Not Length, But Depth

This piece, especially in light of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever premiering this November, is dedicated to the late Chadwick Boseman.
His work and spirit will truly be missed by many.

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The walk back was quiet. The city was quiet: a stark difference from the usually crowded, lively environment, but truthfully, what was there to say? Bucky, Sarah, Sam, Cass, and AJ had just left the final day of the 3-day long ceremonial celebration for the life of the now late King T'Challa. All weekend long, the country partook in their traditional gathering and celebration following his funeral service a couple days prior. As to be expected, the celebrations and wake were beautiful. The Wakandans made sure to honor their late king in the only way they knew how. What remained of the scattered avengers managed to band themselves together once more to pay their respects and attend his burial ceremony, but had left shortly after the service. So this walk back to Bucky's place, the land T'Challa himself personally gave to him, was a hard one: no, this wasn't a comfortable silence.

Sarah could feel the pain that radiated from the two men that trailed behind her. She glanced back at her brother and his friend, wishing there was more that she could do: something or anything to ease the pain even though she knew she couldn't. She had her arms around her boys shoulders as they walked beside her. She held onto them just a bit tighter trying to push away the idea of her ever having to bury one of her babies. No mother, no parent should ever have to go through that. She felt AJ squeeze her hand a little and in a way was his way of showing his support. She smiled down at him, kissing his head as they neared the residence. She admired the boys in their African wear. 

All five of them were adorned in traditional all-white Wakandan garments hand-made and gifted to each of them by some of the elders who had insisted that any guest of the White Wolf, was a guest of theirs. Typically, Sarah would keep any resemblance of white clothing as far away from Cass and AJ as possible as it usually would result in an absolute disaster. But Sarah was respectful to her elders and the cultural practice and did not argue. Thankfully the boys were surprised and did their best not to get themselves too dirty, and for that she was very proud of them. A few kids came running over as they neared the living quarters where they were staying. "Ngaba uCass kunye no-AJ banokuza badlale?" the young girl asked. A slightly taller boy beside her lightly hit the girl on the arm before repeating her question.

"Can Cass and AJ come and play?" He asked, proud of his English. Sarah smiled slightly as Cass and AJ looked up at her expectantly.

"Can we, mom, please?" Cass asked. Sarah nodded, and before she could instruct them to go and change their clothes first, they had already run off with the other children. She chuckled slightly to herself and didn't say anything, letting them go and enjoy themselves. There goes those clean white clothes. It was unfortunate that this was Sarah and the boy's first time in Wakanda and that they had to witness such a beautiful place under the circumstances. Still, she's glad they could be there, if not for anything else but to support Bucky and Sam while paying their respects. After Ayo called him the week prior, Bucky had completely shut down with the news. The flirtatious bantering Sarah and Bucky had been engaged in suddenly stopped, and rightfully so. Still, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't worried about him. Since their first meeting at the cookout just about a year ago, Bucky had become a bit of a staple in the Wilson family. They'd gotten a lot closer...a lot closer. They found themselves spending time with each other, even having inside jokes, much to Sam's dismay, though sometimes they did it just to annoy her brother. The boys especially took a liking to Bucky. He very quickly went from Mr. Bucky to Uncle Bucky, and in the year or so that he's been around as even mistakenly been called dad on a few occasions. So, when Bucky grew distant, it was definitely noticed and felt by the entire Delacroix community, even the boys.