Chapter 23: Blood, tears, & revelations

Cries of war sounded from the edge of the city, the sounds of clashing metal and fallen soldiers echoed through the waterway. It started like he thought it would play out, with his master taking his army and conquering China. But before they even left the city port, the panda, the Dragon Warrior had returned. He appeared as if he returned from the land of the dead, coming to end Shen and his invasion. Him, alongside the freed furious five, the Gongmen masters, and another warrior who had joined them, fought through Shen's army. Taking down every wolf who foolishly stood against them.

Meanwhile, at the flagship, General Yu could only look with horror, his pack, his men. The soldiers he saw as brothers in arms, were being killed left and right. While Yu felt an array of emotions, he knew inside there was nothing stopping the destiny laid out for the panda and his comrades.

"Why aren't we firing?!" Shen shouted with anger.

"Their taking out our gunners sir, their getting close!" Yu shouted back.

Shen looked at the incoming heroes, seeing his enemies get closer to his victory with every second. He had come so close. So close to victory. And he wasn't going to let it slip from his feathery fingers.

"F-fire fire at them!" Shen yelled with anxiety.

General Yu looked back at his men, there were many cannons along the wrecked ships, each filled with fireworks powder that could obliterate the whole wateray and everything in it. And if he fired on the masters, it would slaughter his brothers with them.

"But sir, we'll kill our own!" The wolf replied baring a face of sorrow.

"Just fire at them FIRE!" Shen shouted with all his vocals could handle.

Yu looked back at his master with a face of anger and replied "No." while throwing down his torch.

Shen did not hesitated when he threw daggers at Yu's shoulder and stomach. The general fell onto the side of the ship. As he fell he felt unbelievable pain in his body. But he heard chains moving and before he knew it, he watched the large cannon fire, and lay waist to the boats in front of it, destroying anything and anyone in its path of war. Yu was experiencing hellish pain, both physically from his wounds and emotionally from knowing he failed his now dead brothers in arms. He laid there, blood rushing out of his body and on the wooden deck. Shen walked over to his second-in-command, and bore a face that brought chills down the one eyed wolf's spine.

The peacock did nothing but watch him, laying in pain, trying to speak but he couldn't. As he was slowly walking, Shen's talon felt something soft on the floor. He looked down and found a folded piece of paper. He picked it up, unraveled it, and looked at it for a minute. Yu only watched in pain when Shen looked straight at him.

"I see now. This is why I found something about you different, ever since we returned here." Shen said as he showed the paper to Yu. The wolf realized it was the painting Erdan made for him. He forgot he folded and left it in his pocked when he went inside with the boy, and it fell out just a minute ago.

"This is why, isn't it? Your family." Shen said in a dark tone. "Well, what good are they to me?" The peacock said before he took the painting, and burned it on a torch. Yu watched in sorrow, the art work, the memory that Erdan worked hard to make was now nothing but ashes, drifting away in the wind. After the deed was done, Shen walked over to Yu and continued his words.

"Truth is I do remember your family, oh I still do. And you know what? I hated them. Especially that bitch of a woman you took as your wife. I despised her since the day she first met you." The peacock spoke words that filled Yu with anger.

"You have forgotten your place, and in doing so, you have betrayed me." Shen said while looming over the fallen general.

"Before you die, I want you to know something." Shen said before lowering his head, and putting his beak right by Yu's ear. "I had you're family killed, all those years ago."

Yu's face filled with shock at what he heard. Shen, the man he once called his brother, murdered his family, hired assassins to kill them, his own wife and puppies in cold blood. Shen then grasped his talon on Yu's chest right when the wolf muttered out "Rot… in…hell…you…bastard!" Before Shen pushed him into the harbor water.

Yu fell in the lake, descending into the dark, cold liquid. As he felt his body lose all feeling, his last, final thoughts were on his wife, Helen, his children, Timber and Julie. His pack, his men. And finally, Erdan, the boy who reminded him of the good man he was, the good man he is at heart. His one eye closed, and he sank into the darkness, paying the price for all of the sins he's committed in his life, as a monster.

((()-()))

Erdan sat at the table and ate his afternoon snack, some chopped carrots. He was feeling very worried about Yu his roommate. It had been three days since he last saw the nice man. Erdan figured he was on another work trip, but it wasn't like him to leave town without telling the boy. So Erdan waited for Yu to return. While he munched on his food, he heard something fall in a container out on the front door. He walked over and looked out. He saw something in the mail bin on the front porch. He found a letter for him, from Yu! The boy quickly closed and locked the door, rushed in the house and opened the letter. He then read it.

Dear Erdan,

I'm so, so sorry. I know I should have told you the truth a long time ago, but I was too much a coward to ever let anyone know the truth about me – the real me. I don't quite know how to say this, but I've done many wrongs in my life. I joined Shen's army after my wife and children were killed by pandas. I wanted revenge so badly that it blinded me into doing things no sane person would do. I've killed and tormented hundreds of people out of loyalty to a war crazed peacock, and hate for life after my family was slaughtered. In doing so, I dragged my pack behind me, and it turned then spiteful – I turned them into something they were not.

Until I met you.

You were my salvation. You reminded me so much of me when I was young, and you reminded me of my own son and daughter. That might be why I took you in. You made my life worth living. You were so nice to me and you didn't judge me.

I'm sorry, but if you're reading this, then I'm dead and Shen is defeated – just like it was foretold decades ago. I would not advice you to stay here. The people of this city hate wolves, and now that Shen is gone you will be ridiculed for something you hardly knew about. You don't deserve that. You deserve better, better then me.

There is a town in the East called the Valley of Peace. You should go there. It's where the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior live – the best Kung Fu warriors in all of China, supposedly. I fought them once and when I did I knew, I just knew I had picked the wrong side in this war. If I had been less of a coward maybe I could have been on the right side. I know you can be on the good side. I've seen how good you are at fighting. I think they would be happy to have someone as good as you. You have a strong will and you deserve a lot. I hope that you live a long and happy life.

P.S. If you ever meet the Dragon Warrior, tell him that I'm sorry – for everything. For taking his family away from him, for almost killing him, and for that time I hammered him in the face.

Goodbye Erdan, and thank you.

-Your friend, Yu.

Erdan couldn't believe what he just read. All the boy could do was sit down and sob into his paws. Crying over the fact that his friend/father is now dead. He is gone forever. Erdan cried heavily for hours, tears flowing out of his eyes like a waterfall.

"Why?... why did this happen… again?" Erdan said in the middle of his sorrow.

It became night, but the young lupine couldn't eat dinner, not while going through such extreme loss. He decided to leave Gongmen City first thing in the morning. As he walked upstairs, he saw Yu's bedroom door. After thinking it over a minute, Erdan decided to enter Yu's room.

It wasn't much, just a bed, a dresser, and a window. But Erdan spotted another thing in the room, a painting on the ceiling. It showed a happy family of wolves. The cub instantly knew who they were. After looking at the picture for minutes, the boy silently wished that his friend would see his family, reunited in the afterlife. Erdan remembered the painting he gave Yu, but he never got it back. But he held the letter in his hands, right now, it was the only thing of his friend he had. Erdan went to his room, leaving the painting on the wall alone, and closed Yu's bedroom door. He got into his own bed and cried himself to sleep.

In the morning Erdan woke up, and after eating breakfast, started to pack. He was in a rush, not just to get out of the city, but because he couldn't stand being in this house any longer. He finished filling his satchel with his worldly possessions, and walked out. But on his way he tripped, and without knowing, his red bandana fell out of his bag. But since it made no sound upon landing, the cub didn't realize it.

Erdan went out the front door, closed it, and made his way to the harbor. But his small raft was destroyed. So Erdan, the young wolf cub, with tears in his eyes took his first step out of the city, and he looked back and said "Goodbye, Yu. Goodbye… dad."

He once again didn't look back, and started his lonely journey to the Valley of Peace.

Author's notes:

And the Erdan rewrite is now finished. I know that was a very sad ending, but I encourage anyone who liked this story, to read the installments I listed at the beginning. I would like to thank the people who supported me with their words and reviews, and this story is in tribute to 'Wolflover111' without him, Erdan's saga may not have been possible, so thank you, all of you.

Stay safe, and stay cool – Jeffwolf

P.S. Keep an eye out for "Erdan Wolf Tales" coming soon. And "Erdan 3 A Legend's Rebirth" coming later this year.