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(Gravy_Xtreme_5000) · (01-26-2022)

Micheal's super loose grip on his sanity is slipping. We all knew that this would happen sooner or later. Fortunately, Micheal is seeking professional help under the order of XWF owner Vincent Lane. After a small setback with Micheal's perception of reality, and an unnerving conversation with deceased Miss Fury who may or may not live on in his subconscious... His doctor prescribed him a new medication that would somehow help. Though, the next time that we would see Micheal Graves...

Warfare 12.29.21

Backstage at Warfare, we find our hero wandering aimlessly with a dazed look in his eyes. The impact of the Thunder Strike echoes through the arena before the crowd counts along with the pinfall!

"ONE!"

"TWO!!"

"THREE!!!"

The crowd erupts over TK's victory as a cool rush blows over Micheal. He closes his eyes and sniffs at the air as his hair begins to gently blow. The lights flicker and small blue sparks of electricity begin to crawl across the floor.

SUDDENLY!!

The lights explode overhead and an electric current dances around Michael and lifts him into the air!

[Image: highlander-there-can-be-only-one.gif]

The energy fades as Micheal falls limp to the cold dark floor.

???

I awaken outside with the cold rain pouring upon me. I'm as stiff as a rod and can't help but grunt as I push myself up to uneasy legs.

Across from me, I see three statues. One is draped in rags and has the face of a skull. Another is a female, a deadly assassin judging by the small blades hidden in her palms. The last statue, some sort of ninja warrior. "W... Where am I?" I wonder aloud. Just then, a child calls out from behind me.

"Daddy?"

My blood freezes along with every muscle in my body.

"Daddy is that you?"

I muster the courage to look behind me. Slowly, I turn my head.

"Why did you kill us, daddy!?"

My eyes widen as only one thought enters my mind. "I... I didn't!"

"Why did you stop believing in us!"

I did stop believing in them, but they were just a figment of my psyche!

"You killed us! We were happy and you killed us, daddy!"

"... You're... You're not real!"

"We were real, daddy! We were real until you left us!"

I don't know what to think or believe. The gravity of it all is too much to handle and I fall to my knees. My " children" inch closer with pure hate in their eyes.

"We were happy! But you choose going back to the XWF over us!"

"You were never supposed to go back there, daddy!"

It's all too much to bear, and I break down sobbing.

"Don't cry, daddy."

"You can fix it, daddy."

"H... How?"

In unison, they both say it.

"Kill yourself, daddy."

"Then you can be with us again, just like before!"

"Huh!?"

For a moment I ponder reality. Could death really reunite me with them? No! I know better! This is all a lie!

"It's no lie, my love."

"Stephanie?"

She walks out from behind our children. Sorrow fills what little space remained in my heart.

"What is left for you in that world, my darling? They hate you, all of them! Even the ones who pretend to be your friends! Do you really think that Duke " likes" you? No, my dear, he simply wishes to keep a watchful eye on you. Dolly Waters? For all of her talk of love and friendship, tell me, when was the last time the two of you spoke?"

Months, I realize...

"HMPH! What about your good pal Jim? You went through a war with him to repair your fractured friendship, and where has he been since?"

We haven't had many friendly interactions since...

"None of them care for you, my darling, but here, you have a family that loves and needs you."

I mustn't allow my thoughts to be clouded!

Defiantly, I shout; "NO! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Stephanie tilts her head as she studies me curiously.

"Are you really willing to allow a little thing like that to keep us apart, even as you battle with a man who attempts to transmute a championship title into the love of a lifetime?"

Charlie's quest was nothing short of foolish. Even if he were to succeed, there is no guarantee that his feelings for the creature would be reciprocated, but does that apply here? What if I could somehow reunite with the only people who ever loved me?

"You can, my dear."

"HUH!?"

Can she hear my thoughts?

"All you need to do is release your grip on life. Forget the XWF and everything about that world and stay here, with us."

Suddenly a wave transmutation changes everything, including the undead nature of my family.

The gentle touch of her fingertips sends a tingle down my spine.

"Stay with us, my love."

I close my eyes and contemplate her offer. So what if they aren't real? Maybe she has a point? It's not like there's anything pleasant waiting for me back home anyway. At least this way I can be happy for a change...

Unsure how I will respond, I open my eyes just in time to see what happens next.

A man wearing my mask swings a hefty ax at Steph's head, chopping it clean from the shoulders!

"NOOOOO!"

I jump to my feet before her head hits the ground! I tackle my doppelganger to the ground and wrestle the ax out of his hand. Heh, what do you know, I'm a pretty good wrestler after all.

"WHY!?!" Lost to my rage, I smash my fist into his mouth before he can respond! I continue to reign down shots as I scream in agony. Exhausted, I fall on top of the masked attacker and begin to sob weakly.

"Finish him, daddy!"

"Huh?" I had forgotten they were here!

"Kill him for hurting mommy!"

I turn my gaze towards the ax before pushing myself off of this masked lunatic. I crawl towards the ax and once I have it in my grasp, I use it to steady myself to my feet.

"Go daddy, do it!"

"Hurt him for hurting mommy!"

I stumble over the man and lift the ax up towards my chest.

"Why?"

He gurgles through blood trying to speak.

"Why must you ALWAYS take from ME!?"

I raise the ax high over my head!

I hesitate as he continues to gurgle through blood. Am I doing the right thing here?

"Daddy, please! Kill the bad man!"

Her pleas fuel me to do what needs to be done! I swing the ax down at his head when I'm suddenly blinded by a

Golden flash that knocks me back to the ground as the ax goes flying!

Blinded and dizzy, I call out to my children, but I hear nothing but the sound of the ax scraping across the cement floor.

"Don't worry kiddos, I won't let daddy hurt himself!"

I open my eyes to see the masked man now standing over me. Before I can say a word, he removes my mask and his face leaves me stunned.

"Not before I have the chance to do it first!"

Charlie swings the ax and I instinctively reach out to stop him!

"NOOOOO!"

As I wrap my arms around The Nickleman and tackle him to the ground! The ax slips away from his grip and slides across the floor.

*THUMP*

"Huh!?" That sound!

*THUMP*

Nickles flashes a sadistic grin as my grip on him loosens.

"Now we have all the time in the world to play, Gravy!"

I slowly turn my head, fearful of what I believe I might see.

[Image: Enraged-Responsible-Kissingbug-max-1mb.gif]

I turn back to Charlie with rage in my heart, but to my bewilderment, he is gone without a trace. Then I hear HER voice.

"They aren't lost yet, Micheal. Join them now, and be with your family forever!"

She tosses a small blade towards me. It slides across the floor, stopping just in front of me. I look up to see Miss Fury's cold gaze before turning my attention to the blade before me.

"Hurry up and finish it you worm!"

I reach out and take the blade into my hand. I consider for a moment what she asks, and wonder still...

"How does my death make them REAL!?"

A grin crawls onto her evil face.

"You idiot, you can not actually die here!"

Of course!

"You just gain control of my body, yeah?"

"Yes, but ask yourself, do you REALLY wish to keep it at this point? It's done nothing but cause you pain. Here, you can be happy. Here, you can be with people who love you. Isn't that what you want?"

Miss Fury waves her hand almost as if to cast a spell and suddenly it's like the floodgates have been opened. Every painful memory from my life, one right after the other! It's terrifying to live through these moments again, all the suffering, the ridicule, the rejection! Abusive foster parents. Schoolyard bullies. My first act of revenge. I hurt that kid pretty bad.

Wrestling, I remember my debut! 1998 in a small company known as the Golden Wrestling Federation Online! It was an online-only streaming wrestling show 20 years before it was cool! I worked my first match against a guy by the name of Arrow. I fucked him up pretty well. I just wanted to wow the crowd. He never wrestled again, and that company lost sponsors on account of me, ultimately closing its doors.

The next place I landed seemed to suit me better. These guys were hardcore! Extreme to the max! I won my first championship here when I did a fucking 450 splash off of the roof of a school! I had no fear, and they loved me for it! Eventually, I found myself in the main event wrestling for the World Championship. I won! MY hard work had paid off, and it was glorious! Until two weeks later when I was stripped of the championship due to legal allegations that I had brought onto myself, but that didn't stop me from burning the place down on my exit, effectively putting an entire locker room out of work.

My jealous blood feud with my brother Sean right here in the XWF? Our finding each other after all that time apart should have been joyful, but I felt lost in his shadow, and because of that I tore a rift in our family that has remained for twenty-fucking-years!

Dolly? I looked at her like a daughter. The daughter that I had only imagined, but she was more renowned than I, even at her young age. Listening to the receptions she would receive and seeing how the boys treated her with such respect behind the scenes, it really burned me to the bone. So of course I fell victim to my own insecurities and attacked her without warning, even if it killed me to do so.

"Your life has been nothing short of miserable. End it here and live the rest of your days in peace, Micheal!"

She's right, my life has been pretty fucking miserable, but not nearly as miserable as the lives of those closest to me. My God, have I been the problem all along?

"Why are you stalling, Micheal!? You know what you must do?!"

She's right, I do...

I tighten my grip on the knife with a long sigh, Miss Fury smiles with pleasure, being only moments away from victory, and a one-way ticket back to the XWF!

"URRRRRKKKKkkaaahh!"

Her eyes widen as she reaches for her stomach, placing her hands around the hilt of the blade before finally looking down at the mortal wound in her abdomen. Fury stumbles back a few steps before falling back onto her bottom. I stand up and dust myself off as she watches on helpless, dying a slow death.

"You were right, Fury. My life has been nothing but pain and rejection, but when you revealed my memories to me, you showed me who is really to blame here."

She doesn't have the ability to speak. Is it because she's dying, or did I take it from her, I wonder?

"You unknowingly opened the door to memories that had long since been removed, and in doing so I now see that all the pain is not only my own doing, but it pales in comparison to the pain that I've brought into this world!"

I direct my eyes to Fury's to ensure that I have her attention.

"I have long since paved a path for psychopaths and miscreants like you and Those No Good Bastards to employ your savagery and anarchistic ideals with absolutely no remorse for the people that you hurt or the careers that you end."

I am no hypocrite, I know what crimes I am guilty of along with how obtuse and unaware I must appear, but with my complete memory unlocked, I can now at least somewhat absolve myself for many wrongs that I have committed.

THEN

A flashback to the early 2000's, backstage at an XWF event, we find a much younger Micheal Graves sitting alone in a dark corner of the arena, brooding as was in fashion at the time.

When the Former-Owner-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Cain Sharter enters the scene.

[Image: Cain-Sharter.jpg]

With promises of fame, fortune, and a really BIG push.

In the end, Micheal accepts Sharter's offer and the two leave together with their arms across each other's shoulders like long-lost best friends.

What follows is a series of rapid flashing scenes of various experiments being performed on an unwilling Micheal Graves at the hands of a secret organization known only as DWR, and not by many. The torturous shots continue one after the other. The experiments seem to involve both brainwashing techniques and the paranormal. One shot that we keep seeing more and more clips of is of a primitive looking man performing some sort of ritual with an ancient rune scrawled with demonic symbols. The scenes end with an agonizing scream from Graves as we fade into black...

ONLY FOR GRAVES TO REAPPEAR AS THE DARK WEAPON: GEHENNA!

NOW

"I was made into a weapon. My mind had been broken."

Fury coughs up some blood, I can tell her time draws near.

"But I have never been WEAK. I managed to break the programming and escape the diabolical plans DWR had in store for me."

Miss Fury smiles through bloody teeth.

"As if living in your own head is something to be proud of!"

"It's not, not then..."

I kneel down to her, placing my hand behind her neck to support her head.

"And not now..." I say as I twist the knife.

"HURRRRkkkkkk......aaah.."

The rain stops and the fog lifts from around me. The sky brightens to the point of becoming blinding when suddenly the worried chatter of others begins to ring in my ears.

"I have a heartbeat!"

"Get him a wah wah wah"

I can't quite make it all out. The world around me fades away as I open my eyes to a new reality.

"Relax Mr. Graves! You had an accident, but you're okay now!"

Accident or no, that was more than just a dream. I remember DWR and what they did to me. I remember everything that I have done to harm those closest to me, and while Charlie Nickles waste his time fumbling through "Clout Vampire 101", by chasing after " dates" he has no business asking for, I'm going to use my time to plot exactly how I plan on relieving him of that neglected girl around his waist. So go ahead Nickleman, keep chasing after Caedus and the latest girl to catch your eye, because the one you had will be leaving with Gravy come Fire and Ice.

"If you'll excuse me..."

I teleport out of the ambulance to their dismay, I'm sure.

???

In a fourth wall-breaking experience, the picture pans away from the video we were watching to reveal that it was playing on a TV in a dingy living room where we find many different Micheal Graves personalities sitting around watching the show and chomping on popcorn. One of them speaks up.

[Image: doyle-interview.jpg]

"Eh, so I don't get it. What was the moral of the story?"

"I dunno, but he should have fucked Miss Fury!!!"

"Idiots! He feels bad for the bad shit we did, and he has the power to stop bad shit from happening. You guys are so stupid!"

"Well duh! We're just YOU!"

"With more BRAIN DAMAGE!!!"

"Tons..."

NOW

Backstage, Savage! We find Micheal Graves hanging about in the Gorilla position when Vinnie Lane approaches him.

"Hey, uh Graves, sup?"

I silently acknowledge him.

"So, uh... Listen, I know that Charlie and TK really did a number on you last week, but I'd appreciate it if..."

I can tell that he's worried about what I may do out there tonight. Lane and I may not always see eye to eye, but he's a decent dude. Well, no, he's a petty, obnoxious, juvenile, piece of shit, but only when he's throwing a tantrum. Otherwise, he's pretty chill. That's why it's so easy to cut him off.

Well, that and maybe me transforming right before his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll be gentle!"

No, she's not dead...

She's us.

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