Black Panther: Rise of the Princess (COMPLETE)

Chapter 19: T'Challa

It took her long enough, but Shuri finally realized what I was suggesting. When she understood, no words came out of her mouth. As I stood up, she just watched me, before diverting her eyes to the new garden of Heart-Shaped Herbs. Still not speaking, she walked over to them and knelt down, stroking a leaf from one of the young plants.

I had a feeling she would react this way. It was a lot of pressure to suddenly thrust onto her, and she hadn't expected it, like I had. For years, my father had trained me specifically for the mantle. I had years fighting at his side, learning the role and growing into it. I was born to be Black Panther.

Shuri wasn't like that. Sure, she could fight and defend herself easily, but when it became clear that her true strength was in her mind, she was introduced to the lab and never turned back. Ever since, her work had been intellectual, not physical. The closest she had gotten was when Eric took the throne for himself.

I sat beside Shuri and watched her, deciding to let her speak first. After a minute, she did. "Why?"

"We don't know what we will face in Sweden, Shuri," I started. "I just know that if you come with us, you can help, and I can watch over you."

"I can help more from here, brother," she insisted, turning to face me. "And I can protect myself."

I closed my eyes. There was no other way to convince her. "I lost Father, and Mother hasn't woken up yet. Nakia can't come with us, and you are all I have left. I'm not losing you too."

Shuri could have reacted one of a million different ways, but I didn't see it. I avoided her gaze, looking down and at the garden. It hurt, to know that the rest of my family was injured or dead, but there was no avoiding it. I was already forced to leave Nakia and Mother behind, where I couldn't protect them. I trusted Okoye to keep them safe, but I couldn't trust whoever was hurting them, and I didn't know who that was, or where they were.

After a moment, Shuri leaned against me and I pulled her close. At least I still had her. The whole world could be set against me, but my sister would stand beside me through it all. Maybe more important than her intellect was her loyalty. I could survive without her head, but her heart, that was invaluable.

"Does it hurt?" She asked suddenly, but while resting her head on my shoulder.

"Well, it is change," I explained, wrapping an arm around her. "Change like that, that fast, it's not going to be a painless process."

She nodded, and wrapped my hand with hers. "You will be there, though."

"I'm here right now," I told her. "Right next to you."

I squeezed her one last time and stood up, and pulled her up with me. She chose a herb and took it to the bowl to mash. I prepared the sand and made a place for her to lay, and she handed me the bowl. I noticed as she lied down that she was shaking ever so slightly, but I rested a hand on her and smiled.

It was impossible to imagine what going on inside her head. I would be surprised if there had been words to accurately describe her emotions at the moment. She kept her face steady, though, and I tipped the contents of the bowl into her mouth.

"Allow the Heart-Shaped Herb to give the powers of the Black Panther," I bade her, "and take you to the Ancestral Plane." She swallowed the juice as it fell. I could almost feel the change it brought in me as it began to work in her, but I couldn't rest on the memory. I had to cover her in the sand.

"T'Chaka," I spoke quietly, to my father, "I call on you, come here, to your daughter." I brushed the sand over her, avoiding staring at her face as she winced from the Heart-Shaped Herb. This change moved rapidly, and change that fast is going to hurt. At last, I covered her face, and even though I had already undergone the change myself, not once, not twice, but three times, I still prayed that she wouldn't suffocate under the sand.

Then, after that, there wasn't anything I could do. I could only stare at the pile of sand, watch her rising and falling stomach, and wonder what she was remembering. Flashes of my childhood, and of my father, had crossed my mind as the Herb took hold of me, but we had not lived the same life, Shuri and I. I did not know what my father would say to her once she was in the Ancestral Plane. I didn't even know how long she would be there. Would she lie there for hours, while I could only sit by her and wait, or was she about to rise? I didn't know.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. I knelt by her side, waiting for something, anything. At long last, she sat up suddenly and choked for air, and I reached out to steady her as she rose to her feet, gasping for air.

"Shuri," I whispered, not wanting to startle her. "Shuri, are you all right?"

She looked up at me, her eyes open wide and her pulse racing. Without a word, she leaned up against me, reaching up to my shoulders for support. I held her close, closing my eyes and keeping the silence. We didn't need words, not now. All we needed was each other. We were enough.