A/N: I own nothing, so don't sue. This is set after Evolution betrayed Randy Orton. There is a sequel in the works. Please R&R. Enjoy.

Why

Randy Orton limped down one of the backstage hallways, defeated and bleeding. His new World Heavyweight title hung from his fingers, one of the straps dragging on the ground. Definitely not how the title should've been treated, but at that moment, Randy didn't care. His whole world had been turned upside-down, and Randy couldn't think straight. He had just won the World Heavyweight Championship and become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history, but he wasn't celebrating. Not even close.

Randy stumbled a bit as he reached the section of the arena containing the locker rooms, and as his hand brushed the white brick wall it left a smear of scarlet blood. Randy stared at that red spot until it blurred before his eyes, wondering how bad he was hurt. He hadn't checked in the ring, had just gotten out of there so that at least some of his dignity would remain intact. Now that he thought about it, he could feel a fiery pain in his forehead. He lifted a hand and touched the spot, which screamed with renewed agony as his fingers brushed it. He took the hand away and looked at it.

"Oh," he breathed, a little dizzy and disoriented. His fingers were covered in blood.

The hallway suddenly stretched before him until it looked a mile long. The bright fluorescent lights hurt his eyes and the linoleum floor lurched beneath his feet. Randy tried walking forward but everything spun out of focus. He closed his eyes and felt air rushing past him, and then there was a dull thud. Randy opened his eyes and realized through the haze of pain that he was lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway. He tried to get up and found that he couldn't.

It was then that he realized that he knew this hallway. It was the hall that led to Evolution's locker room. His feet had instinctively taken him here. A flood of burning rage rose up inside of him and he fought the urge to scream in fury and pain. Evolution had turned on him. They had betrayed him. Randy closed his eyes and replayed the night's earlier events again, just like he had so many times over the last few minutes.

After he had won his match earlier that night and become the World Heavyweight Champion, Hunter Hearst-Helmsly, Dave Batista, and Ric Flair had come out to the ring. Dave had hoisted Randy up onto his shoulders while Hunter and Ric cheered for him. It had been one of the happiest moments of Randy's life.

And then it had turned into a nightmare.

Hunter suddenly stopped Dave and looked up at Randy. The grin fell off of Randy's face as soon as he saw the sinister gleam in Hunter's eyes, and he had a sudden urge to get off of Dave's shoulders immediately. But before he could do anything Hunter made the thumbs-down gesture to Dave and said, "Now."

Dave fell backwards with Randy still on his shoulders, and Randy's head bounced off of the canvas as he hit the mat. Dazed, he laid there until Hunter grabbed him and lifted him to his knees.

"You see this, Randy?" Hunter asked, grabbing Randy's chin with one of his hands and jerking his head back. With his other hand he thrust Randy's new World Heavyweight title into his face. "Take a good look," Hunter hissed, "because you won't have it long."

Randy stared up at Hunter through disbelieving gray eyes. He could faintly hear Ric and Dave's laughter behind him. What the hell was going on? These guys were his stablemates. They were his friends...weren't they?

Any thought of these men being his friends was wiped out of Randy's mind when Hunter spat into his face, "You think you're better than us? You think you're better than Evolution? You are nothing. You're just some stupid fucking kid who thought he could run with the big dogs. We took you into this stable because you were getting arrogant, Randy. We built you up so that you could fall. And now we're going to leave you. Your title reign won't last a week without us. So have fun, Champ."

As Hunter snarled that last word, he brought his hand around and smashed the title belt into Randy's face. Spots burst in front of the Legend Killer's eyes and he crumpled to the canvas as Hunter released him. Randy felt warmth running down his face from his forehead, and he vaguely knew that it was blood. He also knew that he didn't care that he was bleeding. He was in shock over what had just happened. A hard kick slammed into his side as Dave walked by, sneering. Dave. Only hours earlier, him and Randy had been joking and laughing together over something that Ric had said. They had been friends.

No, Randy realized with sudden clarity. They were never my friends. They hated me from the beginning. They just let me think that they liked me so I wouldn't leave. They had this planned from the start.

Evolution left the ring to the jeers of the crowd, and a humiliated Randy picked himself up off of the mat and stretched out a hand to grab his title. The golden face of the belt was smeared with his blood, and Randy wiped it off with shaking fingers. The crowd was sympathetic; they began a 'Randy' chant as he forced himself to his feet. But Randy barely heard them through the roar in his ears. Evolution had betrayed him. The reminder nearly brought him to his knees again. Somehow he stayed upright, and he managed to make it out of the ring, up the ramp and backstage.

Randy opened his eyes to the sound of someone calling his name. For a terrifying moment he thought that it was Hunter or Dave, back to torture him some more. But it was a different voice, one that he knew but not very well.

"Randy? You okay, man?"

John Cena's face entered his peripheral vision, and the older man's eyebrows drew together with concern at the sight of Randy's battered and bloody face. "Holy shit, kid. What'd you do, call the Big Show a freak?"

Randy didn't reply. He honestly wasn't sure if he could even speak. His throat closed up, and suddenly hot tears were pouring down his cheeks and mixing with the blood on his face.

John looked startled. "Randy," he said, kneeling down beside the Legend Killer. "What happened?"

Randy tried to get into a sitting position, but his body screamed with pain. John took his shoulders gently, seeming to sense how much agony he was in, and helped him sit up. Randy clenched his teeth against the sobs that were shaking his body, refusing to let John Cena see how vulnerable he was.

John placed a light hand on his shoulder and murmured, "It's okay kid, let it out. If you don't then it'll just build up inside of you until you explode."

Randy looked into John's eyes then, and the worry and care that he saw in them finally broke his iron self-control. The first of the sobs escaped, and then a torrent burst forth, and Randy fell back against the wall and wrapped his arms around his head as he cried. The World Heavyweight title fell from his hands and landed with a soft clank on the floor beside him.

John put his arm around Randy's heaving shoulders and said, "That's it, Killer, let it out. I'm not gonna judge you for it. Everyone's gotta cry sometimes."

Randy moaned something, but it was so soft that John had to lean toward him to hear. "What?" he asked.

"Why?" Randy cried, his head in his hands.

"Why did they do that to me?"

END