Work Text:
When given an order, members of the Ten Rings were expected to follow them to the last letter, no matter what struggles they may face; no matter whose lives they take. Wenwu had ordered for his men to retrieve the pendants his children had been given by their mother many years ago. He instructed them to stop at nothing to obtain these.
Shang-Chi had never expected for the Ten Rings to find him. After a decade of being free of his father, he had thought that he would never see the man, or his armies again. He had begun to move on with his life, he changed his name, went to college and he met a girl, (Y/N).
“Are you even paying attention to me?” (Y/N) asked, looking at he boyfriend who seemed to be distracted.
Katy laughed, “When does he ever?”
At the girls’ laughter, Shang-Chi seemed to snap out of his frozen state. “Hmm?”
His confusion at the situation, seemed to set (Y/N) and Katy off giggling again. They always seemed to team up on him. (Y/N) laughter was the last thing he heard before a man approached the three of them, demanding for his pendant. Two other men dawdled behind him, waiting to see what would happen next.
As he moved to confront the man, his arms were taken, restraining him. “I don’t want any trouble,” He said in his native tongue.
“Then give us the pendant.”
Katy went to say something, but (Y/N) pulled her back as Shang-Chi moved forward, landing a punch on the guy’s chest, knocking him down the bus. After checking on his girls, he launched himself back to fight the other guys.
(Y/N) was in shock. Her boyfriend, whom she had known for many years, began battling these men like it was second nature. How could he know this? She knew that wasn’t important right now as Shang-Chi, or to her currant knowledge, Shaun, was fighting like he had nothing to lose.
Going to stand, (Y/N) felt someone grab her shoulders and pull her back into the aisle of the bus. Looking behind her, she saw the first guy, the one who demanded the pendant holding a knife to her neck.
“I’ve got the girl,” He said, still in Chinese, “Choose, the pendant or the girl.”
All the fighting ceased at his words, he put his hands up slowly, focusing all his attention on (Y/N), trying to keep her alive. He began to move slowly forward, not seeing a fourth man approach him from behind. As quickly as the first fight ended, another one broke out. Shang-Chi began to fight again, only this time, causing more destruction on the bus.
“It seems, my dear,” The first man spoke again, this time in English. He was pressing the knife further into (Y/N)’s neck, keeping his hand steady although the bus was being shaken back and forth, “your time is up.”
It only took a second for the knife the break skin, and blood to start pouring for her neck. The last thing she heard was Katy’s cries for Shang-Chi to stop fighting and go to her.
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It was nearly two weeks later when (Y/N) was finally put to rest. She had no family, so Shang-Chi had organised a funeral. He grave was underneath the tree where they had their first date.
Shang-Chi had many bad days in his lifetime, and he knew that now he had the ten rings in his possession, he would have many more bad days to follow. But the day the (Y/N) died, that day would always be the worst.