Chapter 10: What I've Done
The feast gathering was set to take place at Eve's new cottage. The Rock and Arianna ventured away from the market to the small village within walking distance. After departing from Ari to tend to his village The Rock kissed her goodbye just before Eve greeted them at the door flashing a bright smile. Arianna feeling a bit nostalgic and light on her feet was a bit relieved that today was a less perplexed day that she could enjoy for the time being. She missed her family dearly—and knew she wasn't welcomed back. However, just seeing that they were alright and seeing Aaliyah light up again was all she really needed to fill that void. The fine line between love and cruelty ached her mind as if both were fused together in an ever lasting cycle. She had no idea which one she had taken upon herself more, but in reality they both had to be dealt with.
"Are you feeling ill, Ari?" Eve said with a mist of concern in her expression. Ari shook her head giving a slight smile to her best friend.
"No, I really just feel strange lately...a different kind of feeling." Arianna prepped burner the kitchen as they scattered the vegetables chopping them with ease, "I wish to see my family today."
Eve raised a brow at Ari's confession, "You believe that they would let you back into their presence again?" Ari sighed dropping the vegetables into the pot.
"They won't...I only want to see that they are well," she leaned against the counter glaring out the window for dusk. Eve placed the duck into the furnace. "Well then I'll go with you to check on them—the bird will cook slowly and we'll be just in time before the moon."
Ari agreed quickly grabbing her shawl following behind Eve. "Is there a reason why you mentioned the moon? We've had plenty of times out after dusk." Ari asked as Eve raised a brow. "Haven't you heard? For a few days there have been some reports of savage attacks from invaders. Seems like they like to leave bodies without a drop of blood," Ari gagged at the vivid image. "Danger seems to follow this country each day." They cut through the apple tree path as fleeing children giggled while playing tag. "Have you ever thought of leaving?" Eve raised a brow at her own question, "locating far south from here."
Ari shrugged lingering on the thought for awhile, "I guess I could, but being the harbinger really makes no difference. Somehow I'll have to face flood each time."
Riding through a current of electricity, the being known as the Rock landed with ease on his two feet back in his home village. The sweet smell of food being cooked and flowers blooming brought a fresh aroma that filled the Great One's nostrils, invigorating him. It felt good to be back in the graces of the people he called family; his true Samoan blooded family.
"Finally, the Rock has come back...home!" he announced his return to the village with a charismatic swagger that bar none could match. The children immediately came pouring out of their homes in droves as they rushed to see their leader once again. He proceeded to greet them with a big smile.
"Mr. Rock, we missed you while you were gone! Things were so boring around here without you!" one of the young boys claimed, with another one chiming in. "Yeah! Now you're back again though, so things will get fun again!" The Brahma Bull grinned as he took in the excitement and optimism from the young kids. This was the type of youthful energy that he needed to reinvigorate himself and get his mindset straight again.
While meeting and greeting with the children, Rock noticed that both Roman Reigns and Tamina Snuka had come out of their huts and were making their way towards him. Now, the Rock had a knack for having futuristic visions at times, but it didn't take a genius to know that this upcoming conversation wasn't going to go as pleasantly as he had hoped.
"Alright everybody, go ahead and head back to your huts. The Rock says tomorrow we've got a big day ahead of us, but I'm promise I'm gonna make it worth your while," he said with a genuine grin towards the kids. He really wanted to show them a great time, and as the People's Leader, he was going to make amends on that front.
"Sir yes sir!" the children said in unison as they all filed out away from the Great One and back into their homes, just as Roman and Tamina had approached him.
"Well I see you're back again," Roman commented, crossing his arms and huffing at the leader of his village. Tamina simply nodded in agreement with Roman as she cast a glance at the Rock. He didn't seem to be affected by any of this...yet.
"Yeah, the Rock is finally back. It's been a heck of a time for the three days that I was away, but it's glad to finally be back amongst my own family," Rock said with a smile. Again, there was that quiet tension that was about to start stirring.
"You know, it's good to have you back. You don't know how much the kids missed 'storytime with the Rock'," Tamina commented, but Roman immediately picked up from Tamina's last sentence. "So where the hell were you in Italy? Or better yet, why were you in Italy? There's nothing out there for us," the fierce Samoan commented.
"Simple Roman; the Rock was handling his business and taking care of a few things. You know, dropping by on a couple of friends and stuff," the Rock defended himself. Roman snorted, refusing to believe his cousin's statements for one minute.
"So you wasted three entire days visiting people who you think are more important than your own people? What kind of 'Man of the People' are you? Huh?" Roman accused, but the Rock wasn't about to let the beast of a man get in his face.
"I'm sorry, but who in the blue hell are you jabroni? Don't question the Rock's motives or what the Rock does! The Rock's been through wars before, even back when your candy ass was in diapers! The Rock says even though we live on the outskirts of this city that is Italy, the Great One must still make periodical visits there. They have things down there that we don't have up here that we could use. Plus, the Rock is bilingual," he finished.
Tamina cut back in once more. "But come on, Dwayne. Does it really take three whole days to do all the things you did? I could have went into town and came back in before nightfall," she said, crossing her arms. The fierce femme fatale of the division was clearly starting to have her doubts now. Roman however, had his mind made up.
"You were with that stupid Italian whore again, weren't you? That piece of foreign trash-" the Rock immediately held his hand up to stop Roman from talking any further.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Know your damn role and shut your damn mouth Reigns! Who the hell do you think you are, trying to bash and disrespect Arianna like that? Huh?! The Rock says that woman is the most beautiful thing living on God's green earth under God's hot sun! You wanna know where the Rock was? Yeah, part of the time the Rock was there! With her as well! You know who else was there? Austin was there too! Remember him?" Rock blew up as Tamina gasped.
"You mean that bald guy whose head could resemble a smoking skull? The one you invited into our village, who left us in the heat of battle against the Soul Eaters? Why the hell were you with him too?!" she shrieked, clearly furious now.
"I knew nothing but trouble could come out of you socializing with those Italian bastard locals," Roman said, seething through his teeth. "You just don't get it, do you Dwayne? We want to be kept to ourselves, alone and isolated from the world. We keep amongst ourselves, in case you forgot that. Why do you think you got kicked out of the village back in the Isle of Samoa the first time? Outsiders, that's why! Yet here you are, pulling that same shit again!"
The Rock's eyes immediately turned dark blue as a wavelength of electricity flowed through them. "Maybe if you were the Great One, you would understand, but you're not so don't go off judging others when you can't even face yourself in the mirror each day," the Rock said. "As for you Tamina, you need to buck up. Whether you like it or not, the "outsiders" have many things that they can offer us, as we do them. Trade on and trade off, import and export; it's the way things work in this day and age. I'm the People's Champ, and I know what's good for my people."
"Well, we're your people and we don't like what you're selling," Reigns said, a glare now emanating from his eyes. "Which is why we took a vote amongst the People's Council while you were away," he said, as Tamina nodded in confirmation.
"Roman is telling the truth. The Usos, Roman, myself and others as well voted and the final score was 9-5, in favor of kicking you out of power while Roman assumes your position," Tamina said. "I'm sorry."
The Great One stood there shocked, trying not to hang on and believe every single word he had just heard. Clearly they had to be joking right? The expressions on their face told the truth though; the Rock was clearly out of power now.
"That's what happens when you turn on the people who are supposed to matter the most to you, and you neglect your duties as a leader. Hopefully, I can turn this village around and undo all the damage you've done to us," he said in the Rock's ears, causing the Rock to smack him with an electro-charged fist, as he stared him down, before clotheslining him once more, sending him flying into a tree.
Not fazed at all, the Samoan machine cracked his knuckles and neck, smirking. "I've been waiting for this for a long time." Eyes glowing red, Roman started running like a true beast, on all fours as he lunged for the Rock, but the Great One beat him to the punch with an electric blast to the chest, sending him spiralling into one of the huts, causing it to set fire.
"Hey, we had a good chicken roasting up in here man!" Jimmy Uso complained, smoldering the fire before it could spread even more. Lifting up Roman however, the Rock tossed him into the Wall of Greatness, a memorabilia wall that celebrated the great warriors of the family's past.
Roman however, refused to be put down. As the Rock made his way over to him, Roman punched him hard in the jaw, and as he staggered, Roman turned on the jets, spearing the Rock through the legendary wall. As debris began to fall, huts started to get crushed, and with some of the wall made of flint rock, a fire was easily started, and much more began to set on fire. Before the Rock knew it, half of his village was ablaze.
"Look what you've done!" Tamina screamed at the Rock, as he slowly made his way to his feet. "The Rock can fix this-" he started, but Tamina had enough and shoved him away hard in another direction. "No, you've done enough! You're ruining our lives...AGAIN! Never return here ever again!" she screamed once more, but the Rock refused to budge.
"The Rock says no! Just because you want him out doesn't mean anything! I'm still the People's-"
"You're the People's Chump! If you really were a man of the people, you'd never leave us, but you did! You say you do what the people want, so when the people say that they want you gone, you won't leave! Look at the damage you're causing! Our home is on fire! Everywhere you go, destruction follows! It was a mistake to follow you...leave us and never return, please!" she said, sobbing.
The Rock surveyed the scene before him. The Usos were struggling to pull Roman out of the falling debris, some of the adults of the village were trying to grab their kids and their belongings before they all perished in the fire for all of eternity. Sighing, he realized that Tamina was right. It was his fault he lost his father and his original village, and now his very own village was suffering the same fate.
"You're right. I'm sorry, I don't belong here anymore. I don't know what the people want anymore," he said solemnly. "I'll never return to this village again. You'll always be my family in my heart of hearts, but in reality, the Rock is now denouncing his affiliation with the Samoan tribe. Goodbye, and best of luck to you," the Great One said. With that, the Great One leaped off the edge of a cliff and the current of his own electricity carried him away back to the heart of Milano, never to be heard from again.
Arianna and Eve strolled down the hill to her old family village. The cold mist pierced Ari's ears as the night grew closer. A small pain in her stomach made her stumble along the way. Eve glanced down on her hand examining the ring on her finger. Ari immediately noticed and raised a brow. "Is that a gift from someone?" Eve shook her head giving an ambiguous look, "no I picked it up from a light witch at dawn, it's an immortality ring." Ari became curious. "It bonds you to an eternal life? It works?" Eve gave and assuring nod.
"The light witch of this village gave me her word. She's trustworthy not anything in the likes of Layla."
Ari sighed at the name loosely, "all of which we do not know what power will serve her."
"We may never know," Eve said stopping in her tracks as they approach Arianna's family's home. Something completely off about the view. The house was dark and no one could be heard. Usually around this time her Madre would be making dinner while the other's helped gather the table. Aaliyah would be outside wandering in the garden and singing beautiful hymns. Her voice was angelic and every night she would practice before supper.
But there was nothing. No lighting from the house or a sound. Ari's stomach trembled—something wasn't right and as she and Eve carefully stepped on the ashes; the red binding captured it all. Frames and objects of memories scattered all over the place were shredded to crumbs as if they never existed. The remains of the house looked unrecognizable as Ari tried to piece back what was broken. Eve just as shocked as she gasped loud causing Ari to snap back running next to her friend who stood over her family's bodies; imaging each of them one by one. Bloodied and lifeless into dust of an unknown eternity Ari could hear their screams of sorrow and wrath at the hands of her old friend Layla. Ari felt her heart pounding fast as tears showered from her. Where was Aaliyah? "Aaliyah!" she screamed, running through her head like spikes searched for any sign of her precious little sister. No sign of Aaliyah—she had taken them all away from her. All because of power—all because she was the harbinger. Ari could feel the anguish and anger firing up. She couldn't take it. Running a few feet from what use to be her home; Eve followed behind her she collapsed to her knees as her mind went into a deep mesmerizing bind. She lost minor control before with her telekinetic wave, but this time her powers were strictly reliant on emotion. There over one-thousand people that lived amongst this village and all of them would have to suffer from the wrath of her agony.
Somebody had to pay for this. That payment was terrifyingly being created as the heartbeats of the beloved village she once called home all came to a halt. One by one they dropped to the ground and Ari didn't flinch to stop.
Eve held her friend for the devastating moments as her friend lost all control and her mind she wasn't going to be the same after this.