I clearly own nothing relating to Disney's version or the Ballad of Hau Mulan.

This is chapter 4 of my Other Twisted Tales collection, though I decided to make it a separate story and expand on it a little more bit in the middle. So Yeah.

Plot elements are somewhat inspired by the "Twisted Disney Princesses" theme as well as Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I don't know why exactly, but I do love writing Mulan fics with a darker edge to them.

-.-.-.-

Thousand armies couldn't keep me out

See I've come to burn your kingdom down
And no rivers and no lakes can put the fire out
I'm gonna raise the stakes, I'm gonna smoke you out

They keep me out
'Til I tear the walls
'Til I save your heart
And to take your soul
For what has been done
Cannot be undone

.

—Seven Devils

by Florence + The Machine

-.-.-.-

After the Hun invasion of the Emperor's Realm, it wasn't long before whispers of strange happenings upon the mountaintops had begun to stir. A new force had risen to resist their rule. The Army of Shan Yu had climbed the mountainside and fought ruthlessly against the mysterious threat, but even together, the Huns disappeared from the battle field like phantoms, and the news of them gradually diminishing spread faster than the first rumor. Shan Yu roped in all of the other self-assured allies that he could, but those soldiers did not return either.

The rest of the Realm barely had any time to rejoice over this when the true turn-of-power truly began.

And eventually, only the Shan Yu Imperial Court remained and opposing warriors from the North and the West were coming to gather outside of the palace walls to end him completely. Apparently they had seen the so-said fearsome leader of this rising force and they all planned to kneel before the leader in unconditional loyalty.

...Then one morning there she was, sitting upon his throne, surrounded by her guards while his remaining guards were nowhere to be found. However the sight of blood on their swords suggested ideas.

How they even passed the gates and slaughtered them while he was sleeping, was beyond him.

Shan Yu had recognized that face immediately though. Her face. The one who created the snow flood, was a woman.

"You!" he growled at her in greeting, "The soldier from the mountains. A woman disguised in armor?"

It made his blood boil and a dark mass of public humiliation settled in the pit of his stomach. And Shan Yu would never forget her face now, for it was the face that caused his downfall twice. He lost his chances of winning everything because of her twice!

These schemes of hers infuriated him, and secretly, impressed him at the same time.

But even so, he wasn't about to surrender his throne without one last match. He had unsheathed his weapon, preparing for impact. "I think we have some unfinished business to manage."

"I understand you are the best of the Huns, Shan Yu, but to attack me again is pointless." she told him, voice cool and calm. She didn't appear the least bit fazed by his actions. "Everyone in my army know this. You cannot win this fight."

"Tell me," he remarked, with more open curiosity. "How did you get this far on your course of gaining power and vengeance, Woman from the Mountains?"

"I had Mushu," she clarified, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of her freshly-painted lips. "And I'm no longer Fa Ping, the soldier. My current followers call me The Dragon's Soul."

On her cue, he watched in awe as a little serpent-like creature suddenly slithered its way out of the her sleeve and gradually began to coil at the base of the throne near her feet.

As it circled around her, it grew. Its slender body continued to thicken, its snout widened, and the claws lengthened.

And once the dragon was finished with his transformation, Shan Yu was faced with one of the majestic beasts he'd seen many times painted on the buildings of China.

The dragon towered over them in all its glory, gleaming red scales lined with blue with a golden mane running down the back of its neck.

Even her own assembly of guards inched away, not wanting to push their luck as the beast wrapped its tail possessively back around her and the throne.

The dragon's eyes glowed solid white as they refocused on him. It snarled loudly then, before opening it jaws wide to reveal the fiery chasm deeper within its throat as some kind of warning sign.

The sound shook inside Shan Yu's chest, and he could actually feel the deadly heat of the dragon's breath crawling over his skin.

"Mushu was usually travel size for my convenience," the woman added, noticing the new levels of pure wonder and concern coating the warrior's face. "But then, the day after you cut me with that sword of yours, he deemed me worthy enough to see his true form, and from there we've become two halves of one whole. He only obeys my orders, and trust me when I tell you...he does not take kindly to those who threaten me."

It all had made sense to him then...why soldiers never returned from the mountains, the reports of unexplainable sightings.

The dragon was her main defense and her device to manipulate others into following her.

Shan Yu saw what a terrific strategy that was. Because, really, who would ever deny a live dragon? Who would have the gall to deny a leader who has a celestial being like that supporting them?

No one stood a single chance against her wrath.

So in that instant, Shan Yu had expected to be scorched to death, he expected to be captured and executed. The last thing he had expected from her though, was a choice: to die, or join her ranks.

He stared up into those sharp glowing white eyes once more, and then, he pledged his allegiance to her—to the new Empress Mulan the Dragon's Soul—ultimately forgetting about keeping the throne for himself.

Mulan liked to occasionally dip into the natural springs in the back of the Palace after a long day of training. Most of her men knew this, so they granted her that respectful privacy, staying out of her way on afternoons like this.

She stripped, untied, and unhooked every piece of clothing until all the silk fell away and she stood naked, her battle-scarred curves exposed to the midsummer wind. She waded into the cool waters and lowered herself, stopping only when the rippling surface reached her throat. She enjoyed the element's fluid caress around her and how it washed away the grime from under her nails. But it was still secondary compared to Mushu's dragonfire skimming along her skin, warming her from the outside inwards.

Once she was fully rinsed and ready, she walked back onto the shoreline, dark damp hair plastered to her cheeks.

Only, today, she was not alone as she should've been. There was a distinct clumsy rustling in the leaves above her.

Holding her robes up against her chest, she whirled in place, searching the surrounding trees for movement. Then a branch had snapped, and a man in a simple blue uniform...a servant who worked in the kitchens of the Palace cried out and tumbled down before her with a dusty crash. Flustered, he shuffled to his knees quickly, gazing up at her in fright.

Mulan didn't favor being spied on, let alone favored men spying on any woman merely to feel aroused. She glared. It was low and vile behavior, and judging how this servant was gazing at her, all red and ashamed, it was plainly obvious to her that was what he had been trying do to. Besides, she was his Empress now, which made her all that much more forbidden!

However, she wasn't the one he should fear. Her wrath was simply half his worry, if that honestly.

Shan Yu himself would have cut him down right then and there if she ordered it. Though, it was really Mushu who hated this sort of act more than she did. He had never liked her bathing alone when they were numerous men prowling around the grounds. Back at Wu Zhong Camp, with all the other mindless soldiers hopping about, he had restricted her bathing period to the very minimum. He valued her too greatly to let her be caught and misused.

"Please, My Lady...," the man muttered with a shuttering breath. He knew he was nothing but guilty. "Forgive me...spare me...it'll never happen again. I swear it."

Mulan remained there as she was, jaw clenched and she kept staring, and that was when the sound of pebbles colliding together broke through their silence. Massive red scales slid into view across the grass and Mushu crawled straight for her in his fullest form; he slowly and deliberately coiled himself tightly up and around her body, acting as her cover-up. His triple clawed paw rested gently around the whole base of her neck with a little touch of greediness. And after, he turned his head over the top of hers, his glowing white eyes focusing on the weeping trembling servant, clearly accusing him. His snarled within his chest, the inner fire stirring.

"Foolish man," Mulan said very softly and without much feeling or even malice. "It is not just me you have insulted. I am the Dragon's Soul...and Mushu does not forgive those who have crossed me so easily."

"Mushu?"

"Yes?"

"Did I truly become attached to you and your power? Or is it...more of a strong idea of an attachment?"

"You truly did become one with me, Fa Mulan." His tone was patient and pleasant, not at all irate by her deep reflection. For she was his and he was hers. "I chose you because you are worthy in my eyes."

"So...for intense, I could in fact walk through dragonfire and get out of it alive and unscathed?"

"Yes. My fire never harms me, so it shall never harm you. Remember that you are the Dragon's Soul."

Her superiority flourished, and Mulan observed her random enemies fade away into history.

Meanwhile her Empire kept expanding across Warring Asia. Poverty lessened and plantations thrived, and the trading routes began to stretch farther into their neighboring lands. Even foreign kings were sending her gifts on a monthly basis. Her melting-pot of soldiers loved her for all she had accomplished; always treated her like she was born to do this.

She went on to freeing the slaves previously seized during Shan Yu's rule and she gave them similar offers: to join her ranks, or leave the palace walls and see if they were able to survive on the streets.

Everyone was becoming more and more fascinated by the woman who was this clever in politics and warfare. Above all else, no one was willing to suffer the valor of her dragonfire.

Mulan held her chin up in modest pride as she stalked through the glittering halls, Shan Yu following her like a faithful shadow. She wore feminine layers of silk most days, but she still carried a dagger at her waist and owned private sets of armor placed away in her chambers. Her Imperial Flags were dyed as black as Khan's mane, trimmed with gold and blue and sewed onto every one of them, was a red outline of the dragon Mushu breathing fire.

Then Mulan finally decided to liberate the troops who had left her wounded and shivering in the snow, from the Imperial dungeons.

When they were escorted into the throne room by the guards, she noted how her prior cohorts were even smaller in number since they had been ambushed by the Huns at the Emperor's city carnival two years ago, which was ironically held, to honor them.

In fact, her troops were hardly a troop any longer—now standing as a meek and dirty cluster of twenty-two men total.

And based on the shock written across their faces, they all were able to recognize her straightaway. True, they'd overheard other prisoners talk of a relentless Warrior Empress claiming the throne as her own, burning rival armies to the ground, and had allowed Shan Yu to become her First General, but they hadn't realized that their old friend Ping—Fa Mulan, the deceiver—survived the cold of the mountains and became that Empress...

Naturally Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po were he first ones to speak with relief ringing in their voices, asking how she coped after they were forced to leave her stranded. She remembered how the quirky little trio were the only soldiers that night who actually tried running up to her in the snow once Shang turned his back on her. And for that, they received a relatively thankful smile in return. "I had dragonfire on my side," she answered.

That's also when little Mushu appeared to them, unwinding himself from the folds of silk upon her lap, slipping to the floor so he could transform once more.

So there they were, more surprised by her secrets than ever before, and caught between by her massive dragon and the guards, with Shan Yu standing watch at the side doors too.

However, Captain Shang, planted in front of the men as if he was still in charge of them, seemed the most astounded. His face was stern as it was in the past and his jaw was set in chilling defiance seeing Shan Yu in person again smirking smugly back at him, although, Mulan saw the regret beginning to dance behind his eyes.

Ling, Yao, Chien-Po strolled past him without a second thought and fell to ground, promising her their devoted service.

The other defeated soldiers shortly followed suit, asking her and Mushu for forgiveness.

Among the row of bent backs, Shang was left standing upright, observing his men with newfound uncertainty.

Then he dared to look at her directly.

"What say you, Li Shang? Do you wish to wear armor again?" Her cunning stare was bright and nimble, yet it still put a certain weight on his shoulders he couldn't quite name. She was like a rare delicate flower the wouldn't have bloomed to its full potential if hadn't been watered by blood and warmed by fire.

As a warrior and as his father's son, he had never feared death. But if there's one thing Shang honestly never quite mastered, it was handling guilt...the kind of guilt one felt for sparing a woman's life simply to repay a debt, but still leaving her alone in the wilderness...and then grasping it was all a mistake, because some time later, he would be entirely at her mercy.

He had once underestimated Fa Ping, who had managed to prove his opinions wrong. Shang knew he should have learned that lesson by now. Mulan, this...woman, should be never be misjudged.

He had taught her the skills at camp, thinking she was a pathetic lad learning about war, though now her tactics had exceeded his own. He was once a Captain. Now he was in rags, and she was sitting up on the Imperial throne itself; she controlled Shan Yu, she raised the armies China currently had, and she was cherished by a dragon.

Never letting go of her eyes, Shang finally and slowly bowed himself.