Take this pink ribbon off my eyes
I'm exposed
And it's no big surprise
Don't you think I know
Exactly where I stand
This world is forcing me
To hold your hand
'Cause I'm just a girl, little 'ol me
Don't let me out of your sight
I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite
So don't let me have any rights
Gwen Stefani's sarcastic voice thunders through the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL. Normal and coloured lights scatter across the sold-out crowd. Elena enjoys one last moment to herself before she embarks on her walkout. As soon as she emerges from the underbelly of the Center and up onto the Jumbotron, she meets with a wince-inducing combination of boos, jeers, and verbal insults. She lifts her chin up in defiance. This reaction was expected. She is, after all, fighting in Kat's hometown.
Elena experiences her walkout in a haze of clashing emotions. One big oxymoronic ball of emotions. Is oxymoronic even a word or the right word to use? She recalls an English professor's tirade on Alanis Morisette's incorrect use of the word "ironic." Elena giggles to herself as she imagines said English professor ranting about her. Everything around Elena is slowly fast. Kindly cruel. She briefly registers her arms being nudged up and her shirt being removed. She steps out of the board shorts that have miraculously pooled at her feet. Ric embraces her. She does not even hear what the ringside cutman has just asked her but knows to just nod her head in agreement. She enters the Octagon and absentmindedly circles around the ring, waiting for the woman of the night.
All I wanna do is fuck your body
Oooooh ooooh oooooh oooooooh
Tonight's your lucky night, I know you want it
Oooooh ooooh oooooh oooooooh
Christina Aguilera's fierce voice replaces Gwen's. The Bank Atlantic Center goes absolutely ballistic. Kat locks eyes with Elena in the Octagon and mouths the words loud and proud: "All I wanna do is fuck your body!"
"And now, from the sold-out Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL. It's time! Five rounds for the UFC women's bantamweight championship of the world. Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, this woman is a martial artist and wrestler, holding a professional record of 5 wins and 0 losses. She stands 5'5 tall, weighing in at 126 lbs. Fighting out of Mystic Falls, VA, USA, ladies and gentlemen, introducing the challenger Elena Gilbert. And now, introducing the champion, fighting out of the red corner, this woman is a taekwondo Olympic medallist, holding a professional record of 8 wins and 0 losses. She stands 5'7 tall, weighing in at 134 lbs. Fighting out of Sunrise, Florida, USA, ladies and gentlemen, presenting the reigning, defending, undisputed UFC women's bantamweight champion of the world, Katherine 'Kitty Kat' Pierce."
The referee provides the two opponents an opportunity to touch gloves as a mutual sign of respect but both refuse.
The first round is an atrocity against Elena Gilbert. On the other hand, she is alive, and the fight has not yet ended, so maybe the first round has gone as well as it could have gone. She recollects next to nothing that happened in the round while hunching in her corner during the first intermission. The details that seep through her fuzzy head are enough to make the most resilient of people weep. Kat's fist connected with Elena's chin in the first minute, and the fight was almost called then and there. Somehow, Elena survived the ensuing fury of punches and elbows in turtle position but ended up exposing her back. Kat proceeded to sink in and crank an airtight rear naked choke, leaving Elena gasping for breath. Only Lady Luck's stroke kept Elena conscious, as Kat made a technical error that allowed Elena to escape just as the bell sounded. The scorching tears blaze down Elena's face as her cutman endeavors to stop the bleeding from her several cuts and cold compress the welt that has formed above her left eyebrow. She is upset, panicky, and afraid for her life. Her fearful eyes dart around the hateful crowd like a caged animal, and the tears exponentialize their flow.
With a sigh of defeat, Damon accepts that he is as physically close to Elena as he is going to get. Halfway through the first round, he jumped the spectator barricade and struggled to make his way ringside. Five security guards and the UFC President intervened, and Damon begged to be in Elena's corner during the first intermission. The six-man stonewall did not let up, reiterating to Damon the policy that he already knew. Cornerpeople need to file paperwork months in advance of fights, and only those people are authorized to corner. Damon had not filed the requisite paperwork, and that was that. Even if he is the reigning UFC lightweight champion, rules are rules. Sometimes love is not enough to bend the universe's compulsion, and you have to just deal. Damon determines to race laps around the Octagon, at the allowable distance, to get Elena's attention. Finally, her broken doe eyes fall on his, and he mouths and signs the words "I love you." One second later, Ric stands her up in anticipation for the second round.
Elena can feel hope surging through her veins. She checks another one of Kat's high kicks. Kat, visibly frustrated, throws another one, also checked. Elena has lost this round as well but not as sorely as the last. Kat will only win due to aggression, not because she has landed anything significant. Elena has defended well and stuffed a few takedown attempts. The lacklustre round is a win to Elena. Anything would be, compared to the 10-8 beatdown of last round.
During the second intermission, despite her desperation to seek the love of those baby blues, Elena has to close her eyes. Her cutman applies a cold compress to her now suspect right eye.
Kat's blood pressure rises with the ding of the third round. She mentally curses that Damon burger she wolfed two weeks ago. That fucking burger was the impetus of her downward spiral. She had kept a clean, healthy fighter diet to that point. But Damon's continued refusal of her sexual advances forced her to that burger for comfort, and that burger was the first of many burgers since then. Before each shameless face-shoving session, her coach had warned her that her cardio would probably be shot to hell come fight night. She hates her jackass coach and his sage foresight. The round is as even as one can get. Elena scores a takedown and postures up to hit Kat with a barrage of nasty elbows. Kat manages to stand again and lands several hard head-body combos. Elena hits another takedown and this time looks to submit Kat. Kat reverses and searches for a submission herself.
Kat's cardio really crashes in round 4. Elena is on the aggressive but has yet to land anything spectacular. Kat can see the green in Elena's strategy of picking pretty shots. Kat prays Elena continues this way because any increase in pace could spell disaster.
Ric drills a new strategy into Elena's head during the last intermission. Go for broke. Kat is exhausted and vulnerable.
Round 5 will go down in history as one of the grandest comebacks ever enacted on the world's grandest mixed martial arts cage. Elena takes Kat down early and proceeds to hail punches and elbows for five straight minutes. Kat's incredible chin is her saving grace.
"Ladies and gentlemen, after five rounds we go to the judges scorecards. Judge Judy scores the fight 48-47 Gilbert. Judge Joe-Brown scores the fight 48-47 Pierce. And Judge Dredd scores the fight 48- 47 for the winner via split decision and the new undisputed UFC women's bantamweight champion of the world, Elena Gilbert!"
Elena does not wait for the UFC President to wrap her new belt around her waist or the announcer to interview her. Instead, she sprints and jumps across the spectator barricade to where Damon has reseated himself. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kisses him passionately, unaware of the hoots, hollers, and cameras directed at them. "This is the happiest moment of my life, and I want to share it with you. I love you too. Our problems are still going to be there later. For now, time-out."
Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback, follows, and favourites. Special thanks to vamomoftwins, fevbo10, SwanQueen4055, Lady Vienna, and missemerald90.