Two weeks have passed since Alberto Del Rio fired Ricardo Rodriguez. Brutalized him, left him limp between steelsteps and the turnbuckle post. The world hadn't ended, time hadn't stopped. In fact, things had continued on pretty normally. Except that Alberto is now alone, his thoughts the only company on long drives to the next town, his only distraction while he waits for his turn in the ring to prove his dominance. All things that he's fine with, determining that Ricardo all in all became too much of a distraction.
It's not until, two weeks later, when he defeats Sin Cara and is laughing roughly from the apron when things go to hell. A familiar voice, speaking English, breaks through the general crowd noise and he frowns, squinting up through the lights to find him. Ricardo is standing on the top of the ramp, looking a little disheveled, a lot nervous, but entirely him. Ricardo aligns himself with RVD, watching on quietly as his new associate attacks his old one, determined to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Alberto can barely move at first, struggling just to sit up after the Five Star Frog Splash, but his mind excels where his body is failing and he just knows. All of it, the match he'd lost against RVD when Ricardo had tried and failed to help with the bucket, had been a trap.
He finally gets his feet under him, stumbling back towards the ramp. "Conspiración," he mumbles. "All along... You will not succeed in taking my title from me, you sin valor perro..." He'd never admit it aloud but the thought that the years he and Ricardo had worked together had truly ended in his betraying Alberto to turn his allegiance to Rob doesn't sit well with him. I was never that terrible, he thinks, staring at his hands. He had all of the money and security he could ask for... Huffing and shaking his head, he grabs his clothes and gets dressed, eager to get into his latest vehicle and drive far away from the arena and all of these memories and painful thoughts.
Weeks pass and they only interact in the ring, when RVD is around. Alberto gets his licks in, injuring Ricardo's arm and dammit, it feels good to hurt him as badly as he'd hurt Alberto when he put in with RVD, became friendly with the easygoing highflyer... Night of Champions ends in Alberto's favor- the match may end by disqualification, but it keeps RVD away from his title and that's the important thing. Alberto hopes that that will be the end of it, but no of course not... RVD and Ricardo are both still determined to take the title from Del Rio, and before long he finds himself placed in a hardcore match against the former ECW competitor, a fact that adds to Alberto's discomfort and determination to leave with his title reign still in tact.
Battleground. A fitting name, a fitting arena, he thinks as he walks into the First Niagara Center that Sunday night, almost holding his breath. He's not sure what to expect, if he'll be successful at all in a few hours. Between the match type being to RVD's preference, Ricardo being at RVD's side, and lingering bitterness towards how the past few weeks have gone haunting Alberto, he has a bad feeling about everything that's to come in this building. Because of this, he finds it impossible to sit in his locker room and wait, taking to pacing the halls. He's just turned a corner when someone walks right into him. "Watch where you're going!" he snaps, eyes blazing as he looks up, just to stop short.
Ricardo is cowering away from him, his eyes wide but his feet planted as he fights every instinct to run from Alberto. "Unlike some, I am," he says, wincing away when Alberto takes a menacing step towards him. "You don't scare me," he says, even though it's not the truth.
Alberto narrows his eyes at him, flashes of memory from many times in the past when Ricardo had shied away from him just like this. Even when they were on good terms, when Swagger had broken Ricardo's ankle and Alberto had tried to help him, how tense he still held himself at times. "Mentiroso," he says coolly. "You're so afraid, I can smell it on you. You are nothing but a fearful, lying betrayer. Thus you're perfect for that American perro."
"I never betrayed you," Ricardo says tiredly, his fear wiping away to be replaced by pain so sincere that Alberto's eyes sting just staring at him. "I was trying to help you. It backfired, and I tried to apologize for it. You were the one who betrayed me that night, even if you refuse to see it. Yes, I moved on to work with Rob, but that was out of neccessity because you left me to fend for myself with no warning. He was the only one nice enough to hear me out, because it used to be you and I against everyone else in the business. And I was fine with that, but you wanted to be alone so here we are."
Alberto stares at him, unsure how to proceed, what to say, so when Ricardo turns and leaves, he lets him go, his fists clenched at his sides. It's impossible, that all of this time he's been wrong. He thinks Ricardo seemed sincere but he'd also thought that in the past, and look how that ended... with them here, Ricardo now trying to help take the world title from him. "There's no way," he mutters. "He's trying to knock me off balance before my match later... Well, I will not let him succeed." Squaring his shoulders, he storms back into his locker room to finish preparing.
The match ends well. He beats RVD, he humiliates Ricardo, and he laughs when RVD announces later that he's taking a break from WWE to get his head back on straight after his last few losses. It's only later, while trying to sleep, that Alberto finds himself dwelling on what will be next for Ricardo. Another attempt at working with someone new to ruin Alberto's career, or... He doesn't sleep the rest of the night.
Whatever Ricardo might be considering, he never gets a chance. Vickie Guerrero intercedes, placing Alberto in a match against Ricardo before telling him that he'll be facing Cena for his title... and Ricardo takes the opportunity, rolling Alberto up and pinning him. Alberto sees red while his former best friend celebrates, running around and knocking him from the commentary table. If August 5th had seemed brutal, he makes sure this is worse. There will be no returning in two weeks this time. Feels as Ricardo's arm snaps in the folds of the steel chair, standing over him and laughing while he writhes and referees try to get Alberto to leave.
He does eventually, turning his attention to Cena despite the memory of Ricardo's screams fresh in his mind, the sight of his tears lingering in his dreams most nights. He loses, he loses, he loses again, and he feels as everything begins to slip through his fingers worse than before. He's lost his title, most of his momentum and he feels like he's drowning when, dammit all, RVD decides to return that April, refreshed and ready to take on the world once more. Ricardo had also returned, but only in an backstage interviewer role, and Alberto had managed to avoid him for the most part. He still contains enough anger and bitterness to make any interviews they're forced into miserable for Ricardo, mocking and belittling him, swatting at him and laughing as he flinches away still all of these months later, holding the microphone tensely.
He also avoids RVD, trying to regain some sense of success enough to challenge for the world heavyweight title once more, when he walks into Raw in mid-May to find that they're to compete in a Beat the Clock match. He snarls and trashes his locker room, kicking over a lamp before leaving the room angrily. This time, he slams into RVD himself and they glare at each other, the former ECW champion not backing down or simpering away like Ricardo had. "What, you aren't going to go hang out with your fellow traidor amigo?" he spits bitterly. RVD's eyebrows pull together as he tries to make sense of the Spanish and Alberto rolls his eyes. "Ricardo, he is as much of a betrayer as you are!"
RVD continues to look confused. "When did Ricardo ever betray anyone?" he asks, almost laughing incredulously.
Alberto feels like hopping up and down in anger, his dark eyes locked on RVD's. "He betrayed me for your benefit," he snaps. "And look where that got him, you left him to be destroyed by my hands. Hahaha, some friend you were, I am sure he regretted every minute of his trecherous actions..."
"He never betrayed you," RVD responds after a moment. "He was still loyal to you until you slammed that bucket into his spine." Alberto squints at him, not comprehending, and RVD shakes his head with a huff of a laugh. "Damn, man, you really are clueless, aren't you? He and I never even talked before you fired him. That night you lost against me last August, he really was tryin' to help you. It backfired, sure, but by no lack of trying on his part. I was just too fast for you, it had nothing to do with him."
Alberto rolls his eyes and sneers, walking off without another word spoken, finding himself back at his locker room, tangling his fingers in his short hair, lost in thought. He lets himself in and stares blankly at the tablet that Ricardo had bought him a long time ago. Grabbing it, he accesses the arena's wifi and navigates his way to youtube, searching through WWE's videos until he finds it. August 5th. He had never bothered rewatching it, too disgusted with the loss and Ricardo's backstabbing actions to do so, but this time he forces himself to, watching closely as Ricardo stood at ringside. Cheered him on at every nearfall against RVD, trying to revive him when RVD gets the jump on him, and then those dreadful moments. Ricardo places the bucket in the corner and Alberto tries to sling RVD into it, but RVD reverses and slams Alberto into the weapon instead, using the momentum to pin him.
Ricardo's dejection at his loss is so palpable, Alberto can almost taste it and he closes his eyes, stopping the video. He remembers Ricardo begging, apologizing, desperate to make things better... but Alberto hadn't cared, seeing nothing more than a worthless doublecrosser, attacking him to the brink of ruining his career. And, with a broken arm a few months after, he had finally succeeded. "Ay dios mio," he groans, burying his face in his hands. All of this still fresh in his mind, his loss against RVD later that night is irrelevant.
Once back at his hotel room, Alberto finds his cell phone and dials an all too familiar number. "Sofia... por favor... I need your help with something..."
-x
The housekeeper stands in the park, looking around anxiously. Her role in this is pretty simple, just to get Ricardo to a neutral place where perhaps he'll be more agreeable to listening. She had told Ricardo she'd missed him and wanted to catch up a bit while Alberto was on houseshow duty, but Alberto is actually just a few feet away, watching from a shadowy copse of trees as she turns in a slow circle, watching for the ring announcer.
When Ricardo does show, looking hesitant and a little broken, it's like a breath of fresh air for both Alberto and Sofia, the woman's shoulders starting to shake as she crosses the distance between them and hugs him tightly. Not for the first time, Alberto secondguesses his decision in using her to get Ricardo here, but he can think of no other way that would definitely give him the results he requires. Eventually they pull away from each other and Ricardo cups Sofia's face, wiping the tears off of her cheeks. "What do you need, Sofia? Is everything alright?"
She nods, her fingers tangling around his hand. "Si, si, Ricardo. Everything's fine." She sniffs. "I've missed you, and I thought perhaps... today, with the weather being so nice, that it'd be a good time to go for a walk. Reconnect." He's staring at her and she cries out, "I'm sorry it's taken so long, I just thought perhaps with things still so fresh that you wouldn't want to see me."
He freezes, then hugs her again. "Ay, Sofia, of course not. I don't blame you for what Alberto's done. I would love to see you at any time. Por favor, never doubt that." They walk in silence for a minute, Alberto following them quietly a few feet away, when Ricardo randomly asks, "It is his birthday, si?"
"Yes," she says softly. Neither say anything for a moment and she turns to Ricardo. "I was trying to think of something to get him for his birthday... I don't want to burden you for ideas... it's not your place anymore... but I think I know what he needs right now anyway."
Ricardo stares at her, obviously thrown, his lips parting and closing, when he spots Alberto over Sofia's shoulder and tenses up. "Sofia..."
She squeezes his hand and slowly lets go, walking to the side as Alberto approaches them, a tentative look on his face. "The only thing I'd want for my birthday is your forgiveness," he says simply, staring at Ricardo intensely. The ring announcer looks like he wants to run and for once, Alberto doesn't blame him. "I never believed you for months, I thought perhaps you sided with RVD after returning from your injuries caused by Ziggler. But he actually helped to convince me that I was wrong a few weeks ago. It is a long time to believe a falsehood, and I do not deserve your forgiveness, especially considering what I've done to you." He reaches out towards Ricardo's arm, dropping his hand when the younger man cringes away and instinctively grips where the steel chair snapped, eyes wide with horror of reliving that moment. "I have cost you so much," he continues shakily.
"Si, you have," Ricardo forces out through gritted teeth, staring up at Alberto with tear-filled eyes. "You were mi hermano. I would've done anything for you. I have done anything for you..."
"I know," he says helplessly. "I know... ay, I never said I was good at friendships, you knew this. I treated you poorly most of the time we worked together. I know we can never get that back, I was wrong about so much and I am so sorry... but can we, por favor, at least try to be friends again? It will take time, I will do something that also doesn't come naturally to me and be patient, but por favor, give me another chance? We are not working together this time, I promise it will be different."
He looks so earnest and Sofia is crying and all in all it must work to fix at least a little of Ricardo's broken soul because he nods wearily after a few minutes, bringing a small smile to Alberto's face. "Si... we can try," he manages after a moment. Blinking up at Alberto, he sniffs and wipes his eyes with a shaky hand. "Feliz cumpleanos, Alberto."
Alberto steps towards him carefully and gently squeezes his shoulder, smiling down at him as, for the first time in months, things finally start to feel normal again. "Gracias, mi hermano. Muchas gracias."