“The Rebel Princess” Cassie Wolfe vs. La Luz Pequena

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: Just as a note to keep the timeline here organized, the events of this RP take place while the last few minutes of the THotF battle royal through the remainder of the PPV are still in progress.
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Luz hated when she didn't know if things were going to be alright.

It was a familiar feeling that she despised with every fiber of her being because of how powerless it made her feel. Luz had a natural instinct to help people however she could, an instinct that was nurtured by her parents growing up because those kinds of people in the world were sadly becoming more and more rare. Considering her mother was a doctor and her father was seen all throughout Mexico as a real-life superhero, she fully embraced the belief that helping others was always the right thing to do and would forge connections that would become invaluable throughout her life when people knew they could trust in her.

Amelia was one such connection, and that's why it hurt so much more that there wasn't much Luz could do to help her right now.

The battle royal was no doubt wrapping up right now out in the ring, but Luz could care less at this point about who was still fighting for that World Title shot. Deep down, she had a feeling that she wasn't ready yet to pull off something like this, being able to survive until the very end and go on to main event SCW's biggest pay-per-view challenging for its top prize, but that didn't stop her from throwing her name into the fray anyway just to see how well she could do at this point in time. For all she knew, maybe she could've pulled something off that would at least set up something huge for her very first Rise to Greatness appearance. Sure, her only noteworthy accomplishment had been helping Amelia and a few others eliminate the new monster that Lucas Knight had brought aboard, but maybe she'd gotten somebody's attention in the brief time she'd clashed with them that could start paving her road forward.

Her prime concern was her girlfriend, who really shouldn't have been in the battle royal as much as it hurt Luz to so much as think those words. She did have just as much a right as Luz did of showing what she could do out there and try to earn that World Title opportunity... which made Luz nervous when she thought back to after the U.S. Title match earlier in the evening. Despite her best efforts, Amelia had ultimately tapped out and The Light In The Darkness had once again fallen short in a bid to get some championship gold to their name. She had been grateful that Amelia had chosen to give up on winning the title if it meant she didn't risk severe damage that would sideline her for a long time once again, if not cause permanent damage. That alone had been proof of how far her girlfriend had come from the days where she would fear her parents' reaction for tapping out as opposed to fighting through it until she found some way to turn the tables like they would have insisted. But fears of that mindset had still reared their ugly head when she insisted she'd be fine to still compete in the battle royal, which led them to now.

“Amelia...” Luz softly mumbled as she nervously paced back and forth in front of the trainer's room. The doctor had insisted that Luz wait outside so he could get a proper diagnosis on Amelia's knee, and as much as she understood why it didn't help her anxiety one bit. She hated that Amelia had still limped down to the ring and pushed herself at less than 100% even if she knew the lingering reasons why.

'It's not like I've been much better in that department...' she thought as she remembered back to some of the injuries she'd sustained in her career that she insisted on fighting through and only worsened the end result. Thankfully it had never ended up being anything too serious, but it was a side effect of how hard she pushed herself to step out of her father's impressive shadow and her tendency to bottle up her own issues while throwing herself full force into something else as a distraction from it instead of actually addressing it. She'd been getting better, especially now that her and Amelia's support system was growing, but she knew there were still things the two of them needed to talk about.

She silently pondered if Amelia was in that same boat, but that thought didn't get very far before the door opened and the doctor motioned for her to come in. She opened her mouth, but whatever words she was going to say died in her throat as she locked eyes with her girlfriend, who was sitting on the table with her leg extended and an ice pack strapped to her knee with medical wrap.

“No... mierda...” she finally breathed out.

“Thankfully, it's not as bad as it could've been,” the doctor told her. “Given how much her knee was targeted in that match earlier tonight, this is actually par for the course for someone pushing themselves through that a little harder than they probably should have. Competing again in the battle royal, even if it wasn't for too terribly long, certainly didn't help matters. It's still relatively minor, all things considered... she just needs to take a few weeks to let it rest and stay off it as much as she can. As long as she sticks to those instructions, she'll be back in the ring well before Rise to Greatness.”

“You can count on me to make sure she recovers properly,” Luz told him, even going so far as to salute him which earned a chuckle out of Amelia.

That was a good sign to her, at least.

“Good,” the doctor replied. “Amelia, you're free to go, though you might want to have Luz help you back to your locker room.”

Amelia nodded, staying silent as Luz supported her from the trainer's room all the way back to their locker room, even stopping every now and then so she didn't push her knee too much. Luz desperately wanted a conversation to start as her partner's silence was starting to get to her, but she fought off any fears that accompanied those thoughts by trying to mentally reassure herself that they could talk in the privacy of their locker room. Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before she was throwing the door open and helping Amelia inside, using her foot to kick it shut again before she got Amelia stretched out on the bench.

“Anything I can get for you?” Luz asked.

“You,” was the immediate and automatic response from Amelia, and her cheeks went red as she realized what she'd said as she coughed a bit to clear her throat. “Sorry, I mean... um... c-can we talk Luz?”

“O-Of course!” Luz quickly stammered out, eyes wide in surprise at Amelia's response. “What, um... what did you want to talk about?”

Amelia took a deep breath as she sat up, being mindful of her knee as she left it stretched out across the bench. “I think we both know there's a lot we need to talk about, both regarding what happened tonight and the past couple of days while we were apart. First off, I'm... I'm sorry about how things went for me tonight.”

“You know you don't need to apologize to me for that Ames,” Luz reassured her. “Honestly? I'm glad you tapped out when you did... it's a big step in the right direction for you compared to the Amelia I knew for so long who risked injury because your parents made you think you were some unbreakable machine and not a human being with physical limitations like everyone else. I'd have rather watched you tap out and let go of becoming champion tonight than win the belt and immediately send it back to vacated territory because you suffered some horrible injury.”

“Thank you Luz, but... that's not exactly what I'm apologizing for,” Amelia replied, and Luz immediately knew what she was talking about. “I should've listened to you... I was hurt and I'm sure SCW could've found some last minute replacement to take my spot. Not only did I make you worry when you shouldn't have needed to, but I feel like I cost you the chance to make your own impact in the battle royal because you had to worry about trying to protect me.”

“Hey, hey, none of that, alright?” Luz jumped in as she knelt down beside the bench and gently grabbed Amelia's head to make sure they locked eyes. “Look... I know tonight didn't go as well as either of us had hoped, but I wouldn't change what I did in that battle royal. I love you Amelia, and even if we weren't girlfriends you're still the first true friend I ever had. You mean so much to me and I'll always have your back.”

“I...” Amelia looked stunned as she struggled to find the words to respond with. “I talked with my siblings while you were back home finally sorting things out with your mom. I was just so worried about a rift forming between us because I had that opportunity tonight and I know you've been struggling to get anything going singles-wise... I think what I pulled tonight perfectly encapsulated my fear that we were maybe becoming... I don't know, a little too dependent on each other? My parents put Ed and Em in that same position, a-and you were the first real friend I had after losing Ivy.”

“Entiendo, Ames,” Luz said before punctuating her statement with a soft kiss on the forehead. “I'll admit that maybe I could've handled a lot of this better on my end... this is why we need to talk about our problems instead of trying to hide them, something we're both still working on. But as strong as we are apart, we're much stronger together, and I will never regret having you in my life Amelia. If people think we're getting too dependent on one another then we find a way to show them the truth. Whether it's together as a tag team or on our own, we'll prove ourselves and have the gold to show it soon enough.”

“You're right... we'll figure it out together, and we'll prove ourselves stronger than all the doubts and issues that still plague us and anyone who thinks they know our relationship better than we do,” Amelia nodded. “We're not perfect... but we'll figure it out anyways.”

“Exactamente,” Luz grinned.

The two of them spent the next little while getting changed and showered, with Luz needing to help Amelia given the state of her knee right now. They then watched and cheered as Selena Frost prevailed in the main event to become World Champion once more, filling one another in about the developments from when they were apart. Luz couldn't help but smile as Amelia looked happy about she and her mom finally patching things up and agreeing to work on fixing their relationship, though Luz did keep some details to herself.

After all, she didn't feel the moment was right to pop the question, not given how Amelia had gotten hurt tonight and knowing they both needed this talk to remind themselves of what all of this meant to them.

Amelia also shared what she and the others had learned from Lily's call, and the gears in Luz's brain were now turning all sorts of ways. On one hand, the fact that Caleb and Amelia's parents seemed out of the running in becoming the new owners of SCW just because Mr. D didn't care about their combined wealth if they weren't going to keep his vision for SCW alive gave her a lot of hope on that front at least, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief. On the other, what Amelia shared about a 'promise' Caleb had apparently made to her father along with whatever deal he and Aleister had unnerved her greatly.

“I hate to ask, especially since that trip was about you and your mom patching things up,” Amelia started to ask after she'd finished revealing everything she'd heard, “but... did you, by chance, ask her...?”

“About dad and whatever was going on between him and Caleb in their rivalry?” Luz finished, causing Amelia to nod nervously. “Well... kind of... my mom actually asked me about what she saw happen that night in the parking lot with the girl masquerading as me as well as Caleb's nephew and all their goons. I shared with her everything that we know so far and what we're doing about it... she's worried, and I don't blame her, but while she remembers a little bit about papá and Caleb being rivals in the ring, her guess about why that guy's got beef with me now is as good as ours or anybody else's. Now that we're talking again, I'm sure she'd have said something if she knew anything about a promise between them.”

“So a secret your dad took to the grave...” Amelia pondered.

“Seems that way,” Luz admitted with a huff. “I wouldn't be surprised if he thought doing that would protect me if Caleb actually did try anything... I take after him in a lot of ways, after all, for better or worse.”

“The 'worse' part in both of our cases is definitely at the top of the list of things we need to focus on after tonight,” Amelia offered as Luz grinned and nodded in response before she started getting all their things together with Taking Hold of the Flame now finished.

“And not only will we do it together,” Luz replied, “we have so many amazing people who are more than happy to help us out as well.”

“And we really need to stop forgetting about that,” Amelia admitted. The two went into silence for a moment as Luz focused on gathering up their bags before going to take them out to the car, but before she could do that Amelia's eyes widened as she reached out. “Wait, Lulu, speaking of forgetting, I almost forgot about what they said about your doppelganger!”

Luz froze before she could open the door and turned to look at Amelia with worry. “Valentina, I think she revealed her name was? What's happening with her?”

“I'm not exactly sure, but nothing good from what we heard,” Amelia said, to which Luz dropped their bags in response as she stared at her girlfriend intently. “Apparently she can still be booked to compete in Mexico but only if she stops pretending that it's you who's being booked, which defeats the whole reason Caleb was pulling that stunt with her in the first place.”

“With all due respect, that's the right call from the standpoint of lucha libre tradition,” Luz stated.

“Yeah, but...” Amelia paused to take a deep breath. “Apparently she was living on the streets or something before all of this and Caleb adopted her, gave her a home... all just to use her to pretend to be you in the ring. Why, we didn't find out, but since what happened that night kind of wrecked that whole plan of theirs, Caleb's deemed her useless.”

“So... she's being kicked out of The Empire?” Luz chanced asking.

“He never said exactly what his plan was, but he was heavily implying a lot worse than just kicking her out of his wrestling stable,” Amelia gravely told her partner, causing Luz's jaw to drop in horror. “His exact words were that she has a few more weeks to figure out how to fix what we broke so whatever his plan was can resume, and if she can't then she'll be 'dealt with accordingly.'”

Luz cursed in Spanish under her breath, not liking the implications of how Amelia worded that even if she hadn't heard the full context of that whole meeting. She really wanted to hope that this girl who'd been pretending to be her would just be out of a stable and that was it, but something about Caleb struck a nerve with her that he could and would do so much worse if it meant people would be afraid of him and unquestioningly do as he told them.

“We need something from Ryan sooner rather than later at this point,” she finally said. “I don't know what it is about this guy, but the more we know about him and what all he's exactly after, the more comfortable I'll feel trying to sleep at night knowing what exactly we're up against here.”

“I can try to get a hold of him since I'll be out of commission for a little bit,” Amelia told her, glancing down at her knee. “I know he was heavily involved in another case though, so hopefully everything's alright with that if he's been this silent on giving us anything to work with for roughly two months now.”

“We still need to do something about this Valentina girl,” Luz noted. “It's very clear now that she's not to blame for this stunt and she probably wouldn't have even done it if Caleb wasn't forcing her to. We need a way to safely sever her connection with The Empire...”

“Is there even any safe way to do that?” Amelia asked. “Not counting the fact that we still don't completely know what kind of nutjob we're dealing with, I don't know if we can even set anything up that would grab The Empire's attention so we can even get to her if she can't even be booked without pretending to be you.”

Luz's eyes suddenly lit up as Amelia's words became the foundation that she started building an idea on.

“I might have an idea...” Luz revealed. “It'll require a few calls to convince some people to make it happen, and I'd need to find a hole in SCW's build to Rise to Greatness to take on an extra booking, but there might be a way we make Caleb play into our hands and not only give this issue a poetic end but also get that poor girl away from him once and for all.”

“Are you sure?” Amelia asked. “I don't want to doubt you, mi amor, but considering everything we know implies he's her legal guardian...”

“Mamá has some connections through being a doctor that might be able to resolve that problem,” Luz told her. “I'm also taking a bit of a risk with this plan, but... risking my mask in a lucha de apuesta may be the only way to not only get them to take the bait, but also truly end her forced run pretending to be me once and for all.”

“You... you'd really take that risk?” Amelia asked as she started hobbling over to Luz, who quickly closed the distance so she didn't strain her knee too much. Amelia embraced Luz tightly, concerned for the gamble she was taking with this plan considering how much her mask meant to her as a luchadora.

“It's the only wager I can think of that Caleb would actually take,” Luz replied. “But this mask, this name... they mean everything to me, and if forcing Valentina to unmask is the only way to free her from those shackles and get her away from him, then I'll take whatever risk I need to save her.”

“...you truly are a one-of-a-kind soul Luz, and I love you so much,” Amelia finally said before pulling Luz into a tender kiss.

It wouldn't be easy, not by a long shot, but if her doppelganger's wrestling was primarily founded on training from Amelia's parents, then Luz already knew how to best prepare to lure The Empire into a trap and deal a significant blow to them. It wouldn't do enough to make them back off completely, but with any luck, costing them one noteworthy member would buy the two enough space to actually have some peace and relaxation for a change outside of SCW.

Given that Luz was hoping to propose to this amazing woman in her arms sometime soon, she felt a little bit of peace was the least they were owed at this point.