CHAPTER FIVE: OUTCASTS

(In which Mulan and Neal drink to their mutual misery.)

"To Outcasts."

"To Outcasts," Mulan agreed and clinked her glass of ale with Neal's.

"I hope you don't think I'm taking the coward's way out," Neal said after swallowing his beer down. "I don't want you or Marian or Graham to feel like I'm abandoning the cause... whatever exactly that amounts to. Previously dead and recently immigrated citizens of the Enchanted Forest stick together and all that."

"We do what we must to find happiness," Mulan returned. "If it wasn't for Marian needing help adjusting and having little support in her custody battle, I would consider leaving this town. There is little that it offers me but to see those I once considered friends defiled into the worst versions of themselves and call it the fruits of true love. Though there is Internet porn."

The statement, delivered in such a deadpan way made Neal crack up. He bet if they'd been kids together, they'd have been good friends, both trying to be warriors, to be what people said they couldn't, he because of his father, she because of her sex. They'd been friends, if for a short while, found a connection that he hadn't with Aurora and Philip and Robin, and it seemed the same for Mulan... or, at least, after Philip and Aurora were reunited, anyway. The two monarchs had thrown Mulan's loyalty and love away - and the thief literally threw the pieces of Neal's life in the garbage. Great friends they'd chosen to rely upon, friends who betrayed or forgot them in the end.

"You'll always be my friend," Neal told her, "even if I don't remember that friendship."

"And I will always consider you a friend, should you find your way back to the man I have grown fond of in a completely platonic way," Mulan replied.

"Hey," Neal mused, "maybe one day Aurora will walk by your Taekwondo studio while you're all hot and sweaty, and you'll pull your hair out of a bun while turning your head-"

"You watch too much Internet porn."

"Yeah, well, it's lonely being back from the dead for those of us without wolf fetishes," snarked Neal. "Still, I think you two are meant for each other."

"And you and Emma are meant for each other. And Marian and Robin are meant for each other. At least, different versions of them before this counterfiet happy ending. If only they could see what we see..."

"Sucks to be perceptive, doesn't it?"

The clock tower chimed, and Neal grimaced. It was time to go.

Mulan surprised him as he stood with a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"You have the heart of a great warrior and the soul of a poet. You are the most honorable man I have met, Baelfire, and I know you will be again on whatever path you choose."

If only honor brought happiness, he thought. Sadly, that had never seemed to work out for him...

AN: I know Taekwondo is Korean, not Chinese, but Mulan is also a real historical figure, not a cartoon, so fuck all you all if you have a problem with it!

Next up: All you Hook-haters, the pirate mascot is up to bat, and he's got lots to ponder about life as a hero, but his internal monologue gets rudely interrupted. And what is Cora up to?