(1st Person POV. Character: Gracie)
"Let her go." Ludvig growled. My hands were trying to pry Gunther's hand open. I was stronger than him, but he had the upper hand. And he could very easily break my neck from the way he had me.
"Oh? And why should I?" Gunther asked with a sneer. "From what I heard, she thinks she can beat me." Ludvig stepped closer. But before he could say anything back, I spoke. "Because I can!!" Both men looked at me as I dropped out of Gunther's grasp. I stood up straight to face him.
"And just because you have a shiny belt you think you're better than everybody?!" Gunther went to speak, but I slapped him. His head swerved to the side from the sheer force of it. Ludvig took a step back, giving me space just in case I started to fight.
"I'm speaking and you're gonna listen! " I hollered. Gunther looked at me with surprise in his expression. "And since you want to keep up your stuck-up attitude outside of the damn ring, I challenge you to a damn match! I win? I'll see your ass at SummerSlam!!" I finished with a deadly smile.
And with that, I stormed off to find Adam Peirce to officiate it for tomorrow night. We all knew what that meant regarding the Intercontinental championship belt.
Ludvig grabbed Fluff as she tried to run at Gunther. Barking while baring her teeth.
But while walking to Adam's office, I stopped, suddenly having a better idea. I turned on my heel and headed left down the same hallway. I stopped at an iron door. I quickly knocked. And a few seconds later, a woman on the taller side with dark brown hair answered the door.
"Lacy!" She exclaimed happily, a smile appearing on her face. "Hey, Steph! Can I talk to you and your father about something real quick??" I asked, calming down from my anger fit I'd had a minute ago. She nodded, stepping aside so that I could walk in.
A couple of minutes later, Stephanie was sitting beside me, and we were both facing Mr. McMahon sitting behind his desk. "So how may I be of help to you, Ms. Lockbell?" There was no catch, so I decided to go straight to the point.
"I need a match with Gunther for tomorrow night. And if I win, I get a match for his belt at SummerSlam." I said sternly. "Is that able to happen?" Vince scratched his chin for a moment, then spoke. "I should be able to fit you in around 9:00 tomorrow. And sometime on day two of SummerSlam. Does that work for you?" I nodded.
"That's perfect, thank you!" I said as I smiled. Stephanie put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Lace?" She asked, sounding a little worried. "Gunther... He's a difficult opponent! I mean, you've seen how quickly he can beat your cousin...!"
I looked at her at put my hand over the one she had on my shoulder. "I know what I'm doing, Steph." I reassured her "Someone has to put him in his place, after all..."
(Time skip. Gracie went to tell Ricochet the news.)
"NO! No, absolutely not! " Ricochet said loudly. "I can't believe you went and did that without checking with the three of us!" He motioned to Drew and Sheamus who were also there. "That was very irresponsible of you, Lacy." Drew agreed.
"So?! You three have always told me not to run from a challenge! And now I actually HAVE one!" I protested. "This could be my chance to win my first title, you guys! And, I mean, just imagine what people will think of me if I take down Gunther!" I tried to persuade them. "NO!" Yelled both Drew and Ricochet.
But Sheamus said something. "Hold up, hold on mates! She's right! This is her chance to win it big for the first time! I say we give it to her." I smiled at Sheamus. He always would stand up for me, despite how much we annoyed each other. "Are you crazy?!" My cousin shot back. "Gunther knows what her ties are with me! He'll bury her tomorrow night!!"
"Hey now, hey now! You never know that!" Sheamus said back to him as he walked over to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. A very... pale hand. This guy was in desperate need of some sun. Does the sun not shine in Ireland, or what?
"Besides, you heard what the deal was! If she loses, no other matches will happen. And if she wins, she's guaranteed a title match at SummerSlam! Simple as that! And we all know what this little sucker is capable of!" Sheamus finished as he pulled me into a headlock and gave me a noogie.
I escaped from his headlock and fixed my hair. "I say we let her. We can't keep her from big matches forever." Sheamus concluded. "And once the match is over, it's over. If Gunther takes it further than that, then we have the right to get involved. She's a great wrestler. And no one is going to be able to see all of the hard work she's put in to get here if we keep her in a box." I looked at him, taken aback. I'd never heard him sound so sincere.
Sheamus continued. "Like the saying goes; the sun may stop shining when the moon comes up, but when it falls the sun will rise to shine again. We need to give her a chance to shine too. And if she falls down, we all know she'll get back up. Won't you, Lace?" He finished as he looked at me.
My eyes almost welled with tears. I rushed forward and gave him a bear hug. He believed in me. "Yes!" I said in a fit of joy. "I'll beat him and show everyone I'm more than just a female in the men's division!" Sheamus hugged me back. He was like the big brother I never had.
Trevor and Andrew were more like surrogate parents... I still loved them though. They'd stuck with me through a lot too. But... Stephen was still my favorite!
Drew and Ricochet looked at each other. "Fine..." Ricochet finally said. "But you have to promise you'll win that belt for no one but yourself! Do not dedicate your match to anyone but what you've done to get here, got it?" I let go of Sheamus. "I promise!" I said sternly.
All three men nodded. "Good," Drew said. "Then we've agreed. Don't get injured, is all I have to say." I giggled as I wiped away a few tears. "I sure will try! But we all know that I can jump right out of Gunther's finisher move, so that's useless for him to use on me." All three men nodded once again. "I just need to look out for his bootleg sharpshooter," I said as I shrugged.
All of us laughed at my joke. We all smiled for a few moments before I remembered something. Gasping aloud I screamed: "LUDVIG!!" I'd totally forgotten all about him because of how angry I was! "Shit, I hope I didn't get him into shit!!" 💭You said shit twice in the same sentence ya dumbass.💭 Spoke the voice in the back of my head. I told it to shut up.
I ran to the door, but Ricochet had one small request. "Hey, cuz!" He called after me. I turned to him in a panic. "When you do fight Gunther tomorrow night though... Do a splash for me, yeah?" I nodded. "Will do," I promised before running out of the room.
You can call me a track star because I've never run so fast. I reached Ludvig's locker room in less than 2 minutes. Which meant I ran because it normally was a 6-minute walk from Ricochet's locker room.
I kicked Ludvig's door open. Looking around the room I shouted; "LUDVIG! LUDVIG ARE YOU OKA-" Then my eyes set on him sitting peacefully on his couch eating his salad. He looked up at me, confused. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Ludvig!" I said as I walked over to him. Probably to hug him. "Thank god you're alright! I got worried and-" But I was cut off by him bumping his fist on my collar, creating an arm's length space between the two of us.
"Geh raus." He said sternly, not even bothering to look at my face. He took his fist away from me, back to his food, and continued to eat. My eyes filled with worry. "Are you okay? Gunther didn't hurt you did he??" I pushed on.
Ludvig set down his food and stood up abruptly. Facing me, he went off. "Was verstehst du nicht über raus, Lacy?! Ich wurde jetzt viermal in die Brust getroffen! You say you don't want me to get hurt because of you, and yet Du hast mich gerade Gunther übergeben, weil du wütend geworden bist! Hast du vergessen, dass ich Gunther abgelenkt habe, damit du dein kostbares Ich retten konntest?! Or did that completely slip by you when you were running off?!"
What he said might have sounded like absolute gibberish, but I understood every word. Each one cutting at me like a knife. Almost like how Gunther's words had, but it hurt worse. Because now the man I loved was doing it.
No words came out of my mouth. I just stood there in a teary shock trying my best not to cry. I had gotten him hurt. But my tears weren't able to be hidden, and Ludvig saw them. And I think for once he didn't feel bad about it.
"Go ahead, cry!" Ludvig provoked me. "Tomorrow night you'll understand just how much Gunther can hurt people, maybe then you might understand the pain I put up with! Now do what you do best and run off!" He finished with a look of pure hate in his eyes.
I quickly ran out of that room. "And stay away from me too!" That was the last thing I heard him say before hearing his door slam loudly. I ran straight to the only person my mind could think of. 💭Stephanie...!!💭 She was the only person I felt safe to cry to. We were friends long before I came to WWE, and she never judged my feelings.
Entering her private office on the verge of tears, I called her name. She quickly stepped out of her living room. "Lacy? What's wrong??" She asked, noting my expression, and quickly walking over to me to wrap me in her arms.
"I blew it...!" I said as I broke down in tears.
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Heya readers! Sorry this chapter came out so late, I got distracted by a few to things. As per usual, I hope you enjoyed this update and I'll see you all in the next one! Bye, gems! 💝💎
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German Translation (everything Ludvig said in German while yelling at Gracie):
Was verstehst du nicht über raus, Lacy?! = What do you not understand about get out, Lacy?!
Ich wurde jetzt viermal in die Brust getroffen! = I've been hit four times in the chest now!
Du hast mich gerade Gunther übergeben, weil du wütend geworden bist! = you just dumped me at the hands of Gunther because you got angry!
Hast du vergessen, dass ich Gunther abgelenkt habe, damit du dein kostbares Ich retten konntest?! = Have you forgotten that I distracted Gunther so you could save your precious self?!
(Word count: 1960)