CHAPTER 7

"Hey." Miguel smiled faintly as she walked into the room. Although he was rejoining Cobra Kai, he personally had nothing against Sam. He wasn't really thinking about romance or dating or anything (recovery was his main focus right now), but he appreciated Sam's company as a concerned friend.

"Hey." Sam murmured nervously as she walked into the room. "I hope it's okay me just showing up like this."

"It's fine. It's not like I'm going anywhere." Miguel remarked, drily.

"Right. How are you doing?" Sam asked, concerned. Miguel shrugged.

"I mean, a lot better than last night so that's good. I can't move my lower body and it's going to take A LOT of work to be able to regain any movement. Apparently there's only a 10% chance I walk again so I'm not getting my hopes up. But I can go home tonight hopefully, so I guess that's a good thing." Miguel replied. Sam nodded and the two of them lapsed into silence for several moments, before Sam glanced at the TV and noticed what Miguel was watching.

"You watch those news channels?" Sam asked, surprised. "Like aren't a lot of them kind of… insensitive and really inaccurate."

Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, I noticed. But I can't… I can't change it. The remote's broken and I…" Miguel admitted, blushing and pointing from his legs to the TV power button, his voice trailing off as the humiliation of not being able to do even simple tasks felt too much for him. Sam understood immediately though, and she walked across the room and turned off the TV for him.

As she did so, Miguel smiled at her, really embarrassed but thankful.

"Thanks." Miguel murmured. "You know, not being able to do even simple stuff like that anymore… that's the worst part of this stupid injury, not the pain. It just… it just sucks, that's all."

Sam nodded. She really didn't know what to say. She felt so bad for Miguel and what he was going through. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like in his situation. And the fact that he was going through this was her fault. Before she knew it, she could feel tears begin to crawl up at the back of her eyes.

"Miguel, I'm so sorry." Sam whispered. "For all of this."

"It's not your fault." Miguel responded, shaking his head. "It's my fault. When we kissed, you were drunk, I was sober. I let you kiss me. It was my fault, my mistake, and now it's on me to bear the consequences. I'm just glad that…"

"El Serpiente!"

A loud, cheerful voice interrupted Miguel from the doorway. Sam and Miguel both turned to see Hawk standing there, his karate gi pants and a t-shirt on. He had clearly just come from Cobra Kai training, and Miguel's heart seared in pain as he remembered what it was like to be able to train, move, just get out of the stupid hospital bed.

As Hawk entered the room, he immediately saw Sam, and the two of them shot death glares at each other for several moments as Miguel watched on awkwardly, before Hawk turned to look at Miguel, a huge grin on his face.

"Dude, I just heard the news!" Hawk exclaimed.

"What, that Miguel's out of a coma? It's been in the local news for more than 24 hours now. Where have you been?" Sam snapped. Hawk slowly turned to her but rather than scowling at her, he maintained a gleeful smirk on his face.

"No, princess, not that he's out of the coma." Hawk rolled his eyes, and then looked Sam right in the eye when he finished his sentence. "I heard this morning from Kreese that Miguel's coming back to Cobra Kai!"

Sam's heart stopped when she heard those words. Her head spun around to face Miguel to see if Hawk was actually telling the truth, and the expression on Miguel's face told her all she needed to know. All of the blood rushed from her face as she paled in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Wait… you… you're going back to them? After everything they did?" Sam stammered, incredulously. Miguel turned to Hawk.

"Hey, dude, could you please give us a minute?" Miguel asked. Hawk, sensing that a rift was about to occur between Miguel and his Miyagi-Do ex, grinned and left the room. He had successfully sowed the seeds of destruction between them.

Once Hawk was gone, Sam faced Miguel, a look of both anger and disbelief on her face.

"Are you kidding me, Miguel?! How could you go back to them, after everything they've done?! After everything she did! It's her fault you're in here!"

Miguel shook his head, frustration starting to rise. He hated when people immediately painted Tory as a psychopath for what she did. She was NOT crazy, contrary to Miyagi-Do's belief.

"Look, Tory's had a rough life. You know, her mom is sick, and…"

"Everyone has a sob story. It doesn't give you the right to be a bully." Sam interrupted brashly. Miguel sighed and shook his head.

"I really don't want to get into this argument with you right now, Sam." Miguel said. "Because Tory's not the reason I'm going back to Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai's my family. It's a part of who I am, and I'm not about to turn my back on that. I can't turn my back on that."

"Look, Miguel, I understand how you feel. Miyagi-Do is like a family to me too. But…"

"No. I'm sorry but with all due respect Sam, you can't possibly know how I feel." Miguel interjected. "Your whole life, you've had a stable childhood, two parents and a brother that love you, enough money for an amazing lifestyle, friends all around you. I had none of that. My mom and grandmother had to flee Ecuador when I was 6 months old from an emotionally violent gang member dad. I have no siblings. Had no friends. Basically had no one in my life that I could always count on outside my family. But then I joined Cobra Kai and everything changed. I had more than just friends - I had the brothers and sisters I always wanted. That's something I'm never going to forget, and I'm never going to give up."

"And you can still have that, Miguel, even if you don't rejoin Cobra Kai! My dad and I have been trying desperately to convince my mom to let us reopen Miyagi-Do, and we're really close. Miyagi-Do should definitely be reopened by the end of the month. You can join us! We'd love to have you! And now that Johnny Lawrence is no longer in Cobra Kai, maybe you'd be more happy with us. And my dad said that many Miyagi-Do exercises could greatly help your physical therapy and he would be happy to work with you on that part."

Miguel sighed.

"Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'm happy where I am, Sam." Miguel replied, hoping desperately for this conversation to be over at that. No such luck. Sam wasn't done yet.

"But Miguel… think about everything Cobra Kai has done! They're not the good guys, and you know that!"

Miguel shook his head and sighed.

"Don't you get it yet, Sam? Miyagi-Do aren't the inherent good guys, and Cobra Kai aren't the bad guys. Life doesn't work that black and white. All of us in both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai screwed up. You, me, Tory, Robby, Hawk, Demetri, all of us have each done bad things, and we've done some good things too. The two categories that we are classed in shouldn't be "good" or "bad." No, this twisted war between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai has reached an extent where the only thing that matters is being strong enough to swim, or being too weak and sinking. I tried the Mercy path and look where it got me! A hospital bed and no leg movement! I can't afford another error like that again! I believe that Sensei Kreese and Cobra Kai is my best chance of making sure I don't sink again."

Sam shook her head.

"No, no, no. Miguel, please don't do this." Sam implored. "Kreese is using you, can't you see? You can't trust him!"

Miguel shook his head.

"Look, I know he might have a bit of a rough exterior, but he genuinely has his students' best interests at heart. He warned me about showing mercy against Robby, I went against him, and look what happened. And Sensei Kreese is… helping me in other ways too." Miguel replied, remaining weirdly cryptic about the last part, but Sam was too worked up to question him about it.

"Miguel, if you really think Kreese is such an amazing sensei, look at his students! Hawk, Tory, Johnny Lawrence…"

"Hey, those are my friends and former sensei you're talking about so back off!" Miguel growled, warningly. Sam nodded. She knew that in her frustration and desperation, she crossed a line and was not helping her case, so she started back pedalling furiously.

"Miguel, I just don't want to become a typical Cobra Kai asshole. Bullying and beating up innocent people, vandalising dojos, starting unnecessary fights… is that really who you want to be?"

"No, it isn't. And I'm not going to let myself get sucked into that again." Miguel responded, firmly. "But that's not Sensei Kreese's fault. That's the students getting drunk on the sudden strength, confidence and power that Sensei Kreese quickly managed to help them achieve. For as long as I keep from being sucked into that vortex, Sensei's Cobra Kai will only make me stronger, and will make me good enough to beat Robby."

"But why is beating Robby your main aim? Shouldn't your aim to be to grow as a Martial Artist and as a person? And that growth, I guarantee you, will happen in Miyagi-Do, not Cobra Kai."

Miguel's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in disbelief as he listened to Sam ask that question.

"Are you serious?" Miguel asked, shocked. "Are you seriously asking ME why I want revenge on Robby?"

"No, I just don't think it's healthy for you to have such a strong desire for revenge." Sam snapped back. "Robby's a good person, Miguel."

"Oh, yeah, sure, great person!" Miguel interrupted sarcastically, pointing down to his legs to emphasise his point. Sam shook her head.

"He didn't mean to do that! Miguel, you don't know him!"

Miguel nodded.

"You're right, Sam. I don't." Miguel said. "All I know is that he is a guy who got a job at your family dealership JUST to spite Johnny, he flirted with you constantly while we were dating, he lied about the medal honor, he has a juvenile record. And oh yeah, he tried to kill me! So please forgive me for slightly questioning his morals!"

"You know what? I'm done! I'm done having this conversation!" Sam spat. "Goodbye, Miguel. I just really hope and pray you come to your senses before something like this happens to you again!"

With that, Sam stormed out of the room, leaving Miguel in his room, his head in his hands. What a mess!