Hail To The Victors (For Maxy)

It had been less than an hour since the match, and Makie still couldn't believe it. Even though she could feel the weight of the belt solidly over her shoulder as she carried it, and even though her fans were still shouting her name in the distant background, it still felt surreal.

They had won. She and Kyo had won the tag title championship.

When they had gone into this match, the very fact that they were competing for the belt had seemed unbelievable in and of itself. To be competing against a team as powerful and vaunted as White Gale was even more unbelievable. But the fact that they had just won, in spite of everything...it felt strange and surreal. It also felt wonderful, mind you, but Makie had only ever dreamed of this moment. She had never imagined that they would get this far.

As they reached the locker room, Makie could contain herself no longer. "Wediditwediditwedidit!"

Kyo's reaction took her by surprise. "Yeah," he muttered, barely responding as he opened up his locker and grabbed his bag. "We did it."

"Ehhh?" Makie backed away from Kyo, perplexed. "What's wrong Big Bro?" Kyo seemed unusually downcast for someone who had just won a title belt.

"Mmm?" Kyo seemed to realize how he might have come across, and turned to face Makie. "Oh, I...I'm not unhappy. I'm just..." He paused, seeming to struggle to find the right words. "I just still can't believe it's finally happened. I guess I'm still in a state of shock."

Makie frowned. "That's all? There's something else bugging you. Come on, I know you."

Kyo slumped his shoulders. "And...I just wish Toshio could be here with us. All three of us used to be a team, and it just feels wrong that we won this without him."

Ahh, that was it. Kyo rarely spoke about their middile sibling: their brother Toshio had always bent the rules, had always been the edgy troublemaker of the group. A few years ago, he had announced a long hiatus from wrestling to go finish university in Kyushu. They had still kept in contact with him, but thus far, Toshio had expressed no desire to return to the ring.

Kyo rarely talked about Toshio: there had always been plenty of friction between the two brothers, after all. Today, however, appeared to be an exception.

"Hey," she said, patting Kyo on the shoulder, "he was probably watching the match and cheering us on the whole time." She smiled. "Come on, lets give him a call once we get out of here, okay?"

Kyo nodded, and smiled back. "You said earlier that we'd need a new team nickname if we won," he said, casually towelling himself off before sliding a t-shirt on. "We should start considering that."

Makie laughed. "Maybe we should hold a poll among our fans?"

Kyo grimaced. "Somehow I don't think that would be a very good idea..."

At that moment, however, they both heard voices from the next room over...

As soon as the former champions stepped through the curtain, Daisuke felt like her emotions were going to all come out at once, but instead of that happening, all that happened was her face went blank. Sion didn't notice right away, but he did just as they were about to enter the locker room, and he did not like what he saw. He felt it would be best for them to get out of there as quickly as possible, though he did want to clean up first.

As Sion showered, wanting to be as quick as possible, Lina remained with Daisuke. Daisuke's blankless look started to show signs of guilt as she sat. There was enough of a light on to hear Lina's suggestion of a shower might help, though she didn't manage to get undressed and in there until Sion was finished. Just to be on the safe side, Lina went with her and took one as well. Anything Daisuke wanted to say, Lina would listen. However Daisuke remained silent. As Lina got dressed after they finished, Daisuke returned to where she was before hand, although covered by a towel.

Sion and Lina wanted to say something, but they wanted to be careful and not say something that might cause her bottled up emotions to explode. Just as Sion opened his mouth to say something, Daisuke finally broke down. While Sion assured her in the ring that what happened was her fault, she couldn't help but feel otherwise, having kept her thoughts in since, and it couldn't remained bottled down any longer. Sion remained close to her, but looked towards Lina. Both of them didn't look sure on how to handle this. Do they say something and hope they get lucky and get through to her or do they let her get it all out first with there being no indication to how long that might take? The crying hit a pause as Daisuke looked up. Sion and Lina wanted to say something, but no words were coming out, and their faces had a look of worry. This wasn't a good sign and Daisuke resumed feeling bad about herself.

Against his better judgement, Kyo headed off to investigate the source of the sound, with Makie following close behind. He soon found himself wishing that he hadn't, however.

What greeted him was an emotional scene: Daisuke, mostly covered by a towel, burying her head in her hands and sobbing uncontrollably. Sion, standing next to her, looking like he was trying his best to be supportive, but also being at a complete loss for words. Lina, standing by the wayside in mute shock, knowing less of what to do than even Sion as this entire, horrible scene played out.

And Kyo, like an idiot, had just walked right it on it.

"Is...everything alright?" he asked, already knowing that that was a stupid question. "I'm...I'm sorry, I should leave you three alone..." Behind him, Makie was just as surprised, and seemed ready to just sneak out of there while attention was fixed on Kyo.

"I wish it was." Sion replied to Kyo. "It's alright." He didn't think that Kyo or Makie were here to rub it in given how things in the ring ended between them. Lina sat down beside Daisuke as Sion got up and headed in their direction. As Lina attempted to get Daisuke to settle down, Sion told Makie and Kyo that there was no problem with them being her, even though Daisuke was almost naked. He moved them over to the side a bit before continuing, though he kept his voice down.

"She's taking the loss pretty hard. It's not because she was the one who was pinned, well, kind of. I have a feeling she's recalling other matches where we haven't had good outcomes and she in a similar spot, or ones we won but there were times where she almost lost it. Maybe she's feeling like she's a weak link or something." It seemed out of the blue, but since Kyo, Makie, and them weren't hostile towards each other, maybe those two deciding to check thinks out could be of assistance.

"Maybe there's something you could say that could help." Anything that could help calm the mood in the room would be welcomed for sure, but he'd hate if something sounded forced and it ended up backfiring. Even if what Daisuke was thinking about how other matches played out were true, statistically speaking she wasn't the worst member of the group. Depending how you kept score, Lita has had it a bit rougher at times, plus Sion did have a rough streak at one point. Losses can happen to anyone, but the thoughts of it hitting her at once made it feel like more than coincidence.

By the time Sion finished saying what he did, the waterworks stopped, at least for now. Lina handed some water to Daisuke. Letting all of that out didn't do her throat any favours. She held the bottle for a moment and remained quiet. As she went to take the cap off she noticed the two who entered the room, and Sion. She looked at them with a look that wasn't quite deer in the headlights, but no thoughts or words came to mind, at least not right away. After about ten seconds or so she continued to look in their direction and tilted her head a little.

Kyo was speechless. In all the times he had faced Daisuke in the ring, she had seemed confident, headstrong, and professional, more than ready for anything her could throw at her in the ring. He took no shame in admitting that Dai had been one of his toughest opponents in all of AFW...which was why it was now so shocking, and so deeply unsettling, to see her in this state. And part of that was, he realized, precisely because she was a lot like him in so many ways: a perfectionist, driven to succeed no matter what. And now that she had just lost the one greatest achievement she had ever attained...

For a few painful seconds, Kyo was at a loss for words. It wasn't that he didn't care: it was just that he had no idea what he could say or do to make the situation better. Thankfully, he didn't have to, as Makie was suddenly taking action instead.

Rushing into the room, Makie sat down opposite Daisuke and took a hold of her shoulders. "H-hey, snap out of it, okay?" she exclaimed. "Do you think you're the first person to lose a title...or even a shot at a title?" She pulled her hands back and clenched a fist. "I don't know what that's like...I can only imagine how awful it is! But I do know what it's like to lose! I had to endure god knows how many losses, god knows how many humiliations, to finally get here! But if I can pick myself up after all of that, then so can you!"

She clasped one of Dai's hands as she looked her eye. "Besides...you were one of the wrestlers who I really admired when I first joined AFW quite a while ago. I'm not going to lie, I've always looked up to you...so it really, really hurts to see you like this..."

Lina was caught by surprise with how quickly Makie came up to Daisuke, but she didn't interupt.

Daisuke remained quiet as Makie spoke, drinking some of the water as Makie went and finished by the time Makie was done. Lita found some more in case Daisuke wanted more, and looked up to Makie as if to offer her some as well. She didn't disagree with anything that Makie said, though she was surprised when she found out what Makie thought of her when she first showed up in the promotion. Looking straight at her for moment, she then looked down and sighed before looking back up at Makie.

"It's not just what happened today...it goes way back. Most the major tag matches I've been in it's felt like I've been the weaker of the two when things really get down to crunch time. Back when Sion and I won the belts I almost costs us big time. Some defences and whenever I'd team with Lita I'd be okay at first, but the longer things go the more I seem like I'm falling a part. I can't remember the last time I was in a match where I didn't lose or almost didn't lose it for us. Up until the end there I felt this time would be different. Call it a continuation of bag luck or just a fluke, it just..." she slowly pulls away, realizing what she said might make it sound like she is devaluing the moment for Makie and Kyo. "I"m sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like you only one because of luck, it's just..." She looks down again. "I don't know why this keeps happening to me. Sion also worked hard to get here, I let him down. Lita and Lina have been there all this time, I let them down. I let my family, my friends, my fans, my teacher, the team we initially beat to become champions in the first place, I let a lot of people down...not just once or twice, but again...again I failed them all. I know I'm not perfect, who is? If things don't work out and of course I strive to do better, but it feels like more than likely the opposite has a better chance of happening and I can't figure out why."

She looked like she might cry again as she looked up, but she drank a little more and was fine in that regard. "May I ask how come? Out of everyone on the roster what made me stand out to you?"

At first, Makie sat and listened as Daisuke opened up about herself-- about her long losing record, about her frustration of always feeling like she was the weak link, of feeling like she was always letting her team down. A lot of those feelings were, admittedly, pretty familiar: she too had gone through long periods of loss, of feeling like she was inedequate and that she was always letting people down. Further behind, Kyo said nothing: though he didn't want to admit it, his entire life had been defined by not wanting to fail people-- his family, his siblings, his friends and his fans-- and always feeling frustrated and inadequate because of that.

Makie's eyes brightened, though, when Dai asked her why she had stood out to her. "You mean...aside from the fact that you were the only Canadian on the roster, and at the time I had no idea what a Canadian looked like?" she replied with a laugh. "It's because you were...I don't know...just so freaking cool. Yours was one of the first AFW matches I watched, and I loved how confident you were, how you were willing to take on anyone, even guys. Especially guys. You were fearless, you were skilled, and you did everything with style."

She straightened up. "Besides...don't let a losing streak get you down. We all have them, and sometimes they go on for what feels like forever. Just as Kyo: went he first joined the prostyle leagues, he suffered loss after loss. Isn't that right, Kyo?"

"Um...." Kyo looked away briefly. It was a period of time he still didn't particularly like talking about. "Yeah..." he finally said, rubbing the back of his head.

Makie nodded. "See? Anyone can have a losing streak, but anyone can also bounce back from one." She looked into Daisuke's eyes. "So bounce back from this, please? For Sion and Lita, if no one else."

Daisuke, Sion, and Lina were surprised to hear Makie saying she didn't know what a Canadian looked like until seeing Daisuke for the first time, but neither felt it would be proper to call her on that at this exact moment. Daisuke continued to listen to what Makie had to say. She didn't expect to be told she was someone's exposure, perhaps to one company and not the sport as a whole, still that sounded like a pretty big deal.

"She's got a point." Lina chimed in. "I mean how many women can say they fought against two guys and didn't complain, and let's not forget ladders were involved." She brought up the night where Daisuke and Sion beat Ryan and John. Sure the match ended with Daisuke down and looking up at Sion pulling the belts down, but the fact she was in that match to begin with was not a write off.

When Makie brought up how lots of loses close together can happen, even with Kyo, Sion and Lina looked at each other. Daisuke looked at how Kyo reacted to the statement as well as Daisuke and Lina, which they said nothing and looked down after looking at each other. Not for the same reason Kyo was not wanting to talk about it in detail, which she remembered Lina's over reacting to it, even when a win happened.

"I...I'm flattered, thank you." Her mood did go up slightly, but even with everyone else admitting they too had rough out comes, Makie didn't quiet fully grasp why Daisuke felt the way she did, but she was close. "It's not losing. Sure losing the the championship sucks, but it took me a while to feel like a winner the night we won them. Sure I tried, but if Sion wasn't there at the right moment I was in the perfect spot to lose it. Other matches I won either Sion or Lita would have to bail me out of a jam, and in her case sometimes I'd be the one that dropped the ball and caused the loss." Lina couldn't recall all of times she tagged with Sion and Lita so she couldn't figure out how much of what Daisuke said was true or if Lita and Sion had some moments where they were the ones counting the lights. "So even in victory, a lot of times I don't feel like a winner. Make sense?"

Makie listened as Dai explained how she always felt like a loser, even in moments where she had won-- how she had always felt like she was having to be saved, how she was always letting her tag team partners down. In all honestly, she knew exactly how that felt, and had met plenty of wrestlers who unfortunately had felt the same way. And she knew it for what it was: that one, nagging feeling in the back of one's head that always said you're not good enough.

So she did to Daisuke what she always did to that voice in the back of her head: she clamped a hand over her mouth in mid-sentence and shut her up.

"Okay, no, stop right there," she said with a frown. "You are not a loser, you are not the weak link of your time, and you sure as hell aren't unworthy of any of the victories your team has had." Without letting Daisuke reply, she went on. "After all, I saw some of your matches. Who else can say that they fought matches against bullies, or rogue cops, or goddamn sociopaths, and won? Who else can say they fought matches in the name of what's right, and what's just, as long and as often as you have? While raising two kids, might I add!"

She finally released her hand from Dai's mouth and turned to Kyo. "You tell her, Kyo!"

"I..." Kyo shifted uncomfortably before continuing. "I just want to say, I know what it's like to feel like you're not good enough. My entire life has been spent trying to be better than I am, trying to be perfect, and always hating myself whenever I fell short of this goal. It took me a long time to realize that I can't be perfect, and that trying to chase perfection will only bring me anguish and misery. I can only be the best person that I possibly can be." He looked Dai in the eyes. "I have fought you twice now, Daisuke, and I can say with confidence that you definitely are the best person you possibly can be, even if you don't realize it."

Daisuke wasn're sure if what she said made a difference or not as Makie did not form an answer yet. Daisuke was about to try again, maybe if she changed a few words around it might help, but before she could get a syllable out Makie covered her mouth. She was surprised by this, and looked up at Makie. This tactic also surprised Lina and Sion, but they didn't interrupt.

Makie managed to sum up a lot of Daisuke's doing in about one paragraph, and what Makie did bring up wasn't wrong. Not very many people could do what she has, she couldn't deny that. Kyo also had something to say about the situation. She understood what both of them are saying, and gave a nod after Kyo mentioned he can't be perfect but could be the best he can. Even with the vote confidence coming from them both, she still didn't seem sure about something.

"I know I'm not perfect, not the first time I've admitted that" as she said that earlier in their conversation. "And you're right, I can't think of anyone else who's done all that I have." There was a bit more confidence in her tone with that last sentence. "I've had some bad moments in the ring and got back in there the next day. Had some rough moments at work, really rough ones, but I pulled though. But how do you handle it? I mean, how do you handle that voice inside your head and get it to shut up? I know that was something I could do much easier in my career and in life in general, but seems lately the more I've done the louder it gets the harder it is to silence and to keep it in line. That's something they don't really teach your in wrestling school, that and how to fall of ladders or how to swing a chair, or if they did I can't remember...maybe it's something in the air here?"

"Yeah, do you guys have any examples?" Sion asked Makie and Kyo. "Have you had moments where the voice of doubt is loud and/or just hits hard? How'd you fight it off and keep it in line? I get she's the product of a very successful wrestler and she has a lot of people she doesn't want to let down, but try being the kid of said wrestler...Then again that might be a back example since I never really intended on trying to surpass her legacy." Sion sighed a little as he held the back of his head.

"I know what works for someone might not for someone else, but I'm curious to hear about your experiences. Do you have any that might help?" Kyo and Makie's words were getting to her, there was no denying that. Makie was dead on about Dai's in-ring and personal accomplishments and how they tied together. Kyo said the same thing her and Sion's long time rivals in the (former) UKE have mentioned to them before, but was more blunt and to the point, and flat out easier to understand. Still, if she heard a personal experience from them it might be the exclamation point she needed.