chapter twenty five, the art of falling in love

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          The fight escalated quicker than Izzy anticipated, everyone scattered around and tried to take down the opposing dojos. Izzy had gotten lost from Miguel at some point and the girl was too busy trying to get a random girl from Cobra Kai away from her to find any of her friends. She felt behind at times, because a part of her was still scared to use the hand that was hurt the last time Izzy was in this dojo.

A grunt left Izzy's mouth as she grabbed ahold of the other girl's arm, pulling her to the ground and Izzy sent her foot into the girl's abdomen, making her groan in pain and stay on the floor. A huff left Izzy's lips as she looked up, pushing hair out of her face, her eyes quickly scanning the room.

Izzy suddenly felt someone grab her arm from behind, kicking just behind her knee to cause her to get to the ground. The girl was then pushed to her back, seeing a random boy from Cobra Kai trying to take her down. Izzy kicked her leg up before he could throw his hand down to punch her, kicking him hard enough in the wrist to have him let out a cry of pain.

It seemed to make the boy more mad, but before he could even strike another move on Izzy, someone had come up behind the boy and kicked underneath his legs, causing him to collide with the ground.

A smile tugged at Izzy's lips when she saw Miguel, his foot kicking the other boy on the ground in the face hard enough for blood to come from his lip. Izzy went to get up from the ground, but Miguel quickly went over to her, grabbing ahold of her hands, and helped her to her feet.

          "Are you okay?" He seemed out of breath, but even Izzy was trying to catch her breath as chaos went on around them.

          Izzy nodded, pushing strands of hair out of her face. "Yeah, I'm okay." She grinned up at the boy. "You?"

A smile tugged at the corner of Miguel's lips. "I'm okay." He reassured her, but quickly nodded his head behind Izzy to let her know someone was coming up behind her.

          The girl moved out of the way just as someone came running up to try and catch Miguel off guard from the back. Izzy kicked her leg up, but the boy from Cobra Kai ducked, dodging the attempted kick. She was quicker than him, grabbing his shoulders and bringing her knee up to collide with the boy's face, sending him back onto the ground with a bloody nose.

"Izzy!" Miguel called out, causing the girl to turn just as Miguel had another Cobra Kai's student arm twisted behind his back, giving Izzy a clear shot at the boy's face that wore the Cobra Kai jacket.

          A grunt came from Izzy as she quickly turned, her foot coming up to have the heel of her shoe collide with the boy's jaw. There was a deep huff that left Izzy's lips as she watched the boy fall from Miguel's grip and land on the floor, but then Izzy's eyes shifted back to Miguel.

"That was kind of hot," Miguel breathed out in the midst of all of the yelling and commotion around them, a smile appearing on his lips when he saw Izzy's eyes roll.

She couldn't help but smile, trying to catch her breath, "Just kind of?" Izzy played along, her eyebrows furrowing together, but then her eyes caught a familiar face in the distance and she looked back at Miguel.

          Izzy gestured her head in the direction she was about to head and Miguel nodded, understanding that she was letting him know what she was doing. Before Izzy could even walk past him, Miguel stopped her by grabbing ahold of her arm and didn't hesitate to press a quick kiss to her lips. Izzy kissed him back, but it didn't last too long—it was more of an 'I'll see you later' kiss.

When they both pulled away, Miguel gave her a quick smile before letting her continue to what she was going to do. Izzy inhaled deeply, her head turning to look at the girl who had her back facing Izzy and Izzy began making her way to the preoccupied girl.

It just gave Izzy the upper hand, because the moment Riley kicked down a kid from Eagle Fang, Izzy pushed Riley on the back, sending her almost tumbling forward. Riley spun around, going to throw her arm out to hit whoever touched her, but Izzy's fist had already come up and punched Riley right in the face.

          A smile crept onto Riley's face as she pressed a hand to her jaw, her eyes moving to Izzy's very angry and revenge-driven face. "You're going to regret that." Riley sneered, growing irritated that Izzy wanted to pick a fight.

"I don't care." Izzy spat, kicking her leg out to kick Riley in the abdomen, trying to get her to the ground.

Riley grabbed the lower half of Izzy's leg, pulling her onto the ground instead of the opposite, but Izzy managed to grab ahold of Riley's shoulders to drag her down with her. Izzy rolled them over so that she was hovering over Riley, pulling her arm back to send her fist toward Riley's face, but when she did, Riley moved just in time to dodge it.

A restrained yell left Riley's mouth as she tried to use all of her strength to push Izzy off of her. With using almost all of the force she had, because Izzy seemed to be stronger this time around, Riley managed to get Izzy off of her. Izzy fell onto her side as Riley stood to her feet.

All Izzy could do was prop herself up on her elbows to try and get up, but Riley had kicked her in the face, causing Izzy to fall back down. A painful cry left Izzy's mouth as she looked down, holding her face the second she felt blood gush from her nose. The girl winced, bringing her fingers up to touch her cupid's bow where the warm liquid dripped down to her lips and Izzy could taste the blood in her mouth.

          "You're pathetic, just like your dojo," She could hear Riley taunt and Izzy's eyes closed, feeling her blood begin to boil. "You're not getting a happy ending, you know that? You're not going to win. Miyagi-Do isn't going to win." Riley seethed at the girl on the ground.

          Izzy finally opened her eyes, turning her head to look at Riley who leaned down to get closer to Izzy's face. There was a smug grin on Riley's lips, like she had already won or something and Riley cocked her head when Izzy looked at her.

          "That looks like it hurts." Riley faked a frown, but Izzy didn't waste a second to spit the blood that had seeped into her mouth at Riley's face.

          A disgusted gasp left Riley's mouth at the blood that splattered across her face, backing away and Izzy kicked her leg up to have the bottom of her shoe hit Riley in the center of her face. There was a deep breath that left Izzy's mouth as she watched Riley fall to the ground, holding her face as Riley tried to hold back the tears from the force of the kick.

          The Vera girl stood to her feet, looking down at Riley as  Izzy wiped the blood from her mouth with her hand, some of the red liquid still underneath her nose.

          "You should really learn when to shut the hell up." Izzy spat at the black-haired girl on the floor who was too busy dealing with the pain to continue fighting.

          Izzy let out a deep breath, glancing up to see Hawk and Demetri come rushing down the stairs with a tablet in his hands. The sight of the two boys made her more alert and she stepped over Riley, rushing over to the two boys.

          "Did you get it?" Izzy spoke up, her voice was eager and impatient as she looked at both Hawk and Demetri.

          Demetri nodded, "Yeah, we got it. Hey, Miguel, we got it uploading!" The dark-haired boy called out and Izzy glanced back at the Diaz boy, noticing him holding his flannel to help him fight in the chaos that was still happening around them.

          Just as Izzy turned to look at Hawk who had the tablet, she was taken aback when Kyler appeared out of nowhere, pushing aggressively on Hawk's back. Hawk fell to the ground, causing the tablet to fall out of his reach and slide across the floor, but luckily it landed right at the end of Anthony's feet, and the LaRusso boy quickly picked it up.

          Izzy had looked to her left for a split second, but did a double take when she recognized the sensei from Cobra Kai that had hurt her hand, and Tory's. Sensei Kim. She had shown up amid everything and currently stood with her heel pressing into the wrist of Tory's huff hand that was wrapped up.

          "Get him!" Izzy heard Kenny yell, referring to Anthony who had possession of the thing that Miyagi-Fang seemed to be there for.

          Just as Cobra Kai went to circle the opposing dojo, Izzy felt torn. "Protect the egg!" Miguel called out, helping the other students from the dojo of the training that helped them work as a team.

          "Izzy." A familiar voice shouted and the girl turned to see Evan rushing up to her.

          She grew defensive, her hands curling into fists, but Evan put his hands out to reassure her he had no intentions of hurting her. "Go help Tory, I–I'll help them." Evan stuttered out quickly, out of breath from the fighting he had endured as well.

          Izzy's eyebrows furrowed. She was too distracted by her own situation that she didn't realize Evan wasn't fighting alongside Cobra Kai anymore. But she could sense that he seemed to be on the same side as her right now. The girl didn't bother questioning him about anything, so Izzy just nodded.

          The girl quickly turned back to see Sam had already taken care of Sensei Kim, but Izzy still rushed over there to Tory's side who was struggling to stand. Izzy wrapped her arm around Tory's, helping the blonde stand to her feet.

          "Are you okay? Your wrist?" Izzy asked, looking down at Tory's hand, but the girl just nodded.

          "I'm good." Tory reassured her friend, the two girls joining Sam as Sensei Kim didn't back down from the fight, waiting for one of the girls to strike first.

          Tory was the first one to strike, letting out a grunt as she kicked her leg forward, struggling not to use the hand that was hurt. Sam tried to catch the woman off guard, hitting her in the side just as Sensei Kim kicked Tory in the abdomen and sent her back. Izzy felt her jaw clench, reaching to grab the woman's arm and pulling it behind her, kicking Sensei Kim on her back and she fell to the floor.

          Izzy glanced over at the group across the room fighting and Anthony struggling to keep the tablet safe. Sam let out a grunt as she kicked down Sensei Kim, Izzy quickly turning to look over at the LaRusso girl.

          "Go help your brother. Tory and I can handle her," Izzy said to Sam who just looked at her.

          Sam's eyebrows knitted together, looking between Tory and Izzy. "Are you sure? You're both hurt and I–"

          "Go." Izzy cut her off as Tory stood to her feet. Sam nodded, trusting that they both could handle this, and Sam rushed to the other side of the room.

          Just as Sensei Kim stood up, Tory and Izzy held up their fists, preparing themselves for the fight, but were suddenly joined by another person. Izzy glanced over, recognizing Devon by her side.

          "Lee, do not let these two cloud your judgment," Sensei Kim told the young girl who stood next to Izzy, "You are the future of this dojo. Not Nichols, not Vera. You could be a champion, do not throw that away." The woman tried to talk Devon out of switching sides.

         "Oh, I will be a champion. But I'll get there my way, not yours." Devon shook her head, raising her fists to show that she was on the same side as Tory and Izzy. The corner of Izzy's lips tugged upward at her words, Izzy liked this girl.

          Sensei Kim tensed up, a smirk forming on her face. "This should be easy then. For me, at least," She shrugged with a light laugh to her words, the woman going to kick her leg out and hit Izzy, but Devon blocked it for her.

          With Devon holding onto Sensei Kim's leg, Tory brought her leg up to collide her heel right into the woman's chest. Sensei Kim stumbled back, but grabbed ahold of Devon's shoulder and used her strength to push the girl to the floor with her leg and hands.

Sensei Kim's next moves were sharp, turning quickly to kick her leg toward Izzy who dodged it, pushing it away from her. The woman then quickly switched her feet and this time, she got Izzy in the face. Izzy winced as she fell to the floor, her face still sensitive from the kick earlier that made her nose bleed.

Izzy let out a deep breath as she sat up, watching Sensei Kim kick Tory to the ground just like Izzy and Devon, and Izzy forced herself to stand up to keep fighting. Sensei Kim turned to face the girl, but just as Izzy rose her hands, the televisions throughout the room had turned on and began playing a video.

          Everyone in the dojo had stopped, their attention going to the video on the television. Izzy noticed Sensei LaRusso in the crowd, but then her eyes shifted to the screen.

          The video showed Tory and Silver standing in the middle of the dojo. "I need to talk to you." Tory said in the footage.

          "Nichols. What's on your mind? Excited to take things to the next level?" As Silver's voice filled the dojo and Izzy took in a deep breath, the girl walking over to the crowd and pushed her way through everyone to get closer to the television.

          "What's the point? You'll just pay to make me a champion like you did to Izzy." Tory said in the footage as everyone came to watch the video playing. Izzy made it up to where Miguel and Robby stood, the girl standing in between them and Miguel glanced down at her, but Izzy's eyes were on the screen.

          "So you know about the ref," Silence filled the dojo after Silver said those words in the video, "Have you told anyone else?"

          Izzy anxiously bit on the inside of her cheek as she watched the video that confirmed what was true—Silver was lying. "Not yet. So you don't deny it?" Tory interrogated the man in the video.

"Not at all. I paid him off to make sure Cobra Kai won. It was an insurance policy. Vera still won the fight. You were still the honorary winner when she walked out." Silver's voice came from the television.

"Did she? Did I?" Tory questioned him.

Before anything else was said in the footage, the familiar voice of Silver filled the dojo, and this time it wasn't from the video that was being played to everyone in the dojo. "That's it?" Izzy, and everyone else, looked over to see Silver standing there.

          "That was your big plan, LaRusso?" Silver had blood on the side of his face and he looked like he had just endured his own hell, "Breaking into my dojo to steal some footage that changes nothing?" The man asked, making his way over to the crowd.

          Everyone began dispersing, Izzy being pulled out of the way by Robby and she stood with him and Tory as a clear path was made to Daniel LaRusso. Before Silver got too close, Tory took a step out in front of the sensei. "It wasn't his plan. It was ours," Tory confessed, looking over at both Izzy and Robby, then back at Silver.

          "And it changes everything." Robby added and Silver took in those few words before he slowly made his way to the teenagers, like he had every intention of tearing them down.

          Izzy impulsively stepped forward from the other side of Robby, "What are you gonna do? Assault some minors? You've already done that several times." Izzy asked with a slight laugh to her words, but her words were fuel to the fire.

Silver backed away from the three teenagers, turning to face the rest of the Cobra Kai students. "Our enemies.. think they can keep attacking us with no repercussions! And what does the enemy deserve?" Silver called out, but no one answered. Not a single student from the Cobra Kai dojo.

          Silver looked dumbfounded–he expected them all to be on his side still. "You think I'm the only one willing to go to these lengths?" Silver questioned his students, pointing to the opposite side of the room where the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang students stood. "Their sensei's broke into my home tonight. My home! Attacked me, unprovoked!" Silver yelled into the faces of his students.

          Izzy watched quietly as Silver turned to look right at Daniel, his arms gesturing out, "But here I am. The only one left standing. They think they're entitled to victory because their way is 'right' and our way is 'wrong', but that's not how it works. There are no morals to the story, no happy endings–" Silver spoke and turned to look over at Izzy, but her eyes immediately shifted to the ground.

"Life isn't a fairy tale. It's a competitive sport. Right and wrong, there's no such thing. There are only winners and losers. Cobra Kai builds winners because we're willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top." Silver spat, clearly angry from the events of tonight.

          He then turned to face Daniel, "Everything you did to try and stop me amounted to nothing but pain. You got your ass kicked, Danny-boy. Now you can either accept that.. or I can kick it again right now." Silver told the other man, but Daniel wasn't quick to speak up.

          Everyone was quiet and you could hear a pin drop if one did, but then Amanda stepped forward to her husband. "We're all with you, Daniel. Do what you have to do." She said to the LaRusso man.

Izzy tensed up when she saw Sensei LaRusso walk onto the mat with Silver, who had a smirk plastered across his face. The air grew thick and tense as her sensei and Silver walked around each other. "First I took care of Chozen," Silver spoke, "Now you." He said with his eyes on Daniel.

"This is where Miyagi-Do ends."

Daniel shook his head, "Miyagi-Do existed before any of us. It'll be around long after we're gone. The roots are strong, so the tree will survive." Daniel moved to stand in a firm position, but Silver was quick to strike.

The fight had Izzy, once again, anxiously chewing on the inside of her cheek, but Sensei LaRusso seemed to take Silver down each time. Even when Silver resorted to using a trophy displayed on the wall against the other man, but Daniel was quicker than him, sending Silver back into the wall and crashing into the glass that shattered everywhere.

Izzy's eyebrows raised, because Silver stayed down. He didn't get back up which meant it was over. She watched as the Cobra Kai students took their jackets off that had the snake plastered across them. It made a smile form on Izzy's face, because the truth finally came out and it felt.. refreshing to see Cobra Kai finally coming to an end.

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Ambulances and fire trucks were parked outside of the Cobra Kai dojo, along with several police cars. Officers and news reporters were talking with anyone they could, all of the teenagers and adults spread out.

Izzy sat in the back of an ambulance that was a little bit farther away from the scene, a thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She had just finished talking with an officer and the girl didn't have much energy to roam around and check up on people like she normally would, so she distanced herself away from the center of everything.

Miguel managed to find her, though. He was hesitant on approaching her, because she seemed to have her eyes on the ground and hasn't noticed the boy yet. He walked up to her, noticing Izzy's head lift and she smiled at the sight of Miguel, and it just made the corner of his lips tug up.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Miguel asked, his face and voice soft as he looked at Izzy.

          A sigh left Izzy's lips, "I feel okay.. I think. I don't know, this entire night was a lot." There was a hint of laughter to her words, but Miguel could tell she sounded exhausted—upset almost. "What about you? Nothing too bad?"

          When Izzy looked up at him, Miguel let out a sigh himself and looked away, like he had to think. "I think I've had worse. You kicked me in the fact pretty hard at the All Valley." Miguel told her, a smirk on his lips as he looked back at Izzy.

           Izzy let out a quiet laugh, which was Miguel's goal all along and the smirk grew into a small smile as he kept his eyes on her despite her looking away. But then Izzy looked back at him, her eyes met with his and she wishes that it could just stay like this—her and Miguel and no Cobra Kai.

          "My kicks are my strong suit." Izzy shrugged, basking in the compliment as she felt the nerves grow the longer Miguel sat by her.

          She expected to not be so nervous around him anymore, he's been in her life for months, and she had run off to Mexico with him. But, Izzy felt like how she did the moment she first realized she liked Miguel, except this time it was after she told him she loves him. It was the same situation, with a much stronger feeling.

          Miguel made a face like her words were obvious, nodding a little bit. "Trust me, I know." He played along, the reminisce of a smile on his lips.

          They both fell into a comfortable silence, the distant voices and flashing lights from the trucks coming from behind them. Miguel watched as Izzy looked down at her hands that rested in her lap, enjoying the silence for what seemed to be the first time in a while.

          Miguel was hesitant on what he was about to do, knowing how it was going to seem, especially after everything that just happened tonight. He didn't want to add to the list of unexpected things to happen to them, but Miguel reached into his pocket and discreetly pulled out the small box that was stuffed into it.

          Izzy could see him out of the corner of her eye and she glanced over, her eyes on the box before they shifted up to Miguel's face. "What's that?" She asked.

He felt his heart drop for a moment, because Miguel didn't think she could see him taking it out, but the boy let out a sigh. "Um.. it's for you," Miguel spoke quietly, handing the box and Izzy furrowed her eyebrows, but she took it.

Miguel kept his eyes on her, beginning to ramble just as Izzy opened the box to see a silver ring with a red stone in the middle. "It's a promise ring, not like marriage or anything, but I'm serious about you, Izzy." Miguel confessed, "And I know we're bad at keeping our promises, but.. I want to keep this." Miguel spoke calmly referring to what they had, but his nerves were through the roof.

Izzy was quiet, her mouth slightly falling open when she processed that he had actually done this. She wanted to cry, full-on sob even, but she didn't. Izzy fought it and instead held back a smile as she kept her eyes on the ring inside of the box.

But then Izzy looked up at him, "When did you get this?" She asked out of curiosity.

Miguel let out a deep breath, "The day we went to that waterpark. I went with Hawk and Moon, they helped me. I was really scared to give it to you. I couldn't even say I love you because I was scared," A quiet laugh left his lips, "But then everything happened.. and I decided I was going to give it to you tonight one way or the other." The boy explained to her.

It crushed Izzy's heart to learn that when she was forced to break up with him, Miguel had this ring ready for her. She looked up at him, smiling a little bit as Izzy stared at the boy.

"I don't want anything else to come in between us." Miguel told her and he seemed serious by his facial expression, his eyes meeting with Izzy's.

          "Me either," Izzy agreed, her gaze shifting down to the ring and she took it out of its place in the box, but then gave the ring to Miguel as she put her hand out. Miguel smiled, realizing she wanted him to put the ring on, and he did.

         The girl smiled once he did, but then readjusted the blanket that was falling off of her shoulders. "The red was a nice touch." Izzy pointed out, her eyes flickering to meet with Miguel's again.

          "I thought so too." Miguel agreed, a lovesick grin visible on his lips.

          Izzy wasted no time leaning up to kiss him and Miguel kissed back, neither of them wanting to let go of how they both felt in this moment. For the first time in forever, Izzy felt a mix of emotions, and anger and heartbreak weren't one of them. She felt happy, like she was on top of the world, and Izzy really liked that feeling, and being with Miguel just amplified the feeling.

Although neither of them wanted to pull away and leave this moment, they knew they had to. Once Izzy felt okay enough to leave, the two made their way from the ambulance to where the rest of their friends and families were.

"Isobel Vera!" The name rang through the air and Izzy let out a sigh when she recognized it as Kayla's. Her older sister stood with Miguel's mom and Johnny before walking over to Izzy who approached them with Miguel by her side.

"Oh my god, I don't know if I should kill you for not telling me about this or kill Silver for doing all of this," Kayla rambled quickly, pulling her sister into a tight hug.

A muffled laugh came from Izzy as she hugged her sister back, but then quickly pulled away and Kayla looked over at Miguel. "Are you okay?" Kayla asked the boy.

Miguel smiled, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm okay." He told Kayla who let out a relieved sigh.

"Good," Kayla muttered, but then everyone's attention turned toward the building where Silver was being brought out.

He was in handcuffs and was being guided by an officer toward a police car. Izzy watched as the man was placed into the vehicle, but then her eyes shifted over to see a distressed Riley arguing with what seemed to be another police officer. Although Izzy couldn't hear what Riley was saying, it was obvious it had to do with Silver being taken away.

"You know, we can still press charges," Kayla spoke up, causing Izzy to look up at her as Kayla kept her eyes on Riley.

Izzy let out a breath, then shook her head. "It's fine. At least I know now after tonight, she won't look in my direction at all." Izzy shrugged, turning away from the scene, and looked over at Miguel who had his eyes on Johnny and Daniel talking to a detective.

When Izzy overheard the name 'John Kreese', Izzy gave her sister a look that asked her to wait as Izzy took Miguel's hand into her own, leading him to where their sensei's stood. As they approached them, the detective just finished talking to the men, and Izzy's eyebrows furrowed.

"What was that about?" Izzy questioned.

Daniel and Johnny shared a look, but then Daniel looked at the two teenagers. "Apparently Kreese is.. dead, he tried to stop some fight in the prison." Mr. LaRusso explained.

Izzy raised her eyebrows just as Miguel did, a shocked expression on both of their faces. This was just another thing thrown on top of the insane events that happened tonight—one of Izzy's old sensei's was going to jail and the other one died in jail. But at least she had two new ones standing in front of her.

"Damn.. that sucks." Izzy then muttered, the choice of words making Miguel hold back a smile and laugh trying to escape his mouth.

"That old piece of shit had it coming. It was overdue." Johnny spoke up, shrugging it off, because as morbid as it sounded—Kreese being dead was good news. Cobra Kai was officially dead.

Miguel looked at the two sensei's in front of them, "So.. what now?" The boy asked.

"Go home and rest, celebrate, whatever," Mr. LaRusso answered, "And then.. we start training for the Sekai Taikai." The man told them, earning a smile from both Miguel and Izzy.

         Everyone eventually started going home, some returning with a new life now that their dojo was gone and others returning with the comfort of knowing Cobra Kai was over. Miguel was going to go back home with his mom and Johnny, but Izzy argued that he should go back with her, and to both of their surprises, Kayla didn't mind it.

          So, the night eventually came to an end for them all, well—except Miguel and Izzy who stayed up the entire night just talking about anything and everything. Their feelings, their memories, their futures, their fears—everything.

          They knew they had messed up the moment the sun started shining through Izzy's window while they were laughing about the movie playing on Izzy's laptop, but they didn't care.

          They were in love and that was all that mattered to them right now.

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authors note.
ignore any typos please. anyway that's the end of season 5 💔 until season 6 *starts sobbing* LMFAO

okay what was your fav moment from this fic?? i'm very curious

since i ended this in a good way, i'll have you all know i was going to make miguel give izzy the promise ring and then izzy and him find out izzy's moving to seattle in a month because kayla got a better job offer 😭 LMFAOO

THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALL OF THE SUPPORT ON THIS <3 y'all kept me going for real, i can't wait for season 6 and to continue izzy and miguel's story (let's pray there is a s6 🙏) till then i'll be writing for my other cobra kai fics!! in my cobra kai era fr

( gif made by saevrz )