act one: rebirth of a hero
"So, this is it then? This... this was the plan?"
An angel stands with an understanding smile played across her lips, cradling a sleeping child in her arms as she watches her beloved packing bags in preparation for the road ahead. He is concentrated, her ever-ready warrior in waiting... and he has waited for the coming battle for a very, very long time.
After-all... it is his return.
"Pretty much... this was all just preparing me for leading the company forward. I made my name what it is by doing that before, and honestly... there's no-where else around there I'd rather be."
The warrior speaks his words with a smile.... with love in his eyes and memories playing through his mind. There was a time when he'd stood atop the apex of the company and helped them through some of their more trying periods. He gave the NLCW everything he possibly could, from title reigns to taking the company itself and pushing it forward, preparing it for the future. Indeed, when he left, the board was sad to see him go... but they knew that the plans he had in store would soon bring him back for yet another run.
They were right. Time had proven constant for the warrior, for the man called Dominic Pericolo. It was always a plan to break free from NLCW's contract so he could have time to spend with his family, but it was never in his plan to abandon the place that had made him who he was today. He came back as he'd planned, never realizing it was more than just tying up loose strings, never thinking that the end to his chapter with the company wouldn't actually be the end to some story he'd believed himself to be writing in preparation for the future.
The pages of his future were blank for writing, and the story still had many chapters left to be written. He'd prematurely called for an epilogue and, in the end, he'd realized his mistakes... and had found that it was love that had been calling him all along. The warrior stands and comes to gently brush his hand atop the head of his son, who stirs softly in his sleep and cuddles closer into the warmth of his mother, of the angel his father always knew her to be.
"This kid has it set in his mind that I'm some dying ember in the firepit of the NLCW, he's set in this thinking that because he's champion, he's deserving of the title."
The warrior lifts his head again and sighs, thinking back on all the similar encounters he'd had in his time. The young man he'd be facing at the end of Sunday night reminded him so much of those who had came before, of men like "Sugar" Shane Perry and Sean Galen. He was a roaring lion destined for greatness, but far too headstrong for his own good. He had misplaced potential, and rather than training, learning and advancing forward... he had watched the young man squander opportunities for greatness through his own self-obsession.
True, the young man had captured gold... but even in his world title win, he'd yet to capture true greatness.
"Worst part is, he has this idea that he's leading the company forward with the attitude he has. He thinks because he's got the gold, he's got the goods to bring the company to the forefront. New blood and all that... and honestly? A part of him's right."
The angel chuckles softly, shaking her head as the child in her arms stirs softly in his sleep, as if he can hear the frustration in his father's voice. The warrior is regarded by his angel with eyes filled with pride, softened with love and focused on his own eyes alone. She is brewing on the words in her mind, she is trying to find the right way to say them, to tell her warrior what she knows he needs to hear.
Even if he himself doesn't realize he needs to hear it.
"That part you think is right, Dominic... it doesn't even apply to him right now."
The warrior lifts his eyes once more with a quirked eyebrow. He'd thought he'd put all sides into perspective, yet as per usual there was another who could see perspectives he'd missed along the way. His angel, the one called Suki Minamoto... she was always there to catch him when he fell, and to stay by his side when there were few others doing the same.
She was there for him just as he was there for her, as though they themselves were the very safety nets they'd wished to place under each other should they ever stumble down their path.
And her words would always find a way to expand the bounds of his own path ahead.
"Carmine, he... he's a good kid, you know? Arrogant. Headstrong, but... he's still got a long way to go. He was given the gold too early and you know that. The company does need new blood at the top, but right now there's got to be someone there with experience to train them."
Dominic Pericolo and Suki Minamoto had had years together to practice predicting what the other would say. The two learned to be in-sync with the thoughts of the other, so that when one would surprise the other with something new... they could predict where the path of the words would travel and catch the message before it ever had to be spoken.
The gears in Dominic's head began to turn as soon as his angel spoke the words, and so he'd began his own epiphany well in advance of the words she'd speak soon after, the final part to the lesson he would need to learn going into the battle he had awaiting him.
"Carmine needs you, Dominic... he doesn't realize it, but he's looking at you to make him stronger. He wants to win because he wants to know he's where he needs to be... but if you beat him, it's going to drive him harder to succeed. He wants you to win, Dominic... he wants to know there's still a road left to travel."
... just like Dominic's own.