Chapter 1: A Warrior Will Rise

Tomorrow was the day. Lucy couldn't be more excited. She knew her father always talked about Kun-Lun, but never before had she been there. Sometimes, he visited to see his friend Davos. But more often than not, Kun-Lun remained a mystery that she only heard about in her father's tales. He never brought back pictures or souvenirs, only stories. Maybe it was because he kept telling her that she would be there herself one day and he wanted her to wait to experience it. Or maybe it was because he wanted Kun-Lun to remain behind its own mask. Either way, the mystery was now going to be shown to her. This was the year she would start her training.

At only nine years old, she would train to become a warrior. Instead of school, she would be training and living in Kun-Lun. Her scholarly activities would be woven among her training. Homeschooled in a way, but by monks instead of her parents. The only thing she was afraid of was being separated from them for so long. She would stay in Kun-Lun from September to the middle of December. Then, she would return home until mid-January and be there until May. The summer would be the longest time she would be at home.

Throughout that whole time, she wouldn't really see her mom or dad. Both of them had a lot of work back in New York and couldn't afford to really stay with her. They did promise that they would visit as often as they could, most likely once a month and during the Thanksgiving holiday to celebrate with her in Kun-Lun. If her dad didn't have Rand industries to run and her mother didn't have to train the teenagers at the dojo, she knew that they would be there with her. Lucy could only hope that being alone wouldn't be too bad.

And another thing? Most of the others she would be training with were boys. Not many girls trained in the advanced curriculum she would be taking and in all the years of Kun-Lun, her dad said that not one girl had tried for the mantle of the Iron Fist. It was exciting and scary at the same time. But she had to pack so that was where she was currently at.

Lucy sighed gently and looked at the small bag. She was told that she would get plenty of new clothing in Kun-Lun and to only pack the essentials. So she had packed as much underwear as she could, along with a bathing suit for when she felt like swimming in the rivers and lakes. She just needed to find acceptable things to bring that she could use, as there was no electricity there. That meant that she couldn't bring her iPad.

So she shuffled around her green room, going to the bookcase across from her bed and looking for her favorites. She had some books on mythology that she decided to take as well as a very old series her father always read to her, the Lord of the Rings. A lot of the words were still hard to decipher and she could only understand the skeleton of the plot, but maybe while she was there she could try to learn more. She always loved learning and had been taught to love it since she was young. Something her dad always told her was to be open to learning from others, even if they were better than she was. Humility or some word she didn't really understand.

After the books were in her bag, she sat down on the center of her golden sheets and crossed her legs, thinking hard about what else she wanted to bring. The only other thing she thought of was a journal and maybe her ukulele if it was allowed. Music always made her feel better and maybe it would help her when she was missing her parents.

So she went ahead and grabbed a journal and some pencils and placed her ukulele on her bed. All of her things, ready to go.

Sighing gently, she laid down on her bed and stared out the window at the darkened New York sky. Tonight was her last night here for a few months; tomorrow she would have to get up earlier than usual. She should probably get to bed, but she couldn't stop thinking about the next few months in her new home. At first she had been mostly excited and only a little bit nervous, but now it was flipped around. What was she going to do without her parents?

In that moment, her dad came into the room, smiling a bit at her. "You packed?"

She nodded, sitting up. "Yeah. Do you think I can bring my ukulele?"

"I don't see why not. Are you excited?"

She merely shrugged, pressing her lips together.

"Are you okay, Luce? You've been excited all this time." He moved to sit next to her, crossing his legs and looking at her attentively.

"I'm...scared a little. I'm not gonna see you and mom very much," she murmured.

"If you don't want to do this, you don't have to. You know how much I want you to and how excited you were, but if you don't think you can do this..."

He patted her back gently. Before, she had been given the choice of whether or not she wanted to train in Kun-Lun, and she said yes. He always encouraged her to do so but it was never forced upon her.

"Just don't let your fear stop you from doing something you want," he reminded, squeezing her shoulder.

She let out a sigh and looked down at her lap. "I want to. I'm just scared."

"You'll be alright. Do you remember that meditation I taught you? Whenever you're missing us, do it and think of home."

"Will it work?"

He smiled gently. "Of course it will. Now come here. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

Lucy returned the smile and pushed her bag off the bed, scooting closer to her dad and planting herself in the crook of his arm. She drew in a deep breath, the smell of his skin calming her. As her eyelids drooped, she snuggled closer to his warmth and comfort, knowing that she was going to miss it for a while. Soon, the soft glow of her beside lamp and her father's presence lulled her to sleep.

As soon as Lucy woke up, she was a bundle of nerves. Today was the day. The day she would say goodbye to her friends and family and head to Kun-Lun. She knew her parents had arranged that her friends would be there to say goodbye before they left. Not like she had many, but she still would miss them. Most of them were the kids of her parent's friends.

Casey Murdock was her best friend since she was little and she was particularly sad to be leaving him behind. Then there was also Thalia Spector and Luke Natchios. She and Luke only knew each other through Casey, but he had proven to be really nice, if not quiet. There was Jessica Jones's daughter too, but they weren't as close and hardly saw each other.

"Lucy! It's time to get ready!" her mom called.

With a sleepy yawn, she slipped out of bed and headed for the closet, taking out an outfit consisting of light gray sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt with her mother's dojo logo on it. After stripping out if her warm, plaid pajamas, she quickly changed and then gathered up the things she collected the night before.

She sadly bid farewell to her room and then headed downstairs. Her mother and father were both in the kitchen and she set her things down. The marble counters were covered with ingredients and...blueberry pancakes!

A smile stretched across her face and she bounded over, taking a deep whiff of the sugary breakfast foods.

Her mom turned and smiled, slinging a dish rag over her shoulder. "Know how much you love blueberries. Figured we'd give you a nice breakfast."

"Daddy helped?" she asked skeptically, suddenly becoming a little wary and prodding the pancakes.

He snorted. "They're not going to explode. I did in fact help."

"By trying to eat anything you could get your hands on," her mom retorted, rolling her eyes.

"I had to make sure that...you know it wasn't poisoned," he responded lamely, making her laugh.

"And why exactly would my pancakes be poisoned?"

Lucy grinned and grabbed a plate as she listened to their bantering in the background. Piling some pancakes on her plate, she proceeded to pour syrup all over them and then get a glass of orange juice. She sat at the table and waited for her parents to sit down before she dug in. The three of them ate peacefully and she let out a small sigh, knowing she was going to miss this.

Halfway through her pancakes, there was a knock on the door. Her eyes brightened because she immediately knew that it could only be her friends.

Without a word, she scooted out of her chair and bounded toward the door, a smile lighting up her features. She quickly checked to make sure it was who she thought it was and upon seeing his face through the window, she opened up the door.

"Casey!" she greeted, moving forward to give him a crushing hug.

He laughed a little and hugged her back, though a lot more gently and shyly. He was always rather on the quiet side, but around her and their close friends, he was a lot more comfortable. She noticed that his father, Matt Murdock was behind him, followed by Luke and his mother and Thalia and her father.

With a grin, she moved to hug Thalia next and then Luke. "I'm so happy to see you guys."

"We're your friends, of course we'll see you before you leave," Thalia said with a smile, stepping over the threshold.

Her mother and father came to greet their old friends and she led her own to the living room. This would be her goodbye to them until Christmas. But she knew she wanted to do this and she wasn't going to let her dad down by deciding last minute that she wasn't going to go.

"I'm gonna miss you guys," she mumbled, sighing gently and glancing over to her parents.

"You'll be back for Christmas?" Casey asked quietly.

"Yeah. And New Year's. After that I'm gone until summer."

Thalia frowned a little. "That's too long."

"I know."

Luke wrung his hands together. "We can do something fun when you get back."

"That's a good idea," Thalia agreed, smiling a little now.

"Lucy, are you just about ready?" her mother called, interrupting their plans. "Your friends have to get to school."

"I guess," she murmured, frowning slightly at her small friend group. "I'll see you guys at Christmas."

She leaned forward to give them each a hug, Luke first, Thalia next, and Casey last. Luke and Thalia wandered back over to their parents but Casey stayed, stopping her for a minute and smiling at her sadly.

"Here. So you can remember me," he said, holding out a small box to her.

Lucy took it, looking at him curiously before opening it. Inside the red frills rested a silver necklace with a dragon dangling from the center.

"Dad said you have to fight a dragon. So I got you one so you can remember you can come home after you fight him," he continued, kicking the ground shyly.

A smile lit up her face and she hugged him tightly again. "Thank you. I'll wear it every day!"

They pulled away and smiled at each other, happy even though she would be leaving. She could remember him every day.

"Come on, Casey. Don't want to be late for school," Mr. Murdock reminded, a small smile on his lips.

"Okay. See you soon, Lucy!"

She followed them all to the door and gave one final wave goodbye before her mother closed the door.

"Finish up your food and grab your things so we can get to the plane," her mother said, ruffling her hair.

"Okay. But can you put this on?" she asked, holding up the necklace.

"Sure. C'mere."

Turning around, she stood still until her mother had clasped the necklace behind her neck and it rested in place. She looked down at the dragon and smiled a little. She was really going to miss everyone.

With another prompt from her mother, she hurried off to finish off her food. Once she was done, she placed everything in the sink and grabbed her bag full of things and her ukulele. She pulled on her sneakers and met her parents at the door. Her dad gave her a bright smile and the three of them slipped outside to the car. Her stomach twisted in anxiety as she buckled up and settled down for the short car ride to their personal airport.

The entire ride, she was nervous. Her parents had a conversation up front but she didn't really hear it. She was too nervous thinking about what she was going to be doing when she got to Kun-Lun and how she wasn't going to see anyone she knew for a long time.

The car ride was short but when they got on the plane, she knew it was going to be long. Her dad said something like thirteen hours. That was longer than she had ever been in a plane! When she was younger, she went traveling to some places, but never anywhere this far.

"You okay, kiddo?" her dad asked as she tapped her foot anxiously and looked out the window as the clouds passed.

"Yeah. Just kinda nervous," she answered, sighing gently.

"Why don't we play a game? Take your mind off it?"

"Chinese checkers?"

"Sure," he agreed with a smile, standing up and moving across the plane.

She joined the seat her mother was sitting in at the table and waited for her dad to go and get the game. After a few moments of silence, her dad returned with the board game and she smiled. Already, she was feeling more distracted and at ease.

She helped him set up the board and chose yellow for her color while he chose green. Just like his suit. Her mother alternated between watching them play and reading a book she brought along. At the end of four games, she didn't feel nervous at all and she had won once out of all the games. She wasn't quite sure how long they had been playing, but she was getting a bit tired so she went to eat some lunch and watch a movie.

Peanut butter and jelly was still her favorite so she munched on some sandwiches while watching a really old movie her father introduced to her called the Karate Kid. By the time she was done eating, the food filling her belly made her more sleepy and she ended up dozing off to the movie.

Every once in a while, she would wake up for a few minutes but inevitably ended up falling back asleep again. It was only when there was some turbulence that she woke up for good.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced out the window, noticing the sky was a lot brighter than it had been before. Were they almost there? She jumped to her feet and headed across the room to where her parents were sitting at the table.

"Should be there any minute," her dad said with a smile, though this only caused anxiety to bubble in her blood.

Lucy headed over to the window and looked down, spotting mountains below them and a level stretch of runway embossed into the side of the mountain closest to them. Upon seeing this, she hurried to her seat and buckled in, knowing from experience of being on other planes that being buckled was required for take off and landings. She gingerly held her mother's hand as they started to lower.

The plane shook lightly as they landed and she held her breath, the moments seeming to pass by quicker than she wanted them to. Stopping moments later, she unbuckled and slowly got to her feet, giving her father a nervous look.

"You'll be alright. Come on, I want you to meet my Sensei. He'll be training you," he informed, easing himself from his seat.

Her mom went ahead and got her things and Lucy tried not to fidget too much and remember what her dad told her about meeting superiors here. With wobbly legs, she stepped off the plane and looked around, spotting large gates carved into the side of the mountain and a lone man standing in front of them with a staff in his hands. She trailed a little bit behind her parents as they walked up the steps.

Out of respect, her parents bowed their heads in greeting.

"Sensei. It's a pleasure to be in your company once more. I'd like you to meet my daughter, Lucy," her father spoke, turning slightly and gesturing for her to move forward.

She almost froze, mainly because this man looked so old and wise, but pushed her feet forward. Closing one of her fists, she placed her flat hand against it and bowed her head, just as her parents told her too. What was that Chinese phrase she was told to say? Her father made her practice over and over until she got it down, but her anxiety was getting the best of her.

"Uh... Hěn...hěn róngxìng jiàn...dào nǐ?" she tried, blinking innocently up at the man.

It took a moment, but a smile split his lips. "Honored to meet you as well. You'll have to work on your Chinese while you're here. Forgive me if I seem cautious, but after the Hand attacked us those years ago, we must treat visitors with caution. Step inside and we will have you three checked over before I give the tour."

Lucy heard many stories about the Hand. They always came back somehow.

"Of course," her father said respectfully.

The doors opened up a moment later and her eyes widened. This...this was Kun-Lun.

A/N: Translation using Google translate but probably inaccurate so oh well I'm sorry xD

Hěn róngxìng jiàn dào nǐ - honored to meet you

This is another roleplay story. Luke is my friend Lily's character and Casey is my friend Clover's character.