Title: Knight Life

Author: Luna

Feedback: Loved and appreciated…send it to ambersgrrl@yahoo.com

Archive: Luna’s Night Moves, Tainted Fiction, and Full Moon Romper Room…anyone else please, just ask.

Fandom: Ring of Honor/TNA/Wrestling

Rating: NC-17 (What else would you expect from me?)

Type: Fantasy

Pairings: Too many to list…just read to find out who’s with whom.

Disclaimer: I have not now nor have I ever been associated with Ring of Honor or TNA. All the characters that you recognize belong to Ring of Honor, TNA, or themselves with the exception of the ones I’ve created. Nothing is being gained from this except a need to pass the time.

Summary: They’re tired of being lonely wandering from town to town and living for centuries in the company of their chosen brethren. Now they’re going to do something about it. Will fate play kindly with them or will they be left in misery?

Author’s Note: This is going to be slightly AU. Please people, if that bothers you do us both a favor and STOP READING NOW!

Anything else: Many thanks need to go to my loving sister who held my hand as I worked out the kinks in this idea. My other sister, the one god forgot to give me at birth, much love goes out to her for her most excellent beta work and all the time she spends holding my hand. You girls ROCK!

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Chapter Ten

Katrina tucked a strand of flaming red hair behind one ear. She studied the sleeping form of one of her best and dearest friends. Mya was a lively young woman that had captured her heart and imagination almost from the beginning of their acquaintance. She had actually met the young woman through her older sister.

Martina was new to the hospital and it had fallen on Kat to show the new girl the ropes. They had gotten along fairly well. They weren't especially chummy but they had been able to share a few laughs, which is harder to find in a hospital than you would think.

Mya had shown up during her sister's lunch bearing Chinese. Their laughter had floated down the hall to Katrina who had gone to see what was up. She had stood in the doorway watching them for a time a soft smile playing at the edges of her lips.

The young girl had looked up at the precise moment Kat had decided to get back to work. She waved the other woman into the room without even bothering to consult her sister. “C'mon in. There's enough for everyone,” she declared her blue green eyes shining with mirth.

“Oh no, I couldn't,” the redhead had protested.

“Of course you can,” Mya had retorted. “I wouldn't have offered if there wasn't.”

Katrina had gotten the distinct impression that the other girl had purposely misunderstood. She watched in amazement as the young girl heaped generous amounts of food onto an empty plate. The young woman pushed the plate across the table.

A smile tugged at the corners of Mya's mouth. “I promise not to bite...much.”

That had surprised a laugh out of the redhead. She had come across the room to take a seat at the small table in the break room.

“Mya,” Marti had exclaimed shaking her head.

The young woman had waved her sister off. “I'd be more worried about you if she hadn't laughed,” the girl said matter of factly.

That night had started a bit of a tradition between them. Mya would show up every evening, sometimes dragging Paige along with her, about lunch time and they would have themselves a meal. When Katrina had been transferred to the Trauma Care Unit she had thought that would be the end of that.

Instead Mya, and if she could Martina, would show up and have lunch with her. At first it had taken her by surprise to find the young woman waiting with a bag of take out for her. Soon she had grown used to seeing the young woman's smiling face waiting to share lunch.

Kat had asked her why she would do such a thing. In her experience people didn't do nice things for virtual strangers...not without wanting something in return. She watched as the young woman's normally cheerful face became solemn.

“Because you were nice to Marti,” she answered honestly. “Most people think because she's quiet that she's a snob or a bitch. She's just shy. If you take the time to get to know her she opens up. I know it's not something you have to do but this is my way of saying thank you.”

Stunned Katrina sat back in her chair her mouth hanging open. She quickly snapped it shut as she studied the young woman seated across from her. She wasn't sure what answer she had expected but that most assuredly wasn't it. “I...I don't know what to say,” she finally managed to spit out.

“Then don't say anything,” Mya had advised. “Besides I like you,” she had confessed with that heart melting smile once again in evidence. “Now eat your dinner it's getting cold.” Katrina had done just that thanking the heavens for sending such a wonderful person into her life.

Sighing Kat sat on the edge of the bed gingerly taking the young girl's hand in her own. It was surprisingly warm not at all what she would have expected. She supposed that she had thought that it would be cool and clammy but couldn't pinpoint why exactly that was.

Tonight had taken a toll on all of them, none more so than the young woman currently laid out on the bed. She was the heart and soul of this strange little family. They all got along, for the most part, and could do things without her. Yet she was the glue that held them together. The young nurse remembered another that had done the same...a long time ago.

Her Nana...the old woman had been the matriarch of their family, wielding the power with love and caring instead of being overbearing and domineering. She had held their family together through many rough times with her sweet words and gentle wisdom. It had come as quite a shock to find that sweet woman had been taken from them all too soon.

She hadn't lived in the best of neighborhoods and had flatly refused to move from the home she had once shared with her beloved husband. The neighbors had loved and respected the old woman. Even known gang members gave her deferential treatment, most having known her since they had been in diapers and even receiving cookies from the kind woman. They had shown her their own brand of respect by not bringing the drama that comes along with that lifestyle to “her” neighborhood.

In a twist of fate none of them could have expected late one night the stillness of Nana's neighborhood had erupted in a shower of gunfire. The old woman had been struck as had her favorite granddaughter, Katrina. The latter had been three months pregnant. The boys of the neighborhood had ridden out angrily to avenge the death of one they had called their own.

It seemed that with the loss of Nana the heart had just been ripped out of the family. Kat hadn't even had time to adjust to losing the child when she had learned she had lost her grandmother as well. Some had even gone so far as to blame the redhead for her wanton wickedness.

She had spent days just crying her eyes out because she felt that she was responsible too. She knew that she was a bit of a wild child but she had never intentionally been bad. She kept thinking that if she hadn't spent that weekend at her grandmother's then Nana wouldn't have been in the living room. She wouldn't have been with her watching old black and white movies. Instead her loving caring grandmother would have been asleep in her bed well away from the lethal gunfire.

The young woman had watched helplessly as her family fell apart. First had been the arguments between her parents. Then the extended family had started in. When it was all said and done everyone had left angry and bitter. It had killed her to watch her mom walk out on them. Katrina had begged and pleaded with her mother to stay with them. She promised to do better, be better.

Her mother had taken the young girl's chin in her hand forcing the girl to meet the older woman's eyes. “Katrina, I want you to do better and be better, but not because I stay. If you never remember anything else remember this...do those things for yourself or not at all. In the end all you have is yourself.” She had kissed Kat's forehead hugged her tightly then walked out the door never to be seen again.

It had taken years for the redhead to understand her mother's reasons for leaving. It had all been too much. Everyone had expected her mother to step up and fill Nana's shoes. Katrina's mother hadn't even been allowed the luxury of mourning the passing of her own mother before they began to demand things of her. The older woman hadn't even been buried when relatives had started bickering over who got what and how quickly they could sell the house they'd all grown up in.

It had hurt to watch her mother walk out on the family but with time and distance she had finally been able to understand why the other woman had walked away. It was one of the things that she promised herself she would never do. She would never walk out on a family, especially not when things got rough. Looking down at Mya's sleeping form she couldn't help but think that they didn't get much rougher than they were right now.

Stroking the multicolored hair back from Mya's brow Katrina leaned down placing a gentle kiss to the other girl's forehead. “Please Mya come back to us honey. We need you so much,” she confessed in a strangled whisper.

The unconscious woman shifted restlessly but otherwise didn't respond. Her eyes moved rapidly under closed lids making the redhead wonder what she was seeing. A glance towards the window showed that dawn was only a few moments away. For a reason that Katrina couldn't name she felt that whatever hold the young man held over Mya would be broken once the sun rose for the day. She knew that there was no reason why that should be true but felt it none the less.

So Kat waited anxiously for the coming dawn hoping that with it would bring the return of their most treasured friend. Turquoise eyes were trained on the fragile looking woman sprawled on the bed searching for any sign that would signal her return to the waking world.

A small sliver of sunlight slanted across the young woman's face. Her eyelids fluttered briefly but remained closed. Then to Katrina's immense relief the young woman let out a deep breath her body bowing as she stretched. Tears coursed down the redhead's face as she turned, uncaring of the rude awakening the other girl would receive, yelled, “Marti...Marti come quick.”

The thunder of footsteps coming down the hall let Kat know that not only was Marti coming but so were the others. The trio paused just inside the door their eyes trained on the bed as Mya opened her eyes sleepily.

The goofy half asleep smile Mya gave them was a sight for sore eyes. She slowly pushed herself to an upright position wincing slightly as her sore hand made contact with the bed. “Hey guys,” she said groggily.

The dark haired young woman was unprepared for the assault that she would receive as all four woman piled on her. Hugs and kisses showered her face as she tried in vain to return their shows of affection. Having had as much as she could take she pushed them all off of her. Her sunny smile firmly in place she looked at each of the girls noticing the dark circles under their eyes. It said that they hadn't slept well and given how much she'd had to drink she figured she should feel like they looked. She didn't though. She felt great, re-energized. Some of last night was a bit fuzzy but since she had ended up at home in her own bed nothing too bad could have happened...right?

Gathering her courage Mya turned to gaze at each of them. “Umm...someone wanna tell me why you're all looking at me like I'm Lazarus returned from the dead,” she questioned in a small voice.