Post by James Nightingale on Jun 23, 2021 8:41:57 GMT -5
“He gave me this advice one time: Never marry your childhood sweetheart, he said; the reasons that make you choose her will all turn into reasons why you should have rejected her.”
Robertson Davies
James + Alice = Eternal Love
What once was such pure, innocent love eventually was plunged into darkness. Twisted and mangled by hatred, morphed into evil by the whispers of ghosts. What once was two children from The King City who were destined to love each other forever, now stands two fearsome warriors, both with an unquenchable blood lust.
This is the world’s opinion of both the former Mr and Mrs Harrison, now recognised as The Nightingales.
But under the blood spatter, behind the masks, there are two uniquely different people.
James, the reluctant warrior. The once happy family man who was corrupted by whispers from the darkness. He was dragged away from his family to fight another’s war. He has become a prisoner to The Matriarch’s command; under his hardened exterior lays a hero, a good man desperate to shed his wings of slavery and climb back into the light.
By his side is Alice, the once devoted wife and mother, who fought valiantly for her children. Even after being abandoned by James, who was dragged away into the darkness, she stood strong and independent. Even turning briefly to another lover, Quixote. But her love for James never left her, and she eventually followed her man into the darkness in hope of freeing him from The Matriarch’s grasp…
...but she too became stuck within the same darkness…
… and it consumed her…
...and she was reborn.
As James Harrison desperately tries to escape The Matriarch’s prison, he has inadvertently sacrificed the one thing he loved the most.
Whilst he climbs towards the light, she falls deeper into the darkness.
The roots of Nightingale’s Queen have grown wider throughout the soil of his world. She has slowly yet silently begun to wrestle away MS-13 from his grasp.
An angel once sat upon the throne, now a queen rules with an iron fist.
When Nightingale would normally strike with precision, Alice’s war against Quixote and Jenna has been heinous, violent and clumsy, with much collateral damage… James’s Evolution plans for one.
The next time he stares in the mirror, not only must he wrestle with his own demons, but he now must reflect upon his greater sacrifice, his wife. He must live with the guilt that he has created a monster, one far worse than himself.
And as flashbacks pour into his thoughts about their happy times: their first encounter, their first kiss, their lost children… knowing what she has become, he now knows the reason why he should have rejected her…
The Night of QDT’s Abduction
Alice stands with her baseball bat backstage, alongside both Adrian and Brookes, having watched on as Nightingale and Mintzel had defeated Abraham and Bathory.
“Another big win for the boss and Matthias,” states Adrian. Alice smiles and turns to leave, ready to congratulate her man.
“Hold up, is that Jenna Bauer coming out to the ring?”
Adrian spots the AW backstage announcer entering the ring as he stands behind the curtain. Alice stops and turns her head to the side.
“What of it?” she asks.
“She… looks happy,” he claims, Alice still has little interest.
“I have no interest in that stupid slut. Let’s go, James will be waiting”.
“Hang on a second, someone is returning…”
Brookes chuckles to himself, “Damn, Jenna ain’t looked so happy since she was fuckin’ QDT!”
Those three letters stop Alice in her tracks, suddenly her curiosity heightens. The three letters cause her heart to race. The former AW star had pursued Alice for months before she had rekindled her marriage with Nightingale. Back then, she was a single mother and a star in her own right on CruiserClash.
She closes her eyes and remembers the night on the mountainside. Despite suffering a serious knee injury at the hands of Teijin, she finally gave herself to Quixote. He unbuttoned her dress, caressed her breast, kissed her tenderly on the neck. And just as she parted her legs, he abandoned her, leaving her to fight for her life on the cold, dark mountainside.
Her blood boils, she clenches the handle of her bat as she turns towards the curtain and watches as QDT walks to the ring. Her mind races as quickly as her heartbeat, as she tries to devise a plan.
She looks up to the arena lights, and whilst she observes them, she orders Brookes.
“Go kill the lights…”
Brookes turns to Adrian, and then they both look at Alice.
“Huh?” he replies.
She turns to Brookes with a scowl spread across her face, “GO KILL THE FUCKING LIGHTS!!!”
“OK… I’ll try”
Brookes scurries off down a corridor in hope of finding a way of turning off the arena lights. Alice continues to watch QDT whilst her hands remain clenched to the handle of her bat.
Adrian asks curiously, “So what’s the plan?”
Alice doesn’t deviate her attention from QDT, “Get the boys to acquire a van, quickly, and have them waiting out back ready for us to make a quick escape”.
Adrian quickly pulls out his phone and calls another member of MS-13, giving them Alice’s order.
“WE NEED IT NOW!!” she bellows, Adrian nods in acknowledgement as he instructs his man.
He finally hangs up the phone.
“When the lights go out, you and I are going out there… and we’re grabbing that piece of shit. He left me secluded on that mountainside… scared and alone. It’s time I repay the favour”.
“What about the boss?” Adrian asks, “What will he say about…”
She cuts him off, “leave my husband to me, he’ll understand”.
The lights of the arena go out.
“NOW!” She orders Adrian as they both run through the crowd and successfully abduct QDT.
Later in the evening, a stolen van speeds down the freeway with Brookes behind the wheel. In the back sits Adrian and Alice, who is still clutching her baseball bat. The end is now stained with fresh crimson red, at her feet lies an unconscious QDT. Adrian finishes tying his restraints.
“Why did you write SLUT on her face,” he asks Alice, who continues to gaze at the blood on her bat.
“It… just felt right,” she replies.
Adrian’s phone begins to ring, he pulls it out of his pocket and looks at the screen.
“It’s the boss, what shall I tell him?” he asks.
Alice says nothing.
Adrian continues to look at Alice, “NOW WHAT?!?!”
How did it feel being locked away in that cold, dark room for weeks on end, Quixote? Was it scary? lonely? did you wonder if you’d ever see your child again? This is how it made me feel last year when you abandoned me on that mountainside, you left a single woman, who was badly injured, on a secluded mountainside for the most selfish, self-centred reasons. So everything you have experienced since February - YOU BLOODY DESERVED IT! There is nothing more dangerous than a woman scorned, Quixote, you are now finding this out the hard way. I bet you wish you could take it all back, all the pain and anguish you have caused me? But you can’t, you must live with the consequences of your actions. You’ll have to live with the guilt of knowing that YOU were the reason why your precious daughter will grow up without her mother. Maybe that guilt will lead you to do the thing you always do, abandon people. Perhaps you should just leave Debonair in the care of the state, after all, you can’t leave them with your parents because you killed them. That would truly be a kindness - her only decent parent is dead, you’ll just turn her into just a big a fuck up as you are. And what of Jenna? You’ve already shown time and time again you don’t love her. You think you do, but you only love yourself. You already had her heart once before and you threw it in the trash. Talking of trash, how are you feeling Jenna ahead of our big night. Have you managed to wipe off “SLUT” from your forehead yet or are you still having to cover it up with makeup? No amount of foundation can cover that up though, everyone knows that you’re a slut even if it isn’t written on your face. When my men peppered that disgusting diner with bullets, one of those was meant for you. I would say you were lucky to survive, but you now have to contend with me and James in the ring Sunday, so perhaps bleeding out to death on that gross diner floor would have been the easy way out. How did it feel watching Tawny die a slow, miserable death as she choked on her own blood after those bullets ripped through her chest? Do you know that despite her shortcomings, she’d become a decent mother and there is no way you’ll ever be able to fill her shoes? Debonair will cry herself to bed every night longing for her mother, and there won’t be a damn thing you’ll ever be able to do to soothe her. Quixote, you’re like cancer, You cause pain and suffering to whoever you touch, even those you’re meant to love. Jenna will be better off without you, Debonair definitely would be. Now is the time we finally put you down for good. And when I mean “we”, I’m referring to myself and my husband, James. Arguably the one person who causes more pain and suffering than you do Quixote. This is his opportunity to shine again on the grandest stage. Just look how quickly he turned the tide on Clash, how he neutered you in mere seconds, left you unconscious in the ring whilst Jenna helplessly watched on, finally realising she is way in over her head. I did this all for you, James. I wanted to gift you this opportunity to shine at Evolution. I know things didn’t quite go to plan, but the only thing anyone will remember after Sunday is you, with myself at your side, standing defiantly over the two love birds' fallen bodies. Jenna, you’re going to find out that he just wasn’t worth it. Quixote isn’t a good guy, you backed the wrong horse and now you're gonna pull up lame. Love hurts guys, it really does. It’s poetic you two fools called yourselves that because after we’re done with you both, hurt will be the only thing you both know. We’ll see you both soon XOXOX |
James wanders through the corridors of the abandoned school, the location Alice chose to hold QDT captive for ninety-eight days. He reaches the end of the corridor, in front of him is an old door, yet with new locks, albeit now unlocked following QDT’S successful escape.
Nightingale pushes open the door, accompanied by a loud creak, revealing a chair in the centre of the room. Rope ties hang loosely from each arm of the chair, James examines these, concluding they must have been loosened by someone. Examining the chair further, the worn hard seat is stained with excrement and other bodily fluids.
He turns his head, the sight disgusts him. He reaches into his suit pocket and removes the envelope handed to him previously by his lawyer, Thomas Gray. He removes the pictures and stares at them again, his face filling with rage. He closes his eyes.
He remembers a time before the darkness when they were innocent. He remembers a day spent at the beach with Alice. Laying together on the warm sand, his then-girlfriend cuddled into his chest as he stroked her back gently.
He reopens his eyes and stares at the photo once more, the happy memory quickly transforming, being twisted into something nearly unrecognisable, the monster he has now created…
...and then the realisation sets in that perhaps she is now more dangerous, more unstable then himself.
He hears The Matriarch approaching from the corner of the room, but before she can speak, Nightingale holds out his free arm.
“No,” he says defiantly, “You cannot guide me through this battle, Alice is my responsibility, I will clean up her mess”.
Without speaking a word to her Angel of Death, she retreats to the shadows. James turns and walks over to the corner of the room. He locates an old bin, some old dried vomit of QDT has coated the bottom. He drags it to the centre of the room and scrunches up the photos in his possession. He then reaches within his suit jacket and retrieves his lighter.
He sparks the lighter, igniting a flame. After pausing for a moment he lights the bottom of the photos. He continues to hold the pictures in his hand as the flame grows, the outline of his wife’s body begins to melt away as the pictures bubbles before disintegrating. And just as the whole picture is almost engulfed within the flame, James drops it into the bin.
“Jenna Bauer - I pity you. Your dedication to your cause is admirable, though the evidence currently smouldering away within this bin ultimately proves that your time and efforts were for nothing, the love of your life was not worth the time and energy, nor the pain you will suffer at Evolution”.
“A leopard cannot change its spots, Quixote Della Torre thinks he can run away from his past transgressions, yet he’s either naive at best or delusional at worst. Either way, your ability to overlook those transgressions does not suggest magnanimity on your behalf - just utter stupidity”.
“That same stupidity has you believing you stand a chance to walk out of Sunday night with a victory”.
“How is your face feeling after I repeatedly smashed it into the announcer’s table at Havoc? I’d hoped it might have knocked some sense into yourself to step away from the toxic mess that is QDT, perhaps giving you a wake-up call to the severe amount of danger you truly find yourself in now. You think the last few months were rough? That was without my involvement, my input. That was a mere appetiser for what awaits you”.
“The return of your father, El Culebrón, might have spooked the boys, yet his name means nothing to me. I’m sure he will try his very best to get you up to our standard, but he will quickly realise you inherited your mother’s athletic ability, and he’ll soon remember why he abandoned you all those years ago”.
“It’s just a shame you have given up so much for someone who simply is not worth the time”.
Nightingale pauses a moment to collect his thoughts.
“I’ve heard the whispers backstage - was this all revenge against you Quixote for the brief relationship you had with my wife? Or the transgressions which may have taken place during your captivity… no”.
“I decided to kick you in the face twice last week because I simply don’t like you”.
“You seem to hold a sacred place within the hearts of the fans, but I don’t understand why? Nothing is more synonymous with the initials QDT than wasted potential”.
“You were the recipient of the ‘2019 Future World Champion’ Award, yet you have done nothing to justify that accomplishment except for a couple of promising yet losing performances in Havoc”.
“Just when the Spitfire soars high in the sky, it runs through a flock of birds and comes crashing back down to earth in devastating fashion”.
“Take Chaos 2020 as an example, you somehow managed to end the historic title reign of Corey Black, yet a concussion saw you hand over the strap to Torture, who then gave it to Derrick Vayden. A true warrior, a worthy champion would have pushed through their injuries, they would grit their teeth and would fight on until the belt was prised from their cold, dead hands, whereas you simply handed it to piece of crap like Vayden and went home, proving that you truly are the petulant man-baby I’ve always known you to be”.
“Talking of your brain injury - how are you feeling after I caved your skull in twice last week with my boot? If you were lucky, maybe the doctors won’t clear you for our showdown, it would save you the pain of being in the ring, being helpless as you have to endure watching me manhandle poor innocent Jenna. I’m sure you will have second thoughts of marrying her after she requires extensive facial reconstruction following a boot to the face”.
“Evolution gives me, and Alice, the opportunity to finally prove that we are better than you. Who knows, being physical with my wife once more might incite previous happy memories, but be rest assured, she is coming for the kill just as I am. This is no longer your world, you have failed to live up to your potential, there will not be a happy ending for you and Jenna at Evolution”.
“All that awaits you is further pain and suffering, the awful feeling that you have once again failed your daughter - that her mother’s death was all for nothing”.
“You will finally have to face up to the consequences of your actions from Havoc. My hatred for you grows by the day…”
“...and at Evolution - I will storm the gates of your fortress, force your head into the guillotine and joyfully bask in my glory as the blood slowly drains away from your dying career one last time”.
Nightingale kicks the bin over, the smouldering contents spill out onto the floor surrounding the chair. The wooden legs of the chair soon catch on fire, and in a moment the whole chair is engulfed in flames.
The Angel of Death turns and leaves, his sadistic smile spread across his face as the chair continues to burn.