TITLE: Alluded Distress
AUTHOR NAME: Marlena R. Snape
CATEGORY: Drama
SUB CATEGORY: Romance
RATING: PG-13 for language and such.
CAST: Marlena Dubois, Ashleigh Morgan, Chris Sabin, A.J Styles, as well as mentions and appearance of others throughout. ( Tons of cameos! )
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DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, y'heard? I only own Marlena Dubois, as minus the last name and picture base? She IS me. Ashleigh is credited to one of my best friends, Candace. Brooklyn Dubois ( the few parts she's in I should say ) is credited to my friend Angel, while Marlena's parents, and her sister Patricia are my real family. Chris Sabin, A.J Styles, and the rest of the NWA:TNA superstars in this story, are to my best rendition of their real selves, but I don't know them, or own them. ( However a girl CAN wish! ) Chris Irvine ( 'Jericho' in the WWE scene ) is not mine either…oh how I wish. He makes a few appearances as well, as do a few other WWE superstars. I own jack shite, okay? So don't sue me for letting my imagination run wild! :-P Enjoy the story.
Note: I'm not writing out the full pay-per-views anymore, unless they're really important to the character development. It just takes way too much time. Although, for big events like "Vendetta Rising" upcoming, I WILL be writing out straight out. This first part is really just a lot of coverage.
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Chapter Twelve: Show time and Post time
The show kicked off with A.J Styles and Lena D. talking backstage with Luther Reigns, about the six-person-tag match that night. A.J was trying to tell Lena to take it easy, but she wasn't having any part of that. Come to find out, last week during her hitting the Spiral Tap, she landed wrong, and bruised her ribs. She told A.J to stop worrying about her, and that the match would go on as planned. It was the first time that Luther Reigns talked on TNA television, without screaming at someone.
"Be careful, please."
Lena agreed to be careful, but didn't agree to back out of the match. She wanted to face Dallas, Princess Ashleigh, and Chris Sabin more than anything. Leading up to the match, Scott Hudson talked with Princess Ashleigh, Chris Sabin, and Dallas - who none of the three seemed concerned. While they were in the midst of the interview, Vince Russo passed by, which caused Sabin to walk after him.
"Hey Russo!" Chris yelled after him, causing Vince to turn around. "We need to talk, pal."
"Not now, Chris, I'm a little busy."
"No, you see, I'm the X-Division Champion, and you're going to pay attention to what I have to say." Chris demanded, as Vince looked none pleased with Sabin's attitude.
"Make it quick, I have important matters to deal with…"
"Chris is VERY important!" Princess Ashleigh protested, "Nothing is more important than Chris Sabin!" Vince slowly smirked at Ashleigh.
"Maybe you're right, Ashleigh, but can I tell you what should be more important than Chris to you?"
"Nothing…" Princess Ashleigh retaliated, her arms crossing. "Nothing is more important than Chris. I just told you that!"
"Try this on for size, small fry…" Russo said, as he looked at her, and the Women's Title. "You see that title you cherish so much, princess?"
"What about it?" Ashleigh asked quietly, as Vince grinned to himself.
"You're putting that title on the line at 'Vendetta Rising'. And want to hear the big kicker?"
"…What?"
"It's against Lena D!"
The crowd exploded as Ashleigh looked nervous, shaking her head frantically. Sabin grabbed Vince's arm, spinning him around. Russo stared down Sabin, glaring at the X-Division Champion. Chris quickly removed his hand from Vince's arm, but stood up to him.
"You can't make her defend her title against that trollop Lena D. Lena hasn't earned ANYTHING!"
"Yeah!" Princess Ashleigh injected defensively.
"Furthermore! Ashleigh is above that skank!"
"Yeah, I am!" Princess Ashleigh once again added, as she stood behind Chris.
"Well, put it this way…" Vince said coolly, as he looked at the pair of them. "Either she defends her title against Lena, fairly, one on one at 'Vendetta Rising', or you BOTH will be stripped of your titles!"
"You can't do that!" Chris yelled at him, as he threw his hands down. "Fine! She'll do it!"
"That's right!" She said, but paused, punching Chris in the shoulder. "CHRIS! No I won't!" She stamped her foot against the ground, crossing her arms. "She doesn't deserve it!"
"I'll let you two duke it out, but that's the catch. She doesn't defend her title? You both are stripped from them. Enjoy your night!"
Vince walked away, as Ashleigh glared at Chris, as she stormed off toward their locker room. Chris just rolled his eyes, as he directed Dallas to go with him, as they walked off toward the same direction Ashleigh had stormed off in.
There was a tag team titles match between xXx's Low Ki and Elix Skipper against AMW's James Storm and Chris Harris. Storm and Harris retained their titles via the "Death Sentence". There was also an X-Division Royal Rumble, that showed Paul London walking out of it the winner -- he had earned a shot at Sabin's X-Title in the near future. After that, there was some promotion for that Sunday, with "Vendetta Rising" live on pay-per-view from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"We're heading way up north, Professor!" Don West exclaimed, "I can't wait to see how Minneapolis reacts to Total Non-Stop Action!"
"It's more than a little ironic, Don." Mike Tenay started, "If you remember correctly, Princess Ashleigh is from Minnesota!"
"And she has to defend her title at 'Vendetta Rising' against Winnipeg Manitoba's Lena D! If you know your geography - Manitoba province is right north of Minnesota."
"That's right, Lena D. has a chance to win the Women's title approximately 6 hours from her home town. That's going to be huge for her, Don!"
There was a match between Trinity and Traci Brooks, for contendership of the Women's Title after 'Vendetta Rising', in which Desire got involved. It was called to a no contest as both Trinity and Traci were knocked out respectively by a steel chair by Desire, which Pat Kenney had to come from the backstage area to pull the rabid beauty away from her carnage trail. After that match, the cameras shifted to ringside where they showed the WWE superstar guests, to a large ovation from the TNA crowd. Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Trish Stratus, Christian, John Cena, Shelton Benjamin, Lita, Matt Hardy, Stacy Keibler, and Charlie Haas acknowledged the asylum crowd with waves and smiles.
"It wouldn't be a Wednesday night in Nashville without some famous faces, Tenay!" Don said with a chuckle, as Tenay nodded his head.
"It's a shock for me, because I've known a lot of those faces since the old days," the Professor said with a chuckle, "It's some surprise, especially on a night like tonight!"
As he said that, the TNA-tron came back to life, it showed Lena D. backstage, pacing, as she was dressed for the match in a pair of baggy sky blue cargo pants and a baby blue Rainbow Brite tank top that read "I Bite, Bitch". She was rubbing her arms a bit as she paced, until a hand reached out, tapping her shoulder. She spun around quickly, and let out a deep breath as she saw A.J Styles standing there, dressed for the match in his white wrestling gear.
"Damn, I didn't mean to scare ya like that," He said quietly, as Lena just looked at him.
"Well don't sneak up on me like that, and you won't." She stated matter-of-factly, as she crossed her arms against her chest. "What brings you by?"
"Just wanted to see if you were ready…" he asked, "I mean - I see you are but I was just wonderin'…"
"Yeah. I'm ready. Luther should be anytime…"
"Just kinda, thinkin', did ya hear what Vince said earlier?" A.J asked, as Lena looked at him offly. "Guess not. You have a match at 'Vendetta Rising', and it's huge."
"Against?" she inquired, as A.J actually smirked.
"Princess Ashleigh."
"The only thing huge about that is I'm going to need a refill of my Volume prescription…" Lena said in a dismal tone, as A.J just smiled.
"It's for the Women's Title."
That changed Lena's attitude. She smiled, nodding her head a bit as the asylum crowd cheered it up in the background. She began laughing at her thoughts, as A.J looked perplexed, but his smile never faded.
"What's funny?"
"It's almost too easy…" She said, "I'm going to get something to drink. When Luther gets ready, let him know we're squared, and all ready."
"You got it."
Lena walked out of the room, as A.J's eyes followed her, and we head back to the ring. Chris Daniels was in action against Chase Stevens from the Naturals, which with "Last Rites", the "Fallen Angel" pulled off the victory. Mike Tenay directed the attention to the backstage area one more time, where apparently something was going on. At the refreshment table, Lena had grabbed a bottle of water, when she heard a scoff. Looking up, Lena saw Princess Ashleigh, her Women's Title belt over her shoulder, as she was dressed in a pair of pink wrestling pants and a white camisole top.
"You must think you're reeeeeal lucky," Princess Ashleigh said, as Lena cocked an eyebrow, "I bet you put Vince Russo up to what he did tonight."
"Oh, yep, that was me. All me." Lena drawled sarcastically, taking a drink of her water. Ashleigh glared at her.
"Don't act snippy sarcastic with me, missy. I'll have you know this title is mine, and you're never going to get it. Do you hear me? Never never ever!"
"I feel like I strolled onto the set of Sesame Street, not Total Non-stop Action…" was Lena's reply to Ashleigh's 'tantrum', as Ashleigh looked shocked. "Oh, don't act a fool - Ashleigh, I know it's hard for you to do something intelligent, but if you know what's good for you, you'll walk back to your locker room and whine to your bitch boyfriend. I'm not in the mood."
"You'd better watch it!" Ashleigh exclaimed, "I don't have to take anything from you, I'm the Women's Champion, and that makes me better than you!" Lena paused, looking directly behind Ashleigh, as Ashleigh looked confused. "What in the hell are you looking at?!"
"You might want to pipe down, kiddo…"
"Why?!" Ashleigh questioned, as Lena took a step back.
"Because someone is standing behind you…" she said, looking a little nervous. "And they don't look too happy…" Lena's voice dropped in tone, as Ashleigh looked worried, her tone too dropped.
"…Who…?"
"Luther…" Lena whispered, as Ashleigh looked scared. There was one person Ashleigh was legitimately scared of, and that was Luther Reigns. Lena pointed, "He's standing right behind you, and shit, Ashleigh, he looks pissed…"
Ashleigh quickly turned around, but there was nobody there! Lena smirked wickedly, snickering under her breath. Ashleigh had tears in her eyes as she glared at Lena, as she turned and ran to her locker room with Chris. Lena laughed under her breath, as the asylum crowd found humor in it as well, the devious blonde shaking her head.
"What a fucking MORON…"
It was almost time for the 6 person tag match, and Ashleigh ran back into the locker room she shared with Dallas and Chris Sabin, upset. Chris stood up quickly, looking worried about her - as Dallas too stood. Ashleigh ran into Chris' arms, her head buried in his shoulder and chest.
"What's the matter, cupcake?"
"That- that bitch!" Princess Ashleigh sobbed, "She to-told me that Luther was behind me… and… and she said he was mad…"
"What happened?"
"He wasn't there! She tricked me!" Ashleigh shouted, as Chris put his arms around her tightly. "She was just trying to scare me!"
"She did a good job," Dallas said with a grumble, shaking his head.
"Not the time, Jolly Green." Sabin said in an annoyed tone. He looked at Ashleigh, wiping her tears. "Don't worry, Princess, we'll get her back. We'll get 'em all back."
"P-promise?" Ashleigh pouted, as Chris smiled at her, nodding his head.
"I promise."
The three left the room, heading for ringside, as Tenay and West talked. Tenay was talking about how much Ashleigh whined to get her way, and suggested something along the lines of her merely using Sabin to get ahead. West digressed, but commented.
"I doubt she's using him, to tell you the truth. They're made for each other." West said, as Tenay just shook his head.
"They both whine. A lot. I guess you're right, Don!"
"Biggest And The Best" by Clawfinger took over the sound system, as the crowd booed, ushering the trio of Dallas, Princess Ashleigh, and Chris Sabin. Sabin held his arm around Ashleigh as he raised his other to the ceiling, the heel section ripping out their classic "HAIL. SABIN!" chants. The WWE superstars on hand found that humorous, and intriguing as they just watched. Dallas spotted them, and sneered, as Sabin jaw jacked with Randy Orton, who wasn't taking the X-Division Champion seriously. As they got into the ring, finally, Sabin talked some sort of strategy with Dallas.
There Is Only One
You CAN'T Burn Me!
"Fireproof" by Pillar took over, as the crowd got to their feet for the coming of one, the only, A.J Styles. The lights flickered and strobbed through the asylum, as from the back with his hood up over his head, walked A.J. He ripped the hood off his head as he extended his arms to the side, in his typical cocky gesture, smirking to himself as the crowd cheered for him. As he got down to the bottom of the ramp, he slapped the hand of Chris Jericho, John Cena, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, who cheered TNA's Mr. 2003.
SOME KIND OF MONSTER!
"Some Kind Of Monster" by Metallica kicked up through the arena as the lights went out, and pyros shot off from the stage. Fire lit the way as from the backstage area, emerged the mammoth, yet silent assassin of Lena D's, Luther Reigns. Luther made his way down the ramp, to where A.J was standing and he looked directly at Ashleigh. Ashleigh moved behind Chris, as Sabin glared at Luther, gesturing with one finger toward the giant man who was listening to what A.J had to say.
La-la-la-la-la… Lena … Warm it up
The remix of "Milkshake" by Kelis, Lala and Rah Diggah (specially remastered for the diva) began to play, as the crowd got to their feet once more. From the backstage area with a smirk on her face, walked the blonde vixen known as Lena D. She held her arms out, showing herself off slightly as she ventured down the ramp way, which her taunting made Ashleigh scoff. Lena walked over to where Luther and A.J were standing, and as she was near the barrier, she walked over to Chris Jericho. The two embraced, and kissed cheeks, West seemed a little stunned.
"What's this?!" Don asked, "Do you have to be a super hot TNA diva to do that? That's CHRIS. JERICHO."
"Possibly. But if you look at it, Don, it makes sense. Chris Jericho and Lena D. are both from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada." Tenay said, breaking things down logically to Don. "It's not actually so far-fetched!"
"But Winnipeg is pretty big!"
A.J, Lena, and Luther got into the ring, and things were off from the get-go between these two teams! Ashleigh was frustrated from earlier, and went right after Lena, while Styles went for Sabin, and the two big men collided. Things broke down where it was A.J and Chris starting the match, and there was definitely no denying there was absolutely no love loss between these two. Both being X-Division masterminds, and pioneers of the X-Division itself, there was a lot of high flying, but Chris was trying to keep Styles grounded.
After he put A.J into a camel clutch maneuver, he reached for the tag, tagging in Dallas. Dallas came into the ring, and began stomping on A.J while he was still being held in the submission move, giving Sabin further leverage. Sabin finally released the hold, and Dallas went to work. Shortly after Dallas was tagged in, A.J managed to get to his corner, but what he wasn't expecting, was for Lena to tag herself in!
Lena got into the ring, and Dallas looked at her as if she was crazy! She went chest to mid-section with Dallas, as she shoved him back, and the asylum crowd's cheering was just fueling the fiery diva on! Dallas just tagged in Ashleigh, who wanted in, but before he left, Lena made it a point to punk the big man, as she reached forward, slapping Dallas in the back of the head. When he turned around… WHACK! Lena threw her fist forward, nailing Dallas across the face! Ashleigh took the opportunity to attack Lena while she wasn't looking or paying attention to her, and tackled her down to the ground.
The two women fought it out, until Ashleigh had locked Lena in her version of the STF called the "Princess Stretch". Lena was close to the ropes, but Sabin used his foot to kick her hand away, and that fueled Luther to bust out of his corner, and attack Sabin. When Dallas attacked Luther to protect Sabin, Styles came in as well - all six contenders were in the ring at once, and Lena finally got to the ropes. Nobody was listening to the referee, as Princess Ashleigh slipped out of the ring momentarily, after nailing Lena with a modified DDT. She grabbed her Women's Title from Tiny the Timekeeper, and slipped back into the ring. She waited for Lena to get up, and turn around, and when she did? CRACK! Lena was laid out in the middle of the ring, and referee Andrew Thomas noticed. He called for the bell as Lena was laid out in the middle of the ring - calling it a DQ win for Styles, Reigns and Miss D.
After the match was thrown DQ, Chris Sabin hoisted Princess Ashleigh onto his shoulder, as she proudly boasted her title up, while the crowd booed. "Supervixen" by Garbage played as Ashleigh relished in the fact she got revenge, as TNA programming went off the air.
When the show was over, Marlena was carried to the back to make it look good. Allen held her in his arms, one of his arms under her head, and the other holding under her legs. As they got backstage, she dropped one of her arms, leaning out of his arms. He laughed as she smirked up at him.
"Eh…" She said quietly. "I can walk."
"But I like carryin' ya…"
"Marlena! Marlena!"
She heard her name, and moved up to where her arms were around Allen's neck, and her legs were around his waist, looking over his shoulder. He held her up, as she smiled, while Ashleigh ran up.
"Are you okay? I didn't hit you too hard did I?"
"I can't even walk, Ash. I'm injured." Marlena said, trying to be serious, as Ashleigh looked terrified.
"What?!"
"Babe…" Marlena shook her head, laughing quietly. "I'm KIDDING!" Ashleigh let out a deep sigh of relief.
"Jeeze… I hate hitting people with objects…"
"Just one of the perks of wrestling!"
A familiar voice said, as Ashleigh turned around, and saw Chris Irvine standing behind her, with the group of WWE superstars. They had been allowed backstage, as Marlena slipped down from Allen's grasp, but stayed with her arms around his neck, as he kept his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He smiled down at her, as she looked up at him, smiling softly.
"…What?" She asked, as Allen just shook his head.
"Nothin'… it's just, cool -- I can do this without getting punched."
Allen felt a playful punch connect with his shoulder, as he looked behind him, to see Trish Stratagias smirking at him. The WWE stars exchanged hellos with Ashleigh as Trish looked up at Allen, who looked at her confused.
"You said without getting punched, there's your punch." Trish said with a sly smile, as Allen shook his head with a smirk.
"Real cute, Trish."
"Hey Marlena, check out who actually showed up." John Cena said with a grin, as Charlie walked up, smiling almost shyly.
"Hey…" He said, as Marlena stepped away from Allen momentarily, smiling at Charlie.
"Hey," She returned, as she walked over, holding out her arms. "How's my cute little Oklahoma boy?" she asked, as Charlie reached out, hugging her.
"I'm good…" He said, as she hugged him tightly. "You?"
"Great." She said, as Allen watched, tilting his head a bit. He didn't seem mad, or jealous - why would he? He had her. "Did you enjoy the show?"
"Yeah, I did." Charlie said, as Amy Dumas made a quick comment.
"Can I just say, when you cracked Dallas in the teeth -- that was awesome. That was just, pure chick power right there. I respect that."
Marlena laughed softly as she stepped back from her hug with Charlie, smiling at Amy. She moved back to where she was standing with Allen, and he put his arms around her again. She leaned against him, and Marlena mocked a cough.
"Excuse me, guys and gals. I'd like to reintroduce you to someone." that got everybody's attention, as she first smiled at Allen, and then looked back at the group of people before. "Everybody… I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Allen. Allen, this is Chris, Jason, John, Randy, Trish, Stacy, Amy, Shelton, Charlie, and Matt."
"So you ARE dating?" Ashleigh asked, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Like a child who's parents had gotten back together, almost. Allen smiled, as he looked at Marlena.
"I guess if the lady says so it's true…"
Allen leaned closer to Marlena, as she looked up at him, smirking softly. He brushed her blonde hair back over her shoulder, as he leaned down, kissing her softly. Ashleigh bit her lower lip, giggling quietly to herself as she clapped her hands quietly. Chris Sabin walked up, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a white tee-shirt, raising an inquiring eyebrow as he pulled a white and blue beanie cap onto his head.
"Pssst… what's with the group session?" He whispered to Chris Irvine, as Irvine just smirked.
"Seems like your boy took some pointers, kid." Irvine told Sabin, as he saw Allen and Marlena kissing. Sabin smirked to himself.
"Well isn't this just peachy with a side of keen. At least he stopped being a pussy…"
"What do you guys say we all go out and celebrate?" Charlie said, as that caused Marlena and Allen to separate. She looked confused, as Charlie smiled. "To celebrate good friends, new love… and a damned good show."
Marlena smiled, nodding her head a bit as she grabbed Allen's hand. The group walked off, as Sabin put his arm around Ashleigh's shoulder, as they all walked out to the parking lot, to take to their respective cars to hit a local club in celebration. Good friends, new love, and a damned good show.
A/N: No update since September? Son of a bitchy! Here's an update! I wrote this in less than a day, so I hope it's alright.
