Post by Bryan Williams on Apr 6, 2020 20:22:48 GMT -5
”Welcome back, so soon. Sooner than I thought.”
The room was darker than he remembered, it had been so long since the last time he was here. His last session was successful, Bryan could feel himself growing more and more confident. It was clearly showing in his in-ring ability, he had been going on a tear since the last time.
The last time he was in this chair. Funny, the chair looked different last time too.
“I don’t know what you mean, it’s been over a month since I’ve seen you. I’ve been in Japan for quite a while, been busy on the road. I just came by here to say our talks helped, I finally found my place.”
She smiled, he didn’t like the way she would smile at him. Always knowing, always understanding.
”I know.”
Before she even said it he already knew it, what she was going to say next. He was ready to get out of there. Show his appreciation, and then leave. No need to stretch it out any longer.
“Well, I’m glad I was able to figure things out. You’ve really settled me down, even with only a few sessions.”
She laughed, right in his face. Something about it just didn’t sit right. Bryan stared at her, it was almost like looking into the mirror.
”A few? Bryan, you’re still so naive.”
He shook his head, confused and unsure of what was going on. Why was the room growing darker?
“What are you talking about?”
She laughed again, or someone did. It was getting harder to see now, what happened to the lights in the room? Everything was going dim.
”You still haven’t figured it out yet? You still don’t know what this is all about?”
This voice, it was too familiar. Bryan stood up from the chair, but it was never really there.
“I don’t understand.”
Of course he didn’t, not at the moment at least. He understood before, many times since that victory at Coup de Grace. It was all there in front of him, the mirror in front of him.
”You understand, very clearly. That’s why you beat Dakota. That’s why you were so successful in Japan. The way you hurt Cass Baumer, you know entirely what is going on here. I’m glad we could do this together, Bryan.”
She wasn’t there, she was never there. He had tried before, or at least he was telling himself that he did. Ready and waiting for the rest of himself to catch up, save for the truth in everything.
Bryan looked at the mirror in front of him, it was the only thing he could really see. His reflection, it stood there as he reached out for it.
“Wait-”
The glass shatters.
Bryan can’t see himself anymore.
He can only see the mask, and a man wearing it.
”We’ve been here before, only now you finally saw what I have been trying to say. You’ve finally seen my side of the story.”
He has nothing to say, the man with the mask stares at him in every piece of the mirror. He can’t look away, he can’t leave. Not yet at least, his breathing begins to intensify. He’s starting to come to grips with the situation at hand.
There was no help, there was never anyone to talk to.
He was still out there, but not on his own.
Disgusted, maybe with himself, Bryan goes to leave. His breathing calms, as he goes to rub his neck. He feels the difference, he knows the touch already. It’s been there many times before, and it will be there many times over.
The mask is on his head.
There is no mirror. Nobody to speak to.
There is just Bryan. There is just the Union Battleground Championship.
“And now, we’ve gotten what WE wanted.”
The scene burns and stretches, like old film on a reel. It’s distorted and confusing, for a brief moment we see Bryan. He’s looking at the camera.
Everything cuts to black, there is nothing on the screen now.
Nothing but faint VCR tearing, and a small tracking indicator that pops up at the bottom of the screen.
We wait long, longer than usual for a sign of anything that’s to come. It seems that the tape cuts here, because we’re hit with a wave of sound. Something that closely resembles music, maybe in another time. The attempt at light jazz follows with a bright, and colorful background with only several words on it.
”AND NOW, FOR OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION”
The image burns away, leaving only a dark room. The dark room from before.
On the ground lies a shattered mirror, a blue chair that rests on it’s side. We see feet step into frame, the camera swings up to reveal Bryan Williams standing there.
He looks calm, ready for his upcoming match. Ready to defend his Union Battleground Championship.
WILLIAMS: "Hello James.”
Bryan gives the camera a soft smile, in his right hand we see the Union Battleground Championship. He holds it with care, as he picks up the chair with his left hand. Bryan takes a seat in the chair, as he faces it towards the camera.
WILLIAMS: "It’s nice to be in this position, to finally be the one being hunted. I had forgotten what it felt like, I had taken it all for granted. You know that feeling, you had been there before. On top, being the guy that everyone went after. You know the challenges of facing tough competitors, and wanting to make yourself better everytime you step into that ring.”
Bryan nods to himself.
WILLIAMS: "Almost two years, James.”
WILLIAMS: "You spent two years away from the spotlight, and away from being a headliner.”
Bryan sucks his teeth, shaking his head as he sighs. Overdramatic as possible, playing it up for the camera.
WILLIAMS: "I too know what that’s like. Because I spent so much time in 4CW trying to figure myself out, I lost out on so many opportunities. My last time as Pride champion was in June of 2017. I had to drop out of NJPW after that, I lost everything.”
He laughs to himself.
WILLIAMS: "Everything that I thought had made me important.”
WILLIAMS: "It took me so long to finally realize that those things didn’t define me, those championships didn’t make me the kind of wrestler that I am now. The man you see before you hadn’t even been transformed yet. I had to lose it all before I could even begin to take the first step forward.”
Again, he chuckles to himself. The words obviously mean a lot more to him in his current situation.
WILLIAMS: "But here I am, here I stand before you as the Union Battleground Champion.”
Bryan looks down at the championship in his hand, as he raises it up to the camera. We get a quick cut, a shot of Bryan pinning Dakota Smith and celebrating with the championship in victory.
Cutting back to Bryan is a different story, a different look on his face. Intensity, determination, anger. Bryan stares into the camera as he speaks.
WILLIAMS: "I TOOK from Dakota Smith the only thing he cared about, and I saved Union Battleground in the process. I wrapped my arms around this company and shielded it from danger, and in return I was awarded for my actions.”
WILLIAMS: "Years removed from losing it all, and now I’ve gained more than I ever thought. I went to Japan, and became a champion for Death Trip Wrestling. I was a champion for Revo Pro, everywhere I’ve gone I have seen success since become Union Battleground Champion.”
Bryan looks down, resting his forehead on the championship for a few moments. He seems to be collecting himself, or attempting to.
Bryan sits up, suddenly and without warning, he tosses the chair behind him as he gets closer to the camera.
He’s speaking to James directly.
WILLIAMS: "This title wasn’t just bestowed upon me, James. It was a beacon for me, a shining light out in the darkness that I reached out for. I took it, and now it’s mine.”
WILLIAMS: "And now I know you’re out there, you’re looking for it to. You want so badly to right the wrongs in your past. You want to do what I have been able to do myself. Figures...”
Bryan laughs to himself. It’s subtle at first, but then it grows and grows. Soon enough he’s broken out full on into a fit of laughter. Bryan has to settle himself down before he can continue on. He takes a tissue, wiping his eyes before he does.
WILLIAMS: "I’ve seen you watch me lately, no matter where I go you seem to be there. And I don’t think you have any malice in your heart. I think you wish you could have what I have. A longing for what I’ve been able to do.”
WILLIAMS: "I know that Bobby sees it, he’s seen it from the beginning. That’s why he gets in my business, that’s why he’s attacked me from behind multiple times. And as much as you’d like him to stop, I know that if him doing that gave you a chance at getting to the top… you wouldn’t even blink. You wouldn’t lift a finger to stop him.”
That sentence seems to bring a different kind of hostility from Bryan.
WILLIAMS: "I know your type, James.You’re the kind of guy that would suffer from greed, it’s going to poison you eventually. You’ll succumb to it, and it will consume you. You’ve already tried before to get here, and now I don’t see you stopping yourself from trying again.”
Bryan sighs, shaking his head.
WILLIAMS: "So now the hunt begins for you, and I’ve been tasked to defend my newly won championship against you. A man who hadn’t even earned the shot in the first place. You lost to Indi at Coup de Grace, and the last time we stepped into that ring I stood above you both in victory. You don’t belong here, not right now James. Your fraudulent existence will be stopped, I cannot allow a man like that to become Union Battleground Champion.”
WILLIAMS: "You see, my crusade doesn’t just stop with Dakota Smith.”
Bryan shakes his head, wagging his finger in the air.
WILLIAMS: "My war didn’t end there.”
The screen cuts for a moment, and we see a man wearing the mask. He stands behind Bryan as we cut back to Bryan talking.
WILLIAMS: "I am the Union Battleground Champion, and I will protect what is mine. I provide a shield against everything that is wrong with this business, I keep it away from Union Battleground. You are no different from the monsters I am called to protect Union from.”
Another cut, to the man in the mask.
WILLIAMS: "You will not take this away from me.
He... won’t let you. I won’t allow it. Not after everything I’ve been through. All of the hard work, it doesn’t just go away.”
The camera glitches out, as Bryan is frozen in time. We see the man in the mask rising up behind Bryan.
The man stands there, as Bryan goes back to normal.
WILLIAMS: "This company, this championship is MINE.”
There is a vigor in his speech, an unmatched strength that we haven’t seen before. Bryan was pointing to himself, before the man in the mask stepped forward. There is another glitch, and the two can be seen on camera at the same time.
They occupy the same space, the same plane of existence.
WILLIAMS: "We can’t - We WON’T LET YOU TAKE THIS FROM US.”
Their voices distort, battling each other until they finally just become one.
Bryan’s voice.
Bryan’s body.
Bryan’s mask.
He stands there, wearing the mask in front of us. The Union Battleground Championship in one hand, and the baseball bat in another.
This is who they are.
WILLIAMS: "You had your chance, James. You could have been somebody in this business, but you let it all go away. No matter how much you try to fight us for it, we won’t let you take our hard work away. You’ll just have to settle knowing that we are doing it better, we are doing our comeback the right way.
We are what you should have become.”
The scene glitches hard, it’s hard to see Bryan or what he’s become now. He stands there still, in defiance of it all. Before the scene cuts to black we hear one last thing from him.
WILLIAMS: "Now you’re just a lost cause.”
Cut to black.
