KFP3 AU in which Tigress wasn't holding Lei Lei when Po made the big sacrifice. Recommended soundtrack for reading: Portrait of Mom, Kung Fu Panda 3 Soundtrack.

Means of Survival

(Set: During KFP 3)

"You're right, I can't send you there." She was surprised to see him rise to his feet after taking such a fall. "But I can take you there." In an instant, he was coiled around Kai's neck, his finger locked in his own hold. Her heart stopped beating. Her blood ran cold.

A canon shot. Her own voice screaming his name in desperation, the sound of metal hitting metal. His body shattering the wooden wall behind him.

He was going to suicide bomb Kai. Take his own life to make up for the danger he had put them all in. The danger she had made him feel guilt for. "No-" She breathed, lunging forward.

The strike of Shen's claw against the fuse of his canon. Again, her voice calling his name. This time, a warning. The canon blast. His life, almost lost again. Because of her.

"No!" She pounced forward, onto Kai.

"Skadoo-" Her hand swatted his own out of his hold, taking it's place. In a flash, all three of them were gone. Reality faded around them, and as it did she barely made out his voice frantically shouting her name.

Her senses returned to her slowly. First, sound. A melodic, ambient hum filled the air. Touch. A hard ground below her. Finally, sight. A warm, golden glow. Kai, fortunately not in sight. She looked around her, taking in the heavenly scenery. Everything had an aura to it, including the peach tree next to her. Suddenly, a cough brought her attention to the ground.

"Po?" She crouched to help him up. Slowly, he rose, holding his forehead and pinching his eyes shut.

"Auugghh…" Ge groaned, before gasping with wide eyes.

"Tigress!" He grabbed her shoulders frantically. He looked terrified, and she could see just a hint of anger in his wild eyes. "Why did you do that?! Why would you get yourself… get yourself…" His eyebrows scrunched together in shock and despair.

"Me? What about you!" She shook his hands from her upper arms. "You killed yourself!" She ejected, not gently. "How could you do that, Po?! You're the dragon warrior! You have duties to uphold," her voice was almost a growl. "And more importantly people that need you! Your fathers need you! Shifu, the Five! What were you thinking?!" Her entire upper body was threateningly in his face. Though anger radiated from her, he didn't shy away.

"But why would you try to take my place? Now we're both gone, it was supposed to just be me! You were supposed to live!" He scolded. She paused in her erratic scene. He could just barely make out tears in her eyes.

"No, you were!" She shouted, jabbing a finger at him accusingly. "You're the one that's needed, Po!" Suddenly, the tension within her died, and she wilted to a saddened state. "That's why… that's why I tried to take your place." Her eyes dropped to the ground, saddened. "I thought it would take me, instead. But I failed… I failed to protect you, Po." She inhaled. "I'm sorry."

He loosened his tense stance, staring at the heartbroken tiger before him. She held her gaze at the ground, looking and feeling defeated.

"Tigress…" He lifted an unsure hand to comfort her.

"I'm supposed to protect you. I'm supposed to keep you safe. I failed you in Gongman, and I failed you now. And you're suffering the consequences of my insufficiency." A beat of silence passed.

"You sound a lot like my dad, you know." He said soothingly.

"What?" She looked up to meet his eye.

"He wanted me to put my own safety above everyone else's, too. But Tigress, I'm the Dragon Warrior. It's my job to be, you know, sacrificing. That's what I do." He reached out to place a hand on her arm. "But not what you should do. I'm supposed to protect you too, you know. And everybody else."

"But Po, you deserve to live. You deserve to fulfill your destiny, and be all that you can be. Look at how far you've come in just a few short years! There's so much more ahead of you!" She proclaimed. Then her tone dropped. "At least, there was."

"I fulfilled my destiny. I'm happy with my life, and I'm okay with how it ended. I just… regret it had to take yours, too." When she raised her eyes to meet his, she could see he was grieving her even though she stood mere inches from him. The moment held for what seemed like forever, before she wrapped herself around his neck, and held him in an embrace. One that had all the same tenderness as when she held him in Gongman jail.

"Po, you are the best thing that could have happened to the Jade Palace. And to Shifu, and to the Five, and to myself." Though surprised at her rare affection, he wasted little time returning her embrace. It felt relieving, somehow, to wrap his arms around her form. Like a breath of fresh air.

"Thank you, Tigress." She squeezed him a little tighter. They clung to one another for perhaps an eternity.

"I see you have found the eternal peach tree." A familiar voice called from behind them. Instantly, they separated and gasped. The wise old turtle stood hardly behind them, a content expression on his old features.

"Master Oogway!" They proclaimed in unison. Tigress immediately dropped into a respectful bow to her grandmaster. The old turtle smiled from where he stood at the trunk of the tree.

"Ah, my students. What brings you to my realm?" The all-knowing master asked. Po and Tigress glanced at one another.

"We stopped Kai, Oogway. Just like you knew we would." Po said in a bittersweet tone. Oogway smiled proudly. Tigress noticed, not for the first time, how he used "we" when speaking of his own accomplishments.

"Good, good. I had no doubt that you could, Dragon Warrior and Lotus Tiger." They smiled at him half-heartedly.

"Master, I regret to tell you, Kai has dishonored your legacy. The Jade Palace is destroyed, as is your memorial. The wisdom you left behind for the next generations, it's gone." Tigress announced sadly. Oogway only smiled and shook his head.

"It is only the lives that those earthly things touch, that matter. It is the lives that have studied that wisdom, that will keep it alive." Oogway soothed. Po and Tigress glanced at one another yet again, pleased to hear his forgiveness.

"But too many lives have been lost this day." Oogway interrupted them. "Since you brought yourself here, you also have the ability to bring yourself back." The two gasped simultaneously.

"Master, that can't possibly…"

"You mean we can live? SWEET. Oh man, Shifu is going to flip out! Oh my god, this is going to be a story for the history books!" Po rambled giddily, and scooped Tigress up in a celebratory, spinning hug. She smiled broadly, partially from relief and partially over the Dragon Warrior's excitement. Foreheads pressed together, they laughed and spun in delight.

"So, so how does it work? Do I like, Wuxi us again?" Po asked as he put her back on the ground. "Or, or does she do it to me this time?" Po spoke with his hands, demonstrating every possibility of their return. Oogway raised a finger to speak. Po gasped. "Will we appear in a cloud of smoke? Will there be confetti?!"

"Po." Tigress warned.

"Actually, Dragon Warrior, I'm afraid only the one who brought you both here may return." Oogway announced. Suddenly, Po's excitement drained from him.

"What?"

Oogway looked somber. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I was unclear earlier. Po, only you may return."

Po and Tigress looked to one another, staring in shock.

"No, no I'm not leaving you here." He said, appalled. He took a step backwards, away from her.
"Po, you have no choice, I don't have the ability to leave." She said solemnly, stepping toward him.

"Master Oogway, there has to be some way-" But when he turned to seek the wise old turtle, he had disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. How convenient.

"Po, listen to me." Tigress took his hand in hers. "You have to go back. Your family needs you." The way she was looking into his eyes as if she were trying to send a thought directly into his head reminded him of when she had done the very same in Gongman jail.

"They need you too!" He begged. She shook her head.

"Having you back is better than having us both dead. A lot better." The use of the d-word sent chills down his spine. "Please, Po. Please live for me."

"Tigress, I can't go back without you." His voice was desperate. "If I leave you here, I will never forgive myself."

"Well, I've already forgiven you. I won't be able to forgive you if you stay, though." He collapsed his head into his hands, grief-stricken and afraid.

"I can't, I can't! What am I supposed to do when I get back, huh? How am I supposed to live without you?!" She was silent for a moment

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" He sighed. "I mean, you've been there for years. You're always who I turn to, you're always there to help me, and guide me, and comfort me… I learn from you more than anyone else, and not just kung fu. I learn everything, from you. What am I supposed to do without that?" He spoke directly into her eyes. Her frown was empathetic, though she was elated to know how much she had apparently helped him over the years.

"You'll have everyone else, Po. You'll have your fathers, your family, everyone at the Palace."

"But I need you. You know, I had kind of thought… over the past year or so, we've been…" He looked up and into her eyes, silently asking her to understand what he was referencing. She sighed.

"Of course we have. And we would have had a lot more ahead of us, too." She smiled warmly. She didn't dare let herself imagine their warm future in that moment, not as it was being ripped away from them. "But there's a lot more ahead of you without me. Please, Po. The greatest honor I could have, would be to see you thrive. That's all I want. Please."

He was silent a moment. She held his hand tighter.

"Please." Then he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Okay." He nodded painfully. "Okay, I will." She smiled proudly. He looked up at her with an agonized expression, then gathered her in a hug again, painfully understanding that it would be their last. They were silent in one another's arms, settling closer every so often.

"Take care of them for me. And yourself, especially." She hummed into his fur. He nodded, warm tears freely falling.

"I promise." He held her tighter.

"And Lei Lei, make sure she's safe and has a home. Even if it means bringing her to the Palace." He nodded again.

"And tell Shifu… tell Shifu that my greatest honor was to have him as a master." She carefully worded. "And a father." She added. The last fraction of Po's heart shattered at the realization that he was taking her from Shifu, too.

"I need to know one thing, before I never see you again." He built up the courage to say. They parted just enough to look at one another. She waited for the question, and saw him struggle to get the words out.

"What's changed, since I first came to the Palace? You hated me so much back then, and now you continually sacrifice yourself for me. Why on earth does the greatest kung fu master in China care so much about someone who took her place by accident?" She smiled half heartedly and put a comforting hand on his cheek.

"Po, you are everything, everything I have always strived to be and then some. Not just the dragon warrior. You're forgiving, you're compassionate, you are always trying to learn. I have never admired anyone as much as you, even Shifu." He smiled at her praise. She smirked. "And besides, there are no accidents." And they embraced for the last time.

"Okay, you need to go back before they start planning a double funeral." She backed away from his embrace, he reluctantly convinced himself to let her go. "I think I have an idea of how to do it." Her hand slipped out of his, gently putting him into the Wuxi Finger Hold. They both stared at their adjoined hands, then met each other's eyes. A moment of silence passed.

"It has been an honor fighting with you, dragon warrior." She announced, finally allowing her own tears to well up in her grieving eyes. "And the greatest honor, to be your friend."

"I'll see you in the next lifetime, Master Tigress. I promise." She pinched her eyes shut and nodded, then smiled at him though she was openly crying. She took a steadying breath, looking at her finger, then back to his eyes. "Okay." She grinned. "Skadoosh." And she dropped her finger. The glowing aura around him returned, and he began to fade. Over the sound of the spiritual realm sending him back home, she could barely make out his voice.

"I love you!"

"I love you, too." And the sensation of his warm, comforting hand in her own, the first sensation she'd felt in those numb hands since childhood, vanished.