The Ropes and the Sheets Chap4

Chapter 4;


One minute you're on top.
The next you're not.
Watch it drop.
Making your heart stop.
Just before you hit the floor.
One minute you're on top.
The next you're not.
Missed your shot.
Making your heart stop.
You think you won.
And then it's all gone.

Everything was primed. The night was here and Damian couldn't be more nervous. She hadn't had anyone to train for real with for the rest of the week as Melina was out with a separated shoulder and Orton was…well, he was Orton. She took a deep breath. She wasn't going to be doing much tonight. The story was that she was going to be introduced as Bastion's new girlfriend, causing a feud between she and Natalya, who was Bastion's in ring ex-girlfriend. She already knew all the moves through the entire match with Natalya.

She took a deep breath, standing backstage, dressed in a pair of tight black pants and a black and yellow half top. She slipped on her black shoes and stood up, ruffling her hair. Their show was in Cleveland tonight. Tomorrow it would be in Columbus. Then it was on to Florida to do a show for some troops in Pensacola. She bounced up and down to relieve some of the tension in her muscles and looked up as Orton walked by. The look in his eyes let her know that he was still less than pleased with her. That suited her fine. He was an asshole.

"I hear voices in my head. They council me. They understand." Booming music sounded through the arena, "Voices" by Rev Theory, cueing Orton to walk out into the front of the arena to thousands of screaming fans, with a championship belt hanging over his shoulder. Damian watched the show from the backstage monitor. She was amused. Even so angry at everything, Orton could walk out to the ring and make it look like he didn't have a care in the world, except his match, of course.   

Orton reached the ring and then turned to watch his opponent, John Cena, step out from backstage to a chorus of "The Time is Now." There seemed to be some sort of ongoing feud between Cena and Orton of which Damian didn't yet know the story, but she watched anyway. She watched as the match started between the two and Orton was thrown face-first out of the ring, into the commentator's stand. She cringed. She'd been told it was only soft foam that covered the outsides of the stands, but she couldn't imagine that it felt good to hit it full force. Orton stumbled around on his hands and knees for a moment before standing back up and giving Cena a flying clothesline. He then lifted Cena to his feet and shoved him back into the ring under the bottom rope. Damian figured this match would be very uneventful for most wrestlers watching, but it got her adrenaline pumping. She was silently rooting for Cena, though she already knew that Orton was set to win the match. She hoped that Cena would rough him up a bit. He deserved it.

After a failed FU attempt, Cena was subjected to Orton's signature move, the RKO, and lay motionless on the floor of the ring. Damian "hmphed." So much for Cena roughing him up. Orton pinned Cena to a three count and stood with his arms in the air. He reveled in his staged victory for a few minutes and then left the ring to come backstage. Damian was a bit confused as to whether she should tell him that it was a good match or just ignore him as he went by. She decided to be the bigger person in all this and smiled at him as he trumped past her.

"Good match." She'd only murmured it at him. He acted as if he may not have heard her and walked on by.

"Good match!" She tried a little louder this time and saw him pause for a moment and chuckle. He shook his head and then kept on walking. Damian stood there, dumbfounded. He really was a jerk. He didn't know how to just let something go and move on with life. Fine. If he wanted to like that, fine.  She turned away from his back and looked at Bastion as he prepared to walk out to the ring. The bridge to "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi screamed through the air and Bastion puffed out his chest and burst out into the flashing lights. Damian smiled as she watched him on the screen. He threw his arms into the air and yelled. The crowd was going so wild that the scream was drowned out. The reappearance of this man was such an awesome moment for them and Damian was elated to be a part of it. She had a never-ending grin on her face. She knew that her moment was going to come soon. She stood by the backstage door, waiting. Bastion had reached the ring and, with microphone in hand, was reveling in return. He turned in the ring, talking to the crowd, revving them up. Suddenly, "New Foundation" by Jim Johnston began to blare from the speakers, and theatrically, Bastion's face fell. Damian chuckled.

"Hey, baby." Natalya reached the ring after a very short entrance. She ran a hand down Bastion's arm. He leaned away from her.

"Awh, what's the matter, baby?" Natalya was such a good actress. Damian smirked. "Don't you remember all the good times we had?"

"Natalya I told you before that this was done. We're over." Bastion faced her, leaning out of her grip.  Natalya giggled.

"Come on, baby. We work good together. Don't you want that anymore?" Bastion shook his head at her.

"Those days are done, Nattie. I've moved on." A sudden anger crossed Natalya's face.

"Moved on? What do you mean 'moved on'? You found someone else?" Bastion smiled at her and wagged his eyebrows.

"If you only knew."  With that, a spray of fireworks shot from the floor and the introduction to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica began. A video feed sprang to life on the big screen at the front of the arena, showing Damian's face. She waited patiently at the side of the backstage door for her cue. When the music hit it's full strength, about fifty-five seconds into the song, Damian burst into the light of the spraying pyro fireworks and started her descent down the ramp toward the ring, making sure to stop and let herself be seen like she had been taught and practiced before the show.

"Making her way to the ring, from Transylvania, North Carolina, weighing 115 pounds, Hell's Angel, Damian Desdemona!" Damian listened to the ring announcer introduce her into the world of wrestling and everything fell into place for her. This is where she was meant to be, with cameras flashing in her face, crowds screaming for her, her own theme song playing in the background as she entered the ring. She loved it already.

She climbed into the ring and Bastion threw an arm around her. Natalya glared at her with rage.

"This is what you left me for? What a joke." She laughed and looked away. Bastion began to say something, but Damian reached up and ripped the microphone out of his hand.

"Joke? The only joke here tonight is the one I'm going to make of you for touching my man." Natalya snarled, baring her teeth, and threw her microphone away from herself. Damian chucked her own out of the ring and shoved Bastion back. She and Natalya flew at each other. After a few ridiculous girlie slaps at one another, the real match began. Natalya swung her arm back and delivered a devastating backhand chop to Damian's chest, knocked her to the floor. Damian moaned and swayed her body on the floor as she had been taught, making it look as if she had actually been hurt. Natalya circled the ring once, twice, three times, and then coming from Damian's left, fell on her with a chop drop. Damian screamed. Natalya attempted to pin her, but Damian kicked out just as the referee counted to two. She jumped to her feet and attacked Natalya with five separate elbow smashes. Natalya's head flew backward with every blow. She backed into the turnbuckle.  Damian backed to the opposite corner and then launched herself, full force, across the ring, to perform a stinger splash on Natalya, essentially smashing her into the turnbuckle. Natalya cried out, falling to the floor. Damian threw her to her back, and lay on top of her, attempting a pin. Natalya kicked out at two. Damian yelled theatrically and stood up. The two circled the ring, staring at each other, for a few moments. Natalya then backed up to the rope, and bounced herself off it, giving Damian a forearm smash to the chest, knocking her back into the turnbuckle. They'd practiced it more than ten times while training. She knew exactly how to fall and where to land; but it didn't stop the pain that ripped through her left shoulder as Damian hit the turnbuckle full force. It didn't stop the agony as she felt her arm rip open as she tried to fall forward and land on the mat as they'd practiced. She knew that she couldn't do anything about it just then. She knew that she was set to win the fight, and that she couldn't allow Natalya to pin her after she was flipped, blood pouring from her arm. She kicked out at two, moaning in pain, and used a few more elbow smashes on Natalya. After weakening her, she grabbed her in a front facelock and fell backward to perform a classic DDT on her. As she landed, she heard a pop in her neck that resounded through ring. She cried out in pain loudly. However, she knew that she had to finish the match. She rolled Natalya to her back and gave her a finishing pin, ending the match. The referee grabbed her hand as she stood up and thrust her arm into the air. She closed her eyes and groaned against the pain in her neck and shoulder. Natalya looked at her momentarily and then took her leave from the ring to head backstage. Damian followed soon after, her hand clamped over the slice in her shoulder. A woman with a first aid kit caught her just as she stepped backstage.

"Hand off. Let me see." She lifted her blood-covered hand from the cut and winced as the woman dabbed at it with alcohol. A side door opened from the hallway and Damian could have groaned. Just the person she didn't want to see.

"How's it feel to be wrong?" Orton looked like he could have danced, he was so happy. So, was that it? It was about being right with him? He didn't care that she was hurt? She looked at him.

"Feels fucking wonderful." He laughed maliciously and walked back into his dressing room to change. Damian glared after him and then yelped and moaned when the first aid woman ran a cotton ball over the cut on her shoulder.

"We don't like to give stitches to our wrestlers if we can avoid it; but in the end it's up to you. This should heal fine without stitches, but it's going to scar." Damian looked at her.

"I'll be fine. Just put a bandage on it." The woman nodded and then used a few butterfly bandages to pull the slice shut. It had felt so amazing to wrestle in front of a crowd like that, even if it had all been choreographed. Leaving a puddle of blood behind hadn't been exactly what she'd had in mind.