A/N: Blame Supernatural for this one.

Chapter 2: Wrath—Randy Orton

"Men often make up in wrath what they want in reason."—William R. Alger

Unchecked wrath can destroy a man's soul and burn his insides. But controlled and channeled properly, wrath can help motivate a person and give him the extra push needed to achieve anything he wants, be it personal goals or otherwise. Depending on the person, wrath can help him or ruin him, causing him to become a shell of a person.

Randy Orton was definitely a prime example of what unchecked wrath could do to a man. In his prime, when he had been much younger, and hungrier, Randy had never hesitated in going after what he wanted. Pure adrenaline alone drove him to win many of his matches, and the fact that he came from a family of Superstars only helped that much more. In short, wrath didn't play much of a part in his life. The Missouri native didn't need it.

But after being booted from Evolution, Randy began to change. He grew quieter, only speaking when absolutely necessary, and meaner. His finishing maneuver, which was already quite devastating to begin with, somehow became more lethal. Randy adopted the art of stalking while in the ring, often sneaking up behind his opponents and laying them out with the RKO before they even knew what had hit them. He also eliminated all distractions from his life, such as the lovely, leggy Stacy Keibler, his former girlfriend, so that he could focus solely on becoming the WWE Champion. Even though he became an unimaginable, cruel person, very few of the Superstars could deny the fact that Randy's methods worked.

With nothing but the prize—that is, the WWE Championship—in his sights, Randy continued to upset Superstar after Superstar each week, almost causing a riot when he defeated his long-time nemesis, the personification of all that was good within the WWE, John Cena. If he closed his eyes, Randy could remember the match perfectly. The roar of the crowd when John's music played, the boos he elicited from the crowd as he slowly made his way down the entrance ramp, and even the total and complete silence once the match was over and the referee had raised his hand in victory. He hadn't been surprised, although the crowd obviously had. Randy had sharpened and honed his skills over the past few months, and that, coupled with his newfound ambition and motivation, almost ensured that he'd win.

Randy wasn't friends with any of the Superstars, and quite frankly, he preferred it that way. The way he saw it, friends and girlfriends only got in the way and threw you off from what mattered, and he couldn't have any of that. He knew that the other guys thought that he felt they were inferior to him, and he couldn't deny that it was true. A true champion walks alone, he would tell himself. And yeah, it probably will be lonely at the top, but so what? You are a third-generation Superstar, you don't need anyone. The negative thoughts always seemed to disappear after that.

Obsession quickly began to take over Randy's life, and that's when he truly changed for the worse. Whereas the wrath had helped him in the past, this time it was beginning to destroy him. His constant obsession with John Cena and winning the title back from him, or whoever had it at the time (Triple H would later win the title and take it with him to Smackdown), slowly began to drive him crazy. In turn, his in-ring performance began to suffer as well, leading to constant losses or disqualifications. Gone was the Randy Orton of the past, the one that had dubbed himself "The Legend Killer." In his place was a demented, unstable man who took great joy in inflicting as much pain upon his opponents as possible. Many times, he took his wrath too far and ended up seriously hurting the other guys. He even punted Ted Dibiase, Jr. in the head and put him out of commission for an undisclosed amount of time, and didn't think twice about it. Many of the younger guys, like Cody Rhodes and Manu, were in awe of Randy's preoccupation with power, and quickly aligned themselves with him in hopes of making it to the top without doing much work in the process. Randy allowed them to join him, but made it quite clear that he was the one in charge, and that it would be better if they were better seen and not heard. Again, no distractions of any sort were allowed.

The wrath that Randy let build up inside of himself eventually drove him past the breaking point, and many Superstars refused to work a match with him because they were genuinely afraid that Randy would snap inside the ring and actually hurt them even more severely than he had the others. The man had very little self-control, and showed mercy to no one.

Over the course of his six-year career in the WWE, Randy Orton evolved from a smug, cocky heel to a psychotic, uncaring, vengeful maniac. This evolution was by accident; however, once he went over the brink into full-fledged madness, there was no saving him. Randy Orton had become what no one expected, and there wasn't a damn thing anyone could do about it. The constant unchecked wrath that he'd harbored ate away at his insides and transformed him completely, forever.

Thanks to all that reviewed: Kennedy's Friday Night Delight, ChristianFever22, And, Joanna, Missy, and Dori. You guys are AWESOME! Keep those reviews coming and enjoy the following chapters!