Chapter 004: The Calling. / Decisively.

There were two locations for the Fenix Wrestling Academy; the academy founded by Tara Fenix when she first stepped up to the plate to train the next generation of superstars. One, which was the one that she constantly found herself at, was in Hartford where she resided; she had moved the school from San Antonio, her former residence, to Hartford after marrying Angel Blake and despite their divorce, opted to keep the school there so that she would also be closer to the son (Edward) whom she shared with Angel. The other was in Miami, which was managed primarily by her very first student, Seth Evans.

On this particular day, she found herself inside of the Hartford location… The sound of students taking bumps on the mat could be heard as clear as day; the voices from other trainers echoed in the warehouse setting as they instructed the students accepted into Tara’s program for this cycle. Inside one of the rings was Sabin Rene Spencer, the eldest son to Tara who had joined his mother in her signing at the IWF, and had recently been signed to OCW. At the age of eighteen, he had already made his professional debut and was able to instruct some of the students in the program despite being younger than them; it was one of those perks of being raised by the game. Ophelia Pain-Pinkston was also present in the ring with Sabin, and while their words were inaudible, they seemed to share in giving instructions to the fresher rookies. Edward, the younger brother to Sabin, was sitting on a bench outside of the ring and watching his older brother working with some of the students. No doubt that he, too, would one day enter the family business.

Tara was found in her office; her laptop that was rather plain; black with a single sticker of her logo over the logo belonging to the manufacturer. It sat on the mahogany desk in front of her, and she seemed enthralled by what was playing… While it could not yet be seen by the camera that was circling slowly around the side of the desk, it was clear from the audio of what she was watching.



Tara was clicking the mouse a few times and the audio would cut, rewind, and repeat; there were times that it could not even be told because she would re-watch any particular moment of the match frame by frame… in slow motion… pause, and she would lean in to check for something… any visual cue that Emmanuelle may have given off to indicate her next move. If she could recognize any of those visual cues then she may be better prepared.

“The last time we stepped in the ring, Emmy--” Tara said. She had not turned away from her studying, “--I was able to walk out with my arm raised as the winner. I was able to walk out as the Warrior Rising Champion. But you, Emmy, walked out with something more…” She said, and took her hand off of the mouse to focus on the camera that was still circling around to her side of the desk to get a focus on The Phoenix Queen and the match that she was watching.

“You walked out with my respect.” Tara stated boldly, and respectfully.

“I had my doubts about you when we first stepped into the ring. I thought that you were just one of those people that thought this life was all about the glamour, the fame, and the fortune; I saw you as someone who didn’t want to…” Tara took a moment of silence, and held her palm up as a gesture to tell everyone to listen; you could hear the instructions from the trainers, you could hear the students still practicing their bumps, and from the window, you could see Sabin giving a demonstration to a couple of the students that were learning from him.

“... do this. I didn’t see the fire-- the passion-- in your eyes that I saw in my son when I first began training him, because this is in his blood from every direction! I didn’t see the passion that I see in the student's that I’ve taken under my wing. Emmy… Emmanuelle--” Tara seemed to correct herself, as if using her full first name was a sign of respect, “--I would like to apologize to you for being too blind to see that fire that’s in you. You proved to me at Night of Honor that you were every bit as tough as everyone else was telling me you are; that you were every bit as committed to the craft as you stated you are… And I’ve been trying to keep tabs on you… The reasoning for that is because I did want to see how you would react after a loss. I’ve seen people on top of the world being under the impression that they are the greatest thing to happen to the sport, until they suddenly take a loss… And now they’re mad. They can’t fathom it. They don’t know how to handle it, and so they go on a downward spiral. I may not be able to chat with you daily, but that’s okay! I’m busy. You’re busy. We know what this life means. But from what I’ve seen…”

Tara gave a slight shrug of her shoulders, “You bounced back rather nicely. You’ve already gained back your confidence, because you know who you are; you know what you are. You’re The Platinum Standard. The Silver Starlet. You lost your belt, but you took it in stride and now you’re looking for the next step forward… And this Round Robin tournament is what could lead both of us to where we want to be, and truth be told, that is something I don’t know about you. I don’t know where you want to be.”

Those words escaped her in such a way that it was easy to tell she was unsure of… Tara tapped her finger against her chin, while rolling her eyes upward to contemplate: where did Emmanuelle want to be? What belt would she fight for? Tara had already made it clear what belt she would challenge for; who she wanted to face… Emmanuelle, on the other hand, has not been quite so open.

---

Spring was coming, but snow still covered the ground and was still rather high; it still piled on the side of the sidewalk going to their waist. The snow that was still on the sidewalk was dirty, and pressed down, and by the rising temperature it was more of a slush than actual snow. Slush. Slush. Slush. That was the only sound that Tara could hear while she trudged along beside her sister, Liliana. Liliana walked in-between Saul and Tara, with Saul being the closest to the street; Tara was peering through the windows of each shop as they walked by.

“That guy was twice your size,” Saul said to Liliana with a laugh, “And you took him down like he was-- well, like he was Tara!”

The mentioning of her name, and jab at her more petite size, didn’t attract her attention. She was still peering into the windows, and both of her siblings had glanced over at her to see what she would say only to be disappointed by her silence. She had zoned out.

“Yeah, Tara is a bit of a pipsqueak.” Liliana continued as an attempt to gain her attention, but to no avail. In fact, she had slowed down and was peering further into one of the buildings where she had seen a crowd of people similar to the dojo. Liliana had noticed Tara’s interest gauging. “Hold up.” She said to Saul, and Saul turned to see what was going on.

Tara, still zoned out, was almost tripping forward as she had her gaze fixated on that one building. She finally stumbled back into reality, quite literally, as she tripped over her foot and barely caught her balance.

“You good?” Liliana asked and laughed.

Tara looked up at Liliana after taking a few extra steps to fully regain her balance. “Yeah. Yeah! I’m good.” She noticed that Saul and Liliana had stopped walking forward, so stopped along with them. She turned her head over her shoulder to look back at the building and up at the sign: Wild Bill’s Gym. It was a mere glance that she took this time around, but she was looking to see how far they had come down; she wanted to remember this location so that she may be able to return on her own. That was, until Liliana spoke.

“Do you want to check it out?” Liliana asked.

“What? No!” Tara answered.

“Girl, you just about face planted just to see what was going on. Let’s check it out!” Liliana insisted, and with a hop in her step, she walked toward the entrance while simultaneously gesturing for Saul to follow. Saul took a quick glance at the sign, and his face lit up when he saw the name. “Wild” Bill. Bill Dalton.

Tara gulped as Liliana swung the door open, and a bell over the door rang indicating that someone was entering; from outside, Tara could hear the trainer speaking boldly to his students; not yelling, not angry, but encouraging. His voice carried.

“You’re doing fine, Will, but you have to TRUST your partner! KNOW that he is going to do everything to protect you inside of that ring, and trust him to do so! Keep practicing. I’ll be back shortly,” the trainer said; he had heard the bell despite the sound of bodies crashing against the mat from people practicing their bumps inside of the training ring. The man with fading brown hair and an epic looking mustache turned to the trio of teenagers that had entered his gym. “You’re not who I was expecting.” he said while walking up to them, and extended his hand to each of them, “‘Wild’ Bill Dalton.” He introduced himself. He shook Liliana’s hand first, followed by Saul, and then held his hand out for Tara, but Tara was mesmerized by watching the people in the back taking their bump and bouncing off the ropes. Bill sniffled while still holding his hand out.

Liliana cleared her throat, and finally nudged Tara in the back; Tara snapped back to reality a second time, and saw Bill’s hand extended, and she finally accepted it.

“Hi!” Tara shouted, her voice louder than intended.

“This is my sister: Tara. My brother: Saul. And I am Liliana.” Liliana answered for all of them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet ya,” Bill answered before taking a step back and he glanced back to assure that his students were still doing as he had instructed them, “What can I do for ya?” He asked with a smile.

“Tara was fascinated by what she saw, and I insisted that we get a closer look. For her.” Liliana answered.

Bill turned toward Tara, and could see her eyes still darting back and forth from him to the ring behind him.

“Can I answer any questions for you, darlin’?” Bill asked.

“I-- I--” Tara said with a stutter. She had watched two of the men clinch in the middle of the ring before the slightly larger man had gotten one into a side headlock, only to be shoved toward the ropes. “It--” she continued to stutter before Liliana finally stepped forward.

“I think she would like to know how we may be able to sign her up to try it out.” Liliana added a smile to close out her own statement.

A baffled Bill answers with his own, “I mean, I don’t usually take on children--”

“We’re teenagers.” Liliana chimed in.

Bill cleared his throat and corrected himself, “--teenagers as students. Definitely not without a parental consent form.” Bill looked back over to Tara and could see that she was not looking at him at all, but just at the ring and he could see the spark in her eye. He could even see the smile she tried to hide on her face, and he let out a hearty chuckle, “I can’t take her on without your parents permission. That’s… that’s just law; however--” Bill finally took a step to block Tara’s view of the ring, and he finally gained her attention, “--I can print one out right now, and I hope you’ll sign it. You seem to be intrigued by it, and what better way than to get in there and see what it’s about?” Bill, with piercing eyes, locked eye contact with Tara. “I think you should do this.” Bill insisted.

Tara’s eyes did not falter from his, and she even gave a subtle nod.

There was something that Bill had seen in Tara’s eyes; a spark in her eye. She wanted to be in that ring, and while there were no other girls present at the gym, Bill was up for the task to train someone who transpired the passion that he could tell she had.

“Students!” Bill finally shouted, while standing up tall and straight. “We have some guests here, and I would like you to show them some of the high spots. Let’s see a superplex!” Bill said while some of the students nodded and talked amongst themselves to see who would take the bump, and who would be trusted to complete the move; Bill gestured for the trio to follow, and resumed talking, “Feel free to get a closer look. I’m going to print out a form for you. Now, is it only her that wants to try it out, or are all of you interested?”

“I’m good… What about you?” Liliana turned her attention to Saul indicating that the question was directed at him; she didn’t even have to ask Tara, as Tara’s face lit up as she was awaiting the parental consent form, but she watched the students showing off the superplex and they were beginning to wing it with some other spots. Bill walked into his office, leaving the trio to continue watching the students showing off for them.

---

Tara returned her attention to the camera, and propped her elbow onto her desk while leaning against it for support.

“I don’t know what it is that you want, and that makes you incredibly difficult to read… I’ve made myself clear. I want to battle for the Grand Championship, and I want to face Ozymandias; that’s it. That’s what I want! But you, Emmy; you’re not me… you’re different in that regard. I know the friendship and respect that you have for MYO, much like myself, so perhaps you are thinking that you can go after the X-Factor Championship so long as MYO is holding, and I know that the two of you would put on an absolute spectacle! But-- you could be thinking that you want to take that Warrior Rising Championship back… Let’s be honest, between myself and Petey, we haven’t held it up to the standard that you created for it. I lost it one week after taking it from you, and Petey lost it in his first defense. Perhaps you’ll go for it to redeem it. Maybe… Just maybe…” Tara let the words trail off her tongue.

“You know what… let me not speculate what it is that could be going through your mind, and focus more on what has already come off your tongue. You had said something that is… actually quite important. Something that people need to remember when they feel like they may be drowning; when they are simply overwhelming themselves.”

Tara let out a sigh as she considered these words that had come from Emmanuelle; the words that were more of a cliché in this day and age, but sometimes it was important to keep it simple in order to prosper.

“One match at a time.” Those were the words that escaped from Emmanuelle almost two weeks ago, that rang into Tara’s head, and why she felt like she could not pinpoint something on Emmy.

“Focus on your next opponent… That’s something that worked for you when you stepped into the ring with Brandon Hendrix. That’s what you focused on when you went into the ring with Lance Williams. Undoubtedly, that’s how you are going to view it when you step into the ring with me. What happened at Night of Honor--” Tara stretched her arm out behind her, “--is behind us! It’s forgotten! It’s nothing! It doesn’t exist!” She brought her arm forward again.

“What does matter is what’s ahead of us. What does matter is this week, and what matters to… you... is this week, and this week alone. That is what makes you dangerous, Emmy; that is what makes you my biggest threat in this Round Robin tournament! Because you know that nothing that has happened before tomorrow comes doesn’t matter… I can already see it in your eyes, I can already hear it in your voice; you aren’t intimidated. You aren’t thinking about that victory that I have over you, you are--” Tara gestures to the screen in front of her that was frozen on the frame showing Emmanuelle reversing Tara’s attempt at the Phoenix Wings into The Rodeo Driver, “--preparing.”

Tara folded her hands together and let that mental image stick in her mind for a moment. She could recall everything flashing through her head at that particular moment that Emmanuelle was able to reverse Tara’s finishing maneuver and shift it into The Rodeo Driver. She could remember hearing the gasp of the crowd as Tara kicked out, and she could even remember feeling the energy of Emmanuelle depleted when she did not secure that pinfall victory.

“Just as I know that you’ve been preparing. You do not want to let the mistakes of the past repeat, so I know that you are studying this tape just as well as I am because you are wondering how you could avoid letting me repeat that reversal… You are looking to see where you can catch me off my game, and exploit any weakness. A student of the game! That’s what we are. That’s why we are both getting ourselves ready both physically, and mentally.”

Tara placed her hand back on the mouse and with a simple click, the video began playing again; her eyes went back and forth from the camera to the screen, while she resumed speaking, “Despite the fact that I was able to walk out with a win, I am looking at this because there was something about that win that did not settle well for me… and I know that I shouldn’t expect it to come easy; I know that it’s not going to come easy. But I’m looking to see where I made my mistakes… I’m looking to see where your strengths lie. I’m looking to ensure that this match ends with the same outcome. My arm raised! And I’m looking for it to end in such a way that… there will be no doubt.

There will be no one whispering how it was a lucky reversal.
There will be no one claiming that you were one moment away from the biggest victory of your career.
There will be no one saying that it could have ended any other way!

The only thing that people are going to say is that Tara is on her way to winning the Round Robin tournament. The only thing that people are going to say is that Ozymandias had better be counting his days. The only thing that people are going to say is that the Age of the Phoenix IS HERE!

You’re looking to see how it could have ended in your favor. I’m looking to see how it could have ended more decisively. I respect you, Emmy; I know what you’re capable of… But just like you’re not the same person that I fought at Night of Honor; I’m not the same person you fought.”

---

Seth, his wife, Kiela, and I were huddled around the bar in his Miami home; all of us had a whiskey glass in our hand filled to the rim with the alcohol, and they stood closer together. I took a glance at them and could see the love they shared with each other; it couldn’t be questioned. Seth was in love. The way that Seth gave a subtle glance to her every time they were in the same room; the way his lips would curve into a smile that he wouldn’t even try to hide. I remember having that smile that I couldn’t hide… when I was married the first time. I was in love with William; I really was, but he asked me to do something I could never do. And again when I was with Angel… only to be betrayed. I missed that love. I missed feeling loved. It was easy to see why he took a step down from the business to focus on being a family man, especially with three children.

“It’s great to have you here, Tara! The kids always love seeing you!” Kiela had told me; Seth had his arm wrapped around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze, but Kiela wasn’t done talking, “And Seth can’t stop sharing some of your old stories from the road.”

“You were there for some of it,” I interjected.

“Yeah, but I just couldn’t get a feel for the road… It wasn’t for me.” Kiela sounded disappointed; as if she felt that she had taken Seth away from something that he had loved to do because it wasn’t right for her. But Seth had such a way of dismissing any intrusive thought from her mind.

“I’m with you for what matters. There were more important matters on hand, and I knew that I needed to step away,” Seth had said to reassure her. The truth was that Seth had stepped away after Irma hit Florida because he felt that he could be a bigger help to Miami and the Keys; then Kiela was pregnant with their third child at the time. He was good, though; I was sad to hear that he would be stepping away from the ring before he hit his true potential, but as I say… with that look in his eye, it was easy to see why. He was in love. He had a smile on his face and gave me a nod indicating that he was happy. He was at peace.

It didn’t take too long before I felt a vibration against the table; I looked down to see my phone light up and could see an unread text from Jason. I couldn’t help but grumble; I was still bummed that he didn’t want to come to Pheely’s wedding just to hang out, but I was interested in what he had to say… So I opened the message.



I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, and smirked. It was clear that there was something going on with him so I began to type a reply when Seth seemed to startle me… I suppose he picked up on my facial expression. Confused? Concerned? I didn’t really know what look I gave off, I just knew that there was something strange about his text.

“Everything alright?” Seth had asked.

I took an extra moment to look up from my phone, giving Seth a double glance while still typing a reply, “Huh? Yeah.”

“Who messaged you?”

He questioned me as if I were trying to hide something, and I finally did bring myself to answer, “It’s Jason. He’s drunk down in the Keys… I think--” I wrestled with my own thoughts for a moment, but I shook my head; I knew what I had to do, “I’m going to go look for him. I don’t want him to get hurt.” I insisted. Why did I care? I really couldn’t answer that myself.

“Do you want me to come with?” Seth asked, but I shook my head. I looked for a moment at the whiskey. It was my third glass, but by taking a quick gander around the room, nothing was spinning; nothing was blurry; I was certain I would be fine.

“I’ve got this. You just enjoy your night with your wife.” I said reassuringly.

I contemplated drinking the whiskey, but knew with me having a bit of a drive ahead of me, I didn’t want to risk it. I took my keys and was able to walk just fine. Not one stumble. Seth and Kiela walked me to the door and we said our farewells before I got in my car, and began fumbling through the phone for a moment… Jason had a shared GPS tracker on, so it made it easy for me to figure out where to go.

The drive itself took about an hour. Traffic was light at this time of night. When I got to the parking lot closest to Jason’s ping, I had no choice but to walk from there and out to the beach where I followed until I could see him with my own eyes… He was lying on the sand with his phone still in his hands, and I looked at my phone again to see the “...” indicating that he was preparing to text me.

“Jason!” I called out. He didn’t acknowledge me the first time, and I looked at my phone a second time to see that he was still typing a message to me, but I repeated, “Jason!”

"I think I am hearing your voice.. Are you an angel?" He replied. I rolled my eyes at the comment, but still it was amusing so I couldn’t help but let out a light laugh over it.

“Yes, Jason--” I answered back. There was no hiding the sarcasm that was in my voice, and I tucked my phone into my pocket before walking along the beach toward where he was seated. Walking in the sand with shoes on… never fun. “--I am an angel. I came here to take you home.” I continued before sitting down next to Jason; it was clear that I had startled him by actually being here. His eyes had darted up to me, and a look in his eyes that looked as if I were about to rob him, but he seemed to relax after seeing it was only me...

“Angels are beautiful. You look like my friend Tara!” I giggled again due to his comment, and hugged my knees to my chest; I looked ahead to see the silver moonlight reflecting off the surface of the water, and the waves crashing in harder against the shore. We were far enough back that we were good.

“Why are you wandering around alone and drunk?” I asked him.

I watched him start drawing something into the sand, but it didn’t seem important; just a circle. "I made a mistake.." He dug both of his hands into the sand and cupped it in before letting it roll off and out of his hand, then he spoke again, "I did something that made my Mother happy and.. That bugs me. Alcohol drowns out the noise." There was an expression on his face that made him seem happy with his answer. Satisfied by it. I felt a gust of wind brush past me and toward him, and raised my own hand to brush my hair back from my face, and heard him inhale. "Mmmm.. You smell like something to eat! I'm hungry!"

I contemplated asking him to elaborate on why he wouldn’t want to make his mother happy, but figured it was something he would explain later. Instead, I stood back up and brushed the sand off before bringing my hands down as an offer to him, “Let’s go get you something to eat then. And then to bed.”

Jason shook his head at me, whilst pointing over at something… I looked to see what he saw, and it was a big rock. “I wanna climb that first..”

I shook my head immediately to him; I felt him tugging on my arm a little, and despite my confidence that I could take him if I needed to, he still did have a power over me and was starting to haul off toward that rock. I pulled as tight as I could, almost stumbling and I think he may have felt my stumble, because he stopped and turned toward me right after and stopped trying to drag me with. “Let’s go climb…” I looked around for something safer. “That rock.” I pointed in the direction of the car. There was no rock.

"Ha! That's no rock! That's a Minotaur!" Jason had suddenly gotten himself into a fighting stance, and I… while barely even feeling a buzz anymore, would definitely not have seen a Minotaur. I felt him push me back behind me, as if he were protecting me from something, “This Angel is MINE and you shall be vanquished!” He shouted while raising a fist, and wobbled. I placed a hand against his side, but didn’t know how to fully respond, so I went with it…

“It ran away, Jason! It ran away! Now… let’s go to the car. You were very brave.” I tried to say as a way to reassure him. I locked my arm with his just to try to drag him with me.

"I can't let an Angel be devoured! My life for yours.." He hiccups. "I will give it up for you pretty Angel from Heaven.."

“Okay, okay. Give yourself up. We’re taking you to a safe place to heal your wounds.” I said to him, and seemed to be gaining some edge while walking to the car… When I finally did manage to get him to the car, I opened the passenger seat and tried to get him to sit down and even being extra careful that he wouldn’t hit his head on the roof.

"Wait.. Am I being abducted?!" Jason suddenly got a firm grasp on the door frame, and was resisting again. He seemed to want to be sure that he was safe, and so I knelt down beside him to try and move him back and lay him down into the car, enough so I could shut the door.

“We’re going to take care of you. We’re just trying to help. I promise, listen to me, and you’re going to be okay.” I tried to soothe him down, and felt his grip on the door frame loosen but not quite give up yet. I could feel him kind of ease up and sit down, but heard him say something to me...

“No butt stuff, ‘kay?” He said. I blinked my eyes a few times, and nodded before I could feel him tapping my face before finally stopping; the feeling caused me to raise my head to him, and our eyes met. He had his eyes locked on mine and I bit my lip softly; I placed my hands on his knees to ensure and pat them a few times.

“No butt stuff. Watch your feet!” I pat his knees a few more times before standing up; he finally did lose eye contact with me and shifted to focusing on getting in the car. I had to help him a little bit, and while I was trying to get him far enough in to not shut the door on his hands or legs, he asked me something else.

"Can we stop and get french fries and milkshakes?" He asked. I couldn’t help but think of how good that sounded, but I was trying to think of the time… I couldn’t get my phone out of my pocket just yet to see the time, but I knew we had to be nearing three o’clock. He slapped his hands together and I could see him even salivating at the thought of the food. I finally was able to shut the door just as one more word escaped from him. “Angel…” I walked around to the front, and then to the driver's side and got in.

My mind went back to the food. “We can. But promise you’ll go to bed after that?” It seemed more like a statement, but I felt it escaped as more of a question before reaching the key into the ignition; I hesitated in turning the ignition right away, and began thinking of how my evening had gone…

I started at my friend’s house. One of my best friend’s houses. It was strange to see two people so happy; so in love… It was a feeling that I had remembered from my time with Angel, when we first began seeing each other. We were both filled with so much passion for each other. I didn’t think that it would come to an end… I didn’t want it to come to an end… years after he had divorced me, I knew that I still loved him, but after he took my son away, I felt nothing for him. I felt hate, but I wanted to feel love, and I wanted to turn back time to get back to those feelings.

I finally glanced over at Jason to see how he was holding up, and he had his head lying against the glove box. His eyes were open and staring at me, with a grin on his face… He was clearly out of his mind. Drunk. “Super duper.” He said to me, and his eyes didn’t falter away; they had a glazed over look to them. It kind of creeped me out, but at the same time… I couldn’t help but think of how adorable he looked. After a few lingering seconds, I finally laid my head back against the headrest and brought my knees up to the steering wheel. I couldn’t help but feel heavy, so shifted my attention to what was going on out the window and began pondering back to my memories. I remembered coming here with Angel back in the day; I remember having the double-dates with Seth and Kiela. I raised my elbow against the door, and then rested my head against the palm of my hand while still drifting more into thought… They were good memories, but memories that I wish I didn’t have, or memories that I wish I could have again. I felt my eyes tearing up and couldn’t focus on anything but the memories… not even his voice…

“Thank you..” He said along with a sigh. “For coming to get me.”

I kept my head away and continued to think back to everything and it became harder to fight back the tears from welling up… I closed my eyes, and dreamed about how I used to be held, and how I used to be loved. I missed the touch… I felt him touch my shoulder, and felt myself getting pulled away; I couldn’t help but slump into him a little as he wrapped his arms around me, and could hear him inhale a deep breath; as he pulled me closer, I felt his lips brush against mine before finally pressing against mine. I kissed back and felt my hand go up to caress his cheek as the kiss grew with more and more passion.

But then I realized… “Oh, shit!” I cried out while pulling myself away. What did I do? What have I done? I felt my face grow hotter and just muttered many obscenities directed at myself. In English, in Spanish, in Japanese. Whatever language I could think of where I knew something to say, I cursed myself. He was drunk! What’s my excuse? “Sorry! I am so sorry--” I said, but I could hear our voices overlapping.

“Sorry. I’m sorry..”

Jason created some distance between us; I could only imagine he would reach for the handle, but he slumped against the passenger door… I knew he felt embarrassed, much like me, but I felt that it was my fault. I was sober, but I was-- I was lost-- yes. Lost. I took a deep breath, and tried to reassure Jason, but he said something else.

“I just… wanted to kiss an Angel.” I heard him mutter.

“It’s…” I began, but could already hear him snoring. “Okay.” I finally finished. It was no use. He was asleep. I couldn’t stop my cheeks from reddening, and I took another deep breath; I found myself struggling to hold my breath… and I looked at him again, and there was a strange feeling I had. I wanted to kiss him again. I gripped the steering wheel hard, and pounded it a few times, “Stupid. Stupid.” I was stupid. I didn’t want to wake him up, but I knew I was stupid… I should drive. Somewhere. Anywhere. But I needed to have him somewhere safe. I finally reached into my pocket to get my phone out and thumbed through my contacts for a moment… I was stupid… I held my thumb over Atara, and knew that I should tell her, but what was it that I felt? I think we were just caught up in the moment. I was caught up in my feelings. That’s all it was. This was nothing. “It was nothing.” As if saying it aloud would make it truer. I put the phone down and just kept thinking… it was nothing. More to convince myself than anything else.

---

Hartford, CT

THE KEY DIFFERENCE. ADAPTING.

“There is the key difference between us, and while I do respect that you are looking at this as its own match… You just want to take this one step at a time, I am doing something very different from you. I am--” Tara pulled a sheet of paper from one of the drawers along with a pen, and dotted it a few times, before tracing a line from one dot to the next, “--plotting--” another line, “--my--” and another, “--course.” She finished with connecting all of the dots.

“I see my goal. I see what I have to go through to reach my goal. Does it mean that this is going to go exactly as I plan? No. But I lay out the plan in front of me, I know what I have to go through to get there… I know WHO I have to go through to get there… and I start going on my course to--” she tapped her finger against the final dot on the edge of the paper, “--reach my goal. Along the way, there is the distinct possibility that I could lose to you… There was the distinct possibility that I could have lost to Brandon Hendrix. There is the chance that I could have lost to Lance Williams-- had he still been here… now I have to try to familiarize myself with Percival. But you know what?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “That’s exactly what I’m going to do!”

Tara stopped for a moment, and licked her lips; she pondered the benefits of the two different mentalities of walking into this match… Where Emmanuelle was walking in treating this “one match at a time”, and Tara was trying to plan ahead to reach her goal; both of them had their advantages.

“There is no right nor wrong answer in how we are approaching this. Whether you’re approaching this just one match at a time, or looking for what you want in the end… Both of them have been known to pay off. The mistake that people do make in that regard is they don’t think about who it is they are getting into the ring with, and would rather think about the end. I know that it’s you I’m stepping into the ring with… I know just how good you are, and that this is not going to be a walk in the park. But I know that there’s no going around you to get where I want to be… I have to go through you.”

Tara leaned toward the camera, and cocked her head to the side giving off the traditional smirk.

“Emmy, I know that you and I are going to absolutely tear the roof down at Jon M. Huntsman Center! But plain and simple… this isn’t going to be a repeat of Night of Honor. At Proving Ground, I win… decisively… Welcome to the Age of the Phoenix.”