Post by Eternity on Mar 18, 2017 15:38:22 GMT
On Youtube, your suggestions feed highlights a video titled "Warren Kane Returns! After Sacrifice OFN!". The peak in your curiosity was immediate. The title had served its purpose and grabbed your attention, you checked the date of the upload: March 14th 2017 and the view count was rapidly approaching 750,000 and it had more dislikes than likes.
Your heart sank as you immediately expected it to be another poor Rick Roll attempt, still your curiosity drove you to scroll down to the comments, which had been disabled. In retrospect it was probably for the best, the Youtube comments section was no place for anybody who valued their sanity as much as you did.
Still, your finger hovered over the play button, and with a sharp intake of breath you prepared yourself for Rick Astley...
You pushed play and what began was a shaky and out of focus video, captured by a low quality phone camera.
Clearly this was after the main event and Sacrifice had gone off the air. You weren't meant to be seeing this, which oddly made you want to keep watching it even more. Suddenly the crowd erupt and the camera blurs for a moment as it swings rapidly in the hands of an enthusiastic amateur.
The video abruptly cuts, barely registering the crowd's enthusiasm, leaving you with many more questions than answers, though one thing was now certain...
Warren Kane's return was finally on the horizon...
Thick plumes of purple smoke suddenly overwhelmed you, obscuring everything as they once again carried you away, to another time and place entirely. Both forward and back simultaneously.
A few moments after the smoke dissipated, you find yourself back where you were just over two weeks ago during Danger Zone, brought here even more abruptly now than you were then.
The XwF Arena, in Hellview, Philadelphia, by all accounts a remote little village in a largely forgotten part of the world, and a relic from way before your time.
Your most recent memory of this place was also the freshest in your mind: the final death defying act of a truly desperate man.
The Burning Star.
Spike Kane's almost suicidal leap from the balcony.
A balcony you now saw through my eyes as I craned my head up, lifting the black veil draped over my face. You saw my pupils dilate, enthralled by visions you could never see. Visions of Spike Kane as he jumped over and over and over again and again and again in my mind. You took a moment to register the black hat and long black trench coat I was wearing, an unusual variation on how you were usually accustomed to seeing me.
Here we are, home again at last, Kidd. Exactly where you need to be, exactly where I need to be.
Yo see me then direct my gaze from the balcony above to the ring itself, directly ahead of both of us. You watch me approach it slowly, almost cautiously.
It really is something, isn't it Kidd?
To think that this is the place where the very first dragon in our industry - your father, Spike Kane, truly found his calling. Twenty years ago, right here, on that mat, in between those ropes...
You followed my awestruck gaze as it looked over the ring, and then up towards the heavens.
...and under those spotlights, the legacy of Kane was forged. An orphan, moulded by tragedy, raised from the ashes of nothingness, ascended to Godhood. It's almost familiar. Hailed by the masses, unified by the very hatred that has driven him, and continues to drive him ever onward, for he has nothing else. Nothing left to live for...
A very familiar feeling.
Is that why I'm here now?
Is that your fate too, Kidd?
Bound by blood as you are, every bit as tied up in these ropes as your father before you has been...
You see me then reach up and caress the ring ropes as I make my way over to one of the ring posts. Warren continues to say nothing, his silence speaking volumes about how much he didn't care for being here and how little he wanted to discuss his father's legacy, right now.
Times have changed, there is no future in any of this any more, you know it, I know it, and somewhere deep down inside of his blackened heart, Spike Kane knows it too. Only I accept it, as I accept all the things that he never could, all the things he has forsaken - most of all you - for a lifetime of trying to define, redefine and defy every expectation that anybody has ever had of him, including your mother...
Now you saw something unresolved spark deep inside of Warren at the mention of his mother.
Warren: Mom was a fool to expect anything from Spike Kane, and fools get taken advantage of. I am the result of that advantage, the bastard son he never wanted...
And yet here you are, and here I am. Standing in the house he built, all those years ago. Stood upon hallowed ground, the son he never wanted and the daughter he never expected. The unnatural, the unbound and the uninitiated. The son and the heir of some well known song or other. Quite the pair, aren't we, Kidd?
You now see me bow my head, removing my hat slowly.
Still, Daddy always said home is wherever they let you hang your hat...
You see me now place my hat on the ring post in front of me, before looking around.
Seems as good a place as any...
Then you see cock my head to the side and smile, before lifting up the ring apron and pulling out a couple of steel folding chairs from under the ring, sliding one into the ring before picking up the second, speaking to it.
I like you, you remind me of Enrique...
You see me slide the second chair into the ring as well, before stepping onto the apron gingerly. It was subtle but you saw Warren almost take a step towards her, not wanting her to slip. You watch me step through the ropes and into the ring, and hear an audible groan escape me as I bend down to pick up one of the steel chairs.
Warren now slides in after her.
Warren: Allow me...
Warren then sets up the chairs as per Eternity's whispered instructions, in the middle of the ring, a few feet apart, facing each other.
Such a nice young man, the son he never wanted, the boy he never deserved. It always makes me sad to think about all the little boys and girls who didn't have Mommies and Daddies as nice as mine...
With the chairs now set up, you see me take a seat and offer Warren the other, he sits facing her without a word of protest.
It doesn't matter now, you're finally home, and my home is your home is my home. So make yourself at home...
You then see me then tilt my head back and roll my eyes into the back of my head, stretching my arms out to the side and convulsing as if electricity was flowing through me. A few moments of this bizarre behaviour, and the house lights of this abandoned arena begin to respond to her presence, flickering wildly.
YES! YES! THERE YOU ARE! SHE'S ALIVE! SHE'S STILL ALIVE!
You hear my laughter then reverberate around the empty arena.
HuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You see me then seemingly respond to the old XwF arena in kind.
Oh you're very welcome baby!
The lights stabilise to a soft violet hue as you see me snap my gaze and focus back to Warren, my glare slightly unnerving him but he held my gaze, even as I grimaced.
Warren's face registered concern as it struck him how pale I was. Drained, almost to the point of exhaustion. Pained, almost to the point of submission.
Battle worn, yet still fighting. Always fighting.
My voice, weaker than he had ever heard it be before, I spoke softly.
There, that's better now, isn't it?
Warren: Are you going to tell me why we're here now? I don't see what being here has to do with your match against Kate Steele on Monday...
Well, it's just as well we're not here for her then isn't it?
Warren: Then why are we here? Is this another lesson about how I'll never be as important to my father as his damned wrestling legacy, because I didn't need to come here for that. I got that message years ago...
I don't know why you're still here, honestly none of them do either. I only know why I am here. There is something truly special about this place, there has to be. This is where he came to die. This is the place where even the immortals come to perish. Even Gods fall from the sky in this place. I wonder if we will see any today. All who come here are freed from the pain of their continued existence...
And at the end of the day, that is all I'm yearning for, Kidd...
You see me then reach inside my inner trench coat pocket and pull out a steel silver revolver with a black hand grip.
Freedom from pain...from suffering...from this life.
Warren: Jesus Christ, E! What the hell are you thinking?!
I'm thinking one round straight through the head ought to do it. Quick, clean, simple...
You then see me spin the chambers of the revolver, letting the single loaded round come to a rest naturally where it may.
It was only ever going to take one to finish her off, that's how fragile she was.
Warren: If there's one thing you've taught me recently, it is that Death is never simple, and trust me, whatever you're feeling right now. However much it hurts to go on right now, this is not the answer. This is never the answer...
You see me then lock eyes with Warren, and a tense few moments of absolute silence passes between them, before mercifully it breaks.
You're right, Kidd. Death is never simple. No matter how arduous the journey, the end is never certain. That is the one thing she and I have in common. Perhaps the only thing I will ever have in common with Kate Steele. We have spent so long in the shadows, you and I, most of our lives in fact. Only for me they became second nature. I warped them around me, wrapped them around my very core like a blanket on a cold starless night. Embraced them in all the ways you never could, little one.
In a former life, I was just like you, insignificant, inconsequential and inconsistent.
Shaken by every loss as it happened, each time vowing that this time would be different.
This time I would show them all. Aunt Mary, Uncle Harry, Cousin Charlie, I would show all of them just how strong I could be - but as luck would have it, life never gave me that chance. In the end, they still forgot all about me. Left me in somebody else's care, and at the mercy of professional help. Abandoned me at their doorstep and made me somebody else's problem.
IWF's problem.
Kathy Conway's problem, Emma Danielson's problem, Shea O' Hara's problem.
Anybody else's problem, everybody else's problem.
Last week I was Gabriela's problem, and unless things change for either of us soon, at Sacrifice I will be Kate Steele's problem.
The biggest underdog's biggest problem.
All because some things never change and life is not fair. Try as we might to fight against the very nature that has come to define us, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even as you live it and make the best of it, life will never be as fair as death. It will always give and take, and it for some of us it will give more than it takes.
And still this is what we're taught to value, to cherish, to live and to love.
This life. A sentence chosen for us, forged by somebody else's passion, and reared by somebody else's desire.
A desire to be immortal.
To live on, even as they cross the bridge from one life into the next, leaving a little piece of themselves behind.
I am what they left behind, Kate.
As long as I live and breathe, I will always be left behind...
You see me then raise the revolver to my right temple, finger on the trigger, twitching.
Warren: DON'T DO THIS, E! FOR GOD'S SAKE! WE'LL GET YOU STRONGER MEDICATION! I WILL HELP YOU MANAGE YOUR PAIN! WHATEVER IT TAKES, DO YOU HEAR ME?!
The pills don't help! They never have!
Warren: THEN WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY! THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY! I WILL HELP YOU GET THROUGH THIS, I PROMISE! I SWEAR! DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE! I - I WILL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK, JUST PLEASE PUT THE GUN DOWN!
You see my eyes suddenly light up.
Anything?
Warren nods, firmly.
I don't believe you...
You see me then pull the trigger, Warren's protest is caught in his throat as the gun clicks.
You see me then lower the gun and spin the chamber again, randomising the bullet position once more.
Mommy always told me that if at first you, don't succeed, try and try again. She would have really liked you, Kate, I think. You and I are a lot alike, nobody ever counts on us too much. They count us out, dismiss us as the poor delusional little girls with the wild and pretty hair and the even prettier voice. Sing for me one more time, Kate, sing for me one last time, Siren.
Serenade me with your song.
Put me to sleep, in these the last forty seven seconds of my life...
You watch me then put the barrel of the gun in my mouth, Warren now leaps forward out of his chair, but is too late as I pull the trigger again...
The gun clicks once more, her life and her pain continued.
Warren breathes a sigh of relief as he catches himself in her lap. Immediately he tries to disarm her, but her grip is stronger than he imagined - and he had no desire to harm her further.
He was nothing like his father.
Oh how disappointing! Such promise, such potential, needlessly squandered. I see now that there's a lot of her in you too Kidd. I suppose we are all twisted reflections here, painted upon fragile glass. Far too easily broken, much easier than we care to admit sometimes. Still, we will always remember you as stronger than the company you keep. The best friend you fought for, not so long ago.
Do you still fight for her, because of her, I wonder...
Or do you have a new song, a new purpose, a new lease on life?
If so, I envy you Kate.
You live on. You still have hope. You still have a life worth living. Even if ultimately that life will be remembered in my shadow. A poor reflection in a fun house mirror, twisted, distorted and without depth. You look upon me with those envious eyes and see your future, your second chance. A chance to be everything you once were, a hope to be everything I am, once again.
You look at my hands, the hands of time, and you see a second time.
I look at your face, the clock face, and I see a time that never comes again.
Life is but a relentless march of moments to be lived, and never relived. Except in the mind. The place of fantasy. The place of dreams. You can be anything you want to be Kate - in your mind, all things are possible. The mind is such a wonderful place to escape reality, and for some of us it is the only escape we have.
Until Death knocks on that door too and drags us out of our fantasy, back to reality.
A cold reality, a stark reality. A reality where everything and everyone we knew lies dead...
Warriors cut down in their prime, slain by the one with the shield, the armour and the scythe. The Dragon hunted by all, slain by none.
Not yet, not even by her own hand...
You see me try to raise the revolver once again.
Warren: No! You can't do this...I...won't...let you...DIE!
This time however Warren manages to wrestle it from my grip, breathing heavily as I go limp. He immediately empties the chamber of its unspent round, and even you are surprised by Warren's sudden resolve.
The impact of what he had just achieved hits him.
Your heart sank as you immediately expected it to be another poor Rick Roll attempt, still your curiosity drove you to scroll down to the comments, which had been disabled. In retrospect it was probably for the best, the Youtube comments section was no place for anybody who valued their sanity as much as you did.
Still, your finger hovered over the play button, and with a sharp intake of breath you prepared yourself for Rick Astley...
You pushed play and what began was a shaky and out of focus video, captured by a low quality phone camera.
You were a considerable distance away from the wrestling ring, but you could just make out Eternity kneeling in the middle of the ring, whilst the arena was bathed in a soft purple light. She had the Shieldmaiden championship belt laid out before her.
Clearly this was after the main event and Sacrifice had gone off the air. You weren't meant to be seeing this, which oddly made you want to keep watching it even more. Suddenly the crowd erupt and the camera blurs for a moment as it swings rapidly in the hands of an enthusiastic amateur.
A few moments pass before you are zoomed in just enough to see someone run down and slide into the ring.
"OH MY GOD! IT'S WARREN KANE! WARREN KANE! WOOOOOO!" screamed the male voice behind the camera.
You now saw more clearly as the camera shifted quickly back to the ring where the purple light illuminated him better.
Your excitement escalated, as you suddenly tuned out the fan's reaction and focused on him as he dropped to his knees infront of the Shieldmaiden.
An exchange in hushed whispers passed between them, before Warren picked up the Shieldmaiden title and placed it on her shoulder. Eternity then rose to her feet, whilst Warren stayed in his knees before her. She reached out and placed a hand on his head, and yelled out something you had to play eight times to understand, catching barely a word each time.
"YOU...WILL...BE...HOME...AGAIN...SOON, I PROMISE!"
The video abruptly cuts, barely registering the crowd's enthusiasm, leaving you with many more questions than answers, though one thing was now certain...
Warren Kane's return was finally on the horizon...
*****
Thick plumes of purple smoke suddenly overwhelmed you, obscuring everything as they once again carried you away, to another time and place entirely. Both forward and back simultaneously.
A few moments after the smoke dissipated, you find yourself back where you were just over two weeks ago during Danger Zone, brought here even more abruptly now than you were then.
The XwF Arena, in Hellview, Philadelphia, by all accounts a remote little village in a largely forgotten part of the world, and a relic from way before your time.
Your most recent memory of this place was also the freshest in your mind: the final death defying act of a truly desperate man.
The Burning Star.
Spike Kane's almost suicidal leap from the balcony.
A balcony you now saw through my eyes as I craned my head up, lifting the black veil draped over my face. You saw my pupils dilate, enthralled by visions you could never see. Visions of Spike Kane as he jumped over and over and over again and again and again in my mind. You took a moment to register the black hat and long black trench coat I was wearing, an unusual variation on how you were usually accustomed to seeing me.
Here we are, home again at last, Kidd. Exactly where you need to be, exactly where I need to be.
Yo see me then direct my gaze from the balcony above to the ring itself, directly ahead of both of us. You watch me approach it slowly, almost cautiously.
It really is something, isn't it Kidd?
To think that this is the place where the very first dragon in our industry - your father, Spike Kane, truly found his calling. Twenty years ago, right here, on that mat, in between those ropes...
You followed my awestruck gaze as it looked over the ring, and then up towards the heavens.
...and under those spotlights, the legacy of Kane was forged. An orphan, moulded by tragedy, raised from the ashes of nothingness, ascended to Godhood. It's almost familiar. Hailed by the masses, unified by the very hatred that has driven him, and continues to drive him ever onward, for he has nothing else. Nothing left to live for...
A very familiar feeling.
Is that why I'm here now?
Is that your fate too, Kidd?
Bound by blood as you are, every bit as tied up in these ropes as your father before you has been...
You see me then reach up and caress the ring ropes as I make my way over to one of the ring posts. Warren continues to say nothing, his silence speaking volumes about how much he didn't care for being here and how little he wanted to discuss his father's legacy, right now.
Times have changed, there is no future in any of this any more, you know it, I know it, and somewhere deep down inside of his blackened heart, Spike Kane knows it too. Only I accept it, as I accept all the things that he never could, all the things he has forsaken - most of all you - for a lifetime of trying to define, redefine and defy every expectation that anybody has ever had of him, including your mother...
Now you saw something unresolved spark deep inside of Warren at the mention of his mother.
Warren: Mom was a fool to expect anything from Spike Kane, and fools get taken advantage of. I am the result of that advantage, the bastard son he never wanted...
And yet here you are, and here I am. Standing in the house he built, all those years ago. Stood upon hallowed ground, the son he never wanted and the daughter he never expected. The unnatural, the unbound and the uninitiated. The son and the heir of some well known song or other. Quite the pair, aren't we, Kidd?
You now see me bow my head, removing my hat slowly.
Still, Daddy always said home is wherever they let you hang your hat...
You see me now place my hat on the ring post in front of me, before looking around.
Seems as good a place as any...
Then you see cock my head to the side and smile, before lifting up the ring apron and pulling out a couple of steel folding chairs from under the ring, sliding one into the ring before picking up the second, speaking to it.
I like you, you remind me of Enrique...
You see me slide the second chair into the ring as well, before stepping onto the apron gingerly. It was subtle but you saw Warren almost take a step towards her, not wanting her to slip. You watch me step through the ropes and into the ring, and hear an audible groan escape me as I bend down to pick up one of the steel chairs.
Warren now slides in after her.
Warren: Allow me...
Warren then sets up the chairs as per Eternity's whispered instructions, in the middle of the ring, a few feet apart, facing each other.
Such a nice young man, the son he never wanted, the boy he never deserved. It always makes me sad to think about all the little boys and girls who didn't have Mommies and Daddies as nice as mine...
With the chairs now set up, you see me take a seat and offer Warren the other, he sits facing her without a word of protest.
It doesn't matter now, you're finally home, and my home is your home is my home. So make yourself at home...
You then see me then tilt my head back and roll my eyes into the back of my head, stretching my arms out to the side and convulsing as if electricity was flowing through me. A few moments of this bizarre behaviour, and the house lights of this abandoned arena begin to respond to her presence, flickering wildly.
YES! YES! THERE YOU ARE! SHE'S ALIVE! SHE'S STILL ALIVE!
You hear my laughter then reverberate around the empty arena.
HuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You see me then seemingly respond to the old XwF arena in kind.
Oh you're very welcome baby!
The lights stabilise to a soft violet hue as you see me snap my gaze and focus back to Warren, my glare slightly unnerving him but he held my gaze, even as I grimaced.
Warren's face registered concern as it struck him how pale I was. Drained, almost to the point of exhaustion. Pained, almost to the point of submission.
Battle worn, yet still fighting. Always fighting.
My voice, weaker than he had ever heard it be before, I spoke softly.
There, that's better now, isn't it?
Warren: Are you going to tell me why we're here now? I don't see what being here has to do with your match against Kate Steele on Monday...
Well, it's just as well we're not here for her then isn't it?
Warren: Then why are we here? Is this another lesson about how I'll never be as important to my father as his damned wrestling legacy, because I didn't need to come here for that. I got that message years ago...
I don't know why you're still here, honestly none of them do either. I only know why I am here. There is something truly special about this place, there has to be. This is where he came to die. This is the place where even the immortals come to perish. Even Gods fall from the sky in this place. I wonder if we will see any today. All who come here are freed from the pain of their continued existence...
And at the end of the day, that is all I'm yearning for, Kidd...
You see me then reach inside my inner trench coat pocket and pull out a steel silver revolver with a black hand grip.
Freedom from pain...from suffering...from this life.
Warren: Jesus Christ, E! What the hell are you thinking?!
I'm thinking one round straight through the head ought to do it. Quick, clean, simple...
You then see me spin the chambers of the revolver, letting the single loaded round come to a rest naturally where it may.
It was only ever going to take one to finish her off, that's how fragile she was.
Warren: If there's one thing you've taught me recently, it is that Death is never simple, and trust me, whatever you're feeling right now. However much it hurts to go on right now, this is not the answer. This is never the answer...
You see me then lock eyes with Warren, and a tense few moments of absolute silence passes between them, before mercifully it breaks.
You're right, Kidd. Death is never simple. No matter how arduous the journey, the end is never certain. That is the one thing she and I have in common. Perhaps the only thing I will ever have in common with Kate Steele. We have spent so long in the shadows, you and I, most of our lives in fact. Only for me they became second nature. I warped them around me, wrapped them around my very core like a blanket on a cold starless night. Embraced them in all the ways you never could, little one.
In a former life, I was just like you, insignificant, inconsequential and inconsistent.
Shaken by every loss as it happened, each time vowing that this time would be different.
This time I would show them all. Aunt Mary, Uncle Harry, Cousin Charlie, I would show all of them just how strong I could be - but as luck would have it, life never gave me that chance. In the end, they still forgot all about me. Left me in somebody else's care, and at the mercy of professional help. Abandoned me at their doorstep and made me somebody else's problem.
IWF's problem.
Kathy Conway's problem, Emma Danielson's problem, Shea O' Hara's problem.
Anybody else's problem, everybody else's problem.
Last week I was Gabriela's problem, and unless things change for either of us soon, at Sacrifice I will be Kate Steele's problem.
The biggest underdog's biggest problem.
All because some things never change and life is not fair. Try as we might to fight against the very nature that has come to define us, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even as you live it and make the best of it, life will never be as fair as death. It will always give and take, and it for some of us it will give more than it takes.
And still this is what we're taught to value, to cherish, to live and to love.
This life. A sentence chosen for us, forged by somebody else's passion, and reared by somebody else's desire.
A desire to be immortal.
To live on, even as they cross the bridge from one life into the next, leaving a little piece of themselves behind.
I am what they left behind, Kate.
As long as I live and breathe, I will always be left behind...
You see me then raise the revolver to my right temple, finger on the trigger, twitching.
Warren: DON'T DO THIS, E! FOR GOD'S SAKE! WE'LL GET YOU STRONGER MEDICATION! I WILL HELP YOU MANAGE YOUR PAIN! WHATEVER IT TAKES, DO YOU HEAR ME?!
The pills don't help! They never have!
Warren: THEN WE WILL FIND ANOTHER WAY! THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER WAY! I WILL HELP YOU GET THROUGH THIS, I PROMISE! I SWEAR! DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE! I - I WILL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK, JUST PLEASE PUT THE GUN DOWN!
You see my eyes suddenly light up.
Anything?
Warren nods, firmly.
I don't believe you...
You see me then pull the trigger, Warren's protest is caught in his throat as the gun clicks.
You see me then lower the gun and spin the chamber again, randomising the bullet position once more.
Mommy always told me that if at first you, don't succeed, try and try again. She would have really liked you, Kate, I think. You and I are a lot alike, nobody ever counts on us too much. They count us out, dismiss us as the poor delusional little girls with the wild and pretty hair and the even prettier voice. Sing for me one more time, Kate, sing for me one last time, Siren.
Serenade me with your song.
Put me to sleep, in these the last forty seven seconds of my life...
You watch me then put the barrel of the gun in my mouth, Warren now leaps forward out of his chair, but is too late as I pull the trigger again...
The gun clicks once more, her life and her pain continued.
Warren breathes a sigh of relief as he catches himself in her lap. Immediately he tries to disarm her, but her grip is stronger than he imagined - and he had no desire to harm her further.
He was nothing like his father.
Oh how disappointing! Such promise, such potential, needlessly squandered. I see now that there's a lot of her in you too Kidd. I suppose we are all twisted reflections here, painted upon fragile glass. Far too easily broken, much easier than we care to admit sometimes. Still, we will always remember you as stronger than the company you keep. The best friend you fought for, not so long ago.
Do you still fight for her, because of her, I wonder...
Or do you have a new song, a new purpose, a new lease on life?
If so, I envy you Kate.
You live on. You still have hope. You still have a life worth living. Even if ultimately that life will be remembered in my shadow. A poor reflection in a fun house mirror, twisted, distorted and without depth. You look upon me with those envious eyes and see your future, your second chance. A chance to be everything you once were, a hope to be everything I am, once again.
You look at my hands, the hands of time, and you see a second time.
I look at your face, the clock face, and I see a time that never comes again.
Life is but a relentless march of moments to be lived, and never relived. Except in the mind. The place of fantasy. The place of dreams. You can be anything you want to be Kate - in your mind, all things are possible. The mind is such a wonderful place to escape reality, and for some of us it is the only escape we have.
Until Death knocks on that door too and drags us out of our fantasy, back to reality.
A cold reality, a stark reality. A reality where everything and everyone we knew lies dead...
Warriors cut down in their prime, slain by the one with the shield, the armour and the scythe. The Dragon hunted by all, slain by none.
Not yet, not even by her own hand...
You see me try to raise the revolver once again.
Warren: No! You can't do this...I...won't...let you...DIE!
This time however Warren manages to wrestle it from my grip, breathing heavily as I go limp. He immediately empties the chamber of its unspent round, and even you are surprised by Warren's sudden resolve.
The impact of what he had just achieved hits him.
I did it! I saved her life!
If only I had been there for Xander - I could have saved him too!
Warren now takes a moment to look at the revolver in his hand, and there are tears in his eyes. He suddenly lets out a guttural scream in frustration as he throws the revolver out of the ring. He then runs over and embraces me as I continue to sit, limp and worn down. I hold him and he holds me.
And I whisper one last word into his ear whilst we are locked in our embrace.
Why?
Warren: Because I still need you. Because I still care. Because you're all I have left in this world worth saving. Because I'm not losing you too...
Now the tears you see are mine, as I close my eyes and he stays here for Eternity...
And I whisper one last word into his ear whilst we are locked in our embrace.
Why?
Warren: Because I still need you. Because I still care. Because you're all I have left in this world worth saving. Because I'm not losing you too...
Now the tears you see are mine, as I close my eyes and he stays here for Eternity...
Well howdy there pardner.