Pawn.

[Angel Blake]

Behind closed eyes I saw her again, her long, beautiful black hair that fell past her shoulders, her dark eyes that always radiating with such emotion, her form so perfect it pained you to look at her too long.

Then I opened them and saw Amber…

So frail, so weak, she stared at me from behind battered eyes and a beaten body, her hair a mess atop her head like a child waking from a nap. She reached out for me and her touch felt cold to my skin, withdrawn she looked shaken. She could feel me slipping away again.

”Angel ?”

I try so hard to think of a single moment she truly made me happy, a single instant where I knew this is who I wanted to spend forever with and then I close my eyes again and I see her…

I see her smile, hear her laugh, feel her soft touch and her warm embrace and I yearn to feel it again. My eyes open to see Amber still there, still yearning for me, still reaching for what perceives is my love and slowly it dawns on me…

I have no further use for her.

I know I should feel pain, sadness, I know that I should feel something but I can’t help it, as much as I want to love her, give in to her, feel something more for her than a carnal desire I can’t bring myself to do it. She’s a pawn in my game and now that she is without gold and without drive she is without my love…

”Angel is something wrong?”

My phone chimes in the distance and Amber shoots an evil glare in the general direction.

”No.”

”Please talk to me, I feel like I’m losing you.”

I turn from her with my eyes closed and visions flash before my eyes of days at the beach, sitting side by side at recitals, visions of a happy, loving family, visions of everything I gave up to become what I am today…

She touches me.

”I don’t want to lose you.”

I look at her, at my greatest creation with only one question on my mind.

”Who said you ever had me?”

She shrinks back as I pull my arm free from her. I find my phone sitting by the door and quickly pull up the message, my heart pumps with anticipation as the recent message flashes before my eyes and then it stops…

We need to talk, son.
-Simon de Montfort

I close my eyes and all I see is red.

-X-
Loneliness, my old friend…

”Promises, promises, promises…”

“Funny how they only matter when their broken… And who broke them is all a matter of perspective…”

Suddenly my cold steely glare holds you in place.

”You wag your finger, throw allegations, paint me as the necessary villain you need to conquest, why not just admit it’s too hard to let go of the spot light?”

The simplicity of the thought jars you.

”Admit you’re an addict and wrestling is your drug… You don’t need a dragon to slay to step in my ring, a reason to be here, the fools in the crowd will lose their collective minds at your mere presence. So please quit pandering to the brainless masses for one second.”

“You’re an addict.”

I look away and sigh, I grow tired of semantics.

”You will defend yourself, your reason for returning and together we will spin in one giant never ending circle the will inevitably see me drive you face first into the mat before I defeat you.”

“Tell me I’m wrong, my methods are dated or I’m just plain drunk with power.”

“I will laugh.”

“You’ve known me longer than anyone, you above all else should have the greatest insight into my mind yet it still shocks and appalls you that I will stop at nothing to be the greatest wrestler that has ever lived?”

“Foolish.”

“I never promised to play fair, uphold the rules, I never once looked you in the eye and told you anything other than the truth.”

I look back, my eyes locking on you once more.

”That I will crush all in my path.”

I blink for what seems like the first time and it relieves you, only now my eyes seems blacker than before, emptier than before.

”On occasion that has brought us together, on others it has pushed us apart but my mission has never changed…”

“This age of indifference must come to an end, this age of egos and handouts of gift wrapped title shots and meaningless matches MUST END! All of us who broke our backs for this industry have suffered long enough behind to colorful morons who upper management pushed over us.”

“WE WERE FORGED IN FIRE!”

“And so it is time, I will sit idle no more waiting for the men and women around me to rise up on their own. No, I will lead them to this new age, I will take them hand in hand and present them with the opportunity to make their own way in a world without weakness.”

A smile quickly comes and goes as I think of the blood that will flow.

”The Age of X.”

“I know you hate the idea Falcon, a world where men like Joe Everyman are not held up on the shoulders of those stronger than himself, men like Andrew Jacobsen are not given opportunities they didn’t earn, a world where the weak simply exist to feed the strong.”

“Your worst nightmare.”

“For who would the great Falcon cater too week in and week out if not the men he wishes to have rise up with him and bask in his light? Who would praise you for your divine ingenuity if not those foolish enough to listen? Who, if not the weak bodied, weak minded individuals whom you lovingly hold in your arms like pets, would even care that you exist?”

“In my world…”

“Falcon would finally have to stand for something.”

“Oh I know, I know, you stand for truth, justice and the American way and Angel forbid we put you near a title so that you may explain how truly meaningless it is once again…”

I laugh.

”In the Age of X you would have to define yourself, fight for something tangible or get lost in the shuffle. There would be no more of this meandering from battle to battle, war to war, always searching for a reason and never quite finding it.”

“Kill or be killed.”

“What a horrible thought, Falcon would actually have to become the one thing he hates above all else?”

“A man with conviction.”

The laughter has faded and a sneer remains.

”We can play the game, defend your values and turns my words, I honestly don’t care. I’ve never hidden who I am or pretended to be anything other than a blood thirsty monster who wishes to be champion.”

“I’m doing a damn good job so far.”

“So come for, discard with reverence my claims of Godhood, my omnipotence and point out once more the wake of destruction I leave behind me as I take my seat upon the throne.”

“But tell me…”

“Who have I destroyed that didn’t deserve it?

“Who has felt the harsh touch of my wrath that did not ask for it?”

“What innocent have I wronged?”

My pause only intensifies your own silence.

”The Ace? Davey Ortega? Roberto Verona? Who exactly is it that felt the full abuse of my power that Falcon just had to return against Doctor’s orders to stop me?”

“Stop me from what?”

“If someone wants a shot at me they may have it, I call myself God but I am not above defending my title, I have never turned my back or looked down my nose at a challenge. If you think yourself worthy then by all means take your shot.”

“That goes out to everyone.”

You feel the chill run up your spine as these black eyes continue to bore into you.

”What this all really comes down to is you presented Roberto Verona with a way to exact some revenge. He sees in you someone who can truly challenge me before I complete my journey and become the IWF Imperial Champion.”

“You are a pawn.”

“You are but a piece on the board being used in a sacrificial move to hopefully buy Verona some time, a puppet to the masters and while I’m sure you recognize this you still march on, intent on putting my supposed reign of terror to an end before it even begins…”

“Tell me, how is it your place to determine that I should be judged?”

“Who are to point your finger and call me villain?”

“What makes you so virtuous?”

“Was I absent the day the Virgin Mother reached down and bathed you in the holy waters?”

“Did you even think to ask if we want you to deliver us from evil or did you just suppose it was time to climb down off your mantle and dish out some justice? You who are without sin, without corruption, you the great Immortal Falcon who knows no hate in his heart and only cares for the well being of others.”

The sarcasm stings.

”You are no better than me.”

“The thing that separates us, that finds us on opposing lines more often than not is my ability to embrace who and what I am.”

“I’m not afraid to be great.”

“I embrace my Godhood.”

“And while you play hero with your white hat and cape, concerning yourself with the foolish decisions of others, I concern myself with the only thing that ever really mattered.”

“MY DESTINY.”

It all pulls back now to see Spike and Nero to either of side of me, on their arms are Alice and Ana, The Age of X.

”You are but a lonely man staring down the barrel of a gun called evolution.”

I outstretch my arms and drop my head, whispering.

”Do you feel lucky?”

Let us walk together again…
-X-

He stood before me, my would be father, in all his glory, a black three piece suit and a long, broad shouldered coat, his grey hair wisping in the wind as he smiled at and offered me a seat at his table outside of his favorite West Hartford café. We both sat, no hand shake, the smile revealing his teeth like a shark.

”Good afternoon, son.”

I take a long, deep breath and measure him with my eyes.

”What do you want, Simon?”

He stifles a laugh as he sips at his latte.

”I want an answer, son, I gave you a choice not so long ago or have you already forgotten, I thought Gods were omnipotent?”

The championship or my position of power, he wanted me to choose, it was apower play on his part and an ill conceived one at that.

”So tell me son, what’s it going to be, head of booking or Imperial Champion?”

I waited, gave the impression of weakness, dropped my head from his gaze and played with my hands. He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder.

”IWF belongs to me, son, don’t you ever forget that.”

”Tell me…”

My voice is low so as to draw him in closer.

”When Verona and his army comes for you who will protect you?”

Slowly I look up and lock my cold black eyes on his.

”Every man you call an ally…”

I rise up, standing over him now, looking down.

”Works for me.”

He glares coldly, he realizes now his misstep, without me there is no Spike Kane or Nero Blake at his side, without me there is no de Montfort army, without me he is nothing.

”So my answer? I will have both.”

He tries to stand but I don’t allow it as I hold him down with one hand and take a sip from his drink with the other.

”As for IWF and who it REALLY belongs to, that is up for debate my dear father.”

I drop a five dollar bill on the table to pay for the old man’s drink and then take my leave of him, feeling his eyes bore holes through my skull as I walk. My phone chimes and I chuckle, thinking he’s already sending me death threats, but my eyes open wide when I see the message.

I need to see you.
-S.

I close my eyes and there she is beside me, always, as it should be…