07-26-2025, 11:26 PM
OOC: Takes place following Selena's first roleplay
Eyrie Tower
New York City, New York
July 29th, 2025
5:55am (approx. 5 mins till sunrise)
She burst through the elevator doors before they had completely opened. “Selena!” she called out as loudly as she could, but received no answer. “SELENA!” she shouted, her voice echoing through the large halls and rooms of the castle-suite.
Before the sound had even died down, she was running through the home, bounding up stairs, checking every room, every bathroom, every tub, every closet. She had never run so fast in her life and each time she checked a new space only to find nothing, her heart sank more and more.
Was she too late? Had it already happened? No… she couldn’t believe that. She refused to believe it! No god, whatever religion or deity it was, could possibly be so cruel! It was beyond unfair! It was just… just… wrong!
Yet, as the young woman bounded down the stairs back to the first floor of the suite, her eyes suddenly caught sight of something – a flicker of magenta! Quickly, Deanna’s head jerked towards it, just in time to see the nightgown… and the pale form wearing it as the dressed woman was standing on the grand balcony outside, placing one leg up and over the guardrail, followed by the other-
Her legs were moving before her brain had registered everything, rushing with the last of her energy from a sleepless night to burst out of the side door and onto the balcony terrace.
“STOP!” she screamed out, catching the platinum-blonde by surprise as she stood there, the wall of the balcony the only thing standing between them.
“Deanna…” Selena Frost’s eyes went wide in complete surprise and alarm. “What are you… How did you?”
“I said…” Deanna breathed. “That I will always find you.” She vowed, gazing at the platinum-blonde desperately. “Don’t do this, please…”
************************************
Sage Contents Restoration Storage Warehouse
New Rochelle, New York City
July 15th, 2025
3:19pm
The redhead gave a quiet sigh as she moved another box out from under the red-orange beams that served as a sort of ‘section’ for storage. She had been taken back to a far-back point of the large warehouse and, having walked past several of the aisles and tables and ‘cleaning’ stations (and seeing the mountains of dust that had collected in some of those places), she was relieved when the box she currently had her small hands on didn’t kick up a dust storm as she attempted to pull it out.
Emphasis on attempted…
The box was heavy for the redhead, causing her to grunt and heave a little as she pulled – part of her wanting the damn thing to move, yet another part of her being terrified that she would rip the cardboard apart and spill all the contents if she pulled too hard.
She had been at this for the last few weeks – since the fire. To say that the matter of her ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan being burnt down had left her a little shaken would have been an understatement. Still, the world kept turning, she knew that – had known that for a long time and had relearned that lesson time and time again. The world – be it the whole world in general or even a world like SCW – couldn’t stop just because of her issues and her problems. It had to keep going.
Deanna Frost sighed as she finally managed to pull the box far enough away from the top of the storage section so she could open the folds of the box at the top and peer inside safely, but she didn’t do that right away. Her mind was dwelling on her previous thought…
Had it really been less than a year that her world had stopped? The calendar seemed to say so, despite her wanting to believe otherwise. It had been less than a year since she had been labelled ‘unable to compete’ and forcefully ushered away from SCW and into Kentucky by SCW management and Selena. In short, management (and Selena) feared that, after all the months of mind games and mental-anguish caused by The Enigma – Veil now, as he had begun to call himself – that Deanna had suffered severe forms of PTSD. And despite her best efforts, she had failed to prove otherwise following her war with him inside that damned warehouse – a lot like this one, Deanna realized but quickly dismissed the thought. She had no desire to suffer a panic attack inside this place, especially after she had visited it a number of times already in the past few weeks.
Still… SCW continued on without her. Her year-plus-long reign as the United States Champion was halted, an interim champion was crowned, rightfully so and much deserved, to Luz, that Interim title became the ‘new United States championship’ in the eyes of SCW, and the world… just kept turning.
People moved on.
People forgot about her.
She sighed sadly. It wasn’t like she was expecting some hoopla or whatever. No, she didn’t think that was warranted or deserved. But it was a somber thought to see SCW move on so quickly without her. For the division she had worked so hard to be a part of – to get a chance at – move on without her. She remembered being told as much during her months of being locked away with no access to anything SCW beyond word of mouth. But it was for the best, she reminded herself. She… she couldn’t have continued the way she was going. She knew that now.
Under the ‘Interim’ time, such amazing talents like Luz and Asher Hayes had emerged, one coming back to SCW, and waging wars for the title – she had been allowed to watch SCW again around that time, able to enjoy those matches and the level that Asher and Luz had pushed the title to before Jordan Majors had sneaked it and disgraced everything.
It was a level that Deanna wasn’t sure she could reach even before everything with Veil had happened. It was Asher Hayes, after all, that had defeated her at the last End of the Year special – when she was red-hot and even being considered for a chance at the world title – and he had beaten her that night. It didn’t matter how ‘close’ the match had been. Asher had won – a daunting thought for the redhead, especially now given the months she had been away from a wrestling ring, on managing a tag-victory as a sort of ‘return’ thanks to Luz stepping in and using her expertise.
But still… she breathed… despite all of that… that loss to Asher had done so much to her. It had pushed her to work harder, shown her a level that was above what she had been at, and drived her desire to reach that level. Looking back, Deanna was certain that, if she had not lost to the former Brand member, she would never have survived the wars that followed or reached the year-long date of her United States reign at last year’s Rise to Greatness, making it one of the longest in the title’s history. She would never have had the courage to face someone like Veil over and over again.
Maybe that was why she had helped Asher get the title back from Jordan Majors following Taking Hold of the Flame. Yes, it was the right thing to do, but perhaps it was also because Asher had, even inadvertently, done so much for her… like Luz had…
That’s not the only reason…
Slamming her eyes shut, Deanna dismissed the dark thought in her mind. She didn’t want to think of that right now. She wanted to get back on track – back on task. While the fire had destroyed so much of the house, prompting a full ‘tear-down and rebuild’, Deanna had watched Selena step up and take control of matters – over a house that she didn’t even own, for a divorced partner.
Again, Deanna shook her head at the memory of events. Things with Selena had, once more, become complicated. During her ‘recovery’, Deanna had been kept at arm’s length from the platinum-blonde. Sure, there were times that Selena would shock and confuse her with brutally honest statements of love towards the redhead, but there was a line that had not been crossed.
Until the fire…
Despite herself, Deanna couldn’t stop THAT memory from replaying in her head. The night of the house fire, Selena grabbing her and kissing her, making love in Deanna’s bedroom – THEIR bedroom for so many years – falling asleep together. She sighed as the memory eventually played out and completed itself. They hadn’t spoken about that night and it had never happened again, not even come close, something Deanna wasn’t complete sure how she felt about.
She partially blamed herself for it, to be frank. She had pushed things out of Selena – demanded to know where they stood, despite knowing the pressures Selena was under at work and honoring the divorce Deanna had thrown at her before the redhead’s mental breakdown. And then, she winced at the growing confession in her mind.
You’ve been too scared…
She sighed, quietly nodding her head as if the thought came from outside herself. But it was true. She hadn’t pushed the issue of ‘her and Selena’… ‘Them’… she had simply gone with the flow as Selena had shifted her focus not only to SCW and her goals regarding the world title, but also to repairing and rebuilding the house, and providing a place for Deanna and their children to live at the Eyrie Tower.
To bring up that night now wasn’t just sounding ungrateful… Deanna was terrified to do it. She had been the one to push the divorce on Selena, she was the one that had broken the Snow Queen’s heart (all for valid reasons), and yet, she had almost given in that night and confessed her feelings back to the platinum-blonde.
Feelings that had never truly gone away.
Like it had been mentioned… it was complicated to say the least. It almost made everything in SCW seem simplistic to Deanna, her actions guided by a much simpler looking journey than navigating the strange waters of her relationship with her wife.
But Selena had taken control of matters following the fire, not only getting the proper things in order but paying for it all! The repairs, the staff needed – even this… Deanna eyed the warehouse for a moment, taking the large space within it. Part of the ‘repairing’ Selena had employed was hiring a ‘restoration’ team – Sage Contents Restoration - to go into the site of their Manhattan house and search for any salvageable items. Clothes, pictures, furniture, whatever could be done once the all clear had been given by the fire-brigade. The result had taken several days but the team had, eventually, contacted Selena with notification that they had several boxes of items that they had gathered and tried to restore, all needing to be either picked up or designated for the trash compactor – as it were.
And in that, Deanna had stepped forward, offering to take some of her own free time to handle going through the boxes and picking out items to keep and want to trash. The result had been a little ‘project’ of hers that had filled her weeks while Selena or a visiting Gerda looked after the children. She had already recovered several photos and frames and dishes and such, all of which had been taken to a different storage unit closer to the ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan for when the house was rebuilt, which, according to the contractors, would take several months still. Still, Deanna was pleased with the progress, not to mention the thought of having a project of her own following Rise to Greatness.
In case you can’t go back after it?
She didn’t verbally acknowledge the thought, but it was true. She had come back to SCW to fix two mistakes. First, to stop Jordan Majors from further disrespecting the title and stealing it from Asher. The other… was to get rid of the ‘Interim’.
She hated to admit it, but by staying away from SCW without being ‘beaten for the title’, Deanna felt that she was doing far more damage to the United States championship division than Majors had. And despite his harsh words in the beginning, Asher had been right. Neither Luz nor Asher deserved to just simply be ‘The Interim United States Champion’. They deserved to be ‘The SCW United States Champion’! But until Deanna officially lost the title in an SCW match, the federation wouldn’t acknowledge it, thus tarnishing what amazing things the former world and former tag champions had done since she had been gone. And again, Deanna felt partially responsible for that – desiring to correct it one way or another.
Her mind settled on those matters for a moment, the redhead finally dove into the box, removing odds and ends placed within it. To start, it was similar to the other boxes she had gone through the past few weeks. Some clothes, some utensils and glasses, some pictures. She stopped at a few items, either relief at seeing certain things restored and/or still in good order and or sad that others, while still functioning in their primary purpose, had smoke-stains on them. With every item she placed in the ‘trash’ pile, she felt her heart sink a little.
There was still no clear reason why the fire had happened. The firefighters had run their tests and all they had discovered was that it had been man-made, which ruled out lightning or electrical issues or whatever, but that was it. It really hadn’t answered any questions for either Deanna or Selena, frustrating them both – mostly because their occupation was FILLED with people that could have done it! Hell, Blake Mason had sent someone – Deanna wasn’t sure if it had been Brittany Lohan or not – to do the same thing in Kentucky!
And that said nothing on the current roster of SCW! With Selena in the main-event of Rise to Greatness once more, there was no ruling out any of her challengers, especially when Xander Valentine AND Giovanni Aries had pulled similar stunts on the Frost family years prior.
And that was to say nothing about Jordan Majors! Deanna’s jaw clenched. What she had done to Asher wasn’t entirely known in terms of grandiose detail, but if she wasn’t above ditching her friend in Mexico for a title, was it so hard to believe she would-
Don’t be stupid! came the hissing ‘voice’. You hadn’t returned to SCW yet, remember? Why would she target you when you were still ‘out of commission’?
Deanna winced at the deprecating thought but it was true. It wasn’t that Jordan Majors WASN’T capable of such dangerous and despicable acts, but common sense ruled her out of the housefire. Even so, removing one suspect didn’t remove the rest – and the point was that! That there were so many people that could have benefitted from setting the Frost’s house on fire, not to mention those in the Black Arrow neighbourhood that didn’t want them.
In short: there was no way to determine who had done it. Every possible suspect was mere conjecture.
Deanna’s thoughts trailed off as she suddenly spied something within the box under a pile of towels. It was barely visible but it looked like a small, little crown of yellow-gold paint color. Intrigued, and possibly part of her recognizing it, the redhead slowly reached down into the box, shifting things around like the towels and such until her fingertips could almost touch it. The box was tall, so she stood on her tiptoes, leaning over the open end and feeling the cardboard press into her chest. Still, she kept reaching for it, feeling cardboard pucker a little under her pressing weight. Biting her lower lip, she pushed down a little more until her fingers could just grab the corner of the crown, allowing her to pull upward and wiggle the item free!
“There we go!” she sighed in triumph and personal accomplishment as she drew the item up and out of the box, slowly beaming as she recognized the painted blue eyes staring back at her with a painted, toothy smile.
“Sir Crackshell!” Deanna remarked in genuine surprise, but also delight, at the sight of the nutcracker in her arms. “You survived!”
The ‘soldier’ toy – the favorite of her eldest daughter, Elsianna – said nothing back (of course not) but he still looked like he was smiling that warm smile at Deanna. Carefully, the redhead turned him around, examining him from ‘crown’ to ‘boot’ for any signs of soot or burns… and was relieved when there was none. “Elsa will be so happy that they found you.”
You hope…
The worrisome pang caught Deanna right in the heart. She was worried about her oldest child the most of her three children, not because of some misdirection of love over the family – she certainly didn’t have or play ‘favorites’ with anyone – but rather the way things were between Elsianna and her mothers.
She was growing up. It was an easier fact for Deanna to accept than it was for Selena, who had lost nearly the first five years of her daughter’s life thanks to the machinations of her stepmother and that crack doctor from Nome. Still, it could not be ignored. Elsianna was a teenager, complete with the hormones and crushes that came with it. And, so it turned out, she seemed to like girls – though Deanna refused to believe anything was ‘set in stone’ for her daughter. She had seen and heard enough tales of people having ‘phases’ or ‘growing out’ of preferences, though she never did, nor did she want to.
But, as she gazed at the nutcracker figure of Sir Crackshell, the young woman recalled her worry for her ‘growing up daughter’. Was this just a rebellious phase for Elsianna? Were she would disobey her mothers? Or was there a greater issue that she wasn’t aware of? She couldn’t fully support Selena’s actions in grounding Elsianna and ‘banning her’ from seeing the girl’s crush, Asuna, but at the same time, she couldn’t support Elsianna’s choice of sneaking out of the house.
Once more… as was seeming to be the norm in her world… the matter was complicated.
Carefully setting the figure to the side on top of another nearby box, Deanna resumed her task of digging through her current box, separating things as per the usual before moving on to another. She would have to bring Selena and some movers in here eventually for the other storage spots that held the larger things like the furniture and such, but this was fine for her to have some semblance of productivity while she worked on her thoughts and fears.
So many fears…
She shook her head at the thought. CHBK had promised her some screen time to talk to the audience… talk to the fans of SCW… for the first time since she’d been medically cleared. Not just involve them while she spoke to Luz, Asher, and CHBK, no… this was a one-on-one kind of thing. The icon had explained it as ‘a chance to really talk to them and let them know how you are and how you feel’…
And she was beyond terrified.
The last few weeks since she came back, her focus being on talking to her opponents, working with Luz in their tag-team match, keeping Marsh-Asher up to date in her ‘recovery’, it had been okay. But what would the fans say? Would they let her speak? Or did they hold resentment to her for being gone for so long? Would they be like Kristen Scott, who had bashed her reputation mercilessly to the point where Selena had had to step in to shut her up? Would they be like Asher Hayes had originally been? Calling her fake or ‘unreal champion’? Would they just boo her out of the building like they did Selena?
And what would she say? Somehow “I’m sorry” didn’t seem nearly enough to the redhead. And what if someone attacked her from behind?
Like Kristen Scott had.
Like Enigma/Veil had.
Like Jordan Majors had.
She would be a sitting duck out there! A prime target for anyone! Jordan wanting another shot. Giovanni or Cid or Xander wanting to get a ‘ha ha’ on Selena. Even Veil – perhaps because he wanted back the-
The thought made Deanna’s eyes close for a moment, her hand flying up to low handing pendant under her shirt. Luz and Amelia had suspected it but nobody really knew…
Gazing around the space, Deanna checked once, twice, three times to make sure she wasn’t being observed before slowly, anxiously, pulling the string around her neck, drawing the pendant up and out from under her shirt until it rested in her hand.
The Heart of Veil.
She stared at the pendant, her fingers tracing over the intricate designs and etchings that made up the artifact. After all this time, she still had it. She had clung to it after last fight with Veil, leaving him in that burning building and holding onto the ‘secret weapon’ he had coveted and mocked her with. And ever since that fateful day, not a day went by that she didn’t desire to destroy it. To smash it into pieces and chuck those pieces down into the depths of the deepest body of water she could find! Or maybe send them off to the far corners of the world! Not a day went by that she questioned why the hell she had kept it. Why the hell was she still hanging onto it.
But… not a day went by that she didn’t answer that question.
Enigma… Veil… as terrifying as he/it was, it was because he was powerful. The European Fiery Nation had turned him inside out with their power moves and he had laughed it off! It could control people and enslave them! He could command smoke and mist to appear and disappear! He had survived a burning building while she had been taken out for months with PTSD. He was… in many ways supernatural… and he had coveted the Heart of Veil as something that could give him more power…
The idea was terrifying and a reason Deanna, originally, had kept it from him after their last match. But as the months had gone by and she had felt more and more alone, locked away from the world, from her children, and from SCW (all of which she loved so much), another thought had slowly grown in her mind. She wasn’t even sure when it had truly manifested.
Was it because she felt like nothing more than victim to so many – including Selena?
Was it because she wasn’t strong enough to save Selena and bring her back from her villainous ways?
Was it because she had watched the world go on without her without a second thought?
Was it because she had failed to fully heal Jessica and destroy Enigma?
It could have been any of those, or none of them… or all of them. Deanna couldn’t be sure. But the thought had arisen somewhere along this path:
What if… what if… what if SHE were that powerful? What if she was as powerful as Veil? Strong enough to shrug off attacks from terrors like EFN and Kristen Scott. Strong enough to terrify those that did wrong in SCW? Strong enough to survive anything that was thrown at her?
She refused to want such power for purposes like Veil! To terrify and corrupt and seek the ruination of SCW? NO! She didn’t want that! But what if someone as powerful as Veil – as The Enigma – used that power to protect and save people like Jessica and others in SCW rather than hurt them? What if someone that powerful sought to better SCW rather than destroy it? To make things better? Someone that wasn’t a weakling like her. Someone that wasn’t spooked by mere fire.
The thought had plagued her night and day – invaded her thoughts and dreams – not to mention hiding the heart from her sister, Amelia, and step-sister, Isabella, and Selena and all of SCW (including her friends) – but it was something she just couldn’t bring herself to let go. Instead, she had quietly kept studying the heart, studying it for any way to use it, research it and its symbols (all as secretly as possible).
It wasn’t that she wanted to hide it from everyone – it just… she didn’t want anyone to worry about her more than they already were! And with her back in SCW, the idea that she still had the heart and was researching it, if only to know more about it and its possible ‘powers’? She’d be back on the ‘not cleared’ list faster than a blink of the eye!
Or they’ll take it away from you and label you ‘crazy’ again…
No. Deanna wasn’t prepared to be put on the shelf again against her will! She would just bide her time and keep working. If the search yielded nothing and the heart was little more than Veil’s insanity doing its thing, so be it. A wild goose chase that led nowhere was fine. And if it DID lead to something worthwhile for SCW? Then Deanna could reveal it after it was discovered. Where she could prove it and not be labelled ‘insane’ or ‘mentally unbalanced’ or ‘weak-minded’ like she had been by SCW members for months.
“I know it works…” she whispered quietly. It had happened the night of the fire that saw her house burn. While she and Selena had rushed through the house to get the children, they had been separated as Selena had searched for Elsianna and made Deanna go outside with Ami and David. There, far into the front lawn and away from the flames, the redhead had eventually seen her eldest daughter rush out… but no Selena.
She’s still in there… Deanna had thought in panic, not knowing what to do. She couldn’t go there. Not into the fire. She’d freeze up as before! The fire would take her as it almost did that night in the warehouse. As it kept trying to do in her nightmares, but…
She will die if you do nothing.
The voice she heard hadn’t been her own and, for a microsecond, Deanna had wondered if she had just heard things in her panic-stricken mind. But then it had come again.
Are you just going to stand there and let her die? The woman you love more than anything? Is that the kind of person – the kind of fighter – you are?
The flames had kept dancing before her eyes, mocking and threatening her as they sought to devour her ‘Forever Home’ and all within it.
How much more will they take from you before you DO something?!
It was the last thing Deanna could recall as, the very next second (to her), she was standing in the middle of the fire! Specifically, her mudroom, with a crowbar in her hand – how in Odin’s name had she gotten this? What’s more, she was swinging the crowbar towards a large beam, ripping it out from the doorway it had lodged from – How the hell was she doing that?! She wasn’t that strong, was she?! – before seeing Selena standing there in shock. On reflex, Deanna had taken Selena’s hand, ordered her to move, and rushed her out of the burning building and back to their children safe and sound.
Like a…. Like a hero. She thought as she gazed into the pendant she held in her hand. There was no mistaking it. She knew that something had triggered the heart. Something had caused her to wear it and something had guided her movements that night. Exactly what? She had no clue. How? No clue. And how to make it happen again? She knew the least about that. But it was proof in her mind – proof that the heart could be used for good, though ‘saving Selena Frost’ would be seen as many in the SCW universe as ‘doing bad’… she didn’t give a damn! She had saved the woman she loved. There was ‘wrong’ about that and she refused to believe otherwise.
Still, she had been left with more questions than answers from the whole affair, except for one thing… she had overcome the fire that night… and that knowledge had lead to one desire: she had to go back to SCW!
With a sigh at the memories, Deanna tucked the heart back under her shirt to continue her current task of sorting items from the house fire, her eyes catching a glimpse of Sir Crackshell as he stood by her, painted eyes on her.
“We both survived.” She smiled at the toy soldier. “The question is where do we go from here?”
The query was interrupted by the sound of footsteps drawing, prompting Deanna to quickly grab the nutcracker, stashing him into her personal, large handbag. She knew Elsianna would want him back! It was her favorite thing in the world!
Hearing the footsteps grow louder, the redhead resumed her task, assuming that the noise was just staff working through the warehouse, or perhaps someone else searching through their own belongings. But when she heard the familiar voice-
“Hey.”
-Her head jerked to the side anyway, eyes taking in the platinum-blonde standing before her. She wore dark pants and a light-blue top that flowed down to her hips. Her hair was in its usual braid, but she seemed more… tired than anything.
“Hey.” Deanna smiled, her hand reaching up to scratch at her neck (though that was just a means to press her palm against her chest, ensuring that the Heart of Veil was, once more, hidden under her shirt). “What are you doing here?” she asked gently.
With a slightly taken aback smile, Selena tilted her head towards the younger Frost. “You said to pick you up at six.”
“What?” Deanna asked in surprise, reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone, stunned to see the hours that had flew by! “How did…” she checked the phone again, as if the digital numbers on the screen would ‘correct themselves’ if she did.
They did not.
“Wow…” she slowly spoke, rather dejectedly. “I must have zoned out or something. I barely got anything do-“ her words died out as she gazed around herself, expecting to see only the few items she had separated from the one box.
Not the three bags full of ‘trash’ and three boxes of keepsakes salvaged, the contents of said boxes expertly placed like Tetris to make the best use of the space of each container.
“Looks like you got lots done.” She heard Selena remark, no mistaking the ‘impressed’ nature in her voice.
“Uh… I guess.” Deanna shrugged. “Sort of lost in the thought the whole time so… I could have done better.” You’re welcome…. “Are you okay?” she asked, ignoring the errant thought. “You look tired.”
In response, the Snow Queen could only sigh. “I tried taking Elsianna shopping for clothes.” Selena shook her head. “I’ve tried and I’ve tried to wash the smell of smoke from them but it’s not working. I don’t know if it’s the fabric or the odours – because it’s not the case with David and Amiliah’s clothes.”
“So you opted to just cut the losses?”
Selena nodded at the redhead. “Bought her new dresses that she liked, but…”
“Let me guess.” Deanna tilted her head knowingly. “You tried to get her to pick colors other than dark ones.”
The platinum-blonde huffed at the observation. “Like pulling teeth! I tried relating to her. I tried explaining how other colors brought out her eyes or hair or features. I even tried trying one a dress like the one I wanted to buy her to show how it would look. Resistance, resistance, resistance.”
“You DID restrict her internet use.” Deanna pointed out.
“Because she went behind our back!”
The redhead gave a sigh as she began to gather the boxes she intended to bring to their own storage unit later (for when the house was rebuilt). “Did you at least explain to her about David’s party and the Grays would be coming with Asuna?”
“No…” Selena sighed, a mixture of guilt and frustration. “I should have but she and I were so close to having a fight right there in the mall… I just wanted to get us out of there before we made a scene.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good either.” Deanna shook her head. She saw Selena move as she drew closer, the platinum-blonde gathering up some of the boxes that Deanna hadn’t picked up yet. The two worked in silence as they moved the boxes to the parking lot and into the Jeep Liberty van, dropped the bags of trash off at the proper station within the warehouse, and, finally, returning to the Jeep to get in and travel back to the Eyrie Tower.
“I appreciate you letting me handle this task.” Deanna remarked as Selena drove them ‘home’.
“If it keeps you off the streets and off drugs.” Selena teased. “I’m all for it.”
“Ha ha!” Deanna laughed sarcastically, shaking her head at her ex-wife. “That’s why I married you. Your amazing altruism and wicked sense of humor!”
“Oh sure!” Selena smiled, shaking her head this time. “And you divorced me because of my psychotic tendencies.”
“Selena…”
“Sorry. Sorry.” Selena sighed. “My ‘obsessive compulsive disorder’ – Dr. Glasgen would rather we name my issues to reduce their power on me.”
“A smart lesson.” Deanna nodded. “Maybe I should name my fear of fire.”
“Pyrophobia?”
“I was thinking something more along the lines of ‘Gary’, but foreign names sound good too!”
She heard Selena laugh then – a real laugh. Not some sarcastic snicker or little chuckle. A genuine laugh of amusement… and it made her heart skip a beat. How long had it been since she had heard that sound? The reality that she couldn’t recall the last time she had was glaring to the redhead, causing a pang of sadness to fill her as she felt Selena turn midway down their current street and into the parking lot of the Eyrie Tower, driving to their specific (and reserved) spot.
“You want me to be nearby?” the Snow Queen asked as she undid her seatbelt, the question seemingly coming out of nowhere and surprising the redhead.
“Huh?” Deanna asked, dumbfounded. “For what?”
Despite being surprised, Selena merely smiled knowingly. “Mentally checked out again, hmm?”
“Not my fault!” Deanna countered, undoing her own seatbelt. “You had a genuine laugh and it surprised me.”
“My laugh surprised you?”
“Yes!” the redhead explained simply. “I haven’t really heard you laugh like that in so long and it threw me off, okay?”
“Wow.” Selena scoffed a little, though it seemed to be good-naturedly. “Way to make me sound like a joyless husk!” to emphasize her ‘displeasure’, the platinum-blonde blew a mild raspberry at Deanna before suddenly snapping her fingers. “Wait! That’s not true! Last week, David told that joke about the Christian, the Buddhist and the atheist and the electric chair! I laughed at that! Remember?”
“You didn’t laugh.” It was Deanna’s turn to scoff. “You teeheed!”
“I ‘teeheed’?” Selena asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against her car seat. “And what, pray tell, is that?”
“Teehee.” Deanna shrugged. “You know. ‘Teehee’.” She adopted a mild laugh, more like a little chuckle that stemmed from her teeth, it seems, creating a light, quiet, but more wispy laugh. “That’s the kind of laugh you give as a ‘courtesy laugh’. When you don’t want to be rude or hurt people’s feelings. You ‘teehee’.”
Sapphire eyes widened a bit. “You know shit like that about me?” Selena asked in surprise. “My kind of ‘laughs’?”
Deanna huffed, slightly insulted by the question. “Of course I do!” she answered.
A moment of silence filled the car, neither woman looking at each other in the moment. Slowly, however, Deanna heard the woman beside her take a slow breath before the platinum-blonde spoke.
“That’s actually kind of sweet.” She whispered, earning Deanna’s attention as the redhead turned to look at her again. “You genuinely surprised me.”
“Glad I still can without having to do something crazy like stealing your NX supply or jumping off the roof.” She stated dismissively with a wave of her hand. To her surprise, however, Deanna suddenly felt her ‘waved hand’ feel a little colder, turning her head to see Selena holding it with hers.
“If…” the former world champion spoke, seemingly unsure of her words (not like her). “If such a thing did happen… or you were in some kind of trouble… you’d tell me right?”
The question caught Deanna off guard initially, the redhead tilting her head to the side for a moment. “Like what?”
“Oh…nothing…” Selena shook her head, though Deanna didn’t believe her. “Just, the whole thing with our past issues with NX and I’m always worried about having it in the castle if I’m tempting you…”
“I’m fine.” Deanna answered simply. “I wouldn’t have come back if I needed it like you do.”
“That’s…” the platinum-blonde started before slowly exhaling. “That’s fair.” She settled on saying. “But anything else, you’d tell me right?”
“Yes!” Deanna huffed good-naturedly, throwing a smile at Selena. “I promise, okay? Now relax, Selena. I’m nervous enough about Texas as it is!”
“That’s what I was asking about.” The former world champion remarked. “If you need me nearby. I trust Luz and Asher – okay, I can give him the benefit of the doubt, but if Jordan tries anything-“
A quick hand shot out to take Selena’s, effectively silencing the Snow Queen as emerald eyes gazed into her sapphire ones.
“I appreciate that more than you know.” Deanna whispered. “But this is something I have to do alone, okay? Whether I’m good enough to still be the United States Champion or not… I need to find that out by myself. Otherwise, what am I proving? What am I showing? Understand?”
“I….” slowly, Selena exhaled. “I understand. I’ll stay out of the way.”
“Good.” Deanna smiled back before noticing their hands were still touching. “I…uh…”
“Yeah…” Selena nodded her head. “We better let go before...”
“Yeah…” Deanna nodded, but couldn’t seem to release the pale woman’s hand. “Got enough to worry about…”
But neither could release the other, their hands standing like that for several seconds more until the loud sound of a horn blaring – New York City traffic at its finest – jolted them away from one another.
“Right! So! Dinner!” Deanna stated quickly, gathering herself and heading to the door. “I’m thinking pasta tonight!”
She didn’t wait to get an answer from Selena, nor did she see the Snow Queen gaze up towards the tower. She was too busy with her own thoughts.
Her doubts.
Her fears.
Her uncertainties…
And, interestingly enough, they weren’t all about SCW…
_________________________________________
So… where do we start?
Preferably with some words, yes? I’m sorry, SCW fans, I… I want to apologize for what happened last week. Not only to Marshal-Asher, but for all of you. I don’t… I didn’t…
*sigh*
For so many months now, I have thought about what I wanted to say to all of you. Would I start by apologizing for the months I had to take off? Apologize for failing as the United States Champion and as an SCW superstar? Apologize that I couldn’t remove The Enigma – Veil – or undo the damage he did to SCW and to Jessica Winters? Apologize for not being strong enough?
Would I tell you how wonderful it felt to see you all again after so long? To tell you how much I missed all of you! Missed seeing your smiling faces, hearing your voices, in support or refute, it didn’t matter! You are part of something that is the SCW Universe and I have missed that so so much! Would I start with that?
Or would I shoot from the hip… and tell you, honestly, how scared I am to be back.
Because it’s true. I came back sooner than I was supposed to. I’ve been cleared to compete, though it is, and I am quoting her, with ‘extreme reservations on the matter’. But you see, I had to come back, Gritters. I had to come back, not because I was bored. Not because I missed being a champion. Not because I missed the spotlight but because it was the right thing to do.
For what little this is worth, for what little I was allowed to watch SCW, I was able to watch the battles for the title I had to taken from. The United States championship. A title I fought tooth and claw to acquire from Bree Lancaster two years ago at this very event. A title that meant so much to me that I defended repeatedly, against any challenger, in any environment, including the dreaded Elimination Chamber. A title that meant so much to me, that I held onto it for over a year until I was forcibly removed from active competition within SCW.
I was able to watch that division move on without me, and I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that it couldn’t. I had seen others come up through the ranks with me. I had seen talent, some newer than me, some older and more veteran than me, some in the same bracket as me – a variety of talent that could easily carry the division in my absence. But there was one name that stood head and shoulders above the rest. One name that people pointed at and said “She’s the one that’s gonna carry the ball now that Deanna isn’t here…”
That someone was you, Luz. One of my first friends, my dearest friend here in SCW, I won’t mince words with you, Luz. I love you like a sister. I love everything about you. Your heart, your hard work, your passion, your refusal to quit, the list is long of the many ways I admire you! When I heard you were the one to take the United States title after I was deemed ‘unable to compete’, I could not have been happier. I knew, without a doubt in my mind or in my heart, that you would do it right. You would be amazing and so you were! You and me? We’ve gone back and forth in this ring and when I was out, you were one of the first people to call me and check in on me. You were one of the few people that spoke well about me still as the months went by and I will never be able to thank you enough for that and for being my tag-team partner for my return match, but thank you, Luz!
But moving forward, I was able to watch that division grow and reach out to new talent and old talent. I saw it be threatened by the likes of The Fall of Man. I saw it be upheaved by Fatal Fortunes in the waking of a new contender in Asher Hayes. I saw it go up and down and I loved so much of it!
Until you came along, Jordan Majors. Until you came along and stole – you heard me right – STOLE the United States championship from Asher under the guise of friendship. Now, anyone that’s been in SCW long enough knows the demons Asher had to deal with. Many people also will know the attitude he has. And many know that, well, you either love him or you hate him.
He’ll be the first to tell you that.
But it cannot be denied, love him or hate him, it CANNOT be denied that Asher Hayes EARNED the RIGHT to wear that United States Championship title, as sure as Luz did, as sure as I did, and as sure as every other champion before me did!
You, Jordan, did not!
And I look at you, Jordan, doing something I’d expect from someone petty like Giovanni Aries or Kristen Scott, and I… I didn’t know what to think.
I asked myself – is this the same Jordan Majors that was on the cusp of becoming an SCW World Champion? Is this the same Jordan Majors that I saw fight Syren in a cage and almost beat her? Is this the same Jordan Majors that would take a bullet for anyone here in SCW?
Because THAT Jordan Majors? That Jordan Majors… would never have betrayed a friend like you did. That Jordan Majors would never settle for STEALING a title. No, the Jordan Majors I know would not settle for that! She’d fight and claw and take every punishment imaginable until she EARNED herself a title! That’s the Jordan Majors I know!
But then you snuck up from behind and nailed me with the Cash-Out after my tag-match. Then you played those mind games with me last Breakdown when I was trying to finally speak with the fans. And I started to think, slowly, what if I didn’t know Jordan Majors like I thought I did? What if I don’t know Jordan Majors at all?
And if Jordan Majors is someone that steals a title, abandons her friend, sneak-attacks me and lies to the SCW Universe – if my perception of you was so wrong – then what about me? Who am I?
Because I can say what Luz is to me. I can say what Luz is to SCW. I know who she is and I know who Asher is, but where does that leave me?
Because you, Jordan, you charged back into SCW with zero doubt and zero hesitation! Immediate declarations of yourself as United States Champion, false as they were. And that was when, even if I wasn’t sure who I was, I had to do something.
And now, here we are, and you are telling me that I am not ready for Rise to Greatness. I am not ready for Luz, for Asher, or for you and… and…
Part of me knows you’re right.
Part of me knows that I am at the very bottom of what is, quite possibly, the biggest uphill battle of my life. The risk of injury is high. The risk of making a mistake is high. The risk of losing EVERYTHING is high! But here’s the reality Jordan. As high as all those risks are… as unready as I am… I still need to fight.
I still need to fight for so many reasons, so many reasons swarm around this very match but it all can be summed up in one word: Doubt.
There is so much doubt in this match, it is enough to mar and tarnish the very title we are seeking to unify and proclaim an Undisputed Champion. There is so much doubt amongst us over legitimacy, earning, what it means to be a champion, that this match could very well redefine those terms for the United States Championship within SCW forever!
And there is so much doubt that it begins with me.
For nearly nine long months, I have had to sit on the sidelines. For nearly nine long months, I’ve had to keep quiet, becoming relevant only when a madman went after my wife, Selena. And yes, you heard me, right. I said ‘madman’ and I said ‘wife’ but let’s look at that another time.
I have spent nine months fighting to bring myself back to a level that I could compete in an SCW ring again and during that time, do you know what I heard more than anything else regarding me? It wasn’t that I held that United States title for over a year, it wasn’t that I was taking on all challengers without hesitation, it wasn’t that I survived a damn chamber match, a fight in a warehouse and a damn fire, no – it was how weak I was. How fragile I was. How mentally-scarred I was.
For months, declarations of me not being ‘strong enough’ to handle Veil were spoken. Lines about me not being good enough to come back and be the United States champion. No one but Luz, Amelia and Selena stood up for me – and I don’t say that to blame anyone. I say that because that was the level of doubt in SCW about me… and it paled in comparison to the doubt in my soul.
Which is why I need to do this match, Jordan, and it starts with you. Because I will damned if I allow someone to steal the title that Luz, Asher and I worked so hard to earn. I refuse to sit back on the sidelines while someone tarnishes that legacy with a highway robbery! Not here, not on my watch!
Did I ask for you in this match? You’re damn right I did, Jordan, because if you ARE going to be the United States Champion, if you ARE going to be the Undisputed United States Champion of SCW, then by god, Jordan, you are going to earn it whether you like it or not! You are going to earn it and you’re going to earn it over MY dead body!
Now, I say that to Jordan, and it’s a threat. I say it to you, Luz, and you know it’s not. For you, Luz, it’s a challenge! It’s a challenge to finally put to bed the match you and I have wanted for so long. The match you have waited patiently for. The match that you have deserved for months and months. You are going to have it, Luz, and when I say the words I said to Jordan to you, it is with respect. More than that, Luz, it is a promise. A promise that you will get everything I have – whatever it is – it will be all I can give and nothing left after the final bell rings.
Which leaves me with the defending champion, Asher.
*sigh*
Nothing has changed with my words to you, Asher. I recognize you as the defending champion and the only reason the word ‘interim’ is still there is just how SCW works. In my eyes, you are the United States Champion, but more than that, you are the pinnacle. You are my Everest. And you are the ultimate test to me.
Because it was you, Asher, that took me on when I was at my best. You remember that night? End of the Year 2023. I had the opportunity after one of the best runs with the company I ever had in my career, I had the opportunity for the ultimate test. To fight you for a chance at the SCW world title. And while I gave it all I had, even at my best, I lost.
Now, some will point I wrestled two matches while you only had one to worry about, but to me, a loss is a loss! You beat me. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And from that loss I strove to be better than thought possible. I strove to become a better champion, a better fighter, a better SCW superstar. And while I succeeded in some ways, that time was cut off before I could truly tell.
Now, here we are in 2025, a year and a half later and I am facing you again, trying to take a title from you, but it so much more than that, Asher! As I said, it comes down to doubt and I… I don’t want to doubt anymore.
I don’t want to doubt whether all I went through was worth it. I don’t want to doubt whether or not I can go at my top level again. I don’t want to doubt about whether or not I am actually deserving of the United States Championship anymore! Which means there is only one course for me, Asher, and that is to beat you, the man I couldn’t beat at my best.
Because if I can, Asher Hayes, if I can overcome you, Luz, and Jordan – the champion, the fighter, and the thief – what does that say about me? What will that say about me? Who will I be if I do?
Because while you came in, Asher, to Fatal Fortunes, love from the SCW Universe, and an opportunity right out of the gate, I came back to uncertainty, skepticism and the belief that I wasn’t supposed to be there.
I was not welcome back like you were, Asher. There was no doubt attached to your name. There was nothing marring your accolades and the belief in your skills. But doubt and disbelief covers mine like a dark cloud. It blankets over everything I have done and endured. And I… I…
I need to know, Asher. I need to know that what I did, what I achieved, what I fought for… that it was real. That it was believed in. That I was worthy of that title. That I can STILL be worthy of that title. And I am not much of an entitled person, Asher… Luz… but at the very least, I DESERVE to know that! I deserve to know if I am good enough to beat you, Luz. If I am good enough to beat you at long last, Asher Hayes. If I am good enough to shut up Jordan Majors and remind her what respecting a title and all it represents looks like!
So I do not intend to tiptoe into Rise to Greatness, people. No! I will not shuffle into the arena, I will walk in ready to fight, ready to survive, ready to win, and ready to get my answer!
And just like I deserve to know, the SCW Universe deserves to know! They deserve to know and they deserve to see who the true, the real, the UNDISPUTED United States Champion truly is!
I say… we show them tonight! And remove all doubt in the process!
Checkmate, bitches!
Frost No More
”The Heart of the Matter”
Eyrie Tower
New York City, New York
July 29th, 2025
5:55am (approx. 5 mins till sunrise)
She burst through the elevator doors before they had completely opened. “Selena!” she called out as loudly as she could, but received no answer. “SELENA!” she shouted, her voice echoing through the large halls and rooms of the castle-suite.
Before the sound had even died down, she was running through the home, bounding up stairs, checking every room, every bathroom, every tub, every closet. She had never run so fast in her life and each time she checked a new space only to find nothing, her heart sank more and more.
Was she too late? Had it already happened? No… she couldn’t believe that. She refused to believe it! No god, whatever religion or deity it was, could possibly be so cruel! It was beyond unfair! It was just… just… wrong!
Yet, as the young woman bounded down the stairs back to the first floor of the suite, her eyes suddenly caught sight of something – a flicker of magenta! Quickly, Deanna’s head jerked towards it, just in time to see the nightgown… and the pale form wearing it as the dressed woman was standing on the grand balcony outside, placing one leg up and over the guardrail, followed by the other-
Her legs were moving before her brain had registered everything, rushing with the last of her energy from a sleepless night to burst out of the side door and onto the balcony terrace.
“STOP!” she screamed out, catching the platinum-blonde by surprise as she stood there, the wall of the balcony the only thing standing between them.
“Deanna…” Selena Frost’s eyes went wide in complete surprise and alarm. “What are you… How did you?”
“I said…” Deanna breathed. “That I will always find you.” She vowed, gazing at the platinum-blonde desperately. “Don’t do this, please…”
************************************
Sage Contents Restoration Storage Warehouse
New Rochelle, New York City
July 15th, 2025
3:19pm
The redhead gave a quiet sigh as she moved another box out from under the red-orange beams that served as a sort of ‘section’ for storage. She had been taken back to a far-back point of the large warehouse and, having walked past several of the aisles and tables and ‘cleaning’ stations (and seeing the mountains of dust that had collected in some of those places), she was relieved when the box she currently had her small hands on didn’t kick up a dust storm as she attempted to pull it out.
Emphasis on attempted…
The box was heavy for the redhead, causing her to grunt and heave a little as she pulled – part of her wanting the damn thing to move, yet another part of her being terrified that she would rip the cardboard apart and spill all the contents if she pulled too hard.
She had been at this for the last few weeks – since the fire. To say that the matter of her ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan being burnt down had left her a little shaken would have been an understatement. Still, the world kept turning, she knew that – had known that for a long time and had relearned that lesson time and time again. The world – be it the whole world in general or even a world like SCW – couldn’t stop just because of her issues and her problems. It had to keep going.
Deanna Frost sighed as she finally managed to pull the box far enough away from the top of the storage section so she could open the folds of the box at the top and peer inside safely, but she didn’t do that right away. Her mind was dwelling on her previous thought…
Had it really been less than a year that her world had stopped? The calendar seemed to say so, despite her wanting to believe otherwise. It had been less than a year since she had been labelled ‘unable to compete’ and forcefully ushered away from SCW and into Kentucky by SCW management and Selena. In short, management (and Selena) feared that, after all the months of mind games and mental-anguish caused by The Enigma – Veil now, as he had begun to call himself – that Deanna had suffered severe forms of PTSD. And despite her best efforts, she had failed to prove otherwise following her war with him inside that damned warehouse – a lot like this one, Deanna realized but quickly dismissed the thought. She had no desire to suffer a panic attack inside this place, especially after she had visited it a number of times already in the past few weeks.
Still… SCW continued on without her. Her year-plus-long reign as the United States Champion was halted, an interim champion was crowned, rightfully so and much deserved, to Luz, that Interim title became the ‘new United States championship’ in the eyes of SCW, and the world… just kept turning.
People moved on.
People forgot about her.
She sighed sadly. It wasn’t like she was expecting some hoopla or whatever. No, she didn’t think that was warranted or deserved. But it was a somber thought to see SCW move on so quickly without her. For the division she had worked so hard to be a part of – to get a chance at – move on without her. She remembered being told as much during her months of being locked away with no access to anything SCW beyond word of mouth. But it was for the best, she reminded herself. She… she couldn’t have continued the way she was going. She knew that now.
Under the ‘Interim’ time, such amazing talents like Luz and Asher Hayes had emerged, one coming back to SCW, and waging wars for the title – she had been allowed to watch SCW again around that time, able to enjoy those matches and the level that Asher and Luz had pushed the title to before Jordan Majors had sneaked it and disgraced everything.
It was a level that Deanna wasn’t sure she could reach even before everything with Veil had happened. It was Asher Hayes, after all, that had defeated her at the last End of the Year special – when she was red-hot and even being considered for a chance at the world title – and he had beaten her that night. It didn’t matter how ‘close’ the match had been. Asher had won – a daunting thought for the redhead, especially now given the months she had been away from a wrestling ring, on managing a tag-victory as a sort of ‘return’ thanks to Luz stepping in and using her expertise.
But still… she breathed… despite all of that… that loss to Asher had done so much to her. It had pushed her to work harder, shown her a level that was above what she had been at, and drived her desire to reach that level. Looking back, Deanna was certain that, if she had not lost to the former Brand member, she would never have survived the wars that followed or reached the year-long date of her United States reign at last year’s Rise to Greatness, making it one of the longest in the title’s history. She would never have had the courage to face someone like Veil over and over again.
Maybe that was why she had helped Asher get the title back from Jordan Majors following Taking Hold of the Flame. Yes, it was the right thing to do, but perhaps it was also because Asher had, even inadvertently, done so much for her… like Luz had…
That’s not the only reason…
Slamming her eyes shut, Deanna dismissed the dark thought in her mind. She didn’t want to think of that right now. She wanted to get back on track – back on task. While the fire had destroyed so much of the house, prompting a full ‘tear-down and rebuild’, Deanna had watched Selena step up and take control of matters – over a house that she didn’t even own, for a divorced partner.
Again, Deanna shook her head at the memory of events. Things with Selena had, once more, become complicated. During her ‘recovery’, Deanna had been kept at arm’s length from the platinum-blonde. Sure, there were times that Selena would shock and confuse her with brutally honest statements of love towards the redhead, but there was a line that had not been crossed.
Until the fire…
Despite herself, Deanna couldn’t stop THAT memory from replaying in her head. The night of the house fire, Selena grabbing her and kissing her, making love in Deanna’s bedroom – THEIR bedroom for so many years – falling asleep together. She sighed as the memory eventually played out and completed itself. They hadn’t spoken about that night and it had never happened again, not even come close, something Deanna wasn’t complete sure how she felt about.
She partially blamed herself for it, to be frank. She had pushed things out of Selena – demanded to know where they stood, despite knowing the pressures Selena was under at work and honoring the divorce Deanna had thrown at her before the redhead’s mental breakdown. And then, she winced at the growing confession in her mind.
You’ve been too scared…
She sighed, quietly nodding her head as if the thought came from outside herself. But it was true. She hadn’t pushed the issue of ‘her and Selena’… ‘Them’… she had simply gone with the flow as Selena had shifted her focus not only to SCW and her goals regarding the world title, but also to repairing and rebuilding the house, and providing a place for Deanna and their children to live at the Eyrie Tower.
To bring up that night now wasn’t just sounding ungrateful… Deanna was terrified to do it. She had been the one to push the divorce on Selena, she was the one that had broken the Snow Queen’s heart (all for valid reasons), and yet, she had almost given in that night and confessed her feelings back to the platinum-blonde.
Feelings that had never truly gone away.
Like it had been mentioned… it was complicated to say the least. It almost made everything in SCW seem simplistic to Deanna, her actions guided by a much simpler looking journey than navigating the strange waters of her relationship with her wife.
But Selena had taken control of matters following the fire, not only getting the proper things in order but paying for it all! The repairs, the staff needed – even this… Deanna eyed the warehouse for a moment, taking the large space within it. Part of the ‘repairing’ Selena had employed was hiring a ‘restoration’ team – Sage Contents Restoration - to go into the site of their Manhattan house and search for any salvageable items. Clothes, pictures, furniture, whatever could be done once the all clear had been given by the fire-brigade. The result had taken several days but the team had, eventually, contacted Selena with notification that they had several boxes of items that they had gathered and tried to restore, all needing to be either picked up or designated for the trash compactor – as it were.
And in that, Deanna had stepped forward, offering to take some of her own free time to handle going through the boxes and picking out items to keep and want to trash. The result had been a little ‘project’ of hers that had filled her weeks while Selena or a visiting Gerda looked after the children. She had already recovered several photos and frames and dishes and such, all of which had been taken to a different storage unit closer to the ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan for when the house was rebuilt, which, according to the contractors, would take several months still. Still, Deanna was pleased with the progress, not to mention the thought of having a project of her own following Rise to Greatness.
In case you can’t go back after it?
She didn’t verbally acknowledge the thought, but it was true. She had come back to SCW to fix two mistakes. First, to stop Jordan Majors from further disrespecting the title and stealing it from Asher. The other… was to get rid of the ‘Interim’.
She hated to admit it, but by staying away from SCW without being ‘beaten for the title’, Deanna felt that she was doing far more damage to the United States championship division than Majors had. And despite his harsh words in the beginning, Asher had been right. Neither Luz nor Asher deserved to just simply be ‘The Interim United States Champion’. They deserved to be ‘The SCW United States Champion’! But until Deanna officially lost the title in an SCW match, the federation wouldn’t acknowledge it, thus tarnishing what amazing things the former world and former tag champions had done since she had been gone. And again, Deanna felt partially responsible for that – desiring to correct it one way or another.
Her mind settled on those matters for a moment, the redhead finally dove into the box, removing odds and ends placed within it. To start, it was similar to the other boxes she had gone through the past few weeks. Some clothes, some utensils and glasses, some pictures. She stopped at a few items, either relief at seeing certain things restored and/or still in good order and or sad that others, while still functioning in their primary purpose, had smoke-stains on them. With every item she placed in the ‘trash’ pile, she felt her heart sink a little.
There was still no clear reason why the fire had happened. The firefighters had run their tests and all they had discovered was that it had been man-made, which ruled out lightning or electrical issues or whatever, but that was it. It really hadn’t answered any questions for either Deanna or Selena, frustrating them both – mostly because their occupation was FILLED with people that could have done it! Hell, Blake Mason had sent someone – Deanna wasn’t sure if it had been Brittany Lohan or not – to do the same thing in Kentucky!
And that said nothing on the current roster of SCW! With Selena in the main-event of Rise to Greatness once more, there was no ruling out any of her challengers, especially when Xander Valentine AND Giovanni Aries had pulled similar stunts on the Frost family years prior.
And that was to say nothing about Jordan Majors! Deanna’s jaw clenched. What she had done to Asher wasn’t entirely known in terms of grandiose detail, but if she wasn’t above ditching her friend in Mexico for a title, was it so hard to believe she would-
Don’t be stupid! came the hissing ‘voice’. You hadn’t returned to SCW yet, remember? Why would she target you when you were still ‘out of commission’?
Deanna winced at the deprecating thought but it was true. It wasn’t that Jordan Majors WASN’T capable of such dangerous and despicable acts, but common sense ruled her out of the housefire. Even so, removing one suspect didn’t remove the rest – and the point was that! That there were so many people that could have benefitted from setting the Frost’s house on fire, not to mention those in the Black Arrow neighbourhood that didn’t want them.
In short: there was no way to determine who had done it. Every possible suspect was mere conjecture.
Deanna’s thoughts trailed off as she suddenly spied something within the box under a pile of towels. It was barely visible but it looked like a small, little crown of yellow-gold paint color. Intrigued, and possibly part of her recognizing it, the redhead slowly reached down into the box, shifting things around like the towels and such until her fingertips could almost touch it. The box was tall, so she stood on her tiptoes, leaning over the open end and feeling the cardboard press into her chest. Still, she kept reaching for it, feeling cardboard pucker a little under her pressing weight. Biting her lower lip, she pushed down a little more until her fingers could just grab the corner of the crown, allowing her to pull upward and wiggle the item free!
“There we go!” she sighed in triumph and personal accomplishment as she drew the item up and out of the box, slowly beaming as she recognized the painted blue eyes staring back at her with a painted, toothy smile.
“Sir Crackshell!” Deanna remarked in genuine surprise, but also delight, at the sight of the nutcracker in her arms. “You survived!”
The ‘soldier’ toy – the favorite of her eldest daughter, Elsianna – said nothing back (of course not) but he still looked like he was smiling that warm smile at Deanna. Carefully, the redhead turned him around, examining him from ‘crown’ to ‘boot’ for any signs of soot or burns… and was relieved when there was none. “Elsa will be so happy that they found you.”
You hope…
The worrisome pang caught Deanna right in the heart. She was worried about her oldest child the most of her three children, not because of some misdirection of love over the family – she certainly didn’t have or play ‘favorites’ with anyone – but rather the way things were between Elsianna and her mothers.
She was growing up. It was an easier fact for Deanna to accept than it was for Selena, who had lost nearly the first five years of her daughter’s life thanks to the machinations of her stepmother and that crack doctor from Nome. Still, it could not be ignored. Elsianna was a teenager, complete with the hormones and crushes that came with it. And, so it turned out, she seemed to like girls – though Deanna refused to believe anything was ‘set in stone’ for her daughter. She had seen and heard enough tales of people having ‘phases’ or ‘growing out’ of preferences, though she never did, nor did she want to.
But, as she gazed at the nutcracker figure of Sir Crackshell, the young woman recalled her worry for her ‘growing up daughter’. Was this just a rebellious phase for Elsianna? Were she would disobey her mothers? Or was there a greater issue that she wasn’t aware of? She couldn’t fully support Selena’s actions in grounding Elsianna and ‘banning her’ from seeing the girl’s crush, Asuna, but at the same time, she couldn’t support Elsianna’s choice of sneaking out of the house.
Once more… as was seeming to be the norm in her world… the matter was complicated.
Carefully setting the figure to the side on top of another nearby box, Deanna resumed her task of digging through her current box, separating things as per the usual before moving on to another. She would have to bring Selena and some movers in here eventually for the other storage spots that held the larger things like the furniture and such, but this was fine for her to have some semblance of productivity while she worked on her thoughts and fears.
So many fears…
She shook her head at the thought. CHBK had promised her some screen time to talk to the audience… talk to the fans of SCW… for the first time since she’d been medically cleared. Not just involve them while she spoke to Luz, Asher, and CHBK, no… this was a one-on-one kind of thing. The icon had explained it as ‘a chance to really talk to them and let them know how you are and how you feel’…
And she was beyond terrified.
The last few weeks since she came back, her focus being on talking to her opponents, working with Luz in their tag-team match, keeping Marsh-Asher up to date in her ‘recovery’, it had been okay. But what would the fans say? Would they let her speak? Or did they hold resentment to her for being gone for so long? Would they be like Kristen Scott, who had bashed her reputation mercilessly to the point where Selena had had to step in to shut her up? Would they be like Asher Hayes had originally been? Calling her fake or ‘unreal champion’? Would they just boo her out of the building like they did Selena?
And what would she say? Somehow “I’m sorry” didn’t seem nearly enough to the redhead. And what if someone attacked her from behind?
Like Kristen Scott had.
Like Enigma/Veil had.
Like Jordan Majors had.
She would be a sitting duck out there! A prime target for anyone! Jordan wanting another shot. Giovanni or Cid or Xander wanting to get a ‘ha ha’ on Selena. Even Veil – perhaps because he wanted back the-
The thought made Deanna’s eyes close for a moment, her hand flying up to low handing pendant under her shirt. Luz and Amelia had suspected it but nobody really knew…
Gazing around the space, Deanna checked once, twice, three times to make sure she wasn’t being observed before slowly, anxiously, pulling the string around her neck, drawing the pendant up and out from under her shirt until it rested in her hand.
The Heart of Veil.
She stared at the pendant, her fingers tracing over the intricate designs and etchings that made up the artifact. After all this time, she still had it. She had clung to it after last fight with Veil, leaving him in that burning building and holding onto the ‘secret weapon’ he had coveted and mocked her with. And ever since that fateful day, not a day went by that she didn’t desire to destroy it. To smash it into pieces and chuck those pieces down into the depths of the deepest body of water she could find! Or maybe send them off to the far corners of the world! Not a day went by that she questioned why the hell she had kept it. Why the hell was she still hanging onto it.
But… not a day went by that she didn’t answer that question.
Enigma… Veil… as terrifying as he/it was, it was because he was powerful. The European Fiery Nation had turned him inside out with their power moves and he had laughed it off! It could control people and enslave them! He could command smoke and mist to appear and disappear! He had survived a burning building while she had been taken out for months with PTSD. He was… in many ways supernatural… and he had coveted the Heart of Veil as something that could give him more power…
The idea was terrifying and a reason Deanna, originally, had kept it from him after their last match. But as the months had gone by and she had felt more and more alone, locked away from the world, from her children, and from SCW (all of which she loved so much), another thought had slowly grown in her mind. She wasn’t even sure when it had truly manifested.
Was it because she felt like nothing more than victim to so many – including Selena?
Was it because she wasn’t strong enough to save Selena and bring her back from her villainous ways?
Was it because she had watched the world go on without her without a second thought?
Was it because she had failed to fully heal Jessica and destroy Enigma?
It could have been any of those, or none of them… or all of them. Deanna couldn’t be sure. But the thought had arisen somewhere along this path:
What if… what if… what if SHE were that powerful? What if she was as powerful as Veil? Strong enough to shrug off attacks from terrors like EFN and Kristen Scott. Strong enough to terrify those that did wrong in SCW? Strong enough to survive anything that was thrown at her?
She refused to want such power for purposes like Veil! To terrify and corrupt and seek the ruination of SCW? NO! She didn’t want that! But what if someone as powerful as Veil – as The Enigma – used that power to protect and save people like Jessica and others in SCW rather than hurt them? What if someone that powerful sought to better SCW rather than destroy it? To make things better? Someone that wasn’t a weakling like her. Someone that wasn’t spooked by mere fire.
The thought had plagued her night and day – invaded her thoughts and dreams – not to mention hiding the heart from her sister, Amelia, and step-sister, Isabella, and Selena and all of SCW (including her friends) – but it was something she just couldn’t bring herself to let go. Instead, she had quietly kept studying the heart, studying it for any way to use it, research it and its symbols (all as secretly as possible).
It wasn’t that she wanted to hide it from everyone – it just… she didn’t want anyone to worry about her more than they already were! And with her back in SCW, the idea that she still had the heart and was researching it, if only to know more about it and its possible ‘powers’? She’d be back on the ‘not cleared’ list faster than a blink of the eye!
Or they’ll take it away from you and label you ‘crazy’ again…
No. Deanna wasn’t prepared to be put on the shelf again against her will! She would just bide her time and keep working. If the search yielded nothing and the heart was little more than Veil’s insanity doing its thing, so be it. A wild goose chase that led nowhere was fine. And if it DID lead to something worthwhile for SCW? Then Deanna could reveal it after it was discovered. Where she could prove it and not be labelled ‘insane’ or ‘mentally unbalanced’ or ‘weak-minded’ like she had been by SCW members for months.
“I know it works…” she whispered quietly. It had happened the night of the fire that saw her house burn. While she and Selena had rushed through the house to get the children, they had been separated as Selena had searched for Elsianna and made Deanna go outside with Ami and David. There, far into the front lawn and away from the flames, the redhead had eventually seen her eldest daughter rush out… but no Selena.
She’s still in there… Deanna had thought in panic, not knowing what to do. She couldn’t go there. Not into the fire. She’d freeze up as before! The fire would take her as it almost did that night in the warehouse. As it kept trying to do in her nightmares, but…
She will die if you do nothing.
The voice she heard hadn’t been her own and, for a microsecond, Deanna had wondered if she had just heard things in her panic-stricken mind. But then it had come again.
Are you just going to stand there and let her die? The woman you love more than anything? Is that the kind of person – the kind of fighter – you are?
The flames had kept dancing before her eyes, mocking and threatening her as they sought to devour her ‘Forever Home’ and all within it.
How much more will they take from you before you DO something?!
It was the last thing Deanna could recall as, the very next second (to her), she was standing in the middle of the fire! Specifically, her mudroom, with a crowbar in her hand – how in Odin’s name had she gotten this? What’s more, she was swinging the crowbar towards a large beam, ripping it out from the doorway it had lodged from – How the hell was she doing that?! She wasn’t that strong, was she?! – before seeing Selena standing there in shock. On reflex, Deanna had taken Selena’s hand, ordered her to move, and rushed her out of the burning building and back to their children safe and sound.
Like a…. Like a hero. She thought as she gazed into the pendant she held in her hand. There was no mistaking it. She knew that something had triggered the heart. Something had caused her to wear it and something had guided her movements that night. Exactly what? She had no clue. How? No clue. And how to make it happen again? She knew the least about that. But it was proof in her mind – proof that the heart could be used for good, though ‘saving Selena Frost’ would be seen as many in the SCW universe as ‘doing bad’… she didn’t give a damn! She had saved the woman she loved. There was ‘wrong’ about that and she refused to believe otherwise.
Still, she had been left with more questions than answers from the whole affair, except for one thing… she had overcome the fire that night… and that knowledge had lead to one desire: she had to go back to SCW!
With a sigh at the memories, Deanna tucked the heart back under her shirt to continue her current task of sorting items from the house fire, her eyes catching a glimpse of Sir Crackshell as he stood by her, painted eyes on her.
“We both survived.” She smiled at the toy soldier. “The question is where do we go from here?”
The query was interrupted by the sound of footsteps drawing, prompting Deanna to quickly grab the nutcracker, stashing him into her personal, large handbag. She knew Elsianna would want him back! It was her favorite thing in the world!
Hearing the footsteps grow louder, the redhead resumed her task, assuming that the noise was just staff working through the warehouse, or perhaps someone else searching through their own belongings. But when she heard the familiar voice-
“Hey.”
-Her head jerked to the side anyway, eyes taking in the platinum-blonde standing before her. She wore dark pants and a light-blue top that flowed down to her hips. Her hair was in its usual braid, but she seemed more… tired than anything.
“Hey.” Deanna smiled, her hand reaching up to scratch at her neck (though that was just a means to press her palm against her chest, ensuring that the Heart of Veil was, once more, hidden under her shirt). “What are you doing here?” she asked gently.
With a slightly taken aback smile, Selena tilted her head towards the younger Frost. “You said to pick you up at six.”
“What?” Deanna asked in surprise, reaching into her pocket to pull out her phone, stunned to see the hours that had flew by! “How did…” she checked the phone again, as if the digital numbers on the screen would ‘correct themselves’ if she did.
They did not.
“Wow…” she slowly spoke, rather dejectedly. “I must have zoned out or something. I barely got anything do-“ her words died out as she gazed around herself, expecting to see only the few items she had separated from the one box.
Not the three bags full of ‘trash’ and three boxes of keepsakes salvaged, the contents of said boxes expertly placed like Tetris to make the best use of the space of each container.
“Looks like you got lots done.” She heard Selena remark, no mistaking the ‘impressed’ nature in her voice.
“Uh… I guess.” Deanna shrugged. “Sort of lost in the thought the whole time so… I could have done better.” You’re welcome…. “Are you okay?” she asked, ignoring the errant thought. “You look tired.”
In response, the Snow Queen could only sigh. “I tried taking Elsianna shopping for clothes.” Selena shook her head. “I’ve tried and I’ve tried to wash the smell of smoke from them but it’s not working. I don’t know if it’s the fabric or the odours – because it’s not the case with David and Amiliah’s clothes.”
“So you opted to just cut the losses?”
Selena nodded at the redhead. “Bought her new dresses that she liked, but…”
“Let me guess.” Deanna tilted her head knowingly. “You tried to get her to pick colors other than dark ones.”
The platinum-blonde huffed at the observation. “Like pulling teeth! I tried relating to her. I tried explaining how other colors brought out her eyes or hair or features. I even tried trying one a dress like the one I wanted to buy her to show how it would look. Resistance, resistance, resistance.”
“You DID restrict her internet use.” Deanna pointed out.
“Because she went behind our back!”
The redhead gave a sigh as she began to gather the boxes she intended to bring to their own storage unit later (for when the house was rebuilt). “Did you at least explain to her about David’s party and the Grays would be coming with Asuna?”
“No…” Selena sighed, a mixture of guilt and frustration. “I should have but she and I were so close to having a fight right there in the mall… I just wanted to get us out of there before we made a scene.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t have been good either.” Deanna shook her head. She saw Selena move as she drew closer, the platinum-blonde gathering up some of the boxes that Deanna hadn’t picked up yet. The two worked in silence as they moved the boxes to the parking lot and into the Jeep Liberty van, dropped the bags of trash off at the proper station within the warehouse, and, finally, returning to the Jeep to get in and travel back to the Eyrie Tower.
“I appreciate you letting me handle this task.” Deanna remarked as Selena drove them ‘home’.
“If it keeps you off the streets and off drugs.” Selena teased. “I’m all for it.”
“Ha ha!” Deanna laughed sarcastically, shaking her head at her ex-wife. “That’s why I married you. Your amazing altruism and wicked sense of humor!”
“Oh sure!” Selena smiled, shaking her head this time. “And you divorced me because of my psychotic tendencies.”
“Selena…”
“Sorry. Sorry.” Selena sighed. “My ‘obsessive compulsive disorder’ – Dr. Glasgen would rather we name my issues to reduce their power on me.”
“A smart lesson.” Deanna nodded. “Maybe I should name my fear of fire.”
“Pyrophobia?”
“I was thinking something more along the lines of ‘Gary’, but foreign names sound good too!”
She heard Selena laugh then – a real laugh. Not some sarcastic snicker or little chuckle. A genuine laugh of amusement… and it made her heart skip a beat. How long had it been since she had heard that sound? The reality that she couldn’t recall the last time she had was glaring to the redhead, causing a pang of sadness to fill her as she felt Selena turn midway down their current street and into the parking lot of the Eyrie Tower, driving to their specific (and reserved) spot.
“You want me to be nearby?” the Snow Queen asked as she undid her seatbelt, the question seemingly coming out of nowhere and surprising the redhead.
“Huh?” Deanna asked, dumbfounded. “For what?”
Despite being surprised, Selena merely smiled knowingly. “Mentally checked out again, hmm?”
“Not my fault!” Deanna countered, undoing her own seatbelt. “You had a genuine laugh and it surprised me.”
“My laugh surprised you?”
“Yes!” the redhead explained simply. “I haven’t really heard you laugh like that in so long and it threw me off, okay?”
“Wow.” Selena scoffed a little, though it seemed to be good-naturedly. “Way to make me sound like a joyless husk!” to emphasize her ‘displeasure’, the platinum-blonde blew a mild raspberry at Deanna before suddenly snapping her fingers. “Wait! That’s not true! Last week, David told that joke about the Christian, the Buddhist and the atheist and the electric chair! I laughed at that! Remember?”
“You didn’t laugh.” It was Deanna’s turn to scoff. “You teeheed!”
“I ‘teeheed’?” Selena asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against her car seat. “And what, pray tell, is that?”
“Teehee.” Deanna shrugged. “You know. ‘Teehee’.” She adopted a mild laugh, more like a little chuckle that stemmed from her teeth, it seems, creating a light, quiet, but more wispy laugh. “That’s the kind of laugh you give as a ‘courtesy laugh’. When you don’t want to be rude or hurt people’s feelings. You ‘teehee’.”
Sapphire eyes widened a bit. “You know shit like that about me?” Selena asked in surprise. “My kind of ‘laughs’?”
Deanna huffed, slightly insulted by the question. “Of course I do!” she answered.
A moment of silence filled the car, neither woman looking at each other in the moment. Slowly, however, Deanna heard the woman beside her take a slow breath before the platinum-blonde spoke.
“That’s actually kind of sweet.” She whispered, earning Deanna’s attention as the redhead turned to look at her again. “You genuinely surprised me.”
“Glad I still can without having to do something crazy like stealing your NX supply or jumping off the roof.” She stated dismissively with a wave of her hand. To her surprise, however, Deanna suddenly felt her ‘waved hand’ feel a little colder, turning her head to see Selena holding it with hers.
“If…” the former world champion spoke, seemingly unsure of her words (not like her). “If such a thing did happen… or you were in some kind of trouble… you’d tell me right?”
The question caught Deanna off guard initially, the redhead tilting her head to the side for a moment. “Like what?”
“Oh…nothing…” Selena shook her head, though Deanna didn’t believe her. “Just, the whole thing with our past issues with NX and I’m always worried about having it in the castle if I’m tempting you…”
“I’m fine.” Deanna answered simply. “I wouldn’t have come back if I needed it like you do.”
“That’s…” the platinum-blonde started before slowly exhaling. “That’s fair.” She settled on saying. “But anything else, you’d tell me right?”
“Yes!” Deanna huffed good-naturedly, throwing a smile at Selena. “I promise, okay? Now relax, Selena. I’m nervous enough about Texas as it is!”
“That’s what I was asking about.” The former world champion remarked. “If you need me nearby. I trust Luz and Asher – okay, I can give him the benefit of the doubt, but if Jordan tries anything-“
A quick hand shot out to take Selena’s, effectively silencing the Snow Queen as emerald eyes gazed into her sapphire ones.
“I appreciate that more than you know.” Deanna whispered. “But this is something I have to do alone, okay? Whether I’m good enough to still be the United States Champion or not… I need to find that out by myself. Otherwise, what am I proving? What am I showing? Understand?”
“I….” slowly, Selena exhaled. “I understand. I’ll stay out of the way.”
“Good.” Deanna smiled back before noticing their hands were still touching. “I…uh…”
“Yeah…” Selena nodded her head. “We better let go before...”
“Yeah…” Deanna nodded, but couldn’t seem to release the pale woman’s hand. “Got enough to worry about…”
But neither could release the other, their hands standing like that for several seconds more until the loud sound of a horn blaring – New York City traffic at its finest – jolted them away from one another.
“Right! So! Dinner!” Deanna stated quickly, gathering herself and heading to the door. “I’m thinking pasta tonight!”
She didn’t wait to get an answer from Selena, nor did she see the Snow Queen gaze up towards the tower. She was too busy with her own thoughts.
Her doubts.
Her fears.
Her uncertainties…
And, interestingly enough, they weren’t all about SCW…
_________________________________________
So… where do we start?
Preferably with some words, yes? I’m sorry, SCW fans, I… I want to apologize for what happened last week. Not only to Marshal-Asher, but for all of you. I don’t… I didn’t…
*sigh*
For so many months now, I have thought about what I wanted to say to all of you. Would I start by apologizing for the months I had to take off? Apologize for failing as the United States Champion and as an SCW superstar? Apologize that I couldn’t remove The Enigma – Veil – or undo the damage he did to SCW and to Jessica Winters? Apologize for not being strong enough?
Would I tell you how wonderful it felt to see you all again after so long? To tell you how much I missed all of you! Missed seeing your smiling faces, hearing your voices, in support or refute, it didn’t matter! You are part of something that is the SCW Universe and I have missed that so so much! Would I start with that?
Or would I shoot from the hip… and tell you, honestly, how scared I am to be back.
Because it’s true. I came back sooner than I was supposed to. I’ve been cleared to compete, though it is, and I am quoting her, with ‘extreme reservations on the matter’. But you see, I had to come back, Gritters. I had to come back, not because I was bored. Not because I missed being a champion. Not because I missed the spotlight but because it was the right thing to do.
For what little this is worth, for what little I was allowed to watch SCW, I was able to watch the battles for the title I had to taken from. The United States championship. A title I fought tooth and claw to acquire from Bree Lancaster two years ago at this very event. A title that meant so much to me that I defended repeatedly, against any challenger, in any environment, including the dreaded Elimination Chamber. A title that meant so much to me, that I held onto it for over a year until I was forcibly removed from active competition within SCW.
I was able to watch that division move on without me, and I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that it couldn’t. I had seen others come up through the ranks with me. I had seen talent, some newer than me, some older and more veteran than me, some in the same bracket as me – a variety of talent that could easily carry the division in my absence. But there was one name that stood head and shoulders above the rest. One name that people pointed at and said “She’s the one that’s gonna carry the ball now that Deanna isn’t here…”
That someone was you, Luz. One of my first friends, my dearest friend here in SCW, I won’t mince words with you, Luz. I love you like a sister. I love everything about you. Your heart, your hard work, your passion, your refusal to quit, the list is long of the many ways I admire you! When I heard you were the one to take the United States title after I was deemed ‘unable to compete’, I could not have been happier. I knew, without a doubt in my mind or in my heart, that you would do it right. You would be amazing and so you were! You and me? We’ve gone back and forth in this ring and when I was out, you were one of the first people to call me and check in on me. You were one of the few people that spoke well about me still as the months went by and I will never be able to thank you enough for that and for being my tag-team partner for my return match, but thank you, Luz!
But moving forward, I was able to watch that division grow and reach out to new talent and old talent. I saw it be threatened by the likes of The Fall of Man. I saw it be upheaved by Fatal Fortunes in the waking of a new contender in Asher Hayes. I saw it go up and down and I loved so much of it!
Until you came along, Jordan Majors. Until you came along and stole – you heard me right – STOLE the United States championship from Asher under the guise of friendship. Now, anyone that’s been in SCW long enough knows the demons Asher had to deal with. Many people also will know the attitude he has. And many know that, well, you either love him or you hate him.
He’ll be the first to tell you that.
But it cannot be denied, love him or hate him, it CANNOT be denied that Asher Hayes EARNED the RIGHT to wear that United States Championship title, as sure as Luz did, as sure as I did, and as sure as every other champion before me did!
You, Jordan, did not!
And I look at you, Jordan, doing something I’d expect from someone petty like Giovanni Aries or Kristen Scott, and I… I didn’t know what to think.
I asked myself – is this the same Jordan Majors that was on the cusp of becoming an SCW World Champion? Is this the same Jordan Majors that I saw fight Syren in a cage and almost beat her? Is this the same Jordan Majors that would take a bullet for anyone here in SCW?
Because THAT Jordan Majors? That Jordan Majors… would never have betrayed a friend like you did. That Jordan Majors would never settle for STEALING a title. No, the Jordan Majors I know would not settle for that! She’d fight and claw and take every punishment imaginable until she EARNED herself a title! That’s the Jordan Majors I know!
But then you snuck up from behind and nailed me with the Cash-Out after my tag-match. Then you played those mind games with me last Breakdown when I was trying to finally speak with the fans. And I started to think, slowly, what if I didn’t know Jordan Majors like I thought I did? What if I don’t know Jordan Majors at all?
And if Jordan Majors is someone that steals a title, abandons her friend, sneak-attacks me and lies to the SCW Universe – if my perception of you was so wrong – then what about me? Who am I?
Because I can say what Luz is to me. I can say what Luz is to SCW. I know who she is and I know who Asher is, but where does that leave me?
Because you, Jordan, you charged back into SCW with zero doubt and zero hesitation! Immediate declarations of yourself as United States Champion, false as they were. And that was when, even if I wasn’t sure who I was, I had to do something.
And now, here we are, and you are telling me that I am not ready for Rise to Greatness. I am not ready for Luz, for Asher, or for you and… and…
Part of me knows you’re right.
Part of me knows that I am at the very bottom of what is, quite possibly, the biggest uphill battle of my life. The risk of injury is high. The risk of making a mistake is high. The risk of losing EVERYTHING is high! But here’s the reality Jordan. As high as all those risks are… as unready as I am… I still need to fight.
I still need to fight for so many reasons, so many reasons swarm around this very match but it all can be summed up in one word: Doubt.
There is so much doubt in this match, it is enough to mar and tarnish the very title we are seeking to unify and proclaim an Undisputed Champion. There is so much doubt amongst us over legitimacy, earning, what it means to be a champion, that this match could very well redefine those terms for the United States Championship within SCW forever!
And there is so much doubt that it begins with me.
For nearly nine long months, I have had to sit on the sidelines. For nearly nine long months, I’ve had to keep quiet, becoming relevant only when a madman went after my wife, Selena. And yes, you heard me, right. I said ‘madman’ and I said ‘wife’ but let’s look at that another time.
I have spent nine months fighting to bring myself back to a level that I could compete in an SCW ring again and during that time, do you know what I heard more than anything else regarding me? It wasn’t that I held that United States title for over a year, it wasn’t that I was taking on all challengers without hesitation, it wasn’t that I survived a damn chamber match, a fight in a warehouse and a damn fire, no – it was how weak I was. How fragile I was. How mentally-scarred I was.
For months, declarations of me not being ‘strong enough’ to handle Veil were spoken. Lines about me not being good enough to come back and be the United States champion. No one but Luz, Amelia and Selena stood up for me – and I don’t say that to blame anyone. I say that because that was the level of doubt in SCW about me… and it paled in comparison to the doubt in my soul.
Which is why I need to do this match, Jordan, and it starts with you. Because I will damned if I allow someone to steal the title that Luz, Asher and I worked so hard to earn. I refuse to sit back on the sidelines while someone tarnishes that legacy with a highway robbery! Not here, not on my watch!
Did I ask for you in this match? You’re damn right I did, Jordan, because if you ARE going to be the United States Champion, if you ARE going to be the Undisputed United States Champion of SCW, then by god, Jordan, you are going to earn it whether you like it or not! You are going to earn it and you’re going to earn it over MY dead body!
Now, I say that to Jordan, and it’s a threat. I say it to you, Luz, and you know it’s not. For you, Luz, it’s a challenge! It’s a challenge to finally put to bed the match you and I have wanted for so long. The match you have waited patiently for. The match that you have deserved for months and months. You are going to have it, Luz, and when I say the words I said to Jordan to you, it is with respect. More than that, Luz, it is a promise. A promise that you will get everything I have – whatever it is – it will be all I can give and nothing left after the final bell rings.
Which leaves me with the defending champion, Asher.
*sigh*
Nothing has changed with my words to you, Asher. I recognize you as the defending champion and the only reason the word ‘interim’ is still there is just how SCW works. In my eyes, you are the United States Champion, but more than that, you are the pinnacle. You are my Everest. And you are the ultimate test to me.
Because it was you, Asher, that took me on when I was at my best. You remember that night? End of the Year 2023. I had the opportunity after one of the best runs with the company I ever had in my career, I had the opportunity for the ultimate test. To fight you for a chance at the SCW world title. And while I gave it all I had, even at my best, I lost.
Now, some will point I wrestled two matches while you only had one to worry about, but to me, a loss is a loss! You beat me. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And from that loss I strove to be better than thought possible. I strove to become a better champion, a better fighter, a better SCW superstar. And while I succeeded in some ways, that time was cut off before I could truly tell.
Now, here we are in 2025, a year and a half later and I am facing you again, trying to take a title from you, but it so much more than that, Asher! As I said, it comes down to doubt and I… I don’t want to doubt anymore.
I don’t want to doubt whether all I went through was worth it. I don’t want to doubt whether or not I can go at my top level again. I don’t want to doubt about whether or not I am actually deserving of the United States Championship anymore! Which means there is only one course for me, Asher, and that is to beat you, the man I couldn’t beat at my best.
Because if I can, Asher Hayes, if I can overcome you, Luz, and Jordan – the champion, the fighter, and the thief – what does that say about me? What will that say about me? Who will I be if I do?
Because while you came in, Asher, to Fatal Fortunes, love from the SCW Universe, and an opportunity right out of the gate, I came back to uncertainty, skepticism and the belief that I wasn’t supposed to be there.
I was not welcome back like you were, Asher. There was no doubt attached to your name. There was nothing marring your accolades and the belief in your skills. But doubt and disbelief covers mine like a dark cloud. It blankets over everything I have done and endured. And I… I…
I need to know, Asher. I need to know that what I did, what I achieved, what I fought for… that it was real. That it was believed in. That I was worthy of that title. That I can STILL be worthy of that title. And I am not much of an entitled person, Asher… Luz… but at the very least, I DESERVE to know that! I deserve to know if I am good enough to beat you, Luz. If I am good enough to beat you at long last, Asher Hayes. If I am good enough to shut up Jordan Majors and remind her what respecting a title and all it represents looks like!
So I do not intend to tiptoe into Rise to Greatness, people. No! I will not shuffle into the arena, I will walk in ready to fight, ready to survive, ready to win, and ready to get my answer!
And just like I deserve to know, the SCW Universe deserves to know! They deserve to know and they deserve to see who the true, the real, the UNDISPUTED United States Champion truly is!
I say… we show them tonight! And remove all doubt in the process!
Checkmate, bitches!
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SCW Supreme Champion
6x SCW World Champion
4x SCW World Tag-Team Champion
2x SCW United States Champion
3x SCW Adrenaline Champion
SCW Television Champion
Longest Reigning SCW World Champion (234 days)
Winner of Shot of Adrenaline Tournament (2016)
Winner of Best of the Best Tournament (2016)
Winner of Trios Tournament (2018)
Winner of U.S. Championship Tournament (2020)
Winner of World Championship Tournament (2023)
Winner of Tactical Warfare (2014, 2019)
Winner of Elimination Chamber (2015, 2024)
Winner of Roofed Cage Match (2019)
Winner of Last Person Standing Match (2019)
The Unbelievable Main Event (2021-2025)
Winner of Double Jeopardy Match (2022)
Winner of EOTY Invitational (2023)
Winner of EOTY Invitational (2023)
Winner of Ironman Match (2024)
Wrestler of the Year (2016, 2021, 2022, 2024)
Tag-Team of the Year (2020 - w/ Regan Street)
Match of the Year (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
Feud of the Year (2014, 2019)
Shocking Moment of the Year (2024)
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