- CHAPTER THREE -
"BREAKING DOWN YOUR WALLS IS NEVER EASY, BUT WORTH IT."
Finn sat in the passenger's seat of AJ Styles's rental car as he drove to the arena for Monday Night RAW. With Luke and Karl in the back, it had been an eventful ride thus far as they had only a few minutes left.
"Who do you have tonight?" AJ asked Finn as he drove.
"Almas, again," he answered, looking through Instagram.
AJ chuckled, turning his head towards the icy blue eyes of Finn Bálor. Chewing on his lower lip, the southern accent asked, "you going to get hurricanrana'd by Vega again?"
Finn laughed, playfully pushing Styles's arm before looking at his screen as a photo of Beth Lynch popped up. It was a picture of her in the ring, standing over her sister's lifeless body as she smiled. Though he normally would scroll past wrestling posts, he stopped for hers, admiring the smile he had missed for ten long years.
Karl noticed the picture of Beth as he sat up from his seat. "She had a hell of a debut," he said, causing the rest of the car to look towards the picture. Luke agreed as AJ sent a smirk to Finn. The Georgia native still hadn't been sure on what Finn had been hiding on the Irish woman, but gave him a knowing look, anyways, causing Finn to roll his eyes.
"I've seen better," the Irish voice spoke, coldly as his demeanor changed, scrolling down once again as he ignored the pang in his heart.
Karl and Luke shared a confused look, realizing the distaste Finn seemed to have with a woman who was supposed to be a long-time friend. "What's you're problem with her?" Luke asked.
AJ continued to drive, nonchalantly, though he was interested on how Finn would respond. He raised an eyebrow as Finn said, "I never said I had a problem, I just said that 'I've seen better'."
His tone was harsh, too harsh, and the three men that know him better than anything knew well enough to see through his stern expression to know something was wrong. However, knowing not to make Finn upset before a match, the two in the back shared a look before dropping the subject, making a mental note to come back to it later.
Finn sighed as the car fell silent, rubbing his hand against his face as he tried to forget the morning at the gym a week ago with the girl. He had been so hostile towards her, though she deserved none of it. It had been years, he should be over what happened between them—yet he wasn't. She seemed so happy, so willing to just forgive and forget after what happened between them. He couldn't understand how she could get over it when all he wanted to do was cry.
"What about you?" Finn turned to ask AJ, changing the subject. "Who are you wrestling tonight?"
AJ smiled, excited for the evening as he answered, "I'm going for Rollins. They want me to turn heel soon."
"Heel AJ Styles is the best AJ Styles," Finn smacked his hand, dabbing him up.
"Yeah, they're putting us back with AJ again. We'll finally get to see the screen after what, four months? Maybe longer?" Luke spoke, looking towards his tag partner. Karl shrugged, losing track of the days since they had been on WWE television.
Finn shook his head in disgust. "Vince makes no sense anymore. The fact that Ryder and Hawkins have the titles right now and you haven't even been considered is fucking nuts," he spoke, frowning. He wasn't surprised, though, seeing how Vince hadn't even given him the time of day since he returned from an injury that Seth had given him. Instead, he gave him a consolation prize with the Intercontinental Championship since the Universal was currently switching back and forth between Brock and Seth. He was thankful for it, but he knows his worth is so much higher.
Finn was the leader of the Bullet Club, he knew how good Luke and Karl were, and it was frustrating that Vince didn't want to reunite all of them. He loved the idea of AJ leading them, but didn't want Finn to join in. Why? Because he didn't want him to turn heel. He had proven for years that a heel Finn Bálor was ultimately better than a face, yet he only looked towards the profit of fans cheering for the guy that can always be accountable for good matches. It had upset him on multiple occasions, though he was happy just to be able to wrestle in front of thousands of fans a night, anyways. That had always been his dream.
Yet, he wasn't sure how much longer he would enjoy being in this company when he knows that Beth Lynch will be around a lot more often. Because, he could tell, his friends had taken a liking to her, and that scared him. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to hold back any longer when it came to the younger girl. Finn Bálor was in love with Beth Lynch, still, after all of these years, and he wouldn't be able to stop it if he saw her smile too many more times.
Besides, the guilt would eventually eat him up after remembering everything they had been through together. He gave promises out to her and her family and he wasn't sure that he could deal with the guilt that ate at him knowing that he hadn't kept them.
- THIRTEEN YEARS PRIOR -
"You ready?" Finn asked after leaving his office in the Fight Factory Pro Wrestling building. Keys in hand, he was about to lock up for the night before dropping Beth off at her home in order to save her mother from another trip into town to grab her. Nodding, she grabbed her bags and stood, following him out as he opened the door for her.
She had begun to grow more comfortable around him as the months progressed. Though she was still very new, she had learned a lot from Finn and was continuing to improve every day, doing new stunts and creating new moves to add to her move set, while they also loved to brainstorm characters. Since Beth was still so shy around him, he hadn't forced her to do promos yet—they would get to it, eventually, though, to get her ready for whatever promotion she would go to next.
"Since when do you bring so many bags to a wrestling practice?" Finn questioned, seeing her carry two big backpacks instead of one.
Turning to face him, his face barely visible in the darkening sky, she answered, "I had work before this."
Getting to his car, a small, black, fancy sports car that Beth couldn't really understand, he opened the back and threw his and Beth's bags into it. Walking over to the passenger door, he opened it for her and allowed her to get in. Though she was young, he still had been raised on having good manners, and besides, he wanted Beth to know the difference between a good and bad guy. Knowing that she didn't have a father figure in her life, he wanted her to know her worth and never settle for a lesser man.
He had cared for her for a long time up until that point, always looking forward to seeing her in the evenings to complete another training session so he could see her break more barriers in what women's wrestlers could do. Finn was excited to see her blossom and become something the sports entertainment business was missing.
"I didn't know you had a job," he furrowed his brows, knowing that she was also still in secondary school and attending his practices as well. It was a lot to handle, and he worried that she was working herself too thin.
She began to twiddle her thumbs, a habit Finn noticed she had. Beth seemed hyperactive, and always nervous, but it seemed to calm her when it came to speaking because she did have trouble with it. Perhaps it was because Becky was so boisterous that Beth was this way—she had always fallen to the background. "Today was my first day actually. The opportunity was too good to pass up, I'm getting paid fifteen euros per hour just for waiting tables," she spoke.
Finn raised his eyebrows in surprise, nodding his head as he understood that Beth would want to raise some money for herself because her mother was the only other source of income. Besides, she was in her junior year, she would be graduating the next year and wanted to get a head start on the rest of her life.
"Are you thinking about attending University after you graduate?" Finn continued conversation, trying to remain invested in her future endeavors.
She shook her head. Beth didn't want to go back to school, she hated the idea of sitting in a classroom more than she already had to. She loved to be active. When she expressed her dream to many others around her, they would judge her and her goals, not thinking she could ever make a living off of it. But, she has seen first-hand that you can be successful in this business, Finn Bálor proved it to her.
Finn had understood Beth, because he had always been on the same wavelength when it came to academics. Wrestling was his life, and he knew it could be hers, too. He smiled at her, saying, "you're just like me."
Beth blushed, looking back down at her hands as they reached her house a few minutes later. However, both of the occupants of the car wouldn't be smiling for much longer. Seeing the house door opened and all of the lights off caused a nervous sweat to break on Beth's forehead, as Finn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He had grown used to Mary Lynch ready to open the door with welcoming arms, excited to hear what her daughter had learned that day during her lesson. She was invested in both of their lives, and was always like a second mother to Finn, alarming him greatly seeing the current condition outside of the house.
Beth and Finn shared a concerned look as the two of them both simultaneously exited the car, jogging up to the doorway. However, the small girl would halt there, seeing her mother sprawled out on the hardwood floor, unresponsive.
"Mom!" she screamed in fear, tears flowing to her eyes as her fifteen year old body raked with sadness and nerves. She felt her whole world collapsing as Finn called for help, afraid to even touch her mother's hand and affect her chances between life and death.
Finn, on the other hand, remained as calm as possible through his shaky hands as he followed what he had learned from the various wrestling promotions he had been apart of. Checking for a pulse, he let out a nervous breath as he felt one, causing him to regain a small amount of his composure as he worried about the well-being of the woman in front of him. He followed the instruction given to him on the other end of the phone as the sirens began blaring, him preparing Mary for an ambulance to arrive and take her to safety.
Meanwhile, Beth stared on, unable to comprehend the situation as she was watching her mother. In an unknown state, Mary Lynch was on the verge of leaving Beth forever, and the fifteen year-old wasn't ready.
Wiping the tears from her face, she tried to remain calm as the EMT's gathered the body on a stretcher and drove away, with Finn and Beth running to his car to follow them.
Finn could see Beth and her state of grief, and in an attempt to try to make her feel better in any way he could, he grabbed her tear-stained hand in his and lightly squeezed, hoping in his mind that, for her sake, everything would be okay.
- PRESENT DAY -
"Sisters by blood, but never by choice. Is that how it is, Beth?" Becky scoffed through the screen, a dual-screened interview taking up their spot on the card for Monday Night RAW. Beth was having the time of her life playing into her heel character inspired by The Prince, grinning with her cocky attitude as Becky's more compassionate side showed through.
The crowd had loved seeing this side of Becky—one who was normally confident and on top of the world was now becoming a broken woman due to her sister, and who knew what would result from it. Beth's character was something the woman's division was lacking because she was so maniacal with her ways.
"Don't act like you care, Becky. You put on this facade week after week, but I know the truth. You're just a broken shell of a woman, who never deserved the spotlight at 'Mania," Beth spoke, her tone serious as she stared down her orange-haired sister in the monitor in front of her. The Irish accent continued, "we were never sisters by choice. You always put wrestling above me. And now, at Money in the Bank, I'm going to take it from you."
Beth laughed evilly as her screen began to flicker, the crowd wondering what was happening before she was gone. It was just another layer of her character—an illusionist, she liked to call herself. It was as if she conjured evil spirits while she was wrestling on T.V. and used it to create a spooky character that no promotion had ever seen before; men or women.
Of course, she was compared to The Undertaker, but Beth Lynch was much different. She wasn't evil, or undead—she was smart, and cunning, and knew how to trick peoples' minds. Her finishing move was called the Optical Illusion; a springboard 450 splash. She was continually doing athletic moves that no other woman on the roster could preform, ones where people had to question the accuracy of their reality. She used a word that stuck out to her and swung for the fences, never missing as she continually played into it more and more.
"Cut!" the director yelled, signaling that the interview had been finished. Immediately, the character fell from Beth's features as she became herself once again, bubbly and smiling as she removed her microphone.
"You're really good at being the bad guy," Luke observed as him and his tag partner walked over to the Irish woman.
She smirked as she adjusted her ginger hair to hang loosely on her shoulders. "Girl," she corrected, walking towards catering to watch the rest of the show without having to prepare for a grueling match. The week prior, Beth secured her title opportunity against Becky at Money in the Bank after winning a Battle Royal, so this week was really meant to build tension with the addition of promos and video packages to fuel the straight-fire Becky was becoming.
The two boys nodded, apologizing for their 'stupidity' as the three reached catering. Beth found herself sitting at a table with the southern redneck in AJ Styles, having found a liking to the man as he had invited her to be apart of the group. However, tensions only continue to rise between Finn and Beth, leading to some awkward moments when it came to times like these.
"I thought you had a segment to film," the Irishman spoke, sitting down at the only empty seat after grabbing a water to cure his post-match thirst. His hair been messy as he smelled of soap, making Beth realize that he had already showered for the night. Something about the sight of him with the glow he held after wrestling always made her gawk in admiration.
Shaking her head of the thought, as to not get lost in his beautiful, blue eyes, Beth answered a simple and quick, "I just finished it," as she attempted to hide her disappointment. She had wanted Finn to view it, but seeing his annoying glare, he didn't care about her time on RAW. It seemed as though things really had changed since their youth, because Finn had used to scrutinize every detail of her performances and look for places to better herself.
However, Finn had watched the segment. He had seen Beth in all of her glory as she continued to play the mind games that her character was so good at—with the crowd loving every second of it. It wasn't so much that the Irishman gave off the frustrated tone because he hadn't cared—it was more because he cared too much. He was extremely happy for the beautiful girl, only envious that it wasn't him put in the important storylines even though he had been a title holder.
Besides, he only acted like he hated the girl to convince himself that he did, yet one look into those almond eye sockets holding those brown eyes caused him to realize how false that statement was.
AJ could sense the tension in the air between the two Irish natives, and began to wonder if giving them space may help their situation instead of hurt it. Shrugging, he stood from the table, informing them that "he had a match to get ready for."
"Your match isn't for another hour," Finn clocked him, confusion evident on his face.
Pausing for a slight second, AJ had to think of a quick-witted response, which he had when he said, "I have some new ring gear to try on. Karl, Luke, come tell me if these pants look cool or not."
Beth and Finn's eyes widened as the three of them walked away, furious that they would leave them to such an awkward situation. Beth hadn't meant for it to be awkward, as she had continually tried to catch up with her old mentor and lover before he would immediately shut it down. There was only so much she could do before he would break her heart once again, and therefore Beth wondered where the line needed to be drawn.
With that being said, her eyes almost popped out of her head when she heard Finn's voice speak up next to her. It wasn't much, but it was a start.
"He doesn't have new ring gear to try on," he said, matter-of-factly, before a smile grazed his lips. He wasn't sure why, he just knew that his mood lifted at the mere idea of Beth Lynch next to him once again. Beth smiled, agreeing as she nodded her head.
"I didn't think so."
...