Transitions

Adrian didn't look at a single person as she ran through the backstage area after her match with Taylor and Lia Cross, Immediately getting into the first taxi she could find to take her home.

Not to Cecilia's place, oh no. Back home. Back to her tiny little apartment that she barely used, she needed to get away, she needed to hide.

As she rode to the building, she thought back on that ill-fated match and how it went wrong, it was going so well! She was holding her own, she wasn't cheating, she was proving to everyone who could see that she wasn't someone to be taken lightly. Then why did she grab the chair? Was it the temptation of seeing Taylor beaten down in the cycle of revenge too great for her? Did part of her really think that she wouldn't have been able to handle herself?

She didn't think she could face seeing her friends, telling them how she blew it. Telling Rebecca that she was too crazy to care for, telling Cec that despite every damn lecture she was still a blockheaded idiot who couldn't look past seeing Taylor as someone to hate and not a goal to be overcome. She wanted time alone, so she didn't have to find a corner to curl up in, so she could just cry herself to sleep.

AFW was no place for Adrian Kytes anymore. If she showed her face in the complex she'd probably get it bitten off. Especially with one of the maids after her blood. She didn't know what she'd do if Morrigan got her hands on her, would she just accept it as karma for what she did, would she try to get away, would she just go crazy again and pummel her until she was just a red smear? She couldn't trust herself anymore. Maybe Cecilia was right to treat her like a kid: any responsibility she got she fucked up.

She'd have to go back though, it was her job, her life. Without it she had nothing at all.

Maybe there was a solution.

She couldn't go back as Adrian, she wasn't prepared to face everyone. But as Bullet Ant, the winless rookie, maybe she could stay. No more Adrian, no more crazy, no more making everyone else scared for her. From now on she said to herself there wouldn't be an Adrian Kytes. Locking away her title belt in a secure case she dug out her costume, donning the mask once more.

With the tears hidden behind the mesh she made the slow trek back, hoping that this time she could get something right for once.