Giovanni 'GiGi' Aries vs. Selena Frost

[supremecw]

Giovanni "GiGi" Aries vs. Selena Frost
SCW World Championship

2 RP Limit
Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET Saturday, June 4, 2022

[SnowQueenSCW]

OOC: In two parts due to length.

Project: Black Ice

”The Line is Dead”

She was already walking through the thick snow as she slowly realized where she was, her mind becoming ‘aware’ of its surroundings as if waking up from a dream. She could see the trees surrounding her, black needles of leaves that held up thick coats of snow, ready to drop them the moment the burden became too heavy.

I almost forgot this place… she admitted to herself, her thought sounding more like it was spoken rather than whispered in her mind. There was a bit of shame to it. Had she become complacent? Had she become consumed by what little happiness she had had in the prior months that her mind had ‘managed’ to dull her sleep with dreamless nights? Had it taken a death threat to Deanna and a deadline she could never reach to bring her back to this place? To the place she would always die?

Another step forward – always forward, never back. What was waiting for her back there anyway? Was it the same oblivion? Was it inevitability? The idea that, regardless of whichever she went, it would be ‘forward’? Taking her to the same spot – the same doom that awaited her?

Her eyes caught sight of something amidst the snowstorm that flowed around her. A clump of pale skin and hair with robes wrapped around it. The snow had buried most of him, but she recognized the long thick hair at the top of the head and hair that flowed from the bottom of the face that was buried in the snow. Cid…

Beyond him, just a few inches up lay his co-conspirator and Selena did not need to study her, for she was on her back, her eyes like glass, lifeless, as she ‘stared’ up at the storm. The wanderer felt no sadness at seeing Holly Adams like this. The woman was wretched and conniving – it was her that had created the whole “Brand” to begin with. Her that had manipulated Cid and Asher Hayes. Her that had tried to build that damn stable – like a cancer – into SCW to suck the life out of it. It had been enough of a power to bring back that maniacal bastard-

She almost tripped when her foot caught side of Glory Braddock, lying next to Autumn Valentine, both with the same lifeless expressions on their faces, though they obviously wore different attires suited to their ‘place’ in the world. These two women, Selena should have expected, yet she still felt a pang in her heart at seeming them like this – women she respected, if for nothing else, for their talent and hard work ethic. She wanted to stop and help them, but she knew she couldn’t.

“They aren’t real.” She whispered, seeing her breath condense on the air, misting away to join the other winds, as she continued walking.

Kimberly Williams
Brittany Lohan
Kandis – Selena stopped for a moment to regard her, feeling the regret seize her heart. Out of them all, she didn’t deserve to be in this field. She had been just caught in the ‘crossfire’ of Double Jeopardy, like Lohan… but it was far worse for Kandis, and in her temporary stopping, Selena wondered if she would ever be free of such regret…

The sight of Tommy Valentine – the furthest along the trail took her focus, the platinum-blonde continuing to walk. She passed them all, all lying in the snow, half or even three-quarters buried, all in different positions. All dead. Surrounding some of them, like Holly and Cid and even Kimberly, she could spy those same pamplets and pins she had seen in her past, some older than others – the discoloration and tears in some of them evident of that.

“Join The Brand”
“Vote Holly Adams! It’s Ugly If You Don’t”
“Embrace the Gleebnorb!”
“Join Lexy’s Group”
“BECOME A PLATINUM VIP MEMBER TODAY!!! AND FOR A LIMITED TIME WHEN YOU JOIN THE HAÜS OF NIRVANA YOU WILL GET A POSITIVE STATE PAMPHLET!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? CALL NOW!!”

She kept walking, leaving it all behind her. The litter of bodies and paraphernalia – what more was it than a memory of where she had come from and where she was headed? Yet it had not been her past that had brought her back her. Her eyes scanned down to regard herself, the sight of her causing her to stop her pushing through the winds and heavy snow once more. She had not noticed what she was wearing until that moment.

Wrapped around her toned frame was her wrestling attire, at least in terms of the design. She recognized the snowflakes that decorated her shoulders and the sashes that flowed around her from being attached to her back. But instead of black and white, the usual colors of her attire, they were decorated in magenta… the color of her favourite nightgown. Running her hands down it, she ‘felt’ the fabric against her skin, achingly similar to the feeling of when she would snuggle with her beloved Deanna in their bed. 

The sash around her waist, however, was leather, just like her favourite jacket. The one she had stolen from Gavin Scythe when they were children – her first true moment of defiance as “the Snow Queen”. Reaching up, she felt for her hair, finding it blowing in the wind as well. While it was tied up in her iconic braid… it was still shorter than it had been most of her life and there were dark purple flowers ‘pinned’ into it, like how Deanna had done her hair several weeks ago for her…

What was she here? Was she Selena Frost? Facing her doom at the hands of Killjoy? Was she the World Champion, about to be annihilated by Giovanni Aries? Was she the wife of Deanna Frost, about to lose the most important person in her life? Was she ‘The Face of SCW’ about to lose everything she had built for the federation she loved nearly as much as her family?

She… she didn’t know. Still, she kept walking. Even if she couldn’t be certain who she was in this space,  she knew the ending – knew the inevitable conclusion. And she refused to run from it. She would face it like she had everything else. And screw pride! If she had to beg Killjoy to take her life and spare Deanna, she would do it in a heartbeat! No hesitation. No remorse.  

I only pray to Odin that she’ll forgive me… Selena sighed. The platinum-blonde and her redhead of a wife had only been truly reunited for a little over a year, and they had promised each other many more years together now that Deanna had been free from prison. It was a promise Selena was certain she could no longer keep.

How many times had she lived this nightmare? Her own mind, as if in preparation, sending her through this trial over and over again, as if to prepare her for what it knew was inevitable? She had dodged so many bullets and deaths with the DeCarlos, then the Scythes, then the Dragon-Slayers, then her own clan of the Frost/Frostmere… all leading back to the Scythes, or rather Killjoy. A sad smile graced her lips. 

Can’t keep dodging forever… she sighed. Sooner or later, a bullet would hit-

Lifting her head, the woman realized that the forest had cleared into a large field of snow, a clearing that was devoid of anything but white powder, winds, and one being standing there in the middle, waiting for her.

She recognized the dark leather the figure wore – leather that suddenly flashed white before it went back to black –blowing in the wind as she approached him closer and closer, the wind and snow slowly dying to become deadly silent. Even the sound of her wrestling boots in the snow no longer held the ‘crunching’ sound they once had. She was able to stand up straight to her full height now, no longer hindered by the wind, as she stopped just a few yards away from the madman. The closeness allowed her to see the black, grinning skull that covered the face – or was that just a long, messy beard that held the sinister grin? The eyes were sockets – but Selena was sure she saw eyes hiding in them – eyes that seemed cruel and conniving while they lied about ‘happiness’ and ‘bliss’ like they could be sold for money. 

She wanted to say something to the figure, but she couldn’t find the words. Nothing came to her. She wanted to curse him for all he had taken from her, but he would just laugh at her. She wanted to damn him for stealing her time away from Deanna, but he would just laugh at her. She wanted to hear him swear that, once she was dead, that no harm would come to Deanna or their children, but he would just laugh at her.

Words would get her nowhere now. This was the conclusion of her war with Killjoy. And they both knew it.

Slowly, Selena saw the skulled-man lift his arm up towards her – were those tattoos of Alice in Wonderland characters etched into the leather of the coat he wore – no, that was ridiculous. In the bastard’s hand, he held a black gun, pointing directly at the Snow Queen’s heart, a kill-shot to be sure. Fitting… she thought, unable to stop the smile that slowly crossed her features.

“Time’s up.” Came the altered voice of Killjoy, but it was different. Why was she reminded of hearing such a voice during Breakdown and many past episodes of it as well as many infomercials she wished she hadn’t sat through?

“Yeah, I know.” Selena smiled, letting her arms rest to her side. “I know.”

She didn’t hear the bang of the shot. She didn’t see the bullet hit her, nor did she feel it. All she saw as she fell back were the dark skies above. All she heard was that damn laugh that she hated with every part of her…

Still, was it the laugh of an altered voice she hated more? Or the laugh she also heard mixed in with it. A laugh that she had heard many times as she stood in an SCW ring… She couldn’t be sure which one she hated more. It was the last thing she wondered. The last thing she wouldn’t receive an answer to.

And then… Oblivion.


***********************************************************

Gavin Scythe Campaign Headquarters – Church of the Nazarene
Nome, Alaska
June 1st, 2022
8:31pm
Time before Deadline: 3 hours, 29 minutes

The polls in Nome had been closed for about half an hour, meaning the live results of the “Mayoral Election” from each voting ‘station’ would soon begin being posted, a fact that was clear by the number of nervous glances towards the clock hanging on the wall, which continued to strike the hour.

Selena Frost envied them. She wished she could just be nervous about the election – there was enough reason to worry about that to the point a panic or anxiety attack would be expected. But no, the clock continued to mock her, reminding her not only of the uncertainty of her children’s future, but that of herself and her own wife. Seemingly unrelated worries yet all tied together by that skulled piece of crap!

Taking a slow breath to calm herself, the Snow Queen was temporarily distracted by a couple – two of the few dozen or so that had chosen to attend the sort of ‘election party’, for lack of better words – sharing a few words with them before they made their way further into the room. Almost traditional with other elections, Gavin Scythe had rented out a space for his ‘campaign headquarters’ for the night of elections so a sort of gathering could occur for those wishing to be supportive. The karma/irony was not lost on Selena that the place picked for the gathering had been the ‘meeting room’ for AA meetings in Nome, Alaska – a decently sized backroom of the Church of Nazarene – Nome’s most popular church. Despite herself, Selena almost found amusement in the simple white walls, which she and the others had decorated with “Gavin Scythe for Mayor” posters, and miscolored (and faded) carpeted floors. 

Maybe I should have gone to some of the meetings here…  

It was a bitterly amusing thought, that tonight was the first time she had ever stepped foot into the room meant for recovering alcoholics to meet and to heal. But it was her own fault – she had been a different woman back then. Before she had left this town, while she knew there were ‘things’ wrong with her, she hadn’t cared enough to believe that her drinking was one of them or that it was worth changing when she was already hated and vilified as “the Crazy Miner’s Daughter” and “The Snow Queen”. It had only been when she had taken a risk to change it all that she allowed herself to take a good look at her own person and see the problems that she needed to fix – her dependency on alcohol being just one of the many issues.

Now? She wouldn’t have hesitated to attend one of these meetings if she came back to live here, which she had no intention to – her place was in her ‘Forever Home’ with Deanna... And of course, speaking of which, there’s the “issue” that I’m a lesbian and happily married to one. she quietly laughed at her own humor, but even so, she had to remark that she had come a long way from where she had started nearly nine years ago.

And it all ends tonight…

She sighed at that. She had tried. Tried with everything she had to meet the demands of Killjoy – to meet his deadline of uncovering what Project: Black Ice was. And she had come so close – she was sure of it. She and Deanna, along with Rebecca Scythe, had been onto something with Project: Snowman and the abandoned orphanage/homeless shelter Malcolm had built and then suddenly discarded officially in 1989. That fact STILL unnerved her. According to all files she and Deanna had found, the center had been closed three years after its construction – which Rebecca confirmed… but then there was the file of Resident 222: Atlas, that seemed to suggest it had continued ‘unofficially’, or at least to some effect according to Director Spencer’s files, for two more years…

The familiar headache that came with these thoughts hit Selena, forcing Selena to shake her head. She had spent the near ten days wracking her brain, trying to figure out the connection. The difference in dates, Atlas, the center, Project: Snowman, and how it all tied in with Black Ice – and the inevitable bitterness would return. The fact that she just didn’t know. There wasn’t enough facts to tie it all together – or she was just missing the single thread that did! 

What were you doing, Malcolm? she wracked her brain. What were you planning?

Her eyes flew to the large television that Gavin had set up hours ago and set to the news channel KTUU-TV of NBC, which was set in Anchorage, but kept up to date with the going-ons of Nome. On the screen, to the right side was the smiling face of Ryan Scythe, while Gavin’s was on the left, each with a meter to determine how many votes/percentage of votes they currently had. At present, both were at zero as the first wave of results hadn’t been released yet. Still, there was always a face in the crowd glancing up at it nervously, hoping to see some good news towards their chosen candidate.

The flash of red amongst the crowd caught Selena’s eyes, instantly gaining her attention. It, inevitably as it always did, caused the Snow Queen to smile, despite herself, her sapphire eyes locked on the owner to see Deanna helping herself to a paper-cup of coffee, adding more than enough sugar and cream to it. For the occasion, she had worn a rather sharp black pantsuit with a striking red undershirt. It was very similar to Selena’s attire, though the older Frost had chosen a white dress shirt, black pants and added a special accessory at the literal last-minute over her frame. 

She watched her beloved wife wince as Deanna drank too much of the hot coffee in her first sip, the redhead sticking her tongue out to try and ease the heat out of her mouth and avoid burning herself. Of course, when her emerald eyes opened, she spied Selena looking at her from across the room, the platinum-blonde quietly (and only a little) laughing behind her hand. Smirking with a bit of a pursed lip-pout, Deanna stole a quick glance to the side before picking up a napkin to nab one of the big doughnuts that filled several boxes lying on the tables near the wall – a snack station for the members that came out to support Gavin. The honey cruller in her hand, the younger Frost made her way through the crowd, excusing herself as she passed several people, their voices a jumble of noise as they mingled. Selena kept her eyes on her beloved, unable to stop the smile that stayed on her face.

I love her so much… she thought, feeling her eyes sting a little, wanting to release a few tears, but she held them back. Within a few seconds, the shorter Deanna was standing before her, holding the sugary-confection up to Selena.

“Honey cruller for my honey?” she asked with zero hesitation or shame.

“Oh, gods…” Selena couldn’t stop the snort of laugh that escaped her, brief as it was. It only added to her previous thought and the platinum-blonde chose to dive in, pulling Deanna to her to press a firm, needed kiss to her wife’s lips. Immediately, Deanna’s arms went wide, holding the cup of coffee and the doughnut as far away from the two of them as possible, though she was still kissing Selena back for all she was worth – with zero cares that they were standing in a VERY Christian church. Selena’s arms wrapped around her wife’s waist to keep her steady. Slowly, so as not to rock her beloved and spill the coffee/doughnut combo, Selena moved her head back to regard the shorter redhead. “You knew that was bad before you even said it, didn’t you?”

“Yep.” Deanna smiled, moving her arms in to sip at her coffee and offering the doughnut to Selena.

“No, thank you.” Selena smiled. “That’ll sit in my stomach like a lead weight. But I will have some…”. Carefully, she took the plastic cup from Deanna’s hand to sip a bit of the hot coffee, thankful for the excess cream that helped cool it a little. “Thanks.” She smiled, returning the cup to her wife. “I’m gonna need a few of those tonight, I think.”

Biting her lower lip, Deanna waited for Selena to fully release her before nibbling on the cruller. “Long night planned.” She replied – a statement rather than a question. “Guess I’ll take a few more too.”

“You don’t have to.” Selena tried. “He’s not waiting for you.”
“But I’m waiting for you.” Deanna warned, her eyes narrowing. “I’m not going to sleep till you’re in bed with me.”

“Deanna…” Selena tried. “You know that’s not how this may play out.”

“I don’t care.” Deanna shook her head, moving to a nearby table to place her food drink on them, dusting off her hands before regarding her wife. 

“We tried, okay?” she exclaimed, shrugging her shoulders. “We tried doing it the honorable way. We tried doing it the good way. We even tried doing it Killjoy’s way by trying to solve his stupid mystery. Now? I’m done, okay? I am done. I am done with this guy scaring the hell out of us. I’m done with him threatening us. And I am done with this stupid deadline and endangering me and the woman I love, okay?”

She gave a quick shake of her head before shrugging her shoulders. “We know where he is going to be? We set up a trap. You draw him out, done deal.”

“Done deal?” Selena laughed sadly. “The police laughed us out of the station. You heard them. ‘Crazy miner’s daughter slash wrestler has an ‘in’ with the Nome Serial Killer?’. No one believed us.”

“So, we make our own trap.” Deanna gave her head a quick shake as she contemplated, her shoulders, again, giving a slight shrug. “There’s one of him and with you, me, Gavin, Jean and Zoe, that makes five-“
“You really want to endanger them to this?”
“I…” Deanna halted, biting her lower lip. “Okay, fine. You and me. Still two on one!”
“Last time we did that, he beat me to a pulp and-“
“And I shot him in the arm!” Deanna pressed. “We can do it, Selena! End this once and for all.”

“Deanna…” Selena tried. “You’re talking about killing someone. That isn’t you. It never will be.”
“How do you know?” Deanna dared, emerald eyes glaring at Selena.

Despite the angered stare from the redhead, Selena could only smile sadly before reaching up to caress her wife’s face. “Because if you could kill him, you would have done it nearly a year ago when you had the shot in Rebecca’s cabin.” She saw the shorter woman’s emerald eyes grow wide over such an assessment but nearly a year of replaying that scene over and over again in her head had made such a conclusion natural to Selena. “You purposefully aimed for the shoulder, didn’t you?”

Deanna’s mouth opened to protest, the jaw shaking a little before she looked down at her hands guiltily. 

“I’ll meet Killjoy and tell him everything that we found. If it isn’t enough for him, I’ll beg for more time. If he refuses, I’ll…” she closed her mouth, Deanna’s head jerking up to stare her down.

“No.” growled Deanna quietly. “You will not sacrifice yourself for me.”
“Yes, I will.” Selena smiled, though her tone pressed the statement. “Because I love you.”
“Then I sacrifice myself for you!” Deanna countered sharply. “Because I love you! So, you can’t.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Deanna.” Again, a sad smile crossed her features as she shook her head. “He wants me destroyed. His game ends if I’m dead. At least where it involves you and the children. We’ve…” her eyes cast over to the television screen as numbers suddenly started to form on the ‘counters’ of both candidates. “I think we’ve survived one storm… I need to make sure the other one ends.”

She suddenly felt Deanna’s arms wrap around her, the redhead crushing herself into Selena’s toned form. “Let me go with you.” She whispered. “I’ll do anything you ask after that, but please don’t leave me alone.”

Despite herself, Selena wrapped her arms around her wife, letting the redhead silently cry into her dress-shirt and the purple jacket she wore. Despite herself, she wanted to Deanna with her. Gods above, she was fucking scared. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want things to end now. She wanted to grow old with Deanna, watch their children grow up and have children of their own. She wanted to teach Elsianna about clothes and fashion. Wanted to teach David how to ride a motorcycle. Wanted to help Amiliah with science projects (after a quick stop to Wikipedia for guidance). 

What’s more, she didn’t want to die alone. She wanted to die in Deanna’s arms – selfish as that was, especially given how she had been nine years ago, waiting for death to take her in her solitude and exile in Nome… 

“I love you.” Selena whispered, reaching up to pet the back of her wife’s head affectionately. But I’ve come too far now to not see this through… too far to endanger you yet again…

***********************************************************

11 hours ago
Ryan Scythe’s house
Nome, Alaska
9:31am
Time till Deadline: 14 hours, 29 minutes

Every part of Selena was tense, and not just from the rough night she had had training. Being in Nome and its limited resources always made it difficult for her to train whenever she visited here… beyond the atypical gym and cardio training, but she hadn’t been in the mood for any of that since last Breakdown.

In terms of ‘how well the night had gone’ on the send-home episode of the SCW flagship show, Selena actually would have rated it as one of her better ones. Not only did she beat Sammy Davies Thomas – scratch that, she wasn’t going to sugar-coat a deluded follower of Giovanni Aries. She had vowed to expose both Sammy and, more importantly Giovanni and the Haus of Nirvanna for the frauds they were. They had preached about ‘success’ and ‘stardom’ like they were commodities to be easily bought, not earned, a gross disgrace to everything Selena believed in and strove to prove in SCW: the notion of integrity, honour and hard work being the backbone of why SCW was so named. So not only did she beat the man known for years as ‘STD’, ‘schooling him’ as Adam Sharper had remarked, she had dissected him and left him lying in the ring after one Glass Shard. And, to make the night even better, thanks to her beloved Deanna, she had not ended up knocked out from a blow to the head via someone using the world title for the umpteenth time – a stable in several of her matches/confrontations with the Brand, though she was sure that was exactly what Giovanni Aries had been planning to do.

Still, seeing the ‘Master of Nirvanna’ standing there with her title in his hands… eyeing it… only to toss it to the ground like it, and all it represented to her, was worthless trash… It had made her both ill and angry, almost ruining whatever positive emotions the match with Sammy had given her. If she had been anything less than a 10/10 in her desire to keep the world title away from Giovanni, the Haus, and The Brand, than seeing him holding it and tossing it to the ground effectively ramped that number up to a goddamn fourteen! She had already seen Giovanni literally dismantle a championship she had held dear – she refused to see it happen again!

Not when we’re so close…

Decidedly, Selena had committed whatever ‘training time’ she had in Nome until the pay-per-view to train outside in the woods, running through the paths/trails and using whatever she could find to train. Branches were for pullups, logs and rocks were her weights and soft fields of grass had served as her yoga/pilates mat for bodyweight exercises, balancing and meditation. The workouts always ran her ragged and, yes, they left her stiff and sore/hurt, but it was a far better method to burn out her anger and rage at those she hated than just trying to ‘lift dumbells’ and count reps.

I can’t be complacent with him again… she had told herself. I can’t ‘play it safe’ again with him…

The result had been a soreness that she knew she was going to feel all day – this morning’s and last night’s workout being particularly gruelling, but as she had noticed, that was only part of the reason for her tension. Her current location was the other.

She took another deep breath. Truthfully, she had dreaded this moment since it had been devised nearly two weeks ago. Dreaded it nine days ago when Deanna and her had rushed to the Norton Sound Regional hospital from the ‘Project: Snowman’ homeless shelter/orphanage center, having gotten a call from Gavin that Talia was in the ER. 

Not only had the dark-haired woman returned to Nome from Manhattan – having stayed with the Frosts till that point – but she had also confronted her husband Ryan Scythe! In an act of pure defiance, not only had she told him that she was planning to divorce him, but she was also going to tell the papers of Nome and the news station in Anchorage that he had assaulted her. The result had been a vicious attack by Ryan to keep Talia quiet, which lead to her current inhabiting of the hospital...

How did Selena know all that had happened?

Because it was all YOUR plan. her mind hissed at her, part of her hating herself for even coming up with it. Talia leaving and confronting Ryan – an idea created from the depths of Selena’s desperation to take down the eldest Scythe son and save her children from his wrath – had been something Talia had clung to with gusto. Of course she would do it, Selena shook her head. Talia was tough and brave and she would never back down from anything. Of course she would take on this idea, even if it endangered her own well-being.

Seeing the lawyer, the woman that helped get Deanna out of Frankfurt Prison III, with a swollen black eye, a broken jaw and several broken ribs, just to name a few of her injuries, Selena could not have hated herself more in that moment. But, being awake (thanks to the painkillers), Talia had looked up at her former enemy, smiled as best as she could and used a paper and pencil to write the necessary messages to her.

I did it…
It’s behind the picture in the study. The one with Malcolm and I after I graduated law school...

It had taken every fiber of her being not to walk over to Ryan’s house then and there, kick his door down and beat the hell out of him. It had taken Deanna on top of that to stop her from doing so, but they had a plan that they needed to follow. If they had charged over there at that moment, suspicion would be on them and gods knew what Ryan would do if he found out too soon and had time to counter everything with his lawyers and resources. 

No, the plan dictated that they go when it made sense to do so – and the only day that would not raise red flags with Selena’s former fiancée was today: the day of the election.

Bitterly, Selena reached up and knocked on the door sharply, taking a few breaths to calm her nerves. Conceal… don’t feel… she thought over and over again as she eventually heard steps from inside as the door opened before her, revealing the occupant who looked at her with surprise, at first, followed by a smug smile.

“Ah, Selena.” Ryan Scythe gave a tilt of his head. Despite the door only being open a small ways, it was enough for the platinum-blonde to see the black, collared shirt and dark purple pants he wore – first signs of that damned suit he always wore. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he oozed knowingly, a smugness in his voice that always caused Selena to lose her composure then and there. “I assume this isn’t a social call?” he took the moment to run his eyes up and down her form, causing the wrestler to fight back several shivers of revulsion – she refused to show any sign of him getting to her (a practice she had mastered thanks to dealing with the likes of Giovanni and The Brand).

“It isn’t.” she replied curtly. “I want to talk about my children.”
“Our children, you mean?” Ryan raised an eyebrow.
“Biologically…” she bit her tongue, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm herself. “I can’t refute that.”

“Oh…wow.” The eldest Scythe son grinned, satisfied. “How much did it hurt to say that?”

“Are you going to let me in so we can talk like adults or am I just wasting my time?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. The mayoral candidate seemed to contemplate his options for a moment – whatever they were – before giving a short nod to himself and moving out of the way to grant access to the inside of his abode.

Stepping inside, the Snow Queen almost scoffed at what was before her. The place was, in a word, over the top. The walls didn’t match in wallpaper-color. One side was white, another was off-gray, the carpet kept changing colors as her eyes went from room-to-room that she could see and what were those big ‘spheres of glass’ hanging from the ceiling like chandeliers but having no lights in them? Were those necessary? Probably as ‘necessary’ as all the photos of himself on the wall. she thought in mild disgust but not much surprise. Admittedly, she did like the way the windows and dark curtains looked, much like her balcony in her Manhattan home, allowing much of the sunlight/moonlight to spill into the house whenever she wanted. Still, nothing about the interior of Ryan’s house screamed ‘home’ or ‘family’ or anything but a loud screaming of status. ‘LOOK AT ME! HERE I AM! PRAISE ME! TREAT ME LIKE A GOD OR SAVIOUR!’ The ego… no wonder he wants to be mayor so bad beyond the obvious…

The sound of the door closing behind her regained her attention, the home’s owner walking back around Selena to lean on the nearby red-stained wooden stair-rail, his arms crossed and that smugness never leaving his face.

“I want talk about-“ she started only for the brown-eyed man to scoff and laugh a little.
“Oh come on!” he mocked, turning his head to look around his abode. “As if I’m going to make THAT easy for you after all the shit you’ve put me through.”

“What are you talking about?” Selena asked, crossing her arms over her shoulder. “As I recall, you’re the one that’s done far more to me and my family than I to yours.”

“Opinions.” He scoffed, crossing his own arms, unfazed, over his chest as he continued to lean against the wooden structure. “But how do I know this isn’t some grand trick of yours – a… last second hail mary, if you will?”

“A hail mary?” Selena asked, raising an eyebrow.

“The woman that outsmarted dear old dad.” A slow grin grew across his features. “The woman that outsmarted the DeCarlo family. The Frost and Frostmere clan.” He tilted his head as he saw Selena’s eyes widened. “Did you really think we weren’t keeping tabs on you even during that stupid standstill you had with father? Please.” He scoffed. “Let’s face it, Selena, under it all, you’re as manipulating and scheming as I am.”

“That’s not true.” She replied coldly. “I do what I have to-“
“And I don’t?!” 

The smugness was gone from Ryan in a second, the politician glaring daggers at his former paramour. “I didn’t ask Malcolm to mold me and fashion my path after him and then pull a ‘screw-you’ at the end and leave it all to those kids! I didn’t ask for that! And I didn’t ask YOU to bring in some lunatic to kill him.”

“I didn’t do that.” Selena warned.

“The hell you didn’t.” he shook his head. “He spoke to me, you know.” 

Again, Selena’s eyes widened in shock. “Killjoy…spoke to you.”

“Oh yeah.” He nodded knowingly, licking his lips. “He said you were responsible for him. That YOU were the endgame for him now that Malcolm was dead. Not me. Not Gavin. You. So don’t stand there and tell me you don’t play a part in this.”

“What else did he say?” she asked, almost desperately. The deadline was fast approaching – only a handful of hours remained. She was almost forgetting her plan in favour for any clue to save her beloved wife from being ‘Killjoy’s latest victim’.

With a slow gesture of the hand towards her, Ryan also gave a shrug of his dress-shirt-covered shoulders. “Oh no. I told you I wasn’t falling for any of it. You could be wearing a wire or something.”

“You’ve watched too many law shows.” Selena scoffed.

“And you give me too little credit.” Glared the young man, refusing to budge from his spot. “You forget. I was there every step of the way during your wars with Malcolm. I was there when he kept his eyes on you. I was there every step – every moment – watching you.”

“I get it. You’re a sick, demented man.”

“Says the woman that once believed she had given birth to a snowman.” Ryan laughed. “How the hell did you ever come to THAT conclusion, anyway? I’ve always wondered.”

“A defence mechanism from falling into insanity.” Selena defended bitterly. “Your father, my stepmother, the drugs the pumped into my system… and you just letting it all happen.” She shook her head bitterly. “Did it ever bother you that they were doing that to me? While I was pregnant with Elsianna?” she refused to say the words that came to her head. to YOUR daughter.

“Of course it bothered me.” Ryan shook his head. “You think I believe myself flawless in all of this? I’m not.”

That surprised Selena, hearing it from such a person, but the young man continued. “I’ve made mistakes. I know that. I treated you poorly. I was a piss-poor fiancée and I lied to you. And yes, I should have done something when father and Anastasia orchestrated everything with your miscarriage – or attempted it. But I wasn’t strong enough.” He shrugged his shoulders, as if the facts were just that. Facts – with no emotional attachment to them.

“I lived for my father’s praise. I lived to follow in his footsteps and, yes, that became an obsession for me the older I got and the closer I got to doing so. I put you – Elsianna – second and I was dishonest. I was in a loveless relationship, so I cheated on you with Talia, you know that. But I deeply regret not helping you nsucceeded and you had gone mad. But…” he gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Nearly ten years and I had to move on, as did you. Now? I’m not interested in letting the past hold me back.”

“Or be held accountable.” Selena mocked.

“Again, fat lot of good that does coming from you.” He smirked, the cocky politician seemingly having returned to the forefront. “But that’s all you’re getting from me.”

“I’m not wearing a wire, Ryan.” Selena pressed.
“And I’m not dealing with the ‘Snow Queen’.” Ryan grinned. “See? I can lie too.”

“Oh for Odin’s…you want me to prove it?” she asked without thinking.
“Yes.” Came the knowing grin from Ryan.
“Fine!” the platinum-blonde barked, holding her hands up. “What you want to do? Pat me down or something?”

“No, I’m quite fine here.” He tilted his head. “Strip.”
“Excuse me?!” Selena asked, her jaw hanging open.
“You heard me.” Ryan replied coldly. “You want this conversation to go further? Prove to me you’re not bugged.”

Her pale jaw clenched, her hands tightened to fists, and her anger and hatred towards the man spiked. Despite his serious demeanor, Selena could still see the smug position of power that Ryan knew he had with her being her wanting to ‘talk’. With a huff, her head turned to look around the room, anywhere but at Ryan. She spied the ugly paintings on the wall, the coat-stand near the door that held the damned purple, single-breasted trench overcoat that he was famous of wearing, the fireplace that was clearly decorative…

Biting her lower lip, Selena quickly shrugged out of her leather jacket, dropping her beloved ‘armor’ to the ground. Her light-blue, buttoned up shirt came next, followed by her shoes, socks and, lastly, her blue jeans, until she stood there in her black underwear and bra, glaring daggers at Ryan.

“Satisfied?” she growled, her hands at her sides.

The politician didn’t even appraise the view before him, merely nodding his head and moving off his ‘perch’ to saunter further into the house. “Come.” He ordered and, despite herself, Selena obeyed, following him as he made his way further down the halls and down a flight of stairs until they were inside an office space – or what appeared to be an office space to Selena. It had a shelf full of books, a large computer stand/station, dark purple walls (Gods, he was obsessed with that color) and a large, black throne chair, which Ryan moved to occupy as he sat comfortably in it, his eyes back on Selena.

“Go.” He ordered.

“I want to know…” she tried, closing her eyes to maintain her composure. There was nothing about this that she liked – feeling this exposed, almost vulnerable. Giovanni and The Brand had nothing on this, but they weren’t demanding she strip in front of the SCW Universe just to make a statement, to which Selena was grateful. She could just imagine Holly making superficial remarks about the Snow Queen’s breasts and legs and scars like the Brand leader had on Twitter regarding Selena’s makeup and eyes. All superficial, while Giovanni simply laughed and pointed and make some asinine theory about Selena’s scars or hair or eyes that involved witchcraft or aliens or gods knew what else.

“You want to know?” Ryan prompted, pressing Selena’s focus to return to the present.

“I want to know what it will take for you to leave our children alone.” Selena replied. “Is it just about the money, Ryan? I mean, truthfully. Because if it is, I…” she sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “I can get that.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “You can provide me with ten million dollars?” he scoffed at that notion, earning a sigh from Selena.

“I can’t legally touch what Malcolm has put aside for the children.” Selena admitted. “But… yes. If I sell the house, sell the bus and plane, investments, and what savings I’ve amassed-“

“Savings?” Ryan laughed. “We’re talking about-“

“Ryan…” Selena shook her head. “I’ve been a main-event SCW superstar for years. My income has been one of the highest currently in SCW – we’re talking millions, okay? And do you have any idea how long I’ve been World Champion in the past year? I made a million just on the bonuses of that. So, yes! It is possible that I could get you that much money if you gave me some time.”

It was Ryan’s turn to be surprised, his dark eyes going wide before his expression turned sour, a scowl growing across his features. “All that money and yet he CHOSE you.”

“He chose his grandchildren.” Selena corrected. “But what does it matter, Ryan? This whole thing was about getting more money? If that’s all that matters, then I can get it for you.”

Looking away, the young man seemed to be deep in thought for several minutes before turning his head back to the Snow Queen. “Conditions?”

“Of course there are.” Selena huffed. “You’re asking me to basically uproot my entire life and much of my earnings. Of course there are conditions.”

“What are they?” he asked, his voice detached and cold. “I suppose you’ll want me to drop out of the mayoral race?”

“No.” Selena shook her head. “If that’s truly what you want, then I will let whatever happens today happen if you agree to this. You win? More power to you. But what I want is immunity.”

“Immunity?” Ryan asked, an eyebrow raised.

“You take the money, this ends. You leave me alone. Leave the children alone. Leave Deanna alone. All of it. No more trying to take them from me. No more threatening us or ‘altering the laws of Nome’ or whatever the hell you’re planning.” He grinned at that. “This ends.” She gestured towards herself and Ryan.

“Anything else?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Yes.” Selena’s eyes narrowed. “You let Talia divorce you without any resistance.”

A knowing smile came to the man at the mention of that particular demand. “I see.” He started, pushing himself out of his chair. “I take it she spoke to you?”

“She can’t really speak after you broke her jaw.”
“Hearsay.” Ryan remarked with a grin. “And if anyone should be mad, it should be me. You turned her against me.”

“Me?” laughed Selena. “You’re blaming me for her choices?”

“How else can I explain it?” Ryan laughed. “She hated you! Despised you with every fiber of her being. In fact, that’s how we bonded. She hated you and I hated being tied down to you over some plan of my father’s. Yet, what was it? A year? Year and a half? In Germany and, suddenly, she’s singing you praises! Suddenly, we don’t connect like we use to. Suddenly, she’s second-guessing me and growing a conscience? The X factor here is you and Germany.”

“You think I brainwashed her?” Selena asked in disbelief.

“I was going to say hex or witchcraft.” Ryan mocked. “Cause I thought the idea was hilarious when the bearded guy on television kept saying it about you. ‘Selena the Wicked Witch’. Fits, I think.”

Selena narrowed her eyes and kept quiet for a moment. She had no desire to talk or even think about work in her current state of undress – her arms instinctively crossing over her chest. 

“Or maybe she realized being tied to you wasn’t worth whatever ‘revenge’ she could have against me. Maybe, unlike you, she grew up and held herself accountable for her choices and letting go of the past – as you claimed to do just a few minutes ago.” Selena shook her head. “I want an answer, Ryan.” She pressed. “Yes or no.”

Before her sapphire eyes, Ryan took a long inhale and exhale, reaching up to scratch at the underside of his chin before turning back to Selena. “No.” he replied simply.

“Are you serious?” Selena asked, though she was only partially surprised.

“Very.” Ryan replied. “See, Selena, it’s not just about the money at this point. Sure, ten million is a lot but that’s all you’re offering me. But if I were to go through with my plan, not only do I eventually get said ten million, but I also get to throw it all back in father’s face!”

“Throw what-“

“The fact that he chose you!” Ryan shot back before Selena could even finish her sentence. “The fact that, despite EVERYTHING I did for him, he chose you! The people I ‘removed’ for him. The obstacles I took down for him – all I did, all I HAD, was his word that it would all be mine if I obeyed and worked myself to death FOR HIM!” his eyes narrowed and Selena could feel the anger – like a damn burn – of his glare. “And he chose you.”

For a brief moment, warning lanced through Selena’s frame, the Snow Queen acutely aware that she was standing in a room with a man that was not above beating women, as he had Talia. 

“Easy, Ryan.” She held up her hand. “I’m not Talia.” Her glare grew colder. “I’ve taken down men twice your size-“ she eyed him, the man only a little broader and taller in stature than her. “Don’t think I won’t throw a punch at you if you throw one at me.”

For a moment, Ryan seemed to register the logistics such an act from him would result… and he must not have liked what he surmised, for he slowly backed away, nodding his head. “Funny…”

“What is?” Selena asked, tilting her head to the side.

“That bastard said the same thing. What did you call him? Killjoy? He was far more intimidating. And yet…” he held up his hand as if waiting for something before suddenly shaking a little. “Oh there it is! I could feel it coming.”

“Feel what coming?”

“That tingle of fear down my spine. Just like it. You know what? Forget what I said about us being similar.” He laughed. “You’ve got more in common with him than you do with me! It’s uncanny!”

“Now you’re just spouting whatever you want to hurt me. You’ve already proven you don’t have a spine, daddy’s boy.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “But this ‘daddy’s boy’ is gonna throw everything daddy did back in his face…” he was suddenly very close to Selena, glaring down at her from his taller stature. “And if you go down in the process… well, I doubt I’ll lose much sleep about it by this point.” 

His eyes trailed down Selena’s frame for a slight second before he scoffed. “Nice panties, by the way.” He said before pushing past her, heading back towards the exit of the office and into the house. “I trust you know the way out. I’ve got an election to win and a town to run-“

He never got to finish his sentence as Selena acted, the Snow Queen grabbing the thin man by his neck and shoulder. With a kick of her foot to the back of his knees, Ryan was suddenly down and falling, the target clear in Selena’s mind. She had noticed the door handle when she had walked in. With a BANG!, as she had with dozens of superstars against ring-posts, turnbuckles, tables and even stairs in SCW, Selena slammed Ryan’s head into the brass doorknob, the politician’s head bouncing off it and her former fiancée falling into a heap on the floor.

“Gotta watch those bumps in the carpet, Ryan.” Selena whispered before moving past the unconscious man. Quickly, her eyes scanned the room fully, taking in the shelf of pictures. Again, Talia’s words echoed in her mind.
Behind the picture in the study. The one with Malcolm and I after I graduated law school...

Carefully, Selena’s eyes scanned every shelf quickly. There weren’t many pictures on the shelf. Mostly of Ryan doing something like a charity or graduating or standing with Malcolm – there wasn’t even one of his wedding to Talia, which only made Selena scoff. Still, a second later, she spied the only picture that wasn’t of him. The one Talia had pointed out. Desperately, she reached behind it and up against the wall of the tall drawer, her fingers tracing against the small cube that was stuck to it. With a sharp tug, she freed it from the magnet that kept it there and pulled the device off the shelf to examine it.

The miniature spy came was no bigger than a Lego piece and yet, this close, she could see the little camera-lens that stared back at her. This was what Talia had wanted her to find – what she had planted there per Selena’s instructions before confronting Ryan.

“Gotcha…” Selena whispered, turning her head to look down at the still unconscious man. “You were right, Ryan.” She sighed, holding up the small camera that had all the footage she needed to ruin him. “I did have a plan…but I wasn’t the one that was bugged.”

Quickly, and carefully, Selena stepped over Ryan and ran down the hall, stopping only at the door she had used to enter the house to throw her clothes back on, immediately feeling the security as her clothes rested over her skin and scars. Without a second’s thought, she unlocked the door, shoved the camera into her pant pocket and was about to step out when her eyes spied the dark purple-colored coat she had spotted earlier – Ryan’s trademark coat, like the leather jacket had been Gavin’s when they were teenagers.

Her hand moved as her brain formed the thought. Might as well complete the set… As she threw the coat over her frame, surprised that it fit her better than she had thought it would. “You would be needing it where you’re going…” she added before picking up her leather coat and rushing out the door. She had to get to the others – the polls had already opened and they needed to get to a computer. 

The entire election literally depended on it!

************************************************************

[SnowQueenSCW]

Gavin Scythe Campaign Headquarters – Church of the Nazarene
Nome, Alaska
June 1st, 2022
10:45pm
Time before Deadline: 1 hours, 29 minutes

The platinum-blonde adjusted her purple coat over her frame before she nervously nibbled at her thumbnail, watching the poll numbers continue to climb for both candidates. It was still close, with both Ryan Scythe and Gavin Scythe gathering numbers. She had wasted zero time when she had rushed to Jean’s house after acquiring the mini-camera, extracting the video of Ryan assaulting weeks ago Talia. Editing the footage to just include that part (minus the nonimportant exits and entrances of people) was no problem for Zelda, as well as submitting the footage anonymously. Within three hours, the video was on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter - launching across all social media. And by the afternoon, as the family had made their way to Gavin’s headquarters, there was already some buzz regarding the horrific news.

But will it be enough? Selena asked herself as she continued to chew the nail. 

She didn’t feel sorry for what she had done. She had tried to bargain with Ryan, even offering him a damn fortune. All he had to do was let go of his vendetta against her and Malcolm and free Talia from their marriage. But Ryan had refused – showing just how deep his hatred and selfishness ran. Deanna had been right – they had tried it every other way with their enemies.

Even so, that still leaved Killjoy…

“Hey.” The voice came from beside her and Selena turned to see the young Gavin Scythe looking around the place nervously. Fitting to his position in this election, the candidate wore a sharp dark blue suit with a white dress shirt underneath with a matching blue tie. His medium-length hair was combed back and his clean shaven face offered a rather youthful and exuberant, if uneasy, expression. “Nice coat.” He stated, immediately recognizing the attire accessory Selena had taken.

“Thanks.” Selena smirked knowingly to him. “Got it for a steal.”

“Looks better on you anyway.” The young man added with one last look over before casting his eyes over the small crowd of people. The number had gone done a little as some visitors had retired for the evening, heading back to their homes. Still, there was still a decent-sized crowd to fill the medium-sized room. “Is it alright that I am still nervous?” he asked quietly, standing by Selena.

With a smirk, Selena held up her hand to show him the fingernail-stubs she had worked to a trimmed length with her teeth. “If it isn’t, then we’re in the same boat.”

Despite himself, Gavin gave a good-natured laugh before looking out to the crowd, everyone (or mostly everyone) watching the television screen. “I can’t… I never imagined this would happen.”

“Being mayor?” Selena asked, turning her gaze to him, though he kept his eyes on the crowd.

“Well, yes. But, all we’d have to do. I mean… I don’t even feel guilty for what was done.”

“You shouldn’t.” Selena shook his head. “I don’t. Yes, we set him up and I regret putting Talia in that danger, but she wanted and we-“ she tried to choose her words carefully. “We didn’t lie, Gavin. We just exposed what Ryan was doing and who he was. Don’t you think people deserved to know that about a man they were putting into a position of trust and power?”

Biting his lower lip, the taller man nodded his head. “I just – if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“Because he’s your brother?”

Gavin nodded his head. “I haven’t liked him for a long time, but I thought…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “I thought, on some level, father’s passing would, at least, allow us a chance to make things right as a family. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He was always obsessed with father’s position and power. Always obsessed with being the ‘chosen heir’ in father’s eyes.”

“Did you?”

“No.” he shook his head. “I knew early on I never would be. Maybe that was why I turned out the way I did as a kid –“ he cast a guilty glance at Selena. “The bullying, I mean. You were so close with your father and he clearly loved you – maybe I envied that on some level. Plus…” he gave a little laugh. “I’d be lying if I didn’t have a but if a crush on you back then.”

“Oh no.” Selena rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me that all of THAT had something to do with ‘pulling pigtails to get the girl’s attention’. Let me just keep thinking you were a douche with daddy issues!”

“Alright, alright.” Gavin laughed, holding his hands up. “Trust me, it didn’t last long. I was very immature. Highschool was just all the bitterness I felt. No crush.”

“Good.” Selena nodded her head. “Besides…” she gave a shrug. “You could easily do much better than me now.”

“I….” his voice faltered as he looked around the room once more.

“Oh….” A knowing smile graced Selena’s features, an eyebrow raised. “Have I hit the nail on the head?”

Biting his lower lip, Gavin looked like so cute to Selena then. A little like his nephew (her son), David, being caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. “You’re going to think me disgusting.”

“I doubt it.” Selena laughed. “You realize you’re talking to a very open lesbian, right, Gav? I’m not going to judge.”

“Loving someone of the same gender isn’t disgusting.” Gavin stated firmly.
“Not remotely what I meant.” Selena replied. “I’m saying you can tell me and I won’t judge you.”

With a slow exhale, Gavin shook his head. “Remember when you and Talia shared your plan with us?”
“Yeah?”
“And Talia said she was going to storm up to Ryan and tell him that she planned to divorce him and tell the papers about his abuse?”
“Sure.” Selena shrugged. “Thus either triggering his admittance to it or…well, what happened to keep her quiet.”
“Well… I both loved and hated the plan.”
“Hated AND loved it?” the Snow Queen asked in surprise. 
“Hated that Talia was endangering herself again…” he looked down at his feet, his voice dropping even lower. “But loving the fact that she wanted to divorce Ryan…”

The inference hit the platinum-blonde like an SCW world title shot to the head, leaving her stunned, to say the least. “Talia?” she asked. “Talia is the one you…”

Closing his eyes, Gavin nodded his head. “How long?” Selena asked in near-disbelief.
“A long time.”
“Does she- does she know?”
“If she does, she’s given no sign of it.” The younger Scythe sighed. “And I can’t imagine anyone here in Nome appreciating the idea. It just seemed impossible.”

“Gavin…” it was Selena turn to drop her voice to a whisper. “I’m going to tell you something that you might not like to hear… but to hell what people think.” She stared strongly into the blue eyes of her former childhood enemy. “Take it from ‘the crazy miner’s daughter’. You want to live and work for these people, that’s more than fine. I do it in SCW. But the opinions of the critics and haters and even those that support you… Nobody has ANY right to tell you how to live your life and how to be happy. It’s YOUR life. It’s up to you.”

He was silent for a moment, as if in contemplation. “You think… You think when this is all over, and if the time ever becomes right, I should ask her?”

Selena’s eyes shifted for a second before returning back to Gavin; a slow, yet kind, smile crossing her features. “I think you have nothing to lose in trying, Mr. Mayor.”

“I’m not-“

Selena’s hand suddenly moved, pressing two fingers to his lips before the same hand pointed to the television screen. Turning around, Gavin’s eyes went wide as he beheld the numbers there. His percentage had gone up to 53%. 

“Turn it up!” the demand came from Deanna, who was standing with Jean and Zelda in a nearby corner, her order being followed, the news becoming louder.

“And with only a quarter of the votes remaining to be counted for the citizens of Nome, we can officially declare a winner of the 2022 Nome Mayoral Election. The new mayor of Nome will be… Gavin Scythe!”

The noise was deafening as the crowd in the room cheered and roared! Many applauded while others hollered and cheered! Even Selena, despite herself and what was heading her way, was overjoyed, turning to embrace the new mayor of Nome. “Congratulations, Mr. Mayor!” she smiled. “I’m…” she backed her head a little to regard him. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you.” Gavin replied, still in absolute shock. It was the only words they could share as the crowd, finding their chosen ‘champion of Nome’ rushed him, everyone wanting to congratulate him. Understanding, Selena stepped back quickly to get out of their way, moving to the exit of the room. She could only smile, a more tired and relieved smile, as Gavin shook hands and gave thank yous to his supporters.

He deserves this… she thought happily, her eyes slowly moving around the room to see the clock hanging on the wall. 

Her time was almost up – she didn’t even have to do the countdown in her mind anymore. Still, she felt more relieved then before. Her children were safe. Ryan was in no position of power – hell, he could very well be arrested once that video made its way to the police – her family was safe from him. That was the most important part.

“Even if this is the last time I see them.” She didn’t mean to say that aloud, but it came out as a mere whisper, with her voice trembling only a little. She couldn’t see Deanna in the mass of the crowd anymore, but she did spy Jean Black approaching her, a bottle of water in his hand, which he handed to her as he approached.

“Well done, Selena.” The old detective offered. “Your plan worked.”
“It was a team effort.” Selena stated, taking the offered bottle from him. “And I wish it didn’t have to go the way it did. Poor Talia.”

“She believed in you…” Jean smiled understandingly, placing a hand on the Snow Queen’s shoulder. “We all do. And you always come through for us. No matter what happens, you always manage to pull through. To find a way to do the impossible.” He laughed a little. “It’s both incredible and absolutely annoying.”

“Gee thanks.” Selena sighed, a smirk forming on her lips as she took her oldest friend’s joke in stride. “You know what comes next right?”

“I do.” The smile disappeared from Jean’s face as he nodded his head. “But I know it’s going to be alright.”

“How?” Selena asked. “I’ve failed. The deadline is les than two hours away and-“
“Like I said. Because you’re Selena Frost.” Jean assured her, lifting his own drink – a flute glass of champagne that had been given out as the victory celebrations began. “And you always manage to pull through – to do the impossible.” Once more, he gave a good-natured laugh. “The only person I would ever bet against you, my dear…”

“Deanna?”

“No…the only person I would ever bet against you – is you.” 

Giving her shoulder a little squeeze, Jean saluted the Snow Queen with his glass before disappearing back into the crowd to join the festivities, unaware of the mental-lightning bolt his words had just set off in her mind as her thoughts ran a mix of voices like a snowstorm!

Why would Malcolm make an orphanage and homeless shelter less than an hour from a previously established one?
I know your fears, I know your weaknesses. I know you better than you know yourself. I know your destiny. 
Resident fits all adequate parameters. Health in optimal state and mental capacities continue to advance at excellent rate. Adequate candidate for stage 2. Operation Snowman Complete. 
Everything you have will belong to me – it will be returned BACK to me. 
Forget what I said about us being similar. You’ve got more in common with him than you do with me! It’s uncanny! 
And in time, I will make this right. I will move the earth. At las-!
I know Killjoy well enough to know that there isn’t a move that I can make that he hasn’t predicted… 
The only person I would ever bet against you – is you. 
I am merely a shadow. Your shadow…

Selena’s eyes flew back to the clock, spying the large hand reach the twelve as the little hand stayed at the eleven, the full realization hitting her. 

“I…I know who you are…” she whispered under her breath. “I figured it out…”

*****************************************************

The Frost Gold-Mine Cave
Nome, Alaska
June 1st, 2022
11:56pm
Time Before Deadline: 4 minutes

The skulled-man was trying not to get upset or impatient as he stood outside the cave entrance, the moon bright and high in the cloudless sky. He didn’t have to look at his watch. He knew it wasn’t time yet – though it was dangerously close as he stood still in the cold night, the leather jacket done up and matching his black pants and gloves, the only light existing was a single street-lamp a few yards away and…

“I know who you are.”

The voice caught Killjoy’s attention, the murderer turning around to see Selena Frost standing before him, as if she had just appeared from the shadows, the light illuminating her platinum-blonde hair and what little of the white dress shirt that could be seen under the purple coat she wore. Her eyes were cold as she stared down her enemy. “I figured it out.”

“It’s about time.” Killjoy replied in his altered voice, a note of satisfaction there.

“Yeah…you’ve played me amazingly well.” Selena stated coldly, taking a step towards Killjoy. “You seem to do that better than anyone. You knew that threatening Deanna would drive me to figure things out. Just like you knew seeing Rebecca’s house almost a year ago would set things up, just like you knew giving me the name “Project Black Ice” would set all of this in motion.”

Killjoy remained silent, refusing to move.

“You said it yourself. You know my fears. You know my weaknesses. You know how to use everything in my life against me! And you know how to manipulate every person I know just as easily. Gavin, Ryan, Jean… Deanna… and Malcolm…”

She stopped a few feet away from the bastard, continuing to stare him down as her mind burned with its newfound revelation. “I couldn’t believe that. That not only was someone smart-enough and driven enough to do that, but also so powerful to make Malcolm Scythe, of all people, accept his death without even a fight. Accept defeat without a fight – and then it hit me!”

Her voice dropped to a low, yet still audible, whisper. “He’s only done that once before in the decades I’ve known him… when I beat him.”

She took a shaky breath. “All this time…  I thought that you were just well-informed. That I couldn’t stop you because you had tabs on me like the Scythes and DeCarlos and Frostmeres did – I thought I couldn’t stop you because you had all these resources and eyes on everything, but that isn’t it, is it?!”

Still, Killjoy did not move. He didn’t need to for Selena to continue.

“You don’t need to see what I’m going to do. You know. You know what I’m going to do because you know how I think. You know how I feel. Because that’s what you were meant to know – that was what you were meant to feel… when you were meant to be me.”

Selena felt the breath leave her at that last sentence, her eyes never leaving Killjoy as her words died on the air. For a second, she wondered if the killer even heard her until she saw Killjoy suddenly reach him for his skull-helmet. She heard the clicking of metal as the locks at the back were nimbly undone, allowing the back of the helmet to open and be lifted off – and the platinum-blonde locks to spill out from within.

“Like I told you from the beginning…” Killjoy’s voice – Killjoy’s true voice, lighter, accented, and feminine – ran through the night as she lifted her head, sapphire eyes meeting sapphire eyes. “I am your shadow…”

Pale lips twisted into a smile as Killjoy beheld her target. “Congratulations, Snow Queen.” She spoke to Selena darkly. “You made the deadline.”

______________________________________________________________

The Royal Letter

The camera opens up to reveal the interior of the “Believe It!” bus, with the black blinds drawn avoid ‘silhouette lighting’. In the beige, leather couch sits none other than the SCW World Champion, Selena Frost. She is dressed in black leggings, a medium-length black skirt, and a dark red, buttoned shirt with the top two buttons undone, showing her elegant neck and collarbone. Her platinum-blonde hair flows over her shoulders, part of it pinned around her head to make a smaller braid in the middle. The SCW World title sits beside her, the light just barely reflected from the golden plates.

This might be an odd way to start things, but I’m not going to begin with a direct address towards Giovanni Aries… She allows her words to settle for a moment before she speaks again.

I know that’s what a lot of people, including Giovanni, are expecting me to do, just like I’m expecting him to come at me with more excuses as to why The Brand has trailed behind SCW and its run of integrity over the last six or so months. I’m expecting to hear words of ‘witchcraft’, ‘hexes’, and probably uglifying everything I have said or done in the attempt to make me look like some kind of monster. she shrugs. It doesn’t surprise me. That’s who The Brand are. That’s who Giovanni is. Always easier for them to try and bring us down than bring themselves up, no matter how much they sell you on the fact that they can. But I’ll get to that…

Carefully, Selena uses her hands/fingers to run through her hair, pushing the locks over her ears and out of her face.

Last Breakdown, the world saw and heard what I thought about Giovanni’s ‘promises’ and ‘The Haus of Nirvanna’. And while he’ll claim that I ‘destroyed a man’s dreams’, I like to ask how I did that. How did I destroy someone’s dreams? Did I cheat in my match against Sammy? Did I use interference or a weapon? Did I bend the rules like he tried to do with those closed-fist punches? Or did I do what I promised that I would do and expose everything that was the Haus of Nirvanna and Giovanni? I said it before, if Sammy genuinely beat me – something Giovanni can’t seem to do – then I would have shaken his hand and congratulated him. Hell, I would have suggested he’d be added to the world title match if he had accomplished that! Make it a triple threat match – or a handicap match for Gio’s sake! Least ONE of them would have earned their place.

But that isn’t what happened. What happened was the match was just as one-sided and predictable as it appeared on paper – like all the True Believers knew it would be with the World Champion facing the man known as “STD”. And to be clear, it gave me no pleasure to humiliate Sammy like that. I wasn’t thrilled that I beat the man, nor was I thrilled that I had to embarrass him in the ring like that… she shakes her head, giving a slow inhale and exhale. But when you claim that you offer ‘success’? When you claim that you can turn anyone into a ‘superstar’ and help them reach ‘stardom’ with ease… then you better fucking prove it in the ring!

Sammy Thomas Davies could not prove it. The Haus of Nirvanna could not prove it! 

And it all goes back to what I said last week. Genuineness. Integrity. If you say something here in SCW? Like you’re “The Best in the World” or “The Face of SCW” or that you can make people ‘better’ and give them ‘stardom’ and ‘success’? You better be able to back it up! Here in SCW? You prove your words! That’s what the new standard is here in case you haven’t noticed! You can brag all you want – you can call yourself ‘God’ like a few have done, but till you prove it? It means nothing! 

The reason so many people still rib me on being ‘The Face of SCW’? It isn’t because I use it every time I open my mouth, but because every person that HAS ribbed me on it? I’ve beaten them. Every person that’s dared me to prove it? I proved it to them.

She shakes her head. I didn’t believe in The Haus of Nirvanna’s promises or Sammy’s declarations that he was a ‘new man’ and suddenly a ‘successful top star’ in SCW. So, I dared him to prove it, just like they dared me to prove myself over and over again…

And yet… what seemed to be more of the focus was the hatred that’s going on between Giovanni and I. Like I said last Breakdown, I know Giovanni hates me. He can meditate and laugh in my face all he wants, but it’s beyond clear how much that man despises me. How much he’s obsessed with me. After all, this match didn’t come about from him winning a number one contender match or proving something last pay-per-view beyond being on the winning team. No, this match came about by him whining week after week to Shaun Cruze, obsessed with facing me. Obsessed with taking me on and trying to take the world title off me.

Again, Selena shrugs her shoulders. And in some ways, I can understand it. I mean, three times I kept the world title from Holly Adams? Twice over I’ve beaten Cid Turner? And now, I’ve exposed his little ‘customer’ in Sammy as being just nothing more than a walking ‘new paint job’ – all flash and no substance. And while he keeps flooding Twitter with theories of ‘witchcraft’ and things that are rather disgusting to accuse me of, all I have to do is keep showing how little Gio’s words affect me. How little his ‘assessment of me’ affects me. Because I rather show how the new standard of SCW – of integrity – keeps exposing frauds like Giovanni and the Haus and the Brand for what they are, as I beat them one after another after another. So, yeah, it makes sense why he hates me. I’m a walking “F you” to his entire message of “We’re taking over SCW!”, just like I was when it was The Wonderland trying it.

But do I hate him?

The Snow Queen sighs for a second before shaking her head. See, I had to give that question a lot of thought. Because, in the past, I let Giovanni run his mouth because my actions spoke louder, defending the world title with integrity and honor while he hid under the ring and attacked opponents from behind or had Sammy do it for him. I focused on my mission rather than the bitter, twisted logic from a man that just couldn’t accept that someone was better than his ‘Nirvanna’ and ‘Haus’ – that SCW was better than the Brand and its many affiliates. But now? With this match heading towards us? Quite easily the biggest challenge to my title reign as World Champion? I had to ask myself that question and find an honest answer.

And I didn’t get an answer till I saw this:

An image pops up on the screen – a screenshot of a tweet by SCW superstar, Kimberly Williams.



The image remains as Selena takes a moment to nod her head, speaking slowly. Now, I know Kimberly. She loves to joke. To say random things without thinking or do random things because she loves chaos. I have issues with her and her sister for bailing on their tag match with Deanna and myself a month or so ago, but when that was posted? I didn’t really get mad at her.

But I did get mad at the very idea it was conveying!

“Seeing” the tweet, Selena tilts her head right and left a bit as it slowly fades. Which, when you think about it, shouldn’t get me mad, right? The idea that I would have such a ‘service’ as Giovanni does for a price or whatever? I mean, when you think about it, SCW DOES sell merchandise of Deanna and I. There are t-shirts, dog-tags, hats, backpacks, even chewable SCW vitamins with my and Deanna’s face on the bottle. I’m not going to pretend that SCW Merchandise hasn’t had a field day using my likeness and whatever to sell things to make a profit. I’d be delusional or a liar if I did.

On paper, one could argue that Giovanni has done the same thing. Selling a service, merchandise or whatever. Getting his brand and message out there – just as I have tried getting my message of integrity and believing in yourself out there to the world. I argued that Sammy did none of that in the decades he was in SCW, choosing to sit by a phone and ‘wait’ for opportunities from management to come his way. So, can I really be mad at Giovanni for doing something similar to what I did, just in a different way?

Biting her lower lip, Selena shakes her head, her eyes back on the camera. But then, if that were so, how could I explain the spike of anger, of disgust, that I felt over such a comparison. That the SCW Universe of True Believers, people that stood by me and chanted “We Believe! We Believe!” through thick and thin – that people could join it just by paying me like some kind of “OnlyFans” thing?

And that was part of it, but the other part I didn’t fully realize until I had fought Sammy Thomas Davies last week… When I stood up after beating him, turned around and saw Giovanni in the ring, holding the world title – 

And trust me, guys! After being hit in the head with that thing more times than an MLB player hits a damn baseball, I know when someone’s thinking about pelting me with it. Had it not been for Deanna, that would have been my fate for the umpteenth time, with me getting checked for yet another concussion.

But part of me would have embraced that, because really, in that moment, standing in the ring, everything became crystal clear to me. In that moment, after fighting a man that was a jobber six months ago and was a jobber in that moment with nothing but a fresh hair-cut, some botox in his face and some fancy clothes, to seeing a member of the Brand/Haus ready to bash my head in with the title again: everything became clear.

Why I was disgusted by Kimberly Williams’ tweet of comparison.
Why I the Brand and Haus of Nirvanna and Positive State.
Why I hate Giovanni Aries.

Clicking her tongue against her teeth, the world champion turns her head towards the camera. And it’s because it’s all one big pile of BS. It’s all crap. I mean, over the last six months I’ve been champion, The Brand promised ‘exciting TV’, ‘positive change’, ‘removal of negativity’, yet who was it that had its own members interfering in matches with me? Who was it that hid under the ring at End of the Year and attacked me from behind during my match? Who was it that tried again at Body, Heart and Soul? Who was it that’s relied on nailing people with titles and followers like Cookie Dreams and Sammy to interfere and save them from getting beat down from people like Jordan Majors or Asher Hayes, just to name a few! 

Better yet, who’s the REAL people that’s been benefitting from such controversy and trying to drag the integrity of SCW back to “ambushes” and “tainted wins”? Who’s really benefitting from The Brand? Cid Turner thinks he’s a god, Holly Adams was HANDED THREE world title shots and given her moment of dominance by standing on the back of Sammy at Tactical Warfare, and Giovanni? Remind me how you survived Josh Hudson back at Retribution. Selena shakes her head knowingly.

You see, Giovanni, I will give you credit where credit is due. You are a bona-fide mastermind! Easily one of the smartest, craftiest superstars that has every graced this ring. You, probably better than anyone on the roster today and in recent history, know how to take advantage of your opportunities and use your resources to get whatever it is you want. You know how to break the rules while seeming like you didn’t do anything wrong. You know how to sell ideas like ‘witchcraft’ to the masses and some even believe you! You are, without a doubt, one of the smartest people I know in SCW, easily up there with those like Vixen Cain, Aiken Frost, CHBK, and Ravyn Taylor. 

But the thing is, Gio, where your ‘intelligence’ and ‘plans’ begin is the same as where they always end. With you. Because it’s always been about you. Hell, Sharper and Lyman were calling you out a mile away in terms of your strategy with my match with Sammy. We all realized it soon as he started throwing those haymakers! You didn’t care if Sammy could beat me. You didn’t even believe he could – you even admitted to that by accusing me of ‘destroying his dreams’ during the match. You KNEW he couldn’t beat me, but if he could hurt me or injure me, ten days out from facing you for the World title? Than that would serve you, wouldn’t it? Her eyes narrow.

And that’s what you’ve been about all along. Because if you had one IOTA of genuineness in you, Giovanni. If one thing about your “Haus” was true, there was no way I could have beaten Sammy as easily as I did! No way I would have finished the match like that with you, “The Man that has numerous wins over Selena Frost”, in his corner and coaching him!

And yet… that’s exactly what happened. 

Because ‘stardom’ isn’t really what you sell. “Happiness” isn’t really what you sell. No, what you have always meant by ‘Nirvanna’, Giovanni, is ‘Make Giovanni SCW World champion”. the platinum-blonde winces at the very idea before refocusing.

Month after month, you stand in the ring and you proclaim ‘The Brand is taking over!’, that you’re changing lives and bringing SCW to a better place… and yet it was ME, not you, that took your customer and put him in the limelight of the main event of Breakdown. It was ME, by your own admission, that went to Shaun Cruze and made that happen, not you. It was ME that did more for Sammy in one night than you have in months.

I gave him the main-event of Breakdown. You gave him a haircut and some clothes off his own dime. And you think that compares? You think you’re the one doing the real change? Just like when you did nothing for Clamydia but change her name to “Calliope” and then to Peach or something like that when the first change didn’t gain ‘instant fame’?

She scoffs at that, That, Giovanni, is why I hate you. That is why I hate The Haus of Nirvanna and why I hate The Brand. Because it’s all just a bunch of superficial crap. It’s you doing the bare minimum and selling it as doing everything. It’s you giving the world crap and selling it as ‘gold’. It’s no different than those ‘fat-burning pills’ or ‘get rich quick books’ or, in the case of Ace Marshall, “add three to eight inches to your penis size with this magic pill!”

As children, we’re taught ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably is’ and that’s exactly what you are, Giovanni. What the Haus of Nirvanna is! You’ve got people dancing around and smiling at the ‘flash’ of new clothes and look that they don’t see the hole you’re burning in the savings. You’ve got people looking at the laughs and the sage and the ‘demented’ expressions that they don’t see the associate sneaking up behind them, ready to lay them out so you can be HANDED a win. They don’t see that, when it’s all said and done, that they are WORSE off then when they started with you and The Brand. Sapphire eyes narrow at the camera.

Proof? Ask Asher Hayes. Where was the Brand when he TRULY needed help? When he TRULY needed support? Where were you? Where was Cid? Where was Holly? You all left him to rot because you GOT what you wanted, didn’t you? You GOT what you needed, didn’t you?

Just like you’ll do to Sammy and Clamydia when their checks bounce or their cards are declined. Just like you’ll do to all your promises of ‘positivity for SCW’ if you win the world title… again, she winces at that very notion, almost sickened by such an idea.

On paper, Giovanni, there’s some similarities between you and me. On paper. But I refuse to make the idea of being a “True Believer of SCW” into something so cheap and superficial. I’ve always believed that “nothing worth having in this world comes easy”… 

My father worked for most of his life in a gold-mine searching for years for the gold he knew, in his heart, was there, all while working a full time job to support his family. He never gave up.  My wife and I worked for nearly two years to clear her name and free her from her incarceration. We never gave up and sacrificed so much to make it happen, yet we did! And there are hundreds, maybe thousands of such true stories from others. People that I am proud to say are ‘True Believers’.

Because being a True Believer isn’t easy. It’s not something you can just buy like some kind of ‘clubhouse membership’. It’s not just saying a chant. It’s not just repeating a line. Being a True Believer is standing by your beliefs and fighting for them with all you have. It’s getting back up after being knocked down. It’s something anyone is capable of but not everyone can do. Some choose the ‘quick and easy seeming path’, what you offer. Some people want that shortcut. Some people are desperate enough to choose that path because the path of integrity – to fighting for what you believe in – is too hard.

Slowly, Selena shakes her head. That isn’t me, Giovanni. That will NEVER be me and I will never believe the True Believers will be that way either. Success and stardom, happiness, all of those things are things that are EARNED, not bought, and no matter how many times you say otherwise, how many clothes you put on or facelifts you do or how many ways you spin it – until you EARN it, you will NEVER have it here! You will never have it in SCW! Her words are pressed with a strong emphasis as she gestured to the world title beside her.

Me? I am earning the right to say that this world title is the greatest world title in the entire world! That SCW stands above and beyond all other federations for its talent and its standards! That the SCW World title is a symbol of Supreme Championship Wrestling and a symbol of integrity! You? You can change the candy wrapper all you want, Giovanni, but at the end of the day? You and The Haus and The Brand are no different than the old stables of Infamous, Pinnacle, and yes, The Wonderland. The same mentality of “by hook or crook” and ‘the ends justifying the means’. And just like you’re happy to sell out your ‘clients’ and con those that believe in you, just like you’re happy to fool anyone with your false claims, you don’t give a damn about integrity or pride or accomplishment or anything ‘positive’ here and for SCW!

Leaning forward, Selena holds her hand up to the camera. Tonight, make no mistake, Giovanni, I am going to need to be on my toes to keep up with whatever plans you’re already concocting in that brain of yours. I am going to need to have my head on a swivel to try and see your ‘plans’ coming. I know the very real danger my reign as world champion is in, not only from you and what you can do in the ring, but whatever else is headed that I can’t predict.

This… she picks up the title to look at it for a moment. This will be the hardest, most demanding match in my entire reign. I don’t expect to be able to leave of my own volition by the time it’s all done. But, I can assure you, Giovanni, whether I walk out or am carried out, I will be leaving with the SCW World Championship! And, I can promise you, there will be nothing superficial about the beating I give you this weekend. 

Cause I’m not looking to just bruise you or hurt you or scratch you. No. Like I did last Breakdown, I am going to continue to expose you and the Hause of Nirvana, the LAST part of the Brand that I have yet to expose. I am going to expose you, Giovanni, as the two-bit conman you are. As the liar that you are.

Because, even with all the power of your ‘Nirvana’, even with all your sage and promises on Twitter, I will be leaving Taking Hold of the Flame the same way I walked in – with integrity, with pride, with the new standard of SCW still on my back and STILL the SCW World Champion, leaving your superficial world and standards with the rest of the Brand!

On the sidelines, where you and your BS belongs! Believe it, Giovanni! All for zero payments of zero dollars!

The Snow Queen gives a sharp smile as the cameras fade to black.

[Giovanni Aries]

Romancing The Positivity

[SnowQueenSCW]

OOC: In two parts due to length.

Project: Black Ice

”Frost No More”

The Frost Gold-Mine Cave
Nome, Alaska
June 2nd, 2022
12:03am


“Almost like looking in a mirror, isn’t it?” 

Killjoy smirked as she stepped closer to Selena, the Snow Queen unable to take her eyes away from the approaching madman – no, madwoman. How had she not figured it out sooner? After all these months, all this time, the way Killjoy fought, how she moved – no, Killjoy had purposefully hidden the reality of her identity with the leather jacket and gloves and distorted voice, Selena’s short time being Mr. Oscar Craven over in Paris was still enough for her to know that it was more than possible if disguise was the intent.

This was what Killjoy had wanted. She had wanted to reveal herself like this. To stare into the woman that was so like her in appearance, at least on the surface. Their hair color looked similar, their eyes were alike and their features – Killjoy was right. It was like looking in a mirror, perhaps in the same way that twins looked similar at first glance.

“You’re not so scary without the skull mask.” Selena remarked, crossing her arms over her chest and standing her ground.

Giving a smirk, a little laugh escaped Killjoy as she shrugged out of her leather jacket, revealing the charcoal-gray, tight shirt that clung to the toned body underneath. “Interesting that a woman that goes around dressed as some demented Frozen superhero on TV and then hides around in Paris as a man is going to mock me on a little ‘dramatics’ of costume.” Tossing the leather jacket to the ground, along with her gloves, Killjoy turned to see the, somewhat, surprised expression on Selena’s face. “Oh you think I didn’t figure out where you were hiding?” she scoffed. “It wasn’t exactly hard. You did propose to Deanna there, didn’t you?”

Selena said nothing, merely narrowing her eyes and lowering her head a little to glare at Killjoy for several seconds. “Oh come on!” Killjoy further mocked. “After all these months – all this time I gave you, you say you’ve figured it out and you won’t let me have my fun? You won’t humor me? Talk about ungrateful. After all the time I gave you.”

“You stole two years from Deanna’s and my life, ran Talia off the road in a car accident, shot at Gavin... You killed people…” Selena countered. “And you threatened to kill Deanna. I’m not interested in humoring you.”

“I see.” Killjoy scoffed, shrugging her shoulders before running a hand through her platinum-hair, longer than Selena’s, though hers flowed down her back while Selena’s was tied up in its braid. “I suppose I’ll have to live with the lack of…reaction…” she gestured towards Selena’s cold expression. “At my revelation and instead let you have your ‘AHA!’ moment. So, go ahead…” she teased with a hand towards the woman. “You know who I am? Enlighten me.”

“You’re Atlas. Resident 222 of Operation Snowman.” Selena stated.

“I see you spoke to Rebecca.” Killjoy smiled. “And she took you to the facility?”

“You were born there.” Selena continued. “And you matched whatever criteria existed… to replace me.”

“To replace Selena Frost, yes.” Killjoy replied. “Though you’re skipping a few steps along the way.”

“What do you mean?” Selena asked, tilting her head towards the pacing killer. Without meaning to, her feet began walking, adopting the pacing circle that Killjoy was taking, the two women circling one another.

“Picture if you will a very powerful man.” Killjoy began, her voice so like Selena’s, the wrestler could almost imagine she was watching one of her old promos from the past. “A man that continues to grow in power in a small town with each passing day. His methods include intimidation, blackmail, coercion, but also honest deals of the politician. One day, he makes a deal with an equally power-hungry family and an accord is struck, with a third family being drawn in.”

“The DeCarlos and the Frosts.” Selena stated. “I know this story.”

“I’m sure you do.” Killjoy smirked at Selena, casting a glance towards her as she continued to slowly pace. “Your father’s gold mine-“ Killjoy raised a pale hand as she gestured to the nearby cave that stood several yards back from her. “-the DeCarlo’s fortune, the Scythe’s empire – all wrapped up together in a union between one of Malcolm’s kids and one of the children of the Frost/DeCarlo family. Perfect on paper, most would say.”

“No one would say that.” Selena replied darkly. “My family – the Frosts – were forced into it.” 

“Never said any of them were saints, did I?” Killjoy teased. “But a funny thing happened after the accord was struck. No heir was provided on the Frosts’ side. Malcolm had his children: his sons from Rebecca – Gavin and Ryan. But your father, Donovan, couldn’t provide what he was being coerced to offer.”

“A daughter?”

“A daughter, yes. But also any child at all.” Killjoy corrected. “Turns out Anastasia DeCarlo was unable to conceive children and kept that little fact from the families in order to be chosen as ‘the one’ to be part of this epic plan, knowing she would never be able to deliver on her end of the bargain.”

“She was unable to have children?” Selena asked in surprise, earning another grin from Killjoy, who watched her.

“Anastasia failed to mention that to you, didn’t she?” came the knowing reply from Killjoy, her eyes locked on the other platinum-blonde.

Selena felt the muscles in her jaw tighten and clench, another fact having never occurred to her. Her step-mother’s hatred of her was burned into the depths of her memories – scars from her past, but she had always attributed it to the fact that father had had an affair with her biological mother, Alejandra, and her being proof of that. Was it much deeper than that? 

Why not? Hadn’t Selena witnessed atrocities of all kinds in SCW over such bitterness. Of others wanting what someone else had! Schemes, assaults, an entire book could be written of such things just by focusing on Syren! Stables like The Wonderland and Infamous had been formed based on some self-established ‘controversy theory’ of being held back and denied – an excuse that even ran today with Lexy Chapel running around with some kind of lawyer-dog! Hell, how many times had The Brand tried to cheat and screw Selena out of her matches just so they could hold the world title? From interferences to pushing her into that “DQ and you lose the title” match that was the fault of their OWN meddling previously!

Was it so hard to believe that her own step-mother had hated her simply because Anastasia would never have a daughter of her own flesh and blood?

“You’re connecting the dots, aren’t you?” Killjoy teased, still pacing along the dirt path, though with Selena stopping, she had started merely pacing back and forth, keeping the distance from the Snow Queen for now. 

“I’m waiting for that ‘killshot’ you promised would ‘destroy me’.” Selena threw back mockingly. “So far, you’re just filling in a few gaps of things I already know.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m getting to it.” Killjoy smiled back, unfazed by Selena’s words. “But as you can imagine with Anastasia’s barrenness, Malcolm was left in a rather difficult position. He couldn’t exactly get rid of Anastasia without incurring the DeCarlos’ wrath but a union between them and the Frosts would never yield an heir… but…” She held up a finger, turning her head to regard Selena. “If one could be ‘brought in’? One that matched the criteria of a supposed heir than who would think twice? Who would question it?”

“So he adopted?” Selena asked. “Or looked for one? That would be easy. Pilgrim Springs, Anchorage - What does that have to do with Project Snowman and Project Black Ice?”

The smile turned into a smirk as Killjoy stopped, turning to glare down Selena. “Project Snowman was the ‘adoption process’.” She stated darkly, causing Selena’s eyes to go wide, the implication beyond clear in her mind. “Or the first step of it.”

“It wasn’t a homeless shelter or an orphanage…” the wrestler whispered. “It was a breeding ground.”

“Take a few dozen homeless people desperate for food, shelter and money, impregnate them – suddenly you’ve got a pool of genetic lottery. Malcolm thought if he was going to ‘adopt an heir’, why not choose one with the perfect genetics? With optimal health, optimal brain activity, someone that would be ‘the perfect heir’ for such a contracted union of Scythes, DeCarlos, and Frosts. All he had to do was wait for his ‘lucky number’ to be called. And all on the taxpayer’s dime – unknowingly.”

“Dr. Spencer…” Selena’s voice trailed off, earning a nod from Killjoy.
“In charge of vetting the children born. Any fault, any inconsistency not living up to Malcolm’s ‘standard’, well…”

“Well, what?” Selena asked. “Weren’t they taken to Anchorage? Or Pilgrim Springs?”

“That how you dispose of a faulty experiment sample?” Killjoy asked darkly. “Or a broken piece of lab equipment?” 

Selena’s mouth hung open. No…it couldn’t be… how many children… how many women had Malcolm ‘disposed’ of to get his ‘perfect specimen’?! She could feel the breath being taken from her like a punch to the gut at such a revelation. She had known – always known – that Malcolm was a monster, but never did she imagine such lengths as this…

“You’re forgetting who we’re talking about.” Killjoy stated coldly, regaining Selena’s focus. “Who would miss a bunch of homeless women or abandoned children? Who’d miss people that the world had abandoned?” 

Why did so much of this sound familiar to Selena – why was she thinking of Giovanni Aries at a time like this. She quickly gave a shake of her head. “Rebecca said that the center was closed three years later – but you were in Spencer’s notes two years after that.”

“Timing.” Killjoy nodded. “An outlier in the plan, just like with Anastasia’s condition, that no one foresaw.”

“My mother.” Selena realized.
“Alejandra.” Killjoy confirmed. “Forgotten by everyone but Donovan. A man so in love that he risked the wrath of the other two families to be with her – and just like that… Malcolm had his heir. He no longer needed Project Snowman.”

“But then how does that explain you?” Selena pressed, the Snow Queen stepping forward, only about ten yards away from Killjoy now. “Why are you even here?”

“Because Malcolm couldn’t let it go. The idea of the ‘perfect heir’. The perfect person to leave his legacy to – a person that would build on it.” Killjoy explained. “And when the aforementioned child was born and brought back to Nome, imagine his frustrations when he found that she was ‘less than perfect’. That she wasn’t as smart as some of the others or as strong as the others. All he could see were her many faults. A good scare from a biological condition she had and suddenly, he couldn’t handle it anymore. Not when he had come so close to getting the heir his family deserved.”

“So, he restarted the Project…that’s where you come in.” Selena surmised.

“But with far more resources than before.” Killjoy explained. “He was farther along as a politician, remember? He had access to far greater pools of money. Of course, with the child being a girl with certain-“ she gestured to her own hair, so similar to Selena’s. “Features, the vetting process became even more haggard, but bringing in a couple more dozen or so subjects can even that out… like getting three World title shots back-to-back and just needing one to succeed?” She smirked at Selena regarding the reference, though the smile quickly disappeared. “He was more ruthless than ever.” there was a growl in her accented voice, as if recalling something. 

“What’s phase 2?” the question from Selena caught Killjoy off-guard from her distracted musings, the woman turning her head to, once more, regard Selena. 

“Phase 2 was to become Selena Frost. To replace her… AKA…”

“Project: Black Ice.” Selena finished. “But I don’t understand…” she shook her head as if in thought. “I never have had any ‘biological conditions’ in my youth – and why wouldn’t Malcolm replace me? Why would he hold off on it?”

“Don’t get ahead of me.” Killjoy remarked with a knowing smile.
“Did… Did he try to dispose of you?” the question came out as a whisper from Selena’s lips.

Killjoy gave a shrug. “By that point, he had invested too much. Seemed a waste to him, especially when you could still screw things up at any moment. No – I imagine Rebecca told you about her ‘granddaughter’ found on her doorstep?” Selena’s eyes widened at that statement, earning a laugh from Killjoy. “It never occurred to you how I knew that place so well? How I could lead you to it with ease? Or get in?” she shook her head. “I spent years there – never forgetting what Malcolm had taught me. How to think like him. How to predict like him. How to manipulate… but I’ll admit…” she gave a quiet sigh as she continued to pace again. “I’ll admit that after a few years with Rebecca, I began to feel…happy. I began to see her as my mother and I thought… I thought maybe that was enough for me. That I could let go of what I was denied…”

“What changed?” came the inevitable question from Selena. “I heard Rebecca. She doted on you. Loved you. How could you turn your back on that?”

“Because YOU-“ Killjoy’s eyes were suddenly colder as she pointed a pale finger at Selena. “YOU decided that all you had wasn’t enough for you! You refused to simply settle for Gavin Scythe after Ryan left you. You refused to let Anastasia guide you down the path that was handed to you. You ran away from Nome, joined SCW, and changed everything…”

“I ran away from abuse and near-insanity.” Selena corrected with no hesitation. “I left a life that was no life. You ought to know that.”

“You know nothing of having ‘no life’.” Killjoy spat back darkly. “There I was one night, watching television on New Years’ Eve and, suddenly, I’ll never forget that day, I changed the channel and there was the name I had almost forgotten. The name that was meant to be mine! Selena Frost…”

Selena thought about Killjoy’s description for only a moment. “My SCW debut. You watched it?” 

“And every moment after that. You winning the tag-team and adrenaline title, falling in love with Dawn Lohan and then Deanna… Seeing you so sickeningly happy with the world at your fingertips! While all I could hope to have for happiness was a home in exile in the middle of nowhere!”

“So, you decided to come after me.”

“Not right away.” Killjoy shook her head. “But I was alone, broken. Denied the life that belonged to me. I wanted it to end. But then I realized something… if YOU could escape Alaska, why couldn’t I?” she grinned wickedly. “And for seven years, I have worked to that end – to undo what Malcolm did to me!”

There was a moment of cold silence between the two, near doppelgangers of the other, as they stared each other down. 

“So, that’s it then?” Selena’s voice came first. “That’s what all of this is about? Everything you put me through? Everything you tried to take from me, killing Malcolm, all because you weren’t handed the life you were promised?”

Killjoy’s sapphire eyes narrowed but Selena refused to let her speak. “No!” she barked. “I am sorry for what happened to you. I truly am. But my life was never meant to be your ‘prize’ or ‘possession’! The fact that you believed that is YOUR own fault. Not mine or even Malcolm’s! You could have made something of your life just as I did! You could have left this bitterness behind and moved on! You’re clearly capable of it! Smart enough, resourceful enough – you could have done BETTER than me! But instead, you chose jealousy. You chose murder. You chose to hate me because Malcolm failed to complete a stupid project!” 

“I never said he failed.”

Killjoy’s words slammed into Selena, stopping her anger-induced rant in its tracks. “W-what?” she asked, unsure if she heard her correctly, seeing Killjoy smiling cruelly.

“I never said Project: Black Ice failed.” She stated. “Malcolm wanted ‘the perfect heir’. Someone smart enough, strong enough, and worthy enough to take the entire Scythe and Frost and DeCarlo fortune.” She took one step towards Selena. “Strong enough to leave Nome when nobody else thought she could.”

Selena’s eyes went wide.

“Strong enough to knock-out grown men with a single kick.”
“No…” the wrestler’s voice whispered as Killjoy continued to approach.
“Smart enough to outsmart him… the DeCarlos…the entire Frost and Frostmere clan and survive?”
“You’re lying…”

Killjoy stopped just a few feet from Selena, staring the woman down, her voice a dagger to Selena’s heart. “I am not resident 222: ‘Atlas’. I am not the replacer in ‘Project: Black Ice’.” Her eyes narrowed. “You are.”, her sinister grin returned. “I am the person you were meant to replace…

I am the REAL Selena Frost!”

The whole world seemed to stop in that second as Killjoy’s words ran in Selena’s ears as they stood in the clearing by the cave. Her mind rebelled, reeling against what was just spoken. “No…” she whispered. “That’s impossible…” she tried. “You couldn’t be – I… I know who I am!”

“You know what you were told.” Killjoy stated. “October 31st, 1991…” she added, causing Selena’s eyes to go wide at the familiar date. “That was when it happened. I was taken from my bed and you – my doppelganger – took my place. Only a year and change younger than me… No one was the wiser.”

“No… Donovan would have known. Anastasia-“

“Who do you think switched us?” Killjoy barked. “Anastasia knew of my health problems and knew what would happen if she lost her link to the ‘grand plan’ of three families. Donovan would leave her, the DeCarlo family would blame her – so she put her stock on a safer bet and made the switch.”

“She wouldn’t…”
“She’s done worse for less.” Killjoy countered. “The world is full of such people.”

Selena’s mind continued to reel. It couldn’t be true! She was a Frost! She always had been! All of her memories were of being a Frost. Her very core – her identity and pride – stemmed from being a Frost! 

“Malcolm told you all this?” she tried.
“He wasn’t shy in using it as motivation to push me to become better than you – said once I did that, he would switch us again. And I foolishly believed him far longer than I should have.”

“Yet, you believe all this?” Selena countered. “Don’t you see? It was all one lie. All of it. You’re not me. You never were! You were meant to be Malcolm’s ‘insurance policy’ for an heir!”

“Who are you trying to convince?” Killjoy smiled coldly. “Me or you?”

“I AM SELENA FROST!” Selena barked back, her voice echoing in the night, even scaring some nearby wildlife, the sound of squirrels and birds fleeing the nearby trees suddenly. Killjoy remained silent, though her smile never left her pale face. “I’m…” Selena’s voice faltered, the certainty in all Killjoy had said, the conviction in all of her words and expressions – it couldn’t be true! It just couldn’t!

How long had she believed in that name? Fought for that name? Risked for that name? She had won tournaments, waged wars, overcome odds few would even dream of to be and stay a Frost… Just like an heir to Malcolm Scythe would do… her mind mocked.

“Conceal…” she whispered, her eyes slamming closed. “Don’t feel… Conceal…” she breathed, trying to regain what semblance of control she had had when she had arrived before the deadline and waited for Killjoy. Desperately, part of her waged against this information…

What did it matter? Her name didn’t change that Deanna loved her. Didn’t change her being a mother with children that were hers – Killjoy couldn’t take any of that from her! All she was insinuating was that the very identity she had treasured all her life was a lie… CONCEAL! her mind screamed as she pushed her head up to stare down the smug monster.

“Now what?” Selena asked, gathering herself back up to stare at Killjoy. “Is this where you kill me?”

“No.” Killjoy shook her head. “But we are getting closer to the end here.”
“Where you take everything from me. Like you promised.”

That grin returned on Killjoy’s face as she held up a hand. “And I only need two more things to make it all happen. One, for you to lose enough to be driven so far into the dark – to snap – so I can take your place, like you took mine and, like before, with no one being the wiser.”

“To turn bad? Heel?” Selena scoffed at that. “That’s not possible. Deanna and I, we’ve been tempted for years to give in and be like the Scythes and DeCarlos and Frostmeres – like you.” She shook her head. “We’ve never given in!”

“Maybe not… but how much farther can you bend that bar before it breaks?” Killjoy teased. “You blackmailed Malcolm Scythe, killed Brachiss and Evangeline DeWinter with a grenade, pulled out Queenie’s teeth with pliers, hell you just set up Ryan on domestic abuse charges to get him out of the way! See that’s the thing about morals, Snow Queen! The more you bend, the weaker and weaker they become!”

Selena’s jaw clench as she shook her head. “But I haven’t broken! You not being able to act means I haven’t fallen that far! And I won’t!”

“Won’t you?” Killjoy mused knowingly. “You’re one title defence away from headlining Rise to Greatness for a second time in a row. One match away from making history as the longest reigning world champion. One win away from making integrity the new standard in SCW… and you’re facing the one person that you haven’t beaten one-on-one in years.” She grinned again, holding up a finger to Selena. “One loss and suddenly, no integrity…no record… no main-event Rise to Greatness. It all goes away… and you’re left with nothing!”

“But…” Selena stopped, her eyes growing wider. How could she have missed that? Yes, she had thought about her reign in terms of ‘length’ once or twice and certainly the ‘integrity’ had been her focus, but the idea that it could all be undone in one match-

But it was true, wasn’t it? She had no ‘guaranteed’ rematch if she lost the title now, hell, more often than not, the tradition of SCW held that the winner of the royale would face whoever the champion was coming out of Taking Hold of the Flame – meaning, unlike Giovanni, who had everything to gain and nothing to really lose, she stood to lose it all in one match!

Her mission for integrity.
Her belief that SCW should be about non-controversial matches.
The idea of genuineness…

“That’s why you chose the deadline…” Selena realized, staring back at Killjoy. “To take it all from me with one shot.”

“Like I promised I would from the beginning.” Killjoy replied, the smugness and satisfaction clear in her voice and grin – so similar to the masterminds Selena had dealt with in her past, from Vixen Cain to Giovanni. Conceall…Don’t feel…  she mentally repeated again, refusing to break.

“What’s the second thing you need.” Her sapphire eyes narrowed. “You said you needed two things to have the life you craved.”

Despite herself, Killjoy opened her mouth to speak before stopping, as if struck by a thought. “You know… considering all this revelation on my part, it might sound childish to do… but I think I’ll keep that one to myself for the time being. But let’s just say that it’s the only thing in this life that you ever truly earned.”

The killer’s head lowered, her eyes locked on Selena and seemingly growing colder. “And when you finally break and give in to the despair…and I take your place, it will be you that is locked away in exile. It will be you that is alone and forgotten!” she pointed at Selena bitterly, her voice laced with her hatred. “You that is left missing a life that was stolen from you!”

Despite herself, Selena could not say a word as Killjoy stared her down, the deranged woman slowly turning to leave Selena in the dark. As for the Snow Queen, her mind was too lost. She had been wrong. Killjoy’s plan wasn’t to just kill her like she had Malcolm. She wanted Selena to suffer – to live the life Killjoy had been forced to life – and for what? For existing? For being unaware what was happening? For choosing to live her life the best way she could – to look for life and something greater than the bottom of a damn bottle?! To find meaning in concepts like integrity and honour and value in such morality while so many around her refused to?

”Please don’t leave me alone…” The voice flashed into Selena’s mind like a streak of red, halting every panic and spike of despair in her body from Killjoy’s words. “You think it’ll be that easy?”

She saw Killjoy stop in her tracks, the woman turning around to stare down Selena from where she stood a few yards away. “You think it’ll just be that easy to ‘be Selena Frost’?” Selena tilted her head, her own sapphire eyes cold in their glare.

“Maybe you’re telling the truth and you had the name first. Maybe you are ‘the original’ or ‘real’ or whatever… but I’m the one that spent over thirty years living the life of Selena Frost! I was there when Selena lost her father! I was there when her step-mother tried to drown her in a tub! I was there when she was drugged and forced to lose her daughter! I was there when she could only find solace at the bottom of a fucking bottle! I was there when she thought there was no hope and she would never leave Nome! I was there when she realized she was gay! Yeah, news flash, Killjoy – Selena Frost is gay! – get used to that! I was there when she finally cried tears of joy and tears of love! I was there when she bargained her hair, when she suffered scars, when she gave everything she had to be a Frost and be an SCW superstar! I was there through it all- WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!”

She saw Killjoy’s jaw clench at the tirade of Selena’s memories – memories of good and bad nature that SHE had survived, not Killjoy.

“You may have been GIVEN the name of Selena Frost – but I EARNED it! Every day for over thirty years! And guess what?! I don’t care how you try – you’ll NEVER take it from me! Because you’re NOT me! You never will be! Not to me, not to Deanna, not to our children, not to our friends and neighbours, and not to the SCW Universe and True-“ 

WHAM!

She didn’t see the fist flying in the dark – too little light between her and Killjoy to do so, but she sure as hell felt it as the uppercut connected with her chin, sending her flying back and landing hard onto the dirt ground with a thud. Temporarily stunned, she struggled to get to her hands and knees, only to feel an arm wrap around her neck in a headlock, Killjoy’s face next to hers as Selena grabbed the arm wrapped around her neck.

“You’re nothing more than an imposter!” roared Killjoy. “And you’ll never be strong enough to stop me from reclaiming what’s mine…”

“I…” Selena coughed out against the constrictions against her neck. “I should tell you something else I was there for… for Selena…” she groaned as Killjoy lifted her up and slammed her back down onto the ground, keeping the headlock on tight. Still, Selena refused to relent, a smile breaking across her features. “I was also there when she got married to a very fiery… VERY stubborn redhead…”

The words were barely out of her mouth when a flash of red came across both platinum-blondes’ vision as Killjoy was ripped off Selena, a figure blasting the assailant with a running bicycle knee! With no way to dodge it due to her position over Selena, Killjoy took the full brunt of the blow, being knocked back and rolling away from Selena, who, once free, coughed and wheezed as her lungs begged for air. 

Instantly, she felt a pair of hands on her in the dark but, unlike Killjoy’s, these hands were more than familiar to her – she had spent nearly seven years holding these hands, of feeling them on every part of her body, and kissing them just because. 

“What…” Selena tried to breath. “What kept you?”
“I took the scenic route.” Deanna shot back, helping Selena up to her feet to check on her best as she could. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” Selena sighed, shaking her head. “She just got me in the jaw-“

“We’ll talk later.” Deanna pressed, the redhead turning around to face Killjoy, who was pushing herself to her feet. “Hey, jerk!” she cried out, getting Killjoy’s attention. “Wanna see what else being a Frost is like?”

Annoyance giving way to rage, Killjoy sprinted towards Deanna, ready to throw a perfectly aimed punch… or it would have been had Selena not slipped in to block it, using Killjoy’s focus on Deanna to draw close. With Killjoy now distracted on Selena blocking her punch, she was unable to stop the headbutt from Deanna and the shoot kick that followed from Selena!

“Something like that.” Deanna stated before shifting over to Killjoy’s left while Selena took the fiend’s right. The last time Selena and Killjoy had fought, it had been one-on-one and Killjoy was clearly at an advantage. But with a trained Deanna there? And trained to fight with Selena by her side? 

Even Killjoy couldn’t keep up, the look-alike barely able to block a blow or two before one would land and send her stumbling back. And when a double pump kick from the Frost wives kicked Killjoy back a few feet, the woman roared. “ENOUGH OF THIS!” 

Reaching into her back pocket, the enemy pulled out a black gun, pointing it directly at the two Frost women, effectively freezing them in place. “Maybe I just put you in the hospital!” she snapped. “And force you to miss your match AND Rise to Greatness! Or…” she turned the gun towards Deanna. “Throw you off by sending her to a hospital-“

She pulled the hammer back- and would have pulled the trigger if not for the blinding lights that filled her vision and the loud car horn that filled her ears. “What the hell-“ was all she could get out as the car bounced and barrelled down the uneven dirt-road towards the gunwoman! 

Grabbing Deanna, Selena leapt to the side, keeping her safe in her arms as the pair rolled into the ground and away from the car. As for the closer Killjoy, the woman could only leap into the air and onto the car hood, trying to avoid getting run over. The vehicle and madwoman travelled several yards until the car slammed on the brakes, sending Killjoy flying across the hood and towards the hill, the woman screaming as she flew off the hill and out of sight!

On the ground, Selena felt her heart pounding in her chest as she lay on her back, seeing the dozens of stars in the sky. Her senses returned slowly from the adrenaline high, feeling the warm body held to her chest, the red-haired head pressed into her bosom. Slowly, taking equally slow breaths, Selena released Deanna, allowing the younger Frost to lift her head. 

“Selena…” Deanna smiled gratefully.
“Deanna…” Selena sighed back, though there was something about being called that name by her wife that now felt… painful. Still, she pushed the feeling aside to cup her wife’s face. “You’re alright…” she breathed. “Thank you for coming with me.”
“I always will.” Deanna smiled, a light sob escaping her as she pressed her forehead to Selena’s. “Maybe I love you.”

“Even though…” Selena words died before she could finish them. This was NOT the time to think of Killjoy’s declarations. “Nevermind… Maybe I love you too...”

Quickly, the Frost wives helped each other to their feet, both dusting the dirt off themselves before running to the now parked red Ford Fusion, the front lights still on but blinking on and off. As the two women approached, the passenger car was pushed open, allowing Jean Black to stumble out.

“Absolutely maddening!” the old man yelled out, a true mess as he stood before the women, still in his suit from the election party, only the tie and vest were askew, as was his hair! “Utter insanity! Insanity!”

The driver’s car door opened, allowing the driver to step out, contrastingly as excited and neat/clean as can be. “Wooo!” Zelda cheered, her eyes alight. “Got him!”

Selena’s mouth hung open. “You let her drive?!” she said to Jean.
“Yes, I’m regretting that!” Jean shot back in a mixture of emotions.
“Hey! It helped.” Deanna argued.
“And you’re welcome!” Zelda added. “I saw the gun – so I gunned the gas!”
“Makes total sense to me!” Deanna agreed, reaching over to hug the brunette. “Thank you! You saved us!”

“Hear that, Jean!” Zelda declared proudly, pointing to herself. “I saved them.”
“Yes, well, we could have done that without you trying to kill us.” The detective retorted. “Shaved off a good five years of my life.”

“And you have so few of those left as it is.” Selena said without thinking, her mind taking a temporary break from reality to simply enjoy the safety she felt surrounded by her wife and friends, the Snow Queen even going as far as to hug both of the Blacks before wrapping her arms around her wife. “Thank you… both of you.” She said to Jean and Zelda, earning a nod as the four tried to calm themselves.

The silence that followed was the result of the four family members thinking the same thing, their heads turning at the same time to gaze over the hill Killjoy had just been launched down, the crest of the hill illuminated before them by the car lights. Lowering her eyes, Selena spied the weapon that Killjoy had dropped into the grass from the vehicular assault, slowly picking it up.

The gun felt heavy in her hand and she turned it a little as she observed it, even clicking the hammer with her thumb. She knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to silence that damn voice that had claimed to be what she was – the REAL… she refused to say it, even in her mind. Instead, she moved slowly to the top of the hill, Deanna following her, followed by Jean and Zelda – the four staring down the hill and into the dark grass and fields below.

Killjoy was gone.

“Where…” Zelda’s voice trailed off, her dark-brown eyes scanning what little of the hill she could see in the darkness. “I know I hit him-“

“Her.” Jean replied, turning his head back over to Selena. “Mind telling us why she looked like you, Selena?”

The Snow Queen opened her mouth before shaking her head. “I don’t even believe it, myself.” She whispered. “It just…it can’t be true.”

She felt her hand grow warm as Deanna took it into hers. “It doesn’t matter.” The redhead stated firmly, giving the hand a strong but loving squeeze. “We beat her. If she shows up again, we’ll beat her again!”

There was no hesitation or indecision in her voice, emotions felt by all four of them. Killjoy would be back – that was certain. She would not stop until she succeeded in her mission, or someone else stopped her.

“Where do we start?” Zelda asked.

“That…” Selena sighed. “That is up to Deanna and I.” she admitted, the redhead giving a nod. Killjoy had said it herself. 

Taking Hold of the Flame…

Killjoy had placed everything on Selena losing that night against Giovanni Aries. On watching everything Selena had worked so long for: the integrity of SCW and the World title, the perception of it within SCW – everything she stood for be swept away from one, single match. Killjoy was certain that would be the catalyst to bringing Selena down into the dark – a place so many people in SCW desired her to be for their own sake and egos – that Killjoy could take her place without anyone noticing.

Which meant that to stop her and save the integrity of SCW and the World title at the same time… to stop The Brand from reducing Rise to Greatness into, as Giovanni Aries had put it, “the greatest infomercial of all time”… Selena Frost had to win… Selena Frost NEEDED to win.

And yet, as the four continued to stare down the dark hill… the young woman could no longer be certain if that was who she was anymore. Was it all a lie? Was everything she knew – her parents, her lineage, her grandmother, everything a complete fabrication? And if it was, was Giovanni Aries going to face  the Selena Frost that could beat him, or someone else…

And if she is truly Selena Frost… Selena thought as gazed into the dark, seeing the glowing yellow eyes from her nightmares – eyes she knew only she could see - that gazed back. If she truly is… Then who, truly, am I?

_______________________________________________________________

[SnowQueenSCW]

The camera opens up to the interior of the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the site of tonight’s pay-per-view and the first step on ‘The Road to Rise to Greatness’: Taking Hold of the Flame! A show that not only promises to set up the challenger for the World title at Rise by way of the traditional and iconic ‘Taking Hold of the Flame battle royale’ but may also decide the very champion that will headline the main-event with them, as Selena Frost defends the title against, quite possibly, her greatest challenge yet in the Spiritual Advisor to The Brand, Giovanni ‘GiGi’ Aries. 

And yet, for all that excitement, the familiar setting remains for such a segment as ‘Frozen Central’. The arena is devoid of people, seats are empty. There is a quiet stillness in this setting of set and ring and arctic blue and white lights as the camera settles down to a closer shot of the ring. 

There, standing in the center, is none other than the world champion, herself, Selena Frost. She wears a dark purple suit-top with a black shirt underneath, with black pants and shoes, the absence of their colors allowing the purple of her top, the platinum-blonde of her hair, and the gold of the World title to stand out amongst the lights. Reflectively, the Snow Queen looks around the empty arena, her eyes taking in all the details, including the graphics of both “Taking Hold of the Flame” and “Rise to Greatness” that hang proudly high above.

It was a year ago at this very event… she allows her words to settle for a moment as she looks down towards the title on her shoulder. A year ago that I realized my destiny.

Stopping, the Snow Queen gives a little chuckle before shaking her head. And I know that word is going to be tossed around and HAS BEEN tossed around over and over again at this event. Words like ‘path’ and ‘destiny’ and ‘dreams’ and ‘rights’ – Taking Hold of the Flame and its prize, to headline the biggest pay-per-view of the year: Rise to Greatness, seems to bring out such words and ideals from so many of us. Wrestler, fan, True Believer, whatever you are – you can feel it! In the air, beneath your feet, in every poster and commercial, every word uttered by us all – the Road to Rise to Greatness begins here!

Her voice echoes a little as she looks around the arena, the excitement beyond clear. 

And for some, let’s be honest, they are ‘just words’. They are catchphrases or ‘gimmicks’ or things used to, at the risk of sounding too ‘wrestler-like’, words that are used to ‘gain heat or attention’. But when I say that I realized my destiny one year ago at this very event, I say it believing it with every fiber of my being.

It was a year ago where I stood in this ring and challenged Cid Turner for the SCW World title. A title that had, up to that point, been treated with the reverence and prestige of a baseball trading card or a lunchbox meal. Where two men, Cid and Asher Hayes, felt they could ‘share the title’ and both be ‘Co-World Champions’ and the world would just ‘accept’ that. Where the SCW title was won, not by skill or ability, but by Holly Adams smashing someone in the head with the title and handing the win to Cid Turner. I mean, let’s face it, just watch The Brand NOW and see if they’ve changed those tactics all that much. ‘Title to the head’ has pretty much become their ‘go to’.

Despite herself, Selena shakes her head, her eyes closed as if recalling all the title shots to the head she had suffered in her wars with The Brand. Opening her sapphire eyes, the young woman continues to speak.

But at this very event last year, I sought to change all that. I sought to put on a world title match where there was no controversy. There was no ‘tainted win’. Just two wrestlers fighting for the greatest prize in the game – a challenger fighting a champion. Not ‘half of one’ like Asher tried to paint but truly a battle for who was the best in SCW.

And I won…

Again, Selena’s eyes fall to the title she holds. And as I gazed at this title, a title that I had been ‘removed from fighting for’ for four long years, I had to then see the former champion drop to his knees and beg me to hand it back over to him. A grown man begging me to just ‘give him back the title’ and pretend all that I and SCW went through to earn it meant nothing. As if that was all it took to be the world champion. Just have the belt and ‘say it’ and that makes it so in the eyes of the SCW Universe…

Still disgusted by the memory, Selena turns away from the title and paces a little in the ring. It was at that moment – the result of a war with Syren to get me there and a war with Cid Turner – that I realized my destiny. Yes, I was going to Rise to Greatness. Yes, I was the SCW World Champion. But my work wasn’t done. I had to do more.

Because the reason Cid Turner thought he could play ‘hot-potato’ with the world title responsibilities with Asher, the reason why Asher thought he could tout around a fake SCW world title and why Cid thought he could cry his way to getting it back was because that’s how far the value of the SCW world title had fallen. Gone were the days when this title was held with reverence, with dignity… with integrity. And in its place was a standard of ‘the ends justifying the means’.

The history of this title is littered with such a mentality. Ask Syren. Ask Ravyn. Ask Bree Lancaster. Ask Sienna Swann. Ask Cid Turner. Ask ANYONE that has seen and watched this show faithfully for the last few years and they will tell you just how many times schemes like ‘ambushes’ and ‘interferences’ and ‘distractions’ paved the way for a new champion rather than ‘talent’, ‘passion’ and ‘belief in oneself’.

The Snow Queen takes a deep breath. I wanted to change all of that. I wanted to make this title what it was meant to be. A symbol of being the best wrestler in the best company in the world. A symbol of integrity, of fighting the best wrestlers in a place where ‘talent’ and ‘heart’ meant something and weren’t just ‘taglines’.

She gives a knowing shrug of her shoulders. I knew it was going to be a hard battle. I knew there would be shortcomings. I knew that I wasn’t going to change the mindset of SCW, of its roster, of its crew and of the SCW Universe overnight. 

But from that moment a year ago, to losing the title and regaining it, I have stood by that destiny, that path to this point. Through all the good and the bad, the controversy of people trying to screw me out of the title. People trying to ‘change the rules’ just for their own ego and to make themselves relevant again. People trying to paint me in a negative light because it’s easier to do that than reach the standard I have set for this championship, I have stayed true to that path and all of you, the SCW Universe, have stayed there with me! She looks at the camera for a moment before her eyes scan the empty arena.

And now? A year later, we are one show away from, quite possibly, taking this new standard to the greatest pay-per-view in SCW! Of doing what many have thought would be impossible…improbable… unbelievable. She smiles at that.

But the situation is, what you would call, a reversal. See, I’m not the challenger this time around. I’m the champion. And the challenger I’m facing – the guy I am facing? Quite easily the most dangerous challenge to that “Unbelievable Main Event” sequel that everyone is screaming for. That man is Giovanni Aries…

Taking a moment, Selena removes the world title from her shoulder, holding onto it with her hand. Now, I’ve given Giovanni Aries credit. I’ve called him a ‘mastermind’, a ‘mad genius’ – a man whose intelligence rivals that of Ravyn Taylor and Vixen Cain. And you see, good as he is in the ring, it is THAT intelligence that makes him the true danger that he is.

See, Giovanni, is LOVING – LOVING – selling this image of me as some kind of ‘warped witch’. Where it doesn’t matter what I do, it’s evil. What I say, it’s evil. What I believe in, it’s a lie – there is nothing that I can do that he will accept or respect, unless I shill out 293 payments of $49.99 or something like that. Again, Selena rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

And like I said on Breakdown, I did not believe that Giovanni deserved a shot at the world title against me. Now… he’ll argue that he’s in the same boat I was a year ago. I beat Syren and was given a chance at the world title against Cid Turner. He beat me – and all the stuff that surrounds that match – and he’s got a match against me, so what is the difference?

She smiles knowingly. And see, this was the issue I had with you, Giovanni. How you go the ‘superficial’ rants you do. How you dress someone in new clothes and say “new person”! How you win a match by having your customer lowblow your opponent and you go “I DID IT ALL BY MYSELF!”. How you claim to have ‘numerous wins’ over me and none of them have been by yourself! How you win one match and declare “I’M THE NUMBER ONE CONTENDER!”.

The Snow Queen raises a hand towards the camera. Let me just get this out of the way, Giovanni. I didn’t get the match a year ago with Cid just by winning one match. I got to where I was with Syren after four years of beating the best names in SCW. Xander Valentine, Ravyn Taylor, Tommy Valentine, Kandis, Glory Braddock, Jordan Majors, Christy Matthews, the list is a massive one of me beating the best in SCW, including you. I earned my number one contender match with Syren after years of proving that I was not the same person I was when I held that title five years ago.

She lowers her arm. And you would like the world to think that is the same of you, don’t you? I mean, you’ve gone all in with this ‘new you’ haven’t you! You’ve traded the tie-dye shirts and big umbrella for the white suit and pants. You’ve traded rants about “Wonderland” and “Lizard Kingdom” for “Nirvana’ and “Salvation”! Hell, you’ve written a damn book. Not many people can claim they’ve done that here. she offers an amused smirk.

Like an artist, you have contrived a design to show the world that you have ‘changed’, just like you ‘changed’ Sammy Thomas Davies. But like I proved last Breakdown, once you start digging under the ‘fresh paint’, you see that the core is still the same. And that’s what terrifies you about me, Giovanni.

See, you NEED to keep trying to paint me in a bad light. You NEED to keep using made up accusations like witchcraft and hexes because I continue to poke holes in all your and The Brand’s promises. I continue to expose you and the Brand and the Haus of Nirvana. Tell me, Giovanni, how did Sammy take his loss to me? Did he see it as the learning experience that it was? Was it a wakeup call that success and ability couldn’t ‘just happen’ because he was shilling out money but took time and effort to earn? Or did you just blame hexes and witchcraft like you did when I beat Cid Turner and Holly Adams over and over again?

Despite herself, Selena laughs a little at the overused joke that’s Giovanni has used for over half a year. Giovanni, what you don’t see is that such a thing? That’s the beginning of the end for you and the Haus of Nirvana. And it continues at Taking Hold of the Flame. That doubt. That questioning of the validity of your claims – questioning the GENUINESS of your promises of ‘stardom’ and ‘success’ in life and in SCW. That’s your most loyal customer, just like everyone else in SCW, seeing you as what you truly are and have always been. A two-bit con man selling crap at the price of gold.

But seeing you on Twitter – something really got me thinking. What if you, in your warped mind, what if you believed in all of this? All of the nirvana and positivity that you talk about – I don’t mean for Sammy, who you just continue to swindle and get him nowhere – but rather believing in it for yourself?

The champion gives a shrug as she paces around the ring a little. And the thing is, Giovanni, even if that were so, you’re still the same guy. Whether you’re chasing a Lizard King or chasing Nirvana, you think that all you do is ABOVE SCW. You think that, long as you win, yeah, Sammy can kick Josh Hudson between the legs. Long as you get your win, yeah, someone can run in and attack me. Long as you get what you want, yeah, you can sit around and harass Shaun Cruze and the SCW staff.

You still think that you are better than SCW. You still think that what you have and represent is bigger so to hell with SCW’s rules and code! To hell with its honor and integrity!

Stopping, Selena’s eyes glare into the camera. And that, Giovanni, is where you and I have a genuine problem. I have said before for years, NOBODY is bigger than SCW. Nobody is better than SCW. How many times have you been gone from SCW, huh? Did SCW crumble after you were suspended? Or did it survive and thrive?

For a moment, her eyes cast down to the belt in her hand before she looks back up at the camera. And guess what? When my time is up and I have to leave, SCW will still be here. Will still be standing and still be the greatest federation in the world. Neither of us are irreplaceable. But where you seem content to do whatever you want in and to SCW, I want to leave SCW in a better place than when I came in. 

I want an SCW where people like Autumn Valentine and Kandis can get their shot at the greatest prize in the game and NOT be screwed out of it like Holly did to Autumn. I want an SCW where people EARN their shots like Glory Braddock and, yes, Cid Turner did against Syren. I want an SCW where people watch the world title match and get excited! Where the SCW Universe, the True Believers, all go “Who’s gonna win?!” instead of “Who’s gonna interfere and save The Brand this time?”.

You? You don’t care – you’ve proven that. You can have a whole team interfere and help you and you will just shrug it off as if it was ‘part of the better plan’. You can break every rule, cheat in every match, and you’ll chalk it up to ‘removing the negativity from SCW’.

Giovanni… you ARE the negativity. You and The Brand are the reason why I do what I do. You and the Haus of Nirvana are the reason my mission will never be complete and I will continue to fight against cowards like you, too afraid to EARN THIS- she holds up the world title a little. and PROVE what they say beyond a shadow of a doubt! Why I will continue to fight without needing a ‘backup plan’ or ‘interference’ to save me. Because I accept that one day, someone will beat me. Someone will meet my standard and they will surpass it. And I will do all I can to get better and better to meet that new standard – one day I won’t be able to – and it will be THAT person’s time to raise the bar and further change the standard. But if I can raise it and bring it up from the BS that you want to drag it back to just for profits, Gio? Just for ‘viewers’ and more money? If I can maintain the new standard and make it not a temporary thing in SCW, but a fixture of what SCW is? Then I’ll have succeeded, Giovanni. I’ll have succeeded and you and The Haus and The Brand will have failed.

Taking a moment, Selena points a finger at the camera, shaking it a little.You had Sammy say a lot of things on that podcast a week and some ago, Giovanni. I say you because I can’t imagine he’s capable of an original thought in his head with all the botox and other chemicals you pumped into him. But Sammy asked his listeners “who has Selena inspired” in comparison to how you have inspired him…

A knowing smile crossed her features. And I didn’t have to look far to get my answer… before she gestures to the large jumbtron at the top of the ramp.

Immediately, the screen is a light with the footage of various SCW superstars, all from this past week heading into Taking Hold of the Flame!

Owen Lee: You want to doubt me, fair enough but take a ticket and join the queue, because I’m turning doubters into believers… sorry Selena…And by the time I’m done, NO ONE is going to doubt me ever again.”

Glory Braddock: I will go through each and every one of you. I will do whatever it takes to win Taking Hold of the Flame. I will endure, I will survive, and I will punch my ticket to the main event of Rise To Greatness, no matter the cost.

Alexis Quinne: There’s a lot of people in this match that don’t stand for anything…That’s why, at a blink of an eye, they’ll change their tune and go from saying they fight for you to saying screw you. Because they’re afraid to be themselves. They don’t stand for shit. They got nothing! Fucking nothing! I got a lot. I got two eyes, two hands, two feet. One dream. Main event Rise to Greatness.

Adam Allocco: Most of all, I started to understand that changes were necessary. First, I needed to take control and responsibility… So listen here, I’ve returned to fulfill my one true purpose: to be the fucking best wrestler in the world!

Holly Adams: So once again, it is up to the Brand, because I know no one else in this company has what it takes to dethrone Selena.

Konrad Raab: I will get that explosion deathmatch against Selena Frost who's been a fluke champion.

Kimberly Williams: There’s only one person here who is not fake, who has been consistent since day one and that is the reigning SCW World Champion Juneau Frost. Juneau, I will give you credit where credit is due. You have never wavered from who you are… I am begging you, Juneau, please win! Please retain! Because it will be much sweeter to prove my point by fighting you at Rise To Greatness than it would to have to fight GiGi.

Josh Hudson: Selena, keep that throne warm for me because Daddy’s coming home.

Syren: Yet I’m here. In spite of my past, I’m here. In spite of the numerous people in this match wanting to see me fail, I’m here. No matter how many times I’ve failed before, I won’t give up. I can’t give up. Because I’ve not got a statistical advantage. I’ve not got a mathematical advantage. I’m not the biggest. I’m the strongest. Yet still I won’t give up. Because this year I don’t just want to win this, I NEED to win this.

The screen stops as Selena stares at it, a clear smile on her face – moved by the words of her fellow wrestlers. Her eyes linger on Syren’s for a moment before the screen goes blank, causing the world champion to turn back towards the inside of the ring.

Quite the inspiration, don’t you think, Giovanni? You can hear it in every voice that just spoke, can’t you? The passion! The conviction! The desire! The utmost NEED to win this royale and face the world champion at Rise to Greatness. You wanted to know what inspiration is? Listen to them again. Because inspiration is hearing people WANT to fight you like Kimberly and Konrad do! Inspiration is hearing someone like Owen Lee and Adam Allocco talk about redemption and turning everything around after months and months of hard work and standing by their beliefs. Inspiration is seeing Holly Adams ALREADY making plans for when you fail against me – unable to go a promo without saying my name ten times over! Inspiration is all of them and many more including Terry Marshal, Katie Steward, and Nicole Kinneck talk about the same thing! Inspiration is hearing Syren willing to risk EVERYTHING this time around because the idea of becoming world champion, beating the champion on the grandest stage – it MEANS something to every single one of them!

She gestures to the screen. It’s real. It’s genuine. And it’s something you will clearly never understand, Giovanni. You’ll never understand what it’s like to have someone want to go through the hell of 39 other wrestlers just to face you. Not for personal reasons, not because you made a ghost of their father appear. Not because you piledrived them or the boss but because you are the best of the best and they want to FIGHT the best of the best on the grandest stage in ALL of SCW FOR THE WORLD TITLE! she lowers her arm, shaking her head knowingly and taking a few long breaths, her eyes on the camera – on Giovanni.

Do you have any idea how much pressure is on you now, Giovanni? I don’t think you do. Several months ago, in November, you won one match against me on an episode of Breakdown…

And like the genius and mastermind you are, you have built a Haus on that foundation. You have build a name for yourself as “The man who beat Selena Frost”. And as long as I remained the world champion – remained consistent like Kimberly Williams said – and remained a force in this business, you effectively tied your success to mine because of one match…

She tilts her head a little. So… what happens tonight if you lose? Ever think of that, Gio? You made it amazingly clear what would happen if I lose to you. I lose the title, I lose my reign and I miss out on the Rise to Greatness main event and you will ensure that RTG is an infomercial devoid of integrity… But what if, for all your Positive Power and your Mastery of Nirvanna, what if you, just like Cid Turner and Holly Adams before you, just can’t beat me?

With her free hand, Selena runs it along her medium-length braid before swishing it with a shake of her head. 

You like to refer to Sammy and yourself as a ‘success story’, right? To go from nothing to everything within a year? “The most hated man in all of SCW turning it around to become the champion and headline RTG”! Yes! I would even see a movie like that! Even if it was filmed by Holly Adams’ crew, though I doubt it would get great ratings…

On paper, you sell a pretty story and you spin a pretty tale, Giovanni. But just like comparing your ‘nirvana experience’ to being a ‘True Believer’? The truth is far more than that.

You said it yourself, even Shaun Cruze stated it. You are not here because of who you ‘saved’, who you beat in Tactical Warfare or anything like that. You are here because of one match. A match, in November, where you beat me. Your entire argument over the last few weeks has been based on that fact. And you have your wish! You’ve got your match, but you’re trying to sell it like a success story…

Gio… that is not success. That is you winning one match and DEMANDING everything from it. No different from the entitled brats I’ve been putting away for years.

Taking a pause, the Snow Queen speaks a little slower. You want to know what a success story is, Giovanni? A person earning their shot at the SCW World title by beating 39 other wrestlers and making it to Rise to Greatness! Want a bigger success story? I’ve told you how you got here – winning one match.... How do you think I got here?

She holds her arms out a little. You’ve bragged on Breakdown about the one thing that got you here… did you ever consider how I did? Because I didn’t get here by winning one match, Giovanni. I didn’t get here by holding one victory for months and months and then complaining about it when it was the ‘best time to cash it in’. Unlike you, it wasn’t just one match that put me here. I am here in this match because I KEPT winning matches. 

I am here because for 179 days, I have held the world championship to a higher standard and have continued to surpass anyone that has stepped up for it. I am here because I have fought legends, icons, newcomers, veterans, and cheaters and cowards and STILL have stayed true to myself and my mission! I am here because for 179 days, I STAYED at the top of my game! I EARNED my spot here while yours was GIVEN to you. 

She grips the world title proudly. That’s the difference between where you are now and where I was a year ago. I’m not a champion that’s hidden behind friends and managers to stay the champ. I’m not a champion that’s thrived on nailing people in the head with their title when I couldn’t get things done. I’m a champion that has stood up to every challenge, every opponent and refused to let integrity be reduced or diminished. I refused to allow the SCW World title’s value to diminish. And while you have build your case on that one match, you are facing a woman that has build her reign on seven different title defences and six months of standing by her beliefs and her belief in the integrity of the belt she carries and of SCW! A woman that, in her reign, has seen officials stand up for integrity like Aaron Demitra! Seen superstars like Kandis and Autumn Valentine stand back and allow integrity to run its course in Double Jeopardy! Seen our own boss in Shaun Cruze strive to match it with his own integrity! And seen the fans cheer and respect that integrity with chants of “We Believe! We Believe!”

She gestures towards the camera. You? You’re a paper tiger in front of a storm, Giovanni, and you’ve built a damn impressive-looking Haus of Cards… but that’s all it is. Paper. A house of cards staying up on one thing. And if you don’t produce tonight? With everything on the line? Against the person that is risking everything she’s built to fight you? Your Haus of Nirvana? All you’ve built off of MY name and MY back? Selena snaps her fingers.

Gone. It all comes crumbling down and you are left as the ‘one hit wonder’ and the biggest loudmouth failure in SCW today!

Tonight, Giovanni, you are going to find out the difference between the one-match-shortcut-building House of Cards and the six-months building of the House of Frost – built with integrity, honor, and heart. And you may be able to laugh it off or run to Twitter and make up some excuses about ‘being hexed’ and maybe, just maybe, you’ll still be able to spin it so you can keep Sammy dolling out dollars for you but you know what you aren’t going to have, Gio?

You will not have the main-event at Rise to Greatness.
You will not have the SCW World title.
You will not BE the SCW World Champion.

Because no amount of ‘positive-thinking’ or ‘nirvana’ will take this title from me or from SCW!

Selena is silent as she stands in the middle of the ring, her words echoing for a moment before her voice is calmer. And when I prove you wrong, just like I’ve proven the Brand wrong over and over again all this year? When I beat Nirvana, just like I beat Gleebnorb and “Holly Adams Trademarked” and I send you packing back to the others, you won’t hear me say “Believe it” as the last words. No, Giovanni, the last words won’t be spoken but you will still hear them loud and clear…

Either all your months of planning and waiting to cash in that ‘one match’ will give you the biggest payout in SCW history… or it will just one more lie in the list of bullshit that’s come from your mouth and from The Brand. Either, “The Nirvana Era” will begin… or The Reign of Integrity will blow right past it and you will not be some ‘savior of SCW’ but just another name on the list of those that couldn’t match up to the new standard of SCW and the world title.

Lowering her arm, Selena’s glare grows colder, the personal history between these two evident. Giovanni, tonight, here in Cleveland, I am going to beat you within an inch of your life. I am going to watch you try your shortcuts, your lies, your BS and I am going to run right through them! And when I am done and I live you lying here in the ring, I am going to take the SCW world title and I am going to head straight to Rise to Greatness’ main event for the second time as world champion. And when I do… The “Nirvana Era” won’t just be a broken promise… Sapphire eyes narrow. It’ll be just like you… a ‘never was’!

Believe it!

Slowly, Selena Frost raises the world title above her head proudly, the symbol of integrity that has dominated SCW all this year. Slowly, the camera fades on her before going entirely to black.

[Giovanni Aries]

Link to promo at the bottom of the cd

Cosmic Connection