"A Sanctuary of Hurtful Memories." — PU VIII.

There’s been days that Nathan wished he could simply lay down and pretend that nothing ever happened, wishing that life was simply as perfect as he could’ve imagined it, wishing that everything bad that happened just simply never happened before. It wasn’t hard for those days to simply just happen, days where he simply could not even begin to face the world and simply could not begin to face others for who they were and how much they meant to him. Emotions simply became uncontrollable at times, always finding himself falling back down the deep darkness of hurtful memories every single time he looked back onto them to help him remember the good days.

The good days always seemed to have been overshadowed by the bad days, and with all of those bad days that he had, that overshadowing always made him an even worse person than what he’s usually been. Anger filled with sadness, sadness filled with hate, and happiness always seemed to be so distant from him.

But he always remembered the good days, didn’t he?

It was easy to say as Nathan looked through the box of old photos, pictures of his mother and all of the times that she had with her wonderful children. It was a box saved from the penthouse fire that happened just days before The Crowning II, something that Jason kept close to him and now passed down to Nathan as he moved into his new home in Philadelphia, and now one that he could show to his brand new daughter, Anastasia. Nathan held his daughter in one arm before reaching into the box and pulling out a photograph of Christmas 2020, of the whole family, and his mind brings him to the day after that photo was taken.

The worst day of his life.


DECEMBER 26TH, 2020
SAPPORO HALL - SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN
King Maverick backs away as he reaches down and into his boot, pulling out a blade from his boot as he continues to take a couple of steps back...

“That's a-- NO! NO, YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU!”

...THE KING QUICKLY TURNED AROUND AND BROUGHT THE BLADE RIGHT INTO THE CHEST OF JASON'S MOTHER, PUSHING IT FURTHER INTO HER CHEST BEFORE YANKING IT BACK OUT AS HE GRABS A HOLD OF HER HEAD. KING MAVERICK DOESN'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE AS HE CONTINUOUSLY STABS INTO THE CHEST OF JASON'S MOTHER AT LEAST A GOOD SIX OR SEVEN TIMES BEFORE DROPPING HER DOWN IN THE CORNER OF THE RING.

“THAT'S MURDER! HE JUST MURDERED HER RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! HOW FUCKING COULD YOU!?”


Kit had walked into the room, breaking his moment of silence and picking up Anastasia from his arms, and the look on her face was deeply concerning for her husband, landing a kiss on the cheek and resting her head along his shoulder.

“Are you okay, darling?” She questioned.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” He responded, slightly nodding his head. “Just give me a minute, sweetheart. I’m just going through this box and looking for something.”

She landed another kiss along his cheek before walking out of the room where he sat on the bed, continuing to look through the box as he pulled out another photo. A photo of himself and Jason– before the entity had taken over their lives. Young, wild, free. The good days, but he’s always reminded of the bad days again, and reminds himself of the day that they fought right at the foot of their own mother’s grave.


MARCH 17TH, 2021
CROSSTOWN CEMETERY, WEXFORD TOWN, IRELAND
Smiling from ear to ear and holding the tears in his eyes. “...back then, we’d still have a fucking mother to love and cherish every single day and night for. There’s not a single fucking day that’s gone by where I don’t think that, Nathan. There has not been a single goddamn fucking day that’s gone by where I don’t think that maybe… just maybe… if I didn’t become a professional wrestler and be who I am today then mam would still be alive today.”

Nathan stands there in silence, frozen in place as he just stares at Jason but in a quick flash, he swings and connects on the jaw of Jason, almost knocking him to the floor. Of all the people he would’ve expected some kind of comment on their deceased mother, Jason was the last name he could have thought of. How could he after all the heart pouring he did for her. “You called me out for boundaries but here you are saying all of this? SHE DID EVERYTHING FOR YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU WERE WHO YOU ARE TODAY! You’re going to tell me you regret ever doing so? You’re gonna tell me that everything she did for you and you’re gonna forget all about that? Are you fucking serious, Jay?”

Jason is visibly shaken from the punch, shaking off the hit and slowly coming back up to his feet. A grin grew on his face as he looked up towards Nathan, as if he enjoyed the punch taken from his brother, Nathan swung again and this time, it took Jason right off of his feet and landing down onto his face, the stones almost lacerating his skin, pulling his face from the ground and seeing the blood drooling from his mouth. “If only you knew, Nate…”

“Knew fucking what, Jay? Please elaborate how if I only knew.” Anger was the only thing that fueled through Nathan’s veins as he watched Jason get back to his feet and brush himself down, his fist curled up into a ball and ready to swing for him again if he even dared to say the wrong thing again. “Anyone else I would have tolerated this kind of behaviour, I’d tolerate it and pull them aside to make sure they knew- but you, of all people, should have fucking known better BECAUSE IT’S YOUR OWN MOTHER, YOU BASTARD! Imagine what’d happen if you did this in front of da, imagine what he’d do to you right now and you know yourself that he wouldn’t stop until you didn’t move anymore.”


A sigh, pulling out his phone and hitting the Voice Memos app. Taking a deep breath before hitting the record button.

“You think people give enough of a shit about you because of who you’ve associated yourself with– you think people will get a kick out of who you’ve named dropped so many fuckin’ times as of late, but nobody really cares for who you are, Kurtis. Hell, you’ve been making yourself known on the bigger brands because nobody’s giving you that much attention here now, are they? Is that why you’re picking fights with people who are far more dominantly superior than you? You think you’ve become someone that you’re not, and I understand that, not everyone can be the stand out kid in the classroom doing all of the brave shit that they want to get themselves involved with. Not everyone can be that kind of kid that acts brave but is knocked down when put up against a real challenge—and that’s what you’re looking for, right? A real challenge? You want to stand up and make your tutor, your mentor, your idol proud now, is it?

A shame, really. You don’t even have the real Jason Long backing you in your corner.

You’ve got the fuckin’ knock off, the fake, the washed-up pretend monster that he wishes he could’ve been. And that’s what you’re trying to be, you’re trying your best to be just like him and that’s something that you’re simply struggling with, isn’t it? Because you’re fighting all of these big names just for a kick, just to try and stand in the shoes of someone you’re not and hoping that Jason is watching you and seeing you progress forward—but he doesn’t care about you in any kind of way. He doesn’t care about what you do, he doesn’t care about what you’ve done, he’s just watching over you because he has to. Do you think that the entity has time for some little fuckin’ twink-looking cunt like you wearing face paint like a fuckin’ muppet and thinking he’s all emo looking and shit like that?

When is it going to click into your head, Kurtis? You’re willing to make a name for yourself by attaching yourself to others for that fame, for that glory, for that namesake—whilst also calling yourself a bastard, and a rightful bastard that you are because who’d fuckin’ look at you and think you’re a man who’ll care for others, huh? First it was Clive Darling and then Indy Darling, then it’s to Jason Long and now who’s next on your hit list, Kurtis?”

A pause. A deep breath is heard through the recording, but what they couldn’t see was Nathan shaking his head from side to side in disgust.

“I’ll keep it short and sweet for you, Kurtis—wouldn’t want to waste your precious time anyway, eh? I’m going to beat the fuckin’ shit out of you, and I’m going to give you a worse beating that even Jason would never fuckin’ give you during training or whatever it is that you two do as mentors and students. So come prepared, and come ready, because if you think abandonment is a painful feeling then you won’t know what’ll fuckin’ hit you when death comes knocking on your door.

As someone that’s been through enough shit throughout the past year or more, I know it personally. And you won’t love it when you’re six feet under the fuckin’ soil of the earth. I’m ready and waiting for a fight, not a match, but a damned fuckin’ fight. Are you. Kurtis?”

The recording stops there, with a slight little bit of another pause at the end. Nathan dropped his phone down onto the bed just right beside him, holding his head down in shame, feeling disappointed in what he had become of himself—it wasn’t like him to be acting this way but for some reason, he was. He couldn’t explain it, he couldn’t even put together a thought that was crystal clear. As he reached into the box, putting down the photo of himself and his brother, he finally came to the realisation that all good memories needed to be stored away. Not to be looked back on in the hopes of being some kind of coping mechanism to help himself, he’s just gotta look forward to the present and pray that it all comes together well.

That was what was best for him. For himself, for his family, for everyone.