Matriarch
By corset-rebellion-follower
Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda
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Chapter 26- A Distant Memory
One day he woke up in the middle of the night to shouts, screams, and crying children.
She had already awoken in bed next to him, his arm tightly. She asked him what was going on, and told him she was scared. He gave her a soft hug and told her everything would be alright. As quickly as he could, he got out of bed, dressed, and very reluctantly grabbed his deceased father's sword before opening the cottage door.
Outside was complete chaos. Houses were burning, fields were being set on fire, frightened villagers were running for their lives, and bandits were going after them, cursing and taunting the innocent people. It wasn't long before one of the rogues was coming towards him, snickering evilly. He had never fought a day in his life, and had no wish to do so. He didn't need to, either.
The village's governor came from behind and stabbed the bandit right through the heart with a dagger. "There isn't much time," the governor told him, "There are many men already injured, and they need you. Go and take care of the wounded, we can handle ourselves."
Without thinking, he nodded and ran in the direction the governor told him. Many of the wounded men were in bad shape, with deep gashes and stab wounds that would have taken a long time to heal, even with the proper conditions. And even with these possibly fatal wounds, many of them urged him to move on to someone else, which needed his attention more than they did. He did the best he could with limited means, and he knew some of them would not live to see the sunrise the next morning.
Pretty soon mothers with children started arriving, who were either close to collapse from all the stress and fear, or were wounded, having tried to take up the fight and compensate for their fallen husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles, and nephews.
It hit him like a brick to the head. He had left her. She was still in the cottage. The bandits might have gotten to her already… and their one-year-old son was with her. He left the people still in need of treatment to a few of the sturdier women, and ran as fast as his legs would take him back to the village. At first, it was a little scary. The streets and houses that had once been riddled with bandits were empty, and everything was quiet.
"MAMA!"
He turned toward the noise, and immediately ran toward it. He found himself back at the cottage. She had her back against the wall, her eyes wide with fear, and their son clutched closely to her chest. He was crying, with big wet tears running down his cheeks. His heart stopped in his chest. He drew his father's sword, and trying to sound as menacing as he could, he yelled, "Leave her alone!"
The bandits turned away from her and looked at him. The biggest of them chuckled and came towards him. "Well, well, well, it looks like this place has a hero, doesn't it? Let me tell you something—we don't like heroes."
The others voiced their agreements and started for him. She had a look of complete terror on her face. He waited until all of them were far enough away from her, then yelled, "LIN, RUN!" She looked at him, and then took off with Jiang still in her arms. Jiang was still crying. Hao sent a silent prayer to the gods for their safety.
The big bandit glared at him murderously. "Go after the woman! I want her in my tent by morning." About half of his men obliged, the other half staying to give him backup. Hao was enraged now. He could tell what the leader's intentions were. He would never let that happen to Lin, though. He loved her, and he would never let any harm come to her.
The bandits were closing in on him, slowly surrounding him and cutting off escape routes. The leader was closest to him. He chuckled. "Bad move, stripy. One way or another, that woman is mine. If you hadn't decided to get in my way, you might have been able to live. Doubtful, but possible. But now you've sealed your fate!"
He swung his sword at Hao's legs. Hao backed up enough not to get slashed by the blade, but he could feel a few hairs being chopped off. His heart was pumping now. He had never fought a day in his life—he was supposed to help heal people, not injure them. How could he even begin to know what to do? The hog burst out laughing. "Look at 'im, boys! He's shaking in his fur!"
It was true. Hao's hands were shaking as he held the sword. He gulped. "G-get back! I'll kill all of you if I have to!"
"Oh, look who's pretending to have a backbone! Face it, you don't have the guts to take a life," the leader jeered.
"That's not true," Hao said angrily, "I have the honor to resist using violence." The swine growled.
"This makes you feel powerful, doesn't it?" Hao asked.
"Shut up and stand still!" A jab was aimed right for the tiger's heart, but he dodged it.
"Well what you're doing doesn't make you powerful. All it does is destroy lives. Does that make you feel good about yourself, knowing that you've orphaned toddlers and widowed good, respectable women?" This time, when the pig took a swing at Hao, he used his sword to block it.
"You're trying my patience," the leader snapped, still trying to get his sword into the tiger. Hao was getting the hang of this now. He easily blocked each of the hog's swings, each strike ending with the heavy clang of metal against metal. Just as Hao was about to gain the upper ground in the battle, the leader delivered a fatal blow.
"I can't wait to have that woman in my tent—it's been a while since I've had any real fun in there." Hao stood stalk still for a moment. The hog used this time to give Hao a long gash down his arm. Taken by surprise, Hao clutched at the wound and fell to his knees. The pig laughed sardonically. "Not so high and mighty now, are you? I can't wait to see the look on your face as the blood drains from your veins."
His sword was poised over Hao's chest, ready to strike, when a throaty voice called out, "BOSS!" The leader turned around and saw his men coming towards them, with Lin in tow. Jiang was not with her. They pushed Lin to the leader.
"Got her, boss."
Hao caught Lin's eye. She had a fear in her eyes that he had never seen before. Her eyes were usually warm and loving, but these eyes looked like they had never known love. She tried to run over to him, but the leader grabbed her and held her back.
"Now, now, no need to get scared. We're not going to hurt you. Unless you decide to disobey, that is."
Lin tried frantically to free herself. "Let me go! We've done nothing to you!"
"Maybe you haven't, but the man over there has. We were just minding our own business, doing our jobs, when he comes stomping over trying to take our heads off!" His minions snickered. Lin was still trying to get over to her husband. The leader sighed. "Look at this. Young love. Such a beautiful thing, isn't it? Why don't we let the lovely lady have one more goodbye before she starts her new life?"
He pushed Lin into Hao's waiting arms. The first thing she whispered into his ear was, "Jiang is safe." A little bit of the worry lifted off his chest. At least his son was alright—was still alive.
"I'll get you out of here. We'll find a new home and everything will be as it should be," he whispered back.
"Hao, no! They'll go after us. Just go and get Jiang and get out of here. I'll be alright, and I'll find a way to get back to you."
He stared into her blazing eyes. "I won't leave you behind." He tilted her face up and soundly kissed her. A round of cat-calls and jeers came from the bandits, who were encircling closer around the tigers, but neither Hao nor Lin could hear them. The kiss ended all too quickly, and Lin looked up at him with sparkling eyes. There they were; those gorgeous, blazing eyes that he fell in love with. It was like nothing else in the world mattered at that moment.
"Alright, times up!" The moment was shattered as Lin was ripped from Hao's arms and back into the grips of the bandits. Before she could put up too much of a struggle, they bound her hands behind her back and tied her ankles together. The leader of the bandits smirked. "Thanks. I owe you one. It would have taken me much longer to find a wife on my own."
Something sharp hit him on the back of the head, and he felt a warm flush spread over the area. Then everything went black.
When he awoke, he was immediately greeted with a sharp pain to the head. He groaned and reached for the spot, but a hoof held him back. It was the governor. "Trust me, Hao, you're better off not messing with it." Hao opened his eyes, and slowly the pig came into view. He smiled. "Good to see you awake. We were getting a little worried."
Hao bolted up. "Lin! They had her! The bandits! Where is she?"
The governor looked to the ground. "Hao, I…I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but… Lin was carried off with them. We tried to get her back, but there were too many of them, and we were still weak," he explained. For a moment, Hao felt no heartbeat in his chest. She had promised him she would be safe.
"No…No! You're lying! Where is she?" The pig didn't say anything more. "Then what about Jiang? Lin said he was safe, or is he in his grave before his father had a chance?" Hao asked. The look on the hog's face lightened a little, and he called to someone. A few moments later, his wife came forward, carrying the little tiger in her arms. He was crying his eyes out, and screaming for his mother.
Hao immediately held out his arms, and she nestled Jiang into his embrace. "Shh, everything's alright, Jiang, don't be scared…" he whispered. The little boy started to calm down, burying his face into his father's shirt.
"W-where's…Mama?" Jiang cried.
Hao was silent for a moment. He couldn't tell his son the truth. He was still too little to truly understand the situation. He sighed raggedly. "Mama had to go away for a while…"
From the moment he uttered those words, everything changed. The village built itself up again, but Hao was never quite the same. If asked before that night, most people would say nothing but good words about the tiger. He was kind-hearted, good to his wife, and doting on his only child. Something inside Hao had been deformed by Lin's absence. He was only a shadow of the man he once was.
Most who had been faithful friends to him still admired him. Did the perpetual mourning he was exhibiting for his wife not show his loyalty? At one point, though, everyone had to put personal preferences aside for practicality. With Lin gone, Hao had no reason to get up in the morning. He no longer had the zeal for his work that he once did. Most days he just lay quietly in his room, only coming out to make sure that Jiang was taken care of. After a while, he even stopped doing that.
A neighbor took pity on the boy and had his wife stay with Jiang during the day hours to make sure he was fed and bathed. Many of Hao's friends worried for him. The governor of the village begged him to stop wallowing long enough to at least start paying attention to his son again. Hao refused, asking angrily of the governor if he had ever lost a woman he truly loved and was willing to die for.
He kept mumbling that he could have saved her…if only he had been quicker…
Things didn't get truly bad until a month after the attack. When the neighbor's wife came to the house to be with Jiang, the door was locked, and the windows barred shut. The house stayed as silent as a ghost for days. People started to avoid it, thinking that a demon had taken control of Hao and that maybe if they got too close, the evil spirit would bring them bad luck. Soon Hao and Jiang were all but forgotten.
No one was there to listen when enraged yelling filled the house, or hours later, when the gentle cries of a child were the only sound in the ever-darkening night...
...The only signs that anyone still lived in that house was the yelling and crying each night, and the growing pile of empty rice wine bottles littering the grass around it.