A/N:
Confession: I've always loved Bucky. His tragic, angsty, dark and broody character just speaks directly to my ovaries. It was only a matter of time before it culminated in a fic. So here it is.
"No. There's no way, Shuri. You're out of your brilliant mind."
Shuri laughed at her friend's words. They were sitting on a grassy hilltop overlooking the city of Wakanda. Parched grass plains sprawled behind them while great flocks of white birds flirted with the blue horizon. The lush river valley and its green peaks that enclosed the metropolis seemed to belong to another planet completely. The breeze that reached them from across the vast lake was hot and humid, but the African sun was a welcome warmth on Charlotte's pale skin.
"I can't believe," Charlotte said around a mouthful of apple, "that you would bring me all the way out here under false pretenses. I thought we were better friends than that."
Shuri giggled and rolled her eyes. "Oh don't be so dramatic, Charlotte. I had you come out here because I've missed you." Her friend raised a long, brown eyebrow at her. "Ok, ok, and maybe I thought you could help me with a project."
"Shuri, restoring a person's control over their own mind is not a simple biotechnical project. I wouldn't even know where or how to begin!"
"I'd help you, of course." Shuri continued to smile at her friend, who was still shaking her head with a hint of a grin. It was true. They hadn't seen each other in a few years and while Shuri was continuously busy with developing new technologies for her brother, she missed their long treks through the African savannah, swimming in the waterfall pools, and late-night banter under starry skies that glittered like diamonds.
"Look, it's a relatively simple theory," Shuri tried to explain again, half-laughing as Charlotte threw herself back and laid on the ground, exasperated. "The neuron transmitters of the brain respond to electrical fields through a series of feedback loops. Electromagnetic manipulation –"
"What if I don't want to do it?"
Charlotte closed her eyes so she couldn't see her friend purse her lips and scold her with those coffee-colored eyes. She took a deep breath and felt the earth below her rotate. It was breathing back. She had never been able to find words to describe the currents of breath that surrounded and penetrated the earth. Many people paid her to try. Even more paid for demonstrations. It isn't show and tell, she so often wanted to tell them. It was listening and feeling.
"Then Steve Rogers is going to be very disappointed that we couldn't help his best friend."
Charlotte shot up, pieces of straw and stale grass stuck in her long auburn hair. Her dark eyes were massive against her fair skin.
Shuri laughed and plucked a few of the grasses from her friend's hair. "What? You wouldn't want to disappoint Captain America, would you?"
"I wouldn't want to turn Captain America's best friend into a fried egg, either. You're asking me to perform experimental electromagnetic therapy on him?! Shouldn't we start with rats or something?"
"I would, but I don't know of any rats that currently have their minds brainwashed by Hydra agents from the 1940's."
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Shuri. I'm sure you could hypnotize a few mice. You have the technology. Besides, why do you even need me to do it? You can calibrate electric-shock therapy –"
"That's what they did to him," Shuri cut her off. "That's what I'm trying to undo to him."
Charlotte perched her elbows on her knees and looked back out over the city of Wakanda, squinting against the reflections that were gleaming off of the city's high-rises. In the far distance, she could make out the black panther's snarling façade leaping from the rockface.
"Look. I know why you're nervous," Shuri tried again. "But I'm not going to let you just blindly try this alone. I've developed an algorithm that should help to desensitize his word trigger programming and have a pretty good idea of how to go about it. I just want you to tell me what you perceive. I promise I won't let you turn Bucky into a vegetable."
Charlotte turned her gaze back towards Shuri, frowning. "Bucky?"
"His name is James Barnes, but he prefers to go by Bucky. You probably know him." Charlotte raised a skeptical eyebrow and waited for her to elaborate. Shuri rubbed her hands together slowly, as if trying to conjure the words in her hands. "Remember the U.N. bombing?"
Charlotte blinked. "Are you serious? The assassin? What did they call him…the white soldier or something?"
"Winter soldier. And he didn't actually bomb the U.N., he was framed because of the brainwashing mind-control trick. It's complicated, but he's not a villain."
The wind tossed long ribbons of hair around Charlotte's face as she absentmindedly pulled grass from the ground. "If your brother allows him to be here, then it must be true."
Shuri threw up her hands. "Oh sure, believe my brother, but not me? Your best friend?"
Charlotte smiled and after a deep breath, she stood and stretched her arms above her head. The wind breathed through her cotton t-shirt, baring her midriff long enough for Shuri to catch a glimpse of the glossy pink scar that branched out over her skin.
A small chirp on her wrist suddenly interrupted her thoughts. Holding her arm to face level, she pressed a small button on her communicator and smiled at T'Challa.
"Speak of the devil."
"Shuri. Whatever your reason for missing the outreach banquet in Oakland, I hope it is a good one."
Shuri looked around for a moment, as if the answer was hanging onto some shriveled blade of grass. "I…forgot?"
"You never forget anything," her brother returned sternly. "I'm disappointed that you did not attend. You were an expected guest of honor."
"Well," she exaggerated her words with a dramatic eye roll, "as head of the technology and information exchange, I am a very busy person with many obligations. You of all people should know this."
"I know that you must have found a project that is more interesting to you. What is it?"
Charlotte snorted and walked over to where Shuri was still sitting. From behind Shuri, she bent down and waved into the transmitter. "Hello T'Challa."
T'Challa nodded, his suspicions clearly confirmed. "Hello Charlotte. It has been a while."
"Yes, it has been. I know you're a busy king, but is it too much to hope that I get to see you this time?"
"Not at all. In fact, I can see you now."
Shuri stood and turned around as Charlotte shielded her eyes and looked to the sky. A metallic whir filled the air and dust began to swirl ahead of the approaching aircraft. Within seconds, the small dark bird on the horizon had grown angled wings and a sleek profile that glinted in the sunlight. Charlotte tried to keep her mouth shut against the tornadic dust, but as the talon fighter ripped through the air just several hundred feet above their heads, she couldn't help but smile. She blinked once and the jet was gone, diving gracefully into the valley below as it steered a course for the panther in the side of the mountain.
"Good to know your brother still has a sense of humor, even as king," Charlotte said a little too loudly. Her ears were still ringing from the turbines.
"It's not humor," Shuri coughed, looking vaguely more irritated than her friend. "He's just a poor pilot."
Charlotte chuckled and looked back out at the city. The fighter had vanished, and the setting sun was beginning to bathe the spires and windows in a fiery red-orange glow. Shadows crept down the crevices of the hillsides and as sunlight showered through the fine mists of the dozen or so waterfalls scattered throughout the valley, each one ignited in a cascading rainbow of color.
"I forget how beautiful it is here," Charlotte murmured.
"So stay." Shuri said simply, standing beside her friend and giving her a wily grin. "We miss having you here."
Silence.
Charlotte could feel Shuri's pulse quickening with each passing moment, her currents bending and warping around her. Even Charlotte suppressed her breathing at one point, waiting for the bubble to burst.
"…and you can help me with Bucky." Charlotte hung her head, but the grin on her face told Shuri she had won. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"
"Under one condition," Charlotte cut off her friend's celebrations with a darker tone. The princess eyed her friend carefully. Her hair hung in thick waves around her face, though Shuri knew not all of it was her own. With eyes like dark forest pools, it was difficult to tell that one of her pupils was permanently dilated. And always that smooth pink scar, branching out delicately behind her ear and snaking down the back of her neck.
"Not without his consent." Shuri blinked. "I want to know that he's ok with this."
The princess smiled reassuringly. "Of course, but I promise you. He wants this."
Satisfied, Shuri began to trek down the hill while Charlotte hesitated, an iron fist twisting at her gut. She inhaled deeply as the earth breathed a hot gust of wind into her lungs, then began to follow in her friend's footsteps.
"It better not be because you brainwashed him."
A/N: Woo, feeling a little rusty with the whole writing thing. It's only been about 8 years since I've done a fic. Please feel free to provide any thoughts/comments/feedback you may have! Cheers!
