Cigarette Daydreams — Cage The Elephant

  AGAINST THE WISHES OF HER SENSEI'S CYNTHIA waited patiently outside of the room that Miguel was in with the medic. Her heart beat rapidly against her chest as she heard the crack of his back over and over again. This brought her all the way back to when he fell in the school fight, and she hated it, hated how painful it was for her to want him to be okay when he wasn't, and hated that he was hurt.

Watching him get injured again simply brought her back to him being in the hospital.

Cynthia held onto Miguels hand lightly, her eyes closed shut as she hoped and prayed he'd be alright. Never had she cared so much about someone else's health, especially someone outside of her family. She couldn't tell anyone that though, because Carmen had told the nurses and doctors he was family.

"I know you're in there somewhere... and I just wanted you to know that i'm here." Tears clouded the Sari gurls eyes. "I'm always here."

There was no response, just the beeping of his heart monitor sounding off every few moments.

... but, she had to remind herself that after that, he woke up.

"Hey, Miggy." Cyn awkwardly made her way more into the room, placing everything she had gotten him down on the table. "I'm really glad you're okay and—"

"I wanted to say—"

"I'm sorry." Cynthia and him were about to say the same exact thing at the same time, both of them smiling at each other. "You didn't do anything wrong, Mig. Our fight was my fault and instead of just apologizing, I let it come between us. Then this happened, and i'm so sorry."

"I don't really think I could ever stay mad at you, Cynthia." The Diaz boy did his best attempt at a shrug. "We were both being immature, and it happened but we are both okay, right?"

"Right." The Sari girl nodded her head slightly with a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I missed you."

... and he healed.

As she swung it open, Cynthia seen something she would never expect.

There Miguel was, standing on his crutches.

"This isn't real." She spoke, placing her hands over her mouth. "You're standing up, alone!"

"Well, technically with crutches but yeah, i'm standing." The Diaz boy wore the sloppiest grin on his face, and Cynthia threw her arms up, wrapping them around him.

"I'm so happy for you, Miggy. I know how bad you wanted this, and you did it." The Sari girl practically teared up at the sight and backed away from him to get a better look, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I couldn't have done it without Sensei, and Theo." Miguel paused for a moment before he smiled. "Or you."

So, she knew that if he really had been hurt badly, he could get through this.

"Cynthia." The Sari girl looked up to see Carmen waving her over, making her get up to her feet as quick as humanly possible before she ran over.

The medic glided past her out of the door, and the young girl ran to her boyfriend and pressed a firm kiss against his cheek, "i'm so glad you're okay."

"Not exactly." Carmen gestured towards her son. "He sprained a muscle in his back."

Cyn frowned as she seen the disappointed look on Miguel's face and gently took his hand into hers.

"They are giving me thirty minutes to decide if i'm up to the fight or not." The Diaz boy explained, his fingers wrapping around hers effortlessly.

"I don't think you should do it." Cynthia spoke immediately, selfishly not wanting him to get hurt again just to win the tournament.

It was almost pointless, in the grand scheme of things Eagle Fang had already lost.

"She's right." Carmen agreed with a nod.

"Don't worry, you guys. I won't fight if something feels off, okay?" Miguel reassured, everyone else nodding their heads in an understanding manor.

"Excuse me, excuse me." Yaya spoke, before changing to Spanish. "I just want to tell you you were doing amazing, especially when you kicked that one guy in the face."

Miguel smiled softly, "gracias, Yaya."

Carmen and Yaya exited the room after that, leaving the trio that had started this all.

"I'm hoping you'll go out there, and show your back whos boss." Johnny spoke, filling the silence.

Cynthia and Miguel exchanged a glance, basically reading each others minds.

  CYNTHIA WENT TO GET WATER TO LEAVE MIGUEL to his thoughts for a moment. She planned to come back in time to walk him out to the mat whether he was going to fight or not. She hoped he wouldn't let anyone pressure him to go one way or another, he needed to make that decision on his own.

"How's your little boyfriend doing?" Robby asked as he came up behind the girl, his water bottle in hand.

"Like you care." Cynthia responded dryly, not bothering to turn around to look at him. "How'd your fight go?"

"It's me and whoever wins in the final." The Keene boy didn't look as happy as he should've by that as Cyn turned to face him. "Theo looked upset about me beating him."

"Of course he is, he's never wanted to fight you in the first place. Hell, the kid even asked me to look after you before you got locked up for what you did to Miguel." The Sari girl sighed as she screwed the lid of her water on tight. "I've got to get this back to my little boyfriend."

She began to walk off but, Robby gently grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He questioned, genuinely looking as if he felt bad about something.

"Make it quick, there's only a few minutes till the match resumes and I have to be there for Miguel." Cynthia was increasingly confused on where her loyalties should lie. It seemed like everywhere she turned, her friends, and people around her were caught up in some stupid feud, confused just like her.

Maybe, if she tried hard enough, there didn't need to be any sides chosen.

"After the match, I tried to follow Theo back to the locker room to talk about everything.." Robby cleared his throat lightly. "I guess he went somewhere else instead but, I found Kenny, and he was beating up Anthony Larusso—..."

The Keene boy took a few seconds before he continued.

"I guess what I wanna ask is, how did you realize that karate was becoming a bad thing for you?" He finished off, awkwardly shuffling around, seeming almost emotional.

"I started seeing the people I cared about changing completely." Cynthia admitted, looking down towards her feet. "First it was Eli, he started being rude to all his friends, and he wasn't the guy that I fell for at the time."

"Five against three? More like two and a half." She heard Hawk say as the girl made her way towards the issue, the boy smiling when he seen his girlfriend. "Now it's six against two and a half."

"No, it's four against five, and something tells me I can kick all your friends asses." Cynthia put up her fists. "If you do this, it's going to ruin everything, Eli."

"It's Hawk." The boys smile dissipated. "Go!"

"Even I was acting like an asshole, I yelled at Miguel the night before the school fight." The Sari girl explained with a sigh.

"I know a lot of things about you, Cyn. I also know that if you were over there any longer, you'd try to fight them all by yourself." The Diaz boy tried to reason with her, but with all the personal matters she had against the LaRusso's, it was hard to even reason with his friend.

"Why would it matter if I did? I learned karate for a reason, and it wasn't just to sit on my ass." The Sari girl pinched her fingers around the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

She couldn't explain her anger, or maybe she was directing it at all the wrong things, but it was there, and she couldn't care less who she released it on.

Even if it was her best friend.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt for doing something stupid!" Miguel yelled at the girl, a tense silence lasting between them as she shook her head yet again, her left leg shaking back and forth.

"That's my problem, everyone always tries to control me." Cynthia scoffed, and pushed past the Diaz boy, throwing her crushed cup into the garbage.

"But when you pushed him over that railing, I knew for sure things were getting bad." The Sari girl nodded, began to walk, and stopped to pat the Keene boys shoulder. "I think you can figure out for yourself when things are getting too complicated."

She walked off towards Miguel's resting area, and just hoped he would come to the same conclusion she had.

  CYNTHIA ENTERED THE ROOM AND SHE COULD almost immediately see that something was wrong with Miguel. Instead of doing his stretches, he was sitting down, his head hanging low. He was obviously battling something in his mind, and she was going to do anything to help.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She questioned, lips pouted.

"Hey, hermosa." Miguel spoke with a defeated smile, looking around the room. "Do you think you could close the door?"

"Yeah, of course." Cynthia was hesitant but shut the door behind her, and walked to her boyfriend, placing her head on his shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I uhm—... I don't think i'm going to fight. It's just not for me anymore, you know? Like, i'm just doing it to make everyone happy." The Diaz boy explained, a pause in his speech before continuing. "I think i'm going to leave."

"You're going home?" Cyn furrowed a brow, she knew the fight against Cobra Kai was over now but, part of her wanted him to at least watch her match.

"No, I mean..." Miguel gently grabbed the girls shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I am going to go to Mexico, and find my father. I need to do this."

Cynthia stayed silent for a moment, taking in the information she had been given.

"I'm coming with you." Not only could she not think of anything worse than being away from him, this way, Miyagi-do still had a chance of winning this thing and beating Cobra Kai.

"Cyn, you can't just drop everything—"

"I want to support you while you're doing this, and if that means going to Mexico, so be it." Cynthia interrupted, a light but bright smile appearing on her boyfriends face.

"Okay, we'll go to my place and get a few things then go?" He asked, looking more relaxed now.

"Thank god I packed an extra change of clothes in my bag." Cyn nodded, the couple now holding hands.

It was them against the world.

Dear dad,
I'm leaving this at Miguel's place but, I know you'll probably get this sooner or later. I have decided to help Miguel, because he needs someone by his side right now. Just know that I love you, and Aunt Bianca, and I will be okay. I think things might be better this way. I won't have to live in that cold and lonely house with mom, Miyagi-do has a chance at winning, and I can finally breathe for the first time in a long time. Just know I love you, and I wouldn't do anything I didn't think was a good idea.

Love, Cynthia

AUTHORS NOTE —
So... this book has finally come to an end. It's absolutely surreal, and it has taken me a long time but it is finally complete. Keep this book in your library because I will be posting an update chapter to let you know when I post book two!

Thoughts on what might happen in Mexico?

Hope you enjoyed!