Into the Flames
(AN: Tumblr prompt for an Anon who is a fan of Chicago Fire. Mulan working as a firefighter. AU Storybrooke, where Mulan and Aurora have come through the portal in 2x09. They are currently living together and are in a relationship. I tried to tweak a few style bits in this…let me know what you think. Mulan's thoughts are all in italics)
Summary: Mulan takes up the job of firefighter…but how will Aurora react when the faithful warrior gets badly hurt while saving a friend?
-x-
The savage flames of the inferno roared like some great beast. The heat of the conflagration was torrid and dry, licking at her sweaty face like breath from a dragon's maw. Oily, foul black smoke marred the air. The warrior coughed as she covered her face, eyes burning and nostrils streaming from the smoky atmosphere. She buried her nose in the crook of her arm, using the heavy fabric of her uniform to filter out the harmful smog that hung in the room.
Her dark eyes scoured the floor for signs of life, free hand outstretched to feel about for her prize.
She was here somewhere…
The snapping and splintering groan of timbers high above caused her heart to stutter, as she dove for the floor instinctively. She was almost out of time. The ceiling of the Diner was liable to come crashing down on top of her if she stayed any longer. She had to get out. Now.
No. Just a moment longer… She's here. I know it.
The warrior's lungs burned for fresh air, her chest silently writhing for want of oxygen. But she had a job to do, and a duty to fulfill. The reports had stated that someone was still in the building.
The flicker of movement on the fringes of her vision caught her eye. She moved quickly, but carefully; testing each board to insure that the second-story flooring would not fall through beneath her weight. Cinders floated, dancing across her skin and brushing against her face with painful burning pinpricks. The wooden beams above moaned painfully.
Almost there…
The prone form of a dark haired girl came into view. Her brunette locks were plastered against her sweaty pale visage, her signature red streaks splayed out across the floor where she had collapsed. Ruby was unconscious.
Mulan grazed her fingers over the waitress's body, barely hovering her hand only a fraction of an inch above her skin, as she checked for broken limbs. The rise and fall of the woman's chest indicated that she was still clinging to life.
But for how long?
The creaking splinter and scorching flare of flames were the only warning that the female firefighter received before half the ceiling began to cave. She had overstayed her welcome in this fiery hellscape, and she was about to pay the price for her transgression.
Plaster and flaming wood shattered and came crashing down in large sheets, slamming into Mulan's back and head. She cried out, and was thrown to the floor like a rag doll under the great weight of support-beams. A large chunk of concrete bounced off her protective firefighter's helmet, knocking it backwards as her head collided with the hardwood floor. The collision left her ears ringing. Spots and stars danced before her eyes and dusty bits of insulation coated her skin in a pasty pallor.
Blood spurted from her nose and pain lanced through her brain, exploding her senses like white hot firecrackers. She spat dirt out of her mouth and shook her head, trying to clear away the taste of sweat and blood. She felt as if she's been smacked in the back with a sledgehammer. Her ribs felt fragile and it hurt to breathe.
She grunted, shifting her shoulders. The coals were alive with incredible heat, tangible even through her tough uniform and firejacket. The embers wasted no time sizzling away at the exposed skin of her face. The warrior smelled the stench of her own burning hair. Straining against the blazing beam, she wriggled sideways, managing to slide out from under the rubble through some manner of sheer luck. She staggered, vision narrowing to a pinpoint, and grasped the limp arm of her friend.
Gotta get out. Gotta get out.
Her mind sang with the primal need for escape. Safety. Air.
Light lanced through the smoky haze. Mulan's befuddled brain momentarily took a moment to register the sunlight streaming through the tiny glass back-window. She sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever ancestor or spirit was looking over her.
Ruby's body was thankfully light, but the warrior's battered spine, broken nose, and cracked ribs were causing her strength to flag. She hauled the waitress, half dragging her across the rubble-strewn floor to the window. A swift kick with her heavy fire-boot shattered the heat-warped glass. Cool clean air rushed into her lungs, and she panted, chest heaving with sweet relief and oxygen.
She had no time to relish it. The ceiling was beginning to groan again, like the dying of some great animal. Mulan felt the building's structure start to buckle beneath her. Cold realization of what she had to do settled into the pit of her stomach. She had no choice.
Not gonna make it.
In a matter of moments she stooped down, slinging Ruby's body across her shoulders, and leapt out the window without a second thought. Shattered glass clawed at her clothing, tearing and cutting brutally, as she tumbled out into thin air.
One last fleeting notion flickered through her mind's eye as she fell. Aurora's face, her cherubic cheeks lifted up in a smile, azure eyes twinkling with joy and love. Hair in mahogany ringlets fell past her shoulders. Mulan yearned to bury her face in the tresses, to breathe in her girlfriend's floral scent on last time.
Then everything faded into oblivion with a solid bang and the wail of sirens.
-x—
The world was a blur of hazy colors and blaring noises. Every vibration in the air seemed to chip away at what little stability remained in her limbs. Mulan groaned, shuddering at the frailness of her own body. The reek of antiseptic left a metallic tang in the back of her throat.
Laboriously, her eyes began to focus, pulling the sterile white walls of the hospital room into clarity.
The heart monitor beeped out an obnoxious and shrill syncopation. Blood, now dried stiff and turning a rusty brown, still stained the white of her undershirt.
Dark eyes roved the room, noting the presence of an IV drip feeding into her vein, and the heavy bandaging that seemed to cover a majority of her midsection and part of her broken nose. Her knuckles and arms twinged, the flesh shredded by the shattered window's glass. Every piece of her felt as if it had been torn apart and poorly reassembled.
But she was alive.
Thank the spirits.
"What the HELL did you think you were doing?!" Came a furious bellow.
She may be alive now, but perhaps not for much longer.
Shit.
The lilac-clad princess stormed into the room, a bundle of wilted roses clenched in her fist. A 'Get Well Soon' card was taped to the strangled bouquet.
"You could have DIED!" She shook an indignant finger at the wounded warrior's face. Her chestnut hair was slightly frazzled and tied back in a hastily fixed ribbon. Her blue eyes were bloodshot and ringed by dark circles. Her shirt was rumpled, and sat haphazardly on her lean frame. To Mulan, it appeared that Aurora had spent the majority of the night in the hospital's cramped waiting room.
The princess's long night mixed with her emotional distress at Mulan's sorry physical state had obviously kindled into a foul mood.
"'Rora." The warrior croaked hoarsely. Her throat felt dry and raw. "It was just a mistake. A minor miscalculation. I'm fine." Her voice dissolved into a fit of coughing. Mulan mewled pitifully and doubled over, her lungs and ribs lashing her frail body with spasms of pain. She focused on breathing shallow and slow until the agony abated.
"Oh, yes. I can see. You're perfectly fine." Aurora's sarcasm and arched eyebrow were not lost on the warrior. The princess tossed the wilted roses on the bedside table and crossed her arms.
"What happened? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"It was just a routine kitchen fire. One of the stoves ignited. Ruby was stuck inside. She was upstairs, restocking, when the smoke and flames engulfed the Diner." Mulan explained, trying to keep her tone even and nonchalant.
Maybe if I play it down, she won't be quite as angry.
"ROUTINE?! You almost died. You jumped out a window, and Ruby has a broken leg. You call that ROUTINE?!" The princess's tone elevated as her fury burst forth. Her lips pursed, teeth gritted, and eyes flashed with a mingled mix of fear and rage.
"I was saving someone. What else would you have me do?" Mulan growled, the pain in her battered body making her patience draw thin.
"I would have you NOT RUN INTO BURNING BUILDINGS." Aurora snarled; gesticulating madly as the ribbon in her hair fell free. Tears brimmed in her eyes of blue. Her breaths came in heaving gasps. "I can't believe you would do this. Why would you leave me entirely in the dark like this?! It's not fair, Mulan. When they called and told me what had happened…I…I am not…as strong as you." Her tirade dwindled to a whisper, barely audible. "I could not bear it if I were to lose you…"
Aurora dropped her gaze to the floor, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her lilac shirt. The tiny 'plish' of a tear fell upon the bed's white hospital coverlet, and was quickly sopped up by the porous fabric.
"Like I lost Phillip."
The warrior leaned her head against Aurora's arm. She let out a long sigh. Ribs, still smarting from her coughing fit, forced her to breath slow and remain silent for the moment.
"I'm sorry." The princess whispered, twining her slender hands through the ebony locks. She placed a kiss upon the woman's bruised cheek. "I was just so…scared. When they brought you in, you looked…like a body without a soul. You were just limp. Lifeless." Her voice trembled with the memory.
"I would rather have Cora rip out my heart a thousand times than even imagine a world without you in it."
Mulan's hair slipped through her fingers like well-oiled silk. Soft, smooth, and satiny. She combed her fingers gently through the warrior's hair methodically until Mulan muttered a moan of pleasure, eyes fluttering closed. She delicately traced the stitches of the lacerations above the woman's eyebrow. The tip of her index finger hovered, caressing her warrior's forehead in slow circles, but barely touching the skin.
The princess sighed to herself, her lips turning up in a sad but benevolent close-lipped smile as she studied the face of the woman she loved. The stalwart and firm jaw; true and unyielding. The strong shoulders; so muscular and so capable of bearing any weight, either physical or emotional. The curvature of the upper lip; so velvety and subtle.
Memories of every kiss stolen from those sweet lips flashed through Aurora's mind.
Lips that could be hungry and insistent. Crushing together in moments of passion, tasting of life, love, and dangerous insatiability. Lips that could be tender and soothing. Mending and healing any hurt with only a touch. The princess would gladly abscond with another of Mulan's sweet affectionate kisses, if she weren't so concerned that the action might hurt her battered companion. She shook herself from her reveries.
"I hate hospitals." Grumbled the warrior with a huff. "I do not like sitting abed when others need my help. It is my duty to protect the people here, just as I have protected you. They are like my family now. They need me….and it is impossible to help them when I am cooped up here."
Surely you understand that, my dearest. This is something I must do.
"Get some rest then, my love." The princess flitted her finger across Mulan's cheek, letting it lazily wander across the silken tan skin.
"I can't. This place smells like a cage." The warrior murmured petulantly.
Aurora rolled her eyes good naturedly, as she continued to brush back the hair of her girlfriend. A distant song warbled from her throat, and she began to hum softly as Mulan's eyes began to flutter closed in contentment.
"I will protect you. Even when you cannot protect yourself." Swore the princess, as she watched the warrior's breath grow shallow while Mulan slipped into the solace of sleep.