Crane was done.
He swears to the gods above, if he falls one more time, he was going to murder somebody. Or at least throw something.
He was falling, again, for what seemed like the thousandth time this month. Or was it the millionth? He wasn't too sure; he didn't care nearly enough to pay attention.
All he knew was that he was falling, again, off of the edge of a cliff. How he got here, he didn't know. Would anyone come to save him? He didn't know. Did he know what he was doing? Probably not. Where was he going with this? He didn't know. He did have a point. Apparently that point decided to pick up its things and leave him. It was probably dead by now.
He was still falling. Why wasn't he doing anything about this?
Maybe it was because he couldn't. He couldn't move. He wasn't binded by rope or anything, he just couldn't move a muscle, no matter how hard he tried. He was quite sure that if he kept trying to move, he would probably pull a muscle.
The sky tumbled to pieces around him. The world fell apart as he fell to his death.
He was falling, and so was the world.
He toppled back, letting out an indignant squawk as he did so. He landed on his side with an 'umph' and a painfully loud thud.
Damn it.
He squinted around his room, not exactly pure dark, but not light either. If he had to guess, he'd say it was around 4 or 5 AM in the morning.
Shifu would probably be the only one awake at this ungodly hour. Unless him falling over didn't wake anyone up, that is. Probably not; everyone else (except for maybe Tigress) leaned more towards the heavy sleeper side.
He gingerly got up, careful to not make anymore noise. He didn't know if anyone else was awake, so better to be safe than sorry.
He stood up and attempted to calm himself.
He was not falling. He was in his room. At an ungodly hour in the morning. With all his friends sleeping. Yay.
He stood there for a while. Just standing. Just standing and thinking and staring.
He knew that his near death fall the other day would make an impact on his life forever, he just didn't know when the nightmares would start coming. He didn't think they would start this late. He'd thought that they would have come earlier after the fall. He was wrong, apparently.
How long had he been standing there? Probably a good couple minutes. He didn't know. He didn't have a clock.
He stood there. Just staring. Just staring at nothing in particular.
He shook his head and breathed in and out deeply, before walking over to his bookshelf and pulling a book off of his shelf and turning to the first page.
Po hasn't felt this good in. . . forever, actually.
It was a nice day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Even Shifu seemed to be in a good mood. And that was saying a lot, in Po's personal opinion.
The only person who didn't seem so happy was Crane. Po thought that was a bit unusual; Crane loved sunny days, claimed it was better weather for flying in, but he shrugged it off. Maybe he was just having a bad day. Po should know. The first few days when he first became the Dragon Warrior were Hell. He wasn't going to judge Crane. He probably would make his favorite food for lunch. The panda found that that always cheered him up.
Yes. He would do that. And maybe go out for a run with the others. Company was good. It was always good. Most of the time, anyways.
Anyways, he just had to wait until training was over. He could make it if it meant that he could make Crane happy. He'd done so much for them, like keeping them from doing stupid things and comforting them when they needed it. It was really high time to return the favor.
So he did all he was asked to do without complaint. Even if he did get kicked in the face. Even if he did nearly get blowtorched. Even if he fell off the edge of the tortoise shell, he'd try for Crane. Because he tried so hard for them. He tried so hard to do the best he could and to be strong and be there for them.
After the training was down, Po tried to catch his breath. Okay, maybe he should complain a little. Stupid panda asthma.
He caught his breath and ran towards the kitchen. He needed time to put his plan into motion.
He had to catch his breath again. Curse his stupid panda asthma.
As soon as his breathing regulated, he set to work, a happy, playful hum escaping his lips.
Viper's forked tongue picked up the heavenly scent of Po's cooking. Her mouth almost watered; the panda's cooking was irresistible. Even Tigress had admitted it, though it took awhile to get it out of her.
Whatever he was making was good. She couldn't wait to sink her fangs into it.
On a different topic, Crane didn't seem his usual self today. He seemed a bit sad and spacey. Viper didn't like it. People were meant to be happy and full of love, not sad and full of despair.
Especially Crane. He'd done so much for everyone around him it was like he had given away parts of himself. Maybe he had.
Okay, that's enough deep thinking for today. Let's tone it down a notch.
Anyways, Crane wasn't his usual chirpy self. Or maybe chirpy wasn't quite the right word. Sarcastic and pessimistic was more like it. Although, he could be an optimistic-realist if he wanted to.
Viper hoped whatever Po was cooking would cheer Crane up. Favorite foods had always put her in a good more, or at least raised her spirits some. It was a comforting feeling. Like a warm blanket being wrapped around you and warming up your insides, giving you a kind of fuzzy feeling.
Crane was special to her. He was her closest friend, and it pained her to see him this way, especially after his near death experience. He seemed a little more distance and spacey afterwards.
She missed the old Crane. The one who made dry-humored jokes and snide remarks. The one who was talkative and cheerful. Not this quiet, somber stranger.
Maybe he needed some company. Viper always liked the presence of her friends, and maybe Crane would too.
She'd try if it meant seeing Crane smile.
Mantis was a bit worried.
Crane seemed a little more distant than usual. He missed his friend.
Crane was probably the closest he had to a best friend. Or maybe that was Monkey. Or maybe both. He wasn't too sure. He'd never exactly thought about it before.
Anyways, Crane was slowly closing himself off from the others. And Mantis wasn't too happy about that. It meant that they were losing their friend-their family. They'd given up too much already. Especially Tigress, in his opinion.
He didn't think Crane had any really close friends until he met Tigress. He had been stuck in his house for most of his life after all. And you couldn't exactly be friends with anyone if you were shut out from the outside world.
Mantis was a little bit more worried. Crane was more spacey and less there. He was mostly afraid they'd lose their favorite Hat Boy. And no one wanted that. At least he didn't think so. He hoped that no one wanted him gone. If so. . . Well, let's say the Jade Palace would be one resident short.
Laughter seemed to make things better for him. It seemed to wipe away some of the bad things and replace them with good things.
He remembered when he was younger, his friends would do everything they could to make him laugh. Even if they had to take some. . . measures. (They weren't doing anything illegal, you dunderheads. Let's just say that he wouldn't be telling anyone his tickle spots anytime soon.)
Maybe that's what Crane needed. Laughter.
Monkey was about ready to strangle Crane.
He was quiet. Too quiet. He didn't like it. The bird was usually reserved, occasionally making the snide joke or comment, but he was never this quiet. At least, not in the amount of time that the ape knew him.
Monkey didn't like this person. This other Crane. This stranger who was distant and pretended that everything was okay. He didn't like it. Not one bit. Even more than he hated when Po ate all his almond cookies.
Crane was a rock. He kept them ancored, just enough to gather enough of themselves to move on.
But who was his anchor?
Monkey didn't know.
Who listened to him?
Monkey didn't know! He didn't know, and he didn't like it.
Why didn't Crane tell them what was wrong? Maybe it was because of his fear of looking weak. Crane never had the best confidence. It was hard to build ip, and easy to break down.
Maybe Crane just needed to talk. To have someone listen to him.
Monkey would gladly be that person.
Tigress kept silent about their talk the other night. Partly because it was embarrassing for her. The other part was that she did not know if Crane was alright with it.
She didn't want to hurt, or embarrass, Crane. If he wanted to tell the others, that was his place, and not hers. She didn't want to risk breaking her friendship with the bird, or his trust. She didn't want him to be afraid to tell her things.
He did seem a little less there after she intercepted him. Not a lot, but more spacey than he usually was.
She didn't like it. Not one bit.
Crane was quiet, but not this kind of quiet. He was more of a reserved quiet, the dry-humored remark occasionally popping out of him.
What she wouldn't give to have him back.
Tigress glanced at him. He was reading. In a corner. By himself. That was so Crane, but so Un-Crane at the same time.
She wanted to come over, but she didn't. Maybe it was best to leave him alone for now.
Po was still cooking. Maybe after they ate they'd be able to do something together. All six of them.
Yeah. That was a good plan.
Crane looked at the table in front of him. It was filled with plates of his favorite food.
Suspicious.
The others seemed extra cheerful today.
Double suspicious.
He tried to shrug it off, but it was kind of hard. The others kept glancing at him. If they were trying to be discreet, they were failing at it miserably. It kind of made him want to laugh.
He ate in silence. The others didn't seem to be in the mood to talk, either. Or maybe that was just him. He wasn't exactly paying attention to his surroundings.
Why not? He was fine. Okay, maybe a bit less than fine. His dream had still shaken him up a bit. He couldn't quite forget the image, no matter how hard he tried. But in general he was fine. He wasn't dying. Or going insane.
The others were making him kind of worried. Why did they keep looking at him? Was he missing something? Were they supposed to be doing something? He didn't know. And that was kind of worrying.
So he kept quiet. It helped kept him from asking stupid questions. And helped him look less like an idiot.
They finished in silence. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. He didn't really like it.
When he walked out, the others were gone. Their plates were still on the table, going cold.
Where were they? Why did they leave him?
He felt a little hurt.
Crane walked out to look for them. If he were the others, where would they be. . .
Maybe in the den? They did seem rather stressed. And the den is usually where they went to relax.
He'd only just begun walking towards it when he heard someone yell, "Crane!"
He turned around to see Po running towards him, breathing heavily.
"Po?"
The panda reached him, heaving with breath. "We're going out, wanna come?"
Crane nodded. Is that why they left? To get ready? Probably.
Po grabbed his wing and dragged him along. As fast as he could, anyways.
They reached the outside. The others lit up and smiled warmly at them while Po caught his breath.
So maybe they didn't hate him. They had waited for them after all. Right? Right.
"Movies!" Monkey yelled, throwing his arms up and wiggling them like little snakes.
Again? Crane wanted to ask. But he didn't. He thought that they were doing this for him-again-and he admitted it felt nice to be the one taken care of.
They watched a movie and walked around for a bit, just enjoying themselves and the last of the daylight.
Crane smiled. He knew he'd fallen for the last time.
Because his friends will always have his back.
I'm crying this is the messiest and possibly the worst shit I've come up with haHA—
Might rewrite this later, who knows
Anyways, that's a wrap for this series! I can finally work on other things! HuzzAH—
See you next time!