"Now I see. The demon is me."
Lisa May Stark is so much more than the child she used to be when she and her father were kidnapped in Afghanistan five years ago. She's Iron Man's daughter, she's the Red Raven, she's, well, you know who she is...
i can't save us, my atlantis, we fall we've built this town on shaky ground i can't save us, my atlantis, oh no we've built it up to pull it down atlantis ─── seafret
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golden city, wakanda january 7, 2018 ( third person point of view )
"Baba?"
"Yes, my love?"
A little girl with big blue eyes restlessly jumped up and down on her bed, "A story, a story!"
"A story?" The man laughed quietly at her demands, sitting on the edge of her bed, "What do you say first, Khany?"
The girl huffed and rolled her big blue eyes, "Pwease!"
His lips twitched into a slight smirk, "What should this story be about?"
The girl with soft mocha skin plopped back down on her bed, holding her favorite blue blanket and her teddy close. Her father slowly laid down next to her, pulling the small being to his chest as he did every night to get her to sleep. She took his hand in hers, matching her small fingers to his big ones. He smirked a little down at the girl he adopted as his own many years ago now, laying a soft kiss on her forehead.
A night breeze softly blew in through the open window, rustling the sheer curtains and blowing her mother's hair in front of her warm blue eyes. The twenty-two year old turned from her view looking over the brightly-lit city so that she could see her husband holding their daughter close. With a finally peaceful smile, the young woman slowly walked over, gently pulling the blankets back over her and running a hand through the child's curly hair.
"Home."
Her parents shared a look, the memories of how it all came about coming back to them.
"Once upon a time-," The man let out a small thoughtful sigh, beginning the story his own father told him many times, "a meteorite made of vibranium struck the continent of Africa, affecting the plant life around it. And when the time of man came, five tribes settled on it and called it-,"
"Wakanda!" The girl interrupted with a happy grin, her little feet kicking excitedly into the blankets.
Her father laughed, "Yes, that's right. And the tribes lived in constant war with each other... until a warrior shaman received a vision from the panther goddess, Bast, who led him to the Heart-Shaped Herb, a plant that granted him superhuman strength, speed, and instincts. The warrior became king and the first Black Panther, the protector of Wakanda."
"Like you." The little girl quickly blurted before her eyes grew wide as if she wanted assurance she was right, "...S'Right Mama?"
"Right, Noodle, like your baba."
"And four tribes agreed to live under the king's rule... but the Jabari Tribe isolated themselves in the mountains." The girl cocked her head thoughtfully to the side as the king continued, "The Wakandans used vibranium to develop technology, more advanced than any other nation. But as Wakanda thrived, the world around it descended further into chaos. To keep vibranium safe, the Wakandans vowed to hide in plain sight keeping the truth of their power from the outside world."
"But then something changed." Her mother broke in, gently taking the man's hand as he smiled warmly at her once more, "A new king took the throne, a king that wanted to help the world, no matter what troubles it brought. And then a lonely ex-hero came back for refuge, she came back for the new king because she loved him." The child anxiously bit her lip as her mama got to her favorite part, "It was a forbidden type of love story, one that almost no one else wanted, one that circumstances and people almost tore apart."
"But it was good." T'Challa added, not taking his eyes off his wife.
"And it was good." And Lisa smiled back, "So, the new king and the lonely ex-hero took their little girl called Maria-,"
The child beamed at being named in the story, giggling as a soft blush took over her chubby cheeks.
"And when you were just small, we all had to fight so that each and every one of us could stand together."
Maria's soft little brows bent in as she sadly ran a small finger over the new set of scars covering her mother's back, "And they hurted you?"
T'Challa's own hand ran over the scars on her back, his brows furrowing in pain of the memory. So much happened in those days. So many arguments, so much fear, too much fighting, but so many good things too. So much that made up their story. But T'Challa only wished that he could've changed that part, the part where they hurt her, the part where he couldn't protect her. He was so sorry for that.
But Lisa wasn't, "Only a little."
"There's so much scary in world..." Maria whispered quietly before looking up at her parents, "But it's okay, 'cause it's still us."
"Yes..." T'Challa whispered a promise, "It is still us."
"And we'll be together forever, Baba?"
Neither parents answered, they didn't think they had to. They thought the answer was already set in stone, the future was already decided, their future would stay as planned.
But their ending has changed...
It never came.
Perhaps if Lisa knew back then what she knows now, things could've been different, easier, painless. They could've prepared for it, for the loss, for the separation. She just didn't realize that two years before it all began, what the three of them made was going to be lost.
After all, all kingdoms are built on sand.
whew okay, don't love this at all, bro, don't love this at allll but ya know what? it's here and it's an introduction just to flash forward of what the epilogue for this part is going to look like. to clarify if you were confused, this chapter is set after all the events of black panther and just before infinity war in retrospect of lisa first coming to wakanda with maria. sooo now we get to the fun part where we go back to Black Panther's plots, now who is ready, hmmm? Umm well, I am for surely!
what would you like to see take place during it's final portion of the Iron Daughter trilogy? any hopes? any fears? leave your thoughts here! love you all, hope you enjoyed xx see ya next time
SIDE NOTE: sorry my updates on all books and such are taking a while, i'm going through so really hard family stuff (not to mention online college classes) right now that has me stressed and it's just been making it very hard to write.
anyway, hopefully i'll be updating the likes of stinger, the death season, and my new dark knight trilogy's story six feet under —hope you enjoy!
Now, here's a future quote from my story:
Waving him off, the general scoffed, "Americans."
"Okoye," T'Challa scolded, purposefully tilting his head towards me, "Play nice."
"No, she's right." I nodded and shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest.
