The King is dead.
That is the headline that dominates the world as it reels from the death of T’Challa, King of Wakanda.
While the country held a state funeral for the king, that is not the true ceremony.
Right now, the closest people in T’Challa’s life stand around the real coffin on a speed boat in the middle of the sea:
Shuri, his sister.
Romanda, his mother.
M’Baku, his friend.
Okoye, his soldier.
Everett K. Ross, his unlikely comrade.
Bucky Barnes, his student in redemption.
They are all in the seats of the rather large speed boat, speaking with each other, not in sadness, but in memory of T’Challa’s accomplishments.
T’Challa, the man who stared wrong traditions and ideas in the eye and tore them down to make the world better. The man that would give a homeless person the same amount of respect and kindness he would give a fellow ruler. A man who risked his life to help save the world time and time again, just because it was right.
King T’Challa took enemies like M’Baku and Bucky and made them allies for the rest of his life.
In the end, T’Challa did not need superpowers or the blessing of the panther goddess Bast to make the world a better place and that is what he did, right to the end.
After an hour of talking and remembering the past, M’Baku, Bucky, Okoye, and Everett climb over to the front of the boat and activate 4 wights on the coffin, two on each side. They each grab a side of the coffin and lower it into the water.
Queen Romanda and the rest of the group also climb over to the front of the boat and the queen says, in Xhosa, “Ngamana ungadibana nabo babeze ngaphambili kwinqwelo-moya yezinyanya, uKumkani uT'Challa”
As the coffin sinks into the ocean, to be buried in a place where no one can disturb it, they all cross their arms across their chest and bow their heads.
“Wakanda Forever.”
REST IN PEACE
CHADWICK BOSEMAN
1977 – 2020
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE THE KING.