Regresa

[Gabriela Luna]

¿Qué tal, IWF? Did you miss me? I sure as shit missed me.

I ain't lyin' here...Eternity beat me good. That shit hurt like ain't much in the world hurts. And pain always feels worse when you got time on the shelf to think about it. Medical staff didn't even want me goin' to a jewelry store, they were so scared about me being in the ring. But I healed up. I passed all their tests, for real this time. I find that doctor, sus huevos están muertos. That's a promise.

I throw my ass on the fire every time I step in that ring. Ain't no two ways about it, ain't no two ways I want it. Heard people talking about how I'd done it this time, how wasn't no way I was gettin' back up and gettin' back in the ring after the shitshow I put myself through against Eternity. And yeah...she's still Shieldmaiden. I'm pissed about that. But ain't my job this week to take it from her. Ain't my job to try to tangle with her. That time comes when it comes. What's the thing people say? "To everything, there's a season"? Ain't her season yet.

It's Iron Maiden season, though. Six of the baddest bitches IWF got, all lookin' for a chance at the big one on the big stage. La Noche de los Inmortales. Only makes sense that you get La Fénix in on that action, right? The moment they got me cleared, I wanted back into the thick of it...and they delivered. Chance to qualify for the Iron Maiden. Chance to really make myself immortal. You bet your ass I'm takin' it...and to do it? I gotta take Shea O'Hara.

Shea, amiga, you and me, we got somethin' in common. Eternity took almost a month of my career with what she did to me. She took more of yours. She took a bite out of us, and we both got back up and asked if that's all she had. Here we are, fighting it out to prove we're iron, in the face of everything she's done.

Here we are, laughing at death.

'cause that's what this is, what we do. We get in that ring, we risk it all time and time again for the chance, lo mas poquito oportunidad, for glory. We get dropped on our heads, we hit concrete and steel, we break bones, we tear muscles...we fuck ourselves up because there's that prize at the end that makes the price one we can pay. We could be doin' so much else, but we ain't, because this is our home. This is our time! And ain't no face-painted puta gonna scare us outta OUR HOUSE, claro?

Shea, I feel where you're comin' from. You gotta come back strong with this, you gotta make your first match back mean what it oughta mean. See...so do I. I ain't lettin' Eternity get me. I ain't lettin' her knock me off my roll. I ran this bitch. Eternity picked a match where we had to have a winner, and I drew her so damn tight we couldn't. I want to get back there. I want to get past there, and I ain't doin' that if I get punked the very first time I get back in that ring again.

This ain't hate, Shea. You ain't earned that. You earned respect for not takin' this laying down, you earned it for knucklin' up and refusing to let this be the end. Anger comes quick, hate comes slow. I don't hate you. I just see the Iron Maiden, and I see Night of the Immortals...I see the Diamonds Title. And you know what I see standin' in front of my chance to make all that mine?

I see you.

So come Sacrifice, girl, you best have your boots on tight, 'cause this ain't gonna be easy. You wanna walk that road to the top, you gonna have to give all you got. I know my legs still work. You get to say the same about that arm of yours? You hit wrong, it's snap-crack, back home. I know what my body can take. I know the crazy shit I'll do to take this home. I need this, Shea. Yo necesito este momento mas de las palabras puede expresan. Try to take it from me, and you gon' get burned.

Ready to dance in the fire? Okay? Okay. Míranos.

---

We open on Gabriela Luna sitting in a motel room, legs dangling off the side of the bed as she stares ahead and out the window. She takes a deep breath, looking down at her hands, front and back. She flexes her hands, wincing involuntarily as a momentary spasm of pain shoots up her right arm. Gabriela hops off the bed, walking slowly over to where her jacket sits on the room's table, and reaches into the pocket. She fishes out a carpenter's nail, looking at it as she slowly twirls it between her fingers.

Gabriela walks towards the bedroom, still playing with the nail, as if transfixed by it. She enters the bathroom, and as she does, the tile clicks under her feet. Gabriela's head snaps up, and she looks into the mirror. Her eyes flit over her features in the mirror, lighting on different things: a faint patch in her eyebrow where not all the hairs have grown properly, an almost-imperceptible scar near the curve of her upper lip, and, as her eyes search, they seize upon something: a single, silvery-grey hair, snaking its way out from a point near her temple.

Gabriela reaches up, snaring the hair between two fingers, and yanks it from her head, barely wincing as it's pulled free. She looks at it as she spins it between her fingers, the light catching it and almost making the hair flash neon in her grip. Gabriela carefully reaches forward, setting it on the sink's edge, and plants her hands on the side of the sink, nail clinking against the porcelain as she looks up into the mirror. Her voice, usually bombastic and loud, drops to a conversational whisper as she looks herself in the eyes. "You still there, girl? You still alive?"

A long moment is held between Gabriela and her reflection, and Gabriela takes a deep breath, nodding to herself. She looks into the mirror for a few more moments before turning and walking out of the bathroom, idly scooping up the nail with her hand. She looks down at the nail as she walks, running her thumb over it as she walks before casually tossing it behind her onto the table. It lands in the middle of her jacket with a muffled thud, and Gabriela walks out of the motel room and onto the balcony.

The second-floor walkway outside the motel rooms stretches down the row of ten rooms, bending around and encircling the courtyard in a U-shape. The sun's rays play out and over Gabriela's face as she stares off into the distance. Faintly, the sound of children playing in the motel's pool courtyard pool reaches her ears, and she lets the wind whip past her face, an unfamiliar pensive expression marking her face.

The sound of feet against the walkway jolts Gabriela out of her reverie, and she steps back just in time to get out of the way of a young boy, no more than eight, running past her in swim trunks. The boy blitzes down the stairs, charging straight for the pool, and over the loud objections of a woman waiting by the pool, presumably his mother, leaps and tucks his feet, cannonballing into the pool with a loud whoop. His mother throws her hands up, and Gabriela watches, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"I wonder..." she muses to herself, slowly beginning to walk along the catwalk. Her eyes never leave the pool, and her lips work silently, forming words and thoughts that never pass them as Gabriela's pace slowly picks up. When they do find voice, they're only fragments: "...no más de tres o cuatro metros..." is one of them, as well as "Difícil de hacer todavía, pero he hecho más difícil..."

Finally, she reaches one of the corner points, still watching the pool. The boy has been extracted from the pool, and his mother is in the process of giving him a stern talking-to. Gabriela watches her, ensuring her back is turned, and quickly climbs up onto the handrail. It protests slightly under her weight, but holds without any real trouble. Gabriela holds her arms out, carefully walking along until she reaches the midpoint of the rail, and looks down at the pool again. She exhales slowly, murmuring to herself "Vaya con Dios..."

The woman looks up at Gabriela, and her jaw drops as she sees the Mexican woman balancing on the railing. "What in God's name are you doing?!" Gabriela looks up at the woman, meeting her eyes, and grins, shrugging apologetically. Before the older woman can react, Gabriela inhales quickly and coils her legs underneath herself, leaping out into space. The woman lets out a bloodcurdling shriek as Gabriela flies through the air, her momentum taking her towards the poolside area.

Gabriela feels the wind rush past her face, and with a split-second to go, throws herself forward mid-flight, tucking herself in and narrowly completing a Swanton Bomb into the pool. A huge plume of water is kicked up by the impact, and Gabriela bobs back to the surface, clutching her neck. "¡HIJOLE!" She pulls herself to the side of the pool, wincing.

The woman runs over to her, eyes wide. "My God, are you okay?!" Gabriela nods to her, pushing herself out and onto the lip of the pool. The woman's expression never changes from one of utter disbelief, and she kneels down. "Why would you do that?! You could have killed yourself!"

Gabriela shrugs slowly, looking up at the woman with a pained grin on her face. "I...just wanted to know I was still alive, I guess. Got my answer." The woman looks at her with a thoroughly bewildered look on her face, and Gabriela stands up, still wincing. She looks over at the kid, forcing a stern expression onto her face. "Don't do what I just did. It's dangerous, and I'm a professional."

With that, Gabriela starts heading back to her room, still sopping wet. The boy watches her go, eyes wide as saucers, and he looks back at his mother, a question starting to form on his lips. His mother cuts him off with a quick "NO", and his face falls slightly, but he never stops watching Gabriela as she walks back up the stage and into her room, a grin a mile wide on her face as we fade to black.