Selena Frost vs. Christy Matthews

[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.