A/N: Last chapter, minus an epilogue I have in the works. I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed, ESPECIALLY Dragon Chronicle, you really helped me out in my first baby steps in posting on this site. ENJOY!

No. She wasn't there. It was absurd, it was illogical to think that she was there. Then again, she was standing right in front of him, so he couldn't really argue the fact. "Ti-Tigress…" his tongue went on strike; his heart threw a rock-party in his throat…what was she doing here?

She smirked again, pushing him back to lie down on the mat, and he didn't dare fight her firm touch. "Lie down. Viper, can you take it from here?"

"Uh, sure. Where are you going?" Viper found it odd, even concerning, that Tigress was just leaving.

Ignoring Po's gaping jaw and star-shocked eyes of jade, she answered on her way to the door. "I have to train the students. Keep him lying down." With no word of parting, she swept out of the room.

Mantis hopped on Po's shoulder. "Dude, she was a lot nicer to you when you were unconscious. Maybe you should try that again."

Honestly, couldn't anyone other than her think of Po's health? "Po, how do you feel?" As hard and forcefully as she shoved her hopes to back where they came from, Viper couldn't stop the urge to believe Po was fixed. After all, he had passed out before he lost his personality, maybe passing out again fixed him?

Po shrugged. "No different, but my temples hurt like burning coals."

"Of course."

"I guess getting hit again didn't fix you," Monkey mumbled. The air in the room dropped several degrees, like the room had heard about someone's death. In a way, it had. Was this the death of Po?

Viper shook her head and tried to rid herself of the melancholy, grim thoughts. If she could just be optimistic one more time, if she could just believe the best would take place this one last time, maybe her glum attitude would dissolve. "Well, you should stay resting. We can't stay for long, we're going to check out that place Monkey was talking about, then head back. Tigress will come back tomorrow as planned."

He nodded, his mind wandering to other places.

I'm...I'm not fixed.

"We'll see you in a bit." Crane waved, as did the other masters.

"Get some rest, Po," Viper ordered under such a low tone Po thought she was crying.

The group left, and he was once more alone with his thoughts.

Was this the end? His reflection, his mind, his conscious, his whatever didn't know what he was talking about. How was he supposed to fix himself?

Groaning, he covered his face with his paws. He could face death on a daily basis and win, he could save all of China, he could get the most inward and reserved Kung Fu Master to open up, but he couldn't fix his own state of mind?

Tigress was more fun, essentially, than him.

Were the roles reversed now? Was he the hardcore, the quiet, the disciplined one who needed training in the art of letting go? Was she the fun one who needed to release childish, silly fantasies about love?

"She loves me, not you."

Of course, of all the things that changed in him, his love for her remained. Why, of all things, did that burning sensation inside him have to stay?

It was part of him.

She was part of him.

He couldn't think about this forever. Brooding did nothing, it only served to give his self-pity strength and a longer life.

He admired the room around him. It was small, reminiscent of the Jade Palace, but more ornate, like for a king. Where the Jade Palace had trimmings of wood, the school had gold. Red paint was replaced by bold, earth-shattering, palpable blue, a somehow more mature feel.

"Po?"

His introspection was interrupted by Tigress' voice and her knock at the door. "Come in," he greeted, ignoring the stinging in his head as he sat up.

She entered, an air he didn't care for around her. Obviously, she still felt awkward around him. Of course, had he really expected that she would feel comfortable around him? Would she ever? Did they have to start all over, forming a new relationship from the beginning?

It sounded exhausting.

"Where is Viper?"

Her words, frozen and untouchable, unless one had a death wish, burned in his ears. He longed to see her smile. Perhaps her glowing, angelic disposition when he had first woken up was a figment of his imagination, what his lonely mind desperately craved in the moment.

"She left."

"Ah."

How was he supposed to get her to open up when he wasn't even open enough to know his own feelings? He could not expect her to do what he could not, nor could he cause her to.

"I'm going to go," she announced suddenly, sparking his eyes to open wide and his nerves to stand up straight in a military row. "Keep resting."

"Tigress?"

Oh no.

Please, don't talk to me.

Don't make me listen to you now.

"Yes?" Her tough exterior, hiding an unstable frame of mind, did not help his confidence.

"Uh, I was just...I was wondering..." Did he have a plan? Did he know what he was going to say? did he know what he wanted to say?

Absolutely not.

She watched with careful, laser-focused eyes as he rambled blind, like a child running in a dreamscape. It was calming, in a sick way, to see him scrambling for words. It reminded her of his old self, when he would either stutter in front of her or speak like the most eloquent, trustworthy friend in the world.

"Po?" If she closed her eyes, much like Viper had noticed, she could imagine there wasn't anything wrong with him. "What is it?"

His eyes shot up. She thought he knew what he was talking about? He didn't even know what had he wanted to ask of her, much less how to say it.

The thought struck him like a boulder rolling down an eighty-five-degree slope.

No, he certainly could not say that.

That was out of the question, he wasn't the one she loved anymore. It would be foolish to confess, again, today. It would be the dumbest move in the book, fools would advise against it.

Do it.

"Ti, I think, well, I mean, I don't know, but..." Here it was. Now or never, truly, never. His heart kicked and hollered in his throat, his stomach was knotting so bad he thought he would be sick. "...I think..."

Say it.

"...I love you."

Blurring, clouding, black splotches closed all around his vision, his head shedding pounds, not that he could tell where his head was relative to space.

His head hit the bottom of the mat, but complete unconsciousness hid from him.

His heart stopped for a moment, as if taking a breath, and he clutched his chest before it returned like a bullet.

"Ti?" he eyed her through hazy vision. "Isn't this the part where you rush to my side, all concerned and worried about me?"

Her jaw let go further, throwing off the balance of her rigid form.

"Uh, you ok?" His vision slowly gave him a break, but his head refused to budge with its pain. "You look like I just tried the noodle-boiling-water plan again. Can you move a little? You're freaking me out here and why am I talking so much?"

"Po..." she found the strength, the willpower to force words out of her mouth again. "...how do you feel?"

Different.

He felt different, but the same.

Like returning to a home one had sold and left years ago, or rummaging through a closet of childhood necessities after years of more mature hobbies. Something new and something old were one.

"I..." His words were air. "...am I fixed?"

Her smile was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. She was happy, she had a girlish quality around her, like a small, giddy side of her was making itself know. "Are you?" There was a sarcastic but sweet edge to her voice, one only she could master.

He was lighter. Happier. It was like a gun that had been held to his head for weeks was taken away. "Ti, I'm fixed!"

Again, dangerously ignoring the sharp shot of pain in his head, he shot up from the mat, rushed to her side and grabbed her in a hug. She stiffened at first, but inwardly rolling her eyes, she returned to hug gently.

He's back.

Viper rushed in next, the only obstacle her own stupidly optimistic heart. "What is it?" She crashed through the door, with Mantis, Monkey, and Crane barreling in after her.

Po pulled back, a grin none of them had seen in weeks back on his face. "I'm cured!"

Viper started crying.

The next five minutes were spent with hugs, mainly from Viper's end, and quizzing Po on various 'fun' activities and trivia while Tigress rolled her eyes.

"How did it happen?" Viper asked, her elated energy still rushing forward like a wave. "What fixed you?"

Po and Tigress refused to glance at each other. "Well, it's a funny story..." Po laughed, shrugging a bit. He still had no answer, the joy of becoming himself again had blotted out his other life crisis.

Viper shook her head. No way was he getting out of telling her. "Oh, no way. Come on, I have to know how this happened."

Tigress, who knew what actually brought him back, had been using the past sixty seconds to formulate an artful lie. "There wasn't really much to it. Po was very out of it, as you saw after waking up, and his personality returned slowly."

Her ability to lie so well was of some concern to Po, but that was an issue for another day.

Matching said ability, Viper's belief in Tigress' story was little to none. "Uh-huh." She eyed the pair suspiciously, and with every reason to do so. "Ok, well, I'm glad." She decided that the truth could come out in its own time, no matter who she heard it from.

"Wait, so getting hit on the head really did fix him?" Monkey asked, elation crossing his face. "I was right!"

Tigress smirked. "You could say that."

Now, while it is unknown what caused Viper's realization, she certainly acted on it. "Uh, guys?" She looked to her 'boys', a sense of urgency and mild panic gracing her that they did not recognize. "Let's go, we have things to do. Po, glad you're back, uh, bye."

"What do we have to do?" Crane asked, innocently enough.

Viper bit back a groan, but let through a glare. "I'll tell you later, come on." Grabbing Mantis' leg and Monkey's ear, she dragged them out of the room. Crane was wise enough to follow suit, without any physical persuasion.

Tigress made a mental note to have a talk with Viper about when is and isn't a good time to leave two people alone together.

"Well, I'm going to go as well," Tigress interpreted the silence, never being one to let awkward situations brew for very long. "Goodbye." Carefully, very carefully, she avoided the subject of his confession.

"Wait, Ti." He took a few steps forward, and she winced. Already she was feeling the drawbacks of having his old personality back; he was just as stubborn as her, if not more, and would not let anything go, no matter how awkward.

"Yes?" She turned to face him, but her attention and gaze were directly to his side.

"Uh, well, I kind of said something earlier, I don't know if you heard it or not, but it may or may not have had to do with the fact of concerning how I feel regarding you and my relationship with you." The entire sentence was said in one short, hasty breath, it had to, for his nerve and confidence were fading fast.

For all she knew, she was dealing with two very different people, two personalities, one how had loved her and she had hurt, and one who also loved her, but she had not hurt nearly as badly. How could she know that the old one still loved her? She wasn't ready to risk finding out. "Po, I can't talk about this."

Oh, no way is she getting out of this.

Reaching forward and breaking all known laws of dealing with Tigress, he grabbed her paw and stopped her from taking another step. "Tigress, you can't just leave me, not again. I deserve an answer, whatever it may be."

For a fleeting moment, she thought he had lost himself again, until catching a glimpse of the sweet smile he wore. He was back, but could she trust him? He had slipped from her grasp so many times for so many reasons, and there were too many ways she could lose him again.

What was she to gain if she accepted his love?

Him.

That, for whatever mad reason, was enough for her today.

"You know what? I think I may just love you after all."

She thought he would faint right then and there, again.

"Wait, really?" After a moment of silence and recollection, he was able to speak. "This is real, you actually..." he waited for her to fill in the impossible.

She smiled. "Yes."

Here was no room for words as he swept her into a kiss.