CHAPTER 7
Hawk's eyes slowly opened and his head throbbed as blinding white lights scorched his eyes. It took him a while to recollect his thoughts. Where the he? What the hell was going on? His head was pounding and he could hear a faint ringing sound. When his eyes finally adjusted to the blinding light, he realised that he was in a hospital room, and then everything came rushing back to him. Coyote Creek. The Cobras. Getting knocked out. Wait… Miguel! He had been right beside Hawk when he got knocked out! What had the Cobras done to Miguel, because Hawk already knew that it was a LOT worse than what they had done to him. Hawk groaned in pain as he sat up frantically and looked around for Miguel.
"He's okay." A voice came from the other side of the room. Hawk spun around to see Moon sitting on a chair at the side of the room.
"M-m-moon?" Hawk stammered.
"Miguel's fine. He's in the room next door." Moon said. Hawk relaxed a little bit, but then confusion and nervousness took over.
"That's… that's good." Hawk murmured. "What are you doing here?"
"Sam called me." Moon replied. "She told me what happened. She told me everything that's been going on with you over the past couple of months. You broke Demitri's arm?"
Hawk blushed. That's right. The Hawk himself blushed. Moon was the only person in the world who could make him do so.
"Yeah, um… not my best moment." Hawk stammered. "I was pressured by the Cobras and Kreese and I got caught up in the moment, and…"
"She also told me how you're risking your life and fighting against Cobra Kai now." Moon continued. Hawk looked up at her gorgeous face and he took a deep breath.
"Moon, I owe you an apology. I was an absolute jerk to you last year. I let my sudden change in personality get to my head, and I became a jackass."
Moon nodded slowly.
"So what's different now? What's changed?" She asked. Hawk then proceeded to tell his ex-girlfriend about everything that had happened to him under Kreese, and then after he left Kreese and rejoined Johnny and Miguel. Moon then filled him in on what she had been up to. They talked for nearly an hour before they lapsed into silence.
"So would ever consider, you know, maybe putting the past behind us and getting back together?" Hawk asked, rather hopefully. Moon raised an eyebrow.
"Hawk, you're hot. Hotter than anyone in the world. Badass. But you became a real jerk. What makes you think you still have a chance with me?" She asked. Hawk looked straight in her eyes when he answered…
"Because you sat here for an hour. You listened to me talk about me at most jackass moments - when I broke one of my closest friend's arm for God sake - and you didn't turn around and walk out." Hawk replied. Moon didn't speak for several moments. Hawk could feel sleep trying to drag him under but he forced himself to stay awake. If he ever wanted to get back together with her, they needed to patch things up soon. His eyes flickered open and closed and Moon noticed his exhaustion. Moon eventually stood up and walked over to him, kissing him softly on the lips.
"Get some rest, Hawk. We'll talk more later." She whispered. Hawk nodded and immediately fell back asleep.
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Miguel's eyes snapped open. His whole body was throbbing in pain but he immediately remembered the events in the creek and his head snapped around, trying to figure out where he was. He calmed down considerably when he realised that he was in a hospital room, so clearly the fight was over. It wasn't his first time in a hospital room. Far from it, of course, after the school fight. Miguel tried to lift his limbs up but to his panic, his left arm wouldn't move. No! No way he was paralysed again! He looked down at his arm and almost laughed in relief; he couldn't move his arm because Sam was resting her head on it. How long had she been there? She was fast asleep and Miguel didn't want to wake her. She was still wearing her clothes from the Creek so he was guessing she hadn't gone home afterwards.
A couple of minutes after Miguel woke up, he felt Sam begin to thrash around in her seat. Miguel's eyes widened in alarm.
"Sam. Sam!" Miguel murmured, trying to shake her awake. It was no use though. She seemed to be in a trance. She was pleading with someone in her nightmare, presumably Tory, and there was nothing Miguel could do until she woke up moments later with a start.
"Miguel! You're okay!" She stammered as she looked around, completely dishevelled.
"Yeah. Wish I could say the same about you. What's going on, Sam?" Miguel asked, concerned. Sam looked at him, putting on a mask of confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asked. Miguel sighed and looked into her enormous ocean-blue eyes that were wracked with pain and exhaustion.
"Tory." Miguel said, bluntly, seeing the fear flash in Sam's eyes at the mention of her name. "She's haunting your dreams again, isn't she?"
Sam sighed and looked down, a tear splashing down into her lap. Miguel noticed and he quickly held her hands in his own. Sam slowly looked up and her pain-filled ocean eyes met his concerned chestnut ones.
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Miguel whispered.
"I'm scared, Miguel. I'm so scared." Sam mumbled, tears leaking out of her eyes. "Robby and Tory nearly killed us multiple times before and I'm scared… I'm scared one of us isn't going to see the end of this fight."
Miguel looked down and slowly nodded.
"Sam, that's not going to happen." Miguel said. Sam shook her head.
"You don't know that though." Sam snapped. "I'm done fighting. I'm pulling out before I get killed, and you should do the same. Tomorrow morning, I'm telling my dad I'm out. You could tell Johnny too and we could finally have normal high school experiences."
Miguel chuckled and shook his head.
"I think you know I'm not going to do that, Sam." Miguel remarked. "I'm in this fight for as long as I'm breathing."
"Why though?! What in the world would make you willing to endure this torture?"
"Because going back to my life before Karate would be ten times worse than any injury Robby could inflict." Miguel replied. "Before Karate, I was bullied. First by my dad. Then, when I moved here, by Kyler and all of those guys. Karate gave me not only the strength and confidence I needed to stand up for myself, but it also gave me you and Sensei Lawrence - two of the people I care about most in the world. I wouldn't give that up. Not for anything."
"Come on, Miguel. Karate isn't what brought us together." Sam said. Miguel raised an eyebrow.
"Really? You're telling me you would have even considered dating the guy I was at the beginning of Freshman year when you were with Kyler?"
Sam eventually sighed and nodded.
"OK, fine. You have a point. But what makes the good outweigh the bad?" She asked. Miguel looked at her and despite her exhausted expression, he saw how beautiful she was, how caring she was, how sweet she was, how funny she was. He smiled faintly.
"Well, when you're surrounded by the right people, I've always believed that bad outweighing the good is impossible." He replied. Sam smiled faintly at him and sat back in her chair.
"I guess I could hang in there with the Karate a little bit longer." She murmured. Miguel smiled widely and nodded.
"That's great." He stated. His mind then flashed back to moments earlier, when Sam was thrashing around in her nightmare. He took a deep breath. "That nightmare you just had… you wanna talk about it?"
Sam shrugged.
"Not much to talk about." She murmured. "Tory was there. Robby was there. You were there. You and I, we're sparring at the dojo. Robby and Tory walk in. They beat us up. We're fighting in the backyard. You and I lose the fight. Tory pins me to the ground and forces me to watch as Robby holds your head in the pond until you stop breathing. Then I woke up."
Sam had tears in her eyes again and Miguel's jaw was practically on the ground in shock as he listened to his girlfriend. When she stopped talking, Miguel forced himself to sit up in his hospital bed, ignoring his body's scream of pain, and he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend comfortingly. He could practically feel her pain radiating off of her.
"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Look, Sam, have you considered talking to someone about all of this? Like a professional?"
"I'm not crazy, Miguel! I'm not like… her." Sam snapped, defensively. Miguel shook his head.
"No, no, no. I'm not saying that. You don't have to be crazy to benefit from speaking to a professional counsellor, Sam. Look, I'm not about to pressure you to do anything. I've been through counselling before and I can tell you it doesn't make you crazy, and it actually helps. It helps get out all of the things that you aren't comfortable talking about with family and friends and prevents it from bottling up inside. Just think about it, okay?"
Sam eventually nodded.
"Yeah, thanks. I will." Sam murmured. She then looked at Miguel, who had bruises and bandages covering almost every inch of his face and she laughed internally. Here was Miguel, nearly killed less than 24 hours ago, and he was the one who wound up comforting her. "So, how are you feeling?"
"Well, my arms and legs feel like they're made of lead, and my face feels like someone lit it on fire so that's just great." Miguel remarked, sarcastically.
"Awwww." Sam laughed, sympathetically. "There anything I can do?"
"It's fine. I'll live…"
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Nearly a week after Coyote Creek, Miguel and Hawk were both finally well enough to go back to training. Hawk was relatively unharmed after the fight (just bruises for him), but Miguel had a concussion, a broken nose, 16 stitches, as well as all of the bruises. He wouldn't be able to properly fight for another week or two, but he wanted to get back to training to lightly train.
Johnny grinned as Hawk and Miguel walked into the Miyagi-Do dojo that morning.
"Yes! Finally! They're back!" Johnny exclaimed. "Finally some real men! These pussies have been driving me up the wall for the past week!"
Miguel and Hawk choked back laughter as they saw Daniel's enraged facial expression. It was like today was finally the day that Johnny's insults went a step too far - the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. However, it was about to get a whole lot worse.
"All right! They're back! Finally, we can start planning revenge on Cobra Kai!" Johnny declared. Daniel shook his head.
"We're not retaliating." Daniel stated. Johnny looked at him and raised an eyebrow, his grin fading from his face.
"What? Of course we are! Miguel and Hawk just had their asses handed to them, so we nee…"
"Exactly! Miguel and Hawk nearly died!" Daniel said. "Cobra Kai were three steps ahead of them. If we try and fight them in a street fight, we're not going to win. The best we can do is train harder."
"Mr. Larusso has got a point, Sensei." Miguel said. "Robby and Tory and this new Shawn kid… they're stronger than any of us. We need to train harder. We can't be the ones who start the fight."
Johnny looked at Miguel and he shook his head furiously. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from his favourite student.
"No, no, no. This isn't you talking. This is Larusso drilling that pussy Miyagi's shit in your head." Johnny snapped. Everyone's jaws dropped. Nobody had dared insult Mr. Miyagi before. Daniel's eyes filled with rage and he squared up to Johnny.
"How dare you?" Daniel growled. "How dare you insult the name of that man who saved your life?! Insult me, fine! Insult my students, lame but fi…"
"See, that's just it, Larusso! They aren't your students anymore!" Johnny snapped. "You approached me to team up! You told me that we'd be working together, as partners! So tell me why the hell is it that you make EVERY SINGLE call in this dojo, and I'm forced to just stand in the corner and watch these kids get their asses handed to them?! I'm sick and tired of your dumbass self defense methods! You know what? FUCK THIS! I QUIT!"
Daniel's face dropped with shock.
"You… you what?" He stammered.
"You heard me, Larusso! I don't need this!"
"Johnny… Johnny… come on! We're only going to be able to beat Kreese if we work together!" Daniel said. Johnny chuckled.
"Yeah? I'll take my chances." Johnny growled. "Come on, Miguel. Let's go…"
Everyone turned and looked at Miguel and he blushed like a deer in headlights. It took him several moments for him to gather himself, and he took two steps towards Johnny before stopping.
"You know what? No. This is stupid. I'm staying." Miguel said, standing up to Johnny. Everyone was even more shocked now at this bizarre outburst, most of all Johnny.
"Um… what?" Johnny snapped.
"I said I'm staying." Miguel repeated, more confidently this time. "And you should too, Sensei. You guys didn't see Tory and Robby. They're ruthless now. Planning revenge and starting a fight against them is literally suicide. So I'm staying, whether you like it or not."
Johnny's eyes were wide as saucers. He was speechless. He couldn't believe that Miguel was betraying him, after everything they'd been through. Johnny's eyes snapped around the dojo, and they stopped on an extremely perplexed Sam. HER. This was all her fault. Johnny and Miguel squared up to each other, obviously not about to fight, but neither of them backing down.
"Seriously? After everything we've been through together, you pick her over me?!" Johnny growled, pointing at Sam. Miguel was getting angry himself now. He shook his head furiously.
"This isn't about her." Miguel growled. "This is about YOU not having big enough balls to put your issues with Larusso aside and listen to what the man has to say for once!"
Johnny glared at Miguel, fury in his eyes as he stared down the boy he considered to be like a son to him.
"After everything I've done for you! You were nobody before you met me! I made you who you are! I mentored you! I picked you over my own fucking son…"
"AND I NEVER ASKED YOU TO DO THAT!" Miguel bellowed, finally reaching his exploding point. "You can't blame me for the 16 fucking years you spent abandoning your son! You can't blame me for you not being with your son now! And you sure as hell can't blame me for decisions YOU made WHEN I WAS IN A FUCKING COMA!"
Johnny was about to send another insult Miguel's way but he bit it back and just scowled at Miguel, hints of tears forming in his eyes.
"Fuck you, Miguel." He growled before storming out of the dojo…