Shield One Shots (WWE)

Gone

What happens when Dean and Roman find out why Seth left them? What happens if they find out a little too late?

Warning* This is dark. Read at your own risk.

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Dean sat on the couch of the small hotel room he and Roman were sharing for the night, staring blankly up at the ceiling in boredom. The clock was minutes away from striking midnight, but due to the hectic schedule his sleeping patterns were all out of whack, leaving him with nothing else to do but look at the painted streaks above him while Roman flipped through TV channels.

"What time do we need to be up tomorrow?" Dean asked. Roman stopped staring at the television and turned to face his best friend.

"I think six thirty," Roman replied. Dean let out a groan. "Is your shoulder any better?"

Dean gently touched his healing, dislocated shoulder. "A bit. Still hurts like hell. Didn't expect any different coming from him, though," Dean said, referring to their former partner in crime, Seth Rollins. Even thinking of the kid made venom form in his veins.

"Don't move it, then," Roman said, wanting to change the subject. Dean nodded and went back to examining the ceiling.

When it was a minute away from twelve, Roman and Dean both heard the buzzing of their cellphones. Dean picked his up first, for his was lying on his stomach. He saw a text message from an unknown number, although the digits had been memorized in his head for two years. The digits of a contact that had been deleted in a fit of rage weeks ago.

"It's him," Dean said, unlocking his phone. "Think it's a group text. Want me to delete it?"

"No, see what he wants," Roman said, still scrolling through the TV guide. "If it's some dumb apology or a threat then delete it."

Dean opened up the thread and saw that his assumptions had been correct about the group text. He was quite surprised, though, to see the content of the text sent by the group's former architect.

Hey, I know neither of you want to talk to me, but I wanted to clear the air before it's all over. I wanted you guys to hate me. That way, it wouldn't hurt as much when you had to let me go. Goodbye. -Seth

"What the hell?" Dean said to himself. Roman turned his attention to Dean.

"What'd it say?" Roman asked.

"Look at your thread, he sent it to you too," Dean said. As Roman opened up his own phone, he reread the text again, studying the words over and over.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roman asked. "Is this his cheap attempt at trying to apologize?"

"No, it sounds a lot like-" Dean stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes widening. "It sounds a lot like a suicide note."

Roman rolled his eyes. "A suicide note? Really?"

Dean got up off the couch and walked over to the door. "I don't know, but we might as well check it out. If this is all some stupid prank, then we can just beat him to a pulp. Come on, his rooms only a few floors above us."

Roman didn't look pleased. The last thing he really wanted to do was talk to Seth, but knew that Dean wasn't about to change his mind. The powerhouse walked over to the lunatic fringe and the two left for the elevators. Once getting to the floor they knew Seth was staying on (It was originally going to be the one all three of them stayed on together), they made way to his hotel room. Roman knocked on the door.

"Seth, open up the door," he said. The two waited for a few moments, only to get no response. Roman banged harder on the wood. "Seth, this isn't funny, open up the damn door." Once again, they were only met with silence. By now, Roman was practically pounding on the door. "Seth Rollins, open up this damn door or else I will break it down!"

When they were still met with nothing, Roman started to crash his body weight against the thin wood. Dean couldn't help but feel worried for their former teammate now. Sure, Seth had betrayed them, but that didn't mean Seth wasn't still practically his brother. He had been for two years and nothing could change that. Then, the loud noise of the doorframe falling over brought him out of his thoughts. Roman nodded towards the opening. "You first."

Dean stepped over the now crushed door and into Seth's hotel room, only to see what a true mess it really was, even with the lights off. Clothes were thrown everywhere, the TV had some random show blaring out of it, and there were bottles of whisky all over the premises. But no Seth. Dean wondered around the room, trying to see if maybe Seth had just had too much to drink and was passed out somewhere on the floor, only to be mistaken.

Roman walked in after him and noticed the small bit of light shining through the bottom of the bathroom door. He gently turned the knob to open the door, only to gasp at the sight that was on the inside.

Seth was sprawled out on the floor, his hair messily scattered on the tile and his limbs thrown at random angles. His eyes were peacefully closed shut and the only things on his body were a pair of pajama pants and his black Shield vest, which was opened up to expose his chest, almost as if he'd thrown it on in a haste. Right next to his pale hand was a bottle of red wine and an open bottle of pain killers. Tears stained his cheeks and his breathing looked almost... nonexistent.

"No," Roman managed to whisper out as he fell down on the floor next to Seth. He crawled over to his former tag team partner and put his hand over his heart. There was a pulse, a small pulse, but it was fading quickly. He then heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Roman, what-" Dean walked into the bathroom and saw the same scene as Roman. His eyes beamed with shock as he quickly kneeled down next to Roman and Seth. "No. No no no no no," He repeated to himself over and over again. "I-Is he... dead?"

"No," Roman said, caressing Seth's head and placing it in his lap. "But his pulse is so low that he'll be gone any minute."

"No, we have to help him," Dean exclaimed. "Call 911, damn it! He's gonna be fine, we just have to-"

"Dean!" Roman yelled. "There's no point!" He looked into his younger partner's eyes, quickly regretting snapping at him as he saw the hurt build up in his eyes. "Dean, I'm sorry, but we have to be realistic. We don't know when he did this," Roman couldn't help as tears formed in his eyes, "and I don't want him to die in a hospital bed."

Dean felt his own emotions threaten to bubble over and he weakly nodded. He looked down at Seth, whose chest was barely even rising anymore. "How long was he planning this? D-Did you know that he was like this?"

Roman looked down at Seth as well, brushing a few stray hairs away from his pale facial features. "N-No. I didn't." Dean squeezed his eyes shut as he let water stream down his cheeks.

"He betrayed us because he thought that it wouldn't affect us if he killed himself?" Dean asked himself. "Does he not understand that by leaving he just made it worse?! Seth, you asshole!" Dean was practically sobbing now. Roman didn't blame him and just continued to watch Seth's breathing. It was dangerously slow.

"I think he's almost gone," Roman said. Dean stopped yelling and looked over at the other Shield members. Without really thinking, he gently took Seth's hands in his.

"Well then," Dean cleared his throat and tried to talk without his voice cracking. "S-Seth, you were my best friend, my brother, my partner, my worst enemy, everything. I-I had no idea that stuff like this was b-bothering you, and if I had known I promise I would have tried to help you. You've got to believe me, Seth. I know you're asleep, I-I just want you to know that... I-I love you."

Roman nodded along with Dean's words and brought one his hands out from under Seth's head to grab Dean's neck, forcing their foreheads to meet. Together, they let tears slip from their eyes as they listened to the faint breathing of Seth Rollins, before it ceased to exist. Roman let go of Dean and placed his hand over Seth's heart, feeling for a pulse.

"He's- He's g-gone," Roman said, dropping his head so that it rested against Seth's. He heard the roar rip from Dean's throat as the two remaining Shield members mourned their now fallen brother.