A/N - I’m back! Prompt away, this is the second to last season and it is a rough one.

Mrs Chou

Tzuyu enjoyed quiet days.

No tactical planning, no warfare, just Tzuyu alone in the shop fixing up a car whilst the guys looked over Chaeyoung’s latest paint job outside. Usually she would also be out there, making sure Chaeyoung wasn’t being harassed by the boys with no boundaries. There were a few and while they feared Elkie and Tzuyu’s wrath, Chaeyoung was fair game to them. However, Mark was also out there and Tzuyu knew that her dear friend liked living meaning he would protect Chaeyoung if he knew what was good for him. It was worrying how quickly Chaeyoung had adjusted to the gang lifestyle, a lot of the guys really liked her - not in a sinister way either.

It was refreshing having her around. It was like having a puppy, innocent and excited - yet to be jaded by the harsh realities of the world that surrounded them. Tzuyu wasn’t good at a lot but when it came to keeping someone at an arms length she excelled. She knew how to keep a distance between her gang running and Chaeyoung spray painting cars. As she thought briefly of how Chaeyoung was fairing out back, Tzuyu worked to fix the engine on the car in front of her. Since she broke up with Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung had been hanging out with Tzuyu more and they’d become pretty good friends. She heard the bell ding on the desk behind her, a sign that someone was waiting to be served.

Usually, Pinky would be working the front desk and would call them over as and when they were needed. Today, however, Pinky had taken the day off for family stuff and so Tzuyu had been alone in the garage most of the afternoon. This wasn’t something she minded, she could have her own music play softly through the speakers without anyone complaining and nobody would ask her for anything. Being a gang leader meant people constantly wanted your attention or praise and after a while it got exhausting, especially if you were as introverted as Tzuyu was. So when she got these rare moments of quiet she took them, even if it meant working on several cars alone because the boys had asked to leave early.

“Just a second.” Tzuyu called,

She clicked the last bit into place and reached for a rag to wipe the oil from her stained hands. Wiping the sweat from her brow, probably only serving to make herself look grubbier, she turned to walk to the desk. The woman that was stood there made her stop in her tracks. Money was in her every nook and cranny, the air of privelage surrounding her as she demanded all the attention in the room. She looked over the garage with a face of disgust, as though it was dirty. Not the grease type dirt that Tzuyu was covered in but inherently dirty. Like no amount of cleaning would be able to cleanse it deep enough for her standards. Tzuyu was frozen, completely stunned - not even registering the door to the garage opening again as Jihyo and Momo ran in having given chase to the matriarch of Tzuyu’s family.

“M-Mama?”

The last time Tzuyu had seen her mother had been a long time ago, before the gangs and the violence. Way back when Tzuyu had been a bright eyed optimist, who didn’t know how cruel the world outside her little bubble could be. She had just been dragged home by her mother after they had been out during the day at a family friend’s. If you were to ask Tzuyu why she had been dragged out of there so quickly she would not have been able to tell you. The youngest Chou had long ago learnt how to play the obedient, dutiful daughter and all she had been doing was answering some questions that had been asked to her by this family friend. They were the standard questions: How is school going? Any boyfriends? How did she grow so quick?

Mama Chou had freaked and dragged her out shortly after Tzuyu had been asked about what she wanted to do when she was older. The whole car ride home whenever she had opened to speak she had been told to stay quiet, knowing better than to try to speak to her Mama when she was in this sort of mood. The house was dark when they pulled up, the Chou Mansion looming over the driveway and creating shadows that often gave Tzuyu nightmares. She followed her mother inside and was ordered to sit on the couch, she did as asked watching her mother tapped her foot in front of her.

“I cannot believe you embarrassed me in front of my friend.” Mama Chou shook her head,

“How did I do that?”

Mama Chou glared, “When Ms Kang asked you what you wanted to do when you grow up what did you tell her?”

“The truth?” Tzuyu was confused, she was always taught to be honest,

“A veterinarian, Ziyu? Really?”

Tzuyu nodded carefully, “I want to look after sick baby animals and make them healthy again.”

Her mother scoffed, “Are you insane? After everything we’ve spent on archery training, the best bow, the more expensive arrows, competition entry fees, top trainers and you want to give all that up to become a vet?”

Tzuyu was silent, usually when Mama got this mad her sisters or Papa would step in but they weren’t there that evening for various reasons so she was all alone.

Her Mama noted that Tzuyu looked afraid and so sighed, sitting next to her, “Ziyu, you are so close to representing us in the Olympics. You. Everyone is so proud of you and for you to embarrass us and throw that back in our faces is just disrespectful.”

“Sorry, Mama.”

“You’re going to be a champion, you’ll see the world! Country to country, competitions world wide. You’ll be a household name, all our hard work will pay off!”

At the sound of her future being laid out for her without her say, it made something snap within her.

“No….” She whispered,

“I’m sorry?”

“No.” Tzuyu stood defiantly, “I don’t want that. I don’t want to be a household name or travelling from country to country. That’s not what I want.”

“Don’t be so ungrateful--”

“Why doesn’t what I want matter?” Tzuyu asked, tears b, “I hate archery, but that doesn’t matter. When I’m tired, that doesn’t matter. When my fingers cramp from over use despite having exams the next day, that doesn’t matter. Do I matter? DO I MATTER AT ALL TO YOU?”

Her mother’s mouth opened and closed like that of a gold fish. Tzuyu wished she’d say something, anything. But she didn’t, she just kept flapping . It was a heartbreaking realisation for Tzuyu. She wasn’t her mothers daughter, she was her mothers meal ticket. For pride rather than money. It was like all the fatigue of the last few years hit her at once and she was done, she was so tired. Turning on her heel she went upstairs, mumbling something about staying at Fei’s that night. Her mother called after her as she packed her bag and stormed out but Tzuyu didn’t have it in her to care any more. Thirteen year old her walked alone, in the dark to her sisters house.

When Fei opened the door, she was shocked when Tzuyu fell into her arms sobbing.

Her mother hadn’t changed, she was still elegant. She still had the ability to revert Tzuyu back into that scared little girl she had been all those years ago. Mana Chou was staring at her like she’d seen a ghost, well it had been three years so realistically Tzuyu should have expected that. What she didn’t expect was the loud sob that left her mothers mouth as she suddenly rushed forward to hug Tzuyu tightly. Tzuyu remained statue still in her grip.

“Ziyu! My baby! You’re alive, thank God!” The elder cried into her shoulder as Tzuyu sent a bewildered look to a confused Momo and Jihyo,

“It’s okay Mama, I’m okay.”

“We’ll wait outside.” Jihyo said, dragging a reluctant Momo out the door,

“F-Fei and J-J-Jia told me everything,” Her mother was still sobbing, “The stabbing, shooting, gangs that….that boy!”

She spat the word “boy” with such venom that for a moment Tzuyu’s heart stopped.

“I came to get you,” Mama Chou declared raising her head, “I’m here to take you home, no more archery if you do not want to I promise. Anything you want, vet school - a puppy! But please Ziyu, come back to you family. Your sisters, your father - they’re worrying!”

Tzuyu sighed and pushed her mothers hands away from where they were caressing her face, “Mama, I’m happy to see you. I have missed you…all of you. But my life is here now, I have obligations--”

“To those thugs!” Mama Chou growled,

Tzuyu smiled sadly and shook her head, “I have people that need me, people that love me and need me to stay.”

“I didn’t believe it until I saw them,” Mama Chou shook her head, “Fei had told me you were dating not only one girl, but two. I thought she was insane.”

“I love them Mama,” Tzuyu told her, a hard look in her eye, “They are my main priority. I will not leave them here.”

“You are sixteen. You are a child,” Mama Chou cried, “My child! Please Ziyu, come home.”

Tzuyu stepped away from her, “They are my home, Jihyo and Momo are my family. It is up to you whether you wish to be a part of that or not but I will not leave them.”

“Please…”

With the broken word whispered Tzuyu caved slightly, still ever the little girl longing for her mothers love. She stepped forward and rested her forehead against her mother’s.

“I cannot come home, but if you are willing to work for it I would like to try and have a relationship with you again.”

Mama Chou sighed and hugged her daughter tightly once more, pecking her forehead softly, “You will always have a home in Taiwan, Ziyu - never forget that again.”

“I wont.”

“And speak to your sisters, they were heart broken that they had to leave without speaking to you.”

“Okay.”

Maybe Tzuyu was letting her off easily, but rebuilding what had been destroyed would still take time. Tzuyu had lost too much, maybe this was the universe’s way of paying her back a little for all it had taken. She was too tired to hold old grudges that her thirteen year old self carried. She would rather live in this moment.

Leading her mother out to introduce her properly to her girlfriends.