(Wounds heal but scars won't. Well, Shen doesn't care what scars do.)
"You need to stop experimenting."
His mother wasn't even looking at his face, her eyes were fixed on his freshly bandaged feet. It wasn't a demand that came from her beak but only a statement so his walk to his chamber halted and he spoke calmly to the elegantly dressed peahen. This wasn't the first time that his parents tried to stop him from doing something.
"Is it a bad thing to be so interested in our family's invention?" He decided not to bring up her initial reluctance at being under the tutelage of a kung fu teacher when he was younger. Talks of their family usually mollified his parents and they would leave him be.
"The fireworks are meant as a work of art to marvel at. You..." She hadn't moved her gaze away from his feet but her brows furrowed deep in thought.
"Yes, Mother?" He could barely restrain his impatience.
"Shen... you seem to have a different purpose for the gunpowder. The servants have been concerned." Years of being an aristocrat kept her brilliant blue wing tips from fiddling with the edge of pink sleeves. This was her son. There was no need to be nervous.
Years of trying to be the aristocrat his parents had wished for kept a hidden blade within his sleeve. This was his mother. There was no need to be angry.
"We can do more with the fireworks. The gunpowder doesn't have to be used for something that people can just look at..." Shen realized the excitement that crept into his tone so his voice trailed away into silence.
"Yes, Shen?"
"The fireworks can be more than just a work of art. They can be a weapon."
Her eyes, now widened, was brought to his face this time. The shock in her expression made Shen wish she would stare at his feet again.
"A weapon? Why? You're already skilled in martial arts and in sword combat. You even have an army." Fireworks might have been a work of art but the peahen knew the dangers that happened when they weren't treated with care. Her son was clever enough to channel that into a formidable weapon. The thought made her stomach churn.
"Someday, I'll rule this city. I want to do something great for it like our family has." The words were edged with repetition. How many times had Shen spoken those words? They both lost count ever since he was a child.
She looked at him again but it wasn't a peacock defiantly dressed in robes that matched his plumage standing before her. A peachick, his baby fluff the color of funeral clothes and so feeble that she had to break open his eggshell when he could only manage a small crack in the egg. Half his childhood had been spent in his bed. The ominous coloring of his feathers was bad enough, did he need to scar himself too? At least with martial arts training she saw him stand as a healthy peacock and not the sickly child he had been. She only saw wounds when he played with fire.
"The experiments are dangerous, you've already wounded yourself." She had no idea what Shen was trying to do but he managed to set his robes on fire and badly burned his feet. The physician had said that the burns would leave behind scars once they healed.
"Wounds will heal." Once again the words came out like second nature but this time he hadn't broken a limb from training and was trying to put on a brave face.
"Scars won't." She whispered, ruefully. There was a distant look in her eyes as she stared at the bandages again and Shen had the distinct feeling that she wasn't talking about his feet. Something within twinged, annoying him.
"I don't care-"
His outburst was stopped short when an antelope servant interrupted.
"Lady Feiyan. You are needed for an urgent matter."
Shen didn't even wait for the antelope to speak before continuing his way to his chamber. Years had conditioned him to expect that his parents' duties were first priority. The aristocratic mask was dropped as Feiyan watched her son walk away. His nonchalance bothered her and the servants' knowledge that duty will always pull her from her son's side made her cheeks burn in embarrassment.
The antelope's words are drowned out as she watched the form of red, black and white limp away. Stop! Please stop! You don't have to prove yourself anymore! Shame stilled her tongue so Feiyan instead asked the antelope to repeat himself. In the end, all her efforts were not for Gongmen City but for her son.
"These are important matters, my Lord and Lady. They need your attention."
"Our son still needs us. He has to come first."
"How is sitting beside his bed making him better? There are already whispers that the boy is a bad omen! Complaints that his parents are neglecting their responsibilities will make it worse!"
"... he's right."
"Cheng! He's our son! He is our responsibility!"
"Being the rulers of Gongmen City first is the best thing we can do for him. Please understand."
In another week, the bandages were gone and the wounds healed, along with a promise that Shen would be more careful when he handled the gunpowder. It took another week before Feiyan stopped looking at the scars that mar his flesh. On that same day, she begged her husband to join her as she observed their son's experiments. Shen had stopped training with his lance and blades in the courtyard. There was a room that only stopped banging and crackling when he left. Yet it was the smell of smoke and chemicals that now accompanied their son that made her uneasy.
They were both there when Shen saw his first fireworks. The thunderous noise that was characteristic of fireworks didn't deter him from staring wide-eyed at the explosions of vibrant color shooting across the night sky. The display wasn't even over before Shen barraged his parents with questions. How they worked, what they used, the colors they could make or not make. Sometimes the tiny peachick had to shout over the noise which wasn't proper but they were pleased with the way his innocent wonderment and awe seemed to light up his thin frame, so they indulged in his curiosity. Sometimes when the fireworks washed over his white fluff in vivid blues, greens and purples, they could almost pretend that he was normal and he wasn't always bedridden or cloaked in the color of mourning...
Shen was too engrossed in work to notice his parents studying him. The door was wide open, he didn't keep his research secret after all. Feiyan tried to assuage her fears by watching how Shen was careful in his movements of measuring the powders. Careful in a way that suggested thoughtfulness not because he was so weak that his wings trembled whenever something was held within them. One particular mixture ignited into a cloud of smoke and sparks however his parents paid no attention, they were busily fixed on his eyes.
There wasn't childlike awe anymore, in fact the way his eyes narrowed into a smirk seemed to suggest something sinister was being planned.
His eyes...
"Feiyan, I can't see him tonight."
"Cheng, he's really ill now. At least say goodnight to him."
"No, I can't see my own child die."
"Cheng!"
"This happened after he played in the courtyard. If going outside makes him this ill, he's not going to make it."
"Soothsayer! Do you know of our son's fate? Shen can't die, he's always recovered. He can't die, he can't!"
"If you think that color symbolizes your son's fate, look into his eyes."
"If he continues on this path, he will be defeated by a warrior of black and white."
Lord Cheng and Lady Feiyan watched as the ying yang symbol ebbed into gray smoke, their beaks hanging open.
"This can be prevented then. You said 'if'. So as long as he stops..."
The hope in his voice sounded feeble but his wife latched onto to it desperately.
"Yes, he's only trying to-" She stopped abruptly and her next words were whispered and reluctant, "He's only doing what his parents told him to do."
"Shen never disappointed you before." The Soothsayer added not to just console their fears but because being Shen's nanny meant that he was important to her too.
Even with the Soothsayer's foresight, they missed the albino peacock leaving the palace with his wolf army. They didn't know that it'll be the first time that they regretted him picking up his lance.
"I'm going to die soon, aren't I?"
"Why would you say that?"
"I heard the servants talking. They say it's because I'm white. White's a bad color."
"Well, white means death but that isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean that you are going to die."
"I'm always sick, father."
"And you always recover. Look at it this way, your feathers are white but what color are your eyes?"
"Red?"
"Yes, red means good fortune."
White meant death and red meant luck. Those were the colors that Shen was cloaked in but everyone always commented on the white. Even now when he had defiantly lived and thrived, there are still remarks about the color of his feathers. The remarks were nothing like the ones spoken in his childhood so the peacock family endured them with tight smiles and forced laughter, trying to not wish that he was born with the same colors of his parents. Quietly, they took solace in the red hues of his eyes.
When Shen returned, he wasn't the color of death. There were innocent lives smeared all over his body but he wasn't pure white anymore. The blood had long oxidized into a murky brown but his parents could easily imagine the vivid red that once soaked him. The desire of wanting him a different color and the pride of his red eyes suddenly turned into guilt and horror. It's the first time that they wished for the brilliant white feathers.
It's too late.
"Those farmers deserve justice."
Shen was held within his room. Lord Cheng didn't have the heart to throw his son in prison. He and his wife were standing before the throne. They dismissed their advisers so that they alone could discuss their son's fate.
"Prison isn't an option." Lady Feiyan was supposed to be a fair ruler but the memories of their bedridden son skewer her judgement.
"Neither is putting him to death."
Despite everything, she let out a sigh of relief. Ruling Gongmeng might have come first to her but the prosperity it brought was spent on her son. They've done everything they could to employ the finest physicians in all of China for their son. Spent amounts of wealth to ensure that Shen lived comfortably. The most horrid of crimes couldn't ever erase the need to keep Shen alive and well.
There was only one option left that was fair and allowed Shen to keep his life but Lord Cheng and Lady Feiyan weren't able to sleep that night.
"I don't see you anymore."
"We can't stay by your bed forever. Your mother and I are very busy. When you're older, you'll understand that adults have to do things they don't want to do."
"If I'm not sick anymore, will I see you more?"
"If you're better, I'll let you play beside me in the throne room. I'll be too busy to play but you'll see me."
"Okay, I'll try my hardest to get better. Can I get new servants?"
"They're still talking while you're sleeping?"
"Yes."
"Do you like the Soothsayer?"
The Soothsayer didn't have the heart to watch her ward banished from his birthplace. His parents cursed her luck because they couldn't bear seeing his anger either. No words could ever explain to him that this was the best option they could think of. That Gongmen will be under the protection of the Kung Fu Council only rubbed salt into his wounds.
"I was trying to change fate. Happiness must be taken!"
Cheng placed his wings on his wife's shoulders to keep her from trembling at her son's words.
"What did you want me to do?"
Feiyan choked back a sob. Telling him that the years of hard work to earn approval were unnecessary because she only wanted to see Shen standing tall will add to his ire. She couldn't admit that she failed him as a mother, that she loved him and she was always proud of him. It's too late, Shen didn't believe in her anymore and those words will only make him more bitter.
Cheng didn't handle his son's banishment any better. If they speak anymore Cheng would lose his nerve and call Shen's punishment off. A whole village was laid to waste because of him but he was their only child.
"Get out!" He thundered.
Years of hiding disappointment and hurt didn't fail Shen when he only glared back.
"All of China will bow before me." Shen promised before before storming away with the wolf army. He didn't see his parents lower their heads in grief.
"You have to prove yourself worthy of the throne."
"If I was normal, I wouldn't have to."
"Yes, being different means everyone will be harder on you if you make a mistake. For you, you must take happiness if you want it."
It could be said that Master Thundering Rhino was in charge of Gongmen now. According to him though, he only protected the city which suited his predecessors fine. They had enough of dealing with greedy, ambitious politicians after the throne.
The loss of their son confined the peafowl couple to their chamber and their appetites were lost. The irony of dying in bed and sapped of strength was not lost on them.
A/N: Yeah, this doesn't really work as a oneshot, huh? And I didn't really develop Cheng or Feiyan that well either but there are some concepts in here that I liked. In case you didn't get it, I tried to write it that Shen's albinism and illness brings criticism so his parents tried to compensate by being good rulers but they also want to afford the best help they can buy for him but this means they don't spend as much time together. They're not ashamed of him but they wished that Shen was born normal because of how hard it is to raise him. They also tell him to earn his happiness and it's been implied that he had to earn his parent's affection too and it's why he went on a murderous rampage. The latter is barely worked in so I won't be surprised if you don't get that.
Next one shot, I'll be giving Po a mother figure because the movies took his away.
7/2/11 Edit: Had to revise a bit because I kept switching tenses. Thanks for the reviews though I have yet to actually read them but that will change when the next chapter is finished.