Deanna Frost vs. La Pequena Luz vs. Kimberly Williams vs. Adam Allocco

[SnowQueenSCW]

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

”Discord”

Frost ‘Forever Home’
Manhattan, New York
July 3rd, 2023
4:11pm

The Black Arrow Neighbourhood had been abuzz all this week with the upcoming fourth of July festivities. Several of the older houses were already decorated for the occasion. Some houses had their porches decorated with patriotic bunting along the rails. Others still had little triangle-American-flags attached to rope and running along their house as decoration, and others still had dozens and dozens of little/mini American-flags thrust into their yard, which Deanna Frost hoped that they stayed there and didn’t end up littering the ground when a strong breeze came up.

In short, the neighbourhood was prepared to celebrate the yearly holiday in style.

Not the Frost family. While Christmas/Yuletide and Halloween were times where the Frost wives would race around the house with their children, decorating it up and down, the ‘smaller’ holidays were a time where they remained, surprisingly, calm and detached. That wasn’t to say they were wet blankets. Deanna had already made enough food for the ‘neighbourhood party’ coming up tomorrow, a few pies and salads, and she always loved the fireworks, snuggling up with her children during the ‘early’ show and then returning with Selena for the smaller shows by the neighbours and snuggling up next to her wife as they watched from their spot on their backyard deck. But even so, there weren’t any massive decorations screaming the time of year on the ‘Forever House’ of the Frosts.

For a moment, Deanna looked up from her laptop, her eyes a little sore from staring at the screen for the last few hours. She had been working on a paper for her class with Mrs. Winthrop, discussing the various notions of seasons and moons in the Pagan/Wiccan – ‘Witch’, as it were – religion. Despite herself, her eyes flew over to the page number, satisfied with not only the number there but the word count as well. She was on track to getting the paper finished well ahead of time, including proofreading!

The knowledge of that, however, actually sent a wave of unease and sadness through her, not for her own sake, but for that of her wife, Selena. With a knowing sigh, Deanna shook her head as she pushed herself away from the kitchen table. She adjusted her gray t-shirt and black shorts – the spring humidity was in full swing in New York, and the air conditioners were on full blast.

She knew Selena hadn’t even started the paper yet… and it was due in two weeks! With Rise to Greatness at the same time. With another sigh, the redhead moved around the room to grab a glass to fill with cold tap water, letting herself, momentarily, enjoy the refreshment as she drank.  

She would probably have to write the paper for Selena. Or, at the very least, guide her through whatever topic Winthrop had put on the Snow Queen.

To say that the kind, old teacher was disappointed with the platinum-blonde’s performance as a student would be an understatement. With Selena’s attention solely on SCW, being the SCW world champion and dealing with everything that was happening there – taking everything so seriously and ‘close to the chest’ – she had slipped further and further from her studies, which had not gone unnoticed by the Alden families.

Worrying her lower lip with her teeth, Deanna stopped and sipped more of her cold water. So many of the Alden family wanted Selena to fail at ‘becoming a witch’, which Deanna still wasn’t even sure what that meant. But in order for Selena’s mother, grandmother, uncle and aunt to be ‘off the hook’ from all that past drama, Selena had to pass the course, take the tests (whatever they were), and become an ‘official’ member, or ‘witch’, of the Alden family. “Something she doesn’t even want to do.” Deanna sighed. She had lost track of how many times she and her wife had argued over the stupidity of this situation – hell, Deanna could almost quote the ‘argument high points’ by heart.

Why are we even doing this?
It’s the right thing to do.
We don’t owe them anything!
They don’t deserve to be punished.
I don’t want to be a witch.
Neither do I but they are counting on us.

Again, Deanna shook her head, reaching up with her free hand to grasp at her temples with her fingertips. Why the hell was she becoming the voice of reason in all of this? SCW, the Aldens, the drama with that Bailey woman and Selena slapping David – everything just seemed to be playing more and more on Selena and…

And Deanna didn’t have any idea how to fix it! If she wasn’t speaking for her wife at SCW or trying to keep her calm and focused, then she was helping the Snow Queen with her homework with the whole ‘Witchcraft thing’ (hoping her own stunning high grades would somehow ‘be enough’ for the Aldens as she was, technically, a Frost), to dealing with that Bailey woman a few weeks ago!

Without thought, Deanna’s free hand moved to curl a finger into her auburn locks, twirling the strands around and around. It had all sort of ‘hit her’ when she had spoken to Jaina Lancaster last Breakdown. She had absolutely meant what she had said about standing by Selena in all this… nothing was more important than that. But she had barely gotten to speak about her win over Adam Allocco, and it wasn’t like people were rushing to challenge her even with such a win–

And she still didn’t have a match for Rise to Greatness!

For a moment, Deanna’s emerald eyes slammed shut. The big show… with all the pomp and events, the meet-and-greets, all of it… was only twenty days away… Less than three weeks! Her mind thought with alarm. Less than three weeks and she still didn’t have a match on the main card. Hell, Bree Lancaster had TWO matches already set up, if D.’s command was to be believed. But for Deanna? Nothing. Not a feud, not an opponent – people were throwing challenges left and right to other superstars to get on the card… and she had nothing.

It was the opposite feeling of ‘safety’ that she had in regards to her upcoming essay for witchcraft. This? She felt like she was running out of time and options. Of course, she knew what her hope was. She wanted to be the one picked to face Bree Lancaster for the United States Championship!

She felt her breath hitch a little at the thought. Gods, it sounded so wonderful! To fight for one of SCW’s top titles on the biggest show? It had been what had motivated her throughout the U.S title tournament last month – what had driven her to beat someone like Glory Braddock in the first round! The idea of being in a championship match, not on the preshow of RTG, but on the main card! To prove to the world how far she had come from last year, just like she had proven in her match with Allocco… and what potential she had in the year to come…

Biting her lower lip again, the young woman stood there silently for several minutes. She had no idea what she was going to do beyond continue to keep Selena from having a massive breakdown on live TV. Could she ask O. for such an opportunity? No, she was sure the boss was so miffed about Selena and her ‘views’ that any request made by ‘the wife of Selena Frost’ would probably be dismissed. She could make a direct challenge to Bree… That one had SOME possibility. After all, countless matches were made with a simple “I challenge you”. Hell, that’s how her feud with Jenni Anderson had started last year!

Even so, she had made a challenge on Twitter when Josh Hudson had been the United States Champion and that had been ignored in favor of the larger challenge of Hudson challenging Owen Cruze. So, it wasn’t ‘guaranteed’. And she’d REALLY look like a fool if she made the challenge only to be told no by Bree, D., or the Board of Directors. Gods, the idea sounded awful – going out to the ring, laying down the challenge and meeting nothing in response?

“Lame…” Deanna scoffed at her options, finishing her water before placing the glass back on the counter to wash and dry later. With a shake of her head, she let her legs move her, choosing to do… well, something… as she made her way through the kitchen and downstairs. She heard her kids outside, playing and running around. She knew Gerda was watching them, because David had wanted to go swimming in the lake, which he couldn’t do without his mothers or Gerda watching him.

Carefully, Deanna stepped down the steps and into the basement, her eyes flicking to the large, windowed doors that lead to the backyard. Through them, the redhead caught quick glances of her children running around. Deanna watched them for a few minutes, performing a sort of ‘motherly check’ on all three. Elsianna was reading quietly as she sat on one of the lawn chairs next to one of the stone gargoyles that decorated the backyard, Amiliah was running around with one of her toys and Gerda was quietly following her, always keeping the child in her sights, while watching David swim at the same time. In short, the children were playing and getting some fresh air, allowing Deanna to give a nod of satisfaction before she turned back and made her way across the room and into the large hallway door.

She spied the door down the hall. She didn’t need any light to know her way, she knew this house inside and out, perhaps as much as her wife did. Quietly, the redhead walked the necessary steps to the door before quietly opening it just enough to slip inside.

The woman on the other side didn’t even notice her as she sat at her desk, her eyes, like Deanna’s had been, glued to the computer screen (though hers was a big, expensive computer tower where Deanna’s had been a laptop). For a moment, Deanna just studied the woman. She was still wearing the maroon nightgown she had slept in and her hair, usually immaculate and tied in its iconic braid, was simply tied loosely into a ponytail, with quite a few hairs out of place. Her posture was hunched over slightly, her shoulders rounded, but what really stood out to Deanna were the woman’s eyes. They were bloodshot red, which made sense considering the empty bottles of ‘5-hour energy shots’ that were littering the one side of the large, dark cedar desk she sat behind.

In short, the SCW world champion/her wife, Selena Frost, looked an utter mess, furthering Deanna’s worry but not surprising her in the least. Quietly, she watched the Snow Queen rub her eyes tiredly, the woman reaching for another shot of the energy booster but finding none that wasn’t empty. With a loud sigh of irritation and shake of her head, Selena turned her attention back to the screen. However, the temporary break was enough for the platinum-blonde to spy the redhead standing by the door, the woman’s sapphire eyes going a little wide at the sudden realization that she was no longer alone in her study.

“Morning…” she tried with a tired shrug.

“You mean, ‘afternoon’?” Deanna corrected with a sad tilt of her head, crossing her arms over her chest. Her question caused a bout of confusion within Selena, the woman turning her head to stare at the corner of her computer screen.

“Afternoon? Oh gods…” her eyes went wide as she spied the actual time. “How many- geez…” she groaned, reaching up to rub at her eyes.

“I’m guessing, given you’re still in your nightgown.” Deanna surmised. “That you didn’t get your workout or swim in?” the silence she received from her wife only further irritated the redhead. “What about a nap? Did you sleep on the couch at all?” Again, that same silence as Deanna eyed the couch at the side of the room while she dissected her wife’s activities today. “So, you woke up at 4am-“

“How did you-“

“Because I wake up whenever you leave the bed, Selena!” Deanna shot back quickly. “How many years have we been married and you still think that you can sneak out of bed without me knowing?” she shook her head in disbelief.

With a mixture of guilt and grump, Selena shifted a little in her seat. “You could have just gone back to sleep.”

“I did.” Deanna stated. “But I did so thinking you’d get some more sleep in – not coop up in here all day!” prompted mostly by her wife’s appearance and the situation, Deanna marched across the office room, around Selena’s desk to stare at the Snow Queen’s screen. “What the hell are you even looking at?”

Before her eyes, and to her surprise, was… Deanna could only describe it as a ‘digital mess’! There were many – DOZENS – of tabs littering the large screen of Selena’s computer. Tabs and tabs of YouTube videos, word documents, emails – just staring at it all was enough to almost make her cross-eyed and bring that headache from her own essay-writing back full force! It almost burned her eyes at how many things were displayed in front of her on the screen.

“What the hell-“ she half-gasped, her emerald eyes desperately searching for a place to ‘start’ her assessment. It took a moment before her eyes settled on the least ‘colorful’ tab, that of some sort of email discussing Selena’s ‘schedule’ for filming… in Toronto. Moving counter-clockwise, Deanna’s eyes took in the tabs of videos – all of wrestling matches… specifically of Kandis, including her most recent match against Glory Braddock. Next to those were dozens and dozens of websites with costume designs on them! Coats, color-palettes, pictures of snowflakes, crowns, a variable market of ‘attires’ – all of which followed by more videos of Kandis and a few of Selena’s matches. Lastly, Deanna spied the Word document, a long list of topics and ideas and statements strewn together in random typings with no real organization.

It didn’t take a genius like Ravyn Taylor or CHBK to put the pieces together – this disaster of a ‘collage’ an indication where Selena’s mind was. Rise to Greatness. Of course… Deanna thought without looking at her wife. Instead, her eyes trailed down to the line of tabs along the taskbar, her emerald orbs taking in the many Google Chrome ones until they landed on the Word document ones, specifically the one that read “Assig”, which was as much as Deanna could see with the limited space provided to each tab with the large number of them. Quickly, she clicked on it, and, again, wasn’t surprised when the document opened up to reveal nothing more than a blank word document with only an underlined title: Handfasting. Deanna recognized the title/concept immediately, but it was the lack of anything else that made her turn her head to Selena.

“Really?” she glared.

“What?” Selena shrugged. “I’ve got a topic.”
“And only two weeks before it’s due!” Deanna pressed. “Selena, you’ll fail Mrs. Winthrop’s class if you don’t do well on this paper!”

With a huff, Selena looked away from her wife. “I’ll get it done.” She stated. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind, okay?”

“Not okay!” Deanna pressed. “You know Winthrop is ready to fail you as it is!”
“Yeah, cause she’s bias and wants me to fail.” Selena countered. “Like the other Aldens.”

“SELENA!” Deanna pressed, earning her wife’s bitter attention. “She’s the only person that even gave us a chance to take these classes! She’s one of the few people that is giving you a fair shake! The reason she’ll fail you is because you’ve been a piss-poor student! You don’t study, you don’t do the homework, you basically make me do it!”

“I never asked you too!” Selena countered quickly. “And it’s not like I wanted this. Why are we even doing this?”
“Because you accepted it, Selena.” Deanna shot back. “Because it’s the right thing to do! Need I remind you of everyone counting on us? Including mother?”

“Yeah, you keep reminding me. For people- we don’t owe them anything!” Selena shot back, her bloodshot eyes glaring at Deanna.

“You agreed to this! We do owe them now!” Deanna rationalized. “They don’t deserve to be punished!”

“And I do?!” Selena responded. “By becoming whatever that is – a witch? I don’t want to be a witch!”
“Neither do I!” Deanna threw the answer back quickly. “But they are counting on us! They don’t deserve to be kicked out for all of this – and they sure as hell don’t deserve to be kicked out because you’re being lazy with your homework and assignments!”

“LAZY?!?” Selena’s nostrils flared at that. “Oh yes! Totally lazy, Deanna! It’s not like I’ve got the damn world title and SCW in its entirety to worry about with Rise to Greatness!”

“Which is why I am telling you to get this done now!” Deanna pressed, trying to make her wife see reason, maximizing the blank word document to take up the full screen. “Get it done and over with so we can focus on Rise to Greatness together.”

“You’re one to talk-“

“I AM one to talk!” the redhead countered. “I already finished mine!”

For a moment, sapphire eyes went wide at the statement, but even with their bloodshot nature, Deanna could see the slight jealousy in them before Selena scoffed a little, muttering under her breath.

“What was that?” Deanna asked, moving over to sit on the desk in front of her wife, arms, once more, crossed over her chest.
“Nothing.” Selena stated coldly, looking away.
“No, go ahead.” Deanna pressed. “You seem to have an answer for everything. What did you say?”

Watching her lips purse a little as she contemplated her words, Deanna almost flinched as she saw her wife’s head jerk back to glare at her. “I said that it’s easy for you to say. Seeing as how you don’t even have a Rise to Greatness match to worry about!”

Okay, ouch… Despite the jab she CERTAINLY felt, Deanna did her best not to give any sign of effect. It was a low-hanging branch and, perhaps in her exhaustion, Selena had gotten defensive again and reached for it. Didn’t make it hurt any less, even with Deanna seeing the shift of emotions: realization and guilt flowing across her wife’s eyes.

“You’re right.” The redhead nodded slowly. “I don’t have a Rise to Greatness match… yet.” she turned her attention back over to Selena. “But when I get one-“ she leaned over and closer, glaring at her wife coldly. “And I WILL get one – while you’re tripping over your own two feet trying to get everything done and too distracted to even cut a promo… I will be ready to win said match. Not just show up and break down again.” She gave a rather dark tilt of her head. “Can you say the same thing, ‘world champion’?”

“I…” Selena tried but her voice faltered as she sat back in her chair.

“Hard to argue when you’re the one still in their PJs risking a heart-attack with all that caffeine you consumed, huh?” Deanna spat back. “See that, Selena?” her voice gave a little growl. “I can be a bitch too.”

Pushing herself off the desk, Deanna turned and left her wife at her desk, heading towards the door. “When you’re ready to act like a damn adult.” She shot back, throwing a glance at her wife. “I’ll be with our children. Cause one of us needs to be the parent around here.”

She offered no chance for a response from Selena, closing the door behind herself and making her way back up the stairs. Yes, Selena’s words had hurt, but only until she got that match – Selena was in far worse shape than she was. Deanna could get a match, but Selena needed to fucking grow up!

“Mom!” the voice came from the backyard, causing Deanna to change her direction, exiting out through the massive doors, allowing the warm afternoon to fill her senses as Elsianna came running towards her. In her hands was a letter, which she handed to Deanna. “This was in the mail.”

“Oh, thank you.” Deanna smiled at her eldest before stepping further outside to sit under one of the large gargoyle statues. “Probably just a bill or somet-“ her words stopped as she recognized the waxen crest on the back – the red seal with a bat and an ‘A’ expressed – the Alden crest. Quickly, Deanna opened the black envelope and quickly catching the calligraphic card that tumbled out.

“Invited?” she asked, reading the big word written in golden letters.

“To what?” Elsianna asked, standing by her mother.

“To… to a festival…” Deanna remarked in surprise. “To celebrate Lughnasad…”