chapter twenty three, half a heart without you

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          After getting their way into Stingray's house, who seemed awfully intimidated from the moment Izzy stopped him from slamming the door in their faces. So now, they sat at a table, all of the teenagers on one side while Stingray sat on the other.

Izzy hoped that this went by quickly, and the only thing she could think about was Miguel's voicemail (that she has yet to finish listening to) and everything that happened last night. Izzy sat in a chair beside Sam, her arms crossed as they rested on the table as Demetri sat down as well, trying to get answers out of Stingray.

          "What happened that night? Who hurt you?" Demetri asked.

            Stingray ignored Demetri's questions. "Hey, Bert. How does it feel to stab a grown man in the back between his shoulder blades and stare at the blood as it trickles down his back?" The man questioned Bert.

          Izzy's eyes rolled, glaring up to share a look with Hawk who looked just as unamused as Izzy did. "God, enough!" Hawk exclaimed, leaning forward to hit his hands against the table. "No more games."

          Stingray went quiet after Hawk raised his voice, but the silence just persuaded Sam to speak up. "My dad went through a lot of pain because of you and Silver. Now a lot of people will too if you just sit back and do nothing." Sam explained.

          Izzy glanced over at Miguel who had his gaze on the floor, but when Izzy saw him look up, she quickly looked away.

          "But if I tell you what really happened, you know, he-he'll find out. I can't. It's not that easy you guys." Stingray spoke, silencing filling the room and Izzy was just about to give up and suggest they leave before Stingray started talking again.

          "Actually.. um, wait. Okay, I've been working on this new D and D campaign–"

          Miguel shook his head, "I don't think we have time for this." He seemed impatient, because he was. As much as he wanted to put a stop to Silver and Cobra Kai, there was something more important he had to talk about.. which was talking to Izzy.

          The Diaz boy turned to try and leave, but Hawk stopped him. "Wait a minute," Hawk looked at Miguel then back at Stingray. "What happens in the campaign, Stingray?" He questioned.

          Izzy kept her arms crossed on the table as her eyes were set on Stingray, waiting to hear what he had to say, and she hoped it wasn't something stupid. Her eyebrows raised as Stingray held a figurine in his hand that seemed to resemble him. Great, this was going to be a waste of time—that was all Izzy could think.

"Okay, so, once upon a time.. there was a Dwarven monk and he was a member of the most badass guild in all the land. He was banished for a time. You know, typical PC crap –" Stingray spoke with a smile on his face.

Izzy let out a sigh. "Can you get to the point already?" She deadpanned, staring at the man who awkwardly cleared his throat and nodded.

"Okay, um, once he paid penance, he returned. Only by then, the guild was under new leadership." Stingray explained, setting his figurine down on the board and placing another one beside it, the figure supposed to represent Kreese.

Izzy looked over at Sam, and the LaRusso girl glanced at her, and they both had a look on their face like this was going nowhere. When Stingray started talking, Izzy's eyes shifted back to him.

"And the monk was denied reentry into the guild.. and quite unceremoniously, might I add. So what did the monk do? He made a pact with a silver-haired king who usurp the leader." Stingray told the group, adding another figure onto the board, knocking the one acting as Kreese off of the board.

Izzy's eyebrows furrowed as he went on. "And it was early one morning, before any of the warriors arrived, that the king struck the monk down. Again, and again, and again." Stingray confessed, demonstrating the attack with the figurines.

"It was then that they framed the leader for the assault, and the leader was put in chains, and the silver-haired king took over the guild." The man told the group of teenagers.

          Demetri finally spoke up from the middle, "You were.. the Dwarven monk was let back into the guild?" Demetri asked, Stingray nodding to confirm his words.

         Hawk let out a laugh. "Yeah. With benefits." He scoffed, looking at the very luxurious and expensive house Stingray lived in.

         "With benefits, yeah." Stingray confirmed once again.

         "Okay, so why can't he just tell everyone what really happened?" Miguel questioned.

          Sam let out a sigh, standing up in his seat. "Because he doesn't want to lose his benefits." She snapped, her eyes on Stingray who quickly shook his head.

          "No! No, I would.. the-the monk would give it all back if he could, but the–the silver-haired king, he almost killed the monk." Stingray laughed as he spoke, clearly overwhelmed and nervous. "He could have killed him. And why? To get power."

          His words just made Izzy remember what Cobra Kai had put her through. First, she always overworked herself to prove she was good enough for someone who didn't care. Then, Silver showed up and made Izzy choose between her dojo or Miguel, and wouldn't allow her back at the dojo if she chose Miguel (which she did). Then, Riley attacked her and scared her into breaking up with Miguel. And finally, one of Silver's other Sensei's made Izzy hurt her hand and nearly break it.

         Izzy looked down at her hands that were now resting in her hand, looking at the faint scars on her knuckles and she formed her hand into a fist, tightening it when Izzy felt herself get angry that she let all of this happen to her and that it was all Cobra Kai's fault.

          And as much as Izzy wanted to be fed up with Stingray, she sort of.. resonated with him. So did Miguel, and Hawk, and even Bert, because they all knew how far Cobra Kai can push you.

          But then Izzy remembered last night, and the feeling she felt when she saw Miguel kissing another girl, and then the voicemail. 'It'll always be you.' That was the one sentence that replayed in Izzy's mind, because she wanted it to be true so badly.

         Izzy could feel her skin grow hot, her emotions morphing into one and it made Izzy feel uncomfortable when she couldn't recognize what she was supposed to be feeling. She was angry that Miguel was kissing another girl, she felt like an idiot for kissing Evan to prove that she didn't care when she really did, she felt hopeful because of Miguel's voicemail. She felt confused.

          Anger seemed to be the strongest emotion right now, because no matter how hard Izzy tried, she couldn't seem to get the image out of her head. Even Miguel's voicemail wasn't enough reassurance to her in this moment.

"So, yeah, the monk fears what that king would do to keep that power. I think the monk just wanted reentry into the guild because he thought that he could be like a.. like a proud and noble warrior. Just like all you guys, but he's neither proud nor noble." Stingray spoke, shaking his head.

"The monk's just scared," The man admitted. "I just can't. I'm sorry." He told the group who desperately needed his help, but failed.

And it seemed to just push Izzy even more, causing the girl to let out a bitter laugh. "That was such a waste of time," She shook her head, "He was literally no help." Izzy spoke up, gesturing to the man as she sat up in her seat to look at the others around her.

          They all stayed silent, but then Izzy looked over at Miguel who had his eyes on her, but he glanced away the moment her eyes landed on him. Izzy felt her jaw clench for a second, then she turned to look at Stingray.

          "Thanks for sharing nothing but your sob story." Izzy impulsively snapped, getting up from her seat and turning to find someplace to be by herself.

As Izzy left the room everyone else was in, the girl wandered into a large hallway. She underestimated how big this house was–it was practically a mansion. Silver must have been giving him a lot to keep quiet.

          Her hands clenched into fists and she could feel her fingernails digging into her skin. She could hear someone walking after her and when Izzy heard Miguel's voice call out to her, Izzy stopped and turned around with a quiet breath coming from her lips. She kept her eyes on him, staying quiet as Izzy watched the boy walk up to her.

There was a confused look on his face, like the behavior was odd for Izzy, but he knew why. "What was that? You know how hard it is to be in Cobra Kai." Miguel asked her.

          "Plus, you–you didn't even tell any of us about the All Valley.. and you didn't tell me about them making you break stone, and you won't even tell me about where that scar came from." Miguel rambled, speaking fast because all of this was frustrating, and Miguel hated it.

"This is about Stingray. He literally sat there and told us that Silver was the one who hurt him, not Kreese, and he still won't say anything!" Izzy raised her voice, gesturing her arm out toward the direction they just came from.

Izzy wasn't done, though, and she started talking again. before Miguel could say anything. "And–god," A laugh left Izzy's lips as she shook her head, "If you want to know what happened so badly, Riley broke into my apartment and attacked me and forced me to break up with you. That's where this scar came from and that's why I wanted a break." She admitted to Miguel.

It just left him more confused. "She attacked– okay, is there anything else you haven't been telling me?" Miguel asked.

"Why? So you can try to do something to prove you care about me? Trust me, you showed how much you cared last night." Izzy said out of anger, watching Miguel's eyebrows raise.

          "And what was kissing Evan trying to prove? That you don't care?" Miguel rhetorically asked, a bit of jealousy coming out, "And I don't even know that girl, Izzy. I don't want to know who she is. She–"

          Izzy's arms crossed over her chest, keeping her eyes on the boy. "What? She wasn't me?" Izzy questioned.

         Miguel's eyebrows furrowed. "You listened to the voicemail? I thought you said you were going to delete it."

          The girl let out a shaky breath, "I couldn't. I listened to it before we came over here, but.. I didn't finish it. You said it'll always be me and I didn't get to listen to anything else." Izzy explained to him, her voice going quieter as she watched Miguel rub his face and a sigh left between his lips.

          His eyes shifted to meet with Izzy's, but he stayed quiet, leaving Izzy room to talk. "Why? What did the rest say?" She asked when Miguel stayed silent.

          Miguel opened his mouth to speak, but not much came out. "It was nothing–"

         "Tell me," Izzy cut him off, "Tell me right now to my face what the rest of the voicemail said." Izzy said to the boy standing in front of her as they looked at each other.

Miguel let out a frustrated breath, shaking his head. "No. I can't. Not.. not like this, okay?" He muttered, but Izzy was able to hear what he said.

She was quiet and it seemed like she was thinking about something, but then Izzy nodded her head. "Okay." Izzy sighed, but then she reached behind her to pull her phone out from her back pocket.

          Miguel watched as she unlocked her phone, going straight to her voicemails and pressed on the voicemail from Miguel. He tensed up a little bit, thinking she was going to play it out loud, but Miguel watched as Izzy pressed the button to delete the voicemail and it vanished.

          A sigh left Izzy's mouth, looking up from her phone. "I guess I'll never know then." Izzy shrugged, pressing her lips together to form a thin line.

Izzy then walked past him, leaving the boy standing in the hall, hating himself for being too scared to just tell her three words. And now it just felt like they had gone through another breakup without even being together anymore.

          It was three words. Eight letters. What was so hard about saying them? Maybe it was because he was just as scared as Izzy was, because neither of them really planned or expected to fall in love with each other this much. Neither of them knew how scary love can feel, especially when it comes out of nowhere.

          Miguel eventually turned and followed behind Izzy, regretting the things that he didn't say when he had the chance.

He didn't want to tell her that he loves her in the middle of Stingray's house, because Izzy didn't deserve that, and he didn't want her to hear it for the first time through her phone either, but all of this just seemed to do more damage to them than Miguel thought.

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"I think we should talk to Tory."

Izzy sat on the other end from Sam on the couch in the living room of the LaRusso house. The girl was going to go home because after the talk she had with Miguel, all Izzy could do was think about what he could have said that he didn't want to admit. She wanted to think it was him saying that he loves her, but Miguel couldn't even tell her that to her face.

So, Sam let Izzy hang out at her house to get away from the boys and the thought of them.

          Izzy had looked up at Sam, surprised that Sam would even mention going to Tory after her past with the Nichols girl. However, Tory seemed to be the only other option right now.

          "Tory?" Izzy questioned.

Sam's eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think we should try?" She doubted the idea now that Izzy questioned it.

But, Izzy nodded, "Yeah, I think we should try." She agreed, not even thinking about going to Tory in the first place. Then again, Izzy has been too preoccupied with her own problems to even think if Tory was doing fine.

          When the two girls left to go to the apartment complex Tory lived in, all Izzy could hope was that this would work out in their favor. Sam seemed hesitant about the fact it had to be Tory of all people, but Izzy led the way when they got to Tory's apartment door. She knocked on it, glancing back at Sam as they waited for an answer.

          A few seconds had passed before the door opened and there stood Tory, the blonde knitting her eyebrows together when she processed the fact that Izzy and Sam were at her home right now.

          "What are you two doing here?" Tory asked, eyeing the two.

          Izzy opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes glared down at Tory's hand. "Holy shit," Izzy breathed out when she saw how swollen and red her knuckles were and it looked just like Izzy's hand when it was hurt.

          "Oh my god, what happened?" Sam asked from beside Izzy,

          Tory shook her head, her eyes on Sam. "Don't pretend like you care." She muttered to the LaRusso girl.

          A realization hit Izzy that whatever Cobra Kai did to Izzy, they did to Tory as well. Izzy's eyes shifted from Tory's hand to her face before she spoke, "We just came here to talk. If you're having problems with Cobra Kai, you can tell us. You can tell me." Izzy reassured her friend.

The blonde looked at Izzy for a second, then back at Sam, and then a sigh left Tory's lips as she opened the door wider and walked off, indicating that they were allowed to come in. Izzy looked back to share a look with Sam who nodded, almost like she was saying they needed to do this. So, Izzy walked into Tory's home with Sam behind her.

          As Izzy made her way into the living room after Tory who sat on the couch, placing a bag full of ice on her hand, she didn't pay too much attention to the inside of Tory's home. However, Sam seemed to take note of everything her eyes landed on–from the dining table full of old Chinese food boxes to the hospital bed that was visible down the hall that had Tory's mother laying in it. In that moment, Sam regretted never thinking about what Tory has went through.

It was quiet for a minute as Izzy stood in front of Tory, the Vera girl fiddling with her hands as Sam made her way over to Izzy. Tory seemed hesitant to talk about what was on her mind, but she eventually built up enough courage to.

"I wanted to win the All Valley more than anything. I want Cobra Kai to win. Then when I saw you win, Izzy, I was so happy for you–I wasn't even mad that I didn't win. But then you handed me that trophy and everyone started cheering for me and the dojo–it was the best moment of my life." Tory explained, glaring up at the two girls that stared at her.

"But then I saw Silver and that ref, and it just killed me. I was so mad at Silver for doing it to the dojo and Izzy, even me in a way. I wanted to get back at him so bad and that's why I went to Kreese, but then I got caught up in more lies." Tory shook her head, showing that she regretted it. "And now my life is a living hell."

Izzy frowned, both she and Sam staying quiet but then Izzy glanced at Tory's hand. "Was it Cobra Kai that did that?" She spoke up, seeing Tory glance up at the girl and then at her hand.

A laugh came from Tory. "Yeah, they made me break some stone because of Robby. He came into the dojo and– it doesn't really matter. They were just trying to teach me a lesson." Tory shrugged, shifting the bag of ice around on top of her hand.

"They did it to me too." Izzy admitted, watching Tory's head look up quickly and see Izzy's knuckles that were still healing from the incident.

"What?" Sam exclaimed, causing Izzy to look at her for a second then down at her own hand.

There was a shaky breath that left Izzy's lips just as she opened her mouth to talk, "Yeah, it was when, um, Riley broke into my apartment–" Tory made a shocked face, because this was new information to her. "She told me to break up with Miguel and go to Cobra Kai. She scared me so bad that I listened." Izzy explained.

"And then I went.. and they tried to teach me a lesson too, at least mine was for ditching the All Valley to run off with my boyfriend.. well, ex-boyfriend, I don't know." Izzy muttered, shrugging her shoulders.

Sam shook her head, "We have to do something about this. That's why we came here." She told Tory, looking at the blonde who had her eyes set on Sam. "I didn't know what you were going through–either of you," Sam confessed, glancing at Izzy and then back at Tory.

"But now that I do.. we can help each other." Sam said as she kept her eyes on Tory, "We tried to talk to Stingray. He basically admitted it was Silver who assaulted him in the old dojo but he's too afraid to go the police." Her words made Tory sit up a little bit with furrowed eyebrows.

"I knew Silver was involved, but.. I didn't think he would do it with his own hands." Tory thought out loud, her eyes shifting to look at both of the girls.

Izzy huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, but we can't prove it. So, it looks like that psychopath is going to win, again." She scoffed.

It was quiet for a second before Tory lifted her head from looking at her hurt hand, her eyes going to Izzy. "If it happened at the old dojo, maybe we can prove it." Tory told the girl.

The corner of Izzy's lips tugged upward for a second as she looked at her friend, "The security cameras." Izzy stated, earning a nod from Tory.

"It's on tape?" Sam asked, a hopeful tone to her words knowing that this could be just the evidence they needed.

Tory nodded once again, "It should be." She responded.

"I'll text Robby to get Demetri and Hawk and meet us at my house," Sam suggested, earning a nod from Tory who got up to get ready to leave. When Tory walked past them to wrap her hand, Sam then turned to Izzy, "You should text Miguel to come."

Izzy's face dropped, her eyebrows knitting together. "No–no," Izzy nervously laughed. "I don't even think he would answer a text from me right now." She replied to Sam's words.

"Just text him." Sam sighed just as Tory finished wrapping her and was ready to go.

Izzy's face was annoyed while Sam just smiled, trying to push Izzy to text him. Izzy watched the LaRusso girl turn to walk out of the apartment with Tory and Izzy stayed behind for a few seconds, contemplating the idea of texting Miguel to show up.

Her eyes rolled as an annoyed huff left Izzy's lips as she followed after the two girls, pulling her phone out of her back pocket to text Miguel. She knew Sam was just trying to help–to push Izzy and Miguel back together because it was obvious to everyone that they just needed each other to feel whole again.

Izzy knew that, but after Izzy deleted the voicemail, she wasn't sure if she had dodged a bullet or officially lost the boy that she's in love with.

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authors note.
miguel and izzy were a fast burn in act one so i'm torturing you guys with this slow burn i'm sorry

i wanted to make a graphics chapter for this fic but i struggle with manips so much i don't know how people do it. i am making a playlist chapter tho (with the spotify link) soon so stream that when i publish it ‼️

( gif made by saevrz )