First of all, I want to thank you lovely lovely people for all your kudos/ likes/ follows and such kind words about this series… (I'm sorry I haven't been able to reply to everyone individually, but I will do) I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this next one out but this series alone has driven me to the edge of sanity and back trying to get it written while juggling everything that adults are supposed to do around it.

This story is the third installment in the Fine Line series following of from The Fine Line and Change my Mind (read these before you carry one reading this one!) It follows there 2017 storyline and will start after Great Balls of Fire (Yes in previous stories this was going to be called something else... but I'm saving that title at a later date ;))

Anyways on with the show, I hope you like it. GS X x

Another night where I don't care at all,
Give anything to erase every action,
Just Need Someone to help brace this fall,
Clear my head and be my perfect distraction.

**Broken Halo - Digital Summer**

July 10th 2017
Monday Night Raw

Seth held the phone to his ear as the usual dial tone rang out. He paced nervously up and down the locker room "Come on, pick up" he muttered. But once again was met with Roman's voicemail. "Damn it" ending the call he tossed the cell back into his bag slumping down onto the small leather sofa with a defeated sigh, running two large hands through his tangled black hair he leaned back as the concern for his AWOL friend grew. He shuddered at the memories of last night. Watching him plough that ambulance into the semi-truck. And Strowman, that poor bastard. What had driven Roman to that level? He had lost matches before, and sure, he would be pissed. But to damn near kill a man, that was a new low.

He never rode with Seth after the show that night, nor did he check into the hotel. Seth was getting desperate. Asking every person he walked passed if they had seen him and everyone replying with the same thing. "Not since last night."

He knew that desperate times called for desperate measures and a cold panic washed over the man as he rose to his feet. There is only one other person Roman would go to in times of crisis. A man of whom he hadn't had a civil conversation with since his unexpected arrival to Seth's hotel room one night in February.

He still hadn't forgiven Seth for their argument.

Seth kept his little promise to him, however, not telling anybody about his little midnight visit. But what good did it do? That night fractured there already battered relationship. "What the hell's going on between you two?" Roman would ask, but Seth would just shrug, pretending he had no idea. Pretend that their little argument had never happened. That Seth didn't try to admit his true feelings to the man and have it blow up in his face. Hadn't accused the man of wanting something more between them and calling him a liar. Pretended that he didn't have his heart destroyed yet again by that Lunatic.

Now all they did was share looks of disdain and the odd snide childish comments. He would count himself lucky, at least he wasn't looking to beat him up daily again. But somehow the angry silences felt worse. He missed him, more than he ever thought he would.

…::::::…

Walking the halls of the arena's backstage area he came across the foreboding door. The familiar DA logo stuck front and centre, Seth raised a closed fist and knocked gingerly 3 times. Silence. Seth waited for a beat and knocked again.

"Alright!" the gruff reply came "Heard you the first-" The door flew open. Dean Ambrose stood shirt and shoeless in the open doorway. A light dusting of chest hair gathered across his pale skin and is messy brunette hair falling chaotically from his head. A sight that once upon a time would have reduced Seth into an excited jabbering mush. His bright blue eyes narrowed suspiciously and a little confused as he scanned Seth from head to toe, his nose scrunching as if he was smelling a bad odour. "Rollins?"

"I need to talk to you" Seth pushed passed him barging in. The room looked near identical to his own. Except a lot messier. Clothes were strewn over the one end of the sofa where Dean had obviously opened his duffle bag and tipped it upside down.

"What the-"

"It's Roman" Seth interrupted. Dean's hardened expression softened slightly at the mention of his friend's name. "He's missing"

"So?" Dean shrugged as he let the door shut. Walking over to the mess in the corner of his room he continued to change for the show ahead. Not giving two hoots about the man standing in there with him. "He's a big boy-" he pulled his Dean Ambrose merchandised t-shirt over the top of his head, shaking the shaggy brown mess he called hair out his eyes "-he can look after himself"

"But last night." Seth said quietly, worriedly as he began to pace the small closet sized room "That wasn't Roman. I haven't heard from him, nobody's seen him. We got to do something" Seth said nervously ringing his hands together

"We?" Dean questioned raising an eyebrow. Pulling his arms through the sleeve holes he smoothed the black fabric down

"Has he called you?" Seth ignored his mocking comment. He stopped pacing to stared at the other man. Dean exhaled and shook his head before dropping down slowly onto the small black leather sofa. "Shit, shit, shit," Seth repeated as he began to pace back and forth in the small room. Feeling like his last lifeline snapped from under him. "We gotta do something"

Dean scrubbed his face with his callous hands, groaning through his fingers. "Like what Seth? Call the Cops?" he asked sarcastically slapping his thighs in frustration at the stupidity of the man in front of him "We want to report a missing person. Last seen nearly murdering a co-worker?"

"Better than sitting on our asses!" Seth snapped back. "This is serious Dean. He could be in trouble - You and I both know Roman, that fit of temper isn't him."

Dean scoffed relaxing back into the plush leather. Bringing his arms up and resting the back of his head in his palms "Yeah, well… We both thought we knew you once."

Seth's body tensed, the pain and venom still present in Dean's voice after all this time. Clenching and relaxing his fists. Dean's comment didn't surprise him, he was more shocked at how long it took to come up in conversation. Less than 5 minutes, that's got to be a new record. This was useless, he wasn't going to be of any help. "This was a bad idea" he muttered as he walked to the door.

Dean sneered "And there he goes again, folks. Seth Rollins! The master of running away." Seth chose to ignore his comment as he drew the door open and stormed out. As Seth walked away, defeated, he missed Dean delving deep into his jean pocket retrieving his cell phone. Checking to see if Roman had returned any of his calls too.

…:::::…

Seth returned to his locker room, determined to get his mind off Roman and onto the task at hand. His re-match against Bray Wyatt. If Dean didn't seem to care then he shouldn't be worrying about it either, right? Raw was underway and the TV in the far corner hummed away showing a live feed of the in-ring action, Seth's only company in the small room. The Miz was hosting some ridiculous awards ceremony for him and his 'Miz-tourage.' Paying very little attention to what he was saying Seth was more pre-occupied with his phone. 'One more call' he scrolled through the call log in his phone and selected Roman's number. Voicemail, again. The loud shrill beep hurt his ear as he began to leave a message "Rome? Come on Uce where are you? Just lemme know you're ok."

"-Seth Rollins-"

Seth hung up the phone and his attention shot up to the screen, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 'What the?!' "-he would expose Bray Wyatt for the fraud he is but the only fraud I saw was Seth freakin' Rollins" Did the Miz just call him out? He flashed the camera a large Hollywood pearly white smile, the kind of shit eating grin you would expect from a grade A suck up like him. Seth clenched his phone tightly in his grasp. 'Who the hell does he think he is!?'

Seth's feet were moving, out the locker room and down the hall quicker than he realised. The wind whistled past his ears as he ran towards the ring with determination, needing something else to concentrate on other than Roman's whereabouts. And maybe beating the snot out the Miz was just what the doctor ordered. 'I'll show that damn Hollywood wannabe.' As he reached the ring entrance he was greeted with the sound of familiar music.

Dean had gotten there first.

Storming his way down towards the Miz and his accomplices before taking him down and laying fists into his perfect hair. Seth smirked as he watched Dean beat the snot out the man, but there was no surprise as the attack soon turned on him. Dallas and Axel beginning their assault. Seth had seen enough, throwing the curtain back he sprinted to the ring. Laying out the Miz, Dallas and Axel, sending the latter flying over the top rope. He bounced on the ropes as Miz and his Miz-torage scurried up the ring towards the back. Hopping off he turned to check if Dean was ok. He stood leaning against the turnbuckles on the opposite side of the ring staring daggers through Seth, obviously unimpressed by his help.

Not fancying an Ambrose beat down Seth rolled out the ring quicker than he entered. And without a single glance back he headed back through the curtain.

…::::::…::::::…::::::…::::::…::::::…::::::…

Dean was livid. Not only did Miz get the better of him… again. His body ached from the 3 on one assault and was still in a sour mood from his loss last night. But to have him of all people come to his rescue was definitely the final straw that broke the camel's back. He thundered down the hall after that smug bastard. Rounding a corner, he clocked him a few paces ahead. Not show off that usual cocky swagger Dean had come to associate with him. "What was that?!" His angry voice echoed the dark hallway grabbing Seth's attention, forcing a stare down between them.

Seth stopped "What?" he asked defensively, a usual Rollins front. "I wasn't going to let the Miz run his mouth about me" There was an air about the man that Dean wasn't used to seeing, something that almost resembled remorse.

"Right, nowadays you got this great reputation to protect-"

"I'm working on it"

"I don't trust you." Dean cut him off. Getting up close to Seth's face. His expression twisted and contorted into a look of disgust "You screwed that up. This isn't going to happen again. You stay out of my business," he growled. "I'll stay out of yours." He stepped back as he observed the man. Seth's arms folded tightly across his chest emphasising his large muscle mass. His jaw clenching and relaxing as his chocolaty brown eyes stared into Deans.

"And what about Roman?" Seth's voice carried softly around the tall hallway, no hint of anger at the confrontation. "Whose business, is he?" The comment seemed to amuse the Lunatic. Letting out a single bark of a laugh and shaking his head. Like bickering divorced parents squabbling over the custody of their child. Which in their case was a big 250lb+ Samoan child. Rolling his eyes, he turned his back on the man, fed up with the entire conversation he continued his path towards his own locker room "He got himself into that mess" Dean called waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder. Seth's steps echoed the hall as he chased after him.

"No, no, no. Don't do that!" Seth grabbed his shoulder forcefully spinning him on the spot, they were practically nose to nose again, this time Seth on the attack. "Just because you're pissed at me, don't take it out on him. If he needs our help, I'm not turning my back on him"

Dean scoffed "First time for everything"

Seth sighed. Dropping his gaze to the ground he scratched his bearded chin "Whatever" he muttered shaking his head and walking away. This definitely wasn't the Seth Rollins he knew and loved tolerated. He didn't like it.

"HEY!" Dean roared after him "I'm not done with you!"

"Well I'm done with you" Seth answered back not breaking his stride pattern.

Deans brain raced, he couldn't let him leave. "You never did say sorry"

This made Seth stop. He didn't turn to look at him but angled his head to talk to him over his shoulder. "Would you forgive me if I did?" Dean let out another bark of a laugh and dropped his gaze, staring at his boots, almost taken aback by his bluntness. The truth is, Dean would forgive him. But he wasn't going to tell him that. 'Give Seth that satisfaction? No. He fucked this up, this is his fault.' At least, that's what he'd tell himself. As the brief silence stretched between them Seth mumbled: "Then why waste my breath?"

Deans gaze snapped up at the back of his head again as he continued to walk away. Anger seethed through his veins as he chased after him. Grabbing Seth's shoulders and roughly throwing him into the nearest wall. Pinning him against the cold concrete an arm's length away, forcing him to look into his scowling expression. That fire sparking up again deep inside him, like it always did when they came into contact. The hatred, the love, all burning, mixing together. Hoping that Seth would take the bait and lay a fist straight into his jaw. But he didn't. Seth just glared at him. Swatting away his arms he brought up two forceful palms and shoved hard against Dean's chest making him stumble backwards.

"What the hell's your problem!" Seth bellowed

"You are!" Dean yelled back. Even though anger raged through him he managed was a small surprising chuckle. "You're such a cocky bastard you know that!"

"Learnt from the best" Seth retorted.

Dean ran a hand over his collarbone. Gripping the fabric of his shirt. He was trying to ground himself, trying hard not to lay a fist into that pretty, smug face of his. "I know your game Davenport." He continued managing to regroup his thoughts "You think coming to my rescue will make me forgive you. After everything you did?!"

"I didn't go out there for you!" Seth's voice rising to match Deans angry pitch, reverberating off the high ceiling "I went out there to prove a point to the Miz. You don't mess with the King Slayer!"

Dean rolled his eyes and let out a long-exasperated groan "Oh come on, gimme a break! You know the whole King slayer thing is super lame right?"

"Better than being a Lunatic Fringe."

"ENOUGH!" A loud booming voice reverberated off the walls startling them both. Dean turned towards the sound. Roman loom into view. His long black hair slicked back into a low ponytail. He looked like he just arrived, he wore a pair of baggy grey sweats and a black tank top, a far cry from his usual flash expensive suits. "My god you two give me a frigging headache" he vigorously rubbed to large hands over his face and grumbled into his palms. He looked awful like he hadn't slept. Deep heavy bags under his eyes.

"Reigns?!" Seth cried approaching him and punching him softly in the arm "Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you..."

"I know" he gruffed

"So, you've just been ignoring my calls?" Seth questioned clearly intending it as a joke. But Roman gave him a serious stern look, his jaw tensed as he pursed his lips. His silence spoke louder than words could.

Dean sniggered, 'this is priceless.' Romans glare shot straight at him, the same harsh look that silenced Dean instantly."Dunno why your laughing boy. Been ignoring your calls too"

"What the hell Roman?!" Seth continued, in his usual whiny nasally noise. "We've been worried about you"

"There you go with this WE crap again," Dean mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You called him to Ambrose"

"That's it! Move!" grabbing each man by the shoulder Roman shoved them both forcefully down the hallway until they came to an empty dressing room. Opening the door Roman ordered the pair into the room following them in and shutting the door. Dean flashed back to his adolescence. It reminded him of being marched to the principal's office after getting caught doing something he probably shouldn't have but was a lot of fun at the time. "What the hell has gotten into you two?!" Roman snapped. His arms crossed, the angry big brother as he always was. Dean shrunk under his hard-stern glare. Crossing his arms in defiance looking everywhere but at Roman. He was pissed, there were no two ways about it. Roman pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled a long deep breath. "You guys were finally getting along. And now you can't even be in the same room as one another without breaking into an argument?!" Dean shifted a sideward glance towards Seth. He was looking down at the ground sitting on a small end table. "What the hell happened? Why won't you tell me?!" Seth looked up, first glancing at Roman, then across to Dean. The room filled with a horrible thick silence that made Dean squirm uncomfortably on the spot as he broke his stare away from Seth. "Fine." Roman continued calmly "you won't tell me. I thought we were brothers but, y'know, whatever."

"Come on Rome, don't–"

"Don't What Seth?!" Roman barked. Dean looked across at the angry Samoan. His glare on Seth making him physically flinch and shrink under his glower. "Day in day out all I get for you is you bitching and whining about him!" he pointed an accusing finger towards Dean "and you won't even tell me what he fucking did to piss you off?!" Dean scoffed, shaking his head annoyed by this whole scenario, made to feel like a child being told off was damn near humiliating. "And you!" Romans gaze followed his outstretched arm. Taking a single step towards Dean "If I hear you mention "Davenport" one more time I swear I'm going to ram your head through a fucking drywall!" Dean bit his tongue. He wanted to fire a comeback at him but for once decided to keep his mouth shut. "I've had it with you two. If you guys won't tell me what happened, then don't include me in your petty childhood bullshit!" Dean pursed his lips, his arms still forcefully crossed so tightly over his chest he thought he would cut off his own air supply. He passed another quick glance at Seth. His attention was firmly fixed on the floor again, a hand stroking his beard, his leg doing that weird twitchy bounce thing he did. "You two have been driving me insane. I can't eat, I can't sleep, all I get 24/7 is you two, my brothers bitching and moaning, at each other throats. I can't take it anymore. It was only going to be a matter of time before I snapped and last night just proved it-" Roman fell silent screwing his eyes closed as if regretting the words that fell from his mouth. Seth's jaw dropped, his eyes widened in amazement as he stared at their friend. Dean, however, grew angrier in disbelief, he scowled at the man as the realisation of his words dawned on him slowly.

"You're blaming us for that?" Dean asked in an eerily calm tone. Trying his hardest to hide the burning rage that festered under the surface. "Are you seriously saying that it's our fault you rammed that fucking ambulance?"

"I never said that," Roman said softly, his wide brown eyes staring instantly into Deans, pleading with him, but he was buying none of it.

"But you implied it." Roman pursed his lips and avoiding Deans stare. He approached the Samoan carefully studying him as if he had discovered some unknown amazing artefact. "There is only one person that climbed into that ambulance willingly last night and he needs to take a good long hard look at himself in the mirror before he starts placing the blame anywhere else... And as for brothers?" Dean scoffed examining him from head to toe "It's like I don't even know you right now."

Roman cleared his throat before mumbling something that sounded like, "I made a mistake…"

"A MISTAKE!" Dean blurted. His calm façade finally cracking. "No Roman… A mistake is accidentally putting salt in your coffee. Writing a 2 when it should have been a 3. What you did was straight up manslaughter!"

"Dean" Seth tried to warn but was shot down,

"Shut up!" A small snippet of his rage leaking out as he glared directly at Seth. His brow scrunched and furrowed into a painful frown. Seth blinked at him, surprised by his sudden outburst. "Tell you what, let me make this reeeeal easy for you both to understand. I want nothing to do with either of you." Slowly turning his eyes back to Roman, boring a deathly glare into his cheekbone while the latter stared at the wall next to him. Avoiding Dean's eye contact at all cost "We aren't brothers, there's going to be no Shield reunion, you got that?" Roman inhaled quick and sharp, his nostrils flaring and jaw tightening. Barging passed the Samoan, ramming his shoulder hard and forcefully against Romans stonework physique making him stumble back as he moved, storming towards the door. There was a mumbled muffled plea from Roman making Dean stop dead at the door, letting out a single angry 'you got to be kidding me' bark of a laugh. "Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough." Turning back to stare at his two former brothers he raised his arm and presented his middle finger hopefully sending the message loud and clear "go fuck yourselves." And with that Dean left, slamming the door forcefully behind him.

…::::::…

He didn't return to his locker room straight away like he intended. Instead, he found himself wandering the backstage of the arena, not really knowing where he was going. His anger reaching boiling point, he needed to let off steam before he would do something he would regret later. His wanderings lead him to a part of the arena that he was pretty sure was off limits to everyone bar the arena staff, but when has Dean ever played by the rules? He slipped down a near pitch black narrow corridor. The hissing and spluttering rattle of what he assumed to be the boiler or generator clattered down the hallway. Just the right tempo to hide his rasping roar as his emotion broke free. Laying a fist into the solid wall, pain instantly engulfed his hand shot up his arm, but it didn't stop him hitting the same crevice in the wall again and again until his hand was numb. Drawing back, he admired his work. A small dent in the crumbling brickwork, flexing his fingers his wrist answered in complete suffering, 4 horribly grazed lacerated knuckles, fresh warm crimson liquid dribbled in between his digits. Tears stung his eyes, unsure if his body was reacting to the pain in his arm or the hurt in his heart. He crashed against the opposing wall, his heart racing with every uneven heavy breath he took as he slid to the floor.

This is how he coped. When he felt like this, broken and disconnected from the world. He could always count on the old school ways to ground him. Beating up everything and everyone until the hurt went away. He would tell himself 'It could be worse.' He could turn to drink, drugs, sex. All of which right now was sounding like a pretty good idea. But the thrill of the fight had always been his calling. This was all he ever knew.

He flexed his fingers again and hissed with the pain, turning his hand over to examine his blood-soaked wrist tape. He thought about how proud Renee would be of him for not planting his fist in the faces of two of the WWE's best stars. He did not like the idea of having that conversation with her nor head office. But in the same breath thought about how she would scold him for resorting to such 'primitive ways.'

"You can talk to me about this you know" her bright smiling words echoed in his head matching her uplifted happy expression. He knew he could, and occasionally he did. But no one that knew him better than they did. He banged his head against the wall, each thump harder than the last. 'Now I have neither of them.' For the first time in years, he felt truly alone. Angry at his brother's blame. 'Blaming me for that shit?! Who the hell does he think he is?' when a horrible thought crossed his mind, and how this whole situation felt horrible and ironically familiar. 'The brother blaming the other for his own misdoings? Passing the guilt off onto the other so he wouldn't have to deal with the truth.' Dean bit down on his tongue hard and rested his forehead against his updrawn knees. 'That why you reacted so badly to Roman. Did it remind you of turning up unannounced at a hotel room?' He slapped the floor with his palms so hard that the echo in the tiny space sounded like a gunshot. "That was different" Dean muttered to himself staring out into the blackness expecting to see someone there. 'Was it? Who are you trying to fool?' Dean balled up his fist and lay blow after blow into the side of his temple. 'And now, because of your selfishness, you've lost him and Roman! And when Renee finds out, she'll leave you too. Just like everyone always does!' Dean let out another roar and smashed his head hard against the wall behind him. Anything to stop his dark thoughts from wandering too far. However, all he managed was to give himself a pretty uncomfortable headache.

He sat in the near darkness for what seemed like hours, waiting for the subtle throb in his head to dull down before feeling stable enough to join the rest of the roster for the end of the show. He left the vicinity and safety of his hallway and headed towards the hustle and bustle of the main area. After cleaning up his hand he joined a gathering of superstars and staff around a large tv monitor situated in the middle of the busy hallway. Dean smiled as he recognised the beautiful blond that graced the screen. Flashing an award-winning smile. His girlfriend Renee Young.

"Your one lucky man Ambrose" someone in the crowd commented to which Dean just smiled and nodded 'Yeah, I am.'

"Please help me welcome my guest at this time. Seth Rollins."

'Speak of the devil.'

Once again was unable to stop his thoughts wandering back to him. He thought about how hurt Seth had been that night in the hotel, the look on his face as Dean left. The dozen or so voicemail messages he had left him, each one sounding more desperate than the last but none of them saying what Dean wanted to hear. Before, they had spent a year not talking to one another, ignoring each other's existence quite happily. Then he comes crashing back into his life like a meteor and Dean realised how much he had truly missed him. Only to have him ripped away again, and the only person he had to blame was himself. 'Your stubbornness will be the death of you Ambrose!'

Main event time: Bray Wyatt Vs Seth Rollins. Dean found himself watching intently, almost transfixed on the self-proclaimed "Kingslayer." There was no denying, the guy knew how to move around that ring. Something that Dean had always admired about him. He felt that usual tug of some unfamiliar emotion inside his chest as he watched the man saunter around that ring like he owned it. And boy, did he own it.

Bray hit Seth with a vicious looking headbutt that even made Dean wince. Seth staggered blindly for a moment or two before falling victim to the Sister Abigale and for the 3 count. Dean couldn't help but smirk at his little loss, chuckling to himself. But his smile soon faded as he recognised the 3 shadows moving through the crowd towards the Ring. "Miz" he growled. He wasn't letting the Miz get away this time, he wasn't finished with that Hollywood loser. Annoyance surging through him as he ran towards gorilla position. Reaching the black curtain, he snapped up a chair and disappeared through into the arena.

The roar of the crowd all but blurred out as Dean ascended the ring beginning his assault. Swinging the steel chair like a madman, laying waste to Dallas, Axel and finally Miz. Bringing the steel chair down across his back again and again until his cronies dragged his lifeless body out the ring. Dean paced back and forth yelling at all three of them still swinging the weapon wildly. Completely oblivious to the wonderous stare of amazement from the dazed and confused Seth slumped in the turnbuckles.