Love or Law

Redemption

Mulan couldn't see a thing in the crushing darkness. All she was aware of was the warmth of Khan beneath her and the cold all around her, but she couldn't give in! She had to break free and find a way to survive! She needed to help her friends and she desperately needed to find Shang before it was too late! Ducked low over Khan, not entirely sure which way was up, Mulan dug her heels in and urged Khan forward with her whole body. She felt his muscles surge beneath her and then they were free! Breaking through the rushing snow's surface in a spray of crystals and ice.

Mulan gulped down the frigid air, thankful to be alive. However she couldn't linger, the situation was dire and time was of the essence. Khan was fighting against the current of the snow as best as he could but...

GAH! A sudden wave of snow swept through them, tossing Khan off his feet! Mulan clung to his back as her faithful friend fought against the snow and broke to the surface once more. Glancing around, she saw something further down the avalanche being carried swiftly away from them, a person!

"Shang!" She cried out, unthinkingly turning Khan's head and using the avalanche's current to plunge after him as quickly as they could. Shang was lighter than they were and was moving fast with the snow, headed directly towards a cliff! Urging Khan faster, Mulan watched with her heart in her throat as they came closer and closer to the cliff's edge.

Finally they drew even with him. Leaning far over, Mulan wrapped an arm around Shang's limp body and used all her strength to haul him up onto Khan. God! He was heavy! Thank goodness for all of her training! She got him situated in front of her, draped on his stomach across Khan's back.

Khan was fighting the snow with everything he had but they weren't gaining any ground. He was holding them in place but just barely. Mulan had no clue how they were going to get out of this!

"Hey Mulan! I found the lucky cricket!"

Mushu. If he had been any other dragon he could have gotten them out of there but no, he was just Mushu.

"We need help!" She yelled over the roar of the snow. Maybe he could come up with an idea? He had been sent by her ancestors after all...

An arrow! An arrow with a rope attached had just whizzed into the snow right next to them! Moving quickly, Mulan tied off the rope around Khan's saddle horn, nocked the arrow to her bow, which had somehow remained in its sheathe on Khan's saddle, and let it fly with a prayer.

"AAAHHHH!!!" Mushu's yell was warning enough for Mulan. They were too close to the cliff. There was no time left. She felt Khan slipping backwards, suddenly at an angle.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!! Aw, Man, we gonna die!! No way we survive this! Death is comin!!!"

Even as they inevitably tipped over the edge, Mulan clung to the thought that they might survive. They had to. The Gods couldn't be so cruel as to take her away from everyone she loved. Baba. Mama. Grandmama. Ling, Po, Yao and...Shang. Please not Shang. Not after all they had been through.

Everything was spinning, upside down, sideways. There was a lurching in her stomach. The sensation of falling, of gravity winning. She couldn't even scream. She just clung to Khan and to Shang. Maybe if she could hold them together they could survive.

A sudden jolt caught them, causing everything to stop. Literally. Mulan cautiously opened her eyes, not even realizing that they had been closed that whole time. Incredibly, they were suspended in midair! How...?

And then Mulan saw the rope stretched taut in front of her eyes, tied to Khan's saddle horn. The Gods had answered her prayers! Somehow, miraculously, the arrow had caught somewhere and held them but how were they going to get out of this mess?