The Real You

Their was a lot of distance between Kyoto and Tokyo. A good two plus hours by bullet train and even that wasn't enough time for Clyde to figure out what he was going to say to Mercy once he saw her, the match with Lilly had passed but the events surrounding it were still on Clyde's troubled head. He was frustrated and confused, full of so many questions for himself and Mercy, questions he sat with for a week while she was in Hawaii for Summer Splash. Now she was back and Clyde honestly didn't know what to say to her now after losing to Lilly in a way most men would beg to lose, but for Clyde it was very, very different.

After stopping to get a nice bouquet of flowers, Clyde marched for AFW. It was a little past noon now, if Mercy was on break she should be getting back or something. Marching up to the building he stepped inside the lobby and flashed his ID, about ready to head for the elevator before spotting a nearby screen showing Summer Splash highlights. Clyde had not touched anything AFW for a whole week thanks to the Lilly fiasco but was now reminded of his previous plans to watch the pay per view. At least for Adrian and Rei's matches. He then turned around, about ready to call for the elevator before he heard something familiar, he knew enough Japanese to recognize it too. He turned around quickly, ignoring the opening of the elevator doors as he saw the TV Screen showing Dark Angel choking another familiar face, Mamouru Higurashi, and in the ring was that Cassie girl. "Eugh." Clyde felt guilt sink in his stomach after his eyes went wide at the sight of Dark Fucking Angel attacking more people. She really needed a hobby.

The recap showed everything from Dark Angel getting Mamouru down, to Cassie's opponent preventing her from going after Dark Angel, which resulted in a rather brutal 'execution' to that Jocelyn girl's knee. The screams of agony were enough to make Clyde cringe and be thankful Cassie didn't fuck up his leg like that... But was she even that kind of girl? She was really nice from what he remembered and didn't look like the AFW-sadist type. "Gah-dang, man." Clyde let out in low volume shock, grimacing at the sight of the dragon screws and the harsh holds that Cassie put on Jocelyn, making her tap hard and not letting up for a good while. Clyde cringed a bit, honestly expecting that leg to snap like a twig. Eventually Cassie did let go and went to help Mam as Dark Angel fled the scene. Took her sweet time though.

This was... New... Clyde now knew that D.A. wasn't just after him apparently, she had beef with Mam and Cassie. Clyde didn't know too much on Mam, but the Higurashi Family and associates all seemed to be nice people but so to see this cute little girl go beast mode on someone that wasn't the real bad guy at hand and destroy her knee, made Clyde uneasy. All he could do was give sympathy for Mam and especially Jocelyn. He didn't know what to think of Cassie and Dark Angel, or why he was even assaulted by her. Nothing was making sense and Clyde stood there staring at that TV screen while trying to think over what he saw and the nights he encountered Dark Angel.

It wouldn't be long though before he realized he totally forgot his opening line when he saw Mercy.

Cassie couldn't help but feel funny, walking down the street in a light zippered hoodie with the hood pulled up over her head. Her short orange hair stuck out from under it, and it made her think of the way you could see Dark Angel's mask from under her hood.

She didn't know know exactly why, but she'd felt the need to hide lately, and her hoodie was the best she could do when she had to go out. She was on her way to train, with her backpack over both shoulders and her running shoes on. She tried to keep her training as normal as possible, and to not let the impending re-match with Dark Angel psyche her out and make her do something stupid. It was just another match.

Yeah, right. It was all she thought about. Dark Angel even moreso than the match. It kept her up at night.

Inside the cool, air-conditioned interior of the AFW building and breathed a sigh of relief. It was refreshing to be out of the heat, but only for a moment. She heard the unmistakable sounds of...

She spotted the TV off against one wall, showing a recap of her match against Dark Angel. Er, Jocelyn. The match against Jocelyn from Summer Splash. And standing there watching it... oh, no.

Her eyes darted around to find a quick escape before he could turn around and spot her, and she settled on the elevator. She grabbed the shoulder straps of her backpack and ran the beat the closing doors, and she would have made it had she not tripped. Her foot solidly struck something, and suddenly she was falling. She hit the floor gracelessly with a heavy thud.

"Ow..." She whined. She felt stupid, but she had landed on her elbows on the tile floor, and it hurt. Her forearms tingled and her elbows throbbed. She held her arms in tight as she sheepishly tried to right herself.

"I need a dang vacation from this place, man." He swore AFW was just made to drive people nuts over a period of time. Or made them buy motorcycles.

Then it hit him. "Awww Cruuud, maaan..." He whined like a kid who realized his untouched homework was due today, but in reality it was just the fact that he forgot what he was gonna say to Mercy. Now what?

Clyde didn't get much time to think on that or the Dark Angel situation because just before he turned around he heard someone hit the floor. Clyde quickly turned around out of genuine concern and ended up seeing... Cassie Elliot.

"Aww Christ." Clyde's stomach went queasy. This was the tiny knee killing terror that he drunkenly yelled at like a douche. He felt really bad about it and honestly wasn't sure if he should help the girl or just high tail it. But it didn't take him long to figure out what the ring thing to do was. Unfortunately.

He frowned at the girl's misfortune of falling and went to walk around in front of her and held out his hand to help her up. "Howdy, you alright?" Maybe if he was lucky she didn't recognize him! Surely he wasn't the only Texan sonovagun 'round here!

She looked up at the elevator in time to watch the doors close, and her only hope of a stealthy escape whirred up into the higher floors of the building. She looked back over her shoulder to see what on earth she had tripped on, and... nothing. There was nothing there. She had tripped on the floor. Ugh.

Then Clyde spoke, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. She looked up at him. "Hi, Clyde," she said. With slight hesitation she took his hand and climbed up to her feet. She awkwardly tried to make eye contact and smile while also trying to not to either of those things.

"Um..." Try as she might, she couldn't think of anything to say. All she could think of was angry drunk Clyde and her opponent frantically tapping out while Cassie caused whatever damage to her knee, and Dark Angel lurking somewhere in the back. She wished they'd stop showing that.

"What's up?"

"This is awkward as hell, man." He felt like a jerk but at the same time he could of sworn she hit him or something. Well he was drunk so he figured that put him in the wrong anyway.

"Hello!" He tried to be as pleasant as a kindergarten teacher greeting a new student! He helped up and awkwardly slid his feet backwards, he had a vibe that told him being standing too close to Cassie was not entirely welcome at the moment.

He tugged on his tie to loosen it a bit, honestly wanting to ask about Dark Angel but he hesitated and when Cassie looked like she was about to speak, he waited but then she didn't speak and he was still unsure of how he should bring it up!

"Whasup? Oh I'm just... uh..." He realized he was carrying a bouquet of flowers, he got a bit embarrassed but kept the flowers held a his side, awkwardly moving his arm to show Cassie what his plans were. "Just vistin'." He'd add.

"...Wha' bout you? How you been lately? I ain't know Mamouru was yer' manager." At least that's what it looked like on the TV. Clyde wasn't keeping up as well with AFW affairs anymore.

Cassie looked at Clyde, and then the flowers. "Who are those for?" She asked.

She shook her head. "He was. He's not now. I-I... we're not working together right now, because... well, um... you saw."

She wished he hadn't. She felt embarrassed more than anything that anyone saw her act like that. And yet she didn't regret it. If she was going to compete, she had to at least try to play the same game as everyone else. She wasn't going to accomplish anything by rigging things against herself and more importantly she had to help Mamouru and that Jocelyn girl was going to keep trying to fight her!

"I... I don't think I did anything wrong," she said. "I had to make Jocelyn stop so I could help Mamouru. You saw what Dark Angel was going, she would've killed him!"

Clyde lifted the flowers slightly and stared at them. "Oh... Just this girl I know." It really wasn't anything to hide, only the circumstances surrounding his visit were not worth mentioning. Still, Clyde would raise his brow upon hearing that Mam and Cassie were no working together because... Dark Angel?

Clyde took a moment to think about that. Wasn't Mam trained and wrestling for Tension? Clyde wasn't too sure. Either way, he just gave Cassie a nod. He did see, he saw Mam getting choked and he saw Cassie going beast mode on Jocelyn. That wasn't something Clyde was sure he was going to bring up but Cassie did it for him. The cowboy frowned as Cassie explained, scratching the back of his head while he heard her side of the story, he didn't want to touch the Jocelyn thing, he could tell it still bothered Cassie. But he had to be honest.

"So ya' took the time to kill the other gal's leg?" He'd say with a clear frown. Recalling that D.A. had fled the scene by the time Cassie was done with Jocelyn.

He really didn't know what to make of it. Jocelyn was in the way and Cassie acted but he just couldn't shake off how excessive she got.

Cassie did not appreciate that remark. Her face tightened with a flash of anger while her cheeks quickly reddened.

"How long did I take? How long would you have taken? I tried to get to Mamouru, and she stopped me. I had to get her to stay down, fast. I couldn't have her coming from behind while I had Dark Angel in front of me!"

The more she thought of it the more she fumed. She wasn't sure if she was angry because it wasn't fair, or because she just wanted to cry about all of it. She hadn't cried since it happened. She didn't feel safe enough to cry.

"I didn't want to hurt her! Not bad like that..." She strongly assured Clyde. Then her tone became more of a lament. "I just wanted to win the match and show that I really can be... I don't want to keep losing." She said quietly. "And then that stupid masked... jerk had to show up and ruin everything. AGAIN!"

Clyde made a slightly nervous face towards Cassie. "Uh... That sounded kinda dickish. How long would have I taken?" If he was Cassie he would have decked Jocelyn in the face or kicked her in the balls. But he wasn't in her shoes and there was no telling if Jocelyn would have stayed down. Clyde felt a little mean. She DID say she didn't think what she did was wrong but clearly did feel sorry about it. He rubbed his temples in frustration. He wasn't a people person! Not good at stuff like this!

He felt very, very, torn. He knew Cassie had to help Mam and that Jocelyn had to be dispatched because bitch wouldn't get out the way! But at the same time, he felt it was overkill. If anybody should have gotten their leg all fucked up it should have been Dark Angel. That was how Clyde felt.

"I believe ya!" He said with a nod before sighing with a shaky breath. "I know how she is. She's attacked me before and I dunno why. But really, I understand." Said Clyde.

"Look, maybe I just feel bad for Jocelyn 'cause she wudn't Reeal the bad guy, I mean I can't say she didn't have an asswhoopin' of some sort comin' for holdin' you back but still. If you tor' up Dark Angel's leg instead I'd be givin' ya a high-five, man!" He exclaimed in a light hearted manner.

"But ain't you think savin' your... uh... Friend is a lil' more important than a win? You just said she coulda' killed 'em." Clyde knew how she felt about constant losses. He was tired of the more humiliating losses like the ones he suffered at the hands of Lilly and Heather.

"Am I even in the right to tell her all this? I ain't nowhere near perfect ma'self." He'd think.

Cassie lost it. "THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO-" She screamed, and then caught herself. She closed her eyes and took a breath, and continued in a quieter voice that barely managed to be calm.

"That's what I was trying to do. I thought that if I went for... i-if I..." She couldn't help but imagine the scenario. "If I went after Dark Angel first, and then Jocelyn went after me, from behind, she could've stopped me from getting to him at all. She could've really hurt me... while Dark Angel was... you know. I just wanted to..."

She could've said "help Mamouru" or "kill Dark Angel" and either one would've been equally true. Her stomach turned, and when she looked back up at Clyde, her face soured again.

"You're one to talk! Why do you even care?"