Chapter 37: It's Cold Outside

It was crazy in many ways on how things came full circle. Started out with the least wrestling experience of the Shield, and became the first man of that trio to main event WrestleMania. All of his hard work, dedication, and tireless effort he put in to hone his craft and get to the level he was at now to succeed, was unbelievable. If you ask Roman Reigns though, that was just the usual for him.

April 4, 2015: The Funeral of Sasha Banks

A cold, misty and rainy day suited the mood just right for the many family members, friends, and WWE superstars who were able to show up for the funeral of their fellow fallen wrestler. The circumstances surrounding the death of Sasha Banks were quite unclear to many in attendance. The only thing they knew was that when Roman had gotten back to his locker room, he found her there lying completely unconscious. No pulse or air coming out.

Completely dead, with her neck snapped like it was a twig. The inaudible roar that carried out from the mouth of Roman was the last thing anybody remembered from that night.

Roman finally pulled up in the packed parking lot, and as he got out of the car many of his WWE colleagues continuously eyeballed him as he made his way to the cemetery. The powerhouse didn't have time to address those looks, nor did he even care what exactly they thought about him. At this moment in time, nothing mattered to him anymore. The Authority had taken his pride away, they had stolen his WrestleMania moment, but most importantly they had stolen the woman he grew to love and the child she was supposed to bear.

What a cold day in hell.

The Samoan Thor quickly spotted a familiar face in the crowd, and with Dean deciding not to go to the funeral due to "personal reasons"(as he had told Roman), the Samoan definitely would feel just a bit better having somebody he knew by his side. As he made eye contact with his target, the target smiled right back at him, despite the stormy conditions.

Enter Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

"Hey cousin, how you been?" Dwayne said, embracing Roman in a brief hug before they pulled apart. "Wish we could have met up again under better conditions," he added, noticing the cold and hardened look on Roman's face. The Rock had been through this thing quite a few times before; Roman was family so when he heard what had happened to his cousin, he took the next flight out of San Francisco and headed straight to Boston.

The rain started to pour down a bit heavier, knocking Roman's hair out of its bun as it fell down flat and long to the wayside, giving off the image of a brooding lone wolf. "Same here Dwayne, but I guess that's been the moral of this damn story for the past year. You know it's Authority bullshit as usual," he claimed, adjusting his black jacket. Dwayne studied the look in his cousin's eyes; nothing resided in them anymore except for cold fury.

"You might be right Roman. I noticed myself that the police in every city seem to be turning a blind eye to Hunter and his family's activities. Must have their noses shoved so far up the Game's ass that their noses are turning brown," the Great One chuckled, but upon Roman's cold look Dwayne quickly cut the jokes. "This…thing that you had with Sasha…Roman you know damn well it's dangerous to work in the same business with someone you're in a relationship with—"

Roman got into his cousin's face, growling with a pissed off look to boot. "You don't think I know that already Rocky?! I grew up in this business as a kid just like your ass did! We're family! And our family's always had enemies, especially with the damn McMahons!" Dwayne backed off of his frustrated cousin by a few steps. He understood his emotions and wanted to sympathize, but he needed to calm his angry ass down first.

"I know our family's always had problems with those sleazebag McMahons, but don't you forget who we are exactly. We're Samoans Roman. We have island pride, and a bond that's unbreakable—" Roman cut off his cousin yet again, making Dwayne fume just a bit. "And what exactly is our family bond going to do now that Sasha is dead? And our kid we were supposed to have? Go ahead Rocky, tell me what bullshit you're cooking up in that big ass head of yours right now," he laughed in slight angst, not the least bit impressed with what his cousin was giving him.

"You are this close to getting the biggest ass whooping of your life Roman. Worse than what Brock gave you," Dwayne warned, rain starting to pour down. He was getting fed up with everything lately, and Roman's attitude wasn't going to improve a damn thing right now.

Before things could escalate out of control, the calm clapping of one Seth Rollins and Triple H invaded the family's presence. "Well damn Roman, I knew you were a hothead, but I think I'm starting to see where you get from," Seth cackled, the WWE World championship belt draped upon his shoulder as the gold glistened in the rain.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here Rollins," Roman scowled, turning his attention to his former Shield comrade. "I should rip your arms off so you can't carry that damn belt around anymore." Seth put his hands up in quick defense, trying to calm the pressure of the situation and deflect the heat off of him. "Hey now, today's not about me alright? I saw an opportunity and I took it, and now I'm champion. That's it. Right now, I'm here to pay my respects to my ex-girlfriend because we all know how wonderful of a person Sasha Banks was," Seth claimed, as he looked in the direction of the funeral gatherers who were greeting Sasha's family as they got out the hearse vehicle.

"Really now Rollins? I thought you would have been good at building and establishing relationships since you call yourself the Architect, but the only thing I think you're good at building is mountains of bullshit. You couldn't handle Sasha at her worst so you sure as hell didn't deserve to have her at her best," Dwayne cut in, raising an eyebrow at Roman's nemesis. Seth laughed obnoxiously at the Great One's comments and was met with a vicious right hand by Roman, knocking the champ into the mud.

"Alright, relax Roman, before I suspend your ass," Hunter cut in. "It's not his fault you didn't have what it took to walk out of WrestleMania as the world champion, and quite frankly, neither did he," he alluded to Dwayne, who calmly clenched his fists, ready to rip the COO of the company a new one. "That's always been the moral of the story though; the McMahons always being one step ahead of the Anoai wrestling dynasty," the Game added.

"Truthfully, I'm glad that Sasha's dead. She didn't want to follow instructions when I told her to act like a proud champion representative of the company. What does she do? She goes around and she fucks around with you, and ends up getting pregnant. Honestly, that baby would have ended up being a bastard anyway—" the COO was immediately cut off with a vicious Spear from the ruler of the Roman Empire, pounding away at the head of his boss and busting him open. Seth ran over, trying to break up the brawl, but one snap back punch from the Rock sent the Architect flying into the crowd of funeral gatherers.

Sasha's family watched on in shock as Roman hammered away with fist after fist to the face of the King of Kings, breaking Hunter's nose in the process as the blood continued to flow with the rain drenching everybody in the vicinity. "Say something else you bastard! Say that shit to my face again!" Roman roared, grabbing Hunter by his tie and wrapping it around his throat as he began to choke out the COO. "You Connecticut bastard! Say something else about Sasha and see if I don't kill you where you stand!"

Roman's thirst for revenge was taken aback and when the Big Show and Kane immediately took Roman by his arms and pinned up against the tree. Body blows and uppercuts were delivered to the powerhouse to keep his adrenaline in check as a brooding figure dressed in all black made their way towards him, and the face made Roman even angrier: Stephanie McMahon.

"How's it feel knowing that you lost a family member Roman? Not just a family member, but someone who hadn't even gotten the chance to see the light of the day. I had to go through that feeling Reigns, and now so will you!" she said, and the cold blooded McMahon slapped Roman viciously and repeatedly, until bruises began to show up on his face. "If I can't have my child, you won't either!" she screamed, until Roman headbutted her in the face, shaking loose of Kane and Show's grasp with help from his cousin the Rock, who proceeded to deliver a thunderous Rock Bottom to Big Show as lightning cackled in the gray Boston skies above.

Just as things seemed bleak for the Authority, the members of Sasha's "family" banded together, rushing over and mobbing the Rock, and holding him down to the ground just long enough for Seth Rollins to deliver a running Curb Stomp to the head of the Great One atop a tombstone. The Usos and Naomi were a part of the crowd as well, and as the Usos tried to pull the Authority's clan apart, Naomi quickly slid out a dagger from her stocking and delivered a vicious stab into the shoulder of her brother-in-law Jey Uso, who immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream and fell over in pain. Jimmy looked over to see his brother down on ground, bleeding out massively from his shoulder, as his very own wife stood over his body with a bloody dagger. "Uce! Put that shit down Yomi!" he shouted, and as he tried to superkick the dagger out of his wife's hand, Seth Rollins flew in, delivering a Curb Stomp to the fiery Uso.

Naomi proceeded to take the dagger and carve a flesh mark shaped like a heart in the middle of Jimmy's chest as he cried out in utter pain. "Try not to take this personally okay dear? I'm just doing what's in my best interest right now," she said solemnly, before letting her sad face drop in favor of a more maniacal heelish laugh. "Isn't it crazy how much she reminds me of me?" Seth laughed, walking over to the casket that was carrying Sasha's body and opening it. As Seth scanned the prone and dead body of Sasha, a shadow engulfed his in the form of Roman Reigns.

The Samoan Thor tackled Rollins, delivering thunderous uppercuts to the Architect, slamming his head through the passenger side window of the hearse vehicle, as the champ fell over, trying to retreat, blood all over his face blocking out his line of sight. With Seth out of the way, Roman quickly scanned the body of Sasha as Seth did, and his nose wrinkled in confusion.

This isn't Sasha at all, he thought to himself. Sure, this 'Sasha' had her neck snapped, but Sasha had never gotten any shoulder tattoos or on the back of her neck, which begged one question: who in the blue hell was this woman?

He never got to ponder an answer as the fake Sasha's 'family' quickly crowded Roman, holding him down as the beaten and bloodied Triple H limped towards Roman, an iron sledgehammer armed in his hand. "Before I completely bash your skull in, I just want you to know something Roman. I didn't kill Sasha, but whoever did, they have my eternal gratitude."

"Fuck you!"

Hunter delivered one of the heavy sledgehammer shots in recent memory, nailing Roman's head through the other hearse window, as he fell to the ground, completely lifeless. As Big Show carried the bleeding Usos to a grave, he tossed them inside the freshly dug hole, and Kane picked up a barely conscious Rock, chokeslamming the Great One into a grave just for him. Hunter dragged the prone body of Roman Reigns, and before tossing the Powerhouse into his grave, delivered one final Pedigree to his foe, before rolling him into his own grave.

As the rain continued to pour, Hunter started to shovel dirt into each and every freshly dug grave, until they were completely full and buried. "Finally, I can bury the last of the Samoan wrestling dynasty to rest. May you all rot in fucking hell," Hunter pronounced, delivering a signature DX crotch chop to each of the Samoans' graves as the Authority walked off, the eye of the storm now completely gone by.

And as the war zone cleared and the corporate empire sailed off into the distance, it was clear by now at this point the Authority had won. Nobody would even be able to stop them at this point. This was one ending where the bad guys won. As Scott Hall would say, good times didn't last, but bad guys do.

Or did they?

Lightning struck as a gloved fist striked up from one of the graves.

This war was far from over. In fact, it was just getting started.

Well, here we have it. We've finally reached the last chapter of Pride, and the end of Phase One. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everybody who supported this story from the very beginning and to all those who jumped along for the ride as well! It's been extremely fun writing this story for nearly over a year and from a small idea to transforming into a story that's part of a shared universe is just amazing! Do not fear, as we still have many surprises in store for the future in Phase 2! The sequel to this story is going to be called Watch The Throne, so we hope that all of you who were a part of phase One join us for phase Two with the other stories that are going to be involved as well! So again, thank you for reading everybody, and we'll see you in phase 2! And of course, don't forget you can always check out the other phase 1 stories as well as they follow.

Temptation by EloquentAngel90

Revenge by PikaSixJoy

Envy by MellyxBrooks