When Po opened his eyes, the red scarf from his childhood was still in his paws, but the box that had contained it was gone. On the scorched table there now lay a great sword with the glowing green engraving of a dragon. Po stared, amazed. How the heck did Yujin get a hold of- "Ah-ha-ha-how!" He stuck his finger in his mouth and sucked. Yep, this was the Sword of Heroes all right. Stuck to the bottom of the hilt was a piece of the Shift Stone that had given in it the power to change into any weapon the user wanted. Po had thought the sword had been destroyed when his goose dad turned it into a powder keg and blew up a giant zombie. Just the upgrade, it turned out.

Po hugged the scarf to his chest, below the Heart of China he still wore. On one hand, he felt crappier than ever for stabbing the Dragon Empress. On the other, he felt the same happy shock he'd felt when Shifu introduced him to the Pool of Sacred Tears.

Yujin saved me. She saved me.

Deep, deep down, he'd known that she wasn't really a monster. Definitely nowhere near as evil as Hei Nuwang. Dang, he liked being right. He'd had no idea that he'd reminded her of her baby. Was this why she was obsessed with getting the memory of their meeting back? Was it because the sight of him brought back good memories instead of bad ones? Po scowled. He definitely should have given in to her sooner, then maybe most of the craziness could have been avoided.

"Don't be afraid."

Po turned, but he didn't see her anywhere in the room. As his eyes fell upon one of the pillars, he saw a black-gloved paw resting on a pillar. The rest of the Dragon Empress inched out from behind the pillar, scrutinising the nervous panda. There were holes in her black suit from where Hei Nuwang had tortured her, revealing the orange, black and white of her fur.

"I mean no more harm." She continued slowly, finally speaking like a normal person. "I need your help."

Po took a deep breath. Hiding behind the translucent red veil, she still looked super creepy, and he didn't do creepy. Even now, he was on his guard. "... How're you feeling?"

Yujin tilted her head. "How are you feeling?"

Po patted his belly. "A little hungry, but okay, I guess." When Yujin did not respond to this, he decided to risk an interrogation. "What the heck are you?"

"We are the Children of Nuwa."

"Nuwa? The lady who saved the world by sealing the Wall of Heaven? And what is she?"

"She has many names. The First Queen. The Mother of Mortals. Sister of the Great Dragon. Su." Po blinked at that last one. Yujin remained behind the red veil in between the pillars. "Right now, she is the creature."

Po saw from her posture that she wasn't happy about this. "She didn't always look like that, did she?"

"... No."

Po's heart went out to her. Losing his own mother sucked once he remembered it, but at least she never came back as a homicidal monster. "What do you mean she's also called Su?"

"The deity Meng Po placed her soul in the body of that little girl and sent her back to the Mortal Realm in the hopes of protecting the universe."

"WHOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAT?!" Po hollered, bouncing up and down. "You mean Su is the reincarnation of a super-awesome, all powerful god responsible for our very existence?!"

Yujin was silent for a few seconds as she stared at the panda. "Yes."

"AWESOME!"

Yujin looked away. "No. It's not. Because of me, it went wrong."

"You mean when you went into her head and 'broke something?'" Po asked.

"I spoke to Meng Po while you were recovering. You remember the stories? How mother died at the hands of a demon who massacred the mortals she considered her children?" Po's grin disappeared completely. He knew where this was going. "The Five Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness was supposed to erase all knowledge of that trauma so she could live a normal life as Su. But as she was a god, it was not as effective as it should have been. A part of Nuwa still existed inside Su, and no-one, not even Meng Po knew it."

Something clicked in Po's head. "So Su isn't a super-genius. All that cool stuff, speaking different languages and being good at math and stuff... that was Nuwa, wasn't it?" He leaned back against the table, awed at what this meant.

"Yes." Yujin said. It sounded like she was smiling. "Mother always did everything she could to help her children. Becoming a tiny mortal girl made no difference."

Po's jaw dropped. The astrolabe. Finding the ambassador's scrolls under the bed. Pointing out Tujiu's lies. Standing up to Shifu and Tenzin. Saving Xian from bleeding to death. Ho. Ly. Crap.

"May I point out that your mom is super duper awesome?" He asked in a much higher voice.

"I should inform you that it wasn't all my mother's doing. Standing to Shifu and Tenzin, noticing that Tujiu was lying and punching Sao in the face were Su's actions."

"Still awesome! Wait, what do you mean 'existed'. Why the past tense?"

Yujin leaned against a pillar. "Mother was trapped in that child's body with the memories of her death. She was in pain from her grief, and frightened that the demon would one day return to murder her children again." Her voice started to crack. "She remained trapped with the pain and the fear for so long... the pain and the fear turned to hate... and the hate turned her into a monster."

"Aw, jeez."

"Mother's hate grew and grew, smouldering inside that little girl." Yujin went on. "It grew so strong that it spilled over and came out as tears of blood." Po went weak at the knees when he heard this. He remembered the voices he'd heard, and the pure hatred they'd expressed. "Every time Su suffered those terrible headaches, that was Nuwa trying to break free. She wanted out. She wanted to get her revenge. But Su had taken Shifu's talk of justice over revenge to heart. She resisted the urge to kill every time it rose."

Po pictured Su and the creature side by side, two separate beings. "So what happened?"

"When the Children of Nuwa invaded Valley of Peace, Shifu was badly wounded. Watching Oogway's protégée nearly lose his life at the hands of the people responsible for her suffering was the last straw."

Jeez, how many good people have gone bad because of these jerks?

Yujin pushed the curtain aside and stepped toward him. The eyeholes of her helmet glowed red. The flames of the torches grew stronger. "But now the cycle of death must end, and so too must the butchers who set it in motion. For nine hundred years they have sought to destroy everything mother created. For nine hundred years they have shirked the price of their sins. Po, you know that there is only one way this ends."

"A Dragon Warrior sized serving of justice?"

"Their destruction."

Po didn't like the sound of that at all. That and, as the Heart of China around his neck reminded him, he and Yujin had unfinished business.

"Not so fast." He grabbed the Sword of Heroes and went into his stance. "Where is Tigress?"

Yujin shook her head. "Hei Nuwang lied to you, Po. I never had her."

She wasn't lying. Po lowered the sword with a sinking feeling. "Let me guess. Hei Nuwang does."

"Hei Nuwang captured her before confronting you in the throne room. For your interference, she intends to let Sutoraiki have her."

Po remembered the lab-slash-torture chamber and sank to his knees. "Oh gods, no..."

When he looked up, Yujin was looming over him. He did not flinch as she stroked his face with the tips of her fingers. "The protective stones Hei Nuwang built repel invaders from her lair. I cannot enter while I'm at half my power... but we can."

Po bit the corners of his mouth. He clenched his fists. Shifu's gonna kill me.

"What do I need to do?" He asked softly.

Yujin leaned down so they were face to face. "Let me in."

Against his better judgement, Po obliged.

Crimson chi spilled from the eyeholes of Yujin's helmet in a river of thick mist that poured through Po's own eyes and into his body. A searing heat grew inside, growing from the chest outward as Yujin started to dissolve before him. As the heat spread to his limbs, the last of her essence absorbed itself into Po, and the convulsions began.

Tigress, I'm coming, was his last coherent thought.


Su had been staring silently at the wooden beams that held up the roof for the last three hours. Her bed was hard and the sheets were scratchy, but the discomfort was nothing compared to the hollowness in her chest.

Shifu, Viper, Boar and Qiang had left earlier this morning. Their reason was that there was still a war going on outside the village, and they didn't want their family and friends to continue going it alone. Originally it was supposed to be just to three masters, but Qiang had insisted on tagging along for the sake of his son. The village had been deemed safe enough for Su and her parents to stay for the time being.

Su knew this was for the best, but it still hurt. It hurt that all this madness was her doing. She'd died for the sake of her children, but she never could have foreseen what came next. Hei Nuwang would truly go this far to avenge her? And Mengxiang... Hei Nuwang had been right about her, in a way. She always had a knack for understanding the younger mortals, but the same could not be said for her own brothers and sisters. But she should have known better than to drive Yujin away like that. How could she have been so ignorant? And Yujin... her sweet, firey Yujin... how could her own family do that to her?

Su rubbed the tears from her eyes. These weird thoughts were coming to her more and more every day. Whether the thoughts were hers... or Nuwa's... she didn't know anymore.

She shot bolt upright when she heard the screams outside. Frightened for her parents, Su stood on the bed and peeked out the little window. She saw soldiers like the ones from the prison, all kneeling in grass and clutching their heads, completely immobilised by Mengxiang's powers. The crazy cat and the masked men were among them. The villagers were in the process of being snared by streaks of amethyst that curled around like bodies like snakes. She saw her parents near the house, desperately struggling against the purple stone that held them tight.

The door burst open behind her. Su spun round and nearly threw a punch, but it was Mengxiang, looking near-hysterical as she launched herself at Su and pulled her into a protective embrace.

"No! Leave her alone!" She was screaming at the open door. "Stay away from her! Haven't you caused us enough pain?!"

Su's blood went cold as Hei Nuwang stepped inside. Her features were stone cold, but her eyes shone with anger as she gazed upon Mengxiang and the girl she held in her winged arms. "So you've turned against me, too. Did you think I wouldn't realise that you had this child?"