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Thaddeus Duke · **03-30-2019, 06:33 PM**

[duke]The Compound | Illimunatus Nation | Old Saybrook, Connecticut | 8:27 PM[/duke]

...Continued

I have known Thaddeus Duke for five years. I have never known him to be as disconnected as he is. Not in a sense that he doesn’t pay attention to things or has no idea what’s going on outside our world here, but in a sense that he’s looking for some sense of normalcy. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be him. Really, no one can. It’s been mentioned numerous times that Thaddeus didn’t grow up like normal kids. That’s not beating the same old drum, it’s more just trying to get the point across that he’s different. He’s special. In so many ways, he’s special. He’s my best mate and I don’t mind telling you, XWF Universe, that I love the man.

I’ve never seen a man, especially at his age, so devoted and loyal to those he loves and cares about. His love and affection, his loyalty and devotion to those people is true. It’s deep and it is very real.

Once upon a time his very good friend Dolly Waters was being freaked out and creeped out by a disgusting human being in the form of Micheal Graves. See, he and Miss Waters were just kicking off their tag team when Thaddeus had told her that he needed to kick her in the face and turn on her on Warfare and join AX3 which housed Micheal Graves. They hatched that plan because they knew Graves and the like were up to something and he needed to find out what. Still, even though it was a plan, it depressed him. It all felt real. When it was time for Thaddeus to reveal his true colors and realign with Dolly, he thoroughly got his ass kicked by AX3. That’s love. That’s loyalty and devotion very seldom seen in the industry. That’s but one example of how he’ll sacrifice his own happiness, his own mental and physical health to protect a friend. Many will make their jokes about a relationship between those two other than just friendship, yet those jokes never bothered him. He said to me once, “that’s just their desire to fantasize about two teenagers having sex. It certainly tells more about their character than ours.”

It makes him a target at times in the XWF because he has always wore his heart upon his sleeve, never worried about the hazing or unkind words that might be thrown in his direction due to the fact that he’s very open about showing and sharing his emotions with the world, and never really cared what any one of his opponents thought of him.

I’m not sure what he thinks, but I know what I think. While I disagree with his decision to attend high school and experience at least some of the life he missed out on, I do get it. I do understand it. I do support him. My disagreement comes from his safety. In school, he’s exposed with no security detail to protect him. No one can really fathom what it might be like to grow up the way he has and miss out on the normal, mundane things that people experience as they come of age. I know I certainly can not.

I join him now, in his office in order to conduct a phone call to his father. He fears this call and he’s unsure why. For years he never really concerned himself with the thoughts and feelings of his dad and maybe for good reason. Sebastian was “out of touch” and closed off almost completely, at least as far as fatherhood and what it means to be a father. Back then, Thaddeus would have no problem calling his father and asking him to do this. Lately though, their relationship has improved dramatically. They show affection toward one another. They laugh together. Sebastian Duke has shown interest in helping Thaddeus grow into the adult he’s meant to be. He’s been so supportive of Thaddeus of late and he is understandably nervous that the first time he tries something that his father doesn’t understand could send their relationship crashing down again.

”What are you waiting on?” I ask him as he sits nervously tapping his fingertips on the desk surface. He looks at me but doesn’t answer. ”You’re nervous now, when talking to him,” I conclude.

[duke]”No,”[/duke] he replies emphatically. [duke]”Only when it comes to important shit. Things he may not understand for reasons he couldn’t possibly understand.”[/duke]

”Look mate, I’m convinced he’s turned over a new leaf. He’s different now than he ever was. He’s free. He no longer has the weight of a nation, or the weight of survival weighing on him.

“Things aren’t always black and white Thad. It’s easy for us to say he’s this or he’s that, but I know for a fact we’ve never really sat and thought about him. In the way of a leader, unequipped to be so, also being a father. Moreover, a father of a boy that’s 5 but also 20.”

[duke]”What?”[/duke]

”You’re so consumed with the fact you never were a child, and rightfully so, but… as much as childhood was stolen from you, fatherhood, and growing as a father was also stolen from him and I know we have never considered that aspect,” I explain to him. ”At least never out loud.

“First time fathers have no idea what they’re doing, but they grow into their role as their child grows. As much as you never had that opportunity, neither has he.”

Thaddeus cocks his head sideways a little, realizing I’m right. He reaches toward the desk phone and hits the speaker button, then punches in his fathers cell number. After a few rings, his old man picks up.

”Hey what’s up kid?”

[duke]”Hey dad, I uhhhhh, I wanted to run something by you. I’ve been thinking about something and I uhhhhh… I dunno dad, I just need to hear your thoughts on it.

“So do you have time right now?”[/duke]

”Son, I’ll make time if necessary. What’s on your mind?”

[duke]”Well, I’ve been thinking a lot, you know? About how I grew up and...”[/duke] he cuts himself off as his nerves start building up again.

”Listen, I’m sorry things turned out the way they did. If I could go back and...”

[duke]”No, Dad, it’s not like that,”[/duke] he says, interrupting his father. [duke]”Dad, I’m just gonna say it. I want to go to high school.”[/duke]

He pauses, waiting for some response from his father yet receives none, so continues on, explaining.

[duke]”More than wanting to go to school, I want the experience. I’ve been this pretty important guy like literally my entire life and I’ve missed out on so much because I didn’t grow up like regular people. I want you to know, I’m not blaming you. Not anymore, dad. Things have happened between us and we’re both at fault. This isn’t about that. And I know if you could have foreseen things that caused my rapid growth, for lack of a better phrase, you would have changed things before they happened. I don’t hold that against you anymore.”[/duke]

”Well… I appreciate that, kid. I don’t really understand it though.”

[duke]”I don’t expect you to. I can’t expect you to.”[/duke]

”What’s Jim say about all this? I know he’s sitting there. I had a best friend once too, he was always nearby during phone conversations.”

Thaddeus nods at me.

”Sir, I don’t approve of it either, but I do get it. Maybe people like you and I, who grew up in a traditional sense, never could truly understand it.”

”Did you tell him how much high school blows?”

”I thought about it, but I figured he had his mind made up and like you, sir, once he has his mind made up, there’s no real possibility of talking him out of it.”

”Is that a shot?”

”No,” I answer with a smile.

[duke]”Thing is, in order to do it, I’d need you to come here and sign me into school.”[/duke]

”You thinking about public or private school?”

[duke]”Private. I’m too famous to go to public school. I’m a pro wrestler, I’m a head of state. It’s too risky.”[/duke]

”No argument there.”

[duke]”I dunno dad, I just need to experience it. I need some sense of what being a normal person is like. I want to experience teenage life. Go to school dances and formals, things like that.”[/duke]

”You’re going to get recognized regardless of what school you go to, you realize that?”

[duke]”Yeah, that’s probably true.”[/duke]

”How to you expect to get around that?”

”If I may sir, I have started the process of adopting a fake identity to give to students. If someone recognizes him, he can play it off like he’s been told before that he looks like Thaddeus Duke. I mean, the Headmaster will know the truth, and his teachers, but I’m sure with a little convincing, he or she will agree that adopting a false identity in class, is the safest bet and likely would be less of a distraction.”

”How do you suppose they’ll let him in? We have this whole backstory constructed and his birth certificate and all that faked to show that he’s 20 years old and not 5.”

”That’s what my guys are doing, sir. They’re faking high school records showing that he was a senior but never got to finish because of family matters. The local high school has their records stored online and my team will hack those records and insert his faked records. That way, when the Headmaster looks into things and calls the high school for his records, obviously they won’t remember him, but his records will be there.”

”Are you joining him in this proposed endeavor?”

[duke]”He has a public face too. If he’s there and people recognize both of us. The false identity thing will never work. He can’t be a part of it.”[/duke]

”It seems like you have it all figured out.”

[duke]”You’re on board? You’ll sign me in?”[/duke]

”Look, I’m not gonna pretend I understand it. I couldn’t possibly. If you feel you need to do this for your own satisfaction, then yes, I’ll be there to get you in and I will support you.

“If it’s important to you Thaddeus, then it’s important to me.”

Thaddeus emits a huge sigh of relief.

[duke]”Thank you. How soon can you be here?”[/duke]

”Uhhhhh, I have a meeting in the morning, but after that I can clear my schedule for a few days and come up.”

Thaddeus allows his emotions to takeover a little as a tear drops from his eye as he smiles from ear to ear.

[duke]”I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me.”[/duke]

”Alright kiddo, I have a meeting here in a couple minutes so I gotta get off here. But I told you, I’m trying to do right by you and I meant that. You’re my son, and I’ve failed you in the past. I’ve failed myself, too. I’m not failing you anymore. That’s over.

“You are my one and only son Thaddeus, and I love you more than you could possibly begin to understand.”

[duke]”I love you too dad,”[/duke] Thaddeus says as his emotions take over and the tears fall. He ends the call and leans forward and buries his face in his hands. His elbows dug into his knees.

I stand up and grab Thaddeus, holding him tight. Knowing Thaddeus the way I do and how, despite all the issueThe scene s in the past between the two Duke generations, all he ever really wanted was love and respect from his father. He has it now, and its a great relief. I couldn’t be happier for the best mate I love so much.

[duke]”He loves me, bro,”[/duke] Thaddeus states, his voice muffled by the warm embrace of friendship.

The scene fades in to the sparring ring in a warehouse outside of Arlington, Virginia. Sebastian Duke has just tossed his son to the ropes, on the rebound Thad ducks under a lariat and bounces off the far side. On that rebound, he drives a flying forearm into his fathers head, taking him to the mat. Thaddeus kips up and hops to the apron and scales the turnbuckle. He leaps off, driving a Savage elbow into his fathers sternum.

Thaddeus pops back up, feeling the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His father staggers to his feet and…

SMACK!

Thaddeus lands his Better Than You super kick to his fathers jaw. The big man falls to the mat, seemingly out cold. Thaddeus celebrates with Jim.

[duke]”I’m fuckin’ ready!”[/duke]

”Where’s there any doubt?”

[duke]”In the beginning, a little.”[/duke] Thaddeus wipes the sweat from his face with a towel and tosses it to Jim. The camera though, slowly zooms on the fallen Duke. [duke]”Hey MemeQueen,”[/duke] Thaddeus shouts to the camera man. [duke]”I’m the star now, not him.”[/duke]

Why Luca Arzegotti is the camera man, no one knows. He switches his focus to the younger Duke.

[duke]”Donovan I thank you, from the bottom of my heart I thank you for showing even the slightest hint of interest in your title defense. Far be it for me to be the only interested party so here we are, ready to embark on what is sure to be your final Television title defense.

“Before we get started, go on and get your mocking of me out of the way. I know you want to. I know you want to crack your lame jokes about a human being with human feelings over something a man has never felt before, but is feeling now.

“Yes? No?

“It doesn’t matter.

“Let me first begin by telling you exactly what I’ve been up to and why I have been gone these 20 months. There are those around this company, and I won’t mention any names because they know who they are, that talk a big ole game about world domination and creating a new, better reich or something to that effect. His deal is his deal and it, matters not to me. Some people play at war while I lived it. Every fucking day I lived it. War is nothing fantastic. It’s always ugly and not something to be particularly proud of in the grand scheme of things. Others play their games and wish to do this that and the other thing, but I’ve been there already, and I’ve done it. I didn’t just play some war games and talk for years about leading men into a battle. I did it. I didn’t talk about flying fighter jets and bombing the living shit out of Poland and Italy, I fucking lived it. I lived it every god damn day. I was in the trenches sometimes too, watching my brothers cut down forever in an instant.

“My life isn’t a game. It’s real. It’s dangerous.

“Did you not see that coming?

“Now that the war is won, you can plant your seeds of vile disdain for me and my time away from what I love but sometimes, what needs to be done trumps what you want to be done.

“You can sit back and spew your historical rhetoric about who beat who and when, but as I see it, this match never was about Sebastian Duke, Theo Pryce or Azrael Erebus. I was merely illustrating a point that our lives and our stories are forever intertwined. It matters not, to me who did and did not beat your father, Donovan, or when they did it. This ain’t about them. What matters is Thaddeus Duke, Donovan Blackwater and your dying reign as Television Champion.

“Sunday night at March Madness, Donovan, I’m coming to show you just how fucking good I am. Continue to make your lame ass unfunny jokes about my skill level and sarcastically point out that I’m the best thing since sliced bread all you want. The fact is, I’m every bit as good as I say I am. Management knows it. The fans know it. Sunday, you’ll know it. And I fully expect you to wake your dead ass up after I kick you in the face and take your title, and extend your hand to me. Not in friendship, but in acknowledgment that I am better than you.

“Choices have consequences. Dispute it all you want in your next snoozefest, but I am going to become the new Television champion at March Madness. It’s fate, Blackwater. You wanted this match and now you get to deal with the consequences of wanting it. You get to deal with me proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m the reason they’ve put me in this match, not you.

"I'm too big for you bro.

“March Madness is coming, Blackwater. I’m coming for victory, not disappointment. I’m coming for the gold you carry. I’m coming to show you why I’m just better than you.”[/duke]

Thaddeus hops out of the ring with James following close behind. ”I have a question.”

[duke]”What?”[/duke]

”Why is Luca Arzegotti your camera man?”

[duke]”I ran into him at a Starbucks...”[/duke]

”Really? Doesn’t seem the Starbucks patronage type.”

[duke]”He was a barista. Anyway, he gave me the wrong drink and I started to tell him that and he was all like ‘can I be your camera man?’ I figured, sure why not. I have loads of money and I don’t mind helping out a historical XWF figure with his financial woes.”[/duke]

”What’s he earning?”

[duke]”He’s paying me, actually.”[/duke]

”Also why is he wearing your fathers cape?”

The two are about to disappear through the doorway.

[duke]”He said he feels at home in it, I dunno.”[/duke]

Luca steps forward, but then trips on the cape and face plants on the cement floor, ”Owwww.”

Fade.

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