Ministry of Darkness AU: I Will Only Ruin You My Dear

by Dilan505

Summary:

The Undertaker’s body has been taken over by a very powerful demon who calls himself “The Lord of Darkness”. Now everyone in the WWF is in danger, but one person seems to be able to bring the old Undertaker back, the only problem is “The Lord of Darkness” seems to also be very interested in that person.
The last thing Shawn Michaels needed was to be dragged back into the WWF due to the fact that a possessed Undertaker seemed to be running wild around the company and also very interested in the blonde.
Shawn, with the help of some old and new friends, needs to uncover what is happening to save the Federation and maybe save himself along the way.

Or a HBTaker AU set around the Ministry of Darkness storyline.

Some important WARNINGS:
There will be references to drug addiction and also Shawn will show symptoms of withdrawal through parts of the fic. I tagged dubcon beause although Shawn and Undertaker like each other Shawn doesn't like posessed Undertaker. Lastly both Vince and Paul Bearer are manipulative bastards through this fic.

Notes:

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3AHTBISA8xfY3YWVaaEraC?si=58XChrGdTeGuauW8Vnio-g
English is not my first language and I'm dyslexic af, so feel free to correct anything.
Comments are always welcome.

Chapter 1: Prologue: An Unexpected Meeting

The Undertaker awoke with a start. He was in the morgue, laying down in one of the stone slabs in the room, the flickering candles the only source of light. There was something strange going on, he could feel it. Some sort of powerful energy radiating all around him, powerful and very, very dark. His first instinct was to run, get as far away from the basement as possible.

He tried to remember what had happened before he awoke, but couldn’t, his mind was blank. Not something he wasn’t used to, but usually it happened after he died or took too much damage. Also he often could remember his deaths, or particularly brutal matches, and nothing of the sort seemed to have happened. So why would Bearer need to bring him back to the morgue?

He sat up on the stone slab, looking around the room in search of The Urn, but it didn’t seem to be anywhere near him, why? His head was starting to pound now, and the feeling of danger he had been sensing was getting stronger. Maybe he should leave. His clothes were neatly folded on the foot of the slab, he dressed himself and opened the heavy metal door of the morgue.

There seemed to be no sign of Bearer around. He climbed the stairs of the basement, opening another set of heavy metal doors to exit into his family’s funeral home. He took a deep breath, the smell of wood and flowers, with a hint of chemicals permeating the air. The smell of home. 

Once again The Urn was nowhere to be found. The Undertaker exited the funeral home, and started to make his way across the cemetery, when suddenly he heard voices coming from the woods. He called upon the shadows and hid behind one of the tombstones. Two figures approached the funeral home.

One was tall, his body seemed to be well built with muscle, but most of his body was covered by a cloak. The other figure was short and plump, Undertaker immediately recognized him as Paul, but for some strange reason he still felt the need to stay hidden. Bearer was carrying The Urn and the taller figure carried a large leather bound book. “I promise you higher power, the spell won’t take long to take effect” Paul Bearer’s loud and high voice travelled through the air, the other figure answered, but his voice was too low for the Undertaker to hear.

Strange, he had never heard of a “higher power”, what could Bearer possibly be talking about? A cold breeze passed through him, making him shiver. The need to run away presented itself once again. The two figures entered the funeral home, after some time he heard shouting coming from inside it, the other man whose voice had been too soft to hear was now roaring like a lion. “Where the hell is he Bearer?” a beat, “You promised he wouldn’t wake up before the spell was completed.” Once again he couldn’t hear Paul’s reply, “For your sake you better be right, send the Acolytes and the Druids after him.”

Fuck, he needed to get out now. He left his hiding spot and slowly made his way across the cemetery being careful to keep the shadows around him, they wouldn’t make him invisible, but would allow him to hide more easily. As he trekked around the woods he could hear the sound of multiple people around him, which was strange, there was usually no one else helping Paul besides him, but right now he didn’t have the time to ponder it, he had to teleport somewhere else, He was slowly losing his power, could feel his energy draining.

There was also another problem, where would he go? His only safe place was the funeral home, and going back wasn’t an option, his instinct screaming at him that something really bad would happen if he went back. He had nowhere to go. Maybe Kane could help him, but that was highly unlikely, he still thought Undertaker had been responsible for the fire. He still could remember the look of complete anger when his brother tore the door of the cage open and attacked him, that coward Shawn Michaels laying in a pool of his own blood by his side.

Taker was so lost in thought he didn’t realise the people getting closer to him. “There he is!” a deep voice called, startling Undertaker out of his memories, he didn’t have a choice he needed to teleport now! Calling to the last shreds of power he still possessed he left the cemetery he called home.

Shawn was staring at one of his bottles of pills in the kitchen, contemplating if he should take them, a slight tremor in his hands. He had promised Kevin he would try to get clean now that he wasn’t wrestling anymore, but quitting was proving to be harder than he had anticipated. He longed for the numbness he felt when he was high, at least then his head would shut up.

He continued to stare at the bottle, as if staring at it harder would make the choice easier. While he tried to work out whether to take the pills or not he heard a loud crash coming from his living room. Without thinking he grabbed a knife and entered the room. 

There was a large man, clad in black on his floor, “Who are you? And how did you get in?”, the man didn’t move. “I’m armed!” Shawn tried to sound intimidating, but his voice came out with a crack.

“What will you do with a butter knife, boy toy?” Shawn recognized that voice. “Taker? What are you doing here?” Shawn asked, as he got closer to the man who was still lying on his floor. “To be fair I was aiming for my brother.” Taker tried to stand, but fell down again. Shawn held onto him, stopping him from hitting the floor with full force again.

It took them a couple of tries to get him off the floor and into the couch. Shawn went into the kitchen and got them both a glass of water. “Here. You look more dead than normal.” The Undertaker laughed, but took the glass and drained the cold water in seconds. “Thanks, I really needed it.” Shawn sat on the coffee table, right in front of the dead man. “I’m glad to be of service.” They stared at each other for a tense moment. “So are you going to tell me why you’re in my house?”

“It’s complicated…” The Undertaker replied, Shawn continued to stare at him, as if he was waiting for him to continue his explanation. “As I said I wasn’t planning on coming here, but rather to go to my brother.” “I see… Well Kane is probably at some hotel, I can try and phone one of the guys to see where they are.” Undertaker stopped him before he could continue. “No need, I can try to teleport again. I just need to be more clear about it this time.” He went to try and get up, but suddenly felt dizzy and fell down onto the couch. “Yeah big guy, I don’t think you’re going anywhere in this state.”

Shawn got up from his spot and helped Undertaker up, guiding him to the kitchen. Taker noticed that the kitchen looked a mess, there were take out wrappers and plates scattered everywhere, there were also multiple bottles of booze and pills scattered all over the counters. Shawn started to try and tidy up the mess as he spoke. “Sorry, I wasn't really expecting visits, especially at this hour.” He opened one of the cupboards. “My mama always told me food helps. I’m not a great cook, but I have some mac n cheese.” 

Shawn scrambled about the kitchen, he looked completely out of his depth, which Undertaker had to admit was a little amusing, seeing the ever confident Shawn Michaels struggle with something so trivial as cooking. 

And then something dark in the back of his mind whispered “But that is not Shawn Michaels, you destroyed him when you broke his back” Undertaker shook his head, that wasn’t his inner voice. But the voice prompted him to look at Shawn for the first time since crashing into the blonde's home, really look at him. 

Shawn was thinner than he had been, his cheeks were sunken and there were bags under his eyes, he had also lost a lot of his muscles. He was shirtless and now that Shawn had his back turned to him he could see the small scar that was slowly healing on his back, he also had a slight limp that was almost unnoticeable if you weren’t paying attention. The voice was right, the man who was standing there wasn’t the Shawn Michaels, The Heartbreak Kid, The Showstopper. It was just Shawn.

The Undertaker managed to get up and made his way towards Shawn, he held onto the blonde’s arm, stopping his stirring motion. There was a slight tremor to his hands. “Shawn, you don’t need to cook for me.” Shawn made eye contact with him. “You need to replenish your energies, trust me you’re not the first of my friends to come to my house in need of a pick me up. Call it southern hospitality” 

Taker was taken aback by the word “friend”, it’s not that he didn’t want to be Shawn’s friend, it’s just they never really interacted much. Especially after the screwjob, he had been cordial, and had agreed to work with the blonde. Which was more than most of the locker room had done. But how could Shawn say they were friends after what Taker had done, he had broken his back, had taken the one thing he loved from him.

He sat down again, too shocked to continue his opposition. They remained in silence after that. Once Shawn finished cooking he took two clean plates and served them both, making sure to give The Undertaker an extra large serving. Shawn’s own plate was rather small, he hadn’t been eating much since he started to try and get clean, most things being too heavy for his over sensitive stomach to take.

They ate in somewhat comfortable silence, Shawn honestly missed having company, he had gotten so used to constantly having people around that the silence of his new life was jarring. And dangerous, but he didn’t need to think about that right now. “You should eat more.” Undertaker’s deep voice shook him from his musings. “Probably, but y’know I’ve been trying to cut back on the drugs, and let's just say my stomach isn’t very happy about it.” Shawn meekly replied, he felt the need to tell Taker he was trying to get better. 

He still remembered when the deadman would judge him for using drugs in the locker room, saying that it made his soul rotten. He wondered if his soul was better now that he was trying to stop. Probably not, he was too far gone for any sort of saving. He was already rotten to his core. 

Shawn jumped when he felt a large hand encompass his, he looked up at Taker who was staring at him with concern. “Why are you crying Shawn?” Shawn raised his other hand to his face, feeling the wet trail on his cheek. “Sorry. Guess it’s another symptom of withdrawal, I’ve been more emotional lately, nothing to worry about.” He smiled, but even he could tell it probably didn’t look very convincing. “Are you done?” Shawn asked, pointing to Taker’s empty plate. “Yeah.” He took his half eaten plate and Taker’s clean one to the sink, he could clean it later.

“So I have a guest bedroom, I think it’s better you sleep here to recover your energies before doing your spooky shit.” Undertaker laughed at his choice of words. “I don’t want to intrude.” Shawn gave him a dismissive motion. “Nah, you can stay for as long as you need. As I said, we're friends.” Once again that word. “Why?” Undertaker asked. Shawn looked at him, confused. “Why are you treating me like someone worthy of your friendship? I hurt you. I’m the reason you’re retired.”

Shawn put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I don’t blame you, Takes. My body was begging me to take a break and I refused. Besides getting hurt it’s part of the job. We all know what we signed up for.” Shawn smiled at him, a genuine smile this time. “Besides, everyone needs a friend when they are in trouble, and you look like you are in trouble right now.” Undertaker laughed, maybe he should thank the spirits for sending him here accidentally, instead of sending him to his brother. He felt lighter now thanks to Shawn.

“Let’s go, I’m dying to go to sleep.” Shawn said as he guided Undertaker upstairs. Shawn opened the door to a room with a king sized bed and a wall of wardrobes. The room looked cozy, the furniture was all made of some sort of dark wood. The blanket on the bed seemed very comfortable, the curtains on the window had a checkered pattern of red and black. Mounted on the wall there was a painting of a horse running through a field, one of the bed side tables had a small lamp and the other had a picture of Shawn with two other men that looked a lot like him, probably his brothers.

“Here you go.” Shawn said, throwing a t-shirt and sweats on the bed. “What are those?” Undertaker asked, raising one of his eyebrows. “Clothes. You’re not sleeping in your wrestling gear.” Taker finally looked at his clothes and Shawn was right, he was in his wrestling gear, which was odd. Why wouldn’t Bearer put his normal clothes next to him? He shook his head, he could think about it later. 

“I hate to disappoint boy toy, but I don’t think your clothes are going to fit me.” Shawn laughed as he replied. “They are not mine. They are Kevin’s.” Undertaker felt a little jealous at the reveal, knowing that Shawn’s old friend had his own set of clothes at the blonde's house. But then he realized how silly he sounded, of course Kevin and Shawn were still friends, and besides he had no right to be jealous. But that wasn’t enough to completely drive away the feeling.

“Well I’ll leave you to get changed. The bathroom is just outside right in front of the room. If you need me, my room is on the end of the hallway.” Shawn started to make his way out of the room, but the Undertaker stopped him. “Thank you.” Once again Shawn smiled. “No need to thank me big guy. We are friends after all.” He watched as Shawn made his way out of the room, a smile on his own face as the blonde left.

He let out a deep breath and changed into the more comfortable clothes that Shawn had lended him. The strange events of the day were starting to leave his mind as exhaustion took place. After a quick trip to the bathroom he laid down on the bed. His head filled with thoughts of Shawn Michaels before sleep claimed him.

Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Dreams and Nightmares

Summary:

The Undertaker's night at Shawn's house
Chapter Content Warnings: There are mentions of the house fire that killed Undertaker's and Kane's parents. There is also a scene of choking (not the fun type)

Notes:

English is not my first language and I'm dyslexic af, so feel free to correct anything.
Comments are always welcome.

For the first time in years Undertaker did not fall into a dreamless sleep. It took him some seconds to notice that he wasn’t awake, but rather dreaming. In his dream he was in a house that looked suspiciously similar to Shawn’s, with slight deviations, the most noticeable being The Urn, it was placed on top of a mantle in the living room of Shawn’s house.

The Undertaker was sitting on the couch, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, clothes that were unusual for him to wear. He also could hear noises coming from the kitchen, but he wasn’t worried, he knew exactly who it was after all. It seemed surprising how natural it was for his dream self that Shawn would be in the kitchen cooking for them.

He got up from his spot on the couch and made his way to the kitchen. Once again, the place looked very similar to the one he had seen, but this time instead of the mess of dirty plates, take out wrappers and empty bottles, it was tidy. The only “mess” was around the stove, where Shawn was cooking pasta and slowly shaking his hips to a tune only he could hear. Undertaker made his way to the blonde and wrapped his arms around the smaller man’s hips, it felt natural. Like this was how the two of them were supposed to be all the time. 

He leaned his head forward, placing it on Shawn’s shoulder. The blonde laughed, that full hearty laugh he gave when he was truly happy, and turned his face placing a kiss on the Undertaker’s cheek. “Someone is hungry.” Undertaker felt his heart fill with joy, this felt right. He stayed like that while Shawn stirred the sauce for the pasta and hummed a song that sounded very much like his entrance music. He took a spoon from the cabinet by the stove and put a little of the sauce in it, tasting it carefully so as to not burn his tongue. “Um, it tastes great. Here, try a little.” Undertaker leaned in and took the spoon in his mouth. 

The dream suddenly changed, and now they were sitting on the couch together. Cuddling to be exact. And once again, being in that position with Shawn just felt right. The blonde was asleep between his thighs, his body leaning against Taker’s torso. Undertaker was threading his fingers through Shawn’s silky hair. 

He had always been fascinated by it, how soft it felt every time he touched during their matches, how it always seemed to fall just right across Shawn’s shoulders and onto his back. He had always preferred when Shawn would leave it untied, something he sometimes felt was strange. Should he have a preference about one of his colleagues' hair? Even though he thought it was strange he had never told Bearer about it, something about it had him wanting to keep that detail to himself, a secret only he was privy to.

That was actually common when it came to Shawn, there were many things he liked about Shawn that he wouldn’t tell anyone about. He would constantly find himself laughing at the blonde’s jokes and antics. Sometimes he would get lost watching him move in the ring, be it when he was fighting or dancing, there was something that always enticed the Undertaker about the way Shawn moved, there was something that just screamed “look at me” in the best way possible. And he wasn’t the only person who fell for it, the fans loved Shawn, whether he was a face or heel, and in the back, although most guys would fill their chests to talk shit about Michaels, the Undertaker knew that there was a large share of them who were attracted to the blonde. Some even got a chance with him, guys like Nash and Hart, though none of those relationships ended well.

There was also another thing that constantly attracted Undertaker to Shawn, something more personal. Shawn was the only one on the roster who never treated him like a monster, even more than that, who treated him like he was human. Most guys were scared of him, especially after Vince had to reveal that the supernatural things happening around him weren’t false, they were actually very real. He truly couldn’t die, his body was in a strange place between life and death, his urn had actual power, he could take souls and talk to spirits. 

Let’s just say after that was revealed he wasn’t the most popular guy in the company. There were obviously the guys that respected him as a wrestler, guys like Bret, Hall and Nash. Guys that saw him as worthy of respect because he could fight. But Shawn was different, he wasn’t scared of him, he was respectful when needed and had always acknowledged him as a good wrestler. But more than that, he wasn’t beyond goofing around, he would make jokes, prank him, ask him out for drinks, he would even get on his face when he was in one of those moods. And for Undertaker that meant more than anything. When Shawn was around he felt human.

And what a way to repay him for all these years, huh? Ripping away his own happiness. Worse than taking his soul, you broke it, all because he was doing his job and you couldn’t control your anger. We both know that you over shot him over that rope on purpose.

“That’s not true!” The Undertaker was up in seconds, he recognized this voice. He heard it earlier today, and a part of him knew it from even longer. The dream had changed once again. Now he was in a dark corridor and at the end of it there was a door. He started to make his way through the corridor, something compelling him to reach the door. At the same time a feeling of unease was gripping his heart, the feeling was very similar to what he felt in the funeral home. 

Suddenly an image flashed in front of his eyes. His home engulfed in flames, his parents screaming at him to run, a shadow coming for him, Paul consoling him as they watched the building collapse. He felt the same thing that day as he made his way to his house.

Once the image subsided, the door he had seen was now burning. Something inside him told him he had to get there, save whoever was beyond that door. Once he reached the flaming door, he managed to open it without issue. Inside there was a room, very similar to the guest bedroom he had been staying in, only this room was larger. Laying on the bed, asleep, was Shawn. And around the bed there was fire.

The Undertaker’s heart was now beating out of his throat, he had to save him! But before he could move he saw him, or rather it. At the foot of the bed there was a large shadow, the same one that had chased him all those years ago. It looked monstrous, but as he stared at it, the thing started to change, morphing into him . The Undertaker was now staring at a twisted mirror of himself. They looked exactly alike, but there was something wrong, something sinister in this version of himself. Maybe it was the eyes, they looked evil, in an ancient type of way.

Well, it took you long enough . The voice was deep and guttural, it sounded wrong coming from his mouth. “Who are you?” The Undertaker asked. I have many names, but you can call me Lord of Darkness. The figure moved through the fire and slowly approached Shawn’s side, Undertaker tried to get closer, to stop that thing from touching Shawn, but the fire was too hot. Pretty little thing don’t you think? The Lord of Darkness placed his hand against Shawn’s cheeks, turning the blonde’s head to him. “Don’t you touch him!” Once again he tried to pass through the ring of fire surrounding Shawn’s bed, but it wouldn’t budge. He felt like a powerless teenager once again, too scared and weak to save the people he cared about.

The thing laughed, turning its attention from Shawn to the Undertaker. Jealous, are we? Well you can’t really blame me, it was you that brought me here after all. “What?” Suddenly the Lord of Darkness was right in front of him. If you had been a good boy and just stayed in the cemetery, then the spell would have been completed there, and your little pretty boy wouldn’t be in danger. The Undertaker looked down, the thing had a point, he knew there was something wrong, it was selfish of him to stay knowing there was something happening. But he felt so drawn into Shawn’s warmth, into the idea of having someone care for him, that he inadvertently put Shawn in danger.

Of course, we can make a deal. Once you wake up, you leave here and return to the cemetery and allow the spell to finish and I won’t touch the pretty boy over here. Once again the thing was leaning over Shawn, his hand resting over Shawn’s heart. “What spell is it?” He had to at least have an idea of what was happening. Does it matter? The Undertaker stared at the Lord of Darkness, he felt like he was being selfish again, “What guarantee I have that you will leave him alone?” This was probably a better question, it didn’t matter what the spell was, really, but he had to make sure Shawn would be safe. Well you will have to trust my word on this, but it’s either this deal or… Before the thing finished speaking, his hands wrapped around Shawn’s neck. He started to struggle madly, but wouldn’t wake up. Undertaker felt tears in his eyes as screamed at the thing to stop. “Stop it please! I’ll make the deal! Just don’t hurt him.”

The being smiled at him, a wide evil grin that looked completely out of place in his own features. See, it wasn’t that hard. The ring of fire finally vanished and Undertaker ran to Shawn’s side, the blonde was still asleep, as if nothing had happened. But there was a purple mark on his neck where the thing’s hand had squeezed. I’ll see you later. Before the Undertaker could reply, the thing vanished and sleep started to slip away from him.

Once again, the Undertaker awoke with a start, only this time instead of a hard stone slab, he was lying in a comfortable bed. His body was covered in cold sweat, his long limbs sprawled across the bed and the comfy blankets strewn across the floor. A part of him wondered if all that had been a simple nightmare caused by the unusual events of last night, but he wasn’t naive. There were things in this world that were beyond comprehension, he was one of them, and some of them were evil. He also knew that Paul had a tendency of messing with things he shouldn’t, most times the Undertaker was able to deal with those things without much issue, but this time he could feel Paul was in over his head. This time the Undertaker wasn’t sure he would be able to escape.

He got out of the bed, the sun was just now beginning to rise. He put on his clothes and tidied the room as best as he could. Then slowly he made his way to Shawn’s room, he had to make sure he was alright. Shawn was lying on his bed, he was hugging one of his pillows and his blanket was pulled all the way to his head, you could just barely make out his face in the middle of a mess of blonde hair and blankets. Cute was the first thought that came to the Undertaker’s mind, he shook his head, now was not the time. 

He slowly creeped closer to Shawn, he was breathing normally, which was good. But he had one last thing to check. Slowly he lowered Shawn’s blanket, the blonde whined a little, but didn’t wake up, the Undertaker was able to expose his neck and there he saw it, right on both sides of his neck there were finger marks, even through the dream that thing had been able to cause real damage, which told Undertaker all that he needed to know.

He covered Shawn once again and left his room. In the living room he found a pen and paper and left Shawn a note thanking him for the help. He had thought about leaving without a trace, but he would feel like an asshole if he did that. 

With the little note placed on the dining table the Undertaker took a deep breath and thought deeply about the cemetery. He wasn’t as drained as he had been last night, the food and sleep probably helping him replenish his energy. With one last look around he called onto the shadows and teleported back to the cemetery.

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Mark of The Beast

Notes:

Sorry for how long it took for me to update it.

Shawn woke up with the sun shining on his face, he had apparently forgotten to close the blinds last night. Not that it was surprising, last night had been quite eventful, especially compared to all his other nights after he retired. He slowly stretched himself, careful to not hurt his back and reached for the glass of water on his bedside table. His throat was strangely sore, as if he had taken a particularly brutal chokeslam. He downed the glass of water, his shaky hand making a little of it spill on his chest.

Once he placed the glass back on the table, he got up very slowly. It hadn’t been a month since his surgery, meaning every movement he made had to be carefully thought out. At least he no longer needed crutches to move around his house. He checked his guest bedroom to see if Undertaker was still there, but the deadman had left, the only trace of him ever being in the room were the neatly folded clothes carefully placed on the bedding. 

Shawn continued his slow walk downstairs, careful not to slip on any of the steps. Once he reached the floor he could see a piece of paper on his dining table, he made his way to the note.

Dear Shawn,

I’m sorry to leave without giving you my proper goodbyes, but I really need to go back home and reach the bottom of whatever problem I got myself into. You were right I needed a friend, thanks to you my energies are restored. No need to worry your pretty head about me, I’ll be alright.

Love, The Undertaker

Shawn stared at the note as if looking at it harder would make it make sense. It’s not that he expected Undertaker to stay in his house, he honestly didn’t think Taker would even be there in the morning, but he thought the deadman would have left without a word or at least a very impersonal note. 

This was not impersonal. Love . Shawn couldn’t stop staring at that particular word, a warm feeling flooding his chest every time he saw it. To be fair a part of him was almost giggling like a schoolgirl, but he was managing to keep it in check. 

But there was also something bothering him about the note. Undertaker had always been very careful with his words, it was impossible to have any sort of small talk with the man. Not only that, but Taker had always kept things very close to his chest, meaning that he wrote the note in a hurry. 

That wasn’t the only thing bothering Shawn, he had been too tired to think about it last night, but the Undertaker had looked genuinely scared. It probably wouldn’t have looked obvious to anyone else, but Shawn was really good at reading people, it was what made him such a great wrestler. And although Undertaker was a tough nut to crack, he had been working with the deadman for so long he had learned how to read even the slightest change in the Phenom’s eyes.

Shawn was a little worried, what could possibly scare the Undertaker so much that he would allow his emotions to come out? And what was powerful enough to drain the deadman of his powers? Shawn never understood any of this spooky stuff that the Undertaker had going on, but he knew one thing. The Undertaker was powerful, just by being in his presence you could feel it. Whatever problem the deadman was in must be pretty bad. 

 

The last two weeks had been hard for Shawn. Ever since the Undertaker had visited him he couldn’t get the deadman out of his head. It also didn’t help that when he watched the man on TV he could sense there was something clearly wrong with him. His eyes carried a darkness that was hard to describe. And then there was the way he was acting around the rest of the roster, he knew when they were acting and something about the way the other wrestlers were reacting seemed like they were genuinely scared.

Shawn always had a talent for reading people, he could tell a lot about someone just by their eyes. You know how they say ‘the eyes are the window for the soul’, Shawn had always understood that saying. It was Bret’s eyes that made Shawn fall in love with the man, and it was also the way those eyes changed that made Shawn realise their relationship was over.

The Undertaker’s eyes always intrigued Shawn. When the deadman first got into the WWF, his eyes were completely blank and devoid of emotion, he was more like Paul Bearer’s puppet than a real person. But then the betrayal happened and Undertaker’s eyes started to slowly show more emotion. 

Shawn had been fascinated by the Phenom's eyes during their Hell in a Cell match, they were overflowing with emotion and when Kane showed up Shawn finally managed to put every little piece of the puzzle that was the Undertaker into place. After that match he felt like he knew the Undertaker just as deeply as he knew any of the Kliq. The Phenom was no longer a mystery, he was rather an open book.

It wasn’t only in his waking thoughts that the deadman appeared. Ever since his unexpected visit the Undertaker seemed to plague every single one of Shawn's dreams. For the past two weeks, everytime Shawn would fall asleep, the Phenom was there. Some of the dreams were pleasant, dreams where the two of them would be together doing domestic things, cooking together, cuddling while watching TV and even working around Shawn’s ranch. There were also wet dreams that Shawn was a little ashamed of. But none of the good ever seemed to stick for long.

Pleasant dreams turned to nightmares in seconds. Scenes of morgues and cemeteries, flaming labyrinths, an old house on fire and the casket that had broken Shawn’s back. And the Undertaker was always there, but it wasn’t the Undertaker Shawn knew, but rather this new version of the deadman he saw on TV. Shawn was unable to escape these nightmares.

And he had tried. All the progress he had done with his addiction was thrown out the window as he attempted to find a way of drowning those dreams. From somas, to pain pills, to sleeping pills and alcohol, he tried everything that he often used to drown his own thoughts, but everytime sleep found him, so would the nightmares.

Shawn felt uneasy, he couldn’t relax, and sleep was no longer restful. His back was honestly suffering because of that. He was exhausted and in pain. When he realised the drugs wouldn’t help he once again stopped them, at least the withdrawals would sometimes give him insomnia, allowing him a respite from the nightmares.

Tonight was not one of those lucky nights. Shawn found himself in a now familiar scene, a flaming labyrinth. As always something compelled him to move through it, he knew there was something important at the end of this place, but he was never able to reach it. There was also the fact that he was always being followed, a shadow seemed to never be more than a couple steps behind him, and his instincts told him that he couldn’t let that thing get close, couldn’t let it touch him.

So Shawn walked, as he had done many nights before, his pace steady, but fast, as if it was of utmost importance he reached the end of the maze as soon as possible. But he was also careful, the flames beside him a constant threat, and although the main concern for him was the shadow behind him, he also wasn’t so sure whatever would greet him at the end would be safe either.

Shawn was starting to find it strange how long it was taking for anything to change in the dream. He often didn’t make it this far in the labyrinth before something switched and he was thrust into another dream, but today that wasn’t happening. It felt like he had been walking for hours, his heart rate was extremely fast due to how anxious he felt. He would probably wake up without being able to breathe properly, it was quite common for this to happen these last few days.

After what felt like hours he finally exited the maze for the first time in two weeks. Shawn was standing at some sort of clearing, he could see fire surrounding him, it was the only source of light in this place. There were multiple graves all around the clearing, but right in the middle stood a casket. Shawn recognized it instantly. It wasn’t a normal casket, but the modified ones used for casket matches. It was the one that broke Shawn’s back. And it was burning.

Normally Shawn would feel good seeing the thing responsible for one of the worst moments of his life being destroyed, but he had the feeling that there was someone inside it. Without thinking twice he ran to the flaming object, once he reached the casket he went to open it, without caring if he would get burned. The fire seemed to make way for him, allowing him to open the thing without risk of getting hurt.

Inside the casket was a sleeping Undertaker, not the new and strange Undertaker that was appearing on TV and his dreams, but the old Taker. Shawn went to touch him to see if he would wake up, but jumped back when Taker sat up, much like he often did in the ring. He looked confused, looking from side to side as if he had no idea how he got there. And then he saw Shawn and his eyes softened, but soon enough confusion came back to his face. “What are you doing here?” Taker asked, his voice rough with disuse.

“I should be the one asking you that. You’re the one who’s invading my dream.” Shawn answered. Once again the Undertaker looked confused, he started to stand up and Shawn helped him get out of the casket. “Do you usually know when you’re dreaming?” Shawn looked up at Taker, and then answered. “Not usually, but I’ve been able to tell the difference for the last two weeks. Why?”

The Undertaker’s attention seemed to have been somewhere else, he was looking at the opening of the maze. Shawn followed the deadman’s gaze and saw the shadow that often seemed to follow him during his nightmares. “Get behind me Shawn.” Taker sounded scared and Shawn wasn’t about to ignore that, so he made his way behind the big man. 

The shadow thing was moving closer and the closer it got the more it seemed to look like a man, until finally it completely morphed into the Undertaker, the evil version Shawn had been seeing this last two weeks, with the dark eyes and sinister smile. “You said you would leave him alone.” The thing laughed, he definitely did not sound like Taker. Well I was going to, but I just couldn’t help myself. The voice was guttural and low, it sounded wrong and Shawn felt the strange urge to pray. “Taker what’s happening? What’s that thing?”

Ouch, you would have hurt me if I had feelings. I do have a name you know. The thing was now looking straight at him, and Shawn felt it could see his soul. He felt the urge to hide behind the Undertaker, but stood his ground, he wasn’t about to give the thing the satisfaction of seeing him scared. “Well too bad asshole.” Shawn had a smart mouth that often got him in trouble and he had never truly learned to keep it shut. Maybe antagonizing a strange spooky being wasn’t his smartest choice, but there was just something about that thing that got him angry.

Once again the thing laughed and Taker put himself right in front of Shawn. You’re feisty. I like that. You have way more spine than your friend over there. The thing pointed to the Undertaker as he said it. Then suddenly he was right in front of them, Taker didn’t have the time to react before being shoved out of the way without even being touched by the thing. He was now on the floor a couple of feet away and was being held by what Shawn could only describe as tendrils of shadow. 

Shawn tried to take a step back, but soon found out he couldn’t move. The Lord of Darkness at your service . The thing gave an exaggerated bow and then extended his hand as if he wanted to shake hands. Shawn was still paralyzed in place, only able to move his eye. “Get away from him!” Taker was thrashing like a wild animal, but he couldn’t seem to get free. “You said you wouldn’t touch him! You promised!” The thing was now looking at the Undertaker with a sinister smile. I’m a demon! I lied.

Before Shawn could react the demon touched his chest and a searing pain coursed through his body. Shawn thought that the worst pain he would ever feel was what he felt the morning he woke up without being able to feel his legs. But this was worse. It felt like he was burning from the inside out, like his flesh was peeling off his body, like he was going to die. He couldn’t even see.

It took some time for the pain to subside enough to the point where he could process what was happening. He was back in his room, laying on his bed. But something told him that what happened hadn’t been just a dream. His body was still burning and he still felt a sharp pain on his chest, when he looked down at his torso he could see an angry red mark right on the spot where the thing had touched him.

Shawn made his way to the bathroom as fast as possible, his legs were wobbly due to the pain and he fell to the floor twice before making it to the mirror by his sink. He was sweating bullets and looked pale, as if he had just seen a ghost. And right on his left chest was something that looked like a mixture between a burn and a carved scar, still fresh, there was also a very faint purple glow that was slowly going away. 

As Shawn leaned closer to the mirror he was finally able to make out what the mark was: It was some sort of T with an X and then it dawned on him, it was Takers symbol .

“Fuck.” Was all Shawn could say at that moment.  

Chapter 4: Chapter 3: The Return to the WWF

Summary:

Shawn decides maybe it's time to return to the WWF and see if he can find out what's going on.
Chapter Content Warnings: Vince McMahon appears a lot in this chapter and he's a manipulative piece of shit. He also shames Shawn's sobriety so if you're sensitive to that don't read.

Notes:

I'm so sorry for how long it took for me to update this fic, I had major writers block.
English is not my first language and I'm dyslexic af, so feel free to correct anything.
Comments are always welcome.

Shawn was scared. What the hell was that? He had been pacing up and down his room for the better part of two hours. It was impossible that someone in his dream could have not only touched him, but left an actual mark. He had tried to take a cold shower thinking maybe he was still in a nightmare, tried scrubbing the mark off, but only managed to make the skin around it red and irritated. Now that time had passed the mark looked like a scar, raised at the edges and a raw angry colour. 

He needed to talk to Taker, but wasn’t certain if he should, scared to only encounter the twisted version of the deadman. He also felt like he needed to talk to Vince, warn him that something really bad was going on, even if he himself didn’t understand what was happening, but still he felt like someone had to warn the guys who were sharing the ring with Taker that the once ever reliable, but a little strange, wrestler was now a twisted and evil version of himself. 

With that in mind he made the call. He was brief on the phone telling Vince he was feeling better and would like to go back to his commissioner role, Shawn felt like it would be better to explain things in person, Vince didn’t really question him, probably thinking about the money he could get out of this. The call went on for a while as the both of them worked out the details of Shawn’s return. 

Once the conversation ended Shawn went about tidying his bags for travel and cleaning the house. He would be taking an early morning flight tomorrow and he hated to leave the house messy before going away for an extended amount of time. As he went about getting everything ready he couldn’t help but feel nervous, not only for what was going on with Taker, but also for how people would react to his return.

Before taking his leave to have his surgery his relationship with pretty much everyone on the roster was frayed, not that he was a popular guy before his retirement, but once he became commissioner he managed to screw up his relationship with both Hunter and Jonie who were the only two people who managed to put up with his bullshit, he had also been a complete asshole towards Kid. He knew they hadn’t forgiven him yet, but he felt like he would need them if he was to solve this whole thing with Undertaker.

Sleep evaded him through the night, too scared to have a similar nightmare as the one from last night. Soon enough his alarm went off signaling it was time to get up and get to the airport, maybe he could try to catch up on sleep during the flight. With that in mind he set about getting ready to leave the house.

Shawn arrived right after lunch time at the arena that the WWF was using for today’s tapings. He was able to sleep a little bit during the flight, but it wasn’t quite enough for the weeks of sleepless and restless nights. Shawn was now aimlessly walking around the arena, people were moving around frantically, from backstage crew to wrestlers everyone looked busy and none of them paid any attention to him. 

The sound of the production crew shouting and moving around, wrestlers working out the details of matches, the strong smell of artificial tan and body oil… Shawn had missed it all so much. He was moving around taking it all in while looking for Vince’s office until he heard a deep texan drawl.

“Hey Michaels, thought it would take you longer to return!” Shawn jumped slightly, he had been a little on edge this past few weeks and Steve could be really loud. “Hey Austin, ya know I can’t stay away for long.” Austin laughed as he gave Shawn a warm hug, which shocked the blonde. 

Shawn and Steve hadn’t been close during the time Shawn wrestled, but while he was commissioner they were forced to work together more, and without the competitiveness of both vying for the top spot in the company their relationship had become way more amicable. “You’re looking good, man… Way better than I did after my surgery.” Steve said as he placed his hand on Shawn’s shoulder. “Nah, we both know that’s a lie, you were back almost immediately.” Once again Steve laughed. “True, but my doctor wanted to kill me after that.” 

This time it was Shawn’s turn to laugh, he understood that very well, his doctor had been very adamant that he should take things easy after the surgery and his mom wasn’t much better, going to visit him almost everyday and even insisting on getting him a damn wheelchair. 

“Well I’m glad you’re back, hope to strike that nice partnership with you once again commissioner Michaels.” And Steve gave him an over exaggerated salute that once again managed to make him crack a smile. “Let’s see how my meeting with Vinman goes first… Speaking of it, do you know where his office is?” 

“Yeah man, I’ll take you there.” Shawn and Steve fell into comfortable silence as they made their way to Vince’s office. Honestly this unexpected meeting with Austin had calmed him considerably. He had been very nervous about meeting back with the other guys, but seeing that at least Austin didn’t have anything against him eased his nerves. 

As they approached the door to Vince’s makeshift office Shawn stopped, prompting Austin to do the same. “Steve before I get in there I’ve got to ask you something, and you need to be honest with me.” Austin kissed his fingers and lifted them in a three finger salute. “Scouts honour.” Shawn doubted Steve had ever been a boy scout, but trusted he would tell him the truth.

But before Shawn could say anything the door to the office opened and out came Paul Bearer and Vince, both were laughing as they shook hands and that unnerved Shawn. Bearer had always been a hard figure to read, his relationship with Undertaker, Mankind and Kane had all looked strenuous at best and straight up abusive at worst, for that reason Shawn had never liked the man. But there was also the fact that he was directly connected to all the spooky shit that went on with Taker and now Shawn was more weary of that stuff.

Bearer then turned in their direction and Shawn felt a shiver run down his spine, whatever was going on Paul Bearer had to be directly involved, Shawn was certain of it. “Well Vince it was great talking to you, but I have to get going.” Came the extremely high pitched voice of the man and he turned on his heels and made his way deeper into the arena. Shawn was too focused on Bearer to notice that Vince had approached him. 

“Thanks for bringing Shawn here, Austin.” Shawn felt Steve’s hand touching his arm lightly in an attempt to stop them, but Vince was already guiding Shawn into his office by the shoulder and closing the door behind them. Only then did Vince change the vice grip he had on Shawn’s shoulder to a light warm touch, his tone, that had been clipped and hard when talking to Austin, had also shifted into the warm and inviting tone he normally used with Shawn.

“I’m really glad you’re back Shawn, the company isn’t quite the same without you.” Vince ushered Shawn deeper into the office and something about the place felt suffocating. These arena makeshift offices weren’t always great; most of them didn’t have windows, which often made them feel stuffy and awfully warm. This was one of them, but there was something else, and then Shawn noticed it; the smell.

Vince had been smoking that awful cigar of his, the air now not only stinking but also filled with smoke. There was also the faint smell of alcohol. Vince was filling two glasses of whiskey and Shawn could see a third glass on the table, probably Bearer’s. “Come on, sit Shawn.” Vince guided him to the free chair in front of the table and offered him the glass of scotch. “No thank you, I’m good.” Shawn sat down but refused the drink.

“Shawn Michaels, The Heartbreak Kid refusing a free drink?!” At Vince’s words Shawn flushed, he really didn’t need his boss acknowledging his drinking problem. “Well you know, alcohol doesn’t mix well with the meds I’m taking for my back.” Vince laughed. “That never stopped you before.” Shawn went even redder, if it was possible, shifting a little on his chair. 

“The surgery put some things in perspective. I needed to grow up.” Shawn felt proud of that response, though he felt he sounded a little too much like Bret, or at least the voice in the back of his head he associated with Bret. “Sounds like becoming boring to me.” Shawn couldn’t help but shrink a little at Vince’s words. He thought he was doing the responsible thing, but maybe Vince was right…

Besides his friends in the Kliq, Vince had been the only other person who managed to put up with Shawn and his crap. No matter how far he went he seemed unable to make anything bother the older man, but now he felt like he was being shamed by the man, and he found out he hated the feeling.

Instead of sitting in the chair opposite to Shawn, Vince leaned at the table right in front of Shawn. There was something strange about the position, he felt cornered into the chair and he hated it. Shawn tried to shake the feeling, he was probably paranoid due to all that was happening, after all this was Vince… He would never hurt him.

“So, Shawn I’ve been thinking, maybe you could realign yourself with me and the rest of the Corporation.” Shawn frowned, that didn’t seem to make that much sense, seeing that when he left for his surgery he had just turned on his boss. “Wouldn’t it make more sense if I allied myself to DX or maybe Austin.” Shawn noticed Vince grimace at the Texas Rattlesnake name, even though McMahon could see value in Austin, Shawn knew the boss did not like the loud mouthed texan.

“Well maybe you could work something out with Austin, but I don’t really think you and DX would be a good idea.” Shawn noticed how Vince’s voice softened. “Why not?” Vince gave a heavy sigh and touched Shawn’s shoulder. “Well… You see I don’t think Hunter is ready to forgive you yet, and I know how much his friendship means to you, so maybe leaving you two separate at least until you settle things would be better.”

Shawn felt himself still, he knew his relationship with Hunter would need some working on, but he didn’t think it was this bad. Surely Vince was just erring on the side of caution, right? Shawn then felt a lump grow on his throat, what if it was that bad? What if Hunter would never want to be his friend again? He could feel his eyes stinging, his already frayed nerves from the last few weeks unable to hold on to his emotions.

Vince hugged him then, and Shawn felt pathetic. Here he was crying on his bosses arms like a fucking child, but he couldn’t seem to stop. McMahon just held onto him as he whispered that things would be alright. After sometime Shawn was finally able to stop his tears and Vince held onto his face. “Shh, it’s alright Shawn. You know I’ll always be here for you. I’ll never hurt you.” And Shawn just nodded, needing the comfort Vince was providing for him right now.

“I think you’re right… Maybe it’ll be better if I just join the Corporation again.” Vince smiled brightly at the words. “I’ll talk to Pat and JR so we can start something for you.” Shawn went to stand, suddenly feeling the need to go to the hotel and sleep, but Vince pushed him lightly back into the chair. “Just before you leave, is there something else you want to tell me.”

Shawn knew he should tell Vince about everything going on with Taker, but there was something stopping him from doing it. Maybe it was the fact that he had watched Paul Bearer and Vince chatting like old friends. There was also the idea that maybe Vince wouldn’t believe him, maybe he would think Shawn had completely lost it and send him away. But deep down Shawn felt like something was wrong with Vince. At that moment he decided he wouldn’t say anything until he had more information.

Shawn shook his head, but Vince only stared at him harder. “Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything, right?” Shawn put effort into giving his best heartbreak kid smile as he said. “Yeah, I know Vinman. I’m just tired. Going to head off to the hotel in case you don’t need me anymore.” Vince didn’t look convinced, but also didn’t press any further. “Sure Shawn, I’ll call if I need anything.” And with that Shawn left Vince’s office.

Chapter 5: Chapter 4: Second meetings

Summary:

Shawn bumps into some old friends and expiriences a second meeting with The Lord of Darkness, this time in the real world.
Chapter Content Warnings: Blood and a little bit of wound description, nothing major though.

Notes:

I'm so sorry for how long it took, I've gotten a new job that has honestly been draining me. Not only that, but the state of current WWE has gotten me a little less exicited about wrestling, some new hyperfixations have also contributed to my slight loss of interest in wrestling. But I'm back, can't promisse that I'll update super consistently because neurodivergence and shit, but this story is certanly getting finished, not only because it's my baby, but because it's fully planned out I just need to write the chapters.
English is not my first language and I'm dyslexic af, so feel free to correct anything.
Comments are always welcome.

Shawn was walking around the back not really paying attention to where he was going. He wasn’t sure not telling Vince about everything with Taker was a good idea, it was Vince afterall, Shawn had always trusted him with everything. But there was something  telling him not to trust the man, at least not this time. Maybe he should try to find Austin, ask him what he had wanted before being interrupted.

He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, his mind too focused on everything going on for him to pay attention to his surroundings, that was until he suddenly fell to the ground, hitting his tailbone on the floor, knocking the wind out of him. A fall like that would have hurt normally, but was made ten times worse by the fact that the area was still sore after his surgery. 

Shawn closed his eyes tightly, trying to breathe normally. God, it was hurting so fucking bad, tears started spilling from his eyes. He could feel someone on top of him frantically talking, but he could only pay attention to the pain. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably just a minute he was finally able to make out what the person on top of him was saying.

“Shit… I’m so sorry Shawn! Shawn?! Shawn?! Come on man, talk to me… Fuck! I wasn’t… Shit do you need help? Of course you do…” Now that the pain subsided a little Shawn recognized the voice. “Kid calm down, I’m fine. Just need a second.” Kid’s worried face was inches away from Shawn’s own and a part of him couldn’t help but smile at seeing his friend. After a couple of minutes Sean helped Shawn up to his feet and after an awkward pause Kid threw himself at Shawn’s arms, giving him a bear hug.

“I’ve missed you man. Didn’t know you would be back so soon.” Shawn awkwardly hugged his friend back. That hadn’t been the reaction he was expecting, especially not from Kid, after all he was still part of DX and friends with Hunter. Besides, Shawn had been an asshole to him during his time as commissioner. But all of it seemed to not matter to the younger wrestler in front of him right now.

“What were you doing? Running around like that?” Shawn couldn’t help the smile that was still on his face. He realised now how much he had missed his younger friends' antics, especially while he was trapped inside his home recovering. Kid beamed before answering. “I may have filled Hunter’s gym bag with shaving cream.” Shawn laughed in a way he hadn’t done in days, probably weeks. 

“I truly missed you, Kid.” Shawn said with a wide smile on his face. “Yeah? You have a weird way of showing it.” Shawn whipped his head back and came face to face with Hunter. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Shawn knew he sounded defensive, but he didn’t like the tone Hunter was using.

Hunter cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes, he was effectively starring Shawn down, he had been on the receiving end of that look multiple times, but Hunter’s eyes were often soft when he did it, permeated with worry as he tried to dissuade his friend from doing something stupid, now those eyes were filled with anger and something else that Shawn now recognized as hurt.

“You know very well what I mean… Did you come to stab us in the back again?” Hunter’s tone was clipped, but taunting at the same time. “Last I checked it had been you who stabbed me in the back first. Throwing me out of DX with no reason.” Hunter laughed. “No reason?! You chose to trust Tyson, you assured me he was on our side, I had to watch as Austin kicked your ass knowing full well you were hurt without being able to do anything!” Shawn was seething now, how dare Hunter blame him?! His back was broken, did Hunter think he was going to win that damm fight?

“But it worked well for you didn’t it? You got rid of me without needing to get your hands dirty, climbed to the top by using me as a step! How long until you do the same with the rest of DX.” Shawn had gotten closer to the larger man, pointing at him accusingly. He knew his friend well, knew which buttons to press in order to get the desired reaction. They had spent long nights sharing their deepest, darkest secrets, and Shawn knew very well that one thing that Hunter hated was being seen as someone who only cared about his own rise to the top.

Hunter took a step towards Shawn, his mouth was now contorted in snarl and he had both hands forward, in an attempt to grab Shawn by the lapels of his shirt, but before he could do anything Shawn let out a blood curdling scream and collapsed to the floor clutching his own chest. 

Sean was instantly by Shawn’s side, frantically asking him what was wrong, but Shawn couldn’t answer. His eyes were unfocussed and he was sweating bullets. Hunter knew that look, he had only seen it once when he went to check on Shawn after his match with Austin only to find him sprawled on the floor of the locker room, crying.

“What did you do?” Sean was now looking accusingly at him, Hunter just shook his head he hadn’t even touched Shawn he had no idea what was happening. “I didn’t… I don’t know…” 

Shawn was looking at him and he looked terrified. Only then Hunter heard the deep voice behind him and realised Shawn wasn’t scared of him… “What’s wrong, boy toy? I thought you came here to see me?” The Undertaker was standing right behind Hunter. 

“Leave them alone.” Shawn’s voice was weak, it sounded like each word was a chore to say. The Undertaker laughed, his laugh was enough to send shivers down Hunter’s spine. It was sinister and sounded wrong coming out of Undertaker’s mouth. Hunter had noticed a shift in Undertaker’s demeanor, everyone had. But DX wasn’t currently in a program with him and his “Ministry of Darkness” so he hadn’t realised how much the deadman had actually changed. All senses inside Hunter were telling him to run, get as far away from that man as possible, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one who was feeling it. 

Hunter had never seen Shawn look scared like that, especially not when Undertaker was involved. Even when the other guys chose to stay out of the Phenom's way or treat him with caution, the thought seemed to have never crossed Shawn’s mind. For Shawn, Taker was just another wrestler, yeah he was weird and peculiar, but according to Shawn all wrestlers were a little weird or they wouldn’t be doing it. Of course Kev, Scott and Hunter would argue that the other wrestlers weren’t undead creatures who relied on an Urn to stay alive, but for Shawn that never mattered. Now however. 

“You aren’t really in the position to make demands now, are you, boy toy?” Once again Undertaker’s voice sounded wrong, it was deeper than normal and had a slight growl permeating the words. The Deadman’s hand shot from its place by Taker’s side as he attempted to touch Shawn’s cheek, Shawn flinched and recoiled in Kid’s arm and Sean tried his best to shield the blonde from the touch.

But before the hand made contact with any of his friends Hunter had stepped between them and held onto Taker’s wrist, stopping him in his tracks. Hunter was honestly surprised at how fast he managed to move, especially because until that moment he had been standing in complete frozen shock. “You touch either one of my friends and I will break your arm.”

The Undertaker stared at him for a moment before lifting one of his eyebrows and grinning. He recoiled his arm, wrenching it out of Hunter’s grasp before fully focusing on him. “Friends huh? You two seemed to be in a very heated discussion until now?” Taker's voice sounded smug, taunting. “We are like brothers, family fights all the time. You should know that though, since your family problems seem to constantly interfere with the show.” Hunter watched as Undertaker’s fists clenched, but that was the only sign his words had affected the taller man in any way.

The Undertaker straightened himself, before letting out a sigh that was between annoyance and frustration. “We’ll see each other around, boy toy.” Taker pointedly looked at Shawn before suddenly leaning against Hunter and whispering in his ear. “You better keep your hands away from what’s mine.” Hunter was unable to react due to shock and the chill that ran down his spine, before Taker was turning on his heels and leaving.

“What the fuck was that about?” Hunter whispered to himself as he ran his hand through his hair. He turned when he heard Sean’s panicked voice. “Shawn! Your chest! It’s bleeding!” Hunter’s eyes widened as he saw what Kid was talking about. Shawn’s blue button up shirt had a deep red stain growing on it, as if he was bleeding profusely out of his left chest. 

Shawn lightly touched the spot, his fingers coming off red before saying. “I’m fine, it’s nothing.” Hunter flanked Shawn’s other side that wasn’t being taken by Sean and helped Kid lift their friend. Shawn still looked like he was hurting, he was pale and there was a slight shake to his legs. “Let’s get you to our locker room.” Hunter said as him and Kid guided Shawn through the maze of corridors in the arena to a more private area.

When they finally arrived in the locker room Shawn was no longer leaning his weight as heavily on them, but the dark red spot on his chest had grown considerably larger. Hunter opened the door, as the three of them shuffled inside drawing the attention of the other occupants of the room.

Chyna was sitting at one of the benches reading a sports magazine, while Billy and Road Dogg were playing cards. All three of them stopped what they were doing to stare at the newcomers and in seconds Jonie was up helping Kid shuffle Shawn to the couch while Hunter looked for a first aid kit to deal with whatever had caused the bleeding.

Jesse who seemed to be the first of the Outlaws to recover from the shock let out a “What the fuck happened?” But neither Hunter, Shawn or Kid were in the mindset to answer the question, Hunter wasn’t sure he himself understood what had happened. 

Shawn was now leaning against the couch, his breath a little shallow. Kid had tried to open his shirt, but was shaking too much so Jonie was doing it instead. Now that Shawn’s chest was exposed they could see it was covered in blood, some of it had dried and was sticking Shawn’s forest of chest hair together, but there was still some of it trickling from what looked to be an open wound, in a weird shape. Hunter took some gauze out of the first aid kit and soaked it in the saline solution in the box, he started to clean the wound as carefully as possible, watching as Shawn flinched and hissed when the gauze went over the wound.

After cleaning up the mess of fresh and dried blood from Shawn’s skin Hunter and the other’s were finally able to make out the shape of the wound on Shawn’s chest. “What the fuck.” Someone behind him said and he himself accidentally dropped the gauze he had been holding. It was a capital T with an X going through it. Undertaker’s symbol. 

But that wasn’t the weirdest thing, no. The weirdest thing was that as they stared at the once open wound it instantly started to close, leaving behind an angry red scar that was A mix between a burn and a carving. “Now that’s freaky.” Kid’s voice came from Hunter’s side and the larger blonde couldn’t do anything but nod.

Shawn stared at the four members of DX who were now openly gawking at him and felt the urge to cover himself, clumsily pulling his ruined shirt over the symbol. “I… I should go.” Shawn stammered as he tried to get to his feet, but was pushed down by both Hunter and Chyna. “Oh no you don’t. You’re explaining what happened out there and why the fuck Taker’s symbol, that was just gushing blood until a couple minutes ago, is a scar on your chest.” Hunter didn’t sound angry, nothing like he had sounded during their little confrontation, he sounded worried and Shawn couldn’t help but lower his head at that. He hated to worry his friends.

But he kinda owed them an explanation, especially since both Kid and Hunter had seen what happened with Taker. So Shawn gave out a heavy sigh and started to explain everything that had happened the last few weeks starting with Taker’s unexpected visit and ending with Kid bumping into him. His friends spent the entire time quiet, just nodding along as Shawn recounted everything. 

When he finally finished Jonie had gotten him some water. “Drink, you need to rehydrate, you bled a lot.” Shawn slowly nodded as he took a sip of the water. He had expected them to call bullshit, saying that he had probably hallucinated all of it. But there was physical proof to his story and they had all seen the weird way that the symbol had reacted, not only that, but Kid and Hunter had directly interacted with Taker.

“So, does anyone have any ideas on how to exorcise a demon?” Billy asked, without any of the usual mirth his tone often took. “We don’t even know if this ‘Lord of Darkness’ really is a demon, he could be lying.” Jonie replied, as serious as ever. “But aren’t demons the lying spirits?” Kid supplied, his tone was cheerful, but still serious. “There are also trickster spirits.” Road dogg said. “Yeah, but there was nothing funny about Taker, whatever is inside him. It’s evil.” Kid once again spoke, this time with a tremor in his voice as he recorded the incident of a few moments ago.

 “What?... What are you guys talking about?” Shawn asked, looking confusedly between the four members of D-Generation X. Hunter, who had been quiet this entire time, finally spoke up. “What does it look like? We are going to help you.” Shawn shook his head. “Like hell you are! This is my problem, I’m not dragging any one into this!” He couldn’t let them help, he couldn’t let them be in danger because of him. Many people may think he’s a selfish asshole, and truth be told he is, but he would never put his friends at risk. He valued the few friends he had too much.

“Well it’s not really your choice to make, is it?” Kid said. “But…” Before Shawn could finish Hunter cut him off. “Kid’s right, we understand it’s fucking dangerous, but it’s our choice if we want to help.” Shawn looked down, furiously blinking tears from his eyes. “Why? Why would you help me of all people?” Hunter lifted Shawn’s face like he had done many times before, forcing the blonde to look at him and smiled. “Because we’re friends and even though we haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately you are still my brother.”

Shawn hugged Hunter, the tears he had been holding back flowing freely down his face as he was finally able to settle things with Hunter, even if just for a moment. He also felt a little more confident that he would be able to help Taker. He was going to find a way of rescuing the deadman, and now he had people who were willing to help him do it.