The door to his suite creaks open, without a knock. Danny’s eyes stay shut, but a groan escapes him. His arm curls around the sleeping body of Rachel, pulling her closer to him.

”Don’t.”



”Your shits already packed, the cars ready, you’ve got about twenty minutes to say goodbye brush yer’ teeth and see the beach one last time.”

Danny throws his head back exasperatedly, looking at Jackson with the saddest eyes.

”What’s the point of having your own damn jet if it doesn’t wait for you?!”

Rachel stretches out from under Danny’s arm, having being woken up by all the noise. She turns onto her other side to face Danny, pouting visibly. Still dripping with grogginess, she whispers to Danny.

”Do you have to be so damn noisy in the morning?

”I have to go. It’s Friday.

Rachel’s eyes widen, and she swings a leg over Danny’s body.

”Hmph! You don’t HAVE to.”

Before Danny can utter a word, Jackson chimes in.

”Yes, he does. It’s been nice getting to know you Rachel, you’re a sweetheart, but this is unfortunately goodbye.”

Danny shoots Jackson daggers for cutting him off, turning back to face Rachel as his expression softens.

”He’s right, albeit rude, I do have to go. This is my art we’re talking about, I wouldn’t dare miss this match for the world, I get to fly Rach. FLY!”

”Oh Danny, you know I make you fly higher than anything else.”

Her voice, like velvet, pours out of her mouth and coats Danny. Danny entertains her, giving her a kiss on the forehead, whilst using a knee to pry her legs apart.

”Oh Rach, you really don’t know me, if you think you get me nearly as excited as the ring does.”

The statement slaps her hard across the face and her mouth hangs upon, aghast.

”Excuse me?”

Danny continues to fondle her, but she begins to resist him now.

”This past week has been fun and all, but did you honestly think I’d replaced wrestling with you? You’re a smart girl Rach, I can’t imagine you being that delusional.”

Rachel gets glassy eyed, as she digs her nails into Danny’s arm, and pushes him away from her. Danny let’s out a chuckle and goes to pull her back in.

That’s enough.

Danny turns to look at Jackson, sticking his tongue out at him.

”You’re always pooping on my parties Jackson. But I guess you’re right, I really should get going.”

Rolling away from Rachel, Danny plants his feet on the floor, his naked frame for the world to see. Rachel curls up, using the bedding to dab at her tears.

”Asshole.”

Danny turns around, and gives her a genuine, soft smile.

”No sweetheart, you just don’t understand me. You’re wonderful, and I’ve had so much fun, but you haven’t even begun to make sense of what goes on in here.”

Danny taps the side of his head twice.

”I’ll be back, you can be sure of that. Hell, I’ll fly you to New York right now if you want to, but I sure as hell won’t be staying here and missing my match.”

”Why don’t you just fuck off already.”

Danny gives her a shrug, turning away from her and grabbing a discarded pair of boxers on the floor. He gives it a sniff, before slipping it on. He considers a trip to the loo, before shrugging that off as well, and runs out of the room. The second his feet touch the sand, he lets out a euphoric groan, curling his toes to dig in deeper. He takes in a deep breath, before addressing Jackson again.

”Alright then, where’s the car?”

”You didn’t have to be such an asshole, Danny, she seemed like she really liked you.”

Danny smiles to himself, still staring out in to the sea.

”You see Jackson, I wasn’t being an asshole, I’ve been nothing but honest all trip. She just assumed I wanted her more than I wanted to win this match… I don’t. There’s nothing I want more right now, that’s just the way it is.”

”Oh, I know that much, hence why we’re set to leave, but-

Jackson shakes his head, realizing himself that Danny wouldn’t understand where he or Rachel was coming from. He knew that Danny cared about whatever Danny cared about, and that was that. Anyone elses concerns or cares, didn’t even make sense to him.

”It’s just by the main building, come on, you still have to go send out another vignette before you get acclimatized to the ring again. You haven’t trained at all, all week, you realize?”

Danny finally turns around to face Jackson, sticking one finger out and pointing at him.

”That’s where you’re wrong! I have been training all week, training the mind Jackson. Because that’s always more important in a match like this. Mental strength will always supersede wrestling style when it comes to little gimmick matches like this. How many suplexes you think are going to be thrown up there? When they’re legs are wobbling and all they can think about is their brains splattered amongst the fans, you think they’re going to be able to hit me with a Kata-whatever, or a Spear? Hah. Eyes on the prize Jack, eyes always on the prize.”



Jackson gives Danny a smirk, nodding his head in acknowledgement.

”If I see you pussy-out up there, you’re never living it down.”

---

The feed returns to Danny, Rhiannon, Jackson and an air steward walking down the tarmac towards a small-sized private jet. As the wind blows through his untied hair, a thought slips through Danny’s mind. Turning to Jackson, he voices out.

”I really did like her. Rachel. I really wanted her to get me.”

”Very few people do, Danny.”

”Has to be something to get in the first place.”

”Buy her an open ticket to New York, and get someone to drop off a hard copy at her doorstep. I really hope she won’t hold this against me for too long.”

”Whatever you say, Danny.”

The four climb up the lowered stairs, entering the jet as the feed cuts back to black.

---

The next we see of Danny Imperial, he’s dressed in a light white t-shirt, pair of ripped jeans wrestling boots tucked under the legs. You see, he hated wearing wrestling boots of any sort but knew he had to, and always needed about a day’s worth of getting used to them before a big match. And tomorrow, he definitely had to at least be as comfortable on his feet as any other day. Danny walks through a curtain, and is greeted with the bright lights of the Rogers Arena. His eyes however, see nothing but the four-sided rafters elevated high above what will be a ring, except it hasn’t quite been set up yet.

Closely behind him, is the impeccably dressed Jackson Turi, gloved hands in his pockets and hair slicked back into a neat ponytail. The little XWF Camera drone flits around the pair, before settling in front of Danny’s face.

”I’m going to keep this short and sweet. This is the last warning I’m going to issue to you five. Tomorrow is not going to be a walk in the park. Hell, tomorrow is not going to be a walk through hell. Tomorrow is going to be the single most terrifying experience of your lives, and I’m going to be the one to dish it out to all of you. I’m prepared, I’m ready to go, I’ve never been more ready in my life… Have you?

You see, the only soul to respond to my vignette was of course Caedus. Who much to my amusement, maintained his trajectory of oddly structured analogies and clown imagery. He really seems to be getting comfortable with the idea of looking like the product of a sodomy between Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Scully at the dentists. I figured my little destruction of his little game, and how much time it seems to waste on screen would have taught him as much. Then again, if my wiping the floor with his hick face didn’t’ teach him anything, what’s a spoken vignette going to do, yes?

If my parodying of his racial slurs and insults didn’t show him that his insults didn’t phase me, its pretty apparent that nothing really gets through to Caedus does it? Must get pretty hard to comprehend anything when all you can think about is fucking and how great it must be to be God’s white person. You’re honestly as two-dimensional as it gets Caedus, and little pissants like you shouldn’t waste precious XWF Airtime.


But yes, you self-centered little fuckhole, assume that any time I devote to addressing you is actually my subconscious way of offering you my mouth for all forms of services. Clearly any time I waste on you only boosts your feeble ego a little bit more, honestly, it could use all the help it gets. Keep your chin up Caedus, I’m sure after you’re paraplegic come Saturday, you can have all fu- Fuck, you might not feel anything from the waist down by the time that day comes… Ooft, you really should get Tala to drop on her knees as much as possible before that happens.

And Chris, you’ve been silent, but I’m sure you’re gearing up to drop a fat one right as I do. I don’t blame you for it, you never really learnt to shut up. Constantly whining, constantly bitching. You going to actually address me this time though? Or is Caedus all you care about? You realize that like he did to me, whoever you address your vignette to, Caedus will think it’s about him. There really isn’t much for me to say to you though, Chrissy, everything’s been said. I can reiterate that warning though, do you really want to experience Saturday? Do you really want to go through all that trial… And for what? I glimpse of Glory? A little spot in the limelight for when I actually win? It isn’t worth it. Stay home, would keep it a little less crowded up there, also your blood is so infected I wouldn’t want it spraying on anybody in the stands.

Main. Whenever you’re done polishing your guns and oiling up your motorbike, feel free to speak up and come at me. You’re the only one I’m excited to face. I can’t wait to see the same crazed look on your face as you leap off the rafters, I can’t wait to see that same look turn into a confused sense of loss as your fingers fail to grasp the case and you feel gravity do its thing. You understand that even Satan-spawn are affected by gravity, yes? I can’t wait to see the light fizz out of your eyes as you see me stand above you with the case in the air. Maybe we can do a little dance of the devils sometime Main, I’d like that… Assuming you can still walk after Saturday.

Scu- HAH. You thought I was going to waste my time with you? Go fuck yourself, you were irrelevant even before I beat you as a fresh rookie. So irrelevant that you had to leave, crawl under some dark hole and then stick your fucking head out again to what? Relive the glory days when you won your own similar match? Became Champion? Is that why they put you in this shit, because the only time you had a chance of winning was when nobody was paying attention to you and your rat-face could sneak away from the action and clench at victory? Yes, nobody looked at you ever, nobody has looked at you since, go back to irrelevance.
Gabe. Where you at son?”

Danny shoves the drone out of his way, walking down the ramp until he’s directly beneath the rafters. He can picture the briefcase dangling in the air, he can feel the wind rush through his hair as he takes that leap. He can feel… He can feel this pressure pressing his skull down, he can feel the fear creep up around his ankles, he can feel the sweats as his head begins to pound. His hand shoots up to grasp at the side of his head. Hunching over, he curses under his breath. Jackson is immediately at his side, supporting him.

”What’s wrong Danny?

”Fuck. I don’t fucking know, it just hurts.”

”Why don’t you take a seat Danny.”

Jackson attempts to lead him to the side, where a few steel chairs have been set up.

”Why don’t you get me some, get your hands off us.”

Something was off, and Jackson knew it. As Danny finished speaking, his hands grabbed at Jackson’s wrist, forcing himself out of Turi’s grip.

”Do we look like we need some fucking help.”

Jackson notices the look in Danny’s eyes switch, the venom in his voice. Fuck.

”You fucking thought we’d gone? HAH. What, beating Chaos and Caedus was enough to sate years, YEARS, of entrapment? Please, we all know that you can’t hold someone down for too long, they’ll break. We couldn’t have dear old Danny breaking, could we? No no no. That would be absolutely horrible. You see, if Danny breaks, we break. We aren’t breaking any time soon. So we gave him some time off, some time to waste, some time to fuck, some time to play. But now that we’re here, now that it’s literally hours till it’s play time…

It’s about time we came back.”