I had to relax.

I don't know what came over me, honestly. Everything was just simmering waiting to boil over and explode.

And it did.

I don't know exactly what it was, but it was something. It set me off hard. My apartment is a mess, my life is a mess, regardless of how I want to look at it. I try and find the better things in life, but they just aren't there sometimes. I make pretend everything is okay and it just isn't.

I have nothing.

I have no one.

It's funny how life pans itself out sometimes.

Karma is a bitch I guess.

Pish.. Fuck that.

I never believed in Karma and I don't intend to start now. I have other things to worry about, rather then trying to make good of all the bad I've done.

My name isn't Earl.

I can't be here right now.

There's too many memories.

I just need to relax, I don't have long before it's time to go back to the ring and put on a show for all these...

....People.

It's a cold night. The air is thick and brisk, the wind only making it much colder. My jacket is heavy, but not heavy enough.

Oddly, it's refreshing.

The biggest little city in the world is still going. Taxi's almost destroying everything in their path, people being smug and not paying any mind to anything but themselves.

Gotta love New York.

I don't take the time to enjoy my city all that often. Quite frankly, because there isn't much to enjoy. People are always peddling something, hating something, or just not caring.

New York City has the worst people in the world.

I've learned to pay it no mind and just mind my own, just like everyone else.

I've fallen into that Norm.

Tonight is different though.

Something doesn't feel right. I can't put my finger on it, but something is just out of place.

Whatever.

I'm not sure where I plan on walking to, but I'm walking. Gazing around every few steps trying to figure out what's wrong. I can't help but think it's just my adrenaline evening itself out and I'm working off the high.

Maybe it's because I'm slowly approaching Ground Zero.

It doesn't matter how many years have passed, this place will never be the same. Corpses still buried under the rubble. Families destroyed. Lives lost.

Another place filled with bad memories.

You can't go anywhere without having memories. Starting over isn't an option sometimes, like now. As much as I wish it was, I can't change what has happen.

I need to move on.

Tell the Families of Nine Eleven to move on.

It doesn't happen.

Even this late at night, the people walking the street still stop to look out upon what's left of the Twin Towers. I can't help but stop and just stare.

Nothing feels right.

"You know the people that died here are nothing more then greedy waste of human flesh Kane. What brings you to this death bed?" I knew that voice.

How could I not? It was the man I've had encountered since I've shown up in Sin.

Flame.

".....What the fuck are you doing here?"

Why could he possibly want? Is he going to end me?

Not if I have my way.

I knew this guy was creepy, but following me around?

"I was supposed to find you, I don't know why but Hecate believes that you can help me clear my mind and get ready for my battle against Destiny."

Utterly confused by this. I have no clue what he's talking about. My help? I don't give a fuck about Flame.

"Hah, you have got to be kidding me. Do you really think I give a shit about your match with Daniels? Come on man. I think I've hit you across the skull one too many times." I couldn't believe we were even having this conversation.

"Listen Kane! I don't know what the fuck is going on but for some fucking reason I was brought here. I don't like you and you don't like me but some how some way there is something that you know that can help me." I could tell he was serious, I don't know what it was.

"Not that I want your help, but Hecate says it is the only way of being successful."

Me? Help him be successful? It makes sense. I put him where he was.

"There's the Flame we all know and love." I could feel his anger and his sincerity. I can't help but be interested. "So, did your ghost mistress tell you exactly what I was supposed to do, Mr. Summers?"

"I don't know, but she seems to think that you and I have similar ties in life." Flame's eyes shifted, I could tell he wanted to be having this conversation about as much as I have. "There has to be a reason why I was drawn here to seek you out and there has to be a reason why you have come to ground zero. Do you think that this is all just a fucking accident?"

I can't stand people like this. Everything happens for a reason?

Fuck you.

"You know. I lost. Maybe not in the ring, but in life. I've lost everything, Vin."

Why am I having a heart to heart with this guy? Fuck Vincent Summers.

"You're lucky you've caught me at a pivotal time right now. But I'm not going to take any shit."

Sigh.

What am I going to do?

I'm going to regret this sooner or later.

"Figure out what you want from me, and I'll do what I can. Eternity is your chance, Flame. I made you. I put you there. I'll be fucked before I let someone I set up, pass it bye." If he wins the world title, he owes me big time.

Maybe this will work out for the better.

"I have to say that you are right Kane. You lost it all, but you aren't the only one. I lost the only thing that mattered. Perhaps you did put me here. If it wasn't for our match I wouldn't be getting this world title shot, but perhaps I was sent here to help you. You know someone once told me. You can't ignore the past because that is what got you to where you are now. If it wasn't for you past events you wouldn't be so successful and you wouldn't have the bliss you do have in that ring. I can tell by the way you fight that you love this sport and this is the only thing you got."

This sport? I don't love this sport. I love hurting people and that's what I do. I won't ruin the moment though.

"But for as long as I have been in Sin, I have never held anything."

I know why he hasn't held anything or amounted to much. It isn't hard to tell, look at the man. He wears FACE PAINT and talks to the dead.

This is going to be easier then I expected.

He's going to win this Championship, he'll have me to thank, and then I'll do whatever I have to do get shot into the lime light.

Maybe things do happen for a reason.

"You know why you haven't held anything Summers?"

It was time to give him the hard truth, whether he likes it or not.

"I'll tell you why. You need to let go. Everything you know, love, and feel. You need to just let it go."

His dead women, mainly. He needs to get over it. If he doesn't he's finished and going to be stuck where he is for the rest of his career.

A nobody.

"When I lost my wife, it was because of me. I killed her, Summers. Maybe not in the most literal sense of the word, but because of my actions she's gone."

None of this is confidential knowledge, he knew this, everyone who knows me knows this. But it needs to be said, my point needs to get across.

"I was nothing for a long time, then I let go. And look where I am. I have relapses from time to time, Vincent. But once you let go. You're free from everything and free to do anything."

Why am I feeling compassion for this fool?

"Nothing will hold you back"

"I really don't know how I can let go. Everything reminds me of her." Vincent Summer's eyes dropped to the ground, and then shot to the sky. I've had that look in my face many times over the years.

Vincent Kane and Vincent Summers having an understand. On equal ground?

What is this world coming too.

"How did you do it? How can you say that you are responsible but not let it get to you?" His voice was low, I could tell everything was bothering him.

Only moments before, I was in the same state.

"How long has she been gone, Vin? It's time to accept the fact that she isn't coming back. Acceptance is the first stage. You obviously haven't gotten there." I took a few steps back and turned to the side, to look over Ground Zero.

"You're in denial and have been for a long time. Hectate is your weakness and she is holding you back. Your dreams, your little cult, everything reminds you of her, because you BASK in her. JUST LET GO!"

If he doesn't let go, he's fucked. He's done for. It's all that needs to be fuckin' done. But will he?

"Sin was once ours and I can't let that go! That very title you hold was once the ultra violent title. Which is the same title that she once held." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Vincent Summers, as you know him, Flame starting to head to the middle of Ground Zero.

Obviously he isn't from around here, if someone sees him, he's done for.

This heathen and his lack of sympathy for what happen on this day, just by stepping on the ground he's disrespecting it.

I had no idea what he's doing. But I watched. In awe as he looked towards the sky again, this time longer, and in silence.

I gave him a moment before I broke the silence.

"She never touched this title Summers. I'm the one who put this title on the map, no one else. The Ultra-Violence is gone. This is Lust now. Vincent Kane's belt. Accept it. She's dead. Everything about her, dies with her."

"You are right, so I will let it die here. With the souls of these greedy bastards."

What a fuck. I hate him. But god damn do I respect him.

He stood there for a moment, before reaching into his pocket and taking the lock of Hectate's hair that he keeps with him.

Fucking creepy.

He then proceeded to lay it down in the rubble of Ground Zero, with the rest of the death and agony that lies within these grounds.

"You know, I don't know why."

"But I respect you, Kane."

Click to Continue