Disclaimer: I only own what is mine. My OCs and Ideas.
A/N: Well, I had big plans to write this week while on break... but I guess not. Sam's chapters are started, I'd say about halfway done or so based on word count. I'm trying to get them all done at once before posting them, mostly to make sure I've laid out four chapters evenly enough (Lots of fighting in Sam's episode). So hopefully by next week. Anyway, you guys know Danny is my favorite character, so it is kinda sad that this chapter is wrapping up the Danny arc. But... it's ok. I'm very happy with the result. Anyway, Read, Review, Enjoy!
Reviews:
Death Fury - Thank you!
TheImmortalDanny - I'm glad you enjoyed it. I am personally very happy with how it turned out. I'm pretty happy with this chapter too. A little lightheartedness from Peter to cheer up the tone. I haven't planned to use the letters again, but we shall see moving forwards. They were kinda of coping mechanism for Danny, for not being able to be upfront with his team about himself and K'un-Lun. But you'll see it unfold in this chapter if you know what I mean. I'm just rambling now. So short answer in review: no I'm not planning to bring the letters back but I might. Enjoy!
Chapter 20: Peter
"Where's Danny?" I ask as I join the team at the lunch table.
"Coulson gave him the day off." Sam shrugged. "He didn't offer us much explanation."
"Said something about his duty to K'un-Lun and that was about it," Ava commented from across the table.
She pauses as she watches me. "You know something the rest of us don't."
"What?" Play it cool Pete. "I don't know what you're even talking about."
"We didn't see you all weekend." Luke catches on.
"Hey, guys!" MJ smiles as she sits down next to Ava. "Where's Danny? Isn't he usually the first one here?"
"Sick day," Luke provides. "Or at least that's the best we could come up with."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense…"
I fish my phone out of my pocket to text Danny.
You: Am I the only one who knows?
It took Danny almost no time to answer.
Danny: Knows what?
You: This weekend. Also, how come you get the day off?
Danny: Yes.
No secret on how to get Coulson to just hand you a day off… thanks, Danny.
"You were on a mission together, something really top secret so that you could not even tell us you were going on a mission." Sam guesses as we walk to the teams shared living space.
"It doesn't matter if you can guess it or not." Ava shrugs. "Danny said he'd explain it to us today, and he isn't someone to go back on his word."
Wait! What?
"He said he'd tell you, just like that?" I clarify. "Gee… he seemed pretty out of it last night if you ask me."
"He looked exhausted when he came in." Luke provides. "Why are you surprised?"
"I'm not the best at reading people. And Danny's not easy to read, to begin with, but he seems pretty off. I figured he would stay tight lipped." I shrug it off. "If he wants to talk about it, good for him."
"You're killing me." Sam groans. "What happened?"
I unlock the door that leads into the team's living area. It's pretty nice, but it seems smaller than the Helicarrier.
"I'm not telling you," I say pulling off my mask as the doors close behind us.
Danny's standing by the counter with a couple of takeout bags, taking everything out and opening the containers.
He looks up at us with a tired smile. "I got take out for dinner; I hope you do not mind Sam."
"Not at all," Sam walks over and examines the food. "Where did you get this?"
"Norikoh on East 39th Street." Danny answers. "I think I got enough so that we should have leftovers. Please, help yourselves."
"What's the occasion?" Ava asks getting the plates out.
Danny doesn't answer at first, he finishes taking out the food before looking at her. "I thought it would be a kind gesture. I wanted Asian food today."
We all awkwardly fix our plate, no one daring to start the conversation until we are settled.
Danny goes last; slowing getting his food, watching him… he seems nervous.
I mean I guess I would be too.
"So… Peter's not been helping me guess what you did this weekend, so are you going to tell us?" Sam asks as Danny sits down at the table.
Danny looks at me. "What did you say?"
I shrug. "I just said I was surprised that you agreed to tell them this easily. I'm actually more surprised that I am the first to know."
"Know what?" Ava presses, the growl is almost hidden in her tone; she does not like me beating around the bush.
"I went back to K'un-Lun this weekend, Peter followed me," Danny explains as he takes a drink of water from his cup.
He placed it down almost silently. "As I told Peter, K'un-Lun is the mystical heart of the world and has been protected from the outside for eternity. Those of K'un-Lun do not trust the outside and would have very little to do with it. But because this is the place of my birth, they allowed me to return to the outside world for a year, so I've known I was going back to K'un-Lun since day one."
"Sounds like you mean to add something along the lines of 'permanently' to that last statement." Ava catches as she pauses eating. "You never sound this…"
"Depressed?" Sam finishes off.
"I was not supposed to come back to New York, no." Danny plays with his food, his chopsticks.
"Do I need to break out the Uno cards or something?" I ask. "Come on!"
Ava glares ate me. "Parker."
"Sorry," I muttered.
"So, you were going to just disappear and leave the team without explanation?" Sam demands.
He's definitely not happy about this.
"I've been trying to find a way to talk about this for the past few weeks," Danny explains. "But I've had trouble finding all the right words or even bringing up the topic. This is also why I've had some problems with my chi in the past few months. I've been unfocused."
It's quiet for a while. I'm used to the team getting wrapped up in my problems and messes.
But Danny isn't.
I can see why he always seemed so closed off when he stayed with me and Aunt May; he just… keeps to himself. He's very used to living that way, those monks I met did seem pretty strict.
Danny's comfortable helping others, being a good teammate and friend but in vise versa…
"So what was so important that you would leave the team?" Ava asks.
The way she says it almost sounds… condescending.
"K'un-Lun," Danny answers. "As the Iron Fist it is my home and I have a responsibility to it. But I also now have a larger responsibility to K'un-Lun as Danny Rand."
"So this is the part where Peter knows stuff we don't?" Luke caught very quickly. "You keep hinting at stuff. If you have these huge responsibilities and stuff, what happened? Why are you here?"
Danny takes a deep breath. "The monks believe there is still much for me to learn here as a hero. They saw honorable qualities in Peter."
"Ok, stop!" Sam calls out waving his hands in the air. "Two things! First; 'honorable qualities' in Parker? Second; can you just start from the beginning?"
"Sure." Danny took a deep breath. "The main reason I was returning to K'un-Lun was to participate in the Return of Shou-Lao."
He quit playing with his rice and laid his chopsticks down entirely. "It is a contest, which is used to measure the honor and character of whoever competes. Friday night, Peter and I were sparring when we were attacked by..." He pauses and I can see the heartache in his face. "Scorpion – a warrior from K'un-Lun who I trained with for many years – he was trying to prevent me from going home. But he did not succeed."
"I flew to K'un-Lun after that, unaware that Peter had stowed himself away among the landing gear of the plane." Danny looks up and tries to shake off the initial thought of Scorpion. "Scorpion, in his attempts to prevent me from returning to K'un-Lun had poisoned me. It took effect not long after we arrived and I was blinded for a couple of hours, which prevented me from competing in The Return of Shou-Lao. I choose Peter to take my place in the contest."
"Why?" Ava asks, sounding skeptical.
"You know, you never explained that to me either." I pipe up.
"You do not know Scorpion like those of K'un-Lun, and likewise, you were not scared of him or intimidated by him," Danny says confidently.
"So, it was you verses Scorpion?" Sam asks. "Why not delay the contest if you were only blind for a few hours?"
"I do not know," Danny shrugs. "But Peter took my place in the contest and he won."
"What was the prize?" Luke asks. "There had to be a prize, right?"
Danny pauses. It takes him a second to nod his head in agreement.
He takes a drink of his water and I catch Ava staring at me, almost expecting me to answer in Danny's place.
I hold up my hands in mock surrender.
"The prize of the contest was the throne of K'un-Lun." Danny puts his cup down.
"What?" Everyone shouts at once.
Danny nods his head, more confidently.
"So, let me get this straight," Luke says instantly. "You're the King of K'un-Lun."
"I will be." Danny corrects. "I am not King yet."
"How?" Sam gawks.
"As I explained to Peter, there is much I do not know about my heritage. The monks have kept a good deal of information from me." Danny explains in short. "However, when I return to K'un-Lun, my Master, Master Lei Kung, has offered to explain to me all he knows about my father and his time in K'un-Lun."
"He did?" I ask without even thinking.
Danny nods. "Yes, that is partially what we spoke about."
"That's really great." I smile. "I can't imagine what it's like growing up in a shadow of someone you hardly knew anything about."
"So… how come you never told us about any of this before?" Sam waves his fork accusingly at Danny.
"As I said, the monks kept information from me. About two weeks before I joined the team they told me that I was heir to the throne. But because of some details, I would have to challenge Scorpion."
"What 'details'?" Ava asks
"Lord Tuan was the Yu-Ti when my father lived in K'un-Lun. He adopted my father, which made him Lord Tuan's eldest son and me the only son of the eldest son. So I was rightfully the heir. Scorpion, on the other hand, is the only son of the second son." Danny explains. "Some people would still prefer him over me because he was born in K'un-Lun, but I can't really do much about that."
"I'm going to pretend I got that," Sam comments confused.
"Did you think we would treat you differently or something?" Luke asks; I can hear the hurt in his tone.
"I was not sure what to expect," Danny admits. "That is why I never brought it up. I was happy, things were comfortable. It was not important."
"So, besides just someone you know from K'un-Lun," Ava takes her turn to question Danny. "Who's this Scorpion guy? Your cousin or something?"
"We were brothers – in faith, not blood – although calling him that seems wrong now," Danny mutters. "After the contest, he was exiled from K'un-Lun. He's made his way here to New York to try to prevent my return to K'un-Lun. Undoubtedly he could make it back here if he wanted to."
"You keep saying he was trying to keep you from returning home. What, do you mean he was going to kill you to do that?" Sam asks.
"Knowing him," Danny said thoughtfully. "He would be willing to go that far."
"Hey, if he shows his face, we'll help you take him down," Luke assures Danny, putting a large hand on his shoulder. "Come on, cheer up a little bit. You're a King after all."
"I'm not the King of K'un-Lun yet." Danny corrects.
"We're still going to call you that," Ava informs him with a slightly evil smile.
"Your Majesty." Sam stands up to do a mocking bow.
Danny shrugs off Luke's hand and the comments. "I am glad to know that very little will change."
"So when are you going back? Do you know?" Sam asks. "Like are you going to share that with us this time?"
"I do not know," Danny answers. "I think the monks want me to stay until I've reached a good stopping point for my SHIELD training, perhaps within the next year or so. I'm sure they will be in regular contact with me, and I will tell you when I find out."
"Wow… this is a lot…" Ava muses. "How have you not lost your mind?"
"It's all that meditation he does," I answer. "Right?"
"Partly." Danny agrees with me.
"So when do we get a tour of the palace?" I ask Danny. "I mean, you are going to take us to K'un-Lun to visit right?"
Danny laughs at my joke. "Perhaps when you were physically thrown out of the monastery you hit your head on snow that froze over."
"Wait!" Sam looks up at me. "You were what?"
"What did you do?" Ava almost looks embarrassed for me.
I look at Danny who smiles and takes a bit of his food. Happy the attention is on me.
"Ok, so you've heard Danny tell the story from his point of view, but my version of this weekend is way more entertaining." If Danny's going to hand me the limelight, I'll run with.
Give him a well-needed break.
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