Hello there!

So, I was thinking, since Frozenwolfheart is co-authoring this, wouldn't it be fair for me to include her author's notes? Well, now, I have the pleasure of introducing the best co-author anyone could ever hope for!

FWH a/n hope you are enjoying this story. I am enjoying being a part of this. It is an honor working with Starless echoes and I enjoy helping bring out the feelings of the characters. Please review and tell us what you think and like about this chapter.

Whew, (it's me again), but only saying that she's helping bringing out the feelings of the characters is the understatement of the year. And it's mid-December, so it's not like Shen's "Half-a-year of the peacock" sort of thing. This story wouldn't be half as good without her vision.

Annnyway,

On with the show!

Shao's Hometown

Inside a small house, a goat was sitting on a bed. He looked around the room.

"I remember it being a little bigger," he thought with a hint of nostalgia.

Shao had continued to wander around his old hometown until he came upon his house. He had waited, walking up and down the street, to see if someone would come out of it. When no one did, he mustered up the courage to go and knock on the door. His plan was just to make some excuse to leave if someone opened it, but things seemed to go to plan for once, as no one came.

Looking nervously in all directions, he saw that the coast was clear. He tried his best to look casual as he walked around the house. When Shao was out of sight from the people on the street, he began looking for window shutters. He eventually found one and opened it with ease since the people who lived there had forgotten to slide the bolt in place. The goat climbed through the window with quite not as much grace as he might have liked, but he did eventually find himself on the side of the window he wanted to be.

When he actually looked at the room, he was pleasantly surprised to see that he recognized it all too well. The bed in the corner, nightstand, wardrobe and other various items were, of course, different than before and in different positions, but he recognized the layout of the room as his very own. He had been so little, but he could still remember his mother tucking him into bed.

He sat down on the bed, closed his eyes, and tried to let the emotions flow through him. He was home. Shao remembered the pleasant memories of his childhood. It was so long ago, and he had so little of it, that he really didn't remember individual events, but feelings. He remembered feeling… warm. The warmth of his parents' love.

But it had been ripped away. Taken away, but by who? The Shao of a month ago would have said "predators," but now, he really wasn't so sure of that statement. As the events of his parents' last moments came to him, his eyes watered and tears silently fell down his face.

Shao stood up, careful to straighten up the bed he had just sat on, and he left the room. He slowly walked down the hall until he came to the living room. Of course, everything was different about it now. But he still remembered the spot where his parents had died. There was nothing to distinguish that spot from anywhere else. The room had a fireplace, sofa, long table, and two other chairs, but the side closer to the hall was bare. Nothing to denote that two lives had been taken in that very spot.

With reverence, he softly walked up to that spot and bent down, placing his hoof on the rug that lay on the floor.

"Hi, mom. Hi, dad," he quietly spoke aloud. He felt strange talking to the air, but the idea that his parents, wherever they were, might be listening, brought a strange sense of calming over him. If he couldn't turn to his parents for help, then who else would he turn to?

"I… I'm home. But I don't know what to do now. I tried… I tried to take justice for your deaths, to make them worth something, but… now I think that maybe I've made your deaths worthless. Oh…" Shao put his free hoof over his eyes.

"I killed them. I wanted to make a difference so much, so I blinded myself. I looked at Tigress like she had been in that one moment, just one. And I didn't realize that if I was going to look at her in her worst moment, I should look at myself in my worst moment. And I've become far worse than she could ever be."

He didn't really know what to expect from his deceased parents, but as the silence continued to reign throughout the household, he was surprised to discover that he was disappointed. What did he want? His parents' ghost to come back and tell him that everything was okay? Every part of that sentence was wrong. His parents probably hated him for what he'd done and everything was pretty far from okay.

He lifted his hoof back up from the rug and clenched it as he pressed it to his forehead. He was now trying his best to hold back his tears.

"Come on… do something," he pleaded to the empty air. "Just give me some kind of sign that I'm not… not… oh, please!" he shouted out. "I need you! Please! Just this once!"

Only the silence responded.

Wailing with frustration as his pent-up tears burst through, he stood back up again.

"Fine! Oh, damn you!"

Before Shao had the time to insult his parent's memory further, he suddenly heard a scratching sound coming from the main door. The sound of someone unlocking the door.

Scrambling back into the hallway from which he had just come, he ducked back into his old room just as he heard the door being opened. He turned and saw the open window. This was the best time to leave, but something held him back.

The simple curiosity to see who now lived in his childhood home. His home.

Creeping back to the edge of the doorway, he tried to silence the sound of his own breathing and strain his ears. He could only hear some footsteps. It was clearly more than one person. Then came the voices. He couldn't make out the words, as they all seemed to be talking at once, but he could pick out a deeper one, a lighter one, and two high-pitched ones.

A father, mother, and two children.

Shao knew he should be taking his ticking time to leave, but he still felt strangely compelled to know more about these people who probably didn't know two people had died in their living room many years ago.

Taking a huge risk, the goat peeked his head around the edge of the door. The hallway was a straight line to the living room, and he could make out the parents.

They were a middle-aged couple, but what really interested Shao was not their age. It was the fact that they were tigers.

Tigers. In his house. Living in his house.

Before Shao had time to further process the thought, he was met with an even stranger sight. The father bent down on his knees and held his arms out, and from outside of Shao's field of view came hopping a little bunny. He jumped right into the tiger's arms, who joyfully picked him up and placed him on his shoulder. Then, another child came into view. A young female goat. A little older than the bunny, but still a young child.

At first, Shao was only confused, but he finally realized that they were adopted.

The little goat then appeared to turn towards the hall. Shao barely snatched his head back in enough time to avoid being seen. He backed up all the way to the window, hoping that she wouldn't get any nearer.

But, just like on that fateful day that he had murdered Master Croc, he could hear her soft footsteps get louder and louder. Perfectly knowledgeable of what he had to do, Shao took a few steps forward before turning back around and diving out the open window. He hit the grass with a grunt, but quickly scrambled underneath the window so he couldn't be seen.

He could now hear the young goat enter her room. She must have noticed that her window was open, because Shao heard her footsteps approaching it. Covering his mouth with his hoof, he could feel the sweat forming on his brow, and he heard the pounding of his heart in his ears.

When a pair of small, thin arms shot out of the window, Shao almost let out a yelp of fright, but he managed to bottle it in. She stood still in that position, her hooves gripping the handles of the open shutters. She was clearly looking out of the window before she closed it. He could only pray that she didn't lean forward a few inches and turn her gaze downwards.

But she didn't. After a few seconds, she finally closed the shutters, leaving Shao in peace.

With his hoof still over his mouth, he thought about what he had just seen. Some predators were living in his house. And they had adopted a bunny and a goat. He had seen that bunny jump up into his father's arms. He could see the love in his eyes.

It was so ironic. He had let an absurd notion that was only based on a few people cloud his vision to the point that he had killed people. He had believed that predators were so dangerous.

No. They weren't dangerous. People like him were dangerous.

Feeling the bitter irony closing in, Shao couldn't help but let out a small laugh. It shook him to his core. His life was ruined, and he had no one to blame but himself. At least he might get a small laugh out of it. It wasn't good for very much else.

But when the weight of his mistakes crashed down on him, his laugh turned into sob. He did his best to keep it a quiet one, but Shao had a complete breakdown right outside his childhood bedroom. His body was racked with sobs, his eyes a watery red color, and his own muffled sobs were muted by his hoof.

With his other hoof, he covered his own eyes as his sorrow swallowed him.

Meanwhile- Some Distance From The Valley Of Peace

"My friend, either my eyes are deceiving me, or you go out of your way to find the most hideous color combinations known to civilization."

The porcupine responded to his friend's comment by proudly sticking out his chest and holding his arms out to the side with his palms facing upwards.

"What!?" he asked back with sarcasm. "You do not like my clothes?"

"If you came too close, I would regurgitate my dinner all over them, although I do not think my half-digested meal would make your attire any worse for wear. Perhaps it is good idea, no?"

The porcupine seemed to give it considerable thought. As he scratched his chin with his paw, he replied, "Tempting, but I must politely decline your offer."

He then walked over to the bunny in his chair that he could never leave. When he saw what was on the table in front of the bunny, he rolled his eyes.

The bunny instinctively picked up on his friend's contempt. "Hey, do not insult my game. Game do nothing to you."

"No, no, the game doesn't bother me, it's just that you're so obsessed with it."

He turned back to the game set up in front of him. The wooden board was broken up into a checkered color pattern, with a set of white figures on one side and a set of black figures on the other. The two-player game was already developed even though no one sat across from the bunny.

The bunny reached down and spun his wheel, turning his chair to the side. So far, he had been tucked into a small corner, in the shadows. But he now rolled his wheelchair into the soft, flickering light that the candle on his table gave off.

Qi Ai was middle-aged, and although he was leaning to the older side of that spectrum, he was still about ten years younger than Mingzhi. He had a perpetual smile on his face, and his head always seemed cocked to the side. The rabbit's eyes were wide open, which, when combined with his ever-present smile, gave him a look of insanity. On top of all that, his less than impressive mastery of Mandarin and heavy foreign accent made him quite the spectacle. But his looks would have misled a stranger as to his potential, for what he lacked in physical abilities, which kept him confined to his wheelchair, the bunny's cunning was legendary among certain groups. Especially one group in particular.

"So," he began, "I hear you visit Master Jing. How that go? Anything new?"

Mingzhi shrugged. "Well, you know, he's still a fool."

"I said, was there anything new?"

After sharing a chuckle with his friend, Mingzhi continued.

"Oh, yes, my friend. There is much to speak about."

"The Five?"

"Finished."

Qi Ai threw his paw over his heart. "Thank the gods."

"Yes, but more interestingly, I met the one who made the powder."

Now truly interested in the conversation, Qi Ai's eyes narrowed. His eyes flickered to the door of his small home. The gesture may not have meant much to a stranger, but the porcupine and the bunny had a deep history.

Mingzhi complied with his wish by heading to the door and gently knocking on it twice.

"Yes, sir," a smooth voice on the outside of the door responded. It wasn't a question, but an answer to a silent command. The command that no one would overhear this conversation.

Heading back to the Qi Ai's table, he took a seat on the opposite side at his friend's beckoning. His smile now even wider, the bunny rolled his wheelchair as close as he could to the table.

"It's true?" he asked.

"Oh, yes. It exists. And I hear more are being made."

The friends shared a moment of silence as both sat and contemplated. Finally, Qi Ai spoke up.

"Mother is about to lose her mind, no?"

Mingzhi began to chuckle. It started a harmless one, but he kept on and on. It then grew into a laugh. It was so infectious that Qi Ai could not help but join in. Their laughter grew and grew until it had gone from the laugh that was usually shared from a simple joke to a howling cascade of hysterical laughter.

Yes, Mother was about to lose her mind.

After a few minutes, their laughter finally subsided, and Qi Ai, wiping the tears from his eyes, asked, "So, what do you think about it?"

Mingzhi leaned over and examined the game in front of him. Even though he had been playing himself, Qi Ai was a strong opponent on either side of the board. He searched for possible moves until he found a good option. He moved a piece across the checkered squares and looked back at his friend.

"I think we should wait. But that's what I came to you for. What do you think we should do?"

"I agree." Qi Ai wasted no time in moving one of his pieces. "Now that the dam is broken, the flood will come soon enough. And when it does, all we have to do is make sure our boat is ready."

Even though the pieces had been evenly matched two turns earlier, Mingzhi now found himself in a losing position. He finally found what seemed to be a suitable option.

"And this new weapon?"

Once again, Qi Ai already knew what piece he wanted to move, putting Mingzhi in an uncomfortable position.

"It will fall into my lap soon enough. And then we will make ourselves irreplaceable. We've waited a long time for this." He looked up at his seventy-year-old friend. "A long time.

The porcupine smiled. He carelessly moved one of his pieces, already knowing he could not win.

"So strange. We're part of a brutal system of change, yet we stay in our places. We have seen many generations of Mothers and Fathers. All of them are butchered more violently than the last, yet it only seems to attract the stupid moths closer to the fire."

Qi Ai now performed his next move. "Yes. They all think the strongest lead. But it is not true. The real secret to power isn't strength, nor is it even intelligence. Hmm."

Mingzhi looked down at the board but realized he had no move to make.

"It is a checkmate."

The bunny looked down at the board in surprise. "Oh? Is it? Ah, well, it was unfair, you didn't start playing until just a few moves ago."

"Bah. You always win."

"No, that's not-"

"I only win when you let me."

With a smile wider than usual, Qi Ai leaned over as he put the pieces back into place.

"Fancy a rematch?"

The Valley of Peace

Lianmin was in a relatively good mood.

She had managed to explain to Master Ox and the Soothsayer why she and her son could not stay in the Valley. Even though she didn't exactly like their disappointed expressions, they said they understood. And that was all she needed.

The truth was, the leopardess had a very bad feeling about whatever might happen next. As the Soothsayer said, there were multiple fates to consider, and Lianmin didn't find any one of them particularly favorable. All of them seemed riddled with doubt and danger. It wasn't the kind of place she wanted her son to be in.

In her own mind, Lianmin thought the plan to bring members of her son's kung-fu club to train under masters was insane, and would only result in an overrun Valley and some dead kids. After all, part of what had kept threats away from the Valley was the name. The Furious Five. The Dragon Warrior. Who wanted to mess with people like that? Only the most experienced bandits could stand a chance of escaping an encounter with them and not find themselves in the depths of Chor-Gom.

But some kids? Who was going to be afraid of them? The bandits would fall on them with full force, and they wouldn't show any mercy. Then the Valley would be overrun, which would force aid to come in from other places, but then those places would soon be attacked as well. With Shifu and most of the Five dead, Lianmin couldn't see a way to prevent the Valley from falling. And once the Valley fell, there would be major issues. No doubt the legions of bandits were meeting now, whispering the news to each other. They must have been rising up from every crack and crevice they came from, eager for a bite out of the wounded Valley.

And she wouldn't let her son be a part of a suicidal attempt to defend a place that was lost already. She had to get him to safety.

Lianmin opened the door to the inn and entered, nodding to the innkeeper on the way. She walked down the length of the hallway and knocked on the door. It was quickly unlocked on the other side, and she was met with a nice, welcoming-

"No."

She let out a sigh through her nose as she stepped in and Peng closed the door behind her.

"You don't even know what we talked about," Lianmin answered as she turned around.

"Are we leaving?" Peng asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes," was the shameless response.

Putting his paw on his forehead, Peng walked back to one of the beds and sat down by the edge. He looked back up, trying to sort out how he was going to win this fight.

"Mom-" he began.

"-No," she interrupted. "I'm your mother, and I know what's best for you."

"And what about the people of the Valley?"

"They'll be defended by your 'new recruits,' as you call them."

Lianmin tried to look out the window as she said these words, but her son knew her too well for that.

"Hey, look at me." When she didn't respond, he repeated again, "Hey, Mom, look at me."

Lianmin turned her head back to him, and much to his surprise, her eyes were glistening with tears.

Peng cocked his head to the side. "You don't believe that, do you?"

"Believe what?"

"You don't think the new recruits can do it by themselves, do you? Well, neither do I."

This caught Lianmin by surprise, as that wasn't what she had been expecting her son to say.

Peng sensed his mother's indecision and decided to pounce on top of the opportunity while he had the chance.

"That's exactly why we need to stay. They need us. Just think about it, Mom! Our presence alone would do something! When those bandits hear that the sister and the nephew of Tai Lung-"

Lianmin turned her head away. "Don't say that name," she quietly said. Peng knew he was pushing into dangerous territory, as she always grew quiet when she was getting angry, but there would be no surrounding this time, no compromises. He had to win this fight in order to do what he just knew he was meant to do.

"And why not?" he asked. "Are you afraid of the truth? Afraid that you had a brother out there in a time you thought you were alone!? Afraid that he was just like the people you hunt down!?"

"Peng!" she lashed out, her voice laced with venom.

Now sensing his final stand, Peng put everything he had into his next words. He stood up from his seat and grabbed her paws, putting them on either side of his face, forcing her to look at him in the eyes. He could see that her own were welling with tears.

"I know! I know! It was so painful for me to learn that this hero of mine, my uncle, was… well, what he was! But it's the truth! And I don't like it any more than you do that we're related to him, but we are! His deeds are tied to our names! Now I hate it, but right now is the time to use that! We're not defending the Valley forever, we just need to buy Viper and Tigress enough time to come back!"

A tear silently falling down her cheek, Lianmin brought her son's forehead against her own.

They stood there in silence like that for a few minutes.

"It's just…" Lianmin quietly whispered, "I just saw Tigress lose her family. But at least she still has some that love her. I can't lose you, I just can't-"

"Shhh," Peng interrupted, their foreheads still pressed together. "I'm not going anywhere."

Meanwhile

Viper had studied the wall to the side of her bed for days. She was familiar with every part of it, from its coloring and texture, to even the faint stain in the top left corner.

She had been studying that wall for days, as she could not move.

The doctors had told her that it was only temporary, that she would gain her movement back as she healed, but now, even the very thought of movement sent white-hot needles down the whole length of her body. So she wasn't paralyzed, she had thought to herself with much-needed relief. Better to feel excruciating pain than no pain at all.

The first few days had been a cloudy liquid to Viper. She could faintly remember waking up and falling asleep again because of the drugs they injected her with. When she slept, she had no dreams or nightmares. She only had the empty, dark rest that the most exhausted of slumbers brought.

But when she was awake, she was floating on a sea of confusion. She kept forgetting why she was in the hospital in the first place, and every time she remembered, it brought a fresh wave of sorrow. It would be followed by silent sobs, every motion setting her body on fire, but she could not help herself. The only relief was the next wave of sleep, only for her to forget once again why she had been upset when she woke up.

However, recently, they had been trying to ease up on the drugs, so she spent more and more of her daylight hours awake then asleep. She was fortunate that her father was there, as he often spent most of his days by her bedside. He didn't say anything, as he knew it was painful for Viper to talk, so he simply sat by her. With his brow furrowed and his gaze distant, who knew what was going on in that head of his?

Viper naturally assumed that he was worried about her, which was true, of course, but much more went on in her father's head than she knew. She didn't know it, but Grandmaster Viper had been spending a lot of his spare time with the Soothsayer, learning everything he could of her fears of the future. The old master was experienced in the ways of life, and if he knew one thing, it was that looking into the future and trying to circumvent it usually didn't work out the way it was intended. But still, he couldn't sit idly by and let terrible things happen.

This morning, Grandmaster Viper was having his lunch outside of Viper's room, and Viper was diligently practicing her daily wall-examining session. Breaking the dreaded monotony, a light knock was heard on the door. She knew it wasn't her father; he had to knock with his tail, which gave off a softer thump rather than a hard knock.

But it wasn't the doctors either; they usually opened the door without knocking.

Feeling a spark of happiness for the first time in a while, Viper weakly responded.

"Come in, Tigress."

Slowly turning the knob, the door creaked open slightly and Tigress popped her head in, trying to see if Viper had been sleeping or not. When she saw Viper was turned on her side, she began to slowly close the door, but Viper stopped her.

"I'm awake."

Tigress then reversed her motions and stepped through the doorway, closing it behind her. She walked over to Viper's bedside and pulled up the chair that sat in the corner.

Viper's tired eyes drifted up to meet Tigress' own. She gave a weak smile as Tigress adjusted herself in the seat. She knew Tigress was alive since her father had told her, but they hadn't actually seen each other yet. Mostly because Tigress hadn't wanted to interrupt when her father was in the room.

Tigress lovingly rested her paw on the side of Viper's face, almost hovering it above her so she didn't cause her any pain, but just enough so she could feel the warmth of her paw.

"How are you doing?" she asked Viper with a soft smile and a quiet voice.

"I'm doing good," she croaked back. It seemed as if nothing could shake her characteristic optimism, even if it was a bald-faced lie.

Now gently stroking the side of her face, Tigress smiled once again. She had never been more grateful to be able to talk to Viper.

A few moments of silence passed, and it seemed as if Tigress was content to mirror Grandmaster Viper's actions and simply sit by her bedside. But Viper herself, in her many waking hours staring at the wall, had been having her own thoughts. Her own worries. Her own fears.

"You know, I've been thinking-" she began. Tigress raised her brow, showing that she was listening.

"-Po's not really gone." Viper finished. She could see Tigress' eyes fill with tears at the mention of his name, but she felt as if what she had to say would do more good than harm.

"He lives in me. And more importantly, he lives in you."

Her words had an effect on Tigress. The memory of Po was painful to her, of course, but she also felt comforted by thoughts of him at the same time.

She nodded, her eyes glistening. "You're right. He lives in me now. All of them live in us now."

Viper gave a weak smile, but her gaze soon broke away from Tigress' and her smile faded.

"Tigress?" she asked, barely audible.

"Hmm-hm?" she replied, leaning her head inwards to better hear Viper.

"You wouldn't leave me, right?"

Her eyes going wide, Tigress leaned back in her chair as Viper whispered those words.

"Why would she think that?" she asked herself with surprise. Especially now, of all times?

Before she could deliberate upon the cause of her sister's words any further, she saw Viper shift her eyes upward to peer into her own, and she knew she needed to answer.

Tigress leaned back forward again and met her sister's gaze.

"What? No, Viper, I'd never leave you. You're my sister, and I love you. I'll stay with you forever."

Her eyes filling with tears, Viper smiled as she let her eyes fall back in their eternal stare forward.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love my father, but…"

Surprised that there could be a "but" to that sentence, Tigress quickly asked-

"-But what?"

"Well, he's not so young anymore. We each only have… so much time."

Understanding Viper's fears, Tigress let her own building tears silently fall.

"No, Viper," she said again, "I'll never leave you."

And that's a wrap! We hoped you liked it!

Oh, a side note, Qi Ai's name means "Strangelove" (As long as there's no space between the words. If you put a space, it messes everything up). When I first started doing the naming system, I stuck with the basic English adjectives and turned them into names. However, now I'm kind of having fun with it and, instead of simply having their name an adjective that describes some part of them, I'm putting a few different twists on it. His name is a reference to the wheelchair-bound character of the movie Dr. Strangelove (1964).

Annnyway… Frozenwolfheart and I sincerely hope you all-

Stay safe and keep being awesome!