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Everything unfolded as though in slow motion. Mulan wondered for a split second if this was a new chi power she’d discovered, but the thought left her mind the moment she saw the arrow pierce straight through Xian’s torso.
“No!” Mulan screamed. She watched, horrified, as Xian’s eagle form plummeted down, dissolving and becoming human before landing in a sickening heap which Mulan sprinted towards. She crouched before Xian’s form, feeling mortified at the sight of the thick arrow protruding from her shuddering chest and the crimson stain spreading from the puncture. Then she saw Xian’s eyes, once dark and full of rage... but now dull, and rapidly becoming dimmer.
“Mulan…” Xian whispered. She knew she didn’t have long. It was strange how quickly her feelings had developed for this girl, especially after she’d been rejected time and again. Perhaps Mulan’s stubbornness in following her own path was one of the reasons Xian had fallen for her in the first place.
Mulan gently laid Xian on the floor. “Don’t talk. Let me fix this.”
“It is too late.”
“No. No!” Mulan scrambled her palms around Xian’s wound, wondering whether to tug the arrow out. Given how quickly Xian was deteriorating Mulan knew it had pierced her heart, and so all was lost. Yet she still couldn’t give up. Her own heart was beating heavily in her chest, full of remorse and another feeling she couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“My dear, strong warrior,” Xian managed to smile one last time. “You will go on to do great things. Never let them dull you fire…” Xian paused to gasp for air as a sharp pain jolted through her. “Never…”
Mulan watched the fire leave Xian’s eyes, and watched her head loll to the side.
“This… this can’t be…” she whispered, her bloodied hands still held above Xian’s lifeless form. She choked out a single sob, and felt despair wash through her; despair for the loss of such a great and noble warrior. Despair for the sacrifice she’d been too late to stop. Despair for the loss of someone who meant a lot to her, more than even she had realised. An image of Xian’s lips upon her own tugged at Mulan’s mind, and then she was filled with a terrible feeling of longing, and a whole new kind of despair; despair for what could have been.
“I…” Mulan felt a sudden, hot surge burn through her, and she honed in it, feeling warmth fill her whole body. “I can’t accept this!”
The soothing heat burned through her, filling her from her abdomen to her chest, through her shoulders and arms, tingling all the way down to her fingertips. She yanked the arrow out, tossed it to the side, and then laid her hands on Xian, pushing against that foul injury, filling it with that same energy that coursed through her veins. Mulan closed her eyes and felt her chi brimming over, overflowing from her and flowing into Xian’s form.
A sharp intake of breath pierced the silence, and Xian’s form jolted. Mulan snapped her eyes open, finding there was no longer a wound in her chest, and Xian’s dark eyes were staring right at her, the once dull orbs now shining with life.
“Mulan...” Xian’s face contorted into several different emotions; confusion, realisation, and then surprise. “How… how did you…?” she slowly sat up, checking over her wound only to find there was no sign of it ever having been there.
“I'm so, so glad…” Mulan said, her voice thick, laden with unspoken emotion. She leaned forwards and pressed a single kiss to Xian’s forehead, noticing the other woman’s eyebrows raise up in response. “You should rest. I will deal with him,” she said, spitting out the last word.
--
Xian didn’t rest, of course. There was no need, not with the power burning through her. She accompanied Mulan and helped her to defeat Khan, thus ending the threat to the Empire. And after that she kept to the shadows, staying out of view while Mulan shone brightly in the sunlight. It’s where she belongs, Xian thought, as she watched Mulan receive thanks from the Emperor himself.
Once the audience was over and Mulan was travelling alone, Xian swooped down from the air and landed before her, transforming back to her human form. She placed her hands on her hips and frowned.
“You should have accepted his offer.”
“To join the Royal guard?” Mulan asked, tilting her head. “Why would I want to work besides men, whom, as you have repeatedly pointed out, would never respect me?”
“Perhaps…” Xian slowly walked around Mulan, noticing that, as always, she was strikingly beautiful. Her mind drifted back to the forehead kiss, and to everything that came before it. That warm, loving energy that had filled her; did it mean what she thought it meant? “Perhaps I was wrong.” Xian made one full circle around Mulan, then cupped her chin in her hand. “You are special. You can change people’s hearts, Mulan.”
Mulan smirked. “Are you suggesting that I’ve changed yours?” She looked down to Xian’s lips,wondering how they’d feel if they were pressed to her own.
“Yes.” Xian noticed the fleeting glance, and it was the only encouragement she needed. “You have,” she said, swooping forwards and capturing Mulan’s soft, delicious lips upon her own. She was delighted to feel Mulan respond, eagerly returning the kiss, wrapping strong arms around her and holding her close. Xian had never felt a person hold her like this, or want her like this. It was beautiful, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she shed a single, joyful tear.
“Well,” breathed Mulan, holding her lips less than an inch from Xian’s. “So long as you’ll come with me, then maybe I’ll reconsider.”
“I’ll be with you,” Xian smiled, stroking Mulan’s cheek with her thumb. “But the cost will be steep.”
Mulan blinked. “Cost?”
“Kiss me again, and I’m all yours.”
And so she did. Mulan held Xian more tightly than ever, and poured all of the love she’d felt these past few months into the gesture. Because it had been love, all along. Love for another woman, of all things; Love for a witch, a sorceress, hopefully a lover, and someday maybe even a wife.
“Was that enough payment?”
“It’s a favourable start.”
“Hah,” Mulan chuckled. She held out her hand. “Come. Let us spend a few days with my family before returning to the Empire.”
And they did. Xian was an expert shapeshifter, after all, so it wasn’t difficult to appear to all those around her as Mulan’s (obviously handsome) male suitor. Of course, after hours and in the privacy of their room, she was free to discard the illusion and become her true self.
--
That night they lay together for the first time. Soft cuddles and kisses turned into warm, gentle touches - touches which soon burned, touches which quickly became frantic, needy, desperate. And when her whole body shuddered beneath Mulan’s hot lips, Xian realised just how much she loved this woman. How much she was in awe of her. She vowed there and then that she would follow Mulan to the ends of the earth.
Later, when she held Mulan’s deceptively fragile, small form in her arms, Xian felt herself drift gently into the first truly peaceful slumber she’d known for as long as she could remember.