Another Life l Rhea Ripley x Female OC fic

Demi.

Victoria and I talked for a little while about life, I tried to avoid Demi as a topic. She seems like a really chill person, we got along well.

After a while, we had to leave for Raw. We carpooled together and went to the arena. We walked in and she said Goodbye so I could go find Paul again. I went to the office I was supposed to find and he guided me to the ring.

"The talent is going to come out, you'll introduce yourself, give a quick demonstration, and then everyone will go get ready for Raw. I got you tickets for tonight, right up front, and you are welcome backstage whenever." He was so kind to me, the people here are really welcoming.

I thanked him and walked into the ring, waiting for the talent. They started to file in, introducing themselves mo, both stage and real names. I met a lot of new people, there was Cody, Seth, Becky, Liv, Jey, and Raquel again. There were a few others but I can't remember all their names.

I was starting my introduction when another group of people walked in. They looked darker, meaner, more angry than the rest. Then I noticed they were with her. They all walked in, Demi, of course, avoided eye contact, but they stood there while I talked.

"Oi, so I'm Iris Jones, I'm a military sergeant and I'm also trained in stunt and agility work. I'm from Adelaide, South Australia. I'm 29, and I'm gonna be around for a while. Today I'm just gonna demonstrate some of the work I'll be teaching yous, so I need a volunteer." I look around the people waiting for someone to volunteer. A person in the corner raises her hand, I recognize her as Becky. "Okay, you come up here, I'll show you what to do and then I need someone else to be the opponent." I look over as someone's hand raises. It's her.

"Okay, D- Rhea. Come on up." I show Becky the move, it was an assisted flip off the top rope and then you use the momentum to throw your opponent. Becky and I went over it many times before she decided to try it. She almost had it but fell before she could land, I caught her in my arms. "No worries, I'll demonstrate myself."

I get up on the ropes, Becky reaches up to help me before she's pushed out of the way and Demi comes up to take my hand. I look at her for a second before taking her hand and doing the stunt perfectly, sending her flying across the ring. I kip up and turn to Becky. "Now it's your turn."

Becky and Demi do the stunt perfectly, I dismiss everyone and everyone goes to get ready for Raw. I find my seat in the audience and wait for the show to start. Of course Demi and her little group have to open the show. Their music hits and the walk out, all mysterious. They walk to the ring, directly in front of me before turning to face the crowd. That's when she made direct eye contact with me.

God her muscles show so well in that shirt.

I watch as they open the show, fighting a bit, calling others out. Soon they leave and the rest of the show continues. To end the show, Rhea has a match against some chick I don't think I met. Her name popped up as Natasha but it wasn't her I was watching. They had a quick but dirty match, Rhea ended up bleeding a bit from her mouth which concerned me but she didn't seem bothered. She won and walked away laughing, but something seemed off. She seemed angry, even under the laughing. Something was up.

Once the show wrapped up, I made my way backstage. I talked with some of the talent from before and kinda just explored. Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and found Becky.

"Oh, hey what's up?" I smiled at her. She was a nice person.

"I've been meaning to talk to you, when you introduced yourself you said you were from Adelaide, that's where Rhea's from, right?" She asked. I think she was just curious.

"Yea, she is."

"Did you two know each other? I mean, I see the way you two keep looking at each other and when I tried to help in the stunt earlier she pushed me out of the way. She seemed... protective, I guess."

"Uh, yea. We went to high school together, I was a few years older than her. She got drafted to WWE, I got drafted to the military, the rest is history."

"Okay, if you say so." She looked at me like she knew that wasn't the truth but she let it go and walked away.

I continued walking backstage when I heard a big crash and lots of yelling. I went to go see what was going on when all I saw was Demi. She was screaming at some people who looked to be managers, there was also a pile on chairs on the ground that looked to have been thrown. She kept screaming, the guys were trying to pull her back and calm her down but nothing was working. She threw the drink that was in her hand and kicked over a box. She looked like she was going to punch someone.

I quickly ran in front of her blocking the other people. "Rhea, you can't do this. You need to calm down and walk away."

She scoffed and tried to push me out of the way. "The fuck do you know? Go away."

I jumped back in front of her. "Demi. Listen to me."

The sound of her name made her eyes snap right to me, as if I had just threatened her or something. "You don't get to call me that, you lost that right when you left. No one calls me that here." I watched as her eyes glazed over with the words.

"Please, just go to your dressing room. Stay away from other people." I gave her a caring look. As angry as she was, we still had all those years together, I still cared for her.

She looked at me before walking away. God, I hope she's going to her dressing room.

PAST

"Dems, hey, look at me. It's okay, calm down, nothing happened." I was trying to calm her down. I was watching one of her matches when her opponent tripped and fell into the barricade, hitting me in the face in the process. She was pissed, she really didn't want me hurt.

"You got fucking hit, Iris. You're not fine, you have a mark on your face." She was still fuming.

"Demi. I'm okay. I promise. Touch me, I'm here, I'm fine." I know that skin to skin tends to help her calm down. I know what she needs right now is reassurance.

She looks at me, she still looks angry but also tired, like she doesn't want to be angry and it's exhausting her. I take her hand in mine and put it just underneath my shirt so she can touch my skin. "I'm right here."

She took a shaky breath, her face turned to total relief. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Ris." She wrapped me in a hug, her arms under my shirt. She buried her head in my neck, lying on my shoulder.

"I got you, Dems. I promise, I love you."