Bubba Ray knew that blood on a table was a bad sign and turned to Amanda, who was on the ground, hands over her mouth and nose as D-Von tried to help her up to see the extent of the damage.
"Just hold still, kiddo, it's alright." D-Von responded, managing to help Amanda sit up and she lowered her hands, Bubba carefully cradling her face in his hands as she opened her mouth.
"Yeah, the inside of her lower lip is sliced open deep…" Bubba replied, holding a towel to Amanda's mouth.
"What about her nose?" D-Von asked.
"Not bent out of place so I think… hairline fracture… Mandy, don't try to talk, little lady." Bubba explained, picking Amanda up into his arms before he and D-Von stood up and D-Von glaring at Seth before they headed to the backstage area.
Amanda did as her old friend said and didn't say anything so as not to aggravate the pain, even as Seth was following them and shouting.
"Take her and get her as far away from him as you can." D-Von replied as Bubba handed Amanda to Finn, who held onto her and did what was instructed before the multi time tag team champions turned to Seth.
"Have you lost what little sense you had?! You could've cracked that kid's skull!" Bubba yelled after grabbing Seth by his throat before D-Von pulled him off of the younger man.
"He deserves his ass being beaten but not right now!" D-Von responded.
"It was an accident!" Seth replied defensively.
"Yeah maybe so, but it was obviously a happy one to you!" Bubba responded, still ready at any moment to return his hand to where it had been.
"What gave off that impression?!" Seth shouted.
"When was the last time you did anything other than yell at that little girl and get physically violent with her?! No gentleness to her, no affection, just plain old jealousy because she got close to someone else! She opened her heart up again, nothing wrong with that!" D-Von responded, Seth letting his own anger out by flipping a nearby table over.
"She lost all consideration for who was there first! Who dropped all to help her before he even cared, who she'd be nothing without! She just flicked me away like a bug on her skin, well this bug is damn well biting back!" Seth shouted out ragefully.
Bubba grabbed him again but was stopped by John.
"Let an older sibling do what's supposed to be done when the younger one's been harmed." John responded, the two letting him drag Seth out into the parking lot.
In the trainer's office, Amanda's wound was stitched up and she was given Novocaine to help soothe her mouth as Dr. Amann checked the X-Rays of Amanda's nose… she stayed close to Finn, who knew as he held her that the silence from her meant one thing: trauma beyond physical injury.
"This is normal, right, someone going silent after this kind of injury?" Finn asked after Dr. Amann walked back over to them.
"Sometimes… it takes a while for someone to fully process the events that led to their injury." Dr. Amann answered, laminated x-ray printouts in hand.
'Was Bubba right? Just a hairline fracture?' Amanda wrote down on a notepad.
"No need to reset the nose… those stitches will be in for about a week and a half though so keep that mouth guarded." Dr. Amann explained.
'Which means soft foods and no straws in drinks, right?' Amanda wrote.
"Just like after wisdom teeth removal… hey, it'll be okay, you just need to relax for a bit." Dr. Amann responded before letting them leave.
The two headed to the hotel after grabbing their things, Amanda lying down in the bed after getting ready to go to sleep and Finn lying down next to her after closing and locking the door before wrapping his left arm around her waist.
"That fucking asshat!" Amanda said quietly as Finn held her closer to him, Amanda wrapping her arms around him. "Why do guys always go for the face? Do they get pulled aside in high school and taught to do that?" She responded as she started to feel sleepy.
"I suppose down at the core, it's… a thing of pride. A man in his younger days or hyped up mind never wants to even contemplate the idea of being beaten, and if they are they always do their best to cover it up as no big deal, still the man they were. Give them a scratch on the chest or a big bruise on the knee, no big deal, cover it up with different clothes. But you get a big bruise on your face… rarely will a man wear makeup, so how do you cover that up? I suppose the habit just… sticks. It makes your enemy more than beaten, it humiliates them afterwards." Finn responded, his mind of thought getting a bit more carried away than he intended.
"We'll see how he likes it when I bash his face in." Amanda muttered, Finn knowing that she could've easily suffered a concussion or have had another seizure if there was more force in the dropkick.
It wasn't long before both were asleep and Amanda's mind drifted off completely…
Amanda didn't normally question things when she first woke up… but looking up when her eyes were fully open, she saw a strange creature watching her and screamed, jumping off of the makeshift bed and hiding under it.
"Fear not, Cena. I alone intend no harm, nor will any of my kin." The creature said in a deep, mildly croaky voice, his large red eye observing her and arms, including the third small one in his chest, lowered to remove any sign of threat.
Amanda emerged from her hiding spot, carefully sitting up… she was still shaking and the Vortigaunt saw the bruises on her face and stitches in her mouth once it looked close enough without terrifying her further.
"One might question why nature would imperfect us with such a state of misery." The Vortigaunt said, referring to the pain as he raised his third arm, closing his left hand to meet with the central one. Between the two, a green light began to form, before he turned his hand towards Amanda, the light seeming to melt into her mouth and cheeks, pain and stings from the tugging medical threads being quick to fade.
"I question why I ever trusted Seth to begin with…" Amanda replied.
"It pays to remember such words as this… failure and mistakes are the greatest teachers of all things." The Vortigaunt responded.
"They are but… I feel like I've screwed up so many times, I just… I don't know why Finn stays around me through all of it." Amanda said, The Vortigaunt seeing the oversized Balor Club shirt that Amanda had been using for a nightshirt.
"We serve the same mystery… for a brief time, one of your kind joined us in our world, he brought our king to his grave. And yet, we stand to protect your kind, after such an introduction of our species… we care for the balance of life, much like Balor cares for the balance of yours." The Vortigaunt replied, stepping back a small pace as Amanda reached to her side to look at her phone, trying to find out the time.
But she did find countless angry text messages from Seth… and finally did what she had been wanting to do since he started treating her like a traitor and blocked his number. When she looked up, she could've sworn she saw The Vortigaunt smile.
"A mistake once learnt from, can never be remade." The Vortigaunt said after what Amanda gathered to be a nod of approval, however with such a different skeletal structure within him it was hard to tell what some human equivalents to his motions would be.
Amanda finally pulled herself up to her feet, the ground making them feel colder.
"We can protect you… but you need to rest up now." The Vortigaunt responded.
Amanda nodded and climbed back into the bed, eyes closing…
Amanda opened her eyes halfway and realised that she was hanging onto Finn, who had his arms around her and his left hand rubbing up and down her back.
She looked around, Finn getting her to look back at him.
"It's alright… just a dream." Finn responded, Amanda nodding.
But she didn't realise she was holding her phone.