All characters depicted on this story are property of DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.
Just thought it'd be prudent to disclaim that.
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Feelings on Watching the Moon
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The terrible cold of the mountains wasn't something the avian hadn't endured by himself before, even when wearing nothing but his familiar, non-protective attire. But tonight, the chilling windstorm that had befallen the mountains had made the weather unbearable. For the first time in a long time, Master Crane feared his life would be taken away not by the enemy in the battlefield, but by the forces of Mother Nature.
The strong winds blew against his face and his entire body; pushing him back every time he attempted to take step forward. His light body wasn't making it easy. If he did not give all of his strength, the wind would take him with it, turning all his effort into waste and even possibly dragging him to his death. Flying was out of the question, unless he intended to give up and return to his destination. In fact, the wind blew so strong it felt almost like it was discouraging him from further continuing his mission and that if he wisely chose to give up it would gladly assist him in his flight back.
But he would not submit. He braced his wings tight around his body to keep what little heat he had left with him. He gathered the entire chi his body housed and summoned to his slender legs, allowing him the strength he needed to give just another small, but strong step. And again. And again. Even if he'd have to spend hours just to walk a few more feet, he'd not back down.
But then realism hit him. Soon his strong legs gave in and felt fragile. His tight grasp of his own wings around him began to loosen; the heat of his body would eventually fade away and let him freeze to death.
The strength of the wind lowered down so subtly his feathers couldn't even tell, it felt as cold as ever. But his eyes could. It had lowered enough to allow him see just a few feet in front of his beak with clarity. And what he saw relieved him: a small cave. It could be his salvation, his chance for survival.
Giving all his remaining strength, he proceeded further on towards the small hideout. How long had passed until he arrived he couldn't tell. All he cared about was reaching it and when he did he felt relief. A warming relief.
The cave was so small he had to duck his way in, but it was deep enough to distance him from the strong winds that, thankfully, did not blew towards it.
He continued to shiver, for it was still cold in there. He was forced to press his bare back against the cold stone and lay his cold feet over the freezing snow. But this was definitely much better than being out there against the storm. Very much so.
He wrapped his wings tight against him again, this time digging his own face behind them to give him some extra warmth. It wasn't much, but it was enough heat to let him survive for now.
He wondered just how long he would endure before he could take it no more and he would finally surrender. It was one of the rarest moments when hope was nearly lost from Crane. When he could not have confidence in himself and would rid his mind with doubt. He thought he might not make it.
But deep in his heart, he knew they wouldn't. He knew they'd never doubt on him, that they thought he was capable of succeeding. He knew they'd have hopes for him and that they'd always be there to give him confidence.
They were his friends. His dear and beloved friends. Wherever they were, they were with him to give him confidence. Just like now.
He could do it.
The wind had once again lost strength, but it was not enough for him to let him go on with his journey (even if it was, his body would not give in. He needed to rest for he was exhausted). But it was enough to give him a small sight of the night sky. He peeked his eye between the feathers of his wings and he could barely see it, but he knew it was there in front of his eyes.
He saw the moon.
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Walking through the desert under the night sky had to be the most solitary experience Master Monkey had ever experienced. Not a single sound, except his own steps and the whispers of the wind, could be heard.
For hours, he had been walking all alone through these lonely lands. He would not expect to meet with another fellow traveler or with a messenger. Not even with the occasional thief or bandits that roamed the deserts in search of vulnerable and unsuspecting victims. He knew that in this place there was only him and him alone.
The simian master was social by nature. Interaction with another person was nearly a necessity for him to keep his mood upright. No, not even that. It was almost a basic natural instinct for him.
Being deprived of social interaction was, to put it simple, mental torture to him.
But with a mission at hand, he could not afford any privileges. He knew it had to be this way. This was a task that he had to accomplish without any company. He could not allow the solitude to eat away his sanity. In the past, it had been moments of loneliness like this that would threaten to drive him crazy. But in time, with intense mental training and meditation, he had learned to fight it.
That's why even with the steady pacing of his march, the emotionless expression on his face and his solemn silence gave the idea of peace and serenity, Monkey was actually engaging in a raging fight deep in his mind.
For days he had done nothing but eating, sleeping and, more than anything, walking. His destination was so far away that not even the mountainless horizon could give him sight of it. He continued to walk on a straight line. His only stops were to sleep, take a few small bites and sips from his provisions and, at day, take a small cover from the intense daylight. Everyday repeating the same activities to the point it had been engraved into his mind as a routine.
He knew that anyone else would have gone insane by this moment. Even a strong kung fu master could potentially lose his or her mind in such a exhaustive, monotonous, uneventful and (as Monkey could summarize it) boring mission like this.
He marched on with the night. He had no one to talk to, no one to walk with and no one to rely on.
He was all alone.
…no, no he wasn't.
He was wrong on the last one: he did have someone to rely on.
A curious thought came to his mind right afterward: laughter. But it wasn't his own laughter, one that had brought humiliation and anger to those who heard it and to that day still caused some minimal discomfort.
It was the sound of someone else's laughter. Their laughter. It was the sound of their friends laughing.
For a second he hoped he hadn't heard them laughing at him, ridiculing him and humiliating him for the task he could possibly fail to succeed.
But no, he reassured himself. They'd never do that. They'd not be laughing at him. They'd be laughing with him.
Nothing fueled Monkey's spirit more than the laughter of their friends. And now, it was no different. And through their laughter, he always found the strength to keep fighting against anything.
Thinking about nothing but his friends' laughter, he turned his eyes to look up at the clear night sky.
He saw the moon.
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Taking cover beneath the thick leaves of a tall tree, the feline warrior felt weak against the imposing rain that had fallen over the jungle she had been traveling through.
Impotent against some stupid drops of water, she felt pathetic. The mighty Master Tigress, whose nerves were said to be made of steel and her roar said to be so powerful she could make dragons fall from the sky, was stopped by rain. She could defeat a thousand demons with her bare fists, but she couldn't stop some miserable raindrop from falling against her fur, let alone billions of them along with the potent sound of thunder that accompanied them.
The sound of the storm only taunted her. It forced her to remain where she was. She had no power to stop them, so why be foolish and go outside? For how long could she make when she would be disoriented by the water, the thunder and the lack of a sky, not to mention the possible illnesses her body could catch and would only be a long term disturbance to her mission?
She made the rational, yet humiliating, decision to stay put until the storm had passed away, no matter how long it took. And lucky for her, it didn't last for so long. Suddenly, without some previous notice, the sound of the rain falling came to a halt and the sound of the thunder started to fade away.
Her fur and clothes were entirely wet. The storm might have been all gone, but the signs of its passing were marked well on Tigress' body. It was almost a sign of superiority, one that would remind Tigress how weak she was against it. How she didn't have the power to defeat it.
Even with the path clear for her to continue, she did not move. She remained sitting against the trunk of the tree. She felt defeated and didn't think she could find the energy to let her continue right now.
…defeat by a ridiculous rain? Really?
She shut her eyes in frustration. Stupid Tigress, how could she make a big deal out of something so absurd? Rain was as natural as the air she breathed. Getting wet by rain was as trivial as the heat of sun light. This hadn't even been the first time she had rain fall down on her. Heck, she could even recall times back at the orphanage when she would sneak out just to feel the rain fall down on her.
Why was she like this with herself? No, not just with herself, she remembered, with anyone. Always pushing herself and others to their limit, expecting the most of her and them, never giving them a break.
All these years, how could her friends even tolerate her? Thinking about it just filled her with guilt. Most of her memories with her comrades had her being cold towards them, rude, frustrated, disappointed and angry, you name it. She hardly had memories of being nice, of showing her true colors and emotions. So how, how could they tolerate her?
Or most important, why? Why would they tolerate her?
She opened her eyes when she asked herself that question. It felt silly, somehow, to think about that question. Perhaps, she thought, because she might know the answer.
And she did. She knew the answer.
She remembered her original question "how could her friends tolerate her?", then took away nearly every word on it (question mark included) only to leave the key word alone: friends.
She smiled. The answer to her was obvious. Why did it escape her like this so often? How did she forget that those people, who she woke up with every morning, had meals, spent the entire with and even fought with, were her friends? Friends that trusted her, that saw past that hard shell of hers and saw who she truly was. Friends that loved her.
It was so sudden she didn't even stop to think about it, but with that very last thought, she felt an energy that climbed from her toes all the way up to her head and extended to the tips of her fingers. It filled her entire body. She instantly stood up once again and shook the excess of water off her fur. Without looking back at her resting spot, she began to walk once again towards a direction that, instinct told her, would take her to her destination.
The sound of rain and thunder was gone now and soon enough the clouds that covered the sky left little by little as well. Tigress still couldn't see the stars, but through a small gap between the clouds…
She saw the moon.
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At this moment, the sea could be described in many positive ways: serene, peaceful, silent, gentle, compassionate. To see the big blue behaving so nicely was a rare occurrence many sailors prayed for to have a safe travel.
But to Mantis, there was only one way he could describe the ocean as right now: slow.
The insect warrior rested face-up on the raft he had built himself back on the mainland. His eyes were shut, but he was not sleeping (far from that). The only things he had with him were his suitable amount of provisions and a compass. For days he had been sailing across the ocean, which had so far treated him nicely. There had been no storms, no strong winds and no encounters with dangerous sea creatures or even pirates (although he was fairly certain this route he traveled was not a commercial route).
He was grateful for that for a while, but now, after several uneventful days of travel, all he could think about was how slow his voyage had been after days and days of travel and little sign of progress. There was no sign of land from any direction, but at night, the stars were a good enough guide for him to tell his position and his compass would always let him know he was heading to the right direction.
But just how long was this going to take, he didn't know. Nothing showed promise of this being over any time soon.
Patience, he tried to remind himself. Patience. Ever since the incident with the crocodile gang, he had done his best to remain patient. Was it by meditation, trances or distraction, he'd find a way to endure the burden of time.
But nothing was working right now. He had tried of it all and there was no illusion of the flow of time. He saw the sun rise and then set like always, but aside from that, nothing told him he was going anywhere. Sometimes he went as far as thinking that every morning he woke up in the very same day and that he hadn't moved at all.
Isolation was one of Mantis' least worries, for he had learn to cope with it a great deal of his life. But despite his solitude, stranded in middle of the sea in a raft, with little space to move and little to do besides eating and checking a compass was frustrating and, at some point, even discouraging.
Was his destination really worth the wait? What if he what he was tasked to find on the other side wasn't even be there anymore? What if what he finds isn't really what they needed? What if when he comes back, all the wait would have been for nothing?
Now, now, he shouldn't be thinking so negatively…but he couldn't help it. It seemed like time had eaten away all good humor in him. It had been so long since he last shared a laugh with his friends, talked a good chat with them, had a nice sparring match with them. How he missed that.
How he missed them.
Then in a moment, this mission became second priority. His trip forward now seemed to matter so little now. It was now the trip back what he began to look forward to.
He couldn't wait for the moment he'd be able to return home to find them. Literally looking down at him as always, friendly teasing him about his size, but nonetheless treating them as his equal, as their comrade and friend.
They'd have to wait for him, however. They'd have to wait for a long time…
Yet he knew that, for them, all that time would be worth waiting. They'd wait weeks, months, years and maybe even decades until the day he returns. Such was their loyalty to each other.
He too, he thought, should show that loyalty as well. He too should be patient, for them.
He'd wait all the time in the world. For them, he'd wait until the world ended, just to see them again.
He felt grateful with the ocean again, for letting all this wait to be peaceful and safe, and hoped very deeply that the rest of the journey would remain as peaceful.
He opened his eyes and surveyed the stars again. He was in the right position. He then turned his view to something else not with the purpose of navigation, but simply to behold the beauty he had been ignoring all these days.
He saw the moon.
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Po woke up in the middle of the night. His sleep was disturbed by the sensation of something amiss. He didn't feel the slightest annoyance at this sudden and uncalled awakening. With eyes open, he found himself just were he expected himself to be. He was at his room at the Inn.
A few hours ago, he and his companion had arrived at a small village near the western frontier of China to rest from their long journey. The keeper of the Inn recognized the masters and gladly offered them to stay for a reduced fee and use the top floor with balcony. Not wanting to take advantage, the two insisted on paying full price for the stay.
The panda warrior surveyed the room and tried to spot what was wrong in there. Of course, lying down in a bed, his field of view was reduced to the ceiling, so he had to sit to have a better sight of the place.
He turned to his left and then immediately realized what was missing. He looked at the bed right besides his own; it was empty. The disorganized covers telling him that the person sleeping on it had awakened and left the bed.
Po turned at his right then and saw the doors to the balcony open, letting the breeze of the night make its way softly into the room. He stood up from his bed and walked towards the balcony.
Standing there, with her body softly illuminated by the moon light and her bright blue eyes staring off towards the dark horizon, was Master Viper.
"Viper?"
The snake turned around and saw her fellow warrior standing there with a tired look on his face. "Oh, Po." She looked down to the floor in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry…did I wake you up?"
"Naw, not really." He said calmly. "Don't worry about it. Just, what are you doing awake? Can't sleep?"
"Oh, that. Well…" She found it a little shameful to admit, but this was Po she was talking to and she knew there was nothing to feel ashamed of with him. "Yeah, I can't sleep. Having a hard time with that." She moved closer towards the balcony, her eyes put back on the starry sky once again. "So I came here to watch the night sky. It's a beautiful night, you know. I thought maybe it could help me calm myself down."
"Calm yourself down?" Po moved closer to her with a quizzical look on his face. "Why? Is something bothering you?"
From the corner of his eye Po saw Viper's solemn face morph into one of sadness. Her eyes were no longer looking up. She had turned her head lower to gaze at the horizon once again.
Po felt dumb for not realizing it quicker. "Oh…" He walked towards the balcony and stood right beside the scaly warrior. He looked at her for a moment –she did not return the sight. The panda then turned his eyes towards the horizon too. All one could see were the dark silhouettes of the fields and mountains against the dark blue of the sky. But he wasn't really looking at them. He knew Viper wasn't either.
"It's them, isn't it?"
Viper didn't say anything-at least not verbally. She allowed a sad sigh to be her answer, which Po understood.
"I see." He answered simply. He thought it was considered not to speak too much in fear of aggravating her sorrow further. But at moments like this, he was aware the best thing to do was give comfort to a friend who needed it.
But before he could think of something to say, Viper spoke up.
"It's been so long since the last we've been separated like this." Her words were soft. "But even back at that time…we hadn't been apart for this long. It just doesn't feel very natural, you know. They've been with me and me with them for most of my life. It feels…it feels like a big part of me has gone missing and is now lost far away from me…" She paused to look at Po for a moment. His face tried not to show much emotion right now. Viper seemed to misinterpret this, however, as perhaps a negative reaction. "I'm sorry…" She looked down again.
"Huh?"
"I mean, you don't feel…neglected, do you? I mean, don't think I'm ignoring your presence, Po. Because it really means a lot to me that you're here with me, it's just…"
"Hey, hey." Po placed his hand on Viper's back. When the snake looked up at him, he gave her a comforting smile. "It's okay, Viper. I understand you. You guys are my friends too and all, but I know it's not the same with me. You guys have been together for a very, very long time. You have shared so many experiences and moments that I never had, so I can understand. You five share a special bond that I can't be part of."
Viper gave him a weak smile. "I know…" She continued to speak softly. "But don't forget, Po, you still hold a special place in all of us."
"I know." The smile never left his face. It comforted Viper greatly to feel the understanding and support from the Dragon Warrior. Feeling she had nothing else to worry about Po, she turned back to the horizon. "You think they're ok?"
Po looked to where Viper's eyes went to again. "I'm confident they are. I'm sure we'll see them again safe and sound." Po's face brightened up with enthusiasm when an idea came to his mind. "I know! I should plan a huge feast! You know, for when we're all together again after we're done with this mission." Viper turned to see his face of eagerness. "How's that, huh?"
Viper couldn't help but let out a giggle. It touched her how Po would always try to brighten even the sourest of moods. It almost felt like tickles inside her. "I like that idea, Po. Thanks. I'm sure the others will love it as well."
For the few seconds that followed, neither spoke a word. They kept looking at each other to share each other's smiles: one giving comfort and the other accepting it.
It was expected for the moment to not last and soon enough Viper turned her view again towards the dark of the night. Her smile slowly faded away, her tries to make it unnoticeable for Po were futile.
Po allowed some silence fall between the two. He couldn't imagine how terribly she missed them. To think that the people she had been the closest to on her life were now separated by an immense distance. He knew well how much she wished she could object to this mission. She loathed the idea of being divided and sent to five different directions of the world, all equally separated from each other. She must have felt lucky, however, that it had been five and not six directions they had to travel to. Otherwise, she'd not have Po with her right now to give her the accompany she desired.
But that didn't hide the fact that Monkey, Tigress, Mantis and Crane, her dearest and most beloved friends, whom she hasn't seen and not even heard from in what felt like a long time, were now alone, far away from her.
Po let Viper linger on the thoughts of her friends. Right now, he thought, it was the most sensible thing to do.
Something in Viper caught Po's attention that moment. It wasn't an emotion her face was revealing or something like that, but something on her entire body. He couldn't really put his finger on what was it, though, but something definitely looked different on her…
"Huh?" Viper noticed she was being stared at. "Oh, you hadn't noticed before?"
"Noticed what?"
Viper gestured at the tattooed markings that ran all the way through her body with the tip of her tail. It still had Po confused for a moment, but he seemed to get it pretty quickly afterward. "Ohh, I see. You got some new tattoos, huh?"
She nodded. "That's right. I actually did this about a month ago back at the village. I'm actually kinda surprised that none of you had noticed."
"Well, it's not like you ever told us about it."
"True." She held an ashamed smile. "Sorry, I just thought it wasn't important."
"Well, what does it say?" Po showed a mix of eagerness and curiosity.
"What? You can't read it?" She spoke with a slight teasing.
"Well, it's not it's very legible, you know." He pointed out. "The only thing I can make out from it is the word 'moon'".
He got a giggle out of Viper again. "Oh yeah, I wonder how would you get that?"
Po shrugged. "Well, that same word was on the last thing you wrote on yourself too…you really have a thing with the moon, don't you?"
Viper nodded. Almost like the bright astral body had called for her, her eyes had turned to the bright moon in the sky. "That might be. You see, Po, ever since that incident at the Moon Festival when I was kid, when I saved my father from that bandit, I've always felt this…mystical connection with the moon. I know it sounds kind of goofy, but-"
"Hey, I didn't say anything." He claimed. "I actually think it's pretty cool."
"Thanks." She looked at him to thank him for the compliment before turning back at the moon. "So that's pretty much why I end up having something written on me that has something with the moon."
"I see. So, are you going to tell me what does it say then?"
"Oh, sorry!" She apologized. "It's a extract from an old poem. I heard it for the first time back at my first days at the palace. It's one of my favorite poems, actually." There was a change on her expression but Po could not tell what was it. "And, I guess, you could say I relate to it as well."
Po simply stood where he was, putting all of his attention as Viper recited the poem.
"The times are hard: a year of famine has emptied the fields,
My brothers live abroad- scattered west and east."
In that last sentence, he thought he could hear a very small crack on his voice. He sensed a bit of struggle in Viper's mouth, but nonetheless she continued.
"Now fields and gardens are scarcely seen after the fighting,
Family members wander, scattered on the road."
It was clear to him already she felt tense. Part of was telling her to stop there, before she reached a point where…
"Attached to shadows, like geese ten thousand li apart,
Or roots uplifted into September's autumn air."
She paused to take a deep breath.
"Viper?"
"We…" She stopped again. "We…we look…"
Standing right besides her, Po looked deeper into Viper's eyes, her stare lost in the mirage of the moon.
He took another look to Viper's markings once again, this time more carefully. At that moment, just like the deciphered riddle of a cryptic map, he saw the painted scribbles becoming legible to him. He read slowly from beginning to end through Viper's coils. It was the final sentences of the poem.
Looking back at Viper, he saw another bright reflection of the moonlight that began to fall from Viper's eye. A single tear ran down her cheek, until it found the end of its way on her chin and finally fell down towards the wooden floor.
"Viper…"
He anticipated it. The feeling of Viper's face buried on Po's belly fur and the wet sensation of her tears forming against his skin. The panda lovingly wrapped his arms around the crying snake, to let her know he was there for him and she was invited to let her sorrow out through wailing.
Tonight, there was a young woman crying for the friends she missed.
Po looked up to the omnipresent moon, witness of the sorrow that his dear friend endured right now. He looked at it as if it was calling him. As if it was trying to deliver him a message, but not a message of its own. The moon was merely acting as messenger for him.
He looked down and saw the moonlight beautifully reflected on Viper's scales, making him read once again the extract from the poem Viper did not finish.
"They're not so far away, Viper." He whispered to her. "For as long as the moon, the same moon that hangs above every single night of China, shines down upon us all, they'll always be with us. They'll always be with you."
Still under Po's embrace, Viper raised her head from her hiding spot in Po's fur. Although still sobbing, she dared to take a look to the face of her friend. His serious expression was a reflection of the one she had just moments ago. What he saw reflected on his eyes invited her to take a look as well.
With teary eyes, she moved her head up to face the night sky.
Together, they both saw the moon.
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The times are hard: a year of famine has emptied the fields,
My brothers live abroad- scattered west and east.
Now fields and gardens are scarcely seen after the fighting,
Family members wander, scattered on the road.
Attached to shadows, like geese ten thousand li apart,
Or roots uplifted into September's autumn air.
We look together at the bright moon, and then the tears should fall,
This night, our wish for home can make five places one.
-"Feelings on watching the moon" by Bai Juyi (772–846)
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Author's notes:
Months ago while looking up for Chinese poetry for a fanart project (of what else but Kung Fu Panda, haha) I stumbled upon Bai Juyi's poem and this one in particular caught my attention by how relatable I thought it would be for the Furious Five, Viper in particular. And, as you can see, that was my entire inspiration for this story.
As a side note, it might come a little strange for Viper to call the poem 'old' when it's a poem that was written during ancient China as well, but since the specific era when Kung Fu Panda takes place is never specified I don't think it comes as necessary to give much justification for that. For all we know, Kung Fu Panda could take place before or after Bai Juyi.
And if you're wondering just what kind of mission were Po and the Furious Five sent to that required them to travel separately to different corners of the world then sorry, I can't give that answer because I didn't even think about it myself. It was practically irrelevant to the story, as my point was to write about the strong friendship bond between the Furious Five. If you really want to, however, just use your imagination and try to come up with something. ;)
In one last funny note, by the time I was done writing this story, I couldn't help but being reminded of a particular music video made by a certain band, even though said video and said band had nothing to do on my inspiration to write this story. I'll let you guys guess which one I'm talking about!