The Light in the Darkness vs. The Shinigami Foundation

[Wisteria Waltz]

As we find ourselves in a dimly lit gym, it's hard to tell if we truly expected to find ourselves here or not. The darkness all around us certainly doesn't feel inviting, almost giving hints that it's after hours and we're certainly not supposed to be here. Amidst the faint outlines of weights and gym equipment, there's nothing to even give a hint of exactly where this gym might be located. And yet, none of that seems to matter, because we know exactly where we're being drawn to. We see that we're slowly closing in on the only light available to us in this place: a single spotlight that seems to be shining down on an old training ring that's clearly seen better days. Between its ropes, we find Amelia Nevado and La Pequeña Luz seated in the center, their heads bowed as they sit back-to-back. Even as we get close enough to be able to see into the ring without the ropes obstructing part of our view, Amelia and Luz don't seem to acknowledge our presence, sitting in silent contemplation as their focus seems to be on the canvas beneath them. For almost a full minute, the two are oddly still, a concerning sight especially from Luz as we've always known her to be full of energy. When we least expect it, though, the silence is broken.

“The Light In The Darkness are no longer your World Tag Team Champions...”

“At Retribution, James Evans and Giovanni Aries managed to dethrone us...”

The admissions are blunt, to the point where it's surprising even with what we know of these women, but they still don't move, nor do they even turn their heads slightly in our direction.

“We know what you're all probably expecting. The last two times this happened, Luz and I got pretty down on ourselves, hesitated at the mere thought of invoking our rematches, tried to shackle ourselves with insane additional provisions all to force ourselves to be pushed even harder to prove that we belong here.”

“The truth of the matter is... we've already long since proven that we do, in fact, belong here. From being derailed by injuries and coming back to having our commitment to SCW be questioned by those who came before us, Amelia and I have spent the past two or so years since that return fighting, scratching, clawing, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that SCW is worth every last bit of blood, sweat and tears we've been willing to shed for it and then some.”

“In that time, we've both called ourselves Television Champions. Luz has called herself an interim U.S. Champion. I've won the Trios Tournament. And the two of us together have called ourselves your World Tag Team Champions three times over a collective span of 421 days between them all.”

“The most important detail that some out there seem pretty keen to forget is that we've earned every single one of those accolades. We've stepped up and fought the very best SCW has had to offer without fear, and win or lose, we've always walked away knowing there's still so much more to learn, mistakes to improve from, work to build on.”

“We fully acknowledge that we're not a perfect tag team, and that's OK.”

“Because that means we know we'll always have more work to do to keep getting better.”

“And losses like Retribution? They're not as damaging as the Fall of Man want to believe they are.”

“After all... we can still fight.”

It's at this moment that we see Amelia and Luz both reach back, hooking their arms around one another's.

“That's why we're going to pick ourselves back up...”

“Shake off anything they were hoping would plague us after that loss...”

As they keep talking, Amelia and Luz slowly begin to rise, their backs still pressed together as they use one another to help themselves back to their feet, letting their legs do all the work.

“And remind all of SCW...”

“...that you can't snuff out The Light In The Darkness that easily!”

It's at this point that both women are completely upright once again. They unhook their arms and both turn to face us fully now, but we can see their hands still finding their way to one another, their fingers threading together as they, perhaps to the surprise of many, seem relatively unfazed by the loss of their World Tag Team Titles. If there's any change in their demeanor at all, it does feel like there's even more of a fire burning in their eyes now, but not to the same potentially self-destructive degree that we've seen hints of in the past.

“We're not going to sugarcoat it: yeah, it hurt to lose to the Fall of Man at Retribution. But for all William Heaven's talk of inevitability, we made James and Gio earn that win the hard way, we pushed them to their limits and deep down, as much as they hate it, we know they can't deny it. At the end of the day, if we were going to fall, then we went down exactly the way we would've wanted to... fighting with everything we had and being overcome by opponents who pushed themselves to fight just that little bit more. For as much as we know they'll try to brag and gloat, they played our game at Retribution, not theirs. If they had their way, Luz and I would be laying in hospital beds right now, questioning if we would ever be able to set foot in the ring again, or if we'd even want to. And yet, here we stand, clearly willing and able to pick ourselves back up and start our journey back to the top all over again if we need to.”

“Here's the thing that I know William's hoping we forget about: we do have a rematch we can use if we so choose to try James and Giovanni one more time. And if history has taught anything, it's that Ames and I? We're pretty darn good at learning from history and fixing any mistakes we make to be even better the next time around. We're always learning, always growing, always evolving, and if and when that time comes? We'll be a far different team than the one the Fall of Man has faced not just at Retribution, but up to this point period. We aren't going to just give up and go away all because we lost one match, and deep down, we're pretty sure William's afraid of the truth: that whether it's because of a rematch or if James and Gio are as dominant as they want to think, as long as they hold those titles? Sooner or later, they're going to have to meet us in that ring again, and they're going to have to once again prove they have what it takes to overcome us. That's the funny thing about this narrative: there isn't just one author deciding where this story goes next.”

“And that's not even getting into the fact that we're pretty sure mi amor still has a rematch for the interim U.S. Title she can choose to pursue if she wishes, regardless of whether it means another dance with Asher or seeing if this Jordan Majors woman is able to really put her money where her mouth is. Let's also not forget that I'm in possession of a Trios contract, which in and of itself could lead to any number of scenarios. True, for the first time since Rise to Greatness last year, Luz and I find ourselves without any gold to our names... but there are so many more paths laid out before us than ever before, which only further proves that for everything the Fall of Man has claimed they were going to do to us, they've ultimately failed in the grand scheme of things, and no amount of attempting to rewrite their past declarations to save face is going to change the fact that the hunters now find themselves as the hunted.”

“Of course, we're not blind to the opportunity that we know so many other teams in this company are seeing right now. For so long, we've stood at the top of the mountain, fighting tooth and nail to prove that our time wasn't quite up yet, and now that we are tag champions no more, they believe it's the perfect opportunity to strike while the iron's hot, hope to capitalize on our loss at Retribution to further try to keep us down and out of the way so they can go after the new champions. I mean, the Cowgirls From Hell returned recently and with greater numbers than before, and Retribution also saw the return of The Connection, a duo we wouldn't be surprised to have targeting us in the very near future. That's also not getting into every other team around here that has been a part of our journey in one form of another over these past few years to rebuild and remind the world of just what tag team wrestling is all about. Teams just like the Shinigami Foundation, who have made it clear they're chomping at the bit for this date with us come Breakdown.”

Amelia and Luz slowly approach the ropes, causing us to back up a bit to keep them completely in our sights as we look up at them. They lean on the ropes, thinking over the task ahead of them come Breakdown for a moment as we see the gears begin to shift and turn in their minds.

“Alex, Wil, Dante... regardless of which combination of the three of you we find ourselves facing come Breakdown, we know how badly you want to be able to walk out of saying you've beaten us. The thought of using the former champions as a stepping stone to declare your own shot at the current title holders? It's a tale as old as time in this business, and we're not surprised at how confident you feel in being able to pull this off. After all, Alex and Wil are the two men who claimed several months ago that they wanted to lock down the tag team division and have the final say on who does and doesn't belong here, and their attempts to enforce that and make themselves the only option to challenge our reign is what caused us to call for the Chamber. We gave the two of you and everyone else in that match exactly what you asked for, but we also warned you that we weren't just going to rest on our laurels and expect to simply walk out the same way we walked in. We started that match, barely 48 hours removed from our wedding night, and busted our behinds to overcome you and every other team in that match to prove that we were still worthy of being SCW World Tag Team Champions.”

“And we also remember a few weeks after that, Alex, when you and Aisling were paired together and earned yourselves another shot at our title reign. We'll stand here and wholeheartedly give you credit where it's due: you and Aisling managed to make a great team and gave us the kind of fight we were hoping for, and even if some people wanted to criticize us for being a bit careful with Aisling because of her injury, we still earned the win on that night. Now, I'm not saying any of that is a guarantee of how this match on Breakdown is going to go... far from it, actually. If anything, Amelia and I are walking down to that ring knowing two things for sure: that you're going to be determined to show us that you've learned and grown from those past encounters into the kind of team that can take us down, and that we need to make a statement of our own by reminding the world of exactly who we are. We're The Light In The Darkness, we've prided ourselves for years on being that beacon of hope for so many others in this business and proving that no matter who you are, you can succeed at anything you put your mind to if you're willing to work for it. Everyone else can say that we're the best tag team in SCW, and perhaps even the entire world, today... we'll gladly keep fighting and proving we deserve to be seen as such, one match at a time.”

“You guys don't have to demand our very best or tell us to expect that from you come Breakdown, because that's all we'll ever give and all we'd ever ask of you in the first place. We want the two of you to come as us like the toughest tag team in all of professional wrestling you claim to be, because that's the kind of challenge that we crave, the kind of fight we need to pick ourselves back up at the very bottom of the mountain and begin this climb all over again. That's what Luz and I have always been about, and that's something that the Fall of Man could never take from us, no matter how hard they try.”

“When SCW first reached out to us, they were drawn in by the allure of Amelia and I both being second generation talents. If anything, every match we have ever wrestled since day one has been about forging our own legacies, carving our own paths with just our bare hands, independent of those within our respective families that preceded us. That is who we are, and that's who we want to be remembered as. So to the Shinigami Foundation, we wish you the best of luck, but we'd also like to give you a friendly warning... if you believe this match is already won, then you're going to find out firsthand just how much harder we fight when we're back on the hunt as opposed to defending what we've built.”

“A whole new journey awaits us starting on Breakdown.”

“And we're more than happy to light the way on wherever that journey takes us next.”

Amelia and Luz glance at one another and nod, the smiles we've come to know fully present on their faces as any hope of them being train wrecks like in the past following such a heartbreaking title loss are clearly dead. What exactly this means is something we'll have to wait until Breakdown to find out for sure, but one thing is clear as we fade out: The Light In The Darkness may be shining brighter than ever, Retribution be damned.