January 16
8 a.m.
New York City
2020 was already looking pretty good as far as Malachi was concerned. He started the year as the World Champion in PWS Apex, successfully defended his belt at the first show of the year, and won the Match of the Year award for his triple threat cage match at their December PPV, Last Rites, in which he won the title. And now, he was looking to carry his success over to SCW.
It had been some time since he had been seen around the company in an in-ring capacity, but this Sunday he was finally going to be stepping back into competition. What surprised him was that management was teaming him with his girlfriend Bella Madison to take on the team of Bella’s friend Candy and the returning Chris Crippler. With a potential opportunity for Bella to gain a championship shot against Candy depending on the outcome of this match, Mal was more motivated than ever to start things off on a winning note in SCW for the new year.
The morning light shone through a crack in the curtains, directly over the face of Malachi, sleeping soundly in the apartment he shared with Bella. As the beam of sunlight fell into his eyes, he groaned and rolled over in the bed, attempting to get back to sleep. But he was the kind of person that, once he was awake, he could not fall back to sleep no matter how hard he tried. Sighing to himself, he sleepily opened his eyes to see Bella’s back towards him, and her deep, even breathing told him that she was still sound asleep. He smiled as he slid a little closer to her, brushing her hair over her shoulder and kissing the back of her neck. She stirred a little, but stayed sleeping, until he brushed his bearded cheek across her neck and down her shoulder. She shivered, finally turning around to face him with a bit of a sour look on her face.
“...the hell?” she muttered, rubbing at her eyes. “Mal, it’s 8 a.m.”
“Well, I couldn’t get back to sleep. So if I’m up, you’re up,” he said, grinning devilishly.
She narrowed her eyes at him, reaching over to grab her pillow and socking him in the face with it. “You are the WORST,” she groaned, flopping back down and attempting to fall back asleep.
But he would not be dissuaded so easily. He reached across and started tickling at her sides, pinning her down with his weight. “Nope, we gotta get up. We got things to do before the airport today.”
“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT!” she squealed though peals of laughter, trying desperately to wriggle out of his grasp. “You win! Knock it off already! You know I hate being tickled!”
He eased up, but kept his arms around her. “You know, we’ve got a little bit of time before we need to actually be out of bed…” Mal said with a sly grin, pulling Bella towards him. Bella giggled and kissed him, before she pulled back with a concerned expression.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
The room was quiet for a moment as they listened, before they heard the unmistakable sound of paws on a tile floor. They immediately shot out of the bed, whipping open the bedroom door just as a massive CRASH! sounded from the living room.
“DAMMIT!” Mal yelled as they quickly made their way to the living room. “How the hell did she get out of that crate this time?!”
“I have no clue!” Bella said. “We put so many locks on that thing Houdini wouldn’t have been able to escape it!”
As they entered the living room, they saw the remains of one of the bookcases in the middle of the floor, books scattered from one wall to the other...and in the centre, their puppy Luka looking up at them with her tongue lolling out of her mouth and her tail wagging, blinking her dual-coloured eyes.
Mal sighed, running a hand down his face. “We’re bringing her with us to Miami, aren’t we?”
“We have to,” Bella said, picking her way through the chaos and lifting Luka into her arms. “She’s just not trained enough to leave her with anyone.”
“We’re just lucky that the hotel in Atlanta didn’t charge us damages for what she did to the lamp,” Mal said. “The minute we get back from Miami, we have to get her into obedience classes.”
“I know, I know,” Bella replied, handing the puppy to him. “I’m gonna clean up the living room. You better finish your packing.”
Mal glared down at Luka, who just reached up and licked his face. He grumbled under his breath and took the dog into the bedroom with him while he started grabbing clothes from the closet and putting them into his suitcase.
“You know, you better straighten up,” he said, watching as she played with a little rubber pork chop on the bed. “Bells may be in love with you, but if you don’t get your act together you’re heading back to the shelter.”
Luka looked up at him, cocking her head sideways as if she understood him. He rolled his eyes as he folded up a pair of shorts. “Don’t try to play cute with me, you little shit. You’ve been nothing but a destructive pain in the ass since I brought you home. If obedience school won’t straighten you out, there’s no way-”
She let out a little yip and jumped up onto her back legs, putting her front paws on Mal’s chest. Her blue and brown eyes stared up at him, and a whine rose up from her. He was taken aback at first, but when he looked down at her sad face, he felt his heart melt a little. “Look, I know you don’t mean to be bad.” He scratched her behind her ears. “You just don’t know what else to do. New people, new house...you’re just trying to get used to us.” He smiled a little. “And yeah, I guess you are kinda cute. Those eyes are something else…”
“Well, seems like someone’s not as immune to her as he thinks.”
Mal whipped his head around to see Bella leaning against the doorframe, arms folded across her chest and a smirk on her face. Mal rolled his eyes, but continued to pet Luka. “Yeah, well...what can I say, she’s growing on me. Like a fungus.”
“MALACHI!”
----
January 17
3 pm
Miami, Florida
The scene opened up on the interior of the hotel room that Malachi and Bella Madison were currently calling home. Having spent the day on the beach with their overeager puppy Luka, they decided to come back to the hotel and rest for a while, before heading out for dinner. Luka was snoozing on the bed behind Malachi, who was sitting on the balcony with his feet up on the railing. Dressed for the warmer climate in a tank top and board shorts, he raised his sunglasses to the top of his head as he gave the camera a smirk.
“So, here I am back in an SCW ring for the first time since October. Bet you all thought you’d seen the last of me then, didn’t you? Well, surprise surprise. I’m still here, and I’m not going anywhere for a long time. I’ve still got a lot of things I want to do in this company. Right now, I have the honour and privilege of teaming with my beautiful lady love against Chris Crippler, a decrepit old fossil trying desperately to regain some semblance of relevance and...ugh, Candy.” He gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes.
“Hey! You promised you were going to be nice.” Sliding into the camera frame, Bella shot Mal a playful glare, dressed in a simple short white cotton sundress. He just rolled his eyes again and pulled on her arm, causing her to tumble into his lap.
“Fine. I’ll just stick to talking about that raisin-faced ghost of SCW past.” Mal directed his hardened gaze towards the camera again, while Bella reclined in his lap. “I have no idea what museum you crawled out of to make your ‘triumphant return’, but if I were you, I’d hightail my wrinkled ass back there. You’re way out of your depth, old timer. This ain’t the SCW of yesteryear. New year, new guard. And I’ll be damned if you think you’re gonna come waltzing in here thinking that you’re gonna be King Shit again. The way I see it, you’ve probably been keeping up on the product during your time away. And now, you’re seeing SCW go from some two-bit Vegas sideshow into a global force to be reckoned with in the wrestling world. And now, you wanna dust off the gear, loosen up the ol’ joints and try to get back some of your shine, is that it? Well, I’ll tell you this right now - it ain’t gonna be at my expense.”
Shifting Bella in his lap slightly, Malachi dropped his feet to the floor and leaned forward slightly, his eyes blazing with a fiery determination. “Lemme give you a bit of backstory on me. I’m part of another company called PWS Apex. Back in December, we had a pay per view event called Last Rites over in Tokyo. And it was at that event that I beat the holy hell out of two other competitors in a Hell in a Cell match to become the PWS Apex World Champion. Now, I know what you’re thinking - ‘what the hell does that have to do with SCW?’. Well, let me elaborate for you. See, when I won that title, it was the biggest moment of my career thus far. And since then, I’ve had a successful defense, and also won the Match of the Year for that performance. I’m riding the biggest high of my life right now, and I’m looking to keep the momentum going in SCW. Starting by Bells and I walking into the arena, kicking both your asses, and walking out with our hands raised high in the air.”
“But before you go thinking that I’m gonna be hogging all the glory for my team, I’ll just stop you right there. I know that Bells has a huge opportunity in this match. When we defeat the two of you, she'll be straight in line for a shot at Candy’s little Roulette title there. And because I love this girl, I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. She’s been busting her ass ever since she stepped foot into this company, and if anyone deserves a shot at that title, it’s my Hell’s Bells.” Though Mal’s focus was on the camera, Bella gave him a fond look and a bit of a bashful smile as he continued on. “So if you think I’m going to let some washed-up has-been and a moron with the IQ of a turnip stand in the way of my girl getting a shot at said moron’s title, then you are sadly mistaken. We’re not some last-minute slapped-together team like you two. We live together, we train together. Even before this match was announced, the two of us have talked about the possibility of taking on the Mixed Tag Division. So this will be a perfect time for us to get our feet wet, so to speak. Who knows? Maybe Bells and I will get those titles and break my brother and Sierra’s record.” Both he and Bella laughed a bit. “But first things first. Sunday night, Climax Control. We are walking into this match to do nothing less than dominate, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Leaning back in the chair, Malachi smirked towards the camera again, flipping his sunglasses down over his eyes as Bella wrapped her arms around his neck and the scene came to a close.
