SCW Taking Hold of the Flame Battle Royal

[Wisteria Waltz]

OOC: Just to be on the safe side, I'm posting my Amelia Blythe effort, despite also being CD only, into this thread as well because I'd like it to count for both matches.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Amelia Blythe was growing up and her parents were training her to be the next generation of their family legacy, one of the things they repeatedly drilled into her head was that she should always be in control of the situation at hand, regardless of whether it was inside the ring or out.

If she wasn't in control, then defeat was inevitable.

Ever since La Pequeña Luz came barreling into her life, though, she's done her best to stop taking that train of thought to heart. Luz and her spontaneous nature had constantly thrown her off, whether it be during their clashes back when they were still bitter rivals or being willing to extend an olive branch and be her friend when she had absolutely no reason to do so. She had taught Amelia that sometimes, no matter how prepared you think you are, life will find ways to throw curveballs at you and no one could possibly be prepared for every single scenario. In the past couple of years alone, that realization had become clearer than ever before.

After all, how could she possibly prepare for landing awkwardly on her neck after being powerbombed out of the ring and her body refusing to move? Or finding her career haunted by the specter of both her parents and some group led by a man her father idolized whose nephew believed that him marrying her was all but inevitable?

One other thing she'd come to accept as the years went by is that old habits forcibly ingrained into her very way of thinking were hard to break. Even now, as she busted her back training as hard as she could for the challenge that was on the horizon at Taking Hold of the Flame, she could feel the desire to take control of situations where she felt like she didn't currently have it attempting to override all of her senses and trying to fight it was just as much of a challenge as she knew Bree Lancaster would be. Still, while she knew she could control exactly how prepared she was for that clash, her mind was fixated on the fact that Luz wasn't with her right now, having gone back home to Tulancingo alone in search of answers to her own mental blockades while seeking to make amends with her mother at long last. It sounded silly when she thought about it... after all, she and Luz were each their own people and as much as they loved and cared for each other that didn't mean they needed to stick together 24/7. That didn't stop the excessive worrying about anything happening to her while she was on her own, the thoughts ranging from the ridiculous like Luz's mom trying anything that sounded more like her own mother to the more realistic like The Empire making some sort of move considering they'd been eerily quiet for the most part lately.

In a twisted sort of way, it almost felt like her parents were so paranoid over the idea of never being in control of a situation that they forced her to take on that same trait as a means of guaranteeing that they always had some degree of control over her even if it seemed like they'd lost that.

“Focus, Boots!”

Amelia snapped out of her thoughts and turned her attention to the voice who had called out to her, pondering if she should be amused or annoyed at the name she'd been called. Marilyn Clauson simply grinned from where she stood outside the training ring in her wrestling school, where Amelia had seemingly gone on autopilot for the past few minutes while she was lost in her own thoughts. She now realized that she'd lost control of the submission she'd been practicing on one of the other students at the school and quickly reversed the position she'd ended up in to regain the upper hand and apply a heel hook to the young man who was a few years younger than her, to which he immediately tapped out and she let him go.

“Dang it, I thought I might've had her once she started zoning out there,” the young man said.

“Eh, don't feel bad Remy,” Marilyn reassured her student, who also happened to be her adopted son. “I recognize just how thoroughly Boots over here has been trained by her parents. At least in terms of how talented she is, her parents got that right... though I hate everything I know about how they got her there.”

“That's good ol' mom and dad for you,” Emily chimed in from the bench she and Edward were sitting on not that far away where they were both doing some curls.

Amelia let her gaze flicker over to them before she turned to look back at Marilyn in confusion. “Boots?”

“Don't put too much thought into it, Amelia,” Marilyn replied, using the woman's proper name this time. “I like calling people by nicknames... kind of helps them remember not to take all of this so dang seriously all the time.” She slowly climbed into the ring before leaning back against the ropes with a smirk. “If you ask me... if you're going to be a wrestler than you should actually enjoy the wrestling part of it. If you take this sport too seriously and put all your stock in winning and losing being the end all, be all of what defines you as a wrestler, then you're going to find yourself trapped in a spiral of pushing yourself too hard to win only to inevitably lose because of that single-minded focus. Wash, rinse, repeat... I've seen that vicious cycle play out with my own eyes and watching somebody tear themselves apart over it is never pretty.”

“Why Boots, though?” Amelia asked, still confused but Marilyn could at least pick up on the hints of amusement in her tone.

“Your boots,” she replied, pointing at Amelia's wrestling boots like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “are probably some of the fanciest boots I've seen since your mom's. Yeah, it's just simple black boots with a design on them, but even with footwear like that being more common these days yours just give off that impression that those moons on there are made out of real gold. So, congratulations, you're now Boots to me forever.”

Edward and Emily couldn't resist bursting out into laughter at the absurd reasoning behind such an equally absurd nickname, and Amelia herself couldn't resist chuckling a bit at it which only caused Marilyn's smirk to widen. As much as her brain was trying to convince her of how dumb the whole idea was, she knew that was just her parents talking and she appreciated Marilyn's attempt to lighten the mood and remind her that despite what her parents had done, she'd truly found something to love about wrestling that was all her own and she would still have that even if she fell short at Taking Hold of the Flame.

“That's what I was hoping to see,” Marilyn laughed as she closed the distance and put a comforting hand on Amelia's shoulder. “Feeling better?”

Amelia simply nodded in response, though her smile slowly faded as another thought crossed her mind. “I just wish Luz could keep that in mind and not beat herself up whenever she falls short. I know how much it sucks and I've beaten myself up over my own shortcomings far too often over the years... thanks mom and dad... but she deserves to be able to see herself as the incredibly talented wrestler I always see her as.”

“That kiddo will get there in time, just as you will,” Marilyn told her. “You two have been through a lot, and I'm not talking about inside the ring. You were straight-up abused by your parents because of their obsession with that family image they insist has to be perfect at all times and Luz watched her dad die in the ring because of an unfortunate accident. Things like that have a way of sticking with you for a long time, maybe even your whole life, like a ghost who doesn't have anything better to do. Take it from a cancer survivor who doubted that she'd ever be able to get back in the ring again and still worries she might be a little fragile because of that... she'll find her way and be kicking just as much ass as you are in no time, and it won't be long before all of SCW knows that the two of you aren't ones to mess with in any form.”

As Amelia focused on Marilyn's sage advice and nodded to show she understood, she began to realize something else about the situation. Any moments where her focus had slipped during training had been due to her concern for being separated from Luz and her girlfriend being on her own... a reasonable concern given the mess they were somehow involved in, but it almost felt like she was being dependent on Luz. True, it was great that they could be there for each other when they needed it, but they had other friends and family now they could reliably turn to if necessary so it didn't feel like they just couldn't do anything without the other present. Thinking back to before Luz left for her solo trip to Tulancingo and how much she was trying to compare her solo exploits to Amelia's further drove him just how intertwined everything had seemed to become between them, and for as much as they took every step imaginable to keep their relationship as healthy as possible, it was hard to deny the negatives that were present if they couldn't truly prove, both in and out of the ring, that they were both capable of standing on their own two feet when the situation called for it.

“Ed? Em?” Amelia suddenly asked as she turned to look at her siblings, who immediately stopped their own workout to give her their undivided attention. “Can I ask you an honest question?”

“We're all ears, sis,” Edward replied, and while his voice sounded a bit too jovial for what she wanted to ask, she knew that once she spoke he and Emily would treat this seriously.

“Do you guys ever feel like...” Amelia paused as she contemplated how to actually word this. “...like you're too reliant on each other to do anything?”

As soon as the question had been asked, the twins exchanged concerned glances. Marilyn had taken a step back and observed this situation playing out before her with curiosity, while Remy had since taken a seat on the top turnbuckle of the ring and was watching the way someone who was invested in drama playing out before their very eyes would.

“Honestly?” Emily finally said after a minute. “Yeah, it kind of does feel like Ed and I rely on each other too much sometimes. Nothing against him because he's an amazing sibling who I know will always have my back, but we both know we're just as capable of doing things on our own and not having to just be a 'matching set' all the time.”

“It's hard to convince ourselves of that sometimes though, and you know full well who's to blame for that Amelia,” Edward added, and Amelia nodded in understanding of that. “Operating as twins is kind of like a safety blanket for us: it's familiar territory and we can take comfort in the fact that no matter what one of us is doing, the other will always be there if need be. It's just that, we can tell ourselves all we want that even if we were to completely go off and do our own things that the other will still be supporting us, but that fear of drifting apart and losing that safety blanket always creeps in eventually and throws us way off. Heck, I still have nightmares to this day about being alone forever if we all ever just went off to do our own things... it's ridiculous, yes, but that's how we were raised to think our whole lives.”

“It's a little different with you and Luz because you weren't raised that way,” Emily tacked on, “but you two were arguably the best thing that could've happened to one another. Through your respective traumas, you could peace and safety in each other's presence, to the point where it kind of feels like you might be relying on it a little too much in order to conquer it. There's nothing wrong with that, but you and her also need to realize that being able to have space from one another that doesn't change anything about your relationship is just as healthy.”

“You're right,” Amelia nodded. “It's been hard trying to focus on this huge opportunity I have right in front of me because I've been so worried about Luz, both her being alone right now and how it might affect her if I do win this championship. I know she's strong enough to take care of herself without any issue, and I doubt The Empire would really try anything since word spreading about their Luz being an imposter really hurt a lot of the credibility they were trying to build up for their claims. It's just hard sometimes... after mom and dad forced me to cut all ties with Ivy, Luz was the first person to actually see beyond all the walls I tried to put up and show me kindness I hadn't known in years.”

“That'll do it,” Edward notes.

“And we're sorry for our role in pushing you to that point sis,” Emily adds. “We all know how good mom and dad are at breeding a toxic environment that encouraged us to fight among ourselves instead of presenting a united front against all their bullshit.”

“Jeez, how did you become so good at finding people with parental issues Marilyn?” Remy suddenly chimed in, to which Marilyn just responded by grabbing an empty water bottle and bonking him on the head with it, which drew some laughter from everyone and helped to lighten the mood after the past several minutes.

“Alright, now that we've all gotten that out of our systems, how are you feeling Amelia?” she asked.

“Better,” Amelia honestly admitted. “I think I'm starting to get to where I really need to be, but next chance I get I'm definitely talking with Luz and making sure we're on the same page about this.”

“See? You two really have nothing to worry about after all,” Marilyn grinned. “Honest to whatever gods exist up above, you two might truly have one of the healthiest relationships I've ever seen. Makes me feel like I could learn a lot from the two of you someday...”

“What was that?” Amelia asked, having barely caught Marilyn's last words.

“Nothing!” Marilyn quickly tried to cover her tracks. “We should get back to work. Remy, hop down here and try to charge Boots over here with a spear-”

Before Marilyn could finish outlining the scenario she wanted to have her son replicate as a stand-in for Bree, her phone suddenly started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket and raised an eyebrow at whatever she saw on the caller ID before holding up a finger to everyone as she answered.

“Hello? Lily?” All eyes were suddenly focused on Marilyn as she seemed to be waiting for something, listening intently to her phone. After a moment, her eyes widened, and before anyone could ask her what was going on, she pulled her phone away from her ear and tapped the screen a few times before holding it out as everyone suddenly heard what was coming through from the other end of the call courtesy of speaker mode.

“I can't believe this!” the familiar voice of Ophelia Blythe came through. “How has that ignorant fool managed to run that company for as long as he has? It just doesn't make any sense!”

“I suppose those who live in North America have less efficient business practices that nobody questions,” her husband Aleister chimed in. “I suppose it's true what they say about the United States, Canada and Mexico valuing sports entertainment over actual, honest wrestling.”

“A shame really. All these great things I'd heard about the quality of wrestling in the latter two, and yet we continue to be disrespected at every turn.”

“Caleb White...” Marilyn growled, not bothering to keep her voice low. The twins proceeded to slide into the ring at that point, each one putting a hand on one of Amelia's shoulders as she bit her bottom lip. It was one thing to hear how eloquent he was on the microphone that could have an entire crowd of people believing in his every word, but to hear him for the first time in what sounded like a more personal setting was far more chilling.

“Shouldn't we be keeping our voices down?” Emily hissed.

“No need,” Marilyn revealed as she showed her phone's screen, pointing out one particular thing on it. “It's a little trick Lily and I figured out with the right setup for situations like this. We're both on speaker but I've got myself muted, so her end can't hear anything we're saying while Lily feels like we've got a perfect chance to eavesdrop and get some crucial information.”

“What the heck are they even talking about, though?” Remy asked.

“...dad and Caleb have been trying to not just put in a bid to become the new owners of SCW, but outright offer enough money that they're confident no one could come close to matching it,” Amelia revealed, which was news to everyone else in the room. Before they could question any of it, however, they heard the conversation from the other end continue.

“It's truly a shame that Mr. D cannot see reason and refuses the offer just because he doesn't agree with your philosophies, Caleb” Lily said, and Amelia felt a chill go down her spine at how convincing she was at sounding like she fit right in with these monsters.

“There has to be something we can do to change his mind,” Ophelia snarled. “Surely we can just find some other avenue to just buy out the company and be done with this whole charade.”

“I don't believe that will be necessary,” Caleb spoke, seemingly unfazed by what sounded like an unforeseen brick wall they'd run into.

“With all due respect Caleb,” Aleister pleaded, “SCW is a veritable sanctuary for our daughter right now. If we can't gain some measure of control then we'll never be able to make her fall in line so we can complete our end of the deal.”

“There is more than one way to force a lost little lamb back into the flock, Aleister,” Caleb replied. “Though I must admit that Amelia and Luz have proven to be quite resourceful... they are formidable foes indeed, though I expected no less from a pair of second generation talents from such impressive legacies.”

The twins tightened their grip on Amelia's shoulders, clearly not liking the tone this guy was using to describe their baby sister. Amelia, on the other hand, found her thoughts latching onto the mention of a deal between her parents and Caleb. She didn't doubt for a second that it had something to do with this lie they had tried to spread about her being engaged to Caleb's nephew, but she needed more details on what exactly this supposed deal was so she had a better idea of how to contend with it going forward.

“I don't understand why that little masked bitch is even worth our time in the first place!” Ophelia yelled. “She has no place in our Empire, especially not when she still has the chance to be with our Amelia even when she's married to Henry!”

“Just as I am with the Blythe family, I'm simply fulfilling a promise I made to an old 'friend' of mine,” Caleb nonchalantly replied. “Someone has to be the voice of reason that guides these children in the right direction, after all.”

“But what about our Luz?” Lily chanced asking.

“Unfortunately, the little stunt that the real Luz and her friends all pulled some time back has exposed her as a fraud,” Caleb said, somehow still sounding unfazed by any of this to the point that it was getting real unsettling. “She is still able to be booked down in Mexico, however they will not book her unless she changes her name and attire so as not to mislead fans any further. She no longer has any use to us, so we will be rid of her soon enough for her failure.”

Lily could be heard audibly gasping, and Amelia felt her blood boiling at the sound of that. From what she'd picked up from that confrontation, it was clear that the imposter was seen as nothing more than a tool to The Empire, and while she wanted to hope that he was simply implying she would be kicked out of The Empire, something in Caleb's tone made her fear that far worse was in store for that poor girl.

“Caleb, you're talking about a young girl that you adopted, took in off the streets and gave her a home,” Lily pleaded. “Surely there is something else we could do with her.”

“You really should watch that bleeding heart of yours Lily,” Caleb warned, finally showing the first real emotion of this entire conversation. “Your failures in convincing your sister to my cause have you on thin ice as well, and you have no place in caring for people who are worthless if they cannot do the tasks I give them. I will, however, give the girl the courtesy of a few more weeks to try and figure out on her own how to regain control of this little ruse... if she cannot, then she will be dealt with accordingly. You, however, should concern yourself more with how little time you have left to fulfill your obligation to me Lily. Tick, tock... am I clear?”

They all heard Lily nervously acknowledge this before the sound of people walking around could be heard, and it wasn't long after that the call disconnected. Everyone just exchanged stunned looks at what they had heard, and Marilyn was suddenly looking a lot more nervous than she had earlier.

“What the hell is wrong with this guy!?” Edward broke the silence.

“And mom and dad are helping him with whatever all of this is without concern for any of it...” Emily growled.

“I know Caleb is cold and cruel, but hearing that... Jesus Christ...” Marilyn mumbled.

Amelia's thoughts went into overdrive, realizing that SCW might be safe for the moment from anything pertaining to The Empire, but clearly this conflict was just getting started and was only going to get uglier before it got better. The one thing she could take pride in, however, was the confirmation that they had managed to ruin a lot of Caleb's active plans, and with a little more information on what he was up to...

Maybe... just maybe... they could help the people trapped within who needed it and outwit this ruthless mastermind to upend his entire operation after all.