Three days earlier...
"What's gotten into them?!" Alexa whispered, watching in a mix of fright and confusion as Finn and Amanda were stood across from them in the ring, Finn pulling Amanda to him like a true demon taking an angel… they were in their Angel From Hell and Demon King personas for tonight's NXT taping and it was driving the fans crazy.
"Just stay back." Joe whispers before the match started.
It wasn't long before it was Amanda and Alexa in the ring and Alexa was trying to bite Amanda again but Amanda lifted her right foot up and kicked Alexa in the jaw hard enough to stun her before Amanda stepped back, ran at her and slammed her right knee into Alexa's face before pinning her and winning the match, Amanda helping Alexa up… and Alexa shoving her away as her nose was bleeding.
"Alexa, she's just trying to help!" Finn says after getting into the ring, Alexa glaring at him as Joe got in and reset Alexa's nose.
"Fuck the 'help'... and fuck the match! It ain't over until someone's out!" Alexa says, shouting at the end and kicking Amanda back enough that she was against the side ropes, which was where the left side of her face repeatedly made contact with Alexa's right fist moments later as Amanda fought back, Finn and Joe pulling the divas apart and Alexa turning and kicking Joe between his legs, knocking him down...
Then the audience was absolutely silent for a moment as Alexa was forced to stop her rampage.
Not by any referee of another of the wrestlers… but by the butterfly knife embedded to the hilt in her right shoulder just in front of her collarbone.
A butterfly knife that those in the ring knew from its design, despite having no idea of the direction it came from.
Amanda was sitting up now with Finn's arm locked around her back and him checking her bruising face and eye as Joe took a sobbing Alexa away from there, Amanda in stunned silence as she was still disoriented.
"And just when I thought people stopped throwing knives…" Amanda manages to say.
"I don't know where that even came from, wherever it did." Finn says, glancing at the splatters of blood on the ring mats in an attempt to get some sense of direction from them but the initial stab impact had just sent blood in every direction.
And it wasn't just Alexa's… looking closer beneath Amanda's left eye, Finn saw a deep wound and saw Amanda trying not to cry from the pain.
"She hit me so hard, I started bleeding..." Amanda says as Finn picked her up into his arms.
"Seems so… be careful, it's tempting but don't rub your eye… I think that blood's from a split in your eyelid." Finn says as he carefully carried Amanda away from the ring.
Amanda would not deny that the pain was excruciating… she stayed curled close to Finn and he obliged by holding onto her to comfort her.
It was all caught on live Tv… and everyone in the back and watching at home were most likely traumatized by what had happened.
That's how Finn knew that's what was going on with Amanda when she had gone quiet in his arms… she was trying to process it but couldn't…
Present time…
Sleep eluded Amanda as of late, vivid flashbacks to her eyelid being split open haunting her nights.
The stitches and bruise were still there and Amanda still had some occasional bursts of pain in her eye, medicine could only bring temporary relief to her and she hated the way prescription painkillers made her feel… she felt a hand resting on her side and looked up, seeing Finn.
He hadn't left her side for too long since the injury happened… she knew his protectiveness was out in full force now, she still had trouble seeing out of her right eye at times.
"Sleeplessness won't help… want to talk about it?" Finn says, asking the last part as his hand went from resting on Amanda's right side to resting on her back as his arm was wrapped around her.
"I feel like I crashed and burned out there, Finn… and then seeing her get stabbed? Alexa and I don't get along but she didn't deserve that." Amanda says, Finn brushing Amanda's hair back.
Although far from as serious as Amanda's injury, Alexa's injury put her on the injured list… but although Hunter understood that, he had also put Alexa on suspension for what had happened to Amanda.
Given that Hunter had watched Amanda grow up and thought of her as if she was one of his kids, it was natural that he would turn all papa bear when she got hurt.
"You didn't crash and burn out there, Mandy… you were trying to help her and she turned into a lunatic. The stabbing was too far but she deserves worse than a suspension, she deserves to be fired." Finn says.
"You've been hanging around AJ Styles for too long…" Amanda says, her and Finn chuckling slightly.
"Well, you're right about that… AJ's behavior rubs off on people." Finn says.
"It does…" Amanda says, Finn knowing that from the way that she was rubbing her unharmed right eye that sleep was starting to take hold of her.
It wasn't long before Amanda was out, Finn watching her sleep contently before kissing her on her forehead and falling asleep himself.
Sleep would only be temporary relief for the two… but tomorrow's chaos would be dealt with clearer minds.
They at least hoped that their minds would be clearer.
