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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, Edge, 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.
ANOTHER NOTE: The idea for the nightmare scene involving the ceiling, was taken from "Nightmare on Elm Street." A scary, but great horror classic!
000
Taker had a tough time explaining what had just happened to Jeff and Edge, to Cena and Batista. Fortunately, neither the champ nor the animal had seen the incubi, so Taker said that the guys who had abducted Jeff before had come after him again, and not to worry The Phenom would take care of everything.
Cena seemed satisfied with this answer, Batista on the other hand still looked suspicious that there was more to the matter, but chose not to pursue the subject further. Instead, they helped carry Jeff and Edge back to the hotel until the Undertaker shooed them away when they reached Matt's room.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you totally bullshit your way out of a situation, the "Edge" way," Kane said dryly. "Usually you just threaten their health and they shut up."
Taker rubbed his temples. "Yeah, and I suck at it. Batista looked like he didn't believe a word I said. God damn…we dodged bullet…"
"Yeah, no thanks to him…" Kane glared at Matt.
Matt remained quiet. He was feeling insanely guilty that he had left Jeff's side, even if he had been called to McMahon's office.
"Leave Matt alone," Taker said a little wearily, "Matt was only responsible for leaving Jeff with Batista and John. Jeff went back to the locker room of his own accord. Besides, Matt's about to be punished enough."
"Oh yeah?" Kane raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued about what punishment Taker had in store for Matt.
"Matt," The phenom looked over at the older Hardy, who gulped in return. "Since Edge interfered with Chiron's plan, he might be targeted as well. So you are to look after him as well."
Matt's eyes widened in shock. "Why am I the one who has to take care of him?!" he sputtered. "You know how much I hate him!"
A nerve finally snapped inside Taker, he was getting so frustrated with the Hardys' boldness to question him after all he had done to protect them. Frankly, he was at wit's end with the two brothers.
He grabbed Matt by the front of his shirt and yelled in his face, "Look, you irresponsible little brat! Like it or not he saved your brother's ass, you owe him one!"
"Okay, okay…" Matt held up his hands defensively. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to be nice to him…"
Taker let go of Matt's shirt, calming down a little. "I don't expect you to, but you need to look after him."
"Yeah, yeah…I'll look after him," Matt grudgingly agreed. "I don't know what Jeff will say though..."
"He's not going to say anything, since he's more indebted to Edge than you are," Taker grumbled. "Now you look after them, Kane and I are going to go talk to Grim. I'll put a seal on the door so no one who means harm to you, Jeff, or Edge can get in."
Matt nodded. Just then Maria of all people rounded the corner.
"Matt, I heard something was wrong with Jeff." The diva looked very worried. Without even asking, she stepped into the room and ran over to the still unconscious Jeff. "What happened? Is he all right?"
"Maria…Now really isn't a good time…" Matt began, only to have Maria ignore him.
"Was it the cult? Are they after him again?"
The older Hardy's eyes widened in shock. "How did you know…?"
"Yes," Taker answered. "The cult came after Jeff again, one of their ritual dates is coming up. Edge helped us to save him this time. And that's all you need to know right now."
Maria nodded. "That's all I want to know right now."
"Wait a minute, you guys knew she knew? How does she know stuff?" Matt glanced back and forth between Maria and the Brothers of Destruction, looking very flustered over having been left out of the loop once again.
"Jeff admitted some information that he really shouldn't have," Kane grumbled. "Too late to do anything about it now."
"Maria, you and Matt watch over Jeff and Edge," Taker ordered. "Don't leave this room for the rest of the night, got it?"
Both Maria and Matt gulped and nodded.
"Good." And without another word Taker and Kane exited through the door, slamming it behind them.
"Is Edge really in that much danger?" Kane quirked an eyebrow at his brother.
"No, Chiron's not going to waste his time on that little jackass," Taker stated and smirked, "I just wanted to piss Matt and Jeff off, for giving me such a headache."
Kane laughed.
000
"How did you know what was going on with Jeff?" Matt asked.
"He told me kind of what was going on," Maria said as she began to gently stroke Jeff's hair. "That when he was kidnapped before it was by some cult. A cult that worshipped a demon. And now they're after him again?"
"That's about right," Matt nodded and thought to himself, Except the demon is real…
Matt sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to gently place his hand on Jeff's forehead. "I'm just glad he's all right," the older Hardy murmured and gently smoothed back Jeff's hair.
Maria nodded. They remained like that for several minutes, until Matt got so frustrated with himself, he couldn't stand it.
"Damn it…" Matt sighed, causing Maria to look up. "Kane was right; I shouldn't have left his side, not even for a moment, no matter what!"
"Why did you?" Maria asked carefully.
"McMahon called me to his office," the older Hardy admitted shamefully.
"Well, that's important too, you couldn't know when those guys would come after Jeff again," Maria said sympathetically.
But I did know Jeff was in danger… Matt thought angrily to himself. "It doesn't matter; my career is not worth Jeff being in danger."
Maria looked down, unhappy that all her attempts to be comforting had been rebuffed.
Matt instantly felt guilty he had taken his frustrations verbally out on her. "I'm sorry, Maria." The older Hardy looked at her apologetically. "You've been so sweet to Jeff through all of this, and I for one am really grateful to you for keeping him happy."
The diva brightened a little. "Thank you, Matt, I'm glad I got the big brother approval."
Matt couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I don't know much that is worth, but Jeff tends to do what he wants whether I approve or not."
Maria giggled. "Still, it's nice to be accepted."
The elder Hardy laughed a little more until a heavy thought occurred to him, and he turned serious. "Aren't you scared of all of this?"
"Of course I am, I'm terrified," the diva admitted. "But I know Jeff needs me the most now, so I'm not going to run out on him."
Matt smiled. "I'm glad Jeff's found someone worthy of him."
As if on cue Jeff stirred, and slowly opened his eyes. "What's going on?" he mumbled drowsily.
"Jeff!"
The younger Hardy nearly had wind knocked out of him when both Maria and Matt hugged him at the same time.
"Are you all right?" Maria asked, her arms still wrapped securely around Jeff's neck.
The rainbow haired warrior was a little surprised by the enthusiastic greetings, but hugged them both back. "Yeah, I'm okay...except for this headache…"
After another minute, Matt slowly loosened his embrace, but still kept one arm wrapped around Jeff's shoulders. He bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry I left you alone like that...I didn't know Chiron was going to go to use incubi to come after you..."
Maria lifted her head off Jeff's shoulder, her interest piqued. This was a part of the story she had not heard. Chiron? Incubi?
Jeff patted Matt's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, I'm the one who ran off...stupid cell phone."
"Thanks," Matt smiled a little, before frowning. "I still can't believe that of all people that came to save you, it was Edge..."
Jeff stared at his brother in shock. "Edge saved me?" He paused and concentrated, trying to remember. "That's right… It was him…" He looked over at Edge on the other bed. "Well this is awkward…"
"Yeah…" Matt mumbled darkly, glaring over at Edge.
"Um…Excuse me…" Maria started, getting the Hardys' attention. "But who's Chiron? And what are incubi?"
The brothers sighed wearily.
"Maybe before we explain everything we ought to wake up Edge first," Jeff suggested.
"Why?" Matt did not sound happy with the idea in the least.
Jeff shrugged. "Like it or not he's involved with this now."
"Fine," The older Hardy got up and prodded Edge in the back. "Wakey-Wakey asshole."
Edge rolled over and mumbled still half asleep. "Five more minutes, Lita..."
That touched the biggest nerve. Jeff and Maria exchanged nervous glances as Matt took on the expression like steam would come out of his ears at any moment.
"Edge…" Matt leaned down and whispered right into the R-rated superstar's ear. "Why don't you…WAKE UP!!!"
The sudden yell was enough to jolt Edge awake. So much so, he tumbled off the other side of the bed.
"Ugh… What the hell happened to me?" The R-rated superstar sat up dizzily, before pulling himself back on to the bed.
"A demonic hangover," Matt answered dryly.
Edge nearly got whiplash as his head snapped around to face Matt. "What the hell?"
"I ought to ask you that question," Matt retorted.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know why I'm here or even how I got here," Edge insisted, shakily sliding off the bed and onto his feet. "I don't want any trouble so I'm just going to leave right now."
"You stay put!" Matt jumped to his feet and stormed toward the R-rated superstar. "I've got a few words to say to you, you son of a bitch!"
Edge gulped and had to use the wall to steady himself, the after effects of the venom hadn't quite worn off yet. However, after facing black beasts with gnashing teeth, he was not going to be intimidated by Matt Hardy.
"You're a wonderful person, Adam!" Matt yelled in Edge's face. "Despite the fact Jeff and I made no effort to hide our dislike for you, you still came out and saved him! I will forever be grateful to you for it! You are tops with me right now!"
Everyone remained silent after Matt finished. The older Hardy was panting and, looking flustered and serious, as if he had just gone through a huge rant.
Edge furrowed his brow in confusion. "If you were trying to tell me off, Matt, I think I may have missed it."
Matt rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated groan, before storming off to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
Jeff sighed wearily as he realized he would have to explain the whole situation in detail by himself. It took almost a half an hour for the younger Hardy to get through all of the details, and when he was through Edge and Maria's eyes were as large as saucers.
"The demon is really real?" Maria whispered, breathless.
"Are they going to come after you again?" Edge asked a little nervously.
"Probably," Jeff said gravely. "He's only got two more days left to try and grab me before the window of opportunity has closed."
Both Maria and Edge paled at the thought of the incubi coming in through the hotel room window and attacking them again.
Jeff saw their frighten expressions and tried to brighten them up a bit. "Don't worry though; Taker said he put some sort of magical seal around the room to keep the incubi out."
The other two nodded, not looking very comforted.
"I think the best thing for us right now is to get some sleep," the younger Hardy assured them.
"How can you even think of sleeping at a time like this?" Edge protested.
Jeff shrugged. "What else am I going to do? If I'm going to fight this, I need to keep my energy level up."
Maria and Edge exchanged nervous glances, but nodded all the same. If Jeff, who was the main target in all of this, could relax enough to sleep, then maybe they could too.
000
Matt waited in the bathroom until the voices had completely died down. He simply couldn't stand being in the same room with Edge right now. The R-rated superstar was a constant slap in the face for Matt Hardy, a constant reminder of everything the elder Hardy had lost.
He lost a dear friend in Adam Copeland, he lost his beloved Lita, his girlfriend of six years, the woman he thought he might spend the rest of his life with; he lost his big push toward the WWE championship and for awhile lost his job with the WWE completely. At the same time Adam "Edge" Copeland had gained everything; Lita, his job, the championship, everything, even though it was he who committed the sin with Lita in the first place.
Matt hated the unfairness of it all more than Edge himself, but since Adam was the physical reminder of all of that, all of the hate was directed towards him.
But now after saving Jeff's life, it seemed like Adam was trying to take Matt's hate away from him as well.
The older Hardy got up and exited the bathroom to find everyone asleep. On one of the bed Maria was curled on her side with Jeff spooned in behind her. For once Jeff had a smile on his face while he slept.
Matt's gaze fell upon Edge. The R-rated superstar had apparently grabbed himself the extra pillows and blanket from the coat closet and made himself a make-shift bed on the floor
It took every ounce of Matt's self control to suppress the strong urge to give Edge swift kick for good measure, before going to sleep himself.
Instead, Matt just plopped down on his bed and pulled a pillow over his head, that way he would not have to look at the happy picture of Jeff and Maria. In truth, he envied them right now, wishing Ashley was lying next to him, in his arms.
Matt had no sooner shut his eyes when he heard a murderous pitched scream. He sat up in time to see Jeff thrown into a nearby wall. Before Matt even comprehend what was going on, some invisible force seemed to grab Jeff by his hair and, started dragging the young Hardy up the wall. Gashes suddenly appeared on Jeff's arms, leaving little trails of blood on the wall. All through this, even though Jeff was struggling to get free of whatever held him, his eyes remained closed, as if he were still asleep.
"Holy shit! What the hell is going on?!" Edge shouted as Jeff was being dragged across the ceiling.
While the boys looked on in shock Maria got up and ran from the room. She ran down the hotel hallways until she found the Undertaker's room.
"Taker! Taker! Open up please!!" she screamed, banging on the door.
"What is it, girl?" Taker opened the door and looked down at the hysterical diva.
"Jeff's on the ceiling …blood…lots of blood!" she gasped between terrified sobs and pants.
"Oh hell!" Taker took off toward Jeff's room, with Kane following closely behind.
Maria, lingered for a moment, trying to calm herself a little, before following after them. The door across from Taker and Kane's room opened to reveal John Cena and his roommate for the night, Randy Orton.
"What's going on out here?" Randy demanded. "What's with all the screaming?"
"Are you okay, Maria?" John asked gently, approaching her.
"No…" Maria shivered. "It's Jeff…he's in danger, something's attacking him, I went to get help."
"Which way is his room?" Randy asked.
Maria gulped and led them back toward the Hardys' room. Down the hallway they saw the door to the room next to the Hardys' open and Batista and Rey Mysterio came out. No doubt awakened by the screams coming from next door.
Batista poked his head into the Hardys' room, and took a few steps out, a shocked, almost horrified, expression etched across his face. Rey looked in as well and whispered something in Spanish, before crossing himself.
"Batista! Get your ass in here!" The Undertaker boomed from inside the room.
Batista responded automatically and ran back into the room, Rey following closely behind. John and Randy quickened their pace. If whatever was going on in there was enough to spook "The Animal", it must be really bad.
And it was…
Inside, The Undertaker, Kane, Matt, Edge, and now Batista and Rey were all trying to get Jeff down from the ceiling.
"Jesus Christ…" Randy stared open mouthed at the scene.
"Come on!" Cena pulled Randy into the room. "Let's help them out!"
Maria followed them slowly into the room, completely unnerved that her boyfriend was involved in a scene right out of Nightmare on Elm Street.
"Close the damn door!" Taker shouted.
Maria shakily nodded and did as she was told.
After a great deal of effort by the eight men, they managed to pull Jeff down from the ceiling and pinned him to the floor. Still, Jeff's body acted like a magnet wanting to connect with the metal ceiling. The poor rainbow haired warrior was cover with open gashes and scratches, blood streaming from all of them.
"Now, no matter what happens keep him on the floor!" Taker growled. The other men nodded nervously, but firmly.
Taker placed a hand on Jeff's forehead and concentrated. A few seconds, and he was back in the seventh layer of hell, or at least the nightmare illusion of it. Not far away he spotted the problem. Chiron.
The hell keeper had Jeff by his hair and was dragging the younger Hardy through the field of thorn bushes. Taker drew out his scythe and charged toward the demon.
Chiron had been so focused on Jeff that he did not notice Taker's approach until it was too late. The scythe came down and sliced across Chiron's chest. The hell keeper reeled and took a few steps back, glaring daggers at the phenom.
"You would do well not to involve yourself in this, reaper!" Chiron growled, his illusionary body starting to disintegrate as the nightmare began to end.
"I have every right to be involved in this!" Taker pulled Jeff to his feet; the younger Hardy was shaky and sobbing uncontrollably. "You're the one that has no right to do what you are doing to this kid!"
"I will succeed, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," the hell keeper said cryptically, before disappearing completely.
"Just try me, demon…" Taker hissed under his breath.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the other wrestlers were relieved when Jeff's overly tensed body finally relaxed. Still, they kept their hands on him to keep him pinned down, just in case.
Taker opened his eyes and nodded at the other wrestlers, indicating that it was okay to let Jeff go.
The rainbow-haired warrior's eyes snapped open, and he glanced around in alarm at all of the people surrounding him. He staggered to his feet, trying to back away, and he only stopped when he backed up into the wall.
When he realized it wasn't demons chasing him anymore, he sank to the ground and buried his head into his knees. He started to sob softly.
Maria went over to him and gently wrapped her arms around his head. "Your safe now, Jeff," she whispered. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up." She helped him to his feet and started toward the bathroom.
Batista was the first to find his voice. "Now would someone mind explaining what the hell just happened?"
"Kane, would you mind debriefing them?" Taker asked, as he started toward the bathroom as well.
"Why? What are you going to be doing?" Kane raised an eyebrow, not looking very happy at having the job of trying to explain all of this to the other guys.
"I want to see if Jeff heals on his own," Taker said plainly, before shutting the door behind him.
Maria looked up for a moment when she heard the door shut, but went back to focusing on Jeff when she saw who had entered. She already had the water running in the bath tub and was helping a shaky Jeff get his shirt off. They had to do it slowly and carefully, so as to not rub against the open gashes because there were some particularly nasty ones on his back.
After the shirt had been removed, Maria wetted a towel and rubbed soap over one side of it. "Jeff, this might hurt a bit."
Jeff just nodded in response as she carefully placed the wet towel over his back. He cringed a little in pain, which caused his body to tremble even more.
Maria carefully guided his head over to the faucet, where the warmer ran over his head, washing the blood from his hair.
Taker watched the scene from near the door, and felt the rare feeling of a chill run up and down his spine. He glanced back and forth between Maria and Jeff. Maria's hand on top of Jeff's head, Jeff's face only inches from the water, at any moment she could…
"Stop!" Taker suddenly blurted out.
Maria's head snapped around to look at him in alarm. "What? What's wrong?"
An image of a woman drowning a man by pushing his head underwater, flashed through Taker's mind. But it was not Jeff and Maria, where had it come from?
Taker shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong…"
Maria looked at him confusedly for moment, before turning her attention back to Jeff.
By this time Jeff had regained some of his sense and he looked up at Maria curiously. "Something wrong?" he asked wearily.
Maria glanced at Taker one more time, before answering. "No, nothing's wrong."
She dipped another towel into the water and lifted up Jeff's arm to clean the wounds there. But when the towel touched Jeff's arm, suddenly what looked like little black webs came out of the wounds, and seemed to pull the skin back together again.
"What the--?" Maria gasped.
"How is this happening?" Jeff shuddered, looking at the healing wounds on his other arm.
"Chiron's blood is still in your system, that's how he was able to both harm you physically in the dream, and now heal you here," Taker explained. "I thought this might happen. Since he is going to use your body, he needs it intact, when the time comes."
It was true; in the next few seconds the only indication that Jeff had gashes at all were the bloodstains outlining where the wounds had been and the black marks from the demonic blood that had healed the wounds. However, the black marks looked more like tattoos than scars.
"Great…" Jeff grumbled, "He healed me up, now he'll probably torture me again as soon as I go back to sleep."
There was a long pause, as Taker seemed to consider something. "You'll stay in our room for the next two nights, that way when Chiron comes back Kane and I can intervene, before the dream goes too far."
Jeff nodded, looking a little relieved.
Meanwhile, Kane had just finished explaining the situation to John, Randy, Batista, and Rey. All four men looked either shocked or confused or both.
"I guess that explains what happened earlier," Batista murmured.
"Yeah…" Rey crossed himself again. "Poor Jeff…"
"This is insane…" Randy paced the room nervously. "I mean if everything you're saying is true, then that means there really is a hell and gods and demons actually exist."
"Yup," Kane answered simply
"Randy," Edge pointed up to blood the ceiling. "How much more proof do you need? It's like Nightmare on Fucking Elm Street!"
"Is this a sign of the apocalypse?" Rey whispered.
"In a way, if we allow Chiron to escape into the mortal world through Jeff," Kane said plainly. He almost laughed at the pale expressions on the other men's faces. "It wouldn't be a complete destruction of humanity, just the ones Chiron considers violent and deserve to be imprisoned in the seventh layer. But with his black and white perception, that could leave the death toll in the millions by the time he could be apprehended."
"How do we stop him?" Cena gulped, but looked determined.
"By ensuring that Jeff does not get taken by him," Kane stated. "Chiron can't get into the mortal world without a mortal host. He can send his incubi, but they are relatively weak by comparison, after all Edge was able to hold them off with a chair before."
Everyone except Edge laughed at the R-rated superstar's expense, all of them looking for some way to ease the tension of the situation.
"Hey!" Edge snapped. "It's all thanks to me that Jeff isn't possessed right now!"
"I still can't believe that…" Cena snorted, the amusement still clearly heard in his voice.
"It's no joke," Matt suddenly spoke up from his place by the bathroom door. "He saved my brother's life, so lay off."
The other guys all looked at Matt like he had three heads. The fact that the older Hardy was sticking up for his worst nemesis had them all bewildered. Matt refused to look at any of them.
Just then the bathroom door opened and Taker stepped out, followed by Jeff and Maria.
"Jeff, are you going to be all right?" Matt asked. He noticed the black stripes on Jeff's body where the gashes used to be. "What are those?"
"Chiron's calling card I think," Jeff sighed. "Like the symbol on my stomach."
"So what do we do from here?" Batista asked.
"Sunday is the last day of the window period, which means Chiron's minions will come after him and use every trick in the book to try and get at him." Taker glared at the other wrestlers intently. "Since most of you are involved in the main event at the Great American Bash, can we count on you to help keep an eye on Jeff before, during, and after the match?"
The others nodded.
"Good," The phenom looked over at Jeff and motioned for the younger Hardy to gather up his things for the move. "In the meantime, Jeff will be staying with Kane and I for the next two days. As for the rest of you, get some sleep. You're going to need it."
"Um…Taker…" Edge started carefully, "Is there any chance that some of that demon's cronies could come after anyone of us because we're involved?"
Everyone's attention turned toward Taker, all of them nervous that they might suffer the same fate as Jeff.
Taker shrugged. "It's unlikely, but not impossible, so I wouldn't walk around alone if I were you."
Everyone gulped at the ominous message, while Taker looked over at Jeff and motioned for him to follow.
The younger Hardy shouldered his duffel bag and obediently followed Taker and Kane out the hotel room door, leaving the other wrestlers to their own devices. They were lucky, the rest of them did not have a demon waiting for them the moment they shut their eyes…
000
Poor Jeff… Chiron is really giving him a hard time. Hopefully now that Cena, Batista, Randy, and Rey are involved they can help protect Jeff at the Great American Bash.
However the real question is, what was that strange flashback Taker had in the bathroom….?