'Breathing comes in pairs
except for twice,
one begins and one's goodbye.'
Enough For Now - The Fray.

Chapter Fifteen - Climax.


As Cody desperately tried to claw and piece back together the chunks of his broken spirit, he continued to glower at Ty with complete and utter disbelief. Brayden and Hog looked on worriedly through the pouring rain, concerned at the amount of rage they could see building in Nate's piercingly livid green orbs. Ty was frantically attempting to avoid eye contact with the younger twin, but wherever she turned, Cody was there, glaring at her and trying to read into the reason why she had suddenly fallen into such a sharp silence.

Cody chuckled to himself in insane scepticism and swallowed nervously, "But… that can't be true. I mean… you just finished telling me, Ty. You told me that's not true."

Ty paused, a vast sadness swiftly taking over her vision, "It's not."

"Bullshit, Ty!" Nate abruptly exploded. He swung his cousin around so she was staring him directly in the eye, "You may be able to lie to Cody and everyone else, but you can't lie to me."

"Tell him, Ty," Cody urged from the sidelines, "Tell him what you told me. It's not true!"

"Ty," Nate repeated through gritted teeth. The gothic girl's head flicked back and forth between the two boys, spraying droplets of rain from the tips of her hair onto their expressionless faces. For a split second, she caught a glimpse of the intense sorrow in Cody's dull, blue eyes and almost instantly, she sensed an overbearing wave of truth wash over her.

"…I just wanted you to like me, Cody."

The younger twin felt the entire universe around him come to a slowing stop as heavy realisation set in. He was well aware of everything going on around him - Nate viciously wrenching his grip away from his cousin in disgust, Brayden and Hog cursing Ty in an extreme level of disappointment, the thunderous rain still plummeting to the ground around him… but none of that was registering, not really. The only thing that had Cody's full attention were the many disheartening thoughts that feverishly circled his mind.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe he would've liked you a little more if you had done what he asked you to, not the exact opposite?" Nate interrogated harshly, "It's his twin brother for Christ's sake, Ty!"

Ty turned to her cousin, struggling to keep her distressed emotions under control, "Nate, this is nothing to do - "

"With me?" the older boy finished for her, laughing, "If anything, this is all me! I was the one who told Cody you'd be able to help him. I should've known you couldn't be trusted - not for a second!"

Cody, also toiling to not burst into reluctant tears, looked to Ty with an obvious mix of anger of dejection, "I thought you understood me, Ty. I thought you got that Zack was more than just a person to me. I mean, he's it - Zack's my whole life! You never had anybody, and I got that, I just thought that you understood what it would mean to me to get back the one person who I love more than anybody else in the whole world! How selfish and messed up can one person get?"

With each word of Cody's verbal slaughtering of her like a stinging bullet through her heart, Ty choked back on an unwilling sob and wiped her eyes, "Cody, I'm - "

"Sorry?" the younger spat in disgust, "I don't exactly think that's going to cut it. I should never have trusted you - I should've listened to Nate straight away, I should've believed…"

In the next instant, Cody suddenly came to a rapid standstill as he froze in deep thought, until his eyes suddenly widened in immense fear and terror, "…Bailey. Bailey! Oh my God, Bailey!"

"Hey, hey," Nate soothed, "don't worry about her, I'm sure she's still at the market waiting for me."

"Uh, I don't think so, Nate…" Brayden added impractically.

"She ran off," Cody whispered hauntingly.

Nate frowned, "What are you talking about, bro?"

Cody's angry vision landed upon Ty once again as he hastily continued to explain, "I believed her over Bailey. She tried to tell me… but I didn't listen."

The younger twin's breathing was heavy and hurried as he then unexpectedly turned on his heels and bolted off in the direction that Bailey had gone. Cursing under his breath, Nate quickly spun around and faced the rest of his group, "Wait here, guys, alright?"

Brayden and Hog immediately nodded their heads as Nate took a final second to glance at his cousin.

"All of you," he warned Ty.

Without wasting another second, the older boy then followed suit and chased after Cody. It didn't take long until he caught up, and the younger twin was soon in sight and, assumedly, ear shot.

"Cody!" Nate yelled, "Cody! Wait up!"

The combination of physical and emotional pain on the younger twin's heart as he forced himself to plod along the rain soaked concrete was enough to finally make him stop and allow Nate to reach him. Once he did, the older boy grabbed Cody by the shoulders and aggressively swung him around.

"What are you thinking, bro?"

Cody wiped the tears from his eyes in embarrassment, "I need to find her," he croaked.

"Ok, well just calm down. We will find her, ok?" Nate urged, pretending he couldn't see that the younger twin was obviously crying.

As the rain continued to drench Cody in his pain, another sob exploded from the back of his throat, "She's never going to forgive me. I lost Zack, and now I've lost her, I know it!"

"Cody - "

"I may as well just give up, what else can I do?"

Nate suddenly felt a chord against his heart snap at Cody's words, "Hey! What is it going to take to get you out of your slump and stop feeling so God damned sorry for yourself?"

Cody paused, surprised at the outburst from his older friend, "Huh?"

"Look, I get it, Cody, ok? I get it. Zack is… well, he's like Superman to you, isn't he?" Nate probed sharply, "There's nothing you wouldn't do for him to make him happy. He's your hero, he's everything. Kinda' like what my dad was to me before he died."

Realising what Nate was beginning to put himself through, Cody licked his lips, "Nate, you don't have - "

"Just shut up and listen, Cody," Nate sniped, quickly losing all control of what he was saying, "Because I'm not going to stand here and listen to you talk shit about giving up when I've lived through my mother murdering my father and then being dumped on my crazy aunty and uncle but never, ever fucking bitching or complaining about it once!"

Without warning, Cody instantly fell to a stunned silence. His tears had stopped flowing and his thoughts had stopped revolving. The only thing that he was concentrating on was the predominantly calm words that were flying at him from Nate's lips at full force.

He always knew that the older boy had led a hard life, he had even confirmed that himself many times before. But not once did Cody ever imagine that Nate had lived through something as unreal and demoralizing as one of his parents killing the other. Where would something like that have possibly stemmed from? The thought of his and Zack's parents arguing in the way they did on occasion was enough to merely upset Cody, but Nate's story made him want to throw up in pain. If it were he who was put in that situation, it would doubtless send him right over the edge, as he was sure it would do so for Zack, as well.

As he was beginning to wonder just what his older friend was thinking and feeling towards his rambled words, Cody watched as Nate sighed, "I know it feels like you're dying inside, man, I do. But you can't give up. I never did. You need to pick yourself back up, forget about all that shit with Ty and find Bailey. Because she will forgive you, bro," the older boy paused as a small smile crept across his face, "Think of Zack."

The teeming droplets that clung to Cody's hair flung backwards as he immediately leapt forward and collected his older friend in a hug. For the first time in a long time, after Nate's encouraging words, Cody could feel some true hope swell in his soul. He also felt closer to Zack.

Nate simply smirked as he returned the hug to his shorter companion, "See, I've figured you out pretty quickly, bro. I know you a little more than you think."

"Thanks, Nate," Cody spoke mutely, "Sorry about losing it for a second there."

"Forget about it," the older boy insisted as he and the younger twin stepped apart, "You know how much love I got for you, man."

Cody smiled in response and, again, wiped his eyes. With the older boy's confession still fresh in his mind, the younger twin nervously bit his lip, "I had no idea you had gone through something like - "

"So, any ideas how we're going to find Bailey?" Nate swiftly cut in with a shrug of his shoulders.

Instantly taking the hint, Cody wisely decided to let the topic fall. For now, at least.

As the cogs in his mind gradually began to turn, Cody's vision wandered the desolate streets around them. The rain-filled, foggy atmosphere was making it slightly difficult for him to concentrate, but in the next moment, Cody's eyes fell upon the image of an abandoned van sitting at the curb that had one of its back doors broken off. Shades of Zack immediately appeared on his face as a mischievous smile exploded across Cody's features.

"Can you hotwire a car? And drive?" he asked roguishly.

Nate shrugged his shoulders again with a laugh, "Can I ever. C'mon bro, give me a challenge."

Raising a countering eyebrow, Cody nodded towards the metal heap on four wheels and then raced over to it, diving through the open back door.

Nate's jaw dropped as he comprehended the younger twin's proposal, though he soon shook his head. He had a funny feeling that told him Cody was going to be a-ok.

"Hey, kid learns quick," he said with a proud grin before following the blonde boy through the back door and hopping into the driver's seat.

While Hog and Brayden took sanctuary from the rain underneath a bus shelter, Ty sat out in the rain, her legs crossed in the gutter. There wasn't a single word that had been spoken between the three of them since Cody and Nate had left. The two boys were blatantly too chicken to even dare saying anything to the angry girl who sat silently on the side of the road.

Ty, on the other hand, had a million different thoughts flying through her mind. Regret or guilt? Maybe, but only so because she was figured out and her plan was ruined. Nothing else really mattered to her.

Becoming gradually sick of all the quiet, Brayden bravely cleared his throat and licked his lips, "So… was it worth it?"

"Bray!" Hog scolded him in a hush.

"What? I just want to know what the hell she was thinking," he argued, turning his attention to Ty, "What were you going to gain by sending him on the wrong track like that?"

Ty sourly shrugged her shoulders, "If he spent more time with me, he might've grown to like me."

Brayden scoffed and shook his head, "You're delusional."

"Anyone can see how crazy he is about Bailey," Hog added.

Ty cringed as she bit down hard on her lip piercing, feeling the pain surge from her mouth to her brain, "Thank you for reminding me," she sniped through gritted teeth.

All of a sudden, the screeching sound of tyres to cement was heard up the street as the three teens looked up to see an ominous gray van steam-rolling towards them. They all then frowned in confusion as the passenger seat window rolled down and Cody stuck his head out.

Brayden was the first to speak, "Ok, what the hell is going on?"

"We're going to find Bailey," Cody replied simply.

Hog scoffed, "So you stole a car?"

Ty tried to hide the hurt features of her face as Cody deliberately refused to look at her, even in the slightest. The twinging pain it created in her heart gradually allowed her to retrieve the guilt that she had previously been lacking.

"We won't take too long," Nate went on, "Cody knows that she wouldn't have gone anywhere unfamiliar to her, so we're going to retrace our steps and then come straight back. Will you guys wait here for us?"

Hog nodded his head, "Yeah, if that's what you want."

"We won't go anywhere," Brayden agreed, "Be careful, hey?"

"Aren't I always?" Nate joked. In a final moment, the older boy glanced out of Cody's window and looked at his cousin, "That includes you, too."

Ty snorted, "I don't have to listen to you."

"I'm not asking you, Ty, I'm telling you," Nate responded in a similar fashion before placing his foot back on the accelerator, "We won't be long."

"Cya' guys," Cody spoke with as much happiness as he could muster.

Brayden and Hog projected a supportive smile as they both nodded their heads at Cody and Nate, "Cya' later," they spoke in unison, and then watched the beaten up van slowly pull away from the curb. Hog pointlessly waved to the back of the vehicle as Cody wound up his window, although, the second that he had, Ty's true colours exploded from her in a frenzy once again as she subtly, and unbeknownst to Cody and Nate, leapt into the back of the open van and hid behind the single door.

The two boys stood on the side of the road, their jaws touching the ground in shock. Brayden sucked in an almighty breath and yelled as loud as he could in the hopes of catching either Cody or Nate's attention, but as the van swiftly made a sharp turn around the block, he and Hog were left standing, staring at each other, in realisation that whatever Ty's new plan was for Cody and Bailey, it was now powerlessly and unwillingly out of their hands.

Bailey couldn't stop shaking. The rain certainly wasn't helping, but the emotion behind each quaking shudder was a hell of a lot more than just pure coldness. She felt empty, alone, abandoned. The area around her was familiar, but she still didn't exactly have any idea where she was. She just needed to get away from Cody. It was what she wanted and, as heartbreaking as it was to even fathom, she had a feeling that it was what he wanted, too.

What was it that Cody had said to her when all this had began? 'You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, right, Bails?'

Bailey snorted in disgust, though it was immediately replaced by yet another choking sob. Cody had done more than just hurt her. He had broken her trust. In one swift argument, it also seemed that he had broken their relationship. But more importantly, and what caused a million times more pain - he had broken her heart.

Bailey had never felt more whole in her entire life than what she had when she was with Cody. It was like without him, there was no her. It was just that simple. Moose had never made her feel that way and neither had anyone else in her life. Of course, the only thing that came with her immense feeling of connectedness to Cody was the even heavier feeling of heartbreak now that he was gone.

While all these distressing thoughts and more continued to suffocate her mind as she sat alone in the ever-growing evening darkness on the side of the road, what she didn't know was that a mere block or two away from her, Cody and Nate were making their increasingly fast approach.

Cody was nervously tapping his fingers on the door panel as the moderate to heavy traffic continued to whiz by his window. He had absolutely no idea what he was possibly going to say to even gain Bailey's forgiveness in the slightest, but he was sure that it would all come to him once he found her. If he found her, he kept thinking to himself. No amount of words could even begin to explain how much he was worried about her. When it came right down to it, he really didn't mind if she never spoke to him ever again. He just wanted her to be ok.

With this thought keeping his mind on a frenzied high-alert, the younger twin then looked over to his older friend in the driver's seat. Honestly, it had bothered Cody when Nate had finally explained his own personal story of heartbreak, but had done so with a minute level of emotion and hardly any real explanation there afterwards. While the older boy's words had helped console Cody's own emotions, he still felt the need to know more.

Deciding to get straight to the point, he tensely cleared his throat, "Your mum really did that?"

Nate remained silent for a moment, and then cautiously licked his lips, "Yeah." He sighed, "She's schizophrenic, always has been. It got worse as I got older - take that how you will," he added with a joking smile, "She became so… impossible to be around. But Dad stayed with her anyway. He said she needed us. He really became both my dad and my mum in a way. He was always there for me, without fail, whenever I needed him."

Cody nodded his head thoughtfully. It sort of surprised him how quickly it had taken Nate to open up, but he didn't question it.

"He still had his needs, though, I suppose," Nate went on, "He cheated on her. She found out. Flew off the handle. Shot him with his own gun."

Cody cringed as he waited for Nate to continue. After a whole minute of a further silence, the younger twin frowned, "That's it?"

Nate shrugged, "Nothing more to say. She got put in an institution, I got dumped on my uncle and aunty - not Ty's parents, one of our other cousins. My dad was really the only sane one in our family. 'Spose that's where I get it from."

"How old were you? When all this happened?"

"Fourteen, almost fifteen."

Cody gasped, "And you managed to live through it all?"

Nate nodded his head with a proud smile, "I never gave up. Like you shouldn't either. Tomorrow's the only day we should ever know, bro. We shouldn't let the past control how we lead the rest of our lives. I know I got a bright future ahead of me, somewhere down the line. You just gotta' believe the same thing, ya' know?"

Cody paused in appreciation of Nate's final words as the two then reverted back to a peaceful stillness. For a short moment or two, Cody could feel himself beaming on the inside. The thought of how his new tomorrow would be once he had Bailey and Zack back by his side was a temptation of total and utter bliss.

"Dude!" Nate suddenly burst in excitement, "Got her."

Cody's eyes widened as he was immediately awoken from his daydream, "What? Where?"

The younger twin followed Nate's gesture out the front windscreen as his vision instantly fell upon the image of Bailey sitting alone in the street. He tried to breath a sigh of relief that she was both ok and hadn't been bothered by any of the other few cars that were trailing across the roads, but his airway was clogged with a rush of emotion as he abruptly leapt out of his door before the van had even come to a complete stop.

"Cody," Nate called to him, "I'll go park this around the corner at the end of the block, ok? I'll wait for you."

"Alright," Cody agreed.

"And, bro?"

"Yeah?"

Nate grinned, "Good luck."

Returning the similar motion, Cody then spun around, "Thanks," he called back, and then took off as fast as his legs could possibly carry him as he made his way towards Bailey.

Right away, he felt like crying again as she was juts metres away from him, "Bailey!"

The farm-girl's neck snapped up at whip-lashing speed as her eyes widened at the image of Cody standing there before her. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but no words formed or flowed from her lips. As he prolonged his stance over her, saturated from the pouring rain, and reached his hand forward to help her up, Bailey desperately tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the dull pitter-patter of her heart, "How did you find me?"

"Are you kidding?" Cody asked, exhausted, "I would've gone to the ends of the Earth to find you. Are you ok?"

Disregarding the sincere worry that drowned Cody's orbs, Bailey silently nodded her head.

In a wave of sudden relief, Cody sighed to himself, "Bailey, I don't know what to say…"

Bailey scoffed. The least she could have asked for was for Cody to have some notion of what he was apologising for or how he was going to do it, "And that's how you plan to win me back?" she spat, "Do you have any possible idea what you've done to me, how you've made me feel?"

"I know, Bailey, I know," Cody urged, "and look, before anything else, you have to believe this - I never had any interest in her, Bailey. It wasn't her, it wasn't Ty, ok? It was - "

"I know," Bailey interjected with a shrug, "It was the thought of getting Zack back."

Cody nodded sadly. He flinched as Bailey viciously tugged away from him as he went to take her hands, "Bailey, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I should've believed you, I should've listened to you without any question! I mean, you're the only one who's been here for me since the beginning, and I never should've said or done any of what I did or ever make you feel that horrible. I didn't mean any of it, Bailey, I'm just… I'm sorry."

Bailey remained quiet, her hard, glowering glance still piercing straight through Cody's soul. He choked on a lump in his throat as the realisation of her heavy stare began to take its toll on him, "I don't care if you hate me or don't want to talk to me ever again, I just needed you to know that. I'm sorry. I'd sacrifice everything I have before I ever lose you."

Cody waited, his imploring, blue eyes gazing into the depths of Bailey's, praying to someone or something higher than him that she would forgive him. He had experienced what his life would be like without both Bailey and Zack, and even though he said and insisted on saying that he would understandably let Bailey go if she no longer wanted anything to do with him, there was nothing that didn't tell him that living his life like that would eventually, and effectively, absolutely destroy him.

In a final notion of seemingly irreversible damage, Bailey coldly shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "Well, get ready to make your sacrifices. You broke my heart, Cody. How can I ever trust you with my happiness again?"

Sensing his core slowly unstitching, Cody stood frozen, his own heart breaking at the harshness of Bailey's words. He forced himself not to begin crying again, though he couldn't help but admit to himself that this was nothing short of what he deserved. He had sworn to himself that he would never even think of doing anything that would hurt Bailey in the slightest. And now he had more or less left her in a state of complete, inconsolable forlorn. The only other time he had been more furious with himself was when he had failed to save Zack from falling from the ship into the vile swash of the ocean. He wasn't going to let someone else he loved with all his heart slip through his fingers again.

Suddenly, Cody froze. He came to complete halt in deep hesitation for a moment, his last thought slowly making a second lap through his mind. The pain he had felt swell in his chest at Bailey's cold stare gradually began to fade away as his heart unexpectedly sprung back to life. It started beating faster and faster, causing his head to spin in confusion until it came to a sharp stop and the blurred cloud of uncertainty diminished from his psyche. Was this what it was like to have an epiphany? It felt like he had finally woken up after an eternity of sleep. It was all clear to him now.

Cody was in love with Bailey.

Noticing the slick smile that had grown across Cody's face amongst his lack of further communication, Bailey sadly rolled her eyes before wiping more tears away. She turned around and took a few reluctant steps away from him, "Well, if you don't have anything else to say – "

Abruptly butting in, Cody cleared his throat and laughed. In the next moment, he fell back to a short silence, before his face twisted to what was possibly the most genuine expression of affection that he had ever succumb to, "I love you."

Bailey's breath immediately hitched in her throat. She felt for a moment like she couldn't breathe at all. The only thing she was narrowly managing to do was lock her eye contact back with Cody's as she tried to search his expression for any sense of false declaration. She stifled a nervous sigh as all she could successfully find was gut-wrenching truth, "…Wha-what?"

Cody smiled again, "I love you, Bailey. Shit, I'm in love with you!" he paused, speaking syllable by syllable, "I. Love. You."

Choking another sob, Bailey tried to conceal her overwhelming bliss, "I… I thought you'd never say that to me."

"I needed to make sure that I was certain about it," Cody began to explain, "I mean, I've said it before to other girls – Barbara, or whatever. But I didn't mean it. Not like I mean it now."

Still resisting the incredible feelings of yearning and mercy seeping through her skin, Bailey watched as the happiness in Cody's eyes resorted back to an imploring, pleading stare, "Bailey please," he begged, "I'll never be able to express how sorry I am. I can't live without, I need you – I need you as much as I need Zack! You have to forgive me. I love you."

Cody then waited, a breath held in right down to his stomach, as he explored the features of Bailey's softening face. The farm-girl was amazed with herself and how well she had managed to keep in her heavenly feelings of pure ecstasy. No-one had ever proclaimed their love and devotion for her in the way Cody just had. Her heart felt as if it was soaring high above the entire universe on cloud nine. Yeah, cloud nine hundred and ninety-nine.

"I love you, too," she choked out with an ocean's worth of exultant tears.

As the widest possible smile stretched miles across the younger twin's face, he and Bailey then collected each other in an explosion of sparks as they embraced each other for dear life.

Bailey sensed shivers race up the column of her spine as the warmth of Cody's lips against hers eliminated any sensation of the blistering cold rain plummeting around them. The passion that detonated between them was such that Bailey had never experienced before. The way that she felt their kiss caress the inside of her mouth, the way Cody stroked the small of her back as she sensed he was striving with all of his might to not take their encounter any more physically further than what it already was. And as Cody whimpered in delight at the way Bailey clutched painfully tight to his chest and held her whole body steamily close against his, neither of them had ever felt more needed or more loved in their entire lives.

Finally, the desire to lift their heads up for oxygen took over as the two parted, breathing heavily as they kept a close hold of one another, the rain around them still not enough to eradicate their sensation of warmth and passion.

All Cody wanted to do was stand there, perhaps forever, and simply hold onto Bailey like she was all he had and all he ever needed, but it wasn't long until he suddenly remembered how it was that he had found his girlfriend in the first place.

"Damn," he cursed silently, "Bailey we gotta' get back to Nate. He's waiting for us at the end of the block."

Bailey frowned, looking up at the younger twin, "How'd you two get here?"

Biting his lip, Cody shook his head and took Bailey's hand in his. He brought it up to his mouth and gently kissed it before the two began walking, "That's another story."

In a matter of moments, the two had made it to the end of the block and could see the stowaways' beaten up van. They could also make out Nate through the teeming rain, however, they both paused in slight confusion as they noticed he was talking to someone. As they then rounded the corner, they soon discovered that it wasn't just 'someone'. And Nate wasn't talking – he was yelling.

"Ty?" Cody spat in instant anger, "What are you doing here?"

Bailey, too, felt her blood boil as Nate looked over the couple, "She hid in the back of the van as we took off," he answered, "She was just about to attempt to give me an explanation."

Ty rolled her eyes at her cousin's sarcasm and turned to Cody, "I just needed to talk to you," she began, "Explain, ya' know? It's totally not what you think, Cody – "

"I don't want any justification," Cody sniped in aggravation, "There's no excuse for what you did. You lied to me, tried to ruin my relationship and led me away from my brother!"

Her fury increasingly with each word that he spoke, Ty gritted her teeth, "She's not even worth it, Cody! If you took the time to listen to – "

"There's nothing you can possibly say!" Cody snapped again, "I love Bailey! Do you get that? I'm in love with her."

Ty snorted, "Are you sure about that?"

"Ah, yeah. She and I just went through all that, actually," he replied cynically.

"But she doesn't deserve you, Cody," Ty argued, "You're too perfect for her."

Cody sensed a chord inside him tweak and snap, "I let my brother fall off a ship into the ocean, I'm not that perfect!"

Bailey's eyes widened as she touched her boyfriend's arm to console him, "Cody – "

"You're perfect to me!" Ty interjected, allowing Bailey's voice to be drowned out by the traffic speeding by them, "Cody, you'll always be perfect to me. I was always going to take you to Newberry eventually, I just wanted to spend more time with you. I know I was selfish, but I just thought that maybe I was falling in love – "

"Don't even start!" Nate abruptly blasted, "What exactly do you know about love, Ty?"

An emotion of further rage began to bubble in Ty's stomach, "Keep outta' this, Nate."

"You obviously can't know that much if you were willing to destroy the most pure love either of us have seen between these two – and don't even try to deny that," the older boy continued to probe.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Ty screeched, rapidly turning her wrath towards her cousin.

Nate merely scoffed, "I've been on your side for sixteen years!" he emphasised over the chaotic sound of the traffic and the rain, "I've made millions of excuses for you and tried to make you a happier person, but all you ever do is throw it back in my face! And now, just when I've started to feel like I've actually done something good for someone else for once, you've twisted the whole situation to suit yourself and what you want – you're unbelievable!"

Cody and Bailey remained holding onto each other tightly as Nate's fiery words were taking an obvious toll on Ty's state of mind. The sadness in her eyes was deeper than either of them had ever seen before.

Nate laughed to himself, prolonging the verbal attack on his cousin, "I've always cared about you, Ty, and you know I have. All I ever tried to do was look after you, but if you can't let go of the fact that – just like the rest of us – nobody really loved you, then I'm sorry, Tyler, but that's not my problem!"

In a phenomenal outburst of insane, pent up rage and fury, Cody and Bailey then watched, horrified, as Ty profanely screamed at the top of her lungs and shoved Nate with all of her strength into the middle of the street.

In a flash of blinding lightning, the entire universe came to slowing pace as Cody, Bailey and Ty were all regretfully submitted to watch in helplessness as Nate spun around and cried out in a final outbreak of terror before his seventeen year old body came into full contact with a speeding, dual-cab ute, shattering his limbs, muscles and what Cody feared to even think of to pieces.

A monstrous, foretelling clap of thunder told Cody all he needed to know as he finally snapped back into reality and dashed over to where Nate was lying motionless on the concrete ground.

"No, no, no, no," he kept repeating to himself quietly as he hastily flipped his friend around and gazed into his face. His heart skipped a beat and the bile that sat sourly in his stomach instantly felt the need to arise.

Bailey yelled and uncharacteristically cursed at Ty as the immoral girl took a final glance at the mess she had made and the heartbreak she had caused before she then cowardly turned on her heels and ran away as fast as she could. Cody failed to even notice as he began to cry and sob with no amount of reluctance while he held his vision to the dead, empty blankness that gazed over Nate's eyes.

"He's dead," he whispered before raising his voice, "She fucking killed him!"

As other cars curiously began to pull up at the scene and the shaky, terrified driver who had hit Nate took out his cell phone to bravely call the police, Bailey collapsed beside Cody in a traumatized heap and forcefully tried to match her boyfriend's strength as he desperately shook Nate's shoulders.

"Cody!" Bailey pleaded, "Cody, stop! He's gone, he's gone!"

While a wave of mournful tears instantly began to overtake the farm-girl, too, Bailey froze, realising what she had said, "…he's gone," she repeated in a dull murmur.

The sudden sound of police sirens shrieking noisily in the background broke Bailey from her trance as she nudged Cody's shoulder. She looked away from the warm blood that had leaked from Nate's skull onto her boyfriend's hands as she muttered encouragingly in his ear, "Cody, that's the cops, we have to go."

Cody kept his eyes on Nate as he defiantly shook his head, "I'm not leaving him," he countered, his heart breaking all over again with each word he spoke.

Bailey groaned in pain, her tears – much like Cody's - mixing bitterly with the cooling rain, "We need to get out of here or they're going to find us and then we'll never make it to the hospital."

Slightly gaining his attention at the mention of the hospital, Cody attempted to stay true to his word, waiting for a miracle to happen. Any minute now, he told himself, Nate was going to jump up and laugh at the both of them, joking about how gullible they were – just as Zack might have. But as Cody finally started to appreciate just how much Nate had meant to their journey and to him, all his hopes of such a miracle bleakly and harshly faded away.

A fresh set of somber tears flowed from his dim, blue eyes as Nate's limpness set an excruciating weight on his heart, "…but… I can't…" he repeated in choking pain, "I can't leave him…"

"Cody," Bailey urged strictly, the sirens growing ever so closer, "You have to – we have to. Nate would want you to, you know he would. Zack needs us."

In a final flash of what was an obvious decision, Cody sucked in a devastatingly agonizing breath and grabbed a hold of Bailey's hand. The past five minutes had flown by like a demoralizing nightmare. It felt unreal, inconceivable. But as Cody and Bailey both stood up, still in tears, the younger twin took one last glance at Nate. In the blink of an eye, the older boy's bright future had diminished into what was now absolutely nothing.

Cody shivered and gradually brought his voicebox up to an inaudible whisper, "Thanks, bro."

As he and Bailey then stiffly sprinted away, those left standing over him gazed down despondently at the still, calm and lifeless body of Nathan Lucas.

...Well, while you guys prepare your pitch forks and torches, I'm gonna go hide under my bed.

Reviews and thoughts are much appreciated for this chapter guys. Normally I'd apologise for making my chapters so short, but this time I'll say sorry for making it quite long. Hope you all enjoyed it, well, until the end anyway, lol. I'll try to update just as quickly. Two more chapters until we found out about Zaaaacck :) Thanks guys!

Reneyyyyyyyy x.