#aqua papi

The loss of will had her leasing a small houseboat in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Staying on the water was the only way to keep their liaison a secret from her world. He couldn't come on land without alarming her people, and she couldn't go down into his depths either, so they were forced to meet in the middle far off the Umkhombe Coast.

Anticipating his arrival was always the best part of their unions. She'd dance seductively on the deck, playing the erotic sounds of her favorite joot band, a style of Wakandan music that mixed instrumental sounds with dubbed vocalizations that played with the human voice in strange ways to evoke a hypnotic, romantic mood. Draped in a sheer azure cover-up with nothing else underneath except for a gold-hooped belly chain with matching bracelets on her wrists, Lebadi cranked up the swirling sounds and gyrated her hips with the syncopated rhythms. Tapping her bare feet on the deck with her arms dancing in the air, she snaked her body with sultry rolls of her hips to tease him from the sea.

Sipping on honey wine, she'd grab a handful of a mixture made from dried flower petals, spiced herbs, and brown sugar to rub against her shaved mound so that the scent of her juicy pussy was added. She called it her love offering and sprinkled it into the ocean, helping to entice his arrival sooner.

It always worked.

Humming and swiveling her loose hips, her eyes followed the line of the horizon illuminated by silver moonlight, waiting for the waters to part as her offering sank below the surface.

There!

A ripple breaking the tranquil ocean that grew into a wave rising to the starlight, his taut form bursting through a mountain of dark liquid, wings fluttering… behold… K'uk'ulkan. He flew high above Lebadi's line of sight, floating gently on a balmy breeze toward her, his dashing eyes never leaving her face.

Lebadi danced, twining her arms with slow sinuous motions that gestured for his company. When he landed next to her, she parted her sheer covering and fingered her folds, sharing glimpses of her wet arousal glistening like dew on a gossamer web across her fingertips.

"Namor…" she purred.

He closed his eyes and his nostrils flared, taking in the sweet odor of her swollen folds.

Down he went, on his knees, clasping desperate fingers on her graceful hips.

"In yaakunaj…" he murmured, sliding a fat wet tongue across her stomach before pushing his entire face into her pussy.

"Show me how much you love me, then," she replied with breathless abandon.

"Ch'ujuk," he whispered.

Sweet. That's what she tasted like to him. She kept that pussy sweet and delicious, like a ripe mango, eating plenty of fresh fruit and honey before traveling to see him.

Hot kisses slathered her clit with saliva and his mouth wasted very little time becoming reacquainted with what belonged to him. He sucked and licked her delicate parts, tracing wet silhouettes with an artful tongue tip. She gasped out loud, holding back her release until he told her she had permission to do so.

Standing up, Namor peeled off his skintight shorts, and she helped him unfasten his choker necklace. Tossing it on one of the bolted chairs set up for deep-sea fishing, he led her into the interior of the boat where the luxury stateroom awaited their in-depth union. He slid his fingers on the pearl clasps of her cover-up and pulled it off. Slanting his head to align his mouth with hers properly, his warm belly rested upright against hers, turning their bodies into writhing, serpentine creatures yearning to become one flesh… one being.

The interlocking of their tongues breathed life into her clit and it came alive between her thighs, thumping a staccato rhythm that made her pussy throb in anticipation for deep-rooted dick that would take her far beyond her stimulated senses.

Lebadi dropped to her knees and engulfed his thickening length into her greedy mouth, slurping his dick like it was the last bit of nourishment she would ever have between her full lips. Her neck worked his girth as it stretched her lascivious mouth, making her cheek and jaw muscles exhausted from handling such a thick erection. She made his dick shiny and licked around the head where pre-cum spilled all over her tongue. Namor tasted like the sea and promises of something smoky and rich that she couldn't get enough of. He threaded his fingers through her textured hair, twisting into the heavy locs securely before yanking her head back so her eyes stayed fixed on his face. Fisting his dick, he pressed it against her painted lush mouth, forcing her to lick away the spewing of clear arousal that had his lips twisted up with pleasure.

The man his people called K'uk'ulkan hated surface dwellers.

But he loved her.

The cognitive dissonance was never lost on Lebadi, even with all the libidinous, erotic things he did to her wanton body. She became a willing concubine under his magic touch. He was unpredictable. Dangerous. Irresistible. Their forbidden love was an addiction she couldn't be without. They were both from cultures that prided themselves on secrecy and discretion. Being practically invisible to the rest of mankind kept their people safe… and yet, they chose to be reckless with one another. It made their love illicit and delicious.

His fingers grazed against her cheek as a clap of thunder boomed above them.

"K'iibal cháak," he said. "The thunder… it will bring a strong rain."

"There was a ring around the moon. It won't rain until three days from now," she said.

He sniffed the air.

"Sáamal," he said.

Tomorrow. It would rain sooner than what the gauzy, reddish ring of light around the moon told her. Rain meant poor weather on the water, no lazy day of sunshine, and swimming with him in the open ocean.

He lifted her in his arms and placed her lovingly on the berth they would share. His dick pointed at her with a raging hardness that needed careful tending. She parted her thighs and used her fingers to push open her folds for him. The thick vein on the top of his erection showed the severity of his need. His slit wept pearls of pre-cum onto the berth. His regal bearing looked mystical in the low candlelight she had illuminating the quarters. He crawled onto the bedding and wedged himself between her legs. Gripping the heft of his dick securely, he twisted his fingers under the thick ridge of his frenulum and pushed the wide tip against her slick opening. Her pussy throbbed, letting him see the pink entrance wink open. The sight of it excited him more, and he held his slit closer to her as sizzling ropes of thick cum shot all over her, drenching her folds. It was so hot that she hissed with the intense feeling, wanting more. He gave it, cumming all over her clit, drowning it with a whiteness as creamy as icing on a cake. Namor groaned out loud and aimed his release toward her stomach, where warmer streaks painted her dark brown skin, pooling into her belly button before turning clear and messy all over.

Lebadi whimpered and played with his cum across her vulva. She spanked her glossy folds and Namor growled with pleasure deep inside his throat. Fingering her pussy, she licked his cum off of each fingertip like it was a sugary glaze. He dipped his finger into the sticky heat and traced it along her lips until she swallowed it all. Pushing her legs open wider, he parted the curtains of her inner lips and penetrated the deepest part of Lebadi, forcing the whimpers of happiness to ring in his ears, ushering a pleased smile to his face that lit up his eyes as well. He cradled the side of her neck and pulled out, swiftly thrusting back in again to make sure he hit her spot just right and she clawed his back to let him know he made it.

Linking her ankles around his waist, she panted as he stroked her walls, seeking new pleasure points to rub against, plucking out heavy moans from her mouth. At one point, she couldn't even close her lips, the delicious tugging against her clit weakening her hold on his shoulders. Arching her back, she sought his right earlobe and bit the pointed tip that was so sensitive to the touch. Namor groaned and pistoned his hips faster, the soft wavy pubic hairs of his groin mingling with hers until everything was frothy and wet with sweat and her slickness. The friction caused her to pee a little from the pressure inside and out, but her lover didn't care. He accepted all offerings from her body, everything became lubrication and a sign that he was putting in the necessary work to please her.

The churning water outside couldn't create more waves like the ones he made between the joining of her thighs, fucking her until she was cross-eyed and the cultivated coils in her thick hair flattened. His lips tilted up at the corners like a crescent moon then, pleased with her breathy sighs and pleadings for more until a strange shadow clouded his dark eyes. He stared at her primrose pink opening surrounded by the rich raven brown of her vulva, adoring the contrast of colors her body created compared to his sun-drenched sienna brown. Licking the pebbled nipples on her breasts, Namor thrust forward and cried out her name, his orgasm transforming his face into such sublime beauty that Lebadi wept under him, breaking apart all over his sturdy length.

His warm sweat fell onto her and cooled within seconds. He stayed inside of her pussy, filling it with more cum until he was satisfied that she was sated from clenching all over him.

Namor rested his head on her breasts. His breathing became soft as she fingered his hair. They fell asleep together just as light raindrops fell outside, making a gentle patter on the houseboat's roof. Both of them had been wrong in predicting the weather. No matter, though. Their entangled bodies basked in the afterglow of lovemaking.

The rain splattered harder on the roof.

Lebadi woke up with Namor still asleep on her chest, looking all serene and cozy while she listened to the rainfall outside. The houseboat rocked on the water and she wondered if they should move more inland to avoid larger waves.

His body had cooled on top of hers, and she reached for a thin blanket to cover them.

She stopped.

They weren't alone.

The shadow of a person stood across from them in the stateroom. The candles had burned out, and the moon had shifted its position in the sky, making it difficult to see who watched the forbidden lovers sleep. Lebadi shook Namor awake and his senses went into overdrive immediately. He rose from the berth, blocking her body from the intruder.

"Ba'ax ka beetik?" said a muffled woman's voice in Namor's language.

Namor picked up a small lighter and held it against the wick of a large yellow candle resting on a small wooden dresser. He spoke to the woman with an irritated tone.

"Táan in chan weele'—"

"Jach u yoojel tuus," the woman replied.

Namor flung a dismissive wave of his hand to the stranger and she lunged for him, coming into the light. Most of her face was covered with what looked like a green and blue turtle shell. Her skin was a pale blue color, too, a sharp contrast to the dark wet hair that hung past her shoulders. She had eyes like Namor's. Intense and angry.

"Ko'x!" the woman shouted, grabbing Namor's arm.

He shoved her back and Lebadi jumped out of the berth, grabbing for a pair of panties and a tank top lying across a chair.

"Is this your wife?!" Lebadi screamed, more embarrassed than angry.

Namor lowered his head before shaking it.

"She is not my wife… eetbak'el… same family… my cousin. Namora."

Namora tilted her head and stared at Lebadi with narrowed eyes. Her voice sounded guttural and mean.

"Bix a k'aaba teech?" Namora spat out.

"Do not answer her," Namor said.

Lebadi held her own name on her tongue as Namor commanded. Namora took a closer step, and she moved behind Namor for protection.

"I can't tell you my name," Lebadi said.

"Ma' tu na'tik," Namor said.

"She doesn't understand for real, or are you just saying that to fool me?" Lebadi asked.

Namor grabbed Namora's arm and pulled her outside onto the open deck while still naked, sliding the door shut behind him. Lebadi waited on the berth and listened to them argue. Their passionate voices raged with loud aggression for over an hour. When silence prevailed, she opened the door and stepped out to check on him. The rain had tapered down to a light drizzle, despite the grouping of menacing gray clouds at least a mile away in the sky.

Namora sat on one of the fishing chairs and Namor sat next to her on the other one. Lebadi reached into a cooler near the sliding door and pulled out two bottled waters. She handed one to Namora.

"Uk'ahech? A k'át uk'ul?" Lebadi asked, hoping she pronounced the words 'thirsty' and 'drink' correctly without starting a war of words between the cousins again.

Namora shook her head and waved her hand.

"She can only drink underwater. She can't breathe up here," Namor said.

"Oh," Lebadi said.

She put the bottles back in the cooler and stood near Namor.

"Is everything okay? Why is she so upset?" Lebadi said.

Namor reached for her hand and threaded his fingers with hers. Namora jerked her head away as if the show of affection disgusted her.

"What is going on?" Lebadi asked.

Namora reached for a reed-thin necklace that looked like it was made from an abalone shell. She blew on it, but no sound came out that Lebadi could hear. His cousin dashed from the chair, leaping onto the upper edge of the vessel with her arms bowed to dive into the cold depths. Namor flew so fast that he caught Namora in mid-air before she even touched a curling whitecap. The wings on his ankles carried them high above the houseboat. Lebadi watched Namora struggle in Namor's powerful grip.

In the water, a blast of air from a blowhole caught her attention. An orca with a massive dorsal fin circled the houseboat as the Talokanil fought above it. Namor dropped Namora into the ocean with a loud splash and the orca swam to her.

"Namora!" Namor shouted down to her.

Namora threw one arm around the dorsal fin and pointed at her cousin with the other.

"Sáamal!" Namora shouted and the orca dove under a wave, allowing the sea to swallow them up.

A crack of thunder boomed, and bright swords of lightning clashed together, brightening up the sky, and transforming her lover into a deity lost to the world floating above her. Lebadi rubbed her arms as a fresh shower of rain poured down. Shaking her damp hair, she returned to the stateroom and changed into a warm robe. She used a towel to dry her tresses that clumped up into tight spongy curls. Namor met her in the small kitchenette and watched her make a fresh cup of ground Jabari Mountain coffee. She offered him some, but he turned her down, studying her face for a long time.

"Why did she come here? And why did she mention tomorrow?" Lebadi asked.

"She has seen me like this before."

"Like what?"

"In love."

Lebadi mixed sugar in with her coffee and sipped it with her back against the stove.

"So I'm not your first surface dweller girlfriend?"

"You are."

"Have you been married? Have children?"

"You never asked me things like that before."

"Because this has been a fun fantasy while we were alone. Someone knows about us now… and I realize we are really strangers. Fuck buddies."

Namor slid his hand around her neck and brought her lips to his, sliding his tongue out before they connected. He sucked on her probing tongue and did the same to her lips, forcing waves to tumble in her stomach. His kisses were always slow and demanding. The man knew her weakness with him. She pushed him back.

"I want to know more about you, Namor. Will we just hook up on the ocean every three months when you make time for me?"

"We are not what you say… fuck buddies."

"Answer my question. Have you ever been married?"

"I have."

"What happened?"

"She died."

"Did you have children with her?"

"I did. They died too."

"How?"

"They grew old and died."

Lebadi blinked her eyes a few times and tilted her head as if that made the understanding easier.

"What do you mean? How old were they?"

He moved away from her and lowered his head, contemplating his answer.

"Namor?" she said.

"My wife lived to be ninety-eight. My daughter eighty-one… and my son… seventy-nine."

"I don't understand, you… you're close to my age. How do you have children older than you?"

"Lebadi… I have lived for nearly five centuries."

Lebadi laughed and threw up her hands, turning away from the bullshit. A warm hand slid up her thin robe and held her shoulder. Namor turned her to face him.

"I am telling you the truth—"

"You told me you were a mutant. That explained the wings and your other abilities… but now you're an immortal?"

"How do you think I know your language and so many others? There was a time when your people were not so secretive."

His eyes challenged her to doubt him. She couldn't. He could fly. Breathe underwater. Had the strength of many men, and could summon creatures from the deep.

"My people named me after an ancient god. They believe I am the return of him and I have cared for them like they were my very own children. I have lived many lifetimes under the deepest parts of the sea and lost more than one family. Colonizers have brought pestilence to my people… stolen land… destroyed so much. They continue to do so, all over the world-"

"If you hate surface dwellers so much, why come to me? You could've left me alone after that first time we met."

"I could not forget you… could not keep you from my mind. Your people are like my own. They want nothing to do with the outside world, and that makes you different."

"What are saying? You want to live a lifetime with me, too?"

Lebadi held her breath inside her chest. She curled her hands between her breasts and Namor cuddled her in his arms, peppering her face with tiny kisses.

"Namora is angry because she doesn't want me to hurt anymore. She has been alive long enough to know my last wife and the pain it caused me to lose her. After my first wife passed, I stopped having children. I had two more wives after her, and I made a vow to take care of my people and never have a woman again. Until you. My love for you clouds my eyes every day that I am by your side," he said.

Lebadi's eyes welled up, and he kissed away the tears that dropped like rain onto her cheeks.

"You are worth the pain… teech k'abéet ti'teen—"

"I need you too, but this is so much to take in all at once," she said.

"Tell me you love me."

She pressed her forehead against his.

"In k'áatech," she whispered into his parted lips.

The edges of his mouth ticked up into a smile, and he spanked her backside, making it jiggle. He rubbed on her bottom, lifting and separating the round mounds in his hands, squeezing them to enjoy the softness.

"Take this off," he said, fingering the top of the robe.

She undid the belt, and he circled her waist, lifting her up on her toes, his warm naked body evaporating the rain from his skin as it absorbed her heat too.

"Namor, what happens tomorrow?" she said.

"Namora will come back."

"For what?"

He walked her backward on her toes toward the stateroom. She pressed down on her heels to stop him.

"I don't want to talk about that now. Let me love you, Lebadi… your skin is like honey in my mouth, I want to lick all over your body…"

He nuzzled the side of her neck where fleshy immortal lips sucked and kissed chills down her spine and into her toes.

"Let me love you," he said.

She gave in, as he knew she would.

His morning loving was as good as his nighttime lust.

With her head down and her ass up in the air, he took her with long strokes from the back as she rested her head on a pillow at an angle where she could watch his face. His lips quirked up with tension and his right palm pressed down into her lower back. Her pussy squelched and became a gushy ride. Namor slapped her rump hard and used his right hand to palm her left ass cheek as he glared down at her throwing it back on him with frisky twists of her waist. He glanced at her face as if to question what right she had to have a pussy that good on his dick. She arched her back further, and he cursed at her with words that were too filthy for him to translate into Wakandan.

"Fuck me…" he panted.

"I know you like that," she grunted, shifting her hips and widening her thighs to let him sink deeper.

His fingers slid to her hips, and he gripped the supple flesh to anchor himself. He gave quick thrusts that just rested at the entrance of her pussy and she pouted, needing all of his thickness to make her feel full and stretched. Her toes lifted and teased the feathers on his ankles at the quill, which was highly sensitive to touch like the tips of his ears, stimulating another part of his erogenous zones that she liked to play with on his body.

"Fuck my pussy… s'good baby…," Lebadi moaned as she bit into the twisted, sweaty sheets.

Namor teased her entrance until she whimpered his name and he plunged into her, cumming while he did. He drenched her walls, then pulled his fat dick back out and ejaculated onto her ass and back before stretching her out again. His cum painted her walls with creamy warmth. He reached around and played with her clit, two of his fingers strumming a love language that only her stimulated nerves could translate. It was enough of a conversation to have her walls throb back with an answer. She squealed with pleasure and he laughed with obvious delight.

Afterward, they went for a swim.

The sky had cleared up enough to let a few rays of sunshine peek through. He dived below with fish netting and left her alone on the boat for an hour, returning with swordfish, shrimp, and mussels for them to enjoy at lunch. He cleaned and prepared the seafood. She seasoned and cooked it. They ate with their fingers and she showed him how to eat sticky yellow rice balls with a soft fermented flatbread that she made the day before. Namor liked the sour, porous texture of the bread, stuffing it down his throat with the fish tea she made from the swordfish.

Later in the afternoon, they moved the houseboat to another area when the water became choppy and unpleasant. Sleeping nude on lounge chairs, Namor watched her skin darken into a rich mahogany hue. He made her lay on top of him so he could run his hands all across her back and ass, fingering her pussy from behind until she came all over his hand with a sticky release.

Lebadi took a nap inside the stateroom for a few hours. She needed to recharge from a day of lovemaking and eating well. Waking up alone, she found several loose mothers of pearls wrapped in a large seaweed leaf fresh from deep sea oysters. Smelling the odor of good cooking, she rose naked and joined Namor in the kitchenette. He stirred a thin soup of clam meat that she liked for dinner. Holding up a spoon for her, she tasted it.

"Good… ooh, and hot," she said, waving her hand in front of her open mouth to cool the soup on her tongue.

The sun was low in the sky, announcing a gorgeous sunset that saturated the ocean backdrop with blazing red and deep mauve.

"Oh, shit!" she said, rushing back to the stateroom and changing into a short azure blue tunic over a bikini bottom. She dug into one of her travel bags soon after.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

She strode back into the kitchen, clutching a small sachet of her annual offering to Mama Wati. Bypassing the beach and surfing with friends again in Birnin S'Yan that year, she wanted to honor the mother of the sea with Namor by her side.

"Come," she enthused, tugging on his hand to follow her.

Lebadi prayed over the small bundle before untying it and dropping some of the mixture into the sea. She gave the rest to Namor, and he sprinkled it with amusement.

"This god brings you joy?" he asked.

"She does."

He touched her hair, which had shrunk up into tightly coiled spirals from the seawater. She twirled a thick lock of hair and stretched out its length, letting it bounce back into place.

"Children in Wakanda who are born with extra curly hair, like me, are said to be children of the sea. My grandmother was a child of the sea, and so was her grandmother before her. I come from a long line of Mama Wati babies!"

Namor leaned over and kissed her cheek, then held her face with both hands to kiss her longer. She was about to wrap her arms around the nape of his neck when the houseboat listed to one side, knocking them off balance. Namor flew with her a few feet above the deck to keep her from falling. The surge of water lifted the boat and brought it back down roughly, and from Namor's arms, Lebadi witnessed a pod of humpback whales breach the surface and rock the houseboat even more.

"K'uk'ulkan!"

Namora called to him as she pulled herself up onto the back of the closest whale. Namor put Lebadi back on the houseboat and two tall Talokanil men climbed onto the boat, giving her menacing looks. Namor barked orders to them and the men stopped moving, watching their god fly onto a whale to confront Namora. There was no reasoning with Namora and she leaped onto the boat and grabbed Lebadi by the throat, tossing her far over the side. The icy splash punched into Lebadi's back as the dark waters covered her face. She held her breath, watching the light from the surface fade from dark blue to rising ebony the deeper she went down. Flailing her arms, she tried to swim back to the surface, her lung capacity helped by her years of surfing and having giant waves crash over her before she could get more air. Her loose tunic floated above her, tangling her arms and covering her face. She pulled it off and pushed her arms to her sides, swiping away the weight of water crushing her.

Kicking her legs, Lebadi's ascent was thwarted by another Talokanil woman below her, who grabbed her ankle and dragged her further below. Seconds later, Namora was upon her, her hands choking the life out of Lebadi. Bubbles rose out of her mouth and she became woozy from the lack of oxygen in her lungs. She almost blacked out to the haunting, melodious sounds of whale song, until Namor fought off his cousin and the other woman to drag her away. Lebadi noticed a great number of his people holding spears and hugged up close to the whales, using them as living ships to travel on.

Namor burst through a wave and flew Lebadi to the houseboat. The rage on his face frightened her and he screamed at his people. Most stood on top of the whales wearing the same breathing apparatus Namora had to use above the surface.

Namor pulled Lebadi behind him and faced his people. Rapid-fire conversations ricocheted around them as she tried to pick out any words that she knew from being with Namor. It was clear to her that the posse revered him even as they pressed to retrieve him, but his actions upset them. She upset them by claiming his heart.

Namora had a pleading quality to her voice, and it softened Namor. He kept glancing back at Lebadi, and the longer his people spoke to him, she could see his body language changing. His shoulders slumped, and a light went out of his eyes. The voices grew louder, more incessant, and Namor threw his head back as if the stars above them had all the answers he needed. Then… they started singing to him.

Even the whales emitted sounds that Lebadi could feel flowing across her skin above the surface. The haunting melodies of the Talokanil mixed with the vibrations of the sea creatures they rode upon brought Lebadi to her knees. She wept from the pure beauty of it.

Namor looked down at her with a torn expression. Namora climbed back onto the boat and held her hands before him like the wide maw of a shark about to attack. The others made the same hand symbol toward him.

"Líik'ik Talokan!" Namora said.

Namor closed his eyes and Lebadi felt a trembling soul shift inside of him. Namora nodded her head and the other Talokanil on the houseboat dropped back down into the water. Namor sauntered over to Namora and held her face. Only their eyes spoke in a secret language they knew. He stroked his thumb across Namora's forehead and slowly flew up into the sky alone, raising out his arms.

One by one, the whales and the sea dwellers departed.

Namor came back to her side, and she knew.

It was over.

His people came first and she would become a lost footnote to the seductive antics of a foreign god who wanted to fuck a Wakandan woman for fun.

She ran from him, hot tears spilling in fat drops onto her arms as she wailed and beat her fists on the berth. He tried to comfort her, but she thrashed her body to get his hands off of her.

"Get out!" she shouted, burying her wet face. Snot and copious tears clogged up her nose and throat.

He wouldn't leave her side and stroked her back.

"You said I was worth the pain!"

"They are my children."

"I am your woman! They can have you forever, but I only get this one lifetime, Namor! Just this one!"

He pushed back the springy curls on her forehead. His soulful eyes bled into her spirit and she covered her face to hide all the pain that soaked her heart. Namor spooned around her and she wilted. Crying and pleading meant nothing. His duty to his own came first. Always.

They slept curled into one another. By daybreak, he was gone.

Lebadi ate leftover shrimp and rice for breakfast and tossed all the uneaten food into the sea. She started the quiet engine of the houseboat and programmed it to take her back to the Wakandan coast, where she would leave it at the marina rental space she kept for the past two years. Leaving the seaside was the best thing for her sanity.

Returning inland for good would help her forget.

Lebadi couldn't believe the message on her kimoyo beads.

Her former college roommate, Okoye, stared at her.

"Well, did you make it or not?" Okoye said.

Sitting inside an artsy café together, a table full of half-eaten shredded beef and coconut curried rice between them, Lebadi stared at the formal rejection of her application to the Dora Milaje corps.

"I was rejected," Lebadi said.

"Why?"

Okoye's voice went up an octave as she swiped the floating image of the document.

"I failed the physical apparently," Lebadi said.

"How? You seem fit to me… wait… what is that look for? Did you already know you would fail?"

"Not when I applied, but…"

"But what?"

Okoye nudged her wrist with her hand.

"Talk to me, Lebadi. We were supposed to tag-team in this thing."

"I know," Lebadi said. "I just failed. You'll have to become a Dora without me."

"Rhino shit! You always wanted this. We went to school purposely cultivating our education to prepare us. You did an internship in the palace for Bast's sake!"

Okoye lifted a finger to her lips.

"Call them and ask what happened. They have to give you specifics."

"No, they don't. I'm not qualified. I'll find something else to do."

"Like what?"

"I can be an executive assistant to a senator, or maybe a personal assistant to a Council Elder," Lebadi said.

Okoye's kimoyo beads glowed a neon blue.

"Dammit, I have to go. I'm picking up W'Kabi from his mother's house. His hovercraft was fixed at the shop finally."

"When is he going to buy proper transportation? He's had that hovercraft since he was in high school."

"You know how stubborn he is. He'll have that thing until he's an old man," Okoye joked.

She touched Lebadi's hand again.

"Do you want to go out for drinks later? Talk some more? I feel terrible about this news."

"No, go on and spend your evening with W'Kabi. I'll call you later if I find out anything more."

Lebadi didn't bother to stand up. She let Okoye bend over and kiss her temple before she dashed out to give the love of her life a ride to the bike shop. When Okoye was out of the café, Lebadi tapped her kimoyo again and swiped the second page of the form letter for the Dora Milaje corps. There was a listing of categories that could be checked off to explain why a candidate was rejected. The one that prevented her from becoming a Dora Milaje for that recruitment cycle was smack dab in the middle of the page.

Pregnancy.

Lebadi sighed and paid for the food by swiping her kimoyo beads over the dishes and stood up. The thick-layered skirt and jacket she had on barely concealed the baby bump sprouting from her middle. Four months along and she was already showing. Fatter in the face, too.

Walking alone in the downtown area of Birnin Zana, she turned her head to look over at the double palace. Okoye would get through Dora Milaje training easily. Her father was a lieutenant in the military and a decorated pilot. It didn't hurt that her mother was an interpreter for King T'Chaka Udaku either. The dream was for Okoye and Lebadi to protect royalty and travel with the king. She rubbed her belly and sighed. There were plans in place for her to live secluded in Birnin S'Yan and work discreetly as a monorail operator until the baby was born. No one knew she was carrying the seed of a foreigner, a mutant king who once said he loved her, but left her anyway. They had been careless with sex, and now she faced a daunting future.

What kind of child did he put inside of her?

Part 3 Finale HERE!

A.N.:

There will be a part 3! I’m working on several fics at once so be ready! And once I fnally see “Wakanda Forever” y’all in trouble!!!

There’s little room for anything else in your brain when you’re on the brink of death.

Sadie could talk from experience. And while she had convinced herself that survival instincts are incredibly selfish, the guilt trips and bad dreams would always be the painful aftershock of her line of work. People would often comment on how she must genuinely love what she did or she wouldn’t put her life on the line constantly, but it never really felt like love to her. It was more like a duty. A demanding, consuming, but necessary duty.

She’d heard the soldiers she often found herself around mention that same concept. Yet, after many years, she still couldn’t comprehend how people did many terrible things in the name of the only thing that made her decide to pour her heart into war photography for the remainder of her life.

Her father had never understood it either. She specifically remembered an exchange they had when she was about six, during one scorching afternoon, while she sat on his knees and played with an old rag doll. Guerrilleros didn’t precisely get a stable paycheck at the end of the month.

“This is stupid,” she’d said, tugging at the doll’s arms.

“What is?” asked her father, his voice soft but never tearing his eyes from his surroundings.

“I want to go home. I don’t want to be here. I want to live in our old house, with my Abue. This is stupid.” He had said nothing.

“Pa?” she asked meekly after a short pause. “Are you going to go away like Tío Ramiro? I don’t want to wear the ugly black dress that my aunt did after he went away.”

He couldn’t help but smile a little at her, pulling the girl closer and embracing her against his chest.

“I wouldn’t want that, muñequita. But it’s not up to me. Do you know how I’m always telling you to do as your Abue or I say? Well, there are some people I must obey too.”

“But they tell you to do...ugly things. They make you fight other people; Ernesto told me so. He says you go and beat them so bad they can’t get up. And Abue said that hitting people isn’t nice."

A long sigh that seemed to leave his lungs empty left the man’s mouth. A curse escaped his lips. He had to be more careful about letting her be around the camp’s eldest children. Hell, Ernesto was barely even a child. He could be standing guard in no more than six months with a weapon in his hands.

“Can’t you just talk to them? Maybe you can get along, and we can go back home.”

“It’s more complicated like that,” he replied, almost painfully. He sounded very, very tired. Sadie had discovered at an early age that when grown-ups didn’t really understand something, they’d say it was “complicated.”

“Some people are not that good at listening, preciosa.”

He was right. And so she didn’t tell. She showed.

And she had never been shy at admitting she was awful good at it.

The unexpectedness of her line of work amused, thrilled, and scared her a little bit. One day she could be in nearly arctic territories documenting the kidnapping of a crew of whale hunters by a faction of extremist ecologists, the next, she could be aboard a plane going God knows where after two men with three-letter badges insisted she was required for a “task of great scientific relevance.”

Sadie wasn’t particularly trustful of men with badges, but the sight of poorly concealed guns was one hell of a way to make someone change their mind.

And now she was sitting in a suffocatingly hot briefing room on an island in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by people who owned either a badge, a Ph.D., or both.

“…it’s crucial that you carry the vial at all times and be extremely careful. There’s more fungus than antidote, and it will take at least another month to synthesize more. Am I clear?” indicated a man with such small eyes that one could barely see the white in them. The way his lips tugged at his mouth downwards asymmetrically didn’t help much. All she knew was that he was the leader of this “expedition,” and his last name was something like Baxter or Dexter.

Rocks. She had left behind a great fucking story for a trip to photograph submarine rocks.

“Is something still unclear to you, Ms. Medina?” asked the captain after everyone had left the room but her.

“Yes, I think so…” she replied. Captain Baxter? Captain Dexter? “I think so, sir. I’m not sure about my role in all of this.”

“Ms. Medina, I can assure you’re entirely qualified for….”

“Sir, I know I am,” Sadie replied, perhaps a bit too bluntly. Overqualified, she would’ve wanted to add. “What I mean is, there are many colleagues of mine with excellent credentials who would jump at the chance to snap a picture of algae.”

“Really? Do you happen to know many wildlife photographers with military training, survivalist knowledge, and crisis management experience?” he retorted. This man’s attempts to be funny or sarcastic still sounded like a threat.

“Maybe, who knows? Still, why would you need…?”

“Ms. Medina, let me tell you something off the record. I don’t give a rat’s ass about those qualifications.”

While she did not appreciate being interrupted like that, there were words like “off the record” that piqued her interest.

“We’ve researched you thoroughly,” the captain continued emphatically, “and what was most impressive to us wasn’t your ability to constantly get in trouble, but your ability to each and every time find your way out. You’ve come out alive in situations you shouldn’t have been able to. That is why you’re here and not some Nat Geo intern.”

At this point, her instincts began telling her something was off. They weren’t telling her everything. Something about that speech the captain had just given her felt off-putting, but before she could try and dig for some more information, the man went around her.

“Trust me, this mission is worth your time.” Was the last thing he said before exiting the room, coming across a young soldier who saluted him.

“Captain Wexler, we are ready for departure as scheduled, sir.”

A speaker announcing the departure of the first raft caught her attention. 

“Wexler, then.” Sadie affirmed, leaving hastily for the main deck.

Only five people, including herself, left the ship in the raft. She noticed they were headed toward a large formation of rocks that was barely visible from their distance. As they drifted closer, she looked in awe at the porous, black surface of the structure that grew larger by the second until it towered at about fifty feet above their heads.

“It’s an entrance,” explained one of the two scientists on board, leaning closer to her. “See, it looks like it’s just rocks, but once we dive and get to the center, you’ll see it leads to a very complex cave system.”

Honestly, the idea of a virtually impossible-to-escape underwater cave system wasn’t appealing to Sadie. Yet, the several things she had found out to feel out of place had captured her interest. She was almost sure there was something else to all of this that they didn’t want her to know. Or anyone else, for that matter. The entrance was so small that two people, shoulder to shoulder, wouldn’t have been able to fit inside. They had to go in a single line: one soldier in front, the two scientists, Sadie in fourth, and another soldier behind her. It was impressive how well the rocks hid the entrance. They almost looked like the black petals of a flower that would close around them at any given moment. In less than fifteen minutes, there was no trace of sunlight. They could only go forward with the guidance of their hands, lamps, and directions from the surface via intercom. 

“In thirty-five feet, you’ll find yourselves at Point Alpha.”

Point Alpha, as shown in the map they had reviewed during the presentation, was an underwater cave with a pocket of air that made it possible for them to emerge and breathe normally while harvesting samples. However, they were strictly ordered to stay together under all circumstances.

Sadie felt odd photographing something so out of her usual field. Something that wouldn’t go anywhere and wasn’t trying to kill her.

Well, not exactly. One of the samples that had to be collected was a saucer-shaped fungus that thrived in the humidity between the rocks. However, if removed incorrectly, the spores could suppress the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream, eventually causing hypoxia and death in a little over five minutes. That was what the vial of antidote was for.

After moving forwards for about half an hour, the space started to become smaller and smaller until the only thing left before them was a breach in the wall. And there was light coming from it.

“Sunlight? I thought we were already a hundred feet below the surface.”

“No. Bioluminescent microorganisms.” Bluntly stated the other soldier. “And this, Ms. Medina, is your time to shine. Here, take this.”

He handed her a tiny square, barely bigger than her hand and only two inches wide, wrapped in a thin leather case. She took it and examined it, carefully placing the strap around her neck.

“A high-definition camera. State of the art. What we need is for you to get in there. Our 3D mappings show that about 400 meters in, it will become wide enough for you to move and take pictures of what’s in there. Take as many as you need until you’re sure you’ve covered every possible angle, and when you’re ready, let us know. We’re on channel three.” The soldier handed her a climbing rope and instructed her to secure it around her waist.

Sadie stared at the crawlspace, mentally measuring it before taking off the belt with what was left of the gear they’d given her, leaving her with just the neoprene suit. She was about to get in before changing her mind and removing the camera’s strap, wrapping the vial of antidote with its tiny injector, and tying it to her wrist. Taking a deep breath, Sadie knelt down and awkwardly dragged herself forward. She could barely fit. And still, she could feel the pointy edges of the rocks digging into her flesh, protected only by the thin suit.

The closer she was, the brighter the light shone until it was strong enough to light up the entire cavity. Finally, she reached the broader space they mentioned.

It was a beautiful grotto, just around five feet wide, full of stalactites of twisted shapes that fell from the ceiling like petrified chandeliers. However, the light wasn’t coming from them. It came from a structure in the middle of the space: a hollow mound of rock as tall as her knee. Sadie could only get on all fours if she wanted to reach it and avoid the stalactites. She peeked inside, realizing it led to a deep conduct that seemed to go on for miles and miles. With the absolute sound isolation the walls provided, water could be heard splashing at the end. Taking out the camera, she snapped her first picture of many. She captured the width and height of the rocky base, then another of the entire space for size comparison, including the stalactites that prevented her from moving further. For good measure, she tried doing a close-up of some familiar-looking fungus splotched along the walls. In about ten minutes, she was sure she had captured everything to see in the grotto.

“Well, then. I guess that’s all.” She said into the intercom, “It was beautiful, guys, but I can’t believe you made me drop a probable Pulitzer for this.”

With a breathless laugh, she dropped herself down again and began crawling backward.

“Guys? Do you hear me? I’m on my way back. Over” She repeated, hearing nothing but static. Of course, the intercom would fail. “It’s a bit harder to do this in reverse. Would you mind helping me out a bit, please? Over.” She insisted as her feet constantly got stuck in the rocks, softly tugging on the rope. Still no answer.  

“Yeah, well, fuck you too,” Sadie muttered when she finally felt her legs break free.

“Alright, I got the pictures, but I don’t think those were bioluminescent….” She stopped mid-sentence when she turned around to find the cave completely empty. There was nothing but the scattered remnants of the team’s scuba gear and the closed sample containers all over the floor. Sadie’s instincts went crazy again. Something was very wrong. She fought the urge to call out to someone, picked up one of the pocket knives, and advanced as quietly as possible, her heart thundering in her chest so heavily she could feel it in her throat.

Suddenly, a clinking sound made her flinch as a small blue prism fell on the trail a few meters ahead. She didn’t even have time to feel surprised before the entire cave filled with water in a matter of seconds, washing her away and slamming her against the same wall she’d just emerged from. Then, there was only darkness.