Reflection: A Twisted Tale Read online

  Mulan inhaled. “So the sword is yours.”

  “Indeed.” Meng Po smiled. “My father was a god, and my mother was human. If I had been a boy, I would have been invited to live in Heaven. But the gods saw no use for another half-breed girl. So I sought to prove myself to my father, and I did so by serving in the Emperor’s army. I was a woman, but I was also half-immortal. The Emperor could not refuse my service, but that did not mean the men respected me. Not at first, anyway. I earned it over many trials and many years.”

  “‘The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all,’” Mulan murmured.

  Meng Po nodded. “My days as a warrior are long past. Eventually, my father did invite me to join him in Heaven. But there are plenty of immortals in Heaven, so many that they are often forgotten on Earth. I wanted to be remembered, and I wanted to be useful. So I chose to live here in Diyu among the ghosts and demons and creatures I banished from Earth, and to help King Yama maintain order in the Underworld.”

  So the “hero of legend” the demons on the Cauldron had been talking about was Meng Po! Mulan would never have guessed. She could scarcely believe this woman was the same person who’d tried to trick her multiple times in Diyu. She also couldn’t believe she was warming up to her.

  “But I thought only a demigod could unlock the sword’s power,” Mulan said.

  “That is not true,” replied Meng Po. “Only someone with a hero’s heart could do that. A heart like yours, Mulan.” She paused before continuing, “Your heart has been tested, and you have come far. But not every fight is fought on the battlefield. There will be more to come, for you and those who follow you. Do not let yourself be forgotten, Fa Mulan. And do not forget—you are not alone.”

  “Thank you, Meng Po.”

  The Lady of Forgetfulness passed the sword to Mulan, but Mulan shook her head. “It’s yours, not mine. I have my father’s sword waiting for me back in the real world.”

  Meng Po smiled again. “Then take this, as a memory of the battles you have fought here.”

  The sword disappeared, and in its place was a magnolia blossom. Its petals were soft and pink like the blush of a peach.

  Meng Po tucked the blossom behind Mulan’s ear. “There. A reminder that where there is beauty, there is also strength and courage and resilience.”

  “Thank you,” Mulan whispered.

  Meng Po gently tilted Mulan’s chin up. Wistfulness touched her face. “King Yama will have a difficult time judging you. I’ll wager he’s relieved he won’t have to do it today.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Mulan, confused.

  “We here have a saying: only the brave may enter, but only the worthy may leave. You have achieved something few others have, Mulan, and shown us that your heart is true. You and your friends will have many more trials to face on Earth, and I can only wonder what King Yama will do with you when one day, you return to Diyu for judgment. Whether he will send you to me to be reincarnated—for it is clear you are a hero who could do much on Earth in yet another life—or whether he will reward you with passage to Heaven.”

  She lingered a beat in thought. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait. Until then, I wish you and Captain Li good fortune back in the land of the living.”

  Her skirts billowed as she stepped away from the bridge. “Now go. Your friends will be waiting for you with King Yama.”

  With that, Meng Po drew up her skirt and changed into a crane. Fluttering her wings, she soared high into the sky. Mulan watched her until she vanished behind the sun with a flash of light.

  Mulan tilted her head down and faced the bridge. The phoenixes guarding the entrance flared open their wings.

  For the first time since she could remember, a strange feeling of peace came over her.

  She was going home.

  Shang was the first one to see Mulan emerge from the bridge. Waiting beside King Yama and ShiShi, he stood against the hollow curve of one of Diyu’s stone caverns, shifting from foot to foot as if he’d been waiting hours.

  But once he saw her, the worried creases on his forehead smoothed and his brow lifted, and he made his way toward her.

  Maybe it was from the long walk across the bridge, and all the battles she’d fought in Diyu, but the sight of him quickened her pulse. She drew in a shallow breath.

  There was something different about Shang. He looked whole, yet his body still shimmered with an otherworldly aura. A different sort of aura, though. One that no longer burned like the pale blue of a fire’s heart, but instead glimmered like watery rays of sunlight.

  A flush deepened his cheeks. He must have realized she’d seen him staring at her. Still, the grimace he’d worn stretched into the widest smile she’d ever seen from the stern captain.

  Her stomach fluttered. She wanted to run up to him—to jump with relief and joy, and grab his hand, even—but she held back.

  There was something behind the fluttering in her stomach, behind the shiver tingling down her spine. Mulan knew deep down what it was. Mushu had been right. She did like Shang; she had for a long time…and being here in Diyu with him had only drawn them closer and intensified her feelings for him.

  But now she needed to reason those feelings away. Despite everything they’d been through, Shang would be the only person in the army who knew the truth about her. They hadn’t discussed what that would mean when they returned to the real world.

  You’ll be friends, Mulan told herself. What else would change?

  “You’re here,” Shang said, unaware of her thoughts. The broad smile remained on his lips.

  Mulan couldn’t help grinning back. “You’re here, too.”

  “I’m glad,” they both said at the same time. Then Mulan laughed to break the awkwardness, and as if they were both thinking the same thing, they each took a hasty step back.

  “You look good,” Shang blurted. His face turned increasingly red, and it took Mulan a moment to realize why. He’d never seen her dressed like a girl before. “I…I like your hair down. It suits you.”

  Mulan stifled a laugh, and instead smiled at him. “Thanks.”

  “There you are,” ShiShi rumbled, interrupting the two. “We thought you’d never get out of that chamber. You certainly took your time.”

  “You try saying that next time you go into the Chamber of Mirrors,” said Mulan good-naturedly. Best not to recount how she’d almost died inside; not now, anyway. “I encountered Meng Po right after I passed.”

  “Meng Po!”

  “She’s not so bad.” Mulan touched the magnolia blossom in her hair. “She gave me this flower when I returned her sword.…It appeared back at my side after I left the Chamber of Mirrors. Turns out, the Sword of the Blazing Sun belongs to her.”

  “To Meng Po?” Shang repeated. “But how? She nearly got us killed—”

  King Yama stomped his foot. Mulan had been so excited to reunite with her friends she hadn’t even acknowledged him.

  Now she saw him standing behind her friends with one of his enormous tomes under his arm. For once, he wasn’t scowling, but he didn’t look pleased, either. Then again, Mulan supposed he never looked happy…except as a statue in Youdu’s temple.

  “I’ll tell you about it later,” she whispered to Shang.

  Surrounded by his demon guards, the ruler of the Underworld stood before the great vermilion gates of Diyu. Once he saw Mulan finally approach him, he clapped his large, wide hands. The sound made the cave walls tremble.

  “Your Majesty,” Mulan said, bowing deeply, “I found Captain Li Shang, and I’ve brought him back to you before sunrise.”

  “You cut it rather close,” King Yama said gruffly. “But fair is fair.”

  “So we’re free to go?”

  “Not yet.” Yama pulled at the ends of his beard. He looked ever so slightly anxious. “You say you saw Meng Po? Did she seem…upset?”

  “Upset?”

  “That you foiled her plans to keep you here!” King Yama rumbled. His
round eyes flicked to Shang and ShiShi. “You all get to leave Diyu, but I still have to deal with her, you know. For all eternity.”

  “She wasn’t angry,” Mulan assured him. “She gave us all her blessing.”

  “Good,” King Yama said, calming down.

  “I thought I sensed her mark on your new attire,” ShiShi grumbled to Mulan. He tore at his mane, and at the braids that had come apart. “She could’ve spent some of her magic on me. Look at me. I can’t go back to the real world looking like this. I’ll be the laughingstock of all the Li ancestors.”

  She chuckled. “Stop being so vain. You look fine.”

  King Yama whistled at ShiShi, beckoning the lion to his side.

  ShiShi straightened, assuming the king of the Underworld was about to honor him in some way, but King Yama simply propped his great tome over ShiShi’s back.

  The lion grunted. “I’m not a book stand.”

  King Yama disregarded the guardian’s complaints and flipped through the book until he found Shang’s name. Grasping the ink brush tucked behind his ear, Yama dipped its bristles into the porcelain inkpot floating at his side, then scratched out Captain Li Shang from the book.

  “There,” he said. He reached for a paper fan inside his pocket and waved it at the ink to dry. “All done.” He wagged his brush at Shang. “Next time, look before you throw yourself in front of the enemy’s sword.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Now get out of here. I’ve a schedule to keep.”

  “Not yet,” came a chorus of familiar voices.

  Mulan’s ancestors!

  Ren, Mei, and Liwei appeared, escorted by the blue demon guard who’d first accompanied Mulan into Diyu. Languai scowled when he saw Mulan, but that was probably just his normal facial expression. When their eyes met, he nodded his head in an acknowledgement of respect.

  “Of all the millions of souls in Diyu, what luck you had to run into these three.” King Yama frowned at the Fa ghosts, particularly at Mei—who batted her eyelashes at him. “Now thank them and say goodbye. Be quick about it. I’m in a generous mood, but that doesn’t mean you can dawdle.”

  “He really never does smile,” Mei muttered. She puckered her red lips into a pout, then faced Mulan. “It’s good to see you again, Ping…I mean, Mulan.” She slapped Mulan’s shoulder with a fan. “I knew you weren’t a boy.”

  “I’m sorry for my deception,” Mulan replied. “But I had to…for Baba.”

  “You should have told us.” Liwei wrinkled his nose, and for a moment, Mulan worried that he still was angry with her. Finally, he nodded. “But family is family. At least now I know you’re really one of us.”

  “Family is family,” Mulan repeated with a smile. “Thank you, Honorable Ancestor Fa Liwei.”

  “If you want to thank us, pray that we reach Heaven soon,” Mei added. “It’s been centuries since anyone’s included us in their prayers.”

  “I will,” said Mulan, warmed by her ancestors’ acceptance. “I promise.”

  With that, Mei and Liwei parted for Diyu again, but Ren lingered. The monk shuffled his feet, looking nervous as he approached Mulan.

  “I paid off my debts thanks to you,” he said. “I knew you’d make it through the Chamber of Mirrors.”

  “I’m glad.” She softened. “You were a great help to us, Ren. What will happen to you now?”

  A beam brightened Ren’s face. “King Yama thinks I can make up for my past misdeeds in a new life.”

  “Congratulations,” she said, truly happy for her ancestor. “Will you go soon?”

  “I’ll wait in line at the Hall of Justice once I see you off. Might take a few days, or weeks. Good time to reflect.”

  “On?”

  Ren patted his head. “Let’s just say I wasn’t the most exemplary monk when I was alive. I wanted to be an actor, but my mother wouldn’t allow it. So I needed money to fund my own troupe, and I turned to gambling. When Mother found out, she sent me to the temple.”

  “Let me guess—you didn’t stop once you became a monk?”

  He cast her a sly grin. “I couldn’t help myself. I was kicked out of the monastery a few months before I died. But with hindsight, my bad habits helped me make a life here in Diyu.” Ren straightened, and a wave of calm washed over him. “And helped me stay here long enough to meet my descendant, Fa Mulan the hero.”

  Mulan blushed. She still wasn’t used to being called a hero, especially not as her real self.

  “I hope our paths cross again in the real world.” Ren folded his hands together, then stepped back until Languai caught his arm. He and the guard faded back into Diyu, and another ghost took their place at the end of the cavern.

  “Father,” Mulan heard Shang gasp.

  Sure enough, it was General Li. His chest swelled with pride, and he glowed even brighter than before; even his armor gleamed. He walked toward them slowly, never taking his eyes off his son until he had approached King Yama.

  King Yama frowned. “So that’s where you’ve been,” he grumbled to the general. “My soldiers have been searching everywhere for you.”

  General Li bowed to King Yama. “Your Majesty, my humblest apologies for evading your soldiers.”

  “You trespassed into the mortal world,” King Yama said sternly. “That is forbidden. I should revoke my decision to send you to Heaven.”

  “Please, Your Majesty,” said Mulan. “It was my fault. I offered to go.”

  “I said I should,” huffed King Yama. “I didn’t say I would. I told you I’m in a generous mood.”

  General Li hid a smile. “I am ready to ascend to Heaven. Only give me a last moment with my son.”

  King Yama heaved a sigh. “Go. Go. Hurry before I change my mind.”

  General Li bowed once more before addressing ShiShi, his former guardian. “Farewell, old friend. Watch over my son for me.”

  ShiShi nodded once. He lowered his head before Mulan could see the tears forming at the edges of his round orange eyes.

  General Li continued to Mulan. “And I must thank you as well, Ping. You look different than I remembered.”

  Mulan looked up at the general nervously. “That is because I am not Ping,” she confessed. “My name is Mulan.”

  General Li blinked, confused.

  “She is Fa Zhou’s daughter,” ShiShi explained, before Mulan could do it herself. “She impersonated a man to serve in the Emperor’s army, and to spare her father from having to fight.”

  “A female warrior,” murmured the general. After a moment’s thought, he chuckled. “Audacious, but I cannot say I disapprove. What a soldier Shang’s mother might have made. She could have defeated the Huns with her fierceness alone.” General Li made a face.

  His laugh faded, and he straightened, taking on the authoritative stance of the revered general he’d been in life. “Now I must thank you, Fa Mulan. Few men would have had the cunning and bravery to save my son from Diyu. Fa Zhou is lucky to have a daughter such as you.”

  Mulan’s throat swelled, and her eyes grew misty like ShiShi’s. To hear General Li say her father would be proud of her, and know he truly meant it—left her speechless.

  “Thank you, sir,” she said, realizing everyone was waiting for her reply. “Your words mean a great deal to me.”

  “I can’t imagine it was easy for my son to discover his best soldier is a woman. I’ll trust you to keep my son’s pride in line.”

  Mulan pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. “I’ll do my best.”

  Now, finally, General Li turned to Shang. “My son,” he said quietly. “China thanks you for what you have done, but your role in protecting the Emperor is not finished.”

  Shang bowed. Mulan couldn’t see his face, but his voice trembled. “Yes, Father.”

  “Take care of your mother.” General Li placed both hands on his son’s shoulders. “And listen to ShiShi.” The general mustered a faint smile. “He has a big head and thinks he’s always right, but over time, you’ll
learn he usually is. There is much wisdom you can learn from him. If you do so, you will not make the same mistakes I made when I was your age. You will become a better man than I. That is all I can hope for.”

  Shang opened his mouth as if to protest, then closed it and nodded. “I will, Father.” He paused. “Thank you for coming back and saying goodbye. I will not let you down.”

  “Then my heart is full. I will watch you from Heaven.” General Li clasped Shang’s hand, lingering until Yama let out a warning cough. The general nodded, let go of his son’s hand, and returned to King Yama’s side.

  “When you cross the gates,” said Yama, “keep walking. No matter what.”

  His voice echoed across the cavern, and when Mulan turned back she realized he—and General Li—had vanished.

  The bronze bell hanging above the gates chimed. Mulan’s eyes lifted toward the sound. She’d never noticed the bell before; it hung, suspended in the air by nothing at all. But that no longer surprised her.

  She was almost sad to leave this place behind—to return to the real world where ghosts and demons and magic did not tread. Where bridges didn’t hover in the air, and rivers didn’t stream across the clouds. Where old women didn’t turn out to be powerful enchantresses, and mirrors couldn’t speak to one’s very soul.

  As the bell continued to blare, the round demonic faces carved into the gates’ vermilion-painted wood clattered their square metal teeth, their red eyes searing to life. The knocking grew louder and louder, until the entire cave shuddered.

  Then, with a deep and throaty rumble, the gates began to part.

  Sunlight pierced the crack between the gates, bathing the entire cavern with a soft white glow. Mulan shielded her eyes and stepped closer to the rumbling gates. She could see dawn outside, the sun glittering as it rose above the horizon.

  “It’s morning,” she murmured. Mulan tilted her chin, letting the light bathe her face and warm her. “You know, I’ve never been so happy to see the sun.”

  “That’s the way I used to feel after each battle,” replied Shang. “Just grateful to see another day.”