True To Your Heart [9] True To Your Heart: Part IX
by SwordSkill

Author's Notes: As usual, I'm behind schedule...(sigh)...and I haven't been writing for a long time. So, here's a little something I wrote before I take a break from Mulan and devote my time to a few other projects (and think of a few new ideas for this dragging fanfic). Keep on R/R-ing!



She was in the battlefield once more.

Mulan was fighting, a hand-to-hand combat with a roaring Hun. With one blow of her fist, she knocked the Hun down victoriously. She reached at her side for her sword to finish him off, but what nestled in her hand was a blowpipe. With a whoosh of her mouth, she shot a deadly thorn that pierced its way to the Hun's neck. Suddenly, the Hun's face evolved, turning into Shang's, with the thorn wooing blood out of his neck. His eyes were filled with fear and hatred.

Mulan realized what she had done. "Shang?" she said numbly.

With his hand trying to pull the thorn off, he said hauntingly, "You never loved me, and now you have killed me. My lonely spirit shall find no rest. Remember that, you traitor, and suffer for the rest of your LIFE!"

The last word was a scream. His hand, up in midair, sank down on the ground. The ground gave a rumble, and opened a chasm, swallowing Shang's body within it.

"Shang!" Mulan cried. Her arm shot out, but it was too late. From the dark abyss, she could his voice, crooning softly, "Remember...remember...traitor...."

NO!!!!!!!

Mulan suddenly jolted up awake in her room. Her heart was thudding unceasingly, her palms were cold with sweat. She sat on the mattress, her chest heaving and her body trembling.

"That dream again," she whispered hoarsely. "Why can't it leave me?"

It had been three days since Yao had hit her, preventing her from going to Shang's rescue. Vehemently denied by her parents for her permission to go see Shang, she did not eat very much, and only sat by the pond, absorbed in her thoughts. And in her sleep, that dream of killing Shang plagued her, giving her no peace at all.

She buried her wet face on the pillow. It was too much to bear. Shang was going to die without knowing what her true feelings were.

"Mulan?" Fa Zhou, garbed in his evening robe, had quietly entered the room. "The dream again?"

She nodded mutely.

Fa Zhou sat at the edge of the mattress and laid a heavy hand on Mulan's shoulder.

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

"Is he going to die?"

Fa Zhou hugged his daughter. "I don't know, Mulan. But he is a strong fellow, and that gives me hope."

"Hope," said Mulan bitterly, pulling away from her father. "What good does hope do? All it does is give a false sense of security."

"It gives a reason to live," said Fa Zhou quietly. "I know it's hard, but you had nothing to do with it."

Mulan did not answer but laid down and rolled on her back. "I would like to go to sleep now, Papa," she said in a muffled tone.

Fa Zhou stood up and walked to the door in silence. When he closed it, he leaned on the wall, and closed his eyes. "Merciful gods," he prayed, "help my Mulan. And for her sake, let the boy live."


Copyright © SwordSkill 2001