Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So where do I even start? Well, let’s just go with this.

Hi, my name is Kristoff Torsten Deshawn Bengtsson. A long name, for sure. I know. But just call me ‘Kris’ for short. Everyone else does. Anyway, here I live in the peaceful and cozy city of Toronto, Ontario. It’s not a bad place. In fact, I recommend you come and check the place out for yourself. So what’s my story you ask? Let’s see. 

I was born in Norway, in a small quiet town called Bjørnbæk in the middle of the mountain range. I grew up there until I was 5 years old when, shall we say, circumstances forced us to move out of our home country and over to the Great White North. We moved into a boring little suburban neighborhood house with my two grandfathers; the father of my mom and the father of my dad. Needless to say, it wasn’t a great start for me. Adjusting to a new location, meeting new faces, but I eventually found some astounding new friends. 

There’s Rudolf Stein. Although he is cowardly as he is slow-witted at times, he has a huge heart and he cares for his buddies regardless, even if his awkward clumsiness gets the best of him.

Roar Wagner, another one of my pals, is the most caring person ever. Supportive, observant, smart and always has our backs. And did I mention that he’s an excellent gymnast? Well, he is. The more you know.

And then there’s my adopted brother, Stig. Yes, that’s what he calls himself. Don’t judge him, please. How do I put this? He’s kind of a hothead and a wise-ass. Not afraid to speak his mind, even if it hurts your feelings, and takes shit from nobody ever. A real tough cookie, he is. But underneath every cold, hard shell lies a heart of gold. Stig really cares for me and his friends. And he’ll fight anyone who dares try to harm them.

Together, we’re pals to the end. A sacred brotherhood. But that’s not all my friends, mind you. There’s also the four girls affectionately calling themselves the ‘4*Townies’, because of their shared love for this cutesy boy band called 4*Town, consisting of wildcard Abby Park, caring and smooth Miriam Mendelsohn, dark and mysterious Priya Mangal and last, but certainly not least, the most precious, cutest, prettiest, smartest and most caring girl in the world. 

None other than the one and only, Meilin Lee.

And this is MY story.

Chapter Text

He jolted awake with a gasp and a shudder as his alarm went off, forcing him to lift himself up and silence it. He was about to let himself drift back off into a sweet, peaceful dreamland when he felt a slight unwelcoming chill overtake his body when his blanket got pulled off of his bed and there stood inside of his nearly bare bedroom - with little to none, besides a dresser, a nightstand with a lamp and sleep apnea apparatus, his closet, a desk and chair and finally a poster of his favorite death metal rock band, Nörthfölk - was a goat. A goat with horns that pointed in opposite directions and a black and gray body of fur with his blanket in his teeth and staring back at him with that thousand-yard stare.

"Alright, I'm getting up. Thank you, Gnasher." The boy groaned as the animal bleated a response back. He removes the mask of his CPAP off his face, then he lifts his slumber-heavy body off the bed, taking back the blanket and starting his morning routine - showered, teeth brushed, his long auburn red/brown hair combed and brushed and finally dressed. And not without grabbing his things for school.

Kris Bengtsson, age 14, marched himself downstairs where his two grandpas rested right there on the couch in front of the television set as usual. There was the father of his dear mother, Prof. Morten Bengtsson, who was a college professor of mythology and folklore back at Oslo; a scrawny old man with a small pair of glasses resting on his head and there's the father of his late father, Carl Anderson, a lieutenant officer of the police force; a hard-faced, round, African-Canadian man with a mustache and black hair that was beginning to gray.

"Morning, grandpas." Kris greeted them cheerfully.

"Morning, Kris." Grandpa Morten responded back while Grandpa Carl just 'harrumphed' and waved back. Then the two returned their attention to the screen, which was on the news channel, the only thing they ever seem to watch on television.

"There you are, big man." greeted his mother, Elsa.

"Hey, bro." muttered his adoptive brother, Stig Falkenberg, 14, monotonously sitting at the table, chewing on some toast in his usual listless mood as ever. One important aspect to his character was his apparent love for the color black. He practically wore it like a glove. Not to mention his long, smooth black hair that draped over his shoulders and shielded his eye from view like a final curtain of death. And his clothes were all black as well; the sleeveless black shirt with a green skull on it, black jeans and black converse. And the black shading to his eyes that make him out as a living corpse.

Oh, and let's not forget to include Fang. Who's he, you ask? Well, Fang is Stig's pet green snake. Kris never knew what breed it was, but he just hoped it wasn't venomous or dangerous, though he wouldn't be too surprised if he was since Stig always had a weird fascination for deadly animals that could kill you. Perhaps it was a goth thing.

Now Stig's story dates way back before the Bengtssons moved to Canada. For starters, Kris and his parents were visiting Denmark one December to spend the holidays with a relative of theirs. But along the way, while they were driving down a lone road through the mountains, they happened upon a small boy near a car wreck. That's how they found Stig and took him in. Why he insists on keeping his original surname 'Falkenberg' remains to be known.

"Hope you two are ready for school." Elsa replied as she poured some food in the food bowls for the goats. Meanwhile, Kris was taking his morning medication.

As if on cue, both Gnasher and another light gray-furred goat named Grinder barged in, having another one of their little playful tassels, butting their heads together as most goats do. First off, Gnasher was the tough and strong type. Was like a second parent or babysitter to the boys. Always helped keep them in line and took care of them. Grinder, on the other hand, was a bit more lenient and coolheaded, mostly just following Gnasher's lead.

"Knock it off, you guys. Seriously." The mother ordered the animals sternly while gently pulling them apart while they dove into their food, albeit chuckling a bit while doing so. Their antics still amused her nonetheless.

"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?" Stig bragged as their mother gave him a hard look, though she was pretty used to his snarkiness.

"Just afraid that I'd have to drag your big brother out of bed again." Elsa remarked, shooting the other boy a knowing glance, which then softened up. "Nightmares again?"

"I…..yes." He sighed in defeat, knowing it was pointless to keep her in the dark about this tense subject, let alone sugarcoat it. His mother only gave him a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"Well, please know that if you ever need to talk about it, I'm always here." She told him.

"And us as well." Grandpa Morten called from the living room. "We'd really like to know if our grandson is doing okay these days, especially after-"

When Kris was occupied looking around his bookback, Elsa nonverbally signaled for Morten to stop talking with a look of panic on her face, to which the old man got the message and wisely clamped up.

"Anywho, will you be taking the bus to school today?" asked Elsa in order to circle back.

"Oh, yeah. I got some bus fare." Kris immediately answered, to which his mother gave him a teasing smirk.

"You're only riding it because Mei will be on it, right?"

"Uh…." This caused him to suddenly blush red in the face and she giggled in response. "Maybe. I just like riding with her, is all."

"Oh, riiiiiiight." Stig commented sarcastically. "So I guess I'm riding with mom, then."

"That you are, mister." Elsa replied. "Now get your stuff ready immediately."

"Alright, alright." The goth boy sighed.

"Okay, bye, then. See you after school." Once he grabbed his things, Kris was immediately heading for the door until Grandpa Carl had to pop the most glaring question of all.

"Aren't you gonna be working at the Lee Temple after school?"

This made Kris freeze in his tracks and bring something of a look of unease in his features. Must've slipped his mind.

"Oh, yeah. I sure am. Forgot about that." He nervously chuckled. "Don't want to be late or else Mrs. Lee will get mad at me."

"Why the hell do you even bother working for her at all? When all she ever does is nag you and stuff?"

While his second grandfather understood his reasons for working at the temple to begin with, he cared more about his grandson's wellbeing and self-esteem and was even worried that he was possibly being mistreated or taken for granted.

"Well, I have to help mom somehow. I kinda owe it to her. Bye now." Without another word, Kris was out the door within seconds.

"Hmph. That woman's gonna eat that boy alive." grumbled Carl under his breath.

"Try to be positive, Carl." Morten stated.

"I'm being realistic."

As Kris waited there at the bus stop, while he was excited about seeing Mei again, he was less so about his shift at the temple after school. Long while back, his mother was struggling to find suitable work with reasonable pay to help support her family. He's currently between opportunities at the moment, but long ago, Kris took it upon himself to find a part-time gig to at least offer some support for her until she found a full-time job herself. Employment-wise, Elsa was currently studying to become a nurse.

He and Mei have been friends for two years now. Their friendship goes all the way back to the third grade when his family had just settled into Toronto, making it the first relationship he's ever had in a while since the move and they've been practically inseparable ever since. However, her overbearing, strict and overprotective mother, Ming, made it clear that she did not like him at all. In fact, when Mei first introduced him to her mother when they were still yea-high, Ming only scoffed at the boy with disdain and dragged her away from him, saying that she shouldn't be cuddling up to boys until she was older. Kris didn't understand it at the time because he was so young, but looking back now, it should've been clear from the get-go that Ming obviously didn't approve of her precious daughter associating herself with other children, especially boys.

Of course, this didn't stop them from hanging out with each other, regardless of what her mother said as she was the first friend he's ever had ever since…the incident long ago.

But that's a different story for another time.

The bus finally arrived and Kris boarded it, giving the driver his fare, then looked around the sea of people for a place to sit.

"Kris! Kris! Over here!" called out a familiar voice that the boy recognized almost instantly, bringing a smile to his face.

There she was, Meilin Lee, 13, the young Asian girl with the shoulder-length dark hair held back with a barrette, the large, circular glasses she always wears - which Kris admittedly thought looked cute on her -, the red sweater over a light pink polo, dark blue skirt, leggings and sneakers. It's always a treasure seeing her. Mei was the child prodigy, the mother's little girl, but nevertheless, the smart, confident, driven, nerdy, slightly full-of-herself and proud little Grade-A overachiever and top-performing student in her grade, striving for success and perfection. Although it concerned Kris that the girl just poured herself into her mother's expectations, he always admired Mei's confident energy or as she puts it, 'doing what she wants, saying what she wants, 24/7 365'.

"Hey, Mei!" Kris responded, now suddenly sitting down next to her. His friend smiled back.

"Ready for today?" She asked.

"Yes, and also kinda nervous." He admitted, which made her chuckle.

"Relax, I'm sure it won't be another pop quiz, even though I'm secretly hoping it is." answered Mei, scribbling something down on the paper in her hands. Another one of those crossword puzzles, Kris imagined.

"It's not really that. I mean my shift this afternoon after school." His smile had all but vanished.

"Oh." And so did hers. "It's okay. M-my mom is still getting used to you. She does appreciate your help. She just…..has a funny way of showing it. Just don't let her get to you, okay?"

"I'll try." He stammered.

Keyword was: try.

They finally made it to Lester B. Pearson Middle School after the bus dropped them off. Mei had her violin in her case with her, no doubt for her music class. Before entering, the girl couldn't help but do a little dance as a way to pump herself up. Kris just watched with amusement as she moved her body around rhythmically in a silly manner, then even shook her butt from side-to-side, unaware of her friend standing behind her. Kris gulped and quickly averted his eyes, his face reddening up upon seeing Mei shake her derriere like that.

It's a little known fact that Mei seemed to enjoy gyrating her body in such a way, possibly because of her love for 4*Town and their dance moves. Though, the little man inside Kris's mind had to admit that Mei certainly had a fine-looking rear-end. She'll certainly have a lovely figure when she grows up.

"Alright, let's do this!" She declared with full confidence as she grabbed her friend's hand and practically yanked him with her as she and Kris ran to the school's entrance as Mei burst through the doors as what is made to appear, at least in her head, as a grand entrance.

"Besties, assemble!" She cried then pointed outward with her violin case in her teeth. "Miriam!"

Miriam Mendelsohn, 13, one of the four girls that make up the quartet of girl pals, the 4*Townies; a tall, lanky, tomboyish-looking girl with braces, a green sweater and beanie and a shirt with the word 'SK8TER" on it and she had curly brown hair in two ponytails. Miriam was almost like an older sister to Mei and Kris and was like the mother hen to the group. In spite of her tomboyish interests like skateboarding, she still had some girly tendencies like a particular affinity for boys and boy-bands, specifically part of the reason why she and the other girls make such astounding friends in the first place. The girl was munching on some crackers when her name was called, then rushed over to her buddy, Mei as they cheerfully did their handshake and bumped their butts together.

"Kris, hey!" Miriam shouted, tossing herself onto Kris, bringing her arms around him in a tight embrace and Kris hugged her right back.

"Mir-Mir!" Kris chirped as they broke apart.

"Priya!" shouted Mei.

Priya Mangal, 13, another one of Mei's amazing friends; an Indian-Canadian girl possessing a dark and mysterious aspect to her character, always with an apathetic expression on her face, though she was still easygoing and caring when it came to friends, mainly her girl squad. Although she didn't look the part, Priya was most definitely a goth of her own design. She had a mane of dark brown, fluffy hair, wore black-rimmed glasses and had on an orange-ish/yellow attire; a long-sleeved, yellow collared shirt and light beige pants. She was reading one of her favorite novels,Nightfall (you can probably tell what that's about) when she heard her gal-pal call to her. Closing her book and joining the rest.

"Yo." She droned out in a deep tone that matched her gloomy complexion with an unchanged face, everything about reminded Kris of Stig. That doesn't go without saying that she's probably a more toned-down and chiller version of him.

"Kris." The goth girl smiled a bit at him as she did the handshake with him, too.

"Abby!"

And now onto the fourth and final member of their quartet: Abby Park, 13, a wild and hyperactive young, plump Korean girl. Everything about her just screams party and adolescent destructiveness. Chaotic, aggressive, tough, zany, energetic; the girl was like a feral kitty cat. Cute and cuddly on the outside, but fierce and deadly on the inside. You'd be very lucky not to get the girl's bad side, especially when she starts screaming in her native tongue like a madwoman. And there she was in typical Abby fashion, scolding and ranting at some students in Korean for littering when she noticed her buddies.

"What's up, Mei! Hi, Kris!" She answered, striking a pose before marching over, then launching herself at Kris like a cannonball, wrapping her arms and legs around him like a lifeline. Unlike Miriam, it was a bit more forceful and with her body weight, it was like being hit by a car, causing Kris to almost lose his balance.

"Hey, Abby." Kris wheezed as she hugged the air out of him.

"Chill, Abby. Chill." Mei informed her friend, patting her head while forcing back a chuckle as seeing the boy struggle against the ultimate power of the attack hug, but then Abby finally let him go and the four girls did their signature friendship hand-wiggle together.

"You guys ready to change the world?" Mei asked excitedly.

"So ready." Miriam grinned.

"I was born for this."

"LET'S BURN THIS PLACE TO THE GROUND!" screamed Abby wildly with an almost deranged countenance, making Kris inch backward from the volume of her exclamation. He truly enjoyed the girl's company, but she kinda scared him a bit at times.

"See you in class, Kris!" Mei and the girls all embraced the boy at the same time in a brief group hug, which to Kris, felt like he was being smushed together by four soft clouds. Then they all took off together down the hall before Kris wandered off to find his locker before looking for his own gang. And there was Stig, casually standing by his brother's locker as if waiting for him since their mom dropped him minutes before Kris and Mei finally showed up.

"And lo and behold, his eminence arrives." The dark-clothed boy remarked.

"Yeah, hey, Stig. Mom pack you a lunch again?" Kris remarked back to him, knowing his brother didn't enjoy having his lunch made for him.

"Oh, yeah. I'm gonna eat like a king today." replied Stig sarcastically, then taking on a hard and firm glance. "I got a banana and PBJ. The same old stuff since I can't have lunch money."

"Maybe I can share my lunch with you. Only if you'll kindly allow me."

"If they're serving Boston baked beans or creamed corn again, I'm calling it a day."

"So that's a 'no' on the sharing, then?" asked Kris flippantly. Stig grunted back.

Then passing by a hallway, there seemed to be a small crowd forming by some of the lockers where a towering, round figure stood with two skinnier forms standing with it. Kris and Stig, right away, knew instantly what this meant and they rushed over, squeezing through their classmates until they stood before the bane of their existence: the Monroes, the school's legion of doom, the trio of absolute pain. Melvin "The Moose" Monroe, 15, - the bulldozer, the barbarian, the bully to end all bullies; a large, obese kid with black, curly locks and the twisted face of a wild gorilla - stood tall, proud and tough as intimidating as he could be while hanging from his fist by their underwear in his painful namesake, in a move lazily known as "the Melvin", was his latest victim.

Rudolf Stein, 13, one of Kris's best friends; a young brown-skinned boy of Inuit descent with black, spiky hair, wearing light blue winter garb for whatever reason, complete with the puffy coat, mittens and toque. He was like the youngest sibling of the group. Scatterbrained, cowardly, naive, but lovable in every way. He wasn't a fighter, but he was a lover, which, unfortunately, made him an easy target for the Monroes. The poor guy in great agony as the strongest of the trio held him in such a vulnerable position, nothing more humiliating than the wedgie.

Moose's two younger siblings stood by his side as his partners-in-crime and subordinates. There was Bruce Monroe, 13, a wimpier-looking brat with a hearing aid on his left ear who was like Moose's right hand man and Debbie Monroe, 12, a smaller, skinnier, dirty blonde girl with her hair in bunches. Each of them possessing some injuries of their own from a black eye to missing teeth, a clear sign that these three were just a couple of violent, brawny meatheads who loved roughhousing.

"Ya make this too easy, twerp." Moose cracked with a shit-eating grin with a Brooklyn accent.

"Yeah, twerp!" Debbie parroted with her own wicked grin.

"Ya tighty-whities could use some colah, bah the way."

"Okay, okay, you got me, Moose. Please stop." Rudolf pleaded as he winced in pain in such a high voice.

"You wearin' lady'th underwear." Bruce quipped with a lisp in his voice.

"Yeah, lady's underwear!"

"Hey, that's quite enough!" screamed Kris, ready to put an end to this nonsense. "Put him down! Right now!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" The Moose mocked, pretending to look scared, then turned to poor Rudolf. "Look at dat, Pee-Wee Herman. Ya knights in shining ahmah ah here to save ya! What a moron!"

"Yeah, what a moron!"

"Just put him down, Moose! Or else." warned Kris, trying to be brave for his friend.

"Or what, dweeb? You gonna punch me?" The lumbering brute dared back. "Well, do it, then. Right now! Sock me real good! Give me yah best shot!"

"Pfft. You ain't got the ballth." Bruce taunted.

"Yeah, balls!"

But Kris wasn't too big on violence. He's never been one to resort to violence, though he hated seeing his friends suffer. Stig knew this for himself as he suddenly boldly stepped in, unafraid of the trio of doom.

"Oh, go eat shit, Monroe."

"Whatcha say?!" He hissed, snorting like a bull.

"Yeah, you heard us." Kris smirked, playing along. "Besides, do your parents know about your secret collection of nudie magazines?"

Then all of the sudden, all eyes widened as they redirected straight towards the gallumping giant, whose air of fiery intimidation instantly died down at the mention of his secret shame, his dirty little secret. Even his two siblings gasped in shock and stared at their big brother with surprise.

"That's right. I've caught a glimpse of some mags with pictures of naked women on them along with a couple other things that I probably shouldn't bring up here. I mean, seriously, are you really that stupid to even bring all that to school full of other kids and adults to begin with?" Kris continued on and one, reveling in the horrific look of terror on his Moose's face.

The other students around them all suddenly flew into a curious chatter, some of them giggled a bit while some were expressing their repulse at one of their classmates, let alone Moose of all people, bringing such racy and disgusting materials to school with him. Moose's horror was then replaced with hellish fury as he finally dropped Rudolf on the floor, growling like a beast and marched up Kris, sizing him up and getting all up in his face.

"Youse got some real nerve, Bengtsson. Ya gots no right peepin' into mah personal business!" He snarled and thundered, then gripped Kris's shirt and lifted him up ready to give him a taste of his own medicine, lifting up a huge fist. "Prepare for my power move: the Crunch!"

Everyone around them gasped and backed away a smidge. If there's one thing you don't want to receive from the Moose, it's 'the Crunch', the worst of all beatings. Bruce and Debbie even began cheering their brother on, but before any brutal punishments could occur, the first period bell rang and one of the teachers arrived at the scene.

"Hey! That's enough! Both of you!" Mrs. Leech shouted strictly as she forced Moose to relinquish Kris. "Enough of this childish lollygagging! Get to class now! All of you! I mean it! That goes for you too, Melvin."

"Yes, Mrs. Leech." He sarcastically answered with a faux innocent tone as soon as everyone dispersed, heading off to their classes. Then he gave Kris a threatening glare. "Youse got lucky, punk! But ya won't be next time. Count on it!"

Then the Monroes were gone finally, making Kris breath a sigh of relief. Rudolf picked himself up and rearranged his underwear.

"Thanks guys. I could've been dead meat if you hadn't shown up." He said.

"What happened this time, 'Dolf?" asked Stig.

"Nothing." Rudolf answered instantly. "I just bumped into him and said 'How's tricks?'. Then asked him about his morning."

"You should know better than to patronize the Moose." Kris reminded him gravely. "We all know that guy's like a ticking time bomb. He'll go for anything that squeals and yelps that easily, even on a good day."

Then there came a banging on the locker door next to the three and a voice from inside asked.

"Is he gone yet?"

"Yeah, Roar, my man. Coast is clear." Rudolf assured as he unlocked the door to free their fourth friend. Roar Wagner, 13, was cramped inside of the locker, undoubtedly, by the Monroes. He was a tall, skinny dude with glasses, curly mop of hair, a light shirt, a hoodie tied around his waist and green pants. He was the most athletic of the bunch, so he was able to handle being inside a cramped space for a long period of time. He cared about his friends and always had their backs, like Kris. Kris and Stig then helped the boy out of the locker.

"Wassup, man?" Roar said as he and the brothers hugged each other, then all four of them walked down the hall to class together like they've always done.

"You know, I'm glad you didn't punch Moose back there." admitted Rudolf. "Things would've gotten ugly fast."

"Like hanging from your underwear in front of everyone." remarked Stig sardonically.

"Hey, a wedgie's not the worst thing compared to the Crunch. You'd be a goner!"

"All in all, though, Kris, sooner or later, you really oughta step for yourself." Stig replied. "You keep letting everyone step all over you like a doormat. Like Karenzilla for example."

"Do you really need to call her that?" sighed Kris at his brother's indifference towards Mei's uptight mother.

"That's all it says to me." The goth nonchalantly sassed with a slight shrug. "Think about it, all she ever does is nag, whine, gripe and complain about everything, no matter how trivial it sounds. Thinks she knows everything, is always right and always plays the victim. Total Karen vibes."

"Don't let her hear you say that out loud." Roar joked.

"I'll have plenty to say to her if she ever does." retorted Stig. "Kris is the one working for her. She has no right to be such a b-"

"Hey! No boo-boo words around here." Rudolf silenced him before he could finish that sentence, playfully wagging his finger at him like a scolding parent. "Don't make me get a bar of soap out, mister."

"Ah, shut up, Dolf." Stig grumbled.

Now that we've been introduced to all of Kris's friends, the rest of the school went completely as usual. Mei, like the gamma she was, pretty much excelled at every subject in school, from mathematics to learning French to naming several Canadian cities in different provinces to shredding on her flute. Always coming out on top as the smartest girl in school, earning the ire and some respect from her peers. Some have addressed her as many things, a 'very enterprising, yet mildly annoying young lady', a 'major weirdo', or even an 'overachieving dork-narc'.

That last one being the words of the unwise, nobody other than the little prick, Tyler Nguyen-Baker, the girls' arch-nemesis and rival who is already with the tease and mock them at every chance he has, just because he can. Granted, he wasn't any greater of a threat than the Monroes, but still a real pain in the ass, regardless. And Mei? Well, you tell her and she'll accept and embrace all the labels with zeal. Kris's day wasn't too appealing like Mei's. He did well on his school work, no doubt. It was more about survival for him. Avoiding dangers like the Monroes.

Once school was over, everyone left the building with their things. Kris watched Stig get into the car with Elsa, though he, himself, remained since he still had his shift at the Lee Temple.

"See you after your shift?" asked Elsa.

"Yeah. You too." Kris called back. Afterwards, they drove off and Kris made his way down the sidewalk to look for the nearest bus stop. However, he was suddenly stopped and grabbed by the Monroes, who yanked him into an alleyway close by and shoved him against the wall. Kris was now at the mercy of the Moose, who was ready to pay him back for his deviance in school earlier.

"It's Crunch time, Bengtsson." He grinned villainously, pounding his fist against his hand. All three of the siblings prepared their fists for the wallop of a lifetime and Kris was helpless and powerless against them.

Chapter Text

After checking out the cute cashier, Devon, at the Daisy Mart on her way home from school with her friends, they attempted to invite her over for karaoke, to which Mei politely turned down since she had duties at the temple. But, of course, they knew for a fact that Mei's only turning them in favor of her mother, since it was tough to say 'no' to her to ask to do what she wanted for a change. The girl was definitely brainwashed in being the perfect little girl.

But they let her go for her sake. Though not without doing a dance together while singing to one of their favorite 4*Town songs, then Miriam gave her a music CD of the band's tour in Australia, which she accepted dearly. Then finally the bus arrived, which Mei quickly hopped on. As she did, she hugged and kissed that CD case like a newborn baby, but then she froze and yelped with shock mixed with horror at what she noticed that nearly made her drop the CD in the process. Kris sat there on the bus, completely battered and bruised with some bleeding cuts here and purple bruises there after his less-than-pleasant encounter with the trio.

"Oh, Kris!" Mei rushed over to his side, checking his injuries with concern. Kris winced a bit as she touched his welts. "Sorry. What happened? It was the Monroes again, wasn't it? Wasn't it!?"

"Yes." He replied, revealing a chipped tooth in his mouth, which made Mei even more upset.

"Ugh! Those idiots! Those eggheads! Do they not have any couth?! I got every mind to knock those three into next week!"

Kris was quite touched and flattered by his friend's concern for his wellbeing that he was so tempted to reach over to hold her hand, but he restrained himself quickly, not wanting to make it awkward for them both.

"Seriously, why do you keep letting this happen to you?" Mei demanded as she reached in her bag for her emergency first aid kit, always well-prepared as she was to help tend to her friend's lesions. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? I swear, one of these days, you'll end up getting pummeled to death unless you do something about it."

"They're just messing around. It's what they do." Kris defended weakly and unsuccessfully.

"Kris, look at you." The girl argued, undeterred. "They're using you as a punching bag. This isn't 'messing around', this is abuse. The worst kind. You gotta step up. Stand up for yourself. Starting showing them who's boss."

"Stig told me something similar." said Kris.

"Well, he does have a point, you know."

"When does he never?"

Mei did her best to cover up Kris's black eye and his welts as best she could with her makeup kit before the shop made it to their destination. The last they needed was Ming getting annoyed with Kris's questionable state as she'll probably think customers will assume that he's getting beat up by his boss at work, which would probably make them and their temple's business look bad. So they hopped off and rushed down the sidewalk through Chinatown until they finally made it.

The Lee Family Temple, Mei's humble abode and the place dedicated to the immortalization of their famous and blessed ancestor, Sun Yee. Everything there was red panda themed as Sun Yee was well-known for her love for animals, mostly red pandas. Mei and Kris stopped before the entrance next to the red panda statues of 'Bart' and 'Lisa'.

"Okay, ready for this?" asked Mei before they could go in and Kris nodded. "Just remember to smile the whole time and don't let her words get to you. Alright, here we go."

And upon entering through the double entrance doors, inside the two went towards the red temple. Kris stood back while Mei headed over to the shrine of Sun Yee where her mother was. Ming Lee, the proprietor of the Lee Temple and Kris's supervisor. There she stood in all her dignified and august pride and glory. The strict, high-strung, overbearing, judgmental and prudish woman with her black, coiffed hair, her green blazer and green and light blue-striped qipao dress. Just being in her presence made Kris feel weak and small.

"Mei-Mei, there you are!" The woman dropped her formal and proper stance to check her precious daughter for any possible injuries and damages. Pretty typical of an overprotective mother like her. "You're ten minutes late! Are you hurt? Are you hungry?"

"Uh.." Mei tried to get a word in, but Ming shushed her up by shoving a bao into her mouth from a plate of baozi she was holding.

"How was school today?"

"Killed it per usual." Mei proudly proclaimed, presenting her test sheets, all passed.

"That's my little scholar." Ming gleefully took the tests from her as if accepting the medal of honor. "Today, honor student. Tomorrow, UN Secretary General."

Kris fought the urge to roll his eyes as Ming was just floating around in her own world. But then, she finally acknowledged his presence and her face turned sour. Nothing unusual at all.

"Mr. Bengtsson." She robotically announced as she gently approached him with that authoritative headmistress posture of hers, scrutinizing him up and down and his barely-hidden bruises did not go unnoticed as she gestured to them.

"And what's up with all this, huh? Is this some kind of macho thing with you boys? Huh?" She snidely commented with a frown. "How many times must you beat yourself up just to look 'cool'?"

"I…It's just that I-"

"Oh, nevermind." She cut him off with a hand to the face before he could explain himself, then jabbed a finger to the gift shop, ordering him to the cash register. "Just shut up and get to work. And no hanky-panky, got it? Or else it's going out of your pay."

"Yes, ma'am." He automatically obeyed and rushed over to his spot behind the counter in the shop, pinning his nametag to his jacket.

Mei, meanwhile, watched the whole thing with sympathy and worry. It really pained her on the inside to see her poor friend get bossed around like this, but this was her mother they were talking about. Losing her approval and her love was the last thing she wanted. She needed to do what she could to keep her happy and satisfied.

So afterward, she joins her mother in their prayer to Sun Yee. Then it was time for temple duties, like sweeping the floors and chasing away some dumbshits defacing their temple walls with graffiti. Once the place was in tip-top shape, it was time to let the guest in.

It was just like any other day at the Lee Temple. The same old thing every time.

Every day, folks would march in to check out the wondrousness of the temple devoted to Sun Yee. Instead of worshiping a god, the Lees honor their ancestors, but most notably Sun Yee, their most revered ancestor. A scholar, a poet and a defender of all animals, mostly red pandas for she admired their red, fiery coat and mischievous nature. Every day, Ming would go on and on with Mei dressed up in some ridiculous red panda mascot suit - made of cardboard no less - about how red pandas blessed their family with good fortune and prosperity and that it will bless yours as well.

And every day, Kris would be there behind the counter in the gift shop, ringing up items for the customers, listening to his boss prattle on like that, extolling the once great Sun Yee, their most proud relative to the crowd. Kris was quite good at numbers as helped each customer purchase various red panda-themed accessories and whatnot. And he got along quite well with the visitors. If only Ming at least showed him some appreciation and gratitude for his work performance since the dragon lady doesn't pay him very well. But they weren't the richest family around and plus, it may be the oldest temple in Toronto, it wasn't big or popular enough to draw in that much foot traffic for them to make a sizable amount of cash.

Kris remembers that day like it was yesterday. When Mei offered him to work at the Lee Temple.

(FLASHBACK) One Year Ago...

"Say what now?"

"Come work at the Lee Temple." Mei repeated. "You want to help your mom, right? Well, you can be our cashier. Besides, I've heard you're quite good at money."

"I don't know about that, Mei." sighed Kris. "Your mom already doesn't like me. Even if I agreed to this, there's no way they'll even want me there."

"Oh, come on. It'll be fine." continued the nerdy girl persistently. "I'm sure she'll say 'yes'."

But at the Lee Temple hours later…

"No! Absolutely not!" Ming sternly answered.

"Oh, come on, mom!" Mei begged.

"Mei-Mei, I love you, but there's no way I'm letting some odd-looking freeloader work for us. Especially this one." The mother aimed her finger towards the nervous Kris. "I mean, look at him. He's smelly and improperly dressed and who has their hair like that, anyway?"

"Mom, don't talk like that in front of him." Mei argued.

"Well, I'm sorry, but he probably is. You want to risk scaring our customers away?" Kris looks hurt and offended by her mother's cruel words against him, but he struggles to not let it show out of fear of possibly making himself look bad in front of her. But Mei wouldn't give up so easily for her friend.

"Mom, please. Kris, here is very good with numbers and counting cash." Mei explained, grabbing Kris just as he was about to sneak away and bringing him to a one-arm hug. "He'd make a swell cashier. And plus, he's very desperate to help his mother support his family. Just until she, herself, gets a job. So please mom."

Then she activated her most powerful weapon. The puppy-eye look. Ming looks possibly helpless against the cuteness of her daughter and looks back at Kris, who definitely looked desperate for sure. And she knew that Mei wasn't going to let this up anytime soon, so she finally made up her mind and caved in.

"Oh, alright, fine. I'm not gonna like this, but I'll allow it for you. Mr. Bengtsson, you're hired." Ming reluctantly declared before Mei squealed and hugged Kris tightly with excitement, who then nervously grinned.

"But it's going to be on my terms. You will show up on time and take your place behind the register. You will do exactly as you are told when you are told. You will not speak unless spoken to. You will keep things professional between us at all times. You will not offend, annoy or make any of our customers uncomfortable in any way. Do absolutely nothing that will embarrass us. And you do not screw with me or my daughter or so help me, I will fill your life with misery and pain. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mrs. Lee-"

"'Yes, ma'am'!"

"Sorry. Yes, ma'am." Kris corrected himself.

"That's better." Ming huffed. "Now be here at exactly 6:30 PM tomorrow. No side trips, no going home first, no talking with friends, just right here."

"Okay."

Kris could say it was nice enough for Ming to hire him and allow him to work there, even if she doesn't take the guy seriously most of the time. In fact, she's not afraid to sneak in a few unflattering remarks his way, which only made him boil with rage on the inside. Kris had to keep himself restrained of these negative emotions so as to not get himself fired. He was doing this for his mother. The poor woman was having a tough time supporting a family like theirs. If only his father was there.

But he needed to stay focused and not make a scene. Do a good job, get paid and go home. The very same routine on loop each passing day. And he's only been working there for the past year and although the payment wasn't decent, they could always save their earnings. His grandfather Carl helped support the family with his job as a cop and his Grandpa Morten has been laid off recently. But Grandpa Carl was going to retire soon at some point. Hopefully, they have enough cash by the time Elsa gets that nurse job. Then Kris could maybe look for a completely side gig after that.

"How are you holding up the fort?" asked Mei.

"Oh, uh. Not too bad. We're making some good progress here." He responded uneasily.

"Cool beans. Doing well as usual, that's what I like to hear." His friend said exuberantly.

Unknown to them, Ming was listening in on their conversation as her eyes narrowed and she gave a hard stare. Was her daughter still associated with that weird nobody? It almost hurt her pride to see her perfect and pure little Mei-Mei stoop this low to even choose to be in the same room as that rapscallion. What Mei sees in him, she'll never know. The boy was trouble. He had to be. She just knew it. Every day, she sees him and Mei together and every day, it feels as if her baby girl was slipping further and further away from her and that scared her to death. The thought of her Mei-Mei one day deciding to leave and have fun with Kris only to find out that he had done something unspeakable to her, like rape her or rob her, to even kill her!

No, 'kill' was too much of a stretch. But what if Kris was simply pretending to be her friend just to take unfair advantage of her to hold her back. That girl had her responsibilities, had duties to keep on top of, grades to ace and traditions to uphold. Meilin Lee was the epitome of perfection and Ming had taken every single step and worked herself to the bone to make certain of that. She wasn't going to have her daughter throw her life and reputation away over some boy. She needed to be here with her family. With her mother. And if Kris thinks he can take her Mei-Mei away from her, then he has another thing coming.

"Well, I gotta get back in character. Hang in there, okay?" Mei said, walking away and getting back into the mascot suit. He still couldn't believe she once offered to let him wear that thing. He wouldn't even be caught dead in it.

"So." Kris jolted and stood up straight as soon as he looked to see Ming staring directly at him with that cold look in her eyes. "You and Mei-Mei are getting along well, I see?"

"Uh, I…..y-yes. Mei-Mei's ver-"

"Ah ah ah." Ming cut him off again, raising her scolding finger. "Only I get to call her that. Understood?"

"Right. I'm sorry." He whimpered.

"Mei seems quite fond of you, though I can't imagine why. But I know all your tricks, mister. So what's your angle here, buster? Do you want her money? Do you wish to use her? Do you want her to do your homework so you don't have to? Is that it?"

"N-No."

"Let me set something straight here. Mei-Mei has no time to fool around with those other kids. No time to dilly-dally with juvenile delinquents like yourself. Mei is a very special girl and you are not. You have no business being with her. So as I say to you as I have each day, remember your place here and watch where you step. Because I will ruin your life. Is that clear?"

"Uhhhh…..But I-"

"Yes. Or. No?" Ming demanded roughly, close to losing her temper.

"Yes! Yes."

"Good. Now don't push it. I have my eye on you." After saying her piece, Ming sauntered off.

Kris secretly glared daggers at her back as she left, but still retained his cool as he breathed in and out, in and out, in and out, massaging his face and combing his locks back. It was fine. This was fine. Ming just cares deeply for her daughter and her safety. Surely she doesn't mean to come off as rude or condescending. She's just trying to protect her daughter, that's all. Nothing she says to Kris has to mean anything. But that certainly doesn't give her any right to be mean, mouthy, snobby, haughty, stuck-up, controlling and a complete-….!

No, no, no. Stay calm. It's not worth it. Kris repeated these words in his head like a sacred mantra. But just to quickly get it out for a second, Kris turned, raised a fist to his mouth, bit down really hard and let out a small scream of fury as strained as he could, but kept his mouth and teeth clamped on it so as to keep it muffled and silent so nobody would hear.

Satisfied, he sighed heavily and returned to the cash register. For the rest of the afternoon, people came and went, but after a while, it was time to close the place up for the night. The mother and daughter duo ushered everyone out before slamming the doors shut, both breathing a sigh, exhausted from such a long day of work, then high-fived.

"Come on. Dad's making dinner." Ming spoke and Mei headed over to their house, waving goodbye to Kris before leaving while her mother remained.

As Kris locked the gift shop up, the mother cleared her throat to get his attention.

"So I'll be seeing you tomorrow, I suppose, Mr. Bengtsson." She said straightforwardly. "Don't be late or else. And may I suggest you not show up to our temple looking like a thug this time? Good night to you."

"Good night." He said back, less enthused.

Leaving the Lee Temple, Kris walked all the way over to the bus stop, grumbling, swearing and cursing under his breath. It's been 10 months since he's been working for the Lees, but Kris's been much too tolerant of Ming's crude slander for so long. Eventually, it's going to boil up to a point where it becomes too much for him.

Like for instance: one day when Kris is working the register, Ming would tear into him as freaking usual, then say something that would really send him over the edge. Then Kris would lift up the cash register King Kong-style and throw it right Ming, sending her tumbling to the ground. Then Kris leaps over the counter and proceeds to savagely beat the living crap out of Ming with the register, bashing her head in over and over and over again.

But that would never, ever happen. As resentful Kris is over her, he would never bring himself to cross that line, no matter how gratifying it sounded in his head. Violence is never an appropriate option. He wasn't the Moose.

What would his friends think?

What would his mother think?

What would Mei think?

One quiet, alone bus ride later and Kris found himself back in his neck of the woods. It was just beginning to grow dark the minute he arrived at his house. Before entering his house, Kris had to psyche himself up and make himself smile and make it look convincing. He can't let them see his pain. Not now. He's not ready.

"Hello!" Elsa called as he stepped in. "Kris, hey! So? How was work?"

"It was…..work. The same as always. We, well, they got good business." Kris explained.

"Oh my god!" Then Elsa gasped when she realized his injuries. "What happened to your face!?"

"Was the old lady picking on you again?" Stig retorted as he sat in front of the television, watching his favorite show, The Addams Family.

"Oh, Stig!" Elsa rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me. The Monroes?"

"Yes." He admitted.

"Oh! I got half a mind to go have some words with your principal about this." Elsa raved on.

"It's okay. Mei helped with them a bit."

"And I suspect your shift was no different than school today?

"No, I managed. It wasn't easy, but I managed." expressed Kris honestly.

"Well, I'll take that." His mother, giving him a smooch on the lips and the cheeks. "We're having takeout for dinner. 'Sound okay?"

"Yeah."

Stig was no idiot. He could tell by some intuition that Kris was not okay in any way. But he chooses to keep it to himself. He didn't want to intrude on his brother's personal business. But on the contrary, Stig could relate to what Kris was dealing with and how he was dealing with it. After Elsa helped tend to the rest of his wounds and after watching another episode of The Addams Family with Stig, Kris decided to go ahead and hit the hay.

He climbed the stairs, passed the expressionist painting of a giant tree in the hallway upstairs, brushed his teeth and entered his room, getting into his pajamas, which were simply black boxers and a dark maroon wife beater. As he sat there in his room, he took the time to reflect on his day today. Going to school, getting his ass kicked by the Monroes, another typical afternoon shift at the Lee Temple, Ming Lee insulting him and crushing his soul with every scathing word thrown at his face. It just made him want to just…!

He began whaling on his bed like a maniac, punching his pillow repeatedly like a punching bag at the gym with lightning speed, then began throwing his fists around as if trying to fight an unseen intruder, his fists thrashing aimlessly about while grunting furiously and even fighting back some tears in his eyes.

His heart pumping, his blood boiling, his face heating up and his brain beginning to ache as his eyes stung before finally calming his tantrum down, ending his brief episode. Kris sat on the floor in a corner, unable to stop a few tears from running down his cheek. He took deep breaths, trying to keep him together. But how could he? Every day was a struggle. A rigorous test. A inescapable nightmare of endless agony. Why must he feel this way? Why can't it just end already?

Every day, he would hope something bad would happen to him. Every night, he would go to sleep, hoping to never wake up.

Looking around, he found solace in eyeing his beloved electric guitar and it brought a tiny smile to his lips. But as he turned to face a picture frame on the floor that he knocked down during his fit, there in the photo with his younger self was a man. A tall, dark-skinned man he knew all too well.

Suddenly, it looked like the photo started to bleed. Confused, Kris felt drops on his head and realized that cracks were forming on the ceiling, leaking blood from there as well. He held out his hand and watched dark crimson droplets pour onto his body, drenching him in wet, moist, sticky coating of demonic red. Blood spilled from the walls as more and more droplets of blood poured furiously down onto him like a hellish, biblical rain.

Kris panicked and clutched himself tightly, laying on the floor in a fetal position as he tried to ignore the gruesome sight. And then he could've sworn he heard voices. Angry voices. Overlapping voices. Voices that shouted his name.

"Kris!" Came his mother's voice at his door as Kris froze and gasped rigidly. No more blood, no more voices. Nothing but him in the room. "Everything okay in there, hon?"

"Yeah, mom. Just getting ready for bed. Good night." He said, getting up off the floor.

"Uh, good night." He heard her hesitantly say, followed by her footsteps fading down the hall.

Then Kris sighed, shaking his head before getting himself under the covers, trying to block out any more intrusive thoughts. Kris puts his CPAP on and laid down, allowing the air to pass through his nose and mouth and enter his lungs. It felt so nice.

So cozy, so soft, so warm.

He shuts his eyes. He sleeps.

Chapter Text

𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.

𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘪𝘳.

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.

𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸? 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘮 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯….𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦.

𝘈 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘯𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴'𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴.

"𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬!"

"𝘖𝘬, 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭."

"𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬!"

"𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺?"

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳. 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬-𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦-

𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘎! 𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘎! 𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘎!

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥-𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦.

𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 44. 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘶𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬-𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥.

𝘏𝘦….𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.

𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.

𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘺𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘰𝘯.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴. 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦. 𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦.

𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘯𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

𝘐𝘤𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴'𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧𝘧, 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘕𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥. 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳. 𝘈 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦, 𝘰𝘥𝘥-𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳-𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺.

"𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱. 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱. 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱. 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱."

𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘖𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦, 𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯, 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴'𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱. 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴'𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦.

𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰, 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳. 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘩, 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘺, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴'𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘦𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴…

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴.

An extremely loud clap of thunder woke Kris right up as there came the sound of a huge thunderstorm brewing outside. The sound of the thunder was so incredibly and intensely loud that it practically made the house quiver and shake a tad. Rain pattered down on the house and Kris removed his CPAP for a moment to get up and see that it rained hard outside and a powerful gust of wind blew like a real tropical storm.

But this wasn't something to worry about. He needed to get to sleep. So he returned to bed, putting his sleep mask back on and dozed off.

It was just another average morning in the Bengtsson household.

"Kris? It's time to get up!" His mother shouted up the stairs. But no answer came. "Kris? Hello?"

When there still came no response, Elsa huffed and marched upstairs.

"That boy better not still be in bed. Kris! Get up! Don't make me come in there!" Elsa strongly ordered, now getting annoyed. She wrapped at the door once.

Twice.

Still nothing.

At this point, she was getting really impatient.

"Kris, you're gonna be late for school if you don't you're butt up right now! I mean it!" Now reaching her breaking point, she flung open the door, ready to give him an earful before she stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened.

Looking all around the bedroom, symbols were written all over the walls. Not just any symbols. Nordic runes on every wall, even on the ceiling. And there was Kris, sitting cross-legged on the floor, still in his pajamas, motionless as if he was in a deep trance.

With a marker clutched in his hand. And he was muttering some sort of old Nordic language under his breath.

"Kris?" She spoke, but he still just sat there quietly. Elsa got closer and closer to him, trying to get his attention. "Kris? KRIS!"

Once she yelled his name the third time, Kris finally snapped out of it. He gasped and shook, panting like he just ran a mile and tried to settle his breathing. Then he looked all around his room and was in awe and surprise at what he saw, the same as Elsa was when she came in. Then he saw the marker in his hand before tossing it away.

"Did you do all of this?" His mother asked him.

"Hey, is he up yet? Because I would really like to get-Oh my god." Stig's voice drifted through as he came upstairs and entered the room before he halted his rant to see the runes decorating his brother's bedroom walls.

"What….what happened here? Was is all this?"

"I don't know." Kris stammered with a blank stare.

Elsa decided to drive both boys to school. After getting over what they saw that morning, they had to brush it off for now and try to move on; not let it ruin their day. However, Elsa took a mental note to set Kris up for an appointment with his psychiatrist or perhaps a head shrink for that matter. Once Morten took a look at the runes on the walls, he was quite possibly quite possibly bewildered. He even stated that it was amazing that Kris was able to perform such a feat, much to Elsa's ire.

The silence in the car felt awkward, so much that she had to say something or else she would lose it.

"So did the storm last night scare either of you?" She suddenly asked.

"I love storms. They relax me." Kris answered.

"It takes a lot to frighten me." Stig admitted. "There are only a few tiny things that I'm scared of, not that I'll admit what they are."

"That's fine with me."

As they pulled up to the front of the school. Stig got out of the car with his bookbag and Kris was about to get out, too, and join his brother when Elsa grabbed his arm, giving him a look of concern.

"Kris, if there's something going on with you, I really want to know." She said, pleading with him. "Please. I want to help."

"Mom, I…" Kris hesitated, then sighed. "I just don't know what to do."

"You know you can always talk to me, right?"

"I will, mom. But it's not easy, okay?"

"Look at me." Kris reluctantly met his mothers blue eyes, filled with a serious flare. "If it's because of Mrs. Lee, then I assure you, she's only helping you in the long run. But if it gets to a point where you feel like you can't work there anymore, let me know. No one is forcing you to keep working for her. We can always find other side jobs for you."

"I'm good. Really. The job's not even that hard." Her son tried to reason with her.

"It's not about how well you do at it, it's about how you feel about doing it." His mother insisted firmly. "Kris, you need to tell me these things. I'm your mother, understand?"

"I try to, okay? I really try, but it's just so hard." He said somberly. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."

And with that, Kris sadly took the backpack and hopped out of the car, leaving his mother in puzzlement as he walked toward the building. Communication between them on certain sensitive subjects has been difficult at best. Kris could barely bring himself to even bring that fateful day. The day that he's been dreaming about ever since. That's been haunting him day and night. Just thinking about it made him feel sick inside. Every time he tried to talk about it, no words ever came out. Where would he even begin?

Did he not want to worry her? Yes. Did he want to keep making her think he was doing okay? Maybe. But how can he keep it to himself? She's doing her very best for him. But every night, he could never unsee the dead look in his eyes, the sight of his blood on the floor, the sound of the gun firing at him three times until his body fell to the ground. But what about the dream he had the night before? The one where he found that mysterious hammer in a forest? What could that mean? That was unlike any other dream he's had in the past.

For some reason, it felt so real. Like he was actually there.

"Hey, chump, check it out. Someone's stealing your girl." Stig interrupted Kris's thoughts with a snarky tone as he showed his brother a drawn poster he found on the school wall. Kris saw that it depicted Mei and some guy named Devon kissing, saying something like 'Mei + Devon'.

"What the fuck?" He cursed.

Indeed so. In fact, looking around, there were more of those embarrassing multi-colored posters littered across the school walls. Why would Mei suddenly be interested in some guy she's never even met? And why would there suddenly be posters of her making out with this guy everywhere? Kris had a strong feeling that this was the work of Tyler. That weedy little prick must've found out that Mei had some kind of puppy crush on this dude and took the opportunity to make fun of her about it and that made Kris mad.

"Tyler." He hissed, snatching the poster out of Stig's hand.

"Woah, easy there, magilla."

Then Roar and Rudolf showed up, looking equally confused about what the heck was going on.

"Hey, guys. This is weird, right?" stated Roar worriedly.

"I'll say." Rudolf agreed, observing one of the posters next to the water fountains. "Someone's really committed to their art. A real Picasso, if I do say so myself."

This earned him a smack upside the head by none other than Stig.

"Quiet!" Stig growled before tearing the poster off the wall, ripping it up into pieces and tossing it in the trash. "There's nothing artistic about this!"

"Guys! Guys!" They both looked up to see Miriam, Abby and Priya running up to them.

"I see you've noticed Tyler's little campaign ad." snarled Miriam, glaring at the posters.

"Oh, yeah, Propaganda 101 right here." Stig retorted. "How the hell did that little shit even have enough time to make all of these in one freaking night?"

"I have no idea." Priya replied, standing next to the goth boy, resting her elbow on his shoulder. Stig hid a blush when she got this close to him. "That jerkwad is just always ready to make us look like idiots."

"Anyone heard of a copy machine?" asked Roar matter-of-factly.

"Right…"

"You ladies want some crushed testies to go with that broiled Tyler. I'll get the seasoning if you want." joked Stig sardonically and almost sadistically.

"Yum-yum. Sounds delicious." said the Indian girl with a smirk as she and him locked eyes and they both grinned at each other. Roar, Rudolf, Miram and Abby both eyed the two goths with a combination of admiration and unease.

"Do you guys have to flirt so creepily?" Abby cringed.

"Yeah, you scare me sometimes." Rudolf added in agreement to the Korean girl's words.

"Who's Devon anyway?" asked Kris, wanting to get to the bottom of that mystery.

"Devon is this cashier working at the Daisy Mart. We were kinda checking him out yesterday." Miriam explained.

"And dare I say, he's sweating with hotness!" Abby beamed with a devastatingly thirsty look on her otherwise adorable face. "Did I mention he has soft hair?"

"Not now, Abby." Miriam told her strictly as this was not the time to be fawning over him now, especially since Mei was being publicly humiliated at school for crushing on him. Rudolf even eyed the plump, purple girl with a noticeable amount of jealousy. Abby's always been a little boy-crazy and kinda hurts to see her flirt with and obsess over other cute boys.

"Awww."

"I could never compete with him." The cowardly Inuit boy muttered grumpily, crossing his arms.

"Aw, come on, hon. Don't be that way." Abby gave him a reassuring kiss on the cheek and he smiled stupidly. "A growing woman has urges, you know."

"Does Mei even like this guy?" snapped Stig, looking at another poster. "Look at him. He looks like a hobo."

"Pfft. Mei said the same thing about him yesterday." Priya replied.

Kris then turned and looked to see Mei stepping in through the entrance, albeit not looking very much like her usual cheery self. She was now wearing a red toque on her head, covering all her hair. Which was weird. Since when does she even wear a toque? And why would she suddenly be wearing it now?

Chapter Text

"Hey, Mei!" Kris went over to hug her warmly, though she didn't hug him back. In fact, she looked too incredibly nervous and edgy. He lets her go and takes everything in.

"Uh, you okay there?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine!" She pretty much shouted rather too forcefully, but she froze and recollected herself, clearing her throat. "I mean, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Okay, then….?"

Then the two met up with the rest of her friends, who were just as worried and confused as he was.

"Mei!" They all cried.

"What's up, girlfriends and boyfriends?" Mei false-grinned at them, continuing her awkward walk and everyone followed her.

"Uh, what's with the toque?" asked Miriam strangely.

"Umm….bad hair day?" answered Mei nervously, protectively holding onto the red cap like she was hiding something. Which she probably was.

"Looks kinda cute on you." Kris involuntarily spoke.

"Wait, really?" Mei stopped and looked at him with surprise when he said that. The others eyed them with curiosity.

"I mean, not that….you weren't cute before. It's just that, uh…..pffftt." And with that, Kris became a stuttering mess, trying to hide his blushing face from her view. Their friends started to grin and smirk at this display. They've always known Kris had a secret crush on Mei, but never had the guts to speak up about it.

"What's that smell?" Then Rudolf had to spoil the moment when he caught a whiff of something funky. Mei instinctively looked at her underarms and flattened her arms against her sides. "Did you just fart?"

"NO!" Mei blushed madly when he asked before calming down. "That's just…some of my B.O."

"So did you, like, work out this morning?" Abby added as everyone continued walking.

"I got you, girl." Priya said, whipping out some deodorant for Mei, who took it and started smearing her face with it, making Kris look at her weirdly.

"Mei, we need to talk." Miriam started, getting serious. "Tyler's been telling everyone about the Daisy Mart."

"Yeah. What exactly happened here?" Roar asked, adjusting his glasses. "He said your mom went batshit crazy last night."

"Note my lack of surprise." Stig quipped, making Priya lightly smack his arm and giving him a stern look, though he just shook his head in response.

"He even said you were a perv." She chimed in.

"I AM NOT A-!" Mei quickly stopped herself mid-tirade before she could make a scene in front of her friends and the whole school entirely, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Kris even brought his hands to her shoulders to massage them to help sooth her, which she gratefully smiled at him for before facing everyone with a restrained, robotic expression.

"Tyler is an insecure jerkwad." She clarified gently as possible, returning Priya's deodorant. "Words were exchanged. Slightly uncomfortable words were revealed. End of story…"

But then she trailed off when she spotted another classmate walking by them. But not just any classmate; it was one of the goth kids that Stig hung around with, Carter Murphy-Mayhew. Mei instantly started staring at him with those big, puppy eyes, now suddenly drooling over this guy. Kris grimaced even more so than Stig as this brought an unnatural sense of jealousy to him.

"Mei? Hello? Mei!" Miriam snapped her friend out of it, bringing her back to reality. "Why were you staring at Carter Murphy-Mayhew?"

"I wasn't." The bespectacled girl denied.

"Yes, you were." Kris pressed with a frown. "Why?"

"Hormones, what else?" Stig rolled his eyes with his usual deadpan swagger, not even sure why Mei would even go for Carter anyway. "First Devon, now him? Goddamn. Say, did you guys know that Kris drew on his bedroom walls?"

"Wait, what?" Mei and the girls exclaimed, looking straight at Kris, who hid his face.

"Pardon?" asked Rudolf.

"Yeah, there were these weird symbols and runes sketched all over the walls, even the ceiling. Didn't really think he could even do that. And he was speaking in some weird gibberish. I dunno. Probably related to markings."

"What were you writing down runes for?" asked Roar, now curious about it.

"Kris, is there something we should know?" asked Mei, lifting an eyebrow at the boy.

"I don't have a good explanation for it, okay? I don't know what happened. I don't even remember doing any of it."

Stig and the rest eyed him skeptically, unsure of whether to buy into his story or not. It seemed impossible for Kris to be doing something while not remembering it.

"Maybe you were sleepwalking?" suggested Roar.

"Yeah, that could be it." Miriam nodded in agreement.

"Not possible. Was it because you got your ass kicked by the Monroes after school yesterday?" Stig suggested.

"WHAT?!"

"I-I dunno. Maybe." Kris could only come up with, since he was at a loss for explanations.

"Those idiots!" Abby roared with fire on her breath like a dragon that has arisen from its slumber. "God, I really wish I could give those assholes a piece of my mind!"

"Yeah. They're even worse than Tyler." articulated Priya.

"But don't worry. Mei helped with my wounds. Right, Mei?" He asked her. Mei smiled sweetly at him.

"That's no excuse!" Miriam argued. "You really gonna get letting those Three Stooges walk all over you like that? The school needs to call their parents about this!"

"Or have them arrested!" shouted Abby.

Then Rudolf and Roar both hugged Kris tightly with exclaims of worry.

"I can't believe you actually endured the Crunch and lived." Roar said to him. "You're a real hero."

"The Crunch? Really?" Priya deadpanned.

"That's what they call it, yeah." Rudolf nodded. "They give all their moves funny names like the Crunch. There's the Twist-Tie, the Thunder Slam, the Two-by-Four, the 'I'm Gonna Make You Cry to Yo' Mama', the 'You Smelt It, You Dealt It', the Knuckle Hammer, the Tidal Wave, the Thumb Drive, but nothing more terrifying, more insidious and more groundbreaking than the Crunch! Plus, the Moose got me with the Melvin yesterday."

"Oh!" Abby cried with shock and anger.

"Those bunion-brains need a year's worth of therapy for sure." sighed Miriam, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Anyway, have you noticed this yet?"

The sharp-tongued goth boy raised the 'Mei + Devon' poster up for Mei to see and all of the sudden, Mei felt as if the world began to crash down upon her like plaid glass. It was like she had just walked into a waking nightmare. Then she noticed another larger poster on the locker doors and started freaking the hell out.

"No!" Mei ripped it right off the lockers with fierce strength.

"Yeah, Tyler keeps putting all these up." Miriam thundered in annoyance.

"Oh, speak of the devil." Roar pointed toward the little prick who was over there now, putting some more of those incrimination posters up, laughing mockingly all the while as the eight friends all glared towards him with fury.

"Hey, asswipe! Knock it off or else!" Stig roared threateningly.

"Or what, Dracula? You gonna suck my blood?" Tyler taunted back, acting like a vampire, which infuriated Stig even more.

"Not funny, Tyler!" snarled Abby, looking ready for a throw-down.

"Devon, my precious manly man!" Tyler jabbed with a girl's voice, pretending to be Mei making out with Devon.

Kris, on the other hand, looked far more furious than any of them combined. While the others shouted insults and threats his way, Kris felt a somewhat superhuman power coursing through his muscles and veins the more Tyler acted like his usual douchebag self, fueling his rage even further, giving Kris the need to want to punch something. Then suddenly from out of nowhere, Kris sucker-punched a locker door next to him so incredibly hard that it actually left a huge dent in it the size of his fist.

Then he gasped when he realized what just happened. Though, he quickly stood in front of it to shield it from view once the others turned to him with confusion once they heard the sound. Tyler stopped for a brief moment, then eyed Kris with a smirk.

"Oh, no. Is the big, fat homeless guy jealous that Mr. Manly Man is stealing his babe? Huh?" Then he howled with obnoxious laughter, now making the friends angrier and madder and even more compelled to start a fight with the guy in Mei and Kris's honor. Kris blushed with embarrassment, though Mei looked ready to attack Tyler.

"I'm gonna kill him." She snarled, but then, unknown to everyone (including Kris who was looking away and avoiding everyone's gazes at this point), her hand turned into a giant red furry paw, which she covered up, but then grew a furry red tail out of her butt. Her fury turned to fear once this occurred.

At the moment, the boys decided to get even with Tyler once they came up with a plan. Noticing the Monroes further down the hallway, Stig came forward and gave Tyler an exaggerated handshake, confusing the Vietnamese boy.

"Well, I gotta admit, Tyler, my boy. That was pretty funny to be honest." said Stig with fake approval, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe we oughta hang some, ya know?"

While Stig had him distracted, Rudolf took one of the posters off the wall behind them, wrote something on the back of it then handed it to Roar, who rearranged the tape on it then placed it right on Tyler's back, who then turned to face him.

"Yeah, bro. Come here." Roar brought the boy into a huge bear hug, much to his chagrin. Then both Stig and Rudolf joined in on the hug, all three embracing him tightly, purposely invading Tyler's personal space. The girls eyed the scene with confusion and gave each other odd glances.

Tyler finally had enough of this as he shoved all three boys off of him in anger.

"Get off of me, you dweebs!" He yelled. "I'm a man! Men don't hug!"

"Right." Stig smirked, pulling on the boy's sweatband and stretching it before letting it snap against his head.

"Ow! And don't touch the 'band! Smell you later, dorks."

"Bye!" Rudolf waved as the boy left down the hallway, coincidentally in the same direction where the trio of doom were, to which they snickered slyly to themselves about. As the girls watched the jerkwad leave, they saw the sheet they had snuck on him now read the words 'Kick me!' on it.

"You sneaky devil, you." Priya smirked at Stig, impressed.

"But what's that even gonna do?" Miriam had to ask.

"Just wait." Stig only said as they waited until Tyler was just farther enough away from them before calling out, "HEY, TYLER!"

"Ugh, what?!" Tyler groaned with irritation before turning around to aim his impatient glare at them. However, when he did, the 'Kick me' sign on his back was now on full display, allowing the Monroe's behind him, most notably Moose, to catch sight of it.

…..and guess what happens next.

KICK!

"OW!" Tyler howled in pain once he literally got his ass kicked.

At that, all of the friends, sans Mei and Kris, shared a good laugh at seeing Tyler get his comeuppance. It should be known that not even Tyler, coming from a rich family no less, was safe from the deadly wrath of the Monroes. Mei, however, was still trying to hide her fluffy tail from sight. Then she forcefully chuckled as she started inching away from them, still facing them so that they don't notice the fuzzy appendage sticking out from under her skirt.

"Gotta go. Uh, see you guys at lunch." Mei fake-smiled, getting further away.

"Mei?" asked Kris, concerned.

But then without another word to be spoken, Mei hurriedly bolted away to class in a mad haste with her hands still covering her butt. But thankfully for her, nobody saw the tail.

The boys and girls watched her go with dazed and confused silence.

"Seriously, though. Is she okay? What's up with her today?" asked Roar.

"Uh, I think it's a number two." Rudolf suggested with a slight whisper.

"What's this?" The irate Stig held out his fist for him to see.

"A fist."

BAM!

"Oh!" Rudolf cried when Stig punched his head.

"Boys, boys. Please. Not here, okay?" Miriam interjected as she got between the two to separate them, not wanting them to cause a ruckus.

"Yeah, we better get to class. First period is starting soon." Priya rejoined, giving Stig a kiss on the cheek. "See ya."

"Bye!" Abby boldly smooched Rudolf on the lips. "Don't miss me too much!"

"Catch you later." Miriam hugged Roar and kissed his forehead, then took off to go join up with Mei in their classroom.

"We should probably go then. Later, guys." Rudolf and Roar took as well to separate classes of their own.

"Hang in there, Kris. Try not to go crazy, okay?" Stig patted his shoulder, before he, too, was gone.

Kris was in a different class from Mei's, which kinda made him feel a little sad. However, they did share the same class in the final period before school ended each day. As he sat there, he thought about how jealous he felt that his buddies already had girlfriends of their own, while he had yet to confess to Mei his own feelings for her. But how could he possibly bring himself to do so? Her mother already hated him, which made things complicated for him. He just wants Mei to see him as more than just a friend, because deep down, he really liked her. But not like-like, mind you.

Yes, Kris Bengtsson was in love with Meilin Lee. He loved her smile, he loved the way she dressed, he loved her soft, flowing hair, he loved her spirit, he loved everything else about her. The way her hair moved along the wind made his heart flutter. The way she flaunts her savoir-faire with glory and pride gave him butterflies in his stomach. And the way she looked at him with those innocent, wide hazel eyes just made him feel safe around her. But alas, her barking mother would only try to get between them since she hates seeing them together. Why would Ming want to allow her perfect little Mei-Mei to go out with an unmotivated, neurodivergent loser like him anyway?

It really breaks Kris's heart to have to be bossed around, mistreated and berated constantly by the mother of his crush. A woman who scowls with scorn at him every time she sees him. Who readily yells at him, insults him, condescends him, treats him like an underling rather than an employee. Dealing with Moose and his twosome was bad enough, but having to deal with Ming every afternoon after school was worse.

Perhaps by not saying anything at all, Kris would be doing himself a favor. To save himself from getting murdered by an angry mother accusing him of commiting…..things to her little girl.

Just as the teacher came in and began his lecture, Kris just eyed him blankly with disinterest. Perhaps if he could take himself away, it would help ease his boredom. While the teacher yakked away in front of the class, Kris's mind went elsewhere.

He imagined himself in a field full of roses in a wide, open space away from civilization. Then there were cherry blossoms that caught his eye, turning right around to see a large cherry blossom tree in the middle of a clearing. But as he veered closer, that wasn't the most beautiful thing he saw. For resting in the tree on a branch was Mei herself, only looking far more radiant that he thought of her as. Her long hair fluttered against the breeze, she wore red eyeshadow, mascara, blood red lipstick and had on a light pink sleeveless summer dress.

As soon as she saw Kris, she eyed with a half-lidded beckoning stare with a warm smile, blowing some blossom petals over to him, which danced along the wind and twirled around him all as a slight gesture of seduction. Kris took it and drew nearer and nearer and just then, Mei hops off the branch into Kris's arms, allowing him to embrace her lovingly.

Then the couple laid together in the soft, green grass, enjoying each other's company as they stared into each other's eyes. Mei gingerly rubbed Kris's cheek with her soft, warm hand and Kris held a hand to her waist. Then slowly, they were bringing their lips in for a kiss.

Unfortunately for them, their happy moment was about to come to an end. For in the distance behind where Mei laid on the ground before their lips could touch, a humongous figure arose from the horizon. As it got bigger and bigger, the once clear blue sky turned dark and filled with raging thunderclouds and roared and lightning struck, the roses in the field wilted and the cherry blossom tree lost all of its beautiful blossoms, the landscape losing all its color and and all its life.

For there towering about the worried couple was Ming Lee herself, now a massive giantess with an intimidating stature, her gigantic shadow cast down upon the two, fists on her hips and a deep, scary glare on her face as her eyes glowed bright red like that of a demon.

Before either of them could do anything, Ming reached down with a giant hand and scooped up Mei, clutching her in her fist. Mei tried to escape, but it was no use because there was no escaping the fury like a mother scorned. Mei looked back at Kris looking scared and even remorseful as she was lifted up in her giantess mother's hand like an action figure. Then Ming glowered down at Kris, who whimpered and shook before the gargantuan middle-aged woman lifted a foot over him and then brought it right down upon him with the intention of crushing him flat.

Then Kris screamed bloody-murder then snapped out of it. He was back in his classroom. His fantasy was over. Everyone was now staring at him funny, even the teacher. Kris panted and sweated before he excused himself to the bathroom, full-on running out of the classroom and into the boy's restroom to have a moment.

He had to pull himself together. Stay calm and stay collected. Now wasn't the time for delusions. As Kris rested his hands on the basin of the sink, he lifted his head up to see not his reflection staring back at him, but rather a tall, obese man with ginger red hair and beard. Kris yelped again and stumbled back against the stall doors. Then he started slapping himself silly, punching himself even, trying to wake himself up. He must still be asleep. He just needed to wake up.

Looking back at the mirror, the man was gone and he saw himself once more. Kris pants and heavily breathes as he tries to settle his breathing. He then approached the sink and got angry. Then with a growl, he punched the sink, which then shattered into pieces on the floor, to which Kris gasped. How could he have done that?

No. This was not the time. He's seen enough for right now. Now he had to return to class immediately.

He had just stepped out of the bathroom when suddenly a tall creature of some sort dashed down the hallway to his left. He was just only able to catch a brief glimpse of its red fur just as it disappeared from his view. Another hallucination perhaps?

"No. No. We're not having this today." Kris shook his head and returned to class without a second thought.

The rest of the day proceeded as normal.

Normal-ish, to be exact.

The following day after that, however,....less so.

Peculiarly enough, Kris hadn't seen Mei again in school the whole day, which was weird. Not even during lunch. She just didn't show up at all. Mei's never been one to skip school and cut classes. Perhaps she came down with something and had to go home early yesterday?

Highly unlikely. She looked perfectly healthy last he checked.

Either way, he decided to listen to some music to calm his nerves. He put on his headphones, opened up his iPod and played his favorite band's biggest hit song: "Reap What You Sow/Høste det du sår" - Nörthfölk, from their first English-speaking album, The Ghosts of Helheim.

"♫ ~ Shot down from the sky
'Twas the sight before thine eye
Blood, pus and tears rain down
Red crimson that flows
Like a river of hate
In a valley of woe
Mistreated, mishandled
Mistaken, misunderstood
You know what they say

You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
(YEAAAAHHHHH!)

(:chorus)

Rain down from the sky
The hammer of the gods
Arisen from the ash
Blood ready to spill
It may be your last
I get the last laugh

Why must you declare
I am not unaware
Of the hate that you give me
While it's care I give you
As I swing with such rigor
This you should know
If you ever should cross me
Then you reap what you sow

You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
I am not your clown
I am not your shadow
Let me tell you
You reap what you sow!

(YEAAAAHHHHH!-"

Kris stopped in his tracks once he arrived at the Lee Temple and there was Mrs. Lee there, austere as usual.

"Hmph. And here I was expecting you to not show up at all, Mr. Bengtsson." She remarked coolly. "What are you listening to, anyway?"

"Just my favorite band." He answered.

Then Ming snatched his headphones off and placed it to her ear for a listen. Then she scowled with disgust at what she was hearing.

"Ugh! This music is even worse than that delinquent boy band, 4*Town!" She yowled, throwing them back to him. "Who in their right mind would listen to such tasteless garbage? Blasting all that loud, angry noise in their ears? Ridiculous."

Kris fought back a groan of frustration at Ming insulting his favorite music as well as his favorite band. To think she would go so far as to talk smack about his taste in music. Who was she to know anyway?

"So where's Mei anyway? Haven't seen her all day today. Is she alright?" Kris gently asked.

"Mind your own business!" Ming screamed at him angrily, flaring her nostrils and making him jump back in surprise by her tone before she began breathing in and out to chill out, pushing her hair back. "That is a private family matter. Now get to work."

"Alright." He sighed heading over to the gift shop, muttering, "No need to snap at me. Just asking a question."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"Remember who you're speaking to, boy." Ming warned him, pointing a cautionary finger at him before walking away.

Another tiresome day at the temple as usual. Still no Mei around, making Kris more worried. This was so unlike her. To not even be here to help out at the temple with her mother? It was like she just vanished into thin air. It was a pretty slow day today. Not very much of a crowd. Only some people came and left, bought a few things at the shop and that was about it. Ming wasn't even there to give tours for the tourists and talk about Sun Yee. It was just him today. What the hell was going on in that house?

But it wasn't his place to know. Then again, there were times where Ming didn't always give speeches to their customers. It's not like this was a giant city museum or anything.

Deciding to take a quick break, Kris put up a small sign saying he was out to lunch and will be back in five minutes. Ming wasn't around to give him orders, so hopefully he should be good for now. But then overheard voices near a window of the Lee house. Biting back the fear of being seen by his boss, he sauntered over and saw the girls over by Mei's bedroom window. What were they doing here? Don't they know Mei's mom doesn't approve of their presence?

"Kris! Come here! Quick!" Miriam said, ushering him over.

"What are you guys doing here?!"

"We're worried about Mei." Abby explained. "She hasn't been in school all day."

"Mei, it's us. Open up!" Miriam called.

"Guys, what are you doing?! Go away!" Kris heard Mei's scared voice call from inside, but he couldn't see through the blinds.

"Are you okay?" Priya asked. "Tap if you can hear us."

"One for yes, two for no!" Abby shouted impatiently.

"Abby, shut up!" hissed Kris.

"We were so worried." Miriam attempted to reason with her. "We thought you'd died of embarrassment."

"You need pads? I brought extras." offered Priya.

Kris opened his mouth to ask, but his teenage mind flew straight to the only logical source of the Indian girl's question.

"I…I don't even wanna know." He groaned.

"Well, forget that!" Abby shouted, whipping out a flier about their favorite band. "4*TOWN'S COMING TO TORONTO!"

"What?!"

Suddenly, the head of a giant red panda creature poked out of the window just as Abby announced her piece out loud and answered with a voice that suspiciously sounded a lot like Mei's.

And then everyone screamed upon seeing the familiar beast before them and the animal screamed back with its paws high above its head. Then it grabbed all four of them in its arms and swooped them all inside Mei's room.

Chapter Text

As it pulled them inside the room holding them in its arms, Kris's face, along with everyone else's, wound up pressed against the red panda creature's fluffy chest to silence their screaming and quiet them down. Kris had already stopped screaming and was now frozen stiff with shock, but Miriam, Abby and Priya were still scared shitless and still screaming in terror.

"Hey!" The thing shushed them, trying to calm them down. It's voice definitely sounds like Mei's. "It's okay! Everybody be quiet! Everybody, it's just me! Shut up! It's okay, it's me!"

The three girls finally settled down and ceased their screaming and at the same time, slowly they all began to realize that this beast before them really was Mei, since it spoke exactly like her.

"It's Mei! Calm down, alright?" Mei just needed to make sure. "I'm gonna let you go now and you're gonna be chill. Got that?"

Everyone nodded to her and Mei freed them from her fuzzy grasp. Then they all took a moment to drink the situation in and try to wrap their heads around it. Granted, all of this was a huge surprise. The biggest surprise they'd ever seen in all their young teen lives.

Kris himself couldn't believe it either. Meilin Lee, his best friend for life, his secret crush was standing before them all in the form of a larger-than-average red panda. Then all of the sudden, he thought back to when he saw a flash of red fur yesterday at school. It wasn't a hallucination after all.

That could only mean that whatever he saw that ran by him was Mei all along. But how?

"Mei?" asked Miriam with awe.

"Are you a werewolf?" asked the ever-enthusiastic Priya. She and Stig have been watching too many horror movies together.

"No! What?"

"She….is a red panda!" shrilled the hyperactive Abby with a crazed look on her face as her kawaii obsession boiled to the surface due to fluffy animal cuteness overload. She's always been a sucker for all things cute and soft.

"Sick." said Priya.

"You're so fluffy!" Abby's demeanor heightened to near psychotic levels as she slammed herself into Mei's panda body, rubbing her face all over her red fur, which weirded Kris out. He'll never understand how Rudolf falls for a girl like her. "YOU'RE SO FLUFFY!"

"I've always wanted a tail." Priya intoned, playing with Mei's tail.

"Priya, Abby, quit it!" Miriam barked at the two like a stern mother hen.

"Mei?" Kris stepped forward, not even the least bit put off by Mei's brand new otherworldly appearance. Mei, however, looked upset that the one person she cared about even more had to see her in such a questionable state.

"Oh, Kris." She whimpered. "I'm so sorry that you had to find out this way. I was really hoping you wouldn't notice."

Kris, nonetheless, took her giant paw in his hands while Mei blushed from the physical contact. It felt really soft as the boy tenderly rubbed at the fur with eager curiosity.

"So this is why you didn't show up at school today?" He asked curiously.

"Yes."

"How did this happen?" He asked.

"You know, it's just some inconvenient, uh, genetic thingy I got from my mom." Mei explained the best she could. "I mean, it'll go away. Eventually. Maybe."

"You got this from your mom?" Kris asked with disbelief.

"Well, my mom says that our ancestress, Sun Yee, made a deal with the gods or something like that to turn her into a red panda and apparently it's been happening to the women in my family ever since." The nerdy girl replied, but tears started forming in her eyes as the poor girl sat down and began to sob.

"Mei…" Kris consoled, trying to comfort her along with her friends.

"I hate this!" She cried. "I'm slobby! I'm smelly! My mom won't even look at me and now, 4*Town?! When are they coming?"

"May 18th. They just announced it." Abby answered.

"There's no way this will be gone by then!" Mei complained, her fuzzy cheeks stained with tears. "Just go. Go be women without me. And Kris, you should just forget about me."

"But I don't want to." argued Kris. "This is fine, Mei. It'll all be okay."

"No, it's not. I'm a freak!" Mei didn't buy it. "Just….just leave me alone."

Mei went to sit on the floor away from her friends, curling herself up in a ball, even grabbing her toy, Wilfred, for comfort. Kris hated seeing Mei like this, looking so vulnerable and so devastated by her new self. Then the girls all gestured for Kris to go to her and he obliged. He sat down next to her and laid on her body as she sobbed, hugging her comfortingly. Then Miriam, Priya and Abby all started beatboxing until they broke down into dancing and singing to one of their favorite songs by 4*Town.

Though not a 4*Townie himself, Kris nevertheless danced along with them to help raise Mei's spirits and cheer her up. Eventually, it worked and Mei suddenly joined in. Finally their little dance number ended and Mei now felt a lot better since her friends still had her back no matter what.

"Thanks, guys. You're the best." Mei smiled gratefully before turning to her male friend. "Kris?"

"Panda or no panda, you're still the same girl I've come to admire. You're still our Mei. You're still…..my Mei." Kri expressed, once again hugging her furry body. Mei felt so over the moon right now when he said that and couldn't help herself when she picked him up and they hugged tightly.

"No fair! Why does he get panda cuddles?!" yelled a jealous Abby.

"Not now, Abbs." Priya nudged her and the pudgy girl pouted.

Then….POOF!

In a sudden puff of pink smoke, Mei had returned to normal while hugging Kris, much to her surprise. However, her once dark, black hair was now a bright shade of red.

"Mei!"

"You're you!"

"Hmm, red actually looks good on you." Kris commented, lightly flicking at a lock of her newly-colored hair, earning him a blush on her face. Abby, however, looked upset at seeing the cute red panda disappear.

"Is it gone?" She balked.

"For now. But if I get too excited, it'll come right back-OW!" Just as Mei explained, Abby tried pinching her cheek, desperate for the red panda to come back out, making her friend yell out in pain and anger. "Abby! What the he-?! Huh?"

Mei froze in her words and stopped herself when she realized that she hadn't transformed back into the red panda, despite her immediate wave of irritation. This gave her an idea.

"Something feels different." Then the redheaded girl presented her arm to her plump friend. "Abby, hit me."

But instead of pinching her arm, Abby just legit socked her friend in the face, knocking her to the ground. Kris winced while Abby grinned deviously, anxious for Mei to become the panda again, but nothing happened.

"Who raised you?" Kris groused at the Korean girl's lack of restraint.

"You know I have a weakness for cute, fluffy things!" Abby defended.

"Oh my gosh!" Mei shouted with delight. "I stayed calm! Something about you guys, like, neutralizes the panda."

"Aw, it's our love!" Miriam gushed.

"We're like a warm and fuzzy blanket." Priya gushed as well in her own blank-faced way.

"Yeah." Abby said somberly.

"So this means that you got this…red panda thing all under control now, right?" asked Kris gently, trying to make sure that Mei is now able to lessen her transformations.

"It seems so." Mei answered. "This also means I can have my room back. I can have my life back!"

Mei squealed giddily as she tightly hugged Kris, hopping on her feet like an excited child in a candy store and her friends eagerly hugged her back. Then she gasped as a thought struck her mind like lightning.

"No. Even better. You can come with us to 4*Town!" Mei told Kris.

"Yeah!" Her trio of gal pals cheered.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm not really into that. This 4*Town is not for me." Kris stammered out his rebuttal, more into death metal rock than cheesy boy bands. But unlike Ming, he wouldn't dare to blaspheme them in front of Mei and the girls, their number one fans for all time.

"Come on, please? It'll be even more fun if you were there with me." Mei held the Norwegian boy's hands softly and gingerly.

"R-Really?"

"Yes!" declared Mei. "We're all asking our parents tonight. We're making our stand."

"Yeah. You in or you out?" asked Abby.

"Alright, fine. I can never say no to you." Kris sighed as finally caved in. "But are you sure your mom will be okay with this?"

"Gosh, you're right." winced Mei with deep worry, knowing her mom all too well. "I can't just ask her. I'm a furry ticking time bomb!"

"Of awesomeness!" Miriam sang.

"So just prove it to her and she's gotta let you go!" Abby urged anxiously.

"Mei-Mei?" Everyone paused with fright as soon as the voice of Mei's mother called through outside the door.

"Shit! I gotta go! Bye!" Kris whisper-yelled to them as he quickly, but quietly snuck himself out the window so that his boss wouldn't catch him inside her daughter's bedroom when he for sure wasn't allowed inside the Lee household, especially since he's supposed to be manning the register right now, which he had completely forgotten about during his talk with the girls. Then Mei scrambled to rush her friends out of her room as well before Ming could catch them, too.

Kris was back behind the gift shop counter with inhuman speed, hoping and praying that Ming hadn't noticed his absence during the group's little chat and got right back to work, attempting to appear as if never left at all. With minutes flying by, paused for a brief moment to inhale through his nose and mouth, trying to mentally exercise the stress out of his systems when all of the sudden….

ZAP!

His hands sparked, making him jump. He gasped with bewilderment when it happened, though not sure how it happened. Perhaps it's just static? But just at that very second it happened again. Only now his hands sparkled and zapped, electrical currents fizzling through his fingers. The surge of electricity even caused the lights in the shop to flicker and he shook his hands to get it to stop and it did.

This was new. First his friend turning into a red panda, now he was producing electricity with his bare hands? Not to mention his weird strength he had in school today when he punched the locker. What was going on? Why and how was this even happening?

Then a loud slam caught his attention, forcing him to face the steely gaze of an annoyed Ming Lee.

"We're closing, Mr. Bengtsson. Go home." She ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded and headed over to the temple entrance before Ming stopped him.

"Not so fast." Turning him around to face her again, she showed him the 'Out to Lunch' sign he had put up earlier, glaring at him. Kris grew pale.

"You know you're not allowed to take breaks unless I allow it." Ming reminded him, crumbling up the paper and stuffing it in her pocket. "So that's $5 subtracted from your wages."

"I'm sorry. I just got a little bored and lost track of the time-"

"I don't care." His boss snapped, shutting him up. "Your laziness will not be tolerated. Period. Just for that, no more breaks for you. Now good night."

"Oh, come on, it was just-"

"Good. Night." Ming repeated rather pointedly, turned her back to him and walked away without another word.

The boy just sighed and left. Once Kris got a good distance between him and the temple, he grit his teeth and roared with some hardly contained restraint, jumping up and down, stomping the ground and he growled out his frustration before his hands produced more bolts out of nowhere, ending his tantrum.

Kris stopped to look at his hands once more, trying to figure out why they were doing that. He then noticed from out of the corner of his eyes strange oddities like none before. First, he thought he saw the long tail of some kind of giant reptilian beast, then he thought he saw a humongous humanoid creature in the distance as the sky turned red and burnt orange that raised a giant flaming sword of some kind.

Now Kris was listening to a sound.

A sound he couldn't make out where it came from.

The loud, repetitive sound of metal clanging echoing all around that seemed to get louder and louder and louder as if coming toward his direction. But then the final thing that tipped him over the edge was when he saw the same again in his reflection when he looked at the window to one of the stores.

Kris shrieked and ran down the street. Just full-on ran down the street, feeling like he was being chased. He didn't stop for a second and ran all the way home.

"Got any fours?" asked Grandpa Morten.

"Go fish." answered Grandpa Carl.

"Seriously. Again?" snapped Stig with exasperation.

Elsa, Stig and the two grandfathers were playing a game of Go Fish at the kitchen table when all of the sudden, the front door slammed open and Kris slammed the door and ran upstairs to his room. The abrupt noise of the door bursting open and slamming shut, startled everyone at the table, causing Carl to accidentally let some cards fall out of his sleeve.

"Ha! I knew it!" Morten bragged at seeing him caught red-handed while his parent-in-law frowned at him in annoyance.

Stig was about to get up to go speak with him, but Elsa stopped him and got up herself to go handle it herself. As much as Stig didn't show it very well, he was deeply worried for his adopted brother. The mother went to knock on the door and when the boy didn't answer, she let herself in to see her son laying on his bed, covering his face with his pillow.

"Something happen today?" She asked.

"I think someone was chasing me." said Kris.

"Who?"

"I don't know. But he's probably gone now."

"Kris." His mother sat down on the bed with him. He knew that tone. It's impossible to argue with her now.

"It's just…my boss." He said. "It's getting harder and harder to deal with her at the temple."

"Oh, don't I know that." She nodded with a sigh. Then she seemed to have an odd…..nostalgic gleam in her eyes. "Did you know?"

"What?"

"Ming Lee and I used to be friends once." She explained gloomily. "It was way back in high school when I came here to Canada as a foreign exchange student. We were very close. Like sisters, even. We'd share everything together. Secret personal stuff. Favorite singer, favorite activity, favorite celebrity, favorite crush. In fact, that's when your dad and I first met. Ming even dyed her hair bright ruby red that one time. Looking back now, I think it had something to do with rebelling against her mother. But, that's when things had changed for the worst."

"What happened?" Kris realized that Elsa's tone started to turn low and wry.

"After she ditched the redhead look, she kinda started to….distance herself from me." Elsa said, having a bit dread in her heart. "I tried speaking with her, but she kept turning me away. It was like she decided to just cast me aside and it only got worse from there. Whenever Ming would speak to me, it was to make judgemental comments or ridicule me. She just wasn't the person I remembered her as. I'm beginning to think that perfectionist mom really did a number on her."

Then she took a great deep breath.

"And after my semester had ended and it was time for me to return home to Norway, I went to her house to say goodbye, but she just told me never to speak with her again and that our friendship was over. 'Have fun living your wild, crazy and abysmal life', she said. 'Whatever you look for, I hope you find it somewhere else', she said. I…I never thought that my only friend would say something so….cold like that to me in my life."

It now looked like Elsa was ready to cry, but she fought back tears and breathed in again.

"But friends come and go. You can always meet new people, right?" She lamely suggested. "I still had your father with me. But even…that didn't last."

At that subtle reminder of his father, Kris held a distressed look on his face, which he rolled over on his side, facing away from his mother to hide it. Then Elsa quickly cheered up and tousled her son's hair.

"But whatever. Anyway, just remind me if this job gets too much for you, okay. Your grandpa and I are making shepherd's pie."

"Mmm, okay. I like that." He answered. He did love shepherd's pie.

After she left, Kris sat there thinking. Only this time, it wasn't the usual existential, self-loathing or hateful thoughts he usually had whenever he got back home. His mind now went back to his conversation with Mei this afternoon today and the peculiar discovery he's made in the process.

A red panda?

Well, he probably shouldn't be too surprised as the idea wasn't very far-fetched since their family temple is everything red panda-themed. All the decor, the exterior and interior designs, all the trinkets, knick knacks and whatsits they sell in the shop and the statues, Bart and Lisa, outside the entrance. Not excluding the fact that their ancestress, Sun Yee, had a love for red pandas to begin with.

It all made perfectly sense.

His best friend was a red panda.

Chapter Text

….and as our band of glorious heroes sally forth on their quest over treacherous mountains of Ang-Kor, past the murky moors of Bayden Hill, through the misty and haunted forest of Elder Wood and reluctantly across the smell swamps of Bad-Breath Bog, nothing would stand in their way of their destiny.

Sir Sirk Thunderstrike of Nosstgneb eyed his surrounded on his gallant steed, armed with his sword of might. But he furrowed his eyebrows with sheer focus. 

Something was amiss.

“What seems to be the matter, o’ brave Sir Sirk?” asked Nezmareth, the powerful court magician.

“I fear we are not alone, o’ great wizard.” declared the valiant knight as he drew his sword and prepared himself for anything.

Not a single challenge that crossed their path would ever be too great. The three-headed giant, Mo, Bree and Deb, of the East Micmock Barrens were indeed a formidable adversary, but their bumbling overconfidence became their grisly downfall. The beautiful, but carnivorous sirens of the Reflection Pools of Summer Isle may have been attractive and alluring on the outside, but it compared to nothing on the inside. Their seductive songs of temptation were no match for their pure souls. However, their mother, the Giant Sea Serpent, would ensure they rue the day. In the ashen fields of Luc where the battlefields that beheld many-a great wars, there was the white rabbit.

But alas, his adorable appearance was merely a trap. A weapon to lure its prey closer and let their guard, allowing it the advantage to strike and sink its deadly teeth into their flesh. Luckily, our heroes had the Holy Hand-Grenade at their disposal, which helped make short work of the small, but vicious beast. It’s lucky foot would be taken as a trophy of their accomplishment.

But now a new enemy would soon fall prey to the power of friendship and valor.

“What shall we do, my lord?” asked the half-elf warrior, Wigglesnack the Bold, clutching his bow.

“We get ready for anything. We have the element of surprise.”

“Indubitably so, high one.” The ugly, but friendly dwarf, Pimple, agreed. “What could it be?”

“It matters not. Ready yourselves, men.” Nezmereth proclaimed, readying his staff’s magic power.

Dismounting from their steeds, the heroes moved through the thickets with their weapons of choice, ready for another fierce battle to the death. The silence layered the landscape uncomfortably and the sounds of bugs and birds all around only increased their anxiousness, but warriors do not show fear nor emotion. They must brave through every danger, every trial and tribulation until any threat they’ve dealt with meets its end.

“What now, Sir Sirk?” asked Wigglesnack.

No answer.

“My-my lord? My lord? Hello?” He asked again.

Still nothing. Quiet.

Until it came for them. The sound of a ferocious beast of mountainous proportions thundered towards their direction and the heroes braced themselves. Once the beast was within their vision, it revealed itself.

A gigantic dragon beast with three snake tails, four wings, two small bird wings, horns shaped like an upside-down C, with MASSIVE ROCKET AND MISSILE LAUNCHERS ON ITS-

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

“Oh, come on!” Rudolf complained, throwing down his troll figurine.

Kris and the boys were hanging out in their usual hangout, The Heartstone Cafe, a place where folks can buy and even freely play their favorite tabletop role-playing card games like Dungeons and Dragons, Arcana Encanta, The Lords of Decay, Dragon’s Keep and Mazemaster. It wasn’t too big of a place, but there were tables and chairs all around, placed for customers to sit and play their games. They even sold medieval-themed snacks and beverages. On the walls, kiosks, shelves and stands were a bunch of other games to choose from, figurines, action figures and a plethora of other merchandise.

Right now, the boys were playing the game, Onward, with the main protagonists being two elf brothers and there were dozens of characters and avatars to portray. However, there were four of them, so they only selected the ones that best suited them. What is currently going on, you may ask? 

Well, story-wise: the so-called “band of heroes” were on a great and noble quest across the lands of Mykoria, braving dangers and overcoming obstacles in order to seek out the legendary Ruby Heart in order to rescue Sir Sirk’s love interest, Princess Memee, who has fallen into a deep slumber and help save Mykoria from the Lord of Death and Darkness, Rekroth, who intends to spread a dangerous plague and rule all.

Took a lot of teamwork, groupthink and imagination to piece their little tale together. But as of right now, Kris was a little distracted.

“Why do you gotta keep bringing rockets into everything?” demanded Stig, placing his sorcerer figurine down.

“I’m only adding to the excitement. Rockets are badass.” Rudolf defended.

“Can’t Pimple forge any non-modern weapons for us? Like maybe a halberd or a double-bladed staff?” asked Roar with his half-elf figurine.

“This is all fictional. We can do whatever we want.” Rudolf answered with. “And what if we had enchanted bazookas instead, that fire flaming skulls at the enemy?”

“Oh, yeah!” Roar agreed, since his friend kinda had a point. “On that note, perhaps we could have an army of sentient androids with laser eyes?”

SLAP!

“Ow!” The two yelped in pain when the annoyed Stig slapped them both in the face.

“Hate to be that guy, but you two are ruining the medieval setting!” He bellowed. Looking over at his brother, Stig finally took in Kris’s thousand yard stare into space. “Pardon me, my lord. Why’s it gone quiet on the western front?”

Kris snapped back to reality, turning to his friends.

“Sorry, guys. I’ve just had something on my mind.” He explained, grabbing his knight figurine.

“Thinking about Mei again, I see?” Roar giggled teasingly.

The Norwegian boy blushed and was just about to speak up when suddenly, the girl in question came bursting into the shop.

“Speak of the devil.” Stig deadpanned.

“Guys!” Mei rushed over to their table, slapping her hands down, causing everything to shake and knock over.

“Woah, hey!” Rudolf yelled. “Watch it! Us mighty warriors are in the middle of the gallant quest here! That sleeping princess isn’t gonna save herself, you know.”

“Uh, yeah...” Mei remarked discombobulated then turned to Kris. “Hi, Kris. Listen, I really need you guys’s help with something. Have you told them yet?”

She whispered that last question to him.

“Hey, what happened to your hair?” asked Rudolf, pointing at Mei’s brand new red hair.

“I guess that’s a no.”

“What’s going on, anyway?” asked Roar.

“Well, I need you guys to come with me. There’s something you need to see. It’s really important.” Mei responded desperately.

“Why can’t you tell us now?” Stig said.

“I can’t do it here in public.” She argued. “It needs to be somewhere private.”

“Now?!” Rudolf whined. “That dragon with rocket launchers needs to be slayed so that the quest may continue!”

“Why would a dragon have-? You know what, never mind. Just follow me please.”

“Come on, Dolf.” Stig sighed as he got up with his brother and Roar to go with Mei as they all left the store.

Outside, everyone found a nice secluded spot on the outside of the building near the dumpsters. Mei didn’t want anyone else outside of the school to see her red panda just yet. 

“Alright, now what did you want to show us?” Stig asked with folded arms.

“Okay.” Mei calmed herself. “Just promise me you won’t freak out, okay?”

Each of the boys gave their own exclaims of affirmation.

“Go ahead, Mei.” Kris gently urged her.

Then Mei closed her eyes and tried to think of something that would excite her. She’s only thankful Kris could see what she was thinking or else she’d have a heart attack. Then…

POOF!

She transformed into a red panda right before their very eyes. They each had their own reaction.

“Woah! Holy crap!” Roar backed away in surprise. “Mei?”

“Yep, still me.”

“No way!” Rudolf’s eyes widened larger than dinner plates as he curiously and eagerly started caressing her furry body. “You can do that?”

“Yeah. I’ve only started doing it recently.” She confessed.

“It’s some kind of family trait she’s gotten from her mom.” Kris explained to his friends. “Each woman in her family is given the power to become a giant red panda.”

“Wow.” Stig said in a kind-of, sort-of awed voice.

“Every time I feel any strong emotion, I turn into this. Rudolf, please.” Mei began, but then had to push Rudolf off of her since he was getting too absorbed in her soft red fur. Then she calmed herself down once again to poof back into a human.

“If this is what you look like as a giant raccoon thing, I’d hate to see what your mom looks like as one.” retorted Stig.

“First off: red panda. Second off: my mom’s red panda is already sealed away. There needs to be a ritual where we need to lock our pandas away for good.” She enunciated.

“When?” asked Roar.

“The next red moon, which is on the 25th of May.” Mei answered.

“Hey, that’s Kris’s birthday!” shouted Rudolf in realization.

“It is?!” Mei’s eyes bugged open, her shock causing her to poof back into the panda. Though, nobody was too taken aback at this point.

“Yeah. I’m turning 15.” He nodded.

“Oh my gosh!” Mei then wrapped her panda arms around him and hugged him. “Why didn’t you tell me? What are you guys gonna do?”

“Nothing much, just-”

“Mei, your favor?” Stig interrupted impatiently.

“Oh, right.” She sighed, then transformed back to human form. “So here’s the thing. Everyone at school, they really love the red panda and so me and the girls came up with an idea to use that to make enough money to see the 4*Town concert on the 18th.”

“Uh, what?” Rudolf didn’t seem to understand.

“That’s it?” Stig scoffed, already skeptical about her plan. “You’re gonna capitalize this thing so that you can go to a boy band concert?”

“Well, yes! Exactly!”

“Mei, you realize you girls are taking a huge risk, right?” Roar suddenly asked her matter-of-factly.

“What do you mean?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“All I’m saying is that you’re exploiting this red panda of yours and making money off of everyone for a personal gain.” He reminded her warningly. “I mean, are your parents even okay with this?”

“No! That’s the point!” Mei started to flip out, but not transform since she had a controlled reaction. “I asked my mom about it the other night and she said ‘NO’!”

The girl smacked her hands against her face in utter frustration and growling.

“I had put everything together just to convince her to let me go. I made a whole powerpoint and everything! And I had sparklers! And she still refused.” Mei thundered and roared with anger. Roar even put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Sparklers? Wow.” Stig droned, less than impressed.

“So you’re doing all this without them knowing?” asked Kris.

“Of course I am.”

“Mei, I understand how desperate you are for this concert, but we both know how your mother is. If she finds out about this, she will not be happy.” Kris tried to reason with her.

“But guys, you know much 4*Town means to me!” Mei begged them. “It’s really hard for me to do anything I want for a change. It’s always what my mom wants for me. I’m just so tired of being her perfect little Mei-Mei. I wanna have fun. I wanna go wild. I wanna be my own woman! I don’t wanna be perfect! I don’t! I just wanna be……me!”

Mei started to break down in tears, the emotional baggage she unloaded taking a toll on her. Kris watched with remorse. He hated seeing her like this. He’s always known how difficult it was for Mei to have to push and commit herself into living up to her mother’s expectations. How hard it was trying to be herself for once instead of dolling herself up and being her mother’s showdog. And as long as Kris had known her, Mei’s spirit and heart wasn’t in math books or championship awards, but rather in living her life to the fullest and the sound of her favorite music, specifically, 4*Town.

Kris finally made up his mind and hugged Mei and she accepted the warmth of his embrace.

“Okay, Mei. We’ll do it for you.” He assured her comfortingly.

“Really? You will?” Mei lit up immediately, hope gleaming in her eyes as she wiped the tears from them.

“But if you get busted for this-” Stig was about to remark warningly, but Kris shut him down with a knowing look. “Oh, fine. We’re in.”

“I guess so.” Roar shrugged.

“100%!” Rudolf cried.

“Thanks, guys. This means a lot.” Mei smiled gratefully.

“So what do we gotta do?”

Operation 4*Town Shakedown was a-go.

So the plan was as follows: They were going to sell as many red panda merchandise to the masses enough to make money for the girls to go see the 4*Town concert and they're coming to Toronto on the 18th, so they needed to have made $800 dollars for four tickets until then.

Now on paper, the plan only seemed easy enough due to the reception the red panda received from their classmates, but it was going to take a village to make all that merchandise. They were going to need to spend their own free time constructing red panda toys, red panda keychains, red panda ears and tails, red-panda sunglasses, you name it. It felt like Kris was back at the temple, selling red panda items at the gift shop, except he wasn't being nagged, underappreciated or kicked while he was down.

First of all, they needed to take care of Ming first so that she didn’t suspect anything. Easier said than done, but Mei was able to pull it off by telling her that she will be attending mathletes after school each day. And hopefully by some miracle that Ming wouldn’t pick up on anything strange. Next step was to spread the word.

Everyone was to be discreet about it so as to not attract any unwanted attention from the teachers or else the whole operation will be ruined. Using either secret notes or texts on their cellphones, all their classmates were invited to an unused classroom to get a good look at the red panda and just like that, they were all hooked on it like children at an amusement park. Everyone came to see the red panda and buy some of the group’s awesome merchandise, like Stacy Frick, who took an instant liking to Mei’s red panda cuteness, the goth girl that Stig hung out with.

Hell, even that bastard Tyler wanted in on the action, too.

And there was no way they were going to let that weasel-faced douchebag anywhere near Mei. Rudolf even drew the sign on the outside of the room himself proclaiming this thusly; “No Tylers!”.

They even filmed a dance video of the red panda with their video camera. Mei even brought Kris into a solo dance together. As she panda’ed out pulling a soaring eagle move, Kris lifted her up effortlessly with crazed strength, shocking the crap out of their friends. They were having so much fun together selling red panda items, in fact the most fun that Mei’s ever had in her life. Kris could even admit he was having the time of his life. The only problem was keeping Ming off their backs. Rudolf and Abby were on door duty and in charge of taking the students' money before allowing them inside and keeping watch in case Mei’s helicopter parent mother came waltzing into the school to check up on them.

For what it was worth, Kris just felt really sorry for the security guard that had to put up with her every time that woman trespassed on school property just to spy on her daughter. 

As for the merchandise, Kris invited his friends, along with Miriam, Priya and Abby, over to make some more red panda stuff together.

“Oh, what’s all this?” Elsa asked, coming over to the table.

“Oh, uh.” Kris stammered, trying to think of something. “Mei asked us to help manufacture some new things for the gift shop at the temple.”

Yes, that should stick.

“Yeah. Totally.” Miriam agreed.

“Okay. Just don’t let Mrs. Lee know about this or else she’ll bite your head off, Kris.” His mother warned him before walking about, which left some worried frowns on the girls’ faces.

“What does she mean?” asked Miriam.

“Mei’s mom treats Kris like a slave at work.” answered Stig rather unapologetically for his brother. “She nags him, insults him and totally underpays him.”

“믿을 수 없어! That is so unfair!” Abby cursed with fury. “I always knew she wasn’t very pleasant, but to think you’d had to take all of that from her? God!”

“Maybe you’re not properly dressing up for the job.” Rudolf naively suggested.

“DOLF!” Everyone gripped at him sternly as he was not helping.

“It’s for the best.” Kris muttered pathetically. “I need to help my mom out with supporting our family before she gets a job herself. Right now, she’s studying how to be a nurse.”

“A nurse? Wow. She’ll certainly make a lot of money doing that.” Priya said encouragingly.

Both Gnasher and Grinder bleated in agreement who were sitting on the kitchen floor together. Fang was lazing around on Stig’s shoulders. The green serpent had his coils around his master’s neck protectively and snuggly.

“Your snake is freaking me out.” Rudolf shivered when the reptile stared at him.

“Relax, he’s not poisonous.” Stig rolled his eyes.

“How is that any better?”

“Fang is harmless. See?” Stig removed his pet from his shoulders and showed him to Priya. The snake just curiously coiled himself around the goth girl’s arm and she wasn’t too afraid at all. In fact, she smiled and gave Fang a gentle stroke down his body.

“What kind of snake is he, anyway?” Abby asked nervously.

“Ball python.” The goth boy responded. “He’s not very active much.”

“He’s cute.” Priya cooed.

“Cute and deadly.” Rudolf remarked and Abby nodded.

“So, uh, 4*Town, huh?” Kris began, now interested in learning more about this band they love so much. “What is it all about?”

“You don’t know?!” Abby shrieked with disbelief, almost making the boy regret asking. “They’re the hottest, most handsome, hunky boy band in the whole world.”

“There’s Robaire, Tae Young, Aaron Z., Aaron T. and Jesse.” Miriam listed the band members off.

“But they’re called ‘4*Town’ and yet, there’s five of them. Right?” Roar pointed out.

“Who gives a shit?” Stig grunted. “Look, you girls have some nice taste and all, but I know some cooler music from a real band called Nörthfölk.”

“North-what?” sputtered Priya.

“Nörthfölk!” Rudolf repeated.

“Who are they? Are they like a cult or something?” asked Abby.

“Are you kidding me?” Stig balked out loud. “They’re like the most badass Norwegian black metal band that’s ever lived. They’ve first debuted in Scandinavia and have toured throughout Europe since 1990. Made over 14 albums.”

“Black metal?” asked Miriam, making a weird face. “Ummm, wow.”

“Huh, doesn’t sound too bad.” Priya shrugged.

“What are they like?” Abby asked.

Taking a break from their work, Stig brought everyone down into the basement where his bedroom was; his crash pad, his man cave and his little home away from home, whatever you wanna call it. The interior of his bedroom was exactly what you’d expect to look like, given from a rebel goth like him. It was practically loaded with dark, macabre and gothic decor all around, death metal memorabilia, including from his favorite band. And there were large posters of not just of Nörthfölk, but of Stig’s favorite horror movies such as Sleepless Nights, There’s A Man in My House, Cakeman I and II, Black Dahlia: A Lady’s Scorn, Here Comes Krampus, A Massacre on West Ave., Hellmouth Park and many, many more.

His bed was just two mattresses laying on the floor with his nightstand just being a thick cardboard box. His blanket was black with a spider web on it and his bedsheet was grayish-white with black skulls and bones and his pillowcase was black with the picture of Larry the Killer Marionette from the slasher-horror franchise, Dummy. There were a lot of action figures, collectables and other paraphernalia of horror film characters and monsters from those movies and TV shows that he enjoys.

He even had his own television set with a VHS placed a couple feet in front of his bed.

There were books on his bookshelf filled with horror novels and all sorts of gothic literature, a couch next to his bed with a coffee table and a couple of bean bag chairs and finally, Stig had a collection a death metal records, especially those of Nörthfölk along with a record player. Some say it was a bit old-fashioned, but he didn’t care. Stig thought it was cooler that way.

The girls were a bit put off and unnerved by the looks of the boy’s room, although Priya wasn’t too bothered at all. In fact, she thought it looked way homier than the rest of the house. Stig placed Fang back into his terrarium next to another seemingly empty one for a pet named ‘Cooper’.

“Hmm, a lot of interesting artwork for their album covers.” Miriam noted.

“I know, right?” Stig agreed with a smirk while playing one of their songs right now at low volume, of course. He pointed to each band member on their poster individually. “There’s the lead singer and guitarist, Stefan Ingebretson. Born and raised in Norway. There’s his girlfriend, Diana Birk, another guitarist. Then there’s the drummer, Georg Johannessan, the bassist, Hrafn Hjarnarsson, the other guitarist, Lars Piet Plaggenmersch and the keyboardist and lyricist, Marvin Fuchs.”

“Too many names for me to remember, but neat.” Miriam replied. “Though, I think Diana Birk was the only one I got.”

“Dang, they look pretty sick.” Priya commented as she eyed the poster with awe.

“Damn straight.” Stig nodded. 

Then he picked up all the albums to show the 4*Townies.

“Even their albums look awesome on their own. Check it out. Midgard and Beyond. Welcome to Asgard. The Grand and Glorious Valhalla, that’s the double album. A Mystery in Jotunheim, an all-time favorite. In both Norwegian and Swedish. Scuffle and Skimble in Svartalfheim, that one was introduced via BBC. That’s the seminal album. Up Above in Alfheim. Deep Below the Niðavellir. Our Path Within Vanaheim. Classic. Burn in Muspelheim, classic. The Mists of Niflheim, another classic. The Ghosts of Helheim, yet another classic. That’s the top-selling album of all with all their greatest hits. And it’s their first English-speaking album, when they started touring in America.”

“I think I got, like, 3% of all that.” Miriam admitted.

“No offense, Stig, but these names all sound….really weird.” Abby commented.

“Oh, most of them are related to the nine realms of Norse mythology. They’re way into that stuff.” articulated the dark boy. “Ask Kris. He’s a real mythology nut, if you ask me.”

“Well, he’s not wrong.” Kris agreed while laying on his bed. “Our dad was a fan of these guys and he introduced them to us years back. Since then, we have been obsessed with them.”

“So your dad was a rock fan? Interesting.” Priya smiled with her usual deadpan. “What was he like, by the way?”

Despite the music playing over the record player, an eerie and cold silence fell upon both the brothers. Both of their faces turned sour and somber, though Kris looked as if he wanted everything to just devour him up. The girls soon realized the dour atmosphere that enveloped the room and looked at each other with a combination of confusion, worry and curiosity.

“They don’t like to talk about it. It’s a very tense subject.” Roar reminded them with a sad face.

“Oh. I see.” Miriam let her eyes face elsewhere, besides the boys’ faces.

“So who’s that black bear on the covers?” Abby asked Stig to try and change the subject.

“That’s Benny the Bear.” Roar immediately answered to try and forget about the ‘dad’ topic. “He’s their mascot. Well, not an actual bear they own. Just a cartoon character they made up. You know, like Mickey Mouse or Ronald McDonald.”

“Wait, you mean Ronald McDonald isn’t real?!” Rudolf gasped. “I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET THAT GUY!”

“Yes, Rudolf. It’s obvious.” sighed Roar, massaging his eyes in exasperation.

“How would you not know that?” Abby turned to her boyfriend. “What you see in the commercials is just some actor dressed up like him.”

“Hey, here comes the best part here.” Stig shut them both up to circle the conversation back around and turned everyone’s attention to the song playing on the record player and turned up the volume a few decibels. It was the song, "Throw Your Head (and Scream)” from the Our Path in Vanaheim album. Of course, it was in Norwegian, so Stig sang it in English for them.

“...a grip at your legs
Love and lady begs
Air knocked from her lungs
Let the dread taint your tongue
Drown your sorrow
Come tomorrow
Thus begin anew

Just open your eyes
And when you see skies
Just throw your head and scream! 

(SCCREEEEAAAMMMMMMMM!!!!!!) ~♫”

Then all the boys in the room started doing wild electric guitar riff gestures with their hands and began violently thrashing their heads all around, head banging to the song’s final crescendo. Stig’s long hair whipped all around as his head jerked all around, making him look like a true rock star. The girls could only watch with mild bafflement, giving each other uneasy looks.

As soon as the song ended, the boys all ceased their thrashing and hand motions, all posing as if awaiting a standing ovation from the audience. Hesitantly, the girls gave a very half-assed round of applause, still unsure what to make of the loud, shrieking music.

“Anyway.” Stig exhaled, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “Can we all agree that we each have our taste in music?”

“I agree.” Miriam nodded. “I may not be a black metal fan like you, but if you guys like these Nörthfölk dudes, then that’s fine with me.”

“Right on.” The goth boy responded back with gratitude.

“Even though, I praise 4*Town, I wouldn’t mind coming over some time to have a listen to these songs. If you’re interested, that is.” Priya stated honestly, coming closer to Stig and bringing him into a one-arm hug.

“I’d really love that.” Stig smirked and they both shared a passionate kiss.

“Priya! Are you betraying us 4*Townies for some black metal band?!” Abby shrieked with mock betrayal. “Again, no offense.”

“Abby, please. I would never betray Jesse. But Stig here has a style that I just really love about him.” Priya kissed him on the cheek. “He’s my Gomez.”

“And you’re my Morticia.” replied Stig looking deep into her eyes, kissing her hand much like the character did in the show.

Kris rolled his eyes at them. It came to no surprise that they now had pet names for each other based on the two characters from The Addams Family . But regardless, seeing them like this made him feel jealous once more. Seeing them kiss and address each other with cute nicknames made him imagine himself with Mei.

“You know, Kris.” Roar began, sitting next to him. “We’re aware that you have a crush on Mei.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, it’s like, totally obvious.” Abby added, jumping on the bed with him. “We see the way you look at her and the way you speak with her at times. Like that time you called her cute.”

“Don’t bother denying it, pal.” Miriam smirked at him with smug confidence. “Admit it. You are madly in love with her.”

Kris sighed and said truthfully, “Yes, it’s true. I’m in love with Mei.”

“I KNEW IT!” Abby screamed proudly, making Kris wince. “YOU DO LIKE HER! I KNEW IT!”

“Yeah, yeah. We get the picture.” Stig groaned with an eye-roll, pushing down on the plump Korean girl’s head to settle her down. “Look, brother. All things considered, you really oughta start telling her how you feel.”

“And if you don’t, she may be gone and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” Roar explained to him.

“I don’t know, you guys.” Kris sighed sadly. “I really want to, okay? But I just can’t. And it’s not just that I get nervous about it or what she might say to me, but it’s also her mom. She hates me.”

“So?” Priya scoffed. “You shouldn’t let that stop you.”

“How? Mrs. Lee has hated me since day one.” Kris complained. “She hates it when I interact with Mei, she hated it when I asked her if Mei was okay and she hates it when I call her ‘Mei-Mei’. I’m the last person she’d want Mei to fall in love with. She would never let us be together.”

Miriam sighed and sat down on the bed as well.

“Kris, I get it.” She started. “You’re afraid. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid. But the more you hide behind your shell, the more it’s gonna hurt your chances of moving forward. You need to tell her soon.”

The boy knew she had a point, but what would happen if Ming ever caught Mei and him together kissing. Not only would she fire him, but she’ll probably have him arrested or worse, kill him. And Ming has been a constant thorn in his side for as long as he could remember. That woman would stop at nothing to prevent her perfect little daughter from leaving her side. But how could he even begin to say it? His heart tells him to speak, but his mouth won’t allow it.

Whether it’s a fear of heartbreak or pissing Ming off any worse than before since he’s already on her shit list, Kris was definitely afraid. But the skater girl was right. He can’t stay afraid forever. He needed to be brave somehow, sooner or later. Not just for himself, but for Mei.

Chapter Text

Everyone was seated at the bleachers outside during recess, still slaving and toiling away at their endeavors, crafting more and more red panda stuff together, but it was really starting to get boring and exhausting after a while. Each day fashioning their merchandise that passes by feels like an eternity and they're all working their butts off non-stop trying to give the fans what they want and capitalize and monetize their red panda empire trying to get to that concert because every dollar and coin counts.

But all work and no play was carefully extracting a heavy toll on their physical strength and stamina until it just became increasingly difficult to keep up with their work performance. Kris was busy counting the money with Mei while their friends were piecing keychains together, each of them looking ready to collapse from exhaustion at any moment. The boys really wanted to give up, but they were doing it for their girlfriends. To ease everyone’s minds from their tireless labor and help save their sanity, Miriam started checking out the basketball players on the court.

“Check out #12. He’s got delts for days.” She pointed out.

“Forget that. I need lunch. I’m starting to BLACK OUT!” Abby wailed into the air, then slumped right onto Rudolf’s lap, looking as if she just died from hunger. “All this work is killing me, Dolfie.”

“There, there, my dear.” Rudolf cooed to her, gently petting and kissing her head and holding her tightly to enjoy the feel of her soft, plump body in his arms. 

“Shut up, you two.” Stig snapped, looking ready to lose his mind. “Gah! Is this really all we're gonna do?”

“I think I’m getting carpal tunnel.” Priya groaned, leading her head back tiredly.

“No pain, no gain, Priya.” Kris told her.

“Yeah, come on. Chop-chop!” Mei piped up, looking over the money eagerly whilst her friends were desperate to do anything but work. “$5, $10…”

“Girl, relax.”

“Yeah. We’re doing our best.” Roar spoke. “I’m using up my allowance money making these trinkets, just so you know.”

“It’s not enough!” Mei panicked as red panda ears materialized and her hands turned into paws in direct response to her apprehensiveness at the fear that they weren’t making enough cash in time. Kris desperately tried to calm her down by holding her shoulders, but it wasn’t helping.

“The concert’s this Saturday and we’re still a hundred short! I knew we should’ve charged more for photos! Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“Mei, take a deep breath in.” Kris then gripped her tightly, rubbing her up and down to help relax her nerves. “Do it with me. In and out. In and out.”

Mei followed his instructions and copied his actions, inhaling in through her nostrils until her emotions dialed down and finally, the ears and paws vanished.

“Thanks, Kris.” Miriam smiled. “Why don’t you boys go have fun on the court while we and Mei have a little girl time?”

“Okay.” He shrugged and let go of Mei, climbing down off the bleachers with Stig, Roar and Rudolf as they joined the other kids in their warmups before playing a game together. Back on the bleachers, Miriam convinced Mei to slow down and take some time off while they ogled at the boys on the court, fawning over them all like fangirls admiring their favorite stars. Some of the players even began flexing their muscles for the girls, showing off the goods, which angered the four boys.

“Hey, watch the eyes, pal.” Stig warned one of them.

But thankfully it wasn’t the players the girls were observing with admiration, but their boyfriends (and secret crush).

“Looking good, Dolphin baby!” cheered Abby.

“Nice calves, Roar!”

“Give ‘em hell, Gomez!”

“Hey, Kris!’ Mei shouted. “Are you a triangle? Because you are acute!”

Then the girls giggled. Now Kris’s face contorted at that joke thrown his way. Mei was only brightening up the situation, but sounded way too cringe worthy to be funny. Is she seriously flirting with him using math jokes?

“Is she fucking serious?” Stig remarked with disbelief.

But then Kris was roughly shoved to the ground, hitting his face and knees against the pavement of the court as he groaned in pain.

“Kris!” Mei and the girls screamed.

Yes, it was none other than the Monroes with Moose, obviously, being the one to push Kris. They all laughed at the fallen boy’s misery and pain. While the basketball players all backed away from the trio, Kris’s friends stayed by his side.

“Well, lookie heah, fellahs. Bengtsson and his dweebs sellin’ them cutesy red panda toys. What a bunch a’ fags!” Moose retorted.

“Yeah, fags!” parroted Debbie.

“HEY! LEAVE THEM ALONE!” Abby roared with thunderous fury, climbing off the bleachers to come face-to-face with the towering brute picking on her boyfriend and friends.

“Oh, look at dat!” Moose snarked. “Now Steinie boy’s gaht his tubby girlfriend coverin’ his ass. Ya pussy!”

“Hey! I said leave them alone, you…..you……… beached whale!” snarled Abby, her face turning scarlet with rage.

“Oooooh!” The Monroes exclaimed with feigned surprise and shock.

“Cute. Real cute. Whatcha gonna do about it, Pinkie Pie? Huh?” The Moose dared, poking her on the nose.

“Oh, what am I gonna do? I’m gonna kick your fat ass! That’s what I’m gonna do!” Abby threatened, getting madder.

“Pfft, right.” Moose rolled his eyes, unfazed. “Let's see it then.”

“Alright, you asked for it! Take this, meathe-!” Abby raised a fist and got ready to punch that smirk off of his face, but then Moose got the drop on her first as he punched the Korean girl right in the face, knocking her to the ground before she could even land a hit.

“Abby, no!” 

Rudolf rushed to her aid and then other girls rushed over as well. He lifted her up and checked her face for injuries. Seeing her friend hurt, Mei turned to Moose with a glare.

“What? Ah’m not afraid to hit a girl.” Moose simply shrugged nonchalantly. His two siblings laughed along with him.

“Alright, THAT’S IT!” Mei roared like a mother bear about to defend her cubs from the hunters. She panda'd out right in front of the Monroes and pushed Moose to the ground and stared down at him with the most intimidating beast mode look on her face, baring her claws. Even Bruce and Debbie looked scared shitless.

“Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with my friends!” She yelled with a flaming breath, punching a fist against her palm. “If you three idiots don’t leave right now, I swear I’m gonna show you a Crunch of my own! Don’t think I won’t!”

“Hmmph, fine.” Moose shrugged, getting back up. “Ah’ll let this one go. Fah now. Youse got lucky, monkey boy.”

The Moose stared warningly at Kris.

“Ah’ll get ya, next tahme. Count on it.” Moose began to leave with his siblings before turning back to Mei. “And ya tell dat prickly mom a’ yours that ah said suck it!”

Mei glared at the bullies as they took their leave before returning to normal and moving over to the down Abby.

“Are you okay, Abby?”

“I think he chipped my tooth.” Abby winced with a whimper, clutching her aching cheek, tears forming in her eyes. Rudolf kissed her wounded cheek for her.

“Poor baby. Does that help?” He asked.

“Thanks, babe.” And she smiled.

“Ugh! I can’t believe that.” Miriam snarled. “It’s just….the absolute nerve of that guy! Who does he think he is?!”

“Yeah, to the darkness with those demons should they repent their sins.” Priya glowered.

“You scare me in the most alluring way possible, cara mia.” Her goth boyfriend compliment, holding her hand.

“I aim to please, mon cher.” She purred back.

“Why, why, why?” Roar groaned, facepalming with both hands at their unearthly form of flirtation for each other.

“그 형편없고 고릴라 얼굴에 부풀어오른 자루 같은 똥덩어리!” Abby hollered in her native tongue. “One of these days, I’m gonna have my hands wrapped around that thick, blubbery throat of this, choke the life out of him, throw him against a wall and break every bone in his body!!! OW!"

“Leave it, Abbs. It’s not worth it.” Priya told her sternly, pressing a calming hand on the ranting girl’s head, whose fiery tirade caused her bruised cheek to hurt in the process, making her wince.

“How do you put up with this, Kris? Every day! As if dealing with my mom at work was bad enough.” Mei reminded her friend and crush.

“I’m a calm and reasonable guy. It comes with the territory.” He delicately stated.

“Hey, Lee. Get over here.” A familiar voice called Mei over to the bleachers where the little louse Tyler was chilling out under. Mei groaned and rolled her eyes. What could he possibly want right now?

“What is it, Tyler?” She demanded.

“I wanna talk to you, Lee.”

“What are you doing under there?” Rudolf asked.

“Yeah, are you hiding from the Monroes?” Stig jeered.

“Shut up! I am not!” Tyler instantly argued. “Only babies hide from them. Anyway, Lee, I wonder if your mom knows about her precious little Mei-Mei is flaunting the panda around the school.”

“Oh, how dare he.” Roar scoffed.

This struck a nerve in the red haired bespectacled girl who poofed into red panda and charged underneath the bleacher to face her rival directly in the face.

“That’s none of your business!” She yelled, but Tyler held up his cell phone threateningly.

“One more step and I’ll tell her everything. Now put that thing away and hear me out.”

Not wanting to risk jeopardizing their whole operation, Mei reluctantly and begrudgingly turned human to listen. Kris and the boys decided to play a little basketball while the conversed with Kris secretly hoping that Tyler doesn’t say anything to cause Mei to whip his ass or else the 4*Town plan is ruined and Ming will get mad at her and all of them. A furious Ming was the last thing Kris needed right now.

Turns out that Tyler wants to bring her red panda to his birthday party on Friday and wants his party to be a majorly sick one at that. Kris has never been one for parties and neither was Stig. But Mei, on the other hand, her mother would never have allowed her to attend such festivities and she would certainly be pissed off if Mei ever went to one so this would be an even bigger risk she’d be taking. Against all odds, Mei agreed to the boy’s terms and demanded a huge payment in return of $200 to be exact.

Of course, Kris still had a bad feeling about this. Mei’s absence will be noticed one way or another and when and if it will be, things will get ugly really fast. And regarding the fact that Ming was always on Mei’s case about something, that was a tremendously huge “if”.

“A birthday party?” Stig gaped. “Is he for real?”

“What choice do we have?” Mei shrugged. “Besides, he’s offering $200. We’ll go to his place, I do my thing and we’ll bounce. Easy as pie.”

“Will there be pie, too?” asked Rudolf dumbly. “Boysenberry or plum?” 

“What about your mom?” Kris asked. “She’ll kill you for this, you know.”

“Don’t worry about her.” Mei shrugged off. “I’ll just be back before she even notices I’m gone.”

“You sound way too confident about this.” Stig muttered distrustfully.

“Also, Kris, it would be helpful if you were there with me.” Mei walked up to said boy with pleading eyes.

“Wait, what?” He cried. “Are you kidding? But your mom-”

“Will you forget about my mom already!?” She shouted desperately. “Look, it’s going to be fun. Just you and me. And it’ll just be panda time for one hour, no more and no less.”

Granted, Kris still had a bad feeling and he knew in hindsight, things were bound to go wrong sooner or later. All in all, though, a party does sound like fun so he was complaisant.

“Okay.” He relented.

“Eeeeeeeeeeee!” Mei squealed with delight and swung her arms around him tightly in a hug of gratitude. Kris blushed and hugged her back.

“Well, you guys can go without me.” The reticent Stig chided. “I don’t do parties.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll take rain check myself.” Roar added, rubbing his arm nervously. “We’re eating at our grandparents’ place tonight and we’re having sauerkraut and sausages.”

“No thank you.” Rudolf simply said.

“Your loss.” Miriam sighed, but took it regardless.

Kris went home that night to inform his mother of the party and she agreed to drive him there. Stig decided not to go, of course. Come Friday night, Elsa drove him over to the address that was on the flier Tyler had given them. It was a huge place like a mansion. Tyler must come from a rich upper-class family or something to be living there. Anyway, nearly the entire school was at the party. Mostly everyone he knew; Stacy Frick, the goth girl and her peeps, everyone. Thankfully, the Monroes weren’t there. Tyler was undoubtedly too scared of them to want to invite them of all people to his party and Kris could thank him for that.

Elsa wished him good luck and to have a fun time and to call her on his cell phone to pick him up afterwards. Party looked rather swell and superb to be honest. Everyone with their red panda apparel, there was food like pizza, popcorn and candy, the drinks were some diet soda and a few board games to play. The song “Cha Cha Slide” by DJ Casper was playing on the surround sound. Abby, Priya and Miriam were already there, sitting on the couch, but there was no sign of Mei yet.

She probably got caught up in some family matter, most likely. But now this party was starting to blow hard with Mei not being here to red panda this place up and Tyler was getting increasingly impatient and bored.

“Where is she?” He groaned.

The girls were struggling to maintain their smiles and tried coming up with ways to keep the party interesting, like playing Boggle or doing charades. Nothing really helped, because it only made everything more boring. Still no red panda.

But then it finally happened.

Mei’s arrival.

…….which was met with disappointment. Mei chose to come wearing that hideous red panda mascot suit instead of the real deal. 

Kris cringed.

“Yo! What up, peeps?” She grinned forcefully.

“What are you wearing?” Tyler demanded with dissatisfaction.

“Hey, Tyler! Happy Birthday!”

“I’m paying for the red panda, not this garbage! Deal’s off!” The rich boy complained, but Mei was determined.

“Wait! Can garbage do this?” Mei barrelled her way inside and started doing a weird dance move by swirling her hips in a circle. “Come on! Stir the porridge! Come on! Stir the porridge!”

Enough was enough. 

Kris grabbed the girl’s arm and yanked her to the side alongside her friends.

“Alright, what’s up with this?” He demanded.

“Okay, guys, just trust me on this, but…..I can’t panda anymore.” Mei admitted sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“What? No!” The friends shouted in dismay.

“Mei, we’re getting so close. You can’t give up now.” reasoned Kris. “You’ve been dying for this concert.”

“We’ll figure something out.” Miriam said.

“Like what?” Kris looked skeptical.

“I won’t go.” Priya crossed her arms as she declared.

“What? Priya, you can’t not go. Jesse’s your soul mate. Not that you should dump Stig for him, mind you.”

“Then I’ll stay home.” Abby suggested next.

“Abby, no!”

This went for a few more seconds while Kris looked deeply into her eyes. He knew how important this band was to her and he just wanted her to be happy and live her life the way she wanted, regardless of what her mother thought. Mei thought about it for a while and decided that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to panda out one last time before the ritual.

“Just one last time.” She finally gave in. “Hey, Tyler! You want the panda! You’re getting the panda!”

POOF!

“Let’s hear it for the birthday boy!”

Now the party was officially on and everyone cheered before the fun really began. As “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child played over the speakers at full blast, everyone got into the rhythm and danced the night away. The group even cheered Tyler on as he slowly gave into the music and got down to the beat, finally enjoying his otherwise boring birthday party. Panda Mei got to work bringing others who weren’t dancing, like the goths for example, into the excitement whether they liked it or not. And Kris was having the most fun for the first time in his life while dancing with Mei, even doing that dance they did together for their video days ago, impressing everyone with his amazing strength.

The red panda rocked this joint like you wouldn’t believe. It’s too bad Stig couldn’t be there, because Priya would’ve loved to dance with him. But she respected his decision. Tyler was especially having the time of his life as Mei gave out piggyback rides, even Kris rode on her back and pretty soon, lots of kids, her friends included, rode on her back and Mei couldn’t deny that this was truly the best thing that’s ever happened to her ever since she’s gotten the red panda.

After a while, Mei and the gang decided to take a breather from all the enjoyment. Kris and the girls all laid down on the roof together, drinking in the view of the city from here and chowing down on Tyler’s cake, which unsurprisingly had a picture of his face on it, while listening to 4*Town music on the radio. And the best thing about it was they finally did it. The 4*Townies have made all the money they could to afford enough tickets to go to the concert tomorrow.

“Yeah! We did it! We’re going to 4*Town!” Mei cheered and they all cheered along with her, scarfing down their slices.

“Sad Stig couldn’t come.” Kris exclaimed. “He’s never been a party person, though.”

“Yeah, shame.” said Priya. “He probably has killer dance moves.”

They all did their best to ignore Tyler calling, demanding more and more from the red panda girl.

“Dang. He is working you.” Priya scoffed.

“Diva!” Abby shouted, about ready to fling a slice of cake at him, but Miriam stopped her, forcing the girl to eat it instead.

“He is never satisfied, is he?” Kris laid back down.

“Who cares? It’ll all be worth it.” Mei wasn’t too bothered about it, though. Then she poofed back into a human girl. “Tomorrow, we’re walking into that concert girls and coming out women.”

“Literally goosebumps!”

“Hmm. What do you think Jesse smells like?”

“Milk chocolate and wet rocks.”

Mei pulled out her tamagotchi, ‘Robaire Jr’, out and observed him like a mother would a child. Kris had gotten that for her a long time ago as a symbol of their friendship.

“It’s happening, Robaire Jr.” She softly said to it. “You’re finally gonna meet your daddy!”

“And your hot uncles!” Abby joked and they giggled.

Kris took a deep breath and thought to himself before finally mustering up his courage. It was now or never.

“Mei,...” Kris began steadily. “What if you didn’t do the ritual?”

“What?”

“I mean, what if you kept the red panda?” He continued, insisting his case head-on. “I mean, look at you! You’re not the same feather-dustin’, straight-A, goody-goody girl that I’ve seen in, like, forever.”

“Really?” She gasped.

“Yeah. You’re rebelling now. That’s normal for growing teens like us.” 

“But I can’t be like this forever.” stammered Mei. “My whole family would freak. Especially my mom. All her hopes and dreams are pinned on me.”

“But you are NOT your mom, Mei. You’re you.” Kris argued. “You’re Meilin Lee- the wild one, the powerhouse and the cutest girl in the world. Your mom wants you to be something she wants. Maybe it’s time you stop thinking about what she wants and think about what you want for a change. This is your decision, not hers. And I won’t care what you choose. Besides, ever since you’ve gotten the red panda, you’ve changed and you know what? I really like this new you.”

“You…..you do?” Mei looked straight at him with mild surprise as he said that. Her friends eyed the two with curiosity and excitement with a strong feeling of where this was going.

“Yes. If it weren’t for you, none of this would’ve happened.” He said.

“Do you really think I’m cute, Kris?” She asked, brushing her hair back with a smile.

Kris blushed, but he wasn’t going to back out now. She needed to know and she needed to know now.

“Yes, I really do, Mei. You’re the cutest, strongest, smartest and above all, the prettiest girl I’ve ever known. For the first time in my life, you’ve made me feel things. Things I’ve enjoyed feeling. Every time I’m near you, I feel safe and loved. And Mei…”

“Yes?” She coaxed. The girls leaned in for a closer listen.

“I really wanted to tell you-”

“‘Alright, homies, next up is 4*Town. The boys are coming to Toronto on the 25th. So get your tickets now. And check it, they’ll be cranking open the SkyDome and performing under a red lunar eclipse. It’s gonna be galactic, for sure….’”

All movement had ceased.

All the warm fuzziness had instantly vanished within a flash and had been replaced with utter horror.

As they all listened to the broadcast, their hearts stopped and their blood ran cold once it fell upon their ears and they began to panic. How could this be happening? That can’t be right.

No. It shouldn’t be right.

But yet,......it was.

They all turned their suspicious faces in the direction of Abby’s.

“Abby, I thought you said the concert was the 18th.” Mei said with worry.

“It is! He’s wrong! Look! The 18th, Toronto!” Abby argued, wiping out the flier and showed it to them. 

However, there was just one tiny, itty-bitty little error.

“This says Toledo.” Priya corrected.

Yep, just when they all thought it wasn’t too good to be true, it was. 

It was like the world was against them all. As it all drastically turned out, Abby had apparently misread the schedule on the flier and she then flew into a frustrated episode at her mistake, screaming in Korean.

“What the heck is a Toledo?!”

“4*Town is the same night as the ritual?!” Mei panicked even more, her immense stress at the realization caused her to panda out. “No! The same night?! THE SAME NIGHT?!”

“Mei, please calm down. It’s okay.” Kris tried his very best to settle the red panda girl down, but how can she? The concert was actually on the same night as the ritual for when she needed to seal her panda away and not tomorrow like they originally thought.

"No, it isn’t! I can’t miss 4*Town! We worked so hard! But the ritual! I’ll let everyone down!” 

A huge and massive wave of emotions rushed through the poor girl, trying to figure out what was more important.

The concert or the ritual.

“Hey, Panda Girl!” Tyler shouted from below to get their attention. The stress Mei was dealing with was having a huge effect on her as she growled down toward the rich kid.

“What are you doing? I want more rides!”

“Buzz off, jerkface! I’m busy!”

“You want your money? Then get your butt down here!”

“Shut up, you little brat!” Kris screamed at him. “She’s going through a lot right now!”

“Forget your money and forget you!”

“What about our deal?”

“Shove your deal!”

“Fine! Get out of here!” Tyler snapped back. “Go back to your psycho mom and your creepy temple, you freak!”

Now the fuse’s been lit.

Mei growled and snarled like a wild beast. Kris and the girls tried to stop her, but it was too late. Mei pounced on Tyler from the roof and pushed him into the ground, clawing at him like a savage creature, scaring the wits out of the boy. At this point, Kris couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him, even if he’s a total jerk most of the time.

“TAKE IT BACK! DON’T TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY THAT!” She screamed into his face with uncontrolled fury, even terrifying the ever living hell out of all the guests as they no longer saw the cute and lovable red panda they saw in school, but instead, a dangerous and feral monster.

“Mei, stop! That’s enough!” screamed Kris with fright.

“Mei-Mei, stop!”

Oh, no.

As if things weren’t bad enough. 

Mei’s mother had arrived at the party just in time to see her red panda daughter attack a classmate of hers. Tyler was fine for the most part, but had multiple cuts and scratches on him and was positively scared to death. As soon as his parents heard of this, it was safe to say that they were most displeased. Ming’s daughter assaulted their son as the red panda and now they were furious. Ming tried to calm them down and diffuse the situation, but they were not having it. The party was over and everyone was sent home.

After calling his mother to come pick him up, Kris stood by his friends before an incredibly angry and most furious Ming Lee, the most furious had ever seen her before in his life. Here he was with her daughter at a party using the red panda without her permission or her knowledge. Although terrified, Kris knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

“I knew you were trouble.” Ming glowered at them, making them shrink back at her gaze. Even Kris felt his blood freeze up and heart rate slow down. “Putting all these thoughts into Mei-Mei’s head, parading her around. Now she’s lying, sneaking out. She attacked a defenseless boy. You think this is a joke? Do you know how dangerous this is?!”

“We didn’t mean to! We just wanted to see 4*Town!” Miriam defended, almost pleading with her.

“4*Town!? You manipulated her for a bunch of tacky delinquents?!”

Okay, now this was starting to go a little far, even for her.

“No! She wanted to-”

“Don’t blame her! She is a good girl and you’ve taken advantage of her!” 

Then Ming casted her ire onto Kris and he practically shook as the fire in her eyes met his weak and nimble ones. Here it comes.

“And you!! Oh, where do I even begin with you!?” She barked and swore with hate. “I just knew you’d stoop this low. I just knew it! To think you’d actually commit to brainwashing my Mei-Mei with these wretched and sordid ideas! Turning her into a complete deviant like you!”

“That’s not fair!” Kris actually yelled back defiantly. Now it’s definitely gone too far.

“Not fair?! I tell you what’s fair! My precious daughter spending more time with her family and with her own mother who loves her very much and not with smelly, bumbling, freeloading idiots like you with your weird long hair and your goofy clothes and that ugly shirt!”

She raved as she pointed at his long dark brown locks, his long-sleeved jacket and jean shorts and especially his black T-shirt which had the picture of a similarly-shaped hammer on it with sparks.

“I am not-! Mei, you know that’s not true! Tell her!” Kris pleaded for Mei to back him up and defend him from the harsh criticisms and accusations being thrown at him by her mother.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she just helplessly looked at him and pressed her head against her mother, hiding her face from everyone.

And at that very moment, Kris felt his heart shatter into pieces.

“You oughta be ashamed of yourself, mister.” Ming hissed at him, holding her protectively. “Thinking she could ever be your friend. She doesn’t need a retard like you.”

“I AM NOT A RE-!” That’s when Kris suddenly yelled with rage, but then Ming slapped him hard across the face, cutting him off while the girls gasped with shock and terror. 

The devastated boy panted rigidly as he shakily raised a hand to his hurt cheek, looking absolutely broken.

“I should’ve done this a long time ago. You’re fired, Mr. Bengtsson.” Ming jabbed before taking her daughter with her to the car. “And if you ever come near me, my Mei-Mei or the temple ever again, I will kill you. Have fun looking for a new job. Come on, Mei-Mei. Let’s go.”

Mei obeyed and didn’t even look back at her friends, not even Kris. The girls came over to console him as Mei and Ming drove off, but Kris just pushes them off him, too hurt to even accept their comfort.

This was the worst. 

He was just about to admit his feelings to Mei and now she’s chosen to leave him and the girls to take the fall for everything, too afraid of losing her mother’s respect and approval. His friends warned her that this was all a bad idea from the start, but Mei was insistent and now he, Miriam, Priya and Abby have all paid the price.

Elsa finally arrived to pick him up and he miserably entered the car with her without so much as looking at her as they drove back home.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, taking in his sorrowful state.

“Ah………” He shakily began, struggling to fight back tears. “Mei’s mom….fired me.”

“What? Oh, I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“She didn’t like me and Mei being together. She said some stuff and then she……..slapped me.”

“She what?” Elsa growled. “Oh my god! After seeing you and Mei together? Who the hell does that?! Unbelievable! The nerve of that woman!”

Her son still kept his eyes off of her.

“And Mei didn’t even do or say anything.”

“You’re kidding.” Elsa gaped at him, then sighed in frustration. “Well, I do have good news. I've gotten the nurse job. I guess now that you’re…no longer working at the temple, you won’t have to worry about it.”

“Yeah.”

As he sat there quietly in the front seat, his mind wouldn’t stop going over the events that transpired like they were haunting him. Meilin Lee, the nicest girl he’s ever known who had his back and been his side for as long as could remember, the girl he’s fallen in love with, has betrayed him for her mother, who hated his guts.

On the one hand, this should be a positive turn of events since he no longer has to deal with Ming and her slander anymore. But on the other hand, though, he was now forbidden to see or speak with Mei again.

Clutching ‘Robaire Jr’ (which she had dropped and left behind) in his hands, he reminisced about their time together in the past. The person he cared for, supported and loved ever so dearly was now gone from his life.

This in mind finally caused the dam to break. Hot tears spilled from his eyes and snot leaked from his nose as he couldn’t hold back anymore. 

Kris sat there and cried.

He cried, he sobbed, he sniffled, he babbled. He broke down like he had a long time ago. Tears stained his cheeks and he clutched his head as his face felt hot and his head throbbed and his poor heart was broken like glass. It was too much.

Elsa looked at him sympathetically, looking ready to cry herself as she rubbed his shoulder comfortingly while the boy continued to bawl his eyes out.

…………….from the sting and pain of Mei’s betrayal.

Chapter Text

“Honey, are you ready yet?” Elsa called upstairs.

No response and it made her worry.

“Poor boy.” Morten shook his head sadly. “Last Friday must’ve been hard for him.”

“That woman.” Carl grunted. “Who does she think she is, raising a hand to my grandson? If I ever see her face one day, I’ll give her some to complain about.”

“It won’t make any difference, Carl. Let’s just try to be there for Kris if he needs it.” responded Morten with a remorseful sigh.

At last, Kris finally came down. But as Elsa got a good look at him, he didn’t radiate that positive energy like he used to anymore. And he avoided all contact with all the adults. He seemed to have changed his look modestly. He wore his black-gray zipperless hoodie underneath his jackets with the hood over his head and he had his hair down (as it was always tied up at the back of his head), which now helped shield his face and eyes from view.

“Uh……morning? I guess?” Stig greeted him while taking in his state with unease. Seeing his brother like this almost chilled Stig to the bone.

“So you ready, sweetie?” His mother asked.

.

.

.

No answer.

Kris didn’t say a single word and not even a sound. He only turned his head toward her and quietly walked out the door with his backpack. This caught Elsa way off guard. That didn’t look like the Kris she knew at all.

But nonetheless, she drove the two boys to school. And the car ride was eerily silent, but not just from Kris’s lack of communication. Not even Stig could muster the will to say anything to Kris at the moment, because he knew this anywhere and had a strong inkling on where this was coming from. Friday night must’ve really broke him. To his credit, getting fired, slapped in the face and betrayed by your best friend and secret crush all at the same time will certainly do that to someone.

Kris just entered the school with Stig, dragging his bookbag across the floor. Some students were giving him odd looks, some looked concerned and some looked confused.

“People are looking at you, you know.” Stig whispered to him and he still didn't answer. His brother sighed at this.

“Kris!” Came the collection of worried cries from Miriam, Priya and Abby, who rushed over to check up on the poor boy.

“Everything okay?” asked Miriam, holding his shoulder. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, and what’s with the new look?” asked Priya.

“He’s not…..doing so well.” Stig answered for him.

“I bet.” Abby agreed. “The other night was just such a hot mess. After everything we’ve done for Mei, she had to go and sell us out like that?”

“Not to mention you got fired because of it.” Miriam stated. “How could she?”

“Well, I hope she’s proud of herself. If she really wants her mom’s approval so much, then she can have it.” gripped Priya.

“We’re sorry for what happened, Kris.” Abby apologized, morosely. “We’re the ones that dragged you and the boys into all of this in the first place. None of this would've happened if we had kept you out of it.”

But when Kris didn’t respond, they started to get confused and increasingly worried. Kris just continued walking without maintaining any contact whatsoever as he opened his locker.

“Kris? Did you hear me?” Abby asked, trying to get his attention, but got none. “Uh, Kris? Hello?”

“Kris, answer her.” Miriam ordered.

“Girls, stop.” Stig disputed. “He’s been like this all morning. He hasn’t spoken a word and he probably won’t now. Let’s just give the guy his space right now, okay?”

“But Stig-”

“Come on, he’s fine. He's just not in the mood.” Stig remorsefully urged as the goth boy gestured the three away from Kris and led them down the hall.

As soon as they were gone far away from his personal space, Kris taciturnly grabbed some stuff out of his locker and stored his bookbag away. Classes proceeded as usual, except the selectively mute Norwegian boy just sat there stiffly, rigidly like a stone statue in his new state of reserved inaudibility. Lunch was no different either. Roar and Rudolf sat with him, trying to converse with him and ask him about what happened at the party last night, but he still would not utter a single word, making them increasingly worried. 

“Why won't you say something?” asked Roar.

“...”

“Was it something we did?” Rudolf asked uneasily. “If there’s something wrong, you’d tell us, right?”

“...”

“I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 100. What is it?” He asked, attempting to invoke a reaction.

“...”

Nothing.

But Stig reminded them that he was in a rough spot at the moment and that he kinda needed his space right now. They decided it wouldn’t be very wise to just force a response or reaction out of him at this time. Moments later, Kris was getting stuff out of his locker. And wouldn’t you know it, the Monroes came meandering over to him.

“Well, well, well.” Moose snarked smugly. “Little Bengtsson’s all alone.”

He and his siblings all snickered obnoxiously.

“Looks like ya little panda girlfriend ain’t around ta covah yah ass anymore.”

“Man, what a loother.” Bruce jabbed. “Gueth thombody’s off the deep end now.”

“Yeah, deep end.”

“Dweeb’s gonna whine to his momma now, ain’t that right?” Moose mocked the boy before him who didn’t once turn to face either of them nor make a single sound, much to the brute’s annoyance.

“...”

“Hey! Didya hear what ah just said!? I know ya hear me!” Moose stormed, flaring his nostrils at being ignored. Then he yanked the hood off of Kris’s head. “Ah’m talkin’ to ya!”

That’s when Kris suddenly stiffened at his hood being removed, dropping his bookbag to the floor. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he turned all the way around to finally face Moose.

“Oh, look. It undahstands.” Moose taunted, satisfied. “So what now? Are gonna beg for ya li-ACK!”

Suddenly, Moose felt Kris shoot up at his thick throat and clutch it with an unnatural iron grip, cutting off his air and nearly crushing his windpipe, then lift him up 12 inches off the ground while Bruce, Debbie and a few other students near them froze to eye the scene with total bewilderment.

And then, Kris threw Moose to the right side of the hallway like a ragdoll and the obese boy found himself flying through the air as if he had been shot out of a cannon, smashing through wall after wall before landing outside on the basketball court outside and landing extraordinarily painfully against the bleachers, which bent and buckled upon the large bully’s impact like a meteorite. Students nearby had to duck out of the way to avoid getting hit and the students on the court had jumped, startled when Moose had broken through the wall like it was nothing.

Many students and teachers all cautiously approached the large walls Moose’s body created in the process due the sheer force of Kris’s toss. Everyone looked on in horror, shock, surprise, equal parts curious and somewhat amazed at what just happened. However, Kris wasn’t fazed at all as he just casually placed the hood back over his head and walked away with his bookbag, acting as if nothing happened.

So long story short, Kris was suspended from school for the next 20 days after that.

And was grounded for the rest of the day.

Elsa went up to her bedroom to have a little quiet time after the incident. She slumped onto the bed and breathed outward, mulling everything over in her head. Then to take the edge off, she sat up and opened up the doors to her nightstand to reveal a personal stash of alcoholic beverages such as wine, vodka and some a six-pack of beer. She snatched a single beer can out, opened it and was about ready to take a swig of that sweet, burning feeling of liquor when a voice stopped her.

“Oh, Elsa, not again!” Her father had stepped into the room to talk to her when he caught her in the act. “You said you’d cut back on that!”

“It’s just something for my nerves, okay? Just one little sip won’t hurt.” The woman argued and tried again to go for a sip, but then Morten grabbed the can to take it from her, but Elsa gripped it tight and within seconds, the two started a tug-of-war with it. They both argued in Norwegian until finally, Elsa ripped it from her father’s hands, causing her to spill a portion of its contents.

At this point, she finally sighed in resignation and sat down on the bed, completely despondent and helpless. Her father sat down next to her.

“I’m sorry, but it’s been really hard, you know?” She sighed. “With everything that’s been going on lately. Kris having nightmares, getting fired from his job, putting a classmate in the hospital, getting suspended and he’s, like, completely shut down. He won’t even talk to me at all. And now his birthday is coming up soon and I just………I just don’t know what to do.”

She started to weep softly.

“I just wish he was still here.” She murmured. “I wish he was still here.”

The old man brought his arms around his daughter in a comforting hug. He knew she, too, was struggling to cope herself after what had happened years ago in her own convoluted and rather unhealthy way. But nobody in the family realized is that only he had picked up on the facts. Kris’s unusual amount of superhuman strength and the sparks he’s been making with his hands and the boy’s been scrambling to keep this hidden.

“I didn’t feel like bringing this up before, but Kris….” He began, sucking in some air. “I think he’s changing.”

“Well, yeah, I know. It’s called puberty. But that has nothing to do with this.” Elsa replied, not understanding the point.

“No, I mean………………a very, very different kind of ‘changing’.” corrected the old man with an unreadable expression.

Elsa gazed towards him strangely.

“Into what?”

“I don’t know.”

Stig just sat in his room in miserable silence as he laid there in his bed, watching an episode from the adult animated show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. His mother was never okay with them watching adult content of this length unless they were old enough, so he tends to watch them in secret. He enjoyed the solace of his room in the basement. There was hardly anyone down there to bother him.

But then there came a rapping at his door. 

Thinking it to be his mother, Stig quickly grabbed the remote and changed the channel to an episode of Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?, just to avoid suspicion.

“Yeah? What is it?” He called.

“Stig, it’s me.”

He fought back a sigh of relief as soon as he recognized that voice. It was Priya at the door. So he got up and opened the door for her.

“Oh, hey, babe.” He greeted, letting her inside and having a good idea on the reason behind her visit as he returned to his position on the bed while she sat down next to him.

Priya grabbed his remote and changed the channel back to Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

“You were actually watching this, were you not?” She eyed him smirkingly, knowing him too well.

“Yes, I was.” Stig admitted. “It’s a pretty entertaining show. Just don’t tell my mom about this, okay? She hates it when I watch shows like this.”

“You and me both, mon cher.” His girlfriend agreed, since she tends to watch inappropriate shows herself back at home - without her parents knowing, of course.

The young couple sat together on the bed watching the show with deep focus, chuckling a bit from time to time at the humor. Then Stig finally decided to break the ice by asking the most glaring question.

“You’re here about what happened at school today, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” She sighed sympathetically, her trademark deadpan face faltering slightly. “From the students, of course. It was…….insane. How was that even possible?”

“I mean, Moose did kinda have it coming, but that was way too extreme and even I wouldn’t do something like that.” Stig reasoned, shaking his head. “Kris has never done anything like that before. I think the incident at Tyler’s party must’ve been his breaking point.”

“But still, how the hell did Kris even do that?” Priya wanted to know. “The students say that he just threw Moose through, I think, four walls like a ragdoll. Where did that even come from?”

“I wish I knew.” Her boyfriend sighed heavily. “But I think we best leave him be. He’s gone through enough right now.”

At that, Priya snatched up the remote and turned the TV off to focus all her gobsmacked attention at him.

“Really?! So that’s it? We’re just giving up on him? Are we just gonna completely ignore the problem and hope it fixes itself?” Priya gaped at him, surprised at him, losing her trademark deadpan expression.

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Stig, whatever’s going on with Kris, he’s obviously dealing with it in a very destructive way. No matter what, he won’t talk to anyone, not even us. And now he’s hurting people. He needs his friends. He needs us and he desperately needs you.”

“I’m trying to be there for him. I really am.” Stig delicately stated. “But……..I dunno. I just don’t know. And his birthday’s coming up soon. It may not be enough to cheer him up. I’ll think of something I can do for him. Maybe something we can do together.”

“Well, that’s considerate of you, at least.” The Indian girl shrugged with a small smile. “He’s lucky to have you.”

“For the most part.”

“Come on, sucker! Take it!”

“Eat my dust!”

“Boom! Boom! Pop! Shaka-shaka! Zap!”

Roar and Rudolf were at the local arcade to help get their minds off of the unease of the situation by playing against each other in a game of Mortal Kombat. Rudolf was currently playing as Raiden battling Roar’s character, Goro. And right now, Rudolf was coming out on top by blasting Goro with powerful bolts of lightning, weakening him.

“Zap, zap, zap! Ha, ha, ha, ha! Eat lightning and chew bubblegum!”

“Damn!” Roar cursed and tried to fight back, but ended up dying and losing the round to Rudolf.

“Flawless Victory!” The game said. “Raiden wins!”

“Yeah, thunder god, baby!” Rudolf cheered. “Who taught you to fight with four arms?”

“I’m not the one with the power of storms. You were way too powerful.”

“Guys, we need to talk.”

They both turned to see Miriam and Abby standing there looking both worried and serious. The boys withdrew from their game to face their girlfriends and they both already knew what was on their minds to begin with.

“Hey, girls.” Roar greeted them. “What’s up?”

“It’s about Kris.” His girlfriend answered. “We’re really worried about him.”

“Yeah, what’s the deal?” Abby asked. “Why is he just suddenly shutting us all out? I know he’s mad at Mei for what happened - I am, too! - but does he really need to be pushing us all aside like this?”

“I’d ask Kris about it, except he just won’t say absolutely anything. He’s like a zombie.” Roar explained with the same concern as theirs.

“Except he hasn’t eaten any brains.”

“Not now, Dolf.” They all hissed at him.

“Well, his birthday’s coming up soon. We’ll try to give him something that may lift his spirits. But I’m afraid that it won’t be enough to at least invoke a peep out of him.” expressed Roar, rubbing his chin.

“What if we invited him to the 4*Town concert?” suggested Miriam.

“Uh, what?”

“And you guys can come too, if you want.” Abby chimed in.

“But did we even make enough money to buy tickets for all of us?” Roar perplexed, since their whole red panda merch business had to be taken down after the party incident.

“Well, you guys are not gonna believe this, but Tyler still paid us the money he promised us, even though things went south.” Abby explained. “And an extra $100 bucks for our troubles.”

“Seriously, that little weasel?” Roar scoffed.

“You bet.”

“I guess Tyler kinda felt a little bad about provoking Mei and, you know, being a jerk all the time, that he just wanted to smooth things over.” said Miriam.

“Wow, we’s got a lot a money now.” Rudolf gasped. “Yes!”

“But we don’t even like 4*Town that much. Besides, we were kinda thinking about taking Kris to Pizza Planet for his birthday.” Roar then declared. “I mean, taking him to a very large place full of billions of fans screaming over a boy band that he’s not even interested in may not be a good start. In fact, it’ll probably prompt him to retreat even further underneath his shell.”

“And plus, pizza!” Rudolf cheered.

“Well, pizza does sound delicious.” Abby licked her lips.

“But we just want someone else to be there with us.” Miriam pointed out, almost begging. “It just doesn't feel right going to that concert without her after all the work we’ve done just to reach this moment. Since she isn’t gonna be there because she’s got that ritual thing, we thought maybe we should bring Kris and his friends along.”

“Will there be pizza there?” asked Rudolf.

“No.”

“Aww.”

“I’ll ask Stig about it.” Roar shrugged. “He’s definitely not gonna want to go, but if Kris will go, then so will he.”

“That is all we ask.” Miriam hugged her boyfriend and he hugged back.

Elsa had taken Kris to an appointment with his child psychiatrist, Dr. Arthur Sturluson. So far, the boy had still refused to communicate verbally or otherwise and it was really, really beginning to worry her. So she thought maybe Dr. Sturluson could have some insightful advice for them. However, with Kris’s sudden antisocialness and persistent silence, there wasn’t much to say about what to do about him. However, the psychiatrist did mention that perhaps his trauma has reached a point where he’s just either unable or unwilling to express himself anymore. Couple this with the fact that he’s been bullied relentlessly at school and the negative and soul-crushing reception he had received at his job up until getting fired and slapped in the face by his ex-boss.

Him avoiding his loved ones and refraining from communication might be his way of shielding himself from any further pain. That he’s created a personal bubble from which he feels safer and more comfortable. Or maybe because of Mei not defending him from her mother could’ve infuriated him enough to initiate the silent treatment, which is usually used as a tactic to make someone feel bad about themselves and to punish them. But Dr. Sturluson has worked with Kris for a long time and he knew he wasn’t going to keep this up forever. 

Kris, right now, was pretty much extremely hurt almost beyond repair and he needed time to heal himself from these negative emotions. He was even about to bring up a certain past event, but Elsa quickly shut down that line of conversation out of fear that this would make things worse for her son.

Inside the bathroom back at home, Kris started back at his reflection in the mirror. He just stood there shirtless quietly and apathetically, lazily observing the many self-made knife scars on his belly and chest and on some parts of his shoulders along with the fresh one that was still bleeding and dripping down his abdomen, courtesy of an ‘old friend’ of his - clutched in his fist and letting tiny droplets of blood fall to the ground.

He blinked.

The light in the room dimmed until the only lights were the bulbs on the top of the mirror, leaving the silent boy in a void of empty darkness.

And then his reflection morphed into the shadow of that same man once again, but this invoked no such reaction of any kind. Kris didn’t look too scared or too worried at all.

Despicable human.

It growled at him.

Glass shattered and hands gripped his throat tightly, lifting him up and Kris didn’t not fight back, but only gripped the figure’s arms as he stared back into the two deep abysses that burned and boiled.

Nobody loves you.

Nobody wants you.

Nobody will miss you.

You should just die.

Words that only sounded more solid pieces of advice rather than insults. And then his back hurt as he was thrown to the ground, which broke upon impact and he fell endlessly into the realm of which no light shined.

“Mei is a very special girl and you are not.”

“Why do I put up with a brainless idiot like you?!”

“How many times must you beat yourself up just to look ‘cool’?”

“Your laziness will not be tolerated. Period.”

“ To think you’d actually commit to brainwashing my Mei-Mei with these wretched and sordid ideas!”

“Thinking she could ever be your friend.”

“Turning her into a complete deviant like you!”

“She doesn’t need a retard like you.”

“And if you ever come near me, my Mei-Mei or the temple ever again, I will kill you.”

Kris sat there on the bench of the park that had a lovely view of the city, all alone. It was beautiful. He needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air and have some time by himself, away from everyone. Then the area around him began to turn a hellish orange and dark red as it suddenly started to heat about, trees were set ablaze until they burned to a cinder and the sky looked like it was on fire. The people in the area now stood frozen in place as they, too, set ablaze.

But now the sound of metal clanging was heard again. Only this time, he saw exactly where it was coming from.

Sure enough, about a couple yards in front of him was a tall, bald muscular figure adorned in a torched cape with long dark gray hair that looked as if it was stained with ashes. His skin was blackened, with light orange, yellow and some parts red all over, which made it seem like it was made of molten rock and lava and his hands glowed brightly like they were burning. The figure had his back turned to Kris as far as he could tell and stood before a large and wide burned table of some sort, banging on something with a blacksmith’s hammer over and over in a slow, monotonous repeated fashion.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

All noise had halted when the figure stopped his hammering and dropped the hammer on the ground, then slowly turned his head toward Kris’s direction, allowing the boy to see his features.

Glowing bright eyes that produced tiny smokes, a massive beard that matched his hair and some sort of symbol on his forehead. He wore some kind of Nordic style attire and was bare-chested. As soon as his eyes were placed on the boy, he turned all the way around to reveal a giant sword in his hand.

Though, Kris wasn’t afraid or nervous. On the contrary, he looked a bit…….curious.

Slowly and menacingly, the figure crept towards him with the sword, letting it drag across the grass, which burned a trail from the blade’s tip. Large, thundering stride came closer and closer, yet Kris still did not move, run or even speak. The fiery behemoth kept closing the space between them until he stood right in front of Kris, staring down at him with those haunting, flaming eyes of his while the boy just stared back, unfazed.

Only tilting his head back to meet his eyes as the figure’s height reached up to about 9 ft compared to his own, like a giant.

Then the humanoid being gripped the sword with both hands and lifted it up threateningly, but Kris still didn’t move a muscle, not intimidated in the slightest and not even flinching to protect himself. Finally, with a low growl and crazed strength, the figure swung the weapon down upon Kris right at his head.

All Kris did was fall down on the bench to the side where the sword struck him towards. Still no reaction at all. Almost like he was allowing this to happen.

As Kris sat up and snapped back to reality, he realized something.

He did it again.

The armrest on the bench where his head fell had completely bent upon impact like his head was made of stone. Now curious about this, Kris sat up and examined the damage to it and wondered if he could do that, then what else was he capable of?

To test this theory out, Kris grabbed at the legs of the metal bench and then with all his might, he easily ripped the bench right out of the ground without effort and held it up high like it was made of paper. He eyed his anomaly with sheer admiration and wondered how strong he really was. So Kris flung the bench into the distance and watched intently as it flung extremely high into the air and so incredibly far away from where he stood much like with Moose - like it was shot out of a cannon rather than being thrown by a human. After a few silent seconds, he listened as he heard the sound of a crash and a car alarm.

With this in mind, he looked at his hands with more curiosity and focused, allowing them to conduct more of those electric bolts and let them intensify and increase. He let this go on for a whole minute, listening to the buzzing and crackling before looking directly at a tree nearby, which gave him an idea.

ZAP!

Shooting a hand directly at the tree’s large branch, he fired a huge and powerful bolt of lightning at the base of the branch, cutting it completely and it blew right off the tree and dropped to the ground.

The spots where Kris struck and where the branch was cut from were now singed from the volts and they smoked. He then willingly ceased the volts and for the first in the past couple of days, he felt quite surprised at these new changes. He had been totally confused by these odd powers that appeared out of nowhere and was a tad scared of what caused them to happen, but he wasn’t scared anymore.

He couldn’t say so himself and he couldn’t quite explain what was going on for sure, but whatever was happening to him and whatever this strange power was,…….

.

.

.

….it felt…..

.

.

.

.

……great.

Chapter Text

The day of Kris’s birthday finally arrived and Elsa had baked a lovely cake for him. And they invited Roar, Rudolf, his two uncles from his father’s side of the family and Dr. Tom Sato, a Japanese-American occultist who worked closely with Morten and a friend of the family who was like an uncle-figure to Kris. Right now, the boy stood by his bedroom window and gazed out, watching the signs for 4*Town being shone in the sky from the SkyDome on the horizon and sighed.

Stig knocked at the door to his brother’s bed and didn’t bother waiting for an answer, since he knew there wasn’t gonna be one, and entered to see his brother looking out the window.

“Bro, everyone’s downstairs waiting for you.” He said and his brother still did not answer, making the goth roll his eyes. “For god’s sake, you can’t possibly keep this charade up forever, you know. Everyone is worried about you.”

He puts his arm around his shoulder and looked out to see the 4*Town signals in the sky.

“Look, I know I don’t say this often, but I’m worried, too.” Stig told him honestly. “And I know you’re hurting, but that’s normal, okay? Getting hurt is a part of life. But the more you withdraw from the ones you love just to protect yourself, the more your pain is gonna get worse before it gets better. And it’s your birthday today. You deserve to have some fun. Don’t you think so?”

Kris then turned his head to face his brother. He didn’t answer, still, but at least he was actually listening to him.

“Hey, tell you what? Why don’t you bring down your guitar and play a song for us? You know, like dad used to do?”

The selectively mute boy nodded in response, which made Stig smile with hope. So Kris retrieved his precious electric guitar and Mei’s tamagotchi before he followed his brother downstairs to where his other family members were. His uncle Adam, the brother of his father and his grand-uncle Charlie, the brother-in-law of his paternal grandfather, were seated in front of the television together. Adam’s two teenage daughters, Izzy, 17, and Jaz, 16, and Kris’s cousins, were there as well. Izzy was this tall and skinny girl with a tomboyish appearance and Jaz was this plump girl who was more girly and trendier than her sister. 

Dr. Tom Sato was at the table with Kris’s two grandfathers and his teenage son, Toshio, 15, was also there sitting on the floor with Gnasher and Grinder. Adam was a divorced former lieutenant corporal for the Royal Canadian Corp of Signals for the 36 Signal Regiment whose wife left him two years back before he had taken custody of their daughters while Charlie was an assistant manager at Best Buy; never been married.

And Tom, on the other hand, was a widower. His wife got gravely ill and passed away.

“Hey, cuz!” Jaz cried happily and brought her cousin into a warm hug, but he didn’t hug back. “So glad you could finally show up.”

“Yeah, about time, too.” Izzy remarked snarkily, but with a smile.

“Hey, there he is!” Tom came over and hugged the boy as well. “Happy 15th Birthday, little man! Or should I say, BIG man? Since you’re getting so old?”

“Tom.” Elsa chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“I mean, getting old isn’t that bad. Right?” Tom replied and turned to Carl, who just grunted a response.

“Anyway, come on in! Have a seat.” Tom grabbed the boy’s hand and brought him over to the table. “Your mom’s about to light the candles.”

Kris was placed at the end of the table where Roar, Rudolf and everyone else sat down.

“So what’s up, champ?” Tom asked. “Why so gloomy? It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

“It’s kinda hard to explain, really.” Stig answered for his brother. “And don’t bother expecting an answer out of him, because he’s been refusing to talk lately.”

“For real? How come?” asked Charlie.

“He got fired.” Rudolf nonchalantly said.

“Dolf!” Stig hissed.

“Is that it?” Izzy responded in disbelief.

Rudolf was about to say more, but Stig cupped his mouth closed and glared at him, reminding him to drop it.

“I think, for Kris’s sake, it’s better if we don’t talk much about it.” He told everyone.

“Okay, here it comes! Get ready!” Elsa cried, carefully bringing in the cake and everybody began to sing. It was a chocolate cake with a red outer layer with vanilla frosting, little cartoon lightning bolts around the words ‘Happy Birthday, Kris’ and there were five candles. After they were done singing, Kris blew out the candles and everyone applauded.

Elsa and Morten sliced up the cake and everyone received a slice of the cake and ate together at the table while Kris ate as quietly as possible. Then they decided to play a board game together and they all spoke familiar things amongst themselves like Toshio joining the swim team at his school and Charlie looking over some dating websites - the poor man was lonely - before Stig asked Kris to play his guitar for them. At the behest of everyone else in the room, Kris caved in and half-assedly grabbed his guitar. But before he could even play a note, the doorbell rang. Elsa went to answer the door.

“Kris, your other friends are here!” She called.

But the boy continued playing, though Stig and the other two boys got up to go see Miriam, Abby and Priya all standing in the doorway, all prepped and ready for the concert with stars and ‘4*Town’ drawn on their faces and other apparel.

“Oh, hey, girls. What brings you here?” asked the goth boy.

“Didn’t they tell you?” Miriam asked, shooting a hard glance at Roar, who rubbed his neck nervously.

“........must’ve slipped my mind.”

“Tell me what?”

“They wanted to, uh……invite Kris and us over to the concert with them.” Roar sighed before explaining.

“Excuse me?” Stig sputtered in surprise.

“Yes. Since Mei isn’t coming with us, maybe you guys can.” Abby replied sadly.

Stig looked back over to the kitchen to see Kris still sitting silently without a word with his family and the goth boy looked completely lost and unsure.

“I don’t think that’ll be a good idea.” He denied.

“Come on, please. We want to do this for him. It is his birthday, after all.” Miriam insisted.

“Please!” They all begged at the same time with puppy-eyed looks, which the boys knew they were helpless against.

“Alright, fine.” Stig groaned. “I’m not a fan of these guys, but we’ll go for you. Kris, get over here!”

The boy in question inaudibly obeyed and walked over to the door with his guitar.

“Happy Birthday, Kris!” Abby shouted. “We were wondering if you’d like to come to the concert with us for your birthday.”

Although he persistently clung to his vow of silence, he wordlessly answered by shrugging his shoulders and nodded.

“Awesome.” Priya smiled. “Maybe bring your guitar with you.”

Kris looked at it.

“He says, ‘why’?” Stig sarcastically asked.

“Just……offering, is all.” Priya simply answered with.

.

.

.

“...”

Kris shrugged again, agreeing.

“Okay, guess we’re doing this.” Stig sighed and shook his head.

After asking for their mother’s permission, she seemed a little hesitant about it, but after some convincing, she allowed it and because she wanted her boy to have some fun on his birthday. Elsa slipped them a little bit of extra cash just in case. They all decided to take the bus to the SkyDome where all 4*Town were crowding inside to await the arrival of their favorite band. On the bus ride there, Kris looked up at the clear sky to see the full moon that was just eclipsing with a bright red glow.

Which meant the red moon ritual was about to begin and Kris glowered.

It was only a matter of time now. 

By tomorrow, Mei’s red panda will be gone forever and she’ll go straight back to her old, boring, straight-A, goody-goody, perfectionist, overachieving life full of expectations and responsibilities as if nothing ever happened just like her mother wants for her. And Mei; she will probably start forgetting Kris even existed. If they would ever pass each other at school and Kris tried speaking to her, Mei would ignore him and tell him to back off.

That thought alone only broke his heart even more. The girl has been with for a long time, the girl he had done everything for just to help her see this concert and the girl who has fallen in love with and tried professing his love to will cast him aside like trash and start walking all over him, just like her mother did.

Nobody with him noticed, but Kris sniffled a bit and let a lone tear run down his cheek.

At last, they made it and boy, was it crowded at hell. They waited in line until it was their turn and Miriam bought tickets for all of them. Pushing their way through the crowd, they all stopped at a spot while they awaited for the grand performance to start. Kris clutched his guitar protectively to himself. Now this would be a most momentous occasion for the girls, but since Mei betrayed them and won’t be joining them, it just didn’t feel at all that exciting. But, thankfully, they had their boyfriends with them and Kris, especially.

“Well, it’s not Nörthfölk, but this is starting to look fun.” Roar replied.

“Oh, yes, maybe these guys won’t be too bad. Right, Kris?” Rudolf asked the noiseless boy and got no response. “That’s okay. Take your time.”

“Too bad Mei couldn’t be here.” Miriam sighed sadly and resentfully.

“If you ladies don’t mind, me and Kris are gonna move a little farther for a front row seat.” Stig told them, patting his brother’s shoulders. “You know, for the birthday boy.”

“That’s cool.” Priya shrugged then said sternly, “Just don’t go too far, okay? We need to see and know you two are.”

“Gotcha.” Stig nodded and ushered Kris through the crowd away from their friends to help get him a better view until they rested on a spot that was much closer to the stage and then they waited for the show to start.

“MEI-MEI!!!!”

Few minutes went by until Stig believed he heard a noise. 

Looking behind him and then skyward, he sees none other than the form of Mei plummeting from the heavens through the opening, her hair still red. Guess she didn’t go along with the ritual and decided to come here after all. But Stig didn’t care as he glared spitefully towards her and turned back around. Did she really think that after everything, she would just show up?

Mei landed perfectly on the ground next to her friends, Roar and Rudolf and they all looked toward her with bewilderment to see that she actually decided to come to the concert. But they all frowned and glared at her before turning their back to her. Though, Mei couldn’t blame them for giving her the cold shoulder.

“Well, look who decided to show up, after all.” asked Miriam, refusing to look at her.

“I couldn’t do it, you guys.” Mei admitted. “The panda’s a part of me and you guys are too.”

“It’s a little late for that now.” muttered Roar.

“Mei, you threw us under the bus.” Miriam chided.

“And you got Kris fired. Thanks a lot, by the way.” Roar scolded, equally pissed.

“I know and I’m sorry.” The Asian girl mournfully said with regret. “I’ve been, like, obsessed with my mom’s approval my whole life. I couldn’t take losing it, but losing you guys feels even worse. Especially Kris.”

“Well, too bad.” Priya scoffed. “Because you did.”

“What are you guys doing here, by the way?” Mei asked the boys.

“What’s it to you, anyway?” Roar barked at her.

“Okay, I guess I deserved that.” She winced.

“Yeah, you’re damn right you deserved that.” snapped Roar, now facing her and she took a step back from his tone. “You know, your mom slapped Kris in the face and called him a ‘retard’ and you didn’t do or say anything about it. Who the hell even does that? I mean, after begging your mom to hire him in the first place, you just had to go and let your mom fire him all because you were too afraid of looking bad in front of her. Especially since it was you who convinced us to help you with this plan of yours.”

“But, but, but…”

“And worse, he’s been dead silent ever since because of you.” Rudolf chimed in with fury.

“W-What?” Mei gasped, tears now forming in her eyes.

“Yeah!” He nodded. “He just wouldn’t say a single word no matter how many times we talked to him. And he’s been completely ignoring us, too.”

“I…….” Mei lost her sentence as a new wave of guilt flushed over her. Betraying her friends at Tyler’s party was already heartbreaking enough, but the fact that her very inaction regarding Ming’s mistreatment of Kris had crushed him hard enough to make him push everyone away with the silent treatment just made her feel sick.

“I didn’t mean….” Her voice was beginning to break and now she was getting desperate. “Please. I know I messed up and I messed big time, that’s all on me. But I wanna make this right. I really can’t stand not being with all of you. Kris, too. So please. Give me a chance. 4*Town forever?”

Everyone shared looks at each other, silently wondering if Mei is being genuine or if they should let her prove how much she’s changed.

“Okay, for the concert’s sake, we’ll let this one go.” Roar started.

Mei smiled sadly and went to hug them, but Miriam stopped her by holding her hand up to keep her at a distance, giving her a stern gaze that almost reminded her of her mother.

“For now.” Her friend spoke evenly. “But after this, you still have a long way to go, starting with Kris. Just be thankful if he ever talks again at all.”

“Okay, I promise.” Mei swore with zeal. “I will do my best to earn your friendship back.”

“And what about your mom?” asked Abby. “She must’ve gone nuclear.”

“Forget about her. What’s she gonna do? Ground me?” Mei jabbed with a mocking laugh.

A familiar-sounding laugh was heard and everyone looked behind Mei to see…..Tyler!? At the 4*Town concert?!

“Tyler?” Mei gasped with huge, widened eyes that matched the expression on the other girls’ faces. Tyler, in 4*Town apparel of his own, noticed them and yelped with shock to see them there too, but tried to lamely deny it for the sake of his tough-guy reputation.

“No! Tyler? Who’s Tyler? I don’t know a-”

“You’re a 4*Townie!?”

Then Mei and the girls all screamed with joy and delight and ran over to bring him into a group hug, which he begrudgingly accepted.

“Well, look at that.” Roar smirked. “The little shrimp loves boy bands, too.”

“Who’d of thunk?” jokes Rudolf.

The entire crowd cheered with sheer excitement as soon as the performance was about to start. In the front, Stig and Kris weren’t as abuzz as the rest of the audience, but they awaited for what was to unfold. And finally at long last, the boy band, 4*Town made their grand entrance to the crowd one-by-one - Robaire, Aaron Z., Aaron T., Tae Young and Jesse - and in no time at all, the crowd went absolutely wild. 

Fanboys and fangirls alike all screamed with delight, wailed and sobbed tears of joy and passion at seeing their beloved stars. Kris and Stig just covered their ears and listened, as did Roar and Rudolf. Although they weren’t 4*Townies themselves, they didn’t mind the experience per say. 

Mei and her friends, Tyler included, were over the moon at finally seeing their favorite singers up close and began to shed huge ugly tears and their noses dripped like the passionate fans they were.

"You want it?" Robaire playfully coaxed their crowd of fans.

"I want it!!"  The roaring audience thundered back, bursting with eagerness.

"You want it?"

"I want it!!"

"You want it?"

"I WANT IT!!"

"♫ ~ Give me on, two, three four
You wanted it, you went for it
And, baby, you got it
I wanted it, I went for it

And, baby, I did it on my own
Did it on my own
(Own)
Did it on my own..........~"

THUD! THUD! THUD!

All the band members were lifted up into the air with angel wings when suddenly, all the music stopped abruptly when there came a series of loud rumbling noises like giant footsteps approaching the SkyDome and everyone’s eyes darted all around to see what was going on. Stig and Kris looked at each other before they all looked upwards and saw a sight that chilled every single person inside to the core. 

Peering inside with eyes of unrelenting fury was the form of a gigantic red panda almost as big as a skyscraper or a kaiju and it gripped the outer side of the SkyDome as it leered its head inside. And not only that, but this one had a familiar looking coiffed hairstyle, a beauty mark on its cheek and long eyelashes. And it didn’t take very long for the two brothers to realize who it was.

“Mei-Mei!” It roared thunderously.

“You gotta be shitting me.” Stig hissed with annoyance, not the least bit scared.

“Mei-Mei! Where are you?!”

It looked all around for the girl in question until its eyes fell upon her. Mei, however, was undoubtedly terrified beyond belief, especially when it called out her name. All color drained from her face and her heart stopped and her eyes were as wide as flying saucers when the horrifying realization came to her with an icy chill up her spine.

It was her mother.

And she’s come for her.

“Mom?!”

“MEI-MEI!”

Then Mei screamed and ran like hell along with her friends. And just like that, everyone began to freak out and scream in terror at the very sight of the giant red furry beast. The giant panda Ming climbed herself inside, causing some damage to the structure in the process and even the band themselves, still suspended in the air, began screaming helplessly as the panda kaiju mom started to attack their concert. 

While Stig ran away as well to catch up with the others, Kris just stood there motionless, holding his guitar behind him as he just blankly watched as Ming ripped the ceiling doors open like a rampaging gargantuan monster to get inside. He always wondered what Ming’s red panda looked like, but he never imagined she’d be at this size. Then a bunch of people that Kris instantly realized were Mei’s family members, judging by all the green outfits they wore, and Mr. Gao in some traditional garments. The older woman, presumably the mother of Ming and Mei’s grandmother, had a scar over her right eye, no doubt due to a red panda altercation years ago. The woman was named Wu and there were two other women her age, Ping and Chen, her sisters and Ming's aunts and two younger women; their daughters, Lily and Helen, respectively - Ming's cousins.

Then Ming jumped inside the arena, the impact of her feet landing on the ground creating an earthquake that knocked everyone to the ground, then stood up tall and menacingly and yet, Kris remained still, soundless and unfazed.

“Mei!” Mei’s father, Jin, cried out to his daughter as they hugged.

“Dad?”

“We have to save your mother!” He shouted.

“She’s gone loco!” Aunt Chen distressed.

“Mei, we have to do the ritual again.” Her father informed her hurriedly.

“What happened?! She’s huge!” screamed Mei with fear at seeing her mother at a ginormous size.

“I told you she was big!”

“That big!?”

“What about Kris?!” Roar screamed, worried for his friend’s safety now that the transformed Ming was here. Heaven knows what she might do to him if she spots him. “We can’t just leave him here!”

“Who’s Kris?” asked Helen.

“Wait, the Bengtsson boy? He’s here?” Jin asked, dumbfounded.

“Bengtsson…” Wu murmured ponderously. Why does that name sound oddly familiar to her?

“Yeah, we kinda brought him here to get his mind off of things. You know, for his birthday today.” explained Roar.

“Oh, well, tell him I said ‘Happy Birthday’!” Ping replied encouragingly.

“And who might you all be?” Grandma Wu gestured to the three boys.

“We’re friends of his.” Rudolf answered quickly with a goofy, friendly smile. “I’m Rudolf. Nice to meet you.”

“What’s with all those piercings on your face?” Wu pointed at Stig judgmentally.

“Wow. That was the first thing you picked up on?” Stig deadpanned snarkingly at her. “I envy your enthusiasm.”

The old woman scoffed and sputtered at the boy’s disrespectful attitude while the aunties all eyed the boy with curiosity and surprise at his audacity towards their strict and traditionalist elder relative. Then Ming brought a giant paw down at Mei.

“Mei-Mei!”

And swoop her up in her paw while everyone yelled out with worry.

“You are in big trouble, young lady!” She hollered at her while the girl struggled in her fist. “I’m shutting this down, right now!”

As she grabbed at the 4*Town sign above the stage and ripped it clean off, Kris found himself finally taking action to protect himself for the first time in a while, climbing up on top of the stage and running away to avoid getting crushed or hit by any falling debris and threw himself onto the ground, covering his head.

“Everyone, go home!” Ming barked at the crowd beneath her feet. “Where are your parents? Put some clothes on!”

In the process, she dropped the sign to the ground at the base of the stage, shattering it to pieces, thankfully missing Kris.

"This isn’t you!”

"THIS IS ME!!!!!!”

Mei, for the first time in her life, got really angry at her mother for denying her the chance to be her own self for a change and finally screamed back at her mother before becoming a panda to bite her mother’s hand, forcing her to let her go. If it weren’t for his resentment at Mei at the moment under the circumstances, Kris would’ve been mentally congratulated her for finally stepping up to her mother.

Her family and friends all rushed to her aid as she then faced her mother, feeling more angry at her than she’s ever been before. No longer was she gonna let her mom tell her what to do. No longer was she gonna keep letting her force her ideas onto her. No longer was she going to be forced to be her perfect little girl anymore.

She was a growing woman now with her own needs, her own interests and her own life. And it was high time her mother saw that one way or another.

“I’m not your little Mei-Mei anymore! I lied, Mom!”

“What?”

“It was my idea to hustle the panda! My idea to go to Tyler’s party! It was all me! And you had no right to mistreat Kris all his life either! He would never do anything to hurt me and he definitely never asked for any of your stupid bullcrap! I like boys! I like loud music! I like gyrating! I’m 13! Deal with it!”

Mouths were agape at the girl’s uncensored tirade towards her illiberal mother. Ming had equally been stunned into silence by her own little girl talking back to her and dropping that enormous bomb on her. Kris and the boys looked at her in amazement at finally letting her mother know who she truly was and not who she wanted her to be. 

Has it really taken her this long to finally grow a spine? 

However, Ming’s utter disbelief quickly turned into pure rage since her daughter’s rebelliousness and disobedience only increased her wrath and she then roared loudly into the air like a monster about to destroy the city. 

“HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHGGHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Then the Lees quickly got to work in trying to recreate the ritual in order to stop Ming’s insane rampage while Mei worked to keep her busy as she was too incensed to listen to even listen to reason to focus on getting herself back to normal. While they worked to form a giant circle around the area and began to sing, Stig rushed over to where Kris was to try and get him out of the SkyDome before Ming sees him.

“Get back here!”

“Make me!” Mei refused.

“You think you’re so mature? Lying to me! Blaming me! How could you be so…so………CRASS?!”

“Oh! That’s nothing! You wanna see crass?” Mei chuckled smugly at her, moving her body and hips all around in that favorite dance of hers to taunt and disgust her mother purposely, then began to twerk at her face, shaking and bouncing her large, panda booty at her nauseatingly with an evil smirk.

“What are you doing?! Stop moving like that!”

“What’s wrong? Is this bothering you?”

The girls and Tyler began cheering their friend on.

“Yeah, Mei!”

“Destroy her with your big butt!”

The boys, however, all eyed the scene with a combination of confusion, disgust, cringe and disbelief. Though, Kris doesn’t seem to be bothered by Mei’s shaking her large butt at all.

“What’s happening?” asked Rudolf.

“I have a confusing wave of questions spinning in my head right now.” Roar droned, trying to look away.

“Huh? Take it, mom! Take it!” Mei jabbed even further, spanking herself and shaking her ass some more with no remorse. 

“STOP IT! STOP IT!” 

When her mother started to turn around, unable to bear looking at her daughter behaving so unladylike and so shameful anymore, Mei barely had time to react when her mother’s tail suddenly whacked her to the ground.

And that’s when she finally noticed Kris standing over there by the stage.

“KRIS?!”

“Kris?” Jin asked, looking toward the boy.

“Wait, that’s him?” asked Ping.

“Huh, he looks kinda cute.” Lily commented with a smirk.

“Quiet, Lily!”

But then things started to go from bad to worse when Ming turned toward Kris’s direction until he was right in her line of sight and then she glared dangerously toward the very last person she had expected to see and he stared back at her and her fury now reached volcanic levels. Her pupils taking on a hellish shade of red crimson.

Like a fire-breathing dragon or a demon.

“You……!!!”

“Oh, shit.” Stig groaned as he pulled on Kris’s arm to try and get him to run away with him before the angry Momzilla could get to him, but Ming was already on top of them. She brought her giant paw back down once more to pick Kris up and clutch her tightly in her grasp. Stig desperately kept a hold of Kris’s arm as he was being lifted up, but was forced to let go and drop to the ground.

“No!”

“Mom, no! Stop! Don’t do this!” Mei begged with all her might, yanking on her mother’s furry leg to get her to stop this before she does anything she regrets, but Ming simply shoved her away with her foot, ignoring every word her desperate daughter was saying. Kris’s hands gripped onto the strap of his guitar to keep it from falling.

“Ming, stop it! Now!”

“Let him go!”

“Put that boy down this instant!”

“Leave him alone!”

Mei, Rudolf, Roar, Stig and everyone in Mei’s family all shouted, screamed and yelled pleadingly at the giant mother to let the poor boy go, but unfortunately, their cries fell on deaf ears as Ming held the Norwegian boy close to her face, making him look directly in her venomous red irises as Kris could do little else but look her in the eye as the spiteful panda woman’s rage rose to unprecedented levels, reaching a point of no return. Then she filled the entire SkyDome with nothing but her high-volumed voice as she ranted into the boy’s face.

“Of course it’s you! It’s always you! Everywhere my Mei-Mei is, you’re there!” She raved on and on as Kris listened in quietly, unblinkingly. “Wasting my precious time at the temple, going on breaks without my permission, taking advantage of my little girl and now here you are, stalking her and waiting for the moment to get your smelly, grubby little mitts on her! You just couldn’t stay away and leave well enough alone, couldn’t you?! Couldn’t you?! You ugly, fat, lying, stuttering, braindead, no-good, imbecilic, bubble-brained and unwanted little shit! You would do this whole world a huge favor if you just DIED!!!!”

A tense silence fell upon the Lees as the giant Ming cursed, raved, disparaged and emasculated a poor, innocent and defenseless young boy in front of them all and it brought a wave of emotions among them. They’ve always known Ming was the most uptight out of all of them and she’s always been a bit judgey towards certain people who rubbed her the wrong way or gave her bad vibes, but this was just a whole level of wrong and now they were beginning to feel sorry for Kris.

Mei was also positively mortified, flabbergasted and taken aback by her mother’s long-winded verbal attack on her friend, including her friends, who were just as horrified by Ming’s hurtful, stinging words. Jin looked directly toward Ming as she said all that, unable to see the woman he had married for just a brief moment. 

Rudolf and Roar were especially irate, looking ready to boldly shout back retorts of their own at the kaiju red panda, clutching their friend.

And Kris……well, had no words.

This apparent lack of response only seemed to anger Ming even more as she started to forcefully apply more pressure on her grip on Kris, intentionally starting to crush his body in her fist, causing him to wail in agony from the pain.

“DO! NOT! IGNORE ME!!!” She hissed at him.

“Mom!”

“Ming, stop! You’re hurting him! Stop!”

“Oh, I’m just getting started!” Ming now had the face of a madwoman, almost reveling in Kris’s pain and watching him squirm.

At this point, Stig had had it with watching her assault his brother like this and wasn’t going to take this sitting down any longer. So he ran over to her and started to punch angrily at her leg.

“Hey! Put my brother down, you fucking bitch!”

A collection of gasps erupted from the Lee women by the boy’s use of explicit language toward their kaiju-sized, rampaging relative, given the circumstances.

“Oh, dear.”

“Why I never.”

Ming’s fury was refocused onto him now.

“What did you say to me?”

“You heard me!” Stig screamed at the top of his lungs. “Now let him go right now! I mean it!”

“Why you little…!”

“Stig!”

Priya took off running toward the unafraid goth boy right as Ming lifted her massive foot up and shoved him out of the way just in time as Ming brought her foot down to try and crush him.

“How dare you! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?!”

“I don’t know! Do you?!” Stig shouted back defiantly, not caring that he was just about to be stomped to death.

“Stig! Shut up!” Priya tried to shut him up before he made it worse.

The sudden movement of Ming turning to face his brother on the ground caused Kris to suddenly lose his grip on the guitar strap until his fingers grew tired and he accidentally let it fall. The guitar plummeted straight to the ground and plopped flat onto the ground. There was a jotting on the back of the guitar’s body that said:

‘TO ᗰY ᒪOᐯIᑎG ᗷOY. -ᗪᗩᗪ.’

Ming looked downward at the instrument and now got visibly annoyed, remembering Kris’s taste in music, which she had hated with a passion.

“You and that stupid guitar! You and that loud, angry, shrieking noise you have the nerve and the gall to call music! So, you know what?!”

“Mom, no!”

Despite everyone yelling at her stop, Ming brought her giant foot up again and Kris knew exactly what she was about to do. He desperately wanted to speak up, to yell, to shout, to beg her not to, but he just couldn’t since he knew in hindsight that she wouldn’t listen anyway. He didn’t have the strength to even utter a single phrase and had no choice but to helplessly watch in over-the-top abject horror the moment Ming slammed her foot right down onto the guitar on the floor….

….and crushed the instrument underneath her sole without hesitation and without a second thought. After a couple of seconds, she took her foot off of it to reveal to be nothing much left of it, but a bunch of broken pieces.

Mei gasped with trepidation at what her mother had just done, unable to stop the strengthening and freezing dread from gripping her heart. Her family and all her friends observed the scene with shock with no words to properly express their quiet disbelief, to think Ming would ever allow herself to do something so……horrid.

So…….cruel.

And Kris?

...........No words in any vocabulary or dictionary in the word could describe what was going through him right now as he shakily looked down at the remains of his precious guitar that was most important to him, that was all he had left him.

His father.

And if you thought Ming had gone too far before, well……

.

.

.

.

………she had now crossed a major line.

Chapter Text

“𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘸?”

“𝘕𝘰, 𝘯𝘰. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵.” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥.

“𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺.” 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴.

“𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥.”

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘰, 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥:

‘TO ᗰY ᒪOᐯIᑎG ᗷOY. -ᗪᗩᗪ.’

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬?” 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥.

“𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵! 𝘐𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭!” 𝘛𝘩𝘦 5-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.

“𝘞𝘰𝘢𝘩, 𝘸𝘰𝘢𝘩, 𝘸𝘰𝘢𝘩. 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘺, 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘣𝘰𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘰𝘧-𝘢-𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭.” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺.”

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘰𝘺.” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳. “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺. 𝘏𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.”

“𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺?”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘵.” 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥. “𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵?”

“𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭” 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘥. “𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.”

“𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.” 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. “𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘰𝘯.”

“𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘺.”

Calm.

Still.

Nothing but the soundless air.

The uncomfortable silence persisted as it enveloped the arena.

Nobody had the strength to do or say anything after watching what had happened unfold. Not only had Ming just insulted and berated poor Kris in front of everyone, but she had the nerve to destroy his precious guitar. Kris was unable to put his current emotions into conceivable words and he looked as if his mind had ultimately shattered. Mei rushed over to the remains and noticed the signature on one of the pieces. Just seeing it made her breath hitch and waver as her eyes began to sting with tears.

Kris, however, finally did something he hasn’t done since Tyler’s party days ago. Hot tears streamed freely from his eyes and down his cheeks and his nose began to run, his cheeks warming up and finally, he began to cry and sob, letting his tears drip from his face and onto the red fur and his sobbing got louder and louder, making everyone look up towards him with sympathy and remorse and especially devastated to see Ming had cause so much emotional pain and anguish to a child. 

Ming still glared directly at him and her scornful expression only appeared to falter just an inch, almost looking like she was slowly beginning to show some semblance of regret in her actions.

Kris bawled like a baby for about a good few seconds before his weeping settled down as his face contorted disturbingly and frighteningly as he breathed sharply through his nostrils, grit his teeth, his cheeks turned scarlet red and tightened his hands on Ming’s fur in solid fists until his knuckles turned white when suddenly, a new feeling had taken place.

A red-hot, fiery feeling. One that burned hotter than hellfire. That sizzled and boiled like scalding water.

A sudden desire for retribution.

A need to cause imminent pain and suffering.

A dark feeling of………pure,

….unadulterated….

….and unbridled….

.

.

.

………rage.

BOOM!

Everyone nearly jumped out of their skins when a sudden, loud clap of thunder exploded in the sky above them, breaking the sound barrier as well as the silence in the area. Everyone looked up and all around to see that huge thunderclouds were beginning to roll in as more thunder was heard off, covering up the clear, starry sky and shielding the red moon from view. They all looked worried and confused by this sudden change of weather. They didn’t predict any storms this afternoon.

Stig looked up at the sky as the clouds completely obscured the sky, bellowed and roared furiously and bolts of lightning started erupting from the heavens all around. Everyone began to get a little scared now, especially Ming, who then looked nonplussed toward Kris in her hand, whose predatory angered look was left unchanged as he appeared to get angrier by the second and his hands began to produce those small volts of electricity again, much to her great astonishment and terror.

Was……he doing this?

Then a huge gust of wind picked up, blowing at everyone from one direction in which the storm clouds had rolled in, making them begin to hold onto each other to avoid getting lept off their feet and blown away. The rest of the audience who had remained at the SkyDome all ran for shelter inside the inner workings of the arena and even 4*Town, after freeing themselves from the strings, rushed for cover backstage to avoid the incoming storm.

Stig then looked to see massive rainfall approach the SkyDome like a heavy curtain of tropical water about to flood them all.

“Stig…” Priya gaped with concern, now getting a little scared.

But Stig had no such explanation for this at all. Heavy drops of rain now came down on everyone, drenching them all in this unexpected downpour. The Lees saw the circle that’s been placed on the ground get washed away by the forming puddles of rainwater, igniting their fears.

And then a low, but unmistakable animalistic growl that would only be heard from a wild apex predator spewed out from Kris as he raised his hands up until they were level with his shoulders as the sparkling volts intensified. Ming’s eyes shot open wider than ever before at what was unfolding before her very own eyes. Even those below them were unable to believe what Kris was doing before….

ZAP!

BOOM!

Kris jerked his hands forward and blasted a huge and powerful lightning bolt right at panda Ming’s face from his hands with great inhuman power and force, making the giant red panda scream in great pain from the unexpected blow, causing her to drop the boy to cover her face where the electricity struck her.

“Woah!” Everyone shouted.

“Kris!” Mei rushed over to cushion Kris’s fall with her panda body, allowing him to land safely on the ground and poofed back to normal to check to see if he was okay.

But he was far from okay.

Kris panted and snarled with uncontrolled fury and then his entire body erupted with huge electrical currents all around, forcing everyone who had come over to his aid to instantly back away to avoid getting electrocuted, but now they all watched as he rose to his feet and stared directly at all of them while his hair fluttered on the wind and the lightning enveloped his body, but it didn’t faze him at all.

Stig, along with Roar and Rudolf, couldn't themselves believe what was happening. Their friend appeared to have electrical superpowers and apparently can summon storms at will. His eyes glowed brightly and produced sparks of their own while a strange Nordic symbol (ᚦ) appeared on his forehead, forming on its own completely out of thin air, but everyone winced with horror at the way it did for it appeared to be forcefully etching itself on there, cutting open his skin in the process and spilling a fountain of blood that leaked down his face as if an invisible force was carving the runic character into his flesh with a sharp object.

The oddest and scariest part about it, though? It did NOT look like it hurt at all since Kris didn’t even wince in pain, his expression remaining unchanged all the while.

But what was most unsettling above all about this was his countenance.

Kris looked extremely hurt and emotionally destroyed with a broken heart, which Mei noticed, to her shame. She never could’ve imagined that her betrayal and her mother’s torment of him would have caused this much pain to the poor boy in all her young life.

“Uh, Kris? You okay, pal?” Rudolf asked, stepping forward, only to scream and back away along with everyone else when a lightning bolt shot down in the middle of all of them. Helen instinctively acted first, grabbing onto the terrified boy and yanked him backwards in a protective embrace, letting her maternal instincts kick in. 

Then Kris glared daggers like he’s never had before and clenched his fists while he slowly and ominously turned all the way around to face the giant panda Ming, who was just as disturbed and bewildered as everyone else. But as of now, she was scared shitless of the boy. Kris’s fury was like no other and was beyond legendary. For months and months of swallowing every insult, every nagging and scathing comment, every accusation and every cold and judgemental glance he had to take from her, the pain and the rage he had felt from all the abuse he had to endure was finally bubbling to the surface as his hate for her had come to a head and his patience and tolerance for her now reached its breaking point. 

Disrespecting his taste in music, threatening him at every chance she had, spitting in his eye, underpaying him, mocking his style, slapping him in the face, firing him, calling him a ‘retard’, but destroying the one thing he loved more than anything….

….that was the last straw.

“She didn’t mean it!” Helen yelled over the heavy rain to Kris while still holding onto Rudolf, trying to calm him down, to no avail. “Honest!”

The booming thunder got more intense as did the rainfall and the lightning got even more erratic while wind picked up more strongly as Kris suddenly let out a loud, ear-piercing, ground-shaking and sound-barrier-rupturing scream. But not just any scream.

A fierce, blood curdling scream of fury and agony.

Everyone had to cover their ears as a result of this, even Ming, while the electricity on his body increased ten-thousandfold until they engulfed his whole entire body as he wailed like a banshee before a blinding light consumed him and a collection of extremely powerful lightning bolts rained down upon him, creating a huge shockwave that blasted everyone back while Ming was pushed back only a few feet back from the force.

As soon as everyone recovered from the blast, they sat back up as the light died right back down and the lightning evaporated. They looked to see if Kris was alright. However, Kris was no longer there.

In his place at the very spot from where he previously stood was a man.

A tall, burly, thick-waisted man. A ginger-haired man with a braided beard and who was huge, obese, albeit muscular and heavily build with a large, exposed beer belly, adorned in ancient Norse armor by the general looks of it with plated pauldrons and bracers on his arms, sporting leather armor around his waist and had Norse tattoos on his body from his face to his bare chest and abdomen.

And clutched firmly in his hand was a large, triangular-shaped metal hammer weapon with similar-looking runes and symbols as well as the same symbol from Kris’s forehead.

Stig and the two boys looked on with gaping mouths and rounded eyes with honest-to-god disbelief. And Mei especially had no way of describing her own astonishment at what the hell just happened to her best friend.

But what nobody, who was witnessing everything, realized that this was no ordinary man.

In fact, not even a man at all.

For it was 𝕿𝖍𝖔𝖗 (𝒪𝓁𝒹 𝒩𝑜𝓇𝓈𝑒: Þó𝖗𝖗, 𝒩𝑜𝓇𝒹𝒾𝒸: ᚦᛟᚱ), the almighty 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛, 𝙻𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚜, 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑, 𝚂𝚊𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙶𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜, 𝙵𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝚆𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 Æ𝚜𝚒𝚛 with his trademark weapon of choice, the hammer known as 𝓜𝓳ö𝓵𝓷𝓲𝓻 (𝒪𝓁𝒹 𝒩𝑜𝓇𝓈𝑒: 𝓜𝓳ǫ𝓵𝓵𝓷𝓲𝓻). The same unknown figure that has plagued Kris’s dreams for days prior to this moment. The same man who he’s been unable to shake the feeling of ever since that fateful night when he had that nightmare. 

The man who has slain and mauled giant monsters in all his immortal lifetime with the assistance of his hammer and his magic belt 𝓜𝓮𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓳ö𝓻ð to enhance and double his already immeasurable strength. The man who was believed to be nothing more than a mere myth, a fairytale, a bedtime story and a thing of ages long begone and was now standing there right dead center in the SkyDome.

And he.

Was.

Boiling mad.

“What the…?” gasped Stig.

“Who is that?” asked Rudolf.

“We should’ve gone to Pizza Planet.” Roar groaned as he was afraid from the start that bringing Kris to the concert wasn’t a wise idea.

“Kris…” Mei’s whispered voice barely held enough shock for what her eyes beheld before her.

<{(< Boss Fight: MINGZILLA >)}>
~~~~~~~~o0(X)0o~~~~~~~~

Looking up at the giant panda Ming with glowing eyes of hate, Thor growled and seethed as his mighty hammer crackled with sparks and before Ming could react, the angered storm god threw Mjölnir directly at her face. The powerful impact of the super-weapon blasted powerfully upon impact and sent the kaiju mom staggering backward in pain.

“Oh my god!” Ping shouted with distress.

“He can’t be serious!” Chen countered. “She’ll crush him like a bug!”

The unexplainable phenomenon that happened next was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. 

They all watched with astonishment as Thor reached his open palm out expectedly and within seconds followed with the sound of a metallic hum, Mjölnir flew right back into his hand seemingly all on its own, much to all of their wonder and amazement, despite the grim situation.

“How did he…?” Rudolf was speechless.

As Ming started to pick herself back up, she was caught unawares when Thor flew right up at her with his trusty hammer and whacked her across the face with it, making all witnesses yelp and cry with horror and worry. Then he flew at her from behind and struck her yet again even harder this time. The storm increased with his roaring thunder and lightning and the rain drenched all with a maddening wetness. Everyone had to duck and cover as Ming was knocked forward, screaming with pain from the hammer’s blows. In spite of her enormous proportions, the poor woman was left defenseless at the mercy of the God of Thunder’s unrelenting wrath.

Thor continued his blind Berserker Rage on the giant furry beast that he most likely believed to have tried to kill him, worsening his physical abuse on panda Ming with his weapon. Thunder roared along with the lightning strikes with each blow from Mjölnir, as if in response to Thor’s actions and negative emotions.

“Kris, stop!” Mei screamed loudly, though she wasn’t quite sure if that even was Kris.

“Mei!” Her father pulled her out of the way as Ming’s foot came closer while she was getting wailed on relentlessly by the God Of Thunder. Then Jin turned to face Stig and the boys.

“Mind explaining something, boys?” He asked, demanding answers.

“How are we supposed to know?” Stig answered right back. “This is all new to us. Besides, he never tells us anything.”

“Yeah, this is insane, right?” Rudolf asked, dumbfounded.

“How is this even happening?!” Abby hollered, undeniably terrified beyond belief.

“Can either of you do something about this?!” begged Jin, worried for his dear wife.

“I don’t know! What can we even do?!” Stig yelled outraged.

“Do something! Anything!” Wu screamed impatiently, getting more and more desperate that the ritual will fail if they don’t act in time. “It’s imperative that we complete the ritual!”

“He’s gonna kill Ming if we don’t do something about it!” Ping informed him seriously.

“Kris isn’t a killer! I know him!” argued Stig.

“Are you even sure that guy is Kris right now!?” Lily dubiously yelled, gesturing to the burly man pounding the hell out of her enlarged cousin.

But everyone looked up as they saw something that made them all freeze. No matter how much she tried to fight back against her attacker, Thor was surprisingly too fast for her and Ming shouted and yelled with agony every time Mjölnir smacked powerfully against her furry body with such fierce ferocity and every time the hammer hit her, she appeared to shrink a few inches from the consistent blows. The more Thor savagely punched her with a brutal swing of his hammer, the smaller she got.

WHACK! 

THWACK!! 

THRASH!!!

…….went Mjölnir against her thick, red-furry body like being beaten with a baseball bat over and over and over again in a repetitive fashion, only broader and much more like being pelted and bombarded with a giant meteorite than that. 

How exactly this was happening was anybody’s guess.

“How is that even possible?” gasped Wu, not believing her own eyes by this peculiar spectacle.

“I don’t know.” Stig shook his head with the same look as her.

And the smaller Ming got, the weaker and more vulnerable she got and as such, it became much more easier and efficient for Thor to smack her around like a ragdoll. The unbearable pain she was feeling and receiving was indescribable at the moment. Everyone continued to watch in horror and wincing from every time Ming got whacked, not caring how wet they all got from the rain.

“Kris!” yelled Mei.

“Okay, that’s enough, Kris! She’s had enough!” Miriam called, but got no answer.

“This is getting out of hand!” Roar shouted. “Don’t do this, Kris!”

“We’re calling ‘timeout’!” Rudolf shouted as well, but it was pointless. “Timeout? Timeout!”

At this point, after sustaining one too many sharp, brutal wallops from Mjölnir, Red Panda Ming was now nearly the same size as Mei’s panda, if not a few inches taller, and she looked all around for her opponent, who then caught her by surprise when his hammer crackled with threatening sparks and he gave another good swing at her with a snarl and knocked her meters back into the air with the power of lightning, making her crash into the arena’s seating aisle above as she landed very painfully on her back on the seats and she winced and sucked in air through her teeth.

“RRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!”

With a loud roar, Thor leapt into the air with Mjölnir high above his head at mind and brought it down incredibly hard on her face and bashed at her face in multiple times with lightning striking the weapon from the storm clouds with every hit. Mei shot up and ran out to try and call out to Kris and try to get him to stop attacking her mother, ignoring the tropical downpour.

“Kris, don’t do this!” Mei begged, almost about to cry. “You’re hurting her!”

But Thor wouldn’t listen. 

He was too absorbed into his own monstrous fury to listen to reason at this point and only hellbent on enacting his bloody vengeance on the creature that did him wrong. Then he dropped his hammer, grabbed her by the fur and threw her back out onto the hard, concrete arena ground with his immense superhuman strength, making her land even more painfully directly on her face, even breaking her nose.

Thor appeared to smirk and chuckle sadistically at his victim’s misery.

Jin and Mei both rushed over to Ming who shakily and convulsively lifted herself up to show that her muzzle looked broken into and was now bleeding, which scared them both.

“Ow.” She whimpered before a loud thud turned her attention back around to see Thor menacingly staring back at her. His hands sparkling.

“I’m sorry. I-I’m so…I’m sorry!”

But it didn’t help. Thor let out a war cry as he fired electrical bolts right at her from his hands, electrocuting her and forcing a pained shout out of her while her family had no choice but to watch as the shocking terror continued. Then Thor forgoes his hammer for his fists and starts to sock her right in the face repeatedly, her face getting snapped side to side by his harsh and violent punches and he growled like a wild animal as his punches picked up speed until Ming started to taste blood in her mouth and a few of her teeth coming loose. 

“Can’t you at least talk to him?!” Jin asked Stig, increasingly terrified. “Get him to stop! I beg you!”

“He doesn’t look to be in a listening mood.”

Ming tried to defend herself as she roared and pushed Thor back with her own strength before going for a slap to the face…

…only for Thor to grab her paw in mid-air before it reached his face and applied a lot of pressure, nearly crushing it in his fist as Ming cried out from the pain as the God of Thunder twisted it backwards while everyone else watched on helplessly until Thor slammed his fist right onto Ming’s arm with all his might, making it break.

The resounding hollow sound of bone snapping like a tree branch was the worst anyone could’ve heard.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” She wailed.

“MOM!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Ming tried to reason with him, tears now stinging her eyes from the excruciating pain in her arm. “You win, Mr. Bengtsson. You’re rehired. I swear I’ll start paying you better. Y-You can have weekends off even. I’ll buy you a brand-new guitar! I promise!”

Thor just glared at her and summoned Mjölnir back into his fist as the rage-afflicted Æsir god grabbed her chest and with the stunning power of his hammer, flew straight up into the sky on a lightning bolt, earning looks of both awe, horror and near amazement.

“Holy….!” Stig marveled, his breath taken away. 

He could fly now?

Once they were about a good couple centimeters into the sky inside the storms clouds as they continued to roar and crackle, Thor then slammed his hammer right smack-dab into Ming’s chest as he plummeted right back to earth in a beeline with her underneath him as he growled with fierce determination with a thirst of bloodlust still present in his eyes and they both became engulfed in his bolts.

“No!” Stig screamed as he and Rudolf both grabbed Mei’s arms and yanked her out of the way while everyone else scattered in all directions. 

KA-BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

Then finally, once Thor slammed her right into the ground, it caused a huge quake and a powerful, bright light shockwave that briefly engulfed the entire SkyDome with an additional pink cloud of smoke.

Once the light dimmed, there was a giant crater in the middle of the arena with Thor inside it now standing threateningly over Ming. Only, the blast had effectively caused her red panda to vanish and turned her back into human form. Her once black hair was now red like Mei’s and now is a tangled and scruffy mess. Her ripped and torn clothes were now getting drenched from the rain.

And she was in the worst condition imaginable.

Her leg seems to have been broken as well in the process and she groaned and gasped in a large amount of pain like you wouldn’t believe. You can only imagine.

“I didn’t…..mean to call you a retard,.....Kris.” The injured Ming gasped out her words, spitting out some blood.

.

.

.

“Nīðing.”

…..was literally the only answer she could get.

But Thor still wasn’t through with her just yet. No way. His insurmountable fury was blown through the roof and reached beyond the point of letting up.

The God of Thunder now really gave her hell.

He then proceeded to punch her square in the face with a rock-solid white-knuckled fist and made her spit out three of her front teeth and continued to beat on her face over and over like before, but with much more crazed vigor as poor Ming sustained more wounds, cuts and bruises of all darkened colors all over for cheeks and her eyes, her lips started to swell and she began bleeding from all around and Thor then violently thrashed her around, slamming and brutally pummeled her to the destroyed ground again and again showing no signs of ceasing his destructive episode, even breaking her neck in the process, leaving her with no hope of salvation and by now, the Lees decide that enough was enough.

“That does it! This has gone far enough! Sun Yee, give me strength!” Wu yelled, realizing what must be done, removing her jade bracelet and smashing it to pieces, unleashing her own red panda spirit and she transformed into one herself.

All the aunties gave each other affirmed looks, knowing they need to save their niece/cousin before Thor kills her. And one-by-one, each of them destroyed their own magic trinkets containing all of their red pandas until there was an entire group of giant red pandas, but each had their own respective appearance that matched their human forms. Once they’ve assembled, they all grab at Thor from all sides, catching him off guard and he finds himself being tossed back by a group of other giant pandas.

“You gotta stop!” Panda Chen ordered.

“We’re sorry about your guitar, but this is not okay!” said Panda Ping.

“Killing her won’t fix any of that!” Panda Helen beseeched.

But only now because they had interfered with his quest for vengeance, Thor’s rage only escalated higher than ever before when he summoned Mjölnir, haphazardly striking one of them down in the process as it flew back into his hand and slammed the hammer down onto the ground, quaking it and knocking them all back and began launching his offense on them now. 

Chen, Ping, Lily and Helen were all at the mercy of the God of Thunder and his deadly hammer. Chen was punched in the face repetitively, then punched the ground so hard it cracked underneath her, then Ping attempted to snatch Mjölnir out of Thor’s hand, but he kept an iron grip on the handle that not even Ping in her red panda form could even make it slip and then Thor summoned a lightning bolt from the sky, turning himself into living conductor and zapped Ping, shooting her right off. Helen body-slammed right on top of him, but she got picked up and thrown against one of the area’s support beams. Finally, Lily went for a diversion tactic by raising her paws up like any red panda would do in order to look tall and scary to any predator and shouted something in Chinese to confuse him, which only left her belly wide open to a knuckle-sandwich and her face was slammed smack against the ground, knocking her out.

“ENOUGH!” Panda Wu screamed with righteous fury into the Æsir god’s face, making him freeze and stare blankly back at her. “That’s quite enough of this, you…..you……well, whatever you are! I have come all this way and worked too hard to make sure this ritual went entirely as planned and I will not let any more of these shenanigans get in th-AH!”

SLAM!

SLAM!

SLAM!

Unluckily for her, though, Thor was having none of it as he grabbed her by the leg and started smacking her all over the ground over and over like a giant ragdoll. Then he snarled, punching her face with both of his fists and then threw her a good yard away from him before calling his hammer back.

“RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

Came Thor’s haunting battle cry, the sign of a bloodthirsty warrior whose Berserker Rage has gone completely off the charts. The storm was now getting much worse, transforming into a violent hurricane reaching near-apocalyptic level proportions. The wind blew with a great strength with dozens of objects getting blown all around such as trees, cars, banners and any small enough to be lifted off the ground and even large cars such as trucks and semis got lifted off the ground, the rain showered down with a devilish perseverance, flooding the streets.

The thunder boomed louder than explosions from fireworks and lightning bolts struck down everywhere, striking a few trees and especially the transformers on the power lines, creating a city-wide blackout. Any airplanes flying overhead were struggling to fight against the storm without being shot out of the sky. And on top of all of that, everyone was fighting against the powerful wind currents like their lives depended on it. Mei knew that she needed to figure out how to reason with Thor and try to reach out to Kris before he levels the whole city.

Then Thor ran straight back at the fallen, wounded Ming and jumped high in the air with Mjölnir raised up over his head ready for the finishing blow and he screamed with undying rage and that’s when Mei thought fast in order to save her mother. She ran, panda'd out and jumped directly at Thor and shoved him away from Ming, easily overpowering him; knocking him to the ground.

Then Mei got back off of him and as Thor returned to his feet, Mei stood with a strong determination against him.

“Stop! Just stop, Kris!” Mei yelled at him, poofing back to normal. She had to shout above the roaring wind currents. “Look, you have every right to be angry, but you can’t kill my mother! Regardless of what she's done, this will not solve anything! Let’s just assume that, for the moment, you don’t….understand a word I’m saying. But if you could just put that, um, hammer thing….down for just a minute, maybe we can both discuss thi-”

BAM!

Nothing could’ve prepared her for this.

Mei was truly taken aback when she cut off mid-sentence once Thor landed a solid punch right square in the face, launching her right onto the puddled ground. In the process, her glasses were shattered and knocked off her face. It’s as if Mei’s breath had left her lungs. Her trembling hand reached her face and winced when she touched her swollen black eye.

“Mei!” Her father and friends all cried out.

Mei couldn’t believe it. Kris, or whoever the person was standing before her,....struck her. But suddenly, she heard a familiar sound that fell upon her ears. Beeping and digital animal sounds. Thor was holding out her tamagotchi in his meaty hand out to her.

“Robaire Jr.?”

What happened next made her heart snap into two.

With his godly strength, Thor crushed the toy into multiple pieces in his hand.

“Noooooooo!” Mei screamed with abject horror at seeing her digital pet get destroyed. She poofed into a panda and rushed over to collect all the pieces in her paws, then looked back at Thor, looking deeply crestfallen and ready to cry.

“How could you?”

Thor had no words to say to her. Instead, he turned and summoned his head as he slowly went to stand menacingly over by the end of the crater where Ming was. She looked at him with fear, afraid and helpless and unable to defend herself at this rate. She was too weak and too injured to even move a single muscle. 

Meanwhile, Stig noticed something on Thor’s back (also bare) which struck him as odd. It seemed to be a tattoo made in remembrance to a deceased ally or something of the like. The person illustrated looked quite familiar to Stig.

Which gave him an idea.

Once Thor raised his crackling hammer above his head, Stig began to sing.

“♫ ~ Shot down from the sky
‘Twas the sight before thine eye
Blood, pus and tears rain down
Red crimson that flows
Like a river of hate
In a valley of woe
Mistreated, mishandled
Mistaken, misunderstood
You know what they say
You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
(YEAAAAHHHHH!!!!) ~ ♫”

Thor had stopped completely off guard and looked back at the boy with confusion, which morphed into a look of sudden curious interest. Everyone then eyed the scene, dumbfounded, not sure what to make it. Was Stig singing to the God of Thunder right now? However, strangely enough, it seemed to be working. For the burly man turned right around to face him, lowering his hammer.

Stig looked to both Roar and Rudolf and non-verbally gestured for them to play along and join in. And they did so, singing the Nörthfölk song along with him to help calm the God down and try to bring their friend out to the surface. 

The Lee women, Jin, Mr. Gao, Tyler, Mei and the girls all watched with silent awe and disbelief as Thor slowly and cautiously approached the three as they sang along.

“♫ ~ Rain down from the sky
The hammer of the gods
Arisen from the ash
Blood ready to spill
It may be your last
I get the last laugh

Why must you declare
I am not unaware
Of the hate that you give me
While it’s care I give you
As I swing with such rigor
This you should know
If you ever should cross me
Then you reap what you sow

You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
You reap what you sow!
I am not your clown
I am not your shadow
Let me tell you
You reap what you sow!...~ ♫”

Hearing the familiar song as it rang inside his head, Thor’s eyes finally stopped glowing, his hammer stopped crackling and the storm was starting to die down a bit. It seemed that by singing the one song he and Kris loved above all the other songs from their favorite band, Stig was able to snap his brother out of it, put an end to his murder-rage and calming his anger down. And then, Thor relinquished his hold on his hammer’s handle, letting it drop to the ground.

Then Thor started to lose consciousness. His eyes drooped and his arms fell flat and he lost his balance, falling directly on top of his face while the boy backed out of the way as he collapsed on the wet, flooded concrete ground. Then lightning struck down upon him a couple of times and before they knew it, the God of Thunder was gone. 

Having transformed back into Kris. 

Finally, the storm came to an immediate end. The rain had stopped and the clouds evaporated.

“Kris!” Mei rushed over to the boy’s side to make sure he’s okay. But he wasn’t moving or responding in any way. With the boys’ help, they lifted his body up and laid him on his back. Miriam, Priya and Abby rushed over as well. Kris was still out like a light.

While Jin and the aunties climbed into the crater to Ming’s aide, Mr. Gao helped the fallen Wu up as best he could due to his old age. Wu groaned and winced in pain from being punched in the face a bunch of times like a punching bag and then looked up at the now clear sky and felt her heart stop.

“No.”

Sure enough, the full moon has lost the glowing red color completely and returned to its original bright white shine. This could only mean one thing.

“We’re too late.” Mr. Gao said sadly.

Her left eye twitched.

“No.” Wu looked down at her red panda paws with dread and anxiety, then proceeded to punch the ground in frustration. “No! No! No! No! No, no, no, no, no, no!”

The red moon eclipse was over and as a result, the ritual has failed.

But that was the least of Mei’s concerns right now. Mei shook the unconscious Kris desperately, slapped at his face, did anything to stir him awake and so far, nothing helped.

He was not waking up.

“Kris? Kris? Kris, wake up! KRIS!” Mei screamed and begged for her best friend to regain consciousness, but to avail. 

Stig, Roar, Rudolf and the rest of the girls were growing deeply concerned.

Kris still didn’t wake up.

Chapter Text

After the tragic and gut-wrenching events that went down at the SkyDome, both Ming and Kris were rushed to the hospital for immediate medical attention. Elsa had driven over to the arena in a hurry after seeing the report of the incident on the news back at home and came just in time to see her son unconscious and unresponsive on the ground. Mei helped her family members poof back into humans, giving them a few quick pointers on how to control their transformations.

Ambulances were called over to the premises and Ming and Kris had been placed on stretchers and escorted away. 

Mei chose to ride with Kris and Elsa to the hospital.

Once they arrived, Ming Lee was placed in a hospital bed, given anesthetic and tended to by the nurses and doctors. To say that she was a little beaten up would be a huge understatement. 

Her injuries were terrifyingly brutal at best, though it was a miracle she was still kicking after the whole ordeal. Her nose was broken, she had a swollen black eye, along with a couple other purple and pink bruises, she had a fat bottom lip, few of her front teeth had been punched out of her mouth, several tiny cuts were laced around on her skin, her neck had been broken and placed in a cervical collar to help keep it aligned, her broken left arm as put into a cast as well as her broken leg, which was suspended in a cable. 

No electrical burns, though. Supposing her thick red panda pelt must’ve been durable enough to absorb most of the electricity.

Meanwhile, Kris was placed in the ICU and was still out cold showing signs of waking up any time soon. It wasn’t cruel to say that Elsa was quite distraught seeing her baby boy like this. Wu and the aunties were faring quite well as far as anyone else was concerned. Thor, thankfully, didn’t pummel them as hard as he did Ming. Then again, he was only keeping them out of his way.

Ming awoke from her anesthetic-induced rest to see all four aunties sitting in her room with her. Ping was sitting on the right side of the bed, Helen on the left side and Chen and Lily sat in chairs across from them on the other side. All of them were soaking wet from the storm and wore towels around their shoulders to dry off.

“Hey, girlth.” Ming weakly greeted them all, her voice having taken on a lateral lisp due to her missing front teeth.

“Hey, Ming.” Ping greeted with a rather stiff, but comforting glance. “How are you feeling? You okay?”

“Well, conthidering the fact that I wath nearly beaten to death, I think I’m juth fine.” Ming remarked, but sighed sadly and grabbed the glass of water on her left with her unbroken arm while Helen helped her with the straw since she couldn’t rotate her head.

“Yeah, that was insane.” Lily remarked with surprise. “I still can’t believe what just happened. Lightning, wind, thunderstorms, right out of nowhere and that large fat guy with a…..flying hammer?! I mean, you’re lucky to even still be alive.”

“Tho I gueth the ritual failed?” asked Ming, noticing everyone’s red hair.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Chen sighed.

“Tho what now?” Ming asked.

“We’re not so sure yet.” explained Ping, shaking her head. “But we’d like to have a word with you about the Bengtsson kid.”

“Krith?”

“Yeah.” Her aunt nodded with a firm stare and tone, looking her directly in the eye. “Ming, did you abuse that boy?”

“No, of courth not.” Ming reached for the glass of water again, but Helen snatched it out of her reach with a slight glare of her own. “Girlth, come on. Did we all mith the part where he juth tried to kill me?!”

“We know. It was scary for all of us.” Chen chimed in. “But before that, I seem to recall you screaming into his face, insulting him, calling him rude names, trying to squeeze the life out of him and breaking his guitar into pieces. Did I miss anything there?”

“And worse, you almost got her own daughter killed over some concert she wanted to go to.” Lily concluded. “I mean, you could’ve crushed her in your giant panda paw.”

“I…….I wathn’t thinking, okay?! I had no control of mythelf.” Ming tried to reason with them. “But it’th not like I exthpected him to turn into a hammer-thwinging maniac.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Ping yelled, slamming a hand on the nightstand next to her.

“And not only that,” Lily began, crossing her arms. “But we were informed that Kris used to work for you back at the temple, worked his butt off for you and yet, you treated him like shit. Like a slave, more like. Mei told us everything. Including the part where you slapped him in the face and called him a ‘retard’ before you fired him. What was that all about anyway?”

“I wath……I wath juth trying to keep Mei-Mei thafe.” Ming explained, her eyes drooping to show some deep regret in her actions that day. “I know that wath an unfair thing to do. But you guyth know me. I don’t have the beth thelf-control out of all of you.”

“That’s no excuse, Ming.” Ping countered strictly, almost making her niece wince. Ping always seemed to be the most reasonable out of the three sisters. “Protecting your daughter does not excuse the hell you’ve put him through up until this point. Just because you don’t like him or trust him, doesn’t mean he’s in the wrong. And maybe I’m assuming that if it wasn’t for all of that, he wouldn’t have gone crazy on you.”

Ming sighed deeply, knowing her aunt had a point and said truthfully, “Okay, yeth. I did, in fact, treat him unfairly thince he thtarted working for me. I nagged him, I berated him, I bothed him around, I called him nameth like ‘idiot’ or ‘thug’, thomtimeth he came over with bruitheth and woundth and I barely even cared. And he wath very good at the regithter, but I alwayth paid him very leth.”

“Oh, Ming.” Helen sighed exasperatedly, rubbing her temples. She and the others were able to make out her words, despite her speech impediment at the moment.

“Honestly, I’m not even a little surprised.” Lily shook her head.

“Ith Krith okay, at leatht?” asked Ming, now feeling surprisingly worried for the young boy, despite her poor judgment of him and the events that had transpired.

“He’s in a coma.” Wu deadpanned as she stepped into the room.

“What?!”

“Doctors have tried all they could.” The old woman stated. “But he’s not reacting in any way. They’re unable to explain what’s going on. Now as for our red panda situation…”

“I know, mother.” Her injured daughter persuaded. “I thcrewed everything up. But it’th going to be okay.”

“Okay?!” scoffed Wu, who pointed at her red hair as panda ears sprouted from it. “Look at this! You call this okay?! That ritual was Mei’s only chance of getting rid of her panda and now thanks to you, we all have to deal with this until the next red moon! How are any of us supposed to live like this until then?!”

“Sister, please.” Chen argued. “Mei tells us she knows how to handle her panda. Perhaps we could learn a little something from her.”

“But even so, no one else will take us seriously out there.” Wu sighed, rubbing the stress from her face. “I’m gonna look like a fool back in Florida.”

“At least my husband was fine with my panda until it was sealed away.” Ping brought up. “He’s handled it before, he can do it again.”

“Where’th Mei-Mei?” asked Ming.

“She and Jin are in Kris’s room on the next floor up.” Helen answered, putting the glass back on the nightstand. “She was super distraught about the boy. She practically refused to leave his side.”

“It’s almost like she has a crush on him.” said Lily with a smirk.

“The what? A cruth?” Ming’s eyes widened, but didn’t argue about it since she knew deep down that Mei had a rather soft spot for the Norwegian boy based on their past interactions. “Oh. I thuppoth that maketh thenth. The and him have gotten along very well. Until I got in the way.”

“Let’s worry about the positive right now.” Chen replied. “All things considered, in spite of the SkyDome incident, which I really can’t blame Kris for, I really hope that boy pulls through soon.”

“But if he doesn’t, it’ll be on your head.” Wu jabbed a finger at Ming, who only nodded.

Stig sat outside Kris’s room with Roar, Rudolf and their girlfriends as they all sat in silence with quiet worry and sadness. Tyler was taken home by his parents. The incident earlier was still fresh on all their minds and it was eating them from the inside. It was a deeply traumatic experience. Getting attacked by Mei’s giant red panda mom on a rampage was scary enough, but seeing Kris transform into a psychopathic, murderous god with a powerful hammer and the power of storms at his fingertips trying to kill Ming in a blind rage was something else.

“I knew we shouldn’t have taken him to that concert.” Stig murmured. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Don’t.” Priya told him strongly. “None of us knew this was going to happen.”

“But still, I already said this wouldn’t be a good start.” Roar added in. “We should’ve gone to eat pizza instead.”

“Did-Did we ruin his birthday?” asked Abby sadly and mournfully.

“No. Of course not.” counseled Roar. “If anything, if Mrs. Lee hadn’t shown up, maybe all of this could’ve been avoided. But it’s worth noting that we were the ones that put Kris in this situation in the first place.”

“Roar, please.” Miriam piped with begging eyes.

“Who even was that guy?” Rudolf asked, wondering out loud. “Those weird clothes and that sparkling hammer thing? And the storm? Was Kris doing all of that?”

“Kinda seemed that way.” Abby murmured.

“So you mean, none of you have known any of this?” asked Priya.

“No. We’ve never seen him do that before.” Stig answered with a shake of his head. “I think he’s been keeping to himself about it. But whatever that was, it could be related to the Norse runes he’s been writing on his bedroom walls. But I’m only speculating here.”

“I just hope Kris will be okay.” Abby said, tears leaking from her eyes.

“You and me both.” Stig sighed sadly.

“So Kris has electrical powers?” Rudolf asked. “That’s kinda neat. Really kinda wish he had told me, though.”

“Maybe he just didn’t want to scare us.” suggested Roar.

“I guess that’s……accurate.” said Miriam, with a small shrug of her shoulders. “To be honest, we were scared by Mei’s red panda when we first saw it.”

“Yeah, but Kris just turned into a big, fat dude that flies around with a sparkling hammer and he made a thunderstorm appear out of nowhere. That doesn’t just happen.” Roar pressed on.

“Neither does turning into a red panda, but that wasn’t such a big deal.” Miriam stated matter-of-factly.

“Tell that to Mei’s mom.” grumbled Stig. “We were all there. We saw it.”

“Which, by the way, what were you thinking?” Priya turned to her boyfriend with a face that his mother would give him. “You could’ve gotten yourself seriously hurt.”

“When my brother’s in danger, him not getting hurt is my only concern.” The goth boy said.

“Okay, I’ll respect that. But just……don’t ever do that again, alright? I can’t bear to let anything happen to you.” 

“I know, cara mia.” Stig said and breathed heavily, looking her in the eye. “Sorry I scared you like that.”

“Well, I just really hope Kris will be okay.” Abby said, starting to cry. “I don’t think I’ll forgive myself if he doesn’t make it.”

“He has to.” Stig reminded her strongly, though he wasn’t too positive about it himself. “Kris is a fighter. But those eyes. That look he had in his eyes. I’ve never, ever seen him so broken since………..well, not since ever.”

Rudolf, on the other hand, was deep in some serious detective work.

“Hmm, those medieval clothes looked Viking-like.” He thought aloud, rubbing his chin. “A large, sparkling hammer that flies back into his hand, storm powers, super strength, hmm. All this sounds suspiciously similar. Hmm, hmm, hmm……….meh, I’m sure it’ll come to me later.”

“Well, try not to overthink it.” Stig reminded him steadfastly. “And don’t come to any weird conclusions, either.”

Elsa sat by her boy’s bed in tears, sobbing over her son’s critical condition. Mei sat on the other side of the bed, holding an ice pack to her black eye and looking down at Kris with complete remorse, her guilt over the incident weighing tremendously over her shoulders. If she had just spoken up back at Tyler’s party and hadn’t let her cowardice get the better of her, maybe Kris would’ve been spared from the consequences. Jin dejectedly sat next to Mei, holding a hand over her shoulder comfortingly.

Then the broken-hearted mother stood up and stared at Mei and the girl almost jumped when she saw her expression, which was a mixture of depression, anger and confusion. Much scarier than any face her own mother had given her in the past.

“So…” She began with a dangerous tone. “Anyone care to explain to me what exactly happened?”

“Um………” Mei stammered, trying to find the right words and not aggravate her. “Well, you see, my mom…”

“Did her red panda do this to him?” Elsa interrupted firmly.

Mei and Jin’s eyes both widened.

“Wait, you knew? ” The nerdy girl shouted.

“Your hair is bright red just like hers was long ago.” Elsa explained, crossing her arms. “And she showed her red panda to me. Funny thing, I actually thought she was going through a phase at first.”

“Ming never mentioned any of that.” Jin brought up.

“Do tell.” Elsa droned, unsurprised.

“Uh, well, anyway…” Mei continued while growing increasingly comfortable. “Yes, my mother did attack the SkyDome while we were there and there’s no easy way to say this, but she was humongous. Bigger than a skyscraper, even. She yelled at Kris, insulted him and almost crushed in with her paw. Then she broke his guitar. On purpose.”

“Hmm.” murmured Elsa with an unchanged face, now making Mei feel nervous. “So she purposely destroyed the guitar that his father had given him on his 5th birthday?”

“Uh…………” Now Mei was at a loss for words. That guitar was a gift from his absent father? Now this would certainly make her mother look like a monster.

Just then the door opened and Wu entered the room, gasping upon seeing Elsa there.

“Elsa Bengtsson.” She said with surprise. Now she remembers why that surname sounded so familiar to her.

“Wu.” She said back to her stonily.

“So listen…” She was about to explain everything when Jin interjected.

“We already told her.”

“Wait, what? So you know about the-”

“Red panda? Yeah.” Elsa turned to face the elder woman. “I’ve always known.”

“You-?” Wu’s voice froze as did her movement. “So you're Kris’s mother?”

“What gave me away?” Elsa replied a bit snarkily. “Other than the fact that I’m standing in this room?”

“Still stubborn and flippant as always.” Wu shook her head, already familiar with the woman’s attitude. “It’s no wonder you and Ming got along back in the day.”

“So what else happened? Besides Ming smashing Kris’s guitar, mind you.”

“Well, how do I put this?” Mei prepared herself to confess the whole Thor situation. “Kris has electric powers.”

“.....what?” Elsa stiffly said.

“Yeah.” Jin joined in. “He zapped Ming in the face with a lightning bolt and then turned into a large, fat guy with tattoos and strange medieval clothes with a large hammer weapon of some kind. Then he beat up Ming, made her shrink and zapped her a bunch of times.”

“And I think he was the one causing the storm.” Wu finished for them.

Silence.

That’s all that followed afterwards.

An eerily still, stone-cold silence fell upon the room as Elsa stared blankly, wordlessly and the three waited patiently with bated breath for her reaction. But Mei’s heart told her it probably won’t be a good one.

.

.

.

“Get out.”

“Elsa.”

“No, wait, I’m telling th-”

“I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT!!!” Elsa screamed loudly at them, making them all jump and fired a finger at the door. The glare in her eyes scared the wits out of all of them. “ALL OF YOU! OUT!”

Not wanting to be told again or to make anything worse than they already are, all three Lees quickly evacuated the room in direct response to Elsa’s furious, angered shout. Clearly, she must’ve figured that they were making a mockery of her tragedy. Once out of the room and closing the door behind them, they all took a moment to collect themselves and process their thoughts. The girls and the boys were all sitting there outside and had turned their attention to them as they came out.

“So how’d it go?” Stig asked.

Mei only gazed back with a frightened and saddened look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry I asked.” The boy rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

Then Wu’s cellphone rang, which brought an icy chill to her heart, knowing that it wouldn't be good. She slipped away to answer it and tried her best to put on her game face.

“Yes?” She answered, then her stoic and cordial expression dropped. “Xue? Oh, hello, sister…….Um, everything’s fine. For the most part.”

As the conversation went on, Wu’s pupils shrunk.

“She’s what?! Xue, no! I mean it! Don’t you put her on! Don’t you put-!” 

Too late.

Wu had to force a smile, which she miserably tried to keep from cracking from under pressure.

“Mother! Hello! H-How are you?” She stammered nervously, finally letting her smile fall as she listened intently. Then she began to sweat. “Um, well, about that…………ehhhh……”

Then Wu winced the instant her mother’s voice on the other end reached a surprisingly high volume, clearly not handling the news very well.

“Mother, we tried our best! Honest! But Mei had refused to cooperate and then there was this boy who-”

Wu was cut off, forced to listen to her mother rant on and on.

“But mother, we will fix this. I promise. We just have to-”

Dial tone.

Her mother had hung up on her.

The old woman let her poor legs give out and she slowly slumped to the ground in sad and utter defeat.

Without exception, things were not looking so bright for both the Lees and the Bengtssons. And there wasn’t a shadow of doubt that Elsa won’t be forgiving Ming for a long time because of what happened to her son. 

And then the media circus rolled in. 

Reporters, journalists and announcers in television cited the SkyDome incident as a phenomenal and unparalleled event with everyone baffled at seeing a giant red panda monster attack the 4*Town, but was just as startling was when the mysterious hurricane appeared completely out of nowhere. 

Scientists and meteorologists alike were gobsmacked and unable to explain or figure out how such a massive thunderstorm could just show up out of the blue, especially when they didn’t predict any storms to occur that afternoon on the weather channel. There have been theories surrounding this unnatural phenomenon, none that are too easy to hear. Many have had names for the incident at the SkyDome, like the “Pandocalypse of 2002”, “Attack of the Red Panda”, or, in regard to the storm, “Hurricane Blanco”. The aftermath of the storm, to the least, was tremendous. No one was hurt or killed, thankfully, but there were massive amounts of damage compared to the SkyDome. Buildings sustained lots of broken windows, smashed walls, trees, cars and so much more had been strewn everywhere all over the place and no doubt was going to take a lot of time and money to fix and clean up.

And as for Ming on the other hand, she was eventually out of the hospital, albeit in her neck, arm and leg casts and with a lone crutch to help her walk. But her troubles were only just beginning. She wasn’t arrested, but due to her furious attack at the arena, she had received a court summons in the mail and was forced to attend a court hearing the following day to discuss her punishment on the matter, of which she is found guilty of public endangerment, massive collateral damage, along with minor assault on a security guard as well as trespassing on school property.

Now, technically, most of the damage she hadn’t done to the arena was the result of Thor’s tantrum, coupled with the citywide damage the rest of the city had taken because of the storm, but Ming knew they weren’t going to believe that part, but also because she was the one who started the whole mess to begin with, especially when she had provoked Kris into beating the crap out of her, so she wanted to take responsibility for her own actions as a way of owing it to Kris for her actions against him. And with other people she’d wronged such as the school security guard, Devon, Tyler’s parents, some of the parents of the children who were at the concert at the time and especially Elsa (who had broken down into tears at the stand) having testified against her, Ming admitted that she was not free of blame, but begged not to be thrown in jail.

The judge felt some sympathy for her and her predicament, but that didn’t mean she was going to be let off the hook easily. 

So instead, she was given an ultimatum: Ming has to pay off a debt of $100,000,000 in order to pay off the damages done to the SkyDome within the next seven months or else she will face criminal charges and be sent to federal prison for 10 life sentences. And until that debt’s been paid, she will be placed on house arrest. Not allowed to leave her house for any reason whatsoever. If Ming ever set one foot outside the house, tried anything funny or failed to have her debt paid before the end of the deadline, then the police will be informed to come and arrest her immediately.

Fortunately, Ming will probably not be able to become a red panda while in her crippled state. But unfortunately, the Lee Temple has been their source of income for years, so how was she gonna be able to make $100,000,000 in just seven months if she couldn’t leave the house? Mei decided to step up and fill in her mother’s shoes by giving out tours at the Lee Temple, which thankfully, still received customers despite Ming’s rampage. Jin helped run the register at the gift shop. And despite their anger towards Mei because of what happened to Kris, her friends all came to help them out in making the money they needed to help save her mother from prison. 

Abby, of course, volunteered to wear the red panda mascot suit. Tyler even offered a decent couple hundred bucks behind his parents’ backs since he felt bad for Mei’s situation. However, Elsa, her family, Roar and Rudolf had refused to offer any assistance, but Ming couldn’t blame them for all the trouble she’s caused. Not to mention that their primary concern was Kris alone.

Wu and the aunties decided to stick around and help out as well to drum up some cash. 

Because the plain and simple fact was that because they had failed to complete the ritual in time before the red moon eclipse ended, they were now stuck with their red pandas until the next red moon the following year.

Under Wu’s orders, they had to look for some temporary houses to stay at for the time being and had to hire house sitters to look after their residences while they’re gone. Ping’s husband, Shan, came over to stay with her, unable to take being apart from her for that long. As mentioned before, Shan wasn’t bothered by his wife’s red panda at all and even loved cuddling up against her soft red fur, which almost made Ping feel bad about sealing her panda away in the first place. Lily’s daughter, Vivian, had to be placed in the care of her great-aunt, Xue, in China where they lived while keeping in touch with her mother.

During their short-term stay in Toronto, Adam allowed Helen to stay with him and his daughters at their apartment. After a while, Helen started getting along well with the two girls, even having some occasional girl bonding times, almost taking on a mother role for them. None of them minded her red panda at all. Hell, even Jaz was practically hooked on it, much like Abby and Stacy were and Helen’s never felt that much appreciation for her panda in her life. Over time, Helen started to fall in love with Adam, having grown quite an attraction to him, because of his love for his daughters and his muscular physique. Adam even opened up to her about his previous marriage with his ex-wife was a bit demanding, condescending and difficult to please since she came from an upper-class family.

Chen began to take a shine to Charlie, having grown to love his company and offered up a room at his residence. He even insisted on sleeping on the couch while offering his bed for her, but Chen didn’t want to impose that way and decided to take the guest bedroom. With enough time spent together, they formed a strong friendship for a time before Charlie began to fancy her in a way as they both shared a love for 70’s retro music and singers such as Barry White, Olivia Newton-John, Elton John and David Bowie.

And as for Lily, she started falling in love with Tom, finding his sense of humor charming and entertaining and Tom felt an attraction for her as he found the rotund, yet voluptuous woman quite alluring, since he did have a thing for thick women. Toshio didn’t seem to like their relationship, but he decided to give her a chance. As a way to bond with the boy, Lily offered to drive him to school and back and take him out for a swim at the local pool, especially since she loved to swim as much as he did. Lily even wondered if Tom would make a good new father for Vivian and if her daughter and Toshio would get along well as step-siblings.

Wu had some trouble finding a temporary place to stay, so she decided to stay with Jin and Ming at their home and assist in running the temple with them, as well as some stuff around the house while Ming recovered from her injuries. Unfortunately, since they didn’t have a guest bedroom in the house, Wu had to bunk with Mei in her bedroom and sleep in a cot, primarily since she wasn’t too keen on using the couch, saying that it wouldn’t be okay for her back or her hips. Mei, of course, had a few issues with being roommates with her strict grandmother, but what choice did she have? She nonetheless agreed to it as long as Wu kept out of her personal business and her stuff. And Wu would also have to contribute during her stay by assisting with a few other things like the groceries, preparing dinner and driving Mei to and from school. For her part, Ming was especially uncomfortable with her mother staying with them.

Stig, Roar and Rudolf have been doing hard themselves since the incident that incapacitated their friend and they could only hope and pray a miracle would happen. All the other kids at school heard word of everything and gave all their condolences and their support. Stacy, the goth girl, Tyler and yes, even the Monroes.

Last, but certainly not least, nothing could be said the same for Kris, who was not doing so well himself, however. His family got him out of the hospital and placed him in his bedroom where he had to be hooked up to some machines and they would take care of him until he woke up. 

Eventually.

Chapter Text

The doorbell rang at the Bengtsson household and Elsa shot up from her spot on the couch between the two old men to answer it. And her face turned sour when she saw Mei standing there at the door, holding a bouquet, which she had undoubtedly brought over for Kris. 

“Hey, Mrs. Bengtsson. I…..brought these over for Kris.” Mei said gently.

Elsa was about to close the door on her when Mei stopped her.

“No, wait, wait!” She begged, holding onto the door. “Please! I know I’m the last person you want to see right now, but I’m only here to check up on Kris. I just want to make sure he’s alright.”

“Define ‘alright’.” Elsa said sarcastically.

“Please, just give ten minutes with him and I’ll leave.” Mei pleaded.

Elsa pondered this for a couple of minutes before she gave in and opened the door for her. For it wasn’t particularly Mei she was upset with, but rather Ming.

“Well, alright.” The downtrodden mother said, allowing the girl entry. “I’ll give you ten minutes, but that’s it, okay? And please be careful of the machines in there.”

“Thank you.” Mei smiled gratefully and walked inside, heading up the stairs with the flowers.

As soon as she made it up to his bedroom door, she mentally prepared herself. It wasn’t going to be easy seeing him in his state right now, but she was going to soldier on and face it like an adult. She stepped inside the room and finally got a good look at all those Nordic runes Stig was talking about, turning all around with shock seeing them everywhere, even on the ceiling. Mei’s heart ached when she saw the pieces of the broken guitar in his room, looking like a harsh reminder of her mother’s actions against Kris. 

Guess they didn’t have it in them to throw it away or even try to fix it.

Then she placed the flowers on the boy’s table and saw something else that caught her curious eye. Picking it up, she felt a new twinge of hurt in her chest and her eyes started to sting.

It was the polaroid of her in red panda form posing with Kris and their friends when they were selling their merchandise at school that she had given him as a ‘thank you’ token for helping her.

….which had been ripped in half and crumbled up - no doubt out of anger.

Frowning sadly while fighting to maintain her composure, she looked directly at the comatose Kris on the bed, unable to hold back her tears. She stood there before him, held his hand and looked at the boy trying to smile, but it couldn’t mask the guilt she felt for everything that happened. 

“Hey, Kris. How are you?” She sniffled. “I hope you’re doing okay. I stopped by The Heartstone today and the guys are doing……well, I guess. Sir Sirk had to make a daring choice in slaying the dragon. Doing so almost cost his and his comrades lives, but you know, desperate situations call for desperate decisions. And of course, the kingdom was counting on him to save the sleeping princess because they needed him. S-She………needed him.”

Mei couldn’t take it anymore. 

It was too much. Who was she even kidding? 

This was all her fault. She did this to him. And she’s never even had the chance to apologize to him. Her best friend for life. The boy who stood by her side and the boy she had fallen in love with and whose heart she had broken all because of her fear of losing her mother’s respect and approval. 

And now he’s paid the ultimate price.

“Kris,” Mei wept and hiccuped with a broken voice, dropping to her knees and resting her head on his chest. “I know you can’t hear me now, but I want you to know that I’m sorry. I really blew it. I’m sorry I couldn’t defend you from my mother. I’m sorry I let you get fired. I’m sorry I wasn’t the friend you needed. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. But you were free, Kris. You didn’t have tiresome responsibilities and expectations like I did. You got to live your life that way you wanted and I never had that choice. But that wasn’t your fault. It never was. I only thought of myself. I was so obsessed with being the perfect daughter for her, with doing everything and being everything she wanted that I guess I forgot what really mattered. All those straight-A grades and all those number one awards and those math books don’t define me. It’s you, Kris. You make me who I am.”

The poor girl’s tears stained her cheeks and decided that it was time for her to go. So she stood back up and pressed a gentle kiss on Kris’s forehead.

“Please get better soon. Bye, Kris.” She bewailed and turned away to head for the front door.

As Mei trundled down the stairs in a dejected manner, Elsa couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl. Seeing as how she felt really guilty for putting her son in this situation.

“Take care of yourself, Mei.” She said as she followed her over to the open door. “Oh, and Mei?”

The nerdy girl was already outside when she turned to face the woman.

“Do remind your mother that if I ever see her face again, I will mess her up.” Elsa warned her threateningly before slamming the door.

“Duly noted.” Mei mumbled with a nod and left.

And that’s yet another individual to go on her mother’s list of people that she’s pissed off.

That night, Grandpa Morten went upstairs to check up on Kris before going to bed. He was already in his pajamas. As soon as he reached the door, however, he thought he heard a noise inside. No, it wasn’t Kris, because it sounded more like cawing. Taken aback by this, he flung open the door and couldn’t believe what he walked right into.

Sitting on his unconscious grandson’s chest were a duo of ravens. Both resting there and watching Kris closely as if keeping an eye on him, occasionally looking at each other and cawing responses to each other.

How the hell did they even get inside if the window was shut?

“What the…?” Morten cried in befuddlement before rushing to shoo the pesky birds away. “Hey! Get away from there! Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here!”

Rushing to the window and opening it wide, the old man chased the ravens out until they finally flew outside. But then….

ZWIP! ZWIP!

Eyes widened. Lips agape. Breath stalled.

Morten couldn’t believe his own eyes.

In a sudden flurry of feathers, the two ravens appeared to have disappeared into thin air.

“Guds mor.” He gasped.

Chapter Text

Main Cast:

CHARLIE PLUMMER as Kris Bengtsson

ROSALIE CHIANG as Meilin Lee

SANDRA OH as Ming Lee

MATTY CARDAROPLE as Stig Falkenberg

SEAN GIAMBRONE as Roar Wagner

GATEN MATARAZZO as Rudolf Stein

AVA MORSE as Miriam Mendelsohn

MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN as Priya Mangal

HYEIN PARK as Abby Park

LAKE BELL as Elsa Bengtsson

F. MURRAY ABRAHAM as Prof. Morten Bengtsson

KEITH DAVID as Carl Anderson

SPENCER BRESLIN as Moose Monroe

MASON THAMES as Bruce Monroe

EVER ANDERSON as Debbie Monroe

TRISTEN ALLERICK CHEN as Tyler Nguyen-Baker

TYRESE GIBSON as Adam Anderson

RAUSHAN HAMMOND as Charlie Anderson

STEVE AOKI as Dr. Tom Sato

STORM REID as Izzy Anderson

MARSAI MARTIN as Jaz Anderson

AOI TAKEYA as Toshio Sato

ORION LEE as Jin Lee

WAI CHING HO as Wu Lee

LORI TAN CHINN as Chen Lee

LILLIAN LIM as Ping Lee

SHERRY COLA as Helen Lee

MIA TAGANO as Lily Lee

JAMES HONG as Mr. Gao

JOHN RATZENBERGER as Dr. Arthur Sturluson

with

LEBRON JAMES as Kris's father

and

RAY PORTER as Thor

Chapter Text

Soundtrack:

Chapter 1:

• Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz [During Kris's school day] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GdsftXc0yU

Chapter 7:

• Burning Down the House - Talking Heads ~ [Montage of the friends merchandizing Mei's red panda] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgJ-hyzl6jg

Chapter 8:

• ConfidentialMX - I Stared A Joke ft. Becky Hanson ~ [After Kris gets picked up by his mom and cries over Mei's betrayal] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td6R3TmEbcA

Chapter 9:

• Everybody Hurts - R.E.M. ~ [Time-lapse montage of Kris's prolonged state of silence] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhIay4-PbCY
• Requiem for Soprana, Mezzo Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs & Orchestra ~ [During Kris's hallucinatory nightmare of self-hatred and seeing the fiery man] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3escvQEziag

Chapter 10:

• Traitor - Olivia Rodrigo ~ [The bus ride to the SkyDome, Kris imagining Mei back to her old perfect life and pretending he doesn't exist] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2NuSNZNKnM

Chapter 11:

• Electro Theme Song - The Amazing Spiderman 2 OST Hans Zimmer/Pharrell ~ [Kris's transformation into Thor] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zYB1PLjKv0

Chapter 12:

• I Know It's Over - The Smiths ~ [Mei having flashbacks of her and Kris's times spent together] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6o1SEj02t0
• Train Wreck - James Arthur ~ [Montage of Wu and the aunties settling in Toronto, Kris being pulled from the hospital and being tended to at home] link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CveANi17YfU

End Credits:

• Both Sides Now - Judy Collins link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L1UngfqojI
• Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nxrYwT0SIo