Chapter III: Descent

The truly unsettling thing about fighting the heartless was how eerily silent they were. Fa Mulan of the Imperial Guard felt an icy tingle creep down her spine as she surveyed the vast tide of misshapen, black bodies and unblinking yellow-white eyes. They covered the landscape like a macabre blanket climbing over each other as they gathered around the walls of the Imperial City.

And yet, they were nearly silent, aside from distant scrape of their limbs on the red stone and the occasional rush of air as one of their winged horrors drifted overhead, just out of range of the archers.

"So what do you think, ma'am," the sound of a man's voice stirred Mulan from her contemplations, "no worse than the Huns, eh?"

Mulan forced her face into what she hoped was a confident smile, "please, Ling, the Hun army was twice this size."

The lanky man pantomimed counting the amassed heartless, "Oh yes, this is paltry by comparison, I suppose I could just leave them all to you." Ling did an exaggerated about face and began to walk away.

Mulan reached out and laid an armored hand on her old friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ling, about Yao."

The soldier bowed his head, "it is alright, he… is with his ancestors now."

Mulan glanced back at the heartless army and tried to shake off the image of the squat, stocky man's heart being added to the host. "Yes," she lied, "he is at peace." She didn't want to contemplate her old friend suffering a fate worse than death. Contemplate what would likely be her fate. Holding the palace would be impossible, but that was irrelevant now. With the Emperor's blessing Captain Shang had proposed a dangerous gambit: the Imperial army would hold the palace and draw the attention of the enemy while a token handful of soldiers helped evacuate as many of the local citizenry as possible to safety across the Yellow Sea. The presence of the host could only mean that the heartless had fallen for Shang's ruse. There was some solace in knowing that they had already won on that front. All that remained was to sell their lives as dearly as possible.

The steady clink of a man walking in lamellar armor stirred Mulan from her daydreams. She'd grown to recognize the sound of Captain Shang. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze, he had done everything short of beg the emperor to have her among the soldiers escorting the refugees to safety, but that decision was no longer his to make. "At attention guardsman," the order took Mulan somewhat by surprise. She pulled herself into a haphazard state of attention. His voice grew hollow after the first command. "Come with me, guardsman. I will need an escort."

Mulan met his gaze for the first time. There was a hollow look to his eyes that she had hoped never to see in the captain. Mulan swallowed anxiously and followed.

The heavy gates of the Imperial Palace creaked as they opened before the vast heartless army. Mulan felt her blood turn to ice as the tide of writhing creatures began to inch forward. She laid a trembling hand on the hilt of her sword. And then, they stopped. Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of heartless parted to either side in chillingly perfect unison leaving a space roughly three times a man's shoulder width. Or two times the shoulder width of the creature that strode down the middle of the heartless free aisle.

The corpulent creature stood more than seven feet tall from its steel-toed boots to the tips of its vaguely canine ears. Its body was encased in plate armor as dark as the shadowy creatures it commanded and emblazoned with a black heart with a red X across the center, the emblem of the heartless. Its fleshy face was twisted into a jubilant grin. "Well now," the creature drawled, "isn't that nice of you to open the door when we knock. Saves me the trouble of knocking down your walls don't it? And it certainly saves you the trouble of buildin' em back up again once you bow to me." The creature evidently found his quip unbearably funny and he broke out into a grotesque full bellied laugh.

Shang did not blink. Once the beast's laughter subsided he spoke, "The Imperial Chinese Army offers you this one opportunity to surrender and leave the domain of our Emperor never to return."

The heartless general erupted in another fit of hysterical laughter. "Surrender? You've got some grade A delusions o' grandeur if you think I'm going to be surrender'n to you in this lifetime."

Shang nodded pensively, "then we have no alternative but to annihilate you and your fiendish hordes to the last."

"See now I don't think you're truly grasping the situation, runt." The creature put his hand to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. From within the mass of shadows a creature staggered forth, little more than a walking cage. Between the living bars Mulan could clearly see the figure of a young peasant woman in traveling clothes huddled in a corner. When the cage was in arms length, the heartless general reached between the bars and seized the woman around the neck in one massive fist. Mulan closed her eyes, she knew what was about to happen. There was a sudden surge of cold wind and the woman began to scream and writhe, her feet making a series of wet clunks against the bars of her cage. The entire episode could not have lasted longer than a few seconds, but the scream seemed to last a lifetime, until it altogether ceased to be the sound of a human being. The creature laughed, "we found this one an' a whole mess of others flee'n east. Bet ya thought you could keep us tied up while they escaped, but nobody and I mean nobody outsmarts the mighty Pete." The monster's bulbous white eyes narrowed, "and no one and I mean no one escapes the heartless. Look around you, there is nowhere to run, every nation, every world will bend to the darkness in time, you can only delay the…"

"I've heard enough," Mulan roared and drew her sword, "Miscreation! I am Fa Mulan, left hand of his Excellency the Emperor and arbiter of his justice. I challenge you to single combat." Mulan's heart pounded in her chest as she stared the creature down.

The heartless leader's joviality returned, "Well now, finally an enemy with some spirit, wish I could say the same for your brains."

"Will you fight me, fiend? Or are you afraid to die on my blade."

"Afraid?" the creature nearly collapsed laughing, "missy I ain't going to be the one dying," a grin spread across its face and a cloud of crackling black energy coalesced around its hand, "but in a sense I guess you won't be either. Alright then, give me your worst."

Mulan glanced at the stunned captain Shang, who probably would have been furious were he not so surprised. "This was the plan, wasn't it?" she spat, "you should be grateful." She gave her sword a few practice swings and stepped forward. The masses of heartless crept closer; a thousand unblinking eyes looked to their master, as though waiting for a signal. Pete held up an armored hand and the creatures halted. The brute lumbered forward. "You will not use a weapon, fiend? Pity, there is no pride in killing an unarmed man."

"You wouldn't know an upper hand if it slapped ya. Guess there's time for ya to learn." With speed almost beyond belief for such an armored behemoth, Pete sprung forward and brought an armored fist down directly where Mulan's stood a moment ago. The creature's ironclad fist left a crater the size of a man's head in the paved stone. Mulan recovered quickly and sprung, slashing for the chest. Two feet of finely made Chinese steel dragged across his breastplate without so much as a scratch. Mulan whirled around to deliver another blow but Pete rebounded, driving an armored fist into her belly in a vicious upper cut.

Mulan impacted the ground with a hollow thud and the bitter taste of blood in her mouth. Pete plucked the sword from her slacked grip. He snapped the blade with his bare hands. "Now what is it you said about kill'n an unarmed man? Guess this here makes an even fight."

Mulan pulled herself to her feet, drew a dagger from her belt and thrust for the belly under the breastplate. If the blade managed to reach his flesh, Pete did not seem to notice, he plucked the struggling woman off the ground, her neck enclosed in one enormous fist. "You'll make one mother of a heartless, wont you missy? Look on the bright side; at least you don't have to see your homeland fall." Crackling darkness coursed through the creature's body and into Mulan's.

For a moment, it was as though she were plunged into icy water as the feeling changed from numbing cold to blistering heat. She fought for breaths that would not come as though the dark energy held her lungs in a slowly tightening vice grip. She felt a soft skittering sensation climb from her back to her shoulder and down her arm. There was a burst of white hot heat and the pain stopped. Pete howled in agony and released his grip as his hands shot to his face. Though partially obscured, she could see Pete's skin was charred and blackened. Skittering over his body, deftly avoiding Pete's flailing arms was a small, orange, serpentine shape. "Nice to have the old guardian powers back," Mushu quipped, breathing a gout of fire at one of Pete's thrashing arms.

"Treachery," Pete roared, "is this what counts as a fair fight 'round here?" The heartless began to advance. Somewhere on the ramparts came calls to close the gate. Mulan's heart sank; it would not be enough, scores of twisted creatures surged through with every second.

Mushu continued to climb over Pete's body dodging the heartless leader's clumsy grabs and breathing fire at exposed skin. "You probably hear this a whole lot," he yelled, "but you are one slow sack of cra-"

Pete roared in triumph as one of his hands connected with the little dragon and tore him from his body. There was a small, fleshy snap as Pete throttled the dragon and tossed him aside. He lumbered toward the injured Mulan, "now then, where were we."

"Fiend!" the voice reverberated throughout the courtyard.

Pete sighed and his ears drooped, "what now."

Mulan turned to see the charging Captain Shang decapitate a heartless without breaking stride. "If you are done struggling against my recruits, perhaps you'd like to pick on someone your own size." Despite the gravity of the situation, Mulan couldn't help but feel a sting of indignation.

"You got yourself a strange sense of humor around here, pipsqueak, got a dragon up your sleeve too?"

Shang impaled another heartless through its bulbous head with his sword. There was a spray of black ichor and its body vanished in a burst of shadow. "Not at all, beast," Shang paused to cleave through a trio of shadows, "I was referring to him."

Pete had only a moment to be confused before the titanic Chien Po's arms closed around him and tackled him to the ground. Pete struggled with the enormous man, but to no avail. Shang closed in, prepared to bring his sword down on the pinned creature's head. "Time for plan B," Pete growled. A shockwave of dark energy swept through him, knocking Shang off his feet and engulfing Chien Po in a cloud of darkness. Pete shoved the man off him and pulled himself to his feet as the black mist coalesced into a rotund heartless.

Mulan strained to stand, to fight back, but pain shot through her lower body. A quick glance at her bent and broken legs confirmed that they would be of no use to her. She could only watch as Pete strode over to the defeated Shang and lifted him off his feet. He laughed, "now this seems vaguely familiar, got any dragons you'd like to spring on me?"

The captain groaned and fumbled for a weapon.

Pete gave him a rough shake, "no? aw, that's too bad. Guess nobody rides to the rescue of the rescuers." The familiar crackle of dark energy filled the air. Mulan looked at the ground, her vision obscured by sweat and tears. She broke out into bitter, ragged sobs as Shang began to scream. And then, perhaps more chillingly, he stopped. She glanced up, through tear streaked eyes and let out an anguished howl.

Shang had been warped beyond recognition; the remnants of his armor had melded with his skin to form something like black scales. His arms had shortened into stubby claws and his face looked like nothing so much as a grotesque parody of a dragon. The black heartless symbol was printed across his scaled chest. The heartless shambled towards the wounded Mulan on its newly formed claws. "Shang, you remember me, don't you, it is me, Mulan. Fight it Shang, I know you have it in you, you are stronger than this."

For a moment, the heartless paused, but crept closer. As it neared heard its throaty growls interspersed with faint whimpers as though on some level Shang was aware of his actions and unable to stop himself. Pete laughed again, "I think I know when I'm not needed, I'll leave you two to get reacquainted, after all, there's so much left to do. Guess I'll wait and see what pops up afterward. You two play nice now." He laughed again, but Shang was close enough that his growls were louder.

"Shang…" hot tears fell from Mulan's eyes, leaving dark spots on the earth. The crackle of dark energy filled the air. Mulan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled for the last time.