Ruby Amarant vs. Konrad Raab

[Team Desire]

SCW Television Championship
Ruby Amarant vs. Konrad Raab
 
 
 
2 RP Limit for singles; 4 RP Limit for tag
Deadline: Noon ET Tuesday, March 26, 2019

[Konrad Raab]

The day after going to the court to fight for the rights of Sebastian. Cologne, Germany. Thursday 21st March. (Off camera)

The last two times Konrad came over to visit Sebastian, he had played with Sebastian's friends, even getting an hour time alone with Sebastian which always put a smile on his face, although he knows Sebastian will have questions as to what happened at the PPV. Luckily for him, however, he wasn't alone as his wife who's also been attending the court rights for Sebastian to defend for Konrad. 

Fizz and Konrad hold each other's hands, and they ring the doorbell as usual with Friedrich opening the door to let them in. He points to their office with Konrad, sighing, even putting his head down as he and Fizz take a seat and Friedrich goes into detail about what he knows.

Friedrich: “They caught the fact you can be pretty brutal in the ring, but what they don't know that it's apart of you as a wrestler, am I right?”

Konrad Raab: “Yes. What the court doesn't understand is I have to be brutal in my line of work. Problem is they convince I'm going to encourage Sebastian doing bad things in his life.”

Fizz Raab: “His opponent had it coming. For weeks, Casterillo kept running away from Konrad, and that's not Konrad as a person or even him as a wrestler regularly. It's a rare thing for Konrad to snap like he did and he can only do it with that mask, not at any other time.”

Friedrich: “Sadly, as you both know, they don't believe in that, and I know how much you both want Sebastian to be your son. Believe me, but we have to fight this once again and prove in your matches that it's not who you are regularly.”

Konrad Raab: “They should've paid attention to my other matches, especially in UGWC which I stated I work in other companies, besides SCW.”

Friedrich nodded, Konrad, did state his claim on him working in other companies which the agency wasn't aware of, even though it's reported on adoption papers. Fizz and Konrad are gritting their teeth about it all and Fizz says this.

Fizz Raab: “What I don't understand is if Konrad's such a horrible person, why did they not make the decision right there and then?”

Friedrich: “I reckon it's because they haven't made a decision and that decision is coming a lot sooner than you both think. I know Konrad's not a horrible person, heck he wouldn't have found Sebastian and brought him here first time if he was.”

Konrad Raab: “Especially as you say, Sebastian has changed a lot since I came into his life, all because he lacked confidence, even talking to you.”

That's the one thing they agreed on as Friedrich pulls a massive grin on his face, seeing how much passion both he and Fizz have on wanting to have Sebastian in their family. Everyone understood Fizz couldn't come to see Sebastian weekly because of kids at home, but he was doing everything to stand and defend for them.

Friedrich: “That's why they've not made the decision yet because they've seen more evidence of you being a great potential father to Sebastian with all the videos, pictures evidence we've given to the court than the wrestler side of Konrad.”

Fizz Raab: “Somehow it matters to them because they feel wrestlers are psychotic people who go to hurt people on purpose. Shows their lack of knowledge about wrestling and even then, it's only one match throughout the entire time Konrad's known, Sebastian.”

Konrad Raab: “Sebastian will never become that guy, believe me, and I wouldn't be a father to Sebastian and my other kids if I were like that outside of the ring every single week.”

Friedrich: “Nor would you come here every single week to see Sebastian to get to know him better either. I know Fizz is unable to come here every week, but I think the passion I see in your eyes Konrad you want to make his life a better one for Sebastian, heck you're close to crying. That's passion.”

It was at that point, Konrad did have water running down his face as Fizz places her arm around Konrad's right shoulder, comforting him to make him feel better as he wasn't able to talk right now and she responds for Konrad.

Fizz Raab: “When he comes home from visiting Sebastian, he always says he loves him a lot and wants to change his life for the better. He wants to help him to be a man he wants Sebastian to be. That on top of him being a wrestler too. It's still not going to affect how Sebastian views his father.”

Friedrich: “No, of course not. He even mentioned to me on Tuesday how much he wants a loving home, and he's never felt that with other parents, unlike you both. You both play with him and with you trying to learn German because of it.”

Fizz Raab: “I'm doing it because I support Konrad's decisions always. I will also do what's right for Sebastian myself, including the sex talk I will do with him.”

Fizz turns to Konrad and rubs him a bit and goes to say this.

Fizz Raab: “Would it be better if you go and see Sebastian now?”

Konrad Raab: “Yes.”

Friedrich: “That's no problem. I will always stand for what's right with Konrad. What he does in wrestling is none of my or even the agency's business. It doesn't matter what Konrad does at work; it's what he does for Sebastian out of his work time, how much he's gained Sebastian's confidence is the important factor here. Let's go down and see him; he's waiting outside to play football.”

Friedrich gives Konrad a tissue as he nods to thank him and wipes the tears of his face, showing that even wrestlers can show emotion and passion for things outside of the sport. They both go downstairs and into the garden as Sebastian was playing with his friends he gained as Fizz's surprised as she says this.

Fizz Raab: “Sebastian certainly has gained confidence.”

Konrad Raab: “Oh that? Yes, he has a girlfriend Sofia, helping Sebastian to make friends.”

Fizz Raab: “You must've changed Sebastian if he's playing with other people.”

At that point when they walked forward, Sebastian stops and he turns around to see his potential father and runs out of the pitch towards him, giving him a massive hug by wrapping his arms around Konrad's waist.

Konrad Raab: “You have grown a bit, haven't you?”

Sebastian: “Yes, it seems like I have. Even Sofia noticed I've grown.”

Konrad Raab: “In confidence, certainly I've noticed with the number of friends you got around you.”

Sebastian: “Where's Fizz?”

Konrad pointed to where Fizz was as he notices and runs towards her as she gives him a big hug also, even a small kiss on the cheek and Konrad goes closer to Fizz in case she couldn't understand him.

Sebastian: “Konrad said you'd come over. I want you to see me more often.”

Fizz's confused, looking at Konrad as he then goes to detail what Sebastian said in English and while Konrad goes to speak, Fizz shook her head and looks at Sebastian and says this, even if the lack of German was the case.

Fizz Raab: “I'd love to come over as well, but I have your brothers and sisters to be to take care of so I have to be at home more than I come here. It's why I come to see you every month.”

Once again, Konrad translates to Sebastian what Fizz said which was giving Fizz some confidence on speaking to Sebastian, even if the language barrier was uncomfortable, at least she was showing an attempt of interacting with Sebastian. Sebastian nods at both Fizz and Konrad, and he says this.

Sebastian: “I understand.”

Konrad Raab: “Let's go and play football with your friends again.”

Sebastian: “Yeah, I agree. Want to play Fizz?”

Fizz Raab: “No thank you. I don't like football.”

Although Fizz's country was massive on football, she wasn't a fan of the sport as she finds it boring to watch, even if Fizz's tried watching FC Koln games a few times on TV, Fizz was more into other sports she hasn't discussed much with Sebastian yet. Fizz sees how much changes in the weeks past with Sebastian gaining friends to play with Konrad, playing football.

She smiles, even seeing Konrad bonding and being happy to play with Sebastian, showing how much Konrad wants to be a dad. Konrad, Sebastian and his friends play football for two hours, and they finish up, and he says this.

Sebastian: “Time to do some drawing and painting now.”

Konrad goes towards Fizz and translates what he said and Fizz smile, giving her a perfect opportunity to bond with Sebastian's friends as they took their shoes off and go into the dining room to do some art stuff, acting like it's an open day at the orphanage. Of course, Konrad did want some time alone with Sebastian. They spent two hours, drawing pictures of what they do here and Fizz draws pictures of what she and Konrad's kids do in their spare time away from school.

Konrad Raab: “This explains what Fizz and my kids do. See, our eldest son is a motocross rider, our second eldest son is an ice hockey player, and our daughters do cooking, playing with dolls and animals as one of them wants to be a chef, looking after children and working with animals when they grow up.”

Sebastian's friend: “That's a lot of children you and Fizz have.”

Konrad Raab: “Yes, but that's because some of our kids are twins, three of our kids are triplets.”

Sebastian's friend: “That's amazing. I know Sebastian wants to have a private word with the pair of you now.”

Konrad nodded, that's precisely what he wanted to do as well after all the fun he, Sebastian, his friends and Fizz herself had as they only had an hour left together and being on their own with Sebastian was something Konrad had planned doing. Konrad's expected to answer Sebastian's questions about Retribution, on top of discussing his next title contender for the TV belt too. 

They head up to Sebastian's room, and Sebastian tells the other kids to leave which they do before he closes the door behind them. They sit on his bed with Fizz looking through more drawings of what Sebastian's done, including the picture he has done of Regan Street weeks ago. Fizz then sees a picture of Konrad doing his finisher on Dawn in the Trios tournament. Fizz then sits down with Konrad and Sebastian, and he speaks.

Sebastian: “I want to know, why did you hit the referee?”

Konrad Raab: “The Black Ice wanted to keep beating Casterillo because he didn't want to stop beating him. He didn't like being stopped because someone told him to. He didn't even like Glory coming to assist Black Ice, getting involved on something he wanted to do himself. He was doing what was right in his mind.”

Sebastian: “The dark side, right?”

Konrad Raab: “Yeah, the power that only comes when I wear that mask. Without it and when I wear my other mask, you're looking at the same Konrad that you've known from day one.”

Konrad explains to Fizz in English what he said as Fizz looks confused on what they were talking about and she wanted to speak to Sebastian to say this.

Fizz Raab: “It's true. Konrad's a very different man, and you won't be seeing that in his next match.”

Konrad then again goes to explain to Sebastian about what Fizz said and even he nodded at the last comment made, and he says this.

Konrad Raab: “Fizz's right, expect it to come back at some point, but not when I face against Ruby Amarant because it'll play right into her hands, considering she will play mind games with anybody. She didn't succeed in the match, but she only defeated me last time because Cassidy distracted me.”

Sebastian: “Yeah, I understand. If you go Black Ice mode, she feels she'd won the fight already.”

Konrad Raab: “I'm not allowing Ruby to do that. She doesn't do much for herself, and that's something I'm going to talk about, along with justifying my actions in the ring because things need to be explained to the world.”

As hard as it's been for Konrad to explain to his son about the actions made, he wasn't lying on any of it as he hadn't discussed to Sebastian about his twin brother until Sebastian notices an article in the magazine from many months ago as he points something out.

Sebastian: “This Lord Raab guy with the black and stripy mask, been meaning to ask you for weeks, but is he a family relation to us?”

Konrad translates what Sebastian said, and then Fizz responds.

Fizz Raab: “Yes.”

Konrad Raab: “He's my twin brother. He's a few minutes older than me.”

Sebastian: “But he acts so different to you.”

Konrad Raab: “He's had a tough time in his life which I can't explain to you right now because you're too young and it's very graphic. He's not like that, well not with our family anyway now. He's going to be your uncle. You will also see he's married to a man who's also apart of the wrestling business known as Samuel McPherson.”

Sebastian: “I remember hearing about that name. He's the dude with the gas mask, right?”

Konrad Raab: “Yes. They also have a son called Callum who's your cousin, although they are in the middle of adopting another son in their family themselves at the moment.”

Sebastian's stunned at how large his family was, to discover his twin brother and his nephew were wrestlers in the business as well. He smiles, knowing his dream of becoming a wrestler was going to be much easier than expected. Konrad translated what Fizz said to as Sebastian nods, understanding about Konrad's twin brother and he moves the topic on.

Sebastian: “Let's talk more about that next week as I want to focus on you defeating Ruby in the ring.”

Konrad Raab: “That I do and I need to pick up what I learned about Ruby from the last match and watch it over and over again until I spot what I need to work on. However, she can't do much to me, and you'll see The Iceman returning in the ring next week, and I'm still going to be the TV champion.”

Sebastian: “I'm glad to hear that, although part of me liked what you did as The Black Ice, destroying and hurting opponents to send a message to them. Anyway, I can smell dinner being ready. I let you both go. It's been nice to spend time with you and Fizz today. I love you both.”

Konrad Raab: “We love you too.”

After Konrad translated what they discussed, Fizz and Konrad hugged Sebastian with Fizz, and they leave his bedroom to head themselves out of the door, while Sebastian says goodbye to Konrad and Fizz and goes to sit down to eat dinner with his friend and girlfriend. 

Friedrich comes towards the door and lets them out before closing it, making sure children were all there, eating their dinner. Fizz and Konrad head back to sleep before flying back to America in the morning.

----------------------------------------------------------

Defending the TV title for the second time of my career/do things on your own in wrestling youtube.com shoot. (On camera)

“I need to justify what happened at Retribution before I can start to talk about Ruby and how excited I am to defend my TV title. The reason why the referee and Glory got attacked was when I watched the tape; Black Ice didn't want to stop beating Casterillo so when the referee got in his way, Black Ice struck him because he wasn't done stopping Casterillo running away from getting a brutal beating he deserved.

Glory got attacked because Black Ice didn't want anybody to get involved in his business believe me when I say this from what I've witnessed on the tape, he does things alone and doesn't like someone assisting him in beating down Casterillo. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's from what I've witnessed and seen cos I don't remember anything until someone tells me and I watch the match for myself without that mask.

Now I got that out of the way; I can talk about how excited I am to defend the TV title. Defending the TV title means a lot to me because I always wanted to rectify the time I was TV champion to not only go past the two-week reign but also successfully to defend the title against my opponents and my first title defence is against Ruby Amarant.

I give her credit; she defeated Abigail at her own game on overcoming someone with more experience and overcoming the mind games Abigail tried to play on Ruby. She knew about Abigail's weak spot on her shoulder and picked apart on it with her skills. I should know this, considering I've lost to Ruby in the past.

But unfortunately for Ruby, things are a lot different this time because I'm coming in this match without the war with Cassidy. The problem Ruby has with her game is not the lack of experience, but Ruby's incapabilities of doing things for herself, being nothing more than a puppet for Scarlet, assisting her with grabbing married men, destroying their relationships with their loved ones.

That's a real shame because you're a great wrestler with a lot of talented skills in the ring, but if Scarlet wasn't in the wrestling business, would you be able to cope focusing on achieving your own goals without her? Would you even be a wrestler in the industry if Scarlet wasn't around?

I don't care what you have to say because the only thing I'm focused on is defeating you in the ring. Mind games don't work with me anymore because unlike you, I'm capable of making changes for myself. I'm always confident and bust my ass every single week without anybody getting me down.

You'll try the same mind game tactic again, but it won't work because you can't do anything to outwrestle me to win the TV title away from me and you won't even come close on taking an easy advantage to beat me with Cassidy's help. Let's see if you're goal is to win the TV title and other titles on your own without Scarlet assisting you in winning the title from me. You're not interested in taking this title away because you don't have goals set for yourself as a solo's wrestler. 

You'll see how independent I am when I overcome you this time on pure skill alone, without interference from anybody and without any mind game to pick apart me with because I don't care and you know it.

Tomorrow night, your lack of independence is going to cost you when The Iceman will defeat you in the ring because I was focused. Also because I studied what I needed to work on and I won't turn my back again towards you, not when this TV title is on the line. I will go in the ring right here in Newark, New Jersey and beat you for the three count, knowing everything I've done was because I was a better wrestler who outplayed your mind games.

Also, it will all come down to me wanting to retain my title more so I can be a champion that I'm not a one-shot champion, I can be a champion that can be consistent with his wins which up until Trios and Casterillo losses, I have, and it will continue to happen on Breakdown. You'll see The Iceman have his hands raised in the ring because you'll prepare to be Iceinated by The Iceman and still being the TV champion everyone wants to see.”

[Ruby]

It's always fascinating to look back on where a story begins, because those willing to use their minds will often never resist the temptation to know more. Even I can't help but look back myself on how I became Ruby Amarant and become curious as to what caused me to stick with it for so long. It may not seem as long as some of the identities I've taken over years, but it certainly feels that way when you realize that having Scarlet Grey in your life has this way of making you easily forget about everything else, including the passage of time itself.

I'm not referring to any of her bedroom antics either, for any of you perverts trying to connects the proverbial dots after reading this.

I wasn't too surprised when the night where I met Scarlet in that club where my new identity was born didn't actually end with me going back to her place. By her own claims, she wanted to prove she could truly trust having me in her humble adobe, though considering she seemed like she was simply looking for a good time anyways and I had deduced she wasn't exactly from the area I happened to end up in that night, I was barely fazed when she brought me to a motel room for the night instead. As for what followed... I won't argue against the fact that I've slept with both genders before, and Scarlet certainly ranks very highly in terms of the 'fun' I've had, but I still made sure I was acting enough to put her in a state of trust in me. Given that everything I'd just become was all for the sake of playing to her whims, I was interested to see where this was eventually going to end up before I debated the merits of abandoning this persona in record time to give more thought to another, far more thought out fresh start.

When she finally brought me to the place I now call home alongside her, even I won't lie about how surprised I was at what I found myself looking at.

Amarant: What... am I looking at...?

Grey: My home, silly? Welcome to my castle!

She wasn't exactly wrong on that front, though it certainly defied all logic for any castle I had ever seen, and believe it or not I do recall some of my identities have existed outside the borders of the United States so I can truthfully claim to have seen far more traditional castles firsthand. A mansion might be the easier way to define it, but it had all the architectural appearance of a castle complete with what looked like towers and yards that definitely were more akin to royal gardens surrounding it. The biggest curiosity however wasn't even the fact that the place was painted head-to-toe in different shades of crimson, considering I came to expect nothing less already from this woman, but the fact that this mansion/castle structure had no traditional materials involved at all, almost looking like it was completely built out of steel and cybernetics meant to give it the most futuristic appearance possible. It easily classified as perhaps the biggest anomaly I'll ever admit to seeing in my lifetime, and also caused me to question internally what I'd just gotten myself into. After all, this woman had to be beyond loaded to be able to have a place like this clearly built from scratch, but joining in with what I already knew reminded me that she certainly had some other motives that might justify to her living inside this proverbial fortress that almost looked like it was ready for some kind of potentially nonexistent war.

Amarant: It's... unique, I'll say that.

Grey: Thank you! How about we head inside and I can show you around before we get down to business.

This is when I would learn that, outside of a few more “curious” rooms contained within, the internal view of the house did not match with the external view. Despite the castle-like appearance from outside, the inside definitely lent itself more to the curiosities of a more traditional home, foregoing a foyer in place of a typical living room of some kind and seeing everything slowly branch out from there, with some areas where one was meant to move from one level of the house to another even being worth questioning. She seemed to take it all in stride and never seemed offended when I did ask for an explanation and never really got one beyond something that seemed to fall in line with her eccentricity. I saw several rooms whose mere existence left even me scratching my head, rooms that she seemed to want to linger in to further explain where I fit in to whatever she was planning before pulling herself onward for the time being, rooms that were currently blank space she said she might figure out a use for later (three of them have since been re-purposed as my room when I don't want to spend the night with her, my own personal study where I'm writing this right now and my little gift to her in the form of a “fantasy-fulfilling promo room” that part of me is surprised hasn't gotten more use than it has) and... well, would you be surprised if I told you she seemed to take the most delight in showing me her room?

It was a curious experience looking around at where this woman called home, I have to admit, even if it didn't answer any of my questions. Considering I still needed to figure out what exactly I'd gotten myself into before I fully agreed to anything, I had to resist her attempts to try and convince me into another round of “passionate fun” to get down to business, and while this did seem to trouble her to some degree she eventually complied and ultimately brought me to sit with her at a round table in what would've passed as a war room if she was actually at war with anybody... which I now realize was more true in her own head than I would bother admitting at the times.

Amarant: Alright, I'll bite Scarlet. All of this is... very interesting to say the least, I can't lie. But what is it, exactly, that you're hoping to get out of all of this, especially with me now?

Grey: Well, you do recall that I'm kind of hoping you'll be the missing piece to my Red Empire... I think I told you that when we first met.

Amarant: But what exactly does that mean? No offense, but as willing as I've been to come all this way I'm not just going to blindly walk into something that's going to come back to burn me. I'm not that naive, especially after that same scenario's already played out in my life more times than it probably should have.

Scarlet certainly took an interest in this little revelation I was willing to share with her, and it wasn't exactly a lie. For the sheer amount of times I've had to scrap everything and start my life over even for someone my age, you would think by now that I'd have picked up some valuable lessons along the way. While that was certainly the case, I will admit that no matter how “perfect” I try to convince myself I truly am, I do have one flaw that I can never seem to shake, and that's becoming far too tunnel-visioned on the task at hand that small things my intellect would rightfully consider a red flag down the line are forgotten about until I slip up and it all falls to pieces. If it meant playing things cautiously, I wasn't about to let that become the case this time around, especially when this woman had already given me plenty of possible red flags despite her hospitality that had me legitimately questioning if this was even worth it to start anew.

Grey: I guess if you want to put it into simple terms... the idea of the Red Empire is what I want to call the world in which I rule. Call it my own little world if you wish, but I want to be the goddess that rules over all and tells people how they should live their lives.

This is probably when I gave her the most deadpan look I could manage, which at least was a contrast from wanting to laugh at her like most probably would. It sounded like something out of a cliched super villain declaration, and I wasn't exactly looking to end up in someone's attempt to try and turn fantasy into reality no matter what position I was in. She seemed to see where my thought process was going with this as though she could read my mind, so she decided to elaborate.

Grey: I know, it sounds silly, but answer me this: do you trust the judgment of most people in the world today? Do you agree with the decisions of anybody for themselves or for others?

Amarant: If you want me to be honest, then no.

Grey: Then we have common ground. Every day I see all these people making decisions that just make me shake my head because they make little sense in the grand scheme of things. Ideas and concepts that claim they'll help the world or solve all these problems that have the exact opposite effect, people that try to do good deeds and claim it's the right thing to do as to why they do it... a world divided by too many beliefs and opinions because there isn't one concrete figure that humanity can agree upon knows what the proper solution is and should be the only thing they can trust in.

Amarant: And you presume yourself to be that figure?

Grey: Perhaps. I mean, I would like to be, but I know the idea isn't so easily believed. You've no doubt noticed that I don't always seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer. A lot of it is actually an act to satisfy my own “primal urges” and otherwise simply get into people's heads for my own amusement, but there are many who believe that because of some of the things I say and do I'm not entirely “all there” and disregard my ideas, even though I have all the documents of someone who knows the human mind very well and can probably help people far more than I'm truly being given a chance to.

Amarant: Interesting... and the Red Empire is your answer, in a sense?

Grey: It's my hope that if I can build the idea, one way or another, into something universally accepted, then maybe one day we will see a world that is more united than anything humankind can truly recall. One world united by one belief, their devotion to the goddess Scarlet Grey and her word that leads everyone into a new era free of everything that would ultimately result in the complete annihilation of humans themselves.

I couldn't help but blink dumbfoundedly at this. Despite all the obvious signs of how impossible this seemed, she had the self-designed logic and very clear passion for what she was preaching, to the point where she not only genuinely believed it was possible, but had a small part of me convinced that it was possible as well if I were to get on board. I still had questions about my role in all of this that I needed answered, but even I had to admit that this woman knew what she was doing when it came to playing mind games to get her way... a trait that someone like me couldn't help but admire and respect even if I wouldn't be beaten so easily without pushing back a bit.

Amarant: I certainly won't deny the current pace of the human race to its own extinction, even if I'm not exactly in a position to care about whether or not it should even be saved at this point. I do have to ask you, however, what my role in this is to be if I were to simply climb on board.

Grey: Well... if I can be honest, this isn't a task I want to tackle alone. I've tried in the past, and it's simply led me to points where I've sabotaged myself for one reason or another. Maybe I do have the occasional issue where I'm not entirely all there, and trying to deal with it myself usually tends to lead me to ruin. I've realized that I'm going to need a partner of some kind if I want this to work the way it does in my head... it doesn't have to be anything completely romantic, but simply someone to rule by my side and especially to keep me on track if I start to fall apart when everything else does as well. Someone willing to share their own ideas and accept the position of power by my side knowing that for as much as they are there for me, they can rule themselves in my stead if things need to be that way. I firmly believe that you are meant to be that person.

Amarant: Even though you know virtually nothing about me?

Grey: the fact that you've entertained this idea for this long already without walking away tells me that at least part of you is considering what kind of stability your own life would be getting out of this, outside of anything I could offer you in the ways of the flesh on top of all the power of course.

The fact that she had a point stunned me, and clearly I should have been a little wary about how much this woman seemed to be able to read me despite her own self-admitted mental imbalances. If nothing else though, this proved to me the validity of her claims about knowing the human mind and how to deal with it, as it would take nothing short of a truly gifted psychiatrist to be able to understand me to any minor degree only by looking at me and considering how little I've shared on the matter.

Ruby found herself growling silently in annoyance as yet another attempt to write in her little journal found itself needing to be scratched out for later revision due to a loud noise that raised concern about her partner-in-crime. Unlike the crashing sound of the last time this had happened, this one almost sounded like more of an explosion of sorts, and it had Ruby exiting her room in the quickest walk she could muster after being torn from her relaxing seat after being in it for so long to find the nearest window leading out into the backyard, where she saw a huge roaring bonfire having been started in what probably wasn't the safest of manners considering it resided in a huge hole in the ground. At least enough precaution had been taken to avoid it spreading and creating an even bigger problem, but it didn't erase the sight of Scarlet angrily dumping everything relating to Kelcey Wallace into the flames in a sight that eventually drew Ruby down to her side.

Grey: Why did I think she was right? Why did I let her lust drive me into making such an ass of myself? And for what? Some guy who wasn't even paying attention because he was too busy focusing on his own little vendettas?

Amarant: Scarlet... I know you might have taken this latest game a little too far... again... but if you tell me who convinced you that it was a good idea I-

Grey: Can't do anything about it anyway. How could you? To you, she's nothing more than a figment of my own imagination I let allow me to believe that I was going to get something I deserved if I stopped acting like Scarlet fucking Grey!

The box containing the replica of Kelcey's attire she'd worn for Retribution found itself bursting into flames as an exclamation point on her rambling, and it didn't take Ruby long to put the pieces together. She was more than aware of the fact that among Scarlet's issues lay the potential for “split personalities” that would emerge every now and then, though what she didn't tell Scarlet was that she'd met some of them when they seemingly emerged and took over at times when she was really out of it. It was a notoriously sensitive subject for the woman even in the face of her own admissions of instability, and while she could only guess which one managed to emerge just enough to lead Scarlet down this path, it didn't erase the fact that she had a job to do as Scarlet suddenly clung to her once the last of her “toys” from this latest game were slowly being reduced to ashes.

Amarant: It's over now Scarlet... I know it didn't end with you embarrassing that self-satisfied goody two-shoes Peyton, but now you can move on and start fresh.

Grey: I'm tired of starting fresh though Rubes...

Ruby knew better than Scarlet may ever know exactly how mutual that feeling was, but she held her tongue. The last thing this situation needed was for Ruby to inject some of her own occasional self-loathing into the mix. That would easily turn a delicate situation into something more out of control than Scarlet's self-started bonfire.

Amarant: Maybe this will cheer you up: I got word that despite Katya no longer being in power, apparently I've still secured a tv title match on Breakdown against that troglodyte Konrad Raab. Would embarrassing him and claiming our first piece of gold at long last in the name of the Red Empire help to ease the pain?

Grey: Are you sure you can do it Rubes?

Amarant: It's Raab... I think that's all that needs to be said. Besides, if it'll cheer you up and help take the next step forward towards whatever we do next, you know I won't have a problem doing whatever you need me to do.

Scarlet nodded her approval as she continued to cling to Ruby tight as they both watched the blaze, one that Ruby mused to herself would easily melt Konrad for more reasons that just a way to poke fun at his “Iceman” moniker. Something about making Scarlet happy still left her questioning to this day what about this woman kept things this way, and yet it didn't seem to matter. As long as things seemed to be moving towards the future the Red Empire wanted, even Ruby couldn't deny even after all this time that nothing else mattered. And if that meant finally getting championship gold around her waist?

Konrad Raab should consider himself lucky he had a chance to call himself tv champion one more time at all before his entire world came crashing down in pieces around him.