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Mulan, General and Ghost Bride
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“Mulan,” Liu Guo tries again.

She turns from him, unwilling to see his face just then, unwilling to let him see hers.

It doesn’t matter, really. She knew from the moment she left in her in-law’s house, from her first tentative plans on how she’d pull this off, that she was going to die. There’s no version of this where she gets to live. Letting her die a lieutenant rather than a foot soldier is all the kindness Liu Guo can give her, really.

She has an out.

Shilong’s life is more important for this war’s success than her death. The one guaranteed way to ensure her father’s cooperation in sheltering an enemy prince is if she handles it herself. She was already planning on it, really, halfway resigned to the necessity of it, but the idea of it is repugnant to her in a way that it wasn’t a moment ago.

They’ll march to the frontlines together. The general, Liu Guo, and Yichen will be called away for some official business and will plan to return the next day, or the day after that. But they’ll be called to battle before then. The three of them will be on their way back to the emperor, or the next batch of soldiers, or something else she hasn’t thought of, having never had any intention of returning.

She can’t leave Changrui to lead all these men to their deaths alone. He’s her fellow lieutenant and her friend. All these men are her friends, in one way or another. Not her best friend, that was a title she reserved for Liu Guo. But Liu Guo lied to her and was planning to leave her to die without him.

She’s lying to Changrui and all the others. She won’t leave them.

“My father knows you, right?” she asks, turning abruptly.

Shilong gives her a hard look that softens into something that shifts between surprise and grief. Apparently she’s not the only one who can put two and two together.

“We’ve met,” he says dismissively, clearly not following, and he’s usually quicker than this. “Will you just–”

“I’ll write you a letter,” she says. “You know enough about me to convince him I wrote it. He’ll never believe Shilong on his own, no matter what I write. You’ll have to go with him.”

She’s giving Liu Guo exactly what he wants. There’s no reason for him to be looking at her like that.