The cafe buzzes all around Mystica. In his head, all he hears is a chorus of voices shouting different things at him above the drone of the busy eatery. He sits alone in a corner booth, back to the crowd. He doesn't want to look at them. He doesn't want any part of any of it. But there he is, sipping a coffee, a beverage he hasn't drunk in years. He's been doing lots of things that he swore off of. But even as he unwinds in public, the ever-vocal creatures inside his brain drone on.

"Kill Rollins!" whispers one, causing Mystica to turn his head in the direction he thinks it is coming from. It was a female voice, eerily familiar to him. Like a forgotten memory on the edge of oblivion.

He sighs, trying to ignore the voice. Taking another sip, he is bothered once more by a different voice, this time much deeper and menacing. He has heard it in his dreams.

"Bring Van Dam to me!"

"Dammit!" Mystica shouts aloud, just loud enough to clear his head and silence the voices for a moment. A pair of girls a few booths over look to him with odd glances. He mumbles something an quickly looks away, hoping not to frighten them with his pale blue gaze. They slowly return to their separate conversations, likely passing him off as another odd transient in the Los Angeles cafe.

"Dave?" comes another voice. This one is also familiar. As Mystica angrily turns his head to shoo away the imaginary voice, he is greeted by a figure from his past.

"Victoria?"

A neatly-dressed woman meets his glance from across the crowded cafe lounge. She is a young Asian girl, barely a year younger than 25, with warm eyes and a hot tea in her hand. She looks dressed for a job interview, but Mystica knows better. Her jovial pace toward him across the lounge only reminds Mystica of the life he lived before he went mad in the wilderness. Before he can even prepare himself, the girl has seated herself directly across from him, having slid into the booth.

"Dave, it's been forever!" Victoria exclaims with a massive grin. She places her hot cup of tea down on the table between them, and Mystica can already feel the sweat beading off his forehead.

"Yeah, yeah..." he mutters, coughing awkwardly to try to gain some semblance of dignity. "What, like, 3 years?"

"Exaggerating," Victoria remarks, sipping her tea. "Just like you used to in your articles. Jesus, Dave. It's...it's really crazy to run into you here."

"Roight," Mystica replies, giving a meek smile. Victoria hasn't lost any bit of her more posh Londoner accent. The group back at the magazine in Redditch always poked fun at her "city" talk -- the way she seemed to speak over them, rather than to them. And even now, nothing had changed. Mystica felt as though she were talking right over him.

"I uh, heard about...what happened...in Canada."

"Yeah, that." Mystica chuckles awkwardly, scratching his nose. "I uh, had a bit of an experience out in the snow."

"I'm sorry," Victoria says, though her words seem empty to him. She hasn't changed a bit, but he's changed. Oh, has he changed.

"It's fine. All better now," Mystica replies, an empty tin-sounding squeak emerging from his throat. "Well, kind of. Not everything's been cleaned out of the old attic."

He gestures to his head, laughing slightly.

"Still a bit mad."

"You were always a bit mad," Victoria jokes. "But brilliant. It's a pity you left the Periodic. We just made a merger with Big Reads. It's a bit rubbish, though."

"Oh?" asks Mystica, perking up an eyebrow curiously.

"Yeh, they have me out on these dry assignments. We cater to a wider crowd now, including the uh...lower class, I should say?"

Mystica pauses, urging her to continue.

"They have me out here to cover a pro wrestling show. Kind of clutterz, ain't it?"

"Well...that's uh...I wouldn't say clutterz, really..."

The blank stare from Victoria urges a desperate sigh out of Mystica.

"I'm involved in the wrestling scene now..."

"Oh," says Victoria blankly. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to--"

"No," he replies, holding up a flat hand. "It's fine. I know the impression it must give off. All these carnies and oddjobs whackin' each other upside the 'ead and whatnot. Must come off as uh...yeah, weird to most. But it's a paycheck nowadays."

"You don't figure your episode up north made you a bit more bonkers than you realized?"

Victoria laughs a deep, throaty laugh. Mystica can remember that laugh. It's her nervous way of breaking away from an awkward moment. Back at the Periodic, she would often react this way to an office practical joke on her part, as if to shift the blame away. Mystica coughs, trying to mask how utterly uncomfortable he really is at the moment.

"Yeh, I'm uh..facing two blokes Wednesday. They sent you down kind of early for Warfare, didn't they?"

"Yeah, but..." Victoria smirks, "they're sendin' me up to Pennsylvania for some bigger event soon. You involved in that?"

"No, I'm uh...I'm not. Guess I'm not really 'big show' material, y'know?"

"I figure you are!" Victoria assures him, sipping her tea once more. Mystica hasb't touched his coffee since he spotted her, and it's steadily occurring to him. Almost robotically, he too sips his drink, slamming it back down with a bit more force than he had intended.

"Nah, I'm just Wednesday night filler, mostly. Got uh...two blokes to beat down. I won this last week in a tag match. Kicked some guys in the noggin'."

"Sounds beast," Victoria says, smiling. "Really give 'em the one-two?"

"Yeah, it's just...I don't know. I've been going through some things."

"What kind of things?"

Mystica taps his temple sheepishly.

"Head things. You probably know the story. About why they admitted me to the hospital."

"Oh, that Prophet deal! Oh, jeez...you mean, you still think you're some sort of God or somefin'?"

"No, not a god, really," Mystica sighs. "I just...I saw some things up north, and I...I can't tell if they're real or not. If they WERE real or not. If they're not, that's all good and done, but...if what I saw WAS real...I'm in big trouble. Big business. Big problems..."

"Like?"

"Like...you ever read Lovecraft? Cthulhu and all that?"

"Read 'Dagon' once. You think there's a fish-man-thing up in the tundra?!"

"No, not like that! It's...it was something terrible, Vicky. Somethin' I hope I made up. But it didn't see me, you see?"

At this point, it is apparent that Victoria is incredibly turned off by what Mystica is saying. To her, this is all madness coming out of David Martin's mouth. She knew him once, when he was just Dave, your typical everyman writer at the Periodic. Just that weird-looking but cute guy in the corner cubicle, typing away at his laptop, scribbling notes, scanning sources...but there's something new in his creepy blue eyes. He's afraid. He is genuinely afraid of something.

"There was this...this fog...and it hid me from that thing I saw. I call it The Myst...it's...it's benevolent, safe, and whatnot. I mean, this could all be my head playin' tricks, but...but I feel safe in believing in it."

"Problem being...?" Victoria asks eagerly, her eyes now incredibly curious. His madness is almost charismatic now, completely different from the madness seeping out of his eyes mere seconds earlier.

"Problem being..." Mystica sighs deeply, burying his face in his pale palms. "I'm not sure if...if I'm doing the right thing. There's this...there's something I'm starting to believe. There's something in me heart that's tellin' me I'm mad as a lead worker at a rabbit's unbirthday. Oh, it's mad to say...roight...out with it, then. This uh...this Myst...I think...I think it's manifested. Like, become more than ethereal. Corporeal now! Taken up being. See, in the wrestling fed...I've only been beaten by one guy. Twice now...and it's starting to play tricks in my head. I'm hearing things. Things I know I shouldn't hear."

"Voices?"

"Voices. Tellin' me to rip the legs off my opponents Wednesday, tear 'em limb from limb, kick their bloody heads off! It's all...it's all a bit...much...to deal with. I don't know whether to...to embrace them or...ah, gawd, it's all madness."

"I don't think you're mad, Dave," Victoria assures him, placing a comforting hand on his elbow. "I think you're just tired. Locked up in your work. It must be hard, puttin' your body on the line like that each week. And you're workin' hard, mate!"

"It's just not gettin' me over. Guys I've faced have title matches and whatnot at that big show you gotta cover and me...I'm still facing two random blokes on a Wednesday night. There's better things people would rather be doing than watch me kick some chief in the head and pin 'em. I love it, but...there are big names. Big faces, big belts. Am I good enough for that?"

"I'm sure in time...I mean, how long you been at it?"

"Few weeks."

"See? You're just new. Workin' your way up the ladder!"

"But that guy I told you 'bout! Only guy I've lost to on two separate occasions! He's got 'imself a title match with his buddy, and...and he's preaching somethin'...different. But it sounds right, y'know? More believable! He's got a whole family of followers and I got...I got some blind girl..."

"You got me," Victoria smiles, perking up Mystica's head. "I mean, uh...not in the whole Myst thing, but...you got me as a fan. Count on it."

With that, she gives him a parting grin and looks to her wristwatch. She is late for an important meetup across town.

"Listen, I gotta get movin', but..."

She stands from the booth, taking her cup of tea with her. She turns back to give him another curt smile and wave.

"I'll see you Wednesday, yeh?" she says with a cheer Mystica can vaguely recall from the past. Something stirs in his chest and he can barely choke out some words.

"Yeah, Wednesday. Root for me."

"Got it. You and two blokes. Bit gay."

She laughs and turns to leave, but Mystica calls after her.

"Vicky!"

She turns back, face blank.

"When you get back to Redditch...tell Liz I miss her...and that I'm sorry."

With that, Victoria nods and disappears through the glass double doors and out into the streets, vanishing among the busy crowds of downtown LA. Mystica turns back to the wall, and gently bashes his head against it, muttering to himself.

"Stupid."

He sips his coffee as the soundtrack to the cafe skips over and starts at the beginning of the playlist of soft ballads and indie Mumford-style bands. Inside his skull, the playlist of voices start up again.

"MKillVanDanMaimThemBringThemtoMeEndHisSufferingRollinsMustBeShown!"

Achievements

• 1x Tag Team Champion
  
• August 2013 Superstar of the Month (Thank you all so much!)
  
• 1x US Champion
  
• 1x X-treme Champion