…

“Lucy?”

“Mmmmmm”

…

“Lucy?”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have woken you.”

“…No, no… it’s fine. It’s….”

…

…

“Lucy?”

“What? Yeah, I’m up. Is everything okay?”

“Yes.”

“Yes… But?”

“No buts.”

“Do you want me to move?”

“Of course not.”

“Then what’s going on? Where’ve you been?”

“I didn’t realize you’d be back so early. I went to visit a friend. I needed to figure something out.”

“Mm…yeah? And what… might that be?”

…

…

“Rogan?”

“I think I’m ready.”

“Ready? For- Ohhh“

Lucy sat up in the bed, finally opening her eyes to look at Rogan, who’d been standing in the doorway of his bedroom the entire time. Little did Lucy know, he’d been watching her sleep peacefully for over twenty minutes before he finally decided to wake her.

Many wouldn’t realize it, but some of the greatest stories are told through the expressions on sleeping faces. And Lucy’s always told Rogan’s favorite stories. Whether it was on the couch, or here in his bed – her face always told the tale of comfort, and relaxation… and happiness.

You can’t fake that. And maybe that’s what Rogan loved so much about the silent late night stories that Lucy doesn’t even know she’s telling… there’s no way they can be falsified. There’s no way she can put on a show, when she doesn’t even know she’s weaving a story so interesting that Rogan couldn’t possibly put it down.

Lucy eyes widened, and she subtly nodded her head as she patted the bed beside her. “You don’t have to stay in the doorway, you know.” She said with a yawn.

Rogan simply shrugged his shoulders and moved towards the bed, taking a seat on the edge – his back to Lucy. “I’m sorry I woke you up with this, I just didn’t think I could wait.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder, sliding closer to the Dark Man. “Don’t worry about it. I stole your bed anyway.”

Rogan shook his head.

“I told you you could sleep in here whenever you wished. I’m just glad you took me up on my offer.”

“Too bad you weren’t in here when I did, right?” Lucy replied with a smirk on her lips as she laid back down, rubbing Rogans back.

Rogan chuckled.

“You said it, not me.”

“So.. “ Lucy said, stifling another yawn. “..You’re ready, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m all ears, Dark Man.”

 

Monday, Ḍ̵̱̓͊ě̴̪͕c̴͙̿e̸͉͒̚m̸̢̕b̸̟͘ề̵͇̦r̵̜͓̕͘ ̷̡̓̾1̵̛̣̹̐3̴͈̂t̴͎̒̈h̵̳̓̚ ̶̢̳̒̇2̸̳̏ͅ0̶̝̅2̵̲͑ͅ1̵̜͛̽…

Once a door opens and closes again, it’s meant to stay closed forever. But from within the San Jose facility, Rogan MacLean and Lucy Wylde had discovered that one of these doors had been jammed open – and that was causing reality as they knew it to begin unraveling at its seams.

So they did what any other common sense human being would do when faced with the unceremonious ending of their reality – they went inside.

Once inside, Rogan turned and took hold of the door, taking one final moment to glance back at Lucy before using all his might to force it to close with a thunderous slam.

Rogan saw a blinding white light… and then everything went black.

…

M̵o̵n̸d̴a̶y̷,̴ ̴A̴p̴r̵i̶l̶ ̶5̷t̶h̸ ̷2̶0̵1̸0̷

It took Rogan a few moments to regain his bearings, as things around him slowly came into focus. He was now standing in the dimly lit parking lot at what appeared to be an arena of some kind. At first, he surmised that by some happy accident, he’d wound up back at the site of Horizons and he only needed to get a hold of Lucy, and they could reunite.

Reunite without the fear of reality falling apart.

So he began walking towards the building itself, hoping to head inside and find out how much, if any, of the show he’d missed. But as he walked, he noticed a man standing just outside the doorway, the strangers back to him. The figure looked vaguely familiar to the Dark Man, but he found himself only interested in making sure Lucy had made it out of the facility that was two thousand miles away at this point.

But when he reached the door, he couldn’t get in. The door was locked. It was then, that he realized his only option might be to ask the stranger standing near him for assistance.

“Hey–” He began, but when the man turned around, Rogan was stunned to see that it was none other than Donovan Hastings. “Oh, Donovan.. The door’s locked.”

Rogan motioned towards the door.

But Donovan didn’t move.

“Do I know you?”

Rogan scoffed, letting out a chuckle. “Come on, Donovan. I don’t have time for any games right now. Can you let me in, please?”

“Listen buddy, I’m not sure what you’re getting at but.. Oh! Are you part of the ring crew?”

 

“He thought you were part of the ring crew?” Lucy said with amusement in her voice. “You?”

Rogan shook his head. “I really thought he was just messing with me at that point. I was getting frustrated.”

Lucy ran her hand along his back. “I can imagine. I mean, from your point of view you’re just a couple of thousands of miles away and you don’t have a clue what’s happening back in San Jose. And now, Donovan is toying with you.”

“Exactly.”

She pulled herself upright once more, and slid towards the edge of the bed, allowing her legs to hang over the edge. She laid her head on Rogans shoulder and let out a soft sigh.

“So when did you start to realize that this might not be the Donovan that you know?”

“Well…”

 

M̵o̵n̸d̴a̶y̷,̴ ̴A̴p̴r̵i̶l̶ ̶5̷t̶h̸ ̷2̶0̵1̸0̷

“Part of the ring crew?” Rogan asked, feeling the frustration building up within him. “You’re kidding right? You know me, Donovan – Stop messing around. Can you let me in or not?”

At that point, Rogan had begun to wonder what Donovan’s game plan was. Rogan knew he had a match against Centurion later that night, and the Dark Man couldn’t begin to understand why he wasn’t inside preparing for that instead of being out here doing God only knows what.

“Don’t you have a match to get ready for?”

Donovan shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not too worried about it, honestly.”

Rogan’s eyes widened.

“Not too worried about it? Centurion can–”

Donovan’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Centurion? Who in the world is Centurion?”

“Wait a minute..” Rogan said quietly, the realization of his current predicament finally settling into his mind. And the longer he stood there before Hastings… the stronger that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach became.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know who you’re talking about.. But Jason Grant is of no concern to me. I’ll dispatch of him quickly.” Hastings said with an air of cockiness that was very Donovan Hastings-like. But as Rogan took a tentative step closer, he noticed almost immediately that this man… wasn’t the Donovan Hastings that he’d come to know.

“Tell me, what’s today’s date?”

Donovan scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You really aren’t the brightest bulb in the shed, are you?”

“The date.”

“Fine, fine.. It’s April fifth.”

“April fifth…” Rogan repeated, knowing the month and the day aren’t truly important to the information that he really needed to know. “April…fifth…”

“Yes, yes.. April fifth, twenty-ten. Are you in the wrong place or something?”

Rogan’s eyes widened as he took a step backwards. Twenty-Ten?! Rogan almost couldn’t believe his ears, but as he stood before Donovan Hastings of nearly eleven years ago, he tried to play it off.

“No, no.. I just.. Got my dates mixed up! Yeah.  Yeah!  I am supposed to be working with the crew here tonight. So, would you mind?”

He motioned towards the door once more, hoping not to garner anymore questions. And much to his relief, Donovan moved towards the door and unlocked it. But before he pulled it open, he turned around to face Rogan, looking him up and down.

“I do have to get inside and pay Travis a visit anyway.”

“Pierce?”

“What concern is it of yours?” Hastings asked, letting go of the doorknob and taking a step towards Rogan. “A word of advice? Lateness is frowned upon – and I get it, this is all new. You got your ‘dates mixed up’. Let’s hope your skills as a worker are better than… Whatever this is. Lord knows you wouldn’t make it as a wrestler.”

As much as he wanted to say something, Rogan simply nodded his head. Seemingly satisfied with that response, Donovan turned away once more and opened the door, stepping through the threshold with Rogan following closely as a loud voice boomed through the entire building.

“Welcome to the UNIFIED…GLOBAL…WRESTLING…COALITION!”

 

Lucy let out another sigh as she snaked her arm around Rogan’s and gave it a squeeze.

“That must have been one hell of a realization. Wow. Straight back to the beginning of the UGWC…”

Rogan closed his eyes. “I wasn’t sure how I’d find my way back. Or even if I could.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“I’d never want you to.” He trailed off, bringing a hand up to place on Lucy’s as he glanced over at her. “Now do you at least understand why I didn’t want you to go into that building to begin with?”

As serious as this conversation was, Lucy couldn’t help but grin back at the Dark Man.

“I understand perfectly. I still wouldn’t have done anything differently though.”

“Yeah?”

Lucy nodded. “Absolutely. For starters, I got to nearly kick Ichabod’s head off of his body. I also got the chance for a bit of closure with Maggie.”

She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on the side of his face.

“Besides, I told you… Whatever we’re into, we’re into together. Even though you got beamed back to 2010 and I didn’t. Maybe if I would’ve closed the door with you, we’d have ended up there together.”

Rogan smiled. “That’s a nice thought, and it would have made it a lot easier. But there’s no saying you would have ended up where I did. You might have ended up somewhere else and then things would have been more complicated.”

“Somewhere else?”

“Maybe you would have ended up… somewhere that holds significance in your past.”

Lucy’s face dropped slightly, but Rogan immediately sensed the chance in her demeanor. He squeezed her hand, reassuringly.

“No, no.. I didn’t mean anything bad. I was talking about the CWA.”

Lucy’s eyes widened. “The.. How did you–”

Rogan grinned. “I had many years to explore… You didn’t think I wouldn’t try to find you, even if it was the you of the past?”

Lucy blushed, and put her hands over her face.

“It’s been a long time since I thought about the CWA, let alone who I was back then. That’s so embarrassing…”

 

M̶o̵n̴d̵a̷y̶,̶ ̴J̸u̷n̴e̵ ̵2̵8̸t̴h̴ ̸2̵0̶1̸0̸

It had taken Rogan a few months to settle into the past, as well as he could. It wasn’t easy to figure out how to live an ‘everyday’ life when he knew damn well his past self was somewhere – doing something and he didn’t want to interfere with that. So he took on a different identity, granted it wasn’t the most creative change – But Logan McGee did the job just fine.

He worked the ring crew for the first few episodes of UGWC Synergy, but over and over Rogan found it awkward working around the people who he’d come to know as enemies, or rivals.. And it felt empty.

It felt so empty being around people who didn’t yet know the name Rogan MacLean.

So he’d passed the time by doing research. And in doing so, he’d found something very interesting going on in another large promotion in Canada.

And that’s where he was now.

Standing amid a crowd at a show dubbed ‘CWA Assault’. Rogan had checked the card not once, or twice.. But three times to make sure the young woman he was hoping to see was still booked – and as showtime grew closer, he was surprised to feel butterflies in his stomach.

It had already been far too long since he’d seen Lucy’s face – and even though he’d come to the conclusion fairly early on in his stay here – that he’d have to live out the next decade or so in order to have a chance to see her again – He wasn’t even sure that that would do the trick.

The uncertainty of it all cut him to his core. It made it difficult to get out of the dingy cot he’d found to sleep on each morning. It made falling asleep every night an exercise in triage as he tried to somehow stop the figurative bleeding of his heart when he thought of her, and the time leading up to that moment they had by the fire before Horizons. A moment that had been a long time coming.

The pain had nearly become unbearable – And he’d only been away for months… He still had a very long time before he had any hope of seeing the Lucy that he knew.

But he made a promise.

And he intended to do everything within his power to keep that promise.

For now though, Logan McGee was going to enjoy watching a young Lucy Johnson wrestle here tonight from the front row. Rogan was grateful to have even found a ticket, let alone one so close to the action, but he was even more grateful to have the opportunity to witness Lucy in her element, long before either of them had known the other existed.

“Hey man, who ya rootin’ for tonight?”

A man with long, scraggly brown hair, sitting beside Rogan had said – lightly elbowing Rogan in the side. Rogan turned his head to notice a ‘Lucy Johnson’ sign gripped in one of his hands and Rogan smiled, motioning towards the sign.

“Who else could I root for?”

The man laughed and nodded. “She’s somethin’ else, ain’t she? Did you see the way she beat Wren Silverphoenix for the Rocky Mountain Championship? That was some shit.”

Rogan shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose I missed that.”

The man let out a groan.

“Aw man… It was great. You’da loved it.”

“I’m sure I would have.” Rogan replied, a bit of heat rising to his cheeks.

“She’s the best thing that’s happened to this dump, I tell ya that much.”

“Definitely.” Rogan replied, just in time for “Your Decision” by Alice in Chains to hit the PA and if he’d of bothered to say anything more, no one would have heard him because nearly every person in the building erupted into deafening cheers. The man beside Rogan, and nearly everyone else in the arena jumped out of their seats, prompting Rogan to do the same.

When Rogan rose to his feet and looked towards the stage, his heart skipped a beat. There she was, in the flesh. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes. Her hair was quite a bit shorter, but her smile… It hasn’t changed a bit. She made her way to the ring, slapping hands and greeting fans – but when she got to him, it felt almost as if time had stood still as their eyes met for a split second as she passed by.

“PRETTY, AIN’T SHE?!”

Rogan barely heard the man as he tried to scream above the raucous crowd as Lucy got into the ring. His eyes never left her, though as he nodded his head – Feeling a combination of elation and sadness tugging at his heart, and tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

“She is…”

 

As Rogan sat there on the bed, recounting the memory, he had to wipe an errant tear from his cheek. Lucy had pulled herself up onto her knees as he told it, and she had wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close as he told it.

“Oh, Rogan…”

“I-I know it’s not the entire story, but–”

She kissed his forehead. “It’s a start.”

He smiled softly as she finished his sentence, closing his eyes once more – finally able to relax into her embrace.

“And it’s incredibly sweet…” Lucy chimed in, “If only a little weird.”

It was then that Rogan let out a snort of laughter, and before they knew it, they were both lost in a fit of giggles.

“It’s completely weird!” Rogan replied, between laughing.

After a few moments, their laughter died down and Lucy sat back down beside him as they both thought about the small piece of the story Rogan had just told. While it’s good to be able to laugh at such things in hindsight, the fact remains that it happened – and it may have changed their lives forever.

Lucy wasn’t lost on that fact, not in the slightest. “Rogan, I.. Thank you for telling me. I know it wasn’t easy, but if this is the only piece of this story you ever feel comfortable enough to tell me – Just know that I’m incredibly grateful that you did.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long.” Rogan stuttered. “It shouldn’t have taken me this long.”

“Everyone works through things in their own way.. At their own pace. I’m here for you.. Logan. Always.” Lucy replied with a shit-eating grin on her face and when Rogan glanced over at her, he shook his head and chuckled.

“I’m never living that down.”

Lucy fell back on the bed, giggling once more. “Logan McGee? Never. I love it though. It’s very… you.”

Rogan rolled his eyes.

“Well it is!”

“I’m glad you approve.” Rogan grinned, his cheeks a bit pink as he turned to look at Lucy as she laid behind him, her arms crossed over her torso.  He nudged her with his elbow.  “Congratulations by the way.”

Lucy turned her head slightly and smiled softly. “Thank you. Now it’s just down to Montague and myself.”

 

“Oh, Montague.”

Lucy begins, glancing up from the bench she’s seated upon in her locker room. She’s already in her ring gear, her fists taped and she’s currently lacing her boots. She finishes one and moves onto the other as she continues.

“Here we go again, huh? Maybe I’m romanticizing this, but it feels like we’ve done this an awful lot. But before I begin, I guess I do owe you a bit of an apology…”

She trails off, and she doesn’t speak again until she’s finished lacing up her other boot and she sits up, turning her full attention to the lens before her.

“I’m sorry… That you didn’t get the Global Challenge finals that you were hoping for. That you didn’t get to come into tonight looking forward to facing your tag team partner for that key and that world title shot. I’m pretty good at ruining things like that…”

She can’t help but break out a big, toothy grin.

“…Aren’t I? And before you start repeating everything that Jaclyn said.. Let me just correct a few things for ya. It’s not my fault that I had a strategy, and I fucking used it. Beating Dark Destroyer exactly the way I said I was going to… That’s not a technicality. That’s being smart. I knew what my chances were going in, and yeah, I had to wait until last week to know if it was going to pay off..”

She shrugs her shoulders.

“And as luck may have it.. It did. But as much as I’m willing to admit my getting here was luck… It was even moreso because I worked my fucking ass off to win Block A. Sure your partner did too, but she happened to run into a wall named Sebastian Everett Bryce. And that’s not my fault either. So here we are, Montague. You and me. And I’ll be the bigger person here, and I’ll tell you that I know you worked your ass off to get here, even though running away from Hide was a bit cowardly, if I do say so myself.”

Lucy gets up and begins pacing around the locker room.

“BUT you had a strategy, and I can appreciate that. You knew Hide getting the pinfall on you wouldn’t keep you from winning, so you took the ‘L’. It’s smart. And it got you here. But you can’t do the same thing to me in a few hours, can you? You can’t lure me in, and sacrifice a few extra points in order to move onto the next. This is it, this is for all the marbles – It’s either win or walk out of the Global Challenge with nothing. And I know you don’t want that, do you Showman?”

She stops and turns around, again grinning from ear to ear.

“Well, neither do I. And if we’re being completely fair here – Let’s look at the two blocks we came from. I said it in my first match against Mac Bane, one of these is not like the others – and boy was I right. You visibly outclassed everyone on your side of things, Monty. Hell, I’d be surprised if you didn’t make it to where you’re at right now. The only other person I could have seen was Hide – and I don’t know how far the ‘Strongstyle Satanist’ can get with Johnny ‘Ambitioncrusher’ holding the reins. Obviously not far enough. But I digress.”

The grin fades off of her lips as she places her hands on her hips.

“Now, look at Block A. Myself. Your dear, sweet Jaclyn. Travis Pierce. Mac Bane… turned Sebastian Everett Bryce.. And Dark Destroyer. Granted, we had at least one joke on our side of things this year whilst you had… two? Maybe three? Granted I don’t know Nathaniel very well, but I guess time will tell if he’s more of a Konrad or a Montague. Who knows. But come on. One of us had a much easier time getting here.. And the other is me. And that’s not saying you didn’t work for it, because like I said, I know you did. I’m familiar with you, Montague.”

Her eyes narrow at the lens.

“You’re a man who was once fiercely independent. Dancing to the beat of your own drum, doing what you do… Winning and succeeding. But then something happened. You never stopped winning, or succeeding – But you did lower yourself into the role of a follower. An understudy. And whilst the main star is out of action, and you’ve been given the starring role for a while… I can’t say you’ve done a bad job. So maybe there was a method to your madness. Maybe there was something to that decision you made way back when to join the Astrocreeps. Or maybe… the entire thing was just a bit of… luck.”

She winks.

“But who am I to judge? I’m sure you’re doing plenty of that for the both of us, you know? I’m sure you’ve got plenty of shit to say about who I am, what I bring to the table.. How worthless I am, and how I stole this coveted spot from the only person you’ve seen yourself facing at Infinity for how many weeks now? Well tough titties, Monty. Life ain’t fair and I ain’t here to coddle you because you didn’t get exactly what you wanted. You wanna walk out with a key and a world title shot? Then you’d better bring something better than your best, bucko because words don’t quite describe what I’m willing to do to you in order to win this entire God damned thing.”

“So please, come in thinking that you’re stepping up to the same Lucy you’ve stepped up to before. Do me the favor of treating me like I’m the dirt beneath your feet. I only hope you do it a little more creatively than your counterpart down there in second place. Because you might see her as your equal, Montague but you’ve clearly proven that you’re her superior and I can respect that. But can YOU respect yourself enough to not lower yourself back to her level?”

Finally, the grin returns as she places her index finger to her cheek and taps it a few times.

“I believe in you, Montague. I just believe in myself more. See you soon.”

《ForRoganMacLean》