Ben, if you want this to work, I need something from you... Need something from me, pretty common phrase to me, but those words coming from the mouth of Rinoa Williams in a private conversation a while ago. I won't lie, I rolled my eyes, and thought I was gonna get sent on a wild goose chase, but she said she needed it from Greece. Thought sod it, if I can't find it, I can at least get Evie away for a bit. Woman loved to travel, so I thought why not. I explained everything to Evie, and she wasn't best pleased to know we was going there for a box, a box that could have had anything in, but she was pleased that we could have ten days in the sun before looking for this thing. Well, I got it, time to hand it over.
I waited till late on the night on day one of the cruise, not long after the ship had set sail. There was method in my madness. People had tickets for Supernova II, their eyes would be distracted watching the SCU talent and it had some big matches. This way, I could get this thing done and dusted and not have something in the box that could potentially get me in trouble. Besides, I had to do it when Kedron would not be lurking. Witches do sleep, ya know and Rinoa was pretty good at using her own kinda magic to stop Kedron knowing when she was around me.
I waited patiently at the far end of the ship, far from where Supernova II was taking place, but I could still hear the noise in the distance. Ten minutes passed holding that box till Rinoa made her entrance.
"Did you find it?" She asked eagerly as she stepped from the shadows behind me.
"I did." I replied turning on my heels to look at the gothically dressed woman.
I reach my hands out, holding old the small wooden box, covered in what looks like magical warding's.
"I hope it didn't cause you too much trouble to retrieve it." Rinoa says as she takes the box from my hand.
Too much trouble? Too much trouble, you're having a laugh love. This is what happened.
Greece last week.
There was a reason you never heard from me last week talking about my match and this was the exact reason.
"Ben, do you have any idea where we are?" Evie's voice can be heard saying.
The scene was dark, night time somewhere in Greece and the wind howled around Evie and I as my eyes was squinted towards a map, not a glossy map, this was a hand drawn map by the fair hand of Rinoa, handed to me along with another item I would need for this question. Torches rested in both Evie and I's hand, a powerful white beam from each lighting the way. My eyes bop between the map and the area around, my finger pointing at a river in front.
"That must be the river on the map." I say proudly as I look at Evie.
"That's a squiggle of blue on the map." Evie replies to me. "Knowing that witch, that could be a fucking serpent about to bite your head off."
"I don't see a serpent." I tell Evie with a smile. "I do see a river though."
I quickly take Evie by the arm and move towards the river but Evie stops short, stopping me in my tracks at the edge of a cliff.
"I might be wrong Ben, but I get this gut feeling I know that river." She says as she looks at me. "I think that's the River Styx."
I couldn't help but smile on the inside as I looked at her.
"Babe, that's a myth." I say, still trying to keep a straight face.
"You know a lot of Greek mythology is actually true, right?" She tells me with a confident look on her face. "Everything comes from somewhere."
"Probably comes from some bloke in a boozer." I jokingly say. "But I am dealing with people who believe in this stuff. Either way, if this is the squiggle on the map, need to look for a pathway down the cliff opposite a T."
Hearing that, Evie taps me on the shoulder, pointing towards the water where a rock formation just peering out from the river in the shape of a T can barely be seen.
"Good spot." I say impressed. "Now let's hope we're on the right side of the river or we're in the underworld or something."
Flashing the torch around in my hand, my eyes look for a nearby path. A smile passes over my face as I spot a ledge, just what we're looking for as a wave the torch up and down, catching Evie's attention. Evie nods towards me, no words needed as we carefully made out way towards the ledge.
"What are we even looking for?" She asked me softly.
I wave my torch around, looking for something, before finally resting on a symbol, the crest of Kedron Williams, carved in to the rock face.
"That." I tell her.
"Now what?" She replies with genuine confusion.
I reach in to my pocket, reaching out a vile of something thick and red and hold it up to Evie.
"I got this along with the map from Rinoa." I explain to Evie.
"That looks a shit ton like blood Ben." Evie says to me on closer inspection. "And trust me Ben, I know what blood looks like when I see it."
This is not a time for me to feel sick, standing on a ledge on a cliff, but damn it, I felt really sick, took a lot for me not to spray the rock face with a whole host of me, but I remember Rinoa's instructions. Pour it on the symbol and wait. I did as instructed. I opened the screw cap on the top with a queasy feeling in my stomach and poured it over the crest. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as the rock face below me faded away and in a small whole sat a wooden box. I didn't know how long the wall was gonna stay that way so I reached in and I grabbed that box, but something got my attention.
"Can you hear that?" I asked Evie. "It's like a faint thump."
Curiosity got the best of me as I put my hear next to the box, and there it went again, thump! Thump! Thump!
"Holy shit!" I yelled as I instinctively threw the box over my shoulder.
"Thank God Evie had the state of mind, the reflexes and the balance to swing her body around and catch it with one hand, or you'd have been screwed" I tell Rinoa as the scene cuts back to modern times.
Rinoa had listened to my story with interest, occasionally nodding her head.
"Your wife was correct." She said finally, her silence broken after patiently listening to my tale. "It was the River Styx."
"Well, you got what you want now." I say with relief that this was done. "I hope whatever is in that box helps your cause or makes your potion or whatever it is I need to do to get his soul back."
I take a few steps away from Rinoa, but once again, curiosity gets the better of me, forcing me to turn back.
"Two things though..." I say. "What was in that tube? Because the missus thinks it was blood, and what's in the box?"
"Do you really wanna know?" Rinoa asks me without changing her tone....
I guess you guys really wanna know too, huh? Better watch Kedron's promo for that one.
My schedule is a little less than most, thanks to recovering from a serious illness and the staff being cautious with me, so I spend a lot of time with my wife. You'd think that would get tiresome but it never did. Even the simple things with Evie were bright sparks. This cruise ship was a chance to do that.
I looked across at her, dressed in just a white robe, watching as someone give my wife a pedicure. I couldn't mock her, I too was dressed in a matching white rope but the thought of a stranger touching my feet just didn't do it for me. Even with ankle injuries, I wasn't a fan of doctors groping my feet. My eyes fell on her relaxed look, a smile instinctively breaking over my face.
"You look like the cat that's got the cream." She says as she turns her head to the left to stare in to my eyes.
I'd been that cat since the day I met her, but little things still made me smile. Nothing was ever routine with my wife, every day I would find something new to look at her and smile about. Seeing her on the Summer XXXTreme VII cruise at a spa was something new for me to smile about. I didn't go to the spa with her when we was on dry land, just wasn't something I'd do. She'd go to the spa, I'd go to the bar, watch a game or something. As much as she tried to be interested in Football... Real football, not the American kind, she often found herself drifting off in the second half, and me at a spa had the same effect but we couldn't turn down the couples package on the ship.
"I am." I told her with a wider grin. "I got some peaceful relaxing time with you. I dunno if you noticed but I'm pretty popular on this ship thingy."
She didn't need reminding of that, it's been pretty standard for me to get mobbed on these things. I think I've broke the record for the amount of selfies taken already on this boat.
"I worked that one out with all those screaming fan girls." She says with a slight sarcasm in her Australian accent. "Oh Ben, Ben, please let me have a picture with you, I'll die if I don't."
I couldn't help but laugh out loud at Evie's mocking tone. I know she only meant that fifty percent but knew she could be protective of me. She knew I wouldn't screw around on her at all, she's been sceptical through this whole Rinoa and Kedron thing, but trusted me enough to get on with it and sort things out.
"What can I say babe?" I quickly shoot back with a smile to match. "Every teenage girls dream. It's the smile."
I look Evie directly in the eye, flashing off the aforementioned smile towards her. I knew even when she was mad at me, she would melt just a little with that smile. I picked up a thing or two from her about body language and could see she was about to smile back at me, even though she was fighting it hard. Thankfully, a lucky break happened as a massage therapist walked in to the room.
"Mr and Mrs Jordan, your room is ready." The young blonde woman says, her eyes darting between us.
Both my wife and I stand on our feet and let the woman lead us towards a side room.
"Please lay on the tables and someone will be with you shortly." She instructs us.
We did as we were told, I chose the table to the right while Evie took the left hand one, the white robes hitting the floor at the same time. I look across at her.
"Don't you miss this?" I ask her in a soft tone.
"Getting a massage?" Her confused tone came back across the room at me.
"Nah, the thrill of getting ready for a big match." I reply quickly. "You know, the excitement, the anticipation, knowing you gotta go out there and sell the match, get the fans to feel something before stepping in to that ring against an enemy and walking away feeling like you've done something special?"
I looked at her as a frown slowly crept over her face, her eyes looking back at him.
"Have you been drinking?" She asks me in a mockingly tone.
"Not yet." I tell her "There's always later for that, but I know you. You're a competitor, not a house wife. You love the thrill of getting your hands dirty and proving you're better at something than someone else. Me, I'm a lazy git, we know this, I could happily sit by the lake all day long and think nothing of it, but you like getting ya hands dirty."
A honest look passes over her flawless skin as she stares back in to my eyes.
"Miss it..." She questions herself. "Sometimes, but I'm starting to enjoy the quieter life and watching my man get in the ring and mix it up. I don't need to be in SCW, I've done what I've wanted to in wrestling, I've been the top champion, there's not a lot more I need to do. Besides, the second I put those boots on again, Crystal will be calling my name again and I don't wanna deal with her shit."
"I'm starting to feel the same." I admitted to her. "Kinda running out of things to do there. I mean I know I got Fenris calling on me to take him up on a match, but there's two ways that goes. He kicks my head off in to the middle of next year, or I somehow manage to beat him and people open their eyes and all of a sudden, I'm in the spotlight and people are looking at me to step up against Austin James Mercer or Senor Vinnie."
"And why shouldn't you be?" She responded with more than an air of seriousness about her. "You've been here for years, had one title shot against J2H, who was clearly the best World Champion SCW has ever seen, one shot in all those years and you've watched people show up and jump ahead of you, talking about how they deserve to be at the top when they haven't put the work in."
I knew in my heart this was a situation I always wanted to avoid. I was the man in ACW, I won everything, held titles for a year at a time, I was unstoppable, I was unbeatable and when ACW closed it's doors and merged with SCW, I became a little fish in a big pond. You could say I was popular, that I was looked at as a possible World champion, but out of the people I came in with, I bombed massively. I looked up at the people fighting for that championship and I just didn't want it. I was newish to wrestling then, and these guys have busted their arses for a long time to even be there. I was coming in with the hype of being the best ACW had and I beat all in SCW put in front of me, but something didn't click for me when it came to looking at that top title. I became a tag team wrestler and I was ok with that. The top gold just never sung out for me. Maybe it was because it was a time where everyone and their dog was demanding title shots and I didn't wanna be like them. I didn't like those people, I didn't wanna be them.
"I think I missed my chance at the whole World Title scene." I admit to her honestly. "If it was gonna happen, it would have happened by now. Talent you got in here like Fenris, Austin James Mercer, Senor Vinnie, I can't keep up with them anymore babe. I need to just get myself involved in things below that level and be the best at that rather than try and break in to somewhere I don't belong and make a complete tit of myself."
I looked at Evie grit her teeth at the thought of me being anywhere less than as good as the people I mentioned. She had more faith in me than I had in most things at times.
"I think you're selling yourself short." She tells me with a tinge of disappointment in her tone.
Hated hearing that tinge of disappointment, but to me, these guys were super heroes of wrestling and I was more the guy in the jumped up suit that always loses in the end.
"Austin, Fenris, Vinnie." I say while looking in her eyes. "These are a breed of people I'm not up there with. These are people who are superhuman and I'm just not there with them at the moment. I need to deal with Kedron first, and he might have picked up some decent wins this cycle if I didn't mess with him, he'll be more in their thoughts than I will be, then you got Jake Raab and Ty West, winner putting themselves in line next. Fact is Eves, I'm at the back of a very long line here and it's getting longer. I'm just a solid hand who can fill cards from time to time, ain't worth worrying about things I can't get hold of."
I was if nothing else, a realist. I coulda got a shot a long time ago, but I've been overlooked for a lot of people. I like Jake, and Ty, but should they have the chance of getting ahead of me when I rarely lose? Maybe this is what has soured me on the thought, the fact that I spend a lot of time getting overlooked, it just isn't worth it to me. Maybe it's now a confidence thing.
"You know you haven't lost a lot in your SCW career." Evie tells me with a serious look. "You don't lose many matches and they will open their eyes soon enough, especially when you beat Kedron and end this shit."
"Maybe babe." I say trying to fill my voice with more confidence then I have. "We'll see."
That set the wheels turning in my head as the massage therapists walked in to the room. Could one day I find the inner confidence to be a World Champion... Doubtful.
"You got this..." Evie whispers in my ear.
The moon shines down on the deck of the ship as a crowd gathers below one of the decks. Another familiar voice can be heard.
"Ladies and gentlemen." The voice of Justin Decent can be heard saying. "Please welcome Mr. Ben Jordan!"
"Blame it on the Boom Boom" echoes around the outside of the ship and I look at Evie standing next to me and move forward, Evie hanging towards the back of the ship behind me. I quickly move to the front and look down, looking at people as far as the eye can see. Nerves run through my body as I lift my hand to the crowd, each person there to see me talk about Summer XXXTreme VII. Justin looks at me, handing me the microphone from his hand.
"That was nerve wracking just introducing you." He says softly in my ear. "So good luck."
"No pressure then." I reply with a smile, away from the microphone.
I move to the front of the deck overlooking the people looking in my direction as the music stops.
"So this is what it feels like for a rockstar to be looking out at the crowd." I say with a smile. "Anyway, alright people!"
The crowd cheer in response, the sheer noise taking me back slightly.
"Blimey that was loud." I say off the microphone, looking back at Evie.
Evie points to her ear, showing me that she is struggling to hear and I turn back to the crowd.
"First off, I wanna thank you all for coming out here and listen to me have a chat and for spending your cash to come here, spend a week with us and have a good time." I say with a sincere nod. "Without you guys, SCW wouldn't be here so on behalf of myself, the staff, the locker room, the guys you don't see on camera too, thank you."
I bow my head in a nod to a polite cheer. An SCW chant starts to ripple through the crown and I take a few seconds to let that pass.
"This event actually means more to be than you know." I tell the crowd. "See I took a little bit of time out a while ago, not long after I moved to SCW, I needed to re-adjust to a lot of things. I was a Cockney boy up there in Canada, before moving to Las Vegas and I burned out pretty damn quick, within about a year, because the week after Summer XXXTreme II, I was facing Casey Williams for the ACW World title on their last ever show, which I won. The next few months was a bit overwhelming for me and I took a little time away to sort things out, but I returned at this very event, at Summer XXXTreme III, introduced by Drake Green, where I signed a contract to return as a SCW star. We won't talk about Travis Nathaniel Andrews cheap shot after I signed that contract but that's when I started adjusting to SCW life, at Summer XXXTreme III."
I hold up three fingers to the crowd.
"Fast forward one year." I tell the crowd with a smile. "Probably the rivalry you remember me for more than anything, came to a head at Summer XXXTreme IV... Team BJ Vs The Members of The Elders. Jon Dough and Eyesnsane, yep that guy who appeared at Supernova II the other night, remember that rivalry?"
The crowd cheer as I nod and smile.
"One of the best tag team rivalries in the history of SCW, but Jamie Dean and I defended those Tag Team championships that night against our biggest rivals." I say proudly. "In a match I was proud to be a part of. Summer XXXTreme V, I was still teaming with Jamie, I was still a tag team champion, but that was a match too far because Jamie and I lost the belts that night to The Bad Boys, which reminds me, Mickey, you drunk Paddy git, welcome back!"
I wait as a Welcome Back Mickey chant starts.
"Me and Mickey have been friends since we was kids." I tell the crowd. "Our careers might have taken different paths, and maybe we don't talk as much as we used to, but we're brothers at the end of the day, brothers fight and Summer XXXTreme V proved that, and I was happy to share the ring with a friend I've known for more years than I care to admit, and with a friend who always had my back, regardless of what went down in the past. That made that night special for me."
I look around the crowd, looking at the eagerness on their faces, waiting for my next words.
"And last year, wow!" I say with a wide smile. "Me, the old frenemy in Jon Dough, Roulette championship on the line, Lions Den match and I because a freaking champion!"
The crowd cheer loudly as I clench my fist and punch the air.
"I became Roulette champion." I say proudly. "You look at those Summer XXXTreme events, I return with an intro from the legend that is Drake Green, I am involved in championship matches against friends, I seriously love this event, I love being around you lot and I feel that I do some of my best work out on the open ocean. Everything I do at these events means something to me, I've never been thrown in a random match, everything has meant something and the match coming up for me on Sunday at Summer XXXTreme VII means something too."
I decide to take a more serious approach as I continue.
"For almost the last seven months of my life, it has been haunted." I tell the crowd. "Haunted by one man, my life has revolved around that person more than I wanna say, but Kedron Williams has turned me from good old fun loving Ben, to Ben with a dark side. It was a Ben that no one liked to see. I mean you look at the last few weeks, the distractions I've played with Kedron, just to get him to lose a match or two, I've done things I would never usually do to an opponent, but you know what...?"
I take a deep breath as I look around the crowd.
"Good!" I say loudly. "I'm glad I can get in to his head and cost him these things."
The crowd unsurprisingly cheer at my comment.
"See, I've had enough of Kedron Williams haunting me." I tell the crowd seriously. "I'm sick of him messing with me and although I don't have the power to do it from a distance, or that much of a coward to do it from a distance, I will do things in my own way and after all those months of dealing with him, enough was enough and I wanted to get up close and cost him everything. You can have all the magic in the world but if someone punches you square in that mush of yours, you're gonna feel it and Kedron, you white eyed son of a witch, you felt it and you know I'm about and serious. There is gonna be no ifs, buts or ands, it's gonna be a time to end it. I'm tired of the games and I got a pretty good record at Summer XXXTreme shows and I'm gonna add to that one on Sunday night in front of all you good people."
I point around the crowd.
"See, this one is for all of you." I say as I look quickly at my watch. "This one is for each and every one of you that have ever felt victimized, this one is for each and every one of you that likes to see the good guy win. This one is not gonna be for the faint hearted because this Ben Jordan is going on a witch hunt and it will end on Sunday when I defeat Kedron Williams for the last time."
I take another quick look at my watch.
"Now it's been an absolute pleasure to be around you good people." I tell them "but it's time for me to get a wriggle on. No doubt you guys will bump in to me around the ship, but for now, it's time to dash. Enjoy the rest of your night."
I quickly wink.
"Laters people." I say with a wave.
As Blame it on the Boom Boom starts to play again, I wave to the crowd for the last time before moving my way back towards Evie, putting my arms around her.
"How'd I do?" I ask her.
"Not bad at all." She says with a nod.
I take another glance at my watch.
"Right, I'll be back with ya in a few hours." I tell Evie. "You sure you don't mind?"
Evie shakes her head towards me.
"Tradition." She says with a nod.
I quickly plant my lips on hers, stroking her cheek and smiling before dashing off.
The camera cuts to Samantha Marlowe, standing in the media area, talking to reporters as others snap pictures of the former Bombshell Roulette champion when I quickly appear on the scene. I tap Sam on the shoulder, causing her to turn with a look of confusion.
"Ben?" She says with her Texas tone. "What are you doing here?"
"Picking you up." I tell her confused looking face.
"For what?" She asks, not following anything I was saying.
"Tradition." I respond with a wink. "But I literally mean picking you up cause we're gonna be late."
"What for?" She asks, her confusion growing.
"You ask a lot of questions." I tell Sam as I lean down.
I quickly move in close and lift Sam over my shoulder with a fireman's carry, holding her over my wide shoulder.
"Ben!" She yells out, but I ignore her, turning to the reporters.
"She'll be back with you guys in a couple of hours." I tell them. "But you know, tradition!"
I quickly move away from the reporters at pace leaving everyone confused.
So you're confused too, eh? I guess you better go watch Sam Marlowe's promo to end that confusion!
