Warning: Before you proceed, just keep in mind that English is NOT my mother language. So if you ever see vocabulary or grammar mistake in this text, don't hesitate to warn me. I'm always eager to improve :)
Author's note: This is an old fanfic I had been working about for a few months. Just a few ideas quickly typed on a file, but waiting for something to actually happen in the WWE, which I could connect to in a credible way for this story. I thought I could wait a few more months, and have some more work on this story, but with what CM Punk announced on Raw this Monday, I knew now was the time. I won't give up my other stories, though. Consider this prologue as a preview of this new story ;)
Background Music: This fic title was originally "End of Days", but as I was driving from my SmackDown April tour, and listening to Johnny Cash - "Redemption Day", I came out with another ending that seemed to better fit the mood of the entire story planned here. This also reflected what the story will be about: the path of a man who'll discover that everyone deserves a second chance.
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REDEMPTION DAY.
"Everyone Deserves a Second Chance"
Prologue
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"I knew I was gone at the beginning of the year. I just woke up one day and I knew. That's the way I work a lot of the time. I think it's creepy too, but it's really helpful. I knew I'd be history by July. Come say goodbye on July 17th... I promise to go out with a bang. Trust me."
- CM Punk, WWE wrestler. Quotation from "Memory of the End Of Days".
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A dozen of men were sitting in silence in the underground of this hospital building. In that gloomy atmosphere, they simply waited. It was not forbidden to talk however, and sometimes one man or another even tried to start a conversation, but it was quickly drowned. You could read the worries on their face, and sometimes even the loss of hope. The more the time passed, the less they looked forward to a bright outcome.
But this was something none would express out loud. Their motto was "Never Give Up". And through dark times and desperation era, it was those three words that had kept them alive and always walking, while others had simply lowered their head and decided to stop.
Sometimes, someone would leave the underground and return to the fresh air outside, quickly replaced by another man or woman who would bring in some can food or beverage to those who remained in the waiting. A waiting that was killing them inside with almost as much efficiency as the things outside.
Randy Orton was the first one to perceive a noise from the heavy medical door on his right, and turned just in time to see it opening. He straightened at once, quickly imitated by the remaining of the troop. The first ones who walked through the opening were Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel. They both made a weary smile for the men who silently questioned them with intense gazes. Orton noticed with a frown that Gabriel looked as if he was about to throw up, while Slater looked even more morose and dim than usual. Of course, the big scar across his pale face probably added to that impression. But before Orton could ever ask out loud what everyone was secretly wondering, a third person joined the duo. And shouts of joy suddenly burst out.
Heath and Justin stepped aside to leave the floor to John Cena. Orton noticed that their leader looked a bit lost and out of place, but he imparted that to the severe operation the man had just undergone. An operation which had saved his life, but only through tragic consequences for Wade Barrett. That was perhaps the reason why Slater and Gabriel didn't seem in a celebrating mood like the others were. Their former leader had sacrificed himself. That was perhaps the reason why John didn't seem as radiant as usual, why Orton didn't feel the same presence around him. Maybe... Maybe the price to pay had been too high for him. Maybe Cena felt somehow guilty.
John Cena smiled softly to his men and waved slightly. "Long time no see, guys...".
To these men, those few light-hearted words with that slight trace of forced humor underneath, were worth every discourses even a President of USA had ever spoken in the past centuries. Orton let go a sigh of relief to that voice he had feared never to hear again, and he quickly erased of his mind all the quaint details he had noticed...
... Like that slightly spasmodic twitch in John's right wrist for example.
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TO BE CONTINUED.
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I'll leave you a moment to ponder on what the story will be about. You probably understood that I didn't start with the chronological beginning, so expect the next chapters to occur in the past. But you already have an idea where I'm heading to.
Or... Have you? ;-) *sadistic smile*
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Next update will be the post-TLC story "Never Got a Chance" , with John Cena & Wade Barrett.
Hugs :)
::Roselyne::