Amelia Nevado vs. Ryan LeCavalier

[Wisteria Waltz]

Even now, with Breakdown having gone off the air, Amelia Nevado still felt frustrated.

It was hard to blame her, considering this was far from the homecoming she had hoped for, even if she appreciated the break after that brutal Steel Cage Match last week.

She and Luz had waltzed to the ring so she could speak to her fellow countrymen and vent her frustrations. Luz had been more than willing to stand back and her let speak her mind, as it was hard to argue that she didn't have a valid issue with how things had played out. They had fought tooth and nail, showed how well they had adapted and were potentially closing in on getting that win, and the Tag Titles, back from the Fall of Man.

Only for the frustrations of others to once again interfere and screw them over.

“It wasn't just Xander...” Amelia quietly pondered as she sat in their locker room. “The Phantom Troupe... they ignited some of their own chaos too...”

The thought didn't reassure her any, nor did it take the sting out of Xander marching down to the ring to practically berate her and Luz for being 'too nice' and 'too honorable' to keep going with this war. Amelia hadn't backed down, just as she hadn't when she wrestled Xander and earned his respect in that ring. Luz, though, had stepped in to keep her from potentially letting her emotions get the better of her, and she was silently grateful to her wife for doing that.

The last thing she needed was to lose her head enough to basically become her mother and destroy all the hard work she'd devoted so many years of her life into becoming her own person... the woman she truly wanted to be.

“I'm sorry, Ames,” Luz suddenly said, snapping Amelia out of her thoughts as she raised an eyebrow towards her partner.

“For what?” Amelia couldn't help but ask. “You didn't do anything wrong, Lulu. If anything, I should be thanking you for saving me from spiraling so far I almost... became her...”

In response to that, Luz moved from where she'd been leaning against the wall, texting Ivy so they could coordinate meeting up now that the show was done to head back to the hotel and decide how long they were going to linger in London before flying out to Austin for the next Breakdown, where they knew Amelia was going to be in singles action. She didn't hesitate to kneel down in front of where Amelia sat, taking her wife's face in her hands and looking her dead in the eye.

“First off,” Luz said, using that firm voice that left no room for argument, the voice Amelia knew her wife only used when she truly wanted her to hear every word she had to say. “You are never going to become your mother. I know how much you worry about it, and I'm not going to deny that your fears are valid, Ames. But you've resisted that temptation every single time, reminded yourself of who exactly Amelia Nevado is. And if you ever feel yourself slipping, you know that I'll always be here to pick you right back up, just as you've done for me.”

Amelia just blinked, her mouth opening in a bit of awe as she knew tears were starting to form in her eyes, but Luz wiped them away before she gave that gentle, radiant smile that only La Pequeña Luz could.

“And second,” Luz continued, “I know this is frustrating. Believe me, I know as well as you do that we could've actually had that match won. I respect Xander and the Troupe in the ring, but we're allowed to be frustrated by them letting their issues with the Fall of Man override our own equally valid issues with them. How many times have we been told for years now that the 'right way' we wish to abide by was never going to get us anywhere?”

“More than I care to keep track of,” Amelia admitted with a slightly bitter chuckle. “But every single time, we've proven them wrong.” She pauses for a moment, breathing deep and trying to clear her head. “David, Chris, and them want to keep pushing until their SCW careers are at risk because they refuse to realize when they're going too far. Xander used his Trios contract to literally try to destroy himself if it means he can try to take all of the Fall of Man with him.”

“He's probably hoping the cracks we saw forming will be enough to break them apart when the World Title is up for all of them to try and grab,” Luz noted.

“As much as I respect them in the ring, maybe it's better if we let them fight their fight,” Amelia lamented. “Let them get it out of their system... we'll gladly start from the bottom and fight our way back up, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're ready when we earn that next shot. We can explore other avenues in the meantime as well... you may still be in the U.S. Title picture, I still have my own Trios contract, Taking Hold of the Flame is coming up...”

“We have options,” Luz added, grinning as she saw Amelia starting to smile again and she was more than happy to keep building her mood back up.

“And we'll explore them all on our terms,” Amelia firmly said as she placed her hands over Luz's on her cheeks. “They can keep telling us the way we want to do things won't work... we've proven that it can, we've found success doing so, and we know that our light will shine brightly again. As long as we have each other, we'll never lose sight of who we truly are, who we truly want to be, and as long as we're still here, still fighting and still earning everything that we aspire to achieve... they can never truly beat us.”

Luz nodded and chuckled as she kissed the corner of Amelia's lips. “As much as we hate how this played out, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. We can take a step back from the Fall of Man for right now, reset ourselves, and deal with them once things are clear... and maybe when they think they've beaten us for good just because we're not going to become them in order to beat them at their own game.”

Amelia nodded as Luz helped her up and the two of them finally started to leave, slinging their bags over their shoulders and making their way out of the O2 Arena. Admittedly, she wasn't too keen on just walking away from a fight they knew they could win if they kept trying, especially after everything they'd endured at the hands of that group for the better part of half a year now, but she also wouldn't put it past William Heaven to hide behind excuses to avoid another rematch until she and Luz could make it impossible to avoid, and she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of wasting her Trios contract just to make that happen. She still had a few months to decide what to do with it, and she wasn't going to make that decision lightly.

Thinking about her Trios contract, however, did bring her thoughts back to something she remembered coming up during that tournament.

“You think Selena's going to say 'I told you so' the next time we get a chance to talk with her?” Amelia suddenly threw out as she and Luz headed out into the parking lot.

“What do you mean?” Luz inquired.

“You remember the conversation I told you I had with her after the finals were locked in?” Amelia noted. “Where she tried to sow seeds of dissension between me and my Trios teammates? She did warn me about trusting Xander... even then, though, I knew that the respect between us could only be something that existed in the ring and that could be all there was to it.”

“If she got a chance while the cameras were rolling?” Luz nodded as they approached their rental car and opened the rear door. “I could see it, just to help her think she's got some sort of mental edge if she realizes we're considering throwing our names into the battle royal this year. In private, though? I'd want to hope she knows by now we're not willing to buy the whole 'villain' thing when she doesn't have to-”

Luz cut herself off as the next minute became a blur that left both women's adrenaline spiked and their sense of dread and discomfort higher than ever.

While Luz had been speaking, both her and Amelia had heard the sound of rubber squealing against asphalt. They paid it no mind at first as it sounded a ways away, and it could have been attributed to any number of things happening at night. But it wasn't long before the unmistakable roar of an engine growing closer to them at breakneck speed became impossible to ignore.

Almost on instinct, Luz had stepped away from their rental car and Amelia had dove at her, tackling her out of the way just as a white car came barreling in, slamming headfirst into the rear of their rental and absolutely obliterating it. The both of them clung to each other on the parking lot pavement, eyes wide and breathing heavy as even a few seconds of delay could have seen their bodies become as mangled as their rental car now was. Perhaps even more horrifying was the sight in the driver's seat of the car that had just tried to turn them into roadkill: the familiar attire of someone within The Empire, except their plague doctor mask had flown off from the impact, revealing a bloody face of a young man perhaps a year or two younger than they were... a face that no longer seemed to have any life to it after what he'd tried to pull.

“Well... I suppose that's what I get for putting my faith in the quality of disposable fools.”

While Luz's head turned more abruptly, Amelia's turned far slower. It was a voice they knew all too well, a voice that haunted Amelia's every waking thought from the moment she was born, a voice they should have expected to hear tonight but had desperately hoped wouldn't be the case for once.

Amelia had to quietly curse to herself... of course she couldn't visit her home country without having to deal with at least one of her parents.

This, however, was a far different situation, however. Ever since she'd tried to cut her parents out of her life, she'd dealt with phone calls, visits, sudden appearances especially while she was in England, all warning and demanding her to cut Luz out of her life and 'return to her senses' as if everything Amelia knew she truly was had been forced upon her by the woman who was now her wife. She'd put up with the gaslighting, manipulation, physical and emotional abuse for so long that it was almost laughable to think her mom would ever try anything else, least of all an attempt on her life. Luz's, maybe, as sad as that was to admit, but not the daughter she still believed she could 'salvage' for the future of the Blythe name.

And yet, the evidence to the contrary was right behind her in a big heaping pile of twisted metal with at least one casualty as the messed-up cherry on top.

“What the heck!?” Luz yelled, eyes narrowing into a glare beneath her mask.

Ophelia Blythe just rolled her eyes in response, not even bothering to respond to Luz. Or if she did, then Amelia didn't hear it... not only the sound of her own heartbeat echoing in her ears as she slowly pulled herself to her feet, her hand grabbing Luz's so she could be the anchor for her wife to rise as well.

“You... actually tried to kill me...” Amelia slowly said, a dangerous edge to her voice that made a chill run down even Luz's spine.

“Oh, don't be so dramatic, dear,” Ophelia brushed off the accusation like it was nothing. “I knew you would have the reflexes to be able to avoid the impact. If anything, you wasted time trying to protect that-”

“You... actually tried to kill me...” Amelia repeated before her mother got the chance to say something that would likely be racist towards her wife, her voice sounding even more strained as though she didn't know whether to be in disbelief or outright furious.

“You can believe that if you wish,” Ophelia shrugged. “But I do believe Caleb warned you months ago, young lady, that if you wouldn't give up this sinful charade, then what happened next would be your own fault.”

“What would killing either of us solve, though!?” Luz yelled, barely holding herself together as she, understandably, looked about ready to just rush the woman, and Amelia wouldn't blame her if she did because she was in that very same boat.

“Plenty, in your case,” Ophelia scoffed. “But if Amelia had proven how useless she's become all thanks to you corrupting her... well, that would've sadly proven that Aleister and I might just have to consider trying for another child to succeed where she has clearly failed.”

Amelia's thoughts went blank in that moment. She had heard a lot from her mother over the years, bared the physical and mental scars she had been left with by the woman's hand and silver tongue, but her mother clearly making an attempt on her and Luz's lives and showing absolutely no remorse whatsoever for it... she didn't think it was physically possible for her to hate the woman standing before her any more than she already did for destroying her life just because it had to be molded into something she and her husband approved of in every single way, without exception.

Tonight, Ophelia Blythe had crossed a line, and Amelia knew even the slimmest hope she may have somehow clung to of ever forgiving this vile witch and watching her maybe redeem herself once she realized how awful she had been had died along with the Empire grunt who had senselessly thrown away his life just to do her bidding.

Amelia didn't lunge, she didn't rush, she simply took one trembling step towards her mother, not intending to start a fight but almost daring her to resort to what she's always fallen back on to 'keep her in line' so she could finish it. Unfortunately, she never got close, as she and Luz suddenly found themselves being held back by a swarm of white cloaks and plague doctor masks, feeling themselves being restrained as Ophelia simply smirked in that smug, self-satisfied way that always caused Amelia's blood to boil.

“Did you honestly expect me to be alone, Amelia?” she laughed. “What kind of fool do you take me for?”

“The kind who has to know that we didn't come alone, either,” Luz spat.

“Ah, yes, your little friends,” Ophelia rolled her eyes. “I assume they're currently preoccupied?”

“Yes, ma'am,” one of the Empire goons replied.

“You see?” Ophelia grinned again as she took a few steps forward, making sure to stay just out of reach in case either Amelia or Luz broke free. “This little rebellious phase is over, Amelia. Your father and I have been as patient as we possibly could, but we're tired of indulging your little make-believe-”

“The only one playing pretend is you, Ophelia,” Amelia spat, with Luz's eyes going wide as she'd almost never heard that much venom in her wife's voice before. “From the moment I was born, all I ever was to you was a doll you wanted to dress up so I could be the 'perfect successor' to you and dad. Nothing I wanted mattered, who I wanted to be friends with didn't matter, who I loved didn't matter. And yet, for as much as I hated you for every slap you gave me, every injury I had to work through because of dad's 'tough love' trying to make me 'perfect,' every vile, disgusting word that ever came out of your mouth because I'm a lesbian or the woman I love just so happens to be Latina or my best friend you forced me to cut ties with happened to have two dads... I stupidly gave you chance after chance to look in the mirror and hate what you saw staring back at you, hoping you would change, because despite everything, you were still my mother.”

Ophelia raised an eyebrow, surprisingly unfazed by Amelia's furious retort, and even Luz wanted to vomit at just how little this woman truly cared for anything that wasn't exactly what she wanted, no matter the cost to make it a reality.

“But I think it's painfully clear now that you'll never change...” Amelia continued. “I was right to cut you and dad out of my life, I was right to testify against you both and watch you be sent to prison where you clearly belong... and I'll be right when I watch you crash and burn once The Empire falls and your greedy obsession with a legacy that you married into in the first place costs you everything.”

The moment Amelia uttered those final words was when a loud SMACK! echoed through the parking lot. Luz's face shifted from horrified to more furious than she'd perhaps ever been in her entire life at seeing Ophelia openly slap her daughter across the face, making sure the rings she was wearing caught Amelia right across the lips to split them open.

“You ungrateful little brat,” Ophelia seethed. “You could've had it all... you could've easily been the greatest wrestler in this entire Godforsaken company by now, you could've been a princess in a world God will leave behind specifically for people like us, and yet-”

Ophelia never got the chance to rant any further as Amelia suddenly dropped to her knees, shifting her weight forward to throw the Empire figure restraining her into her mother. Ophelia managed to sidestep before he collided with her, but Amelia wasted no time in lunging for her mother, tripping her up with a single leg takedown. Before she could try to do anything further, however, two more of the cronies she'd brought with her each grabbed an arm to restrain her and drag her off. One of them, however, was close enough that Luz could kick off of his back, freeing Amelia and allowing her enough momentum to backflip out of the grip she'd been trapped in. Amelia wasted no time in clocking the other man restraining her with a forearm to free herself, only for Ophelia to crack her daughter right in the jaw with a sucker punch before scrambling off.

While she managed to get away, Luz and Amelia thankfully wouldn't be outnumbered for long. Just when it seemed like The Empire was going to bury them with a numbers game that put even the Fall of Man to shame, several cars suddenly pulled into the parking lot and the Empire goons were quickly corralled by London police and NCA agents, surrendering almost immediately once they realized the Elite they'd come with had left them high and dry to save herself.

Amelia couldn't say she was surprised, even if the blood she was spitting all over the pavement wasn't the only bad taste in her mouth right now.

“You OK?” Luz asked as she knelt down beside her wife as law enforcement worked to cuff the cloaked cult members and drag them off or investigate the horrifying remains of the car crash that instigated this mess.

Perhaps it sounded like a stupid question to anyone else, considering Amelia had just been berated and assaulted by her own mother in a manner that made it clear what little hope had been holding her back from outright disowning the woman entirely despite everything, not to mention had a bruised and bloody lip. But she knew that would be healed by the time the next Breakdown rolled around, just as she knew that she was still alive, as was Luz, and all of their loved ones were also alright as she could see them running in to check on them now that they were free of whatever her mom had pulled to try and keep them out of the way.

“I think I will be...” she admitted, and deep down, despite everything that had just happened... she truly believed it.