A/N: One of the marvelous ships from OUaT, Sleeping Warrior ;) For a good friend of mine, who I kept asking to give me a prompt and wouldn't, so with my experiences with multiple spiders that night and her obsession with these two, my brain came up with this.

The title came to me as I was listening to the song "My Immortal" by Evanescence, and the line that goes "When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears", because Aurora screams and Mulan does just that, she comes along to fight them away.


When Mulan heard a shriek from the cave, she dropped the wood she had been gathering outside and rushed back into the dimly lit space, taking in a quite scared Aurora who had moved to the other side of the cave, her back pressed up against the wall. Mulan's brows knit together when her eyes followed Aurora's, who seemed to be staring at nothing but the scraggly side of the cave.

"Aurora… what's wrong?" she asked, confused.

Aurora frowned, squirming a little. "There's a spider… right where I was sitting."

Mulan took a couple steps forward, peering at the wall to indeed see a small, tan spider. "Oh, Aurora, it's only a little one. He won't harm you. Come here, look." Mulan looked over her shoulder at Aurora, beckoning her forward. The brunette refused to move, shaking her head side to side quickly.

"Come on, he won't hurt you. Just take a look at how small and wonderful spiders are. They're beautiful creatures of the Gods. Harmless, really. Only protective in defense of their home and offspring generally."

The darker-haired woman looked up to see a curious Aurora who had stepped away from the wall, peering over at the spider, eyes flicking back to Mulan every once in a while.

"They just seemed mean and scary, but when you put it like that," she smiled sweetly, sticking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"See?" She smiled at how Aurora was slowly relaxing, leaning a little closer to get a better look.

Mulan held out her hand, allowing the spider to crawl into her palm. But when she turned around to face Aurora, the princess shrieked, flinging herself back against the wall, instant terror coating her features and a couple tears beginning to trickle down her distorted face. Mulan panicked, hurriedly running out of the cave and dropping the spider onto a boulder, running back in half a second later.

"Aurora! Aurora! Hey, it's alright, it's gone, don't be scared, please," she begged, placing her hands firmly on the woman's arms, reassuring her until they made eye-contact. Aurora's hysterics calmed quickly, taking in the soft brown orbs. Mulan smiled, rubbing small circles on both arms with her thumbs, holding her body close when Aurora stepped into her and wearily hugged her.

She pulled her face back from Aurora's beautiful hair, looking into a wonderful pair of blue eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"

Aurora sniffled, nodding.

"Alright. Here, I'll lie down with you so no spider will be able to get you." Mulan knelt down onto the blanket, Aurora's hands in hers as the brunette lowered herself down in front of her. Aurora lay down, watching her out of the corner of her eye as she lied down too, facing her. She wiped a stray piece of hair from her face, giving a smile to the frazzled woman. The corners of Aurora's mouth turned up a bit, a small smile playing on her lips.

"You're kind of like a spider in a way," Mulan eventually spoke softly, noticing Aurora's smile turn into a slight frown. She continued though, needing to now make her point. "You would never hurt anybody unless you had to. Technically harmless," she smiled. "Small and fragile, yet brave and strong." Mulan smiled up at the ceiling of the cave, turning onto her back. "Quick, elegant and sturdy. You don't know how won-"

Mulan had barely turned her head to look at her again when a set of soft lips captured hers in a long kiss. They moved against hers slowly, yet pressured her to move her own back against Aurora's, experiencing the sweet taste and softness of her lips.

When the warrior had to break the kiss to catch her breath, her eyes focused on blue orbs that shone brightly, more full of life than she had ever seen before. And she knew right then and there that was a sight she could get used to, and would do whatever to drag it out of the brunette as much as she possibly could.

"Aurora…," she began, a bit hesitant with her words for once. "Y-you feel for me, in that way?"

Aurora chuckled. "Yes, Mulan. I do. And I have for quite some time now. Are you to tell me you do not feel the same? At all?"

Mulan bit her bottom lip with a grin. "When Phillip told me to take care of you and protect you, I did it because it was what he wished. But over time," she mumbled, slowly intertwining her fingers with the princess', "I realized I was doing it because I cared for you, and wanted you to be safe. Not just for Phillip's sake anymore." She looked away briefly, honestly feeling pretty awkward and out of her comfort zone.

A kiss to her left cheek brought her eyes up and into focus again, giving her the confidence to do the same, pulling back to beam at the beautiful woman who made her heart skip a beat a bit too often.

"Do we really need to go find Phillip?" Aurora asked with a grimace.

Mulan gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid we do, I owe it to him." She watched Aurora look at their hands and sigh. "But that doesn't mean we have to stay with him once we find him," she smirked a little.

And for that statement she was rewarded an irreplaceable kiss.


My friend said as long as they kissed she was good :D

I'm now thinking of possibly writing one more chapter to this in where the two finally get to Phillip. Should I dare do so...? Well, it's up to you guys. Review!