A/N: Hello everyone! I apologize for the long hiatus from this piece of work; I was writing a different story and then school really took up a lot of my time so I had very little opportunity to write this, but here it is now - thank you so much for your patience. I really couldn't have done any of this without your help and support; it means a lot! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and fingers crossed, the next update won't be too far away! Please review :)


The Demon Inside Me

Chapter Eight: Paranoia

The war wasn't over. Finn thought their last match would have sufficed and ended this 'war' between him in the Wyatt Family - he was declared the winner after all - but that simply was not the case after what happened at Money in the Bank. Just as he was about to win big with the coveted briefcase, that vision had been cut short by none other than the patriarch himself, and he didn't even see it coming. Finn had to walk backstage with empty hands, his face unsurprisingly shocked. He won against them; the DEMON won. What business did Bray and his lackeys have with him now?

Finn was in his locker room icing his shoulders with Bayley there by his side. Nobody seemed to mind her being there; they understood and didn't look in their direction. As a matter of fact, there was no one there except for them. Bayley had her hands on his shoulders, massaging the ice delicately into his raw skin.

"Thank you, Bayley," he said with a grunt; no matter the pain he was in, there was such a comfort having her here with him. Bayley was positive vibes personified.

"No problem… you feelin' any better?"

"As cheesy as it sounds; yes, now that you're here." It was cheesy, but at least he meant it.

Her heart skipped a beat as her lips broke into a wide smile. "Good to know."

"Hey, when are you debuting again?" He didn't want to focus on his own issues or feel any self-pity; besides, he was genuinely curious. "I want front row seats to cheer you on."

"I'm afraid you're still gonna have to wait a bit. Plus, I can't ruin the surprise if you've forgotten. Not that I gave an exact date to begin with…"

"Sometime before the beginning of July?"

"Maybe… maybe not…" she teased, chuckling. He was going to have to wait for an answer, just like everyone else.

"I just want to be the loudest person cheering for you. Louder than any fan."

"Just imagine how loud you'll be when you find out; it'll be that much more authentic! Keep watching the women's matches these next few shows - that's all I'll tell you."

"Fine, fine… I respect that." His shoulders slumped as he relaxed them. "I'm so excited for you, is all."

"Trust me; me, too."

Finn walked Bayley to her hotel room for the night - a lot of the wrestlers were staying at the same one - before going off and finding his, jumping in bed and staring up at the boring, plain ceiling. This whole Wyatt Family debacle was getting under his skin and quite frankly, he was already sick of them. He had to find a way to get them all off his back, but if the demon couldn't silence them, what could? These never-ending questions lingered in his mind as he drifted into sleep.

On Raw the night after Money in the Bank, about halfway through the show, he had a match. Going in he couldn't help but feel wary - would the Wyatts try to jump him? Would it be before? After? During? Would it happen at all - was Finn just being paranoid? He had to keep his guard up and stay three steps ahead of the game just so he could be ready if and when they showed their ugly heads. With his senses heightened, Finn laced up his gear and prepared for battle against an old NXT Superstar, Baron Corbin. He had made his debut within the last few months as well, bringing an End of Days to the midcard.

Finn came out first to the roar of the crowd, opening his leather jacket as he made his way down the ramp so everybody could see his chiseled physique. He was proud of how he looked; why not show the world? On the back of his jacket read the words: "Bulletproof Bálor Club." He was Bulletproof, and nobody could touch him; he had to keep telling himself that as he entered the ring. That word meant something to him. The likes of Baron Corbin did not scare him in the least bit, but if the Wyatt Family really were to show up, Finn had to steel himself in preparation.

Baron came out next; the blinding white lights raining down upon his body, allowing the audience to drink him all in. He wasn't like any other Superstar that felt the need to make an obnoxious entrance; no, he was here, and all he had to do was stand by the titantron with his arms outstretched. He was more about the look anyway; a six-foot-eight imposing man with wolf heads on shoulder pads, he was the Lone Wolf. He didn't need anyone. People knew him, and they knew the product. With a rather bored expression, he made his way down to the ring, slipping through the ropes and immediately towering over Finn. Finn was used to this; in all his experience, being five-foot-eleven was all but short in the wrestling world, so standing beside his opponent who was nearly an entire foot taller was nothing extraordinary. It was just business.

'No sign of them anywhere…' Finn thought to himself as his blue eyes searched the area around him. 'That makes them more dangerous…'

Eden Stiles already introduced the two men when they made their way to the ring. The stage was set for a standard fair, just two men fighting. Both needed a win; Baron hadn't been on TV in a while so he needed to put his name back into the equation to get more time, and Finn had to start climbing to the top. Both of the men had similar goals: To be the best, to win gold - the top prize in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship - and to headline Wrestlemania. Any day is a good day to start.

The bell rang, and it was game time; the two men went head to head, grappling to start the match. Baron overpowered Bálor and immediately pushed him into the corner turnbuckles, the referee counting until four when he let go of the Irishman. Finn was still trapped inside his head, anticipating an attack from the Wyatts at any time - he needed to get himself back in gear and fast. His frozen blue eyes stared ahead at Baron, looking him over as he shook out some of the nerves in his arms, the two men circling each other. It was almost dance-like, drawing closer and closer to each other but at an even pace, like they were being pulled toward one another. Then they jumped forward simultaneously, grappling once more. They were pushing back, Finn's thighs straining as evident by the veins starting to pop out there. But with one swift motion, Corbin pushed him back, causing Bálor to fall on his side a few feet away.

"Is this all you got, Demon Boy?" Corbin antagonized, going to him and slapping him in the jaw as he was trying to sit back up. "Huh? Is this it?" He backed off in order to gloat, his outstretched arms drinking in the boos slipping from each and every audience member's tongues. The angrier they seemed, the stronger he became.

For some reason, Finn just couldn't shake the dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. The longer the match went, the more paranoid he got. Where were they? Why haven't they appeared? What are they up to? Every time he got the upper hand, it lasted all but a fleeting minute because he was undoubtedly sure that the lights would go off and he'd be staring into Bray's chilling blue eyes. They were the exact color of the ocean, but how could something so beautiful be so dangerous?

It was getting toward the end of the match, and everybody could sense it; their fifteen minute bout had to come to a close, and soon. Finn set Baron up for the Coup de Grâce; he climbed to the top of the turnbuckles as Baron laid still in front of him, every ounce of energy focused on hitting him square in the chest.

But at the last second, just as he was about to jump, Finn made the mistake of turning his head and thus saw something in the front row. A man or woman - hell, perhaps a child - wearing a sheep mask. One that looked all too familiar to the ones the Wyatts used. So this is how they were going to get him, by watching him from the crowd? He should have known better; this was brilliant. If only he noticed it sooner! But was this person one of the Wyatts? Did they recruit another member? This slight hesitation, this pause that he took, froze him in place, and he couldn't find it in him to move. He was back at Money in the Bank where just as he was about to reach his goals, they stole it from him. In that moment, he could feel all that rage, all that pain they inflicted on him, reminding him exactly why they weren't to be trusted. They picked a fight with the wrong guy.

Corbin saw that hesitation as his opportunity and he ran with it. He jumped back to his feet and knocked into Bálor, the latter slipping into his arms. Baron pulled back and was able to land the End of Days in a swift motion, earning the three count that immediately followed. The Lone Wolf slipped away to celebrate his victory as Bálor was left laying in the center of the ring, stunned at his own failure doing this match. The Wyatts never came. And they still got to him.

He made his way to the back, his path quiet and without a soul. No one approached him, and nobody had anything to say. How could he have been so stupid, getting in his head like that? He had nothing to worry about, and yet he still freaked out at a damn sheep's mask. Who knows if there even was one in the audience; maybe he just hallucinated it. There was no forgetting this, and Finn wasn't planning on being merciful. He had to plan. He had to calculate. The Wyatt Family - Bray - were unleashing something they would never be able to handle.

Finn started to fall back into himself with every day that passed, not that it was hard to do so, anyway; the people he once called his friends - especially those he knew in NXT - were barely even looking at him nowadays. They were all too afraid he was going to snap at them; the curse of the demon, he supposed. But why now? Why were they all suddenly like this? This concept of the demon had hung around him throughout his entire career, and not just in NXT or WWE; the beginnings of the demon could be found even in New Japan through different paints he put on. There had to be something else going on here. It never bothered anyone before, so what was the problem?

He was beginning to go on a losing streak, and it all started at Money in the Bank, that cursed pay-per-view. First Baron, then Sheamus on Smackdown. The live events he was at for that weekend? Lost all of those as well; surely those "didn't count" and they were just for fun with the fans, but even those irked him. He could feel his demon stir within his belly as he headed into Raw the next week.

The only person who gave a damn about him anymore was Bayley, and sometimes Finn thought he was on the verge of losing her, too. She was too pure, too good… But she could handle herself around any man or woman, nevertheless; she was her own person. She became that much more significant to him in this life the lonelier he got; he could finally admit to himself that he needed her.

Raw, June 20. Finn was very fidgety backstage as he hung around the Gorilla Position. He had to get his mind off his own problems and his own place in the business. He had to get out of this tiny room… He decided to venture back to the locker room where there was more open space for him to breathe in, but once he got there, he still felt preoccupied in his own mind. Flashes from what happened at Money in the Bank and the Monday Night Raw after popped into his mind. Hell, even the Smackdown fight with Sheamus did as well. Finn allowed himself to get distracted with the Wyatts and then lost to a fellow Irishman. How could he have been so stupid? To allow this to happen; what was happening to him? Across the room on the wall was a flatscreen TV where he could watch the events in the ring, so he decided to tune in, his hands shaking against his thighs, and he allowed himself to get absorbed into what was passing.

The lady group consisting of Nikki and Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, and Paige - otherwise known as Phoenix - came out to the ring. They were still at the top of the division and shaking up the women trying to make a name for themselves, namely Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and now Charlotte. The audience greeted them with a loud roar of boos that sustained for some time after they all grabbed microphones. Nikki and Brie made scrunched-up faces at the crowd.

"Be quiet!" Nikki said, furrowing her brow as the crowd got louder. "How dare all of you address the four of us that way; don't you know greatness when you see it? Oh wait, of course not, because you all cheer for little Miss Divas Champion, the one who calls herself the Boss!" She let herself pause as the crowd responded by chanting Sasha's name over and over again, loud and clear. This only made her more furious; she could feel her blood starting to boil as her cheek began to redden and her shoulders began to shake. "I said, be quiet! You all cheer for her like she's some kind of royalty; I'm the queen here - me! Nikki freaking Bella! I worked my tail off for nearly ten years to get that Divas title for more than just six days, and you saw what happened - I became the longest reigning WWE Divas Champion, and the best champion this company has ever seen! This is a fact, and none of you can possibly dispute it! I was resourceful! Powerful! A god! And how did you all respond? By thinking it's a-okay to come to me on my Twitter and Instagram and disrespect me because you think you know me and my story and where I've come from when you're all ignorant! IGNORANT. You begged for a revolution and for change for as long as I've been around when hello - you all had me! I was good enough all along but you didn't appreciate me; those three women, the 'NXT Three' - what a stupid little name - came up to us in our ring, on our turf so you decided they were worthy to cheer for; they were the ones worth your time when you shouldn't have even known about them! Oh my god, they were 'real wrestlers' because they weren't trained by the Performance Center. Would you guys get over yourselves already? Do you even listen to yourselves? There's more than just one way in becoming the greatest Diva of all time than by just wrestling in the independents. I created myself; I am self-made. So all of you can keep crying about how I don't deserve to be in my position; last I checked, I'm the one busting my ass working while the rest of you are complaining on your little smartphones that your daddies all bought for you."

She had been waiting for so long just to get all these words out in front of the crowds that harassed her day in and day out. Nevertheless, even after spilling the speech, the audience had the audacity to start chanting 'We Want Sasha' in a desperate attempt to silence her, but Nikki was having none of it. "And there it is! 'We want Sasha! We want Sasha!' Well, too damn bad! I'm here - Phoenix is here, and you're going to listen to us! I am a real woman - the four of us are real women! You're all excited to see some chick who just got to main roster not even a year ago, and then you all exploded when she became champion in only nine months. You think she knows how to run this place? I don't think so! This isn't NXT! This is the WWE - a place that actually matters!" She snorted when the people screamed out; how dare she attack the developmental branch? "Everything was handed to her since she got here. Every single thing! You expect me to just move aside for some twenty four year old? As for her other precious lackeys… It took me years and years of work - a whole lot of blood, a whole lot of sweat, and certainly a whole lot of tears! - to get my three hundred-and-one day reign, just to have it stomped on and halted by Daddy Dearest's precious little girl, Charlotte, somebody with no experience in the independents either, yet you all cheered for her when she took my title from me! What's the difference between the two of us, except that I don't try to take after my two-time Hall of Fame dad? Oh, and Becky? Yeah, you all like her?" She stopped herself, laughing to herself for a moment; the audience started to chant for the Lass Kicker as well. "What can I say except for the fact that she's completely worthless as a solo act? Couldn't take the title off of her best friend and the person who stabbed her in the back, and then just faded away for a while until Sasha brought her back for a little NXT reunion? How cute… Lass Kicker? More like she's a lass who gets kicked all the time. I've never seen such a pitiful excuse for a wrestler; talk about not being able to stand on your own two feet. Becky, I just pity you…"

"Oh, and another thing—" Brie chimed in only to be interrupted by the very people Nikki was calling out. Sasha Banks's music played and out came the Divas Champion herself along with her allies, Becky and Charlotte; the three of them were all carrying microphones already, and Sasha was leading them, the championship snug around her waist.

Sasha was the first to talk. "Oh, boo hoo, you have such a sob story, Nikki," she started, mocking her by fake crying. "'It took me so long to make it here, but people don't respect me! Won't you all please pity me!' Do you even realize how ridiculous you sound? You've been here how long and your skin still hasn't thickened?"

"You can't have it both ways, Nikki," Becky piped in. "You come out here with somewhat valid points, but your actions speak louder than your words. For years, you've had the mindset of a high school queen bee, acting like nothing but a bully toward everybody backstage so of course people won't respect you. Do you remember how you got the longest championship reign in history? Oh, that's right… you used your twin sister and Foxy to do your dirty work since you couldn't even handle the job of being champion yourself. What crawled up your arse and turned you sour?"

"Oh, shut up, Becky—" Nikki started but Becky continued.

"That's exactly my point right there!" The NXT Three all slid into the ring and the Straight Fire of the Divas Division walked right up to the leader of Phoenix. "You think you can fool us, the audience, and everyone watching at home about your sob story? How you busted your arse for years on end to get any sort of respect from anyone and you still think you don't have any? You're not the only person who's had to work for everything they've ever gotten. You want to call yourself an inspiration to little girls and women everywhere because you had a long reign and you think you're a strong, empowered figure? Anyone with eyes can see right through your antics and how you played the game; you kept the championship for so long and only won one championship match by herself out of what, eleven or twelve defenses? Not to mention you won the championship by cheating, and retained it by cheating again against the former longest reigning Divas Championship; THAT says a lot more about you than your little sob story. The difference between you gals and the three of us is that we won't try to shame the other women in the locker room to uplift ourselves; we don't feel the need to disrespect anyone because we let our actions speak for ourselves. Humiliation is for the weak, anyway, and that means we won't hold down another woman and spray paint all over her body because we don't like how pale she is, or steal her wrestling gear — remember that, Paige? Remember how the then-Divas Champion saw you as a threat so she stooped so low by grabbing her twin and stole all your clothes so you couldn't compete in a match that didn't even include her?" The twins averted their eyes as the memories flooded back from when they did those things to Paige at the beginning of 2015. Paige shifted awkwardly as she whispered to the Bellas: "I forgive you. I did a long time ago."

"Oh, please, Paige, what happened to you? Have you lost that much of a backbone that you can't even stand up to somebody anymore?" Becky rolled her eyes and gave Nikki her attention again. "You know who do those things like that, Nikki? Huh? Bullies. You're a bully. And you're due for a comeuppance."

"You talk a big game, Becky," said Foxy. "But you seem to be forgetting who we are… the four of us have put this Division and everyone in that locker room on notice. We're the most powerful group here, and we outnumber you four to three. You're in no position to challenge our authority."

"Funny you say that, because I specifically remember kicking all of your asses not too long ago singlehandedly," said Charlotte, smiling. She still felt odd fitting in with Becky and Sasha, but as the saying goes: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' "Not to mention I took your title, Nikki. BY MYSELF."

"You three are still weaker than the four of us!" Foxy retaliated, not standing for this condescending tone toward her friends. "Not to mention, you're all rookies and we're veterans. We're the ones with the experience on this stage and have been here longer than all of you!"

The four women of Phoenix trapped the NXT Three in a tight circle in the center of the ring. "You gonna try to fight us?" asked Foxy. "The three of us are a team. United. Three won't beat four."

They were right. Phoenix had another person with them and it wouldn't be hard for them to overpower them, especially with their veteran expertise coming in handy. Sasha, Becky, and Charlotte were by no means 'rookies' in any sense of the word, but they were still the newer ones here.

By no means did it mean they were the weak, however.

"Well? What are you fighting for?" Nikki said in a hushed yet somewhat sinister voice.

"Opportunity," simply said Charlotte.

"Respect," said Becky.

Sasha was quiet for a moment, wanting to choose her words carefully. She brought the microphone back up to her lips as she looked into the eyes of every member of the enemy group. "Power."

Nikki and her group sneered and laughed, unable to hold back how funny that word was to them. "Power? I knew that'd get to your head sooner or later," Brie said.

"Yes, power." Sasha's eyes narrowed. "The power to choose. The power to fight. The power to stand up for myself. The power to call people out on their crap." She put emphasis on that last phrase, a nod toward this group in front of her, the corners of her upper lip twitching. "And the power to call a friend to help…even the odds. Because you see, Nikki, there's a reason people like us. We all have a special chemistry with each other; we bring out the best in each other, personality-wise and in the ring. But when the three of us came up to Raw and Smackdown in July of last year, well… we were one short. There was always one person missing. You're not the only group to have four people… The three of us still have a friend who stayed behind to carry a brand all on her back ever since we left. She's beaten Charlotte, she's beaten Becky… she's even beaten me for my championship. She is the absolute best, and she's never needed to change herself in order to meet a standard, because guess what, she is the standard. She's never needed anyone to help her win a defense, and she's just about to become the new longest reigning champion."

Phoenix scoffed in response as Sasha let the air breathe for just a second. The crowd was chanting this person's name over and over; they knew who Sasha was referring to.

"Nikki, Brie, Foxy, Paige… meet the NXT Women's Champion."

Her music began to play, and the crowd erupted into a roar that was reserved typically for a returning legend. Finn was watching this all live, and once he heard her music, his heart - and time around him - all stopped in that moment. His blue eyes widened as the air escaped his lungs. Today was the day; a chill zoomed down his spine. She came out to the ring with her orange jacket and championship snug around her stomach. Her wrestling outfit was a splash of orange, yellow, red, green…a mixture of all those colors together, something familiar. Easily recognizable. In that moment, he wasn't thinking about his problems or the demons that plagued him; no, today was about her - it was her day.

Bayley.


A/N: I realized while writing this that there was an issue with a pay-per-view date: in REAL life, Money in the Bank is on June 19, NOT JUNE 12 like what is written here! Sorry for any confusion! And also I had written a few chapters ago that Sasha defeated Paige for the Divas Championship but last chapter, I wrote that she made Charlotte tap at 'Mania. Let's ignore that I wrote she beat Paige and continue with beating Charlotte. Sorry again!