Thought that I wouldn't let Zeke see his parents (the same parents as Musaki's)? Think again!
Chapter 36: Seeing Mom and Dad for the First Time
It was nighttime when Zeke was in the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, looking back on how he finally had the confidence and fearlessness of defeating his abusive foster father. It definitely feels like he's being invincible and almost like a war hero of some sorts. He doesn't seem to see it that way. He's sitting there staring at the moon, feeling the wind blowing through his fur and thinking about what he's been through these couple of days at the palace.
"Hey, Z."
He turns around and sees Musaki walking through. He smiled and said, "Hey, Saki. How's it going?"
"Fine. You seem to like this spot, don't ya?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Dude, I don't blame you. It's the best spot ever to get away from everything."
"And also some time to think."
"Well, that too. So, what's been going through your mind?"
"Do I consider myself a hero?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I defeated my foster dad and also, swallowed my fear and fought for the first time."
"Honestly, I wouldn't consider being a hero. I think you've got...courage. You spent the last 11 and a half years suffering and today. that all changed when you confronted your fears and did what you had to do."
"So, what does that make me?"
"Somewhat of a warrior, I think."
"It all seems kinda seamless."
"Who knows?"
A few minutes later, they saw a bright white flash coming towards the sky and the wind was blowing through. As soon as they turned around, Zeke was amazed to see for the first time ever, two angels floating towards them. One of the angel pandas look at Zeke and they recognized him.
"Little Ezekiel?"
His eyes grew wider when they heard him call his name. He asked, "How'd you know my name?"
"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."
"Hello, Musaki."
"How've you been, son?"
"Doing fine."
Zeke gasped silently and asked, "Are they your....?"
"Yep."
"And they're my....?"
"Uh-huh. You mean they're our parents."
He turned around and asked, "Mom? Dad?"
Both of them nodded their heads and it was his parents. Zeke could not believe his eyes that he sees his parents for the first time. Both of them come closer and hugged him. Zeke gasped silently and felt their embrace and he suddenly hugs them back, with tears streaming through his eyes.
"I can't believe it's you." Zeke whispered.
"We can't believe it either." Sakamoto said.
"I always wondered how my mom and dad would look like when I got older."
"Well, here we are." said his mom.
"So...I don't understand. How did you give me up? Didn't you want me?"
"Yes, we did. We loved you both very much. It was hard to give you up, so we wanted to pass it down to your Uncle Mako, but when we got there, there wasn't anybody there and went to Hong Kong for a few days. So, we left you with some gorillas and hope that you could be taken care of."
Zeke blinked his eyes twice and looked a little sad and told them, "The ones that adopted me didn't like me."
"What do you mean?"
"Both of them physically, mentally and emotionally abuse me. It was just chaos and constant fear. My foster father tried to kill me when I was three and some of the rhino guards sent me to the Valley of Peace and I lived with the wolves for a while. They're okay, even though I don't connect with them much."
"Did they take good care of you?"
"Yeah, they did."
"I knew we should've left them with Mako. He would've taken good care of Zeke." Sakamoto said.
"Hey, don't blame yourself, dad. You didn't know that those gorillas would be so...dysfunctional." Musaki said.
"How dysfunctional?"
"Selling drugs and owning weapons, to be honest."
"They do that?!"
"Well, used to. Both of them were arrested, the foster mother committed suicide and Zeke defeated his foster father just today."
"You did?"
"Yeah."
"We saw you fighting that gorilla. I cannot tell you how proud we were of you." his mom said.
"Well, thanks."
A few minutes later, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian, Seth, Ichi, Fu, Kaguya, Ren, Mako, Cody, Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan, Tae Kwan Do, Po, Shifu, Crane, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Tigress walked towards the Sacred Peach Tree, where to their surprise saw Musaki's parents.
Kaguya was the first one to see them for the first time and asked, "Musaki, are they...?"
"Yep, they're my mom and dad. Guys, these are my friends, Ichi, Kaguya, Ren, Fu, Shanghai, Sudoku, Miko, Ty, Brian, Sonic, Mookie, Joey, Brian and Seth. And those are your nieces and nephews; Cody, Tsunami, Samurai, Zoey, Phoenix, Luna, Madison, Jared, Dakota, Diego, Tai Moon, Travis Li, Maverick Ling, Ryan, Mikey, Cyrus Ming, Genki, Megan, Cheyenne, Miles, Austin, Spike Li, Zak, Chloe, Chad, Crash, Bang, Logan and Tae Kwan Do."
"Hello, all."
"Hi."
"So, you're really Musaki's mom?" asked Ichi.
"Yes, I am."
"You're Musaki's dad?"
"Of course."
"We're also Zeke's parents as well."
"That's surprising." Sudoku said.
"Never knew you had parents like that." Miko said.
Mako was the first one to step in when he saw Sakamoto for the first time. He walked closer to him and asked, "Sako? Is that you?"
"Hey, Mak."
Mako and Sakamoto hugged each other as Sakamoto got on the ground. He could not believe that he saw him, as an angel. He looked at him and said, "This is amazing. I never thought I would actually see you again."
"Well, hey. Here I am."
"I missed you, big bro."
"So did I, little bro. And I see your plan to fostering kids was actually working."
"And you doubted me for a second."
"We were kids, hello?"
"How have you two been?" asked Shifu.
"We've been doing fine. Has Musak been nice to you?"
"He's always been. Having Zeke here was an amazing experience for us."
"Even though we've only known the guy for like a few days, it seems like eternity." Po said.
"That's what it feels like." Musaki said.
"Zeke, just remember, we still love you and we always will. Look us up in the sky and we will be looking forward to seeing both you and Musaki here with us."
"Count on it." Zeke said.
"We'll be counting the years." Musaki said.
All of them were embracing each other and gave each other a hug. Musaki hugged his mom and Zeke hugged his dad and Musaki hugged his dad and Zeke hugged his mom, tightly. His mother told Musaki, "You two look out for each other."
"We will."
"You know where to find us."
"Yep."
"I do now." Zeke said.
Both of them waved good-bye to them and everyone waved good-bye back as they went back to the skies, continuing to watch over both of them. Zeke feels a huge feeling in his heart that he has finally seen his parents for the first time ever and it was the best feeling ever.
"What's going through your mind, Zeke?" asked Shifu.
Zeke paused for a second and there were tears coming out of his eyes and said, "They love me more than anything in the world...and they always will."
"Our parents loved us a lot and we love them too." Musaki said.
"And they will always love you more than anything." Shifu said.
"And finding each other and being with each other..."
"....keeps us closer and stronger together."
Both of them held their hands together and formed a tight bond that can never be broken as they continued looking over the skies, where their parents can look out for them and they can look out for them.
Was that sweet or what? Brotherhood is growing stronger with them around. Stay tuned for the next chapter!