Must I ask?

Disclaimer: I own no one familiar to the movie. End of disclaimer.

Never thought that Lash and Layla had a past relationship beyond the movie? What? You never thought they could have been friends? Are you kidding me? Here! Have the story! My goodness, you've been missing out.

Past

Stronghold was looking quite sour, with his hands across his front, the chains clinking together against his ankles. It made Lash smile, even brighter, when he saw the expression he received when Will looked up to spot him. It looked like death. Will knew he was going to be in trouble. Hell, just staring Lash down was giving him a deeper grave. With one hand movement from his own eyes to Stronghold, he watched a large gulp throw down Will's throat. Oh, this would be good. He was already shivering with fear. Well he should be. Lash was going to place him in a hospital bed for the next week or two. He didn't know - he didn't really care. He was leaving soon, anyway. Lash would be home in his own bed, with the know that Layla was okay. She was all that ever really mattered nowadays.

--

She hugged her knees tightly as she stared out into the wide oceanfront, feeling the wind in her hair. Soft piano music played in the back of her mind, and she could only sigh. Layla slowly looked around, searching. Would he be here now? Would he be here to talk to her?

"Little Layla." His voice whispered, and she closed her eyes, feeling his hands pushing past her flyaway strands, collecting them all behind her ears.

"Daddy." Before she could even turn around to face him, she started to cry. "Daddy, Will...he, hurt me."

"I know, baby. I know." He nodded, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, leaning her into him. It's been almost forever since she's seen him, heard him - and she hasn't even opened her eyes to really say hello.

But she breathed slowly around him, sinking her nose into his shirt to admire the old smell that made her smile. Yet this was a time where she couldn't. "An' Lash is in jail." Layla sniffed. "I don't know what to do, Dad. Two of the most important people to me, are in jail."

"Will has gone as well, has he?" Her father muttered darkly, stroking her hair lightly. "Well I know that he deserved to go there, baby. No one hurts my little girl and gets away with it." He paused. "But why is Lash there?"

"He took part in some really bad thing during the Homecoming dance earlier this year." She murmured, finally opening her eyes. The sky above them turned a pale pink and purple, the horizon a beautiful orange. And yet Layla ignored it, feeling the breeze on her face become a slight bit stronger. "But he did it to get an even fight with Will." She sighed. "I would have stopped him if he had told me about it. He wouldn't be in jail right now if he told me that stupid plan." Pounding on the sand by her feet, she shook her head once.

"Yes, well, I'm sure he's doing fine." Layla took his hand in hers, and nodded. "In fact, I think he's taking good care of Will right this moment." His voice was dark and angry, but extremely confident and protective.

Layla's face turned abruptly towards her father, and searched his eyes. "What's going on? What's going to happen? Dad, what do you know?"

He shook his head, picking a hand up to stop her words. "Little Lay, don't worry." Her lip quivered a moment, and a tear fell from her eye. "Don't...worry." His hands gripped her shoulders, and made her nod.

"Lash is going to hurt him, isn't he?" The breeze stopped, and her father merely nodded. Layla stared for a moment, before looking out to the grass on top of the hill above her ocean view. "Good. I don't think it'll be wise for Will to get out of there and just try to take advantage of another girl and hurt her like he's hurt me."

Sighing to himself, her father nodded once again. It may have been harsh to let those words leak through her mouth, but it was something to say. Something that needed to be heard by someone. Even if that someone has been dead longer than she's known him.

"I'll see you again one day, Layla."

She kissed his cheek as they stood tall, and hugged him tightly. Her voice cracked once. "Bye Daddy."

Sitting up in her bed, she wiped her forehead, doing her best to hold back that sob she let loose before her dream ended. She's missing so many people these days.

----

"Not only did you take Layla into your arms and bruise her, but you took my table as well." Lash slammed his useless tray upon the table, and didn't even look around when he took a hold of the table in his hands, sliding it forcefully away towards the wall. Will sat there, sandwich in hand, nearly to his mouth. With not a care of anything, Will stood up, throwing his sandwich to the floor at their feet, causing many inmates to stop what they were doing to look up and watch. The fight was on.

"At least I could call her my own." He hissed back, a glare in his eyes to try and compete with Lash's.

"That's it. Enough." Lash launched himself at Will, knocking him down to the ground and keeping him there. Surprisingly, none of the on-duty guards took a notice to care. But Tipler was on close watch, his eyes peeled. If he could, he would throw a punch; Stronghold deserved it. "You're dead." His fist connected with Will's jaw, and the inmates took that as a clue to start calling out names, calling out punches and kicks. Fight.

Will took that in. "I eat those." His voice sputtered, and he tried to spit in Lash's face. Of course, he had to try and snap his jaw back into place, but Lash wouldn't have any of that. And of course Lash was going to keep him in line. He'd be gone. Lash wouldn't have to care about how hurt Layla would be. She'd be without Stronghold. And he, Lash, would never hurt her. Ever.

"You'll eat your teeth." Lash snarled, his knees digging into Stronghold's legs as Will tried to squirm away. When he lifted a fist, Lash caught it in a second, biting down on the boy's knuckles to start the blood. There would be blood. "You'll do it, you'll fuckin' do it, Stronghold. You're gone." He screamed, his eyes wide with anger and fury. His blood boiled for more. More adrenaline. More punches. Lash's mind couldn't just settle for one. GO.

The echoes of everyone's cries of "FIGHT" had faded away in Lash's mind - and Will was trying his best to nurse his bitten hand, his highly-likely-broken jaw. But Lash wouldn't even notice. He went in for another punch to the face, and marveled at how well the blood coming down his nose looked amazing. Just, red, all over. And he smiled once he hit him again. That was already three, and Stronghold's face was already starting to look like it was tossed through the garbage disposer. He had to be taken care of. Will Stronghold didn't deserve Layla Williams.

But Will got enough strength to flip their positions, getting ready to tense his face and toss down a punch. He was merely nothing without his super-strength, though, and Lash saw through to that. Quickly dodging a fist, his mouth wrinkled in hatred, his fingers grabbing at Stronghold's face to cause the smaller boy to scream when Lash's stubby nails scratched his cheeks. He took this chance to kick his stomach up, and Will was tossed into the air, being thrown back down 15 feet away, with a large black dog on his chest. Lash was baffled. Jagger was in this? "No, this is my fight." He growled, getting to his feet and crossing the room to grasp some of the black hair on Jagger's back. "My...fight."

Jagger snarled down at Stronghold, and the boy had tried his best to get away, to squirm beneath the wolf. "He's hurt Layla." He screamed to Lash, his eyes dark and heavy, his teeth large and ready to rip through the skin.

"He's mine. When I leave, Jay, you can have him." As he spoke, Lash reached down and across the wolf's leg, grasping Will's throat to drag him slightly from Jagger. "You can teach him a lesson your own way. Right now, I just wanna kick his a -" There was a silence that head over them all as Jagger morphed back to his regular self, his werewolf genes staying awake as he twitched, his teeth still large and able to destroy. The silence had been so eerily quiet, that Lash had to bite his lip in concentration, his hatred for the boy just building up around him, the inmates taking in that aura, that feeling.

And so the last punch was smashed into his face. Will Stronghold gushed blood from both his nose, and his cheeks, but Lash sighed, grunting lightly as he leaned up to stand. Stronghold was down for the count, and wasn't moving so well. Speed came practically flying, waddling his best down the open aisle to grasp his friend on the back, a triumphant smile. "Four punches and a bite to the knuckle, kid! What the hell! That was amazing!" Lash completely ignored this, and kicked Will in the side. He could never really be finished. "Whoa, whooa," Speed said, going behind the stretchy boy to pick him up.

"Stronghold, you're fuckin' dead." Kicking and screaming, Lash was dragged away by Speed and a rushing Tipler, taken away towards his cell. The only place that was actually really safe for the boy there.

"Calm it down." Tipler whispered to him, covering his mouth as they exited the lunchroom.

"No, he's still alive. I wanna see him burn in Hell, Tip." Lash could merely muffle out, his eyes dark and narrow.

"I have news."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do." Lash huffed silently, and then waited. "She called. She's waiting for you." He immediately took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

"Can I wash my hands first?"

----

"I broke it off yesterday." Lash gave her a sincere smile, and nodded once she started to rub her bruised wrists.

"Good. You shouldn't have begun something with him in the first place." Layla looked away, but Lash sighed into the phone, looking down at his table. "Layla...you just, didn't know."

Her eyes met his, and her face lowered so that it looked like she was glaring at him. "But you did." He tried to look away, but her body followed him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Do you...remember all those years back, when I first started hating him?"

"Are you talking about that time I backed you down that day Jagger came over?" He nodded. "What about it?"

"I knew then, too. I tried to handle the situation on my own, but you stopped me."

"Why would you listen to me if you knew he was going to do something like this!?" She whispered frantically into the phone, her eyes wide and scared. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Lash sighed over the line, and shook his head. "You would have thought me crazy, Lay. I just couldn't tell you. You wouldn't have believed me."

"Yeah, maybe so, but you could have just told me. I might not have thought you sane, Lash, but at least you would have told me." Her voice got quite high, and Layla hiccuped. He reached out onto the glass, pressing a hand against it to look deep into her eyes. She hadn't recoiled, but closed her eyes to breathe calmly.

"But I took care of it."

"I had that sense." Her eyes opened and she gave him a small smile, seeing his face brighten as her own did. "Thanks, Lash."

Her heart was in her throat as she peered through to him, and her fingers gripped the phone tightly, her right hand clenching into a fist. "I..." He whispered, sounding as if he were unsure of what he wanted to say. "I love you, Layla. And you know I'd do anything for you."

For some reason, his words, after so many times that he's repeated them to her in the darkest nights, the brightest days, they affected her even more here. Like they finally meant something to her. Well of course they meant something to her before - it just never hit her this hard. It made her want to smash the glass and hold him to her, close her eyes and let her feel his arms around her, his lips against her cheek - her lips - her forehead. She hated the fact that this made her want to cry. She wanted to be with Lash again. Layla didn't want to be separated from her best friend any longer.

"I want you to come home." She whispered shakingly, gasping to herself as she looked up at him. "I want you to come home, and stay with me. With Mum, and Sarah." A tear fell and she swatted at her cheek. "Lash, you're leaving soon. You've got to."

His finger seemed to be tracing out her features, and he could only smile. "I know. And I'll be with you - don't worry Lahlah."

--

WHOOOO.

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