A Death in the Family
Several weeks passed. Viper slithered into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes with the scaly tip of her tail. "Viper! What's wrong? You look... really bad. I mean, in a tired kind of way. Not that you're bad looking it's just-"
"Crane, I get it!" Viper sighed. The bird clammed up. "I'm sorry. I'm just really tired."
"About the wolf?"
Viper sighed again. "Why Master Shifu is so strict about this? The wolf hasn't done anything but help Zeng. And Zeng is right. We ARE too busy watching the wolf AND protecting the village to help him out." The snake slithered sadly into a chair. "It's all so exhausting."
"I know. And it's not getting any easier with Po and Tigress at each others' throats."
"Really?" Viper perked up, "Because I just saw Tigress and Po talking to each other. They seemed fine."
"Oh. I guess things are turning up," Crane sighed. "That's a relief. Between the guy downstairs and Po and Tigress fighting, I didn't think the palace would stay in one piece."
"Hehehe, good point," Viper glanced through the kitchen windows as the sun cast its rays down the mountain. "I hope Shifu isn't too worried about this wolf. I'd hate to treat another person horribly just because we were paranoid."
Crane offered a reassuring smile, placing his feathered wing on her head, "This isn't going to become another Po story. I'm sure Master Shifu is just worried about keeping things in line. Although, I did notice that he grumbled about the Jade Palace work not being done."
"Poor Zeng. Shifu's going to run him down. You know I found him sleeping in the broom closet? He said he was up all night trying to finish his scroll duties."
Crane groaned, "Well, at the very least, Po and Tigress's feud is over."
"That's good," Viper smiled, sipping a small cup of tea. "Although, Tigress and Po seem to be closer than ever. I haven't seen them apart for more than three hours."
"Hm," Crane scoffed. "So much for a master has no love life." Viper tilted her head.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing. Tigress was talking to me and Po about love life. She thought it was a 'waste of time.' All about having earthly attachments and stuff," Crane huffed. He perched his head on his wings glaring simmering eyes into some random wooden plank in the floor.
"And why does that bother you?"
"Hm?"
"I mean, you look like you took it personally," Viper mentioned.
"Well... uh... It's just...ah... I think I need to get going." Viper made a quick dash for the entrance and blocked the bird's way.
"Crane, tell me. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing really."
"Then why does it bother you?" Viper asked. Before the bird could speak, Zeng frantically rushed in.
"Master Crane, Master Viper, where is Master Po?"
"He should be sparring. Why?" Viper asked. Zeng's wide sad eyes caught Viper's gaze. His mouth slightly hung with gasps yet his beak tightened when Viper asked, "Zeng, what's wrong?"
Meanwhile, Po and Tigress sparred in the Training Hall. The panda jumped back as Tigress jabbed right. Po ducked a kick and ran forward. His punches struck Tigress's hand and forearm, and each one forced her back. The tiger smashed her fist into Po's center, but the panda blocked with his arms. Tigress swung her foot. Po jumped back again. "You're getting much better, Po," Tigress smirked. Po smiled and kept dodging Tigress's lightning punches. The panda threw a kick, but Tigress sprung back, barely clearing Po's swing. She stumbled back a bit and threw a punch. Po caught it in his hand and tossed her back. Tigress leaped back a bit with wide eyes. "And you've gotten much faster." Without thinking, Po charged forward and launched a full-weight punch at Tigress. The tiger bolstered, catching the panda's fist in her hand. Though she stood, the punch sent her feet skidding along the dirt floor, about three feet away. Tigress growled at the shock, though she didn't frown. "Ah, and stronger."
"Sorry," Po bowed.
"It's okay. It means you're growing as a Kung fu master," Tigress smiled widely. A bit too wide. Po had never seen that face before. Was she excited or... enticed? She shook her hand a bit. "I didn't know you would improve so quickly."
"Does that mean you'll stop holding back?"
Tigress narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "What do you mean?" She asked. The panda scratched the back of his head.
"I uhh...Look, I KNOW that I've gotten a lot stronger, but... with you it looks like I barely scratched the surface."
"I've been doing this for a lot longer Po," Tigress replied.
"Yeah, but I've been training with Shifu, too. So why is it that I can take a punch from him, but with you, I'm still struggling?" Tigress's head jerked up a bit.
"I... I don't know," She replied.
"Not only that," Po continued, "But it looks like you're struggling to hold yourself back."
Tigress tilted her head. "I... don't know what you mean by that, Po. I was just sparring with you." Po blinked several times but ultimately shrugged the thing off and bowed again.
"Nevermind. Anyway, thank you. It's always awesome fighting you, Tigress."
Tigress smiled, "Thank you, Po." Just then, Zeng rushed in, gasping for breath.
"What's wrong?" Po asked. Zeng kept panting, but the pain in his eyes never left him as he told the others what happened.
********FFF*******
Po marched down the stairs netting eyebrows and gritting his teeth. Tigress followed. "You're not supposed to be-"
"Tell Shifu I don't care," Po grumbled. "He deserves to know this from me."
"You don't trust us to tell him?"
"Not again. Tigress I-"
"I'm not being hostile," Tigress clarified. Po stopped and looked back at her. "I just want to know why."
The crackling torching noisily hissed at the silence. Po's words didn't exit his mouth for a minute and another. He finally settled on, "I'm the one who treats him the best." Tigress nodded. That couldn't be argued with. They walked into the dungeon. The wolf rose its head, drinking his cup of water. "Hey, Wolf. We... we've got some bad news," Po pulled up a stool and sighed. "We uh... Tigress? How do you take off a wrap on a wound?"
Tigress looked at the panda and then the wolf before sighing. "It's better to just rip it off, get it over with. No one likes suspense."
"Right," Po turned back to Wolf. "Well, uh... we got word from... there was a bandit raid down south and... I'm sorry, Wolfie but... Mr. Three and Mr. Four are dead."
Wolf dropped the cup; it shattered into pieces. The lives and laughs of his guardians filled Wolf's eyes. He tightened his fists, grabbed his head, pulling at his fur. Heavy pants spilled out his mouth as his heart raced inside his chest. He hunched over, shivering horribly. "Wolfie? Are you o-"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A gut-wrenching wail left the wolf's mouth. Every corner of the cell echoed. Tears streamed down his face. He gripped the fur on his head, dropped to his knees while embedding some of the broken cup pieces into his knees. He rocked forward in choked groans and back in loud wails. Then, a dull humming in the room, like the very dungeon bemoaned the wolf. Tigress heard it. Each corner and every shadow seemed to move and carry his moans. The wolf struck the ground with his fists. The earth shifted a bit under Tigress's feet, but she barely noticed it. Wolf's pain was too loud for her to notice.
Finally, Po stood up and walked forward. "Po wait!" Tigress was too late. The panda opened the door and wrapped his arms around the shackled wolf. Wolf only paused his crying for a moment before releasing his tears again, latching tightly onto the panda. Tigress watched as the panda embraced the criminal like an old hurting friend, and the wolf emitted his pain through gasps and howls, crying to every living thing under heaven to take away his pain.
But heaven didn't listen.
It would never listen to him.
Tigress stood in silence. AT this moment, all the words came tumbling into her mind, fighting for the rule of her mouth. But none could match the jabbing heart pain she witnessed. Her brain and her heart tore in two different directions. Which one was right?
The entire mountain bled with the wolf's moans. The other Furious Five had heard the news, but they didn't expect the wolf to react like this. His sorrow seeped into everyone's mind, even Shifu's. The entire mountain stood still and quiet as the wolf tore the agony from his heart.
Later that day, Tigress stood watch over Wolf. The dog hugged the ground and sat deathfully still. The tomb was quiet. No sound from the outside breeze made it into the dungeon. There was something in the cell that killed any sound. Soon, Zeng brought Wolf's ration for the day and left it in front of his cell. Wolf didn't move. Zeng wordlessly looked at Tigress who only sighed, and the duck retreated up the stairs. "Eat," Tigress said.
"Grm," Wolf shifted his head away from the door.
"You can't starve to death. Eat," Tigress ordered. The wolf gave a side-glare followed by a questioning grunt. Tigress knew what it meant. Why did she care?
"Because Mr. Three and Mr. Four wanted us to take care of you. I'm sure they wanted you to stay strong," Tigress finally sighed. Wolf frowned and grunted quietly. "I'm not asking for myself. I'm telling you for their sake." Wolf stared at her for a while longer and then nibbled a bit of his food. "Eat all of it."
The wolf's resistance slowly ebbed away the more he ate. Slowly but surely, he ate all of the food. Tigress nodded and rested back on her small stool, but she still anxiously gazed at him until Monkey entered the dungeon. "It's my turn now," He said. "Why don't you get some rest? Both of you."
"I'm fine," Tigress yawned.
"Heh," Wolf muttered a chuckle. The tiger glared back at the wolf but sighed.
"Maybe I should go to bed early." Monkey nodded and took over her post. Tigress climbed up the stairs and into the Hall of Heroes where Shifu was tending to the candles. "Master Shifu?"
"Ah, Tigress." His voice was low and pained. Maybe from the wolf? Either way, he kept tending the candles. "You look troubled. What seems to be the problem?"
Tigress knelt down, gazing at the floor. The words in her head couldn't form sentences. How would she say this? And to her master? Her father? Finally, after a shake of her head, she said, "It's about the wolf."
"I figured as much," Shifu sighed. "What about him?"
"I... I believe we're wrong about him," She slowly said. Shifu turned around.
"And what makes you say that?" He asked.
"When we told him about Mr. Three and Mr. Four's deaths-"
"I know. I heard," Shifu stroked his beard. "What did you do when you told him?"
"Po... told him."
"You let him down there?"
"He already knows that we were trying to keep the wolf away from him," Tigress revealed. "And he didn't care."
"Why?" Shifu asked more to himself than to Tigress.
"Master, that's not what I'm worried about it. I'm worried that we're wrong about this wolf."
"It could all be an act," Shifu gently proposed. "We may not even know the full validity of the report or if the wolf was showing true remorse."
Tigress clenched her fists on her knees. "I know when someone is hurting, Master," She nearly growled, "I know it very well." Shifu rose his eyebrow but said nothing. "And after Po told him, he opened the cell and... hugged the wolf... and the wolf didn't try to escape."
"Intriguing," Shifu quietly said.
"Master, if this wolf is as strong as we fear, he would have broken out, destroyed us, and taken whatever he pleased already. Is it really wise to treat him like this? He seems content with the smallest things: cleaning and writing with Zeng."
"And you think he's innocent?"
"I've... known he's innocent... for a while. I refused to believe it," She paused, "because... I trust your judgment." The air hung heavily around them. Shifu stared at his student and daughter. He stroked his beard again and again as the words Po told him kept coming up.
Isn't that something you taught her?
He had to think about this. Tigress was the best student he had, discounting Tai-Lung, but if that's all she was, a student, then she would never chart her own course.
And she couldn't do that if she always listened to him. Shifu grimaced at the thought as he said, "Master Tigress, you're mature enough to trust your own judgment and decision-making. You were able to do it long when you started leading the Furious Five, you can do it when deciding your beliefs about the wolf. You don't need me to censor your thought process."
"Master?"
"Like Po," he continued, "Trusts his own heart, you can trust your own as well, despite what I think." Without another word, the red panda left Tigress alone to dwell on his advice.
******F******
The lion crinkled the paper in his paws as tears dripped down his face. "It... It can't be... I... I promised them I... they weren't supposed to... end up like the others." Dark looming rainclouds billowed over his head. Platon crashed to his hands and knees and dropped the paper to the muddy ground. "Why? They weren't supposed to... GRRRAHH!" He swiped at the paper, tossing it into the winds' grasp. It fumbled around on the breeze until it finally stood several feet in front of Yueding's feet. The gorilla guards, Yanshi and Shang, stood with the young deer. Yueding picked up the paper from the mud and gasped.
"What's wrong, little one?" Yanshi asked. "What does it say?"
"Two guards lost their lives in a bandit raid."
"That's... unusual," Yanshi said quietly.
"Didn't think you'd be this cold, ol' man," Shang said a little more serious than usual.
"I mean it's unusual to upset... Councilman Platon like this."
"They weren't," The lion struggled to get words out of his mouth. "They weren't just guards. They were one of my best guards. My closest ones. My most loyal. I'm sorry, my son," Platon whispered, "I couldn't protect them."
"I... I didn't know that Platon had a son," Yueding said to Yanshi. The old gorilla sighed.
"I think he had one... a long time ago."
"Tragic," Said a voice behind Platon. The lion turned and lifted his head just to bow it again.
"Your Majesty."
"Father?" Yueding stood silent as his two guards bowed before the ruling deer. The Emperor was shorter than Platon, about 5'7" with a black beard trimmed into a small goutte. His eyelids never rose more than he felt dignified to do so. A long silk Hanfu robes flowing with dazzling golden designs in royal red fabric draped around his meager body. The sparkling display contrasted his solemn demeanor.
He gazed down at the bowing lion. "Their deaths were... tragic, but they will be avenged. Right, Platon?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will see to it personally."
"These bandits will most likely be around the area. Deal with them swiftly," The deer said. "And I hear that Sho the Bandit King has been around that area. I trust that you will be... discrete with this.
"Gladly, Your Highness," The lion growled and left the deer's presence. Yueding saw his tear-stained muzzle mixing with the light rain.
"Yueding!"
"Yes, father?" The boy snapped to attention like one of the soldiers.
"What are you still doing here?"
"I... I wanted to see if I could be of... assistance. I heard you were busy here and I-"
"Come, quickly," Fu ordered. The young deer followed his father into the well-guarded tent. The gorilla guards stood outside in the rain, watching the deer talk quietly with his son. Yueding's eyes widened several times, but he'd nod every so often. "Do you understand?" Was the only thing the two gorillas heard.
"I... I understand, Father." Emperor Fu placed a hoof on the young man's shoulder.
"Our very lineage depends on us being strong. Whatever it takes. Now go back to the palace. And don't follow me again. Understood." Yanshi bit his tongue under a low growl. Though a guard, Yanshi struggled to separate his duties as a guard and his love as a former father.
"Yes, Father," Yueding bowed his head and went back to his guards. "Come. We must go."
"But what-"
"Yes, your Majesty," Yanshi interrupted Shang. The old primate glanced at his younger friend, only to receive a frustrated sigh. At least he complied. The young deer sat on his royal seat and was lifted upon the gorillas' shoulders. The guards marched in silence, slowly leaving the massive military camp behind them as they foraged on the road ahead. Yanshi looked back and saw Yueding's eyes laser-focused in front. His jaw clenched as he leaned on his elbow, twisting his hooves into a hard hooved fist. "Prince Yueding, what's the matter?"
"I... I know exactly why my father is here, but I can't tell you right now. If what he's looking for exists... I need to contact Po. Shang, Yanshi, I don't want to be rude, but could you please go faster? I want to make it to the palace as soon as possible."
"Why?" Shang asked.
"I can't tell you. You'll have to trust me," Yueding said. Yanshi stopped in his tracks, chuckling off a ton of sadness on his shoulders.
"Yueding, you're probably the only person right now that I do trust," He smiled. "Come, let's move on."
"Aww, but my feet hurt," Shang complained.
"Now who's old?" Yanshi laughed. The deer smiled. It was good to hear them joking again.
Continued...
