act five: prepare to be educated
Being stubborn has always been an innate talent of Champion's, you know... it's a trait of his I've had to deal with since our days back in the HWF, the days when the both of us were only gradually beginning to pull ourselves up that metaphorical ladder in our business.
Before we were friends, he was stubborn enough that he couldn't accept losing to me. He would always come back for more, always concoct new plans on how to tear me down, new ways to deceive me into thinking he'd changed just for the sake of beating me down.
Back then, I could take anything Chris threw at me and shut him down before it ever got any farther, but... one day, Chris really did change. Understand, it wasn't an overnight change, either... it was the kind-of change you see happen in a guy over a period of time, but it was enough of one to know that it was finally genuine.
When Champion made that change, he... I saw him start improving everywhere. He was doing things I couldn't, he was finally surpassing me, and... well, to be honest, I never really was able to keep up back then.
I began to make my own changes soon after because, well... to be honest, Champion inspired me. He showed me that even the people that were like how he used to be could make a change for the absolute better, could undergo a metamorphisis so drastic that it leaves them an entirely different person from before.
The only problem was, back then... the changes I began to make were entirely unhealthy, and ultimately led to a greater downfall for me than anything else. I'd nearly lost Suki because of it, I'd nearly lost Champion's friendship because of what happened... and beyond all else, I'd nearly lost hold of my dreams.
Champion put me back on the path that he and I both knew I had to be on. He was the one who saved me from ultimately floundering in obscurity for the remainder of my life.
Had it not been for him, I... I might have wound up like how he is today, a dying man trying desperately to prove that he still had something left to live for in this business of ours. You see... Champion, he wants to make a difference in the NLCW, you can see that clear as day in his eyes, but... he's misguided, he's...
He's just as misguided as I was a long, long time ago.
Fact of the matter is that Chris sees this as his big opportunity to do something he believes only he is capable of doing, because he's made the changes in his life that have him thinking he is fit for the job now. Champion believes he can save the NLCW, he... he really does believe that.
And if he were at 100%, I would agree with him... I would be a fool not to, but now? Now... Chris is dying, he... he could probably get himself healed up, but he...
He's too fucking stubborn!
Chris thinks that fighting on for the NLCW is what he should do, and fuck's sake, I agree! I agree he should fight for the NLCW, but like this?! No! Chris needs to heal, he needs to accept another test and he needs to begin taking measures and steps to get himself back to where he knows he needs to be, but he's too. Fucking. Stubborn.
He'd rather do things his way... at least then he knows he can gain a measure of glory out of it at the end.
Say what you will about your changes, Chris... you haven't changed at all. I've seen it in you, I've heard it from you... and I know it's true: you're still the same Champion that I've always known, the same Champion obsessed with being at the top, and defining the legacy of a federation all on your own. You want to be the Golden Boy-- that isn't just your nickname here, Chris... that's your fucking ideal, isn't it?!
Ugh... I just... I...
I can't stand to see you do this to yourself, Chris. You know, it... this Sunday scares me more than any other match in my life, and it's the first time in a long time that I actually care about holding onto this title. See, I... I know you can bring the NLCW forward, Chris... of course you can, a dying champion brings ratings unlike any other.
But that's just the thing... the stress of being champion, of leading this company forward? You may have taken that on before, Chris, but-- and I do hate restating facts again and again-- you're fucking dying.
If you don't get any help at all, you won't be champion for very long, and then what happens to the NLCW? What happens when you're gone, Chris? What happens to this place, to your family, to your friends? You said yourself that nothing's final... but you're too stubborn to try and fix things for yourself.
You'd rather try to save a dying federation that was already in plenty capable hands, because you think that this place can't go anywhere but down without you at it's helm.
But you're not the only one who's changed, Chris... albeit at least I know my change is legitimate. You're the one who's lost everything because of your own failings, because of your own pride and stubborness... and even when you've confessed to all of that, even when you've claimed to have developed from it ever since?
You still show those same failings that you always have. Those same failings you wish you could hide from the world, even when they show through so brightly beyond the walls you put in front of them.
You're in a position in life where you feel the end is nigh and you just want to fight the good fight before death takes you. You show frustration at the notion of reconnecting with your family because you know doing so is only going to give you the desire to pull your life together again, and fight for the life you don't think's worth fighting for.
But you don't know what you dying does to us, Chris... and even if you do, you obviously don't care. So it's on the rest of us to try and show you why we care, and put you where you need to be.
See, Chris... this Sunday scares me more than anything because there's only one chance for me to deliver on what needs to be done. If I go all out to get my way... there's a chance I might kill you. Yet if I hold back? If I hold back... there's a chance you might win. If you win, you take on all the responsibility of being the NLCW Heavyweight Champion, and the stress brought on from that alone could kill you, too.
My only chance is to beat you, Chris... but beat you beyond just a simple match. I have to put you where you belong, and that thought alone terrifies me to no end, but it's something I'm gradually realizing I have to do.
I have to hospitalize my best friend... I have to take all his desires in the palm of my hand, and I have to crush them beyond any sense of repair.
Because if Champion keeps fighting... if I can't keep him from that ring, I fear he may never get the chance to go back there again in the coming years from now.
And I can't stand to see that happen.