Scott Reed vs. Deanna Frost

[Konrad Raab]

SCW United States Championship

2 RP Limit for singles

No word limits.

Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET FRIDAY, June 14, 2024

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Difference”

Eyrie Tower
New York City, New York
June 10th, 2024
11:03am

Deanna sat in the font seat of her Jeep Liberty, her hands twisting themselves along the gray steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Fortunately, the compact SUV was already parked and had been for the past fifteen minutes, the engine even turned off to prevent any kind of movement from the vehicle. It both relaxed and stressed Deanna in an emotional tug-of-war, the desire to get out and enter the nearby building equal to her desire to simply turn the engine back on and drive back home, thus forgetting this entire venture.

Wouldn’t have to be here if she answered her damn phone or messages… she didn’t mean to growl under her breath at the thought. The sound had just come out, causing her hands to continue their ‘twisting chokehold’ on the steering wheel. Not like I have other things to worry about… she mentally added, almost able to taste the bitterness of the thought on her tongue.

She had kept her distance from this place and from the woman she knew resided here for well over a week, spending her time dealing with…well… everything else. Taking Hold of the Flame had been, more or less, what she had pictured it would be. The chaos of the royale – actually, she barely remembered that. The whole night had just gone by so fast – though that may have been the fault of the concussion she had gotten thanks to Konrad and that damn mace of his! At the thought, Deanna’s eyes flew up to the rearview mirror hanging above her, emerald eyes immediately zeroing in on the spot on her forehead she had applied a heavier does of makeup/coverup, doing her best to hide the still visible cut on her forehead, near her hairline. It had been a pretty damn decent cut, the redhead’s face being covered in her own blood from it during the six-person match she had been put into. She had barely let the medics get the stiches into her skin and the large bandage on when she had marched into the offices of CHBK and Lucas Knight to grab a number for the royale, leaving before CHBK – bless him for caring – could recover from the shock at seeing her and talk her out of participating.

She sighed at that. She definitely owed the icon an apology for worrying him like that. Yes, perhaps it had been dumb of her to charge into the royale at the risk of further injury. Part of her even regretted taking a number and denying someone else a proper chance at winning the royale – someone that may have wanted to actually win it and its prize. But she hadn’t had a choice! Enigma had been defeated… not beaten. Kimberly had gotten all of her shots in and Konrad, in incapacitating Deanna, had gotten some in as well, but the bastard had escaped shortly after being pinned, with Deanna a ) not getting enough of an offense in to get some answers and b ) not done enough to free Jessica Winters from the man’s grasp!

So, she had taken matters into her own hands and gone right after Enigma, spending, probably, the shortest time in royale history – Wonder if I could add that to my accolades? she thought teasingly - to eliminate and beat the hell out of Enigma. Boy, did THAT feel good! Still, the vindication was fleeting as, again, Enigma had slipped through her hands without her gaining anything useful. Jessica was still in her ‘state’ and Enigma seemed well enough to be booked against Konrad Raab this upcoming Breakdown… while she…

She sighed, forcing the natural thoughts of her next match to the back of her mind. She knew where she was supposed to be. What she was supposed to be doing. Hiro Tanaka had all but told her weeks ago, the road agent indicating where Deanna’s ‘focus’ needed to be along with the well-being of Jessica – that on her championship. “Yet, here I am…” she said aloud to no one, though the occupant beside her turned their head to look at her, dark eyes staring patiently at her. She couldn’t respond to their stare right away, her mind still reeling from the to-and-fro of needing to make a decision. Like that sound. “Should I stay or should I go…” she whispered spoke-sung the main line, slowly and a bit off pitch but it helped.

Yes, the pay-per-view had come and gone and the road to Rise to Greatness had officially begun… minus one strange development. In truth, for her part, Deanna had not stayed for the main-event. After her ‘involvement’ in the royale, Deanna had stormed to the back, searching as much of the arena as she could to find Enigma – which, in itself, had equated to about another ten or so minutes. After basically running from changerooms to washrooms to custodian closets, she had almost collapsed as her adrenaline reserves had depleted themselves, the redhead almost collapsing onto the tiled floor of one of the bathrooms. Fortunately, one of her fellow superstars – she couldn’t remember who – had found her and helped her back to CHBK and Knight, the former even helping to get the redhead back to the changeroom for a quick check-over before demanding she leave the arena and rest and recover immediately. By the time she had managed to get to Eric, have him drive her to the hotel they were staying at, showered as best she could with the large bandage on her head, the main-event had come and gone. Still social media had lit up with notifications on her idle phone, giving her a clear understanding of how the main-event had concluded.

Selena had won and would be main-eventing Rise to Greatness again. And that, eventually, had been the problem.

At first, Deanna had simply sighed sadly at the whole affair, then closed herself off to it, focusing the following days on recovery and her children – especially with David… she gave a shake of her head to stay focused on the present. She hadn’t, since that night, given any more thought to Selena or Rise to Greatness. Her wife – soon to be former… – had gotten what she wanted. What she was willing to sacrifice everything for, including her own family…

And yet, something was missing.

Lifting her head, Deanna eyed the massive tower before her, seeing the glass and stone of The Eyrie Tower reaching upwards towards the skies, the castle top just barely visible from where she was parked thanks to the cloudless sky. Where was the bragging? Yes, Deanna herself had been off social media for some time, despite being pinged and mentioned by Kimberly Williams with this whole ‘Revengers’ thing, but she, in her opinion, hadn’t done anything worthwhile and she also didn’t feel like threatening Enigma or making promises she wasn’t sure she was going to keep on the X tool. Basically, she had kept to herself, with no real update or anything on the platform. That, surely, had made sense to the SCW Universe…

But Selena? She had won! She had beaten everyone, including her and the fans! She was going to the Rise to Greatness main-event for a record-setting fourth time as champion! She had cleared all threats from Kandis and Kristen and Polly from the board. She had surpassed the royale itself to take the main-event. And yet… there hadn’t been a peep from the Snow Queen. Not a tweet, not a post, not a Royal Letter, not a video of some kind or whatever… nothing! It was… Deanna had to admit, eerie in a very bad way to her.

And after five days, Deanna had given in and called her, leaving a message to basically tell her ‘congrats’ and that ‘they needed to talk about David and the school board’. When that had gone unanswered, she had spent the sixth day crafting a longer message, this one expressing her worry and pressing Selena’s presence in David’s meeting next week. When THAT had gone unanswered, Deanna had tossed away any sense of manners and, in a rush of frustration, warned Selena that if she didn’t answer this message, she would be paying her a visit to get some damn answers.

Which was way she was here… on the eighth day… outside her wife’s building.

“Dammit…” she sighed, resting her forehead against the steering wheel between her hands. “Me and my big mouth.”

“ARF!” was all she heard before she suddenly felt the cold, wet tongue licking at her cheek, along with the soft nose and fluffy cheeks that came with the bout of affection. Opening her eyes, all she could see from the right side was white fur!

“Okay, okay…” she sighed, finally releasing the steering wheel from her right hand, which actually stung her digits a little due to their tight grip, to pet the mess of fur and fluff between the ears. “I’m sorry.” She added in apology as she tried to ease the dog’s boredom and agitation. “I know I have to go in there.”

For a response, Oberon merely nodded his head and gave a little whine, causing another sigh/huff to come from the United States Champion. Truth was, she was worried about Selena and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Bothered? Annoyed? Concerned? Nearing panic-levels as the days played on? All of the above? First of all, the redhead could now see the delusion that Selena was putting herself through. Additionally, she had learned enough from the past few weeks that NX was involved. Those two factors alone were enough to make the redhead worry about the woman she still loved.

Still love…

With one last moan of frustration, Deanna pushed her door open and stepped out, immediately feeling the bright sun on her face, causing her eyes to sting a little (she hadn’t worn any sunglasses - stupid). Straightening out her white pants and blue button-up top, she lastly adjusted the long sleeves before she heard Oberon barking from inside the SUV. “I gotcha! I gotcha!” she called out in assurance, quick-walking around the large vehicle to open the door and take Oberon’s leash into her hands as the fluffy white dog bounded out, clearly eager to be on his own four legs.

“Let’s go.” Deanna ordered, closing the van door and letting Oberon lead her out of the visitor parking space, onto the stone walkway and into the massive building, passing through the tall, rotating glass doors to enter. She didn’t veer from her path as she heard the salutations from the front desk, merely giving a nod to the woman who recognized her from her many visits before pointing to the elevator. “Can you buzz me up to the top?” she asked. “Selena is waiting for me.”

“Sure thing.” The receptionist smiled in understanding, marching over as per the usual with Deanna’s visits, to tap her access card against the elevator’s keypad after the doors had opened, allowing Deanna to press the top floor button to the penthouse/castle part that she knew Selena resided in. Immediately, with a quick thanks and goodbye to the young receptionist, Deanna focused on calming herself through slow breathing as the elevator began its ascent.

“What’s that thing she always said?” Deanna tried, her heart racing as the floor number on the digital display continued to climb. “Conceal…don’t feel…” she whispered as she felt Oberon moving around beside her, the pet at times nudging against her legs as he did. “Don’t feel…” she repeated as she breathed, though it wasn’t doing her much good. Not sure why Selena finds this useful…

The doors suddenly chimed their arrival, causing Deanna’s heart to ride its own elevator and leap into her throat, the redhead visibly flinching as she tried to fight it back down. Oberon, on the other hand, was not so encumbered, the mutt rushing out into the lobby of the castle soon as the doors opened, even giving out a little bark. In fact, he sprinted out with such force that he was able to pull the leash out of Deanna’s hand, causing the redhead to lose her grip on him. With his freedom in place, the dog sprinted down the hall and to the left, towards the dining room and sitting room/lounge at the bottom floor of the suite.

Though far more reluctant, Deanna slowly was able to follow, taking a step forward into the lobby, and only then realizing that all the lights were out. She opened her mouth to speak but her nerves kept any words from forming past her throat, all energy being deployed to keep her legs moving as she walked- and almost tripped as she hit something! Hearing the crinkle-sound of plastic bags, Deanna quickly fished out her phone to turn the camera-light/flashlight on, casting the bright white light upon the floor.

Her eyes widened as she beheld the numerous plastic bags lumped at the side of the hall against the wall, some of them opened and some tied closed but all of them filled with containers of plastic, aluminum and paper baggies. She recognized the writing of Chinese food containers (though she couldn’t read it, obviously), wrappers from Subway, a pizza box from Pizza Hut, plastic containers from Boston Pizza - What the hell is going on- Oh my god! she almost gagged as the smell finally hit her nostrils, a mixture of old food and body odour hitting her full force! Compared to her – the redhead spending over an hour on her makeup, hair and perfume, all to appear untouched and untroubled when she was anything but – this was the other side of the spectrum!

Slowly, using her phone-light as a guide, Deanna made her way past the mess and down the hall, veering left the same way Oberon had gone, walking past the flight of stairs to her right until she was standing in the hallway frame entrance of the lounge. There, she first spotted the few lit candles on the table and the drawn blinds that kept everything in darkness despite it being close to noon, and a few more bags surrounding the center table that was rather low to the floor. It all surrounded the mass near said table – Oberon’s fur and the woman’s hair both white and, thus, easier to detect in the dimly lit room.

“Obi…” Deanna heard whispers coming near the dog, who was licking and nuzzling the woman. “Obi – what are you-“

“Because you don’t know how to answer a phone, apparently.” Deanna called out, lifting her light up to cast it fully on the two beings in front of her. While Oberon remained unfettered in his affections, turning away only to sniff the containers of foot on the table, to which the woman had to hold him back from eating anything that remained, said woman cast her head up in surprise at the redhead standing before her.

That is not a world champion…

Those were the first words in Deanna’s head – mentally created out instinctually - as she beheld the woman that, only technically, was still her wife, emerald eyes taking in the form of Selena Frost. The platinum-blonde wore dark-blue shorts and a black wifebeater. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was matted – the woman was a mess! And yet, despite it, her voice registered no emotion as she spoke.

“Deanna.” She acknowledged, her voice sounding a little dry and raspy. “What are you doing here?”

“You don’t answer your messages.” Deanna remarked, turning a bit to further enter the room, heading towards the large window to the left. “I was concerned.” She answered plainly before throwing the large curtains open with a pull of the rope. Immediately, the bright sunlight streamed in, filling the room and hallways that it could reach and eliciting a cry of surprise and a curse of pain from the Snow Queen, none of which bothered the younger Frost.

Turning around, with the room filled with light now, Deanna could fully study the older woman. She still held Oberon in her arms but… her appearance was far worse than what the darkness and little light there had shown. Her hair wasn’t just matted, it looked greasy. Her eyes had bags under them and… Deanna spied the pillow and blanket on the floor in the far corner, clearly used judging from their disheveled nature.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Deanna asked in disbelief.

“I’m fine.” Selena replied flatly, leaning forward to knock over some empty, plastic pop bottles (Deanna recognized the Mountain Dew and Crush Cream Soda labels), her eyes scanning the wooden tabletop before settling on the small pile of clear pills in the bowl the same time Deanna did, the redhead recognizing them immediately.

“So much for ‘just for the weekend’.” She shook her head knowingly as she watched Selena take one of the pills from the bowl, the platinum-blonde’s bloodshot-sapphire eyes still scanning and turning a few cans of pop over.

“Dammit.” Selena whispered, testing several of the open cans ‘displayed’ before her before suddenly lifting one up to her lips and pouring what little contents remained into her mouth, along with the pill in her hand. Swallowing the mix, she breathed a sigh of relief before opening her eyes, refocusing on Deanna. The redhead must have had some look on her face, for the world champion shook her head. “Judge away.” She threw at Deanna with little care. “I needed something after the beating Xander gave me.” She added, slowly, and with some difficulty, pulling herself to her feet to stand. “You try taking a Martial Bane to the ring apron.” She winced a little as she stood to her full height. “My back is still in pain – damn fool folded me up like an accordion.”

“You promised not to use painkillers anymore.” The remark came from Deanna without her meaning to, emerald eyes widening at the realization that she had voiced her thought out of concern and, honestly, a bit of hurt. In response, the Snow Queen simply gave a half-smirk/half-snarl.

“And you promised to stay with me forever.” She shot back bitterly. “How’d that go?”

The ‘cleaner’ woman opened her mouth to speak – to voice how it was Selena who left her first. That it was Selena that had thrown all their progress under the proverbial bus and chosen her obsession for power and being world champion over her own family. That, in her obsession, her own ideals were not the ones they had believed in from the start – but Deanna forced herself to quiet the rebuttal. There was no point arguing that with the world champion. What was done was done – and she knew Selena enough to know, even in this ‘state’, the woman would not see such reason.

“So…this is what you’ve been doing the past week?” She opted to reply, her eyes looking around. “Living like…this.” She chose not to attach any animal to that statement – though ‘pig’ certainly came to mind.

Gazing around at her own mess, Selena spotted Oberon moving over to the corner to lie down, the creature finally showing some signs of tiredness, before shrugging her shoulders for her answer.

“Selena…” Deanna sighed, reaching up to rub her temple. The smell she had first sniffed in the lobby, upon being closer to her wife, was so much stronger around Selena, which didn’t surprise the shorter woman given the platinum-blonde’s appearance. “Alright.” She settled on saying before marching over to Selena, taking the taller woman’s arm rather firmly.

“Hey!” Selena remarked, stepping back and pulling her arm a little but unable to escape Deanna’s grasp. “What are you doing?”

“I came to talk to you about David and…” Deanna sighed. “And about the divorce, okay?”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Sapphire eyes immediately shot down to the mess on the table.
“Well too flippin’ bad.” Deanna shot back. “You can run SCW however you want – but this is happening.”
“This is MY place!” Selena shot back. “I don’t have to have you here.”

“You want to play that game?” Deanna shot back angrily. “You got David into this mess! He’s one bad turn away from being expelled!”

She saw Selena’s eyes go wide in memory. “How is-“

“You’d know if you weren’t wallowing in filth, Selena!” Deanna pressed, retaking her wife’s arm and pulling her down the path she knew. Together, they went up the large flight of stairs to the third floor where the master bedroom and master bathroom were. She all but threw Selena into the bathroom. “Shower, get dressed, and come downstairs.” She ordered before turning to head out of the bathroom without waiting for any kind of response. “Gods, you drive me crazy.” She said a little softer, more to herself as she left Selena standing there stunned.

Moving into the master bedroom, the redhead quickly darted across the room towards the drawers, grabbing underwear and socks, then blue jeans before moving to the closet and grabbing – her eyes fell on the large-sized black shirt with snowflakes on it, a size too big for Selena. A comfort shirt. She settled on that one for the sake of said comfort for the disheveled woman. It was at this point that the sound of a shower could be heard, causing Deanna to, temporarily, pause in her movements to mentally acknowledge the sound. Carefully, she then carried the clothes to the, now, closed door that lead into the occupied bathroom, placing them down by it before making her way back down the stairs, her hands rolling up the long sleeves of her shirt as she reached the ground floor of the suite once more.

As soon as her feet hit the bottom of the stairs, she was suddenly a red hurricane, moving back into the lounge room where her wife had been ‘camping’, for lack of a better word. Using one of the many bags on the floor, she began gathering up the garbage, stuffing everything into the bag: wrappers, cans, bottles, plates, it all went inside the bag, with Deanna doing her best not to gag at some of the smell. A quick glance into the corner and she was relieved to still see Oberon resting there, not eating whatever was lying around.

Once all the garbage had been gathered up, she quickly tied the bag up and walked it to the elevator where the other numerous bags were, putting it amidst the pile before moving over to the right hallway, entering into the kitchen to grab paper-towels, Lysol spray and a broom.

For the next half an hour, she said nothing, focusing her attention on cleaning the room, wiping the tables, sweeping the floor and lighting whatever scented candles she could find in the house until the place smelled like – well… she had used lavender, vanilla, one called ‘sunset explosion’, and a fourth one called ‘Summer Breeze’… so she wasn’t entirely sure what the room smelled like after she had finished the cleaning, but it was still better than old food and B.O! Of that, she was sure, any sane person would agree. Many times, her eyes caught sight of the little bowl of NX pills Selena had kept close to her ‘campsite’. Immediately, she had turned her head. Unlike Selena, all Deanna could feel when looking at them was disgust. Disgust that, at one point, she had fallen pray to the addictions of the potent painkiller, herself, almost losing her family and life in the process. The feeling further motivated her in her task as she moved about the room until everything was done.

Her cleaning task complete and the cleaning materials either put away or thrown out, the redhead moved back into the kitchen and began raiding the fridge and pantry. As expected, Selena didn’t have much, given her new ‘taste’ for takeout. After a few minutes of searching, all Deanna could find was some tortillas in the fridge, some moldy lettuce in the same place (which she immediately threw out), and half a jar of peanut butter – that had expired two days ago.

With a loud sigh, Deanna pulled the wraps out of the fridge and opened the peanut butter jar, giving it a quick smell before deciding it still smelled ‘fine’. Using one of the duller knives in the utensil drawer, she began spreading the confection onto the first tortilla. She had finished the third when she finally heard footsteps drawing closer to her. Putting everything away and washing the knife before returning it to the drawer, the redhead then allowed herself to turn around to regard the woman standing in the room, sapphire eyes nervously looking down, then up at Deanna, then back at the floor again. She was wearing the clothes Deanna had laid out for her and her hair was tied up into a ponytail. She still had bags under her eyes and said eyes were still bloodshot, but at least she looked clean and smelled ‘normal’, if that made any sense.

“Sit.” Gestured Deanna to the table at the side of the room, surprised when the platinum-blonde actually obeyed without any fuss. Taking the plate of wraps, the shorter Frost moved around the counter to where Selena sat, placing the plate before her wife, who gazed at her with the utmost surprise.

“Peanut butter wraps?” she asked, poking one with her finger.

“Works for the kids’ school lunch, it’ll work for you.” Deanna replied simply, licking a little of the peanut butter off her own fingers before moving back over to the sink to wash her hands. Grabbing a glass, she then filled it with water, returning to Selena and placing said glass in front of her. “Not like you had much to offer in the fridge or pantry.”

“I’ve…”
“I noticed.” Deanna interjected simply. “What is going on, Selena?” she asked, gesturing towards her wife. “This doesn’t make sense.”

Selena said nothing, instead merely picking up one of the peanut butter wraps and nibbling on it.

“This is not what I expected.” Deanna continued. “You got what you wanted. You’ve got RTG. You’ve got the main-event. All of it.”

A bitter laugh escaped the Snow Queen but she said nothing else, instead continuing to eat her wraps. Deanna gave her a moment to see if she would speak, but when silence met her for a minute, the emerald-eyed woman simply sighed before she pressed on.

“Alright, well, whatever your reason-“

Another scoff came from Selena, causing Deanna to stop and eye her wife. This time, however, Selena met her gaze before swallowing her current mouthful of bread and peanut butter.

“How’s Jessica?” she finally asked.

Weighing the question carefully, Deanna tilted her head. “I’ve moved her out of Lennox if that’s what you’re asking. I’m not going to tell you where.”

The platinum-blonde gave a shrug. “Didn’t have to but whatever. Just don’t be mad at me when she’s responsible for you not making it to that year-long reign.”

“That’s…” Deanna shook her head. “That’s none of your concern.”
“You made that VERY clear.” Selena bit back, glaring cold daggers at the redhead.

It was enough for Deanna to realize, with dawning clarity, the true reason behind her wife’s isolation and sudden living like a hobo. With a sigh, Deanna rubbed her temples with her hands. “You brought this on yourself, Selena.” She stated firmly. “I can’t… I can’t ignore what you are becoming like you can.”

“Clearly.” Selena huffed. “Must be nice to throw away nearly nine years of marriage so easily.”

“EASILY?!” Deanna spat out. “You think it’s easy?” a bitter laugh escaped her. “You think I don’t want to do what you’re doing? Hide away and cry and not care about anyone but my own pain? You think I don’t cry at all over how this has gone?! That I haven’t thought about you and us every night?”

Clenching her jaw shut, Selena remained silent, Deanna’s warranted outburst effectively shutting the world champion up.

“But I can’t.” Deanna stated firmly. “Because people need me. Our children, remember? Jessica? They need me. So if anyone is ‘playing it easy’, it’s you being able to throw them all away – all care for them away. Must be easy to do that. I can’t.” She spoke with zero guilt. “Anymore than I can throw away that I still love you and care about you.”

“Then why?!” Selena suddenly cried out, tears filling her eyes but not falling. “Why can’t we work this out? Why can’t we just keep trying?”

The redhead sighed. She had thought about how to explain this since she had thrown that signed paper at her wife. “Because you’re not the woman I can be with, Selena.” She replied simply. “You’re not the woman I can let my children be around with that much. Look at them. David’s cheating, Elsianna wants so badly to be you and Amiliah adores Elsa so she’ll do whatever her sister does… Whatever you are now… it’s not the person I want them to be. And you’re… you’re not the person I can continue being married to. And – like I said, the children need me to look after them, because you won’t. I mean… look around.” She gestured to the space – her wife’s castle in the sky. “Did you even think about them at all this past week? Or were you too fixated on the divorce?”

Guilt racing across Selena’s face, the older woman looked away, giving Deanna the answer she had expected.

“I still want us to be civil about this.” She reasoned towards the world champion. “We can get through this together as amicably as possible. You can be whatever you want to be in SCW now. I won’t question you on it anymore. And I’ll make sure the children spend adequate time with you.”

There was no immediate response, the platinum-blonde suddenly overly focused on what remained of her peanut-butter wraps for several minutes until the remark slipped past her lips. “You should be focused on your own problems rather than looking after me.” The tone was deadpan, but it allowed the platinum-blonde to lift her head and, once more, eye Deanna. “Maybe I fucked up this week, but have you given any thought to SCW?” she asked knowingly.

The question caused Deanna’s jaw to clench, but she refused to be ashamed by the answer. “No.” she admitted. “I’m behind on that. I’ve had to be.”

“Yeah well…” Selena shrugged, looking back at her food. “We’ll see how high on that pillar you are when you lose the title due to lack of preparation.”

Okay, THAT she wanted to yell at Selena about, but the redhead forced herself to reign it in. Mostly because Selena was right and because Deanna, admittedly, had kept putting the upcoming match off in her mind to focus on everything else.

But there was no denying it. All the champions that had been unable to defend their titles at the pay-per-view were ‘making up for it’, as it were, by defending said titles either this Breakdown or the next. In Deanna’s case, she had been told her title defense was this week against Scott Reed, the wrestler-turned-agent-turned-wrestler. While she had known him in business, along with the other agents like Tanaka and Dillusion for the last few years, Deanna had to admit, she hadn’t really seen him in action during his years as ‘Beard’. Yes, there were some matches, but it was splotchy at best, the man coming and going in and out of the wrestling side and taking up a role as an agent with greater attendance. Still, that was her next opponent.

“I was hoping to deal with that by leaving today and studying on the way to Kansas City.”

The laugh came from Selena and only annoyed the redhead more, the world champion shaking her head knowingly at the woman. “You really don’t have a clue, do you?”

“About what?” Deanna asked, a slip of irritation showing. “I’ve been a little busy with Enigma and trying to save Jessica – not to mention the children… and you.” She narrowed her eyes a little, accusatorily, at Selena. “So what am I missing?”

“The fact that he hates us.”

“How?” Deanna scoffed. “He barely knows me.”

“Oh, it’s not a ‘you’ thing.” Selena laughed. “He just hates me and, thus, he hates all the Frosts.” She seemed to think about it for a second. “Gods, you should have heard him a few months ago.” She laughed bitterly. “Standing in the ring, declaring up and down that I was ‘all that was evil in SCW’.” She laughed again, a bit more bitterness in her voice. “Like HE was one to judge! Fucking around with Ace Marshall and whoever would give him attention! You know it was him that did that huge ‘sex vacation’ a couple years ago with Ace, right?”

“So?” Deanna shrugged. “It’s his private life.”

Not the answer/reaction Selena had, clearly, wanted, the Snow Queen huffed out a breath before sitting back in her chair. “Anyway, the whole reason he came back to wrestling was some atypical ‘hero’s quest’. Wanting to be the ‘hero SCW needed’ – pfft, like THAT hasn’t been used a thousand times.”

“Including by you.” Deanna crossed her arms over her chest, eyeing her wife with a knowing smirk. Not to be outdone, however, Selena copied the stance, leaning against her own chair and crossing her arms as well.

“You’re one to talk.” She countered. “All you’ve wanted since you went on your own was to be ‘liked’ by everyone.”

“Being liked has nothing to do with it.” Deanna answered firmly. “It’s been about being my own woman, regardless of what you say or do.” She repeated. “And I think Reed will acknowledge that.”

The laugh that came out of Selena this time was genuine amusement, the woman clearly finding some kind of ‘joke’ in Deanna’s belief in the veteran.

“You think a man who spent most of his career in a mask and doing toilet humor and is so petty that he blames me for his troubles is going to bother being so ‘professional’?”
“I think so.” Deanna refused to budge.
“You really don’t know what you’re in for, Deanna.”
“Then explain it to me, Selena.” She stressed the name mockingly.

“Fine.” Selena breathed, pushing her plate of remaining tortillas away. “I found Reed’s whole spiel to be utterly pathetic. Blaming me for failing as a wrestler just because I took the Television title from him. That was his main argument. Everything stemmed from that. But then I faced Xander – who blames me for putting his career on a countdown. That’s what bitter and jealous people do, Deanna. They blame those that are better than them. No one made Reed face me. No one made Xander push things to that match years ago that cost him. They did it. But they blame us because it’s easier. That’s all Reed’s ‘hero crusade’ is. A weak mask to cover up his own bitterness. And we both know he wouldn’t last five minutes in the ring with me. He knows that. Hell, he basically admitted it! So, if he can beat you to get to me instead?” She clapped her hands. “All the better for him.”

“How does that change anything?” Deanna shrugged.

“Because you don’t realize how dangerous that makes him.” Selena explained. “Xander put me through hell last week just to try and get his ‘revenge’ or whatever against me. What do you think Reed will do to you just to ‘stick it to me’ and ‘get my attention’?”

Deanna slowly exhaled. There was some truth to what Selena had said. How many people had gone after Deanna since her start as a wrestler to ‘get Selena’s attention’? The One, Polly, Jenni Anderson, the list was a rather long one. Even going beyond that, on the whole, Reed had only had a few matches since his ‘reemergence’ into the wrestling circuit, with this upcoming championship match being his fourth or fifth, Deanna had learned that match. The man was on a tear and a chance at being United States Champion so early on in his return – well, it was huge! Especially now! A win would all but guarantee he took the title to Rise to Greatness to defend, which all but meant a guaranteed match on the main-card – a CHAMPIONSHIP match on the main-card.

She felt herself nervously shift in her seat. She had had to fight for her spot for months to get on the RTG card last year, even taking on two matches to ‘make it happen’, despite CHBK’s warning. As the year had gone on and she had remained United States Champion, and before this whole business with Enigma and Jessica, the redhead had hoped that her ‘growing stock’ would be enough to get her a spot this year, like it had for all of LexyCorp and other veterans like Glory Braddock and Kimberly Williams, especially if Deanna was still a champion…

But never had she imagined she’d get this far in the same reign. Never had she imagined to be so close to a year-long reign with the United States Title. She was so close now… and if she could retain against Reed. If she could get past him, good as he was and all the momentum he had, and, if Selena was right, the kind of motivation he had. She gulped. If she got past him… she could well be on her way to Rise to Greatness as the United States champion…

“So… he’s very motivated. The title alone will do that to someone.” She reasoned aloud. “But I just… just have to try and outlast him.” She eyed her wife.

“I can help, you know.” Selena offered slowly, keeping her eyes on the young woman. “Say the word and I’ll get Aaron out there.”
“No!” it wasn’t the word Selena was probably wanting, but Deanna threw it out as fast as she could, jerking her head back to stare down her wife. “I don’t want any help from you. I don’t want anything tainting this match!”

“Aaron is a good man.” Selena sighed in irritation. “He’s done nothing wrong as an official.”
“I know that!” Deanna sighed. “But I’ve already got my last defense hanging over my head with what happened to Adam Brock, okay?! The last thing I need is people thinking you’re pulling strings for me now, too!” she shook her head. “I want… if Aaron is chosen for the match by Alex, so be it. I’m cool with that. But I need this to be on my own. I need to defend and retain the title on my own, okay?”

“Aaron can help, though-“ Selena reasoned. “You’ve got Enigma and Reed has Scott to worry about now.”

“I don’t want any help, okay?!” Deanna all but yelled the response to Selena, catching the platinum-blonde off guard. “If I get to the year-reign, then I do it! If I fail, then I fail! But either way, it’s because of me! Not who I know, now who I’m intimidating! Now who I am threatening! But because I’m good. That’s the reign I want, Selena! You do it your way, let me do it my way!”

The two stared at each other for a moment before Selena scoffed, slumping back in her chair. “Fine.” She shrugged curtly. “Have it your way. But honestly?” she stared at Deanna. “You’re better of disqualifying yourself.”

Emerald eyes went wide at that statement, the redhead just staring at the woman. She must have misheard! How…how can she… “How… How can you…” she shook her head. “Even suggest such a thing?”

“I did it at the pay-per-view. Didn’t you see?” Selena asked.

“What?! No!” Deanna replied. “I was running around looking for Enigma!”

“Well, I marched into management office and told Knight that if he didn’t hold Scott, Polly and Kandis back, I’d disqualify myself and end the match in seconds.”

“How could you threaten that?!” she stared at Selena in disbelief. “It goes against EVERYTHING we’ve believed in!”

“Because it was a no-win, Deanna!” Selena reasoned coldly. “I was one win away from doing it all! Fixing the mistake for me, for my name and our family, for Aaron – all of it. I wasn’t going to throw it all away just so I could be screwed out of the title by interference! Not again.”

“But…” Deanna tried.

“You can’t change my mind.” Selena shook her head. “Sometimes, to serve the better good, taking a loss was needed. I was ready to do that.”

“Well… I’m not.” The younger Frost replied defiantly. “If Reed is better than me, than he DESERVES to have the title and take it to Rise to Greatness. Simple as that. I rather fail on my terms than ‘win’ overall on yours!” emerald-eyes narrowed at Selena. “You can’t change MY mind, Selena. So drop it.”

“Fine.” She sighed, her fingers running lazily on the rim of the white plate still in front of her.

Sighing in relief, Deanna allowed herself to sit back against her chair, her own fingers strumming against the tabletop. “If you really want to help me…” she spoke slowly. “You could take some responsibility for the kids.”

At the mention of their offspring, Selena’s head shot up, her bloodshot eyes laser-focused on Deanna. “Tell me about David.” She half-ordered, half-pleaded, causing a sad sigh to escape Deanna.

“The principal and teacher want to meet next week to discuss ‘options’ for him.” Deanna explained. “They’ve weighed everything I said and apparently, they want to discuss what they will ‘allow’ and what they won’t.”

“What does that mean?”

“Does it matter?” Deanna shrugged incredulously. “The important thing is they aren’t flat-out expelling him. They had every right to do so!”

“Over one instance?” Selena asked in disbelief.

“Hunny, he cheated on his final project! And not jus a little. The entire thing was AI-generated. I think they said it was like 98 percent!” Deanna sighed, pushing her hand to her forehead. “I told them all I was doing to prevent it from happening again.”

“What did you do?” Selena asked, leaning forward a little over the table, resting on her elbows.

“First, he’s grounded.” Deanna explained. “So, he’s not allowed to watch TV or play video games for at least a month. Even when he’s here with you, got it?”

“Got it.” Selena nodded.

“Second, I’m sorry but I had to install some kind of program on all the computers. Basically, it’s some sort of AI detector? You feed the document into it and it detects AI written prompts? I don’t quite understand it but the people I spoke to at Best Buy swear by it.”

“Why are you apologizing for that?”
“Cause I put it on your office computer too.”
“Ohh…” Selena acknowledged. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. David WOULD try every computer if given the chance.”

“Long as he can rationalize it.” The younger woman pressed, the implication not lost on the world champion.
“I get it.” Selena growled. “I still need to talk to him about that.” She reminded herself.
“Coming from the woman who just suggested I disqualify myself just to make it to RTG?” Deanna shook her head knowingly.

“As opposed to being unfairly screwed out of the title by Enigma or Kristen Scott. Or have you forgotten when you were SUPPOSED to fight Fall St. Patrick?!”

Again, Deanna had to relent. Her last singles match… hadn’t even happened! Enigma had sent Jessica Winters, dressed as Fall St. Patrick, causing the match to never occur. A match Deanna knew she could win, but Enigma had used it to play with her and to endanger Jessica.

“But that’s… that’s more reason to do it my way.” Deanna tried to explain. “My last match was a loss, the one before that? Thrown out, never happened. The one before that? Adam got injured. I’ve…” Deanna shook her head. “I’ve not done a good job being the United States Champion lately, you know? And Hiro wants to see more – wants me to focus. I… I need to do more. I need to prove that I belong on the RTG card. After all those matches, I need to prove that I belong there as the champion and much more than that!” she pressed. “We were talking about David.” She quickly shifted gears. “His hearing his next week, Wednesday afternoon, okay? Would mean a lot if both of us were there to try and figure out how to keep him in school.”

“Fine.” Selena answered quickly. “I’ll be there.”
“And?” Deanna asked, casting a quick glance up and down her wife’s visible frame, causing the world champion to roll her eyes.
“And I’ll be presentable, okay?”

“Good.” Deanna nodded, pushing herself out of the chair. “Oberon!” she called out before returning her attention back to Selena. “Did you sign the paper?”

Immediately, Selena’s face fell, any strength she had been carrying evaporating in seconds. “I…” reaching up, she swiped at her face with the back of her hand, inadvertently getting some peanut butter on her cheek. “I crumpled it up…” she admitted. “It was in that pile you cleaned up in the lounge.”

Which means it’s buried in a garbage bag right now… She wanted to be annoyed, frustrated, angry – some kind of negative emotion at her wife. And yet, Deanna couldn’t find it in her. Instead, seeing everything that singular paper had done to Selena, she felt… she felt bad. A little guilty. Not regretful, though it hurt, it had to be done. But still, she had not wished to bring this kind of pain on anyone, least of all the woman she loved.

With an understanding nod of her head, Deanna bit her lower lip. “I’ll bring another copy.” She spoke gently, reaching up to swipe Selena’s cheek with her thumb, removing the peanut butter from the older woman’s face. “You’re going to have to sign it eventually.” She added with some prompting, earning a slow, dejected nod from Selena as she gazed up into Deanna’s eyes.

“I know.” Whispered the Blue-Eyed Devil, though she looked anything but. “I’ll get it done.”

“Good.” Deanna settled on, moving back over to the sink to wash her hands again before calling out to her pet again. “Oberon!” her voice rang through the ‘castle’ but no response came. “Lazy bones must have fallen asleep.” Deanna shook her head knowingly before marching out of the kitchen, leaving Selena as she walked down the hall once more and back into the lounge, the sunlight streaming in to fully illuminate the room.

Which made the sight of her fluffball lying on the ground with vomit and blood coming out of his mouth easy to spot.

“SELENA!” Deanna cried out as she rushed into the room, barely able to register the sound of a chair getting pushed against the floor and the sound of feet running towards her. She had reached the poor creature when Selena had barrelled in, the world champion screaming “What happened?” before her own sapphire-eyes took in the sight.

Oberon lay there on his side, whimpering as he barely moved, vomit pooled close to his mouth onto the hardwood floors. Deanna reached out to hold him up and into her arms, not giving a damn about her clothes. “What is it, boy? What happened?” she asked desperately as Selena joined her, but it only took a moment for the women to make the same conclusion.

For in the room Deanna had cleaned, there weren’t any more bags of snacks, or parcels of food, or containers of goodies… but there was a spilled bowl of clear pills – the pills, like the vomit/blood mixture from Oberon, spilled all over the floor…

“I’ll call the vet.” Selena was up and rushing to the nearest phone as Deanna carefully picked up their dog.
“Hang in there, boy.” She whispered into his white mane of fur. “You have to get through this…” she added as she held him. You just have to…


_______________________________________________________________


So… where do we start?

I’m pretty sure that most people are expecting an apology out of me. Because, let’s face it, when it comes to my matches, I haven’t been, what’s the word – providing? – the same level that I’ve prided myself for week after week, month after month.

And maybe… maybe one can chalk it up to ‘bad luck’. We can point fingers – I’m definitely pointing one at Enigma for a few instances, let me tell you, but, at the end of the day, I have been distracted and I know it.

I have been. See, with the injuries that kept me off some of the pay-per-views this year, the scares of said injuries keeping me a bit erratic on the schedule scale, and especially recently with everything going on with Jessica Winters, I feel – I genuinely feel – that the words of Hiro Tanaka have been right on the money. That I’ve lost my focus as the United States Champion. That I’ve lost my focus doing what I should be doing, what I LOVE to be doing, and that is defending this championship as a title for everyone! A championship devoid of politics, tricks, specialty-rules, and, instead, being a title that focuses on hard work and passion and a desire to be here as an SCW superstar!

And I haven’t… I haven’t exemplified that lately and for that, I will apologize. I am sorry to all of you that I took my eye off the ball, as it were. On paper, I have not been living up to my own expectations of being the United States Champion lately and, again, I am sorry.

But in regards to what happened in Wimberley? I’m sorry, but you will never hear me apologize for that!

I warned you, Enigma! I warned you that there was not a force in SCW that was going to stop me from getting my hands on you! Not your smoke and brainwashed followers! Not Konrad with his mace or his gang, not Kimberly with her weapons and stuffed penguin, not a soul in SCW, was going to stop me from getting to you and making you pay for what you’ve done! Whether I was at 100% or my face was caked in blood, I was not leaving England until I got some shots in and Enigma, I did that! I got my shots in AND, cherry on the sundae here, I eliminated you from the royale in seconds!

But, Enigma… if you thought that was the end. That this was over and you can go back into your little hole or cloud of smoke, you are SADLY mistaken! Because Taking Hold of the Flame – much like it being the ‘start’ of the ‘Road to Rise to Greatness’? Taking Hold of the Flame was just the start. That was just the appetizer! That was just the opening act, Enigma! Because I am making it clear fresh out of the gate, this does not STOP until you release Jessica Winters and I don’t care what I have to do to get you in this ring and to make that happen! I don’t care if I have to wait for Konrad to tear you to shreds or bludgeon your lights out with his mace and I get what’s left over. I don’t care if I have to defend this championship once or twice or a hundred more times to get you, I WILL get you in this ring and I WILL free Jessica Winters! I SWEAR IT!

But again, talking about defending this title and back to meeting the standard of being a champion worthy of this championship and all of you – I need to thank someone…

Adam Brock.

Adam, I’ll make it short and sweet. First, thank you for your kind words regarding our last match and for understanding. I… honestly, I wouldn’t blame anyone for blaming me for your injury. In many ways, I blamed myself. It’s haunted me since it happened. It’s been weighing on my mind, and to hear you talk about it, Adam, it meant the world to me, so thank you. Secondly, I want you to know this: the second you are cleared, if I am still a champion – ANY champion – you’ve got a title shot! You got it, it’s yours, I’ll honor it if I can!

I don’t run from fights and you and I deserve the ending to our match that fate, unfortunately, took from us. So rest up, get cleared, I will be waiting for you with a smile on my face!

Maybe I’m jumping the gun there by promising something that I may not even have, but I need to have that mindset. I need to believe that I can make it through this coming Breakdown, because this next challenge? Probably one of the toughest, if not highest-stakes, I’ve had in the time I’ve held this title! And that has nothing to do with me and EVERYTHING to do with you, Scott Reed!

Now, I don’t want to rehash your past, Scott. You did that in your last promo and, I have to be honest, it sort of clicked with me. The hard life, the bullies, overcoming adversity to get here, it’s something many of us can relate to. A lot of us will talk about how we were bullied as kids, you got bullied for being you, I got bullied for, well, being me – a lesbian in a close-minded town in Kentucky. We’ve all got stories like that. It’s what fashioned us into the superstars we are today, and that is something you may not be expecting to refer to you as, Reed. But that’s what I see you as: A superstar.

See, you’ve managed to sort of ‘fly under the radar’ at this point. Going from ‘agent’ to ‘wrestler’ like I went from ‘manager’ to ‘wrestler’. Yes, you made some bold statements against the world champion, but so did Polly, Kandis, Kristen Scott, Glory Braddock, Xander Valentine, LexyCorp, and probably a dozen others. And I’m not discrediting you, Reed, but you know as well as I do with the years you’ve put in here that actions speak louder than words. It’s not enough to say or promise something, you have to prove it! You have to make it happen!

But a fire can only burn so bright until it gets noticed and, Reed, that time came at Taking Hold of the Flame for you!

On that night, Scott, you came into the royale and not only managed to go toe-to-toe with The One, which I can tell you from experience is not something a person can ‘just do’, but you also were one of the longest, if not longest, combatants to last in the royale, where I was one of the shortest – my bad, had to deal with someone…

But in that royale, Scott, I rewatched and saw you take punishment after punishment, attack after attack, even finisher after finisher, and each and every time crawling back up to your feet and still fighting – so driven to keep going. To prove that those victories you held over the likes of Cassie Wolfe and a champion like Kimberly Williams were not flukes but glaring statements of the experience and skill you had hidden behind a mask for so many years! To prove that you deserved to have eyes on you – to no longer be ignored as you have been for so long. And, if you know anything about me, Scott, you know I can relate to that.

You made it happen! SCW couldn’t ignore it, the SCW Universe couldn’t ignore it. And I couldn’t ignore it. Because you look at me, Reed. I took a mace to the head and kept fighting. I was wearing a crimson mask and kept fighting. I fought in a six-way and then showed up for the royale because of what and who I believed in. You know what I call that – what I have in me that makes me do these things – it’s grit. And, after all that I have gone through these past two and a half years, I will undeniably call myself a superstar. So if I am calling myself that and doing those things, what do I call a man that does the same kind of things with the same kind of passion and resilience?

Well… I call him a damn SCW superstar!

More than that, Reed, I call you someone that I am proud to defend this championship against. I call you someone that embodies what it means to be an SCW superstar. You’ve wanted that acknowledgement, Scott, I am giving it to you. Four or five matches into this new ‘era’ of your career and you’re already fighting for one of the top titles in SCW, and I will tell you, it is beyond deserved! It is beyond warranted! You are a challenge that, very well may be, the greatest challenge I have ever had for this title!

Because you tick off all the boxes. Tough, gritty, brings the fight to world-title level superstars, and does it all off his own back. So, if you were expecting me to look down on you and your past, for the times you wore a mask and did questionable things, Reed – if you were expecting me to look down on you as a ‘cakewalk’ or an ‘easy title defense’… that isn’t going to happen! I am not fighting a jobber. I am not fighting a nobody. I am not even fighting a midcarder. I am fighting a growing sensation! I am fighting a growing MAIN-EVENT superstar!

And come this Breakdown, that is who I am going to beat. An SCW superstar!

Because we all know what winning this match would mean to you, Scott. It’s been pretty apparent. You want to push through the ranks, you want to inspire, and if you can stick it to Selena while en route, so much the better. Get her attention, associate me due to my marriage and last name – it’s not hard to figure out. Just like your ‘status’ in this company – your status as a legitimate contender and superstar – is a paint-by-numbers/cold math situation, so too is your motivation.

What you don’t really understand is my motivation…

How could you? You’ve been wrestling again for what? A few months? And you’ve been on a tear, you deserve what you’ve gotten, but what that means is, while you’ve got the passion, while you’ve got the drive… the question now becomes ‘for how long’?

See, I wasn’t given that chance you have now, Scott. I didn’t just roll into the ring, make a declaration, win a few matches and then the keys to the kingdom were given to me. I had to fight, bite, scratch and claw for every step! I had to fight for years to get to the level of the United States Championship and I had to fight against icons and legends just to be acknowledged by CHBK, our boss, as worthy of such a title shot. Which means I had to take the long road to get to where you are now. I had to take the hard days. The days where I wasn’t on the mind of every person. Where I wasn’t being noticed by management, where I was being beaten and forgotten because another Frost was making a bigger name for themselves and ruling the world title division with an iron fist. Days where I was ‘guilty by association’ and turned away because one Frost at the forefront of SCW was more than enough.

See. You came back as a wrestler because you felt you had to. You had to be ‘the hero’ in SCW. I became a wrestler because I wanted to. And while your current road has been short, mine has been a long-winding one that has involved me fighting for every step. And I think… I think that’s something you’ve forgotten, Scott. I think you’ve not experienced how it feels to be knocked to the ground since your return to the ring. To have defeat knock you to your knees and make you question everything again. To have your momentum ripped from you and have doubt take hold.

You’ve not been back long enough to experience that again. I have. It’s what’s made me appreciative for all I have, while you blame people for all you don’t. You blame Kristen for taking you out, you blame Selena for beating you, it’s all someone else’s fault. Me? I hold myself accountable and that is reason number one that this match is so vital to me.

Because, like I said, I have failed lately in being the SCW United States champion.

I have been distracted. I have been off my game. And Rise to Greatness – a pay-per-view I have had to fight tooth and nail to be on every year, even on the preshow, is just around the corner. And Reed, I don’t want to coast into a match on that card. No, I want to barge into it! I want to come in as the U.S champion and put that title on the line! I want to steal the show as the longest current reigning champion in SCW! I want to, without any doubt, be called ‘SCW United States Champion’ as I make an entrance worthy of RTG!

And to do that, Reed, I need to beat you – a person on the level of being worthy of being United States Champion.

As a professional, that is my reason, Reed. To reset things on my end. To refocus on this title and to reprove to the SCW Universe, the naysayers, and to myself that I am worthy of it. To show why, for nearly a year, I have held this championship and overcome every challenge put in front of me!

But personally, Scott, I also need to retain this championship to save someone that I love.

Again, you’ve been focused on you and wrestling, and pointing fingers, maybe you haven’t seen it. But there is a plague – a sickness – gripping SCW and its name is The Enigma…

That person – that monster - has hurt people, endangered superstars, and has taken the hold of many non-wrestlers and endangered their lives…

And there is no end to his targets, Reed. He has gone after Angelica Jones, he has gone after Ginny Raab, he has gone after Jessica Winters.

On a personal note, Reed, I made it very clear that I want Enigma. No different than you wanting ‘The One’ Kristen Scott. But the difference is, where your war with her is personal already, Enigma does not seem to care about me. He cares about the championship. He is after the United States title. He is looking for more power and not caring who holds the title he desires…

You see Reed? That is why I need that person – that titleholder - to remain me. I need that to be me so I can get my match with him. I need that match with him – to bring him out by giving him the title match he clearly wants - so I can save my dear friend who has been like an aunt to my children. My friend that has stood by me in the same way you had people stand by you like Juice. My friend that has helped me get to where I am at here in SCW – who, without her, I wouldn’t even be in SCW!

Do you understand now, Scott? You can say a ‘win isn’t guaranteed’ over and over again in your promos, but for me? It is the ONLY way.

The only way to prove myself as worthy of the title once again.
The only way to further my way to my own identity.
The ONLY way to get the Enigma and save Jessica!

So you can be the ‘hero’. You can be ‘Batman’ in your story. You can be ‘the answer’ to SCW! You can be anything you want, Scott! You have that ability! You have that passion and talent! But this Breakdown, it’s not about what you WANT to be. it’s about what I WON’T be.

I won’t be your stepping stone.
I won’t be your answer to getting Selena’s attention.
I won’t be your ‘next in line’ on your short road.

And I won’t be losing the United States Championship!

In Kansas City, it’s everything. It’s the most important title defense of my reign as United States Champion. It’s the most important step on my road to Rise to Greatness! Because I am burning my way to the main-card, to a championship match on the main show, and to The Enigma!

Even if I have to burn through you to do it!

Checkmate, bitches!

[Huddie]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tCJx...W_Sss/edit