Chris Dumont, Shaun Cruze & Syren vs. Amelia Nevado, Polly Playtime & Gavin Taylor

[Wisteria Waltz]

Taking Hold of the Flame had been one of the most confusing nights of Amelia Nevado's life.

Unfortunately, that seemed par for the course these days... and it had her beginning to reflect on her decisions and question if she'd made mistakes it was too late to take back.

It had been bad enough having to humiliate herself by standing before the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the world in nothing but skimpy lingerie, made even worse by the fact that it wasn't even lingerie she had picked for herself. While she obviously hadn't coordinated with Luz, she had already given up on the idea of ever winning an advantage in the first part and settled for something that was both modest and comfortable enough to wrestle in, something that only Luz truly deserved to see her wearing. But as infuriating as it was, she shouldn't have been surprised the Glimmers had seized a moment where they were both out of the locker room they'd shared for the first time in months to 'spice things up.'

If all their sickening comments about her and Luz being 'just as curvy as them' didn't disturb her, then their antics during the match absolutely had. Every handful they grabbed, every attempt to try and cause Luz to have a 'wardrobe malfunction,' and especially the display Gia (she believed) pulled on Luz in the corner that gave Amelia every right to nearly suplex her through the canvas... not even her dumbest moments of being considered a 'useless lesbian' when it came to other women would find any of that attractive, considering it effectively felt like whoever had approved that Trios cash-in had also approved what felt like borderline sexual harassment.

If Mr. Delatosso actually allowed the Glimmers to have their Tag Title rematch, she wasn't going to think twice about choking one of those twins out in record time... maybe she could even see if he'd be willing to permanently ban the Glimmer Sisters from ever being able to challenge for the World Tag Titles ever again once she and Luz put them in their place for even daring to cross so many lines with them, especially with Luz.

“Luz...”

Amelia couldn't help but turn her thoughts to the true reason her head and heart were in such disarray, because it had nothing to do with the Glimmers or their desperate attempts to practically inject themselves into her strained relationship. By this point, Luz was fully in the loop about what was going on with her, despite her best efforts. She clearly saw that Amelia had effectively become the crown jewel of Mr. Delatosso's New Order and was being presented as THE face of the entire company, and the only thing she agreed with the CEO on was the fact that Amelia had earned the right to be at the top... which stung once it sank in that Luz didn't resent her for any of her choices when Amelia had started to resent her for Luz's success and her own lack thereof and felt like it was driving them apart.

“She understands... she doesn't agree with it, but she understands why I did this...”

Even worse was that her bigger secret had finally gotten out, and she now had confirmation that Caleb had willingly let it slip because he was banking on a rift beginning to tear the once-happy couple apart. Luz knew that she joined The Empire... the only piece of the puzzle she and everyone else was likely missing was that she had done so willingly in order to try and protect Luz.

And yet, despite all her recent success in SCW, she had failed to do that outside the ring.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had sorely underestimated just how dangerously brilliant Caleb White truly was. For all his efforts that had failed before, all his gloating and arrogance about how he believed he was always several steps ahead at all times, it had lulled them all into a false sense of security. Amelia had genuinely believed that Caleb, as a God-fearing man desperate to pull off his envisioned 'cleansing' of the human race, would have kept his word of leaving Luz alone because he at least had one of the women he'd been so desperate to 'save' for no other reason than his own personal forgiveness that she hoped God never gave to him. And yet... she was permanently scarred with the sigil of his cult, her wife believed that she had willingly joined Caleb's flock with no ulterior motives, and the recent revelation that Caleb had been the spy known as Paul all along had not only devastated her, but surely had to have broken Luz.

And yet... as far as she could see, Luz kept pushing herself forward.

Luz had been upfront with her in the locker room about not wanting to take the World Title from Amelia despite the stipulation the Glimmers had slipped into Gina's Trios contract that allowed for it, and not only had she tried to stay true to her word by fighting her basic wrestling instincts to make sure Amelia ultimately got the winning fall, but she had fought her heart out not just in that match, but the battle royal as well. If Luz had been broken by Caleb's efforts, then either she was doing a horrifyingly good job of hiding it... or she wasn't as broken as Caleb had hoped. If anything, she was burying any self-hatred she probably felt over letting a disguised Caleb into their found family in the first place beneath her desire to make things right... and Amelia herself was the end goal.

“Luz, you lovable idiot... heh... I want so badly to find you next Breakdown and scold you for what you're doing, but I'm not exactly in any position to talk, now am I?”

Amelia sighed as she looked around the extravagant bedroom she currently found herself in. Despite the fact that the first Breakdown on the road to Rise to Greatness was set to take place in Houston, which was in the same general area of the country as Las Vegas, Caleb had sent some of his cultists to retrieve her as soon as the pay-per-view went off the air. He claimed he didn't want her lingering in a place that proudly called itself Sin City, but she had a different theory: Caleb wanted to take advantage of the break period following the pay-per-view to retreat back to England and assess his next course of action, considering whatever had happened in D.C. had blown his cover and his whole undercover spy endeavor he'd been pulling over the course of the past year was now off the board.

So, here she was... in Castle Blythe, holed up in a bedroom that clearly belonged to one of her ancestors as the portrait of a woman who looked very similar to her stared down at her from its place above the elegant bed, almost as if it was judging her. While the rest of the Empire preferred to hole up in the secret chamber they'd built beneath the castle that had explained why the NCA had found it near-impossible to uncover where they'd been hiding, Caleb claimed it felt fitting if the 'princess of the new world' stayed in the chambers that once belonged to a Blythe from the old royal court.

“The only person I ever want to hear call me a princess is mi propia princesa,” she growled while glaring at the portrait, venting only to herself... or, perhaps, to that voice in her heard she knew was just chomping at the bit to chime in at any point about something.

The more she thought about her wife, the worse Amelia felt. She knew what Luz was trying to do... she'd have to be blind not to see the fight Luz had chosen to take up throughout all of this, and no more had that been apparent than when she watched Luz almost punch her ticket to do exactly as she'd swore she wanted to do: face Amelia for the World Title in the Rise to Greatness main event. Deep down, she knew that if she met Luz in the ring and they threw everything they had at one another, she would end up letting Luz in. The pure art they would make out of this sport that meant so much to them would connect them on a deeper level that no one else could understand, and in the face of the love and support Luz still showed her and would no doubt continue to... Amelia knew she would crumble.

'You really need to stop thinking about her then.'

Amelia sighed, knowing this was coming sooner or later. She glanced around the room, wondering how her brain was going to try and manifest Other Amelia this time. Her first instinct was any of the mirrors scattered throughout the room, but the reflection that greeted her was completely in sync with her movements and facial expressions. It was only when she turned her eyes back to the painting that she found it actively grinning down at her, something that should have been physically impossible unless...

“You look ridiculous,” Amelia quickly shot at the paint version of her inner critic.

'I simply look like the royalty we were always meant to be,' Other Amelia chuckled, the haughty attitude not helping Amelia in the slightest. 'You know I speak the truth, though. It'll do you much better in the long run to stop thinking about Luz and leave her behind. She clearly can't keep up with you anymore.'

“I disagree,” Amelia argued with herself. “She more than held up her end of the bargain she shouldn't have even needed to be a part of in the first place. I snapped at her on the Breakdown before and she still didn't hold it against me! She took so much more abuse in that match than I did, and the Glimmers put me through a table! But she still prioritized me retaining the World Title... and then turned right around and almost won Taking Hold of the Flame.”

'But you refused your half of the Tag Titles,' Other Amelia smirked. 'You abandoned her yet again... how many times does that make now, Amelia? And how many more until she gets the hint that you don't-'

“I would stand by her side in a heartbeat,” Amelia cut off her inner critic without any hesitation.

'What?'

“I may have refused the belt, but I'm still her partner as World Tag Team Champion,” Amelia firmly stated, as if trying to reassure herself above all else. “If she needs to defend those titles, I would join her. I refused... I refused to accept the belt because I need to figure things out first, and I trust Luz to keep mine safe for me.”

'What could you possibly have to figure out?' Other Amelia insisted. 'You are finally among The Empire, where you were always destined to be. You are the World Champion of the biggest wrestling company in the world, it's face! You are the crown jewel your CEO is building everything around, and you did it all because you finally stopped playing nice!'

“I let myself believe that Caleb was actually a holy man of his word,” Amelia responded. “I let Frank give me opportunities I didn't think I'd ever earn, no matter how hard I worked.” Her body was trembling now as she grit her teeth and glared at the portrait of her ancestor her inner critic had chosen to manifest as. “I let them take advantage of my guilt, my frustration, all so I could...!”

Amelia gasped sharply as she turned away from the portrait, only to find herself face-to-face with her own reflection in the mirror. She wanted to say that it was another trick Other Amelia was using to try and derail her confidence, keep her feeling like she needed to be the person her parents had raised her to be... but she knew it wasn't. The brown hair, done up in a neat bun instead of the ponytail she preferred. The clothes, classier than she would've liked because she'd never been a fan of flaunting the wealth she came from, even if her mother had always insisted upon it. She looked like a World Champion, sure... but she also looked like a porcelain doll, constantly fixed up and repainted to hide the cracks that no one was supposed to ever see.

“I could become... the very thing I fought so hard to break free from...” she finally choked out.

'I could personally do with a little less rule-bending,' she heard Other Amelia chime in. 'You're too good to ever need to resort to it. But beyond that? You're finally the wrestler you were always meant to be. Welcome back, Amelia Blythe.'

Amelia shook her head, refusing to look in the mirror or at the painting any longer. She opened her mouth to argue with her inner critic, to scream, to cry, to do anything... but all that left her throat was a pained gasp. The painful reality of her situation began to swallow her alive: she had chosen this path. She had let her desperation for success open the door for a man who promised the world to mold her into something she never wanted to be, just like her parents. She had tried to play the selfless hero, sacrificing herself to save her wife, and deep down she was certain she was going to lose everything because of it. She had pushed Luz away, thinking she wouldn't understand, and her vulnerabilities had left her to be taken advantage of.

Even worse... she had no idea if she could even come back from this.

Before she could spiral any further about this, she heard a knock at her door. Before Amelia even had a chance to address it, the door opened and a familiar old woman stepped beyond the threshold, her amused grin not doing Amelia's frayed nerves any favor right now.

“You look dreadful, sprout,” Theresa Saintsbury, arguably the most devoted and fanatical of Caleb's elites, pointed out. “I don't blame you... no offense to the hard work of that CEO who believed in you, but SCW seems to be in dire need of new management all around, because pests like those Glimmer Sisters don't belong anywhere near such a perfect rose like yourself.”

“...I'm not in the mood for your plant analogies,” Amelia mumbled as she tried her best to quickly recompose herself. “What do you want?”

“Lord Caleb asked me to come fetch you,” the former Lady Snapdragon said without a hint of remorse for Amelia clearly not wanting to so much as leave this room right now. “He wants to help you forget about that awful lingerie garbage. And before you ask, this isn't optional, so it's best not to keep our lord and savior waiting.”

Amelia wanted so badly to snap back at Theresa, to vent everything wrong with what she just called a man who she held such blind devotion to... but she knew better. As much as she hated the reality she had put herself in, she knew that if she didn't start playing along more, then all of this would be for naught.

Even if it was too late for her to be saved... she still wasn't going to let The Empire torment the light in her life any longer.

It took her a moment, but she managed to pull herself together enough to follow Theresa without question or complaint, instead choosing to stay silent and put on the 'perfect child' act that her parents had insisted she master for so long. A Blythe never shows weakness, or so she was told over and over again as a child.

Theresa tried to make conversation, though it became clear right away she just wanted an excuse to hear her own voice. Amelia tuned her out, nodding on occasion to at least pretend she was listening. Oddly enough, she found her thoughts being preoccupied with wondering if Selena Frost had her own version of the tired Blythe mantra to explain why she'd held firm to what she'd become for so long now.

Eventually, Amelia found herself being led down to The Empire's secret lair beneath the castle, following Theresa into the biggest room where Caleb held his 'congregations,' and where she had been branded and welcomed into the flock. Theresa eventually stopped walking, nudging Amelia forward as the other elites slowly surrounded her. Her focus, however, was entirely on the man who sought Heaven so badly he was trying to leave Hell in his wake on Earth.

“Amelia,” Caleb spoke, trying to keep his tone deliberately warm and comforting, but as far as she was concerned, it was the equivalent of someone trying to use a rusty nail to carve into her flesh. “You have been through quite an ordeal this past weekend. It may not have been entirely of your own will, but your have been tainted. I can see it in your eyes... the temptations that you are trying to rise above shackling themselves to you once more. In the name of the Father and The Empire, allow us to remove this wicked burden from your back.”

Before Amelia could even begin to question what the heck Caleb was even talking about, she found her arms restrained by both Mason and another woman who was quite tall and imposing, although her grip was somewhat gentler than the man who had branded her.

“What... what are you...?” Amelia tried to struggle as they forced her to her knees. The next thing she knew, another of the elites had moved behind her and literally ripped her shirt off. She still had her bra on thankfully, but the chilling air against her exposed skin only made her struggle even more, especially as she felt it against the lingering wounds from the table the Glimmers had put her through.

“Just relax, sprout... this is for your own good.”

Amelia didn't like those words from Theresa, nor did she like the sound of something being pulled taut. She tried to turn her head to see what they had planned for her, but the tall, silent woman kept Amelia's gaze forced towards Caleb, who was only pretending to look remorseful for whatever was about to happen.

She opened her mouth to ask again what they were doing... and then the answer made itself clear in the form of the pain tearing through her back.

Amelia cried out in pain as something cracked across her back, covered in spikes that dug into her flesh and tore open the welts that had resulted from being put through a table. Before she could try to get her bearings, it tore across her back again, the cracking sound violent against her ears. She cried out in pain again before staring up at Caleb in disbelief.

“Really?” she found the strength to call out. “You're whipping the 'sin' out of me?”

“It was one of the only good things your parents did when they raised you,” Caleb sighed. Amelia felt the spiked whip crack across her back once more before he continued. “I'm truly sorry, Amelia... but the time will soon be upon us to end this little chess game, and if I am to finally obtain the last piece I need to move forward towards humanity's salvation, you must be cleansed of all the vile sin that has tainted your blood.”

Amelia wanted to argue, even knowing full well it was a terrible idea when surrounded by Caleb and all of his remaining elites, but she never got the chance as Theresa continued to whip away at her back, carving it up with the spikes she had outfitted the weapon with. Caleb kept insisting that it would be fine, that she wasn't scheduled to compete next show anyway and Heather (the tall woman helping to restrain her) would patch her up before she did need to compete again, but Amelia could feel the blood pouring down her back as she was 'cleansed' through pain.

She hated every second of it, but she had brought this upon herself.

Just as she had affixed herself to the puppet strings of a man who cared only for his own warped version of the business Amelia strove to bring to life.

She had chosen this path... but she knew from experience how to play along until she could figure things out on both fronts.

By the time her 'cleansing' had concluded, Amelia appeared to The Empire's elites like a cold, focused machine, devoid of any feelings to chain her down.

After all... a Blythe could never show weakness.

She may not have been a Blythe anymore... but she still remembered how to play the part, at least for now.