OOOOO2OOOOO
She didn't sleep. She hadn't, hadn't slept for a thousand years.
And by the way things had looked, wouldn't have for another millennium.
Until him, until Shaun.
The greatest - and, let's face it, let's be honest, the only - candidate worthy of the Rings that she could find, across the world, across time, since him, since Wenwu.
And which led back to him, right back to him - to Wenwu.
Small world. Small, strange world.
Wenwu - the greatest mistake she'd made: handing over the Rings to him, sharing them and their secrets with him as though they were friends...
But they had been friends, a long time ago. So, so long ago...
So long ago...
And now this.
"Now can I finally rest?" she posed the question.
"No." The response was curt, and not much of a surprise.
She groaned. "But I'm so close!"
"Have the Rings been transferred to his possession from his father's? I think not."
Shaun wouldn't even want them, not after what they'd cost him, and for most of his life.
They didn't belong to her, the Rings. She was their guardian, but the Rings were in possession of someone else - something else. and unseen great power that she only knew of and had spoken to, conversed with, but had never seen.
Not in over a thousand years.
The owner of the Rings was as elusive as they were mysterious and cryptic. She had failed them, and they were not happy about it, and now she was trapped in a cycle of getting closer and then getting thrown way back, all thanks to Wenwu.
Despite her lack of sleep, she went for a morning run the next day, planning on meeting Shaun and Katy after their shift later.
The run helped her to clear her head some, but not fully. Never fully.
She was distracted, however, by the amount of rings here phone was giving off, meaning she had various notifications. Finally, it got to be so annoying, she stopped mid-run to inspect it.
The notification was for a live video feed. Opening it, she was shocked to see - Shaun.
He was on the bus, fighting four guys in hand to hand combat. A shocked Katy stood in the background.
Shaun swiftly and efficiently took down the men - she recognized his father's own fighting methods in his.
Promptly pocketing her phone she sprinted in the direction of Shaun's apartment.
Her friends were there, Katy searching for answers while Shaun hastily packed a bag. What was he doing?
"Katy, Shaun, I saw the live video footage from the bus - what the hell happened?"
"That's what I've been asking!" Katy cried, clearly shaking and understandably. "But Shaun's being confusing."
He sighed. "Those guys were sent by my dad. They'll be going after my sister next -" His expression darkened. "If they hurt her..."
Unlike Katy, Dryaa wasn't shocked by the fact that Shaun had a sister. "Okay, okay. How can we help?"
"No!" He cried. Then more gently but nonetheless frantic, "Thank you, but it's too dangerous. I have to go."
"Hey, no dude, this is bullshit!" cried Katy. "I have been by your side for ten years. I get that there was stuff you never wanted to talk about and I never wanted to push. But a guy with a freakin' machete arm just chopped our bus in half!"
Razorfist, it had to be.
"I know! those were some of my dad's assassins."
"Assassins? Your dad has assassins?!"
"I know this is a lot but I'll explain when I get back, I promise."
Katy stormed towards the door. "Fine, you can explain on the plane."
"No, Katy, you can't-"
"You can explain on the plane, Shaun!" And that was that.
Shaun sighed and turned to Dryaa. "You're coming too, aren't you?"
"Hell yeah I am."
"After my mom died, my dad started my training. From sunup to sundown, I was taught every way to kill a man. I would have done anything to get his approval. If he'd asked me to burn the world down, I would have. When I was fourteen, he sent me on my first assignment-"
"Beef or vegetarian?"
"Sorry?"
Shaun's grim tale was sharply interrupted by the overly-jolly voice of the flight attendant who was standing over them with a large smile and a tablet in hand.
"We're all out of the chicken so I can only offer you beef or vegetarian."
"Oh-"
"I'll have the vegetarian," Katy requested.
"Same," said Shaun.
"I'll have the beef, thanks," finished Dryaa.
Shaun was just about to continue, despite the mood being vastly different now, when the attendant spoke again. "We're all out of the vegetarian now too."
"So the beef, right," said Katy. "Cause that's all you have left."
"So you'll have the beef, and you'll also have the beef?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
"And I'll still have the beef," Dryaa confirmed.
Finally, she left them.
"Did you go through with it, the assignment?" Katy asked quietly.
Shaun shook his head. "I knew I couldn't go back to him, so I just ran. That's how I eventually ended up in San Fran."
"I'm sorry about your mom."
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded distantly. "And I should probably mention that my name isn't actually Shaun."
Katy's brow wrinkled. "What is it?"
"Shang-Chi."
"Shang-Chi," Katy tried.
"Shang-Chi."
"Shang-Chi."
"S-H-A-N-G, Shang."
"'Shang'?" Katy grinned. "You changed your name from 'Shang' to 'Shaun'?!"
He rolled his eyes. "I was fifteen years old."
"They sound exactly the same!"
"They do not."
"I mean no wonder you dad found you. Hi, my name's Michael, I'm going to go into hiding, now my name's Mischal," Katy joked. "I'm Gena, now my name's Gina."
Shaun put his headphones on. "I can't hear you."
"You can, you definitely can hear me."
Later, Katy fell asleep, but Shaun and Dryaa were wide awake.
"You okay?" she gently asked him.
"No, not really. I'm just hoping we can get to Xialing before they do."
"Your dad wouldn't really hurt her, would he?"
"Well, he sent five assassins to get me, so I don't know."
It definitely sounded like Wenwu, and he had only become more violent in his grief.
She opened her hand sitting on the armrest of her seat. He smiled and set his hand in hers, their fingers entwining.
They sat that way for the rest of the trip.
There we have it! This chapter took me WAY longer than I'd hoped, but I have been more focused on my Wenwu story, but here we are!
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)