"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

~ Confucius

---

---

---

8 June 2018
QT Sydney
Sydney, Australia

Isabel Mercier allowed herself through the door, wincing slightly as she heard Finn Kuhn closing it behind her. She still looked awkward, not having the best experience in this position. But still, when her client is moping about 24/7 and refusing to get out of bed, it forces one's hand, even if they don't particularly like playing therapist.

"Sit," Finn commanded. Following his instruction, Isabel moved Finn's covers aside, sitting down on it as the dejected Kaiser flopped his body on top.

"Sooo..." Isabel said. "If we're going to try and solve this issue and get you back to being up to snuff, we might as well find the root of the problem. Are you acting like this because of what happened at Turning Point? With your loss to Engy?"

A sharp exhale was Finn's response as he was mulling over an actual answer in his head. "...Yes and no," he ultimately decided.

"Err... can you elaborate on that?" Isabel asked, trying to press further as she squinted hard.

Another sharp exhale filled the void of silence as Finn bought time to think. But this one took longer to say. Almost... as if he was debating with himself. "Finn, I can't help you if you don't talk to me." Finn sat himself up, brushing his hair out of his eyes. Isabel tried taking special care to not divert her gaze towards Finn's forehead, a task thankfully made easier when Finn finally spoke.

"It was... a multitude of factors. The loss, and mostly... the build up to the loss hurt me, and my pride to no end, but ultimately I knew I would be able to bounce back eventually..." Finn looked to the ground dejectedly, a no doubt shameful display for the Kaiser. "But... I made the mistake of trusting her. That snake, Madison Dyson. I was too obsessed riding my wave of power, I was hungry for more. Affection. Love. Caringness. And she provided that to a T - you've seen how she's fawned over me. And I let myself get more and more carried away, until... it was too late." Finn shook his head, burying his face in his hands. "If it was any one of those three alone, I could manage. But... now I'm just painfully reminded of how weak I truly am."

Isabel's breathing slowed to a halt as she tried to process the situation before her. She wouldn't have expected it, but this broken mess was Finn - the real Finn. Before she could finish her thoughts, Finn continued.

"This was just nothing but a long road of failures. I couldn't beat Engy. I couldn't beat Cadryn. I couldn't beat Chaos when it mattered more, or Neville, or Robbie, or Pig, or Graves, anyone I suppose. I said I was a failure as the Young Lion, or at least something beyond those lines, but... what if after everything I've strived to accomplish, I've just been trying to change the undeniable fact that I'm a failure at life?"

This was it - the facade truly broken and left for Isabel to see. Finn prided himself and placed himself on a pedestal so much, he had the roster believing he truly was like this, but now his thoughts were as plain as day.

He wasn't the Kaiser.

He wasn't the Paragon.

He most certainly wasn't the Ace of the Federation.

He wasn't even the Young Lion.

He was a joke.

And it was up to Isabel to stop this madness, as her jaw was tightly clenched to the point where she could hardly speak. "Finn..."

As Finn removed his tear-soaked face from his hands, turning towards Isabel - SLAP! Finn's head practically went spinning as his hand now went to the spot where Isabel's hand went across his face.

"Drop the self pity," she commanded sternly.

"W-What?" Finn stammered breathlessly.

"When I tracked you down in the middle of February, I was certain I made the pick-up of a lifetime. I went down to Africa of all places, assuring you of my qualifications, knowing in my gut that I had found the fastest rising star of the XWF, and the man in front of me knew every damn bit of what he was capable of. I watched him grow further than anyone would have thought him capable of."

"Did anyone expect you to grab the January Star of the Month Award virtually unopposed? No. Did anyone expect you to give Jim Caedus the fight of his life? No. How about the Great American Shove-It and how you dominated the competition? No. Every step of the way, you had people doubting you, and time and again you pulled a miracle out of your hat. And not only did you do that, but you also kept professing that with each new step, you'd continue your luck, pulling out another miracle."

Finn still looked downtrodden as he responded. "But without the swagger and luck... what am I?"

"Easy!" Isabel said, snapping her fingers. "You're Kaiser Finn Kühn the First. The Paragon of Excellence, the most talented bastard in the XWF, it's ace and the man who will lead it to the Promised Land. You're also the man who's going to go to Warfare, beat up Ghost Tank, and then you'll for a new set of gold. I hear the Tag Titles'll be wide open, don't you agree?"

As Isabel winked after that last line, Finn allowed himself a small smile, before seeing it become his trademark cocky smirk. "Yes... You're right." Before he got too far, he pulled a surprised Isabel into a hug. "...Thank you."

Isabel was shocked that went as well as it did, all things considered. This Finn was nowhere near back to normal, but at least it was a start.

---

---

---

"Uhhh... hi guys! It's me again, Jon Williams, filling in for Finn for another week! I know, this won't have all the high-quality shit you're used to by now, but we'll have to make do. Hopefully, by next week Finn will be good to go. Maaaaybe by next promo, but... it just depends on Isabel, dude."

"Anyway! I'll keep things brief again. Last Warfare passed, and like everyone and their mommas knew, Finn was beating that poor sack of shit called Ghost Tank. But now, we have to turn our attention towards the tag team belts - and standing in our way of that is Cadryn Tiberius and Micheal Graves - two men Finn is very familiar with, in case you don't know."

"Basically, when Finn was more... relatively early in his tenure, he went off against Cad for the Hart title, and man, those guys went at it. Back and forth, and back and forth... It looked like our boy Finn was winning, but after a brief distraction from Jenny Must and an equally brief exchange between Finn and Cad, the Hart champ retained. Meanwhile, Gravy, in his alter ego of Wraith took exception to Finn being... well, Finn, ad they got match set together. Finn was dead certain Wraith was Graves, and he proved my doubts wrong. Still, both guys basically passed out from exhaustion mid-match, with Gravy BARELY grabbing a win over Finn in what was basically a draw."

"Why am I boring you guys with this history lesson? It might be obvious to some: although Finn may have lost the battles, he won the war in the end. After his match, he crippled Gravy and set him on the shelf up till now, meanwhile after his match with Finn, Cad literally went POOF! Nowhere to be seen. Let's face it now, Finn is much more bigger than Gravy or Caddy could ever hope to be. He's won tournaments, he main evented a fucking pay-per-view! Sammy might have said that Paragon was dragging the match down, but let's be real, Paragon placed this match placement on it's back, and it will be ready to earn Tag Team gold! So long, for now!"