No More Dreaming Like a Girl (Tag: Sinbad)

"And you blame yourself?"

He sounds like a fucking therapist.

"Of course I blame myself!" She explodes, shutting her eyes as she screamed. "If I'd listened to what they told me and stayed away from my dad she'd be living!"

He held his hands up in surrender.

"You won't accept this - but, it's not your fault. Your actions may have led them to you and your mom, but you didn't pull the trigger." He replies softly.

"But... they're both dead." Mulan insists as she starts to cry.

"The killer?" He asks, getting up from the bed and going and sitting beside her.

"No," Mulan wipes her face. "Aiko. Kaila's the only one still living."

"Well..." He turns his head towards her. "It still doesn't mean it was your fault. People blame themselves all the time - they drown themselves in guilt and self pity, but it's still not your fault. So, you can sit here, in a dirty cell, slowly killing yourself over something that you didn't do, or you can accept that it wasn't your fault. Do you really think your mom would want you to be crying right now?"

He pauses, going for a more lighter tone, smiling. "I mean, I don't think she'd like to see you sitting in a cell talking to a crim, but... I think she'd like the crying even less."

Mulan looks away from him. "You might be right." She sniffles. "She's used to the criminal part. Aiko was a criminal. But she didn't like it when I cried." Mulan wished her emotions weren't everywhere. She was nothing but a walking time bomb. "I'm so pathetic." She mumbles.

"Nah." He replies, waving his hand. "You're just a seventeen year old that lost her mom. There's nothing pathetic about that."

Mulan buries her face in her hands as she cries a moment. "But it was my fault. I antagonize them."

"Well, you've got to live with that, don't you?" He asks, patting her shoulder. "Every action has a consequence - you wouldn't have thought that in a million years, getting into a fight would mean that your mom would be killed." I didn't.

"Maybe not a million years. I just thought, that I'd have to suffer. Like my father. And in this way I am." She tells him. "I didn't think they'd skip over me like that."

"You can't really anticipate the actions of others." He nods. "People never fail to surprise you - and rip your world apart, I guess."

"You're right." She agrees, wiping her eyes on her rolled back sleeve. She takes a deep breath.

"I often am." He murmurs dryly, leaning his head back against the wall.

Well that was emotionally exhausting.

"Are not." Mulan protests pausing wiping her face.

With eyes closed, he tilts his head her way slightly and smirks. "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, sweetheart."

Mulan smirks, "Tch, that was awfully lame darling." She shot back. Her eyes soften. Besides Kaila, she'd never cried in from of anyone. The only others she'd cried in front of were dead. Mulan stares at Sinbad with a smile.

"Yeah, it was." He replies, laughing sheepishly.

Mulan starts to laugh with him. It wasn't until she felt more tears that she realizes she was crying again.

"Hey, do y-" Eyes opening, he cuts himself off when he sees her crying. "You okay?"

"Hmm? Oh." Mulan wipes her face again. "Yeah. I-I'm fine." She was sure her eyes were red by now. They were irritated. "What were you about to say?" She requests with a smile.

He stares at her for a moment, brows furrowed. "Nothing. Can't remember."

"Oh." Mulan was such a sorrowful person, completely alone who ran people away. Who hated them. But who's fault was that?

"Wasn't important, I guess." He shrugs, letting out a long yawn. "You should get some sleep."