Chapter Text
When Shuri had been a little girl, around the age of eight, she nearly drowned in the river. Her father had taken her and a brother to the river border, to observe the shield and to get out of the palace for a while. A break from their lessons really, she’d had a test she hadn’t really wanted to bother with so she convinced her father to save her from the dreaded test. Little did she know that when something along the rocks would catch her eye, another thing to add to her growing collection to experiment with, she slipped on the rocks. She hit her head, got disoriented as she fell under water and didn’t come up immediately.
Swimming had never been a problem for her, she happened to like the water, but that day, when she couldn’t stop herself from taking in breath of surprise, pulling water in, she’d been scared. T’Challa jumped in right after her, dragging her up to the surface as she coughed up water, gasping for air. Her mother had kept her from water for a while and Shuri hadn’t minded in the least, she had wanted to avoid herself from fear. Eventually she got back in, even swam around with her mother and the memory lay forgotten, until she ran inside the throne room, her mother faced down and not moving.
Shuri inhaled shakily at the memory, the water would sting for a long time with everything that happened instead of offering a cool embrace. Though she never cared for fairytales and folklore growing up, preferring to focus her energy into matters of science, she recalled the story of the Little Mermaid, who longed for the land the way Shuri thought she longed for water. However, she had chalked it up to a survival instinct, everyone would be drawn to water in one way or another. And as she watched the waves crash onto the sandy shore behind Nakia’s house, the fire which burned her funeral clothes to ash dying out and the sun setting deeper in the sky, she found that distaste and that longing wrapped in one.
She rubbed her hands together, letting the past few days rush through her mind for a moment, thinking of all that had happened. How quickly everything had fallen apart. As she ran through it, she wondered what could have been different. How things could have played out another way if she had responded differently. Her father told her the past was set in stone, nothing could be done to change what had already moved away from them. All that one could do was try to do the next right in hope for a better future. Shuri took in a deep breath, it wouldn’t do her any favors to think over it all and wish for it to be different, but she couldn’t find the strength to leave it completely behind. Even with the end of this ritual her mother had taught her.
Nakia and her nephew, her beautiful nephew named after her brother, were back inside waiting for her as she waited a bit longer to say goodbye to it all, to move on and leave it all here on this beach in Haiti. Nothing could change the past, no matter how much she wished it to be so, for things to have been different. With the sound of soft waves and the smell of the salt in the air, she let her eyes close and think over the past few days with regret, with fantasies of how things could have been different, if her response could have been different.
Had things been different, Talokan wouldn’t have attacked them, she wouldn’t have gotten taken, her mother would still be alive. And that is what she wished for most. To not be alone as she felt, even with the knowledge of her nephew, she wished her mother to be back. To stop the fight which came alive. Her stomach twisted with unease, with a longing that could never be and her chest constricted for a moment, she believed it to be her emotions being overwhelmed with the notions she had entertained for too long. Her thought seemed to echo in her mind, with the faintest traces of another voice she could not make out.
If only I could change the past.
Nothing more than wishful thinking, yet as she remained seated on the log, the warm air of Haiti chilled, sending goosebumps along her bare arms. The breeze which had offered the smell of salt stilled completely, the salty smell shifting to be earthier despite the soil being too far behind her to reach her sense of smell clearly. And then, the soft glow of the sunset that shined through her closed eyes suddenly left and only the darkness of them remained. The sun wouldn’t have set so quickly that when she opened her eyes, it would be gone without any trace of light.
When she opened her eyes, the Sandy beach with crystal waves did not greet her sight, but instead the greenish hue of the underwater caves where she first had a conversation with Namor after witnessing the city of Talokan. Shuri blinked once, twice, a few times wondering what had happened to change everything. Through the blood pumping in her ears like a drum, she heard the same calculating and smooth voice of the Feathered Serpent god, her stomach knotting at the sound. A voice she had not expected to hear so soon after everything that had happened.
“You once said you wanted to burn the world.”
Shuri tilted her head up to the right to see Namor, dressed in the same attire he always wore, the vibranium shining on him even in this dimmer lighting under the glow worms. The cuts she had given his face during their battle were not present, not even a scab or scar to show they had been there. Her eyes flickered to his feet, the wing she had clipped looked just fine, as it had before she injured it.
“Let’s burn it together.”
The same words he had spoken to her when she had been here the first time, about the offer he made to Wakanda, how she had said her nation would come for her, that she could not stand for him killing that young woman in the other cave. Shuri felt her throat tighten as he stepped away into the water, even if she wished to speak, she had no idea what she would say, what she could say as Namor disappeared beneath the pond water, the guard who summoned him leaving her sight as well. Shuri stared at the water, the confusion on her face more than clear as she tried to make sense of what she witnessed, of where she was and how she could have gotten here.
This interaction had happened more than a week ago, give or take a day, so why did it seem as though she were completely back in this moment? All she had witnessed and experienced, it had been real, she had been here before and hadn’t imagined it in the short time this conversation could take place. She looked around the cave, her mind spinning trying to piece together what had happened, what was happening to her. A Talokanil guard stood off to the side, gesturing for her to follow her back to the cave where Riri was.
This has all happened before though, she didn’t understand why she would be reliving this moment in time, why her mind would construct such a vision over her when she had been trying to put this mess behind her as best she could. Bast only knew how hard it would be to do so. But it would not be impossible. The Talokanil woman shouted at her, making Shuri jerk in her place, giving the woman her attention.
Uneasily, Shuri stood from her spot on the steps that lead to the water, her eyes lingering there a moment more, knowing that Namor had left to speak with her mother. Her mother, her dead and with the ancestors mother. Her eyes burned at the thought, at the memory, the wound left there so painful it could never be healed or taken away, unless it could be undone. Made to have never happened.
If only I could change the past.
Those had been her thoughts, her words, before the scenery of Haiti left her, replaced by the start of her never-ending nightmares. Had her mind broken to the point she had fallen so immensely into the memory, forced to see it play out the same way with no hope of changing it? The idea made her sick, but she pushed it aside in favor of remaining calm and trying to piece together what was happening. There were no signs of this being a hallucination, no holes she could poke to say this was a figment of her mind and she knew she hadn’t fallen asleep out there. Even if she had, she never would have made it past REM before Nakia or Toussaint came to collect her for dinner inside their home.
Shuri brought her attention to the guard, walking over to her with slow steps over the slick rocks, careful not to slip and fall the way she had as a child. Without a word, she followed the Talokanil woman through the caves, her mind spinning as she tried to find a hole in the recreation her mind had spun, but found nothing. Everything here held a crystal clear look, exactly as it had been before. Her stomach sank and she felt the tickle in the back of her throat that threatened to grow into something more if she were not careful. The idea of this being a dream, a hallucination, seemed more plausible than the other thought which crossed her mind. Of something akin to time travel.
Though time travel no longer existed outside the realm of possibility given what the Avengers had accomplished to retrieve the Infinity Stones and bring everyone who had dusted away back. However, she hadn’t had any of their materials or research to do the same, so how could she have possibly returned to the past? It did not seem possible. Shuri rounded a corner after the guard into the space where she and Riri were first brought to.
Speaking of Riri, the young college student practically shot up from her sitting position at the sight of Shuri. In her gaze, Shuri could see the fear plainly. As Shuri approached her, she wondered if she would have to play this way it happened before, as though she were but an observer in her own body. She needed to see if that was true.
“Are you alright,” Shuri questioned before Riri could say anything to her, that proved to her she wouldn’t need to be a passive observer at least.
Riri looked taken aback. “I’m fine, are you good? What happened over there?”
Shuri licked her lips, bile in her throat. “He wants to burn down the world, with Wakanda’s help.”
“Super villain shit,” Riri said to her, eyes still wide with worry, but also an air of ‘I told you so’.
Shuri glanced away, at the Talokanil guards watching them, but knowing they could not understand her words, which would work in their favor for now. At this moment, she did not have enough information to question whether this was real or a trick of her mind. And if she were being honest, she did not think she cared either way. Regardless of what this would be, she would get to live out the fantasy of doing things differently, of seeing her mother again or perhaps reshape the future.
“Riri,” Shuri said, cutting off her ramblings from the nerves she felt. “In a few minutes, I’m going to need you to distract the guards there.”
Riri looked like she wanted to sink through the floor. “How, what? How am I supposed to do that? Do you see them? Blue people like from that Avatar movie who are probably really freaking strong and I’ve taken like one spin class so I won’t stand no chance again them.”
Shuri rested her hands on her shoulders. “All you have to do is keep their attention for a few moments, it’s going to be alright.” Shuri glanced to her right, over her shoulder in the space where Nakia would soon appear. “Help is on the way and when she arrives, you will go with her.”
“And you too,” Riri said earnestly.
Shuri focused on Riri, shaking her head. “No, just you. I cannot explain it all right now, so I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
Riri wanted to protest, it was more than obvious by the expression on her face, but the stern look Shuri had seemed to keep her protests at bay. Good, Shuri had worked out exactly what she needed to do in order to not let things play as they did before. It would come back to ensuring the two guards here were not killed when Nakia arrived. While she may not have had her kimoyo beads around her wrist, she still had her earrings. They may not be able to get a signal out this deep under water, but they could signal to each other in this cave. Shuri stepped over to the hammock, Riri following her over there and crouching down as Shuri did.
Swiftly and just out of the guards view, Shuri removed one of her earrings, clicked it on and spoke a message into it, wanting Nakia to stun the guards and not use lethal force. The two guards in question paid the pair of them no mind in their position, not perceiving either of them as a threat and Shuri knew that was more than fair. After all, even if Shuri managed to take out the guards, they were too deep in the water that the pressure and temperature would kill her and Riri.
“How do you know this chick is coming,” Riri asked her when Shuri finished her message.
Shuri had two ways to respond to that. The truth about already living through this time or that it was a guess. She preferred her joke over the truth she still didn’t quite believe.
Plainly, she said, “Because I can see the future.”
Riri rolled her eyes, but seemed to appreciate the jest.
“Knock over that plate, the moment you do, I am throwing this bead to where I know my friend is coming,” Shuri told her simply, her gaze determined.
Riri nodded, “On your signal.”
The signal came two minutes later, with Shuri giving a nod and Riri reaching for a fruit of some kind, only to push the bowl over. The noise diverted the attention of the guards, they went on defense while Riri raised her hands up with wide eyes and rambled about dropping it over. Shuri sent her earring over to the space where Nakia would be, knowing the woman would see the bead as a marker that she was going the right way and get Shuri’s message. The waiting for her to arrive proved to be more stressful this time around, given now all that she could do was wait.
Shuri wanted to pace back and forth, but decided that would not be a productive use of her time and took a seat on the hammock, her mind reeling over all that had transpired. To put it simply, either she had entered some sort of hallucinogenic state to relive the event that kickstarted the attack on her people resulting in her mother’s death or she had moved through time to make a difference. She didn’t know which one sounded more ridiculous in her mind. But she supposed for now, she would need to wait and see. If the memory proved to be nothing more than a construct of her mind to give her a chance to see how things may have been different if she had done something or had the foresight to know what was coming, then she would indulge the fantasy until it came to an end.
No harm existed in playing along, but if there were a chance, her calculations depicted a zero point five percent chance of this being real, it would benefit her not to act rashly or cause any problems to add to her already heavy nightmares. When she glanced to the side, she spotted the tip of Nakia’s hair and Shuri moved closer to the edge. Now she needed to distract the guards, give Nakia the perfect opportunity to knock them unconscious.
“Hey, excuse me,” Shuri called to the guards getting their attention, they would watch her and not notice Nakia. “The glow worms here-“
No other words needed to be said, as both guards fell to the ground, Nakia standing behind them with a different weapon raised this time. The sonic one was still attached to her back, but she hadn’t used it and the guards would be unconscious only for a few minutes at most. On a regular basis, they could knock someone unconscious for thirty minutes and she had a feeling that it wouldn’t last as long on the Talokanil with their different physiology.
“Are you hurt,” Nakia asked moving closer to her, her dark eyes full of concern. When Shuri shook her head, she glanced to Riri, “And you? Are you alright?”
Riri nodded with an expression that showed her awe. “Yeah, all good.”
Nakia looked at Shuri. “We need to leave right now, come on.”
Shuri did not move. “Take Riri now, I cannot leave here.”
“What are you talking about, we need to go,” Nakia said sternly, grabbing her arm and ready to drag her out like before. “Let’s go.”
Riri chimed in, “I don’t know who this lady is, but I think we should listen to her.”
Shuri considered it for a moment, wondering what would happen if she did leave with Nakia now. The guards hadn’t been killed, it is what caused the attack on their capital city. However, she feared the same thing could happen regardless of them being alive. If she wanted to ensure that her people, that her mother would be safe, she had to stay behind and deal with the fallout, she had to avoid war.
If only I could change the past.
“Do you trust me,” Shuri questioned, not a fan of the desperation and pleading in her voice, but she needed Nakia to trust her, to leave her behind for now.
Nakia’s expression turned incredulous. “Of course I do.”
“Then leave with Riri now,” Shuri told her with all the strength she didn’t fully feel. “I will be fine, but I cannot leave yet without risking a war between our people. It is a battle we should not see, so please. Go. I will see you soon.”
“Shuri,” Nakia started, her grip still tight on her arm.
Shuri looked into the older woman’s face, her mind thought of her brother and how much he loved her, of the child he never got to raise. Her nephew, waiting back in Haiti for his mother’s return after already losing his father. In the fights, Nakia had been just fine, but with the changes ahead that Shuri intended to make, dream or not, she prayed to Bast that her nephew would not be left an orphan. The former spy needed to leave right now with the scientist Talokan desperately wanted, she would make sure her people did not have to suffer under that attack, she would keep her mother alive and pretend this memory would be something different.
Shuri steeled herself. “As your princess, I am ordering you to leave with Riri. Tell my mother I’m sorry, that I love her and I will see her soon.”
Nakia’s expression looked more than torn, no doubt the Queen mother had given her orders to bring back her daughter by whatever means necessary. Those means could very well include knocking her unconscious and dragging her out of here, but she hoped with all of her that Nakia would go and let her handle this. Leaving had started the domino effect that led to her mother’s death, she would prevent it from happening this time.
Already she had made a change with the two guards still breathing, surely she could make more changes. One of the guards moaned, time was running out. Shuri pulled her arm free from Nakia and ushered them away. With one final, pleading and heart aching look from Nakia, Shuri put on her best smile despite feeling as though she could sink through the floor herself. Nakia stepped over to her, placing her kimoyo beads into her hand along with a spy fly. The connection could barely reach the surface, but the spy fly would be able to move upwards to establish the connection, a middle man in a way.
“Thank you,” Shuri whispered, her smile more genuine this time.
Nakia didn’t return it. “If you do not come back soon, I will be here again and drag you out if I must.”
Shuri let out a laugh. “Good. Now go.”
Nakia hesitated a moment more before turning sharply away, guiding Riri out the way she had come in, leaving Shuri alone. Well, alone with the guards whose consciousness would no doubt be returning sooner rather than later. The amount of time it took for them to recover would be a useful note for research purposes as there still existed much of Talokan she had wanted to know. Part of her still held that curiosity of this world beneath the waves, but that curiosity had shifted into something a bit darker given she had wanted to find their weaknesses, to exploit them, to tear them down in whatever way she could.
The first thing she would deal with when back in her lab would be those Bast damned water bombs, they had caused the most trouble and were the main advantage they had. Wakanda’s warriors could handle their speed and strength, it came down to those bombs which truly gave them the most issues. No battle would come today or in the coming days between their people. Not as long as she had anything to say about it.
Footsteps greeted her ears, she turned to face the direction they were coming from to see Namor and the Talokanil man and woman who fought Okoye and Riri, their names she didn’t know, but the hatred in the woman’s expression could be seen even with the mask obstructing her face. Namor met her gaze, a look of surprise on his face there that quickly melted away as he knelt beside the two guards, checking their breathing and for injuries. His woman guard looked ready to attack, her grip on her weapon tightening as she began to stalk over to Shuri, but she would not back away. Only Namor’s curt voice forced the woman to stop her movements.
“They should regain consciousness soon,” Shuri said, mostly to Namor than the woman.
The woman spoke in harsh and clipped tones, exactly what she had said was beyond Shuri, but she didn’t need Griot to tell her that the woman wanted her dead. Everything these people did seemed to be extreme and exaggerated, but she supposed given the dramatics of their king it was only fair that they mimic him. Namor rose from his kneeling position from the two guards, his gaze focused directly on Shuri and she found herself uncomfortable with the gaze. As if he were looking right through her, but she would not show that to him. On the outside, her expression remained calm, her back straight as she met his gaze.
He may have been the Feathered Serpent God, but she was the Black Panther, he yielded to her and she would never yield to him.
A bitter thought crossed her as she realized that she had not yet recreated the heart shaped herb at this point, which meant she technically wasn’t the Black Panther. If he were to fight her now, it would end very differently than it had before. Namor said something in his language, his tone loud and demanding, that of a general. The woman and the man looked less than pleased with whatever he had said, but they gave him a stiff gesture with their hands, the greeting they used much like the crossed arms of her people.
Namor stepped over to Shuri, he leaned in close to her and she fought the urge to take a step back, to put distance between the pair of them. Backing down had never been something she had done and she certainly wouldn’t start today with this fish king. With the close proximity, he smelled of the water, but not in the unpleasant sea smell that many found overwhelming, but something more subtle. The way the beach air of Haiti smelled, clear and powerful.
“Is this supposed to be a staring contest,” Shuri quipped, though no joy existed in her joke.
Had this been her first time around, perhaps she would have let amusement fill her tone, but at this moment, with all she knew, she could not. Namor did not speak right away, his dark eyes were deep pools of black in this lighting, holding the ocean’s secrets there. Only when the man and woman had removed the two unconscious guards, likely taking them to be examined by what counted as a doctor for his people, did he speak.
“You stayed.” Namor hadn’t meant it as a question, yet it sounded like one to her ears.
Shuri kept her face impassive, her eyes narrowed. “We have much to talk about.”
The corner of his mouth curled upwards, like he knew something she didn’t. “That we do, Black Panther.”
Shuri ignored the tightening of her throat. “I’m not the Black Panther.”
“Aren’t you,” Namor questioned as he leaned down, their faces only millimeters apart at this point and the next words he spoke causing her mind to spin further. “I did not yield to a different Black Panther, Princess Shuri of Wakanda did I?”
Shuri considered those words, he had yielded to her in battle on that beach while their people fought in the water, but that had not happened at this point. If this were a memory she was replaying and adjusting to fit the desired state she wished, he would not have said something that hadn’t occurred yet. Even with her consciousness creating this, the memories would not have scrambled in this way, which led her mind back to the other theory of time travel, but she did not want to entertain the thought. Not when she feared it so deeply.
“If only I could change the past,” Namor whispered to her, the words she had thought before this happened and a voice laced over it faintly she hadn’t been able to decipher until now. “It appears we had the same wish at the same time and here we are. In the moments before everything had been shattered by your people.”
Anger burned inside Shuri. “You have the heir to an entire nation held hostage, what did you think they would do? Just let you keep me without putting up some semblance of a fight? You’ve never dealt with international affairs before, allow me to bring you up to speed. Taking a princess hostage tends to piss people off.”
Namor’s expression bordered on disinterest spiking her annoyance. “You asked to come to Talokan, offered yourself up for the scientist no less who is no longer present.”
“My people don’t know what happened at the bridge,” Shuri snapped at him as she moved closer, not willing to give him an inkling that she would be cowed back. “And your refusal to let us leave only furthered their suspicions that I could be dead. We already lost-” she inhaled sharply ignoring the burning of her eyes “Wakanda would not stand for my capture, especially given that you would not allow any communication between myself or the Queen so she could ensure I was fine.”
“I informed her of your well being and that you would remain here for the time being,” Namor stated as though it were obvious, not something to inspire such a response.
As great as Namor had been in protecting his people for the past half millenia, he had no knowledge of working with other nations. Given the life in which his people lived in at the bottom of the ocean, where it was kill or be killed, conquered or conqueror, she almost couldn’t fault him for the extremities he had gone to, but the paranoia and his rash actions did not garner her sympathy.
Shuri let out an aggravated sound. “How could she possibly be expected to go off your word alone? She obviously can’t genius as you had no evidence of my well being, for all she knew, I could have been dead and you were stringing her along.”
“We would not lie of such things-”
“And we wouldn’t have anyway to know that-”
“There had been no reason for deception of that kind-”
“Would you shut up and listen,” Shuri said, raising her voice. He looked as aggravated as she felt over her outburst, but frankly she did not care. “My mother had every right to send in a rescue for myself, as a Queen to bring back the heir of her nation. You are the one who crossed many lines, even going as far as to kill innocent civilians in retaliation for an issue you caused.”
Namor’s nostrils flared, he towered over her in a show of intimidation, but she would not waver. “The Wakandans took advantage of my good faith in killing my guards, such actions have severe consequences.”
Shuri scoffed at him, not caring that she was likely stoking an already blooming fire in him. “Your good faith came in the form of you doing nothing but demand things from us.”
“It was only fair as your brother’s poor choic-” Shuri would not let him finish that sentence as she pushed him away from her, eyes alight with fire.
Despite not having the strength of the synthetic heart shaped herb, she managed to push Namor back a step, but she chalked it up to him being surprised at the action. The man held more strength than herself now, strong enough to ground himself into a spot and not move like a stone.
“The technology to search the seas for vibranium would have existed regardless of whether or not Wakanda’s borders were open,” Shuri told him, breathing deeply to not lose herself completely.
Namor quirked a brow at that. “So certain of that princess? Considering it was the knowledge that more vibranium existed in Wakanda than the bits and pieces that provoked the world to search outside of your borders for more given your unwillingness to share.” He stepped closer to her again, the distance she had created reduced to almost nothing now and she had a feeling shoving him again would not help her. “Vibranium does not belong in the hands of anyone except for Talokan and Wakanda, the world would reduce our nations to nothing in order to get their hands on it. They have done so in the past for resources less valuable. And you let the one who built it leave here.”
Shuri spoke then with all the strength of her mother, “That scientist is barely a legal adult by many nations' standards. The device she created had been stolen by a global superpower in search of vibranium, they are the ones to blame, not her.”
“Yet you rejected my offer to burn down the surface world, despite them already proving to you the evil which they possess,” Namor informed her, his tone cold and full of venom.
“You see the world as black and white, it’s foolish and immature. There are good people who live in the surface world as well as bad.” Shuri shook her head with an irritated scoff and mild disbelief. “What of the evil you are capable of? You killed everyone on that expedition whose only crime had been searching the water, attacked the capital nation, killed the Queen of a nation in response to their attempt to rescue one of their own. The surface world has done many cruel things to your people and countless others, but do not pretend that you are a saint by comparison.”
For a moment, all the oxygen seemed to leave the room as Shuri and Namor continued to face each other with irritation, each of their emotions running high on the basis of what had happened previously. No matter how Namor wanted to spin the story of the events that passed, or could have come to pass depending on whatever had brought them both her, he would be more at fault than herself. From the moment he rose from the water when she and her mother had been doing that ritual burning, her world had turned on itself and resulted in the loss of the last person who knew her heart, in the pain and suffering of her people, for her to give up all that she had, all that she was in order to ensure a better future for both of their countries.
Shuri took a deep breath, they would argue in circles over who was more at fault, Namor, but that would get them nowhere. Instead, another pressing matter needed to be addressed. She wanted to move away from him and create some semblance of space, but wondered if that would signal her backing down to him, which was the last thing she wanted. But if she remained this close to him for much longer, she feared that the hand clenched into a fist at her side would connect with his face and likely break her hand. That pain would be worth it though.
“It doesn’t matter,” Namor finally said through gritted teeth, as though those words were painful for him to admit out loud. Before she could shout at him in protest that of course all that had happened matter, his next words bore fruit for his statement. “None of it has come to pass. After all, we did both desire a chance to fix the mistakes we made in order for there to be a better future.”
Shuri frowned at this. “Just because you want something does not mean it will come to you.”
The expression he wore shifted into smug, as though he knew a secret she did not and she found herself not pleased with that. “Perhaps not, but when the gods smile upon you or send you a blessing, it is wise not to ask why it is so.”
“But how did this happen?” Shuri had been wondering it for ages on end now, wanting to understand how she could be here and now wanting to know why he would be here as well. He stated they both had a desire to change the past, but just because you wished for something did not make it so. A lesson she had learned years and years ago. “You know something.”
No answer greeted her immediately, sending further irritation through her as she forced herself to not shout at him and demand he speak to her. For all her life, she had always been a woman of science who cared little for fantasy and magical tales of the world; every mythology she had encountered could be explained away. People in the past when they did not know better blamed dark fairies for their misgivings when in reality it had been something like poison in their homes or simply a bad hand of fate. However, as she stood in the damp underwater cave with the glow worms above her, an earthy aroma filled her sense of smell that had been both foreign and familiar when she had first been here. She’d been here already. And Namor knew it too.
He stood in front of her, keeping his dark eyes focused on nothing, but her either to irritate her with his silence or because he did not have an answer. The only thing she had for certain at this point came in the form of the two guards who Nakia had killed when rescuing her now lived, their lost lives had been the catalyst of Namor coming to Wakanda to weaken them, what had given her a chance to restore the heart shaped herb and what had killed her mother. Her throat tightened at the thought of her, how she missed her so much and the ache of her loss would never leave her the way the hole her brother left would never be filled. Instead, she had resigned herself to only have empty holes where her passion, her love, her soul used to be. Unless, there could be something different.
“I do have a theory,” Namor started, his expression had shifted from smug to one of slight uncertainty and disbelief. Which meant what answer he had, was not one he had the most confidence in, but that is how theories started. “Follow me. I have another story for you to hear.”