The Light in The Darkness (Namor x Shuri)

Chapter 9 - Whales

~ Shuri ~

Science had given me so much over the years. First, it was a way to bond with T'Challa. He taught me so much of what I knew now and I had relished in surpassing him in the lab. After he passed it provided me an assurance. I was the one in control of what I did there, no surprises or heartbreak. Perhaps I used it as a crutch and after my second time in the ancestral plains, I could hardly use logic to explain away the things I did not understand. I wanted to be and do better with my gifts. I wanted to raise myself out of the hole my anger had dug. Above all I wanted to make things right.

"The beads are programmed and adjusted to suit Namor's needs. I have to say I really outdid myself."

Nick said dropping the kimoyo beads into my hands. I smiled, he had even colored them green after I suggested it might be Namor's favorite color.

"Well it was light work, it is my base design after all."

"Wasn't it you who said even if something works it can always be better?"

I raised my holo tablet as if to smack him with it and he jumped back arms raised in a defensive position.

"You just finish the plans for that vibranium deflector."

I smirked.

"Or are you waiting for Riri to get back and finish it for you?"

"Ha, ha."

Nick said sarcastically sitting back down at his station.

"Aren't you leaving for France today? I can't work with you gossiping in my ear."

"Gossiping, why you..."

This time I rolled up random papers on my desk and smacked his back.

"You better be lucky I have business to attend to or the beating would be much worse."

I walked towards the lab door to leave, slipping my jacket off and placing it on the hook.

"Shuri."

Nick called out, his once teasing voice taking a morse serious tone.

"Be careful."

I nodded sending him a reassuring smile. T'Challa never told me how hard leaving to protect our country could be. As I walked out of the lab it occurred to me that perhaps it wasn't the leaving that was scary, it was the possibility of not returning home.

~ Namor ~

I sat atop the stairs that lead into the palace. Being outside felt a lot more manageable than waiting inside the palace for Shuri. I saw her briefly after my talk with Namora and she had given me a bracelet that resembled the one most of the Wakandans inside the castle wore. Everyone else's seemed to be darker shades but mine was a vibrant green. The design I knew to be her own creation, but the color, the color was a detail she added especially for me. She didn't add that during the speedy tutorial she had given me earlier but I knew even without her telling me so.

"Having second thoughts?"

I turned to see Shuri walking through the front doors and over to where I sat. She was in her panther suit and lowered herself next to me looking ahead. The last time I saw her as the black panther we had almost killed each other. She could have finished me if she wanted, but she didn't. Just as she could have left me weak after the link was severed but instead decided she would help restore my gifts. The queen of Wakanda was a walking contradiction and when she looked at me just as she was now I wondered if she remembered our time together in Talokan. If maybe she could find it in herself to feel for me as I did for her.