The Dark Soul (Namor x fem Fanfic )

Chapter 31

"How will an elixir from the heart shaped herb help her? She is not Wakandan? The ancestors nor Bast will grant her the strength and courage given to the Black Panther," Okoye asked Shuri as she guided the jet in the night.

"No, but that isn't what I made. It isn't the purple liquid of our people, but something new. Something that, if I'm right, only she can drink and survive."

Okoye frowned, not taking her eyes off of the dark desert before them. In the distance, she could see the three men on the same path as they. The moon was bright and shone as if it favored them. It seemed to lead right to Rhiannon whom they could also see. Well, her silhouette at least.

"I hope you're right."

"So do I. If not, she will die," Shuri answered.

"And you're willing to take that risk?"

"No. But I hope that she is."

Okoye was silent and deep in thought as she prepared to land.

***

Thor heard her calling and launched himself into the sky toward her voice. He wanted to get ahead of Namor in case she had already become a threat. His thoughts ventured back to Thanos and his one mistake of not killing the wanna-be god when he had the chance. Then the snap that obliterated half of the population. Yes, they were able to fix that mistake. But as he mentioned to Namor earlier, they didn't have a time machine. They had no way of going back to fix Rhiannon and the rest of the world if all of the three Old Spirits resided in her and gave her power.

He pushed forward and used Stormbreaker to pull him toward her, but Namor was faster. The wings on Namor's ankles flapped furiously and he sailed past Thor and Dr. Strange with ease. Thor cursed himself. He knew Namor would never allow him to kill Rhiannon. But he also knew that he'd have to if she wasn't strong enough to resist the spirits.

"Wizard, can you do anything to get us to her before he arrives?" Thor asked.

"Why? Because you may have to run her through with that god killing weapon of yours?"

"Don't tell me you object. You were on my side!"

"I know," Strange sighed. He was tired. "It's just hard to actually go through with it. She's not Thanos. Or Ultron or any of the horrible monsters you've had to defeat in the past. She a person. An innocent who is being manipulated. Why can't we take the time to think of another way?"

Namor was so far ahead that Thor gave up trying to arrive first. He landed back on the desert sand, Strange landing beside him. He needed to make sure they were on the same page, because he couldn't fight two powerful men if it came down to killing Rhiannon.

"You're right. She is an innocent. And she is being manipulated by powerful beings with magic that predates your own. So, what do you suggest? I have tried for years to come up with a solution that could save her life. Even when my brother was alive and used her to conquer planets and even my own home, I wanted a way to stop her without harming her. I can think of nothing."

"Thor-"

"No, wizard. I know you see her as harmless. But trust me when I say that she is not. She could make a fist and crumple you like paper. She can blow a breath and strip the skin from your body. How do I know these things?"

"You've seen them?"

"And I do not wish to see them again. Help me stop her." Thor was desperate.

"I'm on your side, but-"

"Wizard," Thor said. "If there is another way, I will always be open to it. Death is a last resort. I do not approach her to kill her, but I will not let my love for her stand in death's way. I will do what I can to spare her life. But I have to consider the rest of the world and the fate of all of the living over her. Did you not risk your own life for the same thing once?"

Dr. Strange nodded. Thor was right, though his own heart said otherwise.

"I'm on your side, Thor." Strange said. "But I am still a doctor and it is my first instinct to save life. Not to take it."

"It is the same for me. But I consider the lives of many over the life of one. It is the burden of a king, and I was taught everything I know by one."

Strange nodded. "Understood." They launched back into the air toward Rhiannon who was very close. "Maybe the Wakandan jet means they have a better solution."

Thor looked up at the large ship that also sped ahead, but not by much.

"I hope so."

***

Namor arrived first. He landed a few feet away from Rhiannon and watched the dark spirit in the distance as it shape-shifted like a blob of black liquid. 

"What are you?" Namor asked, but the spirit didn't answer. Instead, it shrunk backward into the darkness. He turned to Rhiannon who was pinned to the ground by an invisible force. She looked up at him with wide eyes and he knelt beside her. "Get up, mi amor."

She didn't move. The Old Spirit cackled in the shadows and Namor grew angry. He clenched his teeth and repeated his words, but in a different language. His native tongue. The language he hoped to teach her when he made her queen.

"Líik'en, in yaakunaj."

Get up, my love.

She remained tethered to the ground and this only infuriated Namor. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. Then he stood and faced the darkness. The Old Spirit watched him. He could feel it as he shot into the air and hovered above, watching the liquid black blob warp and morph into strange shapes.

"Release her!" He demanded and pointed his spear toward the spirit.

The spirit laughed. "You think she's yours? She belongs to us."

"She belongs to no one," Namor rushed toward the spirit, the tip of his spear aimed at the blob. Before he could reach it, a familiar voice stopped him.

"Namor, wait!" Shuri emerged from the darkness, flanked by Okoye. She held a small bottle that glowed bright gold. The Old Spirit shrank back from it and even let out a startling screech in fear.

Namor stopped just inches from the dark spirit. "Princess? What is that you hold in your hands?"

"Something that will either kill her or free her," Shuri replied.

"Free her from this thing?" He pointed to the black spirit that moved around him and closer to Rhiannon. Namor flew back to her and guarded her body.

"From everything."

As Shuri responded and Namor's attention was on her, the third Old Spirit snaked around Namor and jumped into Rhiannon... just as Thor arrived.