(Un)Break me - Rhea Ripley x reader

Ghosts of the past pt.1

a/n: heyyyy look who just crawled out of her grave!! it's me! how are you all doing? sorry i left you all in a cliffhanger 

Sometimes, a droplet of acid burns more than the largest blast.

Y/N's POV

During the service, you stayed close to Rhea. Not necessarily holding her hand or clung to her side, but carefully watching in case you caught the slightest glimpse of tears in her eyes or an unsteady breathing. You wanted to be there for her without suffocating her, besides, she also had to talk with her family and friends.

Even though she didn't need to, she still presented you to everyone you didn't know.

"I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances" Was your go-to answer.

The afternoon was going smoothly (or, smoothly as something so painful and draining as a funeral can go).

You saw him before she did. A man in the back of the room, behind some people, standing just a little too stiff. Even from afar, his face looked familiar, you just couldn't quite pinpoint where you had seen him.

Rhea's entire demeanor changed beside you, her whole body stiffening when her eyes landed on him.

"No..." She whispered in disbelief and pain. "Not here, not today..."

You tried to reach for her but she was already marching towards him when you heard her.

"You don't fucking get to be here!"

A circle slowly formed around her. The guy in front of her with his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know what makes you think you can be here, but you can't. Leave, now." Rhea spoke through gritted teeth, with her voice echoing through the chapel, though it wasn't necessarily a scream. When she pushes his shoulders, you step to her side, just close enough to ground her yet still respecting her power. You touch her waist slightly to make your presence known.

"I just wanted to see how Demi is doing." The man had a sympathetic look on his face that didn't sit right with how hard he was trying not to smile. An uneasy feeling sat at the bottom of your stomach.

Rhea was growing restless. You saw it in the way her jaw tensed, the way she straightened her shoulders and the way she kept repositioning herself: that noticeable shift she'd get just before brutalizing someone.

"You fucking-" Rhea started but couldn't continue. The boiling rage inside kept the words from coming out.

"Sir, you're clearly disrupting this service." Rhea's aunt mentioned.

"I highly suggest you leave, unless you want to be escorted out." You decided to cut in, steady and cold.

The man just shook his head and smirked. He fucking smirked.

"All those muscles and you still can't fend for yourself, huh?" He mocks her as he dares to get closer. "Does this one bite? Or does it just bark?" His eyes scan you up and down.

And that's when Rhea lost it.

In a flash, she pushes him again, this time with no hesitation. He stumbled out the door, the thud announcing how hard he'd hit the ground. Rhea glowered towards the pathetic figure scrambling backwards on his hands.

You had to hold in your grin.

"Get the hell out of here!" Rhea growled, and it finally made the man leave. She turned around, trembling as she noticed how everyone was staring at her confusedly. She ran out the back door.

You sprinted after her.

She was already pacing furiously at the cemetery entry, around a hundred meters outside the chapel.

Her fingers yanked at her hair with such force her knuckles were white; her chest heaving so much it was like she couldn't breathe; eyes shut strongly. Everything in her demeanor puts your every nerve on high alert.

You picked up the pace, then slowed down as you got closer, not meaning to startle her any further.

"He doesn't fucking get to be here!" Rhea shouted before you said anything, probably sensing your presence. "Not after what he did to me" This time, her voice was so low and cracked you barely heard it.

"Baby-"

"Don't."Her eyes flicked toward you, blazing. "And you didn't get to intervene. This wasn't yours to fix." Fury is still evident in her eyes. Both her glare and voice made your skin feel like someone was pouring acid on it. It burned.

You shrunk.

"I-"

"You love to think you're helping. You're not. You never help! You make it worse. Always. Fucking worse!" She spat the last words out, staring at the sky, or better, through it.

You could almost hear your skin melting. Every nerve alive warning you: the scars were forming, relentless and inescapable. Is this what it felt like all those times before?

You weren't so sure anymore. Maybe it hurt because you had believed her. Because you had invested in something you thought mattered, something you thought was mutual. And maybe you imagined she cared too, but imagining isn't believing, and now every imagined kindness felt like a betrayal.

Between her rage and your silence, in that millisecond that felt like hours, tears blurred your vision.

"Ok, I'll let you be."

"Took you long enough." She murmured. You couldn't tell if she was talking to you or to herself. Either way, that felt like your cue to leave.

The second you turned away, you felt the tears threatening to escape. The whole path to the chapel was blurry and seemed to shake with every breath you took.

You never thought you'd be grateful for it, yet you find yourself thanking your mother for the skill of hiding your emotions, managing to brush away your tears and compose yourself just enough to talk briefly to Calista.

"Hey, how is she?" She asked cautiously, probably noticing the redness in your eyes.

"She is..." You didn't know what to say. "She needs to be alone for a little." Your voice hoarse at the edges of every word. You look around. "Listen, I'll get going, ok? Just don't let her be alone for too long."

Calista simply nodded in response, though unable to hide the questioning look.

You didn't call an uber or anything, you just walked with nowhere to go. Nowhere that mattered, at least.