Hiya all! We're so sorry (and by so sorry, I mean that we're REALLY ******* SORRY!). First we were hit by network issues and after that Neko got one of the worst colds ever. But alas, excuses only gets us so far. We're here now, aren't we? And oh… sweet delicious suspense… Have I stalled you for long enough? I think I have. We hope ya like this chapter! /Colan :3

Dreams of Control
Chapter Seven; For better or worse

Cola Drinking Cats

The building was made of sand beige stone with a roof of red oak wood. The midnight-blue sky gave it a soft look, almost dreamlike. Po began to panic. What was he doing here? How did he get here?!

"What are you doing?" The voice rang out in Po's ears. It was a... Familiar voice. A very familiar one at that. It almost sounded like...

"Hi… Tigress…" Po started and turned around just to be met by a hard gaze by an annoyed, striped feline.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice cold. There was something else though… Maybe concern?

Tigress had locked her eyes on Po. There was no escape without either being held down til he told her, or just telling her right away. Po opened his mouth, trying to get some words out, as he looked around himself frantically. He honestly didn't have a single clue. What was he supposed to say? He didn't know why he was here at all! He locked eyes with Tigress as he started speaking.

"I… I-I don't know!" He said, his voice shaking. He was filled with paranoia. Why didn't the meditation work?! It had worked before! Did he do something wrong maybe? No… he did everything like Tigress showed him. His thoughts went back and forth and amidst the chaos in his head, he sat down, waddling back and forth. The thoughts rampaged in his head. He didn't hear that Tigress called out for him. Or the fact that she came closer.

"Po?" Tigress called out again. It didn't reach him this time either. She sat down in front of him, trying to look into his eyes. She felt how her stomach turned with concern. Seeing her friend like this was horrible, even worse than thinking he died back in Gongmen. She felt powerless for a second before finally speaking up.

"Po? Do you hear me?" She tried again, but to no avail. He was completely unreachable. Tigress felt how her heart skipped a beat. What was happening? It worried her. She hadn't seen him like this before. It really worried her. She couldn't hide her concern any longer. She dressed her face with concern as she brought up her paw to his shoulder and gently let it rest on it. She shook his shoulder gently with her paw, making Po finally look up. She shook again just to assure Po was listening.

Awoken from the war of thoughts, he first glanced to the paw, and then to Tigress herself. As his eyes met hers and for the first time that evening, he saw how worried she really was for him. He sighed as he started to calm down, though his paranoia was still pounding hard in his head.

"Po, what happened?" She asked, her normally stern voice, soft and gentle. The large bear sighed once again as he started to go through what had happened in his head. He had used the meditation technique like normal to go to sleep. But, somehow, he still ended up in a dream. Then there was the fact that he ended up on the roof when he woke up for some reason. This was all too much. Po felt how he started shaking.

"I… I don't know. I did the meditating yet I still ended up in one of those dreams, and when I woke up I was up here…" He explained, his voice shaking. His eyes shone with fright, which Tigress quickly picked up. She looked down, averting her eyes from his as she began thinking through what he had said. There must be an explanation. Anything. A disorder, panic, poisoning... but none of those fit in.

"We will have to figure this out later. There isn't time now." She said, her eyes still not looking at Po's. She began to stand, only to be dragged down again.

"Po…" Tigress began as she met the pandas gaze. As their gazes met she saw tears in his emerald green eyes. The tears made their way down Po's round face, dripping at his chin. Tigress froze. What could she do? Could she even do anything? She tried thinking of a solution, but couldn't find one. Her thoughts went in a blurr. This was just… terrible.

As her mind tried to find a solution, tried to think of some kind of answer to this, she felt how something soft and fluffy came in contact with her. She was pulled out of her thoughts as she stared at Po, his big body hugging onto her. Sniffles could be heard from his head who was lying onto Tigress' shoulder. As her tunic became darker from the liquid of tears, she felt how Po was shaking. The sniffles turned to sobs and Tigress froze once again.

"How… how… how..." She barely made out in between the sobs.

Po knew that he would get a big slap from Tigress, but he didn't care. He was too afraid to care, too terrified of how this awful voice could control him. Could… could monitor him. His thoughts were racing. Everything felt surreal.

Then, he felt something soft touch his back. He jumped and looked up. A pair of orange, white and black-striped arms was embracing him. He felt warm inside and he felt how his cheeks became hotter. He used his limited sense of vision and tried to get a glance of Tigress' face. It was turned away from him, placed on his shoulder. He felt warm and fuzzy, but he also felt the tears pushing and he felt how the sobs were stuck in his throat, waiting to come out. His thoughts went as quick as bullets in a big war of thoughts. Amidst this war of thoughts he felt how his throat burned more and more, how his eyes felt more irritated than ever and how his tears made their way down, like floods wanting to flow to the ocean. He felt the warmth from Tigress, how nice it felt to be able to finally show how he felt about this situation… He turned his head down toward her shoulder, laying it down like it had before. He felt the sobs coming and he hugged Tigress tighter, letting it all out.

There he sat, for what it felt like hours, crying in the arms of a severely concerned Tigress.

-{~^-^~}-

After the sobbing party, Tigress had brought Po back to his room, just to be safe that the controlling wasn't coming back. She was going to think of something to do. They were on a mission, which didn't help, and they couldn't go back. And he needed to sleep to stay strong. Maybe they should just… send someone back to the palace? One of them, like Crane. They could survive without one of them, right? She had to think some more about this. The morning, she would have to think of something before it came. She and Po could go out and refill their food before they continued their mission.

-{~^-^~}-

In the morning Tigress went into the room where Po and Crane stayed. Since it was about five in the morning, the other four were still sleeping.

Tigress entered the room and saw Po sitting in the corner, hugging his pillow. He looked tired, but otherwise he had no traces of sickness or similar. His foot was better as well, so well in fact that he could now run without limping. Crane did some noises as the door creaked open, but he was still asleep. Po looked up at Tigress and stood up.

"It's our turn to restock. Come on." Tigress whispered and started to walk out the door. She heard footsteps behind her and she took a quick glance back. Po was quietly making his way toward the door to not wake up Crane. He tip-toed carefully across the wooden boards that were, in fact, less noise-making than the boards in the barracks. When he reached the door, he slipped out of the room and closed it carefully. He hadn't been this silent in a long time. Tigress, quick as she was, were waiting at the entrance of the inn. Po quickly sped up, seeing Tigress leaning against the door. As she spotted him she stood straight, turned around and opened the wooden doors, revealing small drops of rain flying through the air, eventually hitting the ground. The sun was covered by dark gray clouds.

"It isn't the best weather…" Tigress said, trying to smile. She tried to cheer Po up, tried to make him his usual self again, but she was met with a tired nod as Po made his way out. His feet dragged beneath him, making him walk a bit slower than normal, but still fast enough to not waste time. Tigress followed him out into the rain, walking by his side.

"Anyway. I didn't take you out to refill just to buy food. I have a plan, but I need your permission to see it through." Tigress said, looking at Po. His head turned toward her direction. He didn't say anything, but ushered her to continue. "I need you to listen to me. I think we need to send someone back to the palace to get in contact with Master Shifu about the dreams."

Po's eyes went wide, but Tigress continued.

"And I think we should send Crane back. He is a quick flyer and would get back to the palace in no time."

"Nope." Po said, his eyes and voice as cold as new winter's snow. Tigress was surprised by his tone, but quickly brushed it off. She sighed as she walked up in front of the panda, halting him in his steps. Po's face looked confused for a second before she started to speak.

"Po, this is serious. We need you to be in your top condition, and that won't happen if you keep having these dreams. Haven't you considered that Master Shifu may know anything that could help you?" She asked, concern in her eyes, as well as light annoyance caused by his stubbornness. Po sighed.

"No… But I still don't want to tell them or Shifu." He said. Tigress sighed as she looked at him.

"Po, I'm concerned for your well being. You have to tell them at one point or another, so why not now? What if it worsens and we won't be able to turn back? It's better to tell everyone now and get as minor consequences as possible. " She argued. Po looked down on the ground. He couldn't; they'd all be worried, just like Tigress is right now… just like she has been. And if Tigress acts like this, imagine the others…

"I'm sorry Tigress but… I can't." He said. He almost regretted those words. It would be relieving to tell the others, but he couldn't.

Tigress blinked as she looked downwards in slight disappointment.

"As you wish then." She said before stepping aside and continuing to walking. The two warriors picked up their food and refreshments in silence, neither knowing what to say.

The silence wasn't broken during the rest of the trip. Even though both parts clearly wanted it gone, they didn't know what to say. Tigress thought about what could be done without contacting anyone of the five, without major consequences and without Master Shifu.

Po thought about the possible consequences of not telling anyone. He didn't want to bother anyone, but these dreams is getting out of control. Should he risk it? Risk getting the looks of pity that he hate, or should he just keep it as it is now? Not tell anyone and risk getting worse? His thoughts were a blur. He didn't know what to think anymore. After yesterday's.., whatever that was, he doesn't know what to think at all. Po couldn't be bothered anymore. He decided that he will keep things as they are now.

"We'll eventually see if it was the right decision or not," he thought to himself "for better or worse."

-{~^-^~}-

When the two warriors had returned they woke up the other four and went on their way towards the hidden village. There were few words exchanged during the first hours of running. Po was especially quiet.

"Hey, Po… How're you doing?" Monkey wondered carefully. His voice was coated with a thick layer of concern and his eyes were sporting the same emotion. Po couldn't stand it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Po said, speeding up so he wouldn't have to look Monkey in the eyes. Monkey glanced at Crane who had seen the small exchange. Crane could do nothing more but shrug. They all knew something was up with Po, and Tigress had also begun to act a bit… off. Crane couldn't put his finger at it, but something was up. He signaled Viper and she quickly sped up to catch up with Tigress.

"Tigress, is something go-" Viper said before she flew up in the air. She let out a loud screech.

"Viper!" Crane let out and attempted to fly to her rescue, but mid-air he was shot to the side by what looked like some kind of net. The others could hear him scream for help, but then... nothing. The last four remaining warriors halted. What was going on?

"Everyone, back-to-back!" Tigress shouted and the remaining four got into their stances, their backs against each others. They were on the alert, everyone looking from side to side.

A masked individual jumped out a big distance ahead of them. Then another one. And yet another one. The amount of masked and cloaked beings increased until there were as much as twenty of them. They stood there, waiting for the remaining four warriors to make a move.

"What the noodle dump is going on!?" Po let out, falling on his knees. He felt his anger build up more and more.

"Pull yourself together Po! If we're going to get Crane and Viper back we have to keep our heads on our shoulders!"

"Erhm.. That might be hard Tigress…" Monkey spoke up, pointing toward his front where another twenty men stood in their way.

"This will be a long day…" Po sighed as he stood up. "A long day indeed."

Again, we're sorry that it took so frigging long. We are actually very ashamed ._.

Anyway, I hope that the chapter was worth the wait! And if you have any questions, and so on and so forth, tell us in the reviews! We do read all of them and we're really happy that you all like this fic :3 Anyway, have a great continuation of your day and we'll see you in the reviews!

/Colan :3