AN: This is the third in the series "Songs, Stories and Shawn" collection.

I strongly suggest reading Part I before reading this, it's in the Mature section.

This story is based entirely off of the song "Zzyzz Rd" by Stone Sour. (You can hear this song here: /watch?vZFK4HD7KAjk)

I felt it represented Shawn struggle in what to do. Leave it all behind, or stay and fight.

I accept ALL criticisms, flames or not. Be blunt and honest.

(BTW, I own nothing, and claim even less.)

Angel With the Scabbed Wings

Part II:

Zzyzx Rd

July 7th, 2008

New Orleans, LA.

11:56 PM

"Nice speech."

I don't know how else to put this
It's taken me so long to do this
I'm falling asleep and I can't see straight
My muscles feel like a melee My body's curled in a U-shape
I put on my best but I'm still afraid

Shawn Michaels was tired. The recent feud between him and Chris Jericho was reaching dangerously horrid proportions. Week after week since Wrestlemania 24, Shawn had been in a constant state of suffering and defense. He had finally reached that point where he was actually considering letting one of these young bucks take him out just so it would end. He'd been fighting the fight against them for much too long.

Propped up by lies and promises
Saving my place as life forgets
Maybe its time I saw the world
I'm only here for a while
But patience is not my style
And I'm so tired that I gotta go

It was his fault he guessed. He'd come back and forced them all to hold their own against his considerable power. Only two years ago did he have any peace. Thank God for the reunion of DX. It had been nice to be protected safely within the walls of he and Hunters stranglehold. It had been a welcome relief from the fights against just about everyone thinking to gain a name off of his hide. It had become a disconcerting thought to look around at a lockeroom full of guys and not know who to trust for fear that they might be the next wielding the knife to stick in his back.

Chris wasn't the first, and he probably wouldn't be the last.

What am I supposed to hide now?
What am I suppose to do?
Did you really think I wouldn't see this through
Tell me I should stick around for you
Tell me I could have it all
I'm still too tired to care and I gotta go

Shawn was startled out of his thoughts as he walked to his chauffeur driven SUV. That voice was one he recognized, but couldn't place. God, those years before his retirement tended to blend together.

The sound of a great roaring engine ripped the silence to pieces.

I get to go home in one week
But I leaving home in three weeks
They throw me a bone just to pick me dry
I'm following suit and directions
I crawl up inside for protection
I'm told what to do and I don't know why.

He turned and saw a car parked sideways on the road. A nice car. A big, red 50s era car with a big chrome grille, bright lights, fins, and a high hood. He'd seen that car somewhere too, but dammit if that didn't escape him too. The window was down, and smoke filtered out of it, but he had no idea what was going on until the heavy door swung open, and a pair of spiked heels came into view.

She stepped out, her thigh high cherry PVC shined boots reaching to her low rise leather pants, where a matching studded belt hung, accompanied by a three strand wallet chain. He looked up to see her tight ribbed black midriff tank top, decorated with the Union Jack and a Sex Pistols logo. He took in her sleeveless cherry PVC motorcycle short jacket, the high collar wide and studded. her half gloves, made of the same soft leather of her pants, ran up past her elbows. Silver bangles weighed down her left wrist, where her gauntlet once laid. She also wore several pendants and a large ruby ring.

She shook out her blunt cut fire engine red hair, her bangs straight over her forehead. She licked her red lips, looped with a lipring. She took off her black wraparound sunglasses. Her smoky eyes burned him. Smoky...glowing...dark green eyes.

It hit him hard. Ten years had both changed and unchanged her. He could still see the tattoos around her bellyring, her smooth tight abs showing.

I'm over existing in limbo
I'm over the myths and placebos
I don't really mind if I just fade away
I'm ready to live with my family
I'm ready to die in obscurity
'Cause I'm so tired that I gotta go

And it was then he knew exactly who she was.

"SMITH?!" She smirked, leaning against her car. She crossed her legs and used a Zippo decorated with a skull and crossbones to light a cigarette.

"If it isn't my little pet. Wow...the times have fallen hard huh? What the fuck happened to you?"

"Things change..." Shawn explained.

He knew perfectly well what she meant. When they had met, he was a fearless, reckless arrogant prick. And she'd loved it. He could still remember the smell of burning metal and leather straps as he recalled their time together. Shier time of her taming him, him relinquishing his control to her, letting her do things to him he would later recall and wonder what the hell he had been thinking. But she'd been so dominant, so hard, and he'd burned in the fires of her forge willingly and with no reservations until they left the area. She'd promised to come to a show in Atlantic City, but never showed. By then, he had lost alto of his carefree fires in the horrors of the Montreal Incident, and it had started the dents in him that resonated even now.

"Don't I know it." She came close, her heels clicking on the pavement. She sized him up. Even went so far as to walk a circle around him and scent in his hair as she'd done on their first night together.

"You smell of...responsibilities...heard about the wife. And the kids. And the Church thing." Smith scoffed at the last one. Shawn glared but said nothing as his thoughts strayed to why THEY weren't together. Anger gathered.

"You never showed up..." He whispered, thinking past his current life back to his old one.

"It was for your own damn good," Smiths voice took on a hard edge, sliding her sunglasses off and fixing him with those eyes as she circled him once again. "The stars and the streets don't mix."

"That's never how I saw it." Shawn met her eyes. She looked like she hadn't aged a day. It was surprising. She'd only been 18 when she'd taken his 33 year old ass, information he hadn't learned until later. He, however...well...time had taken its toll, and he knew he no longer looked like the man she'd taken. No longer stood or carried himself that way. Her gothic dominatrix look outshone him by miles, and she hadn't slowed down. He could see it.

"It didn't matter how you SAW it Shawn, it was how it was. I was guilty of everything they accused me of, and it was a dangerous life. So I did the only thing I could do. I let you go."

Smith replaced her glasses so he wouldn't see the truth. It had been the hardest thing she'd done. She'd never felt such a chemistry with another one of her pets before. His light had burned in her darkness like the fires that fed her forge. But the truth was that she'd had no choice, and it had not only saved his career but his life. If she'd been capable of love then, she would've felt it for him. She hadn't though, so she'd pushed him to the back of her mind.

And it turned out to be the best move she'd made, because things had gotten bad fast quickly. She took a breath, and told him the truth. Truths she'd kept hidden.

"Shawn...I got arrested, made a deal, did a dime upstate and I got out last month. See...I'm leaving Shawn. Going down to a very large, very luxurious villa in Belize. The fruits of very ill gotten gains," She smirked. "But it DID make keeping in touch kinda hard."

It was true. The moment she'd gotten out, she'd emptied all her bank accounts, and had them open the villa. It was going to be a new start. A place to get away from all the crap going on in this country...and get away from enemies.

"But I couldn't leave without seeing you. Couldn't leave without talking to you, without hearing your voice. It seems I came just in time."

She yanked off her glasses and faced him. Dark green meeting blue in the darkness.

"I don't know which part of your life changed you this much Shawn, and quite frankly, I don't give a damn. But you listen to me. Take this in, because these are going to be the last words I ever say to you."

She grabbed his neck to hold him still, as she had ten years ago, and forced him to pay attention to nothing else but what she had to say.

"Once, you were one of the most powerful men I'd ever had the pleasure of making my pet. You were everything I knew you could be. Remember who the hell you are! You're not some sniveling child crawling around. You're the one with the power here. YOU have it. Always have. Go home. Go to your wife, to your children, to your home. Go home to that ridiculous faith you think saved you. But goddamnit, when you step back in that ring, you leave all that behind. You step in and set yourself on fire. Let them see you paint the sky in white. Don't EVER back down Shawn Michaels. EVER."

Smith kissed him then. One of her blistering kisses that he hadn't felt in a decade. He could feel the metal of her lipring, and the smell of leather. It threw him back to a time when he didn't have a care in the world except for her and her unique power.

When she backed away, she slipped her glasses on.

"Jennifer!" She called.

Shawn shook his head, trying to clear his head of her spell. He watched as the other door of the car opened. A girl stepped out. She came around the car. He blinked his eyes.

She couldn'tve been more than 17. Her black spike heeled sandles wrapped around her leg to her knee. She wore a skintight micro mini PVC skirt, a matching bikini top, and over it, a long sleeved mesh shirt that stopped right below her generous breasts. She had a thick black shiny dog collar on, with matching wrist guards, and a sword pendant around her neck. Thats not what threw Shawn.

She had long waves of gold shot light brown hair, bright bluegreen eyes, and pouty lips with flawless tanned skin. He gaped. She could've been his younger sister. The girl ran up to Smith, and attached herself to her. Smith took off one of her wallet chains, and attached it to the ring in the center of Jennifers collar. She wrapped the chain around her fist till Jennifer was flush against her body, and she gave the young woman the same kiss she'd just given him.

"Jennifer...meet Shawn. Jennifer is my new pet. She's coming with me."

"Oh...he's..." She giggled and Smith smirked again. Jennifer gave him a smoldering gaze and earned a smack on the ass for her trouble. She just purred and snuggled deeper into Smiths body.

"Did you bring what I asked for?"

"Yes Mistress." Jennifer held out another collar.

Even at 43, Shawn could be embarrassed, and at the sight of the red collar, he blushed. It was his. the one he wore while he was with her. It had his name burned into it, and a special lock to which she'd had the only key.

"The only people to wear MY collars are the strongest. Your STRENGTH is what made you perfect for me. Your FIGHT. Take this as a reminder of what was yours and is never fully gone."

"Now where did that key get to? Oh...yeah." Smith laughed.

Smith produced the key from Jennifers bra. She pressed both into Shawns open hand.

"Who knows...Rebecca might wanna try it out," Smith laughed, "Jennifer, get back into Christine. We got a plane to catch."

'Christine. Duh' Shawn thought. The car. Leave it to Smith to buy a car that was the subject of a horror movie.

Jennifer took the end of her leash, turning around to blow a kiss at Shawn before sliding back into the large car. He heard Marilyn Manson blast from the speakers.

Smith retreated, smiling as she turned around to join her new pet in the massive machine. She turned halfway and slid her sunglasses down to reveal mischievous eyes. "Remember who you are at all times. You were a pet to The Blacksmith. Steel laid on her forge to be...banged."

With that, and a lick of her lips, she opened the door to her car, and gunned the engine. Shawn watched until the taillights were gone. He felt the cold settle in around him as her presence faded. He squeezed Smiths collar, and remembered. Remembered what it was like to feel free. To feel part of the sky. He stood tall, and looked up at the stars. He was one of them, and he was tired of pretending he wasn't. His power and reputation were not bad things, nor were they reason enough to be ashamed of himself. Taking the first strong breath he had in months, he smelled the smell of steel and leather. Shawn smiled.

As he climbed into his SUV, and told the driver to go, he clutched the embossed leather, wondering if indeed Rebecca WOULD like to play.

His laughter reached the heavens.

Where am I supposed to hide now?
What am I suppose to do?
You still don't think I'm going see this through?

"Well, I will...I'll see things through"

xBx

Along a highway leading to an airport, Devyn St. James ran her fingers through Jennifers golden brown hair, and smiled.She pushed her sunglasses up and knew that she'd done the right thing. Pets should always be taken care of. She laughed. Never let it be said the being The Blacksmith was a bad thing. It was a damn good night.

"Zzxyx Rd" by Stone Sour
Come What(ever) May- (2006)
Music and Lyrics by Corey Taylor.