TITLE: The End Is The Beginning Is The End (4/10)

AUTHOR: Bellerophon

EMAIL: bellerophon_666@hotmail.com

CATEGORY: WWF

DISCLAIMER: Don't own these characters. Vince McMahon and the WWE does right now but just you wait til one day and I'm filthy rich, then we'll see who owns them

DISTRIBUTION: Can be found on Fanfiction.net if I ever get around to posting stuff. If you want, you can have, just let me know.

RATING: R

SUMMARY: Matt finds out a little secret and leaves Jeff and Lita only to discover something else that could tear them apart forever.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I cannot believe I'm writing another Hardys fic. But I am. Once again, I've been reading Fics where Matt Hardy is the bad guy and I guess it just inspires me to write the opposite. It's set back around when they broke up.

TO PULL APART

Vince began the staff meeting, noting in resignation that Matthew Hardy was late. Again.

He huffed in annoyance as he considered how much trouble that boy had been since the unfortunate breakdown of Team Xtreme. His performance skills had gone straight downhill. Not to mention his social skills.

In fact, most of the others refused to work with him now, calling him temperamental and moody. Even the other heels were staying away from Matthew. He took people on by himself, he roomed by himself and he pretty much lived by himself. Vince never saw him at any WWF social events. And the only reason Vince hadn't already fired him was because he had such heel value. The crowd hated him like no one else. It was a major source of annoyance to all the other heels who put such effort into being bad guys, and Matt Hardy just came along and went became the crowds favourite man to hate without any apparent effort at all.

But here he was now. Slamming the door open, Matt marched inside and gave pretty much the entire room a dirty look before finding a corner to sit in. It had been four months since Team Xtreme had crumbled apart, three months since the Alliance was beaten, two months and two weeks since Vince gave Matt a job in the WWF in exchange for the Hardcore title and two months since he lost the title back to who many people considered it's rightful owner, the Undertaker.

Vince began speaking, almost automatically as he pondered on a solution for that situation. Matthew used to be a competent, charismatic performer who wasn't afraid to challenge any opponent, despite size or reputation. And now, well, Vince had seen his fair share of heels. Hell, he'd brought in most of them. But Matthew, he was out of control. He didn't listen to orders, he attacked people out of the blue for apparently no reason and he flat out refused to do as Vince asked him. The only people Matt avoided in confrontation were his estranged brother and girlfriend, now down to his brother since Lita had taken leave to have her baby.

And *that* was something that Vince wanted nothing to do with. McMahon personal business in the limelight was fine, but his wrestlers knew he preferred them to leave their personal issues at the door. Granted, that was mostly ignored but Lita's pregnancy had caused an uproar and Vince was very glad to see her gone.

Anyway, hopefully Matthew would get over his rebel state of mind and begin looking after his career again, like he used to. After all, that was what Matt Hardy used to be known for. His incredible work ethic, the way he pushed himself harder than anyone else. Maybe that was just around the corner. Vince prayed Matthew would stop being angry at the world and remember he had to live in it, just like everybody else.

Matt, meanwhile, was ignoring Vince as he spoke and was trying, and failing, to pretend he wasn't stuck in an enclosed space with his brother. It was a bit of a problem when he had spent a fair part of the last four months avoiding Jeff. He sat down and drifted off into thought. He'd overheard someone saying Jeff was going to move in with Lita, and they were going to be a family. Funny how the thought of what happened still sent shivers of rage and pain and humiliation and desperation down his back.

Jeff had turned around when he walked in, and Matt had looked at him for a moment. He'd looked in Jeff's eyes and remembered how he used have comradery. He used to have someone he thought he could always count on. He used have a brother. Sometimes Matt caught himself thinking that he missed Jeff. He would yell inwardly at himself, abuse himself for ever thinking that. Matt didn't miss Jeff. He didn't.

And it didn't seem like Jeff was missing him. Not with impending father-hood and a girlfriend at home, playing house for him. But that was okay. Because Matt didn't miss Jeff either. Pffff, likewise for that whore, Lita. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch. Matt repeated it in his mind. It made him feel better sometimes. Not today though. Today. he just remembered the good times and felt the familiar black tendrils of depression crawl in his mind.

Matt searched his pockets for the little container of pills. Pain killers prescribed by doctors, made to fight migraines which could take down an elephant. He knew it was a bit brazen to be seen swallowing pills in a staff meeting in front of his boss, but fuck it. Matt had stopped caring about that shit a while ago. He dry swallowed them and waited for the sweet numbness to take hold.

So now Lita was gone for an untold amount of time. Good. He hoped she was gone for good.

Matt was glad to see the back of that bitch. She had tried to talk to him before she left, to 'make amends' as she put it. Matt had soon set her straight. There were no fucking amends here. Just backstabbing, betrayal, and one angry son of a bitch. And he wouldn't forgive and forget. He'd rather die first.

Heh, heh, heh. Oh, the irony.

Matt was jolted out of his daze by the sound of his phone beeping. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. Shit. It was *the* call. It was the doctor.

It was times like these that he missed Stephanie. Oh sure, she was a conniving, scheming bitch. But she had a wicked sense of humour, hated Lita with a passion and knew what it was like to be the bad guy. And she had been good to him in the Alliance. She had taken care of him when he couldn't see straight, made all the appointments, talked to all the doctors, the specialists. Of course, she said it was because he was the Hardcore champion and nothing more, but if that were true, she would've cut him off as soon as the Alliance had been put out of business.

She hadn't, though. She looked after him after that. While Triple H was out in therapy, she had come to visit him. And now they were…

Matt stood, trying to be quiet so Vince wouldn't give him a hard time, but his chair scraped and Matt was reasonably sure Vince would've seen him leave anyway.

"Matthew, you are in a staff meeting, personal calls can wait." Vince snapped. He didn't know what Matt Hardy was thinking, just leaving in the middle of a meeting.

Matt considered the situation. A room full of watching people waiting for his reaction, his brother carefully not looking at him and a life changing phone call. Hmmm. What to do.

Matt smiled nicely at Vince and gave him the finger before pushing over his chair and walking out. He could hear the shocked gasps of people as he slammed the door shut behind him. That brought a real smile to his face. When was Vince going to lean that he didn't give a damn about what Vince did to him, he didn't care who Vince put him in matches with, as long as it wasn't that pussy piece of shit, Jeff. Vince did that once and Matt had flat out refused to walk out. Given, Vince had been pissed but he learnt just how much Matt didn't want to be near his brother.

Matt found an empty room and answered his mobile. "Dr. Stanley?"

The low deep voice of his specialist answered. "Good afternoon, Matthew. How are you today?"

"I feel like shit just like every other day. Why don't we cut the chit chat and get down to business?" Matt snapped, trying not to let the fear and anxiety show through in his voice. The doctor chuckled, ruffling Matt's feathers. For some reason, Dr Stanley never rose to the bait, never got angry despite Matt's best efforts to piss him off. He insisted on being nice and cheerful and funny. Matt was loathe to admit it but Dr Stanley was one of the few people he actually liked lately.

"Straight to the point then, my boy. We got the results of the tests back and..." Matt was so absorbed in his Doctors words that he didn't hear the door open or see someone enter the room quietly behind him. He listened closely, injecting appropriate 'yes's and 'no's into the conversation. But he couldn't comprehend it. Four months. That was it. That was everything now. Four fucking months.

Jeff stood quietly in the back of the room, behind his brother. Jeff hadn't actually spoken to Matt for about a month. It still was hard to think that Matt was no longer a major part of his life. It was even harder to wach Matt go downhill like he had been lately.

Watching Matt, Jeff noticed not for the first time how unhealthy Matt appeared. Pale skin, dark circles under his eyes and messy unkempt hair. Not only that, but Matt had lost a lot of weight, far thinner than he had a right to be. He was still muscled but so much of his mass was gone and Jeff found that so disconcerting when Matt had always been the bigger out of the two of them.

Frankly, Jeff didn't know why he followed Matt out of that staff meeting. He didn't know what he hoped to accomplish. Maybe it was the thought of Lita sitting in their home at North Carolina, asking timidly about Matt every time Jeff called. The son of a bitch didn't deserve her. But Jeff knew he would do anything to make her happy.

But then again, maybe he missed his brother.

All of a sudden, Matt blew up at whoever he was talking to. "Yes, I know I have to take the pills! I know I have to come in for check ups! I know what I fucking have to do! Stanley, we both knew this was coming and four months was more than either of us expected. Stephanie has got everything organised."

Jeff froze. What was Matt talking about? Stephanie? No way could he be talking about Stephanie McMahon. She was off while Triple H was rehabilitating. And what was he saying about pills, check up and four months? Separately, they didn't sound like much, but put together, they created an awful picture.

"Sorry...I know I can come and see you...no, not yet. I don't want to stop working yet...I'll tell Vince when you think I can't work any more...no, it's not dangerous...I'll be fine, Doc, for four months, for four months at least...okay, I'll see you next week." Matt hung up and turned around, already dialling Stephanie's phone number. He was about to press send when he saw Jeff standing in front of the door. What the fuck? Matt would've been more concerned about what Jeff was doing in the same room with him, but then again, he had just received some fairly horrendous news.

"Get out of the way." Matt snapped, trying to push past Jeff. But either Jeff had gotten stronger or Mat's health was already going downhill because Jeff easily pushed him back.

"What was that about, Matt?" Jeff asked, thinking that maybe it hadn't been the best of ideas to follow Matt into the room.

Matt raised an eyebrow. Was he serious? Did Jeff honestly expect him to just forget everything and share news? Fuck that. "Like it's any of your business, now get out of my way."

"Four months, Matt? What does that mean? Why are you taking pills?" Jeff pushed onwards.

Matt swallowed back bitter anger. "None of your business." He guessed old habits died hard when it came to protecting Jeff from things like this.

"Matt, what's wrong with you? Are you sick? Please, tell me if something's wrong." Jeff sounded desperate now. In fact, he sounded just like he did when they were kids and Jeff was trying to find out what Matt was hiding from him as a child.

"I'm sick. Sick and tired of having to look at your face, dumbfuck." Matt struggled against niggling thoughts that he should tell Jeff, confide in him. He pushed them away. He had Stephanie for that. He didn't need his loser brother any more.

Maybe if you keep telling yourself that, you'll believe it, a voice said in the back of his mind. Matt smothered it with thoughts of Jeff and Lita together.

"Don't, Matt. Don't push me away now." Jeff begged to him. "Please tell me what's happening to you."

Matt sneered down at his brother, "Why the fuck should I tell you anything?"

Jeff hesitated before answering. "Because I care about you. I always cared about you, no matter what was going on. You're my brother and nothing will ever change that."

Matt recoiled away from the overwhelming urge he was feeling to take refuge in his brother's love. It was reassuring, this familiar feeling of closeness. But at the same time, he couldn't get away from the burning feeling of anger and betayal that wouldn't leave him alone. "Why should that mean anything to me?"

Jeff's voice cracked as he spoke. "Because I love you."

Matt felt stinging in his eyes and his vision blurred. God, why did everything have to be so hard? Matt couldn't understand what he was suppose to do here. Jeff was missing him, he said so, Jeff didn't hate him. Jeff had fucked his girfriend, gotten her pregnant. Matt had been an asshole for ages before pushing them both away. Matt had been betrayed but he had betrayed Jeff. Jeff had betrayed Matt, but had been reeling from Matt's betrayal. What the fuck was he supposed to do?

Matt glanced at his brother. Jeff stood before him, shoulders low and arms listless. He was staring hopefully at Matt, expecting god know's what. Matt wanted nothing more than to hide in a cave. This unexpected attempt at a reconciliation was too much. After finding out the results from numerous tests, Matt couldn't deal with this. He couldn't fucking deal with anything. He was the camel, it was the proverbial straw and his back had just broken.

Swallowing, Matt pushed away any sympathetic thoughts for Jeff. It hurt too much to look at Jeff, Jesus, it hurt to even think of Jeff. Matt wasn't sure he could deal with any more pain at the moment. So he reached into the familiar well of hatred and dredged up a bucket of crap to throw at Jeff.

"Fuck you, Jeff. You don't fucking love me. and I sure as hell don't love you. Why don't you do us both a favour and get out of my sight." Matt spat out, hating the taste of the words in his mouth.

Jeff just shook his head.

Matt hitched back a sob and reached deep. God, would it ever stop hurting? "I'm serious, Jeff. I don't want look at you any more."

"Matt, we're brothers," Jeff implored. Matt could sense this was Jeff's last effort, he wouldn't be able to take any more rejection from his adored older brother.

"I don't have a brother."

Jeff flinched at those words and nodded slowly. Matt couldn't understand why, but he was too preoccupied with escaping the oppressive room to analyse Jeff's actions. He didn't know how he got across to the door, but he did. He opened it and quickly walked out, looking back once and regretted it.

The last he saw of his brother before the door swung shut was Jeff standing alone, utter desolation evident and tears slipping down his face.

Matt swallowed once, pushed away the thoughts in his mind and walked away.

**************

And another chapter bites the dust! Hey hey, I'm back and there will be more up in a few days.

XXX000

Bellerophon