"The Mandela Catalogue II: Kobayashi Maru." — Fallout XXIII.
Mar 27, 2022 10:15:46 GMT -5
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Post by Jason Long on Mar 27, 2022 10:15:46 GMT -5
|| THE MANDELA CATALOGUE II: KOBAYASHI MARU. ||
JASON LONG vs BILLY BENNETT vs TATE SELBY
— — —
JASON LONG vs BILLY BENNETT vs TATE SELBY
— — —
“It was a fitting end, a doomed love story, a perfect tragedy...”
And Alyssa does precisely that, reaching out with one trembling arm to grab onto the Entity’s extended hand. As soon as their skin touches, the Entity - almost entirely drained of his power by the loss of blood - manages to dig deep and find some untapped reserve of strength.
The lights die out one final time, returning to find Billy and Savannah standing alone in the ring together; the Entity and Alyssa have disappeared, likely teleported to some safe place using the very last of the man’s power.
“And then I didn’t die.”
The feeling of weakness was something that scared him, to feel absolutely crushed and to feel absolutely broken down and feeling fragile, it’s something that he’s imagined feeling but never really finding the ways to feel like such.
But, that night made him feel it.
Made him feel weak, made him feel vulnerable, made him feel fragile and broken down— not feeling like the entity that he is but more so of a human being, something he’s not felt for years, not even in death did he feel human or even close to being a mortal being.
Though the question remained if he could even recover from the seriousness of his injuries, the blood that poured from his head, it felt like he had been shot over and over again in the chest and then right into the back of his head. A weird feeling, a feeling he’ll never ever want to feel again, and a feeling that he just had to run away with. Just happens that he didn’t run away alone, bringing someone else with him, in a last ditch effort to save someone from more permanent damage.
But where they went was somewhere neither of the two expected to be.
The Cliffs of Moher.
Five thousand and forty-seven kilometres away from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and hell, it wasn’t even night time– it was the middle of the day. Jason simply laid there on the grass, weakened and feeling fairly much dull about everything that happened, but at the heat of the moment– he didn’t care for himself, he only cared for how Alyssa was.
She knelt there, just like how she was kneeling when looking up at Savannah and Billy before they attempted whatever it was they were looking to attempt. It was like a blink of her eyes, her life flashed before her eyes, and the suddenness of the sunlight hitting her eyes almost blinded her.
She rose to her feet, finally taking a look around her and realising the surroundings that she has herself in right now, realising just how far he had taken her from where they once were. She looked around some more and finally saw him, laid there and weak– a state that she thought she’d have never seen him be in.
It felt weird watching him lay there and just seem so helpless– after everything that they’ve both been through recently, it didn’t feel right at all watching the man that tormented your life upside down within the span of a month just seem so weak and broken down, to even questioning if it was the same man that caused everything to her.
“You didn’t have to do what you did, you know that, right?”
She questioned, taking a few steps forward towards him as he rolled over onto his back, looking up at her as she blocked the beams of the sun from his eyes. The way he looked at her, it was like she had a glow around her. It was… kind of mesmerising, in a way. It was weird, seeing her be angry but yet, more so pleased that she was saved from the danger that awaited the both of them.
“I could’ve taken the hit, I’ve taken so many before– I’m sure I could’ve taken both of them on by myself.”
She wouldn’t have, but she’s acting stubborn all of a sudden– maybe it’s because it’s hard for everything that’s happened in the past couple of minutes to be processed, from being in one place and on the verge of something almost life-altering to being stuck in another place with the person that you completely despise.
“You wouldn’t have taken on both of them, not by yourself, no matter how hard you want to believe in yourself, Alyssa.”
He exclaimed, slowly pulling himself up from the grass and into a seated position, still looking up at her.
“They would’ve hurted you badly– and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that happening to yourself now, would you?”
A pause as that question was left unanswered by Alyssa, all he got out of her was her turning away to look out into the distance and see the waves of the ocean.
“The least you could’ve done for me was say thank you. I know it’s not much and not something you’d want to do, but I did pretty much save you when nobody else was going to—”
“I am not going to say ‘thank you’ to someone like you after everything you’ve done to me, to those that I loved, and to Jason– who was my best fuckin’ friend and was–”
She stopped herself before she could say anything else, but the point was made, and the entity quickly understood how she felt.
“I just want to go home, I just want to be left alone, and I just don’t ever want to see you again. Please, if you could muster up the energy to even do such a thing right now. If you can’t…” A pause, taking a deep breath. “I can wait.”
“You’re going to be doing a whole lot of waiting then,” he exclaimed once again.
Alyssa rolled her eyes at the answer, the one she definitely did not want from him but one that she just had to accept as the reality and the truth. The entity is her way back home, whether she likes it or not, but it’s clear that he’s just not in the perfect shape to even do any kind of teleporting right now.
Still pretty much banged up from what happened during the match, and even afterward, still pretty much beaten and pretty much broken.
“...I’m still waiting for that thank you—”
“Fuck off.”
He should’ve seen it coming, but it was worth the attempt.
“Fuck sake… I’m sorry for even bringing you here, I just wanted to make sure you were safe and not getting attacked for no reason.”
This was – for the first time – the only time that the entity felt— a little bit soft-spoken with Alyssa, ever since this whole thing had begun between the two, since the beginning of their hatred for one another that had turned her against Jason entirely.
“You think I wanted any of this—you think I even wanted to do this? I saved your life and the last thing I needed is a fuckin’ thank you for saving your life. If you’d like, I’ll send you right back there and fuckin’ dump you off right in front of the entirety of True Society. We’ll see how they fuckin’ like that then, eh?”
Alyssa looked at the entity with a bit of startlement—she knew that he meant good in his heart, even if she didn’t want to accept it, but she also knew that he could very easily do exactly what he had said and with just the click of his fingers.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
She hesitantly responded.
“It’s just... so hard to wrap my head around everything that’s happening, and even with you just constantly ruining my life as it was and making me question if this was all real or not— it’s tough. But, even still, it’s tough to believe you.”
Alyssa began to tut to herself, shaking her head from side to side.
“It’s not like you even care about me anyway.”
The entity looked up to Alyssa with a confused look on his face, and with the last ounce of strength he had in him, he finally pulled himself up to his feet—whilst still feeling a little bit wobbly on his legs, he was able to keep his balance up right.
The entity stared daggers at Alyssa as she began to walk away from him, not realising that he was back up to his feet and staring right at her until she turned back, seeing exactly that and freezing in place. The entity began to walk closer and closer to her, now in arm’s reach of Alyssa.
“I’m not the one that cares,” a slight pause, tapping his index finger to his chest. “But there is someone that does. Someone that cares for you more than you’d ever have fuckin’ realised. And in that moment, in the back of my fuckin’ head, Alyssa– He wanted you to be saved.”
The entity pointed right at Alyssa.
“You might not believe me, and you’ve every right to not believe me, but if there’s anyone that you could believe in? It’s him. Believe him because his voice is what saved your fuckin’ ass from True Society. Not me. Not anyone else. Him. Jason fuckin’ saved you.”
“You don’t understand the kind of bond we had.”
Alyssa spoke softly, slowly lowering her head as she began to remind herself of the old memories that she had with Jason. The sight of the tear that began to run down her face was enough for the entity to feel somewhat sorry for her. The entity took another step further towards her and placed his hand onto her shoulder.
“I very much do, Alyssa. I know it all too fuckin’ well, because I remember the same shit that he does, and it’s because I’m living in his world and living in his place—so I know all about you and him. I know all of it, and the best thing about it, that it’s our secret to hold together.”
Alyssa glanced at him with an eyebrow raised.
“Well, not our secret—but you and Jason’s secret, I guess. I’m sure you get what I mean. That bond is still strong, even if he isn’t in this universe right now, because he’s still looking out for you through everything no matter what, and that’s something strong. Something special. I’ve never felt that kind of feeling from him before. This is new to his kind of power.”
Alyssa could only stand there and soak in what the entity had to say, partially shaking her head and thinking that this is just some fucked up mind game that he’s playing on her—but she’s also wanting to believe what he’s saying. It sounds just like him to do something like that. Putting others first before anyone else.
“Is it worth trusting you? For now, at least. I can’t just... trust someone that wanted to kill me to prove a point and for his own sick pleasurement.”
“I promise you this, Alyssa. The minute that I bring you home? You won’t have to worry about me anymore for a while, and I can keep that word with you, because after today?”
The entity pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath and checking his forehead to see if he’s still bleeding – to which he is not anymore – but wipes some of the dried blood off of him in the process.
“I need some time to recharge. Some time to heal.”
The entity soon took his hand off of Alyssa’s shoulder to allow himself to maintain his own balance without the help of someone to keep him on his feet.
“Though, I cannot promise that you’ll be safe when I do come back and start terrorising people on Fallout again. Hell, you might be one of those I target first. But there’s no promises on that either. Now, let’s finally take you home. I think it’s the least that I could do for you right now, don’t you think?”
Alyssa shrugged her shoulders but then nodded her head in agreement, finally coming to the agreement of trusting the entity for now. Something that – only a few days ago – seemed like an impossibility. The entity held onto the hand of Alyssa like they did when they teleported out of the Wells Fargo Center and looked to Alyssa to make sure that she was ready.
She seemed hesitant at first—but she gave the nod to the entity and within a click of his fingers, the bright flash came over them and in an instant, they were gone without a trace.
And just like that... They arrived in Sacramento, California.
That same flash that has become synonymous with the entity’s appearance filled the streets of Sacramento, as the blinding white light faded away, all that was left were Alyssa and The Entity standing in the middle of the street. Only just a few blocks away from the home that Alyssa and her fiance stay in.
The entity releases Alyssa’s hand and begins to walk down the street, away from her and distancing himself from her and everything that she loved. Alyssa turns to watch the entity walk away from her but she gives chase, grabbing onto his arm and turning him around. The entity looks confused by this sudden action from Alyssa, not expecting this at all from her considering the love/hate relationship that the two seem to be in.
“Thank you. For saving me and all that. I appreciate it.”
The entity only nodded in response to Alyssa’s thank you, continuing to walk down the street and leaving Alyssa behind before he could snap his fingers and disappear in a flash of light once again. Alyssa was almost blinded by the light but as it faded away, the entity was gone and now—it seems like it’s for good.
She doesn’t know how to feel, but equally, she feels safe knowing that she’s at home and he’s finally gone. Turning back around and making her way back home, to finally get the rest that she needed, and to finally soak in everything that has happened within the past hour.
Finally, home. The King’s Penthouse.
And now, with the last ounce of power left being used to teleport home, the entity collapsed down to his knees on the spot. Drained completely after travelling through the void of time and space multiple times when not fully healed from his wounds and his injuries. He finally arrived home.
Or, what was left of it.
The King’s Penthouse has been the home of Jason Long for the past three years, ever since the keys were given to him by his close friend and initial mentor in professional wrestling, Jack Diamond. Handed down to him as a gift initially, it became his permanent home after handing the keys and ownership of the hotel just a couple of miles down the road away in a match that same year.
It was the one thing that Jason always kept standing, no matter what, it collected many memories through it’s time. Memories of family get togethers, friendships, relationships, and so much more. As much as Jason would’ve wanted to move out of Ohio but he just couldn’t bear to ever leave this home.
But, a few days prior to The Crowning II, everything changed.
The penthouse home went up into flames, set ablaze and into a massive fireball after petrol was poured all over the interior and the exterior of the home, and it was all caused by a furious and frustrated Savannah Andrews. The entity was there when it happened, watching the home be set on fire and watch all of those memories turn to ashes, seeing all of the smoke go up into the air before a massive explosion erupts the roof off of the penthouse home.
The entity remembered those words she uttered that night to him.
“This is all your fault! You! You’re the reason I did this!”
Whether to believe her words or not was one thing.
But the damage was already done, the wreckage is something that she cannot erase, and even in her moments of regret and admitting that it was all an accident that she caused. Nothing can be changed, the past cannot be altered, and the memories are nothing more than just an unsalvageable mess underneath all of the burning oak wood.
This home – that once belonged to Jason when he was alive – became a home for the entity. Now, he had nowhere to go. In a moment where he needed some place to be, to be somewhere so he could heal his wounds, the harsh remembrance of what happened a few nights prior sank in.
He hurt everyone he loved.
He hurted those that trusted him.
And for what? So he could try to stand tall on his god complex? Letting his egotistical and self-destructive behaviour do all of the talking for him and not thinking about those friendships, relationships, and close partnerships that he was slowly building up and making good promises for?
All of this was caused by his actions, he had nobody else to blame for this but himself, and there was no point in hiding it because he knew it himself. He’s to blame for everything. He’s to blame for all of the bad things that have happened to the people he loved.
The entity walked around the remnants of what’s left of the penthouse home, stepping over all of the rubble laid out on the ground and just spotting everything that was there – remembering what it once were – and slowly bringing a tear to his eye. He couldn’t hide ‘the tough evil guy’ act anymore. The more time he spent in this body, his expressions and emotions became more clearer—more visible than ever before.
But, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye, inside of the rubble.
It was a picture, and not just a picture of Jason’s memories, but one of the entity’s memories. The picture was of him and a young woman, blonde hair and dark red lipstick, but right between the two was a young child—presumably about the age of three. Their faces were instantly recognisable to the entity. It was his late partner and their young daughter. The mere sight of them brought a tear to his eye as it began to roll down his face.
And then he heard her. An innocent child’s giggle. And a voice that followed after it.
It was Amelia’s voice – his daughter.
“Come home, daddy!”
The entity shot back up to his feet, shocked and now scared of what he just heard, thinking it was from some weird hallucination from the injuries that had now taken a toll on him or he was finally meeting death and was hearing his daughter call to him from the afterlife.
He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm, but he could still hear her giggling.
But then, it came to him.
An idea.
“I have to go home.”
Mustering up the energy to click his fingers was already tough, finding another last ounce of power left within him was extreme considering his near-fatal condition as of right now, but he found the energy and power that he needed. And as he clicked his fingers, it set off an explosion that erupted another blast – much different to the normal flash of light most common for when the entity teleports – and the thunderous boom echoes throughout Canton.
All that was left was the smoke that was coming from the ground of where the entity stood. He was gone, once again, and considering the explosion that happened at the click of his fingers—it might have caused a whole lot more damage than expected. Whether the entity lived through it is unknown, but one thing was for certain at this point...
Dead or alive— it was his last voyage for a long time.
— — —
Earth VI.
It was good to be back home again.
The comfort of being home felt real, the comfort of being around those that he loved felt real, all of this felt real, and it was like a dream came true. It was like a feeling that he hadn’t felt in so long finally coming back to life again, the memories were all coming back to him, all of the emotion was coming back to him.
But it felt like a dream to him, being able to hold onto those who he loved the most, being able to feel every part of their touch to this day, being able to hear their voices and let them know just how much he loved them. In a way that he couldn’t have gotten the chance to when they were alive. And being able to hold onto his own daughter and give her the love she deserved, it was something special to him. Being able to give his fiance the love that she deserved, it was something special to him.
All of this was special to him, the dreams of living the perfect life and not being chosen to end a war – it was the life that he wanted to live, the life that he should’ve been given to live, and it was just all too good to be true. A dream that was just all too good to be true and he dreaded having to wake up from it.
But, he did.
Immediately from waking up from his perfect dream scenario, he realised he was in the comfort of his own bed back in Santa Monica. The beams of sunlight shining through the window and reflecting right into his eyes, almost blinding him in the process, it was like a dream that came to life. Jason reached over for his mobile phone and read the date and the time.
11:42 A.M. – March 6th, 2018.
It seemed impossible, it was two months before the accident that took the lives of his fiance and his daughter. And he was sleeping in the California home that they shared together. But there was nobody beside him in the bed and there didn’t seem to be a sound coming from anywhere in the home. He checked his phone again, seeing the picture of his fiance and his daughter – and weirdly enough – it was the same photograph that he saw back in Canton underneath all of the rubble of the burnt down penthouse home.
Initially, he thought that it was all a weird dream inside of his head– but that didn’t make any kind of sense to him, there’s no way that he could’ve predicted the future like that, not like such anyway. And if they were visions, that meant that he had time to fix everything that happened before it all went wrong.
A second chance to save his daughter, to save his fiance, and then the whole world as well.
As he sat up in the bed, he could hear footsteps getting closer and closer to the bedroom door. Jason looked to have been on the edge when hearing the footsteps, expecting one of two things to walk through that door. His body began to tense up, like he was trying to absorb his powers to use—but he couldn’t feel anything, there were no Infinity Realm powers running through his body.
The door then slowly cracked open.
A head then peeked through to see inside of the room.
It was his fiance, Hannah. A smile grew on her face as she saw her future husband awake and healthy. Hannah had slowly walked into the room and - again - slowly closed the door behind her before taking a few steps forward towards the bed and to the side that Jason was seated up on. She leaned in for a kiss right onto Jason’s cheek, before taking a seat on the side of the bed and holding onto his hand.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart? You didn’t look well this morning so I let you sleep in a little.”
He didn’t know how to respond to any of this. None of this should be real, but then again, it is. It feels real, it sounds real, but is it really too good to be true?
“Uhm... yeah. I’m fine, really, I am. I just had some weird vivid dreams.”
“Well, would you like to talk about—”
Jason was instantly shaking his head in disagreement, declining the offer of ever telling her about anything that happened. The last thing that he would’ve ever wanted to tell her was what happens in a few months' time, and even if this is all real or fake, he’d never ever want to tell her how she - and their daughter - would die by his hands.
“Where’s Amelia?”
“She’s in her room, I put on a movie for her.”
Just as she had finished her sentence, Jason jumped out of bed and ran into the bedroom where his daughter was. Seeing her sitting on the floor and looking up at the television screen was something that he thought he’d never see – hell, just seeing her alive was something that he thought he’d never ever see again – as he reached down and grabbed onto her, holding onto her tight and embracing in a massive hug.
Amelia immediately began to giggle as her father held onto her, finding it all to be amusing and just a wholesome moment with her parents, and as Jason finally lets go of her, he pulls himself back up to his feet and steps closer to Hannah—landing a kiss right onto her lips and smiling as he does so. This is the life that he wanted to live, the life that he deserved, the life he wished he never had ruined. And there was no way that he was going to turn things back around any time soon. It just wasn’t something that he was going to let be sacrificed again.
“Daddy, who’s that outside the house?”
The alarming question made both parents go on alert, looking out the window to see a figure in a leather jacket and a hood covering their head with their backs turned to the house – and he just stood there, standing in their front garden, like a statue stuck in place.
Jason whispered into Hannah’s ear, telling her to stay inside of the home and to get to somewhere safe with Amelia, to which she did within an instant. Jason then headed to the front door and swung it wide open, taking a few steps forward and stopping once he noticed the figure slowly turning to glance back and stare at Jason.
Their bright white eyes were just staring right back at Jason, making him freeze in place, a shivering feeling crawling up and down his spine.
“Hey, who the hell are you? Get the fuck off my lawn, right now!”
No answer. Just turning his back to Jason.
“Didn’t you hear me the first time, you deaf fuck? I said, get the fuck off of my lawn!”
Again... no answer, the wind passing by felt a little bit colder than before.
“I’m giving you one final fuckin’ warning, mate. Leave or you’re getting fucked up.”
The figure continued to keep silent, not even budging with every threat that Jason hurled at him. As he reaches into his pocket, he pulls out a Glock 17 pistol – which wasn’t there before and was looking for his switchblade knife – and gives off a confused look, though shrugs it off, as he aims it at the back of the figure’s head.
Finger on the trigger and as he’s about to pull the said trigger…
*SNAP*
The figure snaps his fingers.
As the snap happened, everything went to black. The surroundings went to black. The house was gone, Hannah and Amelia were gone, the weapon in Jason’s hand was gone, everything was gone and it became so clear to him what had happened when he snapped his own fingers back in Canton.
He didn’t snap himself back to reality.
He didn’t wake up from a horrible nightmare.
He trapped himself inside of The Infinity Realms, living the life he wanted to make perfect.
The entity dropped down to his knees upon realising his whole vision was ruined, tears beginning to build up in his eyes as he seemed to have finally come crashing back down from heaven with the realisation that his daughter and his fiance were still dead. By his hands. Still living in his worst nightmare yet.
“Now you see why I didn’t speak, don’t you?”
The figure’s voice seemed to be male, and looked to have been confirmed as he pulled the hood down his head, turning to face the entity and watching him kneel before him. His eyes weren’t as bright as they were a moment ago and were normal.
“Who... are you?”
The man began to shake his head, tutting to himself.
“I thought we'd met before, Jason.”
The man smiled.
“My name is Meliodas.”
The entity began shaking his head from side to side. He recognised the name, a name of his past, of when he was on the path to being the war criminal that he is today. It was like denial had taken over his emotions.
“No, you should’ve died. I remember you dying right before me.”
“You’ve experienced Abholos, hell, you’re powered by his anger and his rage— you know better than anyone that you simply cannot put down an elder god for good. We come back stronger than before. We always come back.”
The entity had become breathless, the moniker of an elder god seemed to be impossible, and even to be existing within the realms as well was almost an impossibility. There were more questions than answers and the entity needed them. He needed them right now and there was just one way of getting those answers.
Aggression.
The entity sprung up to his feet and grabbed Meliodas by the collar of his jacket, lifting him up into the air with ease and throwing him down to the ground with force, allowing the room around them to glitch into a sight of the Santa Monica home that the entity was just before. Punch after punch landing right into the jaw of Meliodas, but Meliodas simply laughs at the attack, grinning from ear to ear.
Clearly, he wasn’t taking any hits seriously.
This was nothing more than a show to Meliodas, and the entity was the main comedy act to him.
The entity pulled himself off of Meliodas and brushed himself down, just as Meliodas was getting back to his feet and doing the same for himself, but Meliodas clicked his fingers and the visuals around them brought the two back to North Canton, Ohio. The interior was familiar. The King’s Penthouse, before it all went up into flames.
Meliodas walked into the living room area of the penthouse home and took a seat right onto the couch, keeping that dastardly smile on his face as he did so, but the entity wasn’t buying any of this. After everything that was thought to have been real, he even questioned if this was real too or was it another sick vision played out in his head.
“Please, Jason, take a seat. We’ve got some things to... discuss.”
The entity looked down to Meliodas with a snarling look on his face, but he obligues in his request, taking a seat opposite of where Meliodas sat and stared right at him. Not taking his eyes off of him once.
“Now, Jason, you might not know why I am here but…” he paused for a moment. “There’s been some recent actions that have brought a questionable thought to the higher grounds of the Realm Guardians, they’ve begun to examine you some more recently and their results have not come back positive in the slightest.”
“So what? I’m on trial again?”
Meliodas chuckled to himself.
“Oh no, Jason. Not at all. As much as they’d like to take you to trial again, they know the risks of you trying to sabotage things again and make a complete mess of the whole realms much like last time you were put on trial. I’m sure you remember the—”
“The Disappearance of Earth VII’s Solar System?” The entity interrupted Meliodas, and for the first time, smiling. “How could I forget such a memorable moment within the history of the Infinity Realms, Meliodas?”
“I had hoped you'd forgotten it, to be honest with you.”
Meliodas cleared his throat.
“Jason, they brought me here to get you out of this damned hellhole you’ve sucked yourself into. I mean, take a look around you. This is the place you only go to when you’re going into hiding, and that’s what you have been doing for the past few weeks, is just hiding from those that wounded you extremely instead of showing what kind of Realm Guardian you are—”
“I am no Realm Guardian.”
“Are we still trying to pretend like you are not?”
The entity took a deep breath, then let out a sigh, before beginning to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“I know you don’t want to go back to that world yet, and you’re giving yourself some time to... ‘heal’, as you put it, but are you really going to let them get the better of you and make them believe that you’re dead and gone again?”
Meliodas leaned forward in his seat, staring at the entity.
“The Realm Guardians are wanting you to get back out onto the field and prove you are worthy of the name of a ‘Realm Guardian’, because if you do not prove yourself in the next few short weeks or months, Jason?”
The entity glanced over towards Meliodas, waiting for the response he’s dreading to hear.
“You’re terminated for good. No second chances this time around.”
“And how do you propose that I make this happen?”
“You’re immortal. You’re an entity to them back on Earth. A realm guardian doesn’t need to ask what he needs to do. They know what they need to do, it’s up to you what path you want to take to prove yourself again to the higher grounds.”
The entity took another deep breath, now sitting up straight and leaning in a little bit further than before, locking eyes with Meliodas. The entity simply stares right into his eyes and Meliodas gives off a confused look.
“What are you staring at?”
“Reading your true thoughts, Meliodas. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Hey, no, you can’t—”
“You think going back to Earth and trying to write the one wrong move I made is a good idea, or even, a good place to start in trying to impress the other Realm Guardians.” He leaned back. “You know I cannot go back there as of right now, in my current state, and in the current manner of things as it is. They’ve known me for more than two months and they’ve adapted to knowing weak points and what makes me tick.”
“Because you opened yourself up to them, you opened yourself up to someone that was an enemy to you, and you were committing yourself into a relationship with her whilst she was plucking information out of you like it was nothing. You openly admitted to everything that made you tick, that made you weak, and you thought that the other guardians haven’t noticed?”
“Yes, I know that I made the mistake of opening up too much to her but that doesn’t mean that she used me for that information to be given to her. I know she wouldn’t have done that to me, I trusted her enough with whatever information I had – even if she was the enemy to me – and I know she wouldn’t do something like that to permanently hurt me.”
“Are you sure about that, Jason? Because recently, it doesn’t seem to have been the way you wanted it to be.”
The entity raised an eyebrow at the comment from Meliodas, but Meliodas clicked his fingers and a voice was playing over their heads. It was from the newest episode of Fallout in the timeline, and the voice belonged to Arik Holt, with presumably Savannah standing alongside him as well.
“Savannah Marie Andrews... will you marry me?”
There’s a pause as Meliodas counts down from three with his fingers and just as he hits one, Savannah’s voice is then heard overhead.
“Definitely!”
Meliodas clicked his fingers once again and the sound faded away, glaring right at the entity with a smile resting along his face, knowing how well he would’ve taken something like this. The entity was biting at his bottom lip, shaking his head in frustration, and the anger in his eyes was getting clearer and clearer.
“She wouldn’t do that to me.”
“She just sold her soul to the devil, Jason. And you know how much someone like Arik would want more power when he’s got none of it right now, and what better way to gain more information about more power than marrying someone with that kind of information?”
“I know Savannah and she wouldn’t do that—”
“How could you know her when you’ve only known her for two months?”
“I trust her, Meliodas.”
Meliodas leaned back in his seat, a slight shrug to his shoulders.
“If you say so, Jason. But this is fair warning that I’m giving you, so don’t come back here and pretend like I never told you so when she goes and fucks everything up for you and you’re being used like a pin cushion by Arik Holt.”
The entity stood up from his seat and began to walk away from Meliodas – who also stood up to look at the entity walking towards the large window view that overlooked Canton – but as he reached out to grab onto the shoulder of the entity, the scenery changed and everything went to black like it was before. The entity had clicked his fingers to wipe the vision away and turned back around to face Meliodas.
“Tell the guardians to give me some more time to get back onto the field, it’s necessary if they want me to prove myself again and if they want to see a show they don’t want to miss.”
Meliodas smirked.
“I’m glad you’ve agreed to it, but they've already got plans for you in less than two weeks.”
“Let me guess...“
The entity sighed.
“I’m heading to a wedding, aren’t I?”
“To finally release what you need to let go of. That ‘friendship’, or whatever it is with Savannah, needs to stop and they thought it’ll be best if you just watch her take the hand of another man—I guess their way of punishing you, knowing those wounds of yours are still fresh.”
“Fine. I’ll go.”
“Great choice. I’ll be monitoring you from now on and seeing what you’re doing, we’ll keep in touch. Have fun, Jason. Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do now. The namesake of the guardians is at risk.”
With a click of his fingers, Meliodas vanished into thin air and left the entity in a dark void. The entity just stood there in the middle of the void and soaked in the silence, the emptiness, the void that surrounded him. Time was not on his side, the guardians wanted him back on the field, and he just wasn’t ready. Or maybe he was, but he just was hiding something, a feeling – or even an emotion – that’s preventing him from ever going back to that reality and trying to write his wrong.
Whatever it was, he had to numb it.
For his allegiance to The Realm Guardians.
— — —
The first visual we’re met with is the scattered ruins of The King’s Penthouse, most of the ruins had turned to ash – due to it being a month since the accident that caused this to happen to the penthouse home – and the rest was just burnt to a crisp, left there as a reminder of the pure evil that caused so many memories to collapse. The entity walked through the rubble, looking around him before crouching down and running his fingers along the ground, wiping away the ashes.
For only a second, he lowered his head – feeling that all of this was his fault, and realistically it was, but he should’ve known when to stop it before it got out of hand – but then, he lifted his head back up and let out a deep sigh. His knee hit the ground as he knelt there, staying in position before looking up towards the camera recording him.
“I’ll be the first to admit it.”
“I didn’t keep to my word.”
“I made a promise to make sure that I reinvented what it meant to hold the Ascension Championship, I made it my word that I would redefine that division and that I would make sure that the Ascension Championship will be given and shown that respect that it deserved compared to the last couple of champions and seeing who they were facing.”
“And I was beaten.”
“To a bloodied pulp.”
The entity sighed.
“I’ve watched that championship go from the thing I wanted to rebuild into something that was unified and now non-existent anymore because of it within the span of a few short weeks, I watched my vision – my fuckin’ prophecy – turn to ashes because people are just too uncareful of what they’re doing. Leave the trust in someone else and expect to be disappointed.”
“And just as I expected, I was greatly disappointed.”
“But it’s all my fault, really, isn’t it? If I wanted to carry on a legacy to something new, to something greater, to something that people will remember for however long it might be... then I should’ve been the one to have done it, I should’ve won when I needed to, and I didn’t. I failed those that I promised. I failed those who looked down onto me with the hope of ushering in a brand new era to Fallout——by simply falling at the final hurdle.”
“And I could’ve just gotten back up, I could’ve just stopped all of this before it happened, I could’ve been the one to make sure that none of this were to happen and I could’ve still saved what I had hoped for.
“But I didn’t.”
“Since then, I’ve been... well, hiding, realistically.”
“For good reason as well. Between Alyssa Grace and Savannah Andrews – as she’s now known as by the looks of things – they gave me a fight that I haven’t had since the last time that I was supposedly dead. They gave me a fight that I could not have forgotten, and I gave it back in full, but they——well, they did something that cost me a whole lot, and eventually cost me the match and the championship.”
“They made me bleed.”
“And everyone has seen what it means to make me bleed, the truth is out there now that the only known weakness to me is to now make me bleed, let my blood pour from my body and to make sure that I do not get a chance to pull some kind of move that’ll give me an advantage. And knowing that is out there for everyone to know? It puts me on edge. It’s like your favourite superhero’s one weakness is put out there and they know how to put them down for good. They’re put on edge. They have fear running through their body. Always expecting the worst to come.”
“Knowing how many people that I have made enemies with here on Fallout tells me that I’ve a whole list who’re willing to make sure that my blood spills, they are bloodthirsty and they would do anything to make sure they cut into my skin and let that blood pour.”
“Savannah Andrews. Billy Bennett. Michael Bishop. Havoc. Arik Holt. Alyssa Grace.”
“I could name more and more if I wanted to, but you get the point.”
“I’m a wanted man. Someone that they want dead. And yet, I’m coming back and heading right for them.”
“Why?”
The entity shrugged his shoulders, a smile beginning to creepily grow along his face.
“Because I do not fear death.”
“And since I’ve been watching with a keen eye, I’ve noticed that this ‘new era’ is something that people are willing to divulge into, knowing that I am nowhere near the product and knowing that I cannot make any changes to everyone’s happiness. Take a look around you, see all the smiles on people’s faces without me gone, it’s so much different than how things have been with me around in the last two or three months, isn’t it? It’s a day and night difference and it makes me wonder what kind of power I possess around here.”
“Then it clicked, why I have been hiding all of this time, and why I’m coming back to where everyone wants my head taken clean off of my body and stuck onto a pike where they can show it off to the entire world and be known as the entity slayer – the man or woman who saved the world from an multidimensional entity looking to break this world apart.”
“Because I lost touch with who I was.”
“I lost touch with what made me... well, me.”
“And back here, in this reality, is where I lost a piece of me.”
“I came back looking for it, and in the process, take back the land that was once mine.”
“Because let’s be real here, everyone. When I showed up here and I began calling the shots in what ‘Jason Long’ did, I was doing it with ease and I was doing it with nobody stopping me. The only way that I was stopped... was by making me bleed. Using my weakness to their advantage, and I know that I did not leave here just to have someone else take the reins of what I could control – because it’s clear to see as I look around here – nobody has that kind of power to take control of what I created.”
“I had this place in the palm of my hand, until it was taken from me from people who couldn’t handle the pressure and the power that having control gives you, and now control is scattered all over this damn place and everything is up shit’s creek just waiting for the pieces to be put together again like they were before. And the only way control can be restored around here?”
“Is because of me.”
“And what better way of beginning the next journey into restoring control around here than to take down the woman who wanted to have control of everything to herself, always hungry for something, always striving for power and when given that control – she couldn’t even stand up for herself against someone that I knew to have been a major threat to me.”
“Billy Bennett.”
“Missed me, Billy?”
“Because I sure have missed you.”
A lighthearted chuckle came from the entity, his smile grew more and more but he kept it to a minimal half-smile.
“It’s been quite the journey to watch you start from humble beginnings, Billy. Going from someone who was just surviving the swamplands of Florida to becoming this venomous snake that wrapped herself around just about everything that she possibly could. I – or even this whole company – had never seen anything of the likes before, and in that process of you beginning your rise, you were becoming champion here and there. Unprecedented history in the making.”
“And now, you stand at the top of the mountain – of not just Fallout itself but of the entire company that is Project: Honor – with the Legacy Championship in your possession, showing a true rags to riches story in the form of one woman named Billy Bennett; the new ‘queen’ of this whole company.”
“I have to commend you for taking up the name of ‘queen’ here in Project: Honor, Billy. A humbled gesture to your predecessor, a person that I know inspired you to be the woman that you have become today, and former ally of True Society – Robi ‘Valkyrie’ Sorrenson. Without you, Billy, who would’ve taken the reins of someone like her? Must feel weird having to walk in the same footsteps as someone like her, don’t you agree?”
“Just… go easy on insulting people, okay? I’m sure we wouldn’t want another champion to be vacated again due to an ethnic policy problem on our hands.”
“But that’s the thing with you, Billy. See how easy it was to make a joke about you, turn your success into something amusing, turn your riches into laughable content for me – and for others – to divulge in? If you faced any other champion around here in Project: Honor, you’d have issues trying to pick them apart for what they are and that’s fighting champions. People who’ve proven themselves. People who have truly fought for what they can do. And that’s what makes you, Billy, look weak in comparison to just about anyone else that’s ever stepped foot into this company and became champion.”
“And I’m not just pointing out the obvious either here, Billy, because for someone that’s eleven and one in competition here in the company, you’ve shown yourself to be nothing more than a self-destructive ticking time bomb just waiting to explode, and it was only recently that you did just that and it costed you so much.”
“It cost you everything that you had going for you, that streak of yours, and a legacy that you were building up before ever capturing the Legacy Championship.”
“Remember in the past? You’ve faced me and Jason now twice, and both times we’ve done everything to try and break you, we did everything to make sure that we snapped your little dark fantasy and crushed it right before everyone that watched.”
“We tried breaking you physically, we tried breaking you mentally and emotionally, and it seemed to just make you stronger. But now, I realise what should’ve been done, and that was to leave you to be. You can break yourself down by doing the things you do, being so unpredictable that it hurts you, that it backfires on you, and it eventually makes you fall.”
“Your Noble Championship reign ended so you could hold onto a Briefcase, your Ascension Championship reign ended because you just weren’t ready for someone like Havoc, and now what will happen with the Legacy Championship, Billy?”
“Deja vu all over again or are you finally going to do something different?”
“Because look around you, see who’s got your back now, and you’ll realise that you’re all alone. Nobody is there to help you at all. You can make the excuse that Savannah is there to help you since the two of you are best buddies and all that crap but you think that she’s going to stand by your side forever? Haven’t you heard what she’s done with everyone else?”
“Leeching off of everyone she’s connected herself with.”
“Always finding her way to the most successful person that there is and siding with them.”
“And when she finds zero purpose with you anymore? A knife will be sunk right into your back and she’s gone.”
The entity snapped his fingers.
“Just like that.”
“Yes, I’ve made more enemies than friends and that’s all on me, but so have you, Billy, and they’re all wanting to knock down the queen before she could begin another tirade on the company and win another damn title. They all want to be the next Havoc, the one who can beat you fair and square, but for someone like me? I don’t want that. I never wanted that.”
“A win over you won’t make me happy, a win over you won’t make me let go of the past, a win over you doesn’t accomplish anything for me because what I see in you is nothing compared to others who have proven themselves and who I know can give me a better fight than what you could produce. I could beat down people with legacies to their names, with accomplishments worth mentioning, and with accolades that are impressive to talk about.”
“There’s nothing like that about Billy Bennett.”
“So you can throw your mind games, say whatever you’d want about me, please just mention my family because I am begging you to do so like the predictable fuck that you are considering you’ve always got Savannah whispering in your ear with every bit of information that I gave her in the past, but none of it changes anything that I want to do to you.”
“For what you did to me at The Crowning, I have not forgotten and I will never forget, until I decide that you’ve paid your dues. Until I decide when you’ve had enough, Billy? I will continue to haunt you until the end of time. And just being able to get my hands on you in my first match back in over a month?”
“Oh, I’ve been waiting for a bloodshed like this one.”
“Maybe you’ve forgotten who I am, Billy. But I’m not the Jason you manhandled at our first encounter with one another. Maybe you’re not aware, or maybe you are, but I am something more powerful than you’d ever thought to face. If you thought that facing Havoc was bad enough? I am infinitely worse.”
“A prime example.”
“A noble monarch.”
“An ascended god.”
“And after Fallout… I think holding the moniker of legacy creator would fit nicely.”
“Because, when you faced Jason in the past, it made you become what you are today. We made you become the woman that you’ve shown yourself in being lately, and that’s something that you simply cannot deny no matter what narrative you want to create to go around it. But know this, Billy.
“We made you become what you are.”
“We made you the queen of this company.”
“And I’ll be damn pleased to fuckin’ end it.”
He soon took a deep breath, finally calming himself down a little.
“But we don’t enter this battle alone, Billy.”
“No, this battle is not just between myself and you – as much as I would’ve loved it to have been – but we must keep our eyes on the person that people deem to be dark horse, an underdog, and someone who could very easily sneak in and take the win right underneath our noses.”
“Isn’t that right, Tate Selby?”
“Now, granted, my friend… I know nothing about you, and realistically whilst I’ve been healing from my wounds? I have not been paying attention and keeping myself up to speed with what’s happening, but I’m hearing a whole lot about you. I’m hearing about a lot of potential and a lot of ‘hype’ around you, and all I want to see is where it’s all coming from, you know?”
“From what I’ve heard about you, you become quite the monster inside of that ring. It’s like something inside of your head clicks and you just let all of your anger take control of you, letting all of the anger from the past just beat down whoever is put right in front of you, and that’s what excites me the most. You see, there’s so much you could do with a man who’s already broken and just one wrong switch pulled from letting his anger go too far.”
“And when he’s too far gone? He’s helpless.”
“Tate, you let that anger speak your actions and that’s just a sure sign of you just waiting to be manipulated and gaslight into doing something stupid, something you’ll soon regret, and something that you know deep down in your heart that you’ve gone too far but just cannot stop because that anger has taken too much of control. I know that feeling, I was a sucker like that too in my past, but I learned.”
“I adapted.”
“I overcame that emotion because holding onto anger doesn’t make me better, it makes me weaker.”
“And considering how much anger is released out of you when you’re inside of that ring, Tate. I want you to tell me this one thing about yourself… Are you lashing out at those because your father beat you senseless as a child or is it because you just don’t want to seem like you’re below anyone? Did your father kick the shit out of you enough that you take it out on others or is it something else that makes you want to become this violent beast I keep hearing about?”
“That feeling of not being wanted, it haunts you, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, Tate… You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into now, do you?”
He began to tut to himself, shaking his head from side to side, before standing back up and slowly pacing back and forth in front of the camera, keeping himself in the shot.
“Your bravery seems unmatched, you seem to be unbothered by any of this, and I respect that.”
“I respect a man who’s not afraid of the challenge before him, because for you, this is a big match and something that’ll make or break your entire career. The current Legacy Champion on one side, the only person to have ever completed a triple crown in this company on the other, it’s going to be hard to make people have their eyes on you. People are going to want to see the clash of heads between myself and Billy, it’s something that’s been waiting to happen since The Crowning.”
“And it’ll be like people just wouldn’t want you there at all, Tate.”
“You’re a lone soldier, an outcast - no pun intended, and someone who can valiantly stand up for themselves after years of not being able to do it against his own father when he laid his hands onto him for just about anything that went wrong – even if it wasn’t your fault for his anger and lashing out onto you. You want to tell me how you could happily go from a roughened childhood of not being wanted around to entering a sport where immediately nobody cares for you and nobody wants you around, being inserted into a match where two of the opponents you face can give you an equally rough – or even worse – beating than what your father gave you and continue to show that you are not wanted?”
“Or does that drive you to become that violent beast that so many people see in you, Tate? Does it make you tick and does it give you the motivation to fight? Because, all of these comparisons to beasts and monsters that are thrown directly at you when comparing to your ring work?”
“I don’t see that with you.”
“What I see before me is an innocent and insecure little boy who thinks that being all grown up and strong makes him a tougher man than what he was when he was a child.”
“But all it makes him is a target.”
“All it makes him is a hypocrite.”
“You’re angry at your past for what it caused you to become, so the only way you think of retaliating…”
“Is by doing the same thing?”
“Makes no sense whatsoever.”
“You, Tate, are someone with potential. It’s been said before and it’ll be said again. Anger is something that could be used, but your motivation, your reasons, everything that you have to fight for? You’ve got yourself all fucked up, you’re a walking bullseye for anyone to see and just do the same thing that caused you this pain, and you’re too blinded by your own anger to see that because when you’re tapped into that mindset?”
“You’re on another world.”
“There’s no Tate Selby anymore.”
“There’s just the laying dormant monster that you supposedly have deep inside of you.”
“And that, right there, is what’ll be your own downfall.”
The entity stopped in his tracks, looking out into the distance and scouting the view of Canton out of the shot, taking in a deep breath before just standing there… soaking in the moment… and then that half-smile of his finally reappearing on his face, turning to glance towards the camera once more.
“But don’t take my word for it, Tate. I’m just someone who finally came out of hiding and came back looking to cause chaos again, that’s all I am. I’m here trying to be the real me, the same me that ran through everyone before and will do it again, and with people like you and Billy at the helm waiting for me to pounce into attack?”
“I remind myself that this place has fallen down immensely since I’ve been gone.”
“I’m not here to preach to you that I’m looking to expand a new prophecy to all of you and make sure that all of you see the light that I’ve been seeing for so long, a light that I’ve extended the offer to so many times to many and yet… nobody had taken up that offer. This isn’t about New Immortality anymore. None of this is, and none of it ever will be, because all that New Immortality brought to me was disappointment.”
“It didn’t bring me anywhere, it didn’t bring me the hope that I needed, and it was a last resort before going back to the old me, the violent me, the chaotic me, the one that Jason got rid of once before. And with that being said, I allow all of you to come forth and to see two hopefuls ready to take on the entity of this company. Hoping that they can repeat the success that one Alyssa Grace did before, and hopefully they can send me away again and finally, send me away for good.”
Another chuckle is heard under his breath.
“That’ll be the day, my friends. That’ll be the day.”
“Project: Honor is about to hit it’s final bow. It's the grand finale. And with me back at the helm of the forefront of it’s attack, feeling much stronger and powerful than ever before, then I hope whoever steps forward is ready for their calvary to be wiped away and knocked back down again.”
“I will not let history repeat itself again.”
“I will not let myself fall victim to others again.”
“And I will not let anyone take my legacy and use it to break it.”
“Long Live The King of Immortality.”
“Long Live Violence and Suffering.”
“All fuckin’ hail.”
Cut to black.
— — —
