Chapter 7: A Friendly Helper

John, Torrie, Trish and Ashley walked into John and Torrie's house, they had just come back from Stacy's funeral and were all in a somber mood. They all sat down in the living room, no one had said a word since they left the funeral leaving an uneasy silence. They just sat there with blank expressions, finally John got up and left and went to the backyard and sat down and looked up at the sky on this cloudy day. Torrie went outside and saw him in the sad state he was in and tried to see what was wrong.

"John, I know you're upset but I have a feeling that this has a deeper meaning that it should but what is it?" Torrie asked.

"I let them down, I'm supposed to protect all of us, I'm responsible for them being dead right now. Randy, all I had to do was beat Edge up and leave, then they would be both here right now, it's my entire fault." John explained.

"Don't say that, no one could predict that this would happen, it just happened and there's nothing we could about it. None of us thought or could even think of Edge just coming out of nowhere and crashing his car into Stacy's, that's not your fault." Torrie explained.

"Yeah I let her go to the cemetery, I should've told her to wait till tomorrow and wait for all of us to go."

"But even if you did say something, she wouldn't have listened to you, she was going no matter what even if I did say something." John sat there still looking down at the cement, as Torrie continued, "as for Randy, that was another thing that was completely unexpected, I mean who would've thought that Edge would shoot Randy. And if he didn't then he would've sh-ot y-ou, and you would be dead." Torrie said the sentence slowly realizing what she said and couldn't believe it that that could've been a reality.

"SO THAT'S IT? YOU'D RATHER HAVE SEEN ME KILLED INSTEAD OF RANDY?" John got up angry and looking Torrie in the face.

"I didn't mean it like that, what I meant was…"

"YOU'RE RIGHT, I SHOULD BE DEAD, IN FACT I WISH I WERE DEAD RIGHT NOW!"

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT! YOU HAVE TOO MUCH HERE AND TOO MANY PEOPLE WILL MISS YOU. Especially me." Torrie got up and in his face and then whispered the last two words lowering her head as tears formed. John went over and wrapped his arms around her comforting her, as Trish and Ashley watched from inside and were tearing up themselves over the scene they were seeing. "John you can't wish yourself to be dead, stay alive for Randy and Stacy, and don't let this world be left alone with Edge running around crazy and killing innocent people. You need to stop him, you can beat him."

John let go of their embrace, "NO that's where YOU'RE WRONG! I CAN'T BEAT EDGE, I CAN'T BEAT HIM, HE'S TOO MUCH FOR ME AND IF I GO AGAINST HIM AGAIN HE WILL KILL ME THIS TIME!" John yelled with anger and doubt, "I CAN'T BEAT HIM!"

"What's the matter with you?!" Torrie then grabbed his shirt, aggressively and pulled him close to her. "You've never doubted yourself once in your life, now you get your ass kicked once and you give up? You're not invincible, you're going to get your ass kicked but the challenge is how you react, you have to get off your ass and train harder. For as long as I've known you, you've never been beaten so badly, but now that you finally did, I see the real you. You're nothing but a fake and a wimp for not trying to make yourself better and go after Edge."

"WHAT! I Ain't No wimp!"

"Then prove it to me and to yourself." Torrie said looking him straight into his eyes to mean she was serious. John looked at her and knew she meant it, he walked into the house and went upstairs for something. Torrie had a little smile on her face as she knew he was doing something that was going to improve him.

"That was….interesting." Trish said as she and Ashley walked out.

"Yeah but I needed him to be himself, he's been lost these past few weeks, plus I want revenge on Edge for what he's done to us and to our friends. John will get revenge even if it kills him." Torrie said with confidence.

Later that night

Ashley, Torrie and Trish were sitting around, talking as John stayed upstairs talking to someone on the phone.

"At least we know John has something rolling in his mind and he's putting things in motion." Ashley said.

"I know, but then again I've never seen or known anyone that has been through as much shit as he has." Torrie said.

"Actually you do know more than one person that has been through this." Trish just says out of nowhere.

"Who?" Torrie asked as Ashley sat nervously.

"Me."

"What have you been through over the years?" Torrie asked.

"Actually what I've been through is…." Trish started.

"Trish, now is not the time, we don't need anymore bad ideas floating around, not when John's on a roll of gaining confidence back. Maybe some other time but not now." Ashley said firmly, as Trish nodded and Torrie looked at them confused.

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" John started yelling coming from the downstairs.

"What you get?" Torrie asked standing up.

"I called an old friend who has helped me the most in the past and helped make me who I am today, and he's coming tomorrow morning." John said

"Who?" Trish asked.

"You'll see tomorrow morning, now it's getting late, let's all turn in and you'll find out in the morning." John said as they nodded and went to their rooms with Torrie left wondering what Trish was hiding.

The next morning, everyone woke up and anxiously waiting for John's old friend to come.

"So John, when's this dude going to come?" Trish asked.

"Eventually." John said.

It turned noon and they were still waiting for their guest, John was back to his normal, jovial state, his confidence was coming back. So they're all just sitting around talking it up and all when they heard a knock at the door and John went up to answer it and he smiled as his guest was here.

"Hey, long time no see." John said.

"Well you said you needed some help so here I am."

"Yeah I needed all the help I need right now and sadly you're the only one that's available."

"Very funny, aren't you going to let me in?"

"Yeah come on in."

"Girls, I want to introduce my friend, and the man that's going to follow us and be with us on our mission, Mr. Jeff Hardy." They all greeted him with handshakes and greetings.

"John it's good to be here, you sound like you're in trouble so here I am so what's up?"

"Just some problems." John explained the story again as Jeff listened.

"Alright, we'll get to work tomorrow, so who's joining us?" Jeff asked.

"Just us 2 and those 3." John pointed at the girls.

"Oh." Jeff said disappointedly.

"What do you mean, "oh"?" Trish asked.

"It's just, I don't you guys are ready to risk your lives." Jeff answered.

"Yeah, right, I can prove and show to you that we can do it."

"Oh okay." Jeff said, obviously not taking her serious.

"You know what…" Trish stepped up to his face before John separated them and reminding them what the problem was.

"We're not supposed to fight each other, we fight the enemy, so let's focus." John said as Jeff and Trish stared each other down, before Trish walked away still fuming. John looked at everyone and sighed knowing that they're going to have more problems than they thought.

A/N: That's it, I'm really, really sorry about the 2-3 month delay, but with school, work and preparing for high school graduation, it's been tough but at least I got one in, read and review and I'll update when I can.

Next Time: The preparation begins, Edge is still plotting away, Trish and Jeff continue to have problems.