"No. I save my country."
—
You meet up with Okoye. Once she sees you she exhales in relief, and envelopes you in a hug.
"The Queen Mother and Shuri, they are safe?" She asks you.
"Yes." You reassure her.
"Thank you." She says in Xhosa, relieved.
"We should get to them immediately." You move to leave, but she doesn't follow. You look at her in confusion.
"I cannot." She tells you in Xhosa and you frown.
"What?" You ask.
"Though my heart is with you."
"We cannot turn over the nation to a man who showed up here only hours ago." You tell her.
"He is of royal blood."
"He killed Tchalla!" You exclaim.
"In ritual combat." She argues.
"Does that really matter?" You all but scream at her, but finishing a whisper, looking around before turning to her again. "You are the greatest warrior Wakanda has. Help me overthrow him before he becomes too strong."
"Overthrow? Y/N! I'm not just a friend who can come and go as they chooses. I am loyal to that throne, no matter who sits upon it. What are you loyal to?" She asks you.
"I loved him." You admit to her. She looks at you a sympathetically, with the look she tells you she already knew.
She knew you loved him, it wasn't obvious you loved him more than a friend but her and Wkabi, your father, Nakia, the Dora and the royal family knew. At first they figured out Tchalla loved you, he wasn't good at hiding it, you were just too oblivious or in denial to see it yourself.
After looking closer it became clear to them that you felt the same, but hid it, every affection was excused by being best friends.
But once seeing the look of love and admiration in your eyes when you saw Tchalla, how your eyes lighted up and your mood lifted, it was clear to them.
They had all just waited for Tchalla to confess his feelings. Seeing you were extremely well at hiding your deeper feelings for the man and if anyone tried to ask or tease it out of you, you were good at shrugging it off and not let it become a serious conversation. So, they realised that if anyone, it had to be Tchalla to make the move.
"And I loved this country, too. My country." You finally say, having never called it yours directly, since you didn't know where you were born.
But this is your home.
Wakanda and it's people is your home.
Tchalla was your home.
And you would do anything to protect it.
"Then you serve your country." She tells you.
"No. I save my country." You tell her with determination and she looks at you, a bit astound as she watches you leave.
...
You walk into the room you had put Ross in before the meeting earlier. He turns to you and frown as he looks at you.
"What's wrong?" He ask, being good at reading people he can easily see you trying to hold back from crying.
You stop before him, your jaw clenched tight.
"The King is dead." You tell him trying to sound emotionless.
He looks at you in shock. You throw him a blanket.
"Come with me, unless you want to join him." You say and leave.
He follows you as you sneak out to Ramonda and Shuri you hid in the woods.
...
Just as you appear Ramonda pulls a knife out.
"It's me." You tell her.
"Y/N." She sighs in relief, but turn her knife toward the next figure appearing. "Who is this man?"
"He's a friend. He saved my life." You tell her.
"Where's Okoye?" She asks.
"Okoye is not coming. She and the Dora Milaje serve the new king." You tell her, looking down. Ramonda lowers her knife. "Wait here." You tell them and leave again.
...
You sneak into the garden, and watch as Erik orders them to set it on fire. You hurriedly grab one heart-shaped herd and leave.
Next day
You're walking up the mountains with Ramonda, Shuri and Ross.
"Where are we going again?" Ross asks.
"We're taking the Heart-Shaped Herb to Jabariland." You tell him.
"Heart-Shaped Herd? What is that?" He asks.
"It gives whoever takes it heightened abilities." Shuri answers.
"It's what made Tchalla so strong." Ramonda says.
She stops in her tracks.
"Y/N." She then says and you turn to her, to find she had stopped. You walk to her and she takes hold of your hands.
"I don't like this. The Herb belongs to us. We may create a bigger monster with Mbaku." She gestures to where we were heading.
You look at the carved gorilla on the mountain, frowning to yourself.
"Y/N, you should take it yourself." She then tells you and you look at her.
"I am one, with no army. I wouldn't stand a chance." You tell her as she holds you, slowly she starts to nod.
"We'll go." She agrees and you turn to leave but she stops you.
She looks you in the eyes for a long moment, you still frowning, jaw clenched still trying to hold back your tears.
"I'm sorry." She then says and your frown deepens.
"What for?" You ask her, confused.
"You have let us cry and you have held it together all this way, keeping us safe.." Ramonda says.
She takes her hand up to your cheek and caresses it in a loving motherly way.
"Although you are the one that is hurting the most." She says.
Ramonda knows you loved her son, even though you had been good at hiding it, she could see it. And she knew her son loved you. She was waiting for him to finally tell you.
Your bottom lip starts to tremble.
"Y/N, maybe you should let it out, before we go up there." She tells you and you shake your head trying to fight the tears.
She lifts both her hands to caress your face.
"My dear, you lost your father and the man you loved in one day. It's okay to feel it, you need to feel it." She tells you and a soft sob escapes you.
You swallow the thick lump in your throat and step away from her clearing your throat.
You look at Shuri and Ross who stand behind her. He looks at you sympathetically and Shuri looks heartbroken for you.
Shuri also knew her brother loved you, and was teasing him about it continuously. You're already like a sister to her but she wanted her brother to stop just staring yearningly at you and make you her real sister already.
She had promised her brother not to tell you, because he wanted to do it himself and to do it right. So, she just had to wait for him to man up and tell you. But it was too late.
Ramonda and Shuri share a look, both not certain if the time was right to tell you his true feelings toward you. They wanted to tell you, but if now was the time they weren't sure. You clearly didn't want to feel it right now, and rather stay focused. They understood that.
You wipe the few tears and turn back to Ramonda.
"There's no time for that now. We must hurry, let's go." You tell them and move, not letting them argue, leading them further up the mountain.
They share a sad look, before moving to follow you.
...
You shush them and they stop behind you. Ross turns to you in question and Ramonda and Shuri look around in worry.
Then they appear. Grunting and chanting they appear from all sides.
"Oh, shit." Ross whispers.
"Look down. Stay calm." You tell them.
"Shuri, look down." Ramonda tells her daughter as they surround you.
...
They lead you through the entrance and to their leader. You're brought before Mbaku as he sits on his throne.
Ramonda takes a step closer.
"My son, was murdered in ritual combat." Ramonda tells him.
"Were the odds fair?" He asks.
"Yes, but-"
"So it was less a murder than a defeat." He says.
"Do not rub our noses in it!" Shuri tells him.
"Silence!" Mbaku says. "I make the pronouncements here, girl."
"Look, uh, your highness, the new king is a U.S.-" Ross starts to say but Mbaku interrupts him with a grunt. "The new king-" Grunting from all around.
"You cannot talk! One more word, and i will feed you to my children." He says and Ross swallows. "I'm kidding. We are vegetarians." He says and start laughing. But no one else joins in.
"Great Gorilla Mbaku." You step forward.
You kneel down before him. Holding up the flower.
"This is why we are here. To offer this to you. An outsider sits on our throne. Only you can help us stop him." You tell him. He slowly stands up and then Ramonda kneels down beside you, you glance at her and then see Shuri and Ross kneeling too.
Mbaku watches you for a moment before speaking.
"Come with me." He tells you.
...
You walk after him up the stairs and when he goes to the side you look to what was before him. You gasp in disbelief when you see, and run to him.
"Impossible!" Ramonda gasps when she sees him.
You fall down on your knees beside Tchalla's body. You hesitatantly touch him as if to see if he's real.
"Is he breathing?" You ask Mbaku.
"He's in a coma. Barely clinging to life." He tells you. "One of our fishermen found him at the edge of the river border. He brought him to me."
"Why do you have him in the snow?" Shuri asks him.
"It's the only thing keeping him from joining the ancestors."
"We need to get him to my lab. I can heal him there." Shuri says looking to you and Ramonda.
"Take him. He be dead in seconds." Mbaku states with a shrug.
"Y/N, the Herb." Ramonda says looking at you and you hurriedly find it in your pocket giving it to her.
She prepares it and pour it into is mouth.
"I call upon the ancestors. I call upon Bast." She says and you close your eyes. "I am here with my son, Tchalla. Heal him."
Mbaku turns around and Ross looks at him, then does the same.
"We must bury him." You say, remembering what your father told you about the ritual.
You start to push the snow to cover Tchalla.
"Cover him." Ramonda says to Shuri and she helps cover him with the snow.
"Praise the ancestors." Ramonda says in Xhosa and you repeat. Shuri then says it too.
"Wake up, Tchalla, please. Come back to me." You say and whisper the last part.
...
(Tchalla talking with his father.)
After talking to his father he hears your voice. Come back to me, he hears and looks up and closes his eyes, finding his way back to you.
...
Then Tchalla sits up with a gasp and you take a hold of him immediately, not letting his family get close first as you usually would do.
They grab each other in relief instead, not going to take this away from you and Tchalla.
His eyes finding yours he just goes for it, not wasting another second he grabs your face and crashes his lips on yours. Kissing you hard and passionately. It takes your breath away but you kiss him back with the same passion. To early you both pull away to take a breath and he stares at your lips.
Tchalla look back into your eyes and it's like the dam breaks. You let out a sob, the tears you've been holding in, all bursting out in relief. His eyes widen and he wraps his arms around you. He takes your head in his hands as he caresses you in the most loving way. Leaning his forehead against yous he catches his breath and stroke your head, holding you close with his other arm, wrapped around you.
After a long moment, you reluctantly pull away and turn to his family who then approach him and you all embrace each other because Tchalla doesn't let you go.
You then turn to look at Mbaku with a grateful look. Ross is looking at the scene in awe and relief.
Tchalla nods to Mbaku, then turns to you shivering. Smiling he asks for a blanket and you laugh breathlessly.
Later...
"Killmonger has the full support of the military. And.. he burned the garden of the Heart-Shaped Herb." You tell Tchalla. He squeezes your hand he was holding.
"Of course he did. That's what he was trained to do." Ross says. "His unit used to work with the CIA to destabilise foreign countries. They would always strike at transitions of power like an election years, or the death of a monarch. You get control of the government, the military-"
"Our resources." Tchalla says.
"Right." Ross says.
"The Great Mound." Tchalla says looking to his sister.
"Our vibranium, all of my designs."
"He will send our weapons all over the world." Tchalla says and move to stand up. He turns to you. "You must get them out of Wakanda safely."
"What?" Ramonda ask.
"What about you?" Shuri asks.
"The challenge will have to continue." He tells them.
"Tchalla, we will not leave Wakanda." Ramonda stands.
"It is my duty to keep you safe." He tells his mother.
"If he gets control of our technology.." Shuri stands as she starts to say, and you finish for her.
"Then nowhere will be safe." You tell him. He looks at you, then Shuri takes something out from under her blanket, the necklace of Black Panther.
"I was actually going to grab Y/Ns necklace, but in the hurry i grabbed the wrong one." She says sheepishly. "But turned out that was for the best. Though i don't have yours though." She tells you, you just smile.
She goes to him and pull it over his head and around his neck.
"The Black Panther lives. And when he fight for the fate of Wakanda i will be right there beside him." She tells him
"Me too." You say walking up to him. He turns to you, taking your hand and you interwine your fingers with his.
"I'm in, too. You're gonna need all the help you can get." Ross says.
Mbaku then yawns loudly. You turn to him.
"Are you done?" He asks.
"Could you give me and Lord Mbaku a moment?" He asks you.
You squeeze his hand before leaving with the others. Not noticing him watching after you as you leave, before turning to Mbaku.
(Mbaku and Tchalla talking.)
—