Author's Note: So Dean hasn't been very nice in his thoughts toward his former brothers in the last few chapters. I wouldn't expect that to change at all now that he can talk again. So once again, if you can't deal with that then you probably want to avoid this chapter.


Dean kept his mouth shut while the two morons he once called his brothers freed him from the duct tape. He ripped the tape off his mouth, cursing as it took pieces of his day old stubble with it. It stung like a bitch and made his eyes water. Standing, he stretched to work the kinks out of his body. Without warning, his foot lashed out and kicked the chair he had been confined in, sending it toppling to the floor with a loud crash.

That caused his unwanted company to jump, startled by the action but he didn't care. He could feel their eyes on him as he paced back and forth. His agitation was off the charts right now. Hands started roughly pushing through his sweat tangled locks. Low, angry growls nipped at his lips.

"Dean," Roman's voice. Soothing. Fucking Placating. "Calm down man."

That made him laugh. But there was no humor in it. Just a sharp edginess that made it sound like he had broken glass in his mouth. It made them flinch. He leaned against the counter, slouched and fixed manic blue eyes on them.

"Get out." The words tumbled from his mouth in a guttural snarl that was more animal than human.

Seth swallowed, his face betraying his unease but he didn't make a move. "No, we made you listen to us. Now we want to hear what you have to say. The truth, not the heel promo you gave us this morning."

Roman nodded in encouragement, arms folded across his chest. "I think it'll make you feel a lot better to get it off your chest."

Oh yeah. He'd feel great telling them exactly what he thought about that brilliant fucking performance they put on. In excruciating detail. But it would feel even fucking better if he was to lunge at them, wrap his twitching hands around their throats and choke the life out of them. His hands once again twitched in anticipation of doing just that and he shifted, placing his weight on his back leg to get enough spring.

"I know what you're thinking but there's two of us. One of us would pin you down before you could do too much damage." The Samoan informed him flatly, ever observant eyes on his movements. "So you might as well forget that and just start talking."

Blue eyes narrowed to slits. Ok, since they were begging to hear what he thought, well, he'd give it to them. Unfiltered. No holding back. "I think that was a complete waste of fucking time. Forcing me to sit through that and listen to your feeble excuses for apologies. Think that would prove to me that I could trust you guys again? No way in hell…"

"What?" Seth croaked, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Stop interrupting me!" He yelled, eyes flashing warningly which made them both take a step back slightly. "Now where was I? Oh yeah. What you two idiots did just killed any sliver of trust that I might have had left and kidnapping me sure as hell didn't make me think that you care about me at all."

"It wasn't kidnapping! We needed you to hear us out! But you wouldn't sit down with us rationally and listen." Roman actually managed to be something other than stoic in that moment. "So we had no choice but to do this. It was our last desperate shot at being able to salvage our brotherhood.."

That made him chuckle but there was only seething anger behind the sound. "Oh, I know it was desperate. The whole thing smacked of it. With every justification you gave and every time you blamed me for why you turned your back on me Rome, I could sense the desperation."

The Samoan blinked, obviously taken aback that he wasn't getting his ass kissed.

Dean's hands flexed then curled into tight fists. "It ain't my fault that that the fans eat you alive. You have no one to blame for that but yourself. They can tell a fraud when they see them. But then again, what do you care? What was it you said in that interview a few months back?"

Roman opened his mouth to protest but he quickly cut him off before he could come up with some bullshit excuse about how Sam Roberts took that out of context.

"Oh yeah. At the end of the day, you're just a guy getting rich. Great thing to say to make the fans believe that you don't give a damn about this business, that it's all about the money for you." He shook his head, still chuckling cruelly. "They really need to stop letting you talk. You suck at it. Seriously. You're much better at just standing there and looking intimidating. Go back to that and maybe, just maybe, people will stop wishing that you'd disappear off the face of the Earth."

The older man looked like he'd just been sucker punched. His cheeks were stained red in embarrassment. Mouth hung open. Eyes squeezed shut as if he was fighting pain. Chest rose and fell rapidly with every deep breath he sucked in.

Bet he wished that he never insisted that they talk about this.

Dean didn't feel an ounce of remorse. "After the weasel stabbed us in the back, I stupidly believed that you and I were tighter than ever. You claimed that nothing could ever break our bond, that we were family. I fucking swallowed it all up. Then you win the belt back from Triple H and proved that you're nothing more than a liar like everyone else who told me that they'd always be there for me then dropped me like a bad habit because I'm too much for them to handle or I'm too dangerous to be around."

"That was uncalled for." Seth spoke up, obviously not wanting him to unleash anymore venom on the eldest member of the trio. "I get it. You're lashing out. But Roman didn't do anything to deserve your malice. I did. So come on man, unleash it and don't hold back."

"Oh don't worry Rollins, it's your turn now." He cracked his neck and offered the younger man a smile that was sharp as a razor blade. "It must have taken a lot for you to finally apologize for all the petty, sneaky, shady ass things I know you did and for your pathetic but predictable reasons for doing them. I know that you hate having to ever admit that the great architect was wrong."

"I meant every word." Seth calmly said. "I couldn't be any sorrier than I am for everything that happened and the way it happened."

He tilted his head, "Maybe that's true but it's funny that you didn't apologize for what you did that I'm not supposed to know about."

The high flier froze, his entire body going rigid and his complexion paling significantly.

"Oh yeah brother…I know everything. All the dirty details." His tone was savage and the grin plastered to his lips matched it. "Seems you get a few drinks into good ol' Bray and he becomes really chatty. Didn't know you two spent so much time together after you betrayed me and Roman. But I guess you needed someone to vent to who wouldn't look at you like the piece of trash you truly are."

Roman seemed to snap out of his stupefied daze at that but looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I-I-I can explain." Seth stuttered helplessly, knowing that he'd been busted but obviously trying to find a way to spin it.

"Nah, I'll do it." His glare dared the younger man to refuse his offer. "You know why Bray came at me, how come he knew so much about my personal life?"

The Samoan glanced at the man next to him, looking disgusted. "Please tell me you didn't."

They'd had their time to talk. It was Dean's turn now and he planned to lay it all out for the two men. "Oh but he did! Paid that backwoods hillbilly to make sure that I lost the Hell in the Cell match so my attention would shift away from this loser. Then to make sure that Bray kept me interested in tearing him apart, our so called little brother filled him in on all the sordid little gems from my past."

"I had to get you to stop coming after me." The architect offered weakly, looking like he was about to cry again. "Getting you to focus your rage on someone else was the only way that I could think of..."

Blue eyes narrowed, "I get paying Bray off to target me. But telling him shit that I told you when I thought you were my brother and that you promised to never use against me is about as low as you can go."

Roman looked crestfallen at realizing exactly how shady the other man's behavior had really been. "I can't believe you'd do that."

Seth was tearing at his hair, "I wasn't thinking clearly! Dean kept coming at me and wouldn't let me have moment to breathe. So I paid Bray to interfere and yeah, I screwed up and told him things that I shouldn't have. But I never intended for it to hurt you."

"Just like you never intended to hurt me when you drove my head into the announce table then cinderblocks?" He volleyed, licking his lips. "Damn, I'd really hate to see what you'd do if you did want to hurt me."

"I wish I never did that." The youngest man closed his eyes. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking. To do something like that to someone I care about…"

"Oh please," Dean sneered. "You don't care about me. Never have. I was nothing more than a means to an end and once the Shield accomplished everything it could, you didn't have any use for me anymore. So you figured that you'd do whatever it takes to get rid of me once and for all."

"No, that's not true!" Seth stubbornly insisted.

"But now that you've returned from your injury and there's no authority, you need someone to watch your back again. Because you know that you made a lot of enemies last time. You've got a bulls-eye on your back and figured that if you could worm your way back into my good graces that I'd help you. Fight your battles for you again so you didn't have to get your hands dirty."

"That's not why I'm trying to fix things." He shook his head, looking devastated. "I need to mend things because you're my brother!"

"No! I'm not!" Dean went in for the proverbially kill. "And I never will be. There's no chance that I'll forgive you or forget what you did. That goes for both of you. But don't guys, what goes around always comes back around. You'll get what you deserve in the end."

"I'm sorry!" Seth looked distraught. "I know it's hard to believe but I am. If I could take it all back, I would. I wish I could go back and stop myself from doing those things but I can't. All I can do to make up for it is to show you that I've changed, that I regret everything and wouldn't be stupid enough to ever make those same choices again."

"Nah, you're just sorry that you've been exposed for the lying, conniving, pathetic piece of shit that you really are." He had enough of this. "Now, leave. Neither one of you are wanted or welcome here anymore and you'll never be again."

Seth looked like he had gone into shock and couldn't move but Roman grabbed his arm and started pulling him to the door.

"Oh Roman!" Dean called, "Might want to hand over my spare key. You won't be needing it anymore."