Waltzing With Fate

The Lion's Den

We pull into the driveway and we get out of the Razor. We grab our bags and walk to the entrance where the soldiers stand to greet us. The soldiers usher us to my uncle's office and they knock on the door.
    "I knew that you would miss me and come crawling back home."
    "You were right," I say in the most serious tone that I can muster.
    "Who is the boy that you brought with you?"
    "This is Matteo and he was more than willing to come with me. His brother infuriates him and he is waiting for the day that he can finally defeat him. He believes that you are the one that can give him the opportunity to do so."
    "Matteo, you have come to the right place. I know your resume and your skills, so you don't have to display them to me by sparring my dearest niece. Soldiers show them to their rooms and get them ready for a training session with my best soldiers."
    "Yes sir," the soldier's state as they usher us out of the room and into the hallway. They usher us to a set of rooms beside each other on the second floor among the highest ranking officers in my uncle's ranks. I get my old room and Matteo gets the adjoining room to mine. We both walk into our rooms and the first thing that I do is throw my bag onto my bed. After I do that I run over to the door that divides our rooms and I open it.
    "Hey Matteo!" I yell as I walk through the door.
    "What's up?"
    "Don't hold back in training today, he will drop you so fast if you do."
    "I think I can handle that. You need to make sure that you don't overdue it and hurt yourself."
    "I will try, but I make no promises." Matteo rolls his eyes as I say that.
    There is a knock at our doors and the soldiers tell us that training starts in the main training room in ten minutes.
    "I will show you to the training room so get changed and knock on this door when you are ready."
    "Alright," he says as I head out of his room and shut the door.
    I get dressed in an emerald green sports bra and a navy blue pair of shorts. I braid my hair into two braids that are tight to my head and I put on a pair of green converse.
    I hear a knock on the door and I yell "come in Matteo."
    "Are you ready to do this?"
    "I am about as ready as I'll ever be Matteo."
    "Alright let's go then," he says as we walk towards the door. We exit my room and I lead him down the hallway and I turn left at the end of it. We continue down that hallway until we get to the stairs. We head down three flights of them and we get to the floor that the training room is on. I keep use the railing of the stairs to keep me stable while I walk down them. I go into the first room on the right and it opens up to a room with a mat floor and mats climbing the walls up to at least eight feet. There are at least 100 people in this room and they don't even take up the entire room. There are racks of knives and other weapons lining the walls that don't have mats on them.
    "This is the main training room," I say as one of the trainers approaches us.
    "Hello Leigh it's good to see you here again."
    "It's good to see you again, Rose."
    "Who is this?" She says as she gestures to Matteo.
    "That's Matteo, he's someone I picked up during my stint as my brother's keeper. I left and he followed. He is pretty skilled in this line of work."
    "Isn't he Wyatt Castellano's brother?"
    "I am not my brother and you will not compare or relate me to him in any sense." Matteo responds coldly almost like he has a natural hatred for his brother.
    "Alright kid let's see what you have that Wyatt doesn't." He pulls off his shoes and Rose calls over a soldier to spar with him. The soldier she called over is one of my best friends from my childhood Asher Damon.
    "Asher!" I yell as he struts over to us.
    "Leigh!" He yells as I give him the biggest hug in the world. "It's nice to see you again kid."
    "I'm a month younger than you are and this is-"
    "Matteo Castellano," Asher interrupts.
    "Hey buddy, nice to see you."
    "Good to see you bro. I guess we are sparring for the millionth time in our lives."
    "Yeah we know who always won those."
    "Wyatt. For context, Leigh, Wyatt always had to step in so we didn't kill each other every time we sparred."
    "My stupid brother always had to step in." Matteo states as he rolls his eyes and prepares to spar. Rose offers them sparring gear, but they both turn it down.
    Asher throws the first punch and Matteo skillfully dodges it. Matteo has a glint in his eye like he is about to do something stupid. Matteo goes in for a leg sweep and fails, but there is still a stupid grin on his face and a crazy glint in his eye. I can tell that he is planning something. Matteo grabs onto Asher's leg from the ground and pulls it out from under him. Asher slams to the ground and lays there for a second before he does anything.
    "Damn you Castellano." Asher says as he gets his bearings. Asher grabs Matteo's left arm and pins it to the mat.
    "Oww I got stabbed in that arm." Asher responds by changing the position of Matteo's arm to behind Matteo's back. Asher holds on to Matteo's shoulder while he pins Matteo's arm behind his back.
    "Stop complaining you healed it already," Asher says quietly so the people around him can't hear what he said. I only catch the comment because I see Asher say it to Matteo.
    "True," Matteo responds as he squirms under Asher's grip. Matteo pushes himself into a standing position and manages to get Asher off of his back. Matteo walks over to Asher and offers him his hand to help him up as a peace offering. Asher takes it and once he is up Matteo flips Asher over and wins the match.
    "Let me help you up for real this time." Matteo offers to a pouting Asher. Instead of answering Matteo, Asher holds his arms out like a child wanting to be picked up. Matteo picks him up and carries him over to a chair and sets him down in it.
    "I didn't need you to carry me Matteo."
    "I know darling, but you were pouting so I took it upon myself to carry you as my apology for totally kicking your ass."
    "It was a good apology and might I say that you have gotten more muscular than I remember." Matteo winks and says "only for you my dear."
    "It better only be for me because if I find out you were cheating on me while you were gone we are going to have issues that not even a marriage counselor can fix."
    Matteo blows him a kiss and Rose walks up laughing.
    "Asher, I don't think your girlfriend will be happy about you flirting with other people." I say as I make my way over to them.
    "You're right I don't like that hes flirting with other people," Rose jokes as she looks between the two of them.
    "Its only to boost our egos," Asher says as looks at Rose with puppy eyes.
    "It is ego boosting," Matteo laughs. "Wait, you have a girlfriend?"
    "Yes I do, Rose this is Matteo, one of the people I trained with on the outings I took."
    "Nice to meet you, im the girlfriend," Rose replies.
    "I thought I would end up with one before you."
    "Well you didn't because I'm the better looking one."
    "You keep telling yourself that," Matteo mutters.
    "Leigh, tell him that I am the better looking one."
    "I will not be a part of this argument because I am here to train, not to argue about who is better looking."
    "Oh yeah, we have to train," Matteo and Asher respond in unison.