The House of Frost vs. Light in the Darkness

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: Doing separate RPs again for Amelia and Luz. This is my first for Amelia, and timeline-wise, this one actually takes place a few weeks ago around the exact same time as my first Luz RP for her match with Colleen (https://www.supremecw.com/forums/showthr...9#pid14329).
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Amelia Nevado had never felt more alone in her life.

Even despite the fact that she was part of not only a group of wrestlers who supposedly shared her vision (even if it had been warped a bit by Mr. Delatosso) for the future of the business, but also an entire religious cult that had been ironically hellbent on securing her as a member since before she was even born.

When Amelia had made the admittedly questionable decisions she'd been making throughout the year so far, she had tried to reassure herself that she would at least have some company so the time wouldn't feel like it was torturing her, but now she was almost certain that had just been wishful thinking on her part. The other members of the New Order may have praised her name and put her on a pedestal as the group's crown jewel, but she wasn't blind... she was certain they only did so because that's how highly Mr. Delatosso looked at her. Beneath the surface, it felt like she was in a pit of snakes and constantly having to watch her back, knowing that they all wanted what she had.

Polly may have come off as genuine in understanding and supporting Amelia, but she'd made no secret of feeling she deserved to be World Champion in her own right.

Gavin was almost comically obvious in how badly he wanted the World Title back and believed he was more deserving of it than she was, even if she was confident she could beat him if and when he ever got his rematch.

The returning Bree Lancaster and Alistaire Allocco... neither of them had really interacted with Amelia yet, but given their attitudes, she just had a feeling they were waiting for her to slip up so they could step in and take the helm, perhaps by force if necessary. It had been something she recalled Shaun Cruze warning her about heading into the six-person tag match, though it was a warning she didn't need.

Not because there wasn't any truth to it, but because she was already willing to acknowledge not only it, but the extra pressure it put on her as a result.

Perhaps the question of whether or not Amelia could actually forge genuine bonds with the other members of Delatosso's group and make something of this wouldn't have been one that even needed to be asked if the other group she had thrown herself into wasn't insistent on stepping in and making absolutely sure that interacting with a certain somebody was a risk only limited to SCW shows, the only place where they didn't have the control they wished they did.

By now, she knew that Mr. Delatosso had preyed upon the frustrations and jealousy she had let herself feel towards Luz's success to drive that wedge between them, using that to motivate her into taking charge and becoming World Champion... even if had led her to becoming the very thing she had fought with all her heart and soul to never become again. But while Delatosso couldn't keep her and Luz apart despite his best efforts, especially after the stunt the Glimmers had pulled that resulted in the couple becoming World Tag Team Champions for the fourth time in their SCW careers, Caleb White and The Empire weren't going to take any chances.

“Credit where it's due,” Amelia mumbled to herself miserably. “Even with his secret plan exposed, Caleb's trying to make sure he's got everything under control.”

Truth be told, Amelia hadn't been too thrilled after the six-person tag match last week. Sure, her team had won, but the fact that it had been by disqualification thanks to Polly's guards had left a sour taste in her mouth. She didn't want to fault Polly for trying to keep herself protected, especially considering she had gotten jumped while the referee was busy trying to restore order with all the other chaos going on outside the ring, but she had been hellbent on earning a clean win to prove that the New Order could be better than the antics they were supposedly attached to, as well as further proving herself as the face of the company. She had gotten none of that in Kansas City, and she was certain Luz was watching and trying to figure out exactly where her wife's head was really at.

Amelia never got the chance to try and seek her out even if she wanted to. First, she had been effectively confined to the New Order's locker room until the end of the show before she made her way out to try and pry Deanna for answers about who she was even facing at Rise to Greatness, and then once the show had gone off the air, Empire members had whisked her away back to Blythe Castle in the British countryside to make absolutely sure Luz didn't try to somehow talk Amelia into reconsidering whatever she'd gotten herself into.

'Not that it would make a difference at this point.'

Amelia audibly exhaled through her nose as the voice of her inner critic stated the obvious from deep in her thoughts as she numbly stared out the window of the bedroom that had practically become hers while part of the 'holy army.' The two of them (if she counted Other Amelia as a separate entity, and she'd been trying to do so more often lately to separate herself from it) were the only ones who knew the truth that her 'willingly' joining Caleb was essentially a deep cover operation she'd chosen to pull to try and dismantle the cult from within, so she couldn't blame Caleb for wanting to play cautiously now that he was no longer pulling the same stunt on her loved ones. As confident as the narcissistic control freak was, he at least had some awareness that underestimating the couple had shot him in the foot several times in the past. He may not have known that Amelia had no intention of fully buying into his act like everyone else around here clearly had, but she had to play the part if she was going to keep him from figuring it out.

Something that, reluctantly, she owed her inner critic a thank you for.

Still, being among The Empire made it clear how miserable she would've been if this truly had been her fate had she stayed the course laid out for her by her parents before Luz had swooped in to save her from herself and them. A few of the grunts (as she was supposed to call anyone who wasn't an elite or Caleb himself, which disgusted her to even think about) seemed friendly enough, but she was typically kept away from them when they didn't irritate her with their blind fanaticism towards Caleb like he really was Jesus Christ reborn. Her fellow elites all clearly only cared about themselves and what the 'purified new world' Caleb promised them in the aftermath of his grand vision would mean for them in terms of power, and obviously the less Amelia had to interact with Caleb himself, the less she wanted to peel off her own skin as if it would fix how disgusted she felt anytime she so much as heard his voice.

She missed her friends, who she never thought she'd have again because of everything she'd done as 'the Blythe prodigy' growing up. She missed her siblings, wishing their chaotic antics would bring some spark back into her days. She missed the adults who had actually cared about her and not just what she could do for them. Most of all, she missed her wife... as obvious as it seemed, Amelia had been feeling more and more guilty lately over how she'd treated Luz before she began walking down these paths, hating that she actually fell victim to all the insinuation that there ever was a weak link between them and that she was never good enough to keep up with the very woman who always inspired her to be better, both as a wrestler and as a person.

'You've always been better, Amelia. And now the whole world knows how much this has always been the truth.'

Amelia growled a bit at the unwanted commentary from within her fractured psyche, which ruined an attempt at some peace to try and mentally sift through the wreckage of her mind as she watched the setting sun through the window.

“I knew agreeing to the 'help' you offered would be a mistake,” she spat at herself as she glanced over towards the mirror, seeing her mind interpret her reflection grinning at her as if it had a life of its own.

'Did you really think you were going to be able to wear that mask all by yourself?' Other Amelia mocked her. 'You may remember how to play the part of the Blythe you were always supposed to be, but you're clearly rusty. It's convincing enough to fool Caleb and Mr. Delatosso, but we've both seen how much the mask starts to slip when you're expected to stand on your own.'

Amelia looked away, biting her lip to try and cope with the unfortunate facts. Ever since she and Luz had started teaming together again despite the circumstances that currently had them separated, everything that had consumed her and brought her to this point was starting to die, as if Luz's radiant light was truly burning away the darkness that had shackled her all over again. It may have been able to slide while dealing with the Glimmers, but now? She clearly recalled herself struggling to act like the 'alpha bitch' everyone likely expected her to come off as while addressing that six-person tag match last week, and it had raised suspicions and concerns not only with Frank, but even worse, with Caleb. That had resulted in Other Amelia offering to take charge and help her 'play the part' to keep them convinced that she wasn't seemingly rethinking what she'd gotten herself into.

Considering her inner critic was effectively everything she was 'supposed to be' anyway, she had accepted without thinking of the consequences... the latest in a long line of mistakes she was seriously regretting now.

Ultimately, it created a situation where Amelia was perhaps coming off very inconsistently to everyone, which certainly wasn't helping her case. She still had the moments where the real her, the one regretting all her decisions more and more by the week, slipped through in a desperate bid to start trying to turn this ship back around, but she also had her moments where she truly acted like she was the perfect prodigy her parents had sought to forge her into growing up, arrogant and believing she was unstoppable.

'I could help you maintain this facade a lot easier if you'd stop resisting,' Other Amelia noted.

“No,” Amelia firmly told her reflection. “I've been down that path before and I know exactly where it leads to. I've fought so hard for so long to keep myself from becoming this again... I hate that I let myself be guided back down this path, but I want to be able to pull myself back from it and earn forgiveness when all is set and done. Especially since Luz still refuses to give up on me even after everything I said to her.”

'That woman is far too forgiving for her own good, and it's a miracle Caleb hasn't outright killed her yet because of it,' Other Amelia claimed, which immediately had Amelia preparing to punch her reflection right in the face even if it shattered the mirror and carved up her hand. 'Speaking of Caleb, though... do you even have an endgame here? You lied your way into being among his flock to try and take him down from within, but doing so to protect Luz already failed because he's still trying to bring her into the fold as well. So far, you've done absolutely nothing but willingly embrace everything mother and father did to make you comply just to try and pretend to be loyal.'

For as badly as Amelia wanted to argue with herself over this, she knew she had no rebuttal. When she'd pulled the trigger on this, her entire plan had effectively been to remove 'Paul' from her found family and talk her way into 'serving' Caleb until she could find a way to bring him down from within. She hadn't fully thought through how she was going to achieve this, but had been certain she could figure it out on the fly once she assessed the inner workings of The Empire.

Unfortunately, those inner workings might have sabotaged her from the very beginning, as the brand of The Empire's sigil scarred into her wrist cruelly reminded her. It had given Caleb enough confidence to go back on the deal he'd made with her so he could still try to claim Luz as well, as he had made painfully clear to her several times by this point.

'I can hear how heavily you're thinking about this,' Other Amelia chimed in again with that arrogant grin she hated seeing on her own face so much. 'You really thought you'd just magically come up with a solution to stop him once and for all like some fantasy hero. I hate to break it to you Amelia, but there's only one way I think you're ever going to truly stop him... and I know you don't have the guts to do it.'

Amelia opened her mouth to question what her inner critic was implying, but her breath hitched as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, almost like Other Amelia was anticipating the confusion. She and Luz had already tried simply subduing Caleb and seeing him sent off to jail for the rest of his life, but so long as he could speak his 'truth,' he could effectively pied piper his way into freedom like he'd already done once before. He'd also made it disturbingly clear he didn't care how long he had to wait or what he would have to do to get his way, as evidenced by the trail of bodies he'd left in his wake that 'saving' her and Luz was supposed to help 'redeem' him in the eyes of God.

There was perhaps only one way she could truly be certain Caleb would never plague them again.

And that arrogant voice in her head was unfortunately right... Amelia was certain she didn't have it in her to end this monster's life.

She wasn't blind to the fact that she technically had blood on her hands, though just like Luz's own guilt over a similar incident, the circumstances were questionable as to how much she could truly feel guilty over it. After all, she had saved Luz from having her brains blown off by a lunatic from The Empire's still-lingering splinter cell, and the man had ended up taking his own life either accidentally or intentionally when she'd intervened to create that conflict within her. But there was a big difference between that and intentionally trying to take a life, and even if Caleb absolutely deserved it for everything he had done and would continue to do if given the chance, Amelia knew it was only going to mentally scar her even further.

She also knew that if she could somehow convince herself to cross that line, she'd only get one shot, because the moment she made the attempt on Caleb, there'd be no coming back in any sense of the words.

Amelia gently opened the window, desperately needing some fresh air right now as she tried to figure out if and how she could get herself to put an end to the nightmare once and for all in the only fashion that would truly make it stop, her hands trembling as she just barely stopped herself from hyperventilating over having to do something so terrible yet likely necessary to save herself and everyone she loved from a genuine abomination of a human being.

“You truly care about her... Even when she turned her back on you-”

Amelia had to stifle a gasp as she heard the disgustingly familiar voice of Caleb, clearly putting on that tone that was supposed to deceive you into thinking he cared. At first, her head whipped towards the door, thinking he'd walked in on her and discovered her plight, but then she realized she'd only heard his voice once she'd cracked the window. Hesitantly, she leaned out enough to take a peek, spotting Caleb on the balcony below her window, far too engrossed in his phone call to realize she was eavesdropping. Amelia's stomach dropped as she had a terrible idea of who he was talking to, and her concerns were verified in short order.

“Are you sure you want her back that badly, Luz?” Caleb spoke in that smug tone, the grin alone making Amelia want so badly to throw herself out the window and pounce on him. “For all you know, the woman you once loved in that sinful, disgusting way that God frowns upon may be dead.” She watched as he intentionally paused to let that sink in before he tried to deliver the dagger over the phone. “And she could find herself dead regardless soon enough.”

Amelia found herself sinking to her knees, mouth agape in stunned horror as she heard Caleb explain to her wife over the phone how he'd already 'saved' Amelia and therefore her purpose had already been served, making her ultimately useless to him. He was trying to get to Luz the only way he knew he could even now: by using her. Despite all his talk of her being one of the keys to his 'redemption' so he could get into Heaven when he died, he genuinely believed that was already locked in now and he could kill her with no regard for how it would affect Luz or SCW or anything else, further proving that all her efforts to try and protect Luz with a rather reckless effort of self-sacrifice were for naught.

Just as she tried to ground herself with the belief that Luz wouldn't try to pull the exact same stunt she had just to save her, especially after all of Caleb's gloating that she wasn't going to return the same Amelia she once knew, she heard Caleb confirm her worst fears, because of course Luz would absolutely be the self-sacrificing idiot she'd fallen so deeply in love with. Her entire gambit was a page straight out of Luz's playbook, after all.

“A wise decision,” Caleb grinned with that sickeningly sweet sense of false praise that made Amelia's stomach turn. “Detroit, Michigan, the weekend of your little Rise to Greatness show. It only seems fitting that you finally see the light just before Amelia proves what a perfect champion she truly is.”

Amelia watched as Caleb ended the call there before heading back inside, thankfully unaware that she had overheard the key details of his little conversation. Still, she now knew she had a hard deadline to make her plan work in some fashion: the weekend of the very show she was expected to prove that she was the face SCW deserved to have at the very top and the crown jewel that the entire New Order revolved around.

'Well, that was enlightening,' Other Amelia chuckled, drawing Amelia's attention to the mirror once more, where that smug smirk of Blythe arrogance continued to haunt her every waking thought. 'You've got about a month to figure out if you've got the guts to actually kill this man before he simply takes Luz anyway, and he's already assuming I've got you covered in terms of being exactly who you're supposed to be. How do you get out of this one, champ?'

Amelia grabbed her robe from her luggage and threw it over the mirror as if that would somehow stop her inner critic from tormenting her any further, but she knew it was a futile distraction at best. The clock was now ticking, and despite every cell in her body refusing to want to permanently taint her soul by ending another human life, she couldn't let Caleb continue his self-righteous path of destruction that had already killed so many and threatened to claim even more if he could turn his delusions of grandeur into reality.

She couldn't let him hurt or claim Luz in the name of his twisted crusade of 'salvation.'

To save her wife, and potentially the world at large if Caleb had a final plan he was aiming to put into motion once he'd 'saved' them both... she was going to have to figure out a way to end this bastard once and for all, no matter what it took.