Unpredictable (A Lashton Fanfic)

Chapter Sixty-Three - Violence.

The rest of the week was filled with rigorous and grueling training sessions--Ashton and I were being trained by Christian and Dimitri who had flown down specifically for this occasion, and Austin and the others were being trained by Colin and Dan and Shay. It was tough, but it was something that had to be done. Even little Camila was learning how to fight from Danielle, who had randomly showed up a few days ago and said she was here to help us. To be honest I didn't really trust Danielle, but she was Colin's girlfriend and Colin was our leader. I definitely trusted him, so if he felt safe around her, then there was no need for me to worry.

The training sessions were tough, especially on Ashton. He had never been violent in any way before now, and I could tell by his tortured expression that he didn't like to fight, even in a set up situation that was far from real. His hesitation made me become a little concerned about the big showdown tomorrow. If he didn't like violence now, how in the world was he going to stand up to a witch and five, possibly six, Strigoi?

It was only on the last day of training that I decided to speak up about my fears. "Ashton," I said, taking a swig from the water bottle I was holding even though I had long lost a taste for regular liquids. "Are you going to be okay tomorrow night?"

"What are you talking about?" Ashton asked, wiping sweat off his face with a wet towel that Christian handed to him.

I sighed loudly. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Ash. If you can't handle a simple mock fight against our friends, how are you going to be able to face the real bad guys when the time comes?"

"Honestly," Ashton whispered, and I had to lean forward in order to hear him clearly. "I don't know. I like to think I'll be perfectly fine, but I'm not sure." He looked up at me once more, his hazel eyes sparkling. "How am I going to do, Lukey?"

I put my arm around him and pulled him closer. "You're going to do fine," I said, trying to convince myself of this as well. "because I'm not going to let Nathan or anyone else hurt you. You can bet your life on that, Ashton Irwin."

"What if they do, though?" Ashton breathed, and a slight look of fear crossed his features before disappearing and morphing into one softer. "What if they do hurt me?"

"They won't," I said firmly. "They won't touch you because I won't let them. You trust me, don't you?"

When Ashton nodded, I leaned forwards even closer and pressed my lips against his. "Then trust me on this, Ash. I love you, you know that, and with that said Nathan is going to have to go through me in order to get to you."

We sat in silence for what felt like forever until Dimitri, who had been standing quietly in the corner until now, spoke up and broke us out of our thoughts. "I hope you two know that after tomorrow this all will indeed be over."

"I know," I replied, trying to muster up some confidence into my voice. "and I couldn't be more thankful."

"However," Christian was the next one to say anything, and his expression told me all I needed to know--that I was not going to like what he had to say. "I also want you to know that I can't promise you that every single one of us in this hotel are going to make it out of that warehouse alive."

Ashton breathed in sharply, and I tightened my grip on his hand. "I know that. We all know that. Let's try not to think too much about it though right now, okay?"

Christian opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when Dimitri put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't," I heard him whisper. "Just don't say anything else."