Ch.10: Away

Hello, everybody! Welcome back to my story. I apologize for the egregiously long wait, but this chapter had a few different revisions made to it. I kept writing scenes I was unhappy with, the plot was going in a direction that didn't make sense, and I finally made the decision to put the brakes on and rethink the story's direction. Footrot Flats probably knows too much about that, eh? There are small details and some foreshadowing that exist in the first couple of chapters that I'll try to fix sooner or later (especially the first chapter). I'll get to it when I get to it.

On another note, happy tenth chapter anniversary celebration thingy! We're here. Let me just say, "Wow!" I didn't think I'd make it this far, so I'm already happy with my persistence. And for both of our sakes, I will continue persisting.

I also hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did. I was very busy with this chapter (and the next if you can believe it). If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, then I hope you had a great week. If you didn't have a good week, then I hope this update will cheer you up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There was a significant change to the ending of the previous chapter. In the last section with the general and lieutenant, different events occur that will affect your understanding of the plot's development. I highly suggest you go back to read it. Update made on the 27th of November, 2022.

The village was bright and enthusiastic over the safe return of their hero. Pandas were dancing and shouting along the hall's narrow path to the jolly music of celebration. Smiles were plastered across their faces, and many of them came up to the Dragon Warrior thanking him, one even so much so as hugging him a little too tightly. And while the warm and inviting glow of red lanterns filled the space between the laughter, Tigress stood apart and away from the attention. She leaned against a rustic wooden post, arms crossed and watching an intense board game between two pandas who were locked into their rivalry. Tigress was only half paying attention though, more just watching it between the moments. Her face, shrouded in stoic focus like usual, concealed a melancholic shock that fueled her adrenaline the longer she thought of it. As she slowly took a breath, trying to relieve the chill that reached up her back, one of the pandas finally moved a round piece forward, and he smiled at his frowning opponent. Tigress steadily exhaled the pressure from her chest. The victor laughed while the other panda sank his head in his arms, having been beaten yet again, and another song played through the air, triumphant and thrilling.

Tigress, needing to get away from the joyous excitement, stepped out from underneath the cover of the building, breathing softly and carefully. As her feet stepped upon the grassy hills tipped by a frost, she began walking the paths of the panda village, only heading for where the music faded away. Throughout the evening, Tigress' worry had caught up with her, and it chilled her like the wind cutting across the icy summits. Po nearly died, she thought.

She could see it in her mind: the towering bull that glared through the soul of everyone behind her, and his blades were whirling next to him. Tigress thought of the fear that plagued the village when Kai got even closer. He had loomed across the pandas that pressed against one another, grasping for every last bit of hope they had. But how could they have any hope, when Po was on the ground, beaten up and in anguish, buying as much time as he could for his countenance to say "I'm sorry?"

She opened her eyes from the dream and calmed herself. Tigress looked around her and could see the small buildings tucked against the face of the mountains. I guess I was walking for a while, she thought. The faded music rang across the dark green field, but the sound of a rushing waterfall drowned it out. She was by herself in this field, and she was away from the boisterous pandas. She exhaled a breath of relief and closed her eyes, letting the crashing water fill her ears. "They're alive," she told herself. "He's alive…and that's what matters."

Alone in the field, she laid down on her back, resting her head on her paw. The frosted water droplets on the tips of the grass hugged her clothes and she sighed. Tigress gazed up at a set of stars through a hole in the clouded sky. For the longest time, she saw something like this as completely trivial and unnecessary. Oftentimes growing up, she would catch the others gazing up in the night, watching the falling moonlight. And she's seen Po do it in recent years. Tigress never understood why they did it.

It was like looking at her reflection in a rippling pond. In the stars, she saw herself broken. And inside, somehow, she felt the same way. Tigress tried reasoning with herself. She had everything she wanted…right? She had a room to herself that wasn't constrained by chains and a stone wall. She was raised by the great Master Shifu, a true teacher of Kung Fu as her only father. She had the Furious Five, a family she could rely on at any time she needed them. And she had the Dragon Warrior, the Big Fat Panda. Tigress giggled at his retelling of that story, but that short-lived happiness was waved away by the melancholy. She looked away from the sky and studied her outfit. Tigress watched the tapestry-like design of red petals run along her sleeve. "There's a reason you wear this," she muttered. The tiger thought of how different she was now from when that panda first fell in front of her. Tigress was just as ferocious, if not even more, but she was nicer, kinder, gentler, and it was all because of Po getting her to open up. She set her paw on her chest and she watched the window to the stars close.

Pursing her lips, she pondered if what she saw meant anything at all. She didn't feel broken, and even if she did, Tigress refused to feel broken. Yet somehow she knew there was something she was without, but until that window in the sky opened back up, she supposed she wouldn't know what that was.

Tigress continued staring at the dark sky, and after a while, the blanket of clouds became speckled with bright dots. She blinked to check her vision, but she was seeing fine. White snowflakes tumbled down from the light-kissed clouds of the dark blue night sky. She watched as they danced across her face and sank into her fur. The golden threading of her clothes shimmered from the snowmelt, and she just stared back into the falling snow.

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"So," Heng began, "where is this Valley of Peace?" The wolf looked over at the panda next to him. With a long and winding dirt road outstretched ahead of them, Heng needed to somehow pass the time. He couldn't imagine trying to stay silent the whole way.

"It took Tigress and me about a day to get here," he said, "and that was when we left before the sun rose."

The two remained silent for a long moment. It made Heng a little uncomfortable. "What are these warriors like?"

Heng saw the panda break out into laughter, but it didn't seem very authentic to him. "Aw, man! They're awesome—the best in all of China. Trained by the great Master Shifu." Po's enthusiasm dwindled and his smile faded. The two of them were silent for another long while.

"…Do you…really think they can fight the general?"

Heng waited for an answer, but there wasn't any response. He turned to Po, but the panda didn't respond. It looked like he was in his own world and he didn't even hear the question, so Heng decided to let the questions rest.

They were quiet for a long time, and they had finally made it past the edge of the hillside's forests. Heng became lost in his mind to the steady steps of progress. He found himself in a valley surrounded by a range of mountains. Not like the ones in Sidai. No, these weren't as claustrophobic and commanding. These were calming and serene, and it was like the grassy foothills flowed down to his ears and the wind whispered its condolences. Nothing so far helped him forget or focus on what was important, and the on-and-off rushing of tears choked him and nearly made him sick. It's hard to have hope when your only friend has passed away or more accurately been murdered. Heng felt his paw ball up into a fist, and he scowled at his feet. The general was evil. He had ordered the death of all those villagers, and the blood of Zhang's soul smothered his hands. Heng imagined a tortuous death being laid upon him. One that would torment him for eternity causing his screams to echo beneath the dirt. But as the breeze whistled past his ears, he relaxed his paw and let his breath of rage be carried away with it.

Heng gazed up at the winding dirt road. Seeing it stretch for so long made him wonder how far away those warriors in the "Valley of Peace" were. He turned to ask the panda, but he wasn't there. Heng looked behind him, realizing that he had continued walking while Po was frozen a short distance away. "Po?" Heng shouted, but the bear didn't move. The wolf ran back to him and he saw that the panda remained still and his eyes were locked on the dirt.

Po stared down at the cracked dirt and recognized the pattern. It was the same pattern in the dream he had before leaving the Valley of Peace. The dream that had awakened him and everyone else. The dream where she was in danger and he couldn't save her. She was already gone, he realized. I was too late. I wasn't there! The heartbreak he would feel if he found Tigress' blood pooling into the ground wasn't imaginable. It made his stomach turn. He didn't want to picture it but he couldn't let that happen.

"Po!" a voice caught his attention. He looked up to see the wolf running toward him. "Po, what's going on?"

With a face of fear and his mouth ajar he replied softly, "I have to go back."

Heng squinted. "What?"

Po looked back down to the crack. "I have to go back," his voice got louder. "Tigress needs me. I have to go back!" All of a sudden the panda, flustered and overwhelmed, began running away in the direction they came.

"Po, wait!" Heng shouted. "Where are you going?" But the panda kept running until he was gone. And within moments, Heng realized that he was now alone, on a trail leading to a horizon he had never crossed, with names he was already scrambling to remember, and a feeling of grief still looming over his head.

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Sunlight leaped over the ridge of the mountain range making their sides a dark pool of shadow. The gentle breeze that fell down the mountain was bitter, like unseasoned tofu. Its coldness nipped at her but she continued to focus through the odor of ash. As Tigress passed the prison, she set her gaze upon the city below just as the steadfast tower did. Through the flames that Sidai endured, the edifice rejected defeat and stood proudly over the minute ruins beneath it.

Tigress reached the entrance once again. And once again, she didn't have a solid plan. But seeing what these skeletons were capable of when faced with someone that couldn't defend themselves, she couldn't risk them having more time. She peered around the gate, eyeing the inside of the village. Wolves sat on benches, stood in line for spear training, and seemed to have a general sense of apathy toward anything else going on.

But her ear flicked and she backed up behind the wall. "What do you think you're doing?" a voice shouted from inside. Tigress slowly leaned back to see a wolf who was confident in his formal walk and approaching two others. They appeared to have been asleep and were now startled awake. "I told the both of you to guard that entrance!" The wolf pointed almost right at her and she gasped. I have to find another place to get in. Tigress backed away from the entrance and snuck around the outer edge of the village wall, hearing the order fly to her ears. "Now do it and stay awake!"

With her back pressed against the chilled limestone and the cover of an early morning shadow, she looked back to the gate, squinting through the sky's cold brilliance. Two wolves now stood at either side with expressions of indifference. They didn't seem very observant to her, and their commander, at least from what Tigress gathered, would have to agree. She watched them intently, waiting for any information to slip, but they didn't speak. Their dead eye sockets just stared off into nowhere. Tigress retreated her sights and looked for another entrance. She gazed down the long outer wall. Squinting, she noticed that a part of the wall stuck out and she hoped that was another way in.

The tiger began walking along the slight clearing that extended from the wall. The tree branches that lost life had now taken a form of fear. The fire had engraved itself within the bark of the trees. Ash was set between the ridges creating waves of black and white. Tigress finally reached the other side of the city, and she shoved her back against the limestone. She leaned her head over to see around. Tigress saw a fountain, blackened from its troubles and surrounded by a dusty road. She leaned farther before jolting her head back. Tigress had caught a glimpse of someone right there. She peered around again, seeing two skeletons staying alert and frighteningly still. Tigress studied their faces closer. Their eyes were darker than the nights in her room in Bao Gu Orphanage. It was like fear and destruction spilled from their poor excuse for a soul, and it made Tigress wonder if they even had souls. The wolves that she and Po met were alive like them, but if they somehow came from an army of skeletons like the ones around the corner, then these wolves must have souls as well. Tigress looked again at their lifeless sockets, but she couldn't see it.

Coming upon this thought, Tigress realized that she was going after them alone. She hadn't a plan or a clue about how to fight an enemy that couldn't die. Her gut told her to leave them, but she couldn't let herself do that. I have to do this, she thought, for those who couldn't protect themselves.

She glanced back the way she came. Neither gate was any good, and it was too much of a risk that those guards would sound some kind of alarm if she tried to knock them out. And even then, she didn't know if they could be knocked out and it was too much of a risk for her to try and be wrong. And then she noticed a tree, practically right next to her, that leaned over to the wall. That's the way in. "Hey!" A voice shouted. Tigress swiveled her head towards the two guards, but they were looking inside. "What are you doing?" Tigress thought it sounded like the general. "I need you to be patrolling the perimeter!"

Tigress realized that they were about to see her. She needed to move right then or else she was going to get caught. Tigress approached the back of the trunk and set her paws on it, digging her claws into its side and feeling the bark try to snap beneath her. As she climbed, Tigress could see the sun as she neared the crown, but she could feel the guards move closer. Come on, Tigress, move, she thought, but Tigress could barely move at all. The panic set in when she realized that under her paws was a flickering golden glow. Her adrenaline fought off the pain, but it wouldn't last long enough.

She pulled herself little by little along the bark. Tigress could feel the bark snagging against her clothes as she reached as far forward as she could. Her arms shook violently and the pain was overwhelming to her. Fear played with her like she was a ragdoll. She was paralyzed right there on the tree and the only thing she could do was hug the branch. Tigress closed her eyes, remembering a day with the ironwood trees, yelling at herself to push forward, and she tried harder. She opened her eyes to see the two skeleton guards walking beneath her, oblivious to her insurmountable pain. A drop of ease to her panic was given to her, but that didn't help much. She looked to the end of the branch, and as silently as she could, she reached forward. She took a breath and reached forward again and again until she could hear the sound of kiln-fired clay tiles beneath her claws.

Her pain disappeared and she was left with a relieving breath. Tigress moved onto the rooftop and lay down on her back, looking up at the faded blue sky. She thought about that conversation before Po and Heng left. Po remembered this issue, and he cared about it happening, but she hadn't. Tigress could feel frustration climbing up her back and she kicked herself. What was I thinking, coming here with no plan—no backup? She looked down at her paws, where that golden glow of chi would shine. She thought back to the visit with Oogway and wondered. What was she supposed to do about her chi? He told her it was unstable, which was evident to her now, but he never explained how to fix it. And she hadn't told anyone what she saw in that vision either. It wasn't simply that her and Po's destinies were intertwined.

Tigress set her hand on her heart and pondered the thought. Thinking out loud, "We rely on each other," she muttered. "Everything we've been through…" From the corner of her eye, her attention was stolen by a tall, brooding shadow.

She turned over and climbed up the loose tiles. Reaching the summit of the roof, she stayed ducked behind the ridge and stared up at the sunlight that waved across burnt ribbons waltzing in the breeze. The tower, she realized. He must be up there! She inched further and peered over the roof. She saw the walls of houses fighting to stay upright. Some of the homes were completely flattened to the ground, covered in a blanket of black ash. Others were, surprisingly, still somewhat intact with only their entrances burned down, but Tigress couldn't help but wonder. How many more orphans were made by this monster? She scanned the black scars over the village to look for a way into the tower. She didn't know where skeletons could be hiding from view. She barely escaped with Po's help last time, fighting off nearly their whole army. It was too risky to take them head-on, and Tigress understood that she would need to keep herself concealed.

A large group of wolves crowded the base of the tower, which incidentally was where she needed to be. And among this group was the skeleton whose demeanor was different, a wolf who was alert and sharp-eyed. She looked closer and saw him watching the wolves jabbing spears into the air for practice.

He didn't come across as impressed.

She watched the skeleton back away from the training exercise and approach the door. He made one final look behind him, almost looking straight at her before he entered the decorated gate of the tower. Tigress glanced up at the tower and back down at the village square, and she knew that staying still at the very edge of the city's ruins wasn't getting anything done. So, staying low to the clay shingles, Tigress crawled along the roof, being diligent as to avoid unwanted attention. She navigated steadily across the tiled roofing, avoiding any contact with skeletons holed up in a resolute building.

Tigress was now on the other side of the city, laying on the roof of a building right next to the square. And directly across from her was the opportunity she was looking for. The tower's overhangs scooped up at its edges. Tigress made a calculated decision and thought that if she was quick enough, no one would notice her crossing the gap between her and that overhang.

And she would have gotten herself ready for the jump, however, her ear had caught a voice from up high. Tigress watched the top floor of the tower patiently, assuming that's where she heard it from, and it was after a short while that she saw someone emerge onto the balcony. This was not the skeleton who entered the tower but rather the general that she had faced the night before. Tigress recognized his tall posture and the evil that resonated from him. She watched as he beheld the orb in his hand, and what grand energy the orb kept hidden floated through the air like a cloud.

The focus, fighting, training, and apathy of the army halted as a wish was claimed. The golden chi cascaded from the general's hand and coursed through the air. She stared at the moving chi; Tigress' eyes were enthralled with its dance. Every wolf watched as the last drop flowed to a stop in the tangled golden cloud, and for the longest moment, Sidai was completely deadened in a soundless quiet…but the tranquility didn't last. Tigress felt her paw twitching, and those twitches turned into shaking. She looked away from the brilliant fog and watched as her paw pads flickered the unmistakable golden shine. Tigress could feel the tingling wash up her paws, and her lungs felt like they were about to collapse. A final whisper left her lips, "No," and a shocking wave of chi sent her tumbling down the clay shingles and striking the cobblestone street.

All that she could see was darkness. She couldn't feel anything but pressure at the back of her head. The tiger would have been angry with herself, but she didn't have the strength to be. Tigress felt alone in the blackness, more alone than she already was. She wondered if this was her death, but she refused to let that be. She tried moving, yet nothing happened. Trapped in her mental cage, torrents of thoughts and memories came to her.

Her paws flew at the trunks of ironwood trees. Beads of sweat pooled around her crying eyes, but she hit harder and faster. The sunlight never faltered, and the ground seared. Her knuckles bled and her paws were stained. That didn't matter to her. She kept punching, feeling the pain boil over from her hands into her arms. Her heart was racing, and her frustration and anger grew as it went on. She remembered being upset with herself, that something as simple as a piece of bark from the tree held its ground. Tigress wanted it to stop, the fiery sensation burned her nerves, but it could never stop. She couldn't let it beat her. And now the memory hurt her all over again. She needed to find peace. Trying to will it away, she made a desperate cry for help. A scream grew from her lungs and scraped her throat. "Please!" she cried.

"PO, HELP ME!"

She kept punching the tree, against her will, in dead silence. He's the only one who can calm me down, she thought in a panic. I need to see him. Tigress tried picturing his face, his jade green irises sitting in dark pools of black smiling at her soul. She could see his silly grin, his beaming goofy face that made her pity him. His laugh touched her ears and warmed her cold heart. She could feel him embrace her. She felt his soothing comfort, and her burning paws didn't feel so bad. But her memories of him washed away like ocean sand, and she was on her own in the darkness. She tried everything to get him back, but nothing worked. To Tigress, the cold abyss was like every one of her senses was somehow stolen…

-Thud- -Thud- -Thud-

…except she could hear. She searched for all of the strength that she had and focused on the distant sound. Unison marching echoed through the dead forest of Sidai. She could hear the footsteps crack against the bitter cobblestone streets and the orders to move faster followed, but Tigress could only think about the orb. I don't have it, and the general might find that wolf. But there was nothing to do except listen. She heard the marching dampen as their feet left the stone, but each uniform thud could still be felt from the ground.

The marching carried on softly until finally dwindled into nothing. She was truly alone and by herself on a street of ruins, left with only her thoughts to keep her company and the distant howling of the wind. What am I gonna do? Laying there by herself gave an uneasy feeling. What if I die right here, and no one knows? Tigress needed comfort, but it was like his picture became a silhouette that she couldn't recall. So, instead, she lay there, fighting trepidation and fear while drowning in all of the unanswered questions. My destiny could end right here. The intertwining could unravel.

She lay alone for a long time before hearing a light tapping against the ruined house frames. What is that? The patter became faster, and its intensity grew. She heard the roaring of thunder afar. Raindrops, she realized. Tigress ignored it, holding onto hope. Is this why the army left? They're scared of a little rain? Suddenly, her ears began to tingle, and it was like the shower was scared off. The temporary quietude made her think it was over. -Bang- A bolt of lightning rang across the ruins and the storm stirred strongly. Gusts of wind howled through the downpour and she could hear the rain pooling in the street she lay in.

But through the screaming of wind and rainfall, she thought she could hear a voice, like shouting, crying out from the deluged streets. It sounded concerned and frightened. Tigress listened closer. The voice sounded familiar to her, and it kept calling a name. She struggled to understand the word, but suddenly the voice became clear and she knew who it was.

"Tigress!"

…Po?

Thank you for reading. Expect Chapter 11 by the end of the week (Friday or Saturday (cross your fingers)).