I can be the war
You can be the victim
I can be the sum of all your deepest fears
You will either follow close or step aside
In our sites, you can not hide
You know the less you take the more you’ll be to leave behind a legacy
The troubles with freedom.
Off Camera
New York, New York.
5 Years Ago.
There was an awkward silence between them. Austin and Amy Mercer walked down the hallways of the small apartment building Austin lived in. He had no idea what to say, no idea how to act. And Amy felt the same, Austin carried a box of her things, she held onto the straps of her backpack that clung to her body, she looked around and seemed to jump at the edges of the walls as they twisted corners. Austin came to a stop at his door, his hands fumbling with the keys as he opened the door kicking it open lightly, the loud thud of his boot hitting the wood causing Amy to squeak and jump.
”Sorry Amy…” He smiled warmly as his sister swallowed hard and gave a small nod in his direction as she stepped through the doorway looking around. The apartment was modest but a lot nicer than the cramped room she had at the mental hospital. Austin set her belongings down on the kitchen bench as he shut the door lightly behind Amy. She stood in the middle of the room not sure what she should do. Austin smiled and opened a window before turning to her. ”You can sit down you know…” Amy chuckled a little and took the backpack off putting it down next to the couch before sitting down towards the side against the arm of it.
Austin sat on the chair next to it leaning forward. ”You don’t have to be so stiff Amy, this is home now. She took a deep breath and slowly sat back allowing her body to relax. ”Ok, so, down that hallway is the bathroom, the door right at the end is my room, and the one to the right is yours. She tilted to the side and looked down raising an eyebrow.
She bit her lip and pushed to her feet taking her backpack with her as she shuffled down towards the door, the wood under her feet creaking lightly as she reached out to grab the door handle turning it and pushing as the sunlight poured in from the window, a bed, pushed against the wall facing outward was already made as well as a few bedside tables and a TV cabinet with a TV and DVD player on it. A build-in closet was empty and ready to be filled. She took a sharp breath in and looked around as Austin stood and leaned against the doorway. ”Is this ok?” Amy’s lip trembled, her voice seemed to shake as she turned and uttered her first words to him since they left Briarcliff.
”This whole roo is mine?. I have a window?....a window without bars?” Austin gave a small nod again, Amy stepped forward and got on her tip toes, her skinny arms wrapping around her younger brothers neck pulling him into a hug, her chest started to quiver as tears welled in her eyes. Austin smiled, squeezing her lightly as she started to cry. ”Thank you….”
”You’re welcome, but you really don’t need to, we’re family Amy...I’m just sorry it took so long for me to find you…” She stepped back and wiped her eyes and smiled for the first time in a very very long time, the first time Austin had ever seen it. She moved around and picked up her bag opening it to take out a small picture, she placed it down on the bedside table, it was a woman, long brown hair, she looked very much like Amy, Austin raised an eyebrow and studied it. ”Your mother?”
Amy gave a small nod, while they had the same father they had different mothers, Austin had no idea what happened to Amy’s. ”Where is she?”
Amy looked down and her hands twitched as she fumbled them together. She went to answer but her voice just came out in a breath. ”Oh, I get it, you don’t have to tell me. I don’t...I don’t talk to mine…” She swallowed hard and sat on the end of her bed, Austin walked over and reached down grabbing her hand. ”Everything will be ok, I promise.” She looked up into her brother's eyes and smiled. Austin’s phone buzzed, he reached into his pocket pulling it out, a text message appeared on the screen that made his heart sink.
Dad
Call me. Now.
The match it should have been.
On Camera.
New York.
Present Day.
”Well, it seems as if Alex and I weren’t quite the team we believed…”
Austin shakes his head with a sigh, the ASCW world championship sitting behind him hanging up to be shown to the world. His long brown hair is tied back from his face as his hands clasp together.
”Not taking anything away from Ty and Fenris. They came, they saw, they conquered. They are two of the very best in this company. I will say it every damn day. See, one thing that I hate about this business is the constant bullshit grandstanding. Grown men and women putting down and verbally destroying those who they face in the ring. I am all about confidence, all about showing dominance but at the same time, if you stand on a podium, if you look down upon everyone and then the person you have just told is nothing beats you….what does that make you?...”
“Less than nothing…”
“This business has been built on a foundation of respect but its roof is now heavy with childish put-downs and delusional ramblings and it is slowly bringing it all down around us. People like Caleb Storms and Goth have no idea what respect is, and I understand how some people feel about someone like Alex. Alex is arrogant, he really is, but he is also respectful to those who have earned it. But other names?. No. Look at Griffin Hawkins, Ty, Fenris and myself for the real way to do this. Name’s like Teddy Warren and Todd Williams who rarely win matches and when they do they act like gods among men…”
“That isn’t how life works...it’s not how wrestling and competition works…”
Austin growls and shakes his head before pushing up to his feet, and we again get an idea at how staggering he is. His broad chest, his large arms, he towers over almost everyone.
”As the champ, I have to be the example of how to act, how to speak, how to react. I have many people lining up to come for the SCW heavyweight world championship and I won’t turn them down or hide. That’s not how I am. And now, I am going into a match that should have happened weeks ago. Now, it would be easy for me to make a rookie error and look at Kale Smith and Into the void. A match many people are looking forward to. They want to see the plucky Australian against the American monster. And believe me, I would love to give that to them, but to get to that match, to defend the SCW title against the winner of the blast from the past I have to get through Ty…”
Austin sighs deeply with a nod folding his arms over his large chest.
”Now, I’m excited about this match. See I said it before the fatal fourway that I wanted a one on one match with Ty. He pushed Fenris to the limit, he has been the roulette champion, he is amazing in the ring and a great talent and a stand-up human being. Ty deserves a chance at the title, he deserves a chance to be the champion and I’m happy he’s going to get it. Hell, he said it before the tag match. He feels cheated but unlike others, he has never complained, never thrown a tantrum…”
“He asked for a match, he asked for a shot. And based on his histiry I gave it...but that isn’t what happened.”
“Now here we are…”
“I’m sure some people will question why I’m excited about this. Why am I so eager to put my championship on the line against a real threat in Ty West so close to Into the void?. You know, beating a great champion is never enough, I was able to beat Fenris and do what no one else did but in many ways, after that, the real work started. It’s not good enough for me to just stand there and say “I beat Fenris, I’m the best”. No, not my style. Now I need to continue to be a fighting champion. It started in the fourway, it started against two of the best SCW has to offer and now continues with Ty.”
“In fact, I was right with Ty last week, even as he went through his true feelings…”
Austin chuckles to himself and shakes his head.
”I get it Ty you do. You stood there and you said that you were a little angry about how everything you have accomplished in SCW seemed to mean nothing when we all turned up. I understand I don’t want you to think I don’t. But at the same time, you stand there all high and mighty about SCW, about how it “took over” Honor. And you want to call a man like Alex Jones an asshole?. He bled and sweat for a company becoming it;s first champion and championing it, I came in and was it’s fastest rising star. And it was engulfed and taken in by SCW, and all of you...EVERY SINGLE ONE of you SCW “originals” pissed on Honor from day one. So while I like and respect you Ty, you can’t play the victim and speak about how your feelings were hurt when you disrespect an entire company and make it seem like it never mattered…”
“But, you did seem to start looking like you were sick and tired of facing me before our tag match….I can't say the feeling is mutual…”
“Because a champion faces anyone and everyone when the company asks. And if you were sick of being in the ring with me a few weeks ago what about now?”
“But, with that being said, I can understand why you are sick of hearing about Honor. Why you’re sick of people like Alex. It’s because you got overshadowed. See it was easy for Fenris, he was the champion, he stood with his head held high and he is a real competitor and warrior. You though?. You’re a talented challenge but, I can’t let the title come anywhere near you. No Ty, I want to use you to stay sharp and to keep me on my toes but you as the SCW champion would be a travesty and also a tragedy. You aren’t ready for the responsibility…”
“You aren’t strong enough for it…”
“Maybe someday you will be but right now, mentally you are weak. You want to stand there and say you’re not a “bad guy”?. All of us, every single one of us, have a bad person there. Alex just lets it out a little more. You can’t admit it to yourself and you can’t even admit you have an inferiority complex. See it shouldn’t have mattered when SCW became bigger, it shouldn’t have mattered when we all walked in. But it did. It did to you and it did to your mental state. What you have done in the last year is amazing and no one...NO ONE...can take that away from you…”
Austin scoffs and shakes his head.
”Only...you did. You took it away from yourself, You sat silent, never letting your true feelings out until it got too much. Until it all built up. It started when Alex and I walked in and started dominating the competition. It got worse when I faced and beat Fenris, something YOU couldn’t do, something YOU failed to do. Then, you stepped to the head of the line and you jumped in front of Fenris to challenge me. And that was all fine and dandy till Fenris took his rematch clause dragging that idiot Caleb into a match too…”
“Losing that title match….losing your shot….that pushed you over the edge…”
“Then the tag match, being forced to team with Fenris against me and Alex when you had just lost that shot, it all boiled over and now here you are, standing in front of me with the shot you wanted to badly. But it’s too late now. Mentally you’re weak and broken, you are not the man you were and now you want to blame EVERYONE else when all you have to do is accept the simple fact that everyone jumped over you and became more relevant than you for one simple reason…”
“You let it happen…”
“I want you to stand up Ty, I want you to stand up and I want you to get angry and stop blaming everyone else for you not being on top. I want you to wake up and come at me like you did Fenris like you have everyone else. I want the old Ty West, the guy who almost won the damn title. Not the guy who thinks everything he has done means nothing, all because real stars turned up in SCW…”
