ACT ONE.  CHAPTER XII:
LONG LIVE THE KING

BIRNIN ZANA, WAKANDA.
2016, APRIL 16.

"Don't do something stupid and stay safe."

Sade glanced at her sister, who simply nodded and walked towards the battlefield below, amidst the heavy footsteps of the rhinos.

To be honest, the young princess had never imagined that Wakanda, among many other countries, would be affected by a micro civil war of this scale. They had already lost one king, almost another, and now had to watch themselves being torn apart because of mistakes that had been made in the past. It was strange for her to be fighting against people she had grown up with. It was quite different from being on a mission abroad and having to use her strength on people she didn't know.

Sending another Border Tribe soldier crashing into a rock, Sade's gaze fell on Nakia's wounded form on the ground. Her heart sank as she looked up at the top of the hill of the Mount Bashenga, seeing her sister on the ground, N'Jadaka coming dangerously close to her.

"Shuri!" she exclaimed in horror as she ran towards them, glancing back quickly to see T'Challa's condition.

She felt herself hesitate for a moment as she saw him on the ground, swarmed by Border Tribesmen and pinned down. But unlike their little sister, he had his suit on, and would soon be able to use kinetic energy to free himself from his weakened position.

Shuri was the priority.

"Stay away from her."

Erik Killmonger slowly turned to her as she clenched her daggers between her palms, freeing her body from the stiffness that had gripped it. Grinning, he lunged at her, only to be blown away by the blast of one of her weapon. The young princess knew that he was going to get up again, so she had very little time left to get Shuri to safety.

"I told you not to do anything stupid." she told her as she abruptly picked her up, looking her up and down quickly to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"I just wanted to help-"

At the dark look her older sister gave her, Shuri immediately closed her mouth, lowering her eyes slightly. The last of her intentions was to worry Sade, who she knew was putting a lot of responsibility on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry."

"Go, and make sure to actually not do something stupid again."

The last of the Udaku let out a cry of surprise as Sade caught Killmonger's broken spear in her hand which he had aimed at her unmasked head.

"Now!"

Shuri looked at her sister for a moment before heading inside the palace at full speed.

"How cute." said N'Jadaka with a chuckle, retrieving the spear from a Dora Milaje who was lying on the ground lifeless. "Too bad this is the last time she'll see you alive."

Turning the broken spear she had intercepted in her hand for a moment, she threw it far enough away that it could not be accessed.

"I'm not planning of dying like this." she replied simply as she began to turn in the circle he had initiated as well, studying his every move from her position.

"How? By your own cousin's hand? I must admit, that is rather tragic."

Sade paused for a moment, sketching a smile before reactivating her mask. "No. By a stray cat's."

Her sentence had the intended effect since Killmonger put his mask back on at once, throwing himself at her. The two disguised panthers threw equally violent blows at each other, unable to find any cracks in the suits made of vibranium. A moment of inattention on her part, due in particular to the fact that she saw Shuri coming out of the palace, sent her to the ground.

What is fucking wrong with this kid?

A black mass passed in front of her, tackling her opponent and sending them both plunging down into the mine shaft. Sade's eyes widened as she turned onto her stomach to look down.

"T'Challa!"

She watched the two forms fight each other in the void until they disappeared from her view, making her frown. The urge to jump too quickly faded as she remembered that her little sister had decided to go rogue and had come out to engage in the fight below.

I never know which way to turn with these two.

Rising quickly, she moved closer to the impenetrable circle the sea of Border Tribesmen had formed with their advanced shields.

"Surrender now! You have three seconds to lay down your weapons!"

The only option she had, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to get through all of them, was to attack W'Kabi. But as she approached him, loud chants that she could recognise between thousands began to emerge from all directions. The stature of M'Baku finally appeared in her field of vision, holding a Border Tribesman in one hand before throwing him against the sonic shield.

"Witness the might of the Jabari firsthand!"

Sade rolled her eyes as she smiled slightly at his sentence, relieved to have backup. With W'Kabi having moved away from her position, she concentrated on taking out as many people as possible while keeping an eye on Shuri who avoided her gaze, knowing full well that she would be reprimanded later.

The young woman took a moment to catch her breath and froze as she felt the vibrations of the ground beneath her feet. She immediately looked up at M20 who was being launched at full speed, W'Kabi on his back, heading towards a M'Baku who had nowhere to go. Just as she was about to move towards the rhino to stop it in its tracks, Okoye beat her to it, positioning herself in front of the animal who stopped only millimetres away from her, licking her face affectionately.

Watching the exchange between Okoye and W'Kabi for a moment, keeping her guard up in case she needed to assist the General, she shut her eyes temporarily in relief as he threw his weapon into the dirt, kneeling before her.

It was finally over.

OAKLAND, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
2016, APRIL 18.

"When you said you would take me to California for the first time, I thought you meant Coachella, or Disneyland. Why here?"

Sade stifled a laugh as she exchanged an amused look with T'Challa, who simply smiled at Shuri's words before turning his gaze to the abandoned building.

"This is where our father killed our uncle."

Their little sister looked at him for a moment, taken aback by his bluntness before turning her gaze to the building to look at it carefully. A sign hanging at the entrance indicated that it would soon be demolished, not really surprising given the state of the facility.

"They are tearing it down. Good."

"They're not tearing it down... I bought this building. And that building, and that one over there." he said before glancing at Sade who already knew of his intention to buy the building but didn't know why. "This will be the first Wakandan International Outreach Center."

At this, the young princess widened her eyes as Shuri looked at T'Challa in astonishment.

Was he... agreeing with her?

"Nakia will see the social outreach, and as for you two, you will spearhead the science and information exchange."

"You're kidding?" Shuri finally asked, smiling widely at the surprise.

"Eh?"

The new king pressed a button on one of the Kimoyo beads that adorned his bracelet, causing the RTF that was parked to come out of cloaking behind the kids playing basketball.

"That's like a Bugatti spaceship!"

Handshaking T'Challa and Sade in turn, their little sister made her way towards the children who had gathered around the device, leaving her two older siblings in the silence.

"Are you sure about this?"

T'Challa looked in Shuri's direction for a moment before turning his gaze to his sister.

"I listened to you."

"I don't want you to do this because you want to listen to me, but because you actually believe in the greater good it can do." she replied with a slight frown, only intensifying her older brother's smile.

"These are some wise words, Sade."

Her confusion deepened at the name he had used as she watched him pull an envelope from his coat and hand it to her.

"What is this?" she asked, taking the paper in her hand nonetheless.

"Look and open it." he said simply, continuing to smile.

With her eyebrows still furrowed, Sade looked at the logo that sat on the left corner of the envelope.

Harvard University ― Office of Admissions.

Feeling her heart racing, she looked up at T'Challa. "But I never applied? I mean, I never sent-"

"Just open it."

Following his words, she ended up holding the letter that was inside with her name written on it in her hands. Her eyes slowly scanned over the paper for the first time before she widened her eyes and reread it several times at breakneck speed.

"You're going to hurt your eyes from straining them like that," her brother said with a slight laugh.

"The coordinated JD/PhD Program with the GSAS? It's nearly impossible to get-"

"As you said, nearly. I assume they found you smart enough to accept you. Right?"

Sade grabbed the paper with both hands, feeling them tremble with emotion. She'd dreamed of this program before she'd even finished her Master's degree, maybe even before she'd started her Bachelor's degree. It was no secret that the young princess found fulfillment in higher education, enrolling whenever she could in courses that she surely wouldn't use just for the sake of learning. She had given herself a two-year margin to finally enroll in Harvard's prestigious joint program.

"How?" she finally asked, clearing her throat, sensing joy and disbelief sweep over her.

"I heard you talking about it with Thema a while back. I figured it would do you good to have someone force your hand a little this time, instead of waiting forever." T'Challa replied with a simple shrug. "And also, I'd like to attend your graduation this time. The last one I went to was when you were out of high school, I think?"

The young princess laughed lightly as she put the sheet back into the envelope, unable to stop the smile that had come to stretch her lips. "Whether I enrolled this year or in two years wouldn't have made any difference, you know?"

The smile he gave her made her take him in her arms, burying her head in his neck as she did when they were younger, unable to contain her excitement.

Perhaps, and I stress indeed perhaps, if she had looked longer into T'Challa's eyes, she would have seen the sadness that was hidden in the shadow of his joy.

A bittersweet joy.

RIVER VILLAGE, WAKANDA.
2016, AUGUST 28.

"So, you're leaving?"

The young woman, who was putting away the prototypes lying on her desk in a box, froze at the deep voice that came from behind her. Her hand stopped in mid-movement as she sighed and placed her notebook back on the table.

Four long months had passed since they had last seen each other, and now here he was in the middle of her laboratory with that beaten-down expression that irritated the hell out of her.

"When were you going to tell me?"

At his question, she turned sharply back to him, forgetting that she had told herself she was going to ignore him. If he was there, it was because someone had to report the fact that she was leaving, not because she had told him. All the anguish and sadness she'd built up over the months, slowly turning into explosive animosity, surfaced again.

"When was I going to tell you? I don't know. When you were going to answer me? When you were going to come and see me? When you were going to look me in the eye and accept the fact that there were things you needed to think about?"

The very idea of using "us" seemed foolish to her, reasoning that she had imagined everything that had happened in the previous months.

The neutral expression she had kept until then had shattered, replaced by a mask of rage and pain that made the Talokanil king's heart ache. He had no valid excuse. He was scared. Terrified even. Terrified of her, of how she had made him change in such a short time.

It couldn't be good.

"You can't even lie and say I didn't go to Talokan myself to find out what was going on. Because while Namora could very well have kept this from you, I know Attuma must have told you. Because he was the one who kept telling me that you weren't there, lying while looking me dead in the eye!" she snapped as she violently put her cardboard box on the table, watching Namor simply look away, pissing her off even more.

"Was I a game for you? Your little distraction from the surface?" she asked as she moved closer to him, nostrils flaring in irritation. "How dare you show up in front of me after four fucking months of not hearing a fucking word from you, thinking something bad had happened? When all this time you've been avoiding me because you're just a coward!" she snarled as he refused to look her in the eye, making her bite her tongue to avoid saying things she'd probably regret. "To be honest, I don't care. Not anymore. Your god's ego is probably far too big for you to sit with yourself and think about what's going on in your own head. I'm not a psychologist, I can't help you more than that. It's clearly out of my hands at this point."

"Sa-"

"I don't want to hear your excuse." she cut him off dryly as she took her cardboard box with her and headed for the front door. "I guess I'm sorry for knowing what I want. But I certainly know I don't deserve any of this."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

i know, you want them to kiss blablabla and whatever. actually this was supposed to be a sweet scene of them saying goodbye to each other and all that. but first i'm sick, i find happiness in writing not happy things 🧍🏾‍♀️, two we need some angst it can't be all fluffy and wonderful especially when bpwf is coming soon 👀 and three, YOU KNOW DAMN WELL SADE IS RIGHT. putting aside the fact that namor is hot and everything, writing things is way more different that saying them. he didn't even say it directly, he left it on a note when she was still asleep and expect of her to put the pieces together for him. are you telling me that y'all standards are that low? 🤨 and on top of that, better of him thinking of this right now than later when he'll have to think about his concept of alliance (he needs to learn a lot damn), he basically has a god complex (fun pun) and still see sade in his mind as the "human he appreciates", not the person who actually makes him feel happy and light. and really four months avoiding her just to come back like a flower? *tss tss* i would've slapped him fr, namor or not 🙄

t'challa calling her sade, wanting to attend her graduation and simply smiling when she said it wouldn't have made any difference if she applied in two years 👩🏾‍🦯🫠

but on a happier note, hypothetically... I INSIST ON HYPOTHETICALLY... because i'm still pondering about the tragic ending that i wrote 🏃🏾‍♀️ if those two were to have children (HYPOTHETICALLY) what would they name them? little menaces like i used to be (still am) 🥰 but cute little menaces (HYPOTHETICALLY)

&& don't forget to vote, comment and share 🫶🏾 (i came back for y'all while i still have covid, i better see interactions here before i kill sade on a whim 🤨)

© ADONYSIAC ― IZIA™