And now we finally get to the actual RAW segment...Which was excellent, by the way.
"Shawn, this isn't the suit talking. It's me talking."
Triple H stood in the ring across from his best friend, and found himself saying one of the hardest things he's ever had to say in his life.
Shawn had called him out, in front of everyone, in front of the world, expecting him to accept the Undertaker's challenge, no doubt to great fanfare and excitement.
But things had changed since the last time they shared a ring together.
"Shawn, you saw what happened last year," the COO of the WWE explained slowly, as though trying to convince even himself. "I beat the Undertaker down, he couldn't leave the ring of his own power...He won the battle, but I won the war." He took a deep breath. "I know what I have to do to beat him, Shawn...I have to end him.
"And I...I'm not willing to do that, Shawn."
The look of hurt and confusion that crossed his best friend's face at that moment almost caused Hunter to stumble over his next words, words even he couldn't believe he was uttering.
"I'm not that guy anymore."
Shawn Michaels nearly exploded.
"You're not that guy? You're not that guy? That's exactly who you are! That's what you do! You finish people! You're a closer! You end careers; you step on people's throats! You have no mercy, you have no compassion...That's what makes you the Game!"
Shawn took a deep breath, voice becoming softer when he at last noticed the conflicted look on his friend's face, somehow a cross between a frown and a smile.
"C'mon. What do you mean that's not who you are anymore?" He pointed at the suit, the suit he knew that Hunter was so uncomfortable in, and the tie that he knew that man would rather wear around his head than around his neck.
Or, perhaps around someone else's neck, if he happened to be choking them with it.
"Is this who you are now? I've stood by you through everything. When things began to 'change,' people said a lot of things, but I stayed by your side...Are you trying to tell me that you're now one of them?"
Hunter looked away from Shawn, couldn't stand looking him in the eye anymore. He could see the words in Shawn's face, could hear it in the man's voice before he even spoke.
"I'm not a sellout, Shawn. I'm...protecting an investment."
The words sounded hollow in Hunter's own ears, and he knew that Shawn could see right through them anyway.
"Look, I don't know about all the philosophical underpinnings of all of your corporate decisions...But there's one thing I do know." And now he was in Triple H's face again, forcing the younger man to look him in the eye. "I know that when a man challenges you, and you back down, that makes you a coward."
Feeling anger rise in his chest, Hunter turned to go before he did something that he knew he'd regret later.
However, he didn't get far, because Shawn grabbed him by the arm, forcing him back, forcing him to look at the now-retired Heartbreak Kid.
And probably the only man in the world who could get away with doing that without losing a few pints of blood in the process.
"You get back here!" Shawn yelled, his anger again overcoming his good sense. "I'm not finished with you yet! I don't care how nice you dress it up, how much money you wrap around it! At the end of the day, a coward is still a coward!"
Triple H stared at Shawn for a long moment, forcing himself to breathe. There was a lot at stake here...Not just the business...But Shawn couldn't, wouldn't see that, because, Hunter knew, that Shawn was blinded again by his own need for revenge.
Didn't he understand that the Game's need was no less great?
With a silent sigh, Hunter turned to go again.
This time, Shawn didn't grab him.
"Walk away," the Heartbreak Kid taunted, voice hard. "Walk away, because that's what a coward does."
Finally, Triple H lost control of his emotions. Though he had made it out of the ring and on to the apron, he turned on his heel, climbed back in, and got in Shawn Michaels face.
"No, you don't understand what's going on here!" he yelled, not holding back his feelings, damn the crowd and everyone watching. "You can't! You sit there, not a care in the world...But, me? I've got responsibilities Shawn. Real life responsibilities! I don't give a damn if you, or anyone else likes it! One day, all of this..." And now he indicate the arena. "All of this is going to be mine, and it's my responsibility, and that weighs on my shoulders like a ton even now!"
Though there was a flash of sympathy in Shawn's face at that, Hunter continued, unable to stop his diatribe now that he had gotten started.
"You look at the Undertaker and see an opponent, and I used to look at him like that too! He was someone to go through...But now, now he's an investment. I can't look at him as an opponent anymore, Shawn, I can't!"
Though his voice had become desperate, he continued, trying his best to ignore the look Shawn was giving him. It was painful to say it; he knew it had to be painful for Shawn to hear it.
"The Undertaker is a brand; a brand that's good for business! And I can't let that brand end because that's bad for business!"
The Game inhaled deeply. There. He said it. It was out in the open. Damn the consequences, he was going to let Shawn, and the Undertaker, and anyone else who was watching know how he felt. How the time since he had become COO had been hell for him, how the time without Shawn had been hell for him.
How he knew that, without the Undertaker there, it would be even worse for him.
They were the only ones left.
"You...Me...The Undertaker... Shawn, We're the end of an era. You know it, and I know it. The end of an era, of a different breed. A smash-mouth style that doesn't even exist anymore; we left it all in this ring every night. We would all pay the ultimate sacrifice in the ring, without question...
"Shawn, I am not going to be the one to end that era. You're retired, I've got...other things going on now. The Undertaker is all that's left. And I'll be damned if I'm going to be the one to end that era...For no reason! Not because they want me to, not because he wants me to end it; I'm not going to do it to feed my own ego, and I'm sure as hell not going to do it to feed your ego because you want to live vicariously through me to get done the things you couldn't get done!"
And there it was.
That was all of it, as far as Hunter was concerned. The three of them...They were all out of their minds for the past few years, the three of them threatening one another, the last of their kind. They were going to make their own breed extinct, and by their own goddamn hands.
But not anymore. Not this year. Hunter was done dancing that dance, and he didn't give a damn if Shawn and the Undertaker were still raving mad with whatever fever burned in this minds before. He wasn't going to be the one to pull the trigger; he wasn't going to be the last man standing out of all of this.
Vengeance, he knew well, was sweet.
But the price was so very, very high.
Shawn had wanted it, and lost his career, and nearly lost his best friend. The Undertaker met Hunter's desire for it and nearly lost his life...and his mind, it seemed. Now the Deadman had a taste for it, and he made it clear that he'd do damn near anything to get his revenge. Inside, Hunter shuddered to think of what the Undertaker would do if he continued to deny him.
But he, Triple H, was determined to end the cycle. There were some things that he wasn't willing to lose for revenge.
One of which was standing right in front of him now.
Having spent his rage, Hunter turned to go. But Shawn grabbed his arm again, this time so hard that he could feel a bruise forming on his skin. The Heartbreak Kid pulled him back so forcefully that Triple H's jacked slipped off his left shoulder.
With a cold smile, Shawn adjusted it back.
"That's an awesome speech," he said mockingly, voice rough with anger and the beginnings of sorrow. "And I'm sure that works for a lot of people. And I like the always consistent little jab at me." His smile widened. "But here's the thing: I'm at peace where I'm at in my life. You, however, have no peace. So I'm going to just cut to the chase: I want you to look me in the eye, and tell me you don't want to end the Streak! I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you don't want to end the Undertaker! Look me in the eye and tell me you don't need it! Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want it!
"I want you to look me in the eye and tell me no."
Hunter's eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring as he found himself breathing heavily.
'God, I thought I was past all this,' he thought adjusting his tie nervously. Though he had meant every word of what he had said, Shawn had, as always, hit a nerve.
He wasn't at peace.
Hunter turned away from Shawn, just wanting to get the hell out of the ring, out of the arena, out of the city...
But Shawn would not let him. For the third or fourth time that night, he grabbed the bigger man's arm, pulling on his jacket and forcing him back, forcing him to face the madness that lurked in all of their hearts.
"Look me in the eye!" Shawn Michaels screamed, unrelenting even as the Game slipped out of his suit jacket. In response, Shawn merely put down the microphone and unzipped his vest. He had decided before he even arrived in town that if the two of them had to come to blows, so be it.
Nearly snarling, Triple H got right in the Heartbreak Kid's face, square with his best friend's piercing blue eyes. Clearly shaken, but standing by his belief that the madness had to end, he said only one word.
"No."
Shawn gave him a disappointed look. He looked his best friend up and down once, as though gauging whether or not this was the same man who had been willing, just a year ago, to nearly kill the Undertaker for him.
Hunter was silent as Shawn walked past him, as the always-surprisingly strong smaller man bumped his should as he left the ring.
He'd take the insult. He'd take the verbal, even the physical abuse he knew that Shawn and the Undertaker were capable of dishing out. Hell, he was even willing to deal with the mind games that came along with dealing with those two when they were in one of their moods.
As far as he was concerned, the events of the past few years were bigger than all of three of them. He'd given in last year to the madness; he wasn't going to let the Undertaker and Shawn drag him into it again. He had vowed, after that match, to be the responsible guardian of the WWE that he was supposed to be...especially with Shawn gone.
Taker and Shawn had nearly ended each other; eventually, the Undertaker did end Shawn. Now Shawn wanted him, Triple H, to end the Undertaker.
It was never going to end, he decided long ago, unless he put an end to it.
And Hunter vowed in his heart to stand by his convictions.
Waiting a moment, until he knew that Shawn was well on his way outside, Hunter started to leave the ring, hoping that one day, the two older men, the last of their kind, would understand the wisdom of his decision.
And then the gong sounded.
(wink) I admit, I wanted the summary for the story to be a bit ambiguous, and this is why. Hunter is actually the one trying to stop Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker from being about the end of an era because of this own selfish desires...Not that Hunter isn't being selfish too here in this story...
I have no idea where this is going to go...But, as it stands, my Muses are working double time, so I'm as in the dark as everyone else.
I hope it ends okay for everyone... (looks sadly at TakerMuse)
Review?