"What do you mean you don't know where she is?!" Po questioned loudly to his father. Li had said that he needed to tell them something important about Lotus and that she was in the noodle shop, but when Po had arrived, she was nowhere to be seen, neither in the dining area or his bedroom.

He'd just gotten his son back, and now his daughter was missing?

Mr. Ping was just as livid and terrified. "She was right here! She must have run off—"

Po was already out of the shop, and he finally found her in a clearing nearby. His heart had nearly stopped when Mr. Ping said he didn't know where she was, that she had managed to get out of his shop somehow to try and hide. She had changed into a dragon while he was away, and he was sorry and guilty that he had missed such an 'occasion'—but it wasn't such an occasion for her. She had woken up in her cub form, but then had taken off into the forest before Mr. Ping could catch her.

He wanted to scream and yell at her never to run away and scare him like that again but she made eye contact, and his heart broke at just how terrified she looked.

"Daddy, I can't control it, I—" her words turned to growls and she was a little black and white dragon with orange spots again, struggling to fight against her transformations. She was spinning wildly around in circles, trying to grab at her tail as if the action would somehow help her change back.

Po thought fast—she was panicking, and he didn't want her to hurt herself. He didn't want her to be afraid of her dragon half like he had once been afraid of his. It was a part of who he was, who she was.

So he changed. He bent down his head and gave his daughter a gentle nudge. She calmed slightly at his touch and turned around, fearful green eyes widening to find herself face to face with her father in his own dragon form. He smiled and placed his head lightly against hers, closing his eyes.

I'm scared, he heard Lotus say through her thoughts. Only one transformation and she already knew how to communicate through her mind? Po was impressed that it had come so naturally to her. I can't control it like you can.

She had only heard stories of his transformations and had actually seen him transform once when she had found Chao, but she knew that he had a better handle on it than her. Even her brother had more experience, though he had remained a dragon over the years with not as much knowledge about how to change back to his cub form—until Po had helped to guide him through the process after Longwei's sword attack.

It's alright, he comforted. It's alright. There's nothing to be afraid of. You know, maybe one day you'll be able to fly, too.

He felt her fear fade and her head perked up, interest taking over. Really?

Po nodded, rumbling in a laugh.

But how do we fly if we don't have wings?

He'd never thought about that before. That's a good question. Whenever I fly, I don't even think about it. I just jump and take off into the sky. It's like second nature, I guess.

I love you, daddy.

His smile widened and his heart expanded. I love you, too. More than you'll ever know. Please don't ever run away like that again, okay?

I'm sorry, she whimpered.

He could feel that her fear was finally defeated, nothing more than a thing of the past. It might take her more time to get used to these new 'developments' —but she was making a lot of progress already for her first time changing into a dragon.

She snuggled against his chest, purring with her eyes closed in content. Suddenly there was a green flash—a green flash just like her father's whenever he would change, he noticed—and she was back to her original form. Po smiled once again and switched back along with her, carefully taking his daughter into his arms so they could return to the Jade Palace.

"Great job, little Lotus," he praised proudly in a quiet whisper.

He was met with the sight of Tigress at their bedroom door. He stopped in his tracks, trying to read her expression. She looked tired. Tired—but relieved. That had to be good, right?

"He's waking up," she said in a soft laugh. He leaned into her body so their sleeping Lotus was in the middle of the two of them.

He decided that he would tell Tigress about her little 'adventure' later.

xxxx

"Hey," Po said gently in a quiet gasp as Chao began to stir at last. "You're awake!" He was sitting with Tigress, holding a sleeping Lotus in his arms. The four of them were finally all together as an entire family, just as it should have been all those years ago.

Chao blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of his surroundings in the room and on the bed. It was clear that he was confused that he was no longer inside of a burning volcano or anywhere near a fighting arena...or inside of a cage.

The cub lifted a trembling paw to his face. His eyes widened, and he turned his fearful gaze to his father.

"...Baba?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. It was dry and scratchy, but he was talking. He was awake and he was talking...he was alive and he was okay.

Tears stung, but Po forced them back. "Y—yeah, I'm here. Your mom is, too."

Chao let out a quivering sigh. "E—everything hurts..."

Po knew that everything hurt for him not just because Longwei had pierced his chest with a burning hot sword, but because he wasn't used to his original form as a cub.

"I know, I know...it's going to be okay...you're going to be okay..."

Maybe not right away, but Po and Tigress were both willing to help their son however long it took to mend what Longwei had broken.

"The—the volcano...it didn't explode?" Chao questioned, eyes wide as memories of the mountain came rushing back to him.

"Nope. I skadoosh'd it so it couldn't hurt anything...or anyone," Po said with a small grin. He couldn't believe it, but the Wuxi Finger Hold had been successful. It worked. The volcano had disappeared, and the Valley of Peace was safe; it would never become the Forbidden Zone again.

Chao tilted his head to the side. "What's Skadoosh?"

Po's grin increased tenfold. "Maybe I'll teach you when you're older."

He ignored Tigress's frown. "I'm kidding," he whispered.

"...What about Master?" Chao asked quietly.

Po flinched, Tigress following suit. She couldn't believe that her son had thought of Longwei as his master; the Dragon Slayer had never been worthy of such a title.

"He's gone. He's never going to hurt you or the dragons ever again," Po assured him.

Chao sniffed. He quivered, and Po and Tigress were shocked—yet not surprised—to see tears begin to roll down his cheeks. Their hearts cracked at just how relieved he was to hear that there was no one who was going to hurt him. No one who was going to put a painful cuff around his neck. Chao had been through more than any six year old should have gone through—but he was finally free and reunited with his family who had missed him just as much as he had missed them, knowing that something had been taken from him.

"Hey, it's okay. Please don't cry..." Po attempted to comfort his son, reaching his arms out. He wanted to wrap Chao into a hug, but he knew he had to allow his wounds to heal. There was no evidence that he had ever been struck by a sword, but he could tell that Chao was still tender. He couldn't exactly reach forward far enough while he was holding the little shape of his daughter, either.

The bundle in his arms began to squirm as if she had known that her father had started to think of her, and Chao's tears gradually faded into the background.

"You want to meet your sister?" He asked as Lotus opened her bright jade eyes in a sort of sleepy stupor. Chao sniffled and nodded, and Po positioned her so that she could easily see her long lost brother for the second time since she had found him in the forest.

"Hi, Chao," she whispered with a big smile stretched all the way across her features.

Chao tilted his head to the side once more, confusion taking him over yet again as his tears fully subsided. "What's Chao? I remember that's what daddy called me..."

Po and Tigress gaped sorrowfully, but Lotus only laughed. She didn't understand that it was sad he had never known his own name, that he had never even had a name in the six years he had been trapped in Longwei's clutches.

"That's your name, silly," Lotus giggled. "It's who you are!"

Chao glanced to his father, confusion still written over his expression. It was still there, but it was slowly starting to fade.

Po nodded. "She's right."

"I'm happy we found you," Lotus whispered.

"Be gentle," Tigress told her when she wrapped her arms around her brother in a hug.

Chao stiffened at the contact but seemed to accept the gesture, hugging his sister lightly in return. "I'm glad I have a sister. And a mommy and daddy."

Tigress had never allowed their children to sleep with them before the Dragon Slayer had come into their lives and had stolen a piece of their hearts, but tonight was an exception.

Po couldn't stop staring at their lost and found son sleeping soundly between them, Lotus curled into a little ball on the top of his stomach so as not to risk bumping into her sensitive brother during the night. Tigress, equally unable to fall asleep, smiled brightly at her husband until sleep finally won the two over.

The reunited family had never slept more soundly than they had that night.