(A/N): I do not own anything except Loriana Romdel and her story (although God knows what I would give to own some of these wrestlers). I have written this with a lot of dedication and care, so please do not copy or disrespect it.

That being said, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. I've already finished the next chapter so that should be uploading soon.

#Believeintheshield

By Beth Mae

Chapter One - X is for Safety

"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." ~ Bob Marley.

Two young blonde women were sat on crates in the backstage hallway, swinging their legs as they chatted about nothing in particular. Kaitlyn and Loriana Romdel were oblivious to the camera in their faces.

Loriana waved her hands about expressively as she spoke, "I mean, he s not even good-looking. That stupid lip ring just makes him look like an idiot. Ryback is way more deserving of the Championship. At least he s not an arrogant, stuck-up, disrespectful piece of -"

She stopped suddenly, looking out of the camera shot with a mixed look of surprise and disgust.

The camera zoomed out to reveal an angry CM Punk and Paul Heyman.

Kaitlyn looked between them and Loriana, feeling the tension. After chewing her lip for a second, she hopped off of the crate and waved her hand behind her, "I'll just go..." before walking away quickly and shooting an apologetic look to her friend.

Lori rolled her eyes back at her. She then raised an eyebrow at the WWE Champion of whom she had been talking about and waited for him to speak.

"Arrogant? Stuck-up? Disrespectful?" he repeated. Her face remained an icy mask. "I'm not disrespectful; it's everyone else who's disrespectful. It's them who don t give me what I deserve, and it's you who deserves to be disrespected. Because I'm not the one who sits around gossiping all day, and I'm not the one who goes around fluffing up my hair and batting my eyelids to get my own way. I've fought to get what I want, what I deserve, unlike you, Romdel. I'm lucky to get maybe two nights of sleep a week, whereas from what I've heard, you've been doing a whole lot more sleeping around."

Lori's eyes narrowed. For a moment, they just glared daggers at each other. Slowly, without disrupting the tension, Lori slid from the crate and took one step forward so that she was directly in front of the WWE Champion, despite having to crane her neck slightly.

"I think," she spoke with a voice as smooth, serene and sharp as ice, "That you're just jealous because the most action you've had for a year has been those sneaky snogs with AJ Lee... and even she preferred Daniel Bryan's scratchy beard to you. Chick Magnet Punk?" she snorted, "Any woman - let alone Diva - would rather kiss Ryback than you any day."

Punk's eyes narrowed this time. He leant down to her eye level, "I can have anything I want, including any woman - even you if I was willing to sink that low. Do you know why? Because I'm the best in the world."

There was a pause.

And then she slapped him.

Punk's eyes flashed. His hand clenched into a fist and in a second, it was raised.

Lori flinched, but the punch never came. She glanced at the fist beside her head.

Punk hissed, "I wouldn't touch a slut like you if you were the last woman on earth."

Before she could react, he had already turned and walked off. She watched him go with a clenched jaw before leaning back onto the crate, letting out an exhausted breath. She ran a hand through her hair as the cameras cut.

"That was intense! Good job, Lori. You should go get ready for your match," said the assistant writer.

"'K, thanks," she smiled as she headed for the locker room. As she turned the corner, she bumped into CM Punk again. This time he grinned, clapping her shoulder.

"Good work."

"Thanks, it was fun. Have you seen Eve anywhere? I need to go over some things for the match."

He shrugged, "She might be in the canteen. I meant to ask about that actually, you are ok with the GTS, right? Just in case."

"Yeah, course," she nodded. And then she smirked, "If you can hit it before I hit you with the Siren Screecher."

He mirrored her smirk but she missed it because all she saw was her hair in her face as he ruffled it, "That's optimistic, rookie."

Laughing, she hit his hand away, "You're lucky I need to get somewhere, otherwise I'd kick your arse right here and now."

He began to stroll away but made sure to call over his shoulder before leaving, "Luck is for losers, rookie."

"Then you're the loser, Punk!" she shouted back.

Whilst trying to sort out her hair, she headed in the opposite direction, towards the canteen.

The canteen was an average-sized room with a line of tables down one wall where various energy-filled foods were laid out. The rest of the space was filled with tables and chairs. Staff weaved between huddles of Superstars and Divas who stood or sat about, mingling and waiting for their segment on the show.

Lori spotted Eve Torres with a group of other Divas including Natalya and Alicia Fox.

"Hey, Lori," they greeted her as she approached them.

"Hi," she smiled, leaning against a table, "So Eve, who's starting up first?"

They planned until a runner scurried up to them and told them that they had five minutes before their match. They headed towards the curtains together and found the others already there.

Ryback greeted her with a quick nod but he was too busy warming-up to make any more of a fuss about it. Punk was wrapping tape around his wrists and Heyman was talking in a low and rushed voice to one of the production managers. Eve had started jogging on the spot so Lori began her pre-match ritual.

"Two minutes," someone announced.

She reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a bright red lipstick which she slicked over her lips, but before putting it away, she drew a large X on the right side of her neck. She couldn't remember why she did it, or when she had started doing it; but she knew that if she didn't do it, she felt unsafe when she wrestled a match. She had not had time to draw it before one match a few years ago and she ended up breaking two ribs when a move went wrong. Despite knowing that it was just rubbish superstition, she didn't want to risk it again. Besides, it had become a part of her gimmick. It was usually hidden by her hair, but wrestling caused for a lot of hair flicking so it was visible a lot of the time.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

She lifted the bag over her head and handed it to Mark, a security guard, who nodded his promise to look after it.

"Four, three, two, one," the production manager signalled to the music man and Eve's music was the first to play. She went out.

CM Punk's music was next, and he and Heyman went out.

Then it was Loriana's turn. Radioactive by Imagine Dragons began to play so she headed out and the crowd cheered like crazy. Her lips tugged up into a grin as she spun on the spot before bending down at the hips so that her long, layered, white-blonde hair fell over her face and then she flipped it back up. She strutted halfway down the ramp like it was a fashion show, and then stopped. She cocked her head to the side as her music stopped and Ryback's started.

When he came out to the stage, the crowd went absolutely nuts. He stood there, swinging his arms as if he was charging himself up, and then powered down the ramp. She joined him and they entered the ring simultaneously, glaring at Punk and Eve the entire time.

Due to Punk wimping out about facing Ryback, Lori and Eve started the bout off. They circled each other before locking up. Eve had the upperhand first when she kicked Lori in the stomach, but Lori soon turned that around by spearing her opponent into the ropes where she fell through to the mats. Grabbing the top rope, Lori hoisted herself up onto it and pounced off like a panther, dropping her elbow onto the Diva's Champion below. She then grabbed her hair and pushed her back into the ring.

Just as she began to climb back in herself, a boot hit her in the face and she staggered back onto the announcer's desks, dazed. She had no doubt that it was Punk who had kicked her and that Heyman was yelling insults at her from nearby, but she also knew that the referee was counting her out and she needed to get back into the ring.

With the referee watching, she knew neither Punk nor Heyman could do her anymore harm so she managed to climb back through the ropes. Just as she got through, hands grabbed her hair roughly and lifted her to feet. She clawed at Eve's hands but it was useless. Eve dropped her to the mat face-first before tagging the WWE Champion in.

"Get up!" she heard him yell from above her and a kick hit her between the ribs. Groaning, she rolled away from him, onto her back. She could hear Ryback jumping about at the turnbuckle and knew that he would be stretching as far as possible so that she could make the tag.

She managed to haul herself to the nearest ropes and used them to help her stand up. The referee was counting - she needed to tag Ryback in. But first, she had something to deal with. She had made a bet earlier. Turning back to Punk, she suddenly grabbed the back of his head, leapt up and threw herself on her back, plunging his face into her knees as she went. He bounced backwards onto the mat from the shock of the Siren Screecher.

With this newfound momentum, she managed to get to her corner and smacked Ryback's hungry hand, tagging him in.

He charged at the floored Champion and began beating him within an inch of his life. Lori knew it was going to happen before it did because Heyman had been looking overly suspicious as he sneaked around the outside of the ring.

Suddenly, he had thrown a chair into the ring and CM Punk had his hands on it. Without thinking, Lori leapt over the ropes and flung herself at him, wrapping her hands around the cool steel and trying to yank it away from him. The referee realised what was going on and rang the bell, signifying a disqualification.

With a kick to the groin, she managed to free the chair from the Champion's grasp and chucked it outside of the ring. Unfortunately, Eve was waiting for her. As she straightened, a roundhouse kick came from nowhere and knocked her to the floor. Grabbing her ankle, Eve wrapped her leg around it and dropped to the floor herself, tugging with all her strength at Lori's leg muscles. Pain bit at her as she breathed through gritted teeth, and then it was over.

But suddenly she was scooped from the floor and lifted high onto someone's shoulders: Punk's. Cringing, she waited for the impact of his knee in her face, but the impact never came.

Instead, she fell to the mat rather ungracefully. Using the ropes as leverage, she propped herself up to see that Ryback had speared CM Punk and was once again beating the hell out of him.

There was a flash of black and, out of nowhere, three men appeared. The same men who had beaten up Ryback the previous night at Survivor Series: Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. They surrounded Ryback like predators waiting to strike their prey. Ryback realised he was being stalked and stood up slowly, readying himself to attack. Lori pushed herself back into a corner and watched in horror as, as soon as Punk had escaped out of the way, the NXT three dived on Ryback and destroyed him.

She stared as they mercilessly kicked and punched and hit as if he was some kind of wild beast being beaten into meat. They tore at him as if they thirsted for his flesh. Trembling, she climbed to her feet. Eve was halfway down the ramp, heading for safety. Punk and Heyman were watching from outside the ring. No one was going to do anything to help Ryback. No one could do anything to help him... but she could try.

So, gathering her courage and strength, she took a run up and leapt onto the back of the nearest black-clad ambusher. She wrapped her legs around his waist and an arm around his neck, clawing at his eyes with her other hand. But he was stronger than her and staggered backwards, slamming her back into the turnbuckle so that the air was knocked out of her lungs and she was forced to let go.

He turned to her.

Struggling to breathe, she found herself staring up at the face of Dean Ambrose.

Slowly, he squatted down so that his eyes were directly in line with hers. Cringing, she tried to push further away from him, but she only succeeded in grinding her back against the turnbuckles. As he reached out with one hand, she bent her neck away, looking up to the ceiling, trying anything to not let him touch her.

But it didn't work. His hand reached into her hair. She flinched as his thumb grazed her jawbone and he brushed her hair away from her neck, sweeping it gently to the other side, revealing the X on her neck. Confused, terrified, she returned her eyes to his to find them so intense that her heart rapidly increased its pace. His thumb continued to caress her skin, trailing down the right side of her neck. His brows furrowed as he traced the red lines of the cross.

A huge boot hit the side of Ambrose's head, knocking him away from her. She looked up at her hero, Ryback, and breathed in relief. He rolled Ambrose out of the ring and she shakily got to her feet. She climbed through the ropes and jumped down to the floor, backing away from the chaos.

But her back hit someone. Taking a deep breath, she turned, and came face-to-face yet again with CM Punk. Without any hesitation, he lifted her up onto his shoulders and dropped her, bringing his knee to her face as she fell with a crash to the ground.

A hot pain filled her face as she lay stunned on the ground. From somewhere above her, Punk laughed. A crash sounded from the announcer's desks and she remembered how Ryback had been triple-powerbombed into them just last night. The Shield had overpowered him. Punk had won the fight.

But he had not won the war.

(A/N): If you see any grammar mistakes, I'm so sorry. The doc manager completely messed it up and I've tried to correct it all, but there might still be some left.

Don't forget to review, follow and favourite! I love hearing what you all think. What do you think of Lori? What about her relationship with Punk and Dean?

Love from Beth xx