Through the Looking Glass: Penance: Chapter 11
"Shiiiifuuuu!"
The shout rang out throughout the Devil's Mouth such that Tigress did not need to explain what she heard to her three companions.
"What the hell?" asked Po as he pointed in the direction he heard the scream coming from. "Was that...?"
"Tai Lung..." said Viper, shaking her head.
"That can't be good..." stated Monkey simply.
Po shook is head. "I hope they're not fighting again!" he exclaimed.
Tigress shook her head, glaring ahead of her. "It didn't sound like a battle cry," she said. "Something else happened. Come on!"
And the four of them bolted off into the woods quickly after this was said, nervous to see what had happened to their kung fu master.
About five minutes had passed when Po finally got to the edge of clearing. The scene before them was a little scattered; Cream was hugging Crane, sobbing into the avian's neck as he patted her back, his own eyes closed. Mantis stood on Cream's head, looking at where Tai Lung was situated as he wiped a tear from his eyes.
But it was the sight of Tai Lung that really unnerved the panda more than anything. He was sobbing profusely into the forehead of the two-tailed fox that Po had encountered in the plains, his arm cradling Shifu close by his body.
Po was cautious as he entered the clearing, not saying a whole lot as Tigress, Viper, and Monkey all followed his lead. The panda walked over to Tai Lung, the snow leopard still not seeming to notice the panda's presence there.
It was not until the panda had knelt down next to Tai Lung that the leopard noticed Po's presence there. Looking up, he could barely look at the bear before shaking his head. Unwrapping his arm from around Miles' body, he gestured to the gaping sword wound in Shifu's corpse. Po's eyes widened at this, emeralds glinting in shock.
"There was nothing I could've done..." said Tai Lung, choking on his own tears as they continued to flow down his face. "I'm so sorry..."
This comment got the attention of the other three then-oblivious mourners in the clearing, Mantis and Crane both looking at Tigress as the predatory cat beheld the sight of Shifu in Tai Lung's arm.
Po shook his head, tears threatening to spill out of his own eyes. "How...?" he asked. "How could this have happened?"
Tai Lung shook his head as the panda looked at him. "He was trying to save us..." said the leopard. "We had been... captured... by a bunch of scouts. They had a chi mage with them... And then... This happened..."
The recollection was a little too much for the leopard, who shook his head as Viper slithered up Po's shoulder. "He forgave me for my sins..." he said, shaking his head still. "It... It hurts me that much more... I wish... I wish he were still..."
Po laid a hand on Tai Lung's shoulder reassuringly. Opening his eyes, the leopard noticed a tear sliding down Po's cheek as well.
"So do I, Tai Lung," replied the panda mournfully, his voice on the verge of cracking as he closed his eyes and shook his head. "So do I."
And the small group sat in the clearing, unmoving for quite some time as they thought of the events that had just occurred as Po and Tai Lung both grieved the death of their beloved kung fu master, a mutual reassurance hanging in the air around them. Tigress, Viper, and Monkey all looked on, the three of them tearing up at the sight of their master with his eyes closed and completely unmoving. Nobody said anything for a great while as Tai Lung simply held his dead master in his arms, cradling him like a newborn baby.
Nearly three hours later, the group had spent all of their tears. Tai Lung and Miles had told Po and the other three members of the Five what had happened in Beijing leading right up to Shifu's death, and this news was met with various nods from the grief-stricken four. Tai Lung had decided not to impart the information that Tai Xue had told him about the midwife leaving Tigress at the Bao Gu orphanage, however, deciding it was better to wait until the worst had blown over or until Tai Xue could tell Tigress herself. Thankfully, Cream, Miles, Mantis, and Crane all caught what the leopard was aiming for and decided it would be best not to say anything about the ommited information.
After they had told their story, everybody decided it was for the best that Shifu be buried soon. Miles had just patted the mound of earth around which a cross made of twigs and twine had been stuck in. Looking at his handiwork, the kitsune nodded solemnly as everybody eyed the mound of earth in which they had buried Shifu's body. Written into the dirt in small letters was Shifu's name, the words 'lux perpetua luceateis' scribbled into the earth underneath this. Miles had made sure that the words would not be washed away by rain; he had covered the words with a spare piece of cyran wrap that he had in his pack. Seeing his handiwork, the kitsune stood up, holding his vest as he looked down at the makeshift grave.
For a full five minutes, the entire group stood there in silence, heads bowed solemnly as they grieved the death of Xang Li Shifu. It was a profound silence, the mist still at a constant grey as they looked on, eyes closed in sadness of the passing of one of kung fu's greatest masters.
It was when Tai Lung opened his eyes that he noticed that the entire time, there was a lotus blossom growing at the roots of one of the trees. Looking at it with saddened eyes, he bent down and picked the blossom lightly. The orange pedals seemed to dance in front of his eyes, vision blurred slightly by the tears he had cried as he looked.
Slowly, he came to Shifu's grave. He knelt down, holding the lotus blossom delicately in his index finger and his thumb. Slowly, he brought his hand out, letting the blossom fall to the ground just where the cross was embedded into the earth. He knelt at the earth for a while, looking at the flower as it rested against the sign he barely knew anything about.
Finally, he stood back up, Miles standing by his side the entire time as the snow leopard looked down.
The silent vigil continued thusly, all eyes on the cross as everybody silently prayed for Shifu.
Quite some time had passed after the informal funeral service for Shifu. The group was now in a circle around the plot of land Shifu had been buried in, all of them seated there. Tai Lung was looking quite glum, eyes looking ahead of him as Miles left a hand on his shoulder.
"We need to go back to Beijing," said the leopard. "We need to bring Tan Tao to justice for all he's done."
Heads nodded everywhere, everybody deep in thought.
"But we need some kind of plan," pointed out Tigress. "Unless you had any ideas, of course..."
The entire group shrugged at this, thinking.
"Well, first things first, we need to alert the emperor about our plans and to tell him to keep his wits about him," said Miles plaintively. "I remember when we ran into Tan Tao last night that he wanted to spread anarchy."
"And why would that be important?" asked Viper.
"Think about it," said Miles, shrugging. "He wants to spread total chaos throughout China. It would be any ruler's worst nightmare to have a kingdom in chaos. So naturally he'd devote all his resources to quelling that."
"And then it would be a perfect distraction..." continued Po, catching on to what the kitsune's train of thought was.
"A distraction for an assassination..." finished Tigress, completing the chain of thought that was becoming apparent.
The kitsune nodded. "And then Wang Dun would come in as a sort of white horse to restore order to the nation," he said. "And since Tan Tao and Wang Dun are the same person, then that would mean that Tan Tao would become emperor of China."
"But what about the rest of the imperial family?" pointed out Mantis.
"Knowing what he's done, I wouldn't put it past Tan Tao to kill them too," replied Miles. "So we have to return and warn the emperor before something bad happens."
"And in private, too," added Cream suddenly. "We can't risk Wang Dun knowing what our plans are, or else you'll be considered traitors and I'll be sent back to the harem."
"Mei Ling also said she would help," added Crane. "She's currently keeping Tai Xue safe, so I'm sure she won't mind keeping Cream or Miles in her house until we needed them in the palace."
Tigress nodded at this information. "So we have all that to work with," she said. "Hm..."
"I wonder..." said Po. "Wang Dun has to change into his Tan Tao form somehow... I wonder what would happen if we caught him in that state... and then could show the emperor..."
Mantis looked at Po with half-shut eyes. "If you're thinking about making the emperor hide in Wang Dun's quarters, that'll just kill him faster."
Tai Lung looked over to Miles. "Maybe something else may be in order then," he said. "What if-- and I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out-- what if, we had something that could catch him in the act without us having to be in there?"
Po rubbed his chin. "That sounds like a good idea," he said. "But there's one problem..."
"What could we use to do that, anyway?" asked Tigress, rubbing her chin.
"This!"
All eyes turned to Miles, who was holding the camcorder. Since he had used it as a sound shield, he had patched the thing back up, and now it looked like its former sleek self again. Looking at this, Cream smiled.
"The perfect thing!" she said. "Although, why'd you bring it?"
"Gut feeling told me I might need it eventualy," replied the kitsune. "Looks like my gut feeling was right."
"What is that?" asked Viper, Po and the Furious Five leaning in to look at the object.
Miles chuckled at this. "It's a video recorder," he said. "It captures pictures of what a person did, complete with sound. And then we can play it back any time at all!"
"He recorded a kung-fu routine I did," testified Tai Lung. "I think we have the perfect thing with which to catch him. All we need to do is conceal it well and we should be good."
"So we just stick this thing somewhere and let it run?" asked Tigress. "Sounds reasonable, but how do we know when to start playing it?"
"I could figure something out," replied the kitsune. "Give me a day. Once I get into Mei Ling's place, I'll put something together. Send Crane over whenever that passes and I'll update him on what the plan is."
They nodded, and then the conversation continued, a plan slowly unfolding as they discussed possible options. And then, when they had finally decided on a course of action, the group left the clearing. Tai Lung lingered behind, trying to get a last glance at Shifu's grave before they continued on in the Devil's Mouth.