Famiglia (Re-Upload)

Adrianna Salvatore tapped "Tweet" with her thumb to respond to Lara Blackheart's - for lack of a better word - snide ass remarks. If her grandfather from her mother's side were alive to see this, he would have used the term "she's getting fucking fresh!" Adrianna never understood the term. Was it a form of irony? An oxymoron of some kind? Because, right now, Lara was being a rotten little bitch and Adrianna wanted to snap her over her knee. She dropped her phone into her bag. It was like a purse, but not. Adrianna just didn't want to look at her phone anymore. Not so long as Lara and those three bitches were bragging about what happened tonight. Who the fuck were they? Penelope Cassidy. Futura Soli. TyAnna Jupiter. She knew jack shit about them other than they were established from another company. That and Lara, somehow, had gotten Cassidy wrapped around her little finger. Other than that, Adrianna didn't care to know too much. At least not unless it helped with getting back at them. Adrianna pushed her bag underneath her chair with her boot and at sat back in the hard, uncomfortable chair. The room was dimly lit and silent, save for the sound of the steady beeping of the heart monitor off to her left. She looked across the room, straight ahead of her. Sitting on the couch, the screen of Angel's phone cast a somewhat eerie light on the Japanese woman's pale, narrow features. It could have been more terrifying if she'd had her hair hanging down around her face the way she did during matches. But the 5'0" woman looked like a fashion model with her platinum blonde hair up in a bun and her fur lined coat over the rest of her outfit. Legs crossed, one over the other with designer boots. Adrianna always wondered what was going on inside her head? What was she thinking? What was she doing now? Was she on social media? What did she think of all this shit going on?

Adrianna sighed under her breath and looked beside her at the girl laying in the hospital bed. Another lump formed in her throat that she had to swallow as she turned and leaned with her arms folding over the side bar of the bed. The girl that laid there. She didn't look like her little Mouse. Hooked up to monitors and IVs to keep her hydrated while she laid there, unconcious. Her head wrapped around with gauze and bandaging to cover the stitches caused from having her skull cracked on the concrete. Then there was the bruising. The deep purple splotches on her face from fists and kicks. There were even bruises on her arms. The doctors hadn't declared a coma, yet. They were just waiting for her to wake up. "I would say I'm glad you're not seeing any of the shit being said by everyone, right now." Adrianna said out loud to the sleeping girl as she reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of her finger. "But I know you will once you wake up." She didn't know what hurt more. Seeing Mia like this, or knowing that the heartbroken girl was going to wake up and be hurt even more when she saw what her ex was saying. "You probably can't even hear a word I'm saying." Adrianna sighed in defeat as she reached down and took Mia's limp hand into her own and held it, tears welling in her eyes. Adrianna fought them back, though. She refused to let herself cry anymore than she already had. Now wasn't the time for self pity. She had to be ready for next week in Knoxville. For that, she needed to clear her head. Adrianna sighed and pushed up out of her chair, leaning over Mia's bed with a hand resting ever so gently on her bandaged head. She felt like if she touched her too hard, she would break her even more.

"You know I'm not gonna let them get away with this." She said softly, under her breath. Whispering it, practically to the girl. "None of them. Even if it kills me." She stared down at Mia Hayashi in her hospital bed and how helpless and peaceful she looked. She wasn't used to quiet Mia. She wanted the energetic little motor mouth who was always bouncing around her and asking her what the difference between Forrest Whitaker and Shawn Michaels was. She forgot the punchline, but it had something to do with their lazy eye they both had. Mia wasn't cracking jokes now, though. Instead, she was laying here as vulnerable as anything. Lara's snide jokes about Mia's vulnerability came rushing back to her and Adrianna felt a surge of anger rising within her. She wouldn't be able to rest fully until she beat Lara's goddamn face in at March Misery. Until then, she was going to be here for Mia as much as she could. She needed some air, now, though.

"Hey." She said, out loud, to Angel Kusanagi. The woman lifted her head up from her phone and stared back at her from the little couch that was in the room. Adrianna was horrible at Japanese, but at least she knew how to convey the message she wanted. She pointed to Angel, then to her own eyes with two fingers, then pointed over at Mia. Angel looked at Mia for a second before nodding calmly. "Hai. O sora ku kanojo o iori shimasu. No worry." Angel said before going back to her phone. Adrianna didn't understand a word between 'hai' and 'no worry.' It was common knowledge with most people, it seemed, that 'hai' meant 'yes.' Adrianna nodded to herself, confident that Mia was alright with Angel Kusanagi keeping watch over her while she went out. She moved back over to her chair and reached down to pick up her bag. Setting it down in the chair, itself, Adrianna paused to look down at Mia as she slept. This time, she leaned in closer and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before brushing it again with her finger. "Everything's gonna be okay, Mouse...."


Mama told me when I was young
"Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this it'll help you some sunny day"

"Oh, take your time, don't live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You'll find a woman and you'll find love
And don't forget, son, there is someone up above"

Shinedown's cover of a Lynyrd Skynyrd classic played from the rental car radio as Adrianna drove the back roads of Raleigh, North Carolina to clear her head. She was never really one for big cities with noisy streets. She grew up around them so one might have thought she would have been used to them. But for her, it just meant that she was over them. She preferred quiet isolation now with her selected small circle. Like the people she hung out with now that she could found on both of her hands. After tonight, it seemed that number was going to get smaller. Driving the back roads did anything but clear her head, it seemed. Instead, it only allowed her mind to wander more about things. Things started looking as far back as before last week. But it looked like Lara's match with Erin had helped the former get out whatever pent up aggression she had. That girl keeps getting the shit end of the stick. Adrianna thought to herself about Erin. She respected NFW's Red Queen for stepping up to the plate, though when Lara started threatening the company. Everybody else, including herself, just sat back and hoped for a change. But what did sitting around and hoping ever get anyone?

Now that she thought about it, if Adrianna could have gone back in time with what she knew now, she would have stopped Erin from even making the challenge. Lara would have been gone, probably and maybe the woman she cared so deeply for wouldn't be laid up in a hospital bed, having to be watched over by a borderline, homicidal maniac. Adrianna let out a scoffing laugh as she brought her cigarette to her lips. She shouldn't have even thought that about Angel, even if it had some truth to it. Mia was the one who came dragging the woman in by the hand like she'd found a little lost puppy back when they were dealing with Max LeBrun and the Renegades. Cast aside by her manager like a piece of trash all because of a few losses strung together. He didn't want her anymore...so she and Mia took her in. Even more, Mia hadn't even been the first to approach her. It had been Max, wanting her to join the Renegades. Adrianna assumed she must have told him she'd think about it. In the end, she made her choice. She sided with her and Mouse and a strange bond had grown between them. They stuck together. They roomed as close as possible when touring with NFW. They went out together. Shit, her and Mia had even gotten to know the woman, personally, somewhat. In just the few months that they had all been The Unwanted, they had become something more than just a stable in a professional wrestling company. They had become a family. Even the boys. Adam and Jay. Adam was obnoxious and knew how to annoy the hell out of people. But he was loyal. When she and Angel followed the EMTs to the ambulance, after the locker room doors had been opened, Adam went on the hunt for Lara and her new crew. And Jay. Adrianna shook her head, in disbelief, as she thought about it. "Switchblade" Jay White. He was right there with Adam Cole, carrying the fire extinguisher he'd used to bust off the doorknob to their locker room. What did he even have to gain by running with them? Nothing, really. He was the top champion over in New Japan and here he was in NFW, running with a motley crew of degenerates.

An arrogant loudmouth, a silent woman from Japan who could send chills up a person's spine with a simple look, a wild little goofball that Adrianna was absolutely head over heels for but did a poor job of portraying it. It seemed like Mia thought all she wanted was a one night stand. Then there was her. The one some would have considered the leader of The Unwanted. Why? Because she was the biggest of the three girls there? Because she was one of the founding members? You're no leader. She told herself. We have no leaders. If anyone of them was a leader, it was Mia. The morale of the group who kept everyone's spirits up. If it hadn't been for that girl during the whole incident with Keith and the Circle of Snakes...well...NFW staff probably would have been attending a funeral. Mia kept the group together. She kept her together. She kept Adrianna grounded. Whether she would ever be able to make her realize how much she really cared - how much she really loved her - she didn't know. But even if she didn't, or even if she did and it remained unrequitted, Adrianna was glad to just have Mia in her life. At least I get to check her out when she asks my opinion on a new cosplay gear for a match. Adrianna thought with a sad smile as she drove. But now, that anchor that kept her grounded was laid up in a hospital bed, possibly fighting to wake up. She better wake up, Lara. Or it's gonna be a lot worse for you. She thought, gripping the steering wheel, tightly. Adrianna had checked social media on her way out of the hospital, to the car. Lara's response stayed there in her mind.


She shook her head in disgust. That was all she cared about. Having a gold plated strap and making life miserable for anybody who didn't bow down and kiss her feet. Or drool over her in her little party dresses. Like that was going to make her father proud, wherever he was watching from? Your father's probably rolling in his goddamn grave, right now, you little bitch. Adrianna said, tossing her cigarette butt out of the window and lighting up another one. Adrianna valued her championship reign while it had lasted because it proved to herself one thing: she was the best at what she did and seven other people couldn't hold a candle to her. To her, it seemed like Lara Blackheart wanted the belt only because she felt it would cement her legacy. The sad thing was, it would, today. It seemed like the championship made the wrestler, nowadays. Not the other way around back when her father was younger than she was now, watching old stars on TV. Her father. Adrianna felt a bitter taste in her mouth and dragged on her cigarette to get rid of it. You knew. You goddamn son of a bitch. You knew. And because of his twisted loyalty to Judas Lasher and the Dominion of Pain, her father never even gave her a heads up. He had to be cryptic. And Nico. Her brother. Her own goddamn twin brother who was supposed to be tight as anything with her. He was backing Lara on this? Really? Her pussy good but it wasn't that great. Adrianna could speak from experience. The thought, now, made her skin crawl. It hurt, though, honestly. That she realized that her father and brother were choosing them over blood. Maybe she was selfish for thinking that way. Maybe not. Or did they still hold a grudge against her for the Circle of Snakes bit? I mean, hello? Manipulation? You all would know, hanging around Judas fucking Lasher! Maybe manipulation was the wrong word to use. Judas and Keith definitely had something in common, though, in that they could talk to you and get you to believe what they said.

Adrianna's text tone went off and snapped her from her thoughts. She watched the road as she dug into her bag for her phone. When she felt it, she pulled it out and checked the lock screen. It was from Angel.

Shelley here

Shelley Silver was at the hospital. Good. Adrianna put her phone down in the center console tray and took the next turn around, heading back towards the hospital. She probably came to check on Mia, the sweetheart that she was. Shelley Silver. Girl, did you and I have a fucking war, or what? Just last year, her and Shelley would have probably fought at the sight of one another due to everything going on. And now? Now...well... Shit, Shell. You're my family, too.... Her entire family was at the hospital now, in one room. They were all she needed, she decided. To hell with anyone else.