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Alexa Bliss was at a loss for words. Tonight, she had done the unthinkable, and it left her partner writhing in pain as Charlotte was hurried off to medical immediately after the match against the Kabuki Warriors had ended.
For so long, she had tried to hide it, to push it down, and not let it see the light of day ever again. She had made a promise to herself that she wouldn’t let him control her. She was in charge of her destiny, and she was going to fight every day if she had to just to make sure that she stayed in control.
He had been so charismatic initially, drawing her in when she felt like she had no one else to turn to. She had been adrift, lost in her mind, lost in her ambition, and lost in her near-obsessive drive to remain at the top. It had been so easy to fall into his shadow and let him lead the way. Living in the darkness he had created gave Alexa the ability to grow and adapt until she felt she had finally achieved the power and respect she thought she deserved. For too long, she had been overlooked by the company for the likes of Asuka, Ronda Rousey, Rhea Ripley, Becky Lynch, Bayley, and, of course, Charlotte Flair. It felt like no matter what she did, how hard she worked, or the countless times she showed up and put on an entertaining match, she wasn’t enough. They would always pick one of the other women over her for a shot at the title.
So when Bray Wyatt reached his hand out and asked her to let him in, she hadn’t hesitated. He was a legend on the roster, and he had the answers she didn’t know she was looking for. He showed her how to manipulate those around her, how to act ruthlessly in the pursuit of the belt, and, most importantly, he had shown her how to survive on her own. And she had believed him. She had followed his lead and isolated herself mentally, emotionally, and physically from everyone around her. She had foolishly believed that she was better on her own, going so far as to lash out and betray anyone who showed even the slightest bit of compassion toward her.
Thinking that she didn’t need anyone had been empowering in a way that Alexa hadn’t felt in a very long time. It had tricked her into believing she was better than everyone, superior to anyone, and truly untouchable. That power had been addicting. It corrupted her into a heartless competitor, one who dished out punishment remorselessly until carnage lay in her wake.
But that was years ago. In the aftermath of the Fiend, Alexa had realized that she was more lost than ever before. There wasn’t anyone to turn to, no one to help her find the light, and it was her own damn fault. She had foolishly believed in the lies told to her by a madman. She had sold her soul to the devil, and people were hurting because of it. She had thought that by leaning into that power, she was asserting her dominance. Instead, she was physically harming her competition and forcing a rift between her and everyone she knew.
Injuries happened. It was the way of the business. When two fighters faced off against each other, pain was inevitable. And Alexa had convinced herself that the pain she was causing was on that same level. But it wasn’t.
Unfortunately, by the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. Everyone she had once cared for had left. No one interacted with her. Everyone treated her like a disease. And maybe she was.
Maybe the Fiend had corrupted her so much that there was truly no going back. Even though she had fought her way back into people’s good graces, even though she had apologized and clawed her way back to forgiveness, maybe it still wasn’t enough. She had thought that she had changed. That she had forced that side of her back into submission, vowing never to let it come out again.
And yet…
They knew it was going to be a battle. Going up against Asuka and Kairi always was. Usually, the match would have been approached in good faith, with neither side deliberately harming the other outside the sport. But that was against the Empress of Tomorrow and the Pirate Princess. Just like Alexa had done all those years ago, Asuka and Kairi had given in to that ever-alluring pull into the darkness. Whoever had stood across from her and Charlotte in the ring today had been near unrecognizable. For someone who used to be them, Alexa should have seen the signs. She should have known. And she should’ve been able to use that to her advantage to keep Charlotte safe.
Charlotte, the woman who had somehow worked her way into Alexa’s heart. It hadn’t started that way, and getting this emotionally attached wasn’t what Alexa had planned. She had simply seen a woman who once had it all, spiraling into a version of herself that Alexa knew she would come to hate in time. She saw Charlotte heading down the same path that she had taken with the Fiend. So Alexa had stepped up to try to stop the Queen from free-falling. She still owed the taller woman for all the torment she had put her through years ago.
When she proposed a tag team, it was meant to be a stopgap, not a permanent thing, simply an air brake meant to slow Charlotte's descent. She had assumed their alliance would last a few matches, Charlotte would regain her footing, and they would go their separate ways. The Queen would go back to reclaim her top spot, and Alexa could walk away with a clear conscience, knowing that she had done her good deed for the other woman.
But then something had happened. Charlotte’s disgruntled reluctance to the proposal and her continued exclamation that she didn’t need any help from Alexa had stirred something inside of the Goddess. It became a game of cat and mouse, providing her with a distraction from everything going on around them. The more Charlotte pushed her away, the more Alexa wanted to peek behind the curtain to see if the awkward and loveable dork that Alexa had known in NXT was still in there. Maybe, if Alexa could win Charlotte over and get her to open up, then there might still be hope that Alexa could redeem herself for all the pain she had caused.
So she turned her attention from chasing the title to wearing down the taller blonde. It hadn’t been easy. Lord knows Charlotte made her work for it. She shrugged off Alexa’s words of encouragement, denied her attempts to help, and snapped at her every time Alexa approached her. And Alexa had been on the verge of giving up. But then Charlotte let her mask slip in the slightest way imaginable. In one of her tirades about how she didn’t need anyone, how she was the Queen, how she was a sixteen-time blah, blah, blah – she had slipped and called her Lexi—a nickname she hadn’t used since their early days on the Black and Gold brand.
And just like that, Alexa was determined once again. She kept working at it, kept showing up to help, kept giving her support to the other woman, even as she was still being shoved aside. Until one day, Charlotte broke down and agreed to work with her.
Now here they were, more than one hundred days later, and Charlotte had come to mean more to her than she ever thought possible. She never meant to become emotionally attached, never meant to develop feelings, never meant to fall in love.
Letting people in was a dangerous thing for Alexa. She knew she was in control of the beast inside of her for the most part, but it was never a guaranteed thing. There could come a day when that cage she had worked so hard to construct around that darkness could break, and every connection Alexa made since then could shatter. And once again, people could be hurt because of her.
It was this exact fear that drove Alexa to hide her feelings and keep people at arm's length, because in reality, the thought of hurting Charlotte was unacceptable. In the short time they had been a team, Charlotte had opened up and let Alexa in. Charlotte, who was so strong, so brave, and so incredibly kind… hurting her was inexcusable, and Alexa refused to let it happen. Even if it meant that she had to keep herself locked away from her teammate, and suffer in the silence of once again being left alone when Charlotte realized she no longer needed her.
But just like a mask constructed out of tissue paper and scotch tape, everything Alexa had worked so hard on fell apart under the slightest bit of pressure. She had tried and utterly failed to keep the most important person in her life safe.
Charlotte was injured, and it was all her fault.
The match against the Kabuki Warriors had been in full swing, with both sides leaving everything they had inside the ring. With the back and forth that had been happening between the two teams, it was hard to tell who was going to come out as the winner. Then, in a moment of desperation, Charlotte had made a tag, and Alexa had stepped between the ropes. Asuka grinned as she waited for her to approach, and the two of them started exchanging blows. Every attack Alexa threw at her, Asuka returned with equal force.
Then, the joshi went for a low blow and started talking shit about Charlotte. Her Charlotte. It wasn’t anything that they hadn’t heard before. In fact, most of what Asuka was saying was things that Charlotte heard on a daily basis. One couldn’t be anywhere near the wrestling world without hearing about how Charlotte didn’t deserve the titles she had worked so hard to earn, how she was only getting the opportunities because of who her father was, how she was washed up and well past her prime, how her current win streak was a fluke and how it would crash and burn around her, just like her personal life had. Asuka had sneered at Alexa and told her that Charlotte wasn’t worth it, that she was useless, and that Alexa should’ve stayed on the path of the Fiend.
Normally, that wouldn’t have bothered Alexa, but since getting to know Charlotte, she knew exactly how sensitive the Queen was to the baseless lies that were constantly being thrown at her. She tried to brush them off with a smile, but Alexa could see that it never grew quite as big or lit up her eyes like a genuine one did. And to know that someone Charlotte respected so much could say such things about her made Alexa’s protective side surge to the surface, and her hand made contact with Asuka’s cheek before she even really registered it moving.
The force of the slap snapped Asuka’s face around to the side, and Alexa took that moment to step into her personal space. She hadn’t meant to lose control, but enough was enough. The roster continuously rolled over and let Asuka bully everyone around her for too long, and Alexa was about to give her a piece of her mind. As she yelled back at the Japanese woman, she missed the movement Asuka made toward her mouth, writing it off as her rubbing the sore spot from the strike.
She never saw her slip the packet in place, never saw the grin that slowly blossomed on Asuka’s face, and never felt the shove that forced her out of the way just as Asuka spat the poison mist at her face.
What she finally realized as she hit the mat was that the screaming she was hearing wasn’t from the crowd. Sure, they were loud, but there was a piercing scream that was so full of pain, it couldn’t have been from the people watching. She also realized, a second too late, that she knew that scream, knew who it belonged to. As fear gripped Alexa, stopping her heart cold, she frantically looked for her partner.
Charlotte was there, in the middle of the ring, wiping desperately at her eyes, trying to rid them of the poisonous blue liquid that now stained her face. Even worse, the scream tapered off to a harsh coughing fit as Charlotte tried to get the substance out of her mouth and lungs.
There was too much of it. It covered every inch of her head, coating the inside of her mouth, nose, and eyes. Her once beautiful, blonde hair was now a sharp, distressing blue.
Alexa forced herself to move. She had felt regret before, especially after she accidentally punched the other woman at Summer Slam. But this was different. This was a regret that Alexa knew she'd have to fight off her entire life. Because the sight of Charlotte flailing in the middle of the ring as she struggled to breathe was the single most terrifying sight Alexa had ever seen.
Her only thought at that moment as she scrambled across the mat was to get to her now defenseless partner. She knew the Kabuki Warriors would be relentless. And since they were on RAW, there wouldn't be anyone to come to her rescue. Not with Iyo and Rhea both out, and Bayley and Lyra doing a run on NXT.
It was up to her to step up and protect Charlotte, even if it meant losing the match and the titles. Those titles meant everything to them, but in that moment, Charlotte meant more.
“Charlotte!” Alexa yelled as she reached her teammate and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Relief rushed through Alexa as Charlotte instinctively moved closer to her, seeking some comfort in the touch..
Alexa squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. “Hang on, stop touching it,” she said, looking around for the referee, the medical team, or anyone who could help her move the taller woman to the back. Her eyes snapped back down to her teammate when Charlotte’s hand settled on her wrist and squeezed it tightly.
“Finish–” she wheezed as her free hand continued to wipe uselessly at her eyes.
Alexa’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she leaned closer, “What?”
There was a tug on her wrist that pulled her forward and off balance, forcing her to topple nearly on top of her partner. “Hey!” she protested as Charlotte continued to pull her down. Alexa was about to protest more when Asuka’s knee flew right past where her face had been mere seconds before.
Alexa whipped her focus to the joshi and then back to Charlotte, who was now looking up at her through one squinted eye. “Finish it, Lexi.”
Alexa took a second to marvel at Charlotte’s ring awareness. Even with all the pain she was currently in and her inability to see clearly through the poison mist, she was still aware enough to know that Asuka would exploit their desire to protect one another. Even with all the pain she was feeling, Charlotte still trusted her to finish the job. That was all that Alexa needed to push herself to her feet, making sure to squeeze Charlotte’s shoulder one last time in reassurance before she turned toward Asuka with a newly found determination to make the other woman regret asking for this match.
Having missed the running knee, Asuka was still in an awkward kneeling position a few feet away from Charlotte. Her back was to Alexa as she struggled to get back to her feet, her injured knee causing some mobility issues. Alexa took advantage of that distraction and ran a few steps, jumping toward Asuka at the last second. Her arms wrapped around the other woman’s head as she sailed over Asuka’s shoulders, pulling her down into a near-perfect Natural Selection.
She didn’t waste any time as she surged to her feet, rolled Asuka over onto her back, and quickly climbed to the top turnbuckle. Taking a second to make sure that Charlotte wasn’t going to get hit, Alexa took a deep breath and then launched herself into a Twisted Bliss. She immediately went for the cover, hooking Asuka’s leg and refusing to let go until the referee counted the three count and the bell rang.
Alexa hurried off of Auska and made her way over to Charlotte, who had managed to pull herself into a corner, her hands still wiping at her eyes. Taking a second to make sure there weren’t any other obvious injuries on her partner, Alexa leaned forward and grabbed Charlotte’s wrists gently. “Hey Queenie, let’s get you to the back, okay? We need to get that —”
Her words were cut off by the searing pain of a kendo stick slamming into her exposed back. In her rush to get to Charlotte, Alexa had completely forgotten that Kairi Sane was still a threat. In that moment, Alexa knew she had two choices: she could turn and fight off the attack, or she could protect Charlotte, who was still having trouble seeing.
Without hesitation, Alexa curled her body over Charlotte’s front, making sure to protect the older woman’s head from the kendo stick that was now slamming into Alexa’s back repeatedly. She knew she would just have to wait it out until security arrived and separated the two teams. With each strike, Alexa bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from screaming. The last thing Charlotte needed was to worry about what was happening. It was Alexa’s fault that Charlotte was in pain and blind. It was Alexa’s fault that they had almost lost, and it was Alexa’s fault that they were currently in this situation. So Alexa would take this attack as part of her punishment for failing Charlotte so badly.
Alexa had no idea how long they were stuck in the corner until several security members and referees came out to pull Kairi away from the champions. All she knew was that her back was screaming in pain, and Charlotte was desperately trying to understand what was happening.
“Charlotte, I–” Alexa started to apologize, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest when Charlotte managed to blink a few times to look at her. She took a shaky breath and tried to apologize again, but her attempt was cut short as the medical team arrived and pulled her off the taller woman.
A team of medics and trainers swarmed around Charlotte as they cracked open bottles of water and tried to position her head to flush her eyes. But the Queen was struggling against them. “Lexi!”
“I’m right here, Charlotte. Just let them help you,” Alexa tried to comfort her partner even as the medics who had a hold of her were moving her out of the ring and toward gorilla. The last thing she saw was Charlotte’s hand reaching out for her, her name echoing around the now quiet ring.
Then she was behind the curtain, being shuffled toward medical to get her back checked out.
Alexa had refused medical treatment and instead tried to wait for Charlotte to get checked out as well. But with Roxanne Perez already on one of the tables getting checked after her match with Stephanie earlier in the night, and Cody stretching with one of the trainers nearby, the room was too crowded, and she was told to wait outside. And that was what she had intended to do, until she happened to see a playback of Charlotte getting misted on one of the monitors.
From this angle, it was obvious how distracted Alexa was, how clouded her judgment was to lash out like that. It was obvious to anyone watching that Charlotte wasn’t just stepping in to protect her partner; she was saving Alexa from herself. It was written all over Charlotte’s face as fear and determination battled each other across her delicate features in the slowed-down version of the clip. Instead of being focused on the match, Charlotte had been focused on Alexa, so much so that she had put herself right in the line of fire to save her.
Seeing it from everyone else’s perspective sent a shiver up Alexa’s spine, settling at the base of her skull in a burst of anxiety and dread. The voices followed a second later, making sure to tell her how disgusting she was, how dangerous she was, how she was just like Bray and would eventually hurt everyone she ever cared about.
Alexa couldn’t let that happen. Not to someone like Charlotte, who had just started genuinely smiling again. She was having fun again, and Alexa wasn’t about to get in the way of that. So instead of waiting for Charlotte, as she had promised herself she would, she hurried to their dressing room, grabbed her bag, and started shoving her belongings into it. She didn’t care how roughly she handled her clothes; they could be sorted out at the hotel later. All Aelxa knew was that she had to get out of there, find another hotel, and get a room under a fake name. She could talk to Nick Aldis later in the week to see if he could set up a transfer for her to make the permanent move to RAW.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand gently reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from shoving a sweatshirt into her bag. Out of instinct, Alexa recoiled and yanked her hand away from the other person. She turned to glare at them, but pulled up short when she saw Charlotte standing there, looking at her with such care and understanding.
“You know,” she started as she took a careful step towards Alexa, “if you wanted one of my sweatshirts, you only had to ask for one. You don’t need to resort to stealing it.”
“I wasn’t,” Alexa scoffed, even as she looked down at the piece of clothing to see if it was in fact Charlotte’s. It was one of Alexa's favorite ones because not only did it smell like Charlotte, but it was also the perfect size to make it feel like a warm hug. And that feeling reminded her of Charlotte so much that she had to wear it constantly.
Instead of pushing the issue further, Alexa bundled it up and placed it on a nearby chair. “You should be getting checked out. That stuff can’t be good for your eyes.”
Charlotte sighed as she took a step closer, “Lexi, what are you doing?”
Alexa took a step back and held her hand up between them to keep Charlotte from getting too close. “Please… don’t.”
“Don’t what?” Charlotte asked gently, her hands coming up in a placating gesture.
Alexa closed her eyes and hugged herself, trying to defend against the words in her head telling her that she wasn’t good enough. “Don’t come any closer.”
Charlotte nodded, her hands still hanging uselessly in the space between them. “Okay, I won’t. But can you at least explain to me why you’re packing your gear?”
“I have to… I have to go. I have to leave so you don’t…”
Charlotte’s brow furrowed as Alexa seemed to get lost in her mind, as her eyes glazed over and her face contorted into fear. The stuttered speech was something that Charlotte had witnessed in NXT when Alexa got too anxious or embarrassed to speak up.
“So I don’t what?”
When Alexa didn’t respond right away, Charlotte took a chance and stepped closer. “Come on, Blisster. Talk to me, babygirl. What’s going on?”
Alexa’s eyes finally snapped to Charlotte, her gaze now focused solely on her. She chewed on her bottom lip to stop it from quivering as she moved her head back and forth in refusal. She couldn’t stop the whimper, however, as Charlotte stepped even closer.
“I’m just trying to help, Lex. I can’t help you if I don’t understand what’s going on,” Charlotte soothed as she took one final step so she was directly in front of Alexa. She waited to see what the smaller woman would do, and when she just seemed to curl further into herself, Charlotte huffed and pulled her into a hug.
Initially, Alexa fought back, her hands rising to push the taller woman away. But Charlotte was bigger and stronger, so she wasn’t really moving. In fact, she pulled Alexa closer, wrapping her more securely in a hug. “Shhh, babygirl. It’s okay. We’re okay.”
“We’re not, though,” Alexa whimpered again. “I hurt you. That’s not okay.”
Charlotte started rubbing aimless patterns into Alexa’s back as she continued to hold her. “You didn’t. Asuka and her stupid blue mist did.”
Alexa scoffed, “It’s the same thing.”
Charlotte kissed the top of Alexa’s head, only feeling slightly guilty when she saw some of the blue coloring transfer to her blonde hair. “It’s really not, though.”
This time, Alexa was successful in shoving Charlotte away, her movements now fueled by anger instead of fear and sadness. “It is! If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with what she was saying, I would have seen the mist coming! I should’ve been the one to take the hit, not you.”
“What she was saying? What does that mean?”
Alexa turned and started to pace so she didn’t have to see the look on Charlotte’s face, “She was talking shit about you. It was stuff you’ve heard before, but this is Asuka. She should’ve known better. Crossing the line and bringing personal business into a match isn’t–”
She stopped short as Charlotte grabbed her wrist once again. “Wait, hang on a second. She was talking shit about me? That’s why you slapped her?”
“Well, yeah,” Alexa said innocently, shrugging her shoulders slightly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Charlotte’s laugh echoed loudly in the empty dressing room as her thumb drew shapeless patterns on the inside of Alexa’s wrist.
“What?” Alexa huffed. She went so far as to stomp her foot as Charlotte’s laugh only got louder. “No one gets to talk shit about my partner!”
Charlotte tugged Alexa back into another hug, gently placing her chin on top of Alexa’s head as her arms wrapped securely around the smaller woman. “My hero.”
“Whatever,” Alexa grumbled into Charlotte’s shoulder, her arms coming up around her waist as she melted into the hug.
A few moments of comfortable silence settled between them before Charlotte spoke quietly. “You could never hurt me, Blisster. What happened out there was Asuka and Kairi’s fault. And mine. Hush,” she reprimanded when Alexa took a deep breath in to say something.
“As I was saying, I’m partially at fault too. I could’ve pulled you out of the way, or attacked Asuka to distract her, or I could’ve done nothing and let you get misted. But I panicked. I saw what she was about to do, and I made a choice. That’s not on you. Besides,” she paused long enough to emphasize her point as she gently traced the welts on Alexa’s back, “you took those kendo stick shots for me. So if we’re playing the blame game, I caused you to get hurt because of my decisions.”
Alexa pulled back slightly so she could look up at Charlotte. The look on her face was one of determination, “That’s not true at all. You couldn’t see because of me; you wouldn’t have been able to protect yourself.”
Charlotte’s right eyebrow rose slightly. “So you protected me.”
“Of course I did! I wasn’t about to let her hit you!”
Charlotte’s left eyebrow slowly rose to meet its partner as she waited to see if Alexa would figure it out on her own. When she didn’t, Charlotte repeated herself. “So you protected me, Lexi.”
“I–” Alexa cut herself off as she blinked a few times in confusion.
“See? You didn’t hurt me. And I know you would never do it intentionally. I don’t care what happened before or what Bray made you do. You’re a good person, and an even better partner,” Charlotte explained gently.
Hesitation flickered across Alexa’s face, so Charlotte tried a different approach. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course!” Alexa answered immediately.
Charlotte smiled down at the shorter woman adoringly. “Then trust me when I say that you’re the only partner I want. Trust me when I say that I trust you to keep me safe out there. And you did. You have, and you will. Okay? I’m choosing to team with you, and I’ll choose when this is over, okay? I’m not going anywhere, so please stop pushing me away.”
Alexa’s eyes darted to the floor, and her shoulders seemed to curl inward, but she nodded. Charlotte reached out and, with two fingers, she gently moved Alexa’s head so she was looking at her. “There’s my girl,” she breathed out as she rubbed her thumb along Alexa’s jaw line. “There’s no one in this world that I trust more than you. And I will tell you that every day if I have to until you believe me.”
Alexa searched Charlotte’s eyes, looking for something that would tell her that she was lying. But the only thing she saw was a shining trust and adoration. Slowly, she nodded. And with a quivering exhale, she leaned up and hesitantly kissed the taller woman.
She pulled back a few seconds later, only to hear Charlotte mumble a “finally” before they were kissing again. This time, it was solid, sure, and insistent. It felt as though Charlotte was trying to convey all of her trust and respect for Alexa in that kiss. And as Alexa moved to deepen it, her senses became overwhelmed by a bitter, spicy taste flooding her mouth.
“Gross!” she exclaimed as she pulled away from Charlotte rather violently, her hands trying to wipe off her mouth and tongue.
“Excuse me?” Charlotte asked indignantly, her hands on her hips as she watched the woman she loved try to wipe her kiss away.
Alexa simply waved one hand in Charlotte’s direction. “Blue! It burns!”
Charlotte hesitated and then burst out laughing again. “Shit, my bad, Blisster. I completely forgot that I hadn’t washed this off yet. Want to help me get cleaned up? I could really use a shower.”
Alexa stopped her movements as a blush rose up her neck and to her cheeks. “W…what did you just…?” she stuttered.
Charlotte laughed again. “God, you’re too easy sometimes. Who would’ve thought, the amazing Alexa Bliss gets flustered at the thought of showering with her tag partner.”
Alexa pouted as she glared at her. “Go get cleaned up, you pervert. We’re going to have to talk about what just happened, and I want to do that in a more comfortable situation than in this dressing room with you looking like Smurfette.”
“Whatever you say, babygirl,” Charlotte said with a wink as her voice dropped an octave or two on the nickname. She grabbed her toiletries bag and a towel before heading to the showers, laughing at the look on Alexa’s face as she went. It would be fun teasing the other woman if this is how easy it was.
Alexa watched Charlotte head towards the showers. She knew that the voices from her past would continue to try to push her down the path the Fiend had shown her all those years ago. They would try to convince her that she wasn’t good enough and that she was better off alone, ruthlessly ruling the locker room. Not too long ago, she would’ve given in to those voices and probably would’ve joined the Wyatt Sicks. But with Charlotte now firmly at her side and the promise of something new on the horizon, Alexa was sure she could hold those voices off a little longer. She had always believed that she was in charge of her destiny, and now it was time to make good on that belief.