CHAPTER 108

"What do you want?!"

After a few seconds of stunned shock to see Marcos standing there in their dojo, facing all of the students, emotions quickly turned to anger as they all found themselves staring at the boy who, less than 24 hours ago, had beaten up one of their teammates and then pulled out a gun. The leader of Cobra Kai, all of them were on edge as soon as they saw him, despite the fact that he looked to be in no mood or condition for a fight.

Sure enough, Marcos raised his hands in surrender, as much as he could anyways in his still not fully healed state.

"Look, I'm not here to fight, I swear. Honestly, I don't think I can right now, even if I wanted to." Marcos murmured. Although Marcos had indeed won the fight with Robby and had been in better shape after the brawl at the canyon, with everything that had happened afterwards with his father, he was in a pretty similar state to the Miyagi-Do.

Thankfully, the injuries Marcos had sustained had been pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. He had had a few stitches all over his body, and all of his other bruises, swelling and gashes treated. His worst injuries had been the shards of glass that had been removed from his abdomen, but provided he didn't do anything to open the stitches, he had nothing to worry about now, even if it still felt really tender. Also, there was his concussion, that was the main reason he probably shouldn't have been up and about right now. Although he had been discharged from the hospital that day, the doctor had still ordered him to rest. Marcos couldn't do that: for one, he knew that doing this was something he needed to do first; and then the latest shocking development in his life from that morning had been the other. Although there were still one or two untrusting looks in the dojo, most of the dojo had come to the consensus that Marcos wasn't about to attack them, so they were inclined to hear them out.

"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now. But please, hear me out. I want to apologize. To all of you." Marcos told them. "Pulling the gun out… there are no excuses for it. I know there's nothing I can say that can justify pulling the gun, nor am I trying to. I fully understand if you want to go to the police about it… maybe you already have, I don't know. I'm not here to defend myself from any of it. I just want to explain myself and my actions fully so we can better understand each other, if that's okay."

There was no answer, as all of the Miyagi-Dos remained silent, still shocked to see Marcos there in the dojo, just as battered as Robby after their brutal encounter the night before. Nobody stopped Marcos so after taking a deep breath, Marcos continued to talk.

"Well, first thing's first, I wanted to make something clear. The whole gun thing… that was all me. If you're going to blame someone, you blame me. You don't blame anyone else. None of the other Cobras even knew about it. It was my… father's gun. I stole it from him. It was a mistake, but it was my mistake. Please don't try to get anyone else from Cobra Kai in trouble. They had no idea about it, I swear."

"We get it. That's not what our problem is." Hawk snapped. "Our problem is, why the hell were you pulling a gun on us in the first place?"

Marcos nodded, glancing down at his feet, unable to meet the eyes of the Miyagi-Dos in shame.

"Like I said, it was a big mistake. I'm not going to try to excuse it or justify it in any way. It's not who I am." Marcos replied. "But if you're asking what exactly compelled me to do it, it's a long story."

And that long story… Marcos told them all of it. There was no point hiding anything anymore. All hiding had done was almost tear him apart and shatter him irreparably. He wasn't going to let that happen to him again, at any cost. He kept some things personal to himself - like he didn't tell anyone about his mom or anything, apart from Robby who already knew of course - but he told them all about his dad. He told them about how the man had pushed him past his breaking point, both physically and mentally, and at one point, he just snapped.

It was a very emotional story, one that left all of them speechless, unable to gather the words to speak. It truly showed them that while Cobra Kai were their enemies and opponents for the tournament, they were still people too. They had their own lives going on, going through their own struggles. They weren't just simply monsters, but were actually human beings too. Flawed ones, but still humans. The story left the Miyagi-Dos with a lot of answers, but there were also a lot of questions too. Some of them, Marcos was willing to answer. Some of them, less so. However, it was the question that Demetri asked that Marcos had been dreaded hearing the most.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you telling us this?" Demetri asked. Marcos looked down again for a moment, taking a calming breath, before answering. The answer to it was clear. He had found out earlier that day, and it had been consuming his mind for the entire day. How couldn't it? It was mind-bending, life-altering news. News that still didn't feel quite real yet.

"I just wanted to get the record straight. I'm leaving, so for the first time after a month of lying my ass off, I actually wanted to tell the truth before I leave." Marcos replied. This sparked a cloud of confusion wafting from all of the Miyagi-Dos as they heard this.

"You're leaving? Where are you going?" Robby asked.

"Yeah. You going back to Okinawa to study more Miyagi-Do to use against us?" Sam asked, almost accusatory. Marcos shook his head.

"No. I'm uh… I'm going back home. To Brazil. Permanently." He responded. "With my dad in jail and my mom not around, I have no valid reason to be allowed to stay here. I'm under 18 and I'm not a citizen. I'm being deported…"

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This was it. The latest bombshell to be added on to the already incredibly chaotic series of events that were occurring in the Valley. You would've thought they were trapped in the middle of a Netflix show. No, more than that, you would've thought that they were trapped in the middle of a crazy fan's fanfiction of that very show. That's how insane all of these things happening were. They could hardly believe it, none of them could, but that didn't make it any less true.

It had not really come as a shock to Marcos, hence why he had not really been too moved by the news yet. His father's threats had even pointed out the fact that if something ever happened to his dad, more likely than not, the boy would be deported. Sure enough, that exactly had happened, with a Child Services agent visiting him just before his discharge from the hospital. The Child Services agency had reached out to colleagues in Marcos' hometown of Rio and had already, in the 12 hours since they had found out about what was going on, had made the necessary arrangements for him as soon as he arrived. Marcos had been given 2 weeks to tie up any loose ends in his life in L.A, but he had declined it, opting for a flight that took off the very next morning. It was inevitable, so might as well rip the bandaid off now.

Marcos still wasn't sure how he felt about it all. It wasn't at all a surprise. In fact, a part of him had always known that it was going to end this way sooner or later. He knew that he'd probably feel differently, he'd probably feel more emotion when he finally got on the plane and landed back home in Brazil for the first time in 6 months. But right now, with everything else that was going on in Marcos' life right now, he was almost okay with it. After all, other than Sarah and Cobra Kai, he really didn't have anything left here.

None of the Miyagi-Dos said anything, their shock still rendering them speechless. Marcos had nothing more to say, so he nodded at them.

"Anyways, I should be going. Like I said at the beginning, I just wanted to come here to apologize to all of you, especially before I leave. It's been an honor fighting against all of you. Best of luck for the Taikai."

With that, Marcos turned on his heel and walked out of the Miyagi-Do dojo, leaving the Miyagi-Do students and senseis before him, all of them frozen to the spot like wax figures. Even as an opponent rather than a teammate, Marcos had dropped a bombshell on all of them, shocked them all to their cores, but he wouldn't be around to see the reaction. In 24 hours, he'd be in Brazil, away from all of them, away from karate.

As Marcos stepped outside the dojo once more, he was about to get back into the taxi that had brought him here and waited while he was inside, however before he could do that, a voice pulled him back.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Marcos slowly turned around, only to find himself face to face with Robby Keene, the brunette teenager looking equally worn after their fight, both boys still very much feeling the effects of it.

"What's up?" Marcos asked. Robby spluttered and stammered, trying to find the words but his brain refused to function after the shocking news, feeling like he had been doused by frigid water.

"You're… You're just leaving the country? Just like that?" Robby stammered. Marcos shrugged.

"Yeah. I don't exactly have a choice. I'm getting kicked out." Marcos murmured in reply. Despite their differences, despite EVERYTHING that had happened between the two boys, they still had some level of respect for each other. Robby sighed.

"I'm sorry, man." Robby said. "Is there anything anyone can do?"

Marcos shook his head.

"Options are slim to none. The only thing I really have a say in is when I leave, and after everything that's happened, I'd rather leave sooner than later. Maybe it'd be good to get a change of scenery." Marcos said.

"Still though. That really sucks." Robby remarked. "So you're not going to be going to the Taikai?"

Marcos chuckled.

"Is that why you care so much? You worried about having to face me again in the Taikai?" Marcos joked. Robby shook his head.

"No. I just… I feel really bad. You've worked just as hard as any of us, sacrificed so much for your dojo, and yet you won't get a chance to reap any of the rewards of it." Robby said. Marcos shrugged.

"Nothing much I can do." Marcos responded, before opening his taxi door. Just before he stepped inside though, he turned back to Robby one more time, glancing at him.

"Just one more thing. Please do me a favor, okay?" Marcos asked him. Robby nodded.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" He asked.

"Win the Taikai." Marcos told him. "Not your dojo. Not the girls' division. Not the senseis' division either. But for the boys division… I really hope you win it. You deserve it."

The two teenagers exchanged one final moment of respect. Robby held out a hand to Marcos, the same gesture Marcos had made at the canyon the night before. As Marcos looked down at it, he raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know about this. I don't want your girlfriend to get the wrong idea and come flying in again." Marcos joked, but he still shook Robby's hand firmly. So much turmoil in the relationship between the two of them. They weren't enemies. They weren't friends. They weren't allies. They were just… co-inhabitants of the earth who happened to have a lot in common. Whether it be their personalities, their upbringings or something else, the pair were able to relate to each other on a level that nobody else in their respective lives could. To think that they'd probably never see each other again after today was a saddening thought for both of them.

The handshake turned into a hug, the two boys embracing for the final time, before Marcos got into the taxi and drove away. As he headed down the road, Robby watched him as he disappeared entirely, quite possibly for the last time. But Robby wasn't so sure about that. He had a feeling that some way or another, he'd be seeing Marcos Oliveira again at some point…