The Dragon Awakens

Chapter Seventeen

Lanie strolled around the camp, watching as the wreckage started to come under control. Shang was nowhere to be found and neither was Mushu. As she passed the doorway of a half-collapsed building she saw something small and fuzzy half-buried in the snow. Kneeling down, she was shocked when she pulled out a small brown teddy bear. It was still intact and not burned at all which both shocked and relieved her.
   She glanced around at all the men, thinking perhaps it was one other their's and she was struck with the sudden realization at how young they all were. I mean, she herself was only 18 and yes, she did still have some teddy bears in her room, but they were soldiers now. Men weren't supposed to carry fuzzy, soft teddy bears with them into battle. One of the men, a member of one of the most ruthless killing teams in the country, had brought this with him for comfort.

She shoved the bear in her pocket and made her way up the hill to where the General's hut was and saw his body was still under the debris. She struggled to pull him out and whistled to get Po's attention.

"Grab a shovel and help me." Po scrambled to find two shovels as Lanie pulled the Generals' body away from the debris and towards a ridge overlooking the valley below and started shoving snow aside with her hands. One foot later and she finally found dirt and Po handed her a shovel.

"It's going to be frozen," he whispered, staring at the black earth.

"It's what he deserves," Mulan answered as she plunged her shovel into the earth. It was indeed frozen and incredibly rocky, but with Po's help, they managed to dig a hole four feet deep, just large enough for the General's body to fit in. They placed him gently in the hole, fixing his uniform and making sure every medal and button was in place. They would come back for him and give him a proper burial, but for now, this would have to do.
   Lanie pulled out the teddy bear and glanced at it in her hands. A symbol of innocence, she thought as she placed the bear in his folded hands. And a symbol for all those lost here who were far too young to die. 

They began placing the dirt back over him when Lanie felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Shang's face, his red eyes, and stopped. "Here, let me." He took the shovel from her hands and pushed her aside as he began burying his father. Lanie gave a nod to Po to keep helping him as she went to see how the funeral pyre preparations were going. 

"Mulan." Lanie whipped around and Mushu was half hiding behind Khan who was munching away on a stack of hay someone had dug up from the storage shed. She'd thrown her own sleeping bag over his back to keep him warm but he looked like he was having the time of his life so she wasn't so concerned with him as she was with everyone else.  

"What?"

"The DA... They got back to me. The signal is shitty up here but they can't... We are in this together now. They can't send reinforcements up here without blowing our cover."

Mulan gaped at him. "We're stuck here?"

Mushu sighed and shrugged. "I see a very low chance of us actually going into any kind of battle. And anyway, our skills would ensure we survive."

Lanie rubbed her eyes and felt like falling face-first into the snow. How could this be happening to her? How could the DA abandon their agents like this? In the middle of a war! Were they that expendable to them? Was she?

"What about the General?" Lanie whispered.

Mushu hesitated, looking around. "He's dead. Mission complete. No further objectives. The DA is satisfied."

Lanie kicked the snow and tugged at her hair. She wanted to go home. In all her years away from her family, on all the missions in all the countries, she never once gotten homesick. Now, all she wanted was to drink tea with her Nainai and watch Hallmark movies like they would do on rainy days.