Begins several years before The Black Panther Movie and ends several years after. This is an alternate universe (with certain events from the comic and the cinematic universes which have been altered and intermingled together) containing multiple M...
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Trevante Rhodes as Mandla aka Sombre Lupita Nyongo as Nakia
Summer 2004
Standing drenched in river water, Nakia clutched tighter to her ring blades, the traditional weapon of the Q'Noma Valley marsh tribe, passed from her grandfather to her father to her.
"Hand over the ring blades!" N'gozi, the present Dora Milaje general, commanded sharply. She stood next to her tall granddaughter and apprentice, Okoye, who was already eighteen and was about to cross over to the stature of a full warrior.
After Nakia beat every single girl in her age group with her ring blades during the King's Demonstration, General N'gozi handpicked her to take Okoye's place as her next apprentice.
This was the first King's Demonstration without an available prince. The king's teenage son and heir, T'Challa, was away taking his rites of passage. There had been a short discussion about delaying until he returned. But the ceremony was no longer about choosing a potential bride but ensuring future warriors to train and protect Wakanda's royalty.
However, General N'gozi was starting to worry that maybe she made the wrong choice this time. By age fourteen, Nakia was as difficult as she was talented and beautiful. She refused to wear the apprentices' uniform, dressing in the marsh tribe's traditional dress every morning since she arrived. She refused to lay down her ring blades and take up the Dora Milaje vibranium spear. She refused to train with the other girls, stating when she chose to fight, she fought alone.
After the third day of this, General N'gozi showed up at Nakia's tent right at sunrise and kicked her out of her bed. "You want to prove what an honorable marsh tribe warrior you are?!? Then you will beat Okoye in single hand combat. If and only if you beat my granddaughter, then I will allow you to continue to use your blades and dawn your tribe's traditional armor."
Nakia sat up from the ground, wiped the dirt from her face, and set her mouth. "Fine."
Fifteen minutes later, she found herself face down in the river.
Both General N'gozi and Okoye looked down upon her smugly as she pulled herself back up to her feet in disgrace. "Looks like you might have some more to learn, huh girl?? Hand over the ring blades!"
Nakia scowled and shoved her weapons at the general. N'gozi looked at Okoye and coldly said, "Get her a nice dry apprentice's uniform to replace that wet marsh tribe rag."
Okoye nodded and then motioned for Nakia to follow her. She whispered back to Nakia as they walked away. "You'll get use to it... living as a Dora Milaje apprentice is not so bad. I was born into the warrior's tribe, but even I had to get use to this life."
"Tuh." Nakia tutted. "I have no interest in fighting. Or shaving my head and wearing warrior's armor. I'm no warrior. I'm a woman. Let the men do that."
Okoye sighed. "It was not exactly my first choice either but we serve where we are needed."
"Well apparently the message about where I was needed got crossed. Your grandmother might be a general. But my grandfather is an oracle." Nakia stated, haughtily. "He has already told me the direction of my life's path. And fighting useless wars or protecting invisible borders is not it!"
"Your grandfather still practices the old ways?" Okoye hissed suspiciously in a hushed voice.
Nakia pinned her lips. She knew she was not supposed to speak about her grandfather's stubborn beliefs. But these women were really rubbing her the wrong way.
The marsh tribe was one of the outer tribes, who lived partially isolated from the rest of the Wakandan tribes at the base of the Jabari mountain range in the secluded Q'Noma valley. Besides the Jabari tribe, who ruled the mountain range, there were a handful of valleys occupied by the outer tribes, some of them like Serpent Valley, completely inaccessible to the rest of the country. This allowed many of the elders, who refused to change their set ways, to continue some of the older and out of date practices that were outlawed within the capitol city and the more populated areas of the country which were fully modernized and relied solely on Wandakan technology.
When Nakia did not respond, Okoye did not push and asked no further questions. Instead she warned, "The more you relent and cooperate with the general, the easier it will be for you."
"This is a waste of time." Nakia replied, not a hint of doubt in her voice. "I will never wear a Dora Milaje uniform. I will get my ring blades back soon enough. So there is no point to any of this."
Snorting a long puff of air out through her nostrils, Okoye shook her head, exasperated. Then a gleefully wicked look entered her dark brown eyes. She lost all of her usual stiff formalness. "You are the most bullheaded girl, I've ever met. I'd kick sense into your stupid little ass again for your insolence towards my grandmother, if I didn't respect and admire your stubbornness so much."
Okoye handed Nakia the dry apprentice uniform with a twinkle in her eyes. "Just don't expect the general to feel the same way as me. What happened today... that was N'Gozi's way of being nice and understanding."
Nakia humphed and crossed her arms over her chest instead of taking the offered clothes.
"We will both be trained by the same mistress... therefore we will always be bound as sister apprentices. Please don't make this too hard on yourself, little sister." Okoye stated kindly, pushing the uniform even closer.
Relenting, Nakia finally took the clothes.
After she finished dressing, Nakia came out to find Okoye and the general standing with three very large men. She walked up to Okoye's side and whispered, "Who are they?"
"They're from the Jabari tribe." Okoye responded.
Nakia took in the traditional armor of the three men. The tallest of the three looked like an actual full grown man with sprinklings of gray in his thick beard and on his head. The other two were almost as tall as him, but their faces were young like teenagers. All of their armor was light weight and made only of wood, ivory, and older metals.. no vibranium. The mountain tribe rarely left the icy and barren mountain range. And when they did, it was always to go to war. Nakia grew up in the closest neighboring tribe and even she had never seen a member of the tribe before with her own eyes. "What are they doing here?"
"That is M'Bukah, the leader of the Jabari tribe and his two sons, M'Baku and Mandla." Okoye whispered back. "Besides the Dora Milaje and our king, the Jabari tribe has the fiercest warriors within Wakandan borders. When it is necessary... we do work together."
Nakia continued to stare at the three men. They looked as if they could break a normal man in half with their bare hands. It was no wonder they did not bother with stronger armor. But even with their size, all three of them were very handsome. The youngest of the three turned and looked at her. He was definitely the handsomest. And he seemed to be aware of it. He gave her an arrogant and wide white toothed smile as soon as he saw she was staring at him. Nakia turned her nose up at him, but her face began to burn slightly with embarrassment as he continued to leer back at her undeterred.
Okoye snorted as she also noted Nakia and Mandla eyeing each other. The she teased. "I see the younger brother has taken a liking to you. Must be your feminine wiles, little sister."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Nakia replied haughtily as she walked away. "I thought you and the general were so pressed about my training. About turning me into a prepubescent boy like the rest of you. So why are we wasting time talking about such nonsense?"
"If you say so, little sister." Okoye continued to laugh.
They stood listening gravely as the leader spoke. It seemed the prince's small traveling party had come under attack. Scouting Jabari tribesmen found the only survivor at the base of the mountain range. He was shot in the leg and nearing death. His final words before he fell unconscious was that the prince had been abducted.
