Redemption 8
A/N: It’s baaack! I’m so sorry for the delay. Happy thanksgiving! Hope you enjoy! Taglist is open!
Warnings: lies,deceit, hurt
“Mama!” Zari leapt from behind T’Challa. She sprinted up the staircase and into her mother’s arms. She buried her face in her neck, breathing in the smell of perfume after a long six years away. Fingers clutching the older woman close, the young woman began to cry, tears rolling down her face. Zari’s mother pulled away.
“Oh my baby, my baby,” her mother’s kind eyes flooded with tears, her hands tracing the lines of her only child’s face. “Baba,” Zari switched turning into the tall man beside her. His arms wrapped around her, the smell of patchouli oil drowning her senses. The fabric of his shirt grew damp, the two reluctantly pulling away before Zari tackled her friend a hug. Tears quickly turned to laughter, the women settling on a hug, for a lack of words to say. “I don’t know what to say,” Zari breathed, her eyes shining as she stared at her family. For so long, the earth had kept them apart, and she had no way to fix that. She dreamed of them showing up on her doorstep, appearing out of thin air, to hug and comfort her. In her head she’d told them everything, about school. How much she’d missed them. The words would spill out with the tears. Watering the front doorstep and christening the welcome mat. But now, with them standing on her steps, she was lost for words. The last six years of her life seemed to be lodged in the back of her throat.
“Why don’t you start by telling us why you ran away from home?” her father interrupted her train of thought. Zari swiveled towards Isha, “You never told them?” her hurt beginning to plague her voice. The young woman shook her head, “Zari, he threatened me as well.” Zari’s eyes widened slightly. “Who threatened you Isha?” Zari’s mother broke the silence.
“My Father,” T’Challa answered for the girls. He walked over Aiden sitting on his shoulders. His large brown eyes zeroed in on his mother. “Mama, why are you crying?” Zari smiled faintly, T’Challa allowed the child down. His feet immediately carrying him to his mother. “Is this him?” Isha asked, stooping down to face Aiden, the little boy held onto his mother’s hand, cautiously taking a step towards the stranger. Zari nodded. “Who are you?” Aiden asked.
“Isha,”Zari’s friend extended her hand for aiden to shake. “Aiden, this is your aunt,” Zari nudged her son. A small smile spread over his face before he accepted Zari’s handshake. “Zari what is going on?” Zari’s mother turned to her daughter once more. “Let’s talk inside. I’m sure you both have alo questions.
[ 2 Years Ago, New York and Wakanda ]
The door to Aiden’s room shut softly. His light snores drifted from under the door. Glancing at the clock, the soon to be college graduate knew it was time. She dialed the kings number and waited. ”hello?”the king answered.
”King T'chaka? This is Zari,” she began. “Hello my dear girl! How are you? How is the boy? May I speak with him?” The king fired off.
“When Hell freezes over,” the woman thought.“I am afraid he is asleep my king,” she answered.
“Very well then, what can I do for you?”the king asked. “I am set to graduate soon,” the girl began again. “I know. I am so proud of you. Your cords and cap and gown have all been paid for already. Was there a problem at the school?”
Zari interrupted, “no,no it’s just. I sent tickets for my parents to the palace. I was hoping you would let them come,” she trailed off. “No.” The only word from the kings mouth. “Please your majesty. My parents should be here for this. They already think I ran away. They won’t suspect a thing. If they ask why I’ll say it’s because of Aiden. I was pregnant, and I didn’t want to get T’Challa in trouble,” Zari was pleading now.
“No. Zari. I am afraid that is not possible.” The king ended. The line was silent for a minute before he spoke again. “Do send pictures of you and the boy.” The line clicked.
“Baba, who was that?” T’Challa strode into the room a minute later. “No one important,” T’Chaka dismissed. “It sounded like family,” The prince tried again. “No. One. Important. T’Challa.” The king roared suddenly. The prince took a few steps back in shock. “Do you not have a meeting to attend?” The king sighed. The prince nodded his head silently. “Very well then. I have work to do.” He dismissed T’Challa with the wave of a hand.
“Mama,?” Once in the hall T’Challa spotted his mother. . The queen smiled, turning towards her son. “Yes?”
“Do we have family in New York?” The prince questioned. He strode down the hall towards his mother. “Not that I am aware of,” she cocked her head to the side. She gracefully extended both hands palm up, an invitation for the now 21 year old. He walked into his mother’s arms, grasping her hands in his. “Why do you ask?”
“Baba,” I heard him yelling into the phone. “He wanted to talk to someone’s boy.” The prince rehashed. “Did you ask him about it?”
“I did, he insisted that it was “no one important’ before dismissing me.” The queen frowned, “I will speak with him about it, but I am sure it is nothing to worry about. It is probably just a war dog friend and their family.” The queen reasoned. “Thank you mama, I must go.” The prince pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling away. “I shall see you at lunch,” the queen called after him.” “Of course Mama,” he smiled over his shoulder.
[ New York, Present Day ]
“So you left by force not by choice?” Zari’s mother sat on the couch next to her husband. Aiden sat in his father’s lap, his head resting lightly on his shoulder. Zari sat next to both of her boys, running her hand through Aiden’s curls. Isha watched the three interact quietly. “Yes, I was with child.” She added, stopping just before mentioning the father.
“That still does not explain King T’Chaka’s interest in you or Isha for that matter.” Zari’s father raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s the probken,” The young designer cleared her throat. “The prince is supposed to be celibate until marriage,” Zari’s voice died off looking back at T’Challa. The king cleared his throat twice before speaking, “If Zari had given birth to my child, the world would have known that we did not follow that particular rule.” The king gripped Zari’s hand on the couch, squeezing lightly. “So Aiden is your son?” Zari’s mother was the first to comprehend. Zari knew instantly, when her father understood as well.
“You got my daughter pregnant in High school!” he roared, leaping off of the couch, aiming right for T’Challa. The king quickly leapt out of the way, almost dropping Aiden in the process. With his son now hanging over one arm, the king made sure to to put some distance between himself and his almost father in law.
“Baba please,” Zari stood in front of her father, blocking his view of the king. Her father visibly relaxed, his shoulders dropping slightly. She helped her mother ushered him back to the couch, “He is the king. You can not just go lunging at him.” the older woman chastised her husband. “I don’t give a damn if he is the king. He defiled my daughter.”
“Baba please?” Zari pointed at his seat.
“No he has every right,” T’Challa offered, slowly creeping back around the couch. He handed Aiden to his mother, his little body trembling. The riddle immediately wrapped his arms around her neck, refusing to look anyone in the face. Zari’s fingers immediately began tracing circles on his back. Her lips quietly humming. “I didn’t mean to frighten him,” Zari’s father gestured at the child, currently occupying his daughter’s lap. Silence settled upon the room. Zari’s humming buzzed through the air unaccompanied.
“For six years, I had to live without my daughter. For six years, I lived with the guilt thinking that I had done something to make her want to leave me. Leave her mother. Her home. Now she’s all grown up with a child, and a life I know nothing about. I never saw her graduate. I mean she gave birth. Gave me a grandson. Now to find out I only missed it because your father wanted to protect your image. Can you imagine?”
“I am sorry,” the king lowered his head. “Sorry will not give me the past six years back your majesty,” her father hissed. “Ime Joffer, stop it. The man had nothing to do with it.” Zari’s mother reasoned. “But he is his father’s son,” he spit. “That does not mean I will make my father’s mistakes.” T’Challa asserted, his eyes scarcely hid the fire lurking behind them. “I knew nothing of my father’s plans. They were kept from me right up until his death. But I never stopped loving your daughter!”
“T’Challa you do not have to,” Zari placed a hand on his shoulder. “No! I need to say this.” He insisted, hands shaking with his words. Tears fell from his eyes, “I am the reason you are here. The reason you lived without your family. Gave birth to our son alone. I wake up every day knowing I am the reason. It bears down on my shoulders constantly. But I want to be there for you. With you. Beside you. There wasn’t a day I didn’t think about you. I’ll be damned if I let you get away from me again Zari. Much less let Aiden get away again. I may be my father’s son. But i will not continue my father’s mistakes.”
“T’Challa knew nothing,” Isha broke the tension “He came to me everyday looking for Zari for months, then years. I refused to tell him where she was.”
“You knew?” Zari breathed. The woman nodded. “I found out a week or so after you were gone. T’Chaka had guards trailing me everytime I left the house. They let it slip one day.”
“You told me-” T’Challa accused . “I know what I told you T’Challa!” She yelled.
“I told you what I had to say to keep your father from ripping the only family I had completely apart. He threatened to marry me off.” Pause. “Your father, he took everything from me. He took my parents from me. … I got a second chance with Zari and her family. I knew I had no way to keep from losing my parents the first time. This time I had a choice, and I made my decision. I did what I had to do to keep my family together this time.”
Aiden’s soft snores pierced the silence. All eyes fell on him, his mouth wide open. “I should put him to bed,” the young mother pushed herself up off of the couch. “I can do it,”The king offered. “No, you stay here son. We’ll go with her.” Zari’s father glared. T’Challa acquiesced, settling back into his seat on the couch. Zari smiled as her parents followed her into Aiden’s room.
The door shut slowly behind them. Zari placed Aiden in her mother’s arm. The couple studied the boy’s features, Zari’s hands digging through the piles of clothing for some pajamas. “You have done well for yourself.” Ime, Zari’s father, commented. His eyes ran over the pictures on the wall. “The king paid for most of it...Gave us a house,” Zari began pushing Aiden’s sleeping form into his pajamas, “Put me through college. Gave us a monthly allowance.”
“He did everything I should’ve done.” Zari’s hands stilled. A frown etched its way onto her face. “Baba,” she began softly. She pulled the covers over Aiden. “This is not your fault.”
“Ime please,” Zari’s mother went to stand beside her husband. “I should’ve been here. I should have been searching. I knew pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit together, but I chose my country. I chose my country over my daughter.”
“But I am here now Baba. We can not change the past. Though we can build from the present.” She walked over to her father, his back tensed under her touch.
“You lied to me,” T’Challa accused once the family was out of earshot. “I did what I had to do,” Isha’s finger pounded the leather of the couch.
“For who? You knew I loved her!”
“But She was disposable to your father!”
“I would have protected her!”
“You were not king!”
“I loved her!”
“So did I! Do not bullshit yourself T’Challa! I will not help you post into your victim/ failed savior complex!”
You knew she was carrying my son!”
I knew she was safer away from your father!”
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