Into Sheol: Chapter 1
by Creedog VanDrey
Category: Once Upon a Time
Genre: Fantasy/Friendship
Rating: K+
Language: English
Summary: Aurora and Mulan swore to locate Phillip and this is their quest.
Spoilers: 2x09 "Queen of Hearts"
A/N: These are a dime a dozen, but I wrote this and I want to put it up, because it's been two years since I've written, and I want to start again.
Chapter 1: Thorns
The shrub was a maze of dark brown, almost black, vines half an inch thick. The prickles were needle-sharp thorns that jutted nearly an inch off their branches. As if they were small snakes, the vines wriggled, lethargically though, rather than menacingly. The hips were walnut-sized fruits hidden deep within the bush, blood red to burgundy. Scattered among the tangled bush were flowers, delicate pink-tipped white bowls with golden hearts.
"Briar roses," Aurora explained to Mulan, "my mother was named after them."
Mulan inhaled reverently. "They smell like apples. Do you suppose Regina…?"
"No," Aurora cut her off, adding politely, "they always smell like that. It's how I know they're not cursed."
Mulan had no reply but to nod.
"Do they have roses where you're from? In Huaxia?" She pronounced the name carefully, not stumbling over the vowels or inflected her voice with a new accent. On her tongue the name sounded foreign but still melodic.
Mulan let out a breathy half-chuckle. "Yes, flower arranging is a religion there, but they don't look like this. They're shaped like cups."
"Briar roses look different than the other breeds. We have roses that look like cups, too. Many kinds."
Aurora pupils leapt upward as she reminisced, "I had many a suitor who tried to win my affections with bouquets of red roses. Those chivalrous knights were as indistinguishable as their gifts."
"How did Phillip win your affection?"
"He fought a dragon." Aurora's voice was as droll as she could manage.
Almost sadly, she replied, "Of course."
"You often seem perturbed when I mention that."
"Here I understand your dragons are bestial, but in Huaxia, the dragon is our most sacred beast. Our Emperor uses the dragon as his sigil and the ancestral people of Huaxia are called the 'Children of the Dragon'. I had a spirit guide who appeared to me in the form of a dragon."
Aurora hummed with interest. It was genuine but she didn't continue the conversation.
So Mulan changed the subject, "So Phillip didn't bring you roses?"
"No," she replied plainly, "He brought hortensias. It's one of the charges on his family's coat of arms."
"I've seen his coat of arms. Those flowers were hydrangeas. They were first cultivated in Huaxia eight millennia ago. Huaxians sent them to the Enchanted Forest as trade offerings."
"What did we give in return?"
"Sheep mostly." This earned Mulan a princessly giggle.
When all was quiet again, Aurora turned her gaze to her companion, who then pulled out the sword on her hip from its scabbard, and readied her pose.
"Might I?" Aurora asked.
Lowering the blade, Mulan nodded and turned away, rotating the sword by the grip so that she could hand it to Aurora, who carefully took it, two-handed. As she was learning the weight of it, Mulan wrapped her arms around the princess to fix her stance.
"This is not a shuangshou jian, Aurora. You need but one hand."
"I know," she remarked, as she allowed her grip to be corrected. "The guard is smaller than Phillip's," she noticed aloud.
"Yes, you Westerners must be so clumsy to need a large guard. It won't protect you from attacks to the hand."
"To the hand? That sounds dreadful." Her grip tightened.
"You've only seen tourney-fencing, I suppose?" It was a tone that Aurora hadn't heard from Mulan in half a year. "When you sword-fight for an audience, you do behave very… theatrically. You swipe long and slow so that your opponent can parry with his own sword. And both swords are blunt stage swords. It makes an arguably musical sound." Her tone darkened. "A sharpened steel sword is not meant to strike another. It nicks and dulls a blade to utter uselessness quickly. A real sword is made to encounter flesh. It's not pretty, but it's real life."
"I'm ready."
The vines seemed to be slithering more quickly now, as if they could sense what were coming. Aurora slashed hard at the bush, sheering off two flowers and a mess of thorny vines. It was a clumsy strike, and the sword got embedded, so Aurora had to yank it out gracelessly. Mulan pretended not to cringe at her action, and Aurora pretended not to notice. The bush writhed in path, its flowers closing, and its fruits turning oily black.
Mulan reached for one of the flowers but a thorn penetrated the leather of her gloves near her palm. She yelped in an undignified way. The flower turned blood red and wilted after a few seconds.
"These thorns covered my kingdom when my mother was under Maleficent's curse. They say many a knight came slashing through, not knowing the thorn would quickly tear through plate armor until they penetrated it and exposed them to the curse."
Aurora took off her shawl and wrapped it around another flower, and swaddled it carefully. She noticed that Mulan was studying her hand warily. She took her hand and told her. "Don't worry. You won't sleep."
"How was your kingdom saved?" she asked as she pouted at her wound, though it was but a prick.
"I've told you this story before."
"Tell me again. You tell it so well."
Aurora beamed. "Maleficent cursed my mother with a cursed spindle, putting her into the same deep sleep I one day would endure. My father, King Stefan—Prince Stefan then—was a brave warrior but he was also clever. He saw the other knights stuck in the thorn bushes, so he studied the plant, walked around the entire cities gates. It took him three days to find all of the trunks. With one final blow of his sword, he killed the entire plant. It took him only hours to find the main gate and by then the thorn walls had all but wilted away, and he was able to find my mother in the highest tower of the castle keep. He said he'd never seen his betrothed so beautiful, or so sad. True love's kiss woke her and saved my kingdom."
"We will save your prince."