Sacred Emotion

Chapter One

AN- I watched Mulan II on you tube, and immediately was struck with this idea. I don't know if anyone will even read this, but I need to get this story out. It wasn't the best sequel ever (they villainized Mushu for half the flick) but there were so many moments I loved. This deviates from the ending, and begins right after Shang and Mulan agree to break off their engagement.

"Keep a sharp eye," She heard Shang say, although she had begun to lag behind the group some and his words were distant to her. "This is bandit country." Her eyes raised to him, slightly. He was tall as ever on his horse, although most of the ride he kept his head lowered. She didn't really understand how they had gone from blissfully celebrating their engagement to just finishing this mission so they could part ways. Mulan had thought, for one, brief moment, that she had proved her matchmaker wrong. She would be a bridge. She was going to have a big wedding and children.

And now she was sitting at the back of their makeshift caravan, listening to the guys flirting with the princesses, and yearning for Shang's comfort. Mulan remembered that moment in the palace, staring down Shan-Yu, waiting for the perfect moment to light that last rocket. She remembered the cold, of the earth and of the Hun's eyes. A similar cold was beginning to fill her belly the more she thought about the night's events, and she shamefully hid her gaze in case anyone in the front were to turn and look at her.

Clutching her pendant in her hand, unaware that Shang was doing the same, Mulan gasped as an arrow flew past her face. The surprise threw her off, entirely, and she landed on her bottom as enemies began to emerge. "It's an ambush!" She cried, getting onto her feet and withdrawing her sword in time to throw off the attack of one of the men. Khan was halfway down past the others by then, spooked, and Mushu stuck his head out of Mulan's bag. "Oh no!"

As she took him down, Mulan could hear the others fighting to keep the princesses safe, and somehow she felt better knowing that was being accomplished. Victorious, she turned to look as Ling, Yao and Chien-Po escorted the princesses to safety over the bridge. Shang was close behind, but he turned suddenly as two bandits came up on both of Mulan's sides, and she yelled as she swung herself to fight them off.

He moved swiftly to defend her, and knocked one of them past their wits in one blow. "What a pretty little comb," He pulled it from her hair and knocked Shang back. "And a pretty little necklace too…"

"Back off or I'll slice you in two.."

To her surprise, he backhanded her, and she nearly dropped to the ground in shock. "Mind your tongue, woman!"

"Mulan…"

"Shang," She watched him get up, dizzied by the attack, and the brute wasn't going to put much more effort into his looting. He grabbed Mulan by her mother's chain and dragged her over to the edge of the land aside from the footbridge. She tried to fight him off, but he was choking her, and the lack of oxygen was quickly making her drowsy. She thought, if this was death, it felt a lot like going to sleep. Perhaps Shang would even tell the Emperor she died with honor if she gave her life for the princesses.

She heard him approach the bandit more than she saw him, and when he kicked him the man toppled over her and over the ledge. Mulan could breathe again, but his hand quickly found her ankle, and she was dragged over partially. "Lemme go!"

"You're mine, army bitch." Shang made a flying leap toward her and landed in front of her on his belly. He grasped her hand, but her weight combined with the bandit made it too easy to pull him toward the edge too. They were both going to die, and the mission, which she knew, he cared so deeply about completing, would fail. In that moment, gazing into his eyes, she knew it wasn't that he cared about his work more. He was just a good man. He was a great general. He would have made a wonderful husband and she knew, he'd make a doting father one day. She smiled at him, past the tears that were dripping from her eyes now. "I love you, Li Shang."

"No," Tears slid from his own eyes and he tried to pull her over, but she was too heavy with the man hanging from her ankle. "Mulan, please. I'm sorry. I don't care how different we are…"

"Shang…"

"I love you too, Fa Mulan. I won't let you die like this…" He turned to see their friends watching with horror. "Yao, Chien-Po, help…"

Mulan's hand was sweaty, from fear, and from strain. She couldn't hold on long enough for the others to form a plan so she called Shang to look at her again and smiled at him. "Kiss me."

He obliged, assuming it would encourage her to hold on. And he poured his heart and soul into the kiss, hoping she would feel his love and how sorry he was for what he had said. In reality, it was all she needed to let go. He had turned his head once again, and she found her opportunity. Spreading her fingers to straighten out, she slipped from Shang's grasp and plummeted to the river below. He watched in horror as her beautiful face disappeared behind fog, and swore he could hear her clothes fluttering in the breeze all the way to the bitter end.

There was no time to search the waters, even though Shang would have given his own life for the chance to find her alive. His experience in war told him better. If the fall didn't kill her, the rocks in the water would. Or would render her unconscious, and then she'd drown. He hoped once he delivered the princesses they could at least retriever her to take home to her parents and lay her to rest properly.

But that night, he did not rest. For hours he lay with her sword glistening at his side as the rain poured. Pictured her face on the cold steel, and remembered the warmth of her kiss and the sadness in her eyes as she head fell. He stood a while before dawn and planted her sword in the dirt, as he had his father's just over a month ago. He had never expected to suffer so much loss, especially once he had decided that he wanted Mulan to be his family.

The princesses were wracked with sobs most of the night, and no one really slept, but they were just outside of Qui Gong. There was no sense in stopping now. When dawn arrived, the princesses offered to complete their mission and fulfill their vow, and their guards did not dispute this. Yet somehow Shang couldn't imagine delivering them to the emperor there. He shook his head, his fingers delicately tracing the edge of Mulan's blade. "No, your orders are to take care of one another, as I should have cared for her."

He stood, and shook his head with a determined scowl. "I will finish my mission."

Mulan had expected death to be much darker than this. At least the dying part. As the water carried her about, and she began to come to and saw the cloudy floating miles above her, she realized that death had not overcome her. Not yet, anyway. There was still a chance. She was too weak to swim, but it wasn't long before she felt ground brushing her back, and realized the water had carried her to a low little scoop of land. Safe, but freezing, she shivered as she lay in view of the sun, letting it dry her out.

She wasn't sure how long she had been there before Khan appeared and nuzzled her with his nose. "Good boy," She told him gently, patting his muzzle as he lay next to her to keep her warm. After a while, she sat up, coughed up some water, and began to rummage around for food. Anything. As if he could read her mind, Mushu stuck his head out of her bag, his eyes full of guilt. "I got…a pomegranate?"

"Please," She murmured, reaching for the fruit, which he carried to her on scurrying feet. He used his claws to open it and watched her eat it before he cleaned her up.

"Mulan, Shang was going to go to Qui Gong alone. He left the princesses with the guards…"

She was exhausted, but she looked up at the mountain that Shang had said he'd take them over, carefully climbing onto Khan's back before the animal stood up. "I have to go find him. I need…him." Her guardian didn't argue with her, nor did he drop the bombshell that he had done everything to sabotage them. He didn't want to upset her in the state she was in. Instead, he tried to think of something he could do to help her once they reached the other kingdom.