Hello and welcome back my readers! There have been so many follows and favourites of this story and I just wanted to say thank you so much! :)

Four - The King and His Kingdom

"I have to be the ruler and protector my people need - but I don't know if I can be."

He was King now. King of Wakanda.

He was taking a morning stroll with Nakia through the main street of the city.

"Come home, Nakia."

"I'm right here."

"Stay."

"I can't. I came to support you, but I can't stay, you know that. I've found my calling out there. Besides, you would be too busy for me anyways."

"Never too busy for my friend." He smiled. "Nakia, I need some - advice..."

She chuckled. "Is this about Kalyna?"

"You too, huh?"

She chuckled again. "How are things going?"

"You sound like my sister."

"Well it's obvious."

He raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"

"Oh come on T'Challa," she teased. "Tell her."

"I would - I want to. It's just every time I try to I just-"

"Freeze?" she laughed.

He rolled his eyes. "Enough with the freezing already."

She only laughed. "Well it's true!"

Later, while he was in his study, there came a knock at the door. "Enter."

One of the Dora appeared. "Princess Kalyna, My King." She bowed her head before turning and leaving, just as Kalyna walked in.

"My King." She crossed her arms over her chest and bowed her head.

"My Princess." He smiled.

"Well, how is it so far, being King?"

"You know, not so bad - yet."

She chuckled. "You're looking rather well for someone who almost died yesterday."

"You were worried."

"I was, for a moment there it looked like he'd beat you. And then I was worried you'd have to kill him. Thank you for inviting me to the ceremony, I was honoured to be a part of it."

"I'm glad. I wanted you to be there."

There was a moment of comfortable silence before she cleared her throat, turning serious. "I understand that you are busy, but I wanted to talk to you." He nodded, signalling for her to continue. "I think that, perhaps, we should think about reconsidering our alliance-" She watched his eyebrows shoot up at this. She continued before he could jump in. "Just think about it: the king of Wakanda was killed by a Sokovian mercenary. People will not take well to that. I don't take well to that!"

"Kalyna, you would compromise our whole allegiance?"

"I do not want your people to hate me - enough of my own people already do."

"They don't hate you." He came forward to stand before her.

She shook her head. "I have to be the ruler and protector my people need - but I don't know if I can be." It was so hard to please everybody, and without her parents, no siblings, and no other family, she ruled alone with only the council of her advisors. That was why she was so thankful for her almost-family here in Wakanda and their everlasting support.

"You can," he assured her.

She chuckled a little. "I'm starting to think this alliance is based only on you providing confidence boosting advice for me."

He reached out and took her hands in his. "Hey, I'm always going to be here for you. And yes, our alliance is complicated, but I think that with all the recent events we have to stick together, now more than ever."

She was nodding slowly, absorbing this. "I'm homesick, homesick for the Sokovia of my childhood: peaceful, content. Or I just miss the innocense of my childhood, when it was my parents who were dealing with all this." She chuckled. "They made it look so easy."

"I know what you mean. You don't realize until you are suddenly standing in their shoes just how uncertain and vulnerable they were too."

They stood again in comfortable silence for a few moments before dropping each other's hands.

"I should go, let you get back to your 'king duties'." She chuckled. "Thank you, T'Challa. You're a good man, and I know you'll be a great King. You already are."

"Are you so sure it's such a good idea for you to be bringing your ex on the mission?" After hearing of Klaue popping back up on the radar and devising a plan to cut him off in Korea, T'Challa had naturally gone to visit his sister in her lab in preparation for the mission.

"Of course. Nakia is one of my closest, most trusted friends."

"And who else are you taking with you?"

"Okoye, of course." A pause for dramatic effect. "And Kalyna as well." Here he smiled.

"Are you so sure it's such a good idea to bring your ex and your girlfriend on the mission?"

He folded his arms behind his back. "I see no harm in it. And Kalyna isn't my girlfriend. We're not together, not in that way." But he was smiling.

"Uh huh..."

"Make sure you're ready. You'll be on stand-by in case we need back up."

"Yes!" Shuri led him down into the lab. "I have great things to show you, Brother." Then she sighed. "Again with the sandals!"

"I thought I would go old-school on my first day." He smirked.

"Oh I bet the elders loved that. Take them off, and try these." She handed him what looked like the sole of a shoe. He stepped on it, and instantly a boot secured around his foot.

"I made them completely sound absorbent," Shuri stated proudly. He took a few steps - no sound. "You know what I call them? Sneakers." She chuckled at her joke while he just stared blankly back. "Because you sneak around - never mind." She patted him on the chest.

T'Challa faced the mannequins donning the suit necklaces. "Now explain to me how this works again."

"See, the whole suit is embedded within the teeth of the necklace-" Shuri pressed one of the beads on her bracelet and the whole suit appeared, surrounding the necklace, its core. Even the helmet appeared.

"Remind me what's wrong with my old suit?"

"Oh no, people are shooting at me, here, let me put my helmet on." She mocked. Then she chuckled. "And you want to impress Kalyna right?"

He rolled his eyes but grinned. "Shuri, Shuri, Shuri..."

"What? What kind of sister would I be if I didn't tease you all the time? And besides, your other suit is getting old. This is new and improved."

"But my old suit works."

"What am I always saying? Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved."

"Like the 'improvements' you made to your ceremonial outfit," he joked. He knew how much she hated that outfit, this confirmed when she delivered a punch to his arm. She'd already given him the finger concerning it before.

"Hey, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't tease you all the time?"

"Ha, ha. Go ahead, strike it."

"Anywhere?"

"Uh huh."

T'Challa faced the suit and drew his leg back, giving it a great kick. This sent the mannequin flying across the room and crashing to the floor.

"Hey!" Shuri protested, rushing over to retrieve the mannequin. "You come into my lab and just kick things around." She shook her head.

"You told me to strike it."

"Not that hard genius!" Shuri picked up the mannequin and awkwardly carried it back over to the display. "Now see," she pointed to the now glowing purple section of the suit, the glow forming where he had kicked it. "It's the kinetic energy. The nanites are preparing it for redistribution. Now, strike it again."

"In the same spot?" She nodded and held up her wrist, pressing one of the beads. "Are you recording this?"

"It's for research purposes."

T'Challa nodded and faced the suit. He gave it another great kick, only this time it was him that went flying back, due to the backfiring kinetic energy.

Shuri howled with laughter as her brother the king landed sprawled out on the floor.

"Delete that footage!"

Haha, too good! Loved this scene so much I just had to include it! As someone who has a younger sister I really loved and appreciated all the wonderful sibling moments in this movie ;) It's been a bit of a stressful week - lots of assignments due, and on top of it all I had computer troubles and had to take it in to get it fixed. But, it's all fixed now, so I can get back to writing ;) Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)