DISCLAIMER: The following is a work of fiction and not to be confused as complete or accurate representation of any beliefs, religions, etc. Please refer to research/articles by experts for that.
The Witches of Alden
”Oddity”
Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhattan, New York
September 26th, 2023
10:13am
It wasn’t the sound of the rain that woke up Deanna, nor was it the dull ache in her knee, a reminder of the still recovering limb. It wasn’t even the louder thunder that came by in flashes as the morning storm made its way through Manhattan, no doubt watering the rest of the streets, homes and urban sectors of the city – maybe even reaching as far into New York as Times Square… which wasn’t really that far considering Deanna could, and had, walked from her house to it many times in the eight years she had lived here.
These were all things she would notice after she awoke. But they were not what awoke the young redhead. Not a sight or sound, but rather a sense of smell. A scent that slowly creeped up on her, as if wafting into her and her wife’s bedroom before finally settling on her nose. It was confusing at first, this new scent invading her dreary mind.
Had she been dreaming? Yes, she had been. She was still there a bit. Part of her mind was still replaying it as if trying to hold onto sleep for just a bit longer. She was in a field of daises with her beloved partner, holding the platinum-blonde’s hand as they walked. It was sunny and there was something going on today? Some kind of festival just down the path from the park they stood in – that was all her mind was conjuring as the smell filled her, adding to the confusion. Why did the flowers smell that way?
Inevitably, the battle of reality vs. dream ended, Deanna’s emerald eyes fluttering open to see the white ceiling of her bedroom. She didn’t move right away, merely lying on her back and taking in the smell, her mind still a little groggy to understand what it was she was smelling as her dream faded from her memory. It was then that she heard the sound of the rainfall pattering on the window and, despite not moving, felt the twinge in her knee as her muscles awoke with her, twitching and shifting a little.
Her knee was still recovering from her fight with Bree Lancaster weeks ago, and her battle with Sarah Wolf hadn’t helped things. It wasn’t debilitating or whatever. She could still train and wrestle with little difficultly. But much like a sore muscle or a bruised bone or a sore ligament, some of the pain still lingered.
To Deanna, it remained not only a bullseye for her opponents, but a reminder… one her mind immediately, yet slowly in her awakening state, drew towards. A reminder of what she was dealing with. The fact that there were people now seeing her as a target, as an opportunity. If Rise to Greatness had done anything, it had shown that Deanna Frost’s star was certainly on the rise. Add not one but two successful title defenses into her reign, more than the current world champion, Kandis, and now… Deanna was someone to beat. Someone worth beating. Not because of her last name, but because she was the United States Champion.
Slowly, the redhead exhaled through her nose, a soft hum sound coming from the expulsion of air. It was exciting and terrifying. She had wanted to carve her own path in SCW, perhaps learn from the past year, both from herself and from her wife. She didn’t want to become ‘fixated’ on a goal or put the world on her shoulders because she felt she had to. She simply wanted to do what she felt was right.
She wasn’t… arrogant wasn’t the right word… foolish? Could she call her wife that? It sounded like an insult, but she didn’t mean it to be. But what had caused so much strife for the Snow Queen had been the perpetual mentality that the platinum-blonde had to solve all of SCW’s problems. That she didn’t just have to be ‘the standard of integrity’ but she had to try to make EVERYONE be about integrity.
And that just seemed… or rather ‘grown’ to be… unrealistic. At least to Deanna.
It was like trying to get every animal in a zoo to be a zebra. Or every person to believe a certain concept. There would always be detractors. Critics. Cheaters. People with low to no morality. People that wanted a shortcut. People that enjoyed it. How had Kandis put it? ‘Shameless’? That was just life. She had met many people like that in her childhood in Kentucky, just as her wife had in Nome, Alaska. And SCW would always have people like that. People that favored cheating and ambushes and tactics backstage rather than settling their differences in a match and proving their words from bell to bell with skill and passion.
So, why did that bother her A LOT less than it had her partner? It had driven her lover straight out of SCW, leaving Deanna alone to fend for herself.
And it wasn’t as if Deanna couldn’t see the problems. SCW was… struggling to say the least. Yeah, CHBK was a snake and couldn’t be trusted fully… but he seemed to be trying! Genuinely trying to do right for the company. And yes, SCW was filled with annoying, bad, corrupt people to say the least, but there were good people there too! Bree, Luz, Amelia, Kelsai, Syren, Quinne just to name a few. People that were, at their core, decent, good people. So, it didn’t seem as hopeless to Deanna that SCW could be better overall. It just… it didn’t have to be her doing it alone or by herself.
She gave her head a little shake as she stretched her arms a bit, feeling her spine pop in a few places – which felt really good. Maybe it was because she hadn’t spent nearly ten years in SCW yet. Maybe her wife had just burnt out from so many years of trying to do right by the company she had loved.
That happens… her mind chimed in. And it was true. For the most part, Deanna had really just rolled with the punches. Fought the fight alongside her beloved and enjoyed the ride. There hadn’t really been any pressure or ‘expectations’ on her like there had been on the older Frost. Nobody had expected her to do well on her own. Nobody had expected her to win any awards or be a good tag-team partner with her wife in The House of Frost. Nobody had expected her to be more than a ‘flash-in-pan’, a concept that people had believed in more so after the dreaded ‘Five Moves of Doom’ match and an abysmal TV title reign that saw her lose to the biggest – what word had her wife used? ‘Jobber’? – in SCW history!
But that had just made her want to fight harder to prove herself. To prove people like The One – Kristen Scott, Deanna reminded herself – wrong. One of the loudest voices that had tried to ‘rid SCW’ of the Frosts, especially ‘The Face of SCW’ (surprise surprise), had broken Deanna’s arm in the elimination chamber just to get to the platinum-blonde. And had, arrogantly, thought that such a thing would be all that was needed to remove at least Deanna. It all had simply motivated Deanna to exceed those low ‘expectations’ of her and push herself further than before.
Even so, the weight of the world had never been on her shoulders, either by choice or by circumstance (both of which applied to her wife). She had never seen herself as some kind of ‘hero of SCW’ or ‘savior or integrity’. Yes, she believed in it and wanted her career, however long it lasted, to be full of it. No cheating, no needing to be cruel. No needing controversy or ‘special treatment’. Just her showing her ‘grit’! That was it.
In truth, as she lay in bed, she quietly prayed to never have the pressure her wife had endured. She didn’t want the weight of the world on her shoulders. She never wanted to feel like she had to ‘save’ everything. She just wanted to prove herself in SCW. She just wanted to keep working at getting better, working towards ‘whatever was next’. Right now? That was having a full and successful reign as the United States champion. After that? Who could say? Would she still be the United States champion? Was ‘The One’ – Kristen – with her lengthy TV title reign too much for the redhead or was Kelsai secretly this amazing talent that could beat anyone and pull up what some would see as ‘an upset’? Champion… not champion… Deanna wasn’t sure what would happen at Apocalypse or after it. But she wasn’t interested in being ‘The New Face’ or whatever… hell, she couldn’t even be ‘The Queen’s Guard’ anymore without a queen in SCW.
“Maybe I need a new nickname…” she whispered under her breath, though nothing jumped out at her as she lay in bed. Still, it felt like a necessary discussion she would have to have at some point, either with someone in SCW like Amy Chastaine – who had, oddly, started taking a fondness to the redhead – or her wife, though that seemed less and less likely as the days went by…
Again, the smell came back, this time a bit stronger, but along with it came a sound. A slight, barely perceptible, sizzling sound from down below her – like WAY down below her. The first time, she had been too groggy to really understand it or recognize it. But now? Now that she was awake? It was so much easier.
It was bacon.
Yummy bacon!
For a brief moment, Deanna savoured the smell, allowing a smile to form across her features as she stretched again. The next second, she had pulled off the covers and shifted herself to stand on the floor, ignoring the slight ache from her knee as she stood up. She was only a few steps towards the door before she suddenly veered to the right, taking a necessary detour to the bathroom, allowing nature’s call to be answered. She even gave herself a minute afterwards to gaze at herself in the mirror, enough time to fix her red mane of bed-hair, pulling the strands and combing them down into the free waterfall of red that it was. Washing her face with cold water, the young woman finally allowed herself to exit her bedroom, making her way downstairs – playfully seeing herself as Toucan Sam!
Follow your nose! she thought in delight as her hand, using the stair-rail, guided her down the stairs, following the smell and familiar ‘sizzle-sound’ as they both grow fuller and louder respectfully.
Within another minute, she was standing at the doorway, her eyes watching the woman in the kitchen moving around. As for the kitchen itself? It was filled with various bowls, mixtures/batters, utensils, and food! On the kitchen table was a lovely platter of food, from fresh-cut fruit to toast to waffles to, of course, fresh-cooked bacon!
“Did you raid our entire fridge?” came the playful voice from Deanna as she leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, feeling the fabric of her dark-green nightgown. Before her, the woman stopped and turned, allowing Deanna to see her fully. She wore blue jeans and a charcoal-black t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight but messy bun, with several strands fanning out from it. Still, the woman smiled at Deanna.
“Actually.” Selena slowly stuck her tongue out playfully. “I went grocery shopping.”
“This early?” Deanna asked with a tilt of her head as she moved into the kitchen, opting to lean on the one side of the counter that was clean and devoid of food/batter/mixture. “What was open?”
The question seemed to surprise or confuse the older woman – Deanna wasn’t sure which – as Selena tilted her head to regard the redhead. “You know it’s past ten a.m, right?”
It was Deanna’s turn to be surprised, the woman jerking her head towards the digital clock on the microwave, but she also checked the one on the damn oven to make sure she wasn’t seeing things or one of those clocks was lying! There was no trickery. It was past 10am, moving closer to 1030am actually. But… she had gone to bed at ten, opting for an earlier turn in after her workout in their gym-
“I slept for nearly 12 hours?” emerald eyes grew wide, almost in disbelief were it not for the clocks she had seen. Despite this information, Selena merely gave a shrug of her shoulders.
“Maybe you were super tired.” She offered with a patient smile. “Remember when I had days like that? I could sleep the whole day away…” her voice trailed off a little as she fixed a plate with a waffle, some bacon and some cut fruit. “You’re allowed to give yourself time to recover, Deanna. It’s a lot that you’re doing.”
“I know but…” again, her eyes went wide in sudden realization. “It’s a school day! The kids-“
“I took them.” Selena interjected. “Sit down and calm down, sweetheart.” She gently pressed, offering the full plate to an empty spot on the table, complete with coffee, orange juice and utensils. “I got them to school before I went grocery shopping.”
“Oh…okay…” Deanna breathed as she fully entered the kitchen/dining area. “Sorry I wasn’t up. Were they…” she winced a little as she took her seat, more at the thought than any physical discomfort – even as she felt Selena’s gentle hand on her arm to help her sit. “Were they disappointed?”
“A little.” The older woman admitted. “But I told them you were working hard and that they needed to understand that.” Standing beside her seated wife, the platinum-blonde, without hesitation, leaned down to kiss the her wife’s forehead. “You’re sort of the breadwinner now.”
Deanna had to scoff at that. While, yes, she was the only person with an ‘active income’ in regards to her staying in SCW, Selena was still the one ‘bringing home the bacon’. First, despite being out of SCW, her merchandise was still on sale. Second, all her years of savings, months and months as a champion of some kind – and all the bonuses it held, and some investments here and there, had left them with more than enough money where retirement could happen tomorrow and they’d still be fine in their ‘Forever Home’. It came from not needing a dozen new cars or boats or some high-class vacation every few months like some of the less ‘thrifty’ superstars in SCW – not to mention Selena never taking a ‘break’ in her employment in almost ten years. Still, Deanna didn’t mention any of that, merely shrugging her shoulders.
“Have you…” she tried to choose her words carefully. “Have you given any more thought to what you want to do now?”
She had been asked week after week at Breakdown about her wife. From friends like Jessica to people like Jaina, to fans, to fellow wrestlers – all asking the same thing. When was Selena coming back? After a week or two, it had become ‘IS Selena coming back?’. She couldn’t go a week or a show without someone wondering or asking her about it, as if looking for some ‘inside scoop’ – including Amy Chastaine. Of course, Deanna had answered honestly each time. That she didn’t know. Because she didn’t… and it bothered her to no end.
She was Selena’s wife, the closest person in the platinum-blonde’s life, and even she wasn’t being told what the ‘plan’ was. What was Selena’s ‘next step’.
It wasn’t about the money Selena brought in as a celebrity/top-tier wrestler or even the worry of their future. It was just… Deanna couldn’t put words to it. Since leaving SCW, her wife had simply shifted. Done a 180! She never spoke about wrestling, unless in passing, didn’t watch anything, including Deanna’s matches, hell, the Snow Queen had locked up her office space and, far as she knew, hadn’t visited it since that first Breakdown of the new season.
Far as it seemed, Selena wanted nothing to do with wrestling or SCW – even the influx of calls from companies like TIA and XWF went unanswered by the Snow Queen, and since that episode of Breakdown, there had been many! She couldn’t imagine how many emails her wife had ignored since then. Offers from companies to have “The Face of SCW” join them. Promises of better pay, more respect, more appreciation from the fans… all went unanswered far as Deanna knew. As if those weren’t even things Selena really wanted anyway. Not money, not praise, not devotion…
Still, if that wasn’t what Selena was looking for with leaving SCW, then what was it she wanted… Deanna wanted to know. She didn’t know what to make of ‘this’ Selena.
Hearing her question, Selena gave a slow exhale before shrugging her shoulders. “No, I haven’t.” she answered honestly, yet simply, without the slightest hint of shame.
“O…okay.” Deanna nodded. “No rush.” She tried, picking up a fork to poke at a piece of sliced strawberry.
“I mean…” she heard Selena breathe. “Factually, speaking, I really don’t have to work again for the rest of our lives. Same with you. We can still afford the house, the kids’ education and such. We may want to sell the bus and plane eventually, not to mention let Eric go when we do that, provided we can get him a good job before that, but…yeah… I’m happy here.”
“But…” Deanna breathed. “You can’t just be a stay-at-home mom, Selena.”
“Why not?” she saw her wife smile good-naturedly, not seemingly upset with Deanna’s assessment. Again, something very different than the Selena she had seen for so many months – the one with the weight of SCW on her shoulders who could – and sometimes had – snapped at the most miniscule things. Quietly, she pulled out the chair next to Deanna to sit beside her. “Deanna, I’ve never had the chance to be a real stay-at-home mom or wife. It was you when you were my manager and then Gerda when… well, Frankfurt… and then a wrestler.” Deanna gave a nod, not wanting to dwell too much of her time in that prison.
“I haven’t… you know…” Selena gave a shrug, sapphire eyes on the hands that held Deanna’s free one. “Haven’t ever had the chance to just be… a mom, you know? I missed so many things of our children. And I realized when I left SCW that this was really a blessing in disguise.” She offered a smile, a genuine one, to her wife – something Deanna had, she realized, seen more and more of as the days had passed since Selena’s departure. “Even in Nome, I became a wrestler for a better life for Elsianna. It wasn’t until SCW grew on me that I became attached to it. Now that it’s… well, what it is.” Again, that wince but she seemed to pull back a little before recovering. “Now that I’m done with it, I can focus on what I should have for a long time. Us. The family.”
“But…I mean… you can do other things.” Deanna offered. “Like what about friends? What about the neighbours? We can go out more often too.”
“It all sounds wonderful.” Selena smiled again, giving Deanna’s hand an affectionate squeeze. “But I’m taking it slow. Baby steps. I’ve been one thing for so long… this is just all so new to me. I just… I guess… I just want to be happy.” She tried to explain. “After so many months of fighting for nothing-“
“It wasn’t fighting for nothing.” Deanna corrected.
“It was.” Selena sighed with a mild correction. “They didn’t want me. They didn’t want what I stood for anymore. Integrity…good form… honor…” her eyes grew a little distant, seeing something that only she could see before snapping back to reality, her gave, once more, locked on her wife. “They wanted me out.” She gave a shrug. “It’s fine. I was growing stale or something. An old act. Like The One said – out with the old.”
“Please don’t say that.” Deanna sighed. “I don’t want you to believe that.”
“Deanna, it’s fine.” Selena smiled another genuine smile. “It’s better this way. To leave on my own… well, not my own terms but before things got worse. I… I didn’t like what I was becoming and I don’t want to be somewhere that I’m not wanted. And with me gone, you can carve your own path, make your own name – and I know that you can win the fans over!”
“I…I guess…”
The idea had never really hit the redhead. The idea that she could be really liked by the fans anymore. In the beginning, it had been her association with Selena that had gotten her cheered. Then, when they had booed the Snow Queen, Deanna had been lumped in there too. She had been thrown off in the past by such random and wide-ranged audience reactions, however, much like her opponents’ views of her – always drawing her in with her marriage to Selena – it was ‘by association’.
Now? The reactions were muddy. They weren’t loud and wild cheering like with Kandis and her… ‘displays’, but neither were they the roaring ‘boos’ her wife had gotten for reasons that still baffled several in SCW, including Deanna. They were somewhere… in the middle? Was it really that way?
Some booed her and others were cheering – some still gave her high-fives during her entrance too! That was always fun! And some kids still wanted to get pictures with her after the shows, that always cheered her up!
In short… things were just… strange in SCW – about as strange as they were with “Selena the housewife” here. It wasn’t bad – it was good in some ways – just… it was all strange, perhaps because it was all so different from what had been her ‘status quo’ for so many years. Deanna missed the way the two of them could be united in a goal. She missed the ‘work discussions’ they would have in strategy to a match one, or both, of them had. She missed being able to talk about her hopes and dreams in SCW with a woman of such vast experience and then listen to Selena’s in return. She missed sharing goals and dreams with her wife, like regaining the tag-team titles – though that seemed impossible now.
It had been Selena’s one request in all of this. Unless she asked, there was no talk about SCW. The platinum-blonde simply didn’t want it. In an emergency, yes, checking in on Deanna’s health, sure, or advice on moves, perhaps – but that was pushing it. Otherwise, nothing. She didn’t want to know what was happening. She didn’t want to know who was running what or who was champion or what the fans thought – nothing. Far as she was concerned… SCW was on its own, and so was she, everything regulated down to a simple “How was work?”, which meant a one word answer from the redhead like “Okay” or “Meh” if she was lucky.
Was that why Deanna had been drawn to Amy Chastaine? Because she was filling the role Selena refused to fill now as some sort of guide or mentor? The redhead wasn’t sure but she had kept her word to Selena. She hadn’t spoken a word about her match with Wolf or her upcoming match at Apocalypse – a triple threat for the United States championship – or her fears regarding it.
To keep herself from talking about it then and there, Deanna gave a nod to Selena’s remarks before biting into a piece of bacon, tasting the crunchy, salty cooked meat on her tongue. Even if her mind refused to shut up, she could keep herself from doing that thing where she constantly rambled on without thinking! Food was the answer in this case!
Still, her mind persisted. Particularly Amy’s remark on ‘being too nice’ in SCW. What did that even mean? ‘Being too nice’? Deanna wasn’t ‘too nice’! She was in the business of fighting and beating up other people! What was ‘nice’ about that? I mean, yes, she tried to give people the benefit of the doubt like Selena did and, okay, she had forgiven a number of people that had screwed her or her wife over in the past, sure. And, okay!, she had become the voice of reason to a lot of ‘shady’ things happening to Selena… but ‘too nice’?
Was that even possible?
Or was it something less literal than simply being kind? Maybe it was a warning that Amy had foreseen in her experience in SCW. The woman was the fastest Supreme Champion in SCW history. Had seen her share of injuries and vicious superstars that did said ‘injuring’ – having been injured and, basically, taken out by Bree Lancaster years ago. Maybe that was the warning. That if Deanna wasn’t willing to go to ‘a certain point’, then she stood to suffer for it – maybe even be taken out of SCW for it...
It wasn’t a horrendous leap in logic! She was going to face Kristen Scott – the woman that had not only started an unnecessary brawl backstage just for the sake of her continued ‘warped mission’ of removing the old or whatever but broken Deanna’s arm.
Would she do it again to become United States Champion? Deanna almost scoffed at the thought, with bacon still in her mouth. There was no question. Kristen Scott was still “The One”. A name change or add-on didn’t erase that fact. She was still the woman obsessed with removing any Frost from SCW and achieving victory. Still a woman that would do anything to get what she wanted.
Was that what Amy had meant? That Deanna was ‘too nice’ to stoop that low? Well, yeah… that was true. Despite herself, Deanna couldn’t condone doing something like that to another superstar just to ‘win’ or ‘get a title’. No one deserved that! No one deserved to go through what she did just because of a match. It was cruel! It was unfair!
Did that make her ‘too nice’?
She wasn’t sure how Kelsai would feel about it because they hadn’t had much a of a history in dealing with each other, far as Deanna could remember. But no, she wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t injure an opponent just to get an ‘advantage’ or ‘a win’. It was wrong! Bottom line, it was wrong!
The sudden feeling of lips against her temple made Deanna jump a little, quick ‘meep’ escaping her at the unexpected kiss. She heard a quiet giggle, so care-free, next to her ear before she felt another kiss on her cheek before Selena leaned back a little.
“You’re gonna get wrinkles constantly frowning like that.” The platinum-blonde teased.
“Says the woman who already has white-hair in her thirties.” Deanna teased back, sticking out her tongue at the woman for added measure.
Giving a quick and confident wink in return, Selena pushed herself out of her seat, once more moving around the kitchen, this time for cleanup.
“I can do that!” Deanna tried. “You made breakfast-“
“Quite alright.” Selena smiled back. “Enjoy the food. I’m also sure you’ve got ‘work-stuff’ to do.”
‘Work-stuff’. That’s what Selena was calling it as part of their new ‘no shop talk’ policy. Working out, studying videos – and Deanna still had a lot of those to go to where One/
KRISTEN was concerned, given the fact that the woman was the SCW Television champion and, by the rules of the belt, had to defend it every show (for the most part).
For that, Deanna was grateful. One could brag about having more matches than either her or Kelsai, but it also meant that Deanna could study so much more relevant stuff! Up-to-date move list, mentality, weaknesses! She had found that stuff boring for so long-
”Can’t I just run in and just beat the person up?” – Gods, she had sounded so immature and petty back then. But now? Creating strategy based on ‘knowing your enemy’? Something her wife had taught her in her wars with Vixen Cain and Adam Allocco and Xander Valentine… it was sort of fun! ‘STRATERGIZING’ Deanna had playfully called it, and it was one more thing she missed sharing with Selena.
“What are you going to do?” Deanna asked. “I mean, with your free-time?”
“I’ve got a paper due for Mrs. Winthrop.” Selena sighed. “Gotta finish that.”
“Oh yeah… how is that going?” Deanna quickly asked. She had been so preoccupied with her wife quitting SCW and being the United States Champion, that she didn’t have as much time to help Selena with her ‘witch homework’ than she had before. Again, she watched as Selena shot her another warm smile.
“Good.” She answered. “Scored 83% on the last test.”
“That’s great, Selena!” Deanna smiled.
“You probably got 100%.” Selena teased back, not really caring which of them was the ‘smartest’.
“No…but I did okay.” Deanna shrugged. Despite her obligations, she had done all she could to maintain a good standing with the Alden family – if only because of the deal they had put the Frosts through.
Still… she also was enjoying learning so much about the Aldens and the history of witches therein. As for her wife, well… it was actually something that was also benefitting from Selena’s departure from SCW. The Snow Queen had thrown herself into her studies, immediately showing improvement in her tests and papers. She wasn’t a genius and se sure as hell didn’t understand everything, but with no burdens or stress on her regarding ‘saving a federation’, she would handle a few quizzes and papers, it seemed.
“Do you…” Deanna bit her lower lip, her hand distractedly playing with a piece of waffle. “Do you want to train with me today? If you get a moment I mean…”
She saw her wife’s back to her stiffen, the older Frost’s hands finding the counter near the sink she was cleaning the dishes in. For a moment, there was utter silence between the two. The longer it dragged on, the more and more Deanna regretted her words.
“It’s just… I’m nervous….” Her words started to speed up as she tried to explain. “And it’s a triple threat and I’ve been in fatal-fourways before but not with this kind of pressure. Because I don’t want to stop being champion and I don’t want The One to get the title after flying off the handle week after week and-“
“Deanna.” The voice was louder and firmer, but it didn’t scare Deanna, merely grabbing her attention. Slowly, she watched her wife, who looked so much taller with her standing and Deanna sitting, turned around to face the redhead. “I can’t.” there was a firmness in her voice but also a hint of sadness there.
“I know… we talked about it.” Deanna sighed, casting her eyes down at her food. “But… can we just… I mean… I’m scared.”
A sigh escaped the pale lips of the Snow Queen as Selena regarded her wife, her head tilting a little to the side. “I know.” She breathed. “But you have to do this alone.”
“Why?” Deanna asked, feeling the sudden spike of frustration. “Why did you have to leave cold turkey? You could have been my manager like I was for you if you didn’t want to wrestle. We could at least talk about it! We could study together, train together, but no! You make this life-changing decision without even asking me! You just throw at me at the hand-binding ceremony and then just walk out on SCW and me!”
“I didn’t walk out on you!” Now there was a defensive spike in Selena’s voice. “I would never-“
“Not on me me!” Deanna corrected. “Not on me, your wife. Me your wrestling partner!”
There was another bout of silence, shorter than the first as Deanna found her words. “You didn’t just walk out on SCW, Selena.” She breathed. “You walked out on me. On us ever being the tag-team champions again. On us being The House of Frost. On me learning more from you and being better. Of making you proud. Of learning from you – do you know how much I loved that?! That I could learn from you not just in life but in wrestling too?! Now… that’s gone. And I’m… I’m alone.”
She reached up to wipe at a stray tear in her eye. “I’m alone when I drive to the airport. I’m alone when I drive to the towns or fly there. I’m alone in the hotels because I can’t take the limo-bus anymore because you’re not there. I’m alone when I arrive at the arenas and when I sit in the locker room. I’m alone when I walk the ramp. I’m alone when I wrestle. I’m alone when I meet the fans. I’m alone when I head back here…”
“And…” she breathed, her voice a little shakier. “And all anyone wants to talk about is you. Where are you? When are you coming back? What is going on? Questions I can’t answer but remind me just how alone I am in this wrestling world.” Angrily, she swiped at her eyes again before turning her emerald-glare towards Selena. “So no. You didn’t just leave SCW, you left me. And I had no choice in the matter.”
There was no longer anything defensive in Selena’s posture or gaze as she took her wife’s onslaught. Rather, as Deanna tried to study, the platinum-blonde simply nodded her head. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
That answer sent shockwaves through Deanna, mostly because there was no denying it or even trying to defend herself against it. The Selena she had seen before Rise to Greatness would have fought to be ‘right’ with every fiber of her being, obsessed with doing the right thing and being right and bringing integrity and ‘the greater good’ and all that. But there her wife stood, accepting the accusations.
“I should have told you sooner… and I… I was selfish. I admit that. But I…” she took a shaky breath. “I need to be selfish, Deanna. At least in this.” Quickly, she moved across the room, placing her pale hand over Deanna’s once more. “You don’t think I want to be your manager? To help you through this time as you’re FINALLY getting the chance to have your own career? I do! I very much do!” again, she gave Deanna’s a firm squeeze, though this one seemed far more desperate, as if she was trying to will on her honestly into the gesture so Deanna could feel it. “But… it’s like my addictions. Once I start…”
“You won’t be able to stop.” Deanna slowly breathed.
“And then I’ll be right back to being a wrestler again.” Selena sighed. “Back to being obsessed with integrity and doing right by the fans, even if they hate me. Doing good by the company. And I… I just can’t do that to myself anymore. It hurts too much. And it’s costing me too much with you and the kids.”
Deanna didn’t answer right away, merely letting her wife’s words sink in as the taller woman held her hand, Selena slowly tracing her thumb against the top of Deanna’s knuckles. It made sense, and Deanna knew it. How easy would it be for Selena to slip further and further until she was a wrestler again, which the Snow Queen clearly didn’t want to do? Even so… though she understood it… she still didn’t like it.
“I should…” she breathed. “I should go train.” She settled on saying. “After I change.”
Carefully pushing herself out of her seat, Deanna moved further from Selena. “Thank you for breakfast… or brunch…” she shrugged, a crooked smile ghosting her features before she turned, making her way to the doorway. However, the compulsion to say one last thing stopped her, causing the young woman to turn her head to regard her seated wife, Selena still gazing at her.
“I’m not saying I don’t understand, because I do. I very much understand. But…” she gave a quiet sigh before she spoke her mind. “Running away from your problems never solved anything. Neither does hiding from them. You taught me that. Just like you taught our children that.”
With a turn, she left her wife with that thought.
She needed to hear that. She thought firmly. And if fighting her own wars in SCW completely alone was what was needed to get her wife to see the validity in her words, then so be it.
Screw fighting to change SCW… she thought as she made her way upstairs to change.
I don’t need to change the world. I just need to show that some things are truly worth fighting for!
_______________________________________________________________
The Guard Tower
So… a lot of talk’s been happening around, right guys? I mean, the elephant in the room regarding my spouse aside, SCW has been forced to shift things lately. We’ve had new management. We’ve had new champions and a new season of SCW as it emerges into its 21st year. And between people being ‘banned from world titles for X amount of matches won in a row’, to legends putting their careers on the line, to a quote ‘Shamless champion’, to an SCW without its Face…
There is a shift in things and what has been asked of me, what has been wondered besides the proverbial game of “Where in the world is Selena Frost?” is how will I adapt in this new SCW. Will I leave it as my wife did because the fans don’t quite understand or believe in me? Will I change like Amy Chastaine asked me to? Will I this, will I that… on and on it goes…
But you see… the problem is that everyone – I mean everyone here in SCW – is giving me WAY too much credit. You guys think I am capable of that level of planning. That level of seeing into the future, of foresight? The truth is… I’m just a redhead that wanted to be a wrestler and now is living that dream every day. I’m just a girl from Kentucky, living in Manhattan and wanting to be something worthwhile in my own life. I don’t have to be ‘too nice’ or ‘tough’ or ‘violent’ or whatever people want to slap on me. At the end of the day, I just have to be… well, me.
And that is the most important thing for me here! That everything I do isn’t because someone told me to or someone demanded it but rather something I decided to do on my own decisions. Something I choose to do every time I step in this ring and fight between these ropes! Never settling and never accept other people’s ‘views’ of me!
It is what made me believe in integrity, sure, but it also is what kept me alive in Frankfurt. It is what kept me alive in SCW. It is what has kept me alive when everyone else was sure that I couldn’t stand here without a Snow Queen looking out for me.
And yes, that was the case for a long time. When Chris Cannon threw me into the barricade years ago, I felt it. When Adam Allocco beat me with five moves, I felt it. When Chlamydia stole the Television title from me, I felt it. When Rated X stole the tag-titles from the House of Frost, I felt it!
I felt failure, I felt weakness, I felt inability, I felt the blame. Because when the measuring stick is, quite arguably, the greatest world champion of all time, you don’t need anyone to tell you that you don’t quite measure up…
It is no secret, it has been something that has been haunting me for nearly two years – ‘The Shadow of Selena Frost’. But even so, even with everything that’s come with being married and in love with Selena, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. The struggles, the ongoing battles I have to carve my path here. And it’s because of that certainty that I can say, and I’ll say it directly to Amy Chastaine with all the respect in the world: Maybe I am ‘too nice’, Amy. Maybe I am… but I wouldn’t change a thing about who I am. I rather be ‘too nice’ in your eyes and the eyes of every person that hates anyone with the last name of ‘Frost’, then hate myself every time I look in the mirror! I rather be me than hide behind a name, or a gimmick, or a concept I do not truly believe in!
You can hate me! All of you can! Voice your opinions, I love that you do! Believe or don’t believe! Because I am not here to alter SCW or save it or ram integrity down your throats. And I’m not here to be a scandal or pariah. No! I am here because I have my own journey and my own road to lead. I have a journey that I don’t entirely know the destination… but I am excited! I am here because I love it here! I love to show my grit and I love to show the world that I am so much more than the wife of a Snow Queen!
And to stand here now, with the United States title, one of the top titles in SCW - a product of that grit and determination, that willingness to roll with the punches when others won’t or can’t? That is…that is such a feeling! It’s vindication! It’s proof positive! It’s evidence that I don’t need to be a ‘hero’ or a ‘villain’. I don’t need to be a ‘savior’ or ‘shameless’ or anything like that. I don’t need to fill every newscast or TMZ!
I just need to be me! Deanna Frost. I just need to be me even when the world says ‘change’ or someone screams ‘Run! I’m gonna destroy you!’.
So… in that regard, let’s talk about Apocalypse! Because if you want to talk about that – then really, elephant in the room? Let’s talk about Kristen Scott, or as I know her better: “The One”…
The One… the self-proclaimed ‘workhorse of SCW’. And I find that to be rather interesting of a statement, One, because you’ve talked about it for weeks now – pretty sure you said it six or seven times in your promo before trying to shove your ‘People’s Champion’ idea that you liked better. But you gave a decent argument: How you’re doing more matches than anyone else. How you’ve run roughshod in the Television Championship division! How you have this killer instinct about you…
And I would be lying if I didn’t see that on full display. I mean, no disrespect to Kelsai, I respect her very much, but you compare the three of us together: You, me and Kelsai, it’s been the two of us, One, that’s made the most of our opportunities. Kelsai shuffled from a television title opportunity to trying to help her group have that title with Chance Owens, to getting a chance to become number one contender for the world tag-team titles. And, despite her talents, her knowledge, her experience, all the respect I have for that woman, such opportunities have, sadly, slipped through her fingers.
You and me, One? We can’t afford to let opportunities slip through our fingers. We have to grab them because who knows when they are going to come back, am I right? So I understand your desire to make the most of your reign as Television Champion and this triple threat opportunity for the United States Championship! If this were just a matter of who will win based on our abilities to make the most of opportunities, I’d say you and I are rather close with Kelsai slightly trailing behind.
But while you want to quote other wrestlers like it’s going out of style, let me give you an original line here… One I gave to you months and months ago….
“Is that all you’ve got?”
I mean, One – sorry, Kristen Scott, right? ‘The One’ is just a nickname now, right? Well, Scott, you come here and declare up and down that my ‘destruction’ is inevitable. That you’re going to ‘shake SCW to its core’… How can this redhead possibly ask such a question with such a promise of pain and suffering?
Better question, Scott: Why does it all sound so familiar? Like hearing that old tune on the jukebox and becoming giddy because you happen to know the lyrics! Because if someone was capable of destroying me, like you’ve claimed for nearly a year to be capable of, Kristen… why haven’t you beaten me yet?
Let’s go back a ways, shall we? The most iconic moment in our history, One! The moment that started it all! Let’s go back to the night where you and I were tossed in the elimination chamber for the number one contender spot for the world title. There a young girl is, hair as red as the blood on her face. Exhausted from having already competed in a tag match earlier that night yet still trying to hold her own inside one of the deadliest structures in SCW history.
Do you remember that night, One? Under Attack last year? Or is it all ‘buzzing’ from the fly that you’d rather forget? The reason I remember that night so acutely, Kristen, is because that was the night you decided (not for the first time) to try and make a name for yourself at someone else’s expense. To try and get my wife, the big fish’s, attention… by breaking my arm!
Without remorse or hesitation, you chose to try and eliminate me not just from the match but from SCW altogether, all because you thought “the Frosts had overstayed their welcome”. You, a rookie, same as me, thought you knew better than all of SCW, just like now with you choosing to ‘close the book’ on your feud with Chance Owens, arrogantly thinking you call all the shots around here.
Remind me, Scott, how did that night go? I eventually got my arm put in a cast and? That’s right, I still eliminated you from the chamber. You literally broke my arm and still couldn’t take me down, One! And for weeks and weeks, I struggled with rehab, I struggled to come back and when I did, what happened?
You were waiting for me. Ready to pounce and ready to try again and take what I had earned in SCW. You haunted me, stalked me, attacked me from behind with Nicole Kinneck – Pro, I know – but how did THAT little venture of yours go?
Let me paraphrase YOU, since you do it so often…
I fought you.
I beat you.
I made you pass out!
And it isn’t bragging or arrogance that I bring this up, One. Far from it. I know how dangerous you are. I know how good you are and how you keep getting better. You brag about numbers, yeah!, by obligation of the title you carry, you HAVE to defend that title every show. I know. I wore it too! The fact you’ve held it as long as you have is a testament of your ability, ruthlessness and that desperation to be more. Throw that in with that promo where you are practically begging the SCW Universe for a nickname, and you’ve got a recipe for a very arrogant, but deadly, woman that could easily do more than just break my arm this time around.
So, with all your growth and betterment since our last fight, Scott, all these lofty dreams of being ‘The People’s Champion’… why haven’t you figured me out yet? Why are you still missing things?
You think all I had to do was beat Quinne and ‘call it a day’? Do you remember who, precisely, I had to beat to get this title for the main show in the first place? Or who I had to retain it from on the first episode of Breakdown this season? Bree FRIGGIN’ Lancaster! Easily one of the top ten greatest female wrestlers in the history of SCW! Twice, I had to beat her, and she isn’t even the first former world champion I’ve beaten! Can you say that, One? How many former world champions have you beaten in this reign of yours, since you like talking about numbers. How many former world champions have you silenced MULTIPLE times? I’m sure you can brag about beating Syren once but it’s kind of hard to do that considering the last time you fought her, she trounced you!
Do you want to know the real reason I’ve beaten you over and over, while you don’t have a single victory over me, Kristen? It’s not because I’m more talented or more experienced than you. Ask Amy Chastaine, I’m sure she’ll say you’re far more vicious than I am. It’s not because I have some secret weapon…
No, it’s because you continuously underestimate me. You see me as the fly buzzing around your head and someone that’s ‘lucked out’ when facing you because I avoided the ‘swatter’ – odd analogy because I thought you were the horse, but still…
The reality is, however, is that I didn’t ‘luck out’ by you missing me. You got me every time, Scott. You squashed me. The scar on my arm is proof of that. You’ve ‘smooshed’ me several times! The reason I am still here, however, is because I took your beating, your ‘swatting’ and instead of just ‘dying’ like any other fly would, I got back up and kept fighting!
That is the difference between us, ‘horse’. The fact that, yeah, I’m breakable, but unlike you, I don’t know how to quit. You want to know what REALLY makes a workhorse in SCW? It’s not being here and bragging when it’s easy. When you’re at a high wave of momentum and can’t seem to come down! It’s the days things DON’T go your way! When you’re knocked so hard to the ground that everyone believes you won’t get back up and you still do! It’s the days when you’re too hurt to move but you do it anyway! It’s the days when you’re not the hottest thing walking but maybe the most hated or disbelieved person – a person all the SCW Universe wants to quit - and you still come here to fight for what you believe in and what you want to be! It’s the days, not when your friends support you, but you’re alone… with no one… and you still stand tall and still keep fighting!
It's called GRIT, One. And no matter how many times you’ve swatted me and, literally, trampled over me, I have kept getting back up because of it! More than that, while you’re content to throw cliches around, I have been in the trenches with the best to get better. Yeah, I evolved too. Just that, instead of changing my name and shouting one-liners, I got better in the ring so I can stand toe to toe with greats like Glory Braddock and Alexis Quinne and beat them! Where I can headline Breakdown episodes while you have stayed to your little ‘tricks’ of ambushes and blindside attacks from the crowd from last year!
So, yes, Kristen, though you use a different name, I very much know this tune you are playing. What’s more, I very much know how to OWN this tune you are playing! To the point where I can stand at Apocalypse, not in terror because of its name, but with a hunger to prove myself further and show that I don’t have to be ‘The People’s Champion’ or ‘The Workhorse’ or even ‘The Queen’s Guard’ but Deanna Frost – my own woman playing by her own rules and staying the SCW United States Champion!
The world won’t burn tonight, Kristen Scott, but your momentum and your arrogance will. Even if you break my arm again… even if you swat me down again, even if your trample on me again! I’ll just get back up and keep fighting until I beat you once more. And all your promises? All your borrowed lines? Well…fitting for the name… I will simply burn them out!
Checkmate, bitches!