Su felt hard bumpy stone on her back and a hand gripping her shoulder.
Eyes still closed, she screamed, lifted her upper body and thrust out her fist.
"GOW!"
Su's eyes snapped open when she recognised the voice. Oh no!
Both mortified and overjoyed, she stared at Master Shifu as he stood hunched over, hands over his nose. Su was too monumentally embarrassed to get up. All she could do was lie there until Shifu straightened, rubbed his nose one last time and returned to her side.
"Master Shifu, I'm so sorry!" Su paused when she saw her red coat draped over her lower body. "I'm so sorry I punched you!"
Shifu wordlessly put his hand back on her trembling shoulder. He was actually smirking.
"I would have punched me too." He sat down. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you are alright. When I saw the blood on your face, I thought I would have a heart attack and die."
Su rubbed her head, trying to figure out if Shifu was saying that to try and make her giggle. It felt dry and clean, but weirdly she didn't feel any cuts from her close encounter with that rock. The puddle, she realised. She looked around. They were on a naturally formed platform overlooking a bigger tunnel, out of sight of any passers by. Before Su knew it she was hugging Shifu, glad that he was okay and she wouldn't be alone anymore. "What happened?" She asked. "Where're the monsters?"
Shifu tapped one of his big ears with one hand, the other returning the embrace. "I could hear your screams all the way outside the mine. When I found you, you were on the floor surrounded by these strangers. I fought them off, grabbed you and brought you here."
Su felt a chill as it came back to her in little bits of memory. Claws wrapping around her tiny legs, shining silver beneath the blood... Lidless red eyes boring into her soul like crimson daggers... Her father, dangling in front of her face... dead...
Su felt her heart break. She let out a sob and covered her mouth. Her tears trickled from her face onto Shifu's robe, leaving dark wet patches. "Su, what's wrong?"
"Duh-daddy." She whimpered. "The monsters... they... they killed my daddy... he's dead..."
Still holding her, Shifu gently patted her head. "Whatever that was, it was not your father."
Su looked up with wide, wet eyes. "What?"
"I've studied enough mind tricks in my life to know when I'm looking at one."
"One what?"
Shifu gave her a comforting look. "An illusion. Your parents are still alive, and almost certainly somewhere in this mine."
Su had no idea what to think as Shifu released her and stood up. An illusion? "Huh? What?"
Shifu retrieved his staff from the floor and walked to the edge of the platform. "Su, I need you to stay here while I go look for your parents, Viper, and Boar. Keep quiet and your head down."
Su frowned and stood up. "Nuh-uh. I'm going with you. I need to know if my parents are really okay." Also, a part of her deep down wanted to know who or what was responsible for this 'mind trick', and if it was what she thought it was.
"Absolutely not, young lady. It's far too dangerous."
Su held up her red coat and tugged at the collar of her black dress. "In case you haven't noticed, young man, I've got blood on my clothes. It's only a matter of time before the monsters smell me out and find me."
Shifu closed his eyes. His hand pressed into his forehead. "Is there a single panda on this earth who won't make me want to kill something?"
Su folded her arms. "I heard that."
They locked eyes, light blue staring into dark. Then Shifu sighed. "Perhaps leaving you alone isn't a good idea. Alright, but you must stay close and keep quiet!"
Su grinned, put on her coat, and after that they climbed down the platform. From there they turned left, travelling down the dark tunnel until they were back in the cavern. The monsters were gone, but Su hugged herself as they crossed the open space, on the lookout for a flash of red or silver.
Shifu stopped suddenly, eyes lowered toward the ground. Su saw her father's discarded coat. Her heart beat faster. She didn't want to see it again, but Shifu had told her it wasn't real. He wouldn't have lied like that. He could be mean at times, but not that mean. Her lip quivered as her eyes turned upward... to find a dirty sack dangling in the air in front of her that looked nothing like her father.
Shifu smiled kindly at her. "See? It was just an illusion."
Su was so happy she let out a giggle. "Do you think the monsters were illusions, too?"
"Almost certainly, but all the same we should keep our voices down."
Su pointed into the darkness. "I heard Master Viper over there."
"Then that's where we're going."
They set off in the direction Su had pointed, and this time she was not afraid. Shifu was here, he was okay. Her parents were okay, and so were Viper and Boar. Those monsters that attacked her hadn't been real. The only thing that worried her now was how quiet it was.
"I'm curious." Shifu said eventually. "Where did you get those clothes?"
"In the room they kept me in. Why?"
"When I was a child, Oogway used to tell me of his travels around the world. He once showed me a drawing of some people dressed very similarly to you, from some place far west if I remember correctly."
Su felt warm all over. "You mean the picture of that fox with the bow and funny hat? His travels were the only part of Oogway's past that he ever talked about." Shifu stopped walking. Su didn't understand why he looked so troubled. She watched as he pulled a small bottle from inside his robe, stared at it for a good long while, and then put it away again. "What was that?"
Shifu hesitated. "Su, have you ever heard of Meng Po?"
Su shook her head. He went on to explain that Meng Po was a deity of the underworld, and it was her duty to ensure that all reincarnated souls remember nothing of their past lives. "This bottle is supposedly her Five Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness. Have you ever seen anything like this during your captivity?"
Su replied that she hadn't. Shifu stroked his beard, as if he was contemplating what to say next. Eventually he asked a question. "Su, have you been having any memories you shouldn't have? Please be honest."
Su felt a shiver of unease. "Yes."
"That's what I thought." Shifu started walking again, and Su followed. "Su, legend has it that a soul can sometimes escape consuming the Tea of Forgetfulness and retain their memories from rebirth. I think that's happening to you. Either that, or the Dragon Empress somehow did something to your mind that is causing those memories to return. Perhaps it's somehow both." Su realised at that point that he had started talking to himself, sinking into his own thoughts. She hesitantly reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, getting his attention.
"Master Shifu. My parents." That and Viper and Boar was all she cared about right now.
Shifu sighed. "Sorry, Su. We'll talk about this once we get out of here."
They found a tunnel and walked through it, Su keeping as close as possible. They strode down the tunnel in complete silence, other than the echoing drip of water on the ceiling. She looked at the shiny pure blackness of the stone around them, and wondered if they really were that colour or if it was just the darkness.
They heard the hiss of rushing water before the tunnel opened into another cavern, one alight with torches of white fire. They stepped onto a wide bridge naturally formed from the rock, which stretched all the way across the cavern to a tunnel on the other side. On both sides, water poured from the walls in thundering streams, plummeting into a pool far beneath the bridge.
Su saw a flash of pink amongst the black stone of the bridge. She rushed over, and found one of Viper's lilies. Shifu rushed to her side and took the flower decoration. "It's clean and dry. This was dropped very recently."
"So she could be okay?" Su asked.
"I hope so." Shifu's ear twitched and he scowled. "Come on."
They started walking across the bridge, Su staying well away from the edges even as a part of her wanted to be close to the water around them, to feel its life and its power. Her fingers stretched downward, itching to touch the tiny puddles forming on the bridge. The water soaked through her shoes, sinking into her fur. Su felt a strange happiness rising inside her, like hot water filling her chest. Never had she felt so empowered.
Needles stabbed into her eyes, then were pushed out by the water's energy. Beside her, Shifu let out a roar of pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his head.
Su's happiness vanished in an instant. "Shifu!" She fell to her own knees and held him by the shoulders as he sucked in air through clenched teeth, rendered helpless by unbearable agony.
"Don't move."
Su and Shifu both looked up. "Shen?" The red panda hissed through the pain. "No... you're... not..."
The bird approaching them from the other side of the bridge was indeed wearing a white robe, but this was no peacock. The pheasant came to a stop two feet away and eyed the pair of them with cold, silver eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, you are the man who assaulted my people. Identify yourself."
Shifu gave her the deadliest glare he could muster. "Master Shifu... of the... Jade Palace..."
"Shifu... Oogway's protégé. I thought it was you." The pheasant folded her wings, her expression darkening. "Let me guess, you're here to find answers."
"How... did you..."
Shifu stopped clenching his teeth. Relief spread across his features as he lowered his hands. The pheasant must have stopped giving him a headache. "Stand up, but don't try anything." She said.
Shifu and Su both stood up.
"Who are you?" Shifu asked, still sounding pained.
"That's for me to know. Your friends are fine. A paralytic toxin was all we needed to bring them down. You need to step up their training."
"And I suppose those monsters you conjured were imaginary scarecrows."
"Smart man."
They were both glaring daggers while Su stood on the side-line. She couldn't stand it any longer.
"What are you doing here, Mengxiang?" She asked icily.
She knew. Somehow she knew it had been Mengxiang, and now that she knew for, she was mad.
The pheasant's eyes widened, as did Shifu's. "How did you know?"
"I want my parents back!" Su snapped. "Where are they?"
Mengxiang looked deep into Su's eyes. Su felt something pushing into her eyes again, only it felt less like needles and more like cold fingers. Again Mengxiang's power was forced out by the water's energy. The pheasant blinked several times, peered at Su with suspicion, then turned back to Shifu. "They are with my people, as are your student and that steward of Gongmen City. Rest assured, you'll be joining them shortly."
Shifu's eyes narrowed just a little. "You said that I came here to find answers. Are you implying that you have them? Are you a member of the Children of Nuwa?"
Mengxiang went stiff all over. Her eyes were suddenly ablaze with silver fire. "No. Never. Never again! Hei Nuwang may be flesh and blood, but I will never forgive her for what she did! What she made me do! I loved Ember! I never wanted to hurt her!"
Shifu's narrowed eyes went wide as dinner plates. "Flesh and blood? You mean..."
"Yes." All rage melted away from Mengxiang's voice, leaving only melancholic bitterness. "The leader of the Childen of Nuwa and the Dragon Empress are none other than my own sisters. Now I am going to put you away with the others where you cannot interfere. Hei Nuwang is going to get everything that's coming to her. My sister will get her revenge, and neither you or your precious Dragon Warrior are going to stop her!"
Shifu must have found his opening, for he lashed out and grabbed her left wing at that very moment. He spun the surprised pheasant so her back was to him, Shifu twisting her arm behind her painlessly. At once the red panda growled as Mengxiang's power send needles stabbing into his brain. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, as Su ran forward to stop her. She smacked the pheasant hard across the face, the sound echoing around the cavern. Stunned by the girl's attack, Mengxiang staggered sideways in Shifu's grip-
And slipped right out of his hands as she plummeted over the side of the stone bridge, shouting all the way until she hit the water.
Su clapped her paws over her gaping mouth. What had she done?!
Shifu ran to the edge and looked down. "She looks alright. Come on, we're going down there. It's time we get some answers."
