Destruction Ritual: No More Regrets (Re-Upload)

When the prep work is done, Ethan sits down and organizes the paper for the chanting at the end. Almost like he forgot something, Ethan walks over to a side table and checks on the coveralls, making sure they are all the right sizes. Safety is paramount when dealing with sharp objects and fire, of course.

When Judas Lasher and Lara Blackheart arrived... they did so by themselves, Just the two of them. There was no Alessandra, no Penelope, no Nostalgia Ultra. This was for official Dominion members only. The personal, bonding nature of this practically demanded it.

Lasher walked over, wearing his red and black ceremonial cloak overtop his favorite black suit and tie, his goat skull mask covering his face. At his side, Lara dressed modestly for once, wearing her own black cloak overtop simple jeans and a black hoodie. Seeing Ethan, Lara actually made a beeline for him, walking over to hug him softly, whispering in his ear. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Let’s both try to be more of a united front, ok?”

Joining the arrivals, Darius Crowley stepped into the light with his own cloak covering what could be presumed was his ring gear. The bonfire cast an eerie glow on his cold expression as he said nothing for the moment. He was there, just as he promised. Behind him, something enormous within the darkness moved. The shadows themselves, it seemed. No. It was just one half of the NFW Tag Team Champions - the monster known as Doomsday - emerging into the light like a terrifying behemoth summoned from the depths. He, too, remained silent, but was also dressed for the ceremony.

At Doomsday’s side was his tag team partner, the even more massive Belphegor. The fact that anyone could be more physically imposing than Doomsday was a terrifying thought, but somehow one that was true here. Behind them, for the first time in weeks, The Buzzsaw made his presence known, adjusting the black and red mask he wore, along with a cloak similar to the one worn by Judas.

Noticing everyone of import has arrived, Ethan stands and and hands out papers to those assembled. “Thank you for showing everyone. Before we begin, does anyone have anything they want to get off their chest, as a measure of healing?” He hugs Lara, deeply and nods as she whispers at her “I trust you.” is his soft reply.

“If no one else has anything to say, I want to say something to Lara than, before we begin.” Ethan continues, and lets her retract her hold on him for a moment so he can say his personal truth “There were times, under your leadership, where I have doubted you, There were times when I have felt the daughter of Doomsday, the sister to Nico Salvatore, could have led us better.. I was wrong, and I am sorry.” Opening the floor to anyone else who wants to get things off their chest before they begin, he waits.

Lara stepped forward, closing her eyes for a moment. "I want to feel insulted by what Ethan said. I do. But... I understand why he felt that way." She opened her eyes, taking a good look at each of her Dominion brethren, before continuing,

"I... haven't been the easiest person to get along with the last few weeks. My moods have been all over the place. And I've probably seemed impulsive in my decisions. But hopefully... you've all begun to see that there's a method to my madness. That every single thing I say or do has a goal and a purpose. I'm not perfect. But I am a good leader. I wish I could be the leader Judas wanted... but I can be the one he needs."

“If no one else has anything they want to get off their chest, It is now time to begin our ritual, as a measure of clearing the air, and no longer holding onto regret. On the papers I handed you explaining this, you will see your roles in this and I hope you all brought something to write regrets on. Who wants to go first?” Ethan asks.

It was here that Darius lifted his head, looking to Judas, Lara, Ethan, Doomsday, Belphegor and Buzzsaw. Everyone there, besides him, really. Those whom he saw as his superiors within the Dominion. “If I may?”

Nodding at the young man “The floor is yours brother” Ethan responded, the officiant of this ritual.

Darius nodded back, reaching into his robe to pull out what appeared to be a child’s toy. Some kind of toy soldier that looked like it had seen better days. “For the longest of years, I have held onto material possessions.” Darius said as he held up the toy soldier into the light of the bonfire. “Physical objects serve nothing but to distract an individual from the broader world before them. In destroying this...I will strengthen my resolve...and become a better servant to our cause.”

Letting the rest of them go first, explaining the object they brought, or if they decided to, writing a regret down on a piece of paper to destroy later Ethan remains calm and stoic.

"I have made both a career and a life out of never allowing myself to feel regret." Judas said, walking toward the fire. "But there is ONE thing I have always regretted. And now is the time to let go."

He stood as close as possible to the flames, letting the heat wash over his flesh, before pulling out what appeared to be a sonogram photo. "Years ago, when I was just starting my career, the woman I was with at the time became pregnant. She lost the child, and it locked away a part of my heart I thought I would never get back. But I will not allow anything to dampen my spirit or my fire any longer."

Belphegor stepped forward, seemingly nothing in his hands. His head bowed, he took a long, deep breath. "When I came to NFW... I was fooled into believing in a false prophet. A man who claimed to be there for us... I began to see through him when he decided the only way to make a name for himself was to attack the dead. And then... when I was injured... he never once checked up on me. Only Judas did that. I joined the Dominion... but a part of me could never let go fully of who I was under Abaddon. It was he who hid me under this mask. Who decided that being hidden made me somehow more terrifying."

He reached up, behind his head, and began to untie the skull-printed mask he'd always worn. Finally peeling the mask away, his face was now exposed, covered only by skull paint and partially by his long hair and beard.

Beside Belphegor, Doomsday peered into the fire. His broad shoulders rose and fell as he took a heavy breath and brought up his left hand. Pulling back the sleeve to his robe, he gazed down at the worn, tarnished gold band around his ring finger. Deep brown eyes stared hard at the jewelry around his scarred appendage. He lifted his gaze to the rest of the Dominion. “For years...I have considered myself something beyond human. Something more than man. Something...terrifying. To an extent, this has become true in the eyes of others. But not in my own.” He looked back down at the ring. “Family...is more important than anything else that exists around us. In one day’s time...I lost and gained family, years ago." His eyes, surrounded by black face paint under his mask, lifted up towards Judas. A man he had come to see as a brother. Those eyes then went back to his ring as he reached up and rotated it on his finger.

“What I do here...does not erase my love for Maria...the mother of my children. What it erases….” His voice turned from already low and deep, to a brooding snarl. “...is what remains of my humanity...so that I can convince myself...of the monster that I am.” Doomsday wrapped his hand around the ring and pulled until it came loose from his finger, leaving a pale, white mark where it once was. He lowered his hand and stared at his wedding band in his palm. “With this...Death incarnate...becomes stronger….”

Turning to Lara and Buzzsaw, Ethan smiles at them both. “Either of you want to go first?”

Buzzsaw, typically quiet as ever, reached into a burlap bag at his feet, and pulled out a championship title belt. An exact replica of the NFW TV Title belt.

He held it out, looking at it.

"For months, I defended the TV Title against anyone and everyone who tried to take it from me. But when I lost it... especially in the WAY that I lost it... it felt like everything I'd worked so hard for was ruined. NFW gave me this as a trophy. Something to remember my "history-making run" by. It became an albatross around my neck. Everytime I looked at it, I would think of my failure at WrestleWar, and sink further into my own head."

His voice picked up bass then, a fire seemingly lit inside him to rival the one they all stood around.

"I must let go of the past. And let go of any failure.... and focus on what I was brought here to do. Destroy."

Knowing that all eyes were on her, to see what she would do and how she would handle it, Lara steeled herself, before taking her cloak off, and taking something from inside of it. Putting the cloak back on, she held up what had been concealed under the robe: the old outfit she wrestled in as part of Small But Mighty.

"Since back when we dated, Mia Hayashi always had... some kind of pull over me. And when she turned on me last year, it shattered me. And when she apologized, and wanted to be pals again... I started feeling it again. And a big part of me wanted to be with her again. Had I not found Penelope... I very well might have. But two weeks ago... I began the process of purging that bitch from my life like the cancer that she is. And now... I finish the process, by sacrificing the most cherished reminder I have of our time together."

“Guess I am last,“ Ethan says, looking at everyone assembled “I will admit I have many regrets in live. I will admit that I fight with the passion I do, because of them. To me the keyword is family. Even family by choice, which is all of you, are family. To that end, I long for a day when all three Salvatore can fight together, because family. I know that day is not today, but I am going to work towards it, because family, unless told otherwise. My regret though. “ he pulls out a piece of flowered fabric “This is a piece of my mother’s dress, the night I was rescued by Judas from a pig of a man”

“Now is the time to recite our incantation”

(All Chanting)

"These were things that I held in my hands
These were things that belonged to me
These were things that I held in my heart
These were things that have meaning to me
These things are not dead, because they never carried life
But I gave these things life, because they have carried me

My fear
My secrets
My tears
My blood
My devotion
My hate
My forgiveness
My pain
My pleasure
My love
My disdain

I am the creator of life in these things
For without me, they would not be
And people would seek to profit off what I give
With no mutual heart given back to me
We emancipate ourselves from this material slavery


We liberate ourselves from this endless cycle
Of voids filled with unnecessary greed
I fill my voids with love and compassion
I fill my voids with clarity
I fill my void with the beauty that surrounds me


Together we raise our arms and unshackle ourselves from the control these things have over us
Together we raise our hammers and daggers, and with them pierce the heart of that control


I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS

I DO NOT BELONG TO THESE THINGS
THESE THINGS BELONG TO ME"

“Now that we have released ourselves from these material possessions, we must destroy them in any matter you see fit. Caution, I have supplied coveralls and proper safety equipment if you choose to use any of the hamers and the like.“

He turns and burns the dress from his mother, releasing all the pain and anguish of not being man enough to help her defeat the beast. The beast that was his sperm donor.

Darius turned the toy soldier in his hand, examining it with an emotionless look on his face before tossing it into the bonfire.

Across from him, Doomsday opened his hand and stared at the ring in his palm. As his dark eyes gazed down at it, he could see her face in his mind. The day they slipped these rings on one another’s hands. And the day he held her hand in the hospital, pleading for her to wake up from her overdose. A heavy sigh escaped the masked man as he extended his arm and slowly tipped his hand, letting the gold band fall into the fire.

With an unnervingly stoic expression, Judas held the photo out, letting it fall into the flames. The child he would never have finally was losing it's hold over him, as he instead focused on his new love, on his goddaughter, and on the young man who now called him "father".

Buzzsaw took the title belt over to where a heavy sledgehammer rested, and dropped the belt on the ground. Grabbing the hammer, he let out a primal, animal scream as he began to smash the belt into an unrecognizable heap of metal and leather, each blow freeing him more and more from the heavy expectations he'd weighed himself down with.

Belphegor sneered at the mask he held in his hand, looking at it as the physical manifestation of any influence Abaddon may have still had in his life, before simply tossing it into the fire like so much rubbish. Never again would he hide himself behind a mask.

With a slightly "off", detached look in her eyes, Lara gazed at the schoolgirl outfit she held in her arms, before giving herself a confident nod, and dropping it into the bonfire. She had Penelope now. She had The Dominion. She wasn't totally right in the head, and part of her knew it... but one thing she was sure about was that she would never let herself be held down by her heart again.


“With that ladies and gentlemen, our ritual has concluded, feel free to cry, scream, get high, do whatever it is your new heart desires… With that said. Lara can we chat a moment?” Ethan asks, looking at her, with eyes that are welling with tears he is just now letting go, because family.

Blinking in slight surprise, Lara merely nodded, before walking over to him, a bit away from everyone else. While she didn’t quite feel the “family” connection in the beginning, she definitely did now, especially considering that, while an only child, she literally felt as though she was walking over to speak to her brother. “Hey. What’s up, Ethan?”

“I know this is a business, and I know you have to do what you have to do, but attacking Adrianna through Mia, is dirty pool. You have separated another family, as real as ours, and that’s not fair to Nico or Matteo. I just ask that you keep it professional, moving forward. For me, please? Imagine how strong we could be with her by our side, not at your throat. Imagine how happy her old man would be, now that he has burned the ring he was wed in. Just imagine."

"Ethan..." Lara began, before stopping herself and sighing. "I understand your point. And... to a degree, I already regret some of what I said. The mind games about Mia weren't much better than what the two of them did to me with my father."

She narrowed her eyes then, thinking back to that. "As for having her with us... I don't see it, Ethan. I don't. Adrianna and Mia disrespected my father's memory, and did it gleefully. Just because they both said 'sorry', it doesn't make it go away, and it sure as hell doesn't make me forgive them. Not a day goes by that I don't consider offing myself, just to be with him again.... and they thought it was amusing to mock his death. I'll stop using Adrianna's love for Mia against her. But I can't and WON'T forgive either of them."

“Use that anger and passion to destroy her, especially for how she has treated you. The love for your father is important, and I know I am not really family to you, but if you need an ear to listen, I am here and should be the first one to come to. I think I can reconcile the two of you, if I do it right. It will take a while, but a goal I want to work for, because Matteo, because family. For me, it is not a buzzword. Unless you say otherwise, of course.“

"You're wrong. You are family to me. You're my brother, Ethan. I've never had ANYONE who was so fast to defend me or to have my back the way you do." She paused, giving a loud, deep sigh, before giving in a little. "And that's the one, solitary reason I'll leave the door open on what you're asking for. I hate them both. I wish nothing less than total annihilation on them both. But if you think you can do it? More power to you."