Hello all! Apologies for the long wait, I've just been so unmotivated to write. / But I suddenly had this idea for a story and wanted to give it a try! This is an AU story & is set sometime after KFP 4, with Tai Lung having been brought back from the spirit realm. I didn't feel like going into detail over how it all happened, so just don't think too much about it lol. But anyways, it's got some tension, laughs, and of course fluff! I hope you enjoy it & feel free to let me know what you think!

Golden rays of sunshine shone warmly throughout the mountains. Bouncing off the mountains, the gold rays mixed with the natural green hues of the terrain. Wooden structures with green roofs littered the land, with faint lights of lanterns illuminating their walls. To the left side of the village was an area with many animals surrounding it. They seemed to be in a courtyard of some type, with lanterns strung around it in a big square. Many chairs and tables, some littered with food, others with mahjong tiles, scattered throughout the area. It seemed a celebration was in order. A creature of black and white stood beneath wooden panels as he gazed ahead. With his paw grasping the strap of a bag upon his shoulder, the panda took a deep breath in.

Exhaling, Po hummed in content. It had been a long journey, and he was very happy to be in such a serene village now. The panda had previously been training his successor, Zhen, in her Kung Fu. As well as training himself in his slightly new position as a teacher, and now, Spirit Leader of the Valley. Po was very much looking forward to a getaway.

Another reason being that he was missing the presence of his friends. The panda village had recently been put through a rough storm of sorts. It damaged many homes and paths. Upon receiving a scroll sent for help in the clean-up, Shifu suggested sending the Furious Five. Po decided it could also be beneficial to send a grumpy snow leopard as well, for morale, you know?

Since bringing him back from the spirit realm for his redemption, Po has had quite a bit of backlash. Albeit mostly in the form of passive aggressive jabs from villagers, they certainly didn't go unnoticed. The ordeal had calmed down for the most part, seeing as it happened over 2 months ago. And now here he was, back in the hidden away panda village, where no one knew of Tai Lung or his destructive past, Po was safe to enjoy the company of his people. Po began making his way to the celebration before him.

Joyous music could be heard, and many familiar faces could be seen. As Po walked into the scene, no one seemed to take notice of him. And he was okay with that. To his right, a few feet away, was a table that Po assumed came up to his elbow, littered with drinks. Standing beside it, presumably people-watching, was a tall lanky bird. Po had found his first friend of the night.

"Crane! Hey!" Po smiled and waved towards the avian, walking up to him as he did so. The bird turned his head and saw the smiling bear. Crane's eyebrows lifted and a smile graced his beak as he saw the bear.

"Po! You're here! I didn't think you'd be able to make it!" Crane patted the panda's back as he finally reached the bird. Po chuckled slightly, "Yeah, it wasn't looking great for me, but I really needed to get away and I think Shifu noticed. He took over Zhen's lessons for me. It was awesome."

"Well, that's great to hear. The rest will certainly be happy to hear of your arrival, it's been a tense week, and we could use a peaceful spirit." Crane huffed at the end of his reply and looked out at the scene before him. Po gave a sympathetic smile and followed suit, placing his pack on the ground. As Po looked on, a scene of celebration was unfolding. He scanned the room, looking to his left and seeing a familiar snow leopard wall-sitting. Across the way, there were tables filled with people, tall tables like the one he was standing at, and single chairs with a few attendants occupying them. In the middle, however, was an empty lot, meant for dancing, Po assumed. Po saw dancing pandas, dumpling holding pandas, intoxicated pandas, and even a hilarious scene of monkey being led in a clumsy dance. Po and Crane laughed at the view.

As the dancing panda and moving monkey swayed and shimmied further back on the dance floor, Po tried following them, but his eye caught another thing.

Or rather, another being.

Po saw her sitting at a table, conversing with other pandas, her right-side profile towards him. The lanterns beside her gave her orange fur a fiery glow, her golden qipao glistening in the golden sun rays. She was sitting with her right arm in her lap, and her great posture evident. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Crane glanced in the direction Po was staring in and began another conversation.

"It's been a long two weeks, Po." The avian sighed. The Furious Five and Tai Lung had been at the secret village for two weeks, not counting the time it took to venture out there. The group had felt some tension with Tai Lung present, and their usual indestructible dynamic had, well, faltered somewhat. Po watched on as he listened to Crane, nodding in acknowledgement, "You can say that again, I feel like I've just had a week similar to my very first one with Master Shifu, whew, I thought it'd never end!" He spoke. Po's eyes lingered on the tiger, watching as a panda walked up to her table holding a very cute panda cub. Po saw the golden creature rise from her chair and face the panda lady, as she turned Po got a view of her left side. She had a sling on her left arm, wrapped around her neck, keeping her arm at a 90-degree angle. Po's eyes widened and he stood straight up, he was about to walk straight for her.

"She's not hurt, Po." a sweet voice came from beside him.

Po turned to his left and saw Viper sitting there, she looked on into the crowd. She noticed his movement and looked back at him, giving a warm smile. "It was a misunderstanding; we've come to learn."

"Hmph. That's a good way to put it, Viper." Crane shook his head. Viper shot him a look. Po looked back and forth between the two, was he seriously feeling a tension?

"What exactly happened, guys?" Po was intrigued, and slightly on edge.

"Go on, Crane. Since I can't seem to deliver news well." Viper glared as she muttered the last part, looking straight at the avian. The bird sighed and looked out onto the party.

"It happened when we first got here. The second day of being here we had gone out to the closest village to gather supplies to aid in the cleanup. As we walked about the village, scanning the area, we heard a yell. Tigress was the first to jump into action, leading us to the source of the voice. We all rounded a corner and saw about 6 bandits raiding the place." Crane stopped to take a breath. "We all just jumped into action. These were croc bandits, so they did a fine job of holding their own. Tigress began calling out to us to get them into a group and surround them, that way we didn't have to split up and could just tie them up all at once. We were fighting beside a large structure made of brick, some kind of warehouse maybe. Anyways, we were going to follow Tigress' lead and place the bandits near the spot she decided fit. But as soon as she began pushing the bandit back, he was gone. Like, literally moved out of her way." Po raised an eyebrow, confused at the situation Crane was describing. Crane looked past Po and nudged his head in the direction of Po's left shoulder, towards a familiar snow leopard. Po followed his gaze.

"Tai Lung over here just grabbed the croc and started his own fight against him. He just kicked him out of Tigress' way and resumed fighting, completely ignoring her." Crane rolled his eyes. Viper shook her head, "He just walked all over Tigress' plan, in front of the bandits!" She hissed.

"Wow, I'm sorry guys. I can't believe he acted like that." Po glanced at Tigress again, seeing her now single-handedly holding a panda cub, and then turned his eyes down to the floor.

"It's okay, sweetie. He wasn't like this the whole time, he really kept to himself until then." Viper tried to relieve Po from feeling the burden of one snow leopard. Crane hummed in agreement.

Crane decided to continue the story, "We all were annoyed at his actions, but Tigress was completely aggravated. She didn't have time to give us any other plan, though, because a bandit was coming from behind her. So, she began fighting back, and we all continued our own battles, trying to keep the crocs in proximity to each of us, for the sake of Tigress' plan. We heard Tigress call out Tai Lung as she continued her brawl.

Tigress continued fighting the croc as she shouted, "Tai Lung, this ego of yours is ruining our tactics. Quit thinking you can do whatever you damn please!"

Tai Lung whipped his head around, bringing the bandit he was fighting over his shoulder in the process, and slamming him into the dirt. "You all were taking too long; I had already knocked one out while you were getting your fur combed." the leopard shouted right back.

Tigress growled as she and the croc neared a brick wall, throwing flurries of punches adjacent to it. "You cannot just take a bandit from one of us! It is disrespectful and goes against our honor!" She quickly scanned the scene and counted 6 bandits still alive and kicking. "And you must not have knocked any bandit out because there's still 6 with us!" her voice raised with the last four words. Tai Lung growled and glared in her direction, which was now right in front of him, past the bandit of course.

"Well, if you're so adamant about getting this crook back, I'll just send him over."

Tai Lung delivered a powerful side kick to the bandit's midsection, sending him flying back straight towards Tigress. As her left arm stuck out, she was about to deliver a double palm strike, but she heard his words too late. She looked to Tai Lung; and all she saw was the back of a bandit hurling towards her. She began to jump out of the way but was too late. The bandit hit her arm and pushed her right through the wall with him, leaving a large hole in the once complete structure. The rest of the five watched the whole scene unfold and quickly trapped all the bandits in one spot, tied their arms back, and left Monkey overlooking them. Before the other three could rush over to their leader, a single croc bandit flew out from the rubble of the wall, unconscious, landing right before the wide-eyed snow leopard.

"And then Mantis, Viper, and I ran to the hole in the wall, to see Tigress laying on her knees, grasping the wall with her right hand. Her left arm was limp against her side. She looked at us and just said something about her shoulder being dislocated, but Mantis felt along her arm and noticed an unfamiliar shift in one of her bones. Come to find out, her elbow was sprained. Thankfully, it wasn't a break." Crane continued, "After that, we made Tai Lung take the bandits to the jail, which he didn't argue about, and then the five of us made our way back to the panda village."

Viper smiled, "We certainly weren't letting Tigress out of our sight. Mantis made sure to get the best wrappings for her arm." Crane nodded in agreement.

Po gave a long sigh. "I should've been here. This wouldn't have happened if I had been here." He shook his head. Viper nudged him, "Oh Po, always so hard on yourself. She is fine! Look at her! She's literally holding a panda cub in her only good arm. And those babies aren't light!" The viper giggled lightly at the scene. "You're right, I just- I don't know guys. I know how weird and challenging this has been for you all and I just hate for problems like these to arise. Especially physical problems, those really bother me." Po looked at the celebration still occurring and took a deep breath.

"I didn't give him a speech or anything, because I knew you would talk to him and I think its best if you do, but he tried telling me it 'wasn't his intention' or something and I just looked at him and said, 'You know, if it wasn't your intention to ruin our plans and harm our friend, you wouldn't have actually done so.' and left it at that. He hasn't spoken to any of us since, and that's been like a week or so. He apologized to Tigress earlier, but the aggravation was still fresh on her nerves so I'm not sure how much she actually accepted of it." Crane huffed at the last part of his word, muttering, "If I were her, I wouldn't accept any of it." prompting a tail slap from Viper.

"I think that's what I need to do next, talk with him and hopefully put an end to this totally un-awesome tension." Po shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Thank you for filling me in, Crane. I really wish I could've been here to prevent it though." Po nodded his head towards the bird and gave a small smile.

"That's okay, Po. We're all just happy to have you here. Even though I don't think anyone else has noticed your arrival, they'll be excited when they do." Crane tilted his hat at the panda, smiling back. Po turned and made his way towards the infamous snow leopard. Viper smiled as Po walked away and then began conversing with Crane.

As Po walked towards Tai Lung, he noticed how he was standing against the wall, with his arms crossed defensively, his posture tall and rigid, and his mouth turned down. He was looking out to the crowd, observing the festivities at hand. Tai Lung was in his own world.

"It's quite some fun, you know." a voice spoke to his right. Tai Lung turned his head and viewed the source of said voice, a giant panda adorning his humble patched pants and a calm smile.

"Not my thing."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Last I heard, you quite like being the center of attention. With your bandit swiping and all." Po waved his hand out as he spoke, now looking out into the crowd. He sensed Tai Lung shift uncomfortably against the wall.

"Ah." Was all the feline could muster.

"You know, I also had a problem with following plans and instructions." Po started, reminiscing a little. Tai Lung listened on. "I would be told to stay somewhere, and I wouldn't do it. I was told to be stealthy, thought I was doing it, didn't do it. I was told not to cook rice by drinking boiling water and eating the rice raw, by the same feline, and still didn't listen." Po laughed to himself.

"But, after every scenario, I found myself in more trouble than I could imagine. And it only hurt those around me. Except for the boiling rice one, that only hurt me and my insides." Po shivered at the thought. Tai Lung gave a smirk. "But all those outcomes only came from me working against my team. A team that has been working together for over 13 years now." Po shook his head with a small chuckle.

"And I get it, you know, they're not the easiest group to walk into. But, man, they sure are the best once you do." Po's eyes gazed upon each member he saw. "They all work together so perfectly. I've heard so many stories from them of how they found their groove, and it's just so awesome." Po gave a fanboy-ish smile. Tai Lung found himself still listening to the panda ramble for some reason...

"I mean, just think about everyone and their personalities! It sounds like a recipe for disaster when creating a team, but nope! They made it work and look so effortless! Every one of them have a specific role, and they fit it perfectly." Po glanced at the leopard, who raised an eyebrow back at him, Po's smile faltered, but quickly continued.

"Like, uhm, take being the leader for example! I couldn't be it, I'm too care free! Monkey isn't suited for that role; he pranks too much. Viper's too sweet for it! Crane is too awkward, heh. And-uh, Mantis is too unserious! And crude, he'd probably get us all killed." Po shook his head with a smile, "That's why Ti- I mean- Tigress is best for being our leader. She's cool and collected, and is the best at strategizing!" Po nodded up and down, "Anyways, that's just one example of how this team works so well. We recognize our faults, and use our skills. It's basically like one big, super bodacious family once you settle in! Ah, what a team." Po exhaled happily, looking nowhere in particular. A calm silence passed between them. Then his gaze hardened, as his eyes set on an orange feline, once again remembering why it was that he started this conversation.

"And yet, this is the same team that you blatantly chose to go against. Right in front of the enemy." Po turned to look at the leopard. His gaze firm and mouth in a straight line. "If you continue to fight against those who are for you, you will soon find yourself surrounded only by those who hate you." Po gave a small exhale as he looked down, "And it won't be by us, Tai Lung."

The snow leopard stared off into the distance as the panda's meaning dawned on him. This gift of redemption was complex, Tai Lung knew that, but the idea of being sent back to the cold depths of the Spirit Realm struck a chord in the leopard. He never wanted to see that abyss again.

Suddenly, a touch of warmth was upon his shoulder, as the leopard turned his head, he could see the paw of a panda. Looking up to the source, Tai Lung was met with a look of grace. Po held a soft smile and kind eyes as he spoke, "We can be your family, if you let us." The snow leopard furrowed his eyebrows ever so slightly, and stared at the panda. With a few beats of silence following, Tai Lung gave a nod and looked out to the crowd. Po removed his paw and gave another genuine smile of his.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some of that family to go see." with that, the giant panda clumsily made his way through the dance floor. Tai Lung kept his gaze on the panda, watching as he swiftly stumbled around his kind. After getting through such a crowd, Po made his way towards a certain orange tiger, one who was still holding a giggling panda cub. Tai Lung continued to watch their exchange.

Po placed his right paw upon Tigress' bandaged left shoulder, and wormed his way into her line of sight. She gave a little flinch at the sudden touch, but relaxed as she saw his face. The snow leopard couldn't hear their words, but watched on as Tigress handed the baby panda off and soon reached up to wrap her right arm around Po's neck. Po wrapped his paws around her back and smiled into the hug. As they separated, Po traced his paw down from her shoulder to her elbow, asking something out of concern, Tai Lung guessed.

The tigress shook her head, and waved her hand, most likely calling the injury not a big deal. Po tilted his head and spoke a few more words, then extended his paw to her. Tigress took it and Po led her away from the loud, and still on-going celebration. And as they walked, Tai Lung caught a glimpse of a smile on the tiger's face. Something he hadn't seen in who knows how many years.

The snow leopard took a breath, and looked downward. He finally understood some of that 'family' talk Po was getting at.

Aaaaand that's the end! I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading! :)