One Last Dance

In Promo by Pyre

I love to dance.

Not that ballroom shit, but real dancing. Dark rooms, hot lights, sweat dripping between two people locked in an eternal battle of wits.

No words. Just action.

Just dance.

My favorite partner is this girl named Leah. When the lights get real low, she’s the one I’m looking for. When we lock arms and eyes, I can feel her hunger, her loyalty. She knows that I’lll take care of her, and I know that with her it’s as easy as pie.

So we dance.

Over and over again, we grind against one another, driven forward by the beat. It’s a competition, a war of attrition with everyone else out there.

But we outlast them all.

At the end of the night, it’s just Leah and I, covered in sweat but filled with victory. The intensity only grows with intensity. It’s a battle between us now.

Who will crack first?

Leah. Every single time.

And every single goddamned time, I lift her back up. Even though she fell at my feet, we got there together, and we’ll leave together.

But she knows the same thing I do.

Without me, she is nothing.

Ether, we’ve been dancing this dance for a long time now.

The real shit, too. Just me and you, locked up in the middle of the ring. Giving all that we have on the mat, locked into an eternal battle.

It’s on sight with you and me.

And we do it real good. When that bell rings, I see right through you. You hunger for respect, for your friends to value your undying loyalty to them.

But when you’re with me, it goes away. You know that when we fight, I’ll get you to the finish line.

Easy as pie.

For months now, we’ve fought time and time again, our focus concentrated solely on one another.

But that wasn’t true was it. Our focus was on the world around us. We were in competition with them. We both had something to prove.

And we outlasted all of them, didn’t we?

When it came to the end, it was me and you on that ladder at Invasion. The battle was between us.

And just like Leah, Ether, you cracked first. You fell at my feet. I took the briefcase as my prize. But I lifted you back up again.

Because I need you for one last dance.

So let’s do it. It’s July fucking 4th, and we’re going to dance.

One more time.

Me and you. All of our blood, sweat, and our tears. Mixed together in one potent cocktail of pain.

The lights are just that much brighter, burning in effigy to our dance. This time, it’s all on the line.

You’re my new favorite dance partner, Ether, but the end will be the same as it always is. You will fall, except this time I won’t pick you back up.

Because there won’t be anything left of you.

In the end, the world will know the same truth you’ve always known.

You can’t beat me. You never have, and never will.

Because without me…

You are nothing.