#taughtcobra

you walk with ava through the dimly lit streets, the sun just starting to set, feeling the rough asphalt under your shoes. each step grounds you as your mind spins. this path through town feels familiar yet heavy with memories you can’t shake—memories of training with mr. larusso & places where you once found peace but now only carry the weight of your trauma.

after everything with silver—watching robby become someone unrecognizable under his influence, dying twice, suffocating in darkness while silver’s laughter echoed—you feel like a ghost haunting your own life. the memories cling like shadows, whispers of things you wish you could forget.

it’s quiet here, but the silence feels deceiving, like its holding in secrets & voices that shouldn’t be there. silver’s voice, slick & taunting, slides into your thoughts. ‘you’re weak, mr. wilson. you’ll never be free.’ his words loop endlessly, a dark mantra that refuses to fade. every time you think you’ve escaped, that you’ve found a moment’s peace, his mocking laughter pulls you back, making you feel like he’s lurking just beyond the streetlights, waiting for another chance to strike. to finish you off for good.

ava’s presence beside you is a strange comfort, a gentle balm against the black, suffocating chaos in your head. she walks in step with you, taking it all in. here, under the glow of streetlights & the shadows cast by flickering signs, you don’t feel the need to perform or pretend—though you still can’t let her see everything. you’re used to hiding, to putting up a front. in this lifetime, most notably, you’re concealing your eldritch nature.

& yet, countless, simultaneous existences wear on your psyche, especially when something traumatic happens. every lifetime where lana’s been in danger or you’ve lost her flickers behind your eyes—the times she was hunted, stranded, left to die in your arms because of the twisted games of your Creators. in those lives, she’s not just a friend; she’s the biological mother of henry & harper, a love unable to be fully separated from so much loss. but in this life, like so many others, it’s robby who stands by your side. he’s the one who anchors you, grounding you when darkness threatens to consume everything.

but now, beside ava, your mind stirs with dissonance. ava resembles lana so closely it feels like staring at a fuzzy picture—her features, her expressions, the familiarity you can’t ignore, as if she’s a ghost from a life that wasn’t yours. her hair is shorter, her demeanor different, yet it’s impossible not to instinctually search for echoes of lana in her.

comfortingly, ava’s soul, like sabrina’s, burns one shade of starlight too wrong to be lana’s. but even though you know they aren’t the same, ava’s presence still unsettles you in a way you can’t quite explain, like a phantom haunting the edges of your perception.

even here, with ava, the thoughts creep in—reminders of battles you’ve fought within yourself. you’ve been diagnosed with enough mental health issues to fill a book: adhd, c-ptsd, major depressive disorder, paranoid anxiety disorder. the list goes on. but there’s something deeper, something wrong you can’t fully name. the emotional chaos you’ve been spiraling through since silver came to town feels unstoppable, like an endless current dragging you under, but you don’t know how to say that to anyone. you only know that every day is a struggle against a tide you can’t escape.

you cling to robby, desperate for his understanding, his warmth. deep down, though, you fear your need for him might be suffocating him—more than anyone can bear. after all he’s been through, robby has become your constant, your lifeline. but you’re terrified of dragging him down with you, of pulling him into the depths of your trauma. the very idea of it makes you want to scream.

“i think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” @taughtcobra breaks the silence, her voice steady.

the words feel heavy to you, loaded with a promise you’re not totally sure you can keep. not with your mental illnesses, not with your simultaneous existences with ava looking like lana, not with the way that you are. of course, that’s through no fault of her own. it’s all your fault. you want to believe her, & you know that you should. her words also remind you that you don’t have to fight alone, but… you do. you know the risk of letting someone in, & the scars from the shit auryn put you through are a constant reminder of how trusting others can bring only pain. the thought of pulling ava into your chaos makes your chest tighten with anxiety.

you want to believe this connection with ava could turn into something good if after you get over the doppelgänger-to-your-soulmate status, but silver’s taunts echo through your mind, warning you that hope is a fragile illusion. you’ve leaned on robby too much already, asked your friends to carry parts of your burden, & it feels wrong to let someone else in, knowing what could happen.

“thanks for saying that,” you reply, your voice low. “but it’s a little tough to see it that way right now. i’ve been through…” you hesitate for a split second, trying to find an accurate word, “a lot of shit lately.” perhaps that’s not the most eloquent, but it gets the point across. “for a long time, we were on different sides of this stupid karate war. that’s not your fault, though.” your paranoid anxiety disorder, auryn’s abuse, & silver’s voice all scream otherwise.

“it’s our senseis’, really—your former ones & my current ones.” you take a deep breath. “not to mention, i keep feeling like i’m responsible for everything that’s gone wrong. silver didn’t just rig the tournament; he messed with our lives.”

you died because of him. more recently & worryingly, mr. larusso got hurt. silver murdered you, but so what? that was expected. but going after your sensei, your surrogate father—that crossed a line. yours wasn’t worth crossing, but his… you can’t forgive that.

you want to kill him for that.

“tory didn’t deserve that, neither did sam or our dojo. i want to believe that—” that taking down silver will end his grip on the valley, his voice, the constant threat of him hurting your friends & family, especially robby, all of it, “—things will get better,” you force yourself to say, not wanting to reveal what you & your friends are planning to do in the next few hours—take down silver’s cobra kai, especially to a recent ex-member. “but it’s hard. i just… i don’t want to pull you into my issues. that’s not fair to you. or to anyone.”

you chuckle, but it’s bitter. “i’ve already done that with robby & my friends. burdening you with my shit worries me. but i’m… willing to try, if you’re, uh, willing to be patient.”

you're on the sparring deck outside the miyagi-do dojo, the open air filled with the soft rustling of the trees. the light is softer here, filtering through the leaves in golden streaks, & the faint scent of the flowers emma had recently planted nearby mixes with the fresh breeze. a certain eagle fang instructor had given the brunette a side-eye glance when she suggested it, but both of her husbands, 6'5" icarus & 6'6" charlie, had stared right at him for an uncomfortably long time, causing johnny to back off. it's peaceful in a way that usually centers you. today, you're training with @taughtcobra—working on takedowns & counters. the sparring deck beneath your feet has gotten a lot of use lately by you, your friends, & your partners, all in preparation for the sekai taikai. but despite the routine nature of the exercise, your mind keeps drifting, the weight of everything pressing down on your psyche.

as you watch her move backwards & position herself for a takedown, you notice her stance isn't quite right. "ava," you call, keeping your tone friendly but firm. "keep your feet shoulder-width apart to maintain your balance. you want to be grounded before you go in for a takedown." your eyes trail down her body for a moment, double-checking that she's got her weight centered. "& remember to keep your weight centered & your body still. this isn't cobra kai," you remind her, your words becoming gentler. "you don't need to rely on that toxic philosophy anymore. picture a tree. a fucking tree doesn't go all bouncy, right? keeping your weight centered & your body still will help you pivot more easily when you go for the move." it’s these little details that can make all the difference in a match or a fight. even if she's not competing in the sekai taikai, it's important to have these skills should she need to use them at some point in her life.

ever since you saw silver's picture in the newspaper, it feels like he's lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, to finish what he started. his attack, his voice, his manipulation—they echo in your head, poisoning your thoughts. your focus is shaky, the ghosts of the past few months still haunting you despite him being in jail. his cruelty. the fight at the dojo. the aftermath.

losing robby to the empty black hole cobra kai had been. dying because of silver's actions. you could go on & on.

you don't sense ava coming, which is unusual. even without your eldritch abilities, you’re trained to sense movements, changes in the air. but your guard’s down today. just as you’re about to refocus your thoughts on her form, your gaze flickers toward the trees rustling in the breeze, reminding you of how restless your mind has been lately. that brief moment of distraction is all she needs.

she moves fast—her small frame a blur as she charges at you with the same determination you've seen in her throughout your training with her today. before you know it, she's right there, & all you catch is a flash of her eyes locked on you before she dives low.

her shoulder slams into your knee, catching you off guard as you both face each other. it's precise—she knows exactly where to hit—& your leg buckles before you can even react (without using your eldritch abilities, which would feel like cheating since ava's human). the surprise hits you like a wave. you're 6'6" & built like a wall, but right now, your size feels like a liability. before you can process it, you're on your back, hitting the deck with a thud, air knocked from your lungs.

ava's on you immediately, using her entire body to pin you down, leveraging every bit of technique she has. you blink, the world spinning for a second, but she's got you. she’s small, but the way she uses her weight—it's smart, efficient. you can feel her grip, strong & unyielding.

your mind snaps back into focus. miyagi-do has taught you patience, balance, & control. & right now, you need that more than ever. Alternate You, the King Cobra You, wouldn't have allowed yourself to get distracted, even in training scenarios. Alternate You would have reacted immediately with twice the force. the last thing you, Current You, wants to do is hurt her with your powers. you push back against her hold, twisting your body just enough to break free. it takes a second, but you do it, rolling out from under her grip, your muscles tensing as you rise back to your feet.

you tower over her now, eyes nearly flickering yellow in amusement. they don't. you can't help the small smirk that tugs at the corner of your lips. she nearly had you. for a moment, she did.

"you caught me off guard," you say, your voice a little softer than you intended. "but next time, i'll be ready. let's go again."

  they made books on parenting, plenty of them even, but none that were really good.   ali had tried to read them when she was pregnant with lucas and again with ava. then again as she and gregory were going through their divorce. the books could tell you what to do all they wanted, but they didn't prepare you for what to do when the sound advice didn't work so well. what to do when your relationship with your children suffered and you had no idea how to fix it. though ali was beginning to realize that things had been strained long before her divorce, and she was angry with herself for that. as much as she loved her own parents, she had sworn she wouldn't be like them when it came to her own kids. there were so many things she had wanted to do differently, and she fell down that same path anyway.

@taughtcobra :    i don't dress for men. taylor swift's midnights ; accepting.

@taughtcobra :    you said you’d teach me. and i’m here to learn. so let’s go already. mentor / mentee vibes ; accepting.

    𝗶𝘁  𝘄𝗮𝘀  𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲  𝘁𝗼  𝘀𝗮𝘆  𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆  𝘄𝗮𝘀  𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆  𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱  𝘁𝗼  𝘀𝗲𝗲  𝗮𝘃𝗮  𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄  𝘂𝗽,   they  were  so  used  to  being  dismissed  and  pushed  aside  by  the  rest  of  the  cobra  kai  students,  that  they  didn't  take  any  request  from  them  seriously.   even  if  they  did  always  show  up,  they  were  just  used  to  having  to  use  the  time  to  train  alone  rather  than  actually  help  anyone.   mercy  wanted  to  be  someone  that  the  others  trusted,  but  they  also  weren't  going  to  force  themselves  into  their  lives,  especially  since  the  more  time  they  spent  with  some  of  the  students  of  cobra  kai,  the  less  they  liked  them.   but  ava  had  so  much  potential,  she  could  be  amazing  if  she  was  willing  to  be  the  work  in.

AVA | @taughtcobra - “i have this neighbor who keeps playing driver’s license at 10 a.m. every morning and i’m starting to question if it’s a sixteen year old getting over a breakup or a 36 year old trying to reclaim their childhood. at this point the mystery is the only thing keeping me going.”

ㅤㅤ"So thaaat's why you agreed to hang out. Nothing to do with the cool company or anything." Pretend sense of hurt feelings aside, the teen's all smiles, gait slowing a touch as the two of them take in the very glamorous and not at all boring sights that Reseda has to offer. It can be difficult being the new kid in a town when there's a distinct lack of any sorta grounding ties— Sure, Ava's mom and brother were with her, but it's not the same when thrown in the deep end to make a completely fresh start ( he gets it ).

@taughtcobra sent a ✿ to know more about dynamics ! literally always accepting.

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  /  [ your muse ] is the good influence  /  [ your muse ] is the bad influence  /  [ my muse ] is the good influence  /  [ my muse ] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other

ROMANCE.     childhood sweethearts  /  [ your muse is mines ] childhood crush  /  [ my muse is yours ] childhood crush  /  exes  /  exes to lovers  /  forbidden lovers  /  highschool sweethearts  /  secret relationship  /  opposites attract  /  long distance  /  unrequited [ from your muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from my muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from both sides ]  /  skinny love  /  friends to lovers  /  enemies to lovers  /  spurious relationship  /  power couple  /  newly entered  /  soulmates [ metaphorical ]  /  soulmates  [ literal ]  /  awkward  /  turning toxic  /  toxic love  /  cheating [ on your muse ]  /  cheating [ with your muse ]  /  other . none of the above. no matter the verse, tho, ethan has a panic attack upon seeing ava for the first time bc 'WHY THE FUCK DO YOU LOOK LIKE MY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE GIRLFRIEND, NESSA. WHAT KINDA SORCERY-'

FAMILIAL.     siblings [ half ]  /  siblings [ step ]  /  [ my muse ] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  /  [ my muse ] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  /  [ my muse ] is a parental figure to yours  /  [ my muse ] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  /  [ your muse ] is taken under mines wing  /  [ my muse ] is taken under yours wing  /  other