Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2022 12:38:38 GMT -5
Lockheart is finally starting to come to and has realized what has happened. She sits up on the broken door, nursing her ribcage, looking up at the new champion. The camera shot shows Lockheart looking on as Bert and Ahmya celebrate their successful night, as the scene fades to black.
Maggie lowers her head.
By the time she looks back up again, she's not sitting at ringside any longer. She's in the back, in the trainer's room. Her back's pressed against the wall behind her and her legs outstretched on the examination table holding her up. A member of Level Up's medical staff carefully pulls Lockheart's matted and stained hair to the side to apply vaseline to a deep cut by her temple. There are wounds like these all over her flesh, it seems. Liquid crimson still trickles from a few of them. Not a drop of orange or green to be found.
"This may sting a little, try to hold still."
Sting really wasn't the right word for it. Sure, it probably would under any other 'normal' circumstance. But right now, Maggie's body was so torn up from the battle that it throbbed in a way that made everything else fall into a bleak numbness. Besides, there was something else that stung a little greater. With her arms hugging her ribcage, all she could think about was what this means now.
Is this fate? Is this destiny?
The trainer plunged his swab of petroleum jelly into the wound.
"Alright. Just about 78 more to go."
He chuckled; his estimate clearly a stab at some humorous sarcasm to try to lighten the mood. But other than the signs that she still had a heartbeat, this is the closest he would probably come to working on a cadaver.
Trying to relax, doing whatever she could to ease her breathing, Maggie let her head drift back until it came in contact with the wall. Her eyes drifted upward to the glowing lights above her just before her eyelids began to flutter and shut completely.
Fate. Destiny.
Destiny. Fate.
She couldn't even feel his hands on her body. Couldn't care less what he was doing, either.
"First off, my full name is Magdalena Marie Lockheart and I'm from Inwood, New Yor-"
"Miss Lockheart, this isn't a concussion test."
"Sorry... old habits."
The trainer pursed his lips and squinted at her. This wasn't particularly instilling the greatest of confidence that she was actually... okay.
"Are you sure you're alright? I'm beginning to feel worried-"
"I'm-" She coughed and clutched at her ribs. "Fine."
"We can still get you transported to the hospital. You'd be able to get much better care-"
"Just get on with it... please."
"Alright..."
Eli Goode. Johnny Hitmaker. Bert McAlroy. Level Up itself. Gary Morrison. Finally, the reflection in the mirror.
"Hey, it was a tough fight out there. Nothing to be ashamed of."
"...says who?"
"You've been dominant for the entire year. It was one heck of a run. It would be a real shame to feel ashamed at all at the end of it... well, in my book anyway."
Where did she hear that phrase before?
Maggie offered the trainer a slight nod. There was nothing to be ashamed of as far as the year leading up to this moment. It was a journey, one where she knew she poured her heart and soul into not only being the best but also into trying to make that Final Boss championship they gave her mean something. It would have been foolish to think that she would be The Champ forever, but, maybe if it was her choice she could have lost it to someone else. Practically anyone else.
"You did a great job."
"Oh yeah? That official or off-the-record?"
"I- don't speak for the company, Ma'am."
She snickered and clutched her ribs again.
"No. No you most certainly do not."
"But I am sure they feel the same way."
She sighed, "I hope so," as she looked down at her shaky hands. "If they don't... I-"
The trainer nodded his head.
"They do. What happened out there tonight doesn't change that."
A couple of days had passed, and yet Maggie was all bandaged up, still nursing her wounds.
The question of fate and destiny hadn't really left her mind since Final Fantasy. As Buster Gloves put it, the Maggie Up era was at its end. In fact, 2022 would have a brand new list of champions to carry the banner for Level Up forward and quite frankly that's all there was to it. There were a lot of hungry mouths to feed, and, maybe it was time to hang up the boots for good. The Revolution1 Legendary World Championship sitting in the corner of the bedroom had other plans, though. So did Pro Wrestling Valor who seemed more than happy to sign her on for next year.
But sitting on her nightstand next to her bed was the phone that was pivotal in the storyline of 2021. Most of the time it would sit unanswered. Notifications would pile on as texts, voicemails, private messages, emails would all go unchecked. Thankfully, at least now anyway, Maggie seemed ready to connect with the world again. She had already apologized to little Cindy Lou Who's Dad (Not her real name) for losing the big one. It was a feeling that had evaded her for every other pay-per-view except the last.
She was relaxing on the bed with the television off. Pundits were praising Mr. "People were human beings to my Father" who was just now telling everyone to bend a knee on Twitter. Doing whatever he could to "validate" his own "giant fucking ego" after slaying the "legend" he so often compared to Jack Michaels. Whatever. It wasn't her fight anymore. So she muted the ignorant fuck and Knox for good measure too. Peace was the only option because... it just had to be that way right now. Level Up had a new Final Boss champion, and the only explanation that made sense is that the last one
let them down.
As fate or destiny would have it, in that moment of searching for that illusive peace while trying to make sense of all of this, her phone rang. She rolled over gingerly to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Miss Lockheart, this is [Name Redacted] esq. representing the Developer for Level Up Wrestling?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd like to speak to you about the new contract that you had signed the morning of the Final Fantasy event."
She sat up in the bed.
"What about it?"
"Ma'am, as you are well aware, the terms of said contract are quite substantial."
"Yes, I'm aware."
"...and you are also aware that you no longer represent my client's company as the.. Ahem... Final Boss Champion any longer."
Maggie rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I'm aware of that too actually."
"Well, I'm going to be frank with you Miss Lockheart. Something must be done about the contract in its current status."
"I'm sorry... are you saying that I'm not worth the figures that we agreed on days ago?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Well, I'm going to be frank with you as well, Sir, but I missed the part where that's my problem. I worked hard all year for that contract. I bet on myself and the negotiations were arbitrated fairly between both parties."
"Yes Ma'am, we're not disputing that. But we would like to renegotiate given the change in your status within the company."
Maggie's heart sank.
"Wh-what? No. No way. There's signatures from both sides on the contract... it was finalized and filed-"
"Ma'am, My client withholds the right to terminate any contract they see fit with or without probable cause. Even with a termination payout the company would save big in the long term."
"So... what exactly? What's your client gonna do with the money they save? Buy Duncan Shepard a tour bus?"
"That's... not a bad idea, actually. I'll have to write that one down. Pitch it to the Developer myself. Thank you."
"Yeah well, you're not welcome one bit."
"Heh. I get that a lot. Anyway Miss Lockheart, I understand this is a difficult decision for you, but I'll give you a few days to think it over. Either renegotiate for a substantially reduced salary or take the payout."
She could feel her hands shaking worse than before.
"..and those are the two options you're proposing to me like they're the only ones? This is about as unethical as it gets-"
"Miss Lockheart. It's just business. I'm sure if things would have gone differently and if you would have held up to the potential that you promised my client, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
...
...
"...no. Probably not."
"Good. I look forward to hearing from you. Maybe, you know what? Let's give it until the new year. There's no rush. We would just have to get an amendment done and filed before the next EXP-"
Click.
Destiny. Fate. Was everything happening the way that it was all planned out to be?
Was there truly a grand design out there that she just couldn't tap into?
If it were true... then everything happened for a reason. Sounds great for the great things. Sounds good for the good. But being kidnapped at age 5, drug across the country just to be dropped off on the doorstep of an elderly Christian lady. Aunt Mary would say it was fate. Growing up being bullied, only to have her 'Aunt' die and to suffer through homelessness and depression. Yeah, guess maybe even the bad things happen for reasons, too. Trying to fight through all of that in Baltimore and New York, only to have masked assailants threaten her in both cities... one time being lucky but in the alleyways of Inwood... no so much.
Was her life really ruined that night for a purpose? Was that night "fateful"?
That's why she hated the term.
Everything she fought through. Every fucking moment in Squires Wrestling Academy, Future Stars of Wrestling, and yes, even CW, going from a nobody who knew nothing, to forcing herself to be a force that very few could reckon with, all if it felt like it was fighting fate... like it was daring destiny... All the way up until the ring bell shot from Myra Lynwood.
Maybe it was destiny. Maybe she should have died. When she was 5. 15. 18. 20.
Maybe fate was telling her that she was supposed to go away. Maybe all of these moments that shaped her were simply the universe trying to correct one of its most insignificant mistakes.
Or maybe...
Maggie laid back in her bed. She pulled the duvet up high just under her chin... and allowed the weighted comforter to envelop the rest of her body in its entirety.
She closed her eyes. A while back she told some kids that if they ever failed to achieve their dreams that they should climb "back into their cocoons and try, try again."
This was her cocoon now. She had to sleep now and find a new dream.
"It's just business" she muttered aloud in the otherwise empty room.
Fate can work both ways.
And for some, theirs had just been sealed.
Maggie lowers her head.
By the time she looks back up again, she's not sitting at ringside any longer. She's in the back, in the trainer's room. Her back's pressed against the wall behind her and her legs outstretched on the examination table holding her up. A member of Level Up's medical staff carefully pulls Lockheart's matted and stained hair to the side to apply vaseline to a deep cut by her temple. There are wounds like these all over her flesh, it seems. Liquid crimson still trickles from a few of them. Not a drop of orange or green to be found.
"This may sting a little, try to hold still."
Sting really wasn't the right word for it. Sure, it probably would under any other 'normal' circumstance. But right now, Maggie's body was so torn up from the battle that it throbbed in a way that made everything else fall into a bleak numbness. Besides, there was something else that stung a little greater. With her arms hugging her ribcage, all she could think about was what this means now.
Is this fate? Is this destiny?
The trainer plunged his swab of petroleum jelly into the wound.
"Alright. Just about 78 more to go."
He chuckled; his estimate clearly a stab at some humorous sarcasm to try to lighten the mood. But other than the signs that she still had a heartbeat, this is the closest he would probably come to working on a cadaver.
Trying to relax, doing whatever she could to ease her breathing, Maggie let her head drift back until it came in contact with the wall. Her eyes drifted upward to the glowing lights above her just before her eyelids began to flutter and shut completely.
Fate. Destiny.
Destiny. Fate.
She couldn't even feel his hands on her body. Couldn't care less what he was doing, either.
"First off, my full name is Magdalena Marie Lockheart and I'm from Inwood, New Yor-"
"Miss Lockheart, this isn't a concussion test."
"Sorry... old habits."
The trainer pursed his lips and squinted at her. This wasn't particularly instilling the greatest of confidence that she was actually... okay.
"Are you sure you're alright? I'm beginning to feel worried-"
"I'm-" She coughed and clutched at her ribs. "Fine."
"We can still get you transported to the hospital. You'd be able to get much better care-"
"Just get on with it... please."
"Alright..."
Eli Goode. Johnny Hitmaker. Bert McAlroy. Level Up itself. Gary Morrison. Finally, the reflection in the mirror.
"Hey, it was a tough fight out there. Nothing to be ashamed of."
"...says who?"
"You've been dominant for the entire year. It was one heck of a run. It would be a real shame to feel ashamed at all at the end of it... well, in my book anyway."
Where did she hear that phrase before?
Maggie offered the trainer a slight nod. There was nothing to be ashamed of as far as the year leading up to this moment. It was a journey, one where she knew she poured her heart and soul into not only being the best but also into trying to make that Final Boss championship they gave her mean something. It would have been foolish to think that she would be The Champ forever, but, maybe if it was her choice she could have lost it to someone else. Practically anyone else.
"You did a great job."
"Oh yeah? That official or off-the-record?"
"I- don't speak for the company, Ma'am."
She snickered and clutched her ribs again.
"No. No you most certainly do not."
"But I am sure they feel the same way."
She sighed, "I hope so," as she looked down at her shaky hands. "If they don't... I-"
The trainer nodded his head.
"They do. What happened out there tonight doesn't change that."
The CJ Wylde/Magdalena Lockheart/Lucy Wylde/Gary Morrison Residence
Rural Western Maryland
A couple of days had passed, and yet Maggie was all bandaged up, still nursing her wounds.
The question of fate and destiny hadn't really left her mind since Final Fantasy. As Buster Gloves put it, the Maggie Up era was at its end. In fact, 2022 would have a brand new list of champions to carry the banner for Level Up forward and quite frankly that's all there was to it. There were a lot of hungry mouths to feed, and, maybe it was time to hang up the boots for good. The Revolution1 Legendary World Championship sitting in the corner of the bedroom had other plans, though. So did Pro Wrestling Valor who seemed more than happy to sign her on for next year.
But sitting on her nightstand next to her bed was the phone that was pivotal in the storyline of 2021. Most of the time it would sit unanswered. Notifications would pile on as texts, voicemails, private messages, emails would all go unchecked. Thankfully, at least now anyway, Maggie seemed ready to connect with the world again. She had already apologized to little Cindy Lou Who's Dad (Not her real name) for losing the big one. It was a feeling that had evaded her for every other pay-per-view except the last.
She was relaxing on the bed with the television off. Pundits were praising Mr. "People were human beings to my Father" who was just now telling everyone to bend a knee on Twitter. Doing whatever he could to "validate" his own "giant fucking ego" after slaying the "legend" he so often compared to Jack Michaels. Whatever. It wasn't her fight anymore. So she muted the ignorant fuck and Knox for good measure too. Peace was the only option because... it just had to be that way right now. Level Up had a new Final Boss champion, and the only explanation that made sense is that the last one
let them down.
As fate or destiny would have it, in that moment of searching for that illusive peace while trying to make sense of all of this, her phone rang. She rolled over gingerly to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Miss Lockheart, this is [Name Redacted] esq. representing the Developer for Level Up Wrestling?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd like to speak to you about the new contract that you had signed the morning of the Final Fantasy event."
She sat up in the bed.
"What about it?"
"Ma'am, as you are well aware, the terms of said contract are quite substantial."
"Yes, I'm aware."
"...and you are also aware that you no longer represent my client's company as the.. Ahem... Final Boss Champion any longer."
Maggie rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I'm aware of that too actually."
"Well, I'm going to be frank with you Miss Lockheart. Something must be done about the contract in its current status."
"I'm sorry... are you saying that I'm not worth the figures that we agreed on days ago?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Well, I'm going to be frank with you as well, Sir, but I missed the part where that's my problem. I worked hard all year for that contract. I bet on myself and the negotiations were arbitrated fairly between both parties."
"Yes Ma'am, we're not disputing that. But we would like to renegotiate given the change in your status within the company."
Maggie's heart sank.
"Wh-what? No. No way. There's signatures from both sides on the contract... it was finalized and filed-"
"Ma'am, My client withholds the right to terminate any contract they see fit with or without probable cause. Even with a termination payout the company would save big in the long term."
"So... what exactly? What's your client gonna do with the money they save? Buy Duncan Shepard a tour bus?"
"That's... not a bad idea, actually. I'll have to write that one down. Pitch it to the Developer myself. Thank you."
"Yeah well, you're not welcome one bit."
"Heh. I get that a lot. Anyway Miss Lockheart, I understand this is a difficult decision for you, but I'll give you a few days to think it over. Either renegotiate for a substantially reduced salary or take the payout."
She could feel her hands shaking worse than before.
"..and those are the two options you're proposing to me like they're the only ones? This is about as unethical as it gets-"
"Miss Lockheart. It's just business. I'm sure if things would have gone differently and if you would have held up to the potential that you promised my client, we wouldn't be having this discussion."
...
...
"...no. Probably not."
"Good. I look forward to hearing from you. Maybe, you know what? Let's give it until the new year. There's no rush. We would just have to get an amendment done and filed before the next EXP-"
Click.
Destiny. Fate. Was everything happening the way that it was all planned out to be?
Was there truly a grand design out there that she just couldn't tap into?
If it were true... then everything happened for a reason. Sounds great for the great things. Sounds good for the good. But being kidnapped at age 5, drug across the country just to be dropped off on the doorstep of an elderly Christian lady. Aunt Mary would say it was fate. Growing up being bullied, only to have her 'Aunt' die and to suffer through homelessness and depression. Yeah, guess maybe even the bad things happen for reasons, too. Trying to fight through all of that in Baltimore and New York, only to have masked assailants threaten her in both cities... one time being lucky but in the alleyways of Inwood... no so much.
Was her life really ruined that night for a purpose? Was that night "fateful"?
That's why she hated the term.
Everything she fought through. Every fucking moment in Squires Wrestling Academy, Future Stars of Wrestling, and yes, even CW, going from a nobody who knew nothing, to forcing herself to be a force that very few could reckon with, all if it felt like it was fighting fate... like it was daring destiny... All the way up until the ring bell shot from Myra Lynwood.
Maybe it was destiny. Maybe she should have died. When she was 5. 15. 18. 20.
Maybe fate was telling her that she was supposed to go away. Maybe all of these moments that shaped her were simply the universe trying to correct one of its most insignificant mistakes.
Or maybe...
Maggie laid back in her bed. She pulled the duvet up high just under her chin... and allowed the weighted comforter to envelop the rest of her body in its entirety.
She closed her eyes. A while back she told some kids that if they ever failed to achieve their dreams that they should climb "back into their cocoons and try, try again."
This was her cocoon now. She had to sleep now and find a new dream.
"It's just business" she muttered aloud in the otherwise empty room.
Fate can work both ways.
And for some, theirs had just been sealed.
