Hello all! So...today is my 21st birthday, and I thought, why not upload some stuff...even though it's, like 2:30am. (laughs) Seriously, I'm wide awake, and my birthday hasn't technically started yet...Should be an interesting day. Too bad I have classes and work tomorrow. Pity. XD

Anyway, here's the next chapter--a little short, but to the point/ I hope y'all will like it! Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers...You guys and gals are great. Over 350 reviews! I never woulda thunk it. XD

Oh, and shameless plug...new story. Check it out. ;)

Onto the story!

Hunter's eyes grew wide and he felt a completely different form of fear grip his insides like a vice. "What?" he whispered, taking a short step towards Vince. "What do you mean you don't know where he is?"

Mr. McMahon shook his head and opened his eyes. "The guys told me that Shawn caught sight of you two fighting, and when you had knocked one another out, he was seen running from the room crying. I saw him briefly at the hotel, after I received the report, and he explained everything to me. He…he told me to give you two these." Vince held out two small folded pieces of paper. Each was carefully folded, with a name written on the front in black ink. "I haven't seen him since."

Triple H took his with a trembling hand, unable to open it because of the shaking. The Undertaker stared at the paper, green eyes wide. After a long moment, he snatched the paper from Vince and opened it. It was Shawn's writing, definitely Shawn's script, although the letters were contorted, as though his hand had been shaking as he wrote.

"'Goodbye?'" Mark read aloud after unfolding it, looking up at Vince and then to Hunter. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Mine says the same thing…" the Game began, crushing the paper in his fist as he felt tears threatening to fall. How had everything gone so horribly wrong?

"Vince, do you know where he went?" he asked in an unsteady voice, laced with the beginnings of panic.

"No idea," McMahon said slowly. "He's not with any of the guys, or so they tell me. He's…gone."

Triple H's brown eyes reddened at the edges. "You don't think he…?" His mind rushed back to the last time Shawn had run away from him. He had gone missing for a few days, and turned up later in a hospital…

"I don't know, Hunter. I don't know." Vince seemed to be barely holding back an outburst of anger. As much as he hated Shawn sometimes, a part of him loved him…had always loved him, if he was to be perfectly honest with himself, which he never was.

He eyed the two men in front of him hatefully, thinking the worst had happened, and blaming it completely on them. When he spoke, his voice was low and laced with anger.

"Now, I would appreciate if you two got the fuck out of my office. You're both suspended for fighting, but if I lose one of my best talent because of you two, you're in deep shit. Now get out."

Hunter fell completely silent, eyes focusing on the ground as tears blurred his vision. Vince's words barely registered with him, and only one thought came to his mind, over and over again before he said the words aloud.

"Oh my God…Shawn…"

'Taker was standing silently, and very still, his face the perfect expression of anguish. 'I feel like I'm choking…' he thought, and although he didn't realize it, tears were forming behind his eyes. It was getting hard to breathe suddenly. The crushing feeling he had felt in the hospital returned full force, now with the added burden of Shawn's life.

"I'm going to go find Shawn," he said at last in a voice softer than a whisper and turned to walk numbly from the room, vaguely aware that he had also been suspended. 'Taker's steps were fast and sharp on the polished floor as he tried to get away from the cold fear and guilt that threatened to swallow him. At last, he stopped walking, not sure exactly of where he was going. He looked around and saw that he was half-way to the parking lot, in the empty lobby of WWE Headquarters.

And he wasn't alone.

The Deadman turned his head and saw Triple H standing there, brown eyes reddened, entire body shaking with rage and sorrow, teeth clenched as he spoke.

"So help me, if something's happened to Shawn, I swear to God I'll kill you!"

The Undertaker, having had enough, rounded on the Game and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him flat on his back. "Now you listen to me and listen good," he began in a low voice, kneeling over the fallen man. "Don't you dare pin all of this on me! It's your fucking fault that Shawn's gone! I should fucking kill you!"

Triple H's eyes narrowed. "My fault!? It was your dumb ass who insisted on fighting me… And besides all that, Shawn and I had it perfect until you came in and fucked everything up you stupid son of a bitch!" In one fluid motion, he kicked the Deadman in the back of the knee, bringing him down so that he could better punch him. "I love Shawn and you ruined it!"

The Undertaker grabbed the Game's hand as he moved to punch him, and pinned the smaller man down, nailing him once in the nose, drawing blood. "I love Shawn too, do you think I wanted this shit to happen?! I love him more than anything!"

'But not enough to avoid fighting Helmsley,' 'Taker's mind added, giving voice to the thought that had been forming since he opened the note from Shawn, causing the big man to freeze. 'Not enough to accept the fact that he loves Hunter, even if he does love you. You drove him away. Now he's gone, and it's your fault.'

In his mind's eye he saw Shawn, blue eyes so hopeful as he imagined the three of them getting along, somehow.

'That was all he wanted,' Mark thought, breath catching in his throat. 'That was all…'

Hunter took advantage of the distant look that came into the Deadman's eyes and landed a hard right to his mouth, making his head snap back painfully. The Game shifted so that now he had 'Taker pinned, and he looked down at the bigger man with pure malice in his brown eyes.

"Don't you dare say that you love Shawn!" he yelled, grabbing the front of 'Taker's shirt. "Don't you dare say you love him when you…hurt him…like that…" Hunter had barely finished speaking when his mouth dropped open. Cold realization came over him all at once, and he stopped moving.

"I hurt Shawn again," he whispered, looking down at the Deadman, really looking at him. "I hurt him…By hurting you, I hurt him…He loves you…" The tears that had threatened to fall earlier returned full force and spilled from his eyes. "God, I drove Shawn away…" His grip on 'Taker's shirt tightened as his vision became blurred.

'I lost him again…and now he's gone.'

Hunter felt his head bowing under the weight of his grief until it came to rest on the Undertaker's chest. He didn't care if 'Taker punched him now, or kicked him, or beat him senseless.

'I deserve it,' he thought, and a low sob escaped his lips. 'God, why didn't I see it before?!' His mind raced back to what Kevin had told him. Distantly, he felt the Undertaker sitting up, and although he was soon upright, he didn't shove Triple H away, as the smaller man expected.

Hunter lifted his head slightly, looking up at the Undertaker in confusion before gasping.

The Deadman's emerald green eyes were wet with overflowing tears that slid reluctantly down his face. And his expression was not angry anymore. There was so much hurt in it that there was no mistaking the anguish he was feeling.

"I lost him too," he said softly, closing his eyes in an effort to stop the tears only to have more spill out. "I hurt him…" He felt like his chest was being crushed, and the choking feeling had returned. Mark realized in that moment that he couldn't say another word, or else he would break down into full-blown sobbing like Hunter was doing right now.

Which is why, instead of shoving the Game away, he let the smaller man rest against his chest, his own grief getting the better of him, and forcing his head down and into Triple H's hair, so similar to Shawn's and yet so very different.

Poor guys...they finally realize their mistake. But is it too late?

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