Hello there!
I should probably take this time to thank the following new people who spent their precious time reading our little story and even reviewing it! It makes me very happy to know people are enjoying the story! Here we go…
Frozenwolfheart22: My co-author who has been instrumental in the creation of this story: I've said it a few times and I'll probably say it several more: this story wouldn't be possible without her. And now, my good readers, I believe an applause is in order...
Footrod Flatts: A most dedicated reader and reviewer (probably the most dedicated reader and reviewer on this fandom overall) who has been here since the beginning, and unless I stop this story (which is certainly not the plan), I will go so far as to say I see him being here for the rest of it. Having reliable feedback on a rock-solid consistency is a real life-saver. Oh, and for your little epiphany: (insert evil laughter here) Thank you!
Heart of the Demons: Ah, I see Frozenwolfheart told you about this story! Well, I'm very glad that you've found the story to your enjoyment so far! I most certainly hope it will continue to be that way!
Karlivcg: I was completely unaware you were reading this story but am more than glad to find out that you are! And based on your review, I'm not trying to tell you what to do or anything, but if I were you, I might set a little money aside just in case therapy is in order ;) I'm just kidding. Glad you like it!
Guest: Your kind words are very much appreciated! As for your questions: 1) No, this doesn't have a regular posting schedule. It's whenever it gets done. But, a chapter usually gets done once or twice every week, so it's still pretty consistent. And 2) Actually, the story you see on Ao3 is actually from my account. Although, I know exactly why you thought that: you see, the book is dedicated to Frozenwolfheart22. So it actually reads from the selection screen "'The Empress,' by StarlessEchoes, for Frozenwolfheart22." And yes, there is a small difference between the two: I post this one on FFN first, and then on Ao3 a few days later. But I'm glad you like the story!
Alright then, let us continue where we left off! Hey, at least things aren't all bad: I mean Viper's alive, so that's a plus! (Fun fact: there were two signs in Part 1 that she was alive. The first was in the prologue itself. Po, Shifu, and the Five all have gravestones, but Viper's name was never there. The other was in Chapter 20. One line in it says "It was a shame that would be the last hug they would share out of happiness for a long, long time." This sentence suggests that they would, in fact, share one later.)
Anyway, I've fallen into my habit of talking too much, and I'll get out of your way now and say-
On with the show!
The Valley Hospital
Just as Lianmin finished her sentence towards the doctor, Tigress' mournful roar ripped through the building, freezing everyone in place. She flinched at first, believing she had another fight on her paws, but when she really heard it, she recognized it. It was the same roar that she had made when she found out her husband had left her forever. The sound of a heart completely shattered. Lianmin respectfully became quiet at the sound, but the doctor, much better at his job than his social skills, used the opportunity to speak over Lianmin.
"Do you want to tell her while she's like that?" the pig replied, his hoof pointing towards the door of the small break room they found themselves in.
Lianmin slammed her fist on the table, making the pig flinch. "No, I don't want to tell her! You know, I just failed at saving her families' lives and it's not going to be too much longer before she figures that out! So I don't think my face is one she needs to see right now!"
Before she could scold the cowering pig any further, Peng put his paw on her arm. She stopped herself, as she understood her son's logic. It was best not to make any scenes, especially after what had just happened. She leaned back in her seat and regained her composure.
Meanwhile, Peng had been sitting back during the conversation. Actually, that was what he usually did whenever his mother was sorting out issues. But that was not to say that his silence was a sign of his inactivity. Quite the opposite, in fact. Peng had discovered that people who talked- such as the people his mother often questioned- only repeated what they knew, but he, who sat back and listened to everything, actually learned things. And immediately after the doctor had told them the news, he had already been thinking about ways to go about telling Tigress.
And he now had an idea.
However, before he could relate his idea to anyone, there was a sudden commotion coming from the outside in the hallways. The three stood up from their seats and moved towards the door, opening it up and looking out into the hall.
Outside, towards the main entrance, a crowd of doctors and assistants had gathered around an ox who stood head and shoulders above everyone else. The clamor was so loud that no one could understand a single person, and there was only a wave of solid noise assaulting them.
The three of them ran up to the crowd and tried to see what was at the center of it.
"What's going on!?" the pig shouted to one of the people in the crowd as he grabbed his shoulder.
The bunny turned around with wide eyes. "Look! She's still alive!"
Upon hearing these words, Lianmin and Peng shoved their way through the crowd until they saw what was in Master Ox's arms. Or rather who was in Master Ox's arms.
Peng put his paw over his mouth and his eyes went wide. "Oh, my gods," he muttered under his breath. As the crowd of doctors realized that they needed to stop staring at her and start treating her, they began to form a path towards the hall and the whole crowd quickly moved together down the hall, everyone surrounding Ox with the wounded Viper in his arms. Lianmin and Peng hung towards the back of the crowd until they finally reached the area where the rooms were and they all entered one of the doors.
The two leopards hung back outside and let the doctors do their work on the wounded master. They soon came to the conclusion that hanging outside the room wouldn't do them any good, so they soon returned to a bench outside in the hall. Almost as soon as they sat down, the question was already coming out of Lianmin's mouth.
"How are we going to tell her?"
Peng turned to look at her. "Which part?"
He then heard his mother sighing through her nose. "All of it. Being pregnant, Viper being alive, but we don't even know if she'll…" Lianmin was not usually one to be at a loss for words, but after all that had just transpired within the last hour, not even she could utter the dark possibility.
"Well, you cannot keep it from her," a voice suddenly came from her side. Lianmin's head shot sideways, and Peng leaned forward to look around her.
The Soothsayer was simply next to them. For someone who seemingly moved so slowly, it almost seemed that she had been the one who taught Shifu the appearing-out-of-nowhere act, who had then taught it to Tigress.
Peng rolled his eyes when he saw her. Her appearances at the most inopportune moments were beginning to grate on his nerves. "Why must you always-" he suddenly stopped himself as a memory came back to him, and he went silent.
"The girl," he said mostly to himself, his thoughts now back on his earlier idea. "That panda cub that ran into the Jade Palace kitchen right before…" he paused as he saw the look on his mother's face. "Well, it doesn't matter, but she ended that before it could even start! And the panda at Mr. Ping's noodle shop said he was Po's biological father!"
The Soothsayer nodded in the affirmative, as if she was proud he was finally on the right track. Well, he was on a track. Whether or not it was the right track was in the fickle hands of fate.
Meanwhile, the exchange flew right by Lianmin's head. "What?" she asked in confusion.
Peng put his paw on his mother's shoulder as he grew more and more certain. "The two pandas! Why else would they let the cub in the Jade Palace? I think there's more to Tigress' family than what was in that building!"
The Soothsayer nodded once more. "You are correct. All is not lost yet for her."
Lianmin raised her eyebrows. "And you're suggesting…?"
"Who can calm Tigress down like the cub can? And we know we probably don't need to see Tigress again, so who better to tell her the news than her father-in-law?"
Lianmin slowly nodded as she realized her son's logic. Was it a cheap move, sending in them to tell her the news? Yes, yes it was, but it was the best idea they had.
Meanwhile, the Soothsayer looked on, Peng's first sentence about the cub calming down Tigress lingering in her mind.
"Pandas," she thought to herself. "They almost seem like physical representations of the yin and yang."
Her thoughts were temporarily interrupted as the entrance to the hospital opened once again, for none other than Li Shan to enter, with Lei Lei timidly walking behind him, the streaks of drying tears evident on her little face.
As Peng and Lianmin rose to tell them the news, the Soothsayer looked at Lei Lei carefully.
"So young," she thought. "So innocent. But give fate years for it to play its game with her, and things can become very different."
"Very different."
Tigress' Room
During the various commotions that had taken place right outside her room, Tigress was now sitting up in her bed, her paw extended out and holding the tip of Mr. Ping's wing as he sat in his chair, now scooted up close to Tigress' bed.
After her mournful roar, it was as if her brain had almost decided to press the "off" switch when it came to her emotions. She suddenly didn't feel like crying anymore, nor did she feel like mourning. In fact, she didn't really think about anything as she stared off into the infinite distance.
She was in denial.
Denial that fate could have done this to her. To dangle happiness in front of her like a toy, only to snatch it away when she reached up to grab it and make it her own.
Denial that Po was gone.
Denial that her family was gone.
Denial that a single lunatic had ruined her life.
When she thought of the person who tried to kill her, but instead killed Po, she felt a spark of anger, but before it had the chance to grow into an all-consuming inferno, the memory of Po's open eyes, staring up at her with no expression, his pupils dilated and his eyes glassy, quickly quenched it.
There was suddenly a knock on the door. Mr. Ping's head shot up, but it had no effect on Tigress, who continued to silently stare off into the distance.
Finding it strange that the doctors weren't coming in by themselves, Mr. Ping timidly called out, his voice croaking, "Come in."
The door handle slowly twisted and was gently pushed forward. When it finally swung open, a large panda was on the other side, a much smaller one standing next to him. The sight finally managed to get Tigress to turn her head.
"Hi, Tigress," Li Shan quietly said. "How… how are you doing?" he asked, although it was rather pointless, as he knew perfectly well how she was doing. So he tried to rephrase his question. "With your injuries, I mean."
Tigress slightly nodded. "I'll be fine," she bluntly answered.
Before the awkward conversation could take any further steps, Li Shan decided to cut straight to the point. He walked forward until he was on the other side of the bed, opposite of Mr. Ping, Lei Lei following close behind.
He brought his paws together in front of him as he prepared himself.
"Umm, I have some news for you."
Tigress and Mr. Ping both raised their brows, wondering what this day could possibly still have in store for them. They thought the day had been bad enough, but it seemed all of its cards weren't on the table yet.
"Tigress… Viper… she's alive."
There was a few seconds of silence as those words took their effect.
"What?" Tigress asked, believing she had misheard. The day couldn't be so kind as to give her back one of her family members.
Li Shan nodded. "They found her in the rubble. Tigress, she's still alive."
As Tigress realized he wasn't playing some sick joke on her, she was about to shoot out of the bed, but Li Shan's gentle yet firm paw was on her shoulder, pressing her back to the bed.
Tigress' amber eye and milky white eye looked up at Li Shan in confusion, but he quickly answered it. "She's hurt. She's hurt really bad. We need to let the doctors do their work before we see her."
She was still burning to see her sister, but if it might hurt her, then she knew she had to stay where she was. She looked back up at the panda with questioning eyes, almost as if they were asking Li Shan's eyes if it could really be true. When his eyes met hers with a certain immovability, she knew it to be true.
She sunk back in her bed, an unexpected ray of hope ripping its way through her chest. She felt tears of joy building up behind her eyes, as gratitude was not a big enough word to describe how she felt. Even though she had lost so much, the fact that she hadn't lost everything seemed like a gift from the gods.
But after a few moments of silent gratitude, Li Shan cleared his throat. Tigress looked back up at him, hoping for more good news.
"And… umm… there's something else I have to tell you."
Tigress briefly wondered what it could be, as he hadn't used the same tone as before. But it wasn't exactly a tone that forecasted something bad, either. So what was it?
"Umm, Tigress? You're… you're pregnant."
If there had been an awkward silence when he told her Viper was alive, it was now amplified tenfold.
"I'm… pregnant?" Tigress echoed back with uncertainty. Beside her, Mr. Ping's eyes grew as wide as grapefruits.
His strength failing him, Li Shan's eyes couldn't maintain eye contact with hers as he nodded his head. He knew under normal circumstances, it would have been wonderful news, worthy of celebrating, but today, on this day, it seemed like yet another weight on Tigress, as now she was facing down nine months of pregnancy. The latter months of which she would require assistance. Assistance that she hoped would come from her family in the Jade Palace. But now…
Before anything else could be said, Lei Lei bravely stepped forward, her paw extended up towards Tigress. As she looked down at the unusually solemn panda cub, it took her a few seconds to realize there was something clenched in her little paws.
When Tigress realized that Lei Lei was handing it to her, she reached down and took it. She brought it up to her face and gazed at the object.
It was a wooden action figure. An action figure of Po. The paint had begun to peel in a few places, and there were a few spots of dirt that had been a natural result of Lei Lei playing with it.
Feeling a sudden spark of hope at what she had heard about Viper, and now the news of having Po's child, she felt tears build up in her eyes. She knew she could never let Po's legacy die, and she knew she would raise his child to the best of her ability. But as she looked at the figure in front of her, she suddenly realized that she already had someone who meant so much to her.
Still staring at the figure with tears in her eyes, Tigress quietly asked the group, "Could you leave Lei Lei and me alone for a minute?"
Po's dads seemed surprised at the request, but they respected her wish, and quickly filed their way out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Lei Lei's gaze had followed them out of the room, but it now turned back to Tigress, who was busy setting the figure down next to her. Tigress extended both arms out to Lei Lei, who instantly recognized the sign, as her Grandma gave it to her often. She took a few steps forward, and Tigress gently lifted Lei Lei up and over her bed, setting the panda cub down on her folded legs underneath the bed sheets.
As she set her down, Lei Lei instinctively folded her legs the same way as she looked up at Tigress.
Feeling the strongest desire to protect what little she had left, Tigress took Lei Lei's small paws in her own, and she bent her head down until her forehead was touching the panda cub's. As they leaned their heads together in an intimate moment, Tigress began to speak words that she would remember for the rest of her life.
"Lei Lei, I love you. I love you as I my own child. And I will protect you to my dying breath. I swear I will never let you down, and I promise I will never let anything happen to you. I… I let Po down, and I let my family down, but I will never let anyone hurt you. I love you, and I will make sure you will never have to see the evils of this world. I promise you this, Lei Lei."
And that's a wrap! I know, I know, it was a really short chapter, but I felt as if I needed to end it at that scene for two reasons.
1) Tigress' promise is kind of important, so it's a good place to end.
2) I thought I should give you a warning before I switched the rating on you.
Yep, that's right! Originally, the final scene of this chapter would bump this story down to M, but I thought I needed to warn you all of it before I changed it, just in case some of you don't have your settings custom-tuned (like I don't) and wonder why the story isn't being posted anymore.
So yeah, turn on your filters to "All" or "M", and you'll be able to read the rest of this story from now on.
And now, Frozenwolfheart and I sincerely wish you enjoyed this chapter!
Keep being awesome!