Chapter Four: Reunified

The Sonoran Desert

The Dark Lady and her Dark Man – Reunited once again. It felt good, it felt right to be with him once again, as they sat side by side – staring at the roaring fire that the Dark Lady had prepared for her Dark Man as she awaited his arrival.

But now, they were complete. Two sides of each whole, fit together as only they could be.

The Dark Lady turned her head and simply stared at his face, watching the fire flicker in his eyes. Those beautiful green hues, brightened by the oranges and reds that burn almost as hot as the love they share. And yet, the Dark Lady wasn’t content.

And the Dark Man picked up on this, turning his gaze down onto hers.

“What’s the matter?”

She let out a soft sigh, reaching out for his hand. He takes her hand, greedily. He’d longed for this moment, and now that it was here – He didn’t want anything to keep them apart again.

“I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry that I forced us apart with my own insecurities. It wasn’t right, and I should have listened to you all along.”

A bit of pink rose to her cheeks as the Dark Man smiled softly, squeezing her hand.

“I had no doubt that you would find your way back to me.”

“You are, and will always be the light at the end of every tunnel I pass through, Rogan.”

She reached up and touched his face softly, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Your Dark Tower… has not eluded you, Dark Man.. And it’ll never elude you again.”

 

“I’d like to know more about Holden.”

Lucy said.  They were sitting in a small diner across from one another. Rogan had been staring off as he took a sip of his coffee. Now, his eyes darted from the window to Lucy, and he nearly spilled the hot coffee all over himself. He set the mug down and wiped his chin with the cloth napkin in front of him. Lucy watched him patiently, and slightly amused. After a few moments, Rogan answered.

“Holden is dangerous,”

Rogan said, almost dismissively. He hesitated.

“He’s dangerous, because he doesn’t seem like it. When he returned, for example, I thought it was going to be a big match of respect between him and I. It was my belief that we didn’t have any underlying issues between us, and that we would pick up where we left off in the Engine of Chaos. I was wrong, however.”

He paused to take a drink of his coffee. Rogan was a storyteller, and Lucy had grown to love his stories… even the tragic ones. She knew it was storytime now, and she waited quietly as the Dark Man told another one.

“Holden has some deep-rooted malicious feelings for me that have grown like weeds in his brain. Weeds that haven’t been sprayed.”

“I thought maybe you were going to go with a disease reference there, but weeds work, I guess.”

Rogan’s eyes flicked up with a solemn look on his face. Lucy tried to hide her smile, but failed miserably.

“Sorry.”

Lucy said, giggling. And Rogan’s look softened.

“As I was saying, there are some feelings of negativity coming from his side that I didn’t realize… until it was too late, so to speak. Holden is deceivingly good, and that’s why he fit so well in the Engine. Even his real face is a mask at times. You take him as this… almost harmless little brother following around his big brother and big brother’s friends. But Holden Orson is anything but harmless.”

He paused long enough to take another drink of coffee.

“His growing resentment for me is a danger to you. So I don’t like the fact that Jet booked him with you. But Jet knows what he’s doing. It’s a business move.”

This time, he paused for a long time, his eyes gazing absently at the table.

“Desperation is what creates notable heroes and villains, depending on whether you wear the mask of desperation or desperation wears you. And Holden is being worn by desperation as we speak. It’s a volatile situation. He’s like a cornered animal right now. We managed him to win the Cooperative Championships, but his desperation, like a cancer, grows.”

He eyed Lucy and she couldn’t help but smile again, despite the seriousness of the conversation.

“You’re not some rookie, Lucy. You know how to handle desperation, and you know how to handle almost any situation out there. You’ll know how to handle him, I have no doubt. But, be aware of his state of mind. He’s schizophrenic. And he’s far more aware in the ring than he seems to be outside of it. You know he’ll try to hit me where it hurts. He’ll try to hurt you. You can very easily use that energy against him.”

“How close were you and Holden when you were in the Engine of Chaos?”

Rogan smiled sadly.

“I loved Holden. He and I connected on some deeper level that I could never quite explain. Perhaps I should have reached out afterwards. I can understand his feelings of being neglected.”

He trailed off, thinking back five years ago. It seemed like decades ago to him. He shook his head suddenly, coming back to the present.

“Anyway,”

He said, his eyes focusing on Lucy.

“That’s all I can really say about him. We took away his redemption when we took those titles off of him and Phrixus. So, he’s going to be looking to repay the favor by taking the Conquest title.”

Lucy nodded and Rogan smiled.

“Unfortunately for Holden…the person he has to stand across from is you.”

 

The sound of crashing waves can be heard all around as Lucy sits on a blanket, her bare feet touching sand. Laying on the blanket beside her is her half of the UGWC Cooperative Championships and in her lap rests the Conquest Championship. She closes her eyes and tilts her head backwards, letting what is left of the sun on this overcast day highlight her features.

“Guess you’re by yourself this week, again, Holden.”

She begins, bringing her gaze down to meet the lens.

“Last time you went it alone, you beat my partner – Good for you. No, really. Regardless of what people say, beating Rogan right now is no small accomplishment. But you’d know that, wouldn’t you?”

Lucy shrugs.

“As someone who knew and worked with him before I had the chance, it’s disappointing to see you take such a shitty attitude towards the Dark Man. But I get the feeling that that’s par for the course for you, Holden.”

“You’re a talented guy, but a little too insecure for his own good. People have said similar shit about me too, Holden. I get it. It’s hard not to listen. It’s hard to get your head out of your own ass and ignore the doubt… But if you ever wanna feel like you’re worth something, that’s what you gotta do.”

She glances down at the Conquest title and sighs.

“I bet you don’t believe me, do you? Seems like something you’d do. But what do I have to gain by lying to you? I told you exactly what I thought of you at Keeper of the Keys, and looking down the barrel of my fourth defense of this title, nothing has changed. But back to my original point. More often than not, here in my career in the UGWC, people have told me that my one major weakness is myself. The one thing that can derail any good that I could do is my own issues and my own insecurities.”

She shrugs again.

“And they have. Hell, as recently as the last month or so, I’d say. I’d tell you to ask Rogan, but I don’t think he’s much of a fan anymore. What a shame too. He was really looking forward to that match, that was until he saw what you had to say.”

Lucy shakes her head.

“I don’t know, Holden. I don’t look down on you for your poor choices like many of your peers do. I’ve got my own set of faults and problems. We all do, just some of us are unwilling to admit it, and even more unwilling to fix it. And something tells me you’re one of those people. Regardless of that though, I don’t look down on you. I look at this match with you like I look at every other match – There’s every chance I can go out there and walk out without the victory, and in this case… The Conquest Championship. You have the talent, and more importantly, the opportunity to turn your own ship around – But the real question here is will you?”

Finally, a dark smile crosses her lips as she stares into the lens, the wind picking up around her, blowing her long, blonde locks around in the breeze.

“Will you push aside your fears and your insecurities and take this from me? Will you redeem yourself after losing the Cooperative titles? Only you can do it, Holden. Only you can silence your doubters… The biggest one being yourself.”

She sighs again.

“So don’t look at me like I’ve somehow been a bigger detractor to you than the man you see when you look in the mirror. Sure, I can beat you, Holden. I know I can beat you. But like I said earlier, you beat Rogan. And you beat Kyra and Ken during a cooperative run for the ages. It’s pretty God damned obvious that you’ve not lost a step since you’ve been gone. I’ve overlooked lesser fighters than you, and I’ve paid for that mistake. I’m well aware that it’s up to me to make sure I walk out of Synergy with this title belt still in my possession. You stink of desperation, even though it’s unwarranted. At least, from my point of view it is. But then again, I guess you could tell me that I’ve never been in your shoes and I wouldn’t understand how you feel, or what you’ve gone through.”

She nods her head.

“And you’d be right. But your desperation.. It’ll be your undoing. When you lose on Monday, one of two things will happen – Either it’ll break you, and you’ll realize that your biggest mistake was your desperation… or your desperation will grow, and you’ll continue to spiral downwards into a hole that you won’t be able to climb from. I hope it’s the first one, but the realist in me knows what will happen. And once again, it’s a shame. It’s a shame things have to be this way, Holden. It’s a shame that you pushed away one of the kindest, most giving men in this business and you gave away the chance at two really great allies. And let me just say one more thing before I go…”

A dark look takes over her features as her eyes narrow at the camera.

“You come in there on Monday looking for a good, clean match… All will be good. But if you come in there, looking to use me to get at Rogan? If you come in there looking to hurt me in order to hurt him? I’ll fucking end you in ways that’ll make Gabriel Baal blush. You don’t mess with the Dark Man and expect his Dark Lady to sit by and do nothing, hmm?”

Her head cocks to the side, a hateful grin on her lips.

“Good Luck, Holden.”