SOS
Shuri wakes up in the afternoon and her tongue feels heavy in her mouth like always. But when her mouth fills with saliva, she jumps up and runs to the bathroom. For the last week, she has been vomiting every day, which mostly occurs after she eats something. But since she hasn’t been consuming anything but raw fish and seaweed, this isn’t an anomaly to her. So she holds onto the side of the toilet seat for dear life as her vision blurs and her throat burns as hot chunks of vomit exit her body.
She’s very lucky that both Nakia and Toussaint are out for a playdate. She goes to the kitchen and grabs a bottle of Pedialyte (which is quickly becoming her favorite drink). Her nausea pills are in Nakia’s master bathroom, so she heads in there but is quickly struck dumb. The conch shell on her nightstand stares her down until she closes Nakia’s door.
“There’s no way,” Shuri says to herself after her mind goes blank for an unknown amount of time. Then she gets angry, really angry. Namor dared to threaten her sister-in-law and thought he would get away with it. She had burned the last shell that had graced her window seal. Now an identical one was gracing Nakia’s nightstand.
She storms back into the room and snatches the shell up. She can feel it crushing under her tight grip as she exits the room. Her breathing had become rapid and she broke the front door from how harshly she pulled it open. To a regular person, the hot sand meeting their bare feet would have been enough to snap them back to reality, but Shuri was as far from normal as a person could get.
“NAMOR!” Shuri roars out when she meets the shoreline. She can feel that he’s close and notices the shift in the waves. Soon, she sees him flip out the water with his hand smoothing back his hair. She doesn’t give him time to say anything before she smacks him across the face with the shell. It shatters on impact and his head flies to the side. When he recovers, he looks back at her with fury in his eyes.
“That will be the last time you’ll hit me if you want this alliance to continue,” he says to her in a falsely calm tone.
“I wouldn’t have had to hit you if you hadn’t but that in Nakia’s room.” Shuri shakes her head at him wondering why she ever thought the two of them could’ve worked in the past. “Bast I can’t believe I ever let you touch me.”
“First of I didn’t put it in Nakia’s room - I gave it to her personally, second I only touched you because you asked me t- ”
“And that was a mistake,” Shuri says, looking him in the eyes. She sees how his nostrils flare in rising annoyance.
“So this what you called me here for; just to hit me and tell me we were a mistake as if you didn’t make that pretty clear a few months ago.”
“No, I called you here to tell you that if you ever threaten Nakia again, I won’t come after you, I’ll come after your people instead.”
“Pretty bold coming from someone who’s not even a Queen anymore and we both know what happened to the last Queen who threatened my people,” he says, leaning over her small body, eyes ablaze and teeth bared. Shuri matches his look with her back straight, not faltering even though she wants to tear out his throat for bringing up her mother.
“I chose not to become Queen because I didn’t want to become a parasite to my nation, unlike you,” she says as she pushes him away from her slightly. His lips purse and he adjusts his jaw. He’s trying his hardest not to hit her, but that is exactly what Shuri wants. She wants him to give her a reason to beat him again, to dominate him again. Her body is itching for a fight and she doesn’t know if she can stand just looking at him anymore.
“I am a God to them,” he says, cutting his eyes at her. She smirks to stop herself from laughing at him. That can’t be the best he has.
“No, you’re just a monster who brainwashed them into thinking you’re a god.” He laughs at her this time. Then his eyes shift to something behind her. She goes to look, but he grabs her chin; keeping her eyes on him. He brings her close till their lips are almost touching and her heart is beating out of her chest.
“You might be right but at least I’m a monster who can keep his people safe. But you on the other hand - ” Namor tsks and turns her body around to see Nakia bloody and holding a limp Toussaint in her arms. Shuri’s heart drops to her stomach at the sight: her nephew's body hangs like a ragdoll in Nakia’s shaky arms. She could see his chest rising up and down weakly.
Nakia rushes towards them as fast as she can, but it seems like her leg is hurt. She has blood coming from various cuts on her body and losing coordination. Shuri knows she is gonna fall soon, so she meets her halfway, taking Toussaint’s weak body into her arms. He has three bullet holes throughout his body: one in his leg, another through his shoulder, and one through his midsection. Fear and rage fill her so fast she can barely see straight.
“Sister, what happened?” Shuri asks while she is taking off her beads.
“I- they came out of nowhere I- I fought off as many as I could-” Nakia says shakily, clearly still in shock.
“Who? Who did this?” Shuri asks, taking her eyes off Toussaint to look at Nakia. She hears sand shuffling behind her and whips her head around to look at Namor.
“The colonizers did it, obviously,” he says coldly. She stands up and gets back in his personal space.
“I don’t want to hear from you! You knew about this obviously and did nothing about it! ” She was going to continue but Nakia intervenes before she could.
“Shuri, please, he was helping me,” Nakia takes a breath before she continues. “Okoye called; she got information that the Americans were watching us. I went to him to ask for protection and I'm glad I did because I wouldn’t have survived if his people didn’t help.” Shuri looks back and sees the expectant look of someone awaiting an apology. She cuts her eyes at him before her full attention turns back to her injured family.
“You should’ve come to me instead,” she says before wiping away Nakia’s tears with her hands and taking off her beads to put them on Toussaint. She hears a slash and decides not to think about it.
“Griot, scan his body,” she commands. She had done this for him when he had the stomach virus. Nakia told Shuri that bonding her beads to him was going a little too far, but now she thanks the gods she did.
“Status is critical, Toussaint is losing blood rapidly, I suggest getting him medical treatment soon,” Griot says plainly.
“I sent a rescue alert ten minutes ago, they should be here soon. “ Nakia says. Shuri nods then grabs a piece of the kimoyo bead and sticks it inside her nephew’s most critical wound - it should slow down his bleeding for now. Now all they have to do is wait with bated breath for the rescue bird to get there.
Once the ship gets there they waste no time; they rush him inside the bird quickly - ignoring Okoye’s inquiries - and only focusing on his breathing. He was deteriorating and she couldn’t help but think back to her last moments with her brother. Nakia places her hand on her back as they watch over him. Soon, they are at the palace and he is taken away from them by the medics. Okoye takes Nakia who is in pretty bad shape too. Shuri watches them disappear and wonders to herself how she could let this happen.
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Hours later, she is sitting alone in her lab, going back over her old notes. Toussaint had been taken into surgery hours ago and they were told to distract themselves in the meantime. Nakia had gone with Okoye to tell her about what happened and offered to tell Shuri herself, but was shot down. Shuri doesn’t think she could handle hearing about it right now. She was barely holding on to the little piece of sanity she had at the moment. If she was told names and details about what the Americans did she might just - no, no don’t think like that.
So to keep herself from breaking, she retreated to the only place she could clear her head: her lab. It felt amazing to be back in her true home but still, a piece of her felt strange. She still felt the unbearable emptiness that had grown since she burned her grieving clothes. Nothing, not even her sweet little nephew could fill it. So she buries herself in her work, finding her abandoned notebook and flipping through her most recent ideas. The best way to deal with an issue was to ignore it in her opinion, that is if she couldn’t fix it with science.
“Midnight angel suits, better underwater filters, the new herb - ” The sound of the doors opening to her lab cut her mumbling off. She turns and sees the dora walk in with M’baku. Ayo and Aneka look the same as they always did; flawless. But she couldn’t look them in the eye without crying, so she avoided their gaze.
“Hello Princess,” M’Baku said with a somber look. She sighs at the title the moment he says it.
“King M’baku, we’ve already discussed this many times; I'm no longer the princess,” she responds with little energy.
“Ah but you are, I have made it so.” At that, she sits up straighter.
“I have made you my successor and the council agreed with my choice, so you are a princess,” M’baku explains calmly. Shuri stares at him blankly as his words sank in.
“Leave us,” she says to the dora as she stands up and walks towards him. After the door closes - signaling their leave - Shuri closes her left fist and decks the big man right in his chest. He flies back, tripping on the three stairs behind him. He struggles to get his breathing right after standing up.
“What was that for?” he asks her. Shuri rolls her eyes at him before picking up her notebook.
“Everyone I have ever loved has died ruling on that throne. I gave you the throne, hoping you’d break that cycle, and instead, you put me right back in line for it.” Shuri says, looking down at him. “I thought we had an understanding that I never wanted the throne. It is a curse on my family; one that seems to still be plaguing us even when we’re not on it.” Her voice breaks as she continues. M’Baku stands up and places a hand on her shoulder; she brushes him off.
“I do remember, but I do not have heirs that want to take the throne. All of my children want to stay and rule in Jabari Land. Also, the council wanted you, but now that they know of T’Challa’s heir - ” She cuts him off before he can finish.
“Tell them that they can go fuck themselves,” she shouts out before she can stop herself. She covers her mouth in shock that she actually said it out loud.
“Well I would, but you know it wouldn’t go well,” M’Baku says with a half-smile on his face he rounds her and sits on one of the stools near her workstation. “I checked on Nakia before I came here and the doctors said the surgery was going well.”
“Thank you.” M’baku smiles softly and stands up, then he pats her shoulder.
“She needs you, Shuri,” he says as he leaves the lab. She knows he’s right and she will. But first, she needs to ready herself emotionally for what might happen.
_________________
Shuri walks into the med bay and spots Nakia crumpled up on the couch. She doesn’t say anything to her, just sits down on the free spot and waits. Shuri’s thoughts wander as the minutes tick on; at first, her thoughts are on the oxygen mask. Her first thought was that she wanted to make them for the Talokanil, but she’s now wondering if she can use them to give others the ability to breathe underwater as well. It would help them in the coming war and give them an edge in battle.
Then her thoughts changed to how she was going to smooth things over with Namor. She admits to herself that she falsely accused him and assaulted him, but he wasn’t exactly innocent either. What he said about her mother was out of line and she will get him back for that but after…what can she do to get him back on the alliance's side?
She is pulled from her thoughts when the doctor comes in with the news they’ve been waiting for. Nakia sits up and holds her breath in anticipation.
“He should be here in a few minutes, the doctors are just finishing up his stitches,” he says with a big smile on his face. Shuri finally feels like a huge weight is off her shoulders. Nakia lets tears fall down her face.
“Thank Bast,” Nakia says through her sobs. Shuri puts her arms around her as her own tears fall. She doesn’t think she would be able to handle another loved one being lost to this wretched world. She’s pretty sure she’d see it burn before she would let it happen again.
By the time they rolled Toussaint's sleeping body into the room, the tears had dried and Nakia was sleeping on Shuri’s shoulder. She sighs as she slowly moves away from her and slowly lays Nakia down. She makes sure she is quiet as she heads to her former room. It’s closest to the lab and has a good view of the ocean.
She ignores the broken glass and ripped clothes covering the floor and continues to the balcony doors. Once she opens them, she is accosted by the strong smell of salt. It relaxes her which is good cause it makes what she is about to do next so much easier. She swings her legs over the edge and jumps off, landing on slippery rocks closest to the waves. She stands up siding a little and hobbles to the edge. Anxiety fills her as she readies herself. The ocean was way bigger than the rivers in Haiti. Plus, she has no clue if he would accept her offer. But she’ll never know until she gets there so she jumps into the waves.