sinking|namor

|09-Nasty Truth|

Kalpana wiped her hands on her stained apron, stepping into the living room of her hut, searching for her switchblade. A knock sounded on her door and she sighed rolling her eyes and she moved to open it. Twisting the wooden knob, she opened the door, revealing a tall man with a bow strapped across his back.

"Kalpana Reveur? I'm Clint Barton."

—------------------------------------------------------

Kalpana sat floating in the water, sitting between Namor's legs, her back pressed to his chest. They had been sitting there for a couple of hours, just drifting as Kalpana cried. He had swam up under the border, finding her sitting there on the strip of damp sand, head resting on her palms. He had embraced her, pulling her out into the water to float, drifting aimlessly by the shore. He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger as she stammered, tear drops clouding her eyes.

"So, uhmm, this morning, someone showed up at my door. Said he knew someone. From quite a few years back. Her name was Kalahari Pryde. He said that when he first met her, her parents had recently discovered that her and her sister were mutants," her voice cracked trailing off.

Namor's fingers paused on her ribcage and his breath quickened. He knew what she was saying.

" Her parents had disowned her and her sister, and while her sister disappeared and most likely…." Kalpana stopped, choking back tears, but the word hung heavy in the thick air, silently choking them.

"She joined the circus and became close friends with Clint Barton. They were the fighting pair, a trick shot archer and a grumpy ballerina from who knows where," she sobbed out as Namor rubbed circles on her back.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it," he whispered softly in her ear, hot breath tickling her.

Ignoring him, Kalpana persisted. "But the circus master was abusive, a villain in the flesh, pocketing extra money, lowering the salaries and starving the performers. They both agreed that they had to escape. Kalahari chose the more peaceful approach. She escaped in the dead of the night. Clint fought the master, barely escaping with his life."

She wiped her tear-stained under eyes. Namor wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly against him. She hiccuped before continuing on, "5 or so years later, when the Avengers had formed, and Clint was Hawkeye, Kalahari was tracked down by the Winddancer to take part in the fight against Tony Stark's team over the Sokovia accords. S.H.I.E.L.D has always kept tabs on her, but their information was vague and after a lot of persuasion, they (very reluctantly) convinced her to teleport in from Paris. She became a permanent installment. But, during the battle with Thanos, she was umm, critically injured," she supplied, hiccuping dryly in the pause.

"They decided it would be best if they temporarily sealed her into cryo-freeze, just to pause her body, and give her time to heal while they cleaned up and tended to the dead bodies and found a way to save her. But by the time that they were ready to take her out, her brain had been so damaged that she had lost all memory and a few mental functions. But instead of walking her step by step through Kalahari's life, they invented a new one for her. A safe chance for her to be able to live a new fresh life. Happy and secure. Kalpana Revuer's life. Everyone played along, pretended she was part of the puzzle. The useless, misshapen piece."

Kalpana never referred to herself, Kalahari or Kalpana, as I, but instead as she. As though both were a foreign creature.

"They hate me! They were forced to babysit me. Why should I get this privilege? Why should I taint their culture? I'm not even Wakandan. All my life I thought, it's okay, my mother was one of them, but even she wasn't. I'm fake, a fraud. I'm a dumb, spoiled fake, who doesn't deserve to be here," she cried.

"I just wanna see my mom."

Namor cradled her silently, saying nothing, as he knew nothing would console her. He pressed kisses to her temple and murmured softly," But you saved the world. You love them. You think of them as family. Who cares if you're not biologically one of them, they treat you better than your family and you love them. You aren't Wakandan but to yuumtsilo'ob if they aren't your real family."

And this shut her up. She stopped her whines and dried her tears and just lay there, watching a velvety midnight consume the dusk, soaking into the pale purple brown.

THE MALL, A WEEK LATER
—-----------------------------------------
Kitty walked coolly through the supermarket aisles, searching the shelves silently. A grocery basket laden with raw meat, Faygo and potato chips. A strange combination, but then again, she had strange people to feed. She strolled smoothly down the dairy isles, running her hand over the surprisingly large stock of butter and grated cheeses. She grabbed handfuls of each product, dumping them carelessly into her basket.

She moved, diverging towards the section labeled with a bold sign stating 'DRINKS'. She began perusing the Coke bottles, reading the different labels.

"Sugar-free, Vanilla, Cherry, Less sugar, Non-gmo. Jesus. How does anyone choose?" She wondered sarcastically.

A woman brushed past her, braided brown hair tucked under a baseball cap, dark eyes pointed downwards. She turned to Kitty, lips parted, a polite apology on the brink of escape. But she paused, eyes widening in recognition.

And then she turned and sprinted.

Of course, Kitty was confused and tempted to chase her down and ask if she knew her. She started in the woman's direction, but turned away, heading towards the free samples.