Post by T-Robosaurus Rex on Dec 13, 2015 15:10:46 GMT -5
I hadn't worked this hard in as long as I could recall, not physically anyway. My muscles ached, my hands were sore and my feet felt like they had completed multiple marathons. I had spent the best part of the last two weeks cleaning up, both the house and myself. I had been wallowing in my own self-pity for far too long, I had misplaced anger and blame and it had taken me a long time to realise just how wrong I was. But now that I know, I'm determined to make things right.
I was surprised that he'd accepted my invitation, I knew I had to ask but I hadn't expected a positive response, and that had spurred me on to really put my heart in to this endeavour. I was going to turn myself around again, for too long I had allowed myself to be a victim, I used to be a successful and respected individual, and by saying he was willing to meet up, at least one more time, Travis Roberts could help me finally move on.
I'm not naive though, I am aware that he may not want to take an active role in my personal recovery, he may have accepted the invitation just so he could hammer the last nail into the coffin of our relationship. I wouldn't blame him, my actions have given him little reason to want to trust or help me, but at least I will know where I stand and that will help me plan my next move. My life will go on, I will drag myself up again with or without Travis Roberts.
The alarm on my phone makes me aware that I need to put the TV on, this is the biggest week of the year for Travis, and when I press on the remote his face greets me. He is sat across from the desk from Patrick Seaborn the host of 'Sportscene'.
Patrick: Welcome back to Sportscene, I am now joined by my guest for this segment, the UGWC Entertainment Professional, Travis Roberts. Welcome to 'Sportscene', Travis.
Travis: Thank you for having me.
Patrick: You're here to shill for UGWC's flagship event, Horizons is that right?
Travis chuckles at the remark, and it reminds me of how far he'd come in pretending to be amused by others. When we first met he could barely contain his disdain for others, now you'd think he enjoyed the company of most of the people he came into contact with, it almost seemed natural. You'd only be able to tell it was a facade if you knew him well, and only a few people do, luckily I am one of them.
Travis: I'd like to be able to say I'm here to raise your ratings, or to give you a shot at an award, but your correct as one half of the biggest Main Event in 2015, I've been sent here to remind everyone that there is going to be one hell of a show in the United Center on Monday, and if you're not one of those lucky enough to attend in person it is available for all subscribers to the UGWC network.
It was another indication of just how much he'd changed in the past year or so, the Travis Roberts of times past would never have attempted to sell anything but himself on a stage such as this. This change in attitude made me hopeful that enough time had passed that he would actually listen to me when he arrived, it gave me slim hope that we might be able to give it another go.
Patrick: You mention you are one half of the Main event, you'll be challenging the UGWC World Heavyweight Champion, 'Vain' Alan Wallace in an Iron Man match. For our viewers who are not followers of your industry, can you let them know what that means?
Travis: If you stopped watching UGWC, or have never tuned in, there has never been a better time to subscribe to the UGWC Network. I honestly can't think of a bigger match in UGWC's history than Alan Wallace and Travis Roberts fighting for 60 minutes for the right to call themselves the best in the business. Both of us were fallen Icons that returned a couple of years ago, and despite the doubters, despite our advancing years, we've battled to the top once more. Our match at Horizons will be the culmination of two epic comebacks against all adversity, not even the great Ancient Greek poet's could have crafted two such compelling odyssey's.
Patrick: And what exactly is a 60 minute Iron Man match?
Travis: The match will go on for an hour, and whoever scores the most pinfalls or submissions in that time limit will claim the victory. There couldn't be a more fitting match for the climax of our journeys, neither myself or Wallace are perfect, we have both been around long enough to have tasted the bitter sting of defeat on numerous occasions. However there are few in this business who are better at coming back from such disappointment. In short if you knock either of us down, you won't see anyone get back up quicker. In an Iron man match we'll determine who can keep bouncing back, and who will run out drive. I don't envisage either of us giving up until the very last second, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't a wild, unpredictable and dramatic ride along the way.
If I only learned one thing about the wrestling industry in my time with Travis it was that he was very astute at foreseeing future events. In the past he kept his opinions close to his chest, the fact he was being so open on a nationally televised show was yet more evidence that he had reached the end of his voyage of discovery and had become a different person from the one I had first met, the public and private Travis' might for the first time be one in the same.
Patrick: You seem to have a lot of respect for your opponent, does that kind of thing help when you step into such a big match?
Travis: You have to respect each and every person that makes it down the ramp into the ring, because each of them have got their by merit. To just make it onto the Horizons card ensures your legacy, and proves you are one of the elite in the business. To walk in to the Main Event of Horizons as the World Heavyweight Champion ensures you will go down as a Legend of the business. There are very few things that top that achievement, so of course I respect him.
Patrick: What could top it?
Travis: Walking out of the Main Event of Horizons as the World Heavyweight Champion.
I know that smile, that smile means he's talking about his goals, the goals he is determined to achieve. You can tell because his eyes glaze over and he's likely visualising the moment he gets exactly what he wants. Many things may have changed over the course of the last year, but his determination and his need to be the best is as strong as ever.
Patrick: Are you confident that you will be the person who achieves that?
Travis: I'm always confident of delivering when it matters, but that doesn't mean I always do. Confidence will only get you so far, the rest is left up to a mixture of your abilities, your opponent's abilities, circumstance and luck. I'm confident I can hold up my end of the bargain, but at the same time I've never faced an opponent like Alan.
This modesty thing might take a bit of getting used to.
Patrick: What makes Alan Wallace so different?
Travis: There's not just one thing, pat. For starters he's had one of the most memorable and entertaining UGWC World Heavyweight Championship reigns I've ever witnessed. Sure he may have had it briefly interrupted, but I don't think there has been a moment since he first won the Championship earlier this year that he hasn't made everyone aware that he is the best in the company. He has committed himself to the role of UGWC's flag bearer better than anyone in recent memory. When you become the UGWC World Heavyweight Champion you are expected to be the face of the company, the reliable constant, and he has excelled in that role. Alan Wallace exists to be World Heavyweight Champion, and people like that don't let go easily, believe me.
Patrick: And you haven't had a World Heavyweight Championship match in 6 years, are your ready for the pressure?
Travis: It has been a long time, yes, but I wasn't competing for a large part of that?
Patrick: But isn't it true you have been back for two and a half years now, and hasn't been becoming World Heavyweight Champion been your primary goal during that time? And isn't this your first realistic shot at it in that time?
I know that look, that's the look Travis gives when someone has struck a nerve, he tries to pretend it doesn't bother him, he'll try to dismiss it, but I know his tell, and I know that the interviewer just hit on a truth.
Travis: Sure. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that what I envisioned for my return two and a half years ago looked a lot more like what has happened to Alan Wallace. When I decided to make a comeback almost everything that has happened to him was what I had hoped for, but strangely enough I'm not bitter. The moment I saw his return, just a month before I had planned my own, from the very first of many third-person diatribes he went on, and the reaction he elicited from the locker room, I knew my plans would have to change.
Patrick: That must have been quite the setback.
Travis: At the time it really messed with my mind, it's hard for anyone who isn't part of this business to understand. We rely on how the public perceive us, no-one you see in UGWC is an actor, but there is certainly a great deal of exaggeration, because there is a constant pressure to be interesting and relevant. Normal doesn't cut it in this world. You have to find your niche, you have to find that one thing that makes you unique, the more successful you are at that the better chance you have to get noticed, to get yourself into the big leagues and to the very top. So when someone walks in, and on the surface they do many of the same things that you do and arguably better than you do them, it presents you with one hell of a decision.
I can imagine just how much that must have crushed him at the time, Travis defined himself by his industry persona, to see another person who threatened to make him look like a second rate knock off of them would have shattered the ego that had driven him for so long, he must have felt so vulnerable.
Patrick: So this match is somewhat symbolic to you.
Travis: You could certainly say that, when 'Vain' first appeared on the scene, I hated him for forcing me to change, now I can only thank him for compelling me to alter my direction. Had I not changed my outlook, had I not stepped out of my comfort zone, I likely would not have survived the events of the past year or so. From being violently discharged from the stable I had formed, to Eden Morgan's many attempts to add me to her growing list of eager and desperate nemesis', had I not made the alterations I would not have been headlining Horizons, that much is sure. So you could certainly call it symbolic, this change I have undergone started with Alan and will end with him at Horizons.
As far as I can tell he is being 100% genuine, and he doesn't even seem to be uncomfortable doing so. I saw the seeds of this happening, but in the absence I enforced upon myself from him I hadn't seen those seeds blossom into the flowers of his labor that are on display here. Whatever happens when he gets here later, whether he accepts me back in his life or not, I can't help but glow with pride for him right now.
Patrick: But will it be a happy ending?
Travis: Whatever the result 'The headliner' is back in business, I've earned the right to refer to myself that way again, and thats not going to be taken away from me even if I lose. Whatever I emerge victorious at Horizons, Travis Roberts will dominate the main event scene in 2016.
Patrick: Some would say you're already making excuses.
Travis: I'm just stating what I hionestly eblieve. This match will not make or break my career, what happens after whether I win or lose is the important part, that will be when you all know without a shadow of a doubt I'm back. But I can't predict the match, because I don't really know what I'm coming up against.
Patrick: You've spoken at great length about Alan Wallace so far tonight, how can you claim not to know what you're facing?
He smiles again, but this is a different smile to any before in this interview, this is a smile that suggests he thinks he's about to look good. It may be camouflaged, but the ego is still strong with him.
Travis: I've been speaking about the Alan Wallace that made it to Horizons as World Heavyweight Champion, the man who enters the ring is very different. 'Vain' has had tremendous success over the past 18 months, that can't be disputed, he has won pretty much everything put in front of him. But he's always done it with a grand support mechanism, whether it was The Puppet Masters or The Syndicate, Alan Wallace has always had allies to rely on. At Horizons, for the first time in his UGWC career, he has no-one.
Patrick: But wasn't that the case at Battleground, and he managed to win back the World Heavyweight Championship there.
Travis: That was a unique set of circumstances, no-one in that match had any allies because they had alienated everyone else. However while his three opponents were more concerned with destroying one another, all he wanted to do was take back his crown, and that focus was something they all lacked. The same cannot be said about Monday. It's been a long year for Alan, and he's made it this far relying on the help of others for some time, you have to ask how eager he is to continue into 2016 with nobody to help carry his burden? I have no doubt he has the ability and fortitude to do so, but whether he wants to is another question.
Partrick: You think he may have enlisted new reinforcements.
The trademark Travis shrug is broken out now, thats a real indicator of being asked something he really doesn't care about, it's not a distraction technique, he just couldn't care less. I know that look well, it was the most common response to any of my questions.
Travis: I doubt it, he's burned too many bridges at this point, but nothing would surprise me with Alan. I know he'll do whatever it takes to win. And don't think I am criticising his tactics, there was a time I used to work by the same rules. It was a far easier time, that much is for sure, but it's also why I know I can beat Alan, because it's taken me a lot of hard work and graft to get to this point, I've had no-one to rely on, most of those close to me have turned their backs and walked away, but that has prepared me for this moment. For sixty minutes on monday Alan and I will engage in one of the most challenging matches of our impressive careers to date, it will be a struggle the likes the industry has not seen in years, but what's an hour of struggle when you've been swimming against the tide for 18 months?
I turned my back on him, I am one of those that made this struggle harder for him, I hope he can forgive me, I hope he understands that I am weak and ashamed. I can take some warmth from the fact that no matter what happens it has turned out alright for him, I may have condemned myself to a life of misery, but at least he seems to have finally found himself as a result. At least I didn't destroy two lives with my actions.
Patrick: Well, that's almost all the time we have, thank you for joining me Travis, and good luck on Monday, do you have anything else to say to the viewers who are still undecided on tuning into Horizons.
Travis: This world can be full of depressing stories and tales of desperate futility, there are few moments in which we can truly escape the cycle of horror that engulfs the world. UGWC's Horizon's is one of those times that you can rely on others to brighten your world, and there is a chance you will see one of the biggest celebrations this industry has ever seen when Travis Roberts, 'The Blessed One', 'The Headliner', becomes a World Heavyweight Champion once again. It could be a 'Where were you when?' moment, but one thing you can be sure of, Hiorizons will not be depressing.
I switch the TV off, I know that the interview was pre-recorded and he's due here any moment now. It strikes me that despite my own misgivings that have festered about he industry for the past however many months, he managed to make me want to watch Horizons. It might be to see if he finally reaches the top again, to see if that accomplishment will erase the heavy guilt I feel for what I did to him. But I suspect part of me just wants to be part of the celebration.
I look around, everything is clean, everything is in its place for the first time in recent memory, it has taken a lot of elbow grease and hard work to get this place back to his high standards, but there was no other choice, he wouldn't believe I had changed if I didn't so it. A clean house may only be a small symbol, but if this place looked like it has done for the past months it would not have sent the right signals.
He'd offered me the chance to reconcile on more than one occasion, he'd even sent Vix to appeal to my better nature. But I wasn't in any state to ehar it, not from him, or Vix, or anyone. I had blamed him, told him I wanted nothing to do with him and he was the reason I'd had my life ruined. Deep down I knew he was directly to blame, I was more to blame than he was, but I lashed out, and he let me. I pushed him away, and yet he's willing to come back, he's willing to hear me out one last time.
This was my last chance, it was a Hail Mary but maybe he has changed enough, maybe this can work. I'm under no illusions that it will be like before, but that's actually a good thing, it didn't work for either of us, we both needed this. The only question is whether he can forgive me for what I did.
That's the door bell, he's here.
This is my last chance.
I open the door and the California air hits my face, and then I look up and see that Travis Roberts has indeed arrived, he didn't change his mind, and he doesn't look angry! He looks down at me and takes off those Aviators and smiles, and it is a genuine smile. He then looks around behind me, before looking at me again.
Travis: Hello eD, I see my house is no longer a crack den.
That's right, it's me eD cASe, the Ex-Agent of 'The Most Influential Icon in Sports Entertainment this Millennia', the one who was at Travis' side for the best part of a decade, before I got addicted to drugs, stole his home and forced him to live in a Hotel, the reason Eden Morgan was able to manufacture her lies about him and almost derail his entire life. You didn't think this was from the perspective of a two dimensional plot device like CJ, did you?
I was surprised that he'd accepted my invitation, I knew I had to ask but I hadn't expected a positive response, and that had spurred me on to really put my heart in to this endeavour. I was going to turn myself around again, for too long I had allowed myself to be a victim, I used to be a successful and respected individual, and by saying he was willing to meet up, at least one more time, Travis Roberts could help me finally move on.
I'm not naive though, I am aware that he may not want to take an active role in my personal recovery, he may have accepted the invitation just so he could hammer the last nail into the coffin of our relationship. I wouldn't blame him, my actions have given him little reason to want to trust or help me, but at least I will know where I stand and that will help me plan my next move. My life will go on, I will drag myself up again with or without Travis Roberts.
The alarm on my phone makes me aware that I need to put the TV on, this is the biggest week of the year for Travis, and when I press on the remote his face greets me. He is sat across from the desk from Patrick Seaborn the host of 'Sportscene'.
Patrick: Welcome back to Sportscene, I am now joined by my guest for this segment, the UGWC Entertainment Professional, Travis Roberts. Welcome to 'Sportscene', Travis.
Travis: Thank you for having me.
Patrick: You're here to shill for UGWC's flagship event, Horizons is that right?
Travis chuckles at the remark, and it reminds me of how far he'd come in pretending to be amused by others. When we first met he could barely contain his disdain for others, now you'd think he enjoyed the company of most of the people he came into contact with, it almost seemed natural. You'd only be able to tell it was a facade if you knew him well, and only a few people do, luckily I am one of them.
Travis: I'd like to be able to say I'm here to raise your ratings, or to give you a shot at an award, but your correct as one half of the biggest Main Event in 2015, I've been sent here to remind everyone that there is going to be one hell of a show in the United Center on Monday, and if you're not one of those lucky enough to attend in person it is available for all subscribers to the UGWC network.
It was another indication of just how much he'd changed in the past year or so, the Travis Roberts of times past would never have attempted to sell anything but himself on a stage such as this. This change in attitude made me hopeful that enough time had passed that he would actually listen to me when he arrived, it gave me slim hope that we might be able to give it another go.
Patrick: You mention you are one half of the Main event, you'll be challenging the UGWC World Heavyweight Champion, 'Vain' Alan Wallace in an Iron Man match. For our viewers who are not followers of your industry, can you let them know what that means?
Travis: If you stopped watching UGWC, or have never tuned in, there has never been a better time to subscribe to the UGWC Network. I honestly can't think of a bigger match in UGWC's history than Alan Wallace and Travis Roberts fighting for 60 minutes for the right to call themselves the best in the business. Both of us were fallen Icons that returned a couple of years ago, and despite the doubters, despite our advancing years, we've battled to the top once more. Our match at Horizons will be the culmination of two epic comebacks against all adversity, not even the great Ancient Greek poet's could have crafted two such compelling odyssey's.
Patrick: And what exactly is a 60 minute Iron Man match?
Travis: The match will go on for an hour, and whoever scores the most pinfalls or submissions in that time limit will claim the victory. There couldn't be a more fitting match for the climax of our journeys, neither myself or Wallace are perfect, we have both been around long enough to have tasted the bitter sting of defeat on numerous occasions. However there are few in this business who are better at coming back from such disappointment. In short if you knock either of us down, you won't see anyone get back up quicker. In an Iron man match we'll determine who can keep bouncing back, and who will run out drive. I don't envisage either of us giving up until the very last second, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't a wild, unpredictable and dramatic ride along the way.
If I only learned one thing about the wrestling industry in my time with Travis it was that he was very astute at foreseeing future events. In the past he kept his opinions close to his chest, the fact he was being so open on a nationally televised show was yet more evidence that he had reached the end of his voyage of discovery and had become a different person from the one I had first met, the public and private Travis' might for the first time be one in the same.
Patrick: You seem to have a lot of respect for your opponent, does that kind of thing help when you step into such a big match?
Travis: You have to respect each and every person that makes it down the ramp into the ring, because each of them have got their by merit. To just make it onto the Horizons card ensures your legacy, and proves you are one of the elite in the business. To walk in to the Main Event of Horizons as the World Heavyweight Champion ensures you will go down as a Legend of the business. There are very few things that top that achievement, so of course I respect him.
Patrick: What could top it?
Travis: Walking out of the Main Event of Horizons as the World Heavyweight Champion.
I know that smile, that smile means he's talking about his goals, the goals he is determined to achieve. You can tell because his eyes glaze over and he's likely visualising the moment he gets exactly what he wants. Many things may have changed over the course of the last year, but his determination and his need to be the best is as strong as ever.
Patrick: Are you confident that you will be the person who achieves that?
Travis: I'm always confident of delivering when it matters, but that doesn't mean I always do. Confidence will only get you so far, the rest is left up to a mixture of your abilities, your opponent's abilities, circumstance and luck. I'm confident I can hold up my end of the bargain, but at the same time I've never faced an opponent like Alan.
This modesty thing might take a bit of getting used to.
Patrick: What makes Alan Wallace so different?
Travis: There's not just one thing, pat. For starters he's had one of the most memorable and entertaining UGWC World Heavyweight Championship reigns I've ever witnessed. Sure he may have had it briefly interrupted, but I don't think there has been a moment since he first won the Championship earlier this year that he hasn't made everyone aware that he is the best in the company. He has committed himself to the role of UGWC's flag bearer better than anyone in recent memory. When you become the UGWC World Heavyweight Champion you are expected to be the face of the company, the reliable constant, and he has excelled in that role. Alan Wallace exists to be World Heavyweight Champion, and people like that don't let go easily, believe me.
Patrick: And you haven't had a World Heavyweight Championship match in 6 years, are your ready for the pressure?
Travis: It has been a long time, yes, but I wasn't competing for a large part of that?
Patrick: But isn't it true you have been back for two and a half years now, and hasn't been becoming World Heavyweight Champion been your primary goal during that time? And isn't this your first realistic shot at it in that time?
I know that look, that's the look Travis gives when someone has struck a nerve, he tries to pretend it doesn't bother him, he'll try to dismiss it, but I know his tell, and I know that the interviewer just hit on a truth.
Travis: Sure. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that what I envisioned for my return two and a half years ago looked a lot more like what has happened to Alan Wallace. When I decided to make a comeback almost everything that has happened to him was what I had hoped for, but strangely enough I'm not bitter. The moment I saw his return, just a month before I had planned my own, from the very first of many third-person diatribes he went on, and the reaction he elicited from the locker room, I knew my plans would have to change.
Patrick: That must have been quite the setback.
Travis: At the time it really messed with my mind, it's hard for anyone who isn't part of this business to understand. We rely on how the public perceive us, no-one you see in UGWC is an actor, but there is certainly a great deal of exaggeration, because there is a constant pressure to be interesting and relevant. Normal doesn't cut it in this world. You have to find your niche, you have to find that one thing that makes you unique, the more successful you are at that the better chance you have to get noticed, to get yourself into the big leagues and to the very top. So when someone walks in, and on the surface they do many of the same things that you do and arguably better than you do them, it presents you with one hell of a decision.
I can imagine just how much that must have crushed him at the time, Travis defined himself by his industry persona, to see another person who threatened to make him look like a second rate knock off of them would have shattered the ego that had driven him for so long, he must have felt so vulnerable.
Patrick: So this match is somewhat symbolic to you.
Travis: You could certainly say that, when 'Vain' first appeared on the scene, I hated him for forcing me to change, now I can only thank him for compelling me to alter my direction. Had I not changed my outlook, had I not stepped out of my comfort zone, I likely would not have survived the events of the past year or so. From being violently discharged from the stable I had formed, to Eden Morgan's many attempts to add me to her growing list of eager and desperate nemesis', had I not made the alterations I would not have been headlining Horizons, that much is sure. So you could certainly call it symbolic, this change I have undergone started with Alan and will end with him at Horizons.
As far as I can tell he is being 100% genuine, and he doesn't even seem to be uncomfortable doing so. I saw the seeds of this happening, but in the absence I enforced upon myself from him I hadn't seen those seeds blossom into the flowers of his labor that are on display here. Whatever happens when he gets here later, whether he accepts me back in his life or not, I can't help but glow with pride for him right now.
Patrick: But will it be a happy ending?
Travis: Whatever the result 'The headliner' is back in business, I've earned the right to refer to myself that way again, and thats not going to be taken away from me even if I lose. Whatever I emerge victorious at Horizons, Travis Roberts will dominate the main event scene in 2016.
Patrick: Some would say you're already making excuses.
Travis: I'm just stating what I hionestly eblieve. This match will not make or break my career, what happens after whether I win or lose is the important part, that will be when you all know without a shadow of a doubt I'm back. But I can't predict the match, because I don't really know what I'm coming up against.
Patrick: You've spoken at great length about Alan Wallace so far tonight, how can you claim not to know what you're facing?
He smiles again, but this is a different smile to any before in this interview, this is a smile that suggests he thinks he's about to look good. It may be camouflaged, but the ego is still strong with him.
Travis: I've been speaking about the Alan Wallace that made it to Horizons as World Heavyweight Champion, the man who enters the ring is very different. 'Vain' has had tremendous success over the past 18 months, that can't be disputed, he has won pretty much everything put in front of him. But he's always done it with a grand support mechanism, whether it was The Puppet Masters or The Syndicate, Alan Wallace has always had allies to rely on. At Horizons, for the first time in his UGWC career, he has no-one.
Patrick: But wasn't that the case at Battleground, and he managed to win back the World Heavyweight Championship there.
Travis: That was a unique set of circumstances, no-one in that match had any allies because they had alienated everyone else. However while his three opponents were more concerned with destroying one another, all he wanted to do was take back his crown, and that focus was something they all lacked. The same cannot be said about Monday. It's been a long year for Alan, and he's made it this far relying on the help of others for some time, you have to ask how eager he is to continue into 2016 with nobody to help carry his burden? I have no doubt he has the ability and fortitude to do so, but whether he wants to is another question.
Partrick: You think he may have enlisted new reinforcements.
The trademark Travis shrug is broken out now, thats a real indicator of being asked something he really doesn't care about, it's not a distraction technique, he just couldn't care less. I know that look well, it was the most common response to any of my questions.
Travis: I doubt it, he's burned too many bridges at this point, but nothing would surprise me with Alan. I know he'll do whatever it takes to win. And don't think I am criticising his tactics, there was a time I used to work by the same rules. It was a far easier time, that much is for sure, but it's also why I know I can beat Alan, because it's taken me a lot of hard work and graft to get to this point, I've had no-one to rely on, most of those close to me have turned their backs and walked away, but that has prepared me for this moment. For sixty minutes on monday Alan and I will engage in one of the most challenging matches of our impressive careers to date, it will be a struggle the likes the industry has not seen in years, but what's an hour of struggle when you've been swimming against the tide for 18 months?
I turned my back on him, I am one of those that made this struggle harder for him, I hope he can forgive me, I hope he understands that I am weak and ashamed. I can take some warmth from the fact that no matter what happens it has turned out alright for him, I may have condemned myself to a life of misery, but at least he seems to have finally found himself as a result. At least I didn't destroy two lives with my actions.
Patrick: Well, that's almost all the time we have, thank you for joining me Travis, and good luck on Monday, do you have anything else to say to the viewers who are still undecided on tuning into Horizons.
Travis: This world can be full of depressing stories and tales of desperate futility, there are few moments in which we can truly escape the cycle of horror that engulfs the world. UGWC's Horizon's is one of those times that you can rely on others to brighten your world, and there is a chance you will see one of the biggest celebrations this industry has ever seen when Travis Roberts, 'The Blessed One', 'The Headliner', becomes a World Heavyweight Champion once again. It could be a 'Where were you when?' moment, but one thing you can be sure of, Hiorizons will not be depressing.
I switch the TV off, I know that the interview was pre-recorded and he's due here any moment now. It strikes me that despite my own misgivings that have festered about he industry for the past however many months, he managed to make me want to watch Horizons. It might be to see if he finally reaches the top again, to see if that accomplishment will erase the heavy guilt I feel for what I did to him. But I suspect part of me just wants to be part of the celebration.
I look around, everything is clean, everything is in its place for the first time in recent memory, it has taken a lot of elbow grease and hard work to get this place back to his high standards, but there was no other choice, he wouldn't believe I had changed if I didn't so it. A clean house may only be a small symbol, but if this place looked like it has done for the past months it would not have sent the right signals.
He'd offered me the chance to reconcile on more than one occasion, he'd even sent Vix to appeal to my better nature. But I wasn't in any state to ehar it, not from him, or Vix, or anyone. I had blamed him, told him I wanted nothing to do with him and he was the reason I'd had my life ruined. Deep down I knew he was directly to blame, I was more to blame than he was, but I lashed out, and he let me. I pushed him away, and yet he's willing to come back, he's willing to hear me out one last time.
This was my last chance, it was a Hail Mary but maybe he has changed enough, maybe this can work. I'm under no illusions that it will be like before, but that's actually a good thing, it didn't work for either of us, we both needed this. The only question is whether he can forgive me for what I did.
That's the door bell, he's here.
This is my last chance.
I open the door and the California air hits my face, and then I look up and see that Travis Roberts has indeed arrived, he didn't change his mind, and he doesn't look angry! He looks down at me and takes off those Aviators and smiles, and it is a genuine smile. He then looks around behind me, before looking at me again.
Travis: Hello eD, I see my house is no longer a crack den.
That's right, it's me eD cASe, the Ex-Agent of 'The Most Influential Icon in Sports Entertainment this Millennia', the one who was at Travis' side for the best part of a decade, before I got addicted to drugs, stole his home and forced him to live in a Hotel, the reason Eden Morgan was able to manufacture her lies about him and almost derail his entire life. You didn't think this was from the perspective of a two dimensional plot device like CJ, did you?