Hard Times

[Jack]

| Cody Rhodes |...

The entire wrestling world was shocked and saddened by the sudden death of the legendary Dusty Rhodes. Wrestlers and fans alike were mourning but things were a bit different when that celebrated figure was your father. Cody Rhodes sat in his locker room, leaned back in a steel chair while looking blankly at a large mirror in front of him. His Stardust face paint was missing and he was only wearing the bottom half of the outfit as well as the orange colored gloves. His phone, set to speaker mode, was sitting nearby

| Hope Clemente | Cody, you're absolutely sure that this is what you want? Everyone will understand if you take some time away. No one is going to think less of you for that.

The voice of the EBWF's medical and training staff came through the phone. Aside from making sure every athlete could physically perform their duties, it was also the doctor's task to handle the mental side as well

| Cody Rhodes | I'm going to do it. I can't cut a Stardust promo this week. It just wouldn't feel right. I don't know what I would say. But I'm going to perform. I don't know how the fans are going to react when I come out. I'm just trying to keep everything in emotionally.

| Hope Clemente | I know you and Wes haven't exactly seen eye to eye in the past. But believe me when I tell you that he had a great deal of respect for your father and wants to do his best to honor him tonight.

Cody gave a solemn nod to himself.

| Cody Rhodes | Yeah, everyone knows we've gone at it a few times. I finally have a match against him and it's under these circumstances. But he and the entire company have shown so much respect for my Dad that I'm not even focused on the past. None of that matters at the moment.

A sigh. He lowered his head downwards and gave it a couple of shakes.

| Cody Rhodes | Dad and I weren't..as close as we should have been in the past few years. I said some things about him on television and acted in certain ways that..

He cut himself off and closed his eyes

| Cody Rhodes | ..You just wish you could have had more time with them. Someone that's gone. You wish you could have told them you loved them one last time. I realize that now.

He ran both hands through his close cropped hair and took a moment to collect his thoughts.

| Hope Clemente | No matter what happened, I'm sure he knew that you loved him.

| Cody Rhodes | I owe my life to him, let alone my entire career. I wasn't the best son. But I can honor him the best way I know how. Inside the ring. With Wes. It's a big responsibility but he obviously knows a lot about dealing with big responsibilities. Thank you, Hope, but I'm fine. Fine as can be expected anyway. To be honest, this will probably be kind of therapeutic.

The phone call silently ended and Cody released another deep exhale. It was going to be a difficult time performing with so much weighing on his mind but he knew that he had to keep going. Even when life put hard times on him.