OOC: First off, I have to apologize J. This effort isn't the entirety of what I wanted to do for this match. It's CD only, and a combination of having to go to work and waking up very ill this morning after a poor night of sleep due to an anxiety attack I had last night is going to keep me from finishing the promo portion. Maybe it's better that way because I wasn't liking where that was going at this point anyway, partly due to the aforementioned anxiety attack derailing everything last night.
I will say this about the second half of this CD though: I was very hesitant for the longest time on whether or not I wanted to do this. It kind of slowly begins a story that pulls heavily from something that happened in my life in the past few months that, up until now, only Olek and those few of you who are friends with me on Facebook would be aware of. I decided that it was a story that needed to be told though, not so much as character development for Blackbourne (even if some of the events will be slightly altered or exaggerated a bit for the sake of fitting for him) but more as an experience of mine that might help anyone out there reading it who may find themselves in a similar scenario. Maybe it's the fact that it feels like I'm using something I really shouldn't that caused my anxiety attack last night, but I will only veer away from this if this becomes a constant theme because I truly feel this is something that needs to be told.
--------------------------------------------------
Sometimes, one has to wake up from a nightmare in order to begin living the dream.
Aaron knows this idea all too well, and it’s been far too long since he’s felt like he’s started waking up from his own nightmares.
His rookie year in SCW had been quite the rollercoaster ride to say the least, from the high points of two runs as TV Champion, including winning the belt on SCW’s biggest stage even if it was on the pre-show, as well as a few big wins here and there to the low points of not being able to truly break out like many expected him to and the months-long mess he found himself tangled up in with a woman he wanted nothing to do with who turned both his wrestling career and his personal life upside-down. At the very least, he’d been able to close out the year on somewhat of a winning streak as far as traditional competition, including the win that finally closed the book on his ordeal with the Red Empire and hopefully for good, and while he didn’t take home any awards from the End of the Year Special, he finally got to dive into his creativity for the first time in what felt like an eternity and in the process almost prevailed in the always chaotic Open Invitational match.
As he said on Twitter though… if he had to fall to anyone, he took solace in the fact that it was his best friend Owen.
Naturally, 2019 began for many people with a lot of question marks, especially considering the power struggle that seemed to be in full force now amongst the ruling family of SCW. Aaron couldn’t simply ignore it either… after all, he’d become vocal about how Katya was doing business with the low blows she was willing to throw against anybody that didn’t outright fit her corrupt vision, and he did have a personal stake in the matter considering Katya was the reason his Scarlet Grey problem got worse in the home stretch. To his relief, Sasha certainly recognized what he brought to the table and flat out told him the days of him being denied the chances to both prove himself and share his creativity with the world around him were over, even promising him a match at the first pay-per-view of the new year in some capacity. Considering she’d also booked a huge non-title match for him on the Breakdown preceding that event, he had no reason not to take her words to heart about making 2019 his year.
With every upside, however, there always has to be a downside as well, and there was one nightmare that still continued to linger on.
The war with the Red Empire may have been settled, but only Aaron and the woman he loved were aware of the second war he’d been fighting for just as long and still wasn’t over yet. His imagination, once the proud landscape he enjoyed immersing himself in when he needed a break from the reality around him, had been plunged into a darkness that continued to do a number on his mental state. His two most evolved concepts had both staked claim to something that did not belong to them, one for the sake of simply feeding off of Aaron’s stress and suffering in hopes of consuming him, and the other claiming to be the staunch defenders that would stop him – a noble act if the creative soul didn’t already deduce they were expecting to be rewarded in their victory and that was the only reason they were trying to fight ‘for’ him.
Unfortunately for both sides, no matter how much they tried to invest into this ongoing battle, the final outcome was always
his to decide, and no amount of avoiding his attempts to communicate that to them was going to change it. They couldn’t dodge the truth forever, and with reality starting to turn around for him it was only a matter of time before one of these antagonistic forces of his fantasy would begin to weaken, and that’s all the opening Aaron needed to close the door on this nonsense once and for all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of all the things Aaron was expecting to see, this was certainly about as far away as he could get.
As had become the theme of every night by now, it was a virtual coin toss of whether he’d be allowed a normal night of sweet dreams or instead be forced to bear witness to the endless landscape of his self-created world being torn apart by a conflict that had about as much sense in the long run as an old Looney Tunes short. It seemed like this might be a case of the latter, but while prior instances had dropped him in open worlds he’d designed to be homes for certain categories of ideas and characters to see what it’s done to them or how they’d been drawn into this pointless conflict somehow, this time he almost seemed like he was all alone in a place that he certainly didn’t recognize as his own doing. The hallway he found himself walking through was a unique mix of stone and metal, and every now and then he saw various cables or gears running through holes seemingly smashed into the structure in order to give it power. Certain open doorways revealed what looked like weapons manufacturing plants or the kind of laboratories that would fulfill all the dreams of every mad scientist in existence, but Aaron didn’t opt to explore them.
Something about this place left a familiar vibe with him, and that vibe was demanding his presence in one specific location of whatever this place was.
While the walking seemed to stretch on for an amount of time the designer didn’t bother to keep track of, he finally seemed to find where he needed to go as he reached the hall’s end, passing through the opening into easily one of the biggest rooms he’d ever seen or imagined in his life. It was the equivalent of walking into the biggest sporting venue ever built, except there wasn’t a single soul to react to his entrance and no ring or seating or anything. Instead, there were several machines that no doubt had different purposes scattered about along the walls, with several of them also running cables along the ground to a giant holographic sphere floating in the middle of the room that seemed to function as a viewing monitor, seeing as how it was currently playing out what looked like another fierce battle somewhere in his self-conceived land of make-believe. Sitting well above this was something that looked like the underside of what could easily be described as simply as a “doomsday ray” that was a stereotype of the evil scientist kind of character, though its exact functionality and destructive capabilities were unknown and Aaron preferred to keep it that way. This area was certainly fascinating visually, but something still wouldn’t stop bothering him as he carefully took a few steps around.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
And there it was; the familiar feeling that always made his blood run cold, the voice that embodied everything he truly didn’t want to be no matter what kind of darkness he was willing to share with the world around him all in the name of creative expression. As much as he knew Nemesis was well aware of this effect he always seemed to have on the man his mere existence constantly plagued, Aaron refused to give him the satisfaction of turning around and acknowledging him this time even as he slowly seemed to emerge from the same hallway he’d just come from without a trace of the twisted reflection. The monster didn’t seem fazed by this, opting to simply close the distance until he was standing just behind him, both looking like he was admiring the same sight his visitor was just taking in and knowing he could speak at a volume that would really get under the man’s skin.
“I have to admit Aaron, I’m a little surprised you opted to pay a visit to what I’ve managed to turn into my own little fortress of sorts. I didn’t even think you were aware of its presence.”
“I wasn’t. But considering you and the Twin Stars seem to be very adamant about trying to decide where I end up to make me feel like I’ve lost control of my own thoughts, you can stop pretending to be surprised.”
“And here I was hoping you’d indulge me, but I guess you don’t like showing me the same attitude you use to deal with those cosmic cockroaches.”
Aaron’s expression never changed even as Nemesis slowly began to walk around him, a smug look plastered onto his twisted visage. When it came to trying to pacify the concepts that had taken on lives of their own, Aaron had to use different methods and this nightmarish clone of him knew it all too well. Since Dreambender and Gleeful rarely took anything seriously, the only way he knew he could get them to actually listen to the logic he would try to verbally combat them with was to kind of play on their level at first until he had their attention. Nemesis, on the other hand, was never one for fun and games unless he was actively trying to get to him, so a serious and straightforward approach always kept that door slammed shut.
“Considering you dragged me here, I can only assume you need something from me. You never want to confront me face-to-face unless you’re certain you have me in a position where you’re comfortable making demands.”
“So, you actually have been paying attention all these years. And here I thought I’d be less predictable because you think you can keep finding these hope spots to block me out or drive me into hiding. Considering I would think you’re finally starting to understand that there is no such thing as a ‘stress-free environment’ anymore, how is that working out for you lately?”
“Outside of a constant headache from this game of making me think I’ve lost control of my own imagination… pretty good, actually.”
Nemesis couldn’t help but raise the only eyebrow he had at this. Aaron managed a small smile but kept it hard to notice as this seemed like a good start, but the embodiment of all his stress and negativity was more curious than anything else right now, and that didn’t equal solid footing just yet.
“Pretty good, huh? Come now Aaron, you know you can’t lie to me. I know you better than any entity you’ve ever brought into existence in this realm, and for that matter better than any actual person you’ve ever known. No matter how much you think you can suppress it in hopes of weakening me, I will always find what plagues you and build upon it. Besides, we both know this so-called war is more of a distraction from the ones causing something you hold dear to fall apart.”
As if to illustrate his point, the holographic video sphere behind him suddenly changes what’s playing on it. Gone is whatever bloody clash is happening somewhere else in this vast imaginarium, and taking its place are replays of events that have already happened. From several moments of Scarlet Grey trying to flirt with Aaron or parade around in next to nothing before him to the incident that temporarily got Liane banned from being allowed backstage, Katya’s suggestion to allow Mr. D to book the bikini contest as well as the end of said contest when Scarlet snapped until she got her way, the clear toll that both Aaron and Liane were suffering from in the wake of all of this outside the ring… Nemesis didn’t need to turn around and watch any of it, knowing he had every reason to be smiling right now at what this trip down memory lane was doing to his victim. While Aaron’s small smile faded, he still stood stone-faced against the monster’s attempt to get to him.
“There is no ignoring the stress that might as well be creating an aura around you, Aaron. Your attempts to stand firmly with your feelings even as your career and relationship are being scorched by both a woman who has proven she will do anything to have you and a ruling power who prefers her unique ideas to yours are only doing you more harm than good. Everything you stand for, everything you’ve ever scratched and clawed to earn is fading away, and it’s only a matter of time before that void devours it all and leaves you with absolutely nothing.”
“Is there a point to this?”
Nemesis can’t resist chuckling at Aaron’s attempt to continue to stand defiant against him as he slowly extends his hand.
“I’m offering you the chance at an early release. We both know this is inevitable, so instead of prolonging your suffering, I’m willing to set you free from all the pain right now. Allow me to take hold and be the sword that not only slays the Red Empire but cuts down anyone who thinks they can stand between you and the monster you were always truly destined to be. Show them what they’ve done as that negative power becomes the very thing that not only rids me of those brats once and for all, but allows you to be feared for no longer hiding from the horrors within.”
Aaron glances down at Nemesis’ outstretched hand as he makes his sales pitch, not at all surprised that this was the ultimate endgame even if he is a bit taken aback by the fact it’s willingly being offered to him. As his gaze slowly shifts to the clips repeating on the big holosphere, something begins to click in his head. The one common denominator to all of them, and in fact the very core of Nemesis’ rationale, was the fact that these were all events that had ALREADY been resolved. The Red Empire was defeated and now in the rear view mirror and he knew full well that despite likely having to fight through the impending civil war between Katya and Sasha firmly on the side of the latter, his career wasn’t in the same state of doubt that it had been roughly a month earlier. There had been a possibility crossing his mind in the aftermath and leading up to the End of the Year Special, and this all but confirmed it. The smirk and small laugh that Aaron let out at this seemed to turn the tables as Nemesis now looked a bit confused and annoyed.
“Those two actually did something that truly helped me for a change.”
Before his twisted doppelganger could question what this line meant, Aaron suddenly kicked his hand away, putting enough force behind the blow that it actually sent Nemesis staggering back a bit as he tried to shake some feeling back into it. He could only glare at the man who just rejected his offer as Aaron displayed a whole new level of defiance in the face of arguably his most determined creation, the smirk slowly giving way to a fierce glare that made it clear he was ready to throw down if Nemesis tried anything.
“Let me ask you something Nemesis: when’s the last time you actually paid any attention to what’s going on beyond the confines of my mind?”
“Irrelevant. As long as you are under stress, I remain strong.”
“And as I told you, the only thing even remotely resembling stress I’m still dealing with is this nonsense between you and the Twin Stars. What you’ve tried to show me, and the fact that you think I’m already so deep into that toxic swamp I’m ripe for ‘saving’ tells me only one thing: you’ve been too preoccupied with whatever fight they’re giving you to keep tabs on the fact that your sources of power are beginning to disappear.”
As if the large holosphere picked up on what was going through Aaron’s head right now, its feed was lost to the distorted crackle of static, which was enough to divert Nemesis’ attention. When it finally returned, the clips it now revealed were more recent events that had the abomination’s eyes going wide: Aaron and Liane’s tag team victory that rid them of the Red Empire forever, the ‘celebrating’ they did for the very first time over the holidays that brought them even closer together and took their relationship another step farther, the incredible performance from the Open Invitational that almost saw him go all the way by the frozen claw of Kaldr, even Sasha’s promise to him from the previous Breakdown. Nemesis couldn’t help but curse to himself, trying hard to hide it but Aaron’s ears picked it up well enough. He knew his power was slowly fading as of late but he’d chalked it up to simply being tired of the forces he was fighting against, but now that he knew the truth it changed the entire ballgame at hand. For the first time in a while, the self-proclaimed ‘Nightmare of Negativity’ was on the back foot.
“You’re in no position to receive anything from me Nemesis, either willingly or by force. Even if SCW is still in a state of turmoil, I know without a shred of doubt it’s not going to stop me from doing what I want and fighting to prove I deserve opportunities, all while going about my business in the way that only I can. You… will never see the light of day, not in the ring and certainly not in my life when everything is finally back on track. As long as you are denied your source of power, you have no control over me, and this bullshit involving my imagination and trying to take it away from me will yield nothing for you. If it’s any consolation, though… I’ll be sure to give the same message to Dreambender and Gleeful when I see them again. Take that as you will, but you will not be taking anything as long as I have a say in the matter.”
With that, Aaron turned to walk away, knowing it likely wouldn’t be long until he woke up at this point and having made things explicitly clear to the more difficult of his lingering problems. Nemesis started to motion as though he was going to pursue, but stopped when the pain shooting through his hand suddenly got worse. His entire state of being all boiled down to whatever Aaron was going through, and if he wasn’t being ripped apart by doubt or stress or anything going wrong than Nemesis was far from being as threatening as he looked. Even a simple kick to the hand felt like Aaron had demolished the bones within, and the twisted clone could only watch as the object of his torment disappeared before turning his attention back to his spherical monitor, seeing that the feed had returned to whatever battle it was playing before just in time for his forces to fall in defeat. He could only grit his teeth in a combination of pain and frustration at how horribly this had turned against him.
Almost as if a light bulb suddenly went off in his head though, that look slowly gave way to a malicious smile as he glanced back in the direction where Aaron once stood, knowing his final input on this matter would go unheard until it was too late.
“You may be happy now Aaron… but your whole world is still on the verge of collapsing, and not even you will be able to keep fighting me once it happens. There’s only so much the human spirit can endure, after all…”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Aaron’s eyes slowly began to open, he couldn’t help but shut them again as they didn’t seem ready to greet the daylight quite yet, nor did his body feel ready to rise and get a start on the day ahead. While sometimes this was due to an ultimate lack of sleep during the night, today it felt more like he wanted to just take it easy an relax. Unfortunately for his body, he knew he couldn’t afford to do that and managed to get his eyes opened up to adjust while he stretched his arms out from beneath the covers, letting out a yawn in the process. Rolling over slightly to lean on his arm as he threw the covers down to around his knees, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Maybe I should stay in bed a little longer… looks like there’s a full moon out.”
Liane had been sitting on the edge of the bed sending a text message when she heard her boyfriend’s voice, and she couldn’t help but laugh as she turned back to grin at him. Clearly her humor was rubbing off on him, though it was hard to ignore the softball he’d been thrown in this situation. After all, there wasn’t a piece of clothing to be found on either of them, and her current position made it hard for him to ignore the great view he ended up getting. Ever since that fateful night weeks ago after they’d returned to Seattle where they’d finally taken the next step in their relationship, moments like this were becoming more frequent as they began to get used to it, and humor certainly helped keep the mood light to make sure they could keep growing more comfortable with the idea. Granted, they’d discussed not going overboard with this whole thing just yet considering they both knew full well where the strength to their relationship truly lay, but it didn’t hurt when they had something to celebrate. While Sasha’s news from the last Breakdown didn’t seem like much to most people, to Aaron the news of efforts to make sure he would no longer be denied chances to step in the ring and prove himself, especially when he had a stage to open the floodgates of his imagination, was exactly what he needed to know that 2019 was his chance to do exactly what she wanted him to do: make it his. Considering Liane had also received a phone call later that night about a potentially big comedy opportunity she couldn’t turn down, they felt there was plenty of excuses to indulge this time around.
“Someone’s definitely in a good mood this morning. I take it you slept well?”
“Yeah, for a change. Last night definitely helped, but so did what I’m pretty sure was a dream trek into my imagination to set a certain someone straight.”
Liane couldn’t help but reach back and rest her hand on top of Aaron’s as it rested over his bare ribcage, almost as though she were silently giving him extra strength. Ever since she’d learned of the mess going on inside her boyfriend’s head, she’d tried to be as supportive as possible. It wasn’t easy considering that being inside his mind meant it was his fight, which made her feel useless at times when it seemed to take him out of it, but while anyone else might just ship him off to a therapist’s office or an asylum she was as understanding as possible and did everything in her power to help him in his fight, especially since her efforts to keep a positive vibe around them at all times not only greatly helped him but also kept her own inner demon at bay. As Aaron looked down at the affectionate touch with a softer smile, his eyes couldn’t help but trail over get a glimpse of Liane’s phone and the conversation it currently presented.
“You know I’m always here to help however I can, and hopefully this means the last of your problems will be gone and we can just focus on a brighter future already.”
“I really hope so. I’m getting tired of feeling like I have to fight against my greatest asset on top of whoever’s across the ring from me, just as I’m sure you’re tired of Lane blowing up your phone.”
Liane glanced over and realized she was inadvertently revealing her text conversation to Aaron and quickly closed that screen, biting her bottom lip a bit as while he could already guess without needing to read too much into what it was about, it was still a little awkward for her to have someone from outside of her family peeking into a Forte family chat. Aaron gently locked fingers with her as she turned to set her phone on the bedside table.
“She’s not letting go of the Invitational, is she?”
“She will eventually. She’s kind of starting to… at least she’s moved on to trying to bug me about all your secrets and how you got so good. But not being a winner is unfamiliar territory for her, especially since she wants to give the business a full-fledged shot at some point. This is one of those times when I kind of wish she hadn’t learned about the ties I have in the business now.”
“That’s way too familiar territory for me. I know I’ve told you all about the times my family would blow up my phone because they couldn’t let go, especially my brother Andrew when he needed someone to vent to about his relationship but didn’t really want the advice on how to deal with it.”
The couple couldn’t help but exchange a glance that was more along the lines of quiet understanding than anything else as their hands slowly parted. It almost felt similar to the conversation they first had almost a year ago during that fateful meeting at the bar that would ultimately be the start of their journey together, and they’ve both learned all about their respective family problems and why they tried to get some distance from it all and how far they’d come since then, especially through their support for one another. It wasn’t always pretty, but no road ever truly is in life. Liane slowly rose to a stand at this point.
“If we’re going to talk about needing to move on, then we should probably get ready. As tempting as it sounds to just relax in this hotel room together all day, I know we both have things we need to do.”
“Aw… can’t we just enjoy the view a little longer?”
“As much as I’m getting used to it, I’m afraid that if this ‘full moon’ stays out I’ll see you become some kind of werewolf before my very eyes.”
The two couldn’t help but laugh as the lighthearted tone helped to encourage Aaron out of bed finally so they could get ready for the day as Liane grabbed some clothes and headed towards the bathroom to shower while Aaron began putting on some workout clothes. He had no need to shower now if he was just going to need another one afterwards anyway, and as long as he was devoid of stress he knew he could get in a workout with the kind of intensity he felt had been lacking at times when he’d been buried in the hell of the situation that plagued him for the last few months. Considering he knew that in about a day’s time he had the chance to earn arguably the biggest win he could get right now when he was set to battle the current U.S. Champion in a non-title match just days before Making Things Right, he needed to make sure he was ready and focused. He’d been in the ring with Bree Lancaster once before, and this time he was determined to get a different outcome, especially with the momentum the win would give him going into whatever his plans would be for the pay-per-view.
What better way to start making 2019 his year than a huge non-title upset, right?
As Aaron got all his workout gear on, he couldn’t help but let his mind drift back to something that had come up this morning. Mentioning one of his brothers to Liane for some reason had him thinking things over a little more closely, though it was likely due to the fact that he hadn’t heard anything in a while. He still got the occasional attempt from his mom or dad to try and get him back in some fashion, especially back around Bound By Blood when he was in the area that he was able to get out of thanks to Owen, but it had been months since he’d heard anything from Andrew. Normally there would’ve been at least two or three attempts by now to call and vent about his relationship, so the silence hopefully meant he’d either finally opened his eyes and moved on or things had actually gotten better between him and his boyfriend for good this time. Maybe it was the positive mindset he was trying to stay in that allowed him to settle on that line of thinking, but he wasn’t about to simply let go that easily with everything starting to go his way again at long last.
When Liane emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, she was prepared to engage in a discussion of the day’s plans with her boyfriend as a sort of ‘pep talk’ to keep things on the right track. She was just finishing drying off her hair with the towel and getting into her choice of attire for the day as she headed over to grab a hair tye for her signature ponytail, but stopped and let the towel drop to the floor when she saw Aaron staring at his phone, eyes wide in shock and jaw looking like it might as well be on the floor. His free hand had moved to his stomach, almost as a sign that he was going to be sick. When he raised his gaze to Liane, she started to open her mouth to ask what was wrong but never got the chance as he suddenly threw himself at her and hugged her tight, shutting his eyes as though he didn’t want to look at the world around them right now. While Liane returned the hug, she was absolutely confused until she felt Aaron’s phone pressing against her hand as a sign that he was passing it to her. When she got a glimpse at the same sight that had suddenly seemed to turn her man’s optimism for the day completely inside-out, she could feel her own heart breaking as her hug tightened.
Sitting on the screen was a text conversation with Austin, a name she recognized from past conversations about their families as the one family member Aaron was still on good terms with, and the only text that mattered in this moment read as follows:
Please call me as soon as you get a chance. We need to talk… Andrew took his own life…