3. In Memory of Chadwick Boseman:
Here is my tribute to Chadwick Boseman, aka T'Challa/Black Panther, who sadly passed away three years ago.
A few spoilers for Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Wakanda Forever.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Black Panther characters.
—
Ramonda walked through the Golden City with a heavy heart, watching as the grieving people prepared for the funeral. Her only son's funeral.
The Queen had already experienced this grief several years earlier when she lost both her children to the Mad Titan's decimation, but that did not make it any easier this time around. The knowledge that T'Challa would not return this time only made it worse. 'It was not fair,' she wanted to yell at Bast and any other gods that would listen. He had been too young. Far too young. He should have had many more years ahead of him, long after she had passed. 'No parent should have to bury their child', she thought bitterly.
Despite her devastation, she still felt great pride for her son, and the strength and bravery he had maintained to the very end. No matter the hardships he faced, T'Challa had not let anything stop him from protecting Wakanda and from always doing the right thing. No one could deny that he had been a good man and a great king.
And as she watched the people around her, she knew that they had all seen and appreciated it too, and that they would never forget the things he had done for them all.
Gathering the strength to maintain her composure, Ramonda continued to oversee the preparations.
—
Standing with the rest of the Dora Milaje in guard around the Royal Family, Okoye mourned for her fallen friend and king.
During the time she'd known T'Challa, she had fought alongside him and protected him from many threats. Yet after all that, she'd had to watch helplessly as he succumbed to his illness. Logically, she knew there was nothing she could have done, yet she still felt like she'd failed her duties to her king.
Along with her feelings of failure, she also felt a deep personal grief for the loss. T'Challa had been more than her king, but one of her closest friends. She remembered fondly all the times they'd teased and bantered with each other, and all the support they'd given each other during their harder times.
Looking towards the queen and princess, she resolved that she would not fail them, and would continue to support them throughout their reign.
—
M'Baku marched at the head of the Jabari Tribe to join the rest of the congregation, sharing in their grief.
If he had been asked a decade earlier if he would ever mourn for the Wakandan king, he would have scoffed at the idea. He still remembered the disdain he had once felt for the then-Prince T'Challa, back when the Jabari were seen as outcasts by the rest of the tribes. Yet many things had changed since he had spared M'Baku's life after his challenge for the throne, and since he returned the favour by helping to overthrow the warmongering usurper. Now the Jabari were fully integrated into the rest of Wakandan society, and M'Baku had become proud to call T'Challa a friend.
Looking towards the remaining living members of the Royal Family, M'Baku vowed that, like he had once done during the years of the Blip, he would do what he could to help them protect Wakanda and maintain T'Challa's vision.
—
Standing under the watchful eye of his guard, W'Kabi watched and listened to the funeral, mourning for his former friend and regretting the loss of his chance to make amends.
He fondly looked back on the years of friendship he had once shared with T'Challa, and felt great shame for throwing it all away when he betrayed him for N'Jadaka. Their friendship had not truly recovered from that, and now W'Kabi would have to live with that.
He was grateful to his wife Okoye for persuading for him to be allowed to attend the funeral, arguing that he had cooperatively faced the consequences for his actions and felt genuinely remorseful. He vowed that he would not let her and Wakanda down again, and that he would serve to maintain the Wakanda that T'Challa had made.
—
Everett Ross stood amongst the small group from America attending the funeral, quietly observing the ceremony.
Officially he was there to help with the relations between the US and Wakanda, as some tension was beginning to build between the two countries. But personally he also grieved for the fallen king.
He remembered how after receiving his injury from Killmonger's attack, T'Challa could have kept his country's technological advancements secret by allowing him to die. Yet instead he had taken him back to Wakanda to have him healed, despite risking the exposure of Wakanda's secrets to the rest of the world.
Everett thought of T'Challa as a good and honourable man for it, and would forever feel grateful and indebted towards the Wakandans and would be willing to help them if they ever needed it.
—
Standing alongside several other Avengers and allies, Bucky stood silently, stewing in his grief and shame. Sam stood beside him, supportive as always.
Bucky thought back to when the Wakandan king had first offered to help him. T'Challa could have easily given him up to the United Nations to be taken into custody, and given the situation at the time it would have been understandable. Yet whether out of compassion or out of guilt for previously targeting him for misplaced revenge, he had gone against the UN and offered Bucky sanctuary in Wakanda, and also helped remove the Winter Soldier programming HYDRA had put into his head. Bucky remembered the then-unfamiliar and overwhelming sense of joy and relief he had felt when Ayo spoke those dreaded activation words and they finally stopped working, and he knew he'd never be able to repay the debt he owed the Wakandans.
Yet how had he repaid their generosity? By breaking free from prison the man that murdered their previous king.
Bucky had only done so in order to track down the new source of Super Soldier Serum, and he had helped the Wakandans recapture Zemo afterwards. Yet that didn't stop him from feeling guilty when a number of them looked at him with anger and betrayal. He accepted it though, and knew it would take time to regain their trust.
He took solace in that he hadn't alienated them completely, and that some of them were still welcoming towards him and had allowed him to attend.
Remembering the great man that T'Challa had been, Bucky vowed that he would never let him down or dishonour him again.
—
Shuri stood beside her mother, listening to the numerous people who spoke in honour of T'Challa, trying to keep her composure as she mourned for her brother.
The Wakandan princess, once filled with life and joy, now felt like she was drowning in her grief for her beloved brother. All throughout her life, he had always been there. She remembered them playing together when she was a kid. She remembered them teasing and bantering with each other. She remembered the pranks she pulled on him. She remembered him testing and using the devices and armoured suits she designed for him. She remembered the love and support they had towards one another. It agonised her to know that he was now gone and would not be coming back.
She also felt full of bitterness over her failure to save him. The moment she'd learned of his illness she'd resolved to find a solution, and had dedicated every moment of his remaining days to striving for that goal. She remembered the shear desperation she'd felt during her attempts to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb to use to cure him, only to have no success. She regretted both her failure to recreate the herb, and also her missing her chance to see T'Challa one last time before the end.
Shuri tried to swallow down the bitterness, not wanting it to consume her like vengeance had once consumed her cousin, and struggled to focus on grieving healthily and remembering the good times she'd shared with her brother.
—
Far away in Haiti, Nakia held her own funeral for her boyfriend. She sat by the beach outside her home, tears rolling down her face as she mourned once again for the man she had loved, wishing she had had more time with him.
'It had not been fair,' she thought. They had had so little time together before the Snap took him and half the world away, then upon their return it wasn't long before he became sick.
Along with her grief, Nakia also felt proud of the man T'Challa had become. Thanks to the crisis with Killmonger, T'Challa had come to the same realisation as Nakia that Wakanda needed to change its former isolationist ways and reach out to help the rest of the world. In those few years they had done a lot with their outreach programs, and while Nakia had left her positions and moved away, she still did what she could to help at the nearby school and orphanages.
And while her lover may have passed on, his legacy would live on in those who loved him. In his people. In his family back in Wakanda. And in her son Toussaint, born Prince T'Challa, son of King T'Challa.
—
Stepping out into the green valley for the third and final time, T'Challa strode forwards, looking around at the now familiar surroundings. He had not intended to be back so soon, but in his last months had come to accept it and made peace with his upcoming death, and attempted to prepare his family for it.
His reign as King had been during a rather tumultuous time for Wakanda. He had had to step up quicker than expected during the aftermath of the Lagos incident as well as his father's death. Then his coronation was quickly followed by the brief civil war instigated by his murderous cousin, and two years later his country became the battlefield of a devastating war with genocidal aliens. Despite all this, Wakanda had stood strong, and at long last had opened itself up to the rest of the world. T'Challa felt proud over what his people had accomplished, and hoped they would continue to be okay. He hoped his ancestors would also be proud, though even if they were disappointed by his change of their old policies, he stood by the things he'd said when he called them out for turning their backs on the world.
He worried for how his surviving loved ones would handle losing him, and hoped they would make peace with it before long. Wakanda was in good hands with his mother remaining in charge, and Nakia would take great care of their son. He particularly worried about his sister, who was stubbornly determined to find a solution that would save him and could not accept that he would pass. He prayed to Bast to watch over them all and guide them through their grief.
In the distance, T'Challa saw his ancestors in their panther forms. As he approached them, one of them transformed into a man as he had in T'Challa's previous visits here. His father watched T'Challa walk towards him, smiling with a look of pride and love on his face.
"Welcome home, my son," T'Chaka said.
T'Challa smiled back, ready to join his ancestors. He took on the form of a panther and raced out with them across the Ancestral Plane.
Death was not the end, but a stepping off point. He reached out with both hands to Bast and Sekhmet, to be led to the green veld where he could run forever.
—
This is my tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who sadly succumbed to his four-year battle with colon cancer on August the 28th, 2020.
RIP Chadwick Aaron Boseman (November 29, 1976 - August 28, 2020). You will never be forgotten.
Wakanda Forever!
