Chapter Text
“Tienes un gran poder hija.” The older woman took the crushed herbs from her molcajete and swiped them on her forehead and along the sides of her face. “Let this blessing help you find everything you seek.” She whispered as she performed a cleanse with a branch
She swung it around and chanted before coming to stop and holding the mutant's hand gently in hers. “Táan a destinado u kaxtik.” The elder kissed her hand and whispered the name of the local beach that her people have always gathered in.
The woman says that it is a ritual they perform yearly to assure the god of the seas that they recognize his power and right to rule. A small part of the mutant hopes this “god” is only part of a local myth. Part of her agreed to this only to prove there was no such thing as gods.
“P'at paachil a resentimiento” The older woman almost reading her mind warns her that K’uK’ulcan protects his own and that includes them as long as they submit to his power. They are not to pose a threat to him. The mutant simply nods.
Since she was a child her family has told her stories of the ancestors and their colonizers. Her mother had always taken great care that she knew the gods her Aztec ancestors revered. And when her powers manifested her mother insisted that she move with her aunt in Yucatan because she had similar “problems.”
It did not take long after that for her to find herself in a sort of training with her aunt's adoptive tribe. They told her that people like her and her aunt were blessed by the gods to carry out their will, and that one day her patron god Cabrakan would reveal themselves to her. She doesn’t think she fully understands their ways but she tries her best to show them the respect they have earned.
They took her in as their own and when they learned the exact earthly nature of her powers, they filled her head with stories of a god living under the water and how she was their ticket to him. They say he is all powerful and all knowing the feathered serpent god of winds.
As a child she was amazed by these stories and the possibility of being god touched, but as she grew to see the ways her aunt's tribe struggled, the way all of mexicans suffer, she grew to resent the gods. If she had a patron god he would help her help them and if K’uK’ulcan is real and as powerful as they all say, then he left them all behind to die.
The elder leads her to the beach and others follow chanting before coming to a stop well before they reach the beach. “Call out to him.” The woman gestured towards the sea before ushering the rest of her tribe to back away. They thought it would be blasphemy to surround the god this way, he might think it was an ambush.
Alone the mutant made her way into the sea until the salty water reached her hips. He better be fake, she prayed as she sank down to her knees and grabbed fistfuls of sand. She buried her hands in it before allowing the energy to flow from her body.
She has been working on developing her powers since she was a child and they first showed themselves. Back then she could only move dirt and pebbles, but now her latest accomplishments include being able to carve out intricate sculptures from stone and lifting giant boulders with ease.
Her aunt's tribe meant for her to be a sort of gift for K’uK’ulcan. They wanted to show him they are worthy allies. That they deserve his protection, and that he needs them. She almost feels bad about the fact she is still on the fence about him.
She can feel the ocean floor moving beneath her. Subtle enough not to disrupt the surface, but hopefully still obvious enough that he decides to inspect it. If he is real.
Nothing happens for a long while and her body begins to grow cold underneath the water. The sun starts to set and just as she begins to grow tired and stiff in her crouched position she feels something moving around the seafloor.
Someone’s standing just far out enough to be covered by the water. She feels a sudden panic rushing through her causing her to lose focus. The small vibrations stop and she abruptly stands despite her bones protest. Suddenly she feels the person walk forward.
Slowly she sees him emerge from the water. Dark hair and tan skin glisten from the water as he walks toward her. His eyes are focused on her spear ready to attack, but her’s roam his body taking in the elaborate jewelry on his neck, the jade pierced in his pointed ears and nose, and finally the wings on his ankles. He comes to a stop a few feet before her.
He watches the frantic expression on her face, and recognizes almost immediately that she is not one of maya that still reside in Yucatan. She begins to walk backward, her dark hair flowing with the ocean breeze. The weight of his glare seems to be push her back. Why is she- Namor is cut off mid thought as his eyes catch a glance of the necklace she wears, It’s from the tribe. And the streaks on the tan skin of her face are part of an old ritual.
They brought her here.
“Máaxech.” His deep voice snaps her out of her stupor and she forces herself to stop walking. She hasn’t been able to pick up yucatec maya enough to speak it, though she understands a lot of it. She gulps, hopefully he won’t see her as an enemy just because she uses their tongue.
“Me llamo (T/N) y me mandaron los Maya a usted K’uK’ulcan.” She bows her head, she wants to hear him confirm the stories they’ve told her about him. He narrows his eyes before walking toward her once more, this time she stands stock still.
He hates to think so about a complete stranger and possible threat, but she is quite breathtaking even as she stands like a fish out of water.
“Why would they send someone outside the tribe?” His thick accent calls out in English now as he comes close enough to inspect her. “Is it because of your power?” He starts to walk around her and she has to focus all her energy on not running.
“Yes.” She’s holding her breath and he scoffs.
“You can make the ground hum, and they send you to me?”
“I can do a lot more than that.”
“Oh?” He smirks, backing away to give her some room. “ Go ahead then, show me.” He holds his hands behind his back, and the mutant stands up straighter.
He’s surprised they found someone they felt was worthy of knowing about him. Maybe he should talk to them about this “recruitment” they are doing.
“First can I ask,” She looks deep into his eyes, “Are the stories true?”
He lets out a laugh, “Yes they are all true.”
“Tlaloc saved your people from the Spaniards and their diseases?”
“We call him Chac, but yes.”
“You rule an undersea paradise?”
Wow they really told her everything. Namor nods curtly unsure if he should be confirming any of this information. He holds his spear pointed more towards her neck now.
“Show me why they sent you to me.”
Her mouth twists into a frown. “So it is all true, You really did leave us to die.” She can see his mouth open about to form a question, but she doesn’t give him the chance before she is lifting a giant piece of the seafloor and slamming it on top of him.
The stone falls on him with a giant crash as the water swishes around the impact throwing his spear out onto the beach. Without missing a beat she kneels into the water and feels for his form before sinking his hands and knees into sand that she hardens into concrete.
He spent centuries watching as the Spaniards destroyed everything and everyone on this land. He watched as centuries of culture and religion were wiped away and replaced by barbaric people who cursed them even for what they ate.
She feels him struggle and she has to keep her focus on her trap as she approaches him. She lets her anger fuel her every move. Her arms extend and break the slab of seafloor to reveal where he is trapped kneeling in the sand.
“What is the meaning of this!” He screams with minimal scratches on his face. He is as powerful as they say. That would have killed anyone else.
“I am showing you my power like you asked.” She grins before lifting her fist back into the air with a jump. She surrounds her hand with rock making sure there is space between her skin and the makeshift glove so she won’t feel what she's about to do.
She swings her hand forward then and as she makes contact with his face he cries out. Her momentary focus on the rock fist must give him enough leeway to break out because one of his legs is soon free and using their proximity against her.
As he falls back from the force of the hit he is kicking her foot out from under her. Right as her back hits the ground she involuntarily lets go of the sand around him. He stands and quickly goes in to hit her with his two hands clasped together above her chest.
Namor should’ve known better than to trust an outsider. How could they bring her to him and tell her everything? And what is she talking about?
She takes a deep breath before moving the rock from her fist to her chest to block the blow and she softens the sand below her, so it swallows her beneath the water as his force pushes her down.
She feels the blunt force of his hit and Namor cries out once more as his hands hit the jagged rock. He flies up into the air swooping down to grab his spear. She almost gawks as she spits out the sand that made its way into her mouth. That shouldn’t be possible she thinks as she forms rocks into arrowheads and with a turn sends them flying towards him.
“You will die for this insolence!” He yells as he dodges all her rocks with ease and lifts his spear before throwing it right at her. She builds a curved wall in front of her before jumping out of its way. The spear only misses her by an inch landing in the sand right next to her because the wall threw it slightly off course.
She gasps, he really does have vibranium. The mutant does not have the time to think of anything else before he is charging at her. Namor lands a punch that throws her down and she sends a pillar up where he stands, hitting him square in the stomach.
He zips back further into the foliage of the trees having grabbed his spear once more, probably as she was on the ground. Sore and aching she stands making her way towards him and out of the water.
He throws his spear and she jumps out of the way before he’s on her once again. The mutant has the sand swallow his spear whole as he trips her once more landing several more punches before she covers her fists in rock again and returns the favor.
After the first one she lands he begins to fly off once more and without missing a beat she kicks sand onto his feet and hardens it over his wings. Now effectively gunked up he only manages to jump further back into the trees.
"How dare you call yourself that?" Breathless she indignantly calls out as they pace back and forth in front of one another. "How dare you let them call you that?" She spit the words before coming to a stop in front of him. "You are not Quetzalcoatl." Namor drops his battle stance for a brief second, caught off guard by the Aztec counterpart of his name.
What does she mean, how dare Namor let them call him that? That is his title. He’s earned that.
"Who are you?" He huffs obviously breathless as well. He wasn’t expecting her to be able to do much more than the small vibrations he felt through the seafloor. “Did the Maya send you here to kill me?” They wouldn’t would they? They are his people too. They love him and he loves them.
"What does that matter when you'll be dead soon?" She lunges once more, her fists still covered in rocks as she punches and he blocks. He’s starting to anticipate her moves. She yells as he punches past her fists and into her sternum. The mutant then uses her energy holding her breath as she shifts the floor beneath them. Namor loses his footing and she takes advantage of this by slamming him down with her fists until he is laying flat on the ground trapped in place by more hardened rock.
Namor is really starting to grow tired of this fight. He wheezes as she comes to press her foot down on his chest there's rock beneath her foot and it digs into his skin . "You're people ran away from the rest of us." She forces the words out.
What?
"You came back to the surface world and saw what they were doing." She's screaming now, unable to hold herself back. "You stood by and watched as they enslaved us!"
"You refer to them as if you don't look and talk the way they do." Namor calls out wincing underneath her as her eyes turn deadly.
"Yes I look like them, their mother tongue is mine, and I was raised to know their religion better than anything that originated here." She was growing louder and pressed down with more force. "And who’s fault is that?" She digs the rock underneath her ankle into his chest causing him to yelp. "Where were you when we were being slaughtered by the thousands!"
It finally clicks. She’s an outsider. She doesn’t see Namor as the Maya do. She only sees what the Spaniards have left behind. What the Americans continue to exploit.
Tears are welling up in her eyes as she raises her fists to the air getting ready to deal the final blow. Namor is frozen now. He hates being reminded of this. Of how he couldn't save everyone when the Spainards and their diseases first arrived. He feels his muscles tense and he can do nothing as she yells in his face.
Namor was only a child then. The smallpox were still a threat to his people, but he was still killing as many as he could. The mutant's fists fall slowly. Namor swallows is she not going to?
"Oh that's right," She sniffs and rubs her tears away with the knuckles she had raised to him. He blinks at her confused. "You were down in your little paradise." His face twitches in something she can’t recognize. Why isn't he saying anything?
She can feel the hot energy of rage surrounding her. "You're no God," she spits, "You're nothing but a selfish overpowered child."
"You all got to live peacefully with all your traditions intact in the paradise Tlaloc chose to give you." She uses the Aztec name again and Namor briefly wonders if she has any relation to them. His lips form a frown as he grimaces. If she is from Mexico City and she knows of him and his people it's no wonder she hates him. “I always had to tell myself that God's weren't real. That if they were they would save us." She backs away, lifting all her weight off his chest and letting the earth around him soften again. He violently coughs.
She is clearly still mad, so why is she letting him go?
"But now I know the gods are real and they are cruel." Namor opens his mouth and she glares as she backs away, effectively stopping him from doing anything but coughing again. "He chose you… and if you are the chosen... then we are the damned."
He was finally able to look up to her face again. Tears are streaming down her face. "The least you could've done for the rest of us was burn the world down." She's choking on her tears before she falls to her knees and looks up at the sky. “They destroyed everything and left us here to bleed for them!”
She clenched her fists remembering how relieved her mother was when her aunt agreed to take her in. “Vas a poder comer todos los días mija, ellos te van a quidar.” The mutant let out a frustrated scream that caused the earth around her to tremble.
She was a reminder of all Namor failed to do. The only reason he revealed himself to the Maya was to absolve himself of some of his guilt. To help them in any way he could.
"I can't… I can't." She's whispering between her cries. "I hate you." She pounds her fist on the ground, the earth still shaking. "But I can't kill you."
He is all that’s left of their history. Him and his sea paradise are all that they have left. If she killed him what would her aunt think? What would the tribe think? They’ve done so much for her and this is how she repays them.
A sob escapes her mouth and she covers it with her hand. She's mumbling now and Namor tries to stand on sore legs to make his way over to her. His hand is reaching out, she is one of his people too. This all powerful mutant woman was living proof of his people's resilience. Namor failed them, all of them, yet here she is able to tear the earth into pieces. He can’t help but admire that.
Before he can reach her she swats his hand away "Don't you dare fucking touch me." Her voice wavers but Namor gets the message and brings his hand down.
“You’re right.” He manages through his sore throat.
“What?” She whispers through her tears.
“I don’t deserve anything I have. I failed to kill our lands’ invaders,” he looks down at his bruised and battered body, “Even with all this power. I was helpless to stop them.”
The mutant blinked at him stupefied from her spot on the ground. “But I am trying to make things right.” He looks deep into her eyes, for a second he wonders if in another life Namor could have convinced her to live with him in Talokan before she decided to hate him.
He studies her delicate features and for a second forgets she almost killed him. “Let me show you who I am, Who my people are.” His hand reaches out for her once more this time with his palm up for her to take.
She looks at him incredulously. “Are you out of your mind?”
“(Y/N) if we were to form an alliance we would be unstoppable.”
“I almost killed you.”
“But you didn’t. Imagine the kind of damage we could do to all those that have wronged us.”
She searches his eyes. He can’t be serious.
“Let me prove it to you.” He nudges his hand closer, and with her brows furrowed she takes it. “Stay here, let me call on you, so we can get to know one another. I will convince you to be my ally.”
“What do you mean, call on me?” She asks skeptically as he helps her to stand. She wobbles a bit, probably disoriented from how hard she cried and Namor’s hand instinctively cups her waist steadying her. She scrambles away from his touch, almost falling before she clutches to his bicep on instinct.
He grasps her forearm to steady her once more and she glares. He laughs a bit nervously as she stands fully on her own and he lets go.
“You will know when I call, so we can get to know each other.” Namor gives her a small smile, taking a step back to allow her some space.
“Get to know each other?”
“Yes, to build an alliance.”
She makes a noise and he dismisses this by offering to take her back to the tribe. “No, I have to put the beach back together.” The mutant wraps a hand around her stomach and ignores her other pains before stumbling back toward the ocean.
Namor didn’t even get the chance to say anything before he was following behind her watching her crumble the pillars she brought up, put rocks back to their bigger land masses, and even make the earth spit his spear back out.
He was looking forward to winning her over.