_______I could see the signs, she was fixed to fly...

third month of reign ;

He invades her wicked paradise, accidentally stumbling into hell as anger is burning inside of his dark brown eyes.

Sasha has been strangely silent for a couple of days now and, although everyone eventually came to the conclusion she certainly needed a break after the hurtful scene she witnessed, the fact she's actually about to miss their flight suddenly concerned the entire team.

Therefore Seth immediately decided to search for her, convincing Kevin and Emma to stay at the airport because if him and the Boston native were to arrive late, somebody needed to provide a decent and made up story to explain the reasons why.

Unknown sounds resonate in his ears while he's still proceeding to march through the mess her hotel room had become, more and more worried about her sake as she made a reputation out of cleaning the slightest mark she'd spot.

Anxiety is gradually building up as he gulps with difficulty, catching a glimpse of a frightening Sasha pacing right and left and frenetically pulling her messy hair.

Her panicked gaze never seems to leave her phone's screen while she keeps mumbling under her breath, a blank and scary look perceivable through her eyes.

Seth's jaw remains locked, the words trapped inside of his tense throat and his mind struck numb in front of such an unfrequent view.

She eventually notices his presence and the second she does, a drastic shift of energy exudes out of her, going from a terrified aura to another one, this time filled with hatred.

"This is all your fault, everything is your fault." Banks exclaims, muffling a sob at the same time and shocking one already clueless Architect, his own creation falling apart before his very eyes.

"You kept harping about how I wasn't ready to handle the pressure. How it'll be so much better for me to let go of the title now before it drives me-" Sasha restrains herself from saying the last word, as if it'd ultimately wreck here if pronounced.

She's drowning and no matter how deep he tries to dive, her lifeless body keeps slipping from his fingertips. All he can do is admiring her disappear slowly while it hurts him beyond imagination.

"I always just wanted to help." Rollins manages to regain a semblance of composure to retord a truth he swore he'd never share with anyone else, too afraid that his rare good intentions could ultimately be used against him and considered a weakness.

From the very first day he layed his sharp gaze on her vulnerable entity, he saw a something in her that very few others were able to distinguish.

He even caught himself exchanging his opinion regarding her mindblowing potential with the NXT's coaches and also very frequently with his cherished and very dearly missed mentor : Dusty Rhodes.

Back then his heart was already stained by blood and surrounded by rising shadows but she revived the part of him that still cared, that still felt things apart from envy, shame and disdain.

"That's why you're blackmailing me ?" Sasha puts an end to his reminiscence as she throws her phone at him, quickly replacing it by a hooden decorative object which sides appear extremely sharp and cutting.

She's losing herself in the middle of her emotions' tsunami, each wave crashing upon her and drowning her a little bit further into the endless sea, while she's holding on to the only thing she'd have to protect herself from breaking down entirely.

Her grip tighens up itself as minutes pass by and Rollins scrutinizes the frame offered to his view, struggling to comprehend how and why such a meaningless picture could have sent her off so bad and so rapidly.

Everything eventually clarifies when his eyes gravitate from Banks and Emma at an infamous bar, countless drinks around them as companions, to the text message below it all.

"Try keeping that title around your waist, and there will be consequences." He reads lowly to himself, battling against his inner demons to remain in control of his boiling rage.

"Listen to me, I have nothing to do with that." Seth mumbles with quite some difficulty, passing his hand on his tired yet honest features, uncapable of seeing his protegee in such a sorrowful place.

"Stop lying. Seth, stop lying to me." Sasha rushes towards Rollins who instinctively backs down to meet the hood of the door, threaten by both her weapon and absent stare.

Their breathing starts racing, neither one or the other perfectly aware of how things escaladed so quickly. All they know is that there's no rewinding possible and each will have to bear the consequences of their dreadful actions.

"Get out." Sasha's frozen body contrasts with the tears flowing down from her cheeks. The heavy silence takes over the room and sole thing able to break it is the object previously hold by Sasha falling to the ground - following the path of the translucid liquid.

Seth realizes that it may be too late to reason with her and reluctantly executes her order, an apologetic look distinguishable through his gaze and his unability of saving her weighing on his heart's remains.

Such an overwhelming emotion took over her entire heart and left her scrolling in a foetal position, her tears unable to stop dripping from her disformed face as her head rests on the glacial door.

________

He keeps staring at the flops of blood strolling from his hand, a slight cut that struck his thunder of emotions numb. He can't realize what just happened neither can he process what he needs to do about it.

As his brain gets paralyzed when he most needs it, an old bad habit sneaks its way back to his lungs : a lighter and a cloud of smoke exhaling with sorrow.

He's waiting for the cigarette to lights up the smallest spark of anger, remorse, hatred, disgust, really anything that would make him feel like a normal person.

But in this precise instant he's nothing else than an emotionless entity, nothing else than a destructive monster.

As his brown eyes delicately fix themselves on his phone's screen, the message indicates him the right thing to do. Not for his own benefit, not to put misery upon others but to save the rest of sanity left in Sasha's mind.

STEEN : I really, really hope you're not having sex right now because it'll be fucking disrespectful considering I keep calling BOTH of you morons.

ROLLINS : We need to talk, where are you at ?

STEEN : Hotel's lobby.

Without much surprise his old ROH's acquaintance didn't follow his command, possibly shrugging it off before dragging an unwilling Emma with him.

Rollins subtly wave to him, informing that conversation needs to unfold behind closed doors, especially since someone on the inside indeed wants Banks out of the title picture.

"It's about Sasha." He wastes no time to exclaim, way too concerned about her well-being to go over the useless details.

"If you've hurt her, I swear-" Kevin automatically places himself on the defensive, accustomed to the former champion's terrified gaze.

"She's the one who hurt me." He's quick to respond, briefly showing the Canadian the light cut on the palm of his stained hand, the blood still dripping out of the scar.

Seth then confusely explains how things badly unfolded between himself and Banks, how helpless he felt after she pushed him away and how seeing her haunted by such intense torments deeply touched him.

"And you left her there, a fucking harmful object in her hands ?

You didn't think for one second she could actually hurt herself with it ?" Owens explodes, his wrath unleashing into the nearest ben his sight could spot, in the dark alley besides their hotel.

"I panicked, I had no idea what to do so I came directly to you and-" The Iowa native attempts to justify his actions, unsure if he wasn't actually about to dig his own grave judging by his acolyte's cold and menacing stare.

"Go, I'll take care of her." Kevin ultimately shoves Rollins aside, hurrying up to evaluate the extent of the catastrophy and to do what he always was here to do for both the broken spirits : tiressly fixing them.

Seth is left contemplating him disappear in a sea of people, just like he witnessed Sasha fading away in her own hurricane's madness, blaming himself for what he warned her about but wasn't able to protect her from all along : the cursed spotlight.

____________

E L E N A ;

Love you all because I always put you through such heavy chapters, thanks a lot for reading them anyway. ♡

Who sent that picture to Sasha ?

How things will play out between her and Rollins ?

Do you think the snitch is still in Banks' team ?

Hope you liked it guys! xxx

ps ; double update because I felt like it, yep.