─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"come in!" gioia yelled out. the door of her bedroom was pulled open and hawk stepped inside. he saw the girl sitting on the edge of her bed with her blanket wrapped around her body as she watched gymkata on her television.

"feeling any warmer?" he asked her with a teasing tone. gioia groaned at his words, leaning so her back was resting on the bed. "miguel told me what happened." he explained.

gioia nodded. "yeah well at least it got me home early." she shrugged. hawk glanced at the tv, his eyebrows furrowing at the unfamiliar film. "what are you watching?" he asked her.

the girl reached for the remote and paused the show. "sensei gave me homework. just me, no one else. come sit." she said. hawk followed her orders and laid beside his girlfriend. "it's about a gymnast and he's like asked by the government to go on some mission. he learns martial arts and combines it with his gymnastics, so johnny thinks i'm a copy of him."

hawk peeked at the program, "sounds cool, it looks pretty old. how did you manage to get your hands on it?" he asked. gioia chuckled. "i think my dad and johnny are like soulmates. when i mentioned the film, my dad conveniently had the dvd in one of his storage boxes."

"that's perfect, right?" hawk questioned. gioia nodded in agreement, "yeah. it's great. oh, um... i also have something to tell you." she said.

hawk sat up, his heart pounding. this was the moment, this was the end of them. he had been a complete asshole to her for the past couple of days and she couldn't take it anymore. "yeah, what's up?" he asked, trying to stay cool.

"i went to that new bagel place the other night with wyatt and his sisters." she admitted. hawk's shoulders completely relaxed, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. "oh okay. how was it? you've been raving about that place for ages." he said, nervously chuckling.

"yeah, it was good. thank you for asking." gioia nodded. "i just thought i'd tell you because... you know." she vaguely explained. hawk nodded, "yeah, don't even worry about it. wyatt is a super chill guy, i don't mind that you guys hang out." he told her.

"okay, good to hear." she smiled. hawk's lips tugged into a frown as he remembered why he came to see the girl. "look gioia, i'm really sorry i've been such a jerk." he apologised. gioia sat up and twisted her body so that she was facing him. "demetri's your friend too and i shouldn't have been so angry about you defending him. you're a good person and i shouldn't use that against you."

"thank you for apologising, eli. i really appreciate that." she said. "i hope you can understand that i was just saying i know how demetri felt because you kept not applying to mit from me too."

"i do." he nodded, taking her hands in his. "i understand and i'm sorry." hawk concluded, subconsciously twisting the ring on her finger.

"it's all good, babe. water under the bridge." she said with a soft smile on her face. hawk chuckled, "you've never used that one before." he said.

gioia shrugged. "i'm widening my vocabulary— my phrases, i mean." she explained. her phone chimed from the bedside table, making the girl perk up. she reached over, turning the device on once it was in her grasp. the notification immediately made her stand up to her feet.

with confusion, hawk mirrored her actions and got up as well. "what's going on?" he asked. gioia's cheeks were turning pink with anticipation, "holy shit—it's from boston!" she exclaimed.

"holy shit!" hawk echoed. gioia's jaw was slacked, "we have to get la mia famiglia!" she exclaimed. hawk quickly grabbed her wrist, leading her over to the door. he pulled the doorknob and exited the room. once the two were in the front room, they halted.

"bianca! fre—mr barbusca!" the boy yelled out. it didn't take long for the couple to rush out of their bedroom, a panicked look on their face. "what's going on?" fred questioned.

"i got an email from boston." gioia explained. bianca grinned at her words, "figlia, this is great! are you ready to open it?" she questioned. the girl nodded, "i am. i just wanted to do it in front of you guys just in case." gioia spoke.

they watched intently as she glanced down at her phone and shakily clicked on the email. gioia's heart was pounding, boston was her first and top choice. she frowned and immediately, the three others mirrored her expression. "oh, gioia—" fred started.

"i got in!" she exclaimed. bianca gasped loudly as hawk's face lit up with excitement, "holy shit?! you got in?" he asked. gioia nodded, "i got in!" she repeated.

the boy rushed over to her, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around with glee. bianca and fred were loudly applauding and cheering, tears of pride welling up in m their eyes. "my baby's going to college!" bianca cried out.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"so, i heard you got in to boston." miguel spoke, a smile of pride on his face. the two had gone out for food the next day after school, for some fuel before they did some extra training for the captain spot fight. gioia's looked up from her caesar salad, a wide grin on her face.

"you already know?" she asked. "i was trying to think of the best way to bring it up." gioia explained. miguel gave her a look, "when have you ever had to think of what to say to me?" he questioned. "if this is because i got deferred from stanford then gio, you don't have to hide your achievements to make me feel better about myself."

gioia's lips tugged into a frown. "i just didn't want it to seem like i was rubbing it in." she admitted. miguel shook his head, "don't worry about it." he reassured her.

"so, did eli tell you?" she questioned. miguel chuckled to himself, "no actually, fred did." he said. gioia raised her eyebrow at his words, "my dad?"

"yeah. well, your mom told all the nurses at her work, which includes my mom. then she called johnny and told him. johnny told your dad, but he already knew and he wanted to tell someone too, so he told me before i came here to meet you."

despite them being roommates and attending the same high school, the two hadn't had much time to sit down and talk with one another, their schedules were completely different. in addition, gioia had her last period free so she made her way to the mall to see if she could find a gift for her boyfriend—their anniversary was coming up. due to this, she told miguel to meet her for early dinner in the food court.

"they did all of that in one morning?" gioia asked, laughing to herself at the thought of their parents colluding together. miguel nodded, "impressive, isn't it?" he asked.

"weirdly." she said, poking her plastic fork through her salad. robby approached their table and gioia's face lit up at the sight of him. "hello." she greeted.

robby smiled, "hey." he replied. "uh, have you guys seen tory? we're supposed to train at the park later." he explained. gioia shook her head, "no, sorry. she's been m.i.a since last night. but if she's not at home, she might be at her neighbour's— brandon stays there sometimes."

"great. thanks." robby nodded with appreciation. miguel's face was scrunched up with confusion during their interaction. "i thought you were coming to the dojo to train with us." he spoke up.

robby shook his head. "oh well, we figured since we're fighting each other it would be best not to show each other our moves." he explained. miguel nodded, but he still seemed a little tense and gioia took note of his demeanour. "yeah, i mean, makes sense." he said.

"hey and you better watch out. you're going down this time, el serpiente." robby teased. gioia chuckled, thinking it was nothing but a light-hearted joke, but miguel didn't seem too amused. "i'll see you later, gioia." he said.

"see ya." she waved, watching as he walked away. once he was gone, miguel turned to gioia with a serious expression on his face. "if they're training together then so are we."

gioia picked up her glass of diet coke, taking a quick sip of it as she took in the way miguel was acting. "i mean, we were going to train together either way. so what's up? something happen between you and robby?" she asked.

miguel let out an exasperated sigh, "no, it's just that... i really need this captain spot. i was talking to sam and maybe if i get far in the sekai taikai, or if i even win... it'll convince stanford to reconsider my application." he explained.

gioia nodded, "that makes sense, i completely understand. but is this going to get in the way of you and robby's relationship?" she asked. the boy shrugged, completely unsure. "i don't know. i hope not? it's just complicated right now." he said.

"i know how you feel. i feel the same about fighting tory. i mean, i bet she likely feels that she n-needs this victory, a chance to prove to herself and others that she can win without silver... you know." gioia explained. "and i feel terrible for even thinking this but... i kind of want this win too."

"i know you do." miguel said, nodding. his voice was gentle and reassuring as he understood where the conversation was heading. "i mean, the first all valley i was in the worst state possible. the second... there was a literal villain plotting against me. you know what they say—"

"third time's the charm?" miguel asked. gioia nodded, "exactly. we've got this." she reassured him.

"whatever you say, general." miguel joked. gioia lightly gasped, "you still remember that? how did it even start?" she asked.

"i have no idea." miguel smiled. "but i do want to question why you were the general and i was the soldier." he said. gioia shrugged, "i think it's obvious... i'm a higher rank than you." she stated.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

the next day, everyone gathered around to watch the four fight for the two captain's titles. daniel had given fred the day off to allow him to watch his daughter fight. the man took any opportunity to watch her matches, the guilt of his involvement in gioia losing the 2018 all valley championship still hanging over him.

"miguel, robby, you're up first." daniel announced. the two made their way onto the sparring deck and bowed to sensei larusso. gioia stood in the front row between hawk and wyatt, growing extremely anxious for the two boys.

"first to three points wins. face each other. bow. fighting positions. ready? fight!" daniel ordered. there was a moment of no movement between the two before robby struck first. they began a routine of fierce punches and swift blocks before miguel brought robby down with a front sweep kick. he struck the boy in the stomach to gain his point.

"point, diaz!" daniel announced. gioia began to lightly applause, nodding her head with approval.

"one point, diaz. zero points, keene. ready? fight!" daniel announced. the two sprung back into action, miguel scoring himself another point. just as robby felt all hope was lost, he saw tory strutting into the dojo, which gave him the confidence to keep going.

gioia watched as robby completely got into the zone, she was taken aback by how intense the fight had gotten so quickly. robby managed to score two points for himself, meaning he and miguel were tied. but the final point ultimately went to robby, who won by slamming his fist against miguel's chest.

"point, winner!" daniel exclaimed, making everyone cheer and applaud the boy. "your male captain, robby keene." he told them all. gioia congratulated robby, watching as miguel was occupied in a conversation with johnny.

"hey, i'm gonna go and get my water bottle before my fight." gioia spoke to the boy beside her who wasn't engaged in a conversation. wyatt gave her a nod, "yeah, okay. i've gotta make a quick phone call, so i'll be there in a second."

"cool." gioia nodded. she turned around, making her way through the sea of students. as she approached the hut with all their personal belongings, she could hear a phone ringing. gioia picked up the pace of her walking, in case the phone was hers. she finally reached the hut and stepped inside, her eyes glancing at the table of phones.

but before she could reach for the ringing phone the call ended, yet the phone screen was on. it was wyatt's phone and his lock screen was visible. gioia's heart plummeted at the photo on the screen. her trembling hands reached over to grab the phone off the table, believing her eyes were deceiving her.

gioia's pulse quickened as she stared at wyatt's phone, the picture of him and jack o'malley burning into her mind. the memories flooded back— jack's hands on her, the helplessness she felt, and the pain that had changed her life, gave her a stutter, and instilled fear in her. her vision blurred with tears she refused to shed.

behind her, footsteps sounded on the wooden floor. wyatt's voice broke through, casual and unaware of the chaos he had walked into. "hey, you pumped for your—" before he could finish the question, gioia turned around, his phone in her hand.

"who are you?" she asked, her voice quiet. wyatt's confident smile dropped at the sight. he let out a sigh of frustration, taking a step forward. gioia quickly retaliated and took a step back, "who the fuck are you?!" she asked, her voice louder.

"you know me. i'm wyatt." he tried to explain. "gioia, you don't understand. it's not what it looks like. i can explain." he started.

"explain?" she yelled out. "it looks like the person i thought i could trust knew him. him. you—you know exactly what he did to me!" her voice wavered, raw with anger.

wyatt's features tightened with a mixture of guilt and frustration. "it's complicated—"

"complicated? jack o'malley ruined my life! and for no r-reason at all other than he couldn't ha-handle rejection!" she exclaimed as she flung the phone back onto the table, the clatter splitting the tension. she tried to walk past him. but before she could reach the door, wyatt grabbed her wrist. she gasped out, and his grip immediately slacked, regret flashing over his face.

the door of the hut was pushed forward, making gioia jump back with startle. demetri stood on the threshold, his eyes flicking between them, concern knitting his brow at gioia's tear-streaked face. "you okay?" he asked her.

gioia glanced back at wyatt, quickly using the sleeve of her uwagi to wipe away the stray tears on her face. "yeah, yeah. w-what's up?" she asked.

demetri hesitated, he didn't buy her words for a second. firstly, she was stuttering her words, secondly and most obviously, she was crying. he sighed, "uh, it's time for your fight." he explained.

"okay, thanks for letting me k-know." gioia said before she took a deep breath, straightened her gi and stepped out of the hut. tory stood on the sparring deck, impatiently waiting for the girl. gioia walked through the crowd of people, ignoring their hard gaze.

"hey, you alright?" hawk questioned once she reached the front. "i thought i heard yelling." he told her. "i'm fine." gioia said, pursing her lips. "i'll talk to you later."

"you've got this, marie." fred said, giving her two thumbs up. the girl nodded as she trekked onto the deck. "all right, bow to me. bow to each other." johnny instructed.

after bowing to her friend, gioia stepped closer to her. "you good? haven't heard from you in awhile." she said. tory nodded, "yeah, all good." she quickly replied, her breathing heavy.

gioia nodded slowly, not completely believing her. "we're all good?" she questioned, putting her arm out for tory to fist pump her. the girl hesitated for a moment before crashing her fist against gioia's. "all good." tory said.

"fighting positions! ready? and fight!" johnny ordered. tory launched forward into a front kick that gioia quickly dodged. her moves were aggressive and fast, so gioia had to be tactical to beat her. she blocked all of tory's kicks, crouching down and sweeping her off of her feet. once she was down, gioia struck her in the chest.

"point, barbusca! fighting positions, ready—" johnny started. tory didn't even let him finish, swinging forward to punch her opponent. gioia's eyes went wide as she stepped aside. they had a good brawl until tory double-kicked gioia right in the face. "point, nichols." johnny announced.

tory pivoted around and slammed her foot into gioia's stomach. the hit caught the girl off guard, forcing her to stumble backwards. "hey, ref. that's a little overkill, that should be no point." daniel spoke up.

"yeah, yeah. i'm handling it." johnny told the man. gioia clutched her stomach, trying to ignore the amount of pain she was in, "it's okay. i'm fine." she told them.

"listen, that's a warning. next one's a deduction." he told tory.

gioia was becoming extremely overwhelmed, everyone could tell. johnny even took a second before he announced the next round, allowing her to take a breather. gioia subconsciously glanced at her teammates, who were looking at her with confusion — something was clearly bothering her. her eyes landed on hawk, who wore a sympathetic look.

"it's okay." he mouthed to her. "you're okay." gioia blinked back the tears welling up in her eyes, noticing that wyatt was no longer amongst the rest of the students. she quickly shook her head and faced tory.

"it's one to one. fighting positions. ready? fight!" johnny said. gioia rushed forward into a front kick, but tory seized her leg and used it to push her back onto the ground. tory then attempted to strike gioia while she was down, but she rolled out of the way and kicked herself back onto her feet.

tory went in for a double punch, but gioia caught both of her fists and brought up her leg to knee tory in the stomach. "point, barbusca! two to one. fighting positions. ready? fight!"

tory spun herself around into a roundhouse kick that was swiftly blocked by gioia's arm. the two began to aggressively attack one another, yells and grunts escaping from their lips as they did. tory flipped herself into a side aerial and when she landed, she attempted to swipe gioia off her feet. but that was one of gioia's signature moves, so she was able to jump over tory's leg right on time.

they resumed striking and blocking each other's attacks until tory grabbed gioia by the arm, pushing her backwards to the edge of the sparring deck with her fist up— ready to attack. gioia's eyes grew wide and just as tory sent her fist through the air, daniel intercepted and caught her arm.

"the fight's over." he said to her. gioia let out a sigh of relief, shaken up from the events in the hut and from the amount of damage tory's punch could've inflicted. "that's not fair. that could have been a point." tory said.

"what the hell are you doing man? i'm the ref. i'll decide when the fight's over." johnny exclaimed.

"i'll explain, okay. i promise." daniel told him. tory shook her head. "no, don't stop the fight. please." she begged. gioia looked between her friend and her sensei's with bewilderment, wondering what exactly was happening.

"we can't do it right now, not in front of everybody." daniel explained to his partner. thinking she was at fault, gioia stepped over to them, "hey, i'm fine. all good." she said, giving them a thumbs up of reassurance.

"no, gioia. it's not that. it's not that." daniel shook his head. "come on. please, girls. off the deck. let's go." he instructed. "don't tell them what to do. i'm their sensei too." johnny argued. "well, then, end the fight." daniel demanded.

"why?"

"because my mother died!" tory yelled out. her words rang through mickey's ears like some sort of bell. the girl was in the middle row, standing with demetri and devon. her head flicked over to the deck to look at tory, her eyes filled with nothing but empathy.

gioia lightly gasped at her opponent's words, her lips tugging into a sympathetic frown. "tory. i'm... i'm so sorry for your loss. but we can't continue this fight. this is not the time." daniel told her.

"yes, it is. yes, it is. i have to fight now!" she exclaimed. daniel sighed, turning to face johnny. "sensei lawrence, some help here, please." he pleaded.

"it's not up to us." johnny shook his head. "if nichols wants to fight, she should." he said as if it were obvious. daniel couldn't believe his words, "johnny. listen, we'll find another way to appoint the captain."

"find a way? no. no! you do not understand. none of you understand!" she shouted, her voice growing hoarse with outrage. she ambled to the edge of the deck, her next words directed at amanda. "my mom would have wanted this. if i don't fight... i have to do this. i have to do this for her. i have to fight."

robby moved onto the deck so he could be nearer to her. "tory, let's just take a second and just... and just breathe." he said. tory shook her head. "robby, no." she replied, her voice softer than it once was.

fred shifted closer to the deck to speak to his daughter's friend. "tory, i know this is hard right now, i know. but you should take a minute to think about this, make sure you're in the right headspace—"

"no, you just don't want me to beat your daughter!" tory screamed at him. fred's face fell and he shook his head, she couldn't be more wrong. "no. tory, i'm trying to look out for you." he tried to tell her.

"when push comes to shove, you're all gonna choose her over me." tory said. gioia lightly sniffled, it shattered her heart to see her friend suffering like this. she could tell that tory felt like everyone was against her at this moment, so gioia had to let her know that she wasn't.

"tory... i am so sorry for your loss." gioia spoke to her, her voice soft and full of compassion. she reached over and took tory's hands into hers, giving them a light squeeze. "and i can't even b-begin to imagine what you're going through... but he's right." she said.

tory's face fell. the hope that someone she considered a very close friend would understand her side disappeared. she was agreeing with daniel larusso. "gioia, please?" tory spoke, her voice gentle and trembling— almost leaking with vulnerability.

"he's right." gioia repeated herself. "it's your decision. if you want to fight, we can fight." she stated. tory seemed surprised. she was wrong. gioia wasn't agreeing with daniel, she was agreeing with johnny. tory nodded vigorously, "thank you." she sobbed out.

"we'll fight for your mom, okay?" she reassured her, forcing a soft smile onto her lips. tory softly chuckled, "you won't go easy on me?" she asked. gioia shook her head, "never."

"absolutely not!" daniel's voice bellowed. gioia's head snapped over to face him, baffled at his outburst. "no?" she asked with disbelief. "we both consent to finishing the fight."

fred shook his head, pointing an accusatory finger at daniel. "don't yell at her like that, man. she's not doing this for you or her... she's doing this for her friend."

"i'm sorry, but this isn't happening. whether you two approve or not, it's just not right." daniel concluded. tory was exhausted with the 'will they' 'won't they' environment she was in, deciding to take matters into her own hands. she ripped her hands out of gioia's grasp. "you want this fight to be over? fine, it's over." she announced, shoving past amanda.

"tory, where are you going—" robby started, watching as she walked through everybody. "i'm done!" she screamed out. mickey pushed her way through her fellow teammates, following right behind the girl. she pursued her all the way to the exit, "tory, wait!" she called out.

the girl turned around, not expecting mickey to be the one behind her. "i don't want to hear it, mikayla." tory shook her head. "i know what you're feeling, i've been where you are." she started. tory stopped in her tracks, slowly turning around to face her.

"sophomore year, i went through the same thing... i lost her." she explained, her voice quiet but full of emotion. tory's eyes welled up with tears once again. "does it get easier?" she asked, the pain in her eyes evident.

mickey sighed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "honestly? it doesn't ever stop hurting. i never stop missing my mommy... but—but eventually the days feel less heavy and things start feeling brighter. moving here really helped me— meeting gioia and her friends, being around the people i love made things better. so you shouldn't push them away." mickey told her, pointing to everyone in the dojo.

"they don't understand." tory said, shaking her head. mickey nodded, "i know. but they can help you stay on track, they can keep you going. you need someone to be like your... like your sun. to stop you from being consumed by the grief—the darkness."

tory looked past her shoulders, her eyes moving over robby to look at her blond friend, her 'sunshine.' for a second, it seemed like mickey had gotten through to tory. she reached out, hoping that the blonde girl would take her hand. but tory pivoted around and exited miyagi-do dojo.

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

gioia had been consumed with guilt from the moment tory left the dojo and to now, when she and her teammates stepped into the sekai taikai tournament. with the captain's white headband wrapped around her head, she stood beside robby as they entered the building.

it was overwhelming, to say the least, all the bright lights, and the variety of teams lined up around the mat. once they took their place, hawk glanced down at his girlfriend. "you okay?" he asked. the boy knew that she still didn't feel like she deserved the captain spot, but she wasn't willing to talk about it to anyone. she only wanted to talk to tory.

"i'm okay." she said, not even turning her head up to look at him. she kept her eyes ahead and that's when she saw a new team emerging into the building. they wore an all-too-familiar black gi with a white emblem on their chest.

"wait." gioia whispered to herself, her chest tightening as she expected terry silver to be their coach. but she was wrong— it was sensei john kreese and sensei kim da-eun.

gioia glanced over to miguel in disbelief, wondering how the felon, john kreese, was stood in the same building as them. and just when gioia thought things couldn't get any worse, tory appeared in a matching uniform as the cobra kai students.

gioia felt her heart stop as she spotted tory among the ranks of cobra kai. the sharp sting of betrayal surged through her, like a knife plunging deep into her gut. her jaw slackened, and disbelief flooded her eyes, betrayal was written across her expression.

but when wyatt strode into the light beside tory, the knife twisted, sending a wave of nausea and pain through her. a cold shiver ran down her spine, and for a moment, it felt as if the air had been stolen from her lungs.

"what the fuck?!"

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
this chapter was a complete pain in the ass but it's finally done!!! i hope everything makes sense... see you guys after part 2!! 💖💖💖💖