Life


It was cold. Bones shook and nerves stopped their electric pathways at this temperature. And yet, no death. Not yet. How can it be explained any other way? It was cold. The icy rock walls were chilled by the northern wind over a hundred yards of elevated snow. The darkness. The darkness didn't let any of them see. There were only two. Two of them in this pit where all their claws and sharp teeth couldn't rise above the depression.

They were stuck. Isolated. As they had been much of their entire lives. But now, they were isolated together. And though one was well suited for the cold, neither of them were used to this tension. This freeze. This uncomfortable freeze of words and thoughts and actions.

And hopes.

She looked at him. After the bandits trapped them, they ordered the others to get the muggers and then come back after them. Two felines could claw their way out, she thought.

The walls, littered with several scratch marks held that answer. It was too high to jump clear through and too slippery to effectively rebound off the walls. Even standing on each other wouldn't work. Dead wood and sticks clustered at the bottom of the 'well' as the snow leopard called it, and none of it was sturdy enough to build a tower to what seemed like the moon.

Tigress groaned. Her back nuzzled against the cold rock wall. Her claw ached, throbbing from the attempts. She shivered, hugging herself.

It was cold.

"How long do you think the others will be?" asked the snow leopard.

Tigress glared up from her huddle. She couldn't feel the cold now. The silence that blanketed the hole was disturbed by the one person she thought she couldn't stand for more than three minutes. And yet for some reason, his very presence sent a raging warmth to her head. Hatred has that effect.

"I don't know," She replied to Tai Lung. The snow leopard glanced at her. He sat comfortably, much more than Tigress.

"You're cold?"

"I don't stay long in cold environments like this," Tigress replied.

"And your pride won't allow you to ask for my help," Tai Lung said. The tiger never replied. He sighed, standing up and sitting right up against the tiger. She tried to have some kind of reproach, but it quickly died down when he said, "Po would kill me if I let you freeze."

The panda would.

In fact, the panda would probably do a lot more than just kill him.

"Stop being stubborn," Tai Lung said after Tigress tried to move away from him, "And just sit still."

"You're the last person to talk about stubbornness."

Tai Lung frowned, "I know, but I'm also the prime example of what happens when you let your pride get the best of you." The tiger shivered again.

He was right and it didn't feel right to admit that to herself.

As they sat next to each other, the blizzard atop their hole blew harder and harder, moaning like a ghost. Sitting next to the snow leopard did provide warmth, but soon, it wasn't Tigress's body that was shivering.

She looked at Tai Lung. The snow leopard had placed his hands over his ears, staring into some abyss where the rock wall was. "Why are you covering your ears?" Came the question.

"Blizzards. I don't... I don't like blizzards."

"But you like snow?"

"It's like thunderstorms. People can like rain but hate thunderstorms," Tai Lung grunted.

Tigress wasn't buying it. "A snow leopard who's used to snow hates blizzards?"

Tai Lung glared at her small smirking face and gave a loud gurgle before facing the other way. It was silent for a moment. Except for the howling winds. She looked up. Flurries of snow blew right over them, though it never covered the hole.

Not yet.

"They might not find us when they get back," Tai Lung said.

"You don't have faith that Po would find us?" Tigress asked.

"Oh, I have faith that he'll accidentally step on the hole and drop right on top of us," Tai Lung smirked. "Thankfully, the hole's big enough for Crane to get through."

"We'll have to get more rope if Po does fall in," Tigress replied. The snow leopard sighed. She was right about that.

The howling started again. So did the shivering behind Tigress. It lasted, maybe two or three minutes. Then slowly died down. "Why blizzards?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because maybe if I know why, I won't tease you about it," Tigress pointed out.

Tai Lung scoffed, "I highly doubt that."

"Nothing is impossible."

"You're not the tortoise," Tai Lung grumbled.

Another snowy howl whistled over the hole.

The snow leopard sighed, "Bad... bad memories."

"Memories?"

"The last time I heard blizzards like this was in Chorh-gom Prison. And before that... was when I was young."

"With Shifu?"

"Before Shifu," Tai Lung clarified. "I don't remember much about my parents. I just..." He sighed. "The memory of the blizzard brings that back to me." He stopped. No more words came out of his mouth for a minute. Two minutes. Three. "I wish I knew who my mother was."

The tiger's mouth slowly dropped. She looked back, for her back was facing him. The pitiful face of Tai Lung's long-lost stare into the rock wall met her eyes. It was a sadness. One she hadn't seen on him. Never in her years of knowing Tai Lung had she seen the agony twisting inside of him, longing for a simpler time. He wiped his eyes. "It's pathetic, I know, but-"

"I'm sorry," Tigress interrupted. He stopped and looked at her. His jaw dropped an inch or two, but he said nothing.

He didn't have to.

The wind slowed down. The frosty wolf howling above seemed to find some other hole to torment. Tai Lung's body relaxed a bit.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because... I am?"

Tai Lung's eyes hardened. "Don't apologize for something that you don't know why."

Tigress said nothing. The stillness of snow only interrupted that silence. Absolutely nothing. No sound.

She sighed, "I'm... sorry that a blizzard causes that fear for you."

"It's not... ugh, never mind," Tai Lung sulked.

He took a deep breath. The fog from his lungs materialized before his eyes and rose up the hole.

"Tigress. What do you want out of life?"

"Why do you-"

"We... might not get out of here. And even if we do, I'm tired of fighting you over simple things."

"You're irritating," Tigress simply said.

"So is the panda."

"Po's different."

"So?" The snow leopard snarled. "You're usually more... I'm just curious."

She looked at him, huddling her legs closer together. She shut her eyes and turned her head back, away from him. The thick silence stayed on her lips. Tai Lung sat without any word.

One moment passed.

Then another.

"You lied."

"What?" Tai Lung's ears perked up.

"You're not curious. Why did you ask that question?" Tigress asked.

Tai Lung sighed, "Shifu's retired. Po's a teacher. I'm working on redemption. You're a Kung Fu Master. Ever since my fight with the panda, I've had to figure out what it is that I wanted out of life. In the end, it was power, but now I realized the only way to have that is by learning when to get it, when to keep it, and most importantly, when to let it go."

"I thought," He continued, "Master Shifu was preventing me from that power. But it wasn't. It was me. But... It is curiosity. Though I tease you about being Shifu's pet, I wonder if you're not like me in some way. Trying to please Shifu."

"Am I not supposed to please my master?"

"There's pleasing your master or father and then there's being enough for yourself. Who were you trying to please?"

Silence again.

She wouldn't look at him. Not at all. Her eyes couldn't meet the snow leopard's eyes. He knew why.

"What do you want out of life?" Tai Lung asked again.

She wouldn't answer. The snow leopard sighed and looked up the hole. There was no evidence of the hole starting to close. The blizzard and wind had stopped. Tai Lung growled to himself. He hadn't thought of it, but if the snow had fallen in they could've tried waiting until the snow lifted them to the top. They wouldn't need much, just enough to jump past the-

"Life."

Tai Lung's thoughts slammed to a stop. "What?"

"Life."

"Wh.. what do you mean?"

"I want... I want life out of life," Tigress replied. "I want to have a life. I want to... have a life where things don't revolve around someone else. Po showed me how much of life I've been missing. Your return here was another eye-opener."

"Why?"

"Because I found myself... realizing that... my goal has changed."

Tai Lung rose an eyebrow and twisted his face. "How did-"

"After Kai was defeated, it made me realize what I originally thought I was trained for was wrong. All that dedication for... something that wasn't even meant for me." Tigress looked up. The clouds grew darker overhead. It must be getting late. If the others didn't find them soon enough, they might...

Tigress shook her head. "All that time and... it's only until Po came into my life that I started to experience how much of it I wasn't experiencing. What travel looks like. What a snow fight feels like. What... love feels like."

"Love?" Tai Lung's eyes widened. Tigress refused to meet his gaze. "I... I see."

"While we are Kung Fu warriors, the burden of being Dragon Warrior is something that is in the right hands now," Tigress replied. "Unless the universe has some greater purpose for me, I think I'd like to experience it."

"The universe?"

"No. Life."

"Hm."

The two fell silent. Soon the light would turn black if the others didn't get back. Tigress sighed. "I don't know how much of life will happen now that we're here. What are the odds that Po and the others can find us on this vast snowfield?"

Claaaaaaaang!

"OOOWWW!" Shouted a voice.

"Apparently the same odds as the sun coming up and down," Tai Lung commented. A white familiar face looked down from atop the hole.

"Guys! You still down there? Are you okay?" Po asked.

"We're down here," Tai Lung shouted.

"Hang on, we freed some prisoners and got some rope. We'll have you out in a jiff!"

"Po!" Tigress shouted, "What was that noise?"

"Uhhhhh nothing," Po said nervously.

"Po," Tai Lung and Tigress grunted.

"Ugh, look. I know you told us to get the bandits, but I didn't want to lose track of where you were so I placed one of their spears here."

"And... you bumped into it?"

"No!" Though they couldn't make his face out clearly, the two felines stared at him with crossed arms. "Yes," Po grumbled.

"Tigress, Tai Lung. Grab the end of the rope," Crane said. The rope slowly lowered, and the two felines grabbed it, wrapping it around themselves. "Pull!"

Yoink!

"WAAAAHHHH!" Tai Lung and Tigress flew to the top of the hole and plopped onto the soft snow above. The snow leopard immediately looked at the other end of the rope. Po nervously rubbed the back of his head, smiling guiltily.

"Hehe, sorry. Pulled too hard."

"Hrm," Tai Lung grumbled. An orange hand was offered to him. He grabbed it and got up.

"Well, it's great that you're here out of that hole," Viper piped up.

"Yeah, must have been awful being with Spots."

"Watch it, Monkey," Tai Lung grumbled.

"Come on, guys. Let's head home," Crane said.

"Aw come on. Can't we have a little snow fight as a celebration?" Po asked.

"Po," Tai Lung sighed, "We've been in a hole for who knows how long. All we want is-"

Sppsssh!

The familiar cold feel of snow clobbered Tai Lung's face. He looked over. Tigress, smirking wide and proud, molded the next snowball in her hand before throwing it at the snow leopard. "Agrh! What the heck?"

"Come on, Tai Lung," Tigress smiled. "Live a little."

Tai Lung blinked. Several times. Before long, a wide grin spread across his face. "Heh, I guess I should."

Within another snowball throw, an all-out war broke out. Shifu wasn't really upset that it took them so long to get back. He did grumble that the food he made was cold. But Po made the group some food. "Po... could I... have some of the bean buns?"

"Wha hahahat!" Po exclaimed.

"Make some for me, too, panda," Tai Lung said.

"Wait, wait, wait. What happened to the normal soy cubes?"

Tai Lung chuckled as Tigress smiled.

"There's more to life than just soy cubes," The tiger said.

Live your life.

The End