<center>

Dante went the distance at the Road to Glory, allowing him to choose his own opponent for Endgame, creating much speculation. Hardy stood his ground as well, being one of the last eliminated from the match. Will the World Champ's good luck continue, or will Hardy gain the upper hand through the home field advantage?
</center>

The airplane touched down on the runway of Vancouver International Airport. It was a midsized plane, but there was only one real passenger; the one and only David Hardy. Hardy was still coming off a high from the last event, the Road to Glory. He didn't win the thing, but made a more impressive showing than anyone ever expected him to. He even made it to the final four before being eliminated by Jason Dante.

In normal situations, Hardy would have thrown a major tantrum, but not this time. This tour through Canada had seemingly given Hardy a new outlook on life. Over the past month he had become less aggressive and angry outside of the ring, perhaps even having a bit of optimism about his future. Having people cheer for him constantly and wanting him to succeed had really made a big effort on him.

It pretty much started back in Ireland at the Infinity pay-per-view, Apeirophobia. In the weeks leading up to the event, Hardy had become very depressed and disillusioned with both his life and his career. He couldn't quite put his finger on what started that, but people close to him wouldn't hesitate to put the blame on another failed relationship with Lita, or a few key losses that knocked him down the TCW ladder. Those events made his anger grow and his confidence drop. He even, for the first time in his career, no-showed several TCW events in the European tour.

Sometime during this period, he decided that he had to start again. For too long he was riding the success of his earlier wins in the fed, with nothing worth showing in recent memory. He threw that, and a possible TC title shot, out the window and went to step one. Fortunately for him, he had a big of booking control with Infinity and got himself booked into an Aftershock title match against JE and Kermit. It was tough for Hardy to ignore the displeasure in the online wrestling community, most people saying Hardy had no business in the Aftershock division, but it was clear he disagreed.

He won the match in one of Infinity's few achievements that night. It was a bit disheartening that nobody else seemed to care, but were more concerned with their own losses. Fortunately for Hardy, the show was coming back to his home country of Canada, where he didn't quite know what to expect, but expected some kind of positive response. It turns out he got that, and then some. For the first time in his career, he felt like a real fan favorite. It seemed everywhere he went, the fans adored him, and it had a huge impact on the young superstar. The appreciation from the Canadian fans had given him a huge boost of confidence and more importantly, actually made him happy.

Of course, not everything was sunshine and happiness. It had seemed that his relationship with the rest of Infinity was strained with Hardy's sudden attitude change. Hardy wasn't quite sure what the deal was, perhaps they thought he was turning soft or into a goody-goody, but it seemed as if the rest weren't quite interested in being around him. At least in Hardy's often paranoid mind...

But now he was more than just in his own country, he was home. For the first time in several years, TCW was holding an event in his hometown of Vancouver, BC, Canada. And on top of that, Hardy was put in a marquee match up against the World Champion, Jason Dante. Hardy knew that regardless of the outcome, this was going to be an event he would remember for some time. But he also saw this as an opportunity to redeem himself and secure a place in the TCW elite. If he could go toe to toe with Dante for a while, let alone actually beat him, he knew he could build off of it and become a major contender in the company. Of course, he knew this wasn't going to be an easy task.

It was hardly the first time that Hardy would meet Dante in the ring. Earlier in his then 411Fed career, Hardy and his teammate, Highone, as the RoXoRz had taken on Dante and Shadow, Money Inc. 2.0 more times than you could count. The two teams kicked each other's asses all over the globe and although they always destroyed each other in the ring, their relationship outside was something different... something a bit hard to comprehend. Make no mistake, there were no shortage in sneak attacks or mind games, but beyond that, there was a mutual respect, almost a friendship. For all the times they were against each other, it seemed there were just as many times where they were friendly to each other.

Hardy could never quite figure it out, he simply rolled with it and let the pieces fall where they may. Unfortunately that relationship was without a doubt strained with the recent battles between Infinity and the New Hellfire Club. Hardy and Dante never really had any direct confrontations, but one could easily assume that their relationship wasn't on steady ground.

But Hardy wasn't going to worry about that right now; he was too concerned with the crowd that had gathered outside of the now stopped plane. It was an unbelievable sight for the Aftershock champion. Hundreds of people stared at the plane, all wearing Hardy shirts or flashing signs with his name on it. He could hear a chant through the plane's walls, a chant that he had not heard enough times in his career. With a big surprise he got to his feet and walked to the plane's front door. He nodded to the flight attendant as he pulled the door open. Hardy poked his head out the door and got an ovation he wouldn't soon forget. Yes... he could get used to this...



*****************************


Hours later...

David Hardy pushed the door open to reveal the rooftop of the Wall Center, the tallest building in Vancouver. He slowly stepped out and shut the door behind him, examining the area. It seemed like a weird meeting place, but sometimes they have to be. Sometimes things need to be kept a secret, and prying eyes on the street need not see this. Hardy took a few steps out onto the deceptively large rooftop and looked up to the sky. Typical Vancouver weather, sunny just an hour ago, now overcast, threatening to rain. It was dangerously windy up here too, though that didn't seem to scare the man standing at the edge of the roof, looking down at the city nearly 500 feet below. He stood with his hands folded behind his back, with his long coat blowing in the strong wind. Hardy took a deep breath and approached him.

"Heh, I'm a bit surprised you came... thanks..." Hardy said.

"I came here as a favor to my old ally, Shadow... not a service for... you..." the man replied.

The man turned to reveal the pale face of Jason Dante. It was a face he had seen many times before, though this was the first time in maybe years that the two had actually exchanged words. There was always the indirect verbal assault between the two factions, but nothing directly between the two superstars. It was a bit unnerving at first, though oddly familiar.

"Well I appreciate it however you see it," Hardy replied.

"What do you want, anyway, Hardy?" Dante asked impatiently, "Is this another one of your favorite sneak attacks? Will your buddies suddenly come rushing out and try to throw me over the edge?"

"Look, Jason, I don't blame you for not trusting me. Hell, if I was in your shoes, I damn sure wouldn't, but that's not what I asked you here for," Hardy responded.

"If it's a fight you want, you'll have it in a few days," Dante said.

"No man, I'm past all that shit. I don't want to fight you here... or anywhere else other than in the ring," Hardy responded calmly.

"Wouldn't have been just as easy for you to stay at home and stay out of my business?" Dante asked with a perked eyebrow.

"No, there's more," Hardy sighed, "Look, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, especially over the last year with the fights between our groups, but... I want to put an end to that... A truce I guess."

Dante smirked and laughed softly, "That sounds more like surrender to me... Funny how this seems to coincide with Highone and the Insomniac leaving..."

"Whatever, man," Hardy shook his head, "you can think whatever you want, but the fact is... I'm just tired of all this fighting... It's pointless and childish. I want to put it all behind us and move on."

Dante narrowed his eyes as Hardy spoke. The young Canadian had often tried tactics like this in the past, only to stab people in the back when the least expect it. In the past, Hardy had grown to be someone you absolutely do not trust, though Dante could see something this time that was never there before: sincerity. Hardy seemed to actually be telling the truth this time. Then again, the man could probably win an Oscar for his acting skills, which threw Dante off a little bit. Hardy was barely an intimidating opponent, especially considering what Dante has lived through already, but even Dante knew dangerous things could come from him if he was angry.

"David Hardy..." Dante grinned, "Are you actually making an effort to grow up? I must say I'm shocked."

"There's more important things in this life than having enemies, holding grudges you don't need... you know that," Hardy said softly, "I know I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I'm sure you're well aware of that too... But I want to make things right now... I want to start anew..."

"You know there are some things... many things, you... we can't just leave behind, Hardy," Dante said sternly.

"That's true..." Hardy said, glancing over the side of the building, "and I know we can't change the past."

Hardy looked up back up at Dante, maintaining steady eye contact.

"But we can shape the future," he continued, "I can't speak for the rest of Infinity, hell, they'd probably kill me if they knew I was doing this... but, I want to clear things up between the two of us... and the same goes for the rest of your crew..."

David Hardy took a deep breath then extended his hand towards Dante...

Dante looked at the young Canadian's out stretched hand. Inwardly he wished that Darkness, Selenia, Freya, Hawthrone, Aco and Misfit was here right now. This was as close as a surrender they would get.

Then he finally understood, Hardy had never been an enemy. Dante never liked Highone, there was something about the guy he just didn't like. The same went for guys like Blackwell, Hammer and TI too. They were all great athletes but they were in essence focused on not only being better then the competition.

Hardy on the other hand had spent his time doing his own thing. Dante knew that the Canadian had had a run in with the forces that shaped this world too. That was a long time ago and the albino was sure that Hardy had put his brush with the infernal far behind him. In many ways Dante wished he could do the same thing and just spend his time caring for Selenia, at times like this, the scar that covered his still recuperating right eye hurt, a dull ache boiled up from the depths of his face and hurt him. He tried to move the eye patch with his facial muscles alone, failed and decided to leave it be.

Dante again focused on the outstretched hand and let his shoulders relax and his breath slow down, he calmed down. Reached out and shook Hardy's hand. They shook hands and Hardy grinned.

"Stern will probably kill us."

Dante returned the grin.

"She can try."

"Yeah." Hardy replied with a laugh

The tension relaxed a great deal and the two men started a careful at first and the progressively more free and easy casual conversation.

On a terrace about 50 yards away, three people one woman and two men oversaw the meeting between Dante and Hardy. The woman gnashed teeth as she saw the handshake.

"We can't let this continue."

The large man beside her looked at her and nodded slowly.

The woman who was dressed in black turned to a man sitting on a bench near then, she said nothing, at least not outwardly.

"Beloved?" Her thoughts made Spike feel almost high, her mind in his own was the greatest high a human being could experience. Spike rallied his fractured mind to a whole entity and replied.

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"Not really, my head still feels as if an elephant took a shit in it."

"That will pass beloved."

"I bloody well hope so. I won't be much good with a cranium full of dung."


Spike looked ate the woman known as Razor and grinned. He stood up and walked up to her. Spike looked at the two men who were still talking in the distance and scoffed.

"Bloody wankers, eh?"

"..."

"Well, yeah that's the polite way of saying it."

"..."

"No, I don't know for sure that they masturbate."

"..."

"No, I...Gimme a break will you?"

Thorne looked pleased with himself as Razor once more seemed to be unable to understand the connection the men known as the Hellions had with each other. The two men seemed to have been almost at odds when she had found them, now however they seemed like friends, always at each other's throats but still friends. She repressed a smile as she pondered how to use this.

"Spike, how's the head?"

"Better, why?"

Spike had endured a treatment that few men had ever undergone, in fact Razor only knew of one, and he stood only 50 yards away from them in the airport reception hall talking to a man, Razor wished he hated. The end result of Razor's attempt to corrupt Dante had ended with only a minute amount of the half-demon's blood ending up in her possession, and part of that small sample now coursed through Spike's veins and made him Dante's equal, at least in his standing if not in power.

Spike took off his shades and looked at Razor.

"Because I think we need to break up that shiny happy people gathering down there."

Spike grinned and looked at her again, she caught a gleam in his eye or rather in his pupil. A red pupil with an inner fire in it. The fire of an Infernal. Her grinned and replied.

"I've go just the thing for that..." He said as his grin widened.

She kissed him.

"So do I." She said.

*****
A few hours later, Dante is in bed with Selenia, it's been a long and trying day and as the demonic twosome wind down, they recap the day.

"I still don't know if we can trust Hardy."

"Me neither Selenia, I should have been able to at least gauge his surface thoughts but..."

"But what?"

"I dunno, it's hard to tell. On one hand I more or less forgot and on the other I got some strange vibes from him..."

"Vibes?"

"Yeah, you know vibrations. He seemed stressed."

Selenia laughed.

"You do that to people Jason..."

Dante grinned.

"Yeah...well. I dunno babe...he seemed off."

"Ok."

"Still I don't think it hurts to trust him until he proves that he can't be trusted."

"If he does."

"Exactly."

The two of them paused and looked at each other. Selenia moved herself closer to Jason and the smell of her washed hair made him almost high. He let his hand drag through the long jet-black hair and caressed it as if it was the most precious commodity on earth. She looked up at him ans smiled. They shared a kiss and then Selenia asked.

"Why do we always end up talking about the business in bed."

Dante put up a disappointed face that was obviously fake.

"I thought the business turned you on."

She laughed and kissed him.

"No, not tonight."

"Oh, and what if I may ask turns you on tonight Ms. Aligiheri?"

"You...and your arms around me."

Dante wasted no time and wrapped his alabaster coloured arms around her. She gave a satisfied little purr and fell asleep. Dante looked at her as she snoozed and listened as her calm breath made him tired too. He fought off the unneeded sleep for a long time to stay awake just to hear her breathing. Then he let the Sandman claim him too.

*****

The sun woke him up a few hours later...that and the fact that he was alone in his bed.

He opened his eyes...and it turned out he was alone on a couch...in a diner. Confused he got up and looked around the dimly lit room. It appeared to be just before dawn and the sky was black outside the windows.

To say that Dante was confused was a mild way of putting it. He walked around in the empty diner and tried to figure out why he had gone from his warm bed in a Vancouver hotel room with spring outside his window to a diner in a small town in the middle of winter. He opened the door and frowned at the burst of cold air that hit him and snow flakes whirling around. He looked around the diner and found a winter coat and put it on.

He had walked for a good hour in the seemingly empty town when he came upon a small square. Around the currently disused fountain in the middle of it stood a row of benches. They were all empty save for one. A woman was sitting on it. She seemed strangely undressed for the weather and was sitting absolutely still.

Dante walked up to her.

"Pretty cold huh?"

Dante felt like an idiot, he was in a town with no name during a season that had no business running at this time and the damned town was empty...and here he asked her about the cold. He laughed.

"Sorry, Mam dumb thing to say." He patted her on her shoulder and froze when she tumbled on her side. He looked at her and he froze when he saw her face.

Or lack there of.

Where her face was supposed to be there was only smooth skin, no teeth or mouth, no eyes or nose...just skin. Dante stared at this face as if paralysed until a scream of "What the fuck?" echoed in the quiet snowy morning. Dante stared in the direction the scream had come from and saw a man he recognised.

For some reason he wasn't surprised to see David Hardy standing at a bench on the other side of the square looking at a body Dante assumed looked about the same as the one he had found.

"Hey Hardy!"

Hardy turned towards him.

"Dante? What the fu...where the hell are we?"

Dante looked up into the snowy sky and sighed.

"I don't think we're in Kansas any more Toto..."