Author's Note: This was a tumblr prompt and it was really fun to write, so thanks! If you don't mind, or if you really dislike it, let me know what you think—I love feedback. :)
Summary: Mulan is seriously injured when defending Aurora. While trying to help her, Aurora realizes how much she cares.
Day 2
Aurora looked out of the cave entrance at the pouring rain outside as she waited for the flask under her makeshift funnel to fill. She watched as droplets hit the leather and traced a path down to the bottle's opening while flickering her eyes to the area outside. With the pounding rain, all sounds from potential attackers would be muffled, so she had to be alert—even up here in a cave on the mountain-side.
The droplets began to spill over the flask's edge, so Aurora gathered the bottle and the leather she had been using as a funnel and returned to the center of the cave.
In the middle of the cave, Mulan was lying under blankets much as she had been before Aurora had left. Kneeling beside the warrior, Aurora lifted the blankets from her friend and gasped. The bandage she had wrapped around Mulan's back and side was again soaked in blood. Cringing, Aurora unwrapped the soaked cloth and threw it aside to examine the wound. She was thankful that the deep gash was still uninfected, but tears began to drip down her face as she re-bandaged the warrior. Why hadn't she listened to Mulan? If she had, then the warrior would still be her smiling self…
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Day1
Aurora walked along the cliff-side softly singing to herself. As she saw different birds she mimicked their call, incorporating it into her song. Every so often she glanced around—looking for Mulan. The warrior was walking on the ledge above her looking down on the princess disapprovingly.
"If you keep singing, then something is going to hear you, Aurora. We should keep quiet."
"But you said that there are no ogres in the mountains here?"
"No there are no-"
"Well I can sing as much as I want then!" Aurora resumed her song as she strolled onward. Mulan stopped for a moment and reached her hand out as if to protest, but her mouth twitched in amusement and she kept walking after her friend.
By midafternoon, Mulan noted the clouds rolling in and began to look around the rocks for shelter. She noted a dark entrance in the cliff side, and rushed over to Aurora. "Princess, the weather is about to get much worse and we need to find a dry place to sleep. I spotted a cave above that might work."
"A cave? Really? Let's go check it out!" Dashing past Mulan, Aurora hurriedly climbed up and over the rocks as the warrior scrambled after her. Mulan tripped, and Aurora sped ahead.
"Aurora, wait! We do not know that they are safe. NO! Wait for me!" As Aurora dashed into the first cave, Mulan strained even harder to catch up with the girl. Right as she reached the entrance a scream shattered the calm, and, terrified for Aurora, Mulan charged into the cave.
When her eyes had adjusted to the low light, she saw Aurora cringing in the corner with her hands covering her eyes. Threatening her with a spear, a barely clothed, bony troll stood above the princess. In his left hand he held a jagged dagger, and, not noticing Mulan, he took a step nearer to the screaming girl—about to slit her throat.
"NO! Aurora!" Mulan charged towards the troll. She knocked the spear aside as she spun in front of Aurora, and the troll took a step back, glaring at her. He lunged forwards with his spear as he tried to stab Aurora. Swinging her sword around, Mulan blocked the spear but left her side open, and he stabbed her with the dagger. Mulan fell to one knee as the troll twisted it and pulled the dagger back out as he laughed in victory. Glaring up at the troll, Mulan kicked his legs out from under him and stabbed him through the heart. He crumbled into dust right before she collapsed completely to the ground.
Aurora glanced up from her crouched position, eyes immediately finding Mulan. She ran over to the warrior and rolled the bleeding girl over so she could look at the wound. Mulan was bleeding profusely from her side, and Aurora removed Mulan's armor to bandage the gash. "Oh Mulan, no!" Lifting up Mulan's undershirt Aurora began to cry.
"Mulan, hold on. You've got to hang on for me."
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Day 2
Somehow, Aurora could not remember how, she had bandaged the wounded Mulan and had laid her out on their blankets—using the materials from their lean-to to make a bed for the girl. She had also managed to wrap Mulan's injury, and since then she had been waiting for any sign of change from the girl. So far, Mulan had not moved an inch since the injury.
Aurora sat down next to Mulan, ministrations over. She threaded her hands through the warrior's dark tresses and with her handkerchief mopped the sweat from Mulan's clammy brow. In happier times, she would have braided her friend's hair, but now… "Mulan, please get better, for me? I…I can't bear the thought that I am the reason that you are lying here hurt like this… I am so sorry!" She burst into tears as her head collapsed onto her own chest.
Day 3
Mulan woke up screaming, and immediately Aurora jumped up and ran over, diving on the warrior to pin her down. As the warrior screamed out in pain, her movements subsided and she again lapsed into her motionless sleep. Again checking the wound, Aurora replaced the herbs and wrappings. Her heart tugged at her chest as she realized the warrior might not recover from her injury.
This thought terrified Aurora, and not just because she would be losing a friend. The thought of losing Mulan terrified the princess—if the warrior died, she could not think of a reason that she would want to keep living. She could continue to search for Phillip, but without the warrior by her side, the thought of this quest was empty.
Reaching her arm around Mulan, Aurora tucked the blankets the warrior had thrown off back around her form. As she looked down at Mulan's face, so at peace, Aurora's heart nearly broke, and she leaned in to kiss Mulan on the forehead before lying down next to her.
"Keep fighting, Mulan. Please keep fighting for me."
Day 4
Even had Aurora been able to sleep, her dreams would have been haunted by the memories of the troll attacking Mulan. She fought sleep as the hours and days went on, not wanting to relive that image, but it seems Mulan was already reliving it for her. The warrior began to toss and turn, moaning "Aurora. Noooo. Please, stop. AURORA! Don't hurt her!" She struggled against the blankets as she continued to moan repeating her cry over and over again.
Reaching out for Mulan's left hand, Aurora grasped it with her right and caressed the back of the warrior's hand as she tried to calm the warrior with the other. Eventually the moaning stopped, and Mulan appeared to be sleeping peacefully as she stopped moving. Aurora tucked the warrior's mussed hair behind her ears and smiled softly. She checked the bandages again, and noted that the wounds were looking much better. Now all Mulan had to do was wake up.
"Please wake up. I can't stand the thought of losing another person that I care about." She paused, wondering if she could say the thought that had been running through her mind since Mulan had fallen, but since the warrior was asleep, it could do no harm, right? "I…I think I love you, Mulan. Even if you don't care, and I doubt you do, please wake up for me. Please, please don't die."
Still holding Mulan's hand, Aurora finally succumbed to sleep as the days of work caught up to her. In her sleep, the princess rolled over and rested her arm protectively over the sleeping warrior. As the princess slept, Mulan's eyes fluttered open and then back shut.
Day 5
Aurora awoke to feel Mulan struggling against her blankets and instinctively leaned over her to pin her down. She opened her eyes to see Mulan looking up at her curiously.
"Aurora, what are you doing?"
Scrambling back and blushing furiously, Aurora tried to explain, stammering. "I-you were injured, and…if you moved then your bandages… I was just trying to keep you safe." Aurora looked back at Mulan, face still red as Mulan felt down her side and leaned back into the blankets after wincing when she brushed her side. She patted the space next to her and Aurora lied back down.
"How long was I out?"
"About four days. You were delirious yesterday, but I checked the wound and it's clean, so you should be better soon."
"Thank you for taking such good care of me." Mulan smiled at Aurora and reached out to take the princess' hand. "I was wondering though, did you talk to me while I was sick?"
Aurora's heart pounded loudly at this and her face became as pale as Mulan had been while she was yet sick. She had to answer, but what should she say? Taking a gulp, she decided to tell the truth. "I…Yes, yes I did. Do you remember it?"
Mulan smiled and brushed an imaginary hair off of Aurora's nose. "I think so. Some of it at least. Did you mean it?"
"Every word." At this, Mulan smiled even broader and opened her mouth to say something, but instead she drifted back into sleep. Aurora pulled the blankets over them both and shifted closer to the warrior. She could tell Mulan again in the morning.