"You gotta let go of that stuff from the past, Shen. It just doesn't matter!" Po pleaded with Shen on the ruins of Shen's capital ship. Ropes suspended a large cannon above them. Every few seconds, the cannon would creak and sink a little lower but neither of them truly cared.

Po was desperately trying to get Shen to understand but it proved to be in vain. "What does matter is who you choose to be right now."

"You know, you're right," said the disgraced peacock in agreement.

"And I choose this!" Shen lunged at Po and swung his feather blades at him wildly. Po was able to dodge and duck the blades for a short time but eventually one of them grazed Po's forehead and he staggered back. Shen, emboldened by this small victory, retrieved his spear and went in for the kill. Shen swung his spear with a furiocity not even the soothsayer could have predicted. There was no skill or method; there was only anger and insanity. Po backed towards the stern of the junk, as there was no conceivable way to approach the whirlwind of feathers and steel that spun him. Shen launched himself in the air to execute a particularly strong overhead attack. Po used this opportunity to make a break for the Bow. Shen swung his blade but only caught empty air. As he turned to pursue his opponent, Shen heard a loud, metallic screech. He looked up and saw his cannon falling towards the deck. Shen, at this point, was very tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of scheming. Tired of trying to escape his destiny. All Shen wanted to do now was rest. He looked up at the rapidly falling cannon and closed his eyes, accepting his pre-determined fate. The cannon fell on the deck and caused an explosion that scattered debris everywhere. Po returned to the wreckage and searched for Shen, but was unable to find him.

"Shen!" Po called out as he sifted through the wreckage. Po still believed that the Peacock lord could be saved, both spiritually and physically. He thought someone was yelling and looked over to see Tigress on the docks, waving her arms and yelling something, but he couldn't quite hear it.

"Po...the…hip…bout…ode…forg…Shen...and...out!"

"What?"

Tigress pointed at the wreckage of Shen's ship and repeated her message.

"Po! The ship is about to explode! Forget Shen and get out of the water!"

Po turned his gaze towards the wreckage. The gunpowder was lit and the clock was ticking. Po swam as fast as he could towards the docks, looking back for a split-second at the barrels. As Po was climbing the ladder, the barrels exploded, but they did not release shrapnel; it turns out that the barrels were used to store fireworks. The Furious Five let out a sigh of relief gave Po a big group hug when he reached dry land. The citizens of Gongmen city had their own reason to rejoice, for they were freed from the tyranny of Lord Shen. All were treated to a fabulous fireworks display that signaled the beginning of a new era.

Far away from the jubilant celebrations in Gongmen City, a young peahen and her father were fishing late into the night due to a food shortage in their village. The father had lost much of his train and has numerous scars, each having their own tale to tell. His feathers were old and dirty from a hard days' work. His eyes bore none of the marks of age that covered the rest of his body. They appeared receptive, looking to take in new information as part of a lifelong quest to daughter, although lacking the eye-catching train of her male counterparts, appeared young and full of energy. She had beautiful ruby red eyes, a trait she sometimes resented when it set her apart from everyone else. She hastily pulled the fishing net from the water and onto the boat, although some fish were lost in the process.

"Xin," The father whispered in a kind yet affirmative tone. "You mustn't pull the net with such force. If you do, some of the fish will be thrown out." Xin held her head up high and looked towards the moon. "Father, we've been out here for two hours and have only caught fifteen fish." She edged over to her father and tugged on his wing. "I want to go home and sleep." The father set aside his net and gave Xin a kiss on the forehead. "I promise you that we will go home in ten minutes. You know how important this is to the village, with the bandits coming and all. Just hang in there a little longer, because things will get better."

Xin frowned and folded her wings away from her father. "You've been saying that things will get better for a long time and they haven't. Mom would always tell me when things wouldn't get better." The father looked up and, for a few seconds, his eyes changed. They no longer seemed to want to take in information; they seemed to be trying to keep information out. A long silence fell over the boat as father and daughter continued to fish.

Xin pulled her net up and screamed when a large spear came out of the water. It was caught in the net along with other debris such as swords, wooden planks, and all kinds of strange things. The Father looked up the river and saw a larger cluster of debris, including a very distinct white peacock. The father rowed over to the unconscious fowl. "Xin, get him out of the water." Xin reluctantly pulled the peacock out of the water. "Ick!" Xin said as she shook the soot off of her wings. The father put his head up to the bird's chest, checking for a pulse.

"He's alive. We need to get him back to the house."

As I said in the description, it's back!

I come back after two months and there doesn't really seem to be many new Shen fics! I am dissapoint. Hopefully, this greivous error can be corrected.

After reading a certain review from when this story was first posted, I feel that I need to clarify one thing: Xin IS NOT Shen's love interest. I personally hate romance-centric stories, so I certainly wouldn't write one(that's not to say romance won't be part of the plot. I don't want to say anything more than that.)

I'll gradually re-post the chapters, and chapter 7 should be fit to post by sunday.

I never realized how short my chapters were. Then again, I only put in what is essential to the plot.

Oh, have some Translations!:

Xin-New, modern.

Buwei-Bold

Hope you enjoyed it both then and now. Please review.