[???]You've hurt him. You've pushed him away. You've turned on him, and now, it changes. Now, he's taking control. He is going to be the one turning and surprising. Yes, this has been said before, but now it will apply. Now, it will stick. Now is the time for all of you to see the light. All this time, he has talked and none of you listened. And what has happened? He has been cast aside, betrayed, and changed. But NO MORE! No longer will he be tarnished and beaten because you feel like it. No longer will he be ignored. A new day is dawning and the heat is rising, do you have what it takes?[???]
[???]The voice fades away and you are left alone, not knowing your purpose. You wonder if today will be different. You wonder if the corruption will leave and the goodness in people will finally shine through. You try to convince yourself that, with a new champion, a new day has dawned. But you realize that the story shall be the same and the Era has not ended, no matter what people say...You see a light blue and you realize that you have come upon a calm lake, frozen in the cold winter winds. You walk towards it and kneel. Carefully removing your glove, you place your hand on the ice. A cold chill rattles through your body, sending you back a step. You step forward though, not relinquishing your desire. You step forward, this time onto the ice, uncrouching. As you step on the ice, you steady yourself, as the slippery nature of the ice catches you off guard.[???]
[???]As you slide around, you realize something. You realize that there's always hope. There is always someone wanting to fight for the right of the people. There will always be that one person who will never give up, who will never be discouraged because a mass consensus doesn't like him. And you know that he will always fight for you, because it is the right thing to do. As these thoughts pass through your mind, you begin to lose your balance and you find yourself flopping and before you know it, you have fallen to the ground, the hard ice making rough contact with your back. Your sore body aches as you crawl back to land. When you get to land you sit down and look up to see him. He stands there, above you, in beige khakis and a green jacket, which covers his entire upperbody. He offers his hand to you and you take it, gaining your balance on land.[???]
[???]He turns from you and speaks.[???]
Sane: A new champion. Crowned because of family jealousy. Faced with a jealous partner. So much. So little. So quick. So slow. It comes so slow, and leaves so fast. You can't control it, it controls you. Ask him, he knows. I know. I once wore it, but it was stolen from me. And now you have it and you think that you can control it. You think that you will be the one who will finally tame it and the power it holds, the power to corrupt and damage. Don't believe me? Look what it did to the one before your ally. Look at him, once a true ally of the people, turned against them, into everything he hated. And why? Because he couldn't face losing it. He couldn't be parted with it. It consumes you and damages you, like it did to me....It may have only been a week, but it seemed like years. It seemed like everything had fallen into place. A legend, dethroned, a new name, crowned, and I stood there, high atop that cold steel, the bold still warm, the sweat still pouring, my body weak and tired, with it held high above me. For that short time, it was the only thing that mattered. It was the only thing that I cared about. The only thing that I thought about. I was consumed with protecting it and everything else seemed to fall out of place...And that, my friend, is when it happened. Not at Insurrection, or in the hospital, when I held that gold over my head, that's when I began a new...But you're going to be the one, am I right? You shall prove me wrong and reign long and justly, over us depraved beings. HA! You can't control, for as I said, it controls you. It will control your words and your actions. Before long you will see yourself acting as you've never done before. You will be hateful, filled with rage, and you will wonder why. You will think that you have everything, but then you will look down, and see it is gone. And you will know that it never filled you, it only emptied you.
[???]He walks towards the frozen pond and crouches, feeling the cold grass beside it. You watch him in awe as he speaks to you once more.[???]
Sane: At first, it will seem glorious, utopian, perfect. Your world will be complete. You will think that you have found that missing piece. You will be joyous and will celebrate. You will think that you need to do nothing more. But yet, you won't realize, there are more that want what you have. You may think you do, but you will be surprised when you see the masses mentioning you wherever they may merely because of what you wear around your waist. It's as if you have become a god. A god with fatal flaws. One who cannot control that which he possesses nor the ones who chase him. And they do chase you, because before long, you too will chase. You will chase that utopian paradise that you once thought that you belonged to. And all you can do is run, from your problems, from your friends, from yourself. That is all that you can do, for you have no choice. You run for your life, you run for your sanity, but you don't realize that you've left all of those behind. You won't realize that you've lost all of those on your journey. You have been emptied by the one thing that, you thought, completed you. And before long, the ones you trust, will hurt you, just as they did to me, and why? Because they think that the piece of gold is everything, when it is nothing. They will think, just like you do and I did, that it is the summit of their entire lives, that it will end all of the suffering, when it will only increase it. All the pain you've felt, the hardships, they are nothing to what you will encounter....You will have to make choices that will tarnish your confidence and diminish your hopes. You will revive demons that you thought you had gone. And for what?! A TITLE?! A PEICE OF GOLD AND LEATHER?! IT'S NOT WORTH IT, MISSLE! IT'S NOT!
[???]You look down and see that in his hand is a patch of grass, clutched tightly. He releases his hold and the blades fall to the ground, seperately, as if broken by a higher force.[???]
Sane: But why do I tell you this? Why do I warn you with such emphasis? Is it because I care about you? No, because I don't. Our relationship is far from that point. It never has been and probably never will be. If anything, the furthest that we have ever gotten is respect. We respect each other. But then why? Why issue all these warnings? Why would I try to keep you from hurting yourself after you have hurt me so much? Shouldn't I just allow you to fall from top? Shouldn't I watch as you crumble and fall apart, piece by piece, laughing as you do? You tell me? Should I? Do you think I am that kind of person? Do you think that I have changed that much? Am I as cruel as some of the men that I once fought? Have I changed into him? But I can't be. If I was then I would stand here, knowing, and allow you to lay there, still, unaware of the dangers that present you...It's quite a situation that we find ourselves in. Once enemies, on different sides, faced with things only we ourselves could have confronted. Now, both champions in our own rights, both on the same side, fighting against the same man, but still enemies. Still at each other's throats. Still trying to best each other. Still trying to do something before the other. And why? Hatred? Fear? Anger? Or is pride? Could it be the plain and simplest explanation of all? Pride. The emotion, bred into the human race, to produce a constant state of competition and rivalry....This is the question I pose to you as we move towards destiny, fate, and unavoidable heartbreak.
[???]He stands once again, staring at you, with a fire in his eyes. It's as if he has grown to despise you, but you wonder if that is the case.[???]
Sane: But perhaps, instead of all of this, instead of the warnings and the questions, perhaps I should be congratulating you. Finally, after everything, you've done it. After all the shame and bad decisions, you've finally made the right one. You have accumulated the right friends. You have chosen the right fight. You've finally become the man that you've always wanted to be. You're the envy of everyone, and that's what you've always wanted, is it not? Am I wrong? I've paid attention. You've talked about your dreams, ambitions, and hopes. And every one of them was focused on one thing that title. That gold around your waist was all you wanted, and you got it. But is it everything? Is it all the hopes and glory that you hoped to accomplish? Are you the famed person that you have wished to be since you entered here? Or are you merely another shell? Are you just a joke, a play, a pawn? Did you ever stop to think that maybe this is what he wanted? Maybe you have been manipulated. Stop and think. Think for a long time about what it is that you've done. Think about whether it is really worth it. Think about whether your win was the way you wanted it. As I found out, one slight complication, and everything that you hold dear will fall apart and you will collapse. You can't stop it. You can try, as did I, but you won't stop it. Not until you realize what I have. You must realize that it's not the leather and gold that matters, it's you that matters. Whether you consider yourself a champion is the true test, not what a belt says or what a rankings system says or what a lineup says. It's what you say.
[???]He pushes you out of the way and walks off into the distance, into the trees and people, his feet clacking against the hard concrete as you stand there. The camera fades....[???]
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