The Grey

Ace adjusted the title on her shoulder, clad in a Rush shirt and sweat pants, having not yet changed into her ring gear, walking the halls backstage at the special arena AFW had rented for the nights events. There was many things she should have been doing. Stretching, mentally preparing, to ensure she was ready for her ladder match tonight.


But that was still a couple hours away, and she had something she had too do first, something that was important to her.

She stopped as she reached her location, gulping before she nervously reached out and knocked on the door of the woman she had come to visit.

She shouldn't have been nervous, she had met this woman before and knew her to be friendly. But this was different. This woman was preparing to go to war, and really didn't need the interruption, but Ace had something she felt she needed to say before hand.

Patiently, she waited for Frictions World Champ to open her dressing room door.

Angel lay on the floor of the private room she had been given for the AFW's time in the foreign arena. Her arms and her legs were sprawled out to her sides, the Latina lying on her back, her eyes closed. She was relaxing. It was something of a tradition for her, just spreading out like this and letting her entire body relax before making her preparations for her matches. She didn't move, other then the slow, steady rising and falling of her chest as she slowly breathed in, and out, and in, and out.

It felt nice. It felt good.

She was completely lost in her thoughts, lost deep within herself, when she heard the suddenly, sharp knocking on her door. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, the Latina's face scrunching up in confusion. Who the hell was bothering her at a time like this, knowing what she had ahead of her tonight?

"Come in?" she called out. "Door's unlocked." She closed her eyes again, waiting for whoever it was to let themselves in. She certainly wasn't going to get up and open the door. If someone wanted to bother her, they could let themselves in.

Haley sighed and opened the door, stepping in an shutting it behind her, looking around for a second, before seeing her on the floor for some reason.

"Angel? It's uh...Haley...You know, Silver Ace? We met that night at karaoke bar a few months ago...remember?"

She asked, not sure if she would or not. It was a while ago, and Ace had kinda stumbled out drunk and had....other adventures that night. She hoped she remembered, or else this might be more awkward then she intended.

Angel raised an eyebrow as Ace stepped into the room, and slowly began to sit up, turning to face her, folding her legs beneath herself. She tilted her head up towards her fellow champion, and smiled at her.

"Of course I know you, chica. Everyone knows our big bad Entropy champ."

She paused, suddenly wondering why Ace was here at her locker room.

"So...what's up? Didn't expect to see you of all people knocking on my door tonight, chica."

Ace blushed again, rubbing the Shiny on her shoulder, while eyeing the Big Shiny in Angel's dressing room. Perhaps one day...

Shaking that thought from her head, she smiled back at the champ.

"Heh, well I dunno about big and bad exactly. I've had some mixed luck, but things have been picking up lately. Anyway...The uh,...the thing is Champ...I'm actually a really big fan....and I was kinda hoping you might...well..."

Ace blushed again, moving the belt off her shoulder to reveal a shirt folded under it, pulling the shirt out and a marker out of her pocket.

"Maybe, if you got time you could..heh....sign my shirt?"

She finally asked, unfolding the shirt to reveal it was, in fact, one of Angels T-shirts, with a chibi Angel on the front, her first shirt.

Angel laughed, and shook her head, reaching up to pull the shirt out of Ace's hand, then reaching for her marker. "I've got time, chica," she teased, looking up at Ace with a wink and a grin. She rolled the shirt out in front of her on the floor, looking over it as she uncapped the marker, feeling a rush of nostalgia run through her. She could still remember when she first saw the shirt on sale, and how proud she had felt for how far she had come.

That was a long, long time ago though.

She reached down with the marker, then stole a glance back up at Ace. "So...should I make it out to you, or just sign my name, or what?"

"Oh...however you like, up to you..."

Ace said, her face still red, fingers twiddling, making it obvious she had something else to say that she was having trouble getting out.

Finally she took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Listen...um..I dunno how to say this, but...I'm uh...I'm probably your biggest fan. I've been watching you for a long time..."

Ace's eyes widened, letting out a cute "EEP!" as she waved both hands frantically, realizing her mistake.

"I-I don't mean like, spying on you or anything creepy like that! I mean I uh...um...maybe I should start over?"

Angel gave Ace a nod, and looked back at the shirt, reaching towards it with the marker again. She quickly scribbled her name in big, blocky letters, doodling a pair of angel wings after it, then capped the marker and looked back up at the Entropy champ as she began to speak again. She couldn't help but smile at Ace's nervousness, and when the younger girl began to freak out, she let out another laugh, and started to rise up to her feet, looking up at Ace with another friendly smile.

"Calm down, chica. You're not being creepy or anything." She shook her head, and turned away, stepping towards a chair in the room and taking a seat in it, turning it to look back towards Ace, slowly folding one of her infamous legs over the other.

"But if you want to start over, go ahead. I'm listening."

Ace calmed herself down, eyeing Angels legs a little before taking another deep breath.

"Ok so....what I meant was...When I started in wrestling, I spent some time in canada, then the states, then I spent a year down in Mexico. While I was there, a lot of the other girls watched AFW, even the guy I trained and tagged with, Silver King, watched Friction.

Anyway, so one day after training, I get invited to join some of the other girls at one of their houses to watch Summer Splash...and the main event was your match with Akashi. Your pretty famous down there, obviously, so they rooted for you. I watched as Akashi kept hitting you, and you just kept getting back up each time...I uh...Well..I became a fan of yours that day."

Ace blushed, but continued.

"Since then, I've watched AFW every chance I can, and I always try to catch your matches. I...well...you were just...you were a big inspiration on me. Even when you were down, you just kept fighting and getting back up, and I looked up to that a lot. Every match, every title shot, you just never backed down, and I learned from it. It helped me actually, get through some of the tougher times of my career....I just thought, "What would Angel do?" and kept on fighting..."

Ace raised her head, looking Angel eye to eye.

"Your my idol. I'm here today, with this belt, because of you...and I wanna say:...Thank You..."

A light blush crossed Angel's face, at the sound of Ace's words. She had been praised and flattered before, but never like this. It was almost humbling, in a way.

She smiled at Ace, meeting her gaze as the girl continued on, the Latina paying attention and taking in everything she said. When Ace finally finished, she stared at her for a moment, then laughed again, before letting out a groan and tilting her head backwards, looking up towards the ceiling.

"Aw, come on, chica! Why'd you have to go and say all that, huh?"

She laughed again, shaking her head and looking back towards the silver-haired girl. "Sorry. I'm not meaning to laugh, it's just...you know. I've gotten a lot of praise and shit from people over the years, but this is the first time it's really sounded sincere." She shook her head again, and sighed, looking away from Ace for a moment.

"So you really think that much of me, huh?"