Reach
"...I mean it..."
"...what?"
"...I mean it… all those years ago..."
"..."
"...keep me… in-stead..."
"...don't die on me… Shu...ri-"
"...ha- I'll see you… in hell- I guess..." Blood kept on spilling from her mouth, and Shuri had no strength left.
"...NO...meet me at Xibalba... meet...me there...Shuri. You are… Queen now… remember? My… queen…" Namor tried to get up, he wanted to hold her, but he couldn't.
They held their last breath, reaching out to each other but couldn't, they smiled.
"...You wish… Namor… you- wish…"
"...Tsk… grant me… my final… wish… Shuri… my love—"
In a final, desperate effort, they reached out to each other with all their strength, extending hearts long broken, and souls that had been given to each other they knew not when.
They couldn't reach each other.
Namor and Shuri both smiled in relief.
Ready to meet their mothers at last.
"Shuri."
"Ch'ah Toh."
"Shur—i"
"Ch'ah—"
"Sh-"
"Ch-"
Namor and Shuri opened their eyes, they woke up amidst the chaos, one in a meadow, the other in a village.
Simultaneously, they called out for their beloved.
"Mama?"
"Na'?"
And when their eyes met with Ramonda and Fen, they both teared up, pacing up to them eagerly in their world.
"Mama!" Shuri called out, crashing into Ramonda's open arms as she held her daughter tightly, "Oh, Shuri, are you hurt? Why are you here?"
"Erh, Mother? You are not gonna believe me but I—" Shuri leaned back and like an eager child she was, told Ramonda about her journey all these years.
…
"Na'..." Namor murmured dazedly, staggering towards Fen, he knelt in front of his mother, too lost for words.
Fen reached out, cradling his face, looking left and right, then bent slightly, gently touching foreheads with her son.
"In chan paalo', Ch'ah Toh— In chan paalo', Ch'ah. Teech ts'o'ok in echado u menos."
- I have missed you.
"Teene' xan a extrañé, na', jach extrañé—"
- I missed you too, mother, I missed you so much— Namor had always believed he would see his mother after death , and he truly did. He nestled in her embrace, finally reuniting with her after five centuries.
Fen looked at him, smiling tenderly. "Finalmente je'el in wilik bix a wilik puksi'k'al nukuch máak". - I finally get to see what you look like grown up.
Namor chuckled along with Fen. "Je'el na', bejla'e' yaan quinientos ja'ab. Ya'ab tuláakal máak". - Yes, Mother, I'm five hundred years old now. I'm all grown up.
…
"You're exaggerating, aren't you? You are always a little troublemaker, Shuri." Ramonda teased.
"No, Mama, I'm not! Everything I said is true! I even recreated the herb!... The heart-shaped herb… I re…I… I-"
"Really?" Ramonda caressed Shuri's teary face tenderly, proud.
"...Really, Mother, I did it. I... I did it... If I had done it earlier... I…" Shuri looked around the ancestral plane, heartbroken, her brother was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh, my baby, everything is destined from the start, we can't expect every ending to be as we wish." Ramonda cupped Shuri's tear-stained face softly, cooing at her.
Shuri finally nodded in acceptance slowly, "Yes, Mother, I know… hehe, Mama? Where's my big brother?" She prayed to Bast—
"So surprised to see my little sister wearing the black panther suit, what updates have you made over the y—"
Shuri turned around and saw her long-awaited brother, T'Challa.
"Brother!" She threw herself into her brother's arms, unable to hold back her tears as Shuri sobbed loudly in T'Challa's warm embrace, just like when she had accidentally injured herself during childhood experiments and sought comfort from her brother.
"I missed you too, Shuri, I missed you. "
"We have a lot to catch up, brother, I—"
"Of course, we do, but first, tell me how you end up here, hmm?" T'Challa raised an eyebrow at his little sister, wrapping her in his arms tightly.
Shuri told him everything again, "I got injured badly and was dying along with Namor beside me—" and all he had to say was,
"So, are you and Namor a thing?" The big brother teased.
"What thing, T'Challa???" Shuri short-circuited right after her own question, "Oh… that thing…" she nodded sheepishly at the end. Well, at least they died knowing…
"Well, since you are here, do you want to see him one last time?" T'Chall guided her to the side, and Ramonda silently stood and watched.
"Can I? I don't think I can—"
"He's over there." T'Challa pointed.
"What? Are you seeing something I can't see? It's just all… grass here?" Shuri stares into the distance, but still nothing.
"You need to look with your heart, Shuri—"
…
"Túun, wáaj in waal yaan máax u acompañe tuláakal le k'iino'oba' ja'abo'ob."
- So, does my son have anyone to accompany him all these years?
The mother and son walked hand in hand, his large hand enveloping hers, strolling through the village. "Ma', na'"
-No, Mother.
Fen looked at him, Namor finally smiled helplessly, "Jay, yaan juntúul, ba'ale' Táant confesar justo Ma'ili' ti' u xan murieramos. Ma' xaan ka' estábamos destinados u tukultik k uno ti' le uláak'..."
-Oh, there was one, but we just confessed right before we both died. Maybe we were destined to miss each other…
Namor shrugged. At least he knew Shuri meant it when she said those words.
"T'aan in leti'" Tell me about her . Namor's face softened at his mother's words. "Utsil, na', u k'aaba' le Shuri, leti' le lu'umo' protegida, Wakanda, u le wíiniko'obo' Ma'atech yaan u p'atik wa k'ex máaxo'ob ayik'alo'ob, a el igual que le tsikbalo'obo' in contaste..."
-Alright, Mother, her name is Shuri, she's from the protected land, Wakanda, where people never have to leave or change who they were, just like the stories you told me—
They walked outside the village, and suddenly, Fen asked, "Ba'ax a k'áat ilej tumen ts'ook." - Do you want to see her one last time?
"Na', lelo' imposible".
-Mother, that's impossible.
"Máax a'al le je'elo'. Leti' táan ti'".
-Who said that? She's over there. Fen pointed in the distance; Namor couldn't see anything.
"Ko'ox, Ch'ah, leti' a táan pa'atik. A taata xan teen táan pa'atik, ts'o'ok a wojel, Péenen tin wotoch".
-Let's go, Ch'ah, she's waiting for you. Your father is waiting for me too, you know, go home.
Namor couldn't see anything. "Na', mixtan in suut. In quedaré waye'".
-Mother, I won't go back. I'll stay here.
"In yaakunech, in chan paalo'. Ba'ale' ma' a decidir te'ela', Ch'ah".
-I love you, my baby. But you don't get to decide here, Ch'ah .
Namor turned around and reached out to hold his mother's hand.
…
"If this is a prank, you are winning it, brother, I ain't seeing anything there. Mother! T'Challa is pranking on me!" Shuri walked back to her mother to complain.
"Oh, Shuri, we love you so much, but your time is yet to come." Ramonda hugged her one last time.
"Time to go home, Shuri, we'll be here watching you all the time—" T'Challa kissed her temple softly.
"What are you talking about? I belong here with my family, I'm staying!" Shuri crossed her arms and protested.
"Let's go, Shuri, he's waiting for you, give the poor fishman a chance, alright?"
"I can't believe this, T'Challa! Mother, can you believe what he's saying—"
"I think you might want to listen to your brother for once, Shuri…"
Shuri turned around and reached out to hold her mother's hand.
…
The moment Namor and Shuri held their mother's hands, the world turned upside down, and everything spun around.
In an instant, two worlds collide.
And they saw each other, holding each other's hands.
Namor tried to pull her closer but found an invisible barrier almost blocking him.
"You won't guess who I just saw!" Shuri exclaimed.
He smiled, "Let me guess, your… mother and brother?" Shuri beamed.
"Did you also meet your mother?"
"Yes," Shuri tried to pull him into an embrace but couldn't pass through either.
They couldn't reunite after death.
"Shuri!"
"Ah, so we can only talk like this."
"K'uk'ulkan!"
"Yes, Shuri, don't let go."
"Shuri!"
"Someone is calling us…"
"K'uk'ulkan!"
"Who?"
"Shuri!"
"Sounds like Okoye, strange."
"K'uk'ulkan!"
"Sounds like Attuma, weird."
"Shuri!" "K'uk'ulkan!"
"I hear it too, Namor—"
Then they were being pulled away, unable to hold onto each other.
It was enough that they couldn't reunite after death; they had to be separated like this.
"Oh, come on!!!!"
"Tsk!"
Namor and Shuri came back to life as they jolted from the darkness, and opened their eyes, gasping for air. Both of them on vibranium stretchers, just an arm's length apart—
"Thank Bast, Shuri— Thank you, Bast!"
"K'uk'ulkan!"
The moment Okoye and Attuma found them lifeless on the ground, they were terrified. The blood spilled around them, Namor and Shuri's hands reaching out to each other sent them to their knees as they immediately did everything they could to save their God-King and Queen.
"O…ko… ye…" Shuri murmured in pain.
"A…ttu… ma…" Namor grunted in pain.
And then—
"Shu… ri…"
"Na… mor…"
Every breath was painful, but they painfully called each other's names.
Despite the pain that left them immobile, they reached out. Namor remembered he was on her right, so he extended his left hand. Unexpectedly, their hands gently touched, Shuri had reached out her right hand to him… but they were too weak to hold onto each other. Slipping away from each other's grasp—
Okoye and Attuma cradled their hands respectively as soft as they could and carefully intertwined Namor and Shuri's fingers together, applying just tiny pressure for them to grasp their hands tightly.
Namor clung to Shuri's fingers and Shuri held him weakly in her palm.
Their breathing gradually stabilized and they both drifted into deep slumber during their treatment.
But they were never letting go of each other's hands again.
As Okoye and Attuma gently supported Namor and Shuri's blood-soaked hands that were intertwined and held together, silently offering their support.
…
If they can't reunite after death, then let them reunite while they're still alive.
…
