little bird // r.keene

xlv. channeling.

Robby left Kreese's office after training was over, he said nothing Robby didn't know already. That he wanted him to stay, Robby didn't think he could ever trust Kreese, it just didn't feel possible.

Robby was mildly aware of everything Johnny had been through at the hands of John Kreese. It wasn't him Robby trusted, it was Wren.
He found her once he left the office in the back room, some kids were still scattered around, practising some moves and gathering their things.

Wren had her back to him, throwing kick after kick at the dummy that just took one hit after the other. Her footwork was calculated and precise whereas her hand movements, punch after punch, were sharp and forceful.

Robby couldn't really remember the last time he saw her fight, he didn't see much of her at the school fight.
It must have been the mall fight... But then again, she spent most of her time defending Demitri...

Maybe it had been when Sam tried to fight her in the garden after Hawk destroyed the dojo, but that was nothing compared to right now.
Right now was just like how she had fought at the All Valley, but only better.

Because right now, if Robby didn't know Wren at all, he would be forced to believe she was angry. As if the dummy itself had done something unimaginable to her and she was mere marking it even. Her movements were effortless and yet strong.

It was something to be admired, not feared.

He could see why she was the reigning champion.

Robby crossed his arms and cleared her throat, Wren stopped in a heartbeat, turning to see who it was. Her shoulder softened when she saw him edging towards her.

"You lost Keene?" She joked, running a hand smoothly over her hair, moving a few strands that had fallen from her pony tail out of her face. Robby just shook his head, as if trying to construct his question.

"How do you do it?" Was what he came up with, his vagueness intriguing Wren ever so slightly.

"What do you mean?" She asked, cocking her head as he stood by her side and they both glanced at the dummy.

Robby shrugged, "How do you channel the way you do?" He asked and Wren took a moment to consider, a moment to think, Robby noticed, "I'm wondering how to do it too."

"Umm," Wren placed a hand on her hip, looking over her shoulder at him, "It's- it's like any other way you might blow off steam... Kreese taught me." Wren told him but Robby didn't reply, as if waiting for her to continue.

The pair sat on a nearby bench as Wren rested her elbows on her knees, hunching over slightly. "I went to go and see Miguel in the hospital after he woke up..." Wren began, "I told him all about- about Rue and Will and what happened to them..." She broke herself off, her voice growing smaller by the word.

Robby just looked at her, waiting for her to continue, though she had never told him... He didn't want to overstep if she wasn't ready.
"It's okay, I know you know Robby... There's no way you could have spent three months with Will and not found out, it's his story too." Wren explained with a small smile even though a small lump was lodged in her throat, "I don't really want to talk about it right now, not here." Robby offered her a short nod, showing he understood.

"How did Kreese teach you?" He prompted and Wren just licked her lips, looking down at her feet on the bench.
"Miguel said he understood and it felt so good to tell him but I didn't want to keep any more secrets from him, not after we almost lost him... And know that this isn't your fault in the slightest but I told him I kept you safe, that I hid you."

A pause.

"He didn't take that well... I didn't expect him too. But I didn't expect it to hurt as much as it did...' Robby reached out and touched her arm, even with a few kids still in the other room, right there and then, it felt like only the two of them. "I ended up here. In this exact room, training."

Wren was suddenly overcome with a heavy feeling resembling weights on her lungs but she ignored it, she knew she needed to feel it.
She knew it would pass but it was heavy.

"Kreese found me and told me to hit him." she said in a chuckling breath, it seemed comical to her now, "I was so..." Wren shook her head, trying to find the right word, "angry. But it was at myself." She told him. "Either way I listened to him, I was just overflowing with my emotions that I threw hit after hit and he began to do it back."

She shook her head again, looking at him now, "Everytime he knocked me down, he said something that got under my skin, making me get back up and try again. He told me to let it out and I did."

"You're just a child," he punched her shoulder, sending her spinning, "You're a scared child who's felt loss and is sitting on the doorstep of a house that is no longer there..." His words felt like thorns rooted in her heart, in her skin.

Wren's chest heaved as she scrambled to her feet but Kreese was quicker, he sent a kick to her stomach, Wren hunched over, "Get up!"
"Of course, it felt terrible at the time but... He taught me to feel it, Robby. That's what you have to do to channel all that anger into a fight. He taught me that 'power belongs to those who take it'." She offered in a flat voice, though she wasn't crying, it felt like she was open and exposed and she wasn't sure how she liked it.

Even if it was Robby.

"I get it." Was his answer and Wren was half thankful he didn't go on some tangent trying to make her feel better. Because it meant he had been listening, sometimes you need to feel it all.

"If you stay... He can teach you that too."

"I want you to teach me- how to attack like that, I mean."

"Okay." Wren agreed, she placed her palms on her knees and pushed herself up to look down at him, "I will teach you some Cobra Kai karate as long as you teach me some Miyagi-Do, deal?" Wren extended her hand out and Robby smirked as he looked at it.
"Are you trying to hold my hand, Evans?" He asked playfully, and that did make her smile.

It was something he had first said to her when he found her in the woman's changing room at the All Valley Tournament. When she had first beaten Hawk and was feeling hard on herself and just like then, right now he was cheering her up.

And just like then, she replied, "Oh please, the only time we're going to hold hands is when you throw a punch and I catch it." She grinned, it was a lie and they both knew it. He took her hand and Wren spotted her hair band sitting on his wrist.

And she knew, she just knew, they would be fine... They would be strong, as long as they were together.

Wren helped Robby up, not that he needed it and the pair began to fight together. Teaching the other Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai karate.