The 16th chapter! Yay!

;)

ADD: Underlined is Ted. For other chapters, Bold and italicized is Cody.

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Questioning

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Ted's lying on the bed of a hotel room and his head's been bandaged and he slowly opens his blue eyes to see the concerned faces of his friends but he doesn't understand why they're so concerned and everything's so hazy and unclear and surreal and soon, his memory over washes him and he remembers the sneaky "Oh Teddy" from the man and he remembers the sound of the gunshot and then and then—nothing…just blackness…

Ted looks around and when he notices Randy's scared little eyes, a reflection of Cody's turquoise eyes and John's similar baby blue eyes and he just wants to cup Cody's face and tell him it's going to be fine and he wants to cry to Randy and John but as Ted tries to move, he feels John's hand weigh him back down and Ted grits his teeth in the pain that burns through him.

"Ted, are you okay?" Cody's cold hand presses against Ted's forehead, feeling the boy's heat transfer through him, quick and it hits him with a bang, he's so hot and he's so tattered and torn that Cody practically jumps away from Ted. "Are you okay, Ted?" he repeats the question because he doesn't think that Ted had heard him.

"I'm fine," Ted tries to sound confident but it comes out fearful and loud and as Ted tries to move again, he feels John's hand weighing him down once more.

"Who were they, Ted? Why would anyone do this to you?" John asks and his voice's thick and solid and hard with concern and as he sits down beside him on a chair and holds onto Ted's hand and looks at the bandaged boy with intensity and confusion and horror.

"I've known them for a long time," Ted replies and looks at Cody and Randy and he knows that his teammates are so very confused and as Ted sucks his breath, he lies his head back towards his shoulder, tired and drained and worn out. "It's a long story."

"Well, we're not going anywhere," John says and Ted sighs, slinking into his pillow and finally, glancing back at his confused would do anything for him teammates, he turns to John and nods his head.

Ted opens his mouth and he's trying to get his words out and then closes it and he has his own memories over wash him in a split second and as he looks back at John, he nods his head and bites his bottom lip. "Okay." His voice's softer, more fearful now.

"When I was 16, I just assumed like I was like everyone else. One day, I was flipping through one of my English books at Biology before the bell rang and I landed on a page with a picture of a child drowning in water and I felt bits of pieces of my clogged memory coming back to me. Suddenly, everything was cold blue and deep black and I felt like I was suffocating and dying—I screamed.

"When I was around 6, my father had made me undergo through a 'DiBiase tradition' in which I had to face my biggest fear and in that case, it was water. At eight o'clock at night, he drove me over to a pool. No one was there and no one knew we were here and I felt excited but at the same time, I was horrified. He told me not to tell my mother and I promised I wouldn't. So I stared down at the water, thinking what was the worst that could happen? My father was there, right?

"After about half an hour, I was still in my clothes and didn't change in my swim ones. I was just so terrified of having to jump in. I thought my dad would understand but he grabbed me by my shoulders and threw me into the water. I was suffocating and my father was watching his son choke. When I found my way out, spitting water, and trying to breathe, my dad acted like it was nothing and after a while, so did I."

"What?!" John exclaims, standing up, looking at Ted's eyes and noticing that it's the truth and he wouldn't lie about something like that, not with the emotions that had been stirring in his voice, betrayal, horror, anguish—and as John sits down again, he looks up to find Cody and Randy with wide eyes and opened mouths. "Continue."

Ted bites his lower lip and finds it hard to continue now that they've stopped him but finishes anyways just so hard. "When I realized this at 16, I was traumatized. It was like I was "labeled". Like there was something really wrong with me. I pretended like it was nothing but then it shattered my confidence. I was always happy and confident but the memory had triggered a depression in me. I felt as if I was abnormal and could never be normal ever again.

"Then, there was Derek Blake. Derek was smooth, different, and he didn't care for what anyone told him and when he sat with me in lunch time, I didn't care for what he'd say. I just wanted to be alone. He noticed my depression and told me that he could help me. Later on, he pushed me up to a wall and kissed me, hard and since I thought no one will ever like me, I thought that he was the one for me. I would do anything for Derek but I didn't think that he'd be the same for me. I was just so into him that I didn't realize the bad things about him. I knew that my obsession with him was just a distraction from feeling and being lonely.

"Later, Derek invited me over to a cult to seal the deal. I was about 18 years old and I wanted to try it. I felt like it was a good idea even if my stomach was knotting acid. Later on, when Derek had taken me over to his cult, I realized that they had to give me tests before I could be in. I didn't want to go back to my depression state and Derek knew that as much as I did. I didn't want to break the confidence that I worked so hard to build up again. I didn't want to be broken because I couldn't do a few tests.

"It was horrible. All of the tests. I was isolated from all my family and they made me feel like I was too worthless to be with anyone—just anyone. No one really noticed I was gone for a month. I felt invisible and dead. Like no one would care if I really was dead. Derek started pressuring me to do things right, he'd hit me so much that I'd black out. I started living on the streets with him because I just felt like no one needed or wanted me.

"Whenever the cult would make me do things, like drink alcohol to such a huge amount, I'd black out or they'd make me sleep with one of them. Sometimes, I didn't care. Sometimes, I'd still scream. But what really woke me up was when Derek had to cut me with a razor in front of the water and even though I could feel the pain, I didn't care—then Derek pushed me in the water. Derek, of all people, knew how scared I was of it and now, water and blood, it was like I had just woken up from a deep sleep and I knew that I wanted nothing to do with them.

"All they'd say is that I was going to pay for this. I didn't believe that they could do anything more horrifying than they had right now. When I came back home, all bloodied and cut, my parents had me bandaged and taken to a hospital to see if I've gotten any infections. I finally felt like I was safe. But I couldn't help but worry that they'd do something about me… and today…" he stopped, knowing that his friends know the rest of the story.

"Those jerks," John mumbles under his breath, looking once again at the tattered Ted. "Do you think you'll be okay, Ted?"

Ted shakes his head, "you all! They've seen Randy! They'll think he's my boyfriend or something and they'll hurt him. Maybe even—"Ted trembles at the thought of them killing him and tears spill from his eyes and as Cody holds onto to Ted's shoulders in an effort to calm him down, Ted sucks in breaths and hold onto Cody's hand. "I'm sorry…"

"We should call the police," Cody suggests, still trying to calm Ted down who instantly looks at him and shakes his head. "Why not, Teddy?"

"Because they've been running from the police from years. They have a few tricks up their sleeve and calling the police would just make them angrier. I'm not surprised if one of them is stalking us. I can't let you guys get hurt for a mistake I made." Ted responds, standing up but then falling back down in pain and as Cody holds onto his shoulders once again.

"Any suggestions?" John asks, and then he looks at Randy who's just as blank as John is and as John looks back down onto Ted, Randy sits down beside Ted, touching Ted's face in comfort and console and soothe.

"You can leave me…all they want is me…" Ted stammers.

"No!" John exclaims. "Ted, you saw what they did to you. We can't let them destroy you!"

"It's either me or all of us." Ted explains with a shaky voice. "Just go."

"Ted, we are not leaving you here to die. Randy and I are going to go get some food while Cody, you and Ted book two hotel rooms for all of us, next to each other, please so that we can all be in contact with each other if something happened." John instructs and as Cody nods his head, John and Randy move out of the hospital room and now that they're all alone from Ted and Cody, John notices that Randy's shaking as John holds onto Randy's shoulder, feeling him shake and shiver just hurts so very much and as John leans down to Randy's face, he notices the tears that are blurring Randy's vision.

"Randy?" John whispers, holding onto Randy's shoulder to steady him, feeling him shake from underneath him. "Are you okay, Randy?"

"No," Randy finally speaks and his voice's cracked and broken and so are his eyes.

"Randy…" he reaches his other hand to touch Randy's and when he looks up at Randy, the tears are spilling so hard that Randy doesn't even look like Randy anymore.

"Just leave me alone, John." Randy's lip quivers and his voice's slightly colder now and John finds himself letting go of Randy's shoulders and it all just hits John in a wave of pain—Randy has cancer, Randy's losing Alanna and he's losing Ted and Cody and maybe even himself—and as John looks back, Randy's gone and John feels panic arise as he runs out, looking around and scanning for Randy.

No.

Nothing.

You really do break everyone, John.

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Next one. 'Blood'.

Summary: ("Oh, aren't you just the sweetest thing?" Derek breathes on Randy's face, hot breath.) John finds Randy—hurt and bloodied.

;) Sam