Oh boy, this chapter is a big one. I had to listen to many sad songs to get in the mood to write it. We'll find out by the end if I was crying.

Year Two: Trouble in Paradise

People want the most desirable partners they can get. But it's threatening when they realize that their dream person can do better if they really wanted to. In all the wild worlds, there's no one more desperate than someone on the verge of losing love. And, truth be told, the dream partners probably do deserve someone better, but nobody wants to wake up to their faces as much as their fearful ones.

Nobody.

-o-

Three Years Ago - Foster House

It was an emergency so Apollo had to break through his front door (not literally, the door was still on his hinges. His mom would be pissed otherwise. All he did was open it swiftly and catch it before it crashed into the wall, but did it with some loud sound so people would think he broke through). He looks over where he sees movement and notices Britney jumping from her spot on the couch. She didn't expect that. That's the moment he realizes nobody trespassed into his house. What a waste of his heroic abilities. He closes the door and heads over to Britney. As she readjusts her position on the couch, he takes a seat on the arm.

Apollo looks at his cousin. Ever since she broke up with Xavier, things have been weird. Well, things were always weird when she was around but her breakup drove a tense wedge through their social circle. But she was a wreck which he didn't get because she dumped him, which he also didn't get.

See? She's weird.

"What the fuck was that?" Britney questions about his whole charade.

"I thought you were having a psychotic breakdown," Apollo responds, sliding down to sit next to her.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you called me to say hi. That's weird."

"So you can give a small shit about me but I can't do the same for you?"

"Give me a warning next time."

Britney rolls her eyes. "You're impossible."

Apollo copies her attitude for a moment. Then, he becomes serious. "Can we talk about your breakup?"

He knows she doesn't want to but this is important. If anyone can save their relationship, their social lives, it's him. This is what his heroic abilities should be doing. His only issue is that Britney doesn't seem willing to cooperate.

"If you gave a shit about me, you wouldn't ask," Britney tells him.

"I give a shit about you but not that much," Apollo responds.

Britney shrugs. "How's Xavier doing?"

"He's doing as well as you."

Not well at all.

-o-

Present Day - Wakanda's Palace - 20:03 PM

"Are you okay?" Iqadi asks her husband.

From the other side of their bed, Imanu looks up at Iqadi. Her arms are crossed and her face is serious. He knows that she doesn't beat around the bush and this is one of those moments, but he thought she wouldn't notice this time. Imanu thought it would've passed and faded over time. But the certitude in her voice indicates that she already knows the answer.

"You haven't been since the ritual," Iqadi says. Her face softens a little with her voice. "Was it because it was your first official one?"

"No, no," Imanu says, walking around to be on her side. Her arms lower to her sides. "It's just that I was trying to understand it."

Iqadi raises a brow. "Understand it how?"

"Understand why it exists. I can get behind why you do it. It allows fairness and gives every tribe a right. But I know how people are around here. It's a fight to the deaths."

"What are you trying to say?" She will get him to stop beating around the bush. It contrasts how she's very blunt when conversing.

"Why don't you abolish it?" He suggests.

Iqadi's mouth opens in shock. She's speechless. That's the moment Imanu realizes the err in his words. He just told his wife, the militant and traditionalist heiress to the Black Panther mantle, to get rid of one of Wakanda's oldest traditions. And he can't take it back or say he doesn't mean it. She already heard it and he means it.

"Excuse me?" Iqadi questions, narrowing her eyes a little.

Imanu takes a deep breath. "Any other year, we're all scared on that day. Wakanda could completely shift and our king could be dead."

"Nobody challenged that day!"

"Exactly! Then what's the point of it? Everyone's happy with your father's ruling. Initiating a fight with the country up for grabs is dangerous. You're basically putting Wakanda up for bid like an auction. The highest bidder is now the best fighter."

"It's dangerous but that's why we've been doing," Iqadi reasons. "Warriors aren't the ones who always win but the ones who always fight as if you've never lost. If you can't protect your country, you shouldn't rule it. Our tribe has been doing it for centuries. It would disrespect our god if we would even think about such a thing."

Imanu sighs. "Iqadi, you once told me that your death would affect your family the most because you never want your parents or your people to suffer like that."

Iqadi pauses. She needs a second to process his words, all of them. "That's not fair."

"How so?"

Iqadi hates that she can't think of an answer. He's right but she doesn't want him to be. Her whole life has been around tradition and she never complained because she loved it. She loves training and learning. She loves being able to wield the mantle. She'll lay herself on the wire for Wakanda. She'll get thrown over the falls if she deserves it.

But that won't happen. She's trained ever since she could walk. The most dangerous woman is one who refuses a weapon because she already carries a better and much more powerful one.

But she also loves her husband, her parents, and her country.

"I'll stay with my parents tonight," Imanu says before heading out the door.

"Fine," Iqadi says, watching him go.

She hoped he would stop and change his mind but he doesn't. Iqadi sits on the edge of her bed, lying down and holding back tears.

-o-

Edison Residence - 1:13 AM

If he calls her back now, it's around six in the morning over there. She's either fast asleep, going to sleep or waking up. Any of those scenarios is unfavourable to call her. Daniel even knows that if Emily was awake and debating on calling him. He imagines her looking at her matching screen full of missed calls and unread texts. Should she call him or is he pulling an all-nighter with his textbook, at a bar with James or asleep?

This was so much easier last year because her schedule was more flexible. Now, it's difficult.

Daniel hesitates on attempting a call but he just plugs his phone into his charger.

-o-

Outside of Edison Residence - 2:40 AM

James wonders if it's too late to back out or maybe run back to his dorm and have someone, maybe Keith, tell her that he got too drunk and blacked out. But if he drags it out, it'll get worse. Just rip the bandage off. He walks through the dark, stopping outside his residence when he sees Angela already standing there. It feels like a stab in the heart when she smiles at the moment she sees him. God, he feels terrible. He shouldn't have taken shots before this.

"I'm so sorry," Angela says before he could get a word out.

"It's fine," James says, putting his hands in his back pockets. He isn't sure how to play this normal. It's not like this is his first time doing this, but it feels the worst. "We need to talk."

Angela's face drops. She can sense that something bad will happen but she nods. "About what?"

"About all this."

"Be more specific."

"You have a lot to do and a lot that you want to do. I know you're trying to prove that you're more than your name and your parents because you are. You can do so much more and you should. You have to. I don't want to be in your way for that."

Angela shakes her head. "You're not."

"I am."

"You have an ego but even that is extreme for you to believe."

It's now or never because she won't stop until she wins this argument. "I'm breaking up with you."

That shut her right up. She looks at him confused and shocked. Angela's brows slightly furrow in the middle, waiting for him to say he's kidding or apologize because that was a dumb way to get her to be quiet. But she straightens her back, lowering her arms by her sides when she realizes that he's serious. No, that's not right. He can't be serious. He's James, he's never serious.

"James, you're drunk," Angela reasons.

"No, no, I've sobered up," he responds.

"You're joking. You're drunk."

"I can walk a straight line and recite the alphabet backwards. I did those on the way here. I'm sober."

"And you came to the conclusion to dump me."

"Suffice to say."

Angela's jaw drops, offended. Suffice to say, get out of here. "Wait, let me get this straight. I don't have that much time for you anymore so then you dump me? You could've just talked to me."

James fans his arms at both of them, showing that this is them talking. "What do you think we're doing now?"

"So you just waited to have sex with me and then dump me when we can't do it as often?"

James scoffs, not believing she took it there but she did. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You're being ridiculous."

"Angela, I would never do that to you."

Angela laughs obnoxiously. "Oh, really?"

"If that was the case, we wouldn't even be dating."

Angela grins at him, showing pettiness as she crosses her arm. She looks like she wants to laugh out of pure, unadulterated malice. It's a frightening look on her. "I guess that's the case now, isn't it?"

James holds out his hands. " … hold on, that's not fair. You're not listening to me."

"Because you're not thinking straight."

"Oh, trust me, I've thought about this! I've thought about everything! Everything that I care about is the only thing I spend my thoughts on. You're the only person that I think of over and over again because I want to be sure of it."

"You once told me that you were sure about me."

"I am."

Angela steps back, opening her hands like him. "Okay, fine. Just like you want, we're done. I hope you're happy because I'm not."

She swiftly turns around and leaves, disappearing into the darkness. James looks down, nodding. That took a while to rip off and he hates it. There's a pulsating pain in his chest that he knows won't get better. Alcohol doesn't help with interior boo-boos. He pulls out his key card and gets inside.

I was in tears by the second sentence of the flashback. I started this chapter, got a headache and started having double vision so I had to stop. Turns out, I cried more during the flashback which is ironic since it's already in another story but modified.

Britney's Counterpart - Chapter 142: (Britney Braun) The Middle Man