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Master Tigress' Place For Veronica_Foxx By Draconicon

"Shifu taught you well."

Monkey fell, caught off guard by the snow leopard's sudden, darting blow. He collapsed, and to Tigress' surprise, didn't get up. She pulled back to the edge of the cliff, her arms already up as Tai Lung smiled at her and her fellow masters.

"But he didn't teach you everything."

Crane fell next, grabbed by one leg and thrown through the stone archway behind the snow leopard, trapped by rock. His arms were a blur of speed, faster than anything she'd seen on the bridge, at least as fast as Master Sifu himself. Tigress darted around him, trying to flank him with Viper, but he was too quick.

Caught in mid-blow, she was tossed towards the road, cracking her head against the nearby stone arch as Tai Lung caught Viper in his other hand. She watched through blurry eyes as her friend was used as a whip, striking Mantis in the head hard enough to daze him, before paralyzing him no less surely than Monkey.

Kicking herself back to her feet, Tigress rushed him. She wasn't fast enough to save Viper, but she caught him in the small of his back, hoping to knock him off of the cliff again.

She failed, and then he was upon her.

His arms moved so fast that it was like fighting an octopus, fending off blow after blow of pointed fingers. The snow leopard pushed her back quickly, blocking what few return strikes she could make with his legs or tail.

Soon she was up against the wall again, and couldn't get away. It was only a matter of time until one of his blows slipped through.

The first caught her in the left shoulder, and her arm went numb, dead to the world. She whipped herself to the side, trying to lash out with it, but all that did was give him a handhold, letting him pull her close, and jamming his next strike into the armpit of her right arm. This time, it was her entire side that stopped working.

She could feel his breath blowing off of the side of her neck as he leaned in, whispering to her.

"Shifu should have kept you back. I wanted nothing more than a worthy challenge, and you disappoint even in that. Has my replacement truly been this pathetic?"

Tigress growled, infuriated at the mere suggestion that she was any less than the other Masters. She wrenched her leg up and around, landing a good blow on the side of his head. He let go, and she brought her other leg up, following up the round-house blow.

Then she hit the ground, and cursed as she couldn't use her arms to push up. She rolled, still fighting. She couldn't stop. Her body worked on its own, doing everything it knew to keep the snow leopard at bay. A kick to the knee, a smack to the stomach to steal his air, and push herself further from the cliff and back to the wall. If she could just get some leverage -

"AH!"

Her next kick didn't make it to its target, caught in mid-motion by him. She panted as he squeezed, and gritted her teeth as her bone started to creak under the strain. She had no idea he was this strong, no idea that he'd been hiding this much power.

"Call yourself a master of the martial arts..."

He didn't even bother to paralyze her leg, the way he'd done with her arms. Instead, he threw her leg apart, and kicked her in return. She bit off a scream as she went flying backwards, her back slamming into the stone wall. Tigress had no idea if she was still in one piece; everything already hurt too much.

She felt his hands on her legs again before she could raise her head. Her head swimming, she weakly protested as he pulled her onto the road, only to gag as his hand wrapped around her throat.

"It was my place you took. I thought that someone that came after would have some worth. Some...strength...but you have nothing."

She refused to dignify him with a response. Whatever he said, she'd fought for her place, and earned it. He had thrown it away with his need for power. She, at least, had done the right thing.

And besides, she could see that her silence was making him angrier by the second. She couldn't summon a grin as he slammed her head against the road, but she still felt some smug satisfaction at breaking the bigger cat's smug exterior. Her head ached, and she swore she blacked out for a second after the third slam down.

When she opened her eyes again, he was slowly shaking his head.

"The others know what it means to oppose me. But you...You not only took my place, but you failed to fill it. You are no warrior. And I'll teach you what you should have learned long ago."

Tigress grunted, struggling to get the air to speak. He stood up, finally, and she gasped as she filled her lungs.

"I know the lessons of a warrior...I live by them. You -"

"I was the Dragon Warrior!"

He kicked her side, knocking her off of the road and into the grass. She hissed, her tail coming up to cushion herself, but he was upon her, dragging her back by her ankles.

"I was the one that Oogway foretold. I was the one that should have had the power. But she dismissed me, told me that I wasn't ready. Do you think you, that this Po, can match me? Could ever match me?!"

What satisfaction she'd taken in his fury was rapidly disappearing, replaced by a rare flash of fear. All the times she had fought and won, she'd only known the intellectual idea of defeat. Now that it stood before her, in raw physical incarnation, she didn't know what to think. She didn't know if she could take it.

Forced onto her back, she could do little more than stare up at the hulking, heaving mass. He glared at her with a force that was almost elemental in its power, and felt terror. Her limbs quaked and her heart felt like it was running away from her. Tai Lung shook his head as he leaned over her, and she summoned what little defiance she had left.

"Even if you kill me...Master Shifu will stop you."

"Shifu will never be able to defeat his own son."

"He -"

"And even if he did...no one will believe you are a warrior with my parting gift."

His hands darted out, but not to any pressure point that she recognized. They hit her just below the stomach, in a triple pointed pattern, and stole her breath away. She gasped, coughing as she struggled to fill her lungs once more. He rested his foot on her knee, keeping her from kicking again.

Slowly, she recovered enough to speak.

"Was that...supposed to impress me?"

"No. But soon, you'll impress me in the only way someone as weak as you ever could."

She had no idea what he meant. He spoke in riddles, and she began to wonder if his time in prison had left him mad, or if perhaps it had started long before he was sentenced there.

Then she felt it. The first strange ache in her belly, something that she'd felt every few months in the past. Her eyes widened, and if she'd had control of her arms, she would have folded one over her stomach.

"You -"

He nodded, and Tigress shivered, her entire body aching for a few short seconds before something warmer, deeper filled her limbs. The ache settled deep between her legs, and she squirmed upon the dirt road, her eyes rolling back as she wanted to do nothing more than rip Tai Lung's throat out.

How dare he? How dare he humiliate her like this? Her rage tempered her fear, and she strained against his foot, to kick out, to hurt him. She struggled against this every year, and he had the gall to bring her estrus forward?

But even her fury couldn't break his grip. Once more, he was too strong, even when he gave up some of his leverage and leaned in over her. His hands, huge and clawed, stroked down her sides until he reached her hips. The claws popped out, raking through her clothing until her leggings were shredded from hip to thigh, revealing her undergarments. It only took a single touch of his finger to her crotch to dampen them through, and she burned at the way his nostrils flared in response.

"I'll kill you...I swear, if you touch me, if you do anything else...I'll kill you."

"A real warrior might frighten me. But a real warrior wouldn't be on their back, spreading their legs for me."

She hadn't gone that far, but she could feel that hopeless need already swelling within her, her body responding to that most ancient of things. Normally, she would have meditated, gone into seclusion until she could handle it, but there was no chance of that. No chance of retreat, and no chance for a calm head.

His fingers shoved upwards, and she cried out to the heavens at his touch. She screamed, swinging her free leg around despite knowing it would dislocate the pinned one.

It was useless. He caught it, and a simple touch deadened it to the world. He let it drop, only to do the same to her damaged leg. With all her limbs dead to the world, all she could do was speak, and lay there helplessly as he pressed his hand to her again.

Forced apart, she was made to lay in the road like some common whore, her body posed to his whims. Everything was so much dead weight, and she bit her lips, fighting her physical needs with every mantra that she had learned over her life, every bit of knowledge that Shifu had instilled in her. The tigress felt a momentary lessening -

"Master Shifu taught you the wrong things."

Then it was broken, a sharp claw pricking her sex as it ripped through her undercloths. She gasped as it drew a trickle of blood, feeling the heat of it running down towards her other hole. Wind blew over her, and a shiver that she couldn't suppress ran up and down her spine at the cold on her most intimate parts.

The shudder only got worse as the snow leopard looked down at her. Even without meeting his eyes, she could see it in his form. Hate, jealousy...and a lust that was slowly building. But even he wouldn't...wouldn't really...

Her eyes drifted down, and she suddenly knew that he would. No matter how much Shifu had taught him, the snow leopard was a monster, and he wouldn't be content with anything but the utter humiliation of his opponent. Particularly her.

And with the heat burning through her veins, she had no way of stopping him. Despite her rage, her humiliation burning in her face and her heart, her body was already preparing itself for a male. Even she could smell her body putting out its scent, and the bulge that was growing in her opponent's tight wraps...

No. Don't think of it. You are more than your body. You can fight this!

But try as she might, nothing that she pulled to mind worked to banish the feeling from her body. It was as if her soul and her body were at odds with each other, neither wanting what the other did.

Even as she fought with herself, she saw him reach for his belt. It came undone as if in slow motion, falling to the ground, and as his fingers hooked into his waistband, she could already see it in her mind's eye. It was going to happen, and she couldn't stop it.

A single teardrop slipped from her eyes as he dragged his pants down to his knees, his shaft already reaching up towards full size. She knew it, theoretically; the lessons in the temple had come with biology as well as martial arts. The spines along the tip were meant to make her have children, to ensure that the male was more likely to become a father. With estrus, as well...

He laid over her, suddenly, his body so large and so heavy against her. He didn't reach for her breasts, as she had seen other men do with their women. No, instead, he slid his tip between her legs, his sheer bulk keeping her spread apart as he tapped at her with it, seeking for her entrance.

It was almost clinical, something that she would have been thankful for if she'd been in a normal state of mind. As it was, her body strained to get it in her, her hips weakly pushing upwards to try and align herself for his shaft, and she could do nothing to fight it.

A clawed hand stroked down her cheek, and she turned her head away. They pricked at her flesh, and yanked her head back to look at him.

"You failed at being a warrior, 'Mistress' Tigress."

The deliberate perversion of her title felt like she'd been taken from her throne of power down to something more akin to a mistress of a brothel. She shuddered at the feeling, and gasped as he wrenched her head upwards, feeling the muscles in her neck straining at being stretched so hard, so fast.

"Shifu's teachings failed you. Admit it."

She shook her head, only to gasp as he touched the tip of his maleness against her, almost inside of her.

"His teachings left you defeated. A true warrior fights until they are killed. You fought until you were on your back. It seems only prudent...only right...that I teach you where your place truly is."

He let go of her, and her mind already assessed the damage. Needle points of pain in her face, little lines of heat as bits of blood ran out. Not serious, but enough to sting.

And certainly not as painful as he was as he pushed himself inside of her.

Tigress screamed to the heavens, hoping and begging to make someone come to her aid. The humiliation of being raped, the horror of being seen, could be no worse than the pain of being broken like this. The spines along his tip raked along her inside like kitten claws, and she spasmed, squirmed against him, trying to pull herself up the road and further away.

But it was impossible. With his hands against her arms, he kept her pinned, and he shoved himself in and out, in and out, as she helplessly laid there.

No, she didn't even do that. Her body betrayed her, lifting itself out of instinct and sheer need to be bred up to his thrusts. She cried, her tears coming faster and thicker as her body offered itself to this monster to be taken and used. It even squeezed on him, making him feel even bigger.

I don't want this. I don't want this!

But her body did, and it used her the way that she had so often used it in a fight. Tai Lung grunted over her, quiet and smirking in his victory, and the shame somehow came keener as a result. All of his insults had stung, but this silence, this sure knowledge of his that he'd won, only made it worse. She turned her head to the side, and this time he let her.

Her body rocked back and forth in the dirt, and she could just make out the feeling of her shoulder-blades digging into the ground. Her fur was a mess, her body's juices running of her sex and into a puddle between her legs, messing her fur. The wind blew in such a way that she could smell and taste nothing but the rank odor of their coupling. Her tail lay flat, a sign of submission that she couldn't stop.

And through it all, she could feel him getting deeper, deeper. His controlled pace didn't waver, but his painful shaft only dug deeper into her, and she knew that there had to be blood on the ground.

And as much as she hated it, as much as she wanted to kill him, her body was already working towards an orgasm.

She knew the signs. The tingles in her extremities, the feeling of impending rush, the faster pace of her pulse; it all meant one thing, and she knew that it would be the final humiliation for her. The snow leopard would have made her body admit that it wanted this, that this was where it deserved to be, rather than on the battlefield.

Tigress threw herself into resistance, summoning every last bit of her willpower. She pulled to mind thoughts of Shifu, of his kindness, but also his bits of ugliness. Of Mantis and his utter stupidity at times. Of Monkey and his crudity. Anything and everything that might push the feeling from her body.

But if she couldn't be turned off by the monster above her, then no amount of friendly disgust would stop it. She felt it building faster and faster in her, and even her dead toes began to curl in anticipation.

The snow leopard couldn't have missed it, but he remained silent. The only sign of his knowledge was the expansion of his grin, the slow growth that showed more and more teeth. He gradually picked up his pace, pushing her harder, faster, and as her body lifted its hips one more time, it finally happened.

Driven over the edge hard enough to yowl, Tigress squirted her juices all over the snow leopard's crotch. It was like a deluge of shame, shooting out of her as he kept filling her, taking her. She rocked upon the road, her head swinging from side to side as she blushed, wanting to do little more than die.

Eventually, he filled her, and slowly pulled out. The spines along his shaft had softened, but she still had to bite off a whimper as he slid his member free of her. He moved, wiping it clean on her face, and she couldn't summon the rage to bite it off of him.

As he covered himself, she tested her limbs, trying to get some sort of mobility out of them, but the paralysis was still complete. He was too good.

"You...you monster...I hope you die. I hope that Master Shifu kills you, and leaves you for scavengers to pick upon."

Tai Lung looked down at her, and for a moment, she thought that he would kill her. The anger was back, and the lust was gone. Surely -

But no, he chuckled instead. Patted her on the cheek, even.

"The words of a whore mean nothing to a warrior. Say what you will. Scream your hate to the heavens. To one fallen, there is nothing but heaven and wind to listen to you, and neither will give you any comfort."

She stared at him, shaking her head. He stood up and turned his back to her, and she desperately wished that she had even one limb working. The way he treated her like nothing, not a warrior, not even a person, hurt more than she could express. He held out one hand.

"Whatever the outcome in the Valley, you will carry my legacy. The best of Shifu's students could not defeat me. Make sure that you take care of yourself, 'Mistress' Tigress. I would hate to see my children come to an early end."

And he was gone. She lay there, helpless, naked. Tigress let her head fall back, fighting the tears for a few more seconds before it became impossible. The shame of losing, of being raped, finally hit her. She was ruined for life. No matter what happened after this, no matter how much her friends might swear themselves to secrecy, it had happened, and she could never escape it.

#

_The journey to the Jade Palace was as humiliating as it ever could have been. Somewhere between the bridge and their home, Crane had found a piece of cloth to cover her shame, and Shifu had sworn the group of them to silence. She would have thanked him, but words would not come. Instead, she threw herself into the evacuation of the Valley of Peace, keeping her thoughts anywhere but on her defeat.

It took the explosion of chi flowing out of the valley some time later, signalling the end of a great fight, to draw her back home. But even with Tai Lung defeated - and that was unbelievable enough - her problems were only just beginning._

Two months passed, two months where tears and hate swelled in constant storms inside of her. Two months of growth in her belly. The rest of the Five had watched it happen, but they never commented on it. All they did was ask her how they could help.

She never had an answer. Not until now. Tigress turned to the four of them, tapping out tiles for mahjonng, and whispered.

"Get Shifu."

The other members of the Furious Five left to find him, heading into the temple while Tigress sat with her legs curled up to her chest. The bump of her belly kept it from being as complete as it would have been, and she hated that.

She hated everything, starting with herself, and ending with the lives inside of her. She hated that she was afraid, that she stumbled around and felt her heartbeat race every time she heard the soft purr of another feline.

Most of all, she hated that she wasn't getting better.

Her hand almost unwillingly rubbed over the bulge of her stomach, and she pulled it back as soon as she felt the slightest twitch, growling under her breath before it was silenced. Not by self-control, but by a crushing despair. It kept her from doing anything, even though the temptation to find an herbalist and kill these little monsters loomed in her mind every morning, and became a promise to herself every night.

What stopped her? Helplessness. No matter how she much she wanted to get rid of them, she couldn't shake the fear that doing so would invite more pain. She had already taken so much, already felt so much. Why did she have to do more?

She looked out the window, down at the practice yard. Po. He'd defeated Tai Lung in the end, though where the snow leopard was taken afterwards was hidden from her. Some said that he was completely destroyed, but Tigress didn't believe that. Someone like him...complete destruction was impossible. If she couldn't do it, and Shifu couldn't, she doubted that someone like Po could do it.

Even the thought of the leopard's name sent a shudder down her spine, and a tension through her arms. She squeezed her legs, hard, and held herself, until -

"Tigress. You're bleeding."

She looked up just in time to see her Master scurry across the floor, lifting a cloth and dabbing it against her legs. Realizing that she must have started scraping herself, scratching herself, damaging herself again, Tigress quickly pulled her hands back.

Her Master tended her in silence, gently dabbing away the blood until it stopped flowing. He sat beside her, and she appreciated the silence. Too many people had tried to talk with her about it. Too many people had tried to get her to recover. None of them had succeeded, and none had given her simple silence.

It was hard enough to achieve of late. The reputation that she and the Furious Five had to maintain around the whole of China was difficult enough to remember at the best of times. With what happened with...him...She had kept it together so far, but she had no idea how long that could continue. Even around Po and the others, she struggled sometimes, keeping her face blank and continuing with her serious façade.

Only here, in privacy - or occasionally around Shifu - she could let it all down, and show the fears that had grown in her.

Her forehead touched the tops of her knees as she let out one great sigh, her entire body shaking in the process. The little man who'd taught her everything she knew laid his hand on her leg, and even he was difficult not to shy away from.

But she held that, at least. She had that much self-control.

Letting out one more shaky breath, Tigress lifted her head again. She could never summon the will she needed to go to the market and get what she needed. But there was a second option, one that she hadn't considered before now.

"Master."

"Yes?"

"You know...all the techniques that Oogway did?"

"Most of them. Others are better lost."

"Then you know the chi points, like Tai Lung did."

"I do."

She slowly reached down, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach. Even then, she felt the twitches and movements of the life in her belly, the hated spawn of the man who had done this to her. She made sure that Shifu felt them as well, some small part taking comfort in sharing it.

"Then use it to get rid of them."

He looked up at her, not in shock, as she'd expected, but in understanding. He pulled his hand free.

"I can understand what you're going through -"

"No, you can't. Viper might, but you have no chance of understanding what this is like."

She slowly stood up, feeling that bulge in her stomach, feeling it weigh on her, slow her down. Her fights had been harder, but so far, she'd kept up. She knew that time was rapidly coming to a close, though.

"Tai Lung...raped me."

She'd never said it aloud before, she realized. Everyone had understood, but saying it out loud...it nearly took her back to the moment. Tigress growled, keeping the memories at bay.

"He raped me, and he left me with his children. It was his way of trying to get rid of me forever. And it's working.

"I can't take this, Master. I need to get rid of them, and it's too late for the herbs to have enough effect. You're the only one that could help me now. Please."

Shifu looked at her, his old eyes glazing over. She wondered just what he was thinking about. Her, of all that she meant? Of all the things that people might say about her losing her children? Or perhaps, most painful, of his own 'son' that had done this to her?

Whatever it was, he pulled himself back to the moment in seconds, and nodded.

"Fine. Come with me."

They walked through the corridors of the Jade Palace, traveling towards Shifu's quarters. Several times, one of the other members of the Furious Five approached them, but a glance from their teacher sent them off in another direction right away. Nobody would bother them, a fact for which Tigress was grateful.

The trip was uneventful, and as Shifu gestured her into his room, Tigress allowed herself some small burst of hope. The ghostly hold that the snow leopard had over her would soon be gone.

She laid herself down on a folded robe, taking several deep breaths as her master stood over her. His slight height did nothing to diminish his dignity, and he pressed his hands together over her belly. Tigress looked at the lump, and felt her own rage swell once more. If she had the courage, she could have gotten rid of it herself. With it gone, perhaps she might finally regain what she'd lost.

Shifu laid his hands over her stomach, his little fingers dancing across it as he moved her shirt up and out of the way. For the first time in weeks, she felt a slight smile twitch at the corners of her mouth, threatening to lift her mood a little bit.

It didn't work, but the potential was still there.

"Tigress."

She looked up at him.

"This is going to hurt."

"The pain will be worth it."

"It's not just pain of the body. It will burn at you from inside, and you will know that these children are gone. You will know that you are empty again."

"That's what I want."

"As long as you're sure."

She was. She braced herself as Shifu stood up, holding his hands over her stomach. The feeling of the chi strikes back at the bridge hadn't been painful in and of themselves, but they'd been targeted to paralyze, to deaden. This...this was targeted to kill the life inside of her.

Demons that are better off not living.

Telling herself that did little to take away the fear, and as Shifu started, Tigress immediately knew how serious his warning had been.

The stabbing feeling of her chi points being attacked was nothing compared to the sudden swell of pain inside of her body. Each strike left her feeling like a needle had been stabbed into her stomach, ripping through her belly and twirling around like some chopsticks in a bowl of noodles. She arched her back, a grunt escaping between her clenched teeth as she fought the pain, her claws digging into the floor in a desperate attempt to hold onto reality.

Her master didn't stop. If anything, his motions sped up, jabbing at point after point across her stomach in an arrow that slowly led down towards her hips, and her groin. Tigress barely noticed. Her eyes were rolling back in their sockets, pushing her to the very edge of her tolerance.

Despite her lack of talent for chi strikes, she could feel...something...as Shifu rained them down. The life in her belly faded, for lack of a better word, dimming inside of her. The little twitches and motions briefly increased, then went still.

Her belly seized up, and she felt every muscle from chest to thigh seize up. She bit into her arm, feeling her teeth grazing on flesh as the serious cramps threatened to leave her senseless.

The touches stopped, but the cramps went on. Shifu lifted her head up, cradling it, as she growled and whimpered in turns.

"It is done. They are dead."

"Thank - AH!"

She couldn't stop that scream, and she knew that it would travel down at least one corridor of the Jade Palace. Her body was still in motion, pressing against itself, and she swore she felt something moving inside of her.

"What...what's happening?"

"They're dead, but you are alive. They have to come out."

"You mean -"

"Stillbirth. I'm sorry, Tigress. It is the only way."

She had hoped that there was still time, but she'd been wrong. They were too far along. The martial arts master nodded her head, however, and tried to get to her feet.

It was a lost cause. She was in too much pain, and she was too far into the process to make it. She collapsed again, and Shifu made for the door. Realizing he meant to call for someone else, she grabbed at his robe.

"No...no one else can see this."

"But you -"

"I trust you, Master. Don't humiliate me more by letting others see this."

He was silent, but he turned to her again. He helped her out of her clothes, pulling them free and laying them across the floor while preserving her modesty at all times. He even set up a curtain, covering her lower half so that she didn't have to worry about him looking.

It was almost too late by the time he finished. He put a stick in her mouth, wrapped in leather, and she bit on it hard as the pain returned. It felt like her body was trying to rip itself apart in the process of pushing the cubs out of her, and her jaws tightened further and further as she felt the first sliding out of her.

She imagined it was like a tunnel felt when a snake slithered its way free, except that she could feel no movement. No struggle, no squirming as the dead thing was pushed out of her. It was disturbing in its own way.

Or would have been, if it wasn't ripping her open in a way she'd never expected. Tigress squeezed Shifu's hands until she felt something crack, and then went on. It might have been the stick, it might have been a bone. She didn't know, and she didn't care. What mattered was that she had something.

Her mind faded, drifting off as the first cub slipped free of her, landing in a wet plop beyond the curtain. The smell of blood and death filled the room, and her mind recoiled from it. She turned her head away, the sound of her own heartbeat rushing through her ears as the pain briefly dimmed, only to increase again as the next cub started sliding through her, eager to join its twin in death.

She shuddered, her body squirming this way and that, weakly but surely protesting what it was going through. Her mind fogged, and slowly knew no more.

#

She buried the cubs herself, the bodies in an unmarked grave behind the palace. She forbade Shifu or any of the others from following or helping her, despite her recovery only being half-done. Tigress knew that this was her shame, her decision, and she wouldn't let anyone share in it.

She lingered at the gravesite, looking down at it and shaking her head. There had been three bodies that had left her. Three young beings that would never see the light of day nor take a single breath. Spawned by their monster of a father, they would have been a threat to everyone, and a terror that would have haunted her for the rest of her life.

Yet...

Tigress looked behind her, up the cliff, and among the few bits of greenery. No one stood there, no one watched her from a hiding place.

Slowly, she went to her knees, barely supporting herself with the shovel she'd brought with her, and laid her head against the earth. For the first time, for the very first time since her defeat, she let herself cry, her hands wrapped around her stomach.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry."

Words that almost never passed her lips came spilling out, apologies to the little ones she'd killed, whispers of fear, of hate, of pure emotion that couldn't be understood. Tigress said all that and more, unable to stop herself or keep herself from losing control.

She wondered if she'd made the right decision. Fear had nearly paralyzed her, and it had seemed the only way out. The thought of holding onto his children for one more minute had seemed unbearable when there was a way out, but had there been any other choice? She thought that there wasn't, but...but had there been?

Tigress didn't know. All she knew was that things were different now. There was no turning back, and despite her regrets, she knew that there was no bringing the children back. Nobody would ever see them grow, and nobody would know that there was a legacy to Tai Lung that would never see the light of day.

Perhaps they might have been better than their father...

She tried to think of it, but the specter of the snow leopard hovered over her too strongly for her to hold that thought for long. Its replacement, however, was a terror all its own.

Perhaps they would have been better than me.

She shivered at the thought, but it was enough to get her to get back to her feet. No matter how hard things were now, no matter how much she hurt, how much she wanted things to be different, she had to go on.

She was part of the Furious Five, and China would never stop needing her. If nothing else, she could protect it in a way that she never could have protected the inhabitants of the grave.

The End