The Selection, MCU Crossover Royalty AU

CHAPTER FIVE

THE INTERVIEW

CHAPTER WORD COUNT: 1201

I forced a smile onto my face as I balanced a plate with a sandwich and sliced fruit on my lap. Much to my surprise, the other Selected women were sweet and kind to me- cousins Peggy and Sharon Carter, Daisy Johnson with her jittery eyes, Chinese born Melinda May, hyper go happy Darcy Lewis, kind worded Jane Foster, Ruby Hale with her unsmiling lips, Jemma Simmons with her wayward brown curls, Natasha Romanoff with her soft accented words, Staff Sergeant Carol Danvers with her way of walking that commanded respect, sisters Gamora and Nebula Titan, pale haired Yelena Bolova and sweet worded Kamala Khan. I had snuck on my tattered boots before leaving my bedroom suite, on edge from years of raids.

Phil Coulson was conducting the interview, the other Selected sitting in two neat rows behind the interview podium, Yelena codeswitching between English and Russian. I focused my attention onto my fingernails, short and jagged from being chewed on whenever anxiety would hit me.

"Yelena Bolova, everyone!" Phil ended the interview, sending the girl back to her seat next to Natasha. He smiled charmingly into the camera that was recording everything and broadcasting live across television screens across the nation. "Coming up after the commercial break, we get to know more about Lady Rosebella Swan."

Everyone's eyes were suddenly on me, making me feel extremely self-conscious of myself. Even though I was dressed in a nice dress with my hair tied back in a loose braid, I still felt so naked and exposed.

"Come, come now!" Phil coaxed me gently, and I stood up on shaking legs and made my way over towards him with my heart thudding wildly in my chest. "Here, you can set that plate up right up here now."

He patted the table that separated the both of us from one another, where I settled my food. Before settling myself into a comfortable position.

"You are allowed to be nervous," he coached me in a gentle tone. "But I do think that it would be best for you to show people that you are nervous- after all, people see you as a fish out of water."

"What are you on about?" I asked him, taking his device from him, where I saw a live video playing of the interview. I rewound a few seconds previously and saw that when he announced who was next up to be interviewed, it was footage of me fighting bandits back in Wakanda, dirt and grit on my face as arrow after arrow left my bow, deadly and fierce. All in all, the videography was expressive and told a story in the short ten seconds of the segment.

"How do you feel?" he asked me quietly, leaning in to better hear me as someone came up with a microphone to hook me up.

I shrugged, my nerves on high alert as I was fitted, my mind in a clear set fight or flight mode.

"And we're back again! Joining me is Lady Rosabella Swan of Wakanda!"

I knew that this was my cue to say something, but I could only blink slowly.

Phil paused for a moment to give me time to speak if I wanted before rolling into his short introduction.

"Coming from the small town of Wakanda, located just on the outskirts of Brooklyn, Lady Rosabella Swan comes from a tight knit community where bandits hunt and kill as they please. Armed with her trusty bow and arrow, this warrior queen is not afraid to do whatever it takes to defend those who she loves."

I wrinkled my nose at his descriptive quip, and he caught it.

"So do tell me, how you felt about being among the fifteen other Selected?" he asked me first.

"I didn't know until the king and the princes rolled up to Wakanda with the news," I answered after a moment's hesitation. "No one in Wakanda has a TV or a radio. Those are considered as luxuries, and we didn't have the time of day for anything like that."

"Oh." Here, Phil blinked, having been taken completely by surprise by my blunt answer. "What is your favorite childhood memory?"

"I don't really have those either," I confessed sheepishly. "But I remember when I first killed a bandit- I threw up everything that I'd eaten for breakfast just a few short hours beforehand and was unable to sleep for four nights in a row."

"Oh my…" I felt bad for breaking the man.

"Wakanda is not for the faint at heart, I can say that much," I chuckled humorlessly. "There was only one cow, so milk was almost always rationed, along with eggs, meats and breads. Clothings were patched time and time again until they were practically being held together by thread. My favorite pair of boots are being held together by duct tape- look here now!" I raised the skirt of the pretty dress I was wearing to show off my favorite boots, pieced together with endless strips of duct tape. "Education was deemed worthless- our first priority was surviving, and what use would being able to read a book be if we weren't able to do that? I would often go to bed three or four days in a row without food in my belly just to ensure that everyone at least had a little bit to eat."

I could tell that everyone was staring at me in horror at the clear picture I was painting for them.

"I'm an orphan thanks to the bandits. We would get hit by them, seemingly almost every other day, sometimes up to two or three times in a single day. They have one thing only on their minds- kill. They killed my da, and they dragged my mom off and they-" I choked, forcing myself not to cry. "There's not a day that passes by when I don't hear her screams echoing in my head."

Several gasps reached my ears as the only tear slid down my face.

"We didn't have much, but what all we had, we shared with one another; clothes, food and tools alike," I finished up, hating how vulnerable I was.

The entire room was silent for a few minutes, the stillness only breaking when a bloodied figure tumbled into the room.