Post by Ana Somnia on Apr 14, 2022 13:55:13 GMT -5
XI.
“KILL TEAM: EPILOGUE/EPITAPH”
ANASTASIA WESTEN’S CAR; ANASTASIA WESTEN’S CONDO.
MIAMI, FLORIDA.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12th.
10:47 a.m.
“KILL TEAM: EPILOGUE/EPITAPH”
ANASTASIA WESTEN’S CAR; ANASTASIA WESTEN’S CONDO.
MIAMI, FLORIDA.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12th.
10:47 a.m.
——Anastasia Westen’s 7:00am flight out of Chicago lasted three hours, during which she was entirely unable to sleep. The thoughts running rampant in her mind felt like poisoned blood coursing through her veins; it made her skin crawl for the entire duration of the flight. Unsurprisingly, Westen wore this uncomfortability on her face as she waited for her bag and even more as she waited for her younger sister, Kira Westen, to arrive to pick her up from the airport here in Miami.
——When Ana’s own blood-red Aurus Senat pulls to the curb and a blonde woman hastens out of the driver’s side to hug Westen, the visible physical manifestations of her inner turmoil dissipate. The taut frame of her sister Kira wrapping around her in this embrace eases the tension in the shoulders of the older of the two, allowing them to slowly descend from their previous position shrugged toward her ears.
——“I know you have been busy,” says Kira. “But it’s been too long… You should know— big fan of car.”
——Ana rolls her eyes, but without an ounce of disdain therein.
——“It has,” agrees Ana. “And this is no surprise to me, младшая сестра. You can drive us back, too, if this is what you would like.”
——Kira pulls herself away from the embrace and looks up at Ana with a wide smile and doe eyes.
——“Da!” she exclaims excitedly before nodding and circumnavigating the car to return to the driver’s side door, where she looks across the roof at Ana. “Are you coming?”
——With an entertained grin, Ana nods and ventures to the trunk to throw her back inside. Next, she rounds to the passenger-side door, opening it so she can swing down into the shotgun seat.
——After pushing her seatbelt into place, Kira pulls away from the curb and Ana sighs. She doesn’t even realize she’s doing it, but she becomes acutely aware when she feels her sister’s gaze flicking back and forth between the road ahead and Ana.
——“Big win last night, нет?” Kira asks, though Ana believes it to be a rhetorical question. “Papa and I, we watched your fight together. It was great time… for you, too, I imagine.”
——“It was,” Ana confirms. “I will be fighting again next Monday. Philadelphia. You should come, see fight up close and personal.”
——“I would love to do this! You can get us tickets?”
——“You do not need tickets. You are my family.”
——Kira again takes her eyes off of the road to look at her sister with a smirk. Ana, however, remains focused on the road ahead.
——“Speaking of family,” says Kira somewhat softly. “There is someone I would like for you to meet, большая сестра. Maybe he can come to see you fight, too? Maybe you meet him then?”
——“How is this speaking of family?” asks Ana, briefly flicking a glance over to her sister.
——“Because he is going to be family!”
——Kira holds the steering wheel with her left hand so she can display her right hand to show her sister the ring on her finger.
——“I am getting MARRIED, большая сестра! Can you believe this? Married!”
——Ana’s eyes drift down to the massive rock on Kira’s ring finger before they flick back up to the road ahead, her focus on it now more intent. Simply put, she doesn’t know how to react. Kira is six years her junior and already betrothed. Ana, though, knows she cannot just sit here and not say something— this is a momentous life event for Kira. The first of the three siblings to get engaged means it’s probably also a momentous life event for their father, the red-blooded Texan waiting back at Ana’s condo to help them pack it up.
——“This is big news,” she says finally. “And this is even bigger rock. I am happy for you, младшая сестра. I will wait to be proud of you until I have chance to meet him.”
——Kira playfully punches Ana in the shoulder, both sisters chuckling at Ana’s remark. When Kira reunites her focus with the task at hand of driving, she continues on.
——“I would have brought him, had him help us pack but I did not think this was right moment. This has to be exhausting for you already, нет?”
——Slowly, Ana draws a deep breath through her nose. She exhales just as slow before reaching up and rubbing the back of her neck in contemplation.
——“I would much rather keep moving,” explains Ana. “I do not have luxury of time for exhaustion right now.”
——Unsurprisingly, this furrows Kira’s brow. She mirrors her sister’s focus, hoping it might make her more comfortable discussing what’s bothering her. At the same time, she feels a twinge of regret for having shared her happy romantic news considering what she considers the real reason behind her sister’s moving out of her condominium, one in which she has lived for years. More importantly, it’s one she shared with Sara Daniels.
——“Well,” she says. “I guess I am just glad you have luxury of time for family right now. Papa has been so excited to see you. Myself as well, of course. Mama wishes she could be here as well; she asked me to tell you this.”
——“I do not mind,” she says. “It will be good to see two— and I can always see mama another time. Have you heard from C.J.?”
——Kira shakes her head no.
——“I have not,” she says. “You are right. It will be good to have some of family together— better than no family together, нет?”
——Anastasia nods without a verbal response. Thinking of her family, she drifts off into sleep, where she remains until mere moments prior to approaching the curb outside her condo, the timing occurring as if Ana felt herself nearing the place she has called home for half a decade. She nods a half-apology, half-thank-you for having fallen asleep and not having been disturbed after reawakening.
——Once they arrive at the aforementioned curb, Ana reaches down to unbuckle her seatbelt. Kira, however, catches Ana’s hand as she pulls it back, taking it into both of hers.
——“Before we go inside,” she says. “There is something I would like to ask you, большая сестра.”
——“Go ahead,” responds Ana.
——“I know you are busy woman. I get it, I do. You might not be this successful if you were not this committed. I have always admired this in you, ‘Stasia. But I am asking you to please... find luxury of time to come to wedding, da? Come to wedding and stand with me? Come to wedding and be my фрейлина?”
——Ana smirks at her younger sister before taking her into an embrace across the center console.
——“Of course I will,” she says. “Thank you for asking me this, младшая сестра. I needed this.”
——They remain wound in their embrace for a moment or two longer before separating and vacating the vehicle. Having heard the car pull up and the door close through the open window on the second story, their father, Clark Westen, greets them at the base of the stairs up to the door to Ana’s condo.
——“Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he chuckles, opening his arms to invite Ana in for a hug. “I wouldn’t’ve guessed ya’ fought last night by lookin’ at ya’. Come ‘ere an’ give your old man a hug, won’t ya’?”
——Ana pulls her suitcase out of the trunk of her car, shuts the trunk, and places the bag on the curb before walking over and embracing her father for the first time in nearly a calendar year. Clark presses his cheek into the top of Ana’s head as he holds her tight. Once they pull apart from one another, Clark picks up her suitcase and carries it up the stairs behind his daughters.
——Once inside, it becomes clear to Ana how little is left to do. Clark and Kira had spent the majority of the last two or three days packing things up and labeling them for her. When this realization sets in and she takes in the progress they’ve made, she is barely able to suppress the emotion welling up within. Instead of allowing her grateful affection to spill out, she merely takes a deep breath, sighs, and looks at her sister and father with a smile.
——“My comrade Sheridan would be proud of your efficiency,” she says. “Thank you for this.”
——“Ain’t all that much left to do ‘round here,” explains Clark, rubbing the back of his neck. “I figure we get some packin’ done, eat somethin’ for an early lunch, finish packin’, an’ hit the road. Way I see it? We’re on our way to Denver by one or two— latest.”
——Ana and Kira nod in silent agreement, setting off to settle in and get to work. Kira heads downstairs to take care of what little work remains on the ground floor while Anastasia immediately heads to her bedroom. For the most part, her family had opted for cautious respect for privacy and left most of her room for her to deal with herself. When she sees this, she is even more appreciative of their efforts.
——Slowly but surely, Ana boxes things up, taping them shut for travel. Each grating, scraping sound of packing tape peeling from the roll snaps Ana out of the autopilot on which she spends the first hour of work. Similarly, every time Ana steps out of the privacy of her bedroom to place a freshly packed box with the rest to head down to the moving van, her father notices the increasing severity in her demeanor.
——He can easily see through her expertly crafted façade; in fact, he’s always been able to do so. At first, he leaves it alone. He focuses on his own packing efforts while allowing his daughter to marinate in her thoughts on her own for the time being. Clark expects Ana would appreciate this decision and he would be proven correct were Ana to be made aware of it.
——When Ana opens the door to the walk-in closet, she discovers the reason her father and sister had not continued packing up her bedroom. The hangers are all bare save for a handful of tops and a jacket. Below these sit a couple pairs of boots. None of it belongs to Ana.
——Blonde hair fills Ana’s vision. It’s hers. Sara’s. It’s not actually there, but Ana can see it vividly all the same. She longs to reach out and feel it between her fingers. Her typically uncontested will pales in comparison to the haunting sensation of Sara’s laugh permeating her mind, piercing her eardrums and causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up on end. She now tries to close her eyes, squeezing them shut in hopes of fending off the memories, so Sara’s smile sears itself into the back of her eyelids.
——This is exactly why she is leaving what is no longer her home. For the majority of the last three years, it was their home. Suddenly, flashes of memories of the two corporealize over every inch of the condo around her that she looks at. When the beginning to the last memory they shared in the condo dances upon her eyes, Ana reaches out and snatches the clothing off of the hangers, tossing them haphazardly into a box, followed closely by the boots. Westen tapes this box shut with greater haste.
——She storms past the stacked boxes by the door and carries this one completely out of the building. Clark watches her and makes the executive decision to go back on his earlier verdict. Kira arrives with the last box from the ground floor and furrows her brow at the open door. Puzzled, she turns to Clark, who sighs and pulls out his wallet. He hands her a credit card and gestures to the door with his head.
——“You mind goin’ an’ pickin’ up lunch?” he asks. “That barbecue place we went to last time we were ‘round these parts is callin’ our name right ‘bout now. We’ll, uh… We’ll look at the menu while you’re headin’ on over, an’ you shoot me a text when you get there. Sound good, sweetheart?”
——“Let me guess,” she says. “Don’t tell mama?”
——“That’s my girl!”
——Chuckling, Kira takes the credit card and prances out the door, heading down to drive Ana’s car again. She passes Ana on the older sibling’s way back from tossing the box she had been holding into a dumpster around the corner.
——“If you spill anything,” she says. “You will wish had not.”
——Ana heads back up the stairs as Kira rolls her eyes and hops into the driver’s seat. Kira pulls away from the curb as Ana closes the door to the condo behind her, allowing her eyes to rest on the boxes mounting in number just inside. She sighs and heads back to her bedroom, where she finds Clark sitting on the foot of her bed, arms folded in front of his chest and eyes staring down at the floor just past his feet, which are crossed over one another at the ankle.
——“Would you mind terribly sittin’ next to me for a moment?” he asks. “I wanna’ talk to ya’ ‘bout somethin’. I promised mama I wasn’t gonna’ say nothin’ ‘bout it, but I ain’t sittin’ here an’ watchin’ ya’ eat away at yourself like this for a minute more, y’hear? Sit with me a minute, Anastasia, will ya’?”
——Ordinarily, Ana appreciates her father’s peculiar, roundabout way of speaking, but his beating around the push only makes her feel tense at the moment. Nonetheless, she nods quietly and takes a seat at the foot of the bed beside him. Her eyes naturally drift to the same general spot her father had been staring at when she had walked in a moment prior.
——“I ain’t expectin’ you to say much,” he explains. “Can’t say as I blame ya’ in that regard. That bein’ said, I ain’t gonna’ be offended if you ain’t tryin’ to hear what I have to say. I wouldn’t blame ya’ in that regard either. Sound fair?”
——Ana nods silently again.
——“You know I ain’t ever been one to stick my nose in your private life,” he continues. “I’ve trusted ya’ to do what was best for yourself your whole life. Your mama an’ I, we raised ya’ to look out for yourself an’ the ones ya’ care ‘bout. An’ just like everythin’ else you’ve done in your life, you became better’n anyone else on Earth at doin’ it. I’ve been nothin’ but proud of ya’ since the day you first looked up at me, Anastasia— but never more’n I have these last few years.
——“For a few years there, you were happy with that Shawn fella’, even with Syd or Amelia. At least, I think ya’ were. When you an’ Sara got together, though? That might be the happiest I’ve ever seen ya’, save for when you’re in some ring or cage beatin’ some poor girl’s face in. I ain’t ever seen ya’ look at someone the way ya’ looked at that girl. Reminded me a bit of the way people say I look at your mama. So it ain’t work out. The point of my bringin’ up the rest of ‘em, of bringin’ up Sara, even, it wasn’t to remind ya’ of shit not workin’ out. The point is to remind ya’ that you were able to be happy with each an’ every one of ‘em. Hell, ya’ might say you were happy without each an’ every one of ‘em… Because they ain’t the source of your happiness, Anastasia. They can’t be because you gotta’ be.
——“As long as you’re tried an’ true to that, as long as ya’ protect that? There ain’t another soul in the ‘verse who can take it from ya’. Sara tried to take it from ya’, Ana. Sure as hell saw that with my own two eyes when she came after ya’ like she did. But you ain’t let ‘er, an’ ya’ wanna’ know why? Because you’re the strongest woman on God’s green Earth, that’s for sure an’ for certain. What I’m gettin’ at? Is that I can see she’s still gnawin’ away at’cha’ an’ quite frankly I wasn’t willin’ to watch it go on another minute more. I’m hopin’ it’s just this place keepin’ ya’ up in that head of yours right now… She ain’t your future, girl. You are.”
——“I know this,” Ana finally says. “But sometimes it is… difficult to see future without her in it. I know there is future without her in it, but I have not yet seen it. I have spent three years building future with her… three years building future with her here. This place, it… It has been home… but it has not been my... home. It has been our home. To speak truth, though, I thought… thought this would work. I did. I really did. I never lied about that. I wanted it to work out. But now? Without her to build future with here, it will never be my home. It could never be my home. This means I have taken what I needed from this city... I have no future in this place. My future, it begins in Denver.”
——“I get that ya’ want a change,” her father says. “Much like the rest, I can’t blame ya’ for that. But ain’t this… ain’t this a bit much? This is a whole lotta’ change all at once, ain’t it? Movin’ W.C.A. on up an’ over to Denver makes sense to me. Denver’s a big sports city, ‘specially when it pertains to combat sports… An’ I even understand movin’ to Denver, yourself! VICTORY Pro’s based there, the Forge. With W.C.A. makin’ the move, it’s hardly surprisin’ you’re headin’ on up there. That bein’ said, though? You know you ain’t gotta’ sell this place, right? Movin’ out ain’t necessitate sellin’ it. Next time you’re ‘round these parts, wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere to stay you ain’t gotta’ spend your hard-earned money on? Maybe you really settled on into that nomad life, I don’t know.”
——“I must,” Ana answers, her visage contorting into a plagued grimace. “Everywhere I look in this city? Everywhere I look in this place? Everywhere I look, I see her. I cannot do… what I do... if I am haunted. I realized, papa… Brooks was right. I am… surrounded by ghosts. I thought I had suffered what I needed to suffer, learned what I needed to learn. But I was mistaken. Even if I am preoccupied with big fights, travel… distracted by something, someone new and exciting... this place cannot offer me any more than it has already given to me.”
——“You’re talkin’ ‘bout that pretty little blonde thing, ain’t ya’?” interjects Clark. “Was wonderin’ if you’d be bringin’ ‘er up.”
——Ana furrows her brow at her father, puzzled as to how he knew about Lydia until she remembers he’d watched the show last night with her sister. She hesitates initially, but winds up nodding in confirmation anyway.
——“I do not know this feeling,” she continues. “This feeling of conflict within myself. I do not like it. There is no weaker enemy than one at war with self. It has not been so long since end of Dani and me. Is this… is this guilt? It feels too… exposed. Vulnerable. I do not like this, whatever this is. So I cannot continue surrounding myself with ghosts. I need to leave Miami, papa. Not only this; I need to leave it dead and buried in past. I have outlived its purpose and for better or for worse, I have outgrown woman I was here.”
——Clark sits there, stoic, for a moment. He contemplates what his daughter has said before he replies.
——“Time don’t work the way we want it to,” he says. “But it does heal all wounds, Anastasia. You know your mama is livin’ proof of that. Startin’ new sounds like it’s gonna’ help ya’, darlin’— an’ if you think there’s somethin’ there with this new girl? If you think somethin’ could be there with this new girl? Ain’t ya’ owe it to yourself to at least give it a try? So startin’ new, uh, with someone new? That might help ya’, too. At the end of the day, though, whatever ya’ end up decidin’, your mama an’ I are gonna’ support ya’. Always have an’ always will, baby girl. If you’re happy, we’re happy.”
——Clark wraps his arms around Ana, holding her tight in a hug. At first, Ana’s arms do not move, she merely contemplates the dialogue they have shared. Soon, however, her arms reach up and wrap around her father in an embrace as well. They can hear the door swing open and then slam shut from the other room and separate. Ana draws a deep breath through her nose as Clark rises to his feet and ventures in the general direction of the food, the scent of which wafts into the bedroom. He stops at the threshold of the room and turns back to Ana.
——“I love ya’, kid,” he says with a grin. “An’ you best not forget it. We’ll be out here when you’re ready.”
——Nodding briefly, Clark then turns around and vacates the room to give Ana a moment to process and compose herself. She runs her hand back through her hair and hooks it around the back of her neck while she stares at the same spot she had found her father staring at when she walked in. After she drops her hand from its perch around her neck, she cocks her head sharply to either side to crack her neck on both sides.
——When she finally arrives in the next room, she discovers her father and sister have not begun eating their meals.
——“You did not have to wait,” she says. “Let us eat; there is not much left to do and I would like to get on road soon.”
——Unsurprisingly, no one is opposed to digging in. They chat as they eat, which, admittedly, prolongs the process, but it is clear they have not seen one another in quite some time and enjoy the chance to catch up like this. Clark volunteers to dispose of what remains once they are finished and heads outside with everything tied up neatly in a single bag. Ana brings Kira into her bedroom to help her take care of what is left to deal with there while their father is outside, prompting him to finish packing the kitchen when he returns inside.
——It takes them no more than another forty-five minutes to box everything else up and unite said box with the others near the door. It’s maybe ten, fifteen minutes of the three transferring the boxes down the stairs and into the moving van and Ana’s car. By the end, all three have worked up a fair sweat in the Miami sun. Clark and Kira prepare their areas in the front seat of the van while Ana heads back up the stairs and into the condo.
——She stands just inside the doorway, the aforementioned sun shining in from behind her to cast her silhouette on the floor before her. Her eyes slowly glide from one side of the empty condo to the other, her breathing deep, silent, and slow. Memories shriek through her mind— Yoshino Nakano bringing the fight literally to her doorstep, Jon Jrygin breaking in and getting himself deported, the drunken ranting of what was arguably the most candid promo of her career by the pool outside.
——Three years of memories with Sara Daniels rip through her thoughts at the pace of a bullet next, though, to her, it feels glacial. She takes one final, deep breath before nodding and narrowing her eyes below a determined, furrowed brow. Ana then turns around and walks out of the condo for the final time. She locks the door behind her and takes her time descending the stairs, allowing her hand to slowly slide down the railing of said stairs. After hugging both her father and sister at once, Ana then nods to them and smirks.
——“Thank you for this,” she says. “I will see you for dinner?”
——Clark nods and Kira smiles before hugging Ana again. The tall Texan man climbs into the driver’s seat of the moving fan and starts the engine, prompting Kira to hasten to the passenger’s side. Ana smiles and waves to them as they pull away from the curb and get a head start on the drive. She, however, remains behind to take one last contemplative look at the façade of the place she called home for the last half-decade.
——She sighs, pulls open the door to her car, and swings down into the driver’s seat, which she forgot she’d have to adjust after Kira drove it. She adjusts it and glances back up at the condo. And when Ana closes the door to her car, she finally, mercifully closes the door on arguably the most transformative chapter of her life.
——At least she hopes…
——When Ana’s own blood-red Aurus Senat pulls to the curb and a blonde woman hastens out of the driver’s side to hug Westen, the visible physical manifestations of her inner turmoil dissipate. The taut frame of her sister Kira wrapping around her in this embrace eases the tension in the shoulders of the older of the two, allowing them to slowly descend from their previous position shrugged toward her ears.
——“I know you have been busy,” says Kira. “But it’s been too long… You should know— big fan of car.”
——Ana rolls her eyes, but without an ounce of disdain therein.
——“It has,” agrees Ana. “And this is no surprise to me, младшая сестра. You can drive us back, too, if this is what you would like.”
——Kira pulls herself away from the embrace and looks up at Ana with a wide smile and doe eyes.
——“Da!” she exclaims excitedly before nodding and circumnavigating the car to return to the driver’s side door, where she looks across the roof at Ana. “Are you coming?”
——With an entertained grin, Ana nods and ventures to the trunk to throw her back inside. Next, she rounds to the passenger-side door, opening it so she can swing down into the shotgun seat.
——After pushing her seatbelt into place, Kira pulls away from the curb and Ana sighs. She doesn’t even realize she’s doing it, but she becomes acutely aware when she feels her sister’s gaze flicking back and forth between the road ahead and Ana.
——“Big win last night, нет?” Kira asks, though Ana believes it to be a rhetorical question. “Papa and I, we watched your fight together. It was great time… for you, too, I imagine.”
——“It was,” Ana confirms. “I will be fighting again next Monday. Philadelphia. You should come, see fight up close and personal.”
——“I would love to do this! You can get us tickets?”
——“You do not need tickets. You are my family.”
——Kira again takes her eyes off of the road to look at her sister with a smirk. Ana, however, remains focused on the road ahead.
——“Speaking of family,” says Kira somewhat softly. “There is someone I would like for you to meet, большая сестра. Maybe he can come to see you fight, too? Maybe you meet him then?”
——“How is this speaking of family?” asks Ana, briefly flicking a glance over to her sister.
——“Because he is going to be family!”
——Kira holds the steering wheel with her left hand so she can display her right hand to show her sister the ring on her finger.
——“I am getting MARRIED, большая сестра! Can you believe this? Married!”
——Ana’s eyes drift down to the massive rock on Kira’s ring finger before they flick back up to the road ahead, her focus on it now more intent. Simply put, she doesn’t know how to react. Kira is six years her junior and already betrothed. Ana, though, knows she cannot just sit here and not say something— this is a momentous life event for Kira. The first of the three siblings to get engaged means it’s probably also a momentous life event for their father, the red-blooded Texan waiting back at Ana’s condo to help them pack it up.
——“This is big news,” she says finally. “And this is even bigger rock. I am happy for you, младшая сестра. I will wait to be proud of you until I have chance to meet him.”
——Kira playfully punches Ana in the shoulder, both sisters chuckling at Ana’s remark. When Kira reunites her focus with the task at hand of driving, she continues on.
——“I would have brought him, had him help us pack but I did not think this was right moment. This has to be exhausting for you already, нет?”
——Slowly, Ana draws a deep breath through her nose. She exhales just as slow before reaching up and rubbing the back of her neck in contemplation.
——“I would much rather keep moving,” explains Ana. “I do not have luxury of time for exhaustion right now.”
——Unsurprisingly, this furrows Kira’s brow. She mirrors her sister’s focus, hoping it might make her more comfortable discussing what’s bothering her. At the same time, she feels a twinge of regret for having shared her happy romantic news considering what she considers the real reason behind her sister’s moving out of her condominium, one in which she has lived for years. More importantly, it’s one she shared with Sara Daniels.
——“Well,” she says. “I guess I am just glad you have luxury of time for family right now. Papa has been so excited to see you. Myself as well, of course. Mama wishes she could be here as well; she asked me to tell you this.”
——“I do not mind,” she says. “It will be good to see two— and I can always see mama another time. Have you heard from C.J.?”
——Kira shakes her head no.
——“I have not,” she says. “You are right. It will be good to have some of family together— better than no family together, нет?”
——Anastasia nods without a verbal response. Thinking of her family, she drifts off into sleep, where she remains until mere moments prior to approaching the curb outside her condo, the timing occurring as if Ana felt herself nearing the place she has called home for half a decade. She nods a half-apology, half-thank-you for having fallen asleep and not having been disturbed after reawakening.
——Once they arrive at the aforementioned curb, Ana reaches down to unbuckle her seatbelt. Kira, however, catches Ana’s hand as she pulls it back, taking it into both of hers.
——“Before we go inside,” she says. “There is something I would like to ask you, большая сестра.”
——“Go ahead,” responds Ana.
——“I know you are busy woman. I get it, I do. You might not be this successful if you were not this committed. I have always admired this in you, ‘Stasia. But I am asking you to please... find luxury of time to come to wedding, da? Come to wedding and stand with me? Come to wedding and be my фрейлина?”
——Ana smirks at her younger sister before taking her into an embrace across the center console.
——“Of course I will,” she says. “Thank you for asking me this, младшая сестра. I needed this.”
——They remain wound in their embrace for a moment or two longer before separating and vacating the vehicle. Having heard the car pull up and the door close through the open window on the second story, their father, Clark Westen, greets them at the base of the stairs up to the door to Ana’s condo.
——“Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he chuckles, opening his arms to invite Ana in for a hug. “I wouldn’t’ve guessed ya’ fought last night by lookin’ at ya’. Come ‘ere an’ give your old man a hug, won’t ya’?”
——Ana pulls her suitcase out of the trunk of her car, shuts the trunk, and places the bag on the curb before walking over and embracing her father for the first time in nearly a calendar year. Clark presses his cheek into the top of Ana’s head as he holds her tight. Once they pull apart from one another, Clark picks up her suitcase and carries it up the stairs behind his daughters.
——Once inside, it becomes clear to Ana how little is left to do. Clark and Kira had spent the majority of the last two or three days packing things up and labeling them for her. When this realization sets in and she takes in the progress they’ve made, she is barely able to suppress the emotion welling up within. Instead of allowing her grateful affection to spill out, she merely takes a deep breath, sighs, and looks at her sister and father with a smile.
——“My comrade Sheridan would be proud of your efficiency,” she says. “Thank you for this.”
——“Ain’t all that much left to do ‘round here,” explains Clark, rubbing the back of his neck. “I figure we get some packin’ done, eat somethin’ for an early lunch, finish packin’, an’ hit the road. Way I see it? We’re on our way to Denver by one or two— latest.”
——Ana and Kira nod in silent agreement, setting off to settle in and get to work. Kira heads downstairs to take care of what little work remains on the ground floor while Anastasia immediately heads to her bedroom. For the most part, her family had opted for cautious respect for privacy and left most of her room for her to deal with herself. When she sees this, she is even more appreciative of their efforts.
——Slowly but surely, Ana boxes things up, taping them shut for travel. Each grating, scraping sound of packing tape peeling from the roll snaps Ana out of the autopilot on which she spends the first hour of work. Similarly, every time Ana steps out of the privacy of her bedroom to place a freshly packed box with the rest to head down to the moving van, her father notices the increasing severity in her demeanor.
——He can easily see through her expertly crafted façade; in fact, he’s always been able to do so. At first, he leaves it alone. He focuses on his own packing efforts while allowing his daughter to marinate in her thoughts on her own for the time being. Clark expects Ana would appreciate this decision and he would be proven correct were Ana to be made aware of it.
——When Ana opens the door to the walk-in closet, she discovers the reason her father and sister had not continued packing up her bedroom. The hangers are all bare save for a handful of tops and a jacket. Below these sit a couple pairs of boots. None of it belongs to Ana.
——Blonde hair fills Ana’s vision. It’s hers. Sara’s. It’s not actually there, but Ana can see it vividly all the same. She longs to reach out and feel it between her fingers. Her typically uncontested will pales in comparison to the haunting sensation of Sara’s laugh permeating her mind, piercing her eardrums and causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up on end. She now tries to close her eyes, squeezing them shut in hopes of fending off the memories, so Sara’s smile sears itself into the back of her eyelids.
——This is exactly why she is leaving what is no longer her home. For the majority of the last three years, it was their home. Suddenly, flashes of memories of the two corporealize over every inch of the condo around her that she looks at. When the beginning to the last memory they shared in the condo dances upon her eyes, Ana reaches out and snatches the clothing off of the hangers, tossing them haphazardly into a box, followed closely by the boots. Westen tapes this box shut with greater haste.
——She storms past the stacked boxes by the door and carries this one completely out of the building. Clark watches her and makes the executive decision to go back on his earlier verdict. Kira arrives with the last box from the ground floor and furrows her brow at the open door. Puzzled, she turns to Clark, who sighs and pulls out his wallet. He hands her a credit card and gestures to the door with his head.
——“You mind goin’ an’ pickin’ up lunch?” he asks. “That barbecue place we went to last time we were ‘round these parts is callin’ our name right ‘bout now. We’ll, uh… We’ll look at the menu while you’re headin’ on over, an’ you shoot me a text when you get there. Sound good, sweetheart?”
——“Let me guess,” she says. “Don’t tell mama?”
——“That’s my girl!”
——Chuckling, Kira takes the credit card and prances out the door, heading down to drive Ana’s car again. She passes Ana on the older sibling’s way back from tossing the box she had been holding into a dumpster around the corner.
——“If you spill anything,” she says. “You will wish had not.”
——Ana heads back up the stairs as Kira rolls her eyes and hops into the driver’s seat. Kira pulls away from the curb as Ana closes the door to the condo behind her, allowing her eyes to rest on the boxes mounting in number just inside. She sighs and heads back to her bedroom, where she finds Clark sitting on the foot of her bed, arms folded in front of his chest and eyes staring down at the floor just past his feet, which are crossed over one another at the ankle.
——“Would you mind terribly sittin’ next to me for a moment?” he asks. “I wanna’ talk to ya’ ‘bout somethin’. I promised mama I wasn’t gonna’ say nothin’ ‘bout it, but I ain’t sittin’ here an’ watchin’ ya’ eat away at yourself like this for a minute more, y’hear? Sit with me a minute, Anastasia, will ya’?”
——Ordinarily, Ana appreciates her father’s peculiar, roundabout way of speaking, but his beating around the push only makes her feel tense at the moment. Nonetheless, she nods quietly and takes a seat at the foot of the bed beside him. Her eyes naturally drift to the same general spot her father had been staring at when she had walked in a moment prior.
——“I ain’t expectin’ you to say much,” he explains. “Can’t say as I blame ya’ in that regard. That bein’ said, I ain’t gonna’ be offended if you ain’t tryin’ to hear what I have to say. I wouldn’t blame ya’ in that regard either. Sound fair?”
——Ana nods silently again.
——“You know I ain’t ever been one to stick my nose in your private life,” he continues. “I’ve trusted ya’ to do what was best for yourself your whole life. Your mama an’ I, we raised ya’ to look out for yourself an’ the ones ya’ care ‘bout. An’ just like everythin’ else you’ve done in your life, you became better’n anyone else on Earth at doin’ it. I’ve been nothin’ but proud of ya’ since the day you first looked up at me, Anastasia— but never more’n I have these last few years.
——“For a few years there, you were happy with that Shawn fella’, even with Syd or Amelia. At least, I think ya’ were. When you an’ Sara got together, though? That might be the happiest I’ve ever seen ya’, save for when you’re in some ring or cage beatin’ some poor girl’s face in. I ain’t ever seen ya’ look at someone the way ya’ looked at that girl. Reminded me a bit of the way people say I look at your mama. So it ain’t work out. The point of my bringin’ up the rest of ‘em, of bringin’ up Sara, even, it wasn’t to remind ya’ of shit not workin’ out. The point is to remind ya’ that you were able to be happy with each an’ every one of ‘em. Hell, ya’ might say you were happy without each an’ every one of ‘em… Because they ain’t the source of your happiness, Anastasia. They can’t be because you gotta’ be.
——“As long as you’re tried an’ true to that, as long as ya’ protect that? There ain’t another soul in the ‘verse who can take it from ya’. Sara tried to take it from ya’, Ana. Sure as hell saw that with my own two eyes when she came after ya’ like she did. But you ain’t let ‘er, an’ ya’ wanna’ know why? Because you’re the strongest woman on God’s green Earth, that’s for sure an’ for certain. What I’m gettin’ at? Is that I can see she’s still gnawin’ away at’cha’ an’ quite frankly I wasn’t willin’ to watch it go on another minute more. I’m hopin’ it’s just this place keepin’ ya’ up in that head of yours right now… She ain’t your future, girl. You are.”
——“I know this,” Ana finally says. “But sometimes it is… difficult to see future without her in it. I know there is future without her in it, but I have not yet seen it. I have spent three years building future with her… three years building future with her here. This place, it… It has been home… but it has not been my... home. It has been our home. To speak truth, though, I thought… thought this would work. I did. I really did. I never lied about that. I wanted it to work out. But now? Without her to build future with here, it will never be my home. It could never be my home. This means I have taken what I needed from this city... I have no future in this place. My future, it begins in Denver.”
——“I get that ya’ want a change,” her father says. “Much like the rest, I can’t blame ya’ for that. But ain’t this… ain’t this a bit much? This is a whole lotta’ change all at once, ain’t it? Movin’ W.C.A. on up an’ over to Denver makes sense to me. Denver’s a big sports city, ‘specially when it pertains to combat sports… An’ I even understand movin’ to Denver, yourself! VICTORY Pro’s based there, the Forge. With W.C.A. makin’ the move, it’s hardly surprisin’ you’re headin’ on up there. That bein’ said, though? You know you ain’t gotta’ sell this place, right? Movin’ out ain’t necessitate sellin’ it. Next time you’re ‘round these parts, wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere to stay you ain’t gotta’ spend your hard-earned money on? Maybe you really settled on into that nomad life, I don’t know.”
——“I must,” Ana answers, her visage contorting into a plagued grimace. “Everywhere I look in this city? Everywhere I look in this place? Everywhere I look, I see her. I cannot do… what I do... if I am haunted. I realized, papa… Brooks was right. I am… surrounded by ghosts. I thought I had suffered what I needed to suffer, learned what I needed to learn. But I was mistaken. Even if I am preoccupied with big fights, travel… distracted by something, someone new and exciting... this place cannot offer me any more than it has already given to me.”
——“You’re talkin’ ‘bout that pretty little blonde thing, ain’t ya’?” interjects Clark. “Was wonderin’ if you’d be bringin’ ‘er up.”
——Ana furrows her brow at her father, puzzled as to how he knew about Lydia until she remembers he’d watched the show last night with her sister. She hesitates initially, but winds up nodding in confirmation anyway.
——“I do not know this feeling,” she continues. “This feeling of conflict within myself. I do not like it. There is no weaker enemy than one at war with self. It has not been so long since end of Dani and me. Is this… is this guilt? It feels too… exposed. Vulnerable. I do not like this, whatever this is. So I cannot continue surrounding myself with ghosts. I need to leave Miami, papa. Not only this; I need to leave it dead and buried in past. I have outlived its purpose and for better or for worse, I have outgrown woman I was here.”
——Clark sits there, stoic, for a moment. He contemplates what his daughter has said before he replies.
——“Time don’t work the way we want it to,” he says. “But it does heal all wounds, Anastasia. You know your mama is livin’ proof of that. Startin’ new sounds like it’s gonna’ help ya’, darlin’— an’ if you think there’s somethin’ there with this new girl? If you think somethin’ could be there with this new girl? Ain’t ya’ owe it to yourself to at least give it a try? So startin’ new, uh, with someone new? That might help ya’, too. At the end of the day, though, whatever ya’ end up decidin’, your mama an’ I are gonna’ support ya’. Always have an’ always will, baby girl. If you’re happy, we’re happy.”
——Clark wraps his arms around Ana, holding her tight in a hug. At first, Ana’s arms do not move, she merely contemplates the dialogue they have shared. Soon, however, her arms reach up and wrap around her father in an embrace as well. They can hear the door swing open and then slam shut from the other room and separate. Ana draws a deep breath through her nose as Clark rises to his feet and ventures in the general direction of the food, the scent of which wafts into the bedroom. He stops at the threshold of the room and turns back to Ana.
——“I love ya’, kid,” he says with a grin. “An’ you best not forget it. We’ll be out here when you’re ready.”
——Nodding briefly, Clark then turns around and vacates the room to give Ana a moment to process and compose herself. She runs her hand back through her hair and hooks it around the back of her neck while she stares at the same spot she had found her father staring at when she walked in. After she drops her hand from its perch around her neck, she cocks her head sharply to either side to crack her neck on both sides.
——When she finally arrives in the next room, she discovers her father and sister have not begun eating their meals.
——“You did not have to wait,” she says. “Let us eat; there is not much left to do and I would like to get on road soon.”
——Unsurprisingly, no one is opposed to digging in. They chat as they eat, which, admittedly, prolongs the process, but it is clear they have not seen one another in quite some time and enjoy the chance to catch up like this. Clark volunteers to dispose of what remains once they are finished and heads outside with everything tied up neatly in a single bag. Ana brings Kira into her bedroom to help her take care of what is left to deal with there while their father is outside, prompting him to finish packing the kitchen when he returns inside.
——It takes them no more than another forty-five minutes to box everything else up and unite said box with the others near the door. It’s maybe ten, fifteen minutes of the three transferring the boxes down the stairs and into the moving van and Ana’s car. By the end, all three have worked up a fair sweat in the Miami sun. Clark and Kira prepare their areas in the front seat of the van while Ana heads back up the stairs and into the condo.
——She stands just inside the doorway, the aforementioned sun shining in from behind her to cast her silhouette on the floor before her. Her eyes slowly glide from one side of the empty condo to the other, her breathing deep, silent, and slow. Memories shriek through her mind— Yoshino Nakano bringing the fight literally to her doorstep, Jon Jrygin breaking in and getting himself deported, the drunken ranting of what was arguably the most candid promo of her career by the pool outside.
——Three years of memories with Sara Daniels rip through her thoughts at the pace of a bullet next, though, to her, it feels glacial. She takes one final, deep breath before nodding and narrowing her eyes below a determined, furrowed brow. Ana then turns around and walks out of the condo for the final time. She locks the door behind her and takes her time descending the stairs, allowing her hand to slowly slide down the railing of said stairs. After hugging both her father and sister at once, Ana then nods to them and smirks.
——“Thank you for this,” she says. “I will see you for dinner?”
——Clark nods and Kira smiles before hugging Ana again. The tall Texan man climbs into the driver’s seat of the moving fan and starts the engine, prompting Kira to hasten to the passenger’s side. Ana smiles and waves to them as they pull away from the curb and get a head start on the drive. She, however, remains behind to take one last contemplative look at the façade of the place she called home for the last half-decade.
——She sighs, pulls open the door to her car, and swings down into the driver’s seat, which she forgot she’d have to adjust after Kira drove it. She adjusts it and glances back up at the condo. And when Ana closes the door to her car, she finally, mercifully closes the door on arguably the most transformative chapter of her life.
——At least she hopes…
