Chapter Text
Shuri’s eyes flash open. The first thing she sees is Xoliswa, a Dora Milaje guard and her close friend, standing over her.
“Princess! Are you alright?”
Shuri groans, rubbing her forehead and propping herself up. Xoliswa taps her spear on the ground, making the spearhead disappear. She then extends her hand to the young princess, who gladly takes it.
Once she is on her feet, she takes a look out the window. The fighting is still going on, but she can see none of the Avengers, at least not in the open fields.
“Where are T’Challa and the others? And where did Vision go?”
“Your brother and the Avengers moved into the forest,” a new voice says.
“Mother!” Shuri exclaims as she runs to the queen who just entered the room.
Queen Ramonda pulls her daughter into a hug.
“Are you alright child? Xoliswa informed me you were attacked by one of those monsters.”
Shuri nods. “I am fine, Mother,” she says, then adds in a sadder tone. “Some of the guards were killed, I think.”
Shuri moves closer to the window to get a better look at the fight. In the forest she sees a small figure flying high above the trees, then a colorful stream of light beams towards the ground.
“Who’s winning?” she asks.
“Okoye was keeping me updated, but she hasn’t said anything for the last ten minutes,” Xoliswa states.
“With all the time I spent giving them their upgrades, they better be…” Shuri trails off as something catches her eye. The Wakandan soldiers that were fighting just a few seconds before seem to be...disappearing. What? That doesn’t make sense. She looks at an individual soldier. He stands in the field, then slowly crumbles into dust.
“Mother-” Shuri gasps as she sees her own hands begin to turn ash gray.
“Shuri?” Ramonda is caught off guard by the alarmed look in her daughter's eye when she suddenly turned around from the window.
Xoliswa screams as the young princess fades into flecks of dust, but Ramonda’s scream is stuck in her throat.
Princess Shuri. A genius, a royal, a teenager.
Her child.
Dead.