7 Months Later..
"You're out for 6 months at the least."
"You're going to miss Wrestlemania."
"We're so sorry, Seth."
Seth sat in his private locker room after Battleground and looked down at the WWE championship he held in his hands. Alberto Del Rio held a WWE Open Challenge at the event and no one expected Seth Rollins to make his long-awaited return after his torn ACL and win back the title that he was forced to vacate. He immediately went back to the top of the totem pole and once again was "the man" but he was already absolutely miserable.
He had injured himself at a house show and when he received his diagnosis, he spent six months in seclusion. He accepted calls from no one, not Dean, not Roman, and definitely not Sasha Banks. Instead of staying in Florida to rehab, he went back to Iowa with his family and sulked.
Did he know that he was being childish? Absolutely. However, he couldn't bring himself to show his face to them. His life had been perfect and it all came crashing down in a matter of seconds and he couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle not getting his way.
When Hunter called him and told him it was time for him to return, Seth was immediately afraid. He didn't know how Dean or Roman or Sasha would react to his return.
There was a knock on the door of the locker room, causing Seth to freeze and look up. He was still sweating and shirtless but he opened the door anyway and was greeted by a big right hook to the cheek. Roman. He knew that swing anywhere. Dean wasn't too far behind and hit him on the left side. He should've expected that. Seth held his jaw and let them walk in before closing the door behind him.
"That was for Banks," Roman said and Seth looked at the ground.
"Mines was from us. You can't just fall off the grid, Rollins. Roman was really worried about you," Dean mumbled and Seth smiled before spontaneously hugging Dean and Roman. That was Dean's way of saying "I love you" and he understood that. They awkwardly patted his back a few times before he finally released them.
"I'm sorry guys. I just had to get away. Seriously how is Sasha? I've seen her on tv. I know she lost at Wrestlemania and was off tv for 2 months," Seth said and flopped down into a chair.
"No more hugs please and well, when Banks didn't go over at Wrestlemania, she really was burnt out with severe exhaustion, dehydration, and neck soreness. When you left, she kind of just threw herself into work. She still talks to us but mostly she hangs out with Breeze, the New Day boys and the other horsewomen," Dean offered. He pulled a pack of M&Ms out of his pocket and offered some to Roman but none to Seth because he was still pissed off at him.
Seth was ashamed of himself. So much had happened while he was gone. Dean was the Intercontinental Champion after a thriller of a rivalry with Kevin Owens that culminated at Money in the Bank and Roman won the United States Championship from John Cena at Wrestlemania, signifying a passing of the torch. However, Sasha, undeniably the most popular star of 2015, had nothing to show for her stellar highlight reel. Worst of all, he wasn't there to have her back.
"I'm a dick", Seth murmured.
"Yup!" Dean and Roman said in unison before breaking off into conversation amongst themselves about the show earlier.
Seth got lost in thought and was extremely angry at himself. Sasha had warned him about abandoning her and he promised so many things and went back on every one of them.
He didn't know what to do. He had everything he wanted except his girl.
There was another knock on the door.
"Sheesh, a lot of people must want to punch you tonight, Rollins," Dean got up and opened the door to reveal Hunter with a very tired Sasha Banks in tow.
"This is great, all of you are here already. Let's talk about tomorrow night on RAW," Hunter rubbed his hands together in excitement.
Seth was confused and looked over at Sasha who also seemed unaware of what was going on. She wouldn't look at him and his heart sunk. She was even more beautiful than he remembered and in that moment, she was the only girl in the world and he loved her with every fiber of his being. The thought scared him but he couldn't help it. Seth Rollins was head over heels in love with Sasha Banks and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. He sunk into his chair and listened in for Hunter's brilliant idea.
"Did you miss me?" For someone who was the most hated man in the company when he got injured, the cheers were deafening as Seth addressed the WWE Universe for the first time in months to kickoff Monday Night Raw. He adjusted the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on his shoulder and smirked. They were gonna love this. "I know you did. But I know some people who didn't miss me. Let's talk about The Authority who claimed my injury was due to me being weak and that they made me. They said that I was nothing before they "adopted" me and that I'd be nothing after them," Seth said and the crowd booed. "I may be wrong but this doesn't seem like 'nothing' to me," Seth raised the title belt in the air and the crowd went wild.
Stephanie and Hunter appeared on the TitanTron. "You're absolutely right, Seth. You've been nothing short of impressive since your return last night but we have one final test for you tonight. For the Authority to truly know if you're ready to be an A+ player, you must defeat Sheamus tonight in our main event. Good luck, Seth. You're going to need it," Stephanie proclaimed before the screen went black once more.
The match was almost over. Sheamus had blatantly cheated many times in front of the referee but for some reason, he was never reprimanded. Still, Seth managed to stay alive in the match and win with a frog splash that Eddie Guerrero would have been proud of. The referee raised his hand in victory and the entire Authority(Hunter, Stephanie, Rusev, King Barrett, and Big Show) walked out onto the ramp and clapped for him.
"Congratulations, Seth. Welcome back to the family," Hunter grinned.
Seth grabbed a mic and smirked, "Thanks for the offer but no thanks."
The Authority all looked taken aback. Stephanie led them all into the ring and pleaded with Seth. "Come on, you can't be serious. You know as well as we do that the best moments of your career happened because you were in the Authority. Don't make a mistake," Stephanie warned.
"Oh trust me, Stephanie. I'm not making a mistake, I'm fixing one," Seth said before smiling cheekily. Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta. The music for the Shield hit for the first time in years and the crowd went absolutely nuts. The United States and Intercontinental champions wasted no time coming through the crowd and into the ring where a brawl immediately broke out. Roman was energized and hit a Superman Punch on Big Show to send him flying from the ring. Dean performed Dirty Deeds on Sheamus while Seth handled King Barrett in quick fashion. Soon enough, the only people that remained in the ring were The Shield, Hunter, and Stephanie. The Authority looked horrified as they realized that the Hounds of Justice possessed all 3 of the male singles titles in the company and were obviously as strong ever.
Stephanie was livid and got in Seth's face. "How dare you step in my ring and disrespect me? Disrespect us?" she spat, motioning to herself and her husband. "We gave you everything and you repay us by going back to these two imbeciles. What kind of man are you?" Stephanie fired off before slapping Seth across the face. "Come on, Seth. What are you gonna do? Hit me? Come on!" She slapped him again on the other side. "You're gonna hit a woman? Come on!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now boys, what did I say about starting all the fun without me?" Without music, Sasha Banks surprised the crowd and walked down the ramp before dropping the mic when she got in the ring. She had on all black ring gear but her boss accessories remained on her neck and hands. At this point, the crowd was absolutely enthralled. She immediately stepped in front of Seth and stared into Stephanie's soul. Stephanie was livid and attempted to slap Sasha but Sasha caught her arm and swiveled her around to perform her signature double knees backbreaker on Stephanie but Hunter grabbed Steph and pulled her out of the ring before Sasha could lock in the Bank Statement.
Seth, Dean, and Roman lined up next to Sasha. Seth tried to stand directly next to Sasha but she breezed past him and stood between Dean and Roman instead. Seth hated himself for stooping so low but he wanted to stand close to her so fans could take pictures and make edits and possibly remind her how great they once were together.
Roman stuck his fist out first and couldn't hide his grin. Damn, it felt good to be back. Dean put his fist in next while banging his head to imaginary music, followed by Seth who risked breaking character with the puppy eyes he kept locked on Sasha. Sasha was last with her gold boss ring shining under the arena lights wearing a smirk on her face and she was talking trash as usual and the audience was eating it up. That was the final image on screen before Raw went off air with a clear message. The Shield was back and they brought in reinforcements.
"That's what I'm talking about people! Great show tonight, you four did an awesome job!" Hunter and Stephanie praised them all once everyone was backstage before walking off.
Roman had his arms slung around Dean and Sasha. "I just wanna be the first one to say that I don't want Banks in The Shield because that means I'm no longer the pretty one. That's right, I said it," Roman joked and everyone laughed. Seth stood a bit off to the side. Even though he was back, he sort of felt like a stranger. Of course he was going to miss things when he got injured, but he was the one that chose to cut himself completely out of their lives. Now he had to live with the consequences.
"I just wanna say that we should've added you years ago because that crowd...oh my gosh I haven't seen anything that fucking electric in so long. They were eating out of our hands," Dean noted and they all nodded their heads in agreement.
Seth was about to say something but as soon as he opened his mouth, someone else was talking.
"Oh my gosh, it's Sasha!" Tyler Breeze mocked his entrance music as he came up to Sasha. They searched each other's eyes for a few moments before they both started laughing. Tyler picked Sasha's small body up and swung her around in a circle much like Seth used to do. That didn't sit too well with Seth and he raised his eyebrow. "You made it, Sassy Sashie!"
Tyler put her down and she interlocked her elbow with his. "I'll see you guys at the Smackdown taping tomorrow, bye!" Sasha addressed Dean and Roman while blatantly ignoring Seth. She walked off with Tyler, quickly enamored with the conversation he had engaged her in.
Seth was a plethora of emotions. He was confused. He was sad. He was jealous. He was angry. Most of all, he was guilty. "Sassy Sashie? What kind of name is that? That guy is so corny," Seth, now red due to his current state of anger, mumbled. He knew that it was his fault and that all of this could've been avoided but he wanted to act like a child and he lost the woman of his dreams. In fact, he actually liked Breeze but he was currently Public Enemy Number 1 for being that close to his girl.
Dean and Roman chuckled. "Save it, Rollins. You lost your chance. Let Banks be happy and this time, we're not asking," Roman warned and he and Dean headed to the locker room. Once again, at what was supposed to be his peak, Seth was alone and a permanent resident at Hotel Rock Bottom.
Don't kill me, I know it's been almost a month but I did not forget about this story. I was struggling to find time to write plus Seth's injury (it's so awful, I'm going to miss him so much) threw me for a loop but the direction this story is headed is inspired by a Tumblr edit I found of Sasha in the Shield that I'm going to put on my Fanfiction profile so you guys can see it. Thank you to everyone who supports and will continue to support this story. I promise to update sooner next time. Review, follow, and favorite, please! Btw, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!