Work Text:
An alternative universe if Shang-Chi came back for Xia Ling.
Xxx
The deed was done.
It was strangely anticlimactic. A few punches here and there and a stab to his target’s heart using the dagger that his father gave him.
Ba-Ba. It sounds so foreign even if he said it within his own thoughts. The memories of a soft gentle hand wrapping his bloodied fingers and a man with a hardened glare telling his men to increase the whippings by three hundred lashes like the tides in a stormy sea.
He pushes the rising emotions down his throat. No. He would not break down now.
He should be happy. He did it. He killed the man who was responsible for his dear mother’s death. But tian ah. He stared at the still body beneath him, the blood slowly seeping into his shoes and for once he could remember one of the memories locked away of a time so long gone. Memories filled with laughter and the faint smell of baozi that his mother loved so much.
Ma-ma. He would hate the person he became.
And what about Xia-Ling? His annoying yet precious sister who was always the back of his head never coming first. He was just like his father. Neglecting her and leaving her behind.
He digs up the memory of the day Ma-ma died. The day that everything broke. The day that the whole family became broken.
He recalls Xia-Ling crying in bed as he tried his best to comfort her to no avail.
He was a failure of a brother. Now and then.
‘Please don’t leave me here'
‘I’ll be back in three days.’
Maybe it is not too late.
XXX
He walks up to the helicopter, nodding to one of his father’s faceless men.
He puts on the headset and nods to himself.
Mei-mei, don’t worry. Ge-ge will get us out of this hellhole.
When he arrived back into the fortress, the first order of business was not to greet his father but to find his sister.
Fate seems to have other plans.
“Son, you have made me proud” The voice echoed within the grey walls.
The figure walked up to him and placed their foreheads together.
It is moments like this that he calls him Ba-ba in his head.
Shang-Chi stared at his face, not wanting to pay attention to the hand on his shoulder, bracing for the change that was to come.
As soon as the man beside turned around and faced his men, the title Ba-ba instantly became a father.
“It is time for us to re-build the Ten-Rings. The world shall fear us. They will cower and bow down to us. It is time, my men. We will conquer the world.”
And just like that, Shang-Chi straightened his back. Xia-Ling will die the way Ma-ma did. And this time, it will be because they are after him, not his father.
It was a difficult task to find Xia-Ling. She was not in her room nor was she in the training room.
Where on earth could she--
Oh...
Shang-Chi walked up to his mother’s shrine, seeing a small figure hiding at the corner.
“Xia-Ling?” He wondered out loud.
From afar, he sees how fragile and small his sister is. Hidden away at the corner of the shrine.
Xia-Ling is a light sleeper so it was odd she was not awake just by his voice.
He took a few careful steps forward and smiled.
The ten-year-old is clutching on a brown pouch filled with tea leaves. A birthday present from last year. He claimed it was for good luck but he was just bullshitting his way through for what else is there worthy of giving on this forsaken mountain?
He stretched out his arm, wanting to use the back of his fist on her forehead as his hand when--
“OWWWWW” He exclaimed when Xia-Ling took his arm and twisted it. How can one turn from an angel to a hellspawn spitting fire within a millisecond?
“Gege?” Her eyes widen with recognition within the dark.
“Yes! Now let your Gege go before he breaks an arm!” He was lying. It takes more than that to break him. His father ensured that. But it seems to give Xia-Ling great joy when he seems to succumb to every one of her whims.
“You came back!” The words came out of her as if she didn't believe it herself.
He bent down and put his forehead on hers. “Of course I did”
Later, in Xia-Ling’s room, the moon being the sole source of light, he asked the girl who was tucked in bed half-awake.
“Mei-mei, do you… like this place?” In the dead of the night, the shaking in his voice was clear.
“I liked it when Ma-ma was still alive.” The mention of their mother makes him stop before continuing on.
“Do you want to leave?” There. He asked the question that should their father ever heard him say it, he might actually kill him and feel no remorse for it.
“If it is with you…I don’t mind…” Xia-Ling shifted within the white sheets and allowed herself to have a blissful sleep, comforted by the fact that she was not left alone.
“Wan-An, Mei-Mei” (Good night)
On the death anniversary of a beloved mother, the younger sister dreamt of a time where the family of four relished in meat buns while the older brother plots.
XXX
The main problem of running away was how to escape with their heads still connected to their body.
Xia-Ling was only ten. There was no way she could run as fast as him. Unless… he carries her?
No… he still needs to fight off the men should they know of his supposed betrayal.
There is no way… but.. Lies and Deceit.
He can say he is going on a mission, sneak Xia-Ling into the vehicle and drive away peacefully.
There was no way father would allow him to go without bodyguards but he thinks he can handle them without question.
Now… how can he learn to drive a car…
“Son?”
The deep voice stopped his pondering, demanding his attention.
“ Silly boy, what are you doing, just staring at your rice bowl…? Eat!” Ba-ba laughed and placed a piece of fried egg-tofu in his bowl using a pair of chopsticks.
“Xie-Xie” (Thank you) He tried his best to smile and act as the dutiful son he is.
“You know... If you keep daydreaming like that how can you ever stand beside me? You will be like one of those American terrorists. A few years ago…”
And just like that Shang-Chi drowned his father’s voice out as he talked about some idiot calling him the mandarin or whatever.
He looked across the table to see his sister's face with the exact same thought as him. He rolled his eyes slightly in an attempt to make her laugh.
She sniffled and almost choked on her rice.
“What do you think is funny Xia-Ling?” The father of their family roared in anger.
Instantly the smile on her face is gone.
“I…” She struggled to come up with something and finally decided to say...
“ Ba-Ba, can I learn how to fly a helicopter?” Shang-Chi interrupted with a light tone. As if the last minute of tense silence did not happen.
“Why so sudden?”
“You always told me to be ahead of my peers. This is just one of the ways to do it.” He ended off with a smile he hopes comes off as innocent as possible.
“Approved.”
Stage 1: Planning. Going just as planned.
After learning how to drive a helicopter and multiple canings for the purpose of increasing his pain tolerance, everything seems to be going just as planned.
His relationship with his sister seems to be going well too. Xia-Ling grounds him in ways that he can never explain. Now, it has become compulsory to see his sister before going to bed, no matter how late.
If she is awake, she would show him some of the moves she picked up herself. And on the rare occasion that she did something wrong, he would correct her.
Sometimes, they would just play normal kids' games like arm wrestling. Most of the time he won and he would tell her to massage his feet since she lost.
But there was once where she spat on her hand before grabbing his hand and holding it down while counting to ten in an impossibly fast manner. He had to massage her feet as punishment and Shang-Chi swore he was never playing that game with her ever again.
Other times where Shang-Chi was too beaten up or when Xia-Ling gets too emotional thinking about Ma-ma, he would play chess to distract her or they would sneak into the kitchen for him to cut apples with rabbit ears just the way she likes it.
But most of the time, she would be asleep when he arrives in her room. Shang-Chi would then sit on the cold, wooden floor next to her bedside and wonder what would happen if he did not come back.
And just like that, half a year went by.
“Father, I would like to go on a mission” Shang-Chi kept his face as free of emotions as possible
“This is the second time you requested something. What is it that you want”
“I heard of a man named the Winter-Soldier in the States. I wish to recruit him.” That was an absolute lie seeing as how he would be dead meat within a second of his presence. A dude that has been brainwashed since World War 2? Yeah… no.
Seeing the man before him being apprehensive, Shang-Chi continued. “I believe I can do it. The brainwashing can be trained out of him. He will be my right-hand man”
His father smirked and replied, “ See that you do. You leave in two days”
Stage 1: Preparation seems to be coming to an end.
That night, he sat Xia-Ling down and said “Mei-Mei, pack your things. We leave in two days”
XXX
Stage 2: Execution
Xia-Ling POV:
Ge-Ge is more of an idiot than I think.
Pack your things? Hah. I packed my things a year ago, occasionally switching items here and there since I grew too old for it.
As I watched him try to come up with a lame excuse that we are playing a game and pretending that we are dragon fighters in one of the books we read at night, I sighed.
Ge-ge tends to forget that I am not a child anymore.
After that mission earlier this year, he seems to have… changed? He visits me more often, not that I am complaining but it was so… sudden.
Time to stop him from going crazy as he runs around the room in circles trying to be a fool.
“Ge… I'm already packed.” I stared at him as he stopped in his tracks.
Ge-ge eyes are wide and filled with energy. It’s like the past few years he was a ghost moving around and now he is back.
“Oh… um. Well done?” Ge-ge questioned himself.
He looks dumb. Why am I related to him again? Sigh.
Two days later, as I sat behind the back of a helicopter that I was never allowed to go on before, I wondered what Ge-ge's plan was.
XXX
Shang-Chi has a plan.
Sneak Xia-Ling onto the helicopter and throw some of the men out of the helicopter mid-air when they realize what is going on.
Of course, nothing goes to plan.
When the few chosen men arrive at the side of the helicopter he was piloting, one of them asked the dreaded question “Why is she here”
He braced himself for a fight, before Xia-Ling answered, “Ba-Ba wanted me to follow”
“Yeah. That” Shang-Chi added on, before flying off when it was certain the men were not going to do anything.
Perhaps the fates wanted him to live a little longer.
At the corner of his eyes, he looked at Xia-Ling, who seemed to be amazed by the view and memory of long ago came back
‘Shang-chi’ his mother’s gentle singing voice said to him, ‘Protect our family’
I will. Ma-ma. I promise I will
Arriving in the states, he breathed in the car pollution-filled air so unlike the clear mountain.
“You guys go to the town area. I will be around here.” Technically, he was not lying. He will be around here. Around the area of course.
“Xia-Ling” He calls out for the little girl looking down at the city lights, mesmerized.
“You got everything?” He asked as she walked up to him and nodded.
“Okay, let’s go”
Stage 2: Execution Accomplished