Hawk caught up with Sky inside the dojo.

"Wait, Sky—" his raspy voice made her stop on her shaky legs, her intention and purpose fleeing her body, leaving her empty.

He closed the distance between them and then his hands were on her shoulders, gently turning her around. Sky didn't want him to see the pathetic tears that covered her cheeks, the trembling of her lips, but if he noticed them, he didn't care - without asking if he could, he pulled her against his chest, wrapping his strong, lean arms around her aching body.

She didn't resist, but let him, even if he hadn't held her like this in ages, not since the day almost two weeks ago, the day when Cody had died—

A whimper left her lips as her body melted against his. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she buried her face against his chest. Her tears soaked his shirt as sobs broke through, but now words left her lips - they were locked up deep inside of her belly, refusing to come out.

But with him, she didn't need to speak. Their silences had never been awkward or ugly - there had never been a need to fill them with empty words. He had always understood her, even when she said nothing at all.

"It's okay," he breathed softly, a hand brushing her hair, her upper back, as she rested her forehead against his shoulder. "If you want to go home, it's okay. But don't run away from me. If you wanna leave, I'll take you."

Her throat clenched tight, and she had to swallow hard before she could unlock her words.

"I just wanted to do karate."

The words came out raspy and thin, but it didn't matter. The way his arms tightened around her told her he understood exactly what she meant.

"I know."

"I don't want to talk about Cody," she breathed, pressing her face tighter against his shoulder. He was a full head taller than she was, so tall and so strong. Sky could feel the beat of his heart against her cheek - so steady, so heavy– and his scent was all salt and steel, and boy, it filled her lungs, wrapped her up like a blanket, keeping her safe.

"I know that," he sighed. "And you don't have to talk about him if you don't want to. It's okay."

A ragged sob broke through her chest, and her grip on the back of Hawk's T-shirt grew tighter. He was too kind, too fucking kind— it was breaking her heart. The way he held her, as if she was worthy of his love was so unfair, so much more than she deserved.

"I hate Kreese," she breathed, her lips brushing his shirt. "I hate him. I never want to see him again."

"You don't have to. I promise. We can just wait here until he's gone."

"Last time I saw him— you were still in Cobra Kai."

Sky felt how Hawk drew in a breath at those words, felt his posture stiffening. Sky wondered if he was remembering that awful day too - the day when she had stormed into the dojo and slapped him across the face for what he had done to Cody— or if just the mention of his past in Cobra Kai was enough to stir this discomfort in him.

They hadn't really talked about it. There were so many things they hadn't talked about. Things she didn't even want to bring up, but knew that they had to, at some point, if they were going to be together. That thought was heavy, it weighed on Sky more than even seeing Kreese's face.

"For what he did to you— I'll never forgive him." Sky forced the words through her lips. Hawk tensed, and a soft gasp left his lips.

"Sky— the things I did when I was in Cobra Kai—"

But whatever he'd been about to say, was cut short, as the sound of the slide doors opening made Sky quickly release herself from Hawk's arms. Her cheeks heated as Sam stepped through the doors, followed by all their friends, interrupting their intimate moment.

"Sorry— Dad told us all to get inside," Sam said, throwing an apologetic glance at Sky and Hawk. "I guess he doesn't want us hearing whatever Kreese and that other guy came to say."

Hawk frowned. "He does know the walls are literally made of paper?"

His remark made Sam smirk. "Guess he forgot."

Miguel and the rest of the group had already gathered next to the wall, eager to hear the exchange of words between their senseis and the two intruders, and true enough, you could easily hear the conversation through the paper-thin walls. The voices coming from outside were angry, the words mean, and they made Sky uneasy, tightening the knot in her gut. She wanted no part in what was going on outside, but the rest of the kids seemed drawn to the drama as if it was the best kind of entertainment. Miguel's eyebrows shot up on his forehead, as they heard Mr. LaRusso spit out an angry Bullshit, and even Hawk moved closer to the group to hear better.

Sky felt like an outsider, like there was something wrong with her. This ongoing rivalry between the dojos was wearing her down, she hated everything about it. She hoped Kreese would just crawl back into the hole where he had emerged from, and take that silver-haired creep with him—

"Sky, can we talk?"

Sam's worried voice startled Sky, drawing her back into the moment.

Her cheeks heating with embarrassment, Sky realized there were still some tears running down her face and with a fast swipe of her sleeve, she dried them off.

"Don't you want to eavesdrop on the conversation?"

"I'm sure we'll hear what it was all about." Sam reached a hand and took Sky's fingers in hers. "Come. I wanna show you something."

Sam led her to the other side of the dojo, through the open space, until they reached a door at the back of the room. The door opened soundlessly, and they stepped into a back room where Sky had never been to. It soon became obvious to her why was that - this small room wasn't for training. It had a feeling of being someone's personal space, a home perhaps. There was a simple bed, a tapestry of a Japanese tree hanging on the wall over it, a bookshelf overflowing with books and papers, old black and white photographs placed carefully on top of it, one showing a beautiful woman. On a table near a wall, there was a bonsai tree - long ago dead and withered, the leaves turned brown, and the tools that had been used to care for the tree, a selection of small scissors and knives, were still next to it on their cases. Sky let her glance sweep the room, taking in every small detail, feeling her throat tightening with an emotion she couldn't quite name. Everything she saw was covered by a fine but thick layer of dust, telling her that no one had touched these things in years, perhaps in decades.

"Is this—?" she turned to look at Sam, who stood by the door, her blue eyes a shade darker than usual, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Yeah. It's Mr. Miyagi's room."

"I didn't know—" Sky fell silent in the middle of the sentence. She knew little of Mr. Miyagi except that he had been Mr. LaRusso's sensei, and close to the whole family, but now that she looked at Sam, a new understanding descended on her. The shadow on Sam's face was a trace of sorrow.

"I'm sorry about my Dad," Sam said, her voice as soft as her movements as she stepped into the room proper, and closed the door behind her, giving them some privacy. "It was insensitive of him to start talking about Cody… but he meant well."

Sky's throat tightened. She searched for the right words, but nothing came out, except for a small nod.

"I was small when Mr. Miyagi died," Sam went on, her glance drifting to the papers on the desk - letters and drawings, scattered on top of opened books, to the photographs on the bookshelf. "But I remember it well. I remember how sad I was. And Dad was devastated. Mr. Miyagi was like a father to him, and like a grandfather to me."

"I'm sorry," Sky breathed, her voice still weak and broken with tears. "I'm sorry that you lost him."

The light that entered the room painted Sam's face with shades of gold, it played in the curls of her hazelnut hair, highlighting the smooth pastel color of her clothes. Her voice was soft and silent when she continued, as if she was talking to herself more than to Sky.

"My Dad never stopped talking about Mr. Miyagi. Even during all the years when he didn't do karate— Dad would always talk about him. Tell us little things about him, just memories about what they used to do together, what he used to say… and I feel like it kinda kept Mr. Miyagi alive for us." She shrugged, a small smile appearing in the corner of her lips. "I never grew tired of hearing the stories."

Sky looked down, feeling the weight of Sam's words on her chest. She knew there was a proper answer hidden somewhere inside of her, but it wouldn't come out, the words wouldn't form, and after a short silence, Sam went on.

"I'm not saying that it's the only way to work through grief. I'm just saying that my Dad… he only meant well. He thinks talking is the path to healing."

An arrow pierced Sky's heart. She brought a hand to rub off that pain, but it didn't help. Here, surrounded by the books and the papers and the drawings and the photographs of someone who had once lived here, who had been loved, and never forgotten, her grief felt even heavier than before. What would happen to Cody's things now that he was gone? Would his parents even speak his name? When years and years went by, would there be anyone or anything to remind his siblings of the fact that he had ever existed, of all the thousand beautiful things he had been?

"My Dad thinks it's hot chocolate." Sky forced the words out of her mouth.

"Hot chocolate?" Sam's lips curved to a hesitant smile.

"Yeah. The path to healing— You wouldn't believe how much he's made me drink it lately. And milkshakes."

But the truth was that milkshakes weren't helping, not that she could tell that to Dad or Hawk who kept bringing them to her. Milkshakes always made her think about Cody. He had fucking loved milkshakes. Their first date - the not-a-date - had been at that cute milkshake place where the seats were of red fake leather, and the milkshakes came with a mountain of whipped cream, cherries on top of them red like rubies.

That sudden memory hit her like a wrecking ball. The memory of Cody sitting across the table from her, stirring his vanilla milkshake with the straw, the golden light of the setting sun playing in his impossibly long eyelashes— That image flashed through her like an arrow, causing tearing pain in its wake. He had been so beautiful— and now he was ashes. Ashes— his pale skin, the dark, silken strands of his hair, the way his cheeks had turned red when he glanced at her over the table, the sharp line of his jaw, the full curve of his lips— now all that was gone, swallowed by flames, turned into a pile of ashes, and she didn't even know what had happened to them.

Would his parents just throw his ashes away, pretending he had never existed at all?

Sam must have noticed the way the grief hit Sky, for she abandoned her place next to the door and swiftly walked to her, taking her hands. The grip of Sam's fingers was strong and warm, it brought Sky back into this moment, into this small room that smelled of wood and dust and comfort, of things long gone perhaps, but never forgotten.

"I know I should talk about him," Sky's voice came out with a tremor. "But— I can't. Not yet." She paused to let out a tense, shaking breath. "It took— almost a year…. before I could talk about Kat without— without falling apart."

Sam squeezed Sky's fingers a bit tighter. "It's okay. I didn't mean you had to. And— I wanted to apologize. For not being the best of friends lately. After what happened at Cody's birthday party—"

"It's okay," Sky interrupted, another arrow digging into her heart. Luke— His death was still an open wound in her chest too - one that had barely started to heal. "You have nothing to apologize for. I was… not a good friend either."

Words didn't come easily. There was so much she wanted to apologize for - doing drugs, lying about it to Sam's face, and Luke's death— It must've been awful to everyone who saw it. Sam would remember it for the rest of her life, and that was on Sky too. Had she not asked Luke to do drugs with her— maybe that wouldn't have saved Luke's life, but at least he wouldn't have died in her house, at least then her friends wouldn't have had to witness that horror that would scar them for life.

"I know I wasn't there for you after Luke died," Sam said, and something in her eyes forced Sky to look up, to meet her gaze. "But I am here now. And you don't have to talk if you don't want to - but if you do, I'm here for that too."

Sky swallowed and swallowed, but it didn't help. The emotions were tying her throat into a knot - gratitude, immense gratitude that she had people like Sam in her life, people who loved her, who cared about her, who wanted to help— even when she deserved it the least.

"Thank you," she rasped, tears spilling onto her cheeks and turning her voice wet.

"You came to my help when I was down. When I thought that Tory was going to kill me. You came to help me when no one else did, and I will never forget that. I know things are bad now— but you're going to get through this. I know it because you are the bravest person I've met."

"I'm not brave," Sky argued, grimacing at the word that felt like mockery. "I'm a fucking coward."

"Because you didn't want to face Kreese?"

"Yeah."

"You're not a coward. You're the opposite of that!" Sam said, so sternly that Sky felt her words echoing through her aching chest. "I know you. You might be scared now, but— You stood up to Tory to defend me, knowing she was going to attack you. And when Cobra Kai beat Cody up, you went to the dojo alone and called them all bullies and assholes to their faces, Kreese included!"

"That doesn't make me brave. It makes me stupid— and I only made things worse for Cody. I let him down, every time— when he needed me the most, I let him down." Sky sighed and tried to pull her hands away from Sam's grip, but Sam wouldn't let her. Her fingers tightened around Sky's, their grip held and even against her will, Sky felt her strength flowing into her body through that touch.

"Had you not defended me against Tory, she could have killed me," Sam said, her dark blue eyes dead serious. "I'm sorry you couldn't save Cody, I am, but— you did save me."

The tears took Sky's words away. It took all she had not to fall apart completely, and only Sam's grip on her hands kept her on her feet. And yet— this felt nothing like what Mr. LaRusso had made her feel on the yard - like she was diminishing, like her guilt and her shame and her cowardice were drowning her. With Sam, Sky felt like she could cry and she could fall apart, and it would change nothing between them. After her meltdown, Sam would still be there, reaching out a hand to help her back to her feet.

Sam's gaze dipped down to the bracelet that hung loosely around Sky's wrist and had slipped into view from under the sleeve of her hoodie. It had been a pendant when Cody had given it to her, but after his death, Sky had turned it into a bracelet to be able to wear it 24/7. She didn't have to look to know what it said, the Mary Shelley quote.

Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.

When Cody had given her that pendant, he too had said she was the bravest person he had ever met. He had believed in her, had believed in the strength within her, even when she hadn't believed it herself. And now Sam—

"You don't have to be fearless to be powerful, you know," Sam said, bringing her eyes back up. "It's okay to be scared. I know you're scared of Kreese and Cobra Kai, of Tory and Kyler... I've been scared of them too, but— but Dad told me once something Mr. Miyagi had said to him. That it's okay to lose to an opponent, but not to fear. And I think about that all the time. That I can't lose to fear."

Sky released her hand from Sam's grip, but only to wipe the tears that were running down her cheeks. Sam's words opened something in her chest and lit a small light in the place where nothing but darkness existed. The light wasn't much more than a flickering will-o-the-wisp, too fragile and too small, but it was something, it was more than she had had in weeks, it was a beginning, perhaps, of something more.

"Okay," she breathed, wiping her tears. "Okay. I hear you. Must not lose to fear."

"Or to grief. I think that falls under the same category. Don't you?"

Sky nodded. More tears fell, but she ignored them, clinging to that small flame inside of her chest as if it were a raging fire, using its light and its warmth to push the words through her trembling lips.

"You wanna go and find out why Kreese and that other guy were here?"

Sam smiled and took her hand. "I thought you'd never ask."