As if falling through the portal wasn't horrifying enough once, we circled endlessly, waiting to land while Jinwoon grasped my hand so we wouldn't potentially lose each other in this void.

Moments later, a hole opened in the sky and Jinwoon fell out first and I fell after, landing on top of him again. We both winced in pain and grunted as we hit the ground. 

"Does it ever get any easier?" I asked, using my hands to push myself off of Jinwoon to stand on my own two feet.

"No. It's horrible every single time." He responded. "Just be glad we ended up on grass. There have been some places that have been way worse. You don't even want to know." I glanced at him and thinking that I interpreted what he meant, I tried not to laugh. He clearly heard me as he glared at me until I cleared my throat and regained my posture.

"So," I started up, studying the place around us again. "I have a funny feeling we aren't where we are supposed to be." Jinwoon looked around and silently cursed. I looked to see him trying to open the portal again but to no such luck.

"Please tell me that you are just tired from using your magic and we aren't stuck somewhere else again." I said. He looked over at me and from the look on his face, I knew that it was true. I brought my fingers up to my forehead and tried to keep my calm. This is ridiculous. How can a genie be so...

"How did you mess this up again?!" I asked, my voice a little harsher than intended. I hoped he didn't notice but when he looked away and scoffed, I knew he did. He looked back over to me.

"My bad. I guess I should let you direct us then." He stated flatly, his jaw slightly clenching.

"Excuse me?" I retorted, feeling very offended by his tone. I crossed my arms and waited for him to answer when he walked towards me, being very haughty.

"If my portal skills are not good enough for you then maybe you should try. I am feeling drained anyways so why don't you summon up a portal." He leaned in closer to my face, making me fume.

"Fine." I straightened my back as I turned around and faced the opposite way, trying to act like I had this in the bag. I took a couple steps in front of him and stopped, took a deep breath, and began to silently cursing myself for saying I would try it. I tried to sort through the thoughts in my head and see what I remember to get us out of here when he spoke up again.

"I'm waiting." He spoke. I'm waiting, I mocked making a face while repeating what he said and rolling my eyes after. I held both of my hands out in front of me and figured I might as well give it a shot as I put myself in this situation. Trying to remember what Jinwoon muttered when he opened the portal, I quietly started an incantation.

"H-Hal be...emkan..ek..."  I whispered, trying to remember the rest of the phrase. I was hoping at this point that the so-called magic that I was told to have would be coursing through my veins and into my hands but I felt nothing. 

"Hal beemkan...ek...mosa'adati?" I tried again. I had gotten one of the phrases down but my mind was blanking on the rest. Wanting not to give up and have Jinwoon laugh at me, I continued to search through what I heard him say before.

"Give it up, Sooyoung. You can't-" And then it hit me. The rest of the phrase. I gasped and interrupted Jinwoon as I uttered the same words he did before.

"Hal beemkanek mosa'adati?Ada'tu tareeqi!!!" I screamed, making Jinwoon freeze behind me. Proud of myself, I waited for something to happen when nothing appeared in front of me - no portal, no tear in the atmosphere - nothing. I tried once more and with no sounds of the portal opening and no feeling of power flowing through my body I sighed. Damn it, I cursed. I glanced down at my hands. I guess having magic powers was too much to ask for wasn't it?

As I was disappointed in my lack of abilities, Jinwoon's arm suddenly clasped onto my shoulder, making me jolt. I turned back to look at him and was surprised to see that he was smiling at me.

"Wow," He started, making an 'O' with his mouth. "So you do listen to what I am saying." He joked. I laughed a little at that. "Seriously though, how did you remember what I said from before?" He asked, curious as to how on earth I could speak his native tongue.

"I honestly have no idea. When I couldn't remember the last phrase it all just kind of...hit me. And then I spoke it like it was nothing." I confessed and one of his eyebrows jumped at that. "Don't ask me. I have no idea." He gently patted my shoulder and removed his hand to bring it back down to his side. 

"Well, it was interesting to watch you try at least. You looked like an idiot by the way." He mimicked me holding my hands out in front of me with a straight face as he tried to make me feel better about it. Laughing a little, I looked back down at my hands.

"But now we know," I started, making him stop his action. "That I guess I really have no magic in me at all." I sighed, feeling disheartened. I glanced up at Jinwoon and his eyes softened as he gave me a tight smile.

"You never know. Maybe it is just not time for them to appear quite yet." He suggested.

"Or maybe...It was a mistake that you took me with you after all..." I whispered, my mind racing. "Just what if Jinwoon? What if the person you were really looking for was someone else? What if taking me with you was a huge mistake?" I continued, trying to hold back the unwanted tears that were starting to surface. "What if...I can't help you save your world?" I mentally broke down, feeling helpless. Even though I wasn't magical, just the belief of some power inside of me was the only hope I had. But after this...after trying something that would use my powers...it just proves that I am just a normal human; that Jinwoon's instincts were wrong.

"Sooyoung..." He whispered, walking closer to me. My hands were buried in my face as I started to cry. Jinwoon leaned to pull me into a hug but instead let his hand hover for a few seconds over my shoulder before pulling it away, as if he felt that he didn't have the right to hug me. "Even if you aren't the one I was looking for...I am glad it was you." He stated, being softer than usual with his words. "You know more about these worlds than I would have if I was by myself. You helped us make things right with Yeri and Xiumin. You helped fixed that. I would have been lost and confused and probably would have been stuck back there." I lowered my hands from my face and moved my head up to meet his eyes.

"I am being honest Sooyoung. Without you...I wouldn't have known what a terrible fashion statement these pants are." I laughed. "Like really, compared to the clothes in the other world I look like a freak." He continued laughing along with me. I wiped at the tears in my eyes as I continued to laugh and started to feel better. After taking a breath I ran over and hugged Jinwoon, without thinking twice about it.

"Thank you," I whispered, as I hugged him around his neck, squeezing a little harder than I probably should have. "Thank you really. I will try my best to help you save him, magic or no magic...I promise." I stated. He didn't hug me back as we stood there and when I pulled away from him, he looked flustered.

"O-Oh yeah sure! Y-Yeah no p-problem." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head due to embarrassment, making me laugh again.

"Okay...so where are we?" I asked to no one in particular. We were surrounded by what seemed like cherry blossom trees and as I turned to scan the area, I saw something - a road. I started to walk towards it and Jinwoon started to follow behind, thrown off by this weird feeling he was having.

~~~

"Recognize anything yet?" Jinwoon yelled from behind, seeming far away. Confused, I turned around to see that he was quite a few feet from me and sitting in the middle of the road.

"Yah!" I yelled, not believing what I was seeing. "Are you actually tired?! We have only been walking for like half an hour!" I retorted, placing my hands on hips.

"What! Genies can't be tired too?!" He yelled back, making me roll my eyes. "Even I have my limits..." He whispered quietly to himself. 

"What?" 

"Nothing!" He said, making me suspicious. I waited for him to reach my side and was surprised by how heavy he was breathing when he stopped. 

"Wow are you out of shape." I concluded, noticing how the sweat was dripping from his face as he panted and fell back on the ground.

"Well I can't just fly all the time...You try being trapped in a lamp for thousands of years and tell me how you would get exercise." He responded, wiping the droplets from his forehead and making water appear in a canteen with the snap of his fingers. Seeing as he was not going to get up anytime soon, I gave in.

"Okay fine...I guess we can rest for a minute." I sat down beside him and watched him chug down majority of the leather jug of water within seconds. I motioned for him to hand me some when he shook his head. 

"Why not?" I asked, slightly pouting. 

"Because you were mean." I scoffed at his silly reason.

"Really. Are you two?" I questioned, reaching for the water and he quickly moved it up higher, out of my reach. "Ah, come on. I am thirsty too!" I whined, reaching for it again, to only have him hold it above his head, watching my short arms fail to touch it. 

"Nope. None for youuu," He sang, making me frustrated. Wanting to throw him off, I quickly elbowed him in the stomach and he dropped the jug, making it hit the ground. He winced in pain as both hands went to his stomach. I quickly grabbed the jug and drank some of the water before he could protest. 

"YAH!" He screamed, making me jump a little and water to trickle down my mouth. "That hurt!" He whined, rubbing at the area where I bruised him. I chuckled at how he childish he was being. I wiped the excess water off my face and gave him back the canteen as I moved to stand on my feet again. I looked down at him to see that he was glaring at me. In response, I stuck my tongue out at him as I started to walk again.

"Come on, slowpoke!" I called out, hearing him shuffle as he got up and started to walk behind me, probably silently cursing me as we walked. We continued down the road for a while before he asked the same question as before.

"Do you know where we are?" He repeated, less frustrated now that we had gotten to rest for awhile.

"I think we might be in an Asian country...Japan? China?" I pondered aloud. I clicked my tongue before continuing. "I have no idea yet. We haven't seen any other people so I don't even know what story we could be in." Jinwoon loudly exhaled as we walked down what seemed to be this endless road. Just about to give up, we both then heard something, surprising us.

"ALL RIGHT THAT'S IT!" We heard yelling from the woods to the right of us. We looked at each other and headed towards the voices. After making sure we quietly approached, we came to an opening revealing what seemed to be a person, their horse, and two smaller...animals?

"DISHONOR! DISHONOR ON YOUR WHOLE FAMILY!" The red creature shouted. "Make a note on this, Leo." He said pointing to the smaller creature beside him, that appeared to be a...cricket? The cricket - Leo? - then pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere and started to write things down. Jinwoon and I both looked at each other very confused when everything started to fall into place.

"DISHONOR ON YOU! DISHONOR ON YOUR COW!" The red creature continued when interrupted by the person he was talking to, clamping their hand over their mouth. 

"Stop! Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The person said, kneeling on the ground while apologizing to him. "I am just nervous, Hakyeon. I haven't done this before. So I am sorry if I was rude to you." They fumbled with their hands and looked away. 

"Well you are going to have to trust me Mulan if this is going to work. We are here to help you so let us." Hakyeon continued. "Also, don't slap me no more. We clear on that?" He sassed and Mulan quickly shook her head, nodding to his statement. 

"All right...LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!" He yelled, his voice echoing in the forest. As he started to walk towards our direction, Jinwoon and I quickly moved out of the way and crawled to hid behind another bush as they walked onto the road. After they were far away from us we both stood up. 

"Umm...You saw that right? I wasn't just imagining things?" Jinwoon asked, dazed by what he just saw.

"Yes I did. And now I know where we are!" I said, excitement building up inside of me. "YES!!" I yelled suddenly and started jumping up and down like a five-year old who just got her favorite toy for Christmas. 

"This fairytale is one of my favorites!!" I turned around and told Jinwoon as he stared at me in shock, clearly more surprised at my reaction than what had just taken place moments before.

"Come on, I will explain on the way, but let's go before we lose them okay?" I suggested and he quickly nodded, following my lead as we trailed behind Mulan and her companions to where they were going.

~~~

"Wait, wait, wait..." Jinwoon was in the process of deciphering everything I told him. "So that person is a she. And she fights in the war?!" He whispered, trying to not be so loud as they were only a short distance away from us.

"Yeah. She is a badass. She is the best heroine in my opinion." I explained. "She fights her own battles and ends up winning the war in the end despite the fact that she was a girl the whole time. She is like my role model. I love her so much!!" I squirmed, feeling more like a person stalking their idol than someone who was trying to save fairytale land.

"Okay, well don't fawn over her too much. I need you sane so we can get through this." He said, giving me the 'you are ridiculous' look. 

"Right, right. I just wonder what is wrong here...everything so far is happening like it is supposed to so why can't we leave?" I pondered, thinking back through the story to see if I could remember what is supposed to happen next.

"Maybe something is going to happen in the future? Like in Cinderella? We will just have to keep a close eye on everything." I nodded, determined to do my favorite princess justice so she could get her happy ending. Suddenly, we had arrived at what appeared to be the camp. Jinwoon and I quickly moved into the trees when Mulan arrived to the front entrance. We watched Mulan enter the camp and I started to panic when I realized something.

"Jinwoon." I said, turning to face him.

"Hmm?" He asked, looking over to see my panicked face.

"I can't go in there." I said, feeling sad. 

"Why not?" He asked, clearly not remembering the whole reason Mulan looks the way she does in the first place.

"I am a girl, Jinwoon. They don't let women into the army. I don't think I can get in..." I trailed off. Jinwoon pondered for a second and then as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he had an idea.

"Wait here." He ordered and just as quickly vanished. 

~~~

Jinwoon landed, gracefully, inside the camp by the river and noticed some of the men in the water, swimming with absolutely nothing on.

Knowing what to do and trying his hardest to not look at the men before him, Jinwoon snuck up and took the clothes on the branches as the men were too preoccupied comparing their muscles in the reflections. Jinwoon quickly grabbed two complete outfits and left, leaving two men to have a very hard time explaining how they lost their uniforms later.

~~~

As I was watching the entrance, looking for a way in, Jinwoon appeared in front of me again, making me almost scream when I stopped myself.

"You really need a bell or something I swear!" I said, trying to calm my heart. Jinwoon didn't care about my potential heart attack as he smiled and showed me what he had brought back with him. I smiled and suggested that we get a little farther away so we could change into them. 

After finding a suitable place, we started to change when I stopped.

"Wait." I said, making Jinwoon turn around still, thankfully, fully dressed. 

"What." He asked. I sighed, wondering what I was to do with how slow he was sometimes.

"Really. You don't think this-" I glanced down at so he could see what I was getting at. "would be a problem? I may be tiny but even men can spot them from miles away." I said nonchalantly and Jinwoon suddenly turned red.

"A-Ah..l-let me get you tape or something..." He whispered and after a quick snap of his fingers, wrapping cloth appeared in his hand and he brought it over shyly to me. "H-Here." He said as I grabbed it.

"Thank you." I smiled and we continued to change. I quickly wrapped the cloth around my chest, making sure it was tight enough so that it was believable that I was a man, but not tight enough so that I wouldn't be able to breathe. I then quickly got dressed into the armor and winced at how heavy it was. After fitting in, I was proud of myself when I realized one last thing. 

"Damn it..." I silently cursed. Jinwoon turned to look at me again, curious as to what it was now.

"My hair..." I said, holding the long strands in my hands, twisting it around in my fingers. "It won't fit into my helmet. I think...I have to cut it off." I stated, sighing. I was a little sad as I loved my long hair but if I was to help Mulan and make sure this world was safe, cutting my hair was the least of my worries.

"Can you-" I started but stopped when Jinwoon was already behind me, holding a pair of scissors in his hands. I smiled at him and quickly moved my hair behind my neck, let it fall down. I teared up a little and whispered a last goodbye before Jinwoon carefully grabbed in his hands.

"Are you sure?" He asked, waiting for my answer before making the final decision. I nodded, wiping my eyes. And then he started to cut it. Snip after snip, my head felt lighter as the hair fell from my head onto the grass below us. After a couple of minutes, Jinwoon finished and turned to look at me. "All done." He said with a smile, noticing how I was tearing up. 

"Thank you..." I said, turning around to stare at my hair at the ground. I immediately went up to touch my hair and I felt that it was now at about shoulder length. Hopefully it doesn't look too bad, I thought. I quickly grabbed the ribbon that came with the armor and tied it up into a bun, hiding my last shred of femininity. I breathed out and looked up to Jinwoon.

"Okay, lets go." I muttered, grabbing my helmet to carry in my arm, ready for what ever was coming next.