The White Wolf

XXII

Okoye felt her heart break at the sight inside of Ava's hut. She walked through, to retrieve Ava for the trial, looking around at all the broken glass and shattered furniture. It looked like a tornado blew through, leaving books and papers thrown across the floor and picture frames broken and crooked on their hooks. And a large hole in the wall where Ava had punched through it. 

And there, in the center of it all, was Ava. Sleeping soundly, blood crusted over her knuckles and her clothes disheveled- much like her hair was. Okoye sighed softly before approaching her, kneeling down beside the snoring lump on the floor and shaking her shoulder. "Wake up. We need to go."

Her eyes fluttered, her brow creased as she stirred awake and yawned. "Hm?"

"Get changed, clean yourself up quickly. The trial will start soon and we must get to the palace." 

Ava sat up slowly, wincing slightly as she rubbed her eyes. "Okay, okay... I'm up." She muttered, pushing herself to her feet. Within a few minutes, Ava was dressed into nicer clothes and her hair was pulled back nicely. She wrapped her hand in a bandage, and nodded to Okoye that she was ready to go after she finished brushing her teeth. Okoye lead the way outside to her car, getting into the driver seat and Ava sat shotgun. Going by car, the way to the palace was fairly quick and Okoye escorted her into the throne room, being the last to arrive. 

T'Challa sat in the throne at the end of the room, the elders lining the walls along the walkway up to the throne. Sitting closest was the queen, then Shuri, and across from them was Bucky and a seat for Okoye. Ava looked down at the floor in front of her as she was brought to stand at the center of the room, so everyone could see her, judge her. 

Another reason she kept her eyes downcast, was the fact that Bomani was there as well, sitting beside the elders with narrowed eyes and a smirk that sent chills down Ava's spine. 

"State your name." T'Challa announced coldly. 

She swallowed, her soft, blue eyes flickering up to glance at him. "A-Ava King. Daughter of Zuri." Her voice came out small, her cheeks flushing as everyone's eyes layed on her. 

"Ava King, you are here for trial under the elders on the crimes of endangering our nation." T'Chall announced. "Let the trial begin. Speak your truth before the elders, or face punishment."

Red. It's what she saw. What she felt. There is no way to explain it besides red. Flaming, embarrassing, loving, hating, angry, passionate. Red. Ava cleared her throat, looking around at everyone. She scanned her eyes across every elder, past Bomani and Shuri and the queen, past T'Challa and Okoye. But then they landed on Bucky. 

God, he looked exhausted. Like he had hardly slept. His eyes were glassy and red, and the skin beneath them was dark.  Ava didn't look any better, of course. She held her bandaged hand as her lips parted to speak, forcing herself to look back down at the floor as she explained. "I made a decision." She said softly. "One that endangered the safety of Wakanda... Of Sergeant Barnes... But I don't regret my decision. Going back, I would make the same decision again in a heart beat." She admit, her eyes lifting back up to lock with Bucky's. "Because I'm selfish, and I am in love with Sergeant Barnes."

Bucky swallowed, his eyes glued to the woman in front of him. He wished he could talk to her, hig her and go back to their little dates in the evenings, to playing with the village kids... but he couldn't. 

"My decision was to take a jet in secret and run off to New York with Sergeant Barnes for a total of forty-eight hours. Which was the length of time that King T'Challa and his guards were expected to be gone. With the help of princess Shuri, I was able to secure an aircraft and flee the country." She said, glancing around at the elders nervously. "I created solid alibis for Barnes and myself, and included a new style of clothes for us so we would blend into the citizens in America. New York is where I was born. And it is where Barnes came from as well. I did research before we left and found the apartment that my birthparents owned, and found it was an abandoned building. So we went there first, and I was able to understand more about who I am, and where I am from. I know what my real parents look like now." Tears began to form in her eyes as she spoke the truth, a lump built up in her throat that caused her voice to tremble. "That same day, I took Sergeant Barnes to an elderly care facility, one in which his youngest sister, Rebecca, lives. She is currently eighty-four years old and suffers from Alzheimer's disease, so she doesn't often remember much. He had made a promise to her, way back in the late 30's when he shipped to England, that he would come back and see her when the war was over. By taking him, he was able to uphold his promise and say a final goodbye to her. I even took him to the graves of his other two sisters and his parents so he had a chance to say goodbye to them as well... We went for dinner, and we came back home." She finished speaking, a tear sliding down her cheek, the lump in her throat becoming unbearably painful.