Disclaimer: 'Mulan' and associated characters and situations are the property of Disney and are used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit. This story ignores 'Mulan 2' and all the events thereof.
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"Sleeping Dragon"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'
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The statue is merely a shell to which the spirit is summoned. Although the statue was destroyed, the spirit, my spirit, endures. Wisdom, strength, speed, cunning and they call me 'the most powerful of all'. Have they never truely thought of what that means? It means that I possess the combination of all those attributes; I am strong but fast; I have wisdom, but more than that the ability to put it to use. Part of that wisdom is that sometimes, inaction can have a greater effect than any action. By taking no action, one forces others to act and to commit themselves, allowing a reaction to be directed to their weaknesses. By taking no action, one forces others to do that which they do not believe can be done, to accept what they once would not, to risk where they would have remained in safety.
Any other Guardian would have done as the Ancestors commanded by their words and brought Mulan back. Only Mushu, with his desire for honor and glory and need to prove himself, would have done what the Ancestors ultimately wanted; to ensure that the Fa family itself gained honor and glory and was not dishonored by Mulan being discovered. The Ancestors would never have sent him and Mushu would never have gone if I had woken. Wisdom tells me that if Mulan and Mushu had not gone, the Huns would have been victorious and China would have fallen; with China would fall the Fa family, Fa Zhou executed for having been a soldier of the Emperor and his mother, wife and daughter taken to even worse fates. But that is the wisdom of hindsight, it is the wisdom of foresight for which I remained sleeping.
The arrow loosed from the bow flies swift and certain. The Ancestors blame Mushu's 'misguidance' for leading to Fa Deng's death without realizing that the mistake was theirs; Fa Deng was a cautious and precise person who like the great turtle only moved when he felt everything was right to do so; Mushu, as befit as dragon of his age and nature, is energetic and driven, willing to trust that creativity and fire will carry the day when planning fails. Assigning one as guardian to the other could only have led to disaster; Mushu is an arrow, Fa Deng was a sword. One cannot wield both at once. Fa Mulan was an arrow, ready to be loosed. Two arrows can be notched to the same bowstring. How well they fly once loosed depends on the skill of the archer, it can only be known once it is done.
Even with the statue destroyed, I could have woken, the statue is merely a shell to which the spirit is summoned. If I had woken, though, Mushu and Fa Mulan would not have met, they would not have grown, and more than just the Fa family would have paid the price.