Chapter Eight

Weeks rolled by after the incident. The villagers grew restless. Lokahviing refused to leave the Jade Palace for fear of a repeat incident, or being confronted by a misunderstanding villager. Many among the valley populace, as Tigress suspected, began to question whether Lokahviing should stay, and a bold few stating openly that he should be expelled from the valley. These upstarts were always corrected, but Tigress and her friends were hesitant to approach Lokahviing about this, feeling that he'd been through enough. Unknown to Tigress, Lokahviing was well aware of the situation, and felt that he had to show the Valley of Peace that he was not their enemy.

It was as Tigress was entering Lokahviing's room, one fateful day, that she realized Lokahviing was not unaware. He was standing in his room, listening to what sounded like orchestral music that sounded dramatic and vocalized. "Lokahviing?" she spoke, trying to get his attention.

"I'm fine... or I will be, soon," Lokahviing replied, never opening his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Tigress asked.

"I know of the unrest in the Valley," he said. "I know some of them want me gone; I don't blame them."

"They're just afraid, Lokahviing," Tigress told him walking beside him. "They don't understand what we have come to understand."

"I know," Lokahviing murmured, "And you and your friends have done an admirable job keeping them from revolting or doing anything drastic. But, as I sense it... it will not be enough. They have to see from me that I am not their enemy."

"You've no need to prove yourself, Lokahviing," Tigress said. "You've proven enough."

"If what I sense is accurate... it won't matter," Lokahviing said.

"What is it?" Tigress asked. "What do you sense?"

"Something is out there," Lokahviing answered, "Something that calls to me. I felt it many times before, as you know – it drew me here, drew me to you, to feel for you, and now... it comes for me."

Tigress was shocked. "Are you... leaving?"

"No... if ever there was a time to leave, that chance has come and gone already," Lokahviing sighed. "They come to raze the valley to the ground. And now, I know what I must do. What must happen before I ever find peace. One final massacre. One final rampage. One last crusade."

Tigress couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Who?" she asked, desperate for answers. "Who will draw your rage?" The answer came faster than Lokahviing could speak as the alarm horn blew. Tigress ran outside and, in the distance, saw a massive army marching on the Valley.

The vision. It was happening as it had in her vision. Her decision. Lokahviing's fate, his solitary stand against an army intent in burning everything to the ground. She and the Furious Fighters headed down into the Valley, past the screaming villagers and farmers running from the advancing horde, and soldiers of the Valley rushed to stall the enemy advance. Tigress and her friends joined the fight, taking out one enemy soldier after the other, fighting as only warriors of the Jade Palace could. But something wasn't right. This wasn't part of her vision. Where was the impossible odds? Where was Lokahviing, dressed like a wraith? Tigress fractionally pondered this between one soldier's defeat and another's. This wasn't right. She had no idea how long the battle had been raging when a horn blew, and for a moment, Tigress thought it was that retreat horn she heard in her vision, but realized it was the enemy when they started running away. The valley defenders cheered, but Tigress was convinced – something was amiss. She and the fighters headed back toward the village, and was just entering the perimeter when another horn blew, and when Tigress looked back, her face paled. The enemy didn't retreat; they regrouped. The valley defenders lined up to challenge the attackers again, but deafening booming could be heard in the distance, and shortly thereafter, the defenders' lines were bombarded by artillery fire. Catapults fired flaming ordinance, Cannons blew valiant defenders away, and the enemy again charged. This time, however, the defenders were completely outnumbered and outmatched. Just as it had been in Tigress' vision. She looked beyond the battle lines, and saw the Wu sisters, riding on a battle platform.

"Pull the defenders back," came Lokahviing's voice. Tigress looked to her left, and there stood Lokahviing, dressed in those tattered, wraith-esqe robes, his eyes glowing red with malevolent rage.

"Are you mad?!" Po shouted over the battle. "We pull them back-"

"I said pull them back!" Lokahviing hissed in his dragon voice. Po hesitated, and Song blew the retreat horn. The defenders started making for the village, and Tigress turned to Lokahviing.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him.

"The one thing I do best," Lokahviing answered. He handed his crossguard lightsaber to Shifu as he growled, "Zu'u los yol... zu'u los nahkriin... zu'u... los... dinok..."

He marched onto the battlefield as Viper asked, "What's he doing? What did he say?"

"I am fire... I am vengeance... I am... death..." Tigress droned. Comprehension dawned, but far too late: "My god, he's going to fight them!"

And Tigress was right; Lokahviing drew both his lightsabers, igniting them one after the other with a snap-hiss, snap-hiss. Tigress and the others heard a dragon growl, before Lokahviing shouted a Thu'um to the sky, a clap of thunder following his voice, and the sky itself twisted and churned, as though Lokahviing had awakened the very fury of the elements. In a blink, a bolt of fire lashed down from above and caused an explosion. Just as quickly, another bolt came from the sky, then another, and another, until it seemed the Wu army had come under artillery fire from the sky, blasting holes in the Wu army's lines until they were considerably reduced from what they once were. When this arial bombardment ended, Lokahviing shouted, his voice morphing into a dragon roar, as he then ran to the enemy soldiers, and shouted "WULD!" and was catapulted to them, emitting a shrill, ear-piercing shriek before he landed and fought the Wu army with inhuman speed, the twin crimson blades moving in a whirling light show of rage. Lokahviing became a whirlwind of death and destruction as he brought all his power to bear on the enemy; fire swirled, lightning lashed, varied energy exploded, and Lokahviing mercilessly dispatched the soldiers that had set out to burn the valley down.

"What is he doing?!" Song exclaimed.

"Proving himself," Tigress replied. "Proving to us, to the villagers, the farmers, the valley – he is not our enemy. He is our protector."

"And we brought him to do this," Shifu said solemnly, gripping the lightsaber Lokahviing had handed him earlier. "We must bear the consequences of what results from this."

As Lokahviing cut a burning swath through the Wu army, he became faster, more erratic, and more enraged. In a move that seemed to slow time itself, he curled up, drawing energy into himself as flames sprung up around his body, ready for one massive explosion. But it was more than that, Tigress realized; he was shifting form. Lokahviing's power exploded outward, and sent the enemy soldiers in the immediate vicinity sprawling to the ground, who then got up and ran back toward the Wu sisters. Lokahviing, now in dragon form, roared in rage and defiance. The Wu sisters called out to him: "It matters not if you win this day, dragon; we will have our revenge!"

This only served to provoke Lokahviing further. "Revenge?" he shouted back, getting even angrier, "Revenge?! REVENGE?! I'LL SHOW YOU REVENGE!" He took to the sky, and chased after the fleeing Wu soldiers, breathing fire over them in a fit of rage. He flew over the enemy, burning them all. He eventually reached the Wu sisters themselves, shifting back to normal form and engaging them immediately, becoming a blur as he fought them single-handedly. He struck down one, then the other, and when Su Wu was alone, he fought her until he sent a blast into her that sent her flying off her battle platform and toward a massive rock formation. She slowly stood up, facing Lokahviing defiantly, who gestured, and sent her flying again, this time into the rock formation and pinning her there; Lokahviing hunched over, holding his hands parallel, as energy gathered between his palms. The ground began to vibrate, then tremble, and grew more powerful as he gathered more energy.

Trying to maintain her balance, Song commented, "Just what we need – an earthquake."

"It's no earthquake," Tigress corrected her, "It's Lokahviing. It's the power of a dragon's rage being brought to bear on the enemy that provoked him." Lokahviing could be heard roaring in anger, and he sent the energy at Su Wu, the kinetic ball striking her with blazing speed and causing fragments of rock to explode outward. The rock formation, unable to cope with this new hole, cracked and crumbled, and buried Su Wu beneath tons of rock. Lokahviing turned back toward the valley and walked, the flames around him dying down into embers as he walked. As everyone looked on, they saw the devastation caused by the dragon. Though no one said it, Tigress could feel it – they now knew. Lokahviing single-handedly defended them from an army that would have laid waste to the entire valley. It took an hour for Lokahviing to reach them, and even when he did, he looked beyond exhausted. Viper noticed something, but before she could speak, Lokahviing was confronted by one of the villagers.

"You don't belong here, dragon," he coldly proclaimed. A few other villagers shouted in agreement.

"Go back to the hell that spawned you, demon!" another villager shouted.

"Begone, murderer!" exclaimed another.

As the insults grew, so did Tigress' discontent. She had to stop this. "Enough!" her voice boomed, echoing in the sky and drawing the attention of the villagers. She approached the man who spoke first and sent a punch across his face, causing him to stagger and fall to the ground. "How dare you judge the man who just saved your sorry ass!"

"He's a demon, master Tigress!" protested the second villager who'd spoken. "We can't let him stay!"

"He has no right to be-" began the third.

"Has as much right to be here as you, or me, or any one of us! Were it not for him, we would not have survived this night! The Wu sisters and their army would have sent us all packing!" Tigress shouted. "None of you have any right to proclaim him unfit to be here! None of you have any right to call him demon! He is no such thing! He is a dragon! He is a man! He is a warrior who deserves our respect!"

"Tigress..." Viper spoke, her attention fixed on Lokahviing's hands.

"Shut it, Viper! This has to be done! Someone has to speak up for Lokahviing's sake!" Tigress snapped. She turned to the villager who demanded Lokahviing begone. "And you – why don't you fucking begone?! I didn't see you out there fighting that army! I didn't see you risk your life out there!"

"I'm no warrior, master-" the villager started.

"Exactly! You aren't a warrior!" Tigress cut him off. She pointed at Lokahviing. "He is a warrior! A man of honor! A protector of this valley! You think he has any wish to harm us? Look at what he did out there! Look at it!" She fiercely indicated the smoldering battlefield. "Had Lokahviing wanted to harm us, he would have turned that on us! He would have burned this valley to the ground and we wouldn't have been able to do shit to stop him! He saved this valley, today! What more must happen to him before we all decide he's had enough?! He was a broken man when he arrived, he was a broken man before he came here, he is still a broken man! When will you all stop judging and start understanding?!"

"Tigress!" Viper shouted, trying to get her attention. "Look!" Tigress looked to Viper, then to Lokahviing's shaking hands, dripping with green fluid. He had trailed it into the village from the battlefield, drop by drop. Thunder clapped and rain began to fall, and as Lokahviing stood, dripping green, Tigress realized what it was.

Blood.

"If you value me so highly... you must end this..." he said. After speaking, his lightsabers dropped from his hands, and Lokahviing, himself, fell to the ground.

"Lokahviing!" Tigress shouted, rushing to his side. She picked him up and laid his head in her arms. "Don't do this now, Lokahviing," she pleaded, "Give me a sign, here."

"The final piece falls into place," Lokahviing said weakly. "You have to see it. You have to see what they did to me with your own eyes."

"What who did to you?" Viper asked.

"His kin," Tigress surmised. "His enemies. His past." She reached down, and tore open Lokahviing's tattered robes, revealing multiple wounds seeping green blood. Viper gasped in shock, Song recoiled in surprise, and everyone gathered around – Tigress, Shifu, the furious fighters, the villagers – at last saw the bleeding wounds of three centuries of pain and suffering.

"Someone fetch Mei Ling!" one of the villagers shouted.

"How?" Tigress asked Lokahviing. "How long have you had these?"

"Ever since I left Earth," Lokahviing coughed. "They've always been a part of my mind."

"Why did you never tell me?!" Tigress demanded.

"You had to see it yourself," Lokahviing said. "Those who have seen me... in my darkest anger and rage, who have seen the devastation I have caused... can see the wounds my kin, my past, left on me... manifest as physical things."

Tigress looked down at Lokahviing's wounds, tears flowing. "I'm so sorry, Lokahviing," she told him.

Lokahviing reached up to touch her face. "Don't be. This wasn't your fault. And here... I can finally be at peace."

"No, Lokahviing, don't," Tigress pleaded. "Don't leave us. Don't leave me."

"Why?" Lokahviing asked. "Of what interest am I to you? Why can't I die in peace?"

Tigress smiled, lips trembling, heart racing and chest swelling, as she took Lokahviing's hand and told him, "Because I love you, Lokahviing."

Tigress shook, her feelings confessed, after keeping them to herself, burying them deep down, but Lokahviing chuckled weakly. "You... you love me... heh... there was a time when I yearned for, yet dreaded to hear those words... could you love me? A dragon? Could you find it in your heart to love a creature that caused so much destruction in the name of vengeance?"

"But you didn't do it in the name of Vengeance, Lokahviing – you did it to defend the place you've come to call home. To protect the people you've come to call family," Tigress told him. "To keep the woman who loves you from suffering the same fate as so many others you've known."

Lokahviing scoffed softly. "That's... an interesting way of looking at it."

"It's the truth," one of the villagers said. "What we saw today is a sight we will always remember – a dragon protecting our valley from invaders single-handedly."

"None of us could ever truly repay you for such a valiant act," another agreed. "Tigress is right – you belong among us, Dragon."

As other villagers put in their various agreements, Lokahviing lowered his head with a smile. "So," he said, "After three centuries... I finally found a place to call home..." He looked back up at Tigress. "And you said you love me... this may not be the best time to say it, but... I love you, too. With all my heart."

Tigress smiled, leaned down, gently locking her lips with Lokahviing's in the first kiss she ever felt. She felt, for the first time since Po, loved by a great man. When their lips separated, he whispered in her ear, "Kyle."

Tigress smiled, knowing what Lokahviing was saying. "It's good to know your name, sweetheart."

"It's... good to hear it, after so long," Lokahviing agreed.

"Is he gonna die, mommy?" asked a young rabbit child. The child's mother shushed the child, and Tigress' face shifted to determination. She knew what to do.

"Not if I can help it," she said as Mei Ling arrived. She hefted one of Lokahviing's arms around her shoulder and lifted him to his feet. "We need to get him out of the rain and get these wounds sealed before he bleeds to death."

"My sentiments exactly," Mei Ling said. She hefted Lokahviing's other arm, and they carried him to Mei Ling's place, where they laid him on an operating table and set to work. It went on for hours, but as the moon began to sink from high in the night sky, they had finished, and Lokahviing laid still, breathing steadily. When it was all done, Tigress was elated. He was alive, and she was in love.

"He can't stay here, Tigress," Mei Ling said.

"Nor shall he," Tigress replied. "I'll get him to his room."

"Not yet," Shifu said. He stood in the doorway, holding Lokahviing's lightsabers. He walked over, and laid them both on his chest. He then reached in his robes, and pulled out the crossguard lightsaber. Lokahviing looked over at him. Shifu activated the crossguard lightsaber, the violet blade flaring to life. "I never understood why this blade was this color... until today. You carry your red blades as a symbol of your anger and rage. This blade... symbolizes another part of you. You feel that this represents the good in you, your Jedi side. But, you don't believe you deserve to carry the blue blade, as the Jedi would, but at the same time, you don't ascribe to the way of the Sith, or this blade would be red. No, you chose this color because it represents the light within you, a hope that one day, you will earn the blue blade." He deactivated the lightsaber, opened a compartment, and tipped the hilt over, and a small, cracked violet crystal popped out. He then went into his robe, and retrieved the blue crystal. "You said that, when you had earned this, I would know what to do with it," he said. He placed the crystal inside the hilt, secured it, shut the compartment, and activated it again, the blade coming to life in bright blue color. "Facing what you did out there to defend the valley... I can say you've earned this, today." He extinguished the blade and placed the lightsaber on Lokahviing's chest.

"Thank you, master," Lokahviing said.

"No – thank you, Lokahviing," Shifu replied. Tigress stood beside Lokahviing, and tenderly kissed him. "Let's get you home, Kyle." With aid from the others, Tigress got Lokahviing to his feet, and began the trek up the steps to the Jade Palace...

(Think this is the end? Think again.)