Glory Braddock vs. Amelia Nevado

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: In terms of reading order regarding my characters for this PPV, read Amelia's CD (this one) first and Luz's second. While they chronologically take place at the exact same time, something that happens in this CD will be referenced in Luz's to tie the two together.
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It was once said that the definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

If there was truth to those words, then one might think that Amelia Nevado was starting to go insane.

In the time she's been with SCW, she had crossed paths with the woman known as Glory Braddock on several occasions, and in the vast majority of those encounters, Glory would manage to prove she was the better wrestler on that night. The few times where Amelia had managed to prevail? Well, people loved to put asterisks on things just to claim they 'technically' weren't wrong, and Amelia's few victories over Glory was one of those things.

Twice, Amelia had beaten Glory, but everyone, including Glory herself, had refused to accept it because they were multi-team matches and Glory's team was never pinned.

The one time where that wasn't the case, where Amelia and Luz had asked for an elimination-style match to remove any and all doubt once and for all, people still didn't want to accept it because while Glory was the one pinned at Rise to Greatness XXI, it was Luz who had scored the pinfall, not Amelia.

Never mind the fact that Amelia had somehow found just enough life after falling victim to Glory and Lohan's Hell on Earth maneuver to initiate the Wisteria Waltz with her wife.

One fact that hadn't changed was that Amelia had yet to defeat Glory in a one-on-one setting... yet.

While many people believed that Amelia had perhaps lost her mind when she dared to issue a challenge to Glory for the Shattered Reality pay-per-view, Amelia saw it differently. Maybe she was a little insane, but one kind of had to be to make it as a pro wrestler given some of the crazy challenges that could stare you down in your career. For wanting another dance with Glory, though? No, Amelia wasn't insane for that.

As she had made clear when she issued the challenge, she saw Glory as one of her measuring sticks. A challenge she had yet to overcome on her own, but one she knew she would have to if she ever wanted to make a serious case for belonging in the main event scene of SCW. Glory was a former World Champion, she had become a Supreme Champion at the expense of Amelia and her wife, she had managed to outwrestle the Blythe-born prodigy time and time again utilizing her superior experience. On paper, this truly looked like the kind of challenge that was going to end the same way her efforts against Cid Turner and Syren had.

Amelia believed otherwise, and she had her own experiences to back it up.

Despite how often people loved to make up reasons for why it doesn't count, the fact that The Light In The Darkness had pinned Twisted & Sadistic, cleanly, on the biggest stage SCW had to offer and in one of its marquee matches of that night proved that Amelia could defeat Glory. She was no different than Amelia's own father, another extremely proficient British wrestler who had owned her number for years as a sign of dominance in an effort to keep her under his thumb. It may not have been in a traditional setting, but Amelia had made him tap to his own submission hold, the one he had used to choke her out countless times just to show her 'how it was done,' conquering a challenge she'd been told she couldn't overcome in the process.

In a twisted sort of way, Glory had a lot in common with not only Aleister Blythe, but also Caleb White.

There was the obvious, like all of them being Britain born and bred and all of them being highly regarded in-ring technicians and masters of the European style of grappling, but there were the equally obvious contrasts like Glory not being an absolutely irredeemable individual who was evil beyond words. To Amelia, however, there was a deeper connection: pride. Her father had believed his youngest daughter, despite being his prodigy “put on this Earth for the sole reason of being the perfect wrestler,” could never submit him, let alone outwrestle him in any capacity. Caleb had so much pride in his belief that he could transcend his wrestling legend and literally change the world that an entire religious cult now existed around him because of it, and it made Amelia question at times if she and Luz could even truly stop him before his lunacy reached biblical proportions.

Glory was a woman who claimed to respect Amelia, and yet in the same breath, her pride had also led her to point out time and time again that Amelia had never beaten her one-on-one, to the point where she truly believed such an outcome was impossible. Deep down, Amelia knew otherwise, and she was perhaps more motivated, now more than ever, to turn the tables for once and prove that all her efforts could yield the result she was looking for.

That was why she found herself in a gym, training her heart out as footage of her past encounters with Glory played on small TV screens set up around the training ring. Sure, they were all matches she had studied so thoroughly she could walk you through every minute of what happened from bell to bell in perfect detail, but right now? Much as James Evans sought to use a match he created to reflect “the real Cid Turner” in his pursuit of the World Title, these TVs reflected every setback Amelia had faced in her previous encounters, reminding her of exactly where she had faltered so she could learn from those mistakes and truly become better in the process. If she found herself in a certain hold, she could take one look at how Glory had applied it on her in the past and adjust.

For this endeavor, she truly couldn't think of anyone better suited to help than Darius and Henry. The former was serving as a referee of sorts, watching everything play out carefully and offering his two cents. While he admitted he was nowhere near as skilled as her father was, he was still a former wrestler and his ability to read people and offer adjustments had only heightened since he joined the NCA. Henry was probably the closest style match to Glory she was going to find among her found family, as Caleb had trained him much in the same way Aleister had trained her, and his technique was just as flawless and made for the perfect sparring partner to feel like she was actually training against the real deal herself.

“Forgive me, but I just don't understand why Luz isn't here helping.”

Amelia and Henry were moving into position for him to replicate the Shekhinah Glory hold for Amelia to work against when the comment was registered from the fourth person who had joined them today. In the time since they had welcomed Paul into their little found family, The Empire seemed to have backed off on their efforts to try and abduct him for whatever reasons no one still seemed to know. Part of Amelia thought it was a little odd they'd gone back to being so quiet again, but since the few members they'd crossed paths with lately seemed to be insistent on Caleb ordering that they be left alone for now, she wouldn't put it past the deranged zealot to be trying to rework his plans to account for having to deal with his most prominent enemies again over some guy who didn't seem to think he was all that important, but if Amelia agreed with her wife on one thing, it's that no one else would be losing their lives due to The Empire while they could do something about it.

“As I've told you before Paul,” Darius glanced over to the man as he sat on the bench outside the ring, watching as the sparring played out, “Luz is doing something with her family today that she feels is important.”

“Besides, Luz and I don't have to be attached at the hip for everything,” Amelia added. “Yeah, we love and support one another, and we'll probably have a moment to train together before she wrestles on Saturday, but if I'm going to finally beat Glory, I need someone who can replicate her style flawlessly.”

“And you're entrusting that to... him?” Paul replied, nodding his head towards Henry. “Are you quite sure he can be trusted? I believe you said he's the nephew of The Empire's leader, and... I apologize, I'm just trying to make sense of all of this.”

“I am Caleb's nephew,” Henry told Paul, perhaps a bit more of an edge to his voice than he might've intended, but the reminder and the doubt that accompanied it had struck a nerve. “But that man has used and abused me my whole life all so he could claim he 'saved' me from my father. I was nothing more than a puppet to him, something Amelia sympathizes with, and the least I can do to pay her back for giving me a chance to figure out who I want to be is to help her prepare for this match.”

Paul nodded as he slowly started to understand the bizarre dynamic that seemed to form the found family he was now a part of.

“I am sorry to hear you went through that, Henry,” Paul noted. “This Caleb White fellow certainly has his issues, by the sounds of things.”

“Understatement of the century,” Henry mumbled, though his brain fixated a little more on the odd tone he swore he heard in Paul's voice. It didn't sound like his words were sincere... then again, it was probably just in his head. Caleb had permanently tainted his ability to trust in others, and Paul was still trying to find his place among their little group as he adjusted to a dynamic that even Henry had to admit could get a little chaotic and hard to comprehend at times. Having to alter your entire life and adjust to something entirely new all in the name of safety from a madman... it was a difficult change to get used to, and he could sympathize with the man on that.

“Perhaps we can take a short break,” Amelia noted, feeling the sudden tension in the air. “I think I need a moment to step back and process what we've covered so far, and it seems like we could all use a moment.”

“Are you sure that's wise?” Paul couldn't help but ask.

“I'm just starting to fully grasp the value in taking a break so I don't go overboard or push myself too hard,” Amelia noted. “Probably for the best if I keep that up to avoid any ugly relapses.”

“It's not going to set you back to take a breather, Amelia,” Darius noted. “I'm sure if even Glory saw how hard you pushed yourself sometimes, she would be begging for you to pause for a moment. I doubt even she trains every waking moment she has available. It's not healthy, and I still curse your parents for thinking such a routine was going to make you unbeatable. If anything, it's a miracle you didn't suffer some sort of severe injury a lot sooner.”

“Would Glory care, though?” Paul chimed in once again as he stroked his bushy beard. “I'm sorry, but even though I've seen all your encounters so far, I'm still struggling to understand this respect you claim exists between you and her Amelia.”

“What about it?” Amelia asked as she grabbed her water bottle and took a drink from it. “We're both very talented wrestlers, we both come from very established wrestling families... even if I wish I wasn't such a 'disappointment' to my parents and their impossibly high standards. We both leave everything in that ring when we face off...”

“All true, don't get me wrong,” Paul held up his hands as if pleading innocence. “It's just... you make it clear you respect her, but I can't recall the last time I've seen her truly show you the same courtesy. I mean, she says she's happy to face you any time, but then she goes on and on about how inferior you are to her, holds it over your head that you've never beaten her. I'm pretty sure she also rubbed it in that your lack of... killer instinct, I believe it was? Lacking that was why you failed to become World Champion, according to her, and she's never seemed to have an issue with bending the rules if it gives her that slight edge over you. Kind of hard to be an objective fan of yours and believe her when she says she respects you in return.”

Amelia opened her mouth to respond... and promptly shut it. She hated to admit it, but Paul had a point. Glory had said, time and time again, that she respected Amelia, but while Amelia always made that respect clear with a clean match and nothing less than her absolute best every time, Glory almost seemed to shelve that respect whenever the time came for them to dance, almost as if her pride needed her to remind Amelia that she had yet to beat her to build this pedestal of superiority to stand on and mock Amelia without having to outright say it to her face. Glory respected her... perhaps only in the way that Amelia always felt like such an easy win she could fall back on whenever she needed something, and Amelia had offered herself up on a silver platter to give Glory the bump she needed to chase after the World Title once more.

“With all due respect,” Darius chimed in, keeping his voice stern to cut through any doubt that was starting to creep into Amelia's mind, “pride is a powerful and dangerous thing, and plenty of wrestlers who are serious about the respect they say they have for someone lose sight of it in the heat of competition. Both Amelia and Glory want the same thing, and Glory clearly has a lot of pride in her abilities and maybe doesn't realize what she's saying and doing in the moment.”

“I hardly believe that makes it alright,” Paul pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Henry noted as he climbed out of the ring and stared Paul down. “But that also doesn't mean Amelia has to stoop to that level if she's not comfortable. This is her match, her career, and she should be free to wrestle her way. What happens if Glory pulls these same tricks again, but this time Amelia beats her? Pretty sure if Glory wasn't genuine in her respect, she will be after that.”

“Does Amelia truly believe that, though?” Paul asked, and almost immediately he started to realize that might've been the wrong thing to say as Henry was almost immediately in his face.

“Do you have a problem?” he demanded of the man. “You've said you're a fan of Amelia and Luz, yet here you are doubting that Amelia can win all because of a difference in approach?”

“Is it really so wrong of me to worry because I'm a fan when Amelia is just letting someone claim respect and then walk all over her because of it?” Paul retorted, both him and Henry starting to grow more heated as Darius quickly stepped through the ropes to try and mediate so cooler heads could prevail.

Anything that was said between them at that point failed to reach Amelia's ears, because the only thing she could hear was the heavy sound of her own breathing, the intense pounding of her heart, and familiar voices that she knew she shouldn't be hearing ever again if she could help it.

“He has a point, dear... Glory doesn't respect you, and she's made a fool of you for far too long.”

“You're a Blythe. Deny it all you want, but you know I raised you to forcibly earn respect, and you've failed to do that with this one opponent whose family could never hold a candle to the legacy I built for you to inherit.”

Amelia wanted to tell the voices of her parents to shut up, that they were wrong, but she couldn't get her jaw to work. She leaned against the ropes, teetering on the edge of a panic attack as she heard her parents berating her over and over again in her mind, deeming her a failure for never being able to defeat Glory one-on-one. The mental criticisms eventually spiraled, turning to claims that if she had just followed the path that they had laid out for her, or if she had just accepted Caleb's welcoming hand and put her faith in The Empire, she wouldn't be in this position. She would be respected, feared, hailed as the greatest wrestler walking the Earth today. The World Title would have easily been hers and no one, not Cid, not Glory, not James, not even Luz would've been able to stop her.

She tried to cry out, wanting to beg the voices to stop because she knew they were wrong, but her body had long since stopped responding to her. Her spiral went unnoticed as Darius was too busy trying to keep Henry and Paul from getting into it as their own argument over what was and wasn't right about Amelia's approach from their respective perspectives kept heating up... her parents' voices blamed that on her, too, claiming that if she hadn't been so much of a failure then maybe her so-called support system was realizing she was suffering. She tried her best to tune it out, she even swore she heard Luz's voice trying to speak through the cacophony and reassure her, but the doubts were being especially loud this time.

“If you were such a failure, cariño, then you wouldn't be where you are today. Don't ever lose sight of that, and don't ever let anyone take that away from you. Not your parents, not Caleb, nobody.”

Amelia's eyes snapped open, tears dancing on the edges of her eyelids as those words cut through the noise loud and clear. It was a familiar voice, one that she had never heard in-person but one she had imagined countless times as she embraced the spiritual aspects of her wife's culture. She may not have had a father who actually cared for her, but she just knew that Luz's father's spirit was watching over her, showing her love and support even though he wasn't even alive anymore.

His voice had silenced the doubts that manifested as her parents' cruel criticisms, and she could finally hear it loud and clear: the voice of her wife, telling her that she could do this and she deserved to be able to finally have her time to reach the top. The voices of her siblings, her friends, all cheering her on, reminding her that if she could survive everything she's gone through at the hands of her parents and The Empire in general, then she could find a way to win this match her way.

Most importantly, though... she heard her own voice. She felt the shock run through her system as she couldn't recall the last time she had truly heard her own voice in her head, not speaking her thoughts, but telling her on behalf of her inner self that she believed she could do this. She had overcome her parents, she had built a life and a career that was all her own... The Empire did not dictate who she was, nor did anybody on the roster. Only Amelia Nevado defined who Amelia Nevado truly was, and that was the person she needed to believe in the most.

“Paul.”

Things between Paul and Henry were just about to boil over when Amelia's voice calmly cut through the chaos. All eyes turned to her, and Paul's lips briefly twitched into a hidden smirk when he saw how rattled Amelia seemed to be.

That smirk, however, vanished when she finally looked up, almost seeming like she was at peace with herself.

“You're not wrong to be concerned as a fan of mine, and I appreciate your opinion,” she stated. “But I know I can beat Glory... I've proven I can do it before, and I firmly believe now I can do it again. It's just like when I finally freed myself from my parents once and for all, or when I've found a way to overcome Caleb's schemes. If she wants to try anything, then let her... I will prove I can beat her and anybody else on my terms, because that's what makes me who I am.”

Darius and Henry both smiled and nodded, relieved to see that Amelia had achieved some sort of breakthrough as they climbed back into the ring and apologized for ignoring her. Paul also apologized for pushing her too far and letting his opinions as a fan cross the line... once the training resumed, however, he couldn't help but look away and curse Amelia for somehow patching the cracks in her confidence he thought he was exploiting.

Unfortunately for him, Henry caught this reaction out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn't ignore the iffy vibes it left him with.