Taking Hold of the Flame 2025

[Wisteria Waltz]

Amelia Nevado RP


Amelia Nevado could think up a list a mile long as to all the things she would curse her parents for without a second thought.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the deeply ingrained demand to disregard the help and advice of anyone that wasn't them was probably somewhere near the top of the list, and she didn't fully realize it until recently.

With SCW rolling into New Orleans for Taking Hold of the Flame, Marilyn Clauson had done her part to help train both Amelia and Luz for their attempt at the battle royal, but there was only so much one could prepare for a match where you could never be sure who you'd be facing or how many at any given time. Despite knowing the couple had done this particular dance once before, albeit on a night where Amelia also had another match to worry about on top of it, Marilyn had still put all of her own battle royal experience to good use in preparing them the best she could, namely focusing on trying to be aware of your surroundings at all times and teaching them different tricks to keep themselves from going out and hitting the floor.

Marilyn's biggest idea to help them, though, had felt a bit unconventional at first, but that simply spoke to how hard Amelia and Luz kept pushing themselves at all times and the problems that was starting to cause... especially with certain other forces very keen on trying to take advantage of that in one form or another.

It was the last day of May, and the day before Taking Hold of the Flame, and Marilyn's plan was pretty clear: not only should Amelia and Luz spend some time apart, mostly to prepare for the likelihood that they may not be in the battle royal at the same time, but today was to be a rest day for the both of them. As much as they had wanted to argue against this idea, especially Amelia because it went against every instinct that had been (sometimes literally) beaten into her growing up, it was difficult against the sound logic Marilyn put forth, especially when it came to needing a day off. Just because the two had maybe a show or two lately where neither one of them were wrestling hadn't meant they weren't busy doing something on SCW television anyway... and that spoke nothing of the fact that they hadn't had a chance to truly, properly relax and clear their heads ever since Caleb had broken out of prison and The Empire had 'resurrected' to pick up where they had left off in harassing the couple until they broke down and allowed Caleb to 'save' them.

Amelia could hear the voices of Aleister and Ophelia Blythe yelling in her mind right now, demanding that she 'cease this senseless tomfoolery' and return to training, and those intrusive thoughts didn't hesitate to also demand that she outshine Luz between the two of them in the battle royal come Sunday night. Thankfully, she had plenty of help to banish those thoughts for the time being.

“You have to be joking,” Darius stated, rubbing his temple in disbelief.

“I wish we were,” Edward claimed. “Poor Amelia never knew what ice cream tasted like until her excursion to Mexico, and her first experience with it was the lactose-free stuff because Luz is intolerant.”

“Something I wish we'd known when we managed to sneak our first taste of ice cream,” Emily added, shooting her brother a look.

“Yeah, that was a miserable experience,” Edward admitted sheepishly.

“I want to ask how in the hell your parents wouldn't know one of their children was lactose intolerant, but sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if they either didn't care or thought it would 'pass' somehow,” Darius shook his head, growing more and more exasperated the more he learned about exactly how the Blythe children were raised by his old friends once upon a time.

“To be fair, lactose-free ice cream is actually pretty good,” Amelia admitted.

“I don't know how you can eat it, Ames, but more power to you for sure,” Ivy laughed.

With Luz having been conscripted into helping Marilyn with putting her family's old magick store back together for a potential reopening, it was decided that Ivy, Edward, Emily, and Henry would accompany Darius in taking Amelia out to explore the French Quarter to help keep her mind on anything that wasn't related to Luz, SCW or The Empire. Admittedly, it hadn't been too successful thus far, but there was enough positive energy in the air that Amelia at least wasn't getting fixated on any of the intrusive thoughts that tried to burst into her headspace every now and then. Even if that was the best she was going to get, it was still better than the stress she and Luz had been living under for far too long now, fretting too much over SCW matters or spiraling because the deranged cult of Caleb White just would not leave them alone until they got their way.

'This is what this young lady deserves,' Darius mused to himself as he saw Amelia's smile, looking more relaxed than she had in quite some time, at least for the moment. 'And to think I once called you my best friend, Aleister... I don't know if Ophelia warped you that much to suit her own needs or if fame and success truly went to your head and made you into a monster that cared for nothing else.'

He glanced over to Henry, feeling for the boy as well. Darius wanted to refer to him as 'son' since he knew he'd make a much better parental figure than Caleb had with all he'd done to the boy, but he didn't want to intrude on a dynamic he, admittedly, still didn't understand despite seemingly being a part of it now. He'd grown to truly care for Henry and his well-being during the time he and Evie were undercover as Empire members, but he also knew the boy had been all but officially adopted by Camila and taken to the idea of being a brother of sorts to Luz once he'd escaped Caleb's grip... though he also had a clear sibling dynamic going on with Amelia as well, to his surprise. There was also the matter of him technically being a Clauson as he was the son of Caleb's brother and Marilyn's aunt, which actually brought up an interesting thought...

“Henry,” Darius suddenly asked, drawing the boy's attention. “If you don't mind me asking... why didn't you want to stick around and help Marilyn with her family's magick shop? It's technically part of your heritage as well.”

Henry took a moment to ponder this before shrugging. “I just... I don't know if I'm ready to explore that part of who I really am just yet. Part of it is still trying to deprogram myself from everything Uncle tried to fill my head with growing up, but another part is just wanting to figure out exactly who I am, or want to be at least, before I try opening myself up to that kind of stuff.”

“I can empathize,” Amelia admitted. “When I finally started breaking away from the chains my parents tried to keep me shackled to, I had to figure out who it is I truly wanted to be before I could move forward... to some degree, I feel like I'm still figuring that out even to this day.”

“Well, I can definitely say that I like the Amelia I've gotten to know thus far,” Ivy said with a grin, nodding to her old friend.

“Same,” her twin siblings admitted simultaneously.

Amelia couldn't help but grin as she took a moment to glance around the small, quaint restaurant they had all stopped at for lunch. It was one of those family-owned places that served incredible food she'd probably never find anywhere else, but she also knew it was one of those places her parents would've immediately dismissed without a second thought just because it didn't 'look befitting of a Blythe to be caught dead at.' Memories like that really made her blood boil at the thought of everything she'd missed out on trying growing up because of how controlling her parents had to be and how badly they seemed to want to fit themselves into the box of the snobby, elitist stereotype.

As she tried to kick her parents out of her thoughts once more, she found them drifting to Luz now. Admittedly, she missed her wife, even if she understood the logic behind splitting them apart at least until tonight. If it wasn't for Luz getting through to her in the first place, she might've never had the courage to try breaking those chains, or even trying so many new things she'd been denied growing up and opening the door to a whole new world of experiences that seemed beyond her reach until that point. While it was true that she had fought tooth and nail of her own accord to earn her freedom, she would wholeheartedly admit that Luz was the spark that ignited the fuse, and without her, there was no chance of those walls she'd been forced to encase herself in being blown apart to give her hope of a life that wasn't under her parents' thumbs.

“Earth to Ames,” she heard Ivy calling, snapping out of her thoughts to the sight of Ivy's hand waving in front of her face. “You still with us?”

“Judging by the look on her face, I'd say she had Luz on the brain,” Edward chuckled.

“Now Amelia, you know what Marilyn suggested,” Darius sternly told her, though his tone was light enough to make it clear he wasn't scolding her or forcing her into anything. “I may have been out of the wrestling game for a good while, but even I know she's got a point and you're supposed to be emptying that head of yours.”

“Sorry...” Amelia sheepishly admitted. “It's hard not to think about her and all she's done to help me become who I am today... especially not when I've got a few people here who I know are just as bad as I am when it comes to feelings.”

“What do you mean?” Ivy asked, raising an eyebrow but looking a bit nervous. Amelia's response was to just grin at her old friend and nod her head towards Henry, who was sweating bullets and trying to look towards the kitchen as a desperate distraction.

Amelia couldn't help but chuckle, especially as she heard the twins both gasp and get the kind of smiles that they only wore when they were clearly plotting something. Unfortunately, she wasn't about to let them off the hook that easily.

“Say, Em,” Amelia sweetly said to her big sister. “Whatever happened with that buff girl you were drooling over at the gym when you and Ed were training for your last match?”

Seeing her sister's face go completely red felt like a win in Amelia's book, and the grin she wore made sure Emily knew it.

“I, um... I have no idea what you're talking about...” Emily's eyes darted around as Edward laughed.

“I don't know why you're laughing, Ed,” Amelia smirked at him. “Didn't you try texting a poem to someone you were going out with and accidentally sent it to their mom instead?”

Edward's laughter quickly evaporated as he groaned. “Do you have to remind me of that?”

“I have to say,” Darius admitted. “It's quite fascinating to see all of you like this. Not just relaxed, which is a good thing considering everything we've been dealing with lately, but... 'flustered disasters' is the term I believe Evie would use in this scenario?”

A round of groans echoed from everyone at the table, which Darius couldn't help but chuckle at.

“Oh, come on, Darius,” Henry prodded. “Surely you have someone you've felt that way about? Perhaps your partner?”

“Nonsense,” Darius playfully scoffed. “Evie and I are strictly partnered agents for the NCA, and I see her as more of a sister than anything else, truth be told. Now, maybe there was someone back in the day who I could've become a 'flustered disaster' over, but... that person's long gone now...”

A heavy silence suddenly settled into the air, no one sure what to make of that revelation. Amelia, her mind ever analytical, had a few possible theories, but she really didn't want to pursue any of them for the sake of actually trying to empty her head and enjoy some well-deserved peace, just as Marilyn had instructed for both her and Luz to do today. After a moment, and a nice, long drink of the tea he'd ordered, Darius sighed.

“My apologies,” he said. “I didn't mean to bring down the mood.”

“It's not your fault,” Ivy told him.

“Ivy's right,” Amelia followed up. “As stupid as this might sound, I feel like we're all kind of struggling with this whole 'relax and take it easy' thing after how long we've had to deal with watching our backs because of you-know-who. I sadly wouldn't be surprised if it took us a good while after this whole mess is finally resolved until we can actually adjust to not having to be careful with literally everything we do.”

There were nods of agreement from everyone else at the table, the unspoken threat still looming over them even as they tried to ignore it for one day. It didn't matter what form it took, from Vladimir's efforts to talk Amelia and Luz into letting Caleb 'save' them to the Blythes seemingly leading the charge in forging their own faction within The Empire dedicated to just getting rid of the couple and being done with the only obstacle they seemed to believe was in their path, because all roads for that cult unfortunately ran straight through Amelia and Luz by Caleb's design and true peace felt like an unobtainable goal they were fighting to earn.

The more Amelia thought about it, now that the subject was on her mind whether she wanted it to be or not, the more questions she had regarding the so-called 'elites' of The Empire, the ones who were essentially Caleb's second-in-command in this incarnation with his 'Golden Prodigy' having defected from his corrosive influence wrapped in self-serving Bible quotes and twisted religious rhetoric. As of right now, Vladimir was the only one they were for-sure was still carrying on with this plan they had enacted of trying to talk her and Luz into letting Caleb 'guide' them, even just as a much more experienced wrestler. Her mom, for sure, seemed to be a part of the contingent that was breaking away from Caleb's plans and trying to bring about his so-called 'paradise' even if it meant he couldn't 'save' her and Luz as a means of proving he deserved to ascend to Heaven when he finally kicked the bucket, and she wouldn't doubt her dad would side with Ophelia without question. As for whether or not they were the leaders of this splinter cell... that wasn't as cut-and-dry and she would've liked to assume.

The truth of the matter was that six of the nine elites were unaccounted for in this situation. Of them, the only ones Amelia knew of were Theresa and Adrian, who seemed like they were on Vladimir's side based on past interactions but she had no concrete confirmation, and Mason, who they didn't really know too much about aside from the single meeting where he was present alongside the 'terrible two' she'd already made note of. That still left three they'd never even properly met, and the whole thing left so many unanswered questions that were going to need to be answered somehow, someway if they were going to figure this out.

“Alright, as good as lunch has been, I think we could all use a change of scenery,” Darius suggested. “Something to help us all clear our heads like Amelia is supposed to be doing.”

“We're pretty bad at this, aren't we?” Emily chuckled, though there was a familiar nervous edge to her voice. Amelia knew it all too well... she'd heard it from her own mouth every now and then as well, and she knew exactly who was to blame for feeling insecure about thinking that way, even in a joking manner.

“More like we just need to get used to having these kinds of moments,” Ivy responded. “Though... it is, admittedly, easier when you're not trying to force it.”

“Easier said than done right now,” Henry lamented.

Amelia just nodded as she pushed her chair back and stood up, stretching out and feeling the satisfying pop of a few joints as she was more than ready to get some fresh air and see where else today took her... at least, before she and Luz reunited to discuss their days without each other and talk strategy for the battle royal tomorrow night, and potentially try to figure out what to do after Taking Hold of the Flame as a backup plan. Darius paid the bill and left a tip for the wait staff before they all stepped out of the restaurant, discussing ideas for where they wanted to go next. As suggestions were thrown around, Amelia thought she heard something, and a quick glance to Darius confirmed he might've heard it too.

“Guys,” Amelia suddenly said in a hushed voice, quieting everyone down. “Do you hear that?”

They all listened carefully, which was a bit hard considering they were in one of the busiest areas of New Orleans, but through the hustle and bustle, they all swore they heard someone familiar... and they seemed to be nearby.

“Is that...?” Edward started to say, but cut himself off as Darius raised a finger to his lips.

“Stay quiet and stay close,” he told them. “Keep out of sight.”

With that, the group all carefully turned into the alley right next to the restaurant, keeping their eyes and ears peeled. As they saw someone heading in their direction from the other end of the alleyway, they all quickly ducked behind nearby dumpsters to avoid being seen. Thankfully, it seemed like the person they had spotted was too preoccupied to have noticed them, which was a blessing once they realized who it was... someone that made the collective stomachs of Amelia and her siblings lurch.

“I don't think you understand how serious this is, Ophelia!” Adrian Verner growled into his phone as he frantically paced back and forth. “Caleb's plan was clear, and you and Aleister were onboard with it because it would get your youngest daughter back on track. Do you realize what Caleb will do to you once he realizes you're leading this little insurrection against his paradise he promised us all!?”

Amelia scowled at this as it seemed to confirm some of her suspicions, but hearing what her family's scumbag lawyer (ex-lawyer?) trying to rationalize The Empire's obvious plan to her mother still made her sick, especially after all the work she'd put into becoming someone she actually felt proud of when she looked in the mirror. Before she could consider doing anything, though, she felt Darius's hand on her shoulder, keeping her grounded as he signaled that now wasn't the right moment to make a move.

“What do you mean you're not leading it?” Adrian spat in disbelief over whatever Ophelia had told him from the other end of the call. “You're the one Caleb can publicly confirm is working against him after what you pulled in London! Even if you aren't the leader, you know he's going to treat you as such and make an example out of you! Why do you insist on defying him? … I don't care if you're still trying to bring paradise to fruition, you're actively defying our Lord's orders to do so!” Adrian ran a hand down his face in frustration, especially with whatever Ophelia's response was to this. “Must you keep reminding me of the botched trial? I could have found us a way out if you had just trusted me, but you and Aleister just had to open your mouths and incriminate yourselves! Clearly I am the only one out of the three of us who actually cares about doing this the right way, and when Caleb decides to excommunicate you from our paradise... don't say I didn't warn you.”

Adrian hung up the phone, letting out a long, frustrated groan as he pocketed it and set about trying to make sure he was still well put together. Amelia looked to Darius, who nodded to her but motioned to the others to stay put for now, and they nodded in understanding.

“That woman, I swear...” Adrian grumbled. “If she would just listen to me and let me do what God put me on this Earth to do, we wouldn't have these little issues that keep setting us back! Oh well... assuming Vladimir contacted that masked brat about her little plan to sabotage it, that just leaves the business I need to attend to so I can get out of this shithole city.”

“And what business would that be, Mr. Verner?”

Adrian nearly jumped out of his skin, his scream definitely resembling that of a little girl before he realized that Darius was standing before him, arms folded and looking very unamused right now.

“Ah, Darius! A pleasure to see you again!” Adrian greeted, taking a few steps backward as he looked ready to run the second Darius made a move to likely arrest him. “I, um... I'm afraid that business is classified, so if you'll excuse me, I have to find young Miss Blythe-”

“That's Mrs. Nevado now, Adrian,” Amelia growled as she stepped out from behind Darius, cracking her wrists as though she were ready to try and turn the Empire elite into a human pretzel right here and now. “And don't try to feign ignorance... I know you're willingly ignoring my marriage to Luz because it doesn't fit the faith Caleb's painstakingly crafted for you to buy into.”

“I will acknowledge your unholy union when God himself does,” Adrian firmly stated before he adjusted his tie and tried to primp himself once more. “Now then... shall we perhaps adjourn to a more private location to discuss business?”

“Any business you have to discuss with her can be done in my presence,” Darius warned. “Especially since I have a warrant for your arrest and plenty of questions of my own I'd like to ask you.”

“Ugh, must we really do this?” Adrian complained.

“We can start with you telling me exactly what that call with Ophelia was about,” Amelia demanded, with Adrian looking a little more nervous at now just the venom in Amelia's tone, but the fact that she called her mother by her first name intentionally. “Or what Vladimir's contacting my wife about.”

“You can ask her yourself when you next see her,” Adrian claimed, trying to brush off Amelia's questions. “And the information pertaining to my call with Miss Ophelia Blythe is strictly confidential...”

“It won't be for much longer,” Darius warned as he flashed his badge. “Adrian Verner, you're under arrest for-”

“Sorry, but I've got a plane to catch!” Adrian claimed before he turned around and made a break for it. Amelia and Darius immediately began chasing after him, with the others also revealing themselves as Ivy and Henry joined the chase while Edward and Emily stayed behind, just in case he pulled some sort of misdirection to try and slip past them to escape since they didn't know if this alleyway was a dead end or not.

Given the fact that he was just a lawyer and he was being pursued by three trained wrestlers and an NCA agent who were all very much built to handle a situation like this, Adrian quickly realized he was going to be caught in no time. Seeing the distance being closed, he reached into his pocket and threw something behind him, which exploded into a thick cloud of gas the moment it hit the ground. Darius quickly skidded to a halt and held out his arms to stop the other three as well. For all any of them knew, it could be a simple smoke bomb meant to cover Adrian's escape, or it could be something else that would cause some serious damage if they inhaled it. With The Empire, it was better safe than sorry, and Darius quickly pulled Amelia, Ivy and Henry back and out of the gas's range as it slowly began to dissipate. Edward and Emily ran up to join them as the smokescreen disappeared, leaving no trace of Adrian to be found.

“We didn't see him sneak past to leave the way we came in,” Emily reported. “This alley must open up on the other side as well.”

“Damn it,” Darius huffed. “That slippery, overdramatic bastard...”

“Wait... what's that?” Ivy pointed out, drawing all eyes to what looked like a white envelope laying on the ground where the smokescreen had been. Before Darius could fully assess the risks, Henry pulled a bandana from his pocket and tied it around the bottom half of his face before he moved in and grabbed the envelope.

“It's addressed to Amelia,” he stated, his voice muffled by the bandana as he handed her the envelope, which certainly had her name on it. Before she could open it, however, Henry realized that everyone was just staring at him, causing him to let out a sigh. “Sorry... reflexes. Caleb trained me for situations like this, as much as he preferred I remain in the wrestling portion of The Empire.”

“...we'll be unpacking that later,” Darius admitted before turning his focus to Amelia, who was carefully opening the envelope. “What does it say, Amelia?”

Amelia scowled as she read through the note that had been left behind, resisting the urge to just shred the thing right then and there as she handed it over to Darius and the others to read, the overly elegant handwriting masking a rather unsettling message.

Amelia,

If you're reading this, then that means Adrian has failed with the simple task I assigned him, which would sadly be unsurprising at this point. I cannot assume Vladimir will be any more successful in his task, so I ask a request of the two of you I seek to save.

I need your help to put an end to a little rebellion that not only threatens your lives, but my paradise as well.

- Caleb White

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The Vieux Carre, or the French Quarter, is considered the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, and is often considered its crown jewel. Built on influences from all over the world and blending the old with the new in seamless harmony, the view we get of everything this part of the city has to offer is just breathtaking, especially as the sun is beginning to set and the city is truly beginning to come alive. Bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun, we find Amelia Nevado standing on the balcony of her hotel in this part of the city... or at least, it's what we want to assume. As we see her from the side, catching her brilliant smile as she gazes out at the city below, we can also see her wife, La Pequeña Luz, on a different balcony further down, seemingly doing the exact same thing. Amelia and Luz do happen to glance in one another's directions, grinning and nodding to one another before the camera pivots around as Amelia turns with us, putting her back to the city as she folds her arms in front of her like a proper young lady, taking a deep breath and focusing on the task she knows awaits her come Sunday night.

“You know something? It's kind of funny in a sense... ever since the end of my admittedly brief Television Title reign came to an end two years ago and Luz seemed to start figuring out the missing pieces that kept her from shining as brilliantly as I know she can, an old script seemed to have been flipped. I talked about it before, back during the previous Trios Tournament: whereas everyone was once high on me to be the 'breakout star' of The Light In The Darkness while Luz was left behind, now everyone has started believing Luz would be the one leaving me behind as I seemed to have lost all that momentum I had going for me. Even when I found myself as part of the winning Trios team and in possession of a contract, all eyes continued to remain on Luz as she earned an opportunity at the United States Title and then proceeded to reign as champion, albeit not in a way she would've preferred. It was either Luz, or The Light In The Darkness, but never Amelia. No offense to mon amour, of course.

And yet... over the past few weeks, my name is suddenly starting to come up again. Ryan LeCavalier apparently is adding me to her list because she proved everything I said about her correct all because I will fully admit that, at least when we met a few weeks ago, I was just a little bit better and wanted that win just a little bit more. Selena Frost has seen fit to mention me once again, hoping I would back down from this opportunity despite it conflicting with the very criticisms she gave to Luz and I years ago, when our commitment was questioned heading into our effort to dethrone the House of Frost for the World Tag Team Titles. Truth be told, even if it's including Luz in the same breath, I wouldn't be surprised if Xander Valentine had something to say to me going into Sunday night, or the various members of the Fall of Man proving that we continue to haunt their thoughts just because they didn't finish the job like they claimed they would and we're not playing their game anymore.

Truth be told... I didn't go anywhere, I didn't fade away or become forgotten. I just slowly rebuilt myself and climbed back to this point with nothing but my bare hands and the skills I'm proud to bring into that ring, and people are starting to realize that it doesn't matter if we're teaming together or standing alone, Luz and I are both worth keeping an eye on as time goes on and we keep getting better and better. And if you don't believe me? Well, then hopefully I can keep proving it come Taking Hold of the Flame, when I step into that battle royal and test myself to see how I measure up against everything and everyone that SCW has to offer.”

Amelia softly smiles, knowing that her approach to this match may not only be a bit different than Luz's, but it will likely throw some people for a loop. After all, they're used to hearing bold declarations claiming that them winning and going on to main event Rise to Greatness is a foregone conclusion. Once upon a time, Amelia would have no doubt been another voice floating in that very sea, making claims she wasn't sure she could keep but pushing herself to make it a reality because she had to.

“Allow me to clarify a few things... do I want to be SCW World Champion? Absolutely, that's the dream everyone in this company aspires for. At least, unless your name is Giovanni Aries maybe. Am I ready to call myself World Champion right now? Well... that is the question, isn't it? Truth be told, I don't think anybody ever truly knows if they're ready or not, but as the old saying goes, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. That's exactly why Luz and I were both willing to enter ourselves into the battle royal this year. Maybe one of us will be ready to take that leap, maybe neither of us are ready yet. All we can do is go out there, give it our best shot, and see how things play out. And if it's not our time? Then we keep working hard until that time comes. Unlike everyone who has been loudly proclaiming that this is their year, that winning this battle royal is their destiny, I won't be heartbroken if it's not meant to be. I'll just pick myself back up, dust myself off, and figure out what the road to Rise to Greatness has in store for me that doesn't involve the World Championship. Who's to say that my time to stand at the very top might not come until later in the year, perhaps, when I've had more time to be ready to take that step?

Not to mention, the one thing that can't be forgotten: even if I'm not ready to Take Hold of the Flame just yet, I do still have a fallback option in the form of my Trios contract.

Now, I know those words are probably raising a few alarms, so allow me to put some fears to rest, or potentially make certain people realize they haven't accounted for every eventuality after all. Assuming I don't win this battle royal, I currently have no plans to use that contract to just insert myself into the Rise to Greatness main event. If I'm going to compete for SCW's greatest prize on the biggest stage imaginable, then that's an honor I truly want to earn and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I deserve it. That said... I have heard the words of Giovanni Aries specifically, the claim that if he doesn't walk out of the Thunderdome as World Champion than he would win the battle royal and, assuming that title remains with the Fall of Man, choose not to have his match, lost in his delusions that he will succeed in destroying SCW once and for all and be hailed as the hero he believes himself to be. Except... there's one problem with that plan, Gio. Not counting the need to win this battle royal and either James or Waylon to leave the Thunderdome as World Champion, if that's what you truly wish to do... then maybe I'll feel the need to use my Trios contract to ensure a World Title match still takes place, even if I'm not ready yet, just so those fans can get what they paid for and deserve to see. Of course, in that scenario, perhaps Selena could also beat me to the punch and finally use her rematch to force the same scenario, in which case, she can have it. The point, Gio, is that your little scheme has a lot of variables that you either didn't account for, or you're so certain this will play out exactly as you want it to that you've already lost yourself to the same greed that you claim has tainted all of us, blinded by your absolution that you overlooked some very important details that are beyond your control.

Of course, I'm just one of the extremely few voices not outright claiming that I already have this match won, so maybe my warning will fall on deaf ears to the Fall of Man. But it doesn't change the fact that I truly don't need to win this match... but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try just to see how far I can go.

On one final note... to my beloved La Pequeña Luz, if it somehow comes down to just the two of us, then I look forward to seeing just how far we've both come and I wish you the best of luck, but I'm sorry in advance if I'm the one still standing in the ring this time when all is set and done.”

Amelia glances over and winks at something out of the shot, presumably Luz, before she bows her head and begins to take her leave, having said all that she feels she needs to as we take one last lingering look at the beauty of the French Quarter of New Orleans before we fade out.