TWENTY FOUR
kiss the ghosts of his wounds
🖇
❪ tw: strong language, violence, weapon usage, mentions of alcoholism, and mentions of sociopaths ❫

COBRA KAI
(season 4, ep 1)
part two

REDEMPTION IS A TRICKY thing. No matter how much wrong you've done or how many lives you've punctured, there will be people who forgive you and people who give you a hard time. Most of the time there are more people giving you a hard time. Eli had wounds that were healing and he wanted to show that they were. But even though most people haven't said anything yet, he felt their stares, the deep-rooted hatred. But he was lucky enough to have someone to kiss the ghosts of his wounds. But sometimes it still felt like he'll walk through the world alone.

     It was the next day and Scarlett was currently standing in between Miguel and Eli. "Ready, Bow!" Johnny ordered and they all bowed in unison. "Sensei Lawrence and I have the same goal of preparing you for the tournament." Daniel began. "But we have different ways of getting you there." Johnny went on.

     "We realize that teaching you opposing viewpoints at the same time can be a little confusing." Daniel admitted. "So, we've discussed it and come up with a solution. We're gonna divide and conquer." Scarlett immediately looked over at Eli in confusion. The whole point of this was to work together and combine styles.

     "Eagle fang trains out front." Johnny gestures towards the front of the dojo. "And I'll be back here with the Miyagi-Do's." Daniel continued. "I thought the whole point of this was that we're stronger working together." Scarlett spoke up. "We're still working together." Daniel nodded at her. "Just separately. On opposite ends of the dojo." Scarlett made a face at Johnny's words. That made absolutely no sense to her. "All right, eagles, follow me!" Johnny instructed.

      Scarlett waved to Sam and Mar before she walked next to Eli. "This is gonna be a shit show." Scarlett whispered to him which made him chuckle. "Fall in!" Johnny said in his normal rough tone. They all stood in a line and he looked around at his students before his eyes landed on Eli. "Hawk, since you're new to Eagle fang, come on up." Johnny gestured to the spot next to him.

     "Yes, Sensei." Eli bowed to him before he started to walk to the front. Johnny went down and swept his legs, sending the boy down to the ground and Scarlett's mouth flew open. "What the heck!?" Eli exclaimed with a shocked expression. "Today we're gonna practice our front sweeps. On Hawk." Johnny announced and Scarlett already knew that this was his way of punishing him. "Sensei..." Scarlett said in a scolding tone as Eli got back up.

     "All right. I know I was a dick, but I'm sorry." Eli apologized with soft eyes. "Talk is cheap. Scar, come on up." Johnny pointed at her. "I don't—" Scarlett began to speak before Johnny cut her off. "Come on, I remember you kicking him in the face and the nuts the first day you met him. Don't be a pussy."

     Scarlett looked over at Eli and he just nodded giving her permission. "Hey, don't go easy on him." Johnny warned. She kneeled down, sticking out her right foot, and swept him off his feet. "Good job, Scar. Penis breath, you're up."

     Mitch did the same but way harder than Scarlett, and Eli was currently on the ground groaning. "Stop whining like a little bitch, get up!" Johnny raised his voice and Eli slowly got up with a slight limp. "Bert, I want you to practice your punches. Come on."

     Bert got in his fighting position but he didn't want to hurt him too bad so he punched him in the chest. "Don't, be a pussy. Punch him in the face!" Johnny demanded. "Sorry." Bert muttered. "It's okay." Eli closed his eyes before Bert drove his fist into the side of his face with all his force, causing Eli to groan, feeling some pain in his tooth. "Good, Bert!"

     "Perez, let's go." Doni was aiming to punch him in the stomach but he accidentally missed and punched him in the balls. Eli fell to his knees and Doni's eyes widened in fear. "Jesus Christ, Doni." Scarlett looked over at him. "Oh, shit! I'm so sorry I missed." Doni helped him up. "You punched him in the balls? What the hell is wrong with you!?" Johnny looked him in the eye. "I missed." Doni repeated. "Okay, can we give him a break now?" Scarlett asked as Doni moved back to his spot. "Nope!" Johnny declined.

     Gus, another kid apart of the dojo came up, and he immediately punched Eli in the gut. "Good shot, Gus! Right in the gut." Johnny praised. "Sensei Lawrence." Daniel's voice was heard from behind the line and they all looked at him. "Yes, sir!" Johnny turned to him. "May I have a word with you?" Daniel asked. "All right, guys, everybody take five. Walk it off." Johnny tapped Eli's chest with his fist.

     "Are you okay?" Scarlett came up next to Eli rubbing her hand against his shoulder. "I'm fine." Eli breathed out while his eyes squinted. "Let's get water." Scarlett grabbed his hand and dragged him into the room where all of their stuff was.

SCARLETT OPENED the door and went over to her bag and she heard Eli mumble "Walk it off? I'm trying my best here." She let out a breath as she took out her water bottle. "Just give him a little time." She said with hope.

     "Look." Eli walked towards a picture hanging on the wall. "Wow." Scarlett walked up next to him, looking up at it. "You know, that's the sparring deck where Mr. Miyagi's great grandfather taught karate on the Okinawan waterfront." Demetri's voice was heard and they both turned their heads. "It's beautiful." Scarlett admired it.

     Eli lightly touched the frame. "Yo, be careful with that." Chris walked into the room with Nate and pushed Eli's arm away. "Why, you think I'm gonna break it?" Eli chuckled, looking back at him. "You already broke a door. And you stole Mr. Miyagi's medal." Chris stared at him blankly. "And you beat the shit out of me." Nate added, coming up next to Chris. "Hey, look, I'm really sorry about all of that." Eli said softly.

     "Go back with your little Eagle gang. You're not wanted here." Chris' words made Eli's face fall and Scarlett was just trying to stay calm. "Chris." Scarlett scoffed at him. Eli looked over at Demetri who just shook his head and he left the room. "You should get your little boyfriend in check." Nate spoke up, looking at the girl. "What the hell!? Why do you think he's here. Why do you think I'm here?" Scarlett walked in front of them. "At least you didn't trash our dojo." Nate replied.

     Scarlett let out a frustrated sigh. "One of your students sprained my ankle and I forgave her." Scarlett mentioned. "You started the fight." Chris interjected. "Actually, she did. Whatever, if you don't want us here then fine I'll stay away from you because I don't want to be near a bunch of assholes that treat me and my friends like shit. We're trying to change but us being here obviously doesn't make a difference to you." Scarlett stormed out of the room, whisking past Demetri.

     "Hawk!" Scarlett yelled out as she went after him. She walked out of the door and Daniel was yelling out to someone and Scarlett saw red hair in the distance. She pushed on Daniel's shoulder in frustration. "What the hell did you say to him?" She rolled her eyes as she went after him.

     "Eli?" Scarlett went outside of the dojo and looked around. She turned her head and saw Eli sitting on the sidewalk. Scarlett walked up next to him and lightly kicked his side to get his attention. "What?" He sighed as he looked up at her. "Are you okay?" She sat down next to him.

     "I just don't really want to be here at all anymore." He stared at the cars passing. "If you give up they win." Scarlett tried to encourage him. "Let them win. I don't care. I wish I just wasn't such an asshole." Eli rubbed his forehead. "You're not." Scarlett argued. "They think I am. They think all I could ever do is hurt them so what I say doesn't matter." He crossed his arms in his lap. "They just don't know you that well yet. They've only seen the bad side of you and they need to get to know the good. It takes time." Scarlett grabbed his hand intertwining their fingers.

"Why did you forgive me?" Eli asked, not making eye contact. "Why would you ask that?" Scarlett raised her eyebrows subconsciously. "I just don't feel like I deserve you being so nice to me. I never deserved you." Eli looked down. Scarlett's face fell.

     "Hey." Scarlett grabbed his chin, making him look at her. "I care about you a lot. I wanted you to change and you're trying that's why I forgave you. I also forgave you because I knew you had a good side. There are people that want you here, who cares about Chris or Nate. I want you here, Demetri, Miguel, even Johnny he's just Johnny. You almost broke Doni's nose and he forgave you." Scarlett hated seeing him like this. She knew no one would take him joining them lightly but it's still hard to watch.

"I guess that makes me feel better."

"You know what will make you feel even better?" She asked slightly leaning in. "What?" Eli looked over at her. Scarlett pressed her lips against his and she felt him smile. "Still upset?" She inquired. "Less." He chuckled and kissed her again. "You called me Eli." He brought up after pulling away. "It just slipped out I know only your parents and Demetri call you that now."

"No, you should say it more."

SCARLETT AND ELI walked home, his arm around her while Scarlett was on the phone with Sam. "So what happened?" They were currently talking about Johnny and Daniel's argument.

"They just argued and it seemed bad. My dad said Johnny wasn't respecting his dojo and Johnny made fun of the way he was training us. Then they just walked off and kept arguing." Sam explained. "Shit. What if this doesn't work?" Scarlett sighed. "It has to." Sam countered. "Sam, I really don't think they can do it. All they've done was fight ever since they were 16. It doesn't seem like either of them wants to understand or get along with each other. You should know that your dad is stubborn and so is Johnny. We tried so hopefully they work this out but if they don't then I guess it's over." Scarlett's words caused Eli to start to think.

"There has to be something we can do." Sam voiced. "I don't know if there is. I gotta go, I'll text you later." Scarlett ended the conversation. "Okay, bye." Sam said before she hung up.

Eli looked over at her as she put her phone back in her pocket. "So, they started fighting after I left?" He asked. "Yeah. This might not be the right time it doesn't seem to be working." Scarlett shrugged while they walked into her neighborhood. "I know everyone there hates me but, it felt like this was the only thing that can help me change and do better." Eli emitted.

"It's not your only hope. You have to be willing and dedicated to not only changing but proving that you don't want to hurt anyone. And I'm sorry about Sensei Lawrence. I feel like he's just being hard on you because of me." After Scarlett told Johnny everything about her past and the fact that she almost relapsed after the argument they had, he got really upset with him. "I deserve it. He has a right to be mad at me." He mumbled.

     "Even though he's still a little mad, it's his job to help you and he will. But your actions have consequences, he's trying to teach you that. In his own special way." She informed. "Yeah, I get that."

"So, Moon told me that her friend is throwing a New Years party. The whole school is invited. We should go." Scarlett changed the subject. "Are you sure?" Eli raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. You'll get to meet Cleo before we go back to school next week and Moon's buying me sparkling cider so the alcohol thing is under control."

     Eli sighed and Scarlett noticed his annoyed expression. "It's not that." He stopped walking. "Then what is it?" Scarlett moved in front of him. "Look, if the whole school is coming then Rory will be there. And I thought you were gonna die that night." His voice was laced with worry.

     Scarlett didn't really care about running into Rory anymore. If she wanted to start something then Scarlett would make sure to do whatever to finish it because she was just angry and tired of her now. "I can handle Rory." She huffed.

     "I know you can handle her. But I just don't think she's right in the head. I'm not even joking I think there's something wrong with her. And I don't want her to hurt you. You shouldn't even see her until the tournament." Since he was around her for all those months, Eli noticed that Rory wasn't like most people. You could tell she was truly weak, but, she just wanted power she didn't fully have. And she didn't really care who she hurt.

     "What do you think is wrong with her?" Scarlett gave him a look. "I for real think she's a sociopath." Eli admitted. "Seriously?" She asked in disbelief. "Yes. She literally never shows empathy for anything she does to you. And I don't think it's normal because you were friends before the whole thing at coyote creek. She has like 90% of the symptoms." He explained.

     Scarlett opened her mouth to speak but Eli continued. "Before you say anything else I know how strong you are and inside Rory is weak and she's just jealous of you. Whenever you guys get in a fight she knows that if she doesn't do something crazy, you'll win. So that's why she does it."

     Rory was always infused with jealousy. But, instead of her ignoring those feelings she acted on them.

     "Eli, I'm gonna be okay. I've dealt with people trying to hurt me since I was fucking twelve. Even if she is a sociopath I'm doing everything I can to channel the stronger side of me that I know I have. I'll be okay and I have you and everyone else to protect me when I can't do it myself. She can try to kill me all she wants but she won't succeed." She reassured him before she grabbed his hand and continued to approach her house.

     "Okay. But if she even looks at you I'll kill her myself." He assured. "Wow, I thought I would be the person threatening to kill people for you." Scarlett joked. "You wanna come inside?" She turned to him. Eli's eyes slightly widened. Scarlett's mom wasn't his biggest fan right now.

     "Uh...what?" He mumbled. "One, I open the door. Two, you walk in with me."

"I have curfew—" He began to make up an excuse but she shut him down. "At sundown. It's not even 2:00 yet since class ended so early." Scarlett started to walk up the driveway but he grabbed onto her wrist. "Is your mom home?" He asked.

     "Really?" She snickered. "Yes, really." He exhaled. "Look, I talked to her last night about how you left Cobra Kai, that you joined our dojo and you're trying to change. And she's fine with you being here while she's here. And it's perfect timing since she took the day off today. She won't bite you." Scarlett explained but, he was still hesitant.

     The blue in his eyes seemed a little dull as he looked over at the house and back at her. "H-How are you so sure?" He stammered. "Just go inside the house before I throw you in." Scarlett grabbed his hand and dragged him up to the front door. She reached into the pocket of her dad's old leather jacket that was oversized on her and took out the house keys.

"Mom, I'm home!" She yelled out as they both walked in. "Why so early?" Willa questioned as she stood by the kitchen counter, placing grapes into a bowl. "The sensei's got into an argument." She answered, taking off her shoes.

     Eli stood awkwardly next to her and tensed up a bit as Willa walked toward them. She was a little taken aback seeing him but she brushed it off. "Oh hi, Eli." She gave him a small smile. "Hi, Mrs. Cross." He muttered. "How are you?" She asked.

     "I-I'm good." He was just surprised that she wasn't trying to kill him right now. "Well...it's nice to see you." There was tension in the air but Willa saw how happy Scarlett was so she tried to be understanding. "We're gonna go upstairs." Scarlett broke the silence. Before they walked passed her.

     "Scarlett, deja la puerta abierta!" Willa ordered. "Si mamá." She answered back. "What did she say?" Eli asked as they walked up the stairs. "Leave the door open." She clarified.

"Why did you look so shocked I told you she calmed down?" Scarlett questioned as they walked into her room. "I didn't expect her to be that calm." He sat on the foot of the bed.

"I have an idea." He blurted out as Scarlett took off her jacket. "What is it?" She asked in a curious tone. "Saying sorry doesn't seem to be cutting it. So what if I say that I'm sorry in a different way and prove that I want to change."

"How?" She sat next to him. "Remember when Demetri said that Mr. Miyagi's grandfather used to do karate on that bridge in the picture?" He brought up. "It's a sparring deck." She corrected him. "I want to build it." He went on and Scarlett blinked at him.

     "What!?" She exclaimed. "You don't think it's a good idea?" Eli's voice lowered. "No, I think it's a great idea. But none of us know how to build anything like that."

     "Well, there's YouTube. I can design it. Demetri can help too and if Sensei Lawrence and Mr. LaRusso agree then maybe they'll stop fighting and this whole thing can work out." Eli finished his proposal. "Want me to call Demetri?"

                    THE SUN BEAT down on them, making the blonde bits of Scarlett's hair make more of an appearance. "Okay, how is this supposed to work again?" Scarlett was currently standing by Demetri who was explaining how they were going to go about building the deck. "I've explained this to you like ten times." He huffed. "Yeah, and I think it's the most confusing thing you've ever told me." Scarlett joked.

     "Everything he says is confusing." Doni's head popped up from behind the fence. "I just smile and nod." Mar added. "I'll take that as a compliment. It makes me feel higher up on the food chain." Demetri gave them a small smirk. "And you'll understand it when we get to the actual building part of this." He looked back at Scarlett as Eli walked back over to them.

     "Hawk! What the hell!?" Miguel's voice sounded frantic. Their heads snapped over to a running Miguel and Sam following behind him. "Miguel, what's wrong?" Scarlett tilted her head. "Why does he have a sledgehammer?" He gestured over to the weapon Eli was grasping.

     "You idiot, I told you to look natural." Scarlett pushed on his shoulder. "Scar, explain to me how you're supposed to look natural with a sledgehammer in your hand." Eli countered. "Don't look like you have murder on your mind." She argued.

     "What are you guys doing?" Sam spoke up. "Show them." Scarlett elbowed Demetri's arm with little force.

     Demetri turned the IPad back on and pulled up the blueprints Eli made the night before. "Eli has this idea to build an Okinawan sparring deck like the one in the picture." Demetri explained as they looked down at the tablet. "This space is pretty empty and looks big enough so I thought it would be a good place to build it." Eli added.

     "So, he's not trying to kill anyone?" Miguel ensured. "No, I just have to take the fence down." Eli explained. "Oh." He mumbled lowly. "Well it's a good idea and we'll help." Sam smiled.

...

                "ALL RIGHT, STAND BACK. It's comin' down." Hawk announced, giving everyone a second to back away from the fence before he slammed the sledgehammer into the fence once again making it fall to the ground.

     "Hey! What are you doing?" Daniel yelled as he rushed into the backyard with Johnny behind him. His eyes looked like they were popping out of his head and he looked at Eli as if he had three heads. Eli's face softened. "You were both right. Talk is cheap. So I'm building a bridge."

     "Once again, it's a sparring deck." Scarlett said as she and Demetri walked up next to him. "If you want to be technical." Eli mumbled. "Eli's a design whiz, I looked it over and the physics check out." Demetri held the tablet up to them, flipping through the blueprints.

     "Mr. Miyagi just used this area for extra storage, but a new deck would mean a lot more room for training." Sam walked up to them with Miguel by her side. "Which is what I believe Sensei Lawrence wanted." Scarlett added. "We're all gonna help build it. Assuming our Sensei's approve." Miguel's eyes switched between both of them.

     Daniel and Johnny looked at everyone who was cleaning up the branches and leaves, trying to process everything. "Sounds good to me." Daniel agreed, making eye contact with Johnny. "Yeah." Johnny nodded at him. "Sounds awesome." He turned back to the kids and Scarlett grinned at them.

     Scarlett wrapped an arm around Johnny's waist, giving him a side hug. He rubbed her shoulder with a smile before they walked into the area with everyone else.

a/n: we're going to be getting into the drama very soon. i was thinking of doing a special chapter right before the all valley chapter's that flashes back to small scenes scarlett would've been in, in s1 and early s2 (small interactions with eli, miguel's fight with kyler, watching valley fest etc.) the next two chapters are originals (the new years party and the chapter where crosswitz becomes official). and just quick question for the next chapter, do we wanna see jealous scarlett or a calmer jealous eli? and lastly i'm changing scarlett's mom's fc to salma hayek