Acrobatics <Lashton>

25 - You Kill What You Love

I like to say there's certain things you can't take back: One of them is 'I love you,' and one of them is bullets. ~Nathan Fillion   

Ashton's POV

Everyone was safe and out of harm's way. "Ashton, where's Luke?" I turned to see CiCi standing behind me. She had a panicked look in her tear-stricken eyes. "I-I thought he would have found you.."

"No." I shook my head. "He's not with you?" 

"No he stayed in the big top to help the people get out." CiCi shook her head. "As-Ashton..Where is my brother?" 

"I'll find him, I promise." I said and I took off through the mayhem and headed towards the big top. I looked around and could see that the animals were being taken care of. I had already noted each one inside the train and then I pieced something together. 

"Where is Silver.." I mumbled. I grabbed a roustabout and pulled him towards me. "Have any of you taken care of the panther yet?" 

"We can't find her!" The man said and I went wide eyed. 

"You-You lost a wild cat!?" I shouted at him. 

"She was gone when we got here!" He responded. 

"Give me your guns, just give them." I said and he passed me both of them. I ran towards the big top, my heart racing out of my chest. Panicked thoughts circling my mind. What if Silver is in there with Luke? What if I'm already too late..

I wiped my eyes as they welled up with tears. My heart pounding in my ears as I tried to swallow my own fears. I slid into the big top and went wide eyed. I could see Luke with Silver walking straight towards him. I was wide eyed.

I heard the song in the distance, I looked around and could not tell what was going on. Until the animals rushed in, when they rushed in everyone was in a panic. I looked up to where my mother was, she was hanging on the bar but elephants easily took down the structure for the acrobats. She went down, down and hit the ground. She screamed in pain, and there was blood leaking from her body.

"M-Mommy!" I yelled as I went to go near her, climbing down out through the seats as I wanted to help her. Then I noticed the lions, they circled around her and I froze. My body shaking. They pounced and tore her apart. I choked and felt my eyes go wide. My small knees getting weak, my tiny hands shaking, my mind fogging. 

"Come on, Ashton." The man who ran the circus said as he grabbed me. I could see the tears in his eyes and I was too in shock. 

"M-Mom.." I mumbled and broke into sobs. 

I remembered the rain that came down and put out the fire. I remember seeing the blood, the animals crazed, the people dead, the tears cried. They mixed with the rain as they hit against the ground. There was nothing I could have done. 

That was no longer the case though, as I stared at what was happening, I could feel my legs shaking. As a child, I could do nothing to save my mother, but this was a different time, this was a different moment. I could do something for Luke.

"Silver down!" I yelled to her, she just kept going towards him. "Silver get back here right now!" 

I raised the blue one, shooting it and hitting her with it. She just kept moving, as if the dart did not stop her at all. I closed my eyes, pained by the fact that I would have to shoot Silver, but I know I had to do it. I felt the tears rolling down my face as I tightened my grip on the black gun. 

"I'm sorry Silver.." I muttered, aiming and shooting just as she pounced, knocking her off to the side as her crying body laid next to Luke. He scooted away from her as she snarled and hissed at him. I shot her three more times. 

Luke was wide eyed, he looked paralyzed. I walked near him and could noticed how heavily he was breathing. He could not take his eyes off of the cat.

I bent down next to Luke and he screamed before he noticed it was me. "A-Ashton.." He mumbled. I nodded my head, wiping my face as I looked at the smooth black fur of Silver and then back to Luke who was sobbing hysterically.

"You idiot what were you thinking." I shook my head. "You could have gotten yourself killed."

Luke shook his head and continued to cry, what would I have done if Luke did get killed by Silver? Everything was just on time, one second later and I would have found his blood on the ground. The reality hit me all at once and I immediately pulled Luke close to my body. 

"Don't do that to me!" I snapped at him, the both of us were a mess of tears, but Luke clung to me as if he life depended on it. His body shaking. 

"I love you, I love you." Luke choked out. I went wide eyed. "I don't want to die, I don't want to." 

"You're alright." I said quietly. I rubbed his back as he cried hysterically. "I love you too, Luke.. You scared me. No one knew where you were, and I-I thought.." I never finished the sentence but we both knew what it was. 

I parted from him when I felt something dripping on me, and I noticed Luke's left arm to have a gash in it, leaking out scarlet blood onto me and himself. "Oh my gosh, she must have gotten you a little.."

Luke's breathing picked up and he began to hyperventilate. "No, no Luke calm down." I kissed his forehead. "It'll be alright, come on." I bent down and picked him up, taking him out of the tent. He continued to sob the entire time. Michael appeared with a first aid kit immediately when he saw us. 

"Oh dammit Luke, what happened.." Michael mumbled as he began to wrap Luke's arm. CiCi was crouching beside her brother and was wide eyed. 

"He got attacked by Silver." I said quietly as I ran my hand over Luke's hair, keeping him sat between my legs. 

"Where is she now?" Michael raised an eyebrow. 

"Dead." I coughed. 

"You shot her?" Michael looked up to me with wide eyes. I nodded. "I never thought you would be able to shoot an animal you cared for." 

"Was I supposed to stand there and let Luke get mauled?" I snapped at Michael.

"Absolutely not." Michael snapped back. "You made a good choice." 

"The circus is going to close." Luke spoke up. We all looked at one another, that was our last concern. "They're going to kill all of the animals and everyone is going to lose their jobs." 

"I.." Michael trailed off. "Sometimes that happens Luke.." 

"You should have let Silver maul me." Luke muttered. "What are we supposed to do now? We don't have anything." 

We exchanged looks, no one had any idea. After all, we were all dedicated so something we were good at. Everyone around us had heard Luke, and everything was grim. 

We had lost everything, and it only took an hour for everything to be gone, for our lives to go up in flames. Everyone who had a passion about something was about to lose it, everyone with nowhere to go was suddenly stuck. 

"We have each other." I said quietly as I kissed the top of Luke's head. "We'll work it out together, after all, the circus is family and it's the only family we have." 

AUTHOR'S NOTIFICATION; Ariana

That was the last chapter, there will be an epilogue but yeah =3 that was the last chapter as the circus dies. Usually large scale circus accidents made it get shut down by several different groups of people. 

Hugs, Kisses, Cuddles and Serenades xX