I do not own anything…don't have the billions to pay to Disney!
"T'Challa!...Brother where are you? Someone please help me…"
Shuri had awoken in her lab with a throbbing ache in her head and what she assumed was a broken wrist and quite a few bruised ribs. Corvus Glaive had managed to slip through Wakanda's protective barrier and ambush them in the middle of extracting the Mind stone from Vision's head. Thanos' minion had thrown her like a rag doll clear across the room, and the impact had caused her to lose consciousness. She estimated she had been out for around 30 minutes to an hour. Gingerly she pressed her kimoyo beads and attempted to contact her brother. "Brother, what's your status? Are you alright?" she asked as she pulled herself out from under an overturned table. The deafening silence had her standing upright quicker than her injured ribs would have liked. She winced and tried again "brother, where are you?" When the tracker on her brother's bracelet and suit failed to register she began to panic. She had to get outside; maybe T'Challa's suit and beads had been severely damaged in the battle. Even as this thought popped in her head it did little to quell her growing anxiety. Her technology would not have malfunctioned… unless something truly terrible had befallen her brother. She made her way out of her ruined lab and to the battlefield as fast as her battered body would permit.
As she neared the exit terrifying sounds began to assault her ears. Cries of despair filled the air; more than just those who fought in the battle. It sounded as if the entire city was wailing. Shuri pushed open the doors and grabbed the nearest electrobike. As she zoomed to the battlefield she contacted Okoye. Thankfully Okoye's beads were working, and she answered the princess' call. "Okoye, I'm headed your way. Where is T'Challa? What happened during the final parts of the battle?" she frantically questioned. "He disappeared...we cannot find so many… he came, and they are all gone…" the leader of the Dora Milaje said as if in a trance. "What do you mean disappeared?! Have we looked everywhere?!" Shuri countered. Her stomach dropped as the full realization of their defeat, their failure, hit her.
Thanos had beaten them, killed Vision to take the last Infinity Stone, and wiped out half of the population with a snap of his fingers...literally. Tears sprung into Shuri's eyes as she looked away from the image of Okoye and took in the gruesome scene around her. Mothers were desperately searching for their children, husbands calling out for their wives, and the hollow silence in some houses meant no one had survived Thanos' "unbiased judgement". Shuri's own soul began to mourn along with her people and she pushed the bike event faster.
Huge gashes in the earth made navigating the battlefield difficult, but she finally made it to Okoye. Her friend was stumbling around in a stupor; wringing her hands and mumbling to herself "I just saw him...over here...he called out to me..slipped away right before my eyes." The sight of such a fierce warrior overcome with worry made Shuri even more uneasy. Shuri dismounted and began calling out for her brother. "T'Challa!...Brother where are you?" She began looking in the underbrush praying to her ancestors T'Challa was lying injured somewhere. As the minutes dragged on and her search yielded no results Shuri's cries became more desperate. "T'Challa!..Someone please help me…" she croaked out as she crumbled to the ground. Sobs racked her aching body. She did not care she was breaking open newly formed scabs because her emotional pain overshadowed all physical ailments.
Shuri felt a large, warm calloused hand on her shoulder. Quickly she looked up hoping to see her brother, but another, larger figure loomed over her. "Princess, I fear T'Challa's fate is the same as that of the White Wolf and red sorceress…they are gone. Come, someone must see to your wounds and more importantly, lead the people," a deep voice reasoned. She turned her face away from the Gorilla Lord and groaned aloud in grief. She dug her fingers into the earth where the slightest trace of her brother remained despite the protest from her broken wrist.
Arms of steel encased her upper body and lifted her to her feet. "You are a Panther, Shuri. Wakanda needs a leader now more than ever, and that duty is yours. I will help you as much as I can, but you must see to yourself, so you can see to your people," M'Baku said. Shuri wanted nothing more at the moment than to wallow in despair over the loss of her brother, much less be responsible for a whole nation. But she was a princess, and as much as she hated to admit it M'Baku was right. The people were going to look to her for guidance, reassurance, and hope. She sagged against the Gorilla Lord for a moment, and he tightened his grip on her, worried she might go down again. But she began to get her breathing under control and wiped her eyes in the fur of his armor.
She reached deep into herself and found determination. Bast please help me I need strength in this moment. Once she felt grounded she pulled back from the Gorilla Lord and wiped the last remnants of her sorrow from her cheeks. When she met M'Baku's eyes though, she knew she could not hide her inner turmoil. "Are you ready?" he asked. Her brow was set with determination, and her small frame stood tall and firm. "No, but I must be. We have to get first aid to the wounded."
Had it been under different circumstances M'Baku would have smiled at her courage. He had recently taunted her for being a "child", but the little princess was proving she was more mature than he had given her credit for. Now though, he could not think of anything he would not trade for her to avoid this tragedy and keep her childlike innocence. "It is time to take action then," he announced while releasing his hold on her. She shivered slightly and fleetingly missed the stability he provided. She shook off those feelings and turned to address Okoye, who had been watching them silently. Shuri instructed her to get the uninjured warriors to help the critically injured while she went back to the city to organize the triage units and send aid as quickly as possible. Okoye gave a parting salute and left to begin regrouping the Dora Milaje.
"I am going to help out here in the field. Are you okay to go on your own?" M'Baku asked Shuri. "Yes. Thank you, for helping me," she replied as she mounted her electrobike. She was grateful for his kindness and would have been a little thrown off by it considering his hostility towards her when they first met. But since he saved her brother's life and fought to help them retake their kingdom her rapport with M'Baku had changed, even more so over the past months. She knew she could rely on his strength. As she nodded to him and drove back to the city a small part of her was glad he had been the one to pull her up from the ashes.
_There's not enough Shuri/M'Baku stuff out there so I decided to do somethiing about it!
This is my first fanfic so any feedback is greatly appreciated. I don't know how long this will be, but I want to fill in some gaps between Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as write some from M' Baku's point of view. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!