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He was a monster.

No one had to tell Kane this. It was something he'd known all his life. Even as a child he knew he was different. He took no joy in normal childish things. He had no friends, he scared the other children. He had no interest in toys except to discover different ways to destroy them, smashing or burning. Once, well meaning relatives gave him a pet kitten and then screamed at him when they caught him dissecting it. They took the small corpse away and beat him with a leather strap. He didn't mind. He welcomed the pain. It somehow connected him to the world and made him feel alive, made him feel there.

It was the same when people looked at him with fear and revulsion in their eyes. He relished the way they cringed, the way their eyes widened and their pulse quickened. He could smell the fear pouring from their skin, the adrenaline laced stench of terror that assaulted his senses. He relished the knowledge that, if he chose, he could destroy any of them as easily as a normal man could crush an ant. He fed off of the despair he saw in the eyes of everyone who looked at him.

Everyone, but her...

She was beautiful, even his eyes could see that, small and delicate, with eyes like dark gemstones and lips that tasted of honey. When he closed his eyes he could see her again, flitting around the ring like a butterfly, her eyes locked on his, a smile curving her lips… and then...

He shook his head. She was just a girl, puny, weak. She should have been beneath his notice. And yet, for the past several weeks she had been on the fringes of his attention, always watching, always smiling. And for some reason he couldn't explain she was distracting him.

She'd already cost him a victory against Sheamus, a disqualification loss to that jumped up oaf with skin the color of dead worms. And then this past Monday, on Raw…

Kane blinked and growled his lip curling at the memory. Heath Slater, waiting for his next match to start, looked at him warily and slowly moved away. Kane was unpredictable and the last thing Slater wanted was to be choke slammed merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kane took no notice of Slater as he began to pace the floor, struggling with the memories in his skull.

It had happened on Raw, Monday night. Twice he had C.M. Punk poised for the finish, first a choke slam and then a tombstone, but the sniveling weakling somehow managed to squirmed out of his grasp both time. He stumbled back into his own corner as Kane stalked him and brushed against his partner, a tiny waif of a girl named A.J. True to his cowardice, C.M. Punk rolled out of the ring as A.J. hesitantly stepped in. Kane took a step toward her, recognizing her as the odd woman who seemed to stalk him the past week. Amazingly, she met his eyes without fear. She slowly walked closer, and then smiled.

Before he could decide what to do with this puzzling creature she began to skip. She skipped around and around him, her silky hair floating behind her, her eyes locked on his. Her smile grew even wider as he craned his head to watch her circle him, round and round. Then, as suddenly as she began, she came to a halt, right behind him. He spun around, flinging his hair out of his face and pinning her with a stare that had quailed men four times her size. But she was not quailed.

She boldly held his eyes with her own and then, before he could react, she jumped up into his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around him. Astonished, he instinctively caught her. She was as light and soft as that long ago kitten and his first impulse was to grab her by the throat and choke slam her as he had done to a thousand others. But her smile…her smile made him freeze. No one in his life had ever looked at him the way this girl was looking at him now. Certainly, no woman had ever smiled at him, or held his gaze so openly and without a trace of fear. And before he could push her away, or drop her she was kissing him.

And she kept kissing him and kissing him and he could no more move than if he'd been turned to stone. The world dropped away, the raucous sound of the crowd drowned out by the rushing of his own blood in his ears. He could smell the sweet scent of her hair, taste her lips on his own, time seemed to stop as the kiss went on and on and on.

Finally, she broke free and lightly hopped down from his arms. She was still smiling and looking at him in that way. He backed away from her, confused and then did the only thing he could think of. He tagged in Daniel Bryan and walked out of the ring. He walked away up the ramp as alien emotions boiled away inside of him. He paused at the top of the ramp and looked back at the ring, unable to hide his confusion. A.J. was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the ring, still smiling…

"And now Vickie and A.J. are getting into it in the ring!"

Kane snaps back to the present and spins around to look at the backstage monitor. The first match of Smackdown is well underway, a tag team bout between Dolph Ziggler & Daniel Bryan and C.M. Punk & Sheamus. Right on cue, Vickie is getting involved in the match and A.J. charges into the ring to confront her. He watches as A.J. chases Vickie out of the ring only to be flung, hard against the ring apron. She crumples to the ground as Vickie flees up the ramp.

Without hesitation, Kane heads out to the ring. An explosion of red fire greets his approach but he barely hears or feels it. He can see A.J., still lying on the ground, holding the back of her neck in pain. Ignoring everything else he walks up to her and then pauses, staring down at her, unsure of what he was going to do or even why he was out here. She slowly looks up at him. Her eyes are glassy and unfocused. He bends down and sweeps her up in his arms. He barely feels her weight as she settles against his chest. He turns and begins to walk back up the ramp. He had barely gotten halfway when someone hits him from behind. He stumbles and drops A.J. at the top of the ramp.

He turns, it is C.M. Punk. The red veil of rage falls across his eyes. This is familiar and soothing; the need to crush and destroy that comes so easily. He makes short work of CM Punk, head butting him and then throwing his dazed body back into the ring where Daniel Bryan tries to take advantage of the situation, pouncing on Punk and pummeling him. Kane grabs Bryan by the throat, squeezes until his eyes look like they are about to pop and then choke slams him so hard the ring shudders. He turns from Bryan's limp body in time to catch that fool Punk in mid charge, wraps his hand around Punk's throat and slams him down into unconsciousness.

He turns to see A.J. standing at the top of the ramp, watching him with a look of consternation on her face. As he watches, she slowly drops to her knees and begin laughing. Her eyes meet his and the look on her face changes, her smile softening. Even from this distance he can feel her eyes piercing his and inexplicably, he feels his rage melting away….