Epilogue

Hawk knew it was going to happen sooner or later – he'd been hoping for later rather than sooner, or preferably… never, but when did things ever work out in his favour?

It was just him and sensei standing awkwardly by the vending machine, after obviously having pressed the invisible 'harvest the coffee beans' button instead of the coffee dispensing button because it felt like that was how long it was taking for the damn thing to churn out one itsy-bitsy cup of terrible coffee.

Well, sensei was waiting for coffee and Hawk was waiting for the overdue meteor shower because the second he realized who the person was standing in front of him when he went to get a chocolate bar at the adjoining vending machine, he was ready to turn tail and run.

But sensei had ordered him to 'stop, wait right there' – his exact words; his eyes were piercing and his tone was stern and all of a sudden Hawk was Eli all over again and he was inclined to do exactly as he was ordered.

It was like sensei was deliberately taking his time surveying the coffee machine like he had absolutely no care in the world, meanwhile Hawk didn't think he'd ever felt more awkward or out-of-place since the last time he had a dream where he was stuck in the middle of the mall at peak hour in only his Doctor Who boxers, because that was how exposed he felt right then.

Sensei only glanced at him once after he gave the order, and already Hawk felt like the man had seen straight through his very soul.

"Look, Hawk," sensei started suddenly when Hawk was completely unprepared, he involuntarily snapped to attention when voice all of a sudden reached his ears, "I'm not going to sugar-coat it. I'm pissed. I'm pissed at you and I'm pissed at everyone who took part in this," he said as he took a sip from his steaming hot paper cup, almost as if to add to the effect of his anger. "But I'd be a hypocrite if I said that I don't understand it, or that I don't see your point of view or why you did it. Hell, if I was in your shoes back then, I'd probably do the exact same thing.

"But the thing is, the me back then isn't the me now. I've learned things, some of them useful and some of them… probably less so; but one thing I do know with absolute certainty is that John Kreese is not a man you can trust or would want to trust. I learned that the hard way."

Usually Hawk would have spoken up, been defiant, defended Sensei Kreese and his dojo, but he was up against his own sensei; the man who'd made him, the one who taught him and the one who gave him the courage to flip the script and become someone who was stronger and fiercer and was afraid of nothing. He knew he owed it to sensei to hear him out at the very least.

Sensei took a pause to drink his coffee and read some of the PSA flyers posted up along the walls before turning back to him – this time with an uncharacteristically sentimental look. "You know, you remind me a lot of one of my old friends, Dutch. He had the same sort of ruthless in his fighting style. Hell, you even remind me of me back in the day." He added the last part with a wisp of a nostalgic smile.

Hawk wasn't sure whether that was meant as a compliment but he definitely took it as one, not that he let it show on his face. After all he had a reputation to maintain.

"I mean that both in a good way and a bad way," said sensei almost like he'd read his mind. "Me and my friends were all dumbass kids – much like you lot – but then again, I guess I didn't really grow up much since then because I was dumb enough and blind enough to put my trust in John Kreese again. I just hope you realise before it's too late that he can't be trusted. He'll use you and take everything you have to give and throw you away – or try to kill you – without a second thought. I learned that lesson too late twice. I just hope you kids are smarter than me then and smarter than me now."

Hawk wasn't sure whether the pause meant that sensei was done or if he was setting up to continue to he remained silent. But sensei didn't continue. He just stared at Hawk for a second longer than was necessary or comfortable before he stepped back to leave.

"I guess that's all the knowledge I have to impart to you," he said, sounding almost sad and eventually turned around to leave.

Hawk had an intense mental debate with himself before his heard the sound of his own voice in his ear without having even having any intention of calling out. "S-Sensei…" his voice immediately died in his throat the moment sensei turned out to look at him. "I… I'm sorry," he managed to stutter out, "For how things turned out." He was surprised by how sincere he himself sounded and how sincere he truly felt about saying the words to the man.

Sensei studied him without word before he eventually spared him a tired smile. "I am too."

He walked away and so did Hawk.

Neither of them looked back because it wasn't the Cobra Kai way.

But that was okay too, because maybe there was more than one way of being a Cobra Kai.

And maybe… just maybe, they wouldn't turn out to be the snake that died biting its own tail.

Hawk could only hope.

At some point when he was leaving he ran into Daniel LaRusso himself. Without giving the man a chance to say anything or to walk away, Hawk admitted to him in one breath that he had been the one who destroyed the dojo and stole the medal of valour and that Miguel and sensei had nothing to do with it and no knowledge of the incident. He left without giving the man a chance to respond or to even process the information and the event that took place was so low on his importance list that he promptly forgot all about the encounter the moment he stepped out of the hospital.

And that was how that part of his story ended and where the next step was about to begin.

The End.