A/N: Yeah… I hate writer's block. "Long Lost, Long Hidden" is kinda on hold until I have gotten my inspiration back. Sorry, but I am just stuck. So… Let's wait and see. Don't worry, I will not abandon it, I just need some time.

I do not own Kung Fu Panda.

Spread Your Wings, Hidden

"You ready?"

"Of course I am," Tigress answered, while sticking her head out of the bush they were hiding in. Her senses were sharp as she knew being here was dangerous. But her mother had insisted and now they were here.

But they still had to go inside.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Tigress then asked her. As soon as they stepped inside it would be too late to change their decision.

"Of course I am!" Fenghuang huffed. "The Jade Palace has way too many rooms, and no one uses them. I remember once, when I was exploring our new home with Shifu, we found a dead body in one of the rooms deepest into the palace. Seems like he was some unlucky servant that just got lost… After telling Longwei he said that if we had found the body in a closet he knew who it was."

Tigress raised an eyebrow, not really understanding.

And Fenghuang then revealed it, "If that was the case then the person must have been last year's winner of hide and seek."

The tiger looked stunned while grimacing. "That's disgusting."

Fenghuang let out a warm laughter. "Come on, follow me. We need to be quick."

But before they could go, Tigress stopped her. "Maybe I should go first," she said softly. The poison has gotten stronger and to her fear Fenghuang could feel how she had lost her strength. It was like she was normal again… Without Kung Fu… Just a regular person…

But it would not last for long. After drinking the antidote she would get well again. Though, Tigress was right. If they needed to be quick then Fenghuang was not the perfect person for the task.

Tigress had been worried sick in the start. She had spent her nights awake, thinking of what to do if she lost her mother. Finally, she had come to the conclusion that if they did not get the antidote and her mother… passed away, then she would follow her into death.

Jumping off a cliff could not be so hard.

After all, she had already lost her uncle. Fenghuang was the only one left who cared about her.

But now they were so close, and so Tigress had pushed her worry away. They could do this! They had avoided the stairs but using a pathway through the mountains, but now they could see the palace that was so close.

"A distraction…" Tigress muttered, but the owl heard it.

"No, you are not going to lead them away," Fenghuang said sternly, glaring at her. Though, she could not hide her tired expression as the poison still was there.

Tigress was too busy coming up with a plan to glance at her. "That was not what I was going to do," she said sternly. "Honestly."

"Then what are you thinking?"

"Just stay here," Tigress said, already walking away.

Shaking her head, Fenghuang quickly followed her. "No."

"I am not going near them. Just trust me."

"Fenghuang has been spotted in the village!"

"What?!" his students exclaimed as Shifu stepped into the kitchen.

The red panda was still shocked, but he also knew that they had to react quickly. This was the chance to capture the evil owl. Just the fact that she was coming back to the Jade Palace was not a good sign.

Seriously; he had given her a chance to fix the mistakes, and now she was stupid enough to return to the Valley of Peace?

"It's was your dad who sent the messenger. Apparently, she is in the Noodle Shop."

The expression on Po's face froze while he muttered the words, "Oh no; dad!" He then ran out of the door, quickly followed by his friends.

"Wait, Po; we have to think this through!" Viper exclaimed while they all rushed down the stairs.

"Fenghuang is weakened," Shifu then told them, causing them to look up in surprise. "Now is the time to strike."

Po was busy hoping that his father was not hurt. Fenghuang was evil, he knew that. It was only Tigress' personality he doubted. And if the owl suddenly decided to attack his father…

Weakened or not, Mister Ping had no chance against the former ruler of the Valley of Peace.

"Dad!" Po exclaimed, seeing the goose running towards him.

"Po!" the goose yelled back, grabbing him by the hand and turning him around so he was facing the shop. "She's in the cellar."

Shifu was standing right next to them and nodded as he heard it. Silently entering the shop, he decided he would be the one to face Fenghuang. He could not talk to her as his students would hear it, but he had already given the owl enough chances.

Taking the first step down the stairs, he lifted his arms into a fighting position.

"This went well," Fenghuang huffed. "Maybe I should trust you some more."

"Thanks," Tigress answered sarcastically, a bit offended by her mother's sentence. Though, she knew she was only joking.

They had now entered the palace, and Fenghuang was leading them through hallways. They just needed to find one of the rooms that were only used when special guest arrived. And if that did not work out, they could always try and hide in the dungeon.

But as they passed another doorway, Fenghuang suddenly pushed Tigress away so she was leaning closely against the wall. "Wha-?"

But the owl held a feather in front of her beak, signaling her to be quiet. Fenghuang then leaned closer to the open door, turning her head so she could look inside. What she saw surprised her.

"That little devil!" she hissed, but quickly felt quiet as she realized that she might wake him up. There, inside the room, Ju-long was sitting in a chair, asleep.

Tigress got to curious and followed her mother's glance. "What is he doing here?" she asked, stunning.

Fenghuang did not answer, but simply gently pushed Tigress' back so she started walking again. They were not here because of the wolverine. She had to remember that.

Finally they found a room which Fenghuang said was good enough. After entering, she made sure there was a key in the lock. "Perfect," she said, turning it. "Now no servants will look in here."

She then opened the door again and looked outside. Tigress had sat down on the bed, as the room was supposed to house visitors. "What is it?" the tiger asked.

"I'll go get the antidote, you'll stay here," she said and stepped out of the room. "Lock the door."

"Can't I-?"

"No."

Tigress' face darkened as she hated being spoken to as if she was a little girl. She kept in a growl as she asked, "What if they come back? My distraction won't last forever. I would say we are lucky if we get five more minutes."

"Then I'll use those five minutes. I know the palace better than you therefore you stay here. I'll be back soon." With that, she closed the door.

Sighing, Tigress locked it, not knowing what else to do. So… this was her new room. A room in the palace that no one found the need to use.

How long were they going to stay here?

The room was small, too small for Tigress to like. After growing up on a mountain, she needed space. Here was only a dresser, a bed and an end table.

Knowing that her mother slept while standing on one leg, Tigress lay down on the bed. Staring at the ceiling she tried cheering herself up.

It could not be that bad. She just needed to get used to this new house. And if they just were careful and only sneaked out at night the masters would not notice them.

This could work, right?

The whole thing just felt strange… Their enemies where in the same house as them, and yet, they did not see them.

Suddenly a weak knock could be heard, but Tigress became so surprised that she jumped up from her bed. Knowing it was her mother, she quickly opened the door and let her inside.

"They are coming back," Fenghuang told her daughter while locking the door. "I heard them enter."

Tigress lowered her voice into a whisper. "Did you find it?"

"Yes." The owl smiled, remembering how she had found the bowl of bitter herbs. Though, after quickly reading the note that was hanging on the bowl, she understood it was the right one. Good thing nothing really had changed since she had left the palace. "Just give me some days and I'll be fresh again. Though, I think we'll have to wait further more for my wing to work."

"That's okay," Tigress said, happy to hear that her mother now was not dying. Longwei's plan had failed. Yes; he had slowed them down, but he had not found them and they had not gotten caught in the try to get the antidote.

"Good. Now here's the thing. We have to turn to day upside down. Now it is night, and we will sleep," Fenghuang declared.

"You could just have said that we need to be quiet," Tigress muttered, going to her bed again.

"Yes, but we have more freedom when they are sleeping. I'll take care of the food, so you'll just stay here."

When she ended her sentence, Tigress squinted while looking at her. "I am not allowed to leave the room?" she asked, sensing the order in her mother's voice.

"That is not what I said, but yes; that is the rule."

"And why-?"

"Because if they see you, then it's over. This was my last idea and we cannot afford messing this up."

"I am not going to mess it up," Tigress gave back.

Fenghuang met her eyes. "Lower your voice," she instructed. "I will not see you in prison again, Tigress. I simply cannot bear it. So would please try and let me fix my mistakes? Yes? Thank you."

Tigress had fallen quiet, just staring at her. She then turned around to stare at the wall, while trying to fall asleep. Fenghuang sighed, but then closed her eyes too; standing on one leg as usual.

Ju-long woke up when he heard the masters come back. Slowly making his way towards them, he tried taking care of his injured leg. "What happened?"

Master Shifu walked away, leaving his students to explain. Po scratched his neck. "Well, my father thought Fenghuang was hiding in his cellar…"

The wolverine widened his eyes. "Did you get her?"

Monkey held in a snort of laughter, before leaving the room with his comrades. Only Po was left, knowing he was the one to tell the truth. "Turns out he accidently placed some sacks and vegetables so they looked like an owl… In the dark it's really hard to tell, you know."

Ju-long glared at him. "You attacked a bunch of vegetables."

"Uhm… Yeah, we did," Po revealed a bit ashamed.

The wolverine snorted. "And you call yourselves masters!"

"Hey, we saved your life, you know!"

"So? Fenghuang is still out there! I thought it was your job to stop criminals!"

"You're a criminal too, and we-" Po stopped himself from saying more, understanding he had already revealed too much.

Ju-long stared at him, figuring it out. So they were discussing whether they should send him to prison or not. Truth to be told, his actions were not exactly… legal.

"Don't you have some fruit to arrest, Dragon Warrior?" he then snarled, before turning around to walk away. Though, as he used crutches, he could only do it slowly, and Po just stared at him in the awkward silence.

"No… But I have some soup to make and if you don't get nice, you might not get some!"

Ju-long ignored his yell. If they truly were about to send him to prison, then he needed to get out of here as quick as possible.

He struck her down before she could attack again. "Tigress!" he yelled. "Stop!" But the tiger kept fighting him, growling furiously.

As Shifu walked backwards to avoid her attacks, he suddenly heard some noises coming from behind him. Turning his head around, he saw two of the rhino guards form Chorh-Gom, staring at them with blank eyes.

Did she not see them? Did she not know that if she continued they would come and take her to prison?

Tigress snarled again. "It's your fault!" She leapt at him, but as she jumped through the air, she suddenly seemed to shrink.

When she landed in front of him, she was nothing more than the cub he had found in the orphanage. "Tigress?"

"Why did you not come back?" she asked him, her big eyes looking at him. "I waited for you."

"I…"

"You were the only one who understood. The others were still afraid. They will always be… I waited, but you did not come."

As Shifu looked at the cub, he felt his stomach twist. "I… tried."

"You did not want me."

"That's not…"

"You were afraid of me, weren't you?"

"No," he said, more sternly.

"You thought I was a monster too."

"NO!" he exclaimed, trying to make her understand.

But the cub only tilted her head, looking at him. "You abandoned me… Left me to rot… You did not care…"

He moved forward, but as he did, the tiger disappeared. It happened so quickly, and he turned his head around, confused, while trying to understand what was going on.

Around him where nothing, just the color white. But then he heard it. The laughter.

It was a soft one, coming from a child.

Tigress.

It echoed through this empty dream world, while surroundings slowly started to appear. Shifu found himself on a mountain, with a cold wind blowing snow onto his clothes.

And there, in front of him, was little Tigress.

She was grinning happily, but she was no looking at him. No, her eyes were focused on the sky, where Shifu faintly could see Fenghuang's form that was getting smaller and smaller as she flew away.

Then Tigress dropped down on all fours, letting her front paw touch the edge of the cliff.

"Tigress," Shifu warned her, taking a step towards her. Below them was nothing, only the mist that hid the bottom that was there… somewhere…. Far far below…

She would not survive such a fall.

Tigress turned her head to look at him. "Mother has wings," she said, then looking into the abyss again.

"You don't!" Shifu yelled, understanding what she was going to do.

She would follow her mother.

He wanted to move forward, to pull her away from there, but his feet would not move.

"Mother…"

Shifu stared with eyes widened in horror, as Tigress' legs tensed up just before she jumped. But she had no wings, she was not an owl, she was not her mother, she could not fly.

And so she fell to her death.

Shifu woke up with a gasp. He hated those nightmares, but they kept haunting his dreams. He knew what they were telling him, but now he did not know what to do.

He had believed that helping Fenghuang would give him peace.

But the nightmares were still there.

A/N: You will get to know more about Shu and what she is doing in the next chapter. And the reason why Fenghuang and Tigress so easily could go to the Valley of Peace, was because nobody expected them to do it, because it would be stupid. And now when they are forced to walk, they can hide themselves better than if they were flying.

Again, sorry if some of you are waiting for "Long Lost, Long Hidden". I am doing my best.

And this story now has over 100,000 words! Yay! Party!