The crowd buzzed with anticipation, as did the competitors waiting. A Redheaded woman bounced on her heels, fists and jaw clenching, awaiting the flashing lights and screaming of the crowd. She'd gotten herself out of this mess, and she sure as hell could get herself out. She cracked her neck, barely noticing her boyfriend squeezing at the tense muscles of her shoulders. She was ready.
The other woman stood at the door of the gorilla. Short and small and dark, she stared holes in the concrete wall and steel door before her. Her manager loitered behind her, ready to watch her dominate. Her husband came to her from down the hallway. He was huge, and three months before now the young woman had never seen anyone that big before. She marveled at his presence, but not because of his size.
"I didn't think you'd come." Freyja remarked. Kane had nothing to say but a gruff,
"Hm."
He'd slept in the car last night, electing not to drive and simply pass out in the driver's seat, however uncomfortable that was.
She didn't dare ask about the bandage on his palm, although she wondered. He was hurt she didn't, though he would never have told her.
The announcers brought out Lita first, and the screaming vocals of her entrance could be heard even through the walls and doors between the couple and the arena audience. A stage hand poked a meek head out the door crack, motioning for Kane and Freyja to step through. They waited and waited until Freyja's adversary had settled into the center ring. They waited until her opening riffs hit, and Freyja and her monster husband put on their faces, strolling out to the arena. The anger on their facades was real, but it wasn't even directed at Edge and Lita anymore. It was themselves they hated. But that was no matter. Freyja ascended the stairs to the ring and she suddenly felt clean.
Her wrath finally had it's target.
She hardly noticed when the bell rang, she didn't flinch when Lita circled her, determined to win and win fast. The redhead opened with a few hooks, the last of which had been blocked by Freyja, returning some elbows and a swift knee to the stomach. As Lita doubled over, the younger woman circled her, emerald eyes stabbing daggers right into their target. Lita gasped for breath. Freyja hit hard, and that shit hurt.
"You know what you've done yet?" Freyja cried to the heavens, "Do you see?"
Lita shook her head, banishing the pain and anguish and guilt that bred in the gut. She didn't need this. Freyja had no idea what she'd endured. Forced to marry, forced to carry a child she didn't want, from a man she never loved. She didn't understand.
In this internal monologue, Lita found a striking truth. Freyja did understand. She knew what it meant to be held up for ransom, forced into a loveless marriage. Lita's eyes found Kane, and she saw how he watched only Freyja with a mixture of pride and worry. She saw then that Freyja at least didn't know what it meant to not be loved.
"I did what I had to!" Lita spit her calling card out, making sure she'd done everything to convince Freyja she hadn't been given another choice. Lita lunged for Freyja, a hard push finding its mark, launching Freyja to the ropes. The veteran steeled herself for the clothesline she'd just set up. Freyja took the ropes in stride, bouncing off them to run towards Lita, ducking beneath the redhead's forearm and bouncing off the adjacent ropes to deliver a forearm strike of her own, launching Lita to the ground.
"Bullshit!" Freyja screamed at the mat. "You saw me, Lita."
Freyja picked her enemy up by her straightened hair, forcing her to look her in the eye. She went on, "You saw me. Young, foreign, impressionable, and in me you saw a target. You never saw a person. You saw someone to be used. You saw an offering to be given to Kane but guess what? Karma has now come for you."
Lita grabbed a firm hold of Freyja's arm that held her, using it to brace herself. "You know what, Freyja? Fuck you."
Lita's free fist collided with the younger woman;s cheekbone, causing her to stumble backwards into the corner turnbuckle, holding the side of her face. Lita went in for the kill, running to the opposite turnbuckle to run into young Freyja, but the Basque stuck her foot out, letting Lita's face run right into it. She saw an opportunity there, going for the ground-and-pound before being thrown off.
It went on like this, strike after strike, blow after blow, the two women wailed on each other to the chagrin of their men. An elbow here, and armbar there, Freyja even managed to land a flying triangle before being slammed to the ground by Lita, who had even more recently landed a nice hurricanrana on the newbie. Several kickouts, and God knew how many blows. After a particularly long exchange the two women crouched in their respective corners, staring each other down.
"Freyja, that's enough. Stop." Kane pleaded with his wife. He'd never begged for anything in his life, what was happening to him?
The brunette shook her head, heaving herself up, ready to fight. Lita still crouched in the corner, every bit as bruised and bloody as Freyja, who was motioning for her now. Lita tore herself from Edge's pleading grasp, meeting Freyja in the ring. The two continued the beating, and finally dropped to their knees, even then weak shots shown at each other's waiting faces. Both women had resigned themselves to the blows they knew were coming until finally the 15 minute match came to a halt.
The audience watched on in stunned silence as Lita, sick from exhaustion, was the first to pass out. Her limp body hit the ground with a sickening thud. Freyja wasn't long after, her body falling forward onto her enemies. It was a wonder Lita was first, with the way Freyja had been treating her body, but spite was a powerful drug. The ref began the count. Freyja's limp body had, in fact, collapsed atop Lita's limp body,
1...
No indication of movement.
2...
The women were still as corpses.
3...
The match was called. Freyja Kutlass had finally won her revenge. Medical staff rushed to the aid of the two, dragging the unconscious girls to the medical room.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O
Lita and Freyja mutually winced as medical staff checked each of them out meticulously. The two women really did a number on each other, and stress fractures and cracked ribs were of particular concern. The steam had been blown off, the need for retribution finally settled, and as the two women were poked and prodded, bruised and broken and bloody, they conversed.
"We've had a pretty rough go of it, haven't we, Freyja?" Lita groaned above the medical chatter.
Freyja hissed at the pain of yet another attendant pressing down on her ribcage on the other side of the curtain that had been drawn between them. "Yeah."
There was a pause, the only sounds were shuffling, beeping, and the instructions of the med staff before Freyja piped up again,
"Sorry I went so crazy."
Lita laughed as loudly as she could in her pain. "I don't blame you."
Freyja laughed back bitterly. She was too tired to do anything else. She couldn't even hardly think about the mess she'd gotten into with Kane, or what would happen. She was in too much pain, too exhausted to care. Another moment of silence passed before Lita called from the opposite side of the curtain separating them, groaning as the nurse put pressure on her arm before bandaging it. "Freyja?"
"Yeah?"
Lita fidgeted with her hands, not totally sure she wanted to ask this question, she didn't know if she wanted the answer. It was something she'd wondered from Day 1 of all this turmoil, something she'd let eat her alive. "Does he hurt you?"
Freyja was dead silent for an alarmingly long time before saying, "Never. Why, did he hurt you?"
It was a fair question for all she'd done to leave him. "Not physically." was her reply. "Does he treat you well?"
Freyja heaved an audible sigh. " I don't really know."
Lita couldn't argue with that logic. Kane was enigmatic at best, and although he could be wicked and vile, he had his moments. The curtain was finally pulled aside, and they were free to go, but neither made a move to get off the gurney, electing instead to sit up and face each other.
Freyja finally saw Lita in her true light, a scared woman in desperation, taking a leap of faith to improve her life. Lita finally saw Freyja, a previously naive young woman, wanting to make her mark, angry when that process ended in trickery and deception, and finally each understood the other. They'd made each other villains, and now they no longer saw a villain, just another woman. Freyja had to ruin it-
"You know just because I don't hate you anymore doesn't mean I'm your fucking friend, right?" Freyja bit as Lita looked at her, a bit confused. " Don;t come to me for help unless someone is bleeding or dying." Freyja stood her ground.
Lita could only laugh. " I understand.
Just as Freyja redied herself to ask what exactly the fuck Lita was laughing about, Edge poked his head through the swinging wood door. Kane, of all people, stood behind him.
"Girls?" Edge interrupted. "Are you cleared? Because Vince and Bischoff want to see us... all of us."
GUYS Thank you so much for reading. We are so very, very close to the end and I am beyond excited!
