TITLE: A Walk in the Woods

GENRE: Gen

CATEGORY: Friendship, Drama, H/C

RATING: PG-13

SEASON: post S1

CHARACTER(S): Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence, Robby Keene, Miguel Diaz

PAIRING: none

SUMMARY: A teacher takes his student to the mountain on a search for balance. A sensei takes his champion to the mountain on a search for answers. It was inevitable they would run into each other, but they could never have imagined what they'd run up against. Their weekend in the woods becomes a battle for their lives, and to survive it, they will all have to rely on the last thing they ever expected to need. Each other.

DISCLAIMER: Cobra Kai, its characters and situations, are copyright Hurwitz & Schlossberg Productions, Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television. No infringement on, or challenge to, their status is intended. This piece of fiction was written strictly for the entertainment of other fans, and I am gaining no form of compensation for it.

MORE DISCLAIMERS: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or actual places and locations, is purely coincidental.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: As always, with massive love and thanks to smooches to Switch842 for being the best alpha beta / bestie in the universe. Also, thanks to thatsweetbobbyfacetho and dream-beyond-the-fantasy for volunteering their time and talent as betas, and helping me do our beloved boys justice.

If you like this story, thank those three. If you think it sucks, blame me.

WARNINGS: violence, strong language


Chapter One

"Congratulations. You did what I always thought you could do. You won."

"You got what you wanted, Johnny. You won. Congratulations."

He won. He lost. He won. He couldn't tell the difference.

"I want him out of commission."

"But, Sensei, I can beat this guy!"

"Don't worry. I got this."

"Miguel, no ..."

"I don't want him beaten."

"Show him what you've got."

"Out of commission."

Images. Faces. Voices. One into another into the next.

"Cobra Kai is back where it belongs."

"Illegal contact. You're disqualified!"

"Disqualified for excessive and deliberate contact!"

Past, present, past … fading and striking and fading again.

"That's one warning for unsportsmanlike contact."

"Warning for illegal contact to the knee."

No. Not again. He couldn't do it again. He couldn't be that again.

"What the hell are you thinking, man?"

"What was I supposed to do, be a pussy?"

"Robby … I'm sorry …"

"I found his weakness, Sensei, it's his shoulder."

"Sweep the leg."

"No."

"It's gotta be the right way."

"You have a problem with that?"

"We don't have to fight dirty."

"There's nothing dirty about winning, Sensei."

The right way. The wrong way. Which was which? Why couldn't he tell them apart?

"No, Sensei."

"Back on top."

"You taught me that."

"No mercy."

The lessons worked. Miguel wasn't him. And he wasn't Kreese.

"I have a student of my own."

"I got this. No mercy."

"Dad, back off!"

"What the hell's wrong with you?"

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

"Everyone closed the book on us. They thought we were done."

He wasn't him. He couldn't be. He wouldn't be.

"You alright, kid?"

"How's the leg, son?"

No. Miguel was better than that. Robby deserved better than that.

"It took you sixteen years."

"No mercy."

"I need you."

"It's okay, Dad."

"Somebody needs to be there for him."

"You're alright, LaRusso."

He hurt them. He hurt them all.

"But now they see that the real story's only just begun."

"You're gonna regret this when it's over."

"Yeah, right. Like this'll ever be over."

He couldn't let it happen again. It had to end. He had to end it.

"Sorry, kid. I gotta go."

"What about me? I need you."

"Robby, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Dad."

"Daniel, I'm sorry!"

"My leg! It hurts!"

He couldn't breathe. He hurt them. He wouldn't do it again.

"Finish him!"

"You're alright, LaRusso."

Blood … blood? On the ground. On his clothes. On his hands. Where was it coming from?

"LaRusso …"

"You're alright, LaRusso. It's okay. You're okay."

Darkness. Pain. Blood. So much blood.

"Daniel, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry!"

Johnny Lawrence shot up in bed with the echoes of his own words still ringing in his ears. He let his head fall forward, pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, and tried to shove the fading images of the nightmare away.

"The fuck was that?" he asked the empty room.

He thought about going back to sleep, but the lightening sky outside his window, combined with the images still burned into his mind, convinced him it would be pointless. He turned on the mattress, hanging his legs over the side, and lifted his head. He reached for the beer before he remembered it wouldn't be there. The water he'd been keeping by his bed the past few months wasn't going to be nearly strong enough to help, but he drank it, anyway. At least it washed away the bitter bile that had risen into the back of his throat.

Nightmares were nothing new, but the one he'd just woken from was unlike any he'd ever had. He couldn't begin to explain it, not even to himself. The stuff with Kreese, with Miguel and Robby, that part made sense. Hardly a moment of the past five days had gone by without at least one of them, usually all three of them, occupying his thoughts.

He hadn't seen Kreese since the night the man had walked out of the grave and into his dojo. He hadn't seen Robby since he'd stood at the side of the mat, watched his student purposely hurt his own son, given Miguel some line about not fighting dirty and done nothing else to stop it. And though he'd seen Miguel every day since then, he hadn't really talked to him. Their conversations were about nothing more than form and technique – meaningless, pointless things that weren't going to help either one of them move forward. All of it weighed heavy on his mind and his heart. It didn't surprise him that he'd had nightmares about them every night.

But the one he'd just had was different. It was darker, heavier. Scarier. And all that stuff with LaRusso was new. When had he started featuring in Johnny's nightmares as anything other than the guy who ruined his life? What was with all the blood? And what the hell did it mean?

Sighing, he pushed himself to his feet and headed for the kitchen to find something to eat. As soon as he hit the doorway, he had a thought that stopped him in his tracks. He turned around, looked back at his bed, and then at the front door.

He was unsure if Kreese was a threat. He was so off-kilter around the man he barely knew his own name. All it had taken to erase 34 years of Johnny Lawrence being his own man was for John Kreese to walk through the door. Everything he'd thought and felt and believed was gone. He was the same frightened seventeen-year-old kid he'd been the night Kreese had nearly killed him. But even without knowing what Kreese had planned, without knowing if he was there as friend or foe, he knew he couldn't allow himself to trust him. He wouldn't let him start influencing his kids. He had to protect them from him, especially Miguel.

If Miguel's victory had taught Johnny anything, it was that he needed to rethink almost everything about how and what he'd taught his kids. If Kreese walked in and tried to take over while they were still in the headspace where No Mercy was more a way of life than a motto, he'd lose them. He couldn't lose his kids. He'd already lost his son; he couldn't lose Miguel, too.

He couldn't think about Robby without thinking about LaRusso, though, and there was almost too much pain there to deal with. It hurt that his own efforts to save his son had been rejected, that LaRusso had once again succeeded where he had failed. Even so, in the end, Robby was safe, and that was the whole point, wasn't it? Of course, he wished he'd been the one to do it, but LaRusso had pulled him out of that life. He'd pulled him away from those two chuckleheads, from the petty crimes, from the drugs, from the life that was swallowing him whole. From all of it. LaRusso had saved him.

It hurt like hell to admit it. He was sure he'd never say it to anyone else, but that was the way it was. Johnny had screwed up Robby's entire life, and Daniel LaRusso had fixed it. Maybe … could he do the same for Miguel?

No, that wasn't the question, because he didn't doubt that he could. The real question was: could Johnny swallow his pride and make himself ask? Could he admit he was that big of a failure? If it was Miguel's soul on the line, just as it had been Robby's? If it was the only way to save him from Kreese's potential influence and Johnny's failures as a teacher? The only chance he had to turn him back into the sweet kid he'd been just a few weeks earlier before it was too late? Was Johnny strong enough to go to his rival, hat in hand, and beg him for help? And even if he did, would LaRusso be willing to do it?

There was only one way to find out.

Johnny forgot about breakfast and went to get dressed.


"Robby?"

Daniel LaRusso pushed the door of his guest room open slowly and stuck his head through it.

"Hey, Robby. You up?"

The lump under the blankets didn't answer him, so he stepped into the room, closing the door softly. As he crossed to the bed, he saw that though Robby may have been asleep, he definitely wasn't resting. His head was tossing back and forth on the pillow, the muscles in his arms were tight, his feet were moving around, and his face was pinched around his eyes.

Robby had had more than his fair share of nightmares over the week he'd been staying with them. Daniel would admit to himself and Amanda that he'd had a few of his own, but Robby's concerned him. They both had a lot on their minds, but for Robby, it was so much worse. Daniel had gotten bits and pieces of the story from him, though he hadn't pushed, thinking it best to let Robby open up at his own pace instead of one Daniel set for him. And just those few glimpses he'd gotten had upset him.

Robby's thoughts and feelings about his own life, his father, his mother, Miguel, his childhood, and even a couple of former "friends" he'd mentioned were starting to wear him down. There was just so much there – physical and emotional abandonment, pressure, betrayal, reaching out over and over only to get nothing in return, feeling like he'd become a punching bag for the boy he thought his own father had thrown him aside for – and it was too much. It had left him feeling worthless, unwanted, unloved.

It was too much for anyone to deal with. To do it at sixteen? To do it alone?

Robby's stay in the guest room was a temporary arrangement, just until his shoulder was done healing, but Daniel thought he'd had too many "temporary arrangements" in his life, and he wanted to give him something permanent. Something that couldn't be taken away. He'd brought it up to Amanda the night before, while they were getting ready for bed. They'd been talking about their days, comparing notes, and he'd just dropped it in like it was something he said every day.

"I want Robby to move in."

"You want what?" She'd sounded shocked, but there was no real way she could have been surprised. She paid too much attention to what was going on around her to not have known it was going to come up at some point.

He shrugged and walked into the bathroom to wash his face. "I want Robby to move in," he repeated.

"That's what I thought you said." She pulled the blankets back and tossed the pillows into place. "Okay, I get it. You really like Robby. So do I. He's a sweet kid. And I'm fine with him staying here for a while, but to move in?" She settled on the bed and leaned against the headboard. "Don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"What's extreme about it?" He finished drying his face, tossed the towel down on the sink, and walked back into the bedroom. "I moved in with Mr. Miyagi when I was his age."

"Yes, but your mother was in New Jersey, not North Hills."

"When I moved in, it was because she was going to Fresno," he corrected. "She went back to New Jersey while we were in Okinawa." He sat down on the edge of the bed, and then looked at her across his shoulder. "But the point is, I moved in with him, and I lived there for two years. It's not extreme. It's normal."

She sighed and smiled at him, shaking her head almost indulgently. "Daniel, I love you. But that's not normal. It might be normal for you, but, babe, do you even listen to yourself? You're talking about going to Okinawa like everyone just drops everything and takes off to foreign countries on a whim when they're sixteen. Your normal is so not normal."

He had to smile at that. She had a point.

"And there are few big differences. First, your father wasn't Mr. Miyagi's lifelong enemy."

"I wouldn't say … enemy. Not like that."

She just tilted her head and kept going. "Second, Mr. Miyagi didn't have a sixteen-year-old daughter."

He actually scoffed at that. "What, Sam? Come on, Amanda. You've seen them together. They're just friends."

"Yes," she agreed. "They are. Very good friends. And I do happen to trust both of them, but I'm also not going to be blind to the possibility."

Daniel rolled his eyes and turned away.

"And third, what about Robby's mother? I know he told her he was staying with friends for a while, and she was okay with it, but don't you you think you should ask her before you just go moving her son in with us? I mean, she might have an opinion."

He openly sneered at the idea and pushed himself up from the bed. "Right. She's so involved in his life, so worried about where he goes and what he does that in the six months he's been part of our lives, we've never met the woman. She wasn't even at the tournament."

"That's not exactly fair, Daniel. Until a week ago, we thought he was eighteen. Meeting his mother wouldn't have made much sense, would it? Besides, how do you know he's not purposely keeping you and the karate and everything else a secret from her? He's pretty good at keeping secrets, remember?"

He spun around angrily. "How? How does she not notice that her sixteen-year-old son is gone more than he's home? How does she not notice him coming and going at all hours? Some days, he gets here at six in the morning. Some nights, he's here until midnight or later. We let him do it because we didn't know how young he is. She does. What is she paying attention to if she doesn't notice he's not there?"

"Daniel …"

He shook his head and sat back down on the bed. "He just … he needs someone, Amanda. I know he has a father, but no matter how much Johnny may want to play dad, he still chose Miguel when Robby needed him."

"You watched him try, Daniel. Robby literally told him to go away."

"And his mom, whatever is going on there, she's obviously too busy or distracted or whatever to be there for him. The friends he used to have, he doesn't want anything to do with, and they didn't care about him anyway. He's alone, and he needs someone."

Amanda smiled at him softly. "Who are you talking about, babe? Robby Keene? Or Daniel LaRusso?"

He dropped his head. He couldn't argue with that, either. Amanda moved across the bed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"He's a lost little boy looking for a father. You know something about that, don't you?"

He nodded silently.

"And you want to be the one he finds, right?"

"Is it that obvious?" he asked softly.

She nodded. "Oh, yeah."

"Is that bad?"

"No," she answered, kissing his cheek. "That's the Daniel LaRusso I fell in love with."

She hadn't said no. She hadn't said yes, either, but he could live with it. At that moment, though, he needed to take care of the topic of his and Amanda's conversation, who was getting pretty close to thrashing around on the bed in front of him.

"Robby, hey. Wake up." It was something he'd done a hundred times for his own kids, a gentle touch on the arm, a shake of their shoulder, just enough to prod them into wakefulness. Neither Sam nor Anthony had ever responded by throwing a fist at his face, though. Grateful for the reflexes he still had even at forty-nine, Daniel pulled back and put his hands in the air, dodging the punch easily. "Easy," he said, watching Robby's face for a sign the storm was passing. "Take it easy."

Robby blinked, and the fear on his face gave way to shame. "Oh, God, Mr. LaRusso, I'm sorry! I didn't mean …"

Daniel shook his head and smiled. "It's okay." He shrugged nonchalantly, hoping to put Robby at ease. "Maybe one of these days, I'll figure out to stop grabbing your shoulder when you don't know I'm there." He gestured at the side of the bed, asking permission without saying a word. Robby nodded quickly and moved over, so he sat down on the edge of it. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Robby answered with a sigh. "Just a stupid dream, right? Nothing to be upset …" His voice faded away and his eyes glazed over. He was obviously having a hard time shaking the memory.

"You wanna talk about it?" Daniel offered softly. "It might help."

Robby shook his head silently.

Mindful of the fact that he might be starting to push, Daniel tried one last time. "Well, was it about your dad, or …?"

"No." Robby snapped the answer, turning away and staring at the wall before he dropped his head and closed his eyes again. "It wasn't him." His voice was shaking, and the for the first time, Daniel realized his hands were, too.

"Robby?" If Daniel had been concerned about the nightmares before, that concern had just escalated to full-blown worry. Robby wasn't just upset about the nightmare; he was terrified. Confident that Robby was conscious enough of his presence to avoid a repeat performance of the punch-throwing, Daniel reached out and put his hand on his arm. "Hey, what is it?"

"It was … um … it was about you." Daniel's eyes widened in surprise as the words tumbled out of Robby's mouth, faster and faster as he went. "You were hurt, and you couldn't stand up, and I couldn't … I tried, but I couldn't … and you were … then you were just … just laying there … and there was so much blood, and …"

"Hey, hey. Robby. Look at me." Daniel squeezed his arm until Robby finally turned toward him. "I'm right here, kiddo. I'm fine, see?" He held his arms out to his sides and smiled as widely as he could, despite the uneasy feeling that was starting to settle in the pit of his stomach. Robby was having nightmares about him?

It made too much sense. The one and only time Daniel had gotten mad at Robby, he'd thrown him away. He hadn't even given him a chance to explain. He'd fired him, thrown him out of the dojo, out of the house, out of his life, and slammed the door in his face while he was trying to apologize. Why wouldn't he be afraid that it might happen again?

That settled it. Robby was moving in. He'd make whatever excuses he needed to make to Amanda. He'd make whatever promises he needed to make to his mother. He'd deal with whatever he had to deal with from Johnny. He was never letting that kid walk out his door again.

"It was just a bad dream. Everything's fine." Robby nodded his head, slowly at first, then more confidently as he put the feelings and memories further behind him. "You okay?"

Robby gave him a shy smile. "Yeah," he said. An awkward laugh erupted from him as he ran his fingers through his hair. "That was kinda stupid, wasn't it? It was just a dream."

"Nah." Daniel answered him easily, standing up and looking down at him. "Nightmares can be kind of hard to shake. I had one once about me and Amanda fighting, over the dumbest thing. I swear, I was mad at her all day." Robby laughed again, and Daniel smiled. "It happens. But …" Finally seeing his chance to turn their conversation to what had brought him into the room at 5 am to begin with, Daniel took it. "Do you know what the best cure for a bad dream is?"

"I bet it's chores," Robby muttered.

Daniel smiled again. He loved it when he heard echoes of himself in Robby's voice. "Normally, yes, but today, no." Daniel tapped Robby on the shoulder one last time as he turned back to the door. "Today, it's fresh air, sunshine, and two days of peace and solitude in the woods."

Robby's whole face brightened as he remembered the weekend trip they'd been planning for the past two days. "Oh, yeah!" He threw the covers back, jumped out of bed, and reached for his clothes on the dresser. He paused as he looked at the t-shirt in his hands, and he half-turned to Daniel over his shoulder. He looked scared and nervous again. "Mr. LaRusso, did you, um, pack a first aid kit, maybe?"

Daniel nodded. He could imagine how he'd have reacted to having a dream about Mr. Miyagi being in a situation like the one Robby had described from his nightmare. He dismissed the boy's concerns with a wave of his hand. "I always keep one in the Q7, but I'll check it out and top it off, just in case. I'll even bring my knee brace. Amanda's always getting on me about not taking that with me when I go up there to train." He smiled. "We won't need any of it, but you're right. We'll be kind of isolated, and if anything does happen, it's better to be safe than sorry. It makes perfect sense."

The last of the tension drained out of Robby's shoulders, and he sighed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Daniel pulled the door open, but he glanced back at Robby once more. "Hurry up and get ready. We've got an SUV to pack." He watched just long enough to make certain Robby was going to get dressed without any more problems, then he walked out, closing the door behind him.


Two hours later, the doorbell rang at the LaRusso home, echoing through the silence of the early Saturday morning.

"Who on Earth, at this time of day?" Amanda asked herself as she grabbed her coffee and headed for the front hall.

She pulled the door open, a smile of greeting on her face, and she froze. She hadn't been expecting anyone in particular, but he was definitely the last person she would have thought she'd see. She couldn't have been any more surprised if the pope himself had been standing there.

"Hey, Amanda."

Ripped jeans, red jacket, blond hair, blue eyes … blue eyes with such dark circles around them that they looked black. What in God's name could have landed him on her doorstep at seven in the morning?

"Good morning, Johnny." There was only one reason she could think of for him being there, excepting what he'd been there for the last time. And he didn't look angry. Upset, yes, but not angry. "Robby's not here, I'm afraid," she said.

He shook his head. "No. No, I'm not looking for Robby." He was distracted, but when he realized what she'd said, he jumped a bit in surprise. "Wait, why would Robby … is he …?" He shook his head, as if he wanted to ask the question, but didn't really want to hear the answer.. "Never mind." She expected him to turn and leave, but he didn't.

He looked around nervously. It was obvious he was there for a reason. Johnny Lawrence didn't just show up at their door. But whatever it was, he wasn't able to say it.

She lowered her eyebrows in confusion. "Then why are you here?"

"Um …" He glanced around again, took a deep breath, and tried one more time. "I need to … I, um …"

She tilted her head slightly. "Johnny, are you okay?"

He swallowed, bit his lip, and turned those distraught, haunted, bruised-looking blue eyes on her. As soon as she saw them, she knew whatever had brought him to her door, it was important, and she needed to listen to him.

"Daniel," he finally said. "I need to talk to Daniel."