Marvel Imagines

Ice Packs and Confessions (Shang-Chi X Reader)

A/N: A lot of backstory here, but it's worth it! I hope it makes a bit of sense... Let me know in the comments, please!

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You would always remember how it happened.

The desperate screams of your Mother as your hiding spot beneath the stairs of your humble home had been ripped away by darkly clad figures, their faces muddled through your tears.

And then, those screams were silenced - leaving you absolutely mortified at the pool of blood and lifeless features of your now deceased Mother, a clean and precise cut to the throat quite evident.

Your fate was about to be the same in that very moment, and sometimes, even to this day, you wish it had been.

The darkly dressed figure poised to strike, a rather fancy knife aimed at your throat.

But then, an order was barked, the knife was swiftly lowered and your quivering figure instantly slouched in something quite undetermined.

And within an instant, a powerful looking man, his features not covered, appears in front of you, pieces of his longer hair that had been tied back, framing his face almost ominously.

"Was that her Mother?" This strange looking newcomer demands to the man that had been previously holding the knife to you, the neatly stacked bracelets on either of his lower arms clinking together as he moves.

As the two conversed, you drowned them out, becoming focused on counting just how many of these strange bracelets are stacked on this man's arms.

Ten. You had determined as he finally turned his attention back to you, extending a large hand out to you.

All you did in that moment was lift your head to meet his gaze, hesitant and unsure about this bizarre man that wears too much jewelry.

"Come with me," The stranger said, voice almost sounding genuinely compassionate for your situation. "I'll help you."

You had taken one last look at your pale, lifeless Mother before accepting Wenwu's hand, completely unaware of what you had just entered into.

Years went by.

At first, they were sweet.

You had a family again.

A Mother and a Father.

But then, your new Mother had been murdered in front of your very own eyes. 

And the long, hard and painful years began.

The man that had saved you, from your own village, had taken a disliking to you, ever since he had returned home that fateful night to find his wife dead on the ground, his two children huddled into a group around her lifeless form, confused and panicked.

But you simply stood off to the side, completely aware that that's what death looked like.

From there on out, the training began.

From sun up to sun down, you were worked as hard as Wenwu's most skilled soldiers - those who returned to help him re-build the Ten Rings.

You were constantly bruised, beaten and cut, but through all of the suffering, you became tougher and more skilled than any of the older men.

However, there was only one person, the very boy you'd spent your childhood growing up with and training alongside, who could match your abilities.

Wenwu decided once to let you and his son spar - with the objective to render the other unconscious.

But neither of you could do it.