All Alone

location: the ice city

Seth had never expected things to go this far. He'd never wanted to be one of Hunter's most trusted men, had never bargained for that to even be a possibility. He prided himself on being one step ahead of everyone… what a joke.

He'd been out in this wasteland for days and still had no idea where he was going or why he was helping the enemy.

But the thought of possibly seeing Roman again put a large smile on his face. He missed his brother, missed the strength in his bones and the crooked nose on his face, missed the sound of his deep voice.

The streets were slick with ice and buildings covered in snow, the sky greyer and darker than it had been the day before. Tall buildings stood against the light grey like charcoal. Seth couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the sun. Well, no, he imagined it would have been before the floods had hit their country. But the ground was always white with snow or black with darkness and everything about his reality was now monochrome.

Seth dragged a hand through his hair, down across his chin as he sighed, spinning in the middle of the street as he tried to at least find some sort of life.

There was a click behind him.

And when he turned, the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his head.

"If you even think about doing something stupid, I'll lodge a bullet between your eyes."

The woman standing in front of him was short, dark brown hair falling over her shoulder in waves. A piece of red material was tied around her head to keep the hair off her face, blue jeans barely covering the winged tattoos that sat between her hips. Seth recognised her briefly, could picture her standing next to a man with a long dirty blonde beard. And then her name sat at the tip of his tongue.

He'd watched Stephanie kill her sister.

"Brie Bella," he said softly. "It's been a long time."

The woman glanced over his shoulder and then over hers, tilted her head to the left when she was satisfied. "Walk."

Together, with the gun still pressed against his head, Brie and Seth made their way towards a building with an arch for an entrance. As soon as the doors were shut behind him, the gun was gone and her arms were around his shoulders.

"I didn't know when I was going to see you again," she breathed against his shoulder.

Seth laughed into her hair and wrapped his arms tight around her waist. Of all people, he didn't expect to see Brie Bella still kicking. He'd honestly thought that she would have given in a long time ago, but when he pulled back and stared at the woman, the strength in her eyes told him that he was dead wrong.

"God, you haven't changed," Seth said as he held her face between his hands. "It's good to see you, Brie."

The woman smiled at him, wrapped her hands around his arm and began to drag him towards a staircase that descended into darkness.

"You weren't followed?"

"Not that I know of."

"Even if you were, Roman told me that you were working both sides. So I had to make it look believable if they were watching you."

She was smart, Seth had to hand it to her. But then he paused. "Roman?"

Brie looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

Hopping down the stairs a couple at a time, Brie pushed forwards to drive her shoulder into a metal door, flinging the thing backwards. He followed her footsteps as well as he could, marching through a black tunnel after her.

"It's fuckin' dark down here," Seth murmured quietly.

Brie laughed. "You get used to it, I promise."

No sooner had she said those words than a light flowed into the tunnel. Brie walked towards it and called out 'all good!' quickly, and when Seth passed the threshold and stood in the light, he was stunned.

He wasn't stupid or deaf. He'd heard the rumours of the ice city, of a place so blindingly white that it was almost overwhelming. But what he hadn't heard of was the presence of people. They weren't milling around and there weren't a lot, but to the left of him was a man with a gun, to the right a woman with a dagger.

"C'mon," Brie said softly. "I know where he is."

Again she led the way, stepping carefully over the snow and what looked to be broken glass. They headed towards what looked like a tunnel that had been sliced in half and then his eyes focused on the large Samoan who had his head dropped back against the bricks.

Roman fucking Reigns.

Brie called out his name and when the pale eyes slid open and locked on Seth, the smile that spread across his face was infectious. The two-toned man launched at Roman, pulling him into a hug so bone-crushingly hard that he couldn't breathe for a second.

"Seth," Roman laughed. "Fuck, man, didn't think I would see you anytime soon!"

"Good to see you, brother."

Roman wrapped his large hands around Seth's head and dropped a kiss against his hair. "You, too."

Brie sent a smile in Roman's direction and excused herself from the moment, walking back the way she came.

But unfortunately, Seth wasn't here for a catch up. He stood back from Roman and ran a hand through his hair. "We have a problem."

Immediately, Roman's eyes darkened. "Dean?"

"No, no, Dean's fine," Seth reassured the big man. "Last I heard he was driving up to some small town with a mechanic in it."

"A mechanic?"

Seth frowned as he watched Roman's face pinch in interest. "Yeah…"

"Waters Car Repairs?"

"How'd you know that?" He asked incredulously.

But the smile that spread on Roman's face was glowing. "My cousins run the town there, man. He's good. He's safe."

"Yeah, well, you're not."

Roman frowned then. "What do you mean I'm not?"

"Hunter got word that you were still alive. That's why I'm here, he sent me to bring you in," Rollins explained. "I can't stay long, but we need to figure something out so that they don't find you."

"You have something in mind?"

Seth's smirk told Roman everything he needed to know. "I always have somethin' in mind, Ro."

—

Almost an hour later saw Seth heading back to the entrance of the city. He'd bid goodbye to his brother, his best friend. Hopefully their plan would work. And if it did, they'd have absolutely no reason to panic. But if Roman's part went wrong? They would all lose. And Roman would more than likely lose his life.

Their history was tangled. At some point in time, each of them had worked for the Authority. He'd worked with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns. They had called themselves a shield, something to stop injustices from reaching the lives of Hunter and Stephanie. And at first, they were just, their rule was kind. But power got to them. Stephanie craved control of everything. And Hunter gave it to her.

Brie and Nikki Bella were the twin sisters that caused more trouble than they did good. Simply, their job was to run a local grocery and a fitness centre as soon as the floods had receded. But Nikki Bella was in love with a man that had tried to throw the Authority out of power. And so to retaliate against him, Stephanie slit her throat.

Seth shuddered as the memory tore through him, her lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling, open mouth gaping.

Brie's husband had thrown her out of the city as soon as he got the chance to. Because she was in just as much danger as her sister if she stayed — he was one that fought against the system as well.

He'd heard the story of her husband's death reaching her ears, the way she screamed herself to sleep and wouldn't come out of her room for days.

Dean had… he'd been the one to kill Bryan. Forced to, by Stephanie and Hunter. He and the Samoan had stood back and watched in frustration as the dirty blonde was elected to kill one of his only friends, a friend that he'd had since before the floods. Seth had noted that his eyes were empty for a long time after that.

For a long time, the three men had worked in tandem for the Authority. When it became too much, when they disobeyed by attacking Stephanie's bodyguard, they had killed Dean's fling. Seth remembered her name as Renee, but nothing else. There had been a switch inside of him that just… turned off. He only cared about fist on flesh and his brothers after that.

Galanti had been next. When Roman had punched Hunter, Hunter had snapped Galanti's neck. It had almost been a year and the Samoan still wasn't over it.

Which had left Seth. Seth, who had no connections to anyone. Seth, who had no loves and no cares in the world except his two brothers. Seth, who had the least to lose. There was no one left that he loved that they could take from him.

Seth knew he was being followed as soon as the scuff of a shoe he didn't recognise as his met his ears. He knew he stood out like night in the middle of the day, his black tactical boots and pants contrasting the light grey snow on the road. He clenched his gloved hands. There was only one man that could track him down like this. "You followin' me, Orton?"

The viper behind him chuckled. "You caught me."

"Don't underestimate an architect," Seth said slowly as he glanced over his shoulder, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "Why are you here?"

But Randy Orton dodged his question. "Was that Brie Bella I saw, earlier?"

The two-toned man's heart lurched into his throat, ran his tongue over his lip nervously. "Yeah, it was."

"Why didn't you slap the gun out of her pretty little hands then, Rollins?" Randy questioned him. He could hear the smirk in the viper's voice. "Thin as a twig, you'd have her down in seconds."

"Too pretty to break," Seth said calmly. "The more she trusts me, the more likely it is I'll get information out of her in regards to Roman Reigns." He paused and gazed over his shoulder again. "Wouldn't expect you to understand that, though, Orton, you can't think past your anger or your dick when it comes to pretty ladies."

Instead of reacting harshly, Randy clapped him on the back and smirked, nodding. "You got a point, Rollins. You're out here looking for Reigns, then?"

"Did Hunter not send you to help bring him in?"

"He just told me to keep an eye on you, had no idea that Roman Reigns was involved," Randy laughed, shook his head. "Fuck, I didn't even know he was alive."

Seth raised a shoulder and cautiously stepped away from the chiseled man. "Apparently alive and kicking."

Hunter had sent him? This wasn't good. It meant that the Authority leader didn't trust him enough to get the job done by himself. He needed to pick his game up and give it a good polish, because neither Hunter or Stephanie would hesitate in the decision to kill him and he didn't feel like dying any time soon.

"Go figure." Orton looked down at Seth and a smirk fell across his lips. "Speaking of alive and kicking, Dean Ambrose has a play thing. Gone back to her for a second time. He must be losing his mind if he thinks that Hunter will let 'im keep her."

For the second time, Seth felt his heart lurch into his throat.

He hoped to God that Dean knew what he was doing.

thank-you to Seth rollins babe and Nangel4 for their lovely words :) xx

also, i should mention that i know it's Galina and not Galanti, but i felt rude killing her off so i changed her name a little...