Have you ever wanted something so bad that it hurt?
I don’t mean emotionally, I mean physically hurt. It makes your whole body shake, your whole being ache and break down. And then it turns from a want to a need. You feel like without it you’re going to die.
Then, the bliss of having it.
For a sweet moment, it’s all fine, the pain is gone and you’re happy.
But that is as good as it gets, for every high there is a crippling low and the highs are harder and harder to get, to find and to hold on to. But the lows, they keep coming. Harder and faster. And no matter what it is, that rings true.
The Travel
She hated airports and airplanes. Strange for a professional wrestler right?
Travel was always part of the job, from her home base in New York, near her sister and the Wolfslair gym, to wherever SCW was that week. Unless it was a tour the travel around the US was fast and easy. Back and forth over and over again. But this wasn’t work, this wasn’t business. This was personal. This was an excursion that had been brought up as a whirlwind. She sighed heavily and leaned back in her seat. A large comfortable chair in business class.
Aron wanted to fly in style.
It had been an interesting conversation between them, last week Zoey thought she was going to just be home, training for any future matches. But then Aron had asked her to join him. A trip to his homeland to see his family.
He had business there and he wanted to share this.
From that moment Zoey had been nervous. Hiding it every chance she gotr as the time grew near. The lights above clicked off, simulating “night time” on the long international flight. The hum of the engines low and rumbling as so many slowly fell asleep. But Zoey couldn’t. She took a deep breath and her mind flowed back a few days. Right to the point where her feelings hun in the ballance.
Where the questions in her mind got so loud, loud enough that she had to ask for help.
A few days earlier
Zoey stepped through the door, looking around and taking a deep breathe. The room was full of athletes, the sounds and smells of a gym filling her ears and nose as she sighs and moves around to the far end. Her look made so many of the members working out look over at her, the men giving her a type of attention she only enjoyed from Aron and Miles and the women, well aside from a few the rest were sizing her up. Wondering if she was some new addition.
But, there was only one reason for Zoey to be there, one reason why she would step into a gym that wasn’t wolfslair.
Fenris.
He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, he was in guard, another man on top of him working of position, Zoey shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. Fenris gave a small nod, shifting his hope and rolling over into full mount before spinning and snapping in one movement into an armbar, the other man taps as Fenris rolls over and gets to his feet before offering a hand, and it being rejected.
Fenris chuckles and turns, moving around to Zoey and a water bottle. Zoey breaks the silence looking over at the guy Fenris just forced to tap. ”I would have backhanded him, that was kinda disrespectful.”
Fenris laughs again and shakes his head, drinking some water before clearing his throat and sitting down on a nearby bench, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from his body. ”Maybe, but then again, competition breeds ego. Either ebay, I doubt you came here to talk about training…” He was right, of course. Zoey swallowed and spun around, sitting next to Fenris, her leather pants squeaking as she did.
Her hands came together as she looked down and then back up clearing her throat. ”Your brother….asked me to come with him to Iceland…”
”I know..”
She blinked a few times, Fenris took another drink and continued cooling down. ”And you don’t seem to see anything negative in this? Anything worrying? I mean…he wanted me to meet y’alls family.”
Fenris laughed, Zoey turned her head looking worried as he stood up and moved across the gym. ”Thats what you’re worried about right? The family?....if it makes you feel any better I’ll be there two days later…” She swallowed hard and got to her feet moving away from Fenris narrowing her eyes.
”You knew Aron was going to ask me?...” Fenris simply gave a small nod and went back to drinking his water and measuring his pulse. Zoey shook her head and pushed out an exasperated breath. ”This is just…look..I like Aron and we’re happy and we’re dating and all that but…meeting the family, flying to Iceland…you didn’t think to maybe…just maybe tell him it was too soon?” She paused, waiting for an answer, Fenris just tilted his head and laughed under his breath. ”What if your family doesn’t like me? What if they think I’m beneath Aron or that I’m just some big dumb metalhead redneck from America?...”
Fenris groaned and got to his feet before standing right up into Zoeys face, looking her up and down. ”You’re dumb…” Zoeys jaw dropped, before she could say anything he kept going. ”Aron likes you, alot, you make him happier. You have changed him for the better….my family will see that…and besides…I like you…for the most part….so just chill out….you’re freaking out to much…”
He turned and walked from her, Zoey took a deep breath in and out…
Ding!
Zoey shot up, the seatbelt sign was on, she turned, Aron smiled and held up his orange juice before shaking his head. ”Hey…we’re about to head into a descent…” He took a sip and sighed, stretching as Zoey looked out the window. ”You seemed like you needed the sleep….are you still nervous?”
Zoey smiled, seeing the sun com over the clouds, the sky was clear and blue, the bluest she’d ever seen. She shook her head turning back to Aron with a smile. ”No…not anymore”
Ever Colder
”Before any of you ask..no I didn’t need time off and no I wasn’t injured. I just simply…;didn’t get booked for any matches in SCW.”
The voice of Zoey Lukas greets us, the six foot tall, muscular blond sits forward, her forearms resting on her knees as her fingers interlace.
”I’ve been training, enjoying my life outside of this madness. But as we got closer to the end of the year, I knew I had to have one last match, just one before we go into 2023, and SCW granted me that. See, my last match before this was against Tempest at High Stakes. She is the first woman to go toe to toe with me and beat me one on one. The first woman who is able to say she beat me. Not in a tag match where I wasn’t even pinned, a real knock down drag out fight.”
“And, it served as a reminder to me, a reminder that momentum is so important in wrestling. See, I had all the momentum in the world, I had one loss on my record, one, and it was from the aforementioned tag team match. So as I faced everyone else they fell to me, all to easily. Until I ran into her And Tempest took all that momentum I had. All that equity I had been building as I made my way toward the top of the division…”
“She took it all…:”
“And what makes it worse…she has done nothing with it”
“I understand that I am probably sounding a little bitter and angry right now right? I was building toward something in this company and my career. So many thought I was going to be the second coming of the Lukas name as my sister seems content with just being the elder stateswoman, being brought out on special occasions. And I lived up to that as I faced and beat former Bombshells champions and hall of fame caliber opponents. And all that…all of it…was snuffed out in one moment by a woman who then disappeared and did nothing…”
She tuts and shakes her head looking down and then slowly back up after taking in a deep breath.
”Truth is, that part of it does piss me off a little bit. But, it’s also my own fault. I let Tempest get the better of me and she earned that win. And it amazes me that you all seemed to think that loss exposed me. She chuckles and shakes her head. ”Exposed…that’s funny. You know what it exposed to me? It takes someone biggert than me to make a dent in my career. Something Mercedes Vargas needs to take stock on. See, I have faced a few bigger names in this company, Jessie Salco, whether you hate her or love her, whether you believe she’s a threat otr a joke, she is still a woman who has held championships and has wins over some of the greats of the past in SCW.”
“Mercedes just beat Jessie, the other win I have had on my career here that people seem to forget and take for granted is over Sam Marlowe. A woman that my opponent this week knows so very well. Samantha has held every title she wants, she has beaten the best of the best and I walked over her like she was a wet behind the ears rookie right out of a gym or the indies. So when people see that I have been beaten by a woman who is perhaps, the biggest, strongest woman in our industry and take that as a moment of career death…I question the intelligence of our fellow professionals.”
“I sincerely hope Mercedes Vargas isn’t stupid enough to believe that or underestimate me.”
“You’re not that stupid are you Mercedes? After all you have started a career renaissance. You went from not being able to buy a win to not only earning a shot at the Internet championship[ to end the year but, you also finally finally beat my sister. And honestly it has been refreshing to see. It is refreshing that you haven't devolved into being just talk…”
She shrugs and pushes herself up tp her feet, deliberately shopwing her height as the camera stays down lower making the tall, muscular woman look even bigger with her frame.
”That is what you had become Mercy. Just talk. Like the Bea Barnharts and Char Kwans of the world you had fallen from grace, and you recognised it. You saw it ands you changed it and you have been able to get back some of that shine you used to hold. And now, well, now you get to roll on into the supercard and try and get your hands on gold. And hey, congrats, really. Part of me hopes you go and do it and have one last feel good moment.”
“I know, surprising right? Considering people seem to believe I like Kayla or am in any way involved with her. So let me speak plain here, Kayla is not a part of Wolfslair, at all. The closest she gets to us is trying to suck talent out of Finns dick…”
“So, beating me gets you nothing in the mental warfare stakes Mercedes. Sorry.”
“However, you have to take into account something I brought up, momentum. My momentum got halted by a loss, I could very much do the same to you. I could send you into this huge title match with a loss. And to be honest, beating you would be huge for me, it would help me get to where I want to go. And I can promise you, a win over you is not something I would squander…so lets go Mercedes…show me you still have it and show me that I still have alot to learn…”
