"Just as every cop is a criminal/And all the sinners saints/As heads is tails/Just call me Lucifer/'Cause I'm in need of some restraint."

Damn, he's going off again. I don't need some speech before he does whatever he's planning on doing. Hell, not like he hasn't done enough already. Steven's sitting there, he's sweating like balls in fear of what's about to happen. Hardcore and Crash Holly keep looking at Molly to make sure she's okay. I'm sitting on the floor, still crushed from what happened to me earlier this evening.

We're the lucky ones who got caught in the wake.

Ivory's in a mental home, barely speaking except to say "Nevermore," with glassed over eyes. Spike Dudley may not wake up from the coma they put him. Jeff's still reeling physically and mentally from his brother's betraying him. And poor Molly

"So if you meet me/Have some courtesy/Have some sympathy, and some taste/Use all your well-learned politesse/Or I'll lay your soul to waste." He finishes reciting as he grabs my chin in his hand. "Sympathy for the Devil, originally by the Rolling Stones. Covered by Guns N' Roses for the movie Interview with the Vampire, a bastardization of Anne Rice's novel, starring those pretty boys Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt."

Raven's staring into my eyes now. "But see, I'm a little different. I don't want your sympathy. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. All I want is revenge. And I want all of you to witness it.

"Last chance Tori," he says once he's released my face and turned his back to me. His voice echoes in the empty room. "I'm offering you one final time, redemption for all you've done."

I tried to stop all this. All of it. But now it's just too late isn't it?

"What do you say, Tori?"

Time to find words, Tor, time to find words.

"I say fuck you Raven. I don't want your redemption."

"At least your speech was shorter than that other bitch. Ivory just wouldn't shut up, would she? It's not an issue now, is it?"

Steven growls and tries to stand up.

"Upset with me, Steven? You should be happy, I set you free. It was your own fault, anyway. I told you not let her in to RTC, I told you I wanted to plow through you when I got to the WWF. Instead, where was I? Beating on an old man past his prime. Jerry the King Lawler, a fool for a pretty face and a set of massive breasts.

"Then, they decide to make me Hardcore Champion. WWF hardcore, what an oxymoron. That's when I met her, found about her past. Like me she was miserable growing up, scorned for being different. I was picked last for sports, she was the one nobody would date, nobody would even look at, so long as her big sister was around.

"I dug up some of her old tapes and watched what she'd been put through. The first ever women's hardcore match. Oh, she lost, but the pain her opponent put her through was worth it. She had a mirror broken over her head, an iron seared into her back. Woman after my own heart.

"Then, she gets on the bad side of a big red Retard, who Tombstones her, nearly breaks her neck. She gets back up. She gets put through a table, rips her shoulder, and gets back up. And all through it, she thinks nothing of breaking an alliance, leaving someone who loved her."

I can't stand to hear this. Because everything he's saying to true.

"Then I get her to help me, get her to agree to help me out, drive my escape car. And she leaves me. Goes off, becomes a TV star. Forgets me. Then, when she doesn't get her way when she comes back, she storms off, gets fired. But does she leave me alone? No, she decides she has to stop me from doing what needs to be done. And she thought she could succeed. So now, I give her one last chance to be forgiven, to join my Flock, and does she Matthew?"

Matt Hardy shakes his head.

"No, she doesn't, does she Kanyon?"

Kanyon joins Matt in shaking his head.

"And now," Raven continues, "it's too late."

He walks to where Molly is tied to a chair, shaking in what was once anger and now is fear. "And you, Molly. Dear, dear Molly. It's sad it had to come to this. I wanted to take care of this earlier, however some people," he shot me a look, "had to go and decide they didn't want to help me save others. Some people…"

"Don't see things your way," I shot back. "And some people don't know what you are."

"Tori, Tori, Tori," he sighs at me. "Can I get you a drink?"

One Month Previously

"How the hell did you get in here?"

Jeff Hardy was obviously upset with the blonde woman in his bed. He had walked into his hotel room to find her sitting there, waiting for him.

"I used the door."

"It was locked."

"Locks are tricky things. The old ones can be picked…the news one just need played with a bit. It's all relative."

"Tori, you can't be here. You were fired, remember?"

"Uh huh. This has nothing to do with my job Jeff."

"What does it have to do with?"

"Matt."

"Matt? What are you planning?"

"You automatically expect me to be after him?"

"Well, you do have a rather shady track record."

"Ouch. That one hurt."

"It was supposed to," Jeff pointed to the door. "Leave."

"He's coming for Matt."

"Who?"

Tori looked around the room, as if checking to make sure there was no way she would be heard. "He is…he'll turn him against you. Hurt you."

"Tori, get out."

"Listen me. He's been planning it for a long time."

"Tori, now. Before I call security."

"Fine," She turned away from him. "I'm sorry I bothered you."

Jeff watched her leave.

She was just about to climb into her car in the parking garage when she heard his voice.

"And I thought you could be trusted."

Turning as quickly as she could, Tori brought her arm into a position to block whatever he could throw at her.

His eyes were cutting through her, penetrating her like they always had. He had a wry smile on his face that was just how she remembered him as well. "And now look at you. Without a job. Gone from the heights you fought so hard to reach. Tossed aside, but you're used to that, aren't you?"

"You're not doing this to me," Tori hissed.

"Doing what?"

"Trying to make sense. No. You did this to me once before, and I fell for it."

He closed in on her though her body was still tense enough to fight back if he tried anything. "Tori, are you still having problems? You still see things?"

"I see you about to get your ass kicked," She retorted.

"I'm the only one who could stop them, the only one who could make you whole again. I could have saved you from yourself…"

She rotated her arm, trapping his. "Don't worry about me. I'll live."

She climbed into her car and drove away, leaving him in the dust. He just shook his head. "You'll regret it…"

One week later

Ivory wrapped a towel around her body before exiting the bathroom in her hotel room. She sighed as she felt carpet under her bare feet, it had been a long night and now she just wanted some sleep.

That's when she heard the voice.

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long long years, stolen many man's soul and faith."

Ivory gasped when she realized who was in her room. "Raven," she rolled her eyes at the man sitting on her bed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to you, Miss Ivory. About a…mutual friend."

"What?"

"Steven Richards."

"Steven? What about him, we barely talk anymore."

"Yes, but you were talking at one point, Miss Ivory. And he still remembers those talks." Raven stood up and approached her. "He remembers them so well that he won't even listen to what I'm trying to say to him."

"Which in my book is a good thing, you raving psychopath. Now get the hell out of my room!"

"Ivory, you're not understanding what I'm saying to you," Raven placed his hand around her neck. "I'm telling you that I'm very, very angry with you."

"I don't care," Ivory yelled. "Look, you are just a crazy son of a bitch who happens to have a depression problem to boot. Now, get out of my room, get out of my life, stay the hell away from Steven. I don't care what you have planned and what you're going to do in the future, so long as it doesn't affect me or…"

Ivory was cut off when the back of Raven's hand met her face. He shook his head at her, slowly. "You just don't know when to shut up, do you?"

Raven picked Ivory up and threw her onto the bed, before motioning to another figure in the room that Ivory had completely missed.

"Kanyon?" Ivory asked.

He simply looked at Raven.

"Hold her down," Raven ordered. "I'm going to show Miss Ivory here exactly how crazy I am."

Tori found Ivory's room several hours later. She was about to try and pick the lock, however when she pressed on the door it swung open easily.

Entering carefully, she looked around, just in case Raven had decided to hide out in here and wait. He had to have known that she'd be here, that she'd know his next target. Hell, he probably reveled in it.

What she found was a broken figure huddled in a corner wearing what looked like ripped sheets barely pulled around her body. Ivory, her hair wildly disheveled and her body covered in bruises, was sitting with her knees to her chest, rocking slowly back and forth. Her eyes were glassed over, not looking as if they were really seeing anything.

Tori bent over Ivory slowly, then reached out and touched her shoulder. "Ivory?" she asked.

"Nevermore," Ivory whispered in a choked voice.