Dearest Lucille,

I hear you’ve been looking for me. As fate would have it, whilst you’ve been looking for me – I’ve been watching you all along. What a lovely home you have, and such an interesting pair you and your… little boy-toy are. Things don’t look like they’re going very well for the two of you. You look upset, Lucille. So very upset.

If only you would have ignored Christine’s pleas. If only you would have remained ignorant.

What a shame, really that your mother decided to open her mouth and tell you what she could manage to babble in between what incoherent sentences she can manage nowadays. You really did a number on her, didn’t you?

Back when I knew her, she was what every wife should be. Quiet, submissive, but most importantly – Frightened of what would happen to her if she turned against her family and went to the police with what she knew. But that’s not the point, Lucille. Just know that you and your sister disgrace everything that your father and she tried to teach you.

Speaking of, I know by now you and your sister have received my first ‘gift’. The first of many such gifts if you don’t return what you’ve stolen from your father and from me. You tarnish your father’s good name by simply being in possession of it. But no matter, soon enough it will be back in my possession and I’ll do what you could never have done.

Make your father proud.

Best regards,

M. Krauss

 

Sometime after Infinity…

I came home the other day to find an envelope at the front desk, waiting for me. Before I even opened it, I already knew what it was. The same hand that had written the note that I found in Kyra’s place had sloppily written mine on the front of this.

Lucille

How I hate that fucking name. How I hate the feeling of dread, anger, complete and utter sadness as it fills my chest and radiates throughout my body. The feeling is always there, always hiding out, waiting to burst out once more – And the other day, it found it’s opportunity.

I almost threw the note away right then and there. I almost decided to forget about all of this, wondering if I’d just put it out of my mind, that Michael Krauss would cease to be as well.

But I couldn’t.

I just couldn’t do it. So I brought the envelope up to my condo and I poured myself a drink and I read it. Over and over, making sure not to miss a single syllable.

Even now, sitting here in the kitchen in pretty much the same spot as I was, his words play through my head like a record. He’s been watching me.. Watching us. He wants something that neither Kyra nor I understand. What could we have possibly stolen from him? What was so important to our father that would warrant all of this?

If I damn well knew, I’d give it to him so all of this could be over.

So he’d leave Kyra and Adina alone. So he’d leave me, and us alone.

I shake my head and bring the glass up to my mouth, taking another drink. I look so upset.

“I wonder why…”

I mutter to myself, swallowing down another gulp – Closing my eyes as it burns the entire way down my throat. I let the empty glass drop to the counter with a thump, allowing my head to fall to the counter as well, the coolness of the marble sending a shock through my body. And for a moment, I relax.

I can only hope that if he’s watching me right now, that he’s just as miserable in doing so as I am sitting here trying to get drunk, knowing no amount of drink is going to help.

I do take a bit of solace in that fact as I turn my head, letting my cheek soak up some of the relief – That is until a knock on the door nearly scares me out of the chair. In an instant I’m up on my feet, staring through the living room at the front door. Is he finally here to ‘collect’?

It’s in these moments that I secretly wish that my father would have finished the job back in that warehouse. I know it’s terrible. I know it’s wrong, but the other side of me reminds me that it would have probably been for the best.

“Who is it?”

I yell towards the door as I take a few steps closer. A mumbled voice responds, but I can’t understand what it’s saying.

“WHO IS IT?!”

I scream louder, leaning down to grab the baseball bat in the corner of the room before I step any closer.

“I SAID IT’S ME!”

“Kyra?”

Instantly, I drop the bat and erase all the distance between myself and the door.

“Kyra?”

I ask again, the words falling from my mouth before I could catch them as I open the door to see my sister standing there, her arms crossed over her chest.

“That’s what I said.”

She replies as a sigh escapes her lips. I push the door open, motioning for her to come inside and when she does, I close it once more, locking it. She moves into the living room, and I watch her head as she looks around.

“Jesus.”

She mutters to herself as she heads towards the big glass wall on the far side of the room, looking out onto the patio that showcases a view of New York in all it’s splendor.

“I.. Well, I forgot that you’ve never been here.”

She nods her head.

“And I never will again. This traffic fucking sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

The last time we’d spoken, she was understandably upset as she put her fist through her coffee table. Without thinking, I glanced over at my own table – Wondering briefly if she was there to break that one too.

“Kyra, I–”

She turns around, her hand in the air – Effectively cutting me off.

“Shut up. You already did your apologizing. It’s my turn.”

My eyes widen.

“Listen, I shouldn’t have exploded on you like I did. You should have told me about what Mom said. No one’s disputing that.. But I get why you didn’t. You didn’t wanna worry me over something that came from a crazy person. It’s just… My kid, you know? If it were just me, I wouldn’t give a shit. But I can’t let anything happen to her… or to Ken. But, well… I’m sorry.”

To be fair, I never thought I’d hear those words come out of Kyra’s mouth. I mean, I kind of did when she nearly killed me – But those were different circumstances.

“Kyra, I.. I mean I appreciate that and all, but–”

“No, we’re not gonna do that whole, ‘you shouldn’t be sorry because I’m more sorry bullshit’. Just accept my apology, or don’t and let’s move on.”

Either the booze is finally taking effect, or the feeling of being apologized to by Kyra is making me dizzy – So I slowly bring myself over to a chair and sit, shaking my head.

“Sure.. yeah. We’re good.”

“Okay, good.”

She replies almost immediately, bringing herself down onto the sofa across from me.

“Now, what are we gonna do about this whole situation?”

That’s a loaded question.

Something I’ve been thinking about for weeks now. I get up from the chair and pull the envelope out of my back pocket, tossing it over to Kyra.

“I don’t know, but take a look.”

She opens it and scans the letter inside – Rolling her eyes as she lets it drop onto the table in front of her.

“God damnit. So this prick has been watching you.”

“He’s been watching both of us. I mean how else would he have known when you wouldn’t be home?”

She stops to think about it for a moment, nodding her head.

“Yeah..”

I almost sense a defeated tone in her voice and it resonates with me. I can’t begin to describe how defeated I’ve felt over the last few months. How alone I’ve felt, even with other people around me – I’ve just felt so damned isolated.

Isolated and scared.

I just, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to look or who to talk…

“Lucy?”

And suddenly it hits me, and it feels like a flash grenade has gone off in my brain.

“Huh?”

I bring Kyra back into focus to see her staring at me with a bewildered look on her face.

“What?”

“You look like you just figured something out.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“I did… I don’t know if it’ll amount to anything, but I think I know who I can talk to now.”

“Well… Something is better than nothing at this point.”

 

Sometime Before Synergy…

We open in a room, darkened almost completely – except for a single spotlight, shining down on one Lucy Wylde as she sits perched upon a stool. In her hand, a glass filled with an amber liquid, something seen on her person more often than not lately.

On her face, a look of exhaustion – In her eyes, a deep, dark sadness and a red hot rage reside, fighting each other for control as her cool blue eyes struggle to meet the lens.

“Montague.”

She says the name softly, her gaze wavering only slightly as she takes a drink from the glass – letting it rest on her leg once more, in the loving embrace of her hand before she continues.

“Former Chaos Champion, Montague Cervantes. Normally I’d say it’s nice to finally meet your acquaintance. But these, well, they’re not normal circumstances.. At least not for me. For you, I’m sure it’s business as usual. Granted, I don’t really know what business looks like for you. But hey, I’ll tell you out front that I don’t really give a shit either.”

She shrugs her shoulders.

“What I do give a shit about though, is that you… You beat that motherfucker Travis Pierce in both of your defenses of that title. Good lord…”

She shakes her head in disgust.

“The same motherfucker who beat me at Infinity to wind up losing that Conquest title match. I mean, I knew it was gonna happen. It’s just – a part of me actually hoped he’d fuck up and win the damn thing so that losing to him wouldn’t sting so badly.”

“But hey, good job Trav… You fucked up the opportunity that you lucked into. You proved to be everything I ever said about you, and more… If that were even possible.”

She scoffs.

“I know, I’m getting off topic here. This isn’t about that human pile of garbage. This is about you, and I, Montague. This is about us going out there and having ourselves a nice little dance in order to figure out who should be in front of who in line for the Chaos title. Most bets are probably on you, since you’ve been there, held the belt. And I get it. A year ago I might have even agreed with the masses.”

“But now isn’t then.. And I ain’t that bitch anymore.”

Her eyes narrow on the camera.

“You see, I might not know you – And I don’t need to know you to know that I can beat you. Hell, I can beat anyone in this God forsaken place. I could do all the research, watch your matches, take a gander at your stats… but at the end of the day, who cares? I just wanna fucking fight you. I just wanna hurt you and I wanna fucking win. I’m not gonna build you up, I’m not gonna act like I respect you because let’s be honest… You don’t need my fucking respect and I don’t need yours either.”

The lights in the room slowly rise a few levels, showing the scene around her – Which just so happens to be a stage. The curtains are drawn, and the stage is empty – except for Lucy, who we can now see is dressed in a pair of tight black pants, a white button down with all but the bottom few buttons undone – revealing a lacy black bra underneath. Topping the entire look off is a studded leather jacket, practically form-fitted to her curves.

Lucy steps forward, her heels clicking on the stage as she gets closer to the camera.

“I don’t need anything but a good fight. Are you the guy who’ll give it to me? Are you more than a circus freak? Because here’s our stage, sweetheart…”

She extends her arms out to her sides, a sadistic smirk on her deep red painted lips.

“Allow me to paint the floor with your essence, dear… Allow me to give you your greatest performance to date…”

Her voice goes down an octave as the smile deepens.

“Allow me to let you in on a bit of a secret… I’m Lucy fucking Wylde… And I’m your worst fucking nightmare.”

With that, the lights go out all at once and the picture cuts to static.

 

At Synergy…

Walking down these halls is a chore anymore. People I don’t wanna see, shit I don’t want to get myself into… And then there’s him.

“What the fuck are you?”

I ask, stepping a few steps further, staring at what I can only describe as the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in my life – and that’s saying a lot. I close my eyes for a second or two, shaking my head as if that’ll reset my vision and make it go away… But when I open my eyes, it’s still standing there, presumably staring at me.

I can’t really tell.

“Are you fucking serious?”

I ask again, unable to take my eyes off of the giant carrot standing in front of me. It doesn’t really respond, and I start to tell myself that it’s a fucking carrot. It’s not going to respond. Why the hell am I expecting a carrot to respond to me?

I don’t have time to deal with this shit.

“Can you get your big orange ass out of my way?”

“Lucy, dear, you seem a little on edge.”

Turning around, I see Gabriel standing behind me – a mischievous grin on his lips.

“You think?”

I quip back, turning back to carrot boy with a sigh.

“I was looking for you, and I ended up with…”

I throw my arm in the carrots general direction.

“..this.”

I see him step up beside me out of the corner of my eye and I hear him chuckle.

“Camden, would you mind relieving poor Lucy here of your presence?”

Like clockwork, Camden nods his… body? And turns away, heading down the hall. After a few moments of replaying the last few moments in my head, I finally turn to Gabriel and throw my arms up.

“Really?”

He shrugs.

“It’s all a matter of tact, my dear.”

“Tact my ass…”

I grumble, turning my eyes down towards the floor. All of this shit going on and I’m supposed to have tact?

“It’s a fucking carrot.”

“It’s a carrot with feelings.”

He says, as I look back up to see him grinning. Normally I guess I’d be amused, but I’m more annoyed than anything and I just can’t help it. I guess Gabriel gets that vibe because he clears his throat and looks at me. Is that concern I see in his eyes?

“Lucy, are you alright?”

“I’m fi–”

I’m fine. That’s what I tell everyone. But I was looking for Gabriel here tonight. I needed… or rather, I need to talk to him. Why should I lie to him too?

I sigh, running my hand through my hair.

“No. I’m not. I.. I kinda wanted to talk to you, if that’s okay?”

His eyebrows raise, but he nods his head anyway.

“Of course.”

I look around the hall, at all the people scurrying about, doing their jobs in preparation for the show and I shake my head.

“Not here though… Come on.”

I grab his arm and pull him down the hall and into my locker room, closing the door behind us. I just stand there for a few moments, my hand pressed against the door frame and my eyes closed.

How do I even do this?

What the hell do I say?

“What’s going on, Lucy?”

He asks, as I listen to him move away – presumably to take a seat in one of the chairs across the room. When I finally turn around, there he is, seated, staring a hole through me.

“You haven’t seemed yourself.”

I can feel the floodgates begging to be opened, trying desperately to let out all the emotion that I’ve held inside this entire time… But I swallow hard and push it down as I move forward, standing in front of him, wringing my hands together – feeling the sweat being manipulated. Jesus…

“I…”

My voice cracks and I can’t finish the sentence.

“Sit…”

Gabriel says softly, grabbing my hands and guiding me to the chair opposite him.

“Fuck… Gabriel, I need your help.”

I manage to spit out, reaching down into my pocket and producing the note that Krauss had left for me, handing it over to him as I try to continue.

“I-I don’t know if you can, but… Well, no offense.. But if anyone would be able to help me figure this out… It would be you.”

His eyes flicker downwards, and I watch him read the letter – Quietly folding it back up and holding onto it as he thinks. The longer we sit there in silence, the harder my heart beats, the more hopeless I feel.

It’s almost unbearable.

And then he breaks into a smirk.

“And you’d be right.”

He says with a nod, reaching for my hand and squeezing it briefly.

“Leave it with me – I’ll see what I can find.”

 

OOC: Gabriel used with permission!