He was more than a little bit confused, suspicious, shell shocked and slightly convinced that Vince had actually gone stark raving mad. This had to be a trap, there had to be some end payoff for the Authority at some point which would humiliate he and his friends. There had to be some awful, terrible reason for this. There had to be. Or was this just one of Vince's mad minutes? Had he become sick and tired of his daughter and son-in-law's play for power and wanted someone to fight back against them?

Was Vince actually giving the Shield, a fighting chance here?

It seemed like a ludicrous idea. Almost as stupid as whatever Dean's stunt was that he'd run off to commit. Well, he had faith that whatever his brother was up to would be pulled off, so he had to have a little faith that whatever was going here would work out too. Or he could just call Vince's bluff and carry on with what he was doing.

But the power he'd just been handed, that wasn't something to sniff at.

Seth sat down on one of the upturned boxes that forever lined the corridors of venues. It was just about strong enough to take his weight. He ran a hand through his hair and rested both of his hands on the head of his cane. Teeth chewed the inside of mouth as he started to think.

What matches were taking place tonight?

The Money in the Bank match, the match for the woman's championship...others that he couldn't quite remember because he'd been so focused on the main two. The Wyatt Family had a match he swore, a match against the New Day for the tag team championships. Perhaps that was where Dean had scuttled off to, to keep an eye on the men who were a threat to Paige. A threat to him...but not as much at the threat Lesnar now posed. He'd talked the Beast down, but he'd certainly not quelled the coming storm.

But now he had some power...he couldn't wield it here though. When could he do it? Should he stroll into Smackdown and announce his new role to the world? Should he wait until Smackdown? Should he tell his friends or wait and surprise them? Would they be as uncertain as he was about what all of this could mean? Maybe...maybe he was over thinking again. It was turning into his worst flaws, but after everything that had happened since he'd cashed in that Money in the Bank briefcase, could he blame himself? Surely not, so he took a deep breath and actually started to think.

Tonight was out of his control. He could do little to influence it and just had to hope that it all went well. Paige could beat Stephanie any day of the week so that wasn't much of an issue, save for the inevitable truth that no doubt there would be some kind of intervention from the few still loyal to the queen bitch. Sami, Daniel and Dolph were just about live and kicking and hopefully would be strong enough to compete to at least some of the best of their ability tonight. Whoever won that briefcase was being given a massive chance.

He'd made the most of it.

Though he would have that title back at some point; he could play this GM role for a little while, but knew that it would grow stale if he spent too long in this nice black suit. No, he would be in his power ranger gear again by next Wrestlemania, he was certain of it. He'd make sure of it. With a careful nod to himself, Seth heaved himself to his feet and started down the corridor toward the medical bay.

- a little later -

It was near on impossible, as it turned out, to keep Roman down, and the big man, was fine. A bit disorientated, his poor head needed some proper looking after, but he was all right - even if his glasses were a bit skewed. The first few matches of the night had occurred without much incident, save for one very interesting feature.

The Wyatt's had won. They were the new tag team champions; interesting indeed. There seemed to be some kind of renewed life in the backwater cult, it was...good in some ways. The Wyatt Family, for all their sins and terrible deeds, were excellent wrestlers. It was easy to forget sometimes. Wyatt had watched the entire thing play out from his rocking chair, eyes glued to Xavier Woods who stayed as far away as he could from the crazy man in his leather apron.

But coming up was the woman's championship match. Paige was going to beat the ever loving shit out of Stephanie McMahon and it was going to be utterly delightful to watch, but in their seats, they were on their guard. They'd positioned themselves as close to the Gorilla Position as they could without practically throwing themselves out of the curtains. Triple H was still tucked up in hospital (Lucia had rung around for them and made sure). They just had to be careful of the newly adorned Wyatt's and any other intervention.

Dean though, was still no where to be seen.

He had his own affairs to deal with...but he wished he just had some kind of inclining of what his brother was up to. Dean's ideas were often different, difficult, sometimes stupid, but there was good intention hidden behind them. In the reflection of the monitor they were watching the show on, Seth glimpsed the familiar height and beard of someone he didn't expect to appear so openly near them.

'Luke,' Seth turned in his seat, eyes wide in surprise behind his glasses, 'I guess congratulations are in order.'

Luke didn't say anything. The belt he had slung over his shoulder almost looked too small for his massive frame. He pushed a grimy hand into his pocket and rooted around for something. Seth frowned – what was happening here? Then, slowly, Harper pulled something free and passed it quietly over.

Dean's lighter.

'Luke – where did you get this?'

'Gave it to me,' he muttered.

'Why?'

'Said it was a g-goodbye present,'

'Goodbye?' Roman had turned as well now. 'What do you mean goodbye? Where's he gone? Where's he going?'

'Went with Bray,'

Seth's expression flat lined then. Dean...went with Bray Wyatt?

He couldn't have just gone; he must have been taken, snatched as he was from the hospital. Wyatt had said he had a keen interest in Dean, he must have found him backstage, dragged him off gagged and bound, destined for the back lot outside of Memphis. There's no way he would have gone willingly. He hated Wyatt, couldn't stand his guts, everything that had happened in the past few weeks had only served to heighten the hatred.

'Harper – where is he?'

'Gone, with Bray,' the soft voice muttered. His too wide eyes just served to make Seth angry, the innocence of what Luke was saying was mixed with blood, it had to be. '

'Why.'

Luke shrugged.

Panic built in Seth's gut. 'We have to go, we have to find him, bring him back.'

Luke shook his head. 'Wanted to go,'

'The fuck he did,' Rome snarled. He was up on his feet now, staring Luke down. 'Why the hell are you still here? Why aren't you with Wyatt?'

'Pass the message on. Seth said I c-could see Bren when I wanted.'

The man was a massive child, brutish, innocent, knew far too much and yet nothing at all. The dog had come with them, but was being cared for in the parking lot. What could they do now? They had to save Dean, but they couldn't leave, Paige's match was about to begin. Something could happen the Wyatt's could intervene –

Wait.

They were gone.

The Wyatt Family had gone.

Dean had led them away.

Seth fell heavily against the back of the chair as it started to make sense, as every painful piece fell into place. What Dean had done...He'd left them...to give Paige the best chance she could have of winning that belt without distraction, without Wyatt to appear and scare her or enrage her too much. He'd gone willingly with the enemy. He'd seen the potential, recognised the danger and done what he thought he had to...to keep them all safe.

Sacrificed himself to the butcher's block.

Wyatt didn't want Dean dead, not like Lesnar or Triple H. He wanted to twist his already fractured mind around his little finger and control him, have his own obedient, rabid attack dog who would do whatever he demanded. He wanted to break Dean like Kane had broken Finn Balor.

Dean was with men who were strong, who were twisted and mad...and there was safety in numbers. How could Lesnar get to him if he had three other strong fighters near him? Seth and Roman couldn't fight, whilst they had allies they couldn't depend on them at all times. On the Wyatt compound...Dean would be safe.

He'd...he'd left them.

'This doesn't make sense,'

'It makes perfect sense Rome, it makes perfect, heart breaking, terrible sense...' Seth rubbed his face wearily. 'He's done what I would have. The clever bastard has pulled a Seth Rollins,'

Harper stood uneasily.

Seth sniffed and looked up at the giant, 'What did he tell you?'

No answer: nothing. He'd told him nothing, but obviously said enough to convince Wyatt to at least take him back to the compound. 'Rome, Rome we have to keep this low. He's abandoned us. He's fucked off and left us. He'd gone with the enemy, the Shield has fractured...we can't tell Paige, she'll be devastated...' but as he said it, he looked Roman dead in the eye with such conviction, such strength, that his brother seemed to recognise what was happening.

'What do we do? We have to convince him to come back -,'

'He's always been unhinged. He's always been the wild card, we should always have known one day he'd snap,' Seth said, slightly louder than he would usually have spoken so that anyone in the room would hear him. 'He's made his decision Rome...he's joined the Wyatt Family, Dean Ambrose is dead to us.'

'No, no he's not, you know he's not. He's our brother, we love him,' Rome, when he wanted, could egg up the ham and now he gripped a chair and threw it against the wall for extra effect. 'We can't give up on him.'

'Well what can we do? We can't leave, we can't go after him. He's gone Rome,' Seth poked Rome in the chest with the cane. Everyone was looking at them now, staring, listening in. Already he could faintly hear whispers of people passing on news of Dean's 'betrayal'. He hoped to God he was right. Dean had given him that look earlier, silently begged him to trust what he was up to. He had to have faith in his brother. 'Paige needs us right now,'

'What you boys yelling about?' the woman herself appeared, hands wrapped up as she prepared to head on out for the match of her career.

'Nothing important,' Seth said with a stony voice.

Roman stared at him in mock horror. 'You fuckin' liar,'

'It can wait,' Seth insisted.

Paige raised an eyebrow, 'Well alright, but you boys best make sure no creepy hillbilly types try and come out to ruin my fun as I'm beating billion dollar bitch tits all over this arena.' She paused in taping her hands to look up at Luke. 'Though...you're alright, I guess. Still creepy though.'

The scream of her entrance music erupted, and with a quick kiss to Seth's cheek, she stomped through the curtain to the adoration of thousands.

'Bren's in the parking lot Luke, just ask and I'm sure they'll let you see her,' Seth muttered.

The giant nodded and disappeared.

'You'd better hope you're fuckin' right about this, if we don't hear from Dean in two days I'm storming that compound,' Roman said under his breath, grim eyes on the monitor. 'Hope to God he knows what he's doin'...'

Seth hoped Dean did too. He hoped. Because if this was a charade, eventually they would get to stop playing; but it would be a painful one to act out. But if this was real...he didn't even want to entertain the thought. He swallowed and focused in on that monitor. Stephanie wasn't coming through this way, she would be entering where she wouldn't have to go near them. The match would begin any minute now.

This had to go perfectly.

It had to.

Dean had made the sacrifice, now Paige had to bring home the gold.