aries reed in "killin' em softly"

[With his head hanging down low, Aries Reed stands next to the hospital bed where a thin white top draw sheet was draped over the figure in the bed as the life support machine continued to measure its fledgling vital signs as Aries frowns slightly, placing his large hand on the figures shoulder. Slowly, pulling his hand back, Aries takes a seat in the nearby chair and sighs softly as shakes his head slowly. The room door opens as a nurse walks into the room and looks up, startled by Aries's appearance in the room.]

“Oh I'm sorry, sir...I didn't know you were in here. Are you related to the patient.”

[Aries looks up at nurse with remorseful eyes as he shakes his head slowly.]

“No...no I'm not but I'm a close associate just coming to say my final goodbyes.”

[With a sad smile spreading over the lips of the nurse, she nods her head slowly.]

“Yes sir, I do apologize for intruding...I'll give you some time.”

“Thank you, ma'am.”

[The nurse closes the door behind her as Aries slowly stands to his feet and walks over to the door and locks it as the deadbolt slides home with a click. Turning back to the bed, Aries is all smiles as he nods his head slowly. Walking towards the bed, he takes a seat next to the covered figure as his smile remains on his lips.]

“I want to feel bad. I really do because nobody deserves this kind of fate, they really don’t.”

“But yet, you asked for this...you begged for this and in the end, everything that happened is your own fault.”

“You stepped into the ring with the Blackest Sun of Exodus and you wanted to teach the youngster something.”



“No, Mr. Yamato...you had it all mixed up. Hell, you got it all wrong. This isn't some game, I’m not some random guy they plunked off of the street...that'll pass by like a fart in the dark. Despite what everyone else may want, I'm not here today, gone tomorrow...I'm more like the sun, even on those cloudy days...you know I'm still here and I will continue to shine day in and day out. So while you speak of moons remember that you're just nothing more but a floating rock of nothingness.”

“At one point you were something that everyone wanted to know about...and once they did, they've never cared about again.”

“I may not be made out of steel, Mr. Yamato, but when you step into the ring with me this Monday...you're going to have your doubts. I have plenty of miles to go before my road is done...I have many matches to fight all over the world before it's time for me to hang them up. Just like you, I will have thousands of matches underneath my belt around the world and I have a lot of successes in the EXODUS Pro underneath it as well. I came into Exodus with nothing...and I’m in the process of turning it into one of the most defining careers that Exodus has ever seen.”

“I've stepped into the ring with legends and you are no different, just another name who thinks that they’ll be the one to finally silence the kid who think he knows it all..”

“I've been cheered...I've been booed...I've been loved...I've been hated.”

“...and I still win at such a high-level that I dare any man to replicate what I plan to do here in San Diego.”

“The cost that I've paid is something that I continue to pay night in and night out because I can afford it. You come into Exodus thinking that you’re going to get this Honor Cup when you don’t understand that you’ve lost before you’ve even begun. When it comes to the Honor Cup, when it comes getting the chance to finally showcase my skills in such a way that I’ll take centerstage...it’s too good to pass up. But I’ll ask, do you have it takes to put it all on the line?”

[Aries shakes his head slowly.]




“No.”

“No you don't, Genji.”

“We are not the same, Mr. Yamato...we maybe on the same road to greatness, but we are not the same. I've driven fast my whole career because I know where I want to be and I refuse to sit around with my thumb up my ass because I'm worried about 'how many miles' I'm putting on the road. This business isn't about what you've done it's about what have you done for me lately.”

“And with the Honor Cup in my sights...I can say that pretty soon, I’m going to accomplish quite a bit.”

“Yeah, Genji...you've seen it all...you've done it all...but in the end, you still haven't come close to what I continue to do in Exodus.”

“...and that's raise the bar.”

[Standing from the bed, Aries looks over at the motionless figure and sighs softly as he walks over to a row of cabinets on the other side of the room and grabs a pillow off the top of folded linens, fluffing it slightly.]




“Yes, Mr. Yamato..I'm nothing more but a man. But I'm a man that's come into the Exodus and made something for himself. I'm a man that's going to sit at the head of the Exodus Table because I’m taking what I wanted, everyone else be damned. And if you think that because you think the time is right for you to come knocking at more door that I'm just going to let you have it.”

“My legacy...my livelihood is on the line every time I step into the ring. I put my foot down on the throttle because we live fast and we die even faster and in this business if you're not going not going as fast as the other man beside you then you're getting left behind. You think because you've come from Japan that you're better than me?”

“That you more prepared for this?”

“Mr. Yamato...you're stupider than you look.”

[Aries grits his teeth, speaking with harsh whispers not wanting to alert the nurses just outside of the door.]

“I was going to give you the chance to end your own damn miserable career here in Exodus...I was going to give you the chance to put yourself out of your own misery and ride out in the sunset.”

“But that's not what Genji Yamato wants...that's not what Genji Yamato deserves.”

“...what he deserves is something much much more fitting for his station.”

[Slowly Aries makes his way over towards the bed and places the pillow over the face over figure as it slowly starts to struggle underneath the weight of Aries's hands pressing the pillow down.]

“...Genji wants a fight...”



“...Genji Yamato wants a shot at greatness...”



“...but all Genji Yamato is going to get is what he deserves...”


“...and that's to be put down like the old horse he is.”

[The struggling stops as the figure lies motionless as Aries release the pillow from over his face before promptly unplugs the life support machine as the beeping comes to an abrupt halt. A smile returns to his face as he looks at the recently deceased.]

“Genji Yamato...this is what you wanted. This is what you asked for. You wanted Aries Reed...you wanted the Honor Cup...but you failed to realized one simple fact.”

“The Blackest Sun of Exodus will outshine you all.”