A/N: I'm back! After being gone for like, ever. I meant to actually post chapter 3 of Making Sense of It All, but uh, we've reached that ponit where I can't go on until I find mentors for the girls. If you read my profile, you would've seen that little note at the bottom about these little stories. And if u didn't, well here's the deal: In the course of the next few weeks, I'll be posting several little one-shots about the girls and their possible mentors. These one shots ARE NOT A PART OF THE TIMELINE FROM MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL. THEY ARE JUST LITTLE EXAMPLES OF HOW MY OC'S AND THE STARS MIGHT ACT IF PUT TOGETHER AS THE FINAL CHOICE. So I realize you can only review once so don't be afraid to pm me, aiight? Reviews for these stories will count as the votes,
so will pm's. Let the voting begin!
Disclaimer:Oh, and FTR, I can only wish that I owned all the sexy superstars in this story, but sadly, all I own is this blue candy cane(might I mention it's open and hairy):c...
Ooh, wait, I have a white pitbull puppy named sheamus, does that count for anything?...What? Nothing AT ALL?
Damnit, well then he can carry his lil old shitty ass back where he came from...
'Breathe...Just...Just Breathe...' Jojo took in several deep breaths, her eyes screwed shut and her teeth clenched together. Her small chest rose and fell dramatically with each smooth intake of air. She wrapped her arms around herself, half trying to warm back up from the freezing chill that had taken over her body, half trying to make sure that her heart, which was beating at a furiously rapid pace, didn't jump out of her chest.
'Calm down...you're okay...everything's alright' She tried so hard to convince herself, but to no avail, as a small voice in the back of her head whispered out clearly to her: 'Why do you keep lying to yourself?'
Jojo's face became set in a scowl as she heard the oh so familiar voice. 'Nothing's wrong. Everything's alright...I'm still here' She thought.
'Are you sure about that? Because I think something's really wrong, and you, ha! You're barely here...'
Jojo clenched her fists close to her side, her body begining to shake in anger. 'I'm fine..."
'You might be...but what about everyone else you hurt...the kids...Ana...Danny-'
"Shut up!" Jojo snapped outloud, her eyes flying open. The child's warm, normally friendly, brown eyes were now a cold, murderous, pale grayish color. Her face set in a snarl as she tried her hardest to focus in on the blown up poster across from her in the darkened back hall of the arena they were in tonight. It was a picture of her from a photoshoot a few months ago. She was smiling widely, brown eyes lit with excitement, her tag team championship belt strapped proudly around her waist. Jojo stared at the picture, grimacing, before a small smile broke through her features, though not one of happiness, more one of longing. She let out a small, spiteful laugh.
"Ha..." She started quietly," I remember the day I took that picture...I was so excited, the guys had to fight me to keep still to take it. I was so happy. I AM so happy." The smile dropped from her face and was immediatley replaced with a snarl, "You just have to ruin everything, don't you?" Her eyes never left the poster, which seemed to be mocking her, laughing at her displeasure.
'Me? I didn't ruin anything...It was all you...Don't you forget that, Jojo...Every last little thing, all the pain you felt, all the pain the others felt...all the pain your cousin felt...and the death of your beloved glorified German Sheperd-YOUR FAULT!'
"You think I don't already know that?" Jojo yelled, her breath quickening as she felt herself grow colder and colder.
Her voice echoed throughout the empty hall, and the last sound died down. Jojo's breathing started to slow back down as she calmed herself, and just as her eyes began to return to their usual dark brown, the voice assaulted her ears once more.
'Ha! Tricked you there, didn't I?...You thought I was gone...didn't you? Nope!...I'm not going anywhere...And you know why, you useless little piece of shit? Cuz I'm you, Jojo...'
"No you are NOT!" Jojo growled out, lowering her head, as her eyes immediatley went back to that icy gray. Her muscles tensed, ready to attack...
'Yes I am," The voice argued back.
"No! You're mean and heartless and all you know how to do is cause others pain! You break them down in the most cruel and agonizing ways possible! You feed off of tears and fear! The sound of someone's heart ripping in two then being cut up and burned is your favorite song! You're cold, and terrible and everyone's nightmare! All you do...all you do is hurt and destroy everyone you come in contact with!"
At that moment, she was assaulted with past memories. Seeing children no older than the age of five being shoved in a dark basement for weeks, hearing them wail for help. The sight of a young red wolf pup cowering in the hollow of a tree as he sees his father being mutilated, right in front of him. Images of huge burns and bruises covering Danny's skin, the sound of her yelps as she was beaten with hot metal cooking pans. She remembered taking the man's cold hand in her's and shaking it, then when he abruptly shoved her to the floor, and began striking her over and over with the bullwhip; the sound of it as it cracked sharply through the air, the stinging on her back, that eventually went numb. Though none of the physical pain that she actually felt ever compared to the pain she felt when she saw everyone she cared for getting hurt.
At the memories, which were all too vivid, Jojo inhaled sharply and it sent a jolting pain through her chest. As her unshed tears stung her eyes, the voice piped up, clearly satisfied:
'Exactly,'
Both of Jojo's hands flew up to cover her ears, trying to block out the voice as best as she could. She bit down hard on her lip, with enough force that it drew blood. As the crimson liquid trailed down from her lip to her chin, her breathing became ragged and strained, as if her airways were closing up on her. Jojo screwed her eyes shut once more, hell bent on not letting any tears fall. She leaned back against the wall behind her, since her legs decided that they would also be a failure.
'Hey...Don't hurt yourself too bad now...save some of that pain for the others, you greedy, untrained bastard,'
Jojo opened her eyes slowly, and inhaled sharply through her nose, snarling. She clenched her teeth together and struck her head once back against the cement wall. The little voice laughed at her.
'What are you doing, stupid? Trying to knock some brains into that barren wasteland you call your head?'
Jojo snarled. "Leave...Me...Alone!" She yelled as she hit her head over and over on the wall. The pain needled through her skull with each strike, nauseating her, but it dulled in comparison to the burning ache that was leaking from her chest, infecting the rest of her.
Jojo's body trembled and she sank to the floor, miserably, curling up into a ball, trying to hide herself from the rest of the world, from all the pain. She inhaled deeply, trying to control st least one part of herself right now. The world around her became quiet and she closed her eyes, tucking her head down to her chest. She sat alone for a few minutes before a low noise was audible from far off...
"Jojo..."
'No...no...Leave me alone!' She thought to herself, anger flaring inside of her.
'Jojo...'
"Stop it," She growled out lowly, through clenched teeth.
'Jojo...'
"Stop!" She commanded, but her voice was getting weaker and weaker.
'Jojo...jojo..."
"Stop, Please!"She screamed in anguish.
With this, the voice only seemed to be getting louder and closer and more frantic.
'Jojo...Jojo...Jojo...'
The voice assaulted her, overloaded her senses, knocked her back and forth, beating her, tearing her apart, and finally, she burst into tears.
"Are you happy now? You got what you wanted!" She sobbed," You broke me down, you proved I'm not Wondergirl, I can be broken and beaten and torn apart, piece by piece! This is what you wanted right? I bet you're smug as shit!" She screamed as tears ran down her face, staining her cheeks. But the voice never stopped, it just got louder and closer and closer and closer, until she could literally feel it, engulfing her, attaching itself to her, shaking her, the darkness of it all, swallowing her.
"No! Please, no! Let me go!" She screamed as she kicked and fought and tried to escape from it's grasp. It finally gripped her, pulling her close, constricting her, restraining her from fighting. Jojo opened her mouth and let out a silent, anguish filled scream that tore right through her, burning her, destroying her.
"Jojo, Jojo! Jojo, baby, open your eyes!" A familiar voice rang out to her. Jojo's eyes flew open and she saw Batista in front of her, on the floor, his strong arms holding tightly to her shoulders, his eyes wide with concern.
Jojo's lip trembled, she could still taste her own blood on her mouth, bitter on her tongue. Her small, compact body trembled in his embrace. She stared up at him, wide eyed and scared, and Dave stared back, not shocked to find her eyes once again pale and bloodshot.
Jojo opened and closed her mouth to speak, but no words came out. In fact, at the moment she looked just like a little, bitty fish, and Dave would have found it adorable if she wasn't so torn up. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tight.
"Shh, it's okay, kiddo, tell me what's wrong,"
"I...I...I'm s-sorry,Dave. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" She cried. Dave looked down at her, baffled.
"Why, what did you do? Look, Jojo, whatever you did, it's okay-"
"No, it's not! It's not Dave, it's not! Danny, the other little kids, Ana's death! Because of me, a wolf died in the cruellest way I've ever seen, there are five little kids who's lives are practically over before they've even started, and Danny- Because of me, my own cousin is traumatized!"
'Silly girl, you make yourself sound so important...'
"Please, just leave me alone!" Jojo let out a scream and another sob shook her body violently. For a few short seconds, Dave was extremely confused. She had just screamed leave me alone, yet while doing so, she tightened her grip around him, hanging on for life. Then it struck Dave what was happening, and he had to stifle the low animalistic growl that threatened to tear through him as his anger rose.
Dave wondered how many times he would have to see this little girl tear herself apart like this. For fuck's sake, she was only 13 years old and she had to deal with this shit! Day after day, Dave watched her smile, the most beautiful, genuine smile he'd ever seen. He'd see her have the time of her life, doing the things she loved! She had to have been the happiest kid ever! But then there were times, small split seconds, where something was washing over her, and it was like looking at a totally different person,and before you could check to make sure it wasn't, she was back to normal. And as Dave started to watch her just a little bit closer, he'd notice small tidbits, tiny glimpses of her starting to break. Barely noticeable moments or changes in attitude: a smile breaking for all of two seconds, but the sadness that would take it's place showing years worth of hurt. Her voice cracking slightly here or there. Happy pools of chocolate brown within a literal blink of an eye, becoming a barren, dry, white like the moon, and by the next blink, back to normal. All moments that lasted merely a heartbeat, moments you wold never, ever catch, unless like Dave, you were waiting for them.
But the worst, when she would just completely break down. Big bad Jojo who makes grown men tap out to her on a daily basis, would fall apart into a sobbing, heaving, screaming mess. Hanging off the edge, in danger of falling and never finding her way back up. Pain, the best feeling in the world at these times, and only because it, the pain, was a feeling.
Dave watched her go through this in stages: happy, tension building, hiding, resisting, tearing, breaking, being sewn back together painfully. Over and over the cycle went, slowly but surely, numbing her senses. He knew what she was feeling. He had witnessed it many times. RVD, Randy, HBK,Glenn, Edge, Amy, Matt, Jeff, himself, all had the same type of problem at some point. Hell most of them were still having the same kind of problem. Having that little voice tear you down, making you doubt every little aspect of yourself. The scariest part, having been that paranoia that always set in. People's gazing eyes, making you wonder if they could hear your thoughts.
Dave remeberd it all too well. The sleepless nights, filled with tears and hurt. The numbing feeling that was sure to take over the next day. The feeling of not feeling, and just going through the motions. Staring at the blades, holding the pills in your hand, fingering the gun, but never actually doing anything about it because you were to chicken. That unbearable pain that ripped through your chest, leaking through your soul and that voice...that damned voice attacking you with those truths that you really wished were only mean little lies. When it happened to him and the others, they were all already grown, they managed to pull through. But would a little girl who had to go through the unfortunate necessity if growing up too fast manage to/ And if she did, what would be left?
Thinking of all this tore Dave up inside. He looked down at the small sobbing girl and the desire to help her any way he could rushed through him. He began to slowly rock her back and forth, whispering comforting words to her.
"Jojo, listen to me. What happened back then was not your fault. You can't keep blaming yourself for it, okay? You protected those kids with every last bit of resistance and courage you had. You stood up for them when it was impossible for them to do it on their own. Ana, it was just a freak accident. And Danny, she's okay, she's happy, because she has you. But if you keep tearing yourself apart she won't, and all this worrying you did about her will have been for nothing. Jojo, you're a good girl, don't listen to what the voice tells you. It doesn't know you. I do. And you're a good girl, Jojo. Don't cry, please baby don't cry. What it says doesn't matter. Don't cry. I love you and you'll always have me. You here me? I'm never going to leave you alone. I won't be bad to you, ever. I promise. Just don't be sad, baby. Don't be sad,"
They sat on the floor like this, Jojo crying into Dave's shirt and Dave ricking her back and forth reassuring her, for a good maybe 40 minutes before Dave had finally gotten her to stop crying and her sobs had died down to pathetic little whimpers.
Dave looked down and noticed that she had fallen asleep. She looked so at peace, a big contrast to how she had just been. Batista stood up, slowly, so as not to wake her, and smiled. She had actually fallen asleep...maybe she could pull through this...
As Dave started to turn the halls to head back to his car to get to the hotel, Jojo tucked safely in his arms, a small voice rang out in his head.
'Doesn't matter what you do, David. You're still an animal, and you are still going to end up hurting her'
Dave closed his eyes and stopped walking. A growl broke through the still air in the hall.
'Block it out. You don't control me anymore,' Dave thought over and over in his head. He opened his eyes and looked down at the child resting peacefully in his arms and a smile began to break out on his face.
"I've hurt a lot of people, but this little girl is never going to join that club," He whispered as he let his lips brush softly against her forehead. At the touch, a small smile broke out on her features and she cuddled closer into Dave's chest. Dave let out a satisfied sigh as he continued on down the hall. It'd been a long, hard road from there to here, for both of them, but for these two soldiers, that was a one way street and they were on their way off it.
Okay, tell me if you like the pairing of Jojo and Batista! Like it, hate it? What him to be Jojo's mentor in Making Sense of It All? Next story will be for Danny and sorry this, story was supposed to be out yesterday but we got out late at karate and I was so tired I tried to walk through the door without opening it first. That totally just ruined my attempt at a shameless plug, and to the one person who I actually gave the shameless plug to(EnigmaticKaneanite), sorry I lied and as a result here is your prize: pick who's up next as Jojo's mentor and I'll write the one shot and acctually get it out on time(hopefully)!