A Better World?
Chapter 9 - The Mysterious Case of the Panda in the Night Time
The Present
Po tossed and turned in his sleep, he was in the middle of a nightmare both literally and figaritiveley.
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Po's Dream State
All Po could see was fire.
"Hello!" he called out "Is anyone there?", Po could hardly see through the flames.
He waded through them for a while, "Weird, I'm not being burnt, I can't even feel the heat" he said out loud.
Po saw a oddly familiar figure on a distant hill which he began to make his way over to.
As Po got closer he could see that figure appeared to laughing at the scenery.
"Why would anyone laugh at this hell hole?...a better question is why is everything on fire?
Po got close enough to decipher the identity of the figure.
Po gasped "It can't be...NO!".
The figure was him.
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Po awoke with a gasp "Well at least I didn't hit my head like when I talked to Mom a few days ago".
Po put his head in his hands "Was that a vision of the future, am I really going to become the monster that Crane described?".
"I need to meditate", Po got up and left to go to the Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom which was a popular meditation spot with him.
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Across the hall Tigress was deep in thought about what she had been told by Crane.
"So I'm going to die, if what Crane said is true then it's in the near future, but on the other hand events have happened differently in his world so it might never happen".
Tigress sighed, this information was tearing her up on the inside.
"If it is going to happen should I distance myself from Po?, from what Crane said his Po and Tigress were very close, I don't want Po to become a monster because of me. No I can't avoid Po it would break his heart".
She suddenly heard Po's restlessness during his nightmare and was about to go and check on him when she heard him get up and leave his room.
"I'd better see if he's alright" she thought.
She knew where she would find him, he went to the exact same place she did when she was troubled.
As she reached the top of the path leading up to the tree she saw Po's melancholic form sitting against it.
She walked up behind him and put a paw on his shoulder, Po jumped at the sudden contact, he clearly hadn't been minding his surroundings.
"Oh h-hey Tigress w-what are you doing up?" asked Po while twiddling his thumbs.
Tigress smiled at his nervousness "I was just making sure you were okay, I heard you having a nightmare and I was going to help you but you got up and came here so I followed you".
Po relaxed after she smiled at him.
Tigress sat down next to him "So what was your nightmare about?".
Po sighed "I woke up in a field of fire, I went to find the one responsible and I did".
Tigress looked at him quizzically and gestured with her paw "And?".
Po refused to look her in the eye "It was me Tigress...I was destroying the world".
Tigress rubbed his shoulder affectionately with her paw, "Po you shouldn't worry about becoming that, I promised you I would never let you go down that road".
Po looked at her sadly "But if I ever lost you I don't know what I would do, I can't live without you Tigress".
Tigress's heart started to beat rapidly when he said that, "This is it" thought Tigress, "Do I distance myself or get closer?".
She smiled "I couldn't live without you either Po".
She became serious again "Po".
"Yeah Tigress".
Tigress held his paw with one hand and stroked his cheek lovingly with the other.
"Please promise me Po that if that ever happens, if I do...die, please don't fall into despair, be strong Po you have the purest heart I've ever seen and with it you can overcome anything".
Po put his free paw over the paw on his cheek.
"I'll try Tigress just...promise me that you won't give me the chance to test it".
Tigress chuckled softly "Like I would give Crane the glory of saying "I told you so", we can change the future Po that doesn't have to be our destiny".
Po nodded at smiled at her, Tigress removed her paw and helped Po up.
Po tensed up internally fearing her reaction at what he was going to say "Tigress what were you trying to do this morning when I woke up".
Tigress looked at him embarrassingly "I had hoped he had forgotten about that".
"I-it doesn't matter Po".
Po noticed her reluctance to open up and decided to playfully taunt her so she would continue "Come on you're the ferocious Master Tigress, a cunning and fearsome warrior who feels no fear, you've got no reason to be nervous about telling me anything".
It wasn't Po's greatest strategy ever it could have easily backfired and Tigress might have just gotten angry, but it worked and Tigress looked more confident as she told him.
"After a whole lifetime of not being able to feel Po, I want to, and...I thought your fur looked...really...soft", Tigress blush was now so great that you could almost feel the heat coming off of her.
Po looked at her like Christmas had come early, Tigress didn't notice however she was just staring at the tree trying to avoid Po's gaze.
Tigress felt two thick arms envelop her in a hug. Po spoke into her ear "I'm so proud of you for being strong enough to open up around me".
Tigress gently pushed him away, "Come on Po let's get back to sleep".
Tigress turned to walk away before she felt Po gripping her paw.
"Tigress wait".
She turned to face him, Po was looking at the ground embarrassed.
"I-if you ever want to y'know learn how to feel again m-maybe I c-could teach you?" Po stammered.
Tigress smiled at him "You know what Po maybe I will, but not tonight, let's get back".
"Ok Tigress". They walked back to the barracks hand in hand.
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In the shadows a figure had been watching them the entire time.
"I've got to take him out, they don't know what he's capable of, it doesn't matter that he hasn't done anything yet, I won't let him hurt anyone else least of all Tigress".
Crane watched them walk them back to the barracks, he quickly left so he could get back to the room so nobody would notice he had been gone.