A/N: I LIIIIIIIVE! Words cannot say how sorry I am about the year and a half wait on this one guys. On top of a very busy year last year, Writer's Block decided to show up at my doorstep and REFUSED to leave! Gah! And I know that this chapter is slightly shorter than prior ones, I do have a feeling even after all that that this chapter could have been a little better but I'll let you be the judge of that. Hopefully it was worth the wait *Crosses fingers*
"Tigress! Where are you going? Tigress!"
Viper's words were meeting a brick wall as her stubborn, stripy best friend and leader vanished fleet-footedly out of the kitchen. It was far from uncommon, truthfully. Tigress had always been the most stubborn, stoic, unyielding member of the Furious Five. She loathed appearing weak; most of the time the serpent wasn't really talking to Tigress as such; more her wall. Her façade. Her shell. In the feline's books, 'Weak' obviously meant 'showing emotions' or better yet, 'telling the truth'. Why did she have to be so … arduous?
Today had been different. Very different. Viper was used to Tigress having a rather aggressive way of training. Having known her for ten years, it would be odd if the serpent didn't. But she had not seen anything like that. Tigress had gone completely berserk on the trees in a way that was way out of sorts even for the feline. Even in the many battles they had fought in over the past decade, Viper had never seen Tigress go that wild on anything before, be it tree or enemy.
Well … okay, scratch that, there had been a handful of times - the stand out time being that one crocodile at the previous year's Kung Fu tournament. He got on everyone's nerve with his arrogant spunky attitude and his on-going boasting about how invincible he was. And heaven help him when he verbally insulted the feline and then went so far as to make a snatch at Shifu and Oogway as well; claiming them to be a 'short, flee-ridden street rat' and a 'slow, loopy idiot'. That was enough to make all of them fire up, but it was Tigress he was fighting. So it was relatively satisfying to have the leader lose her nut and send him scooting back to mommy with a black eye, four missing teeth, an arm bending the wrong way and his tail between his legs. But even that was a stretch to compare that incident with the striped feline's brutality today. Her actions were enough to bring curses out of the snake, and that never happened.
The serpent shook her head slowly; having given up the futile attempts to get Tigress' attention and glanced across the table at Mantis, "What has gotten into her?"
The insect shrugged "What makes you think any of us'd know? You're the closest one to her by long shot Viper! If you don't know, how should we?"
"He's got a point" Monkey said hesitantly "Whatever's bothering her; if she was to tell anyone, the one she'd go to would be you."
Viper was all too aware of that. She bowed her scaly head and sighed heavily "well at this point, I don't have a much better guess then you at the moment. I don't have a clue what could have wound her up this much." The serpent wasn't going to lie, that annoyed her more than she thought it would. Yes, Tigress wasn't one for long, heart to heart conversations, and stubborn could have been her middle name and no one would batter an eyelid or even think to question it. But Viper had always gone to Tigress of she had something bothering her and despite Tigress' stoic nature, she always gave a listening ear and a helping paw if needed. It somewhat saddened Viper that Tigress wouldn't let Viper do the same for her.
There was silence for a few beats; all four of them seemingly lost in the maze of what on earth had caused Tigress to become this unstable, before Mantis shrugged and hopped down from the table. "Well" he said lightly "while you guys figure out what's got her so antsy-pantsy, I'm off to see the show."
"What show?" Monkey piped up.
"Po and Shifu, duh! Shifu trying to make him stay after being hell-bent on kicking him out; can't let the guy live this one down!"
Viper groaned. Shifu was one to bury one alive and dance on their grave if they aggravated him. The panda himself had been a perfect example – and none of it had even been his fault. "Shifu will personally kill you …"
"Wait for me!" Monkey shot out the door after the vanished insect, leaving the serpent's words to trail off to nothing, leaving only her and Crane sitting at the table, both looking a little dumbfounded and irritated.
"Well …" Crane said after a few moments "That escalated quickly."
Viper had to agree. Tonight's dinner hadn't gone at all like she had expected. Granted, of course, that since the Panda had showed up, no one could really have expected anything at any point of the day. She looked back down at her coils "I have no idea about her … what could've gotten to her so badly?" It wasn't the first time that question had gone through her head and saying it out loud didn't make finding the answer any easier …
"I might've found something…"
… Or maybe it did. Vipers head shot up to look at the avian "What? You did? Why didn't you say so?" she said, a little too loudly than what she planned.
Crane hushed her "Keep it down. Look, I'm not entirely sure, it could be absolutely nothing, but when I went to get Tigress for dinner I … I caught her looking at something…"
Viper tried her best not to hurry him along "Well … what was it?"
"It was some kind of scroll, I didn't see what was on it, but from the way Tigress looked when she noticed me and where she put it when she realized I was there … again it may be zip, but the way she reacted was not the way one would if they were holding a mere tofu recipe."
What Crane was ultimately suggesting hadn't been overlooked by Viper, and, on a good day, the thought of rummaging through the feline's personal items with a high risk of being caught wouldn't exactly appeal to the serpent, and even in this situation the idea still didn't play any nicer in her gut. "Tigress will have both our heads for trophies if she catches us snooping around her room."
"Trust me; that fact wasn't lost on me either" Crane admitted "But judging by the direction she headed, she's probably gone to either berate Shifu or beat up Po - one of the two - so hey presto, her bedroom will be vacant. But I'll only risk it if you will."
Every single cell in Viper's body was yelling at her to turn this idea down flat. Everything about this was wrong on so many levels; even if Tigress didn't stuff them both and keep them as new door-stoppers for the training hall if she found out, the burden of prying through her best friends things would most likely weigh heavily on the scaly member until she finally told her out of guilt - to which the only things weighing her down after that would be fluff, rice and rag. Don't risk it! Say no. Nothing Tigress is pulling at the moment is worth this, you'll find another way to sort her out. Shut it down. Now!
"Okay, let's do it."
Never before had the bunkhouse corridor looked so uninviting. Viper could feel Cranes uneasiness alongside hers as they both started down the hall, her slithering and his feet pattering quietly along the wooden panels. From the kitchen to the corridor, Viper had changed her mind at least seven times about going through with this idea. No matter what kind of light she attempted to see it in, or what good intentions she told herself that she and Crane had for doing this, it did not make the churning in her body lighten up any more than it had when Crane first indirectly suggested the idea.
And why did Tigress' bedroom have to be at the end of the darn corridor? Not only was the corridor looking as inviting as a pit full of black spiders but it also seemed incredibly long, like it had suddenly become a mile to get to the feline's chamber. "I'm not sure about this." The serpent whispered.
"I heard you the last eight times Viper." - He's been keeping count? - "Look, we can stop if you want and go back. I told you I'd only do it if you would."
Viper sighed and kept slithering toward the door to Tigress' room. She knew she'd most likely feel terrible for days after doing this, but truthfully, she'd never stop kicking herself if she turned back now. "This is a lose, lose situation either way, so may as well keep going."
The avian placed a wing gently on her scales "It may not be completely. We may find something."
"We better."
The creaking of Tigress' door as they opened it, couldn't have sounded louder in the silence. Viper hadn't been in Tigress' room very many times and of the few that she had, it had not been for very long. The striped feline never had been fond of anybody in her room (whether she herself had been present or not). Everyone had simply put the reason being that she was never in there for very long, only to sleep or change clothes – either reason was more than sufficient as to why she never wanted company – but now, both Viper and Crane were under suspicion; what if it was more than that?
A new shiver went through Viper when she peered into Tigress' bunk. It looked more uninviting than the corridor had. Nothing had physically changed about it. Her bedroll was laid out neatly on the bed base and her small chest of drawers sat harmlessly in the corner with the corner of Tigress' green vest hanging out of one the top drawers. It was the atmosphere and vibe of the small space that shook Viper. The serpent definitely wasn't backing out now but she wasn't going to take her dear sweet time on this. The sooner her and Crane got out of there, the better.
"Where would she have put this scroll?" Viper hissed out, making Crane jump beside her.
"The chest under the bed. It's where she stuffed it when I walked in."
Viper couldn't help but admire the beautiful design around the little chest. The golden dragon that weaved itself around the chest as if protecting it – despite making yet another churn go through the serpent's body – was incredibly exquisite. "It's gorgeous."
A curt nod from Crane told her that although he agreed, this was not the time for Viper to get started on just how pretty she found the chest - lord knows how long they'd be in there otherwise. Crane gingerly locked a wing underneath the lid of the small chest and made to swing the lid open.
"Wait ... I'm not sure about this."The poor bird must think my tongue's broken by now. Is that honestly all I can say?
Crane's wing haltered. "Again, Viper?"
He didn't sound too annoyed, maybe just a little urgent. Not that Viper blamed him; time was ticking and regardless of whether they went through with this plan or not, they couldn't know when Tigress would be back. Viper didn't plan on being here when the feline did and she was sure that Crane felt the same. The serpent bowed her head slightly "I just feel bad. Once you open that, there's no going back from it." She peered up at the avian. "As much as I want to know what's bothering her, I ... I don't want to hurt her, or break her trust in me."
Crane looked at her and a hint of sympathy entered his eyes. He sighed "We'll turn back then, Go see what the others are up t-"
SNAP!
The chest was open before Viper even had time to think about what she was doing. Crane nearly made a hole through Tigress' roof from the height he jumped as her tail had slipped itself under the lid - almost entirely without the serpent's permission, as if it had a mind of its own - and snapped it open before she had a chance to rethink anything. Beside her, Crane was looking like he was two beats short of a heart attack. Breathing very heavily and clutching his chest tightly. She didn't think she had ever seen him jump so high in her life. Don't ... do that!" He said between rasps.
"Sorry." It was all Viper could think to say. Her eyes were scanning over the contents of the chest and although she could see the yellow scroll that must be the one Crane had seen. She couldn't help but wonder about the other things in there as well. A handful of gold dominoes, a diary that truthfully looked rather new and untouched. But the most surprising of the items was ...
"She owns a stuffed turtle?"Crane voiced the exact thing Viper had been thinking.
"And a pink blanket!" Viper added with the same surprised tone as the bird. She blinked with confusion. She had never struck Tigress as someone who would own a toy animal ... and she certainly knew the feline wouldn't be seen alive wearing something pink (which the serpent thought a little odd since the tiger's favorite color was red and as far as Viper was concerned, the two colors weren't that much different from each other. One was simply a darker shade than the other.)
She had to admit though, that the little turtle was kind of cute. It's little stumpy legs flopped out to the side and its single thread smile made it look warm and lovable. Viper found herself smiling at it, brushing the tip of her tail across its fluffy shell and got a new surprise when she found it to be quite soft if not slightly dusty. "Who knew Tigress would have this little guy in her possessions?"
"Viper ... the scroll."
The scroll in question was now clasped lightly in Cranes wing. The avian himself looking expectantly at her as if waiting for her to give him the okay to open it. The familiar feeling of dread found it's way back into Vipers stomach. She looked at Crane and took a breath "Are you sure about this?"
Crane looked like he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes at her - and no part of her blamed him. "Are you?" He asked, sounding almost strained.
Not in the slightest "Just do it."
Clasping the top of the scroll gently, Viper watched as Crane inhaled and pulled the scroll open quickly as if he did it before he could change his own mind. Viper couldn't see it yet as it was out of her view. She watched as Cranes eyes widened then watched as his eyebrows furrowed then rose slightly. She let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Well?"
"I ... don't know."
Viper huffed out, feeling defeated "I knew this'd a'll be for nothing! Why did we even think-"
"It's not that. I know what it is, Shifu has one in the scroll room, I've seen it in there ... I just don't know why Tigress would have one like it." Crane turned the scroll around so Viper could finally see what was on it and after the realization of what it was had hit her, she found her brow rising as well. The serpent wasn't exactly sure if this was an answer or had just provided them both with more questions.
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I. Now you know what I mean." Crane said quietly beside her.
"But ... I don't understand" Viper said again. "Why would she have a-"
A blur of movement outside Tigress' window stopped the serpent mid-sentence. Crane darted to the window and looked out, then back at Viper. "We'll have to think about this later, Tigress has left the palace."
Viper carefully placed the scroll back in it's place and shut the chest, sliding it quickly back under the tiger's bed "Three guesses as to where she's going."
"We both know the answer to that." Crane answered, flying to the door, Viper right on his tail. The two of them fled the feline's room - and nearly flattened Mantis and Monkey in the corridor. Viper gasped "Mantis! Monkey!"
"There you both are" Monkey started "we were looking for you ... what were you doing in-"
"Tigress is out." Mantis said hurriedly, cutting across the simian. "Shifu tried to go all mushy on Po saying he's the warrior an' all that, but Po ain't takin' none of it. He's left, Shifu's given up and Stubborn Stripy's off to take on Tai Lung. At least I'm sure that's where she's headed."
Viper was ready to bet all the jade in the palace that that was where Tigress was taking off to. "I'm not letting her go alone. Are you all coming?" Not waiting for the answer, Viper was already slithering at top speed out of the bunkhouse with the other three hot on her heels.
The four of them shot out at lightning speed out of the palace after the quickly vanishing feline. The night air felt glorious on Viper's scales as she flew through the air the same way Tigress had just done towards the roofs of the houses in the valley, keeping a keen eye on Tigress' figure as she shot off over the rooftops towards the outskirts of the valley.
But even though for the most part, Viper was anxious and somewhat determined to catch up to Tigress and stand with her when they were inevitably faced with the snow leopard, part of the serpent's mind was still elsewhere ... focused on that scroll that lay in the chest in Tigress' room, wondering just how deep of a story it held, and why Tigress even had something like that to begin with.
Tigress was Fuming!
The leader of the Furious Five stood atop the roof of the Jade palace, taking in the conversation - no, argument - that was absurdly going on between the panda and Shifu. What in the world was going on tonight? First noodles, then the shock that Tai Lung was returning and now Shifu's gone and done a full 180 turn on the flabby lug and saying that he is the one who will stop the bloody snow leopard. Tigress almost wanted to beat her master's brains in or at least check to see if he still had any. What in Shifu's right mind was making him think that Po was going to put an stop to the convict? It was taking everything in the feline not to pounce down there and take every ounce of anger she carried towards the panda out on either him or her master, but she stopped herself. She had to hear the argument out.
"You will fight him because you are the Dragon Warrior." Tigress was physically watching the red panda saying these words and she still wasn't believing it. Was he actually sane right now? What on earth had Master Oogway said to him before he passed to make Shifu have this massive change of heart towards the panda?
It seemed that Po himself had the same thoughts as her.
"You don't believe that! -ow - you NEVER believed that, from the first moment I got here, you've been trying to get rid of me!"
It was said so ... bluntly, so painfully almost, that Tigress oddly found her anger toward him dull down slightly at that statement. He'd known that from the start by the sounds of things? So he hadn't been completely oblivious this whole time. That was something at least.
What was even blunter was her Master's immediate response, "Yes! I was!" His tone fell like a rock after that "But now I ask you to trust in your Master as I have come to trust in mine."
"You're not my Master! And I'm not the Dragon Warrior!"
Tigress could feel her anger sparking up again at the Panda's statement. The feline knew her line of thought should have been something like 'Finally' or 'Hallelujah, we have a chance to be rid of him!'. But instead it more leaning towards "Why?" If he knew he wasn't the Dragon Warrior, if he knew Shifu wanted him gone, then why didn't he quit?
"Than why didn't you quit?!" As it turned out, her master mirrored her thinking "You knew I was trying to get rid of you, yet you stayed."
"Yeah, I stayed ..." It wasn't said angrily, it was more of a defeated tone. Tigress couldn't help the feeling in her gut that she was not going to like what she was about to hear.
"I stayed, because, every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt! ... But it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me."
If there had ever been a line that spoke more to the leader of the Furious Five then she could not think of it. It was not quite the same reason as the Panda, but she too had hated who she was for most of her life. Never good enough, never strong enough, never brave enough ... just never enough. The hatred that she had felt so strongly toward the panda was almost non-existent now, and she couldn't really bring herself to mourn the loss of it.
"I stayed because I thought ... if anyone could change me ... could make me not me - it was you! The greatest Kung Fu teacher in all of China!"
That hit a sore spot. It was more or less because of Shifu that she hated herself. He was the reason that she believed she wasn't enough in any aspect of the word. Not enough for him at least. Tigress knew there had only been one person who had been enough for Shifu. The tiger had been forced to live in his shadow since the day he left and prior as well - literally and figuratively. The ironic part was that Tai Lung had been the only one who properly made her feel like she was enough.
That damn Snow Leopard!
"But I can change you! I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior! And I will!" Tigress rolled her eyes at that. If he apparently couldn't turn herself or one of the rest of the Five into the Dragon Warrior then what made him think he was going to be successful with ... Po?
"Come on! Tai Lung is on his way here right now! And even if takes him a hundred years to get here, how are you gonna change this into the Dragon Warrior? Huh?"
Tigress found herself waiting for the answer to this almost as impatiently as the Panda was. But as the seconds dragged on and no sound coming from the red panda, she realized after a closer observation that for the first time in a long, long time, her adoptive father looked complete and utterly stumped.
"How?"
The look on her master's face didn't move a muscle, even with the Panda pushing him to get an answer. Tigress was sure he was trying to come up with a suitable answer to give him, the thing that was miraculously going to do the trick and turn Po into the legendary warrior that would take down the strong spotted feline. But nothing seemed to be coming.
"How?!"
Well Shifu? Speak up! How?
Still nothing. Shifu always had been too damn proud to admit that sometimes he just didn't know everything. Tigress tried not to think about the fact that she was a hypocrite if she criticized him for this ... but then again, one must wonder who she got that trait from in the first place.
"HOW?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
Tigress' jaw almost dropped. The Panda had broke Shifu, there was no way he would ever say that. She couldn't have heard that correctly, surely ... Surely!
"... I don't know."
There was no mistaking it that time ... Shifu had admitted something she never ever expected him to admit; for once he didn't know the answer.
Po sighed heavily "That's what I thought" he said quietly.
Half an hour ago, Tigress was fuming at everything that had gone down that evening ... now she was as stumped as her master was just before. She watched almost helplessly as her adoptive father started walking slowly back up the stairs, leaving Po alone looking - for lack of a better word - lost. Tigress could feel her heart going out to the big guy ... She really didn't like that.
The Panda was useless now. Not saying he ever did have much of a use here prior, but he had given up, and judging by her master's hunched figure and slow pace as he heading - by the look of it up towards the Sacred Peach Tree, he too had surrendered to a battle that had only just begun.
Tigress would not!
Shaking her head, hardening up her heart and her stamina, the leader of the Furious Five turned away from the pitiful sight and shut her ruby eyes shut. There was only one way of proving to her father that she was capable of taking down Tai Lung and proving to Master Oogway that he truly had made a mistake in his choosing; and that was taking down the Snow Leopard herself.
In one strong, graceful leap, the tiger threw herself backwards off of the roof of the Jade Palace, plummeting through the air towards the village, the cool rush of the night air feeling amazing on her shoulders as she admitted to herself that it wasn't just for Master Shifu and Master Oogway that she was doing this for.
She was also doing this for herself. Proving to herself that she had the strength to take Tai Lung down, that the person that Tai Lung had been when she was a child was long gone and that her slither of hope that the person was still somewhere in him could be diminished for good, because the person that had taken over the spotted feline now would never be defeated if she didn't rid herself of those illusions once and for all.
Opening her eyes to focus on the roof of the nearest house in the village as it rapidly came towards her, Tigress flipped over, slid quickly and quietly down the slippery tiles before throwing herself effortlessly up through the air to land solidly on the roof of another house a fair distance away from the first one.
Looking out towards the looming mountains, she breathed in deeply. They almost seemed to be beckoning her. Daring her to disappear into their depths, as if they knew what she was to face and they were ready to face them with her.
Daring to take one last look back at the palace, Tigress thought once more of her master, the Grand Master, her home, the people of the village, and lastly of Tai Lung - very briefly - before looking back towards the landscape that awaited her. This was her chance - possibly her only chance - and be damned if she wasn't going to take it.
"This is what you trained me for."
"Tigress!"
Miraculously, the feline responded to Viper's call as she took off through the Valley at a shocking speed; something that Viper hadn't fully expected, especially after the evening just gone consisting of Tigress turning herself into a brick wall around them. However despite finally getting her friends attention, Tigress' former look of surprise at her voice quickly turned into a look of stubbornness as she took in the sight of Viper with the three males hot on her tail as they caught up to her. Tigress quickened her pace, no doubt to try and separate herself from her fellow comrades. Viper inwardly sighed, she should have known it wouldn't have been that easy, but after what she and Crane discovered, though it still confused her, she couldn't say she was overly surprised.
"Don't try and stop me!"
Oh, that's what she thought. It suddenly made more sense, of course she would think they were trying to stop her. Why wouldn't she think that? It wasn't as if she knew that Viper and Crane had been in her room finding things that they seriously wanted answers to. However, the serpent was quick to put the leader at rest. "We're not trying to stop you."
"What?" Viper almost laughed at the stumped look that accompanied the question Tigress gave her as Viper easily caught up to slither quickly alongside her - clearly having not expected that - and for the first time since the argument in the courtyard she flashed Tigress a smile.
"We're coming with you!"
Ruby eyes blinked at the serpent for a second before turning away. For a minute, Viper thought Tigress was going to dismiss the idea of them coming with her and demand she do this on her own, as the eye roll wasn't gone unnoticed by the serpent and she started to prepare herself for yet another argument, contemplating whether she should confess that she knew about Tigress' small chest and the contents inside.
But after seeing Monkey's thumbs up on the other side of her, it seemed to snap Tigress out of it and she slowed her pace only just to run in unison with the rest of them, even going so far as to give Viper a small smile of her own as her way of accepting that they were coming with her. Viper still held onto her guard though, even as they jumped off of the last roof into the glow of the full moon before disappearing into the night.
The scaled member of the Furious Five wasn't originally going to ever tell Tigress that she'd been in her room invading her privacy - and she had every reason not to say anything. But considering what she found combined with where they were now going and who they were about to face; Viper knew she needed answers and she needed them sooner rather than later; she had a feeling that they all deserved to know. There was something Tigress just wasn't telling them and somehow the serpent knew that her earlier discovery was - at least part - of the untold story.
A map to Chorh-Gom Prison? Now why on earth would she have one of those?
A/N: No memory this time. There was no spot for me to put one in, nor was there a memory that would have fitted. There will be one in the next chapter, and hopefully Writer's Block doesn't intend to make another visit. I'm sure you can probably see where the chapter got a little bit rushed, but I think it still works well. Here's hoping the next chapter comes a little sooner than this one did.
Lemme know what ya think :)
