The draft had made things more complicated, in a way. Even though Seth's annoying on a good day, and Roman has steadily been pushing him away for months, Dean doesn't like being separated from his Shield brethern. He exhales and stuffs his hands in his pockets, grimacing. Smackdown is a cesspool of people who either hate him or want what he has, or both. Ziggler, Styles, everyone chomping at the bit to be tag champ, or IC champ, or something else. The Usos are there, sure, but they prefer to show some loyalty to their cousin too so conversation with them is stilted and awkward too, like a year back the four of them weren't claiming to be family. Not that Dean has a good history with family, anyway.

He exhales, blue eyes troubled as he scopes out the group of wrestlers ahead of him. Ziggler is there, of course, and Zack. Heath Slater is trudging along behind them since he's now part of the tag team tourney and has access to a digiport with the rest of them. Miz is somewhere in the distance, not wanting to be seen with any of the average people behind him, lost in his own little world with Monodramon. Alberto Del Rio had left the WWE again, so he is once more an earth-bound digidestined with Ricardo, Punk, AJ and Wade. Dean sighs as he looks at the group of people, feeling uneasy about it all. He doubts Seth has these kinds of doubts, leading the Raw team, but leading the Shield had been one thing- money and power, that's all they were trying to get. Leading the Digidestined is harder, the fate of two worlds resting on his shoulders.

He shakes his head, hating this pressure even while he revels in being trusted enough for such a role, when something dark presses against his consciousness, digging in with sharp claws and not letting go. He stares into hundreds of eyes, feeling abruptly separated from the world before him. "What are you?" he asks, his voice muffled, far away to his own ears. The creature, for lack of a better word, is wispy black and bright red eyes, drilling into his soul, and he can't move as he looks at it. "You understand me, don't you?"

These words are swallowed down by a writhing kind of pain that leaves him screaming, his fingers clawing at his eyes as he tries to stop it, escape it. "Please, please," he pleads thoughtlessly, and then... then it disappears. He disappears, taken over by this creature. It's a numbing kind of darkness that he wants out of but can't find the strength to fight. He can still see, even if everything feels muffled and distance. Miz, Ziggler, Zack, Heath and their digimon are all surrounding him and he struggles not to completely drown in the darkness when something happens- he senses someone behind him and the digimon turns, allowing Dean to see.

The other digidestined are there- Seth, Enzo, Cass, Owens, Alicia. The men look disturbed and Alicia has covered her mouth with her hand and he wonders what he must look like, but then words are coming out in his voice- though not from his mouth, not willingly. "Kill Me," he whispers, realizing belatedly that it's an attack summon as power flows through his overtaken body, and Seth's face blanches, then darkens as multitudes of digimon come from all sides, fighting with both Raw and Smackdown digidestined. Otamamon is somewhere nearby, he can hear him yelling, but the words fail to register with him as he watches Seth and Betamon fighting off the creatures trying to kill them.

None of the digimon are overly strong, one digivolution later and most are blown away but still... Dean has a deep sense of foreboding, like things could easily get worse before they get better, especially with the others so inundated with digimon desperately attacking. This all crashes down around him, however, when Seth dives- avoids some slashing Tyrannomon just barely- and tackles whatever Dean's become. He's breathing funny, staring into... what of Dean he can still see, teeth gritted and eyes aflame with something Dean only just recognizes, somehow. "Let him go, you bastard," he snaps, all but shaking the creature and Dean thinks if he was in full control of his faculties, he'd laugh. "Now!"

Dean is overwhelmed by a sudden fondness for the asshole sprawling atop him, the two of them locked forever in a cycle of friendship or hatred or both, somehow not entirely unlike Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, but here they are, surrounded by dozens of murderous Digimon and Seth had foregone all of it to try to rescue him. The pain that surrounds this thought is mindnumbing and Seth suddenly looks panicked, like he thinks he's killing Dean or something, but then the pain fades and Dean's left in a quiet, calm, beautiful place unlike the empty, hollow world he had been in just seconds earlier. Whatever's happened, it sends Seth scrambling back, his eyes wide as the digimon targetting the various wrestlers and their partners freeze, confused, and then scamper away back to their own lives.

"You've freed me," Dean's voice speaks again. Lighter this time, more peaceful. "I am not surrounded by darkness anymore. I am myself once more. Thank you, human."

Seth licks his lips, looking up into Dean's eyes and, for a minute, it's clear his calculating nature is being used in Dean's favor. "Can we have Dean Ambrose back then?"

The creature inhabiting his body says nothing for a long moment and then Dean feels this sharp tearing sensation deep at his core as he's freed. The pain is blinding and he collapses to his knees, but there's a soft hand at the base of his neck and he leans into the touch, a soft female voice whispering into his ear, "You realized you weren't as alone as you assumed and it gave me the strength to fight the evilness that had overwhelmed me. Thank you for that."

He looks up just long enough to see the creature, a white wisp of a thing with a pink lower body and a white face, a halo floating over her head. "Luminamon," he whispers the name that comes to him, her face beaming even brighter until she disappears with a streak of light across the pure blue sky overhead. He watches her go, wavering on his knees, before he falls forward, body taxed beyond its own abilities. He's out before he hits the ground.

It feels like a lifetime and like a blink of an eye when he finally comes to again, Dean's head cushioned by something familiar but different all at once. "...wakes up, I'll get him home," Seth's voice says nearby. "You don't have to stay, I won't attack him or anything." He sounds strangely tired, worn ragged, and Dean wants to open his eyes and see what the hell has his former brother sounding like that, but he's so comfortable, he can't be bothered to. It takes a minute before he realizes that the soft pressure on his scalp are fingers running through his hair and this does make him stir, surprised to find himself sprawled across Seth's lap, his fingers running through Dean's hair distractedly as he talks to the others scattered around.

Alicia reailzes he's awake first and kneels down, smiling soothingly at him. "Look who's awake." Instantly the fingers leave Dean's hair and he almost hates Alicia at this moment. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been trapped in a massive tug'o'war between light and dark," he mumbles, his voice hoarse and parched. There's a scramble and then a bottle of water is pressed against his lips, Seth and Alicia working together to support his head as he drinks. He feels moderately better once he's drank a fair amount of it, resting his head back against Seth's thigh. "Thanks," he mumbles, not sure what exactly his gratitude encompasses, but just absorbing the moment. How normal this all feels, Seth's fingers on his head, the warmth of his legs, how solid he feels against him.

The others eventually drift away and Dean closes his eyes, listening to Seth breathe. "You shoulda seen it, man," he mumbles. "First you were just... wrapped up in this darkness thing, like, there were eyes all around you, and then... once the fighting started and I tackled you, it just... was absorbed by this blinding light and you were surrounded by wings. I've seen some weird things in the digiworld, but that definitely tops the list, I'm sure."

Dean chuckles wearily. "You should've been on this side of it." They sit there for a few moments before Dean exhales, leaning once more into Seth's solid warmth. "I'm glad you weren't though."