Omg it's here. This is it. This is…the last chapter (the last real chapter, I mean. There's still an epilogue after this, of course). I do hope you all enjoy it.
Warnings: mass awesomeness, in the form of a 6-Knockout tag team match (which should be a great challenge to write, I'm sure). Fluff and cuteness towards the end.
Disclaimers: I don't own TNA, I own Ellie and everything associated with her.
Note: following this chapter will be a short epilogue. Once that is done, production on the Vindictive Angels prequel story, "Demonic Angels," will begin. Visit my bio page occasionally for updates, and my story archive for the first chapter!
Note II: I do hope you'll excuse the massive lateness of this update. School and my computer have been a bitch lately. At least school's almost over.
Note III: i lost the battle against over single character scene breaks. so when you see the ".xXx." somewhere in the middle of the chapter, that's what it is. i don't like it.
Reviews and Critique: yes please!

Chapter 14: out with a bang

"Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is a 6-Knockout tag team no-disqualification grudge match set for one fall!"

The last week had gone by so quickly. Whether it was the constant training that made the time fly, or the unbearable anticipation, Ellie didn't quite know. All she knew what that she was here now, and that no matter the outcome of tonight's match, this was the end.

"What am I saying, of course we're going to win!" Ellie scoffed. Roxxi and Taylor grinned.

But it was still over. She knew that.

"Introducing first, the team of Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne…The Beautiful People!"

A wave of jeers washed over the Impact Zone as the three blondes entered the arena. They did their lengthy suggestive entrance before they began strutting down the ramp towards the ring. They seemed much more cocky and haughty than usual. Velvet was holding a can of hairspray and was spraying it into the camera as she passed it. Madison was carrying at least two paper bags, each with a photo of their faces on it.

Ellie never went to see Sting. She wanted to, intended to, but it never happened. She didn't know what it was. Maybe she was just avoiding the situation, or he was busy. She heard that after the Empty Arena Match, Sting became more occupied with the Main Event Mafia than usual, in an attempt to mend things with Kurt. But word had it that things were still heated between them. She didn't know.

"And their opponents, first, from New Orleans, Louisiana, the Hardcore Knockout, Roxxi! Next, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Taylor Wilde! And last, from Temecula, California, the Ice Angel, Ellie Blackwood!"

The Beautiful People's three opponents walked out onto the stage to meet much cheer from the crowd. Her mind was still clouded with questions, but this was no time to be occupied with matters elsewhere.

Once the three of them stepped onto ramp, Ellie suddenly took off and bolted towards the ring. Roxxi and Taylor were caught off guard, yet soon followed, finding it almost difficult to match Ellie's speed. Ellie reached into the ring, grabbed Angelina by her ankles and pulled. Angelina fell onto her back and screamed shrilly as Ellie wrenched her out of the ring. Caught up in her fury and adrenaline, Ellie forgot all about Sting and leaving.

Ellie slammed Angelina over and over into the steel guard rails, and the crowd ate it up. Ellie whipped Angelina into the stairs, where she hit with a loud thump and fell to the floor. Ellie mounted her and started throttling her. Velvet and Madison jumped out of the ring, grabbing Ellie by her hair and yanking her away from Angelina. Madison slammed Ellie's face into the ring apron, and when she staggered away, Velvet kicked her in the chest and she hit the guard rails. Taylor and Roxxi came over and floored Madison and Velvet.

"It um…should be noted that the match has not officially started yet. One Knockout from each team must enter the ring first."

"I think they're just having fun taking their time, Mike, don't you?"

Ellie had both of her arms over the guard rails, chest aching. The fans behind her were cheering ecstatically. She took a few seconds and then pushed away from the rail towards Angelina. Angelina caught her off guard with a drop toe-hold, sending her face-first into the steel steps. Angelina pulled her up, throwing her into the ring apron once before tossing her into the ring. Angelina jumped in after her and the bell rang. Angelina pinned Ellie, pressing her forearm into the side of Ellie's face. At two counts, Ellie kicked out.

"This is going to be a great match, I can tell. With all the Beautiful People have been doing to those three women just building up, the intensity is going to be off the scales here. All hell is going to break loose."

Roxxi and Taylor were now standing on the apron. Across the ring from them were Madison and Velvet. Angelina grabbed Ellie by the throat and slammed her head into the mat. By the time the referee pulled Angelina off of her, the back of her head burned. Angelina, thoroughly satisfied, tagged in Madison. She held Ellie in a double-chickenwing, and Madison kicked her in the stomach. Angelina exited the ring. Madison hooked Ellie into a wristlock and tried to work on her arm, but Ellie kicked her in the legs. Frustrated, she snapped Ellie onto her back, her head bouncing off the mat. Ellie's hands flew to the back of her head, and she tried to crawl towards her corner. Madison grabbed her ankle and tried pulling her away. Ellie got to her feet, trying to shake Madison off of her. She wouldn't give, so Ellie hit her in the head with an Enzuigiri. Both women went down.

Ellie had forgotten to take painkillers before the match. She decided that she could really use some right about now. She was still holding the back of her head with one hand, and reaching out towards her corner with the other. Madison was starting to get up, and in desperation, Ellie dove towards her corner, just barely catching Roxxi's hand with her own.

Roxxi jumped into the ring, completely pumped. She hit Madison with a series of clotheslines as Taylor checked on Ellie.

"Hey, you doing all right?" she asked.

"As all right as I'm going to be," Ellie replied. "Really, it's fine."

Roxxi was sitting on Madison, beating her fists on every inch of her she could find. Madison was trying to cover her face with her arms, screaming hysterically. So Angelina and Velvet got in the ring and leveled Roxxi with a big boot.

"That's our cue," Taylor said, slapping Ellie on the arm.

Taylor jumped over the ropes and laid out Velvet and Angelina. Ellie, still hurting, soon followed. The throbbing wasn't bothering her anymore. In fact, in the moment she was caught up in, she hardly noticed it. Madison tripped up Roxxi, enabling Velvet to knock her down. Angelina managed to get an offense in at Taylor. Ellie grabbed Madison by the hair and pulled her to her feet. She dragged her into a corner, where she wrecked the turnbuckle with Madison's face. Taylor recovered, and she and Ellie whipped Angelina and Madison into each other. Roxxi powerbombed Velvet onto them to top off the pile.

"Who's legal again?" Roxxi asked. "The brawl kind of confuses things."

"Uh…it's supposed to be you and Madison," Taylor said.

"Well, then let's get rid of the excess," Ellie said.

She kicked Velvet off of the other two, dragging her to the side of the ring. Taylor took a hold of Angelina and followed. Madison tried to Irish Whip Roxxi into the ropes, but she countered with a hammerlock. While Roxxi set Madison up for the Voodoo Drop, Ellie and Taylor attempted to scoop slam their opponents out of the ring. Roxxi hit the Voodoo Drop as Angelina raked Taylor across the eyes. She dropped her, Ellie threw Velvet outside the ring, and Roxxi tried pinning Madison. At two, Angelina broke up the count by attacking Roxxi. When she stood up, she took Roxxi with her. She aimed to strike her with a forearm shot to the head, but Ellie dropkicked her in the back and Angelina tumbled out of the ring.

"The referee's trying to restore order, but I don't know if that's possible! These six women hold such a strong grudge for each other, chaos was just bound to break loose sooner or later."

Madison surprised Roxxi with a roll-up, but she managed to kick out at two counts. The referee took a moment to separate Ellie and Taylor from the other two members of the Beautiful People, telling them to go back to their respective corners.

"Personally, I don't see why order is even needed," said Don West. "This is a grudge match, right? I say we should just let them all go to town on each other."

Ellie and Taylor were eventually forced to retreat back to their corner, as did Angelina and Velvet. They were all watching the fight intently. Madison tried kicking Roxxi in the midsection, but Roxxi caught her foot. She pushed her away and Madison dove for the ropes. She slingshotted off, and both women tried clotheslining each other at the same time. Both went down.

Taylor threw her arm over the top rope, begging Roxxi for a tag. Roxxi looked hurt, and was moving towards her corner slowly. Madison crawled over to her teammates and tagged in Velvet. Velvet jumped into the ring and grabbed Roxxi by the foot, trying to separate her from her corner.

"Oh, to hell with this!" Taylor said.

Ellie watched in surprise as she jumped over the ropes and leveled Velvet with a strong clothesline. Angelina came in to even the numbers, but was taken down with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Taylor.

"What's this? Taylor Wilde just tagged in Ellie Blackwood, even though she herself is not legal. Roxxi never tagged in Taylor Wilde."

"Who cares? It's no disqualification, right?"

"And another brawl ensues."

Taylor whipped Angelina into a corner and started pummeling her. Madison grabbed Taylor by the hair and threw her across the ring. Ellie jumped in and leveled her with a clothesline. Angelina pushed away from the turnbuckles and hit Ellie in the face with a bicycle kick. Ellie went down and Angelina went for the cover. The referee, utterly confused, hesitated a little bit before he started counting.

"Should he really be counting? Neither Ellie Blackwood or Angelina Love are legal."

"Well, I—oh! Roxxi just broke up the count!"

Velvet grabbed Roxxi and, shrilling loudly, threw her out of the ring. On the way out, Roxxi captured Velvet in a headscissors, and took her with her. Taylor spotted Madison lying on the ring apron and floored her with a baseball slide kick to the outside. Angelina clotheslined Taylor over the ropes to the outside. Ellie grabbed one of her legs and tried to pull off a small package roll-up. Angelina kicked out at two.

"Now how are we supposed to keep up with the action? There are three fights going on at once!"

Angelina kicked Ellie off of her, and then struck her in the back of the head with a forearm shot. She cried out and grabbed her head. It definitely wasn't numb anymore. She scrambled over to the ropes and hooked one arm around them when Angelina tried to follow her, but because of the no-disqualification, it didn't do much.

Velvet drove Roxxi into the guard rails. Arrogantly, she smiled and dusted her hands off and the crowd booed. Upon turning around, she spotted Ellie lying half-way out of the ring. The referee and Angelina were arguing, so Velvet took this as a perfect opportunity to viciously kick Ellie in the side of the head. Ellie staggered away from the ropes, blinded by pain. Angelina took advantage and quickly hit the Lights Out on her.

"Angelina Love going for the pin. This could be it! 1…2…th—woah! Taylor Wilde just pulled the referee out of the ring!"

Roxxi struck Velvet in the back of the head before throwing her into the ring. Angelina tried to attack Roxxi, but she countered. Outside the ring, the referee was arguing with Taylor, who was shortly after blindsighted by Madison. Madison shouted at the referee and told him to get back in the ring and do his job. Roxxi laid out Angelina and dropped an elbow over Velvet. She hooked her leg just as the referee climbed back in. He started counting, but Velvet kicked out just in time.

"Well it seems like the legal fighters are back in the game now."

"I doubt it'll stay that way for long."

Taylor jumped in and dragged Ellie to the apron. Angelina and Madison retreated to their corner. Roxxi took a hold of Velvet's arm and dragged her over to her teammates.

"Who wants it?" she asked.

Ellie was on her feet by now. "Bring it here," she said, her hand over the top rope.

"You sure? You don't look a hundred percent."

"Tag me."

Fear spread over Velvet's face as quickly as Roxxi tagged in Ellie. Ellie started to work her arm over, bringing her down to her knees. Velvet started delivering shots to Ellie's midsection. She managed to work herself to her feet and kicked Ellie on the outside of her leg. She somersaulted to reverse the wrist lock before sending Ellie across the ring with an arm drag. Ellie was on her feet immediately and Velvet was holding her by the wrist again. Roxxi was right in that she wasn't a hundred percent, but she still had some old tricks up her sleeve.

That might be fun to bring back.

Velvet slingshotted Ellie towards the turnbuckles and went after her, looking to follow up with a corner splash. When Ellie neared the corner, she ladder-climbed the turnbuckles and jumped backwards in a corkscrew dive.

"Did you see that? What a Whisper in the Wind from Ellie Blackwood!"

"My god, we haven't seen that move since Jeff Hardy was still in TNA!"

Ellie landed on Velvet and they both fell to the mat. She tried pinning her, but Velvet still kicked out at two. Ellie was exhausted, and her head throbbed painfully. The crowd could tell that the other Knockouts wanted in on the action, and were trying to get behind Ellie's team while the referee tried to prevent another all-out brawl. The broadcasters reminded the audience again that the match was no-disqualification as the crowd started chanting "Let them fight!" Ellie was on her feet and moving towards Velvet. She started to pull her up, but Velvet countered by grabbing Ellie by the hair and slamming her down with a jawbreaker. Ellie staggered away as Velvet dove towards her corner and tagged in Angelina.

Angelina entered the ring slowly, strutting over to the corner of the ring where Ellie was holding on to the ropes. She grabbed a fistful of Ellie's hair and dragged her towards the center of the ring, while signaling to the crowd that she was going to finish her off. She took Ellie by the wrist and slingshotted her into the ropes. Roxxi made the blind tag when Ellie bounced off the ropes.

"Oh wow! Did you see THAT? Angelina Love went to finish off Ellie Blackwood with her signature bicycle kick, but Ellie countered with a bicycle kick of her own!"

"They're both down!"

"Oh wait a minute—here comes Roxxi!"

Velvet and Madison jumped into the ring to attack Ellie while she was still down. Roxxi entered and cleared house on the both of them. She quickly tagged in Taylor and the two of them sent the Beautiful People out of the ring. They wandered back over to Angelina, who was starting to get up. Standing on either side of her, they lifted her up and threw her down over their thighs with a double rib breaker. Velvet got back in the ring and tried to attack Roxxi, but she used Velvet's momentum to send her out of the ring again. She followed and the two began brawling on the outside. Back in the ring, Taylor hit a bridging Northern Lights suplex on Angelina. The referee started counting, but Madison was in to break up the count at two. Madison retreated back to the ring apron as Taylor and Angelina started working towards their corners.

"Do you think Velvet Sky and Roxxi have any idea what's going on?"

"Possibly. Ooo! Roxxi sending Sky into the guard rails before going back to her corner."

"A tag to Madison Rayne and a tag to Ellie Blackwood! This should be fun."

Madison charged into the ring and aimed a forearm shot at Ellie's head. Ellie swiftly countered by bringing her leg up and catching Madison's arm behind her knee. She swung Madison around and jumped on her back, forcing her to fall forward onto her stomach. Ellie pulled Madison's head back to complete the Icepick.

"Submission hold from Ellie Blackwood! That was an innovative way to lock it in. Props to Ellie."

"Oh here comes Velvet Sky. I guess she finally recovered from her brawl with Roxxi."

Velvet jumped into the ring and kicked Ellie sharply in the back of the head. She immediately cried out and released Madison from the hold, rolling onto her side. Velvet kicked her in the ribs a few times, forcing Ellie to the apron.

"And now Madison's in on this, and Roxxi and Taylor are now in to even the numbers."

"Wait a minute, what's Angelina Love doing?"

With the distraction provided by the in-ring altercation, Angelina was able to stealth away and retrieve the can of hairspray from the outside of the ring. She got up and dove into the brawl, effectively spraying it into the faces of both her opponents.

Ellie grabbed the bottom rope with one hand while holding the back of her head together with the other. She strained to pull herself up and looked over in time to see Angelina spray something into the faces of Roxxi and Taylor. Madison was slumped in the corner with her arms over the top rope, and Taylor was on her knees and elbows in front of her. Ellie rolled into the ring as Angelina moved towards the apron to put down the can. As she turned around, she briefly caught sight of Ellie before she clotheslined her over the top rope. She turned to see that Madison and Taylor were still in the perfect set up for another one of her trick-up-her-sleeve moves. She broke into a run and jumped onto Taylor's back before leaping off of her and hitting a leg drop on Madison in the corner.

"Was that Poetry in Motion? I think it was!"

"That's the second Jeff Hardy move we've seen out of Ellie Blackwood tonight! I'm starting to think they've had a history together!"

"Oh wouldn't that be wild."

Ellie covered Madison for a pin, but only got two counts. Exasperated, Ellie looked around to the referee with death in her eyes. The referee backed up a few steps and held up his hands, insisting that she only got two counts. Velvet was across the ring, and used Ellie's distraction with the referee to her advantage. She hobbled over to Ellie and struck her in the back of the head with a forearm shot. Ellie immediately crumpled, but was pulled back up to her feet. Velvet tried to shoot her off into the ropes, but Ellie countered with an Irish Whip. Angelina was back on the apron and blind tagged Velvet out as she bounced off the ropes and Ellie hit her with a spinebuster. Both women collapsed.

"Wicked spinebuster from Ellie Blackwood. She has just been on top of things ever since the match started."

"You'd think a head injury like the one she sustained the other day would hinder her fighting abilities, but I think it's actually driving her forward."

"Everyone's down right now. Man, they are just spent, and I don't blame them."

"Blind tag from Angelina Love. Roxxi's starting to get up."

Roxxi looked like she was having some difficulty seeing. She was on her feet, but had one hand covering her face and was trying to use the other hand to feel around. Angelina was on her in an instant, kicking her in the gut and signaling for a finish. She hit a devastating Lights Out on Roxxi, who managed to avoid a pin attempt by rolling out of the ring.

Taylor and Velvet were back up, also. Velvet was standing by when Angelina hit the Lights Out on Roxxi. Angelina screamed in frustration and Velvet moved towards the ropes to retrieve Roxxi for her. Taylor blindsighted her, striking her with a forearm to the head. Velvet doubled over and Taylor wrapped her arms around her waist before flinging her backwards with a bridging German suplex. Neither fighters were legal, but the referee began counting regardless. The count was broken up with Madison dropkicked Taylor in her exposed ribs. Ellie leveled Madison with a superkick, and she collapsed. Ellie kicked her out of the ring. Angelina was behind her suddenly, bending her backwards and hitting her with a neckbreaker.

Adrenaline didn't seem to be doing much for her right now. Ellie was lying on the ring canvas, completely spent. She figured that if her body pumped out any more adrenaline, she'd OD and die right there. Her teammates were hurting. She was hurting. The Beautiful People were relentless.

But then again…so am I. Aren't I?

Angelina had made her way to the top turnbuckle and was crouching up top, looking to hit some high-risk move on Ellie. Roxxi was back up and stumbling towards the corner. While Angelina was situating herself on the top, Roxxi grabbed one of her ankles and pulled. Angelina fell into a sitting position on the turnbuckle and managed to kick Roxxi away. Ellie was beginning to stand, so Angelina reached over and grabbed a handful of her hair. Ellie gave a small yelp and swiped Angelina's hands away from her. She quickly turned around and leaped into the air, effectively kicking Angelina in the side of the head.

"This could be the opening that Ellie Blackwood needs!"

Ellie was holding the back of her head again. It was throbbing with one of the worst pains she ever felt. And right now, she did not care one bit. She stood up and faced the ring, backing up into the corner where Angelina was still sitting, dazed and nearly limp. Ellie reached back and heaved her legs onto her shoulders. A little more shifting around, and Ellie pushed away from the corner.

"This could be it!"

Velvet and Madison were on their feet. Roxxi and Taylor held them off with a dropkick each, clearing the ring for Ellie to take a few more steps before she and Angelina came crashing down with an Icebreaker. A surreal exhilaration washed over her as she painfully rolled over her opponent.

"Interesting that she chose to use the Icebreaker this time. She probably opted that over the Wing Crusher because of her head injury."

1!...

Ellie was semi-lying on top of Angelina, one leg hooked with both arms.

2!...

Her heart skipped a few beats. Time slowed down. A bead of sweat ran down her face. The referee raised his arm again.

…3!

The bell rung, and time resumed a normal pace. Ellie released Angelina's leg, but otherwise didn't move. The fans were downright ecstatic. She was still. It was starting to sink in. Her quest was over. The one goal she wanted to achieve since coming to TNA, the main reason she was a Knockout in the first place…she had just achieved it. And now she had to hold to her promise. This was it for her.

What…? she thought. That's it? It's over? It can't be over…

But at the same time, she had to admit she was…relieved.

Suddenly, Roxxi and Taylor were on her, hugging her and cheering, pulling her to her feet. From the outside, Velvet and Madison dragged Angelina out of the ring and slunked away in defeat. They all stood side by side and held up their arms victoriously. Ellie was still stunned, and let her tag team partners move her to their will. Even after Roxxi and Taylor released her wrists, Ellie continued to stand there with her arms in the air. Only when Taylor tapped her on the shoulder did she jump slightly and lower her arms.

"You okay, kid?" Roxxi asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Ellie smirked. "It's still sinking in."

"That was a hell of a fight!" Taylor said, excited. "Can't believe we won."

"Seriously. How's your head?"

"Hurts," Ellie replied. "But who the hell cares? We won!"

The words still felt strange, even as they came out of her mouth. She just couldn't shake the thought from her mind:

It's over.

.xXx.

"There's nothing to feel bad about," she said to herself. "They all knew you were leaving. No one's…not expecting this from you. You promised Christian, you promised yourself. This…this is it. You did what you said you were going to. No one can get mad at you for that."

She was lying on the couch in her dressing room. A few days ago, she had pinned Angelina Love in the match that ended her TNA career.

"Except maybe yourself," she muttered.

She doubted most people knew she was still here, but at the same time, it wasn't like she expected everyone to think that she had already headed out back to the WWE. She sat up and looked around the room. She hadn't done much packing yet, so for the most part, her dressing room still felt like…well, hers. Cleaning out everything that belonged to her would hurt a little, she knew that, which was probably part of the reason she had been putting it off so much.

Her laptop was still sitting on her make-up desk, turned on. She went over to it and opened the window with her email. She kept half-expecting to see another message there from Jim or Dixie, telling her that she had another match next week. She kept half-expecting to see a message from one of her coworkers asking if she wanted to hang out sometime. She kept half-expecting to see everything else she had come to anticipate since coming to TNA eight months ago. But her inbox held no new messages.

"This is going to take some getting used to."

How could I have gotten so attached to this place in such a short amount of time? Well, actually eight months isn't…um, short. But uh…

"Holy crap," she breathed. "It took eight months to get my match with Angelina and Velvet?" She paused, thinking. "Well, I guess leaving now is less of a dick thing to do than to leave after being here for a few weeks instead."

But still. She was leaving, at that seemed like a dick thing to do in general.

"What? No it's not! You already told yourself, Elle, no one is not expecting this from you. You just…go ahead and do what you have to."

She started pulling open drawers and throwing her clothes and outfits onto the couch. She would pause after pulling out each individual ring outfit, muse to herself and thumbing the material, recalling every match she had while wearing that particular outfit, and everything that surrounded the events. As she continued to throw clothes onto the couch, her mind would drift to her coworkers and the many people she had come to know and love here. How she met Christian, how she became friends with AJ, how excited she was when she met Roxxi, how relieved she was to have other friends like Christy, Taylor, and the Frontline.

I'm going to miss them.

She went back to her make-up desk to start putting away her accessories and cosmetics. Her instant messaging window was open, so she quickly scanned through the list of people who were online. A few of her TNA coworkers were online, and so were some of her WWE friends. Christian was included. She deliberated with herself if she wanted to tell him she was coming soon or if she would rather just surprise him. She eventually decided neither, and instead put up an away message that simply read "Packing." He'd probably get the idea.

She dragged her duffle bag and a carry-on bag out of the closet. Initially, she hadn't brought much with her into TNA. Over the past eight months though, she seemed to have accumulated more items. But she still had no doubt that she'd be able to fit all of her belongings into her one duffle bag.

That's it? My whole career can fit into one small bag. That's kind of…that's kind of sad.

There was a pile on the TV table of tapes she had obtained from the production trailer. Most of them were recorded matches of her past opponents that she had used to study up on in hopes of gaining an advantage. The tape on the top of the pile had an adhesive masking tape label on it that simply read "E, R &T vs. BP." She had gotten that shortly after the match, and had spent a great deal of time since then just watching the match over and over. She thought it would help the matter to sink in.

She looked so dazed on the tape. When the referee counted to three and she rolled off of Angelina, she looked so blank and confused. It almost irritated her that she was letting it bother her this much. Watching herself wrestle her last match in TNA was a little disheartening, she had to admit. But at least she won.

It suddenly occurred to her that she never actually officially quit. She just kind of assumed that everyone knew that she wasn't going to work here anymore since winning the 6-Knockout tag team match, which she had only been talking about since she got here. But she knew Jim wasn't going to take that as a legitimate excuse. She needed to go talk to him.

She looked around her dressing room. Everything had been taken out of the closets and drawers and was now organized into various piles around the room. She had barely begun to start actually packing things up.

"Hmm," she mused. "I can do that after I talk to Jim. That really is kind of more important."

The halls were relatively empty. Tapings for Impact were done until next week. Undoubtedly most of the wrestlers had gone home. The only people she saw now were mostly behind-the-scenes workers. Editors, writers, production crew…the likes. She ran in to a couple wrestlers who were probably staying behind to help the creative team with scheduling, or taking the time to do a little in-ring training. None of them were people she was really close to, so she didn't stop to talk.

Though the news of her planning to leave had been circulating since her arrival, and undoubtedly Jim had heard it, she didn't think he would be expecting her. It wasn't like she had scheduled an appointment or anything. So it didn't surprise her much when the door to his office was locked and voices were coming from the inside.

Ellie leaned up against the wall next to the office door. Involuntarily, she began to lean towards it, straining to listen to the voices. It seemed like Cornette was talking (rather loudly) to someone. The other person wasn't being given much opportunity to talk, so for the time being, Ellie didn't know who it was.

"Since Christian Cage left, application have been pouring in from all around the country looking to fill his spot," came Cornette's voice. He sounded like he was shuffling a mass of papers to prove it.

"Well, he was a very talented athlete, and I'm sure his spot will be a difficult one to fill," said the other person. It sounded like Traci Brooks' voice. "But did you have anyone in mind for his replacement?"

"I've been looking through all these résumés, and I think I've found one," he replied. "His name's Stevie Richards, and I think he'd be a good asset. I might try to start him off with Abyss. Richards says he also studies psychology, and well, Abyss has some problems, we know that. I'll run it through with management first and then have someone contact him later."

Well. Christian was being replaced, just like that. It was a bit disheartening. She wondered, as she knocked on Cornette's door, if she would be treated similarly.

More paper shuffling.

"Come in!"

Ellie gave him about a second or two before pushing the door open. Traci was across from Cornette, who was at his desk, shuffling together a good sized stack of résumés and applications. He was pushing the stack into a corner of his cluttered desk when he looked up at her, and his flustered expression turned somewhat surprised.

"Ellie, I'm a little busy right now, can this wait until later?" he asked, exasperated, busying himself with more papers.

She shrugged. "I guess so, but by 'later,' I might not be here," she replied. Cornette looked up at her. "I just think you'd like to know why first."

Cornette was silent for a few seconds. He looked to Traci. "Did her agent…?" he asked quietly. Traci shook her head. He looked confused. "Well…well of course I would!" he said, standing up. "What the hell do you mean you might not be here? I haven't gotten any calls from your agent saying that you'll be missing work."

She took a deep breath. "I'm asking you to grant me my release."

"Release?" he repeated instantly, nearly yelling now. "What—why—?" Red-faced, he jabbed his finger at her. "You signed a contract."

"Jim, I'm asking for my release. That frees me of any contractual obligations, does it not?" she replied. "As for why, well, don't tell me you haven't heard it yet. I'm sure everyone's heard by now that I only came here so I could teach the Beautiful People a lesson. And I did."

"Wait—."

"Plus," she continued, interrupting him, "right now, I'm involuntarily stuck in the middle of this stupid war that's going on between the Main Event Mafia and the Frontline. I've already dealt with the Mafia's crap multiple times, and I'm not even on a side! Frankly, I'm tired of it. I'd rather not have to be a part of this war anymore if I can help it. So I'm planning to go back to the WWE."

Cornette stared at her. "The WWE."

"Yep," Ellie said. "I've already forewarned Vince, so he should be contacting either you or Dixie sometime soon to arrange my transfer. But don't get me wrong, I love TNA, I really enjoyed it here. So once my WWE contract expires and this dumb war blows over, hey, I might come back. Why not?"

Cornette looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he slumped down into his chair, gripping the armrests tightly and still red-faced. Traci was still standing in the corner of the room. She looked back and forth from Ellie to Cornette, trying to decide what to do. It didn't look like Cornette was going to do anything, so she walked over to Ellie and put a hand on her arm.

"The door will always be open for you, hon," she said.

"Thank you, Traci," Ellie replied. "Jim," she added, nodding her head towards him. He wordlessly waved her off, so she left.

So it was done. Her fight was won, and the war on her part was over. Despite having made so many friends here, despite TNA having grown on her, she had to admit that she was eager to go back to the WWE and see all of her old friends again. It was funny how she had known most of those people already, like Christian, Christy, or Gail, but never really thought much of them until after they all went to TNA.

Ellie had just closed Cornette's door when she heard him speak up again.

"Great!" he near-shouted. "Now we've got to find a replacement for her, too!"

She grinned slightly, feeling just a bit smug and accomplished, and headed off to her dressing room to finish clearing out. She didn't have that much left to do, but once she got back to her dressing room, she found herself packing with deliberate slowness, as if to savor her last TNA moments. Once she caught herself doing this, she snapped herself out of this pace and adopted a slightly faster one. She had the weight of the world on her shoulders, slowing her down. She tried to shake it off, but couldn't completely rid herself of it.

And then suddenly, she was done. The closet and her drawers were empty, the tables and desks were bare. She had turned off her laptop and put it in its carrying bag, now resting on top of her zippered-closed duffle bag over by the door. The pile of tapes was still where it was, but the one labeled "E, R &T vs. BP" was somewhere in her carry-on. She stood where she was for a while, wondering if she needed to take care of anything else. While rummaging through the drawers of her make-up desk for forgotten items, she came across a post-it pad and a pen. She pulled it out and thought for a minute, and then removed three sheets from the pad. On the back, she wrote "Thanks for everything. –Ellie B." and her instant messaging screenname. On the front she addressed a note to each AJ Styles, Roxxi, and Taylor Wilde. She wanted to leave a note to some more people, but figured the word would spread and that the others would get the note as well.

She exited her room and closed the door. At this point, she had elected not to tell anyone she was leaving—just like Christian had when he left TNA. She figured that either Cornette or Traci would tell the others, or the word would get out somehow like it usually does, and everyone would know by tomorrow that Ellie Blackwood was gone.

Either AJ, Taylor, and Roxxi had gone home, were out, or were in their dressing rooms, because she didn't run in to them on her way out. It was the way she wanted it. She knew the way to the parking lot, but took a quick detour to leave the notes on their respective owners' dressing room doors. Putting the notes on the door and then walking away wordlessly hurt just a little bit.

Ellie got the feeling that when she was back in her dressing room writing the notes, she took the pen with her. It wasn't a really big deal, but she didn't really need it. She started digging through her carry-on bag, wondering where the hell she put it and muttering quietly to herself. She rounded corner and almost bumped in to someone, but sidestepped him out of the peripheral of her vision, muttered a quick "Excuse me," and then continued on. She got about three feet away from him before he said:

"Where you goin', Elle?" She froze upon recognizing the voice. "Thought you'd want to be a part of the carnage. Or does it cramp your style?"

No one could use her own words against her like he could, and she immediately knew who it was. She was filled with apprehension and a strange, tingling pain as she slowly zipped up her carry-on, placed it back over her shoulder, and turned around.

"My part in this is done, Sting," she answered. He started taking slow, deliberate steps towards her, but she held her ground. "I came here for one reason, and it's done with."

"Did it work?" Sting asked. "You came here to teach a lesson to Angelina and Velvet, right? But did it work? Did they get the message? Did they change their ways? How can you know for sure?" Ellie set down her bags. Sting shifted his weight. "When I came back to TNA to teach the younger generations about respect, I knew that they'd be stubborn about it, and wouldn't listen to me, as kids today usually do, and I knew that I'd be stuck here for a while in order to get the message through to them, and I knew I couldn't do it alone. And just like you said, they're not exactly picking up on it, so I guess I'm stuck here for as long as I see fit, just so I'm absolutely sure that they've gotten my point through to them before I go back into retirement. And I'm ready for it."

Ellie considered this. "I know," she said, finally. "But I had no real intention on staying here in the first place. I just wanted to fight Angelina and Velvet, and I did. But I can't just stay here and bitch at just two or three specific individuals all the time. If they don't listen to me, what's that going to do for me then? What you're doing, Sting, if you pull through, then you just might be able to impact everyone. You're actually doing something beneficial. I had a bone to pick with two people, so I picked it. If I just single out two specific people for the rest of my career, I'll come off as some boring, crazy jerk."

Sting held out his hands. "What, you don't think people don't call me a crazy jerk? I've heard it all, trust me. You've just got to stick to it."

"I'm done here, Sting," Ellie insisted. "I might come back when my WWE contract expires. I might even see you guys before that happens, I don't know."

"So that's it? You're just going to leave, to run away?" Sting said.

Ellie crossed her arms. "I'm not running away."

"Could have had me fooled."

She sighed. "What's the matter, Sting?" she bitterly inquired. "I thought you'd be happy to see me go. We didn't exactly get along very well while I was here."

"Didn't get along very well? After all I did for you? I didn't have to do all that, you know."

She shrugged. "Then why did you? What's the matter?"

Sting glanced towards the ground briefly. "Actually, I was hoping that we could make amends before you go."

This had taken her off guard. The fury and hate, the resent and doubt she had held towards him…all of it was gone. She was suddenly apprehensive and hesitant, and could only stare at him blankly.

"Really," she managed.

"Yes, really," he replied, nonchalant. "But you otherwise don't seem interested, so I guess I'll leave you and you can go run back to the WWE like you want. Enjoy the rest of your career, and I'll see you in a few years. Maybe not." He turned to leave.

"No—wait!" She reached out towards him involuntarily. When she caught herself, she immediately drew back her hand. Sting took a few more steps and then stopped. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and slowly turned around. She swallowed thickly and racked her brain for something to say.

"You're right," she said. "We started off on the wrong foot."

"You can thank Kurt for that," he said. "He saw the hate between us and used that to fuel the Mafia/Frontline war. It was all he cared about it. I tried to tell him off, but you know, when he sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him."

She paused and deliberated. It was beginning to make sense. "That certainly explains some things," she said. "And now that you've made me think about it, I also would really hate it if we ended on bad terms. But I've got to tell you something. All that crap I talked you down with was true. I don't think you're making progress, and your method of approach is no way to drive the point home."

He held up one hand and shrugged. "It would seem that way. Fair enough."

"But there is one thing I said that wasn't true."

"Oh?"

A pause.

"I do respect you," she said. "When I told you that I didn't, I said that out of the heat of the moment and in defense on behalf of the Frontline. But you're actually one of the only men I most admire in this business."

Sting was silent for a bit.

"You know, Elle," he said, "you're a pretty interesting person yourself. You know why I saved you? Why I did all that for you?"

She waited for an answer. After a few long seconds, she quickly shook her head.

He smirked. "I respect you, too. I think you are a respectable and a good person, and I don't think you deserved all that crap you were getting from the Mafia. I was hoping that the little things I did for you would help you realize that, but god knows you're so dense you probably wouldn't know it even if I outright told you myself." She started to say something, but he cut her off. "If there's one thing I like about the younger generation, it's all your energy. And Elle, you're just full of it. I really admire that. Take that with you when you go to the WWE."

She smiled genuinely. "I will. Thanks for everything."

"It's been my pleasure."

She offered her hand to him. "See you in a few years, Sting."

He placed his hand in hers. "I look forward to it."

A handshake lead to mutual pats on the back. The physical closeness between them was comforting, and the newly formed emotional closeness was heartfelt. It felt right, and in a way she never thought possible, she knew she was going to miss him. It was strange, but she wouldn't have wanted this moment to be any different.

And that was it. There was nothing more to say. As they started to walk their separate ways, they retained eye contact as their hands slid out of each other's. A few more seconds of silent appreciation and staring, Sting finally turned away and walked off. Ellie stayed where she was for just a bit longer, watching him go. She had already, prior to this, made a mental note to herself to continue watching TNA to keep up with everyone she had befriended, but now thought that she would look forward to seeing Sting…almost the most. It was a weird feeling, as good as it felt.

She picked up her bags and threw them over her shoulder. She pulled her car keys out of her pocket and she exited the building and crossed the parking lot to her car. With the push of a button, the door unlocked and she threw her things into the backseat. As she moved to open the driver's side door, she paused. Looking back at the Impact Zone, she wondered if what she was doing, not even being decent enough to tell anyone that she was leaving, was a dick thing to do.

She smiled. "They'll forgive me."

She got in her car and drove off.

Somehow, she was sure of it.

End Chapter 14

Whoo! That's it. The last real chapter. I will be posting an epilogue, and again, I apologize for the lateness of this update.
haha, how did you all like my JeffxEllie used-to-train-together references? I thought it was cute.
I gotta tell you. Above anything else I came up with, the ElliexSting friendship was my favorite part of the whole story. Sting is just a sweet, old man, and Ellie's a vivacious, energetic woman. You put them together, and they clash at first, but you've gotta love it when you know they respect each other, even when they won't admit it. So the final scene at the end of this chapter was just so warming and fun to write for me.
I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Thank you dearly for sticking with me through this whole ordeal. You guys are the best. Keep checking back for the epilogue, which is unsurprisingly filled with Christian.
Reviews, please!