[Before a single pixel of color was shown from the camera there was sound. A distinct tapping all around, the sound of fingers lightly tapping the palm of a hand, the sound of angels crying, the sound wind whipping through the trees�rain, it was the sound of rain.]

[The camera fades in to show an old fashioned Catholic cemetery in the middle of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The yard is a magnificent green, kept neatly trimmed by multiple yard hands and undertakers, men who take pride in their work. The cemetery is old-fashioned because of the old marble headstones and the large statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus of Nazareth and all of the Apostles that lined the edges of the gravesites.]

[As the camera began to move slowly along one of the paths it zoomed in on various headstones, where each one was decorated by the cards, flowers and trinkets laid there by the deceased loved ones.]

[The ground was wet from the falling rain and even to the casual observer the scene was moving; a group of people surrounding a single casket, held by an old hydraulic liter over the hole that would be the resting place for�for�what was his name?]

[Carl Sanderson]

[His family of wife and children, his parents�stuck with the sad duty that no parent wants to go through, the burial of their child. His friends from work and the local golf club were there as well to pay their respects to a man who deserved more than an early death at the hands of a heart attack. They all stood around the old oak box, a box because no matter how you try to make it sound important that is all it truly is, a box that would be his resting place for the rest of eternity. They stood around the box in silent prayer as the Catholic priest continued to speak from the so-called Good Book and talked of how Carl led a happy life, a fulfilled life�but the Priest never knew Carl�this is his job, to council and read from a book while others grieve for their loved ones.]

[At any rate, there they stood perhaps twenty people in all under that one large green canopy that was meant to separate them from the rain. Rather then reschedule for a nicer day, a sunny day in which they could remember their friend well, they kept their date�despite the storm, choosing to hurry ahead and bury him rather then make it as nice as they could. They stood their for an hour, listening to a mixture of the Priest�s incessant babbling of a man he never knew and of the rain hitting the fabric material of the canopy and for the most part drowning out the sobs of the woman grieving for her husband and of the children crying about why daddy is not coming home tonight.]

[They were pained and sad for their loss, but this is not about them, this is about that twenty-first man, the man not under the canopy with the rest of the group. This is about the man in the black trench coat standing in the rain, under an old oak tree about thirty yards behind the priest, watching the grief on the faces of Carl Sanderson�s loved ones. He watched with a weird smile on his face that could only be described as pleasure�curious for such a sad day. His eyes were hidden by a pair of black wrap around sunglasses, perhaps to hide his identity, but for all the good that did us we all know who it is.]

[Slash Tannon]

[Platinum Champion]

[The camera slowly moved away from the funeral, the burial and made its way quietly up the small hill towards the tree under which Tannon stood. As the camera got within ten feet of the man it moved slightly so that both the burial and Tannon were in the scene. Tannon never took his eyes away from the sight of the weeping children and their broken mother, but spoke anyway, softly so as to not arouse the ears of those thirty yards away.]

�Death�it�s a fact of life, it�s the end result of life, it is the purpose of life.

The moment you are born, you begin to die�it�s normally a slow process that takes the course of many years and by many I speak of decades.

Death can come in so many forms, from a sudden attack like a stroke or a heart attack much like the one that has claimed the life of Carl Sanderson.

It can come over time as the end result of a painful road from cancer or AIDS or diabetes or any other of numerous ailments. Death�it is a fact of life and there is no escape from it. Draco must learn this fact�it is a medical fact�you live for a while�and then you die.�

[Tannon pauses for a moment as the priest speaks out, asking for the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to watch and guide Sanderson on his journey to the kingdom of the Lord. Tannon smirks at the words of the priest and shakes his head before continuing to speak, his voice cold but still quiet in some sort of small respectful gesture to the family grieving nearby.]

�Draco�you had your chance in the spotlight of Sin Wrestling.

You had your time to live vicariously and receive the recognition as being the MAN in Sin. You had that moment�and it has passed you by.

It passed you by the moment you signed that contract to face me.

You'll drop the ball and luckily for Sin I will be there to scoop it up and run with it.

I�ve always known that by taking up the mantle of World Champion in any fed, including Sin, you open yourself up to not only demanding respect but gaining the attention of the entire roster.

You become the target that they seek to dethrone, holding what they seek to possess, and being what they want to be�a champion. I knew all along that when I finally held the Platinum Title in my hands and was announced the champion in front of every viewer of Sin Wrestling that I would begin to see every wrestler crawling out of the woodworks for a shot at me.

I just never expected to see a washed-up, lovelorn, contradicting waste of space get in my way.

You had your time at life with gaining a World Title shot Draco and now it is over, and just as in life what comes next is death.

Yours will not be a sudden attack that will take you quickly, no yours will be a slow and painful virus that will break down all of your defenses until you have nothing left to protect and then a cheap rookie or a small stumble will be the end of you.

The virus will not kill you, but it will take you to that line where you simply beg for death to find you.

I am your virus Draco�I am your HIV, your mortal enemy who will break you to the point where you beg for an end.

I am your virus.�

[The priest ends his speech and slowly the mother of the crying children; she is Sanderson�s wife�now the grieving widow, steps forwards with a single red rose in her hand. She calmly holds her tears back, being brave for her children but everybody can see that she is close to collapse and close to breaking down. She places the rose softly on the top of the casket, the box where the shell of her husband now lays, and softly whispers some unheard prayer before leaning over and, first removing the black veil from her face, kissing the tan oak box softly.]

[After a moment she steps back, returning the veil over her eyes and returning to where her children stand quietly. Tannon watches this entire proceeding in silence before turning slightly so his shade-covered eyes are to the camera for a moment. He turns back to watch the burial again, speaking once more.]

�Will that be what the Sentinels of Insanity will have to go through when I am done with you?

Will they have to shed tears and kiss your casket as you are lowered into the ground? I have said before that to pin you or to make you submit this Sunday will not be enough to quench my thirst.

I will not be satisfied until your very career, your very reason for being has been tarnished, shattered, broken�destroyed. I will have fun making you fear everything�it will be a fun way to bide my time until Sunday.

Nothing matters except for becoming Sin Wrestling World Champion, and ending your chances of ever having success in Sin Wrestling again.�

[The priest had been speaking more as Tannon droned on but now both stopped as the two young children of Sanderson, one girl of nine and a boy of five stepped forward, each one carrying a single red rose in their hands to place atop the coffin of their deceased father. They both had tears in their eyes as their mother whispered consolingly in their ears before giving them a gentle push as they made their way over to the casket, its lid at their eye level.]

[They slowly placed the flowers atop the casket and each one gave a small kiss to the tan oak, mimicking what their mother had done before stepping back quickly and retreating to their mother. They each took one of her hands and continued to cry as the priest began his closing comments. Tannon adjusted the collar of his coat and began to pull on a pair of black gloves as he half-listened to the priest and used the other half of his attention to convey more comments to Draco.]

�It�s not that I won't enjoy playing with you, believe me I will.

It will be so much fun for me to watch you cry and scream and agonize in pain as I torture you.

It will be extremely fun to watch you squirm, never knowing where or when I would attack next.

As much fun as this will be, as in everything fun does not last forever and it is time that my fun with you ends and I begin to do what I had planned all along.

I am only a few days away from being able to look across the ring and face you Draco, face you and watch you slowly break down as I pass through each and every one of your defenses. I will start off slow, maybe let you even get in a move or two�to amuse myself�then I will begin to fight. I will take you apart; from your feet, knees and legs to your back, arms and shoulders to your neck and finally the top of the empty head of yours.

It will be a torture of the best and worst kind; the best for me in that I will get to watch and participate in the destruction of the great Draco and the worst in that you, Draco shall never compete within a ring again when I am done.

You shall be finished and the entire world will know that it was I, Slash Tannon the Platinum Champion, who did what nobody else could do and broke you once and for all.�

[Tannon stops talking as the priest and the surrounding mourners bowed their head in a final prayer before the crowd began to disperse a minute later. Tannon sighed and slowly began making his way towards the now vacant gravesite where only he, the box and body inside were still at. He placed his hand gently on the solid oak casket and turned so that he was facing the camera.]

�Our match� it is a match that, regardless of their feelings towards either of us, Sin fans must salivate over.

This will be the greatest of past versus the very best of Sin today in a match that most never saw coming, including myself.

I honestly was surprised when I heard about it but after a little rest and a little time to think I have come to one conclusion.

You will be Sin's past�past�as in done, dead and buried.

I am its future�alive, vibrant and a perfect fixture to act as the centerpiece of a great federation. You will not tarnish what I have accomplished Draco and if it comes down to it then I will kill you to get what I want.

Believe me when I say that that Draco�that is a promise.�

[Tannon says this with a cold frown on his face as he slowly pulls his hand away from the casket and he, closely followed by the camera, begins to make his way slowly across the fresh dew-covered grass. He continues to speak, his voice now in a conversational but yet cold tone as he no longer worries about interrupting the burial or anybody�s privacy, focusing solely on the subject at hand.]

�Death�Death�it will hit each and every one of us at some point in our lives Draco.

The only problem is that we never know when our time, our day of reckoning will arrive.

I have blessed you with that knowledge Draco.

Your career shall die a tragic and painful death on Sunday. You will step into that ring and I will begin to break you down, bathing in a bath of crimson red blood as it slowly drips from your body and stains the canvas.

I am ready to end our battle Draco and when it ends you shall be lying face down in a pool of your own blood and I will be the one standing victorious, and thus moving on later in the night to become the new Sin Wrestling World Champion.�

[Tannon turns and slowly makes his way down the rain-soaked path towards the cemetery entrance where his long black limo was parked. The cameraman stayed put, filming as Tannon got into the car and it sped off into the distance. Slowly the camera panned back around to show the full view of the cemetery before beginning to fade to black, with only the sound of soft raindrops falling against the ground still being heard becoming softer and softer and fainter and fainter until�]

[STATIC]

[Nothing]

END SCENE

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