amy :3

— — —

previously in the night, sami had two backstage segments. one with cody & aleister/zelina, the other with trick. in the first, cody and him get into an argument regarding his championship win. it isn’t meant to be a fight, but in sami’s current state everything seems to be a fight.

and as it seems to be for sami, everytime he’s arguing with cody, he says something he shouldn’t say.

“i look up to randy orton!” he says, with conviction in his tone as he stares back at cody, “i don’t look up to you.”

however, sami doesn’t believe this is wrong to say, because it makes sense in his mind. cody is his friend, his equal, so he’s allowed to say his piece and talk to him normally.

when cody fires back, he doesn’t understand why he’s upset by it. cody isn’t a wwe legend, not like randy. he’s just his friend. not someone to look up to. he’s not a fourteen time world champ, he’s not someone who’s guaranteed into the hall of fame. he’s just cody, and that’s okay.

cody doesn’t like that thought.

“you don’t look up to me. well, you don’t need to. just look right here,” cody pats the title mockingly, glaring at him with an animosity sami hasn’t seen before.

that’s when it clicks in his head. as cody leaves, sami realises that saying that made his friend think he hated him, that he didn’t inspire him. cody has inspired sami, many times. just because he doesn’t look up to him doesn’t mean he hates him.

anger floods him, so he has to hit something before he hurts someone he doesn’t want to hurt. his heart sinks and it makes him so frustrated because he doesn’t want to be like this. the way he’s acting reminds him of someone he can’t face, not anymore.

that’s when he hears footsteps.

aleister black and zelina vega, standing like they know exactly what he’s thinking. maybe they do. if they did, he wishes they’d tell him. then maybe he could actually stop these horrific thoughts in his head. something is said, but the words don’t reach his ears. he just knows his ears are ringing and the world is spinning.

“you need to stay far .. far away from me,” sami’s voice is so close to trembling, he stands his ground. “do you understand?”

when aleister doesn’t respond, he feels himself get angrier. so he takes his leave as fast as he can. he can barely hear himself think when he’s in the next corridor. that’s why we don’t see him until just before the last match of the night.

sami, despite himself, knows that this anger won’t go anywhere unless he directs it somewhere. so he goes to find someone who’s been a factor of his pain for weeks. trick williams, who thankfully had a match tonight.

he just needs to insult him, to even get rid of some of his rage, no matter how small. so he does. runs his mouth, unlike how he usually stays quiet. he lets trick know exactly what he’s been thinking for so long.

“i know that feeling very well. you’re embarrassed,” he sneers, inching closer to trick as he speaks. “and you should be.”

trick clocks him, as he usually does, knowing exactly why sami’s here. for a fight. even with no true response from him aside from an empty threat, the canadian needs someone to fight, so he keeps berating him. as the man leaves, sami prays trick will drop him next week so he has something to focus on.

he stays there for a few minutes, alone. just until he hears cody’s music hit. he needs to breathe without thinking about other people, even just for a moment. every breath he makes is shaky, his grip on the crate desperate.

while he thinks on it, his behavior grows increasingly familiar. the anger, the need to fight, all of it points to one person in particular. someone he hadn’t seen or spoken to in a full year, yet he haunted his life regardless.

kevin owens.

a man he loved, much more than he ever told him. twenty whole years they had together and it made him appreciate him much more than any man before him. or, he hoped so. if another man loved kevin as much as he did, he’s not sure he’d get a chance with him.

sami knows he’s acting like him. knows it so well, his heart is starting to panic. thinking about him for any longer than a minute usually causes him to panic, stumble over himself. he’s sure if kevin knew, he’d use it against him in some way. that or he’d just laugh, looking at him smugly like he knows exactly what he’s doing to him.

the familiar sting of cody’s music makes him jump, run his hands through his hair and make his way to gorilla. when he does, him and randy are sitting together at the table, talking. it’s normal, so sami zones out, leaning against the wall as he does.

a smile almost makes its way onto his lips.

but when he hears the slam of a head onto a table, he knows peace is a foreign concept for him. his eyes find the screen again, watching as randy destroys a helpless cody. cody who mumbles his name, asking why through horrified gasps of pain. sami knew they were together. so he doesn’t understand why randy would do that.

he watches as officials move out, watches as cody starts to bleed, as randy humiliates him even further. it’s a horrible scene, he doesn’t want to look. but he can’t seem to drag his eyes away from it as cody lays in randy’s arms, looking up at him like he hung the stars.

the scene reminds him of something.

the nxt title, finally in his grasp. sami reaches for kevin, leaning his forehead against his and smiling, trying to share his moment with the love of his life. his entire body is shaking as his boyfriend grins at him, using an arm to support him as they walk down the ramp together. it’s picture perfect, he never would heve asked for anything better.

until a sharp slam hits his back. the title is ripped off him, all signs of his achievement removed and replaced by a horrific feeling of betrayal. before he can fully comprehend whats happening, he’s been grabbed violently by kevin and his legs are on his shoulders.

he can barely breathe when he’s thrown into the side of the ring like a ragdoll. eyes, dazed and hazy, search kevin’s face for something, anything to show remorse. but he’s turned away. ran away from him. sami tries to pull himself up, reach for him, beg for forgiveness when he din’t even know what he had done. the medics push him down.

pain is all he sees after that.

a gasp escapes his lips when he refocuses. gorilla is empty, aside from him and maybe some tech people, but the screen is on. randy has a chair held above cody, ready to strike a final time against his lover. his expression mirrors one he’s seen before.

sami looks away. he hears the crash, he can’t look at it. it hurts too much to see his friend (maybe, he isn’t sure right now) differ a fate he had so many times from the same man who always delivers it. randy was someone he looked up too, sure, but not for this.

even if, deep down, he has a feeling that cody might deserve it.

the thought terrifies him. his whole body trembles as his legs carry him out of gorilla, taking him to grab his things then get out of there as fast as he can before he has to see cody or randy at all. they remind him too much of his own past and his own horrific feelings relating to this massacre.

sami doesn’t sleep much that night.

Kevin didn’t think his life could get any worse after he lost all of his money. Being sent into debt post WWE shutting down was terrible for all talent, but especially him. He was at a loss, alone without anybody to grin at or make fun of.

Until a card slipped under his door, and that led him here. All the way back to Sami.

It frustrated him, how much Sami is in his life. At first, he didn’t understand it. Why this man couldn’t get out of his life, no matter the circumstances of it all.

But this was the worst place they had found themselves in. He knew that for a fact. Probably even worse than the unsanctioned matches they had all those years ago.

Being in a place like this with Sami was counterintuitive, either way. He made friends, introduced him to said friends, smiled at everyone. He played social, it seemed. Something Kevin wasn’t very good at. Especially in a place where everyone you became friends with would die eventually. So what was the point?

All of his new friends were okay. Jey, Jimmy, Solo. They were all nice enough, not too close by any means. Easy to get rid of, if it came down to it. People who had pissed him off in the past, but he could look past it for Sami.

But there was one that stuck out to him.

Roman Reigns. He knew Roman, much better than he wanted to know Roman. He hasn’t forgotten all of their fights that led to blood coating the floors. Hasn’t forgotten all of the things he did to the people he loved. And he definitely hasn’t forgotten how Roman beat Sami within an inch of his life in his home town all those years ago.

Kevin resists the urge to throttle him when he nudges Sami slightly. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as him, let alone touch him. It makes him glad to know they all can’t survive, just so he can kill Roman himself when the time comes.

It won’t be now, though. He knows from the second the rules are announced it won’t be.

“For this game, you will be playing in teams of two,” The woman on the speakers says in that irritating voice that won’t leave his brain. “When you have found your partner, please shake their hand to show that you have became partners. You will have ten minutes to do this.”

The ticking starts. Kevin immediately turns to Sami, curse him, who looks right back at him. He can’t help but crack a smile.

“Hey,” He says. “Sure you don’t want to team with any of your new friends?”

Sami rolls his eyes, holding his hand out to him. “It’s life or death, Kev. I barely know them. But I know you. And I know you’d do anything to keep yourself alive, so …”

“So I’d keep you alive, too. Yeah, yeah, let’s team up.”

He shakes his hand firmly. In the corner of his eye, he sees that the twins have already done the same. Roman seems to be struggling to find a partner. Kevin can’t help but chuckle.

“Let’s just hope we’re not against anybody we know,” Sami murmurs. “I don’t think I could do it if I was up against Seth and Becky.”

He knows he couldn’t, either.

That’s the one pair he couldn’t face, no matter what.

———————————

They walk into the game room to find an orange tinted row of houses. It’s like a maze, almost. From beside him, Sami seems to be interested in all of the turns and twists it provides. He can see it on his face.

After being put in their spot, a small sandy place with some stairs nearby, they’re given two bags of marbles. Kevin vividly remembers them playing marbles together in college as a joke, trying to see whoever could beat the other the most times.

Sami had won, but only because Kevin let him.

“… seven, eight, nine, ten! Yeah, I have ten. Kev, what about you?” Sami asks, poking his bag.

He doesn’t need to check, he’s sure it’s ten. He nods with a faint grin. “I got ten. Ready to beat these guys?”

Before Sami can properly reply, the buzz of the intercom interrupts their thoughts.

“In this game, using your set of ten marbles, you will play the game of your choice with your partner.”

A pause follows. Deliberate. Kevin tenses slightly.

“The player who manages to take all ten marbles from their partner wins.”

Oh.

Oh.

One of them has to die.

No matter what happens here, one of them is going to die because of the other.

All because of some stupid marble game.

Kevin, very slowly, turns to look at Sami, who seems to have frozen up from the realisation that he just had. Maybe it was foolish, to assume they’d be kind enough to let them be partners for once.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens worked much better against each other.

That was the rule of thumb. It’s a shame how these things tend to play out, isn’t it?

“You have thirty minutes to complete the game.”

Then she buzzes out.

The timer ticks. Sami hasn’t moved an inch. His brain must be moving at a hundred miles an hour, trying to piece together a way they can both live. It’s almost sweet. Well, it would be if they were anywhere else. But they aren’t.

They’re here.

And one of them has only thirty minutes left to live.

“Sami,” Kevin starts, tapping his shoulder softly. The man snaps to look at him, eyes soft and desperate. “Breathe. We’ve got time, just breathe.”

He opens his arms, and his friend practically falls into them, clutching onto the fabric of his jumpsuit for dear life. A sniffle follows, then he feels the tears. It’ll stain, they won’t replace his jumper, but he can’t seem to care. Sami’s head tilts up to look at him, and he feels like they’re back in the indies, just two people with dreams to make it to the top but nothing to get them there.

And he hates how much he wants to cry right now. Hates it, because he knows he can’t. Sami needs support, and if he needs support, Kevin can’t give him that if he’s a crying mess.

“I’m sorry,” Sami manages to squeak out. “I wish it didn’t have to end.”

Kevin blinks. “Like this?”

“No. No, no, I never wanted us to end. Kev, I can’t let go of you, no matter what I do,” A hand reaches up to wipe away a tear, but it finds its way to Kevin’s face. “If I had a choice, I’d be fighting you for the rest of my life.”

Oh. Right, of course.

A sigh escapes his lips. It’s shaky. “Sami, you’re making it really hard not to cry right now. Spare me, just this once.”

“I have more to say. It’s gonna get worse from here, Kev,” Sami lets a breathy laugh fall. “I don’t think there’s ever been a moment I haven’t loved you. Ever. Not even when you destroyed me at Elimination Chamber, not even after you told me you never wanted to see me again. And I think I always will love you, no matter what you do here.”

Kevin feels a tear drop down his cheek. Sami wipes it off with ease. “I love you, habibi. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

And as he pulls him closer into a hug fuelled with so many unsaid emotions, he finally gets it. Why they’ve never been apart for very long, why they never manage to leave each other alone, why they’re always fighting by the end of it all.

It’s not hate.

It’s devotion.

Love, wrapped in a barbed wire chair and so much blood. Far too much, if you asked Kevin.

He hates that he didn’t see it until now. Until they’re left together, a mess of emotions until one of them has to die.

He hates that him and Sami didn’t get to have a life together.

The timer ticks down. Twenty minutes left. That’s how long they have? To live an eternity in barely a half hour, to learn everything they should have learned over the past years. God, it hurts him to even think.

“I love you, too,” He whispers, as if the words are sacred. “I have since NXT. But, it really hit me at Wrestlemania 39. Winning the tag titles, in the main event, with you?”

He pauses. Sami looks up to him, eyes focused on him. And as he opens his mouth to speak, lips cut off his entire thought process.

It feels almost euphoric, how he tastes like cinnamon and he’s so unbelievably good at it that it almost knocks Kevin off his feet. Sami is kissing him, and through his tears he lets the moment last. His partner’s arm comes to cradle his back, Kevin’s moves to hold his face. They’re so close, so unwilling to let go that it felt like a dream come true.

Maybe it was a dream.

Maybe he’d wake up, know what the game was, and save them from this.

If only he could.

They part for air, foreheads resting against each other as they tend to do. Touch keeps both of them grounded, he’s sure. That’s why Sami reached for him after his NXT title win, and after they won the tag titles and even after he won the Intercontinental title.

A dry laugh escapes Kevin’s lips. “How did I ever live without you?”

“I’ve been asking myself the same question for years. Keep up, Kev.”

That makes him smile. Even just a little. And it really clicks for him. Sami has to live. No matter what happens here, it’s Sami who has to make it out. He always knew Sami would win in the end.

“What’s the plan, then? Are we just … waiting till time runs out?” Kevin asks, even though he’s already coming up with a plan to trick Sami into winning.

Sami sighs, nervous hands twitching on his back. “I don’t want to die. But, I think I’d be okay with it if I was with you.”

And Kevin would be too, if he didn’t know how good Sami was to the world. A beacon of light, he’d describe him as. Someone who would always be kind to others, always be there for them.

Not like Kevin.

He couldn’t get anybody to like him if he tried. Too violent, too cruel.

That’s why he fought so much.

And he’d be damned if he didn’t fight for Sami to live this time.

Time ticks again, fifteen on the clock. Barely any time at all. He hears a shot, watches his partner flinch as it hits. He’s not ready to die, he can tell.

Is he?

Leaving people he loved, like Sami or Seth/Becky (depending which one lives), would be hard. He’s always known he’d leave eventually. So he’s really been preparing for his whole life. A shame, really. Maybe if he lived happier he’d be fighting more. But he’s not. Not now.

While Sami’s distracted by the timer, he picks up his bag, and puts his own marbles inside the bag. It might be risky to do that now, but he can’t find it in himself to care. He doesn’t want to force Sami to wait.

Kevin puts the two bags in his pockets, turning to his partner one last time. This is it. Sami moves forward, slowly, tilting his head slightly.

“Kevin.”

The tone is warning, not what he expected. Kevin squints at him.

“What?”

Sami exhales. Moves closer, so that their chests are together.

“You seriously don’t think I’m that stupid, do you?”

Kevin hisses. Shit, what does he think he was trying to do? Kill him? No, no, he’d never.

”Sami, that’s not what I —”

When he looks back up, his partner has stepped back. He’s holding the empty bag with a smile. No. No, what?

“Did you seriously think I’d let you kill yourself for me?”

Kevin feels like his heart is being ripped out of his chest. He grabs Sami’s collar, yanking him forward. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”

“Saving your life. Let me, please.”

The guard situated nearby walks over, as if on command, cocking the gun to take the one thing he couldn’t lose. It points at Kevin first, and he almost wants to punch Sami so he’ll win instead.

But the redhead just pushes him back softly and turns to the guard, holding his empty pouch. “I lost. It’s over, Kevin — Player 210 wins.”

The guard nods.

The gun is raised.

Kevin stares.

“Just …” Sami sniffles, voice shaky. “Make sure you win for me, okay?”

He tries to let him. Really, he does. But he can’t do it without one last goodbye. He runs forward, against his better judgment, knocking them both over and avoiding the gunshot all together.

A skull crushing hug follows, much more intimate than any they’ve shared. Kevin feels the tears from Sami, or himself, feels every tremor in his skin and he wishes he could imprint them into his memory forever. The matches wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would be. Not ever again.

“I love you. I’m so sorry,” Kevin manages to squeak out. Sami just smiles, kissing him one final time.

“Take your time, okay?”

Blood splatters across his face, a final cruel reminder of what’s happened. It coats his shirt, coats his face, his hair, his beard.

Everything Sami was covers him as his body slumps in his arms.

He’s gone.

Kevin’s lip trembles, hands gripping his partners lifeless body. Unwilling to let go, unwilling to let them take him no matter what.

It’s not fair.

It’s not fair.

Then he feels the cool metal of a gun hit against his head.

More gunshots follow after he hits the floor.