AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know I've been awful about updating this fic. Alas, the characters in Legacy In The Night are very demanding and I can't seem to stop working on that story. Today, I decided to at least try to write a chapter of this fic. This chapter is largely the backstory of how Dean, Roman, and Seth became friends, and what happened that changed all of that. I hope you enjoy it! I promise I'll finish this fic eventually, LOL. I will try to update it more frequently. Anyway, this chapter is told entirely from Dean's point of view because it's mostly a flashback. Reviews are appreciated!

CHAPTER FOUR: The Tale of Three Brothers

DEAN

He was having a nightmare. This wasn't entire abnormal for Dean. He had a lot of issues, but he never really talked about them. When he was still a newborn, there was a terrible explosion. Over a hundred people had been killed in the blast. No one knew for certain if Dean's parents had been amongst them, but they assumed so because Dean had been inside of the chaos, the lone survivor of the terrible tragedy.

The newborn had been taken to a muggle orphanage. He'd been adopted several times before the age of five, but every single family had noticed strange things occurring once they brought the boy home, and they'd returned him. Over and over again, Dean was embraced and almost immediately abandoned. It was for this reason that Dean had difficulty making friends. The final family to adopt him had been made up of the most terrible sort of muggles. His adopted mother kept him on display like an accessory but showed him little love in private. She liked to tell people she and her husband had adopted the boy out of charity, like good Christians, but she'd obviously done it for the recognition alone. His adopted father had a terrible temper and every time Dean did something he didn't like, he beat him. That tended to happen a lot. They acted like the perfect parents in public, but they were monsters.

His only salvation had been receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Hogwarts had quickly become his true home, and although he had to return to his adopted family every Summer, he knew he'd be safe once the year ended. Now in his final year at Hogwarts, Dean comforted himself with the knowledge that when the school year was over, he would be free to do whatever he pleased because he would be an adult.

Dean reflected on his first day at Hogwarts. He'd gotten on the Hogwarts Express and immediately run into some of the children who would become Slytherins. Hunter and Stephanie had zeroed in on Seth and were picking on him.

"Look at this twerp!" Hunter taunted Seth. "He won't last a day!"

"He smells like a mudblood," Stephanie added. Charlotte, Nikki, and Brie giggled.

"What's your name, Mudblood?" Hunter asked.

"Seth. Seth Rollins," Seth replied nervously, clinging to his school books like they were his lifeline.

"Well, Rollins, what family do you come from?" Stephanie asked.

"The Rollins family."

"Right. And where are you from?"

"Davenport, Iowa."

"Disgusting! He's definitely a mudblood," Nikki declared. "No self-respecting wizard would set foot in Iowa."

Hunter raised his wand. "Let's see some magic, Mudblood!" He said.

"I don't know any magic yet," Seth replied. "I mean, I figured out one spell, but… But I'm not sure I should be doing it-"

"Come on, Mudblood, show us what you think you can do!" Hunter taunted. The other young wizards laughed.

Seth took out his wand. His hands trembled as he moved it carefully through the air and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa."

Suddenly, Hunter was levitating in the air. He immediately began to panic, frantically trying to get back on the ground as he shouted profanity at Seth.

"I was only trying to levitate his bags!" Seth said in horror.

Hunter suddenly fell to the ground. He stood back up, brushed himself off, and immediately reached for his wand. Dean was certain he was about to do something really nasty to Seth. He decided it was time to get involved.

"Hey, Assholes," Dean said casually. He walked right up to Hunter and said, "Let me show you how… What was the word, mudblood? Let me show you how mudbloods settle things!" Then he'd punched Hunter in the face.

The girls had screamed in shock. Hunter recovered and tried to hit Dean. Soon, they were having an all-out brawl, something Dean was used to that Hunter, clearly, was not. He knocked Hunter away from him a final time.

"Are you really going to let him get away with that, Hunter?" Charlotte demanded. "What kind of pureblood are you?"

Hunter was trying to regroup. Dean knew he didn't have a lot of time. He leaned forward, extending his hand to Seth, who was cowering in the corner and trembling. "You okay, Kid?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Seth replied. "I think so. Thanks."

"No problem. Those guys are jerks."

Hunter came toward them again. Seth did the only thing he could and repeated his spell. This time, he moved the wand and tossed Hunter against the train wall.

"I'm gonna kill you, you filthy little mudbloods!" Hunter screamed as he was pinned in the air against the train.

Dean looked at Seth. "So, what is a mudblood, anyway?" He asked, unimpressed by Hunter's threat.

"Someone born from muggles… A witch or wizard with non-magical parents," Seth said. "It's basically a racial slur."

"I like it," Dean decided. "Mudblood. It sounds tough and badass."

"It's an insult."

"I'm taking it back."

"You can't just take it back."

"Watch me." Dean smiled. "So, Ladies, how would you like to see what a couple of mudbloods can do? We get down and dirty, like the name suggests! I mean, it's got 'mud' in it, right? What's dirtier than that?" He reached toward Brie, who screamed.

"It's trying to touch me!" Brie screeched. "Keep it away! Keep it away!"

Dean laughed. These idiots were hilarious. "Are you afraid of catching my mudblood cooties?" He proceeded to pull her toward him and kiss her.

Brie screamed against his lips before running out of the train car. "Anyone else want a kiss?" Dean asked innocently.

The girls all fled the train car. Hunter finally fell back down. He stood and called, "Boys!"

The boys Dean assumed were Hunter's friends suddenly entered the train. "Kane! Owens! Get them!" Hunter shouted.

Kane was a big kid. He had a homicidal and psychotic look on his face that Dean appreciated. Pretty Boy Hunter might not be a threat, but Kane looked like he was a different story. The other friend was smaller and a bit on the round side, but he looked kind of bored.

"Do we have to?" The one he'd called Owens asked. Dean would, of course, later learn that his name was Kevin.

"Get them, you useless toad!" Hunter said.

Kevin shrugged and he followed Kane toward Dean and Seth. "This is bad," Seth said nervously.

"Yep. We're screwed. We'll have to fight our way out," Dean decided.

"I can't fight…"

"You're the nerd who gets beat up in school, right? Well, teach me that spell trick of yours and I'll teach you to fight."

"I… Okay." Seth repeated the spell slowly, showing Dean how it was done.

"Yeah, I'm thinking I can't learn it like that… Screw this. Cover me!" Dean ran toward the two new threats, throwing punches and fighting his way out.

Both Kane and Kevin appeared to like to fight. They were better at it than Hunter. Dean was in trouble. Seth cast his spell and luggage flew at Kevin's head, knocking him over for a minute.

"Keep it up!" Dean shouted.

Seth started throwing all of the loose items in the train car toward the boys. Dean ducked out of the way as Seth hit their new enemies.

"Enough!" Hunter finally shouted. He raised his arm and shouted, "Avada Ka-"

"Expelliarmus!" Someone new shouted. Dean looked up and saw Roman standing in the train doorway. When his attempted spell failed to work, Roman shrugged and hit Hunter square in the nose.

"I'm only a first year," Roman said apologetically. "I've seen my dad do that spell a thousand times, but I'm still learning…"

"Dude! Nice right hook!" Dean said. He grabbed Seth and walked toward Roman.

"He tried to kill us!" Seth said in horror. "That was the killing curse!"

"I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked. Hunter's yet to cast anything more impressive than a spell to make his hair look better, but I couldn't let him try," Roman said.

"I'm Seth," Seth said shyly. "Seth Rollins."

"Roman Reigns. It's nice to meet you, Seth." He turned toward Dean. "And you are?"

"Dean Ambrose," Dean replied. "Thanks for saving us back there."

"Anytime, Brothers," Roman replied. "I hate those guys anyway."

Dean had liked the way he called them brothers. He'd never had any real brothers, just adopted ones who treated him like crap. The idea of finding brothers here made him feel something unfamiliar. They may have just met, but he felt the connection… The bond. These boys were going to be his friends for life, his family, the brothers he'd always wanted.

And they had been... Until the day that Seth had turned on them. Even though Seth wasn't in the same house as Dean and Roman, he'd been their best friend. The problem was, as time went by, Seth was affected by a deep desire to be popular. He hated being picked on, so when the purebloods had started to show an interest in hanging out with him because of how skilled he was with magic, he'd ditched his brothers for them. Ultimately, he'd come to regret it when the pureblood Slytherins revealed they'd just been using him so they could do better in school, but Dean and Roman had never forgotten the betrayal, nor had they forgiven him for it. Two years later, they were still barely speaking to him… At least, that had been the case, until Seth came to Dean with the news that Roman's life was in danger. Now, it seemed, they were going to be forced to get over the past and become allies again in order to save their brother.