Before I Forget

'Till I Collapse

Hawk rushed into the dojo, kicked his shoes off in one angry motion, and went straight into the back room.

He was early - the lesson wouldn't start for some time - but the anger that was dripping off him like venom after the phone call with Sky had forced him out of the house, into the only place he knew where he could let the anger light and burn. And burn it did, it made everything in him hot and ready for violence, his first punch was fierce enough to peel the skin off his knuckles.

It was Demetri's face he imagined his fist hitting, instead of the black leather of the punching bag. Demetri's stupid, arrogant, nerdy face. Hawk's fist struck Demetri's high cheekbone, again and again, it smashed his nose, crunching bone, scraping skin, he knocked off Demetri's teeth, and he kept on until there was nothing left of his former brother but a puddle of bloody pulp, but still, the anger didn't let go of him.

He knew this wasn't the real thing, this was just letting off some steam.

The anger wouldn't be satisfied before he got his revenge in real life - and that he had been deprived. Demetri had gotten away with everything - with the Yelp review, with joining Miyagi-Do, with the stupid speech and kicking him into the trophy case—

Hawk groaned as his fist met the punching bag again.

And to think that Demetri was out there with Sky, that it wasn't enough that he had humiliated Hawk in front of everyone, in front of the whole school - now he was after his girl too?

A wolfish growl left Hawk's throat when he punched the bag again, the impact making the bones of his hands and arms rattle. He welcomed the pain. He breathed in the anger, so that the spark grew into a fire, into a raging inferno. He wanted it to consume him until there was nothing left. Until he couldn't feel a thing. Until he would find a way to get even with that asshole—

And when that time came, Demetri wouldn't even know what hit him. He would go down so hard he would never get back up again.

Hawk had been punching the bag for some time, enough to make his now shirtless upper body glisten with sweat, when he heard how other people started to arrive. The bell on the front door jingled, he heard happy, chattering voices - but he paid them no attention. He simply kept doing his routine of fierce punches and kicks, low grunts and panting breaths falling off his lips.

"Hawk," came the low, raspy voice of his Sensei, and finally Hawk turned around. He bowed, trying to catch his breath.

"Yes, Sensei?" He wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Are you going to join us?"

It wasn't a question, not really, but a reminder. Even if he was the best of them, the most loyal, Hawk got no special treatment, and it was time for this soldier to join his ranks.

"Yes, Sensei—" he said, clearing his throat and picking up the jacket of his gi from the floor where he'd tossed it.

"Good."

Hawk brushed the piece of clothing back on and tied the belt around his waist, as he followed Sensei Kreese into the main dojo. All the others were already there, their small group of students, a bit too small for Hawk's liking now that Sky had quit, Miguel still wasn't back and even Bert and some others had been kicked out because they'd been too soft, showing mercy to a goddamn hamster.

Thinking about that made Hawk feel uneasy, so he pushed that thought away into the same place where he kept all the other undesired thoughts, like his earlier quarrel with Sky on the phone. He shoved those thoughts away with force and slammed the door of the closet where he kept them.

And then he noticed someone in the room, someone he hadn't seen in weeks and a sudden, fierce anger roared in his chest, making him see red.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He growled, closing the distance between himself and the girl with sandy hair.