Mulan had tied her hair in a topknot. It was just past her shoulders now, and it hung in her face as she bent down to pick up firewood. She carried a stack back to camp, then set out to find more. She wandered farther away than Shang would have liked, not able to find very many good sticks and lost in her thoughts. She looked around and realized she wasn't sure where she was.
Damn. Shang was right. Which way did I come from? She thought to herself as she looked around.
Suddenly, she heard a twig snap behind her.
"Shang, is that you? You were right," she began to say, but when she turned around, she was staring into the piercing yellow eyes of Shan-Yu.
Mulan screamed. As she tried to back up, her foot caught on a tree root and she nearly fell over. Shan-Yu caught her by her throat. She tried to scream again, but it just came out as a joking sound as the force on her throat increased.
"The soldier from the mountain," Shan-Yu snarled, raising a sword to Mulan's face, "what should I do with you?"
In the next instant, Mulan was on the ground clutching her throat. She looked up to see Shang fighting Shan-Yu, meeting every strike of Shan-Yu's sword with his own. She couldn't speak, she could only watch. Her other hand covered her mouth to keep from shouting. Suddenly, Shan-Yu's fist landing against Shang's jaw, knocking him off balance. Before she could do anything, Shan-Yu's sword sliced across Shang's side, leaving him bleeding on the ground.
"No! Shang!" Mulan screamed, stumbling to his side.
"Mulan," he groaned, "you have to run."
"I'm not leaving you," she cried, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks, dripping onto Shang's face.
Mulan heard the evil laugh and crouched defensively over her bleeding fiancé, staring up into the face of Shan-Yu. How did he survive? She watched him fly into the firework stand at the Imperial Palace. It exploded. This wasn't possible. Everyone had thought Shan-Yu was dead. Mulan's eyes filled with tears as she looked down at Shang. The pain he felt was visible on his face. His eyes grew with fear as Shan-Yu lifted Mulan off the ground by her throat.
"You took away my victory," the former Hun leader started, a terrifying smile creeping onto his face, "so now, I will take away your honor."
Before Mulan could react, Shan-Yu pulled the fabric from her hair, causing her shoulder-length black locks to fall around her face. Then in the next moment, his mouth covered her own. She pressed her lips together as tightly as she could, her head beginning to spin from the tight grip still on her throat.
"Mulan," she heard Shang groan, the pain evident in his voice.
She gasped for air as she was thrown to the ground beside Shang. He tried to sit up, clutching his bleeding side. Mulan stared at Shan-Yu, trying not to show any fear. He slowly walked toward her, the look on his face telling her exactly what he planned to do.
"I'm so sorry, Shang," she whispered, not looking at her fiancé.
Shan-Yu pulled Mulan up by her tunic, letting go when she stood on her feet.
"I am going to defile the hero of China," he said, looking at Shang with a sinister smile, "and you're going to watch."
"No!" the wounded general yelled, groaning in pain.
Mulan closed her eyes. A lone tear trailing down her cheek was the only betrayal of her stone persona. She felt a hand strike her face with enough force that she nearly fell to the ground. She quickly righted herself, leaving her eyes shut in hopes of holding back more traitorous tears.
"Keep your hands off of her," Shang yelled, knowing there was nothing else he could do.
Shan-Yu reached his hand out and ripped the tie that held Mulan's tunic closed. With another swift movement of his hands, her tunic was gone. She steeled herself as she felt his hands on her body. She winced as his rough hands moved over her breasts and came to rest on the scar that his sword had given her.
"You survived my sword," Shan-Yu laughed, "your general won't be so lucky."
"Don't touch him," Mulan growled, opening her eyes to see the eyes of Shan-Yu ravaging her bare upper body. Shan-Yu suddenly grabbed her breasts roughly, making her whimper in pain. She knew that right now, neither of them could stop him.
"You would make a fine concubine, Hero of China," he laughed in her face. "After I'm through with you, I will kill the general and take you with me. Once I return with the heroine of China, my glory will be restored."
Mulan stood as still as a rock, bracing for whatever Shan-Yu was going to do to her. Suddenly, she heard a sound all too familiar to her, followed by the absence of Shan-Yu's hands from her body. She opened her eyes to see the Hun leader laying on the ground, an arrow piercing his forehead. Mulan dropped to her knees beside Shang, letting the tears finally fall.