This is a request fic for Wolfgirl777769. It took quite awhile to write, so I really hope you like it! :) Also, for the record, this is just a one-shot. I'm really busy with tests and school, so I can't take any more requests, sorry. ^ ^'
WARNING: A few swear words, witchcraft, drunk James Storm (what else is new?) and femslash.
Pairings: AJ StylesxMaria, MariaxWinter, WinterxAngelina Love
Disclaimer: I don't own TNA or WWE, and if you thought I did, you must be drunker than James Storm.
How do you distract a spider from their prey? How do you save the innocent fly, trapped in a silky silver web, from being eaten alive? If you fail, then you have to watch the fly struggle, clinging desperately to life only to be eaten by the large, black arachnid.
But you succeed, and you've saved a life.
Maria's friends would define her as "not the sharpest knife in the drawer". She was a hopeless romantic and she tended to fall for any guy who walked her way... She'd been with guys ranging from Santino to CM Punk and everyone in between.
But AJ Styles was different- she was sure he was different. He treated her well, and he didn't call her an idiot every time she had a question. They had been together for a week before Maria was convinced he was her soulmate, and a year before AJ decided to propose...
And that's when the shit hit the fan.
Love makes people do crazy things.
Even though the rest of Fortune told him to be careful, AJ didn't listen.
Even when Kizarian told him that Maria wasn't worth it, AJ didn't listen.
Even when Christopher Daniels called Maria "a fucking idiot who only followed you to TNA for your pull in the company", AJ didn't listen.
Even when Traci Brooks swore up and down that she saw Winter staring at Maria... That AJ needed to back down now to stay safe... He didn't listen.
Because love makes people do crazy things.
It made Maria leave WWE to be with AJ, and it made AJ unbelievably faithful to her.
"More faithful to her than to Fortune?" Daniels had asked.
AJ just shrugged, an innocent smile on his face as he walked away.
Love made him blind.
And he would have to pay the price.
"Where are we going?" Maria asked, following an angry-looking Angelina to the back of the building. iMPACT! was being taped in this arena.
"Just listen to me. God." Angelina rolled her eyes.
"Okay!" Maria started to skip, smiling and smiling, like a little red-haired school girl.
Eventually, they came to a dark corner where Maria could barely see. But when she asked why they were there, Angelina just snickered and said it was a surprise.
"I love surprises!" the red-haired girl said, "Is AJ behind the surprise?"
Angelina was interrupted before she could answer.
"Did she stop talking at any point?" said a voice with an English accent.
"No," Angelina complained, "It was fucking annoying. It felt like talking to a teenage version of Velvet Sky."
The British voice laughed, a woman melted out of the shadows. It was none other than Winter, the weirdest knock-out in TNA today, the self-crowned Queen of Chaos. She walked over slowly to Maria, who looked confused and a bit scared at the Goth's arrival.
"Um... Hi," said Maria.
Winter smirked, her teeth looking pointed, like a serpent's. She began to stroke Maria's hair. "You're a beautiful woman, Maria."
"Uh... Th-Thanks."
"Am I making you uncomfortable, love?"
Maria pulled away. "Wh-where's AJ?"
Winter just laughed...
Maria had become a zombie.
Traci said I told you so, and Daniels didn't give a shit. "All that girl did was take your focus away from Fortune," he said, "Why should I care if she's a zombie or not?" James Storm responded by taking a drink of beer, grunting, and asking, "Which one's Maria again?" Robert Roode then rolled his eyes and called James a drunk.
"Damn right I'm drunk. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to deal with you people." Then he laughed and took another gulp of beer.
"This is serious, damn it! Do any of y'all care?" AJ screamed, "The woman I love just got turned into some kind of lesbian zombie, and no one cares! What do y'all have to say for yourselves?"
They paused.
" 'Lesbian Zombie' sounds like a bad ass movie." James chimed in.
"Why should we care?" Daniels asked, snorting, "It was one girl. She was an idiot anyway."
"She wasn't an idiot, damn it! She was just bubbly and innocent." AJ sighed, burying his face in his hands, "That's why I loved her..."
It was Kizarian who decided they needed to "stop acting like ass holes and help AJ."
But if Velvet Sky hadn't been able to save Angelina Love from Winter... How could AJ save Maria?
How?
"Drink your drink, love," Winter was saying. She stroked Maria's hair as the innocent girl drank from the plastic red cup.
"I can feel it," she said, "AJ Styles is coming for you."
Maria didn't respond. She merely gazed into the distance, black bags under her eyes from lack of sleep.
"Soon," the Goth said, "you'll be all mine, just like Angelina. AJ will never have you back, darling, no..."
Maria was done drinking. Now, she was a statue. Winter whispered in the girl's ear, "You're mine."
And then she slowly, sweetly, she kissed Maria's blood-tinged lips.
As it turned out, Angelina Love knew how.
"Seriously, which one's Maria?" James asked again.
"The redhead," Robert answered.
"Christy Hemme?"
"No! The one who came from WWE."
James looked confused. "Yeah. Christy Hemme."
"You're an idiot, James."
"I ain't an idiot, my brain cells are just mostly dead from all my drinkin'."
Fortune was walking into Angelina's locker room. Kizarian had suggested that maybe talking to someone who'd been under the spell would give them a little insight... It was a wild chance, though. Angelina was very loyal to her girlfriend, and the idea that she would help them and disobey Winter was ridiculous at best and impossible at worst.
The former member of The Beautiful People was checking herself out in the mirror. "God forbid a hair be out of place," Traci whispered, rolling her eyes at the blond girl's vanity.
Angelina sneared and turned to them in one fluid motion, immediately glaring at Traci. Her movement had become swifter after the zombie spell, and her hearing sharper. No one knew why, and no one dared to ask. Who knew what was put into that potion anyway?
"What do you all want?" Angelina asked.
"I want Maria back," AJ said immediately.
The blond simply snorted and turned away. "Can't help ya there, dude."
"Well, we tried," Daniels said, "Looks like we just have to let Winter have the girl, and AJ can get back to important business..."
"No!" AJ said, glaring at Daniels, "I love her, and I will never let her go, no matter how annoying you think she is! I don't care what you think. She's my soul mate and that's that."
Daniels sighed and looked away. This was a battle he couldn't win; AJ was head over heels in love with the girl, and nothing would change that.
"Why won't you help us?" Kizarian asked.
Angelina glared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn't say a word, didn't move a muscle, didn't make a sound. Like a pretty little blond statue. They stayed like that for minutes.
"Please," AJ said, "I need her back, and I know you can help."
They still got no response from her.
"Please," he said again, "I'll do anything for her."
Another long pause...
... and AJ had an idea.
"Do you really want to share her?"
Angelina whipped around to look at them. Her face was confused, uncertain, but she still attempted to glare at them all. "What are you talking about?"
AJ smirked, seeing that he had struck a nerve. "Winter. If this whole zombie thing goes through, she'll have a new girl..."
"Shut up," Angelina said through gritted teeth.
"Does that tear you up inside? It does, doesn't it?"
"Shut up!"
"You can't stand the idea of Winter wanting someone else more," AJ walked closer to her, saying the words she never wanted to hear, "Deep down, you're afraid, Angelina. You're scared as shit that she won't need you anymore."
She slapped him. "Shut up! Shut up! Take it back, dammit, take it back!"
The rest of Fortune watched her fall back into her chair, crying softly, her shoulders shaking lightly. When she looked up at them, her eyeliner was running down her face, black and thick like rivers after an oil spill.
"I'll... I'll help you," she sniffed, "But you will never tell Winter about it. Ever. Okay?"
They agreed.
And she sighed.
"The potion is strong. Really, really strong. It's made of..." she looked away, unable to look them in the eyes. "It's a mix of red rose petals, ground up evergreen needles, cherry juice, snow that's never touched the ground, and..." she sighed, "Winter's blood."
"She made you drink that shit?" James exclaimed.
"Oh, God! That's terrible!" Traci shuddered.
"It wasn't that bad," Angelina said. "The cherries made it taste... tolerable. I think. I don't really have a clear memory of it all, to be honest."
AJ shook his head. "Whatever, just tell us how to fix it."
"You need to get her to stop drinking it. Duh." Angelina flipped her hair back behind her shoulder.
"I still don't know which one Maria is."
"Shut up, James," Daniels said.
"Don't interrupt me, or I won't help you!" Angelina snapped.
AJ apologized profusely, and begged her to go on. He needed to know how to save the woman he loved, and James Stom's drunkeness wasn't going to stop him.
"AJ is the key. You were the person who was closest to her before the spell, right?"
AJ nodded.
"Well," Angelina continued, "just getting her to stop drinking the potion won't be enough. Since AJ was the closest person to her before she became a zombie, he'll have to be the one to break the spell..."
"What do I have to do?" AJ asked eagerly.
"There's a spell you have to say to break the spell that Winter has over Maria."
"Tell us!" AJ demanded.
"If you say it..." Traci wondered, "Won't you stop loving Winter?"
Angelina's lip curled when she looked at Traci. "Unlike with Maria, the spell put on me was to remind me that I love Winter. Not to make me love her. And besides, the spell is already done on me, and there's nothing anyone can do to reverse it."
There was an awkward silence again as Angelina turned back to the mirror, fixing her hair again.
"What's the spell?" AJ asked.
"Hmm?"
"The spell to fix Maria, dammit! Stop fixin' your hair an' tell me! Please!"
Another pause, most likely for dramatic effect. Then, Angelina whispered the words:
"Nicht mehr im Koma. Ich breche den Zauber binden. Komm zurück zum Leben."
"Wha's all that mean?" James asked what everyone was thinking.
She translated, "No longer in a coma. I break the binding spell. Come back to life. It's in German, Winter's first language."
"Why doesn't it ryhme?" AJ asked.
"Not everything has to rhyme. Now leave me alone for God's sake," she said with a roll of her eyes, turning back to the mirror for the umpteenth time.
"But how do we get Maria and Winter away from each other?" AJ asked.
Angelina had an idea...
"But remember, if you tell her I was in on any of this shit, I'll chop your nuts off and mail them to you in a pretty little red bow!"
How do you distract a spider from their prey? How do you save the innocent fly, trapped in a silky silver web, from being eaten alive? If you fail, then you have to watch the fly struggle, clinging desperately to life only to be eaten by the large, black arachnid.
But you succeed, and you've saved a life.
Maria is clearly the fly in this, innocent and small, harmless but maybe a little annoying to most people. Winter is a spider, dark and deadly and poisonous to all who come too close.
AJ would not let Winter win. Maria was his, not her's, never her's.
And he would do anything at all to save the one he loved. Anything. At. All.
James Storm was the distraction they needed.
He walked into Winter's locker room, a beer in one hand. She sneared upon seeing him.
"What on earth do you want?"
"Some dude named Paul's here. He says he's your brother."
If you thought she could never get paler, you hadn't seen her in that moment. Winter's skin had turned, no pun intended, as white as snow.
"He's pretty pissed off 'bout somethin'. I think it's got somethin' to do with Angelina," James said, then he took a gulp of beer to puncuate the statement. "You better-"
Winter was already out the door.
"That was pretty easy." James then went to signal Fortune that the coast was clear. They had about ten minutes before Winter would realize that her older brother, Paul Burchill, was nowhere to be found.
Ten minutes until she would realize she'd been conned by a drunk.
The rest of Fortune entered the room. While Daniels and Traci argued about something, Kizarian was the only one to see AJ's face when he saw Maria.
She was pale, with coal black bags under her eyes, not moving a muscle. Her eyes looked sunken, her face was blank. She was a zombie, just like Angelina had been.
AJ had tears in his eyes when he reached out to touch her hair. "M-Maria?"
She looked toward him, but it was just a motion her head made. Her eyes remained blank and unchanging.
"How do we know this will work?" Daniels said, "How can we trust Angelina?"
"We just have to trust that she loves Winter, I guess," said Robert.
AJ picked up Maria bridal-style, and Fortune got the hell out of there.
"Where is he, dammit?"
"Who?"
Winter was talking to Angelina, looking upset and worried, but not the least bit afraid. She didn't fear her brother, for she only feared three things: nothing, nothing, and nothing.
Still, seeing her upset made Angelina's heart clench. "Paul! Where is he?"
"Your brother? Why are you afraid he's here?"
"James Storm said he was... hurting you," she finished lamely.
"And... you trusted him? You didn't assume he was drunk, like every other person would?"
Winter rolled her eyes, starting to calm down. "I was worried about you too much to think straight!"
She kissed Angelina, and the blond girl smiled. "I'm fine, Winter."
"Good... Now, we have to go find Maria."
Angelina's smile dropped immediately. Hopefully, Fortune was gone by now, with Maria in tow. She was not sharing her girlfriend with Maria, or anyone else for that matter.
Winter belonged to her.
"You know, I prefer this version of Maria," Daniels said, "She's quieter and much less annoying."
AJ ignored him. He was tired, and sick of all of this. All he needed were the words that Angelina had written down, along with how to pronounce them properly.
"Nicht mehr im Koma." AJ began, attempting and failing miserably at doing a German accent, "Ich breche den Zauber binden. Komm zurück zum Leben."
Maria didn't move.
AJ got tears in his eyes. It wasn't working... The only way he knew how to bring her back, and it didn't work... She was still a zombie.
He had failed.
She was his soul mate, and he had failed her.
"Why are you crying, AJ?"
At first, he thought Traci was asking, and he was ready to snap at her. But when he looked up, he wasn't looking at Traci Brooks...
He was looking into the tired eyes of his girl.
"Maria! I... I... You're back! I..."
He threw his arms around her.
"I love you, Maria! I love you!"
"Um... I love you, too." She tilted her head to the side, yawning, "Where am I and... why am I so tired?"
AJ laughed.
He had a story to tell her...
There you have it! I hope you liked it, and if you're wondering what happens next... Use your imagination. ;) The muses have spoken, and there's nothing else to tell (for now). Review, please!