The Tales of the Dragon Warrior

Promises and La Chancla

(the image above is Laofu)

Jade slowly walked back to her room in the barracks. She had just finished with late night training with Oogway, and was looking forward to collapsing onto her bed and hopefully succeeding in falling asleep without the help of acupuncture or meds. She was about to open her room's sliding door, when she heard something that sounded distinctly like... sobs?

'Who's crying?', she thought curiously. She walked away from her door and walked back down the hallway, listening closely to the sobs. Eventually, she realized they were coming from the last place she would have expected them to; Laofu's room.

'Laofu? Why would he be crying?', Jade thought in confusion. The crying got louder, and Jade decided that she couldn't just pretend like she didn't hear anything. She and Laofu were comrades, despite their past issues. Jade tapped on the paper door.

"Laofu? You okay in there?", Jade asked, not sure how to phrase her concern. The crying ceased.

"Go away! I'm fine!", the young man ordered through choked sobs. Jade eyed the door with obvious skepticism.

"Yeah, and I'm a perfectly functioning member of society. You're clearly not okay. Wanna tell me what's wrong?", the black and white haired girl said sarcastically, before her tone became saturated with concern. There was silence. Jade sighed.

"Ignoring me won't make me go away, Laofu. If you don't answer me, I'm coming in.", she told the man. Laofu remained silent. Jade sighed again.

"Alright then. Have it your way.", she said, and then she slid the door open.

Laofu's room was, at first glance, exactly how she had expected it would be. Everything was neat, and the decor was minimalistic, but upon further inspection Jade saw things she had never expected to find in the man's room. There were childhood drawings on the walls, a small tiger doll on the bed, and on the desk, there was a small portrait of a much younger Laofu, a slightly younger Shifu, and someone Jade didn't recognise. She slowly walked into the room, and reached out towards the portrait. She was about to pick it up to get a better look when she was interrupted by a congested voice.

"What do you want?", the stuffy voice of Laofu asked. He was laying in a pile of red blankets on the floor, his tiger-like eyes glowing in the darkness Jade frowned at him.

"To see what's got you so upset. What's wrong? You can tell me, you know. I won't judge.", Jade told him with a kind smile. Laofu's intense gaze softened, and he sat up from his blanket pile.

"Sit.", he ordered. Jade did as she was told and sat down beside him, making sure to keep a few feet of distance between them to make sure the orange haired young man didn't feel uncomfortable. Laofu sadly looked down into his lap.

"I was... thinking about my brother.", he admitted. Jade blinked at him in surprise.

"Brother?", she echoed. Tigress had never mentioned having a brother in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

'Maybe it's another change, like Viper being a guy and Po not existing.', Jade speculated. Laofu nodded in confirmation at her words.

"Yes, my brother. He's older than me by quite a few years, but we were very close. We did everything together; we ate together, laughed together, trained together. To me, he was the greatest person I had ever known. I love him very much.", Laofu elaborated. Jade smiled softly.

'Laofu's brother must be pretty great for him to have such a glowing review... well, at least by Laofu's standards.'

"I'm sure he's a wonderful man.", she commented. Laofu dug his claw-like nails into the blankets at her words.