A Sense of Purpose
Chapter 2: Just before the dawn
It had been a few minutes since Master Shifu and Tai Lung had disappeared into one of the buildings, but Tigress was still staring at it, as if trying to somehow look through its walls. What are they doing? she asked herself and idly flexed her claws."You coming, Tigress?" Crane suddenly asked and tapped her shoulder.
"Huh?" the feline asked and turned to face the bird.
Crane pointed at the building containing the kitchen. "Po's making early lunch."
"Lunch?" Tigress blinked and looked at where the others had been standing minutes before. "They left?" she finally asked and gave the bird a glare. "Our nemesis has returned from the dead, and everybody just goes away to eat?"
"You forgot the part where I'm missing the appetizers," Crane pointed out. "I pulled the short straw, so I had to-"
"Are you all MAD?" Tigress cut him off and aimed a roundhouse kick at the bird's head.
The bird smartly deflected the blow with a wing and sighed. "That's exactly why we had to draw straws."
"You TRAITOR!" Tigress spat and cracked her knuckles. "Tai Lung is back at the Jade Palace, and you just LEAVE? I can't believe your lack of loyalty!" Two punches barely missed his face. "We need to be prepared! How can you-" Crane's wing moved with surprising speed and strength, hitting her throat and sending Tigress off her feet. The feline hit the ground and coughed violently, her hands roaming over her neck to check if anything was broken or damaged. When she realized that she could still breathe without making gurgling noises, she calmed down a bit. No serious damage, but that HURT! When did Crane become so fast? He had never been so- She looked down at her paw. No, he didn't become any faster. I was too slow! Too slow to even block a simple jab!
"I don't know what is driving you, but it's barely enough to keep you on your feet." Crane whispered and used one of his legs to pull her into a sitting position. "You had very little sleep this month, and you skipped breakfast. At this rate, Tai Lung could defeat you just by giving you a mean stare." Tigress opened her mouth to reply, but the bird quickly shook his head. "No objections. The next time you open your mouth, you better do it to put some food into it."
"About time, you two!" Po greeted them from the cooking area when the two warriors entered the kitchen.
"See, no blood," Mantis told Monkey as he pointed at the bird. "Pay up."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Monkey tossed his last rice ball into the insect's bowl.
Tigress gave Monkey a glare as she sat down at the table. "You were betting on me injuring Crane?" Then, remembering her friend's words, she grabbed the rice ball and shoved it into her mouth. Crane simply chuckled at the gesture.
"I was merely expressing my faith in your combat skills," Monkey told her and smirked before mimicking Master Shifu. "Tigress!" he barked, sounding a lot like her Master. "You have disappointed me! Now you must train hard until you can at least break Crane's wings!"
Tigress just rolled her eyes while everybody around her laughed, but deep down, she was relieved that her friends had decided not to make a big scene out of her behavior.
It only took Po a few minutes to serve the six helpings of noodle soup. Tigress greedily emptied her bowl, ignoring the stares her friends were giving her. "Better," she whispered and allowed herself a smile as she put down her bowl. "Ah, no, thanks!" she quickly added when Po was getting up to serve her a second helping. "Later, maybe."
A few minutes later, the others were also done, and an awkward silence filled the room.
In the end, it was Crane who voiced what everybody was thinking. "No fighting sounds. And no yelling."
"Which means they're actually talking about things," Mantis added and idly tapped his bowl with his foreleg.
Tigress frowned deeply. "But about what? Whenever he was here, he caused chaos and destruction. He even tried to kill our Master to get the Dragon Scroll! What is left to talk about? He doesn't belong here! As long as he is alive, he will try to-" She hesitated. There was a hole in her argumentation, and she had only noticed it now.
"To do what?" Po asked and shrugged. "He already got his hands onto the scroll during our fight, after all."
"And he realized that key to becoming the Dragon Warrior isn't some secret technique you can just learn to complete your training," Viper observed. "It was a fool's errand."
"Hmmmmm..." Crane stared at his bowl, apparently lost in thought. The others immediately stopped talking - it usually paid off to wait for his input. "That might actually explain his cryptic remarks earlier..."
"How so?" Viper asked and cocked her head.
"Hm? Oh!" He blinked when he realized that everybody had been looking at him. "I just..." He took a deep breath. "Remember what he said when Master Shifu saw him?"
"That his life had been over before he got into the Wuxi Finger Hold," Monkey quickly replied.
Tigress crossed her arms in front of her chest. "What does that have to do with the scroll? It's not like it killed him or anything."
"Physically, it didn't. But this quest was what drove him. You could even say it defined his entire existence. And when he realized that everything he had ever worked for in his life had been for nothing, well..."
For a while, nobody spoke. Tigress looked down at her bowl, trying desperately not to pity Tai Lung. Her more rational side knew that Crane's analysis was likely correct, but her emotional side - the side that wanted to blame Tai Lung for her month-long insomnia - was stronger. "He's still a monster!" she finally blurted out, even though she knew that she was grasping at straws. "Tai Lung is responsible for the darkest hour the Valley of Peace has witnessed!"
Somebody gently knocked at the kitchen door. "In that case, you should remember that the darkest hour is just before dawn." Master Shifu calmly wandered into the kitchen, followed by his former student.
Yeah. And our dawn will come once we put an end to Tai Lung's plans. Tigress gritted her teeth. The snow leopard was looking serious, but not as aggressive as he had been on the bridge. Of course he's not showing his true intentions when he's together with the Furious Five, the Dragon Warrior and Master Shifu! She hid her hands under the table and let her claws spring out when they were out of Tai Lung's sight. Just give me an excuse... a single misstep...
"We all know that Master Oogway and I had disagreed about many of his decisions." Master Shifu spoke slowly, as if deep in thought. "Other decisions I silently approved of, even though I did not understand them."
Tigress frowned deeply. What's he talking about? Why bring up Master Oogway now?
"The decision to imprison Tai Lung twenty years ago fell into the second category." Even Tai Lung seemed to be surprised by this revelation, and Master Shifu simply sighed. "Yes, it had been his will not to kill you when you were lying at our feet. Even after you laid waste to the Valley of Peace and tried to attack both of us, he did not want to see you dead. I was relieved-" He took a deep breath. "-but I did not understand his reasoning. I admit I still don't." His voice was barely above a whisper now. "However," he suddenly spoke up again, "I believe that, while Master Oogway saw darkness in Tai Lung's heart, he also saw light in it. And I also believe that there are indeed no accidents." The red panda now smiled up at Tai Lung. "So when I realized that he was still alive, I-"
"Why don't you cut to the chase?" Tigress suddenly hissed and got to her feet. "Tai Lung is going to stay at the Jade Palace." The others started to protest, but she ignored them as she strode towards the door. Master Shifu gave her an irritated look, but didn't move to stop her. "Your old favorite is finally back," Tigress whispered and shoved Tai Lung out of the way before leaving the kitchen. "The only one you ever loved," she added under her breath.