Disclaimer: Everything from the Disney movie belongs to Disney.
Summary: Alternate universe suspense story set in the 20th century, specifically the early 1980's. The memory sections take place in the 1960's, during China's Cultural Revolution.

Fear

She was sure he was waiting there, to see what she was really going to do. He didn't believe her, she knew. When she told him she was going to catch a bus north, toward Canada, she could see the doubt in his eyes. Moving toward the entrance of the bus station, she peered through the glass window, being careful to keep herself hidden from sight.

There it was, his silver-grey compact car, still parked exactly where he'd let her off. He was waiting for her to walk out of the station; he'd guessed that she had no intention of boarding that bus and he was expecting her to exit the depot.

"Damn it!" Mulan angrily muttered under her breath.

Now she was stuck in the bus depot. He would definitely see her if she left through the front door, and he would follow her to see where she was going and what she was doing. She would have to throw him off her trail and make him believe that she'd actually been on that bus; which had pulled out not five minutes ago.

Hoisting the strap of her bag, which had slipped, back up onto her shoulder, she turned away from the door and crossed the large concourse toward the waiting area, stepping into the ladies' room at the far end.

As a little girl she'd spent a lot of time in bus depots and train stations. One night, in the middle of the night, her father was taken away by the police to be questioned. In those days politics were dangerous. A dissenting opinion meant risk; even the mere perception of it meant danger. Her mother and aunt came in to wake her up. She remembered her mother telling her to hurry and dress and began to pack a small bag for her in the dim light of a candle; she didn't want to turn on a light, for fear of it being seen through the window. With a hug and a kiss, her mother explained to her that Aunt Qiu-yue was going to take her to some place safe. When she asked if she and Baba were coming too, her mother merely answered that they couldn't now, but would join them soon. After that night Mulan never saw either of them again.

It wasn't easy to find a safe place in those days. Aunt Qiu-yue was clever though and she had worked out a complex journey plan for them. To go south they would first go east, then west, then north, before finally going to their intended destination. There were many who would have harmed them, but thanks to her aunt's smarts they managed to evade them all. After two months they made it to British-controlled Hong Kong.

Setting her bag down on the one dry spot on the counter she looked in the mirror and took a deep breath, then began to primp while she considered her next move and tried to calm down. Her plan had been to go straight to the bank after leaving the bus station to cash her check and then book a hotel room under a phony name. No one would track her down; and she could figure out what to do next at her leisure.

Of all the people in the world, why did she have to run into him, now of all the times in her life? She knew he cared about her and was concerned. But he was so damned over-protective of her; he was a pain in the ass, really. And it was likely that he would cause her problems with his interference.

Sighing in frustration she unzipped her bag and began to absently rummage through it, not actually looking for anything but needing to occupy herself with some activity. A thought occurred to her and she reached into the front pocket of her denim jeans and pulled out the (diminishing) wad of money. After a quick count she assessed that she had enough money for a local bus ride, a cheap hotel and perhaps a meager meal.

Zipping her bag back up again, she slung the strap over her shoulder and headed out of the ladies' room, her head swiveling left and right as her eyes surveyed the concourse ahead of her to make sure he hadn't come in.

She took a seat on one of the benches in the waiting area and pulled out a tattered old copy of a guidebook that she'd brought with her when she first came here a couple of years before. There was a chart of excursions by bus from here to several major cities and surrounding towns that included the distance, time it took to get to each place and the cost of the ticket. The prices were outdated no doubt, but she could ask the ticket agent for the actual cost.

Her eyes roved over the chart until she found a town that was about a half hour away and had at least one hotel. It would be better than spending the night in the bus station, if she could afford it, and she would shake the man that had become her shadow and self-proclaimed protector.

The bus left a half hour later and she was on it. As she leaned back in her seat she frowned and gazed out the window, then sighed in relief as she glimpsed the silver-grey car that remained parked in the same spot.

Shang was still watching for her to come walking out of the bus station.

oooOooo

Feeling safe and secure was an illusion. As a little girl Mulan had learned that lesson well.

For two months after she had to leave home at the age of nine she climbed on and off of trains and buses with her aunt, living out of the little bag in which her mother had packed the barest necessities for her. As the child of an accused 'Imperialist sympathizer' she was in a precarious position. The children and teachers would be cruel to her for that, and it was possible that the army guards would take her away for political re-education. She didn't know what that meant until much later, but at that time her aunt assured her that it was a bad thing.

In Hong Kong they would be safe. It was controlled by the British, Aunt Qiu-yue told her, not by the Chinese, and though there were police in Hong Kong, they weren't like the police at home. They wouldn't have to worry about anyone taking them away in the night or harming them.

They stayed with her friend Xiu-lan when they arrived. Aunt Qiu-yue needed to find work in order to support them before she could find an apartment, and Xiu-lan was happy to let them stay there until she could.

Only two days had passed since they'd arrived in Hong Kong when the violence started, continuing for many months after that. Shouting and screaming filled the streets as the short, sharp retort of bullets rang through the air and the police were everywhere, toting guns and taking people away in trucks. Mulan was afraid all the time then. Terror gripped her whenever she heard the loud eruptions in the street like thunder, especially if she was outside, but even when she was inside. Crowds of people were gathered all the time, carrying posters and shouting, and many of those people threw rocks. It scared her to walk outside.

Although her aunt did her best to soothe and comfort her niece, Mulan could see the fear in her eyes too.

Often she would remain crouched under the kitchen table, quiet and unseen, listening to her aunt and her friend talk about how Macau was now under the de facto control of the People's Republic of China, and that Hong Kong was rumored to be next. She didn't know what de facto meant and she didn't really grasp the levity of their conversation; but she could hear the alarm in their voices.

The place that was supposed to be safe had turned out to be as dangerous as where they'd come from.

As the bus drew nearer to her destination, a town that she hoped would be safe, a heavy weight like lead seemed to settle in her stomach and Mulan couldn't help but think of those times. And when she disembarked in Palo Alto, she knew why the moment she glimpsed the familiar silver-grey car waiting for her.

Shang had followed her here, though she had asked him not to. Slinging her bag higher on her shoulder she stepped forward to confront her chivalrous champion.