Hey guys, sorry about the long time of inactivity, just been going through some good old fashioned writer's block. Hopefully the chapter is worth the wait :)

Present Day

"Well?" Miguel arched an eyebrow, tapping his foot on the ground as he awaited a response.

Tory looked away, unwilling to meet his eyes as they leaned against the walls of the sushi restaurant. She knew she owed him an explanation, but what if Sam found out? Tory wouldn't even accept the fact that she was at the mercy of Samantha LaRusso, and she refused to believe it was true. Unfortunately, it was, and it was the only way she could continue to take care of her family.

"Tory, I asked you something," Miguel said, slowly losing patience.

She took a deep breath and trained her eyes on Miguel. She had to tell him the truth, or she was going to lose him too. For good this time.

But what will he think of me? He won't even want to be associated with me once he finds out how this started!

"Miguel, before I start, I need you to know that what I did was… well, I was angry. I was angry, okay? I wasn't thinking, and then I regretted my actions so bad when I finally saw straight. It's- complicated."

He stared at her, eyes hard and emotionless. Urging her to go on, because at that moment, he could very well turn his back on her and walk away. And she couldn't blame him if he did. She was prepared for it. She told herself that she had had it coming for a while, and one more couldn't hurt. Deep down, she knew it would, it'd hurt like hell, but when hadn't it? Romance was not her forte and boy, didn't she know it. She knew she had to tell him at some point, but it did not prepare her for this. It would only poison him against her and drive him closer to Sam. But she didn't want to lie to him anymore. Miguel was among the few people she would do anything for, so he deserved the truth, at the very least.

He cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him. "Well?" He asked, shrugging. "You promised me an explanation, and it better be a good one!"

Okay, Tory. This is it.

"Um, so, LaRusso- Sam, and I, we… kind of got into a fight… and-"

"You and Sam got into a little bit, huh? Big surprise," he scoffed, rolling his big brown eyes.

"Miguel!" Tory snapped, now getting irritated. "Will you let me fucking finish?"

He nodded, falling silent. Good. He knew better than to mess with Tory.

"I got ahead of myself. One morning, at the beach, I spotted Sam during my morning training and then she started being a little bitch, so I obviously had to hit back. To be honest, she roughed me up pretty bad at first. Then my thoughts clouded over, I just saw red and…" her voice trailed off and she looked away. She couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth.

"Tory, what did you do?" Miguel demanded, his voice taking on a concerned tone, and, Tory observed, that concern was not for her. It was for Sam. Of course, the girl got everything she wanted and more.

"I- uh, promise me you won't hate me," She stammered, taking a wobbly step back from the boy in front of her, for the first time.

Miguel said nothing, just kept staring at her inquiringly.

"Promise me, Miguel," Tory urged, again.

"I don't know," he sighed. "I can't promise anything without knowing what the hell you did."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. Miguel and his frankness would be the death of her.

"Nope, you've got to promise. Or I can't tell you."

Miguel clicked his tongue, fixing her with a deadpan look. "Really? It's not like you killed someone!" He joked, but seeing the look on her face, his amusement vanished behind a worried frown.

"Okay, now you're scaring me. What did you do?!" He demanded. "Tory, what did you do? Is Sam okay?"

"Y-Yeah, she's fine… Well, now she is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He screeched, eyes widening in anticipation. "Tell me the truth! Now!"

"Um…" Her fingers curled into a ball, her long, smoothly filed nails digging into her palms, and the black nail polish she had meticulously applied last night must've surely chipped off. "I almost killed her?" It came out as barely more than a squeak, something nobody would have fathomed even in their wildest of dreams about the fearsome Tory Nichols.

"You WHAT?!" Miguel screamed, and his eyes looked like they'd pop right out of his head.

"I went off the edge and dunked her head in the sand… held her there for a few minutes-" Tory's mouth seemed to have a mind of its own rattling off the details of that fight as Miguel's face fell with every word.

When she was finished, there was a cold silence between them, and Miguel could just look at her with thinly veiled disgust, or rage, maybe both.

"Tory, how c-could you?" He said in a shaking voice, exhaling deeply as he struggled to even look at her.

"You hate me, don't you?" She asked, bitterly. This was bound to happen, she knew it was coming. All she could do was put it off until it all blew up. And blow up it did. Feeling the tears stinging her eyes but refusing to squeeze their way out of them, she reached for Miguel's hand, only to be roughly pushed away.

"Miguel, you hate me, don't you?" She repeated, with more conviction, more surety that he wouldn't want to even be within ten metres of her ever again.

"That doesn't even matter anymore," he whispered, finally looking up at her. His brown eyes were disapproving, disappointed and maybe, just maybe heartbroken. She could see the pain in his eyes, how much the news of what she almost did to Sam tore him apart, and what he wouldn't have given to have been present there and broken them apart.

"Miguel?" She pleaded. "Say something, just, don't stay quiet! Tell me you hate me, and I'll stay out of your way. Please, just say something."

"There's nothing left to say, Tory. Except, what does any of this have to do with you ghosting me?"

"Well, I apologized to Sam, and I thought that was that. But no, she wouldn't leave me alone!" Tory cried, anger building higher and higher in her voice.

"That was that?" Miguel repeated, surprised. "How the hell did you assume that that was that? Tory, for God's sake, you tried to kill the girl! How can she ever leave it alone?"

"I didn't mean it like that. As soon as I realised what I was doing, I regretted it, okay? I tried everything to revive her, and then I apologized! It's not like I left her there to die, now, did I?" Tory couldn't take this anymore. She knew she made a mistake, but this level of concern for Sam? Did nobody feel the same for her when her stupid landlord attempted to sexually assault her? Did Miguel even know about that? No, he didn't, because she didn't go around advertising her problems! She could bloody well handle them herself. She didn't need anyone, because when she did, nobody was around.

"As I was saying," she continued, voice quavering with every word, "Sam blackmailed me into ghosting you or she'd tell on me. I'd never do that on purpose, Miguel, you know I could never hurt you! You have no idea how much I care about you and-"

"STOP! That's enough, please!" Miguel bellowed,clearly far past the breaking point. "Tory, I can't do this anymore. I can't spend my time pretending to be blind while you and Sam rip each other's limbs off! I care about you, but I care about her too. All I want is for both of you to be safe, and leave each other alone. Don't you see? We have a common enemy, and if we don't join forces, we'll never be able to win!"

"What common enemy?" Tory asked, confused.

"Sensei Kreese! He's brainwashing all of you into believing this 'No Mercy' bullshit, but you can't fall for it!" Miguel's eyes blazed as he continued, throwing dirt on Cobra Kai as he went along. "Why won't you leave him and join Sensei Lawrence's new dojo? You and I, we can train together at Eagle Fang! If you come, Hawk will follow, and if Hawk agrees, the entire Cobra Kai dojo will be empty in minutes! Tory, you're the leader of the troops. So lead them down the right path. Let me tell you something. If Sensei Lawrence was still teaching at Cobra Kai, this incident with Sam would never have happened! It's Kreese, he's getting in your head! Please, Tory, open your eyes to these lies and get out of it before it's too late. It's for your own good!"

Tory couldn't believe her ears. Miguel, Cobra Kai's top student not too long ago, was now turning his back on the only safe haven she'd ever had. All her good memories in LA started and ended at that dojo. If not for Cobra Kai, she'd never have met Miguel, she'd never have had the courage to refuse Hank and his twisted conditions. She wouldn't be the badass she had always wanted to be. Sensei Kreese was the staunch supporter she never had. The one man who'd back her up without a doubt, no matter what.

He took care of her rent problems, took care of Hank, gave her karate lessons for free, allowed her to remain despite her humiliating loss to Sam in the school fight, and trained her to be stronger. What more could she ever ask for? Sensei Kreese was one man who stood by her through all the bad times, believed in her when the rest of the world thought she was crazy and unstable. He gave her hope, faith, helped her convince herself that she could still push through, she could still work her way out of this. Miguel must be off the rails, literally, and now he had the audacity to insult Sensei? This was the man who taught her, who taught freaking Johnny Lawrence everything that he knew!

So, point being, she wasn't about to leave Kreese for Johnny. Opportunist, selfish Johnny, who wallowed in his own mistakes but never tried to make them right.

"No way," she breathed, inching closer to Miguel. "I'm not leaving Cobra Kai. Ever."