Ringkeeper - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

OOOOO8OOOOO

"Dryaa! Where the hell have you been?!" Katy cried when their friend appeared outside their cells. 

"Well I was going to help you bust out of here but I see you're way ahead of me."

Xialing brushed some dust off her clothes.  "Dad has a tunnel system beneath the whole compound - that's how I escaped last time."

"Great, let's get out of here."

"We need to go to Ta Lo."

"Anywhere but here."

"Morris knows the way," piped up the man from the dungeons. 

"Who's Morris?" Dryaa asked. 

The round, furry - faceless - creature jumped out of the man's arms and into her own.  "Oh! Hi Morris, little guy. Aw, you just made my day!" The fur ball cooed and snuggled closer. Then she turned to the man. "Who are you?"

"Uh, Trevor Slattery, the actor."

"The Mandarin from TV?"

"That's the one!"

"Yeah, that really pissed Wenwu off."

"Oh, I know, he was going to kill me for it, until I wowed him with my acting skills!"

"I see..."

Escaping the compound was not easy, and took a joined effort from all of them - and a stolen car - but they made it, and just barely. 

"So you're like what, a thousand years old?" Katy asked her friend, trying to dispel some of the awkward tension that filled the car as they started their drive, and get to the bottom of how mysterious their friend really was.

"Older."

"Wow, that's, that's really crazy..."

"Tell me about it."

"And so you and our dad have known each other for that long?" Xialing confirmed. 

"Roughly."

Everyone absorbed this. 

Trevor broke the silence this time.  "Well, Morris says were in for a bit of a long drive," he announced, Morris bouncing in his lap.  "But I for one love long car rides - perfect for telling stories!" And with that he began reminiscing about when he knew he wanted to become an actor.

"Huh. Speaking of acting skills." Shaun looked right at her, finally saying something. "You and Dad."

"We made a great team."

"In stealing things."

"Well, yes."

Morris chirped then.

"Do you love him?" Trevor translated.

"Huh?"

"Morris is asking if you love Wenwu."

"What?! No!" she cried, all eyes on her now. "No! I mean, maybe, like, three hundred or so years ago, but not now - no..." 

Again, a long silence followed. Shaun broke it this time. 

"So where do we come in?" he asked, an edge to his voice.

"Shaun-"

"Were you using me to get back to him?"

"I could have found him without you - I did before. No, I stayed because I enjoyed your company. Yes, you reminded me of him, in some ways, but mostly the old him, before the Rings corrupted him."

He didn't appear to like this. "And?"

"And - well, if there's anyone better to hold them, it's you."

"I don't want them. I don't want anything to do with them, or with him. I thought that was clear."

Morris whimpered, sensing the discontent between the friends. 

Shaun sighed heavily, almost a scoff.  "Let's just go, we have a lot to do to stop Dad."

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To say  their destination of Ta Lo was beautiful was an understatement. Oh, it was beautiful, incredibly so, but it was also so, so much more. Dryaa was in awe the first moment her eyes lay upon it. Everyone was. 

She had been around for longer than a thousand years, was Guardian and Keeper of the Ten Rings, and even she hadn't seen anything so magnificent in all her long life.

This was definitely a place that would be home to people as special as Shaun and Xialing. The warmth and kindness and love that radiated from them could be felt here as well. 

Well, maybe not at first. 

They received a pretty cold welcome at first from the locals, who were very wary of having Wenwu's children's in their village, understandably. This was all disbanded however by the presence of their mother's sister, their Auntie Nan, and the warmth instantly returned. 

She welcomed them warmly, hugging each of them, even Dryaa. 

"Look who has found his way home!" she chuckled, watching Morris roll around happily in the grass. 

After some time apart, Dryaa caught up with Shaun who barely even looked at her. 

Now it was her turn to heave a heavy sigh. "Look, I know you're still upset about my 'ulterior motive'-" She did air quotations while she spoke. 

"Don't use air quotations," he protested.  "There's no quotations about this. It was an ulterior motive!"

"Okay, maybe it was, but only in the beginning."

"For how long then?"

"Long enough. Here." She grabbed a nearby staff.  "Let's practice." They had a lot to prepare for in the wake of Wenwu's decision to invade the village and destroy it if need be, anything to bring his beloved Ying Li back home to them. 

"I don't want to fight you." And not only that, but his tone made it very clear that he didn't want anything to do with her, as did the way he stalked away without another word.

She gave yet another heavy sigh, dropping the staff to the ground. "Okay, yes it was,  but that was only in the beginning. Our friendship grew, and now that's more important to me. I just want those Rings out of your fathers hands, then my work is done and we can move on, go our own ways."

He didn't stop, just kept walking, didn't look at her. "Good."

His words hurt, stung like nothing she had ever felt before - not even his father's betrayal all those centuries ago.

Tucking herself away in a far corner of the village, she heard a chirp and saw Morris waddling over.  "Oh, hey little buddy." She scratched his back which he seemed to like.

"Alright, Love?" Trevor was close behind his furry friend. 

"Not really. Shaun hates me. But it's my own fault."

"If I may be so bold, I'd say that both of those statements are dreadfully wrong."

"Maybe.  But whatever - we have bigger  things to deal with right now."

"Don't dismiss the importance of your friendship. And I'd say that if your friendship can survive this, then it can survive anything."

Perhaps a small, hint of a smile found its way onto her lips.  "Thanks Trevor. You too, Morris."

(I wish I could have Morris as a daily companion! New favourite Marvel character! ;)

And I guess we're nearing the end, but not too close yet! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))