Holding back.

[Sabin / Madjinn]

Backstage.

Immediately following the closing of the latest edition of Sacrifice, Sabin– still dressed to compete– rushes throughout the corridor until he reaches the parking garage. There, the lights on the ambulance are continuously flashing and reflecting off of the glass of the other vehicles parked backstage, or just crashing against the concrete pillars. A visible look of concern is on the champion’s face for who was supposed to be his challenger this evening, Allen Chaney, as he is loaded into the back of the ambulance.

The First Son puts a firm, reassuring hand against the shoulder of The Family Jinx, Jennie Fenix; her arms are crossed in front of her as she looks distraught by what has happened, and Cliff Cook, the assistant to the mysterious co-GM stands beside to ensure that the situation is handled with care.

“What happened?” Sabin asks.

Pursing her lips together, Jennie shakes her head and fumbles over some of the words before finally bringing herself to answer, “I– I– I don’t know! I just found him! And I don’t know who w-w-would do that!” she grits her teeth and sneers. Nowadays, it was rare to see Jennie show anger. Allen had been a positive influence for her in more ways than he knew, even in the sense that she stopped taking matches personally, and knew it for what it was: business.

“He’s going to be alright. I…” Sabin licks his lips, and shifts his attention to the ambulance, “I fought him before, and he’s one of the toughest people I’ve ever had the honor of being in the ring with. This isn’t going to take him down–”

“We’re ready to go!” shouts one of the EMTs.

“You should go with him, Tláak’w. The rest of us will figure out who did this. Afterall… He is family.”

“Thank you, Sab’.” Jennie says, and kisses her nephew on the cheek before hopping into the back of the ambulance. The doors are closed behind her, and the sirens wail and bounce off of the surfaces as it departs from the arena.

Standing beside Sabin is still Cliff Cook with his hands tucked into his pockets, and he breaks the lingering silence as the sirens fade into the distance, “Hey, man, I know you were– you were really looking forward to this match… I’ll see to it that you guys get your match, okay? How about next–”

“No, no, no, no, no!” Randon interrupts while re-approaching the scene, and wagging his finger, “I’m terribly sorry about this whole situation, champ,” Randon says condescendingly, “and I wish I could give you time off…but I already had an idea for next week. You and Angel! SANGUIS IMMORTALIS! The undefeated team! The proclaimed greatest tag team in IWF history! You have to defend your titles against THE RAVENS! James Raven! Atara Raven! TAG TEAM TITLES!” Randon nods with excitement for the upcoming match.

Before Sabin can object to the match, Randon is quick to depart from the scene and claps his hands to get the attention of the crowd that has gathered to attempt to see Allen being taken away, “Back to work, people! It’s time to start packing things up!”

Sabin grunts in frustration, balling up his hand…it shakes with frustration from the announcement of the match. He knew that this day would come. He was not afraid to be in the ring with neither James nor Atara, but there was something else about them… They, too, were family to him.

The imagery fades momentarily, only to return with Sabin– Wraith– sitting in the waiting room of a hospital. The hospital seemed… busy… but no one seemed to pay attention to the monster that sat in the waiting room. The face paint. The snarl. There were the occasional noises that had become accustomed to being heard throughout hospitals. The wheels rolling on the vinyl floors. The rhythmic beeping. The paging system which only released distorted voices sounding more like someone stuck under the ocean. Time seems to almost… stand still… or go unbearingly slow. Slower, and slower, until almost all of the sounds cease.

Wraith is the focus.

He rubs his palms together, and despite the monster he is known to be when he steps inside of the ring, there was no erasing the visible concern on his face…but he focuses on something else. He focuses on his next match. The match that will take place on Odyssey will see Wraith teaming with his father, Angel Blake– Sanguis Immortalis– to defend the titles against James and Atara Raven… his godparents.

“It’s… just business. Right? It has been two weeks now that I have been pitted against people that I can call– family. Two weeks that I have to enter a match and know– what I am capable of doing. Know– who I am going to be hurting, and–” Wraith snorts out heavily, “Actually give a damn. But KNOW! That I don’t want to get into the ring and give them anything less than the monster that they know I can be because I already know my dear godmother would beat me senseless if she felt that I didn’t go out there and give it my all.” He says with a light chuckle.

He chatters his teeth a couple of times, that Docherty smirk on his face whilst cocking his head to the side, “I have spoken of it… so… so… many times about my family. How my family just has that– allure. How my family just draws people in. There is not one person that we have ever aligned with that we have not called great, and that is why I know that going into this match– going against James and Atara Raven, we are going to have a match that is going to be talked about for a long… long… LONG time! People are going to see four of the greatest step foot in the ring to fight for the most desired tag team titles in the industry! My godparents– are going to fight to do what no team has been able to do since Father and I took these titles in the first place. They are going to try to do the impossible! And what do I think? Do I think that they are going to walk out as the new champions?” Wraith scoffs.

“Let me be honest here in saying that if– and that is a big if… IF they happen to walk out with our titles, then I am going to be… HAPPY for them! I am going to CELEBRATE with them! I am not going to be– distraught. I am not going to be angry. I am not going to be disappointed. I am simply going to be happy for them, and find the next challenge! Because that’s what I do. That’s what I’ve done. When I lost the Roulette. When I lost Heir to the Throne. When I lost my World Championship, that is what I have done! I have moved onto the next challenge. I have found my way back to the top, and that is always what I am going to do. The only difference is that I… would be happy for them.”

He raises a finger in protest, “However–” the word escapes his lips with a hint of snark, “If they want to take these titles away from Father and I, then they know that they are going to have to bring everything to keep me down… They are going to have to bring more to keep Father down! Because– we… reign… supreme. The world resounds every time I step foot in the ring: you can’t kill him. These are words that are going to haunt them just like they haunt every person I’m in the ring with! You can’t kill him! They are going to be words that you are going to say to one another when that bell sounds, and I hope that you will give me the same thing I promise and that if– when– Father and I win… when Father and I retain our tag team titles, I hope that you will stay to celebrate with us! I hope that you will stay and celebrate our monumental victory! We have been the Tag Team Champions for over a year… We are the team that everybody wants to beat. We are the greatest tag team to ever step foot in the IWF ring. Despite what all those– outsiders– like to say… We are simply better than the rest. I look forward to this fight! And I look forward to showing you… the monster… I can be.”

Flashing a smile at the camera, baring his teeth as if they were the fangs of a predator. All of the commotion suddenly returns to normal, and a short flicker of the lights seems to bring normalcy to everything. The monster is not there. Sabin is.

“How’s he doing?” Sabin asks, lifting his head to see Jennie coming his way. End.