Selena Frost vs. Christy Matthews

[Konrad Raab]

2 RP Limit for singles

3500 word max per RP

Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET Wednesday, August 31, 2022

[Christy Matthews]

So, I had this whole idea for Rise to Greatness with Christy. Was super proud of it. And then I think  I psyched myself out, because writing became really hard as I wanted the whole thing to be epic. Stupid pressure! But, after sitting on it for a few weeks, I still really like the idea, so I modified what I had written already. The story will now be told across two matches, and in four parts, with the second and fourth parts being a bit smaller.

Enjoy.

Order of Chaos Presents
Christy Matthews Uncensored
Motherhood: Part Forty-Seven
The Hero Of My Own Story [Part One]

[SnowQueenSCW]

OOC: New season, new story arc!
 
 

The Witches of Alden

 
 
 

”Closure”

 
 
 
Nome Community Cemetery
Nome, Alaska
August 8th, 2022
1:13pm
 
The wind picked up a bit as it blew across the fields and down the hills of the cemetery, ruffling the grass that would soon be covered in snow once more. The cold of fall (more like winter anywhere else in the world) was on its way to the wintery land of Nome and the wind was a precursor to it, even picking up some stray fall leaves as temporary ‘travelling companions’, blowing them along through the fields of tombstones and paved walkways. The small leaves of red, yellow and brown flew the short distance, circling around the woman for a moment before falling to the ground as the wind died down a little (a temporary rest at best).
 
It was enough for Selena to notice and take a deep breath, breathing in the familiar cold of her homeland. She felt her hair, undone and simple today, blow in all directions and she uselessly tried to tuck it back behind her ear with one hand. The cold didn’t get to her, which was why she only wore a simple black coat, opened to reveal her dark blue shirt and black pants. Beside her, dressed far more warmly in a black split-hem dress and a thick brown coat, stood her redheaded wife, Deanna. Though the younger woman blew into her hands to warm them, and had done so since stepping outside, she had not once complained about being there in the cold cemetery with her wife.
 
With a soft smile, the taller woman reached out to take her wife’s shivering hands into her own, bringing them quietly to her lips to kiss them and rub them warm. The action was not lost on Deanna, who offered a silent smile to her beloved before both returned their attention to the grave they stood at, as well as the company that stood with them.
 
The minister had long since given the ‘last rites’ and ‘prayer’ and departed. Now, it was simply Selena, Deanna, Gavin and Talia Scythe, Jean and Zoe Black, Jonathan and Alejandra VanHohenheim, and Rebecca Scythe – all remaining silent with their gazes on the stone before them.
 
They were the only ones that had come to the funeral. The only ones that had attended what ‘ceremony’ had taken place; it didn’t surprise any of them.
 
Nobody cared about the death of some nobody – a person that, in the minds of most of Nome, had never existed in the first place. Even less would have cared about the death of the person that had murdered Malcolm Scythe and almost killed Gavin, Selena, and Deanna…
 
And nobody would have blamed either Selena or Deanna for leaving said murderer in the depths of the Frost mine. And yet… Selena couldn’t. Even as she stared at the stone before her, reading the carved name for the umpteenth time, she knew she couldn’t have.
 
Killjoy- Atlas- she sighed, reading the name again. The woman was her sister, her own flesh and blood – a Frost just like her. Despite everything, the former world champion ached with that knowledge, her mind unable to stop itself from thinking about the what-ifs.
 
Not the what-ifs of if her step-mother had switched them, but rather what if she had kept them together. What if Selena had grown up with a sister? Would she have understood Selena? Would she have been spared such a life and vice versa? And would Selena have come back for her after making it in SCW – of course she would have. She would have made a life for them both to be free of being trapped here.
 
Funny how I keep thinking that… the platinum-blonde thought. And yet I keep returning…
 
“I didn’t know what to use…” Rebecca’s voice carried across the cold air. “When she was with me, she insisted that I call her Selena…” the old woman gave a sigh before adjusting her thick, round glasses. “Perhaps if I hadn’t, none of this would have happened.” Despite herself, she reached under her glasses to wipe a tear from her eye.
 
The confession urged Selena to read the tombstone again. Celina Frost… Born October 2nd 1991… Died July 24th, 2022. In a way, she could smile at the choice of name. It was giving her little sister what she finally wanted, somewhat.
 
“Blaming yourself for loving your child is unfair.” Zoe’s voice came in reply. “You gave her a home and love.”
“But that wasn’t enough for her.” Jean sighed, bitterly twisting the top of his cane, grinding it a little into the ground. “Such a waste.”
 
Deanna said nothing, the young woman not wanting to offend anyone with her opinion, though Selena already knew it. She was relieved, as Selena was, that the threat was gone. That the woman responsible for Deanna’s incarceration for nearly two years was no longer a threat. Still, despite her desire to be sure, neither woman had volunteered to ‘see the body and verify identity’. There was something almost terrifying at seeing Selena’s own face (if there was any part left of the woman known as ‘Killjoy’) dead on a slab. Rebecca had taken that responsibility, identifying the corpse after it had been removed from the elevator shaft in the mine.
 
It was enough for Selena to feel the same relief her wife did. That it as finally over.
 
In a way, it was the same way she had, eventually, felt relief about Rise to Greatness, even if the truth of that statement still made her feel guilty. She wasn’t the World Champion anymore. Her reign had come to an end in the most epic of fashions… beaten in a straight-up wrestling match. Outlasted. Outwrestled. Beaten…
 
So, why did she feel such relief? Such freedom? As if the weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders?
 
Did she believe Adam Allocco would continue the standard she had started and brought the world title to? She wasn’t entirely certain. The man was arrogant, egotistical and an asshole (revelling in such things)… and yet… there was hope.
 
Selena sighed a little in relief. She had been beaten the way she wanted to be. At her best, giving it everything she had, and beaten by someone that had been better than her that night. Not because of interference or illegal moves or trickery but because someone had been better than her. And if Adam could keep being that good with his knowledge of wrestling… gods, she could only imagine how much harder she would have to work to beat him the next time they faced – though she wanted to hold off on that until the time was ‘right’.
 
Feeling her wife’s hands shake a little in hers, the young woman, once again, gently rubbed them together.
 
“I wish…” Alejandra spoke, her eyes on the tombstone of Killjoy- Celina, Selena reminded herself. “I wish we could have known her.”
“Me too.” Selena replied. “Despite everything…she was so intelligent. Driven and passionate.”
“Like you.” Deanna whispered.
“But misguided.” Jonathan sighed, his arm around his wife’s shoulders, holding her close.
 
The words rang in Selena’s ears, mostly because all that was different from her and Killj-Celina was that Selena had been the one given the family that was both theirs. The parents that should have been hers and Celina's.
 
Would that have made any difference? If Project: Black Ice had been completed? Would Selena still be here? Or would it have been her buried in the dirt now? It was scary to contemplate. To be ruled by such obsession and destruction.
 
“Why am I crying?” Alejandra chuckled, wiping at her eyes.
 
“Because she was still your daughter.” Selena answered, reaching out a hand to take her mother’s gently. “And my sister.” She felt Alejandra squeeze her hand affectionately, which helped ease her own troubled mind, if only a little.
 
With Celina dead, this left Selena and Peter as the only children of Alejandra and Jonathan/Donovan, and Peter was still estranged from his parents, refusing to contact them or Selena – something the Snow Queen still had no clue as to why.
 
“Is there anything I can do?” Gavin Scythe asked the Frost/VanHohenheim family. It had been him that had expedited the body recovery and the funeral arrangements as much as had been done – far more than he needed to do for the woman that had shot him.
 
“No.” Selena shook his head. “You’ve got to worry about being a good mayor. Don’t think people aren’t talking about you thanks to Ryan. You’ve got to stay sharp.”
 
“Yeah.” Gavin laughed good naturedly. The majority of Nome had, indeed, accepted the younger Scythe as their new mayor, taking over for his father, but still, Ryan’s infamy – thanks to the Frost/Scythe families, necessary at the time to ensure the older Ryan wasn’t mayor, had left a shadow on the family that Gavin would have to spend some time working on to emerge from.
 
“For what it’s worth.” Deanna offered. “I think you’re more than capable of doing it.” Her emerald eyes flitted over to Talia. “Just got to make sure you’ve got the right people by your side.” She offered a quiet wink to Talia, who immediately turned her head away in order to hide the blush that came to her cheeks. Gavin, however, remained oblivious.
 
“Maybe that was the real difference…” Selena whispered, though it was heard by everyone, the wrestler’s eyes on the tombstone. “Maybe it wasn’t because she was twisted by Malcolm or coddled by Rebecca. Maybe it was because… she felt that she didn’t have anyone. Nobody that she saw as worthwhile in terms of love and connection. I mean…I hated Anastasia in my youth and part of me still blames her but…” her eyes moved over to Deanna, who kept her emerald eyes on the Snow Queen. “I wouldn’t be anywhere or anything without Deanna…” she admitted, seeing the touched smile grace her wife’s lips from such a confession.
 
“Perhaps she didn’t really envy me because of the life I had.” she continued. “But rather the freedom and love I had. Something she felt she never could…”
 
“Ridiculous.” Jean scoffed. “She had every chance to find it herself. But she wanted to blame you rather than take responsibility.”
 
“I’m not saying she wasn’t wrong, Jean.” Selena sighed. “But… I offered her money to stop. I would have given her any amount if it meant she could let this go. She refused. She didn’t just want my money. She wanted my life. Every part of it. Or at least enough of it that she could build her own from it.”
 
“But it wasn’t her life to take.” Jonathan remarked. “Maybe it was unfair what happened to her.”
“Maybe?” Alejandra asked.
“Okay, it was. And I wish I – Donovan – whomever, could have done something. But I…I agree with Jean. You made your own life, Selena. Good, bad, highs and lows, it was yours. And she…” he gestured to the tombstone. “Had no right to take it and no right to try and make you suffer for something that was beyond your control.”
 
Again, Selena’s eyes found the tombstone. “I know…I just wish I had gotten through to her that night. Gotten her to see that there was a way. I could have helped her find a life of her own. Friends, family – she could have had it if she just let go of trying to be me.”
 
“Which, let’s face it…” Jean tried, a smirk on his lips. “Isn’t all it’s cracked up to be to begin with.”
 
Shaking her head, Selena didn’t argue, though she heard Deanna blow a raspberry at the old man, the Snow Queen taking a step and wincing immediately at the discomfort in her knee – a parting gift from Rise to Greatness. It was better, but still tender from the damage Adam had caused it, the veteran locking onto it and exploiting it expertly in their match. Again, the relief that washed through her could not be denied.  He could have done a lot worse… Selena thought, considering the doctor’s encouraging words that she would be 100% by the time SCW started again with its new season.
 
The sound of thunder ringing above their heads caught everyone’s attention just before the rain suddenly began to fall. There had been dark clouds overhead since they had arrived and Selena had smelled the moisture in the air, but everyone had hoped it would hold off.
 
“20% chance of showers my foot!” Deanna called out as the rain fell in a light mist. “Ten bucks says Killjoy’s responsible for this.”
 
“Deanna.” Selena tried not to encourage. “It’s probably Malcolm. Who else loved to rain on our parade more?”
 
Gavin, meanwhile, turned his head to Talia. “I can’t tell if it’s in bad taste that they’re targeting dead people. Isn’t that like trampling on someone’s grave?”
 
“Oh, it’s definitely flirting with the line.” Talia shook her head in good nature. “But I doubt they would care given everything.”
 
It was beyond true, but the notion was forgotten as the rain picked up its intensity, becoming such a downpour that everyone immediately sought shelter, rushing towards the mausoleum. For Selena, she could only hobble at a much slower pace, but Deanna refused to go ahead, keeping her hand clenching Selena’s as the redhead kept a pace with the older Frost.
 
The two women were the last to run into the structure, Jean and Gavin holding the doors open for them to allow entrance. Safe from the rain, both women shook off their coats a little before turning to gaze out the door. They could still see Celina’s tombstone on the top of the hill, now a bit darker in color due to the wet rain. The sound of thunder filled their ears as they spotted the lightning bolt streak across the sky.
 
“Coming down hard.” Zoe remarked as another bolt illuminated the sky, the thunder rumbling. Selena, meanwhile, noticed her wife’s eyes locked on the tombstone, even narrowing a little.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, drawing close enough that her front brushed against her wife’s side.
“If lightning strikes her tombstone…” Deanna whispered. “I’m worried she’ll be alive again. Like Frankenstein.”
“That’s not how Frankenstein worked.” Selena huffed. “Deanna, sometimes your jokes go too far.” She added in a whisper.
“Considering the target…I can afford to be a little off, I think.” Deanna sighed, forcing herself to turn away. “Guess I’m partially still in denial as well. You know…that it’s all over.”
 
“It is.” Selena pressed gently, taking her wife’s hands in hers. “It truly is. I…I watched it happen.” She wasn’t entirely sure she would be able to get such a memory to completely disappear from her memory ever again: Killjoy, her sister, raising that gun over her as the murderer stood in the elevator shaft, Selena rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the bullet and the elevator crashing down on Killjoy.
 
“Sorry.” She heard Deanna whisper, bringing her attention back to the present. “I’ll be good.”
“Thank you.” Selena smiled gratefully, leaning in to kiss her wife’s forehead before turning around to rejoin the others, who were all standing further inside the mausoleum.
 
“It’s funny.” Selena said aloud as her eyes took in the sleek marble of the small building and the plaques that hung along the walls. “This was where she – Celina, I mean – first told me about Project: Black Ice. It was during Malcolm’s memorial service. She lead me here and left me a note about it.” She looked down at her hands, which now were intertwined. “She was so certain it would destroy me… and it was actually what saved me.”
 
“Life and its ironies.” Jean remarked. “Malcolm never did like to leave quietly.”
“And I guess we all owe him one.” Jonathan added, a bit glumly.
“Even though all of this was his fault to begin with.” Talia countered. “I mean, he created Project: Black Ice and Killjoy and…”
“And he paid for it.” Gavin countered. “The important thing is we can put the last of my father’s works to rest.” He sighed. “And it’s over.”
 
“We hope…” Selena heard Deanna mutter under her breath, the platinum-blonde reaching over to grasp her wife’s hand. That much was true. If the last few years had proven anything, it was that the Frost family and all associated with it were done with the schemes and shadows of Malcolm Scythe. “But…” Deanna added. “May he and Celina rest in peace.”
 
“Amen.” Gavin nodded, a smile forming on his face at Deanna’s kindness. With a nod, Talia agreed, then the Blacks, then the VanHohenheims before the group all turned their heads to listen to the storm that continued to rage around them.
 
“Trapped in a mausoleum.” Jean half-whined. “And just when I wanted to get a drink.”
“Here.” Talia replied, suddenly reaching into her purse to pull out a large flask. “Figured one of us would need a something stiff .” She stated, offering it to Jean, who took it with a grateful, and impressed smirk. The flask was passed around, with Talia, Jean, Zoe and Gavin having a sip, but the others politely declined.
 
Spurned on, by what she wasn’t sure, Selena took the moment of everyone focusing on the flask-passing to slip away from the group, letting herself stumble-walk around a corner of the small building, her pale hand running across the smooth marble. It wasn’t long before she stood in the same section she had spoken about with her family.
 
She could still see the skulled-visage in her mind, staring at her – the helmet hiding the dark secret of their relation, Killjoy daring Selena to take the paper and begin the journey the woman was so sure would destroy everything about the wrestler. And, in all fairness, it was a fair gamble. For most of her life, Selena’s very existence was tied into her identity. Being a Frost, being of the Frost/Frostmere clan – it still trumped who she was as a wrestler, but it was because what being ‘Selena Frost’ had become.
 
It had become being married to Deanna Springs.
It had become being the mother of two daughters and a son.
It had become having a dog named Oberon.
It had become becoming one of the greatest wrestlers in SCW.
It had become being… being… being Selena Frost.
 
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, perhaps more to herself than the person she knew probably wouldn’t hear her. “But much like the world title was only a small part of who I’ve become…my birth was just a small part of who I am now.” She released a sigh she did not know she was holding.
“I wish… I wish you could have let me help you.” She admitted. “I wish I could have given you the chance I had. I wish… I wish things were different. I don’t…” she closed her sapphire eyes for a moment, taking a breath to try and steady herself. She felt her knee flare a little, biting her lower lip to supress the dull ache, using a hand against the pale stone wall for support. “I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive you, sister.” She whispered. “I may never be able to…Or it may take years… but I am going to try.” She quietly vowed. “I promise I am going to try to forgive you one day.”
 
Maybe it wasn’t just for Celina. Maybe it was also for her. Maybe she needed this even more than the dead woman buried several yards away from her. Maybe Selena wanted… or needed… to move on from all of this.
 
From her past with the Scythes.
From the doubt of being ‘unworthy of being a Frost’.
From her own obsession with being a Frost in the first place.
From her own fears of the unknown – fears of loss.
 
Maybe Selena was the one that needed to be able to try and forgive her sister. Because if she couldn’t let go of that bitterness, of that hate…
 
“Then I’ll just end up just like you.” Selena finished in a whispered sigh. “And Project: Black Ice really will have been completed…” The thought brought the memory back into her mind:
 
Of Killjoy, looking at her as Selena wore the skull-helmet, the murderess begging Selena to shoot her and become her – become Killjoy. To do what was ‘destined to happen all along’.
 
With a shake of her head, Selena dispelled the memory to the back of her mind and looked out the nearby window, seeing her sister’s tombstone at the top of the hill in the distance. “I can’t…I won’t let that happen.” She whispered.
 
“Selena?” The Snow Queen turned around to see Deanna standing there, waiting for her.
“I’m here.” She smiled, reaching out and waiting as Deanna walked into her embrace. “You okay?”
 
“I’ve been better.” Deanna tried, smiling a tired smile at her wife. “Are you?”
 
“Yeah.” Selena nodded. “Or I will be. I just…” she gave a small huff. “Just need to let go of some things.”
“Not me, I hope.” Deanna teased, tightening her embrace around her wife.
 
“No, not you.” Selena smiled, taking the moment to steal a kiss from the playful redhead. “Never you…” she finished with a whisper as the two stood there in each other’s embrace, ready to finally walk away from the past that had haunted them for so long.

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Intrigue”

VanHohenheim Home
Maplewood, New Jersey
August 18th, 2022
11:41am

“Such a wonderful idea.” Alejandra smiled as she excitedly marched into the large dining room where her daughter, Selena, sat patiently at the tall table, the platinum-blonde wrestler sipping on a cup of peppermint tea. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”, the older woman added, placing the large binder she held onto the table.

“I hope so.” Smiled Selena, who placed her cup down as her mother joined her at the nearby chair.
“Is this for an anniversary or something?” Alejandra asked, running a hand through her short, white hair.
“No.” Selena shook her head, her sapphire eyes scanning across the table at the various pictures and the metal frame that covered it. “I just- I want her to have one for herself. And you know me and pictures.”

“You got that from me.” Alejandra smiled, tapping the binder in front of her before opening it, turning to one of the transparent sleeve-pages. “I didn’t have much time with you before the DeCarlos took you away, but I was given a few days…”. Dark eyes scanned the page until Alejandra’s hand gently gestured towards a few photos. Leaning over, Selena spied her mother, obviously much younger – with long white hair, holding a small baby in her arms. The joy (but also the sadness) was still beyond noticeable in the eyes of the photo.

“Is that me?” Selena asked, eyeing the small baby dressed in a dark blue towel and, clearly, asleep.
Alejandra gave a nod. “This was before digital photos, so I had to wait till I was here to have them developed.” She gave a small laugh. “Smuggling the camera roll was actually the easiest thing about leaving Nome.”

“They didn’t find it?” Selena asked, eyeing another photo of herself and her mother, this one of Alejandra kissing ‘baby-Selena’ on the cheek while standing outside the Frost mine (the Snow Queen recognized the stone structure in the photo).

“I was getting out of their hair without any fuss.” Alejandra sighed. “They didn’t have to frisk me.”

Slowly, Selena nodded her head. She knew leaving Nome without a ‘fuss’ was not as easy as Alejandra was making it sound. But, she also knew how powerful the DeCarlos and the Scythes were, especially when she had been born and they held all the cards. ‘Leaving Nome without a fuss’ and leaving her must have broken her mother’s heart…

It was the reason why Selena was visiting her mother for the third time in the last ten days. Alejandra had taken Killjoy’s… Celina’s…. death and funeral the hardest. Between the daughter that had been taken from her, the son that wanted nothing to do with her, to now have a daughter that was dead?

Selena’s heart went out to her mother, and with her still on vacation time during SCW’s off-season, the Snow Queen (much to Deanna’s agreement) had taken it upon herself to check-in on Alejandra while Jonathan was at work, keeping her mother distracted with walks, discussions, and now, the current ‘arts and crafts’ project for Deanna.

“So what did you want to use for a center piece?” Alejandra asked, closing the binder and placing it aside to focus on the more digital and pristine photos laying on the table. They were all of the same event: Rise to Greatness.

“Thiiiiiiiiisssss one!” Selena’s voice dragged as her eyes scanned the pile of photos before picking out the one when she found it. “I liked the frame-“ she added, indicating the large, metallic picture frame that held multiple spots for different sized photos. “I loved what we did with mine last year but I went with a variety of frames linked together: circles and rectangles instead of just rectangles. More playful…”

“Like Deanna?” Alejandra smiled knowingly before taking the photo Selena held. It was a picture of Deanna being held in the Allgent stadium by Selena, the redhead smiling as she held the SCW Underground Championship. “She looks so happy.”

“She was.” Selena smiled. “That was a good day. But damn was she sore and a little grumpy in the morning.” She added with a tease. “Took a few ice coffees to get her to here…” once more, the platinum-blonde searched the pile of photos before taking another photo, this one of Selena and Deanna kneeling with their three children, Amiliah holding Deanna’s new Underground title while David grasped Selena’s world title. Elsianna stood between the Frost wives in contrasting levels for the photo symmetry.

“Amiliah and David seemed eager to hold those belts.” Alejandra laughed. “When did you get these done?”
“Right away.” Selena sighed. “The day of the main-show. I didn’t…” a pale hand traced over the world title in the photo that her son held. “I didn’t want to take any chances about whether or not I’d retain the title. I was up all night worrying about ‘ruining the moment’ for Deanna if I couldn’t that I just had to get something for it.”

“Oh! Let me go get the scissors so we can shape the photos nicely!” Alejandra offered.
“No, let me.” Smiled Selena, but as she pushed herself up out of her chair, she did so too fast, wincing a little and sucking in a breath as her knee protested. “I’ll just…” she spoke slowly before a pair of dark hands pushed her gently back into her chair.

“Take it easy.” Ordered her mother. “I’ll get the scissors.”
“A…alright.” Sighed Selena.
“And maybe some ibuprofen?”
Selena shook her head. “No painkillers, mom. You know that.”
“Right, sorry. I’ll be right back.”

Quickly, the woman scuddled out of the room, leaving Selena to her photos. Take a few moments, Selena gazed at them once more, seeing the variety of shots taken from Deanna’s match with Kimberly Williams to the celebration at FanFest, to of the two of them holding one another as well as the ones with them and their children.

It was a bittersweet memory for Selena, both delighted and proud of her wife but also sad by her own loss at the event. Still, she was excited about the new season beginning again in about two weeks. She wanted to be on the show and was hoping she would be. Deanna could carry on celebrating as the new Underground champion, like Allocco could with the world title, but the Snow Queen wanted – needed – to be in the ring wrestling right out of the gate. More for herself than to ‘send a message’ or ‘bounce back’.

For a second, Selena’s eyes spied the large binder her mother had left on the table. Her curiosity growing, Selena plucked up the surprisingly heavy binder and opened. She saw countless photos there across each page. Some were of things she recognized: people like Jonathan/Donovan and Alejandra and even her ‘uncle’ Liam Jacks, places like the Nome community center – she saw her father skating with Alejandra (they both looked so young). The smile growing across her features, Selena kept flipping through the pages, merely taking things in. She saw time ‘shift forward’ as older versions of her parents were shown in the photos – of them visiting places in New Jersey and New York, photos of her brother Peter and…

Selena stopped when she spied a photo at the near-back of the binder. This one had a young Alejandra – as in a pre-teen – standing there smiling with two women and one man standing with her. They all seemed to be closer in age than Alejandra, them as young adults (20s) opposed to the smaller Alejandra. But that wasn’t what drew Selena’s attention. Rather, it was the crest that stood on the wall in the background behind the four. From what she could make out, the metal décor was some kind of bird’s talons overhanging what looked like some kind of winged-creature, maybe a bat? And there was some words etched into the bottom. Narrowing her eyes, Selena tried to read it but the photo was one of the oldest ones and the quality was a far cry from any of the others. Still, it dawned on Selena how little she knew about her mother and her side of the family. Perhaps that’s something to talk-

“Found them!” she heard her mother call from another room before the older woman returned to her seat. “Wait…you have copies of those photos right? I don’t want to-“

“Relax, mom.” Selena smiled, closing the binder to refocus on the task at hand: the gift for her wife, the previous thought forgotten. “That’s what digital copies are for.” She smiled, taking the scissors from her mother in order to begin their assignment. “Of course, I rather NOT go back to Walmart for a second time today, so let’s try and do it right the first time, shall we?”

_______________________________________________________________

The Royal Letter

True Believers and the SCW Universe,


At the risk of sounding like a broken record player, I’m going to start off this letter the same way I started my last promo before Rise to Greatness. And that is with a ‘thank you’. Wow… I mean, the outpouring of support and love not just for me and congratulating Deanna but for the match, the pay-per-view… we only have one chance a year to put on a ‘show of shows’. To put on a pay-per-view that is worthy of the name ‘Rise to Greatness’ for all of you and this year… I think we got it right the first time, and that’s because of all of you!

All of you letting your voices be heard! All of you being as much a part of it as we were! All of you making it "Unbelievable” in every sense of the word. Even thinking about it, remembering it, my eyes get a little misty, and not because of how things are with me but because all of you made it so wonderful and special. So, again, thank you.

But… I suppose that isn’t what some people were expecting from me. Perhaps some people were thinking I’d be a mess or lacking or distraught or something to that effect. Maybe many of you were doubting or wondering “Where does Selena Frost go from here? What does she do now?”. And I don’t blame you for that. Such logic has its points.

Fact: I am no longer the SCW World Champion.
Fact: My reign as World Champion has come to an end at 235 days.
Fact: For the first time in 2022, I will be heading into Breakdown without the SCW World title.

I suppose with all of that, it’s understandable to believe – or not – one thing or another about my place in SCW. Or how I’ll be now that I’m no longer the world champion.

Well, to start… I’m here. I’m still here. Do you see me hiding? Do you see me crying? Do you see me whining on Twitter, demanding rematches or declaring ‘unfairness’? Do you see me being ‘ashamed’ of myself for failing to retain the world championship on such a grand stage?

No… because I’m not ashamed. I’m… I’m proud of us. I’m proud that we got so far. I’m proud that we proved so many people and naysayers wrong. When world title reigns usually fizzled out in less than three or so months? We surpassed that! When world title matches usually ended in controversy? When ‘tainted victories’ were the standard – the expectation - and all that was cared about was the end result of ‘holding the title’? We changed that. When it was thought Syren’s record could never be surpassed, we did it.

Am I supposed to be ‘destroyed’ now just because it’s over? Because one reign came to an end? Why not be happy and blessed that it happened? Why not be grateful that it ended on terms that I believe in? With someone rising to the level and standard that I believed in and beating me? Why not be excited about what the future holds, knowing there are people that will fight at THAT standard against me? That there are future matches of that calibre waiting for me?!

Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I can’t help it. Yes, part of me wishes I retained last July, but more of me has just been itching throughout August to get back into the ring where I belong. Get back into wrestling. Get back to representing the standard of integrity, title or no.

And yes, when I said ‘people that will fight at that standard against me’, I do mean you, Christy. And, again, maybe that is me being a little too optimistic given our history. After all, many of our matches have resulted in you doing anything to win. I mean, there was the time you used Katya to make Alexander Crowe the guest referee against me just so you could try and take the United States title from me – even choking me with camera cables right in front of him knowing he wouldn’t disqualify you. There was the time you demanded Chris Cannon spear me in the U.S title tournament finals while the official was unconscious. I could go on, but you get the point. Beating me has always been a bit of an obsession for you, maybe because I’ve continuously found a way to stop you and be the victor and that has never sat well with you, maybe it’s because your daughter looks up to me – as you’ve admitted to in the past, maybe it’s because your ego won’t let go of the fact that you were wrong about me, I don’t know.

But there are two things I do know for certain when it comes to Christy Matthews and myself:

One, Christy and I don’t like each other. Never have and never will. My entire time here, she has been obsessed with making me out as this ‘super-villain’ – her and Infamous starting the overused “Selena is evil! Selena is really the devil in disguise! Selena only cares for herself” lines that’re nearly a decade old and, despite me proving her wrong over and over again, she’s still used those lines – all while using every trick and cheat in the book to try and beat me.

Not like I’ve liked her. Her methods, her desperations in the past, her cheap ploys, selling out SCW, disgracing the tag-titles with that infamous ‘hot-potato’ gag with Zero Fucks to Give? Hell, her little rant during her Hall of Fame speech where she literally spat at the honor of it didn’t surprise me – no I do NOT like Christy Matthews one bit. That’s one certainty.

Here’s the other: in that ring, whether she plays by the rules or breaks them for her own sake, ego and/or goals, Christy Matthews, by hook or crook, always forces the best out of Selena Frost. She always forces me to be on my A game. In skill, in strategy, in adaptability – in every element of being a wrestler. Because that is the ONLY way one can survive and beat a woman like Christy Matthews. Beat a wrestler of her calibre. You have to wrestle nearly flawlessly. You have to be as sharp as a tack and you have to pray that there will be a slip up or a mistake in her moves that gives you that one opening that can make all the difference! That’s how good Christy Matthews is. That’s how good Christy Matthews makes me when we fight!

So, with that in mind… am I the only person a little put-off that SCW has labelled this just as a ‘bounce-back’ match for us on Twitter? Yes, I get it, we both lost at Rise to Greatness, me in the main-event and Christy in the first round of Double Jeopardy, but why diminish “Christy Matthews vs. Selena Frost” – the main-event of Breakdown – with such a concept? Especially knowing our history.

I mean, guys, it was one match – I lost one title. You make it sound like I didn’t just spend eight months beating legends, icons, and a proverbial ‘Who’s who’ list across the SCW roster. You make it sound like Christy hasn’t made a career of doing the exact same thing.

I don’t mean to offend management, but why not call this what it is? A match that hasn’t happened since April of last year! Two former world champions fighting for a place here in the new season of SCW! Two of the best in SCW, who know each other’s style very well, setting the standard of what the main-event picture will look like in this new season? The Hall of Famer and second woman to ever hold the world title against the longest reigning World Champion in SCW history?

I mean, this is not just a ‘bounce-back’ match! This is a Pay-Per-View quality match! This could very well be on the same level as Rise to Greatness!

Do you think I’m worried about ‘bouncing back’, Christy? Do you think that’s what I care about when facing you? I’m not. I’ve lost big matches and titles before. When Vixen Cain stole the world title from me, I humiliated him at RTG and kicked him out of SCW on his ass. When Regan beat me at Rise to Greatness in 2018, I turned it around and became United States Champion. When Xander Valentine destroyed me in the middle of this ring to take the same title from me, Regan and I beat the holy hell out of him to end the same year en route to me becoming World Champion. When Cid Turner beat me for the World title, I beat him again to become world champion for a fourth time a few months later and began the ‘Reign of Integrity’.

I mean, Christy, you of all people know how dangerous I can be when people think I’ve lost my step from one significant loss. When you thought you had me because you beat me in the first round of the 2016 Shot of Adrenaline tournament and took the Adrenaline title from me, who ‘bounced back’ to win it all back from you?

When Giovanni Aries threw me off the scaffolding for the US title, who bounced back to beat you in the finals of the tournament for the same title while then winning the World tag-team titles – a feat so remarkable you copied it the very same way the very next year at Apocalypse against the very same opponents?

I don’t care about the idea of ‘bouncing back’ by facing you, Christy. I care about being better than you. I care about taking whatever you’re bringing and rising above it. I care about starting the 20th season of SCW not with a ‘step back’ just because we have a new world champion but with a ‘step forward’ – with proving that the value is still ‘integrity’. That the standard is still ‘integrity’.

I’m not Konrad Raab, Christy. I’m not going to bring a mace to the ring or make some cheap-shot about your daughter or you as a mother. But you, of all people, know how much my daughters mean to me – how much my children mean to me. And how much I want to embody the values that they can believe in – honor, passion, integrity. How much I want SCW to still hold those values in the definition of its letters.

So… maybe the question shouldn’t be “What does Selena do now?” because the answer is two-fold. There’s an immediate answer and then there’s a ‘future’ answer.

Immediately? What I am going to do is roll into Philadelphia, come into the Fargo Center and I’m going to beat you, Christy. I’m going to take whatever ‘theories’ and ‘conspiracies’ about me you will, inevitably, have and all the skill and power you have and I’m going to do what I seem to do more often than not when I face you – I’m going to win. I’m going to surpass your standard and show you why people like Quinne and The Brand continuously got past you but couldn’t quite get past me. I am going to show you the best that I have and I am going set the standard for this new season of SCW!

That’s the immediate. As for the long-term answer of what I do now? I’m not too sure… but being the woman that broke the ‘unbreakable’ record of Syren? Dominated the ‘Executioner’ Xander Valentine? Made the ‘Unbelievable Main Event’ twice over? Maybe the better question is ‘what can’t Selena Frost do now?’.

And that, Christy, is a simple answer – because it’s the same answer as the one that’s probably haunted you: “What does Christy Matthews do now?”.

Nothing.

There is nothing you can do now to stop me because there is nothing I can’t do now - including beating you in the middle of the ring. And if you don’t believe me now, just wait till tonight, when I prove it and turn this ‘bounce back’ into a ‘welcome back’ for the SCW Universe.

Believe it, Christy! And welcome back to MY world!

[Christy Matthews]

Enjoying the story a little too much, and the CD almost made this RP exceed the word count. Luckily I had 3 words of buffer to spare. Huzzah!

Enjoy.

Order of Chaos Presents
Christy Matthews Uncensored
Motherhood: Part Forty-Eight
The Hero Of My Own Story [Part Two]