Kung Fu Panda: The Hunt For The Heir (OC x Tigress fanfic)

Chapter 24: Wounds, New and Old

A/N: Apologies for taking a bit longer than usual! I might have to skip next week's chapter because I'm prepping for an important interview and I won't have much time for writing. Apologies for that. Anyway, thank you reading and enjoy. Oh, and Happy Halloween!


...

Orange... The colour orange. A pair of eyes. A word... 'Beautiful'. Running, playing, wrestling and drawing. Fun. Fun and happiness. Happiness... A feeling long since forgotten, long since put aside for other things. Then, a smile. A full, wide, genuine smile. Not something often done anymore. One in return. A feeling. Feelings. All positive for once. Attachment. Suddenly, reaching out for something, or someone. Running again, this time panicked. Desperate. Tears flowing, once again not something done in so many years... Then the streets, starving, name calling, outcast even among outcasts. Pariah. Ignored, or spat on. A nothing. A true Nowhere Man. Pain. Pain and misery. A feeling that persisted for years afterwards, wounds that never healed. Emotional and mental ones. A lonely starving orphan. Sitting alone in the rain, it masks the tears, thunder that masks the sobbing.

Alone. All alone...

...

Hunter shot up in bed, panting heavily, grimacing from the tenderness as he disturbed his still healing wound, although it definitely felt much better than yesterday. He of course had Master Tigress to thank for that. It was light outside by now, so luckily he hadn't woken up in the middle of the night. His hand was holding onto his sheathed sword with a grip so tight that it was turning his knuckles white. His dreams were never very pleasant if he did indeed dream, but that was the worst it's been yet. Nightmares of that calibre were thankfully rare.

Sighing to himself and looking at the ground, he thought about the situation at hand. 'One more reason to leave the Palace, I guess.' He thought defeatedly, as if the life was drained out of him. 'Hopefully that'll stop these damn nightmares.' Hunter then shook his head out and grumbled, trying to get the negative images out of his head. It was times like this he wished that he had the metal reinforced ironwood blocks on hand... Or at least a bottle of booze in which to drown the thoughts and forget, but he had neither right now. Fuck. 'Time to settle for the alternative I guess.' Hunter grumbled to himself at his thoughts as he stood, taking his sword and slightly hobbling out of his tent.

The camp was empty and the fire was now smoking embers, having long extinguished on it's own. It was probably around 8am, give or take from what Hunter could gather. Looks like the Five had decided to sleep in a bit longer while they had the chance without Shifu and the gong to wake them up at dawn. Hunter once again sat down by the fire and took a deep breath as he prepared to try and get the images out of his head... He didn't do this often at all, and it was somewhat of a hidden talent of his, one could say. but he needed to clear his head and meditation wouldn't do it this time... And now he had an audience. Great.

(Hunter is singing)

He closed his eyes and let the words flow from his mind and through him from his memories. "I know it's hard to tell... How mixed up you feel. Hoping what you need, is behind every door. Each time you get hurt, I don't want you to change. 'Cause everyone has hopes, you're human after all." He braced himself for the next part. "The feeling sometimes, wishing you were someone else. Feeling as though you never belong... This feeling is not sadness, this feeling is not joy... I truly understand. Please don't cry now..." he softly sang to himself. Or so he thought.

The Five and Po all woke up surprisingly gently to the sound of singing coming from outside their tents. Instantly suspicious of who this could be, they all burst out, but to their surprise, Hunter was sat there like last night. Looking into the fire... And was the one singing. They could tell the lyrics felt personal to Hunter, and so they remained silent, instead gathering around the fire once again to listen as he continued to sing. "Please don't go, I want you to stay. I'm begging you please, please don't leave here... I don't want you to hate. For all the hurt that you feel... The world is just illusion, trying to change you." The singing shocked the Five and Po, who didn't expect Hunter to be able to sing as well as he did. Then again, they did remember he had quite the set of lungs on him. They also didn't expect him to sing with such... Meaning and emotion, especially considering how he usually carried himself with so little emotional range.