The House of Frost vs. Light in the Darkness

[Kemal Yilmaz]

SCW World Tag Team Championship

4 RP Limit for tag

3500 word limit

Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET Wednesday, July 16, 2026

[SnowQueenSCW]

Frost No More

”The Empty Side of the Bed”

The Frost Forever Home
Manhattan, New York
July 18th, 2026
11:48pm

Nighttime brought about a different kind of noise through the Forever Home. During the day, children moved through hallways, doors opened/closed, David watched TV, Amiliah sang absentmindedly, and Elsianna would turn the pages of whatever book she was reading...

Sometimes there was more noise, sometimes there was less, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the house seemed alive during such times!

But at night... silence was the mainstay.

With a sigh, the redhead quietly closed the dishwasher. She stood there for a moment, hands resting lightly against the granite countertop, allowing herself to simply breathe. The interview she had recorded earlier with Jessica Winters, the promotion/publicity meetings for RtG, going over costume and entrance ideas for the big show... she had had so few moments to have the chance to just simply exist...

The clock above the stove read 11:48 as she glanced instinctively toward the hallway. How many years had she lived in this house? Well over a decade. She intended to live and die here (named ‘Forever Home’ for a reason). As such, she knew every spot of it well.

Casting her eyes upward, she heard no sound from the upstairs – where her children were, no doubt, sleeping.

Good. Deanna thought, running the list through her head again. David has soccer in the morning. Amiliah has summer classes. Elsianna has her training with me...

Despite the ‘itinerary’, she reached for the dish towel hanging beside the sink. It wasn't dirty, yet she still dried the countertop one last time. A habit, of course, and one Selena used to tease relentlessly.

"Red..." Selena would lean against the kitchen island, arms folded, watching with that amused smile. "You've cleaned that spot three times."
"Have not."
"Four."
"You're exaggerating."
"Five."

Deanna would pretend to glare. “You're counting?"

"I'm married to you." Selena's laugh had always arrived before the punchline. "Of course I'm counting."

The memory disappeared as quietly as it had come, yet it caused Deanna to look down. The countertop gleamed beneath the overhead lights.

She sighed gently. "Five." She folded the towel neatly before hanging it exactly where it belonged.

Old habits... came the thought. Funny how they survived.

Her task done, she switched off the kitchen lights, transforming the room immediately as warm moonlight spilled through the windows. She knew she should go upstairs to rest. She had so much to deal with tomorrow with her children and Breakdown – Gods... Breakdown... why did I say yes? – and RtG and...

She found herself wandering into the family room. A blanket had been folded over the arm of the sofa. Without any real thought, Deanna fixed the corner that had slipped loose - Not because it needed it, but just because she noticed.

Her eyes drifted toward the mantle – for the millionth time this week. Photographs. They hadn’t changed since the last time. Birthdays, vacations, school plays, championship celebrations, Christmases, Yuletides, Halloween costumes... The children growing older almost frame by frame.

She picked up one she'd looked at a thousand times: Disney World.

Elsianna couldn't have been older than seven, David was missing one front tooth and  Amiliah had insisted on wearing princess shoes through the entire park. And Selena...

Deanna always laughed quietly as this part. Selena – the mighty Snow Queen turned Blue-Eyed Devil - had somehow convinced herself she needed matching Mickey Mouse ears with everyone else... Even after pretending she thought they were ridiculous.

"You looked adorable." whispered the room’s solo occupant... The room, predictably, offered no reply.

Carefully, Deanna set the photograph back, then straightened it... then tilted it one degree to the left.

“Perfect.” she stated without thinking, but then froze. Slowly, she blinked – a realization dawning on her as she eyed the frame.

"Really?" she asked, her voice still barely rose above a whisper. Because, in reality, the picture hadn't been crooked - Not really. Not enough for anyone else to notice.

Only Selena would have...

"Red."
"Hm?"
"The picture's crooked."*
"No it isn't."
"It's absolutely crooked."
"You're impossible."
"You're avoiding the issue."
"I'm ignoring the issue."
"Because it's crooked."

Deanna closed her eyes, exhaling a long breath. "You're rubbing off on me."

No - That wasn't true really. If she were honest with herself, Selena had been rubbing off on Deanna for well over a decade.

Without another word, the redhead walked away before another memory could catch her. The hallway stretched ahead, more family photographs lining one wall. She didn’t go downstairs – she had cleaned it earlier that week... before Breakdown.

She had even cleaned the room that had served as Selena’s office. Why? Deanna shrugged at her own question. There wasn't really a reason if she thought about it.

Nobody used the room.
Nobody had in months.

Yet every week, without fail, she dusted the books, straightened the pens, polished the awards and replica titles and trophies.

The realization settled quietly in her chest. She wasn't preserving an office. She was maintaining a place for someone who wasn't there.

Not waiting... Maintaining. she told herself. There’s a difference.

Wasn't there?

Maybe that’s all people saw this whole thing as. Her ‘maintaining’ the world title spot for Selena until the Snow Queen came in to grab reign number 7. Accomplishing amazing things like winning the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament earlier this year, followed by the Taking Hold of the Flame royale, even this latest thing on Breakdown – all to get Selena back on top. To make her the ‘champion’ she had failed for the last near two years to be...

Except now, Selena was saying ‘no’ and Deanna was now the one fighting in the main-event at Rise to Greatness.

For the first time...
No idea how to perform at that level...
No idea how to actually win...
No idea how to actually be world champion if she even managed to win...

A soft sigh escaped her. "If you walked in here tomorrow..." She looked around. "You'd probably complain I moved something." Another pause and another glance to another corner. "Even if I didn't."

That was just how Selena was. She could identify if a book had been moved half an inch. Her recollection of past events in her promos certainly proved her attention to detail.

Deanna missed arguing about things that didn't matter. Those had always been the best arguments... where there was no terrible punishment or crime for being wrong. Where making a mistake in a decision didn’t cost you your marriage, your trust, or something else vital and dear to your heart.

She kept walking throughout the house, turning off what few lights remained on as she passed their respective switches, eventually turning around the winding stair-rail and ascending the steps one at a time. The children's doors remained closed as she reached the second floor of the house, and the redhead was sure that her walking by would not wake them up.

As she passed David's room, she noticed a pair of shoes sitting outside the doorway. She picked them up automatically and set them inside, not making a sound.

Across the hall, Amiliah's door stood open just enough for Deanna to see inside. As quietly as before, Deanna peeked in, seeing the smaller girl wrapped in her blanket and snoring a little, one arm hanging dramatically off the bed – like Deanna slept countless times, including the snoring (according to Selena).

"Genetics." She smiled to herself before gently pulling the blanket higher over her daughter's shoulder and tip-toed out.

Elsianna's room came next and the door was closed. However, to Deanna’s mild surprise, music played quietly beyond the door. For a moment, the champion considered knocking, her hand hovering just a ways away from the door – wondering if/why her daughter was uncharacteristically up so late...

But the hand never came down to rap on the red-coloured wood. Some things still deserved privacy. Deanna reminded herself, letting her steps take her away from the last of her children’s doors and towards the room at the far end of the hall.

The master bedroom.

She hesitated - for reasons she couldn't quite explain – but only for a moment. With a turn of her hand, she opened the door, seeing the moon’s pale silver ran across the comforter. Everything rested exactly where she'd left it that morning.

Nothing has changed... her mind stated – though it could have been a chastise if Deanna dwelled on it, which she was not determined to do tonight! Instead, she crossed the room, changed into an oversized T-shirt, and tossed her clothes over the nearby chair – which caused her to catch herself.

"Seriously?" she asked, tilting her head at her ‘handiwork’.

She used to throw clothes over the chair. Selena folded them.

Every time. And what would follow would be the same: Another argument. Another laugh. Another piece of ordinary life.

And again, she could not dwell on it. Other people needed her...

Clumsily, she climbed into bed, though not onto her side like she usually did. No, this time it was into the middle. She stretched long, sprawling across the large Queen-sized mattress. One arm rested behind her head, while one leg bent comfortably...

The entire mattress belonged to her. And all she could do was stare at the ceiling.

It felt... Wrong. Not emotionally... but physically!

There wasn't enough weight pulling one side of the mattress. There were no sleepy complaints about stealing blankets. There were no cold feet searching for warmth. There were no absentminded hand finding hers before either of them had fully fallen asleep. There was no pale arm wrapping around her waist from behind to pull her in closer, simultaneously stealing and giving warmth.

By herself, the bed felt too large. Too unoccupied for someone of her small frame. She frowned at the realization and shifted slightly.

No. Still wrong! Another minute passed, the redhead tossing this way and that, trying to find something and having no idea what it was she was even looking for!

Then - almost without thinking - Deanna simply rolled back all the way until she occupied only the right side of the bed.

Her side.

The realization came slowly and gently to her, almost like a slow dawning in her mind.

Even after the divorce.
Even after Selena left.
Even after Houston.
Even after everything.

She had never once slept in Selena's place. Not once. Not because she'd decided not to, but because it had never occurred to her. Because somewhere - beneath thought and grief and hope - she had always left room.

The room, itself, hadn't changed. The same soft blue walls. The same curtains Selena had insisted were "just a little darker" than the ones Deanna had originally picked. The same dresser. The same framed photographs on the wall...

The same silence. her mind and heart reminded her in unison.

The only difference was - Deanna couldn't stop looking at the empty side of the bed. Not because it was empty... but because she'd never realized she'd been protecting it.

Slowly, she reached her hand across the mattress, her fingertips resting lightly against the untouched sheets. Her hand lingered there before she quietly withdrew it.

"How long?" came the familiar whisper of a question -  one she genuinely didn't know.

Weeks?
Months?
Since the divorce?
Since Selena first walked away?

Had she ever once allowed herself to spread across the bed? To take something – a place, a spot – that had originally belonged to Selena? The redhead slowly searched her memory and found... nothing.

Not a single day. Not a single night. Because she had never even considered it.

Not because it meant she hadn't moved on – she had! – she was certain of it! She was moving forward every day! She laughed with her children, defended her championship, trained, lived, tried to do the right thing each and every time - Life hadn't stopped just because her heart had been broken so many times!

Yet somewhere underneath all of that... and despite everything... A tiny part of her had quietly continued making room...

The realization should have embarrassed her. Instead, it just was something that made sense in the saddest way to her.

She closed her eyes. "Maybe...” she whispered to the dark and the moonlight. “Maybe, I still love you." She felt a sad smile cross her lips as she shook her head against the gentle fabric of her pillow. "You're still impossible." She smile faded. "And somehow... so am I."

How else could she think of Selena and herself? Deanna had gift-wrapped ANOTHER world title shot for her – placed it at her feet. Better! It was a singles world title shot, one the Snow Queen hadn’t received - despite her incredible winning streaks – since the birth of ‘The Blue-Eyed Devil’ two-and-a-half years ago. AND it was the Rise to Greatness main-event!

If ever there had been a time that Deanna felt she couldn’t fail to reach out to Selena after all these months, this had been it!

And Selena had said ‘no’! Refused. Insisted that Deanna take what she had won and earned – Even though I won it and earned it for you... – and now Deanna was set to fight for the world title against one of her closest friends... who had taken Deanna’s accomplishment at the royale, laughed in her face, said it didn’t matter and that she was a coward and ‘not ready’ to fight for the world title... and, just like Amelia to back up her words, had challenged The House of Frost to a tag-team title match – without asking Luz... and Deanna had accepted – without asking Selena...

“So who’s more impossible?” Deanna sighed into her pillow. You for suddenly caring about me... or me for getting you another title shot for a world title the second I had the chance?

The bedside table caught her attention, specifically her phone resting face down beside a half-finished novel she'd been trying to read for almost three weeks - trying being the operative word. She had read the same chapter five separate times and every time, her thoughts had wandered elsewhere.

Picking up her phone and unlocking it, she spied the YouTube video she had kept on her screen – Amelia’s interview with Jessica...

And the challenge...

It all came down to one thing and it wasn’t her opponent at Rise to Greatness or the woman that had beaten her at last year’s Rise to Greatness in Luz. It wasn’t the massive challenge before her against, in Deanna’s opinion, the greatest tag-team in SCW today.

It was the simple notion of what the name ‘The House of Frost’ meant: Deanna Frost and Selena Frost.

Not opponents. Not ‘exes’. Partners.

The thought settled heavily inside her.

Partners. She tried to imagine it:

Walking into an arena together again.
Standing in gorilla position again.
Waiting for their music again.
Hearing their names announced together again.

And only then did she feel the ghost of a smile, despite herself – which immediately dropped as another thought followed:

The travel.
The airports.
The limo bus.
The hotel hallways.
The training sessions.
The conversations.
The silences.
The breakfasts.
The tiny moments.
The ordinary moments.

Those frightened her far more than wrestling at Breakdown or even at RtG. The match wasn't scary... Life afterwards was.

And all she could do was laugh quietly at it. "Gods..." She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'm actually afraid you'll say yes."

There it was...

The truth she'd been circling for days. Everyone assumed she feared rejection. That Selena would disappear again or not even show up.

Not Deanna... She wasn't afraid of hearing no. She was terrified of hearing yes.

Yes meant proximity. It meant allowing hope to take physical shape again in the form of a shared space, a shared purpose.

She wasn't afraid of losing a championship match. She was afraid of winning it. She was afraid of remembering what it felt like to belong beside Selena... only to lose it all over again.

She lowered the phone. "It’s not fair." she whispered to herself honestly.

She looked toward the ceiling for what felt like an hour before she rose from the bed. Sleep was, clearly, not happening. Bare feet padded softly across the hallway. The house greeted her with the same silence as she descended back down the staircase without turning on a single light.

Back in the kitchen, she filled the kettle and set it on the stove. Reaching up to the cupboard, she was surprised to see the box of green tea and the box of orange-pekoe... Selena's favourite.

She blinked. "Why do I keep buying this?"

She couldn't remember. She drank green tea or Earl Grey, or camisole, but never orange-pekoe. Yet every grocery trip, she’d bought it. She opened the cupboard further... just to spot the four more unopened boxes that sat behind the first.

"You're kidding me." She leaned against the counter, shaking her head sadly. "I've been grocery shopping for a woman who hasn't lived here in years."

She already knew why. Love wasn't always grand gestures. Sometimes, it was accidentally buying someone's tea because your heart still remembered before your mind did.

She carefully placed the orange-pekoe back and made her tea before carrying the mug into the living room and settling onto the sofa. Only, out of the corner of her, to see Elsianna standing in the doorway, wearing an oversized hoodie and pajama pants.

"I thought I heard someone." Deanna smiled softly. “Did I wake you?”
The young girl shook her head. "Couldn't sleep."
"Nightmare?"
"No."
"Thinking?"
"Yes." Elsianna nodded.

Deanna sighed, watching Elsa wander further into the living room it sit beside her mother. Neither spoke. The silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was common these days between the two of them.

"You almost made orange-pekoe again." Elsianna remarked, eyeing Deanna’s mug.

Deanna's head turned slowly. "You noticed?"
Elsianna smiled sadly. "I noticed months ago."

That surprised the redhead.

"You always buy it." the eldest Frost-child added. "And you always put the box in the same place. And you always throw it away unopened when it expires."

Another pause, Deanna unable to really explain her actions. The bad blood between Elsianna and Selena was more than known. And no matter what she tried, there just wasn’t-

"I miss her too." Her thoughts ran off the tracks at the whispered-confession from the young girl sitting beside her. "I don't mean the person she became. I miss... Mother."

It wouldn’t have made much sense to anyone else listening in, but Deanna understood perfectly. She was always ‘Mom’ or ‘Mama’ and Selena had always been ‘Mommy’ or ‘Mother’ to Elsianna. Like a person’s name, Elsianna had devised her own system that David and Amiliah inherited.

"I miss the woman who taught me to ride a bike.” Elsianna continued to admit. “The one who stayed up helping with science projects. The one who made pancakes shaped like dinosaurs even though they never looked like dinosaurs."

A tiny laugh escaped both of them. "They really didn't." Deanna shook her head. "They looked like blobs."

The laughter faded. "I hate what happened." Elsianna stated.
"So do I."
"I hate what she did to you."
"So do I."

"I hate that I don't know how to feel anymore." Her daughter breathed, eyeing Deanna. “What if this actually works?” she asked her mother. “What if you help her? Get her titles or whatever she needs... and nothing changes? Or it does and I... I never figure it out?"

"Then you don't." Deanna shrugged. "It's okay to love someone and still be hurt by them. It's okay to miss someone and still be angry. They aren't opposites. They’re... They're family."

It wasn’t really a solution, but Deanna couldn’t give one. Not when she felt those same emotions towards the platinum-blonde. Not when a million ‘what-ifs’ rampaged through her own mind and heart. Fortunately, it was enough for her daughter as the twelve chimes of midnight came from one of the older clocks in the corner (again, Selena’s tastes).

Elsianna yawned, resting her head against Deanna's shoulder – allowing the redhead to wrap an arm around her daughter. Within minutes, Elsianna was asleep, her light breathing sound in Deanna’s ear.

The older woman remained awake, looking toward the hallway leading upstairs:

Toward the bedroom.
Toward the empty side of the bed she now knew she'd been protecting all this time.
Then she looked down at her sleeping daughter...

And a smile found its way back.

Maybe the empty side of the bed wasn't the important part after all. Maybe what mattered was that the other side was never truly empty.

Not while her children still found their way to her. Not while this house continued to hold love within its walls.  Quietly, Deanna gently kissed the top of Elsianna's head. Then, without waking her, reached for the blanket folded over the back of the couch and pulled it over them both. The sofa would do.

And somewhere, between putting the mug of tea on a coaster on the table with her free arm and falling asleep beside her daughter, in a place she couldn't see, she allowed herself one quiet hope.

Not that Selena would come back tomorrow.
Not that everything would somehow be fixed.

Just... that when Selena finally stopped running...

She'd still remember the way back home.

[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).
----------------------------------

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.

[SnowQueenSCW]

Scars of a Fascade

”No More Places Left”

The Crane’s Nest
Takayama, Japan
July 18th, 2026
6:02am

The mountains didn't care who she was. Just like the caves and ice caverns of Nome. Selena Frost had spent nearly her entire life in places where everyone knew her name: Towns, cities, arenas, hotels, television studios, championship celebrations, press conferences.

There had always been someone watching - someone judging. In her youth, it was Nome, with most looking down on her as ‘The Crazy Miner’s Daughter’. When she had escaped, it was the SCW management looking for any reason to ‘write her off’ as a lacklustre talent. And when she had finally made something of herself, it was SCW – demanding perfection. Never straying, never making a mistake, and when she did? It didn’t matter how hard she tried, how hard she worked, how hard-fought each victory was – she was despised, vilified and told that nothing she did was ‘deserving’ of a chance to be world champion again.

Why? Because she was ‘The Blue-Eyed Devil’. Because she was the ‘villain’ and, thus, was ‘booked differently’.

‘The Crazy Miner’s Daughter’
‘The Snow Queen’
‘The Blue-Eyed Devil...

But here, the mountains asked for nothing. Morning mist drifted lazily between towering cedar trees, rolling through the valley like waves before disappearing into the forests below. The distant sound of water tumbling over smooth stone echoed through the stillness.

It was almost painfully beautiful.

Alone on the veranda of the ryokan, Selena sat, dressed in the magenta nightgown she loved and the dark-blue kimono wrapped around that. Her bare feet tucked beneath her as she watched the sun gradually lift beyond the horizon.

She couldn't remember the last sunrise she'd actually watched. Usually she was already moving:

Another flight.
Another country.
Another anonymous reservation under another carefully selected alias.

Ever since she had heard and seen Deanna in her father’s cave back in Nome, Alaska – escape had been the only course of action. Movement didn't ask questions... staying did.

She heard the sliding door behind her open with a quiet whisper. Slowly, her ears then picked up soft footsteps that crossed the polished wood, stopping beside her. Turning her head, she saw the elderly man bow respectfully. He wore the same immaculate navy yukata he wore every morning, his silver hair combed neatly despite the early hour.

He smiled. "Gohan." he spoke the one word gently – one of the few words Selena understood. Breakfast...

Selena returned the bow. "Arigatou."

The old man nodded once in reply. His English vocabulary seemed only slightly larger than her Japanese.
Despite this, neither of them were too bothered by that. He simply gestured politely toward the dining room before quietly disappearing back inside.

That had become their routine: No introductions. No questions. No awkward attempts at conversation. Just... courtesy.

And Selena appreciated it. She didn’t have to explain herself, her identity, her actions, or every decision, thought or doubt she had. She didn’t have to defend her basic existence. She didn’t have to defend her right to be in SCW and her right to be treated fairly. She just had to... be.

The smell wafted into her nose, causing her stomach to growl a little. Breakfast was already waiting:
Grilled salmon, rice, miso soup, pickled vegetables and tea.

The old man stood quietly nearby while another guest was shown to a table across the room.

At her table and picking up the chopsticks, Selena managed a few bites of rice, half the salmon, and the tea. The old man walked past her carrying fresh towels without looking directly at her. She turned her head and watched him pause, adjust something on the serving tray he held, then continued walking.

Looking down, the platinum-blonde realized that the bowl of rice had been replaced with a noticeably smaller portion. She blinked - she hadn't seen him do it.

Had he? she wondered, but the answer came quickly enough. He had... Because yesterday she hadn't finished the larger serving...

He hadn't asked if she was eating enough.
Hadn't gently encouraged her.
Hadn't offered sympathy.
He had simply... paid attention.
And she wasn't sure why that unsettled her.

Her room overlooked the eastern side of the mountain and was like it was pulled from one of David’s anime shows: Traditional tatami flooring, sliding shoji doors, a small writing desk, one immaculate futon folded neatly against the wall.

Nothing extravagant. Nothing excessive. Luxury expressed through simplicity rather than indulgence.

Her suitcase rested exactly where she'd placed it six days earlier: open and half-full/half-packed. She looked at it for a long moment...

She hadn't unpacked much. Maybe one pair of shoes, toiletries, and two changes of clothes. Everything else remained folded exactly as the airline staff had placed it.

She told herself she'd simply been busy – after so many days of solitude and mountain-nature, though, the excuse almost made her laugh.

Busy doing what? she mocked herself. Watching mountains? Counting sleepless nights? Searching airline schedules she never booked?

Quietly, she walked toward the suitcase and knelt beside it, resting her hands on the zipper. Just unpack. she tried to tell herself. It would take ten minutes. Maybe fifteen.

The wardrobe stood empty only a few feet away and she opened it. It was beautiful, freshly polished cedar wood. The woman simply stared at it... then quietly closed the doors again.

"No." The answer escaped before she'd consciously thought it. Not today...

She stood and moved toward the window instead. Outside, a pair of sparrows hopped through the carefully maintained garden. They appeared utterly unconcerned with the world. Lucky...

Getting ready, dressed, and started with her day took longer than the former world champion would have liked, but by late morning, she'd wandered into town.

Takayama remained wonderfully indifferent to tourism - with its small shops, stone pathways, traditional wooden buildings preserved from another century. People moved without hurry.

And best of all... Nobody recognized her. Not once.

At times, it felt liberating. To not be seen as ‘the betrayer’ that stole from her partner. As ‘the evilest person in SCW’. As ‘a person that deserves to live and die alone and in misery...’

At other, times, however, like this morning, the lack of being ‘known’ felt strangely disorienting...

For so many years, being seen had become synonymous with existing. She had spent so much of her life trying to avoid infamy, then embracing fame, then embracing fame AND infamy. Now, for perhaps the first time... she could disappear completely.

The realization was both comforting and frightening.

As a breeze gently brushed past her, Selena stopped outside a tiny stationery shop, the sight of the paper, brushes, handmade journals, and origami intriguing her. As the platinum-blonde stepped inside, an elderly woman smiled politely at her, her expression the same as everyone else her:

No spark of recognition.
No widening eyes.
Just another customer.

Enjoying the bit of comfort that knowledge gave her, Selena simply wandered around the shop, taking in all the little things she hadn’t seen before in New York or anywhere else in her constant travels. She had been to Japan before in her SCW tours, but never this far into the ‘remote’ parts. Eventually, she found herself standing outside again, the breeze greeting her once again, carrying with it the scent of rain.

For the first time in months, even if it was just for a few minutes... she wasn't thinking about wrestling... Until her phone vibrated. Reaching into her pocket, she spotted the email she had been sent – the update she had denied herself since she had refused Deanna’s gift of the Rise to Greatness main-event.

‘SCW Office’ the address stated. Selena closed her eyes. Of course...

She almost ignored it – almost. Instead, she opened the email with a swipe and press of her thumb. The attached document downloaded slowly, updating her on her next show-

Breakdown, July 23rd
Tag Team Championships.
Light in the Darkness.
Deanna Frost.
Selena Frost.

Her eyes stopped moving. She read the names again. And again. And again. And again. There has to be some kind of mistake! She stood there on the side of the street, reading and re-reading the lines.

It didn’t make sense! Why was this being considered? Her and Deanna... Partners in wrestling again. A tag-team again...

She looked away from the screen. The mountains suddenly seemed farther away for some reason as the Snow Queen’s mind raced. How she ended up walking back to the ryokan, she had no idea. She had barely managed to look at her phone once or twice, but it had been enough to get some clarification.

Amelia challenging The House of Frost – a pitiful bit of ego to ‘prove herself’ as the world champion... by having Luz help her against a tag-team that hadn’t fought together in years! She’d laugh at the ‘logic’ by her friend (former or otherwise) if it wasn’t so infuriating.

That’s all this was. Amelia interrupting Deanna, declaring up and down it didn’t matter who she faced at RtG? Mentioning Selena’s name and the match at Hubris over and over again, like her existence depended on that win.

Ego... that’s what it came down to. Amelia had won the number one contender match through a mult-person match. Then, she had won the world title through a similar match. Then she had retained the world title using a tag-team match.

The pattern was so obvious. Amelia was succeeding when eyes were OFF her. When she could hide behind someone like an opponent or Luz. It’s why she had caught the win at Retribution, why she had caught the Glimmers during the Trios cash-in, and... Why she caught me... Selena thought, more shame than actual blame in her thought, but the facts were the facts.

She had had Gavin beat. Pinned, and Amelia had snuck up from behind and stole her prize, her moment. It was all fair – those were the rules of such matches... but Amelia seemed convinced that made her a ‘worthwhile’, ‘true’, and ‘best’ champion... when every time she had stood on her own – with no one to hide behind, she had failed.

Her record in singles matches this year was proof positive of that – probably why she ran to Delatosso in the first place...

It was then, with the sound of thunder in her ears, that Selena had realized she had walked back into the ryokan, dismissing the ‘strategy’ of the SCW world champion. It has nothing to do with being ‘the best tag-team in SCW’... Selena lastly thought. House of Frost isn’t that and hasn’t been for years... this is because you can’t beat either of us on your own... not like Luz can...

The rain kept began falling in slow, deliberate drops. Gazing out the nearby window, Selena watched every one of them, finally shutting her thoughts off. It didn’t matter Amelia’s reasons... it was Deanna’s response that truly stunned her to her core.

‘Yes.’

Deanna had said yes, accepting the challenge. Why? She was already Adrenaline Champion! She was set to, possibly, become the world champion, especially if Amelia kept hypocritically underestimating the redhead. So why risk that and whatever mental-edge/mystery Deanna possessed over Amelia? A loss could destroy all that and give a massive disadvantage to Deanna headed to the big pay-per-view.

And if she wins... if you win...

A bird landed briefly on the stone lantern outside before disappearing again, causing Selena to stare at the garden.
At her phone.
At nothing.

She shook her head. "No." Her voice carried more certainty. "No."

Except she didn’t know what she was saying ‘no’ to. Because her first instinct upon catching up to the world of SCW and Amelia’s challenged hadn't been to refuse...

It had been to imagine it.

Standing beside Deanna.
Walking toward the ring together.
Hearing their names announced.
Feeling...Normal. Loved. Wanted. Accepted...
Forgiven...

She shut her eyes tightly. "No." she growled to herself. Not because she didn't want it. Because she wanted it far too much. The thought alone hurt enough to steal her breath. She wanted it... but she didn’t deserve it!

She reached for her laptop quickly. This place was too quiet. Too small. Too nice for someone like her. Without thinking, she opened the laptop up and loaded the airline website. Her recent search history read like a bucket-list!

Tokyo.
Vancouver.
Anchorage.
Sapporo.
Italy.
Spain.
Nome, Alaska.

Her hand hovered over the last one. One click...

That's all.

One click - she could be there tomorrow night. She imagined the frozen shoreline. The endless snow.
The little cabin. The silence.

Then... Another memory. Deanna standing there in the mine - not giving up.

Selena's hand withdrew as though burned and she closed the laptop immediately. Nome wasn't hiding anymore. It hadn't been since Deanna had crossed an ocean just to bring her home.

Going back there now would mean admitting she wanted to be found again.

Outside, the rain fell harder. The mountains had disappeared behind a wall of pale gray mist, leaving only the nearest cedar trees visible through the steady curtain of rain. The tea beside her phone – holding the video of Amelia’s challenge - had long since gone cold.

She reached for it anyway, taking a bitter sip and smiling faintly. "Serves me right."

Her eyes drifted toward the open suitcase once more - still half-packed. Almost accusing. With a weary sigh, she finally stood.

"Enough." she proclaimed. Not because she intended to stay, but because she was tired of pretending she wasn't avoiding it. Carefully, she knelt before the suitcase, taking one shirt, folding it and placing it into the wardrobe. Another shirt followed. Then a pair of jeans. Then running shoes. Toiletries.

Halfway through the task, her hand stopped as it felt the fabric. Beneath a neatly folded sweater lay another piece of clothing.

Emerald Green.
Oversized.
Soft.
And recognizable in a second.

Selena stared at it as she lifted it carefully, the fabric sagging comfortably in her hands.

Deanna's. Not one that looked like Deanna's. One that was.

The sleeves were just too long, one cuff had the faintest stain from paint that had never quite washed out after the two of them redecorated the upstairs hallway years ago and it was Deanna’s favourite color – same color as her eyes.

"How..." She searched her memory. Nothing. Had she packed it by mistake long ago and then again when she had fled the Eyrie Tower? Had it somehow ended up mixed with her clothes after one of the countless moves or maybe the few times she had travelled with Deanna this year or stayed with her?

Or... had she knowingly placed it there months ago? She honestly couldn't tell anymore.

Slowly, her fingers tightened around the fabric, lifting it toward her face. Why am I doing this? the rational mind asked as the heart continued to act.

There it was – Faint... but still there.

Laundry detergent. Lavender. And something impossible to describe beyond one simple truth: Home. Forever Home...

A shaky breath escaped the Snow Queen. And for one impossible heartbeat, the room disappeared into a hotel in Chicago years earlier.

Snow falling outside, Deanna emerging from the bathroom wearing one of Selena's hoodies. Selena had laughed.

"Red."
"What?"
"That's mine."
"I know."
"You have your own."
"I know."
"So..."

Deanna had shrugged with complete sincerity. "Yours is softer."
"It literally isn't."
"It is."
"It came from the same store."
"I don't make the rules."
"You absolutely make the rules."
"No." Deanna had smiled. "I just ignore yours."

Selena opened her eyes, the memory vanishing as quietly as it had arrived, her eyes back down at the sweater.

"You always stole my hoodies." A sad smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Guess, I finally stole one back." Except I still owe a world title shot and gods know what else...

Quietly. The platinum-blonde folded the hoodie but didn’t place it in the wardrobe with the others. Instead, she draped it carefully over the back of the chair beside the window. Just like home...

A gentle knock interrupted her thoughts - three soft taps. Eventually, Selena reached the door and slid it open. The elderly proprietor stood waiting with the evening tea service balanced carefully on a lacquered tray – making Selena suddenly aware of how much time has actually passed.

He bowed, which she returned. "Arigatou." she said on habit.  

He smiled but said nothing. Instead, he reached into the sleeve of his yukata, producing a tiny folded paper crane – Delicate, white, and perfectly formed.

He held it out with both hands, casuing Selena to blink in surprise.

"For me?"
He simply smiled and nodded.

Carefully, Selena accepted it, the paper weighing almost nothing. For that, the elderly man bowed again, then quietly walked away. No explanation. No expectation. Just...kindness. Selena watched him disappear down the hallway before closing the door.

The crane rested in her palm and she slowly turned it over, examining the careful folds, the impossibly precise creases, and the expert shape. It really did look like a little bird in her pale hands.

Unfortunately, for it, curiosity won.

Very gently, Selena unfolded it – one crease at a time - until the crane became nothing more than a square of white paper...

Blank. Completely blank.

Selena frowned. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting but blank wasn’t it. Maybe something like a fortune cookie? She almost laughed at herself.

There was nothing there within this ‘bird gift’. No message. No blessing. No instructions. No insight. No advice. Not even a set of ‘lucky numbers’

Nothing.

With a sad sigh, she carefully folded the crane back together – not as perfectly as the old man had done. Not even close – but she had tried. One wing sat slightly lower than the other and the neck leaned awkwardly and the folds refused to line up.

She laughed quietly through unexpectedly wet eyes at the bird she had damaged beyond her own inability to repair. "Deanna would've fixed you."

A tear escaped before she could stop it and the platinum-blonde wiped it away almost immediately. Not because crying embarrassed her, but because it solved nothing.

Carefully, she carried the crooked crane to the writing desk. Beside her, the suitcase remained open.

There was one more thing at the very bottom, wrapped carefully inside an old T-shirt. Something she hadn't looked at it in months... maybe longer.

Slowly, carefully, perhaps even hesitantly, she reached for it, pulling a small wooden picture out. The photograph had faded slightly around the edges.

And the image: Five people standing on a beach in Nome.

Elsianna laughing because David had just thrown sand at Amiliah and Amiliah sticking her tongue out. Deanna smiling directly at Selena instead of the camera. And Selena, herself... looking back at Deanna. Neither of them had noticed the photograph being taken at the time.

With a sad smile, Selena traced Deanna's face with one thumb. "Red..." she whispered. “Pet...” Her voice cracked. "Why can’t you understand? I don't know how to come back..."

Not to Alaska.
Not to Manhattan.
To herself.

That was the part nobody understood, not even the woman she loved more than anything. She wasn't hiding from Deanna anymore. She was hiding from the woman Deanna still believed existed.

Because what if Deanna was wrong? What if that woman had died years ago? What if what everyone had said for years – what Syren kept saying – was true? That the Blue-Eyed Devil hadn't been a mask, but the truth all along?

She closed her eyes. In over ten years as a wrestler, no matter what she did, the questions never stopped - they only changed shape... Guilty until proven innocence, no matter what she did, what she sacrificed, what she tried to be...

She placed the photograph beside the paper crane. Outside, the rain finally began to ease. Once more, the mountains slowly emerged from the mist - Not all at once, but peak by peak. As though they had never truly disappeared.

Selena watched them until darkness settled across the valley – time continuing to just slip away from her in this little world, until she felt the pull of sleep calling to her.

Silently, she prepared the futon and lay down, pulling the blanket to her shoulders, and closing her eyes.

Sleep refused to come - it always did. Almost unconsciously, her right hand reached across the futon...Searching.

Years of habit.
Years of marriage.
Years of finding another hand in the darkness without needing to open her eyes.

This time, there was only cool linen. Even so, she left her hand there anyway, feeling the familiar sting of loss in her soul, as prominent as the sting of tears under her closed eyes. Eventually, like so many quiet nights along, her voice whispered into the darkness.

"Goodnight, Deanna."

No answer came - she hadn't expected one. And it was her fault.

Because the truth was, Deanna wasn't gone. She was simply somewhere Selena wasn't brave enough to return to.

And somewhere beneath the guilt, beneath the fear, beneath the woman the world had come to call the Blue-Eyed Devil... Selena Frost knew that the no one believed in her more than Deanna... but there wasn’t a soul alive – not even in SCW – that didn’t believe in the good in Selena Frost more than...

Than Selena Frost.

And no amount of hope, cranes, and well-wishes was going to change that.

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: And here's my first for Luz.
----------------------------------

The clock was ticking.

La Pequeña Luz had just over two weeks to figure out how to resolve the most difficult conflict of her entire life, and she was still struggling to settle on a course of action.

Matters in the wrestling business certainly weren't helping, but she couldn't put the career she had poured so much of her heart and soul into on hold.

Especially not when she was determined to pull the love of her life back from the darkness she was drowning in both inside and outside of the ring.

Ever since she'd settled into her hotel room in Portland, Luz had been rewatching Amelia's interview from last week regarding her World Title match at Rise to Greatness, as if analyzing every tiny detail was somehow going to unlock answers she was searching for. She'd seen Deanna's half of the interview as well, but while Deanna was still one of her best friends, she wasn't the issue Luz was hyperfocused on... at least, not until they'd be standing across the ring from one another once again come Breakdown.

“Mi amor...” Luz mumbled to herself as she rewatched the part where Amelia had, without consulting her, challenged Deanna and Selena and was even willing to put their World Tag Titles on the line. “This isn't you... why do you insist on trying to act like a shell of who you never wanted to be again?”

As much as everyone always liked to assume so because of her ADHD growing up, Luz was far from stupid. If anything, she could be far more perceptive than her condition led anyone to believe... so long as it was something her brain wanted to focus so much on. Thankfully, the woman she loved with every fiber of her being fit the bill perfectly, and the more Luz studied Amelia along the road to Rise to Greatness, the more she saw how much Amelia had been trying to pass herself off as the 'perfect prodigy' her parents had raised her to be, doing her best to mask her emotions and come off as cold and arrogant anytime she spoke.

Keyword: trying.

Luz knew exactly what that version of Amelia Blythe was truly like firsthand. She had heard it loud and clear the first three times they had crossed paths in the ring, she had fought against it once the bell rang... and even then, she could tell that wasn't the kind of person Amelia truly wanted to be and had helped her to shed the mask that was causing her to suffer under the burden of expectations she never asked for. This version of Amelia was effectively wearing a fractured version of that old mask, and while she had her moments that truly made Luz's heart sink and brought her back to the early days when they'd still been fierce rivals, she was also making no effort to hide the cracks in the facade like she would have tried so desperately to do before.

It was almost as if she were watching two different Amelias fighting for control, and it pained her to think her wife was struggling so hard to pretend to be something she never wanted to be again because she felt she had to.

“Maybe this Tag Title match isn't her trying to prove something to Deanna to get some sort of edge before Rise to Greatness...” Luz mused to herself, eyes slowly going wide as she seemed to find a thread and was willing to follow it. “Maybe this is her way of trying to ask for help without outright saying it.”

As Luz watched the segment back one more time, she became more convinced of her theory. Throughout the entire interview, Amelia had struggled to maintain the facade of the Blythe she was once expected to be, only really nailing the act a few times that still felt like a dagger to her heart every time she saw it. That said, Amelia desperately tried to use her professionalism to sidestep any questions about both Luz herself and anything regarding some of the vile acts the rest of the New Order were pulling around her, including when Luz had stepped up in Toronto to make Gavin back off after he tried to attack Deanna in a brazen attempt to get himself slotted into the Rise to Greatness main event instead.

She'd picked up similar hints back in the early days of their careers, seeing that Amelia truly had an honorable spirit suppressed by a strict family image she had to maintain at all times. The cracks were a lot harder to spot back then, but there were there if you looked hard enough. In the end, it was all an act her parents had made her put on because of “how a Blythe was supposed to be perceived in public,” and while it looked unpolished and maybe a little shaky, this was no different. Amelia felt she had to play this role she never wanted to find herself in ever again, and there were two reasons why she would feel this was her only option.

Frank Delatosso... and Caleb White.

The New Order certainly made sense based on what Luz had seen of everyone Delatosso had recruited into the ranks, and any doubts were erased the more she saw the seeds of pettiness blooming within the cracks. The group was a doomed collection of egos only co-existing because of the power Delatosso currently had, but if the way Polly had been trying to bully Dawn made anything painfully clear, it was the reality that Amelia was surrounded by lions ready to pounce the moment they sensed weakness within her. Such perceived weakness wouldn't have been a concern if Delatosso had been able to keep Luz away from her wife to continue feeding her jealousy, but Taking Hold of the Flame had forcibly fractured his hold over her.

Not that Luz was ever going to give the Glimmer twins credit for helping her make a breakthrough in her efforts to save Amelia.

As Luz glanced over at the World Tag Title belts sitting side-by-side next to her, she thought more about the situation she'd be staring down come Thursday night over at the Moda Center. Both The Light In The Darkness and the Frosts were marriages in disrepair because of issues caused in the ring, to the point where it felt like the only thread left holding things together was Luz and Deanna's friendship. In a twisted sort of way, though, the couples were mirror images of one another: Luz and Deanna were both fighting to restore some semblance of happiness to their relationships while Amelia and Selena had slowly sunk deeper and deeper into what they felt they had to be for the sake of SCW and their own careers.

Considering how much Amelia had struggled with trying to wear her old Blythe mask ever since she and Luz had become World Tag Team Champions again, asking for this match truly felt like Amelia was trying to set the stage for something, and it certainly wasn't whatever she had claimed to Jessica Winters in that interview. The fact that Amelia had put out a short video trying to accept a challenge that Chris Dumont had made—a challenge that, in Luz's humble opinion, Dumont had no right to make, just as he had no right in trying to invoke her name just to send Amelia deeper into the very spiral she was trying to pull her back from—was proof that the real Amelia was still in there, fighting with everything she had, and she was doing her best to be who she was 'supposed' to be until Luz could help pull her out of that pit.

“For all you know, the woman you once loved in that sinful, disgusting way that God frowns upon may be dead.”

The memory of the sickening things Caleb had to say when he called two weeks ago reminded Luz of the other significant reason Amelia would feel she had to revert back to being someone she despised so much: because her life may very well depend on it. Despite Caleb's claims, Luz saw the signs that the woman she loved was far from dead, and if anybody was worried about Amelia “straying from her chosen path” it was absolutely The Empire. Perhaps more than Delatosso, Caleb had been the one insistent on keeping Amelia as far away from Luz as possible, especially now that she was the bargaining chip he was relying on to finally 'save' Luz from everything that made her the incredible young woman she was.

It was a risk Luz was absolutely willing to take even if she had no idea how she could survive playing the part of a delusional cultist, so long as it got Amelia away from Caleb and back among people who loved her and would absolutely help erase any attempted brainwashing from the wannabe savior while she tried to figure out a way... to...

“Wait a minute...” Luz mumbled to herself, noticing that the replay of last week's Breakdown had finished going through the interview once again and was now showing Glory's latest attempt to bait Luz into buying that she was some sort of brilliant mastermind ahead of their confirmed match for Rise to Greatness. Glory was a concern she'd deal with in a few weeks, though.

Maybe Luz was reading too much into things, but in her mind, puzzle pieces were starting to fit together the more thought she gave it. The whole idea of essentially turning Caleb's 'undercover spy' tactic right back on him was absolutely a move out of her own playbook, and the fact that she was even considering going through with it in Detroit without an ounce of hesitation was exactly the kind of reckless selflessness that defined her. She thought back to the whole 'Paul' debacle, the hints Caleb had dropped upon being exposed that Amelia seemed to be onto him after trying to use the fact that she was among his brainwashed flock of sheep now to break her.

“Did she do what I'm about to do... all to try and protect me...?”

If Luz was connecting the dots correctly, then Amelia's subtle cries for help made a lot more sense. Calling for a Tag Title defense against the House of Frost under the guise of trying to 'prove' to Deanna that the Nevados had their shit together more than the Frosts did wasn't just about putting herself directly in Luz's presence to try and help further extract her from Delatosso's den of snakes, it was just as much about wanting Luz to be the anchor that kept her tethered to this world and to the real her in the only way Caleb couldn't stop.

Even if she was right and Amelia had beaten her to the punch on this tactic, though, it was clear neither one of them had figured out how to use this to resolve the Empire problem once and for all.

“There has to be some way to keep Caleb from pulling his whole 'holy doomsday prophet' shtick to dodge decades of karma he's long overdue on paying,” Luz huffed in frustration. “He's talked others into taking the fall for him, he's manipulated so many into believing he's the only one who can 'save humanity' or whatever, he managed to escape prison. It's not like can just drop dead like Stephen Crane... did...”

A shiver went up Luz's spine as she swore she suddenly heard her own heartbeat pounding in her ears at the memory of how the leader of The Empire's splinter cell had her at gunpoint before dropping dead right at her feet, courtesy of somebody being quicker on the draw. To this day, she still had no idea who had been willing to go farther than she ever dared to, even if it saved her life, but the memory of that moment last year still traumatized her and hadn't ever been properly addressed in therapy with everything else falling apart around her taking higher priority. She hadn't been the one to end the life of Stephen Crane, but the guilt she felt over watching him die made her feel as though she had.

Caleb White was significantly worse than even Stephen was, and with options on how to actually stop him once and for all dwindling based on all her experience dealing with the narcissistic cult leader up to this point, Luz's blood started to run cold at the only option she could think of that might actually stop him once and for all.

La Pequeña Luz wasn't a murderer, nor did she believe she'd ever even consider the thought of taking another human being's life because it just wasn't the kind of person she was. But if it was to save the woman she loved more than anything else and protect the found family that had made her feel like she was worth more than she ever believed she deserved, would she be able to stain her soul if there was no other choice?

With one last glance towards the Tag Title belts laying on the bed, Luz stood up and turned off the TV before leaving her room and making her way down to the lobby where she knew everyone else was probably hanging out. Her mind was racked with conflict and disbelief, but she knew there were a few people who might be able to help her cement her decision if she felt there was truly no other choice.

“Hey, Luz!” she heard Ivy call once she'd finally come down to the lobby, turning to see her friend waving her over to where Gage, Henry, Valentina, Edward and Emily were all gathered together. “I was going to take everyone to Washington Park to show off some of my contributions to their famous rose garden. Want to come with us?”

Luz chuckled, being so lost in her own head that she'd almost forgotten Ivy's family had lived here in Portland since leaving Oxford after Amelia had ended their original friendship as children. Given how half-hearted the chuckle came out, though, not to mention the guilty smile she knew she was giving, she couldn't blame Ivy and the others for suddenly looking concerned.

“Thanks for the offer Ivy,” she ended up saying, “but maybe later. I, um... I need to talk with the agents about something important first... privately, if possible.”

Needless to say, that request immediately had alarm bells ringing in everyone's heads, but Avery, Darius and Evie slowly stood up from where they had been discussing something with Marilyn and Lily before motioning Luz towards an empty conference room. Once the four of them were inside, Luz made sure the door was locked before exhaling a breath she wasn't even aware she'd been holding.

“Is everything alright, Luz?” Avery immediately asked.

“Did you figure something out?” Evie added.

“Maybe...” Luz admitted, though her nervous tone and sheepish look wasn't doing the NCA trio any favors. “I've been thinking a lot about Amelia's actions lately, both in and out of SCW. I might have a crazy theory... mostly because it's something I would definitely do and you've already tried to talk me out of it.”

Darius raised an eyebrow, quickly picking up on where Luz was going with this. “You think Amelia feigned wanting to be 'saved' and joining The Empire to try and figure out how to stop it from within?”

“We've been questioning why Amelia would ever join them,” Luz noted. “But if she had the same concerns everyone else did about 'Paul' being an Empire spy at the very least, I could see her pulling a page out of my playbook just to protect me.”

“While also feeding the narrative of there being issues between you two so she can immerse herself into the role SCW's CEO wants her to play,” Darius stroked his goatee.

“She's been struggling to go back to being everything she despised so much growing up, though,” Luz pointed out, “ever since we teamed together at Taking Hold of the Flame. That's how I know Caleb is full of it about mi amor being truly gone.”

“I can see where you're going with this, Luz,” Evie stated, though putting her hands on her hips didn't make the much smaller woman look any more understanding. “Unfortunately, I don't see how it actually solves the problem you're trying to walk into.”

“Especially if you're right about Amelia already trying this and nothing's exactly changed yet,” Avery lamented.

All three agents watched as Luz seemed to grow more nervous, crossing one arm across her sternum to sheepishly rub her other arm as one leg crossed itself behind the other. It reminded them of a child about to confess to doing something bad and expecting to be punished for it.

“How does it feel to take a life?”

Of all the things they were expecting to hear out of the mouth of La Pequeña Luz, that might've easily found itself at the very bottom of the list, assuming it even made it anywhere near the list at all.

“Luz,” Avery carefully asked. “Why on Earth would you ever want to-”

They cut themselves off as realization began to sink in, and Darius and Evie were starting to pick up on it as well.

“You're not thinking...” Darius started to ask, but Luz's slow nod confirmed his worries.

“I don't know exactly how yet, or even what we'll be staring down once we get to Rise to Greatness weekend,” she tried to explain. “But the more I think about it... the more I realize that nothing has been able to truly stop Caleb so far, especially with his obsession of 'redeeming' himself before his time is up so he can claim an undeserved place in Heaven while leaving behind a world that's nothing more than a living Hell of his own creation. The only answer may be...”

Luz couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence, and no one else in the room blamed her.

“Luz,” Avery sighed as they placed a hand on her shoulder to ground her. “It's much easier said than done. Darius, Evie and I have all needed to kill for the sake of national security, among other reasons, and even just doing our jobs and protecting the masses from truly terrible people... the fear of what you've done never goes away.”

“Especially for someone like you,” Evie pointed out. “You're a very nice person, Luz, the kind who struggles with even wrestling more violent matches even though you'll do it if necessary. Even if this is something you feel is necessary... taking another life forever stains your soul, causes you to rethink everything about yourself, even if your reasons for doing so are just.”

“It's something neither you nor Amelia should ever have to even consider, and not just because of what it could mean for your careers,” Darius sternly added. “This is exactly why we've been helping you this whole time. Let us worry about doing our jobs...”

“No... I think I have to be the one to do this,” Luz said, though the shakiness in her voice betrayed her determination. “Me, Amelia, or both of us, assuming she reaches the same conclusion I do. It's not that I don't trust you three... but Caleb's been finding ways to anticipate our every move for so long now that I'm almost banking on him making sure none of you can try anything.”

“...but he'd never expect you to be desperate enough to take such a risk,” Avery began to realize.

“Or even consider that Amelia might not be as 'saved' as he thinks and could still betray him,” Darius continued.

“I don't like this one bit,” Evie insisted. “Even if it's the best we've got, I still don't think you two should be so willing to have that taste of darkness forever haunting you for the rest of your lives.”

“I don't like it either,” Luz honestly admitted, “but pending if I can actually see where Amelia's head is truly at come Thursday night, it may be the only way we can finally end this nightmare for good.”

Luz could only take a deep breath to steady herself, hoping that after Breakdown this week, she and Amelia would not only still be World Tag Team Champions together, but also able to take a big step towards finally fixing everything that had been broken between them.

Even if it ultimately meant having the blood of a genuine monster forever staining the life they had forged together in the face of everything that had always haunted them.

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Royal Letter

The screen fades in slowly. No dramatic music, no empty arena or high-class setting. No lights or fancy effects. There is only the quiet sound of wind moving through cedar trees and morning mist that rolls between the mountains of Takayama, Japan, like clouds settling onto the earth. Somewhere nearby, water trickles over stone.

The camera doesn't move. It simply waits for several long seconds. Until... Selena Frost walks into frame. There is no elaborate attire or sharp pantsuit, nor is there any makeup beyond what she naturally wears. She simply wears dark jeans, a charcoal sweater, her platinum hair hangs loose over one shoulder, stirred gently by the breeze.

She doesn't immediately acknowledge the camera. Instead, she looks toward the mountains, the light catching in her sapphire eyes.

The mountains don't care... her voice is quiet as she sits in front of the camera.

They don't care who I used to be. They don't care who people think I became. They don't care whether I was right... She takes a deep breath. Or whether I was wrong.

They don't care whether I'm the Snow Queen or the Blue-Eyed Devil. They don't care how many championships I've won, how many people I’ve beaten. How many wars I’ve won... how many I’ve lost. What I said... who I hurt...

She shakes her head. The mountains simply exist. They don't ask. They don't demand.

Her gaze slowly finds the camera. They don't ask me to defend decisions I made six months ago or six years ago. And... perhaps... most importantly, they don't give me another name.

She shakes her head knowingly. I've had quite a few of those: A faint, almost amused smile crosses her feature.

'The Crazy Miner's Daughter.' The first one. The one people in Nome gave me before I ever stepped inside a wrestling ring. Because it was easier to believe my father was crazy than that he was right...

'The Snow Queen.' The woman who believed she could make the impossible look effortless. That she could make SCW a better place through integrity and honour and belief...

‘The Face of SCW’. The achieved dream of The Snow Queen – defending its existence against those that sought shortcuts and cheap ploys for greatness.

'The Blue-Eyed Devil.' Her smile disappears. The woman everyone tells me I truly am and have always been. Because it’s easier to just believe Syren wagging her finger and saying ‘I told you so’ rather than understand such a creature is a creation of its circumstances, not of its heart. It’s easier to blame than it is to take responsibility. Those same people – like Syren – then beg for forgiveness and understanding when they ‘turn over a new leaf’, saying they made mistakes and they are a different person – but are so quick to turn their backs... she stops herself, the hurt and bitterness still in her voice but not the direction she desires to go.

Taking a deep breath, Selena offers an apologetic smile before she continues speaking. I've been called a hero.
A coward.
A tyrant.
A champion.
A fraud.
A legend.
A monster.

She gives a shrug. You spend enough years answering to names... eventually, you forget which one belongs to you. A breeze catches a loose strand of her platinum-blonde hair, but she doesn't move it – too lost in her thoughts.

I've spent months running – popping up in SCW here and there like a ghost since Hubris. Taking Hold of the Flame, Breakdowns... only for a moment. Only for a few words and then... gone again. Running again. There is no shame in the admission – it is a simple admittance. I've crossed oceans. Changed countries. Changed hotels. Changed names...

I've watched sunsets in Spain. Sunrises in Japan. I've slept beneath glaciers. I've hidden in mountains. And the whole time, I've convinced myself that movement was the same thing as healing. That I was just recovering from... everything.

What happened at Hubris. What happened at the Flame. Letting go of the main-event I held for the last five years. I thought staying away – out of sight, out of mind – would help. She shakes her head. It hasn't...

It just makes the scenery prettier.

She looks away again, a quiet, ironic laugh escaping her. But the funny thing about running is that eventually... her gaze returns to the camera. You run out of places that don't know your name...

Nome isn't one of those places anymore.
Manhattan certainly isn't.
Neither is SCW...

She slowly shakes her head. So eventually, you stop asking where to go and you start asking
who you're trying to leave behind...

But the answer is obvious, isn’t it? she tilts her head. Myself... Instead of elaborating, she simply sighs and steels herself.

I received an e-mail a few days ago. My next match. So, I suppose I should address that... she takes a deep breath to steady herself. Though, to be honest, It wasn't exactly a surprise after I thought about it. Light in the Darkness - Amelia Nevado. La Pequeña Luz - the SCW World Tag Team Champions against The House of Frost...

I mean, if it had been a respectful challenge – coming to the ring and asking – then I’d be genuinely surprised, but seeing how Amelia’s been acting these past few months... Again, her words trail off, as if she’s holding back her thoughts. Taking another deep breath, Selena refocuses.

Four years ago, Deanna and I defended those championships against the two of you. I’m sure we’ll all mention it.

I remember that match...

I remember every mistake. Every adjustment. Every counter. I remember standing across the ring from a tag team that hadn't quite become what they were capable of becoming. But there was such potential in both of them – as a team and individually. And I told them as much...

She smiles the memory of better times... And then they did...

You guys became champions. Again. And again. And again. Now it’s not just either of you saying it - people call you one of the greatest tag teams this company has ever produced. Light in the Darkness...

And they're right. the tone in her voice is earnest, missing the venom the ‘Blue-Eyed Devil’ has often laced into her promos. You earned that. You built that. You fought for that.

She tilts her head ever so slightly. So understand me, Luz... Amelia... when I tell you that I respect Light in the Darkness, I do actually mean it – even if you don’t believe me.

But respect doesn't require blindness...

The wind grows slightly stronger and Selena’s eyes narrow.

I watched Jessica Winters' interview. I listened - I listened very carefully. And Luz, perhaps you noticed it as well. But I just found it so funny, Amelia. The words you used:

Coward.
Not ready.
Afraid.

I’ve heard those words before. She nods slowly. Yes... The first time, they came from me. I remember exactly where we were – on the path to Hubris. I remember exactly why I said them – because I believed you weren’t ready to handle the weight of being the SCW world champion – not when your win-loss record in the singles department this season was basically the inverse of mine, with far more losses to your name than wins. I remember the look on your face when I did – how could Selena be so unfair and cruel and judgmental?

You hated me. You should have – you had every right to. If someone tells you that you aren't ready to climb the highest mountain, your first instinct is to believe they're trying to stop you. It never occurs to you - that maybe - they've already climbed it.

I wasn't trying to stop you becoming World Champion, Amelia.  I was trying to stop the championship from becoming you. She lets that sit. And I failed.

You became World Champion. You achieved everything you said you would. And there was a moment, briefly afterwards, that I was actually happy for you. But it wasn’t really you doing it, was it? Because then something happened.

Her eyes lock onto the camera now. You started speaking like me:

'Coward.'
'Not ready.'
'Afraid.' She repeats each word carefully.

And it wasn’t hearing the same words that alarmed me. It was that they were coming from the person that swore up and down that she would never be like me – the woman that swore that she would show me at Hubris how different she was compared to me. And yet, there you were using the same words. The same certainty. The same belief that you knew another person's limits better than they did. The same words that infuriated you, now you are using without a second thought.

I recognized them immediately, because, like the title you’re just getting used to holding, I’ve LIVED with them for years! She lowers her eyes for the first time since mentioning Amelia. And do you know what frightened me? It wasn't hearing you say them. It was realizing how familiar they sounded...

The camera holds on Selena as another gentle breeze stirs through the cedars.

But again, Amelia, we circle back behind the reason behind our words. And you confused mine as ‘arrogance’ when it’s been experience. And experience isn’t always about ‘being right all the time’. Sometimes, it means... she hesitates a little before speaking the next part. It means you've made enough mistakes that eventually you begin recognizing them before they happen.

So, Amelia... I wasn't wrong about you when I said you weren’t ready to be world champion – you just thought I meant that you just weren’t good enough to win the title. And deep down, all this has been is you just desperate to prove me wrong... by being me.

She sighs, shaking her head. That if you use my words, my style, my attitude, you can do what’s taken me over a decade to do. Be what’s taken me ten plus years to become. And when that didn’t work – when the SCW Universe saw through you and saw through your rationale – a watered-down version of the monster I am – you thought challenging The House of Frost could silence them before you go under the brightest of spotlights, the biggest of main-events...

You’re wrong, Amelia... but so was I. The words aren't spoken with satisfaction. If anything, they sound disappointed.

I was wrong, too. I believed that if I could stop you, you would understand my words. You would take them like you did those years ago, and you’d use them and use the time to grow. Like you did to become a great tag-team champion. Like Luz did to become a great singles champion!

I won’t refute that. Luz has spent the last near two years becoming a champion the right way. The way I wish I could have. And when she finally did, she didn’t let the title define her. No! She kept working and learning and being the incredible champion, taking on every challenge and every obstacle, never blinking from a threat and never retreating from a loss. She turned her loss to Asher Hayes into an earned victory last year. She didn’t make excuses – she stood tall as a champion... a champion like Deanna has tried to be.

You didn't, Amelia. Soon as you had the world title – no, before that - you became desperate. You stopped asking what kind of champion you wanted to become and started asking what it would take to become champion. You looked to me – and copied the template.

The arrogance. The disrespect. The venom. Slowly, you just added more and more of me into your makeup... when I wanted you to be better.

You found Frank Delatosso.
You found the New Order.
You found shortcuts.
You found distractions.
You found excuses. So many excuses.

And eventually, you found the World Championship... A faint smile crosses her features again. Everything you were looking for was now yours! Congratulations! The only thing you had to do... was stop looking for Amelia Nevado.

So, as someone with this experience, I feel compelled to ask. Was it worth it, Amelia? Was it worth everything you threw away? Every look Luz gives you that isn’t loving or supportive? One that are filled with uncertainty and doubt? Is it worth looking at yourself in the mirror every day and asking yourself ‘What the hell am I doing’? Is it worth seeing the disappointment on every face of every person that believed in you and tried to help you? Is it worth questioning every friend and co-worker you’re associated with, scared they’re going to stab you in the back because they want what you have? Is it worth trusting no one because you’re so afraid of what happens when you don’t have that championship?

See, that’s the funny thing about reaching the top, Amelia! The higher you climb, the more you realize that the climb never really ends! You don't stop proving yourself. You don't stop earning it. You certainly don't stop learning. Cause once you do...  She tilts her head slightly. You become me.

And while it took me over a decade to get there, somewhere in less than a few months, so did you.

I've watched every one of your matches, Amelia. Retribution, Hubris, Taking Hold of the Flame, the
Breakdowns. I’ve watched every step of you becoming a champion, defending that championship, the arrival of this ‘new era’ Delatosso is shoving down everyone’s throats. And after you beat me, I waited...

I waited for Amelia Nevado to become the woman she insisted she already was.

Slowly, Selena shakes her head. And I'm still waiting...

There is a silence as Selena waits, eventually, pushing herself to her feet, she begins walking slowly across the veranda. Waiting for that woman that just recently promised integrity to Chris Dumont to actually show up and make it happen. Because you know what fascinates me? The people who screamed the loudest that I underestimated you?

They are now listening to you underestimate Deanna!

Again, she shakes her head as her eyes drift towards the mountains again. The difference is that when I said them? Deep down, I hoped I would be wrong. Her eyes return to the camera. When you say them...you need to be right.

Because if Deanna is ready...what does that make you? she lets the question hang in the air for a moment.

If Deanna can become World Champion - without Frank Delatosso. Without hiding inside multi-person matches. Without needing someone else to carry part of the burden...

Then everything you've spent the last year telling yourself? It falls apart.

She lets that realization settle as well. You've convinced yourself that surviving is the same thing as proving. It isn't. You survived me, Amelia, and I'll never take that away from you.

But surviving... isn't the same as standing alone.

That’s one thing you’ve not seemed to be able to copy from me. I never needed the boss holding my hand or a stable of people watching my back. Or ‘special favours’ from the guy in charge. Can you say the same, Amelia? Can you honestly say you’d be where you are without Frank helping you? Without the New Order helping you? Without Luz choosing to save you over winning the world title herself?

Another breeze moves through the cedar branches. Selena's expression softens.

I’ll tell you this now, Amelia – and you can check with Luz if you don’t believe me. Do you know the greatest mistake I ever made? It wasn’t that I became the villain the SCW Universe wanted. It wasn’t that I turned my back on so much that I believed in. It wasn’t even forging Deanna’s name to get that world title match.

It was that I assumed that because I couldn't carry the World Championship forever, Deanna couldn't carry it at all.

She laughs quietly. It seems obvious now. I spent years trying to stop her becoming me. I never stopped to ask what if she became something better? Her smile grows, almost imperceptibly. She already has...

No one handed Deanna Frost the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament.
No one handed her Taking Hold of the Flame.
No one handed her the Adrenaline Championship.
No one handed her the Rise to Greatness main event.

I certainly didn't. I didn't make her. I simply had the privilege of watching her become herself. And I nearly convinced myself that wasn't enough.

Which is why I look at you and almost can’t believe your stupidity. Winning the contendership and the title, Amelia? That was impressive, don’t get me wrong. But what else? What else have you done this year?

Deanna? She’s done so much more than EITHER of us! And you want to look down on her and say she isn’t ready? Say that she isn’t brave enough to step up? Selena chuckles, a mixture of biterness and darkness. Even after these months, you’re still the same stupid fool.

This match. The World Tag Team Championships. The House of Frost. They speak the team name like it's a memory - a relic. A team that disappeared years ago. She nods slowly.

They're right. The House of Frost disappeared. But not because Deanna stopped being my partner.

But because I stopped being hers. For the first time in the promo, real regret crosses her face.

I left.
I ran.
I hid.

I convinced myself that disappearing was somehow protecting the people I loved and it wasn't. It was simply easier than letting them watch me become someone I no longer recognized.

She exhales quietly. And yet, she kept making room. You call it cowardice... but deep down, we both know what it is... She gives a tiny shake of her head.

I still don't understand that. I've tried. I've analyzed it. I've argued with it. I've run from it. I've hidden from it.

And somehow every road still leads back to one impossible truth: Deanna Frost never stopped believing.

In wrestling. In championships. In me.

The platinum-blonde looks directly into the camera.

That doesn't mean she approves of me. It doesn't mean she excuses me. Doesn’t mean she forgot. Love isn't blindness. It's choosing to see everything... and refusing to look away.

So now... I am choosing to not look away from this. She straightens her back,  her posture changing almost imperceptibly – the competitor spirit returning.

So now, Light in the Darkness – though I question if now your name is more your relationship rather than what you represent. But you asked for the House of Frost? You challenged our name. You challenged our history. You challenged our legacy... A slight smile forms.

I hope you understand what you've actually done, Amelia.

Quietly, she glances toward the mountains one final time. Four years ago, we defended these championships against you. You left better than when you arrived. You became one of the greatest tag teams this company has ever seen.

You earned every championship, every accolade, and every ounce of respect attached to your names.

But respect...has never meant surrender.

Her sapphire eyes become almost icy. Not cruel, but focused.

Amelia... you think this match is about proving you're the better team. It isn't.
You think this match is about reminding Deanna that she isn't ready for Rise to Greatness. It isn't.
You think this match is about proving that I'm yesterday and you're tomorrow.

Another faint smile.

It isn't.

This match is about belief. You don't believe Deanna is ready...I do.
You don't believe I can still stand beside her...I don't know if I can.

But unlike you...I'm willing to find out! She steps closer to the camera.

I'm done trying to save you, Amelia. I’m done trying to protect you from the consequences of your words and actions. That’s all on you now. Instead, I'm going to do something infinitely more difficult.

I'm going to stand beside the one woman who never stopped trying to save me.

Slowly, the cold glare shifts and a smile forms. Not one of The Blue-Eyed Devil or even The Snow Queen. Just... Selena.

Red... Her voice is barely above a whisper. I still don't know the way home. But...I know who does. I’ll... she takes a steady breath before keeping her smile and nodding her head. I’ll see you at Breakdown. Belie-

She stops herself, her hand held above her heart.  The screen lingers for several seconds as Selena remains standing in silence.

Then... just two words float out... I promise.

Before everything fades to black.

[SnowQueenSCW]

The backyard of the Frost ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan is bathed in the warm light of a summer morning. The flower beds bordering the stone patio are in full bloom, the stone gargoyles stand watch – ‘protecting’ the home. Children's laughter drifts faintly from somewhere inside the house before disappearing again.

The camera finds Deanna Frost kneeling beside a row of lilies. She's wearing faded jeans and an emerald-green T-shirt. Her hair is in a simple ponytail. There is no championship over her shoulder.

She finishes eyeing one flower before standing, stretching her back with a quiet sigh. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out her cellphone and unlocks it, tapping it once more with her thumb. Immediately, from the device, voices are heard as Jessica Winters' interview with the SCW world champion begins to play.

Amelia's voice. Words like  "Coward." and "Not ready." and "You're not ready to become World Champion." Deanna doesn’t react to any of them.  When the interview finishes, she simply slips the phone back into her pocket.

For several seconds, she says nothing, letting the words sink in. Then, a smile – small, gentle, and almost amused – appears on her face, illuminated by the warm sunlight.

So... where do we start? she asks, as per usual, but it sounds slightly more retorical in nature, causing her to chuckle a little. You know... I've been called a lot of things in my few years here in SCW. Her emerald eyes wander over the garden.

Naïve.
Too nice.
Too forgiving.
Soft.
My personal favourite was probably 'hopelessly optimistic.' I've always liked that one.

Her smile fades, however, slowly fades. But 'Coward'...

I've heard that one before too. But not from Amelia. She looks toward the house. I heard it from myself...

There was a time - a long time - where every championship opportunity terrified me. Not because I didn't want to win. But because I wasn't sure I deserved to. When I first came to SCW, I wasn't chasing championships. I wasn't chasing headlines. I certainly wasn't chasing the World Championship.

A warm smile finds her face. I was chasing someone. She pauses for another moment.

Selena. The name comes naturally. I followed her because I loved her. But I stayed – more than that – I became a wrestler because somewhere along the way... I fell in love with this company too. She laughs softly. Funny how life works. The dream changes without you even noticing.

She sits beside another flowerbed, her hand gently tracing along a white lily. Back then, I didn't think I belonged beside women like Syren. Or Christy Matthews. Or Sienna Swann. Or Selena Frost.

Seeing a weed, Deanna quickly plucks it out of the garden. She glances at it between her fingers before tossing it aside.

I thought I was pretending. I thought eventually, everyone would figure out I wasn't supposed to be here. She shrugs her shoulders.
Maybe that's why Amelia using that word didn't bother me. Because it sounded familiar.

You see, to me, being brave isn't believing you'll never fail... It's believing that failure doesn't get to decide who you are.

Her expression grows more thoughtful. I've failed. I've lost championships. I've lost opportunities for examples of both! I've made mistakes. I've trusted the wrong people. I've hurt people. I've been hurt. I've doubted myself. And somehow... despite such words... I'm still here.

She smiles a little more. So... No. I don't think being called a coward scares me anymore. You know what surprised me?

It wasn't what Amelia said. It was who she sounded like. she pauses for a moment, but only a moment. Selena.

She lets the name settle.

I remember Selena telling Amelia that she wasn’t ready. And how much Amelia hated hearing it. I remember her saying Selena was trying to hold her back. Trying to control her. Trying to keep her from reaching the World Championship. She sighs.

Now, here we are months later. Now... Amelia is standing in front of Jessica Winters, looking into a camera and saying exactly the same words. Only this time, the words aren't aimed at her. They're aimed at me.

And for me, Amelia... I was more confused. Because I thought you knew me better than that. I thought you and Luz, more than anyone, would see the journey I’ve gone down. How I came back after nearly a year away from PTSD, against doctor’s and psychiatrist’s instructions to give Luz and Asher and even Jordan Majors the title match they deserved. How I took that loss and kept going, fighting against odds to be undefeated in the Shot of Adrenaline Tournament. And then, to be able to survive the royale, yes, but also retain the Adrenaline championship over and over again, despite everything in my personal life.

I’m not bragging here, Amelia, but you know all of that – and you want to tell the world I am ‘not ready’ to fight you? Not ready to try and be World Champion?

Amidst the garden, Deanna tilts her head. When you said that, Amelia, I wasn’t angry. For a moment, I was in disbelief. But then I realized just how haunted you were by Selena’s words. How desperately you want to convince everyone that you’re as good as you say you are. How desperately you want people to understand that you deserve to be the World Champion. I’ll imagine that’s why you challenged Selena and I to, somehow, team up officially for the first time in about 3 years.

But here’s the thing when you say stuff like that, Amelia...

You better be right. Deanna’s expression grows a bit of an edge to it. Selena proved it at Hubris, didn’t she? You beat her, after she had done all that she did to get a title shot that you were guided to by Frank Delatosso. And what happened? She had to live with being wrong. She’s had to live with her plans turning to dust...

So... are you ready for the same thing to happen? her eyes narrow.

I’m not doubting you and Luz will give Selena and I a hell of a match. You both always have and I have no doubt in the heart and passion of Luz! She’s taken so many bullets for you, Amelia, that it makes what I’ve been willing to give Selena look like small change – and yes! I’ll say it!

You wouldn’t even BE the world champion right now if it weren’t for Luz! She chose you in that tag-team match at the Flame rather than taking the title for herself. Hell, she did that AND fought me to the end just to try and earn her shot, when she could have just taken a shortcut. Like Selena did... Like you have...

So I’m not questioning her heart or love for you, not when I was willing to give the opportunity of a lifetime to the person that is to me what you are to Luz. And I’m not questioning your obsession with beating me and Selena.

Quietly, Deanna runs a hand through her red hair. I question whether or not YOU are ready for when I prove you wrong. You certainly were confident talking to Jessica, and you certainly have a working theory. But every time someone has mouthed off that I wasn’t ready? That I couldn’t do it? I proved them wrong.

Dexter Grant? Polly Playtime? Dawn Lohan? People that said I couldn’t step up and survive them. Members in your New Order that thought they could take me down. Thought I was just ‘the weaker Frost’. ‘The Broken Frost’...

I have survived each and every encounter and come back stronger than before. So, what happes if you’re not the ‘prophet’ or the ‘outlier’ in that system, Amelia? What if you’re like the others and I prove you wrong?

Are you ready for that? Deanna gives a shrug of her shoulders. Are you ready to have it all thrown back at you? Every time you say I’m a coward? Every time you say I’m not ready? Every time you say I can’t beat you? That you’ve ‘already won Rise to Greatness’?

Because how will you explain that main-event? How will you explain it if I beat you? How will you explain it when you’re looking into the ring in a few days... and you see Selena and I as the NEW SCW World tag-team champions?

She smiles at the thought. That’s what you’re really afraid of, isn’t it, Amelia? That’s what Luz keeps you protecting you from, isn’t she? It’s not proving Selena wrong... you’re scared that, for someone that sold their soul to win... and has to keep winning now that the deal is done...

You’re terrified that she was right, aren’t you? You don’t have to ‘like’ winning by disqualification like you did in your last match, but what a relief you must have felt. Amelia didn’t lose! Disprove that by beating the House of Frost!

Because if you lose... you’re scared that it all goes away. the redhead sighs. Just like with how Frank moved on from Gavin to you so easily, your ‘lifeline’ will move on to someone else to try and get the power back into his camp.

That if you lose... everything you turned your back on, everyone you’ve hurt and stepped on, every person you think of in the dark before you go to bed... and for what? A few months of being the World Champion so you can say you did it?

That’s where we are different, Amelia. Deanna sighs. Because I don't hate you. I couldn't. I love you and Luz so damn much! I've watched her grow for years. I've watched Light in the Darkness become one of the greatest tag teams this company has ever seen! And I was mostly proud of you when you became World Champion, just like I was when Luz became the United States Champion.

You earned that. Both you and Luz did! Every step and every moment. No one can ever take it away from you two – I sure as hell have no intention or desire to. Her smile fades.

But becoming champion and becoming the kind of champion people remember aren't always the same journey.

I think somewhere, Luz, that Amelia forgot that. That, instead of treating her championship like you did – with integrity and treating the time had with it as a gift, a way to define what SCW stands for... she just focused on proving everyone else wrong. And, in doing so, she stopped asking whether she was becoming right.

Quietly, the redhead moves to sit on a wooden swing at the edge of the backyard, one hand resting on the rope as it gently rocks beneath her. She simply watches the breeze move through the trees for a moment.

I've been thinking about Retribution four years ago. How our names have been connected for a very long time through tag-team battles and standing by one another. But I don't think either of us realized how much that one match would change all of us. Selena and I walked in as champions. You and Luz walked in trying to prove you belonged...

You didn't leave with the championships. But you left with something far more important – proving that you did. Her smile grows.

Belief. I know... A Frost using that word – insert eyeroll, right? But that’s what it was. Selena, me, all of SCW. We all believed after that night that you two were going to be something special. We had no idea just how right we were... Her expression fills with genuine admiration. You became a four-time World Tag Team Champions. The standard every tag team measured themselves against. And whether you believe me or not... I'm proud of both of you for that.

Because wrestling is supposed to work like that. We're supposed to make each other better! We're supposed to leave each other stronger than we found one another!

Her smile slowly fades. Which is why I couldn't say no when you challenged the House of Frost.

She tilts her head a little. So many people assumed I accepted because of Selena. That this was just me feeding Selena another title shot or trying to save my relationship with her. Or trying to prove something to her. No, that’s not what this match at Breakdown is about. Rise to Greatness will be that night and we will deal with that soon enough.

And it wasn’t because I wanted revenge on you, Amelia, for beating Selena or you, Luz, for taking the United States title last year at RtG.

I accepted... because you, Amelia, asked me to prove something.

The words hang in the air.

You called me a coward.
You said I wasn't ready."
You laughed when I won Taking Hold of the Flame.
You told the world I'd crumble when the spotlight finally found me...

So... she shrugs. Now... I want to find out.

You wanted proof? I'm going to give it to you. You see there's something people keep misunderstanding. They keep forgetting who I am. What I have endured and what I am willing to endure for SCW, for Selena, and for myself! And they think Rise to Greatness starts at Rise to Greatness.

It doesn't. It starts here. Right now! Against the very best tag team in SCW! And I show the world who the hell is challenging for the world title!

Because if I can't stand across the ring from Light in the Darkness... she takes a full breath. Then I have no business standing across the ring from the World Champion!

She lets that proclamation settle for just a moment. It's really that simple.

So thank you, Amelia. Because this is exactly the challenge I needed! To not only accept what I am in for – but what Selena has given me in refusing my offer.

But you want to know if I can? Why I believe that Selena and I can beat you and Luz – the best tag-team in SCW today? Why I believe in her so much?

A small laugh escapes her. I've lost count of how many times I’ve been asked such questions...

'Why?'
'Why Selena?'
'Why now?'
'Why after everything?'

I suppose...it's finally time I answered.

The redhead pauses for a moment. People think belief and trust are the same thing. They aren't. Trust is built, like respect and effort. It takes time. It takes consistency. It has to be earned, as that world title should be – as those tag-team titles should be.

And sometimes, when it's broken, it takes a very long time to rebuild.

Belief is different. It asks a different question. It doesn't ask, 'What have you done?'. It asks...'Who are you?'

I know exactly what Selena has done. I lived through it. I cried through it. My children lived through it. I don't excuse any of it. I never will.

For a moment, Deanna’s eyes close as she contemplated the events her life has taken in these last few months. But... I also know who she is...

I know the woman who taught Elsianna how to ride her bicycle. I know the woman who used to make dinosaur pancakes that looked absolutely nothing like dinosaurs. I know the woman who stayed awake all night whenever one of our children got sick, singing them a lullaby until they fell asleep.

I know the woman who believed in me long before I ever believed in myself. Who would never look at me and see a ‘coward’ or ‘someone who wasn’t ready’ to face a challenge.

Her emerald eyes never leave the camera. Those things don't disappear simply because someone loses themselves. They become harder to find. But harder...isn't the same as impossible.

Like beating you and Luz. Four years ago? It would have been 50/50. Four years ago, House of Frost proved that we were the best tag-team. But now? After four years of experiences you’ve had while Selena and I have had so much less than that? After Light in the Darkness has become the standard of the tag-team division? I won’t lie – it is so much harder than ever, the idea that The House of Frost could pull off an upset.

Harder... she smiles knowingly. But not impossible!

Harder to make history? Absolutely! Harder to repeat it after everything over the last four years? Absolutely! Harder for Selena and I to dig deep and find that passion and ability and unity to beat you two and pull off the upset of the year?

Yes... but not impossible!

And if I’m the only one in SCW – in the whole world – that believes in that... believes in Selena... believes in myself to do something so hard? Then I will believe enough for both of Selena and I... for everyone in SCW and the world! I don't mind.

Because one day, sooner than you think. You’ll believe, Amelia. So will you, Luz. So will SCW... and so will Selena!

She slowly stands from the swing. If that is my flaw, Amelia. If you believe that makes me cowardly and ill-prepared to face the best in SCW? If you think believing in people is my weakness...

Then it's one I'll gladly carry![/color] She places a hand over her heart.

My belief doesn't come from pretending people don't fail. It comes from refusing to believe failure gets the final word.

That honor... belongs to me.

Deanna takes a deep breath, her eyes the brightest they’ve been in this entire promo.

I don't need to become the next Selena.
I don't need to replace her.
I don't need to live up to anyone else's legacy.
I only need to be worthy of my own.

And I don’t need to be a coward or ‘not ready’ just because you say so, Amelia. Just because Frank Delatosso says so. I choose who and what I am and I prove it as I always have!

In an SCW ring!

She lets her words settle for a moment before her voice drops a little. Amelia...

You wanted this. You wanted Light in the Darkness against the House of Frost.  You wanted to prove I’m not ready. So let's answer the question together!

First...the World Tag Team Championships. Then...Rise to Greatness and the SCW World Championship.

She takes one step toward the camera. You don't have to believe I'm ready. Luz doesn't have to believe I'm ready. The fans don't have to believe I'm ready. Even Selena doesn't have to believe I'm ready. Her smile grows. I do. And that's enough.

The only question that remains is... what will the SCW world champion, her wife, the SCW Universe, the whole world...

What will they think of Deanna Frost when she stands beside Selena Frost as the new SCW World Tag-Team Champions?
She gives one last, knowing smirk. Unlike you, Amelia, I’m not afraid to find out...

Checkmate, bitches.

The screen focuses on the smiling, ready Deanna before it slowly fades to black.

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: My second for Amelia
----------------------------------

As we find ourselves staring into an absolutely gorgeous sunset, it quickly becomes apparent by the impressive stretch of forest that we're not in Portland, Oregon, the site of this upcoming Breakdown. As if we need any further proof of that, we slowly pan away from the sunset to find Amelia Nevado standing on what looks to be a balcony, and Portland certainly doesn't look like they have any castles that feel like they belong more in Victorian-era England than anywhere else. Still, Amelia stands before us watching the setting sun... but there's a noticeable melancholy in her gaze, as if she wishes she were sharing this moment with someone who isn't here. She may have the World Championship resting over her shoulder, but the fact that she's dressed in more casual attire that doesn't seem to fit either with the setting or the image she's seemed to cultivate for herself as the crown jewel of the New Order starts to raise some serious questions. Notably, this might also be the first time in a long time that we've seen Amelia with her hair down instead of tied up in her signature ponytail or even a professional-looking bun like she's been shown having lately. Amelia's gaze slowly drifts towards the World Title sitting on her shoulder for a moment before moving to us.

“Me llamo Amelia Nevado. Soy su Campeona Mundial de SCW.

And yet... that's not what this upcoming Breakdown is about.”

Amelia slowly shrugs the World Title belt off her shoulder before gently setting it aside, removing it from the shot entirely. This startling move is then followed by Amelia folding her hands in front of her like a proper young lady, a pose we've seen from her many times... and yet, something about the look in her eyes makes it almost seem like she's doing this against her will, even though she's the only person who could possibly be present given the small space of this castle balcony.

“For the past year, all I've ever wanted to do was prove myself... prove that I belonged here in SCW, prove that I was good enough to stand at the very top, prove that there was no weak link in The Light In The Darkness, that Luz and I were equally talented. And yet, no matter how hard I worked or what challenges I endured, all anybody wanted to talk about was what Luz was doing. When I cashed in my Trios contract, wanting to step up to the plate and challenge for the World Title, I became a side character in what should have been my biggest moment because a certain someone was too egotistical to share the spotlight. Every challenge I threw myself at afterwards, I lost sight more and more of what made wrestling mean something to me again.

Because of that... I'm not ashamed to admit that I might've lost my way a little bit.

Unlike some, I take full accountability for the decisions I've made and know they may not have been the right ones, but in that moment, I didn't care because I finally had my confidence back and I truly felt like I was earning my keep at long last. And yet, many people out there disagree, and despite their different reasons, I do understand why they would think that way. I have the backing of the New Order, never mind that they have never interfered in any of my matches nor do I want them to. I have the CEO putting me on a pedestal... which, when you think about it, isn't too different from accusations that CHBK did the same for Luz and I on several occasions long before Mr. Delatosso even entered the picture.

Perhaps the most frustration thing I can't deny, however, is the constant belief that I don't deserve to be World Champion because I haven't truly earned it yet... and to some degree? Maybe they're right. I've been putting in the work, I've been pushing myself harder than ever before, but time and time again, circumstances beyond my control have denied me the chance to silence this criticism that I cannot win on my own. I won a multi-person match to earn the right to challenge for the World Title... I won the exact same kind of match to become champion, never mind the fact that it was supposed to be a one-on-one if Syren and Selena hadn't tried to intrude on my opportunity. Even Taking Hold of the Flame was supposed to be Gavin's rematch and the moment I would finally end this criticism once and for all... and then the Glimmers had to use Gina's Trios contract to invent one of the most humiliating matches I have ever had the misfortune of being a part of, and one I hope never makes a return.

I've heard it all these past few weeks... people still claiming that Luz is my superior, completely ignorant of how much it hurts her to hear as much as it bothers me. People throwing my singles record in my face when I've been trying to have those opportunities to show how far I've truly come and had the script rewritten on me. Even the last time I competed, that six-person tag match, I won because of a disqualification. While I do not blame Polly or her guards because someone did attack her from out of nowhere, it frustrates me to think that I'm either being denied the chance to prove myself a worthy World Champion or excuses are being made to diminish what I've been trying to do, whether you love me or hate me now, to prove I'm good enough to be respected as an equal and as a worthy champion.

If Luz can be beloved for three reigns as United States Champion, even when she will fully admit that none of those reigns were perfect... then why can't I under the same circumstances?”

Amelia lets out a shaky sigh, any hint of the arrogance she's been using like a proverbial mask nowhere to found, though the frustration is certainly understandable. She glances over at where she set the World Title belt out of the shot for a moment before she almost forces her gaze to return to us.

“But as I said, this Thursday night isn't about the World Championship. It's about the World Tag Team Championships... and perhaps more importantly, it's about bringing everything full circle, back to where it all began. The House of Frost was the first major challenge Luz and I faced when we returned to SCW, our first shot to hold those titles we've since gone on to redefine. On that night, Selena and Deanna defeated us... more importantly, they told us that we weren't ready, and we acknowledged that by putting our careers in their hands and asking them to tell us when they believed we were ready.

Here we are... three years later. The Light In The Darkness has carried the tag team division on its back, but despite the efforts we've made on the solo front, people are still coming up with excuses to pretend like we haven't been doing our part to try and carry this entire company on our backs and prove that we're ready for far more than just tag team glory. No one's ever made those same excuses about the House of Frost... at worst, they've rightfully thrown Selena's attitude back in her face because she completely lost sight of everything she once stood for and questioned whether or not Deanna can even measure up because no one wants to see her beyond Selena's shadow.

Not even Selena it seemed, if all the talk of being the only person who 'should' ever be World Champion going forward around here was any indication.

Let's face it Selena... the last time we crossed paths, we said some horrible things to each other, and while I might be willing to admit I regret some of those things in hindsight, I do not regret saying them because you needed to hear them. You needed to be called out on your hypocrisy because all you've done ever since you came back and dethroned Asher Hayes for the World Title years ago is act like SCW is nothing without you, that it might as well be dead if you aren't World Champion. Last I checked, it's been doing just fine without you hogging the spotlight and demanding that you be the only thing anybody cares about, but that doesn't stop you from making up excuses to try and keep yourself believing that everything revolves around you and you're the only person around here allowed to actually prove a damn thing.

That said, though... I will acknowledge that despite Deanna going through my own wife to win Taking Hold of the Flame, all just so you could have another Rise to Greatness main event to your name, I do respect the efforts you've made to make it up to Deanna after the stunt you pulled to encroach upon the very chance you want to criticize me over not being able to prove.

Let me ask you an honest question, Selena: do you truly believe that I wanted Hubris to become a four way dance? No... I earned my title shot against Gavin, one-on-one, and then Syren had to insist on her rematch taking priority while I think the less said about what you resorted to at this point, the better. I earned my second chance to actually prove I could stand at the top of the mountain, and just like when I called my shot against Cid Turner, you had to make me feel irrelevant in what should've been my moment. I could've had a do-over in getting that match and proving what you think I can't prove at Taking Hold of the Flame... but then the Glimmers had to pull their sick little stunt. If you believe, for one second, that I actually wanted to go through with any of that humiliating lingerie nonsense, let alone see Luz subjected to it right alongside me, then you truly have lost it.

At the end of the night, though... Luz and I pulled together, survived being humiliated and practically violated, and I got to call myself World Champion while we returned to the throne of being World Tag Team Champions together.

A throne that I know full well you and Deanna could take away from us, despite how long it's been since you two last teamed together.

Let's face it Selena... we're both pretty pathetic, aren't we? We lost ourselves and became everything we both hated, we've both been World Champion now but no one cares about that, and yet, despite it all, we both have someone in our lives who still believes in us and supports us even when they have absolutely no reason to do so. How many times has Deanna defended your name when she didn't have to while you were both walking separate paths? How many times did she insist that Kim Williams leave you alone because despite being a friend to her, she didn't understand what was going on between you two? Heck, she even wanted to give you the World Title match against me at Rise to Greatness even after everything! And Luz is no different for me... I've refused to hide behind her and prove that I can stand on my own, but despite the way I chose to do it, she's unflinchingly been my biggest supporter, still trying to not only inspire me as she always does, but reach out aiming to guide me back to the right path.

Maybe we need Luz and Deanna more than we think... which is exactly why this match needed to happen.”

Amelia exhales a little more firmly this time as she takes a few steps forward, leaning on the edge of the balcony and taking a moment to watch the sun continue its descent. It's hard to know what's going on in her head right now as she keeps her face pretty emotionless, but she does eventually shake her head as if snapping out of a trance before glancing over at us once more.

“There's another reason I felt this match had to happen... and it's not exactly for the reason I told Jessica to pass along to you, Deanna. Yeah, maybe this match will prove which couple truly has everything figured out and held together more, but while I can stand here and repeat what Luz and I warned the Glimmers about, that we've already had a supernatural level of synergy that will carry us through even when we're not quite on the same page... I'm also willing to admit that you and Selena might be further along in fixing things between you than Luz and I are, and the fact that Selena actually refused to let you hand over the shot against me at Rise to Greatness proves that.

What it doesn't prove, however, is whether or not you're truly ready for that match, and that's what this Breakdown in Portland will truly help us figure out.

I know you probably won't believe it Deanna, and I'd be lying if I said my attitude lately didn't have other reasons behind it, but I'm speaking from experience now when I say that if you don't think you deserve this shot and your head isn't fully ready for this, then you aren't going to stand a chance against me when the lights are brightest. Look back at how much I fell apart when I failed to dethrone Cid, regardless of the role Selena played in sabotaging my confidence. Look at every single challenge I threw myself at, trying to reverse course the only way I knew how, only to fail time and time again. I'm only here now because I got the chance to regain that confidence and prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I deserve to be World Champion, that I belong in the main event.

You, on the other hand? Last year, you fully admitted that you felt you came back too soon and weren't fully ready to throw yourself back into this fire, and that played a role in Luz becoming the undisputed United States Champion one Rise to Greatness ago. You turned it all around and ran the table to not only become Adrenaline Champion, but win Shot of Adrenaline on top of it. You even won the Taking Hold of the Flame battle royal... you, not Selena, and you even went through a Luz that was more determined than I've ever seen her to do it! And you'd rather give that up and believe that you don't deserve this?

Then we put that to the test in Portland.

I'm not going to pull any sort of stunt like Dexter Grant tried to pull on you during Shot of Adrenaline before you met again in the finals, Deanna. When that bell rings, you're not just getting a taste of what I'm bringing to Rise to Greatness, you're getting the full course. I'm throwing everything I have at you to see if you're focused enough, confident enough, to weather that storm, and I want you to return the favor. I think we both know Selena and Luz will give this their all, not just because they aren't meeting again in two weeks' time, but because none of us are wired that way. I know we'll both make adjustments before it becomes just the two of us, but we owe it to those fans and to each other to give Portland, Oregon a taste of what we can do when the brightest spotlight of them all is all ours.

Just as you owe it to me to prove that you're just as capable of being a World Champion as Selena is.

Just as I owe it to you to prove that no matter what I say, no matter what kind of attitude I may show, things between us will only be settled in that ring, where the talking stops and the outcome is definitive beyond any doubt.

Come Breakdown, we're going to see a match that's long overdue... even if the mirror is a little broken right now in terms of how much we still reflect one another. Make no mistake, though... I'm walking into the Moda Center ready to prove that where I'm at now is no fluke, that I truly have earned the right to be called one of the very best in SCW today, regardless of whether I need to help Deanna get her head in the game or try to forcibly earn Selena's respect a second time.

And while I know Deanna and Selena will lean on each other and show us that despite what they may think, the House of Frost is far more cohesive than I think they want to believe... Luz, I know you believe in me, and I believe in you too. It's why I handed you my Tag Title belt after we won at Taking Hold of the Flame, why I trusted you to keep it safe until I could figure things out and find my way back. It's why I'm sorry that I didn't consult you once before calling for this match... but I hope you see why I felt I needed to do this, why I need to share the ring with you again. I don't know if we'll find a way to get back that win from the Frosts from three years ago, but I do know one thing:

You are my Light In The Darkness, and if we can work together to make some magic happen on Thursday night, then maybe we'll not only still be able to call ourselves World Tag Team Champions, but maybe... just maybe... SCW can see a miracle happen, one that I think all four of us are hoping for deep down, but you might be the only person willing to say it out loud. I love you, mi amor... I see your fight and I encourage you to keep coming for me, and maybe by the time the bell rings on Breakdown, we'll all be a little closer to figuring this out... together.”

Amelia gives us a smile, and while it's a little shaky, it's perhaps the happiest she's genuinely looked all year. It's a smile that truly inspires hope for many different reasons, a smile that makes us want to believe that despite what everybody else thinks, there is one voice that truly cuts through it all and keeps Amelia going. Maybe there is hope for Amelia yet... whether or not that's truly the case, however, will be put to the test on Breakdown, that's for certain.

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: And my second for Luz
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If you've ever wondered why Portland is known as the City of Roses, the International Rose Test Garden should give you a pretty good idea of why. Filled with roses of various kinds, including thousands of Madame Caroline Testout roses that were historically planted and thrive in the city, the garden is the beautiful heart and soul of Portland, Oregon and one of the loveliest experiences to indulge in if you're a tourist. That said, there does seem to be one “flower” who maybe feels a little out of place being here right now, and part of the problem is the fact that she's missing someone important to her.

After talking a bit of a walk through the garden ourselves and seeing just why it delivered Portland its nickname, we find ourselves moving towards an area set up almost like an amphitheater with raised sections of grass and cobblestone forming a huge area of stairs and seating. One particular figure sitting here draws our attention, and it's not long before we find ourselves approaching La Pequeña Luz. Both World Tag Title belts are criss-crossed across her chest like a pair of bandoliers, which makes this seen feel surreal knowing that she's still holding onto both titles even though she and her wife are set to defend them come Thursday night over at the Moda Center. Luz's focus, however, is on a black rose she's twirling in her hand, which probably causes some concern when combined with the lack of her usual smile, as has unfortunately become the norm lately. Luz takes a deep sniff of the black rose's scent before her eyes slowly raise to us.

“I'm sure plenty of you out there are worried right now, and many more of you have questions. Let me put you at ease first off: I don't have this flower because somebody's passed away recently, though I'm certain some of you believe that might be the case in the metaphorical sense. But if they were truly gone, then I wouldn't still be fighting to bring them back, because I know from experience that the moment I give up is the moment all is truly lost. But a close friend of mine, if the name Ivy Plume rings any bells from her appearance a few years ago in the End of the Year open invitational, knows a thing or two about flowers, and according to her, black roses symbolize things such as change, hope, courage... they represent the beginning of a new era, the coming of major changes.

Now, more than ever, do I believe that all of these are important to keep in mind, especially for this upcoming Breakdown.

Before I get into that, however... I'd like to apologize to Colleen. I know a lot of people have made a big deal out of how The Light In The Darkness could have finally both been double champions if I had won our match by any way other than countout, but I truly did get so lost in the incredible match we were having that the referee's count completely slipped my mind until it was too late. For that, I apologize Colleen, that our match did not have the satisfying conclusion it deserved, and I hope that we can meet in that ring again soon, Television Title or no, to at least finish the fight we started. And... thank you, for pushing to help snap me out of the mental funk I've been in for quite some time. Honestly, I needed the distraction of a great match with no major strings attached, because this upcoming Breakdown?

Come Thursday night, I'll engage in what may be one of the most important battles I can have in trying to set everything right... and I wasn't even asked if I wanted this or not.”

Luz can't keep herself from sighing as her free hand moves to trail along the nameplate of the frontmost Tag Title belt, which we can see is the one bearing the name of Amelia Nevado. Luz's eyes turn back to the black rose, as if trying to will it to take root in her palm and feed her the hope and courage she needs to keep pushing forward.

“Last week, we saw both Amelia and Deanna give separate interviews about their upcoming main event match at Rise to Greatness, and... I'd be lying if I say I haven't watched Amelia's side of things a thousand times in the span of the past week, trying to rationalize the things she's saying and the attitude she's putting forth. Maybe I should be upset that she basically set up a Tag Title defense for us when I'm the one who's been left with the belts since Taking Hold of the Flame, but... if I can be honest for a moment? I actually don't disagree with the challenge she made, even if I wish she'd talked with me about it beforehand. This is a match that needed to happen, and perhaps the best time to do it is right now, before Rise to Greatness... before things potentially reach a point of no return.

For the longest time, you could say The Light In The Darkness and the House of Frost have been mirror images of each other. Two incredible talented teams formed from two couples completely fueled by the power of love who always strove to not only earn the right to be the best, but also elevate all of SCW to guide it to a bright future. Over the years, that comparison may feel like it's started to become a broken reflection with the issues between Selena and Deanna, but now? It's a broken mirror reflecting the same fractured images: two couples both in turmoil, and within those two couples there's one woman who's fighting with everything she has to pick up the pieces and hold it all together... and another who's become so broken by the pressure and consumed by the thought of needing to be the best that they almost feel like entirely different people altogether.

In some form or another, we've crossed paths with the Frosts several times over the years. We've been on opposite sides of the Trios Tournament, we've battled in Taking Hold of the Flame, Amelia and Deanna had an all-time classic in the semi-finals of that U.S. Title tournament years ago, Deanna and I have had many great clashes even if they haven't exactly been the proper one-on-one we still deserve one of these days. And yet... I still think back to when Amelia and I first returned to SCW, how Selena and Deanna posited the idea of defending these titles against us. Only a few months later, it became a reality. Retribution 2023, the first time any of us met in that ring, and while we stole the entire show, it was the Frosts who prevailed on that night.

In a time where a lot of uncertainty was beginning to hang over SCW like a fog because Mr. D had revealed he was going to sell the company, a time that many point back to as the starting point for Selena Frost becoming the 'devil' we all know today... the four of us simply met in that ring and put on one of the best tag team matches that anyone had ever seen. The titles may have been on the line, but that match was defined primarily by the love we all shared for this sport as we proved, on that night, exactly what wrestling could, and should, be.

Sadly, things change as time goes on... and maybe this black rose is the symbol I needed to finally start accepting that things will never be as easy as I'd like them to be in this business, where any problems can just be solved by meeting in the ring and settling things fair and square. But I also have hope that this match on Thursday night will be the eye-opening revelation I think we all need that things can come full circle, that The Light In The Darkness and the House of Frost can all come together and still put on a match like that, that we can remind each other of how things can be if we just embrace the love of competition instead of trying to force this to be about which side truly has things together.

If we play our cards right... the correct answer will be that both sides have their act together and we can start rebuilding the bridges that have begun to break.”

As Luz's gaze lifts from the rose back to us, we see that familiar determined fire in her eyes, the passionate look of a woman who is absolutely hellbent on fighting with everything she has to earn the result that matters most to her. Slowly, she stands up, the petals from some of the roses planted around her being caught by the breeze and decorating the space around her in a beautiful display of nature, as if trying to further prove the strength of her conviction.

“Deanna... you got me. I entered Taking Hold of the Flame ready to fight with everything I had to be the one who would face my wife on SCW's grandest stage of them all, and your conviction was unfortunately greater on that night. As I said weeks ago... I hate it, but I can't hate you for being the one to ultimately stop me. Maybe some people out there want to blame the fact that I had just gone through physical and psychological hell maybe about a half-hour before my number was called, but I refuse to accept excuses on my behalf. In a way, I guess it was your way of paying me back for officially taking the U.S. Title from you on that grand stage last year, and in that regard? I'd say we're even.

That said, Deanna... there is something I do have a bit of a problem with, even if I completely understand your intention behind it. It's been all but confirmed at this point that you'd made a deal with Delatosso that effectively gave Amelia her supposed reason to call for this match we're about to have on Breakdown... if the Glimmers actually won at Taking Hold of the Flame, as many people likely thought they might considering how heavily they stacked the deck in their favor and tried to prey upon the rift between my wife and I, then you and Selena were immediately going to face them with the Tag Titles on the line. I may understand wanting to make sure the Glimmers did not walk out of Las Vegas with everything they thought they deserved after how much they spat in the face of everything we all stand for, I may understand wanting to use it as a means of trying to make sure Selena would be present so the two of you could maybe try to start fixing things... but, as your friend? As someone who's tried to be like a sister to you these past few years?

It hurt to learn that you didn't have enough faith in us that you even needed to put a backup plan on the table in the first place.

You didn't even know if Amelia and I would be able to still function together, even when we both made it clear that our synergy is the one thing that can never be questioned between us no matter what's going on, and you were still willing to invoke a rematch on Selena's behalf without knowing if you and her were in any better state. It truly hurts to think that even you were willing to give up on us despite knowing from experience that the situations you and I find ourselves in isn't as black and white as others who have their issues with Selena or Amelia or the New Order or whatever want to think. Amelia and I never gave up on you with everything you were going through, from Selena to whatever The Enigma did all the way back when. You still haven't fully given up on Selena, just as I refuse to give up on Amelia, and I know Amelia hasn't given up either because I can see her fighting desperately against the decisions she thought she had to make. I still believe, Deanna... and if you don't believe in us anymore, then I want you to make that clear when we meet in that ring and throw our absolute best at each other, because how you choose to fight me will tell me everything I need to know.

Don't become like Selena, who stopped believing in us a long time ago... even when I still believe in her.”

That admission perhaps causes a shocking chill to run through everyone watching, and Luz hopes it has that same effect on Selena if and when she hears this. Amelia had told Selena something similar two years ago, heading into their collision in the Trios Tournament finals, and while Amelia might claim she's changed her mind and stopped believing, Luz knows deep in her heart that it's just all the pain and frustration shining through and guiding her words. But Luz? She speaks with firm conviction as her attention turns to the woman who's long declared herself the true face of SCW.

“I'm not going to mince words, Selena. If I've started to understand anything in these trying past few months, it's that maybe I do need to stop being so nice all the time and hope I get that same respect in return. It's been taken advantage of time and time again, and you're one such person who's chosen to weaponize that against Amelia because of your own insecurities. I look at you right now, and I mean it when I say I see exactly what Amelia is on track to become if I fail. You put the doubt in her head by insisting she let her Trios contract lapse so you could be the one to try and dethrone Cid Turner, you're the one who's insisted for months that you, and you alone, were the only one worthy of being World Champion and becoming the very thing I watched you stand against for most of your career.

Just like Amelia, you became this 'devil' you like to call yourself because you became so consumed by your frustrations over nothing going the way you wanted it to, even when you were World Champion again, that you felt there was no other way. And when the ego you chose to hide behind was inevitably challenged by people like Amelia and I who were fighting tooth and nail to rise through the ranks and didn't agree with you trying to hold everyone down, you eventually stopped caring about everything this business meant to you and let that power corrupt you into just another person obsessed with being the best by any means necessary.

I've even heard you come up with excuses to try and justify the setbacks that have been no fault but your own for thinking this path wasn't going to come without consequences. The saddest part about that, in my opinion? By your own logic, I'm the last person you should be trying to use to diminish everything Amelia has fought for despite adopting your playbook! You criticize Amelia for not being able to win on her own, earning her World Title shot and then the title itself in multi-person matches and then needing my help to defend it at Taking Hold of the Flame... but what about me, Selena? Look at my three U.S. Title reigns: I won the right to challenge for it the first time in a multi-person match, just like Amelia, but I never got my title match and was instead just named interim champion because Deanna was deemed unable to compete. I swore to hold that title until she was ready to return so we could have that match... and I failed. My second reign? Also won in a multi-person match where Deanna was involved, and while Amelia defeated you directly to become World Champion, I didn't do the same to Deanna last year. Heck, my third reign was also the result of a multi-person match, so if anything, I'm a bigger fraud than Amelia is according to your own words.

Not only that, but your logic would also suggest Deanna might be a fraud as well, because would you think she earned the right to be the undisputed U.S. Champion had she won that four way last year instead of me? Or is she a worthy winner of the battle royal because the match had 39 other people in it and I, the last person she eliminated, also wrestled another match right beforehand? Or what about you, Selena? Would you believe you would have truly earned the World Title by winning it in that four way had Amelia not stopped you from pinning Gavin? Or how about that Ladder Match at last year's Rise to Greatness if you had won it instead of Cid?

That's the thing, Selena... your logic just doesn't work because it's built on excuses you're hiding behind to try and shield yourself from the pain, something Deanna has also said about Amelia. The funny thing is... Amelia was set to wrestle in singles matches both at Hubris and at Taking Hold of the Flame before other parties, you being one of them, decided to intervene and rewrite the script. She's been trying, but as you know full well even if you keep trying to deny it, this business doesn't always work exactly how you want it to go, and if you're willing to adapt to the situation thrown at you and rise above it? Then you truly have proven yourself.

It's why you're choosing to ignore your own logic and insist on making amends with Deanna by letting her have the shot she earned. It's why, deep down, I know the Selena Frost I respected and called my friend is still in there somewhere... and why I think you hope as well as Deanna and I do that Amelia can still be saved as well.”

Luz looks down at the black rose again as she gently twirls it in her hand.

“This Breakdown here in Portland is a night I'm choosing to have hope in, because I'm going to walk into this tag match with the courage to fight for how things should be. I want to fight you, Deanna, both as a friendly rivalry to pay you back for the battle royal and to prove to you that Amelia and I are still worth having faith in. I want to fight you, Selena, because just like Amelia, I see the flickers of light within the darkness and I will not hesitate to dive in and pull you out by reminding you of exactly the kind of match that gave you hope for the future of this business in the first place. Whatever it takes, I owe it to Deanna to give her the real Selena Frost back, someone who doesn't need to destroy herself under the pressure of carrying SCW on her shoulders alone... not when you have Deanna, Amelia, and even me to share that burden.

And lastly... I hear you loud and clear, Amelia. I've read between the lines, I know why you really want this match, and I swear to you, I will help you find your way again. I've meant it every time I've said you've earned this, that you deserve to be here, and I know in my heart of hearts that you can prove to everyone, and to yourself, that you don't need Delatosso or his New Order or whatever hurdles everyone insist you jump over to prove you belong at the top of the mountain. I believe in you Amelia... I believe in us... and come Breakdown, I have hope that both you and Selena can see the courage it's taking Deanna and I to brave this journey to bring you both back.

You know as well as I do Amelia, and Selena and Deanna will both be reminded right here in Portland, that the true art of wrestling is a language all its own, and it speaks volumes far greater than many will ever understand. It's what helped me guide you out of the darkness before, mi amor... and I'm confident it will do so again.”

With that, Luz leans down and gently kisses the black rose before she gently sets it back among the flowers, leaving us with one last look of the hopeful fire in her eyes and the World Tag Title belts where Amelia's is still the one in front, hoping these symbols will be enough to guide her flight towards not only a successful title defense come Breakdown, but also a significant step towards finally breaking down the walls that have been put up around some of the most important people in her life and career to help bring them back.