"It's been days." Viper anxiously rubs her snout. "This feels so cruel."

"No food, barely any water…" Mantis' eyes wander tiredly. "I dunno what they've done to him. Serious brainwashing stuff."

"We've gone so far as to degrade ourselves with pleas." Crane fans his face with his hat, his humid feathers clinging to his skin. "That monster doesn't care."

Monkey treads his brows with his fingertips, eyes narrowed. "We could still try to transport him to prison."

"That's a long journey to make with a hostage."

"I could fly. Carry him all the way."

"He'll be just as quiet behind bars. He's probably been in prison before, anyway. Old news for his type."

"And you'd put yourself in danger."

"We've gotta let him go, guys." Po squares his shoulders, solemn. "Give him something to eat and send him away."

"And then what?" Tigress asks quietly, sitting apart from the others, her back toward them. Contemplating things she doesn't talk about.

"We follow him to the bandit stronghold. Stealth mode."

"He won't go back. He knows we'd follow."

"Where else would he go?"

"Wherever he can prey upon the weak. Some unfortunate little village. A caravan."

"What if we force him to take us to his boss?"

"He knows he'd be killed for it. He isn't afraid to die, but he seems loyal. It would be a betrayal." She hesitates. "We need a greater incentive than preserving his life."

"How do you convince someone who isn't afraid of death? That's, like, the scariest thing."

"No."

Po watches Tigress slowly rise to her impressive height.

"Death isn't the scariest thing."

"What're you saying?"

She stares at the ground between her feet, at the head of her shadow, where her face would be. She sees only a dark void.

"Tigress?"

"All of you, listen."

Their eyes are on her firm, straight back, an unforgiving plane of muscle and bone under silk and fur.

"I'll do this for your honour. For the innocent lives of those people."

"Do what?" Po murmurs, his stomach lurching strangely.

"What I have to." She reaches for the bandaging on her shoulder, the wound beneath yet to fully heal.

"W-wait..." He realises what she is talking about. "You can't!"

"I will, but you won't."

"No, no, no! This is… I… Tigress, you…"

"Any harm I inflict will be necessary. Non-lethal." His appalled gape is the first reaction that greets her when she turns to face her friends. It hurts slightly worse than the horror she sees in the rest of them. "I'm so sorry."

"You aren't a monster," Viper whispers. "You expect us to let you do something monstrous?"

"We love you." Monkey puts his hand on Crane as if to seek support, whose hat is lopsided, beak bent.

"We can't let you do this, Tigress."

"Don't be an idiot." Mantis has hopped onto her uninjured shoulder, prodding her cheek hard enough to make her flinch. "Don't make us stop you for your own good."

Po says nothing, his big green eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Tigress is forced to look away.

"Don't make us fight you."

"Do you want to save those lives? Then let me through."

"There has to be another way."

"We don't have the time. We've wasted enough already." Brushing Mantis off of herself, she takes unyielding, miserable steps toward the room that holds their captive, drawing closer to the others whilst doing so. "If you stop me, now, those lives will be lost." She's looming, threatening.

"He's a person. An awful person, but..."

"I know."

The remaining Five turn to each other, allowing her to brush past them.

Po reaches for Tigress, weak and sick, his paw finding hers.

"Hard-core," she whispers, momentarily squeezing his fingers before slipping from his grasp.

"This…" He shakes his head, his lips trembling. "This isn't what it m-means."

"Forgive me."

"Tigress..."

She feels like her heart might be pulled from its cage.

The bandit is tied down, his head held high as Tigress enters his room.

This fills her with revulsion and anger. "Talk." Much of which is directed toward herself.

"You know I'll die, pussycat," he hisses through chapped lips, his scarred face steadily growing pale and gaunt. "I'll tell you nothing before death silences me forever."

"I'm not here to kill you."

"Really? Gonna let me out, so soon? That's pretty soft."

"As I said. Your freedom will be returned to you, after you talk."

"Too bad, then. 'Cause I already told you, I'm gonna die."

She unsheathes her claws.

Crane takes the crude note from Tigress, as she hadn't wanted to speak after she was finished.

She watches him take off, following his shrinking figure, then stares at the empty sky. It is huge and it threatens to swallow her whole.

Po can smell blood, sweat and urine. He can see these fluids in the wood, leaving behind their stains.

The bandit is unconscious, already tended to by Mantis.

The Dragon Warrior contemplates the cost of this information. Although Tigress meant only to put herself in debt, Po fees like he has lost something precious and pure that had withstood every other expense. This was something he was never willing to give. It was taken.

She is still his friend, his favourite, his heroine. When she touches him, she will still be gentle when appropriate, forceful when needed, and she will be familiar. She will hold his secrets to herself when he tells them to her in confidence. She will put her body and her life at risk to keep him safe.

Things have to return to normal.

He rubs his eyes on his arm, trying to compose himself. He could have stopped her. If there was something else they could've done, something honourable, the opportunity is now gone. If he had grabbed her paw and held onto it, she would have obeyed him. But he was so shaken. Perhaps this is his fault.

She will be withdrawn. She will mourn. She will hold herself accountable. She will believe she is less than she once was.

He will convince her otherwise, because she is his best friend and he loves her. He is just taking a moment to organise his thoughts and find self-control. He doesn't want her to think that this is a chasm they cannot cross to be close, again. He doesn't want her to feel alone.

The remaining Five will not love her any less for what she did.

Everything will be okay, soon. It'll all be normal, soon.

He just has to have hope.