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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2017 12:19:30 GMT -5
Chapter 3.1 / 4.0 - Aftermath: Animus Vox
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” ~Helen Keller
•••••
July 11th, 2017 - 11:37 p.m. // After Asylum XII
Clicking sounded as he flicked the light switch in his hotel room, and light illuminated the room in a dull, orange glow, casting light on the small couch and chair, the television screen and the one bed in the room. It was a reprieve, but it wasn’t his home in Garrison, nor was Colorado. Sure, the hotel mattress was comfortable, the hallways were quiet, but in the end, all it was was a hotel room.
He kicked the door, making it shut quicker, and closed his eyes as the lock clicked in place. He chucked his bag off to the side, chucked his phone at the desk, took a few steps into the room, and dropped into the couch. Resting his head against the back, he stared up at the ceiling, noting the little pieces of chunks in the plaster that hadn’t been fully fixed. There was a small water stain on the area above the roof, but that looked like it’d been attempted to be painted over. In the room next to him, he could hear giggles, but not loud enough to discern what the hell they were about. Nor did he care.
He didn’t have time, honestly, to deal with other people’s lives, or to care about anything quite prominently. He was frustrated, not only with the loss, but what caused him to have to ignore the match entirely: Reece Crosslin. There was no way that he could have deemed it that fuckin’ important to leave his baby mama to come and disrupt Finn’s match, but lo and behold, he did. The Ultraviolent Champion was one hundred percent vengeful against the Irish-American wrestler. Finn wasn’t going to lose face and admit he probably was the reason that Kei was even in the building (and absent this Asylum, hallelujah), but inwardly, he knew that he was Sam Baltimore had even been attacked.
But part of him also argued that Reece Crosslin was an idiot for even bringing his pregnant girlfriend to a match where there were literally no rules. It was something that he wouldn’t even dared when Aaron was pregnant, and the reason she chose to step away from the entire sport. Pregnancies could be fucked up when it came to one, small little wrong move. So no, he felt bad for Sam, but it was on Reece too, not just him. Not that the California Condor would ever realize that for himself.
He closed his eyes. It didn’t matter what Finn thought, to be honest. There would be no walking away from Reece, no reason for sneak attacks, match interruptions. At So-Cal World War, he would face the pride-injured Reece Crosslin for not only a match to settle their issue, but the Ultraviolent Championship was on the line. Cortez hated him, but likely could still still threw in the match. There was no fucking way he was going to screw up the opportunity.
Except that he probably would, with his head in the jumble it was in due to his fucking family.
Elena and Aaron.
”Have you even been paying attention, Finn?”
They sat in the back, listening to the sounds of the Ultraviolent Faithful as the Linc Coyne and IKEDA match was still underway, and sounding brutal as hell. Equipment canisters made great seating arrangements, and so, they were seated across from one another. Elena had her championship belt laying across her lap, and her fingers clutched the cool metal in her fingers. Her eyes were locked onto Finn, who even at his tall height, was able to swing his legs off the ground as he fumbled through his phone. His phone had been going off non-stop.
“She doesn’t even try to contact me to say anything, just rants on Twitter. Insult after insult. I mean, she even called it out to Cortez.”
Finn lifted his head then. “I don’t control her, El. No one controls her.”
“Why aren’t you defending me, then? One little tweet from you, one little smidge of a response in a text, can make her stop.”
“Pix has it.”
“What, are you afraid to piss her off or something?” Elena rolled her eyes. “After everything we’ve been through, the least you could do is tell her to stop. I’m your tag team partner, your sister -- if this were opposite, you would be defending her out the ass.”
“El,” Finn replied, pinching his nose and closing his eyes, “there’re reasons I don’t do anything. All Aaron wants is an argument to solidify her status. She wants to think that she controls the entire situation. Letting her rant on Twitter is harmless, and in the end, it doesn’t really do anything but make her feel better about herself.”
“She’s trying to act like she’s the better person. I mean, look . . .” she grabbed her phone and tossed it to him, a tweet pulled up already. “She still wants to make it seem like she did nothing wrong and it was all my fault.”
“Is it?”
“No!” She was frustrated. Finn wasn’t seeing her point at all. Her body tensed immensely, and she clutched her fingers again around her title, her knuckles beginning to turn white. She slammed her eyes shut, feeling that anger and resentment she’d been harboring for two weeks against Finn and her mother come slipping right back in. If it did, then Christian would be forking out a lot of dough for ruined material. But she relaxed slightly when he stood in front of her then and put his hands on her arms, reassuringly. When she looked at him, all Finn could do was wear a smile on his face.
“Then why care what she says? You and I both know what the issue was--”
“Finn, she’s just trying to get back into your life.”
“And that’s my decision, El, which I haven’t made yet.” He shook his head. “Look, all you need to do tonight is think about Xalvador, that championship, and what we’re going to get for dinner after you kick those raunchy-ass contacts out of his eyes with a win.”
Very quietly, Elena murmured her next words. There were only two people in her life that she’d ever appeared comfortably vulnerable with: Christian and Finn. “What if she shows up?”
Finn’s eyebrows furrowed. He knew where Elena’s anger at Aaron was coming from, and it stemmed from the worry she didn’t want to admit was directed in the way of this Margaret Edwards chick who’d appeared out of nowhere. He wished he’d paid attention to El’s situation before she blew up at him, but he was in his own mess. Still, he wasn’t going to not be there when she needed him again. So he hugged her again.
“If she does, and you need me to dropkick her into the next galaxy, I’m the Finn you need,” he teased, eliciting a smile from her. She poked him in the rib cage, her other arm loosely wrapped around him.
“Two galaxies.”
“Nine thousand, if needed.”
Finn placed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Of course, Elena’d been blindsided by Aaron coming out with him. Elena’d been blindsided by her mom. Elena’d been angry and lost her cool and decided that if no one else was going to help her out, she was going to take care of it herself. Now, not only was Aaron facing Elena at So-Cal World War, she was facing her in a Bloody Massacre match. Honestly, it probably could have been worse, knowing Cortez’s hatred for Aaron, but still. Matches in the Ultraviolent Complex were often escalated in the brutality level, and despite Aaron’s sixteen years in the business, she hadn’t participated in the no-rules environment that literally defined So-Cal Ultraviolent.
Not only that, he knew Elena was going into this with the desire to kill her. She may’ve kept her mouth shut when it came to Finn’s decisions, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to go out there and try to make mince-meat pie out of Aaron. Then again, Aaron wasn’t exactly a non-competitive valet either . . .
His phone buzzed on the desk. He looked up at it with minimal interest, but not enough to get him to move. He’d had five missed calls since the end of Asylum from Kei, added to the twenty others since the last Asylum. At this rate, it was probably him and answering him would be stupidity at this point. Finn wanted nothing to do with Kei now that he’d shown how shitty of a person he actually was. And he felt like shit for even being associated with Yakuza Second Lieutenant. Regardless, of course, of the fact that Kei actually had turned him into a more viable threat than he ever could have made himself.
If it wasn’t the phone that got Finn to stand up, then it was the soft knock at his door. Honestly, it could have only been one person -- it wasn’t like Dickie was going to separate himself from Hannah’s mouth anytime soon and Elena’d left to take care of her worried little girl after the Reyes scare. He smirked to himself. Bastard thought he was going to win by making Finn pissed off through that match? Nah. Judging by the dropkicks and the uselessness, “Rumble” Reyes bit off more than he could chew it seemed. But that’s what happens when you become a bodyguard to twats like Mikey Svarro.
When he got the door open, he found himself looking down to see Aaron in front of him. She hadn’t talked to him since the announcement of her match with Elena, mostly out of respect. She’d sidestepped him in the back, and left on her own volition. Now, she looked slightly apologetic -- though honestly, he probably should have been writing letters of apology to everyone in the vicinity.
There were no words to be spoken. In one hand, she held the case for Mortal Kombat X, and in the other, an unopened bottle of Jameson, Finn’s favorite indulgence that he’d been pretty good about not drinking for the last couple of months.
Well-played, Aaron. Well-played.
•••••
Kei hit the steering wheel with an open palm. He should have been there -- the stupid pink-haired bitch (or whatever current color it was) wouldn’t have even dared before this.
This was going to end up a complete disaster. Aaron couldn’t care less, honestly, about what was sacrificed and destroyed so that Finn could hit this contendership. And Finn was too stupid to realize what she was doing. He’d fuck up the whole thing over her, and then what? It wouldn’t be his choice to help the stupid baka anymore than he’d already had.
No. Kei wasn’t about to let someone like Aaron screw up Finn’s chances. Things needed to be set in place. He opened up another message, and narrowed his eyes.
He stared at the screen, and then chucked the phone away.
If he wanted something done right, he had to do it himself.
•••••
An image of Reptile kicking Mileena’s ass on the screen accompanies the sound of laughter and squealing from the couch. Mileena’s bar depletes from half to nothing in less than a millisecond, and then the game echos with that “FINISH HER” that everyone knows. Aaron, at this point, tossed her controller and pulled up her legs on the couch. “Don’t you dare!” She yelled.
Finn snickered, and pressed a combination of buttons on his controller. The scene on the screen changed from the combatants to follow Reptile as the ugly demonesque character sprayed a puddle of green acid onto the floor of Mileena’s feet, and the Outworld princess began sinking into it. But that wasn’t all.
“Oh my God, not this one . . .”
“Oh, it’s that one.” Finn snorted.
Reptile’s long ass tongue shot forward and removed Mileena’s head from her shoulders. And then, he ate it.
“UGGGGGGGGGGGH!” Aaron screeched, balling up a fist and punching Finn in the arm. “Why do you always do that one!?”
“Because you always freak the fuck out about it.” He laughed.
Honestly, it was nice to laugh. With everything that happened within the last six months -- even more so the recent month -- Finn was thrilled to have just one fucking evening where there wasn’t a problem looming over his head. Thoughts of Kei, of the contendership match, his matches in other places, the fucking Yakuza, all of it had fallen away to be taken over by one miniscule moment where all he was needed to do was kill fictional characters on a video game while hanging out with his wife -- estranged though she was. Finn wasn’t blind, though. He knew what Aaron was up to the second she started appearing in his life again.
Aaron was a manipulative little cunt, though in her mind, everyone else sucked. She was loveable, kind, sweet, but at the same time, a malicious dual-edged and poisoned dagger poised to kill at any moment. There was the Aaron that everyone had known for years: uplifting, helpful, that typical girl-next-door that would do anything to help her friends and her family; the Aaron that the television viewers fell in love with for years. But there was also the Aaron that lurked around the corners of that sweet exterior. When threatened, that version popped up and she became literally the worst person. Right now, Aaron was both, and that’s what made the combination deadly when it came to Finn.
She honestly believed she was here to help him out, and it was true -- Finn was her family, and she was trying to reconcile with him after her mistakes. One day, they’d sit and drag it out like an old married couple who argued over breakfast, but for now, playing video games and downing more than half the bottle of Jameson between the two of them was good enough.
“This is nice.” Aaron said then, picking up her controller and looking at the character selection screen. “Not having all the wrestling stuff hanging over our heads.”
Finn lifted an eyebrow, “The wrestling stuff hangs over our heads all the time, Aaron. At least, in my world, it does.”
“I know.” She scrolled through, and bit her lip, looking at him then and cocking her head to the side. “I hate that it does sometimes. I mean, before either of us went into it again, we at least had time to ourselves.”
Finn’s eyebrow raised, quite high, as he looked at her. “Well it’s not like I’m wrestling every day, Aaron. And I didn’t then. If I remember, you’re the one that suggested and got me to go to Japan to begin with. And we’d still have time to ourselves if you hadn--”
“I know.” She dropped the controller and turned her entire body to face him, pulling her legs up under her. “I’m sorry. I did a stupid thing, and I’ll spend ages apologizing for it. I should have done a lot of things differently, and I was just so . . . upset about everything.”
“You did a stupid thing tonight, actually, was what I was thinking.” He shook his head, chucking the controller back at the desk. And just like that, the good mood was gone. “Don’t think I didn’t see all the tweets, and the back biting. Do you really think that acting like a child is going to help right now?”
“Don’t patronize me, Callien. She hates me. And she hates me because I’m here for you now. There’s literally no other reason for me to be around, and you know if I wasn’t trying to fix this, to fix us, I wouldn’t be. Elena doesn’t like that at all.”
“She doesn’t hate you. How many times am I going to have to tell you that?”
“Yes, she does. Elena DeDraca-Mercer hates me entirely. I don’t know what I did to make her hate me, but you can see it in her eyes. I come down to support you, I sit in the crowd, and she glares the fuck out of me. I even text you, she gets mad. I breathe, she gets mad. I can’t help it when I see a chick who claims to be this badass wrestler can’t even get the gall to reply on a social media platform to me.”
Finn closed his eyes. Sooner or later, he knew he would be having this conversation with her, but it wasn’t something he wanted right now. “You should have just left it alone.”
“And let her win? You know I can’t do that.” Perhaps it was the alcohol coursing through her, but she boldly slipped a leg over Finn and sat facing him on his lap. “I don’t even know why you’re defending her.”
“She’s my sister. You know I defend my family, Aaron.”
“I’m your family too!” She insisted, balling her fingers into fists. “I know how you are. You want to be there for everyone. Addisyn. Elena. Max. Dimitri. All of them. Any one of them calls, and you’re always there. But tell me this . . . when has anyone ever been there for you?”
“Elena--”
“So you get trashed, you couldn’t come to me, big deal. Family will always do that. I’m asking about your career. Who’s there to pick you up when you fail? Kei? Elena? Neither of them said a damn word to you about your match tonight. When you win? Not a goddamn word of congratulations. If you’re fooling yourself because you think Elena needs your support, then you’re an idiot. She retained her title tonight, and what, like fifty people were like ’Ohmigod, Elena is the bestest!’. She has her own goddamned fan club, and she’s selfish because she has to have you there too.”
“Do you know how idiotic you sound right now?”
“I don’t really care.” She shrugged, and she lifted a hand to his face. “I just hate that there’s no one there to support you. You win, you lose, but no one says shit. I know you don’t need a fan club, but look at you. You’re contending for the Ultraviolent Championship. No grats on that. The other championship shot in Phoenix? No grats on that. No one gives a shit, but everyone loves Elena. She. Doesn’t. Need. You.”
Finn stayed silent. Honestly, there was no point in arguing with her at this point. She had a crazed look in her brown eyes, but they softened eventually, and she bit her lip again. She leaned in close and set her forehead to his.
“I do, though. I miss you, Callien. I screwed up, royally. I know I did. I want to fix this, I want to fix us. And if I have to come out of retirement and fight your family just to get the chance to, then I’ll do it. I know nothing is going to change between her and I, but if I could just get you to see that I’m sorry . . .”
He’d been waiting for that apology for months, and now that it’d fallen out of her mouth, he honestly didn’t know what to do. With the contendership, the issues with Kei, and everything in between, for some reason, this seemed like the one solid thing he could count on at the moment. His focus should have been on that title, starting now. But like an idiot, it was focused on anything but. Without fail, she’d won. Just like she intended to from the beginning.
Well-played, Aaron. Well. Played.
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