Light in the Darkness vs. European Fiery Nation

[Wisteria Waltz]

The abyss of self-doubt...

Amelia and Luz were no strangers to it. They'd both found themselves trapped in that spiral numerous times throughout their lives, from before they ever became wrestlers to after they'd become part of the SCW roster. Heck, there had been plenty of times even when everything seemed to be going their way where doubt had crept in and made them question if they truly belonged here, at the highest level of competition.

This might be the lowest they'd ever felt, and that was honestly saying something after how long they'd both been at this.

It had been painful enough to lose the World Tag Team Titles the first time, becoming victims of history in the process. To go through that a second time, to once again become victims of history... any upsides to the thought and appreciation of Katie joining the Supreme Champion club at long last were drowned in the acknowledgment of their shortcomings, that their vow to prevent this from happening to them again rang hollow. All the hard work they'd put in, all the effort to get through this defense and finally be able to move on to proving they could finally beat Twisted & Sadistic... gone, just like that. In the blink of an eye, they had gone from fighting tooth and nail to defend and elevate tag team wrestling in SCW to being considered an afterthought, like none of the past year or so had mattered at all.

Maybe that wasn't exactly the truth of the matter, but that was the prevailing thought that had taken hold of their minds and wouldn't let go.

Their friends and loved ones more or less had a pretty good idea at this point of how hard they could be on themselves, given they were in the loop of the kinds of childhoods both ladies had and the pressures and burdens they faced when they were just starting out, but even this was beyond anything they had known. Luz and Amelia had left Breakdown relatively quickly after their match, and for the first day or two afterward had virtually refused to leave their hotel room in Miami, the only communication they'd been willing to indulge in being a text from Amelia to Ivy begging them to move on with wherever their little road trip would take them next and the couple would catch up once they were ready to do so. She and Gage had reluctantly agreed but put the call out to everyone else, especially Luz's mom and Amelia's siblings, about what was going on. When any of them finally saw the tandem again, they were surprised to find them already in Houston, and despite not being booked for that Breakdown they were training with a ferocity that had them all rightfully worried. Ivy especially, given that her powerlifting experience meant she knew the difference between trying to push yourself to break through another limit and trying to brute force an immense amount of progress, and her best friends were so deep in the latter she was terrified they would physically break themselves beyond repair if they weren't stopped.

Trying to get them to step away from pushing themselves and actually talk to them, however, was akin to trying to convince a beaver to never build another dam for the rest of its life. Both women were borderline unresponsive to anything that wasn't each other, and even attempts to physically drag them away from a gym only worked for brief periods of time before they were right back at it. It was honestly disturbing to see The Light In The Darkness this determined to try and rebuild themselves after a loss, especially as they repeatedly muttered to themselves that they had to prove they belonged.

After Luz and Amelia had left for the Toyota Center for tonight's Breakdown, Camila had almost broken down in tears at seeing her daughter in this state, revealing to everyone that while they knew of Luz's struggles both with bullying growing up and trying to live up to her father's lofty legacy very early in her career, they didn't know exactly how hard she could be on herself to try and prove that she could measure up, that she did truly belong. She recalled instances of having to patch her up when she'd nearly broken something during her initial training because she forced herself to go too far, something that even her father had tried to help her overcome while he'd still been alive. Edward and Emily had simply reaffirmed what everyone already knew in addition to that about how hard their parents had pushed all of the Blythe children to fit into the neat little molds that had already been picked out for them, but they'd also revealed some private moments only they'd known about after making amends with Amelia about how hard she was on herself in the face of truly significant defeats, to the point where she would act as though Aleister and Ophelia were still dictating her actions as she fell back into the old Blythe mindset of ignoring any and all pain, even self-inflicted, because it was a sign of weaknesses that needed to be overcome.

June 27th would go down in infamy as the day where everyone in their little found family would fully realize for the very first time that while Luz and Amelia were easily the most positive influence to one another that had effectively led to them saving each other's lives in a sense, their absolute worst thoughts and feelings about themselves, when in sync, also made for a perfect storm that would very easily destroy them if something didn't snap them out of it.

That was almost the case when it came to Breakdown itself. After basically hiding in a locker room they didn't even need for the night, using Katie's “acceptance speech” as a reminder to try and justify what they were about to do, the couple had met CHBK in his office and pitched their plan to well and truly earn the right to claim, especially to themselves, that they were good enough to hang with the most elite athletes in the wrestling business today. Mentally lost in that abyss that had convinced them that they just weren't good enough, they had been so sure of their decision that it had actually been a shock to the system when CHBK had not only denied the sanction to defeat the entire roster before they could be championship-eligible once again, but warned them that if they were insistent on doing this then their contracts—which they had completely forgotten weren't too far off from needing to be renewed—maybe just weren't worth that consideration.

Faced with the reality check of almost making themselves into a self-fulfilling prophecy of their deepest insecurities, the couple not only retreated from their boss's office, but the arena as a whole, knowing their crisis of confidence had just been broadcast to the entire world. As they were driving back to their hotel, the fog they felt like they'd been mentally treading ever since that loss finally seemed to lift, and it began to sink in exactly how far they'd allowed themselves to fall.

“We really almost did that... didn't we?” Luz finally broke the silence, glancing over to meet Amelia's gaze briefly before turning her focus back to the road.

“If you hadn't stopped me at the end there, I probably would've sealed our fate,” Amelia groaned. “Thanks, Lulu...”

“I don't think we need to thank each other tonight, Ames,” Luz choked out. “How... how did we let ourselves fall apart this badly? CHBK's right, we've already long since proven we do belong in SCW and we were willing to argue with him about it and screw ourselves over that easily?”

“I... I just...” Amelia stammered out before taking a shaky breath. “I don't know if there's really an excuse here. We both knew we weren't going to be champions forever, but the extra stakes, the thought of everything we've put ourselves through amounting to nothing, the déjà vu of history being made at our expense...”

“I couldn't go back to feeling like I wasn't worthy... that I was just some weird nobody pretending I deserved to be recognized for something other than being la hija de mi papa,” Luz half-whispered.

“I couldn't go back to not being good enough, to being shunned and punished because I repeated the same mistakes all over again,” Amelia quietly cried.

As Luz pulled their rental car into the hotel parking lot, the two finally turned to give each other a good, long look. They hadn't even set foot in the ring tonight, but both of them looked like death warmed over. Their eyes were red and puffy, with fresh tears threatening to spill over at any moment, their faces were red for a reason that had nothing to do with their feelings for one another for a change, they could actually feel their muscles begging for them to lay down and actually rest which they had somehow felt numb to for... probably way too long at this point, and that realization horrified them.

“You think they'd be willing to talk with us?” Amelia asked as she vaguely jabbed her thumb in the direction of the hotel, and Luz knew exactly who she was referring to.

“Hopefully,” was all she could offer in return along with a half-hearted shrug. “This past week was such a blur, I'm almost afraid to know exactly what all they saw of whatever hell we put ourselves through... or what they'll think of the stunt we just tried to pull.”

“Maybe they actually skipped watching this Breakdown?” Amelia vaguely wished.

Whatever response Luz might have ended up dying on her tongue as both women heard the sound of someone knocking on their window. Turning to the driver's side of the car, they both saw Marilyn staring down at them with the most unamused look she could give that didn't fully cross over into 'murderous glare' territory.

“You two,” she said, pointing at both of them. “Get your butts out of that car right now. We need to talk.”

“Yeeeeeaaaaaah, they... definitely saw what we did,” Luz groaned as she and Amelia slowly undid their seatbelts and carefully stepped out of the car, with Marilyn stepping back to allow them to do so. Amelia slowly walked around the front of the car to stand by Luz's side, arriving just in time to hear the older woman let out an aggravated sigh.

“Do you two have any idea what you were about to do tonight?” Marilyn scolded them.

“We do now...” Luz whined.

“Look, Marilyn, before you rightfully tear us a new one, please hear-” Amelia started, but Marilyn held up a hand to silence her.

“I'm not going to tear either of you a new one,” Marilyn sternly told them, which earned her a pair of surprised looks in return. “I got the full story from your blood relatives, even stuff you may not even realize happened because you got so lost in your own heads that you probably couldn't have told reality apart from one of those fantasy shows you both like. I'm not Aleister or Ophelia, thank the gods for that... besides, sounded to us like your boss already beat me to the punch on the 'tough love' approach anyway, so anything I'd have to say to you would just be regurgitating the facts he already stated.”

“But... but then why...” Luz stumbled over her words, her brain desperately trying to grasp onto anything reasonable about this situation.

“Because I'm disappointed,” Marilyn lamented. “I've got no reason to criticize you for falling into a pit of despair I know all too well. You think I haven't been insanely hard on myself after a big loss or a missed opportunity? I get it. That said... you two are easily the brightest young stars I can honestly say I've ever come to know in this lifetime. Yeah, you both come from incredible legacies, but look at everything you've done and tell me that any of it was handed to you because of that alone. I know you two take a lot of pride in how far you've come and what you want to mean to this business. Hell, I can't remember the last time I saw someone actually stand up for their number one contenders and try to fight their battles just because you didn't want them to have any excuses.”

“...do you think we're too nice for this business?” Luz carefully asked, and Marilyn could see in both of their eyes that they wanted the truth, even if they may not be in the best emotional state right now to hear it.

“Maybe a little,” she finally admitted. “But that's who the both of you are, and you've still made it work. Your SCW accomplishments, your accolades all over the world, and all without losing sight of who you truly are? You took a business that eats people like that for breakfast and shits them out as either insufferable assholes or people just broken beyond all belief, and you've been defiant every step of the way in proving that, yeah, you're probably too nice to do this, but you're also two of the best damn wrestlers in the world today, bar none.”

Amelia and Luz exchanged looks, still incredibly stunned by everything that had been said to them tonight, before the former opened her mouth again. “But... we lost the titles to the Stewards.”

“And both of them have been doing this for a while,” Marilyn pointed out. “Pretty sure Katie's been doing this since you both were still worrying about school. Yeah, they got one over on you both last week, but how many times have you beaten them before that? Maybe they learned from those past encounters like you've been trying to do for Glory and Brittany, maybe they really did just want it more... maybe your kindness got taken advantage of because the Stewards capitalized on you both running yourselves ragged trying to bail out Twisted & Sadistic. You think either one of those teams would've returned the favor if the roles were reversed for some reason? Or would they take advantage without a care in the world because they don't care if you're not at your best, they only care about the gold?”

The couple's eyes widened as the full force of that statement hit them like a freight train, a statement that CHBK had also brought up but never to this degree because he'd been focused on covering every other base. Luz and Amelia truly had no reason at all to interject themselves in Twisted & Sadistic's overdue karma, but they had on a basis of personal respect and pride that had its roots dug firmly into the comments Glory made all those months ago, questioning that very aspect of who they were because they lost the titles without actually being pinned. They got maybe about two and a half weeks' worth of rest before that title match with Team Desire... meanwhile, Glory and Brittany had yet to wrestle a match since Taking Hold of the Flame and they had a feeling that wasn't going to change next week, and outside of some disappointment they'd expressed, they clearly hadn't cared as much about not getting that pure 2v2 match with The Light In The Darkness as long as they could become champions once again, regardless of who they had to take the belts from.

Even if Glory didn't fully realize it or would ever admit to it, she and Brittany had used them, taken advantage of their kindness. Given how this whole mess had started in the first place, even CHBK's idea if they reassessed the situation and agreed to take their rematch had some unfortunate flaws given the “one fall to a finish” format. The whole thing left them frustrated and fuming, something Marilyn actually grinned at.

“I don't care if it wasn't their 'intention' to do so, stuff like that happens so often in this business that you two may be the only ones I can say for sure actively go out of your way to try and avoid doing it even subconsciously,” she pointed out. “But that does leave the question... what are you going to do about it? And if you want to follow me inside, I think I know a few people who might have some ideas if you're open to hearing them out.”

“Absolutely!” Luz eagerly exclaimed.

“We definitely owe them all an apology and then some,” Amelia admitted.

Marilyn simply nodded before letting the couple retrieve what few things they'd taken to the arena with them before leading the way into the hotel. They'd only managed to take a few steps, however, before Amelia's phone had started going off, and she released a defeated sigh at the caller ID.

“I recognize this number,” she groaned. “I thought I blocked it along with my parents', but I guess I should've seen Adrian calling after what Darius told us.”

Deep in the grip of the spiral of self-deprecation after their title loss last week, it was easy to forget that, according to Darius, the scumbag lawyer for Amelia's parents had tried to buy himself some time for one last hail mary to keep them out of prison for their part in The Empire's operations, that being her and Luz testifying on their behalf. Darius had been certain the mere idea was a stall tactic, but the fact that he was calling now, just after both women had been on national television at their absolute lowest, was definitely a calculated move on his part, especially given how early in the morning it had to be over in England right now.

Her thumb moved to answer the call, but Marilyn continued to surprise her and Luz by swiping the phone out of her hand and declining it before powering it down.

“I think you two have suffered enough by your own hands this last week,” she said, her tone still stern but a lot more gentle than it had been earlier. “No need to make yourselves suffer any more than that. This is your time to heal, and if he wants to get upset about that then maybe he picked the wrong people to fight a losing case for.”

Marilyn's grin at such a statement was infectious, and soon Luz and Amelia could feel their lips curling into the first honest smiles that either of them had worn in quite some time. Those smiles only got bigger when they finally entered the lobby and were almost immediately swarmed by all their friends and family, with apologies being exchanged and support being given that made absolutely sure to remind the two women that they were never alone in this fight, even if they were the only ones fighting in SCW. It was enough to have them crying tears of joy as they made amends for the spiral they'd allowed themselves to be sucked into and got a couple of ideas for how they could truly bounce back and prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt and without some needless and excessive gauntlet, that they weren't going to be forgotten about that easily.

After all... within every darkness, no matter how deep it may be, there will always be a light to guide you through.

And their light wasn't going to be swallowed that easily, not so long as they had the strength to keep fighting.