The Last Chance

27. I Killed Her!

Po had no idea where he should go, but he followed his instinct and hoped it wouldn't be wrong. Quickly, he looked around and stopped.
"Hey, why am I running behind him?" he muttered to himself. "Let him go."
He struck himself in the face. "No. That's not right. Yes. It's right. No..."
"Panda."
"AHH!" Po whirled around and froze.
"Oh... ehm..." The panda relaxed at the sight of the old goat.
"You are confused, aren't you?" she asked.
"Why... did you see him?"
The goat sighed and pointed with her walking cane in a direction.
Po nodded and waved with his paw. "Thanks..."
"Panda."
Po stopped again. "What?"
"Be warned," she said. "Don't let you deceive. His mind is full of false and broken memories. Don't break him completely. Show him the light of a life."
Po stood there and scratched his head. "Okayyy. What shall I do?"
"Just don't be like him he did."
"Did what?"
"Walk and you will see."
Po wanted to ask something, but the goat was walking away.

In Shen's heard, there was still a fire. The peacock stood still and tried to order his thoughts.
Suddenly, he heard steps, which walked in his direction. Shen closed and opened his eyes slowly.
"Why don't you give up, panda?"
The lord raised his wing, and the panda stood still.
"I wanted to have clear circumstances, " Po said firmly.
He couldn't see Shen's face, but the corner of his beak moved to a smiling.
"That's what I thought about the same time."
With these words, the lord turned around slowly. Po stood a few meters away and looked up at the lord, who stood on a little hill. The lord folded together his grown again finger feathers and looked at the panda with portentous calmness.
"You wanted to know what happened that night?"
"What night?" Po remembered. "Oh, that night."
The lord narrowed his eyes. "Indeed."
He looked at the sky. "It was dark. And cold. But the fire of the burning houses chased it off very fast."
"What? The pandas?"
Shen sighed annoyed. "The coldness."
"Oh, okay."
"Yes, yes," the lord muttered and walked slowly over the grass. "I remember. There was a little panda sitting in front of a house."
Po's eyes dilated. Did he really remember?
"Such a little, cute panda, which I didn't need in my life." Shen laughed hoarsely. "I ordered my soldiers to take you away - forever."
Po saw shadows in front of his eyes. The wolves who jumped at him. But suddenly...
Shen stopped and snorted. "Such a stupid fat panda, who made a stand against my order."
"Run away with our son!" the big panda cried.
The lord opened his caudate. "Kill them all!"
"I had to give that boldface a lesson. He fought like an absolute beginner." Shen snorted contemptuously, but his voice remained calm. "Oh, yes, he fell into a burning house. What a bad death."
A cold smile formed the peacock's beak until his eyes wandered back at Po. "And you, little panda. It's a mystery for me, how you survived. A nice little miracle, which became my doom."
He swung his dark gray robe. Po flinched. But Shen didn't attack him, and continued: "Your mother was such a naive creature and ran away."
"Wait a sec," Po interrupted. "How do you know, that she was my mother?"
Shen lifted his nose and grinned. "I saw it in your eyes. The same eyes which I looked inside, before I killed her."
The lord amused himself about Po's shocked face.
"She really thought I would spare her. She begged for mercy. A creature who threatened my life. How naive can somebody be?"
Po stepped back. Shen came closer. Po said nothing.
"Oh, little panda," Shen said with a soft voice. "So much sadness in your eyes? Are you afraid?"
He reached out his wing and grabbed the panda's arm. He dug his finger feathers in his fur with force that it hurt a little. Po cried. Suddenly, the lord's claw was on his arm. Shen smiled maliciously.
"Blood can be such a beautiful color in snow," Shen whispered. "Like my red in my snow-white feathers."
He laughed quietly. The panda looked at him with a speechless opened mouth. Shen turned around suddenly and raised his wings in a noble way.
"Yes, I killed her!" he screamed. His eyes were wide opened. Nearly insane. "I killed her with pleasure!"
He chuckled hoarsely. But immediately, he sobered down and looked at Po with a hard expression.
"And I regret nothing!"
Po didn't know what to say, but Shen did.
"Now... kill me." He opened his wings like he would wait for an arrow in his chest. "I'm standing here! The murderer of your mother!"
Po didn't move. In the moonlight, the lord stood there like an angel, but an angel of death, who revealed his sins. The lord raised his wings higher.
"Do you need a helping hand?"
Something long and sharp blinked in the moon light.
"I've taken the liberty of taking that."
He threw the knife on the floor where it came to a hold with a clinking sound.
"I'm in your hands."
Po stared down at the knife.
"What are you waiting for?" Shen became impatient. "Fulfill your destiny, Dragon Warrior. Let's settle our war."
With slow movements, Po picked up the knife, but he still didn't move his feet.
Shen's eyes began to twitch.
Suddenly, Shen jumped at the panda. Po fell backward, but he stood up again. Before Shen could attack him again, Po leaned forward and sent the peacock flying on his back and fixed him on the ground.
Shen panted, but he smiled. A venomous smile on dark beak lips.
"Do you want to do, what you wanted to do the whole time?"
Po winced. The knife was still in his right paw. Shen focused it and nodded at him.
"Do it. It's not difficult."
With that the lord grasped the panda's paw and led the knife over his chest.
"Just one push to satisfy your pain. Yes, it will heal your pain. Better than knowledge."
The peacock lowered the blade and placed it directly on his chest over his heart.
"It's so easy."
Shen relaxed his body. He kept the eye contact.
"So easy." He laughed hoarsely. "Like I did to your mother."
The lord closed his eyes. He was ready to fulfill his destiny, like he called it.
For several seconds, nothing happened. Shen opened his eyelids a few millimeters.
The panda pushed the knife forward. Shen's eyes squinted. He heard that the knife ram into something, but he didn't feel pain. The lord opened his eyes again. Po had run the knife into the earth next to the lord.
"What are you doing?!" the lord screamed more threatening than confused.
Po didn't answer. He stood up and walked away slowly. Shen rose up quickly. He grabbed the knife and threw it at the panda. Suddenly, Po turned around, raised his paws and the knife flew through the air and got stuck in a tree.
Speechlessly, Shen stared at it. His eyes wandered back at Po, who stood there with strained posture.
"You made a big mistake," Po began with dark voice. "But that were you. And I'm Po. And I'm not like you."
Shen trembled. "Don't you want to revenge your parents? They are crying for that!"
"Like your parents do?"
Shen froze.
"After that, my parents will never return," Po continued. "Even not yours."
Shen gasped for air. These words cut his soul very deeply.
Po raised his empty paws.
"Your life isn't in my hands. It is in your hands."
With that, he turned around again and wanted to go away. Shen looked after him. He swallowed several times. Suddenly, he swung himself in front of the panda and cut his way.
"Pick up the knife!"
"No, Shen. That's something what I will never do."
The peacock stood there like forgotten in the world. He didn't understand the world anymore.
"That makes no sense!"
His beak quivered.
Po narrowed his eyes. "You are the only one who makes no sense. We want to help you. But you don't want it. Why are you so coveting to die? You could make it better."
"That's impossible!" the lord cried. "My way is done! My future has predetermined! You have to defeat me!"
Po stared into his eyes. "That you were banished wasn't because of me or my family. That the cannon had crashed on you wasn't because of me. You killed my family, you made unhappy your parents. I never killed them... It wasn't because of me. I never defeated you alone. You were the one who did it."
Shen took the air with rage and clenched his fists.
Po lowered his face with anger. "Go wherever you want. I will not detain you. Do what you want."
The panda wandered off and turned his back on Shen.
"Why do you let me go?"
Po stopped and sighed. "It's beyond my power to protect you. You are a part of my life. Maybe the last part what I will have about my parents. But maybe it's the best to close with the past. I know where I came from, and I have to know where I will go. Even if I hadn't a good start in my life."
"How can you walk through the life with that shame in your soul?"
"That's the art in our life. It doesn't count where you come from. It's important where you go. The end of the life is the most important last sign what the world will see from us and will keep in memory."
With these words, Po went away and left the lord who stood still. He watched the panda until he had vanished.
His face was like stone. The words echoed through his mind which pounded against his head and his soul. Then he fell back.
No, it wasn't his fault! It was the fault of the panda!
Shen compressed his beak lips. He held his head. So many voices crossed his head. He couldn't stand it.
He covered his face with his wings. Everything became so heavy and hurt his lungs.
The universe was against him. He couldn't find a clear line.
The future, the past, the present... all was so confusing.
He kneeled down and then, after a long time, after so long time, he sobbed.