Chapter Text
“Just another day at All Elite Wrestling…”
Liv mumbled to herself as she started get her things together. She sat alone in the women’s locker room, many of her other colleagues had gone back to their hotel rooms for the night or stayed behind for post show interviews.
The former SmackDown Women’s champion hadn’t been in a WWE Superstar in almost two years. She had worked tirelessly to become SmackDown Women’s champion. Her lips turned to a faint smile as she held the bedazzled black and lime ring gear she wore when she cashed in her Money In The Bank briefcase on Ronda two years ago. Nothing could ever compare to the joy that Liv felt when she heard that three count. All of the hours she had spent working towards that very moment. The praise and adoration she received from all of her friends, fans and loved ones.
But once she came down from the post-win high, Liv couldn’t help but feel empty inside, no matter what she did and it was eating her alive. She earned this. She deserved this. Liv had everything she could have ever wanted and more, she was now the face of the SmackDown brand, the face of the company but yet, something was missing and she couldn’t put her finger on it. After awhile, the fans had started to catch on. She was off her game, tapping out to Ronda at SummerSlam of 22’ before winning by the skin of her teeth. The crowd turned against her, making her out to be a weak champion.
Then there was Shayna. She had lost the title to Shayna at Clash At The Castle that same year, further pushing Liv into an internal downward spiral. She grew increasingly distant, burying herself in her training and her work. Even after that, match after match on SmackDown, something was missing, and Morgan became hellbent on figuring out what it was.
“Ever since Wrestlemania, you haven’t been yourself lately, and I just want you to be happy. Are you thinking of leaving WWE?” The voice of Ruby Soho on the other end of a phone call rang clearly in Liv’s memory as if it were yesterday.
“I don’t know Rue, I love what I do, I love the people I work with, and I love the fans. I just-“
“You don’t know what you want, do you?” Ruby chuckled. “Hear me out, this is gonna sound crazy, but…what if you came and wrestled here?”
“For AEW?”
“Hell yeah! You’ll have 2-3 months off to take care of the farm and your self care line, get your head right. Then you can come here and we can have a Riott Squad reunion! I’m sure Tony would go ape shit at the thought of signing you.”
Liv loved Ruby, and she had missed her dearly. In AEW she had been reunited with one of her best friends, and they had been reunited as one of the most successful women’s tag teams there. But the feeling remained despite switching companies. She had only signed a two year contract with the company, which was shortly coming to a close within a few weeks.
Liv zipped up her bag, slinging it over her shoulder before heading out the door.
_______________
Back in her hotel room, unable to sleep; Liv decided to mindlessly scroll through her social media accounts. She still had been following everyone in WWE. Liv still had a lot of friends there and she always rooted for them even from behind a screen. Since she had left, Bianca had been able to retain her RAW Women’s championship, defeating the likes of Bayley, Asuka and Becky Lynch, who made a full recovery from the shoulder injury she sustained two years ago shortly before Liv left. Sonya managed to get a fair shot, and was now the SmackDown Women’s champion currently feuding with Bianca, much to Liv’s excitement. She wouldn’t have wanted the titles to be on anyone else. Nattie and Mandy were still in NXT, working with all of the younger talent.
Finally starting to get tired, the blonde was just about to lock her phone for the night when she saw her in a post on the companies official account. They hadn’t spoken in years, and Liv felt her heart sink to her stomach upon seeing her face.
It appeared that Rhea Ripley and company had welcomed a new member into The Judgement Day. Liv lingered on the photograph for a moment, taking in Rheas features. She found herself in the past, before Liv4Brutality split up. Before Liv said that thing she wished so desperately she could take back.
She had forgotten how beautiful Rhea’s smile was. She hardly ever smiled, but when they were together, each time her black painted lips parted into a grin, it made Liv’s heart skip several beats. She had forgotten how much she missed that smile, until it wasn’t her she smiled for anymore. Until Rhea started to shut her out, and keep things from her.
Until she had given Liv a Riptide in the middle of the ring.
“I’m sorry I didn’t try hard enough.” She whispered. Her thumb gently stroking the photo of Ripley standing with her Judgement Day comrades. Liv let out a long sigh, before closing out of the Instagram app, and onto YouTube. She took off her glasses & set them on the nightstand along with her phone, turning out the light before the following audio played of the voice that she hadn’t realized she missed so much until now:
“I love Liv…I think she’s fantastic. I love going out there with her. She really does make me smile, which is something you never really saw before from me on TV. She definitely brings out my more humane side. She is incredible, I love her dedication and she is always striving to be better and to get better and I love that abo-”
That was about all Liv could hear, before she picked her phone up again once more, bringing it up to her ear tears forming in her eyes. The line ringing several times before a familiar voice answered.
“Hi, it’s Liv….look, I’m sorry, know it’s been awhile.” She sniffled. “And I know, that it’s late, I saw you guys were in New York, we’re in Houston tonight….I’ve just been thinking about all of it, you know? How I ran away, how I let the fans down, and how I let you down…”
Her voice started to break.
“I don’t know who I am anymore…or how things got this way. I miss how things used to be…I wanna feel worthy again. You know? I wanna have a purpose again. Since Wrestlemania there’s just been a void in me, and I left to go see if I could fill it here, but I’m just fighting the same fight…I miss feeling worthy….I miss all of it…and I miss you .” The line on the other end remained silent.
“Am I crazy? Does that make any sense?.”
“You’re not crazy dude, it’s makes perfect sense.” A voice with a strong New Jersey accent answered her, belonging to none other than Sonya DeVille. “But I have a question for you okay? What is it going to take for you to be happy, Liv? Is it coming back to WWE? Championships? Starting in Movies? Being the face of the company again? Or is it something more than that?”
“It’s something more, Sonya.” Liv thought of Rhea.
“I think I need to come back to WWE.”