Fighting Tradition

Once Upon a Time

Lived a young lady

With dark hair that stretched far from her shoulders

Down to her waist,

And a passion to find honor within herself:

Mulan.

Day after day,

She is told what to do

In order to bring great honor to her family.

She must depend on a man.

Act calm,

Obedient,

And have a tiny waist.

Day after day,

She questions why do what a lady is supposed to do?

Why not decide for herself who she really is?

and fight for a lady; Mei, who has her heart.

War had arrived

The Huns were getting closer to the Emperor’s palace

And her crippled father was demanded to go fight.

But she had a plan.

Tired of being told what to do,

She decided to go to war,

being her first decision of what to do for herself.

She covered her useless breasts,

Put on her father's armor,

And grabbed her father’s sword in her right hand.

Looked straight in the mirror,

Staring at her own reflection

And repeated, tauntingly what her female instructors would always tell her

“A great hairdo attracts more men”

PSSHEEWWW

Her long dark hair was now on the floor,

And the mirror revealed

A young girl with a pixie haircut.

At that moment she knew who she was.

Heading out of her father's closet door,

She walked toward the ranch to find a horse.

Mei eavesdropped on what Mulan was doing,

knowing she might not come back to her arms,

Mei walked suckingly to the Temple near the village

and prayed to the Gods for guidance.

Minutes away from the military camp

And her thoughts were long gone.

She feared her new self in a way,

She knew her new identity would not be accepted

Because she was still in a world where men were considered to be

those who protect innocents.

She had to change such thoughts,

Find honor

And accept her new self

And not what her fellow lady teachers had brainwashed her to be.

Understanding her body was not manly

More of a weak, and thin soldier.

Her goal was set,

She will fight against the Huns,

Supporting her fellow companions to battle,

And win.

But more importantly

Have honor and go home to her forbidden love

To confess her feelings.

Death was near,

she could hear the rumbling of foot steps.

The Huns were near,

all she could do is let her instincts

and training take over.

After all, there was no turning back now.

Full of fear, she distinguished a black figure holding something in his arms, a big wooden bow!

Panic took over,

The enemy was pointing that bow toward her commander,

Adrenaline was now taking over her body and she speeds toward his direction.

THHAWCK

The arrow was inches away from his face,

and Mulan's hand was drenched with her own blood.

She had saved his commander's life.

“What is your name soldier?”

“Uhh.. my name is Pink.”

Months had passed,

She was considered a hero to China

Even though they discovered her identity

Her commander learned to accept it

And thank her for saving his life.

She had been accepted by someone who had been so closed-minded

And accepted by her former teachers.

Hours later,

Her eyes met her forbidden love,

And Mulan smiled.

Mei's pained and pleading face

was not capable of accepting Mulan into her life.

Worried of her female instructors, she ran to the Temple and prayed to the Gods for guidance.

Leaving Mulan heartbroken,

but motivated to make Mei fall in love with her without fear of society’s opinions.

Inside the Temple, the commander was murmuring his prayers,

when his eyes met Mei's red and watery eyes.

He knew she was the girl Pink would blabber on and on about.

Knowing she did not know him,

he said, "in this life....sometimes you have to set aside traditions in order to follow your heart.”