the fourth time
"Wakanda Forever!"
Shuri called up the mask while the bright flames devoured her right in front of her face,
And Namor.
Flesh burned and scorched.
He fell.
The heater worked.
Shuri stumbles toward him, grabbing the remnants of a spear, and placing it against his neck.
She looked down at him.
He looked up at her.
"I'm going to kill him," she thinks.
I'm going to do it, this is what I want.
And what I want is Namor dead. Namor will beg me for mercy. As I stand and watches he dies.
She remembers herself saying this. The blade scratches against Namor’s flesh.
Blood for blood.
"It could have been different."
What he said finally reached her and hit her.
Mother died right in front of her, drowned by Namor.
Namor, scoffing at her face, or himself,the child without love.
The attack on Wakanda. Rewinding, as if it never happened.
Shuri witnessed the beauty of Talokan, his home and his people.
Almost matching the beauty of her own home and people, Wakanda.
The moment she loses her brother, her mother's heart's broken.
The moment he buried his mother, he had no love for the surface world.
The moment she was back in her mother's arms, safe and sound.
The moment he was born, his mother loved him more than anything.
They were the same.
But there was no if.
Killing him won't undo anything.
She couldn't turn back time, and neither could he.
It is done.
Her hands tremble on what she will do next, N'Jadaka’s voice ringing behind her head.
"Do it." ——— "Shuri—"
It couldn't be.
She looks up…
Mother.
"Mother—" Shuri gasped.
"—show him who you are." Mother said.
She looked down.
Looked into his eyes.
Namor was looking at her.
His eyes were adrift, and he almost lost focus but he was looking at her right in the eye.
This is not who I am.
"Yield," Shuri said.
Namor, still looking at her like he doesn't hear her, drifting away.
"And Wakanda will protect your oceans. We will protect your secret. Yield. And your people will live. Vengeance has consumed us. We cannot let it consume our people.."
" Yield ." He hears her this time.
Namor, lying on the ground, almost burned to death.
He keeps looking at her.
"She's beautiful." He thinks.
"I must be mad." he thinks. He could've laughed at himself if he wasn't dying on the ground.
And he sees her.
Mother.
He sees his mother for the first time in centuries. She never comes to his dreams.
He buried her centuries ago with his own hands. Along his heart.
And it was replaced with hatred toward the surface world. Mother died of heartbreak for the land that she could never return to.
And he sees his mother reaching her hands toward him.
Mother…have you come to take me?
Namor is prepared to die after all these centuries protecting Talokan. It will be an honour. Die protecting Talokan.
At last.
And he sees her.
Shuri.
The Princess of Wakanda.
They were the same.
He hears her. Telling him to yield.
Namor sees her mother.
Reaching her hand towards him, he wanted to reach for her.
And he sees her.
Shuri.
"In rindo." I surrender , Namor breathed out.
Shuri removed the spear from his neck, scratching past his jade earring. She threw the spear away.
And fell to the ground beside him.
"What now?" Shuri thinks.
She side-eyed him, Namor lying beside her, looking like he was prepared to face death.
No.
Not after everything she did to protect Wakanda. Not after she let go of her vengeance.
If he dies, the war will never stop. There will be eternal war, the Talokanils will not rest until Wakanda falls.
"K'abéet in ja.'" I need water, she doesn't know what he said earlier after he pierced her with a spear, his face being clawed with her claws, him covered in sand and dust, he was walking towards the water before she stopped him.
Water.
The water.
Shuri scrambles to her feet, suppressing the pain in her abdomen.
Namor is still lying on the ground.
No, you can't die Namor.
Don't die on me.
Shuri kneels down, hands reaching his neck and shoulder, trying to get him up.
"Up." She's trying very hard to bring him back to her.
"This is no place for a god to die." Shuri says.
She lifts his head up, trying to break him away from his trance.
"Get up Namor, on your feet." She tries to pull him up into a sitting position.
He's looking at her right now.
"Up." She pleaded with him.
He sees her.
He reached out his hand, reaching for her.
He mirrors her, hands reaching for her neck and grasping her softly at first. Shuri was brought to his face easily. Without resistance.
She stiffened.
Namor groans, shutting his eyelids. His other hand planted on the ground, supporting himself to get up, his back's flesh tearing from the ground, he groaned.
Namor is doing exactly what she says.
But why is she holding her breath?
Their faces are mere inches away. Foreheads are almost touching.
Namor leveled himself off the ground and grabbed her neck tightly this time.
They were looking each other right in the eye.
Not sure whose heart stopped a beat right there.
"Up." Shuri breathed out. Namor almost didn't hear her.
Finally, she managed to pull him up into a sitting position. Foreheads are touching against each other this time.
They both exhaled the breath they didn't know they were both holding.
Maybe both.
Maybe both of their hearts stopped a beat right there.
Now is the hard part, Shuri thinks.
She tries to stand on her own but ends up using his shoulders as a support, he lets her.
She groans, the pain in her abdomen. But she couldn't stop. Don't die on me.
She looks at him and his wounds. If she grabs him on the back, it will hurt him. And she decides to tug him up under his arms, like carrying a child into arms when they demand to be lifted up and carried into arms after a long day, settling their head safely at the neck.
Namor glares at her, she shrugs.
She tried for the first time. She didn't move him. At all.
Namor looked at her, deadpanned.
Shuri tsks at him. Flexing her sore arms and trying for a second time.
Are you kidding me? Woman . Namor thinks.
But obeyed and allowed himself to be lifted up this time.
He scrambled to his feet using his other hand to push himself off the ground.
Both grunted in pain together.
Ha, at least he was not alone in this ridiculous pain.
Shuri guided his arm around her shoulder and her hand putting at his waist to support him to stand.
She was barely holding on to herself.
And they started walking towards the water.
It was a long and agonizing walk.
They winced in pain at every step.
"You should have killed me." He said, his vision turning black at the edges.
"Not a chance." She replied, breathing hard through the pain.
Halfway there, and Shuri couldn't hold on anymore, she stumbled onto her feet, preparing to face the earth with her face.
With all the strength he left, he holds her up this time, pressing their bodies together. She regained her senses. She almost fell asleep just now.
"Up." He breathed out.
If Shuri wasn't in great pain, she would have laughed.
Almost there.
The water rushes up to their ankles.
Up to their knees.
Shuri decided to swing him into the waters, using all her strength left.
Take that you asshole.
Namor was still holding onto her and she wasn't thinking straight.
Shit.
Shuri doesn't want to sink into the ocean, afraid she might never wake up.
His back landed into the water first, hands still grasping at her, pulling her down together.
The last thing she saw was,
Namor gazes at her right in the eye, as he sees through her and her soul.
She let herself fall, falling with him.
Into the embrace of water.
They crashed into the surface of the water, into the waves.
Water surrounded her.
She landed right on top of him, right into his arms.
Shuri felt she was at peace for the first time in a very long time.
Devoid of anything.
She closed her eyes and let the water take her.
Namor regained his strength the moment he touched the water. He felt his strength coming back. But something was drifting away in his arms.
Princess.
Shuri.
She closed her eyes like she was just asleep.
She's not breathing.
She's not breathing.
Namor panicked and did the only thing he knew to keep her breathing.
He cradled her face and kissed her.
Shuri moved weakly, and the next thing he knew she was looking at him.
She opened her eyes at the soft touch on her lips, with his face right in front of her. In the water. How she could see him so clearly. Concern and panic coloured his face.
Didn't know he was capable of these, she wanted to huff.
Before she could huff or think of anything, she was sucking air from him. Unintentionally and she deepened the kiss. Their noses are touching.
What was she doing?
Namor lifts them up and breaks the surface of the water. Along with breaking the kiss.
Shuri panted hard, trying to catch her breath, panting from the lack of air. Panting from what she just did. She decided to ignore it. Trying to catch her breath and live now.
Coughing out water, she shooks from it. A hand is patting her back to ease the pain. She realizes she's straddling him, and Namor hugging her firmly in the arms, circling her protectively. Their foreheads are touching.
How could he do that to her? After everything.
Namor signs and releases the breath he's holding, she's breathing, thank god it worked. But the moment she deepened the kiss, he felt something else.
He was at peace. He wanted more.
But he couldn't, not after everything he had done to her.
And raise them up to the surface of the water.
Shuri catches her breath, he waits for her to recover. She slipped into a trance.
Like she was at peace in his arms.
She was, after all . Many years later, when she recalled this day.
But not now.
Namor breaks the silence.
"What now?" She came back from her daze.
"—the fight. We need to stop the fight." She scrambles to her feet but feels weak.
Namor lifts her up along himself, one arm circling her entire waist and another pushing himself up to stand. Shuri loses her balance, she hugs his neck to steady herself and he lets her.
The truth is, she lets him.
Lifting her up with the regained strength, ensuring she finds her standing and not stumbling anytime, he lets go.
Shuri raises her wrist, winces in pain and calls the Sunbird, her stupid but brilliant heater plane.
He still couldn’t believe she had defeated him just like that. Founding his weakness and making him surrender with no choice.
But it’s Shuri, after all.
Of course she could.
She is his equal.
They stood in silence.
The plane came, Shuri going straight for it.
Namor hesitates.
"No more tricks. I'm done."
"I promise." Holding her hands up in surrender.
Namor follows her at last. Trusting her after she almost burned him alive.
Standing at the legs of the plane, side by side.
They reached the Sea Leopard, and Namor called out to his people.
"Talokanils! Ko'ox tin wotoch. K ba'ate'lo' waye' ts'o'ok u Beetik…" Talokanils! Let's go home. Our fight here is over. His people returned the Liik' k Talokan gesture.
"Wakanda Forever!" Shuri shouts beside him, her people returning the "X" gesture and shouting it back.
They nodded at each other.
Namor waited for all of his people to return to the sea, to their home.
And he left without looking back, following his people.
They parted ways.