The lights went down, the music pumped through the sound system. A haunting voice intoning the words "Be ready" was drowned out by the adoring fans.
A circle of fire arose from out of nothingness, the cheers increased … some blood was spewed. It was a typical entrance for the Brood. Tonight, Gangrel and Shane McMahon would face off against Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man. Edge, Christian, Test, and The Rock would accompany their respective teammates. The corporate members received a less than friendly welcoming from the Toronto crowd. At around the twenty-minute mark in the match, Public Enemy managed to find the strength to drag their overweight carcasses down to the ringside area. Shane and Gangrel paid them no heed as a suddenly united group of Corporation and Brood members attacked the Philadelphia natives. They had no chance in hell of winning.
As Test held one of the portly members for Christian, the younger member of the Brood struck with a vicious drop kick. While Public Enemy fled in terror, the brothers went back to their corner. Before he could take two steps, Test spun Christian around by the shirt and drew back a fist. Not expecting the action, Christian barely avoided the blow and delivered on of his own. The referee, who had just declared Shane and Gangrel the winners, moved in between the combatants and someone slugged him for his efforts. Suddenly, a blow caught Christian in the back of the head. Test capitalized on the opportunity, kicking the Intercontinental Champion in the ribs. Christian barely got a glimpse of his brother's enraged face before his fist struck again.
The youngest member of the Brood bolted upright, not quite suppressing a scream. He coughed quietly, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Despite his being as subtle as possible, Edge woke up. "Christian, are you all right?" The voice was full of concern, but the younger brother backed away involuntarily. Through the darkness of the hotel room, Christian missed the pained look that crossed over his brother's face. "What's wrong?" Edge asked, managing to keep his tone steady. "Nothing," Christian stammered, "just a nightmare. A dream, I'm fine. Go back to sleep." Neither brother got any sleep after that.
Shane and Gangrel instantly noticed the change in the brothers the next night. Christian seemed jumpy around his brother, always staying just out of arm's reach. He didn't want to be alone with him either. The slightest move from Edge tensed Christian up visibly. It was like he was expecting a physical attack. Edge seemed disturbed by his brother's behavior, though he tried not to let it show. Shane picked up on the concerned stares in Christian's direction when he thought no one was looking.
Christian and Gangrel left for a moment. Shane took the opportunity to lean close to Edge. "What's up with Christian?" The European champion whispered. "I've never seen him this freaked out before." "This hasn't happened since we were kids." Edge murmured, all but forgetting he wasn't alone. "It only happened a couple of times, but it was never directed at me. He'd get fidgety around friends of ours. As far as I know, this should blow over in a day or so." "Do you want me to keep an eye on him for you?" There was genuine concern in Shane's voice and Edge found it touching. Christian and the younger McMahon had really developed a bond since both being forced to work for his father. What the two grapplers hadn't noticed was that Christian had just walked into the doorway. "I'm fine, guys." He assured them with a wan grin. "Really, there's no need to worry, nothing's wrong with me." As he backed away from the apartment, Christian let out a ragged sigh. They didn't suspect a thing, not even Gangrel. This was one thing the wrestler didn't want anyone to know. Christian's dreams always came true.
He had been able to predict his parents' car accident, meeting Gangrel, and when Kane had almost set them on fire. They had all happened exactly as he had dreamed them. No way to stop it, no way to change it. No one had ever believed him that's why he stopped telling. They called it coincidence. Christian knew that his nightmare was going to come true soon enough; they always happened within a week. He couldn't understand why Edge was going to do this. For that matter, why didn't Gangrel or Shane stop him? Were they in on it? Christian suddenly found himself reviewing his actions over the past couple of weeks to see if he had done something to deserve this treatment. Nothing stuck out in his mind. "Christian!" The young man tensed up as Shane's voice called to him across the hallway. "Are you coming or not?" Christian nodded across the hallway, signaling that he'd be there in a minute. Shane McMahon had become accustomed to the Gothic Lifestyle in a short amount of time.
At first, his attempts to fit in had been almost laughable, but as time went on, he soon learned the subtleties of the lifestyle. Now he fit in as one of their own. Christian sat with his back to his teammates, nursing a drink. When Gangrel's hand touched his shoulder, the younger man literally jumped out of his chair, his breath catching in his throat. "What have you been drinking?" The vampire asked his tone light, but with an underlying note of concern. "Drinking?" Christian echoed. "Nothing, I wasn't drinking anything, really. Really, everything's cool, no reason to worry." Gangrel frowned at him, but said nothing.
On their way to their hotel room, Christian noticed Edge's distracted air. His concern for his brother overriding his other emotions prompted the Intercontinental champion to ask him what was wrong. "Besides worrying about you?" Christian flinched as though the words had been a physical blow. He had spent the past three days trying to figure why his brother was going to attack him, that he hadn't noticed Edge's concern. "Some brother I am." Christian muttered gloomily.
"What's going on with you?" Edge asked, trying to curb his frustration. When Christian got into this mindset, getting him to talk was as easy as performing brain surgery with a soupspoon. "You'd never believe me if I told you." Christian retorted, feeling the need to go on the offensive. "Try me," his older brother replied, not taking the bait. Edge knew him far too well to fall for that. A childhood memory suddenly surfaced. "I did try." Christian shot back. "You didn't believe me then, and you won't believe me now. You never do anyway. Not even Fang Boy would back me on this." Edge started at the words, unable to think of anything to say. Christian only referred to Gangrel as 'Fang Boy' when he was seriously angry. What was going on with him?
Two hours later found the brothers' silent, each caught up in their own thoughts. Edge was staring at the ceiling, trying to find the cause for his brother's behaviour. I did try, Christian's words floated back to him. You didn't believe me then, and you won't believe me now. You never do anyway. Not even Fang Boy would back me on this. The gothic warrior mulled over the words, trying to pinpoint their meaning. Christian was more laid back, but he didn't like to rely on riddles to get his message across. "No," Edge whispered as memory suddenly flooded back. "It can't be."
FOUR YEARS AGO
Christian walked up to his brother, agitation evident on his face. "Something bad is going to happen." He proclaimed grimly. "What are you talking about this time?" His brother asked nonchalantly. "David's going to fall from that tree." Christian pointed to a nearby maple. "And he's going to break his arm." "You've been watching too many psychic hotline commercials lately." Edge scoffed. The younger brother was dead serious. "Fine, don't believe me. I'll be proven right, I always am." "You're definitely not lacking in self confidence." Edge chuckled. "You've had this kind of vision before?" "Not a vision," Christian corrected. "It was a dream. I've had them since I was a kid." "Yeah right," Edge muttered. "You'll understand soon enough." Christian's voice took on a strange inflection.
PRESENT
Edge sat upright, startling his brother. Christian flicked on a lamp, wondering if his brother had figured out what he meant. "You had one of those dreams again, didn't you?" Edge's words were soft and compassionate, a tone not even Gangrel had heard before. "Took you long enough to figure that out," there was no malice in Christian's voice. "What happened, did it have something to do with me?" Christian nodded; swallowing passed the lump in his throat. "Oh, it had a whole hell of a lot to do with you. Namely, you and Test kicking the crap out of me." "What?" Edge demanded, bolting to a standing position. "No way, that's impossible." "That's what you said when I told you about the car accident." There was no emotion in Christian's voice, though he did shrink away from Edge's outburst. "Tell me everything that happened." Edge ordered, sitting back down. Neither brother could think of an explanation for the dream, which is ultimately why they called Gangrel and Shane in for their opinions on the matter.
"This is too crazy to believe." Shane muttered in shock. "Believe it," Christian snapped. "I've never been wrong, right down to the clothes everyone was wearing." "When will this happen?" Gangrel queried. "Within a week of the dream." Edge supplied. "We've got about four days left." "I didn't get a good look at the banner, but it will either be on Raw or on Heat, definitely in Toronto. There were some signs that said so." All the colour drained from Shane's face. "Raw is going to be live in Toronto this week. I got it arranged for you guys." Edge tossed Shane a quick yet grateful smile. The smile was grateful for two reasons. One, it would be nice to get back home and secondly, they now had a timeframe to work from.
The next few days for the Brood were extremely tense. They didn't want to separate, nor did they want to stay too close to each other. Breaking their usual tradition, Edge and Gangrel stayed in one room while Christian and Shane split in the adjoining one. When Raw started, Christian kept glancing over his shoulder. Shane's muscles were visibly tensed while Gangrel and Edge barely managed to look like everything was normal. "Here goes everything." The lights went down, the music pumped through the sound system. A haunting voice intoning the words "Be ready" was drowned out by the adoring fans. A circle of fire arose from out of nothingness, the cheers increased … some blood was spewed.
It was a typical entrance for the Brood. Tonight, Gangrel and Shane McMahon would face off against Ken Shamrock and The Big Boss Man. Edge, Christian, Test, and The Rock would accompany their respective teammates. The corporate members received a less than friendly welcoming from the Toronto crowd. With an eerie sense of timing, Christian turned around to meet Public Enemy and suplexed Johnny Grunge before he even had a chance to look surprised. Shane and Gangrel paid them no heed as a suddenly combined group of Corporation and Brood members attacked the Philadelphia natives. They had no chance in hell of winning.
As Test held one of the portly members for Christian, the younger member of the Brood struck with a vicious drop kick. While Public Enemy fled in terror, the brothers went back to their corner. Before he could take two steps, Test spun Christian around by the shirt and drew back a fist. Not the least bit surprised by the action, Christian avoided the blow and delivered on of his own. During the brawl, Edge and Christian had lost sight of each other. The stooges capitalized on the opportunity, throwing a handful of salt into Edge's eyes. Completely blinded, the Enigma swung wildly, taking out both stooges in a single blow. He clawed at his eyes, desperate to get the offending substance out of his eyes. Edge stumbled forward, not aware that he was walking towards his brother, who was in the middle of his own battle. Christian felt rather than heard his brother approaching.
No way to stop it, no way to change it. He prepared himself for a blow from behind. It never came. Christian incapacitated Test long enough to look around at his brother. Edge was still struggling, but Shane, and now Gangrel, were talking to him, trying to calm him down. For a moment only Shane was talking to Edge, Gangrel watched his back, fighting off an infuriated Ken Shamrock. After about six minutes, a legion of referees came out to break up the fight. Christian and Test were the last two to break apart. "This isn't over!" Test called out furiously. The young Goth nodded his acceptance of the challenge. But that was a battle for another time.
As Shane McMahon took to clearing the salt away from Edge's eyes, the Enigma noticed his brother's despondent stance. "I should have trusted you." The question answered before he had a chance to ask. Edge nodded his forgiveness. His eyes were still red and puffy and red from the salt, but at least he could see. "It could have happened to any of us." Shane offered. The brothers looked at him. "Your dreams come true too?" Christian asked, genuinely interested. Edge chuckled as Shane sputtered to answer.
THE END?