Syren & Selena Frost vs. Amelia Nevado & Gavin Taylor

[Wisteria Waltz]

It was the day after Retribution, and Amelia could still feel the euphoria of last night.

Despite all the doubts, all the questions, all the beliefs that she didn't belong or wasn't ready yet, she had proven everyone wrong. It wasn't the former World Champions like Glory Braddock or Shaun Cruze who had left Wembley Stadium as the number one contender to the World Title... it had been her. Amelia Nevado. She was getting another crack at SCW's top prize, and this time, there was absolutely no question that she had earned it.

She struggled to decide on a point in her life recently when she'd felt more elated... maybe back when she won the Television Title all those years ago and became the first between her and Luz to hold SCW gold, or when the couple had finally become World Tag Team Champions for the very first time, or potentially even her wedding night and finally being able to call Luz, the very light of her life, her wife for the rest of their lives.

Trying to pinpoint when she'd last truly felt this happy and realizing Luz was popping up quite frequently in her journey down memory lane, however, brought a sobering realization to her personal celebration.

While Amelia had been successful at Retribution and was now one win away from finally being able to silence her most relentless critics once and for all, Luz had once again fallen victim to this bizarre curse that seemed to hang over the couple's heads at this pay-per-view. As much as she knew she should hate it, a part of Amelia—which she suspected was the jealousy being bred by that nagging critical voice in her head—felt glad that Luz had lost the U.S. Title and wouldn't be jumping right back after it for a rematch without earning another opportunity first. It felt like the opening Amelia needed to finally be able to flip the script and truly prove that when she said she was ever bit as good and deserving as Luz, she was telling the truth, and a World Title reign while Luz was recovering from this setback would make that clear.

If anything was stronger than the jealousy over Luz's success and her own failures she'd been trying way too hard to bury lately, it was the utter horror over everything that Luz had endured during this trip to London.

Amelia, at Luz's insistence as her attempt at a peace offering to mend the rifts that had been growing between them recently, hadn't watched the Thunderdome Match between her and Meghan so she could put her undivided focus on winning her match and becoming number one contender to the World Title. When it came time for her to head out for that match, the most Amelia knew was that Luz had gotten hurt pretty bad. She had shrugged it off, knowing her beloved had endured a lot and still found a way to keep fighting no matter the situation, and she found extra motivation in hearing Other Amelia add her own two cents to things and craving the chance to finally shut her up for once.

Amelia had not been prepared to see just how mangled Luz looked when she headed to the trainer's room after her victory and saw Luz being transferred via stretcher from there to an ambulance.

If there was any solace in Amelia's mind, it was that she knew her wife was at least getting superior and more affordable care than she probably would had this taken place in the United States. As much as she tried her best to ignore politics unless they began screwing with her life, she could attest from personal experience that her fellow Brits had everything figured out when it came to making sure people got the medical help they needed without having to be charged an arm and a leg for it.

Despite the issues that had been slowly eating away at their relationship lately because of Amelia's frustrations, she still genuinely loved Luz with all her heart and hated to see her laying in a hospital bed looking like she had literally been thrown through a meat grinder. Even in her current mindset, at worst, Amelia would've only wanted Luz to lose her title so she could have a chance to balance the proverbial scales at long last and everyone could finally see that both halves of The Light In The Darkness were just as talented and capable as the whole. She would never wish to see Luz literally looking like Meghan had tried to make sure she could never wrestle again.

And the worst part about it all? Without even watching a replay of the match, Amelia had a strong feeling a lot of Luz's injuries were as bad as they were because she kept fighting even long after any normal person would have thrown in the towel, and as much as she loved her wife's resilience, it was moments like this that reminded her of why Luz's own mother had been so hellbent on keeping her from following in her father's footsteps for so long.

Unfortunately, that also reminded Amelia of the other big problem that had been haunting the couple like a wraith for far too long now... and almost could have led to the Thunderdome not even happening had she been just a second too late.

Amelia shelved any frustration she wanted to direct towards Meghan Strader for mauling her wife within the confines of one of SCW's most dangerous structures, but she knew exactly where to redirect it to. After all, prior to Retribution, their found family had been attacked by whatever remnants still lingered of The Empire's splinter cell. Thankfully, to Amelia's relief, there were relatively few casualties and all of them had been red-cloaked figures pretending to be holy crusaders.

'Let's not forget that one of them died at YOUR hands,' Other Amelia felt it necessary to bring up at this moment.

Amelia bit her bottom lip from where she sat in Luz's hospital room as her wife was currently sleeping off the last of the efforts to patch up the worst of her injuries. Deep down, she knew Other Amelia was wrong and she hadn't taken any lives, but even now, she still felt the icy shock running through her system that her adrenaline had overwhelmed in that moment. She had simply moved to stop the splinter cell member from putting a bullet between Luz's eyes after preying on her trauma over the death of their leader last year, and now it was a trauma they had in common. Even if they hadn't pulled the trigger or even touched the gun, people had died while dealing with them... even if they were so far gone that they honestly deserved it, Amelia and Luz had honestly been a little naive in hoping that they could weather the storm of The Empire in any form without having to feel like they were stooping to the levels of people like Caleb White or Stephen Crane or even her own parents.

“I just want this all to end...” Amelia mumbled as she held her head in her hands. “No more senseless deaths, no more bloodshed... why can't it just be us working through our wrestling issues and that's it?”

'You mean YOUR wrestling issues,' Other Amelia prodded from the back of her mind. 'You know Luz will probably bounce back in no time... maybe even start racing you to see who becomes World Champion first.'

Amelia scoffed and tried to tune her inner critic out, but Other Amelia wasn't quite done yet.

'Let me answer your question, though, with one of my own. Did you seriously believe that you were going to get out of dealing with this cult without casualties? You heard about what Caleb did to Luz's father, to his own brother. You know The Empire ended the life of that private investigator your mother hired before he turned on her to help you, as well as that vlogger who invaded your privacy on false tips fed to him by their elites.'

“We've beaten Caleb without needing to seriously hurt or kill anyone...” Amelia quietly argued. “He's lost people without us needing to fight them, I overcame my parents without needing to claim their lives... Luz even beat the leader of the splinter cell without stooping to his level and someone else went and claimed Crane's life.”

She didn't get a response from Other Amelia for a few moments and started to relax a little bit, believing she had made her point. Unfortunately, the inner critic eventually found something to reply with. 'You may have somehow made it this far without losing yourself, but you know as well as I do that the longer this goes on, the closer you step towards that edge. You're practically flirting with it already by not telling Luz about Paul being a spy this whole time... if you haven't already crossed the line by keeping her in the dark about who's sponsoring your efforts to finally prove something.'

Amelia scowled but chose not to reply, instead attempting to tune out the voice in her head. She knew that keeping things from Luz was only doing more harm than good, and maybe she was selfishly trying to protect her in a way, but she wasn't a fool. If no one had put the pieces together already, then it was only a matter of time before everyone would know that Frank Delatosso had added her to the number one contender match after CHBK had tried to make it official without her. He had already called and texted her to try and get a jump start on promoting her World Title clash with Gavin Taylor for Hubris, and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was going to reveal that she had him in her ear when Breakdown broadcast live from Madison Square Garden.

Even if she hoped Luz understood why she was treading this path, she knew the situation regarding The Empire's spy was much messier and Luz was only going get hurt no matter the outcome. It was bad enough knowing she wasn't going to react well to Amelia hiding such crucial information from her, but she knew that Luz was going to be utterly devastated once she realized that the only reason Paul had even gotten this close in the first place was because of her own kindness.

“It's not her fault this guy took advantage of her and weaseled his way in,” Amelia lamented to herself, “but I know she won't see it that way and will blame herself for why The Empire has quietly stayed ten steps ahead of any efforts to track them down.”

'It's sickening how concerned you are for someone who's left you in her shadow,' Other Amelia unhelpfully chimed in. 'But you let her lead you into this mess, and it's going to take something truly insane to ultimately get you out of it. But of course... that's Luz's specialty, isn't it?'

While Other Amelia likely meant for it to be another jab at how 'superior' Luz was overall by comparison, it still got the gears turning in Amelia's head. Like it or not, her inner critic wasn't wrong in her assessment, and perhaps the only way to truly end things with The Empire once and for all was going to have to be so convoluted and insane that Caleb couldn't possibly see it coming.

Even if that was Luz's territory, though, Amelia was adamant that she could find such a solution, no matter what it took.

Before she could give any further thought to this whole mess, though, Amelia heard movement and soft groans coming from the bed. Her gaze immediately snapped up, and as soon as she saw Luz's eyes open, she was on her feet to make sure her wife stayed put.

“Easy, Lulu,” she said, definitely sounding far more gentle than she had towards her wife in recent months.

“-mes...” Luz managed to mumble, though it became her almost immediately that her jaw wasn't going to allow for a proper conversation.

“Shh... don't talk, querida,” Amelia gently urged, her hand lightly petting Luz's hair. “Your jaw was one of the things that got hurt the most from the Thunderdome. Just relax and rest... I'll let the doctors know you're awake.” As Amelia reached for the little remote to call for one, she saw Luz run a hand along bandaged face and immediately moved to reassure her before she started freaking out. “Don't worry... your mom talked the staff here into letting her be the primary one to fix you up. No one but her and I have seen your maskless face, and those bandages are basically filling the same role until you heal up. But... if you'd like, I could head back to our hotel and pack up our stuff. That way, you can have your masks ready and we'd be all set to go once you're discharged.”

Luz pondered this for a moment before nodding gently, and Amelia could see that she would've been smiling had it not been for the damage to her jaw. As Amelia nodded back to her and buzzed for a doctor, she felt a little guilty. While Luz was likely unaware of her win and upcoming World Title opportunity, she probably thought things between the two of them were healing for some reason, and given that this was the first time in months Amelia had seemingly been back to 'normal,' her heart ached at the thought.

'We'll get there,' she tried to convince herself, 'but first, I need to close this gap between us and put this nonsense to bed once and for all.'

Once a few doctors, including Camila Nevado, had arrived to check on Luz, Amelia had slipped out, though not before telling Camila of her intentions and earning a nod of approval from her mother-in-law. She was only partially surprised at the guilt she felt at how much love she was still getting from Luz's mother even when she was acting in a way that would have her own mother feeling proud... at least, if she didn't find some minor thing to critique just because she would've felt Amelia wasn't 'perfect' enough yet.

The entire trip back to the hotel, though, Amelia's thoughts were more preoccupied with what Other Amelia had pointed out. She hated admitting that self-proclaimed 'perfect version' of herself was right, but if that part of herself could soldier on through attempts to break the Blight Choke by Glory to secure her opportunity, then she could admit that it truly was going to take something truly insane to potentially beat Caleb and The Empire once and for all.

“It's already bad enough they still have fragments of their splinter cell trying to kill us when Caleb at least needs us alive,” Amelia muttered to herself under her breath. True, Caleb's reasons for wanting her and Luz kept alive at all costs was disturbing and messed up in and of itself, but at least they knew he wouldn't risk his 'grand plan' if he couldn't get his hooks into them one way or another.

If anything, he was probably delighted with whatever Paul was probably informing him about the growing issues between the couple.

As Amelia headed down the hall to her and Luz's hotel room, she paused briefly to stare at the door where she knew Paul was holed up, doing who knows what when he wasn't trying to pretend to be a part of this found family that had shown him far more kindness than he maybe deserved. As she started to move again, the memory flickered through her mind: the way Paul had looked genuinely terrified of being gunned down by someone who was supposed to be an ally of his, the way she'd caught him looking furious that something hadn't quite gone to plan. If nothing else, she was relatively sure that Paul had nothing to do with the splinter cell, though that didn't really put her worries to rest about the guy who was trying to potentially lead them into Caleb's clutches.

It was at that moment that a lightbulb went off in Amelia's head.

Instead of starting to pack everything up once she was back in her room, the first thing Amelia did was pull out her phone, dealing a number she remembered seeing among Luz's list of recent calls not that long ago. She knew that she would be playing with fire the moment she hit the call button, but if there was ever a dangerously insane idea that could finally provide the breakthrough they needed...

“Well... I'm already trusting one person nobody likes to resolve an issue,” she told herself, steeling her nerves as she hit the call button and brought the phone to her ear.

'You're seriously going to try this?' Other Amelia scoffed. 'It'll never work...'

Amelia tuned the voice out, instead focusing on the ringing as she wondered if he would even pick up. She did catch what sounded like a phone ringing a few rooms down... potentially a coincidence, but she mentally filed it away anyway, just in case. After a few more moments, her call was answered.

“Amelia Blythe... isn't this a surprise?” came the cold, amused chuckle of none other than Caleb White himself. “I didn't think you knew how to get a hold of me.”

“I was willing to gamble on that burner number you called Luz from back in February,” Amelia sternly replied. “I have business to discuss with you.”

“Oh? And what business could you possibly have with me?” he pried. “Last I checked, you and Luz wanted nothing to do with me, even though I only have your best interests at heart.”

Amelia restrained herself from vomiting at the false care he tried to convey. She was used to such tactics after dealing with her mother for so long, but Caleb was still on a whole other level entirely. She knew that if she wanted to even have a hope of pulling this off, she couldn't let Caleb get in her head.

“I know you have a spy within our group,” she wasted no time in swinging for the fences. “That Paul guy we saved from your cronies... he's actually one of you, isn't he?”

Caleb's amused chuckle was all she needed to confirm her suspicions once and for all.

“Impressive deductive skills, Amelia,” Caleb 'congratulated' her. “However did you-”

“You're going to call him off,” Amelia interrupted, gripping her phone tighter to steady her nerves as she pressed onward. “I don't care how he does it, he's going to come up with some excuse to part from our group and no one else is going to know about this.”

Caleb hummed for a moment. “So only you figured it out... interesting... and why would I do this when I've been given so much to work with because of my spy?”

“Because if you call him off like this... you'll get me.”

Caleb went so silent on the other end of the call that Amelia had to double-check to make sure it hadn't dropped. Clearly, the leader of The Empire hadn't expected this, and Amelia just had to keep pressing.

“Come again?” he finally asked, and she could hear the genuine shock in his tone.

“You heard me,” Amelia forged ahead. “If Paul goes, I'm yours. I'll join The Empire. You'll have what you want.”

“Half of what I want,” Caleb pointed out. “I'd prefer Luz because she offers me the most to be forgiven for, but-”

“You're going to leave Luz alone,” Amelia growled. “I don't care what Paul's told you about where things are between us right now, but this is probably the only chance you're going to have to get either of us. You call your spy off and leave Luz alone, and The Empire can have me, no questions asked. Or would you rather risk any more of that splinter cell potentially robbing you of the salvation you think you deserve?”

The frustrated growl from Caleb's end was proof that Amelia had hit a sore spot. Surely Caleb knew about the attempted attack prior to Retribution, and how close Luz came to literally biting the bullet. It made Amelia sick to her stomach, but she fought every nerve in her body begging her to just reverse course and hang up now while she still had a chance.

“Amelia Blythe-”

“Nevado,” Amelia insisted.

“You've got yourself a deal,” Caleb finished anyway. “And soon enough, you shall see the light of God and the salvation He has to offer your soul in the new world I seek to bring to all.”

The call ended right then and there, and Amelia leaned back against the door before sinking to the floor, her body trembling. Even Other Amelia was stunned into silence... for perhaps the second time in a matter of days, she had sold her soul to the proverbial devil in a bid to finally resolve every problem looming over her head.

Deep down, she felt like she was making a mistake with this gambit... but there was no going back now.