The panda followed Zeng into Shifu's room and found him sitting on the floor, meditating as usual. Zeng signaled for Po to go to him, and he obliged.
"Uh, hey Master Shifu! You needed me?"
"Ah yes. Have a seat Dragon Warrior."
Po sat down in front of him, accidentally blowing out most of the candles.
"Oops, sorry!"
Shifu sighed. "It's alright." He said, grabbing the candles and putting them in a covert. Walking over to Po, he sat back down in front of him.
"I called you hear to ask you how the class is going."
"Oh, it's going great! I was just in the middle of teaching before you called me back here."
"I interrupted a class? My apologies, Dra-"
"No no no, it's fine! I got Tigress to take over for me."
"Oh, alright then."
"Yea. In fact, I decided to make her my teaching partner!"
"Teaching partner?"
"Yup! Cool right?"
"If you think that will help you Dragon Warrior, then do as you please."
Po smiled and nodded his head.
"So everything is going good?"
"Yup."
"You sure?"
"Yea, everything's fine."
"Ok good. That's good."
The panda became worried.
"Are you ok Shifu?"
"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know, you just seem...concerned."
Shifu sighed.
"Look Po, I know it's been a whole year since you began teaching, but...There's still that old Master Shifu inside of me; the one that trained you. I still feel as if you barely know much about these things. Clearly I am wrong, but..."
The red panda struggled to find words to explain, but Po gently put his paw on Shifu's shoulder.
"It's alright Master. I understand."
Shifu smiled.
"I'm glad you do, Dragon Warrior."
The red panda stood up, Po doing the same.
"Well, that's all I needed to know. You are dismissed."
"Alrighty! Nice talk, learned a lot!"
Shifu snickered at his sarcastic tone.
"Trust me, Po. You'll have much to learn on your own. If I could teach you such, then I would. But you lead your own path now, Dragon Warrior."
The panda thought for a moment.
"Oh don't tell me I have to actually sit in a cave for 30 years!"
"Not for awhile, but yes, eventually."
"Argh!!" Po groaned.
Shifu laughed softly, thinking about what the future holds for the Dragon Warrior.
When the panda left, Shifu went towards the bookshelf at the end of the room. Pushing it to the side, he revealed a small room with many used candles of various sizes which formed a circle in the middle. Walking in, he closed the bookshelf behind him.
"Here goes nothing". He said as he pulled 2 blue stones from his pocket, both radiating a bright blue aura around the room.
He took a deep breath, slowly sitting down amongst the candles. Squeezing his eyes shut, he felt as the power from the stones surged through his body, and the room as a whole. The candles miraculously lit, and a golden portal formed on the wall in front of Shifu.
He felt as his spirit slowly began to leave his body and jump into the portal. Suddenly, the portal closed shut, the candles blew out, and Shifu's body plopped back onto the floor, the blue stones no longer in his hand.
He awoke on a rock that was floating amongst other pieces of debris.
The first thing he perceived was the gold color of the realm itself, and the various floating pieces of land which a spirit occupied.
"Take me to the Snow Leopard." He whispered to the stones, which had traveled there with him.
Suddenly, he teleported to a desolate mountaintop, where the only thing that was there, was a building that mirrored Chorh-Gom Prison.
He took a deep breath and slowly made his way there.
Arriving at the door, he raised his hand, gently knocking and stepping back, waiting for it to open.
"Who's there!?" A confused voice yelled.
The red panda struggled to answer, but forced himself to. He had to do this, the universe willed it.
"Tai Lung?" He replied.
Silence.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing a snow leopard dressed in a brown and purple garment.
He stared at the small figure in front of him.
"Shifu..." He simply said.
They both stood in silence for a few long seconds, until Shifu broke it.
"I came to see you."
"So it seems."
More silence.
"So...Oogway was right?"
Shifu looked up at him, surprised by this.
"How is the Dragon Warrior doing?"
"Po? He's doing great. Not only did he become Dragon Warrior, but he defeated a peacock, of which name I'm sure you know."
"Shen. Yes, I've seen him around the Spirit Realm."
"And Kai. He defeated Kai."
"Kai? Hah, I'm glad. He's the one who took my Chi, and every other spirit that had any talent in Kung Fu."
"Kai took your Chi to? I never saw-"
"My amulet? Ah, who did? Nobody. I wasn't even used in his little Jade army. So pathetic, he was."
"Indeed, yes. Arrogance was his specialty, as well as destroying things."
"Why did you come here, Shifu?" The Snow Leopard said suddenly.
Shifu hesitated for a moment.
"I came to say...To say...To say that I'm sorry, for everything I've done. I'm sorry for lying to you, for making you believe that you were destined, for wasting your whole life training for this one purpose, of which I was so proud. Yet, my pride blinded me, and I turned you into something your not. It was my fault Tai Lung, and even though I found peace, it still haunts me. My love for you never died. To me, even after all that happened, even after denying my first apology and nearly killing me in rage, that of which I am responsible for, you were still my son. I love you son, and I'm sorry."
The snow leopard went from looking unamused, to looking as if he was about to break down and cry.
He grabbed the red panda embraced him.
"I-I love you to...Dad
Shifu hugged him back as they both shed tears of joy and relief.
Somewhere, in the depths of the universe, a star was born.