Right or wrong
The gym was quieter now.
Not silent. Wolfslair never truly went silent. There was always the low hum of life moving through the building, weights clanking, ropes creaking, the occasional smack of gloves against leather. But it was quieter in the way it got after something unpleasant had passed through. Like the air had been disturbed, and now it was settling back into place.
Alex sat on the edge of the bench near the free weights, elbows resting on his thighs. Sweat cooled on the back of his neck, and his breathing was steady again. His body felt good in that familiar, battered way it always did after training. Warm. Used. Honest. But his mind hadn’t recovered. Shelly’s voice still lingered in the back of his skull. That sharp tone, the controlled anger, the constant need to turn every conversation into a courtroom. She hadn’t changed. She looked the same too, still fit, still polished, still wearing that expression like the world was either beneath her or dangerous enough that she needed to keep her claws out at all times. Alex stared at the floor, jaw tight, hands clasped.
There was a time when Shelly could ruin his day just by existing near him. There was a time when she could dig her nails into his insecurities and pull him apart without even raising her voice. She had been good at that. Too good. Like she’d studied his weaknesses the way wrestlers studied film. But today, she’d walked into his gym and tried to push, and Alex hadn’t moved. He hadn’t exploded. He hadn’t crumbled. He hadn’t even flinched. Maybe that was growth. Maybe it was exhaustion. Or maybe it was just the simple truth that Alex had gotten older than the version of himself she still fought with. Because the man she remembered, the man she could manipulate, didn’t exist anymore. Alex leaned back against the bench, letting his shoulders settle. He rolled his neck slowly, feeling the tightness there. Years of bumps and bruises. Years of landing wrong. Years of waking up sore and pretending it was normal. It was normal. For him.
Wrestling had been his life for so long that he didn’t remember what he was before it. He didn’t remember what it felt like to wake up without pain. He didn’t remember what it felt like to have a weekend that didn’t revolve around travel or recovery. He didn’t remember what it felt like to have a body that wasn’t constantly reminding him of the cost. The ring had been his home. His identity. His addiction. And now… Now the idea of it ending didn’t terrify him the way it used to. It didn’t feel like death. It felt like a door opening. A door he’d been too stubborn to acknowledge for years.
Retirement.
The word sat heavy, but not because he feared it. It sat heavy because it was real. Because Alex could feel the clock ticking in his joints. In his lower back. In the way his shoulder popped when he rolled it. In the way recovery took longer than it used to. He could still go. He could still fight. But he wasn’t twenty-five anymore. He wasn’t even forty anymore. And the truth was, he didn’t want to be one of those men who refused to let go until the business tore them apart. He’d seen too many of them. Men who stayed too long. Men who needed the spotlight the way addicts needed their fix. Men who thought being forgotten was worse than being broken. Alex didn’t want that. He wanted to leave standing.
On his terms. Alex glanced toward the ring at the far end of the gym. The ropes were worn. The canvas scuffed. The turnbuckles taped over and over again. It looked like it had been through war. It had. So had he. Alex exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing. And then, inevitably, his thoughts shifted where they always shifted lately. Dylan. The relationship with his son hadn’t been easy. It had been fractured for years. Alex hadn’t been the father Dylan needed when he was younger, and Alex wasn’t arrogant enough to pretend that didn’t matter.
He’d missed birthdays. Missed school events. Missed the small moments that weren’t important to wrestling fans but were everything to a kid growing up. Alex had told himself he was providing. That he was building a future. That he was doing what he had to do. But the business didn’t care about intentions. It only cared about what it took from you. And it had taken time. Years. Pieces of fatherhood that Alex could never get back. Then one day Dylan wasn’t a kid anymore. He was a man. And he looked at Alex not like a father, but like a stranger who shared his blood. That had been the hardest part. Not the guilt. Not the regret. The realization that time didn’t stop for excuses. But lately…Lately something had changed.
Not magically. Not overnight. But steadily, like rebuilding something brick by brick. Conversations. Training sessions. Moments where neither of them knew what to say, but neither of them walked away either. Alex had learned something. Dylan didn’t want perfection. He wanted honesty. Alex could give him that. The ropes creaked softly. Alex looked up. Dylan stood near the edge of the mat, a towel around his neck, sweat in his hair. His breathing was slightly heavy like he’d just finished a drill. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were sharp. He looked like a wrestler. Not like someone playing at it. Like someone who belonged. Dylan stepped closer, slowing when he saw Alex’s expression. He didn’t speak right away. Just studied him for a moment. Then he asked quietly, “You alright?”
Alex blinked and nodded once. “Yeah.” It wasn’t convincing. Dylan knew it too. Dylan sat down beside him, elbows on his knees, mirroring Alex without even realizing it. Like father, like son.
“You’ve got that look,” Dylan said.
Alex gave a faint smirk. “What look?”
“The one where you’re pretending you’re fine but you’re about five seconds away from punching something.”
Alex exhaled through his nose. Almost a laugh, but not quite. “Good observation.”
Dylan’s eyes stayed on him. “Something happen?”
Alex hesitated. He wasn’t used to sharing. Not like this. Alex had spent his whole life carrying things alone, because that was what men like him did. That was what the business taught you. Pain was private. Fear was weakness. Problems were yours to deal with. But Dylan wasn’t a child anymore. He deserved truth. Alex leaned forward slightly, hands clasped. “Your mother came by earlier.”
Dylan’s head snapped toward him. “What?”
Alex nodded. “She showed up.”
Dylan stood up immediately, pacing two steps away before turning back. His jaw clenched, anger flashing across his face like a reflex. “She came here?” Dylan snapped. “She didn’t even tell me.”
Alex didn’t move. “That’s why I’m telling you now.”
Dylan ran a hand through his hair, frustration boiling. “She went behind my back. She came here to talk to you about me.”
Alex nodded once. “That’s exactly what she did.”
Dylan laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “Unbelievable. She acts like I’m twelve.”
Alex’s voice stayed calm. “She’s scared.”
Dylan scoffed. “No. She’s controlling.”
Alex looked at him. “It can be both.”
That stopped Dylan for a second. He stared at Alex like he wanted to argue, but the words didn’t come. Instead, he sat back down, breathing heavier now, not from training, but from emotion. “What did she say?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, remembering the conversation. “She thinks wrestling is going to ruin you. She thinks I’m encouraging it. She thinks you’re chasing… my brother.”
Dylan’s expression darkened. “Of course she brought him up,” Dylan muttered. “That’s her favorite weapon.”
Alex nodded. “She thinks you’re doing this because of the name. Because of legacy.”
Dylan leaned back, staring at the ceiling for a moment like he was trying to calm himself down. “She doesn’t understand. She never has. She thinks wrestling is just blood and broken bones and tragedy.”
Alex’s mouth tightened. “She’s not wrong. But she’s not right either.”
Dylan looked at him. “What did you tell her?”
Alex didn’t hesitate. “I told her you’re an adult. I told her you made your choice. And I told her I’m not stopping you.”
Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “And she didn’t like that.”
Alex gave a faint smirk. “No. She didn’t.”
Dylan’s hands clenched into fists on his thighs. “She didn’t even talk to me,” Dylan said again, voice quieter but sharper. “She just went straight to you like I’m not capable of making my own decisions.”
Alex watched him carefully. “She came to me because she knows you won’t bend. “But she still thinks I might.”
Dylan snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Alex’s expression softened slightly, but then grew serious again. “Listen. I need you to hear me.” Dylan nodded, still tense. Alex leaned forward, voice steady but heavier now. “You don’t have to do this.”
Dylan blinked. “Dad—”
“No. I mean it. You don’t have to wrestle because you think you owe it to me. You don’t have to do it because of your name. You don’t have to do it because of my career.” Dylan’s mouth opened, then closed. Alex continued, eyes locked on him. “You don’t have to live up to some uncle you never met. You don’t owe a ghost anything.” That hit Dylan harder than the argument with Shelly ever could. For a second, Dylan looked like he didn’t know what to do with the emotion. Alex didn’t look away. “I’ve spent my whole life chasing things I thought I owed people. And I’m telling you right now… if you’re doing this for the wrong reason, you’ll end up hating it. And if you hate it, it’ll chew you up.” Dylan stared at him. Then his voice came out steady, grounded.
“This is what I want.” Dylan leaned forward now, matching him. “I’m not doing this because of you. And I’m not doing it because of him.” He gestured vaguely, like pointing at an invisible shadow. “I’m doing it because I love it. Because when I’m in that ring, my head shuts up. Everything makes sense. It’s the only time I feel… clear.” Alex’s eyes softened. That was a familiar feeling. Dylan kept going, words spilling out like he’d been holding them in. “I’m good at it. And I know I’m good at it. I can feel myself getting better every week. I like the grind. I like waking up sore because it means I earned something.” Alex let out a small breath, almost amused, almost proud. He’d said those same words once. Dylan’s expression hardened again. “And she thinks she’s protecting me. But she’s suffocating me. She wants me to live some safe life where nothing ever hurts. That’s not living.”
Alex nodded slowly. “That’s the part she’ll never understand. Pain is part of it. Not just wrestling. Life.”
Dylan stared at the floor, fists still clenched. “I don’t want her to hate me,” Dylan admitted quietly.
Alex looked at him. That honesty was rare. Valuable. “She’s your mother. She’s always going to love you.”
Dylan scoffed. “She has a weird way of showing it.”
Alex almost smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She loves you the only way she knows how. With control. With fear. With rules.”
Dylan leaned back, shaking his head. “I’m just sick of being treated like a kid,” Dylan muttered.
Alex’s voice lowered. “You’re not a kid.” Dylan looked at him. Alex held his gaze. “And you don’t belong to her. You don’t belong to me either. You belong to you.”
Dylan swallowed, nodding slightly. Alex exhaled slowly, feeling something in his chest ease. Not disappear, but loosen. Like a knot that had been tied too long. “What did she say when she left?”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, remembering Shelly’s parting shot. “She said when this blows up, she’s not cleaning up the mess.”
Dylan laughed bitterly. “Typical.”
Alex shrugged. “Maybe.”
Dylan sat in silence for a moment, anger cooling into something more complicated. Conflicted. Hurt. Alex watched him and realized something else. Dylan wasn’t just angry at Shelly. He was disappointed. Because deep down, he still wanted her to see him. To understand him. To be proud. And she was too scared to let herself. Alex stood up slowly, joints popping quietly. He stretched his arms out, rolling his shoulders. Dylan looked up at him. “What?”
Alex glanced toward the ring. “You got time for one more drill?”
Dylan blinked. “Right now?”
Alex smirked faintly. “Yeah. Right now.”
Dylan’s expression shifted. The anger drained away and was replaced with something familiar. Excitement. Focus. Purpose. A grin crept onto his face. “You’re not tired?” Dylan asked.
Alex snorted. “I’m always tired.”
Dylan laughed. “Fair.”
They walked toward the ring side by side. Alex’s pace was steady, deliberate. Dylan matched it naturally. When they reached the ropes, Alex paused, one hand resting on the top rope. He stared at the worn canvas, the scuffed turnbuckles, the place that had given him everything and taken just as much. He looked at Dylan. “Just remember something,” Dylan’s grin faded as he listened. “This business will take everything you let it take. Your time. Your body. Your relationships. It’ll take pieces of you that you didn’t even know you could lose.” Dylan nodded slowly. Alex’s voice dropped lower. “But if you do it right… if you keep your head… if you stay true to why you’re doing it…” He looked toward the center of the ring. “It’ll give you something back too.”
Dylan’s eyes stayed locked on him. “I know,” Alex stared at him for a long moment, like he was measuring the truth of those words. Then Alex stepped through the ropes. And Dylan followed. Alex didn’t know how many matches he had left. He didn’t know how close retirement really was. He didn’t know if he was ready for life without the ring. But standing there, inside those ropes, with his son across from him…He didn’t feel like he was winding down.
He felt like something was finally beginning. Not a career. Not a legacy. Something better. A bond built through sweat and struggle, through honesty and pain, through trust that couldn’t be forced. Only earned. Alex raised his hands, ready to lock up. Dylan mirrored him, posture sharp, eyes focused. And Alex realized something that hit him harder than Shelly’s words ever could. Shelly could slam doors. She could throw threats. She could fight the tide until she drowned in it. But Dylan? Dylan was already swimming. And he wasn’t looking back. Not because he was running from his mother. Not because he was chasing a ghost. But because he knew where he was going. And Alex, for the first time in his life…Was ready to let him go there. Even if it scared him. Even if it hurt. Because Dylan wasn’t walking into the fire blind. He was walking into it prepared. Alex stepped forward. They locked up. And Wolfslair, once again, echoed with the sound of inheritance becoming something new.
Restrainment
”What did I say?”
Alex pauses closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He shakes his head and fold his arms over his chest before opening his eyes with a small chuckle.
”I told you every single one of you that Ryan Keys was not good enough to beat me. It’s becoming comical at this point. I get put in these situations against people who don’t have the means or capacity to step up to me. At least not in any meaningful way. The professional wrestling business is weird. You can’t always win every match that you should and anyone can beat anyone else on any given night if the circumstances are in their favour. But for someone like Ryan Keys to beat me do you know how many things need to be in his favour? Do you understand the kind of stars that need to align so that he could become a world beater?”
“The amount of luck that is needed? See, if you take the kind of skills that Ryan has and you mix it with a certain amount of luck and Me having an off night and he might end up with a chance. But it’s a slim chance. He’s the kind of guy who likes to talk a big game and thinks he can still live in the past while not contributing anything to his future.”
“Evolution is something that is nonnegotiable in this business. You either evolve or you fade away into obscurity. And that is something that Ryan needs to find out.”
“But maybe I’m being too hard on him. After all Ryan has come back from a very long layoff and losing twice to me is not exactly something to be ashamed of considering I’m a former world champion and the current Internet champion. It isn’t like I’m a nobody or someone who is lower on the totem pole. I’m a legend in this business, I’m a legend in this company. So losing to Me isn’t exactly the end of your career. But after I beat Ryan I was cruelly attacked by the man I beat for the Internet championship”
He pauses again for a moment, taking a deep breath before nodding slowly
”Miles Kasey.”
He grits his teeth.
”Do you realise how much I have to dislike you to want to team with a man like Alexander Raven? I’ll be completely honest Alexander Raven and I do not see eye to eye on many things. In fact we don’t like each other. But even he and I can agree that Carter and Miles are a stain on this business and this company. The main issue I have had with Alexander Raven over the years is that he has always believed himself to be 1 million times better than he really is while constantly running his mouth about nothing while thinking he’s talking about everything. He is a self-important arrogant douche bag.”
“But, he’s authentic”
“Raven is who he is. What you see is what you get. There is no hiding who he is and there is no pretense that he hides behind either. When you look at a man like Alexander Raven, you completely understand that he is that arrogant self-righteous douche bag. And it’s perfectly alright for him to do and say these things. He’s not hiding anything. He’s not pretending to be a good human being while showing that his actions are saying something different. Sorry for all of Alexander Raven’s faults the fact that he is real and authentic automatically earns him a certain amount of respect from me.”
“Not a lot… but enough that I am alright with teaming with him, especially against Carter and Miles”
He stops again and clear his throat
”Tell me Carter, does it piss you off to know that I’m right about everything? Has it sunk in yet? I told you Carter that you were detrimental to miles career. I told you that you took all of that spotlight for yourself and eventually he was going to snap. As talented as you believe yourself to be Carter, we all know that Miles deserved better. It’s something that I’ve tried to get through to him over and over again but his thick pigheaded skull seems to not retain it. He wants to ignore it. He wants to just sit back and allow you to take that spotlight and to take his spot. So I decided to show Miles what he was missing. To show him that he deserved better, but he still didn’t want to listen.”
“You should not be world champion. Myself, Raven, anyone else who has stepped up to you over the last couple of months are all superior professional wrestlers. But you have constantly escaped. You have been able to wiggle your way out of everything and walk away with the world championship and this experiment needs to end. These moments of insanity need to disappear. But, that isn’t up to me. I have my own battles to fight. I have my own war to win and none of them after the world championship right now. Because you have taken that away from me, you have taken that away from SCW.”
“You are why no one gives a shit about that championship any more”
“You are the reason why this company is in the state of that 10 and why this company keeps failing. Because you are a joke as the world champion. Every day that you hold that championship peoples interest in this company fails and faults. And a large part of that is because of what I talked about earlier. I said that Alexander Raven is authentic and that’s true despite the fact that we don’t like each other and I don’t like his attitude at least he is who he is. You try to project this vision of a happy go lucky fun human being. As a good human being. But we all know that that’s bullshit Carter the deep dark secret that you hold inside is a simple one.”
“Deep down… you’re a piece of shit”
Alex growls but then laughs a little under his breath. He then refocus straight ahead on the final target and his main target.
”Just like you are Miles. And I suppose in a way you two belong together. It’s funny isn’t it? You finally show some backbone but you still don’t understand. Over a year ago you made the mistake of turning your back on Wolfslair. You went after Finn, a man who was supposed to be your friend who was supposed to be family. You turned your back on him for the sake of the world championship opportunity. You were willing to throw away a friendship and throw away a relationship with someone who helped you for a shot at the world championship that Carter currently holds.”
“You were told where you went wrong, you were told where you screwed up. And you still just thought it was no big deal. So now here you are coming after the Internet championship after I beat you for it and you’re trying to show that you have a backbone. Trying to show that you are a new miles. But in reality all you’ve done is showing what kind of person you really are. All you’ve done is piss me off. You dare attack me? You jumped me after I beat Ryan? I know it must be very strange for you seeing someone actually win consistently since consistency is something that you’ve never been able to deal with, but that doesn’t mean you get to come after Me. It doesn’t mean you get to attack me from behind like a coward.”
“So, now you get to team up with your beloved to face myself and Alexander Raven. And there are so many people who probably think that you and Carter are a dream team.”
“In reality this is just another sad sorry attempt at you living in your husband‘s shadow. Look at yourself Miles. Really look at yourself. You are a former Internet champion, you are someone who should have been world champion by now but you haven’t been able to breakthrough that glass ceiling. Carter took your spotlight. He took your moment and he’s taken all of your friends and family away from you as well as getting you basically expelled from one of the premier training grounds in this business. And you have taken it at every single turn. And now you finally get that little bit of respect, you finally get looked at as a danger. You show that you have some balls coming after me. And now here you are having to team with Carter…”
“You look like a punk…”
“What will this tag team match prove? If you end up winning this Carter will just take all of the glory. And if you lose? You’ll take the blame miles. Because that’s how this works. I guess you haven’t figured that out yet have you? You will soon. but will it be too late? Will it be too late for you to realise that I was right and that you are watching your career circle the drain for the sake of someone else? By the time you do realise it will be too late for you Miles.”
