Black Panther: Rise of the Princess (COMPLETE)

Chapter 2: Shuri

As much as I loved my lab, I could never resist walking through the kingdom when l had a moment to myself. My favorite part of the day was when I was allowed to walk through the schools for the children and see what they were creating. Seeing them using my technology, hearing their ideas, and encouraging them to see them through to fruitation, nothing was more satisfying to watch.

The classes today, however, did not meet. They ran about with their families today, celebrating the break from the enclosed walls of their schools. The markets were the busiest they would ever be, swarmed by adults and children, who looked around to see what was being sold today.

I walked around, grateful that I did not have to be babysat by the Dora Milaje, as T'Challa did, when he walked with Nakia to get some privacy, mostly from me. The King and Queen enjoyed watching the next generation just as much as I did, although they loved to watch them out here, in the market, more than in the schools. I could see why he liked it.

In truth, T'Challa had kicked me out of the lab for the day. He insisted that I was spending a lot of time building and designing, but why wouldn't I be? Was it not my job???

Even so, I knew it was no use fighting my brother on the matter. If he wanted me to get some fresh air, then I was not going to argue.

I have found it hard to fight with him over anything now, after losing him in the Infinity War.* I blamed it on my going soft, but even after five years, I still remembered the nights I spent next to his bed, crying out to Bast for my brother to return. Our entire kingdom had mourned, at least what was left of it, for him and for all of the fallen and lost. My mother had also disappeared, that day, along with M'Baku, and many other friends. Nakia, Okoye, and I had few others to comfort us except to each other. When the world had been righted, Wakanda had been willing to fight to defeat Thanos, again, on our own land, as long as it meant that our world would be safe.

I didn't like to think about it. Even after the wrong had been fixed, there were still loses to be accounted for. Losses I tried to push back and not think upon. Instead, I worked to keep building, and to heal what I could, where I could, when I could.

Our Outreach Centers had thrived, especially since the Infinity War. I had decided to leave the daily duties to D'Arku, a friend of mine from school. I oversaw most of the movement within the Centers, but it was right up his ally, not mine. I was better at building, creating, and designing. He was better with using my creations to help people.

I decided to walk to the river back. I wasn't the only one, hundreds of families were enjoying the warm day by relaxing on the waterfront. I slipped off my shoes and rested my feet in the water below me as I sat on my favorite rock. It jutted out over the moving water, allowing me to rest my feet in the cool fluid while the rest of my body stayed dry. I had found it when T'Challa had started going on international missions I wasn't allowed on, and I was too worried to stay put in the lab or the palace.

I placed my converse next to me and I looked out down the river, at the falls, where I had almost lost my brother. I didn't go there very often, and not unless I needed to, anymore. It seemed the older I got, the more places I wanted to avoid. Certain memories kept arising, and I couldn't stand to be in one place or another for too long.

The view was spectacular, though. Even my memory couldn't taint the hues the sky took as the sun fell. I loved staring at them, and every once in a while, it would inspire me enough to design in tribute to the colors in the sky. I would find ways to weave the pinks and the oranges and the blues into my work, and those were always Mother's favorites. She loved the sunset as much as I did, and sometimes she would watch them with me. I think they remind her of Father, but I never mentioned as much. I knew she was still healing, because I was still healing.

I always made sure that T'Challa's suit was as protective as I could make it. I knew that I couldn't go back and save Father from that explosion, but I could protect my brother, and I was determined to do so. Every layer of technology I could put between T'Challa and danger, I added, desperate not to lose someone else to something I could have prevented.

I would have thought long and hard on the matter, but my kimoyo beads beeped at me. Someone was calling, and that someone was my brother.

I held my wrist up in front of me and put on a smile. His face appeared in the fine, black sand that rose from my bracelet. People always thought it was enchanted, but it was just vibranium, broken down to the smallest possible pieces. Not that I was telling.

"My King," I teased, "what services would you require of me?"

"First of all, for you to stop calling me that in private," he laughed. "You know I am your brother. Secondly, I need you to meet me in the lab."

"But I thought I was grounded!"

"I just wanted you to get out of the lab a little, you've spent the past week in there!"

I rolled my eyes. He was always so dramatic. "If you insist, brother. What is going on?"

He looked down, and worry crossed his face. He didn't try to hide it either. "I don't know, Shuri. That's why I need you. Please hurry."

I nodded and severed out connection. Tease as I may, if my brother needed me, I would always come. I would always help him.

*Author's Note: This story is not in line with Avenger's: Infinity War or Avenger's: Endgame