AN: AU Storybrooke Sleeping Warrior drabble. Mulan and Aurora live together in an apartment in Storybrooke, after having jumped through the portal in 2x09.
—x—
The predator narrowed her eyes to azure slits. Keen senses were honed and trained on her target as she stalked her prey in the shadows. Carefully she rocked forward on the balls of her feet, moving in ghostly silence. Undetected, she crept closer, slipping from her hiding space and keeping her body low and close to the floor. The dark hardwood panels of the apartment floor felt cool to her heightened sense of touch, and her whispering passage did not cause them to creak. Her tongue flicked out, licking her lips in leonine eagerness. Victory was so close she could nearly taste it.
The dark ebony-haired victim sat with her back to the predator suspecting nothing. The coffee stained pages of a book open on her lap. Onyx doe-like eyes skimmed the scribbled words on the page, oblivious to their immanent doom. Her form was sprawled haphazardly across the aged leather couch, relaxed and blissfully unaware. Eyelids fluttered, perhaps on the verge of sleep. The predator watched carefully, an evil smile crawling across her face. Now was her chance.
Her victim moved, mumbling something under its breath and shifting to find a more comfortable position. The azure-eyed predator froze, tensely waiting. Fear thrilled in her veins, clenching in her gut and driving her heart to a pitter-pattering gallop. If her prey caught wind of her, it would surely bolt for cover. She couldn't lose this opportunity. This was her only chance. She had to strike hard and fast, else her prey might escape her. She gathered her weight under her, muscles shifting in her cat-like shoulders, preparing to spring.
She had to strike now.
—x—
Mulan stifled a yawn, rubbing at the corners of her eyes with the tips of her fingers. Dust motes floated in the shafts of sunlight, dancing in aimless swirls. She stretched, muscles popping, as she readjusted herself on the warm leather couch. She blinked, blissfully at peace in the silence of the sunny midmorning light of a lazy Saturday.
A perfect way to spend a weekend. The warrior thought to herself.
She closed her eyes, soaking in the warmth and solitude.
All was quiet.
Oh no. Sudden terror gripped her heart with icy cold tendrils. Her eyes flicked open. She sat bolt upright, muscles tense, eyes roving the tiny floorspace of the apartment. Something was dangerously amiss.
Dear spirits. Not again.
Her breath came in rapid gasps, and her fingers twitched anxiously. She felt the heat of malicious eyes burning into her neck, watching from some unseen corner of darkness. The paperback novel fell from her hand to the floor, forgotten.
"'Rora…" She called, her voice lilting and echoing through the single hallway that lead towards the bedrooms. No response. The princess was nowhere to be seen. Mulan's sense of foreboding grew, tension sat on her shoulders like a mighty coiled serpent, hissing dark hesitations into her thoughts.
No. No. No…..Oh sweet ancestors please no. Not again.
She called out again as she stood. Adrenaline thrummed in her veins, singing chords of dark dread in her blood. "Rora, can you come here for a sec? I need to find the – OH FUCK!"
One-hundred and twenty pounds of lean muscle slammed into the warrior's gut like a cannonshot. The wind flew from her lungs in a rush, and she instinctively howled a battle cry as her assailant drove into her with the speed and force of a runaway truck. Chestnut hair and a tangle of limbs were all that Mulan saw before she was tackled; her body thrown to the couch and pinned with an 'oof'.
Aurora's face was flushed, her azure eyes sparking with mingled mischief and pride. She sat triumphantly on the chest of her prey, beaming like a cat with a mouse.
"Damn it. This is the third time this week, 'Rora. Get off…" Mulan mumbled with feigned grouchiness. Her words were huffed from her shortness of breath, coupled with the weight of her girlfriend sitting upon her stomach.
The princess stuck her tongue out, and playfully flicked a finger across the sweep of the warrior's collarbone. "You're just grumpy because I'm finally getting good at this." She grinned, sliding gently off the prone body of her pinned victim.
Mulan was finally coming to regret teaching Aurora how to hunt small game and lighten her step during their time in the Enchanted Forest. Apparently, the skills were still applicable even in the modernized concrete world of Storybrooke…though the princess had taken to stalking larger prey to practice and demonstrate her prowess. Namely one very irked warrior.
"I'm not grumpy." Mulan scowled, pulling herself up into a sitting position. "I'm perturbed."
"Well then, little-miss-not-grumpy, let me 'un-perturb' you." Aurora teased winding her arms around her girlfriend's middle. She leaned her head on the warrior's shoulder, dark amber ringlets cascading across the swordswoman's bosom. Eyes of sapphire twinkled with gaiety and youth.
Mulan let out a sigh, rolling her eyes good naturedly. Her annoyance melting like snow in the summer sun. She could never stay mad at the princess for long.
She pulled Aurora slowly to her lap, shifting her with strong arms and cradling her in a warm embrace.
What a perfect way to spend a weekend. The warrior mused, closing her eyes and leaning her head back to drink in the scent of her lover mingled with the warm caress of the sun.
Every cell of her soaked up the sensation of the moment. She was here, she was now. For the briefest of seconds everything in the world felt right, and she was at peace.
