Overview: A modern AU written for the pairing of Mulan and Belle with Belle becoming disabled and how it affects her life and her relationships.
Fandom: Disney, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast
Relationship: Fa Mulan/Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
Characters: Fa Mulan, Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
Rating: Teen Audiences
Word Count: 7,189
Summary: Right before their senior year of high school Belle finds her life changing forever due to one small accident. While much around her changes, including herself, there are some things that remain the same. (Mostly because her partner is far too stubborn a person.)
Warnings: Disabled Character Becoming Disabled (paralysis) and exploring physical disabilities.
And So It Goes
Shivering at the drops of sweat that traced a path around the curve of her scalp, Mulan quickly ran a hand through sweat-streaked hair with a groan that she made sure to pitch louder and higher than she would usually, hiding a smile when it earned the response of bright, beautiful laughter.
“Next time, if you don’t want to sweat, then don’t race Adam when it’s ninety percent humidity!” Belle’s laughter was, as always, brighter than the sun beating down on them and attempting to melt them all into the sidewalk. “You knew what you were getting into.”
“Excuse you, he challenged me and then said I was letting myself go. I couldn’t let that stand without proving him wrong,” Mulan huffed, smirk curling on her lips as Belle shook her head and hooked her arms around one of Mulan’s own, her skin as hot and clammy as Mulan’s own in the searing heat that was the first weekend of their summer vacation. “Besides, I think he’s suffering worse than I am.”
Belle laughed again, tightening her grip and then giving a cute wrinkle of her nose as they got close enough to the pool to smell the sharp tang of chlorine and bleach, the smell somehow made all the stronger by the dozens of people that had, like them, flocked to the public pool.
Mulan only had half a second to truly take it in before Belle was pulling her along, arm waving wildly as she called out to their friends who were already grouped together right by the edge of the pool, “Guys! You all made it!”
“I’m not sure that we all did,” Shang drawled, immediately greeting Mulan with a fistbump as soon as she was close enough. “It looks like someone tried to do in Adam, here.” Shang, who Mulan had known since fourth grade when she won against him in a fight on the playground, looked at her knowingly. “Have fun with your race?”
“Hey, he’s the one who declared it should be a race,” Mulan shrugged, hands held up innocently. “Really, if you think about it, I was the one who was forced into it.”
Shang rolled his eyes at the same time Belle giggled, Mulan delighting in the reactions as she leaned over the chair where Adam was collapsed, red-faced and sweaty and exhausted. Mulan made sure to wait until he was looking up at her before she grinned, Adam immediately flipping her off with a grunt of effort.
Belle, expert she was at blocking out what she didn’t want to see, took a seat on Shang’s own chair, Mulan knowing what was coming a second before the words left her. “Did you manage to get any word on those AP classes you were going to do next year?”
“Oh! Actually, it’s interesting that you ask about that,” Shang smiled, a tone in his voice that meant he would be talking about honors and AP classes and the student body government for hours. “You see-”
Mulan moved quicker, though, slapping a hand over Shang’s mouth and fixing both him and her girlfriend with as strong a look as she could. Mulan was more than proud of herself for not wavering when Belle pouted up at her with those bright eyes and wayward locks of hair that always, always escaped her buns and ponytails.
“Don’t even think it, you two. School only just let out and this is our final summer as high schoolers before senior year! I refuse to let you ruin it by discussing school when we only just survived this year.” Mulan removed her hand slowly, fixing her scowl back onto her face the second she felt it slip at Belle’s giggle over Shang’s scandalized expression. “No school talk.”
“I’m in agreement with Mulan, on this one,” Adam spoke up, still collapsed on his chair but raising a weary arm into the air. “This is probably going to be the only day in a while we all get together since Belle’s helping out in her father’s shop and Shang is going to some stupid summer camp, so I’d rather not ruin it with school talk.”
“Oh, you’re helping out in your father’s shop?” Shang looked to Belle, who nodded at once with a smile. Mulan couldn’t stop her own smile from appearing, because, well, it was pretty cute when Belle started going on and on about her father’s repair shop and her own tinkering projects she had scattered about.
Mulan could have happily stood there and watched Belle chat about what she loved for hours, but the feeling of more sweat slipping down her skin had her moving at once, “Alright, you nerds keep talking, but I have some swimming to do!”
Getting to the edge, and hearing Adam’s sarcastic, “Do a flip.” Mulan did a light stretch, cracked her fingers, and did the largest cannonball she could manage as she jumped into the water, laugh so close to bursting out of her at the cool rush of water against her skin and the feeling of compression and weightlessness that went hand-in-hand.
When she came back up for air, it was to the sight of Belle and Shang laughing, Adam sitting up and looking disgruntled and annoyed at the fact he was drenched in water. Mulan couldn’t help herself, hooking her arms over the side of the pool and raising her voice. “I thought I was helping, you know, cooling you off.” The look she was given felt like pure victory. “I’m sure Belle appreciates my gesture!”
Belle’s laughter was the sweetest sound, Mulan hiding a smile as Belle stood up and shed the towel she had wrapped around her shoulders. “Alright, step aside and let me show you how a proper dive is done.”
Mulan and Shang were laughing even as Belle took a running leap and dived into the pool, serious expression on her face as she disappeared under the water. She hadn’t even fully submerged, however, before everything in Mulan suddenly tensed, laughter cutting off with a strangled gasp as everything in her was overwhelmed with the feeling that something was wrong.
Shoving herself away from the edge with her heart in her throat and her lungs seized up by what could only be called fear, Mulan didn’t even recognize her voice as she shouted out a hasty, “Belle?!”
An eternity wrapped in seconds passed, the air filled with children shrieks, friend’s laughter, and parents lectures, but there was no answer, or movement, from Belle.
::
It was the difference between waking up and falling asleep, Belle decided, heart pounding fast enough that it was all she could hear as she floated under water that had seconds ago looked so inviting, eyes wanting nothing more than to close at the overwhelming pressure that seemed to be dragging her down to the very bottom of the pool.
It was the difference between falling asleep and waking up when she felt her eyes flutter through the hot air of the summer day, her body trying to get rid of the water in her lungs as she coughed and coughed and coughed, words as murky as if she was still underwater as she heard the muffled voices of her friends shouting around her.
Even as her coughing began to slow and fresh air was replacing the bitter tang of chlorine, Belle clawed at her scrambled memories and tried to understand what had just happened. It had been years since she had ever had a drowning scare in a public pool, and all she had done was dive underwater, so it made no sense as to why everything suddenly felt so overwhelming.
“-elle? Belle!” Startling at her name, Belle blinked her eyes quickly to clear the rest of the water away, looking up to see Mulan’s face pinched tight in worry and distress. “Belle, hey, can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me, okay- Or, hell, blink, even!” Nodding, in that moment, felt like far too much work, so Belle settled for giving a pathetic whimpering groan she regretted as soon as Mulan made another worried face. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, we’re gonna get you checked out, okay? Are you alright? Can you move okay?”
Well, that was a rather silly question, Belle mused. She was exhausted and felt weighed down, yes, but that wasn’t going to stop her from moving. Twitching her hand, Belle attempted to at least reach out and grab Mulan’s hand to stop her from worrying so much, but frowned when she couldn’t quite feel it.
Glancing down at her hand quickly, Belle stared at seeing it limp in Mulan’s own hand, the grip looking tight, but Belle couldn’t feel it. Trying to move it, and watching as nothing happened over and over again, Belle dragged her gaze up to meet Mulan’s, voice weak and raspy when she mumbled a soft, “Mulan?”
“Belle! I’m here, baby, I’m here, it’s okay. We’re gonna get you to the hospital, okay? I’ll make sure to call your dad, too, so don’t worry-”
“Mulan.” Belle realized, absently, that her words were shaking and breaking even as the rest of her felt blank and limp. “I… I can’t feel my hand.” Belle saw Mulan’s eyes widen, heard the sound of more shouting, and then the feeling of falling asleep finally won out.
Not for as long as she would have wished, though, as soon enough she found herself unwillingly awake and resting in a room that was as bright a white as the pages of a new textbook. It didn’t take much guessing to know she was in the hospital, but the array of equipment hooked up to her had her heart beating even faster and louder than it had when she was trapped underwater. The news she was given, however, had her heart stopping.
“Quadriplegic?” Belle didn’t recognize her own voice as she parroted the doctor’s words back at him, a deep silence filling the room that should never be so quiet when there were so many people clustered inside. “No- No, no, no, that can’t be possible… I mean, all I did was dive into a pool!”
“And unfortunately that’s sometimes all it takes.” The doctor, Joshua Sweet if Belle remembered correctly, was gentle, but his words might as well have been spikes for how badly they dug into Belle. “We’ll need to do more tests, but from what we know so far your neck broke when you dived into that pool.”
Dr. Sweet flipped his clipboard around, a few papers curled out of the way as he showed her an x-ray image. Even Belle, with only surface knowledge of the human body, knew that it didn’t look right. “This is the x-ray we took when you were brought in. We’ll need in-depth ones later, but it’s clear that there’s been a break at the C4 vertebrae. In your case it can lead to paralysis from the shoulders down.”
“Is it repairable?” The question came from her father and the shaking, terrified note to his words had Belle wishing this was all some terrible nightmare she would wake up from if she just tried hard enough. “Surely there’s some- Some surgery or physical therapy or-”
There was no immediate response from Dr. Sweet and that, more than anything, made it all seem so very real.
Belle wished she could say that she fell back into a fitful rest or that time passed quicker than she could understand, but the truth of it was that time seemed to drag by painfully slow, Belle unable to so much as twitch her fingers as she was put through test after test hour after hour.
By the time the day was well and truly over, Belle was placed in a room that very clearly showed she would be in the hospital for longer than a few days, her father out in the hall and discussing so much with the doctors and Mulan’s voice as quiet as a petal hitting water as she asked a soft, “Belle? How are you doing?”
“I’m…” Belle trailed off, staring ahead and focused on nothing as she idly realized that she had no words to explain how she was feeling. She, who had a word for everything, had no single word, or even a group of words, to explain the feeling that was welling up in her chest.
“Belle?” Mulan moved in closer until she was in Belle’s full view, a hand moving up to cup her cheek without any hesitance. The simple touch, the simple feeling, was enough to steal Belle’s breath before it escaped her all at once. “Are you…?”
The last word went unsaid, but Belle could hear it easily enough. It was a word she grabbed onto fiercely and tucked away in her heart as deep as she should. “I will be.” She would be alright. She would keep that word tucked away until it was absolutely true. “I’ll be alright, Mulan. I promise.” Belle had never been the type to break her promises, either.
It wasn’t easy, though, and as the days passed, Belle wasn’t sure how she was going to keep her promise to Mulan and her father.
Her smiles no longer came as easy after weeks and weeks of physical therapy that proved of little use, tests that only cemented her fate, and whispered conversations between her father and her doctors that did little to raise her spirits. Good news was always shared, after all, and Belle had been told very little since that ruined summer day at the pool.
It was all she could do to focus on the bright spot that was her girlfriend, Mulan visiting her everyday and, on the particularly hard days, staying overnight in an uncomfortable plastic chair just so Belle would have someone there to support her when she woke up. Between the tests and the doctors and the therapy at the spinal rehab clinic that now knew her better than some librarians, Belle was beginning to treasure the peaceful moments she managed to have with Mulan throughout her hectic days.
“And Adam said he would stop by later today- I know, I know,” Mulan sighed, rather dramatically, at the expression Belle was sure looked sour on her face. “I told him he didn’t need to keep bringing you gifts, but, well… Adam.”
“Adam,” Belle agree with a dramatic sigh of her own as she let her eyes close for a moment. She heard Mulan fidgeting in her seat and the sound of her drawing in breath which, Belle was proud to say, she cut off ruthlessly. “If you suggest one more nap to me, Mulan, I will not be held responsible for what I do.”
There was a beat of silence where Belle foolishing thought she had won before Mulan’s words were tripping over themselves in their rush to be heard, “Are you sure you don’t want to take one last nap before they send you home today? You went through a lot of tests, toady-”
“That all took place while I was lying down so, when you think about it, I’m perfectly rested!” Belle cracked her eyes open to see Mulan looked to believe the words as much as Belle did; which was to say not at all. “I just… I’m going home.”
Mulan, who had been by Belle’s side near everyday, could no doubt hear the unspoken words Belle only just managed to shove down. Complaints on how she really wasn’t okay, words about how it had been weeks and she should have been better, and even whispers at how she was scared she would be useless.
Oh, yes, Belle knew they had taught her how to use a sip and puff wheelchair that allowed her to power her own wheelchair with her breath, and they had even taught her how to use a mouthstick for typing and page turning and button hitting, and one doctor specifically had been there to teach her all about the voice activation technology that was available and useful to her situation, but still… Still.
Reality had finally decided her fate and the truth of it was that Belle would never walk or even move her arms again. Oh, she knew very well that didn’t change anything about who she was, but still… There was that fear. The fear that others wouldn’t understand that she hadn’t changed; not really, at least.
“Mulan?” It was that fear that drove her words now, Belle trying her best to look at Mulan head on and unable to move her neck more than half an inch or so; and even that she should be thankful for, her doctors had told her. She should be thankful she could breathe without heavy machines with a break like hers. “I need you to be honest with me.”
Mulan already had her full attention on her, blinking slowly before her blank expression shattered in favor of the soft smile Belle loved so dearly. “The only time I’ve never been honest with you, flower, is when I told you I loved the book you were reading when we first met.”
Belle couldn’t help but to laugh, weak and quiet as it was. “That’s actually what I wanted to ask you about.” Because she had to know. Belle knew she was too curious for her own good, but she had to know. “Remember how we met?”
“Hard to forget,” Mulan ‘groaned’, leaning back in her chair with fake embarrassment. “The ‘star athlete’ falling for the straight A bookworm that my parents hired to tutor me? The only reason it wasn’t a Lifetime special movie was because I was too awkward and embarrassed to try and really impress you when I saw how cute you were.”
Belle was unable to help a single laugh, amusement still coloring her words even as she asked the question that was making her heart begin to pound. “If we had met then and I was like I am now, would it still have gone the same way? Would you have still loved me if I was like this? Unable to move?”
Mulan didn’t have an immediate answer and Belle watched as he girlfriend sat back and seemed to honestly think about it. That alone made Belle all the more grateful and all the more in love.
“I won’t lie and tell you that it always would have ended with me and you together,” Mulan started slowly, as if thinking her words out carefully. “Because I don’t know, Belle. I really don’t. But… I’d like to think that somehow, someway, it always would have ended up me and you. I’m not sure if it would end up with us dating like we are now, but I know, absolutely, that we always would have been friends.”
Belle couldn’t stop the tears that filled her eyes no matter how hard she tried, but she made sure her tone reflected how thankful and relieved she felt. “You know, Mulan, I think you’re absolutely right.”
Things were different. Belle’s whole way of her life, along with her father’s and even Mulan’s, had already changed and it would only change even more as she went home, but it would be okay.
The promise she made weeks ago – lifetimes, it felt like – was a promise that she was turning into her truth. She would be okay.
Except she hadn’t expected how crushing it would be to be in her own bedroom again and unable to so much as roll over in her bed.
The hospital had been another matter entirely; it had felt like another world, or perhaps, more accurately, an interlude as to what would come next. Belle hadn’t truly realized how much of her room would stay the same even as so much of it changed to accommodate her.
Surrounded by doctors and nurses and white walls it had been easy to forget the true extent of what had happened, but now that she was home and surrounded by no one except her family and friends, well… It was hard not to be so frustrated by how much she had lost. It was hard not to be bitter when she was unable to eat, dress, or even scratch her nose without needing help.
Belle had been well prepared to spend the rest of the summer, and possibly her life, ruminating on her thoughts and her bitterness, but, well. She supposed she should have learned long ago that there was no peaceful life where Mulan was involved, especially now where she was tearing up Belle’s curtains and bringing in bright sunlight that had Belle half wanting to hiss in displeasure.
“Alright, now we do this my way.” For a very long moment, Belle couldn’t tell whether the words were a declaration or a threat. “Remember that promise I made on how I would take you to the zoo this summer?” Ah. It was indeed a threat, Belle decided. “Come on, then, flower. We have a bus to catch.”
::
It hadn’t been hard to see how weighed down Belle had become after the accident, and Mulan didn’t mean physically. Mentally it was as if Belle was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Mulan knew, with everything in her, that Belle was strong enough to get past what had happened to her; she just needed to remind Belle of that fact, too.
“This is more tiring than they made it seem, you know,” Belle said quietly, Mulan looking over to see that Belle was clearly pouting at her wheelchair in general as they rested in front of the bear enclosures. “My lungs aren’t bionic unless I had a surgery I wasn’t aware of.”
“That would be kind of cool, though,” Mulan mused, trying not to laugh at the familiar expression of Belle wanting to laugh, but not wanting to give Mulan the satisfaction. “We could always see if your dad can’t turn you into a cyborg, if you want.”
Belle gave in and finally laughed, Mulan taking a moment to enjoy the beautiful sound even as it was tinged with recovering exhaustion. “You’re silly if you think he hasn’t already drawn up blueprints.”
“C’mon, you know he wouldn’t…” Trailing off for a moment, Mulan thought over what she knew of Belle’s father before giving a nervous little hum. “Should I be keeping an eye on any blueprints I find of his, actually?”
“No,” Belle smiled, something about it so soft, and yet so bright. “Just keep smiling like you have been. That helps… that helps both of us.”
“Aw, I didn’t know you liked my smile so much,” Mulan teased, purely to watch the flush that crept across Belle’s cheeks and turned them redder than even the sun had managed to accomplish. It was a sight Belle could no longer hide behind her hands or long hair and Mulan felt little shame in enjoying the sight even as she was being ‘glared’ at for it. “Have I ever told you how sweet you look when you’re blushing?”
“You’re an awful human being, Mulan Hua, and I hope you know that,” Belle sniffed before something in her expression changed, reminding Mulan of when she would fidget because she was ready to go and explore something new.
Laughing and standing up, Mulan tucked some of Belle’s hair behind her ear, lingering for a few moments. “Come on, then. If you can make it over to the panthers all on your own then I’ll buy you your favorite ice cream.” As always, nothing served to make Belle so beautifully stubborn as a challenge.
“Your wallet might soon regret that,” Belle teased, wondrous determination shining in her eyes that took Mulan’s breath for a moment. “Alright. Panthers it is, then.”
The zoo was only the start of Belle’s true recovery, if Mulan were ever to explain it to everyone. After that day Mulan was all too happy to visit Belle every day she could, helping her get her day started, get dressed, go through breakfast with her, and then take her out on some wild adventure to distract her as well as make her stronger. Zoos, museums, the library, and even the movies when a good one started to air; nothing was off the table and Mulan made sure they did everything they had planned to do all over the summer.
It was the quiet days spent at home where Mulan let herself worry, Belle propped up and leaning against her, head on Mulan’s shoulder as they read the same book in silence. It was those days that something about Belle was so sad and Mulan didn’t know how to wipe the look off of her face.
“You’re not even reading the book, are you?” The accusation in Belle’s soft voice was enough to make Mulan realize that they had both been staring at the same page for what was probably far too long. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“That’s still a ridiculous phrase,” Mulan argued at once, thankful for the familiarity of a common argument that they had time and time again. “‘Penny for your thoughts.’ It just sounds like it’s something a kid somewhere made up.”
Belle gave a soft chuckle, the sound still so quiet considering it was just the two of them alone in Belle’s room for the day. Mulan must have made some kind of noise or twitch, because she felt more than heard Belle’s soft sigh; the one that always meant she was worried. “What’s wrong, Mulan?”
“I…” Mulan thought over her words, trying to find the right combination that would convey her tangled thoughts and emotions. It was an impossible task even she wasn’t up to. “Okay, promise me you won’t take this the wrong way-”
“Just so you know, dear, that is a terrible way to start a conversation with your girlfriend.” It was only the humor in Belle’s voice that kept Mulan from completely panicking and trying to backtrack. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Deciding to hell with it, Mulan blurted out whatever words decided they wanted to come out most, “I’m worried about you because it seems like you’re doing that thing where you get lost in your thoughts to the point where you keep blaming yourself for something you aren’t able to do and you did it even before and it drives me crazy because it’s not like you can do everything and you shouldn’t be expected to and I’m just worried that you’re getting trapped in those thoughts and I don’t know how to drag you out of them.”
There was a long silence that seemed to stretch on for what felt like eternities before Mulan felt all of the tension drain out of her at Belle’s bright laugh. “And people say I’m the talkative one between the two of us.”
“There’s no need to go and insult me,” Mulan grumbled, hiding her smile against Belle’s hair as the girl laughed beside her. It didn’t take long for Mulan’s smile to fall, though, when she remembered what they were really talking about. “Your turn,” Mulan finally said softly. “Talk to me.”
The laughter tapered off softly, something which Mulan was extremely grateful for. Tapered laughter meant that, no matter what, Belle was doing so much better than she had been at the start of this change. That didn’t mean there weren’t still bad days and bad thoughts, though, as proven with Belle’s soft sigh. “I miss working with my father in the workshop. I miss just tinkering.”
Mulan could have kicked herself for not realizing sooner what had really been eating at Belle the last few weeks. Not being able to write or read as effectively as she once did had been one thing, but those were things that could be overcome. Not being able to work on all of her little projects that she had such joy for? That… was harder to find a solution to.
“It’s not that I thought I would ever make it into something professional, and I know I wasn’t as good as he is, but it was… It was relaxing. It was fun. Being able to take apart something and see how it worked and then put it back together to try and make it better? It was so fun, Mulan, and now I… I didn’t realize how badly I missed tinkering until it I lost the ability, I suppose.”
Silent for a long moment, Mulan finally nodded as she gently extracted herself from her girlfriend’s bed and stood up with a light stretch. “Right, then. Tell me, flower, where are all your books about engineering and tinkering?” Because if one thing could be said over everything else, Mulan wasn’t afraid to put in some extra work and get dirty if it meant helping the ones she loved.
Although, after the first few books, Mulan had a lot more appreciation for her girlfriend and her father. ‘Tinkering’ was putting it mildly, especially when it took Mulan no less than five days to figure out how to take apart a simple battery powered clock and then put it back together without completely ruining it.
A combination of luck, perseverance, and Belle’s hopeful gaze had Mulan prevailing in the end, however, Mulan sitting at the end of Belle’s bed with scattered parts that she slowly pieced together as Belle instructed her calmly and softly, well, it started calmly and softly. Mulan was starting to think her girlfriend might be secretly evil at how excited she got when one of their ‘creations’ began working.
“I’m sorry, did you just say this could be used to set something on fire?” Mulan stared at the unassuming little clock that now vibrated whenever the top of the hour was reached. It was a soft buttery yellow that made Mulan think of happy fall days, but apparently it could also be deconstructed and used to set fire to buildings. “Belle, honey, darling, flower, love, I think I’m going to have to draw the line at becoming an arsonist for you.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Belle laughed, loud and bright as she rolled her eyes. “If you try hard enough anything can be used to light something on fire.” Mulan loved her girlfriend, truly, she did, but she was also rather terrifying.
Mulan huffed and made sure everything was properly clicked into place before setting the clock down – very carefully. “You know, Adam warned me about you when we started dating. He told me not to break your heart and then, in the same sentence, he said that if I did then you would be the one making me regret it.”
“Oh, Adam is just a beast with a horrible sense of humor, some days,” Belle snorted, blocking a lock of hair out of her face that was such a familiar motion now it sent a pang of warmth traveling throughout Mulan’s body. “Besides, what do you, the star athlete and one of the most popular girls in school, have to fear from me?”
“If you become a supervillain then I refuse to become the hero that stops you,” Mulan huffed, cleaning up their work area and tossing everything back into Belle’s tinkering box. ‘Tinkering.’ What a joke now that Mulan knew how much Belle did. “Actually, I would probably join you, but that’s not important right now. What is important is that we coordinate our attack for the first day back at school.”
“And you’re worried about me becoming the super villain,” Belle teased with a giggle. “There’s not much left to coordinate. Papa already called the school and told them about my situation and I’ve been given all my new classes and even a few school counsellors to talk to.”
Mulan sighed as dramatically as she could, shaking her head. “Oh, flower… I meant that we need to plan the perfect way to arrive at school. I’m thinking that we use you as a decoy and then I attack from above as soon as Shang and Adam drive up-”
The rest of Mulan’s words were drowned out with Belle’s bright laughter that filled up the room and no doubt was loud enough to echo into the hallway. It was a sound that was almost enough to make Mulan cry; almost. She had a reputation to upkeep and they really did need to plan their attack. If she had her way then the school wasn’t going to have even a moment to think differently about Belle and what she could do.
::
Jarred from her thoughts by a low whistle and the sound of a food tray hitting the lunch table, Belle shifted her gaze to look at where Adam was now sitting beside her and wearing a look that could only be called mischievous. “Who pissed you off to cause that murderous look on your sweet face?”
Mulan answered before Belle could, appearing with their own food trays and a slap to the back of Adam’s head that earned an annoyed growl, Mulan rolling her eyes with a sharp, “Stop flirting with my girlfriend.”
“Hey, I’m being a good friend and asking why she looks so upset,” Adam whined, Belle trying not to laugh as Mulan’s attention immediately snapped to her with narrowed eyes.
“Belle? What’s wrong? Did Adam say something rude again? You know I’m all too happy to push him off the roof and blame Shang.” The twin cries of annoyance from Adam and Shang both was enough to make Belle finally laugh before she closed her eyes for a moment.
“No, Adam didn’t say anything rude and I’m not… I’m a little upset, but it’s nothing from any of you.” At the silence, Belle opened her eyes to see that all of her friends were looking at her with patient expressions; well, Belle mused, most would call their expressions patience. Belle called them nosty. “It’s just… Have you ever noticed the layout of the school? Really noticed it?”
Belle had been thrilled to finally be allowed to go back to school and resume her life, although in a much different way compared to how it had been before. She had still been excited, though, and then she had arrived at the school and, for the first time well and truly since her accident, had felt invalid.
“This is about the accessibility ramps, isn’t it?” Shang asked, already frowning. Belle knew the frown was aimed at the school rather than her, especially after Shang had complained last year about how far the ramps were away from each other when he had broken his leg. “It’s ridiculous- They only have one ramp into the school and it’s in the very back where no classes are.”
Mulan huffed, glaring at whatever teachers were nearby as if it was their fault personally. It was as heartwarming as it was adorable, especially when she grumbled an irate, “They don’t even have an elevator to the second floor. We’re lucky that they put all of Belle’s classes on the first floor.”
“They do have an elevator, actually, but it’s that old service one in the pool part of the gym,” Adam spoke up, already halfway done with his food in a speed that never failed to impress and disgust Belle in equal amounts. “Ariel, the captain of the girl’s swim team? She had a surgery that put her in a wheelchair for a couple weeks near the end of the year last year. She said it was almost impossible to get around the school and make it to her classes on time.”
“And that’s just it,” Belle said, anger coming back to her even as she opened her mouth for the bite of yogurt Mulan was trying to give her. A quick chew and swallow and she was immediately talking again. “This school wasn’t built with any sort of disability in mind. They just expect us to find our own way or deal with it!”
“Alright, so what are we gonna do about it?” For as much as Belle loved Mulan, she tended to be very action-orientated, especially with matters such as these. “We could take it straight to the principal?”
Shang snorted, shaking his head, “And he would do what, exactly? Pat us on the heads and tell us that he’ll look into it? You would need to go to the school board for something like this, and they’ll just tell us there’s ‘not enough in the budget-’”
“Bullshit,” Adam cut in ruthlessly, Belle mentally settling in for a long debate. “If they have the money to completely renovate the sports field, then they have the funds to at least put in a couple of ramps and an elevator that isn’t in the middle of nowhere. We need to start a strike. Direct action!”
“Is it wrong I almost want to agree with him?” Mulan mumbled, eating a bite of yogurt herself before offering the next one to Belle. “What do you think, flower?”
Chewing on her words and her food for a moment, Belle finally gave a soft hum. “As much as I would like to storm into a couple of offices and set them right, Shang is right in saying it wouldn’t do much, in the end. We need direction action, but maybe we can be more subtle about it…”
Adam groaned, Belle watching him drop his head in his hands, “Belle, I know that look on your face.” There was something to be said about being friends with someone for years that they could tell when you were plotting, Belle supposed. “What are you planning?”
“It seems to me that a lot of people don’t realize the privilege they have until it’s gone.” Belle knew that she hadn’t. She had taken so much for granted just a few months ago, but now… Oh, now she had so many new words to set people straight. “Who here knows how to work a camera?”
Belle watched as her friends shared a look before they were looking back to her with confused expressions, Mulan the one to finally ask, “Belle? Why do you need a camera?”
Video blogging, as it turned out, wasn’t too difficult to learn. Gaining an audience who was willing to listen about the accessibility issues that plagued everyday life for disabled people? That was a bit harder.
But never let it be said that Belle didn’t give it her all.
“Hello, everyone, and my name is Belle. I’m sixteen, seventeen in a couple of weeks, I’m a senior at Walt Street High School, and over the summer I was diagnosed as quadaplagic after an accident I had that left me unable to move anything below my neck.”
It wasn’t a surprise when her only views came from her friends and her family for the first few weeks, but Belle was determined and her friends were stubborn and, in the end, all it took was one person.
“I want to start this video by thanking the person who sent me the message of how they found my videos and how it helped to see just one person in the diabled community really talking about these issues. The fact of the matter is… well, no one is talking about these matters. I was able-bodied before last summer and I never once thought about disability access or how hard everyday life is when it’s only geared towards people who seem to have become the standard of living.”
Once one person saw and shared her videos, then it became a chain with her videos wracking up views and people taking notice; and it didn’t hurt that Belle had her friends frequently in and out of her videos to talk about their own experiences and opinions on a matter they were rapidly forcing themselves to become experts in.
“Today with me I have my friend Adam who, even though he’s a straight male with white privilege, knows how hard the struggle in the disabled community has been.”
“I don’t remember Shang and Mulan getting introductions like that, but, yeah. Our school has one ramp and a shitty service elevator that hardly works. I can’t speak for those who live this life everyday, but I can speak from the side of someone who’s had sports injuries and has seen others have them as well. Once you’re unable to go through that normal standard of living, you suddenly feel useless, like you can’t do anything without help.”
It wasn’t a battle that was fought and won overnight. It was, much like Belle’s recovery, a war where some battles were won and others were bitterly lost; but the ones that were won were won.
“Great news, everyone! The school finally answered our first official petition and are putting in four new ramps along all the entrances for those who can’t comfortably navigate stairs!”
It wasn’t just in her online spaces that Belle was making a change, either, but in her actual life. Her school heard her once she raised her voice loud enough and changes, slow as they were, were being made. Ramps were added, an elevator would be finished in time for the students next year, and Belle, even with all of her ‘extracurricular activities’ was in line to become valedictorian in the few months it would be until they all graduated.
“It’s not what you thought it would be, huh?” Mulan’s question drew Belle out of her thoughts, her gaze flicking from the park they were people watching at to where Mulan was taking a bite of the ice cream they were sharing. “Getting older and graduating and becoming adults.”
“I think that’s an understatement,” Belle giggled, accepting the bite of ice cream that was given to her along with a pout. “It’s definitely not what we thought it would be, no, but it’s…”
It wasn’t better. Belle still fiercely missed all that she had lost and she had a small feeling deep inside of her that she always would miss those things. She wasn’t going on to become an engineer like she had wished for, she would never fee grass between her toes again, and she would never be able to turn the page fo a book with her own fingers, so, no, it wasn’t better, but it wasn’t bad.
“It’s good.” She was making a change in the world. She was making a difference. It might have only been affecting her small, sleepy town at that moment, but it didn’t matter because it was change. If it was thing her books and heroes had taught her, it was that every small change was a great victory. “What we’re doing, what we’ve done, it’s good. We’re good.”
Maybe Belle would never fully change the world and the minds of the people who looked down on those who weren’t ‘normal,’ but she was making a change. That was all that mattered in the end.
She had her family, her friends, her love, and she had a promise bursting within her heart that she would be okay.
Overall, she couldn’t wait to find out what would come next.