01-19-2024, 11:25 PM
OOC: One of two. Makes references to Deanna’s past roleplays throughout this SCW season.
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.
Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhanttan, New York
December 14th, 2023
8:10pm
The house was nearly devoid of life. Empty and quiet if one stood within most of the rooms and floors. If, however, one strained their ears to listen from the front door, or perhaps even the top of the stairs that lead to the second floor of bedrooms for the family that, usually, lived there, one might be able to make out the quiet sounds of the television coming from the family room, maybe even see the glow of the screen spilling across the floor and into the neighbouring rooms.
Such ‘quiet’, however, was destroyed by the roar and scream that broke through the household, echoing through the very walls and into the house’s every floor. It came from the only person within, the platinum-blonde sitting on the couch, pale hands gripping and pulling at her iconic locks of hair in sheer anger.
“NO!” she screamed at the television, as if she could will the very reality she was viewing to shift and change to a more favorable design with merely a raised voice. “You son of a bitch! AHHHH!!!” She screamed again as she saw… herself… on the screen. That is to say, it was the footage of her entrance video that was being played as her theme song, “Kings and Queens” by Ava Max, played through her speakers – the episode of Breakdown (The final night of ‘Fatal Fortunes’) displayed live within her abode.
It was her theme music.
It was her entrance video.
It was her name showing up on the titantron. And her face. And her past. And her accolades. And her matches.
It was an indication that the Snow Queen was about to show up there, in San Jose, California, to wrestle. And here she was… on the other side of the fucking continent in New York!
They had done it… they had actually done it…
Another yell escaped Selena as she watched her theme and entrance video continue to play out towards the chorus, barely audible through the loud boos of the audience that seemed never-ending. She watched their boos morph to cheers as, of course, their ‘hated Snow Queen’ didn’t appear and she watched Deanna – her beautiful, precious wife’s face morph from excitement to confusion and… ultimately… disappointment.
It was too much, and Selena found herself leaping off of the couch, marching over to the television and pushing the power button angrily – using a remote didn’t seem ‘good enough’ in the moment – effectively ending her viewing of the Breakdown episode. She stood there, staring at the, now, black screen and her distorted reflection, her throat a little hoarse and her breathing rather deep for so minimal work. But her heart was hammering inside her chest, anger bubbling and raging inside her.
Ten years… Ten years and she had never pulled such a stunt in her entire career. Never ‘tricked’ the audience liked that or missed a show like that. Not since her old manager, Roy Veers, had fucked things up with her schedule and she had missed a house show in order to go on her first date with Deanna eight or nine years ago. She had vowed to never do that to the SCW Universe again – never allow her reputation to be so tarnished again…
And yet… SCW had made it so!
First, it had been that blasted video Deanna had shown her weeks ago, promoting her, then it had been her own bus showing up in California – how the hell had THAT happened?! – and now this…
What was SCW… what was CHBK… trying to do?! Guilt-trip her into coming back?! Threaten her decade of loyalty and putting her body, her very life, on the line – something few, if any, superstar could say they did for the sake of the company for so long – just to get her to return?! Were they THAT fucking desperate?!
Her feet were moving her before she realized she was walking, her breath uttering four-letter curses every step of the way as the young woman traveled through the hall, down the steps and towards… towards…
Sapphire eyes widened when Selena realized where her mind was subconsciously taking her. Even when she had realized it, she couldn’t stop herself as she opened the door to her office… stepped towards the bookshelf at the side of the wall, pulled at the hollowed faux-book of “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Anderson, heard the clicking of the gears being worked behind the shelf before the entire ‘shelf-wall’ unlocked, and pushed her way through the new opening and into her ‘secret den’. Turning on the light via the switch on the wall, her eyes met the collection of accolades, somewhat dusty due to the months of neglect, that filled the room.
Championships placed in cases on the wall.
Trophies of the Shot of Adrenaline and Best of the Best tournaments sitting in the corner.
Photos smattering every side of the room.
Large posters of Pay-Per-Views like Rise to Greatness and Taking Hold of the Flame that had her face on them.
A decade of defying odds… overcoming every kind of challenge… a decade of her life, filled with scars and injuries and so many concussions… it was all displayed before her.
It was a room she had avoided since she had left SCW back in late August. Even when she had fought with her wife weeks ago – Deanna walking out on her for the first time in their eight years of marriage – she had still not entered this accursed room. Yet, here she stood, looking at it all. Seeing her younger self in posters and pictures. So driven, so filled with purpose, so… happy.
She felt the tears stinging her eyes. Not because she longed for those days. Not because she wanted more of such things to fill the room… but because of one night… it all no longer mattered. Everything before her? It was just knick-knacks, dust-collectors, and scrap! Because no one would remember any of this about her. They wouldn’t remember how much she had given, or the scars that lined her back and sides from her matches. No… thanks to that blasted company – thanks to CHBK – all SCW would remember is her no-showing. All they would remember was how ‘good’ it felt that she was gone.
That would be her legacy. Not integrity. Not fighting for what you believe in. No… she would be known for running away and hiding from SCW – and the SCW fans were happy with that!
Angrily, she wiped at her eyes with her hand, shaking her head as she gazed around the room.
“Are you happy now?” the question whispered out of her, repeating in the dusty room. “Are you happy now?!”
**********************************
VanHohenheim House
Maplewood, New Jersey
December 2nd, 2023
2:14pm
“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!”
The last statement rang from Selena’s throat and filled the room, casting it into complete silence between the three women that stood there. She had long set her cup of tea down on the small table nearby, her sapphire eyes glaring at her target – her beloved redhead. And while her heart ached to take back the words she had just screamed, her head didn’t want to. Because it was true: she DIDN’T believe Deanna.
How could she? For months, the younger woman had tried desperately to get her back into SCW. Had tried trick after trick – from setting up fake news, to overacting and overselling her injuries at home, to downright fighting with her. Even now, how could Selena believe this was anything but that? She had watched the video of herself that had, apparently, aired on SCW Breakdown, promoting Fatal Fortunes – No, scratch that! Fatal Fortunes had been a mere footnote! her mind argued. The video had promoted HER. Only her. No other superstar, no titles, NOTHING but the retired Snow Queen! Promoting her imminent return to SCW… which was news to Selena considering she hadn’t made a phone call or sent an email of any kind regarding that! What else was she supposed to think than the loudest advocate in her return – Deanna – being behind it.
Still, as she stood there, watching the redhead’s jaw shake in emotional shock and her eyes forming unshed tears amidst the emerald orbs, Selena almost doubted her conclusions. Even so, she remained silent as Deanna wiped at her eyes angrily, sniffling a little as the United States Champion regained her composure. “Fine…” the redhead finally whispered. “If nothing has changed from the last time we spoke, I’ll be going.”
“Deanna… no.” Alejandra VanHohenheim, Selena’s mother, tried, the dark-skinned, white-haired woman pushing herself out of her seat and rushing to Deanna’s side. “Please stay and we can talk about this as a family.”
“No point.” Deanna replied, the bitterness clear in her voice. “Not like she’d believe me no matter what I said.” Those emerald eyes found Selena’s again, but the older Frost could not bring herself to budge. She didn’t want to give in. She was sick of entertaining this!
“She didn’t mean that!” she heard Alejandra cry out but Deanna was already on the move, marching back the same way she had abruptly intruded on the mother/daughter pair. Selena didn’t want to stop her – in fact, she was almost stunned by her lack of desire to do so. Instead, she turned herself towards the large window nearby her, just in time to see her wife outside. Quietly, the platinum-blonde watched as Deanna marched over to Selena’s motorcycle, staring holes into it, it seemed, before the redhead suddenly pushed it up and kicked the kickstand out from under it, letting it tip and crash onto the concrete of the road. Even Selena could hear it from inside the house.
Enraged, Deanna turned to stare at the window and Selena saw her eyes: saw the hurt and so much more within them. Yet, she didn’t look away. She couldn’t. Nor could she rush out and talk to her wife. She just… she could only watch as Deanna finally got into her car – well, their family car – and drive away. It was only when she was gone that Selena felt herself exhale, releasing a breath that she did not realize she had been holding, a pale hand reaching up to place itself against the cool glass of the window.
“Are you happy now?”
The voice, a mixture of disappointment and admonishment, came from behind her, causing Selena to steal a small glance towards it. Alejandra stood here, her hands on her hips. Unlike Selena, who wore dark, black jeans and a maroon, flowing long-sleeve ruched v-neck blouse, Alejandra wore a dark-green sweater and beige pants, the warm colors contrasting the cold glare she was giving her daughter.
“Don’t start with me.” Selena warned.
“Oh, I’m starting with you.” The older woman spoke back. “How could you say that to her?”
“Because it’s true.” Selena huffed, turning away from the window to move further into the room. “What else am I to think, mother? Hmmm? Tell me!”
“You could have been patient with her-“
“I HAVE BEEN PATIENT WITH HER!” the daughter fired back angrily. “For MONTHS, I have put up with these ‘attempts’ of hers! All these tricks and games of hers! All the while, I’ve begged and pleaded with her to let this go! To let me retire! She wouldn’t listen! She wouldn’t stop!”
“Can you blame her?!” The question came so quickly that it threw Selena off into silence, but prompted Alejandra further. “Any idiot can see you’re miserable!”
“I’m not miserable!” Selena refuted. “I’ve been happy since I left! I’ve loved it, mother! The free time - time with the children. The chance to do other things, I…” she laughed. “I was thinking about auditioning for a community theatre’s show next month. Like on stage! Or learn a new language, like taking a class or something! I’m…” she breathed, which came out a little as a small laugh. “I’m not miserable. I just don’t need SCW – or wrestling - like everyone seems to think I do.”
Silently, Alejandra eyed her daughter before merely shaking her head. “Who the hell are you trying to convince?”
Selena opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, her emotions a jumble that she tried to keep in check.
“If you were really so happy, Selena, then that video wouldn’t have bothered you at all. Who cares what SCW is doing? Who cares what they are promising? You’d have shrugged your shoulders and ignored it without a single care.” she pointed a finger at Selena. “But you do care. Deep down, you still care about it. About your reputation. About your time there. Deep down, you hate that things have gone this way, don’t you?”
“You don’t-“
“You think I don’t wish things had been different in my life?” Alejandra fired back, cutting off Selena. “I wish I had been there to protect your father from the Scythes. I wish I had been there to save him from the mine-collapse! I wish I had had the courage to just take him and run away together or face the DeCarlos and Scythes so that you would never have to. I wish I had never given you up and left you to Anastasia!” her voice had risen to the point that it was ringing within the walls, almost surprising Alejandra herself and causing her to quiet her voice as she continued. “There are so many things that I regret, Selena, especially where you and Jonathan are concerned. But I AM happy. Because I moved on and am doing all I can to make it up to him, to you… and to myself. I am trying to give life the best chance I have. You…” she shook her head. “You haven’t moved on. You haven’t let go of any of this. You’re still holding onto that anger and regret. You’re just trying to hide by pretending it’s not there.”
“I…” Selena’s voice shook a little as she stared at her mother. “No…I…”
“Have you even watched SCW? Or any wrestling?” VanHohenheim asked, tilting her head knowing at her wife. “Have you even spoken about it? With Deanna? With anyone?”
“I…a little…” Selena tried lamely before sighing, her gaze finding her feet. “No…”
“Why would that be if you had moved on? If you truly didn’t need SCW or wrestling anymore?”
Unable to keep her eyes on the floor, Selena jerked her head out to gaze at the window, focusing on her tipped over motorcycle. The vehicle had been a gift Deanna had given Selena when the redhead had been pregnant with their son, David, and Selena had just purchased their ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan for her. The observant redhead had seen how much Selena had, silently, wanted the bike, able to read the Snow Queen better than anyone else, including Alejandra.
And if Alejandra knew her daughter well enough that she could deduce all she had… then so had Deanna – and a lot sooner at that.
“It’s too late.” Selena whispered in defeat, turning her head to gaze at her mother. “I couldn’t go back now even if I wanted to.”
“Why not?” Alejandra asked. “You said you were advertised? So, show up. Say you’re just keeping the promise-“
“And for what, mother?” Selena asked with a dark laugh. “Just to be booed out of the building again? Just to be vilified and hated for simply being me?” She felt something within her break, like a dam that had been erected bit by bit since she had left SCW months ago, finally bursting. “I did nothing wrong…” her voice shook and long-repressed tears came rushing to the backs of her eyes. “I didn’t lie or cheat or screw anyone over. I didn’t curse anyone – I FOUGHT for them… for all of them… and they still hated me… They still wanted me out of SCW for good…”
Slowly, Selena felt her head lower, her forehead resting against the cold of the glass of the window. “I… I gave them everything… and it wasn’t enough.”
She heard her mother behind her take a few steps forward. “There is nothing for me there now. Nothing to fight for.”
“Yet you still can’t let it go?”
Selena breathed. “No… I can’t…” she whispered, finally admitting it aloud to herself. “I… I tried. I tried to. I’m still trying to. I just… I need more time.”
“Selena…” Alejandra tried, but Selena jerking her head back towards her mother silenced the dark-skinned woman.
“Mother…” she started, shaking her head knowingly, her sapphire eyes finally letting her tears fall down her cheeks. “You don’t get it. O.….” She sighed. “O. was right. He warned me SCW was changing. I didn’t listen to him. He warned me the fans were changing… I didn’t listen to him. I just stupidly kept fighting with him and against the change until…” her voice trailed off, not wishing to remember the past year that had been a nightmare.
“And…” Alejandra whispered, reaching out to take her daughter’s chin within her fingers to guide Selena’s gaze back to her own. “What would he say if he were here now? If you told him all this?”
“I…” For a moment, Selena looked away, past her mother, as if she could conjure the old man right before her eyes like the ghosts that used to haunt her mind. Even after all these months, she remembered how he walked, how he talked. How he would keep quiet while someone whined and ranted and then he’d strip them bare with his logic and authority. Even that tilt in his head – like the one she could suddenly see in her mind’s eye – the creator of SCW looking at her with an ‘I told you so’ expression that shifted to one that seemed to scream ‘Grow the fuck up, kid’.
Closing her eyes, Selena sighed knowingly. “He’d tell me that, if SCW is changing, then I need to change with it. But…” she felt the familiar double-edged sword she had been battling far longer than she cared to admit to anyone. “That’s why I can’t go back.”
“I don’t understand. You can’t change?” Alejandra asked honestly, earning a knowing nod of Selena’s head.
“I know you don’t understand.” the platinum-blonde sighed, the same conclusion she had gone through over and over again rearing its ugly head. “And no… I can… but to change… I know that what I will have to become… I can’t be both. I can’t be that and who I am now.”
“You can’t be Selena?”
“No.” she shook her head sadly. “I can’t be Deanna’s wife.”
With a sigh, Selena pushed herself away from the window, opting to head out of the room, then out of the house, grabbing her helmet on the way out. She heard her mother following her as she reached her motorcycle. With a bit of lifting, she managed to tilt it back upright. Dusting her hands off, she brought her gaze around to see her mother standing there in the brisk cold.
“I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” The older woman tried. “I think you can adapt to this new SCW and still be Deanna’s wife.”
A sad smile came to Selena’s lips, the Snow Queen not bothering to correct her mother. Alejandra didn’t understand. Didn’t grasp the magnitude such a change would be and what it would cost. How could she?
Moving her leg to straddle her vehicle, Selena plucked up her helmet and adjusted it over her head. “Can you…” she sighed. “Can you look after the kids for the next few weeks? I just… I’m going to have to watch what SCW does… and I don’t…”
“I get it.” Alejandra nodded, reaching out to embrace her daughter. “You’ll figure it out.”
Selena said nothing, merely waiting for the hug to end before she revved up the motorcycle, shooting out onto the streets without looking back. I’ve already ‘figured it out’… she thought bitterly to herself as she took to the interstate. It’s just that nobody else really has… or knows what they are truly asking of me…
*********************************
Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhanttan, New York
December 15th, 2023
8:46pm
“Just what the hell did you think you were doing?” Selena barked into the phone as she paced around the trophy room, as she had been doing for the past nearly forty minutes. “Did you even consider how this would look on me?! On Deanna?!”
On the other side of the call, she could hear the grown man, Eric Anderson (their old friend and chauffer) shuffle his feet. It hadn’t taken much deduction for Selena to figure out how her luxury bus had ended up in California. There was really only one man that had the keys to it in the first place!
“I know that!” she heard the young man try. “But if you would just listen to me for half-a-minute…”
“I don’t want to hear it, Eric! You’re way out of line and you know it! First of all, that bus isn’t your property! Second, what good could you possibly do?! You show up, OF COURSE SCW is going to think I am there! If anything, you just made things worse for Deanna! Unless…”
The idea, like a defense mechanism, came to Selena and, despite herself, it formed itself naturally into the inevitable question. “Did she put you up to this?”
“NO!” Eric answered vehemently, almost sparking a spurt of respect and pride for the man within Selena. “This wasn’t Deanna’s idea!” he defended strongly. “I did this on my own! Because…because…”
He couldn’t finish his thought but Selena could hear it in his voice. A sense of nobleness. Of good intention… “Just like Deanna…” she sighed, realizing she had said the thought aloud and allowing her train of thought to be vocalized. “You see it too, huh?”
He didn’t answer immediately, which told Selena all she needed to know. Deanna had seen it, her mother had seen it, and even Eric could see it in the few visits she had had with him since the fall season. This wasn’t some desperate act to get his old job back as the Frost’s chauffer – anymore than it was her wife’s ‘desperate attempt’ to reform the House of Frost just to save her own career (she had already proven that she was better off with Selena there). No, Eric had clearly acted in a similar mentality as Selena’s wife had. Whatever his ‘rationale’ had been – sticking it to SCW management or trying to change the SCW Universe’s unexplainable hatred for Selena - his goal was simple.
To get the Snow Queen back into SCW. To make things right for Selena. To make her happy.
How could I have ignored this for so long… Her mind half-mocked, half-cried at her own stupidity. How could I be the only person that couldn’t face the truth?
“Look…” She heard Eric’s voice again from the phone. “I’ll pay for the usage, okay?”
A long exhale came from the platinum-blonde as she breathed. “No.” she replied. “I’ll cover everything you need, including your usual wages for the drive. Just get me an expense report when you get back to Manhattan.”
“You don’t have to do that. And I just wanted to…” Eric’s voice was suddenly cut off as the sound of footsteps was heard. There was a moment of silence – one Selena dared not destroy with her words.
“Is that Selena?” she recognized the voice instantly, her breath hitching in her throat as she heard the scuffling of the phone being ripped from Eric’s hands. “Selena?!”
Again, that voice. Deanna. The Snow Queen knew it anywhere. “Selena, is that you? What is going on here?!”
Selena opened her mouth to speak. To try and form some words – anything! – to leave her beloved. Do it! Her mind pleaded. Tell her she was right! Tell her you understand! Tell her something!
But she didn’t say a word. Instead, she merely moved the phone away from herself and slid her thumb over the screen to terminate the call. She stood like that for several minutes, her eyes locked on the phone – seeing her own reflection across the black screen.
“Are you happy now… mother?” the whisper came from her lips.
“Yes… I am.”
The voice gripped Selena as it slid over her senses, forcing her eyes shut for a moment and her hand to grip her phone until her knuckles turned white. There was silence for what felt like several minutes, Selena refusing to open her eyes despite knowing the woman was still there. Instead, she breathed in and out, trying to calm her fast-beating heart at the voice she had not heard in so long… Long enough that she had almost forgotten it. With one last exhale, the platinum-blonde slowly opened her eyes, her vision adjusting to the room and, immediately, finding the older woman standing about fifteen or so feet away from her, leaning against the wall by Selena’s tournament trophies, running a patient hand along the part-shiny/part-dusty gold of the ‘Best of the Best’ trophy. Her dress was long like the maroon, silk nightgown Selena wore, but was black with a lower cut in the V-neck. It was a dress where Selena’s was nightgown. The woman’s hair, not as long or platinum-blonde as her daughter’s, ran to just above her shoulders but had a natural curl that Selena’s didn’t have.
However, it was the woman’s eyes that Selena’s attention focused to. Eyes that held a hint of black makeup to make them pop, but it wasn’t that. It was the confidence they held. The power. The air of superiority the woman had exhumed through the majority of Selena’s life.
This was how Selena remembered her. As she appeared before her now.
“I am very happy, my dear.” Anastasia DeCarlo smiled. “And very proud.”
“Well…” Selena sighed. “That makes one of us.”
Knowingly, Anastasia smiled at her step-daughter, tilting her head as if to study Selena like she always had. “Still needing ‘ghosts’ to get through things, my dear?” the question gave no answer, not that DeCarlo needed one. “Some things never change.”
Indignant, Selena huffed at the remark. “I haven’t ‘needed’ any of you since Malcolm died and-“
“A lady doesn’t scoff like that!” The command was crisp and cut Selena off immediately, the Snow Queen’s eyes going wide as Anastasia was suddenly in front of her, her darker eyes brown eyes glaring into Selena’s sapphire ones.
“Sorry, mother…” Who had said that? Selena realized with shame that it had been her, her brain falling into the automatic, programmed behavior that had filled her childhood as her step-mother had tried to mold her into the perfect ‘Snow Queen’. Angrily, the platinum-blonde shook the grip out of her system, stepping away from the apparition to move further into her ‘Room of Wrestling’.
“Who are you pretending for?” came Anastasia’s voice with the sudden question. “There is no one here. No one is listening in. Not Alejandra, not SCW, not Eric… Not Deanna...” Selena turned around to see the woman smiling knowingly at her. “You can admit to everything here.”
“What am I admitting to?” Selena asked, shrugging her shoulders.
“Well… let’s start easy.” DeCarlo teased. “Like the fact that you are the reason I am here now. That you needed me.”
Selena’s jaw clenched but she remained silent as she watched the woman she had known as ‘mother’ walk around the room. “Think about it…” as she spoke, her body seemed to shift and change, altering in voice and appearance as she spoke the names. “Whether it was Adrian Scythe, Dawn Lohan, or even…” she had changed into the familiar redhead Selena had just heard on the phone, causing an ache in Selena’s heart at the sight. “Or even Deanna…” just as quickly, the redhead shifted back into the smiling form of Anastasia. “You have brought us forward to say what you can’t say. To tell you what you can’t tell yourself. Because you lacked the courage to believe it.”
Again, Selena remained silent within the room, simply watching her stepmother move. Still, she couldn’t refute the woman’s words either. The silence lasted for a minute before a laugh escaped the older woman. “Is admitting such a simple, easy truth too much for you?” she laughed again. “Are you that weak?”
“No.” Selena shot back angrily. “I admit it. So what?”
“Good.” Anastasia grinned. “Now we are getting somewhere, aren’t we? So, admit I am here because you need me.”
“Fine.” Selena sighed. “I admit that too.”
“Good, girl.” Gods, Selena hated hearing that! How many years had she spent in Nome having that mockingly spoken in her ear by Anastasia? An empty platitude for simply obeying her stepmother. For doing as she was told, even when she tried so hard to rebel when she could. “Now…” she heard her stepmother continue.
“What’s the reason?” Selena asked at the same time as her past-tormentor, even tilting her head the same way Anastasia did at the same time, causing DeCarlo’s grin to widen as the pair shared an identical glance.
“Because you’re going back to SCW.” There was no guesswork in that statement like with Eric. There was no hypothesis laced with understanding like with Alejandra. There was no ‘hopeful prayer’ like with Deanna. This was cold…factual… certain. “You’ve known from the second you saw that video. The moment you saw how far SCW was willing to go to try and get you back. The moment you heard those hated boos from the audience at it. The moment you saw the hope in Deanna’s eyes when she showed it to you. You’ve known…”
Selena couldn’t say it right away, her eyes only able to study her stepmother studying her.
“And, like you said… like you’ve known all along… there is only one way that can happen.” Anastasia stated darkly. “Only one way for you to go back there and not be ‘thrown off’ by them again. Only one way for you to go back and not be destroyed by all their hatred again.” She stood up, glaring daggers at her stepchild. “And while you hate it-“
“While I hate it…” Selena whispered at the same time, stopping while Anastasia continued.
“It is the only way.” Anastasia breathed. “Accept it… admit it… that, after so many years of every soul in SCW predicting it would happen… finally grant them their wish and make it their nightmare.”
She drew closer to her daughter, leaning down to stare into her eyes. “If they see you as the villain in this new SCW…” reaching out, she gripped Selena’s chin, harsher than Alejandra had, and forcing it up to stare further into Selena’s eyes.
“Then the villain is exactly what you will become…”
*****************************************************************
![[Image: tetXUW1.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/tetXUW1.gif)
The camera opens up to the interior of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York the site of the most recent episode of SCW’s Breakdown. The arena is empty but not because it is before the show begins… but after! Indeed, one glance and any audience member viewing this video can see the remains of discarded cups and food wrappers. Some cardboard signs litter the floor – it is as if a massive party has come and gone from the arena, leaving only empty seats and empty ring. The scene is silent for a moment before the camera spots the woman walking down the ramp and entering the ring via the stairs and ropes. Zeroing in, the screen suddenly shows, amidst the silence, the ‘Snow Queen’ Selena Frost. She wears the same clothes she wore during her brief segment on Breakdown, one that is, no doubt still on the minds of many of the SCW Universe, viewer and wrestler alike.
Standing within the center of the ring, the platinum-blonde takes a moment to stare down at her right hand, eyes transfixed on the dried blood that still colors her knuckles. Blood that is not her own.
As I was saying… before I was so rudely interrupted… She lifts her head, staring into the empty arena. Supreme Championship Wrestling… she gives the same pause she gave earlier tonight. Do you believe?
Unlike during Breakdown, the woman is met with silence this time around, a fact which causes a knowing smile to grace her features. Oh, that’s right… I already asked you that question, didn’t I? And you gave me your very clear answer… For a moment, the former world champion’s sapphire eyes scan the empty seats, as if she is remembering the deafening boos that had greeted her the moment she had stepped foot before the SCW Universe. Have I disappointed you fans? Am I not the person you want to see? Oh wait! I know!
Reaching into the pocket of her black, long coat, Selena pulls out an item, grasping it tightly before turning it out and presenting it to the viewers watching from their computers, televisions and smartphones. Would you rather I be wearing this? She turns the item, revealing the mask of Hakura Keitaro – the same mask she wore at the End of the Year Invitational event she won to cap off 2023! For a moment, Selena turns to gaze at the mask.
Quite the difference such a thing makes, doesn’t it? And I suppose it’s the been the biggest thing following me since I revealed myself at the first Breakdown of 2024. Not why I came back. Oh no, the question so many people want to know is why I chose to disguise myself to do it..
She continues to look at the mask for a moment before scoffing, turning her head to gaze at the camera while her arm lowers. You want to know why? Her eyes narrow. It’s because of you. Every single one of you.
Slowly, Selena begins to pace around the ring. See, CHBK may have been a lying little piece of crap throughout the majority of his life, one that I don’t trust in the slightest, but he spoke honestly tonight about what happened regarding all of this. Did I contact him privately? Yes, I did. Did I call him out on a ton of shit? Yes, I did. Did I make a deal with a man that I hate, which included a disguise and getting my rematch for the SCW World title? A dark smile forms across her face. You’re damn right I did!
The former world champion gives a shake of her head. And I’ll give Alex Desbourais the credit in this. He told all of you the truth. Why did I enter the Invitational? To prove a point. To prove that I can not only excel in this ring, but that I am still at the forefront when it comes to talent, power and skill! How many people did I overcome to win that event? How many foes did I outsmart and outmatch? Enough for SCW to agree that I was next in line for the world title – but I’ll get to that in a bit. Because the truth is, I could have easily done this as ‘Selena Frost’ instead of ‘Hakuri Keitaro’. I could have rolled in with the same old song, with Ava Max singing loudly, rolled right in with snow falling – all of it – and the result would have been the exact same. So why didn’t I?
Once more, Selena’s glare is right at her audience. To expose all of you.
Because while I was eliminating superstar after superstar and carving through the ranks of SCW, what were all of you doing, huh? What were the SCW masses doing as they watched this ‘masked man’ dominating SCW the same way Selena Frost did for years? she gestures towards the empty, trash-filled arena.
You were cheering. You were chanting. She smiles a wicked, mocking grin. You were believing! All in me. All in support of me! I outlasted old favorites like Angelica Jones and you cheered me! I silenced smart and hungry new faces like Ivory Plume and Jaina Lancaster and you cheered me! I stared down CHBK without saying a word and you all chanted for me!
Her hand slowly rests on one of the ropes, twisting it within her grip. And then, I rolled into the first Breakdown of 2024 and I knocked out the world champion with a single kick! I did what you all were begging someone – ANYONE – to do! Kandis sure as hell couldn’t do it! Xander’s too whipped these days with management to do it. But I did it! And you all CHEERED ME! You all couldn't get enough of me...
She slowly holds up the mask once more. And then I took this off… Her eyes shift down to stare at it for a long second. And just like that, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what I did. It didn’t matter that, just like in the past, I had GIVEN you all that you had wanted. Didn’t matter that I had done what you asked. Your hatred rang through all of Toledo, Ohio!
The next line is a mixture of reflective and accusatory. All because of who I am. Slowly, Selena releases her grip, dropping the mask somewhere outside the ring.
Oh, you can see where I am going with this... Because I want to make it clear that I didn’t come back here for any one of you. Why the hell would I? When you hate not based on my actions but simply on who I am? You hate me simply because I am Selena Frost. You know what that is, SCW Universe? That’s prejudice! That’s bigotry! her words echo a little, venom laced in every word.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it? Well, imagine how I felt! Imagine how I felt when I realized that I had spent a decade of my life, of my career, littering my body with scars and fighting for integrity all for a bunch of people that are so corrupt! All for a bunch of people that are so simple-minded and fickle! Because you all judged me. You all hated me! And why?
Because, while I thought back then that we were alike, the truth is I am NOTHING like any of you. Any one of you, dealing with what I had to? Constantly harassed and questioned about their beliefs? With your own peers declaring ‘any day now, you’ll turn’ while facing insurmountable odds with the opportunity to take shortcuts? Any one of you, just like Asher Hayes, would have taken those shortcuts. Would have taken those handouts. Would have screwed over your own family and you KNOW it!
She shakes her head slowly. Not me. I didn’t. I believed in this place and I believed in all of you. I kept my word week after week, month after month, year after year… until suddenly, it wasn’t us standing side by side in the realm of integrity, was it? It was me being a looking glass into your own immoral, pathetic, sellout lives, wasn’t it? It was me being a standard of honor and nobility that none of you will ever hope to achieve, wasn’t it? It was me being the reality check that none of you wanted to face! So you gave up on it – gave up on me – and hated me for it. Hated me just because... I was better than all of you.
Even now, I exposed every one of you, didn’t I? I fooled you all by making you cheer me and then immediately booing me after revealing myself. You’re all embarrassed and you SHOULD be! Because I wasted a year of my life blaming myself for us coming apart in 2023 when, all along, it was YOUR fault!
Taking a breath, Selena seems to be enjoying admonishing the SCW Universe – wrestler and fan alike – as she shakes her head. You shouldn’t be booing me, guys. You should be THANKING me! You should be thanking me for coming back and knocking Asher Hayes on his ass! You should be thanking me for coming back when your ‘chosen people’ like Kandis couldn’t get the damn job done! You should be thanking me for coming back, SCW, when nobody has been able to step up to the main-event picture like I can! But no. Because I am Selena Frost, I’m the devil-incarnate, right?
She shrugs, her eyes fluttering down to gaze at the dry blood on her right hand. Well… that suits me just fine. If I am, indeed, the devil – a woman so despised that you’ll even cheer Asher Hayes over me - then I’ll be the best damn blue-eyed devil SCW has EVER seen! She lets the last part hang in the silence for a few seconds.
And since I am the devil and since we are on the subject of ‘giving thanks’, I’m going to now ignore you ungrateful lot and focus on someone that should be thanking me more than anyone else in SCW!
Asher Hayes…
Once more, the woman stares into the camera, but her expression is more amused than anything.
You know, Asher, for a man that claims to be ‘levels’ above everyone else, I expected you to be a little bit smarter than the fickle, prejudiced people you spoke to. I expected you to be a bit more… self-preserving considering the little ‘self-love’ sessions you have with your 'Kismet', especially after I knocked you out and showed just how easily it can be done!
I mean, seriously. I gave you the opportunity to speak your mind earlier tonight rather than simply knock you out again. You think I couldn’t just roll in and superkick your head off like last time? That I’d have any qualms rolling up behind you, waiting for you to turn around and then blasting you with another Glass Shard? But no, Asher, I wanted you to prove me wrong. I wanted you to show me something. Something to show me that you weren’t the same dumbass that ran his mouth last time we waged war. But instead, you try and goad me out? You try and hurt my ego? You tell me ‘I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve that. No one wants me here. Everyone would rather I die. My wife is hurting. I’m stepping on people’s toes. I’m casting people into my shadow’-
SO WHAT?! The question echoes loudly within the arena space.
You think I don’t deserve this match? So what? You think I’m cutting ahead and stepping on toes? So what?! You say no one wants me here? So what?! You think I’m hurting my wife’s career?! The woman scoffs, even giving a shrug before dropping her voice to a dead calm tone. So what?
How does that change the fact that you are facing me?! How does that change the fact that you are defending the world title against an opponent who’s accolades dwarf yours?! How does that change the fact that YOU OWE ME?!
Giving another shake of her head, Selena resumes her pacing around the ring. Because you like to talk about the past, don’t you, Asher? You like to tell people that SCW is ‘soft’? Not like 2007, 2008, 2009? Not like the ‘old-days’, right? Well, tell me, Asher. Those ‘old days’ of yours? Where the hell were you during them? Those boys you talked about? Xander Valentine, a man I’ve humbled on more than one occasion? Shawn Winters – the man that acknowledged me as ‘The Face of SCW’? Supposed ‘stars’ that were leagues above what SCW is now? Where the hell were you?
She grants a moment of silence, though no answer comes forward. Don’t remember? Probably don’t remember because of your drug-issues at the time, but let me remind you. Your whole ‘journey thing’? Your driving force for this ‘Kismet’ of ‘over a decade and some’? Was because you couldn’t CUT it back then. You couldn’t cut it back in your ‘glory age’ to become world champion. You were little more than a midcard filler. A guy that got stomped out for future legends like Shilo Valiant, weren’t you? A guy that, not in a million years, would be ‘the only choice’ for SCW to have as a world champion - as you have lately put it!
And for all those years of you coming and going in and out of SCW, we fast forward to 2021, 2022, you STILL couldn’t cut it, could you? You needed The Brand. You needed Holly Adams. You needed Cid Turner. You needed Giovanni Aries. Hell, Sammy Thomas Davies and Chlamydia were MORE successful and popular in the Brand than you! And you STILL, even with them, couldn’t manage anything more than being half-a-champion! she mockingly winces at that fact.
And that’s where your thanks needs to begin, Asher. Because I took all that away, didn’t I? I drove each member of The Brand apart by beating them. From Cid, to Holly, to Giovanni, to you. I beat them all over and over again, keeping that world title from them until, after exposing you and The Brand for the failures you are, they started showing their true colors just like the SCW Universe has now. They turned on you – the dead weight - and set you up for jail time, didn’t they? And that, Asher, was clearly the best thing to happen to you because when you came back from that, you were better! Not A LOT better, but still a smarter and better wrestler. You were able to win big matches like that triple threat last Rise to Greatness. You were able to be perceived as, at least, a ‘potential’ contender for the world title despite, ironically enough, not really earning it beyond attacking Kandis from behind – oh trust me, the irony of your earlier statements tonight isn’t lost on me.
But that all started with me. With me being the instrument of The Brand’s destruction and your subsequent freedom from it.
She holds up a finger to silence any argument, despite being alone. And it doesn’t stop there, Asher! Because let’s face it, you wouldn’t even be standing in the ring with that world title if it wasn’t for me. Think about it. I came back after four months away and got my rematch like that! She snaps her fingers, a smile on her face. Even with your ego, can you imagine what would have happened if I had done that the first Breakdown after Rise to Greatness rather than walking out of SCW? You honestly think YOU would have been considered over me? The guy that’s NEVER main-evented a Rise to Greatness? Never won a singles-tournament? Hasn’t held a singles title since what? 2020? 2021? You over the most dominant world champion in the history of SCW?
A quiet, short laugh escapes the Snow Queen, the woman clearly amused by such a notion.
Again, me walking away from SCW was the best thing that ever happened to you, Asher. Like turning over a stone and moving it out of the way, suddenly, all the little insects came scurrying up to fill the void. My absence in SCW left a hole in the world title picture so massive that even someone like you could scurry through and get their chance. A gap so big that someone like you and Simon Lyman could get TWO world title shots back-to-back, allowing you to LITERALLY throw one chance away! See it, Asher? The only reason you had the drive to get that title was because of me and the only reason you got to this point has been because of me!
And you are welcome! She smiles at her opponent before it slowly fades.
But… this is where things go downhill for you, Asher. Because that means – if I am responsible for your little success – that means that everything about it belongs to me. The title, your spotlight, your main-event status... your Kismet? It all belongs to me.
And I’ve let you have your moment in the sun. I’ve let you have your time. I’ve let SCW try and get on without me and, let’s face it… SCW – everyone in it – failed. Management failed, CHBK failed, the SCW Universe failed, Kandis failed, and you, especially, failed.
Even with Kandis trying to be the ‘favorite superstar’ that I was, she failed.
Even with Simon Lyman trying to desperately be ‘the hero’ that I was, he failed.
Even with you trying to desperately be the ‘dominant, greatest champion’ that I was, you have failed.
Even with all three of you and your massive egos, and Kandis’ massive everything else, even combined – none of you could fill the gap I made. Even combined, you couldn’t fill my boots. How else could I just walk in and retake my spot with so little opposition from anyone? Including the world champion?
Taking a moment of silence, Selena smirks before she adjusts her coat as she stands in the middle of the ring. Speakingof which, Asher, I now want you to take a long walk before you open your mouth again. I want you to take some time and really think. Because deep down, you know, I am right about all of this. You know that you owe me. And you know that this is a title defense that is unlike the others you’ve weaseled your way past. This is an opponent unlike any you’ve had to face this SCW season, and I include James Evans in that breath.
Because it doesn’t matter if they hate me. Doesn’t matter if you hate me. Doesn’t matter if I earned this shot. Doesn’t matter if you think one way or another about it. What matters is that I just need one kick and I will be taking that world title from you. What matters is that I am going to come into MY ring once more and I WILL land that one kick.
And you’re going to thank me for it.
I’m going to beat you and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to give you the kind of dominant display reminiscent of your ‘old SCW days’ and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to take your Kismet – MY world championship – and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to knock you back down to the mid-card, Asher, and you’re going to thank me for it.
She holds her hands out a little, as if in display. Because you’re not facing the ‘retread of retread’, Asher. You’re facing something else entirely.
And come Body, Heart and Soul – the Blue-Eyed Devil is coming to collect all of it… including what’s owed!
Believe it… a wicked grin crosses her lips once more as she holds up her blood-stained hand. Or not...
The camera focuses on Selena as it slowly fades to black, the segment coming to a close.[/color]
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
”Truth”
Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhanttan, New York
December 14th, 2023
8:10pm
The house was nearly devoid of life. Empty and quiet if one stood within most of the rooms and floors. If, however, one strained their ears to listen from the front door, or perhaps even the top of the stairs that lead to the second floor of bedrooms for the family that, usually, lived there, one might be able to make out the quiet sounds of the television coming from the family room, maybe even see the glow of the screen spilling across the floor and into the neighbouring rooms.
Such ‘quiet’, however, was destroyed by the roar and scream that broke through the household, echoing through the very walls and into the house’s every floor. It came from the only person within, the platinum-blonde sitting on the couch, pale hands gripping and pulling at her iconic locks of hair in sheer anger.
“NO!” she screamed at the television, as if she could will the very reality she was viewing to shift and change to a more favorable design with merely a raised voice. “You son of a bitch! AHHHH!!!” She screamed again as she saw… herself… on the screen. That is to say, it was the footage of her entrance video that was being played as her theme song, “Kings and Queens” by Ava Max, played through her speakers – the episode of Breakdown (The final night of ‘Fatal Fortunes’) displayed live within her abode.
It was her theme music.
It was her entrance video.
It was her name showing up on the titantron. And her face. And her past. And her accolades. And her matches.
It was an indication that the Snow Queen was about to show up there, in San Jose, California, to wrestle. And here she was… on the other side of the fucking continent in New York!
They had done it… they had actually done it…
Another yell escaped Selena as she watched her theme and entrance video continue to play out towards the chorus, barely audible through the loud boos of the audience that seemed never-ending. She watched their boos morph to cheers as, of course, their ‘hated Snow Queen’ didn’t appear and she watched Deanna – her beautiful, precious wife’s face morph from excitement to confusion and… ultimately… disappointment.
It was too much, and Selena found herself leaping off of the couch, marching over to the television and pushing the power button angrily – using a remote didn’t seem ‘good enough’ in the moment – effectively ending her viewing of the Breakdown episode. She stood there, staring at the, now, black screen and her distorted reflection, her throat a little hoarse and her breathing rather deep for so minimal work. But her heart was hammering inside her chest, anger bubbling and raging inside her.
Ten years… Ten years and she had never pulled such a stunt in her entire career. Never ‘tricked’ the audience liked that or missed a show like that. Not since her old manager, Roy Veers, had fucked things up with her schedule and she had missed a house show in order to go on her first date with Deanna eight or nine years ago. She had vowed to never do that to the SCW Universe again – never allow her reputation to be so tarnished again…
And yet… SCW had made it so!
First, it had been that blasted video Deanna had shown her weeks ago, promoting her, then it had been her own bus showing up in California – how the hell had THAT happened?! – and now this…
What was SCW… what was CHBK… trying to do?! Guilt-trip her into coming back?! Threaten her decade of loyalty and putting her body, her very life, on the line – something few, if any, superstar could say they did for the sake of the company for so long – just to get her to return?! Were they THAT fucking desperate?!
Her feet were moving her before she realized she was walking, her breath uttering four-letter curses every step of the way as the young woman traveled through the hall, down the steps and towards… towards…
Sapphire eyes widened when Selena realized where her mind was subconsciously taking her. Even when she had realized it, she couldn’t stop herself as she opened the door to her office… stepped towards the bookshelf at the side of the wall, pulled at the hollowed faux-book of “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Anderson, heard the clicking of the gears being worked behind the shelf before the entire ‘shelf-wall’ unlocked, and pushed her way through the new opening and into her ‘secret den’. Turning on the light via the switch on the wall, her eyes met the collection of accolades, somewhat dusty due to the months of neglect, that filled the room.
Championships placed in cases on the wall.
Trophies of the Shot of Adrenaline and Best of the Best tournaments sitting in the corner.
Photos smattering every side of the room.
Large posters of Pay-Per-Views like Rise to Greatness and Taking Hold of the Flame that had her face on them.
A decade of defying odds… overcoming every kind of challenge… a decade of her life, filled with scars and injuries and so many concussions… it was all displayed before her.
It was a room she had avoided since she had left SCW back in late August. Even when she had fought with her wife weeks ago – Deanna walking out on her for the first time in their eight years of marriage – she had still not entered this accursed room. Yet, here she stood, looking at it all. Seeing her younger self in posters and pictures. So driven, so filled with purpose, so… happy.
She felt the tears stinging her eyes. Not because she longed for those days. Not because she wanted more of such things to fill the room… but because of one night… it all no longer mattered. Everything before her? It was just knick-knacks, dust-collectors, and scrap! Because no one would remember any of this about her. They wouldn’t remember how much she had given, or the scars that lined her back and sides from her matches. No… thanks to that blasted company – thanks to CHBK – all SCW would remember is her no-showing. All they would remember was how ‘good’ it felt that she was gone.
That would be her legacy. Not integrity. Not fighting for what you believe in. No… she would be known for running away and hiding from SCW – and the SCW fans were happy with that!
Angrily, she wiped at her eyes with her hand, shaking her head as she gazed around the room.
“Are you happy now?” the question whispered out of her, repeating in the dusty room. “Are you happy now?!”
**********************************
VanHohenheim House
Maplewood, New Jersey
December 2nd, 2023
2:14pm
“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!”
The last statement rang from Selena’s throat and filled the room, casting it into complete silence between the three women that stood there. She had long set her cup of tea down on the small table nearby, her sapphire eyes glaring at her target – her beloved redhead. And while her heart ached to take back the words she had just screamed, her head didn’t want to. Because it was true: she DIDN’T believe Deanna.
How could she? For months, the younger woman had tried desperately to get her back into SCW. Had tried trick after trick – from setting up fake news, to overacting and overselling her injuries at home, to downright fighting with her. Even now, how could Selena believe this was anything but that? She had watched the video of herself that had, apparently, aired on SCW Breakdown, promoting Fatal Fortunes – No, scratch that! Fatal Fortunes had been a mere footnote! her mind argued. The video had promoted HER. Only her. No other superstar, no titles, NOTHING but the retired Snow Queen! Promoting her imminent return to SCW… which was news to Selena considering she hadn’t made a phone call or sent an email of any kind regarding that! What else was she supposed to think than the loudest advocate in her return – Deanna – being behind it.
Still, as she stood there, watching the redhead’s jaw shake in emotional shock and her eyes forming unshed tears amidst the emerald orbs, Selena almost doubted her conclusions. Even so, she remained silent as Deanna wiped at her eyes angrily, sniffling a little as the United States Champion regained her composure. “Fine…” the redhead finally whispered. “If nothing has changed from the last time we spoke, I’ll be going.”
“Deanna… no.” Alejandra VanHohenheim, Selena’s mother, tried, the dark-skinned, white-haired woman pushing herself out of her seat and rushing to Deanna’s side. “Please stay and we can talk about this as a family.”
“No point.” Deanna replied, the bitterness clear in her voice. “Not like she’d believe me no matter what I said.” Those emerald eyes found Selena’s again, but the older Frost could not bring herself to budge. She didn’t want to give in. She was sick of entertaining this!
“She didn’t mean that!” she heard Alejandra cry out but Deanna was already on the move, marching back the same way she had abruptly intruded on the mother/daughter pair. Selena didn’t want to stop her – in fact, she was almost stunned by her lack of desire to do so. Instead, she turned herself towards the large window nearby her, just in time to see her wife outside. Quietly, the platinum-blonde watched as Deanna marched over to Selena’s motorcycle, staring holes into it, it seemed, before the redhead suddenly pushed it up and kicked the kickstand out from under it, letting it tip and crash onto the concrete of the road. Even Selena could hear it from inside the house.
Enraged, Deanna turned to stare at the window and Selena saw her eyes: saw the hurt and so much more within them. Yet, she didn’t look away. She couldn’t. Nor could she rush out and talk to her wife. She just… she could only watch as Deanna finally got into her car – well, their family car – and drive away. It was only when she was gone that Selena felt herself exhale, releasing a breath that she did not realize she had been holding, a pale hand reaching up to place itself against the cool glass of the window.
“Are you happy now?”
The voice, a mixture of disappointment and admonishment, came from behind her, causing Selena to steal a small glance towards it. Alejandra stood here, her hands on her hips. Unlike Selena, who wore dark, black jeans and a maroon, flowing long-sleeve ruched v-neck blouse, Alejandra wore a dark-green sweater and beige pants, the warm colors contrasting the cold glare she was giving her daughter.
“Don’t start with me.” Selena warned.
“Oh, I’m starting with you.” The older woman spoke back. “How could you say that to her?”
“Because it’s true.” Selena huffed, turning away from the window to move further into the room. “What else am I to think, mother? Hmmm? Tell me!”
“You could have been patient with her-“
“I HAVE BEEN PATIENT WITH HER!” the daughter fired back angrily. “For MONTHS, I have put up with these ‘attempts’ of hers! All these tricks and games of hers! All the while, I’ve begged and pleaded with her to let this go! To let me retire! She wouldn’t listen! She wouldn’t stop!”
“Can you blame her?!” The question came so quickly that it threw Selena off into silence, but prompted Alejandra further. “Any idiot can see you’re miserable!”
“I’m not miserable!” Selena refuted. “I’ve been happy since I left! I’ve loved it, mother! The free time - time with the children. The chance to do other things, I…” she laughed. “I was thinking about auditioning for a community theatre’s show next month. Like on stage! Or learn a new language, like taking a class or something! I’m…” she breathed, which came out a little as a small laugh. “I’m not miserable. I just don’t need SCW – or wrestling - like everyone seems to think I do.”
Silently, Alejandra eyed her daughter before merely shaking her head. “Who the hell are you trying to convince?”
Selena opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, her emotions a jumble that she tried to keep in check.
“If you were really so happy, Selena, then that video wouldn’t have bothered you at all. Who cares what SCW is doing? Who cares what they are promising? You’d have shrugged your shoulders and ignored it without a single care.” she pointed a finger at Selena. “But you do care. Deep down, you still care about it. About your reputation. About your time there. Deep down, you hate that things have gone this way, don’t you?”
“You don’t-“
“You think I don’t wish things had been different in my life?” Alejandra fired back, cutting off Selena. “I wish I had been there to protect your father from the Scythes. I wish I had been there to save him from the mine-collapse! I wish I had had the courage to just take him and run away together or face the DeCarlos and Scythes so that you would never have to. I wish I had never given you up and left you to Anastasia!” her voice had risen to the point that it was ringing within the walls, almost surprising Alejandra herself and causing her to quiet her voice as she continued. “There are so many things that I regret, Selena, especially where you and Jonathan are concerned. But I AM happy. Because I moved on and am doing all I can to make it up to him, to you… and to myself. I am trying to give life the best chance I have. You…” she shook her head. “You haven’t moved on. You haven’t let go of any of this. You’re still holding onto that anger and regret. You’re just trying to hide by pretending it’s not there.”
“I…” Selena’s voice shook a little as she stared at her mother. “No…I…”
“Have you even watched SCW? Or any wrestling?” VanHohenheim asked, tilting her head knowing at her wife. “Have you even spoken about it? With Deanna? With anyone?”
“I…a little…” Selena tried lamely before sighing, her gaze finding her feet. “No…”
“Why would that be if you had moved on? If you truly didn’t need SCW or wrestling anymore?”
Unable to keep her eyes on the floor, Selena jerked her head out to gaze at the window, focusing on her tipped over motorcycle. The vehicle had been a gift Deanna had given Selena when the redhead had been pregnant with their son, David, and Selena had just purchased their ‘Forever Home’ in Manhattan for her. The observant redhead had seen how much Selena had, silently, wanted the bike, able to read the Snow Queen better than anyone else, including Alejandra.
And if Alejandra knew her daughter well enough that she could deduce all she had… then so had Deanna – and a lot sooner at that.
“It’s too late.” Selena whispered in defeat, turning her head to gaze at her mother. “I couldn’t go back now even if I wanted to.”
“Why not?” Alejandra asked. “You said you were advertised? So, show up. Say you’re just keeping the promise-“
“And for what, mother?” Selena asked with a dark laugh. “Just to be booed out of the building again? Just to be vilified and hated for simply being me?” She felt something within her break, like a dam that had been erected bit by bit since she had left SCW months ago, finally bursting. “I did nothing wrong…” her voice shook and long-repressed tears came rushing to the backs of her eyes. “I didn’t lie or cheat or screw anyone over. I didn’t curse anyone – I FOUGHT for them… for all of them… and they still hated me… They still wanted me out of SCW for good…”
Slowly, Selena felt her head lower, her forehead resting against the cold of the glass of the window. “I… I gave them everything… and it wasn’t enough.”
She heard her mother behind her take a few steps forward. “There is nothing for me there now. Nothing to fight for.”
“Yet you still can’t let it go?”
Selena breathed. “No… I can’t…” she whispered, finally admitting it aloud to herself. “I… I tried. I tried to. I’m still trying to. I just… I need more time.”
“Selena…” Alejandra tried, but Selena jerking her head back towards her mother silenced the dark-skinned woman.
“Mother…” she started, shaking her head knowingly, her sapphire eyes finally letting her tears fall down her cheeks. “You don’t get it. O.….” She sighed. “O. was right. He warned me SCW was changing. I didn’t listen to him. He warned me the fans were changing… I didn’t listen to him. I just stupidly kept fighting with him and against the change until…” her voice trailed off, not wishing to remember the past year that had been a nightmare.
“And…” Alejandra whispered, reaching out to take her daughter’s chin within her fingers to guide Selena’s gaze back to her own. “What would he say if he were here now? If you told him all this?”
“I…” For a moment, Selena looked away, past her mother, as if she could conjure the old man right before her eyes like the ghosts that used to haunt her mind. Even after all these months, she remembered how he walked, how he talked. How he would keep quiet while someone whined and ranted and then he’d strip them bare with his logic and authority. Even that tilt in his head – like the one she could suddenly see in her mind’s eye – the creator of SCW looking at her with an ‘I told you so’ expression that shifted to one that seemed to scream ‘Grow the fuck up, kid’.
Closing her eyes, Selena sighed knowingly. “He’d tell me that, if SCW is changing, then I need to change with it. But…” she felt the familiar double-edged sword she had been battling far longer than she cared to admit to anyone. “That’s why I can’t go back.”
“I don’t understand. You can’t change?” Alejandra asked honestly, earning a knowing nod of Selena’s head.
“I know you don’t understand.” the platinum-blonde sighed, the same conclusion she had gone through over and over again rearing its ugly head. “And no… I can… but to change… I know that what I will have to become… I can’t be both. I can’t be that and who I am now.”
“You can’t be Selena?”
“No.” she shook her head sadly. “I can’t be Deanna’s wife.”
With a sigh, Selena pushed herself away from the window, opting to head out of the room, then out of the house, grabbing her helmet on the way out. She heard her mother following her as she reached her motorcycle. With a bit of lifting, she managed to tilt it back upright. Dusting her hands off, she brought her gaze around to see her mother standing there in the brisk cold.
“I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” The older woman tried. “I think you can adapt to this new SCW and still be Deanna’s wife.”
A sad smile came to Selena’s lips, the Snow Queen not bothering to correct her mother. Alejandra didn’t understand. Didn’t grasp the magnitude such a change would be and what it would cost. How could she?
Moving her leg to straddle her vehicle, Selena plucked up her helmet and adjusted it over her head. “Can you…” she sighed. “Can you look after the kids for the next few weeks? I just… I’m going to have to watch what SCW does… and I don’t…”
“I get it.” Alejandra nodded, reaching out to embrace her daughter. “You’ll figure it out.”
Selena said nothing, merely waiting for the hug to end before she revved up the motorcycle, shooting out onto the streets without looking back. I’ve already ‘figured it out’… she thought bitterly to herself as she took to the interstate. It’s just that nobody else really has… or knows what they are truly asking of me…
*********************************
Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhanttan, New York
December 15th, 2023
8:46pm
“Just what the hell did you think you were doing?” Selena barked into the phone as she paced around the trophy room, as she had been doing for the past nearly forty minutes. “Did you even consider how this would look on me?! On Deanna?!”
On the other side of the call, she could hear the grown man, Eric Anderson (their old friend and chauffer) shuffle his feet. It hadn’t taken much deduction for Selena to figure out how her luxury bus had ended up in California. There was really only one man that had the keys to it in the first place!
“I know that!” she heard the young man try. “But if you would just listen to me for half-a-minute…”
“I don’t want to hear it, Eric! You’re way out of line and you know it! First of all, that bus isn’t your property! Second, what good could you possibly do?! You show up, OF COURSE SCW is going to think I am there! If anything, you just made things worse for Deanna! Unless…”
The idea, like a defense mechanism, came to Selena and, despite herself, it formed itself naturally into the inevitable question. “Did she put you up to this?”
“NO!” Eric answered vehemently, almost sparking a spurt of respect and pride for the man within Selena. “This wasn’t Deanna’s idea!” he defended strongly. “I did this on my own! Because…because…”
He couldn’t finish his thought but Selena could hear it in his voice. A sense of nobleness. Of good intention… “Just like Deanna…” she sighed, realizing she had said the thought aloud and allowing her train of thought to be vocalized. “You see it too, huh?”
He didn’t answer immediately, which told Selena all she needed to know. Deanna had seen it, her mother had seen it, and even Eric could see it in the few visits she had had with him since the fall season. This wasn’t some desperate act to get his old job back as the Frost’s chauffer – anymore than it was her wife’s ‘desperate attempt’ to reform the House of Frost just to save her own career (she had already proven that she was better off with Selena there). No, Eric had clearly acted in a similar mentality as Selena’s wife had. Whatever his ‘rationale’ had been – sticking it to SCW management or trying to change the SCW Universe’s unexplainable hatred for Selena - his goal was simple.
To get the Snow Queen back into SCW. To make things right for Selena. To make her happy.
How could I have ignored this for so long… Her mind half-mocked, half-cried at her own stupidity. How could I be the only person that couldn’t face the truth?
“Look…” She heard Eric’s voice again from the phone. “I’ll pay for the usage, okay?”
A long exhale came from the platinum-blonde as she breathed. “No.” she replied. “I’ll cover everything you need, including your usual wages for the drive. Just get me an expense report when you get back to Manhattan.”
“You don’t have to do that. And I just wanted to…” Eric’s voice was suddenly cut off as the sound of footsteps was heard. There was a moment of silence – one Selena dared not destroy with her words.
“Is that Selena?” she recognized the voice instantly, her breath hitching in her throat as she heard the scuffling of the phone being ripped from Eric’s hands. “Selena?!”
Again, that voice. Deanna. The Snow Queen knew it anywhere. “Selena, is that you? What is going on here?!”
Selena opened her mouth to speak. To try and form some words – anything! – to leave her beloved. Do it! Her mind pleaded. Tell her she was right! Tell her you understand! Tell her something!
But she didn’t say a word. Instead, she merely moved the phone away from herself and slid her thumb over the screen to terminate the call. She stood like that for several minutes, her eyes locked on the phone – seeing her own reflection across the black screen.
“Are you happy now… mother?” the whisper came from her lips.
“Yes… I am.”
The voice gripped Selena as it slid over her senses, forcing her eyes shut for a moment and her hand to grip her phone until her knuckles turned white. There was silence for what felt like several minutes, Selena refusing to open her eyes despite knowing the woman was still there. Instead, she breathed in and out, trying to calm her fast-beating heart at the voice she had not heard in so long… Long enough that she had almost forgotten it. With one last exhale, the platinum-blonde slowly opened her eyes, her vision adjusting to the room and, immediately, finding the older woman standing about fifteen or so feet away from her, leaning against the wall by Selena’s tournament trophies, running a patient hand along the part-shiny/part-dusty gold of the ‘Best of the Best’ trophy. Her dress was long like the maroon, silk nightgown Selena wore, but was black with a lower cut in the V-neck. It was a dress where Selena’s was nightgown. The woman’s hair, not as long or platinum-blonde as her daughter’s, ran to just above her shoulders but had a natural curl that Selena’s didn’t have.
However, it was the woman’s eyes that Selena’s attention focused to. Eyes that held a hint of black makeup to make them pop, but it wasn’t that. It was the confidence they held. The power. The air of superiority the woman had exhumed through the majority of Selena’s life.
This was how Selena remembered her. As she appeared before her now.
“I am very happy, my dear.” Anastasia DeCarlo smiled. “And very proud.”
“Well…” Selena sighed. “That makes one of us.”
Knowingly, Anastasia smiled at her step-daughter, tilting her head as if to study Selena like she always had. “Still needing ‘ghosts’ to get through things, my dear?” the question gave no answer, not that DeCarlo needed one. “Some things never change.”
Indignant, Selena huffed at the remark. “I haven’t ‘needed’ any of you since Malcolm died and-“
“A lady doesn’t scoff like that!” The command was crisp and cut Selena off immediately, the Snow Queen’s eyes going wide as Anastasia was suddenly in front of her, her darker eyes brown eyes glaring into Selena’s sapphire ones.
“Sorry, mother…” Who had said that? Selena realized with shame that it had been her, her brain falling into the automatic, programmed behavior that had filled her childhood as her step-mother had tried to mold her into the perfect ‘Snow Queen’. Angrily, the platinum-blonde shook the grip out of her system, stepping away from the apparition to move further into her ‘Room of Wrestling’.
“Who are you pretending for?” came Anastasia’s voice with the sudden question. “There is no one here. No one is listening in. Not Alejandra, not SCW, not Eric… Not Deanna...” Selena turned around to see the woman smiling knowingly at her. “You can admit to everything here.”
“What am I admitting to?” Selena asked, shrugging her shoulders.
“Well… let’s start easy.” DeCarlo teased. “Like the fact that you are the reason I am here now. That you needed me.”
Selena’s jaw clenched but she remained silent as she watched the woman she had known as ‘mother’ walk around the room. “Think about it…” as she spoke, her body seemed to shift and change, altering in voice and appearance as she spoke the names. “Whether it was Adrian Scythe, Dawn Lohan, or even…” she had changed into the familiar redhead Selena had just heard on the phone, causing an ache in Selena’s heart at the sight. “Or even Deanna…” just as quickly, the redhead shifted back into the smiling form of Anastasia. “You have brought us forward to say what you can’t say. To tell you what you can’t tell yourself. Because you lacked the courage to believe it.”
Again, Selena remained silent within the room, simply watching her stepmother move. Still, she couldn’t refute the woman’s words either. The silence lasted for a minute before a laugh escaped the older woman. “Is admitting such a simple, easy truth too much for you?” she laughed again. “Are you that weak?”
“No.” Selena shot back angrily. “I admit it. So what?”
“Good.” Anastasia grinned. “Now we are getting somewhere, aren’t we? So, admit I am here because you need me.”
“Fine.” Selena sighed. “I admit that too.”
“Good, girl.” Gods, Selena hated hearing that! How many years had she spent in Nome having that mockingly spoken in her ear by Anastasia? An empty platitude for simply obeying her stepmother. For doing as she was told, even when she tried so hard to rebel when she could. “Now…” she heard her stepmother continue.
“What’s the reason?” Selena asked at the same time as her past-tormentor, even tilting her head the same way Anastasia did at the same time, causing DeCarlo’s grin to widen as the pair shared an identical glance.
“Because you’re going back to SCW.” There was no guesswork in that statement like with Eric. There was no hypothesis laced with understanding like with Alejandra. There was no ‘hopeful prayer’ like with Deanna. This was cold…factual… certain. “You’ve known from the second you saw that video. The moment you saw how far SCW was willing to go to try and get you back. The moment you heard those hated boos from the audience at it. The moment you saw the hope in Deanna’s eyes when she showed it to you. You’ve known…”
Selena couldn’t say it right away, her eyes only able to study her stepmother studying her.
“And, like you said… like you’ve known all along… there is only one way that can happen.” Anastasia stated darkly. “Only one way for you to go back there and not be ‘thrown off’ by them again. Only one way for you to go back and not be destroyed by all their hatred again.” She stood up, glaring daggers at her stepchild. “And while you hate it-“
“While I hate it…” Selena whispered at the same time, stopping while Anastasia continued.
“It is the only way.” Anastasia breathed. “Accept it… admit it… that, after so many years of every soul in SCW predicting it would happen… finally grant them their wish and make it their nightmare.”
She drew closer to her daughter, leaning down to stare into her eyes. “If they see you as the villain in this new SCW…” reaching out, she gripped Selena’s chin, harsher than Alejandra had, and forcing it up to stare further into Selena’s eyes.
“Then the villain is exactly what you will become…”
*****************************************************************
The camera opens up to the interior of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York the site of the most recent episode of SCW’s Breakdown. The arena is empty but not because it is before the show begins… but after! Indeed, one glance and any audience member viewing this video can see the remains of discarded cups and food wrappers. Some cardboard signs litter the floor – it is as if a massive party has come and gone from the arena, leaving only empty seats and empty ring. The scene is silent for a moment before the camera spots the woman walking down the ramp and entering the ring via the stairs and ropes. Zeroing in, the screen suddenly shows, amidst the silence, the ‘Snow Queen’ Selena Frost. She wears the same clothes she wore during her brief segment on Breakdown, one that is, no doubt still on the minds of many of the SCW Universe, viewer and wrestler alike.
Standing within the center of the ring, the platinum-blonde takes a moment to stare down at her right hand, eyes transfixed on the dried blood that still colors her knuckles. Blood that is not her own.
As I was saying… before I was so rudely interrupted… She lifts her head, staring into the empty arena. Supreme Championship Wrestling… she gives the same pause she gave earlier tonight. Do you believe?
Unlike during Breakdown, the woman is met with silence this time around, a fact which causes a knowing smile to grace her features. Oh, that’s right… I already asked you that question, didn’t I? And you gave me your very clear answer… For a moment, the former world champion’s sapphire eyes scan the empty seats, as if she is remembering the deafening boos that had greeted her the moment she had stepped foot before the SCW Universe. Have I disappointed you fans? Am I not the person you want to see? Oh wait! I know!
Reaching into the pocket of her black, long coat, Selena pulls out an item, grasping it tightly before turning it out and presenting it to the viewers watching from their computers, televisions and smartphones. Would you rather I be wearing this? She turns the item, revealing the mask of Hakura Keitaro – the same mask she wore at the End of the Year Invitational event she won to cap off 2023! For a moment, Selena turns to gaze at the mask.
Quite the difference such a thing makes, doesn’t it? And I suppose it’s the been the biggest thing following me since I revealed myself at the first Breakdown of 2024. Not why I came back. Oh no, the question so many people want to know is why I chose to disguise myself to do it..
She continues to look at the mask for a moment before scoffing, turning her head to gaze at the camera while her arm lowers. You want to know why? Her eyes narrow. It’s because of you. Every single one of you.
Slowly, Selena begins to pace around the ring. See, CHBK may have been a lying little piece of crap throughout the majority of his life, one that I don’t trust in the slightest, but he spoke honestly tonight about what happened regarding all of this. Did I contact him privately? Yes, I did. Did I call him out on a ton of shit? Yes, I did. Did I make a deal with a man that I hate, which included a disguise and getting my rematch for the SCW World title? A dark smile forms across her face. You’re damn right I did!
The former world champion gives a shake of her head. And I’ll give Alex Desbourais the credit in this. He told all of you the truth. Why did I enter the Invitational? To prove a point. To prove that I can not only excel in this ring, but that I am still at the forefront when it comes to talent, power and skill! How many people did I overcome to win that event? How many foes did I outsmart and outmatch? Enough for SCW to agree that I was next in line for the world title – but I’ll get to that in a bit. Because the truth is, I could have easily done this as ‘Selena Frost’ instead of ‘Hakuri Keitaro’. I could have rolled in with the same old song, with Ava Max singing loudly, rolled right in with snow falling – all of it – and the result would have been the exact same. So why didn’t I?
Once more, Selena’s glare is right at her audience. To expose all of you.
Because while I was eliminating superstar after superstar and carving through the ranks of SCW, what were all of you doing, huh? What were the SCW masses doing as they watched this ‘masked man’ dominating SCW the same way Selena Frost did for years? she gestures towards the empty, trash-filled arena.
You were cheering. You were chanting. She smiles a wicked, mocking grin. You were believing! All in me. All in support of me! I outlasted old favorites like Angelica Jones and you cheered me! I silenced smart and hungry new faces like Ivory Plume and Jaina Lancaster and you cheered me! I stared down CHBK without saying a word and you all chanted for me!
Her hand slowly rests on one of the ropes, twisting it within her grip. And then, I rolled into the first Breakdown of 2024 and I knocked out the world champion with a single kick! I did what you all were begging someone – ANYONE – to do! Kandis sure as hell couldn’t do it! Xander’s too whipped these days with management to do it. But I did it! And you all CHEERED ME! You all couldn't get enough of me...
She slowly holds up the mask once more. And then I took this off… Her eyes shift down to stare at it for a long second. And just like that, it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what I did. It didn’t matter that, just like in the past, I had GIVEN you all that you had wanted. Didn’t matter that I had done what you asked. Your hatred rang through all of Toledo, Ohio!
The next line is a mixture of reflective and accusatory. All because of who I am. Slowly, Selena releases her grip, dropping the mask somewhere outside the ring.
Oh, you can see where I am going with this... Because I want to make it clear that I didn’t come back here for any one of you. Why the hell would I? When you hate not based on my actions but simply on who I am? You hate me simply because I am Selena Frost. You know what that is, SCW Universe? That’s prejudice! That’s bigotry! her words echo a little, venom laced in every word.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it? Well, imagine how I felt! Imagine how I felt when I realized that I had spent a decade of my life, of my career, littering my body with scars and fighting for integrity all for a bunch of people that are so corrupt! All for a bunch of people that are so simple-minded and fickle! Because you all judged me. You all hated me! And why?
Because, while I thought back then that we were alike, the truth is I am NOTHING like any of you. Any one of you, dealing with what I had to? Constantly harassed and questioned about their beliefs? With your own peers declaring ‘any day now, you’ll turn’ while facing insurmountable odds with the opportunity to take shortcuts? Any one of you, just like Asher Hayes, would have taken those shortcuts. Would have taken those handouts. Would have screwed over your own family and you KNOW it!
She shakes her head slowly. Not me. I didn’t. I believed in this place and I believed in all of you. I kept my word week after week, month after month, year after year… until suddenly, it wasn’t us standing side by side in the realm of integrity, was it? It was me being a looking glass into your own immoral, pathetic, sellout lives, wasn’t it? It was me being a standard of honor and nobility that none of you will ever hope to achieve, wasn’t it? It was me being the reality check that none of you wanted to face! So you gave up on it – gave up on me – and hated me for it. Hated me just because... I was better than all of you.
Even now, I exposed every one of you, didn’t I? I fooled you all by making you cheer me and then immediately booing me after revealing myself. You’re all embarrassed and you SHOULD be! Because I wasted a year of my life blaming myself for us coming apart in 2023 when, all along, it was YOUR fault!
Taking a breath, Selena seems to be enjoying admonishing the SCW Universe – wrestler and fan alike – as she shakes her head. You shouldn’t be booing me, guys. You should be THANKING me! You should be thanking me for coming back and knocking Asher Hayes on his ass! You should be thanking me for coming back when your ‘chosen people’ like Kandis couldn’t get the damn job done! You should be thanking me for coming back, SCW, when nobody has been able to step up to the main-event picture like I can! But no. Because I am Selena Frost, I’m the devil-incarnate, right?
She shrugs, her eyes fluttering down to gaze at the dry blood on her right hand. Well… that suits me just fine. If I am, indeed, the devil – a woman so despised that you’ll even cheer Asher Hayes over me - then I’ll be the best damn blue-eyed devil SCW has EVER seen! She lets the last part hang in the silence for a few seconds.
And since I am the devil and since we are on the subject of ‘giving thanks’, I’m going to now ignore you ungrateful lot and focus on someone that should be thanking me more than anyone else in SCW!
Asher Hayes…
Once more, the woman stares into the camera, but her expression is more amused than anything.
You know, Asher, for a man that claims to be ‘levels’ above everyone else, I expected you to be a little bit smarter than the fickle, prejudiced people you spoke to. I expected you to be a bit more… self-preserving considering the little ‘self-love’ sessions you have with your 'Kismet', especially after I knocked you out and showed just how easily it can be done!
I mean, seriously. I gave you the opportunity to speak your mind earlier tonight rather than simply knock you out again. You think I couldn’t just roll in and superkick your head off like last time? That I’d have any qualms rolling up behind you, waiting for you to turn around and then blasting you with another Glass Shard? But no, Asher, I wanted you to prove me wrong. I wanted you to show me something. Something to show me that you weren’t the same dumbass that ran his mouth last time we waged war. But instead, you try and goad me out? You try and hurt my ego? You tell me ‘I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve that. No one wants me here. Everyone would rather I die. My wife is hurting. I’m stepping on people’s toes. I’m casting people into my shadow’-
SO WHAT?! The question echoes loudly within the arena space.
You think I don’t deserve this match? So what? You think I’m cutting ahead and stepping on toes? So what?! You say no one wants me here? So what?! You think I’m hurting my wife’s career?! The woman scoffs, even giving a shrug before dropping her voice to a dead calm tone. So what?
How does that change the fact that you are facing me?! How does that change the fact that you are defending the world title against an opponent who’s accolades dwarf yours?! How does that change the fact that YOU OWE ME?!
Giving another shake of her head, Selena resumes her pacing around the ring. Because you like to talk about the past, don’t you, Asher? You like to tell people that SCW is ‘soft’? Not like 2007, 2008, 2009? Not like the ‘old-days’, right? Well, tell me, Asher. Those ‘old days’ of yours? Where the hell were you during them? Those boys you talked about? Xander Valentine, a man I’ve humbled on more than one occasion? Shawn Winters – the man that acknowledged me as ‘The Face of SCW’? Supposed ‘stars’ that were leagues above what SCW is now? Where the hell were you?
She grants a moment of silence, though no answer comes forward. Don’t remember? Probably don’t remember because of your drug-issues at the time, but let me remind you. Your whole ‘journey thing’? Your driving force for this ‘Kismet’ of ‘over a decade and some’? Was because you couldn’t CUT it back then. You couldn’t cut it back in your ‘glory age’ to become world champion. You were little more than a midcard filler. A guy that got stomped out for future legends like Shilo Valiant, weren’t you? A guy that, not in a million years, would be ‘the only choice’ for SCW to have as a world champion - as you have lately put it!
And for all those years of you coming and going in and out of SCW, we fast forward to 2021, 2022, you STILL couldn’t cut it, could you? You needed The Brand. You needed Holly Adams. You needed Cid Turner. You needed Giovanni Aries. Hell, Sammy Thomas Davies and Chlamydia were MORE successful and popular in the Brand than you! And you STILL, even with them, couldn’t manage anything more than being half-a-champion! she mockingly winces at that fact.
And that’s where your thanks needs to begin, Asher. Because I took all that away, didn’t I? I drove each member of The Brand apart by beating them. From Cid, to Holly, to Giovanni, to you. I beat them all over and over again, keeping that world title from them until, after exposing you and The Brand for the failures you are, they started showing their true colors just like the SCW Universe has now. They turned on you – the dead weight - and set you up for jail time, didn’t they? And that, Asher, was clearly the best thing to happen to you because when you came back from that, you were better! Not A LOT better, but still a smarter and better wrestler. You were able to win big matches like that triple threat last Rise to Greatness. You were able to be perceived as, at least, a ‘potential’ contender for the world title despite, ironically enough, not really earning it beyond attacking Kandis from behind – oh trust me, the irony of your earlier statements tonight isn’t lost on me.
But that all started with me. With me being the instrument of The Brand’s destruction and your subsequent freedom from it.
She holds up a finger to silence any argument, despite being alone. And it doesn’t stop there, Asher! Because let’s face it, you wouldn’t even be standing in the ring with that world title if it wasn’t for me. Think about it. I came back after four months away and got my rematch like that! She snaps her fingers, a smile on her face. Even with your ego, can you imagine what would have happened if I had done that the first Breakdown after Rise to Greatness rather than walking out of SCW? You honestly think YOU would have been considered over me? The guy that’s NEVER main-evented a Rise to Greatness? Never won a singles-tournament? Hasn’t held a singles title since what? 2020? 2021? You over the most dominant world champion in the history of SCW?
A quiet, short laugh escapes the Snow Queen, the woman clearly amused by such a notion.
Again, me walking away from SCW was the best thing that ever happened to you, Asher. Like turning over a stone and moving it out of the way, suddenly, all the little insects came scurrying up to fill the void. My absence in SCW left a hole in the world title picture so massive that even someone like you could scurry through and get their chance. A gap so big that someone like you and Simon Lyman could get TWO world title shots back-to-back, allowing you to LITERALLY throw one chance away! See it, Asher? The only reason you had the drive to get that title was because of me and the only reason you got to this point has been because of me!
And you are welcome! She smiles at her opponent before it slowly fades.
But… this is where things go downhill for you, Asher. Because that means – if I am responsible for your little success – that means that everything about it belongs to me. The title, your spotlight, your main-event status... your Kismet? It all belongs to me.
And I’ve let you have your moment in the sun. I’ve let you have your time. I’ve let SCW try and get on without me and, let’s face it… SCW – everyone in it – failed. Management failed, CHBK failed, the SCW Universe failed, Kandis failed, and you, especially, failed.
Even with Kandis trying to be the ‘favorite superstar’ that I was, she failed.
Even with Simon Lyman trying to desperately be ‘the hero’ that I was, he failed.
Even with you trying to desperately be the ‘dominant, greatest champion’ that I was, you have failed.
Even with all three of you and your massive egos, and Kandis’ massive everything else, even combined – none of you could fill the gap I made. Even combined, you couldn’t fill my boots. How else could I just walk in and retake my spot with so little opposition from anyone? Including the world champion?
Taking a moment of silence, Selena smirks before she adjusts her coat as she stands in the middle of the ring. Speakingof which, Asher, I now want you to take a long walk before you open your mouth again. I want you to take some time and really think. Because deep down, you know, I am right about all of this. You know that you owe me. And you know that this is a title defense that is unlike the others you’ve weaseled your way past. This is an opponent unlike any you’ve had to face this SCW season, and I include James Evans in that breath.
Because it doesn’t matter if they hate me. Doesn’t matter if you hate me. Doesn’t matter if I earned this shot. Doesn’t matter if you think one way or another about it. What matters is that I just need one kick and I will be taking that world title from you. What matters is that I am going to come into MY ring once more and I WILL land that one kick.
And you’re going to thank me for it.
I’m going to beat you and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to give you the kind of dominant display reminiscent of your ‘old SCW days’ and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to take your Kismet – MY world championship – and you’re going to thank me for it.
I am going to knock you back down to the mid-card, Asher, and you’re going to thank me for it.
She holds her hands out a little, as if in display. Because you’re not facing the ‘retread of retread’, Asher. You’re facing something else entirely.
And come Body, Heart and Soul – the Blue-Eyed Devil is coming to collect all of it… including what’s owed!
Believe it… a wicked grin crosses her lips once more as she holds up her blood-stained hand. Or not...
The camera focuses on Selena as it slowly fades to black, the segment coming to a close.[/color]
![[Image: hffOaUZ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/hffOaUZ.png)
SCW Supreme Champion
6x SCW World Champion
4x SCW World Tag-Team Champion
2x SCW United States Champion
3x SCW Adrenaline Champion
SCW Television Champion
Longest Reigning SCW World Champion (234 days)
Winner of Shot of Adrenaline Tournament (2016)
Winner of Best of the Best Tournament (2016)
Winner of Trios Tournament (2018)
Winner of U.S. Championship Tournament (2020)
Winner of World Championship Tournament (2023)
Winner of Tactical Warfare (2014, 2019)
Winner of Elimination Chamber (2015, 2024)
Winner of Roofed Cage Match (2019)
Winner of Last Person Standing Match (2019)
The Unbelievable Main Event (2021-2025)
Winner of Double Jeopardy Match (2022)
Winner of EOTY Invitational (2023)
Winner of EOTY Invitational (2023)
Winner of Ironman Match (2024)
Wrestler of the Year (2016, 2021, 2022, 2024)
Tag-Team of the Year (2020 - w/ Regan Street)
Match of the Year (2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024)
Feud of the Year (2014, 2019)
Shocking Moment of the Year (2024)
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