Post by Selena Frost on Dec 17, 2023 23:42:41 GMT -5
Another sigh escapes Selena as the platinum-blonde searches through the unkept field just on top of the hill a short distance away from the LMS compound, her pale hands sifting through the thin stems and leaves. She had heard about this place from Daniela Ray Weathers, the young woman the only friend – and true teammate – Selena had left in the competition. All the others, including CJ O’Donell had left, leaving her even wondering if any kind of ‘victory’ was even possible for her now.
The Compound has seemed emptier than ever before since the last event. For several nights, during her private walks around the grounds, she had heard the Blue Team partying across the complex and seen the lights flashing in their resident-houses.
And why wouldn’t the Blue Team be celebrating? They had won EVERY challenge in this entire competition. Yes, Selena, herself was constantly drifting at the top in terms of overall score, but with only Daniela on her side – because hell hadn’t frozen over yet to have the Snow Queen EVER trust Jessie Lee – one more big event loss like she had suffered in being thrown off the boat would be disastrous for her.
But not only that… it was the end.
The thought causes the young woman to stop her searching amongst the weeds, instead casting her gaze up towards the sky and wiping her brow with the back of her hand. It had all seemed so ‘far away’ when she had started this competition – a second try at the World Series of Wrestling. But now, it was almost Christmas and the end was just so close…
No more crazy events…
No more staying up late coming up with ideas and solutions for said events.
No more contemplating things like logo-designs or t-shirt designs (what a nightmare THAT one had been!)
No more tuning in late at night on Twitch or YouTube to see the ‘latest results’.
It would all be over.
It was strange and sad. What else was left for her after this? She wasn’t an SCW superstar anymore. When she had left that federation, this had become her whole focus (outside of her family). The idea of doing better here, working her way through the best, even as the competition shifted to “Last Man Standing”, that goal had not changed. It had kept her distracted from the inevitable ‘end’ of TIA. But now… the end was near…
“And so I face… the final curtain…” she whisper-sings the familiar tune as she casts her eyes back down at the green patches she had been searching through. Now was not the time to be weepy or whatever! She still had a competition to finish! And dammit, Selena wants to make everyone proud of her, including the man that had given her so much at the start of this whole thing! Her energy renewed, the young woman continues her search for several minutes!
“Come on!” she grunts. “There has to be one around here somewhere!” she suddenly stops as she spots the target of her search, her heart skipping a beat as she stares at the green weed. Carefully, terrified of ruining it, Selena plucks the plant out of the ground, causing a smile to break across her face.
“Found you.” She laughs, though it is a little choked up as she beholds the four-leaf clover, relief filling every fibre of her being. From the moment she had made her way to this competition, she had been hit with the worse string of bad luck she has ever witnessed. From her car breaking down a few miles from the complex, to tripping over herself during that the relay race, to poor Felicia (though that was also Jessie Lee to blame), to several other little things here and there that had popped up throughout her stay here. Hell! Even Jessie Lee was certain Selena was cursed, which was more than what the Snow Queen could handle. No! She needed this ‘curse’ or whatever gone for the finale of this competition! If this was the end, she wanted her time here to end on her terms, not on some stupid curse or hex or whatever!
Now, after taking long salt baths, trying to empower her ‘aura’ with crystals, even throwing salt over her shoulder and spinning around on the spot (it had been a LONG set of months of various experiments), she now had the one thing she had been unable to try.
“Thank you, Daniela.” Selena whispered, gently reaching into her pocket to wrap the four-leaf clover inside of a white handkerchief. At the same time, she wrestles a piece of paper and pen out of her pocket. Unfolding it, she reads the list written in her own hand.
1. Break ‘bad luck’ curse
2. Revenge on greatest foe
3. Say goodbye
Carefully, as she walks down the hill and back towards the Compound, she crosses out the first item on the list before returning the paper and pen to her pocket.
The next twenty or so minutes are met with silence as Selena makes her way back to the compound, her mind still wondering what she would do without the World Series of Wrestling in her life. Maybe she could go back to SCW now? Now that she has her confidence back? Maybe start her own wrestling federation or wrestling school? She certainly has the credentials for it. The answer doesn’t come to her as she enters the parking lot of the Compound, but her nerves are certainly more at ease, moreso as she pulls out her newest acquisition, the four-leaf clover-
Which is knocked out of her hand as she is speared from behind and sent plummeting to the concrete, the woman’s instincts as a wrestler the only thing that saves her as she rolls along the rough and jagged ground, her eyes wide in shock as she tries to regain her composure. Eyes dancing wildly around, she sees the figure responsible for the attack getting to their feet quickly, the platinum-blonde instantly recognizing the assailant.
Jessie Lee.
The TIA Women’s Champion stands before Selena, eyes blazing with disdain, or maybe the black eyeliner (very heavy) is just making her eyes pop more, Selena isn’t sure. Either way, Jessie smirks as she cracks her knuckles, allowing Selena to push herself up to her feet.
“I am ending this once and for all.” Lee declares.
“Why?” Selena asks with a tilt of her head. “Afraid I’ll beat you when this is all said and done?” she eyes Lee as she dusts herself off. “You really picked the worst time, Lee.” She warns, a new, confident grin gracing her features. “I’ve got…” her breath leaves her as she feels her pant-pocket, eyes growing wide before they scan the ground, desperately looking for the handkerchief and plant it holds-
Only to see Lee grinning at her wickedly, her foot placed over the white of the cloth and the green of the clover. “Looking for this?” she asks mockingly before grinding her booted-toe into the ground. The cloth rolls easily enough, but the four-leaf shreds under the boot!
“NO!” Selena cries out, but she is far too late. By the time she finishes the word, ‘Lethality’ Lee has reduced the ‘good-luck charm’ to a green smear on the rough concrete.
“Now what, princess?” Lee mocks but is startled as Selena charges at her with wild abandon, landing a solid punch right into the jawline of the champion! Staggering back, Lee shakes the cobwebs from the dazing blow just in time to grapple with Selena, the two women shoving and pushing each other across the parking lot.
“I’m going to kill you!” growls Lee, the more sadistic of the two.
“Go ahead and try!” Selena shouts back before stomping on Lee’s foot, earning a yelp of pain from Lee as Selena uses the distraction to slam the woman up against the hood of her own vehicle, the AXTGRIFF!
Angrily, Selena tries to slam Lee’s head against the hood, but Lee quickly elbows her in the stomach before spin-switching her, slamming the Snow Queen into the side of the rear-door! Selena gasps in pain as Lee shoot-kicks her in the midsection, trying to drive the wind out of the platinum-blonde! Several more kicks follow, with Lee laughing in-between at her supposed ‘dominance’. What she fails to see is Selena reaching into her pocket with each kick until she can feel her car-keys. With a flick of her thumb, Selena activates the automatic door-opener! The driver-door pops open, and Selena grabs the incoming kick from Jessie, pulling it into the, now open, vehicle! Spinning out of the way, Selena reaches out and slams the door on the invading leg! A loud curse, laced with obscenities that are too vulgar to even be written here, comes from Lee as she pulls her leg out.
Seizing the opportunity, Selena tackles Lee, inadvertently sending both women tumbling into the AXTGRIFF, the two rolling and shifting in the front seats, with Selena able to stay on top to land punches to Lee’s face! Lee, however, seems to use the pain as motivation, for she swings her own fists at Selena in retaliation! Even a few wild kicks are tried – fists and feet literally flying within the small space… to the point that one errand kick from Lee (unnoticed by both women), inadvertently strikes the control box on the car, activating the flux-capacitor-like device on the Kayfable Airlines’ vehicle, springing it to life. The two women are so consumed with striking each other and shouting at one another that neither woman realizes the vehicle glowing around them and the growing loudness of the engine as it prepares a jump of time and space!
It is only when the vehicle lurches that Selena looks up to see, across her front window, a mixture of hyperspace, Tardis-time-tube, and “THEY’VE GONE TO PLAID!!!” flying across her vision! She isn’t given much time, however, to pull the proper throttle and push the right buttons to stop the jump, for as soon as she manages it, Lee is back on the offensive – using Selena’s temporary distraction to bite at her arm!
“What the hell!” Selena cries out! “Are you biting me?!”
For an answer, Lee returns to elbowing Selena in the head, taking the Snow Queen’s entire attention as the AXTGRIFF jerks to a halt! The two women are so engrossed in their brawl that they do not pay attention to where they are. Instead, Lee, sick of the confined space, pulls open the door closest to her and tumbles out, rolling onto her feet and shaking her fists. “Come on!” she screams at the vehicle – or more accurately, to its owner – as Selena tumbles out as well, meeting Lee with a series of strikes and chops, which Lee returns with equal ferocity!
The sound of gasps fill the room, but go unnoticed by the two women, as a series of powdered-wigged men express their horror!
“Ladies, please!” tries one man but is ignored.
“Harlots!” says another. “That one-“ he indicates Lee. “Is covered with quill-ink and is barely wearing any clothes!”
“Uncouth!” says another. “How they brawl!”
Selena is barely able to take her eyes off of Lee for a moment as she spies the décor, clothes and shocked expressions of her ‘audience’. She is barely able to see the date written on a nearby parchment of paper…
In Congress, July 4, 1776!
“Oh gods…” She is barely able to whisper out before she is kneed in the stomach by Lee, who then delivers a standing DDT onto the carpeted floor! Pulling Selena back up, she tries to lift the woman for a suplex, but the young woman manages to punch her in the rips before lifting her up into a suplex of her own! The ‘audience of men’ gasp as Selena jumps to her feet.
“Watch out, please!” she warns the Continental Congress before running back at Lee as the tattooed woman gets to her feet, Selena leaping up and delivering a standing-modified-Hurricanrana onto the congress floor. Rolling through it, and thus slightly dazed, Jessie Lee looks around wildly before her eyes settle on the scroll held by the nearby man.
“Give me that!” she yells out, grabbing the wood and metal and paper scroll/rod.
“No! You can’t!” the man yells back but Lee does not listen, the woman, instead using the item as a club to swing at Selena and knocking the woman in the head.
Dazed, Selena holds her head but rolls out of the way when Lee tries to strike her from above! Reaching another corner of the room, Selena is quick on her feet, her eyes settling on a metallic inkstand. “Sorry…” she whispers. “I need to…” she quickly grabs the Syng Inkstand tray and ducks a blow from Lee, spinning around with her momentum to smash the silver tray into the back of Lee’s head, the Women’s champion slumping to the floor.
Quickly, Selena drops the tray and picks up the scroll of paper, rushing back over to where Lee had grabbed it. Carefully inspecting it, Selena flattens out a cringle in it before handing it back.
“Very sorry, Mr. Hancock.” She offers apologetically before turning around to see Lee charging at her. With a swift kick to the midsection, she causes Lee to lurch back, allowing the platinum-blonde to grab her and throw her back into the AXTGRIFF. Slamming the door shut, Selena rushes to the front seat and hops into the vehicle. With a few quick strikes of dials and switches, the car lurches forward, once more illuminated by that sci-fi glow. Setting the coordinates, caring only about the general location and correct time, she is barely able to set them in before she feels Lee’s arms wrap around her in a headlock!
“You’re fucking dead, snow-bitch!” she growls, pulling on Selena, who struggles to get out of the hold. Through her pain, Selena spies the glow fading from the AXTGRIFF, revealing the familiar skies she had seen before this whole ‘trip’!
Thinking quickly, the pale-skinned woman yanks on the chair-recline lever, slamming her back against it to send the chair back into Lee, forcing the woman to loosen her grip on Selena’s neck. Free from the oxygen-depriving hold, Selena opens her car door and stumbles out of the vehicle, barely able to get to her feet before she hears one last, desperate cry as Lee rushes at her. Turning, Selena catches her and manages to get a foot between them as the pair fall, Selena landing on her back and flipping Lee over her, causing Jessie to land roughly just a ways from Selena into the grove of clover!
Spent and sore, the two women gasp for air, both too tired to fight anymore and both simply staring up at the clouds.
“You’re not ever going to win.” Comes Lee’s voice. “Even if you win this tournament. I’ll still be champion.”
“Of a defunct federation.” Selena shoots back. “Not much to brag about there…”
A moment passes before Selena breathes again. “You’re not going to drive me out, Jessie.” She states. “You could break every bone in my body and I’d still show up. So why not we stop wasting our time with this and let this tournament conclude however it should. And let that be the end of it!” she turns her head to gaze at the tattooed woman. “We almost fucked up history. I think even you think this has to end here without getting anyone else involved. So…” she takes another breath. “You don’t come after me anymore and I won’t come after you. We see this through and whoever is the last woman standing… so be it.”
A second of silence passes between the two women before a gruff exhale is heard from the lips of Jessie Lee, the Women’s Champion pushing herself up to her feet. “Whatever.” She growls. “Just don’t cry too loudly when I beat your ass again.” She adds before marching away. Selena keeps her breath held until she is certain Lee is gone.
With a long exhale, Selena relaxes into the soft weeds surrounding her, her eyes fluttering closed and then open to gaze up at the clouds, feeling her heart slow.
“Least I solved one problem…” she whispers, letting her head flop to the side…. Where her gaze settles on the few clovers in front of her face… and the four-leaf clover right in front of her eyes! Her mouth agape, Selena slowly pulls herself up and, holding her breath, manages to fully pull the weed out.
“Another one…” she whispers in a grateful near-cry, glad her enemy is not around to see her tears. Cradling this new clover, she manages to secure it in another cloth. “I guess…” she whispers quietly to herself, holding the cloth in her hands. “I guess I can be lucky sometimes too…”
************************************************
The next day, Selena stands in front of a black door, reaching up to knock on it quietly. She’s no longer covered in dirt from the fields of clover, but a few marks from her brawl with Jessie Lee remain on her face, including a bruise on her jawline. Despite the situation, Lee had been good to her word, leaving Selena alone the last few days (with the exception of a curse or insulting remark here and there).
Still better than being tackled from behind. Selena thinks to herself before reaching up to knock on the door a second time. A few moments go by before the door suddenly opens and a bald, pleasant looking man steps out.
“Selena?” The Sauce Boss asks in surprise. “What brings you here?” he asks kindly before his eyes go wide. “Is something wrong? Or…” his breathing catches ever so slightly. “Are you here to leave the tournament?”
“Easy, Sauce.” Selena smiles. “No, I’m not leaving. Though I’m pretty sure this ‘Red vs Blue’ thing is history.”
“Yeah…Damn…” Sauce sighs. “Things have not turned out the way I wanted them to with all of this.”
“I… I got that.” Selena offers before stepping back to sit on the porch steps, casting her gaze out on the rest of the compound that is within her eyesight. “I sort of…just wanted to talk to you about all of this.”
She feels, rather than sees, the Sauce Boss sit down beside her.
“What’s with the bruise on your jaw?” she hears him ask, her hand flying up to touch the spot she knows is there, wincing a little and mentally cursing the stupidity of her own actions. “I…” she sighs with a bit of embarrassment. “I tried to temporarily resolve things with Jessie Lee.”
“Oh, good.” Sauce smiles. “So you guys are friends now?”
“Let’s not get crazy!” Selena huffs out. “I mean, we agreed to stop trying to kill each other and to let the tournament, however it will end, settle things.”
For a moment, Selena hears nothing until a small laugh escapes the man sitting beside her. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He laughs again. “I never expected that from the two of you. I imagined it would take a whole state to get you two to agree to something.”
“Meh…more like the thirteen original colonies…” Selena replies under her breath.
“What was that?” Sauce asks, earning a quick shake of the head from the Snow Queen.
“Nothing.” She smiles. “Not important.” She offers another smile to the kind man. “Sauce, I… I wanted to say thank you.”
The remark seems to catch the man off guard. “Thank you?” he tilts his head. “You look like my wife when she’s done something bad and is trying to hide it.”
“Oh…unrelated.” Selena tries. “At least to me talking to you now. No, I really did want to say thank you. For… for all of this.” She gestures to the Compound grounds. “For the World Series of Wrestling, for making and giving out the Golden Tickets, for the letting me be part of the 5-Star Match at the DPI 2. Just… everything…”
A sigh escapes her. “I don’t know, but, every time I’ve felt down about my career – this… thing that we love…”
“Wrestling?”
“That’s the one.” Selena claps her hands happily at Sauce’s response. “Every time I felt upset or alone about it, you were always there with something. Whether it was the latest event idea or some crazy new thing you were working on with XWF or whatever… you were always there when I needed you. The first time… just after losing the world title and breaking the record for longest reign in SCW, I didn’t really know what I could be without that title. And just this year before I came here, my whole world was shaken when all SCW turned on me. And yet…” she turns her head again to look at Sauce. “There you were.” She smiles, her voice cracking a little. “There you were with some new stupid, crazy, wonderful idea. ‘Fight for a car!’, ‘Make a t-shirt!’, ‘Wrestle on a boat!’, ‘Hot dog eating contest!’.” She laughs a little, reaching up to wipe at her eyes with her knuckle. “At times in my life when I didn’t really love this sport, didn’t even love who I was or know who I was, you were there to help me in your own crazy, kind of way.”
“So…” Selena gives a shrug before pushing herself up to her feet, dusting herself up as Sauce stands up. “Before all of this ends and I have to go back to my world, I just want to say thank you for it all, Sauce. From the bottom of my heart… thank you.”
She’s not sure if the head of TIA productions’ expression is because he’s touched or touched with digestion, but he seems somewhat affected by Selena’s words. Either way, Selena smiles before gently wrapping her arms around her boss in a quiet hug. “Whatever happens next, my friend.” She whispers. “Please don’t lose that creative spark you’ve always had.”
“I’ll…” she hears him say. “I’ll try.”
With a nod, Selena releases him and stands back, digging through her pant pocket to pull out a piece of paper and pen, inadvertently sending a folded cloth falling out of her pocket. “Sorry.” She smiles, picking both items up. “Scratch one more off the list.” She sighs, crossing out the third item on her list (Sauce watching her do so) before eyeing the folded cloth in her hand. “Here.” She smiles. “I think you’ll have better use for this than me.”
Without another word, Selena offers one more smile to her ‘boss’ and friend before turning on her foot and walking back towards the depths of the compound. She doesn’t see Sauce Boss look down and unfold the cloth in his hand, revealing the small four-leaf clover inside.
“Wait…” he calls out. “I saw your list… why isn’t the second one crossed out? The one with ‘revenge against your greatest foe’? I thought you worked things out with Lee!”
Biting her lower lip, Selena turns back, walking backwards the same way she was travelling. “She’s not my greatest foe.”
A loud shrill scream comes from, surprisingly, inside the Sauce residence, causing Saucey to turn and rush back inside and up the stairs to the bedroom he and his wife share. Once inside, he finds his wife, the Sauce Spouse, standing inside the large walk-in closest… where the Spouse’s ENTIRE wardrobe has been replaced with a whole stack of a single item!
And on the stack of shirts is a note. “To my greatest ‘fan’ The Sauce Spouse. Kindest regards, ‘The Snow Queen’ Selena Frost’.
Outside, Selena smiles to herself before crossing off the last to-do on her list. “Good luck, Tim.” She whispers before continuing back into the compound. “All the good luck in the entire world to you, sir…”
The Compound has seemed emptier than ever before since the last event. For several nights, during her private walks around the grounds, she had heard the Blue Team partying across the complex and seen the lights flashing in their resident-houses.
And why wouldn’t the Blue Team be celebrating? They had won EVERY challenge in this entire competition. Yes, Selena, herself was constantly drifting at the top in terms of overall score, but with only Daniela on her side – because hell hadn’t frozen over yet to have the Snow Queen EVER trust Jessie Lee – one more big event loss like she had suffered in being thrown off the boat would be disastrous for her.
But not only that… it was the end.
The thought causes the young woman to stop her searching amongst the weeds, instead casting her gaze up towards the sky and wiping her brow with the back of her hand. It had all seemed so ‘far away’ when she had started this competition – a second try at the World Series of Wrestling. But now, it was almost Christmas and the end was just so close…
No more crazy events…
No more staying up late coming up with ideas and solutions for said events.
No more contemplating things like logo-designs or t-shirt designs (what a nightmare THAT one had been!)
No more tuning in late at night on Twitch or YouTube to see the ‘latest results’.
It would all be over.
It was strange and sad. What else was left for her after this? She wasn’t an SCW superstar anymore. When she had left that federation, this had become her whole focus (outside of her family). The idea of doing better here, working her way through the best, even as the competition shifted to “Last Man Standing”, that goal had not changed. It had kept her distracted from the inevitable ‘end’ of TIA. But now… the end was near…
“And so I face… the final curtain…” she whisper-sings the familiar tune as she casts her eyes back down at the green patches she had been searching through. Now was not the time to be weepy or whatever! She still had a competition to finish! And dammit, Selena wants to make everyone proud of her, including the man that had given her so much at the start of this whole thing! Her energy renewed, the young woman continues her search for several minutes!
“Come on!” she grunts. “There has to be one around here somewhere!” she suddenly stops as she spots the target of her search, her heart skipping a beat as she stares at the green weed. Carefully, terrified of ruining it, Selena plucks the plant out of the ground, causing a smile to break across her face.
“Found you.” She laughs, though it is a little choked up as she beholds the four-leaf clover, relief filling every fibre of her being. From the moment she had made her way to this competition, she had been hit with the worse string of bad luck she has ever witnessed. From her car breaking down a few miles from the complex, to tripping over herself during that the relay race, to poor Felicia (though that was also Jessie Lee to blame), to several other little things here and there that had popped up throughout her stay here. Hell! Even Jessie Lee was certain Selena was cursed, which was more than what the Snow Queen could handle. No! She needed this ‘curse’ or whatever gone for the finale of this competition! If this was the end, she wanted her time here to end on her terms, not on some stupid curse or hex or whatever!
Now, after taking long salt baths, trying to empower her ‘aura’ with crystals, even throwing salt over her shoulder and spinning around on the spot (it had been a LONG set of months of various experiments), she now had the one thing she had been unable to try.
“Thank you, Daniela.” Selena whispered, gently reaching into her pocket to wrap the four-leaf clover inside of a white handkerchief. At the same time, she wrestles a piece of paper and pen out of her pocket. Unfolding it, she reads the list written in her own hand.
1. Break ‘bad luck’ curse
2. Revenge on greatest foe
3. Say goodbye
Carefully, as she walks down the hill and back towards the Compound, she crosses out the first item on the list before returning the paper and pen to her pocket.
The next twenty or so minutes are met with silence as Selena makes her way back to the compound, her mind still wondering what she would do without the World Series of Wrestling in her life. Maybe she could go back to SCW now? Now that she has her confidence back? Maybe start her own wrestling federation or wrestling school? She certainly has the credentials for it. The answer doesn’t come to her as she enters the parking lot of the Compound, but her nerves are certainly more at ease, moreso as she pulls out her newest acquisition, the four-leaf clover-
Which is knocked out of her hand as she is speared from behind and sent plummeting to the concrete, the woman’s instincts as a wrestler the only thing that saves her as she rolls along the rough and jagged ground, her eyes wide in shock as she tries to regain her composure. Eyes dancing wildly around, she sees the figure responsible for the attack getting to their feet quickly, the platinum-blonde instantly recognizing the assailant.
Jessie Lee.
The TIA Women’s Champion stands before Selena, eyes blazing with disdain, or maybe the black eyeliner (very heavy) is just making her eyes pop more, Selena isn’t sure. Either way, Jessie smirks as she cracks her knuckles, allowing Selena to push herself up to her feet.
“I am ending this once and for all.” Lee declares.
“Why?” Selena asks with a tilt of her head. “Afraid I’ll beat you when this is all said and done?” she eyes Lee as she dusts herself off. “You really picked the worst time, Lee.” She warns, a new, confident grin gracing her features. “I’ve got…” her breath leaves her as she feels her pant-pocket, eyes growing wide before they scan the ground, desperately looking for the handkerchief and plant it holds-
Only to see Lee grinning at her wickedly, her foot placed over the white of the cloth and the green of the clover. “Looking for this?” she asks mockingly before grinding her booted-toe into the ground. The cloth rolls easily enough, but the four-leaf shreds under the boot!
“NO!” Selena cries out, but she is far too late. By the time she finishes the word, ‘Lethality’ Lee has reduced the ‘good-luck charm’ to a green smear on the rough concrete.
“Now what, princess?” Lee mocks but is startled as Selena charges at her with wild abandon, landing a solid punch right into the jawline of the champion! Staggering back, Lee shakes the cobwebs from the dazing blow just in time to grapple with Selena, the two women shoving and pushing each other across the parking lot.
“I’m going to kill you!” growls Lee, the more sadistic of the two.
“Go ahead and try!” Selena shouts back before stomping on Lee’s foot, earning a yelp of pain from Lee as Selena uses the distraction to slam the woman up against the hood of her own vehicle, the AXTGRIFF!
Angrily, Selena tries to slam Lee’s head against the hood, but Lee quickly elbows her in the stomach before spin-switching her, slamming the Snow Queen into the side of the rear-door! Selena gasps in pain as Lee shoot-kicks her in the midsection, trying to drive the wind out of the platinum-blonde! Several more kicks follow, with Lee laughing in-between at her supposed ‘dominance’. What she fails to see is Selena reaching into her pocket with each kick until she can feel her car-keys. With a flick of her thumb, Selena activates the automatic door-opener! The driver-door pops open, and Selena grabs the incoming kick from Jessie, pulling it into the, now open, vehicle! Spinning out of the way, Selena reaches out and slams the door on the invading leg! A loud curse, laced with obscenities that are too vulgar to even be written here, comes from Lee as she pulls her leg out.
Seizing the opportunity, Selena tackles Lee, inadvertently sending both women tumbling into the AXTGRIFF, the two rolling and shifting in the front seats, with Selena able to stay on top to land punches to Lee’s face! Lee, however, seems to use the pain as motivation, for she swings her own fists at Selena in retaliation! Even a few wild kicks are tried – fists and feet literally flying within the small space… to the point that one errand kick from Lee (unnoticed by both women), inadvertently strikes the control box on the car, activating the flux-capacitor-like device on the Kayfable Airlines’ vehicle, springing it to life. The two women are so consumed with striking each other and shouting at one another that neither woman realizes the vehicle glowing around them and the growing loudness of the engine as it prepares a jump of time and space!
It is only when the vehicle lurches that Selena looks up to see, across her front window, a mixture of hyperspace, Tardis-time-tube, and “THEY’VE GONE TO PLAID!!!” flying across her vision! She isn’t given much time, however, to pull the proper throttle and push the right buttons to stop the jump, for as soon as she manages it, Lee is back on the offensive – using Selena’s temporary distraction to bite at her arm!
“What the hell!” Selena cries out! “Are you biting me?!”
For an answer, Lee returns to elbowing Selena in the head, taking the Snow Queen’s entire attention as the AXTGRIFF jerks to a halt! The two women are so engrossed in their brawl that they do not pay attention to where they are. Instead, Lee, sick of the confined space, pulls open the door closest to her and tumbles out, rolling onto her feet and shaking her fists. “Come on!” she screams at the vehicle – or more accurately, to its owner – as Selena tumbles out as well, meeting Lee with a series of strikes and chops, which Lee returns with equal ferocity!
The sound of gasps fill the room, but go unnoticed by the two women, as a series of powdered-wigged men express their horror!
“Ladies, please!” tries one man but is ignored.
“Harlots!” says another. “That one-“ he indicates Lee. “Is covered with quill-ink and is barely wearing any clothes!”
“Uncouth!” says another. “How they brawl!”
Selena is barely able to take her eyes off of Lee for a moment as she spies the décor, clothes and shocked expressions of her ‘audience’. She is barely able to see the date written on a nearby parchment of paper…
In Congress, July 4, 1776!
“Oh gods…” She is barely able to whisper out before she is kneed in the stomach by Lee, who then delivers a standing DDT onto the carpeted floor! Pulling Selena back up, she tries to lift the woman for a suplex, but the young woman manages to punch her in the rips before lifting her up into a suplex of her own! The ‘audience of men’ gasp as Selena jumps to her feet.
“Watch out, please!” she warns the Continental Congress before running back at Lee as the tattooed woman gets to her feet, Selena leaping up and delivering a standing-modified-Hurricanrana onto the congress floor. Rolling through it, and thus slightly dazed, Jessie Lee looks around wildly before her eyes settle on the scroll held by the nearby man.
“Give me that!” she yells out, grabbing the wood and metal and paper scroll/rod.
“No! You can’t!” the man yells back but Lee does not listen, the woman, instead using the item as a club to swing at Selena and knocking the woman in the head.
Dazed, Selena holds her head but rolls out of the way when Lee tries to strike her from above! Reaching another corner of the room, Selena is quick on her feet, her eyes settling on a metallic inkstand. “Sorry…” she whispers. “I need to…” she quickly grabs the Syng Inkstand tray and ducks a blow from Lee, spinning around with her momentum to smash the silver tray into the back of Lee’s head, the Women’s champion slumping to the floor.
Quickly, Selena drops the tray and picks up the scroll of paper, rushing back over to where Lee had grabbed it. Carefully inspecting it, Selena flattens out a cringle in it before handing it back.
“Very sorry, Mr. Hancock.” She offers apologetically before turning around to see Lee charging at her. With a swift kick to the midsection, she causes Lee to lurch back, allowing the platinum-blonde to grab her and throw her back into the AXTGRIFF. Slamming the door shut, Selena rushes to the front seat and hops into the vehicle. With a few quick strikes of dials and switches, the car lurches forward, once more illuminated by that sci-fi glow. Setting the coordinates, caring only about the general location and correct time, she is barely able to set them in before she feels Lee’s arms wrap around her in a headlock!
“You’re fucking dead, snow-bitch!” she growls, pulling on Selena, who struggles to get out of the hold. Through her pain, Selena spies the glow fading from the AXTGRIFF, revealing the familiar skies she had seen before this whole ‘trip’!
Thinking quickly, the pale-skinned woman yanks on the chair-recline lever, slamming her back against it to send the chair back into Lee, forcing the woman to loosen her grip on Selena’s neck. Free from the oxygen-depriving hold, Selena opens her car door and stumbles out of the vehicle, barely able to get to her feet before she hears one last, desperate cry as Lee rushes at her. Turning, Selena catches her and manages to get a foot between them as the pair fall, Selena landing on her back and flipping Lee over her, causing Jessie to land roughly just a ways from Selena into the grove of clover!
Spent and sore, the two women gasp for air, both too tired to fight anymore and both simply staring up at the clouds.
“You’re not ever going to win.” Comes Lee’s voice. “Even if you win this tournament. I’ll still be champion.”
“Of a defunct federation.” Selena shoots back. “Not much to brag about there…”
A moment passes before Selena breathes again. “You’re not going to drive me out, Jessie.” She states. “You could break every bone in my body and I’d still show up. So why not we stop wasting our time with this and let this tournament conclude however it should. And let that be the end of it!” she turns her head to gaze at the tattooed woman. “We almost fucked up history. I think even you think this has to end here without getting anyone else involved. So…” she takes another breath. “You don’t come after me anymore and I won’t come after you. We see this through and whoever is the last woman standing… so be it.”
A second of silence passes between the two women before a gruff exhale is heard from the lips of Jessie Lee, the Women’s Champion pushing herself up to her feet. “Whatever.” She growls. “Just don’t cry too loudly when I beat your ass again.” She adds before marching away. Selena keeps her breath held until she is certain Lee is gone.
With a long exhale, Selena relaxes into the soft weeds surrounding her, her eyes fluttering closed and then open to gaze up at the clouds, feeling her heart slow.
“Least I solved one problem…” she whispers, letting her head flop to the side…. Where her gaze settles on the few clovers in front of her face… and the four-leaf clover right in front of her eyes! Her mouth agape, Selena slowly pulls herself up and, holding her breath, manages to fully pull the weed out.
“Another one…” she whispers in a grateful near-cry, glad her enemy is not around to see her tears. Cradling this new clover, she manages to secure it in another cloth. “I guess…” she whispers quietly to herself, holding the cloth in her hands. “I guess I can be lucky sometimes too…”
************************************************
The next day, Selena stands in front of a black door, reaching up to knock on it quietly. She’s no longer covered in dirt from the fields of clover, but a few marks from her brawl with Jessie Lee remain on her face, including a bruise on her jawline. Despite the situation, Lee had been good to her word, leaving Selena alone the last few days (with the exception of a curse or insulting remark here and there).
Still better than being tackled from behind. Selena thinks to herself before reaching up to knock on the door a second time. A few moments go by before the door suddenly opens and a bald, pleasant looking man steps out.
“Selena?” The Sauce Boss asks in surprise. “What brings you here?” he asks kindly before his eyes go wide. “Is something wrong? Or…” his breathing catches ever so slightly. “Are you here to leave the tournament?”
“Easy, Sauce.” Selena smiles. “No, I’m not leaving. Though I’m pretty sure this ‘Red vs Blue’ thing is history.”
“Yeah…Damn…” Sauce sighs. “Things have not turned out the way I wanted them to with all of this.”
“I… I got that.” Selena offers before stepping back to sit on the porch steps, casting her gaze out on the rest of the compound that is within her eyesight. “I sort of…just wanted to talk to you about all of this.”
She feels, rather than sees, the Sauce Boss sit down beside her.
“What’s with the bruise on your jaw?” she hears him ask, her hand flying up to touch the spot she knows is there, wincing a little and mentally cursing the stupidity of her own actions. “I…” she sighs with a bit of embarrassment. “I tried to temporarily resolve things with Jessie Lee.”
“Oh, good.” Sauce smiles. “So you guys are friends now?”
“Let’s not get crazy!” Selena huffs out. “I mean, we agreed to stop trying to kill each other and to let the tournament, however it will end, settle things.”
For a moment, Selena hears nothing until a small laugh escapes the man sitting beside her. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He laughs again. “I never expected that from the two of you. I imagined it would take a whole state to get you two to agree to something.”
“Meh…more like the thirteen original colonies…” Selena replies under her breath.
“What was that?” Sauce asks, earning a quick shake of the head from the Snow Queen.
“Nothing.” She smiles. “Not important.” She offers another smile to the kind man. “Sauce, I… I wanted to say thank you.”
The remark seems to catch the man off guard. “Thank you?” he tilts his head. “You look like my wife when she’s done something bad and is trying to hide it.”
“Oh…unrelated.” Selena tries. “At least to me talking to you now. No, I really did want to say thank you. For… for all of this.” She gestures to the Compound grounds. “For the World Series of Wrestling, for making and giving out the Golden Tickets, for the letting me be part of the 5-Star Match at the DPI 2. Just… everything…”
A sigh escapes her. “I don’t know, but, every time I’ve felt down about my career – this… thing that we love…”
“Wrestling?”
“That’s the one.” Selena claps her hands happily at Sauce’s response. “Every time I felt upset or alone about it, you were always there with something. Whether it was the latest event idea or some crazy new thing you were working on with XWF or whatever… you were always there when I needed you. The first time… just after losing the world title and breaking the record for longest reign in SCW, I didn’t really know what I could be without that title. And just this year before I came here, my whole world was shaken when all SCW turned on me. And yet…” she turns her head again to look at Sauce. “There you were.” She smiles, her voice cracking a little. “There you were with some new stupid, crazy, wonderful idea. ‘Fight for a car!’, ‘Make a t-shirt!’, ‘Wrestle on a boat!’, ‘Hot dog eating contest!’.” She laughs a little, reaching up to wipe at her eyes with her knuckle. “At times in my life when I didn’t really love this sport, didn’t even love who I was or know who I was, you were there to help me in your own crazy, kind of way.”
“So…” Selena gives a shrug before pushing herself up to her feet, dusting herself up as Sauce stands up. “Before all of this ends and I have to go back to my world, I just want to say thank you for it all, Sauce. From the bottom of my heart… thank you.”
She’s not sure if the head of TIA productions’ expression is because he’s touched or touched with digestion, but he seems somewhat affected by Selena’s words. Either way, Selena smiles before gently wrapping her arms around her boss in a quiet hug. “Whatever happens next, my friend.” She whispers. “Please don’t lose that creative spark you’ve always had.”
“I’ll…” she hears him say. “I’ll try.”
With a nod, Selena releases him and stands back, digging through her pant pocket to pull out a piece of paper and pen, inadvertently sending a folded cloth falling out of her pocket. “Sorry.” She smiles, picking both items up. “Scratch one more off the list.” She sighs, crossing out the third item on her list (Sauce watching her do so) before eyeing the folded cloth in her hand. “Here.” She smiles. “I think you’ll have better use for this than me.”
Without another word, Selena offers one more smile to her ‘boss’ and friend before turning on her foot and walking back towards the depths of the compound. She doesn’t see Sauce Boss look down and unfold the cloth in his hand, revealing the small four-leaf clover inside.
“Wait…” he calls out. “I saw your list… why isn’t the second one crossed out? The one with ‘revenge against your greatest foe’? I thought you worked things out with Lee!”
Biting her lower lip, Selena turns back, walking backwards the same way she was travelling. “She’s not my greatest foe.”
A loud shrill scream comes from, surprisingly, inside the Sauce residence, causing Saucey to turn and rush back inside and up the stairs to the bedroom he and his wife share. Once inside, he finds his wife, the Sauce Spouse, standing inside the large walk-in closest… where the Spouse’s ENTIRE wardrobe has been replaced with a whole stack of a single item!
And on the stack of shirts is a note. “To my greatest ‘fan’ The Sauce Spouse. Kindest regards, ‘The Snow Queen’ Selena Frost’.
Outside, Selena smiles to herself before crossing off the last to-do on her list. “Good luck, Tim.” She whispers before continuing back into the compound. “All the good luck in the entire world to you, sir…”