Cloudless Authors

Chapter 一

Tigress stood frozen on the steps of the training hall. Several things were going through her head as Tai Lung's words began to sink in, although a good number of them were things that stumped her. Tai Lung was still holding onto her wrist, almost as if he was scared to let her leave. 

"You..." she stammered. "Just came back to apologize?" 

"Yes," Tai Lung promised. "No dragon scroll, no nerve strikes, no power plays, no tricks, no sarcasm, no nothing of the sort. I just wanted to talk to Shifu. I want to know if I'm still forgivable, or if it's beyond too late for that." 

"And...what? Shifu was too scary for you to approach him?" Tigress mocked.

"I startled you," Tai Lung explained. "I saw you and thought I'd strike up a conversation, not even thinking about how terrifying that would be for you. For multiple reasons."   He sighed. "I know I probably have a lot of traits I have to work on. I'm too presumptuous. And that leads to arrogance, and...."  Another sigh.   "I don't know if Shifu still thinks about that day, but I try not to. It makes me feel ill." 

"I'd feel that ill too if I made that big of a mistake," Tigress told him. Tai Lung was still holding onto her arm, though his grip had significantly loosened. She debated on whether or not  to pull away before deciding against it. He seemed pretty sincere and wasn't threatening her at all, so she didn't want to accidentally cause any more problems. Though if Shifu saw her right now....

"When exactly did you have this change of opinion?" she questioned. 

"Sometime after the Dragon Warrior Wuxi Fingered me," was the answer. "I won't lie, it took a little while to come to grips with that. I remember waking up bleeding and feeling nothing but shame and embarrassment over getting my butt kicked. Once I healed up and cooled down though, I had a lot of time to stop and reflect." 

Tai Lung finally let go of Tigress' arm and she almost immediately took a step backwards. "Oogway said my heart was too dark," Tai Lung continued, taking the same step forward. "He said I wasn't worthy to have the power."     He laughed. He started off with a chuckle, but it quickly grew louder and louder and longer and longer until he was practically buckling at the knees.  "And I told him we'd see about that!"  he roared with the laughter. As he kept on, Tigress stepped backwards off of the training hall steps, a wave of fear rolling about in her stomach. She knew she ought to run now and get Shifu but she couldn't get herself to move in that direction. Tai Lung followed her, though he stopped at the top of the steps and held onto the door frame just a foot behind him. 

"'We'll see about that'!" Tai Lung laughed, holding onto his stomach, probably to from laughing too hard. ""We'll see about that"! That's what I said! "We'll see about that." ! I'd bury someone in a pit too if I heard that kind of response! Lock away the key!"   Tai Lung laughed even harder, his knees slowly buckling to the ground. "And then if such a guy ever got away, ever tried to kill me or my friends, I'd have him killed too!"   More laughter and more laughter. Tigress backed even further away, almost right to the gates surrounding the grounds. 

"What's wrong with you?!" she yelled. "Stop laughing!" 

"No wonder I scared you!" Tai Lung exclaimed in between tears of laughter. "I'm the guy who who haunts you in your sleep! Who you strive to murder to say everyone can hold parties in relief and sleep soundly in the night! Whose shadow leaves a village trembling in terror. I'm the rogue everyone despises! The monster who everyone regrets crossing paths with! A terror! A failure!"   The laughter got worse. "I really failed, didn't I?! No wonder you ran away! No wonder you didn't tell everyone I was back! I really didn't think any of this through, didn't I?! I messed up again, didn't I?!" 

Tigress had no response to him. She backed up all the way to the gates, not feeling too comfortable being anywhere close to the snow leopard. Tai Lung started to calm a bit, though he was still heavily laughing. "I messed up again," he repeated, though it didn't seem to be directed at Tigress. "I messed up again." 

Tigress noticed his facial expressions beginning to change. His lips started to slip from an open grin to an open gap with the tips curled down almost in disbelief. His eyes became more vacant and his laugh was turning into a coughing choke. 

"I messed up," he said, starting to choke on his words. "I messed...I messed up...again....All over again.... I..."   Tai Lung's words died away and his laughter was slowly replaced with sad gasps and a sound Tigress had never heard before. Tai Lung finally collapsed onto the training hall steps and, before Tigress could even react, buried his face across his lap and started sobbing. Tigress was taken aback and stood frozen against the gates. After taking a second to collect herself, (and breathe a sigh of relief that Tai Lung was not going crazy and trying to hurt her). She walked back over and sat down next to him on the steps. 

"Hey, it's okay," she assured him, cautiously patting his shoulder. "If you're really sincere, I'm sure Shifu would understand."

Tai Lung didn't seem to hear her though. He continued to apologize in between sobs for scaring her, for getting her into trouble with Shifu, and even for nearly killing her years earlier during their fight at the Thread of Hope. The master kept assuring him that it was alright; the first two things had been her fault and their battle was a long while ago. However, nothing she said really soothed the snow leopard. As she tried to think of what else to say or do, the gates to the training grounds opened and Master Shifu walked in. Tigress wasn't sure whether to feel terror or relief, so she felt both. 

Shifu had opened his mouth, probably to deliver something along the lines of, "What's going on here?!", but stopped short and held his mouth open in surprise when he saw Tai Lung on the training hall steps in tears. Tigress wanted to explain what exactly was going on, but all she managed to do was grit her teeth and cast Shifu a look that meant, I don't know what to do!

The grandmaster wasted no time hurrying over to the two and putting a paw on Tai Lung's arm. "Tai Lung?" he said gently. When Tai Lung didn't answer him, Shifu took to gently rubbing the back of his head, although this only made the snow leopard cry harder. Startled by the sudden increase in noise, Tigress jumped away. As Shifu sat there attempting to calm Tai Lung down, Tigress finally managed to explain that Tai Lung apparently had been sneaking around looking for an opportunity to apologize. She also mentioned Tai Lung's strange shift to laughing and then crying, which she had felt weirded out by. 

"That's nerves," Shifu explained to her. "He's done that before, though sometimes he'll excessively cough or snap."

"Sorry...!" Tai Lung sobbed, but he said nothing else. 

Tigress watched Shifu attempt to comfort him before asking, "Should I leave for a moment?"

"Yes. Let me help him calm down before we talk about anything."

Tigress nodded and got up to walk out of the training grounds. She reached the gates and went to leave the vicinity, but then looked back and spotted Tai Lung engulfing Shifu in a tight hug. Seeing Shifu was okay, she simply smiled and shut the gate behind her. 

THE END

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