Bree Lancaster vs. Deanna Frost

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Monsters”

Eyrie Tower
New York City, New York
June 26th, 2024
4:34pm

“Summer School?!”

The boy’s shock and dismay were written clearly all over his face and came out beyond clear in his voice as he stood in the middle of the room, his back to the turned-off television, and his eyes on the redhead that sat on the couch in front of him – the child at a complete loss for words. Taking in the tone and expression of her son, Deanna could only, initially, voice her feelings in a long sigh as she fell back the few inches needed to lean herself against the couch cushion, her right hand flying up to massage her temples with her hand.

“Yes.” She answered for the umpteenth time, removing her hand to, once more, regard the boy. “No matter how many times you say that, David, it’s not going to ‘magically’ change. You’ll start in another two weeks and it goes till the end of August.”

“But…” David Frost stammered, the seven-year-old lowering his head down to his shirt as if Spider-Man held all the answers. “It’s supposed to be my vacation!”

“And if you hadn’t failed your exam, I would agree.” Deanna sighed, once more having to give the reason for the sudden change in course that was to be their spring/summer time. “It’s not like any of us are happy with this, David. Do you have any idea how upset your sisters are going to be?” she added. “We’re going to have to cancel our Disney World trip-“

“NO!” David begged, the redhead able to see the trembling in her only son’s jaw, which matched the shaking in his voice, his eyes beginning to form unshed tears. “You and mom promised-“

“We are not going without you and you are not going, David.” Deanna stated factually, releasing a slight huff of agitation. “Do you even have any idea how much work your mother and I had to do just to ensure you didn’t have to repeat the grade or get expelled for the year?!”

“But…” the boy’s voice squeaked weakly, the child overwhelmed with the facts of the case against him and unable to give any rational argument counter to his mother’s statements. “But… you promised…” he tried again lamely - the only statement he had left.

“Yes, if you all behaved. Did you behave, David?” Deanna countered. “Because I wouldn’t consider ‘cheating in school’ to be good behaviour. Do you?”

“Mother said I could!”

For a moment, Deanna’s mouth hung open in disbelief. Not because she believed the boy for a single second, but because she could not believe what she had just heard. True, the woman that would soon be her ‘ex-wife’, Selena, had gone through quite the change in the near year since last Rise to Greatness – as had Deanna with her victory over Bree Lancaster that had given her the United States championship she still held. But even so, despite said ‘changes’, Selena still believed that what she was doing was integrity and ‘fair-play’ and what was best for SCW. She refused to ‘lower herself’ in anyway, preferring ‘dominance’ like Xander Valentine over cowardly attacks like Kandis.

Or current Bree Lancaster vs. ‘Classy’ Bree Lancaster….oh that’s a good one! Still…after the last few weeks…

Deanna shook her head to dispel the thoughts. Hypocrisy wasn’t the point. The point was, there was no way that Selena would, deliberately, encourage her son to cheat in any kind of competition!

“Really?” the redhead slowly asked with a tilt of her head before pushing herself up to her full height, still the shorter of the two Frost mothers, but easily able to still tower over the boy. “You’re going to lie to me now?” there was an edge of anger in her voice, as well as a slight hint of hurt and disappointment, enough to make David gulp and cower back a few steps. “David?” she asked, taking a single step forward towards him. “Are you telling me your mother told you it was okay to cheat on your exam?”

“I…Y…Ye…”

“David?” she warned with a bit of raise in her voice. “I can call her in ten seconds and ask her. Who do you think I am going to believe if she says ‘no’?”

In that moment, Deanna silently swore to herself, she never saw her boy look so frightened. A child’s fear of ‘being punished with a scolding’ as if it surmounted to losing an arm, or…or…

For a moment that lasted far longer for her than for anyone else in the room, the United States champion’s mind flashed back to the memory of light suddenly going out; as it had suddenly gone dark during her match with Scott Reed. And just like that, when the lights had turned back on, HE was there… The Enigma… like the damn boogeyman she had kept Amiliah safe from for so many years with her lullabies and stories to ‘stave him off’. But this was no ‘monster under the bed’ or ‘in the closet’, this was something real – something far worse. She… she exhaled loudly without meaning to.

She had never felt so scared locked in that ‘embrace’ Enigma had put her in – not since… not since her first night in Frankfurt Prison III.

A shaky breath followed her as she felt that familiar fear grip her. She suddenly could recall it as if it was yesterday. The lights out – her cellmate, Shar, snoring lightly in the cot above her. Other sounds… cries, curses, pleas, of fates that could very well be hers soon…


Locked in that “embrace” in the middle of the ring, it had been like that all over again – reliving her greatest nightmare. And she had been put in so many submission holds in the last two plus years! Never had anything triggered her like that! Was that what that monster was capable of? If so, what else could he possibly do and, more importantly, what kind of torment had he put on poor Jessica? What about Ginny Raab? Or anyone else? In that moment, it had taken everything for Deanna to have the sense to tell Aaron Demtria to get back and not get hurt! Same with Reed and the others.

A quiet sigh escaped her unintentionally. She had done this to herself. She had been the one that dared The Enigma to show up. She had poked the monster by attacking him and targeting him and eliminating him from the royale and then swearing to fight him and stop him. She had brought the ire of the Enigma on herself, which was what she wanted! No one else needed to suffer at his hands when she was meant to be the target.

Still, to have his undivided attention now… his full focus… And he knew… HOW HAD HE KNOWN?!

There had been no mistaking his words. The certainty in them. No longer a Frost…

Enigma knew about the upcoming divorce between Deanna and Selena. But how?! How could he possibly of known! The people that even had a clue were few! Jessica, Dr. Glasgow, Gerda – not even their children or their closest friends Jean and Zoe Black – knew the truth. And yet, Enigma knew…

It was all beyond terrifying – gripping Deanna, even in the comfort of her own home, her ‘Forever Home’. In the past, there had been people like Regan Street and Xander Valentine and Vixen Cain, targeting Selena, that had used Deanna and the Frost family to push things. Xander had swung a sledgehammer at the limo-bus and brought a camera to their gates, Regan had mentioned their children’s names – her godchildren – and Cain had even ‘kidnapped’ Selena and David for a short excursion via joyriding, but this… this was invasion of private matters on such a deeper scale and then bringing those private matters to the light. People would already be talking, SCW fans possibly putting the pieces together on social media…

She didn’t want that! She didn’t want her private life – her marriage with Selena – to be so displayed. It was under enough observation with the two of them being in SCW as wrestlers as it was…

“Please don’t!” she heard the cry out – echoing her own thoughts - as her mind snapped back to the present to see David’s pleading expression. “Please don’t call mom…”

The redhead followed her son’s eyes until she saw the cellphone in her own hand. When had that gotten there? When had she taken it out of her jeans’ pocket? She honestly, couldn’t even remember doing it! Still, the young boy stood there, unmoving, too afraid to, his eyes fixated on the device. It took only a second or two for Deanna’s mind to ‘catch-up’, as it were, to the present matter, and the dare she had placed in front of her son about his lying.

“Then tell the truth, David.” She demanded in a firm tone. “Because lying will just get you into more trouble. Did your mother tell you to cheat? As in ‘David, you can go ahead and use AI to write your paper’? Because I have a hard time believing that.”

“N…No.” David shook his head, giving into his fear and choosing honesty over trying to prevent his punishment from happening – which, at this point, was impossible. “But she said-“

“I know what she said.” Deanna stopped the child with a raise her hand. “And she will be talking to you about that. But you ARE going to summer school.”

“But I don’t want to!”
“Too bad!” Deanna stated. “And if you cheat again, or fail and have to repeat the grade, then there won’t be any soccer or hockey next school year.”

She hated using that, but the result was exactly what she expected. First, the boy’s blue eyes went wide, followed by his jaw hanging open in disbelief.

“No!” he all but screamed. “You can’t do that!” he added, making Deanna grateful that she had asked Elsianna and Amiliah to play outside together – the start of their end of school for the summer! For a moment, she almost pitied her son, the boy having also finished the last day of school today, only to be told that, in two weeks, he’d be starting all over again.

“Yes, I can.” Deanna remarked sternly. “Did you forget who’s paying for it and who’s been driving you to all your games?”

Again, the boy was stunned to silence, his mouth agape.

“I’m sorry, David.” Deanna shook her head. “But these ‘sports’? They’re not a ‘right’ or something you’re ‘owed’. They are a luxury. Like your video games. They are luxuries. You have to deserve them and earn them. And you have not earned them.”

A moment of silence hung between them, the boy’s tears falling down his cheers at the very real possibility of him losing his beloved sports. Slowly, the redhead spoke, her voice dropping to concerned-caring. “Nothing is more important than your education. A good education will prepare you for adult life and help with a career.”

“Mom said that I could be a professional soccer player for my career!” David threw in, wiping at his eyes sloppily with his hand.

Okay, THAT Deanna had no issue believing was true, but she imagined it wasn’t as ‘counter-pointish’ as David was making it out to be. She easily believed Selena would encourage their son to pursue his dreams and ‘be the best he could be’, but she would also wager anything that Selena had put the same restrictions on David as she had with Elsianna and her ‘wanting to be a wrestler like her mothers’. The primary one being that they complete at least high school first!

“I’m sure.” She settled on answering. “But if you want to continue working towards that, you’re going to need to pass summer school.”

Another moment of silence passed between mother and son, Deanna keeping her eyes on her little ‘prince’, who was doing his best to ‘keep it all together’ – she had to give him credit for that. There was a momentary distraction as the sound of Amiliah laughing happily as she played outside trickled into the house. It was enough of a distraction for David to turn his head to the balcony windows, where he could see the backyard and the small lake the served as the center-point of the Black Arrow neighbourhood, connected most, if not all the of the house together through its perimeter.

“It’s not going to be prison.” Deanna tried to explain. “And as long as you keep doing your homework and keeping your grades up, you’ll still be able to do your summer and spring sports during that time.”

The boy’s head turned to his mother, his face – well, Deanna couldn’t be certain if she was seeing utter sadness or guilt or even blame. “What if I don’t?” he asked, his voice holding only concern.

“Then, I’m sorry, sweetie.” Deanna sighed. “But luxuries like that and video games will be the first things taken away until you get back on track.” Slowly, she kneeled before David, bringing herself to his eye-level. “David, this is a very serious situation.” She tried to explain. “You have to understand that this is your last chance to-“

“IT’S NOT FAIR!” the boy screamed, stomping his foot, indicating the last of his patience and his the beginning of his childish petulance belonging to his age. “Mom said I could! Mom said ‘the ends justify the means’! Why isn’t mom being punished?! How do you know Elsa didn’t cheat?! You helped Ami do her projects, why isn’t she being punished?!”

He was just ranting and looking for anything to either ‘save him’ from his fate or take everyone down with him. Surprisingly, in that moment, he almost sounded like his other mother, Selena, to the redhead, using warped logic to twist the narrative like she had for that fatal-fourway last Breakdown.

With a sad sigh, Deanna looked away from her son. “Go to your room.” She ordered quietly but firmly. “You’re still grounded.”

It only heightened the boy’s despair-turned-anger, the seven-year-old running past Deanna, even pushing her a little as he fled the scene. “I HATE THIS!” he yelled. “I HATE YOU!” he added, causing a stab of pain to flash within Deanna’s heart. “I HATE THIS FAMILY!”

He continued to scream such statements as he was heard run-stomping up the stairs. Deanna had already done a ‘clean’ of his bedroom of all his video games and such from the initial ‘grounding’ he had received at the discovery of his cheating, thus the redhead knew the boy would not be doing any more ‘cheating’ of anything for his punishment. He didn’t mean what he said… her mind tried to assure. He’s just an angry kid.

With a slow exhale of breath, the champion pushed herself to her feet as she tried to, simultaneously, push her son’s words out of her head. She could still hear him shouting a little upstairs, but it unintelligible at this point, with Deanna only able to hear the loudest parts of yells. Without a word, the redhead made her way into the kitchen to get herself a glass of filtered-water from the fridge.

Did she regret her course of action? Not at all. The idea that David had tried cheating at such an early age terrified her. It needed to be stopped. If he believed he could get away with it, he would just keep doing it, using whatever plan or cheat or shortcut he could to get ahead. That’s not how the world works… and it shouldn’t. It was one of the founding ideals both Deanna and Selena had believed.

Still, as she thought about it, she could not help the feeling of guilt that rose within her. Could she say she was any different within SCW? True, she had not deliberately cheated or even chosen to cheat! Not in one single match!

But her defense against Scott Reed. Her match with Fall St. Patrick. Her defense against Adam Brock. They all had ended – or been cancelled – due to controversy. There had been no definitive winner based on skill and grit, leaving Deanna with a less than stellar recent-record of pinfalls or moments of proving herself. She had gotten so close with her match with Reed until Enigma had gotten involved. And while she refused to believe that she was cheating – she never wanted those matches to end as they did – they were shortcuts to the redhead.

It was one of the reasons she was so happy to be facing Bree Lancaster again – for the first time in almost a year. Bree wouldn’t try and cheat her or even try and weasel out of the match. The Adrenaline champion would bring her A-game, if only to ‘make-up’ for the back-to-back losses to Deanna that she had suffered at the RTG pre-show and then the post-RTG Breakdown. The woman had become a ‘workhorse champion’ just like Deanna was trying to be. And she always brought out Deanna’s best, even if the woman didn’t like Deanna very much.

In short, Deanna needed this match, challenging as it was. She needed a match with some of Bree’s level – former world champion calibre – to push her to the absolute limit. To hold her own… to win again, against such a woman. It would put things back on the right track and even put The Enigma on notice that she was not so powerless as he had claimed-

THE ENIGMA!

She almost dropped the glass in her hands, the tall glass slipping a few centimeters before her hands, instinctively, caught it, though the sudden movement did send some of the water onto the counter. Half-focusing, Deanna placed the glass further along the counter on a dry-section before grabbing the nearby kitchen-cloth hanging over the oven-handle, using it to dry up the counter. How could she have forgotten about The Enigma? Maybe because she had been so excited at facing Bree again? Challenging a woman of that level?

It didn’t matter. Enigma was all but certain to show up, if only to further flex what ‘power’ he was trying to show and to mess with her head, which terrified the redhead. Would he even let her have her match with Bree and see it through to its natural conclusion? Or would he interfere to mess with her, knowing it would hurt her more to add another controversial-finish to the pile of matches that had been Deanna’s recent history? And then there was Bree…

The thought caused her to stop again, thankfully this time with nothing to drop. Bree was the Adrenaline champion! A woman of power and status just like Deanna… what if Enigma focused on that too? Go for another champion within SCW? And with Bree being involved with Josh Hudson, who was challenging for the SCW World title-

You’re spiraling! Her mind screamed in defense. Stop!

Harshly, Deanna forced herself to take a deep breath. Enigma was powerful and mysterious and evil but he had spread himself too far in the past with focusing on Raab and Williams and Deanna – the result had been beating after beating and no ground made in his own advancement through SCW. Going after Bree to go after Hudson to go after Selena and the world title? It was too far-fetched. Too… too stupid.

But going after Bree to get to Deanna and, perhaps, the Adrenaline championship? That was doable. A contender had not yet been named for Bree’s title for Rise to Greatness. What if this could be a ‘last bid’ for the Enigma? Or maybe target Deanna and Bree at the same time to make more of a statement?

Well it didn’t all mesh and seemed a bit far-fetched in some areas, Deanna could not shake the very real possibility that Bree would be in danger this coming Thursday, just like Deanna was, the notion making her sick to her stomach-

The sound of stomps and yells, more quieter than before (the source clearly tiring himself out), were still heard above her, causing Deanna to lift her head up at the sounds, her only son rampaging in his room like some kind of movie-monster, temporarily disturbing her thoughts.

The monster in SCW.
The little monster above her.
The monster of a task in facing Bree Lancaster amidst it all.

“Monsters to the left…” she whispered as she tried to sip her water, her brain trying desperately to consider an answer to all of it. “Monsters to the right… here I am…” she sighed as her eyes fluttered down to the wedding ring she still wore. “Stuck in the middle with you…”