Light in the Darkness vs. The Vision

[Wisteria Waltz]

The very first thing we see is light skin... kind of. Pulling back a bit confirms the light skin belongs to a woman's forearm, but she's not alone. A second set of skin, more tanned in color, is pressed up against it, this one belonging to a woman's bicep. Even if you've figured out who they happen to belong to by now, you're probably confused by splashes of color that were not present on either set of skin before. The light forearm and the tanned bicep both now bear matching tattoos: a gold and purple crescent moon inside of a sun, both of which also have familiar-looking feminine faces gazing at each other lovingly, surrounded by a starry night sky and wisteria branches. The wrist at the base of the light-skinned forearm, where the wisteria branches sit for that particular version of the tattoo, also faintly bears a hint of raised skin that would belong to a scar, but the branches do an amazing job of hiding it from view and you'd only know it was there if you were to look close enough.

Pulling back even further confirms that these tattoos do, in fact, now decorate the left arms of The Light In The Darkness, and seeing Amelia and Luz together again is probably a sight that brings a sense of relief, as if this was meant to be. Given the water and the moving ships behind them, it becomes apparent fairly quickly that the both of them are at the Boston Harbor. The purple sky and the sight of the sun almost completely swallowed by the horizon in the distance illuminate the harbor beautifully, and the lights of the city skyline off to the side flickering to life only adds to the life that continues to thrive in the city of Boston, no matter what hardships its citizens endure. Luz, who's squatting down in front of Amelia so they can display their new tattoos together, is the one who opts to kick things off in the most Luz way she probably could.

“What do you guys think? I think our new ink turned out pretty good, but maybe I'm a bit biased since I'm the one who designed it.”

“It's very 'us' for sure, cariño. You could say it marks the dawn of a brand new day for the two of us.”

“We know you guys probably have lots of questions, and aside from wanting some matching ink to mark that dawn as SCW kicks off a brand new season with Rise to Greatness in the books, there's a few personal reasons for getting these that we'd rather not go into right now.”

“There is something important I would like to say, though, before we get too deep into what we're here to talk about this evening.”

Luz glances up at Amelia, the two exchanging a silent conversation before Luz nods and rises to a stand, leaning to kiss Amelia on the cheek and reassuring her in Spanish before she moves to stand beside her, taking her hand and threading their fingers together. Amelia smiles softly at her wife before she takes a deep breath.

“I'm sorry... to all of you. For most of this year, I wasn't the Amelia Nevado you all came to know, the one you supported and looked up to. I'm not going to stand here and just ignore that the past several months didn't happen at all. I'll come right out and say it: I was an absolute bitch. I let the setbacks, the frustrations, the feeling that I wasn't getting opportunities I thought I'd fought to earn, all get to me. That darkness consumed me, unlocked doors in my mind that I thought would be locked forever, brought back ghosts from my past that I had sworn I would never see again. I was Amelia Nevado in name only... in reality, you were all bearing witness to Amelia Blythe, specifically the version of me from the very beginning of my career. The version of me that was buried by all the expectations and pressure that came with that name... that I could only live up to all of that by closing myself off and becoming the Blythe I was 'destined' to be. Cold, ruthless, efficient, and convinced of my own superiority because that was just how it was supposed to be. It came back as a voice in my head, taunting me over my failures, holding Luz's success over me as if it was proof of anything, slowly deteriorating my mental state until I lost my way and became something I couldn't stand to see in the mirror.

I want to be clear... that's an explanation for why I fell, but it's not an excuse. I fought for years to escape that version of me, to become the woman I felt I was truly destined to be. But anybody who's had to fight some sort of demon in their life will tell you that the fight is never over... I learned that the hard way, and to just try and ignore that any of that even happened wouldn't help me grow as a person and admit to the faults that put me in that position in the first place. I'm not expecting all of you to forgive me right away, but I can promise you this: from this point forward, I swear, on my life, that I will fight to earn back your trust and your support, as well as earn my way back to what I lost. This time, I'm going to do it right, and I'm going to prove to everyone, and to myself, that I can be the kind of wrestler you all deserve to look up to.”

“And I'm going to be right by her side, supporting her every step of the way. The reality is that anybody can fall into this trap, let their fears or their frustrations guide them down darker paths that ultimately do more harm than good. I'm not afraid to admit that if the roles were reversed, I could have just as easily fallen the same way Amelia did. I may not have had the same experiences that affected her mentally, but I've had my own experiences of being bullied for being a 'screw up' or my own version of having everyone expect so much of me just because of who my father was and the legacy he left behind in this business. I get frustrated, I make mistakes, and I'm not perfect... and that's OK.

People aren't black and white, they're capable of changing, growing, improving. But that's something you have to fight for, to be willing to earn. If you expect everything to just be handed to you or instantaneously happen because you believe you deserve it and nothing more... well, that's the cruel thing about fate sometimes. What you think is an opportunity that falls into your lap is actually a test to see if you truly deserve it, and the ones who aren't willing to put in the work are always the ones who keep making excuses and finding every avenue possible to avoid having to change or grow. They don't understand that they alone are the reason why they failed... they never truly evolve, and they never comprehend why that proverbial brass ring always stays just out of reach.”

Luz glances at Amelia, a bit of concern in case she accidentally crossed any lines given how fresh this proverbial wound is, but Amelia nods to her and squeezes her hand before her attention fully returns to us.

“All of that feels like a perfect segue into what awaits us here in Boston come Thursday night. We could stand here and talk about the games the Glimmers have been trying to play with us again, this obsession they seem to have with us because they aren't getting their way, but we'll deal with them in due time. There's another tag team that also carries a sense of entitlement to them, a belief that one single win or a family legacy alone means the world should just bow down and declare them queens... and ironically enough, one member of this team has a last name we're all too familiar with.”

“Melinda Braddock and Fiona Logan, collectively known as The Vision. I'm willing to bet right here and now that, just like the Glimmers, the mere thought that the two of you aren't being 'taken seriously' by anybody while even now, people still call us the best tag team in SCW today, is driving you both mad, isn't it? We haven't teamed together consistently since the end of our third run as World Tag Team Champions, focusing on trying to prove ourselves just as good on our own as we are together, but people still put us on a pedestal and sing our praises. There's a reason for that, you two, and it's a lot simpler than you might believe. Amelia and I have earned that right. We spent years focusing on being the best tag team we could possibly be, working to elevate the entire division to heights it hadn't been at in a while. The fans believe we've earned the right to be seen as one of the very best because of the work we've put in from day one to prove we belong here.”

“We could've come in just like the two of you did, touting our success from elsewhere and shoving our family names down everyone's throats to proclaim that we were destined for greatness. We didn't do that... we've had our struggles, our setbacks, our moments that made us question the path forward. Heck, the past few months are a perfect indication of my own missteps and shortcuts I'm not proud of in retrospect, but it's still a learning experience that showed me the emptiness of the easy path, the lack of satisfaction when you mistake shortcuts and living up to expectations as progress. The entitlement I had brought me success in the short-term, but it ultimately strangled me and left me realizing that if I want to truly be a champion... I have to be willing to fight to earn it, no matter how long it takes me to improve until I'm good enough.

One thing we both did learn from these past few months, though? We don't have to be so nice all the time, because there are people out there who do deserve to be called out on their B.S. and the fans are a lot more understanding than you might think. And, quite frankly, The Vision as a whole has been in need of a serious reality check for far too long.”

“Don't mistake this as my wife slipping back into the darkness, because I'm going to be blunt: you, Melinda, have no right to call yourself the 'true head' of the Braddock family when you're making the exact same mistakes I called Glory out on and exposed when I beat her at Rise to Greatness. And this doesn't seem to be a problem limited to those bearing the last name of Braddock either, because Fiona's right there with you and we both know from past experiences that Clyde embodies this problem as well. When we look at you heading into this match, all we see are the exact same wrestlers we've seen whenever we've crossed paths in the past. You believe you deserve everything just because it rightfully belongs to you, that it has to be this way because you say so. But when push comes to shove, you don't actually do anything to prove you deserve it.

The one thing I'll give Glory is that when she faces setbacks, she at least tries to rebound, even if she does so in a way Ames and I both know painfully well only risks making the spiral worse. But what about The Vision? Whenever any of you face a setback, it's never because you just weren't good enough on that night. It's always the mysterious whims of fate, and if you stay the course and change nothing, sooner or later you'll get everything you feel you deserve and more.”

“The problem is that one win only reinforces that mindset. At Rise to Greatness, the two of you beat a team that hadn't really worked together before, and just because Kirsten Scott became number one contender to the Adrenaline Title the very next night, suddenly you're more deserving of the opportunity than she is? And you're already believing the same thing for if you beat the two of us come Breakdown, just as Clyde believed months ago that beating me when I was at my lowest would guarantee him another crack at Luz when she was still U.S. Champion. That didn't exactly work out for him if I'm remembering correctly, but it's clear the two of you learned nothing from it because you're already looking past us at what could lie beyond the door.

Luz and I? We could return that disrespect, simply look past you towards another clash with the Glimmers that awaits us at Apocalypse, but here we are, giving the both of you our undivided attention and treating you like the threat you want to be seen as so badly.”

“We acknowledge that Fiona is going to give us a harder fight than normal because this is her hometown and she wants to put her best foot forward in front of the city that raised her. We know that Melinda is salivating at the chance to try and prove her superiority to Glory because she wants to match the great track record her mother's had against us in the long run. The problem is that I don't think either one of you understands what this match means for us. This isn't just a warm-up before we have to deal with a team we know you've struggled against time and time again... this is the first time Amelia and I have gotten to properly team together in a long time, knowing we're a hundred percent on the same page once again. This is a chance for us to prove, before a number one contender's match to decide it for sure, that we've learned from this year and are ready to actually earn a chance to make SCW tag team history instead of just being handed the opportunity because of the ego of others.”

“We came to Boston for a fight, and that's what we're hoping the two of you will give us. You can call me whatever you want if it makes you feel better, but the real pretenders in this story aren't the ones who actually own up to their mistakes and want to step into that ring to show what they've learned from them. It's the team who believes fate owes them the world without understanding what they actually have to do to get to that point. But you're right about one thing, at least... the two of you are nothing like Glory, because she at least understands it takes time and effort to reach the top and setbacks are part of the puzzle you need to solve. The fact that I'm standing here, willing to fight to re-earn what I've lost instead of expecting someone with power to just hand it to me on a silver platter? That's not a fairy tale... that's someone who actually understands the real world and is ready to face it to prove herself.”

“All we ask is for the two of you to bring your best to Breakdown and try not to look past us, because if you do?”

“You'll learn the hard way exactly why The Light In The Darkness has earned the right to be considered among the top faces of SCW today, and the reason we keep pushing ourselves isn't because it's not enough... it's because the fight never ends, and only those who truly understand what that means will be the ones with the power to shape the future of this industry.”

The smiles Amelia and Luz were wearing have long since faded, making it clear they mean business, and that fire doesn't fade even when their point has been made. Instead, they continue to stand before us, defiant and ready to fight, their undivided attention on The Vision and walking out of Boston with a win to their names. Even as they slowly relax with the sound of the waves crashing against the harbor behind them, the desire to start off strong and prove themselves rings louder than ever, and if that means humbling The Vision? Then so be it.