Chapter 21

Tigress wasn't sure where Shifu and Po went, but took it upon herself to go look for them.

Before doing so, Mantis asked if he could go check on Jian, with the others behind him, waiting for her response. She had already told them he needed his space, but she couldn't stop them being concerned. They've been in Jian's life since he was five years old- he was one of them, a close friend in distress.

"You can try talking to him," she said, almost warning the bug. "But Jian will try to get through this on his own, and you can only wait until he asks for help."

It isn't the first time, they all knew that- Jian has built walls to keep himself away before, not just in the times where he felt most sensitive about the topic- but when his mother left, and even more so when Azure flew the nest.

Her leaving well and truly broke his heart, maybe more so when Sying got married, and settled in to Gongmen for good.

Since then there had been times where he would only leave his room to train, stop raids, and see Po in the evenings. Other then that, he would eat dinner alone, meditate alone, study alone. Tigress knew him best- she had been in his life since it first started, and he had been in her care since he was thirteen, so they knew to take her advice well... or maybe she just didn't care in that current moment- she seemed hacked off with how Jian spoke to her... and rightfully so; all she was doing, like she always did, was talk sense into him, and stop the blame no one needs to take to be just shoved onto Azure's plate when she wasn't here to clean it, or to stick up for herself.

Mantis and the others waited for her to leave the bunkhouse entirely, before they all moved along towards their dorms, in a large cluster. Mantis took the lead as they turned a corner, and was the first to reach Jian's door. A faint glow came from inside, so he knocked gently as the others caught up.

"Who is it?"

"Us," Mantis said. There was a pause, and the bug looked around quickly, before he corrected his sentence. "Everyone but Tigress... and Po and Shifu. Don't worry."

"What do you want?" His voice sounded funny.

"We're just worried about you sweetie." Viper said, slithering closer to the door. "We can't imagine what you're feeling right now, and we would give anything to change the circumstances. Please come out, and talk to us..."

There was another short pause, before they all backed away a little bit. They heard some shuffling, and then the doors were drawn back at a snails pace, to reveal Jian standing in the frame. He didn't meet them in the eye; glaring at the floor instead.

"Listen... none of this is your fault." Mantis scuttled across the floor, and looked up at him. "You know that, right?"

This just hardened the leopards gaze. "We're going to stop him-" Crane started.

Jian shook his head. "No, you're not." He finally pulled his head up, their eyes already boring into him, as was his. "You're not strong enough."

"How do you know that?" Mantis was ready to open his mouth in retaliation- ready to prove him wrong, but they were quick to notice the scrolls that loitered the floor in the room behind Jian. Moving back inside, he started picking them up.

"You can't be that naïve. He's too powerful." The scrolls lay across his arms like a strange bouquet, the more he picked up, the bigger the cluster, and bigger the chance that they would spill out of his arms again. "You think I wouldn't give my life to stop him? But I can't. I've done my research. I know what he had to do to try get what he wanted... and he will do whatever it takes to get my mother back." There was a slimmer of hope that Tai Lung would forget about him, that he didn't exist. That way he could run, hide somewhere, and make sure he could never be found.

Fat chance with Azure meeting him- she definitely would've told him.

He could still go on the run- take Azure and Sying with him maybe... but they would be sniffed out if someone put a bounty on their heads.

Crane thought about it for a moment, before something took over his bubble. "Does he know she got married?"

Jian merely shrugged. "I don't know." They all prayed Azure had sense in not telling Tai Lung that information, "maybe he does, if my Mother ever sent him a letter... but even if she did... do you really think that would stop him? Once he has the Dragon Scroll, no one could stop him, no matter what." He could have anything he wanted. "Only the Dragon Warrior can stop him." But their Dragon Warrior wasn't even ready... what was Shifu going to do about that? Berate him more?

While the remaining males in the room glanced at one another, Viper kept her eyes on Jian with a sympathetic frown on her face. The scrolls were stacked slowly in a case on top of his dresser, and each time he slotted a cylinder in, it was slow moving, in an attempt to steady his shaking paws, his eyes staring longer then usual, not to mention a little harder.

"Everything will be okay sweetie..." Viper said quietly, and Jian felt this soothing wave overcome him. When he was really little, he was a knot of anxiousness when he first started training. As the Five would exit the Hall, he and Azure would be lined up patiently outside, overwhelmed with excitement for their session to begin. Azure was always quiet, but maybe then she had a sense that she would never really keep up with Kung Fu- he didn't know (surely not back then anyways), but when it finally hit him that he was going to start training, he was almost frightened to go in.

Viper would always be there to assure him, in the same soft tone, and offer a quick hug if need be. Tigress was the same back then, but as he got older, and more awkward (hello puberty), she willingly did so less and less. The last time he remembered Tigress hugging him was after his mother's wedding, up at the peach tree after his outburst in the kitchen. He was vulnerable, and felt terrible for his actions, and she was there to listen... but she wasn't here now...

"There's no point telling me it's going to be okay, when it won't be." His words left a cold feeling in the air- he could see Viper's face morph into a hurtful, almost sad gaze. "Nothing you say will comfort me now..." As he was looking away from them, he twisted his head, hating to see her looking so hurt. "There's no point in lying." Viper's head bowed a little, almost as if to be ashamed. "I'd like to be alone now." He said, almost calmly.

"Of course..." Crane moved his wing in a soft motion to guide the others to leave, then turning to the tormented snow leopard once more, as if to say one more thing- an attempt to smooth things over... but decided against it, and disappeared out of the room.

Jian didn't turn back to look at them until he heard the door slide shut. His head twisted over his shoulder, his chin sitting on top of his shoulder. He was waiting to see if they stood outside, lingering a little longer, almost hoping for him to call out to them...

Instead, he felt the familiar chill crawling down his back, which made him tighten his the belt of his robe around his waist, before his caught his reflection in the mirror. It never moved from the one corner, and he would avoid it at the best of times, a blanket would sit over it at the dead of night, in case he woke up and saw someone standing where his reflection should be copying his every move.

As a teenager, he grow more and more obsessive with who his father was- a lot of people didn't know this either. He could scrap up any photos his mother had- or allowed him to see, and spent hours sitting in front of the mirror, poking at his face, measuring his nose, his eyes, his lips... and notated everything they had in similarity, and to his dismay, he was barely graced with any of his mother's distinctive features. Azure and Sying could've easily been mistaken as sisters by anyone who didn't know them, where he was stuck with everything that reminded them of Tai Lung. He was sure that this broke his mother's heart, but she never admitted it.

Next came clothes- indigo was never in his color palette. He nearly flipped out when his mother would even dare buy him anything associated with the color, and kept to the black or blue clothing. The robe Xiu was cherished greatly, as it hid the scar from his first mission with the five. Any photos of Tai Lung had illustrated him shirtless, showing every muscle, every ounce of dangerous power. The robe concealed that, to the best of it's abilities, from the eyes of the villagers...

A dark distorted shape loomed into the parallel universe, where he should've seen himself. Hunched over, its eyes glowed ominously, seemingly getting brighter as his heart rate began elevating. A distant roar echoed in his ears, as if to call him- beckon him- towards it, and he wasn't sure why, but Jian dragged himself over, breathing deeper- standing taller... his eyes closed the whole time.

When he felt brave enough to open his eyes, he didn't see himself- Tai Lung was right there in front of him.

See you soon... he heard a voice echo inside his head, but before he could say anymore, a foot sent the mirror flipping across the room, and smashing into a million pieces.


Meanwhile, Tigress had ventured out of the bunk house, not patient enough to wait for the others to find out how their 'gentle intervention' with Jian went. It was on her mind to wait, but before she could follow that thought, she could hear Po yelling at something farther down the path. Instead of following him down, she moved through the trees outside the bunk house, and climbed up onto the roof of the main body of the Palace.

She heard Shifu almost immediately as he landed on the edge of the room, and scoped them out almost immediately.

Po had ended up on the ground somehow, and Shifu had the staff angled close to his face. "You're not my master." Po spat, shoving the staff away, "and I'm not the Dragon Warrior."

"Then why didn't you quit?!" Shifu argued back. "You knew I was trying to get rid of you, and yet you stayed!"

"I stayed-" Po was up on his feet quickly. "I stayed because though every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt..." Tigress' lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to talk, but kept quiet so she didn't blow her cover. Shifu said nothing, but kept staring at him, "but it never hurt more than it did every day of my life, just being me." Shifu was caught in a stunned silence, and Tigress' eyes widened slightly. "Judged for what I am, without being given the chance to prove what I can do... I stayed because I thought if anyone could change me... could make me... not me, it was you! The greatest Kung Fu teacher in all of China!"

Shifu was quick to respond, with his heart racing in his chest. "But I can change you! I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior, and I will!"

"Oh come on!" Po was nearly laughing. "Tai Lung is on his way here right now! And even if it takes him a hundred years to get here, how are you... gonna change this..." He indicated his belly briefly, "..into the Dragon Warrior?! Huh?" Shifu's mouth opened... but no words came out. "How... how?" His mouth closed again... "HOW?!" Po's volume reached new heights, and Tigress' ears flattened against her head.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Her Master yelled out in frustration, before he looked away from Po. A deep sigh exited from his body, as the realization sunk in like a poisonous snake bite. "I don't know." He was deathly quiet... and Po's own frustration and anger quickly melted into sadness, and he sighed helplessly.

"That's what I thought."

If anything else was said in that moment, she couldn't hear, but Shifu slowly walked away, leaving the pathway open for Po to make a definite decision.

For a couple of moments, Tigress was waiting for him to run to freedom- to the mundane life he was used to as a Noodle Maker... but soon watched in the shadows as he turned around, and walked back to towards the bunkhouse.

...

A look of resolve materialized onto her face, before leaping off of the roof. Soaring through the air, she drew closer and close towards the village far below. The window was whistling around her ears as she waited for the right moment to move. From there, she slid down a pagoda roof, and landed safely onto the roof of another house. Breathing heavily, she looked up to see high rocks rising from a grey mist far from the valley, over the sea of houses.

Turning back briefly, her eyes were fixed on the palace. "This is what you trained me for." She said quietly, before taking off. Moving through the alleys, balconies, and the roofs, she heard someone calling her name, and realized the rest of the five were following her, having suspected her plan without being told.

"Don't try and stop me!" She said, getting further away from them, giving them chase. They caught up were her quickly enough.

"We're not trying to stop you!" Viper said as she slither beside her.

"What?" Tigress wasn't expecting to hear that.

"We're coming with you!" The snake emphasized, and Monkey gave her a thumbs up mid-leap, while Crane and Mantis nodded determinedly. They all soon met on the same rooftop, to which she smiled thankfully, before they leapt off, and disappeared into the night.


Happy late new year to you all! Hope you're all keeping well and safe over the holidays- no matter what you celebrate. If you didn't celebrate anything, I hope you're keeping well!

Sorry for disappearing for two months- I had a lot of assignments due, plus exams. I thought I would have some spare time over the Christmas break, but I literally shut off- I was struck hard with writers block, and finally got back into reading- a lot of crime novels!

Hope you guys are happy with this chapter- we've delved in a little deeper into Jian's mind, and saw how much hope he had for defeating Tai Lung, and the Five have set off to make things right, and fight Tai Lung themselves!

Please leave a review, and I'll be back with chapter 22 as soon as possible!

Happy 2021!