So this is a Cora/Uncas fan-fiction. When many people hear the words "The Last of the Mohicans" they usually picture the pairing of Alice/Uncas. However, I grew up watching the dramatization mini series that BBC put on in the '70s, which is more faithful to the book. In both of these, Uncas and Cora were romantically involved. The words spoken in Mohican also may not be completely accurate as much of the language has disappeared. However, I was able to find what I need using a Mohican dictionary with limited words and phrases and used the Delaware language (very similar to Mohican) to fill in the gaps. I will post once at least once a week but maybe more depending on how much free time I have. The story will start off moments before (SPOILER) Cora, Uncas, and Magua meet their deaths in the original book.

Cora

"I will go no further!" Cora repeated, louder than the first time. Now Magua seemed furious. He stormed over to her, gripping her upper arm with one hand, and held his knife to her throat with the other.

"The dark-haired daughter would love one warrior, and not another? She would be wife to the Mohican dog and not the Huron chief?" He could see the decision in her eyes, she knew it, because she felt the edge of the knife press into her skin slightly. She winced. "You will never be his." He whispered, menacingly, before his voice raised to a shout. "Choose! Magua's wigwam or Magua's knife?!"

The possibility of death loomed over her, and she was terrified to the core. She was trembling, and the rational part of her that was bent on preserving her life screamed at her to take Magua up on his deal. She would be safe. She would be fed and sheltered.

This is when the young Miss Munro finally learned what it meant to live. To live meant having something to live for. It didn't mean merely surviving. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life playing her part in Magua's revenge fantasy. She wanted Uncas; the man who challenged her spiritually and intellectually. He was the one that she wanted to live for. Even if she never was able to live out her deepest dreams of spending her forever with her love, she knew that the life she did live should be filled with everything that she had learned from her experiences with the amazing other half of her soul.

Yes, this was the moment where her heart and soul joined forces against her brain that was desperately begging her to reconsider. However, it was a losing battle. Her love for the last of the Mohicans overshadowed and eclipsed every part of her that longed for another breath of life. For what was life without her Uncas?

Uncas

"But I have chosen. If I must take a man. I shall take Uncas." He heard her speak from the overledge that he sat on, ready to pounce at the nearest opportunity. To any other person, her voice sounded calm and confident, if not a little on the quiet side.

Uncas knew her better than that, though. He knew how much these words truly meant and how big of an impact they could have. The risk that she was taking made the usually fearless warrior worry for his heart below. Along with this dread, however, came a huge explosion of love and pride to his heart.

Sure, he knew that she loved him, and he her. They had never said it outloud, but they were both more for actions than words. And even though she didn't come right out and say it, this was the equivalent of a public declaration of love to his people. Cora, although unaware of the details of what she had just done, had just married him by claiming him as her man. She was in every way his wife now.

Although their souls were already joined, Uncas still looked over at his father for approval. When his father gave a rare bright smile and a fierce look of encouragement for the battle ahead, Uncas found himself confused. He hadn't expected anger, but he had at least expected a look of disappointment. Cora was, of course, not of Mohican or even Delaware blood. But his father seemed happy. Very happy.

His thought process was then interrupted when he saw that Magua had begun to ditch his old revenge plot for a new one. And that one was making it so that Colonel Munro would never see his daughter alive again. Nor would Magua, for that matter, as he was the one about to bring a knife to her chest.

No. He would not allow him to harm his love, his soul, his wife. Letting out a valiant war cry, he leapt from his hiding place onto Magua's back, digging his trusty dagger as far into the pliant skin as he could. The blood spurted out from under and around the blade onto the mohicans face and torso. He then took one look at Cora's shaking form and wasted no time in pulling her to his chest, forgetting about the crimson mess now all over the front of her.

Normally, he would have been ashamed that he attacked a warrior from behind, which was commonly referred to as the coward's way. However, he knew that he couldn't risk giving Magua enough time to stab his woman. He would gladly bear the shame of a cowardly attack so long as she would live to see another day. Letting her die would be like killing a part of himself.

Uncas lifted his head from hers to analyze the battle going on around them. Just about all of the hurons had been defeated except for one that was giving the Colonel a good fight. James Munro didn't seem to be losing the fight, so the young mohican decided to take care of his wife.

He leaned towards her ear, dragging his lips across her skin as he did so. "Don't be afraid, Nuhhuh. You are safe now. Go with the major. Uncas will follow soon." He pulled away from her and before giving her a slight push towards Major Heyward, who proceeded to wrap her trembling form in a blanket and leading her away.

Looking towards the Colonel, he noticed that the threat was gone. He turned towards the huron's dying body on the ground before pulling out the dagger from the limp form of his enemy. Magua didn't show any sign of pain at the motion, so the young Mohican assumed that he was well on his way to death.

He wiped the blade on the grass adjacent to Magua before turning to look upon him once more. Normally, his kind heart would insist that he slit the man's throat to give him a merciful death. However, he found his heart hardened after watching the Huron attempt to kill his wife. He turned and walked towards his love, who was being embraced by her weeping father.

Magua

A weird feeling came over Magua as he felt the blade pierce his back. All of a sudden, all of the events in his life that led up to this moment flashed through his head. He remembered the first time he laid eyes on the one called Cora.

He hadn't known at the time that she was the spawn of the demon. He had simply sensed something about her that was different from other women of her race and status. She and her sister had both looked very kind and tolerant at first sight. They didn't place themselves higher than anybody else, and this he could tell just by observing them from a distance.

Of course, the youngest Munro girl was certainly lovely to the eye, but it was her sister that caught his attention. Not only did her beauty appeal to him, but there was something about her that Magua had never seen in a white woman. Intelligence, a desire to learn, and bravery were all written clearly on her face, the manner in which she walked, and the way that she held herself.

Magua had never known love, not even from his first wife, but he could safely say that this was the closest that he could possibly get to that unattainable sensation.

Then it was like he was thrown into a lake of freezing water. The moment that she introduced herself as Miss Munro, Magua literally felt his heart drop. She was of his enemy, and a Huron could never love his enemy.

It wasn't until he was told that he was to guide the party including the enchantress back to the demon himself did he truly devise his plan for revenge.

It was perfect. He would make that demon named Munro suffer, and, at the same time, he would get to keep this beauty to himself for life.

Of course, Magua, too, had a rational side. A side which made sure to remind him that he didn't really need to keep the girl alive to get revenge. She would be just as good dead; killed in front of his eyes. And, of course he chose to ignore it. He kept telling himself that her father would suffer more this way, even though he knew full well that taking her for his wife was because of his own selfish desires.

He was also reminded of the day he realized that she loved his true mortal enemy. Uncas, son of Chingachgook, the last remaining member of the tribe he was born to hate. He remember his anger getting the best of him, and, having no where else to direct itself, focusing on Cora. He remembered the look of fear on her face and the shame that he felt for putting it there. But still he never showed what he felt.

And now, from where he laid on the ground, looking up with dying eyes as Uncas and Cora embraced each other, he finally came to the harsh reality that love is just another feeling if it doesn't go both ways. The display of affection also made him realise in his last dying breaths that soul mates did, in fact, exist. Maybe both parties don't always know it upon the first or second or third meeting, but eventually they realise that their souls were intertwined together long before they entered their mother's womb.

And as Magua was finally able to give his love the ultimate sacrifice, and was happy watching her be happy, the world was once again hit with another piece of evidence to suggest that even the nastiest of villains can be redeemed by love.