There are certain lines that you just do not cross. However long you may live.
Pairing: Namor of Talokan x Shuri (Marvel)
Summary: Namor feels conflicted about her death, not the Queen of Wakanda but the Princess’ mother.
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There is something about the way he looks at her.
Shuri grips her controller, maintaining the Sunbird's position. There is a wide enough distance between her and Namor, yet she can see his eyes perfectly. There is a rage. One that she knew perfectly. The same one that choked her after her brother's death.
Guilt starts to creeping up on her once more, remind her of the two Talokanil maids death. For a moment, Shuri moves her eyes, watching the floods ruin the Golden City. Floods that Namor brings. She narrows her eyes to him again.
There is no fair games in war.
With that, she rains fire upon him. He moves swiftly, avoiding her every shots, but Shuri did not stops. She and Aneka keeps on unloading sonic blasts on Namor who runs, diving in the moat.
"He's too fast!" Shuri shouts.
"He'll be even faster in the water," Aneka said from behind her.
Below the surface, Namor swims in circles as blasting away, Shuri and Aneka struggle to get a bead on him.
Then, he suddenly darts up.
Namor flies and drives his spear through the Sundbird's windshield.
"ARGH!" Shuri screams, waiting for the pain. Yet, it never came.
She opens her eyes and watches the spear destroys her control panel, inches away from her body. Shuri raise her gaze and meets with Namor's eyes. She was right before, there is rage in his eyes but it is not the only thing there. There is also betrayal, after she breaks her vow to stay in Talokan. He has enough reason to pierce the spears through her heart.
But why didn't he kill her?
Seconds before the Sunbird hits the water, Namor flees.
His wings flutters, making him stands eye to eye with the Queen of Wakanda. The one who orders the death of his children. He sees the Scientist behind the Queen and it only made him angrier. Namor picked up his spear and smashed the glass wall.
The glass cracks, but still holds. And the Queen does not quiver. She stays on her ground, unmoved.
“K’uk’ulkan, je'el wáaj a salvar in?”
The voice echoes in his mind.
"K’uk’ulkan, can you save me?"
He gritted his teeth, watching his own reflection in the glass wall, seeing his failure at the expense of his people. In a blink of an eye, he flew underneath the water.
When he resurface, he is now ready. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Ramonda finally moves away. She seems to argue with the scientist. Or maybe not. It does not matter either way because Namor already release the hydrobombs. They decompress into water just before reaching the windows.
Suddenly, water crashes the glass, flooding the room rapidly, and breaking through the glass window, sending Ramonda and Riri down in a rush of water and glass.
Shuri screams in horror as she witness explosion in the Citadel from far away. Her seatbelt feels as if they are strangling her. She does not care what it takes, she needs to get to her mother right now.
Explosion still erupts from the tower as Namor watched. His grip on his spear tightens, braces for a new fight. He has told the Princess and the Queen once that he have more soldiers than this land has blades of grass. And it is true. However, Wakanda is a warrior nation, protected by their gods for centuries, and he was in their territory. He knew this fight only just begun.
He waits, but nothing happens. No attack. No soldiers. He could see some Talokanil warriors starts to climb the tower, sensing where their god’s target lands. But still he waits.
His wings flew him closer to the now destroyed hall. He notice a throne that is now thrown aside. So this is the palace where their nation’s head stands. The most important person in Wakanda is here, yet they left her with no protection? He eyes the flood that is strangely still in the throne room and realization dawned upon him.
The floor was made out of glass too.
And the Queen is nowhere to be found.
Shuri's face immediately clouds his mind.
In that moment, the image suddenly changes. Ramonda is no longer the Queen of Wakanda, but the Princess' mother. Shuri's mother.
M'Baku leads the remaining of the Jabari tribe towards the Citadel. The explosion just ends and now they can see the top of the tower clearly. The fishman was there, along with his godforsaken blue people who are now climbing towards the Tribal Council room.
If the Queen falls, Wakanda is lost.
He and his soldiers sails as fast as they could. They just reach the entrance of the Citadel when M'Baku notices something strange. He held his people back and tilts his head upwards.
The Talokanils suddenly stop moving.
They stay on the side of the building, as if waiting for something. Whatever it is, it does not matter. This may be his only chance to save Queen Ramonda.
He no longer remember his mother’s voice.
But in that moment, he almost feels like he could recall it. Five hundred years of living and the ache is still there, gnawing the hole that was left by his mother’s love. A fate he never wishes on anyone.
He flies to a level beneath the hall that he destroys. The only thing he can see through the glass wall is the building's ruin that is now drowning in water. Then, he can see a movement, near the floor of the throne room. Two bodies, but it does not seems like they are swimming. It almost looks like the bodies move with the current. It can only mean one thing.
Namor darts through the air and flies inside the throne room. And there they were. Both the Queen dan the Scientist facing down to water. He was about to reach for the Queen when the door suddenly opens. Two Wakandan warriors run through it.
His wings flutters and he stays inside the throne room.
"Nceda umntwana!" (Help the child!) One shouts to the other.
He watches as they try their best to awaken the Queen dan the Scientist. But at each attempt, they keep failing. It was useless.
"She did this." Namor whispers.
This is just and fair. It has to be. Two deaths for the loss of two of his people. The Queen must have known what was coming to her and Namor should cherish this very moment. But yet, he can not find it in his heart to do so. Namor slowly shakes his head. His people's wellbeing comes before all else, even his peace. So once again, he reminds himself, this is fair.
He lets out a warning. The only mercy he can offer them.
"Listen carefully, Warriors. In one week time, I will return with my entire army. And you will join us against the surface world..."
They look at him in fearful eyes and keep trying to save the Queen and the Scientist.
"Yiza, Kumkanikazi wam," (Come on, My Queen.)
"...or I will wash Wakanda from the face of the earth."
Bast, let my mother be safe.
Shuri races through the hallway with all her power. Her heart beats so fast, it feels like they were coming put from her throat. She arrives at the Tribal Council Room and almost lose her balance with what she sees.
"Keep her back!" Okoye shouts.
Her mother is unconscious.
Aneka's hands held her back. Shuri claws her way from her, but M'Baku follows right behind her. She can't breath.
Why is her mother not awake?!
Her eyes learn her mother's condition and the state of the room and piece everything together. Her tearful eyes look up to Namor as she keeps screaming for Aneka to release her.
Her brain never fails her. She remember vividly the moment they have in his hut. He told her about his life, the things he gains and the things he lost. In return, Shuri has shared about how she lost her brother and her father. She laid out her heart and confessed that she can not lose another.
"Why?! Why are you doing this to me?!"
Shuri knows that Namor understands then. He lost his mother and the loss of her has affected his every decision for half a millennium. It's a pain not even 500 years could soften. He knows how it would feel to lose a mother and Shuri know that he will never take someone else's mother away from them.
But why the evidence proves otherwise?
Her mother does not awake.
Namor flinches at the sound and that only made Shuri rages. So he knew what he was doing. He knew the curse that he thrust upon her.
"Please don't leave me alone! Please! Mother!" Shuri cries hysterically.
Namor slightly bows almost in shame, "Bury your dead. Mourn your losses."
Shuri sobs loudly. Her mother was not a chess piece that could be easily replaced. Was this what Namor thinks as fair? An eye for an eye. A death for a death. She now understands the look he gave her earlier.
A betrayal for a betrayal.
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