SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 53: Twilight
The cloudless night in Birnin Zana was full of the songs of frogs and geckos. In the distance, the hum of traffic and music and human life could be heard, yet faintly. The rivers of light formed by the vehicles in the city outshined the stars overhead, but Loki was far enough away from it all that the quieter sounds of the savanna filtered in through the grassy lands bordering the booming metropolis.
It was a strange day which found Thor, Loki, Heimdall, and all the remaining army of Asgard standing before the three Aesir spacecrafts as they landed in an open plain, welcoming in the civilian population of Asgard. The quick evacuation of the city had spared the civilian population of Hela's wrath, but now they were far from their home.
The most welcome sight of all came when a woman in a gown of sky blue embroidered with silver flowers descended from the gangplank, her crown delicately woven with flowers and settled in the braids of her golden hair. Never had Loki been quite so happy to see Frigga before. Once she caught sight of Thor and Loki, she fairly ran to close the distance and soon her arms enfolded both her two sons, forcing them to lean in as close as possible into her embrace.
"My sons! Oh, if a heart could burst with happiness, mine would be in pieces now!" She cried out, tears streaming down her face as she kissed them over and over again.
"Hello, Mother," Loki managed, fighting back his own well of emotion. Both crippling shame and absolute delight warred within him as he caught his mother's eye and saw how much pain their intermediary years had been filled with. Her struggles were written in the shadows of her eyes and the planes of her face and he knew she had mourned more than any other.
"I'm sorry," he forced out in a whisper, though he felt that sentiment was far too frail and incomprehensive an apology to capture all he wished to convey.
"So am I," she whispered back and she leaned it to embrace him again. "For more than I can begin to say."
The Aesir spacecrafts were settled outside the boundaries of the city. It was far enough away from the main city that the protective barrier protected the city from the Aesir, but it was still within the larger shields so the Aesir themselves were protected both from external eyes and outside threats. With King N'Jadaka's alliance in place, the Wakandans could not turn the Aesir away, but that did not mean they would allow any outsider within the boundaries of their city. If the council of elders or the people themselves had been consulted, no ship would have landed anywhere within their borders. However, while N'Jadaka remained king, there was nothing else they could do about it. Though, if the combined efforts of SHIELD and the council of elders was to be believed, he might not remain on the throne much longer.
The accommodations on board the Aesir long-distance spacecrafts were cramped. They were designed for emergencies, such as this, and they were designed for pragmatism rather than comfort. Since the only other alternative was to set up tents in the grass, the Aesir decided they preferred to lodge themselves in their trio of spacecrafts. During the day, they could wander through the nearby grasslands or take in the view of the lake bordering the city. Yet, there were strict perimeter fences established around them and they were not allowed to explore beyond the boundaries established. The Aesir were struck in transition- refugees with no idea where they would go next or where "home" would be. They were out-of-place in a land and on a planet which did not want them. They could do nothing but wait.
Loki's hands were equally as tied. As acting king of the Aesir, he was granted more freedom of movement, but his official position also limited the amount of actual power he was able to wield. The problem with ruling as a shadow king was once the protection of the shadows was removed, Loki's hands lost the puppet strings he had been holding and his puppets all rebelled against him. They decried his meddling, even if it was for their own good. They preferred autonomous, self-determined chaos over the safety of his rule and chose to exert their authority in the most inconvenient of moments. His power was dependent on his invisibility.
With the veil lifted, with his identity exposed, he could not rule in the manner he had before and he was forced to return to the slower, more frustration methods of diplomacy. For some unfathomable reason, SHIELD and the United Nations were unwilling to trust the former conqueror of the planet or listen to any of his suggestions, simply because they came from his mouth and not because of the soundness of his advice. While, they would listen to a certain extent (highly influenced, no doubt, by the alien spaceships still looming in their atmosphere, waiting for Thanos' call), they were only too quick to remind him that such an army had been brought to earth by his instigation once before.
It really was far too frustrating. Loki held N'Jadaka personally responsible for this. If N'Jadaka had not interfered with Wakanda and set SHIELD on his trail into the secret kingdom, he might have maintained his secret until now. Even now, the smug monarch took delight in irritating Loki as much as possible and ensuring the Aesir knew they were indebted to him in every way he could. It was insufferable.
N'Jadaka grumbled and complained about all the 'alien free-loaders mooching off our food and squatting on our front yard," but he had agreed to Loki's conditions beforehand and he was intelligent enough not to wish to test the limits of Loki's temper. Once no longer dependent on the Wakandan monarch's good graces, Loki determined to hinder N'Jadaka's plans to remain on the throne.
However, N'Jadaka's interreference had helped Loki prepare the planet for Thaons, therefore so he could not hold it entirely against him. Thus, Loki would ensure N'Jadaka remained alive, but was removed from the throne as quickly as possible. The little country was allied with Asgard, after all, and they had proven a safe refuge to the exiled prince in his time of need. Since N'Jadaka used Wakanda's assistance of Loki to take the throne, Loki decided it was well within his rights to take the throne back again.
This would take time, however, and more covert efforts to prod into security cameras and databases. In the meantime, Loki had to deal with a Mad Titan and Goddess of Death in possession of two Infinity Stones and trapped on the realm he was supposed to rule. Then there was the posse of Thanos' minions posed to strike over Earth and Loki's knowledge of the Mad Titan's propensity to keep a terrible grudge.
SHIELD begrudgingly accepted the help of the Aesir in dealing with the enemies within their own airspace. As quickly as possible, Tony Stark and a small army of SHIELD scientists modified some covert SHIELD technology to create rockets capable of traveling outside the Earth's atmosphere and sending missiles at the hovering alien ships. The synchronized attack took the ships by surprise and only two were able to escape. The remaining ships were entirely destroyed.
Heimdall kept an eye on Thanos and Hela and reported the pair to be locked in a continuing battle. He had little hope that Asgard would be spared. Thus, Loki's councils with Aesir generals did not bother to include efforts to spare the realm but tried to come up with ways of destroying the realm, along with the nearly invincible beings trapped on it.
"Why do they not try to escape?" Fandral mused, during one such council. "If Thanos is as set on his path of destruction, why does he remain on Asgard?"
"Because the Soul Stone remains. As long as the Soul Stone remains on Asgard, Thanos will not care about any other goal," Loki explained. With such a prize so close to his grip, Thanos would not leave it behind.
A week had passed since they departed from Jotunheim and Loki was no closer to his goal than he had been the moment he had been taken away from Asgard. Now, he sat outside the city, eagerly drinking in the quiet of the land beyond the Midgardian bustle. His mother sat alongside him, equally as quiet, her own thoughts caught up in her own meditations.
He felt more at ease with his mother close by. His burdens always grew lighter when she carried part of them and he realized how much he had missed her the last few years. Learning some of the many secrets of the House of Odin made his mother grow indescribably more precious to him. At first, he had wept the loss of his idea of her as his birth mother. Then, upon the revelation that she was no more Thor's biological mother than his own he had been forced to reassess everything all over again.
It was with tears in his eyes that he confronted her, that night in the moonlight, while they sat on the boulder together.
"You took on two struggling babes, each not of your own womb, during a time of conflict and war. Then, you showed us both more love than most would grant their own blood kin. You were a mother to us and we were not worthy of you," he cried.
Her tears were equally as fervent as she clasped his face in her hands. "I was granted the gift of two beautiful sons, a gift more precious than all the thrones of all the realms put together. While your father married to have a queen, it is the role of mother that was the greatest honor he bestowed upon me," Frigga answered. "I would have given up all the thrones of all the realms again, just to have my sons restored to me when I believed you lost."
"I'm sorry… about father," Loki then said, until Frigga hushed him.
"No, Loki. I did not know your father, before, but the man I married loved his sons and bitterly regretted the harm he had caused in his early years as king. Allow him this absolution, at least in his memory It was as sacrifice he made gladly, for the good of us all. What is truly worth living for are those things worth dying for. This was the one atonement he could offer for all the years of bloodshed he had learned to regret."
"Something we share in common…," Loki remarked.
"I suppose you do. Yet, here you are, trying to make right what was broken."
"It hardly seems fair," Loki mused. "To be granted the power over the lives and deaths of so many when still so young and foolish."
"The throne is a heavy burden indeed."
"I do not know how to fix this!" Loki finally admitted, opening himself to the thoughts which most plagued him that night. "I've tried! The Norns know I've tried! Mother, I have worked day and night for since Thor's coronation to fix what I've broken and for what? What does it all matter? What was the use? I left a river of innocent blood in Jotunheim and broke everything else. Despite my efforts to halt Thanos, millions still died in New York and Thanos remains, armed with an Infinity Stone. Father gave his life, and for what? For our enemies to prevail? We fought all of Hela's forces on Asgard and we did not save the realm. We escaped like cowards, leaving our enemy behind us. I only delayed the inevitable."
"You do not know that," Frigga said gently, stroking her son's dark hair where it lay against her shoulder. "Even your clever mind cannot understand the past nor predict the future. You had a hand to play, but the ultimate end is not in your hands. You have done all you could, as have we all. Now, we must wait."
"Wait and do what? I cannot sit on my hands and do nothing."
"Loki, your hands cannot orchestrate the events of the entire universe. You wish to direct all the realms, control everyone, and everything around you. It is not your job to fix everything. Sometimes, you must rest in the good you can do and let the rest remain in the Hands greater than our own, the Weaver which directs the Norns and rules over Time itself. Trust that what ought to be will be, that the forces which direct our affairs work for good and ultimately that good will triumph. Even in the darkest possible moments."
"I still feel as though I have failed. I failed Father. I failed you and Thor," he said. "I thought I knew what I was doing, but it turns out, I knew nothing at all."
"My clever son? Admitting the limitations of his knowledge and accepting he has room to grow? Why, there is hope for you after all!"
He groaned and tried to pull himself off her shoulder. She refused and pulled him even closer.
"I missed you," he finally admitted.
"And I, you," she answered.
They remained as they were for some time and watched as the herds grazed in the cool of the night. When they returned to the Aesir ships, Heimdall stood in wait with Thor by his side. At their grim expressions, Loki knew something had happened.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It is Asgard," Heimdall said. "The realm has vanished."
Oooo
Only two living creatures remained on Asgard. There was Thanos and there was Hela.
There was Power. There was Soul.
"Release the Stone," Hela commanded, her eyes growing bright from the grip of the Stone upon her.
Thanos slowly stood up and gave her a tentative, impassive stare. Then, his hand fell to the Stone on his knuckles. His large fingers rolled over each setting, a memorial to a destroyed Stone beyond the reach of any one being. The Power Stone boiled against her harness, channeled by the whims and wishes of the Titan and yet still longing to be freed.
For thousands of years, Thanos had sought to please his Lady. For thousands of years, their purposes had neatly aligned together. Death and her servant, Lady Hela and the Mad Titan who worked to honor his Mistress. He drank from Death as surely as she had and he was just as intoxicated by its mead.
Yet, how could their goals align now?
There was another mistress that Thanos loved more than Death, one he served more faithfully than the Queen of Helheim. When forced to choose, his choice was quite clear. When two paths lay before him, he would betray his Lady and prove himself the vassal of another.
Power. Thanos craved control and the tantalizing taste of the Stone in his hands proved to be more than he could overcome. He would not relinquish the Stone. For anything or anyone. Not even for Lady Death. With the Stone in his hands, he could become the Lord of Death himself and he had no need for his former Lady. He would not unclench the fist which glowed crimson in the Asgardian twilight. He held his massive form tall, his legs apart, his muscles prepared for attack, and he warily watched the lithe, elegant Aesir queen.
His Stone exploded with a tidal wave of power at precisely the same moment that a violet light engulfed him. He could feel the scalding, shimmering heat of its power, but it could not consume him, not so long as the Stone in his hand swallowed up its potency. Yet, his on onslaught was equally as powerless against his former ally. Hela did not shirk nor so much as step back in response to his attack. Their Stones were equally matched and thus the battle would rely on other weapons.
He raised his blade and she raised her deadly hands. He expected her to conjure an arsenal of knives and for her familiar black armor to unravel around her. Instead, she remained as she was in a lavender dress, a crown flowers around her ebony hair. No armor shielded her pale skin and no weapon appeared in her hands. Instead, she conjured a living creature. An eagle as large as Thanos himself with talons as sharp as swords flew towards the Titan, a shrill war cry emanating from its sharp beak. The eagle evaporated in a crimson flame as Thanos snapped his fingers. Hela's cry sounded as the bird disintegrated before her and she held her hands alight again.
Thanos shifted his steps, bracing himself for whatever she would send him next. She glared at him, her eyes glowing a fey violet in the rapidly gathering darkness. Then Thanos was surrounded by the snarling, gnashing teeth of a giant wolf. The creature lunged for him, attempting to remove his limbs with his jaws.
Thanos had no wish to see what she would create next. After the wolf was slain and fell in a heap of fur at his feet, Thanos began to topple parts of the city wall on his former mistress. He summoned the rocks with the power of the Stone and sent them careening towards his enemy. While the rocks tumbled upon her, he uprooted massive trees to send as spears in the direction of her unprotected heart. Yet, her Stone proved protection enough and a violet shield held Hela tight in its grip, making all his attacks entirely impotent.
In growing frustration, Thanos lunged towards her with his double-edged sword, swinging the blade expertly and coming down upon her neck. He hoped to cut the head from her body and so forcibly remove the Stone from her control. Yet, the blade of his sword melted upon impact and then turned into a handful of silvery butterflies. He gaped in surprise before charging at Hela, his arms outstretched to try to smother her with his bare hands. He roared and clambered to catch her, but her small frame was quick on her feet and she danced away from him easily.
He lunged again.
With each attempted attack, Hela created new creatures and cast them towards the Mad Titan. Great cats and giant horses and dragons and griffins and fire-breathing rodents were all sapped of their life before the power of Thanos' Stone and left lifeless in a pile at his feet. He felt invincible, as if all the strength of a thousand universes dwelt at the tips of his fingers, and he was nearly intoxicated by the flow of power through him. He was compelled to continue, drawn to the siren's call of the Stone Hela held, every cell of his being longing for the increase of power available before him. He could not stop unless the Soul Stone was his. Nothing else in the universe mattered but obtaining that Stone. Then, no power in any universe would ever stand against him. He could feel his own immortality before him, calling to him, pressing him onward.
He tried to destroy the one in possession of the Stone. He claimed the weapons and powers of Asgard itself, whatever remained on the empty realm he cast towards her, but to no avail. The Soul Stone would not let her host be destroyed. Yet, Hela could not destroy him, either, for the Stone, her own Stone, would not allow it. So, they clashed, with neither claiming victory nor defeat for days on end. Like the serpent biting its own tail, they would have continued forever, until every universe around them was swallowed up by their conflict, if it were not for the intervention of a little Flerkin.
The fight between Thanos and Hela had circled Asgard thrice over, felling every building in their path, uprooting every street and dwelling until the city was naught but a pile of rubble around them. They returned to the field of Idavollr, where the battle had first begun, when Hela nearly stumbled over the destroyed, mangled pile of fur that had once been the orange Flerkin.
The Flerkin had not survived the explosive blast of power within its tentacles. When Thanos emerged from its bowels, it stole the life of the little creature and left its motionless remains on the field of battle. When Hela noticed the Flerkin, she knelt before it and clicked her tongue in irritation. She ran one finger along its orange fur and then glared up at Thanos. In a flash of violet light, the creature blinked its eyes and slowly rose to its feet. Then it cocked its head to one side to consider Hela.
"There is your foe, Flerkin," she said, pointing a haughty finger at the Titan. "Take your revenge."
When Goose caught sight of Thanos, each hair on its back stood erect in pure rage. Then, it caterwauled and charged at Thanos, its tentacles exploding from its mouth to enfold its prey.
If it had been any other circumstances, it is nearly certain that Goose would have ended up a motionless pile of fur a second time. However, at that moment, two things happened at once. The first was that Thanos released the full strength of the Power Stone in the direction of the Flerkin and Lady Death. At the same time, Hela released the full power of the Soul Stone. When two of the greatest powers of the universe collided together, they did so at the precise moment Goose opened its wide-fanged jaws and swallowed everything around it, condensing it all inward into its dimensional pockets. The full force of two singularities, older than the universe itself, were drawn inward, ever smaller and more compact. This continued until their density was such that the mass of energy collapsed in on itself, swallowing up everything around it.
Thanos and Hela and the Stones they carried were sucked into the newly created distortion of spacetime and trapped within the gravitational force in this space between spaces. The field they stood on, the city beyond, the realm itself all fell into the swirling mass of collapsed gravity. Asgard's sun and moon were swallowed up and even the light of the surrounding stars could not penetrate the great darkness that now enfolded the end of the Realm Eternal.
Hela and Thanos remained as they had been, the moment they were forced between dimensions within the Flerkin's grips. Goose, too, remained trapped, the unwitting captor of two Infinity Stones and the ones who claimed them. Time stood still. Infinity became theirs. They would neither live nor die but remain, exactly as they were, until the universe itself ended.
The Stones in their grips glowed, though none alive would ever see them again, as their lights would forever be captured within the condensed field of darkness. The Stones, themselves, were freed for time and space and reality could not prevent them from their purpose. Sucked into the space between spaces, they were finally free to join in the song of their sisters and influence the affairs of the universe free from the grasping hands of finite creatures.
ooooo
"Asgard vanished," Heimdall explained. "All I could see was competing tidal waves of power vanishing within the jaws of a Flerkin. Then, everything collapsed, as if someone removed a plug from a wash basin. It all disappeared into darkness. Even Asgard's moons are gone and one of the neighboring planets. I cannot see anything else."
"I cannot believe it," Loki said, reaching out to clasp the arm of his brother and the hand of his mother beside him.
"Yes. It is the end of Asgard," Heimdall said. "Our home is gone."
Ooooooooo
All the Aesir were permitted to journey to Kabalega Falls to attend the memorial to Odin All-Father. There, clothed in their best armor, the Aesir released the best imitation of their traditional lanterns they could manage with the Midgardian supplies available to them. An empty fisherman's boat was set alight and released. The customary prayers for the dead were spoken while they watched the boat tumble into the mouth of the Nile below.
None had seen Odin's final resting place on Vormir. The only witness to his death had been the guardian of the Stone and he was not one they wished to meet again. Thus, the Aesir were forced to mourn for their monarch on a foreign realm without the presence of the one for whom they mourned. It was rather fitting, though, because it was not only Odin All-Father who they gathered to remember. It was the realm he had ruled, the kingdom he had presided over. Asgard itself, the Realm Eternal, was gone and they could no more view the corpse of their beloved realm than they could their former monarch. Thus, both realm and king were placed in a discarded Wakandan fisherman's boat and set aflame and cast into the falls of a Midgardian river.
The shared grief of the Aesir and the shared uncertainty of their plight was tempered by the knowledge that their sacrifice was not in vain. Their king and their realm had given their lives so the rest of the realms could live. The honor of this grand sacrifice did not make their grief any less poignant.
As the new king, Loki had been called on to say a few words. He could not, for the life of him, remember what they were and he hoped no one else did, either. He was in no mood for speeches, much less for being king, and he sat alongside the river long after all the other Aesir had returned to their temporary homes.
It was Shuri who sought him out there, sometime around dawn. She sat alongside him and remained there, watching the falls change colors in the dawn of the new morning.
"I never understood my father," Loki admitted, his eyes distant, his mind still clinging to the image of the long-vanished burning boat.
"Na mimi pia," Shuri answered. "I did not, either." Her own eyes were equally as distant, remembering the funeral process for her own father and the throngs of people who accompanied his body through Birnin Zana in their white ceremonial mourning clothes. She wore just such a mourning dress now, in honor of the lost Aesir king, and her fingers fiddled with the embroidered hem of the soft cotton.
"It makes me wonder… about my own decisions as a father," Loki mused. "There are certain truths I should have told my own children that I never did. There are decisions I should have granted them that I withheld. I regret that, now. It makes me a hypocrite, I suppose, to have been so angry at my own father for the same failings."
"It is hard, bwana. To be both a king and a father or a brother or a son. I wonder, sometimes, if there was another way. A way my uncle did not have to die so my cousin did not have to burn in his hatred and pain."
"Aye. I wonder that, as well. What would our lives have been like if we had known about our sister? What would she have grown to be, if raised differently than she was? If she were born last rather than first or if we had grown alongside each other… there are so many paths our lives could have taken."
"It is true. How do we live so that we do not regret the paths we have chosen?" Shuri answered. "I must confess. I feel so guilty."
"About what?"
"That I am relieved it is T'Challa who still lives… I loved my father. I loved him with my whole heart… but I could not bear to lose my brother. To lose both… I could not… I thought about what it would have been for my father to live and T'Challa to remain dead and I feel so guilty at how relieved I am that it is T'Challa that lives."
Loki sighed. "That is a sentiment that I can all too readily comprehend, though I suppose I do not have the corresponding feeling of guilt. Perhaps I should feel guilty, but I do not."
"I thought, of anyone, you might understand it. They talk about 'survivor's guilt' and the feeling people have when they survive a tragedy while others did not…"
"I think, we must also cling to the truth that it could have been far, far worse. How much more could have been lost, if events had progressed differently, if the Stones had not been destroyed…"
"Ni kweli. It is true," Shuri answered.
They fell silent for a time. They watched as an eagle dove for a fish in the river and as the morning sun wove rainbows into the spray of the cataract. The morning crept onwards and the sun warmed the land, casting heat and new life along the banks of the river. Then, it was Shuri who spoke again. "Well, you are now a king without a kingdom and we are a secret kingdom that is not so very secret. What becomes of us now?"
"I suppose we must figure out a new path… though I do not envy your brother the way forward."
"I think the feeling is mutual."
"I would imagine so…. Though, it could have been far worse," he said, a familiar mischievous glint in his eye.
"How so?" She asked.
"It could have been you on the throne."
Shuri threw her head back and laughed heartily, a sound that cascaded down the valley and into the waterfall's roar. "Too true, bwana. Too true!"
Oooooo
From her stance on a rocky ledge, Shuri gazed downwards into shallow waters of the pool. Each of the tribes congregated there in full ceremonial garb, chanting and ululating and drumming with all their strength, as their ancestors had done for generations upon generations. She delighted in the cataract of sounds and eyes and expectations and her heart nearly burst with joy as she looked down into the center of it all. She looked down where her brother stood, ready to be crowned king again.
She did not mourn the loss of the Black Panther strength or the responsibilities that had been placed on her during her cousin's temporary absence from Wakanda. She most especially did not miss her cousin.
It only took a few weeks for enough evidence to be gathered to warrant the arrest of Eric N'Jadaka Stevens for regicide. He faced criminal charges in both Wakanda and America as well as several other nations and Wakanda was only too glad for an excuse to remove him from the throne. While Shuri said they should throw him to the crocodiles, he was still a member of the royal family and thus he would face a proper trial, like any other former monarch and that would decide his fate.
This left Wakanda ready to receive the recently restored and strengthened T'Challa to its empty throne. Her brother stood in his ceremonial coronation garb, his shoulders strong, his head high, his bright smile glistening in the midday sun.
T'Challa stood, strong and tall and as courageous as a lion. It was he who would lead Wakanda and rule in the footsteps of their father. He stood like the king he was always meant to be and she could not have been prouder.
Ramonda's calabash eyes glimmered with tears and long sorrow painted shadows of melancholy across her beautiful face. Her griefs of recent days could fill all of Lake Victoria twice over and still have enough tears to fill the Nile, too. Yet, her son lived and Wakanda continued and so Ramonda could not mourn for long. She smiled back at Shuri and looked down on her son with all the pride of a lioness and she joined in the cheers again.
All the tribes gathered, wearing the symbols of their people, their voices joined together in support of their king. It was time for there battle for succession to begin.
It was tradition. They had to defend the realm against all foes and rivals and the ceremonial battle for the throne prevented large-scale civil wars and conflicts over succession. On a small scale, they symbolically fought for the throne and the deaths of the would-be monarchs were seen as a worthy sacrifice to prevent the death of the Kingdom and its denizens.
She waited, every nerve and sense both heightened and dissolved by the roar of the waters and the sounds of the crowd.
Is there any member of a royal blood who wishes to challenge for the throne?
Those words reverberated through her ears louder than even her own heartbeat. She strained to hear the inevitable footsteps and the boastful acceptance of the challenge.
No one stepped forward. Not a single challenger. When the allotted time had passed, Zuri declared T'Challa king. Then, each cliff face exploded into cheers and cries which echoed off of the rocks and made the air come alive with joy. It glistened off their faces and overflowed from their tongues and they stood united as a people in support of their king.
"Wakanda forever!" their people shouted as they saluted to their king.
When the ceremony ended, the feasting began. The streets of Birnin Zana overflowed with food and music and dancing. No work would happen this day and very little sleep would find them that night. There was a new king and the people of Wakanda needed to welcome the birth of the next era of Wakanda.
During the night's festivities, Shuri came across a figure in the shadows. He warily watched all that went on around him but he failed to take part in much other than tasting the various foods offered to him. Shuri sought him out, dragging him from the shadows by the arm.
"Eh, bwana, I am no longer Black Panther. I believe our marriage is now dissolved," she said with a wide, dimpled smile.
"More's the pity," Bucky Barnes responded. "You hadn't even managed your first husband yet."
"I am afraid your opportunity as second consort to the queen has passed. What occupation shall you seek now?"
"Well, Steve asked me if I want to join him saving the world," Bucky responded.
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him I'm retired. I think I would much rather pursue a career in farming. I have a very healthy herd of goats just waiting for my return and I think my crop of maize is nearly ready to harvest."
Shuri laughed. "The farming tribe will be well-pleased. Do you think you will ever return? To your home, I mean? Not Brooklyn, of course, since it is not there anymore, but I mean the U.S.?"
He shrugged. "Maybe. Not yet, though. I need a break. I want to watch the flamingos and chameleons for awhile, you know. What about you? Do you have a new occupation, now that you are no longer Black Panther and fighting aliens across different planets?"
"Ah, yes," she said, her eyes lighting up in delight. "With the amount of data the daktari has gathered through all her interstellar journeys, I have enough data to keep me busy in my lab for the next three generations! Oh, I do not believe I will be able to sleep for the next year! It is too, too exciting!"
"I'm glad," he said.
"I only wish I could convince Dr. Foster to stay. She is too, too useful. I ask her a single question and she spares me days and days of experiments."
"Dr. Foster is leaving, then?" He asked. "I haven't seen her for a few days."
"She has not said she is leaving, but I know she is leaving. Have you not seen how she follows the mgeni around? No, when Loki leaves, she will follow, though I do not know if she knows that yet."
"Where will they go?"
"I do not know. Now that T'Challa is king, they have more time and a bit more freedom. The people are still wary of them, but as long as they do not come into the city, they will accept their presence. Loki and Heimdall are searching the stars for a new home. I do not know what exactly that means. I tried to ask them, but they could not explain it in a way other than 'Heimdall sees all' and that is not something I can measure in my lab. It is very irritating. I tried to convince Heimdall to let me scan his eyes but he would not. He is not as obedient as you."
Bucky laughed. "We can't all be obedient guinea pigs to mad scientists."
Shuri sighed and then grinned. "It is good you are remaining then," she said. "I need at least one guinea pig for my lab."
Author's notes: Well, there we have it. I will follow up with an epilogue soon. Here's your chance to point out any loose ends you wish cleared up, questions you wish answered, or endings you wish to see happen. Let me know what you would like to see in the epilogue, and I'll see what I can do.