Meghan Strader vs. La Pequena Luz

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: Chronologically, Amelia and Luz's CDs for this PPV take place at the same exact time and converge right at the very end. I would say maybe read this CD first, though, just to understand what Amelia will find once the two stories converge and how it got to that point.
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Spring Break hadn't quite been the relaxing vacation La Pequeña Luz was supposed to associate with the idea.

Granted, it was pretty hard to picture it as such anyway because of the stigma that had formed around the idea, but Luz felt justified in her concerns.

She and Amelia had gone to Panama City Beach to compete above all else, and they had certainly given it their best shot. Truth be told, she wasn't too bothered by the loss to A/C Unit as the thought of Cid going out on a high note after a hard-fought win over her and her wife left her feeling content. True, both the loss as a whole and being the one to eat the pin certainly cost her any momentum she had going for her into a pay-per-view that had notoriously been one of her worst for reasons she still couldn't quite comprehend, but she knew she could bounce back and make the most out of what awaited her.

If she was concerned about anything right now, it wasn't the loss or the stinger she suffered off the Coolant Killer she'd been planted with, or even this definitive bout with Meghan Strader over the U.S. Title inside one of SCW's most dangerous structures.

She was worried about her wife, and that concern was only growing with each passing day.

Even if she hadn't been the one to take the fall, this was still another loss in an ongoing string of them Amelia had suffered, and seeing her confidence erode away more and more bothered Luz to a degree she'd never felt before, even for herself. Yeah, the two of them have faced plenty of difficult setbacks in their careers before, and yeah, there had been a point a long time ago where Amelia seemed like she had everything going her way while Luz had been struggling to even get on the board with a win without Amelia to tag into a match... but even that early losing streak Luz had been on paled in comparison to what Amelia was experiencing now.

As honored as she was to be one of Cid Turner's final matches, this was exactly why she had tried to decline Asher's offer of such for that Breakdown.

Still, what was done was done, and now Luz found herself needing to try and get her head screwed back on straight. Everyone had settled into London alright, and Amelia had left not that long ago for what Luz believed was a long overdue session with Dr. Celine Bolton. Considering Luz felt so much better after her last session with the NCA-sponsored therapist once she finally cleared the air with her mom over the lingering issues they had never truly addressed after all these years, she wanted to hope Amelia would come out of this session the same way, mind cleared and body ready to step into that ring and kick however much butt she needed to in order to turn things around and, if everything went their way for a change at Retribution, be one step closer to their hopeful dream of the two of them standing tall as SCW's top two singles champions.

Amelia had been vague on the details at the time, concerned more for Luz's well-being after that tag match, but Luz knew her wife needed to earn the right to be called number one contender for the World Title to silence all the doubt, just as she needed to prevail in the Thunderdome to silence all the doubt that had been stirred up between her and Meghan.

“Are we really sure we should be here? I know it's good to be home and all, but we're also in the heart of enemy territory and I just feel like we're inviting trouble.”

Luz's gaze flickered to Paul as her found family, sans Amelia, were busy unloading their own luggage and getting checked in. The Nevado couple had caught an earlier flight out to London, just to make sure they were settled in by the time Amelia had to leave to meet with Dr. Bolton, and Luz would be lying if she said she also wasn't wanting to start breathing in that familiar London fog and preparing for the hell she knew she would soon be walking into.

“Everything will be fine, Paul,” Evie said as she approached where the group was slowly gathering, making sure her gun was holstered and at the ready as a precaution. “The entire NCA is on standby, and we have several men and women helping Raine, Darius and I watch everyone at all times in case The Empire tries anything. They may be hiding out here, but these streets are our turf and we're fully prepared to end this today if given the chance.”

“Besides,” Gage offered from where he had been showing Ivy and Henry something on his phone, “this is where SCW's hosting their next pay-per-view. Kind of can't avoid being in London if Luz and Amelia need to compete here.”

As Paul sighed and wandered off to get himself a cup of coffee, part of Luz wanted to feel bad for him. He had every reason to be worried, even though all precautions had already been taken well in advance for this trip. While they were in the home country for Amelia and several others within their group, even if most of them had since moved to America, they were also in the proverbial backyard of The Empire. The deranged doomsday cult had been dormant for far too long, even after its leader had riled up Luz just before A Taste of Things to Come with a phone call out of the blue, and they all had every reason to feel on edge.

If there was ever a time for Caleb to strike, this seemed like his best chance to do so, especially when all efforts to even track down where The Empire had been hiding out were consistently thwarted.

Despite Paul's justified worries, though, Luz found something else to worry about on top of everything else already on her plate. She'd been starting to notice it more and more often lately, and it was almost impossible not to catch it now: there was a growing sense of distrust among the group for Paul. She tried to shrug it off at first, feeling that Paul simply kept rubbing everyone the wrong way given a lot of the admittedly backhanded attempts he'd made in trying to be a supportive fan for Luz and Amelia's efforts (which she's had to talk with him several times about now), but it was growing harder for her to ignore what was starting to grow into true hostility. She didn't know why, considering Paul was just as much a victim of The Empire as her or Amelia or Henry or so many others who'd been drawn into this just because Luz and Amelia had become people they genuinely cared for, but whenever she'd asked about it, no one could really tell her why they felt the way they did beyond admitting that something about the man just felt off and it was growing more and more by the day.

Amelia had felt like the only exception, but that was more because her frustrations had been consuming her to the point of trying to keep herself from lashing out at everybody, so Paul wasn't alone in trying to avoid that crossfire.

“You OK, Luz?” She looked over to see Ivy had been the one to address her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and trying to offer a reassuring smile. It wasn't the confident smile Ivy clearly wanted to offer, but even she knew things could be so much better than they were right now.

“If I said yes, would you buy it?” Luz offered a nervous smile and chuckle in return.

“Probably not,” Ivy shrugged. “You're worried about Amelia, aren't you?”

“Haven't stopped worrying about Ames,” Luz admitted. “It's just... bothering me so much right now how much everything's getting to her. We've had streaks of bad luck before... heck, we're both about to compete in big matches at a pay-per-view that's infamously been our worst for some reason, but this losing streak of hers is worse than anything I think we've ever dealt with. I hate seeing her question herself... I hate that the rest of SCW feels the need to latch onto this and feed into it...”

“My uncle told me once that the wrestling business is full of nothing but opportunists and backstabbers,” Henry admitted, scowling at the thought of anything Caleb had ever told him having any sort of truth to it. “You and Amelia are living proof that there are people who care enough about this business that you can carve your own path and change people's tunes, but as much as it makes me sick to admit it, he wasn't entirely wrong.”

“I just want things back to the way they were...” Luz sighed. “Amelia is absolutely good enough to be considered for opportunities and be shown the same recognition I've been getting, but I'm afraid if she keeps pushing herself harder and harder to prove it... if nothing changes...”

“Maybe you should be worrying more about your own match, Luz?” Paul offered as he sipped from the coffee he'd obtained. “I mean, you said it yourself that this pay-per-view hasn't exactly been the kindest to you in the past, and you're entering into such a barbaric structure all just to settle a score that I'm not sure warrants it, quite frankly. Makes me truly question just what any of the people in charge in SCW are truly thinking anymore beyond their petty squabbling with each other.”

Luz raised an eyebrow beneath her mask, trying to mask a lot of her reaction to Paul's input on the situation, which, quite frankly, once again felt entirely uncalled for. She didn't even need to look to know the others were glaring with enough force to practically bore a hole straight through his skull, but the overzealous fan only shrugged in response to once again ignoring Luz's repeated lecturing about the things he'd been saying.

“Luz!”

“Hey girl, welcome back to our neck of the woods!”

Luz was grateful for the distraction, especially considering who it was that felt this was the appropriate time to intervene. She couldn't help but jog towards the hotel entrance, where she was almost immediately swept up in a hug by her brother and sister-in-law.

“Ed! Em! It's so good to see you again,” Luz chuckled.

“It has been a bit, hasn't it?” Edward Blythe scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

“It doesn't seem like it, but we've been back here for far too long getting affairs in order,” Emily Blythe sighed. “Is our baby sister with you?”

“No, she left a little bit ago for a therapy session Darius set up for her,” Luz revealed. “I really hope Dr. Bolton can help her get out of her own head so she can get back to being the awesome butt-kicking wrestler who totally deserves to be World Champion.”

“We're hopeful,” Emily admitted. “Especially since we've been trying to keep up with your SCW exploits from here and... man, it really hurts to see Amelia like this.”

“It's almost worse than how she was when mom and dad were trying to mold her into their perfect little machine,” Edward groaned. “Yeah, she was absolutely unbearable to deal with, though that wasn't her fault, but at least she had the confidence to forge ahead through anything that got thrown at her. Seeing her like this... it sucks worse than anything The Empire's attempted against any of us.”

Luz nodded, trying to regain her smile as she glanced back towards her friends. For a moment, she swore she saw Paul look like he was irritated about something, but the look was gone as quickly as she'd noticed it.

“Well, hopefully we might be able to help,” Emily offered. “We've been stuck here in England for a while not just trying to keep our own careers going, but also sorting out the lingering legal mess mom and dad left us.”

“AKA their estate and everything attached to it, since hopefully they'll truly never be seeing the outside of a jail cell ever again for the rest of their lives,” Edward clarified. “All the paperwork and legal juggling's been a pain, but there is one big thing we did get out of it: Blythe Manor legally belongs to us now.”

“And Amelia, but we know she'd probably prefer never to set foot in that place again and we can't blame her,” Emily added.

“Forgive me, but how, exactly, does that help?” Paul couldn't keep from chiming in, which earned him stereo eye rolls from the twins like the answer was obvious.

“Because,” Edward stated, “when Amelia left the manor behind to travel alongside Luz more frequently and free herself from mom and dad's clutches, she also left behind a lot of her old childhood keepsakes, things that were basically her only lifeline to keep from completely drowning in all the expectations mom and dad set for all of us.”

“We figured you might want to ride out there with us and bring some of them back, maybe see if any of them can still help her now like they did back then,” Emily added with a hopeful smile.

“Absolutely!” Luz exclaimed, her energetic enthusiasm returning at the thought of saving some of her wife's forgotten memories and treasures in hopes that it might go a long way in snapping her out of this funk she's been in. She was practically skipping as she followed Edward and Emily out to their car, with Darius nodding to them as he coordinated some of the NCA agents securing the perimeter. Just as Emily opened the back passenger door and Luz was about to hop in, she paused as she saw that Paul was right behind her. “Um... what are you doing, Paul?”

“Well, I was hoping I would accompany you!” he added maybe a little too cheerfully. “Safety in numbers, after all. Besides, I've always wanted to see Blythe Manor with my own eyes. It's like a dream come true for anybody who's long followed the careers of the Blythes.”

Luz exchanged nervous glances with Edward and Emily, who looked a little uncomfortable with the thought of someone who was still somewhat of a stranger despite Luz's trust wandering around their childhood home, even if none of the Blythe children had ever been the biggest fans of those suffocating walls dripping with the suffocating aura of superiority above all else. Luz bit her lip as she turned back to the very hopeful Paul, who had now attracted Darius's attention as he and Avery looked about ready to intervene.

“Listen, Paul... I...” Luz started, struggling to find the words she wanted to say to try and let Paul down gently on this. As she glanced away to try and buy herself time to rack her brain for a response, though, she caught sight of something that made her blood run cold.

An Empire member, clad in the crimson cloak that had defined the cult's splinter cell along with his plague doctor mask, hiding in the bushes with a gun aimed right at Paul's head.

“¡Cuidado!” Luz yelled before she threw herself at Paul, tackling him to the ground mere seconds before the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air.

Before Luz fully registered it, all hell had broken loose.

From seemingly out of nowhere, a small army formed from the remnants of The Empire's splinter cell emerged, guns drawn. It didn't take long before Darius, Avery and Evie led their fellow NCA agents into a full scale shootout, and while the trio's first priority was getting their wards to safety, they soon found that the numbers were too great, the attack too coordinated, cutting them off entirely and forcing them to focus on prioritizing their own survival before they could worry about anybody else.

Luz watched as several of the rebel cultists stormed into the front lobby, only for most of them to quickly be ejected by her friends. Henry wasted no time in putting his own old Empire training to good use to gain the upper hand, Ivy used her raw strength to easily overwhelm many of the crimson cloaked crusaders, and Gage used anything he could get his hands on to defend himself while Henry and Ivy worked to keep him safe. As she started to rise, ready to join in the fight, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye... but not towards her. No, she caught one of these lunatics slipping away from the whole scene, and her heart dropped once she realized the direction this person was heading in.

Straight towards Dr. Bolton's office, where an unsuspecting Amelia had no idea of the danger coming for her.

Luz moved to try and intercept them, but she stilled at the sound of a gun cocking as the barrel was pressed right against the side of her mask.

“La Pequeña Luz,” spat the man who had fired the initial shot that started all this chaos. “The filthy heathen who killed our glorious leader.”

“I didn't kill Stephen Crane!” Luz growled at him.

“Lies,” the man scoffed. “If it wasn't for you, he would be leading us into an age where the truly worthy inherit a world finally cleansed of sin. You... and him...” The man shoved Luz aside, but before she could respond she saw the gun now pointed right at Paul, who was still shellshocked by all the chaos going on around them.

“Leave him alone!” Luz demanded. “I don't know why The Empire wants him so badly, but-”

“You really have fallen for his lies after all...” the splinter cell member laughed in disbelief. “To think you'd be so naive that you would let-”

Luz didn't give him the chance to keep talking. Fueled by adrenaline and knowing a friend was in trouble, she caught the man off guard by recklessly rushing him, and before he could point the gun back at her, she was twirling around him before taking him to the ground in her La Mágica submission, focusing on the arm that held the gun as she fought to pry it out of his hands as he tried to angle it to get a shot off on the still-frozen Paul. To Luz's relief, she had more strength in this exchange as she ripped the gun right out of the man's hand and rolled off of him, standing between him and Paul as she pointed the gun right at him. She had no intention of using it, but she hoped that once the man finished standing up, he would realize how badly things had turned and flee like his life depended on it.

Unfortunately, this man didn't seem to have any such plans.

“Go ahead,” he urged her. “Pull the trigger. Send me to Heaven to join the only true visionary The Empire ever had. Prove that you are every bit the monster that Stephen Crane always knew your kind truly are.”

The gun trembled in Luz's hands as all the chaos surrounding her began to sound muffled, as if she'd been pulled underwater. She truly didn't want to fire... she didn't want any blood on her hands... even as she swore she heard Paul actually urging her to pull the trigger to defend herself, all she could see was the splinter cell's leader, dead in a pool of his own blood right in front of her, the fear gripping her heart that she had actually taken a life.

She didn't even register that the man had stepped forward and effortlessly ripped the gun out of Luz's hand as she began to panic and spiral.

But someone did... someone that Luz hadn't expected to see right now.

The next thing that Luz's brain registered was the man preparing to pull the trigger on her, only for Amelia to suddenly grab him from behind and take him over with a german suplex. In the process, the gun had fired... whether it was an accident from the surprise, a failed attempt to try and shoot Amelia before he hit the ground, or simply refusing to be taken alive, Luz had no idea. All she knew is that by the time the guy's neck met the pavement, there was a hole through the side of his skull and he was gone.

Amelia had barely made it back to her feet before Luz threw herself at her wife, breaking down into her neck and chest as she could hear the sound of the chaos slowly dying down around them as the NCA and their friends got control of this mess. Amelia was stiff at first, but before Luz could fear that she'd made the wrong move, Amelia's arms were wrapped tightly around her, the two trying to reassure one another.

But one thought pounded in Luz's skull above all else.

Amelia, just like her, now had blood on her hands because of this mess with The Empire, and if they didn't put a stop to this soon... she feared what they might have to become to finally end this.