Revamped!
[This was supposed to be two separate chapters but I'm just combining them as one. Also, is the last chapter for 2017. More info about that at the end].
Chapter 80: A Hug Down Memory Lane
Iqadi's Jet - 13:45 PM
Everyone is on Iqadi's jet, flying back to SHIELD. The jet is set on autopilot and everyone lies on the floor or against the walls or seats just taking a moment to breathe from those intense battles. Once they've restored enough energy, they all drop their weapons. Everyone is soaked with a mixture of the ocean water, sweat, and blood, both of which are filled with salt. They pull out several first-aid kits to start treating their wounds and replenishing fluids.
"The security on the island is back up and I just sent a message to SHIELD about sending agents there as we speak," Emily says. "By the way, Xavier, Agent Vander's still waiting for that postcard."
Everyone is now at ease, knowing that no villains will be following them for revenge or worse, escaping towards the first civilian population they could find.
Imanu looks stern yet kindly as he hands the gun back to Angela, handle first.
"You could keep it if you want," Angela says.
"I don't want it," Imanu replies. "Nor do I intend to put myself when I might want it. I'm a pacifist. If I wanted to endorse violence or weapons as a first option, I would have sent my military straight towards the island in full force."
Everyone is silent. And to think that they threw so much shade at him or refusing to hold a gun. Iqadi smiles at him, rubbing his shoulder, charmed at him calling the military as his own with such certitude. Then, she turns to her friends and hugs each of them tightly, minding their wounds. Lastly, she goes to hug Apollo whom she hasn't seen for the longest time (and having been debriefed on her Sigyn dream and his arrival).
Apollo hugs her back, smiling happily. He doesn't have his full memory on Iqadi but he knows and feels enough emotively to recognize that he has a warm platonic bond with her like he has with the others. As he pats down on Iqadi's thick black hair, he parts from her and suddenly sees Freya standing in her place. Freya Sorsdottir, the girl from Asgard whom he deeply fancies and took as his prom date. She stands in Vanaheim wearing her Asgardian armour, not a prom dress, and he's suddenly standing next to her. Her eyes meet his and they fill up with tears. Apollo's chest feels heavy. He's suddenly unable to breathe.
Freya screams. It's the scream he couldn't distinguish from his earlier flashback from back on the beach. He watches Freya as she starts to run with her sword held high. Apollo turns around to see where she's going and he sees Freya running closer to Sigyn who has the Serpent Crown on her head.
Apollo suddenly breaks away from the hug, pushing Iqadi away. Iqadi looks at him in shock, her chest moves up and down in short yet deep breaths.
"What's wrong?" Iqadi asks him softly. "What happened?"
Apollo is silent for a second. "Nothing. I'm fine."
"You have a tear rolling down your face."
Apollo takes an angry breath as he looks at her. He didn't want to be noticed crying because not only did it show an addition of weakness to his already vulnerable state, but he didn't even realize that he was crying. He wipes it away before simmering down.
"I am my own trigger," Apollo explains to her.
"Why did you knock me over on the island when I was summoning lightning?" Iqadi asks.
Apollo takes a breath. "I had visions of Sigyn wearing The Serpent Crown. I've been having them since I got here. Whenever she'd wear it, her eyes turned opaque like yours did when she wore it. I had no idea what I was doing but I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach so I acted on it. I then learned that your eyes meant good intentions."
Angela steps in. "Why didn't you tell us you were seeing Sigyn?"
Apollo hesitates. He had no reason as to why he didn't tell them. In his defence, he had no idea about anything going on. Aside from that, there was a much more important question in the back of his mind that had to be answered.
"How did you know to come find me?" Apollo asks them.
Nobody answers.
-o-
SHIELD Headquarters - 16:17 PM
The moment they arrived at SHIELD, Apollo bolts from his friends and none of them followed since they know he wants is to be alone. He arrives in some random agent's empty office balcony. He stands by himself, leaning on the rails that overlook the city. Apollo brushes his hair back with his fingers as the wind blows in his face.
His body trembles as his mind works through the many questions he has and the little information he has for answers.
All his flashbacks have one thing in common - Sigyn with the Serpent Crown. Who was Sigyn? What was that crown? And why did he get a bad feeling from the two of them together?
This all just makes him think of Asgard and what happened up there that resulted in him coming to Midgard with no recollection of the past seven years. Not only does he want answers but he wants his parents to hug him and tell him that everything is okay although he doubts that to be true.
-o-
While Apollo was taking some time for himself, the others locked themselves in one of the lounges. They need no interruptions or distractions for what they're about to do next. They inform Iqadi about everything that happened since they found Apollo in more detail. She smiles a little learning that she was added to the list of whom Apollo has beaten up. She accepts the information without any additional questions since there was a lot more to discuss.
"Okay, time to cleanse the room from this emotional crap," Merida states, holding her hands out so everyone sees. "Let's converse calmly since we're always incapable of keeping silent."
"We need to do something about Apollo," Angela says. "I know that we can't but we have to try something."
"Maybe his head trauma wasn't due to a physical matter," Iqadi guesses.
"We assumed that from a medical examination Daniel and I did when he first got here," Emily says.
"Mere test results and hypotheses are nothing if you don't know what you're looking for. Anything would make sense because you're desperate for an answer. You all didn't see the look Apollo had in his eyes when he pinned me down on the island. He looked as if he was about to kill me."
"I got that look took," Daniel mutters.
"Same," Xavier adds.
"There's the slim chance that Apollo does know everything but he's just not telling us," Angela says.
Iqadi shrugs. "Someone extremely powerful must've done all this."
"Britney," Merida states without hesitation.
Saying that name in the middle of all this created a silence in the room that could be cut with a knife. Everyone shifts in their spots uncomfortably.
"Why would Britney do something like that?" James asks her.
Merida opens her arms as if her statement was obvious. "Apollo supposedly has no memory of Britney. Also, we all had that dream with her in it the night Apollo came when she said to rescue him. Not to mention that he's hallucinating her with the creepy crown!"
"Britney saying to save Apollo means nothing about Britney doing all this," James explains to Merida.
"Typical criminals leave no evidence that they did a crime and will try to allude you to thinking differently," Merida explains. "Did SHIELD Academy's criminology classes teach you nothing?"
"It's wrong to accuse Britney since she isn't even here," Xavier says. He looks to see Merida opening her mouth to argue. "And don't you dare say I'm being biased because I love her."
Merida closes her mouth. He knows that she'll call him bias because he loves her.
"Why isn't Britney here?" Daniel questions although nobody could answer that. "If Asgard is in trouble, you'd think they would keep their prince around to help. This is supporting the fact that Britney did it."
"I'm believing it too," Emily says. "Maybe Britney did something godawful on Asgard and sent Apollo away so she wouldn't be punished for it."
"Exactly!" Merida exclaims. "Thor did say that Apollo and Britney left Asgard. He'd know if they were here so my theory is that they went somewhere else first and then Britney did something, and now he's here with no memories."
"Britney would never do such a thing," Angela states. "Emily, Merida, your statement has way more flaws than conclusions. Why would she send Apollo away? Thor and Jane would be the ones to punish her."
"Apollo was the witness."
Emily nods. "Besides, where were she and Apollo in the last seven years?"
Everyone is silent again because it's true. Apollo and Britney haven't been seen since their high school graduation for reasons that are still unknown at the moment. Not even Apollo could answer that. They look at one another to see if anyone has an idea.
"Sometimes," Iqadi starts, "the greatest threats are the ones right in front of you and we can never know what they're truly capable of. Maybe Britney did whatever it was because she had no choice."
"What do you mean?" Angela asks.
"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices no matter the cost and keep it a secret to protect the others."
They realize that she has a point. Apollo could be blessed by not knowing, but that just begs the question of what it is he doesn't know.
"There's something we didn't bring up," Xavier says although he doesn't want to. "There's only one way this could make sense without Britney doing anything and why he's hallucinating her."
"Why?" Angela asks.
Xavier's voice shakes. "He killed her."
Nobody says anything. As much as they don't want to believe that, is Britney's death a better outcome than her becoming evil on them? They can't answer that. At least if Britney was alive and evil, she could come back.
"Ugh, why does everything have to be so complicated?" Emily groans.
"Because we're growing up," Xavier responds.
"I didn't ask for that."
"None of us did," James pipes in. "Especially in this way."
"We'll figure it out together," Xavier reassures.
Daniel clears his throat. "I just want to point out that at graduation, we learned that Britney was the most powerful sorceress of all The Realms and that Apollo was destined to kill her. Like Xavier said, there's the possibility that their prophecy happened and maybe that's why Apollo is here with no memory. Or Britney's just trying to avoid it from happening to a larger degree."
"As much as I don't want to think that, it's possible."
"Freya would know," Emily says.
"Would Freya have let this happen?" Daniel asks.
Emily shrugs. Freya might not have been there when all that chaos went down.
"Despite that, we can't be divided on this issue," Xavier states. "You either believe that Britney did it or that she didn't. Let's take a vote."
Out of the seven of them that voted, four believed that Britney caused all this and three think not. Although they didn't want to be divided on this, their beliefs were pretty much split down the middle.
-o-
Iqadi spots her husband in the hallways of SHIELD. She takes his arm and escorts him through the headquarters. Once they approach a secluded area of SHIELD with few agents passing by, Iqadi drops her smile and faces her husband before speaking in their Wakandian dialect so nobody around them can understand what they're about to discuss.
"I think Apollo knows there's something bitter with my arrival," Iqadi whispers.
"That's ridiculous," Imanu replies.
"I triggered two memories that left him scarred. The first made him tackle me and the second left him crying. Tell me that's not true."
Imanu pauses. "Those memories had nothing to do with you. They were with his cousin."
"Answer quickly when you want me to believe you."
Imanu doesn't respond. Iqadi sighs, needing to change the topic. Maybe she's becoming paranoid.
"How did you know that the Iqadi with you on the island was a fraud?" Iqadi asks him. That question has been on her mind since it happened.
"It was when the fraud kissed me."
Iqadi is surprised that's the reason. "How so?"
"The one who took your face kissed me with a confidence I've never seen you with before. Now, I'm not one to talk about confidence as a quality but I know it when I see it, especially when it's yours. Iqadi, my dear, I know you love me but sometimes it feels like you're scared to do so."
Iqadi looks away from him.
"Did you pick me all those years ago out of love?" Imanu asks her, in a tone that hints he already knows the answer.
"In the moment, yes," she responds softly. "I've never been in love before you so I don't know how to play the role of a wife, especially since being a princess is already a lot to handle at once. Not to mention that our love was so sudden. I wanted to be a perfect wife for you and after the newlywed phase, I felt as if I was doing it right until, well, you know."
He smiles, understanding. "Iqadi, we weren't ready at the time so please, don't hate yourself for something that wasn't your fault in any way."
"You say that a lot."
"You need to hear it a lot."
Iqadi looks at him. "Why are you so perfect?"
Imanu scoffs. "I'm not. I'm in the same situation of imperfection as you. I don't know how to be a prince, let alone a king. I left the country when I was the only royal there!"
She laughs a little. Imanu is happy to see her smile again.
"Speaking of Wakanda, I should head back," Imanu tells her. "I have to keep your story intact for when your parents return but it should be easier now that Apollo's here."
Iqadi nods. "I still have to locate my stolen property."
"I told you back in Wakanda that your friends can find it since they know the land better."
"They can't know that it exists and you know that better than anyone else. It shouldn't have been taken under such circumstances."
"It shouldn't have been taken, period. You and I both know that it has already been tested out and it's successful."
"I know. We fixed it or thought we did. Another reason I fell in love with you because you helped me finish it since that was the night I chose you for myself."
Imanu is stunned. "What should I do to help?"
"Return to Wakanda before my parents do and act as if nothing is wrong. When my parents ask, tell them I went to America solely because Apollo arrived, as you said. I don't need them to think I left because Wakanda is vulnerable."
"That way, you're not caught in a lie yet not telling the full truth either."
"Precisely. I'll return soon."
She kisses him on the cheek.
Imanu holds her close to where she kissed. "Take all the time you need but just come back home alive."
Iqadi smiles. "I love you so much that even death can't keep me from you."
His palm smooths over her cheek again, drifting along until he catches her jawline and traces it with his fingers. He tilts her head upwards and kisses scar that his stitches left behind and that's when she pulls him into a real kiss. When they part, Iqadi smiles wholeheartedly at him.
"Now you know how I kiss, my darling," she tells him.
[That chapter was A LOT.
I'm such Iqadi and Imanu trash. Also, based on the earlier conversation with the whole group, you could probably guess who voted for what in the Britney survey.
This next arc will be another turning point for the story since it will answer the following questions: Back when Merida's parents were kidnapped while on a mission, who was the one that sent them? Who made that virus that separated Daniel and his Hulk? Where is Ivory Gates and what is she up to? Where is Sigyn and what is she up to? And why is Iqadi really in America?
Find out in February 2018!]
