Chapter 2:

Fatal Destiny

Fa Zhou couldn't sleep knowing that his only daughter was about to leave her home again to protect her country from the barbarians.

Mulan had left early to the Bai Tao Base without saying goodbye to her family, just like the first time she had ran away from home to take her dear father´s place in the Imperial Army.

It hurt her parents so much inside when they realized she was gone fighting battles. What if she never came back?

The house was so lonely without her, no one laughed because there were no funny things being said or done by Mulan. No one had reasons to smile because Mulan was in war, probably suffering with the cold weather, or even wounded. Only worries and worries all day long, and they could hardly wait for the war to be over to see Mulan once again at home peacefully settled down.

Even Little Brother missed Mulan with everything in him. If only she would be home, he would do all of his antics just to make her laugh, but now-a- days he wasn´t in a mood to chase chickens, he even got thinner because he wasn´t eating properly.

One day, they received a letter from Mulan that said,

"Dear Mother, Father, and Granny,

Today, I´m leaving to battle, please pray so everything turns out ok. I wish I were home, I miss you all so much. I hope everything´s fine at home. I don´t want to go to war but this is no time for regrets. If I never return back home please remember me, every single moment we´ve shared together, our happy memories. I know I never said goodbye to you but I think there´s no need to say goodbye, maybe I return home after all. The training has been really hard, but Shang has been really kind to me, so don´t worry about that. Well I must go.

Love,

Fa Mulan."

Mulan was sent to battle with the rest of the other recruits. She fought with honor, dignity, and courage and now the Huns were defeated.

A few days later, Shang went to Mulan´s house all by himself. Fa Zhou wondered as Shang walked in, why wasn´t Mulan by his side when he was at her house. "Maybe she´ll catch up with him later," the elder man thought.



Fa Zhou noticed that Shang wasn´t happy at all, he could tell he was depressed. He even saw that his eyes were moist and his voice was so shaky. Shang tried hard to keep the tears from falling through his cheeks.

Shang bowed at Fa Zhou and said," Honorable Fa Zhou I came to. . ."he hesitated nervously, "Your daughter is the best soldier that has ever existed on Earth, but she has passed away fighting for the freedom of her country." Tears fell from his dark eyes, he just couldn´t take it anymore, it did not matter if men are not supposed to cry, Shang had lost everything when Mulan died, and he felt so lonely.

Fa Zhou could not believe it, it could not be; he started to cry too.

"Where is her body?" demanded Fa Zhou.

"She is, she died on our way here," Shang sounded more serious than ever.

"Let me see her!" cried Fa Zhou.

Shang went outside the house, and a couple of minutes later he went inside carrying Mulan´s limp body in his arms. She was covered with a silk blanket; but her father removed it to look at her. She was so pale and her eyes were closed tightly, no one will ever see those beautiful young eyes she had.

Mulan had passed away, and there will be no joy for the ones who loved her throughout her life, including Shang. It was so terrible to lose her.

When Fa Li and Granny were told about what happened to Mulan they broke into tears.

Fa Zhou felt an indescribable pain in his heart; he thought that he was guilty for his daughter´s death because he had let her go to war again...

Fa Zhou woke up, everything had been a nightmare. He was sweating. Mulan´s father sighed and thanked their ancestors that it was only a nightmare. Then, he went to Mulan´s bedroom to check on her. There, she slept peacefully.

Fa Zhou saw the armor and all the war stuff, and he made a decision: he would leave so his nightmare wouldn´t come true.

Fa Zhou carefully took out the armor, and the sword out of Mulan´s room.

Fa Li woke up and asked rubbing her eyes," What are you doing?"

"I can´t let Mulan to go and just die," he answered, "She's too young and there´s so many things ahead for her."

Fa Li nodded and went to cry to her room.

Fa Zhou entered again inside Mulan´s room and kissed her forehead.



Fa Li went out to say goodbye to her husband.

Fa Zhou left, and headed to the Bai Tao Base riding Khan.

Mulan was so asleep that she didn´t notice her father had left, until she heard Granny screaming, "What was all that noise?"

Mulan pushed the blankets off and sat down on her bed. "Mushu, what happened?" she whispered.

Mushu was still asleep so she had to shake him, to wake him up."Is it time to leave?" he asked.

Mulan didn´t answer and looked for her robes; they were not where she had left them the last night. " Thieves!" she exclaimed," That´s why granny was screaming."

Mulan ran outside and saw her mother crying desperately, as if there was no hope for her husband at all.

"What happened?" Mulan asked worried.

"Your father has gone to war," replied Fa Li, weeping.

"What? It can´t be!" Mulan exclaimed," Then I must go after him."

Fa Li grabbed her arm and whispered," Your father wants your safety. You are too young to die. He decided he was going to protect your life."

Mulan pulled away slowly and replied as tears started to roll down her cheeks, "I can do this, just let me bring dad home, It´ll be alright."

Mulan ran to get dressed to leave; she didn´t have her training clothes so she had to wear a dress. Fa Li followed her.

"I don´t want to lose you too," cried Fa Li.

Mulan embraced her mother and said through her tears," I´ll come home safely with Baba."

When Mulan was ready to leave, she said goodbye to granny and her mother. She knew it killed them inside to see her leave to go to war, but she promised she was coming safely.

Mulan had to mount an old horse they had in the stable. He was very slow, and his name was Tan.

Tan was a white horse with gray spots, he had gone to war with Fa Zhou when he was younger. Mulan knew it would take her longer to get to the Bai Tao Base 

riding Tan. When she was out of her house, she took a deep breath to stop crying.

During her way to the Bai Tao Base, she had to stop every so on, because Tan got tired very easily.

"Are we in a hurry to see Mr. Big Muscles?" Mushu teased.

Mulan frowned because she was not in a mood for listening to Mushu´s jokes, she wasn´t even thinking about Shang. She had to worry for her father, not for Shang. That moment, Mulan didn´t care if he saw Shang or not, her father was the only thing that mattered.

"Mushu, knock it off please, I´m worried."

Mushu kicked the horse as hard as he could so he would start moving a little faster, but it was useless. The poor horse was too old to run. Mulan just hoped they could arrive before they sent her father to battle, anyway, she had the hope that Shang would understand, and he wouldn´t dare to make Fa Zhou risk his life and cause a lot of pain to Mulan.

Fa Zhou arrived to the Bai Tao Base. The first person he saw was the young man who went to his house just after Mulan had arrived to return her helmet.

"Good day, Honorable Fa Zhou," Shang said impressed. He was actually expecting that Mulan would join the army again, "Are you looking for Mulan? Because she..."

Fa Zhou cut him off and said," No, she´s at home. I came to protect her life, I won´t allow her to face danger again."

Shang nodded as serious as always. He wondered what did Fa Zhou meant when he said he was not going to allow Mulan to face danger again, "Maybe he knows I left her all alone in the mountains." Of course those were not Shang´s intentions in the start, he had left her there so she would go home, he never meant to leave her alone. Shang was so regretted about that day.

Shang really wanted to see Mulan again, he had so many things to tell her. Maybe he could see her some other day, and maybe he could have the gutts to tell her about his feelings for her.

On the way to the Bai Tao Base, Mulan saw her friends Yao, Ling, and Chien Po. They were as happy as she was to see them.

"Hey, look who´s there!" screamed Ling excited.

"It´s our old friend... Ping." Yao teased.

"That´s not very nice, Yao," said Chien Po.



Mulan dismounted her horse and said," Good to see you guys." She gave each of them a kiss on their cheeks.

"So you´re going to battle again?" asked Ling.

"Duh!" said Yao, slapping his friend.

"Yeah, why not?" replied Mulan.

"Well, we thought you were tired of battles," Yao said," Oh, it must be because you´re sweet on that pretty boy huh?"

Mulan blushed and said," Of course I´m not sweet on him, I have more important things to focus on, so knock it off you guys."

"She´s definitely right," declared Chien Po.

Mulan jumped to sit on her horse. "Well we should get going, before it´s too late," said Mulan in a worried tone.

"What do you mean with late?" asked Ling.

Mulan answered," My father left home to fight in war instead of me, but he´s not fit for it."

Chien Po assured her," You´ll find him when we get there."

"And pretty boy is waiting for you too," added Yao.

Mulan glared at him and he muttered," Just joking Ping... I mean Mulan."

Mushu whispered," That jerk thinks he´s so funny."

Mulan giggled.

The four friends went together to the Bai Tao Base.

Author's Note:

What do you think now? I hope you´re liking the story so far.

The next Chapter is about training days, and Mulan seeing Shang again.

See ´Ya.