Again, a big thank you to my reviewers, Red Panda Obsessor and Black Raider. Thank you very much for your support, guys, you rock. ^_^

Chapter Three

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Master Oogway sighed a deep, collecting breath, making his slow way to the Sacred Hall of Warriors. It was colder than usual, forcing the tortoise to wrap up in a second, then a third robe to keep what little heat he had under his shell. The snows were coming steady now, a slow moving storm from the north, and he had to wonder why on earth he'd ventured outside. But, it couldn't be avoided.

He had just bid farewell to the best artist in China, offering another apology for the inconvenience. The old crane had insisted it was fine, and he would board in the valley until the subject of his newest painting returned.

But Shifu still had not come home.

Normally, Oogway wouldn't have thought much of one of his students being waylaid at some point during a long journey – it had happened a number of times over the centuries. But something hung in the air today, a thick apprehension that disrupted his normally peaceful thoughts. Even his morning meditation had been sub-par, the windless snow causing that ominous, vacant silence.

The Grand Master found himself contemplating an empty section of wall in the Sacred Hall of Warriors, the spot where the silk painting of Master Shifu would hang in a matter of days. It was to be a surprise for the young master, who had come so far in only eleven years. He should have returned nearly three days ago, just in time for Master Painter Crane to arrive today.

So much for his punctual nature… Oogway chuckled at the thought of the young red panda running late – what an unlikely turn of events! But… he supposed that was why a niggling sense of worry had been sending unpleasant chills down his spine all morning.

Of all the students he'd had in his near-millennium of training others, Shifu was quickly becoming the one he trusted most. For decades now, he had been looking for the one to take up his mantle when the time of his enlightenment finally came. He also hoped to see the choosing of the Dragon Warrior, but if that responsibility was to be left to Shifu, Oogway didn't think he would mind missing out.

Right now, though, he couldn't help but wonder where the young man was, and what was keeping him. Another spark of worry ignited in the tortoise's old heart, sending a shiver of unease all the way through his shell.

Sighing heavily, Oogway meandered to the Moon Pool. There were no peach blossom petals to caress the surface of the crystal water – spring was a few weeks off yet, and would probably arrive late if the still-deep banks were any indication. It was times like these he sincerely missed the tropical temperatures of his birthplace. A gentle smile lit his face as he remembered Shifu during his first winter at the Jade Palace…

Oogway had been planning to make his way from the barracks to the kitchen when he spotted the boy. The red panda cub – hardly a cub at ten years! – was sitting on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, watching the snow as it made its silent way to the ground. For once, he was sitting still… And he wasn't stealing anything.

But what caught the Grand Master's attention about his new student was the way those sizeable ears were twitching. They danced with the tiniest of movements, almost trembling as they followed sounds Oogway was sure he would never be able to hear. Though he wasn't fond of the idea of carrying a conversation outside when it was this cold, he felt it was a good opportunity to talk face to face with the boy, make another effort to reach out to him… So he walked up behind Shifu, noticing with a wry smirk the ear that flicked in his direction.

"Do you like snow?" Oogway asked. He sat gingerly next to the boy, studying his face. His look was distant and contemplative. The question seemed to have pulled him out of a thought, and he turned his head to glare mildly at the old tortoise, pink nose flaring just a little. After a moment though, he sighed and looked into the courtyard again, pulling his blanket closer over his narrow shoulders.

"Only when there's no wind," he answered, and Oogway felt a spark of relief settle in his heart. Shifu was hard to talk to, but he was softening, if ever-so-slowly.

"Ah. Winter winds can be bitter," Oogway agreed.

"That's not it." The reply was so quiet and immediate it made the kung fu master blink. He watched Shifu expectantly. His white face was gentle – not scowling, for a change – dark brows arching up as he studied the large falling flakes. Maybe he was finally remembering something pleasant, even if he was constantly frowning. He finally took a deep breath and spoke as he watched the weather.

"I like the cold most of all, but the wind… It ruins the snow."

"Ruins it?" Oogway had to admit his curiosity was piqued. "How so?"

Shifu's shoulders shifted again under the blanket, forming a shrug that was swallowed up by the mound of fabric he swam in.

"Makes it too loud."

There was another long pause, in which Oogway stared at the fire fox until he rolled his blue eyes and explained.

"The snow flakes… They sort of sing. Get it?"

"No," Oogway replied with a chuckle. He coughed the sound short when Shifu's ears fell back. He grunted in annoyance, glaring at the master with the imminent threat of getting up and leaving to have time to himself somewhere else. Oogway was more than familiar with the pattern by now.

Just as Shifu jumped up out of his blanket to run, Oogway grabbed him by the scruff and settled the tiny thing in his lap.

"Forgive an old man his misgivings," he said brightly, looking down at the sulking ball of fur. The robe Shifu was wearing was far too big for him, but there wasn't anything smaller in the palace. He had to share clothes with a much younger snow leopard cub until he stopped running away from the seamstress. Oogway would also be happy to start teaching him kung fu if he would stop running away from himself and the other masters…

"Now," he said in a calm voice, "stay here and be my furnace for a while. I'm cold-blooded, you know." He paused for a goodly chuckle. "Why don't you explain this music to me? I would very much like to learn what you hear, Shifu."

Shaking his head back to the present, Oogway grunted in rare annoyance. His mind was wandering and unfocused again, drifting for what seemed the hundredth time in just a few days. The energies around him were being thrown off balance, and he didn't know why.

With a resigned sigh he decided to try meditating again. Perhaps he would gain some enlightenment as to the welfare of his only current student… He sat before the Moon Pool, setting his staff carefully aside as he assumed the most relaxing pose for meditation: the lotus position.

A clarifying breath was all he needed to detach himself from the harsh bonds of the visible realm and sink into the simple, unblemished canvas of the energies of the universe.

~*~*~*~*~

I was exhausted. I was in pain. I was pissed.

I just wanted to sleep. I didn't care that I was somewhere safe, I wanted to be away. The only away I had was sleeping, and I couldn't get to it.

I was too uncomfortable to go somewhere dark.

There was pressure on my shoulders again. My body shifted. My aching side throbbed. I was trying to sleep, damnit!

I felt fabric shift against the grain of fur on my back. Wanted to kill the bed sheets for bothering me. Make everything go away so I could rest.

I was so tired. Fed up with being moved around all the time.

…I can't sleep on my back. I wanted to be on my belly, but no one would let me. I couldn't move by myself. My body still wouldn't listen to me. How long had it been…?

I didn't even know where I was. Only that someone familiar was here, but for the life of me I couldn't bring myself to remember or care.

Something shifted under my head – a hand, maybe… These movements were becoming familiar. My head was forced up. Something pressed to my lips. I tried to turn away.

I didn't want water, I wanted to sleep!

The bowl tipped, spilling liquid into my mouth. It didn't taste like water. I coughed, winced at the sharp pulling pain when I did. I gave up fighting and swallowed some. Didn't want much; I would throw up. … I might anyway.

I wanted to be left alone.

The air in the room changed. My head was lowered down. Noise burst in my ears and I turned my head away. … Would've been easier if I knew which way away was… There were people talking. Just tones to me, no words. My heartbeat was too strong in my ears.

There was strange pressure on my ear. I could have sighed with relief. Only one person pinched my ear like that. I didn't know who she was, but she was gentler than the others. This person dulled my pain and helped me sleep. Maybe she would stay with me for a little while.

It meant sleep was close at hand. Only a little more discomfort and then I could rest. My breathing eased a little.

Cool cloth brushed over my eyelids. It felt good. I could almost relax. Gentle touch stroked over my forehead, easing my headache. The sound in my ears wasn't so loud, more constant and soothing, like a song without words. My brow relaxed. The rest of me slowly followed.

…

…

I didn't know I had been drifting until someone touched my side. I jerked in surprise. My body tensed in a wave of dull pain. Still dull… Not too late. If I ignored everything, I could go back to sleep.

Pressure on my shoulders. I groaned. Not now, I was resting! Noise burst in my ears, dragging me closer to awake. Something bad was about to happen.

Cloth cinched around my middle, annoying the gritty feeling in my stomach. I growled. I didn't want to do this. The cloth fell away. Cool air near the source of my pain felt nice, dulling an itch I hadn't known was there until now. I sighed.

Hands shifted under me. My eyes flew open as I was lifted. The light was too bright. I squeezed my eyes shut. Oh gods! Pain ripped through my side. It burned and stretched as if something was lodged in my flesh. I cried out. There was too much movement. Too sudden. I didn't know which way was up. Cold waves cut through the paralyzing pain. I was going to be sick…

The shifting suddenly stopped. I felt something soft against my ear. I was laying on my right side again. The aching pain radiated, throbbing to my pulse. I didn't know where the source was anymore. That was going to linger; I had a bad feeling about today. I curled my legs in to keep from throwing up.

That was stupid. I caused my pain to worsen, and I yelled. I was ready to puke. A hand pulled on my scruff, released and pulled again. It went on for a long time. My stomach eased. The chills lessened. There were still hands on my shoulders, keeping me still. Hands on my paws now, and on my scruff. …How many people were doing this to me? They weren't letting go. They weren't done with me yet.

I dug my left hand into the sheets. There was no way to avoid what was going to happen next. I panted, squinted my eyes open. I wished for strength. The grip on my scruff disappeared. I braced myself for hell.

Coolness trickled through my fur. After a while I realized it was water. It felt good, soothing my irritated skin. A cloth swept firmly over my arms, down my back. It set my fur straight, and I sighed with relief. I didn't feel so hot and nauseous anymore. I decided I liked this. I could stay here, floating between sleeping and not. I didn't mind.

But then it brushed over my side. More water started washing away whatever was stuck inside me. It stung. Then burned. I squirmed against it. My captors held me down. I fisted the bed sheets again, grit my teeth. My leg kicked out and I didn't mean to. The grip on my paws tightened.

I felt rough cloth scrubbing against the block. Spears of white-hot pain lanced against my lungs, into my gut. I screamed. After that I couldn't breathe. My body was splitting itself in two! I trembled. Fire coursed through me. Something razed against my insides. I coughed, and then I couldn't stop. Every breath burned, there was so little air to take in. Every jerk of my muscles sent spots flying across my vision, hot daggers deep into my gut. I'd never felt pain like this!

Is this what dying felt like? It was too much.

Black suddenly swallowed me whole. Blessed numbness washed over me like a winter breeze. Everything faded away. I was floating. I was comfortable with this lack of sensation. I could open my eyes here, and I did.

Mountain bamboo forests. Home of my ancestors. Everything looked real, but it was distanced by an invisible veil, as if I could look but couldn't touch. I knew this wasn't death, but I was glad for the respite anyway.

I sat high in a lonely birch tree, overlooking mile after mile of bamboo stalks. If this was what dying felt like, I didn't mind. There was no pain here. No hunger, no fatigue. I took a deep, cleansing breath through my nose and exhaled slowly, studying the lemon yellow sky. There was no sun here, but there didn't need to be one for it to be bright and relaxing. I could just sit here and be content to stay for a long, long time. I wanted to.

But I was sad. I knew I couldn't stay. This was just an escape, a safe place in my head to turn to, and it wouldn't last long. I almost wished to be at the Jade Palace, to see Master Oogway and talk to him.

"Shifu?"

I nearly fell from my perch, whirling around to look behind me. I had to admit it was nice when my brain actually listened to me, which was less often than I'd admit to anyone.

"Master Oogway!" I smiled and bowed respectfully.

My master looked confused, standing there on the broad base of the tree bough. He seemed out of place somehow, and he didn't look happy to see me. I wondered if I had done something wrong.

"What happened?" he gasped. I frowned, confused.

"What do you mean, Master?" My side twinged suddenly. I clapped a hand over it, annoyed. No, pain wasn't allowed here.

"Oh dear…" Oogway looked genuinely disturbed. It was rare to see him in anything but a peaceful or somber state of mind, but then this wasn't real, was it? But I was still worried, and rightfully so, I thought. I knew Oogway too well. Even my mind's representation of him couldn't be this inaccurate.

"What has you so troubled, Master?" I asked, walking to him over the narrow path of wood.

"Where are you, Shifu?" The urgency in his voice made my ear twitch. I quirked a brow at him.

"You mean besides here? I don't know."

His claws came to rest gently on my shoulders and he looked me in the eye.

"Where are you, child? I need you to remember."

I watched his eyes, my brow furrowing in confusion. This mental escape was starting to scare me a little. Oogway hadn't called me 'child' in years; why would my mind be bringing it up now? The twinge under my ribs blossomed into a horrible cramp. I buckled with a gasp, unprepared for such a vivid sensation in what was supposed to be my refuge. Oogway knelt before me, brushing a claw comfortingly over my ears.

My hand felt warm and sticky. I lifted it to my eyes, confused as to why –

… That did not look good. My hand was coated in blood. I couldn't recall being injured recently, or even being in a fight. But my memories were just bits and pieces lately… I looked up to ask my master, gain some insight.

Oogway was gone, and in his place stood the Adversary. I frowned at the stupid training bobble. Why on earth was this thing here? And where had Master Oogway gone? Why couldn't he have stayed? This training prop certainly didn't belong here!

The ache flared. Sound exploded out of the Adversary, nearly deafened my ears. I jumped back on the bough and nearly lost my footing. I glared at the damn dummy, determined to stay here no matter what it took. This place was supposed to be quiet and painless, and I wasn't going to leave here.

Another surge of noise and pain dropped me to my knees. I wrapped my arms tightly against my ribs, trying to stop the pain from spreading. I squeezed my eyes shut against a sudden, frigid breeze. The moment my eyelids closed, I was yanked backward. I lost my balance on the branch and fell.

Everything came back so suddenly I wanted to be sick. I felt my ears fold. Someone was forcing one of my eyes open. Their deafening voices were still there, still muffled. Even louder than before, it seemed.

I still couldn't breathe. Would nothing get better between my visits to the surface?!

Someone pulled hard on my ear. I tried to growl, but I couldn't get enough air. I turned my face into the mattress, panting heavily. This all needed to go away, or I was going to throw up, and I would make sure I threw up on someone! I was so tired of being bothered.

Something tickled pleasantly down my back. My mental tirade froze. Everything was… quiet. Actually quiet. The tickling sensation trailed down my back again. I recognized that feeling… My brush. It relaxed me, giving me something good to focus on. It soothed my nerves and cooled me. I lost track of how long it went on. I was finally starting to relax when it stopped.

I wanted the brush to keep going. I didn't understand why it had to stop. I opened my eyes, squinting against the light. Everything was blurry and waterlogged.

Among the gray people, someone stood in the corner. He was green. I couldn't see his face very well, but I knew.

Master Oogway.

I stared at him, and he at me, for what seemed like a long time. He was here? Or was I seeing things? Was I hoping for too much?

Something passed by closed to my face – close enough for me to see clearly. It looked like a bowl of mud. And then my brain clicked.

Clay pack.

Oh no. No, no, no, no! I was not about to lay here and let these people stuff me full of mud! I yelled, I squirmed. I tried to kick my way out. The grip on my ankles tightened. A hand left my shoulder to pin my wrists by my chest on the mattress. My pain only worsened when my muscles kept tensing up. I began trembling. I knew I was whimpering, and I didn't care.

A hand rubbed at my forehead for a moment. Another on my back. A cool, wet cloth came down over my eyes and stayed there. A blindfold of sorts. It was not a comfort. It only mocked me with a darkness I wished I could fall into. But there was no escaping this. This was not a good day.

If the ancestors could hear me, I begged them not to let this happen. I didn't want to go through this, I couldn't be so bad off as to need this kind of treatment! Some stupid part of me swore I was going to die. I would do anything to avoid a clay pack, why wouldn't the words come out of my mouth?!

The hand on my back lifted away; the one on my forehead stayed, pressing a little. I tried to breathe. My trembling worsened. My heartbeat roared loud and fast in my ears. I squirmed. I didn't want to do this!

Grit forced its way into my side, splitting me in half from belly to back.

I screamed.

~*~*~*~*~

Master Oogway gasped and startled. For a moment he was too dizzy to tell which way was up. His head throbbed, bursts of color sparkled behind his eyelids. It wasn't until he felt the gentle rocking motion that he realized he'd toppled himself onto his back.

Oogway sighed, hiding his head in the calming darkness of his shell. He breathed deep, collecting himself with the ease of centuries of practice. Even with all that practice and experience, there were times when it was appropriate to be disturbed.

This was one of those times.

He hadn't forced his way out of a vision in over 500 years. Hence the migraine… Then again, he hadn't expected to see what he had just seen. That had not been a normal vision.

It seemed his spirit had just been where Shifu was, even talked to him. Everything about it – the sensations he felt, the colors he saw, the interactions he had with the energies of others – told him it had been an out of body experience. He rarely had them, normally seeing vague glimpses of what might happen in the future, or even rarer discoveries of the secrets within the flow of the universe.

But what he saw had been far too vivid to be a run-of-the-mill out of body experience. He recognized the room he had been standing in as a room he had stayed in during a visit, once… He had then recognized two of the three rhinos bustling about: his old student, Master Flying Rhino, and his lovely wife Tai Hui. And then there was Shifu.

Oogway retreated deeper into his shell. Calm, clarifying breaths.

The boy was almost a son to him! What on earth had transpired to land him, injured and fighting for his life, in Cha Gung pass in the middle of a blizzard? What really worried him, though, was that Shifu had been staring at him, as if he had been there in body as well as spirit. The master tortoise had just seen a rare, second-for-second glimpse of the present as it was happening elsewhere. If the youngest master had actually seen him, it meant death was lingering close by.

No. Rhino and his wife looked like they had things as in control as possible. Despite what may have happened, Shifu was safe, and being looked after. He could only pray that fate would see to Shifu's best interests, whether the outcome was what Oogway hoped for or not. But he fervently hoped that the young man would live…

These times would be trying at best, for everyone who cared for the young master. Oogway had the distinct feeling he would need all the patience and strength he could muster to stay here in the Palace as long as the snow and cold weather continued. Rhino was sure to send word of these events soon, if he hadn't already. Oogway would just have to wait until then, lest he send a message to Cha Gung concerning events he wasn't supposed to know about yet. Doing such a thing made most people uncomfortable… He would wait to receive word first.

In the mean time, he sighed and stayed in his shell. He would relax here until one of the palace aids passed by and ask them for assistance. Even when he could get back up on his own with ease, he enjoyed giving the helpers a new challenge. It would certainly lead to some very confused palace hands, and perhaps a little merriment for the unexpectedly dark turn the day had taken. Turning over a 600-pound tortoise would prove quite a lesson in patience.

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A/N: M'kay, before reviewing, I'd like you to know that I had some very long and painful conversations with my roomie and my beta to get Shifu's narration as close to a real experience as possible. My goal was to make him relatable to all readers, but especially to those with any hospital experience as a patient. Thanks to them, I think this installment is a heck of a lot better than it was originally. Thank you, Am, and you, Arte!