(A/N: Hi, everyone! I've really gotten into Kung Fu Panda franchise, and thus I've started to create stories of said franchise! Wait… That's sort of self-explanatory… Damnit.
Anyhow, I got the idea for this story from watching the LOA Episode ''Scorpion's Sting''. Since every single one of these kinds of stories always has a happy ending, I thought that I might do one that doesn't have it. This story is in Tigress' P.O.V, but I'm warning you, however; there is heavy angst as well as character death in this story. Get ready!)
Another side note: I know that this episode takes place in between the two movies, but I have moved it to after the second one and that's because I think that it's a more emotion-giving time period for this kind of story.
-''How much time does she have left?'' I vaguely hear my best friend and fellow Kung Fu student Viper ask. Viper is a kind, skilled Kung Fu Master over the snake style of Hung Ga Kung Fu.
-''Well, it's pretty hard to say…'' Someone known as Crane, King of the Air, sighed as he stood by my side. I barely have enough energy in my body to even turn my head; all I can do is more or less absentmindedly stare up into the ceiling. ''I'd say around an hour, more or less.''
Apparently, I have caught a disease known as ''River Fever''. It seems that a lot of the people living in the Valley of Peace had this disease in their childhoods, and by that time in their lives it is harmless. I didn't, however, and it turned out that this disease is lethal to adults. It all started with an innocent sneeze, and now it's grown to this.
-''Please, let Po and Monkey make it in time.'' I could pick up my adoptive father, and also my master, whisper. Completely immobilized, I try to speak, but the only thing that slips out of my mouth is a soft moan of tiredness. I'm close to death, and I am completely aware of it.
Despite the fact that I have only an hour or so more to live, the only thing I can manage to think about is Po. When he first came into my life, I more or less hated him. I had trained for that one special occasion, being elected as the Dragon Warrior, when he appeared out of nowhere and snatched all of my dreams away from me. I felt weak back then, felt defeated, felt like I had failed completely. Now, I can admit that I would want nothing more than for him to leave and never come back, but that changed when Po managed to defeat one of the evilest villains ever in China's history, Tai Lung.
Tai Lung was, like me, a sort of adoptive child of Shifu. She found him as a cub outside the palace, and he decided to train him and raised him just like his own son. When Tai Lung grew up, he wanted possession of the legendary Dragon Scroll, a scroll supposed to give its reader limitless power. When Shifu's own master Oogway took part against this decision, Tai Lung was thrown into a fit of anger. He took out his anger on our home, the Valley of Peace, until he decided to claim the Dragon Scroll by force, only to be stopped by the very one to deny him the scroll in he first place.
Ever since Po defeated him, I've began thinking of him more as a friend. As he learned to get better and better at Kung Fu, he reminded me how to have fun. When he told me, on our trip to Gongmen City to defeat the crazed Lord Shen, that I was completely hardcore and couldn't feel anything, I started thinking about it, and eventually I realized that he was right. It was sort of obvious though; I had never once shown any kind of feeling towards another living being. Of course, I can be nice and friendly, but I have never shown any feelings. But Po has changed that.
When I'm around him, it feels as if it becomes a lot easier to express any kind of feeling. When he jokes, it feels easier to laugh. When he says something clever, it feels easier to smile. And then, ever since he saved all of China from Lord Shen, I grew certain that what I felt for him passed the feeling of friendship, into something greater.
I groan in pain as I suddenly feel a sharp sting in my head. It's hard to say, but I'm guessing that it has passed around ten minutes since someone last checked. God, I hate that this is happening! I mean, not only that I'm literally on my deathbed, but the fact that I never got the chance to tell Po how I'm feeling for him. You may laugh at me and call me a pussy, but I don't care. The feelings I'm holding for him right now can easily be described with the word love.
What really pains me, however, is that I might never get to know what he feels for me. Of course, the fact that he's willing to put his own life in danger to save mine tells a lot of his own, but you can never be sure enough. Ah well, I guess that this is no real time to think about that now.
Sigh. I never thought my life would end like this, If it would end, I thought it would be on the battlefield, and not in a disease, lying on my bed.
-''Only half an hour left now!'' I hear Crane's panicked voice yell from somewhere to the right of me. I don't have the energy to turn my head, but I can faintly make out the falling red and orange colours that indicate sunset. I know that I don't have a lot of time left right now.
I'm not sure that the others can see it, but tears are starting to form in my eyes. I do have enough energy to at least look around with my eyes, but that's about it. The tears salty essence sting in my eyes as I blink rapidly to clear it out, but it's hard.
It hurts. Not the fact that I'm going to die, but the fact that I'm going to die and leave everybody I love behind. The five, they are like a family to me. We train, eat and generally live together, and that's what makes them special to me. And although he hasn't been the best father, what with not showing a lot of love and all, Shifu still has a special place in my heart. And then there's Po…
Po is like none other person I have ever met before. He is sweet, smart, and even though he is fairly clumsy a lot of the time, it is that that makes him lovable. Like I said, before he came into my life, you could say that this whole emotion thing was completely new to me. All I did all days long was training, training and more training. Po made me realize what emotions are, and I am forever grateful to him for that.
My world starts to go blurry and foggy. My eyes starts to blacken down, and as of now I no longer have any feeling in my arms or legs. The tears cloud my eyes as I see what I presume to be Shifu looking down at me. He wipes the tears away and now I can clearly see his face. He carries a sad face expression which basically screams out ''I'm sorry''. New tears begin to cloud my eyes as I smile my weakest smile ever. It takes a lot of effort, but I need him to know that I've always loved him before I pass on.
Someone shouts something that I can't quite make out. I think it's supposed to be ''Only ten minutes left!'', but to me it sounds like ''Onytnmintslf''. Great, now this thing is getting to my hearing too… Ugh…
''Where are you, Po?'' is the only thought my mind can produce. Right now, I'm barely conscious. I can almost not make out anything that's being said around me, and even though I can see quite clearly, I can't turn my head at all, and it feels like my eyes are completely locked in the position they are looking in.
I am scared.
I don't have a lot of time left. I'll be dead when Po reaches us. He won't make it in time.
I'm probably already dead to the rest of the world. I'm just barely breathing, I'm not moving a muscle, and as far as I know, my eyes are wide open and not moving at all. I find, however, that I have the slightest muscle movement in my lips, and I guess I could show a smile if I really wanted to.
The next thing I see is my father's face leaning over me once again. He still has a really pained and worried expression on his face. He starts speaking, and as my hearing shifts between functioning normally and being completely useless, I do my best to read his lips. I'm not very good at it, so the only things I can make out are ''I love you, daughter'', and ''I've always been proud of you''. Seeing as I can't speak, I respond with that smallest smile to assure him that I've heard him. Just then, I can barely hear the door slam open, and I can hear someone, who I think is Po, come barging in, yelling ''We're here with the flower!''
''You're too late, Po… I-I'm sorry.'' Shifu says, his voice cracking.
That is the last thing I hear before an infinite vortex of darkness appears, my world goes completely black and I stop thinking at all.