Amazing Accomplishment

By: PointyEdgesofaSign

Note: Sorry for not updating, and for the shortness of this chapter and those that will follow, but updates will be much more frequent and dramatic now that I've finished writing this story and I'm starting a new series that you should totally look for, called 'Phobia'! It's gonna be awesome!

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Ch. 6

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Vachir had returned. The words had no time for echoing, as Po saw the blade concealed behind a deep blue cloak.

A serrated blade, just like the one Po remembered tearing through his skin, bringing tears to the eyes of his lover and his brother as he screamed his agony to the forest floor.

A serrated blade that was aimed for his brother.

Po leapt; any and all thoughts blocked from his mind, fighting on pure instinct, intent on ending the threat before it could end him. He dodged a swipe aimed at his throat, kicking out a foot to trip the rhino, a foot that was leapt over with expert skill, reminding Po that Vachir was just as much a master of Kung Fu as Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Monkey, or… Crane.

The name brought a bittersweet taste to his mouth, reminding him of what he had lost, how far he'd come, and how badly he had messed up.

He had to make things right.

Leaping over Vachir, he spun around, catching him in a hook kick, throwing him to the ground. Landing atop him, he snatched the knife from his grasp and pressed it threateningly against his throat, warning him of what would happen were he to move.

"Vachir, don't you dare move. You're going to pay for what you did," Po growled, watching the fluctuating levels of fear that flashed in his eyes, loving every ounce of power he received from it.

"Don't!"

The voice dragged both captor and captive's attention to the childlike snow leopard who had witnessed the entire fight as he raced to the rhino's side.

Kneeling next to him, grabbing his paw between his own, Tai Lung whispered, tears forming in his eyes, "I don't remember you, I don't know what I did to make you hate me so much that you feel I deserve to die, but, for whatever it was, I'm sorry."

Vachir and Po gaped.

"You don't remember? You don't remember turning my parents against me, having them throw me out of my own home? You don't remember trying to kill me with explosives? Or destroying my prison? How? How can you forget?" screamed Vachir, a mixture of rage and horror splayed across his face.

"It was your fault! What you did to him hurt him so much he erased his own memories! It's because of you that he forgot everything! Even… even me," Po panted, trying to calm himself, remembering to breathe to avoid frightening Tai Lung.

The expression on the rhino's face spoke of boundless sorrow for the years since past, but it was quickly replaced by pent up rage at the very one he had once, so long ago, professed to love. He couldn't go back – there was no 'back' to go to. What he had done, what had been done to him, could never be erased, even if it was forgotten. Maybe, in another life, they could have been together, but not this time. He had to end Tai Lung, so that he could be free.

Thrusting the knife upward, it sliced through Po, drawing a gasp of surprise – and not much else. Po felt no pain, no pleasure, nothing. Glaring at Vachir, he stood and snarled, "Go, now, before I change my mind about letting you live."

Shaking in fear, Vachir stood and fled, terror and humiliation and too many other emotions to discern one from another spurring his feet to move faster, faster still, until he reached a spot where he could no longer hear them, Po and Tai Lung.

Tears formed rivulets on his ashen face as he sobbed his anger and his twisted, spiteful love to the wind.

"Maybe, if only I knew how to forget. If I could forget, we would have a chance. If only for a moment, but a chance nonetheless," he chuckled humorlessly.

And, as if the gods had taken pity on the sadistic male, he did, as a nameless figure fell to the ground, all memories lost to time.