Death Is Only The Beginning
A WWE wrestling fanfiction
By: Jay 2K Winger
Disclaimer Stuff: The characters herein are the property of World Wrestling Entertainment (and don't get me started on how much I dislike the fact that they Got The "F" Out), and are not used with the intention of making a profit. This story is written to explore a few little concepts I thought up in regards to the storyline in question, as well as to explore some other aspects of their characters.
Teaser: The Dead Man will not rest in peace after being buried alive by his brother. A fictionalized version of the current Taker/Kane storyline, with a look back at their histories.
~*~*~*~*~*~
PART THREE: LAUGHING AT MISERY
~*~*~*~*~*~
Raw, three weeks after the Rumble…
~*~*~*~*~*~
He had taken to calling the other voice the Dark Side. This, after all, was more or less what it was. It was the part of his soul that he had lost to the Darkness years before, after being burned alive in that casket by his brother. That was not the first time he had touched The Void, and he knew this seeming eternity he was spending here now would not be the last time he visited the Nothingness Between The Worlds. Everything that lived came here twice in their existence. Once in the beginning, and once in the end. There were those like himself, as well, those who could traverse this forbidden realm, but they paid a heavy price to do so.
The Void exacted its toll. None could come here without giving up a part of themselves. His first visit had cost him much of his humanity, turning him into the zombie he had been when that pompous evangelist Brother Love and that equally pompous millionaire Ted DiBiase had found him and recruited him. But little by little he had regained his humanity, thanks to the efforts of Paul Bearer, the old hand from the funeral home. This was directly related to Bearer's possession of the Urn. The Urn that had contained the ashes of his mother. That link to his humanity, his mother's remains, anchored him and protected him from too much of The Void's price. He'd lost that anchor when he'd been locked in that casket and then "ascended" from the mortal realm, but by then he was stronger. Through sheer force of will, he could keep his soul and his humanity contained within himself and not pay up to the Nothingness. But then came the first betrayal.
Bearer learned of his involvement in the fire that had killed his parents, and turned his back on him, betraying him in the midst of his violent war with the deranged boiler-room dweller. He accused him of being a "goddamned murderer!" When he'd pressured the fat man, he'd learned the source of his information: "Kane! Kane told me!" The shock of that shook the foundation of his being. He was not alone. His brother was still alive. Alive, but poisoned by Bearer's lies, his filthy lies about his responsibility for the fire, telling his little brother that he had deliberately set the fire.
And so the bad blood had begun, ironically, at Badd Blood back in 1997. Kane had finally made his appearance and begun to unleash his long-dormant rage upon him, week after week, trying to provoke him into responding. But he would not do so, remembering the lesson his mother and father had always taught him when he and Kane would fight in their youth: "Brother should not raise hands against brother." The lesson had sunk in for him, but not so his ever-angry younger brother. And with years of Paul Bearer's teachings, Kane had forgotten his parents' lesson.
But enough... the time was ripe to send another message to his deranged sibling.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kane drove to the arena in his rental car, aggressively cutting people off in traffic and speeding. No cops seemed to notice this, or if they did, they noted how low the car was riding and decided not to deal with such a big speeder. He switched on the radio to get his mind off the events of recent weeks. The rock station he tuned into happened to be playing AC\DC's "Highway to Hell." He smiled grimly as he drummed his knuckles on the steering wheel in time with the beat.
It had just gotten to the line "Nobody's gonna slow me down," when the radio squawked and crashed with static. The Monster glared at it. "Stupid piece of rental crap."
The radio then made a sharp squealing noise that set his teeth on edge and hurt his ears. It cut out again and through bursts of static, horrid noises began to emanate from the car's speakers. Screaming, wailing, the sounds of entrails being spilled, distorted voices and laughter. One of the voices sounded like it was speaking in tongues, or in Latin. Kane thought he heard that phrase Nex est tantum exordium in the midst of all the noise. Then he heard something else... something that almost sent chills down his spine.
Little girls' voices could be heard singing softly amidst the cacophony of misery, chanting what seemed like an old nursery rhyme
"One, two, 'Taker's coming for you."
Kane's mismatched eyes bulged, sputtering with mute rage before screaming, "SHUT UP!"
"Three, four, better lock your door."
"He's dead! I buried him alive!" The radio went on, heedless of his yelling.
"Five, six, drop your crucifix."
Kane, ignoring the road and the blaring of horns as he swerved across lanes, snapped at the radio, pressing buttons and turning dials. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
"Seven, eight, make you stay up late."
"You're not real!" Kane growled as he punched at the power button, to no effect. "He's not coming back!"
"Nine, ten, never rest again."
"SHUT UP!" Kane screamed one last time, just as the radio made the same horrible shrieking noise before popping, squawking, and jumping right back into AC\DC as if nothing had happened. Kane brushed his hand over his eyes and back over his half-shaved head and took a deep breath. "It's just my imagination," he told himself, closing his eyes as he repeated this line like a mantra. "Just my imagination."
Eyes on the road, brother.
His eyes popped back open and he had to swerve to avoid colliding with a truck in front of him. Kane growled and pulled into the off-ramp to the arena, switching the radio off as an afterthought. He stormed through the backstage areas to his dressing room, once again given a large berth. A stagehand made the mistake of not getting out of the way fast enough and got thrown through a stack of equipment boxes.
"Well, well, well!" shouted a voice from behind him in the corridor. Kane tensed, but then recognized the voice. He didn't relax, but his anger started to simmer as he turned to face The Hurricane. "If it isn't my former sidekick, a fellow former World Tag Team Champion, Citizen Kane!" The caped cruiserweight stood there, arms folded, lips pursed in a heroic frown. Behind him stood the Super-Hero-In-Training Rosey, hands on his hips. The Hurricane stuck a nose under Kane's nose. "You have changed, former sidekick! You're evil. You're ruthless. You attack people for no reason." Then he tapped his mask with his finger. "You even gave up your mask!" He spread his arms, shouting, "WASSUPWITDAT?!" Before returning to his arms-folded pose.
Kane stepped forward, turning his head to one side to glare down at his former tag-team partner with his pale eye. The Hurricane unconsciously backed up a step. "I am seriously not in the mood to deal with you right now," he growled. "So do yourself a favor and go away." He walked away from them, but then Rosey, in an apparent act of bravery, stepped forward and grabbed him by the arm.
"No one turns their back on The Hurricane or Rosey, the S.H.I.T.!" the heavyset Samoan sidekick declared. Kane tilted his head at him the other way, glaring at him with his dark eye. Rosey pointed at the stagehand that Kane had just injured. "You apologize to that man right now, or... uh..." He swallowed a bit as Kane took a step forward, then finished lamely, "...or I won't be held responsible for my actions."
Kane stared at him for a moment, then chuckled. The absurdity of the situation was just too much. His chuckles turned into louder laughs, until he was throwing back his head and laughing uproariously. Rosey flinched a bit as Kane did this, then slowly started chuckling, then laughing as well, missing whatever the joke was. The Hurricane scratched his green hair, puzzled. Rosey and Kane continued laughing, before Rosey asked, "What's the joke?" The Monster then abruptly grabbed the Samoan sidekick by the head and threw him through a nearby dressing room door, knocking it off its hinges.
The Samoan S.H.I.T. groaned and curled up on the floor. Kane stood over him and said, "That's the joke. Heh, get it?" Then he took a step toward The Hurricane, who backed up. The Big Red Freak laughed once more, then walked away, leaving the caped cruiserweight to attend to his protégé.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was later. The Hurricane had rather quickly gone to Eric Bischoff, demanding a match with his erstwhile partner to "beat some respect into him." Laughing at the North Carolinian's cheek, the GM agreed. Kane stood in the ring and watched The Hurricane walk down the ramp and step into the ring, removing his cape, then striding up to the towering freak. The Hurricane considered the size differential for a moment, then brought the fight, throwing several punches that absolutely failed to have any effect whatsoever.
The Hurricane wisely decided to regroup and rethink his strategy, diving out of the ring as Kane gave chase, agony on his mind. They ran around the ring, then back inside, where the green-haired superhero attacked ... to similar results. He came off the ropes as Kane stood up, but the Monster simply caught him around the waist and gave him a vicious powerslam. Chuckling, he pulled his former partner back up and shot him into the ropes, almost kicking his mask off with a big boot. Laughing louder now, he pulled him back up once more and whipped him hard into the corner, so The Hurricane staggered right out into Kane's waiting arms and a sidewalk slam. "Get it?!" Kane laughed in his face as he stood back, raising his hand in the air and waiting for him to stand back up. Helms did not disappoint, stumbling to his feet and turning straight into a massive chokeslam. Chuckling under his breath, Kane descended for the cover and the pinfall.
"Funny joke, isn't it?" Kane laughed as he stood up and raised his hands over his head, then whipped them down to his side to set the corners aflame.
Only, the fire did not come.
Kane blinked and stood up, looking around at the corners. Was it his imagination, or was it getting colder? He raised his arms again and once more brought them down. Once again, the fire was absent. He snarled and stomped the mat, pacing in a circle, wiping some of the cold sweat off his face, then raised his arms again. He summoned up all his will, focused hard, then snapped his arms down. With a satisfyingly loud explosion, the corners went ablaze. Kane chuckled, the lights turning a fiery red in coordination with his natural burning anger.
BONG.
The smile on his face drained as the lights suddenly turned purple. "No!" he shouted.
BONG.
"Who's doing this?!" he shouted, turning in a circle and glaring at any nearby stagehand. "This is not funny!"
Misery is funny to you, isn't it, brother?
"Shut up!" he shouted at the voice. "You're not real!" The TitanTron was flickering with the now-familiar, but still unsettling video.
Do you find it funny that you can do what you like to everyone smaller than you, Kane?
Kane shut his eyes tight and gripped the sides of his head. "Shut up! Shut up!"
I don't find it funny, brother. I didn't think it was funny when you betrayed me.
"YOU betrayed ME!" Kane roared. "You were supposed to be a MONSTER! You betrayed YOURSELF!"
I was not going to allow myself to lose my humanity, Kane. I was not going to give my soul up to The Void.
"SHUT UP! YOU ARE NOT REAL! I KILLED YOU!"
Yes, you buried me alive. But... Kane?
"WHAT?!" And when the voice spoke next, its words were echoed on the screen:
In 34 days... the dead shall rise... again.
And then the video stopped, while the fans cheered the otherworldly message, faint hockey chants of "Un-Der-Ta-Ker!" starting in the building as the Monster fumed in the ring. He walked out of the ring and into the back, this week only sparing Eric Bischoff a pale-eyed glare that, had this been the week before, would have set him aflame. But this week, Kane was no longer confident in his pyrotechnic power and stalked off, murder on his mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~
More of the power was coming to him. No longer was it simply command over lightning and electricity, but now fire as well.
Not only that, but he was stronger than his brother in that area. Kane had always been the stronger one when it came to the control of fire, perhaps because of his past. He was both afraid of the force that had inflicted his imagined physical scars, and able to control it, to summon it forth when he desired. Thankfully, he'd never used it to truly malicious ends, to slaughter and kill innocents, but only to intimidate and show-off. The exception to this was when he'd set J.R. aflame, but by then Kane's mind had gone over that line between sanity and insanity and any compunctions he'd had were gone.
The Dark Side's voice was louder, but now spoke in whispers, both taunting and tempting him. It promised him all the ability and power he'd need to avenge himself on his mad sibling, all that and more. Command over the elements was only the start. He would command the full might of the Dark Side again, to command the unholy legions and become the Lord of Darkness once more. All he had to do was give up more of his vaunted humanity to The Void and allow the Dark Side into himself.
But he resisted. He thought again of his beloved wife and their young baby daughter. If nothing else, he had to retain his very essence for their sakes. Because if he truly succumbed to the Dark Side's temptations, his daughter's fate would be forever warped by his choice, and her destiny would be a dark one.
...
The time was drawing ever closer to the time when he would be at his strongest, when he could incarnate and return to the physical realm once more. Only thirty-four days.
Thirty-three...
Thirty-two...
Thirty...
A WWE wrestling fanfiction
By: Jay 2K Winger
Disclaimer Stuff: The characters herein are the property of World Wrestling Entertainment (and don't get me started on how much I dislike the fact that they Got The "F" Out), and are not used with the intention of making a profit. This story is written to explore a few little concepts I thought up in regards to the storyline in question, as well as to explore some other aspects of their characters.
Teaser: The Dead Man will not rest in peace after being buried alive by his brother. A fictionalized version of the current Taker/Kane storyline, with a look back at their histories.
~*~*~*~*~*~
PART THREE: LAUGHING AT MISERY
~*~*~*~*~*~
Raw, three weeks after the Rumble…
~*~*~*~*~*~
He had taken to calling the other voice the Dark Side. This, after all, was more or less what it was. It was the part of his soul that he had lost to the Darkness years before, after being burned alive in that casket by his brother. That was not the first time he had touched The Void, and he knew this seeming eternity he was spending here now would not be the last time he visited the Nothingness Between The Worlds. Everything that lived came here twice in their existence. Once in the beginning, and once in the end. There were those like himself, as well, those who could traverse this forbidden realm, but they paid a heavy price to do so.
The Void exacted its toll. None could come here without giving up a part of themselves. His first visit had cost him much of his humanity, turning him into the zombie he had been when that pompous evangelist Brother Love and that equally pompous millionaire Ted DiBiase had found him and recruited him. But little by little he had regained his humanity, thanks to the efforts of Paul Bearer, the old hand from the funeral home. This was directly related to Bearer's possession of the Urn. The Urn that had contained the ashes of his mother. That link to his humanity, his mother's remains, anchored him and protected him from too much of The Void's price. He'd lost that anchor when he'd been locked in that casket and then "ascended" from the mortal realm, but by then he was stronger. Through sheer force of will, he could keep his soul and his humanity contained within himself and not pay up to the Nothingness. But then came the first betrayal.
Bearer learned of his involvement in the fire that had killed his parents, and turned his back on him, betraying him in the midst of his violent war with the deranged boiler-room dweller. He accused him of being a "goddamned murderer!" When he'd pressured the fat man, he'd learned the source of his information: "Kane! Kane told me!" The shock of that shook the foundation of his being. He was not alone. His brother was still alive. Alive, but poisoned by Bearer's lies, his filthy lies about his responsibility for the fire, telling his little brother that he had deliberately set the fire.
And so the bad blood had begun, ironically, at Badd Blood back in 1997. Kane had finally made his appearance and begun to unleash his long-dormant rage upon him, week after week, trying to provoke him into responding. But he would not do so, remembering the lesson his mother and father had always taught him when he and Kane would fight in their youth: "Brother should not raise hands against brother." The lesson had sunk in for him, but not so his ever-angry younger brother. And with years of Paul Bearer's teachings, Kane had forgotten his parents' lesson.
But enough... the time was ripe to send another message to his deranged sibling.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kane drove to the arena in his rental car, aggressively cutting people off in traffic and speeding. No cops seemed to notice this, or if they did, they noted how low the car was riding and decided not to deal with such a big speeder. He switched on the radio to get his mind off the events of recent weeks. The rock station he tuned into happened to be playing AC\DC's "Highway to Hell." He smiled grimly as he drummed his knuckles on the steering wheel in time with the beat.
It had just gotten to the line "Nobody's gonna slow me down," when the radio squawked and crashed with static. The Monster glared at it. "Stupid piece of rental crap."
The radio then made a sharp squealing noise that set his teeth on edge and hurt his ears. It cut out again and through bursts of static, horrid noises began to emanate from the car's speakers. Screaming, wailing, the sounds of entrails being spilled, distorted voices and laughter. One of the voices sounded like it was speaking in tongues, or in Latin. Kane thought he heard that phrase Nex est tantum exordium in the midst of all the noise. Then he heard something else... something that almost sent chills down his spine.
Little girls' voices could be heard singing softly amidst the cacophony of misery, chanting what seemed like an old nursery rhyme
"One, two, 'Taker's coming for you."
Kane's mismatched eyes bulged, sputtering with mute rage before screaming, "SHUT UP!"
"Three, four, better lock your door."
"He's dead! I buried him alive!" The radio went on, heedless of his yelling.
"Five, six, drop your crucifix."
Kane, ignoring the road and the blaring of horns as he swerved across lanes, snapped at the radio, pressing buttons and turning dials. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
"Seven, eight, make you stay up late."
"You're not real!" Kane growled as he punched at the power button, to no effect. "He's not coming back!"
"Nine, ten, never rest again."
"SHUT UP!" Kane screamed one last time, just as the radio made the same horrible shrieking noise before popping, squawking, and jumping right back into AC\DC as if nothing had happened. Kane brushed his hand over his eyes and back over his half-shaved head and took a deep breath. "It's just my imagination," he told himself, closing his eyes as he repeated this line like a mantra. "Just my imagination."
Eyes on the road, brother.
His eyes popped back open and he had to swerve to avoid colliding with a truck in front of him. Kane growled and pulled into the off-ramp to the arena, switching the radio off as an afterthought. He stormed through the backstage areas to his dressing room, once again given a large berth. A stagehand made the mistake of not getting out of the way fast enough and got thrown through a stack of equipment boxes.
"Well, well, well!" shouted a voice from behind him in the corridor. Kane tensed, but then recognized the voice. He didn't relax, but his anger started to simmer as he turned to face The Hurricane. "If it isn't my former sidekick, a fellow former World Tag Team Champion, Citizen Kane!" The caped cruiserweight stood there, arms folded, lips pursed in a heroic frown. Behind him stood the Super-Hero-In-Training Rosey, hands on his hips. The Hurricane stuck a nose under Kane's nose. "You have changed, former sidekick! You're evil. You're ruthless. You attack people for no reason." Then he tapped his mask with his finger. "You even gave up your mask!" He spread his arms, shouting, "WASSUPWITDAT?!" Before returning to his arms-folded pose.
Kane stepped forward, turning his head to one side to glare down at his former tag-team partner with his pale eye. The Hurricane unconsciously backed up a step. "I am seriously not in the mood to deal with you right now," he growled. "So do yourself a favor and go away." He walked away from them, but then Rosey, in an apparent act of bravery, stepped forward and grabbed him by the arm.
"No one turns their back on The Hurricane or Rosey, the S.H.I.T.!" the heavyset Samoan sidekick declared. Kane tilted his head at him the other way, glaring at him with his dark eye. Rosey pointed at the stagehand that Kane had just injured. "You apologize to that man right now, or... uh..." He swallowed a bit as Kane took a step forward, then finished lamely, "...or I won't be held responsible for my actions."
Kane stared at him for a moment, then chuckled. The absurdity of the situation was just too much. His chuckles turned into louder laughs, until he was throwing back his head and laughing uproariously. Rosey flinched a bit as Kane did this, then slowly started chuckling, then laughing as well, missing whatever the joke was. The Hurricane scratched his green hair, puzzled. Rosey and Kane continued laughing, before Rosey asked, "What's the joke?" The Monster then abruptly grabbed the Samoan sidekick by the head and threw him through a nearby dressing room door, knocking it off its hinges.
The Samoan S.H.I.T. groaned and curled up on the floor. Kane stood over him and said, "That's the joke. Heh, get it?" Then he took a step toward The Hurricane, who backed up. The Big Red Freak laughed once more, then walked away, leaving the caped cruiserweight to attend to his protégé.
~*~*~*~*~*~
It was later. The Hurricane had rather quickly gone to Eric Bischoff, demanding a match with his erstwhile partner to "beat some respect into him." Laughing at the North Carolinian's cheek, the GM agreed. Kane stood in the ring and watched The Hurricane walk down the ramp and step into the ring, removing his cape, then striding up to the towering freak. The Hurricane considered the size differential for a moment, then brought the fight, throwing several punches that absolutely failed to have any effect whatsoever.
The Hurricane wisely decided to regroup and rethink his strategy, diving out of the ring as Kane gave chase, agony on his mind. They ran around the ring, then back inside, where the green-haired superhero attacked ... to similar results. He came off the ropes as Kane stood up, but the Monster simply caught him around the waist and gave him a vicious powerslam. Chuckling, he pulled his former partner back up and shot him into the ropes, almost kicking his mask off with a big boot. Laughing louder now, he pulled him back up once more and whipped him hard into the corner, so The Hurricane staggered right out into Kane's waiting arms and a sidewalk slam. "Get it?!" Kane laughed in his face as he stood back, raising his hand in the air and waiting for him to stand back up. Helms did not disappoint, stumbling to his feet and turning straight into a massive chokeslam. Chuckling under his breath, Kane descended for the cover and the pinfall.
"Funny joke, isn't it?" Kane laughed as he stood up and raised his hands over his head, then whipped them down to his side to set the corners aflame.
Only, the fire did not come.
Kane blinked and stood up, looking around at the corners. Was it his imagination, or was it getting colder? He raised his arms again and once more brought them down. Once again, the fire was absent. He snarled and stomped the mat, pacing in a circle, wiping some of the cold sweat off his face, then raised his arms again. He summoned up all his will, focused hard, then snapped his arms down. With a satisfyingly loud explosion, the corners went ablaze. Kane chuckled, the lights turning a fiery red in coordination with his natural burning anger.
BONG.
The smile on his face drained as the lights suddenly turned purple. "No!" he shouted.
BONG.
"Who's doing this?!" he shouted, turning in a circle and glaring at any nearby stagehand. "This is not funny!"
Misery is funny to you, isn't it, brother?
"Shut up!" he shouted at the voice. "You're not real!" The TitanTron was flickering with the now-familiar, but still unsettling video.
Do you find it funny that you can do what you like to everyone smaller than you, Kane?
Kane shut his eyes tight and gripped the sides of his head. "Shut up! Shut up!"
I don't find it funny, brother. I didn't think it was funny when you betrayed me.
"YOU betrayed ME!" Kane roared. "You were supposed to be a MONSTER! You betrayed YOURSELF!"
I was not going to allow myself to lose my humanity, Kane. I was not going to give my soul up to The Void.
"SHUT UP! YOU ARE NOT REAL! I KILLED YOU!"
Yes, you buried me alive. But... Kane?
"WHAT?!" And when the voice spoke next, its words were echoed on the screen:
In 34 days... the dead shall rise... again.
And then the video stopped, while the fans cheered the otherworldly message, faint hockey chants of "Un-Der-Ta-Ker!" starting in the building as the Monster fumed in the ring. He walked out of the ring and into the back, this week only sparing Eric Bischoff a pale-eyed glare that, had this been the week before, would have set him aflame. But this week, Kane was no longer confident in his pyrotechnic power and stalked off, murder on his mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~
More of the power was coming to him. No longer was it simply command over lightning and electricity, but now fire as well.
Not only that, but he was stronger than his brother in that area. Kane had always been the stronger one when it came to the control of fire, perhaps because of his past. He was both afraid of the force that had inflicted his imagined physical scars, and able to control it, to summon it forth when he desired. Thankfully, he'd never used it to truly malicious ends, to slaughter and kill innocents, but only to intimidate and show-off. The exception to this was when he'd set J.R. aflame, but by then Kane's mind had gone over that line between sanity and insanity and any compunctions he'd had were gone.
The Dark Side's voice was louder, but now spoke in whispers, both taunting and tempting him. It promised him all the ability and power he'd need to avenge himself on his mad sibling, all that and more. Command over the elements was only the start. He would command the full might of the Dark Side again, to command the unholy legions and become the Lord of Darkness once more. All he had to do was give up more of his vaunted humanity to The Void and allow the Dark Side into himself.
But he resisted. He thought again of his beloved wife and their young baby daughter. If nothing else, he had to retain his very essence for their sakes. Because if he truly succumbed to the Dark Side's temptations, his daughter's fate would be forever warped by his choice, and her destiny would be a dark one.
...
The time was drawing ever closer to the time when he would be at his strongest, when he could incarnate and return to the physical realm once more. Only thirty-four days.
Thirty-three...
Thirty-two...
Thirty...