CHAPTER 74

As Marcos walked home that afternoon, he was almost… happy. It was the first time he was even remotely happy in a long time, even if it came with more guilt than he ever felt imaginable. He was leaving the Valley for 2 whole weeks, 2 whole weeks when his father couldn't hurt him. When he didn't have to worry about his father getting to him or getting to the people he cared about, because the only person he cared about would be on the flight beside him. That was another thing Marcos was over the moon about. He had figured that not telling Sarah what was going on was going to cost him their relationship. He had almost come to terms with that. But somehow, with the stories Marcos had told, even if they weren't the whole truth, Sarah had found it in her heart to forgive him. He didn't deserve it - her forgiveness. He really didn't. He still hadn't told her what was really going on, and every second he spent with her, he felt immense guilt about keeping her in the dark about it all, but he forced himself to tell himself that it was for the best.

When Marcos arrived home, thankfully it didn't look like his father there. Sending a silent thank you to the Heavens above, Marcos prayed that he managed to finish packing his stuff and could leave the house before his father even got home. He could just write a note for his father and then leave, not saying goodbye in person. His father didn't even deserve a goodbye in person, and Marcos wasn't going to put himself through another beatdown for nothing.

So the Brazilian teenager scrambled around his bedroom, throwing clothes into his bag as quickly as he could, trying to get out of the house as soon as possible. In the midst of his hurry, he didn't notice someone walking into the house and over to the bedroom, leaning against the doorway.

"Going somewhere?"

Marcos spun around when he heard the voice, dropping the clothes that he was about to place in his open suitcase and seeing his father. His heart dropped and he became immediately guarded as he saw the older man towering over him. He forced himself to keep it together and gather any courage he had to stand up straighter and face his father.

"Yeah, I am." Marcos replied. "Japan. It's a Karate trip. I'll be gone for two weeks."

Remembering how paranoid Marcos' dad was that Marcos would flee or would go to the cops, Marcos expected a big reaction from his father, and he even began to raise his hands to defend himself. However, he was frozen to the spot when he saw his father do nothing more than smile at him and nod.

"Okay. Have fun." His father told him. Marcos was taken aback by this, and his jaw dropped in shock.

"That… that's it?" Marcos stammered. His father didn't seem worried in any way that Marcos would be going to the cops. He seemed too confident, sitting back on his heels, grinning at his son.

"What more do you want me to say?" Marcos' dad remarked. "You want me to give you a little cuddle and tell you that I love you. Because if so, come here, son…"

"Get off me." Marcos snapped, slapping his father's outstretched arms away. "Why are you so happy?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" His father asked. "I just found out that the rat that's been infesting my house for years, eating my food, spending my money, is going away for a while."

"Yeah? Well if I'm such a burden for you, cooking for you, cleaning for you and all, maybe I should just not come back then. Walk out these doors and let you rot in your own piss and despair like you deserve."

Marcos said these words with such menace, all of his emotion towards his father being channeled into his words, but they didn't stab into his father like he intended. Instead, they bounced right off and caused him to merely chuckle at his son.

"You're not going anywhere, son." He laughed. "You're like a boomerang. You can be thrown as far as possible in one direction, but at the end of the day, you always come right back."

Marcos curled his hands into fists and he pulled his bag off his bed and began to walk over to his father, trying to get past him and leave.

"Oh yeah? Watch me." Marcos shot back. His father didn't get any less relaxed as he laughed.

"Good luck with that." Marcos' father replied. "Because despite your best efforts to maintain otherwise, I know that there are still some people in this town that you care about. People I would have to… interrogate if you left for good. That sexy girlfriend of yours for starters."

In an instant, Marcos had shoved his father against the wall and had an arm pressed against the man's throat.

"You leave her out of this." Marcos growled warningly, trying to sound threatening but knowing that was nearly impossible now. His poker face had been exposed, his weak spot illustrated. Sarah was his weak spot - he would do anything at all to make sure she didn't get hurt, even if that meant him remaining with his father.

His father snickered at his son's reaction and easily moved out of the hold Marcos had him in.

"Such a beautiful face. And that body… wow! I would hate to see her get hurt. Any part of her." His father crudely remarked. Marcos stared his father right in the eye, taking a step closer as he spoke again.

"You touch even a hair on her head… and I'll kill you." Marcos told him, his voice cold as ice, before picking up his bag, pushing past his father and walking out of the house, ready for the two weeks away…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Remind me again… where will we sleep?" Demetri asked as all of the Miyagi-Dos loaded up their convoy of vehicles with all of their camping stuff for the next few days.

"Tents." Daniel replied.

"What will we eat?" He asked.

"We have enough food packed to last the few days." Daniel replied.

"Where will we shower?" Demetri asked.

"There's a lake." Daniel told them.

"Ew… that's gross." Demetri remarked, a sentiment shared by all of the other Miyagi-Dos, who groaned collectively. Not everyone was convinced by their senseis' camping trip idea, especially when they had found out just how remote and isolated the campsite was, and yet they had all still shown up anyways. Not a single person had backed out. Because that was the nature of the bond that Miyagi-Do had. If one of them was going, they all were going. They would win together and lose together, in both training and competition, so that meant sharing in these experiences.

Meanwhile, Tory and Robby stood at the back of the group, packing the furthest car back in the convoy, Johnny's minivan. As Robby lifted a bag to place it inside the van, a flare of pain stabbed through his shoulder and he winced, nearly dropping the bag entirely. Luckily, Tory caught it and helped put it in the car for him, turning to him, concerned.

"Your shoulder?" She asked.

"Yeah." Robby gritted his teeth and nodded. It was an old injury, the old dislocated shoulder from his first All-Valley, but it had accidentally reaggravated a little during his fight with Marcos. Marcos hadn't purposefully targeted it or anything - in fact he hadn't even hit it himself - but in the middle of a takedown, Robby had landed awkwardly on it. It wasn't that bad of an injury, the doctor that Johnny had forced him to see did say that it should go away with a bit of rest, so Robby still decided to come for the camping trip, even if that meant a little bit extra pain in his shoulder right now.

"You got any painkillers for it?" She asked. Robby nodded and reached into his pocket, removing the vial and taking one pill. Tory handed him a bottle of water.

"Thanks." Robby replied, taking the pill.

"You sure you're up for this?" She asked. Robby smiled widely and nodded.

"Never camped before in my life… I wasn't missing this." Robby replied. He was, in fact, thoroughly excited for this trip as apart from all of the make-believe camping trips with his dad that allowed him to cut class in previous years, he hadn't ever been on a camping trip like this before. Especially not with a group of close friends, family and his girlfriend. It was bound to be a lot of fun.

Fun, at least in his opinion. Tory grimaced as she heard this.

"Trust me, as someone who has camped before, it's really not all it's cracked up to be." She replied. "It's just a whole lot of dirt, bugs and cold."

Robby shrugged and smiled.

"Sounds like a fun weekend to me." He replied. As he did, he looked up and saw Sam, Demetri and Miguel, all getting into Daniel's car together. He frowned slightly as he saw them, a look that didn't go unnoticed from Tory.

"Robby, you good?" She asked, following his gaze to see what he was looking at.

"I don't trust them." Robby admitted quietly. Tory stared at him in confusion, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Tory questioned, bewildered as to what was going on. Robby slowly nodded.

"You heard me. I don't trust them." He said.

"What do you mean? You think they're double agents or something? Because that's really, really dumb." Tory remarked. Robby shook his head.

"I don't think they're double agents. Nothing like that. I just… I don't trust that they're not going to go ahead and try and report Marcos anyways." Robby told her. Tory sighed.

"Robby, don't beat yourself up over it. If they report him, they report him." Tory said. Robby glared at her.

"Wait… you think they should've reported him?!" He asked, shocked.

"No, look, don't me wrong, I'm on your side here. I don't think we should be ruining his life by reporting him for a mistake. If anyone knows that, it's me, trust me. But I also know what Marcos did, and if the past few months have shown me anything, it's that this shit really does impact the person you do it to. If they want to report him, they have every right."

"I get that. But where's that same thinking for the past few years? Why was there an honor code when it came to sorting issues out without the police before, and yet when it comes to Marcos, the rules immediately change? Just because he's a better fighter than most of them?"

"Well… yeah." Tory replied. "They're scared. They know this guy's another level to whatever they've faced in the past, so they know it's not so easy that they can just sort it out face to face. Maybe they need some kind of authority figure on their side."

"They really don't." Robby shot back. "If they just had a conversation with this guy, they'd realize he's absolutely harmless. You treat him with respect, he'll treat you with respect. It was Hawk who challenged him to a fight WHILE DRUNK. All Marcos did was fight back."

Tory nodded.

"I know. And hey, you're probably overthinking everything." She replied. "Hawk doesn't even want to report it, so chances are there's nothing Sam or anyone else can do. Just put all of this behind you, focus on healing your shoulder, and focus on surviving the camping trip for the next few days. Got it?"

Robby smiled at her and nodded.

"Got it."