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Shuri just stood, stunned. She had to blink a good two times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
"You look so surprised to see me," Zakari held one of the smuggest smirks on his face that she had ever seen and she wanted to smack it right off. Meanwhile, Riri was trying to figure out how he got past all the defenses without being seen once.
"What is your reason for being here Zakari?" Shuri held a clear, stern mug on her face. She still had Riri close behind her just in case something popped off. They watched as Zakari stepped down but none of them could see any stairs. The Dora Milaje edged closer, spears ready and pointed at the unknown man just in case.
Zakari held his hands up in surrender, letting out a low chuckle. "You know, your highness, you might wanna tell your little bodyguards to back down."
Shuri looked at him with a puzzled face. There was something different about him, as if he was getting a kick out of this.
"Wenza ntoni, Zakari?" What did you do, Zakari?
The man didn't do anything but just make his grin grow even wider. "Well, if you must know my dear cousin, I paid your future in-laws a little visit."
This made Riri come out from behind Shuri. She had a strong feeling about who he was talking about but didn't want it to be true. Shuri was also very afraid of what could come out of his mouth so she dismissed the female warriors. Zakari let out a dark chuckle at this, knowing that the interaction was fully in his hands.
"Where are they?" Shuri growled.
"Their in a safe place, I assure you but I'm not gonna lie to ya cuzzo, if I don't get what I want, there's gonna be a family massacre." Riri's eyes widened as tears appeared at the corners of her eyes, trying to hold them back so she wouldn't show him any sign of weakness.
Shuri could feel her girlfriends pain. She didn't know is that was because she lost her family or because of the deep love connection the two held. Whichever one it was, it made Shuri pull her close to her in her arms.
"What do you want?" Riri spoke up, her voice cracking.
"Well Ms.Williams, this has nothing to do with you," He treaded closer to them, "It doesn't really have anything to do with Queeny over here, but it has everything to do with her father."
Shuri mentally rolled her eyes, she was honestly sick of all these problems her father had left behind for everyone else to handle.
"But to answer an assumption, I don't want your throne," He stood firmly in the ground, "What I have wanted for six long years now is for the Udaku family to suffer." The women watched as his wicked smirk turned into a cold scowl. "Sadly, there's only one of you left so you'll have to do."
"Than why drag Riri's family into whatever sick game you're playing?"
"See this is why you shouldn't interrupt cause I was just getting to that," the smirk was back, "But then I thought, since the only Udaku has a second half now; why not drag her into it too?" The smirk was now a cocky smile.
Shuri was just starting to grow angrier and angrier as he talked. So angry, she didn't even notice the claws that were coming out of her Panther suit.
Zakari just looked down and let out a chuckle, "Don't worry cousin, we'll have our time." He began to walk back from where he came from and the women watched as a large boat began to appear right on the water.
He walked up the stairs but turned around, "Until we meet again." He tossed something over the rails and onto the beach and the boat began to pull out.
Riri walked up to the object and the tears she tried her hardest to hold in came rushing out. She picked it up and there in her hand was her sister's torn Mea Culpa beanie. She didn't know what to say so she looked at Shuri and said, "What the hell is going on?"
Shuri looked back at Okoye before looking at Riri, "I think it's time you learned about N'Jadaka."
☆★☆
The two sat on Shuri's bed. Riri was trying to calm down and Shuri was trying to calm her down. She was sad about Riri's family but she was blaming her father in her mind. Once again, someone else had to clean up his mess. it was starting to get old.
She looked down at Riri, just massaging her scalp. "You ready for me to tell you or do you need some more time?"
Riri just laid there but nodded her head slowly.
"Well, I had this cousin that I knew nothing about. His name was N'Jadaka but he also had an American name, Eric Killmonger. Like I said, my family didn't know anything about N'Jadaka but when my brother became king, he just showed up out of nowhere. He was demanding the throne and that we distribute weapons to the states. The thing we didn't know about him was that he was the son of my baba's brother."
"A few years before, my uncle had stole some vibranium from Wakanda. It wasn't long before baba figured out what he had done because he had another war dog, Zuri, there. He traveled to the states at night. Eventually, somewhere in the conversation, Zuri would reveal his mark and would return the vibranium. He gave my uncle his orders and when he turned to the door, my uncle grabbed Zuri but my father clawed him before he could do anything."
"They just left him there and they left N'Jadaka there to come back and find his father dead. He was alone and in that apartment and that was where his deep hatred for the Udaku family was born. Now back to before, he showed up to Wakanda with an enemy. This man killed my Baba and helped my uncle steal the vibraniam. He had a war dog mark and he was brought to the castle and challenged my brother for the throne. T'Challa accepted but sadly lost. However, my mother, Nakia, and I went to the mountains to seek help from the Jabari. When we got there, my brother was there, laying in some snow looking halfway dead. We revived him with the herb we had managed to take before N'Jadaka burned it and to make a long story short, we went back and defeated him."
"My brother being his noble self, granted him a wish he had for a long time. To see a Wakandian sunset. My brother offered him a helping hand but N'Jadaka went his own way, his last words being: "Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage."
Once Shuri finished, she saw how Riri was still processing everything so she decided to just stay quiet until she spoke up. She pulled Riri's head into her lap and just rubbed her scalp. She knew it was one of the many things that comforted her.
A couple minutes of silence went by until Riri spoke up, "Shuri"
