Title: Broken (Chapter 1)
Pairing: John Cena/Wade Barrett
A/N: As always, a Jade fic! But I took it to a new level...By the way, just to give you a heads up, there are certain scenes here that you may not like so...please don't flame on it if you don't like it, alright? All the same, I hope you enjoy! ^^
"Glad you made it on time, Wade,"
"As always, Cole,"
Wade gave Michael Cole a last thump on the back before the man went away, giving out last notes to the other wrestlers in sight. The Brit looked around the place, suddenly feeling a heavy load in his chest. It had been weeks since he last stepped foot on the RAW arena and he had to admit, he still missed the brand. Well, yeah, SmackDown was great but there was something in RAW that he couldn't let go just yet, and he was aware that it was something more than the gratefulness for making him well known. Despite his thoughts, he took in a deep breath and smiled.
A pat on the shoulder woke him from his daze and he turned to Gabriel who had an energetic look on his face.
"We are going to have a blast tonight!" The South African claimed excitedly and Wade had to chuckle at the sight.
"Alrigh', I heard you for the tenth time, Justin."
"He's right, Wade," Heath suddenly intejected. "We're gonna kick some ass!"
"Yeah!" Justin piped in. "We're kicking some Nex-ass!"
The Brit couldn't help a grin from his face. Months ago, he was with the Original Nexus: the group whose only aim was to revolutionize RAW. The desire for change went up to Wade's head and intoxicated it with the longing for supremacy and the attached strings were pulled one by one. It brought him to his downfall and he was banished from the group he himself had created.
But Corre was different. They were equals, sharing the same goal and achieving it by helping each other out in times of need. He didn't have to order anyone around because he wasn't the leader. In this group, nobody needed to be a leader because they were family.
From behind Wade, he heard Jackson sigh in amusement before asking him in disbelief, "They're like this all the time?"
"No' at all," the younger one replied, glancing at the other two who were sparring playfully at each other. "Well, I'm no' really sure. When we were still Nexus, they were quiet and serious. They started actin' like this when we became the Corre. Bu' I have to admit, it's fun seein' this side of them."
"I gotta say, anytime soon you're going to be the mack daddy of the group,"
"Better start actin' like one," Wade said almost to himself as he approached Justin and Heath. Shaking his head, he had to break the two apart as Heath had Justin in a submission hold. "Okay, tha's enough, you guys. We still have to ge' to our locker room."
Just like little kids, Heath and Justin obeyed then followed Wade and Zeke as they made their way to the locker room. They loudly chattered on the way, calling Punk and his New Nexus some weird funny names that brought Heath to tears of laughter. Wade found them funny too, but there was one person who had actually made him burst out laughing after hearing the joke. Well, he didn't want to say who it was because he knew that Slater would be pissed off if he said it out loud.
Suddenly, Wade stopped on his tracks when he saw a nearby door opening. The other three came to a halt as well, surprised with the Brit's sudden reaction and they waited for the person to appear. A second later, Cena came out of the room, wearing his usual get-up: Purple CeNation shirt, denim shorts and tennis shoes. The man looked up and took a step back as soon as he saw the group, but he didn't speak a word. Instead, his eyes lingered on the face of Wade Barrett who stared back at him blankly.
The two former rivals stared at each other, neither one of them moving nor making a sound. It was almost like an eternity of silence and the two didn't back down. It was almost like they were having a blinking contest, but probably some would think that a fight would break any second now. Even the other members of the Corre were holding their breath, bracing for the next move the two was going to do.
And just as when Heath, Justin and Zeke were about to get in the middle of the staring contest Wade and Cena was having, the CeNation leader let out a sigh, turned around and walked away without a word. The three watched him go, waiting for him to disappear to the hallway before turning to Wade who took in a deep breath.
"That was intense!" Jackson said, placing a hand on the Brit's shoulder. "I'm surprised you're still standing after that! I mean, I confess I saw the feud between you and Cena but I thought that was just a sprinkler for the storyline!"
"It's all true, Zeke," Justin answered for Wade when the man didn't speak. "But we didn't know Cena still had a grudge against Wade."
"Come on, guys, let's go." Wade commanded as he walked forward. "We have to prepare for rehearsal."
He walked without waiting for them and the other three glanced at each other, puzzled at the sudden change of tone in Wade's voice. Nevertheless, Zeke gave them a confused shrug and they followed the Brit quietly to the locker room.
"I hate Cena," Wade heard Heath mutter as they came near their room. Zeke and Justin turned to the red-haired man as he continued, "He called me 'The Chick from Wendy's'. Now everybody's calling me like that."
As soon as Wade heard what Slater had said, a laugh had started to rise up in his stomach but he tried his best to supress it. He had always know that Heath wouldn't like it if he admitted that he found Cena's joke funny. And not just amusing, but the best of all he had heard.
December 29th, 2010.
It was the day Wade considered as his worst accident ever. He didn't mean to do it; hell, it wasn't even written in the scipt. Nobody suggested that he do it either. It just happened.
He gave John Cena a serious injury. A real, unintentional, out-of-the-script injury.
Guilt spread across the Brit's stomach, sending somersaults inside his guts as he watched Cena, difficultly trying to stand and follow him up the steel cage. Wade didn't move and he felt something churn in the pit of his stomach. The referee approached the older man and checked him out, then went to Wade after a moment. He was saying something about changing the script, but the Brit wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on the man lying on the mat and gripping his hip for support.
The ref shook him awake, shouting, "Keep the match going!"
This time, Wade looked at the referee and thought that he was right. They were in the ring where nobody cared whether somebody got his opponent injured. But it was hard to adjust in a split of a second. Sure, he and Cena never really got along and the feud the writers had put up between them made their working relationship worse than normal. Still, he was human and not once did the thought of hurting Cena on purpose had ever crossed his mind.
That night when the match had finally ended and the audience were slowly walking to the exits as they discussed the show, Wade was in backstage, waiting for John to appear from the ring. The American gave a 'final' speech to the people regarding his injury but after that, he walked out of the cage, limping and refusing help from the medics. While this was happening, Wade was thinking deeply of what he was going to say when he faces John again.
After minutes of silence, the man finally appeared, still walking limply and Wade noticed that he was sweating. Perhaps the injury was quite worse than he had imagined, and it made him feel more guilty than before. Nevertheless, he approached John, ready with his words of apology, but before he could even speak, a glare was thrown in his face and it made him stop.
"Are you happy now?" John barked at him.
Wade was speechless and the words he had rehearsed for minutes were instantly gone, leaving his head blank and thoughtless. He wanted to say sorry but that would be inappropriate right now.
"I...I didn't mean to-"
"Yeah, you didn't mean it." The older man snapped in a sarcastic tone, his voice echoing around the place. He continued to walk limply, probably walking away from Wade, but the Brit was having none of it so he tried following Cena.
"John, wait-"
"What else do you want, Barrett? You got what you wanted! You finally found a way to sabotage my RAW appearances for real, not to mention Royal Rumble and WrestleMania! Well that's just sad for you because I'll do everything to get myself well quicker than you can ever imagine. You know what? I don't care what happens to you, just, get out of my sight."
Speechless, Wade's mouth almost flipped open in surprise. All he wanted was to apologize and he got this from John? A sudden urge to pull Cena back and argue about this like how they did it every time they were in the ring was creeping up to his brain but referees started swarming up around the stumbling man like bees with black and white stripes, and Wade lost the chance to talk to Cena further.
That was the last time Wade had seen John, and those were the last words they said to each other. The typical Barrett and Cena feud. And it happened even without the presence of the audience. He watched the men as they supported John to the exit, the picture of the fans' most awaited Barrett and Cena team crashing before his eyes. With his decision, he knew that he was going to change the already written storyline for a team to destroy the New Nexus, but he didn't want to cause trouble anymore.
The next day, he called McMahon and asked to be moved to SmackDown, dropping the storyline that was already made for future RAW episodes.
"Wade...Wade!"
The Brit looked up, his mind slowly getting back to the real world. A hand was waving in front of his face, probably trying to wake him up from his trance. In fact, it did and he found that the hand belonged to Heath, who had a worried look on his face. Behind him, Justin and Zeke had the same expression as well.
"Everythin' alrigh'?" Wade asked in a light tone, making Heath and the others sigh in relief.
"We're the ones who's supposed to ask you that question!" Slater said, sitting beside Wade. "What's going on with you?"
"Yeah man," Zeke concurred. "You've been quiet for solid five minutes already."
"I'm sorry guys, I guess I'm just tired, tha's all," Wade answered shaking his head lightly. Everybody was good to go and even a crew already went to their locker room to tell them that it was time to rehearse their scene with the New Nexus.
He was zipping his duffel bag close when Justin said, "Is it about Cena? You were still feeling good until we saw him in the hallway earlier."
Wade slowly turned to Justin and approached him. He felt him cringe as he went closer, but he continued to place his arms around the young man's shoulders then patted his cheek lightly. "You're sayin' I don't feel good now? I'm feelin' a hell lot of better an' even Cena can't spoil the excitement!"
And with that, the faces of the other Corre members lightened up with Wade's reassuring voice. With their high spirits back to the top, they lively headed to the arena as Wade led the way, but little did they know that the Brit was still deep in thoughts as they walked. Wade was still picturing the face Cena had the last time he saw him, and comparing it to the look he saw earlier when he saw him come out of his locker room. He was sure that there was something odd going on with the man; he just couldn't place what it was.
When the group had finally made it to the arena, Wade looked up and almost smiled. This time he was positive that he had missed RAW for some reason he still couldn't explain. He looked around, watching the crew and staff put up the cameras and the lights then he turned to the ringside, seeing some of the RAW roster sitting comfortably on their chairs. When his eyes got to the ring however, his little smile instantly faded as soon as he spotted Punk and his New Nexus in the ring, wearing their new, modified shirts. Wade almost snorted at the look of his former group, standing behind a man who was inches shorter than him.
"Oh look, it's Wade and his little co-members!" Punk drawled on, a smirk playing across his face. "How nice it is to see you again! Why don't you come up here so we can get this over with early?"
Wade's face fell into a scowl and he kept quiet. He knew that he wouldn't say anything nice once he opened his mouth that moment so he merely walked to the ring, the Corre following right behind him. They entered the ropes then stood in front of the New Nexus without fear.
"Righ'. Let's ge' this done early."
Punk let out a mocking chuckle then suddenly searched around the arena, and it seemed that he was looking for someone as he called out, "You heard the man! Get Cena in here!"
"I'm right here," John calmly answered as he stood from his seat. Wade turned his head to Cena's direction and found the man standing beside Randy Orton. The Brit's eyes almost widened in surprise. He had forgotten that John was in a relationship with the third-gen superstar Randal Keith Orton even before Cena was involved with the Nexus storyline. The Viper was one of the reasons why nobody could touch the CeNation leader; the man almost never leaves Cena's side. That was why it came as a surprise to Wade that Orton wasn't with Cena when he got him injured. Most shocking was he was still alive after what he had done to his boyfriend.
Watching the older man walk to the ring, Wade caught Cena's eyes and he realized something: the man looked so tired. There were bags under his eyes and his blue orbs looked so weary. Not only that, there was a hint of a reddish mark on his neck. Cena didn't look like this the last time he saw him. Wade knew he was the cause of John's end of the year injury, but why was it that the CeNation leader looked like he was worse than an injured man?
Finally, John got in the ring and he stood in between the two groups. He glanced at Punk, then at Wade. The moment their eyes met the second time that day, the Brit had noticed the strangest thing in this Cena right away: it looked like the man's soul had left his body, leaving an empty shell before them.
"Writers said the main event is between Barrett and Punk," John said as soon as he turned away from Wade. "And no other members in their respective groups should get involved in the match. I'll be your special referee as the RAW GM says and I'll act like I will abuse my authority as the referee. You got that?"
Punk and his group nodded and Wade merely grunted. The Brit was too bugged by Cena's change after a few weeks that he couldn't focus. He couldn't help but think that it was his fault that John was like this. Having enough of it all, the Brit finally shook his head and tried to concentrate on the job he was supposed to do that moment.
It was then that Wade had a feeling that this was going to be a long night for him.
It was minutes past midnight when Wade and the Corre finally decided to get back to their hotel rooms to call it a day. Even though it was a tiring, yet confusing day for the Brit, he still found the show a success and he had a satisfied feeling in him as he walked with Heath, Justin and Zeke to the exit. At least his thoughts about the CeNation leader was put to a stop when he faced Punk earlier that night, which was helpful because he didn't want to think of Cena again.
But out of nowhere, Justin brought out the man's name, saying in an annoyed voice, "Too bad for Cena, he thought he can stop us from getting to the Rumble this year!"
"What's his problem, anyway?" Zeke asked and Slater answered for Justin.
"I bet he wants everyone out of his way in the Rumble!"
Not this one again, Wade thought. Didn't he just ask not to think of Cena anymore? Suddenly irritated, he reached in his pockets, searching for his iPod, thinking that music would soothe his restless brain. However, he found his pockets empty except for his car keys and a couple of crumpled papers. He abruptly stopped on his tracks and laid his duffel bag on the ground, frantically looking for the gadget. The other Corre members stopped as well, watching Wade almost throw everything from his bag.
"What's the matter, Wade?" Heath asked. Wade kept on scruffling in his bag and he didn't even look up as he replied.
"My iPod, I can't find it anywhere," and he started taking items from the bag one by one as he muttered, "It's go' to be here somewhere..." But no matter how hard he looked, he didn't find his iPod. Disappointed, he started taking his things back in his bag slowly.
"Wait, you placed your iPod on the bench before you showered, right?" Justin said suddenly and Wade's head turned to him in a heartbeat. That was when Wade remembered that he did leave his iPod in the locker room.
He closed his duffel bag and swung it behind his shoulder as he stood. "Thanks fo' remindin' me, Justin. I'm goin' to check the locker room, see if it's still there. You guys go ahead; I'll see you in the morning."
Though hesitant to leave their teammate, the three nodded in approval and walked to the exit as Wade turned and headed to the locker rooms hurriedly. He passed by a lot of corridors, his footsteps echoing across the hallway. As he walked, he realized that he was the only one left in the place and it wouldn't hurt if he made a lot of noise, so he started picking up his pace and he quickly strolled down the aisle.
A couple of minutes later, Wade finally found the room where he and Corre had stayed for the day and he barged inside, heading to the benches where he sat earlier that day. At the first look, he almost sighed in relief when he found his iPod placed carefully on the metal surface of the bench. Smiling, he grabbed the gadget and stuffed it in his pocket, feeling better than before. He left the room, closing the door lightly behind him.
It was silent as Wade headed to the main hall and somehow the silence was rather deafening. Thinking of an idea, he fished the iPod out of his pocket and tried to start it but then he just realized that he hadn't charged the thing yet so its batteries were probably drained. He guessed he'd just have to muster the quietness of the place until he got out of the arena.
Wade took one step forward and in time with his move, he heard something creak. He stopped, checking where the sound came from. The creaking got louder and the Brit got more curious. He followed the sound and found it was in a closed room right beside him. Maybe it was just a rat, or an open window that creaked because of the wind, so he decided to ignore it and head outside. But then he heard hushed voices and rapid breathing inside. This time curiosity got the better of him and he pressed his ear blandly against the door.
There were gasps and grunts, quick breathing and sounds of swatting in rythm, and Wade's eyes widened. He couldn't be wrong; a couple was doing something nasty in the room. The creaking sound continued along with the groans and cries of pleasure, and it seemed to get faster with every count. Wade felt embarrassed for eavesdropping on a couple fucking each other's brains out but he couldn't take his ear away from the door. Well, it was because he wanted to recognize at least one of the voices he was hearing and he had to admit: what he was hearing was actually turning him on.
The moans grew louder and more needy and Wade felt a sudden rush inside his stomach. If he wasn't careful to keep himself together, he might end up stroking himself on the spot but still, he couldn't move from where he was standing. And then as he was about to give in to his own flesh, he heard the name that made him sane again.
"...R-Randy..."
Stricken in surprise, Wade turned to the door and mouthed 'Randy?', unable to believe what he just heard. He thought that he left with Cena earlier than the other superstars! What was he doing in here? Wait, maybe he sneaked in here with someone else? Cena wasn't that naughty to have public sex; Wade knew the man had dignity in him. There was one explanation left Wade could think of.
Randy was cheating on Cena.
The slapping sounds was getting faster and so was the grunting. Wade closed his eyes, trying to stop himself although this was like a preview of a porn movie.
"...Randy..no, st-stop it...hurts..."
But the grunting didn't stop and it got louder that Wade didn't have to press his ear against the door anymore. The Brit looked at the door, not knowing what to do. The man-woman-whoever Randy was fucking was begging him to stop, but it seemed that Randy wasn't listening. The cry was matching Orton's pleasured moans and Wade didn't know if he could hear more of it.
"I-I can't anymore!...Randy..Ahh! Stop, please-gah!"
Wade closed his ears, taking a step backward. He couldn't hear any of this anymore! The cry and the plea of whoever it was sent a shot through the Brit's heart and it made Wade want to charge into the room and stop what they were doing. But Wade knew he would be disrupting their privacy; he wasn't that rude to do that!
Eventually, he took his hands away from his ears and listened if there were still sounds coming from the room, but then all he heard was silence. Seconds later, he heard the sound of a belt jingling and he froze on his spot. Anytime now, somebody would come out of that room and he'd be in deep shit if he would be seen, so he grabbed his bag and quietly moved to a dark corner almost ten feet away. Wade's heart was beating in anticipation and nervousness, it was like it wanted to leap out of his ribs. Breathing deeply, he forced himself to calm down and waited for the first person to walk out of the room.
Wade heard the door open and close after a couple of minutes. He leaned slowly to the wall, peeking discreetly from his corner. From his location he saw Randy straighten his shirt out and walk to the exit. Wade had expected him to come out first for he probably tired his partner out. Patiently, the Brit waited for the next one to appear from the room.
Moments later, the door finally opened and Wade almost stumbled on his feet out of surprise. Cena came out of the room, wiping his eyes with his palm, and it looked like he was just crying. The man looked around, checking if somebody was watching him before walking away, limping slightly.
Realizing he was wrong, Wade stayed on his place, stricken with disbelief. That explained why Cena looked so tired, why he had a red mark on his neck, why he looked so pitiful compared to the last time he saw him. It all explained everything. And he was wrong; Randy wasn't cheating on Cena.
Cena was in an abusive relationship with Orton.
