Everybody was looking at Seth when he walked back to the locker room, but he didn't care about what they were thinking. He did what had to be done. He did what he did for his own future and at the end of the day, it was all that mattered. He liked the person he was working with but he had to watch out for his own self. He was about to enter the locker room when Paige stopped him.
"Is it true?" she asked. "Is The Shield really over?"
"Yeah…" Seth said as he turned the knob.
"Are you OK? I mean, I know you guys were pretty close, it must suck that you are not a team anymore…"
Seth looked at her but didn't answer. He opened the door and entered. He didn't want to talk about it. He did what he had to do. He did what was best for business. The locker room was empty. A part of him hoped that Dean and Roman would be there, like they always were after a show, but he knew he'll need to get used to it. They weren't a team anymore. They had other plans for him. Better ones that could launch him at the very top of the company. How many years had he dreamed of this? The path to success was right in front of him but Seth was still scared to take the first step.
The locker room's door opened violently, taking Seth out of his thoughts. Roman was standing in front of him and he didn't look happy at all. The Samoan had always been good to hide his true feelings but now he couldn't contain his rage. Both men stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Seth finally decided to say something.
"Where's Dean?"
Roman let out a sarcastic laugh and tap his chin with his finger.
"That's all you have to say? Where's Dean?" he snapped. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? What the fuck happened out there Seth?"
"Rom' we knew they wanted to split us! OK, it might have been a little sooner than we expected but it was not that much of a surprise."
"How long have you known about this?"
"A couple of weeks…" Seth answered as he looked down.
He couldn't face Roman's burning stare.
"Why haven't you told us?"
"I couldn't…" he let out in a sigh.
Roman burst into laughter. Anybody else would've thought he really was laughing but Seth knew him too much. He had spent enough time with him to know that there was nothing funny about it. Seth was telling the truth. Hunter and Vince had been pretty clear about it. He couldn't tell his brothers that he was going to turn on them tonight. He remembered the conversation like it happened yesterday.
"We are going to break up The Shield." Hunter said, looking directly at Seth's eyes.
"Already?" Seth asked.
Vince McMahon nodded. When this man says something, you just shut your mouth and please him. The Shield had been at the top of the company for a while now and they had beaten everybody in the roster. Deep down inside, Seth knew it was time for something else, but a part of him still thought it was too soon.
"Why am I the only here?" Seth asked.
"Because you're the one that is going to break up The Shield." Vince said.
"Are you up to it?" Hunter asked, with a concerned look.
"Yeah, I'll do anything you want me to, but I just don't get why Dean and Roman aren't here with us. It concerns them as much as it concerns me."
"We'll talk to them, but not now." Hunter answered.
"What do you…"
"What Hunter is trying to say is that we'll tell them at the right time. We need you to stay quiet about it. You can't tell anything."
"We'll do it on Monday Night Raw after Payback. Randy and I will get out to talk to you and you will put an end to The Shield by attacking Roman and Dean with a chair."
Seth was stunned. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. They wanted him to keep it a secret from them?
"I can't just attack them with a chair without them knowing it, I might hurt them for real…" he said. "They need to know…"
"We'll tell them just before you go out there." Vince said. "But until then, you can't tell. We can't risk the story to be leaked on social media. It's going to be one of the biggest surprises of all time."
"Everybody will freak out and that's what we're gunning for." Hunter added. "We're telling you because you have to be ready. We want you to be in the mindset that these guys are no longer your teammates."
Seth couldn't imagine his life without his brothers. They spent the last few years traveling together, eating together, training together and all of a sudden, it would all be over. But the company had other plans for him and he just had to trust them. They knew what was best for business.
Seth kept his promise and didn't tell about the break-up. Hunter told Dean and Roman what was going to happen two minutes before they went out there. The look on their faces when they understood that Seth knew about it was going to haunt the two-toned man forever.
"They told me I couldn't tell you, I'm sorry…" Seth said. "You of all people should understand that. You were always to one who told us that one day, we'll have to go our separate ways and…"
"But it was way too soon Seth!"
"We knew it was coming Roman…"
"Yeah and we agreed that when this day would come, we were going to team up against them to make it last a little bit longer. We wanted to decide how it was going to happen. You fucking stab us in the back!" Roman growled.
There was nothing Seth could've said that would've changed the Samoan's mind about all of this. The two toned man knew they were going to be angry, but he never thought it would be that bad.
"Where's Dean?" Seth asked again.
He needed to see him. He needed to explain himself in person. He didn't want Roman to tell him everything.
"I know he's pissed at me, but I need to talk to him."
Roman smiled and shook his hand.
"The Shield was everything to me and you take it all away without giving me the chance to do thing differently. I never thought you would do something like that. Dean's not pissed at you. He actually understands. I am furious, Seth … but Dean… he's just hurt man."
"Tell me where he is… Please Roman…"
"He's in another locker room. I'm here to get his stuff to bring them back to him."
"I got it." Seth says as he grabs Dean's bag.
He left the locker room without saying anything else and went to search for Dean. People were still looking at him with judgment in their eyes. Nobody approved the way they handled the situation. But all Seth cared about at the moment was Dean. He could take care of the others later. He finally found the locker room where his former brother was hiding. He entered and closed the door behind him. The look on Dean's face hurt him more than he thought and he was starting to second guess everything. Maybe it wasn't the right time to talk about this.
"What do you want?" Dean simply said.
Seth thought that he would be furious but he wasn't. He was just sitting there, calm and empty. Everything was wrong. Roman was normally the comprehensive one and Dean was the one who was always overwhelmed with anger.
"We need to talk…" Seth said as he dropped his bag in front of him.
"No, we don't."
"Fine. I need to talk and I need you to listen." Seth said as he lower his gaze. "You think you can do that?"
Someone barged into the locker room, laughing. The two-toned man turned and sighed when his eyes laid on Dolph Ziggler.
"Am I interrupting something here?" he asked with a big bright smile on his face.
Seth was about to tell him to get the fuck out but Dean talked first.
"Give us a minute please." he gently asked.
Dolph nodded and got out of the locker room without a word. Dean stood up and went to lock the door.
"Spit it out." he said as he turned to Seth.
Both men were standing in the middle of the locker room and none of them were talking. Seth had no idea where to start. He never thought the situation would be that bad so he never prepared an apology speech.
"I'm sorry Dean OK? There's nothing we could've done that would've changed their mind about us. They wanted to break up The Shield and even if we had said something, they would've done it anyway."
"I don't care about The Shield Seth…" Dean started.
"Nobody knew except for Vince, Hunter and me… they wanted to surprise everybody. Not only the fans but the wrestler also. They didn't want me to talk about it…"
"Do you have any idea how Roman and I felt out there? They told us right before our entrance music hit! We didn't even have the time to digest the news that you were already beating us up with that fucking chair."
"I'm sorry…" Seth said as he looked at his feet. "Are you OK? I know I got you pretty hard with that..."
"I don't give a fuck about what you did with that chair Seth. You did what you had to do and I get it. But you could've said something. You should've trusted us. I thought you cared about us… I thought you cared about me…"
"I did… I still do…"
"We were your brothers…" Dean said as he turned his back on him.
He was about to leave but the two toned man grabbed his arm. He wasn't finished. He was not ready to let him go.
"I love you Dean…" he let out in a sigh.
"I know you do."
Dean escaped his grasp and walked away. Seth quickly got between his former teammate and the door to stop him from leaving.
"No, you don't understand. I love you. I'm in love with you…I…"
Dean pushed him against the door and shut him up with a kiss. Seth didn't expect that at all and had trouble thinking straight. Was this really happening or was it just his imagination? He grabbed Dean's neck with his hand and he immediately knew it was real. Their tongues were fighting each other and no one could tell who was going to win that battle. The kiss was violent but passionate and it was exactly like Seth had imagined it.
"I said I know you do." Dean said as he moved away from him.
"How come you know something that I didn't even know myself a couple of weeks ago?"
"Because I know you better than you know yourself princess." Dean answered as he gently placed the two toned man hair behind his ear.
"Don't call me that." Seth said as he looked at his feet, blushing.
"Why not?"
He lifted his chin up and Seth couldn't do anything else but smile when his gaze met Dean's blue eyes.
"Because it's weird and I think I like it… but I don't want to."
Their lips locked again and Dean pressed his body against Seth's. Their kiss was long, soft and passionate. Seth didn't want it to end but he had to.
"Dean… what the hell is going on?" he asked as he slowly moved away from him. "I thought you hated me..."
"I do."
"But…" Seth started.
"I hate you but I love you." Dean said as he rested his forehead against his. "I'm hurt. In a way you can't imagine. But I also love you in a way you can't imagine."
The two toned man wrapped his arms around his chest and buried his face in his neck.
"Forgive me." he whispered as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "Please forgive me Dean…"
"I will. It'll take some time… but I will." Dean answered as he kissed his head. "I will always forgive you princess."