Chapter 28

"Has anyone seen Tigress?"

Monkey turned his head to look at whoever asked the question; not that it was directed to him specifically. It was one of those open-to-the-table kinds of questions, that anyone could answer, or let die out in the awkward silence that follows when no one knew the answer. "No," he replied, before looking around. The sun was getting brighter, so his opened his hand over his eyes to shield them. No sign of any of them; it shouldn't have been hard to lose them...

Crane, who was the asker, was back on the ground after flying a long distance. Now with some natural sunlight upon them, he was no longer required to light the way for the mirage of villagers that followed them into the unknown. By the time he was back on the ground and ditched the lantern, Monkey had returned the young piglet to her mother, and left his arms empty. Mantis was chilling out on his shoulder, and Viper was slithering ahead of them, who stopped when Crane's question began to materialise.

"No. Now that I think about it... I haven't seen Jian or Azure either." The green snake's face morphed into a look of worry. "I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they're fine," Mantis spoke with optimism, but couldn't hide the concern written clearly all over his face. Monkey's hand fell away from his face quietly. "Maybe Tigress told them to race ahead of us to warn Sying! Yeah, that's where they are!" His confidence dwindled slightly. "I'm sure of it..."

Crane and Viper exchanged doubtful looks before Monkey spoke up. "It doesn't explain where Tigress went though..."

Just then, an explosion of this gold, rippling energy flowed across the land around them and the fleeing villagers. There was a wave of cries in shock, and Crane's hat was knocked off of his head as they all crouched to the ground in an attempt to take cover... but it was gone as soon as it came. There was a chorus of questions on what that could possibly be, but when someone pointed out that it came from the direction of the Valley of Peace, the Masters had no choice but to follow the crowd of villagers back in the direction they came from.

"But... my hat?" Crane muttered, glancing behind him quickly, before flying ahead to retrieve it.


What they returned to was... cleaner than they expected. There was some major damage done of course, but only to a small handful of houses; some missing tiles, others... completely levelled. The owners weren't too pleased, but it was quickly forgotten about when they noticed the pathway towards the Jade Palace was engulfed in this golden dust. A few animals coughed and fanned the dust out of their faces, before one of the villagers spotted something move- a figure, in the distance. "Look!" They said, pointing at the silhouette. "It's the Dragon Warrior..."

This obscured figure approached the cloud slowly, with his cloak flowing in the wind, and hat adorning his head. The smoke cleared, and everyone watched anxiously for it to reveal... Po. His 'hat' being an upside-down wok, and his 'cloak' as a dirty apron. Coughing a little, he removed the apron and smiled at the crowd shyly. They in return stared at him for a moment... before they erupted into a wave of cheers. Parading around him, they attempted to lift... and failed. Almost breaking their backs, they wiped the sweat off their heads and continued their gratitude by clapping.

Mr Ping suddenly emerged from the crowd. "That's my boy!" He cried. "That big, lovely kung fu warrior is my son!" He ran for the panda, who had his arms open to catch him in a heartfelt hug.

"Thanks, Dad." Holding the goose closer, Po's head lowered, and the wok fell off and rolled away... only for Mantis to stop it. Po lets go of his father, and straightens his posture, to find Crane, Viper, and Monkey standing before him. "Hey..." He said softly.

"I guess this makes you a Master now," Mantis thought aloud, to which one of the villagers heard.

"Yeah! He's a Master!" They cried. Soon the crowd all bowed to him, and a wave of 'Master' surrounded him. Soon Crane, Monkey, Viper and Mantis followed suite.

Modest, but secret pleased, Po smiled towards the ground. "Master?" But soon his voice grew quiet before his eyes widened. His head turned towards the palace. "Master!"

Viper slithered towards him. "Are you alright sweetie?"

Po shook his head when turned back to look at them. "No- I mean, yes! But they- he- are not." Before they could question anything, Po motioned them to follow him quickly. "We need a doctor. Now."


Crane had flown ahead of them, with Mantis joining him for the ride. As for the others, they ran up the steps, with Po leading him. However, he was getting slower, and more wheezy, so Monkey sent Viper ahead in case she was needed. Po didn't give them a lot of information about what happened, so they tried not to fear the worst. By the time they made it up the steps, Po was nearly keeling over with exhaustion. "Easy big guy," Monkey patted him on the back, before looking behind him to see the massive hole in the stairs. "What in the world happened up here?"

The door was completely obliterated. Wood lay about just inside. "Guys! Hurry!" They heard Viper call from inside, so they didn't waste time. Racing inside, they gasped at the damage; of course, the door was the first thing they noticed, but then there were the artefacts sprawled across the room in pieces, the damage done to the pillars... and Oogway's broken staff. But seeing the others huddled by the pool, they scrambled to catch up.

Closing in, Po's paws clasped over his mouth, as Monkey stared down, mouth agape. "No..."

Azure was still limp in Tigress' arms; her head against her chest, eyes half open. Po noticed a trail of blood began from the pool, leading to where Tigress and Azure were, but couldn't tell if it was from Azure's wound or not. Jian lay across the edge of the steps, his head on Shifu's lap. His body was rigid, but scarcely still. The old Master looked a little worse for wear himself but insisted he was okay. And Tigress? She remained silent; she hadn't taken her eyes off of them, nor had she breathed a word. As soon as Mantis finished wrapping up the wound, her paw caressed the side of the girl's face.

"Are they... dead?" Po whispered. The word alone made Tigress flinch and ruffled Crane's feathers.

"No. Jian collapsed with the pain and exhaustion." Shifu shook his head, to which they felt immense relief, even though they were still injured; Azure's unconsciousness was self-explanatory. "We need to move them to the medical wing. Quickly, get the stretchers." Monkey nodded and bounced off like a shot.

But Po remained on the spot, staring down at his friend. His best friend, one of the only animals in China that truly believed in him, now lay before him, injured. Viper found herself in tears, and Po offered her a hug. "How could he do this... to his own children?" She said quietly. "His own flesh and blood..."

"Wait, did Tai Lung...?" Crane asked, his voice at the same volume. Shifu nodded slowly, settling a paw on Jian's forehead. He didn't react to the contact. Po felt like someone punched him in the stomach, and crouched over slightly. Crane's head bowed, "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Viper urged him to take a deep breath, while Monkey came back with the stretchers and blankets swiftly. Mantis asked him to help Tigress load Azure onto one first. Upon instruction, Tigress attempted to move Azure to the second stretcher, before Mantis stopped her. "What happened to you?!" She glanced at the blood on her arm, before looking back at the bug.

"It's Azure's blood."

"Okay, but are you hurt?" She was about to shake her head, but when she noticed Shifu staring at her intently, she sighed. Grimacing, she lay Azure down on the stretcher gently. When she got to her feet, Mantis noticed the right side of her tunic had a darker patch of red than the rest. Mantis nearly swore when she lifted it slightly to reveal clotted blood. Viper openly wept, while Crane turned his head away, eyes shut tightly. Both Monkey and Po gulped nervously, but Tigress didn't dwell on it.

She instructed Monkey to take one end of the stretcher, while Shifu took the other. Viper threw a blanket over Azure's body to keep her warm. "Worry about me later. I'm fine. Look after Azure and Jian first."

"But Tigress, that looks serious. What did he-"

"I'm not asking." She nearly snapped. But at the same time, she wasn't ordering either; Shifu knew she was begging. Finally getting the hint, Mantis nodded quietly, before asking Crane to go to the Valley to find any nurses or other doctors willing to help him. Crane took off, and Viper volunteered to get one of the infirmaries ready. As she slithered ahead, Shifu and Monkey began manoeuvring Azure out of the room.

Po figured that he should move Jian, but as he was about to move him, Shifu spoke from beside him. "Be gentle, he has a shoulder injury." Po nodded, before realising he was about to touch Jian's shoulders. Looking at Tigress, they wordlessly transferred him gently onto the cloth. He stirred a little as they settled him down, and his eyes opened slightly with a tired, discombobulated mumble. It was like someone drained the life out of him; even though his eyes weren't fully open, he couldn't see the glow in them anymore.

"Jian?" Po said quietly, which got Tigress' attention. He lapped the blanket over his shoulders. "You're gonna be okay bud..." They both watched as Jian's eyes rolled to the side, staring up at Tigress. It took a moment, but he smiled softly at her, before they closed again, his mouth back to flatline.


What happened next, Azure wasn't sure. All she really remembered was the air was lapped around her ears, hitting the water, a sharp pang of pain to the side of her head, and then things got a little weird from there. Images of Tigress and Shifu looking down at her, speaking, with no words coming out before their heads turned away. She was looking back up at them, cold, wanting to ask them what was going on, where Jian was, but the only words she could muster was 'sorry'. But what for?

A lot of things; she was sorry that she dragged Tigress and Jian into this- she wasn't supposed to know that she had backtracked to face Tai Lung herself, and Jian wasn't supposed to be there either. She needed to talk sense into him, or at least try to.

"The devil doesn't bargain."

Those words crawled around her head. Who said it, she didn't know but didn't have a lot of time to think about it more. The next thing she needed to find out was where the hell she was.

She didn't see any of this happening- at first, there was no avoiding Shifu's fight. She saw the outcome herself- she couldn't see anything else that could occur. But this was the old version. This new one, involved her, Jian and Tigress... she had thought about it, but that wasn't her job. Thinking up possible scenarios wasn't part of the job, it was showing animals their future, of what will happen down their current path. Someone told her maybe she could make things happen, but that someone was a kid trying to understand the profession.

"AZURE!" She turned around, but no one was there. The voice echoed around her, screaming louder and louder until she nearly fell to her knees, cradling her head in both paws...

"It's okay, little one." Her eyes pried themselves open and she looked up slowly.

"Master Oogway?" She whispered. He smiled down at her gently, and she smiled back before it fell just as quickly. "Wait," looking around again, to see nothing but white around them, she clasped her paws anxiously across her chest. "If you're here, does that mean I'm..." The word could barely pass her lips

To ease some anxiety, Oogway reached out to her. Azure reached back, and when there should've been connections, her paw fell through. "I told you before, now is not your time. Or Jian's." Speaking of, there was no sign of him anywhere. But if he wasn't there, she assumed he was okay. "I just need your help."

Azure tilted her head. "With what?"

"You'll see," he motioned her along as he walked towards... nothing? "Follow me."


"How are they?"

Mantis turned to the door, to find Shifu and Tigress standing in the doorway of the infirmary.

"Stable," Mantis replied, putting away bandages. "Still not sure when they'll wake up... sorry."

All three of them looked back towards the bed; they found that Jian was flat out on his back, head moving slightly with the subtle rising and falling of his chest. He had been in and out of sleep, but never woke up long enough to speak. The most Mantis could report was subtle blinking, and gone again before he had the chance to utter a name. Meanwhile, Azure still hasn't woken up; Mantis just finished redressing the wound on her head, so she was lying towards the wall, facing away from them, with nothing more to report.

Shifu nodded only once before he spoke again. "There's no need to apologise, I'm grateful you're doing all you can. Why don't you go get something to eat?" Mantis bowed respectfully and asked if one of them to keep an eye on things until he got back. Tigress volunteered, and soon the bug left the room, with the red panda not far behind him. Tigress watched them leave, before taking a seat between the two leopards, glancing at one and then the other. Once she was absolutely certain that neither of them had moved, she sat further into the chair.

Leaning back far enough for her head to touch the wall, her eyes elevated towards the ceiling before closing them. "Hey," she opened her eyes slowly, peeling her head away from the door, and stared straight at the door; Po stood in the archway with a tray in his paws. "Viper asked me to bring you some tea." He didn't wait for her to reply; he walked toward her and left the tray on the side table. "She thought you'd be here... that or I saw you and Shifu walking this way..." Tigress raised a brow, and Po noticed right away. "Forget I said anything," he said sheepishly, before turning to leave.

"Wait." He stopped and turned on his heel; she was looking at the tray. "There are two cups."

"Well... yeah. 'Cos of... Master... Shifu." His paws found themselves twiddling their thumbs.

Nodding quietly, she picked them up and held one out to him. "Seeing as Master Shifu isn't here, there's no point wasting good tea, is there?" Po's eyes lit up in surprise, taking the cup from her. There was another chair by Azure's bed, on the other side, so he picked it up and moved it to the middle. They sat in silence for a couple of moments.

"How are you feeling?" Po finally broke the quiet.

"I'm fine," she said bluntly; the thought of it made her bring one paw just inches over her waist; Viper had brought her a clean tunic to change into when Mantis tended to the injury- three claw marks were drawn deeply into her skin, but a few stitches and some gauze did the trick. It wasn't as serious as Mantis had thought at first hand, so there was nothing else to update.

"That's good... good..." Po's eyes observed the room, his mouth open a little, before closing again.

"You have another question, don't you?"

"Yeah... do you mind?" She hummed something, which he saw as 'okay'. "Did... Tai Lung ever meet them?" Tigress shook her head, not having to utter a word. "Ah... so he was telling the truth."

Tigress' brows knitted together questioningly. "Who?"

"Jian. In all the years of knowing each other, he never told me about Tai Lung. I can understand why now... because he told me eventually, including not knowing anything about knowing him, or ever meeting him. Maybe I was dumb to never put the pieces together... and maybe that's why my plan didn't work."

"What plan?"

Po sighed and put the cup down on the table. "Tai Lung got hold of the scroll. He opened it- and just as surprised as we all were to find it empty. I told him that there was no secret to being a hero. Somehow, Jian was part of the conversation; he had been through so much, had so much held against him. That Jian would've been a credit to him. It's obvious where his talent came from... but he didn't care. I hoped for the sake of his son... and his daughter, that he could have a change of heart. That way I could have spared him."

Tigress glanced down at the floor; she heard from the others of Po's victory in the last twenty-four hours. But Po was surprisingly quiet about it...

"Are you ashamed of defeating him?"

Po began shaking his head... before slowing down to a shrug. "I'm a little torn. How am I supposed to tell my best friend that his dad is gone? Despite him not being close to him? And what about Azure?" Sighing, Po leaned forward so his arms balanced on his knees, his stomach protruding slightly; Shifu had speculated that they were all thinking. Azure wasn't trying to change Tai Lung too, hoping he would change his mind about seeking revenge. Maybe she had some deeper yearning to want to know about him; maybe there was more to why she spent all her life learning about him, to probably understand him a little bit more. "They didn't deserve any of this..." He bowed his head.

...

"He didn't deserve them." His head twisted, finding Tigress staring ahead before they simultaneously looked at either side to look at Jian and Azure; there was still no movement. "What you did was meant to happen. There's no changing it, and Azure knows that, even if it hurts her. Sying did an amazing job raising them all on her own. And when she left, they excelled beyond any expectation anyone had of them. They created lives for themselves. They didn't need their father, they did just fine without him."

"Guess they did you proud, huh?" Tigress looked back at Po; he was smiling at her. And for once, she couldn't help but smile back. "Just by how you talk about 'em, that's all."

"That and more." She replied quietly, looking back over at Jian. "Sying was always worried about Jian. He... often felt singled out, especially after Azure left." Po nodded understandably. "But he's done amazingly, and I'm confident to say that you helped out in that." Po waved a dismissing paw of flattery. "Sying will be so proud of him."

"Yeah," Po took a sip of his tea, suddenly looking a lot happier. "I hope I get to meet his mom one day. I've heard a lot about her from the others. How she used to make them amazing dinners, and... well, mothered them a lot. I'm dying to find out if I'm a better cook than her... just friendly rivalry."

Tigress nodded to confirm his theory before her eyes fell to the floor. "You won't have to wait long; Shifu has sent for her, so she'll be here in the next day or two." Po's mouth fell into the shape of an 'O'.

"That's gonna be... tough, huh?" Tigress shrugged. "She knows none of this is your fault right?" Tigress didn't respond. "Look, if she says anything, I'm sure the five will-"

"I'm not thinking about it right now, I'll take the problem as it comes," the tea went back to her lips. "But I appreciate the offer."

Po nodded slowly before his belly bounced to the sound of a gurgle. Both of them paused and stared at Po's stomach. "I guess I better get something to eat... I'll be right back." He hoisted himself up, offering to take her now empty cup. "Do you want anything? Tofu cubes? More tea?" He started walking to the door, not really expecting an answer.

"Actually," she stopped him. He twisted his head to check over his shoulder, to see her turning to the right, to check Azure. "I think it's time I tried this famous noodle soup everyone's been talking about." Glancing at him, she smiled at him.

He smiled back at her.


Azure felt like she had been walking for hours.

Not that she felt tired or anything; it felt like wherever she was had given her limitless bounds of energy. But when you're wandering around with no sense of direction, and no further instruction from Master Oogway since a brief 'follow me', even Tigress would've been willing to throw in the towel.

"Not long left my dear," he said, humming to himself beside her. Azure nodded, not adding anything to the conversation. "I'm sure you're asking where that brother of yours is?" Again she said nothing, but the silence was the answer the turtle needed. "Jian is safe. He is alive, but not well. He too got injured in the battle, but it wasn't... heavy on the head."

"He got off easy then," Azure joked. "That explains why the back of my head's been hurting." One of her paws touched the back of her head softly on cue. "That... or the wound is getting cleaned." She shuddered at the thought... before pulling her paw away, and folding her arms. "I was stupid, wasn't I?"

"Mm?" Oogway stopped to look at her.

"To think I could change him. To see the error of his ways?"

Oogway inclined his head slightly, to indicate a subtle nod. "Stupid is such a strong word..."

"Fine. How about... idiotically hopeful?"

"...Sure." Oogway chuckled, before moving off again. "If you want to use that. But no one can blame you for feeling that way." With a wave of his claws, images of Azure's childhood materialised in front of her in separate panels; one being her and Jian looking at the photo of Tai Lung for the first time. The next one was her asking villagers questions about him, the third showing an older her talking to Master Rhino about what he knew... and the final one being a moving motion of her waking up from dreams and visions that were interrupted by his pending escape. "There's some part of you that was hopeful, through all these years, that you could use your gift to help him see the better outcome, that could have been possible for him... you just forgot that your gift can't change everyone's mind."

"Jian was worried about him too," Azure replied calmly. "But he didn't really care-"

"That was because he thought about him in his own way; young Jian did everything in his power to not be like him in every aspect. Remember, he looks more like your father than you do." A lot of villagers had mentioned it to her mother over the years; Azure could've been passed off as her sister sometimes, or people mistook one for the other in Gongmen city. "You both suffered greatly in your own ways..."

Azure nodded. "I understand that now..." Oogway suddenly ground to a halt, and Azure nearly tripped over her own two feet. Facing the space in front of them, Azure stared.

Another panel appeared; Po and Tai Lung were face to face. This one moved too; Po was talking, but there was no sound. His spoke pleadingly at first, but Tai Ling was retaliating in some way. This went on, before Po completely floored him, finally getting her father into a Wushi Finger Hold. There was a flash of light, and then the panel disintegrated into dust.

"He defeated him." Azure's voice came out quieter than she meant it to.

"Don't worry, he's with me back in the spirit realm... would you like to see him?" Azure's ears picked up at the end of his sentence, so Oogway repeated again just in case she didn't hear him the first time.

"Is this got something to do with the job you need help with?"

Oogway nodded into a smile. "Yes. But really, I think it will help you more."

"But... what about Jian? Shouldn't he be here too?"

She watched the turtle shake his head sadly. "The boy is not ready to forgive his father for what has happened. But you are."

Azure frowned slightly. "What makes you think that?"

...

"Because you spent your life thinking of ways to help him."


Annnnnnnd chapter 28 is done and dusted! Wooop!

Hope you like it guys! Not sure how many chapters are left currently, but we are definitely close to the end!