The world around him was indeed now one that was shadow. There was no light, there was no feeling, there was no energy or for that matter no way to know if one was alive. The only thing that was in his new little home was sound. Well it wasn't really sound as in the world he was is there was no way for actual sound to be created. It was Po's thoughts, hazy, blurry and fuzzy as they were he knew that they were of Tigress.

If he couldn't see her orange fur and stripes he could hear her and if he couldn't hear her fearless and courageous voice then he would be able to sent her and if he couldn't sent her free spirited and natural being then he could feel her with him always deep inside of him. Maybe this was just his delirium but Po knew she would be there for him just as she was to him. A feeling of warmth slowly flooded over his arm and then his chest, or at least that is what he assumed it to be. Focusing allowed the panda to feel things around him much more clearly than he had before. Unfortunately even with this concentration there was very little a way for the Dragon Warrior to interpret what he was feeling.

'No matter how many times this happens I will never get use to this,' the panda thought to himself, referencing his first encounter with a cannon ball and how it had knocked his lights out swiftly and painfully. But as he had put some thought into this memory it filled his dark world with a gloomy sky and rain as he remembered the ruins of his village that he had healed in. Even though it was on the side of being depressing it was still something that was better than a world of dark and well nothing. It was also something that brought peace to him as he had in fact been in that very peace when he acquired inner peace.

As this memory illuminated around him along with a few others he felt again another touch against him, a touch, a tug and the feeling of drifting, flowing like being a weightless leaf in a gentle stream. Though it was hard for Po to believe he was feeling weightless, with all of that stomach he would at the very least be an oversized radish perhaps. In response to this feeling Po tried to move himself and for once he could feel control but there wasn't much of it and it came at a cost. What little reserve of strength that had been stored in his body fizzled away and with it went the feeling of drifting, the warmth and his ability to think and as the reserve ran dry Po felt all slip away and the memories continued to play in the unfocused haze that it had started in.

He had been in world quite some time, just memory after memory in no particular order. Nothing much else came to him except certain sounds, voices that at this point Po couldn't tell if they were in his head along with everything else around him or perhaps it was from an outside source. There was no way of knowing truly how much time he had spent in this place, or how much had happened around him. And it kept going like this until he felt something wet drip onto him, a small droplet followed by a second and third. There were many things it could have been but what singled it out for him was a faint voice that he could hear, breaking through the world around him.

"Please Po," the voice said or at least of the message that was what the panda was able to make out. The voice eventually stopped but from time to time he would hear it again, he could feel the touch of another each time was more intense than the last even if it hadn't been any different than the previous in composition and from time to time he could feel those droplets in varying amounts. "Don't leave... I know you're in there... please Po," the voice would continue to say from time to time and after what had seemed an eternity, the voices, the touches, the what he finally realized were tears pierced his world and he could feel his eyes opening as light flooded into his vision.

"W...what's going on," he said out loud slowly as he regained control of his mouth, as his voice actually rang out from his head. The room around him was lit with candles but through his window he could see that it was night. The moon let out a bright glow that assisted the candles.

"Po?" He heard Tigress say, she was right next to him, kneeling, her eyes were a bit red and her fur was damp around her tear ducts.

"In the fur," he joked a bit and smiled happy to be able to see her face for real once again. He soon realized that he had a bandage on his head and remembered that it had been his head that had suffered the most damage in the attack. "W...what about the bandits?" He said a bit worried as he remembered them and the attack came back into his mind in full.

"Oh Po," Tigress said and paused with a smile on her face now that her friend was awake, "they were defeated within a week ago by you," she said and she put her paw on his arm and he smiled back but then frowned.

"So I have been out for seven whole days?" He asked in a bit of surprise.

"Give or take," Tigress said and helped the panda sit up so he could get a better look around him. Po could feel that his body was stiff and tried his best to stretch. "You blacked out and I was... I was blindsided by this, I didn't know what to do so I did what I could, I bandaged you, kept you fed and hoped for the best that you would stay alive and wake up," she said, there was a little bit of sadness in her voice but it was mostly overwhelmed by a happiness that made Po feel warmth once again.

"Well I am awake now," he said and tried to stand but found that it was a bit much for him and he landed on his butt with a thud.

"You need to build your strength back up and rest," Tigress said easing him back onto his back.

"But I just woke up," Po protested a bit but knew she was right, "and what about you, Tigress you were the one who was suppose to be resting," he said.

"Oh Po I am fine, to be honest I was back to full strength right before you woke up," she said and the panda nodded looking at her. Po allowed his eyes to close and Tigress stayed by his side without moving, her warmth helped him greatly.

No longer trapped in the world he had been before, Po enjoyed freedom with Tigress, each night he returned to it willingly and each day he gained more and more of his strength back. By the time Master Shifu and the rest of the Five had returned he was back to full strength. Training resumed as normal and everything seemed to well go back to normal. Po did miss taking care of Tigress or rather just being with her as much as he had before and being able to have someone to sleep with was something he missed.

One night as he entered his room and went to rest he could feel a body press his and smiled, knowing it was Tigress.

"Hello Tigress," he whispered and smiled and she in return gave him a squeeze and they both lay there quietly. Po's eyes remained open and as it so happened so did Tigress's. Both were happy just being in each others company and knew nothing could take this happiness away.

"I love you, you know that right?" Tigress said to him and Po smiled and nodded and offered the same question to which Tigress also nodded and they both were still in silence, though Po did move a bit, eyes open and so did Tigress and she squeezed him again.

"So," Po said with a bit of a giggle. "Now what?"

The End

And that is it, the final chapter to this lovely little story has been finished. I am glad to have it done and if not for Halo and Tian I don't think it ever would have been (and Happy Birthday to the lucky guy she requested this finishing for) and of course I want to thank pandamaster97720 for this ending concept. And of course thank you everyone for reading. I know I have been gone but in the end this story is finally done. Please check my profile for an important message that I don't want to put on the bottom of this. Thank y'all so much for sticking with me and reading and just being awesome. I couldn't have done any of this without y'all, and as always keep on FIC'in.

- Travis Waltz