A/N: HEY! long time no read, I know. But I kinda lost my mojo for this then i went away for a while, but i'm back now with motivation, yay! so yes this will be continued, so please (i hope you're still reading this!) comment/review/like/kudos/favourite bookmark whatever! it makes me smile! also come talk to me on tumblr: psychrollins and check out my two rolleigns fics, Gravity and Rejects! :D - georgia x.
/
"So you're on that too, then." Dean says once Layla has left, Seth turns to see Dean rubbing the back of his neck, trying to smile.
"On what?" Seth asks, though he knows what Dean's talking about. It's not rocket science that everyone knows about everyone wanting to fight Mox. Some say it's stupid, others say it's courageous.
"Wanting to fight Mox?" Seth shrugs, perching on the side of the ring beside Dean.
"I guess so. I mean, wouldn't be completely heartbroken if I never got to fight him, but it's something I'd like to do before I stopped fighting." Dean nods, like he understands, his face suddenly falls serious.
"A word of advice, think about it before you call him out. Mox is, he's not a normal human being. Once you get him in that place, you've got no idea of what he's capable of. Hell, I don't even think he knows what he's capable of. And you're good at what you do Seth, like really good, but I want you to understand fully what you're getting yourself into before you start calling him out, OK?" Seth nods, because he does understand, he's not even sure if he's ready to call him out just yet, but he's still going to ahead with Dolph's fight. He'll just make sure Dolph's offer of help will still stand when he's ready.
A bright smile suddenly flashes across Dean's face and he shoves Seth's arm lightly. "C'mon, let's go and find Roman, pretty sure it's time for his break."
xXx
"So girls, are you going to come and see Seth tonight?" Punk asks, passing Summer her bottle of water.
Summer makes a face, "I dunno', I hate seeing my little Sethie all bloody and bruised." She reaches over and pinches his cheeks. Seth swats her hands away, mumbling something about not liking the name 'Sethie'.
"C'mon babe, Seth needs the support. Plus, you'll be watching television on your own if you don't go, cos' I'm not missing this, big fight." Layla chimes, giggling when Summer makes an annoyed face.
"Fine, I guess I'll come. But as soon as Seth starts bleeding, I'm out."
"So what's the plan Seth?" Punk asks, directing his attention away from the two girls.
Seth's cheeks colour slightly, "Meeting Dean at the gym at half nine, getting in half an hour warm up before heading to the warehouse." Punk smirks, eyes crinkling at the corners.
"What?"
"Nothing nothing just, you and Dean huh?" Seth rolls his eyes, though he can feel his face flushing. After their lock up in the ring yesterday, they'd spent a fair amount of time just talking, and Seth found that the sudden urge to kiss Dean got stronger whenever he was around him. It was embarrassing to say the least.
"Oh my God, Punk just drop it OK? There's nothing going on, Jesus." Punk raises his arms up in mock defence, but it doesn't wipe the smirk from his face. Seth rolls his eyes and fishes his phone from his pocket. He quickly replies to Kaitlyn's message and tries to ignore the nauseas feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Tonight's fight against Dolph is possibly the biggest he's had yet, the possibility of having someone much respected in the fighting community helping him call out the one person that Seth thinks might beat him, well it weighs heavy on his shoulders. If he loses tonight, in front of everyone, it will get back to Mox somehow. Then the guy will never want to fight him.
Seth sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face. Summer, Layla and Punk are caught up in some kind of squabble about probably nothing so Seth pushes himself out of his chair, heading to the bathroom for a shower.
The gym is completely empty when he gets there, but Dean's left the door unlocked for him. Seth's setting his bag down next to the ring and wrapping the tape around his wrists when he hears Dean's voice from the other side. Regal and Roman are with him, and though he's grateful of the support, he's a little nervous to be fighting in front of Regal.
Layla had brought him up to speed with just who Regal was back in the nineties, a very successful mixed martial arts fighter who pretty much dominated the scene throughout his whole career. He's won the Toughest Man in the World competition on multiple occasions, and even broken a few limbs and ended a few careers. Fighting in front of him seems daunting, even if the man himself has told him he's good. Alas, Seth gets into the ring with Dean and begins to warm up with him.
They start with some simple knee hugs and twists, before moving onto both backward and drop lunges. Dean takes him through a three part workout slash warm-up that covers probably every muscle in his body. He should feel tired, considering its one hell of a warm up, but instead he only feels exhilarated and completely at one with his own body. He has faith in the strength of it like he never has had before. Dean's treating him like this is the fight of his life, helping him work on his strategy once he's warmed up, with Regal chipping in some extra advice.
It is the fight of his life, really; because if he wins this, then he's going to earn a hell of a lot of respect. Dolph is probably one of the best fighters out there at the moment, beating him would not only prove to people that Seth is also one of the best, it would also prove that he's worthy to fight Mox, if the man ever shows himself.
Handing him a bottle of water, Dean puts an arm around his shoulders. "You ready for this?" he asks in a calm, quiet voice. Seth nods, taking a sip from the bottle.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Dean squeezes his shoulder and heads off to talk to Roman. It leaves him alone in the main area of the gym with Regal. The older man is standing looking at the ring with a wistful look present on his features. Regal turns to him, seemingly sensing that Dean has left his side, and beckons him to stand by his side.
"Seth, I have all the faith in the world in you tonight, you're going to win." Regal says, hands tucked into the pocks of his black slacks. "Do you know why?"
Seth shakes his head, "No, not really." He says with a slight laugh. Regal smiles at him.
"Because I see a man, who has a dream buried right deep down inside of him, in a corner he does not even know exists, fighting with every fibre of his being just to keep it alive. Maybe he doesn't know what that dream is, but there's something inside of him in a deep corner that's telling him to fight. It's all he really knows, and so a measly task like this is nothing to him, sure there will be nerves and some doubt, but in the end, the dream, that's what unlocks that knockout blow that keeps them down for the count of 10."
Seth raises his eyebrow at Regal, he can't really make sense of anything the man just said, he's pretty sure that Regal told him he was good, however unclear, he appreciates the sentiment all the same. Regal turns and puts his arm around Seth's shoulder, leading him towards where Dan and Roman are. He leans close into Seth.
"When you win tonight, remember only this. If the tiger and the dragon fight, then they will both die." Regal squeezes his shoulder before bidding him a farewell and heading to the basement. Before Seth even has time to process what the man has said to him, Dean and Roman are by his side, herding him towards their car. Punk, Layla and Summer are meeting them at the warehouse, so when Seth gets into the car (after Roman forced him to sit up front next to Dean), it feels a little strange not to have Punk beside him. But he's not complaining; the easy back and forth conversation between Dean and Roman helps calm Seth's nerves (but it only partially distracts him from the cryptic words Regal said to him earlier.
"Jesus, looks like half the state turned up." Dean says, pulling the car onto the curb, it's a tight squeeze for the big car, but Dean works with it, seeing as its one of the only available spaces left on the street.
The three of them pile out of the car and head down a back street before ducking into the back of the warehouse. Punk, Layla and Summer are stood in the far corner talking to Dolph and a small dark haired girl Seth's never seen before.
"Who's the girl?" Seth asks Dean, who's stood so close to him that their arms touch.
"That's AJ, guess she's ref tonight."
"There he is!" Punk notices the three of them approaching and a big grin stretches across his face. Seth knows that the main reason for that smile is the tall, dark, handsome Samoan man standing next to him, and he can't help but grin too.
xXx
His fight with Dolph has been going on for a good fifteen minutes at the least, and Seth knows that Dolph is already the hardest opponent he's ever had the pleasure to face. He's so much quicker than the likes of Brad Maddox and Johnny Curtis, that halfway through, when Dolph hits an insanely hard right hook that he does think twice about calling Mox out. If he's finding this hard, then beating a man much more feared than Dolph will be near impossible.
But Seth keeps fighting. And for some reason, the words from Regal back at the gym resonate inside of his head the whole time. Because he could easily give up, it's so easy, but something inside of him doesn't let him. Something wills his legs to stand back up every time he's knocked down, shocking both himself and everyone around him.
Half an hour in and the two are still fighting. Dolph's cut open pretty bad, but not as bad as Seth. His right eye is swollen completely shut, there's blood gushing from his nose and his lip (to which he's pretty sure he heard Summer let out a loud cry the moment it started, he's too focused to look and see whether she's still there) and there's a burning pain in his ribs, which means they're probably broken.
But he's not giving up, not now he's made a large dent in Dolph's armour. There was something his father used to say to him on the days of his competitions when he was a kid. "All it takes is one crack for the whole thing to come crumbling down." As he gets a kick to connect to his ribs, he knows he's made that crack. All he has to do now is keep going until Dolph finally crumbles, and by the dazed, faraway look that's nestled itself on his opponents features, he knows it can't be too far away.
X
Seth's right, five minutes later, Dolph manages to get up on the count of 8, wobbling slightly before lunging at him. Dolph manages to get his arms around Seth, attempting to do some weird move that would probably end up with Seth being a mangled mess on the floor. But Seth's still got the edge, although he can only see out of one eye, he's fresher than Dolph and manages to reverse the move quickly. He pushes himself from Dolph's grip and wraps his own arms around him, sending his knee into the man's ribs. Dolph hunches over in pain, kneeling down on the floor and wrapping his arms around his midsection.
It's now or never. Seth takes his chance, rearing back and sending his foot down onto the back of Dolph's head. There's a thud and then a silence before AJ's sweet voice begins the 10 count. When she gets to seven, Dolph begins to stir, but it's clear when she reaches 9 that there's no time for the blonde to get up. When the ten slips from her lips, the whole crowd cheers and Seth stares at the mess of a man below him.
Seth Rollins, still undefeated. He can't believe it.