrist and lifted her shirt more. Similar small scars like the one he found were staring right at him.
He gently ran his fingers over them, his jaw clenched tightly as he started at them more.
The others too were shocked by what they were seeing. It's like a fire has been lit inside them from how mad and angry they're feeling.
Thing is, they never saw or noticed this until now. She tried so hard to keep them hidden, but not seems like it wasn't hard enough.
Jonathan held Nevaeh's hand in his softly, after glaring at Eliot to let go, he clearly wasn't in the right headspace to think clearly from all this anger.
"What happened here, darling?" Jonathan asked, leaving a small peck at the scar, his British accent coming out heavy.
Nevaeh's heart spiked up, her eyes filled with unshed tears as she remembered the reason and cause of these small scars that litter some parts of her body.
Theodore wiped away the first tear that rolled down her soft cheek, the men feeling their hearts squeeze painfully at the sight of their girl crying.
The more Theodore wiped, the more tears fell down, Nevaeh completely broke down, her head falling on Angel's shoulder as heart wrenching sobs shook her body.
It was getting harder to breath with each passing second, seeing as it was getting hard to calm down and try to talk, feeling like someone was sitting on her chest, constricting her from getting any breaths in.
"Shh just calm down, breath." Angel muttered in her ear, rubbing her back up and down, while slowly breathing in and then out, making her look at him and trying to copy his actions.
After a while Nevaeh calmed down, her cries now turning into small sniffles.
"Good, just like that." Angle praised, pecking her now tear stained face softly.
Nevaeh stayed silent after that, the others too, the only sound in the room is the fire cackling and the occasional sniffing.
"It was my foster mother." Nevaeh suddenly spoke, her voice coming out so small they thought they didn't hear her, but they did, the room being too silent.
"What?" Eliot asked, his voice coming out surprised.
Nevaeh breathed in deeply before she began speaking once again, "It was on my tenth birthday, my foster mother asked me to wash the dishes, and I did but-" she took another breath before continuing, "While I was drying them one slipped from my hands, because one hour before I got beat for having dinner made late, the plate fell, it broke, she took my hands, turned on the stove and put my wrist, the one holding the plate I broke and put it on top of the stove."
The tears that were were long gone reappeared, rolling down her cheeks in rivers. Her body shook as she recalled that night.
"I begged and screamed at her to stop, but she didn't, she only forced my hand down on the fire more." She spoke, her voice cracking as she looked at Jonathan.
"She had her husband hold my hands tightly while she took the cigarette he was smoking and burned my forearms with them." She said, rolling her sleeves up to her elbow, exposing said burns and scarred tissue.
The men couldn't believe what they were hearing, how could someone do that to a child? How could someone be this heartless?
While they themselves are cruel and heartless, they have never hurt a child or even thought about hurting one, it was one of the rules and they were taught since they were young.
Their heart broke hearing the hurt and pain in her voice, she's been through so much since a young age, they don't need to be told more that more things had happened to her, hearing about this is enough to have their blood boiling and knowing she's been hurt.
They were all silent, trying to absorb what their girl had just told them, no words could be spoken and no matter what they tell her, the pain would always be there, but with time and patience, it would hurt less.
Without saying another word, they held her forearms and wrists and starting peppering soft gently kisses on her scars, making her go red from shame, no one has ever done that.
"These scars don't define you, they make you stronger, it shows that you survived when some didn't." Hades said, seriousness in his voice and face, the others nodded, agreeing with him.
Nevaeh breathed in shakily and looked away, she couldn't look at them, how could she? She felt embarrassed, no one has ever seen them.
"Look at me." Theodore ordered, but she didn't.
"Nevaeh." His voice become more stern, more commanding, he's never said her name like that.
With a gulp, she looked at him, a bit of surprise in her eyes when she saw his shirt off. They were looking at her softly while she looked at them confused.
Theodore took her hand gently and put it on his abdomen, where a small round scar rests.
"I was shot when I was fifteen." He spoke, looking at her emotionlessly.
A gasp escaped her, her wide eyes looking at him in fear and surprise.
"How?" She asked, her voice coming out harsh from the crying.
He sighed then spoke, "I was coming out of school when a man jumped from behind the bush and shot me, the guys then rushed me to the hospital-" he explained, nodding towards the other men before continuing.
"It wasn't serious but you can see the scar, it's nothing to be ashamed off, it means you're strong." He said, his eyes showing adoration as he looked at her.
Tears of relief left her eyes, she thought they would be disgusted with her, she through they'd leave her.
"Plus, it looks badass, we all have some." Eliot said, showing his hand and his chest, the others doing the same, showing her where they have scars.
"What happened to the man that shot you?" Nevaeh asked Theodore, her eyes no longer filled with tears.
A cold look fell on his voice, his eyes showing a dangerous glint, a sadistic look on his face.
"Dead, he's dead." His blank face said it all, he didn't want to talk about it.
She was about to ask how but Angel spoke, interrupting her, "Let's get you to bed meine Liebe."
He scooped her up in his arms and started heading to Hades room, she'd be spending the night in his room. They take turns, seeing as she slept in Angel's room the last time.
He entered the room, put her gently on the bed and kissed her goodnight, the others followed and the others did the same, they had already packed her stuff for tomorrow when they wake up.
She entered the huge bathroom and found a closed toothbrush waiting for her, she brushed her teeth and then went to the room, already seeing Hades waiting for her.
He was lying on his back and looking at her, he patted the spot next to him and she padded there softly, she got in and he immediately wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her to his chest.
She wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned her head on his chest, he gave a kiss on the forehead and muttered, "Night."
"Night." She replied and her eyes instantly closed, her tired body shutting down.