Chapter Text
"I will make you a promise, Princess," Namor whispers, his grip on the spear tightening as he plunges it deeper into her side. "You will not die from this, and one day, whether it be one year or a thousand, you will take your place by my side."
"I will die before I ever agree to such madness," Shuri gasps.
The pain is unlike anything she has ever felt, robbing her of breath. She grits her teeth, her claws prying at the spear's staff, trying futilely to pull it out. It will not budge, not with Namor baring down on it. Desperation bubbles inside her, a geyser threatening to erupt. Not far from her, her people are fighting his. The ocean is turning red with spilt blood. Her people's battle cries drowned by the wails of the wounded and crash of the waves.
Namor twists the spear. Agony is like lightning through her veins, a cry ripping from her throat. Her world was spinning, blurs of sandy beaches, periwinkle skies and a monster in the guise of a man. She thinks of nothing more than slicing her claws into his flesh and disproving his supposed divinity with streaks of blood racing down his torso.
"I am a man of my word. I warned you and your mother that there is no in-between. We are either allies or enemies. Wakanda will now be the first to fall." He tilts his head as he looks at her, something close to regret in his eyes. "It could have been different. You and your people did not have to suffer if you had accepted our friendship."
"No friendship can be forged through threats," Shuri snarls.
"When your righteous anger has exhausted your very being, when your people's pain has whittled you down to the bone, you will regret not allying yourself with Talokan. With me. The world you seek to protect does not care for you. They will descend upon you like vultures once they sense your weakness. If this is a lesson you have to learn the hard way, so be it."
The edges of Shuri's vision is growing dimmer, the colours fading. The last thing to blur into darkness is Namor's face, the sound of his voice the last thing she hears. Shuri feels a warm touch upon her cheek as her eyes close, the last of her energy drained.
"I will wait for you to learn it, my Queen."
Wakanda does not win.
The battle ends when Namor appears on the highest point of the ship, the Queen of Wakanda carried unconscious in his arms.
The small band of Wakandan warriors still fighting are corned at the edge of the ship. They cry out for their Queen as the Talokanil rejoices the victory of their King. The Wakandans can do nothing as Namor approaches, his warriors parting like the waves. Carefully, Namor places Wakanda's protector before them.
Okoye is the first to push her way through the crowds to Shuri's side. She falls to her knees beside Shuri and pulls the girl into her arms.
Namor watches impassively before turning his attention to the rest of the Wakandans. He tells them to take their Queen home. That all of this could have been avoided had they only accepted what he had offered. Had their foolish former King not so recklessly revealed Wakanda and its vibranium to the world. Had their former Queen not ruthlessly slain two innocent handmaidens to save her daughter who he had promised not to hurt so long as no threats to his people were made.
Everything could have been different.
If Wakanda had just chosen to see sense, rather than defend those who would turn on them.
"This is only the second battle, the war is still to come," Namor finishes.
As Wakanda's Queen recovers in the medical bay of the palace, Wakanda holds its breath and waits.
And waits...
And waits...
Days turn to weeks, weeks into months.
Many begin to wonder if Talokan has decided to leave them be, that they view Wakanda as too weak to pose a threat.
But then the rain comes.
And it doesn't stop.
"We need to leave Wakanda."
Shuri does not look up from her keyboard, refusing to dignify such madness with a response. She has work to do. On her screens are maps of Wakanda, dotted with red lines to signify suitable areas for new diversion canals to be dug.
"Queen Shuri, did you hear me?"
Scattered across her desk are rough sketches for new flood barriers. She still needs to find a way to make them easier to build upon, should the flood level rise beyond capacity (as they already have twice). Ease of mobility was also proving an issue.
"Shuri-"
Three of the temporary shelters would need to be relocated. Then there was the-
M'Baku slams his hand on her desk, startling her.
"We're doing alright!" Shuri snaps. "We can still save Wakanda. We can still-"
"Look outside, Shuri! There is hardly anything left to save," M'Baku cuts in, nothing hiding the despair in his voice.
Shuri closes her eyes, her hands stilling on her keyboard. She hasn't stepped outside of her lab in days, focusing all of her attention on various projects.
Talokan may have more warriors than Wakanda had blades of grass, but rather than utilise his forces again, Namor had somehow evoked the elements to destroy Wakanda. The rain had started as a dribble, but with every day it grew in intensity until the rivers engorged and ruptured their banks.
Homes and buildings by the riverside were either flooded or swept away, forcing hundreds to evacuate to higher ground. The farmlands were overwhelmed, destroying crops and resulting in the loss of thousands of livestock. Within a few weeks, there would be food shortages and with the recent destruction of two of Wakanda's factories - both having plunged into the river after the ground had been washed away - getting what food and resources remained to those that needed it would be next to impossible. Without the factories, their hover technology could not be produced or properly repaired, and traditional methods of transport were hindered by roads having been submerged or damaged.
Wakanda was not without its flood control procedures, having experienced floods during the rainy seasons. Even with those measures and the improvements that Shuri made to them, this level of rainfall was unprecedented and relentless, on a scale never before seen in any of their recorded history or oral tradition.
Shuri didn't know how Namor was doing this.
She had not stayed long in Talokan, but she knew they were technologically advanced; they could have developed technology that allowed for weather manipulation. A more disturbing theory was that it could be another ability that Namor possessed due to his mutant DNA - but the power required for such a feat was too immense to think about. There were legends in Mesoamerican history that suggested he had the power to bring the rains and winds, while others pointed to him knowing a deity who could - neither were options that appealed to Shuri, as it either meant Namor was much more powerful than they realized, or he had allies that held terrifying capabilities.
"We have nowhere else to go. This is our home, you and I both swore to protect it. We can't..."
M'Baku places a hand on her shoulder and gently says, "And good leaders also know when it is time to stop."
Shuri moves towards the window. Where once had been a city view, now all she sees is water, the tips of taller structures peaking from the waves. It would not be long before the palace was submerged, the lower levels already having succumbed.
"This is my fault," Shuri whispers. "If I had defeated him... this wouldn't have happened. Wakanda is dying and it's all because of my weakness."
"Shuri, we all lost that day. We are strong, but we are not invisible." M'Baku sighs. "We need to leave Wakanda."
Shuri wants to protest... but it is hopeless.
Wakanda has been swallowed by the rivers and rains.
They cannot stay here any longer.
While packing her belongings in the palace, Shuri finds something... odd.
It was in her mother's bedroom, lying on top of her desk. A box containing all of Shuri's old sketchbooks; her mother has amassed quite a collection over the years, refusing to throw away a single one. One of the sketchbooks lay open. It was one of the older ones, the drawings and doodles within were crudely drawn, clearly by the hand of a child, coloured with crayons and outside the lines.
Shuri wonders if her mother had been going through them she was trapped in Talokan. Was this how she comforted herself without her daughter by her side? Was this what played a role in pushing her to whatever means necessary to recuse her last remaining child?
Shuri's looks at the drawing her mother had last looked at. It does not bring a fond smile to her face.
A little girl sinking below the jagged lines of the waves, a boat above her split in half. That alone was disturbing enough - Shuri had been a mischievous child, but never one to indulge in something quite so morbid - but it is was what towers above the girl, deep within the oceans, that sends a cold shiver through Shuri's body. A sudden dread chilling her to the bone.
It is a drawing of a sea monster.
It looks like a snake - no, a serpent - with a mane of bright red and jade feathers, scales of gold and eyes as dark and fathomless as a black hole, threatening to devour her whole. Its tail coils downwards, a bush of feathers bursting from its tip. A feathered serpent.
The name she has not dared speak in weeks for a silly superstitious fear that he will appear, slips from her lips.
"Namor."
How is that possible? Shuri thinks.
Shuri remembers drawing this, a vague, distant memory that she cannot fully grasp. Like trying to grab water with the tips of her fingers. She had made this was she was seven years old, long before Wakanda ever became aware of Talokan and their King, long before Wakanda revealed itself to the world.
It's a coincidence, Shuri tells herself. Children draw all kinds of imaginative things.
But why had her mama looked it out? Had she stumbled upon it while grieving the abduction of her daughter?
Or has she known it was there...
"Your Majesty," Griot spoke through her kimoyo beads. "Agent Ross wishes to speak to you."
"I've spoken with the UN on your behalf," Agent Ross says, his features grim in the blue hologram. "Several counties have promised to take in Wakandan refugees, but in exchange they want vibranium."
Shuri laughs bitterly. "Of course they do, they cannot do anything without something to gain, can they?"
They couldn't hand over their vibranium. Not to the colonisers. They would not ask for a small portion, they would demand as much of it as they could get their hands on. Shuri still held onto T'Challa's beliefs that the vibranium and Wakandan technology should be shared with the world, and used to help everyone. But it had to be done carefully, lest it be put to misuse, lest it be used against Wakanda.
"We will not give any of our vibranium."
Agent Ross nods. "I'm going to keep trying to get them to budge. The more powerful nations are throwing about their weight, trying to ensure that no one opens their doors to Wakanda. They want to push you into a corner when you're already down."
"Thank you, Agent Ross."
"Wakanda doesn't normally receive this much rain, no where in the world does. Is this... something unnatural? Something we all need to worry about?"
As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Wakanda was experiencing the extreme effects of climate change. Shuri had wanted to correct this assumption, wanting to warn them of the dangers that lurked below the waves, what would come for them once it was done with Wakanda. It would give them a chance to make preparations as Wakanda had been unable to. It might be enough to unite the world against a common foe, saving Wakanda from further destruction.
The council elders had disagreed.
They were afraid that if Wakanda revealed Talokan's existence, Namor would send his armies and any chance of survival would be gone. We are already dying! He is killing us slowly, holding our heads underwater! Shuri had argued, We cannot let the same fate befall the rest of the world! Nothing she said had moved them, their fear was too great. And although she was Queen, she needed their support and had to respect their opinions.
Especially now.
Namor's words on the day of their last battle had echoed throughout her people, brought back by those who had survived. Her people were worn down from battle after battle, from witnessing the world arguing with them and making demands of them, of their home being attacked again and again. Many felt none of this would have happened had they only done what they had always done, and remained hidden. Where it was safe. Where they could live their lives without outside interference.
They had suffered greatly, even before Namor had come into the picture.
Once she found a way to save their lands, she would have to regain their trust if she ever wanted her brother's dream to be a reality. No matter how hopeless it seemed now.
"It's a consequence of global climate change," Shuri repeats the approved lie quietly.
And she thinks he knows she is lying.
It is a daunting task, to relocate as many people as possible to safer locations.
M'Baku and the Jabari Tribe erect temporary shelters around their villages, taking in as many people as they can and welcoming them into their homes. The mountains have suffered under the constant rain, the terrain more treacherous and prone to landslides, but the diversion canals have worked favourably to prevent extreme flooding by forcing the water down the mountains.
A few thousand have been able to find safer grounds within the highlands, but with how fast the water levels are rising, it will not be long before they will be forced to move.
Many Wakandans have now taken refuge in boats. Shuri had planned on building vessels large enough to comfortably accommodate a few thousand people, but with the factories and labs flooding, it had proved too difficult. They do not have the resources for such ambitious projects. The Avengers had discretely sent a few hundred boats to try and offer aid, but they too were having pressure applied to them by their governments.
The world had made its voice clear.
Hand over the vibranium or perish.
M'Baku offers Shuri a place within his home but she refuses.
She would not live in any kind of luxury while her people were without their homes.
Shuri set up a large tent, far away from the others where she could construct a make-shift lab. There she works day and night, fighting sleep at every turn, looking for any way to stop the rain before Wakanda is lost to the rivers that once gave it life. Even with the power and strength of the Black Panther, she is still only human. She falls asleep at her computer table many a night.
One night, she wakes up in her bed.
She had not gone to bed the previous night and there had not been anything on her bedside table.
Now there is a conch shell and the jade bracelet she had left behind in the palace.
Namor knows where she is...
He is watching...
And he is waiting.
The rain is persistent, but for the first time in weeks, it quiets to a mild drizzle and the winds are not as harsh nor as cold. Shuri cannot help the terrible thought that Namor knows she is coming to the nearby river, that she brings with her the conch shell that only he could have left for her to find, that he has purposely lessened the rain to make her journey easier.
Shuri wonders what he hopes to gain from this encounter. Has he not already won? Wakanda's people are dispersed, their homes swallowed by the rivers, their army unable to mobilise and having already proven ineffective against his own. They are no threat to him or his people. If he wants, he could wipe out what remains of her people with little effort.
Why he hasn't already... is a question she hasn't dared ask.
He had not struck her as the type to be sadistic for enjoyment, he does what he thinks he must do to keep his people safe, no matter how cruel those actions may be. Everything else comes second to the Talokanil. Yet what else could his drowning of Wakanda be? He is drawing this out. Making their suffering last. Is this a punishment? The conch shell though, has Shuri wondering if it's a means of delay. To keep them alive as there is something else he wants from them. Something he cannot simply take by force.
Shuri lifts the shell to her lips and blows. The sound it makes carries through the air, a low hum like the sombre song of a whale in the ocean searching for its mate. She does not place the shell in the waters as Namor had once instructed, she instead hurls it in with little care for if it breaks.
Shuri is not left waiting long.
The rivers are dark as the starless skies when Namor arrives. He emerges from the river and takes to the skies on fully healed wings, water dripping down his skin and the jewellery around his neck, forearms and wrists. There are no marks on his body from her claws or fists, everything had healed. Shuri's chest burns with fury, thinking it is unfair how utterly unaffected by that day that he is.
"I'm glad to see you've recovered from your wounds," Namor says pleasantly, landing by the water's edge. "To what do I owe the pleasure of The Wakandans Queen's company?"
Shuri digs her nails into her palms and grits out, "I do not think you have thought your plans through."
"Oh really? And what plans are those?"
"Flooding Wakanda. Forcing my people to flee, just like the colonisers did to your people all those centuries ago," Shuri spits.
Namor's eyes darken, all pretences of friendliness vanishing. He takes a menacing step forward, then another. The rain falls a little heavier, the wind picking up its speed with a threatening howl
"Do not dare compare me to them," Namor murmurs darkly. "If you have asked me here to seek mercy for your nation, your skills in diplomacy have diminished greatly since your time in Talokan."
It takes Shuri a mighty deal of strength not to further push him, to needle the nerve she has struck until it goes raw.
"We have sought refuge with other nations, they have all denied us," Shuri says, the words bitter. Namor does not look surprised, he had predicted this very thing would happen. There isn't a nation that wouldn't plunder Wakanda if given the chance. He holds no hope for the Surface World. "They want our vibranium and that is not something I want to do, but with nowhere else to turn, it will soon be the only option. If your rains do not stop, we will have no choice. I will have no choice."
Vibranium falling into the hands of the colonisers was not something Namor would want. He and his people may be powerful - the plight of Wakanda making it an indisputable fact - but the vibranium would give the other nations a fighting chance. At the very least, it would make things more difficult for Namor, increasing his losses of his precious people.
"Or I could just destroy the rest of your people and prevent that from happening," Namor shrugs one shoulder. He says it with sickening casualness, like it was nothing to destroy an entire population.
Heartless bastard, Shuri seethes.
"Or you could stop the rain and leave us be!" Shuri snaps. "We are no threat to you. It will take us years to rebuild our nation after your waters have destroyed them!"
"Your mother started this war, and you ensured it was continued."
"And I am trying to stop it now."
"And why would I do that?" He asks, tilting his head. "Why would I give my enemies a chance to breathe and lick their wounds, to regroup and strike again, leading to the death of more of my people? You do not surrender when you are winning."
"Why leave your enemy alive when you can finish them off?" Shuri challenges. The words almost stick in her throat. The bruise on her pride never having healed. "You could have ended this that day in the desert. You could have killed me. Could have sent your warriors to slay every Wakandan. You didn't. You've left us alive. Isn't that giving your enemy a chance to garner strength and plot against you?"
It's a dangerous conversation. She could end up pushing him into finally annihilating them. But she was certain now, that there was something he wanted. Something worth risking more headaches for himself further down the line.
If he had destroyed Wakanda at the start, then when his rains finally reached the rest of the world, no one would know where the threat was coming from. How could anyone guess that an underwater empire and its vengeful God were responsible? But with Wakanda still alive, they could reveal the truth. Marking the enemy and their territory. Giving the world intel. Letting them prepare for the war that would threaten to drown them all.
Why had he left such a risk?
There had to be a reason.
It was why he had left her the shell.
"Have you finally learned your lesson, my Queen?"
"Lesson?"
...you will regret not allying yourself with Talokan. With me. The world you seek to protect does not care for you. They will descend upon you like vultures once they sense your weakness. If this is a lesson you have to learn the hard way, so be it.
Shuri's eyes widen as she remembers his words from that day on the beach.
"That's why you did this? To show me how quickly the rest of the world would abandon us? To teach me a lesson!"
"I have lived for centuries, I have seen the nature of the Surface World time and time again. It is always the same. Their greed consumes them."
Just as your vengeance consumes you, she thinks.
"My words were never going to be enough to convince you, I needed you to see the truth for yourself. In Wakanda's hour of need, the outside world left you to suffer, unless you give them what they want. And even if you did, they would not be content, they will never be content until you are drained of every resource that you have." He dares to step closer, leaving barely a breadth between them. Their chests almost touching. Shuri does not step away, refusing to let him cower her. "And yet, when you called for me, I came as promised."
"We are only in this position because of you," Shuri hisses.
"We are in this position because of your former King."
Shuri cannot help it, her anger overwhelms her at hearing him criticise her brother. Her Black Panther suit clads her like a second skin. With a powerful push, she sends Namor skidding backwards, crashing into the side of the mountain.
Her claws are out and she is rushing towards him, ready to swipe that insufferable smirk off his face. But Namor is ready, he parries her blow and strikes back with as much power as she did, propelling her backwards. Shuri flips through the air, landing in a crouch not far away.
With alarming speed, Namor is in front of her again. Shuri avoids the kick he aims at her stomach, then the next aimed at her head. Punch after punch, kick after kick, she ducks, twirls and blocks. Tired of being on the defensive, Shuri snarls and begins a barrage of swift and brutal blows. Her claws lash out, striking his face, drawing blood.
Namor cries out then grabs her by the neck and slams her into the sand. He pins her wrists above her head, his body weighing down on hers, keeping her in place.
"You always go for the face," Namor mutters.
"Take the hint that I do not like to see it!"
Namor glowers at her.
"You are letting your emotions get the better of you, Princess."
"I am Queen of Wakanda-"
"Then start acting like it," Namor cuts in. "Your people are on the brink of death. Your only hope of surviving has offered his hand in friendship and instead of grasping it, you lash out like a child."
With a growl, Shuri tries to wrestle her arms free, her legs trying to dislodge him. He has no right to call her a child when he is the one who has robbed her of her innocence with the death of her mama, by forcing a crown upon her head, and destroying her home. He who has taken everything from her without a moment's hesitation. A demon from the depths come to drown them all.
Namor presses her harder into the sand, forcing her to stop her struggles. Having him so close, feeling every inch of his body against her own, feels like a perversion. She wants to launch him into the sea, never to see or feel the warmth of his body again.
"This does not have to be the end for Wakanda. I will give you one chance. One final chance to save your people or perish beneath the waves and my people's spears."
"You clearly don't need our help. You have the power to bring endless rain. You have more warriors than even Wakanda can handle. Your warriors have superior strength. Why do you want our help? What is it you really want, Namor?"
"I am not ignorant to the threats that lie beyond the stars," Namor admits quietly.
There has been no shortage of extraterrestrial threats to Earth. Dormammu, Loki, the dark elf Malekith, Thanos - beings of incredible power that had nearly wiped out the planet or enslaved it. They had left nothing but destruction in their wake, hurting and killing millions of innocent people. A planet submerged below the waves may not be appealing to some, but with how vast the universe was, there would certainly be creatures who found it appealing, or who were willing to swim the depths of the oceans to find the resources they sought. Another threat to Namor's people.
He's certainly thorough with his protective efforts, Shuri thinks.
Having Wakanda's experience and technology, as well as a population who could breathe in oxygen environments without aid, would prove beneficial, even crucial in future threats.
"Now, do I have our alliance? If not you may wish to start praying to your Goddess to grant you gills."
"Wakanda cannot aid you in anything in its current state," Shuri bites out.
"Then you get exactly what you wish for," Namor muses. "You do not have to play a role in the downfall of the rest of the Surface World. Your conscious will be free of the burden. You can stay in the shadows, and care for your own. Consider it my gift to you."
T'Challa would not have wanted this, Shuri thinks. He had revealed Wakanda to the world so they could build bridges, not barriers. So that everyone could help one another, so that no nation was left to suffer. That they would act as one tribe. Agreeing with this was spitting in the face of everything her brother believed in, everything he had fought for. This was not right.
"If we agree to your alliance, if we help you with all threats outside of Earth, you'll stop the rain?"
"The rain will stop and the waters will return to the river and then the oceans. While you rebuild your nation, I will do what must be done to protect them both," Namor says.
Protect them both? Shuri wants to scoff. No one has hurt Wakanda as he has. And what if he ever felt threatened by them in the future? He could turn on them just as fast and this time there truly would be no chance of allies. They would be isolated in ways they had never been. They would not be allies, they would be hostages to a Serpent's whims.
What other choice do I have? Shuri thinks.
This isn't a rock and a hard place. She is trapped between a spear and a sword and will be cut either way.
"Fine," Shuri whispers, deflated and exhausted. She tries not to think of Namor's promise, that one day she would be worn down to the point that she would accept his offer. Would her mother have done the same in her position? Would her brother? Her father might have. Her cousin would have happily accepted the first offer without hesitation and it never would have gotten to this mess.
Haven't they suffered enough? The tired, aching part of her pleads. Why must the weight of the world be on only my shoulders? I am but one person, I cannot protect everyone.
"You win," Shuri mumbles.
She closes her eyes, unable to bare the smug look that will be on Namor's face.
"But remember this, there are forces out there capable of devouring entire worlds. Forces that could wipe out half the universe with a snap of their fingers. Wakanda has been there for almost every threat that has attacked Earth in recent years and came out victorious. You will need us."
Namor opens his mouth to speak, but Shuri cuts him off.
"So calling off our alliance over something as petty as this would be childish and unfitting of a King."
"And what would that be, Prince-"
Shuri rams her knee upwards, right into his groin.
The look of utter violence and seething humiliation on his face was worth it. Shuri shoves him off of her, his grip having loosened upon impact, and quickly rolls to her feet. Namor remains on his knees, doubled-over and breathless. She has never seen him look so murderous as he did then.
She is sure he will find a way to make her suffer for that one.
"Consider that a gift to me too," Shuri says.
Shuri is smart enough to know, that now is the time to leave.
"You should have killed him," M'Baku mutters.
"If I had killed him and the rain did not stop, what would we do then?" Shuri challenges. "It would not have stopped his people either. If anything they would have attacked Wakanda for killing their King and their God."
"How do we know he won't cancel the alliance after your-" M'Baku clears his throat, taking a bite of his carrot. "Attack on his... person."
"He needs us."
When the clouds part and the sun basks down upon Wakanda for the first time in over a month, the people cry out with joy. Smiles glow upon their faces. Hope flickering to light within their chests. Shuri watches from her tent as people dance and sing and dare to hope that the nightmare has come to an end.
Any happiness Shuri might have felt at seeing her people feel happiness and safety once more, is suffocated with the knowledge that the nightmare has only just begun. That this has come at a terrible cost. One she is not sure she can survive as it weighs heavy on her soul.
The next day, the waters begin to retreat. Within a week, the rivers are no longer swollen, the waves spitting back the villages and cities they had eaten like a wretched beast.
The damage is extensive.
The repairs could take years.
But then, once the waters have well and truly left, the Talokanil emerge from the waters. They offer their assistance to fix what has been broken, bringing with them food and other resources that the people of Wakanda so desperately need.
It is a bitter pill to swallow, allowing the Talokanil to aid in building what their God had so thoroughly destroyed.
Shuri does not see Namor for months, but that does not mean he does not make his presence felt.
He sends his people to give her gifts.
Strings of gleaming pearls.
Shells of all kinds and sizes, with designs and shapes she has never seen before.
Hand-crafted ornaments made of jade.
Marine fossils of creatures not on any of Griot's databases.
Shuri bites her tongue and accepts these tokens of friendship - as if such a thing could ever truly exist between their nations now - and requests that her thanks be given to Namor. She wants to reject them out of spite, but she isn't quite willing to push her luck, not after their last encounter at the riverside. They are nothing more than obligatory offerings, meaningless trinkets between nations, a show-and-dance of their alliance.
It is the dress that has her second-guessing his intentions.
A replica of the gown he had given her on her arrival in Talokan, adorned with jade and precious stones, made from the finest threads as white as sea foam. It is too personal a gift. Not something one would gift a nation. And there is... sentiment to this dress. She may not have enjoyed wearing it, far too traditional for her tastes, but there was no denying the wave of emotions tied to it. Bitter as they were sweet.
Shuri wonders if it is those feelings that he is trying to stir inside her. For while she wore this dress, she had opened up to him and let her guard down. Had been vulnerable with him in a way she had not with anyone else. She never should have poured her heart out to a stranger. A man who had threatened her nation. Yet while they had sat side by side in that cave, she had strangely felt like she was in the company of a kindred spirit, someone who knew the anguish in her heart and understood. His presence had felt like an old friend.
Shuri tosses the dress to the floor.
She will not wear anything of his.
There are dozens of screens within Shuri's lab, all of them show different news reports from around the globe of torrential downpours and the devastation of flooding that the world is suffering.
Namor's war has begun.
It eats away at Shuri day by day until finally she can take it no more and summons M'Baku.
"You cannot be serious."
"I am."
"You think he will accept this? Will this not be in violation of our treaty, our alliance? If we anger him again, he will return the rains," M'Baku argues.
"The alliance was between Wakanda and Talokan. If I am no longer Queen... if I act on my own... then he cannot break the treaty. I can help the rest of the world," Shuri insists.
"You are the Black Panther. Your place is here."
"The Black Panther protects Wakanda and that is what I am doing. I will do everything in my power to stop our nation from being drenched in the blood of the world."
"He will try and stop you."
"Why would he care about what I do once I am no longer Queen and have no influence over Wakanda's politics?" Shuri asks with a mirthless laugh. "I am no threat to him alone."
Shuri does not see the look on M'Baku's face that tells a different story.