Disclaimer: All WWE content is owned by Vincent Kennedy McMahon and any use here is purely for entertainment value only. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: Jeff Hardy has been chosen to be the human host that would allow the demon keeper of the seventh layer of hell to enter the realm of Earth. In fighting for his life Jeff has some unexpected allies. Featuring: Matt Hardy, Undertaker, Kane, Batista, Umaga, John Cena, Ashley, Maria, Edge...
NOTE: This fic is written with the assumption, that Jeff and Umaga are still on RAW, and Matt, Kane, the Boogeyman and the Undertaker are still on Smackdown, and that Undertaker is still the World Heavyweight Champion and Matt and Jeff are still the Tag-Team Champions.
000
Jeff followed Taker's gaze, and stopped breathing for a few seconds.
In front of them was the Grim reaper.
Though he was already freezing Jeff Hardy felt his blood run even colder as he stared at death itself. He took an unconscious step back as The Grim rose from his seat. The Grim seemed to glide more than walk toward them, the train of his black robes billowing elegantly behind him.
Every instinct in Jeff's body was telling him to bolt; in fact, his body already seemed to be trying to do that, as his feet kept unconsciously backing away. Suddenly, the Undertaker put an arm around Jeff's waist to stop his escape.
"Don't worry Grim's not here to take your soul," Taker said quietly.
Jeff gulped and nodded, not taking his eyes off the Grim. The lord of death stared down at the young Hardy even though there was no face under the cloak's hood. A hand reached out from under the dark robe and traced the symbol on Jeff's abdomen. It was not a normal hand; it was only made of bones, with bluish translucent skin over it.
As soon as the Grim's finger touched Jeff stomach, the young Hardy began shivering uncontrollably. Taker's arm around his waist was the only thing keeping Jeff on his feet. He suddenly found he couldn't breathe right, it was worse than being under the water; his lungs seemed to freeze in mid breath. At this, the Grim pulled his hand away, leaving Jeff to gasp for air as his lungs came back to life.
"It is the symbol of Chiron, but it alone is not enough evidence to convince the jury of angels and demons allow punishment to Chiron for a crime he has not committed yet." The Grim spoke, its voice strange like a man and a woman speaking together. "It is how we keep the peace here between angels and demons, you know that."
"What more evidence do you need?" The Undertaker asked, his voice still calm, but frustration was evident in it.
"I think considering it is Chiron, who has carried out his duties as a layer keeper well and has made no prior transgressions," Grim said gravely. "I think it would take the testimony of another layer keeper for me act on Chiron before he does what you claim he will."
"Yeah," Taker growled through his teeth as his anger and frustration threatened to spill out.
Jeff closed his eyes, as yet another glimmer of hope that this nightmare with Chiron might be over died in the darkness.
"Grim, when Chiron does this," Taker began once he had his anger under control again. "What is the window in which they will come for Jeff?"
"Anytime between the halves of the waning moons," Grim stated.
"So anytime between the 8th and the 22nd of this month right?" Taker asked and Grim nodded.
"At least that gives me something to work with," Taker murmured.
The Undertaker's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a dull thump. He looked down to see Jeff collapsed on the floor.
"He's reached his limit," Taker grumbled, gathering Jeff into his arms. "Better get him back up there before hypothermia sets in to much." He lifted Jeff up and pushed him through the watery ceiling, before turning back to Grim.
"If Chiron does indeed decide to enter the Earth realm." Grim said. "I am glad you will be there to stop him."
Taker nodded.
000
Matt Hardy found himself in a field of thorn bushes on the bank of a river of boiling blood. Despite the heat, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he realized this place matched the description of Jeff's dreams. The seventh layer of hell.
He just stood there frozen to the spot, as his mind kept denying he was even there. Suddenly someone grabbed his arm. He spun and came face to face with Jeff.
"Come on Matt we have to get out of here!" Jeff tugged on his arm and started pulling him in the direction of a large stone structure.
"Jeff how did I get here?" Matt called after him.
"I don't know, but we have to get you out of here before he comes!" Jeff shouted, quickening his pace.
"Who?" the elder Hardy gulped.
"Chiron! I think he's busy with another soul right now, but he could come at any moment!" the younger Hardy tugged on his brother's arm more, urging him to move faster.
They came to a section of the river that had a trail of stones rising just above the water. Jeff pushed Matt forward so he could cross first. The elder Hardy gingerly leaped from stone to stone. He soon saw why Jeff had chosen this place, it was the only place to cross the river, and there was a clear path through the field of thorn bushes on the other side.
Matt leaped off the last stone and on to the riverbank with ease, and then turned to watch Jeff finish his trek. For a moment it looked like everything would all right, when suddenly, just as Jeff reached the last stone, a grisly hand lashed out of the water and grabbed Jeff's ankle, pulling him halfway into the bloody water.
"Matt! Help me!" Jeff screamed reaching out his hand.
Matt lunged to grab Jeff's hand, but more thorny branches burst out of the bank under Matt, binding him to the ground just out of reach of his little brother. Jeff frantically grabbed at the bank to prevent himself from being pulled in completely, but the sand provided him no leverage. Matt reached out his hand as far as he could, as did Jeff. Their fingertips touched for only a moment, before more hands appeared out of the water and dragged Jeff into the waters of Phlegeon.
Matt lay there opened mouthed, his hand still outstretched now to empty space. He barely noticed when the branches unraveled around him and sank below the sand
"Jeff..." Matt whispered to no one, as he slowly lowered his empty hand.
Then from out of the depths, in the same spot Jeff had been dragged under, Chiron rose out of the waters.
"Matthew Moore Hardy," Chiron spoke with extra cold and veracity in his voice. "Welcome to Hell."
000
Matt sat bolt upright in his bed. Sweat now formed a thin sheen on his skin, and heart was banging against his chest like a jackhammer.
He rested his head in his hands, waiting for his body to finally settle down from panic mode. He shivered as he remembered Jeff being dragged into the river of blood and he, Matt, was helpless to save him. That fact haunted him more than anything else the nightmare had shown him.
Matt shakily got out of bed and looked through his bag for his cell phone. He dialed Jeff's number and prayed his little brother would pick up. Now more than ever he wished that Jeff hadn't gone off on the "road trip" with the Undertaker, he wished Jeff was still his roommate so he could just look over to the other bed to see if his little brother was okay.
000
Jeff awoke to the sound of his brother's cell phone theme music sounding off. He blinked drowsily a couple of times before rolling over to the side of the bed he was lying on in the direction of the sound. He leaned over the side of the bed and spotted his cell phone on top of his bag.
"Hello?" Jeff answered groggily.
"Jeff? You okay?" came Matt's tired, but concerned voice over the phone.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Jeff yawned his answer. "You okay?"
Matt was about to tell Jeff about his dream, but then decided against it at the tiredness in Jeff's voice. His little brother needed all the rest he could get. "Yeah, I'm fine. You sound like you could use some more sleep. I'll call you back later, okay?"
"Kay, see you later man," Jeff murmured and hung up, before rolling over and closing his eyes.
Ten seconds later Jeff's eyes snapped open as all of the memories of what had happened before he passed out flashed in his mind. He sat bolt upright and discovered he was in a room he had never seen before. However, it bore a comforting resemblance to the rest of the Undertaker's house.
His gaze then shifted to the spires that looked like torches positioned at each corner of his bed and though they emitted a soft green light, instead of fire. However, the heat seemed come from the bed directly rather than the torches. It was a comfortable warmth though.
In fact, the only thing that felt uncomfortable about the situation was the fact that under the covers of the bed he was completely naked. Usually he only slept in the buff, during a hot North Carolina night at home, or if he was sharing the company of a lady in bed. However, he was in neither of those circumstances at the moment, so waking up naked in an unfamiliar bed was a little disconcerting to say the least.
He was about to grab some clothes from his duffel bag when the door opened, and the Undertaker's wife, Sara, came in.
"Mornin' sleepyhead." Sara greeted him cheerfully. "Just came in to check on you."
"Yeah?" Jeff blushed and pulled the covers up to just below his chest.
Sara chuckled as she came over and put a hand on his forehead. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Normal temperature."
She pressed two fingers to Jeff's throat and looked at her watch. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence - uncomfortable at least for Jeff - she finally spoke again. "Normal pulse and normal skin tone and no shivering. Good, no more hypothermia."
"Hypothermia?" Jeff stared at her in shock. "When did I get hypothermia?" Then he remembered the cold water. "Oh yeah..."
"Well, now that you're back to normal, we won't be needing these anymore," Sara said gathering up the torches. As she touched them, they instantly went out.
"What are those things?" Jeff quirked an eyebrow at the torches.
"A reaper's method of treating hypothermia without a trip to the emergency room." Sara answered, picking up the last torch.
Jeff's eyes widened a little. "You mean you've had other people go into that pool thing?"
"Yeah, it's the only way a living soul can go to a section of the after life without causing too much trauma to either the soul or the body." Sara explained as best she could. "See because it's in water, your soul and your body aren't separated by a solid barrier, so they can get back to each other easily, so there is no trauma. I don't know all of the mechanics of it, so you'll have to ask Mark."
"Nah, I think I get it..." Jeff rested his head in his hands. It had started hurting all of a sudden. "My head's going to explode as it is."
"That's no good," Sara furrowed her eyebrows in concern as she put the torches away in a closet. "Well, we got Aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, Ibuprofen, Aleve, what's your pleasure?"
Jeff looked up from his hands, "Wow...that's quite a selection..."
"Yeah, see I like Ibuprofen or Aleve," Sara explained matter of factly. "Mark likes Aspirin, but Kane's more of a Tylenol guy and we keep the Advil around just in case."
Jeff nodded. "Aspirin please."
Sara nodded back and exited the room, shutting the door behind her. Jeff let out a large sigh, suddenly feeling tired. He wanted to rest his throbbing head back down on the pillow and sleep it off some more, but it was time for getting up and discussing with the Undertaker what their next step was. Since they weren't going to get any help from Grim, their situation had become increasingly dire.
Jeff signed again before reaching for his bag and pulling out his clothes. He had just slipped on his pants when he caught sight of a reflection of his back in the mirror on the wall next to his bed. For the first time he saw the result of Umaga and the Boogeyman's handiwork. And intricate pattern of dark brown lines, circles and cross-hatching, covered his back from the nape of his neck, almost to his tailbone.
"Hey, Umaga did a good job," Sara suddenly back into the room, startling Jeff.
"Here you go, one glass of water and two tablets of aspirin," Sara non-chalantly handed the two items to the half-naked Hardy. "When you're ready come on downstairs and I'll make you some breakfast."
Jeff nodded as Sara exited the room again. He threw on a Team-extreme jersey and tied his hair back into a bun, before exiting the room to look for the stairs.
"Hi, Mr. Jeff!" Chasey greeted him in the hallway.
"Hi, Chasey," Jeff waved back. "Hey could you show me where the kitchen is?"
"Yeah!" Chasey chirped excitedly, heading for the nearest stairway. "Follow me!"
Jeff chuckled as he followed the little girl down stairs and into the kitchen. Sara was cooking some eggs, while Gracie sat in her high chair watching her, in that curious, almost intense way toddlers do. Chasey crawled into a chair where there was already a place setting with "My Little Pony" themed dishware.
"So what'll you have for breakfast Jeff?" Sara finished with the eggs and then spooned some of them on to Chasey's plate, then Gracie's, while Chasey reached for some toast.
"Oh, I can cook something for myself," Jeff offered seeing Sara busily getting breakfast together for the two girls.
"All right, the fridge is all yours," Sara motioned to the black refrigerator.
"Thanks," Jeff perused the shelves of food. He pulled out three eggs and two slices of bacon.
In a few minutes both the eggs and bacon, were sizzling in the pan. He liked to cook them together so the flavors would mix.
"Mommy, when's daddy getting up?" Chasey asked after swallowing the last of her eggs.
"Let him sleep, hon,"
"But he's sleeping so long…" Chasey pouted
"Well he hasn't had much of it lately, sweetie." Sara was busy trying to keep Gracie from eating her eggs with her hands.
As if on cue, Jeff yawned as he walked over to the table with his plate of eggs and bacon. "I know how he feels."
Sara studied Jeff for a moment while he ate. It was the slow kind of absent way of someone who was deeply troubled.
"You know on second thought," Sara smiled a little mischievously at Chasey. "Why don't you go wake up your father after all?"
Chasey giggled and grinned from ear to ear before hopping off her chair and skipping out of the kitchen to go and wake the deadman.
Now that Chasey was out of the room, and little Gracie was too young to really comprehend what they were saying, Sara decided to pry a little bit.
"What's gnawing on you Jeff?" Sarah asked gently.
"Oh, I'm just a really tired, that's all," Jeff slowly took a bite of his bacon, his eyes distant and pensive.
Sara frowned a little. "Understandable considering what's been going on, but I'm really offering you a chance to bitch and moan about it to someone who knows what's going on and is willing to listen."
Jeff smiled tiredly. "I don't know…I guess I'm just kind of scared about what's going to happen. I've been afraid to go to sleep at night because of the dreams, I'm scared of looking over my shoulder and seeing a demon behind me, I'm scared they're going to catch me, and I'll have my body taken over by some sort of evil spirit."
Even though Sara was helping Gracie eat her breakfast, Jeff could still tell she was listening intently to what he said. How mothers could multi-task like that was absolutely amazing to him. Even more so with the added fact that she was only a month older than he was.
The young Hardy's expression faded into a worried frown. "And I'm really scared that Matt might be dragged in to this whole thing. Ever since I woke up today, I've just had this bad feeling that he's not okay. It's always at the back of my mind."
"That's a lot of weight to be carrying on your shoulders." Sara smiled and patted the back of his hand. "But that doesn't mean you're going to bear it alone. I know Mark can be pretty abrasive and standoffish to people outside of the immediate circle of family and friends, but I know him and his sense of duty and honor. He'll see you through this. He has quite a bit of respect for you, you know."
"Yeah?" Jeff's eyes widens a little in surprise, until he remembered the end of the ladder match he had with the Undertaker back in 2002. At the end of the match, the Undertaker had raised Jeff's arm as a mark of respect to Jeff's strength of fighting spirit and tenacity, for lasting so long in the match.
"Yeah. I don't think you're quite at "Mark" status yet," Sara said thoughtfully, and then shrugged. "But he holds you in a higher regard than the average co-worker."
"What do you mean "Mark" status?" Jeff quirked and eyebrow.
"Calling 'The Undertaker' by his real name Mark is a privilege reserved for the family and friends of the family that Mark has deemed worthy of being at "Mark" status."
"Oh…" Jeff nodded, still looking confused. "How do I know when I'm at "Mark" status?"
Sara chuckled. "Say Mark in front of him and see if he gives you a death glare or not."
"Nah, I don't want to take a chance at pissing off the only guy who can protect me," Jeff grinned.
They both laughed until they heard heavy footsteps coming toward the kitchen. A few seconds later, the object of their conversation appeared in the doorway. Chasey was hanging off of her father, her little arms, and legs around his neck and chest.
"Ah, my Deadman has risen." Sara got up from her seat and went over to give her husband a light kiss on the lips.
"Sara, there's something attached to my back," Taker spoke in mock serious tones as he motioned to Chasey on his back. "I think it's some sort of growth. Quick get the giant spatula and get it off."
Chasey giggled and Sara laughed. The young Hardy took it as a cue that it was one of the rare moments that it was okay to laugh at the Undertaker. However, in the interest of safety, Jeff decided to keep the laugh to a small chuckle…
000
Matt Hardy stood in front of the door, behind which the Brother's of destruction had their lair. However, at this moment there was only one brother in there. Kane. Matt would have preferred to speak to the Undertaker, but he had taken off somewhere dragging Jeff along with him. That left Kane the only one around who knew what was going on and could help.
Matt steeled himself and knocked loudly on the door.
Kane opened the door and glared down at Matt. "Oh, it's you…What do you want Hardy?"
Matt was quickly losing his nerve and composure under the gaze of the Big Red Machine. "I, Uh…"
Kane growled, he already had a low patience level, and with the other party being Matt Hardy, he was getting annoyed very quickly. "If you don't have anything to say...don't come here!"
Kane was about to slam the door in the elder Hardy's face, when Matt blurted out, "I've been having dreams about Chiron and the Seventh layer of hell!"
There was a long pause while Kane's brow quirked up about a centimeter. He looked left and right down the hallways, then grabbed the front of Matt's shirt and jerked him into the room, slamming the door behind them. When Kane let go of his Shirt Matt was so off balance he fell right on his rear end on the ground with a dull thud.
Kane sat down on the bed next to Matt and fold his arms impatiently. "All right, what happened in the dream?"
"Uh, I was…" Matt began, still a little shaken from being yanked into the room and thrown on the floor by Kane. "I woke up in this place, it was a bank of a river a red river, and there were fields of thorn bushes all over the place. I remember it from when Jeff was telling me about it. I was just standing there trying to figure out how to get out of there when Jeff appeared."
Matt paused and gulped, looking nervously, but intently at the Big Red Machine, who was staring with even more intensity back at him. The elder Hardy wondered if Kane was going to believe him, or throw him right back out of the room.
Kane nodded, and rested his hand on his fist. "Go on."
Matt took a deep breath and continued a little calmer now. "Jeff said he knew how to get out of there, so I followed him we came to a point in the river where we could cross. I crossed first and he followed, but before he could get to the other side, these horrible hands came up and grabbed him and started pulling him in." The calm in Matt voice was quickly changing into distress as he recalled every detail of the dream. "I tried to grab him and pull him out, but the thorns held me back. He's was pulled under and there was nothing I could do to help him. He was pulled into the river."
Matt stared at the ground, his eyes wide with terror as the scene replayed over and over again in his mind.
Kane grumbled and lightly slapped the elder Hardy on the side of the head to knock him out of his terrified stupor. "And then what happened?"
Matt swallowed hard. "And then, Chiron rose out of the water, and he said 'Matthew Moore Hardy, welcome to Hell.' And then I woke up. What does it mean?"
Kane scratched his chin in, looking in deep thought. "Most likely since that protection seal is now on Jeff, Chiron is now trying to channel the dreams into you..."
"But why? How can he do that?" Matt stared at Kane in disbelief. Was he, Matt Hardy, now the target of this demon?
"You two are complete blood brothers, and as such you share the same core soul, and because of this Chiron can channel into you as well as Jeff." Kane explained as best he could.
"But, why?" Matt murmured.
Kane got up and began to pace pensively around the room. "I'm not sure, maybe so he can still torture Jeff indirectly."
"Bastard…" Matt growled, bunching up the bed sheets in his hands.
Kane stopped pacing and folded his arms across his chest before glaring at Matt, though there was not the usual cold rage in it. "Knowing Jeff, if he found out Chiron was torturing you in the nightmares; he'll want to remove the protection symbol from himself, in order to protect you."
The Big Red Machine turned his eyes to the floor and growled. "Either way Chiron wins."
"There's got to be some way to beat him!" Matt snapped, standing up.
"There is, you must bear the nightmares alone and make sure Jeff doesn't find out about them." Kane stated, as firm an ultimatum as it could be. "Chiron won't be expecting you to sacrifice yourself."
Matt nodded, a look of determination crossing his features. "So far in this whole ordeal I've been useless to Jeff, now I can finally do something to protect him."
Surprisingly a small smirk of acknowledgement crossed Kane's face. "Good luck with that."
Matt smiled a bit back. "Thanks."
If someone walked in at just that moment, they would have to pinch themselves to make sure they were not dreaming. No one would ever believe the sight of Kane and Matt Hardy a small moment of mutual respect for one another.
Suddenly Kane rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh god, did we just have a moment?"
"Uh...I think so..." Matt shifted uncomfortably.
"I'm going soft..." Kane muttered. "I think you should get the hell out of my room right now."
"Yeah…Good idea." Matt hurried to the door, before he got painfully kicked out by the Big Red Machine.
000
Author's Note:
Poor Matt is now getting the dreams, and Chiron is intending to make Matt's life/sleep a living hell until he gets Jeff to remove the protection symbol. And what will come when Jeff finds out?
Fic Recommendations:
Go check our story "A World of Darkness" it's a really good story so far, and one of her first and she could really use some constructive reviews, so please check out the fic and review!
Since I can't seem to post links in the fic, you can find the story in my favorites section.