She closes her eyes as the steams drifts up to caress her nostrils with the savory scent of the treat. Her mouth floods with saliva. Maybe coming to Disneyland hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. Of course, the teleportation had been an adventure, lurching through the darkness of time and space did have the amazing ability to mess with one's stomach. Lycana’s tummy flips in misery at the recollection of the ride Arcana had put it through, but she firmly shoves the memory away. They had made it, gotten in on a park hopper, settled on Arcana and Reika’s first ride of choice, and Lycana had shooed them off into line, seeking out some deliciously fried junk food to feast upon.

Nothing was going to take this moment away from her.

She lifts the corndog to her mouth, just wrapping her lips around the golden crust of crispy perfection, the piquant tang of the mustard mixing with the gloriously rich taste of the batter on her tongue, when her wandering gaze shifts and holds, pewter eyes locking with incredibly familiar, icy blue ones across the way.

Jim Caedus.

She freezes midbite, not moving for long moments, eyes widening in surprise and recognition, as realization seeps into her brain that no, this was not an illusion, and it was actually the man himself strolling along, having himself a day in fucking Disneyland just like she was.

Because of course he was.

She yanks the fried goodie from her mouth, licking her lips to remove any remnants of the bright yellow condiment as the blood rushes to her face, staining her cheeks crimson. Jim’s eyebrow arcs upwards as he contemplates her startled countenance. Her own brows then crash down as she casts him a perplexed look, spinning on her heel to present her back to him, feeling his gaze bore into her still. She carefully studies the roller coaster until the feeling of being watched slowly faded away.

She risks a glance over her left shoulder, seeing the golden mane of blond hair disappearing into the distance towards Grizzly River Run.

Lycana lets out a soft sigh of relief, casting her gaze back up to the ride, seeing another car flying towards the curve she was standing by, this time Arcana and Reika were ensconced inside, and she forces a smile to her face, waving wildly as they shriek by.

She takes a pensive bite of corndog, the flavor falling a tad flat in her mouth as she falls back into the depths of her own mind. It would figure that Jim Caedus was here. Same state. Same park. Same area. Probably same damn idea as her. That was just how her luck seemed to want to run with things of this nature. It might almost be humorous, if it weren’t for his rather rough foray into the 24/7 hallway recently. She swallows, the food lodging in her throat as she recalls the completely emotionless, yet violent pin attempt.

It hadn’t been the playful Jimmy that had come before.

This was a not-fucking-around Jim Caedus.

Lesson learned.

Everyone had multiple facades, including herself, and if this was the way he wanted to play after her first promo, she was more than willing to oblige and bring the fierce bitch out of herself. He wanted it to be that way, she had zero problems providing the stone-cold cunt most expected. She had meant everything she said, wanting nothing more than the intense challenge he provided and who knew, maybe this side of him would bring her more than her wildest dreams could imagine. Her eyes were wide open now, knowing the match would be fast paced and ferocious... just the way she liked it. She wasn’t quite sure what prompted that change in attitude towards her in him but...

Did it really matter?

She supposed not. It wasn’t like they were entering that steel cage to play games, or have another tea party. They were going in to try and break each other. To wear each other down, batter the body and mind until they were laid out long enough for them to escape and climb down from...

She tilts her head back and stares up.

The top of Goofy’s Sky School.

The very coaster she stood beside.

She was not a fan of heights.

How in the hell were they getting a damn cage up there anyway? WHERE was this thing going to be positioned? HOW? She couldn’t see it, but perhaps they were more creative in engineering than she was. Maybe it would simply be held up in the air by giant cranes or something. Lycana had visions of a strong storm blowing in, setting the cage swinging, making her and Caedus go tumbling around like a couple of ragdolls.

Would make things interesting for her and Jimmy, that was for sure.

She spies Reika and Arcana headed her way, and tries to bury thoughts of Jim for the day. After all, it was a good sized park, what were the odds of seeing him again? To tilt them even more in her favor, they had the hopper. Maybe she could kinda nudge the idea of the other one having better rides into Reika’s head, and they would just have to get over there sooner rather than later.

“Did you see us Lycana? Did you?!” Reika skips up, all smiles as she bounces on her toes. “I wasn’t scared AT ALL! Can we go on more?! Can we go on this again?! Will you ride with me?!” A genuine chuckle emerges from Lycana as she grins at the bubbly blond. “Of course, you can go on more, however many times you want. That’s why we are here! I’ll ride something with you today, I promise.” her voice fades off as she notices Arcana eyeballing up the food in her hand. “What?”

“Should you be eating stuff like that when you have a match coming up?”

No. She probably shouldn’t.

She takes a defiant bite, chewing aggressively. “Don’t worry about what I do. It’s not my fault that you’ve gotten...” she waves the remainder of her corndog towards the region of Arcana’s hips. “... fat.” Her eyes lift to the other woman's hair. “AND changed your look. Get dumped? Midlife crisis?”

“I’m twenty-fucking-two!”

“So, you were dumped then? Was it because your ass got fat?”

“Are you two fighting?”

Hazel eyes regard them suspiciously, a pout forming on the face of Reika. The other two look at each other, then back to the tow-headed girl, a mutual agreement reached without a single word passing between them. “Of course not!”

“Good. Can we go on that spinny spaceship thing?”

“The Zephyr? Yeah! That one seemed like a lot of fun, maybe Lycana will be brave enough to come on with us this time.” Arcana lays down the challenge, staring at the blue haired witch. Lycana narrows her eyes, her corndog already threatening to make a reappearance at the thought of zooming around in a circle. “Oh definitely. I love that!”

She hated that.

Rides were definitely not her cup of tea... but it didn’t seem like she was going to have much choice. Today was turning out to be... interesting. Couldn’t get any worse though, right?

____________________________________________________________________________________

It had. She jinxed herself.

Exhausted.

She was absolutely fucking exhausted.

How in the hell did a day wandering around going on rides that made her feel like organs were being left behind her body, and eating nothing but pure crap food make her feel more tired than pulling double duty at a pay per view?

And here she was, ensconced in one of the bobsleds for the Matterhorn. A nice, tall fucking ride that she had zero desire to be on... but Reika has desperately wanted to. Annnnd Arcana... well...

“I can’t go on that Lycana.”

“Why the fuck not?!”

“I’ll GET WET.”

“......”

“......”

“I hope this isn’t something that has to do with your fucking pyromancer...”

“I don’t like water rides!”

“It’s barely a damned splash!”

But of course, she had lost that argument, to someone who had all these damned magical powers, including full control over all kinds of fire, moving people and things, and healing... and she was scared of getting splashed at the end of a damned ride.

Pansy.

Of all the...

She is struck from her thoughts as the ride gets jerkily into motion. She looks over her shoulder at Reika, who was squirming with excitement in the seat behind her. “Don’t wiggle too much, little worm.” she teases, a concerned eye taking in the belt holding the girl in. Lycana had wanted the younger blond in front of her, but Reika had insisted on the very back of the bobsled. With a lurch they pause at the very mouth of the cave, and Lycana turns around, peering into the abyss that yawned widely before her, her stomach already trembling in anticipation of being put through another trial.

She hated rollercoasters.

A grind of gears and off they went, swallowed whole by the darkness inside the mountain. Growls and snarls fill the air around them as they zoom through the shadows, only the barest glimpses of light here and there with blue figments of ice glowing, until they fling around the corner, the scene of a bobsled accident laid out to the side, but onwards they fly! Zipping around only to see a Yeti leans forward, horrible noises emerging from its throat. A terrified wail fills the air behind Lycana, and she yells over her shoulder, trying to reassure Reika that she was safe, and nothing was going to happen. And still onwards they go!

Through the caves, weaving here and there until with a sputter, the sled slows wildly, coming to a near crawl with a groan.

Lycana frowns. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Mutters from the riders in the car attached to the front of theirs confirm that much. Maybe the ride was breaking down. Wouldn’t that just be the icing on her cake? Seeing Jim Caedus, having to torture her body on these rides, and then getting stuck sitting on the Matterhorn. She peers over the side, able to see the expanse of the park through a hole in the ‘rock’. Her head gets a funny spinning feeling as she notes the height and the distance to the ground. She pulls her eyes from the drop, focusing on the milling mass of humanity instead. Her eyes automatically scan the crowd, seeking the shimmering blond mane on their own accord. That would be the fucking cherry....

“Don’t worry Reika, they’ll...”

She never finishes, as her head is jerked back, the ride going forward full speed ahead once more. This is why she hated this shit. They dip back into the caverns, and then out again, merry screams filling the air as they angle downwards, ready to crash into the ever so massive water section that Arcana had been so adamant about avoiding.

With a very anticlimactic swoosh through, barely any droplets rising up to even hit her, they are through and whirling around, the end of the ride in sight. The ride slows once more, on purpose this time. “Did you have fun Reika?” she calls back, on a sigh of deep relief. “Reika? Did you have fun?”

Silence.

“Reika?” she cranes her neck around to look behind her at....

Nothing.

An empty seat.

Darkness invades her peripherals as a sharp buzzing explodes in her brain, her face becoming even paler, her eyes locked onto that seat, blinking, willing what they were telling her to change.

It didn’t.

Panic roars through her as she looks wildly about, gaze darting everywhere. No sign of her anywhere. Her heart, stopped in her chest, thumps to life with a painful thud, beginning to race as the implications slam into her with the force of a twister.

What had happened? Had she jumped out somehow? Had she fallen out? Was she on the tracks right now, injured, unable to move as another car came around and...

Her hands begin to scramble at the belt, yanking wildly as she tries to loosen it enough for her to free herself from its bonds. The ride operators begin to yell at her to stop, as eyes turn her way. “REIKA!” The cry is torn from her throat as the ride bumps to a halt. She babbles, the story spewing from her mouth in a frantic jumbling of words that doesn’t seem to compute for long moments, until an employee whips out a handheld device and begins to speak quickly, and lowly into it. She gets as many details out as she can as she throws herself from the ride, tripping and slamming her knee into the ground, ignoring the blood that begins to drip from the deep scrape. She is back up and running, ignoring the voices screaming behind her. She should stop and tell them more...

She didn’t.

She couldn’t.

She had to find Reika.

Pure panic lends her feet wings as she runs down the stairs, nearly falling in her headlong flight. She hits the base and takes off, looking everywhere as she yells out the girl's name, alarm boosting her voice up several decibels. A hand grabs at her shoulder, seeking to curtail her sprint, and she shrugs it off, another voice screaming by her side finally sinking in.

“LYCANA! LYCANA, what is going on?”

“REIKA!”

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

The story comes out in a jumbled heap as she continues her rush around the ride, trying desperately to find a way in, a way to sneak in and handle things herself. She was supposed to keep the girl safe. And she had failed. Twice. Twice now. Danger was winning and Lycana would never forgive herself if something had happened. How had she not noticed? Not heard? Not seen? Her stomach rolls, threatening to expel everything into the air in a viscous arc. She skids to a halt, colors and sounds spinning around her like a demented kaleidoscope as Arcana talks on, asking questions. All the damn questions she doesn’t have an answer to.

Why didn’t she just stop? Why did this have to happen? What if she couldn’t find her? They never should have come. She shouldn’t have let Arcana talk her into this foolishness. She had just wanted to stay home, and wait for Marf and see if he... Marf. She really had almost forgotten. A psychotic giggle tries to force its way up her throat as her world begins to quake about her. She was just losing everybody who mattered to her. Her knees begin to knock, threatening to buckle under her as her will starts to fade.

No.

She was Ly-FUCKING-Cana.

She didn’t give up. On anything. For anything. For anyone. She rises, pulling up to her full height, sucking in a deep breath. A murmur filled with horror in the crowd distracts her. She looks around, noting the stares of the crowd, all stopped, looking wide eyed at something. She slowly turns, following their gaze up.

And up.

And up.

And feels her will flee once more, leaving her stone cold, frozen with shock as ice water floods her veins.

As she stares at Reika, high above, climbing the side of the Matterhorn Mountain.

____________________________________________________________________________________

“Well well well...

How things have started to change around here, huh Jimmy?

You see, despite all the words we threw at each other during the tag team cycle, despite you and that animated corpse you call a partner coming into my hallway all those times, despite the outcome of that match... I like you.

Still better when your mouth was shut, but I don’t think I'm among the minority there.

Then came your most recent little visit to me.

I understood your message to me. I got it now. You walked in and made yourself heard loud and clear.

Playtime is over.

And I am very fucking okay with that.

You on the other hand, should be prepared to regret it.

I told you Jimmy, this world? It’s my playground now and you are just a damn guest for as long as it pleases me to entertain you. I’ve made my way into this company and decided to do things a little bit different. MY way. From the moment I stepped in, my views about losses teaching me lessons were scoffed at. Made fun of. Haha, poor little Lycana! Can’t get a win right away. Thinks that even though she loses, she still comes out better on the other end. Look at her, we all know she's not going to amount to anything!

Well FUCK them.

And fuck YOU too.

Look where I am now.

And the losses STILL don’t bother me, because despite them all, I’m still rocketing into the motherfucking sky, doing everything that people said I never would. Becoming the wrestler they didn’t think I was capable of. And I tell you something Jimmy... wins don’t matter to me, but fuck if it doesn’t feel DAMN good proving them all wrong.

Ego, yeah, I suppose I could have a bit of one now. But I damn well earned my rights to rub how I’m doing in the face of the steady stream of tight wadded assholes who sought to bring me down, even in cycles I had nothing to do with them. Waspy little cunts who for some reason, couldn’t seem to keep my name out of their mouth, and you know what I'm saying here. In the faces of those who thought I was not on their level, until I slammed the pages closed on their chapter that they were so proud of. I walked into hell and I lit the future of the universe on fire.

And now I’m watching the world around me slowly burn, clearing a path up to my destiny.

So, if it’s an ego thing to be ready to take on the world. If it's an ego thing to call my will to keep going invincible. If it is an ego thing to bare my fangs and never waver from who tries to stand in my way. If it’s an ego thing to consider myself indestructible because nothing can shake me from the path that I am on... so the fuck be it. Call it whatever you want to Jimmy, I for one... call it my fucking HEART.

I don’t give in, and I don’t accept that I have any walls that are capable of holding me. Uncontainable. I am poised and ready to destroy any fucking notions ANYBODY, including you, has of putting me neatly into a little fucking box and tying it all up pretty with a bow. I’ll shove that shit right up your ass where it belongs.

My ceiling came crashing down long ago, and I just keep climbing higher.

I’m not going to stop until I am satisfied with everything that I have accomplished, and have put down each and every individual who showed me doubt.

I don’t care how long it takes.

I don’t care what their record is. How highly they view themselves. If others think I cannot do it.

I can. And I will.

I refuse to impose any restrictions on myself. I am an unbridled force Jimmy, and I’m setting out to prove every fucking person who thinks I am not, wrong. That includes you.

The one thing I never do, is allow my ego to color how I view my opponent. I do not look at all others as if they are roaches, far beneath me, just there to be crushed under my boot. That is where mistakes are made, where it affects your judgement making it so much easier for a lackadaisical demeanor to creep in, allowing the wily to capitalize. I will never underestimate anybody I am stepping up against inside that squared circle. In this, we are similar, you and I.

I know you are smarter than that- and yeah, that’s a genuine fucking compliment.

You won’t be looking by me because not only have you had a taste what my wrath feels like- which makes it all the worse why you’d seek to spark it before this match, baby what are YOU doin’?- I stand in front of you holding a shiny piece of metal that you badly want to get your hands on.

The X title.

You want it, and you know exactly what you’re coming up against to try and take it. You know good and well that it will not be an easy task. You might have taken me a tad lightly before, and I suppose our banter was to blame, but you learned, and quickly at that, when we hooked up in the ring for our brief encounter during the tag. I handed you your ass because you didn’t expect it, and you are going to be much more careful this time around. I know this, and it pleases me Jimmy. I never wanted you to midjudge me or gloss over what I can achieve inside that cage. I wanted the full expanse of your talents, and you are talented (well shit, there's another compliment! How poisonous I am!) focused on what you need to do to get by me.

I want the challenge.

You want my belt.

Problem is, you aren't going to take it from me. You see Jimmy, I have a lot of shit to prove myself. You and I BOTH want to silence our critics... you know what a powerful motivator that is. You know the feeling of it nipping at your heels as you walk forwards towards this little adventure we are about to partake in. The winner of this match gets one step closer to their goals, and I’ll be damned if I give you one fucking inch. You see Jimmy, other than that, you’re looking to do this for others... to prove to Apex that you deserve the absolution of guilt, vindication for past actions. To bring home gold for your faction.

I’m doing this for myself.

I don’t have to demonstrate my worth to Marf. He knows what I bring to the table. Me carrying a belt doesn’t mean anything to him, unless it's important to me.

I’ve already broken through my self imposed ceiling, and nothing can stop me from exploring the galaxies and expanse the are spread out before me. I chained myself, but no longer. I tore through the doubts that bound me to the limit I set for myself, into the fathomless depths of what I’m going to attain.

I am a meteor set on a path to the cosmos, to linger among the stars, burning through everything within my trajectory, and I will allow nothing to divert me from that.

Least of all YOU.

I can tell you this Jim Caedus, the outcome of this match rests heavier on you, than it does me. You have everything riding on a win. You NEED this to do everything you want in the XWF. You NEED this to gain respect. You NEED this to prove yourself once more to the entire federation who scoffs at you. You NEED the X-treme title to show that you matter and to shut up all the assholes. You NEED it to show that you aren’t all sizzle and no pop. That your name belongs where it resides on the Top 50. That you are well and truly back, and should be feared and revered.

I don’t.

I don’t need to win this match to make my mark on the fed.

I already have.

While a loss for you, will cripple Apex and send your sad little trio further into obscurity, I will simply be moving along to my next opponent, climbing the rings of the ladder to success despite it all. I’m shooting up into the sky, no matter what happens... I’m living, breathing thunder Jimmy. And if I should win?

My name will glow just a little bit brighter, adding yet another ‘legend’ to those I have already started to slay.

My sun will eclipse you, and you will be all but forgotten.

You have a lot riding on this Jimmy.

Good fucking luck.

You need it.”