Previously..
'Ladies and gentlemen, here's your winner and still the Diva's champion. AJ Lee!' Lilian's voice rang through the arena as AJ's music began to play. The referee handed AJ her diva's championship as I sat up with my head in my hands. I had just lost my only opportunity. I knew I had let everyone down at this point as they were all counting on me. I was useless. On the inside I truly wanted to cry however I refused to even let a single tear fall from my eye. AJ left the ring, skipping back up the ramp and glaring at Dolph before heading backstage with the title over her shoulder. The arena began to fill with 'Alix' chants which clearly disturbed Dolph as he stood there in disgust at the WWE Universe.
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'Behold the king.. the king of kings..' My head dropped lower as I heard The Authority's music play throughout the arena.I was slowly breaking down and that's just what they wanted. Ever since I turned my back on them to restore hope back in the locker room they wanted to witness me fall. I had fought my hardest yet still they managed to find a way to prevent me from reaching my goal. There wasn't much more I could do.
I lifted my head to see Dolph standing in the middle of the stage with Triple H and Stephanie standing either side of him. Randy and The Shield standing on the ramp in front of them. Their faces lit up with laughter at my defeat. However, Dolph seemed rather off the entire time. Triple H rested his hands on Dolph's shoulders, patting him on the back now and again. However, Dolph looked almost torn? Was he really doing this out of spite? Now that I saw him like this right in front of me, I began to mentally debate with myself. Suddenly Dolph had forced his way out of Triple H's victory hold and stormed off backstage. I continued to sit in the middle of the ring, my elbows over my knees with my hands resting in front of my feet that were right out in front of me. A crew member slid into the ring, handing my a microphone which I swung around in my left hand.
"Go on then Trips, why don't you start with your belittling talk toward me. I mean, I'm already ruined enough right?" I spoke into the microphone with little to no emotion at all as the atmosphere filled with laughter coming straight from The Authority members.
"You see Alix dear, I would but quite frankly I'm having so much fun witnessing your hard hitting defeat. You really thought you could prove us wrong and give the roster hope again? That's laughable." Triple H's voice spoke mockingly into the microphone that he had grasped within his left hand. The Authority continued their fit of laughter until Hunter silenced them all.
"All in all, whilst your defeat is quite amusing I do have one last offer for you Alix. I want you to come home. Come back and we can pretend as if this had never happened, this little war between me and you. Come back home and we can return to being one of the most powerful families within this company." My mouth dropped open as a look of disgust spread quickly across my face. Hunter's voice boomed around the arena and the crowd began to put the 'no' chants to use.
"I've told you once and I'll tell you again. I'd rather rot in hell for the rest of my life than 'come home' to your power hungry and controlling faction that you call a 'family'. Do you even know what that word even means anymore? Clearly not. Forget it, you'd have to literally drag me through hell." I spat at I turned my gaze toward the mat then eventually looking back up again, anger consuming my entire body. My hands had become fully shaken as I continued to stare at Hunter straight in the eye, of course returning the stare himself.
"You're being ridiculous. This is a business and you roaming around like a loose cannon unfortunately is not best for business. You had everything being within the protective hold of The Authority yet you threw it all away just to join forces with the rest of the locker room. After countless attempts to persuade you to come back to us, you continued to refuse." Stephanie spoke into her microphone, her tone twisted and harsh as her voice roared through out the arena.
"You see Alix, your friend Dolph was simply the next best option for us. When we approached him with the offer he eagerly accepted which led to him turning his back on you. Power corrupts Alix. Power corrupts even the purest of people. Soon you'll be left all alone. No friends, no family, nothing." Triple H took over once again, the happiness being evident in his serious tone. It was clear that The Authority had thought they had won. It was clear that they thought this was the final chapter of my life within WWE. They were wrong.
"I may end up being left alone, hell, I might even be out of a career but the thing is Hunter, I'm fine where I stand with all of you right now. You can give all you have in trying to persuade me to come back, but the truth of the matter is, standing against you with the friends I have back in that locker room will always be the right choice for me." I threw the microphone down against the mat, it connecting with a loud thud. I watched Hunter's facial expression dim and become anger filled. Stephanie had whispered something to him in which he only replied with a simple nod.
"It never had to be this way Alix. Shield.." Triple H, Stephanie and Randy then left to head backstage without another word. My eyes grew wide as the members of The Shield began to advance toward the ring. Their sights set entirely on myself. Rollins, Ambrose and Reigns. The three guard dogs of The Authority were now at three different sides of the ring, climbing up on the apron. I clenched my fists tightly as my gaze shifted from one of them to another. Was this the end? Was this the end of my entire career? Surely not like this.
'Sierra..'
'Hotel..'
'India..'
'Echo..'
'Lima..'
'Delta..'
'Shield..'
A look of confusion washed over my face, as did it with all members of The Shield. Their music was playing, yet they were already out here? Ambrose looked to both Reigns and Rollins, mouthing some words full of frustration toward them both. Suddenly I heard the crowd erupt into cheers from one of the directions. I turned my attention to the side and saw John running down the stairs, the same way the Shield would normally enter. Sheamus, Ryback and Punk in hot pursuit on their way down to the ring with John. Without a second thought all three members of The Shield jumped down from the apron and headed back up the ramp only to be stopped by the entire male locker room who were now all pouring out onto the stage. By this point they had no where to go apart from back in the ring. Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns were now all back to back in the center of the ring with Punk, John, Ryback and Sheamus covering each side, ready to get their revenge.
I rolled underneath the bottom rope and quickly headed up onto the stage where all of the other Superstars were stood. John,Punk, Ryback and Sheamus entered inside the ring and began laying into The Shield. Throwing multiple punches, kicks and even attempting to hit their own finishers on them. However, all was short lived as The Shield scrambled out of the ring and over the barricade. Hastily heading up the stairs in retreat from the attack. The crowd began to cheer for everyone within the ring and all of the Superstars that were on stage. All four men soon hopped out of the ring and headed up the ramp, John and Punk pulling me into a friendly hug.
"Thank you." I murmured as we all headed backstage to meet with the others that hadn't appeared on the stage.
Not a word had been said since we had gotten backstage. John,Punk and I all wandered aimlessly backstage for a few moments before we were greeted by Naomi, The Bella's and AJ. A looked of sadness was evident on AJ's face. I pulled her into a friendly hug, then releasing as AJ allowed a sigh of relief to escape her lips.
"I'm sorry Alix, I had no idea.." AJ's speech was cut short as I managed to interrupt her with a lighthearted chuckle. In no way did I feel any negative emotion toward AJ. Sure, I had lost the one thing that would help restore our locker room in the face of The Authority, but in no way was that AJ's fault. Part of me actually felt rather sympathetic toward AJ however, the other part of me was hellbent on finding Ziggler. I knew something had been up with Dolph though, from the way he had acted out there with Hunter and Stephanie, something was different. It was as if he no longer wanted to be apart of Hunter's little ploy to tear me apart piece by piece.
"Don't be AJ. I understand that none of this was your fault. It's fine, trust me. The Authority on the other hand are going to end up regretting this deeply." I shot her a warmhearted smile and she returned one as well, skipping off after she did this. I was reeled out of my thoughts when something or someone had caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I turned my head slightly to the right and saw Dolph standing there, his head hanging low. He lifted his head up to create eye contact, we began staring each other down moments later. Eventually Dolph had approached me and gripped onto my wrist without any warning.
After moments of confusion, myself and Dolph finally reached an empty locker room. I tore my hand wrist from his grip and began staring at him with nothing but pure hatred. Why had he brought me here so abruptly? It certainly wasn't something that had been normal around here. Dolph paced back and forth, clearly pondering something before he came to a halt. He took a few steps toward me before stopping again, letting out a small sigh after he did this.
"Okay so let me get this straight. First you ruin my match. No, No wait, my TITLE match which by the way resulted in AJ beating me and now secondly, you've dragged me off here without any warning or explanation? Don't stand there looking sorry for yourself Ziggler, I suggest you start talking." I was in no mood to be harassed by this point. My tone was loud and filled with anger but I refused to calm down.
"Alix. Please. Honestly, I didn't want to do that, if you'd just let me explain.." That's when I had officially snapped. Dolph had been testing my patience and now that patience was finally broken. Lifting both my hands to his chest, I forcefully pressed them against it, shoving him backwards in the process.
"Explain? EXPLAIN?! When the hell are you going to get over yourself Dolph. You're a sellout, a suck up, a snake! You turned your back on myself and the rest of the locker room who had your back and now you're here, expecting me to listen to your explanations? You did have a choice Dolph, you did want to do that, you wanted to mess up my chance at proving to The Authority i'm not some weakling! You did have a choice to change that Dolph, but you didn't. When are you going to give up this charade and quit the lying?!" I spat as I shook my head, turning around and grasping onto the door handle with my left hand. I had exploded, it was as if my anger was just waiting for another sentence to come out of his mouth.
"ALIX I COULD LOOSE MY JOB! MY CAREER COULD END UP BEING NON EXISTENT!" Dolph stomped his feet against the ground, his tone loud and clear with frustration evident. I paused, lifting my hand off of the door handle. To tell the truth, shock had now consumed me, I had never expected those words to leave Dolph's mouth.
"Don't be ridiculous Dolph. You're still at it with the lying and in all honesty, it's starting to really piss me off. If you're looking for sympathy or for someone else's life to ruin then find someone else."
"Alix please. I would never lie about my career. I've been trying to explain this to you ever since I had left you alone in that ring with The Shield. Please, just listen to me even if it's just for one minute." Tears had now began to swell up in Dolph's eyes. Part of me began to feel guilty for denying him for so long, but then again he had hurt me in a way that I would've never of expected from him. I shrugged and sat myself down on top of one of the equipment cases that had been sitting around backstage among the others.
"When Stephanie and Hunter approached me, I assumed it was for nothing more than another handicapped match. However, it clearly was much more than that. They wanted me to turn against you that night so that they could have the last laugh. I tried to refuse, honestly I did but then that's when they began to talk about how i'd end up going down the same route as Cody Rhodes if I did not comply. I would never intentionally hurt you Alix. Please, understand." I rubbed my left hand across my chin as I took in Dolph's words. It took a moment for me to process everything but then I realized that it did sound like something The Authority would do. Manipulating and praying on those that were relatively close to me.
"How do I know this isn't just some kind of set up in order for me to let my guard down again Dolph." I threw open the door, no longer wanting to wait inside of the rather dingy looking locker room along with Dolph would continued to stay right beside me as we walked out into the hallway.
"Alix, trust me on this. This isn't some sell out talking to you, this is the side of the real me, the real Dolph Ziggler. Please understand." Dolph's facial expression looked completely drained, truth be told I did have a hard time believing him but I had a strong feeling that he was telling the truth. Without a second thought I rushed into Dolph, embracing him in a friendly hug.
"Do you promise me Dolph? A promise is a promise. If you were truly telling the truth then you'd promise me that you'd stay clear from The Authority." I murmured as he secured the hug then eventually released from it.
"I promise Alix." Dolph spoke without any hesitation, a cheesy grin appearing across his face. I allowed a small chuckle to escape my lips as we both nodded toward each other. Finally the truth had come out once again. The truth about how controlling The Authority could really be. However, all was not over for Dolph yet considering he still had to face his co workers within the locker room and the steps they decide to take into dealing with him. After talking for a few more moments, myself and Dolph both became startled as the sound of hands clapping together filled the atmosphere. My attention was turned in the direction of where it had been sounding from however, a look of disgust rapidly spread across my face as soon as my eyes landed on the figure.
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Hello friends!
So I went to Smackdown on Tuesday bc yay Glasgow crowd lmao.
& Now to answer one burning question.
When will Alix & The Shield have further interaction?
Well friends, In chapter 34 Alix & The Shield will have a long awaited further detailed rivalry with Punk being involved - Leading to TLC 2013. Then chapters 34-36, The year shall change & it will be nearing the split of The Shield! Which I know many of you have been waiting so long for. I will be keeping the main events that happen leading up to 2016 which means i'll be missing out minor events, which I haven't done as I wanted to get a lot of detail into these chapters so you could get to terms with Alix's backstory. So be prepared to come on this wild ride!
- Ava