So What if You Can See

Talia was ready to defend herself in yet another argument. It seemed everyone was ready to go to blows with her nowadays. Everyone always took the oppositions side. No one ever bothered to try to see her side. Everyone just wanted to hit her.

Except Cassie. The girl suddenly started crying. Talia was completely caught off guard by it. "W-What?" She stuttered. Talia stared at the natural redhead for a few seconds. Something about her suddenly felt...familiar. Cassie seemed to just be resigned to the whole thing between them. She just wanted it to be over. Up until Taylor and Akashi visited Talia, that was what she felt as well. For the first time, she saw something in Cassie that reminded her of herself.

And despite her better judgment and experiences, Talia felt bad for Cassie. She took another step forward and reached out a hopefully comforting hand that rested on Cassie's shoulder. "Cass...d-don't cry..." Then, bravely, Talia took another step towards Cassie. She placed her other hand on Cassie's other shoulder and leaned down a little bit over her. It felt surreal, like a daydream in her head about how things could have been in the past. Talia slightly lifted up Cassie in a makeshift embrace. She wanted to comfort Cassie in the same way she wanted someone to comfort her for so long.

Cassie started at Talia's touch, and couldn't help but to tense up, but she allowed the girl to wrap her arms around her. She figured it was as much for Talia's sake as her own.

"I tried to be your friend," she lamented weakly. "And look what you did."

The words hung in the air, and Cassie's tears slowly dried up. Talia's hug didn't have the intended effect. It was as if Talia had never considered how Cassie felt before. How many chances did she have before to do this? Did she really think that just because Cassie hadn't had a complete breakdown in front of her before that she was some kind of heartless monster? Talia was the monster, just one that had no answer to the guilt she undoubtedly felt when confronted with the effects of her rampage.

A voice came from the doorway, shattering the moment with one coarse syllable.

"HEY!" Taylor barked. "Hands OFF, mothafucker!" She strode quickly up to Talia, her lean, athletic physique impressive in the tank black tank top and tight jeans that she wore, blonde hair loose around her shoulders. She grabbed her by the shoulder and ripped her off of Cassie, kept her off balance, pushing and manhandling her down the row of lockers to slam her against the one on the end with a hand on her throat.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU?" She screamed in her face, and pointed a finger at her. "HUH, SMART GUY? You got one chance to get the fuck out of here before I turn you inside out. GOT IT?" She banged the back of Talia's head against the locker and let her go, backing up several steps and pointing to the exit. She kept her eyes locked on Talia's.

"One chance," she held up a finger. "Run."

Cassie remained silent, cringing away from the conflict. She wished Taylor wouldn't be so violent, but she was also glad she was there. There was no way to be sure if Taylor had ruined something actually good, or saved her from more of the same treatment she'd become accustomed to.

"T-Taylor..." She said quietly, almost out of obligation, to pull her friend back.

Talia had thought she had done the right thing. Even despite Cassie's words, the girl didn't pry herself free and rip Talia's throat out. Maybe this was just the first step. Maybe things really could get better. And then she heard a scream from the doorway. She instantly recognized Taylor's voice but she didn't budge hoping that her close proximity to Cassie would somehow protect her. But it didn't, Taylor violently ripped her off and shoved her across the locker doors all the way to the end.

When Taylor finally released her, she stood still as if frozen. She just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. This was exactly what Taylor had told her to do. What everyone wanted her to do. She was apologizing. She was just trying to make things right. And everytime something did go right, something else would horribly go wrong. What was she suppose to do? Was there anything she could do? No. Nothing. There was nothing she could do. Talia opened her mouth to try to explain partially what was going on.

But it felt pointless. Taylor wasn't going to believe anything she said. She always came running to Cassie's aid no matter what happened. And Cassie seemed to think this was all Talia's doing. As long as that was the case, there was no way peace could ever be reached. Talia looked from Taylor to Cassie and then back to Taylor. Without a word, she started for the door. That was it. She was done trying to fix things. The two of them clearly wanted things to stay the way they were. And who would blame them? They could target every single one of their problems on Talia. She was the scapegoat for every single problem they had in life.

As she exited the locker room, though, something clicked in Talia's head.

What had she done? She cheated in a match with Cassie and attacked her not-really boyfriend ringside when Cassie ignored her.

And in return, Akashi attacked her backstage, Taylor stalked her and beat her outside her home, Johnny attacked her at the gym, and Cassie nearly murdered her inside the ring. And when she tried to fix things, they all turned her away. She was taking a big step in trying to mend what had happened. But she couldn't be the only one trying. They had to want things to get better.

And they didn't. As she walked down the hallway, Talia shook her head. As long as they were around, she could never truly feel comfortable. They would always be a lingering block on her career both physically and mentally.

They had to go.

Taylor glared at Talia until she reached the exit, and then her aggressive front broke and gave way to something more like panic. She fell back to Cassie, dropping to her knees in front of her and grasping her hand, putting a hand on her cheek.

"Cassie, ohmigod, are you okay? Did she hurt you?" She leaned her head down to try to meet Cassie's gaze, and then pulled her into a tight hug. Between the two of them, Taylor looked more upset. She was frantic, she could hardly catch her breath, and she squeezed Cassie and pulled back to look in her eyes again, stroked her hair, just to convince herself that she was okay.

"Bear, I saw what happened, in the match, and, and," she threw her hands up in frustration. "And that's total fucking bullshit, man. No way does anyone get away with saying that shit to you. And..." Her voice broke, and she was nearly pleading with her. "Were you... you wanted to get hurt. Why didn't you just fight her? Why didn't you just win, Bear? I don't... I don't understand why you would..." She stopped, blinked back tears, and caught her composure. "I love you, Bear, we all do. We're not going to let anything bad happen to you, okay? Everything's going to be okay. You'll be okay and everything will be great, okay? I mean it." She looked her straight in the eye, with one hand on her neck.

"I just have to go take care of something. Why don't you go get Johnny and go home, okay? He's right outside, in the hallway. Don't go anywhere without him, understand? He's your bodyguard, right?"

Cassie allowed Taylor to dote on her, but even when they made eye contact Cassie wasn't looking at her. She was looking through her, out of the locker room, and to the grim state of her life. She couldn't fault her friends for doing what they did. They only wanted to help. Talia and Taylor both wanted to make things better, to help, and there was nothing anyone could do to prevent the train wreck when the two collided. It was a problem with no solution, and it all centered on Cassie.

She wanted to die. She wanted to disappear. She wanted to be somebody else.

She nodded her head to Taylor to let her know that she'd heard her, and then Taylor was off like a shot. Down a series off hallways to the medical area for post-fight exams, where Aurora had undoubtedly been taken after that arm bar and choke, just long enough to make sure nothing was broken or that she wouldn't suddenly drop dead and leave AFW holding the bag. At least, Taylor hoped she'd be there, because it was her only shot at finding her, and she was her only shot at finding him.

She shoved through the door, and she was unstoppable when she strode past medical personnel until she spotted the blonde. It looked like she'd caught her just in time.

"Hey fuckface," she growled. "Where's your boy-toy?"

Aurora hadn't gotten the chance to ask Mamouru about what he said before he took off. It was probably the fastest he had ever disappeared since becoming her manager. At first she wasn't even sure she heard him correctly. But his sudden departure only confirmed her suspicions. Her win was very bittersweet as a result. And it wasn't legitimate either. She stole it at the last second. Everyone knew that she was suppose to have lost that.

And her night wasn't over quite yet. Taylor burst into the room and growled at her. "Why don't you ask your boy-toy, fuckface?" she asked right back mockingly.

Taylor's eyes blazed, and for a moment she imagined herself punching a hole through the blonde skank's ugly slut-face, but she quickly caught herself.

"Yeah, not in the mood. Either point to Mamouru, or we're gonna have a problem. You and me, we don't need to have a problem. Mamouru's already got that covered." She put her hands on her hips and gave Aurora an expectant look.

Aurora almost laughed. She leaned back and gestured around. "Do you see him? Because I don't. Let me know when you do find him. You're not the only one who has something to say." Aurora got out her phone as if suddenly realizing Mamouru could have sent a text or something. But he didn't. "What's your beef with him anyhow?" she added while looking back up at Taylor. "Not like he fucked you." Oh god...don't tell me she's another girl that slept with Mamouru. That would explain the tension between them.

Taylor's eyes flashed dangerously again. "Honey, I would never, ever touch that loser. If he needed CPR and I was the only one around, it'd be very sad when he died, but only because he's my brother-in-law and my husband would be bummed out." She turned her head and scowled. "And no, he didn't fuck me. He fucked my best friend, and not in the way that only takes two-and-a-half minutes. How was that by the way? Was it 'okay for a first time', every time?"

She turned around and left the way she came. Aurora was every bit as useless as she thought. She leaned around the corner toward where she'd left Johnny. "Babe? How bad did you mess up Mamu?" He probably wasn't still there. Maybe she'd check the actual infirmary, in case he didn't get cleared on his way out. She strode down the hall, and a few turns later she was approaching the swinging double doors. Once upon a time she was on a first name basis with the medical staff in there. She wondered if they still worked there. She was glad she didn't get regularly hospitalized anymore.

Mamouru had parted ways with Aurora as quickly as he could. He didn't want to be around her. He didn't want to be around anyone. Unfortunately, he did need some medical attention. His nose was bloody, his eye was bruising and his forehead had been cut open. The infirmary nurses were able to get the bleeding to stop but now he had a big bandage on his forehead. His nose wasn't bleeding but his eye was now clearly black and blue. He remained quiet while he was being attended to. As much as he wanted to fuss and groan, he just wanted to leave. There were too many people around that he needed to get away from.

As he stepped out of the back of the infirmary, he noticed a familiar face. He sighed audibly and turned his body. No doubt Taylor saw him but he was in no mood. but as his body turned halfway, he stopped. His fists clenched and he turned back around and scowled.

"Unless you're here to show off your fancy new time machine, you should just turn around and go back to wherever you came from. You're about the most useless person who could show up right now." He barked as he angrily stalked forward. "The only thing you're good at is beating people up and your husband already took care of that, so, I guess you're out of luck." Mamouru sneered. 'Tch. Well, I'm sure that wouldn't stop you anyway, so hurry up and spew your bullshit, beat me up some more and get out of my face."

Taylor opened her mouth to speak, but Mamouru swiftly shut her up. She had expected some more soft-spoken, silver-tongued, polite Japanese man-speak from Mamouru, and was completely unprepared for what she got instead.

She shook her head, and without breaking stride she marched up to the taller twin and stood directly in front of him to block his path. She put her hands defiantly on her hips and tipped her head back to look up into his eyes.

"Why are you managing that girl?" She demanded. "And why did you go after a match with Cassie? And..." She lowered her voice, her tone became more severe but she couldn't quite keep out the slight quaver that crept in. "And why would you say that?"