Title: The Road Less Traveled (36/?)
Author: Esquirella
Rating: R (for violence in some chapters.)
Disclaimer: I own the Rio character and have written other stories with her. I own all non WWE characters. But I do not own the wrestlers. (Unfortunately. They are so cute!)
Synopsis: Thanks for the review! In this chapter: Matt and Jeff have to break the bad news to Shannon and Jeff seeks forgiveness.
Distribution: Just in case anyone's interested in it, please ask me first. More than likely, I will agree.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I know I threw you all a curve ball in the last chapter, but trust me. It's for the good of the story. Try not to be too annoyed yet and see where I'm taking you. As always, I know nothing about the WWE superstars that appear in this story. The personalities used here are purely fiction and not meant in any way to represent the true natures of the individuals.
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Matt found his way back to the parking lot frantically looking for Rio but she was too far ahead of him. Most of the cars had already departed and the lot was nearly empty. A distraught Jeff leaned against Matt's rental car looking around desperately. He caught sight of his brother and raced over to him.
"Any luck a' all?" he asked Matt hopefully.
Matt said nothing, only nodding and looking down at his bloodstained hands. Jeff followed his gaze.
"Oh my God, Matt!" Jeff breathed taking them into his own hands to examine them. "Is it 'er blood? Where is she?"
"She's gone."
"NO!" Jeff shrieked, assuming Matt meant the worst.
"No, no' dead!" Matt said grabbing his brother's shoulders and shaking him for the second time that night. "At least no' yet, but probally soon. She ran fro' me."
"Why?" the younger man asked suspiciously. "Ya didn' maker feel bad again, didja?"
"No!" Matt hissed, his annoyance growing. "I tried ta getter ova t' th' car so we could taker t' th' docta. She wouldn' go!"
"Why the hell not?" Jeff demanded.
Matt sighed knowing he couldn't tell his brother about the entire conversation he'd had with the small silver woman. Jeff would think he was personally responsible for her injuries and Matt knew that Rio wouldn't want him to feel that way. He decided to spread the guilt evenly so that Jeff would handle it better.
"She said she ovaheard Henry threaten ta git t'er through all o' us an' she hadda leave," he told his younger brother who was watching him vigilantly, looking for any signs of misinformation. He knew Jeff would be hard to mislead but he had to try. "I tol' 'er tha' 'e wins if she leaves us bu' she said we were mo' important t' 'er. Then she ran. I was tryin' ta catch 'er when ya saw me."
"We hafta fin' er!"
"How?"
"Matt, I kno' ya no' fonda 'er . . ."
"Stop righ' there," Matt warned dangerously. "She's my frien' too. I wanner back as much as you do, bro!"
Jeff sniffled a few times and looked away. He was clearly having a difficult time with the circumstances. Matt gave him some room and leaned back up against the car. He was also worried about how he would break this news to Shannon. His foot kicked something and he looked down to see Rio's gear bag. He looked back up to Jeff questioningly.
"I's 'ers," he answered Matt's unspoken question. "I foun' it inna corner in th' arena befo' I came back 'ere."
"Whatta we do wit' it?"
"I was gonna keep it fo' 'er."
"Don'tcha think Shan'll wanna hol' onto it?"
Jeff's face twisted angrily briefly then crumpled into a frowning mass. "Oh man," he whined more to himself than Matt. "'Ow can I thinka bein' pissed at 'im now? 'E's gonna be wrecked."
Matt opened his arms and Jeff collapsed into them shuddering with tears.
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Shannon waited impatiently on the bed in his hotel room. He was still bothered by Rio's phone call earlier and didn't know why she sounded so quietly fraught. It didn't mean that he wasn't delighted with her revelation. On the contrary, he was thrilled. He just didn't quite trust the timing. Rio wasn't given to whims before her matches. This much, he knew with certainty. He'd flipped through all the channels at least a dozen times in the last hour or so, looking at his watch often. Where was she? It wasn't like her to be this late.
He was just about to call Matt to see if he knew her whereabouts when he heard a knock on the door. She must have lost her key, he decided smiling. He opened the door to find Matt and Jeff standing in the hallway looking as if something tragic had happened. He furrowed his brow, annoyed at finding Jeff in the vicinity at all, and stepped back to allow the two men access to the room. They entered and closed the door behind them.
"Shanny . . ." Jeff said shakily.
"Wha's wrong?" Shannon asked, a sick feeling developing in the pit of his stomach.
Matt looked away with a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He looked down at a bag he held and slowly extended his hand to Shannon. It was Rio's gear bag.
"Where is she?" he demanded looking at the bag like it was possessed of demons.
"Shanny," Jeff said again reaching for him. Shannon stepped back but Jeff moved forward grabbing his best friend and holding him close. "I am so sorry."
Shannon allowed Jeff to engulf him, missing his easy friendship. He pinned Matt with an icy stare over Jeff's shoulder, though and held the other man's gaze.
"What happened," he asked in a slow dangerous tone. Matt looked uncomfortable and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Jeff's low sobs were ringing in Shannon's ear and he knew the two were about to describe something earth shattering. He slowly rubbed Jeff's back and prepared himself for the worst.
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"Again no body?" Henry bellowed at his men from the office. "And no clean win either!"
Goliath said nothing, merely looking at the wall behind Henry's head.
"She's gone," Phantom pointed out in an uncharacteristically irritated tone. "Isn't that all that matters?"
"If any health workers find her and do an autopsy, I'll be questioned," he answered. "The poison isn't traceless."
"Well, at least you seem completely certain this one's dead," Phantom shot back. "You're not treating it like Fury's attack."
"I made sure to use twice the amount of poison this time," Henry replied coldly. "I wanted to be absolutely sure she'd be finished forever."
Silence descended upon the small office as each man turned that prospect over in his mind. Phantom stared Henry down just as coldly. This one's not going to back down, Henry thought glumly. Perhaps he hadn't been that good of an idea after all. Henry hated to feel inferior to anyone and this man made it plain that he did as well. Goliath finally broke the quiet.
"She's gone boss, just like ya wanted," he said stretching out his healing legs. "That's all that matters. I doubt anyone will find her if we can't."
"I wish I could share your sentiment," Henry scoffed. "And what do I do about the title?"
"Well, Sasquatch can become the new champ, after he's healed," Goliath offered. "We could draw out the suspense until then and concoct a story explaining it. I don't think the fans will care as long as we keep giving them carnage matches in the mean time."
"I believe that would work out well," Phantom added darkly. "And you could have an identical belt made in the interim to pass off as the original."
Henry was skeptical that no one would notice a missing champion for such a long period of time. However, as he had no better options open to him right now, he would have to make due with the plan and hope nothing else went awry this time.
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"She's no' dead," Shannon said firmly after hearing the boys out. "We 'ave a connection. I'd feel it if she died."
Jeff sadly picked at the bedspread he was sitting on next to his best friend. He didn't want to believe she was dead either but he'd seen the blood she'd lost and knew that even if she'd had immediate medical attention, which she didn't, she probably wouldn't have survived. But he couldn't bring himself to hurt Shannon any more than he'd already done. He felt like he'd betrayed both his friends with his behavior and didn't know how he'd make it up, at least to Shannon. Rio was no longer around to console. Jeff's eyes blurred with tears as he absorbed that fact again.
"Yo' awful quiet," Shannon said breaking into his thoughts.
He looked up into his friend's brilliant green eyes, noting the tears that refused to be spilled. Shannon was everything to Jeff as far as friends go. They'd practically grown up together. Matt had always said if they'd been born brothers they probably couldn't have been closer. They'd vowed never to let anything, especially a women, come between them. It physically hurt Jeff to think about his recent behavior. He now knew the younger man truly loved Rio in a way Jeff couldn't touch.
"I am so sorry for ev'rythin', Shanny," he said guiltily. "I neva shoulda treated ya like that."
Shannon gave him a small smile and put a hand on his arm. "I kno' ya lover, too, Jeff. Jus' no' th' same."
Matt sat in the chair leaning back most likely contemplating recent events. He'd washed his arms free of the blood but probably could still see it in his mind's eye. Jeff knew his brother felt a growing sense of loss as each minute ticked past and that he was holding something critical back from his final meeting with Rio. Jeff didn't know what that something was but he was determined to uncover it. Whatever the information, it was slowly eating away at Matt's psyche and Rio would hate feeling responsible for that.
"Whatcha thinkin', big bro?" Shannon asked the dark haired Hardy, probably purposely using his old nickname for Jeff to break into Matt's somber mood.
"Nothin'" Matt said shaking his head.
"Don' lie t' us," Jeff persisted. "We ain' buyin' it."
"I was jus' thinkin'," Matt sighed. "I once tol' 'er she was an infection tha' was dangerous t' all o' us. An' here we are now, th' ones she risked 'erself t' save."
"Ironic, isn' it?" Jeff couldn't keep from saying. "Bu' I don' think Rio'd like it if she knew we were talkin' about 'er this way."
"Tara," Matt whispered sadly.
"What?" Shannon asked leaning closer to Matt to hear him better.
"She tol' me 'er name was Tara," Matt said looking from one man to the other. "It was th' last thin' she said befo' she ran away fro' me."
"Tara," Shannon said softly, rolling the name over his tongue. "Much betta. Tha's what I'll caller from now on, then. Tara."
Jeff looked at the young blonde in misery. He knew it would be a very long period of time before Shannon accepted Rio . . . er, Tara's passing. He knew his friend well and was aware of what would happen. Shannon would cling to this hope for as long as he could. Eventually, as time passed, he would become despondent and uncommunicative. Jeff didn't know exactly how he was going to pull his friend out of that depression when the time came. He only knew that he would have to try. At least he would have Matt, Amy and Shane to help him. When he was able to get Matt out of his melancholy mood, that is. The only thing keeping Jeff from following suite was Rio's . . . no, Tara's wish to keep her world from touching him. He knew without doubt that if she knew her loss would destroy him she'd never be at peace. And she deserved to have peace . . . finally.
Author: Esquirella
Rating: R (for violence in some chapters.)
Disclaimer: I own the Rio character and have written other stories with her. I own all non WWE characters. But I do not own the wrestlers. (Unfortunately. They are so cute!)
Synopsis: Thanks for the review! In this chapter: Matt and Jeff have to break the bad news to Shannon and Jeff seeks forgiveness.
Distribution: Just in case anyone's interested in it, please ask me first. More than likely, I will agree.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I know I threw you all a curve ball in the last chapter, but trust me. It's for the good of the story. Try not to be too annoyed yet and see where I'm taking you. As always, I know nothing about the WWE superstars that appear in this story. The personalities used here are purely fiction and not meant in any way to represent the true natures of the individuals.
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Matt found his way back to the parking lot frantically looking for Rio but she was too far ahead of him. Most of the cars had already departed and the lot was nearly empty. A distraught Jeff leaned against Matt's rental car looking around desperately. He caught sight of his brother and raced over to him.
"Any luck a' all?" he asked Matt hopefully.
Matt said nothing, only nodding and looking down at his bloodstained hands. Jeff followed his gaze.
"Oh my God, Matt!" Jeff breathed taking them into his own hands to examine them. "Is it 'er blood? Where is she?"
"She's gone."
"NO!" Jeff shrieked, assuming Matt meant the worst.
"No, no' dead!" Matt said grabbing his brother's shoulders and shaking him for the second time that night. "At least no' yet, but probally soon. She ran fro' me."
"Why?" the younger man asked suspiciously. "Ya didn' maker feel bad again, didja?"
"No!" Matt hissed, his annoyance growing. "I tried ta getter ova t' th' car so we could taker t' th' docta. She wouldn' go!"
"Why the hell not?" Jeff demanded.
Matt sighed knowing he couldn't tell his brother about the entire conversation he'd had with the small silver woman. Jeff would think he was personally responsible for her injuries and Matt knew that Rio wouldn't want him to feel that way. He decided to spread the guilt evenly so that Jeff would handle it better.
"She said she ovaheard Henry threaten ta git t'er through all o' us an' she hadda leave," he told his younger brother who was watching him vigilantly, looking for any signs of misinformation. He knew Jeff would be hard to mislead but he had to try. "I tol' 'er tha' 'e wins if she leaves us bu' she said we were mo' important t' 'er. Then she ran. I was tryin' ta catch 'er when ya saw me."
"We hafta fin' er!"
"How?"
"Matt, I kno' ya no' fonda 'er . . ."
"Stop righ' there," Matt warned dangerously. "She's my frien' too. I wanner back as much as you do, bro!"
Jeff sniffled a few times and looked away. He was clearly having a difficult time with the circumstances. Matt gave him some room and leaned back up against the car. He was also worried about how he would break this news to Shannon. His foot kicked something and he looked down to see Rio's gear bag. He looked back up to Jeff questioningly.
"I's 'ers," he answered Matt's unspoken question. "I foun' it inna corner in th' arena befo' I came back 'ere."
"Whatta we do wit' it?"
"I was gonna keep it fo' 'er."
"Don'tcha think Shan'll wanna hol' onto it?"
Jeff's face twisted angrily briefly then crumpled into a frowning mass. "Oh man," he whined more to himself than Matt. "'Ow can I thinka bein' pissed at 'im now? 'E's gonna be wrecked."
Matt opened his arms and Jeff collapsed into them shuddering with tears.
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Shannon waited impatiently on the bed in his hotel room. He was still bothered by Rio's phone call earlier and didn't know why she sounded so quietly fraught. It didn't mean that he wasn't delighted with her revelation. On the contrary, he was thrilled. He just didn't quite trust the timing. Rio wasn't given to whims before her matches. This much, he knew with certainty. He'd flipped through all the channels at least a dozen times in the last hour or so, looking at his watch often. Where was she? It wasn't like her to be this late.
He was just about to call Matt to see if he knew her whereabouts when he heard a knock on the door. She must have lost her key, he decided smiling. He opened the door to find Matt and Jeff standing in the hallway looking as if something tragic had happened. He furrowed his brow, annoyed at finding Jeff in the vicinity at all, and stepped back to allow the two men access to the room. They entered and closed the door behind them.
"Shanny . . ." Jeff said shakily.
"Wha's wrong?" Shannon asked, a sick feeling developing in the pit of his stomach.
Matt looked away with a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He looked down at a bag he held and slowly extended his hand to Shannon. It was Rio's gear bag.
"Where is she?" he demanded looking at the bag like it was possessed of demons.
"Shanny," Jeff said again reaching for him. Shannon stepped back but Jeff moved forward grabbing his best friend and holding him close. "I am so sorry."
Shannon allowed Jeff to engulf him, missing his easy friendship. He pinned Matt with an icy stare over Jeff's shoulder, though and held the other man's gaze.
"What happened," he asked in a slow dangerous tone. Matt looked uncomfortable and shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Jeff's low sobs were ringing in Shannon's ear and he knew the two were about to describe something earth shattering. He slowly rubbed Jeff's back and prepared himself for the worst.
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"Again no body?" Henry bellowed at his men from the office. "And no clean win either!"
Goliath said nothing, merely looking at the wall behind Henry's head.
"She's gone," Phantom pointed out in an uncharacteristically irritated tone. "Isn't that all that matters?"
"If any health workers find her and do an autopsy, I'll be questioned," he answered. "The poison isn't traceless."
"Well, at least you seem completely certain this one's dead," Phantom shot back. "You're not treating it like Fury's attack."
"I made sure to use twice the amount of poison this time," Henry replied coldly. "I wanted to be absolutely sure she'd be finished forever."
Silence descended upon the small office as each man turned that prospect over in his mind. Phantom stared Henry down just as coldly. This one's not going to back down, Henry thought glumly. Perhaps he hadn't been that good of an idea after all. Henry hated to feel inferior to anyone and this man made it plain that he did as well. Goliath finally broke the quiet.
"She's gone boss, just like ya wanted," he said stretching out his healing legs. "That's all that matters. I doubt anyone will find her if we can't."
"I wish I could share your sentiment," Henry scoffed. "And what do I do about the title?"
"Well, Sasquatch can become the new champ, after he's healed," Goliath offered. "We could draw out the suspense until then and concoct a story explaining it. I don't think the fans will care as long as we keep giving them carnage matches in the mean time."
"I believe that would work out well," Phantom added darkly. "And you could have an identical belt made in the interim to pass off as the original."
Henry was skeptical that no one would notice a missing champion for such a long period of time. However, as he had no better options open to him right now, he would have to make due with the plan and hope nothing else went awry this time.
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"She's no' dead," Shannon said firmly after hearing the boys out. "We 'ave a connection. I'd feel it if she died."
Jeff sadly picked at the bedspread he was sitting on next to his best friend. He didn't want to believe she was dead either but he'd seen the blood she'd lost and knew that even if she'd had immediate medical attention, which she didn't, she probably wouldn't have survived. But he couldn't bring himself to hurt Shannon any more than he'd already done. He felt like he'd betrayed both his friends with his behavior and didn't know how he'd make it up, at least to Shannon. Rio was no longer around to console. Jeff's eyes blurred with tears as he absorbed that fact again.
"Yo' awful quiet," Shannon said breaking into his thoughts.
He looked up into his friend's brilliant green eyes, noting the tears that refused to be spilled. Shannon was everything to Jeff as far as friends go. They'd practically grown up together. Matt had always said if they'd been born brothers they probably couldn't have been closer. They'd vowed never to let anything, especially a women, come between them. It physically hurt Jeff to think about his recent behavior. He now knew the younger man truly loved Rio in a way Jeff couldn't touch.
"I am so sorry for ev'rythin', Shanny," he said guiltily. "I neva shoulda treated ya like that."
Shannon gave him a small smile and put a hand on his arm. "I kno' ya lover, too, Jeff. Jus' no' th' same."
Matt sat in the chair leaning back most likely contemplating recent events. He'd washed his arms free of the blood but probably could still see it in his mind's eye. Jeff knew his brother felt a growing sense of loss as each minute ticked past and that he was holding something critical back from his final meeting with Rio. Jeff didn't know what that something was but he was determined to uncover it. Whatever the information, it was slowly eating away at Matt's psyche and Rio would hate feeling responsible for that.
"Whatcha thinkin', big bro?" Shannon asked the dark haired Hardy, probably purposely using his old nickname for Jeff to break into Matt's somber mood.
"Nothin'" Matt said shaking his head.
"Don' lie t' us," Jeff persisted. "We ain' buyin' it."
"I was jus' thinkin'," Matt sighed. "I once tol' 'er she was an infection tha' was dangerous t' all o' us. An' here we are now, th' ones she risked 'erself t' save."
"Ironic, isn' it?" Jeff couldn't keep from saying. "Bu' I don' think Rio'd like it if she knew we were talkin' about 'er this way."
"Tara," Matt whispered sadly.
"What?" Shannon asked leaning closer to Matt to hear him better.
"She tol' me 'er name was Tara," Matt said looking from one man to the other. "It was th' last thin' she said befo' she ran away fro' me."
"Tara," Shannon said softly, rolling the name over his tongue. "Much betta. Tha's what I'll caller from now on, then. Tara."
Jeff looked at the young blonde in misery. He knew it would be a very long period of time before Shannon accepted Rio . . . er, Tara's passing. He knew his friend well and was aware of what would happen. Shannon would cling to this hope for as long as he could. Eventually, as time passed, he would become despondent and uncommunicative. Jeff didn't know exactly how he was going to pull his friend out of that depression when the time came. He only knew that he would have to try. At least he would have Matt, Amy and Shane to help him. When he was able to get Matt out of his melancholy mood, that is. The only thing keeping Jeff from following suite was Rio's . . . no, Tara's wish to keep her world from touching him. He knew without doubt that if she knew her loss would destroy him she'd never be at peace. And she deserved to have peace . . . finally.