FIVE

Three days later, I stood in a cemetery with several indy guys as well as nearly everyone from TNA. Team Good and Team Baddie have to keep up appearances, so that means when one of us dies, we all pay our respects. It's not easy living a double life, one public and one trapped in an unending psychic battle, but we're all very good at it.

The smug looks on the faces of MVP, Brandon, and Kenny told me the truth. This was no accident. I could see Nelson had the same expression, but his thoughts gave him away. He was as devastated as the rest of us. Luckily, Nelson's blocks were strong. Most people couldn't read his mind the way I can.

Storm stood near the coffin with a somber expression on his face. His thoughts said he was celebrating the win for Team Baddie, but I sensed something else there. I was only hearing what he wanted me to hear.

Bobby Lashley was bawling his eyes out. It was rare to see emotion from him, but he couldn't hide it. Frankie loved to heckle Lashley, and he always went right back at him. He'd loved the kid. We all had.

James was crying quietly beside me. I squeezed his shoulder. Emily stood nearby, holding Abigail in her arms. The creature showed no emotion whatsoever.

Jeff wore his emotions on his sleeve as usual. He was crying almost as hard as Lashley. Matt was trying to keep a calm exterior, but his thoughts were devastated. Bobby Roode was holding Dixie, who cried harder than anyone else.

It was hard to watch everyone in so much pain. Eric Young was shaking. I suspected he was trying to hold his emotions back, but that little ball of energy couldn't handle this alone. Eric was literally a source of energy. He was having a nervous breakdown after a brutal, unthinkable attack from Team Baddie that left him fried and unable to function. (That heel turn? Yeah, he was being controlled at the time.) A magical double (see: doppelgänger) had fought his matches ever since because Eric couldn't function, but he was here now. Bobby pulled Eric into the hug with Dixie as he apparently realized how close to breaking his friend was.

Many of the Knockouts had formed a circle. Christy was trying to smile, but her eyes were sad. Next to her, Tanea stood. She had Mike Knux behind her, holding her with strong arms. The big teddybear was sobbing loudly as he did this. Ashley wept openly, unable to hide her emotions. I spotted Jessie, or ODB, and was surprised to see her. Then again, she'd loved Frankie. She wasn't on our roster anymore, but she was mourning with us. Santana, better known as Brittany, had not returned, but she was off winning titles and staying as far away from Team Baddie as possible. She'd run for her life after quitting their side. Mickie James had come out for the funeral and Nick stood over her protectively as she went back and forth between chatting with the girls and crying. Gail Kim stood strong and emotionless as she held the girls together. Gail Kim was the ultimate badass.

Jess (Havok, not Jessie) was standing with Kia. I noticed Sami Callihan beside Jess, his arm wrapped protectively around her waist. I wasn't shocked, because the NXT guys knew Frankie as well as we did, but no one else had dared show up to the funeral. Then again, Sami was Jess's boyfriend, and he was a rebel.

Away from the Circle of Knockouts, Lauren was sobbing in her wolf's arms. Wes radiated calm, trying to soothe her and to keep his beast in check. Eddie was by his side. He radiated rage. I suspected his wolf was having a harder time staying calm. Oh, did I forget to mention that the wolves actually are werewolves? If you see them wrestle live, it's kind of obvious. They try to hide it, though, because lycanthropy is taboo in wrestling. People think that lycanthropes are too dangerous in the ring. I had no issue with either of them because I knew they had it under control. In fact, the two of them had recently started reaching out to other wrestlers who were trying to hide their lycanthropy to see if they could help them learn to control it better. They wanted to work toward a world where the discrimination ended.

I was surprised to see Mark and Jamie rushing into the cemetery. Devon was with them. Mark looked furious, and Jamie looked... different. Gone was the innocent (well, sort of) Velvet Sky, and she'd been replaced by a badass motorcycle chick with multicolor streaks in her hair. I knew why Jamie had walked away, but I hadn't realized she'd had a meltdown.

Bloody hell, James thought at the sight of her.

"Exactly," I agreed aloud. But damn, she wears it well, I added silently.

Jamie flung her arms around Lauren. "I'm sorry I haven't been here... But we couldn't miss this," she said. "It's Frankie..." her voice cracked slightly. Mark pulled her against himself to comfort her.

"When I find out who did this, they're dead," Mark declared.

Devon said nothing. He was the quieter of the two, and right now, he had no words. If he did, they probably would have been something along the lines of, "Oh my brother, oh testify!"

I spotted Cesaro standing alone. That surprised me. What the fuck was he doing here? I searched his head for answers.

...my fault? Did we do this to him? What went wrong? Did I hurt him in the match? He's just a kid... God... And then the thoughts were no longer in English. Although none of us were sure which side of the battle Cesaro was on, that was genuine grief in his head. He hadn't done this.

"Michael?" Emily called. I looked at her.

"Sorry, what?" I asked.

"I asked if you were okay."

"Oh. Yeah, as okay as I can be. And you?"

"About the same."

As the actual service began, we all stopped speaking. I spotted Carlos next to the coffin. He showed no emotion, but his thoughts were frantic. They were rushing through his mind so quickly, I couldn't understand them. It was an awful ball of white noise and static in my head, and I winced because it physically hurt to hear it. I wasn't trying to listen in, either. He was just thinking so loudly, I couldn't shut it out.

"Are you alright?" James whispered to me. I shook my head slightly.

Mark saw my distress. He came over and put a hand on my shoulder. It looked innocent, but it was actually the only way to help me. His shield shot up around me and the world quieted down until all I heard was the priest and the sound of people crying. Have I mentioned that Mark's shield is fucking awesome?

After the service ended, Mark let me go. "You okay now?" He asked.

I nodded. "Thanks," I said. "I was kind of screwed back there."

"No problem. I gotta get back to Jamie and Devon." He walked away.

I knew the shield would hold for a bit, so I walked over to Carlos. "Hey, man," I greeted him. "I got nothing but cliches for you right now, but I'm here if you need me, okay?"

"Thank you," Carlos said numbly.

Emily joined us, dragging the Abigail Creature behind her. "We're so sorry about Frankie," Emily told Carlos.

Abigail wouldn't look at him. Instead, she inched closer to me. That was a first. I didn't touch her for fear of making her run, but I shifted so she was right next to me. She leaned against me and I tried to psychically soothe her.

"He appreciated everything you did for him, Em. I don't know if he ever told you that," Carlos said.

"I knew," Emily assured him.

"Oh, Carlos, darlin', my heart is absolutely broken!" Dixie drawled as she joined us. "This is just unthinkable!" She embraced him. In Dixie's arms, Carlos dropped his guard a bit and tears formed in his eyes.

"Thank you, Ma'am. You and your people meant so much to him," Carlos told her.

Dixie looked into his eyes and said, "Frankie was one of my people. So are you. If you need anything, Darlin', I'm here."

Carlos nodded. Emily pulled him into her arms. That was when I saw how badly Dixie was trembling. Her face and voice were calm and collected, but she was a mess. I looked at Abigail, still leaning on me, and wasn't sure how she'd react if I went to Dixie. The creature looked up at me and nodded, moving aside.

I took Dixie's hand and led her away. "You okay?" I asked, although I knew the answer.

"He was a baby, Michael..." She whispered. Her tears returned. "He was only a baby..." To everyone who says that Dixie Carter doesn't care about her people, go fuck yourselves. This was breaking her.

"I know," I whispered soothingly. I held her as she wept, shaking in my arms even after she'd cried out her last tear.

"Why?" She finally asked. "Why would they kill him?"

"You know?"

"Frankie was as straightedge as they came. He never would have overdosed, and ever since these abilities started unlocking in me, I'm learning to look at things like this more closely." Dixie had been psychically awakened shortly before James. She was still new to a lot of it, but she adapted well beause Dixie Carter never backed down from a fight.

It shouldn't have shocked anyone that Dixie was psychic. She was our Stephanie McMahon, afterall, only not evil or skanky. It did shock everyone that James was. They'd all believed our Rockstar Spud was as mortal as they came. Even I had. Then the head of Team Baddie had briefly gotten into my head. We were in NYC doing a taping at the Manhattan Center and I almost attacked James for trying to stop my attack on Rhino after Rhino face turned. In reality, Rhino had just quit Team Baddie, and his former boss was pissed. It wasn't scripted that way, and although I got control when I saw the terror in his eyes and stopped myself, James was so scared, his abilities unlocked. The poor guy thought he'd gone nuts and went running to Jeff for help because he figured if anyone wouldn't label him insane, it was Jeff Hardy.

"You'll be okay, D," I told her.

"I can't understand this..."

"I know. I'll get to the bottom of it, and when I do, I'll make them pay."

"Michael, what about Carlos? Is he in danger?"

"I hope not. I'll keep an eye on him as much as I can."

"Save him, Michael. Promise me you'll protect him."

I looked into her eyes and said, "I'll do everything I can to protect Carlos from them. I promise, Dixie." She relaxed slightly. I became determined then, because I never break a promise.