act two: midnight evolution
One week.
One week was all it took, Champion was always one of the greatest organizers I'd ever seen. One week after his retirement announcement, he had not only organized one of the largest retirement parties thrown by any NLCW wrestler before or since, but he had managed to rope everyone from the NLCW into coming along and bringing whatever family they had. He'd rented out space in a convention center for the occasion, hired workers to put the whole thing together... the guy had it all planned out, he knew just the way he wanted to leave the business and he was making sure it all came together perfect.
Me, I was just along for the ride. Sure, in all technicality Chris was throwing the retirement party for the both of us, but I think he and I both knew that I was the one who couldn't keep away for very long. Much as I wanted him to be my last match, at the time there was just... there was something about the call of the ring that was going to keep me from being able to stay away for long.
Honestly, I think Chris knew long before I did, I think he knew it the moment he realized I said I was going to retire. There was probably a lot he wanted to say but never said, if only out of respect for my decisions at the time. Not once did he ever tell me something contrary to how I was feeling, he just... went with it. Probably because he knew where I was going to wind up in the end.
"Retire? You? Ha, you won't be able to stay away for that long."
Turns out you were right, Chris, but that doesn't surprise you, does it?
The party was amazing... everyone turned up, if only because of the free food. People who hated us, people who once tried to kill us in the ring... he'd even managed to get a few of the old HWF faithful together, friends from times long passed that I never thought I'd see again. The whole night, Suki and I were talking to someone about the good old days, about how funny life is and how far you can go before you finally realize the journey you've taken.
Truth is, I probably could have lasted awhile longer in my own retirement, probably made it a few years without worry and have everything be just fine... but in the end, I don't think Chris wanted me to. He saw something in me left to shine back then, something to do that I hadn't done, some way that I could finish my own personal story. That night, talking to those people helped strengthen my doubt of whether or not retirement was the right thing for me to do... but it was Chris who'd finally convinced me in the end.
Chris kicked off the party at around 8:00 PM and was drunk about an hour before it, which was great because it made for some of the most hilariously awkward welcomes I'd seen in my life. I don't know if Alex Jay ever got those pants of his cleaned after what Chris did to them, but I do know for certain it'd be a night his nightmares would never let him live down. Georgina was there too, seems they'd found little Cesar a babysitter to take care of him while they were away, and Chris was totally living it up because of that. When Suki and I arrived, we were about an hour late and I found my soon-to-be-wife being escorted away from me by Georgina just as Chris had realized our arrival.
"PERCOLATOR! Ya'... ya' big coffee man, c'mere! Get over here an'... get over here an' celebrate!"
"I don't drink, Chris, remember?"
"Thas'... thas' 'cause you're a WOMAN. Ya' wearin' a dress an'.. an' ya' HEY! Hey, don'tcha... don'tcha try an' steal my drink, ya' lousy..."
I'd laughed. Beside Chris sat Rick Majors, perhaps one of the only other people in the business that I know has the honor of being dubbed Champion's brother-in-arms and all-around wingman. At the time, he was trying to find ways to mess around with Champion's head, moving his drink around in circles and generally making him think his cup had came alive. Champion of course knew Majors was moving the drink at first, but then again Champion never did have the memory of an elephant when drunk.
"PERCOLATOR! Get... get over here, th'.. th' cup! Iz MOVIN'! ALIVE, Percolator! ALIVE!!!"
"Oh Christ, Rick, you're gonna give him a heart attack."
"So long as he doesn't vomit on me, I don't care what I give him, this is hilarious."
"Ah'll... ah'll vomit on your FACE! Hahaha, but... but no, man, no. I wouldn't do that, not to ya', I l--"
The drink stopped moving when Rick had let go of it to reach up and smack Chris upside his forehead, rocking him back and nearly off of his chair before he came back forward and slumped over on the bar, snoring loudly.
"What th--... Rick! What the hell?! Why'd you hit him?!"
"I hate it when drunks start telling me "I love you, man", especially when it's Chris."
I remember rolling my eyes. As much as Majors and Champ had gone through together, there were some drunken antics Chris had performed around me that could make "I love you, man" sound like a comparitively light thing to have happen by comparison. As Chris snored away on the bar, I made my way over next to him, sighing as I sat down. Majors looked at me with a raised eyebrow but for the most part left me be. At the time, Majors and I weren't as close as either of us were with Chris, we just sort-of knew each other through Chris and respected each other for all we'd done. Fact was, we didn't really know each other... we just hung out from time to time when Chris was around.
I think that night was the night that changed things a little for us. Changed things a little for everyone, really.
"So, retirement." I heard him say, taking a drink from whatever was in the glass he was holding as he stared off to the side, a slight frown on his face.
"Yeah... fancy that, two of NLCW's greats leaving at once," I said back, looking at the downed Chris and shaking my head, "Never thought the day would come so early, though..."
Majors laughed. There was something strong about him, something that really made him stand out from the others of the NLCW. He wasn't just a locker-room leader, he was exactly the legend he was made up to be, the guy who defies all odds stacked against him despite whatever it is that seemed to be holding him down. The fact of the matter was, here was a guy who'd been in the business for ages, who'd seen his own fair share of hell in the ring and had been seemingly forced to hang up his boots on more then one occasion from what I recall... and I was talking to him about how soon my retirement had came.
It almost seemed silly, honestly.
"You think retirement lasts, Pericolo? Not in wrestling, at least not for very long."
He turned around, putting a hand on Chris' shoulder and patting it as he looked down at the passed out icon of NLCW, shaking his head in amusement; "Look at this guy, he's celebrating now, but you saw him say goodbye to those people. He was a wreck, the guy isn't happy to be leaving... this is comfort and peace for him, the closing of a chapter in his life. He's got a lot ahead of him, and I somehow doubt he'll keep away from the ring forever."
Majors lifted his eyes up at me, a smirk on his features as he did so. Leaning back in his chair, Majors took his hand off of Chris and crossed his arms over his chest, looking as though he were about to challenge me in some way. When the next words came out of his mouth, of course, I realized that he was challenging me, and in a very big way.
"Let me ask you something, Dominic... Champion's retiring because in his world, all the stars aligned perfectly at Sultan. His greatest enemy and friend all the same, the match he created, the NLCW World Title, and a career behind him that could put some legends to shame. This man is an icon of the business and he's finally reached a point in his life where he can look back on his career and be satisfied, not just with the ending or some points along the way, but with the entire journey. That's how Champ feels, Pericolo... but what about you?"
Majors stood up from his seat, patting Champ on the back as I stared down at the bar, his words ringing in my mind.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a few people I'd like to be able to see before they leave tonight. Make sure Chris doesn't burn down the bar when he wakes up."
Wordlessly, I flashed him a thumbs up. I didn't have much of a will to talk at the time... truth was, Majors had caught me out when I was vulnerable, he'd put me in a position where I was now left doubting myself more than ever before. I knew when I made my retirement announcement that I wouldn't keep away from the ring forever, and the more I talked with people throughout the night, the more I realized that it may come sooner then I thought, but Majors...
Majors believed I was making a mistake, and he was challenging me to see from his perspective, and... his perspective felt right when I honestly thought about it. What was I leaving for, what did I have to gain? I knew I had a gameplan, and I knew that it was too late to stop now that I'd set it in motion... but what if everything I'd done up to this point, while good for my future family, was ultimately going to drive me down the path to Purgatory that I'd foreseen back before my Final Solution match? After avoiding all the pitfalls in this life of mine... what if I was pushing myself in the wrong direction after-all?
What if retirement simply wasn't the answer yet? And if it wasn't, then what could I do to right the mistakes I'd already made?
"Gotta... gotta see it through ta' the end, Percolator..."
Champion's voice had nearly made me leap out of my seat. I remember looking down at him, a startled look on my own face and a drunken smirk on his. He was slowly pulling himself back up and I was trying to get my heartbeat to slow back down, shaking my head and tossing my hands up in frustration.
"Oh what the hell, Chris?! What are you, the magic drunk? How do you know I'm having self-doubts right now?!"
Champion, bless him, he tried laughing but nearly vomitted on the bartender as he came over. That kept the man away from us for the rest of the night, but it also left me wondering why the hell Champ was trying to laugh in the first place. Sure, drunks find a lot of things funny that aren't normally when they're sober, but... unless Chris was going to crack a joke about being a magician all these years, I didn't see where the humor was.
At least, until Champion slurred out his response.
"Ya' jackass, I meant.. I mea-- hey, shuddup, ya' gotta listen, see? I meant me bein' drunk, y'hear? Not... not about yer girly issues, I don... I don have no tampons fer ya'."
I rolled my eyes, staring back down at the bar; "Thank you, Captain Pep Talk, that was a wonderful speech."
"First a magic man... now a superhero? I'm a... I'm a jack of all spades!"
I don't remember when the act of "facepalming" became particularly popular, but I do remember practicing it on many occasions that night. Champion wouldn't sober up until much later into the night, around midnight or so with the party still going half-strong, and by then he'd decided it was time to lay off the drink for a bit and grace everyone else with the pleasure of his company, and without the fear of drunken vommiting. As for me, that self-doubt lasted all the way through the night, and even Suki could tell that I wasn't feeling very comfortable with myself there. She tried to keep me active and stick around me for support, and her just being there did help tremendously with how I was feeling, but...
... I wasn't getting better. My mind was in a thousand different places but where I needed it to be the most, and I just couldn't resolve the issues spinning 'round in my head. It felt like I was lost at sea, left drifting in an ocean of uncertainty and fear for the future, without any way of knowing which direction I was going.
Still, like I said... it was Chris who convinced me in the end, and when word got around to him that something seemed up with the way I was acting, I found my arm gripped in a vice and my body forcefully pulled away from the crowd Suki and I were in.
"Sorry Suki, me an' Percolator need to have a little chat outside if you don't mind."
"Please don't kill my fiance, Christopher."
"Well you're no fun. Don't worry, I'll leave him bruised up but still functional."
"Ooh, I do like functional."
"What the hell is going on?! And why am I being kidnapped?!"
Champion smacked me upside the back of my head with his free hand, rattling my head and leaving me shocked as I raised an eyebrow at him, his attention facing forward as he drug me to the building's exit.
"No talking 'til we get outside, Percolator, or I will get Suki to couch your ass tonight."
Having your best friend use that threat on you is downright surreal, to be honest.
... very intimidating, though.