Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2015 21:25:17 GMT -5
Another car was about to roll past them. Maxie froze up a bit, laying on the floor in the back of the station wagon and wondering the same paranoid little thought she'd been wondering every time a vehicle rolled past their car for the last few hours. What the hell would they say about LIGHT? He was outside the car, sitting on the hood of it and staring out into the desert for a while now. It was supposed to be a nice trip to take his mind off of his recent struggles in wrestling, maybe even to reset his batteries and get him going on. She'd managed to make up some nonsense excuse to her father about taking him out to the desert to refocus but right now she wanted him to do anything but focus on wrestling. Wrestling had been driving him crazy. He needed to relax. But no, there he was, dressed in his ugly homemade white mask and sitting on the hood of the car while people drove by. In her mind, they were lucky no one had called the police.
Maxie sighed and sat up, kicking the rear door of the car open and climbing out of the car. She winced against the cold, dressed in her pajama bottoms and a white tank top, and made her way around the car. Sure enough, there he was staring off into the distance. She walked up in front of him and parted his legs, leaning one knee on the bumper and leaning close to him. He didn't look at her. He kept staring off into the dark. “Hey.” She whispered “You with me?”
But he didn't say anything. She shook her head and put a hand on his cheek. It wasn't that he was trying to be a jerk. The losses consumed him, tore him up all the way down to his core. It wasn't just a failure in wrestling for him to be doing this badly. It was a failure of purpose. He didn't need to be lectured, he needed her support. Maxie went to the bottom of the mask and he started, pulling away for a second before she gave him a look. He stopped and she curled it up to near his nose, leaning in for a kiss. Then she rested her head against his chest and waited until he was ready to speak. It took nearly five minutes and another car rolling by.
“I came out of that desert.” LIGHT said grimly “I remember walking through it. I didn't know where I was going. I just knew...I knew I couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't stay with them. I couldn't do what they did.”
The Time Before. That's what he called the early, brutal years of his life in the California desert. He refused to elaborate on what happened out there, on what his family had been doing out there that had made him flee to Los Angeles. But it bothered him. He'd make passing references to it. Every once in a while she'd catch him muttering something about it in his sleep. It was hard to pin down any details beyond that it was traumatic.
“There are monsters out there. Just hiding, just over the horizon. Some of the scariest people you'll ever meet and they're just doing awful things to anyone who's crazy enough to wander into sight. You might get out of there alive, but you're never going to come out of there the same.” Did she imagine that or did he pull her closer? “And you know, when I ran away I thought I could just move on. I just wanted to stop having people like that around me. But it drove me crazy. I have to fight them, I just have to. That's why I picked the name you know? LIGHT? Because look out there...”
He held up a hand and slowly brought it sweeping over the horizon in front of the pitch black “That's everywhere now. And it's creeping in. I figured I'd try and fight back, I'd try to be a light in the darkness. Something to stand in front of people and say 'No. This stops here.' Someone who could say 'I am not afraid.'”
“So what? What's the problem?”
“I am afraid.” He confessed, shaking his head “Jesus, did you see what happened at Trauma? I got thrown around there like I weighed nothing. I pushed myself harder than I've ever pushed myself, and what happened? I nearly died. I nearly broke my back and the EMT's had to drag me out of the arena. I'm lucky I can still WALK. And it's all I can think about. All I can think about is that in a few days, when I go into this Underground Championship Match...I mean, do you know what could happen in there? Last Man Standing with that many people? I'm not that guy, Max. I don't have that place in me. I know like...”
LIGHT took a second to compose himself, moving away from her and getting off the car. He paced back and forth, and she saw him twitching slightly. He was scared. Maybe more scared than she'd ever seen him. He looked back at her “Right now, I bet Cory Steel is in a room somewhere thinking up a thousand different ways to hurt us. He's seething. Angry. With Killing Time getting blown up he's going to be looking to send a message, not just retain his title. And yeah, you know, I might be losing? But people have responded to those losses. People are interested. So you take out a rookie who's been making some noise? Everyone knows not to screw with you. Certain groups of people know it's not a good idea to go to war with you.”
Maxie's brow furrowed “LIGHT...I...I mean, it's just wrestling. You don't think it's going to-”
“Just wrestling.” He pointed at his face “It's not 'just wrestling'. It's never been 'just wrestling'. Do you know what this is? What wrestling really is? This is the most dangerous fighting sport on the planet. You're not even allowed to come off the top of the cage in MMA and I flew off a balcony last week. You'll never see Floyd Mayweather hurl Pac-Man into a crowd but that's what happened to me at Trauma. We're dangerous because you're taking a bunch of creative minds and telling them to hurt each other, however they can. I've heard just wrestling more times than I can count and no one is EVER ready for it. It's not 'just wrestling'. It's anything but.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Do you? How can you? How can you-”
“I know what this is.” Maxie argued, shaking her head “Don't condescend to me. I've seen my father limp across the house, barely able to walk because of what happened to him. Because of all the monsters HE fought. And you know, I keep trying to tell you that it's just going to be like you joined the...the NBA or something. Like it's another sport. But fine, you want to hear me admit it? I know what this is. I'm scared to death of the risks you're taking out there. You think I want to watch you fly off balcony's? You think I want you in there against those animals? Of course not. The last few weeks, you've had loss after loss. And...and...”
“Are you telling me not to do this?”
That line dropped like a hammer into the air between them. Maxie took a step back, as though she'd been shoved and shook her head “I...No. No. This is all you've ever wanted to be. You wouldn't know what else to do. I'm saying...I'm saying your commitments been all over the place. And yeah, maybe it's the fear. But I never thought you'd be afraid of monsters. I thought you'd FIGHT monsters. Like you've always said.”
With that, she walked around the car to the back. She fished through the car, flipping clothes out of the way until she found the box she was looking for. He watched her, clearly puzzled, as she walked back over to him and handed it to him “For years, you've been hiding behind that mask because you don't want to look at yourself in the mirror. Because of what happened out there. But you can be something else. Embrace this side of you, and you can be something great. A hero.”
With that, he pulled open the box. It was a new mask. It was an ornate looking thing, with gold lining the eyes. A mask worthy of a warrior, unlike the ugly cloth thing he wore now. He held it in his hands and stared at it for a second, unable to speak. He just looked at her, overcome, before he ducked his head and pulled off the other mask. He put the new one on. For a moment he sat there with his head lowered. Maxie knew better than to interrupt. It was more than just the mask. It was a re-commitment to self, a refocusing on an almost spiritual level.
When he looked up, she could feel a new confidence in him as he spoke “I can't say that I'll win. There's a lot of them. There's one of me. But with this...this is right. This is what I want people to see, this is who I want to be. I will fight them harder than I've fought anyone in this company yet. I'll give you someone worth watching. Just wait and see.”
She believed him. She smiled and took his hand, and the two of them waited through the night to see the sun rise over the desert again.
Maxie sighed and sat up, kicking the rear door of the car open and climbing out of the car. She winced against the cold, dressed in her pajama bottoms and a white tank top, and made her way around the car. Sure enough, there he was staring off into the distance. She walked up in front of him and parted his legs, leaning one knee on the bumper and leaning close to him. He didn't look at her. He kept staring off into the dark. “Hey.” She whispered “You with me?”
But he didn't say anything. She shook her head and put a hand on his cheek. It wasn't that he was trying to be a jerk. The losses consumed him, tore him up all the way down to his core. It wasn't just a failure in wrestling for him to be doing this badly. It was a failure of purpose. He didn't need to be lectured, he needed her support. Maxie went to the bottom of the mask and he started, pulling away for a second before she gave him a look. He stopped and she curled it up to near his nose, leaning in for a kiss. Then she rested her head against his chest and waited until he was ready to speak. It took nearly five minutes and another car rolling by.
“I came out of that desert.” LIGHT said grimly “I remember walking through it. I didn't know where I was going. I just knew...I knew I couldn't be there anymore. I couldn't stay with them. I couldn't do what they did.”
The Time Before. That's what he called the early, brutal years of his life in the California desert. He refused to elaborate on what happened out there, on what his family had been doing out there that had made him flee to Los Angeles. But it bothered him. He'd make passing references to it. Every once in a while she'd catch him muttering something about it in his sleep. It was hard to pin down any details beyond that it was traumatic.
“There are monsters out there. Just hiding, just over the horizon. Some of the scariest people you'll ever meet and they're just doing awful things to anyone who's crazy enough to wander into sight. You might get out of there alive, but you're never going to come out of there the same.” Did she imagine that or did he pull her closer? “And you know, when I ran away I thought I could just move on. I just wanted to stop having people like that around me. But it drove me crazy. I have to fight them, I just have to. That's why I picked the name you know? LIGHT? Because look out there...”
He held up a hand and slowly brought it sweeping over the horizon in front of the pitch black “That's everywhere now. And it's creeping in. I figured I'd try and fight back, I'd try to be a light in the darkness. Something to stand in front of people and say 'No. This stops here.' Someone who could say 'I am not afraid.'”
“So what? What's the problem?”
“I am afraid.” He confessed, shaking his head “Jesus, did you see what happened at Trauma? I got thrown around there like I weighed nothing. I pushed myself harder than I've ever pushed myself, and what happened? I nearly died. I nearly broke my back and the EMT's had to drag me out of the arena. I'm lucky I can still WALK. And it's all I can think about. All I can think about is that in a few days, when I go into this Underground Championship Match...I mean, do you know what could happen in there? Last Man Standing with that many people? I'm not that guy, Max. I don't have that place in me. I know like...”
LIGHT took a second to compose himself, moving away from her and getting off the car. He paced back and forth, and she saw him twitching slightly. He was scared. Maybe more scared than she'd ever seen him. He looked back at her “Right now, I bet Cory Steel is in a room somewhere thinking up a thousand different ways to hurt us. He's seething. Angry. With Killing Time getting blown up he's going to be looking to send a message, not just retain his title. And yeah, you know, I might be losing? But people have responded to those losses. People are interested. So you take out a rookie who's been making some noise? Everyone knows not to screw with you. Certain groups of people know it's not a good idea to go to war with you.”
Maxie's brow furrowed “LIGHT...I...I mean, it's just wrestling. You don't think it's going to-”
“Just wrestling.” He pointed at his face “It's not 'just wrestling'. It's never been 'just wrestling'. Do you know what this is? What wrestling really is? This is the most dangerous fighting sport on the planet. You're not even allowed to come off the top of the cage in MMA and I flew off a balcony last week. You'll never see Floyd Mayweather hurl Pac-Man into a crowd but that's what happened to me at Trauma. We're dangerous because you're taking a bunch of creative minds and telling them to hurt each other, however they can. I've heard just wrestling more times than I can count and no one is EVER ready for it. It's not 'just wrestling'. It's anything but.”
“I understand.”
“Do you? Do you? How can you? How can you-”
“I know what this is.” Maxie argued, shaking her head “Don't condescend to me. I've seen my father limp across the house, barely able to walk because of what happened to him. Because of all the monsters HE fought. And you know, I keep trying to tell you that it's just going to be like you joined the...the NBA or something. Like it's another sport. But fine, you want to hear me admit it? I know what this is. I'm scared to death of the risks you're taking out there. You think I want to watch you fly off balcony's? You think I want you in there against those animals? Of course not. The last few weeks, you've had loss after loss. And...and...”
“Are you telling me not to do this?”
That line dropped like a hammer into the air between them. Maxie took a step back, as though she'd been shoved and shook her head “I...No. No. This is all you've ever wanted to be. You wouldn't know what else to do. I'm saying...I'm saying your commitments been all over the place. And yeah, maybe it's the fear. But I never thought you'd be afraid of monsters. I thought you'd FIGHT monsters. Like you've always said.”
With that, she walked around the car to the back. She fished through the car, flipping clothes out of the way until she found the box she was looking for. He watched her, clearly puzzled, as she walked back over to him and handed it to him “For years, you've been hiding behind that mask because you don't want to look at yourself in the mirror. Because of what happened out there. But you can be something else. Embrace this side of you, and you can be something great. A hero.”
With that, he pulled open the box. It was a new mask. It was an ornate looking thing, with gold lining the eyes. A mask worthy of a warrior, unlike the ugly cloth thing he wore now. He held it in his hands and stared at it for a second, unable to speak. He just looked at her, overcome, before he ducked his head and pulled off the other mask. He put the new one on. For a moment he sat there with his head lowered. Maxie knew better than to interrupt. It was more than just the mask. It was a re-commitment to self, a refocusing on an almost spiritual level.
When he looked up, she could feel a new confidence in him as he spoke “I can't say that I'll win. There's a lot of them. There's one of me. But with this...this is right. This is what I want people to see, this is who I want to be. I will fight them harder than I've fought anyone in this company yet. I'll give you someone worth watching. Just wait and see.”
She believed him. She smiled and took his hand, and the two of them waited through the night to see the sun rise over the desert again.