Author: pandora1017
Rating: PG
Content: A little slash
Notes: I'm breaking my hiatus for a timed piece - for the TLC IV match. This is kinda a commentary piece... so take that as what you will. It kinda throws in a lot of my thoughts on how the WWE's been handling E&C's storylines since the infamous KOTR and some thoughts on why the participants of TLC IV should and shouldn't have been who they were. There's a Hardys chapter somewhere in the back of my mind - and maybe even a Dudleys chapter - but we'll see if school work allows. Oh, and this doesn't fit in the story anywhere, so I'm going to state this opinion right here: Kane should not have won that match. That totally lowered the credibility of the three original TLC participants and showed them to be incapable without the help of their respective 'brothers.' Sorry about the tangent, I'm done now. No, no, wait. This is just like how Jericho and Benoit winning TLC III demeaned the three teams who busted their asses in the original table matches, ladder matches, and TLC matches. Grr. Ok, now I'm done.
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"You did your best, Christian. It was my fault. We should have won it," Chris Jericho consoled his friend as they hobbled from the gorilla area to the locker room. Chris was feeling one of his more rare emotions - guilt. He knew how much this match meant to Christian. Christian just heaved a painful sigh.
"It's not your fault. There's not much you can do when you're being chokeslammed off a ladder. Where the hell did Kane come from anyway?" Christian griped. He sighed again. "Sorry I was late when Spike knocked over your ladder."
"Hey, you threw him through that table for me, good enough," Chris joked, trying to elicit a smile from Christian. It was unsuccessful. "How's your back?"
Christian grimaced, still holding his back where Jeff had thrown him from the turnbuckle onto a ladder. "That painted freak had better watch out next time he gets in the ring with me..."
"Painted freak?" A familiar voice interrupted, causing both Christian and Jericho to freeze. "Now that's not a nice name for your ex-boyfriend."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jericho narrowed his eyes as he turned to the tall blonde man who was leaning against the wall and hiding behind dark sunglasses. Christian just watched his brother wide-eyed, startled by his very presence. Edge ignored Chris and met his brother's blank glance with a smirk.
"What the hell are you wearing, Chris?" Edge mocked. Christian's face went as red as his new tights and he refused to answer.
"Why are you here, Edge?" Jericho demanded again.
"I came to see my little brother in his first TLC match without me. I guess we found out who really carried the team now."
Christian moved to strike his brother, but Jericho stepped between Edge and Christian. Edge didn't flinch. "Why don't you go back with your SmackDown friends and get the hell out of here? You're not welcome here, Junior."
"What are you going to do," Edge started, finally acknowledging Jericho, "sic Jamal and Rosie on me?"
"What makes you think we need them to take you?" Christian growled under his breath.
"Aw," Edge cooed, "It's so cute that my little brother still seems to think that he can take on me."
Once again, Jericho restrained Christian.
"What do you want?" Jericho demanded again. Christian was just fuming behind Jericho.
"I want to talk to my brother. Is that too much to ask?"
"I don't want to talk to you," Christian snapped. "Get the hell away from me."
Instead of leaving, Edge pushed off the wall and took a step towards Christian. Chris took a step back, trying to stay between Edge and Christian, but Christian stood his ground and Jericho ran into him. Edge looked straight past Jericho to Christian, the smirk finally dropping from his face. "I said, I want to talk to you."
"You snap your fingers, I jump. Is that right?"
"Don't give me this bullshit, Christian, you know what this is about," Edge growled. Jericho looked between the brothers, confused. Any lingering pain from the match was washed from Christian's face and he matched his brother's death glare.
"Christian...?"
"I'll catch up with you later, Chris," Christian answered, not taking his eyes off Edge.
"You sure?" Jericho asked, still watching Edge and Christian's stare down.
"Yeah, go."
Jericho stepped from between them, practically hearing Mills Lane call, 'Let's get it on!' as he gave the brothers full access to each other. He walked away slowly, but didn't hear anything, as Christian and Edge seemed to be waiting for him to leave before starting to brawl. There were a few more tense moments of silence before Edge spoke again.
"I didn't think you'd do it."
Christian didn't miss a beat. "You did it first. I didn't think you would have done it."
"There's a difference between tagging and doing a TLC match."
"There's a difference between tagging and being the tag team champion."
"Is that what this is about?"
"Is that what what's about? You're the one who came here. Aren't you supposed to be in Louisiana?"
"Arizona. Louisiana was last week. Nice to see you're still paying attention."
"Fuck off, Edge. Why did you come here?"
"I heard you were going to have a TLC match. I wanted to see if you'd go through with it. I thought we agreed not to do those anymore."
"No, we agreed that we were going to be singles wrestlers. Then you had to go and take the Intercontinental belt from me, and -"
"You took it from me first!"
"- and then you went and tagged with Hogan and -"
"You can't hold that against me."
Christian stopped an narrowed his eyes. "Watch me."
"Hogan was my childhood hero. Our childhood hero! Would you have passed up a chance to tag with Hogan?"
"Yes, if it meant going back to tagging. The whole reason we started this fight was that stupid King of the Ring tournament. We wanted to be singles wrestlers. Besides, it's freaking Hulk Hogan. He's only about a hundred years old. What a waste."
Edge sighed, and took off his glasses. Christian finally saw how tired Edge looked. This was obviously bothering Edge much more than he originally let on. Edge ran a hand through his hair. "We were the biggest Hulkamaniacs in town. Are you trying to tell me you're not a Hulk Hogan fan anymore?"
"Pretty much."
"Since when?"
"Since I got the Big Boot."
Edge rolled his eyes. "Aw, Chris, that's so -"
"From you." Edge looked up to Christian quickly, being greeted with the same angry glare. "One good thing about Lance - he'll never beat his brother with a lame-ass gimmick move, then celebrate by waving the American flag on the Fourth of July."
Edge looked back to the ground solemnly. "This isn't about titles, is it?"
"Of course it's about titles," Christian snapped. "You're always trying to be better than me! Wasn't it enough that you have three more Intercontinental title reigns than me? Did you have to have more tag title reigns, too?"
"I didn't do it for -"
"So you were now the eight time tag champ. And I had to go and find myself a new tag partner so I could at least keep up. And look where that leaves me now. With those Un-American chumpstains."
"Christian -"
"And Lance had to go and let that obnoxious Regal in, and -"
"Chris, you live in Tampa."
Christian crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "At least Lance knows more than five wrestling moves."
Edge took a deep breath to push down his rising anger. "Look, Christian, it was a fluke. I just happened to tag with Hogan and win the titles. You won them from us. Doesn't that mean anything?"
Christian looked away from Edge to the ground. Edge continued. "Tagging isn't anything special. Everyone tags from time to time. You didn't honestly expect to never tag with anyone again, did you?"
"I didn't expect to win the titles again," Christian mumbled. Edge ignored him and continued.
"But TLC matches... those were ours. We had mastered those. We beat those Hardys and Dudleys more than they ever beat us in any table or ladder matches - combined. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
Christian snapped his eyes back up to Edge. " 'Us' doesn't mean anything to me anymore, if that's what you're asking."
Edge stopped and blinked at Christian. "What?"
"There is no 'us' anymore. Never was. Just like I always said, it was always Edge and his sidekick Christian. I was nothing. This was my chance to finally prove that I did my share in the TLC matches, to prove that I wasn't just riding on your name," Christian sighed and swallowed a lump in his throat. "And I failed."
"What did you expect? You were just going to waltz in there with Jericho and have the kind of chemistry we had?"
"He won a TLC match once, too," Christian practically whispered, returning his glance to the floor.
"That's bullshit, Christian. What were you thinking?"
"Hey," Christian argued, looking back to Edge. "I was forced into that match, my job was on the line!"
"That's not what I mean. I mean what were you thinking? How many times did you stop and look for me in that match?"
Christian stopped, slackjawed. He just watched Edge silently, but Edge pressed the issue. "How many times? How many times did you look for me for a tandem move? How many times did you know what we would have done, but Jericho wasn't with you? How many times did you really realize that even if you grabbed that belt from the top of that ladder, it just wouldn't be right because you wouldn't be bringing that other belt to me?"
Christian took a step back from Edge and wiped his tearing eyes with the back of his hand. He managed to choke out: "Once."
Edge's face softened. "Once?"
"Yeah, once," Christian whispered. " 'Cause I never forgot it."
Edge silently looked over his brother. He had come here with the intention of making him regret that match, but now that it was done, he wish he hadn't. He knew that Christian still loved him, he knew that Christian regretted that infamous chairshot. Compelled from something he almost forgot he had, Edge reached out and set his hand on the side of Christian's face, trying to console him. Christian jerked away from him. "Fuck off, Edge. Get the fuck out of here."
Edge dropped his hand and walked off, putting his sunglasses back on. He didn't look back, so he missed Christian slumping to the ground, in tears. Broken.