Post by Silver Eagle on Jan 1, 2018 23:13:35 GMT
“Yeah…”
A tear rolled down her pretty little face as she stepped out from the taxi, clutching a small carrying bag of her belongings to her chest. She gazed up at the house in front of her, no sense of familiarity about it at all. She was certain she had never been here before, yet her childhood was so clouded from her that she was never quite sure if she had been somewhere and never realized. She had been raised in a travelling carnival, mainly sat in the back of a little caravan filled with balloons and funny little pictures and artefacts to which she did not understand their meaning. It always seemed to be moving, and she often passed her time drawing little eyeballs in a variety of different colours and styles, peering out of the window and seeing the same old sights over and over again. The world had blended into one, and she only really opened her own eyes to the world the day her Uncle came for her, taking her away from reading tarot cards outside her caravan that was lit up by the lights of the attractions. Oranges and greens and blues and reds. She remembered that fondly. More fond were her early memories with her mother, Lady Magdalena, though she did not know she was related to the famous Lasiewicz family at that time. She was just a bird.
All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Life had taken her on so many journeys, both glorious and terrible. She had flown into a world that she never quite understood, and it taken so much time for her to find her place. But when she did, she made her nest and everything was perfect. Her own home, with the love of her life, Sophie, their perfect little paradise on Paradise Island. They had their pets, they had their life, but most of all they had their love.
And now...ugh.
They had their troubles over the past couple of years, but those had been swept away leading up to their marriage. It was the most beautiful day of their lives, a perfect moment trapped in time to look upon forever more. Those memories, those precious memories that would last a lifetime as they spent it together.
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
Except, one of them could no longer remember. One of them could no longer remember the other. One of them could not even recall the others face, their name, their anything. Even when they tried to remind them, show them, prove to them, they merely stood there looking at the flickering images blankly. They didn’t understand. They didn’t show any emotion. They merely said “I don’t remember,” and wandered off.
“Oh Sophie… where are you?” she whispered to herself. She was her rock, her church, her whole religion and now it had all crumbled to dust. She was a shell without a ghost, emptied of everything that made her what she was, what she had grown to love and cherish. Just a husk, mindless, unknowing, more lost than she had ever been before.
I will be with you again
I will be with you again
Anastasia gathered the rest of her bags from the boot, moving them to the sidewalk as she held onto the lead of her prized puppy, Giroud, her parrot, Kenzie, perched upon her shoulder and her Budgerigar in a tiny little cage. She wheeled her suitcase up, which was pretty much filled just with clothing, along with her SSWA World Title and her PW Rising Phoenix belt, her treasures from the wrestling world. She paid the cab driver kindly, and thanked him for taking her on her journey, and waved him goodbye as he drove away.
It had been a troubling year for her, both in career and her personal life. All her friends and allies had seemed to have left her behind. Holly, who she regularly had falling outs with, turned nasty on her after she defended herself after receiving a torrent of abuse from Wellington, the social media ambassador for the Shooting Star Wrestling Alliance. Ana fired back upon him, someone who Holly regularly insulted for fun, standing up for her own opinions and actions, which was something Holly had always taught her to do. Wellington was then suspended for unprofessional conduct, which was fully deserved and nigh on everyone agreed. But Holly, she took exception to it, and after attacking her on Twitter, kicked her out of the home they shared. Or was it that Ana left? It was kind of both. Now all the contact she had was the occasional bitter subtweet. And Holly told Ana to grow up. Figures, really. Kenzie cut her off by proxy, it seemed, and even when Anastasia reached out to her, she was met with silence. Silence for months on end, not even a sly comment. That was until Kenzie released the mother of all promos online part way through the Queen of the Mountain finals, mere minutes before Anastasia would hit the ring to face her. Not on the show itself, not on the broadcast, not to hype the match but leaked online during the broadcast itself. It caused a huge backstage stir in the closing moments before the bout, and it had wrecked Ana’s mindset going into the bout, and although she was victorious, her opinion of Kenzie changed forever. Kenzie was now the Royal Battle winner, with a chance at her gold. Holly was the new Queen of the Mountain, defeating Anastasia in the final and had the same opportunity. Ana received another subtweet for her troubles.
And Izzy… she was a moose.
Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers says, says
Say it's true it's true...
Starling sat upon her suitcase, feeding Giroud a dog biscuit as she took in her surroundings, her thoughts dancing a waltz in her head, considering the targets on her back and the mess she had found herself in. In Phoenix, she had been able to spread her wings, with no messes of interference or politics or backstabbing. She had kept herself distant on a personal level with the rest of the roster, and stayed professional with management. She arrived for her matches, did the regular photo shoots and fan signings and she had flourished, holding the Rising Phoenix title for the better part of an entire year in two glorious reigns. And she had her target, Cassius Reed, and one day she knew that she would get there, after dealing with Chris Andrews in this ladder match in a few days. This made her smile. Her professional life there was something that she could focus on, be proud of and was the greatest distraction to everything going on around her. And it drove her to be faster, better, stronger, Daft Punk song here… But with her wife being there. Her wife who could not remember being her wife… “Oh Sophie…”
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one
And in the Underground, it was very much an up and down affair. She had an amazing run in the Cult Classic, but her place in the finals was stolen from her by Redding and Solas, and now she would be forced to team with them prior to Divine Supremacy. But this, this war that was brewing between the three of them… This paled in comparison.
Twas the night before her long awaited title rematch in SSWA, the contest she had been building towards for two whole years. She was nervous, as would be expected, but she showed none of it as she sat in the dressing room of her wife, Sophie, moments before she would compete against her sister, Artemis. The conversation was pretty much all based around Sophie’s match, and what she was planning on doing to her sister. Artemis had recently been bad mouthing Ana on Twitter, calling her “the worst thing to ever happen to her sister,” and Godless amounts of others things. These comments had taken Ana off guard, as she had always thought she had a decent enough relationship with the rest of the von Licht clan, and the words took her completely off guard. Sophie herself hadn’t even seen them for a number of days, as she seldom took to social media apart from the occasional remark to Ana when she was out of town or to Aurora, who she had grown to idolise. Starling was indifferent to her, but never really made comment, though that may have been linked to the decision loss against Aurora in the Iron King Tournament, a competition that seemed to focus on Anastasia’s weaknesses and others strengths.
I...I will begin again
I...I will begin again
Sophie had fired back, promising to deliver an untold pain to her sister, as well as giving her brand a mental advantage over Defiance, which Artemis would be leading. Sophie was calm and confident, not showing a single bit of worry before the contest, as she often was. She kissed Ana goodbye before the bout, Starling electing to stay backstage by the Gorilla Position as she always did at Subversion shows whenever her wife or mother were competing. She sat quiet as a mouse through proceedings, quietly cheering her wife on as to not disturb the production staff.
That did not last long.
Cheers turned to tears, joy turned to tragedy and Artemis was cruel and calculated in her assault. Sophie had kept coming, even getting up from those moves that had put nigh on all of The Empresses’ opponents down before. But Artemis kept on adding insult to injury and making the injuries much more serious, using both Ana’s and her mother’s patented moves to finish the job.
The whole world fell apart. Ana rushed to her wife’s side in hysterics, holding her hand and constantly questioning doctors over and over to her condition. She never left her side, clutching onto her hand and must have shed her body weight in tears. No one could give her a straight answer, and she must have bitten back at medical staff on countless occasions. It was all a blur, and the thought of it even brought a further tear to her eye in the here and now. It was only when Papa Kaiser, Leon Kaiser appeared that she let go of her hand, as she ran over to him and embrace the Patriarch of the family. She hadn’t even noticed that she had left her prized Rising Phoenix title at the arena, and Leon was the one to fetch it. He had always been emotionless and stern, but the unusually pale Last Emperor was very understanding with her, speaking calmly and reassuring Anastasia that everything would be okay, and now he would keep watch over her. Ana had protested, but Leon was adamant that she fly out to Scotland for her World Championship match, telling her that Sophie would never forgive her if she did not take her shot.
Oh...
Maybe the time is right
Oh...maybe tonight...
The next twenty four hours were a blur, Ana’s thoughts all on her comatose wife. She refused to take her traditional pre match interviews, her fan signings, she didn’t even meet up with Bart Huff as she traditionally did before a show. She didn’t notice the looks from her rivals backstage, didn’t say a word to stage hands, she didn’t even go to catering for her pre-match meal. She just dressed, made her way to the curtain, and fought. She couldn’t quite remember the match, going off instinct and autopilot, something brewing inside of her that pushed her harder than it had ever pushed her before. She was quicker than she had ever been, absorbing everything that was thrown at her and then some. Ashlyn De Luca was one of the best in the world, she’d dominated the SSWA scene and had even felled Artemis on a number of occasions. But this was her night, this was her show, and this was her title.
She was World Champion. All her work, everything she had done, everything she had gone through had finally, finally paid off. But she felt… hollow.
I will be with you again
I will be with you again
Starling took steps towards the apartment, looking up and wondering if anyone would be home. It was New Year’s Day afterall, and it was not like she was invited. She cursed herself, feeling that her decision to leave the marital home was stupid. But she couldn’t stay there, all alone. A house doesn’t make a home, and without Sophie there it didn’t feel like it. It’s exactly how she felt when she won that title, she had all the glory but everything was missing. Her lover, her wife, her world. Apart from a fleeting moment when she held the belt close to her, and hearing her fans cheerings, the voice and chirps of the New Bird Order, she did not celebrate. And the tears she shed were for her wife. She hurried from the arena, only stopping briefly to hug Bart Huff, who was waiting for her at the other side of the curtain. She cried on his shoulder for a matter of moments, before excusing herself and sprinting towards the car she had waiting for her. She didn’t even notice the looks of Misha, Kenzie and Holly as she ran past, though she knew they were there, preying like vultures. There was a line of applause as she ran, so fast that she almost took flight, and once in the car she went straight to the airport, so she could return to Sophie.
She arrived back, still battered, bruised and sweating in her ring gear. As she entered the ward, dropping her title as she gripped her father in law tightly. He clearly hadn’t slept, looking paler and more tired than ever before, but he swept her up like she was his own flesh and blood, telling her how proud he was of her, and how proud Sophie would be that she finally achieved her dream. But her eyes were only for her sleeping wife, and she dropped everything to be by her side once more.
Much had happened in the days since, and the world around her had changed so much. Sophie did awake, but was not what she once was. And now she wasn’t home, she had been taken away and nothing was in Paradise anymore, as it had turned into hell itself. She tried to gather her thoughts of everything that had happened over the Christmas period, but everything alluded her in her tiredness. She needed to go somewhere, but where? She refused to run to her Mother, who was still in her honeymoon period with Chris Strike. She could not run to her Papa, Bobby B. Barabbas, as no one knew who he truly was, and turning to him would quite possibly alert the press, which was the last thing he wanted. Nor did she want to interrupt Jackie and Sabrina, who were joyful and happy over in Portland. Anastasia didn’t have any other friends, she lost them all in the ‘divorce’ from Holly, all she had now were enemies and rivals, and she was forbid from seeing Sophie by the rest of the Kaisers. No family. No friends. Alone.
So who does she go to?
She rang the buzzer, nervous and shaking, cursing herself once more for making such a journey to someone who would likely not welcome her. As the door opened, a stranger stood there, blinking unsurely, not recognising who stood before her with her bags packed and three animals with her. Another peered over her shoulder, eyes wide and seemingly not belonging to her, a face of amazement and confusion.
“Anastasia?” she questioned, the hint of an Australian accent.
“I didn’t know… didn’t know where else to go. You’re the only one who knows anything and I can’t go to Mama, I can’t go to Papa… I j-just…” Starling sobbed once more, and the woman brought her into her arms. There was confusion on the face of both of them as they peered at eachother, then brunette inviting her in with her things, as Ana trod carefully into the building.
“Minnie, who is she?” asked Norah Quinn.
“She is the Heiress,” answered Minerva Janus. “She is in a dark place, and I believe she needs my assistance.”
And so we're told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes
On New Year's Day
On New Year's Day
