Author's Note: This is the slightly altered third chapter of the story, not a whole lot has been changed, mostly just the description of the match at the end and Jeff's final decision and how he struggles. I hope everyone will enjoy.
Unfortunately it seemed like Mark, Glenn, Sean and a reluctant Kevin had been right about Jeff and the Heartbreak Kid, Jeff didn't tell Shawn how he felt the next day or the day after that. As a matter of fact Jeff had gotten less and less talkative around Shawn, choosing instead to remain silent and not talk to him at all. It seemed like he was attempting to stop himself from falling in love with HBK by just not talking to him at all, about anything, unless he was asked a question. Shawn found himself growing increasingly more worried and frustrated as time went on and Jeff wouldn't tell anyone exactly what was wrong with him.
Shawn wasn't the only one that was becoming frustrated with Jeff. Monty and Brian had been trying to get information about his crush on the Heartbreak Kid out of him for awhile but he refused to tell them anything beyond the fact that it was none of their business in the first place, which hurt them a little more than they would've liked to admit because they actually wanted to be friends with him and he was simply pushing them away when all they did was care and try to help him. Kevin, Mark, Glenn and Sean were all angry because Jeff had stopped opening up to them completely, he had retreated into his shell so much that he wouldn't even talk to Shane Helms or Shannon Moore about anything either. The only person he would confide in was Chyna and she wasn't around often enough for it to matter or to help.
Eric Bischoff the General Manager of RAW and a genuine nice guy when he wasn't on television had expressed some concern for the extreme young man as well. Jeff had been throwing himself into his ring work, inventing crazy new moves and things that looked spectacular but were also some of the most dangerous maneuvers ever seen in wrestling. However when Eric had tried to speak with Jeff about going on vacation or toning down his wrestling Jeff had said that it was alright. He didn't see anything wrong with the way he was doing things or the fact that he was trying to kill himself every night he stepped into the ring, they all decided that either he actually wanted to die or he was unintentionally trying to kill himself to stop whatever it was that he was feeling. It was his way of becoming numb.
RAW was supposed to be exciting that night. Jeff had a cage match with RVD and had been practicing some crazy moves that no one approved of for that match, which meant if he did in fact live through the match he'd be fined a considerable amount of money as well as get suspended for an indefinite amount of time. He was sitting in his locker room when Shawn came in. "Hey Jeff, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?" He asked, voice soft.
Jeff looked up so quick he almost got whiplash. Shawn could see the young man fold himself back into his shell and frowned, he wanted the Jeff who'd started to open up to him a little bit back. "Uh Shawn can it wait I have a match to concentrate on?" The rainbow haired Hardy replied quickly.
Shawn sighed, he had expected this. Jeff had been getting worse over the past couple of days. He was giving everyone attitude it seemed. "Actually Jeff that's what I wanted to speak with you about. I don't think that you should do the new move. I'm worried it might be a little too dangerous, I mean, wouldn't it be better to save it for a pay per view or something?"
Flushing red Jeff could feel his temper rising. "No one seems to think that I should be doing the new move. I personally feel that it is none of your fucking business whether or not I do the damn move in the first place so how about you leave me alone and go bug one of the Kliq, they're the important ones, the Elite, remember?"
"I think it is my business Jeff because I consider you to be a friend and I don't enjoy seeing my friends practically kill themselves every single night just for a few seconds of cheap entertainment." Shawn retorted.
"Cheap entertainment?! Yes well you would know a lot about that now wouldn't you Shawn? After all you didn't seem to mind it while you were doing it." Jeff got up and stood nose to nose with the man he used to refer to as his idol.
Shawn glared into Jeff's bright green eyes. "That's because I was on top of the world kid, but I wasn't there for very long because I didn't realize I was trying to kill myself just like your doing now. You can go whore yourself out to the fans all you want Jeff but it won't last forever, you're gonna get in an accident fast boy and there will be no one to catch you when you fall. Not even me Jeff, there's a point you reach with friends where even they can't handle you anymore. Congratulations, your friends have reached that point and you forced them to it." With that said Shawn stormed out of the room his face tense with anger and frustration.
Slumping down on the bench Jeff felt a million emotions racing through him as he thought about what had just happened, what he had just made happen by trying to push away the people who cared about him more than anything, all for a stupid safety net that didn't even really exist, he was just terrified to be betrayed, when he was the one betraying himself. He began to cry softly rocking himself back and forth. "Oh god," He muttered to himself. "Oh god what have I done?" He looked up wiping his face when he heard a stagehand call through the door telling him his match was up in 10 minutes.
As Jeff sat near the curtain waiting for his music to start all he could remember was the sound of Shawn's voice and the look on his face as Jeff said those things to him and as he replied, hurt, he actually did care about Jeff, and now it was all over. Jeff had hurt him badly, he could tell, it was written on his face and in those beautiful hazel eyes of his. The first strands of his music started and he ran out onto the ramp doing his usual dance as the fans cheering rang in his ears, would his sacrifices really matter to the fans in the end?
The match started out as usual; the two men locking up in the center of the ring, which soon escalated into Irish whips, chops, punches. Jeff managed to nail RVD with a Whisper in the Wind and began scaling to the top of the cage as fast as he could only to have Rob pull him back down to the ground.
Shawn watched backstage nervously, pacing in front of the camera.
Jeff began bleeding from his mouth when RVD hit the vandaminator but grabbed the chair off the ground and swung it at the other highflier hitting him square in the jaw knocking him out cold, he turned and began climbing the cage and stood at the top looking at all the fans around him, rising up to watch him. He tore off his shirt and looked down at Rob, he could just end it now, and he could climb down the cage and land firmly on his feet on the ground where he would remain safe. Or he could do what the fans wanted to see him do, risk his body again and practically ruin his career. He nodded to himself deciding to climb down as Shawn's voice rang through his mind. He had to do it, he had to do the move though, he'd been practicing for two weeks, this was what he'd been waiting for his whole life, and the chance to be imprinted in fans minds forever.
But why were Shawn's words echoing in his head. No one to catch you when you fall...Not even me…Not even me…No one…Not even me…No one…fall…me…catch…no one. A wave of dizziness hit him as these words went through his head so fast that they no longer made sense, nothing made sense anymore at all. All he could see was the expression on Shawn's face, the look of hurt and betrayal, the same thing Jeff had been trying to protect himself from, but he'd ended up betraying himself and one of his good friends. Jeff heard a scream, as he slipped and fell off the top of the cage, he wasn't sure if it was someone else's or his own, ramming into it on the way down. He landed not in the ring but near the barrier outside of the cage on the hard floor, a sickening crack bursting into his hearing before he felt an agonizing pain then numbness. The last thing he heard was someone yell for an ambulance before the darkness overwhelmed him.