forgive them all...blood brother co-op

[The Silver Tongued Devil]

Note: This is a co-operative work, produced by both handlers.

october 2009
reed household
atlanta, georgia

Darius had been sent up state only two months…

…Cassius didn’t stay long and had finally had enough and decided to make his own way.

Mom was left in the hospital after another diabetic seizure for who knows how long this time, while Uncle Marcus was in charge to take care of the house until she was finally able to get to her feet.

But tonight…the apartment was empty.

Just like it was yesterday.

Just like it was the night before.

And like all these empty nights, I was on my own.

I sat at the small round wooden dining room table, looking down at the open Biology textbook in front of me as I twirled the black mechanical pencil around my pointer finger and my thumb. In my other hand I looked at the sealed envelope addressed to me in care of my wrestling coach from the Georgia Southern University, a small state university in southern Georgia. My coach wanted me to open it but I wasn’t ready. Actually it sat in my backpack for the majority of the day…

…and I couldn’t tell you why I let it sit.

Maybe I was afraid? Maybe I couldn’t stand the rejection…again.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina State…some of the best wrestling programs in the United States wanted nothing to do with me, maybe it was my average grades…maybe it was because of the fact that I was a cocky little shit when I was on the mat. Regardless, letter after letter it always read the same way:

“Dear Aries,

We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted…blah, blah, blah.”

I never got passed the first sentence actually.

Probably because of the fact that I balled it up and tossed it into the trash before I read anymore. What was the point? I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with this type of nonsense tonight…

…I loathe having my future hinge on some old decrepit white dude in suit who only knew me from a piece of paper.

He didn’t see my struggle.

He didn’t see my grind.

He didn’t see my hustle.

And the thought of being able to go to college, be the man that Darius always wanted me to be…to be more of the man than that absentee sperm-donor of a father could ever be…

…I couldn’t stop looking at the letter as I chewed on my bottom lip out sheer nerves before finally manning up and taking the small tip of the mechanical pencil to slice the envelope open. Blowing into the sliced end of the envelope gently, I pull out the tri-folded parchment paper and opened it slowly to read it to myself.

“Dear Aries…”

-----

december 2013
south street gym
toronto, ontario

I’ve done it.

Two years, rather than one.

But I’ve done it.

It’s here… in my hands. But why is it so hollow? Empty?

I mean, literally, it’s because there’s nothing in it. Just an empty mask.

Leather and fabric… It should be greater.

It should be better.

It’s just nothing.

It’s empty.

The sum combined attainment of two years of effort… is this.

This can’t be it. It doesn’t feel worth the price. Worth the cost.

The disappointment in the others to have not gained… this trinket.

The disappointment in myself now I see that this is all that it is.

There must be more.

There will be more.

There will always be more.

I’ve come too far to stop now.

As of today, I am the Coyote.

As of tomorrow, I will be so much more.

-----

www.theblackestson.com/promos
fga presents vertigo
dynamic duos tag team tournament
the blood brothers v. status quo

The Blackest Son, The Silver Tongued Devil, Aries Reed sits in the confession booth with his black leather clad hands clasps in front of him in a silent prayer. Lifting his head up, he looks up at the dim lighting of the cathedral from the open and decorative ceiling of the confessional booth. Through pursed lips, he lets out a soft sigh as he looks at the shielded yet open partisan wall that separates the two parts of the booth.

“Forgive me father...for I have sinned. It's been many years since my last confession. Probably because I'm not a Catholic, but then again I don't think that'll be a problem with it father?”

There is a soft chuckle from the priest heard through the confessional window, which puts Aries troubled soul at ease as a soft grin spread over his lips.

“While it's not a sin to not be a Catholic, coming to confession to lay your troubles at the Almighty’s feet is open to all.”

“We all can't be perfect, I know...but I've really fouled up father. I do believe that I'm guilty of a few deadly sins.”

“I see. That's rather troubling indeed...please continue.”

“I’m guilty of Envy…”

“I’m guilty of being jealous of the fact that people like Ruby Tyler and Kevin Hardway can come into the FGA and everyone basically fawns over them. I’m guilty of being jealous of the fact that Savannah Taylor can come into the FGA and have the red carpet rolled out for her because she’s the last one to hold a defunct Exodus World Title. I’m jealous that my entire career is nothing but a running joke to those who don’t know me and are quick to throw my name in the mud without so much a second thought because it’s “IT” thing to do. I'm jealous of teams like the Status Quo getting the benefit of the doubt when my Brother and I continue to scrap and claw just for the simple recognition of what we've accomplished and what we're capable of doing…”

“...and with it, I’ve come to the realization that I’m guilty of gluttony. Because I welcome it...I thrive in it, I bask in such negativity because it fuels me, it drives me, it makes me want to be better...better than the man or woman next to me, better than sum of their combined work.”

“And with that have come to the realization that I'm guilty of vanity.”

“Vanity, my child?”

Aries slowly lowers and nods his head, rubbing his hands together.

“I’m a prideful man, Father...it’s apart of my business. It’s apart of who I am overall. I’m good at what I do and I want them all to see it, I want them all to know, I want them all to talk about it, I want them all to feel it. I want to take those who’ve ever doubted me and casted me aside...I want to take those whose ever overlooked me and underestimated me, I want to make sure that when they see me...they never make that mistake again. If that’s being being prideful...if that’s me swimming in a sea of vanity...then yes, Father...I’m definitely guilty of such atrocity”

“My boy, it seems as if that you’re suffering from much more than just Vanity. I can hear the rage in your voice, I can feel the anger from your words. You are aware that Anger or better yet Wrath is just deadly of a sin than Vanity.”

“Yes, Padre...I’m aware. I’m aware that my vanity has lead to my anger which has lead to my anger...which will lead to everyone feeling my wrath. Since I came into this world, all I strived to be is the best at whatever it is that I do. And since I’ve came into this business, I’ve worked my fingers to the bone...I’ve shed tears...I’ve bled...I’ve done unspeakable things to make sure that at the end of the day, that I’m the last man standing. But it’s not enough...it’s never enough. There’s always more...there’s always more to do more to accomplish. And this...this is no different.”

“My child, I do fear as if you’re losing me…”

Aries glances at the wall as his brow lowers and his wide grin slowly metamorphoses into his trademark arrogant smirk.

“Then allow me to find you again, Father. I am NOT a nice man...I am NOT a good person...I’ve done very bad things and when my time is done, I will do VERY BAD things to people who get in my way. My brother and I have warned them Father...My brother and I have told them, Father...but they don’t listen. They see us and think we are nothing more but a novelty act, just for show...all flash and no substance.”

“Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

“But they will receive no forgiveness from me...they will look into the eyes of my brother and myself and see that there is no mercy...there is no quarter...there is no compassion…”

“...just an unbridled hate against those who dare keep us from what’s ours. And when the time comes, we’ll hurt them, we’ll break them mentally, physically, and spiritually. We will reduce them down until there is nothing left...until all that is left is us.”

“And that’s when I realize that when I’m in that ring, that feeling I get, I just don’t love it…”

“You lust after it , my boy.”

Aries lifts his head and smiles widely as he reached up with a black gloved hand, running a finger down his broad jaw line.

“...and there you have it, I’ve committed yet another Deadly Sin.”

“My son, my poor boy, you have a lot to atone for.”

He couldn’t help but start to chuckle to himself as he looked at the heavily covered confessional window that separated himself from the priest. His chuckle slowly turned to a fit of laughter as Aries clapped his knee several times before wiping away a tear from the corners of his eyes.

“Atone?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I never came here to atone, hell, as a matter of fact I have no intentions of atoning. I just came here because I wanted someone to know what I was capable of, I wanted someone to know what I was going to do the Status Quo...what I was going to do every single team that my Brother and I come across. Father, the FGA wants to find the biggest and baddest team in the land and with a cornucopia of pretenders, The Blood Brothers are the only ones who’ve been forged by fire and bonded by iron. We’ve been tested over and over and with every fight we’ve evolved and stood the test of time day in and day. But it’s easy to call us a Tag Team Father...but we’re so much more...GRENDEL, Father, he’s not just my brother...”

“...he’s my family.”

Slowly Aries stands to feet as he opens the confession booth door to walk out. Before he can exit, however, the priest bangs on the confessional window. Aries stops dead in his tracks with a smile on his lips.

“My son, wait...”

“What can I do you for, Father? I hope this isn’t some last ditch effort to try to save my condemned soul. I fear that I’m too far gone and this little black sheep doesn’t want to be herded in with the rest of ‘em.”

“I feel that my efforts would be in vain, yes, but you forgot one…you forgot the last deadly sin.”

Slowly nodded his head Aries turns to looked over his shoulder at the elderly priest behind the closed door.

“Sloth?”

“That’s correct...you forgot sloth.”

“Why father, I thought you’d never ask.”

With this, the door to the priests side is torn open, the elder cleric crossing himself as a demon manifests itself before him, face black and white, a vision of destruction looming before him. As he utters fevered prayers under his breath, the new figure looms in, and taking him by the collar, hoists him up with one almighty pull, lifting the holy man clear from his feet before dropping him down on the hard wooden floor of the church. Aries squats down on his haunches, getting his face up close to the elderly priest’s.

“You see, father, the one sin you will never find the Blood Brothers guilty of is sloth. Allow me to educate you, with this little snippet from the Book Of Aries: 'And ‘lo, when the smoke had cleared, and the dust had settled, the
Brothers in Blood knew that it was their actions that had caused this.
And it was good.' Brother GRENDEL, why don’t you educate the good reverend?”

“I hate Religion.”

GRENDEL replaces Aries at the priest’s level one large hand holding his head up whilst he stares into his eyes.

“It’s a lot like Wrestling. Old men and women, huddled around tables in darkened rooms, fretting about how their stranglehold of the sheep they lead slackens with each concurrent day. How does it feel, father, to know that the grip of fear you hold your mindless thralls with is dissipating with every elapsed moment?”

The priest, still in a state of shock, just shakes his head.

“You see, it’s always the same.”

“As soon as something new, something different arises… out trot the old guard to try and quash it.”

“Let them call it coincidence, but it’s a pattern that has been demonstrated before. A tale as old as time, as young revolutionaries look to bring new life to a decaying and decrepit body, out they come, threatened by change, threatened by a future where they are irrelevant, and surpassed.”

“Think of it like the body. Something new is introduced to it, and the body attacks it. It’s stupid, of course, attacking what would harm it and what would benefit it in equal measure. The body does not know what is good for it, so we must force it to accept the new order. But still, it produces antibodies to try and keep a Status Quo.”

The big man laughs, the sound devoid of all humor.

“As in your… profession, it mirrors itself in ours. They fear the change we bring. They fear their obsolescence. And so, greedily, they seek to protect their stake. But they do not fight for the betterment of all, they do not fight to ensure a brighter future. They seek only to wet their beaks at the well, not caring how their fetid personae will poison it.”

“But this is the way of the world, you cry. That power is perpetuated through nepotism and mindless self indulgence, with little concern for the rot and suffering left in it’s wake. That those who have reached an apex should be allowed to rest upon it, as all around them festers and stagnates. That they should be permitted to do all they may to perpetuate a system that benefits only them, and not all.”

“We, disrespectfully, disagree.”

GRENDEL stands up, dragging the priest to his feet with him.

“Dan Herrera. Cordelia Stevenson. Relics of a bygone age who seek to perpetuate this era of control and tyranny. They resist that which they do not understand, and in doing so threaten the future of all within this industry. Let them market it how they will, we see them for what they are: Knights, favored by the ruling hierarchy, trotting out to protect their pocket and lifestyle.”

“And so we stand, in open rebellion, to forge the future this business needs. Like the body that resists its own treatment, we know that they will stand against us, and that those whose lifestyle is most threatened by our mission will fight the hardest, for it is their lot to suffer the most.”

“And how they shall suffer.”

GRENDEL takes the face of the priest, and draws it level with his own.

“Like you, father, we serve a higher power. Evolution. We fear no God, no King, no ruler. We fight for the betterment of all. That is the noblest truth.”

He smiles, a malevolent grin carved into his painted face.

“The time is now father. They must make their choice, as you too must make yours.”

“Evolve...”

“Or Die.”

GRENDEL releases the man, letting him slump to the floor as he turns with any further a word. Aries kneels down besides him.

“Thanks for listening, Old Man. I feel… inspired.”

Aries turns to follow GRENDEL, before pausing a moment, looking over his shoulder at the priest.

“But no worries, Padre, while I can’t speak for my large friend...I know for a fact that I'll be back soon. And I'm sure I'll have a whole new host of sins to confess.”

Laughing, Aries jogs to catch up with his partner, laughing all the while.

fade