rDisclaimer: I own none.
A/N: Wow. Honestly, I was really worried about how people would take the ending to Breaking Both my Wings and the first chapter of this story, but surprisingly, everyone seems to like it so far. Thank you to everyone who has shown an interest in these stories!
In other news, did anyone see Smackdown on 12/12? I loved The Cutting Edge, especially Edge's comments about how many people want Jeff gone, etc. I love it when the WWE can inspire me like that. ;)
They weren't saying anything- not to his face, anyway. He could hear them whispering when he passed them in the halls, though they'd stop when he approached. He looked straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with them, though he could almost feel their eyes on him as he walked by. Just get through the meeting with Vince, he kept telling himself. Deal with the boss, then deal with the coworkers…
He saw Jeff waiting outside Vince's office and felt a burst of anger well up inside him. He didn't round the corner; he didn't think he could face his brother for longer than absolutely necessary. All thoughts of reconciliation were gone. He could only remember how utterly stupid and idiotic he had acted the night before and it infuriated him. He took a deep breath and, when he heard the door to Vince's office open, finally rounded the corner and walked in right behind his brother.
Jeff didn't even acknowledge his presence. He didn't even glare at him when he walked over to the other side of Vince's office. He simply continued to stare ahead, as if Matt wasn't even in the room, though Matt wasn't sure whether to be hurt or just angry at his actions. He bit back the bitter comment he longed to throw at Jeff and focused on his boss, Stephanie McMahon, and several others members of Creative who were in the room.
They wasted no time in getting straight to the point. "We're not going to deal with this," Stephanie said curtly.
"What?" Both Matt and Jeff had spoken at the same time, though when they realized it they glared at each other and didn't say anything else.
"Because we don't care what's really going on here. That's your problem," Vince said, his voice as clipped as his daughter's. "You two can battle this out in the ring all you want."
"I'm assuming there's going to be rules, though, right?" Jeff said sarcastically. He didn't know why he was so pissed at everyone. In all honesty, he had expected something like this. Probably just pissed at having to deal with that traitor…
Stephanie narrowed her eyes slightly, the only sign that she had heard the sarcasm in his voice. "Of course," she said. "You two are to confine everything to the ring as much as possible. No attacking each other or getting into fights in the hallways or hotels, and if that means avoiding each other than so be it. Feel free to try to work things out peacefully, though, and if you manage to reconcile-" the two brothers snorted in disbelief. "-we're more than willing to provide the scapegoat we talked about before. Until then, you're on your own. The only guidance you'll be getting from Creative is info on whether or not other people are going to be going out during your promos or matches."
"However, this does not mean you have free reign to do whatever you want," Vince continued where his daughter had left off. "You both know what we expect of our superstars and we expect you adhere to those standards. I'm also warning you right now, if either of you purposefully injures the other I will not hesitate to fire both of you!"
Matt and Jeff were forced to stay there for a little while longer while Vince and Stephanie alternated telling them their new rules for while they were fighting before they were finally allowed to leave. Jeff brushed past him and Matt, after all but slamming the door shut behind him, said, "What, accusations to make today?" He had a brief moment of Oh crap, that was not a smart thing to say but he brushed it aside.
Jeff had froze, his hands clenched at his sides in fists, body all but trembling in anger. Remember what Vince said, don't start a fight, don't start a fight… He told himself, but it didn't do any good. "What, did you run out of lies to feed to me?" he asked sarcastically. "Did you finally realize that you got caught and you couldn't get out of this?"
The two of them had ended up standing nose to nose as the argument continued. "I wasn't telling you any lies! I didn't do anything to you!" Matt said as he shoved his brother away from him.
"Yeah well sorry if all of the fucking evidence says otherwise!" Jeff said as he shoved his brother, causing him to stumble slightly and hit the wall behind him. The fight would have continued if a small group of security guards hadn't come up and forcefully separated the two.
"Sorry guys, McMahon's orders," one of them said. "We're supposed separate the two of you if you start going at it backstage."
"As long as it keeps that bastard away from me, I'm fine," Matt snarled, just loud enough for Jeff to hear.
The two brothers were escorted away in opposite directions and, only after the guards were sure that they weren't going to go running off to find the other, were they released and left relatively alone- at which point Matt realized what he had done.
"Goddamnit," he muttered. "Perfect way to prove you're innocent, Matt. What the fuck were you thinking?"
His ramblings were interrupted by the arrival of one of the many employees. "Mr. McMahon wanted me to tell you that Shawn Michael's requested to start off your segment at the beginning of the show," he said, slightly out of breath. "I guess he has an announcement to make or something before you go out."
"Thanks for the info," Matt said, somehow managing to keep the sarcasm in his voice to a minimum. He's not the one you're pissed at… The messenger just nodded and ran off, probably to give the message to Jeff as well.
Matt slowly made his way over to gorilla, extremely thankful that his brother was no where in sight; he didn't want to get into another confrontation like the one they had earlier. He had hoped he would get there earlier enough to be able to catch Shawn and ask him what his announcement was going to be, so he would have some idea of what was going on before going out there, but he was running later than he thought and arrived just in time to see Shawn walk out.
Jeff arrived not long after that and the two steadfastly ignored each other- though the security guard who kept watching them to make sure they wouldn't start fighting again may have had something to do with that. They stood a good ways apart, both watching the screen to see what Shawn was doing down in the ring.
"Now, despite what some of you are thinking, this has nothing to do with my match last night at Wrestlemania," Shawn said. He had fought Orton in a number one contender's match for the championship last night and won, though he was going to lose that spot in the rematch later on Raw.
"About a year ago, I fighting Orton, much like I was leading up to last night's Wrestlemania," he continued. "Yet, unlike last night, I wasn't fighting him to gain something for myself. I was fighting him for two people who couldn't fight him themselves- Matt and Jeff Hardy. And last night, after my match to become number one contender, they went out to reveal who they thought was behind Jeff's moves getting banned. And, well…"
He motioned to the Titantron, where a video recapping what had happened the night before was playing. Jeff watched the clips unflinchingly, his hands clenched in fists at his sides. He took a deep breath, trying to tell convince himself that it would not be a good idea to start another fight right now, and went back to listening to what Shawn was saying.
"I have no idea what's going on between these two," he was saying. "And I'm not going to tell you what I think of this. I know that Matt and Jeff are listening and I want to tell them- and all of you- that no one in that locker room back there is going to get involved in this. You probably saw this coming already and I'm just out here to make this official. We're leaving you to solve your problems yourselves."
Jeff was the first to react. He motioned for his music to be played and walked out to the ring. Matt, who was still watching backstage, was surprised to see that the response for his brother was about half and half; the negative crowd reaction, for the first time in awhile, was almost the same as the cheers for him. Yet, though he was happy to see that some fans would most likely be supporting him, Matt couldn't help but feel as though it was too late to do anything about the situation. The battle lines have already been drawn among the fans… he thought. And who's to say that, despite what Shawn said, they won't be drawn backstage as well?
Jeff had reached the ring and grabbed the mic that was passed up to him. "Well, Shawn, first off I want to thank you for everything you've done for me in the past. There aren't many guys that'll stick up for someone like you did and you have no idea what it means to me that you decided to help me out." He paused for a moment, acting if he was merely trying to think of the next thing to say, but in reality he was trying to get a grip on his emotions. He would have to start talking about Matt soon and he needed to stay calm through that.
He took a deep breath and began speaking again. "I also want to thank you for the reassurance that no one in the locker room is going to get involved in the business I have with Matt. He hurt me deeply last night at Wrestlemania and whatever occurs as a result of that is strictly between the two-"
Matt's music hit, cutting him off. He snarled, lowering his mic and watching as his brother came out to a fairly good pop. Why should people be cheering for him after what he did last night? Jeff took a few steps back from the ropes as his brother walked down towards the ring and climbed in, an action which was not lost on the people watching.
"Like Jeff, I want to start off by thanking you for the help you've been, Shawn," Matt said. His voice was calm and even, but it was a struggle to keep it that way. The only thing he could think of was that his brother hated him and that someone backstage had set him up- and he didn't know who. As he looked at Shawn he couldn't help but wonder if it was him.
"From what you've said, though, it sounds like most of our coworkers are going to be ignoring us," Matt continued. "And, unlike my brother, I'm not too thrilled about that. See, despite what Jeff thinks, I didn't do this and it's going to be hard to find out who did if-"
"Will you cut it with the "I'm innocent" speech?" Jeff interrupted. "No one believed it last night and no one is going to believe it now!"
"Are you even listening to that crowd? Seems to me like at least half the people here believe me!"
"It doesn't matter what they believe!" Jeff yelled. "This is between you and me. Not them, not the rest of the guys in the locker room- just you and me."
Neither of them knew who threw the first punch but it wasn't long before the two brothers were in a full-out fight, both of them seeking to continue the fight from before. Shawn tried to get between them, but they just pushed him out of the way and continued their brawl. The crowd was cheering loudly, as if they'd already forgotten that just a day ago Matt and Jeff were fighting on the same side, not fighting each other.
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Jeff rolled off his brother and stumbled to his feet. He leaned against the ropes and watched as Mickie James came running out from backstage, mic in hand. Maria, who was right behind her, grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back, but Mickie shook her off. "No, Maria, I'm not going backstage!"
Matt, who had by this point also gotten to his feet, grabbed a mic from where they had gotten thrown at the start of the fight. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Trying to talk some sense into you two!" She yelled. "I'm sorry Shawn, but I'm not going to stand by and watch them tear each other apart!" Shawn just nodded slightly, but didn't try to stop her. She turned her attention back to Matt and Jeff. "You're acting like children! Just a few days ago you were joking and laughing, not fighting each other! You're brothers, in case you've forgotten. You owe it to each other to try to work this out civilly."
"This doesn't concern you!" Jeff told her.
"Like hell it doesn't! Whether you two are willing to acknowledge it or not what you two are going through is affecting everyone back there in the locker room. Why do you think Shawn said that no one's going to get involved? It's going to be hard enough dealing with differing opinions without having people literally fighting for you! You've started a war back there and it's only a matter of time before it all comes to a head, unless you work things out!"
"Mickie, it's not that simple!" Matt said.
"Why not? Why not!? Why can't you just talk to each other? Or have you forgotten that you're brothers?" Her voice cracked, but she continued. "Please, guys. Please, just stop fighting and-" She reached up to wipe at her eyes. Is she crying? Matt felt horribly guilty for upsetting her that much. Without saying anything else, she turned and ran backstage.
Matt watched her leave before turning to face his brother. Jeff seemed completely unaffected by what Mickie had said and Matt could feel the anger boiling up in him again, but he pushed it away. He threw down his mic and rolled out of the ring. Right now he needed to talk to Mickie.
He'd deal with Jeff later.